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  <row Id="1" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="58" CreationDate="2013-10-08T21:29:51.963" Score="47" ViewCount="12657" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2.5 year old pitbull/boxer mix.  He is a rescue dog, and is extremely aggressive towards other dogs (and I will probably be asking many questions about that).  However, he has always been very good with people, especially women and children.  He gets along great with my nephews and my sisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, however, he was diagnosed with heartworm.  He has not yet received his first immiticide injection, but he is being kept relatively &quot;quiet&quot; under vet's orders.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to have made him more aggressive.  He is now - seemingly randomly - lunging at people and bikes when we're out on walks.  Just today, a young girl (roughly 10 years of age) was walking by us on the sidewalk, and he lunged at her. I kept him on a short leash, and when he tried to jump again, I pushed him (rather forcefully, I admit) in the chest, knocking him over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't condone violence against animals, but I was angry he would be so aggressive towards a young child. So my question is two-fold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this newly aggressive behavior towards people a result of his lack of exercise, etc., or is it him becoming more protective towards me?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How should I have reacted in this situation? Should I try to calm him with pets and praise? Should I &quot;rain treats&quot;? Or should I be firm and forceful about not doing that again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second question is very important to me, because my natural instinct is to protect the other person.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T19:36:21.243" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T10:48:06.533" Title="What causes a dog to lunge at an unknown child and how should the owner respond?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25" CreationDate="2013-10-08T21:40:34.497" Score="22" ViewCount="4047" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a miniature dachshund puppy (10 months, 9lbs.) that is easily frightened by loud noises, such as trucks passing by.  Walking in any urban setting seems to be a negative experience, but she enjoys walking in secluded areas, such as state parks, that are away from roads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also shows fear when there are loud noises at home, such as watching a movie at home.  The volume is not turned up to an extreme level.  I realize dogs have significantly better hearing than humans, but other dogs I have been around do not exhibit this trait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a very urban area, so it is not always convenient to exercise my pooch in a secluded park area.  Is there a simple method for overcoming this fear?  It is to the point that she runs away when I get the leash, even when offering treats at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got her from a respected breeder and she has not experienced any trauma in her short life that I am aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T18:18:40.067" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:27:20.483" Title="How do I walk a small dog afraid of loud noises in an urban area?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="46" CreationDate="2013-10-08T21:44:30.850" Score="26" ViewCount="11929" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that rabbits make good pets.  How hard is it house break rabbits? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:17:26.077" LastActivityDate="2015-04-12T12:53:57.803" Title="What is required to house break a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:00:00.877" Score="9" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend's dog uses the restroom on his carpet a lot, and he's already tried lots of methods to get it to stop. Does anyone know an effective way to toilet train a puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:48:44.107" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T02:48:44.107" Title="What is the best way to toilet train a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-10-13T14:57:17.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:00:43.917" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience rabbits are very easy to housebreak. They like to pee and poop in the same place every time, so in most cases all you have to do is put a little bit of their waste in the litter box and they will happily use the litter box. It is very important that if they go somewhere else, miss the edge or kick waste out of the box that you clean it up well and immediately as otherwise those spots will become existing places to pee and poop. When you clean the box, save a little bit of waste and put it in the cleaned box so it smells right to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more foolproof method, you can get a piece of wood soaked with their urine and put that in the box along with droppings or cage them so that they are only in their litter box for a week.  Generally, if I try the first method and find that they are not using only the box on the first day, I go for the litter box only for a week method. The wood block works well if you are moving from a hutch outdoors to a litter box indoors. If you have an indoor cage, you can use the cage itself as the litter box (or attach a litter box to the section of the cage the rabbit has used for waste.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to use clay or newsprint litter as the other types aren't necessarily good for rabbits. Wood litter is okay if you are sure it isn't fir. The most important thing is to clean anywhere they have an accident. High sided boxes help with avoiding kicking soiled litter out of the box, which is the biggest cause of failure in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:00:43.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:01:25.917" Score="12" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...rabbits can be easily trained to use a litter tray, sometimes with more reliability than your average cat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The natural instinct of a wild rabbit to use one area as its latrine is still apparent in its domestic counterparts.  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual process is very similar to pad training a dog or litter box training a cat. Keep the rabbit confined to a small area while training, move any &quot;accidents&quot; to the litter box, and the rabbit will naturally start using that area for its business. The source link has the details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/rabbitlitter&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Litter Training Your Rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Emma Magnus MSc&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors&lt;br&gt;&#xA;apbc.org.uk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:30:02.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:30:02.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:02:12.480" Score="13" ViewCount="1046" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat appears to overheat during a day in the outdoors.  What can I do to help him stay refreshed and stay cooled down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:41:39.223" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:41:39.223" Title="How should I refresh an overheated cat or prevent him from overheating in the first place?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:02:25.547" Score="9" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could be a multitude of things. Lack of exercise plays a big role in how your dog acts. If they have a lot of unused energy, they're more likely to act up. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Giving him treats or praise will encourage the behavior you're trying to prevent. You want to refrain from treats or praise until he's doing what you want him to do. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, make it clear to him what you want. You want to be the focus of his attention when you come across a child or another dog. You can do this by keeping him right next to you (never in front of you) by using a short leash. If he tries to pull, tilt the leash upwards. Doing so creates unusual pressure on the bottom of his neck, causing him to look up and see what's going on. If he still won't turn his attention to you, you can forcefully nudge him with the side of your leg until he yields. I've found with my dog sometimes I have to step in front of her and hold her muzzle, forcing her to look at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important that you remain calm. It's easy to get upset and dogs have the ability of reading our emotions. If you're tense and angry, he'll start tune you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Source: personal experience with my black lab guided by insight from Cesar Millan&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:02:25.547" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:03:23.440" Score="18" ViewCount="4932" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am concerned with the lifespan of ferrets.  I've heard that ferrets bred from Marshall Farms don't live as long as other ferrets.  Is this a true statement, and if so, how can I avoid purchasing / identify ferrets bred there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the event someone considers this question might be opinion-based, understand the reference to Marshall Farms is due to their position as the largest ferret breeder in the United States (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Farms&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="103" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T11:41:41.773" LastActivityDate="2019-11-15T18:32:02.023" Title="How can I ensure a ferret's longevity?" Tags="&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:05:05.040" Score="21" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that corn based food could be harmful to dogs. Is this true? If so, what would be a good alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T07:12:14.547" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T12:42:59.347" Title="Is corn based food bad for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:05:23.180" Score="17" ViewCount="21184" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 month old puppy had a bacteria infection which caused a bunch of bumps to form on the top of her head. That is cured now, but from where she had been scratching it looks like one big scab. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to get this to heal properly and quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T17:26:42.753" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T08:50:11.570" Title="What's the best way to heal a scab on top of my dog's head?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:05:25.733" Score="20" ViewCount="459" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1.5 year old cat that will be sitting quietly on a stool, chair etc, and then he will, apparently at random, react to his tail movements and run away and sprint around the house. There seems to be no reason for him to react this way and it often results in him becoming increasingly aggressive towards the other cat (who is 8 months old).  He behaved this way before the other cat came into the house, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he is in this state he reacts aggressively towards any interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While he is an indoor cat, he spends most of the early mornings chasing and playing with our other cat. Also I take time to play with him via laser-pointer when I get freetime&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal for a young cat or is it something I should be concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T11:32:38.503" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T15:45:09.980" Title="Cat reacts randomly to tail and enters frenzy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:06:12.063" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a lot of success with crate training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs won't relieve themselves where they sleep or eat. Keeping them in an enclosed area and bringing them outside when they have to go to relieve themselves teaches them where it's OK to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend buying an expandable crate. You want to give them just enough room to stand up and turn around, but not enough that they'll start going in the corner. As they grow you can increase the size of the crate accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Humane Society has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html&quot;&gt;great info&lt;/a&gt; on crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:06:12.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:06:37.703" Score="52" ViewCount="28424" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to feed my cat raw meat, or should we cook the meat first? Or should we stick exclusively to factory produced cat food instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T05:22:20.750" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T16:00:27.057" Title="Can cats safely eat raw meat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:07:36.007" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen on the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Whisperer_with_Cesar_Millan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dog Whisperer&lt;/a&gt;&quot; that dogs can sense the anxiety that an owner has. The first thing you need to be aware of is your own anxiety when walking your puppy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as your puppy goes, its still a puppy, so fear isn't too unnatural. You will want to acclimate it to walking in urban areas by first training it to walk on a leash well. That means you are walking and your dog happens you be accompanying you. Keep your eyes forward, and heel walk the puppy. If the puppy wanders, give the leash a small yank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your puppy gets accustomed to this, it should be a lot calmer, and you can try for more noisy environments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:27:20.483" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:27:20.483" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2714" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:10:23.147" Score="30" ViewCount="3415" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted an adult cat from a shelter. The cat had been seized (along with 20+ others) by Animal Control from a hoarder and there is no prior medical history. Age estimates range from 3-6 years and he was one of the older ones in the group. He had already been neutered when the shelter got him. Because of the circumstances we have no other pre-shelter history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat gets along well with the people and other cat in the house, but sometimes he randomly &quot;nips&quot; (both people and the other cat), sometimes during play but sometimes just out of the blue. These nips are not hard enough to leave marks or draw blood, but it's still behavior that I would like to discourage. Hissing at him doesn't make any difference, and I don't always have a squirt bottle to hand. Years ago I had a kitten with this problem and was advised to hold his mouth shut and blow in his face to stop it; that worked on the kitten but has had no effect on the adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What techniques have others found effective in solving this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not observed any territorial behavior (spraying) or true aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T22:24:33.840" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T20:34:24.207" Title="How do I discourage my cat from biting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="111" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:12:09.483" Score="25" ViewCount="524" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend has an allergic reaction to touching some but not all of my short-haired cats. (He does not have any issues with just being in the same room; petting or holding the cat is what sets it off.  He also did not react to the one long-haired cat I've had.) In one case he reacted to one of a pair of littermates but not the other. All of the cats eat the same food and live in the same indoor environment. What characteristics of the cats affect this? Short of bringing my friend with me to the animal shelter, is there anything I can do to minimize this consideration when adopting a new cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-11-17T05:12:59.750" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:16:48.873" Title="My friend is allergic to only some of my cats; why is that (and how do I mitigate for future cats)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="79" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:13:40.607" Score="21" ViewCount="17094" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to stop my fenced-in dog from barking at people who are passing by on the street?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T17:59:00.793" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T23:42:10.267" Title="How do I stop my dog from barking at people through the fence?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:14:06.353" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Paperjam is right: crate training is probably the most effective way to quickly housetrain a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also add that &lt;em&gt;routine&lt;/em&gt; is incredibly important when house-training a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your dog out on a schedule: the same times, every day.  Also try to take them out shortly after they eat: puppies might have to go as shortly as 30 minutes after a meal.  You want to set your pup up for success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, let me emphasize that &lt;strong&gt;accidents will happen&lt;/strong&gt;.  It's natural, it's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world.  What you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; want to do is scold your puppy, or &quot;rub their nose in it&quot;.  Dogs don't really learn that way, and usually just ape your emotions to appease you when they can't figure out what's wrong. It's better to try and prevent such accidents from happening, rather than reacting to one that's already transpired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:14:06.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="45" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:14:31.100" Score="18" ViewCount="2535" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 young cats (1.5 years and 8 months). How much activity should they be getting during the day? They seem to be most active in the early morning and then settle down for the majority of the day for naps which I assume is normal for a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long each day should I try to get them to play apart from their chasing of each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-24T06:30:10.617" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:25:31.537" Title="How much exercise should a young cat be getting?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="21" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:16:33.417" Score="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can feed cats raw meat, they're obligate carnivores after all, but human processed meats can introduce other bacterias and contaminates into meat that might not be there otherwise. If you want to do this, which I can understand, then you should introduce the raw meats carefully into their diet and only from a source that you trust, such as local butcher who is following good practices (if they save bones for dogs, it's probably a good sign). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you're doing this, monitor your cat carefully and if there is anything happening that concerns you such as unusual stool, vomiting, etc. then stop immediately and potentially take him/her into a vet for a check up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, there are some really good food products for cats that don't have as much (or little) filling in them. Spend some time reading the labels and look for products that are all meat or very, very high meat volume. Your cats will appreciate it. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:16:33.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="22" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:17:35.280" Score="17" ViewCount="398" Body="&lt;p&gt;What factors should I consider when deciding whether to purchase pet insurance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-27T09:32:57.723" LastActivityDate="2019-06-10T06:05:56.257" Title="What should I consider when deciding to purchase pet insurance?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;insurance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="23" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1405" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:17:35.400" Score="37" ViewCount="36562" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of my cats (past and present) have liked to lick plastic trash bags and grocery bags. Assuming that they are not tearing off bits of plastic and swallowing them, but just licking, is there any harm in this? What are they getting out of this -- is it just a texture thing, or are they leeching some chemical out of the plastic, or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-24T05:34:29.147" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T09:59:35.617" Title="Why do cats lick plastic bags, and is there any harm in it?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="24" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:18:44.063" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are just like dogs in that they need a lot of exercise. More importantly, they also share the same instinct to kill, except to a much greater degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that your cat needs one or both of these things to happen: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More exercise (buy some interactive toys)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something to &quot;kill&quot; after exercising (and no, don't buy mice just so it can kill them)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean by something to kill is a toy or something for it to chew on after some laser chasing or something. If a cat chases after something but can't actually do anything with it, it can build up frustration and aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="16" LastEditDate="2014-04-28T15:45:09.980" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T15:45:09.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="25" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:19:47.677" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the dog is so young, I think it is very likely you can slowly accustom her to urban walking.  I think a natural response when you see a small dog cowering or wimpering in fear is to console them, or pet them.  This is not an effective way to dissuade fear.  It is better to ignore your dog and not feed into its fearful emotions. [see below]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the best bet is to teach your dog that walking in urban areas is &lt;em&gt;fun&lt;/em&gt;.  Bring treats and toys, walk in a zany unpredictable way, go for short burts of sprints, etc.  Your dog will eventually begin to associate urban walks with fun times and an owner in good spirits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is not universally agreed-upon among trainers.  Some believe this to be true, others believe petting a fearful dog does no harm to the training procedure.  I personally subscribe to the theory that you should only pet and praise your dog when she is doing what you want her to be doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:19:47.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="26" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:19:54.037" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a trick Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) used to break a puppy of their fear of living in an urban environment: hold their tail up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When dogs are afraid, their tail tends to go between their legs and their heads bow down. When they're comfortable with their surroundings they'll put their tails upward. Simply (well, not so simply with a dachshund) holding their tail up while walking them might help them to feel more confident. It seems silly but it worked for Cesar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have Netflix, I recommend watching episode 2 of The Dog Whisperer: &lt;a href=&quot;http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Very_Best_of_Dog_Whisperer_with_Cesar_Millan/70270440&quot;&gt;http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Very_Best_of_Dog_Whisperer_with_Cesar_Millan/70270440&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:19:54.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="27" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="505" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:20:47.557" Score="13" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do people look for when estimating the age of a cat who is full-grown and not yet obviously elderly?  Both of my cats came from a shelter and the shelter's age estimates differed significantly from my vet's estimates.  When I asked my vet about that she said it's hard to know and she was going on a gut feeling.  And previously I had an experienced vet under-estimate a cat's age by more than five years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that cats don't develop gray hair like dogs do, and dental condition seems to depend as much on prior cleanings as on age itself.  What other clues to age are there and how reliable are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per request in a comment, here are photos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;        Cat #1 (at least 6)                            Cat #2 (estimated at 4-7 years)  &lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nZ2xi.jpg&quot; width=&quot;278&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/30k71.jpg&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="99" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T23:48:26.923" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T23:48:26.923" Title="How old is my non-kitten, non-senior cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="28" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:22:37.033" Score="9" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male dog who has recently developed the habit of going out at night. I followed him once and I noticed he usually goes to meet a female dog at another house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been chaining him since, but this is not helping as he cries all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T16:40:40.380" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T16:40:40.380" Title="What can I do when my dog loves going out at night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="29" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:23:42.773" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a few vets, and all of them say that corn based food is bad.  This may be a biased opinion since they each sell some kind of specialty brand pet food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their explanation is that while domesticated dogs can eat corn based food because they get used to it, their digestive system is built to handle meat. When I asked what other brands aside from the ones they sell would they recommend, almost all of them said &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutro_Products&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nutro&lt;/a&gt; is the best brand to feed a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benefits include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's easier for them to digest, so they poop less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their coat feels better&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They shed less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I switched my dogs to Nutro, I've witnessed those results, except for the shedding less, as my dogs don't shed. Keep in mind that Nutro may be an expensive purchase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:25:19.537" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:25:19.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="30" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:23:52.703" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One theory I've heard is that plastic bags contain the remnants of fats from animal byproducts, which the cats can taste/smell, this seems a little doubtful, though not impossible, given that not all bags are made from petroleum products.  Another theory is that the plastic has acquired scents from other substances and the cats are reacting to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either theory kind of makes sense; both our cats lick bags all the time. The common connection I see is that the plastic had come in contact with things from the grocery store. This lends a bit of credence to the second theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T04:00:29.107" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T04:00:29.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="31" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:27:00.327" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that in this case, try not letting the dog go out at night. It may cost you a few nights sleep, but eventually the dog will learn that going out at night isn't allowed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to take the dog out right before &quot;bed&quot; time so that the dog doesn't resort to going inside the house in anger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, crating the dog at night may be an option if the behavior doesn't stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:27:00.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="32" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="308" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:27:41.500" Score="16" ViewCount="95153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have mice in the apartment, and I am interested in using an ultrasonic repeller device. However, I read the following online:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Humans can hear sound at frequencies up to about 23,000 Hz (Hertz). Louisiana State University researchers report that mice and rats are sensitive to sound up to 60,000 and to about 76,000 Hz, respectively. However, common house pets such as cats and dogs can also hear ultrasonic frequencies. Cats can perceive sound up to about 64,000 Hz, and dogs perceive sounds up to 45,000 Hz. You should consider not using noise as a repellent for mice if you have pets.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_6571031_overview-noise-mouse-repellent.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overview of Noise as a Mouse Repellant (eHow)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the gap between dogs (45,000 Hz) seems pretty far from the mouse level (up to 60,000 Hz), do commercially-available ultrasonic repellers fall in the &amp;quot;safe range&amp;quot; for dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T19:35:03.247" Title="Are ultrasonic repeller devices painful for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;mice&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="33" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:31:20.960" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats tend to nibble on you as a sign of affection. As long as they aren't latching on and trying to draw blood/chunks of skin it's not dangerous. If you are dedicated to stopping the behavior I have found that a spray bottle works, but since it may not always be on hand, reducing the opportunities for the cat to nibble on you may also reduce the behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also find that the cat giving you bites is a cry for attention from the cat and if you  regularly play with and pay attention to the cat, the bites may stop all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:31:20.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="34" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="36" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:32:33.697" Score="21" ViewCount="1494" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten Mickey is addicted to cheese and will not stop meowing until we feed him. We give him about a handful a day. Is that healthy for a one-year-old cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="68" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T10:53:40.903" LastActivityDate="2015-10-05T00:32:45.650" Title="Is it healthy for a cat to regularly eat cheese?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="35" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:32:35.407" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read the coverages carefully.  When I investigated pet insurance several years ago, I found that it was only useful for catastrophic costs; the premiums were about equal to the cost of the annual exam (or vet check) and shots, and provided minimal discount there.  At that point, you're playing the odds: if your pet develops cancer, you'll be glad to have the insurance, but if it develops something that requires medication, but not surgery, it may not help much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there is often an age threshold: for the policies I was looking at, my ten-year-old cats were too old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to evaluate the cost is to compare the premiums and coverage amounts with your past and current data, if you have it, or failing that, with estimates from your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T21:24:08.110" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T21:24:08.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="36" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:35:13.993" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;While kittens generally can handle dairy products, adult cats usually can't. Feeding cats dairy products can lead to digestive issues resulting in diarrhea or vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply stopping giving into the kittens demands would most likely stop this behavior as the cat will learn that their meowing doesn't result in a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backing information on dairy and cats: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/e_ct_human_food_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human Foods that are Dangerous for Cats&lt;/a&gt; (petmd.com)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:36:27.123" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:36:27.123" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="37" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="34" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:35:35.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cheese contains lots of fat, which is a tasty treat for a cat, but it should really be just a treat. I think you probably want to reduce that quantity a bit, maybe to a fifth of that and make it a more special snack instead and look for alternate treats, such as hard treats that will keep his teeth in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:35:35.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="38" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:40:55.697" Score="31" ViewCount="1217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether it is my Black Labrador or my parents' American Eskimo, the sounds of thunder, fireworks and sometimes random loud noises can send them into a bit of a panic mode. They shake for an extended period of time, pant, drool, and scratch at the floor. They seem inconsolable and human contact doesn't seem to help them relax. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to handle dogs when you cannot control the sounds? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there medication I can give them when I know that a thunderstorm is approaching?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it help to put on music or other sounds I can broadcast to try to mask the disturbing sounds (barring lightning hitting a tree in the backyard, which would make even me shake and scratch at the carpet for it a bit. :-))?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T16:13:39.013" LastActivityDate="2018-05-13T16:35:42.037" Title="What can I do to ease my dogs' fear of loud noises?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sound&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="39" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:41:58.733" Score="9" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of reports about bad dog food, but seldom a credible one on healthy dog foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the best things I can feed my dog to make sure she lives a long healthy life ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="50" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-30T13:43:20.507" LastActivityDate="2013-11-30T13:43:20.507" Title="What are the healthiest foods I can feed my small dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-10-15T21:09:06.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="40" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:42:23.547" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; important for a young kitten/cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They should be getting about 1-2 hours a day of exercise. To get them to play just find a game that they both love. For example my kitten will not play unless it is with a mouse. Try buying them a few toys and see which one they like the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T08:25:31.537" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:25:31.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="41" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:43:15.380" Score="23" ViewCount="1789" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is vehemently an outside cat. When she's stuck in the house for more than a few hours she starts clawing at the back door and yowling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the problem: I live in Massachusetts, where the winters tend to be long and cold. She'll still yowl about going outside, and she doesn't believe me when I tell her that she really doesn't want to go out. So, I open the door, she sticks her head out, and &lt;em&gt;nopes&lt;/em&gt; right back inside (occasionally she actually will head out for a while, in 20 °F / -7°C weather, no less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, a few weeks of this and she starts to go stir-crazy. Climbing the walls, jumping on and off of shelves, mauling carpets and the like. So, what can I do to keep her from getting bored?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as toys go, her tastes are rather interesting. I've never been able to get her to pay attention to a laser pointer for more than 10 seconds, and she ignores the vast majority of the toys that we bring her. Every so often she'll get a hankering for catnip, but that's highly inconsistent. We've had limited success with a few toy mice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, the only thing that will get her attention most of the time is string/yarn, but after a few weeks of winter, she decides that my fur-lined leather gloves absolutely must die - seriously, I have to hide them, or the next thing I know she'll be prancing off with one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can I try to keep her stimulated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="36" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:03:55.103" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:03:55.103" Title="How can I keep my cat stimulated when she's stuck inside the house during winter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="42" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="87" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:45:29.283" Score="20" ViewCount="550" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my cat twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening. He is of the type that is always willing to eat, so I try and maintain a strict feeding schedule by feeding him exactly at 7am and then again at 6:30pm. As a result, he will usually be very vocal around these times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it gets darker in the fall, I've noticed that he thinks it is time to eat much earlier than usual. Since he can't tell time, I don't think he really cares about daylight savings time. Since the sunset presumably forces him to think that it is later than it really is, should I change his eating schedule when the clocks change? Does the sunrise/sunset have any effect on when I should feed my cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T19:08:03.900" Title="Should my cat follow daylight savings?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="43" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1673" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:47:21.057" Score="23" ViewCount="10285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one cat at the moment, who is inside all of the time, but he loves to sit in windowsills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't happen often, but there are many nights where another cat or an animal such as a raccoon will wander near the window, which greatly upsets my cat, and usually ends up waking me up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do much outside the house to prevent animals/cats coming around as I live in a basement of a house owned by other people, but is there anything I could do inside my house to keep my cat calm or otherwise prevent this sort of upset?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T23:13:48.120" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T08:32:18.587" Title="How can I stop my inside cat from being irritated by other outside cats or animals?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="44" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="39" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:47:26.870" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listing particular products for you will not be helpful. As with most carnivorous pets, what I can suggest is to consider that the ingredients of the food really, really, matter. Dogs are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; meant to eat corn or wheat, but many dog food contain some volume of these as filler and as a means to cut costs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to look for are dry or wet food choices that are predominantly meat (proteins) and animal fats. These will help your dog to be healthy and happy, but these choices are also more expensive.  You'll typically need to go to a dedicated pet store than a grocery store to purchase them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T18:31:00.217" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T18:31:00.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="45" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:47:43.513" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Daily exercise is good for both your kitten's mental and physical well-being. Exercise can help your baby cat avoid problems with his joints later on in life. Basically, getting your cat in the habit of regular physical activity while he's young is the cornerstone to a long healthy life and helps his physical development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Much is Enough?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're consistent with the amount of exercise your kitten gets. You need to help him build its stamina, and the only way he can do this is by exercising regularly but with caution. At the kitten stage, he's much too young to be doing the rigorous activities that he will be more able to do as he grows older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of exercise your kitten needs depends on his age, breed and medical condition. Not every breed will be up for a long walk through Central Park. Some breeds are just not built to go the distance, while others are always ready to romp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should try to spend about 10-15 minutes a few times each day engaging your cat in some form of activity. Young cats and kittens will usually take the initiative in engaging you in play, or they will find their own entertainment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/wellness/evr_ct_exercising_with_your_cat_a_how_to_guide&quot;&gt;Exercising with Your Cat: A How-To Guide &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:47:43.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="46" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:48:26.790" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are very clean and easy to train for litter tray use. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitsaustralia.com/litterbox-training.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;In nature, rabbits spend a lot of time in hutches and warrens, so learning to use a corner rather than where ever they are keeps their living area clean&lt;/a&gt;. This means your job as a rabbit owner is much easier as evolution has done most of the hard work. Most...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Finding their &amp;quot;spot&amp;quot;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When first house training your rabbit, confine them to a small section of the house, preferable one that is easy to clean such as an area with non-absorbant flooring, like tiles or linoleum - as with all animals, rabbits will make mistakes at first. In this confined area, in the corners you want to play several small litter trays over newspaper to catch any spills. As suggested, if you can, place something that has been soiled into the trays to reinforce the smell - however be careful with which wood you use, why is discussed below in the section on litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time you will notice that your bunny will prefer one spot over another. As they start this preference, slowly remove the other trays one at a time. If they do have accidents in other spots, return the trays and start again. But its very likely your bunny will pick up on whats happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they have a spot chosen, you can get a larger (more elborate) tray, and eventually they will imprint on the litter tray, rather than the area. This allows you to move the litter tray to a more convenient location, or if you need to leave your bunny with someone else the litter tray can go with to reduce mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Choosing the right litter&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are not cats and some litters designed for cats are not appropriate for rabbits. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/care/shavings.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Above all else, softwood litters such as those based on pine or cedar must be avoided!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Safer choices include paper or hardwoods. Take time to find the right amount of litter for your rabbit, as they all have different preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Dealing with mess&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Number one: loose litter&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have larger and stronger legs than a cat, and a stronger urge to dig. This means that litter, especially used litter, can go flying. The best thing to minimise mess is to get a larger, deeper litter tray. Rabbits will often try to position themselves in a corner when relieving themselves, so positioning the opening in a way away from their chosen corner of the box will help reduce spillage. The below image shows an ideal rabbit litter tray:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lSrJR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rabbit litter tray&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not enclose the litter tray&lt;/strong&gt; unlike in in nature, your bunnies litter tray is not a porous earthen enclosure with plants that enthusiastically absorb nitrogen. It is non-porous tray that needs to be emptied frequently and if left enclosed will allow nitrogen to build up. &lt;em&gt;Rabbit pee can smell&lt;/em&gt;, so more often cleaning, or more absorbent litter is the answer. Enclosing the trya will just enclose the smell, and your rabbits nose is much more sensitive than yours, if the smell builds up too much they will just not go there, and will choose another place to go - &lt;em&gt;like your bed&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Number two: &amp;quot;happy trails&amp;quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits occasionally suffer from excitement induced fecal incontinence, or cutely known as &amp;quot;happy trails&amp;quot;. When excited, whether during positive experiences such you coming home, during feeding time, or new vistors, or negative experiences, such as for some rabbits, nail clippings, your bunny may release dropping pellets. This is outside of their control, and they will usally be very hard and dry, and easy to clean up. This is one of the joys of owning a rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Pampering your rabbit&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are more comfortable in an area when they can eat. So add some hay to their litter box. This also helps to passively position the rabbit into a corner, as rabbits are quite clean and won't relieve themselves on their food. So by positioning the hay in one corner of the box, you encourage the rabbit to go in the opposite one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Waste not want not&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One a final (slightly off topic) note, as mentioned rabbit waste from a well fed bunny is very high in nitrogen. If you use a recycled paper based litter, the used litter is excellent fertilizer and can be used in the garden, for example to grow nice leafy green vegetables, to feed to your rabbit... thus completing the circle of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user35" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user35" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:27:59.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="47" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="55" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:50:37.270" Score="21" ViewCount="18200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a few laser pointers: a red one, and a green one. The green laser pointer is much stronger than the red one, it's the type that you can seem the beam if it's dark enough (it's 5mW).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What level of laser output is safe to use for playing with a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T03:10:55.337" LastActivityDate="2021-02-27T02:20:07.653" Title="What level of output laser pointer is safe for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="48" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:55:35.323" Score="14" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;My house rabbit can be rather shy around guests, and I would like to encourage her to be more friendly when people come around. I have explained to my guests that rabbits can be startled easily and they will crouch lower and move slower and quieter when going near her.  I'd like to be able to offer my bunny a treat or enticement to reward her for socialising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some positive traits I should look for in a bunny treat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What shouldn't rabbits be allowed to have as a treat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user35" LastEditorDisplayName="user35" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T03:32:12.923" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T03:34:54.400" Title="What are healthy treats for a house rabbit?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="49" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="47" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:56:29.167" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As low as you can get away with. The issue isn't so much with the output, as it is with keeping the laser beam away from the cat's eyes and minimizing the damage in the event that you accidentally shine the laser in the cat's eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same reason behind why it's illegal to shine a laser at a passing airplane, it has the possibility of blinding the pilot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:56:29.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="50" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="47" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:57:20.390" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the red. All lasers can be dangerous if they hit the eye of a cat or a human, but red lasers are usually much less powerful and still very visible to cats. I'm a little torn on this topic because I've used red lasers as a cat toy lots of times, but it really isn't intended as a cat toy and it's worth remembering that their eyes are far more sensitive than ours. If you do use a laser, just exercise some additional caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:57:20.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="51" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:58:25.800" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the Caribbean so it's pretty much always hot here and whenever my cat gets restless &lt;em&gt;(constant kneading, meowing, clawing etc)&lt;/em&gt;. I give him some cool tap water and anytime the fan is on, he likes to sit on the back of my chair apparently enjoying the breeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also seems to like the cold floor tiles in the day &lt;em&gt;(I rarely see him on the rug)&lt;/em&gt; and at nights I put a hard pillow in his basket and keep it next to a slightly opened window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, other things I do are to keep curtains closed so that the direct sun can't reach him when I'm not home but keep doors and windows open a bit for the occasional breeze to pass through and also keep his water in an open container in a corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T22:58:25.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="53" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T22:59:56.263" Score="24" ViewCount="1977" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone in my immediate family has male dogs: my parents have a 4-year old boxer, my sister has a 2-year old mini pinscher/terrier mix, and my wife &amp;amp; I have a 12-year old pug.  All 3 dogs are neutered and have been for some time.  The boxer is a rescue, but has lived with my parents since he was about a year old.  The pug is also a rescue, but that was 11+ years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we get together, we like to include the dogs as much as possible, but we rarely get all 3 dogs together as it becomes a chaotic mess with 2 young high energy dogs and a 3rd mellow, older dog.  Generally speaking, everyone gets along fairly well in pairs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The boxer is usually very protective of the smaller dogs (or anything smaller than him, such as toddlers).  However, the boxer and the pug have a recent history of rough play (not quite &quot;fighting&quot; as I would define the term).  Specifically, while the boxer and pug (and their respective owners) were living together for a few months, the boxer grabbed the pug by the neck scruff and lifted him in the air on 2 different occasions.  After the first incident, the dogs were separated but were slowly reintegrated a few days later.  About a month later, the 2nd incident happened.  The pug was physically shaken after the 2nd incident, so the dogs were separated permanently the same day: the pug was sent to live with my in-laws until we moved back to our house after a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the incidents, we've avoided getting the pug and boxer together.  In the meantime, the boxer and the mini pinscher/terrier mix have continued to get along with no incidents.  Given there has been no sign of aggression from the boxer prior to this toward either dog, or since together the mini pinscher, we have considered trying to reintegrate the pug and boxer for short durations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to accomplish this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T03:27:35.003" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T03:27:35.003" Title="How can I safely reintegrate 3 male dogs that have a history of fighting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="54" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:00:14.360" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had great luck with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thundershirts&lt;/a&gt; in calming my pets, both cats and dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't work, give the dog a safe place to go, like their crate, may provide some relief. Putting the crate in a location away from the external walls may help some as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:48:24.810" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:48:24.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="55" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="47" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:01:01.813" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/LabPage/laserpointersafety.htm&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; from Princeton University deals with laser pointer use and human effect, and it mentions that use of laser pointers that are higher than 5 mW are dangerous and should not be used, so it seems like the green one might be safe, although they recommend that the lower the output the better, as they will be safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like with any laser, avoid pointing it at your cat's eyes, or at reflective surfaces that might reflect the laser into their eyes, and that can cause problems, the same way it can for humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, though, beyond just the output, another concern is that since the cats cannot &quot;kill&quot; the laser, they are not able to come down from the &quot;high&quot; of hunting, and may redirect that energy in negative ways (excessive grooming, aggression, etc), so &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/are-laser-pointer-toys-really-safe-for-my-cat&quot;&gt;it is suggested&lt;/a&gt; that at the end of a laser pointer play session, you give the cat something to &quot;kill&quot; such as a stuffed toy or something similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:01:01.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="56" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:04:06.707" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;No need to &lt;em&gt;refresh&lt;/em&gt; your cat, he will be perfectly capable of staying inactive for longer periods of time during the hot hours of the day. They are genetically programmed predators that are good at conserving their energy and finding secluded spots, lurking on their prey in ambush when conditions are too hot and they might exhaust themselves and overheat too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your cat has a shade to retreat to and access to fresh water. The place it stays at should be well ventilated, with fresh air coming into it, preferably with access to the outdoors, if at all possible. Cats will often retreat into the bushes or high grass during the hottest hours of the day, but it's also perfectly normal for them to enjoy a bit of the sun too. Don't worry about their fur getting too hot, it's well insulated and with most cat species, it will take a very long time for that heat to propagate onto their body. Cat species with shorter fur will only have this heat tolerance threshold ever so slightly lower than longer fur ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also exchange the heat mostly through breathing and pads, and not through their fur, so perhaps giving your cat access to areas laid with floor tiles or any other cooler surfaces wouldn't be a bad idea either. In short though, as long as your cat has all the essentials provided for, like access to fresh water, shade and well aired areas, they will do all the &lt;em&gt;refreshing&lt;/em&gt; on their own well enough even in the hottest of climates during the hottest of hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not use however some water sprinkler or a spray bottle on them with intention of helping them cool down. Cats utterly dislike that and when they learn what to run away from, they will and you'll only achieve the opposite with it, stressing and overheating your cat further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:04:06.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="57" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:08:21.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I miss our rabbits, they're great pets... as for treats, I found that veggies made them happy, always. We had pellets for them, which tends to make them chubby, but our rabbits much preferred fresh veggies, especially carrot tops (they love the green more than the orange part, so much for Bugs Bunny) and fresh hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to really avoid is celery, the strings in the stocks could choke your rabbit. Generally, carrots, dandelion and romaine lettuce were big favourites for our guys and are good for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:08:21.430" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="58" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:12:55.047" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Distraction, via food, voice or otherwise, is usually a good way of managing in the short term but in my personal view it can take quite some time before the dog gets the connection if you're using distraction alone and relying on things to happen (i.e. whenever a child happens to pass by). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another short term technique to can be of help is finding an incompatible behaviour, i.e. one that, if he performs that behaviour, he can't exhibit the problem behaviour at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, for example, you might ask your dog to sit and to watch you. Both behaviours are incompatible with lunging, i.e. it can't lunge and sit at the same time. But you'll have to ensure his motivation to keep sitting is higher than his fear of the child. So get not just your average treats but very, very special super yummy sausages, steak, whatever he likes most. This is different from simple distraction, as you are asking your dog to actively do stuff and he knows that lunging at children will mean losing out on the reward he knows he's getting if he just keeps still that little bit longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long term solution is what's called desensitization and counter-conditioning. In short, it means gradually getting your dog used to whatever triggers the fear reaction (and it is fear 99% of the time rather than aggression) while at the same time associating the trigger with positive outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically, it means you'll want to recruit someone's child to help you, since children seem to be the trigger. The main thing to do is to make this training exercise safe for the child, your dog and yourself, so ideally set it up with a fence between the dog and the child, so the dog can't get at the child even if you lose control of the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find the distance at which your dog is still comfortable with the child, i.e. well before it starts lunging or showing any other warning signals (growling, raised heckles, etc.). While you are at a comfortable distance, whenever the dog looks over to the child, reward it with lots of praise and food (or a toy, if that's what motivates your dog). Really hammer it home that good things happen when it looks at the child and doesn't react. The best way to do this (if your dog is food motivated) is to give him a special type of treat, the nicest you can find, that he &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; gets when he is around children and behaves himself. Don't use this type of treat for anything else!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog is happy with the child at a certain distance and realises good things happen with the child around, move a step closer. Really go slowly, as getting it wrong will undo a lot of work up to that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do get it wrong and your dog reacts to the child, lead it away to a safe distance and start again. Don't punish the dog! You're the one who pushed it too quickly into a situation the dog is not comfortable with. Simply go back to a distance the dog is ok with and start again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this for 5-10 minutes, then wait until the next day. Gradually build up your dog's resistance to children and slowly associate them as being good for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that this might be a long and slow process for the simple reason that when you're actually out on a walk and your dog is forced into a situation it's not comfortable with (children have the unfortunate tendency of wanting to pet even the most fearsome and aggressive looking dogs) and it lunges, the kid will probably run away, meaning the dog's response just got reinforced and you have to undo that again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Dog is scared of kid, dog lunges, kid runs away =&amp;gt; dog achieves desired outcome.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:12:55.047" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="59" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:12:57.227" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of toys on the market designed to stimulate cats who are stuck in indoor environments, and usually they are designed to mimic behaviours that cats use outside and in the wild, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions you might want to try that don't involve buying possibly expensive toys that your cat might not like are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give it food to hunt. I often use cat treats, which I can hide in boxes or paper bags or the like and my cat will hunt them down. He likes both the box/bag to play in, and the hunting the food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give it something to climb and/or scratch on - if your cat is like other outdoor cats I know, they likely like climbing on whatever they find (fences, trees, etc), and trying to mimic that inside with a cat tree or something similar might help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if she likes string, you might want to consider a toy that is on a string - you can get ones that are on sticks that you hold, or you can also find ones that you can mount over a door or in a door frame that they can chase and pounce. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:12:57.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="60" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="63" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:27:28.620" Score="38" ViewCount="18675" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a few favorite toys that he goes nuts for. More specifically: a plastic ball with a bell inside and a small stuffed mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From time to time when I put my shoes on in the morning, I'll find one of these toys in my shoe. At first I thought it was coincidental and that it happened on accident. However, this is a recurring behavior and I have caught him in the act more than once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common behavior? Is there any explanation for why he does this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:19:40.607" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T17:33:50.560" Title="Why does my cat put toys in my shoes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="61" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:30:31.583" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are territorial and will &lt;em&gt;protect&lt;/em&gt; their area whenever there is some natural or an artificial border separating &lt;em&gt;their territory&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;not their territory&lt;/em&gt;. Most of them aren't too aggressive at that tho, and if you opened the fence doors you'd likely observe your dog bark while a passer by walks next to the fence, and stop soon after they pass by the open door. That might not be possible to do in your case, but you have probably observed this behaviour previously with other dogs behind fences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm describing this to somewhat lower your expectations, because you're unlikely to stop your dog barking at passers by when they approach some barrier they &lt;em&gt;learned&lt;/em&gt; to protect, adopted as &lt;em&gt;their territory&lt;/em&gt;. When I say &lt;em&gt;learn&lt;/em&gt;, large part of this behaviour would be preconditioned and greatly depends on the dog species, and when I say &lt;em&gt;their territory&lt;/em&gt;, some dog species that are more lenient to strangers approaching might be more permissible in all of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one way to prevent that would be distancing your dog from the fence itself, maybe by building a kennel within that fence but far enough from it for the dog to feel comfortable with strangers passing by (it would depend on each individual dog really, even their pecking order if you have more than one), but I would advise against chaining your dog or anything of that sort, not to cause it further inconvenience. The dog is really merely doing its job when barking at strangers. And strangers here means any passers by that the dog didn't yet successfully identify on their approach. Different dog breeds will have different sight, smell and hearing abilities, so this will vary too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if at all possible, move your fence to be slightly protruding onto the street, at least a bit more than your neighbour's so the dog can see, smell and hear incoming passers by before they nearly brush against your fence and surprise your dog, making it bark even more vigorously. Or even the other way around, recess your fence inwards so there's enough of space between the pathway beyond the fence and the fence itself. Anyway, there are many ways to help prevent or lower the frequency of this barking through the fence, once you know where this behavior originates from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observe your dog, allow it to move freely on your lawn and take a mental note of when the dog doesn't feel threatened by passers by, and when it does. Then apply these rules learned to whatever would keep your dog from barking through the fence. Some breeds tend to be more &lt;em&gt;nervous&lt;/em&gt; while others might be easier to apply any of these rules to and mitigate this problem. Terriers are particularly territorial (not where the name comes from, tho), also shepherds but usually when there's something else than themselves to protect within the &lt;em&gt;protected area&lt;/em&gt;, and some hounds or similar might not even give any attention to passers by. As a general rule of a thumb though, bigger dog breeds tend to be more confident in themselves and be slower, less energetic in their reactions to strangers. Unless they feel they really have to. So, learn your dog's ways and you two will work together on it, figure it out. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditDate="2013-10-08T23:41:30.347" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:41:30.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="62" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="581" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:30:41.740" Score="14" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet bird (African Grey Congo) has been a plucker for years. We tried the &quot;cone of shame&quot; for a while as recommended by our vet to break the habit, but she goes right back to plucking the second it comes off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has toys to play with.  The behavior started shortly after we got the bird and went on vacation. Our pet sitter was a little nervous about such a big bird and didn't take it out of the cage or interact much with it while we were gone for 2 weeks. It might have started as boredom, but I'm afraid now it is just a bad habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any effective remedies for birds who pluck and can you provide tips for using them effectively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T17:43:31.400" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:57:38.767" Title="Is there any effective solution to stop a bird from habitual plucking?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="63" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="60" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:33:28.160" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common behaviour. There are a few different ideas as to why cats seem to like shoes in particular as stash locations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are small spaces that seem hidden, which cats like - they want to hunt things and then  hide them for later, and the shoes seem like a good sneaky way to hide them away from the other people in the house (or other animals), as they are small and hard to see into and easy to overlook.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are bringing you a present! Cats tend to hunt and bring the kills to whoever they care for (other cats, people, etc), and since your shoes will retain a lot of your personal scent, especially if they are ones you wear often, the cat will associate them with you, and thus put the toys there for you to find as gifts and proof of their hunting prowess. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-08T23:33:28.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="64" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="138" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:33:47.313" Score="32" ViewCount="2189" Body="&lt;p&gt;My oldest cat is obese.  She was a rescue (as were my other cats), and was recovering from starvation when we adopted her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever since, she's had food issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She gets noticeably stressed whenever her food dish gets empty, even if she's just eaten.  On occasion, she'll respond to an empty food dish by overeating upon the next feeding, to the point she'll vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We give her a spoon full of canned food mixed in with some diet dry food (only the dry food is diet; most of my cats will boycott the food if we try diet canned food) in the morning.  We also fill the two cat food bowls with diet dry food each morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried limiting the amount of dry food left out during the day/overnight, but the problem is our other cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them is very timid, particularly when it comes to food.  He is easily scared away from his food, and he generally skirts being underweight.  If we restrict the amount of food left out, we're concerned that he won't get enough to eat.  He won't even come into the kitchen to feed with the other cats, and instead is fed under a chair in the living room.  Two of our cats are food aggressive, chasing him from his food so they can eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we help our overweight cat lose weight?  We've tried playing with her more, to keep her active, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T17:16:05.743" Title="How can I help my obese cat lose weight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="66" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:34:46.210" Score="16" ViewCount="621" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a pond with several fish in it (koi, sturgeon, goldfish).  We live in a temperate area where the pond is covered by a layer of ice for several weeks during winter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I ensure the fish survive this period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to keep an area ice-free, and if so, how should I do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T03:20:06.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:19:12.990" Title="How can I protect a fish pond during the winter?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="67" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1072" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:36:32.360" Score="69" ViewCount="74516" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things that I try and prevent my cat from doing: jumping up on the kitchen counter and being mean to the dog (who is obedient and minds his own business). It's easy to catch him in the act when he tries to bully the dog around, but to catch him in the act of being up on the counter where he knows he is not allowed requires a bit of stealth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do catch him exhibiting behavior, how can I effectively discipline him to discourage him from continuing the bad behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:38:04.677" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T01:11:54.127" Title="How should I discipline my cat for bad behavior?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="68" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:37:37.667" Score="26" ViewCount="25760" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet garden snail who is fully grown, but still not very big.  Sometimes I need to move my snail around for one reason or another, like for cage cleaning.  But I'm afraid to pick snails up, because I'm afraid I might hurt them if I just try to pull them off whatever they're stuck to!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, I try to put something tasty in front of my snail and wait for them to crawl onto it, so I can pick up the food and the snail along with it.  But sometimes it backfires, and my snail sits there eating for half an hour without ever climbing onto the food itself.  Unfortunately, it sometimes takes quite a while before my snail crawls onto something I can move!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to pick up a garden snail without hurting them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6M6Xs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user43" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:42:40.113" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T23:47:54.800" Title="How can I safely pick up a garden snail?" Tags="&lt;snails&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="69" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:39:00.820" Score="15" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;We currently have two sturgeons in our pond. I heard that they are active during winter and need to be fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much do they need (in relation to their weight or number)? How often and at which time of the day should I feed them? Do I have to use different food than during summer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T03:16:31.947" Title="How should I feed sturgeons during winter?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;sturgeons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="71" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="184" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:40:30.567" Score="11" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12-year-old pug who suffers from seasonal allergies, mostly skin issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every September and May (sometimes extending into October and June), he ends up scratching himself to death.  Once it hits his peak, we generally have to take him to the vet for steroids (which we want to avoid).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home we try to treat him Benadryl, but that has become less effective over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of keeping him inside, are there any alternative treatments we can consider to help relieve the itching, or help prevent his allergic symptoms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T18:11:08.587" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T18:11:08.587" Title="Alternative seasonal allergy treatments for dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="72" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:44:31.820" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use the squirt bottle technique, a little squirt of water doesn't hurt them, but it discourages the behaviour. However, maybe it's just that my cats are especially intractable, but it's usually a short-term dissuasion in my experience. Just make sure that they don't see you squirt them, it may affect their reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T00:26:06.023" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:26:06.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="73" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:46:29.587" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a child I've always picked up snails by their shell. No matter if it were small snails or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia&quot;&gt;burgundy snails&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their houses are sturdy enough that you wont crush them when you pick them up, just apply enough pressure to safely grab it. Use as many fingers as you can so &#xA;the pressure is distributed evenly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A snails foot is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_snail#Physical_characteristics&quot;&gt;well protected by the mucus on it&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They also secrete mucus from the foot to aid in locomotion by reducing friction, and to help reduce the risk of mechanical injury from sharp objects, meaning they can crawl over a sharp edge like a straight razor and not be injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are careful and don't rip the snail away from the surface, you should be safe lifting the it slowly. As soon as you gently pull it, it should let go of whatever it foot attached to or if it is too light, light a small twig, you will lift that, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way is to touch the snails antennas. This usually makes the snail retract into her shell which makes picking it up even easier. Of course you have to be careful not to hurt the snail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T20:33:20.487" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T20:33:20.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="74" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:47:00.080" Score="15" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my wife and I met, she had a 30lb (13.6 kg) pug.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a lot of hard work and dieting (and training my wife not to overindulge the dog), he lost 10lbs (4.6 kg) in 6 years. I am concerned he is going to lose too much weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than tracking the quantity of food he eats and weight gain/weight loss, is there a good method to determine the proper amount of food a dog should get to maintain his current weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T23:34:19.173" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T23:34:19.173" Title="How much food should I be giving my dog to maintain his weight?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="75" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="76" CreationDate="2013-10-08T23:52:04.057" Score="30" ViewCount="1413" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is about to give birth to our first child, and we are trying figure out the best way to introduce our dog to the newborn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog, a 12-year old pug, has been an &quot;only child&quot; so we are unsure how he is going to react.  Typically, he is an extremely laid back and mellow dog, but can be very excitable in new situations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we introduce them to limit the stress on the new mother, and the dog, so we can try to integrate the new member into our family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T10:27:59.073" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:27:22.263" Title="How do I introduce our dog to a brand new baby" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="76" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:03:39.537" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/pets_babies.html&quot;&gt;The Humane Society of the United States&lt;/a&gt; has a few suggestions to prepare your pet. Some of them sound a little silly, but they do work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most important things is getting the pet used to the new noises and sounds the baby will make - a lot of pets will find baby cries and the like upsetting. You can play crying sounds and the like to acclimate the pet, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for actual introduction of the baby to the pet, they suggest first giving the animal something with the baby's smell on it (a blanket, etc) so they don't get alarmed by the new smell in the house, if possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also suggested that you try to keep your pet's routine the same as much as possible, and that you greet the pet first without the baby when you arrive home with your new child. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you want the pet to interact positively with the baby, so you will want to reward and encourage positive interactions, and at first you might want to limit the time the pet and the baby spend actively together. Bring the baby to sit with the pet, etc (with you holding the baby, of course), for small bursts, extending them over time, as the pet gets used to the baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:03:39.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="78" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:12:51.280" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say start by familiarizing the dog with the baby's scent. Bring an item that contains your baby's scent, such as a burp rag before bringing the baby around the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have the dog sniff it from a distance at first preferably. By doing this, you are communicating to your dog that the item is yours and then giving permission for the dog to sniff. This helps start the process of creating respect for the baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; careful also as dogs have been known to attack children for particularly no reason, the noise might excite them or they might be overly rough when playing around etc. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/pets/dog-behavior/help-my-dog-bit-my-baby?page=all&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.doggonesafe.com/baby_safety_around_dogs&quot;&gt;articles&lt;/a&gt; around the web. I suggest not leaving the dog with the toddler and paying attention to how he behaves around the baby, if seeking attention, dogs can get restless and this can lead to accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other general tips are to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to your dog when around the toddler and make sure you are in a controlled environment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Observe and become aware of how the dog seeks your attention.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Know your dog’s sensitivities. Research the breed or mixes. &lt;em&gt;Does he startle with fast motion, noises etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allow your dog to become familiar with the baby equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:12:51.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="79" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:16:20.690" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very tricky problem for the simple fact that your dog gets rewarded every time it barks at a passerby. In the dog's head, it's all very simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Person approaches, dog barks, person leaves.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yay to the power of barking!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K1LEn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The power of barking&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the size of your garden, if none of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18/stop-dog-from-barking-at-people-through-fence/61#61&quot;&gt;TildalWave's suggestions&lt;/a&gt; are an option, you might have to temporarily keep your dog in the house while you're not at home and in a room that doesn't allow him to bark at passersby through the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long-term approach is to use &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1/dog-lunging-at-child/58#58&quot;&gt;desensitisation and counter-conditioning&lt;/a&gt;, that is, slowly get your dog used to strangers coming near the fence and start to associate strangers with &lt;em&gt;good things happening&lt;/em&gt;(TM). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to recruit some strangers (to your dog) and ask them to approach the fence to a distance that your dog is comfortable with. Reward your dog for noticing the stranger but not barking at it. Slowly move the dog and/or stranger closer together and keep rewarding good behaviour. Try to set your dog up for success as much as possible. The less often you get your dog's threshold wrong, the quicker it'll learn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it is very important for the stranger not to move away if your dog does start barking, as this will only reinforce the unwanted behaviour. Just ask the person to stay still and move your dog further away from the fence. Most of all, exercise plenty of patience as it might take a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:16:20.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="80" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="86" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:19:00.920" Score="11" ViewCount="3683" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that whenever an airplane passes over our house, my dog starts howling and doesn't stop until the plane is a very far distance from our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a normal behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not what can I do to keep my dog from howling at planes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="75" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T11:33:15.413" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T16:15:00.173" Title="Why does my dog howl at airplanes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="81" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="98" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:19:32.877" Score="18" ViewCount="4127" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a small stream that cuts through our yard.  The dog enjoys drinking from it frequently, even when he has a source of fresh water (from the kitchen sink) nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe? If not, is there a way to discourage him from drinking from the stream and encourage him to drink from his bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T19:41:41.797" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T02:41:53.383" Title="Is it safe for a dog to drink water from a stream?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="83" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="790" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:24:21.187" Score="27" ViewCount="2008" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two older cats and are considering getting a couple of kittens. Our cats are on the older side, 15 years, but are still active and spunky. If we did bring in some kittens, what are some suggestions or recommendations for handling the introduction between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T03:19:06.770" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T21:09:55.820" Title="Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats" Tags="&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="84" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="80" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:29:17.790" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may be finding the engine noise distracting or irritating (same can be said for human reaction too) and so is vocalizing his displeasure as a result. I have to be honest, I don't think I've heard of this before, so it may be worth having his hearing and ears checked to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:29:17.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="86" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="80" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:38:22.103" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/80/why-does-my-dog-howl-at-airplanes/84#84&quot;&gt;John Cavan's answer&lt;/a&gt;, if you've ruled out any medical problems your dog most likely howls at the plane to make it go away - and it's working!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kzz1y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The power of barking&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If planes pass over your house frequently enough, you'll want to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18/stop-dog-from-barking-at-people-through-fence/79#79&quot;&gt;desensitise&lt;/a&gt; your dog to the noise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try searching for airplane noises on YouTube and play them at a volume that your dog is comfortable with. Reward with lots of treats and praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increase the volume in very small steps, as you will undo a lot of the work if you misjudge your dog's limits and he starts howling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have lots of patience, it'll likely take a while for your dog to get used to the noise and to associate it with &lt;em&gt;good things happening&lt;/em&gt;(TM).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:38:22.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="87" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="42" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:46:12.220" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/16893-daylight-saving-time-pets-notice-difference.html&quot;&gt;various&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/basics/Daylight-Savings-Time-and-Your-Dog&quot;&gt;pet&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://animalbehaviorist.us/companion_animals/make_daylight_savings_time_less_stressful_for_pets_by_adjusting_feeding_times&quot;&gt;behaviourists&lt;/a&gt;, dogs' Circadian rhythms are generally set around the amount of daylight rather than time, as they lack the ability to differentiate between say, 6 PM and 7 PM the way humans do. This is mitigated some by the artificial light cycles (you turning lights on and off, etc) in your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pet might notice the change and will likely take a bit to adjust, but generally they do adjust to the differences (in daylight, timing, etc.) which come with Daylight Savings time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like, you can choose to slowly adjust the pet's schedule, but generally the pet should be okay with the time change. Like humans, pets will need time to adjust, but they generally figure it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T19:08:03.900" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T19:08:03.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="88" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:49:18.757" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T00:49:18.757" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T00:49:18.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="89" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:49:18.757" Score="0" Body="Ponds are natural or artificial outdoor fresh water basins, commonly used to host a variety of aquatic creatures. Questions are about pets that live in ponds, such as fish, amphibians, clams and crustaceans." OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T11:35:01.293" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:35:01.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="90" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:54:19.710" Score="16" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the initial days following a de-sexing operation, vets often instruct an owner to try to minimize a female dog's physical activity.  There might be, for example, 10 days between the operation and when stitches are removed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, dogs often have a mind of their own, and once the anesthetic wears off, they can start behaving just like normal.  Unfortunately, such normal activity (running, jumping, chasing other dogs, cats, etc.) might cause problems with the stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Questions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How important is it to minimize the physical activity of a female dog in the days immediately after de-sexing?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are useful strategies for minimizing such physical activity?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T18:08:43.783" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:26:12.550" Title="Whether and how to minimise physical activity of female dog immediately following desexing operation?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="91" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="126" CreationDate="2013-10-09T00:55:34.547" Score="15" ViewCount="986" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium and it has algae on the glass.  The algae is somehow so attached to the glass that I´m afraid I'd scratch the glass if I tried to clean it using some hard plastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I remove the algae without damaging the glass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:35:42.017" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T23:07:31.733" Title="How to remove the algae from the glass of an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="92" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:00:09.753" Score="23" ViewCount="6466" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every cat I have owned has loved to sleep in cardboard boxes of any size. It could be a plain box, a sheet of cardboard, an old cookie box... Why do they do this?  Is there some smell they like?  Is there a chemical product in cardboard that attracts them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="69" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T15:21:11.513" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T22:49:49.630" Title="Why do cats love sleeping on cardboard?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="93" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="121" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:00:10.387" Score="24" ViewCount="2663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium with some rocks and substrate mixture, and about 15 small fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pH level of the water is always high (7.6 - 8), away from the recommended value for the fishes I have.  I want to fix the pH level permanently; I don't want to just add chemical components for a temporary effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I permanently reduce the pH level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-15T19:45:25.607" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T21:02:31.830" Title="How can I permanently reduce the pH level of my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="94" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:00:39.647" Score="26" ViewCount="571" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a puppy that poos outside in the garden. However, she is not selective in the location where she poos, and the garden is relatively large. This makes the weekly clean up a bit of a scavenger hunt, and it's easy to miss one or two, which makes walking on the garden a little less pleasant. It would be easier for us if she went to the toilet in a more limited region of the garden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a good strategy for training a dog to poo in a particular part of the garden?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="68" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T09:17:54.807" Title="How to train a dog to poo in a particular part of the garden?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="95" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="124" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:05:11.057" Score="19" ViewCount="29713" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many fish can I have per liter in my aquarium, or how much water should I have for each fish? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For specimens like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnocorymbus_ternetzi&quot;&gt;Black tetra&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_tetra&quot;&gt;Neon&lt;/a&gt;, that don´t require that much space and can coexist with other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T12:49:06.753" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T21:36:34.880" Title="What is the maximum proportion of fish per liter in an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="96" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:05:22.467" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that my rabbit loves to eat timothy hay, bananas, slightly peeled grapes, mostly stuff that's sweet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hates veggies. Tried most kinds of greens that are available in the grocery store. Other than timothy hay, the rabbit will not eat anything green. He even has a preferred &lt;em&gt;brand&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a complete &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnymama.com/Care/FoodTreats.aspx&quot;&gt;list&lt;/a&gt; of dos and don'ts that I've found in terms of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T01:05:22.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="97" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="91" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:07:05.797" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use a magnetic fish tank cleaner (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753191&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one example&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It consists of two pieces that use magnets to attach through the glass. One piece is often shaped like a grip, the other piece has a surface used to clean off the algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be careful the cleaning surface is free of sand or other dirt, otherwise you might scratch the glass.  There are floating versions available which don't drop down to the bottom of the aquarium if the pieces lose contact. This reduces the risk of getting sand onto the surface and makes it easier to retrieve the piece that's in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T02:59:36.243" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T02:59:36.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="98" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:07:38.677" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, if you are not familiar with the water source, it is not safe to let your dog drink from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leptospira&lt;/em&gt;, which is a genus of bacteria excreted in the urine of infected animals, can survive for many months in water ways, so our vet has recommended that in addition to his normal annual shots, he also be inoculated for leptospirosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond the additional inoculations, our vet has not shown any serious concerns though.  However, it is always advisable to consult with your vet as there may be pathogens that are common to waterways where you live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T19:46:16.153" LastActivityDate="2021-01-01T19:46:16.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="99" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="123" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:09:03.747" Score="15" ViewCount="2710" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some 50 &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_tetra&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;neons&lt;/a&gt; in my aquarium. Recently, I've added some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnocorymbus_ternetzi&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;black tetras&lt;/a&gt;. They live together very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other species could I add so that they would still live &quot;in peace&quot;, &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt;, without eating each other? There's some free space, so the fish size won't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:14:47.347" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:47:07.697" Title="Which fishes can live together with neons?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:09:42.113" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has to do with security. A box has 4 sides so they feel safe and protected since they are closed off. It also gives them the element of surprise and if anything happens they can easily escape/attack etc. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/10/why-cats-love-boxes-scientist-explains_n_3414736.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;(src)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They like the security of an enclosed space. A box resembles a cave and may make your cat feel secure knowing they are protected and, theoretically, cannot be attacked from behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boxes are fun! Lots of cats seem especially playful in and around boxes. Cats enjoy jumping in and out of a box, pouncing, stalking and climbing atop boxes. Cats are little predators, and a box is a great spot from which to pounce on their prey, even if the prey is just a catnip mouse toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boxes are cozy. Try putting a soft blanket in the bottom of your cat’s favorite box. The sides help retain the cat’s body heat making a comfy nest. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmeds.org/petmeds-spotlight/why-do-cats-love-boxes-so-much-anyway/#.UlSs5FBhBmw&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;(src)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T02:50:36.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:11:46.250" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to break up your problem into a set of small easy steps and work on each one separately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, to try and get your dog to overcome the fear of noises from the TV start with the TV set to very low volume. Play a movie, and hang out with your dog, feeding her yummy treats repeatedly. Make sure you start out with a very low volume level, and a very high frequency of rewards. At this point you are trying to get your dog to focus on the food and not the noise, so it is fine to give lots of treats (use something cheap, and break it up to small, pea sized, bits. One good option is string cheese cut to small pieces). Slowly decrease the rate of rewards. Can you get to a point in which you only give her a treat once every 10 seconds? 30? 60? Then increase the volume a bit, and go back to fast rewards. Continue until she is ok with normal TV volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at any point she starts showing signs of stress/fear (cowering, lip licking, etc) go back a step - reduce volume and give more rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For walking outside. Again, break the problem into small steps. Getting the leash, getting out the door, standing close to the house and watching cars drive by, standing on the sidewalk, walking on the sidewalk, and so on.&#xA;reward heavily for each 'small step' at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are trying to build a connection in your dog's mind between these strange (possibly scary) noises to good things - namely treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="59" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T01:11:46.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="91" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:13:34.123" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few types of fish that feed on algae, and some are pretty cool looking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariumalgaeeaters.blogspot.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;list&lt;/a&gt; of algae-eaters, which is a great list because it lets you know whether your existing fish will find them tasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Otocinclus sp.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American flagfish &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neritina sp.&lt;/em&gt; zebra snail &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whiptail catfish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T23:07:31.733" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T23:07:31.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="94" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:19:14.580" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ultimately positive praise, reward, and repetition are the keys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When taking him out after meals, try to direct your dog to the particular area in which you would like him to relieve himself.  You will have to stay with him and try to encourage him to remain in that area until he goes.  Once he does, provide him with positive praise and rewarding him (food rewards obviously will work best).  And keep repeating until he picks up on the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, just like with paper training an apartment dog or regular house-breaking, accidents will happen.  It is important that you do not punish him for going where you don't want him to go, especially very early in the training.  It will only confuse him and possibly associate the punishment with going to the bathroom, which will complicate matter significantly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T01:19:14.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="106" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:25:45.980" Score="18" ViewCount="1836" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother was active at spay and release (trapping feral cats, spaying or neutering them, and then releasing them back into the neighborhoods they lived in) at her old house.  By the time she left, there was only one feral cat in the neighborhood left.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She decided to bring the cat with her to the new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been several years now, and the cat is still completely feral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It lives in the (furnished) basement, and hides in a sectioned-off area whenever people are around.  She used to come out and play (primarily with a laser pointer, as it allowed her to avoid coming too close to any humans), but never let herself be petted, touched, or even allowed anyone to come within arm's reach of her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother, unfortunately, recently got a dog.  A small, very active puppy.  Since getting the dog, the feral cat has regressed a bit, and no longer comes out at all when people are around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have one other cat, who is very friendly, and has adjusted well to the dog (well, relatively well, considering how hyper the dog is...).  The two cats get along well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any advice I can give my mother on making the feral cat accustomed to being in the presence of people, or even comfortable enough to allow them to pet her?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T17:38:38.973" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T20:43:58.003" Title="Can an adult feral cat be socialized/domesticated?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="105" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:36:20.610" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feral cats can be domesticated, but that is somewhat dependant on why they're feral in the first place.  A cat born wild is likely to stay mostly that way even if it is comfortable with other cats or one human. A cat that is feral because it was &quot;kicked out&quot; or abandoned is more amenable to human contact and can be brought back to comfort with humans as a result. My in-laws have done this successfully with about a half dozen rescues and our current cats are offspring from one of those successes, it just requires a lot of patience and a willingness to sit still for it. I did a similar thing for a persian that was badly abused and was deathly afraid of men, eventually he was the biggest suck of a cat you could meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of your Mom's cat, it may never entirely get comfortable with people and not all cats are keen to be petted either. The puppy represents a disruption to routine as well and some cats really hate that, so that may be the real reaction rather than specifically the puppy. Mind you a nutty dog in a dignified cat's &quot;space&quot; may be sufficient offence anyways. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T01:36:20.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:52:58.810" Score="14" ViewCount="1357" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats, dog, and ferrets all have fleas!  What is the best way to get rid of them without exposing my pets to dangerous chemicals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I have the different animals, it's important to me that if your suggestions aren't supposed to be used on one of them that you tell me so that I can avoid dangers like cross-contamination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-19T09:00:17.733" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T23:28:40.630" Title="How can I get rid of fleas without dangerous chemicals?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2013-10-09T01:55:59.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could always close or add curtains to the windows. I think the reason your cat is getting so upset is because another animal is &quot;trespassing&quot; in his territory.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T08:15:43.520" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:15:43.520" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="112" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:18:37.950" Score="15" ViewCount="25545" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I've put lotion on following a shower, my cat likes to lick my arms, even several hours later.  It does seem to matter which brand of lotion I use, though I haven't tried many.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is in the lotion that attracts the cat's tongue?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the ingredients of the lotion safe for the cat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T05:28:12.437" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T07:39:45.490" Title="Is it safe for my cat to lick my skin when it has lotion on it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:23:31.023" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough, it could be the color of their fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/43474.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A study has shown that darker color cats are more likely to induce an allergic reaction&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the reason is unclear, researchers at Long Island College Hospital in New York speculate that darker cats may produce more of an allergen called fel d 1 in their skin and saliva than do lighter colored felines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study of 321 patients found that those who owned dark-colored cats were up to four times more likely than those with light-colored cats or no feline friends to suffer moderate or severe allergy symptoms, according to a report to be published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, as is often the case with science, another study has reportedly found the exact opposite result.  There is a study titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11590399&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fel d 1 levels in domestic living rooms are not related to cat color or hair length&lt;/a&gt;, but I cannot find details of the actual study (possibly due to the current government shutdown).  It is possible that the previous study may have simply been too small, and insufficiently randomized, as the cohort was only 321 patients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to yet another study, it is also possible that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765830&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;male cats may produce more fel d 1 than female cats&lt;/a&gt;, and intact males may produce more than neutered males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, fel d 1 levels do seem to be the most likely culprit.  Since the hormone is secreted in saliva and from the sebaceous glands, it is most abundantly produced during grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To mitigate your friend's exposure, you can try to keep him away from areas where the cats are most likely to groom themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T14:26:45.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="110" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:36:52.430" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among the things harmful to cats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/adoption-pet-care/safety/pets-poisons.html&quot;&gt;the American Humane Association&lt;/a&gt; states the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats tend to be attracted to unusual flavors, so keep them away from&#xA;  calamine lotion, diaper rash ointments, sunblock and analgesic&#xA;  ointments. These products contain an acid related to those in aspirin&#xA;  and will prove toxic if ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/poison-control-okay-or-no-way&quot;&gt;also says&lt;/a&gt; that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We would not expect to see problems as a result of your cats coming&#xA;  into contact with your hands after you've applied non-medicated&#xA;  lotion. Should they happen to ingest a small amount of this lotion, it&#xA;  could potentially have a bit of a laxative effect, and may cause&#xA;  stomach upset. However, we would not anticipate systemic or&#xA;  life-threatening problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in general, if it is a non-medicated lotion, you should be safe. It's not something the cat should likely get a lot of, but if they are just licking your skin after you have applied it and it has soaked into your skin, the cat should be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the cat suddenly appears to be ill after licking the lotion, taking proper steps to ensure its safety and health are always top priority, of course!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T02:36:52.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="115" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:48:07.677" Score="16" ViewCount="33555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a fair amount of experience with cats, but I've never seen this posture in another cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My one cat holds his tail forward, arching over his back, with the tip just a few inches behind the back of his head.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His tail seems to have the normal range of motion, but he always holds it in the same position when walking or standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a neutered male, if that is relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a physical reason behind this, or is it some behavioral indicator, or related to his social status relative to our other cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T02:50:08.343" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T15:09:07.020" Title="Why does my cat hold his tail forward over his body?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:51:06.493" Score="33" ViewCount="3315" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 11 years old Bishon Frise constantly barks when there's no one at home. Even if we stay away for 4, 5 hours. She got raucous once for barking too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing that and how can I train her not to do it anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2021-01-31T04:48:34.093" Title="How to prevent my dog from barking constantly when I am not at home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:55:41.150" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does a similar thing, except his curls some instead of being flat over his back. According to my vet, this sort of thing, where the tail rests on their back, is a genetic mutation that some cats have. It isn't painful and doesn't cause them any harm, it is just a difference in how their tail rests on their body. Most cats cannot pull their tail over themselves in that particular way, as their body structure prevents it, but your cat (and mine, and many others) were just born with a mutation that allows them to do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T02:55:41.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1075" CreationDate="2013-10-09T02:57:54.977" Score="14" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;My current cats are both fascinated by shoelaces.  (I've never had this problem before.)  For shoes not currently being worn, if I don't keep them hidden away behind a closed door the cats will bat the laces -- and the shoes -- around.  This is unhelpful at 3AM.  For shoes being worn, they will sometimes dive after the laces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have string toys that we regularly play with.  Now I'm wondering if that's the problem: can my cats understand the difference between the toy and the shoes?  Should I be increasing my use of the toy (to try to direct them to what they should be using), or should I stop using it entirely in hopes that the cats will forget about string?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats are neutered male adults; one is somewhere between 3 and 6 and the other is somewhere between 5 and 7 (all approximate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T01:12:09.333" Title="Cats and string: will a toy make this better or worse?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="116" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:09:22.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cats are still closer to kitten than to true adult and they want to hunt and pounce for practice. Strings make convenient and easy to grasp, in their jaw, targets and the toys probably helped to demonstrate that. Worse yet, for the hunt and pounce activity, is that &lt;em&gt;moving&lt;/em&gt; laces are even more of a challenge for cats looking for fun and practice. So, my experience with cats suggests that you've now established that idea with them and that's a habit that's going to be hard to break, but they'll probably ultimately outgrow it as they get more interested in someone else hunting for them... you. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T03:09:22.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="107" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:09:45.297" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a stray puppy some months back at the gate to my home and she was covered with fleas and cuts. She kept biting herself and would also wimper in pain. You could see the fleas in her fur, they were huge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I got a small empty aerosol bottle with a spray nozzle and bought a small bag of flea powder &lt;em&gt;(the generic stuff you can get at any store, nothing special)&lt;/em&gt;. I mixed this with luke-warm water and sprayed her with it for until she was fully doused. About a half-hour later she was fast asleep and when she woke up I noticed she wasn't scratching as much or gnawing at her ankles or rear end as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day I got some flea shampoo and soaped her up, careful to avoid her eyes and mouth and held her in a bath of warm water for about a minute or so before rinsing and drying her off in a towel.&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; It is important that you shampoo the head thoroughly especially around the eyes and ears as fleas tend to migrate to those areas when exposed to water and this can be very painful for the animal being treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't see her scratching out of the ordinary after that. Within a month, her fur had smoothed out and she had a healthy coat again also sans the wounds she had previously. I also tend to dust around her kennel every now and then with the same generic flea powder and make sure it is swept and kept clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shampooing or spraying a larger or friskier animal might not be so easy and I have never tried this on any other pet I have but I can say without a doubt that it worked. Also, I had never brought her into the house prior to the treatment so no specific advice on that except to perhaps dust corners and gaps in your house, disinfect areas the animals frequent and perhaps also vacuum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T03:09:45.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:14:19.023" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think she misses you. Dogs are pack animals and you're part of her pack. When you leave, she has effectively been separated from her pack and that can be very distressing. One way to address that is to add to the pack, another dog, but if you can't do that, then another animal (surprisingly, even a cat) may give her that sense that she's not alone enough for her to stop. I don't think, without that pack substitute, you're going to have a huge amount of luck working her out of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T03:14:19.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="247" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:14:31.087" Score="73" ViewCount="313846" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a habit of randomly patting my face - sometimes when I am sleeping, or when he is snuggled in my lap, or when I am sitting somewhere. I can't really find a pattern to it, and it is somewhat cute, but can also be annoying, especially if he accidentally gets me with his claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he doing this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:19:00.890" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T19:58:43.540" Title="Why does my cat keep patting my face?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="93" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:33:48.603" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consider adding some natural pH reducing element. Adding drift woods, indian almond or oak leaves will slowly leach tannins, which in turn will reduce the pH. If you have a planted tank, you can start injecting CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; which will also lower the pH. Another option is to filter the water through peat moss or commercially available peat granules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:42:30.090" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:42:30.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:36:07.933" Score="17" ViewCount="468" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pet rabbit was found abandoned and was reluctantly re-homed at my house. He's healthy, has not been neutered, and lives in the laundry room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, he gets let out into other rooms, but leaves droppings. If not for the droppings, he'd be able to roam a little more freely around the house, but as it stands it's just too much of a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried picking up the droppings and putting them in the litter boxes, as well as only feeding him in or near the litter boxes, but every chance he gets when he leaves the laundry room, he leaves more droppings. These things are supposed to help discourage leaving droppings elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from neutering the rabbit, what can one do to prevent the rabbit from leaving the droppings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:02:25.407" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:36:36.417" Title="How does one stop a New Zealand rabbit from leaving droppings in the house?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="99" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:41:46.523" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept all kinds of tetras:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cardinal tetras;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rummy-nose tetras;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;balloon red eye tetras;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;penguin tetras with neons;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;black neons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;without any problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the tetra species, you can keep harlequin rasboras, nerite snails and Amano shrimps as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:39:00.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:39:00.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="95" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:49:41.817" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;When determining the capacity of an aquarium, it is common to look at total fish length rather than number of fish.  The idea is that bigger fish need more room.  The rule-of-thumb I've always used for freshwater tropical fish is 1 inch of fish length per gallon of water (or about 25 mm of fish length per 4 liters).  However, this can vary greatly based on the species of fish.  Some fish need more room than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:07:00.263" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:07:00.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="95" CreationDate="2013-10-09T03:54:01.167" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no general rule of thumb and it depends on the fish you plan to keep. Some fish can live in small volume of water while some need larger roaming areas. For example: Oscars/Flowerhorns require at-least 40 gallons per adult/semi-adult fish while African Cichlids are suggested to keep in a dense pack to reduce their aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for tropical fishes (guppies, tetras etc), you should aim for a gallon of water per inch of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T03:54:01.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="91" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:00:10.053" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the algae is brown in color (diatom), has already settled and is hard; magnetic cleaners or algae-eating species wont be of much help. You can wrap a small piece of cloth around your hand and simply rub it off. You can also use an old toothbrush. Once the algae is off the glass, you can then use a magnetic cleaner or introduce algae-eating species as a maintenance/cleaning crew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T02:57:27.933" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T02:57:27.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="71" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:14:03.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than avoidance, there may be a few things you can do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that is sometimes recommended is oatmeal, similar to how it is recommended to relieve itching for humans with chicken pox. Grind it to a fine powder, and if the dog allows it, either soak the animal in water mixed with the oatmeal, or rub the animal down (gently!) with a damp cloth and some of the oatmeal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T04:14:03.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="94" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:29:53.877" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;After meals, I take my dog to a particular place, somewhere near a field in my house. I say to him in my mother tongue for him to poo. As you all know, pets follow reflex actions, after somedays practice he will understand what you want him to do. But sometimes, I also observe rather than you picking an appropriate place for him, he will choose one himself, which is most likely you would find appropriate too. In day 1 , if he poos somewhere you think okay, take him to that place on day 2 too and say him to poo and try not to let him someplace else go. If he poos, 99% sure he will mark that place and from day 3 he will take you himself there. Also, praise and appreciate your dog when he poos. Give him rewards, that way, he would better understand you. Best of luck :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T04:29:53.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:38:11.827" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't expect your pet to keep mum if you are not with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get the dog someone to give him company. When there is no one at home, you can consider  leaving him at some neighbors home awhile.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can request somebody to look after him while everybody has gone from your house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can provide him something to play with. This is not very effective in every cases. But in 50% cases, it would work. Give a bone toy or a ball to chew with. My own dog likes to play with them and we got rid of the barking problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do not like being locked. Just letting him be may work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:14:47.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:14:47.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:42:44.680" Score="16" ViewCount="3133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own 2 female guinea pigs. I came home one day to find that one of them had a large amount of blood coming out of its ear. There is nothing in the cage that would produce that amount of blood besides the other guinea pig, so I think it would be safe to assume that one attacked the other. I have also noticed their behavior in the past, and they appear to get along some of the time, and they dislike each other at other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really have the resources to separate them, and I want them to be able to live together. I am also a busy enough person that I am unable to be around the cage monitoring their behavior constantly. I am not sure if it is possible to train a guinea pig, and if it is, I don't know how to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train my guinea pigs to not attack one another, without being around the cage constantly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T19:13:59.523" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T19:21:24.273" Title="How can I train my guinea pigs to not attack one another?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="81" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:44:56.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frankly speaking in my experience, you can't really discourage your dog to not drink from the stream you mentioned. I see and I don't know exactly why but dogs like drinking from foul places. We tried to resist our dog and even tried to reward him if he drinks from the vet meant for him but really, this is one case where we could not really discourage him. However if you talk about health, we haven't found a clue which tells us that he felt ill for that. So if the source of water is clean, there is nothing to panic about. However, which owner does not want his dog to be distant from foul places? In that case, I would suggest taking physical measures (such as boundary or fence in your garden) to resist him from going there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T02:41:53.383" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T02:41:53.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="122" CreationDate="2013-10-09T04:55:11.453" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are generally very cautious by nature, and when startled can leave a trail of droppings involuntarily. These are usually dry and easy (although understandably inconvenient) to clean up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be the case, that since these new areas are &quot;unfamiliar territory&quot; your rabbit is possibly getting spooked when its exploring. If possible monitor the situation and see if it improves with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, it may be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/rabbits/behaviour&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;attempting to mark its territory&lt;/a&gt;. While this is cute &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/chin-rubbing-mean-rabbit-1191.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;when they &quot;chin&quot; objects&lt;/a&gt;, droppings are less fun. However, again over time, when given the opportunity to feel at home in an area this behaviour should disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, try and slowly introduce areas to your rabbit. Set up gates so they can only explore smaller areas and retreat to safety easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user35" LastEditorDisplayName="user35" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T03:45:56.957" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T03:45:56.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="157" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:00:31.757" Score="24" ViewCount="46116" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems de-sexing a male dog will assist in preventing undesirable behaviors that can surface with an entire male dog; for example aggression, roaming, cocking the leg to urinate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so what is the optimal age to de-sex a male dog to help prevent the onset of such behaviors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-14T10:42:15.430" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T08:18:34.063" Title="What is the optimal age to neuter a male dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="172" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:04:46.480" Score="11" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gold fish in an outdoor pond. During the winter months I feed them a regular amount and they are doing well. As we are coming into summer there are more insects around, that fall into the pond, and mosquitoes, which lay larvae in the fishpond, which the fish eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to over feed my fish. How do I know how much to feed them when the natural environment starts to provide them with food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T08:55:47.747" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T10:18:20.833" Title="How much to feed outdoor goldfish, that feed on insects?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="684" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:07:49.867" Score="16" ViewCount="1159" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a pet &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatiel&quot;&gt;cockatiel&lt;/a&gt;. I have heard that only certain feathers can grow back after being clipped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which feathers are safe to clip to temporarily prevent a bird from flying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T06:09:53.137" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T01:49:16.757" Title="How should I trim the wings of my bird?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:26:50.070" Score="18" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very sweet dog at the shelter that was in an accident and only has 3 legs. Are there any specific behavioral or health issues I should take into account when deciding whether or not to adopt him?  Are there any activities he won't be able to participate in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T05:32:46.133" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T19:02:47.983" Title="Are there any health or behavioral issues specific to tripod (3-legged) dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="64" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:37:05.337" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had very good luck with two different obese cats using a Tiger Diner cat bowl. They have to work for their food, so they eat more slowly and feel like they are eating more, one of my cats started actually leaving food when using the Tiger Diner. The various food balls and feeder toys are also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the obese cats I've dealt with is also very nervous about food. One thing that helps is to put part of her dry food in one of the timed 'vacation' feeders. She knows that there is food in it and trusts that she will get it eventually but can't eat it right now. This allows her to relax and not stress about getting food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it did not work for us, my vet recommended making a broth of water and wet food and offering that in addition to or instead of water. This has the benefit of getting more water into your cat (most cats don't drink enough water) and makes them think they are getting food without a lot of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can do so without making your overweight cat too nervous, feeding the timid cat in a place too small for the other cats might be helpful as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T05:37:05.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:42:14.937" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;She is probably lonely. Also, she wants to protect the territory - and since the rest of her pack is away, she must do so herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the great suggestions by @Mistu4u, you could make a recording of your own voice, and have that play while you're gone. 4 or 5 hours might be a bit long, but for shorter periods of time this could work. (I'd prefer to try @Mistu4u's suggestions first though).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog can't be brought to the neighbours, they can still help - if the dog can hear them and they can hear the dog, they can talk to her to comfort her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T05:42:14.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:48:55.740" Score="11" ViewCount="2153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found my bird wounded, and was advised not to give him food or water before I took him to the Vet.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand that a wounded bird may not be given food; it may be required that he's on an empty stomach if they need to operate, but why should I not give him water? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T16:00:57.737" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T16:35:23.193" Title="Why should I not give water or food to a wounded bird?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="156" CreationDate="2013-10-09T05:58:41.263" Score="18" ViewCount="17604" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a month a go I got a 8 week male dachshund and ever since the first days he seemed overexcited. Jumping up, chasing my cat around, excessive licking when someone pets him and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning I assumed that it was because he wasn't getting enough exercise. (He didn't have all his shots so I couldn't walk him and we live in a flat) A month later, he got his shots and for the last week I've been walking him twice daily for 30-60 minutes each time and his behaviour hasn't changed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, last night we came back from a 60+ minute walk and as soon as we came back he started running around like crazy and tearing apart one of his toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;problem&quot; seems to be around humans. When we're around or we have guests he goes crazy jumping on everyone. I honestly think I have never seen him lying down in his bed when another person is in the room. When we leave him alone in another part of the flat (because of his overexcitement), he's calm, doesn't make a sound and probably sleeps most of the time which I think only makes things worse as I would think that builds up even more energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this overexcitement? If so, what can I do to calm him down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:47:30.800" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T02:47:30.800" Title="What can I do if my puppy is hyperactive?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2013-10-09T06:08:17.183" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Here is what the animal rescue service explained, asked them when they picked him up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bird is scared and nervous now. If you give him food or water, he may eat or drink too excitedly, and he can choke on that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can give him a little water, but be sure that it is just a little, not enough for him to choke on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T06:08:17.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2013-10-09T06:35:05.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most fruit tree wood (I have heard mixed reviews on Cherry wood, so I avoid it) is both extra tasty to rabbits and healthy for them to chew on. You could have a special chew stick or branch that (once it has been introduced as a special yummy treat) only comes out when the guests do. You might start with it further away from guests and then move it closer as bunny relaxes more. The weight of fruit at harvest usually brings down some branches and winter is pruning time for fruit trees, so now is a good time to line up some wood to collect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T06:35:05.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="928" CreationDate="2013-10-09T06:56:22.017" Score="9" ViewCount="3283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, a dog and a bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to go away overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to ensure my cat, dog and bird have enough fresh water and food to survive overnight?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:55:38.547" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:55:38.547" Title="How can I safely leave my 3 pets overnight, unsupervised?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-10-24T14:54:42.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2013-10-09T06:58:52.540" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; can bring about a change behavior, but in our Collie-cross' case, it hasn't changed his behavior one bit (apart from not cocking his leg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the &lt;em&gt;optimum&lt;/em&gt; age really depends on each individual case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the minimum age you can desex a male dog is 8 weeks. Most vets will recommend waiting until at least 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T06:58:52.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="167" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:02:50.470" Score="11" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two horses, a thoroughbred and Arab cross that have spent most of their time in paddocks being ridden occasionally into the local bush land. They are not shod and their hooves are filed periodically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the children are riding them more frequently and  onto the road to meet up with friends and access a different area of bush land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have received some conflicting advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the signs my horses could benefit from being shod?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T14:02:40.967" LastActivityDate="2019-11-22T07:22:53.607" Title="Do my horses need to be shod?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="141" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:10:26.993" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, this just sounds like normal puppy behavior. They have limitless energy, much more than any of us I'd bet. Our collie-cross had the same issues (still does to some extent,  &lt;strong&gt;if we let him away with it&lt;/strong&gt;, at 10 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are loads of things you can try, but unfortunately there will be no magic one-stop calming device:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get him used to people&lt;/strong&gt;. Bring friends round, bring him to puppy classes. If humans and attention are what excites him, more interaction may take the sting out of the hyperactivity after a while. This however is a slow process and will take some time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try find a toy which occupies him&lt;/strong&gt;. I found it difficult to find toys suitable for puppies which my dog was interested in, but you might have better luck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sounds like you're definitely exercising him enough. Try putting him in his part of your flat when you come back from a walk. Let him calm down. Then once he's calm, bring him in and ignore him. I'll bet eventually he will fall asleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to remember is that as long as you socialize &amp;amp; exercise him, eventually he will calm down, it'll just take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T07:10:26.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="596" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:23:03.107" Score="17" ViewCount="1468" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of buying a young parrot, but I don't have much experience with parrots.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So I want to know if anybody has one and how hard it would be to train the parrot to talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll love any useful advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T04:13:03.437" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T04:13:03.437" Title="How hard will it be to train my parrot to talk?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="107" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:32:57.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tricky problem, most pet owners face. I have not been able to eradicate fleas entirely, without the use of some man-made chemical, but have found many natural solutions to use on my pets for most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To combat fleas, one has to treat the entire environment of the pets and all the pets that can carry fleas. I do this annually, at the beginning of the flea season (warming weather).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process requires a whole day of good weather, and can be done over a weekend, but I recommend doing it concurrently, so as not to give fleas a hidey hole to wait in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Treating the pets:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each pet needs to be bathed individually. I have using chemicals on them, and do not like topical additives to the skin or food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the sensitivity of the pet's skin I vary this regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using warm water and I like the laundry tub for smaller animals as there is plenty of access to fresh water to thoroughly rinse. It is important to thoroughly wet the pet all over, as fleas will climb to an animals head, if it is submersed in water. If fleas  are the only issue, I bath in a variety of solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If dirt is also an issue:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A eucalyptus woolmix (for washing woolen clothing), which needs to be thoroughly rinsed off.  The eucalyptus acts as a natural flea deterrent.&#xA;For sensitive skin a mixture of oats and warm water or other remedies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The flea mixture:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After any premix has been thoroughly rinsed I use a combination of the following, I don't give a definitive combination, as it depends on the animals skin and sensitivity and so this is something that becomes a bit of trial and error and finding the optimal mix for each individual pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- tea tree oil&#xA;- eucalyptus oil&#xA;- lavender oil&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep all these three oils in continuous stock in my home, as they are very useful and all act as deterrents to fleas, especially the tea tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make the mixture with the oils, if using an 8 litre bucket, I would add a little less than half a capful of lavender, a half capful of eucalyptus and one or two capfuls of tea tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then saturate the entire pet with a washer, including between toes, groin area, around eyes and ears (being careful not to get the solution in the eyes or ears. and allow this to dry on the pet. I do not allow them to go and roll in the dirt. I tie them up in the sun for a short while. I find it's better not to towel dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be done throughout the flea season, as often as weekly but I would recommend reducing the levels of oils in the solution for subsequent frequent washes, to avoid skin irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tea tree can be used in stronger mixtures to spot kill fleas. You just need to keep and eye on your pets skin. A stronger mixture of tea tree, 50:50 with water (which is also expensive) can be used on pets with flea infestations. It is not advisable to let the solution stay on the pet fro more than 20 minutes, but to rinse it off, to avoid skin irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Treating the Environment:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately when treating the environment, I have not found a non-chemical solution, but have been using this same regime for some decades now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Internal environment:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take a warm day when I know the pets can be safely left outside after their treatment, whilst the inside is treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When  the weather warms and the first flea jumps and bites from the environment.&#xA;All carpets and bedding need to be vacuumed and/ or washed. Not just pet beds and bedding, but blankets and bedding of children and adult beds, lounges if the pets are part of the family and sleep on these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pets and humans need to be removed from the house and I use flea bombs. I ensure that I use enough to cover the entire house, and place them up high in strategic positions so the gas will diffuse into all the rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do this for any vehicles the pets travel in. Vehicle need to be bombed so that any portals between boots and cabin can be opened and the bomb can infuse the entire vehicle.  A car requires a longer time to air after using a flea bomb and needs a safe place that all doors and windows can be left open for some hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;External Environment:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a tough chemical on all concrete and paved surfaces around the house. Any basic flea mixture for surfaces can be mixed with warm water, as per directions and left to dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the area has a flea plague, fleas will be in the grass and there is not much that can be done to prevent this, except to try and keep pets indoors and let them run in off leash areas that are not plagued, weather the warmer months and hope the next season is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T07:32:57.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="163" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:37:32.540" Score="10" ViewCount="727" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister has two dogs; one is a Labrador and one is a French Mastiff. The Labrador is friendly and likes us all. The French Mastiff ignores me most of the time, but he is excited around people other than me, like family friends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have fed him many times and took care of him when my sister and brother-in-law were absent, but he appears to have very little affection to no for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a French Mastiff a less friendly dog, and does it only like fewer people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I change this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T05:35:22.697" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T15:57:09.817" Title="Is a French Mastiff dog less friendly, does it prefer fewer people around?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="141" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:37:33.413" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert, just happened to have lived the same thing a couple of months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog needs to have a spot for himself, a basket or something similar, where you can send him. This should never be used as a punishment but a place for him to &quot;hang out&quot;. Once the order of &quot;go to your basket&quot; is learnt, it will be a lot easier for you to help your dog calm down. Chances are that, at 8 weeks old, his mom did not get all the time to teach him to return to calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your doggy wants to play it is a good sign! But make sure you are the one initiating all the play times. If he comes to you with a toy or just try to get your attention, ignore him, or even a &quot;no&quot; might be in order if he insists and 5 minutes later go play with him. This way you will be the one who controls, and you will teach your dog that bugging you to play is useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also normal that your dog sleeps while you are not around. As most animals, when their needs are fulfilled and no other stimulant is around, they are recovering or saving energy to be ready if something happens. Don't forget dogs used to live in the wild :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have found out that making him use his brain during playtime was a good way to make him learn, learn about him and tire him down somewhat quicker. My dog is now usually feeding off a plastic milk bottle (could be soda bottle, but the opening might be a bit too small), he cannot use his teeth on it at all. He has to bump it with his nose or use his paws to get some food out. I also mixed sit and a couple other orders during our games and he learnt a lot faster than when we tried with treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refs:&#xA;Own personal experience, doggy is now 9 months old, still has as much energy but he knows (and us too now) to control it. A personal trainer was of big help to us too, most of what I stated is suggestions she made that we followed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, may the patience be with you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="376" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T01:17:03.590" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T01:17:03.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:48:04.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about optimal age... But I know that even at 8 years old, dogs still &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; show a change of behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to add to your thoughts, mine is 9 months old, it has been 1 month since the operation and he changed to all what people lead us to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was very dominating, and if we refused him something he would let us know (We mainly invited that to happen in the first place as we did not know how to take care of a dog). Now he is still protecting the house but is very gentle with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say the younger the better, and that 5-6 month is best, but we wanted to wait for him to &quot;man up&quot; a bit first... Don't know if it changed anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other question to ask yourself, is it a working dog? I doubt you'd desex a guard dog for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T07:48:04.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="597" CreationDate="2013-10-09T07:51:42.203" Score="38" ViewCount="42273" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog Rex is a rescue dog, and an aggressive one. He was known at his former shelter for breaking out of his cage and fighting other animals. He will see another dog at 500 ft. away and start &quot;dancing&quot; back and forth, yelping and jumping on two feet, eager to charge and snap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is not always the case. While he was still at the shelter and I was volunteering there, I successfully—with the help of other shelter employees—&quot;packed him up&quot; with three dogs: another pit bull that was 100+ lbs and also aggressive; a young hound puppy that was less than 1 yr. old; and a pit bull mix about 3 years old. The last one was the only dog Rex would actually play with: they would jump up and &quot;hug&quot; (the way boxers play), and run around the shelter's yard together. Unfortunately, they got in a very bad fight right before I adopted my pup, otherwise I would've taken them both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even since I've adopted him, I've taken Rex on morning &quot;pack walks&quot; with other dogs, all of whom are well-adjusted and usually off-leash. Two trainers lead these walks, and my dog—though he was required to wear a muzzle and leash—eventually warmed up to the other &quot;regular&quot; dogs, walking alongside them extremely well. He was even beginning to playfully charge one of the trainer's dogs. We've since stopped these hikes because Rex has heartworm and can't be too active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the reason I've wanted to socialize Rex was because I live in a neighborhood with &lt;em&gt;lots&lt;/em&gt; of dogs. Also a lot of idiots live here, walking there dogs off-leash, even on the sidewalks of our streets! &lt;em&gt;Note: I know this is very illegal, but it's still something I have to deal with.&lt;/em&gt; But even ignoring these idiots, almost everyone in my family owns a dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, finally to the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to introduce my dog-aggressive Rex to other dogs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried several ways, all with varying bits of success: walking the dogs far apart, and gradually getting them closer and closer; walking Rex with a muzzle until he &quot;settles down&quot;; even letting Rex jump and lunge at the end of the leash until he realized he couldn't get the other dog. Again, all have worked more or less, but it is still true that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rex brutally injured his only &quot;friend&quot; when the other dog snapped at Rex;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He was never walked at those morning pack walks without the muzzle on, so it's not clear if he would've still been aggressive;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;None of these have reduced Rex's aggression towards &quot;new&quot; dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really looking for a way to best teach Rex to &quot;tolerate&quot; other dogs. I've read several articles and blogs about introducing two dogs, but they never deal with the case of a dog as aggressive as Rex is. Let me stress that it is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; my intention to force Rex into potentially very stressful situations. It is just a fact of life that he and I meet many dogs every time we go for a walk. Heck, he loves running in my sister's huge backyard, but even she has two small dogs that need to be locked in the house whenever Rex is over.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog's history (from comment by OP) :  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;@psubsee2003: He was owned by a family who most likely abused him (he&#xA;  has strange scars on most of his body, and his tail is broken). He was&#xA;  found in the basement of that family's house: they had moved out and&#xA;  left him tied to a pole. He was adopted quite quickly after being&#xA;  rescued, by a well-meaning family, who made the fatal mistake of (1)&#xA;  using a shock collar to train this already fearful dog, and (2)&#xA;  applying the shock collar for everything (I'm talking barking, peeing&#xA;  in the house, etc.). He eventually bit everyone in the family and was&#xA;  returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastEditorUserId="398" LastEditDate="2017-09-20T14:45:59.937" LastActivityDate="2017-09-20T14:45:59.937" Title="How to introduce my aggressive dog to other canines?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2013-10-09T08:07:18.230" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;People here has answered very well but if nothing helps then barking control collars can help as a last resort. I know its little rude to your pet but giving pet a company doesn't always helps and sometimes building/neighbor restriction can force you to do so with your pet. My sister Labrador also constantly barks when he is alone, even in presence of her second dog French mastiff. We didn't used the collars but there are some collars in market which doesn't give electric shock but just vibrate on barking which are less effective then electric collars but it doesn't harm the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T19:22:42.253" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T19:22:42.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2013-10-09T08:33:39.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/askthevet/basicadvice/best-age-to-neuter-or-spay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an answer&lt;/a&gt; to this on Cesar Millan's website from a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, some studies have shown a link between neutering a dog before 14 months of age and cancer/joint problems and other studies show benefits in early neutering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/channel/dog-rescue/spay-and-neuter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are a few more articles from the same website on spraying and neutering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastEditorUserId="90" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T06:43:01.187" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T06:43:01.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="161" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T08:44:23.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs (&lt;em&gt;Canis lupus familiaris&lt;/em&gt;) are sometimes referred to as &quot;man's best friend&quot;. Commonly kept as pets in many cultures, domesticated canines come in a wide variety of sizes, temperament, and appearances. Please mention the breed / sex / age in your question if you feel it might assist in getting a more focused answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T14:16:33.127" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T14:16:33.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="162" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T08:44:23.003" Score="0" Body="Domesticated canines commonly kept as pets. Please mention the breed / sex / age in your question if you feel it might assist in getting a more focused answer." OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T14:08:02.433" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T14:08:02.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="155" CreationDate="2013-10-09T08:52:12.280" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, first I want to admit that I do not know if a general behavioral problem exists with French Mastiffs or not. But the problem you shared with us is kind of a &amp;quot;respect issue&amp;quot; i.e. when a dog does not show enough love/respect for another person in the house. How can you get through this? I would like to share with you from my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our German Shepherd dog Alex was brought to our house by my elder brother. As I had no experience in raising a dog earlier, my brother took the responsibility of raising him. But for work reasons, he had to go someplace else distant from our house. So I did all taking care of Alex during his absence. But whenever my brother used to return, he surely liked him more than me even if my brother stayed in our house for two weeks. So I thought to take some measures and discussing with my brother,  who was ready to give the leadership to me, I took the following steps in order to get Alex's respect, love and attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)Dogs follow one leader-&lt;/strong&gt; It is not like the dog does not love you. Dogs love everybody in the family equally. It's that it's only in their nature, like any other animal, they tend to follow one particular leader. So one has to be the leader for his pet dog in order to get his full respect, love and attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)Be the Leader and Take the Responsibilities-&lt;/strong&gt; If you want to be the leader, take responsibility for him. You can't be a leader unless you look after him properly. The responsibilities include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a)Take the dog for outing for physical training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b)Feeding, bathing, taking out for toilet, playing with him etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c)Passing quality time with the pet et al.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)Possess the quality of a Leader-&lt;/strong&gt; It's in animals' nature to request permission or greet his proprietor. When you are the leader, you should act like one. For example, you should not greet your dog when you enter a room; you can pat him a little, look at him, touch him softly etc. but don't go for playing and fooling around with him when you are really busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog can disturb you to get your attention like barking, playing near your body, etc. Make a strict eye-contact with him. He will understand your attitude and eventually leave the room. This way you can garner the respect of a leader in your dog's mentality. But &lt;strong&gt;DON'T EVER PUNISH HIM PHYSICALLY.&lt;/strong&gt; It won't do any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4)Spend a lot time with him-&lt;/strong&gt; This is a very basic principle in raising a pet. If you spend a lot of time with the pet, they start loving you. That's how the man who takes care of the pet gets more attention than the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you follow these steps carefully. Hopefully you would notice a change in the pet for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T15:57:09.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="151" CreationDate="2013-10-09T09:11:44.600" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Parrots will mimic the bird sounds they hear around them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to training a parrot to talk , is having the parrot in  isolation from other birds. It is also vital to not have a mirror in the bird's cage, as the parrot will talk to itself, thinking it is another bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching a bird to talk requires patience and a lot of repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taught &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgerigar&quot;&gt;budgerigars&lt;/a&gt; to talk (in my youth, when I had time and patience). It requires repeating the same word or sound or phrase over and over, as often as possible to the bird; preferably looking at the bird within arms reach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a good idea to start out with a single word; so as you can get a quicker result, this is to encourage you to keep persisting, as the more complex the arrangement of sounds the longer it will take the bird to catch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some interesting (and sad) cases of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrebird&quot;&gt;Australian lyrebird&lt;/a&gt; imitating the sounds of chainsaws that are used to destroy native bush land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T09:11:44.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="171" CreationDate="2013-10-09T09:16:36.217" Score="14" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;At what age should a puppy start socialising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the best ways to socialise my dog, to make it friendly with other animals and all sorts of people, from children to the elderly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T09:43:20.003" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T09:37:43.313" Title="How would I socialise my puppy with other animals and people?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="562" CreationDate="2013-10-09T09:18:57.527" Score="15" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two horses (hacks) on a 5 acre property. It has grass, but it is not enough to sustain them both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is hand feeding them hay enough to supplement their feed or do I need to use hard feed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the signs that they need more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="3754" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T19:12:31.577" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T19:12:31.577" Title="Is hand feeding my horses hay enough to supplement their feed if my grass is not enough to sustain them?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="147" CreationDate="2013-10-09T09:23:26.727" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not necessity to shoe a horse. In your case, I don't see a reason to shoe your horse. Shoeing is done when the horse is used for racing purpose or the horse is to be used on places where it is filled with stones and sands. You wrote your horses don't run on rough lands. Again, shoeing can give birth to infections around the nails often. Sometimes shoes can cause numbness in the long run at the exterior parts of a leg. Besides, it is a well known fact that shoes can create blood-flow problems in the shod places. So, I would suggest, avoid shoeing unless it's really necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T12:06:48.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:06:48.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2013-10-09T09:36:50.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you should start socialising a puppy in 3-17 weeks. But practically one can't do so. I, personally gave my puppy time to be adjusted to our house as well as our surrounding environment. Now you can start socializing him by the following steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use a collar to get a hold of your puppy and take him for outing. Make him accustomed to the paths, streets and the locality around your house. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;IMO it wouldn't be a good idea to let him introduce with a new dog on the very first day. He can get mixed up with all the new things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep your puppy out of children if he does not like them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't meet with unknown strange dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can meet with a person of your acquaintance and invite him to meet with you in a field with his dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When they both meet, 100% sure both of them will bark each other or the older one will bark at the younger one. If it is your dog who is barking, make him stop. If he does so, reward him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the other dog also stops, let the two meet and sniff each other. If all goes well, they might play with each-other (&lt;em&gt;Highly unlikely it would happen on the very first day.&lt;/em&gt;) Keep them meeting. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they don't stop barking at each other or lounge, leave the place and choose another dog the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T11:58:46.120" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:58:46.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="136" CreationDate="2013-10-09T10:03:15.187" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_clipping&quot;&gt;wing clipping&lt;/a&gt; is quite extensive.&#xA;Not to be confused with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinioning&quot;&gt;pinioning&lt;/a&gt; - the removal of a joint on the birds wing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Advocates note that a properly done clip only trims the feathers and not the wings themselves, and is painless and temporary, lasting only until the next molt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also notes that you should clip feathers on each side equally so that the bird can keep its balance when it falls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T10:03:15.187" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="568" CreationDate="2013-10-09T10:06:35.873" Score="13" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a South American tortoise (a Redfoot) that lives on sphagnum moss bedding. I have given some thought to switching her to a topsoil-based substrate, but I'm concerned that such a base will retain too much moisture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there reptile-safe plants that I can add to the soil to maintain the right level of moisture as not to grow mold? Alternatively, are there other substrate materials that might make more sense in this environment? I like that the sphagnum moss dries out fairly effectively, but it would be nicer if the soil could retain the moisture and not crumble to bits over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T09:31:05.263" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T09:31:05.263" Title="Is there a substrate for a Redfoot tortoise that won't retain excess moisture?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2013-10-09T10:11:19.867" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies should be socialized as early as possible.  A neat thing about puppies is that, when they are younger than roughly 5 months, most other dogs will tolerate a lot more of the behavior which characterizes puppies (overly excited and playful, sometimes rude). This is because dogs tend to sexually mature around 5-6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know of other dogs who are older, and who are well-adjusted and you trust them, I would let your dog just be herself around the older ones.  The older dogs will correct your puppy if it does something rude or out-of-line, and your pup will &quot;naturally&quot; learn what is and isn't acceptable behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to older dogs like that, a dog park isn't a bad place to start.  But beware that people tend to bring their dogs to dog parks without fully knowing how their dog will react.  Just a few weeks ago, a friend's 8-month-old pup was viciously attacked by a 2-year-old dog, and the owner's comment was &quot;we're trying to socialize him&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order for your puppy to grow up to be adept at socialization - both with dogs and humans - it is crucial to expose her as a young pup to many different dogs and humans, in many different situations.  Doing so every day isn't out of the ordinary.  And as always (especially with puppies), set your dog up for success: don't put her in dangerous situations, or in unknown environments with too many strangers at once.  Simply start slow,  keep things interesting and fun, and be sure to work on socialization early and often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T10:11:19.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="135" CreationDate="2013-10-09T10:18:20.833" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only estimate I keep hearing on this topic is to feed fish as much as they can eat in about five minutes. As long as the fish eat nearly everything of the food it wasn't too much. I suggest to use floating food. It makes it far easier to keep track if everything is eaten and you train your fish to search for food on the top of the pond so they are visible more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to estimate the amount of insects that are eaten by your fish. I simply would adjust the amount by above guideline. The biggest problem with overfeeding seems to be massive growth of algae, at least I have never heard of problems with obese goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T10:18:20.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="322" CreationDate="2013-10-09T10:33:24.213" Score="26" ViewCount="22273" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats' self-filling water bowl has started getting dirty rather quickly since we got a new kitten (who's now about 6 months old). There's quite often a bit of cat litter at the bottom of the bowl, so I assume that she's been washing her paws in it after using the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to otherwise have the normal feline aversion to getting wet in any way, so it's odd to me that she'd be intentionally doing it. Is there anything I can do to break her of this habit? Should I just get rid of the self-filling bowl since I need to empty and wash it every day anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:19:54.537" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:59:20.310" Title="Why does my cat wash her paws in her water?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="195" CreationDate="2013-10-09T10:37:12.870" Score="12" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certain dogs have a reputation for shedding hair (Labradors, Golden Retrievers), creating a constant struggle to keep the house clean, especially as this shedding continues throughout the day. Shedding also increases at different stages of growth and seasonally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any methods to control hair shedding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:39:17.477" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:39:17.477" Title="How can I manage excessive hair shedding from dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:00:17.923" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treats can be a very important part of training your bunny.  Like many pets, bunnies can be motivated by attention and/or food rewards, so using treats can be a great training device. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any high-sugar treat like fruit should be only a small part of bunnies diet, so moderation is important. It has been recommended that &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fruit is not more than 10% of a bunnies diet&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carrots (also high in sugar) are recommended &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;to be not more then 15% of the diet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my pets, I try and keep the total of all high-sugar treats to not more then 5%;  occasionally days will pass without added sugar.  This makes the reward more effective and is better for bunny health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on metabolism and/or proportionate to veggies, you should be limiting the amount of pellets your bunny receives to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1/4 to 1/2 cup pellets per 6 lbs. (2.7 kg) body weight&lt;/a&gt;.  Part of this daily pellet allowance can be used as a treat, for general behavior, and for training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the big events requiring high motivation, I use raisins.  They keep well and are small enough that I can give as many as 3 daily for really difficult challenges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_jumping&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;very trainable&lt;/a&gt; so using a keyword when calling your bunny for a treat can be very rewarding for you both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When calling them, we use the word &quot;quick&quot; followed by their name.  You don't need to have a high-sugar treat every time they come on command.  Their being unsure if the reward will be high-sugar, providing a pellet or a pet will increase their responsiveness (this is why gambling can be so addictive).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, no amount of treat will entice a bunny into a situation that makes them feel threatened. Socialization of the bunny and moderation of the visitors behavior are both important parts of the interaction, and it sounds like you are doing a great job making this part of your process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T03:34:54.400" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T03:34:54.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="321" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:08:00.710" Score="15" ViewCount="3179" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 month old dog uses a doggy door to go into our enclosed backyard. She has started to pick up stuff like sticks, dead bugs, even dog droppings missed in clean-up and bring it into the house. We of course would like to break this habit sooner rather than later. We don't always catch her bringing it in, sometimes we find it after she has done it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we train her not to do this anymore?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T16:20:34.600" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T20:28:31.747" Title="How to prevent my dog from bringing stuff into the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="192" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:18:01.467" Score="1" ViewCount="17538" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is getting older but when would he be considered senior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that 1 human year equates to 7 seven dog years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="15" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-20T12:29:08.470" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T04:00:34.643" Title="At what age can my dog be considered old?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:18:01.467" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It varies, but cats and small dogs are generally considered to be old at the age of 7. Larger breed dogs tend to have shorter life spans and are considered to be old when they are approximately 6 years of age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Owners tend to want to think of their pet's age in human terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T12:03:49.177" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T12:03:49.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:21:59.583" Score="21" ViewCount="24292" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 12 year old Shih Tzu has always been well behaved, but lately has started to climb on the furniture when no one is home and excessively dig, to the point that she has started to damage it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few notes that might help, we lost another dog late last year and we have recently added a new dog back into the household.  This change in her behavior just started the past few months and it is almost like she is throwing a temper tantrum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing this change in behavior and how can I train her not to do it anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T14:43:31.817" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T08:40:31.490" Title="How can I prevent my dog from digging in furniture?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:28:15.013" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is a human considered to be old? The answer really depends on the individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The seven year rule is old and inaccurate. There are several other methods that take the life expectancy of dogs into account better, eg one dog-year equals five humans-years for small dogs and seven for bigger dogs. And then there are even some nonlinear metrics in determining a comparable age value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you and your dog think that he is old, ie he behaves like an old dog, treat him as such. I don't think it is good to treat a juvenile and active dog of high age as if he was a broken senile. Of course you still have to be careful as older dogs, no matter how active they are, will still have age-related problems and are more prone to injury than younger dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:28:15.013" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:31:42.587" Score="9" ViewCount="1040" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a dog in my family who chases his tail madly in a circle.  Once he grabs it, he continues to spin in circles.  This happens whenever he hears thunder or the garbage disposal in the sink is used (it makes a loud noise).  It is not the usual reaction that a dog might have to thunderstorms, or loud noises, it's really peculiar.  I have read &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/38/what-can-i-do-to-ease-my-dogs-fear-of-loud-noises&quot;&gt;How to comfort a dog who fears loud noises&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, but I'm more interested in preventing the spinning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need advice or practical knowledge (no opinions or guesses) to aid in preventing this specific behavior.  I want to stop his spinning.  Has anybody had any experience with this or similar situations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T10:49:10.623" Title="How can I prevent my dog from chasing his tail obsessively?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:33:23.630" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;For male dogs, it doesn't seem to matter. Some behaviours will respond to castration, others won't, no matter the age of the dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Castration was most effective in altering objectionable urine making, mounting, and roaming. With various types of aggressive behavior, including aggression toward human family members, castration may be effective in decreasing aggression in some dogs, but fewer than a third can be expected to have marked improvement. Age of the dog or duration of the problem behavior does not have value in predicting whether castration will have a beneficial effect. (Neilson et al., 1997)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For female dogs, however, it seems that spaying them to early is associated with an increased risk of urinary tract infections:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because earlyage gonadectomy appears to offer more benefits than risks for male dogs, animal shelters can safely gonadectomize male dogs at a young age and veterinary practitioners should consider recommending routine gonadectomy for client-owned male dogs before the traditional age of 6 to 8 months. For female dogs, however, increased urinary incontinence suggests that delaying gonadectomy until at least 3 months of age may be beneficial. (Spain et al., 2004)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neilson, Jacqueline C., Robert A. Eckstein, and B. L. Hart. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9227747&quot;&gt;&quot;Effects of castration on problem behaviors in male dogs with reference to age and duration of behavior.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 211.2 (1997): 180.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spain, C. Victor, Janet M. Scarlett, and Katherine A. Houpt. &lt;a href=&quot;http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2004.224.380&quot;&gt;&quot;Long-term risks and benefits of early-age gonadectomy in dogs.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 224.3 (2004): 380-387.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:33:23.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:34:01.410" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are social animals and they always love company. Without company, they want something to do, digging can be one of them. To control this, using a polite way is the best, by distracting him from acting those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like if you see your dog digging, distract him by giving him some toys or play with him etc. Giving him more of your company will be better. Losing a mate can be a reason for this behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-13T10:39:02.850" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T10:39:02.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="71" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:35:49.317" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;After this allergy season, my vet offered a suggestion to help prevent the reaction.  She suggested wiping the dog down after he comes inside.  This will help remove the pollen that is clinging to his fur and not give it a chance to irritate the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She suggested keeping a spray bottle of a vinegar/water solution near the door and immediately spray him down once he comes in, then pat him dry paper towels to remove the pollen.  A clean towel will work too, but you don't want to reuse the same towel as you'll just be rubbing the pollen you removed earlier back onto the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can say this has worked yet since we haven't had an opportunity to try it, but it sounds promising and we plan on doing this next spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:35:49.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="185" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:38:47.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions using this tag cover general behaviors, including requests for an explanation as to why the pet is engaging in a particular behavior.  Other related tags include &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'training'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;training&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/socializing&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'socializing'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;socializing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aggression&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'aggression'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aggression&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/fear&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'fear'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;fear&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/discipline&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'discipline'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;discipline&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dominance&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'dominance'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dominance&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T14:09:46.010" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T14:09:46.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="186" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:38:47.977" Score="0" Body="Behavior of the pet, including social interactions with either humans or other animals." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T14:10:38.860" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T14:10:38.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="187" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:39:42.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag can indicate behavior-changing tricks and tips applied either in the home setting, or by a professional training program.  Related tags include &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'behavior'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/discipline&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'discipline'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;discipline&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/leash-training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'leash-training'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;leash-training&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/toilet-training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'toilet-training'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;toilet-training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T15:29:30.773" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T15:29:30.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="188" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:39:42.997" Score="0" Body="Training includes correcting problematic behavior and teaching a pet new behavior or habits." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T15:28:46.643" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T15:28:46.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="189" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:40:19.563" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T11:40:19.563" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:40:19.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="190" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:40:19.563" Score="0" Body="Question regarding the lifespan of the pet." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:17:47.310" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:17:47.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="590" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:43:07.690" Score="11" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a thoroughbred, Frank, who is frequently lame. He has a recurring abscess in one of his front hooves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet and farrier have  both lanced the abscess at various times and I inject him with daily antibiotics  when the vet prescribes them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have some good advice on how to help prevent the abscess from recurring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:37:55.217" Title="Abscess in horses hoof" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:50:23.770" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;8 years, would be a good average to concider your dog as &quot;old&quot; or &quot;senior&quot; but there are no real fixed age. Just the difference between the races' lifespan makes it easy to understand. Small dogs tend to live between 15 to 20 years as big dogs will live between 12 to 15.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons why I say 8 years old is the threshold is because that at about this age that dark dogs will start having gray hair. At that age, the dog's diet should be changed a bit and the adult food should be changed to senior food as per your dog's favorite brand will most likely point out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T11:50:23.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="237" CreationDate="2013-10-09T11:51:01.597" Score="11" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother owns a poodle that suffers extreme separation anxiety. She bought him as a young adult (2 years) from a breeder, she has had him for 18 months and has two other dogs. He has always been clingy, but it  progressed to an untenable point within the first six months of her owning him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He cannot be left alone, ever. He has damaged the house, he has actually dug holes through doors with his claws trying to get out and follow the last person to leave the house. So they are forced to take him everywhere they go or leave someone at home. This has been going on for a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She'd rather not sedate him, what can be done to help a dog with such severe separation anxiety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T17:27:17.767" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T13:55:03.887" Title="Severe separation anxiety in dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="174" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:08:50.900" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, you can't control the shedding since it needs to happen.  The best preventative measure you can take is to brush/groom the dog regularly to ensure that the old hair is removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dogs that get seasonal coats, it is important to groom them more frequently during the times their new coat is coming in.  For dogs that continually shed (like your retrievers), it is an on-going thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you think your dog is shedding more than he should, examining his diet might be helpful as high quality food are important for a health coat.  His regular food should consist of high quality proteins.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you can try to supplement his diet with a fatty acid supplement.  They sell DHA pills for dogs, but my vet also suggested just giving him human DHA pills (which are cheaper) and just cutting the dosage.  We just cut open the gel caps and squeeze a little on his food for meal times.  But before you start giving him supplements because you &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; something is wrong, it is recommended you have a vet check him out first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if it is just a matter of keeping the clean house, covering the furniture is the only remedy there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T16:51:16.713" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T16:51:16.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="205" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:19:13.937" Score="24" ViewCount="5902" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pug/Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix that we bathe once a week. Is this too often? I find that if we leave her without a bath for more then a week and a half she starts to develop a faint smell (nothing overwhelming).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard it can be harmful to a dogs coat if you bathe them too often and I am worried that we are doing her more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="111" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T17:08:52.130" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T13:13:56.487" Title="How often is too often to bathe a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2263" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:19:54.097" Score="19" ViewCount="10403" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are tiny little white things crawling across my pet snakes face, and even on its eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are they, and what should I do about them?  Are they harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T22:44:41.743" Title="My pet snake seems to have some sort of bugs crawling on its face; do I need to worry?" Tags="&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:22:40.243" Score="17" ViewCount="51545" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many fish can live in a pond? As ponds are normally not the natural habitat of the fish that live in them (ie: goldfish, kois and sturgeons in my case), how do I determine how much is too much or what can be considered a species-appropriate number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T18:07:15.463" Title="How to determine the amount of fish that can live in a pond?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="145" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:24:07.543" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak specifically for the cat and the bird, but based on my limited knowledge, they should be ok as long as they have sufficient food and water, and access to their respective toilet facilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog however, needs to be managed separately.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food - you should not leave food out all the time for a dog.  They need designated feeding times, otherwise they will generally gorge themselves.  This is an instinctual behavior as wolves generally could go days between meals so it was necessary to ensure they have adequate energy in case the next kill was many days away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercise - unless you have a large house or a very small dog, it is unlikely they will get enough exercise to be left alone for an extended time.  They need access to the outside to be able to keep themselves fit and to keep them from being destructive &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bathroom - if your dog is paper trained, this is less of a short term concern, but typically, dogs need to relieve themselves frequently.  When you are home, you will often put them out right before bedtime and then again first thing in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are gone only for a few hours (just overnight) so he will not miss any meals or be forced to wait to &quot;do his business&quot; then you should be able to manage.  But if you will be gone longer than 6-8 hours, it might be necessary to bring the dog with you, or have someone check in to let him out and possibly feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the dog, leaving him outdoors might be an option to handle the bathroom problem, but unless he is allowed to roam free in a fenced yard, then it will not solve the exercise issue (and even then I would be uncomfortable leaving a dog outside unchained in only a fenced yard as many dogs are smart enough to figure their way out if they want).  And this will not solve the food problem, you'll still need to be back in time to feed him or have someone feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But ultimately unless it is an outdoor dog (one that is kept outside all the time), then leaving him alone on his own is not recommended.  He will either be barking or will be very uncomfortable and stressed at the forced confinement in an unfamiliar situation.  And theft of the animal becomes a concern here as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T12:40:49.403" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:40:49.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:27:22.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not going to reiterate the advice given in the answers by @iKlsR and @Ashley. I want to add some more information; this is less of a solution, but more a cautionary  tale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tricky question, as there is no real way of predicting the outcome of how a pet will receive the first newborn (or even subsequent newborns) into the family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my first child was a baby, we bought a Rottweiler, he was a beautiful dog, and well trained in obedience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our second child was not born for another 6 years (approx) and the dog never accepted the new baby. Our newborn would make little noises and the dog would growl. We had to keep the dog and the baby separated at all times. I could not risk allowing the dog to be near the baby, as the dog made it clear he did not like him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We loved the dog (and the baby) so kept both separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We then had our third baby about 18 months after the second! Well, needless to say the dog never met this baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were then two events which were defining and heart breaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog growled at me, when I went near his food bowl while he was eating. I was the dog's master, I was the pack leader, and had obedience trained him, walked him, bathed him, fed him and loved him! I had specifically trained him to allow me to take food from his mouth! Any food, bone etc and to be able to handle him in any humane manner; as I had seen cases of dogs not allowing owners to touch certain parts of their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was feeling left out, and as an aging 55 kg Rottweiler he was becoming arthritic and not his happy easy going younger self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I was with my little son, a toddler now and we had a iron gate. The dog was on one side of the gate and I with my son on the other. My little boy loved the dog and tried to reach through the bars to pat him. The dog snapped at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was an agonizing time and with consultation with the local Veterinarian that I had to make the decision to euthanize my dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the same dog that loved and protected our first baby throughout his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now this is a Rottweiler, he weighed the same as I did at that time and the amount of damage he could inflict would be far greater than a pug. Also, they are known to be more aggressive, having said that, I never totally trust any breed of dog outright with children, based on the notion of it being that particular breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't have hands, cannot speak English and communicate (in part) with their mouths; through sound and with their teeth. This is something that should always be remembered when introducing dogs to babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals, and this is one of the leading issues with behaviour problems with dogs (their perception that they are higher ranking members of the packs than their humans). Your dog will have a firm notion of where he fits into his human pack. Some dogs do not accept an infant as part of the pack or a protected pack member (as offspring). Some dogs also become jealous of the attention bestowed on the infant. These two things may sound like they are the same thing, but they are actually subtly different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearing these factors in mind I would follow the advice of the other answers and make sure you give your dog plenty of pats and show him how happy you are whenever you walk n the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:27:22.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="196" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:31:29.877" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is natural for a dog to have a light smell, I wouldn't bathe a dog unless it got dirty. Most dirt can simply be rubbed off the fur by using a dry towel, which I would prefer to bathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are waterproof, so as long as you are not using soap there isn't much to worry about. Our Labradors used to jump into every water source available, no matter how cold or smelly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you need to use soap, be sure to use a soap that is approved to be used on dogs. There are special soaps available in most pet stores or online that don't affect the protective layers on the skin too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:31:29.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="212" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:32:29.397" Score="14" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;My children are rapidly approaching the age when they will start becoming responsible enough to manage a pet on their own.  My wife and I want to encourage this to help teach them the responsibility of caring for someone else, to place the needs of another before their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they are not quite there yet.  They show interest in feeding our dog (sometimes) and usually their own activities take precedence when they are asked to help with the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the signs I should look for in my children to know when it is the right time so we don't end up taking care of it ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T04:21:25.683" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T04:21:25.683" Title="What signs should I look for in my children to know they are ready for a pet" Tags="&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2013-10-16T11:54:36.093" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="203" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:33:23.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The domestic feline, or cat, has been a human companion for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nearly 10,000 years&lt;/a&gt;. Cats have been valued by humans for their ability to help control vermin as well as for general companionship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the association, there are over 80 breeds of domesticated cats worldwide with a diverse range of size, shape, fur, and temperaments. Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cat_breeds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common cat breeds&lt;/a&gt; include American Shorthair, Persian, and Siamese. Domestic Shorthair and Domestic Longhair are not specific breeds; they are &quot;catch all&quot; terms for cats which have no specific breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T22:11:04.527" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T22:11:04.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="204" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:33:23.907" Score="0" Body="Small, furry (usually), domesticated members of the feline family." OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:16:34.693" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:16:34.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="196" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:34:38.990" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Rule:&lt;/strong&gt; Whatever the breed is, it is advisable not to bathe your dog more than once a month unless otherwise instructed by a vet using proper shampoo and soap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you bathe a dog too often, its coat will lose shine and the dog can become itchy. Also, dog has a natural coat protecting system which can get harmed by over-bathing. So, once a month is preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we bathe our German Shepherd twice a month and I haven't experienced anything problematic about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the smell goes, it is very natural for a dog to have some smell. It should not bother you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T03:56:29.500" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T03:56:29.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:37:18.923" Score="14" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is almost always nice and calm, but sometimes his pupils delate, he stares at me intently, then raises on his back legs to reach my arms while I'm sitting in a chair and strikes me with his paw. The strike isn't particularly hard, but his claws are out. He's not being playful — if I try to take him in my hands, he squirms, scratches, bites. These periods of aggresion are very short and don't happen too often, but are annoying and worrying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to turn this fight into play by throwing balls, and it almost works, but I'm afraid this will teach him that hitting me will result in playing, and I'd obviously like to avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is neutered, I play with him often, so I don't understand why this happens. How to stop my cat from being aggressive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:52:04.727" Title="Cat sometimes becomes aggressive" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="206" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:41:25.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something is bothering your cat and he does not like it. When this happens you should leave him alone and wait for him to relax. &lt;strong&gt;DO NOT&lt;/strong&gt; try to calm him down with playing or food because, just like you said, he will think bad behavior will result in a reward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some possibilities that can make him angry is another cat outside, a bug, or he just wants to be left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:41:25.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="328" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:41:48.280" Score="22" ViewCount="13133" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the peak of last summer we had several goldfish that died after several days of hot weather and I suspect it was related.&#xA;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish&quot;&gt;Goldfish&lt;/a&gt; article on Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Extremely high temperatures (over 30°C (86°F) can also harm goldfish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ambient temperature sat over over 40°C (104°F) during the day and only dropped to a little under 30°C (86°F) overnight so it's almost certain the tank temperature would have exceeded that amount. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing some research I see there are some commercial tank cooling products available although they are relatively large / expensive and this is only a once or twice a year event in my area. A few thoughts I'd considered are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Setup a fan pointing across the tank as a form of evaporative cooling. I assume though that would cool the top layer of water more than the bottom and I wasn't sure if the differential in temperature may make things even worse?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Introduce a large amount of tap water that I measured as a bit under 20°C (68°F) because it comes from a cooler mountain range. Considering that would need to be treated quickly chemically I could see that also having potential downsides.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add ice cubes that have already been treated, but I imagine that could result in them floating on top and mainly cooling the top portion of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wondered if anyone has been in a similar position and can recommend a good alternative or suggest expert opinion on which of the above options may be best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T19:23:01.167" LastActivityDate="2021-05-14T21:55:11.237" Title="Cooling a goldfish tank during summer" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="197" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:50:06.860" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, these &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophionyssus_natricis&quot;&gt;parasitic mites&lt;/a&gt; can be a vector for illness because they're effectively feeding on your snake. They're white when young, but will turn dark once they feed and would become easier to see, but they'll also be irritating the snake quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the linked article there is some information on treatment, which is basically to bathe the snake and, possibly also oil him. You should also treat the housing area to remove the mites. Some good information on treating your snake can be in this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://lllreptile.com/info/library/care-and-husbandry-articles/-/dealing-with-snake-mites/&quot;&gt;Dealing with Snake Mites&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:50:06.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="206" CreationDate="2013-10-09T12:52:04.727" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound like your cat is upset about something, and trying to communicate it to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to take note of what's happening immediately preceding these bouts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is his food dish full?  Is his litter clean?  Has he been meowing at you, or trying to get your attention?  Were you interacting with someone or something else prior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen cats attack their owners (the attacks ranging from swatting with claws out, as you described, to full ambushes from behind, with claws latched onto the persons temples, and teeth buried in the top of their head!) over everything from getting affectionate with the person's significant other (making the cat jealous) to leaving the litter box too full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you can find the trigger, one possibility is trying to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFKl_rSpM8&quot;&gt;scruff the cat&lt;/a&gt; when he attacks.  This helps establish you as the dominant member of the family, while clearly communicating that the behavior is undesired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T12:52:04.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:00:35.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only think of &lt;strong&gt;sharpening his nails&lt;/strong&gt;. Like most other animals, dogs sharpen their nails by rubbing it in woods. Your furniture (&lt;em&gt;if wooden&lt;/em&gt;) can be the reason for digging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, then it can be due to dog's natural instinct to &lt;strong&gt;dig holes&lt;/strong&gt;. Dogs dig holes to make den for themselves. It is this way, they show that the place is his. They don't use that hole for toilet and use it for sleeping, resting etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I have never heard dogs digging into furniture; our dog, dig holes into soil. But hearing your problem, the cause may be either of the two possible reasons aforementioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:33:43.313" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:33:43.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="202" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:01:26.220" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, I would suggest making sure that your children can, and will, perform regular chores every day without fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't already have a pet, then you can establish some other daily chore as a surrogate.  If they're not already doing such a chore, you can assign a new one, and explain that you're doing so to see how they would handle the responsibility of a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure they do the chore every single day.  I'd suggest waiting at least a month, to make sure they don't lose interest over time, and you should probably avoid establishing a clear timeframe with them (its much easier to keep up that chore in the third week knowing you only have 7 more days until you get that pet you wanted!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also expose them to other aspects of taking car of pets by finding friends who have a pet of the type you are considering, and arranging for your children to help out with some of the less fun tasks.  Walking someone else's dog (supervised), and then being responsible for picking up their droppings is a big test of a child's commitment, as would scooping litter for a cat, or cleaning out a rabbit's cage, or cleaning a fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since it sounds like you already have a dog, then the best demonstration is that they simply take on the responsibility of feeding and walking your dog.  Its fine if you supervise, particularly if they aren't physically big enough to safely walk your dog, but you should put them in charge of picking up the droppings and disposing of them safely.  If they can't shoulder a portion of the burden of caring for a pet already in the household, they won't be ready for their own pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:01:26.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:02:23.713" Score="8" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward having a puppy in the near future, but not sure how to avoid the puppy from biting anyone, or at least avoid it from biting enough to hurt someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T17:08:34.760" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T17:08:34.760" Title="How do I train a puppy not to bite?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-01-17T04:00:29.240" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="218" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:04:45.330" Score="22" ViewCount="181689" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a grey, tiger-striped tabby, who is now over ten years old.  In the last couple years, she has occasionally grown a large clump of fur on her back that solidifies to the point where it needs to be cut off.  When this happens, I enlist the help of a groomer to remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious what causes this clump, and if there's any way for me to prevent it from happening in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="116" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:43:56.350" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T18:13:11.463" Title="What causes fur clumps on my cat's back, and how can I prevent them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="215" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="323" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:06:52.060" Score="17" ViewCount="1572" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that prior to putting fish in an aquarium, one must &amp;quot;cycle&amp;quot; the tank so that bacteria that oxidize ammonia will produce nitrite, and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria will make nitrate. I understand the chemistry behind it, but I'm not really sure what is the best practical method to do this. I'd love to start an aquarium, but this task seems daunting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="116" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T23:42:55.123" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T23:42:55.123" Title="How does one effectively &quot;cycle&quot; an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="221" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:07:24.177" Score="15" ViewCount="1583" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drive a Honda Crosstour. I was wondering what I can use to make sure that the my dog, a  german shepherd,  can be kept safe and comfortable in the trunk/backseat and also prevent any damage to the car, from for example scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I pad it with particular material? Is there a special type of seating material or restraint recommended for this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T21:07:25.540" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:36:41.430" Title="What's a suitable way to drive with a big dog in the car?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="202" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:08:19.887" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a lot of duty for one to have a pet on his own. Taking care of a pet requires the commitment to take a huge responsibility. But since you have a dog in your house, it is understandable that your children know that very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say you give up some of the day-to-day duties to your children slowly of the current dog, see if they feel interested, in this case love to do the work is very much important and the love should come from inside of their own. Upon observing, if it appears to you that they are not unhappy in executing the duties and they really love to do the job, you can let them have their own pet. But again, don't try to push them to have one because if they are really reluctant, you will face problems after buying a pet. The responsibility for the new pet in turn can be added to your own burden. So decide wisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:08:19.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="214" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:09:31.747" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are generally called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mats&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. They are particularly a problem with long haired cats, but short haired cats can get them too. They are more susceptible to them in the spring and fall when they are shedding their seasonal coats. Also, overweight cats might get them in parts they can't easily reach to groom (i.e. their back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention is quite simple, just &lt;strong&gt;brush your cat regularly&lt;/strong&gt; and they are unlikely to occur. The main goal is to facilitate shedding. I'd recommend a strong wire brush (often called a &lt;strong&gt;cat rake&lt;/strong&gt;) for this, for example something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tF8gEm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this sort of brush is that it gets into their &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;undercoat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; where mats generally develop. So &lt;strong&gt;when brushing your cat with this you want to be fairly aggressive&lt;/strong&gt; (which they tend to like). The other advantages of regular brushing are that your cat will most likely &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; it, they will shed less (if your cat is indoors), santization (brushing out dirt / cat litter) and it will help prevent hairballs as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what causes them I am not entirely sure, but I think it is probably similar to &quot;Why do cords always end up getting tangled?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:55:15.617" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:55:15.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1477" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:11:10.187" Score="21" ViewCount="109738" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog will go days without eating unless someone sits with her and hand feeds her dog food. At first, I thought it was because we were feeding her some table scraps every once in a while, but I have stopped that practice, yet she still won’t go to her food dish herself for more than 2 or 3 kibbles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she is being hand fed, she is always difficult at first, but ends up eating everything in her dish.  So, I know she must be hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any suggestions on how I can encourage her to eat on her own? I have tried just leaving the dish on the floor hoping when she is hungry she will eat, but that can last days before I finally get worried and resort to feeding her by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="111" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-29T00:15:20.857" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T03:50:02.680" Title="Why won't my dog eat on her own?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="225" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:16:08.893" Score="26" ViewCount="87727" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I pet my cat, he often curls his toes, and extends / retracts his claws. I guess it's a sign that he enjoys getting petted, however this is not something I appreciate when he's lying on furniture and his claws scratch and pierce the surface.  Normally, he doesn't cause damage to furniture; he likes his scratching post, but this is an exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to tell my cat to avoid extending his claws when he is being petted, or is the only way to avoid damage to always take him on my lap (not that I appreciate him clawing my clothes either)?  Is there another way to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T09:59:51.600" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:40.833" Title="How can I prevent my cat from extending his claws when being petted?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="216" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:21:06.847" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, all dogs will handle car travel differently.  My sister's small dog throws up every time he gets in the car, so he has a his own crate for car travel.  It helps him feel safe so he doesn't get sick as often and also helps confine the mess if he does get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas my dog enjoys it and has a lot of freedom to move.  He doesn't scratch anything, and the hair vacuums up easily off of leather (when I had cloth seats, we usually put a sheet in the back seat to protect the seats from hair).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with dogs in cars, safety is a concern.  One of our previous dogs cracked the window with this head when my mother had to make a quick change of direction (fortunately he has a hard head and was ok).  So a doggy seat belt might be the best solution.  It will keep him in place so he can't be too destructive, while at the same time permit him to ride safely so he doesn't get hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:21:06.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:22:16.673" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest way I know is to &quot;transplant&quot; from a good, running aquarium, so that all those desired bacteria will begin to reproduce in your aquarium and make that cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the internet &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cs.duke.edu/~narten/faq/cycling.html&quot;&gt;some&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium&quot;&gt;people&lt;/a&gt; also recommend using fish to do this job (so you´d put some cheap specimens on it, knowing they would die) or using liquid ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my last aquarium, since it was a bigger one, in which I invested more, I prefered to make things slow: first set the rocks and substrate, then I added plants, then I added 5 fishes every week, until a whole month has passed. After that, I went to the final population, and almost all they survived :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:22:16.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="231" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:23:18.970" Score="17" ViewCount="2218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our oldest cat, Orla, has always been an alpha queen.  She insists on getting fed first, claims a dominant position in the bed at night (right between my wife and I, in the middle of the bed), and had clearly established her position over the two cats we rescued after rescuing her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we had an unexpected rescue last New Year's eve, as I found a stray who needed medical attention.  She was so friendly that we wound up getting suckered in to keeping her (I wasn't a very hard sell!), and now we have 4 cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The newest, Lily, is extremely friendly, outgoing, and... assertive.  In fact, she clearly is demonstrating some alpha behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While she doesn't show any food aggressiveness, she does claim an even more dominant position in the bed (on the pillow at the head of the bed, between my wife and I), and she engages in dominance play with the two other, non-dominant cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also consistently challenges the oldest cat, chasing her, swatting at her when she gets too close to her, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our oldest is not handling this well.  She's become noticeably jumpy in general, and has reverted to hissing any time the male, our third cat (Miles), gets near her (this was common behavior for the first year after we introduced him, but it eventually tapered off).  Even worse, Miles now shows signs of dominance behavior directed at Orla (but not at Lily).  If Orla jumps up onto the bed, and Miles is on the bed already, he'll frequently lunge at her, and take a swat with his paw.  Orla will generally react by hissing, and leaping back off the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this seems to have started a few months after we brought Lily in, so my assumption is that it is due to a dominance challenge.  Orla seems to be generally less confident around the other cats than she had been, and it is disruptive at times (particularly when we are awakened in the middle of the night by hissing cats charging across our bed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to help bring peace between our 4 cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T23:57:24.253" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T05:24:44.487" Title="How do we handle two female cats in the household demonstrating alpha behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:27:34.717" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the short answer is no. This is just an unconscious reaction to the pleasure of being petted and so your cat is stretching out to enjoy. Humans do that too, we just don't have sharp claws that wreak havoc as a result. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, you don't want punish the cat for enjoying the petting, you'll send very mixed signals and possibly result in an even more undesirable behavior. You might consider stopping immediately when that happens, but that's as far as I would take it. The reality is, if you have cats, some furniture damage is almost unavoidable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:27:34.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:28:45.827" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior is known as &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_behavior#Kneading&quot;&gt;kneading&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, and is an instinctive behavior that stems from feeding on its mother's milk.  Kittens knead at their mother to stimulate milk production while feeding, and the behavior tends to reoccur whenever they are feeling extremely relaxed and contented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all cats maintain this behavior into adulthood, but many do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it is both instinctual, and reinforced during early kittenhood, it is unlikely you will ever train your cat to stop.  However, a solution that may work is to get your cat his own blanket.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats kneads pretty regularly, even when no one is petting her.  She does so most often on a soft red throw blanket, that we keep on the back of the sofa (one of her preferred resting/kneading spots) for that very purpose.  This avoids damage to the furniture, and when company comes over, we can just put the blanket away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T19:19:00.667" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:19:00.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:29:54.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies are similar to man's child when they are in stage of growing teeth. Man's child also can tends to tendencies of biting but we give them bit-able toys. Same need to be done with dogs. They also required to chew when they grow teeth , their are various products available in the market for this purpose. Milk/calcium bones are most affected ones. Remember that sooner is better so don't appreciate their biting in early stage, it doesn't means to hit them but distraction is better option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T15:06:35.647" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:06:35.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:32:16.007" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back when we had an aquarium we just took it slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you fill the aquarium with sand, rocks and all other non-living decorative stuff. It is advised to wash and clean the sand before putting it in the aquarium. This reduces dust and possible contaminants that might have aggregated in the packaging process.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After some hours up to a few days, after the dust has settled, you can start placing the plants. If possible you should use rainwater instead of tap water, especially when the tap water has been treated with chemical (If it isn't safe to drink I wouldn't put fish in it). Water from other natural sources can be contaminated with organisms that store bought fish are not used to.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After planting, there are starter liquids (or substrates) available in stores than contain the organisms needed. At this point you should activate your pump so that the bacteria can start inhabiting the filter materials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After another few days, a week to be safe, the aquarium should be safe to host the first bunch of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T14:33:15.583" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T14:33:15.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:32:50.540" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;From my experience:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is now 9 months old and still bites when playing but he now &lt;strong&gt;knows&lt;/strong&gt; that his jaw can hurt. I am not stating this is the best way, there are loads of ways I have read, and decided to use this one as it was the one I was the most comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A bit of context&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the puppy is young, he might bite for no apparent reason when playing or not. One important thing to remember when playing with him: you have two hands that can be used to hold him &lt;em&gt;for fun&lt;/em&gt;. Pay close attention at how many times you close your hand on him while playing (I love to &quot;wrestle&quot; with my big boy). He wants to do the same but without hands; dogs use their mouth. Add to that the fact that the teeth are growing, and like for humans it hurts and chewing anything is attractive. (My dog ate a lot of volcano rocks, my vet compared them to my childhood toys and was not concerned by it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that the puppy is not biting to hurt, he's just biting as he does not know better yet. Some people say a dog should never be able to feel human skin on their teeth. But it could bring some other problems that my solution circumvents but might create others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Idea&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind the solution I adopted is to make sure the puppy is aware that biting can hurt, and teach him the strength that can be used when playing. That way, when he gets bigger, he knows why he should not bite hard and not just because we said so. He will also understand better how hard to bite if need be such as in domination. Although he should not be allowed to bite hard at any cost, no matter the way you use for him not to bite, he might bite. This makes sure he won't bite as hard as he can, he knows better than that now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to do it&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to do it is when the puppy bites a bit too hard (too hard should be 80% of the strength that could be applied without hurting so you have a buffer zone), is to simply say a sharp and acute &quot;ouch&quot; and immediately stop playing. Come back to play a little while after. Rinse and repeat. He might not seem to understand still he learns that hurting stops the game. I also had to show him that biting hurts, by sometimes biting his ear (easily reachable, soft, clean spot; get cautious, he will turn his head towards your face)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My personal conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I liked about this is that my puppy now knows how to use his jaw, and knows that it can hurt. Things like very slowly taking a toy/treat from my hand, not getting too close of my hand when pulling became natural and I never needed to teach him those. The biggest advantage I have seen between that and not allowing to bite at all is that when he will want to bite for real, he still knows it can hurt and can control the strength applied instead of over doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T15:10:43.897" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T15:10:43.897" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:34:09.453" Score="24" ViewCount="4603" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife recently had a chair reupholstered, after the cats had damaged it to the point it was looking really shabby.  When she contacted the restoration company, she found out that the chair is actually quite old, and quite valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She spent a lot on repairing the chair, and understandably does not want all that work to go for naught.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have scratching posts positioned around the house, and they get some use, but for some reason that one chair is the prefered spot for scratching, even with the new upholstery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, the chair is covered in tin foil and double-sided tape, to keep the cats from scratching at it, but this is obviously far from ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better strategy?  Preferably one that doesn't leave our furniture looking like a candy waiting to be unwrapped?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T16:35:48.647" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T10:29:15.917" Title="How can we prevent our cats from scratching on our chair?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="214" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:37:58.090" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;As well as regular brushing which was excellent from Kyle if things are out of control for a start I've also found that very carefully cutting about a quarter of the clump off at a time with a pair of sharp scissors does the trick as well followed by brushing alternating between each over a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the temperament of the cat and of course make sure not to go too close to the skin with the scissors. Just start a little at a time until they get used to it. Once my partner's cat had a bad case of fur clumps and I thought I'd try moistening with a little water first, but that actually made it harder to remove the main portion so I'd recommend just slowly doing it while the fur is dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:37:58.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="223" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:39:27.297" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had cat aggression in the past. Sometimes there is no cure, but here are some things you can do that might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have more (spaced out) litter boxes as this is something for them to fight over (same with food dishes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with the aggressive cats to get some of their energy out. A laser pointer makes this easier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can get some pheromone calming products that might help (For example &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003E6WSHK&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T20:45:12.883" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T20:45:12.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="232" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:39:52.643" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:39:52.643" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:39:52.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="233" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:39:52.643" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T13:39:52.643" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:39:52.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="234" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:41:12.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeding refers to the &lt;strong&gt;act&lt;/strong&gt; of feeding a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding methods can have major impact upon the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt;, happiness, and even &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt; of a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applicable questions refer to methods of providing food, behaviors of pets around food, and the situations surrounding how and when to provide food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concerns regarding &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; of provide and food choices, use &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/diet&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;diet&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;diet&lt;/a&gt;, which may also be used in conjunction with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concerns involving the pet performing the act of consuming food, use &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/eating&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;eating&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;eating&lt;/a&gt;, which may also be used in conjunction with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:23:52.427" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T16:23:52.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="235" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:41:12.337" Score="0" Body="The &quot;act&quot; of feeding a pet, including feeding methods and situations." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T20:44:29.860" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T20:44:29.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="229" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:45:23.557" Score="8" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can always shut the door of the room where the chair is located.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A firm/mild (&lt;em&gt;as applicable&lt;/em&gt;) rebuke if the cat tries to scratch the chair. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You said scratch posts are there everywhere in the house. But I think your cat needs motivation to scratch on them. Use the same old rewarding strategy to make him use the scratch posts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also trim the nails of your cat (&lt;em&gt;not unless it is really necessary&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let your cat spend some time outside for example in your garden.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of anymore trick. These are very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:45:23.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:48:42.817" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;She needs to make it a positive experience.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has she tried treating and then leaving the room?  Then move on to treating and separating herself by some means, like a door, although it sounds like that could be a difficult place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has she tried crating?  Maybe the dog needs a &quot;safe place&quot; to go when there are no humans around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T13:48:42.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="243" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:49:00.660" Score="26" ViewCount="25061" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always ask myself what is better. Leaving some lights on wouldn't prevent the dog to have a nice sleep? Leaving all lights off woudn't make her to be affraid and scared?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:47:35.500" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T22:48:07.580" Title="When leaving my dog alone is it better to leave some lights on or all off?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="229" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:53:04.917" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience, attempts to stop cats from scratching things generally fail. Therefore I believe the best option is &lt;strong&gt;trim your cats claws every couple weeks&lt;/strong&gt; so they don't do much damage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trimming isn't that hard once you get used to it with most cats. Just wait until they are in a calm state&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You probably only have to do their front claws ( that is what they scratch things with, and the back ones tend to naturally dull)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't consider declawing your cats - many consider it inhumane and it can result in behavior problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-30T13:58:49.893" LastActivityDate="2013-11-30T13:58:49.893" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="219" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:56:38.657" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen the same issue with my own dog. As @AnkitSharma suggested, my problem got resolved after making him understand that he has to eat on his own and nobody is going to feed him everytime. However your problem seems more difficult. In general, a dog doesn't eat if it suffers from loss of appetite but you said, your dog eats if you feed him. It is a slightly different problem; it does not seem to be an easy one. If we think about the behavior of a dog, it might not eat if it feels uneasy for some reasons. That can be, eating in an unknown condition/environment, in front of other animals or even when the bowl of his food is kept high. Check for these issues. If they too are okay, I would recommend you to contact a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorUserId="85" LastEditDate="2020-07-30T03:50:02.680" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T03:50:02.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="244" CreationDate="2013-10-09T13:58:15.943" Score="13" ViewCount="838" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1-year-old cat only meows when he wants food or when he wants to play. However, I have observed other cats meowing and purring much more often than my cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something wrong with my cat's behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T13:54:23.517" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T15:23:21.467" Title="Why does my cat meow less than I expect it to?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="238" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:00:28.720" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the individual animal, of course, but the wolf ancestors of domesticated dogs are nocturnal, and dogs have good low-light vision. Most dogs are not afraid of darkness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For roughly the same evolutionary reasons, most dogs won't be kept awake by light; they've been domesticated to follow a roughly diurnal schedule but their wolf ancestors slept mostly during the day. And indeed many dogs seem to prefer to sleep in patches of sunlight (although it's likely the warmth rather than the light itself they're seeking...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T14:00:28.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="241" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:00:59.947" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people might consider this a positive behavior! However, not all cats are vocal just as not all dogs bark much, each is a little unique. Having said that, your cat may be a little hard of hearing. One of our cats is deaf and she will vocalize when being bundled up for the vet, but is otherwise quite silent. The only thing is, she sometimes looks like she is meowing but no sound comes out...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T14:00:59.947" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="120" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:14:18.780" Score="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one way cats show affection or try to get your attention. Not all cats do this, however, but they might show this in other ways such as as kneading, gentle scratching and &lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/amyshojai/a/gift-bearing-cats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;gifting&lt;/a&gt; etc. Cats also show affection to other animals by rubbing against them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;When your cat puts its scent on you, it's saying something like, 'You and I belong together because I smell you on me and you smell me on you.' It's a scent complement.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/info_8737066_cat-put-her-paws-face.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Affectionate Pawing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some cats periodically approach a relaxed owner and stretch out their paws to softly touch the owner's face. The cat repeats this gentle reaching in the hope that the owner will pet it, brush it or show some affection. Alternatively, some cats paw their owner's face to wake them from sleep; in this case the cat probably wants affection or play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T20:31:22.253" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T20:31:22.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="241" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:33:39.643" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;As John Cavan mentioned, cats vary considerably in how vocal they are.  There are a number of factors that determine how often they meow, including genetic (some species, such as siamese, are notorious &quot;talkers&quot;, for example), upbringing, and general disposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats only vocalize when they want something.  Others walk throughout the house loudly meowing, simply to indicate they're happy.  Still others only vocalize when they are upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a hearing problem can't be ruled out, this sounds perfectly normal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side anecdote, one of the cats we rescued was identified as deaf.  Even in his foster home, he was completely unresponsive to sound, other than the vacuum cleaner, which the foster family chalked up to him feeling the vibrations.  Indeed, for the first few months at our house, he was both completely silent, and ignored anything audible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it turned out that he could hear just fine, and was simply ignoring us!  Once he got comfortable, he not only responded to sound and words, but also started vocalizing on his own.  He's got a very quiet meow (something I find to be fairly frequent in males who were neutered at a young age), but is no longer shy about using it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T14:33:39.643" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:39:35.137" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is to &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; try to comfort your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you secure your pet by using a gentle voice to calm him, it confirms his fear! You are actually telling your dog that it is normal to be scared. The best thing to do is act normal, completely ignore his fear, talk to him normally, play with him as you would normally do and do not allow him to do things you normally don't like sitting on the couch or similar. Your idea of using music to help the dog calm down is good, but do not use it to cover up the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you'd want to give him some help to calm down and you can, but don't do it because he is  afraid. Basically, distract him first like stated above, once he &quot;forgot&quot; about the storm you can put him in his basket. He will feel comfortable there, as usual, and hopeful unstress. He will then learn by himself to go there when he is scared, but all this should make him less nervous too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignoring a puppy might be harder than a big dog, but do keep in mind that comforting a puppy will also have a bigger impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="93" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T15:20:14.817" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T15:20:14.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:43:08.100" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll relate my experience (United States) so you can refer to it; it might not be a definitive answer, but it could help you decide.  In 2002-3, I purchased &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petinsurance.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI)&lt;/a&gt; for my first two dogs, with the Standard plans.  This covered bare minimum expenses, and since one of my dogs had an ear infection early in life (due to his prior owner not cleaning his ears properly), any future ear issues with him were excluded.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt that I only received back enough money to almost cover the money I outlaid annually. One dog developed Cushing's Disease and required expensive monthly medication.  The plan had a maximum annual cap on his monthly medication and annual treatment reimbursement; I did not have the money to cover the expenses at the time, so the idea of having insurance to cover canine medical expenses was important, but the fact that the insurance discounts were so limited, in retrospect, purchasing the insurance was not worth the expense.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When one of my dogs died, while the insurance company did pro-rate the account, his end of life expenses were not covered to my satisfaction.  I am still keeping my other dog covered, but my third, new, dog is not covered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the additional time expense of personal busy work required for filling out forms, maintaining the account, and submitting forms and receipts, I feel I am better off setting aside a monthly &quot;in case of emergency&quot; expense account for new dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the last year or two, the VCA-branded hospitals have embraced VPI and are a bit more collaborative with them, so if you go to a VCA hospital and purchase a different plan than I had, and cover an animal with fewer pre-existing conditions, the insurance might work better in your favor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-09-08T17:41:13.347" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T17:41:13.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="254" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:44:48.373" Score="33" ViewCount="3250" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be close to impossible to put my cat into a carrier. I'm not sure whether he is afraid of closed spaces or doesn't like being restrained or what, but it requires two people to put him into a carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make it easier on my cat and me to get him in the carrier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T14:50:48.477" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T19:10:08.200" Title="Putting a cat into a carrier" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:49:06.353" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats love going in carriers and some don't. It is normal and there is nothing wrong with your cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get him in try tossing his favorite toy inside and see if he will go in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T08:19:06.693" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:19:06.693" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:49:17.497" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I do it is to place the carrier against a firm surface, such as a wall, and then I back the cat in. If you to try to send them in face first, they're better able to see and use their paws to prevent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T14:49:17.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:49:24.133" Score="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I put my cats in the Carrier (They don't like it) I use the following method:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I stand the carrier up so the door is facing the ceiling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I pick up the cat, and put it in so its back legs go in first. This makes it fairly easy to hold the back legs together so it can't try to hold itself from going in the carrier. With the carrier vertical like this, the cat sort of falls to the bottom so I have a chance to close the door.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is perhaps clearer with a picture, so here is me subjecting one of my cats to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mBXXxm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as preparation I get my cats in a room where they can't hide, because as soon as they see the carrier they look for a place to hide :-) One last idea is to try to lure them in with a treat, but my cats figured that out pretty quickly and it stopped working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T20:43:08.793" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T20:43:08.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="122" CreationDate="2013-10-09T14:57:38.813" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spay or neuter is always a good choice and can have great impact on marking behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering aside; before I address leaving droppings, a more major concern about a bunny in areas that are not bunny proofed is electrical cords. Something about them attracts bunnies and they like to nibble on them, not good for the cords or the bunnies. So make sure cords are out of bunny reach if there is a chance they will be able to get to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunny droppings are a territory marking attempts (as Lego stormtroopr (user35) points out and offers many great ideas +1) and as pointed out in a comment there are several good solutions at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What is required to house break a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; In any case when ever a bunny gets new space to be in, expect to see a few droppings to mark &quot;their new space&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of additional suggestions to limit the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put a litter box with some of the bunnies droppings in it in the new room&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there are droppings in areas that are not high traffic, leave a couple of them. (Just for a the day, so he/she will not feel the need to reclaim the territory, it should completely stop in a few days when they are comfortable)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put the dropping you do remove into the litter box in new room&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;There is some question about bunny territory marking. Chinning, peeing and pooping are all common marking signs of bunnies (see reference below), though in my experience an altered bunny in a home environment will forgo the peeing. Particularly if good habits have been created as outlined in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit/46#46&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCS5yfJ7NAEC&amp;amp;pg=PA121&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+territory+marking&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=39RXUoaYOamEygGx8oCwCQ&amp;amp;ved=0CE4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20territory%20marking&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature, by Susan E. Davis, Margo DeMello&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:36:36.417" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:36:36.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="256" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="506" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:00:40.077" Score="12" ViewCount="8094" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to build a dog ramp from the floor to the bed; I have small dachshunds who insist on being on the bed (older dogs, prior owners, and they keep us warm at night).  Dachshunds are prone to back problems; they shouldn't be jumping and their stair usage should be minimized.  We keep them in the bedroom when they are alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bed top is 2.5 feet off the floor.  I plan to build the ramp with wood and use a carpet lining on the actual ramp part of it; alternate ideas include using mild sandpaper or a towel folded every few inches for gripping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am building the ramp outward, not along the side of the bed.  I don't want the ramp to intrude too far into the room, but I know that a 45-degree angle or higher is much too steep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-25T17:35:40.257" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T15:38:06.237" Title="What is the best angle for a dog ramp?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:01:03.707" Score="16" ViewCount="369" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 15 year old Pekingese that we rescued about 5 years ago.    He has always had food and drug allergies and we have been careful about what shampoos we use, and what we let him eat.  Over the last year his skin has gotten really bad.  It causes him to itch almost constantly which has created several sore spots.  It got so bad over the summer that he got it all matted and we were forced to cut his hair very short.  When we did we saw how bad his skin really was.  There are several large patches of really dry skin he has managed to get raw.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried hemp lotion which helps some (mostly because I think it keeps him from licking it) but Buddy (the dog) hates it to the point if he sees the bottle he runs the other way.  Is there anything that can be done to make him more comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T17:55:20.470" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T20:12:07.050" Title="What can I do for a dog with really dry skin" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:03:29.797" Score="18" ViewCount="935" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have two dogs, both are quite old and ill. Chances are high that sooner or later the decision to put one of them to sleep has to be made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to make it as easy as possible for the other dog, so that it understands what we are doing. However we worry that the dog will develop a fear towards the vet - or worse, us - if we let him join the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we could drive to the vets clinic, the vet already has agreed to come to our home if necessary. While we prefer the later, we still don't know at which point we should let the other dog join (after or during the euthanasia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we make this procedure as easy as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:55:20.380" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:55:20.380" Title="How can we make putting one of our two dogs to sleep easier on the remaining dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="216" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:04:30.557" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the country someone will be driving your dog in, some &lt;strong&gt;laws&lt;/strong&gt; may be in effect about this topic. The best way to know is to &lt;strong&gt;ask your vet&lt;/strong&gt; about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, here in France, you have to make sure that the dog will, in no circumstance, be able to reach the driver if sitting on the backseat. So a net is in order if you are not using the belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &quot;kit&quot; I'd suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buckle-leash: It is a simple small leash that has a buckle instead of a loop at the end. Note that most brands fit all cars but Volvo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Harness: You could buckle your dog using the collar, but might hang him if something happens. Also, a harness tends to calm the anxious dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some rubber/Teflon sheet that holds onto the 4 head rests of the car. Teflon makes it a little bit more pricey but easier to wash and dry. The rubber part makes sure that it is not slippery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not use a sheet until recently. The only reason we decided to get it is because the dog started to love swimming... Enough said :) But since then, he has an easier time staying in place, before he would slip a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: the sheet we got required some small modification for us to be able to pass the seatbelt through. But it prevents the dog from reaching the driver so the belt was really just for the dog's safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sheet I am trying to refer to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y49Zj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Coming back to this question/answer after a while I do realize that not enough emphasis was put on the fact that the safety of your car should be your last concern after taking care of the driver's safety, other occupants safety, and dog safety. A driver getting his elbow pushed by the dog who's asking for a scratch may become the cause of an accident...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="93" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T13:59:15.823" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T13:59:15.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:10:31.100" Score="15" ViewCount="2042" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy. The fur on her coat is thin and long. I would like to brush her to prevent tangles, especially on her ears, but a slicker brush and a pin brush have not seemed to do much of anything. What is the best type of brush to use with her fur type?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T15:52:16.560" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T15:52:16.560" Title="What kind of brush should be used with a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:22:57.037" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had two rescue kittens, a brother and sister. The sister went missing (she fell off the balcony and later died). Her brother would go onto the balcony day after day meowing for her. It was really sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog attends while the vet does the procedure, it cannot process this situation. It is a human being coming in and doing something to the dog and the dog dying. There is nothing to be gained from it, from this aspect. You don't want your dog to have a bad association with the vet. Even if the dog was to attend after the procedure, there would be the smell of the vet and chemicals, and it wouldn't be a good association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to reconcile the dogs need for loss, without causing a bad association with human beings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest having the dog taken from the house and it done at the Vet's practice. The dog will grieve (as our cat did), but will eventually accept that the other dog is not returning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest then giving the surviving dog more attention and affection in the proceeding months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my advice, and I don't believe there is a definitively best way to proceed with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:22:57.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="268" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:25:31.113" Score="17" ViewCount="74229" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat seems to dislike me holding her front paws, although my friend's cat doesn't seem to mind. Is this problem specific to my cat or does it apply to the general population of cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:17:57.183" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T05:19:33.553" Title="Why do cats not like their front paws being held?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="276" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:26:33.387" Score="20" ViewCount="962" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it bad if I accidentally leave the lights lit on a fish tank overnight? Or do the fish not care whether it is light or dark?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T03:05:39.063" Title="Do fish need a dark environment at night?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="264" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:29:30.367" Score="12" ViewCount="604" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a German Shepherd dog whose name is Alex. He is a male dog and he is approaching 2 years of age in this November and  have not desexed him. The dog has never been mated with another dog. Now, Alex has been quite okay till now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My brother warned me that  dogs can have disruptive outbursts, at times, as they grow into adulthood. Causing them to bark, not pay attention to your instructions and even bite you.  Often, I observed, he does not listen to me and plays obstinate. But he fears me if I intimidate him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any reality behind my brother's claim and that's why he is acting strange sometimes? Or I have been affected by his advice deeply? Is there a connection between this behaviour and whether or not our dog mates with other dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:24:52.810" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T23:24:52.810" Title="What is causing behaviour changes in our young adult dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="266" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="345" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:31:05.227" Score="20" ViewCount="1562" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a big neutered male and my sister's cat is a small female. Both cats are three years old. When my sister is away on holidays I have to take care of both cats. Unfortunately, they hiss at each other, are never relaxed, sometimes my cat attacks the smaller one, and though there's no serious damage done (after some meowing he stops), I'm afraid to leave them alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is going on for days and I don't see any considerable progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get the two cats to coexist in peace? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will they eventually learn to tolerate each other, or some cats are just &quot;incompatible&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be minding my sister's cat for about one more week, then they likely won't meet for another year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T23:13:33.267" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:14:44.470" Title="How to get cats to coexist in peace?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="667" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:31:25.110" Score="15" ViewCount="1651" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are safe materials for inside an aquatic turtle aquarium? I've seen plans using PVC, concrete, lumber, etc. but am concerned about chemicals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T17:04:48.263" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T17:04:48.263" Title="What are the safe materials for an aquatic turtle aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;&lt;decorations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:32:59.383" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest reason I can think of is that you're taking away a defence mechanism for the cat. Is your friends' cat declawed by any chance? If it is, it may be that it no longer sees those paws a defence. In general, though, I've found that cats see that as an aggressive behavior and react (mine will nip if I do it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:32:59.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:33:42.177" Score="17" ViewCount="10599" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have an indoor cat, but my friend has one, and I was wondering if it needs flea treatments. He doesn't give it any, and it seems to be okay, but would giving it a flea treatment(s) be good for it, and if so, how often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2020-08-02T13:16:15.257" Title="Would an indoor cat need flea treatments?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:35:37.980" Score="16" ViewCount="747" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat whines occasionally some nights, and although annoying, I'm actually concerned that something might be hurting him. Are there any common cat problems that cause them to whine at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T18:02:36.150" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:30:01.490" Title="Why might my cat whine at night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:36:51.690" Score="12" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specialized canine toothpaste is expensive. Can anyone recommend an alternative to brushing with toothpaste to cure a dog's bad breath?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:50:49.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:50:49.920" Title="What bad breath solutions exist for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="754" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:38:57.370" Score="18" ViewCount="87005" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much space does a hamster need in its cage? My friend's always tries to get out, and I think he might be a bit cramped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T10:50:46.863" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:08:01.280" Title="How much space does a hamster need in its cage?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="425" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:39:08.030" Score="13" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got 5 chickens who all live in a pen that is being attacked by rats. The rats keep burrowing under the walls of the pen and it would be impractical for me to brick it up to keep them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to keep rats and other vermin out of the pen without harming, or placing at risk, the pets that are in it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="135" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:28:55.820" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T15:28:55.820" Title="How can I keep vermin out of outdoor pen or enclosure?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="379" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:39:14.983" Score="19" ViewCount="1720" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm finding dirt in my dachshund's poop.  He eats his regular kibble and sometimes doesn't finish it all, and he does get snacks and a vitamin pill.  I'm finding areas in the yard that have been slightly pawed at and the black dirt (sand, tiny pebbles, loam, soil, &lt;strong&gt;dirt&lt;/strong&gt;) I find in his poo matches the dirt from the digging areas.  I'm concerned he may pick up a parasite from this habit.  He'll stop when I catch him in the act, but he can't be constantly monitored.   He isn't kept as an outdoor dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he eating the dirt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop him from eating the dirt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else should I be concerned about with this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:04:23.907" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T16:04:23.907" Title="Why is my dog eating dirt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="263" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:40:39.023" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish do care if it´s day or night: they have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm&quot;&gt;cicardian rhythm&lt;/a&gt; and many physiological events are related to the day / night time. Light could interfere with that. Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://professeur.umoncton.ca/umcm-reebs_stephan/files/umcm-reebs_stephan/wf/wf/pdf/Fish%20circadian%20rhythms%20book%20chapter.pdf&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;, chapter 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001142&quot;&gt;blind fish can have a cicardian rhythm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving the aquarium light accidentally lit for one night won´t instantly kill them but will cause some stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2014-08-23T23:38:47.023" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T23:38:47.023" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:42:19.493" Score="12" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat chews up some of mine and also my neighbors' plants. How can I break her bad habit before my neighbors get mad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:04:32.923" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T22:50:27.033" Title="How do I keep a cat from eating houseplants?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="269" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:42:50.837" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've never done that with our cats as they're indoors, but the risk of fleas being introduced into the house through other means is probably your basis for consideration. If there is some chance of wildlife making it in or other pets visiting (like a friend's dog), then you might consider it. However, if it's gone this long without the treatment, I would probably deal with a flea situation as a one-off using flea soap when, or if, it happens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why put the poor cat through the indignity of a bath if you don't need to? Doing that is not a lot of fun...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mind you, you could consider the spot-on treatments like Advantage Multi as a way of preventing. It's not hard to do and effective. As I said though, if there is no evidence of fleas, why do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:42:50.837" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:44:06.817" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of three options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brush every day. I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000R7IKSA&quot;&gt;kissable dog toothpaste&lt;/a&gt; (8 Dollars, lasts a couple months) with my dog. (I'm not clear if you are saying prescription toothpaste is too expensive, or just dog toothpaste)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can consider dental treats (like greenies). Some people feel these are choking hazards or can cause bowel obstructions, so you have to decide for yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have the vet maintain your dogs teeth. This can be expensive but I've heard many claims that is greatly improves a dog's overall health in the long run. This usually means anesthesia for a cleaning and removing bad teeth. If the dog does have rotting teeth that will lead to bad breath that can't really be prevented just by brushing.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T15:49:28.550" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:49:28.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="281" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:44:10.677" Score="22" ViewCount="1964" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat jumps onto our kitchen counters frequently, sometimes causing major accidents. What is the best way to break that habit? Would I need one of those electric shocker things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T17:06:51.093" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T04:16:33.210" Title="How can I train my cat to not jump on the kitchen counters?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:45:48.307" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that having existing tartar on the teeth is the worst culprit for stinky breath.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to get my dog's teeth cleaned annually at the vet, but my own experience shows the frequency of visits can be reduced through regular brushing.  I found that regular brushing even seems to clean away the problematic tartar and gunk, especially if done consistently over time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention that toothpaste is expensive, but have you considered that it depends on (1) how / where you purchase it, (2) the volume of toothpaste your purchase and (3) the amount of toothpaste you use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use an enzymatic dog toothpaste (CET poultry-flavored toothpaste; my dogs did not like the vanilla-flavored one) purchased in bulk (3 tube) at an online retailer (Amazon); my vet was much more expensive on a per-tube basis.  You should only need a pea-sized amount on the toothbrush.  Not only does using a reduced amount per incident extend your supply, a pea-sized amount is what's recommended for human tooth brushing, contrary to what commercials tell you!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, my dogs absolutely &lt;strong&gt;love&lt;/strong&gt; Pedigree Breath Busters; the eucalyptus smell is quite appealing vs. other treats I've given them, and it does a pretty OK job, though brushing daily (once in the morning; 3 times a week should be OK) is still my preferred way to do things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All things considered, nothing does cure the problem like a good tooth scaling at the vet.  I had one dog who had so much tartar on his teeth that I was able to peel it off manually with my fingers.  One time I cleaned all his teeth that way, and while he was fine with it then, I never let him get back to that state of corrosion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T15:49:04.390" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T15:49:04.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="281" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:46:40.640" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;One option for &quot;punishing&quot; cats that works with some of them is to get a water spray bottle. You then spray them with it when they jump up on something you don't want them on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be sure to use a bottle that is just for water and never had any chemicals in it (could be harmful to them since it could get into their eyes and cats lick themselves a lot) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:46:40.640" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:46:51.390" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would look into how much water the dog is drinking in a day. I know with my dog if she does not drink enough her breath will start to smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are some product out there that you can place in the dogs water to help freshen it's breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="111" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:46:51.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="335" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:48:00.790" Score="15" ViewCount="16769" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this an instinctual habit? If so, would it be safe not to follow it? I wouldn't want to get its instincts messed up or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastActivityDate="2018-10-07T18:50:29.023" Title="Why does my cat walk away (and expect me to follow) while I stroke her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:50:44.557" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pet stores do sell &quot;Pet Grass&quot; which gives them something to chew on (&lt;a href=&quot;http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-pet-grass/&quot;&gt;or grow your own&lt;/a&gt;). You can put it near their food and hope that it satisfies their desires. You will get more mileage out of your pet grass if you keep it watered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, related to this. A surprising amount of house (And outdoor) plants are toxic/poisonous to cats to various degrees. If you have pets, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants&quot;&gt;check this reference of toxic plants&lt;/a&gt; before introducing those plants into your yard or home.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T15:56:43.187" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:56:43.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:57:03.513" Score="21" ViewCount="9623" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a bit too tenacious in digging in his litter box. Not matter how clean it is, no matter how much litter is inside, he spends quite some time digging it, both before and after doing his business. This results in a complete mess, with considerable amount of the litter outside of the the box. The box is big and deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to tell my cat he isn't an archaeologist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T04:01:32.177" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T15:27:19.117" Title="Cat digs litter out of the box" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:57:47.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are products out there that can be sprayed on objects (plant, furniture, etc) that will add a bitter taste when licked/chewed on. This might be enough of a deterrent to stop your cat from chewing on the plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past when I have used it outside I applied it every couple days to the problem spot and within a week my dog had stopped chewing on the trees outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="111" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:57:47.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="281" CreationDate="2013-10-09T15:59:28.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kyle is right, Negative reinforcement is probably the best solution to a problem like this, since you cant really reward them for not going on the counter and expect them to understand. If your finding it hard to always keep a spray bottle near the counter cats usually respond to yelling as well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also make sure your cats are'nt doing it because they know it gets your attention, check their food and water after each time, and make sure to pet them regurlarly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T15:59:28.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:03:16.790" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It always works for me if I wrap the cat tightly in a towel holding its paws in like its getting a pill and then lower into the kennel, that way the cat cant flail its legs about and avoid the door&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T16:03:16.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="298" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:06:36.943" Score="11" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 5 cats (2 males, 3 females, all spayed/neutered).  They all used to be indoor, but because they urinated everywhere, especially one that slept with me, we now keep them outside.  I really miss them.  Is there anyway to keep them from peeing without an expensive investment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:13:00.440" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T15:17:20.863" Title="How do I prevent my cats from urinating everywhere?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="288" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:06:48.677" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than trying to change behavior I use a top entry litter box like the one from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002ZS20I&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clever cat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8yloem.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This goes a long way to prevent litter from getting outside of the box. They also make mats that catch it outside of the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T14:23:32.937" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T14:23:32.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="266" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:08:16.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try keeping your sisters cat in a kennel/carrier (or improvise a cage) where your cat can come visit it eventually they'll get used to each other and be able to get along, especially since they're male and female&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T23:14:44.470" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:14:44.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:10:18.677" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not sleep with you, try letting your cat in with you at night he might just miss you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:51:19.887" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:51:19.887" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="288" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:10:54.790" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you're going to change his behavior and you really, really, want to avoid making the litter box a place where punishment happens. Cleaning up litter is less of a bother than the other options... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, you might look at getting a covered litter box. These will, help contain litter and come in a few varieties (I've just used the ones that look like little houses).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T16:10:54.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:14:02.177" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without fully knowing the situation, I would guess that this might actually be territorial spraying. Spraying isn't the same thing as pee (I'll spare the details). I hope someone has a better answer but I think chances are that with a mix of males and females, it is probably just too many cats for an indoor space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To attempt to determine what the source of urine marking is, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/urine-marking-cats&quot;&gt;I recommend this ASCPA reference&lt;/a&gt;. There are a lot of possibilities and since this has a large scope I'm not sure it makes sense to repeat all that information here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T16:14:02.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:26:58.157" Score="22" ViewCount="5014" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fostering a dog who was left chained to a fence outdoors for several days. Inside our house, he is friendly and very affectionate with all people. He has a healthy, shiny coat, he's extremely well house-trained, he's reasonably obedient, and he hardly ever barks. (These factors lead us to believe that pre-fence, he was probably in a good and caring home that trained him well.) Inside the apartment, he's a dream dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get him on a leash outside, he's a totally different dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as we get out of our apartment, he jumps up to get the leash in his mouth. He will not walk unless he is holding the leash in his mouth. Periodically, he will stop and shake his head (leash in mouth) very hard, and pull backwards, tug-of-war style. When he's walking (and not shaking or pulling), he pulls forward like mad. He is a little bit responsive to me while doing this. I've been employing the strategy wherein I stop immediately when he starts pulling, and he &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; sit and wait for me to allow him to continue walking. When doing so, he's frequently exhibiting &lt;a href=&quot;http://petsforlife.com.sg/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/nervous.jpg&quot;&gt;scared dog body language&lt;/a&gt; and shaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things have improved &lt;em&gt;a little&lt;/em&gt; over the month he has been staying with us. After a few loud &quot;NO&quot; corrections and changes of direction, I can usually get him to stop shaking his head and tugging backwards. The stop-and-wait strategy has gotten him to pull a little less hard on the leash when he's walking forward, but he's still pulling hard, and he simply &lt;em&gt;will not&lt;/em&gt; walk without the leash in his mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When anyone else other than me walks him, he's immediately back to square one - all the improvement vanishes, and he exhibits &quot;scared dog&quot; behavior more frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we are done with our walk (drag) around the block and get back home, he is reluctant to put down the leash after I've unclipped it from his collar. But once he drops it, he's back to his cuddly, tail-waggy self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My theory is that he has major anxiety about being on the leash because he was tied to a fence with a chain leash, which meant he couldn't pull it loose or bite through it to get himself free. It seems like this experience means he wants to be able to control the leash himself. This is conjecture, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patrick is a foster dog of unknown origin, but he seems like a pit bull/lab mix, fully grown at about 65 pounds (estimated), reasonably young (4 years old or so), not neutered (yet). We are using a regular canvas/webbing collar and leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help this little guy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:44:01.673" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T13:59:11.867" Title="How do I help my dog with major leash anxiety?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="307" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:34:27.013" Score="15" ViewCount="649" Body="&lt;p&gt;I carry plastic grocery bags when I walk my dogs, and I pick up after their leavings.  I use the bags like gloves, then turn them inside-out.  Sometimes the bags have holes in the bottom from poor manufacturing and I have to be tactical about how I pick things up (thanks, Wal-Mart!  The best bags seem to be from Target.)  I live in a tropical area with sawgrass, so when I pick up, I always take a little clump of the grass with me so nothing is left behind for anyone to step into.  I don't have a compost heap to toss the poop on, so the bag always gets tied up and thrown in the trash.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a neighbor who walks with a newspaper and hurriedly throws it under his dog as soon as he notices it squat.  It seems to work for him, but I've noticed him miss a few times and have to pick it up using an extra page or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this isn't &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326856/&quot;&gt;Envy&lt;/a&gt;, where one can vaporize a dog poop with a spray, but are there other ways to pick up after a dog?  I feel like I should be somewhat more environmentally friendly about this, like using paper bags, putting starter seeds in the bag and tossing it deep into the woods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-09-12T12:32:54.653" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T12:32:54.653" Title="What's the most effective way to pick up after and dispose of dog waste?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="74" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:47:48.387" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most store-bought dog food bags have a feeding guide for distributing the daily amount of food.  This guide is based on dog weight, but the recommended amount may vary based on the richness of the food. The actual amount consumed is directly related to the attitude of the dog, and their activity and metabolism rates, their gender and their ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my dogs, they fall within the 15-25 pound range (the 13-year-old is 15 lbs, the 5-year-old is 23 lbs) and their individual foods both recommend 1 cup of kibble per day.  I divide it into two 1/2 cup meals (morning and evening).  The vet stated both dogs are at the correct weight for their individual sizes; they are not overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 23 lb dog sometimes doesn't eat all of her food in the morning, to which I add the other 1/2 cup in the evening.  She sometimes doesn't eat all of it.  She is not overweight and she doesn't eat other things.  She is the more active of the two dogs.  The 15 lb dog only picks in the morning and consumes everything at night, including some of the larger dog's kibble.  He is somewhat inactive, but I believe he has a high metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T16:26:05.433" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:26:05.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="238" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:54:16.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In lieu of a light, I leave the television on, tuned to an easy-listening music channel and a low volume.  This not only provides some light, but a sense of presence or companionship.  I don't believe it annoys the dogs, but gives them some sort of noise variable to keep them comforted and to distract from noises outside the house that might create anxiety.  I know of others who use a radio.  If they are annoyed by the television light, my dogs have been given blankets to duck under for darkness.  I do not believe it causes a problem for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T16:54:16.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="371" CreationDate="2013-10-09T16:58:05.147" Score="17" ViewCount="1433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Border Collie that fetches things like it's his job. If he brings me something to throw and I don't do so promptly, he will start to get pushy and let me know that I need to stop being lazy and throw the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I worry, especially when it's warmer out, that he will overwork and hurt himself. He has never refused to fetch something because he's bored with it or too tired, so it's up to me to decide when enough is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sort of signs should I look for to determine that play time should be over for the sake of my dog's health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:53:33.387" Title="How can I tell when it's time to stop playing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2013-10-09T17:00:42.200" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to other answers, a major concern should be the ability to maintain control of your dog.  Do not use one of the retractable string/cord leashes which are contained in a plastic distributor handle. Purchase instead a strong, six-foot leash.  This type of leash will not only give you proper control, but will prevent a potential issue with nervous dogs that I will now explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our skittish dog had the distributor leash, and when it accidentally dropped one time, it landed with such a clatter that he ran down the sidewalk to get away from it.  Since it was a heavy block of plastic and the sidewalk was uneven, the handle continued to make noise behind him as he raced away, further and faster. We did eventually catch him, but we've sworn off those leashes for all dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T17:00:42.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="301" CreationDate="2013-10-09T17:07:18.843" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for an &lt;strong&gt;environmentally friendly, convenient, and efficient way&lt;/strong&gt; to clean up after your dog's waste, there are several products for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are products which are built for discreet and convenient waste disposal. They are basically a small cloth bag with multiple compartments, usually one to hold fresh bags and another to hold bags with waste in them.  They can clip onto a belt, a leash, etc.  Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0078KVJJQ&quot;&gt;one product&lt;/a&gt; and here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004ERSOE4&quot;&gt;another&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also satisfies the environmentally friendly aspect of your question because it allows for you to pack your own bags or roll of bags.  These bags can be environmentally friendly and biodegradeable.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0056DE17O&quot;&gt;These bags do just this.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A quotation from their product description:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;GreenNPack eco friendly products are designed to turn plastic into a material that has a completely different molecular structure that is bio-assimilated in the open environment similar to the decomposition of a leaf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these options aren't convenient for you, you may look into a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000PTK9ZM&quot;&gt;portable bag dispenser&lt;/a&gt; for animal waste, although it may be harder for you to find biodegradable bags for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as disposing of the bags, if you use biodegradable bags, you could put them in the trash and they will eventually decompose like any organics would.  You could also consider using the waste for gardening purposes (compost).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to throw the waste into the woods with seeds, this may be a little bit more difficult.  You could grab a large leaf (if this is possible where you live) and always have some seeds in the bag cloth bag. Using the bag as a glove, grab the large leaf, pick up the waste, use your free hand to sprinkle some seeds on it, wrap the waste in the leaf, close the bag over everything, tie it so that you can get it undone, and then when you are by the woods, empty the leaf out of the bag into the woods.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;This may be complicated, but it is just a suggestion.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="123" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T19:33:15.630" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:33:15.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32" CreationDate="2013-10-09T17:07:59.103" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you are referring to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=riddex%20plug%20in&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Riddex plug-in device&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to own one, and used it in my apartment where I lived with a dachshund. The instant I plugged the device in, a spider appeared on the wall from a vent, and crawled away down the hall.  This proved to me that the device actually did &quot;something&quot; to justify the manufacturer's claim.  My dog, a young dachshund with no known hearing issues (other than deliberately ignoring me when I ask him to do things), had no reaction to the device being plugged in.  To confirm he had no reaction, I plugged and unplugged the device multiple times, as this was a definite concern / deal-breaker for me if the dog was affected.  He did not react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a later date, I replaced the Riddex with a newer version; same dog, no reactions.  This same dog does react to a dog whistle and a behavioral device, neither of which I can hear.  The description of the Riddex device claims it does not interfere with pets.  I only have my own experience to back this up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, I stopped using the Riddex devices.  The first one died after a few years and I don't recall what happened with the second one.  I believe the devices become less efficient over time, but I have nothing to back up this claim.  I had not used Riddex in such a long time that I actually forgot I used to have one until I read this question.  As I live in a climate with many pests, I have hired an exterminator for regular maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T17:18:20.967" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T17:18:20.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2013-10-09T17:56:30.240" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamsters do not actually need or want a large cage.  What they want is someplace that they can burrow and nest.  They are active little critters that like to play at night, and burrow and next during the day.  So make sure they have tubes, and a wheel to play with and they should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they get loose in the house and they always seem to want to get out no matter how fun their cage is.  Ours would get out occasionally and would go hide near our laundry.  We would put its cage with the wheel near by and with in a few hours usually we would find him running in his wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters are different sizes, and bigger hamsters need bigger cages.  They need enough space to nest and enough space to get exercise.  That said smaller cages need cleaned more often.  If you give them the minimal amount of space that they need then the cage will need to be cleaned every day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T14:48:41.727" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T14:48:41.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="288" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:02:36.250" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats are diggers and there's not much you can do about it.  A covered box is an option but traps odors, so monitor the situation carefully.  (One of my cats wouldn't go into a covered box at all, even clean -- claustrophic, I guess.)  I just keep a broom and dustpan handy; it's less hassle than cleaning up outside-of-box rebellions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A suggestion I've seen but never tried myself: get one of those big, deep plastic tubs, and cut an entrance in one of the short sides (down to the normal litterobox height) wide enough for the cats to easily negotiate.  Kicked litter will still come out the &quot;door&quot; but the other three sides will be more resistant, and because you're not putting a top on it you don't have odor-containment issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T18:02:36.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="299" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:03:05.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;he's frequently exhibiting scared dog body language and shaking.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the risk of sounding like a shill, I cannot recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thundershirt&lt;/a&gt; enough for anxiety issues, as this has resolved many problems with my perpetually nervous dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maintain control, you could go with a thick 6-foot leash, and possibly a harness.  Checking the same site above, they apparently also sell a ThunderLeash which claims to be a &quot;no-pull&quot; harness.  While I had success with their other product, I cannot vouch for this specific harness brand, but I do feel if you aren't using a harness, one might help you maintain control and keep the leash further from the dog's mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T18:03:05.953" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:09:50.810" Score="13" ViewCount="1973" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11-year-old Bichon Frisé. She is in good shape (8.9kg) and eats mostly ration. Exceptions include occasional tiny pieces of carrot (she loves it!) and some dog chews (only whites) 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended daily amount of dog food I should give her is printed on the package of the dog food I buy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should this amount be given at once?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many times daily should I split this quantity to maximize health benefits? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the best times of the day to feed her?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-28T19:47:50.950" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T19:47:50.950" Title="What is the ideal frequency and time to feed my 11-year-old bichon frisé?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:10:54.790" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most of mine I do what Kyle does: stand the carrier on end and put the cat in rump-first.  I also do this in a small room (a bathroom) so that if the cat squirms out of my hands I can still catch him to try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats just will &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; go into a standard carrier, even a large one.  (The only time he's been in one, since I got him, was on the way home from the animal shelter, and I wasn't the one who loaded him.)  For him I use a soft-sided carrier with a zippered top; I put him in from the top, use one hand to hold him down (I try to pet him while doing this), and use the other hand to zip the top most of the way.  Then I just have to negotiate the final few inches, pulling my hand out while zipping up.  By then he usually knows he's lost, though.  The whole time we're doing this I talk gently to the cat (like I do sometimes when he's sitting in my lap); I don't know if that makes a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S9S1B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;carrier; no cats were inconvenienced in the making of this photo&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does get easier over time, particularly as the cats age.  For the last several years of their lives my three elderly cats would just walk into the carrier when I brought it out.  They were soemtimes seeing the vet every month or two, so it became routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-12-02T02:21:43.820" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T02:21:43.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:14:04.483" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are considered to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crepuscular&lt;/a&gt; and/or nocturnal creatures. The exact nature depends on the cat itself.  In either case, they are generally more active at night, and less active during day which is why cats end up sleeping for most of the day. At night, they are more awake and can become restless since the whole house is sleeping. This is the most likely cause for cats whining/meowing at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can also whine for a variety of other reasons, if they are bored, disoriented, curious, hungry, and sometimes sickness causes them to whine as well. I don't think you are hurting your cat as you phrased it, it's just natural for cats. You will probably have to do some detective work to narrow down the cause if there is one particular reason that it is happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, my cat sleeps very well at night when I leave a nightlight turned on in the hallway. Generally we use the nightlight for ourselves (if we have to walk in the house at night but don't want to turn on actual lights), but this seems to have a calming effect on my cat. Perhaps this would solve your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T14:30:01.490" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:30:01.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6542" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:16:32.460" Score="17" ViewCount="2269" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs are both neutered - however they both still hump people, objects, and even each other. Sometimes they even get aroused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a sign of dominance? Or is it a sexual thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:21:01.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:25:18.600" Title="Why do neutered dogs still show sexual signs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="319" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:19:31.910" Score="34" ViewCount="2513" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been told that dogs eat grass because they have upset stomachs. My dogs, however, eat grass every single time they go outside. I constantly need to remind them that grass is not for eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they just hungry? Do they always have an upset stomach? Or do they have some nutritional deficiency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:04:08.873" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T16:04:08.873" Title="Why do dogs eat grass?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="269" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:23:36.013" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If fleas have a way into your house (via a dog, for example, or if you spend a lot of time outdoors in woods), then your cats could still get fleas that way.  If this is the case, I suggest you use a flea comb regularly to look for flea dirt.  A flea comb has extremely fine teeth; comb the cat every day and use a white cloth or tissue to wipe off the combings.  Then look for small black specs.  (These are dried blood, not flea poop, from what I understand.)  Flea treatments don't innoculate the cat against fleas, so if there's been no exposure you don't get any benefit from the treatment from what I understand (but see below).  Or so my vet has advised in the past; I'm not an expert on this.  So, in general, you can wait for evidence that you have a flea problem before deciding to treat for it.  (If you do treat, follow the package instructions, which vary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there may be non-flea-related reasons to use a flea treatment sometimes.  Some topical flea treatments treat fleas &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; other conditions (like heartworm).  If you want to treat for one of these other conditions, it's worth asking your vet about whether to use a flea treatment to cover both.  One of my (indoor-only) cats is getting a flea treatment not because of fleas but because of other allergies, and it seems to be helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T18:32:01.910" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T18:32:01.910" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:27:11.383" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, first, you don't need to stop them from eating the grass unless you've been chemically treating it. Dogs are not &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/wellness/evr_dg_eating_grass&quot;&gt;pure carnivores&lt;/a&gt;, unlike cats, and so they do want and need some other dietary sources in their food, such as plants. As hunter/scavengers, canines will get a lot of other food sources from their prey, which are usually herbivores, but domesticated canines are likely looking for alternate sources beyond their regular food and your grass is an easy one for them to get to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T18:58:07.620" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T18:58:07.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:28:55.910" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have also been told by various sources eating grass helps dogs with digestive issues.  If the dogs are doing it &lt;strong&gt;every single time&lt;/strong&gt; as you state yours are, they may have picked it up as a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/vet-s-take-why-dogs-eat-grass/297&quot;&gt;&quot;A Vet's Take On Why Dogs Eat Grass&quot; (Modern Dog Magazine)&lt;/a&gt;, the following possibilities exist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs cannot digest grass, so there is no nutritional value&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs consume grass to aid them in vomiting (see article for details)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs chew out of a developed obsessive-compulsive habit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some just snack when they find a particularly succulent blade of grass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for reasons of past evolution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;out of hunger or unbalanced nutrition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T19:41:11.833" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T19:41:11.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="315" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:34:31.153" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a sign of dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By mounting other dogs, your dog tries to assert it's dominance, literally being the &quot;top dog&quot; (source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201107/why-does-my-neutered-dog-mount-other-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;psychologytoday.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there may remain some hormone activity after being neutered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally known a young female dog who was neutered, but kept making &quot;passes&quot; at the housewife, whom she perceived as the pack leader. This behaviour went away over the year that followed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, it can happen when the dog is both excited and upset at the same time, feeling conflicted (source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-neutered-dog-still-try-to-hump-things&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vetstreet.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:25:18.600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:25:18.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="176" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:35:37.113" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs can't learn (or un-learn) behavior &quot;after the fact&quot;. Once your dog has brought something inside, you can't correct the behavior - you can only correct or teach the dog while the unwanted behavior is happening. So in order to correct this behavior, you'll have to catch the dog in the act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest supervising your dog when she's playing outside and coming in. This defeats the purpose of the doggy door - allowing your dog independence in going out and coming in - but once she's figured out what behavior you want from her, she'll apply it all the time, even when unsupervised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your dog goes outside, go out to watch her and stay by the doggy door. Let her do her thing outside. When she heads for the doggy door with an object you don't want inside, stop her and make her drop the object. When she does, praise her and/or treat her, and let her go inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she &quot;gets&quot; what you're asking her to do, she should make the &quot;drop object BEFORE doggy door = good dog&quot; connection and do it independently. You may end up with a pile of objects right &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; the doggy door, which could actually be convenient when it's time to clean up the yard!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: It occurs to me that this training might get your dog to think that the good behavior is bringing objects from the yard &lt;em&gt;to you&lt;/em&gt;, not dropping them outside the doggy door. You'll know if this is happening if you stop supervising your dog and she starts bringing things into the house and finding you to put them down - or if you're not home, putting them somewhere she associates with you (like your shoes, your favorite chair, or your bed). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this happens, maybe try putting a box or bin of some kind outside the doggy door. She gets the treat when she puts the object in the box. This &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; prevent her from getting confused about what you want from her. (It could also have the added benefit of teaching her to clean up the yard herself - who knows?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastEditorUserId="123" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T20:28:31.747" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T20:28:31.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="173" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:45:27.957" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you seen your cat doing this? Cats don't usually use water to wash themselves - they'll use their own tongues, even when it's something really gross like litter. (I have seen cats washing actual feces off themselves with their teeth/tongues.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't actually witnessed this &quot;washing&quot; behavior, it's more likely that your cat is dipping her paw in the water bowl to drink from it, which is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/#q=cat+dipping+paw+in+water&quot;&gt;common cat behavior&lt;/a&gt; (even in cats that hate getting wet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter getting into the water from the cat's paws is a byproduct of this behavior. Try a different brand of litter that might be less &quot;sticky&quot;, or make sure that you are scooping the litter box frequently so it's nice and dry in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be willing to bet that this problem will solve itself over time. Kittens are not notorious for their cleanliness, especially in the litter box. As the cat grows up she'll get better about keeping herself clean, and even if she still dips her paw in the water to drink, she'll make less of a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastEditorUserId="123" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T18:51:20.777" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T18:51:20.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:47:10.667" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a little background on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium#Nitrogen_cycle&quot;&gt;aquarium nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish produce ammonia, which is extremely toxic to the fish.  Unlike in a natural body of water, in an aquarium there is nowhere for this toxin to go, so it builds up fast.  Luckily, there is bacteria in your tank that converts ammonia into nitrite.  However, nitrite is also extremely toxic to fish.  So it is good that there is another type of bacteria in your tank that converts nitrite into nitrate.  Nitrate is also toxic to fish, but not nearly as much so as ammonia or nitrite, which means it is easier to manage with water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you first set up your aquarium, the population of these bacteria is low and needs to be built up.  So the goal of &quot;cycling&quot; your aquarium is to get the population of bacteria up to where it needs to be to keep your fish healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way this is done is to simply put cheap fish in your tank that will bring bacteria with them from the pet store.  The problem with this approach is that the first several fish you put in your tank will likely die, as the population of your bacteria has not grown yet.  Your cycling is complete when the fish stop dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I have had great results with fishless cycling.  The idea is that you set up your aquarium with the heater and the filter, but before you put any fish in it, you add drops of pure ammonia to feed the bacteria.  Then you test the water every day for ammonia and nitrite to check the progress of the bacteria population.  When you get to a point where you can add ammonia, but the ammonia and nitrite are quickly processed by the bacteria, then your tank is ready for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a great article on fishless cycling with details on a good procedure here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/&quot;&gt;Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole process can take a few weeks, and it can be sped up by introducing something from an established aquarium, such as a decoration or a plant, that will bring some bacteria with it.  However, if you do bring something over from another tank, make sure it is a healthy tank, as you can also transport diseases to your new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T20:01:13.200" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T20:01:13.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="329" CreationDate="2013-10-09T18:50:15.690" Score="22" ViewCount="5277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two indoor cats. One of them is pretty fat and he eats and sleeps alot. The other one is more slim. I have tried to make the fat cat eat less (since my other cat doesn't get that much to eat, they only get a certain amount per day). But so far I have not managed to get them to share in an easy way - other than forcing the fat cat away from the food when he tries to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to get him  to eat less or force him to, without me having to guard the food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T20:19:40.450" Title="How can I make one of my two cats eat less?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:00:42.237" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, dogs don't eat grass in a huge amount. While you are taking him out for a stroll, you might observe him eating grass. There can be two reasons. Generally, they just like eating grass (&lt;em&gt;no kidding!!&lt;/em&gt;). I read somewhere it helps them getting some fibre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second reason might be he wants to vomit if he suffers from indigestion. Although, it does not mean the dog is certainly ill. Just like human, they throw up if there meal had been heavy. That's why they eat grass. The reason behind there eating grass can be any of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:00:42.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="336" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:03:32.877" Score="15" ViewCount="8077" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an ~120 litre aquarium containing 30-40 small fish (tetras and barbs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What volume of plants is enough to keep it in balance?  I'd prefer not to introduce new entities to the water for as long as possible, aside from feeding the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T19:33:15.223" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:20:30.490" Title="How many plants do I need for my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:04:12.347" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you didn't say so, but I assume you have a thermometer inside your tank, don't you? Or did you measure the temperature using a portable, temporary one? Since your tank is inside your house, it's not directly at sunlight, perhaps some breeze was on it, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the solutions, since it only happens few times a year, I'd go with ice cubes of pre-treated water, or as Baarn suggested, water that you have taken from your aquarium (although it might get... smelly... when you freeze and unfreeze it, since you´ll be killing some bacteria). Since they won't have chemicals that are harmful for your fish, it can be used without problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat#Specific_latent_heat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some energy input&lt;/a&gt; is required to transform ice to water, the ice will &amp;quot;steal&amp;quot; this energy from the water, cooling all the tank. And due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;convection&lt;/a&gt;, the cold water around the ice cube will flow to the bottom of the tank, and the warmer water will flow to the top, get in contact with the ice cube, and doing a cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd just need to make things slow (so you won't be changing the water temperature too fast, causing some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fecpl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/JFB-Donaldson-etal-2008.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cold shock&lt;/a&gt; on your fish). The thermometer will be your friend here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T00:45:32.130" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T00:45:32.130" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="324" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:09:49.760" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a similar situation where one bunny needs more food then the others.  They all share a common bowl, with a share for each of the 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we need to feed the bunny who requires more food, we place him into a carrier and he gets a separate feeding all by himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-28T19:43:39.080" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T19:43:39.080" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="338" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:10:41.940" Score="16" ViewCount="3517" Body="&lt;p&gt;For people, there's a recommended weight range based on height and age (and maybe some other parameters) and I assume cats have a similar guidelines and I feel my cat may be too heavy. As there are many breeds of cats with different ideal weights based on their general size, is there any way to generally assess if a cat is at an ideal weight based on other information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T20:19:29.623" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T20:38:12.797" Title="How to determine if a cat is generally at an ideal weight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="331" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:10:55.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Parasites can include fleas, ticks, worms, mites, protozoa and any other creature that depends upon your pet for sustenance, to the detriment of the health and/or comfort of the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T14:41:01.663" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T14:41:01.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="332" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:10:55.560" Score="0" Body="Questions involving pests, vermin and other organisms that feed and live on/in pets and whose presence causes harmful effects.&#xD;&#xA;Please include relevant species tag of your pet, such as &quot;cats&quot;, and any useful details about the parasitic infection being in the concern - description of symptoms (weight loss, prolonged fever, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.) and the medical record of events relevant to the parasitic infection." OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T14:41:35.653" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T14:41:35.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="333" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:13:52.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grooming includes care for the fur, skin, nails, teeth and other parts of the body.  Some pets self-groom, others need help, but ensuring proper grooming is part of good care for pets of all types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T19:17:45.363" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:17:45.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="334" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:13:52.310" Score="0" Body="Questions about keeping your pet clean and maintaining various parts of their body." OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T19:17:42.050" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:17:42.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="285" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:27:36.043" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat wants you to follow her, and you don't feel like it, don't follow her. She'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has clean litter, food, and water, and she's getting regular attention from you and exercise through playing, and she's got a comfy place to sleep, your cat is fine (barring any health problems). She probably wants you to follow her because she wants to monopolize your attention. (Many cats don't like it when their humans pay attention to other things.) If you don't follow her and she still wants your attention, she'll eventually come back - or get bored and wander away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does she go when you follow her? If she leads you to her food bowl, she's trying to get you to feed her. If she leads you to a door, she wants to be on the other side of it. In these cases, and wherever else she takes you, if she leads you to something she wants that you don't want to give her, don't give it to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are notorious for trying to bribe their humans with purring and affection to get what they want. Don't fall for it! Accept the cute attention from your feline friend, and then enforce the rules however you like. You're the boss!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your cat starts behaving oddly, take note. If she's leading you to a spot where it's not clear what she wants, she may be smelling or hearing something you can't detect. I had a cat that behaved like this and made me follow her to a certain cabinet that didn't seem to contain anything a cat would want... until one day I found mouse droppings in there. She could smell the mice and wanted me to let her in so she could hunt them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly, she wants your attention. If she's trying to get your attention when it's not convenient for you, it's perfectly fine to ignore her, as long as she's generally getting enough attention from you to be a happy kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:27:36.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="327" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:39:34.300" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+880+993&amp;amp;pcatid=993&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tiger barb&lt;/a&gt; prefer a well-planted aquarium, that would imitate their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;original environment&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tetras, in general, also like some plants to &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/kind-plants-decorations-tetras-like-3686.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hide them from the light&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since there are so many specimens of plants, with so many shapes, sizes, densities... I think the best way to &amp;quot;measure&amp;quot; how much plants you could have would have to take into account all these characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would recommend would be high, floating plants, covering 30% of the surface of the aquarium. And &lt;em&gt;planted plants&lt;/em&gt; to cover about 20% to 30% of the area of the front of the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T22:20:30.490" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:20:30.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="330" CreationDate="2013-10-09T19:47:08.833" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to know whether your cat is over- or underweight, &lt;strong&gt;the most reliable way to know is to take the cat to a vet.&lt;/strong&gt; My vet can tell just by looking, even if she doesn't know the exact breed of cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring that, it's better to look at body composition than actual weight measurement if we're going to talk in generalities. As people mentioned in the comments, different breeds have different weight ranges that can be considered healthy (anywhere from 5 pounds on the low end for breeds like Siamese to around 20ish pounds for Maine coons). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips that you can use to tell &lt;em&gt;generally&lt;/em&gt; whether a cat is a healthy weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defined waist.&lt;/strong&gt; You can tell this by both sight and feel: when looking at your cat from above (when the cat is standing), you should see a visible waist at the bottom of her ribs. In your case, where you said the long hair gets in the way of visual indicators, use your hands. Rub your hand along the side of the cat from ribs to hips; at the bottom of the ribs, there should be an indentation. If your cat's side feels like a straight line - or bulging outward past its last rib - your cat is overweight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Very little evidence of a belly pouch&lt;/strong&gt;. If your cat has a flabby pouch of skin and fat that hangs lower than the ribs on the underside of its belly, then it's probably overweight. There should be some fat there (a cat with a deep tuck on its underside where the ribs end is &lt;em&gt;underweight&lt;/em&gt;), but if it hangs lower than the ribs or wobbles from side to side a lot as your cat moves, your cat might be overweight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ribs can be felt.&lt;/strong&gt; You should be able to feel individual ribs on your cat when petting him or her. If you can &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; the outlines of ribs, your cat is probably underweight, but if you can't feel them at all, there's probably an unhealthy layer of fat covering them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Face isn't too round.&lt;/strong&gt; If you have a long-haired cat, you'll need to kind of smush down the fur on the face to tell this one, but basically, if your cat has really chubby cheeks, chances are pretty good she's carrying extra weight elsewhere on her body (though cat face shapes vary a lot as well, so don't use round cheeks as a sole indicator of excess weight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think your cat is obese, talk to a vet before implementing any sort of dieting program. Your vet can tell you for sure whether your cat is overweight or obese, as well as inform you of any health problems your cat currently has that might be related to an unhealthy weight. It's very important not to put cats on crash diets because if they lose weight too quickly, they can actually wind up with &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; health problems (and any pre-existing medical problems can be exacerbated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="123" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T19:52:14.563" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T19:52:14.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T20:05:50.037" Score="11" ViewCount="6554" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog mated with a female dog from another house and the female dog gave birth to 6 puppies. The family that own the female dog then decided to give us 3 of the puppies. We accepted them and brought them home but our male dog (the father of the children) keeps fighting and attacking the male puppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had to tie him up. What can we do to prevent him fighting his puppies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T22:03:07.133" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T00:50:09.770" Title="What to do about my dog fighting its own children" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T20:17:06.130" Score="13" ViewCount="1428" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidozyga_lima&quot;&gt;Indonesian Floating Frogs&lt;/a&gt; (they go by many names, but this is what my pet store called them), and while I found them cute and such, I struggled a lot with making sure they stayed fed, as they need to be fed live food (pinhead crickets were recommended to me). It wasn't that I was too scared to touch the crickets, but they were prone to escaping the moment I opened their little plastic box house. The whole thing was quite stressful, as I found it so difficult to make sure my little froggies got fed (and I suspect they died because of underfeeding, which makes me feel -terrible-). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make it easier to feed them if I choose to get more frogs in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:16:31.980" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:16:31.980" Title="How can I make it easier to live-feed my frogs?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="339" CreationDate="2013-10-09T20:17:19.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am NOT an expert, but here's my theory: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like many pack animals, non-neutered male dogs will instinctively kill male puppies. They are future competition for the eligible females in the pack. Since the mother, the dog's mate, isn't around, the older dog probably doesn't recognize the puppies as &quot;his own&quot;. Keep them either separated or supervised at all times until the puppies are big enough to defend themselves. When that happens, the older dog will probably still attack them, but he will be able to establish his dominance without hurting the younger dogs. They will be able to establish a pack pecking order and coexist less violently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:37:18.893" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:37:18.893" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T20:35:54.403" Score="9" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already asked about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/341/how-can-i-make-it-easier-to-live-feed-my-frogs&quot;&gt;how to make it easier&lt;/a&gt; to feed my frogs, but now I wonder how much they should be getting to eat. The pet store just said &quot;until they don't eat the crickets&quot;, but I never knew if I should give them time to eat them, or just stop if they aren't eating them right away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many crickets should I feed each frog, if I am feeding them crickets (or is there something better I can feed them)? They would be adult frogs, if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:16:57.077" Title="How much should I feed Indonesian Floating Frogs?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:20:04.910" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest and most humane method is training.  Instead of trying to force your cat into the carrier during those times you need him to go, teach him to enjoy going into the carrier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your goal is to make the carrier a warm, pleasant, and friendly place for your cat. Right now he is only associates it with unpleasant things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: leave the carrier in a place that cat can get to it.  Put a towel and toy in the carrier, let the cat enter and enjoy at his leisure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: occasionally call your cat to the carrier and put a treat in there for him, let him go in and enjoy the treat on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T17:12:31.713" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T17:12:31.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="266" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:31:07.727" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, when introducing mature cats to a each other, it's a good idea to put them in adjoining rooms, where they can sniff and hear each other from under the door. It gives them a chance to become familiar with each other, without feeling threatened. The door would then be opened and they would be allowed to be in the same room, but under supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how this went, they would either be separate into the adjoining rooms for another day and the process would be repeated until they were both relaxed enough to be in the same room without any hissing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process can take a number of days (sometimes longer, depending on the cats). So I would recommend doing this, or just keeping them separated for the duration, without introducing them at all. Given there is only another week and they may not meet up for another year, any work that you achieve now will have to be repeated next year from the beginning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T21:31:07.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="130" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:32:14.780" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spay is the first and best step.  You have two females living in a small space, both anticipating that some day they will have babies and anticipating that there will be competition for scarce space and food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spaying will help to eliminate the hormones that cause this friction between your two girls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T21:32:14.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="372" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:38:23.173" Score="14" ViewCount="2588" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased and installed an External Canister Filter in my aquarium which includes a filter stage with little bags of charcoal media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly I need to replace this at some interval because the manual tells you how to replace it and I see them selling it at the store, but the manual says nothing about the frequency or determining when the charcoal media needs to be replaced. I'm assuming I don't wait until it is gone, but does it change color or something to indicate it is used up? Will my tank start getting more algae when it stops working? Can I tell by smelling it? Or do you just have to do it at a specific time interval? If so, how do I know what that time interval should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T14:15:16.210" Title="How do I know when I need to replace the charcoal in my aquarium filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="364" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:41:58.940" Score="17" ViewCount="1785" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made the mistake of introducing convict cichlids to my aquarium from a friend who was trying to get rid of them (should have been a big tip-off). Over time, these things overtook my tank and are breeding out of control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I could find out a way to sex these fish and try to find another naive person to take the girls or boys, but short of getting rid of half of them, is there anything I can do to discourage constant breeding by these fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T18:03:15.337" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T18:03:15.337" Title="How do I control the convict fish population of my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="299" CreationDate="2013-10-09T21:53:44.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what you have mentioned, it doesn't sound like this problem is from being tied up for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His behaviour sounds like he may be a little dominant and actually be very excited about going for hi walks. The reluctance to hand over the leash can be interpreted as a sign of dominance. The quivering can be a sign of excitement, especially combined with him not wanting to relinquish the lead when he returns home. I have known dogs that are possessive of their leads and it's also a game for them to keep hold of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way you could break him from this habit is to use a muzzle when you walk him (granted other people on the street may regard him as vicious- but you could also tie a bow to his collar!). As he is a strong a dog, it is futile getting into a wrestling match with him, he will always win a prolonged tug of war. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A way you could train him, as dog's are quite intelligent, is to signal the beginning of the walk by getting the lead and the muzzle. If he takes the lead in his  mouth, you use the strong prolonged deep &quot;Noooooo&quot; and put on the muzzle (I know this involves a brief tug of war, but it's the psychological difference of giving him a choice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any period of time that he has the lead on without grabbing it, he gets lots of praise and big pats, over theatrically.  As soon as he grabs the lead, a big &quot;Nooooo&quot; and then the muzzle if he doesn't willingly drop it. Hopefully over time, the length of time he can go without needing to apply the muzzle will increase; from a split second, to seconds, to getting out the front door, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try introducing food rewards into the picture,  this is a little more complicated, given he is taking the lead continually into his mouth, but it could see results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T21:53:44.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:04:24.357" Score="9" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're getting more and more scratch marks on our curtains. What would be the best way to make our cat scratch his scratching post instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T06:35:22.520" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T06:35:22.520" Title="How can I teach my cat to claw his scratching post instead of the curtains?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:05:45.313" Score="13" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone describe the technique for dealing with a cat that is choking? I just want to know in case my cat ever gets something stuck in its throat. Is it similar to CPR?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T12:21:50.820" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T12:21:50.820" Title="How would I deal with a choking cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="374" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:28:44.053" Score="16" ViewCount="2064" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, now I know opinions are largely divided on whether negative or positive reinforcement is the best way to discipline a dog, &lt;em&gt;that's not my question&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From since she was a puppy (she's a 10 month old Bichon Frise), I've always hit her nose to discipline her, which seemed to work effectively. &lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, she's now exhibiting some behavioral issues that I want to try and get rid of before it's two late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've decided I need a better approach at discipline, namely positive reinforcement. In the case of her doing something wrong, I'll simply ignore her or put her in the kitchen for a short period (15 minutes). If she's good, she'll get loads of praise/treats (I already do this after walks/after crying to go out at the door, then going out to do her business).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, there's a few things she now does. Some are probably not directly related to the negative reinforcement, but I'm unsure as to which are a direct result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She is scared of strangers&lt;/strong&gt; - Whilst out walking, if a stranger reaches out a hand to stroke her, her initial reaction is to run a mile or growl (I've read that this is a side effect of negative reinforcement). She will sniff and try and follow strangers though, strangely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She is scared of other dogs&lt;/strong&gt; - Now, if another dog comes up to here, initially she will run a mile. If another dog doesn't acknowledge her, she'll either growl or run to see them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All she does is be aggressive towards my mother's Bichon&lt;/strong&gt; - Well it's more like aggresive play, she'll basically bite at the other dog's joules constantly and wherever the other dog goes, she has to go first and get in front of (something like little dog syndrome).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She barks all day at anything that makes a sound/goes past the window&lt;/strong&gt; - I think nothing can be done about this, it's more a territorial thing. Weirdly though, she's about 10x worse than my Mother's Bichon (who's 4 year old).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two questions really:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Is it too late in my dog's learning cycle to rectify the behavioral issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) How can I rectify these issues and what discipline strategy should I now employ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T09:00:58.377" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T09:00:58.377" Title="Rectifying behavioral issues stemmed from hitting my dog as punishment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="999" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:32:01.993" Score="11" ViewCount="6706" Body="&lt;p&gt;We currently use a short-bristled brush to groom our Bichon Frise puppy (10 month old), similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/ball-pin-slicker-small-by-pets-at-home-95213&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the fur gets longer, she's getting really knotty and the groomer isn't happy to see her in this condition; she told us bathing her whilst she has knots only makes them worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The groomer said something about using a steel brush with longer bristles to penetrate the knots when her hair gets longer, but did not recommend a specific brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend a brush type, possibly even a link to buy one, which would be suitable for my dog's breed and age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T15:48:09.687" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T07:40:10.363" Title="What is the most effective brush for knots in Bichon Frise fur?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="312" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:51:00.207" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my Bichon (she's 10 months) and my Mother's bichon (4 year old) the rationing has been the most effective (for the 4 year old, we tried the unlimited method, but she gained weight because she's greedy like most dogs!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The numbers on the package are a &lt;strong&gt;rough&lt;/strong&gt; guideline and (as others have said) can often be slightly higher than what's recommended, they are a good base line to use though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have one already, invest in a Dog food measuring cup, something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g3IDZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing on a morning, fill up the cup with the dog's daily allowance and then give her a portion of it throughout certain times of the day (We do breakfast, late dinner, supper, but you do what works for you :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T22:51:00.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="356" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:52:11.473" Score="12" ViewCount="532" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my 1 year-old cat vomited over my kitchen floor while playing. I was worried and unsure what to do, so I just cleaned him up and made sure he was OK. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do if he vomits again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take him to a pet hospital? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he even vomiting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We change his brand of food often; is that related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T18:15:21.487" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T18:15:21.487" Title="What should I do if my cat vomits his food?" Tags="&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2013-10-09T22:56:58.577" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you stated in the comments, &lt;strong&gt;he was actively playing before vomiting&lt;/strong&gt;. It could be that he ate all of his food, then jumped around too much which made him sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep an eye on it though. If he vomits again then it's probably worth a trip to the vets just to make sure everything is okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common possible causes for vomiting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Being active after eating&lt;/strong&gt; - This can be a common cause, if your cat has just eaten a large amount of food and then proceeds to play/be active, then this could also cause vomiting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eating grass/other items&lt;/strong&gt; - Now grass is probably the most familiar to both dog and cat owners, but your cat could of eaten something that didn't agree with him on his travels. Obvious signs of this are things other than his food inside his vomit, always check for that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change of food&lt;/strong&gt; - Recent changes to a cat's food can also be a factor that causes vomiting, down to it not &lt;em&gt;agreeing&lt;/em&gt; with your cat. If this is the case, switch it back!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical condition&lt;/strong&gt; - If the vomiting keeps happening, this could be down to a medical condition, either disease or otherwise. You should really take him to the vet if vomiting is happening regularly/more than once or twice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T23:21:32.090" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T23:21:32.090" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="281" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:08:18.017" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two methods that I have found my cats respond to quite well: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some sort of loud noise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clapping your hands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snapping your fingers (if you can do it loud enough)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Placing some tin foil on the counter. I would make strips of foil and bend them in the middle so that they stand up (&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GL0pP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;something like this&lt;/a&gt;) and place them on the edges of the counter. I placed them like that so that it was possible to see the reflective foil even from the cat's eye level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that my cats didn't really like the sound or the touch of the foil so they learned pretty fast that up there lies the noisy shiny stuff monster. After ~1 week I didn't have to set out the foil any more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first option is a pretty much generic method that I use for any sort of bad behavior and is really only an option when I'm around. If you do catch the feline in-the-act of jumping up, your reaction should be immediate and consistent. If you have more people living with this cat, make sure you are all enforcing the same boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tin foil however is great for when you're not at home. If you come back, and the foil is in exactly the same place, you'll know that the cat hasn't been up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Oh and please, no &quot;electric shocker thing&quot;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T23:08:18.017" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1650" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:23:03.020" Score="23" ViewCount="37996" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bunnies like to chew on electrical wires.  While there is some question about if they can be trained not to, it best to bunny proof any wires they may be around. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-rabbit-proofing/&quot;&gt;How&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://bunnyproof.com/step-by-step-guide-to-bunny-proofing-your-home/how-to-stop-pet-rabbits-chewing-cables-wires-bunnyproof-training/&quot;&gt;to&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reliable references giving a scientific answer to why bunnies like to chew on wires?  What is the reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:05:09.473" LastActivityDate="2020-02-10T15:26:43.290" Title="Why do rabbits chew electrical wires?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="358" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:27:56.977" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have to chew. Rabbit teeth are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mybunny.org/info/dental_care.htm&quot;&gt;constantly growing&lt;/a&gt; and the chewing activity actually serves to grind them down. Rabbits will chew pretty much anything &quot;chewable&quot; which includes wood, wires, and the like. If you give them lots of non-wire stuff to chew, like apple tree branches, then it does reduce the chance they'll go after your wires, but it doesn't stop it in my experience (we had two rabbits once).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One good option, by the way, is the plastic teething keys you can get for babies. Not only do rabbits like to chew on them, but they also toss them about for play. Our rabbits loved the plastic keys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T23:27:56.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="360" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:42:33.027" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-09T23:42:33.027" LastActivityDate="2013-10-09T23:42:33.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="361" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:42:33.027" Score="0" Body="For use with questions regarding the interaction of pets with other animals or humans" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T04:04:02.877" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T04:04:02.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="362" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:53:10.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have been domesticated for hundreds of years, primarily as farm animals, but began to rise in interest as pets and show animals in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;19th century&lt;/a&gt;. Depending on the region, rabbits as pets may be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;third most popular (mammalian)&lt;/a&gt; behind cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The American Rabbit Breeders Association lists &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.arba.net/breeds.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;47 breeds&lt;/a&gt; of domesticated rabbit, with popular pet breeds that include the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Lop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mini lop&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherland_Dwarf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;netherland dwarf&lt;/a&gt;, or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Wooly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jersey wooly&lt;/a&gt; amongst many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-17T15:45:39.090" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T15:45:39.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="363" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-09T23:53:10.997" Score="0" Body="Domesticated, pet rabbits." OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-17T15:45:39.090" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T15:45:39.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="348" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:13:00.920" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;To tell which are the girls, which are the boys:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juvenile convict cichlids are monomorphic until they reach sexual maturity. The male is mostly gray with light black stripes along the body. Males are larger than females, and they have more pointed ventral, dorsal and anal fins which often extend into filaments. In addition, older males frequently develop vestigial fatty lumps on their foreheads. Unusually for fish, the female is more highly coloured.[14] She has more intense black bands across the body, and pink to orange colouration in the ventral region and on the dorsal fin.&#xA;  (source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_cichlid&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to prevent they having sex... well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sexually mature convicts form monogamous pairs and spawn in small caves or crevices. In the wild, the fish excavate caves by moving earth from underneath large stones.[14] Females lay the eggs on the upper or side surfaces of the cave to which they adhere.&#xA;  (source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_cichlid#Reproduction&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, perhaps, the best way would be separating males and females as soon as possible, and removing places where they would reproduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, of course, this can have undesired effects: when there are few opportunities to reproduce, they might get even more active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some other solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;give all them to someone else who wishes to have those species;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;begin to sell those little kids, and get a new aquarium :-)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:13:00.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:21:10.470" Score="12" ViewCount="3777" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pug is virtually impossible to walk.  He's neutered and 12 years old, and for about the first 6 years of his life, he was allowed to do anything he wanted on the leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's gotten much better on a leash since then, but I am still trying to break him of his worse habit, and that is the need to mark virtually a tree, sign post, mailbox, and fence along the sidewalk when I walk him.  Besides being annoying to constantly have to stop to let him sniff, it is making it impossible to get any kind of meaningful exercise for us when we walk him (which means we have to choose whether to include him when we take family walks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know why he is marking, but I am wondering if anyone has had any success breaking or at least curtailing this habit so we can actually maintain an adequate pace, and be able to include him in more family walking activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T14:28:01.337" Title="Can my dog be retrained not to mark when he is on his leash" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;marking&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="347" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:23:19.183" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usefulness of carbon in your tank is, well, debatable... there are some pros and cons, some not always grounded in good science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, the useful life of the carbon portion of the filter is about two weeks and it's good for removing any contaminants or medications you may have needed to add to the system in that time. Beyond that, the filter is less useful. What you want to make sure is that when you're changing your filtration, you don't remove the bacteria (or minimize it) that are actually working to keep the tank, and your fish, healthy. What will keep your system in good shape is proper water maintenance and so you might want to read up on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myaquariumclub.com/the-nitrogen-cycle-for-everyone-358.html&quot;&gt;nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt; as a way of keeping your scaly friends healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:23:19.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="378" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:27:13.327" Score="20" ViewCount="1636" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of all of the dogs that have been part of my family, we have only used collars for leashing.  We've never had any negative experiences with them, but my parent's boxer has a habit of pulling when he sees something (or someone) he wants to go visit.  He is so physically strong, trying to restrain him can cause his collar to dig into his throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a harness help with this situation?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it provide better control given his size and strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T12:49:57.170" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T09:22:45.217" Title="How should I decide between a collar and a harness for a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="350" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:40:02.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The curtains need to be prevented from moving and being enticing to the cats to catch and grab at. I would suggest tying the curtains back. This serves two purposes. Makes them heavier and less likely to move in  any breeze. It also bunches them so they can be pushed behind a chair perhaps, to stop them from dangling down to the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:40:02.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="367" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:41:17.217" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to walk our Husky/Malamute cross when I was younger and that was a breed that could yank the arms out of your socket at the slightest hint of a reason to run and a collar was not an issue for him. The thing is, a dog isn't so stupid that it would hurt himself in the process of trying to pull forward, it will back off the pressure if there is a discomfort to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, a harness may still be a better option for overall comfort for the dog, especially one that likes to pull anyways. The downside, though, is that he may pull more and harder with less reason to be restrained. So, a bit of a catch-22 for you. For myself, unless the dog has shown that the collar has been hurting him, I'd probably leave the situation alone unless I wanted him to pull a sleigh. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:41:17.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="350" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:45:25.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest positioning the scratching post in a highly visible location. Cats use scratching to mark their territory and placing the scratching post near the curtains or where the cat is scratching will help give the cat alternatives. Additionally, I have had success with catnip and scratching posts as the cat relates the sensation of catnip and the scratching post, giving positive memories. Also, spraying the cat with water, or making a loud noise when the cat scratches at the curtains will help deter the cat from using them as his personal claw sharpening post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, trimming the cat's claws may help limit the damage caused to the curtains if/when the cat decides to use the curtains instead of the post. Just make sure to stay clear of the quick on the cat's nails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:45:25.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="305" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:53:33.387" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a Labrador Retriever that would run down and catch a Frisbee all day long.  When you threw it, she would run it down, catch it, and bring it back and kept doing it as long as you kept throwing it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, it became necessary to have to cut her off more than once when she started to show signs of wearing down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a few years since the Lab passed, but from what I recall, the serious warning signs that our vet gave us were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Panting is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a sign that your dog is overheating or tried.  It is how dogs cool off their bodies, the same as human would sweat.  However, if the panting becomes excessive or rapid, it could be a sign of the dog becoming overheated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the normally wet areas of the dog (nose and gums, specifically) are dry and hot, that is another warning sign.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting or diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive salivation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is best to stop the dog before it gets into a danger area of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.  We always tried to gauge just much she was actually catching her Frisbee and how quickly she brought it back.  If she let too many hit the ground, or was starting to trot back more slowly, we usually would take a nice long water break and get her inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:53:33.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="347" CreationDate="2013-10-10T00:54:38.857" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you´ll need to replace it, but only if it is saturated and you need to remove chemical components from your water. And it won´t change it´s color, nor have a specific smell (unless you´re having a hard time on your aquarium, it´ll have the same smell of the water and everything else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Charcoal (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon&quot;&gt;activated carbon&lt;/a&gt;) is used because it absorbs chemical components, filtering them. For example, if you have used some medicine in your aquarium, this charcoal will be responsible for extracting it from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some argue that this filter isn´t necessary in your aquarium, since you´re not adding chemicals to it all the time. In that case, you would use it after using some products in your water, and it´ll be &quot;filled&quot; in about 2 weeks, and beyond that it looses it´s filtration property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might work as a bacteria habitat, in the famous nitrogen cycle, so leaving it could make no damage. And then you should never replace all the filtration elements of your aquarium at the same time, because you´d stall your nitrogen cycle and would have to begin it all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, specially because it´s brand new and is already in use, I´d leave it there, and would just change if some chemical product was used. You would be filled with bacterias, the product would make it´s effect, and after this &quot;while the effect must be produce time&quot;, I´d replace it to take the leftovers from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T00:54:38.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="401" CreationDate="2013-10-10T01:02:18.250" Score="14" ViewCount="2331" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cat's, one is young (8 months) and the other is 1.5 years old. During play, the older cat always takes the role of the chaser and the younger cat always runs away. I had read somewhere that during play, cats should switch off who is chasing and who is being chased. The younger cat provokes the older cat into chasing her by batting at him when he is close and generally being a provoking younger sibling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue that arises is that after the chase has concluded, the older cat puts the younger cat in the equivalent of a chokehold, which often results in the younger cat resorting to hissing at the older cat, indicating that the older cat has taken it a step too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this type of behavior normal? Does the older cat normally take the role of the aggressor constantly and always chase the younger cat, or is this some type of dominance play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T12:55:27.747" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T20:19:45.537" Title="How much dominance is normal in 2 cats at play" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="352" CreationDate="2013-10-10T01:05:52.243" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being 10 months old, your dog has gone through much of her formative processes, this being said, there is much you can do to improve her behaviour, but you have a clearly defined personality limitation the work with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recovery of nose smacking&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would best to not smack her nose again, and make a habit of several times throughout the day of slowly approaching the side of her head (not her face) with the back of your hand to gently stroke the side of her head  and give her gentle verbal praise whilst petting her. It's a matter of regaining her trust (in terms of when your hand approaches her face). You need to convince her that your approaching hand means reward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a small dog, there is a limit to how many food rewards you can give her in one day. If  she has a treat she is crazy for, put the treat in your left hand (for argument's sake) as you do the stroking exercise with your right hand and verbally praise her, you can slowly raise your left hand up in front of her so she eventually will look down and sniff and take it from her hand. Praise her verbally when she takes the treat &quot;that's a good girl&quot;. Do this every second or third time you are doing the stroking exercise, it will reinforce the positive nature of the stroke and verbal praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scared of strangers&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dogs react to a person putting their hand out. In this case, it would, most likely, be exacerbated by smacking the dogs nose as punishment. It is always better to offer the back of the hand in the direction of a strange dog and allow the dog to come to you and sniff. I would suggest, you proactively prevent people from attempting to pat her. You can do this by using you arm to prevent their arms from moving to close and suggest to them: &lt;code&gt;look my dog is very timid, perhaps you can put your hand like this&lt;/code&gt; and show them how to approach you dog in a non threatening manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other dogs&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, if another dog comes up to here, initially she will run a mile.&#xA;  If another dog doesn't acknowledge her, she'll either growl or run to&#xA;  see them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this sounds pretty normal for a small dog. To run away from a larger strange dog, is perfectly in accord within your dog's natural instinct. There are many larger dogs out there that maul small dogs. The act of running after a dog or growling at them if they ignore her is one of the characteristics I love about small dogs and their personalities. All bravo when the other dog has shown it is no threat. As a dog that will be a threat, is unlikely to walk pass and dismiss her. She is smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Socialising in a dog club is always a good way to help your dog interact with other dogs. I prefer this for younger and/or timid dogs to begin with, as a dog club is more controlled, the owners are aware of any anti-social behaviour within their dog community and the dogs are supervised accordingly. Whereas an off leash area for dogs can be a bit chaotic for a small, young dog, and you don't want her to have any bad experiences that will set her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barking&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barking and small dogs is a really common problem. Partly due to the fact, little dogs are continually needing to reassert their authority, due to their lack of size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest having a look at the post here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/114/how-to-prevent-my-dog-from-barking-constantly-when-i-am-not-at-home&quot;&gt;How to prevent my dog from barking constantly when I am not at home?&lt;/a&gt; for some advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't a complete answer. I haven't addressed the issue with your Mother's dog, but I am sure there will be other answers to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T01:05:52.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="358" CreationDate="2013-10-10T01:43:31.770" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several theories floating around as to why rabbits engage in this behaviour. One is that electricity in a live wire makes a noise that is audible to the rabbit and attracts them to it or they can feel the vibrations inside it. Another is that they might like the smell of the plastic or its rubbery feel. Also, if a rabbit is bored they will often chew just to pass the time. Based on my limited experience and what I was able to find, there doesn't exist a definitive reason as to why exactly, just speculative theories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As John already mentioned in his answer, rabbits have to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chewing behaviour in rabbits is one that is not easily curbed. It is an instinctive behaviour as they need to chew in order to wear down their incisors which grow continuously throughout their lives. It is therefore important to understand the chewing behaviour of your pet rabbit and take the necessary precautions to protect your bunny and your belongings. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/applied-ethology/behaviourproblems/chewingrabbits.html&quot;&gt;(src)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some preventative measures however are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Use flexible plastic tubing (like that used in fish tanks, but a larger diameter) is one of the easiest ways to protect cords. The tubing can be sliced length-wise with a utility knife and the cord pushed inside. A few rabbits will continue to chew on the plastic tubing, but this provides the time necessary to let the rabbit know (by clapping or stomping along with a verbal NO) that it is not appropriate to chew on the tubing. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/behavior/why-does-my-rabbit-do&quot;&gt;(src)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give the rabbit something that is ok for him to chew on instead and something that it will enjoy more such as apples, willow, aspen branches, pine etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use a deterrent such as spraying the rabbit with a water bottle or putting a nasty tasting substance such as bitter apple spray on things the rabbit likes to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see some more &lt;a href=&quot;http://bunnyproof.com/step-by-step-guide-to-bunny-proofing-your-home/how-to-stop-pet-rabbits-chewing-cables-wires-bunnyproof-training/&quot;&gt;additional tips&lt;/a&gt; on how you can bunny proof your home and electricals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T01:49:11.293" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T01:49:11.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13785" CreationDate="2013-10-10T02:09:54.627" Score="17" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to keep my cats' claws trimmed to reduce wear and tear on the furniture (and me :-) ).  They also have scratching posts and &quot;pads&quot; that they use regularly, but that's not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that my vision isn't so great, particularly for close work.  Since I need to look longer and more closely at the claw to make sure I'm nowhere near the quick, I can usually only clip three or four nails before the cat squirms away (try again tomorrow).  I'd like to improve my efficiency without harming the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of two areas of variability: different ways to hold the cat, and different tools.  I currently hold the cat in my lap, with the cat-holding hand over the cat's back and then around to hold the paw (I'm talking about for a front paw here), to try to force the cat between my body and my arm.  As for tools, I'm currently using clippers kind of like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogcdn.com/www.dailyfinance.com/media/2011/01/bba008.jpg.jpg&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt;, which I can slide over the nail and (once positioned) just squeeze to clip.  I've tried small scissors and they seem to be harder to use, but maybe there are better and worse types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I improve on this, so that I can more quickly and reliably clip nails of reluctant cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T22:59:20.317" Title="Claw-clipping for the visually challenged?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="376" CreationDate="2013-10-10T02:19:20.650" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, some advice from someone who had to clip the claws of an ornery Tortoise Shell cat as well as a few bunnies that can kick like the blazes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't let the cat tell you when to stop. You need to demonstrate that the clipping is done when you decide that it is done, no sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use a magnifying glass like the big reading ones on &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003EW1ZNC&quot;&gt;their own pedestal&lt;/a&gt; or a magnifying mirror to help guide you. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/6112/Kwik-Stop-Styptic-Powder.aspx&quot;&gt;some styptic&lt;/a&gt; handy when you do make a bad clip. It happens, don't beat yourself up over it, just help bring it to a stop for your furry friend as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrap him/her up in a kitty burrito. Nothing like a towel to bring some of the fuss under control to allow you to get it done. It's especially useful for squirmy cats and bunnies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T02:19:20.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="367" CreationDate="2013-10-10T02:35:38.447" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A harness just puts the pressure of the leash around the strongest part of your dog's body. So, while the harness would technically be more comfortable for the dog, it will be less comfortable for you. A harness will help your dog control &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; better, rather than the control you're looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long-term solution is to train your dog not to pull on the leash. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/teaching-your-dog-not-pull-leash&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; has lots of good guidance on that. Leash pulling is not necessarily a permanent behavior, regardless of whether you're using a collar or harness. It's possible to train it away, and that's the best solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T02:35:38.447" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2013-10-10T03:08:03.463" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your food is giving your dog the complete nutrition they need, and they don't have anything else wrong with them, it can be either from boredom, from some sort of stomach upset (which is rare), or part of a range of compulsive behaviours (excessive grooming, licking, etc), or they just might like the taste of the dirt for whatever reason, usually due to ingredients in the fertilizer or the plants around the area, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is relatively common for dogs to eat dirt, but it can pose some problems. If they are eating a lot of it, it can be bad for their teeth and stomach, as well as increase their risk of picking up parasites and the like, as you mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the behaviour, you can try checking with your vet to make sure there isn't any other condition that is causing the dirt eating. Some occasional dirt eating is common and not a concern, however. You might consider changing their food if it is mineral deficient, or engaging in active play with them if they seem bored, but in general, if it is a cause for concern, contacting your vet is likely best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T03:08:03.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="407" CreationDate="2013-10-10T03:37:16.197" Score="31" ViewCount="31299" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves his canned food that he gets every morning, and he gets right into it the moment I put the dish down. Normally, this is no problem - he eats, I get ready for my day, everything is wonderful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for the days when he wolfs it down incredibly quickly - usually he paces himself, but some days he just gulps it down, and I can't find a reason for it, it is independent of flavour or anything. If he eats it too fast, then he throws up, and I end up feeling bad because then I know he is missing out on needed moisture and nutrients and the like, not to mention the mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can keep this from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T14:40:28.350" Title="How can I stop my cat from eating too fast and throwing up?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="341" CreationDate="2013-10-10T03:39:51.347" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a White's tree frog and an American toad, and feed live crickets to both.  We've had good success with this box, which is available at pet stores:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z8r7J.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lee&amp;#39;s Kricket Keeper&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The box comes with a very nice mechanism for transferring the crickets to your frog cage.  In the picture, you can see the two black tubes sticking out.  The tubes are capped on one end and removable.  Inside the box, the crickets can travel up the tubes and sit inside.  Then when it is time to feed crickets to the frogs, you just pull one of the tubes out and stick your hand over the open end to prevent the crickets from getting out.  Then you can shake the crickets out into the frog cage.  If you want to coat the crickets with vitamins for the frog, you can use the tube as a shaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T03:39:51.347" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="367" CreationDate="2013-10-10T03:54:52.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preference is to use both - a collar when pulling is not allowed and a harness for when it is. For instance, if my big dog wants to help pull me up the hill, that's great! Or maybe we'll go skijouring someday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dogs that pull a lot, I actually prefer using an Easy-Walk Harness - if it fits the dog appropriately (I've seen one or two dogs that just can't be correctly fitted into one.) But either way, use a regular harness for walking when you won't be actively training not pulling and a collar or harness designed to reduce pulling when you are. That way, you aren't reinforcing that it is OK to pull when you are just trying to get your dog to pee or get some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T03:54:52.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="380" CreationDate="2013-10-10T03:59:30.697" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really like the specialized &quot;Tiger Diner&quot; food bowl. It forces the cat to slow down and &quot;hunt&quot; his or her food out of the bowl, resulting in slower (and often less) eating.  I usually use it with dry food, but if you break up wet food into smaller chunks, rather than simply a can-shaped blob, it works just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a photo of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SjkLR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Photo of the Tiger Diner bowl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T02:54:50.343" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T02:54:50.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="565" CreationDate="2013-10-10T04:32:33.883" Score="11" ViewCount="4449" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a snake and am interested in whether or not I should buy an adult snake or a baby snake. I have heard from my friend that an older, adult snake can be more frisky but when I went to the store and they said it doesn't matter. My thoughts are either a boa constrictor or a California king snake. At the moment it is fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T14:03:13.010" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T15:23:43.097" Title="What age of snake is best for a pet?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="351" CreationDate="2013-10-10T04:55:55.087" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first - remain calm. The cat will pick up on your distress, and since it is already in trouble, the last thing you want to do is make it more upset. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to try to remove whatever is obstructing the cat's airway, UNLESS IT IS A NEEDLE. If it is a needle, DO NOT try to remove it, as you can cause a lot of pain and injury to the cat - take the cat to the vet RIGHT away if you notice they are choking on a needle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the easiest ways to open a cat's mouth (and the method I use to get my cat to open his mouth when I need to give him pills and the like when he is ill), is to wrap your hand over the top of the cat's head (so the top of the head is against your palm), and use your thumb and index finger to press against the jaw (near the longer fang teeth) and the cat should open its mouth for you, and you should be able to reach in with your fingers (or needlenose pliers if you can't get a grip on the obstruction) and pull it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it doesn't, you can also (as terrible as it might sound), pick the cat up by the back legs and turn it so its head is facing the floor, and shake vigorously. It might seem like a really horrible thing to do, but it can save the cat's life!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot get the object out, take the cat to the vet RIGHT AWAY, so they can help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: a pamphlet my vet gave me when I got my cat, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://animal.discovery.com/pets/how-to-save-a-choking-cat.htm&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; that also explains cat CPR!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T04:55:55.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="412" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:24:41.227" Score="19" ViewCount="19517" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, Rex, is like two dogs in one. He is 2.5 years old, neutered pitbull/boxer mix, and is incredibly aggressive towards other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the house, he is cuddly, playful, and docile.  My mom describes him as &quot;a big mush&quot;.  He gets along with my nieces and nephews, and doesn't even bark [save the rare occasion someone walks down my driveway that he doesn't know].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside, totally different story.  He walks with almost his entire weight over his front paws; he has his ears up and tail stiff (actually it's hard to tell because his tail is broken); and he will lunge at basically any moving object we come across [I actually don't know what triggers this behavior; I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-causes-a-dog-to-lunge-at-an-unknown-child-and-how-should-the-owner-respond&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt; about something similar].  He pulls on the leash, and essentially refuses to walk anywhere except in front of me. He smells and urinates on everything, often kicking dirt when he's done. He completely ignores me, so badly that even if I grab him by the snout and point his face at me, he keeps his eyes glancing sideways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been suggested to me that Rex is &lt;em&gt;afraid&lt;/em&gt;, or simply &lt;em&gt;stressed&lt;/em&gt; when outside, and I certainly don't doubt it.  My question is: how do I calm him down? How do I carry some of the amazing inside behavior over to our outside walks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[I understand this is a difficult question, that would require a lot of work.  I am simply asking for some first steps in the right direction.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T12:44:36.057" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T14:15:17.893" Title="Why does my dog act differently outside the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="388" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:25:45.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snakes, both constrictors and venomous, can be kept as pets. Where pertinent to the question, please include the species, so the answers can be more focused. This is because habitats, behaviours and resulting care requirements can vary significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="1295" LastEditDate="2014-05-25T23:56:59.037" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T23:56:59.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="389" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:25:45.533" Score="0" Body="For questions related to snakes, whether constrictors or venomous, kept as pets. " OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="1295" LastEditDate="2014-05-25T23:57:04.593" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T23:57:04.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="390" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:26:50.647" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T05:26:50.647" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T05:26:50.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="391" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:26:50.647" Score="0" Body="Question concerning about age of pet." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T13:31:12.613" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T13:31:12.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="392" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:28:09.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aggression covers behavior ranging from body language and social cues (growling, hissing, etc.) to aggressive dominance behavior (e.g. a dog forcing another dog onto its back) to actual acts of violence (nipping, biting, clawing, etc.).  Related tags: &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'behavior'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/discipline&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'discipline'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;discipline&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T13:40:16.700" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T13:40:16.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="393" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:28:09.950" Score="0" Body="Covers aggressive behavior exhibited by pets towards humans, other pets, or other animals in general" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T13:40:44.937" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T13:40:44.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="394" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:31:17.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish are frequently kept as pets in tanks, fish bowls, aquariums or ponds.  Relevant topics can include &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;care&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;care&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/breeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;breeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;breeding&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/maintenance&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;maintenance&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;maintenance&lt;/a&gt; of the environment, and questions concerning interactions between specific species of fish and other creatures in their environment (e.g. crabs, eels, plants, etc.).  Fish are frequently categorized as &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/saltwater&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;saltwater&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;saltwater&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/freshwater&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;freshwater&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;freshwater&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related tags: &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;aquarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/pond&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;pond&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;pond&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/terrarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;terrarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;terrarium&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditDate="2014-09-17T16:54:18.060" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T16:54:18.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="395" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T05:31:17.027" Score="0" Body="Fish kept as pets in a natural or artificial enclosure." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T13:11:53.317" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T13:11:53.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="397" CreationDate="2013-10-10T06:02:54.103" Score="17" ViewCount="2607" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Friend's dog has so many bad behaviour like:&#xA; Barking at people unnecessarily,  fighting other dogs, bringing dirt in the house, defecating anywhere in the house and lots of others.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My friend usually ties it up and doesn't give it food in order to discipline it. But I've told him that is not the best way to discipline a dog as it might make the dog violent with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to discipline this dog? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T18:47:42.453" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T17:00:41.153" Title="What is an effective way to discipline a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="396" CreationDate="2013-10-10T06:23:08.710" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depriving a dog of food is not a productive way to discipline a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the sounds of it, this dog needs a lot of attention, in the form of training and fun dog activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Useful methods to discipline dogs are ones that will teach the dog. Dog's are intelligent animals, but they have an intelligence similar to the level of young children (&amp;lt;=4 years); so they cannot understand elaborate consequences, they respond to simple cause and effect whether it be positive or negative reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to discipline a dog is to proactively train a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the sounds of it, it would appear that your friend's dog has not been trained much, if at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barking at people unnecessarily  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fighting other dogs   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bringing dirt in the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excreting anywhere in the house  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all symptoms of a bored dog that has not been well trained or socialized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Balancing positive and negative reinforcement with dogs is important, as continual negative reinforcement without praise can cause a dog's nature to become less friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips would be to try and train the dog the basics, a  reward based training system is good. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ava.com.au/sites/default/files/AVA_website/pdfs/Reward-based-training-brochure-WEB.pdf&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt; by the Australian Veterinary Association gives good advice on how to apply positive rewards for good behavior and  appropriate punishments to deter unwanted behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two types  of reinforcement techniques&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Positive  reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt; involves giving the dog something it wants to make the&#xA;  behaviour more likely to occur again.  This occurs if asking the dog&#xA;  to sit and stay and giving it a reward (something the dog wants)  for&#xA;  staying away from the biscuit on the table increases his likelihood of&#xA;  doing as asked again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Negative reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt; involves removing&#xA;  something aversive to make the behaviour more likely to occur again.&#xA;  This  occurs if holding the dog back from the table by a tight choker&#xA;  chain (an aversive stimulus), and releasing the pressure  when the dog&#xA;  sits down and stops leaning in towards the biscuits. This results in&#xA;  the dog being less likely to try and  approach food on the table in&#xA;  the future. Note that an aversive stimulus had to be present (the&#xA;  choker) for the dog to  have to work to escape, so negative&#xA;  reinforcement can also be called escape or avoidance learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I like to train dogs with a style of integrating positive or negative reinforcement with my own natural body languages. The voice should always be used when praising or correcting, and the pitch and tone of the voice, &lt;code&gt;that's a good dog&lt;/code&gt; and a good pat with a  food reward; or a firm and deep &lt;code&gt;No!&lt;/code&gt; and a loud clap of the hands with either a spray from a water bottle, or check from a check chain. This causes the dog to associate your voice and actions the external stimulus, so that eventually the external stimulus can be removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T06:38:21.313" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T06:38:21.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="415" CreationDate="2013-10-10T06:58:31.673" Score="20" ViewCount="1019" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Beauce Shepherd is now 9 months old. We have followed some behaviour education classes with a personal trainer and everything went very well. Before the dog would do as he wanted and now, he just listens really well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the trainer's suggestions, some behaviours were reinforced positively, and some negatively. The problem we are having now is with the behaviours we reinforced negatively. We are using a metal box to make a sound. The dog hates it and obeys. It is always used after a &quot;no&quot; as a second sanction. Everything works perfectly, and now we do not need to use the box any more as he behaves correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that we think we will need to replace the box with something else as he's now learnt that if we don't have the box, there won't be any sound and so he engages in the unwanted behavior. It is starting to be a problem as we need to carry the box everywhere now, because if we don't have it he will use the opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way we can rectify this by replacing the box with our body or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: He has been desexed a month ago and he is testing us a bit less but still does it when we don't have the box handy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:09:07.160" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:09:07.160" Title="Negative reinforcement: how to replace an object?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1723" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:08:10.740" Score="16" ViewCount="1021" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the process of designing a new enclosure for my Redfoot tortoise.  As a South American breed, she needs a lot of moisture, which at present I am providing via moistening her substrate (sphagnum moss).  I am thinking of changing her substrate (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/170/substrate-for-a-redfoot-tortoise&quot;&gt;Is there a substrate for a Redfoot tortoise that won&amp;#39;t retain excess moisture?&lt;/a&gt;), but a more pressing question for me is whether (essentially) sealing off her new enclosure to allow for maximum moisture retention will leave her with insufficient airflow.  Common sense would dictate that I would leave a few holes in the outside to allow air to pass, but how do I know if she has enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it practical to &quot;bubble&quot; in oxygen with whatever humidity source I ultimately choose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T05:51:40.193" Title="Counterbalancing air flow and humidity in a tortoise enclosure" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="402" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:28:31.690" Score="21" ViewCount="1712" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes our doctor advises us to use to use human medicines for our dogs. For example, when my sister's Labrador was small, the doctor advised us to administer children's syrup for stomach disorder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this good advice or should we ignore it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:47:43.377" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T07:04:07.547" Title="Can I use human medicine on dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="373" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:29:38.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless there is real physical harm  resulting from the play, it sounds like it is part of the normal cat play. Cats are natural hunters and like to practice stalking moving objects. They also enjoy playing with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article by the ASPCA discusses aggression between domestic cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/aggression-between-cats-your-household&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Play Aggression&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s common for kittens and young cats to engage in rough, active play&#xA;  because all feline play consists of mock aggression. Cats stalk,&#xA;  chase, sneak, pounce, swat, kick, scratch, ambush, attack and bite&#xA;  each other—all in good fun. If they’re playing, it’s reciprocal. They&#xA;  change roles frequently. Their ears are typically forward in play,&#xA;  their claws may be out but they don’t cause damage, and their bodies&#xA;  lean forward not back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rspcavic.org/health-and-behaviour/cats/aggressive-behaviour&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; on feline aggression by the RSPCA Victoria, gives a good way to assess your cat's aggressive behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Play aggression: young cats commonly show play aggression towards&#xA;  people or other pets. Behaviours commonly seen with this type of&#xA;  aggression are stalking, pouncing, nipping or biting of people or&#xA;  their clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T07:29:38.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:37:51.237" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never give pets human medication unless advised by your local Veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People may be tempted to try and save money, by bypassing a trip to the Vet or paying for expensive Veterinary medications and products. Unfortunately the cost of looking after our pets can be high, but to try and help our pets with well meaning shortcuts, by using human products and medications is not a viable solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals metabolise drugs differently from human beings and differently between species. What may be effective in a human being, may be harmful or potentially fatal for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/top-10-dog-poisons&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Top 10 Dog Poisons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog poison No. 1: Prescription medications for people.&lt;/strong&gt; Drugs that&#xA;might be beneficial or even lifesaving for people can have the&#xA;opposite effect in pets. And it doesn’t always take a large dose to do&#xA;major damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the most common and harmful medications that poison dogs&#xA;include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prescription anti-inflammatory&lt;/strong&gt; and pain medications can cause stomach&#xA;and intestinal ulcers or kidney failure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Antidepressants&lt;/strong&gt; can cause&#xA;vomiting and, in more serious instances, serotonin syndrome -- a&#xA;dangerous condition that raises temperature, heart rate, and blood&#xA;pressure, and may cause seizures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blood pressure medications&lt;/strong&gt;. (1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/pets/dogs/dog-health/common-dog-poisons&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common Dog Poisons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medications&lt;/strong&gt; that can be toxic at certain doses include: Aspirin, Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. Other medications that should not be given to your dog as they can be potentially lethal, even in small doses, include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Antidepressants&lt;/strong&gt; – can cause vomiting and lethargy with certain types leading to serotonin syndrome.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;ADHD medications&lt;/strong&gt; – act as a stimulant and dangerously elevate heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Anti-cancer drugs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Anti-diabetics&lt;/strong&gt; – cause a major drop in blood sugar levels causing disorientation, lack of coordination and seizures.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Cold medicines&lt;/strong&gt; – acts as a stimulant causing elevated heart rates, blood pressure, body temperature and seizures.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin D derivatives&lt;/strong&gt; – cause life-threatening spikes in blood calcium levels in pets that can lead to kidney failure.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Diet pills.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Muscle relaxants&lt;/strong&gt; – can impair the central nervous system and lead to death. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's important never to assume:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important note to make is, although many medications may be the same that is used for a pet and a human, it is important not to dose a pet based on the dosage given to a person. It is not just a weight by weight correlation, different species may require a varying dose per weight, as they have different metabolisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The only exception:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On the written advice of a Veterinarian:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For instance, you take your dog to the Veterinarian and the Vet gives you written instructions on the use of any over the counter medications  with explicit dosage guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;WebMD (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Victorian State Government Australia (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T16:44:52.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="403" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:55:43.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Medicines include those which are prescribed by a doctor or veterinarian, treatments purchased over-the-counter, and extend to homeopathic options.  Viable questions can include how to select medicine, where to acquire or find medicine, applying / delivering to a pet, issues with side-effects, and concerns regarding specific brands or categories of medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medicines include, but are not limited to, ear drops, allergy applications, prescription feed (when relevant), and monthly preventatives (flea, tick, heartworm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May be coupled with tags if general &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;care&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;care&lt;/a&gt;  of the pet or the immediate &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt; of the pet is a concern.  Include a pet species or breed-specific tag (&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc.) if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T18:54:16.500" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T18:54:16.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="404" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:55:43.120" Score="0" Body="Regards concerns about pet medication, including prescribed, over-the-counter and homeopathic treatments.&#xD;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T18:23:13.510" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T18:23:13.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="405" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:56:20.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Addressing specific problems or health concerns that may negatively impact the well-being of a pet. Requests for general medical information are appropriate; however, personal medical advice is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of &lt;strong&gt;appropriate&lt;/strong&gt; general medical information questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are the advantages/disadvantages of these three different treatments commonly used for $disease?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How often do indoor-only pets contract FIV?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;$professional_publication had information about a promising new treatment for $condition a year ago; what further work has been done?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We suspect food allergies; what alternatives are there to the expensive prescription diet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the general prognosis for $diagnosis?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of &lt;strong&gt;off-topic&lt;/strong&gt; personal medical advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I subject my elderly pet to surgery for $problem?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I vaccinate my indoor pet for FIV?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I accidentally skip a dose of $medicine should I just skip it or double up the next one?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Many personal details here, ending with) what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related tags: &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/diet&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;diet&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;diet&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/exercise&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;exercise&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;exercise&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/hygiene&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;hygiene&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;hygiene&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dental-care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dental-care&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dental-care&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T17:19:14.397" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T17:19:14.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="406" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T07:56:20.170" Score="0" Body="*Specific* problems or concerns regarding the physical well-being of a pet." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T17:18:56.473" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T17:18:56.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="380" CreationDate="2013-10-10T08:41:56.540" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Split his daily portions. Cats are designed to have smaller, frequent meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try giving him a quarter of the food amount you normally serve when you get up. Give him the next quarter before you leave (if you leave for work); otherwise, split the meals up into three or four portions spaced throughout the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-should-I-feed-my-cat_262.html&quot;&gt;The RSPCA&lt;/a&gt; recommends the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adult cats tend to prefer to eat several smaller meals throughout the day/night. They should ideally be offered food at least 3-4 times per day (eating smaller frequent meals has been associated with greater urinary tract health).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T02:57:58.280" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T02:57:58.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="312" CreationDate="2013-10-10T08:45:09.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question depends on your preference and as well as how the dog likes it. I am not familiar with the specific breed (especially not how hungry they are). You can feed your dog once a day, if it completely eats everything this is OK to do. We normally give our dogs a small morning snack, something like a slice of bread, their main meal at noon and a snack in the evening, normally a slice of bread and a toothbrush-treat. (note: slice of bread means German-style whole grain bread)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I already noted in a comment, dog food manufacturers tend to print recommendations that are too high for the normal household dog. Talk about your dogs ideal weight with your vet. Then get a scale and measure your dogs weight regularly. You can adjust the amount of food your dog gets according to his gains or losses, especially when it is hard to notice any optical changes due to a thick fur.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This also makes it easier to adjust the food for additional treats or snacks that you give throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T08:45:09.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-10T09:04:43.497" Score="14" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several different trees and bushes surrounding our pond. As fall season peaks, the amount of leaves and needles falling into the pond gets quite high. There are koi, sturgeon and goldfish living in the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a skimmer to clean the surface water, though floating material always accumulates in some corners of the pond. There is no guarantee the skimmer is cleaned as regularly as it is during fall.  Another access point for the pump is at the lowest spot of the pond, to keep the base of the pond free of dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main concern is that a net makes the pond look far uglier than uncollected/un-skimmed floating material. Given these conditions, is there any reason to cover the pond with a net during fall season?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T16:11:59.427" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:11:59.427" Title="Does a pond have to be covered with a net during fall?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="409" CreationDate="2013-10-10T09:14:09.027" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert at fishes but your pond needs to be covered with nets during fall to prevent leaves and others (just like you said).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be more concerned with hygiene (clean state) of the pond which will affect the health of the fishes rather than how beautiful or ugly it looks hence the need for a net during fall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean what is the essence of a beautiful pond which is very dirty?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pondtrademag.com/articles/ar-242/&quot;&gt;Fall and Winter Care for Your Ponds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T09:14:09.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2013-10-10T09:31:59.817" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our vet has suggested we use &lt;strong&gt;specific&lt;/strong&gt; human over-the-counter medicine on our dog in &lt;strong&gt;specific&lt;/strong&gt; cases, however she has also said we need to pay careful attentions to dosages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common specific case is Benadryl for allergy relief, and I know others who have been told the same.  Children's Benadryl is preferred but they don't make that in pill form anymore, so we either have to get him to take a liquid syrup or cut an adult Benadryl in half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't speak for Children's cough syrup though as I don't have any direct experience, but based on some outside references, it is ok for a minor case for very short time periods.  It should be avoided however because cough syrups suppress the cough but do not treat the condition causing the cough, and hence could delay treatment for a more serious problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Source:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/coughing-dogs-causes-treatments&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/coughing-dogs-causes-treatments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my most common human OTC medications, pain relievers, are a big no-no though.  A dogs liver cannot process pain relievers the same way human's can, so it can kill them or at least damage their stomach or liver, especially Advil/Mortin (Ibuprofen) and Tylenol (Acetaminophen).  Aspirin, specifically buffered Aspirin, is the safest of the 3 and it is still not recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Source for the pain medicine info:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dog-pain-medications&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dog-pain-medications&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, don't do it.  Always ask your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T09:39:51.577" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T09:39:51.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="387" CreationDate="2013-10-10T09:49:23.610" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behaviour in and out of home:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals and when they're at home, they are safely in the den. The home environment becomes predictable and even boring for dogs, so coupled with this feeling of safety the lack of stimulation leads to some dogs lazing around the house (which is not a bad thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they are out and about, the environment is new and stimulating. There are many potential threats, and dog's, generally, feel it's their duty to protect their people, not just themselves, so there's a lot going on for your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behaviour you describe is not of fear, but the alertness and protectiveness of an alpha dog. Walking in front of you is an assertion of his authority as the leader (which may or may not be a problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walks with almost his entire weight over his front paws; ...  he has his ears up and tail stiff ...  he will lunge at basically any moving object ... He pulls on the leash, and essentially refuses to walk anywhere except in front of me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs communicate with other dogs by marking their territory. They enjoy discovering new smells and cocking the leg is like leaving a calling card for other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He smells and urinates on everything, often kicking dirt when he's done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most animals react to eye contact, particularly if you are staring close to his face, he will aver his eyes to avoid confrontation with you. By ignoring you he is challenging your authority over you, by avoiding your gaze he is actually submitting to you in that instance (which is good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He completely ignores me, so badly that even if I grab him by the snout and point his face at me, he keeps his eyes glancing sideways&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first steps:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to overcome this is to reassert your position as leader of the pack, your dog needs to know he is the lowest member of the family pack (last after all the humans). This can be done with a number of simple techniques within the home to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your dog after the people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The family should sit and eat their main meal and finish before feeding the dog. The dog should never be allowed titbits from the table.&#xA;Lower pack members eat last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your dog sleep furthest away from your bedroom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Highest ranking pack members have the, literally, highest places to bed and the lower the pack member the further it's position from the pack leader. Ensure any family members bedrooms are between you and your dog's bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not allow the dog on furniture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same principle as above, the dog cannot share the same privileges as other family members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound harsh but with a pitbull cross he is a naturally dominant dog. I love large dogs and have owned a rottweiler and dobermanns. With these breeds, it is vital to retain the position of pack leader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-13T04:56:01.553" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T04:56:01.553" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="414" CreationDate="2013-10-10T10:03:51.003" Score="12" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that my dog is more defensive and violent when at home. Once a dog came to our house, my dog attacked it and injured it and the other dog ran away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another day, my dog saw the same dog on the street, it just ran away, the other dog pursued it but as soon as my dog got to the front of our gate, it turned back and attacked the other dog until the other dog ran away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a normal dog behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T14:25:08.097" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T14:25:08.097" Title="Why is my dog defensive at home but scared outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="413" CreationDate="2013-10-10T10:14:13.050" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs can be very territorial animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When at home, your dog is in his territory and is just responding to what he believes is an outside intruder coming into his territory.  This is why your dog immediately responded in the second case as soon as entered his yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the 2nd case, why he ran is because he was outside of his territory and did not want to challenge the other dog outside of where he felt safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now is this normal?  I wouldn't say it is abnormal, but if you dog will attack anyone (or at least any dog) that enters his yard, then that is something that needs dealt with because he could possible seriously injure someone (or some dog) who just happens to come into you yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T13:19:36.193" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T13:19:36.193" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2013-10-10T10:18:02.020" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever discussing &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning&quot;&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/a&gt; it helps to speak the same language:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; An action designed to increase the frequency a behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Punishment:&lt;/strong&gt; An action designed to decrease the frequency of a behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive:&lt;/strong&gt; Presence of a stimulus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative:&lt;/strong&gt; Absence of a stimulus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These terms can form four different combinations  (&lt;em&gt;N.B.:&lt;/em&gt; Examples in brackets are examples, &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; advice!):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; Present a stimulus to increase the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. give a treat when the dog sits on command)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; Remove a stimulus to increase the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. The mailman goes away after the dog barks at it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive punishment:&lt;/strong&gt; Present a stimulus to decrease the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. hit the dog when it's urinated on the carpet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative punishment:&lt;/strong&gt; Remove a stimulus to decrease the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. leave the room when the dog jumps up on you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, these can get muddled. For example, you making noise with the box is a stimulus designed to decrease the frequency of a behaviour, so it's technically an example of positive punishment, but if you stop the noise once the dog performs the correct behaviour, you also remove a stimulus to increase the frequency of the correct behaviour, hey presto!, negative reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that presupposes that there is a correct behaviour for your dog to perform. You don't specify what the undesired behaviour is, or if there is a desired alternative behaviour that you are trying to reinforce. If all you do with the noise is trying to stop him doing something, then you are providing punishment rather than negative reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, part of your problem is probably that you are only using &lt;em&gt;primary&lt;/em&gt; reinforcers and punishers, i.e. ones that the dog doesn't need to learn. Food, for example, is a primary reinforcer. The dog knows food is a good thing without having to learn it. By extension, the noise is a primary punisher, as it is uncomfortable for the dog to hear. &lt;em&gt;Secondary&lt;/em&gt; reinforcers and punishers, by contrast, are those that the dog has learned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The classic example is Pavlov's bell that he would ring everytime he provided the dog with food. By consistently pairing a primary reinforcer with a stimulus, the stimulus can start to act as a secondary reinforcer. That is, the dog learns that the bell signals the arrival of food and will react accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention that you use the word &quot;no&quot; (hopefully in a stern voice, dogs are quite adept at discerning intonations) when telling your dog off, along with the noise. The &quot;no&quot; should act as a secondary punisher, the same way praise can work as a secondary reinforcer. But you probably failed to phase out the actual noise gradually, by starting to sometimes only say &quot;no&quot; but not do the noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that, by now, your dog has picked up on the fact that &quot;no&quot; with no box around means no primary punisher, i.e. the two are not related, and he, therefore, is save when it's not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you open a new question describing the actual behaviour(s) that you want to discourage, and we might be better able to help you find a way using the whole spectrum of operant condition to get your dog to learn what you want it to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T10:18:02.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="419" CreationDate="2013-10-10T11:20:46.143" Score="14" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard different variations on &quot;feed your fish only the amount that they can consume in about 1 minute&quot;, and these make sense in terms of the amount of biomass you want to introduce into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen any studies on the long term effects of overfeeding one's fish.  I would assume that they would become sluggish, but are there any other long term side effects on their development?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T15:39:54.287" Title="What are the long-term effects of overfeeding tropical fish?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="409" CreationDate="2013-10-10T11:49:52.833" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all the debris that would fall over your pond during the fall season (hey, I just got that!) are removed in a frequent basis (daily or twice each day), you wouldn't need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, in general, no one can spend that time, every day, cleaning it. And so some problems might occur:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;your skimmer might get clogged, and any drain that you might have in your pond&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;all that organic material might accumulate at your pond, at the bottom, and will be decomposed. This decomposition might alter the equilibrium you have in your pond, and sometimes might be toxic&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;this decomposition might also make your water darker, smelly, and increase the algae to undesirable levels&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T11:49:52.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="416" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:07:32.013" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, not exactly about &quot;pets&quot;, but there is at least on study about overfeeding fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article from &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10499-005-9018-x&quot;&gt;Aquaculture International, published by Springer,&lt;/a&gt; studied the effects of overfeeding &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tench&quot;&gt;Tench&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some conclusions related to the nutritional value the fish will have (like it´ll have more fat deposits and smaller minerals content).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But some of the findings could be applied to pet fish, too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;incidence of uneaten food (that will cause some unbalance in your aquarium, increasing ammonia content, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;deformities of the caudal penduncle&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;retarded growth&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and although no mortality was observed, it´s perhaps because the study was done in 70 days, but the high rate of deformities might lead to deaths in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:07:32.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="380" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:19:21.710" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had the exact same problem with our oldest cat.  She refused to eat for a while, unless it was canned food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest solution we found was to mix some dry food into the canned.  This forced her to eat it slower, and eliminated the problem of her eating too fast and throwing up.  Granted, she does sometimes eat &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt; to the point where she throws up, but that's another issue. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T02:56:11.803" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T02:56:11.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="422" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:21:42.763" Score="15" ViewCount="2142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know people say that I should not change my cat's cat food because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will not like it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They might vomit when they try new food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I always change his food and he likes trying new things. As long as he likes it and does not vomit can I still feed him different brands of food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T14:41:18.257" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T18:52:11.330" Title="Can I change my cat's food?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="421" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:27:04.797" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can, of course, change his food without ill effect and he may quite enjoy having variety. However, in my experience, most cats seem to prefer that you don't mess with their diet and routine, especially as they get older. If your cat is young, they may be more tolerant of the switch, but don't assume that their eating as a result of hunger is actually enjoyment of the variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:27:04.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="421" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:29:36.983" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also heard of the issue of not changing cat's food, infact it is stated &lt;a href=&quot;http://open.salon.com/blog/alpha_whiskey/2009/11/17/the_first_rule_of_cat_food_is_never_change_the_cat_food&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that the first rule of cat food is to never change its food. But thanks to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/evr_ct_changing_dog_food_brands_quickly&quot;&gt;petmd.com&lt;/a&gt; we are given some steps to take when changing cat's food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find a Similar Cat Food Formula : Always try to pick a new cat food that is similar to the previous one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Offer Small Meals Gradually : Don't rush your cat on the new food. Offer it gradually&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go Easily Digestible : Get a food that is easily digestible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consult Your Veterinarian : If you cant still find a food suitable for your cat, then consult your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=100&quot;&gt;Steps to Switch Cat Foods&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:29:36.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="426" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:38:33.367" Score="12" ViewCount="34781" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my aquarium are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_tetra&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Neon tetra&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B9LoN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Neon Tetra&quot;&gt;&#xA;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_tetra&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like them to breed, but I don't know if they can because I can't determine their genders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After careful observation, I can identify some females (they have a larger belly).  Are there characteristics to help me tell which is which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T09:11:37.097" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T07:27:43.117" Title="How can I determine the gender of Neon Tetras?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="273" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:39:21.020" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner had a similar problem with a bird enclosure and a local company recommended she use a fairly heavy mesh that worked well and solved the problem. The following &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000HHO34K&quot;&gt;Garden Zone 403010 1/2&quot; x 1&quot; Mesh 16-Gauge Galvanized Wire Fence&lt;/a&gt; available on Amazon looks pretty similar. It was fairly tedious but I left a little overlap on the inside and tacked the wire to the inside of the enclosure using 5 minute epoxy so the rats couldn't simply push it out of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of chickens maybe you could do something similar and leave straw over the top so they don't notice the difference. Regarding the mesh size the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratbehavior.org/CollapsibleSkeleton.htm&quot;&gt;following source&lt;/a&gt; states this that seems likely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The smallest diameter hole a small rat might fit through is an important consideration when rat-proofing an outdoor structure against wild rats, and when choosing a cage which will house baby rats. Generally, wire mesh with 1&quot; x 1&quot; holes is considered too large a spacing for young rats, while 1&quot; x 1/2&quot; and smaller dimensions are narrow enough to keep even the smallest rats inside. For rat-proofing an outdoor enclosure the recommendation is usually 1/2&quot; x 1/2&quot; mesh or smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you might like to consider 1/2&quot; x 1/2&quot; mesh if available in your area to error on the side of caution, but the larger size worked well in her particular case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:39:21.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="424" CreationDate="2013-10-10T12:43:42.597" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other characteristics&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The male is slender and the blue line is straighter while The female is rounder producing a bent blue line.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mostly, the males are bigger than females&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_8170439_tell-neon-tetra-male-female.html&quot;&gt;How to Tell If a Neon Tetra Is a Male or Female?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T12:43:42.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="432" CreationDate="2013-10-10T13:09:16.753" Score="16" ViewCount="4308" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is old saying that says that changing food on a dog can make it sick to its stomach.  And that if you want to change the dog's food, you need to slow introduce it by mixing it in increasing percentages with the old food until he is eating only the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in my experience, this doesn't seem to be the case.  My wife's dog used to get whatever was on sale when he was a puppy and never showed any problems.  His diets has since stabilized so his dry food doesn't change much, but we do switch the wet food every now and then based what's on sale (he only gets a spoonful or 2 of wet food with every meal so it diet is mostly dry food).  All of the other dogs I've had have not shown any sign of problems after an abrupt diet change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents, however, always subscribed to this idea, so they religiously get the same food all of the time and in the rare cases the switch, slowly introduce it over a several week period.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is there any truth to this idea or is it a old wives tail?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T10:01:10.590" Title="Is there truth to the idea that changing food too often make your dog sick?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="427" CreationDate="2013-10-10T13:24:53.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is any truth in that saying. That saying applies to cats (mostly). I've had a dog for about 6 years now and we have always been changing his food and he has never had problems due to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also take a look at : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/how-often-should-i-change-foods.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How often should i change dog foods?&lt;/a&gt;. It says here that dog foods can be changed every 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/427/is-there-truth-to-the-idea-that-changing-food-too-often-make-your-dog-sick#comment557_427&quot;&gt;salketer said:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sure the food companies have a part to play in this [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T13:54:54.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11" CreationDate="2013-10-10T13:55:45.240" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been told by my vet that antibiotic ointment (Neosporin / Polysporin) can be used on a canine cut, as long as:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the wound (and therefore the ointment) isn't directly accessible to your dog's mouth (it can be covered with a bandage) and   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you don't overdo the application of the ointment (I'd say apply a thin coat twice daily).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description, the ointment won't be reachable by tongue.  These ointments have been shown to provide slightly accelerated healing for humans on cuts and they can absorb through scabs; these should work just as well for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have further concerns, consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T18:09:51.433" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T18:09:51.433" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2013-10-10T14:03:07.817" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allaboutferrets.net/general/are-marshall-farms-ferrets-less-genetically-favorable/&quot;&gt;&quot;Are Marshall Farms ferrets less genetically favorable&quot; (All About Ferrets)&lt;/a&gt;, you can identify a Marshall Farms (MF) ferret by observing 2 little blue dots tattooed on its ear.  The article is inconclusive regarding a genetic issue (considering potential in-breeding at Marshall Farms and whether the Farm is actually doing anything about the concern) and relates back to the basic factors of diet and care as primary for longevity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several comments applied to the article from visitors are negative regarding MF ferret longevity.  Commenter &lt;em&gt;&quot;spunky&quot;&lt;/em&gt; supplies the following information, which I am unable to fact-check:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;... Marshall Farms primary customers are not pet owners, they are research facilities. Therefore, longevity is not one of the traits they breed for. They don’t even know how long any of their animals will live because they are either donated into research or euthanized once they are too old to reproduce [...] genetics are not a priority for them.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do note that, unless all MF ferrets are neutered / spayed before being distributed to pet owners, the potential for private in-breeding of MF ferrets may exist.  As they would be produced outside of MF, the resulting members of the brood would have the same genetic disposition, but not the identifying tattoo.  This might not be true for broods resulting from the pairing of MF ferrets to non-MF ferrets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-13T17:42:11.373" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T17:42:11.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="427" CreationDate="2013-10-10T14:08:10.980" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's a myth. My sister has two dogs: a Labrador and a French Mastiff. She often modifies their diet to give them equal proportions of calcium and protein as required. She always switches between food types and brands and it has never created any problems at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been in touch with few dog owners who feed their dogs the same way; they have never had any problems due to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But avoid doing so when they are puppies.&lt;/strong&gt; Puppies take a little more time to adjust in food changes and can react negatively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister's Labrador disliked the food change when he was a puppy but now he doesn't care and eats what we serve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T15:21:12.870" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T15:21:12.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11" CreationDate="2013-10-10T14:33:13.837" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution is simple: &lt;strong&gt;Stop your dog scratching&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However,&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;implementing&lt;/em&gt; the solution is the challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, every time you're with the dog you want to remain extra vigilant to make sure that she doesn't scratch it, distract her with something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you simply don't have the time to hawk eye your dog (as most don't), then it looks like a lampshade collar would be your best bet (they're available at most mid-size pet stores), which are something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uftz0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother's Bichon had one of these in the past when she had a cut on her paw to stop her from licking it and breaking the scab and it is the only really practical and effective way of stopping your dog from scratching the scab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T14:33:13.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="380" CreationDate="2013-10-10T14:42:00.667" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a dog who ate fast (the way he was raised and Cushing's Disease). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To solve this issue, I stuffed his food in a Kong, which is sort of the same thing as the Tiger Diner suggestion: make access to the food tough, but not impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative recommended by my vet, which I also used to some success, is to use a round food bowl, put the food in, then place a heavy round object in the middle of the bowl.  The object (a shot put in my case) should be light enough to be moved around the bowl by the cat, but heavy or obtuse enough that the cat cannot push it out of the bowl, and sized so the cat has actual access to some of the food, but not all of the food, at any given time. This obstruction will create a physical barrier to speed-eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T16:36:04.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T16:36:04.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="443" CreationDate="2013-10-10T15:02:51.437" Score="20" ViewCount="2035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to prevent the annoying, brown, tear-stained eye areas my Bichon puppy acquires.  For those unfamiliar, this looks something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w3imy.png&quot; alt=&quot;Not actually my dog&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6045941_causes-brown-white-fur-dogs_.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; explains that these stains are commonly caused by the iron inside a dog's tears, which can be reduced by feeding a dog deionized water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a common water filter (a Brita filter) provide enough deionization to prevent further brown stains, or are there alternative preventative measures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T20:52:12.660" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T20:05:02.510" Title="How can I deionize water to prevent brown eye stains on my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="437" CreationDate="2013-10-10T15:07:08.990" Score="11" ViewCount="800" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever we say &quot;no&quot; to our cat he gets hyper and starts running around the house knocking things over. What are some techniques to calm down a cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T15:37:55.277" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T05:51:24.830" Title="Calming a cat down after being told no" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="436" CreationDate="2013-10-10T15:17:11.730" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most effective way for you to calm a cat down in a situation where they have been shouted at is to use the pinch technique. If it wasn't after being told &quot;no&quot;, you could have used food/treats, but not in this scenario as he'll think he's being rewarded for something bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the process is actually called:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pinch-induced behavioural inhibition (PIBI)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a YouTube video on how exactly to do it, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=T9TmmF79Rw0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're effectively going to emulate him being picked up by his neck that his mother will have once done, like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g9fxn.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with a clip/peg of some sort, something like the two below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e9UtK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a1GEE.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T15:17:11.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="439" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:03:16.437" Score="17" ViewCount="3653" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat sheds a lot, so I try to brush him often to minimize the amount of cat fluff he leaves all over everything in my house. Unfortunately, brushing him is incredibly tricky; he doesn't want to hold still, he tries to eat and attack the brush, etc. I have tried holding him different ways, but he just squirms out of my grasp and goes after the brush again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some things I can do to make it easier to brush my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T03:17:56.613" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T03:45:40.567" Title="How can I calm my cat so I can brush him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:11:05.640" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Making brushing an enjoyable experience is probably the best way to go. Reward him after sitting still and allowing you to brush him with a treat. Grooming is one way cats show affection towards each other, so making him calm and relaxed in order to brush him is essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wait until he is in a calm state, possibly napping or relaxing and approach and sit with him and pet him gently. Then introduce the brush and let him smell it, and rub his face against it. Then you should be able to brush him with only minor attacking of the brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also leaving the brush out in a public place so he can get used to it and it's not some strange object always helps me with my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T16:11:05.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="441" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:12:56.217" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T16:12:56.217" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T16:12:56.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="442" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:12:56.217" Score="0" Body="Questions about cats that are kept entire indoors full time." OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T16:41:01.633" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T16:41:01.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="435" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:40:08.937" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The iron in your water is present in two forms.  The majority of it is iron (III) oxide, also known most commonly as rust.  The second is ionized iron, which is Fe&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Iron oxide is insoluble in water, and if enough of it is present (usually happens in well water) then the water will start to have a brown/orange tinge.  It is &lt;strong&gt;not filtered&lt;/strong&gt; by Brita filters.  They use activated carbon filters which will not filter out iron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/filtermedia/a/Activated-Carbon-In-The-Aquarium.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reference for this.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;See section called 'What Activated Carbon doesn't do'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fe&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; is usually not present in in high quantities in water, as it is a rare form of iron, and in drinking water it is not stable and precipitates into iron (III) hydroxide, which is also insoluble and rust colored. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/iron.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reference.&lt;/a&gt;  There still some remaining though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fully filter out the ionized iron and the solid iron, you need a system that oxidizes the ionized iron and a filter (sediment filters are fine) to get the particles that become oxidized or were already present.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/faqs_iron_filters.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More information here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is all very complicated and can be expensive though (unless you just want to buy a sediment filter, which can be 10-15 dollars).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A less expensive option would be to buy a large jug of water at a grocery store that was treated by reverse osmosis, as this removes most of the iron.  Make sure you check out the standards of the brand you are buying though, because some filter out more things than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T20:05:02.510" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T20:05:02.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1430" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:46:42.353" Score="16" ViewCount="27851" Body="&lt;p&gt;After he does his business, my dog sometimes wipes his (usually rear) paws on the grass.  I heard this was to spread his scent in the area, but I figured the result of doing his business did enough of the &quot;scenting&quot;.  He does this more often when unleashed in our yard than when leashed on a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he scrape the grass with his paws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T17:52:18.943" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:21:24.127" Title="Why does my dog wipe his paws on the grass after he poops?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="445" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:47:48.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions tagged &quot;pooping&quot; are those which involve your pet doing its business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T18:49:38.910" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T18:49:38.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="446" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:47:48.700" Score="0" Body="Pooping is an informal term for defecation. It is the process whereby faeces (waste products) from the digestive process are expelled." OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="112" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T16:49:00.243" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T16:49:00.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="461" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:48:09.517" Score="16" ViewCount="39380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have many snails, but I don't know how to differentiate between the males and females. Someone once told me there is no male or female; that all of them lay eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true, and if not, how do I differentiate by gender?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T17:18:25.273" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T08:20:39.580" Title="How do I determine the gender of a snail?" Tags="&lt;snails&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="444" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:57:04.330" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what i know, It's an extra way of being territorial. By putting their claw marks on the ground they're saying &lt;strong&gt;This is part of my territory!&lt;/strong&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All dogs have glands in their feet that secrete &lt;strong&gt;pheromones&lt;/strong&gt;, and a couple of backward scratches into the earth (or grass as in your case) releases those chemicals.&#xA;   Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-dog-kick-the-grass-after-pooping&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Does My Dog... Kick Grass After Pooping?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T18:55:42.050" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T18:55:42.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2013-10-10T16:57:31.863" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my past cats used to hate being brushed (she was pretty skittish in general; didn't like being held either).  And she was long-haired, so this was important.  I was able to get some benefit from a grooming glove (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0041OSWEM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like this, for example&lt;/a&gt;), which is basically a mitt with rubber knobby bits that catch loose hair.  To the cat this felt more like petting than brushing so she tolerated it better.  The results were not as good as with a brush, but this allowed me to do &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; every day and use the brush less frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T01:46:13.673" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T01:46:13.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="450" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:02:45.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag will be used for questions about knowing or differentiating gender of a pet. This tag will be used along with the tag of the pet e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/snail&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;snail&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;snail&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T13:48:26.953" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T13:48:26.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="451" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:02:45.083" Score="0" Body="Questions regarding how to tell apart or know the gender of a pet." OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T13:48:14.763" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T13:48:14.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="452" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:05:05.037" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T17:05:05.037" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T17:05:05.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="453" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:05:05.037" Score="0" Body="Questions about the domesticated members of the Canis Lupis species" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="20" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T18:50:20.130" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T18:50:20.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="454" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:05:35.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag is for questions &lt;em&gt;specifically&lt;/em&gt; involving the &quot;introduction phase&quot; of pets.  See also &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/socializing&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;socializing&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;socializing&lt;/a&gt; for ongoing interactions and consider &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/multi-pet-families&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;multi-pet-families&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;multi-pet-families&lt;/a&gt;, if appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T22:33:10.483" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T22:33:10.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="455" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:05:35.350" Score="0" Body="How to introduce two or more pets to each other." OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T22:33:30.127" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T22:33:30.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:06:57.440" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently asked a similar question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/436/calming-a-cat-down-after-being-told-no&quot;&gt;Calming a cat down after being told no&lt;/a&gt;. The answerer said that I should pick the cat up from his neck and that should calm him down. He also linked a video showing an example which can be watched on youtube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:34:56.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:07:08.127" Score="13" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;We suspected a food allergy in one of my cats.  The course my vet recommended for this was to switch him to a special diet (containing no previously-eaten proteins) for a few months and then, if that made it better, re-introduce old proteins one at a time to see which he reacts to -- possibly with iterations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat's allergy turned out not to be to food, but this got me wondering: many foods, both canned and dry, use a combination of ingredients, so he'd been exposed to all the biggies (chicken, turkey, beef, tuna, other seafood, etc) and possibly even to some of the less-common ones (lamb, duck, a stray mouse...).  If I were trying to isolate a food allergy, I'd have to pick one of those at a time to try.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we improve on random choice?  Is there any research on what are the most common food allergies in cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T02:30:05.953" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T16:26:17.713" Title="What are the most common dietary allergies in cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="740" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:21:31.847" Score="30" ViewCount="6490" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two indoor cats that have an abundance of energy and some behavior problems. I have read that allowing the cats outside occasionally can help with this behavior. Additionally, both cats constantly try to run out the front door when I come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to allow the cat to become an indoor/outdoor cat, but would supervised outside time be acceptable? I live in a 1st floor apartment and there is a small outdoor area that I could let the cats out into and watch them so they don't run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good approach or will it cause more issues with the cats trying to escape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-24T11:54:32.727" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T11:54:32.727" Title="How to let an indoor cat have some outdoors time safely?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;catio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="447" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:26:04.003" Score="10" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the majority of land snails are hermaphrodite (have a full set of organs of both sexes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_snail&quot;&gt;Wikipedia land snails&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless you name a specific exceptional snail, there are no features to determine the gender. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T17:26:04.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="447" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:36:25.070" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snails are hermaphrodite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don’t waste your time trying to tell the males and females apart. This is because snails are hermaphrodites, meaning that they have the reproductive organs of both sexes on them, therefore they are able to produce both sperm and eggs. &lt;strong&gt;When they are mating they will both conceive and lay eggs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snail-world.com/#Hermaphrodites&quot;&gt;http://www.snail-world.com/#Hermaphrodites&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have snails and want to know who is who when they are mating, you´ll find out that both are playing male and female role at same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T17:36:25.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="458" CreationDate="2013-10-10T17:50:14.100" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats loves going outside, but we've seen too many animals killed by traffic to let him do it freely. So, our solution to this was to get a cat harness and a long yard chain designed for small dogs. This lets him explore, eat some grass, hunt some bugs, and the like while being restricted from roaming totally free. He likes it so much that he purrs extremely loud when we put the harness on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recent vote reminded me, here's a picture of him doing the aforementioned grass munching in a harness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cf1tF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T00:21:11.203" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T00:21:11.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="623" CreationDate="2013-10-10T18:19:30.237" Score="22" ViewCount="20665" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a new cat a couple weeks ago. She came from a shelter with a clean bill of health. Over the past few days, I've noticed that she's been developing some black spots on her chin that look a bit like acne. What's causing the spots? What can I do about it? Do I &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to do anything about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it matters, but she's an indoor cat now, being fed dry food. The shelter didn't know anything about her life before they got her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spots look pretty similar to the ones in this photo:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K9cku.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinesrule.blogspot.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.felinesrule.blogspot.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:48:13.917" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:48:13.917" Title="What can I do about the black dots on my cat's chin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="69" CreationDate="2013-10-10T18:55:46.630" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sturgeon-web.co.uk/what-sturgeons-want&quot;&gt;What Sturgeons Want&lt;/a&gt;, sturgeons need to be fed during winter or they will starve. Unfortunately, the amount they eat is trial-and-error: throw some pellets, wait until they eat, and track how long it took.  If they quickly, throw more pellets, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember they are carnivores, so choose appropriate food; don't hope that they will eat plants during winter. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T03:16:31.947" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T03:16:31.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="457" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:19:56.357" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/common-allergies-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Web-MD for Pets&lt;/a&gt; has this list of common cat allergies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most common food allergens are chicken, fish, corn, wheat, and soy; cats may also develop a food allergy to beef, pork, dairy products, or eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think your cat has a food allergy, I'd suspect some additive in the food if you're feeding a commercial diet before I'd suspect the meat itself (beef, chicken, etc.). Cats need meat, not grain. They're obligate carnivores and food manufacturers add a lot of extras to their formulas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T19:31:47.450" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T19:31:47.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="427" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:46:38.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked at a Pets Hotel for a few months and saw a lot of dogs with upset stomachs (diarrhea) when their owner didn't leave their own food. The default food for when the owner doesn't provide their own is Science Diet: Sensitive Stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there are a variety of other factors that could affect a dog's stomach in that setting (like being separated from their owner for a lengthy period of time), but a sudden change in diet certainly doesn't help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I would always follow a 10-day rule. You exchange an extra 10% of the dog's normal diet with new food each day for 10 days. This will allow your dog the time he/she needs to adjust to the new food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=99&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Doctors Foster and Smith say&lt;/a&gt; you should make changes slowly for the following reason: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Normal bacteria in the intestine help your dog or cat digest food. A sudden change in food can result in changes to the number and type of bacteria and their ability to help digest food. These changes can lead to intestinal upset. Therefore, your pet must be switched to a new food slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept is similar to a vegetarian starting to eat meat again. They're going to be sick for a few days while their body learns to process the new bacteria. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="153" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:38:34.257" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:38:34.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="923" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:49:55.820" Score="22" ViewCount="24132" Body="&lt;p&gt;We currently have two cats; one less than a year old and another around 6. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our adult cat simply wishes to be left alone, but our kitten wants to play with anything and everything all the time, including the older cat. Multiple times a day, I hear a &lt;em&gt;&quot;mrowgrrrrrmeow hissssssssssss&quot;&lt;/em&gt; as the kitten pounces on our poor older cat, who bats at the kitten before finding a new place to lounge. They are not hostile to each other at all outside of this, and they get along perfectly fine outside of the times the kitten decides she wants to play with the adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We eased them into the relationship with each other &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/83/recommendations-for-introducing-kittens-to-adult-cats&quot;&gt;as recommended in this question&lt;/a&gt;, and they do just fine 99% of the time.  I understand the behaviors of both cats are 100% natural and justified as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to discourage the pestering of the older cat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would punishing the kitten for aggravating the adult cat be a viable option to condition her into not doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T22:11:56.983" Title="How can I encourage my kitten to leave my adult cat alone?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="481" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:50:20.343" Score="25" ViewCount="2447" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very occasionally, my dog eats poop that has been outside for a while. Usually it is a dried-up piece that insects have long-since abandoned.  This is appalling behavior and my only way to prevent it is to be diligent about yard cleanup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/274/why-is-my-dog-eating-dirt&quot;&gt;occasionally eats dirt&lt;/a&gt;.  I feed him well, he gets vitamins and food, but I think he might be a little nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:14:52.837" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T19:31:56.877" Title="Why is my dog eating poop?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="475" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:57:09.590" Score="16" ViewCount="1898" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes my occasionally timid dog comes in from the backyard with extreme confidence, jumps up next to us, and we simply want to vomit due to the incredibly new and violently horrible stench he has somehow discovered and rolled himself in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do my best to clean the area where he's rolled once I can locate it.  The source of the stench has been anything from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;his poop &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;poop of other dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dead frogs or lizards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dead worms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stinky area of the lawn that might have once been poop/frogs/lizards/worms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mystery stench source &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He tends to do this either immediately after his first bathing (requiring a second, and at least one time a third, bathing), or if it has been a long while since a bathing, which indicates it is time for his first bathing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he torturing us like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:25:44.963" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:25:44.963" Title="Why does my dog roll in gross stuff?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="469" CreationDate="2013-10-10T19:59:54.087" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that in this case, letting the cats sort it out for themselves is your best bet since it doesn't seem that there is any physical harm being done. The older cat will let the kitten know that he/she is not in the mood to play, and eventually the kitten will realize that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, giving the older cat a place to retreat to would help, somewhere that the kitten cannot get to, like a high up perch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend punishing the kitten for playing as it will get mixed signals and possibly become hostile or have other behavioral issues. The older cat will use cat discipline that the kitten will understand.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T19:59:54.087" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="507" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:03:03.283" Score="22" ViewCount="328816" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every night, as soon as I turn off the last light in the house, if I've forgotten to take the dog (a 13-year-old miniature dachshund we obtained from a reputable breeder 11 years ago) out immediately prior, the dog will wake up within an hour and indicate he has to go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do not take him out, he will urinate on a bathroom throw rug.  Occasionally, he will try to drink / lick up whatever is caught in the carpet fibers.  He has water and food available to him and he seems to eat well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a dog door, but he conducts this business after the house is shut for the night (we live in an area where many other types of critters could potentially enter said door when it is not monitored).  He uses the door just fine; the problem is that he urinates inside while we're all asleep, and he has to go because we either went to bed earlier than normal, or we just forgot to take him out before bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think he's ashamed of having done what he's done, but he could be; I suspect he is bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he doing this?  He doesn't do this when he goes in the grass; he doesn't even turn around to acknowledge it when we're outside; granted, it's already soaked down, but it should smell the same.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not his going inside that concerns me; I understand why that happens. It his post-business cleanup / drinking that is baffling.  Why does he do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T14:59:20.210" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T14:59:20.210" Title="Why is my dog drinking his pee after he urinates inside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="470" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:03:42.943" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dog poo eating is a common problem with dog owners, especially with some breeds. My sister's Labrador had the same problem and it took quite a long time (few months) to control this habit. The problem is, some dog breeds are unable to understand the difference between edible and inedible things, which is very common in Labrador, Golden Retrievers, etc.  For that you need proper training for him; negative enforcement should be not used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few tips from my own case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poo place and eating place should be different or far apart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping a fixed poo place and removal of your dog from that place immediately can also help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't give him any chance to eat his poo. Clean it immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Little shouting can be helpful if not overdone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can take time depending from dog to dog, but you required little care as you said, he eats his old poo which can be very unhealthy due to germs, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T12:57:14.347" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T12:57:14.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="471" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:06:46.320" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;This comes from their ancestors, &lt;strong&gt;wolves&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FfwYV.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason varies however, depending on the stench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually rolling in faeces of animals is to disguise their scent, thus being able to sneak upon their prey undetected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of carcasses, this is basically a way of claiming it, kind of a &quot;look what I got&quot; towards other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other cases however, where your dog just actually likes the smell, so is trying to rub themselves in it so they smell the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weirdly enough, my Bichon does this with orange skittles(!!!). Every time we present her with half of one, she rolls her neck in it and proceeds to play with it. That's basically because she likes the smell, not because she's trying to confuse her &lt;em&gt;prey&lt;/em&gt; smelling of Skittles (albeit a great disguise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T21:53:02.443" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T21:53:02.443" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="497" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:11:21.630" Score="21" ViewCount="2278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had multiple scenarios where dogs I've owned or watched would consistently howl or sing at very specific things, and nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario 1: Final Jeopardy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever we babysat our friend's black-and-tan dachshund and watched Jeopardy, he would howl at the song used during Final Jeopardy.  Not the intro.  Not any of the outtakes of the song, but only when the song played during the part where everyone writes down their final answer.  He didn't even have to see the television screen to know to howl.  He just did it.  I have no video of this particular dog, and he has since passed, but apparently there are many videos of dogs on YouTube howling to Final Jeopardy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are several sample videos of various dogs during Final Jeopardy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeIK2q_xork&quot;&gt;Howling at Final Jeopardy Tune&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjNBWtwnFzk&quot;&gt;Dog Sings Jeopardy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjFazaLKd_E&quot;&gt;Gilbert Sings to Jeopardy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9r-I2w-SwU&quot;&gt;Dog sings Jeopardy Show Song&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgkci2uaP_0&quot;&gt;Aunt's dogs singing with Jeopardy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNhQmp9Y-pw&quot;&gt;Another Dog sings Jeopardy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At no point in these videos is any of these dogs rewarded for their behavior.  We never rewarded the dog we babysat for howling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario 2: Answering Machine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If our phone rang in the house and the answering machine picked up, once people started speaking to leave a message, both male dachshunds would howl and sing.  They would not do this on playback.  They also would not do this if the call came from inside the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I found it adorable, I did not reward them for this behavior; I do not understand why they reacted like this every single time.  Of note, I think one dog howled and the other joined in, as one has since passed and the other doesn't do it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never rewarded our dogs for this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do these dogs choose to howl at these very particular scenarios and only at those times and so consistently?  Are there specific tones in these sounds that might have enticed them to howl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T17:58:31.627" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T15:57:57.870" Title="Why does my dog sing along to Final Jeopardy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="479" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:15:29.943" Score="11" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though we don't usually like to think about it, recalls on commercial pet foods occasionally happen. It hurts a lot to find out that your pet might be affected by such a recall. I feel like I read about recalls more often on news sites or blogs than on the manufacturer websites (if they even do list them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to find out about and keep track of pet food recalls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-27T21:52:33.447" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T20:35:33.083" Title="How can I keep track of pet food recalls?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;recall&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="478" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:23:25.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the US market,&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/RecallsWithdrawals/default.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the FDA website lists recalls&lt;/a&gt;.  They do not appear to have an RSS feed, but the recalls are date-ordered, so if you get in the habit of checking it periodically, you can still spot what's new.  Even if you're not in the US, this list should still be helpful if your pet food is sold in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recalls-and-allergy-alerts/eng/1299076382077/1299076493846&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canadian Food Inspection Agency&lt;/a&gt; lists food recalls on its web site but does not call out pet food specifically.  (They also seem to be missing some recalls I expected to see, but this was the best Canada-specific information I could find.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/news/topics/alert-recalls#.Um2llZTF2GE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt; has a recalls page that may be global in scope.  They seem to draw from manufacturer notices and not just from governments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also monitor &lt;a href=&quot;http://consumerist.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Consumerist&lt;/a&gt;, which announces consumer-focused recalls; they provide tags, but there is no simple way to monitor only a portion of what they publish.  You can also join and any relevant pet-enthusiast Facebook groups to hear about recalls via crowd-sourcing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to checking sites like these, you could set a Google Alert for the name of your pet food, plus the word &quot;recall&quot;, which would catch blog mentions and other news sources.  Note that this may generate both false positives and false negatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T20:35:33.083" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T20:35:33.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="482" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:25:50.907" Score="15" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats and I are moving to a new apartment, and I am considering the impact of such a dramatic change in environment on my pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From common sense, I've come up with these few points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the cats used to their transport container (carrier/box/cage/etc.)  This way, they are not reluctant to enter it, and feel comfortable/comforted inside. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have their litter box, food, and water ready for their arrival at the destination.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other steps I can take to minimize stress for the animals (and owner!) throughout the moving process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T02:48:38.417" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T02:50:44.127" Title="How can I manage a big change in my cat's environment?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="470" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:34:51.453" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like you have noted, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/pets/dog-behavior/why-do-dogs-eat-poop?page=all&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;coprophagia (the technical term for feces-eating)&lt;/a&gt; can, like dirt eating, be a response to a dietary need (often stuff like missing enzymes and the like in their diet).  If the dog eats a dry-food only diet, they will be missing certain things that might make them more prone to seeking out poop as a way of filling that need for digestive enzymes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be a stress response - dogs who are anxious or stressed have a tendency to eat poop more often, as do dogs who have been excessively punished for making messes in the house, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attention seeking can also account for it as well - negative attention is still attention after all! I can also just be an oral fixation, which usually can be solved with giving the dog something better to chew on than poop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can do to stop the behaviour. If you know the dog is eating its own poop, there are products you can add to its food to make the poop taste undesirable. You can also work with your dog to teach it a &quot;leave it&quot; command, but if the dog is outside without you present, this will be less effective, as then you won't be around to stop the dog from eating it. There are also things (such as bitter apple and bitter orange spray) that you can put on the poop itself to make it less interesting to the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the best suggestions are to keep the yard poop-free, or to train your dog to leave things alone on command. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-12T13:37:14.627" LastActivityDate="2015-04-12T13:37:14.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="480" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:35:41.727" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treat this as a specialized case of introducing a new cat to a household: initial isolation plus gradual expansion should allow for a gentle introduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I moved my three adult cats some years ago, I didn't do this and boy did I regret it.  I figured if I just opened the carriers in the basement in front of the litter boxes, with their food and water nearby, all would be fine.  Two cats found places to hide for more than a day and acted skittish for several more days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year, I adopted two cats into a cat-less household, and followed the shelter's advice: put each cat in a separate room and only gradually open up more of the house to them (along with gradually introducing them to each other).  While one cat took to hiding for hours at a time once given full run of the house, it wasn't nearly as bad as my moving experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T02:50:44.127" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T02:50:44.127" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="483" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:37:09.563" Score="26" ViewCount="1084" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have witnessed my neighbor's Golden Retriever misbehave with their Persian Cat. He puts the cat's tail in his mouth like a toy, removes much of the cat's hair with his mouth; essentially, he dominates the cat. The dog is only a puppy, maybe a few months old; the cat is maybe a year older. Cat is not declawed but very peaceful but dog is naughty and full of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can my neighbor train his dog so it behaves appropriately with a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other preventative methods he can employ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-26T19:56:47.823" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T19:56:47.823" Title="How can I train a dog to behave with a cat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="490" CreationDate="2013-10-10T20:57:13.247" Score="32" ViewCount="2173" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently acquired a kitten, and we've found that in playing with her we tend to get a lot of scratches, often severe enough to draw a bit of blood. These scratches are not hostile in nature, but more of a side effect in playing with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We intend to keep her until the end of her days, and she is going to be a 100% indoor cat (she seems to prefer it that way as well). We've considered having her front paws declawed so we can safely play with her without any injuries to my family, including our 2-year old toddler. I've also heard many opinions that declawing is considered an inhumane practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently live in the United States, where it is legal to have this surgical procedure done. When, if at all, would declawing be considered a viable option for a cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T18:30:46.607" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T18:55:32.827" Title="When is declawing a viable option for cats?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="486" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:00:26.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diet refers to &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; is being intentionally fed to a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food choices can have major impact upon the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt;, happiness, and even &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt; of a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applicable questions refer to methods of food selection, portion control, weight control through food choices, and use of dietary supplements such as vitamins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concerns regarding the &lt;strong&gt;act&lt;/strong&gt; of providing food for consumption, apply &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concerns regarding the &lt;strong&gt;act&lt;/strong&gt; of a pet consuming food (inappropriate or not), apply &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/eating&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;eating&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;eating&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/eating&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;eating&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;eating&lt;/a&gt; may be used in conjunction with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/diet&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;diet&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;diet&lt;/a&gt; as appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T22:05:32.557" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T22:05:32.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="487" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:00:26.480" Score="0" Body="Food or overall nutrition comprising &quot;what&quot; is being intentionally fed to a pet." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T22:05:54.410" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T22:05:54.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="488" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:01:44.093" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T21:01:44.093" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T21:01:44.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="489" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:01:44.093" Score="0" Body="Refers to the question regarding nutritional aspects of diet." OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-10-10T23:57:11.077" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T23:57:11.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:03:17.003" Score="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Declawing is considered a last option before having to hand the cat over to a shelter. It is often only recommended in situations where there is a medical condition that would result in bleeding out at even the most minor scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other options to use that I have found work very well are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trimming the nails. At first the cat will fight this, but after regular trimmings the cat will just accept that getting their claws trimmed is part of life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softpaws.com/&quot;&gt;Soft Paws&lt;/a&gt; work well in preventing damage, but have to be reapplied.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Declawing the cat results in permanent damage and can alter cat's behavior and ability to walk without pain.  Learning to manage cat's claws becomes second nature after a while. Also, playing with the kitten with toys only and not with hands should help to prevent claw marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T21:03:17.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:14:26.783" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;While both &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/38/what-can-i-do-to-ease-my-dogs-fear-from-loud-noises-thunder-fireworks-things/54#54&quot;&gt;sevargdcg&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/38/what-can-i-do-to-ease-my-dogs-fear-from-loud-noises-thunder-fireworks-things/249#249&quot;&gt;Salketer&lt;/a&gt; provide great advice for how to deal with your dog's anxiety as it occurs, long-term you want to work on lowering your dog's sensitivity to noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy CDs online that have fireworks and other noises specifically to help desensitise your dogs, but you'll probably find plenty of the requisite noises on YouTube as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to play the noise at a volume that your dog is comfortable with and then reward him every time the noise is played and he doesn't show signs of fear or distress. When you're confident that your dog is comfortable with the noise at a certain volume and doesn't mind it at all, slowly increase the volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful about going slowly and not increasing the volume too quickly as you dog might regress a lot when you play it too loud and it gets a fright. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep repeating until your dog gets thoroughly desensitised to the noise and even starts associating it with &lt;em&gt;good things happening&lt;/em&gt;(TM). You'll have to put in quite a bit of time but it'll make you and your dogs life a lot easier in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T21:14:26.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="473" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:15:16.573" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more common in dogs from puppy mills or other mistreated litters.  Many times the litters will get divided up and put in small plastic tubs with holes poked in the lids. All they have to eat and drink some days is what is their crate.  Sadly that is often their own poo and pee.  They can develop a preference for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also happens if nose rub is used frequently to &quot;correct&quot; indoor potty issues.  The dogs have to get it off their nose somehow and the only way they have is to lick it off.  This can also cause them to develop a preference for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see him doing it and do not correct the behavior then the behavior will persist.  Since you did not have him as a puppy it is hard to say what the actual cause of his behavior is.  But you can train him to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T01:54:34.860" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T01:54:34.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:35:25.347" Score="15" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;We received some crayfish as a gift shortly after our new pond was finished. Sadly we had no idea under which conditions they had to be kept and as the only hiding place was the covering shield above the tube that leads to the pump… well, we had crayfish soup in our filters, shortly after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about introducing crayfish to the pond again, after securing the death trap, of course. What else should I take care of to make the pond crayfish-friendly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T02:45:10.140" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:45:10.140" Title="How to prepare a pond for crayfish?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="498" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:46:19.263" Score="17" ViewCount="1214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5-year-old pug barks, whines, runs, jumps and lunges at the door when the doorbell goes off or if we have people come to the door.  Since she is the largest and loudest of our 3 dogs, she gets the rest of them all excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train her (them) not to be so frantic when the doorbell goes off?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T18:07:51.590" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T18:11:35.327" Title="How can I prevent my dog's frantic behavior when the doorbell rings?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="141" CreationDate="2013-10-10T21:46:26.683" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be over exercising him to some extent. 60+ minute walks for an 8 week old puppy sound definitely over the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One sign to watch out for is what should be a tired puppy suddenly running laps around the room like its been stung by a bee. That's a sure indicator of overtiredness. The same way a toddler will get cranky when it's overtired, a puppy will just keep running around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to calm it down until it gets a chance to realise how tired it is, either by sending it to its box, like Salketer mentioned (be sure to do it in a happy voice though), or by petting it with long, slow strokes and speaking in a soothing and calm voice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to teach your dog not to jump up on people is to get it to sit in front of you and slowly lower a treat from your forehead down to your puppy. When it jumps up, pull your hand back out of reach and verbally mark the loss of the reward (&quot;ah-ah&quot; or &quot;no&quot; in a stern voice). Find your dog's threshold for how low you can go before he jumps and, when reaching it without puppy jumping up, immediately reach down all the way and reward it with the treat. Do this a couple of times, then move your hand a bit lower before rewarding. You want to aim for puppy to get it wrong once for every four or five times he successfully stays sitting. That way, your puppy learns very quickly that, if it jumps up, it will lose out on the treat but if it sits still, happiness ensues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T21:46:26.683" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="508" CreationDate="2013-10-10T22:00:30.307" Score="16" ViewCount="24220" Body="&lt;p&gt;So &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/473/why-is-my-dog-drinking-his-pee-when-he-urinates-inside&quot;&gt;my dog drinks his pee&lt;/a&gt;, and it's been suggested to correct his behavior when I catch him. As suggested, rubbing his nose in it is not the correct tactic, and in fact may have created the behavior.  This is not something I ever did to him, as we are his third (and final) home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I catch him, I usually just yell his name followed by &quot;no!&quot;, but this usually happens late at night and others are sleeping up till I holler &quot;no!&quot;.  Then I usually get yelled at myself, and again in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I go about correcting this behavior if I catch him doing it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2018-12-16T11:18:26.020" Title="How should I correct my dog when I catch him drinking his urine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="477" CreationDate="2013-10-10T22:08:51.687" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Animals learn behaviours through a mechanism called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/a&gt; (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/398/negative-reinforcement-how-to-replace-an-object/415#415&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; for a quick introduction). Basically, a dog will do whatever works, i.e., if performing a behaviour has previously led to &lt;em&gt;good things happening&lt;/em&gt;(TM), it will probably try the behaviour again. If good things happen often* when the behaviour is learned and the dog will keep doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is likely that your dog got lots of attention and maybe even praise the first time it did this. If it did it again and you showed your family members what happened, they also paid the dog more attention, thereby rewarding the behaviour until your dog learned to perform it every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner#Superstitious_Pigeons&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Skinner's pigeons&lt;/a&gt; are a great example of the type of behaviours animals learn in response to a reward mechanism they can't figure out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great example is this post from &lt;a href=&quot;http://cheezburger.com/7790365952&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cheezburger.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qic9h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Weird dog behaviours&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*The most effective way to train a behaviour is through &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_reinforcement#Intermittent_reinforcements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intermittent reinforcement&lt;/a&gt;, i.e. rewarding unpredictably but often enough (think slot machine) rather than all the time (think snack machine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-10T22:08:51.687" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2013-10-10T22:17:27.823" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tricky one to fix and that's because you don't want the dog to stop barking at all, especially if they're going to bark if you have an intruder. You do want to be able to stop the dog barking when you tell it to, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, let's examine a couple of things you &lt;strong&gt;should not&lt;/strong&gt; do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shout at the dog&lt;/strong&gt; : You should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; shout at the dog; this basically gives the signal to her that you are reinforcing the behavior by &lt;em&gt;joining in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give her affection&lt;/strong&gt; : Your dog will see this as praise for barking, which is not what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's look at a couple that you &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teach him a &quot;stop barking&quot; command&lt;/strong&gt; : teach him to bark when you say &quot;Speak!&quot;, then command him to be quiet.  After a couple seconds of the dog being quiet, praise him with words or a treat until he learns this routine.  Then practice ringing the doorbell yourself and using the command with treats until the dog actually stops barking on demand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Distract the dog&lt;/strong&gt; : In some cases, there has to be some distraction in order for the dog to stop barking. The most effective form of distraction is something that causes a &lt;em&gt;displeasing&lt;/em&gt; sound to the dog (like shaking a tin can with pebbles / coins inside of it). After a while, he'll associate that &lt;em&gt;awful&lt;/em&gt; sound with barking at the doorbell, and so will refrain from doing so. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, see the legendary Cesar Milan's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/dogtraining/Dog-Barking-101&quot;&gt;full article on preventing dog barking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T18:11:35.327" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T18:11:35.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="473" CreationDate="2013-10-11T00:29:06.510" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of causes include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration. If your dog isn't getting enough water, then he may resort to the urine as a means of hydration. Make sure lots of water is available to him, perhaps even put out extra dishes in places where he may tend to do this act.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Urinary tract infection. You can't really diagnose this, you'd need to bring him to see the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bad early conditions, such as puppy mills, can result in this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He'll outgrow it... Some dogs do it for a while and then stop.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, it may be worth taking him to the vet to see if 1 or 2 is a problem just to be safe. The vet may have additional advice as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T00:29:06.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="496" CreationDate="2013-10-11T00:35:00.963" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the problem is not the result of dehydration or a medical condition, then, to be honest, I think you're doing the right thing. Dogs need to be corrected while in the act or, ideally, just before the act and it's not physical correction that you want to do, it's the tone and display of displeasure. If he reacts correctly, show him you're pleased with his response (mildly) and if he doesn't, strengthen the tone until he does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your house will need to patient... :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T00:35:00.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="515" CreationDate="2013-10-11T00:58:33.517" Score="22" ViewCount="1431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in getting my dog on a more natural diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering whether homemade dog food is safe and healthy for my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which specific vitamins &amp;amp; minerals should I ensure are included to be as healthy and well-balanced as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T09:50:39.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:48:57.470" Title="How can I ensure that homemade dog food is healthy for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2013-10-11T03:48:19.963" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Declawing (Onychectomy) is amputating the end of the digits (fingers) of the cat. As already mentioned here, it can result in continued pain and can affect the cat's gait. It also renders the cat almost defenceless, and disabled in the cat's inability to climb trees and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the ASPCA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats' claws are a vital part of their arsenal for both offense and&#xA;  defense. They use them to capture prey and to settle disputes among&#xA;  themselves as well as with other animals and people who are hurting,&#xA;  threatening or annoying them. In addition, a cat who is attempting to&#xA;  climb to safety uses her claws to grip a surface and hold on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When making a decision about whether a procedure should be done on a pet, one must ask this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this for the pet's benefit or to convenience the owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ASPCA Position&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The ASPCA is strongly opposed to declawing cats for&#xA;  the convenience of their guardians. The only circumstance in which the&#xA;  procedure could be condoned would be if the health and safety of the&#xA;  guardian would be put at risk, as in the case of individuals with&#xA;  compromised immune systems or illnesses that cause them to be&#xA;  unusually susceptible to serious infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Declawing cats is illegal in many countries,&lt;/strong&gt; including the UK, Australia, Israel, Brazil, and parts of Continental Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T15:42:04.760" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T15:42:04.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="504" CreationDate="2013-10-11T03:58:16.477" Score="9" ViewCount="5562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dachshunds who eat Science Diet dry kibble.  Both are fed a half-cup of their food twice a day: The 15-pound 13-year-old gets Senior Small Bites and the 19-pound 4-year-old gets Science Diet Adult Sensitive Skin.  Neither are overweight.  The food is supplemented by carrots and occasionally some chicken or beef, and a daily breath buster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told to use dry kibble as it would reduce the chances for tooth decay, but I am concerned they are not getting the proper nutrition that they should be getting.  I am considering adding some wet food to their diets.  Obviously I would reduce the amount of kibble given to them to compensate, but I am unsure how to introduce the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm looking for the best way to introduce these foods and to understand what types of wet food would go well being introduced to a formerly kibble diet.&lt;/strong&gt;  A friend I have tends to give his dogs a dollop of plain yogurt in their meals, but I know the senior dog doesn't do too well with dairy.  I plan to purchase the pet food soon; my gut instinct is to purchase some wet Science Diet brand food if it is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please avoid making this a list question of brand variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T04:49:17.683" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T05:50:45.503" Title="How do I properly introduce wet food to a formerly dry diet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2013-10-11T05:50:45.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With any change in diet gradual is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet of dry food you are giving them would be nutritionally sound. I think dogs enjoy the change of texture on their palate, and the inclusion of fresh food also helps to increase their variety. This is not from a nutritional viewpoint, a pleasure viewpoint only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not mentioned what proportion of their diet you want to become wet food. For the purposes of how to introduce the change it doesn't matter, as the process is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Break each feed into two subset feeds. It takes a little longer to feed them, but will assist in making the transition work smoothly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix one quarter of the dry food for one feed (1/8 cup) with two scoops of wet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed this to your dogs. When they have finished eating add the remaining dry food (which will be a total less than 1/2 cup) to the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this for a week. In this time you can monitor their stools, as the introduction of can food is likely to make them more watery if any change is going to occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the stools are consistent and healthy. Increase the increment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix half the dry food for one feed (which would be a less than 1/4 of a cup) with 4 scoops of wet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And repeat the process. Increasing and tweaking the balance of wet and dry food to manage their weights, until it can be served as two meals with no subsets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically these amounts could be broken down into percentages or actual volume, weight, however, the general process is not too hard to follow. As they are only little the incremental increases seem small, but in reality the principle of proportions would be the same for a larger dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are probably aware, there are senior mixes for your older dogs and different products to suit different dog types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is important not to mix wet and dry food that is not consumed in one sitting. As the wet food moistens the dry food, and left for hours, this can breed bacteria. Unless being consumed immediately, I always serve wet, dry and fresh foods in separate dishes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A note about teeth, raw bones are good for cleaning teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I plan to purchase the pet food soon; my gut instinct is to purchase some wet Science Diet brand food if it is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Products&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good Guide rated over 300  wet dog food products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodguide.com/categories/308924-wet-dog-food##products&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Best Wet Dog Food Ratings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Science Diet Adult Advanced Fitness Gourmet Turkey Entree&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cesar Gourmet Filets Filet Mignon Flavor&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Purina Pro Plan Beef &amp;amp; Brown Rice Entree Classic&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Purina One Healthy Weight Wholesome Entree&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Iams Veterinary Formula Intestinal Low Residue, Canine Canned Formula&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am not endorsing these products just offering findings from some market/science research.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T05:50:45.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27" CreationDate="2013-10-11T05:55:21.703" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ways to know your cat's age&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clear and very shiny eyes show that this is a cat somewhere between years 1 and 5. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hazy spots show that your cat is over age 5, The more smeary the older the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the eyes are starting to appear to be white or milky your cat is probably closer 15-20 years old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats teeth start out very white and yellow with age, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;yellow with gritty deposits on bag teeth indicate a cat who is 6-10. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teeth may begin to fall out if the cat is older&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will start to notice as your cats get older that their fur may not lay as thick and smooth and may look at bit more spikey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Know-Your-Cat%27s-Age&quot;&gt;5 Ways to Know your Cat's age&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T06:08:02.160" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T06:08:02.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="256" CreationDate="2013-10-11T06:13:22.107" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Chihuahua cross breed that is probably around the same size as a Dachshund that manages to climb up into a cubby house via the ramp. I've just measured the angle as 30 degrees and I get the impression from seeing him that if much steeper he'd find it difficult. That ramp is constructed from semi-circular pine wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a height of 2.5 feet that would extend 4.3 feet out from the bed and require 5 feet of material. Depending on the construction of the bed maybe you could take a look at making it fairly light weight and use hooks so that it's nice and easy to stow away when not required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T06:13:22.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="473" CreationDate="2013-10-11T06:22:37.367" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is my dog drinking his pee when he urinates inside?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog's drinking urine can be a sign of a few different things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;health problem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;behavior problem  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;improper housebreaking  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a simple stage that some dog's go through as younger dogs and it passes naturally&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is linked with this post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/496/how-should-i-correct-my-dog-when-i-catch-him-drinking-his-urine/508#508&quot;&gt;How should I correct my dog when I catch him drinking his urine?&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The inside of your home is the den and pack animals naturally like to keep their dens clean. They will want to relieve themselves as far away as possible from where they eat and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolfcountry.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wolfcountry.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During nursing the mother will clean the pups and stimulates them to urinate and defecate by licking the genital region. She swallows all of their excretions, keeping &#xA;  the birthing area clean and odor-free.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In wolf packs the entire pack protects the mother and the den and help to raise the puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given he doesn't do this when he is outside, I wouldn't regard it as a problem, per se, he is doing what comes naturally and cleaning up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/facts_5329585_dog-laps-its-own-urine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why a Dog Laps Its Own Urine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One reason is that urine doesn't absorb into linoleum, tile or&#xA;  finished wood like it does into dirt, grass and concrete. It remains&#xA;  pooled on the floor, tempting the dog's curiosity. Another reason is&#xA;  that, while a dog may not be housebroken, it may still know that&#xA;  urinating inside is forbidden. It will lap up its urine to hide the&#xA;  evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've stated your dog came from a reputable breeder, implying he was well cared for as a pup; so it's unlikely this is caused from the syndrome of dogs in confined spaces learning to eat and drink their own waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the information that it only happens when you forget to take him out at night or when  go to bed early (so he has to hold on longer overnight) I would say it's just your dog trying to fix up fix mishap and no great problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is that the cause of the problem sounds like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He needs to be taken out more frequently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T05:17:23.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="496" CreationDate="2013-10-11T06:26:28.090" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;In response to some feedback, I'd like to explain clearly; the point of this answer is not to suggest that a dog drinking his own urine is by any means optimal, either for his health, or as a behavior, I am merely stating that if the animal is not let out to go to the toilet often enough and then does the best he can to correct his mishap; he should not be scolded for this. The idea behind this, is treating the cause of the behavior, rather than treating the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not disagreeing with @John's answer in principle; just providing an alternate  answer based on the reason your dog is relieving himself in the house; as per your linked question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/473/why-is-my-dog-drinking-his-pee-when-he-urinates-inside&quot;&gt;Why is my dog drinking his pee after he urinates inside?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behaviour like this is normal, if the dog is not doing it outside, but only within the house. My answer here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/473/why-is-my-dog-drinking-his-pee-when-he-urinates-inside/507#507&quot;&gt;Why is my dog drinking his pee after he urinates inside?&lt;/a&gt; explains this in more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the dog is going with his natural instincts and trying to keep the den (your home) clean, I wouldn't go with any sort of negative feedback, as it's confusing to the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to breaking this habit is to ensure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;you dog doesn't have any health problems preventing him from holding on&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to take your dog out for more frequent toilet breaks&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to provide, if possible, a dog door, so he can access the outdoors and relieve himself as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it is unpalatable to watch, urine (in it's healthy state) is sterile and no harm will actually come to your dog from doing this from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a bit of thought it also occurred to me; if you catch him in the act of doing this, it might be an idea to call him &lt;code&gt;Rover!&lt;/code&gt; high pitched voice, in the tone of &lt;code&gt;quick come and see this!&lt;/code&gt; and run to the back door with him and take him outside. It's not a direct reward for the behavior, but like an acknowledgment of &lt;code&gt;yes, that's yuck, let's go outside&lt;/code&gt; and also serves as a complete distraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ingesting its own urine is very unlikely to cause any significant problems in a dog, since any organisms in the urine are already present in the dog's system. As long as another water source is freely available there should be no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/durbhave.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mike Richards, DVM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T03:23:10.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2013-10-11T08:53:01.190" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My motto is, you can teach an old dog new tricks, but it can take more perseverance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you have gradually become more strict assists this; as he has a general sense of your changing expectations, as opposed to be letting to run riot and then wanting a complete change (which would be confusing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First principles:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good start, to give you some more instant relief, not as a long term solution, so you can enjoy your dog, is to drive the family to an off leash area and start your walk from there. Let your dog off leash and he dog can have a good sniff around. You will see when his initial enthusiasm wanes and that's your key that he is ready for a more manageable walk. It obviously means you and your family are stuck hanging around the dog park for 20 minutes or so, but it can be fun and interesting to chat to other dog owners (note I am assuming he is well socialised).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The gentle approach:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not knowing your dog (I suspect you've already done this), it's important to try the easier softer way first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;when the dog attempts to go to a tree to sniff, a simple call; &lt;code&gt;Rover!&lt;/code&gt; in a high pitched voice (not a corrective tone, but a &lt;code&gt;hey look at this&lt;/code&gt; type of voice) may be all that is needed to bring his attention back to the walk. Remember to praise &lt;code&gt;good boy!&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if he is more reluctant and it takes more effort to get his attention, you can add the occasional food reward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if this doesn't work, it's time for the hard part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Onleash retraining&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would consider using similar techniques as for a dog pulling on the lead, as in effect, that is what he is doing, by going his own way on a walk and setting the pace.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walk at a brisk pace, and encourage him with your voice. When he does this and he is walking on track, especially he he is looking at you, it can be a good idea to reward him with one of his favorite food treats; it is important to  accompany this with plenty of verbal praise, as you want him to associate the verbal praise with the the anticipation of a food reward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When using verbal praise dogs respond better to the same phrases used. &lt;code&gt;good boy!&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;No!&lt;/code&gt;. I keep it really simple. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he ignores you and insists on stopping to sniff; you can try:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you need to get your hand in his face, while using your voice; again with the tone of &lt;code&gt;hey look at this&lt;/code&gt;, you can  have the treat in the hand you use to try and tantalise him, then reward him when he gives you his attention and continue the walk.    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as time progresses you can tease him playfully with the treat and prolong the time between his compliance and when you give him the treat. It can become a bit of a game between you both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as he progresses the rewards need to become randomized. After establishing a guaranteed reward expectation, you can move into partial reinforcement, which ultimately works very well. Even with well trained dogs, it's important to continue with partial reinforcement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word on punishment, for such a dear little dog of 12 years age, I would discourage using punishment, except for the harsh voice &lt;code&gt;No!&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA has two articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/urban-dog-etiquette&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Urban Dog Etiquette&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The command “Leave it” is employed when it is necessary for Fido to avert his gaze. Whether he's being tantalized by chicken bones or a jogger, getting your dog to break eye contact with “forbidden fruit” before he acts enables you to draw his attention to safer rewards and pursuits. Or, should the dog slip his collar or break his leash, a recall command (“Come”) could save his life. Most, if not all, of these commands are taught in basic obedience/manners class. Contact your local shelter for a referral to a class near you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/teaching-your-dog-not-pull-leash&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teaching Your Dog Not to Pull on a Leash&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Teaching a dog to walk without pulling requires plenty of rewards. Use highly desirable treats that your dog doesn’t get at other times. Soft treats are best so your dog can eat them quickly and continue training. Most dogs love wieners, cheese, cooked chicken or ham, small jerky treats or freeze-dried liver. Chop all treats into small peanut-sized cubes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walk at a quick pace. If your dog trots or runs, she’ll have fewer opportunities to catch a whiff of something enticing, and she’ll be less inclined to stop and eliminate every few steps. Additionally, you are far more interesting to your dog when you move quickly&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T08:53:01.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="512" CreationDate="2013-10-11T09:08:00.433" Score="18" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family and I have an upcoming vacation, traveling by car.  The trip is going to be about 12-13 hours, and we plan on rotating drivers so we don't have to stop overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will be taking my parents' 4-year old boxer with us because he is such a handful for dogsitters and does not do well in the kennel.  He is normally a very good dog in the car, and does not move around much, but for the safety and comfortable of everyone, he will be riding in his crate in the tailgate area of the SUV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We plan to stop every 3-4 hours to allow him to exercise and relieve himself but we are worried if that is too little.  We are also concerned about water in a moving vehicle.  Should we be stopping more often to allow him to drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T03:50:05.460" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T03:50:05.460" Title="What strategy to undertake for a long car trip with my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2013-10-11T09:38:05.263" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that there is an answer that fits all circumstances. While it might be OK for the dog to have a break every 3-4 hours, chances are that your dog needs to get out earlier. Try to keep an eye on your dog while driving. If he seems to get nervous and starts moving around a lot, it might be best to stop and let him out of the car.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we did longer trips with out dogs, we added a break every 1-2 hours. These were only very short breaks. Let them jump out of the car, wait near the car for five minutes and let them do their business on their own (they don't need a leash) and then return to the car. Some of the breaks were prolonged rests were we offered them something to drink. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much and how often does the dog drink under normal circumstances? There is no need for a water container right beside him in his crate. It will only spill and wet his compartment. Instead offer him something to drink each time you stop. If possible use the water bowl he is used to from his home. Carry some bottles of water, just be sure that the bottles were not used for anything besides water before (the smell might confuse him and he could reject the water even if thirsty).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T09:38:05.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2013-10-11T10:53:56.190" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female dogs do need to be kept quiet after desexing, for a few days at least. They have undergone quite a substantial surgical procedure, removing the uterus and ovaries. Depending on the Vet, and how the procedure is done, where the incision is may vary. At the very least she will have stitches and it takes time for the wounds to heal. By reducing her activity, this lessens the chance of the stitches breaking, promotes healing (as dogs heal when they sleep) and reduces the stress of pain caused by physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of activity your dog can do will increase after a few days, but it is a good idea to reduce any strenuous activity for at least a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 1.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bring her home and make her bed nice and cosy and keep her in a quiet, preferably darkened room with the door closed. When you take her out for the toilet, keep her on a lead, so she can't attempt to wander. At this stage, she'll, likely, still be sleepy from the procedure and the drugs. So keeping her locked away like this will give her a good place to just sleep. Some people use an internal laundry, as it is a small space, I prefer to use a small bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Days 2-3.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your dog inside for the duration. If you have an enclosed yard, it should be ok to let her out off lead, but stay with her and bring her in after she has relieved herself and had a small sniff around. If she needs to be taken out into an area with other dogs, or no enclosure, she needs to be kept on leash at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a small place, there is less need to restrict her movements within the home, but for larger houses, it can be a good idea to keep her in one or two rooms. The issue with this, is you don't want her to feel socially isolated from her family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4-7.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You dog can have more freedom, doesn't need to be restrained within the home. I would keep her indoors and let her have longer supervised periods outdoors. For 20-30 minutes at a time. I wouldn't be taking her on walks at this stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to follow any instructions given by your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T10:53:56.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="949" CreationDate="2013-10-11T10:56:46.427" Score="12" ViewCount="8397" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bunnies as prey animals would seem to be very quite, shy and fearful.  Do they do anything to mark or defend their territory? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best answer will include references, be focused on house rabbits, include some of the detail on their wild counter parts, and address cross species (e.g., cat and dog) competition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-02-13T14:01:45.340" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T18:16:02.687" Title="What means do rabbits use to mark and defend their territory?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;marking&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="501" CreationDate="2013-10-11T13:26:51.403" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are not pure carnivores and so do need a certain percentage of vegetable matter in their diet, but the majority of the diet should still be meat and with a little variation in the type of meat. About 20% of the remainder of the diet should have some vegetables in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the meat perspective, you want to have a decent mix of organs, muscle, skin and fat roughly in proportion to what they'd get from prey or scavenging. The meat that you use, though, should be meat that is fit for human consumption (even if we don't want to eat it). The vegetable mix can include things like squash, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, and similar, don't use carbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good source for more detail, along with some recipes to help you get started at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/homemade-dog-food-recipes.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Training Central&lt;/a&gt; or at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.knowbetterpetfood.com/homemade_dog_food&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Know Better Pet Foods&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any diet, you should very carefully monitor the health of your friend as you transition his diet, pay particular attention for any signs of gas, vomiting, or other unusual behaviour such as lethargy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T13:26:51.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="518" CreationDate="2013-10-11T13:44:42.057" Score="23" ViewCount="4994" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I go on vacation I leave my 1-year-old cat with my friend, who also has a cat.  My cat and his cat &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;HATE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; each other, and I was wondering if I can leave my cat alone at home.  I plan to be gone for multiple weeks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he old enough to stay home alone?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long can he stay alone?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much food would I need to leave with him?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I ask a neighbor/friend to come over to check on him, and if so, how frequently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T10:50:25.253" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T13:24:34.170" Title="How long can a 1-year-old cat stay home alone?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2013-10-11T13:59:46.353" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you should avoid doing that. You should, at least, make someone visit the cat twice a day. It's a misconception that a cat can live alone for many days, but it's not true.  Domestic cats can become depressed, and even get sick. A few more problems can include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat who develops a urinary track infection can become&#xA;  critically ill in less than 24 hours. Therefore, if you are even&#xA;  planning just a short weekend getaway, a pet sitter or a friend should&#xA;  be looking in on the cat at least twice per day. This person should&#xA;  plan to stay for a minimum of one hour so they can observe the cat and&#xA;  make note of any behavioral abnormalities (ideally, it should be&#xA;  someone who knows the cat fairly well so the better to notice if&#xA;  something seems different). Of course, the caregiver should be&#xA;  provided with contact information for the owner as well as the phone&#xA;  number to the nearest emergency veterinary clinic and copies of all&#xA;  the animal’s medical record. (Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawschicago.org/pet-resource-center/cat-care-information/misconceptions-about-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pawschicago.org/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T22:45:38.940" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T22:45:38.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2013-10-11T14:00:25.510" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really about age once they get past 6 months, and it depends on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's the reclusive sort that doesn't want or expect a lot of attention, you can have a friend come over daily to make sure he's got food and water and a little play time, and tend to the litter box as it needs it. It's good to have feeding systems that store enough for a couple of days no matter what, you never know when something might come up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he craves attention and actively seeks it, you probably &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; want to leave him at home alone for a protracted amount of time, or no longer than twice the length of time you'd normally be gone. That could be quite a bit of stress on him, and that can lead to undesirable things. He'll need a couple visits each day you're away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a friend that you trust with a key, consider a good cat kennel where he'll have plenty of room and opportunity to interact and play with people. Just check them out first, the best ones are those that come recommended by other cat owners you know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastEditorUserId="105" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T17:00:13.017" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T17:00:13.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="916" CreationDate="2013-10-11T14:21:41.137" Score="58" ViewCount="79712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adolescent cat that I adopted as a kitten. For some time now I have noticed that he is purring a lot. I know that when giving affection this behavior is normal but my cat seems to start purring whenever I'm in the same room as him or even when he sees me from another room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that constant purring is a thing to worry about. It happens when cats are sick or in distress. I do not believe he is sick as he recently had a visit to the vet for a checkup and to be neutered. He doesn't seem to be in any discomfort or distress - just a happy go lucky black trouble maker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My predicament is should I be perplexed by his persistent purring and if not, how much purring is too much purring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T04:16:23.497" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T19:23:13.213" Title="How much purring is too much purring?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2013-10-11T14:38:38.143" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were to ask you to cut off the tips of your fingers because you some times scratch me when we shake hands would you think it was reasonable or unconscionable?  That is exactly what you are talking about doing to your cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read this exerpt from  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.declawing.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.declawing.com/&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before you make the decision to declaw your cat, there are some&#xA;  important facts you should know. Declawing is not like a manicure. It&#xA;  is serious surgery. Your cat's claw is not a toenail. It is actually&#xA;  closely adhered to the bone. So closely adhered that to remove the&#xA;  claw, the last bone of your the cat's claw has to be removed.&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Declawing is actually an amputation of the last joint of your cat's&#xA;  &quot;toes&quot;.&lt;/strong&gt; When you envision that, it becomes clear why declawing is not&#xA;  a humane act. It is a painful surgery, with a painful recovery period.&#xA;  And remember that during the time of recuperation from the surgery&#xA;  your cat would still have to use its feet to walk, jump, and scratch&#xA;  in its litter box regardless of the pain it is experiencing.&#xA;  Wheelchairs and bedpans are not an option for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not the ASPCA, or HSUS who are political businesses with an agenda.  This is a vet stating the truth about the feline anatomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T14:38:38.143" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="557" CreationDate="2013-10-11T15:02:54.170" Score="16" ViewCount="1653" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I leave for a few hours, I put my dogs in a room, turn on the television, and close the door.  I always tune to either a classic rock music or a classical music channel at a moderately low volume (since dogs can apparently hear quite well).  The music channels have mildly moving pictures to prevent TV burn-in, but nothing that would entertain the dogs visually.  I have recently heard about &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtv.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog TV&lt;/a&gt; and read that dogs cannot properly visualize regular TV signals anyway, so what I'm doing seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also give the dogs a small treat before I leave; one of them gets it directly and the other via a wood puzzle to distract her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a generally effective method to provide some amount of comfort when I'm away from the home, or should I be doing something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T02:38:25.983" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T02:38:25.983" Title="How effective is leaving a television or radio on to comfort dogs when away?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-11T15:08:32.953" Score="15" ViewCount="29794" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female English Lop that started growing well and was on a healthy track to meet normal weight requirements.  She got stressed out and stopped eating and drinking.  We were able to prevent total GI statis with yogurt and got her eating again.  But her growth has stopped.  Normal weight for a Adult Female English lop is 10.5 pounds but she has stalled around 9 pounds since she was 7 months and is now approaching 12 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We free feed(as much as she wants) 16%-18% Professional Show Rabbit feed currently.  We provide her hay but have limited it because she will eat only hay and avoid pellets if we let her.  We also try to supplement with fresh parsley every other week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no real signs of any health issue.  She eats and drinks enough to maintain her weight.  Her droppings and urine appear normal and of appropriate quantity.  She has not had any mucus discharge, and our regular Physical examination shows no areas of concern.  Her weight is not unhealthy, though it she is not a full and meaty as she was at 6 months, she is still nicely proportioned.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything safe and natural we can do to encourage her growth?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T17:27:28.613" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T00:46:44.837" Title="How can I help my adult rabbit gain weight?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="528" CreationDate="2013-10-11T16:01:13.263" Score="22" ViewCount="4001" Body="&lt;p&gt;When transporting one cat I put the carrier on the passenger seat (with the front grill facing me).  When transporting both, somebody gets the back seat (with the carrier similarly facing the center of the car).  I never gave this much thought until reading a news article about an auto accident that mentioned, in passing, that two cats had died (no further details).  That got me wondering about safe transport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carriers, being not people-shaped, don't interact well with the seatbelts in my car.  Should I be doing something to &quot;belt in&quot; the carriers, and if so what?  Or should I be thinking of doing something to the carriers themselves (what?) to reduce damage to the cat if a carrier were to go flying?  Would the passenger airbag deploying be a good thing or a bad thing?  Would everybody be better off if I put the carriers in the hatchback of my Honda Fit instead of on seats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T18:01:52.050" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T15:22:18.033" Title="How can I keep my cats safe in my car?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="525" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-11T16:22:10.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use this tag for questions related to taking your pet with you when you move homes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="99" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T16:33:52.527" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T16:33:52.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="526" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-11T16:22:10.663" Score="0" Body="For questions related to taking your pet with you when you move." OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T16:35:42.940" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T16:35:42.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="529" CreationDate="2013-10-11T16:25:05.180" Score="12" ViewCount="759" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that for the past few day, my dog howls a lot in the night. I initially thought it was because I forgot to give him food before going to sleep but yesterday and the day before, I'm sure I did (and even left some extra food in his plate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, he still howled a lot throughout the night. What can I do to stop this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:57:42.343" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T01:04:37.353" Title="How to stop my dog from howling all through the night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="523" CreationDate="2013-10-11T16:34:42.930" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;When transporting cats in carriers, I always put the crates in the back seat of the car and run the seat belt through the handle on the top and around the side of the crate. Like with children, the back seat is safest for cats and other pets, not only physically in event of a crash, but also limiting distraction to the driver (as when I have the crate in the front seat I often look over and talk to my cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think that the airbag deploying on a crate wouldn't be a good thing since it deploys with enough force to break bones in a human, and could potentially crush the crate.  Putting the crates on in the hatchback wouldn't be optimal, since the crates could slide around and tumble in event of a crash since they aren't secured by anything. Belting the crates with the seat-belt as explained above would be the best bet to reduce the risk to your furry friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mwhyn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat carrier with seatbelt slot&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dog and cat carriers have a slot for seatbelt on both sides of carrier topside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T13:19:39.097" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T13:19:39.097" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="527" CreationDate="2013-10-11T16:45:55.160" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers admit that howling behavior in dogs is still largely a&#xA;  mystery. But if Fido goes wild at the sound of sirens or other dogs,&#xA;  it's not because his ears hurt. It's his ancestry that's partly to&#xA;  blame. (Source:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/34616-why-dogs-howl-sirens.html&quot;&gt;www.livescience.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it can be response to some sound he hears. But we can only assume. Sometimes dogs also cry in howling sounds which can be due to some behaviorally problem like feeling lonely etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T16:45:55.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="281" CreationDate="2013-10-11T17:45:40.367" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, since you're not going to be in the kitchen all the time, you could consider getting one of the movement-activated hissing cans (sorry, I'm not at home and can't look up the brand information). That way, you can avoid the cat thinking that the only time it needs to avoid the counters is when you're there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cans are about the size of a soda can, with a motion sensor that will trigger and spray a jet of air that makes a hissing noise when it detects anything (It works. Startles the heck out of you if you set it off accidentally). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One caveat - try not to laugh at the cat when it gets startled by the hissing can. They don't like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T17:45:40.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="493" CreationDate="2013-10-11T17:49:45.150" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert at crayfish (or ponds), but I know a little&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The pond shouldn't be close to trees, bush or bush piles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Provisions should be made to enable the pond to drain automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The pond water should be dechlorinated, with a pH of 7.2-8.2.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to check and test pond water frequently to ensure ammonia and nitrite levels are not too high or low. Sudden death of crayfish are often due to an ammonia or nitrite excess.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Their water should contain a good amount of calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_6724585_make-crawfish-pond.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Make a Crawfish Pond&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T15:51:49.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T15:51:49.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="269" CreationDate="2013-10-11T17:57:49.727" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from experience here: my husband and I purchased a house 18 months ago. Our 3 cats never go outside, but earlier this year we needed to flea treat the cats and the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous owners had dogs who were inside and out, and the very mild winter plus us not realizing there could be an issue meant that over the course of a year the flea population built up to where they became a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't take much for fleas to take hold - we had no sign of trouble our first summer in the house, but by the next summer it was ugly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say that if your friend's cat stops whatever it's doing to bite and groom at the base of its tail or scratches a lot around its neck and behind the ears it's worth checking for flea dirt (tiny black specs) and egg cases (longer black bits that crumble under pressure). If your friend finds any, then he's going to need to treat the cat and also treat his floors and other surfaces to kill any fleas or eggs in the house. Usually it's a dose every 6 - 8 weeks unless you've got a severe infestation, when you treat more often. Also, older cats are more vulnerable to fleas so they need to be watched more carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's no sign the cat has flea problems, then there's no need to treat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T17:57:49.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2205" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:25:33.350" Score="15" ViewCount="10338" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10-year-old mixed dog has developed quite the arcane fear, she fears power outages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether it happens when it's dark (when all of the lights turn off at the same time), or during the day (in which case, the sound of the wireless phone losing signal from the dock station gives it away), she would start shaking, tail between her legs, come to us for protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my dog is a burly dog, she stood her ground against dogs several times her size, she can take on anything and doesn't seem to be afraid of anything (loud bangs, fireworks, even a recent war with alarms and rocket whistles and explosions), nothing except for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of us (the family members) are behaving nervously during an outage, and it seemed to just happen to her one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could the cause be, how can I even begin to diagnose it, I hate seeing her like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T19:32:21.113" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T15:44:41.437" Title="What could cause my dog to fear power outages?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="564" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:30:52.570" Score="14" ViewCount="506" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried to keep hermit crabs as pets at various times in my life, and each time the poor things have died during their first molting process. I know that they are incredibly vulnerable during this time - what can I do to help them get through this process without harm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:55:38.643" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:55:38.643" Title="How can I help hermit crabs survive their first molt?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;molting&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="535" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:37:06.760" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T19:37:06.760" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T19:37:06.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="536" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:37:06.760" Score="0" Body="For questions about rational and irrational fears that pets develop. " OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T19:48:02.363" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T19:48:02.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:37:41.807" Score="21" ViewCount="2157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somewhere in his life, my cat determined he really loves to play fetch. Usually this is not a problem - he brings me a toy, I throw it, he brings it back, I throw it again, repeat as necessary (sometimes for a while!).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, he now brings me toys in the middle of the night and wakes me up with them. He tucks them under me, and bugs me with them. Normally I would just toss them off my bed and have that be that, but my cat just thinks that I am starting a game of fetch with him, and brings them back and bothers me all over again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do to teach him that fetch at 3am isn't something I want to do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T00:18:38.587" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T23:29:04.530" Title="How can I teach my cat that the middle of the night is not the time to play fetch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:45:21.600" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your dog may get scared of a power outage because he/she does not understand what is going on. Phobias may be accompanied by property destruction or physical endangerment of the affected pet or the people around him. (Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/golden-retrievers-main-discussion/16511-terrified-power-outages.html&quot;&gt;Terrified of power outages&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now in addition to that, No matter how scared your dog is of something, you can help him resolve his fear. It is  best to call in an expert. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First go to your veterinarian, who can resolve health problems that might be causing your dog's fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider seeing an animal behaviorist or professional dog trainer. Desensitization therapies and behavior modification can help your dog get over his fears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see : &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.about.com/od/dogbehaviorproblems/a/causes-of-fear-in-dogs.htm&quot;&gt;Causes of Fear in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T19:45:21.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="541" CreationDate="2013-10-11T19:49:12.050" Score="9" ViewCount="5449" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had a White's tree frog for a few months now.  We currently have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=1516&amp;amp;DatabaseID=2&amp;amp;SearchID=20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 mini compact fluorescent bulb&lt;/a&gt; on top of the terrarium that we keep on during the day, and no light at night.  However, I've received conflicting information on whether the White's tree frog needs UV light and what the requirements are.  I'm wondering if my frog needs UV light or if the UV light might be damaging his eyes.  He spends most of the day stuck to the side of the glass sleeping with his eyes pointed at the light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:55:03.250" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:55:03.250" Title="What type of light do White's tree frogs need?" Tags="&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="556" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:11:32.683" Score="14" ViewCount="27227" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I bring my dog into the dog park, It's not uncommon to see a dog rolling around in the grass, but sometimes, there will be a particular spot int he grass that nearly all the dogs nearby will want to roll in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've even seen dogs compete over rolling around in the spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do all the dogs want to roll in this spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T00:17:01.957" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T02:00:41.367" Title="Why do dogs roll around in random patches of grass" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="539" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:18:48.807" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because these frogs are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnality&quot;&gt;nocturnal&lt;/a&gt;, there are no special lighting requirements. Exposure to UVB is not necessary, although some exposure won't hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;White's Tree Frogs need a cycle of 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of darkness. Low amounts of UVB light, like from a ReptiSun 2.0 bulb, may be beneficial. Use a full spectrum fluorescent light and an incandescent bulb during the day. Infrared or black bulbs can be used at night, if necessary to maintain proper temperatures. We recommend using a timer to maintain proper light cycles. Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2385&quot;&gt;How to Create the Ideal White's Tree Frog Habitat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T20:18:48.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="552" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:21:06.850" Score="7" ViewCount="2143" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog loves to roll in the grass, however, I heard it brings issues, mostly in the form of bugs, fleas, dirt, scratching or even allergies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of them true? Should I let my dog roll in the grass at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T00:17:39.100" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T00:17:39.100" Title="Should I let my dog roll in the grass?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="542" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:29:14.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its a completely normal behavior. She is just letting other dogs know She was there. She is leaving some kind of scent, mostly to say something like &lt;strong&gt;Hey!. I was here and this is my territory!&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't think you should prevent it (provided the grass is clean and not infested).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T20:29:14.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:33:59.147" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that you &lt;em&gt;would want&lt;/em&gt; to do at 3am when you've just been woken up by your cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop this behavior, I would suggest closing your bedroom door at night. Get your cat used to the fact that your bedroom is a no-go zone at night. Once he's used to it, you can try start leaving the door open again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't wish to completely isolate your cat from the bedroom at night, you could try confiscating the usual &quot;fetch&quot; toys before you go to bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="99" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T20:41:29.090" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T20:41:29.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="555" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:39:42.490" Score="12" ViewCount="1232" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a miniature dachshund who will only play with toys at night, once everyone is asleep.  When every light and television in the house is off, he makes his way down off the bed, eats any leftover food he's not consumed during the day, and plays with toys.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know this because we've caught him, and we occasionally wake up to what we refer to as &quot;crop circles&quot;; he arranges his toys all around the room.  The dog does not play with the toys when prompted to or enticed to do so during the day, and he doesn't fetch or actively play when we can see him (though when he does break character, we love it and praise him).  It is only at night that he seems he's the happiest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note, it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/473/why-is-my-dog-drinking-his-urine-when-he-goes-inside&quot;&gt;this same guy&lt;/a&gt;; this is what he gets up to when he's not decorating the throw rugs yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is his deal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T18:59:19.597" Title="Why is my dog primarily active (eating, playful) when everyone else is asleep?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="547" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:52:29.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag represents questions regarding the interaction between pets and &lt;strong&gt;human&lt;/strong&gt; children of all ages.  Typically however, the upper range is when the child is old enough to effectively manage a pet without without any adult supervision (usually mid-late teenage years, depending on the child).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag is not for posts about animals and their own children&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T09:09:34.513" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T09:09:34.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="548" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-11T20:52:29.583" Score="0" Body="The interaction between pets and children" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="99" LastEditDate="2013-10-11T23:48:35.580" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T23:48:35.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-11T21:57:50.437" Score="27" ViewCount="121537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have 3 dogs and all of them will periodically scoot their butts, slam their butts hard on the ground, and drag themselves. When it happens, I know their &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_gland&quot;&gt;anal glands&lt;/a&gt; are bothering them and they're trying to relieve the pain and itchiness which comes with an irritated gland.  We have tried adding pumpkin to their diets, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007M0JHGE&quot;&gt;scoot bars&lt;/a&gt; and even considered a surgical option to have the glands removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs are a 12-year-old Shih Tzu, 5-year-old Pug, and 8/9-month old Chihuahua/Yorkie mix, all with tails.  Until recently they were fed Science Diet dry food twice daily (AM / PM), but we recently switched to Hill's Ideal Balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I prevent them from scooting?  Are there certain dog foods (dry/wet) which might prevent the glands from becoming irritated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T17:57:14.287" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T10:13:18.350" Title="How can I stop my dogs from scooting / dragging their butts?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="554" CreationDate="2013-10-11T22:38:00.487" Score="19" ViewCount="1529" Body="&lt;p&gt;These questions mention feeding rabbits hay:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/48/healthy-treats-for-a-house-rabbit&quot;&gt;What are healthy treats for a house rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/522/how-can-i-help-my-adult-rabbit-gain-weight&quot;&gt;How can I help my adult rabbit gain weight?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit's diet important?  I am particularly curious about potential health concerns throughout the life of the bunny that may be affected by feeding or withholding hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T18:46:36.933" Title="Why is adding hay to a rabbit's diet important?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="542" CreationDate="2013-10-11T22:41:21.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreeing and adding to  @Precious' answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog doesn't have any allergies it shouldn't be a problem. Dogs enjoy rolling in grass for many reasons. To remove unwanted odors (usually human inflicted  like shampoo), to scratch, for pleasure, or to take some of the scent from the grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fleas generally won't be a problem, unless there's a mino plague or infestation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ticks can be a problem and are in grass, so that is a difficult one to juggle. Check your dog regularly for ticks and if you are finding them on her after she's been rolling, maybe keep her off it during the hotter months.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has allergies a definite No.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T22:41:21.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="551" CreationDate="2013-10-11T22:43:56.137" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hay is important for a lot of reasons. Some of which are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduces the size of their ever-growing teeth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides enough fibre needed for their digestive tract&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hay keeps the gut moving&#xA;  Hay is made up of long fibres that help the muscles of the bunny's gut stay strong. A rabbit's complex digestive system means they need to constantly snack on hay throughout the day to keep things moving inside, and help prevent blockages (eg. from fur or things they've eaten - rabbits seem to have little concept of what they can and cannot digest!) Blockages can often be fatal. If a rabbit doesn't eat enough hay then this can slow down the rabbit's intestinal functions and cause serious problems eg. GI Stasis (see below).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chewing hay grinds their ever-growing teeth down to a safe level&#xA;  Rabbits' teeth continually grow, including all of their back ones (did you know rabbits have 28 teeth?!) If these aren't kept in check by wearing them down on hay and grass, they can grow out of control and cause painful abcesses, and even grow into the eyes from within. It's a fast process - rabbit teeth grow about 12cm a year! Eye problems are often linked to the teeth. Other foods (even hard pellets) do not wear the teeth down like the side-to-side jaw action used when eating hay.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keeps bunnies busy rearranging it and searching for the best tasting pieces&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Teaches rabbits good litter tray habits Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/importance-of-hay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why is hay so important for rabbits?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:41:41.893" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:41:41.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="551" CreationDate="2013-10-11T22:52:55.070" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits need to be feed hay and grass daily. It needs to be the basis of a healthy diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important for:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dental health&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The teeth are worn down by eating grass and hay.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Digestion&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have two processes of digesting. The fibre is vital to stimulate the rabbit's highly specialized digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hay and grass, this coarse type of roughage is digested in the cecum (a part of the rabbit's large intestine) that partially digest the hay, which is then expelled as a specialized pellet called a cecotrope. This partially digested hay, or cecotrope is then ingested by the rabbit, where further nutrients can be absorbed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Without this source of fibre, rabbits are prone to diarrhea and motility disorders, because the peristalsis (movement) of the gut is not stimulated enough, so it causes digested food to rot. A diet high in sugar will also promote the growth of bacteria in a sluggish bowel. This in turn can interfere with absorption of nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A sluggish bowel, can also lead to loss of appetite and thirst, resulting in dehydration and weight loss. This decreases the production of cecotropes, lowers the rabbit's well being, as it's nutritional needs are not being met.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hairballs aka wool block&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maintaining healthy motility of a rabbit's gut is also necessary for the rabbit to pass hairballs. With a sluggish bowel, hairballs can remain in the rabbit's stomach, where, hastened by the increasing dehydration of the rabbit, the hairball hardens, creating the rabbit to feel bloated and full, further decreasing appetite, thirst, increasing dehydration, weight loss and this destructive cycle continues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The best remedy to relieve a rabbit's unpassable hairballs is to offer the rabbit a diet only of fresh green hay with plenty of fresh water on hand. It takes three days for a rabbit to create more fecal matter. This is the best treatment for hairballs in rabbits and it is rare that a rabbit will require surgery, if offered a diet like this. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following picture gives a great visual idea of how much hay is needed in a rabbit's diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tiJ14.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;rabbit food pyramid&quot;&gt; &lt;em&gt;image subject to copyright and courtesy of San Diego House Rabbit Society &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/sites/default/files/content/page/images/Rabbit_Food_Pyramid_July08.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;sandieograbbits.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;University of California&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Agriculture and Natural Resources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;San Diego House Rabbit Society  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PDSA&lt;br&gt;&#xA;People's Dispensary for Sick Animals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AAHA&lt;br&gt;&#xA;American Animal Hospital Association&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Susan Brown, DVM&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Midwest Bird and Exotic-Animal Hospital in Westchester, Ill.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T13:54:43.847" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T13:54:43.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="546" CreationDate="2013-10-11T23:13:37.407" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Canis Lupus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a nocturnal animal by nature.  This is an instinctual trait that is shared by wolves, dogs, and other subspecies.  The ancestors of dogs would generally sleep during the day, then get up late in the afternoon once the sun starts to set to begin hunting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While dogs have adapted to human sleeping patterns, it doesn't mean they don't retain that nocturnal trait.  My dog (even before he became an &quot;old man&quot;) would fall asleep when we left the house and sleep most of the day so he was ready to go when we got home from work.  This means he is still awake when we go to bed.  Sure, he will follow us to bed, and maybe catch a quick nap, but if any of us wake up in the middle of the night, he is there to greet you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, he doesn't make a lot of noise, but he is generally moving about.  Other dogs we've owned have shared this behavior, but some happen to be more nocturnal than others.  Your dog would appear to be one that is very nocturnal and does most of his heavy work after dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T03:51:50.497" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T03:51:50.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="540" CreationDate="2013-10-11T23:14:14.803" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reitierating from my post here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/542/should-i-let-my-dog-roll-in-the-grass/552#552&quot;&gt;Should I let my dog roll in the grass?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs enjoy rolling in grass for many reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to remove unwanted odors (usually human inflicted like shampoo)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to scratch, for pleasure&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to take some of the scent from the grass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog's love to disguise their scent with the environment, it's olfactory camouflage to hide from predators and remain undetected by prey. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T23:14:14.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2013-10-11T23:25:37.783" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Classical music would be preferable to rock music.  According to the study &quot;Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.news.colostate.edu/content/documents/Behavioral%20effects%20of%20auditory%20stimulation%20on%20kenneled%20dogs%20published.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;from the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;, classical music &lt;em&gt;&quot;may help mitigate some of the stress inherent for [...] kenneled dogs.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;  Although your dogs are not kenneled, the result would be comparable to alleviating distress caused by your absence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to leave the TV on a talking channel, usually sitcoms.  This mimics general human chit-chat and has a light mood; I understand animals can pick up mood from human conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, your dogs have each other for company, so it is unlikely they will become too lonely, though they can fret for their humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T03:48:33.153" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T03:48:33.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="522" CreationDate="2013-10-11T23:42:01.467" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to help your bun gain a bit of weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of hay, look to add some small quantities of alfalfa to the diet. Don't replace the timothy hay, but supplement in the alfalfa, perhaps about 25-30% ratio. This type of hay is good for young and growing rabbits and so will help her add on some weight as it is loaded with protein. You can also supplement in alfalfa pellets if you're feeding her pellets. Again, same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other foods you can try to include high fat/starch options such as oats, nuts, or barley. Keep it at really small amounts, like 1/4 cup, total daily. Perhaps introduce in smaller amounts at first. Also, treat foods such as raisins (not a lot, but they love them), berries (e.g. strawberries), apple, pear, basically the high sugar options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all of the above, once she gains the weight, you'll want to trim back to eliminate some of this. Mostly, you'll want to get the alfalfa back out of her diet for the long term health. Bear in mind, too, that the health episode may have permanently stunted some growth depending on when. In that event, she may have peaked out on the weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when adding all of this into her diet, very carefully monitor her for any signs of illness or lethargy as well as keep an eye on her stools. Anything changes, stop the food supplement and bring her to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-11T23:42:01.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2013-10-12T00:46:46.667" Score="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs also scoot, which indicates it is time to express their anal glands, or &quot;scent glands&quot;: two internal sacs with openings to the anus, each containing powerfully-scented fluid for marking their poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By scooting, the dogs are probably trying to express them on their own, all over your carpet, which is a delight to try and remove.  I find that once their glands are expressed, future scooting is prevented.  Glands re-fill over time, so you might need to express them periodically, though expression should also happen naturally when they poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do consider that if periodic manual expressions are scheduled, there should be less to express in future... expressions.  Express.  Of note, @KatePaulk from the comments below recommends (and I concur) that periodic expression is a good thing to prevent potential gland impaction / blockage, which could cause them to fill to bursting level, a situation no one wants to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;So,&quot;&lt;/em&gt; you ask, &lt;em&gt;&quot;that's all great about expressing the glands, but how do I actually undertake the task of expressing them?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expressing anal glands is a horrific process you can pay your vet or groomer to suffer through for you, or you can save a few bucks and do it yourself in the privacy of your own home (hooray!).  I'll explain the process below, as this is how I handle my dachshunds, who are not large dogs (with large glands, containing lots to express).  Certainly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHDbuqxJNvE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;there are&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vywTCnjKX4k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;videos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV82fgPKmc4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;I can&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Cr1MQaGHc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;link to&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but nothing can quite relate the experience across as a step-by-step process does, so hold onto your seats, no pun intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; I am not a veterinarian, but I have done this at least one time before. Safety not guaranteed. Must bring your own equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before you begin, make sure your fingernails are clipped short or have dulled tips, otherwise you might scratch your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warn your household what you're about to do, so they don't walk in on you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acquire a box of tissues or a roll of toilet paper, and a way to moisten them, like a small bowl of water or a sink.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trap yourself with the dog in a small room, preferably a hall bathroom or a shower.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash your hands.  This will not be the first time you will do this step today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you must, put on some disposable surgical gloves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn on some smooth jazz and put on a nose-clip if you're a girly man or an unmanly girl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place your dog under your preferred arm, head towards your back, with your hands aimed towards its rear end.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Point / aim the rear of the dog towards a wall you can &lt;strike&gt;sacrifice&lt;/strike&gt; wipe down, like the tiled wall of a shower.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place up to 4 ply of tissue / toilet paper in your hand, lift the dog's tail, and cover its anus with the tissue and your hands, in that order.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feel with your fingertips on either side of the anus; there should be a soft lump to the immediate side. This is, hopefully, the gland.  There are two of them, one on each side.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That means you'll have to do this twice.  Or more if you have more than one dog. Joy!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place your thumb to the immediate side of the sphincter, and your index finger on the edge of the gland, probably anywhere from a half inch to an inch apart depending on the size of the dog.  Cover with your tissue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can chance observing the blessed event, but you might want to wear goggles or a mask in the event you spray yourself.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For crap's sake, keep your mouth shut tight if you try to look!  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While it may seem like you can control the direction of the upcoming spray, the potential splash zone will be uncontrollably random, not unlike jamming a spoon into a grapefruit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GENTLY&lt;/strong&gt; press the index finger against the side of the lump, pressing towards the sphincter.  At the same time, use the thumb to roll very slightly away from the sphincter, opening up the sphincter hole very slightly; this pressure should allow the gland to empty.  You may hear a whooshing sound and feel a hot spray inside the tissue.  The stench should momentarily hit you like a brick.  Stay strong and try to keep your lunch down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some dogs (MY DOGS) find gland juice to be a delicacy and may try to turn to lick. Belay that dog from turning and stay the course, son!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue to gently rub and lightly squeeze until you feel like there's not much left.  Then, try again because there will be some left.  You can switch out the tissue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At any time during steps 13-15, switch sides and milk that butt till all the stink juice is expressed.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expression can look like anything from clear to yellowish, greenish, brownish, and possibly with little flecks in it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gently wipe the dog butt clean with tissues.  Wet some tissues down and do it again.  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes I wipe wet tissues on a gentle soap (like Dove), clean the dog butt, then wipe again with new, clean, soap-less tissues.  This helps get rid of lingering stench.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flush those tissues / toilet paper immediately, or put them in a plastic zip-lock bag because ew.  Try not to clog the toilet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kick the dog out of the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash your hands! Using soap should help remove any errant gland fluid which has embedded its stench in your skin.  See, told you we'd wash our hands again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the next dog and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2019-12-15T10:13:18.350" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T10:13:18.350" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="343" CreationDate="2013-10-12T01:10:19.293" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Information specific to Indonesian floating frogs is somewhat thin on the ground. However, a common guideline for fish and other aquatic pets is &quot;as much as they can eat in two minutes&quot;.&#xA;The number of crickets they can eat will also depend on the size of the crickets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm generally in favour of offering a varied diet. Indonesian floating frogs tend to prefer live food, so diet may depend on what's available in your area. Small insects, worms, and larvae such as glass worms/mosquito larvae, blood worms, black worms, house flies, fruit flies, brine shrimp, daphnia, and crickets all make appropriate foodstuffs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your frogs are used to being hand/tweezer fed then you may be able to get them to accept some frozen foods. Glass worms, blood worms, brine shrimp and various others are often available frozen at pet stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T01:10:19.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2013-10-12T01:22:22.707" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scooting can also be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=qXmhYj-uvYAC&amp;amp;pg=PA120&amp;amp;dq=dog+worms+symptoms+scooting&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=EaJYUvi6LMTi4AOsIw&amp;amp;ved=0CEgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=dog%20worms%20symptoms%20scooting&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;symptom of worms&lt;/a&gt; this should be considered as well as anal gland issues when scooting behavior is noticed.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gland cleaning exercises and procedures as described by @JoshDM, can be helpful for occasional gland issues.  Surgical removal of glands is an option, but should only be undertaken after &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=USfJJOu3VAkC&amp;amp;pg=PT323&amp;amp;dq=dog+anal+gland+removal&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=AaNYUv6oEa-34AO0voGAAQ&amp;amp;ved=0CEEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=dog%20anal%20gland%20removal&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;serious consideration&lt;/a&gt;.  These glands play an important part in dog to dog communication and as you have 3 dogs, serious complications in the relationship are possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T01:22:22.707" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2013-10-12T01:38:31.897" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do your horses seem to be losing weight? Are their ribs showing? Are they lethargic? Do their necks or haunches look thin or bony? If you're unsure, I recommend asking the vet's opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much you need to feed them will depend on their age, metabolism, and how much grass is available to them. I'd recommend starting out with 1-2 40lb. bales of hay/day. If they eat it all, increase a little. If they're consistently leaving hay uneaten, decrease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they seem to be eating their fill, but are still losing weight, you may want to consider supplementing their diet with grain, beet pulp, sweet feed, and/or senior feed. Make dietary changes gradually and consult with a vet before making any major changes or if you are still uncertain of what you should be feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T01:38:31.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="384" CreationDate="2013-10-12T02:04:18.117" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, it depends a lot on personal preference. A baby snake will eventually grow into an adult snake. Personally, I would consider the species of snake as well as whether or not it's captive-bred or wild-caught much more important than the age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a first-time snake keeper I would strongly recommend a king snake over a boa. (Other good first-time snakes are corn snakes or possibly &lt;em&gt;captive-bred&lt;/em&gt; ball pythons.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the snakes sold in pet stores in my area are juveniles. Adult snakes are often put up for adoption or sale by owners who are no longer willing or able to look after them. The situation may be different in your area, however. But if you are planning on getting your snake from a pet store, you may have a difficult time finding adults for sale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T02:04:18.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="534" CreationDate="2013-10-12T02:47:32.343" Score="11" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diet: Make sure your crabs are getting a good diet pre-molt. A varied diet including lots of high-energy and high-calcium foods. Natural peanut butter, honey, cuttlefish bone, and sesame seeds are all good choices. Fresh or dried fruit and vegetables or even unseasoned meat trimmings can be added to this to help round things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Humidity: 80% RH is recommended for most species of hermit crabs. This is especially important during molting. Certain species, such as the strawberry hermit crab from Australia, require even higher humidity. 90% RH is usually sufficient for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Substrate: It's important that hermit crabs be provided with a substrate that they can burrow into. Again, this is especially important during molting as surface molts almost always prove to be fatal. The substrate should be light and loose enough for the crabs to dig in, but should also be able to hold its shape so that the crabs' tunnels don't collapse in on them.&#xA;A smooth, round-grained sand, such as play sand can work well. Add enough water to make it &amp;quot;sand castle&amp;quot; consistency.&#xA;EcoEarth (shredded coconut husk) is also an excellent choice. I find that it holds moisture better than play sand, has a nice texture, and helps keep the humidity in the terrarium up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Temperature: 80 °F (27 °C) is generally a good temperature to shoot for. Strawberries tend to like it a bit warmer (85-90 °F / 29-32 °C). You can achieve this with a UTH (under tank heater) and/or a heat lamp. Try to create a gradient within the terrarium to help the crabs thermo-regulate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, try not to disturb your crabs when they're molting. Don't stress them out. And just leave them be until they re-surface on their own. Sometimes older, larger crabs might disappear for quite a while, several months at a time. With any luck, they should re-appear just fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ETA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water: It is important to provide water for hermit crabs. The dish should be deep enough for the crabs to submerge themselves in, but shallow enough that they can easily climb out. Tap water is fine to use as long as it is dechlorinated first. Use a crab or reptile formula to dechlorinate as most fish/aquarium dechlorinators contain slime coat and other additives that could be harmful to your crabs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, salt water should be provided as well. This should be made by mixing dechlorinated water with a marine salt formula (eg. Instant Ocean).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both fresh and salt water can be prepared in bulk and dispensed as necessary. Providing a dish of each allows your crabs to regulate the osmotic balance of their shell water. However, some people prefer to give their crabs weekly salt water baths rather than keeping two water dishes in the terrarium with them. Both approaches seem to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:54:24.513" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:54:24.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="384" CreationDate="2013-10-12T03:07:35.203" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Size:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a big difference between &lt;code&gt;boa constrictors&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;california king snakes&lt;/code&gt;, literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;boa constrictors&lt;/strong&gt; can range from  about 6 - 15 feet long at full maturation (depending on the type), but can grow to 18 foot or longer. A boa can grow to 5 foot long in it's first year of life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;california king snake&lt;/strong&gt; 4 foot, but can grow up to 6 foot long. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Temperament:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;boa constrictors&lt;/strong&gt; are docile snakes, making them popular pets, but grow large and heavy, and more importantly are extremely strong (they have been known to kill people, even as pets). I have seen no definitive evidence discussing behavior changes between baby snakes and sexually mature snakes, but there is evidence that prolonged care with a sensible and experienced snake owner will produce a calmer snake, whereas boa constrictor's handed to rescue shelters are frequently aggressive and difficult to manage, most likely due to inexperienced or poor handling. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;california king snake&lt;/strong&gt; as an adult is generally calm, as a baby can be highly strung and nervous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;boa constrictors&lt;/strong&gt; have a lifespan of 25-30 years, reach sexual maturity 3-4 years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;california king snake&lt;/strong&gt; can live as pers in excess of 20 years (in the wild 10 - 15 years), reach sexual maturity 3 - 4 years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References and Resources:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A Guide to the Amphibians&#xA;and Reptiles of California   &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/l.g.californiae.html&quot;&gt;Californiaherps.com&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;California Dept of Fish and Wildlife &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dfg.ca.gov/serp.html?q=california%20king%20snake&amp;amp;cx=001779225245372747843:3y4rnp6j9ny&amp;amp;cof=FORID:10&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;siteurl=http://www.dfg.ca.gov/&quot;&gt;california king snakes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boa-care.com/&quot;&gt;Boa-care.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;LLLReptile&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;reptilerescue.com&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T03:07:35.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="424" CreationDate="2013-10-12T04:10:46.830" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Males do tend to be more slender and females a bit rounder, but honestly, with a large enough school, you'll probably end up with a mix of both sexes anyway. I like a school of at least a dozen. The fish seem to be more at ease in a larger group, and with more fish, you have a better chance of getting a mix of males and females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T04:10:46.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1415" CreationDate="2013-10-12T04:16:38.627" Score="16" ViewCount="15803" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking for health-related advice, as I've had the vet following this for many years to make sure it's not respiratory-related, but this is more of a &quot;does it fit the animal's natural history&quot; question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a Redfoot tortoise that tends to make a peeping or whistling sound when she's breathing, particularly when she's &quot;happy&quot; (I perceive her to enjoy when people are around, as she wants to be fed).  Is this a common behavior for tortoises in general to exhibit?  Is it some sort of call used to signal contentment or even alarm?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T03:15:08.023" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T05:37:36.013" Title="Why does my tortoise make a peeping or whistling sound while breathing?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2013-10-12T04:28:53.890" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find EcoEarth (shredded coconut husk) makes a nice substrate. It can be used wet or dry and even in high humidity environments, I've never had any problems with mold. It's not topsoil, but you might find it useful nonetheless. You could also try a mixture of topsoil and coconut husk. This could give you some of the moisture-balancing properties of coconut husk along with some of the texture and other properties of top soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find EcoEarth to be terribly exorbitant price-wise. Looks like a three-pack of compressed bricks goes for ~$10 at PetCo. Each brick can be re-hydrated to make 7 or 8L of substrate. Then again, I don't know how big your terrarium is or how deep you want your substrate to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T04:28:53.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="587" CreationDate="2013-10-12T04:56:27.887" Score="10" ViewCount="2859" Body="&lt;p&gt;I make a homemade soup by bringing to the boil and then simmering a chicken. I can do this without seasoning, when the chicken is thoroughly cooled, I pulls all the flesh from the bones and use this and the water as the base for the soup. I then add vegetables and salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If  don't use other seasoning, is it OK for my cat to drink the juice or broth from this mixture?&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Should I only give it without salt and would the addition of freshly cooked vegetables affect the juice?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What are the benefits or drawbacks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T07:23:42.373" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T07:23:42.373" Title="Are there benefits of feeding my cat homemade chicken broth" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="140" CreationDate="2013-10-12T05:53:38.793" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason birds, or any animal cannot eat or drink if injured, is in case they need surgery- which may require a general anaesthetic or sedation to calm the bird to do procedures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_anaesthesia&quot;&gt;General anaesthesia&lt;/a&gt; and many sedatives can cause nausea or even vomiting, even  in an unconscious animal. They also relax the muscles  around the pharynx, which is where the bird controls whether air goes down the trachea or food and fluid down the esophagus. As the animal is unconscious, it has no control over the swallowing process.  This  increases the  risk of any food or liquid in the birds stomach from coming up the esophagus and being aspirated, or inhaled into the lungs; which is a potentially life threatening condition, or at the least an unwanted complication of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspiration_pneumonia&quot;&gt;aspiration pneumonia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fluid is as dangerous as food. In some ways fluid has a great risk of back flowing up the anaesthetized bird's esophagus with the risk of being inhaled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Upper airway obstruction is common during both anaesthesia and sleep.&#xA;  Obstruction is caused by loss of muscle tone present in the awake&#xA;  state. The velopharynx, a particularly narrow segment, is especially&#xA;  predisposed to obstruction in both states. Patients with a tendency to&#xA;  upper airway obstruction during sleep are vulnerable during&#xA;  anaesthesia and sedation. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The upper airway during anaesthesia&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hillman, Platt, Eastwood  doi: 10.1093/bja/aeg126 (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avian Digestion &lt;a href=&quot;http://faculty.weber.edu/jcavitt/OrnLect/Lecture9AvianDigestion.pdf&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sturkie's Avian Physiology by P. D. Sturkie, G.Causey Whittow ISBN: 978-0-12-747605-6 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T05:53:38.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="571" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-12T06:45:31.643" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T06:45:31.643" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T06:45:31.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="572" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-12T06:45:31.643" Score="0" Body="Questions about house breaking a pet.  Generally speaking, these are questions about training the pet to use the appropriate toilet facilities for the animal and is not specific to any specific toileting method." OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T09:10:00.047" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T09:10:00.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="573" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-12T07:28:37.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An allergic reaction is an animal's body overreacting to a foreign substance that comes in contact with the body and triggers an immune response.  Most often the foreign body is not harmful and the immune response is not necessary for self preservation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans and many different animals can have an allergic reactions to various substances.  The most common examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pollen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insect bites or venom (including bee/wasp/hornet string)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reaction can vary based on the individual ranging from minor to extreme.  Reactions in the extreme range can requirement hospitalization and may result in death if not treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical reactions include (not all-inclusive)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rashes/Hives and Itching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swelling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Runny nose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Redness and itching of the eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this tag should be used on questions pertaining to allergies regardless of whether pets are the source of the allergies or it is the pets themselves are suffering from allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Source used for reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/allergies/tc/allergic-reaction-topic-overview&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WebMD Allergies Health Center&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T19:13:33.417" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T19:13:33.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="574" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-12T07:28:37.943" Score="0" Body="Refers to allergies a pet exhibits (food, skin, seasonal) and human allergies to animals." OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T19:40:18.500" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T19:40:18.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-12T07:44:39.370" Score="12" ViewCount="8864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed there's a dog with white fur and pink skin on her belly, under her fur and on her nose.  Her skin is paler than most dogs I have noticed with black fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this pink skin more sensitive? Do she need protection when she's under direct sunlight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T16:22:14.797" LastActivityDate="2018-01-11T04:04:36.890" Title="Does a dog's pink or white skin need special care?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="576" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-12T07:47:06.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor containers, vivariums, which hold water and aquatic creatures (&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/fish&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'fish'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;fish&lt;/a&gt;, crustaceans, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/snails&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'snails'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;snails&lt;/a&gt;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample questions might discuss set-up, environment &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/maintenance&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'maintenance'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;maintenance&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'care'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;care&lt;/a&gt; for residents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If useful, consider one or more descriptive tags to distinguish aquarium type: &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/freshwater&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'freshwater'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;freshwater&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/saltwater&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'saltwater'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;saltwater&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/reef-tank&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'reef-tank'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;reef-tank&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the purpose of this tag, aquariums are defined as indoor containers of any size. Use &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/pond&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'pond'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;pond&lt;/a&gt; for questions about outdoor containers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-aquatic vivariums should use the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/terrariums&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'terrariums'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;terrariums&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:35:48.980" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:35:48.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="577" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-12T07:47:06.960" Score="0" Body="Indoor containers holding water and creatures (fish, crustaceans, snails, etc.). For specificity, consider adding a &quot;freshwater&quot; or &quot;saltwater&quot; tag." OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T20:04:59.167" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T20:04:59.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-12T08:01:14.313" Score="22" ViewCount="71517" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adolescent cat that I adopted as a kitten &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/519/how-much-purring-is-too-much-purring&quot;&gt;(not this one :P )&lt;/a&gt;, and he growls when playing with his toys.  At first I thought that he was growling at our other cat (also adopted as a kitten) for getting too close and trying to &quot;steal&quot; the toy but it quickly became obvious that was not the case as he would growl when he was all by him self in the other room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat's history before his rescue is unknown to me, but I do know that he was rescued from a very traumatic situation being stuck in a road gutter for several hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He only growls at the toys made of &quot;fluffy&quot; material, never at the &quot;non-fluffy&quot; smoother ones. He's never growled at me or the other cat (that I know of).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once attempted to get really close while he was growling just to see if he was in an aggressive mode and he was quite calm even when I reached out and took the toy he was playing with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal behavior or just some sort of personality quirk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T18:57:23.610" Title="Why is my cat growling at his toys?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="579" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-12T08:05:59.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to inhibiting the reproductive ability of pets, typically neutering for male pets and spaying for females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Viable questions include the application of process for specific situations, regarding effects on the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt; of a pet, and providing appropriate &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;care&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;care&lt;/a&gt; pre- and  post-procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T21:00:13.793" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T21:00:13.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="580" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-12T08:05:59.150" Score="0" Body="Inhibiting the reproductive ability of pets, typically neutering for male pets and spaying for females." OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T22:05:43.080" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T22:05:43.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="62" CreationDate="2013-10-12T08:14:07.920" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you  state the change in carer, her nervousness and resulting lack of attention could all have combined to bringing it on. These birds seem to be attuned to human emotion and it is important to stay calm with them, in spite of this behaviour, as a negative reaction before the bird, may exacerbate the problem. However, it's always sensible to get your bird checked by a professional, to exclude health issues that may be causing the behaviour change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After excluding health problems, there is a few things that can be done, all the advice stems around health, diet and environment:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cage – is their cage large enough? Is it clean? Hygienic animals by&#xA;  nature, a dirty, unkempt cage is detrimental to a Grey's mental as&#xA;  well as physical health.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Baths / Showers – your Grey should be getting&#xA;  regular baths or showers to keep them clean and healthy. Also expose&#xA;  them to moist air – put them in the bathroom to enjoy the steam while&#xA;  you're taking a shower. No one likes to be itchy and dirty, least of&#xA;  all an African Grey.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fragrances - Room fresheners, candles, perfumes,&#xA;  hair sprays etc, can irritate an African Grey’s skin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Give your African Grey self-confidence – encourage it to explore and be curious. Expose it to change – take it into different rooms in the house, show it different colors and toys, socialize with other people; so it learns change is okay and these things shouldn't make it afraid. A happy bird is a healthy bird  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.african-grey-parrot.com/African-Grey-Feather-Pluckng.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;African Grey Feather Plucking / Feather Picking&lt;/a&gt; african-grey-parrot.com (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following article also confirms this type of solution and adds some more tips about diet and feeding. Contrary to the title, they are acknowledging that African Grey Parrots can pluck, but don't like them being referred to as &quot;pluckers&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They suggest checking for seed and peanut allergies and reactions. Some seeds can also carry toxins, depending where they are sourced from. These things can lead to feather plucking. The article goes into quite a bit of detail about diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Provide a widely varied soft food diet that is comprised of birdie bread, beans/grains/pasta/veggies, sprouts, fresh fruits and veggies. Choose fruits and veggies high in Vitamin A for their immune system benefits. A plucking bird is usually a stressed bird and may need the immune system boost that high Vitamin A foods provide. (2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE AFRICAN GREY MYTHS &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww26evi.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;African Greys Are Pluckers&lt;/a&gt; by Bobbi Brinker (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T23:57:38.767" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:57:38.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="589" CreationDate="2013-10-12T09:05:52.360" Score="11" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who recently adopted a boxer from a rescue (they've had the dog full-time for about a month now on a semi-trial basis).  There is little information on his history as he was just found wandering on the side of the highway without a collar or identification.  They estimate he is about 18-months old (in human years), and other than a few minor scars, he seems to be in fairly good shape so we don't think his situation was &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; traumatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concern is the existing dogs in the house.  They have 2 others.  There is a 5 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever (and in my opinion he is slightly crazy) and a 8 year old Pug.  All 3 dogs are males and all 3 are fixed.  The Chessie is a pure-bred bought from a breeder as a puppy and my friends have been his only owner.  The Pug was adopted from a shelter when he was about 6-months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to the arrival of the Boxer, the Pug and the Chessie were relatively indifferent to each other.  The Pug let the Chessie have his way and never really bothered him much.  The Chessie also happens to be very possessive of toys (or anything that he has near him) so after getting growled at a few times when they were younger, the Pug seems to have decided that avoidance is the best measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the Boxer arrived, he and the Pug became fast friends to the point that when the wrestle and play, the boxer actually the Pug &quot;win&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interaction between the Chessie and the Boxer is the concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When all 3 dogs are together, the Boxer always seems to make a point to keep himself between the Chessie and the Pug, and seems to be watching the Chessie with unusual interest (almost like he is keeping an eye on the Chessie and protecting the Pug).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When just the Chessie and the Boxer are together one of 2 things happens&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Boxer mirrors the pugs indifference and just let's the Chessie go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Boxer follows the Chessie around.  This is the one that concerns everyone most.  The posture of the Boxer appears to be somewhat aggressive.  His head is lowered but stating right at the Chessie and he is always 2-3 steps right behind him.  This will go on for several minutes and then the Boxer will go off and do something else&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This 2nd situation is what worries myself and my friend, but his wife doesn't seem to think much of it.  It appears to us that the Boxer is stalking the Chessie.  We're just not sure why and how much we should be concerned.  My friend's wife thinks that the Boxer is just following the lead dog around and thinks it is actually cute when it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this stalking normal in that the boxer is just trying to test his limits with the biggest dog in the house?  The Chessie outweighs the boxer by about 35lbs (which is about 16kg for my metric friends).  The Chessie is close to 100lb and the boxer is almost 65lb, and the Chessie is almost as lean and muscular as the Boxer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or is my friend's wife right and there is nothing to be worried about?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or is the Boxer sizing up the Chessie to challenge him?  This is why we are concerned as neither of us wants to try to separate 165lb of dog going at each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is the latter, is there anything we can do to help keep the piece?  Or is this something that will likely boil over at some point and it is just a matter of when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T12:49:48.377" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T13:57:38.313" Title="Possible sign of dog-to-dog aggression in a 3 dog household" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="575" CreationDate="2013-10-12T09:06:28.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is only addressing one aspect relating to skin and coat color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skin cancer and sunburn&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lighter colored skin is more prone to sunburn and skin cancer. Generally there is a link with coat color and skin color. White hair, fair skin, black hair darker skin. However, some breeds are more susceptible to skin cancer, irregardless of color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Melanin is the natural pigment that colors the skin. The more melanin the darker the skin. Like in human beings, melanin protects the skin cells from the sun's UV rays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs most at risk of skin cancer:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Light-colored dogs with thin haircoats that spend time in the sun have&#xA;  a higher risk of developing certain forms of skin cancer.  Some &#xA;  breeds of dogs (boxers, Scottish terriers, bull mastiffs, basset&#xA;  hounds, weimaraners, Kerry blue terriers and Norwegian elkhounds) have &#xA;  been found to have a higher incidence of skin cancer thereby raising&#xA;  the distinct possibility of a genetic link.  Male dogs who have not &#xA;  been neutered have a higher incidence of perianal tumors.  Generally,&#xA;  the age of a dog also plays a role as middle age to older dogs  are&#xA;  more likely to develop cancerous growths&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caninecancer.com/skincancer.html&quot;&gt;caninecancer.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T09:06:28.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2013-10-12T09:12:45.730" Score="19" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats growl when they grapple with their prey. Your cat is just playing, which in cats is just following their natural predatory instincts.&#xA;  Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090119201120AAmfeH0&quot;&gt;Why does my female cat hiss and growl over furry toys?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, I suggest that you do not try to pet him or stop him when he is doing this. If you do, he might think you're trying to take his &quot;prey&quot; away from him and can become aggresive towards you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T09:12:45.730" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="592" CreationDate="2013-10-12T09:49:19.747" Score="9" ViewCount="4263" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7-month old Yorkshire Terrier who is wonderful, but has some bad habits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He always chews on my fingers. Not in a painful way, but it starts to annoy me because whenever I try to pat him, he will do everything to put my fingers in his mouth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He barks whenever we sit down to have dinner/lunch. We feed him before we begin with a good amount of warm food (dog food + boiled pasta), but he leaves it and starts to jump around, bark and jump up on the chairs (without touching anything on the table).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I approach these problems?  I used to have 2 rotties and never had problems with them; they were playful, although very quiet.  Any suggestions and tips will be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="170" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T15:55:52.530" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T14:35:26.943" Title="How can I stop my dog jumping at the table and mouthing my fingers?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="569" CreationDate="2013-10-12T13:09:00.840" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some people have found homemade chicken broth (just boil the chicken in water, there is no need to add any vegetables, definitely not onions) very helpful for their CKD cats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;sub&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinecrf.org/which_foods.htm#onion&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to feline chronic kidney disease&lt;/a&gt;, which has some good information about chicken broth with good references.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also found that a cat will drink chicken broth if you find they are not drinking enough water. (easier to tell in an indoor cat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditDate="2013-10-12T14:32:48.123" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T14:32:48.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="514" CreationDate="2013-10-12T13:26:31.587" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pet Rabbits are often referred to as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;house rabbits&lt;/a&gt;. They are from the general &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Domestic rabbit stock&lt;/a&gt; that trace their origins to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;European rabbit or common rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) native to southwestern Europe (Spain and Portugal) and northwest Africa (Morocco and Algeria)&lt;/a&gt;.  In the wild these rabbits live in underground warrens, in small groups.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rabbit#Social_organization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Territoriality and aggression contribute greatly to the rabbits maturation process and help ensure survival of the population&lt;/a&gt;. Wild Rabbits use droppings (ofter referred to as pills) to mark the territory of the group warren. This natural habit is part of what leads to the ease of litter box training, but also leads to the need for &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-litter-training-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more than a single litter box&lt;/a&gt; when a bunny has a larger area, like all or part of a house (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-rabbit-proofing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bunny proof areas only please&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggression in bunnies comes in two basic forms. One is behavior with humans; the other is dominance interaction with other bunnies.  It can be physically initiated by teeth or nails, audible warning in the from of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbitresource.org/care-and-health/behavior/how-to-speak-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thumps or growls&lt;/a&gt; are also possible.  Interactions with &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/category/behavior/multiple-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other bunnies&lt;/a&gt; is covered under the general term of &quot;bonding&quot;, and should be addressed in a different question/answer. The introduction of multiple rabbits for long term coexistence should not be undertaken lightly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggressive behavior of bunny towards a human can have many sources, all are &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-aggression/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;behavioral and can be modified&lt;/a&gt;, the forms usually taken are nipping, lunging &amp;amp; growling. With growling being moderately rare.  Each bunny is a special case, there are many online resources  (i.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society&lt;/a&gt;) and there are many local organizations (i.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA323.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rabbit Wranglers&lt;/a&gt; that can offer assistance in identifying the cause and correcting the behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/cats-and-rabbits-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cats and Rabbits&lt;/a&gt; while they might not do well in the wild, do extremely well in a home.  The experience of the group of volunteers I work with, tends toward a single cat and a single bunny being possibly one of the easiest friendships to make (same or different species). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/when-fido-met-thumper-dogs-and-rabbits-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dogs and Rabbits&lt;/a&gt; again home is different then the wild.  This interaction is very dependent on the personality of the two animals, and generalizations would impractical.  Due to the potential size difference, the interaction is mostly dependent on the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general house rabbits are often the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/power-plays/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dominate creature&lt;/a&gt; in a multiple species household.  In the end rabbits are very demanding of attention and any animal or human who will &lt;a href=&quot;http://language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk_hierarchy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;provide grooming on demand&lt;/a&gt; need not worry about bunny aggression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="1417" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T10:19:41.100" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T10:19:41.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="582" CreationDate="2013-10-12T14:23:06.190" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid to break it to you but I think the Chessie is the real problem. Dominance hierarchy theory has been comprehensively debunked, being based on studies of captive, unrelated wolves in zoos, which bears no resemblance to the familiar pack structure wolves adopt in the wild. There is also a big question mark over how much wolf behaviour can tell us about dog behaviour, as the two diverged so long ago and we adopted dogs (they probably domesticated themselves more than we them) precisely because they didn't behave like wild wolves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop digressing, though, dogs are very social animals and very intent on keeping the peace. Given the history between the Chessie and the pug, it sounds like the Chessie is not always behaving in the most friendly manner. The pug's strategy for dealing with this is avoidance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what you describe of your boxer when all three are in the room is a classic calming signal. He's trying to keep the more high strung Chessie away from the calmer pug because he can see that the pug is not ok with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's just the two of them together, he's probably still trying to keep an eye on the Chessie, because he finds him unpredictable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether there will ever be a spat between them depends on how well adjusted your Chessie really is. If he knows how to read the boxer's body language, which is telling him to calm down, he probably will. If he doesn't (it depends on how well socialised he is to other dogs), the boxer might warn him off a bit more unambiguously, for example barking, growling, snapping or mounting him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned, ask a professional trainer that you trust to evaluate your dogs, both together and on their own. Also, if you want to know more about dog body language, I highly recommend getting Turid Rugaas's DVD Calming Signals. It can be a bit hard to find, depending on where you live, and you'll have to tough out the cheesy music, 1990s handheld camcorder and Norwegian-accented dead flat tone of voice, but it's well worth it. It's an absolute eye opener. There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7BWxC6iVs&quot;&gt;five minute excerpt&lt;/a&gt; on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T12:29:38.633" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T12:29:38.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="191" CreationDate="2013-10-12T14:32:19.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your description it sounds as if the problem is isolated to this one hoof, so I'm assuming that there is not a general problem with Franks hoofs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it would be wise to have an X-ray done on the problematic hoof, to see whether there is some debris (maybe even metallic) or something causing the abscess to come back on that one hoof. Long-time (and repeated) use of antibiotics carries the risk of bacterial resistance, and once you're there things get much more complicated to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some vets have mobile X-rays, so that the whole procedure is not too complicated or stressful and also affordable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T14:32:19.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="595" CreationDate="2013-10-12T14:56:29.857" Score="16" ViewCount="12228" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is an approximately 10-year-old, non-neutered male, possible Manchester terrier.  He is well-behaved at home, except for behaviors like howling at airplanes, wanting to go out in the night, and not liking to see other male dogs in our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't like taking him outside, and when I do, I have to put him on a leash. The reason he is leashed is that he eats most things he sees on the road like bones, fish; even discarded rice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he doing this and what can I do to break this habit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-25T19:20:40.767" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T16:29:40.060" Title="How do I stop my dog from eating things he finds during our walks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2013-10-12T15:19:34.193" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There's big dogs and little dogs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yorkshire Terriers are so different to Rottweilers. Small dogs can be very different from large dogs, and actually harder to manage sometimes, because they are so small and cute. When a big dog gets out of hand, chewing at fingers, jumping up at the table, it is usually dealt with fairly swiftly. Little dogs are sometimes allowed to get away with bad behavior for much longer, until it spirals into a group of out of hand problems. Medium sized dogs are yet again another issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small terriers can be a handful, they are lively and can be quite confident that they know what's going on and how to organise it all, thank you very much. Small dogs never cease to make me smile, as when confident, they puff out their little chests to bark at bigger dogs and and it usually works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where your dog fits within a family&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all starts with basic obedience training. By this I am referring to establishing order within the household (pack) and implementing good household habits in how you interact with your dog. The good thing is, your dog is still a puppy at 7 months and will be quick to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It needs to be made clear to your dog that the human beings are higher ranking or more important members of the household.  This can sound a bit unkind, but by letting him know his place, he won't expect to sit at the table with you, and you will all be happier. This is the best groundwork any owner can do to obedience train their dog, long before you put on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basic training:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eating&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The family always eat before the dog, when the family have finished eating the dog then gets his food, no matter how many feeds he has per day. It's good for your dog to see you all eating and learn to wait patiently. However, as your dog is already determined to sit with you, this may be a bit much to expect from him straight away. We want him to succeed and not be chastised as a nuisance. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To begin with put him in another room at mealtimes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a week, let him watch the meal being prepared and served, he will probably be excited, but then he needs to be put into the other room before you sit down to eat. Just to keep him within the limits of what he can manage in terms of behaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As the days or weeks progress, you need to see how he improves and if he settles, you can gradually allow him into the room with the family at mealtime (to have company, but he is not to eat until you're all finished). If he plays up, just quietly take him to another room, you can add a &lt;code&gt;No!&lt;/code&gt;, I have found smaller terriers, can sometimes not be as receptive with negative verbal commands (they tend to ignore them). As for verbal praise, they love it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if this does not work, there are several courses to take. I think it would be better to deal more recalcitrant behavior in a separate post.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog must sleep furthest from the head of the household. By this I mean the person, everyone knows, has the last say in the house. With households with children, the children should always be closer to the parent's bedroom than the dog's bed. Do not let a disobedient dog sleep in bed with people, this is something that can be reassessed over time, but it encourages the dog to think he has the same rights, ie to sit at the table as the people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walking through doorways&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never allow your dog to push through a doorway ahead of you. There are techniques to gently achieve this, but it takes patience. The dog needs to learn to wait until his humans have gone through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Biting fingers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs need to be taught as early as possible that biting their people is not on, in play or otherwise. As your puppy is already 7 months, this will take a bit of effort for a few days or so, but you should see results quickly. This is, almost, the ideal problem to have. As he is biting your hands and this is where you can use your food rewards. His favorite treats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have the treat in one hand and get his attention, so he knows the treat is there.   Then approach his head for a pat with your other hand. This will have to be done quickly to begin with. The moment your hand is on his head and he is investigating the other hand (how your fist closed, do not allow him to get the treat or your fingers), verbal praise &lt;code&gt;Good boy!&lt;/code&gt; and open the hand, palm flat and allow him to have the treat. Immediately remove your hands, so he cannot bite at them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this process over and over, gradually increasing the time you can pat his head and the time it takes to reward him. Always use verbal praise, as you want him to associate verbal praise with affection and treats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As he improves, you need to make the treats increasingly random, so he gets weaned off the need  for the distraction of a treat when you  pat him. I always suggest randomly treating any dog, throughout their lives, to reward good behavior, as training and good behavior needs to be reinforced.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/387/why-does-my-dog-act-differently-outside-the-house/412#412&quot;&gt;Why does my dog act differently outside the house?&lt;/a&gt; also discusses  ways to reduce the status of your dog within the household (or pack) and, as a result, improve behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teething&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important to provide your puppy with things to chew for his teeth. If his teeth are bothering him, he may be more inclined to chew on your fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desexing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last point, you say he is 7 months old. It is always a good idea to get any dog desexed, unless you have the firm intention of breeding. This often assists in quelling some behavior problems, as rising testosterone levels only assist in encouraging difficult behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T16:33:47.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="586" CreationDate="2013-10-12T18:09:43.933" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to address one of your problems, because I think they are completely unrelated and should be split into two separate questions. If you end up agreeing with this answer, I suggest you limit your question to that problem and split the other off into another question. If you add a comment when you've done so, I'll do my best to answer that one as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies, like children, explore the world through their mouth. In fact, lacking opposable thumbs, this stays true for dogs all their life. But because puppies are not born with bite inhibition, the technical term for knowing how hard is too hard, they need to learn it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When puppies grow up around their other litter mates, they will chew the living daylights out of each other's ears, noses and any other appendages. Whenever puppies are playing and one puppy chomps down too hard on another, the second puppy will naturally yelp in pain and stop playing for a bit. This way the first puppy learns that it bit too hard and will, over time, learn just how much force it can put into a bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to humans, whose skin is much frailer than dogs, we have to teach them that they basically can't use any force at all. In order to do this, you use exactly the same technique as another puppy would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start playing with your puppy to get it proper excited. Whenever your puppy takes your hand in its mouth and bites too hard, you give a quick, high-pitched yelp and stop playing, even going so far as to turn your back or leave the room for a second, if that's what it takes. Normally though, a yelp and stopping play should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start playing again after a few seconds (&amp;lt;10) and keep repeating. Your puppy will soon learn that it can't bite hands with any force whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want your puppy to take your hand in its mouth at all, I'd suggest just stopping play and removing attention whenever it does so. If you yelp in these instances as well, you might associate hands in his mouth with being bad, and that can turn into a problem when you (or your vet) have to check your dogs teeth or when you have to take that chicken bone out of its mouth that it managed to pick up on a walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your puppy should be comfortable with being handled in all sorts of ways, and that includes having a hand in its mouth. But if you just stop playing every time it puts your hand in its mouth, it should learn that hands in its mouth only means no more play, so it won't do it by itself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T18:09:43.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="591" CreationDate="2013-10-12T18:38:47.940" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is doing this because dogs are curious and like eating things that are not dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train your dog to avoid that but he'd still have to be very close to you even off-leash for supervision. Some dogs are extremely tempted by food and it's a hard behavior to break &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; if your dog isn't trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a controlled environment put small treats on the ground and let your dog off the leash slowly. Every time he approaches a treat on the ground give him a firm &quot;No&quot;, when the dog does not eat them or loses interest in them reward him with a bigger treat. Repeat this exercise with bigger treats on the ground and longer distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can take a while and success requires determination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Report results and let us know :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T18:38:47.940" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="151" CreationDate="2013-10-12T19:07:29.320" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the species of parrot you plan to buy. E.g. African grey parrots are the most intelligent ones and quick learners. They have the most clear voice. Similarly the macaws, alexandrine can also mimic human voices well. Indian ringnecks, budgies etc will not mimic human voices but can only produce different kinds of whistles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be best to buy a parrot when its still on hand feeding, it will learn better and can get better attached with you. But, don't buy too young, at least 40 days old as it's harder to feed younger than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further you can use recorders to continuously play small phrases and words. Keep them at a common place in your house like the living room, place the cage at least at height more than 3-4 ft. Parrots loose interaction when kept on low heights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not really too hard to raise and train parrots, it needs almost the same devotion which any pet would require. Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="173" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T19:07:29.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="158" CreationDate="2013-10-12T19:50:51.973" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would really urge you to see a professional dog trainer that you trust, with experience with aggressive dogs, and have him assess your dogs and help you out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after reading a bit more detail about your situation here than what you gave in another question on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-causes-a-dog-to-lunge-at-an-unknown-child-and-how-should-the-owner-respond&quot;&gt;why he lunges at children&lt;/a&gt;, I'll take a guess at your dog's previous history, which might go some way towards explaining its current behaviour, and I'll try to give you some pointers as to what you can do to improve the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dogs tend to avoid conflict at all costs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, by their very nature as social animals, are very non-confrontational. Because they possess very many very sharp teeth, they have evolved a multitude of warning signals that let other dogs know what they are up to*. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Which is why cats, which are solitary predators, never let you know before they scratch you. Giving away your intentions is dangerous if every interaction with another member from your species is a potential fight.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs will look away, lick their lips, turn their heads, pretend to sniff and present the side of their bodies in order to calm other dogs down. If that doesn't work, they start staring you down, raising their heckles, baring their teeth, snarl, growl, bark and snap at you, all in order to get you to chill the heck out. Only if none of these signals work will they start biting, and even then it's usually just a quick nip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, many of those behaviours are seen as problem behaviours. Many people with a dog that has associated other dogs and people with bad things happening, and therefore constantly growls, lunges and barks at them, will punish the dog for these behaviours. Unfortunately, the dog will fail to pick up on the reason for being punished in most circumstances. Instead, his association of dogs/people and bad things happening will grow but he will start to suppress one warning signal after another until he goes straight for the bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm suspecting this is what happened to your dog and, depending on how much this has been trained out of him, he could be quite difficult to rehabilitate. Given his history, he probably isn't safe to be off leash around other dogs at this particular time. The main problem is that, if another dog does anything to upset him, he won't let the other dog know that he's not okay with it but go straight on the attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Desensitising your dog to other dogs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main technique for dealing with this issue, as with the lunging at children, is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-causes-a-dog-to-lunge-at-an-unknown-child-and-how-should-the-owner-respond/58#58&quot;&gt;desensitisation&lt;/a&gt;. Slowly introduce him to other dogs in a manner that he is comfortable with. If that means the other dog has to stay twenty metres away, then so be it. Reward your dog every time he shows interest in another dog (i.e. looks at him) with lots of treats and praise. Be very quick in your reactions, you want to reward him for looking and before he starts deciding whether that dog poses a threat or not. Try to set him up for success as much as possible. Every time you judge his comfort zone wrong, he'll regress far more than the progress he gets from one good association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog does react badly and starts lunging/barking, try to distract him any way you can but without anything negative, otherwise it'll simply reinforce his bad associations with other dogs. For example, try to get his attention with treats and calling his name in a really exaggerated high pitch, happy voice but only reward him after you've asked him to do something, e.g. sit or watch. If you can't distract him at all, lead him away to a distance he is comfortable with, which will likely be around the corner and out of sight of the other dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do to let him know that you don't want him to do something is to introduce a &lt;em&gt;no reward marker&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. a command that the dog associates with losing out on a reward. This can be a simple &quot;oh, oh&quot; or &quot;oh no&quot; in a disappointed voice, rather than the stern &quot;ah ah!&quot; or &quot;no!&quot; you'd use as a verbal correction. Once you have a no reward marker trained in (see below), you can use it to correct bad behaviour without forming bad associations. It won't be enough to stop him barking at other dogs, but if you're trying to distract him with a sit, and he keeps getting up and turning around, it might just make him more likely to listen to you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to teach a no reward marker&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to train in a no reward marker, you need to set your dog up to fail. This seems opposite to what I've said above, but he will only be failing some of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, get some treats that your dog loves but that you can eat as well. Cheese cubes or hot dogs work great, assuming you're not vegan or lactose-intolerant. Try and find a situation where you ask your dog to do something and you know he will fail a few times. Training in a new command is a good candidate for this. If your dog is a jumper, stopping him jumping up is even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking that last example as a case study, with the dog sitting in front of you, hold a treat above your head and slowly lower it down towards the dog. Depending on how jumpy your dog is, only lower the treat a little bit before reaching down to it very quickly and rewarding him. The goal is to judge the distance at which your dog jumps and, normally, to reward it before reaching that threshold. You slowly set that threshold closer and closer to the dog's face, until it won't jump up at all and waits for you to give it the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your typical jumpy dog will break its sit and jump up. In this case, quickly pull the treat back up out of its reach and mark that loss of a reward with an &quot;oh oh&quot;. That way, your dog will begin to associate the command with not getting the treat. If that doesn't stop your dog jumping after a handful of tries, eat the treat yourself whenever he jumps up. That way, you really hammer home that that treat is gone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful though to get the balance right, you don't want to frustrate your dog and lose interest. So for every time it gets it wrong, put the threshold further away from its face to a distance you know it can deal with and repeat the exercise from there a couple of times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Behavioural Adjustment Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar technique to desensitisation is &lt;a href=&quot;http://functionalrewards.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Behavioural Adjustment Training&lt;/a&gt;. The basic idea is to retrain your dog to defuse situations rather than escalate them. For that you put your dog in a situation that he is somewhat uncomfortable with but doesn't react to yet. That is, you get your dog to walk towards another dog (or have the other dog come towards your unmoving dog) to a distance that he notices the other dog but does not lunge or bark at it. If your dog starts to show any sort of calming signal (averting his eyes, sniffing the ground, turning its head, licking its lips), you mark the occasion with a resounding &quot;good boy!&quot; and reward him by removing him from the situation, i.e. walk away with him. Your dog would be much happier if everyone else would just keep their distance, so removing him from an uncomfortable situation can be a powerful motivator for him. For this to work, it is even more important not to &quot;set him off&quot;. If he does react to the other dog and lunges at him, help him out and move him away from the dog. Make sure to keep him at a much larger distance the next time, as he'll be more sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this to really work, though, you will probably need the help of a professional, as your timing and your reading of dog body language will have to be spot on. For a fantastic introduction to dog body language, have a look for a DVD called &quot;Calming Signals&quot; by Turid Rugaas. There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7BWxC6iVs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;five minute intro&lt;/a&gt; on YouTube that will give you a sense of how horribly produced it is, but if you love your dog, you will brave the sleep-inducing Norwegian accent and the horrible 90s camcorder look. Because for all the cheesiness and tackiness of the video, it is by far the best video on dog body language I have ever seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The human factor&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you might, to some extent, also be part of the problem. Having a reactive dog, it is likely you tense up whenever you see another dog or child in the distance, trying to decide whether they'll come close enough for your dog to react and how you can avoid them. Your dog will pick up on that, whether it is from your body language or because you hold the leash ever so slightly tighter. You being nervous is one more reason for him to keep other dogs as far away from him and you as possible. He will also have learned to associate you being tense with other dogs being around, so he will actively look for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a friend you can trust to be able to handle your dog under any circumstances, it would be interesting to see him take your dog for a walk to see whether he reacts the same if you are not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even just being on leash, however, also puts up his stress levels, as he knows his movement is restricted. Unfortunately, having a history of attacking other dogs when off leash, it won't be easily possible to see how much being on and off leash affects his interaction with other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;There's bad news and good news&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be very difficult and time-consuming to socialise your dog to other dogs, and you can probably never trust him fully around other dogs. But with time and dedication, you can alleviate his behaviour to an extent where you are both comfortable and happy to go on walks and be around other dogs without constantly worrying about what might happen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T20:29:36.927" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="396" CreationDate="2013-10-12T23:29:45.067" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Skippy said in his answer, tying up the dog and depriving it of food is simply cruel and doesn't teach him anything (otherwise, he would have probably seen a difference by now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs (and other animals, including ourselves) learn through &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/a&gt;. There are other mechanisms but operant conditioning is the one that is involved when you're trying to teach your dog a certain behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following are some definitions from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/398/negative-reinforcement-how-to-replace-an-object/415#415&quot;&gt;a similar answer of mine&lt;/a&gt; that should help explain the different terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; An action designed to increase the frequency a behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Punishment:&lt;/strong&gt; An action designed to decrease the frequency of a behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive:&lt;/strong&gt; Presence of a stimulus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative:&lt;/strong&gt; Absence of a stimulus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These terms can form four different combinations (N.B.: Examples in brackets are examples, not advice!):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; Present a stimulus to increase the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. give a treat when the dog sits on command)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; Remove a stimulus to increase the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. The mailman goes away after the dog barks at it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive punishment:&lt;/strong&gt; Present a stimulus to decrease the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. hit the dog when it's urinated on the carpet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative punishment:&lt;/strong&gt; Remove a stimulus to decrease the frequency of a behaviour (e.g. leave the room when the dog jumps up on you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you have four basic techniques with which you can train your dog to perform or stop performing certain behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to science, positive reinforcement outperforms any of the other techniques and is even better than combining any or all of the techniques (see, for example, Blackwell et al., 2008; Hiby et al., 2004).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But regardless of which one is most effective, the real question should be: &lt;strong&gt;What relationship do you want to have with your dog?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive punishment and negative reinforcement involve making the dog at the very least uncomfortable if not outright hurting him. Neither will make your dog happy, nor will it help to build trust between you and your dog if you're a source of unpleasantness. Furthermore, these techniques only let the dog know what you don't want it to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive reinforcement, on the other hand, basically ensures that your dog thinks that &quot;only good things come from you&quot;. It helps to build trust and love between you and your dog and will make your dog a very happy one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not always obvious how to teach certain behaviours using positive reinforcement (for example, when the objective is to stop a behaviour) but just ask a question about whatever problem you're facing and feel free to ask for positive reinforcement techniques specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blackwell, Emily J., et al. &quot;The relationship between training methods and the occurrence of behavior problems, as reported by owners, in a population of domestic dogs.&quot; Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 3.5 (2008): 207-217.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hiby, E. F., N. J. Rooney, and J. W. S. Bradshaw. &quot;Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare.&quot; ANIMAL WELFARE-POTTERS BAR THEN WHEATHAMPSTEAD- 13.1 (2004): 63-70.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-12T23:29:45.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1745" CreationDate="2013-10-13T08:10:46.677" Score="13" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 year old redfoot tortoise.  Her natural origins are in South American, so she's not desperately dependent on UV-B radiation to survive like an African species is.  She gets plenty of vegetables and has a 5.0 UVA/UVB light that I change about every 6 months (I know that it's supposed to be every quarter, but they are quite expensive and seem to retain some oomph for twice the prescribed time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, when I take her outside (about once a month in the warm periods), she tends to pick with her beak at the white gravel that we have around the foundation of the house, leading me to believe that she may be calcium deficient.  She had a cuttlebone when she was little, but she outgrew the need to chew at it, and I figured she was getting enough calcium through her diet and enough D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; biosynthesis from the UV light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In pursuit of giving her more calcium, I bought a Ca and D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; sprinkle from the pet store, and I try to put it on her food about once a week.  I'm wondering if this is enough, or if I'm fact overdoing it for an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-10-03T20:29:55.290" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T20:29:55.290" Title="How much calcium and vitamin D₃ supplementation is beneficial to an adult tortoise who may be deficient?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="915" CreationDate="2013-10-13T08:52:16.887" Score="12" ViewCount="12867" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have several &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgerigar&quot;&gt;budgerigars&lt;/a&gt; and from time to time my partner sees an egg in their cage and disposes of it immediately. They are possibly fertile because we have both male and female budgies however the cage doesn't have a nesting area so it's probably unlikely the female would be able to keep the egg warm enough for it to hatch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We keep a few small tree branches / leaves and the odd piece of fruit / veg on the bottom for them to nibble on but it doesn't really cover the entire area. Most of the eggs seem to be laid down the bottom directly on the bottom of the cage. While well sheltered it's outdoors so there would be cool air passing under the eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because budgies are somewhat skittish it's hard to know how long (if at all) they are trying to nest on them. I wondered if removing the eggs quickly may cause some sort of anxiety or if maybe it's better to leave them in place a while until they &quot;give up&quot; on them trying to hatch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not especially interested in breeding them but if that seems like the most humane thing we're not certainly not opposed to it and I'm sure we can find them loving homes. If that sounds like a better option I'd also be interested to know at what point eggs that haven't hatched should be removed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="112" LastEditDate="2013-10-13T09:43:18.283" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T17:31:44.707" Title="Removing budgerigar eggs" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="601" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-13T08:59:08.213" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-13T08:59:08.213" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T08:59:08.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="602" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-13T08:59:08.213" Score="0" Body="For questions related to budgerigar parakeets, a small bird native to Australia but popular around the world as pets." OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T06:42:17.307" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T06:42:17.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="619" CreationDate="2013-10-13T09:28:38.603" Score="8" ViewCount="4031" Body="&lt;p&gt;My whippet shakes and trembles when he is stressed or nervous. This is not unusual for the breed, but I am looking for ways to help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my voice is at all stern, he casts his face down and looks up at me with sad eyes and he quivers. Even when I try to reassure him with my voice and a pat, it can make it worse! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought him from a breeder at 14 months (as he grew too tall for the show ring). He was sent up on a crate in a plane on newspaper, and I met him at the airport. I checked for advice from the breeder, but didn't get any useful feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have some experience or expertise with this to help us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T06:42:50.130" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T14:30:10.030" Title="How can I help my Whippet cope with his shaking and trembling?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;whippet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-13T09:37:42.377" Score="8" ViewCount="1082" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted this question about my whippet here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/603/whippet-shaking&quot;&gt;How can I help my Whippet cope with his shaking and trembling?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a question related to my whippets shivering, but a little specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is very nervous, whippets can be like this, but I am having trouble bathing him. He doesn't fight, he's very cooperative, but he shivers and shakes so badly, it's horrible to see. He has been vet checked and is perfectly healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried a couple of different bathing methods:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried filling the laundry tub (as it is high and not too large so I can be up at his height and reassure him). I use warm water and do not run the tap while he is in the tub.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The other method I tried is to use a bucket and soft cloth and gently sponge him in the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two concerns I have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being a skinny Whippet, is he getting cold, or is it just nerves? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is nerves, how can I alleviate his stress?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T23:59:33.660" Title="How do I comfortably and safely bathe my Whippet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;whippet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="603" CreationDate="2013-10-13T09:41:14.903" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed this behavior in other whippets.  The ones that I have seen often walk around with their tails deep between their legs and not making eye contact.  I'm not sure what causes this, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the dog respond when you pick him up?  Smaller breeds like this often feel comfortable when they are in the arms of their owners (though the whippet needs a lot of exercise overall and doesn't make a good 'lap dog').  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often make jokes about the informercials, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot;&gt;&quot;thundershirt&quot;&lt;/a&gt; or more generically the (gentle) squeezing techniques that Temple Grandin came up with for cattle might help to make the animal feel more secure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any behavioral issue, though, check with a vet before making any drastic changes in your pet's regimen.  There may be something in the animal's upbringing that make him even more skittish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T09:41:14.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2013-10-13T10:57:53.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not so uncommon behavior in some dogs, especially in the circumstances you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introducing a new dog to the family.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like it could be an objection to both the interloper (new dog) and you leaving the house. She is a, relatively, old dog and is used to her routines and the household, from what you say was static for much of her life.  Dog's are susceptible to changes within the household and can become jealous, if there is a perceived shift in attention away from them to someone else in the household (other pets, children sometimes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing clearly the timeframe of when this behavior started with reference to when you introduced the new dog (eg &lt;code&gt;[x] weeks after we got the other dog&lt;/code&gt;, I can only answer generally. If you have been going out more frequently than usual, this could exacerbate the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How dogs communicate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can't speak to us, so the only way she can show her frustration is using her body. So dogs will communicate in ways, we sometimes perceive as difficult behavior: excessive barking, digging, biting, growling, soiling in the home, jumping up to name a few.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the fuss and natural concern to introduce a new dog to the family, she may be receiving less attention. Well at the very least she was the only dog for some months and she adapted to having no competition for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The gentle solution.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the time to give her more attention. When you come home be so happy to see her, use lots of verbal praise and physical affection. It is best to ignore the furniture. There really is no value in scolding a dog, after the fact. Whether or not the dog can make the association with the act, it serves no purpose to further isolate her, by scolding her. (When I say isolate, I am speaking from her point of view, I don't mean to say for an instant she is socially isolated.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take time out each day to spend some time with her and let her know she is your special girl. Treat her, play with her, walk her, I would recommend giving her some one on one time to begin with, as she may be feeling a little insecure. Your previous dog died and was replaced. Dogs are not as silly as we may think. (my opinion). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually you can mix the new dog in with this special time, so she associates the new dog with attention from you, treats and fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Separation anxiety.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem persists, I would suggest that it could be separation anxiety, which is another issue. Given the details you have provided, I think the extra attention and time with her, would be the best way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, you do not want to be held ransom by your pet, but if you are able to temporarily increase the time spent at home with your dog and gradually increase your time away, combined with the above techniques, this may assist in alleviating the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T10:57:53.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="607" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="609" CreationDate="2013-10-13T11:36:52.240" Score="14" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog and we live in a place where there are lots of children. Most of these children will go to the gate of people who have dogs and start throwing stones at the gate just to hear the dog bark. Most times, I'll open the gate to send them away and my dog usually sees them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, as we were walking home (without a leash on him), he saw one of those children that used to throw stones at our gates. Immediately he pursued the child and knocked him down. I called him back and told him to go home and apologized to the boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He did the same thing another day and has almost done it for 4 of those children now. Now when we go out, I have to put him on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this has reduced the rate at which our gates get stoned, I am afraid he might injure one of those children when I let him go out alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop this behavior or make him forget what those children have done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T19:24:38.127" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T19:24:38.127" Title="My dog runs after children who have taunted him" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="591" CreationDate="2013-10-13T12:25:25.217" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is he doing this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to prevent a dog from rummaging at food scraps. Most dogs love their food, much of the training advice you'll see around recommends using food treats as rewards. Dog's  also love to scavenge, their sense of smell is far superior to our and poking their noses into new places is like sightseeing for us. The problem is one day he may eat something poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can I do to break this habit?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is older, I don't know his breed, but it is always harder to break an older dog of bad habits, particularly in this type of case; as it's not really bad habit, as perfectly natural. A bit like teaching a toddler not to take candy left on the kitchen counter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you've got a battle on your hands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1) I really don't like taking my dog out&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to train your dog to achieve this will take a great deal of effort and time; including the need for some negative reinforcement, which is not the best thing for a ten year old dog, who is otherwise, basically well behaved. Such training might confuse him, as to why he's suddenly being scolded for something that has been OK for how long? Possibly years. You need to ask yourself; are you up for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your motivation to stop this behaviour is to enjoy the time spent with your dog, I would be inclined to suggest that training him out of eating (what he consider treats) could be more of a struggle than the one you're having now and the idea is to help you and your dog enjoy your walks. It might be easier to drive and take him to an area where there isn't food scraps, but I understand this may not be possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this brings us to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(2) Positive reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given you are finding your walks stressful, I strongly recommend you don't correct him for his unwanted behavior, rather just use reward, as it sounds like the situation between you both might be a little tense and it's best to improve the fun between you and your dog. Down the track, some minor scolding using voice control can be used to correct the occasional slip, but from the outset, keep it all positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is going to require finding the treats your dog goes crazy for. You have the competition of fish and rice with all sorts of flavors, so it's got to be treats that your dog really loves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To begin with just go for short walks, even limit is to 100 metres if your dog's behavior is too severe. It's vital to set your dog up to succeed. As he improves increase your walking distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by showing him you have a bag of his favorite treats, give him a sample when you put him on the lead. Carry the treats in a &lt;code&gt;bum bag&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;fanny pack&lt;/code&gt; facing your front, make sure he knows where they are. Also carry a treat in your hand. As you give him one replace it with another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you go out, you're are going to have to encourage him vocally with happy &lt;code&gt;hey look at this!&lt;/code&gt; type voice calls whenever he goes to sniff and show him his treat. Immediately reward him with his favorite treat, with lots of verbal praise, so he associates the treat with verbal praise. Repeat. Use a catchphrase; I wouldn't use the &lt;code&gt;leave&lt;/code&gt; command, as I am basing this solely on positive reinforcement. Pick a word you are happy with, even his name and stick to it &lt;code&gt;Rover!&lt;/code&gt;, happy and excited..(look at this Rover!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process has several benefits, it can become a game, so you and your dog can have fun, and it's serves to distract him, plus the reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your dog has totally grasped the notion that he will receive the treat whenever you call &lt;code&gt;Rover!&lt;/code&gt; in this voice, you don't reward with him a treat every time, but it is vital to keep up that verbal praise and replace the treat with a quick pat on the head.  I haven't included pats in the previous step, as they are no competition for fish scraps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process will take some time, and I would suggest always having some treats on hand when you're out together, as it's important to maintain your dog's good behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/365/can-my-dog-be-retrained-not-to-mark-when-he-is-on-his-leash/510#510&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; also gives some details with assistance with leash training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other things you can do to discourage him from taking food from the ground. These techniques are frequently used to train guard dogs to only accept food from certain people, so as to prevent being baited. If these softer methods do not work, we can review the behavior and discuss some more severe training techniques, that will not damage your dogs trust in you or spoil your fun walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T19:26:27.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="607" CreationDate="2013-10-13T13:13:40.873" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a normal reaction from a dog. My sister's dog behaves similarly when he sees the children who shout at our gate and want to play with him, but when they see our dog they run in random directions and excite our dog. It never harmed any children, but there is a risk of the children getting injured. Some neighbors even started talking about it, and blamed us for this noisy behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution we concluded is that we stopped reacting to the children's shouts and bell ringing and stopped our dog from meeting them. We changed the time of our dog's evening walk to make sure he didn't see those children. After a few weeks, the children stopped coming to our house and this trouble ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T19:21:30.520" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T19:21:30.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1481" CreationDate="2013-10-13T13:41:27.880" Score="12" ViewCount="5673" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 month male dachshund and I'm trying get him to stop bad behaviours while we are on a walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's great most of the time but sometimes he might be pulling on the leash, trying to chase people/cats/other dogs and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pull on the leash doesn't seem to do it, I can be pulling on the leash all day long; he will stop, sit next to me and as soon I start walking again he will do the same thing. Forever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also tried with treats, and that seems to help on occasion, far from reliably though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I snap him out it / make him stop bad behaviours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T01:51:36.647" LastActivityDate="2016-07-31T19:21:12.987" Title="How do I stop my dog from pulling while on leash?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-13T13:57:37.493" Score="18" ViewCount="833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two year old adult dog that tends to get motion sick when traveling via car. Short trips to the park are OK, but trips longer than 20 minutes are problematic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Normally, we don't feed him at the morning of the trip. We've also tried drugging him, but he still manages to get motion sick or prolongs the actual vomiting events. Changing his location in the car didn't change anything as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have insight into making life easier for him, and myself? I hate to see him like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:47:33.700" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T05:18:53.873" Title="Make life easier for motion sick dog when traveling?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="348" CreationDate="2013-10-13T14:37:51.553" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local Aquarium store takes healthy fish and sells them.  They usually give a small credit or a dollar or so for a fish.  That might be another solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T14:37:51.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="611" CreationDate="2013-10-13T14:38:23.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dog motion sickness is more commonly seen in puppies and young dogs&#xA;  than in older dogs, just as carsickness afflicts more children than&#xA;  adults. The reason for this is because the ear structures used for&#xA;  balance aren’t fully developed in puppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the first few car rides of your dog’s life left him nauseated, he may have been conditioned to equate travel with vomiting, even after his ears have fully matured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stress can also add to travel sickness, so if your dog has only ever ridden in the car to go to the vet, he may literally worry himself sick on the road.  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case it appeared that your dog became habitual to the motion sickness even into adulthood, may be because of stress etc. Its similar to humans sometimes few people became habitual to motion sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best way to prevent dog travel sickness is to make the car ride as&#xA;  comfortable as possible for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do it by giving him comfortable ride as much you can. Half opened window can be helpful to pass air through ear. Giving him company in ride rather then driver can be helpful. Try changing his seat from front to back or vise versa ( or change car if possible). If nothing helps then veterinarians help can be taken, there are some medicines for it too but which should be taken only after doctors advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more tips got to  (1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dogs-and-motion-sickness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dogs and Motion Sickness&lt;/a&gt; pets.webmd.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:33:37.857" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:33:37.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="611" CreationDate="2013-10-13T14:58:04.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to make a car trip interesting for your dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your dog : Talking to him doesn't make you a lunatic or something, Always call his name for him to know you are talking to him, Tell him a favorite story, Talk to him about favorite moments, etc. Just try to keep him busy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take a toy along for him : You can take your dog's favorite toy for him to play with, this will keep him busy for a while instead of dieing of boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the journey is quite long, you can stop at a dog's inn or around a park and take for a walk for a while before continuing on the journey.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could also take treat for him and give it to him little by little on the journey just to keep him busy on the journey.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is the type that gets entertained by watching television, you could buy a mini television in your car and tune it to a dog channel for him to enjoy himself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to reduce boredom is to keep him busy throughout the whole journey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also See : &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.about.com/od/dogbehaviorproblems/a/dogs-fear-of-riding-in-cars.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Handling a Dog’s Fear of Riding in Cars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:59:45.990" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:59:45.990" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="621" CreationDate="2013-10-13T15:23:44.273" Score="20" ViewCount="1965" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago, we adopted a rescue cat who was about 8 years old.  She is gradually flinching less when we bend down to pet her and she will sit next to me and loves to be petted. She will not however sit in my lap.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had cats my entire life, but this is the first one I've not owned as a kitten. All the other cats would sit in my lap. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T11:23:57.990" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T20:43:51.857" Title="Encourage rescue cat to sit in lap" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2013-10-13T16:18:45.467" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bribery (in moderation) is always a good motivator.  Sit on the floor or couch where there is lots of extra space, and offer your cat treats (in moderation).  By encouraging her into your lap with treats, and encouraging her to stay with pets, you should be able to overcome her issue, and become comfortable in your lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T16:18:45.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="617" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="629" CreationDate="2013-10-13T16:29:41.940" Score="22" ViewCount="3191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching a bunny, he was sitting up, and seemed to be grooming his private parts.  When his head came up it looked like he was chewing on something.  After a couple minutes he hopped away and I could see what looked like a soft squishy poop, not all like regular bunny droppings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could he have been eating his own dropping? What was going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:03:45.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T16:03:45.920" Title="Do bunnies eat their droppings?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;cecotropes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="624" CreationDate="2013-10-13T16:44:58.180" Score="21" ViewCount="3222" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs have a certain spot, which when I scratch will cause their legs to start twitching and shaking as if they were scratching the spot themselves. Their lips also stretch back like they're smiling. Why do they do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T22:34:17.517" Title="Why does my dog's leg shake/twitch when I scratch certain spots on her body?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="603" CreationDate="2013-10-13T16:54:14.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a word &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlovian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pavlovian&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to share a home with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullmastiff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bullmastiff&lt;/a&gt;, Misty.  For a number or reasons, Misty had to be outside during the day while everyone was at work. She had a nice dry dog house and blankets, but as short haired dog, I imagine it still got cold on occasion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes her teeth would chatter, like a person does when they are cold. I often felt guilty about making her go out in the cold. If there was snow on the ground and she had to go out to go pee, her teeth would sometimes be chattering when she came back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it got to be spring and then summer, hot in the house and hot outside too. Once or twice a week in the dead of summer, the call to go outside would result in chattering teeth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized it was not the temperature outside that made her teeth chatter, it was the association of one thing to another.  In this case there was a pretty clear association.  But the association is not always clear.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets like people often come into our life with a little baggage (in the emotional sense). Do your best to continue to provide a stable and loving relationship, remind yourself that whatever your pets life was like before, it much better now.  Maybe the shaking will go away and maybe it won't, but as long as both you and your dog know that you are both doing your best...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T16:54:14.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="617" CreationDate="2013-10-13T18:07:01.003" Score="9" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some rabbits do so. Rabbits produce 2 types of feces, the harder pelleted feces normally found in a rabbit cage, and the soft, greenish, mucous covered feces. These softer feces are actually called cecotropes. The cecotropes usually won't be found in the cage, as the rabbit normally eats these as they are produced. As gross as it sounds, cecotropes are quite nutritious being high in some vitamins, etc. In fact, the production of cecotropes is a very important and significant part of the digestive system function of rabbits. Proper function of the digestive system (and a proper diet) will ensure that rabbits get optimal nutrition from their diet and the production of these cecotropes. Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rabbits/f/rabbitcecotrope.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Is My Rabbit Supposed to Eat His Feces?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, when an animal eats it poop they feel they need some essential nutrients they have lost due to pooping. So they eat it in order to gain back the nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T15:37:23.610" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T15:37:23.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2013-10-13T18:11:33.390" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a young adult female cat (estimated to be 2 years old at the time) from the street, probably a dumped pet (not feral).  She was very skittish at first and never did sit in my lap in the following 14 years, but gradually over time she got comfortable sitting next to me.  I've adopted other adult cats who were sitting in my lap within weeks (or days), so it's not a kitten-versus-adult thing.  Every cat is an individual with its own background, and when we adopt we usually don't have any clues about that background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my reluctant cat I found that the &lt;em&gt;worst&lt;/em&gt; thing to do was to pick her up and put her in my lap (or even just hold her).  Picking her up triggered an &quot;aiiieee! I'm not in control! Run away!&quot; reaction.  I sometimes sat down next to her (if she was, say, lounging on the couch); I moved slowly and avoided any sudden movement or noise, and that allowed me to sit next to her and pet her.  Eventually she started coming to sit next to me, which I rewarded if I could (I kept a bag of treats near my favorite chair for a while).  I also pet her gently when she did this, just as I did if I sat next to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a long, slow process that is based on building trust.  Anything you do to alarm your cat will set you back.  Some cats may never sit in your lap, but others will eventually.  Take it on your cat's terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T20:43:51.857" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T20:43:51.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="464" CreationDate="2013-10-13T18:58:51.667" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks and sounds like something known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_acne&quot;&gt;feline acne&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, they're &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedo&quot;&gt;blackheads&lt;/a&gt;, or clogged pores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have one cat who suffers from this.  She commonly gets black spots on her chin, lips, and muzzle, although the underneath of the chin is were we see most of them.  The veterinarian identified the spots as acne, and suggested that we try switching from plastic bowls to metal or porcelain.  He also suggested wiping them with a warm, wet rag, which generally seems to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen some disagreement about exactly what causes this.  Some suggested causes I've seen are stress, hormones, allergic reactions to plastic bowls, hygiene, or an overactive sebaceous gland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its definitely worth taking your cat to the veterinarian, for a professional opinion.  Even if it is feline acne, the blackheads can become infected, or may be associated with other problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T18:58:51.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="618" CreationDate="2013-10-13T22:34:17.517" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are eliciting a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_reflex&quot;&gt;Scratch Reflex&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; that is located in the animal's spinal cord.  The urge to itch is involuntary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;smiling&quot; aspect, I don't know how that relates to the scratch reflex, but I can only surmise that it's similar to a minor grimace that a human might have while they are stretching their muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*Warning, skip the article if you are sensitive to descriptions of animals being used in research &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2013-10-13T22:34:17.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T00:06:28.103" Score="11" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have some surprisingly subtle nuances in the ways that they express themselves.  From the way they hold their tail, to how they make eye contact, or even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-silent-meow&quot;&gt;how loudly they meow&lt;/a&gt;, there are a wide variety of means of communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a research-based book anyone could recommend that explains cat social interactions and communication in depth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T23:54:36.377" Title="Is there a research-based book that discusses feline social interactions and cues?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="683" CreationDate="2013-10-14T02:21:54.493" Score="17" ViewCount="33736" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is seven weeks old, we have been playing with her and getting her used to running around with a collar and lead. She quite enjoys coming for walks, even with the lead on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from issues of vaccination:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to take my puppy for walks?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How often should we take her walking?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How long should the walks be?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to this answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/141/what-can-i-do-if-my-puppy-is-hyperactive/495#495&quot;&gt;What can I do if my puppy is hyperactive?&lt;/a&gt; I thought it would be a good idea to discuss the effects of walking on puppy health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:30:16.287" Title="How often and long should I walk my puppy?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="641" CreationDate="2013-10-14T02:26:14.183" Score="15" ViewCount="589" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is six weeks old and has only had her first vaccination. I want to start socialising her with other dogs and people, but don't want her to catch any nasty canine diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is it safe for me to take her to the dog park to socialise with other dogs, do I need to wait until she is fully vaccinated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other options are there to socialize my puppy before she is fully vaccinated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A question that fits well with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/626/how-often-and-long-should-i-walk-my-puppy&quot;&gt;How often and long should I walk my puppy?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:35:55.557" Title="When is it safe to take my dog out to the park?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="617" CreationDate="2013-10-14T03:18:48.410" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes rabbits eat poop but it is a special kind of poop called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecotrope&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cecotrope&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unlike most other mammals, lagomorphs (including domestic rabbits)&#xA;  produce two types of droppings, fecal pellets (the round, dry ones you&#xA;  usually see in the litterbox) and cecotropes. The latter are produced&#xA;  in a region of the rabbit's digestive tract called the cecum, a&#xA;  blind-end pouch located at the junction of the small and large&#xA;  intestines. The cecum contains a natural community of bacteria and&#xA;  fungi that provide essential nutrients and may even protect the rabbit&#xA;  from potentially harmful pathogens.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A normal cecotrope resembles a dark brown mulberry, or tightly bunched&#xA;  grapes. It is composed of small, soft, shiny pellets, each coated with&#xA;  a layer of rubbery mucus, and pressed into an elongate mass. The&#xA;  cecotrope has a rather pungent odor, as it contains a large mass of&#xA;  beneficial cecal bacteria. When the bunny ingests the cecotrope, the&#xA;  mucus coat helps protect the bacteria as they pass through the&#xA;  stomach, then re-establish in the cecum.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the rabbit needs these cecals to help keep the balance of its digestive tract.  You may from time to time notice the occasional cecal in the rabbits litter.  This is normal most rabbits will produce more Cecotropes than they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T15:32:43.587" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T15:32:43.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="617" CreationDate="2013-10-14T03:59:26.950" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits excrete two types of droppings, ordinary fecal waste matter, which are dried out pellets (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;fecal pellets&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;) and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;cecotropes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, which are not fecal matter and form moist grape like bunches. Cecotropes  are predigested hay/food pellets for the rabbit to eat and further digest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbits digestive system has a two step process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit requires a substantial proportion of hay and/or grass in their diet. This type of roughage is difficult to digest in any animal gut, and the rabbit's gut is highly specialized to process this in the cecum. Here the fibre is partially digested and the rabbit excretes this partially processed fibre as a specialized pellet called a cecotrope.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit then eats the cecotrope and the nutrients that were locked within (almost indigestible) hay or grass are absorbed by the rabbit's gut. This predigested matter is easier to process the second time around. Any waste produced by digesting the cecotrope is expelled as normal, inedible fecal matter, as is any waste products foods in the rabbit's diet that is easier to digest).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit's will usually feed on their cecotropes overnight, which is why some owners may not see them doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cecotropes are a good source of nutrition: vitamins, fatty acids and protein for rabbits &lt;sub&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;. In fact, rabbits cannot survive without them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/health/scoop-poop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Scoop on Poop&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cecum contains a wild brew of bacteria and fungi that are normal and beneficial for the rabbit. In fact, the rabbit cannot live without them, since the cecal flora produces essential nutrients (e.g., fatty acids and vitamins) that the rabbit cannot produce on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is more detail about this in this post here &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551/why-is-adding-hay-to-a-rabbits-diet-important/554#554&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;San Diego House Rabbit Society&lt;br&gt;&#xA;San Diego HRS sandiegorabbits.org  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit Nutrition: What you Need to Know&lt;br&gt;&#xA;University of California&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Agriculture and Natural Resources &lt;a href=&quot;http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8376.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=PRINT&amp;amp;A=3015&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The Small Mammals Health Series&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Susan Brown, DVM&lt;br&gt;&#xA;VeterinaryPartner.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets, Rabbits and Rodents: Clinical Medicine and Surgery&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Book By Katherine Quesenberry, James W. Carpenter  ISBN-9781416066217 &lt;sub&gt; &lt;strong&gt;(1)&lt;/strong&gt; This book give great detail about the protein and other nutritional benefits of cecotropes.&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T11:57:12.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1542" CreationDate="2013-10-14T04:00:07.400" Score="14" ViewCount="6240" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I determine when my tortoise is sated and, if there's no way to tell when she is, are there any long-term effects of (mildly) overfeeding her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've given my tortoise a lot of food, she'll often &quot;put some aside&quot;, but more because she wants to take a break and lie down or sprawl out and relax for a bit.  Are these positive indicators for tortoises that they have had enough food?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T21:13:25.787" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T18:20:09.970" Title="How do I determine when my tortoise is sated?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="632" CreationDate="2013-10-14T04:12:10.257" Score="16" ViewCount="1151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Particularly with dogs, this seems to be something that comes up often in their care.  When giving the animal &quot;dry&quot; dog food, is there anything beyond the animal's individual preferences that should dictate whether a small amount of water should be added to the food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any health conditions that would preclude giving the dog just the dry food if he/she likes it that way? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T12:24:23.973" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T19:38:11.133" Title="Is there anything beyond preference that dictates whether dry food should be wet down?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="631" CreationDate="2013-10-14T04:15:23.717" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry dog and cat food should not be wet down if it is not going to be eaten in one sitting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moistened dry dog and cat food breeds bacteria. Part of the process that preserves the food for a longer shelf life is the dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moistened dry dog or cat food should be left out and treated as if leaving out wet dog or cat food. It should be picked up and discarded, when you would normally consider wet food has been out too long to be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't need to be treated as if it is toxic after half an hour, by no means, it can sit there, but not for same the prolonged period that unmoistened dry food can be left out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Promptly refrigerate or discard unused,&#xA;  leftover wet pet food and containers (e.g., cans, pouches).&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Refrigerating foods quickly prevents the growth of most harmful&#xA;  bacteria. Refrigerators should be set at 40 degrees F. The accuracy of&#xA;  the setting should be checked occasionally with a refrigerator&#xA;  thermometer. (1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Makers of dry dog food also advise this:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dry foods remain fresh over many months because bacteria can't grow&#xA;  and spoil food when moisture levels are low.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dry food packaging and&#xA;  the fatty coating of biscuits help prevent the entry of moisture and&#xA;  oxygen that can cause food spoilage during storage.    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Once opened, store&#xA;  dry foods covered in a cool dry place. Do not store moistened dry&#xA;  foods as moulds may grow, which can harm your pet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.purina.co.za/Home/All+About+Dogs/Food+and+Nutrition+Dog/Healthy+Eating+Dog/Food+Safety&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purina&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue, which was discussed by @Baarn is that a dog (or cat) eating dry food will need to drink more water to counteract the dehydration processing of the food. The dry food is formulated with salt in a way to increase the pet's thirst, so they will crave more water, when eating dry food. If the dry food is wet down with water, this water contributes to the water needed to counterbalance the water needs of the pet. Any healthy pet will make up for this needed fluid b drinking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's always important to have an ample supply of fresh water for your dog or cat, especially when feeding with dry food, unless a qualified Veterinarian, who has examined your pet advises you not to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinary Science Animal Husbandry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;American Veterinarian Medical Association &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Documents/Salmonella.and.pet.food.FAQ.8.21.2012.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  USA&lt;br&gt;&#xA;cdc.gov (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T11:33:57.033" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T11:33:57.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="611" CreationDate="2013-10-14T04:40:42.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When taking dogs on long trips or managing a dog that is prone to motion sickness, it takes planning and can take the spontaneity out of short trips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an adult dog this is easier to manage, as an adult dog only needs to be fed once a day and this is usually, best done in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not feed the dog before the trip.&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are planning a long trip, feed your dog a little earlier than usual the day before. In the afternoon, rather than the evening. Make this feed a little lighter  in quantity than usual. Make sure your dog still has plenty of access to fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the morning of the trip, remove your dog's water bowl an hour or so before the trip, ensure he has managed a good morning drink. This will help to reduce his stomach contents. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A drug free and great way to treat the motion sickness is to give your dog a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junket_%28dessert%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;junket&lt;/a&gt; tablet. Junket tablets are used to make milky desserts. They curdle the milk, causing it to solidify, it does this to your dog's stomach contents. This helps prevent the liquid in the stomach from refluxing into the esophagus, causing nausea.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This has been the gentlest way I have managed motion sickness in dogs. If this and/or other simple approaches do not work, please advise and we can make a post on how to manage more severe motion sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please note that a dog cannot be taken on a very long trip without being given regular water, in this case a dog, that needs to have water restrictions and is prone to vomiting, I would advise against taking the dog on trips that are longer than 2-3 hours.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T04:40:42.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="635" CreationDate="2013-10-14T04:55:39.657" Score="9" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;The is question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/631/is-there-anything-beyond-preference-that-dictates-whether-dry-food-should-be-wet&quot;&gt;Is there anything beyond preference that dictates whether dry food should be wet down?&lt;/a&gt; and comments brought up and interesting issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat has a sluggish colon, can she have dry food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good way to manage my cat's diet with this condition in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T10:39:35.293" Title="Can a cat with a sluggish colon have dry food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="634" CreationDate="2013-10-14T05:06:03.203" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;So... my cat has mega-colon (enlarged colon as a result of weak muscles in the anus) and, without proper management of his diet, he runs the risk of severe consequences from an inability to defecate. The way to deal with this non-surgically is to basically keep his stool soft enough to be managed by the weakened muscles. Since many cats only get moisture from diet, rather than from drinking water, we do two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dose him with lactulose (basically a sugar) which draws moisture to the intestines to soften the stool.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add water to his food sources to ensure that there is plenty of moisture in his diet to ensure the stool stays soft.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, a cat without mega-colon, but who is dehydrated often may benefit from a similar treatment. The food should be managed, of course, to avoid risks of bacterial growth or other spoilage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food can be used in either case, with water, but wet food is a superior choice since it's intended to have a high moisture content and results in a better consistency. It's also more like what they'd encounter if they weren't domesticated...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T05:06:03.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="651" CreationDate="2013-10-14T09:32:12.200" Score="19" ViewCount="7028" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my Chihuahuas has small problems with her balance so she's afraid of walking on wooden floors. She will walk on carpets, grass, stone and snow just fine, but she won't go on wooden surfaces with all four legs. She will very rarely walk back to the carpet if left stranded in the middle of the wooden surface. Once she starts walking, she will usually walk till the end. The longer she stands still, the more her legs spread out and soon she will be lying on her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could I make her more confident in her ability to walk on wooden (and other slippery) surfaces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T16:33:35.230" Title="How can I teach my dog to walk on slippery floors?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2013-10-14T09:50:52.133" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;An additional suggestion is that cats sometimes seem to associate themselves with particular items of clothing, I'm not sure if it's related to the scent they leave behind or visual familiarity. Once we had a cat from a similar background and found she would only sit on our laps when wearing particular items of clothing she was familiar with because they'd been left sitting around and she'd slept on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you have an old dressing gown or pair of jeans you could leave laying around near the cat's sleeping area to see if that helps? Otherwise maybe try a putting a light rug in her sleeping area and try draping that over your lap and see if it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T09:50:52.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="631" CreationDate="2013-10-14T10:25:20.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our vet told us that it is preferable to wet the dry dog food shortly before feeding it to the dog. There are two main reasons for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most dogs don't drink enough&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While some dogs drink a lot of water on their own, there are other dogs that are quite uninterested in their water bowl. If you fill the dogs food bowl with water, you can make him drink more. Some of the food will dissolve in the water and make it taste better, which motivates the dog to drink everything. (Don't force them to drink too much water though, see my second point)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We currently don't feed any dry food to our dogs, yet we still fill their bowl with water to make them drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dry food can be dangerous&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While this isn't true for every dry food, especially large dogs are at risk when eating a lot of dry food. Too much dry food at once may cause &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_dilatation_volvulus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gastric dilatation volvulus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of the more widely acknowledged factors for developing bloat include increased age, breed, having a deep and narrow chest, stress, eating foods such as kibble that expand in the stomach, overfeeding, too much water consumption in a small period of time;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are feeding dry food, it can be good to let the food pre-soak a bit before feeding as this leads to the food expand in the bowl rather than in the dogs stomach. The safe amount of water depends on the dogs size. Some dogs will stop drinking before it gets critical, but others wont. It might be best to ask your vet about this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't dogs need to chew?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The only concern I've heard regarding this, is that the wet food lacks hardness and offers the dog nothing to chew on. However, this concern does not come up with people who feed their dog wet food. Some large dogs even don't really chew on their dry food, they just swallow it whole.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I doubt that the resistance offered by dry foods is a challenge for the strength of any dogs jaw. If you want to train your dogs ability to chew, you might want to consider giving tooth cleaning treats once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T10:44:06.310" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T10:44:06.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="627" CreationDate="2013-10-14T10:33:07.637" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its always safe to wait till full vaccination.  Taking him to streets or parks is risky without full vaccination. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want to socialize him before full vaccination, then you can make his interaction with known dogs that you know from the neighborhood etc which have had their full vaccination; either at your or their place. Avoid public places. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:35:55.557" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:35:55.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2013-10-14T11:00:55.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To elaborate on the training idea, use a good steady harness (making sure that it won't dig into the dog's skin), or some sort of a sling of your own design, you can partially support your dog's weight while he/she walks on the floor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start out by holding the harness/sling taut and support almost all of the weight, just letting the legs touch, and gradually let the dog support more and more of its own body weight.  That way, it will get used to the sensation slowly and gain some confidence in its own movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T11:00:55.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="897" CreationDate="2013-10-14T11:27:40.723" Score="6" ViewCount="4311" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a large fish pond, 20 foot long by 6 foot long, it was man made, but by not by using a premade mould, by using layers of heavy duty plastic and careful placement of rocks (I am not entirely sure, I watched my mother build it). It has some gold fish in it. It gets topped up with tank water if there's not enough rain, usually it's level is not too bad at maintaining itself. It has no chemicals. MY mother created it with the idea of mimicking nature (minus the plastic). It has some water plants growing in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We always have a bowl of fresh water left out for our dog, we keep it next to his food bowl. He seems to prefer drinking from the fish pond, which seems a muddy, murky comparison to fresh water. She's been doing it for years and is quite healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would she prefer the murky pond water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T13:24:55.867" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T00:59:11.960" Title="My dog prefers to drink from a pond than her bowl" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="661" CreationDate="2013-10-14T11:59:25.153" Score="20" ViewCount="34968" Body="&lt;p&gt;On occasion, my cat will sit there with their mouth open, usually after smelling something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks similar to panting, but without the heavy breathing or a protruding tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the reason for this?  Is it a reaction to particular smells?  We refer to it as the &quot;stink face&quot;, but does it really indicate that a scent was disagreeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T21:03:58.700" Title="Why does my cat hold its mouth slightly open sometimes after smelling something?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="654" CreationDate="2013-10-14T12:04:27.803" Score="11" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I determine the sex of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish&quot;&gt;goldfish&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only clues I heard so far were to wait for spawning season, or try to see the shape of the vents, but this get a little trickier if you´re not experienced with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T19:23:15.647" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T19:23:15.647" Title="How to determine the gender of a goldfish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="649" CreationDate="2013-10-14T12:16:15.540" Score="16" ViewCount="1203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always had problems with snails in my aquarium. They reproduce faster than I can remove them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last time I had such problem it was solved by &lt;em&gt;restarting&lt;/em&gt; my aquarium: took all the water of it, throw away plants, sterilized stones and wood with boiling water, cleaned the glass, and saved some water treated with chemicals. Then began everything back, put my fishes back...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it ever happens again, how could I fight back those snails without using aquarium ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T12:48:21.267" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T18:09:26.473" Title="What are some effective non-chemical methods for controlling the snail population in an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="647" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-14T12:32:07.517" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T12:32:07.517" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T12:32:07.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="648" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-14T12:32:07.517" Score="0" Body="For questions related to travelling with pets, or how to ensure that they are cared for while you are away. " OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T14:06:15.273" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T14:06:15.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="646" CreationDate="2013-10-14T13:21:26.820" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;One piece of advice I've seen is to use bait to lure the snails out, and then physically remove them.  This may help you keep up with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Methods of baiting range from simple (put a large piece of lettuce in your tank, turn down the lights, and wait a few hours) to more involved (build a small &quot;trap&quot; by placing food the snails will find attractive in a container big enough to hold a bunch of the snails, but too small for your fish to get into to eat the bait).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another popular non-chemical option is to find fish that eat snails, and add them to your tank.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botia&quot;&gt;Loaches&lt;/a&gt; appear to be good choices, if available; especially the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clown_loach&quot;&gt;clown loach&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoyo_loach&quot;&gt;yoyo loach&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puffers are also mentioned, but they can be aggressive towards other fish, so probably aren't a good solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also help keep their numbers in check by cutting down on their available food.  Avoid overfeeding your fish, and periodically clean your gravel.  You can also add algae eating fish, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus&quot;&gt;sucker fish&lt;/a&gt; (be careful which kind of suckers you get, as some can grow quite large, and therefore require a larger aquarium to ensure their health).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some good overall resources/guides for snail control:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/control-kill-and-prevent-snails-in-your-aquarium&quot;&gt;http://www.thinkfish.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/get_rid_of_small_snails.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.aquariumfish.net&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/snailsandworms/a/killingsnals.htm&quot;&gt;http://freshaquarium.about.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T13:57:33.970" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T13:57:33.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="663" CreationDate="2013-10-14T13:26:01.850" Score="29" ViewCount="563" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had always heard that dry food was better for my dog and cat because it helps keep their teeth clean, I even remember TV commercials about dry treats that would clean the dog’s teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/631/is-there-anything-beyond-preference-that-dictates-whether-dry-food-should-be-wet&quot;&gt;Is there anything beyond preference that dictates whether dry food should be wet down?&lt;/a&gt; comments suggest that dry food is not really helpful.  Is the whole &amp;quot;dry food = better teeth&amp;quot; thing a myth or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T23:10:22.990" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T13:34:28.137" Title="Is dry food better for pets’ teeth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2013-10-14T13:32:28.800" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had this problem with both of our Labrador Retrievers when they were young, but fortunately we didn't have much wood except in 2 rooms that they rarely visited.  What was even more confusing is they didn't have any problems with the tile or vinyl flooring, just the wood.  And they would usually walk into the room just fine, but leaving was another problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they did venture into those rooms, they would get themselves stranded on the area rug in the middle of the room and would stand there trying to figure out how to get out without stepping on the floor, and their solution would usually involve trying to jump to the surface they were more comfortable with.  but since the span was usually too far to jump, it would usually end up with them landing on the wood and result in a crash landing, which would make them more nervous on the floor and eventually would leave them barking from the room when they were stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what worked for us was encouraging them to walk across the floor with us nearby.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We'd place a treat near them on the floor, close enough that they could reach it without stepping on the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We'd then repeat, slowly moving the treat further away and encourage them to reach for it any way they wanted to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the treat was far enough away that they needed to step onto the floor, we'd offer some support (physically help support them) while encourage them to walk slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, they learned to take small steps to keep their weight centered and they would be confident enough to walk across the floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was not a quick process (I think it took 3-6 months for each of them), but we'd only do it a few times each session a couple of times a week.  We also tried to end on a success so we cut a few session short if they had a couple of positive results in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T13:32:28.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1012" CreationDate="2013-10-14T13:35:09.680" Score="12" ViewCount="2679" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium with a 5 cm (+- 2 in) rock-and-clay pellets substrate. I stir it every 6 months, to remove some of algae and so on that is deposited there. That way, the water gets a bit muddy and in about 6 hours the filter takes care of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there is any need to clean the substrate at all. Should I leave it alone, with all those bacteria, algae, fish poop and so on? Is my current method of cleaning sufficient or should I clean it another way (eg: using a siphon)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="66" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T00:16:00.867" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T00:16:00.867" Title="Is it ok if I stir the substrate of my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="646" CreationDate="2013-10-14T14:53:53.990" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procambarus_alleni&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;blue crayfish&lt;/a&gt;.  They looove to munch up snails!  @Beofett mentioned clown loaches, and I heard the same advice, so I got clown loaches and a crayfish.  The crayfish ate way more snails than the loaches did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A caveat about crayfish: for better or for worse, they eat just about anything organic.  That includes slow-moving fish that loiter too much around the bottom of the tank.  If there's a sick fish hanging out over there, it is likely to end up as crayfish poo, which depending on your outlook, may or may not be desirable.  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're also big-time escape artists, so make sure the top of your tank is seriously escape-proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorUserId="176" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T15:12:14.387" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T15:12:14.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="645" CreationDate="2013-10-14T14:57:35.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some differences&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The male gold fish usually chase the female ones. If you notice a fish chasing the other, then the fish chasing is probably a male while the fish that is being chased is a female.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way is to check during &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ask.com/answers/52676661/when-is-spawning-season-for-goldfish&quot;&gt;spawning season&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The male will develop white spots on their gill covers known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.solidgoldfish.com/2012/09/goldfish-breeding-tubercles.html&quot;&gt;breeding tubercles&lt;/a&gt;. Not all male exibit this but most of them do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T14:57:35.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="656" CreationDate="2013-10-14T15:49:27.890" Score="6" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;In three days my friend is dropping off his cat so I can watch it for a week while he is on vacation. However, the last time I watched his cat my cat attacked him. These two cats hate each other and they drive me crazy! How can I encourage them to get along for a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T10:57:28.770" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T10:57:28.770" Title="How can I encourage two cats to get along?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-10-15T07:10:41.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="655" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:03:20.723" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is seeing your friend's cat as an intruder in his territory. It's natural for him to try to drive the intruder out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest the standard method: shut your friend's cat in a room with everything he needs and visit during the day. It's better if the room is one your cat doesn't spend much time in but not essential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally after a few days your cat will have relaxed enough to accept the visitor, but if not, your friend's cat still has a safe place and is getting food, water and attention until your friend returns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also look at some of the answers to this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/266/how-to-get-cats-to-coexist-in-peace?rq=1&quot;&gt;How to get cats to coexist in peace?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T16:03:20.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="650" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:10:09.943" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends - if the dry food is going down without being chewed (which is most of the time in my experience), then it's not going to do any more for a dog or cat's teeth than anything else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets I've spoken to have also said that dry food isn't necessarily going to be much help with keeping teeth clean - they recommend uncooked chicken bones for cats. For dogs, there are a range of chews you can get them, or you can simply give them a chew toy to destroy (Or convince both dog and cat that they like you cleaning their teeth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T16:10:09.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:14:48.143" Score="21" ViewCount="2077" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often heard that chicken bones are dangerous for dogs as they may break, splinter and damage the internal organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any truth to this claim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T22:49:51.947" Title="Are chicken bones dangerous for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="659" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:19:42.997" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cooked bones can be dangerous for dogs or cats. The cooking dries them out and makes them more likely to splinter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been advised by vets to give dogs and cats raw bones, never cooked. The size of the dog would make a difference, too - a large dog is much more likely to gulp down a chicken bone whole and have it lodge somewhere it shouldn't, where a small dog wouldn't have that issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T16:19:42.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:24:01.720" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would be the Flehmen response: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many animals will do this to move air over a specialized scent gland which is used to identify pheromones for reproductive and communication purposes. Our cats will do it for anything they think smells interesting, usually before they go to investigate more closely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T16:24:01.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="634" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:37:31.427" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another issue you might want to consider is that as cats get older their colon response gets weaker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My old (18.5 years) cat scared the living daylights out of me a couple of years back when one of her scent glands burst - in domestic cats the glands are usually emptied when the cat defecates, so anything that slows the process or causes a day or two of constipation increases the risk of a blockage (Diarrhea can also cause scent gland issues because the cat isn't having to push).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably need to adjust the cat's diet as she ages to keep her stool texture and frequency consistent, both for her comfort and to prevent scent gland problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T16:37:31.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="650" CreationDate="2013-10-14T16:47:11.623" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to find some peer-reviewed article or book about the subject, I found &amp;quot;The Manual of Veterinary Dietetics,&amp;quot; from Saunders / Elsevier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conclusion is that Soft vs Hard foods don't have any clear winner. Many studies were made or reviewed, and the authors found it hard to compare the conclusions because each study involved different animals, with different methods of analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those authors' conclusion was that animals of the same breed may have more tendency on developing dental problems since their anatomy is different, for example, having more or less space among the teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some special food (textured dry food), on the other hand, could be beneficial in the plaque removing process, and flat rawhide chews of small sizes could help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MANUAL OF VETERINARY DIETETICS 0-7216-0123-5&#xA;Copyright 2004, Elsevier (USA). All rights reserved.&#xA;Authors: Tony Buffington, Cheryl Holloway and Sarah Abood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T13:34:28.137" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T13:34:28.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="669" CreationDate="2013-10-14T17:47:43.543" Score="14" ViewCount="684" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I have snails in my aquarium, and I have hard times &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/646/what-are-some-effective-non-chemical-methods-for-controlling-the-snail-populatio&quot;&gt;getting rid of them&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, do they pose any harm to the fish in my aquarium? I mainly remove them because they are ugly and they eat some of my plants (my &lt;em&gt;expensive&lt;/em&gt; plants). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T14:17:57.190" Title="Do freshwater snails in aquariums pose any harm to the fish in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="671" CreationDate="2013-10-14T17:51:32.997" Score="22" ViewCount="43302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Living in a basement apartment, I get bugs; usually ants, sometimes the odd spider or centipede, etc. I keep my house as clean as I can, and put out ant traps where my cat can't get to them to control the population, but bugs happen regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat finds the bugs incredibly fascinating, especially if any of them fly. He follows the bugs around, hunts them, and usually eats them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume cats eat bugs in the wild, so I am not too concerned, but someone told me some ants can be poisonous, so I'm now worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay that my cat eats bugs indiscriminately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T20:56:37.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:03.467" Title="Is it harmful for my cat to eat bugs?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="267" CreationDate="2013-10-14T18:03:29.733" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;After spending some hours researching, I couldn't find any list of turtle safe materials. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only material I could think about was wood: if it´s too soft, perhaps you turtle could begin to bite it and remove small chips, and could cause some problems. If the wood is chemically treated, the problems with chemicals could be more intense. And if it´s not treated, the humidity could cause fungus, and it would be even worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other materials: I think that everything that is safe for human use would be safe for turtles too, just remember that they will be wet (and so some materials could decompose, melt, get weird, I don´t know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T18:03:29.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="666" CreationDate="2013-10-14T18:07:12.203" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are naturally born predators so whatever they hunt doesn't matter, they are just following their natural instincts. Most household bugs are not poisonous so they will not do any harm to your cat but there are some poisonous bugs that might harm your cat if she eats them. You should prevent her from eating those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://list25.com/25-most-dangerous-insects-in-the-world/&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; for a list of poisonous bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T18:07:12.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="665" CreationDate="2013-10-14T18:25:53.623" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/control-kill-and-prevent-snails-in-your-aquarium&quot;&gt;thinkfish.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;, snails are a potential disease vector.  However, this is usually only an issue if the snails come from the wild, or from a tank that already has a disease infecting the residents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long as you are reasonably certain of the provenance of your snails, you should be safe.  Keep in mind, though, that snail eggs can be easy to miss, so if you replace some of your expensive plants with free ones that you found in a pond or stream somewhere, you run the risk of introducing wild snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T18:25:53.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T19:08:08.087" Score="12" ViewCount="3176" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of my cats were avid insect hunters in our old apartment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were near a farm, so we had lots of flies hanging outside our front door and our patio, and some would invariably get in during the warmer months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I taught both of the cats to hunt the flies by making a distinctive noise to alert them, and then assisting in stunning the flies with a newspaper so that they could catch them.  Both of them quickly learned to come running whenever they heard me make that sound, and would immediately start scanning the walls to find the bug, especially if they saw me pointing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This worked out to be a rather efficient means of eliminating flies and moths that found their way into our apartment, as well as providing entertainment and exercise for the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, several years ago we moved into a house in a different neighborhood.  We still get the odd insect intruder, but it is far, far rarer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even worse, the two most common intruders we find are stink bugs, and ladybugs.  Both exude a noxious chemical defense when disturbed (although ladybugs don't stink nearly as bad as stink bugs do, it is more than enough to dissuade a sensitive feline nose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I have not seen either cat have an actual run-in with either type of insect, that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, now none of our cats will eat &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; insects.  Of the original two that I taught to hunt, only one shows more than a passing interest in insects, and while she gets extremely excited to spot a moth, and will relentlessly follow it around the house, meowing pitifully, she won't attack it, and even if I knock it down, she won't eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to teach my cats to distinguish between &quot;good&quot; insects (e.g. ones that are flying) and &quot;bad&quot; (stinky) insects, and rekindle their hunting instincts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or have my cats been traumatized by insect stench to the point where I have to swat my own flies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T22:17:19.043" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T16:52:01.837" Title="How can I re-teach my cats to eat insects?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="666" CreationDate="2013-10-14T19:17:07.003" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats are pretty good determining whether something they've caught should be eaten - one of the cats I grew up with was an avid hunter but while he played with a rat that had eaten poison, he didn't try to eat it. The other cats I've lived with haven't been as eager to hunt but none of them ever tried to eat anything poisonous although they'd eat bugs quite cheerfully (including crunching down on grasshoppers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not poisoning the bugs that get in, there shouldn't be a problem - but keep an eye out for venomous spiders that are common where you live. Your cat probably won't try to eat those, but hunting them could get the cat bitten, with ugly consequences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update for those who object to my offering the anecdotal evidence of having spent most of my 47 years living with at least one cat and those who think my lack of concern about cats eating insects is problematic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A web search did not turn up any definitive answers as to whether it's generally safe or not. There is a lot of evidence that insects supplement the diet of feral cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The same web search included evidence that cats are at much greater risk from being poisoned by pesticides than they are from eating the pests the home owner might be trying to eliminate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on the biota exactly where you live and your own cat's tolerances, results may vary. I had thought this was something that didn't need to be stated outright. Apparently I was wrong. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something that won't bother a healthy adult cat can be a problem for a kitten. Again, I thought this was too obvious to need mentioning, but apparently I was wrong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another piece of anecdata - despite having been an eager bug-hunter in Australia, my 18+ year old cat has never attempted to chase any of the handful of US bugs the search I ran indicated could be harmful (love bugs - which were impossible to keep out of the house in one of the places I lived). She went after &quot;safe&quot; insects (ants which hadn't been poisoned, mostly, and some flies and mosquitos) until she got too old for that sort of young cat nonsense. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My brother-in-law (who is a vet in Australia) has never attempted to keep any of the family cats away from insects. If a vet in the country with more lethal poisonous critters than anyplace else in the world thinks cats aren't likely to have problems eating bugs, I'm not going to argue with him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will always be exceptions. The world isn't safe and much as we'd like to we can't make it totally safe for us or for our pets. The exceptions may be tragic, but I'm not going to try to keep my cats away from all insects on the off-chance that one of them would react badly to an insect they killed and ate. That would take watching them every minute of every day, and my husband and I both work and need to sleep now and then. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T19:15:24.933" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T19:15:24.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2013-10-14T19:23:17.380" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't say how old your cats are - as kittens, they would have been eager to chase and catch any bugs just for the play value. As older cats, they're more set in their ways and having spent a while where most of the insects they encountered were nasty (the noxious odors), they would probably have come to the conclusion that small flying things are bad news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That kind of learning tends to stick - they may never want to eat bugs again unless you feel inclined to try tricking them into it (spraying the bugs with something the cats find enticing, for instance - and I have no idea if this would actually work or not, but it might be worth the attempt if only to see if you can get a reaction to catnip-scented moths!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T19:23:17.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="675" CreationDate="2013-10-14T20:08:35.357" Score="33" ViewCount="48394" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm sick in bed, nothing feels better than my dog snuggled up under my arm (except when my arm is hurt, or whatever I have this time gives me an aversion to pet-derived warmth).  Based on the illness I have (the flu, for example), I expose the dog to a lot of my germs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I get my dog sick from my human-borne germs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T14:28:32.280" LastActivityDate="2019-11-09T01:29:06.917" Title="Can my dog get sick from my human illness?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="707" CreationDate="2013-10-14T20:25:01.723" Score="14" ViewCount="27538" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our regularly-trimmed grass outside our gate has been pooped on by another dog. I don't know the dog and I've been trying to determine which dog it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about dogs being territorial, and that another dog might not poop on our grass once he realizes that our dog is in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can use my dog to mark the grass to notify the other dog that he should not go there? or Is there another way to prevent the other dog from pooping on our grass? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:01:15.680" LastActivityDate="2019-03-07T03:13:54.917" Title="Is there a way to prevent another dog from pooping on our grass?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="673" CreationDate="2013-10-14T20:26:36.927" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case of the flu, it depends on the strain of it. The specific type of disease that transmits from humans to animals and the other way around is called a Zoonotic Disease. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/pmahaney/2012/apr/keeping_pets_friendly_disease_free#.UPH4U6XT0UU#.UlxR5xDUdfY&quot;&gt;According to PetMD&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The potential for zoonosis depends on a variety of factors, including&#xA;  climate, geography, population density, sanitary conditions (or lack&#xA;  thereof), grooming habits, and other factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like Swine Flu is a good example and the linked article provides many more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of ferrets and the flu, its possible to transmit generally human-only strains to them. This is why ferrets are commonly used in studies because their immune system is similar to our own. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret#Health&quot;&gt;From Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because they share many anatomical and physiological features with humans, ferrets are extensively used as experimental subjects in biomedical research, in fields such as virology, reproductive physiology, anatomy, endocrinology, and neuroscience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To really answer your question: In general, no. But there are other factors (like the particular strain of a disease) that can cause you to transmit your disease to your animal. If you're unsure, I think you should attempt to distance yourself from the animal or at the very least try to avoid contaminating their food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="153" LastEditDate="2013-10-14T20:32:21.013" LastActivityDate="2013-10-14T20:32:21.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="702" CreationDate="2013-10-14T21:25:59.263" Score="13" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fortunate to live an area were we have few spiders that have venom potent enough to be dangerous to humans, however, my yard seems to support a significant spider population of various species, so I am wondering if I need to be worried or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify a bit, obviously weight (of the dog) is going to have a major influence on this so I want to try to avoid that part of the conversation.  I'm more concerned about physiology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the physiology of dogs similar enough to humans that the impact of a spiders venom would be the same in dogs as it is in humans?  Or would the venom from a spider affect a dog differently than a human?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2018-10-19T10:25:31.950" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T10:25:31.950" Title="Are non-dangerous spiders (to humans) dangerous to dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;arachnids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-14T22:52:24.173" Score="15" ViewCount="1795" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to be able to leash train my rabbit so its easier to travel with her, and to take her out to parks and such (under careful supervision).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen footage of rabbits in showjumping events on leashes so I know its possible, but haven't the first idea where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get a rabbit used to wearing and travelling on a leash, while minimising the risk of them chewing on the leash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user35" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T10:31:09.107" Title="How to leash train a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="677" CreationDate="2013-10-15T03:42:44.870" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get a rabbit to use a leash, the first thing to do is select the right leash for this type of pet. Depending on the type of rabbit, the animal may be more fragile than a typical cat or a dog. Rabbits, being prey animals, are also more likely to panic and try to run away. Therefore, to protect the rabbit from injuring itself, a harness would be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When selecting a harness, make sure the straps around the front legs and chest can be tightened enough to where the animal doesn't get her foot caught in the harness, which can lead to her slipping out of the leash. For the European rabbit my brother found, a harness intended for a small poodle was almost sufficient, but we had to watch the rabbit to make sure he didn't slip the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the rabbit used to being in the harness by taking her outside in the yard, but only a short distance and for a short amount of time. She may behave differently than indoors. You may notice she'll be more alert and aware of her surroundings or sit perfectly still for periods of time. Unlike a dog, the rabbit may not seem as adventurous at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, be aware of your movements. Some rabbits have poor vision and rely on shapes or silhouettes. See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vision.html&quot;&gt;What do Rabbits See?&lt;/a&gt; for more details. For instance, I was outside with the rabbit on a leash one day, sitting on the front porch as he watched me oddly. As I stood up, he suddenly bolted to the end of the harness and continued to try to run away once he reached the end of the leash. I had to pick him up and take him inside to let him go hide. He'd had enough of the great outdoors for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any animal training, a lot of it is about just getting used to something. The more time your rabbit spends outdoors on a leash, the more comfortable and relaxed she'll become. Just remember to take it slow at first, and be on the lookout for dogs and cats! If your rabbit does get spooked, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Calm-a-Rabbit&quot;&gt;WikiHow has some advice on How to Calm a Rabbit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T03:42:44.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="700" CreationDate="2013-10-15T04:23:41.947" Score="12" ViewCount="1527" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves deep scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, I discovered he &lt;strong&gt;loves&lt;/strong&gt; getting his fur lightly pulled out. It started with his nose, which seemed reasonable enough because it's hard to groom there, but now he likes it all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not pulling out a lot of fur, but definitely more than would come out with a regular brushing.  I don't pull very hard either. It mostly seems like stuff that would have been shed soon enough. I never leave any bare spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a very fluffy short-haired coat, and we live in a hot/dry semi-arid region of central Texas; it's October and the temperature still gets into the 90's °F (around 33 °C), although never above 85 °F (29 °C) indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he seems to enjoy this, is it safe to continue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:42:56.940" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:42:56.940" Title="Should my cat love having his fur pulled out?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="689" CreationDate="2013-10-15T04:35:44.153" Score="6" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/690/how-do-i-know-if-there-is-too-much-algae-in-an-outdoor-fish-pond-pot&quot;&gt;How do I know if there is too much algae in an outdoor fish pond or pot?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; tracks the potential issues with too much algae in my fishes environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep goldfish outdoors in large, ceramic pots, approx 50 cm in diameter x 80 cm tall.  The pots contain pond weed, and there is some algae on the inside of the pots, but it hasn't seemed to bother the fish up to this point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been considering purchasing snails from the local fish shop (aquarium, not fish and chip shop :) ). I have a some concerns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do I get more than one snail per pot?&#xA;The overabundance of snails is addressed by &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/646/what-are-some-effective-non-chemical-methods-for-controlling-the-snail-populatio&quot;&gt;What are some effective non-chemical methods for controlling the snail population in an aquarium?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will the snails eat the algae and not the plants?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What attributes should I look for in the snails I purchase for my particular type of setup?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T17:00:46.110" Title="Would my fish benefit from snails in their pot pond?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="682" CreationDate="2013-10-15T08:33:19.347" Score="16" ViewCount="567" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has a dog that has mated with so many female dogs. I've been a little worried about this dog lately because he is becoming more promiscuous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there dog sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? How prone is this dog to contract them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T11:12:44.663" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T13:47:28.260" Title="Can a dog contract a sexually transmitted infection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="681" CreationDate="2013-10-15T09:59:33.613" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, dogs have risk of STD's or STI's. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_herpesvirus&quot;&gt;Canine herpesvirus&lt;/a&gt; and  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor&quot;&gt;Canine transmissible venereal tumor&lt;/a&gt; are among the diseases which can be sexually transferable among dogs. So you should always have to take care of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/sexually-transmitted-disease-dogs.html&quot;&gt;vetinfo.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T13:47:28.260" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T13:47:28.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="626" CreationDate="2013-10-15T11:30:27.757" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your puppy is still quite young so over-exercise is not good for him at this stage&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending slightly on the breed, a puppy's skeleton doesn't fully mature, and the growth plates do not fuse until the puppy is 18 months old or older. The growth plates, which are part of the bone structure, typically fuse during the puppy's tenth month, but after that the skeleton continues changing as the bones adapt to the various kinds of stress put on them. The skeleton is not fully formed and bones are not hardened until 18 months or later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the growth plates close, too much exercise can jar and loosen little joints, and cause stress to the skeleton, which can cause permanent damage including elbow and hip dysplasia, joint problems, and growth abnormalities in the cartilage that can cause pain and lameness. (Source :  &lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/how-far-long-walk-puppy-11667002.html?cat=53&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Far and How Long Should You Walk Your Puppy?&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The distance and time your puppy should walk for,  varies according to the breed. So it is advisable you always watch your dog whenever you take him on a walk and try to notice when he is tired probably when his speed reduces, etc. When you notice he is tired, Stop the walk in order not to Over-exercise him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as pointed out by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mydogslife.co.uk/2012/02/18/walking-your-puppy/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;My dog's life&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a 5 minute rule which is basically 5 minutes walk per day, per month of your puppy’s life, so therefore a 3 month old puppy can be walked for 15 minutes and a 4 month old puppy for 20 minutes, which is a guideline but as an owner make your own judgement on your puppies needs as each puppy is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to walk your puppy each day to help with training, plus during a walk he/she will gain social skills, mental stimulation and physical exercise.  As your puppy grows you can extend the time of each walk and remember to go on different walks with new surrounding and scents which will be more stimulating for your puppy, plus more enjoyable for you as you will meet new dog walkers during your walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, when you want to take him for a walk, it is advisable you go to a clean environment free of dirt, dog poop, etc. Also you can take along with you a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedometer&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;pedometer&lt;/a&gt; so that you can measure the amount of steps your puppy took before he grew tired. Then you can apply this to your other walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T01:50:44.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="136" CreationDate="2013-10-15T11:37:01.527" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answer is good but there are some important things to note about when, how and why should be done if you decide to clip your birds wings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clipping of the wings is usually done to either as a safety precaution to prevent the bird from hurting themselves while indoors, or it may be done as an attempt to pacify a difficult or aggressive bird and encourage them to be more sociable and easier to handle.  Many pet birds, especially larger ones like parrots achieve flight through speed and may not be able to break away or change momentum quickly enough to prevent running into walls or windows which can lead to injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flighted birds have two sets of flight feathers, primary and secondary.  Secondary feathers help with maneuvering and gliding and also support maintaining flight.  Primary flight feathers are longer and towards the end of the wing.  They are crucial for the bird to take off and achieve vertical lift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NkK3b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When clipping be sure to only clip the primary feathers and never clip them below half of their original size.  If done properly it is not painful for the bird and they should be able to still safely glide or fly downwards without falling. They may still fly vertically but it should be very exhausting for them to do so, discouraging too much dangerous flight activity indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VOoJy.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Above shown is a chicken but the process is the same&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally to get the bird ready to clip you should pick them up gently with a towel and attempt to cover their face so they can't see.  It is less stressful for the bird when done quickly and gently.  If you are unsure then it is best to consult a veterinarian for assistance or for instruction in how to perform this procedure in your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w6rRO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be careful to hold their head steady, they don't generally like this and get a little bitey!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is crucially important not to clip a birds wings until a good time after they have been fledged.  Learning to fly is one of the most crucial parts of a birds development and doing this at too early an age can have serious and permanent developmental affects on the bird physically and psychologically.  They may have poor development of breast muscles that prevent proper flight as adults, and in other cases may have psychological and confidence issues, or may have difficulty bonding with humans or other birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When purchasing a flight bird as a pet, ensure that the breeder or pet store owner allows the bird to be fully weened and have a good amount of time to master flying before they clip wings.  There are many breeders and pet stores only concerned with money and not with the animals well being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When clipping also check for swollen or infected blood feathers as they may be more common.  Sometimes a fall or an accident can cause a clipped feather to start to bleeding then it very well may not stop on its own, in which case it is highly important to seek immediate assistance from a veterinarian or pluck the feather yourself if you are comfortable doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Important Notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet birds that have been clipped tend not to get as much exercise as they would normally get in the wild (barring domesticated birds like chickens).  It is important they get extra mental stimulation and physical exercise to prevent too much muscle loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that birds molt periodically (frequency depends on the species), so clipping flight feathers is not a permanent change. Allow new feathers to grow in fully before clipping again. When the feathers are still growing, they have active blood vessels in them. Trimming these blood feathers' can cause the bird to lose blood.  If the bird happens to be bleeding from a cut blood feather and you cannot stop the bleeding, then plucking the damaged feather completely will generally help it stop.  &lt;em&gt;If you are not comfortable doing this or you are unable to then consult a veterinarian immediately!&lt;/em&gt;  You can identify a blood feather by noticing the dark or red colour part way up the shaft of the feather from the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastEditorUserId="182" LastEditDate="2014-08-22T01:49:16.757" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T01:49:16.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="685" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-15T11:41:18.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snails are molluscs living on land or in the water. Snails have a shell they can retract their body into to escape dangers or to protect themselves from drying out. They move by contracting an elongated mucus-covered muscle called the foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions are about snails kept as pets. Land snails are usually kept in terrariums whereas water snails are kept in ponds or aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T11:51:38.313" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T11:51:38.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="686" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-15T11:41:18.603" Score="0" Body="Snails are molluscs living on land or in the water. Questions are about snails kept as pets. Land snails are usually kept in terrariums whereas water snails are kept in ponds or aquariums." OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T11:51:30.033" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T11:51:30.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="687" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-15T12:02:36.677" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T12:02:36.677" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T12:02:36.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="688" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-15T12:02:36.677" Score="0" Body="Used for questions on pets hunting other creatures. A pets urge to hunt is an instinct of most predatory animals." OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T12:30:59.047" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T12:30:59.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="680" CreationDate="2013-10-15T12:31:36.180" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your pot has, more or less, 60 liters of water, so I'll make some analogy with a 60 liters aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - If you're purchasing the snails, I assume that they are those desirable, pet snails, which tend to be bigger (from 2 up to 3 inches). So one would be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Although most snails are hermaphrodites, they need to mate to reproduce. So, having just one snail would prevent that overabundance&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some snails, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php&quot;&gt;apple snail&lt;/a&gt;, have separated sexes, so you could have more than one if you choose only males or females. And males would be more desirable, because females can store the sperm from a previous relationship for months, and perhaps the fish store might not know about her past. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 - Snails, in general, will eat your vegetation. Depending on the plants you have (like softer ones), they will prefer to eat plants instead of algae, and might have the opposite effect than you planned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T12:31:36.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-15T12:36:31.000" Score="6" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/680/would-my-fish-benefit-from-snails-in-their-pot-pond&quot;&gt;Would my fish benefit from snails in their pot pond?&lt;/a&gt; asks about having snails in a fish pond/pot to reduce algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fish are happily living in a outdoor ceramic pots, approx 80cm high x 50 cm in diameter. They have fish pond mud, sand and aquatic plants. The walls have algae, which is hard to see, unless the sun is shining through one of the pots in the morning, as the pots are painted black (on the outside).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned that the coming summer may mean an increase in algae and am wondering how this will affect my fish and if there are signs I should look for, both within the environment and the fish to see if algae is at an unhealthy level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T14:24:29.247" Title="How do I know if there is too much algae in an outdoor fish pond or pot?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="694" CreationDate="2013-10-15T13:02:39.673" Score="16" ViewCount="2456" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I ran into a larger saltwater aquarium with a lighting system that includes simulated lightning storms. At seemingly random times, the lighting system would simulate a lightning storm using strobe lights (including overnight). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since it didn't simulate other environmental changes from a thunder/lightning storm, is this was actually necessary?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is having this type of system beneficial for a saltwater tank? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it somehow keep the fish healthier?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T14:26:36.207" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:57:40.820" Title="Are simulated thunderstorms beneficial for a saltwater aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;weather&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="692" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="720" CreationDate="2013-10-15T14:06:41.323" Score="14" ViewCount="4713" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit has lost it's appetite and isn't drinking much, she is losing weight. I'd been feeding her a diet of rabbit pellets and carrots, and ensuring she has plenty of fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said she has wool block and that it should be ok if I change her diet. I am wanting some more information about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is wool block? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is it caused?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What feed should I offer my rabbit with wool block?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I feed my rabbit to help prevent it from happening again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T11:02:00.627" Title="What is wool block in rabbits?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="691" CreationDate="2013-10-15T14:42:56.020" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough, there are some articles about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1021342520542&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reactions in individual fish to strobe light. Field and aquarium experiments performed on whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus)&lt;/a&gt;, deals with strobe light and whitefish, as its title says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their conclusion is that fish will swim away from the strobe light and don't bother if it comes from behind. Since you describe a light from the top, they will hide from it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0165783685900165&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another article&lt;/a&gt; concludes that strobe light can be used as a barrier to some fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any relationship to algae, O₂ or CO₂ level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think that it was just for decorative purposes - and, as some (or all) fish will avoid it, it doesn't seem to be a good decoration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T13:57:40.820" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:57:40.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:17:24.287" Score="3" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad used to medicate our &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/103/are-questions-about-poultry-birds-on-topic&quot;&gt;non-livestock chickens&lt;/a&gt; with human drugs by dosing their water supply.  We have medicated using ampicillin, vitamin C capsules, and sometimes multivitamins. The chickens have never reacted negatively to the medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/400/can-i-use-human-medicine-on-dogs&quot;&gt;Can I use human medicine on dogs?&lt;/a&gt;, some human medicine is poisonous to dogs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the same concern apply to chickens? Are we endangering them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T14:56:28.093" Title="Can I give human medicine to chickens?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-10-17T15:34:52.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="692" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:19:59.373" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wool block is most common in rabbits that produce wool.  These include &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_rabbit&quot;&gt;Angora's&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Wooly&quot;&gt;Jersey Wolly's&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Fuzzy_Lop&quot;&gt;American Fuzzy Lop's&lt;/a&gt;.  But it can occur in any rabbit since rabbits molt and shed hair many times over the course of their life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits groom themselves by licking and have no mechanism to deal with the hair build up in their gut.  The hair is not digestible in the rabbit digestive tract and in some cases can build up and form a hairball. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html&quot;&gt;Rabbits have no ability to vomit&lt;/a&gt;, so are unable to relieve this condition in a manner similar to cats.  When this happens if it is left untreated the rabbit will develop a condition called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html&quot;&gt;GI Stasis&lt;/a&gt; which is often results in death of the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to treat this is to do so preventively. A diet high in fiber with abundant hay is a good start.  For non wool breeds we like to provide either a few small bits dried papaya, or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fuzzylop.com/4_wool_block.htm&quot;&gt;papaya enzyme tablet&lt;/a&gt; every few months.  Most of my friends who raise wool rabbits provide this supplement monthly.  This will help break up the formations that are starting to develop (if their are any) and prevent it from becoming a blockage.  We raise &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Lop&quot;&gt;English lops&lt;/a&gt; and we notice that when we feed the papaya that there appears to be an increase in hair in the droppings for a few days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit does develop wool block the most effective course of action is to get them to a Vet that is experienced in caring for rabbits.  The wool block and fecal impaction that it causes can be extremely painful for your rabbit.  In addition this leads to GI Stasis which will cause your rabbit to stop eating and drinking, which ends in death far to often. Vets who are not experienced in rabbits often misdiagnose and/or mistreat this condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me while I love my rabbits I am loathed to spend $200-$500 for vet bill especially when the common recommendation for a rabbit with GI Stasis is euthanasia.  You can attempt to treat this yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First stop feeding pellets and provide plenty of Timothy Grass hay.  You can also include a small amount of parsley or dandelions as these are very mild foods that are easily digestible for the rabbit, and have &lt;a href=&quot;http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/06/09/medicinal-herbs-for-rabbits/&quot;&gt;nutrients that aide the rabbit in restoring proper digestive function&lt;/a&gt;.  Provide a small amount of pineapple or papaya (dried, fresh or tablet) as this will help break down the fur that is causing the blockage.  Lay the rabbit on a hot water bottle of heating pad.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fuzzylop.com/4_wool_block.htm&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; states that the rabbits may fight but my experience has been that rabbits in this state are incredibly docile and do not really resist much of anything other than eating.  It also recommends massaging the belly.  If you do be very careful as you can cause damage to their internal organs, I would not recommend that treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get the rabbit to pass the blocked pellets, you may need to help it restart the GI Tract.  I have had quite a bit of success by force feeding yogurt with active cultures and water or pineapple juice.  I feed about 1 cc of each per pound of healthy rabbit.  I will do this twice a day until they start eating again on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T05:28:04.100" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T05:28:04.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="701" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:30:49.337" Score="16" ViewCount="4018" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium of 280 liters (~ 74 gallons). I use an external filter, so the water returns to it like a small waterfall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need a bubbler to improve the O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; level of my aquarium, or adding one would cause some undesirable effect on an already working configuration ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if I need one: does decreasing the water level a bit, increasing the height of the waterfall, produces the same effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T20:45:37.300" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T20:45:37.300" Title="Do I need a bubbler in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="698" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="706" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:36:14.267" Score="13" ViewCount="47297" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my aquarium begins to leak, I know I could repair it by removing everything, applying silicone (or another sealant), waiting for it to cure, and then starting over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the leakage is at the top of the aquarium, can I drain just enough water to repair it, then re-fill after the sealant is cured?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use regular silicone for this &quot;hot&quot; repair, or might it harm the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:50:31.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T23:02:32.547" Title="Can I repair a leaking aquarium without removing all the water and fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="400" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:51:13.213" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say any human medicine is for exactly that... for humans &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;. Any usage of human medicine on any other species probably hasn't been widely tested. I doubt many humans would be willing to take medicine/drugs that were originally created for a dog/monkey/giraffe/fish without first consulting a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any direction of use of human medicine should be given from someone with direct knowledge of the situation and has the training and/or background to make educated decisions (i.e. veterinarian)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Compounding-FAQs.aspx&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association FAQ on Compounding&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since drugs and compounds may behave differently in animals than in humans, veterinarians should ask compounding pharmacists if they have specialized training or credentials in veterinary compounding, and veterinarians should specifically seek the compounding services of pharmacists who have specialized knowledge of veterinary compounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastEditorUserId="166" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T18:53:37.740" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T18:53:37.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="679" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:54:36.603" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he isn't pulling his own fur out and you aren't pulling enough to leave bare patches, I'd say there's no harm to it, particularly for a cat with a thick coat in a hot dry region. It would feel to him a bit like a brisk massage, and encourage circulation -  which helps to keep the temperature regulation system working - so that would be why he adores it so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My (long-haired) cat adores being groomed with an undercoat stripping brush, the kind with lots of sharp metal prongs. She'll push her head against it to make it scratch her cheeks and leans right into the brushing. Sometimes I'll get what looks like a whole cat's worth of fur off her, without making her any less fluffy, so there's plenty of fur to go around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T16:54:36.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="697" CreationDate="2013-10-15T16:56:30.983" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the water flowing through your filter and agitating the water to mix it may provide enough oxygenation. Most of the oxygen absorbed into water is done at the surface; bubbling air through the water actually contributes a fairly low amount to dissolved oxygen, although the bubbles moving the water around might contribute to churning the more oxygen-rich water towards the bottom of the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water temperature (warm water can hold less dissolved gas of all kinds, including O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) and plants (lots of plants/algae with not enough light for photosynthesis) can have an effect on oxygen levels as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absent any reason to think you have low oxygen levels (like your fish congregating around where the filter water is pouring and avoiding the lower parts of the tank), your waterfall is probably sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T20:45:09.893" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T20:45:09.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="676" CreationDate="2013-10-15T17:06:41.197" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more details: you will want to look up the spiders endemic to your area and their effects on dogs. Smaller dogs are obviously more vulnerable, but many spiders have venom that is harmless to some species and lethal to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even more detail: I grew up in Australia, where it's common knowledge that redback spiders while not lethal (but quite painful) to healthy adults can kill small children and small dogs or cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be sure of your dog's safety, you may find the breed matters - like any animal they're most likely to be resistant to the venom of snakes and spiders endemic to the area where their breed originated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T17:06:41.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-15T17:33:42.970" Score="14" ViewCount="3086" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats, who enjoy sleeping on the bed with my wife and me, but during the night we notice that they both start at the foot of the bed, and creep up, leapfrogging each other to be higher up and closer to our heads. This occasionally erupts into fights, over what I can only assume is their position on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this normal behavior? Is one cat trying to assert dominance over the other one by their position on the bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background on the cats: Male(neutered) 1.5 years old, female(spayed) 6-7 months old. Get along seemingly okay except for some altercations (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/373/how-much-dominance-is-normal-in-2-cats-at-play&quot;&gt;see this question&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:06:59.907" Title="Cats fight over who sleeps further up on the bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="698" CreationDate="2013-10-15T17:55:58.200" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Silicone itself is harmless, as it is nontoxic, non-organic and pretty much unreactive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the hardening process silicone sealant &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone_rubber#Condensation-based_system&quot;&gt;will produce acetic acid&lt;/a&gt;, this causes the stench that smells like vinegar. Depending on the amount of silicone, you should not need to worry about some of that acid contacting your water (if you spill something), the amount should be too minimal to have an influence on your aquariums pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some silicone sealants intended for use in bathrooms (or similar) might contain fungicides which may negatively affect your aquariums life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I have not tried to do this before, but everything I knew about silicone sealant told me that this would be safe and a quick search on Wikipedia confirmed my thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T17:55:58.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="674" CreationDate="2013-10-15T18:01:18.193" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ideas, since you are unable to identify the other dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use a motion-activated sprinkler&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This will probably scare the dog and owner for the first few times, signaling that you don't want others entering over your grass and doing things&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spread a repellant or unpleasant odor&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia, vinegar, citrus peels or oil, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liquidfence.com/dog-cat-repellents.html&quot;&gt;Liquid Fence&lt;/a&gt;. You won't need a great amount, and it might kill plants, so apply it to the edge of the grass. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do buy a dog repellent, follow the instructions because you don't want to cause any harm, just deter the habit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-15T18:40:43.303" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T18:40:43.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="711" CreationDate="2013-10-15T18:26:05.733" Score="25" ViewCount="74621" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes one fish dies, without any apparent disease. In previous aquariums I would always remove them as fast as I could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my aquarium is a bit bigger, and I have some &lt;em&gt;laziness&lt;/em&gt; to remove those bodies: they are too deep, or in the back, or partially eaten. So I decide to leave some, and they tend to disappear in a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any safety issues by doing that? Will other fish die if they eat dead fish? Will they develop some mad fish disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, after you have established an aquarium, with everything working as it should, fish might die simply because it gets old, or have a shorter life-span due to its condition before being sold to you, or because some other fish had a fight with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If only one fish died, without white / black spots, no sign of fungus or parasites, no alteration in the gills, I usually rule out diseases or environmental problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T22:57:14.137" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T13:27:16.513" Title="Are there health risks to leaving a dead fish in the aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="708" CreationDate="2013-10-15T18:36:07.147" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not. How could you be so sure that the fish died a natural death? I mean, if it was due to some disease then it could be spread if other fishes eat the dead body. And if it's due to some natural death it will still be a risk of water pollution through the dead body degradation process. It can make water toxic, so why take that risk with your beloved fishes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it's important to know the cause of death, if fishes are dying it could be due to a high amount of ammonia in water or any toxic parameter. So always take precautions for the loved ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-17T20:29:47.937" LastActivityDate="2021-02-17T20:29:47.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="674" CreationDate="2013-10-15T18:36:53.517" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, a domesticated dog marking its territory will simply encourage other domesticated dogs to add their own mark.  I'm not sure this applies to feces, however, as urine is the primary means of territory marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that getting your dog to mark your yard will prompt the other dog to mark &lt;em&gt;instead&lt;/em&gt; of defecating, as most dogs are seemingly indiscriminate about where they'll mark, but quite a few are &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; discriminating about where they'll defecate (as anyone who has ever suffered outside in freezing rain waiting for their dog to find &quot;just the right spot&quot; will attest!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this will probably be more trouble than its worth.  If this isn't an isolated incident, you'll have to have your dog mark the borders of your property regularly for there to be even a chance of it working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're better off using other means to try and prevent the other dog from seeing your property as a good location for relieving himself/herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest solution is a fence.  Even a small ornamental fence is likely to be a sufficient deterrent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5bF2g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;a small ornamental garden fence&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, you can plant something other than grass along the borders of your property.  If it the vegetation is sufficiently dense, most dogs will pass it by (then again, we've had a dog trample the one large flower we have in the corner of our yard and deposit a &quot;present&quot; for us right on top of the bent leaves!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try something based upon a motion sensor, as woliveirajr suggested.  There are motion sensor activated ultrasonic pest control devices that supposedly work on dogs, as a possible alternative to a sprinkler that might make you rather unpopular with your neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T18:36:53.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="708" CreationDate="2013-10-15T18:48:15.580" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you're &lt;em&gt;absolutely certain&lt;/em&gt; that the fish did not die from a disease or parasite (I'm not certain how you would ensure that, short of having absolutely nothing new introduced into the environment for an extended period of time prior to the death)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it depends upon what died, and the other denizens of your aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a decent &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean-up_crew_%28aquarium%29&quot;&gt;Clean Up Crew&lt;/a&gt; that will rather quickly consume the body, you're probably not going to run any serious risks of the body releasing enough toxins to jeopardize the other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you lack sufficiently voracious cleaners, or your dead fish is on the largish side, you should pull it out of your tank sooner rather than later, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, at least among saltwater tank owners, leaving a dead fish for the CUC &lt;a href=&quot;http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/319369/how-do-you-get-rid-of-dead-fish-inverts-coral&quot;&gt;doesn't seem that uncommon&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T18:48:15.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="708" CreationDate="2013-10-15T18:54:12.073" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like any other protein-based life form, dead fish give off toxic byproducts like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaverine&quot;&gt;cadaverine&lt;/a&gt; and putrescene, which can be toxic in high doses. I can imagine that it's not urgent that you remove the dead fish, but letting them fester and degrade away may have toxic effects on the other fish. I don't have a reference to back that up, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19234946&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; talks about their toxicity to humans when consuming fish with high levels of these compounds, so I would imagine with a much lower weight, the fish would acquire toxic levels much more readily and quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T18:54:12.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="715" CreationDate="2013-10-15T20:30:34.377" Score="9" ViewCount="9064" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my dogs had a scrape on his ear. I cleaned it, covered it with an antibiotic ointment, and covered the ointment with a band-aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple days later, the scrape was healed, but when I removed the band-aid, one of the sticky ends became stuck fully to his exterior ear.  The part of the ear the band-aid is stuck to is a thin flap covered in short hair; ripping it off isn't an option as that would cause too much pain to the dog.  I trimmed the band-aid down to the portion that is stuck on his ear.  His fur is too short to trim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can soak into the glue portion of the band-aid to get it to release, allowing me to remove it without harming the dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:35:28.650" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T00:36:13.913" Title="How do I get a band-aid out of my dog's fur?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2013-10-15T20:36:01.820" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked some olive oil into the end of the bandage, and it came off with light pulling after a couple minutes; some fur came with it, but not as much had I not oiled it.  His ear appears unharmed, and he had no adverse reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T15:40:16.127" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T15:40:16.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2013-10-15T20:38:21.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soak the fur stuck under the bandage with soap and warm water, then wait for a few minutes and try to remove it gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T16:08:35.587" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T16:08:35.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10" CreationDate="2013-10-15T22:47:52.383" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;The subject of corn and grain based dog food is one that is contentious and subject to a lot of debate.  Numerous studies have been done on this subject and many heated opinions exist on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many veterinarians believe in corn based dog food and how it is highly digestible and contains many health benefits for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://avetsguidetolife.blogspot.com/2013/04/corn-in-foodno-its-not-bad.html&quot;&gt;http://avetsguidetolife.blogspot.com/2013/04/corn-in-foodno-its-not-bad.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an excerpt from a dog food company that sells corn based dog food that claims that &quot;Cornphobia&quot; is a scare tactic marketing campaign pioneered by luxury dog food manufacturers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of the first dog food companies that thrived were Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba and Purina; that was some pretty stiff competition! A common denominator to their dog food formula was corn. The popular marketing game of &quot;they have it and we do not&quot; began the gloomy demonizing of corn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kumpi.com/corn.php&quot;&gt;http://www.kumpi.com/corn.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the opposing side here is another vet that speaks vocally against corn based diets in dog food on his blog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I argued against the notions put forth by nutritionists interviewed for a veterinary news magazine article that 1) ingredients in pet food aren’t important, 2) that dogs require grain-based fiber to be healthy, and 3) that dogs are omnivores (they are scavenging carnivores). I also pointed out that many veterinary nutritionists have financial ties to some of the largest pet food manufacturers in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/01/02/veterinary-nutritionists-favor-commercial-food.aspx&quot;&gt;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/01/02/veterinary-nutritionists-favor-commercial-food.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact of the matter is that there are veterinarians on both sides of the debate both making claims of financial bias by the others.  Well then what about studies?  There are many studies done on the subject and most of these are funded by the very industry groups that would stand to benefit or lose greatly by the findings of such studies.  Few long term studies have been done on the long term effects that such a diet can cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without being able to find an official study on corn based diets and weight, I will only share my personal experiences and what I have witnessed.  I do not feed my dog corn based food, and he is the most fit and athletic basset hound that I and universally all of my friends with basset hounds have seen.  The vet regularly complements me on having a basset hound that is a healthy weight and how unusual it is for this breed that is typically prone to being overweight or obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never known an overweight dog that was on a non-corn diet.  Every overweight dog I know of ate cheap corn based dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a study and there clearly might be a correlation between the much higher price of non corn based dog food and the tendency for more educated consumers with more spending money to purchase said food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T22:47:52.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="719" CreationDate="2013-10-15T23:17:09.627" Score="5" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a unique connection between dogs and their owners. But eventually, this connection must be broken. What are some techniques for coping with losing a beloved friend (dog)? Is it a good idea to buy another dog to comfort you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:20:24.830" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:20:24.830" Title="What are good techniques for coping with the loss of a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-10-16T02:44:47.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="718" CreationDate="2013-10-15T23:51:23.783" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Early 2009, I lost my dog that was very close to me, we didn't know what killed her but we just found her dead by the road. It was very difficult for me to get over because I loved her so much. I never used any special techniques. It just passed away with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things you can do to speed up your recovery from a pet loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place a memorial plaque or sign of your dog at a favorite spot of your dog. That way you can pay respect to your dog when you are depressed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to distract yourself with your fun and favorite activities like exercise, going out with friends, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a little mourning for your dog, you could purchase a new dog and engage in all those activities you used to do with your deceased pet like going for a walk in the park, playing fetch, etc. (If your dog has puppies then that's better, you can take console in the puppies, that's one of the thing I did).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surround your self with friends who know how close your dog was to you and understand your loss. They'll help in your recovery&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also know that in life there will always be lapses but life goes on and your grief will pass with time. The amount of time that it will take for grief to pass depends on how close your dog was to you, how he died and his age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-15T23:51:23.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="692" CreationDate="2013-10-16T01:43:38.157" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;‘Wool Block’ and ‘Hairball’ are the same thing, and the terms may be used interchangeably, bunnies groom themselves and the hair stays in their gut.  They are incapable of vomiting so the only avenue is for it to pass through. The primary cause is lack of GI mobility generally combined with a lack of fiber.  Hay should be available at all times to a bunny, to maintain digestive health. There are a lot of opinions on treatments, but as far as I am aware there are not any hard scientific studies on best treatments.   There are many folk remedies, they all focus on getting something into the bunny to help break-up and move the blockage.  The following is a case study of bunny with extreme examples of a hairball and weight issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Common sense also dictates that keeping your pet rabbit, well brushed will decrease the amount of fur that is available for digestion&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Case Study&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this Writing Baxter is about 11 Years old, and has been in our family since July 2009.  He is a brown and white Dutch.  He spent his early years in a first grade school class room.  He came to us when the teacher was no longer able to keep him in the class room.  He was morbidly obese as seen in the pictures below, with a similarly rabbit of normal weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GNZuU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDZYY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must admit that at the time we did not realize the severity of his condition, we took him to a vet who was an exotic vet, but not as skilled in rabbits as we had thought.   I won’t go into details, but the visit turned out to be less then helpful.  Harmony on the left was our first bunny rescued from the local humane society &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpahumane.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WPHS&lt;/a&gt; a couple of months previously.  Baxter and Harmony were bonded and living together in about 2 weeks (these photos are an early bonding session).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the next several months we became more active in the local bunny community, started volunteering at the shelter and interacting with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pittsburgh-House-Rabbit-Club/142498945793514&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh House Rabbit Club&lt;/a&gt;, Baxter was losing weight and we were getting more educated about bunnies.  Baxter and Harmony were sharing an endless supply of hay, Fresh greens twice a day and about two table spoons of pellets twice a day, plenty of water and a salt lick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In about February 2010, Baxter had an “Episode” he stopped eating, seemed to be in some pain, and possibly having seizures.  This was our first bunny medical emergency, we reached out to the bunny community and were put in touch with one of the founders of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitwranglers.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Wranglers&lt;/a&gt;, we managed to get through the episode with a live bunny, and scheduled a visit with an exceptional rabbit vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exam revealed a large mass in Baxter’s stomach, on x-ray he was found to have a huge hairball in his stomach (I have an x-ray but the scanner will not pick up the image).  The hairball was about twice the size of his head.  He had some irregular labs (CA 13.3 mg/dl; ALT 78U/L ; ALKP 46 U/L; CHOL 30 mg/dl) and the vet was worried about his kidneys.  His molars needed to be trimmed.  Several options were discussed for treating the hairball. We learned that a rabbit always has some hair in their stomach so the goal was not to completely eliminate it, just get it to a point that it did not interfere with GI mobility &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/gi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sluggish Motility in the Gastrointestinal Tract, Susan Brown, DVM&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We went home worried about the long term health of our bunny.  It was obvious that months of “proper diet” had not controlled the hairball.  We tried raw pineapple juice for a couple weeks, but did not notice a notable change in the hairball (it was very easy to feel just by touching his belly), nor did we notice an increase in linked poops (when passing hair bunny poop is often connected by the hair).  Realizing the risk of prolonged consumption of high sugar foods we discontinued the pineapple.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Digestibility in the Rabbit Diet, Marinell Harriman in consultation with Carolynn Harvey, DVM&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some question if it is the increased moisture or the enzymes that impact the hairball, and as I have said previously there is not overwhelming scientific data for any solution.  We began adding canned pumpkin to his diet (NOT Pumpkin pie filling).  Pumpkin is a popular remedy for diet replacement in sick bunnies and those who have lost all their teeth due to massive dental issues.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the next couple of years, there have been multiple reoccurrences of the episode; presumably GI Stasis, but his presentation is slightly different then I have heard others described, and it has not reoccurred while in the presence of others more skilled.  The possibility also exists that gas is part of the issue.  For the first couple of years every episode was followed by a vet visit, a regime of Reglan (and occasional other GI drugs).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our current emergency response to any suspected GI Stasis is to give gas drops right away (He will often lick berry flavored “Little Tummys Gas Drops” out of a spoon) force feed if necessary.  If we don’t see positive results within an hour or two, we feed baby food, carrots, banana or squash are all good choices, again by force if necessary.  So far he has always returned to his normal diet.  Sometimes within 12 hours, but occasionally it has taken a couple weeks.  Prolonged delay in return to normal, general involves a vet visit and Reglan.  We discussed the possibility of surgical removal of the hairball but, our vet strongly discouraged this, he says that half of the bunnies do not survive stomach surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baxter continued to lose weight, it was probably six months before he could see his front paws around his &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewlap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dewlap&lt;/a&gt;.  Even today his dewlap has not retracted, it is no longer full of fat, but is just baggy skin (See image of a normal sixed Baxter and two friends).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d5Jpz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The increase in Pumpkin resulted in a decrease in hay consumption.  We know of several bunnies that lived years with pumpkin as their only source of fiber so this does not cause us undue worry, one side effect in Baxter has been a decrease in the size of his poop, and a need for teeth trimming a couple times a year.  At some point around a year after joining our family it became clear that Baxter was getting too skinny.  We increased the pumpkin and added extra food pellets to his diet, the hairball was shrinking and by around 2 years it had shrunk to an acceptable size.  But much like the skin of his dewlap that had not receded, it seems his stomach also did not rebound from the stretching.  It is difficult to diagnosis but it seems that his stomach is no longer as effective at digesting food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baxter will occasionally binge on salt and water, licking the salt lick and then drinking water, repeating for several minutes.  There is no doubt that it took years for the hairball to get to a reasonable size.  In our estimation it was the salt and water, and/or the pumpkin that ultimately dissolved the hairball.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently Baxter is part of a bonded trio (Lyra is the white bunny) He shares regular meals and a “proper diet” with the girls, in addition twice a day he has two heaping table spoons of pumpkin, a teaspoon of rolled oats and two table spoon of pellets (this is easily doubling the normal diet for the other two). His weight is stable but remains a little under ideal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; 2 years later: Baxter continued to have digestive issue and bouts of stasis.  As he got older his interest in food slacked, and it became more difficult to keep his weight up.  At the age of 13 he passed, with issues related to age and digestive health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-08-28T11:02:00.627" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T11:02:00.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="937" CreationDate="2013-10-16T01:52:34.087" Score="41" ViewCount="5988" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem of pilling a cat is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nanceestar.com/CatPill.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;well-understood&lt;/a&gt;, but I've found its solution to be evasive.  I understand that in principle I should be able to open the cat's mouth, toss a pill in (or use my finger to push it in the back of the throat), hold the mouth shut, and massage the throat until I see a swallow.  My vet can do this, but so far I can't.  The cat manages to spit it out anyway, either during the pilling process or after having hidden it in the corner of his mouth until I let go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00076HUB4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;pill plungers&lt;/a&gt;, where you load a pill into a plastic plunger-like device and then push it in, but they tend to not work well with very small pills (like methimazole) or capsules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MJ3jd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pill plunger&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of recruiting another person to hold the cat (so I can easily use both hands), or getting out the duct tape, how can I effectively give a cat a pill?  It's not always medically advised to crush the pill (or open the capsule) into a can of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T04:00:00.427" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T11:05:21.637" Title="How do I give a cat a pill?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-10-16T04:24:49.967" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cat that required daily medication, and it was a struggle to give the cat a pill.  The cat would often spit the pill out.  We eventually found out that there was a transdermal version of the medication that we applied to the inside of the cat's ear daily.  This was much easier for us to do.  You might want to ask your vet if this is an option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T04:24:49.967" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="748" CreationDate="2013-10-16T06:33:35.957" Score="11" ViewCount="3425" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently inherited an angora goat from a cousin, as she had to move and we have a largish yard (1 acre).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been feeding her kitchen scraps, potato peelings, fruit and vegetable leftovers and even, bread crusts (not meat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if this is healthy for the goat and really what sort of diet should this goat be on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:46:43.790" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:46:43.790" Title="Is it ok to feed my goat kitchen scraps?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;goats&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="734" CreationDate="2013-10-16T06:38:17.733" Score="4" ViewCount="2149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for me to use human medicine on my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there occasions where it is OK to give my cat human medications?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T15:46:36.680" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T20:15:51.683" Title="Can I give my cat human medicine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-10-16T07:04:55.343" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought long and hard about this  question. I haven't had much success teaching anyone to do this single handedly. I can, but have been taught by vet school and had years of practice. I just don't think it's something I can or would advise someone, who would come online for help with to do single handedly.  Two is better unless you already know how to do it single handedly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When taught how to handle cats in animal husbandry and through decades of owning and assisting other people with their pet cats, I have found a cat can be successfully dosed by  two people working together in a the following well coordinated fashion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's best to have everything prepared prior to the pill dosing, without bringing this to your cat's attention, to help prevent a Pavlovian response, for example, to you removing certain objects from cupboards.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Required:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a towel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a small amount of wet cat food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the pill &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrap up the cat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Get an averaged size bath towel, if you can manage a larger one that's fine too, but the larger ones can become cumbersome when trying to manage the cat and medication. At home, it's much easier to wrap your cat up in a towel. As the vet does this all day long for a living and pet owner's tend to only need to dose their cats periodically, for worming or the occasional sickness. Have your pill within arms reach.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't dawdle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is best done as swiftly as possible, but without being in a raced nervous manner that becomes bungled and prolongs the process and agitation of the cat, reducing the chances of successful dosing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sit down&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I find it is easier to do this sitting down, it helps to focus on the task. Gently talk to your cat in a reassuring tone and wrap her in the towel, bring the towel from around her chest, so that the towel is wrapped around the cat (usually) twice. Her head should be popping out of the top of her wrap. This prevents her from using her paws to object. Keep the cat firmly within your arms, in a nice firm (not too hard) cuddle hold, with both arms around the cat. Do not let go until the entire process is complete.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Administering the medicine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The other person then gently places thumb and forefingers at either side of the cats jaws. Gently applied pressure at the joint of the jaws will force the mouth to open. Keep the pressure applied and insert the tablet with the other hand, sliding the pill into the cats mouth, down the side of the mouth (you don't want to push it into the cat's windpipe). Try and push the pill as far down the side of the mouth, as comfortably possible, so it ends up under, or at least beside the tongue. It is the tongue that enables the cat to spit the pill out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keeping it down&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then gently, but firmly hold the cats jaws closed with one or both hands and gently pull your cat's head back slightly, so that your cat's chin is pointing upwards and the neck is straightened at the front (don't push the head back too far, it's important not to extend the animal's movements beyond what they would extend with comfort naturally). This assists in encouraging the cat's urge to swallow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making sure the cat swallows&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have found two tricks, blowing gently on the cat's nose, or wiping a slither of wet cat food on the cats nose. This usually causes the cat to lick her nose and also induces the swallowing reflex. These same principles, minus the towel work for dogs. The cat's mouth and throat will make a visible movement as she swallows the medicine. After this, she cannot spit it out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: It would be advisable for an owner to get a vet or other expert to walk them through this process if they've never done it before.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T09:15:32.707" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T09:15:32.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="737" CreationDate="2013-10-16T07:16:24.987" Score="18" ViewCount="118674" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my neighbor's fish coincidentally died during the time I was caring for them. I immediately removed it from the fish tank, but I didn't know what to do with it. Flushing a pet down the toilet seems rude, and it might block the pipes. My mom suggested to leave it in an open space so any bird or street cat can eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I think about it now, I fear this fish might have carried a disease which could spread to its consumer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a respectful way to dispose of a dead fish's body without affecting any other life form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-20T13:53:44.563" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T13:53:44.563" Title="How should I dispose of a dead fish's body?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="729" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="730" CreationDate="2013-10-16T07:22:21.443" Score="4" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently adopted a donkey. Having no experience of donkeys, I am wondering what foot care they need, are they similar to horses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T07:36:46.867" Title="How do I care for my donkey's feet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;donkeys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="729" CreationDate="2013-10-16T07:36:46.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Care for your donkey's feet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check his feet regularly and trim his overgrown hoofs. This will help to prevent foot problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor the weight of your donkey. A slim donkey will hardly have foot problems unlike and overweight donkey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take your donkey out for daily exercise. This will stregthen the bones in his foot. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take him to see your veterinary dog if you suspect foot problems like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;laminitis&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Application of hoof oil on your donkey could also help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have much much experience in hoof trimming, you could find a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;farrier&lt;/a&gt; that will do the job for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T07:36:46.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2013-10-16T09:18:15.353" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are various ways you could dispose of a fish depending on how close the fish was to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Burial : You could dig up the ground somewhere and bury the fish there (and probably put a memorial plaque of the fish there).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cremating : You could burn the fish. Either you just put it some where and burn it or create a fireplace for it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trash : You could dispose it off with your trash.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could also create a memorial pot for the fish and put it there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to note that it is very wrong to flush it or just dump it in a river, lake or stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-03-14T11:48:29.573" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T11:48:29.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="732" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-16T09:46:56.430" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T09:46:56.430" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T09:46:56.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="733" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-16T09:46:56.430" Score="0" Body="The demise of a beloved pet. Includes dealing with the remains of the pet, burial procedures and coping with the death of the pet." OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T22:33:40.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T22:33:40.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="726" CreationDate="2013-10-16T10:03:17.977" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never give pets human medication unless advised by your local Veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People may be tempted to try and save money, by bypassing a trip to the Vet or paying for expensive Veterinary medications and products. Unfortunately the cost of looking after our pets can be high, but to try and help our pets with well meaning shortcuts, by using human products and medications is not a viable solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals metabolise drugs differently from human beings and differently between species. What may be effective in a human being, may be harmful or potentially fatal for their cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/pets/cats/cat-health/common-cat-poisons&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common Cat Poisons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medications&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aspirin:&lt;/strong&gt;   ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The signs of aspirin toxicity in cats are dose-dependant and may include anorexia, vomiting, gastric haemorrhage, anaemia and hyperthermia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paracetamol (also known as Acetaminophen):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Cats are extremely sensitive to paracetamol toxicity.  ...   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ibuprofen:&lt;/strong&gt;    ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The signs of ibuprofen toxicity in cats are vomiting, depression, anorexia and diarrhoea.  ...   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other medications that should not be given to your cat as they can be potentially lethal, even in small doses, include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Antidepressants&lt;/strong&gt; – can cause vomiting and lethargy with certain types&#xA;  leading to serotonin syndrome.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;ADHD medications&lt;/strong&gt; – act as a stimulant&#xA;  and dangerously elevate heart rate, blood pressure and body&#xA;  temperature.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Anti-cancer drugs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Anti-diabetics&lt;/strong&gt; – cause a major drop in&#xA;  blood sugar levels causing disorientation, lack of coordination and&#xA;  seizures.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Cold medicines – acts as a stimulant causing elevated heart&#xA;  rates, blood pressure, body temperature and seizures.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Vitamin D&#xA;  derivatives – cause life-threatening spikes in blood calcium levels in&#xA;  pets that can lead to kidney failure. Diet pills.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Muscle relaxants –&#xA;  can impair the central nervous system and lead to death. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As well as human medicines, some veterinary treatments, not tailored for cats can also be harmful for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/2013/01/top-five-cat-toxins-of-2012/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;the top five most common toxins that caused emergencies:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Topical spot-on insecticides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Household cleaners  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Antidepressants  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Poisonous plants  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Human and veterinary NSAIDS  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Topical spot-on insecticides&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Concentrated topical flea and tick medications made for dogs contain pyrethrins or pyrethroids, which are highly toxic to cats. Poisoning in cats can occur when pet owners apply dog insecticides to their cats, or when cats lick the medications off dogs. Cats can suffer severe drooling, tremors and life-threatening seizures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The only exception:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On the written advice of a Veterinarian:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For instance, you take your dog to the Veterinarian and the Vet gives you written instructions on the use of any over the counter medications  with explicit dosage guides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Department of Environment and Primary Industries  (DEPI)&#xA;Victorian State Government  Australia (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet Poison Helpline&lt;br&gt;&#xA;US, Canada, Carribean (2)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T10:17:57.560" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T10:17:57.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="677" CreationDate="2013-10-16T11:00:18.383" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bunnies leash train very easily.  The two primary concerns are choice of a harness and a leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the harness choose one that is soft, and can be attached snugly.  I personally prefer the Comfort Harness by Super Pet.  It is soft, pliable and mesh so it breathes well. It comes with Velcro straps and buckles.  Personally, I cut the buckles off and just use the Velcro. In bunny to bunny language, attempts to work your way under the other bunny is dominance behavior (you will groom me!) so the less time you spend under the bunny the less you will disturb them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a leash, I prefer a retractable leash of 10 to 20 feet.  The small ones are fine, but it is important that end closest to the bunny is wide enough to get bit and not break.  The first leash I used had a narrow nylon cord and lasted about 3 minutes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I volunteer at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpahumane.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WPHS&lt;/a&gt; and often take bunnies to off-site events on harness and leash (always an attention getter).  In my experience, 9 out 10 bunnies will adjust to it immediately.  However, proper balance of environment, bunny comfort level and handler experience is critical in all situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two Key points&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The largest hurdle is getting the harness securely without upsetting your bunny.  You have to fasten under their neck, and this is a bunny's least favorite place to be handled. Once it is on, you're fine.  Some may try to chew at it, but most will ignore it once it is in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, once the bunny is on the leash and harness, keep your eye on the bunny and stay behind the bunny. A bunny is narrower in the front, and if he pulls backwards against harness he will get loose.  The leash is to keep you attached to the bunny, you can prevent him from going under things (like chairs &amp;amp; tables), and generally just follow him around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When going out&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not let the leash and harness give you too much confidence. Both you and your bunny need to learn and adjust to then new processes. Go slow; let your bunny become accustom to new things slowly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When going outside for the first time.  Use an excercise pen (without a leash) to allow the rabbit to become accustom to it.  Many house rabbits have never been outside in thier entire life, it is a big scary place out there, it takes time to addjust. Some rabbits may never be appropriate on a leash outside, after 3 years one of ours is still only allowed outside in an exercise pen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bunny becomes fearful, begins to struggle in the harness, or becomes tangled, address the situation immediately. Thing can go from fun to bad in one second or less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A bunny on leash requires your constant attention.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pictures below show two different rabbits in super pet harness, at different off site events.  The dark bunny was a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=PA323&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Wrangler Bunny&lt;/a&gt; at an event this spring he has since been adopted. The White bunny with black spots is Ruby at an event on October 20, 2013.  (&lt;em&gt;She was adopted on November 29,  2013 but several others remain &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpahumane.org/adopt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;available for adoption&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nyd7u.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Brown rabbit on leash&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LVOQO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Brown rabbit on leash&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dl3IE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;White rabbit with black spots on leash&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3OKch.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;White rabbit with black spots on leash&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related considerations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take your rabbit outside they will be exposed to fleas and other parasites, proper prevention is required, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925&quot;&gt;How do I get rid of fleas on my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits don't actually &quot;walk&quot; anyplace when you have them on a leash. If you set them on ground in a safe place with grass to eat, they sit there and eat grass.  If you set them on the ground in an unsafe place (&lt;em&gt;i.e. the side of the road you want to walk on&lt;/em&gt;) they will look for a safe place and hide there.  The prefer shade to full sun. They prefer being undercover to being in the open. In the open your rabbit is at risk from birds of prey, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126&quot;&gt;even if she is on a leash next to you&lt;/a&gt; and other preditors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T10:31:09.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-10-16T11:22:49.057" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taught this by a veterinarian that was also selling a product that would help you do that and I've been inquiring about really interested in buying it, and she said I don't need it and it's a waste of my money, so I trusted her and I can confirm her instructions work surprisingly well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you do is find those tweezers (a.k.a. eyelash pliers) and put the pill at its end so you have a firm grip (but gentle enough not to squash the pill). Most pills would have the middle section with an engraved line to help you split it in half, so that should help hold it steady with your tweezers. Now find your cat... here, kitty kitty. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have both your cat in one hand and the tweezers with the pill in the other, try to do this as fast as you can: hold your cat for the excess skin at the back of her neck quite firmly and with resolve and move it so her head leans a bit on one side. You'll notice that the skin you're holding for will push the cat's skin next to the edge of her mouth slightly open, like she's giving you the looks why in hell you're molesting her. Now go with tweezers pill first over that mouth edge and press a bit so the cat opens her mouth. Insert the pill and pull the cat's head upwards while massaging her throat with a few downwards strokes, maybe for two to three seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All done. I don't have any photos but I hope I described it well enough so you can imagine how that would go. Make sure you're persistent enough the first time around to succeed, otherwise you'll have a hard time finding your cat to do it the second time around. It should take you at most 15 seconds all of it, and the cat won't resent you too much either once you get a hang of doing it. After 2 minutes of conversation with my veterinarian, she explained it to me well enough I've done it good and fast the first time around. And she saved me a few bucks for some odd looking plastic apparatus, whatever its name was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T11:22:49.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2013-10-16T12:38:58.020" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Precious Tijesunimi mentioned, it is wrong to flush a fish, live or dead (perhaps especially not live, as this is how many harmful species get introduced to environments they don't belong to... not to mention it is cruel).  Especially don't place it into a &quot;natural&quot; ecosystem!  In fact, both of these options may be illegal in many areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your area, cremation may not be a legal option (I know some areas have restrictions on open fires of any type).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burial and trash strike me as the best solution.  However, there are some caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you bury it, bury it deep enough that neighborhood critters (cats, raccoons, dogs, or any other scavengers) don't smell it (you don't want to smell it, either!).  Consider placing a decent-sized rock over the burial location, both to discourage digging, and to mark the spot as a memorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you throw it in the trash... place it in a ziplock bag, first!  Rotting fish is a very pungent odor, and your neighbors and your trash collectors will appreciate this basic step towards preventing the stench from spreading.  Plus, it will also reduce the chances of critters trying to go through your garbage until it is collected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T12:38:58.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="742" CreationDate="2013-10-16T13:45:19.547" Score="4" ViewCount="2609" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter just came in with a fairly large chameleon that our cat caught and wounded.  It's got big puncture wounds in both its sides from the cat's teeth, and very traumatized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what to do to (a) calm it down, and (b) give it some chance of healing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:19:46.953" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:19:46.953" Title="How to heal a wounded chameleon?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2013-10-16T16:56:03.293" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="458" CreationDate="2013-10-16T15:25:19.937" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supervised outdoor time is fine, provided that you take adequate precautions to ensure that the cat stays supervised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've let our cats out onto enclosed balconies, and an enclosed screened-in porch, and they clearly enjoyed it (well, 2 of the 3).  A cat harness, such as John Cavan suggests, is also a good solution, although some cats will not handle any sort of leash or harness well at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people even go so far as to build elaborate outdoor cat enclosures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gNHfp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;An outdoor cat enclosure&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.familychristensen.org/pets_outside.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here are more images&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother built one for her two cats, and they definitely seem to enjoy it (hers is nowhere near as elaborate as the one pictured above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing is to ensure that your pets are safe while outside.  Cars, other animals (not just dogs, but also other cats, and various other mammals depending upon where you live), or even your neighbors can all pose serious risks to a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T15:25:19.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="260" CreationDate="2013-10-16T16:03:07.230" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A combination brush which is bristle on one side and pin on the other has worked well for me.  The bristle brush is good for her body fur, which is straight and medium-length so it doesn't tend to tangle. I use the pin brush on her ears, which have the long, curly spaniel fur that can get tangled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I discounted the pin brush initially is that I was looking for one brush to use for all her fur, and the pin brush had no effect on her body fur.  Once I realized the two fur types were so different, I decided to take a combination approach, which has worked well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T19:12:42.627" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T19:12:42.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="738" CreationDate="2013-10-16T16:35:34.843" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a serious injury like that, you should try and find a veterinarian qualified to deal with reptiles.  You may want to check local animal rescue services for recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://muchadoaboutchameleons.blogspot.com/2013/02/when-in-doubt-ask-vet.html&quot;&gt;Here is some specific advice about injuries to chameleons, including cat bites&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have seen chameleons (and other reptiles) with very serious burns, cat bites, cuts, and other injuries and people do not seem to consider them emergencies. ALL injuries of this kind &lt;strong&gt;(especially cat bites)&lt;/strong&gt; are capable of getting infected, becoming necrotic, and causing death. Additionally, they are also very painful, even if reptiles don't show pain like other animals. All of these injuries should be brought to the attention of a vet, so antibiotics, ointments, or surgery can be prescribed if appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have seen so many really serious and horrific injuries and infections in reptiles, whose owners think that these injuries can be treated at home with something like peroxide and neosporin. They need proper antibiotics or other more serious medical intervention to save them, and most people simply do not have the products or experience to treat anything like this at home. Using the wrong product could be even worse than doing nothing. Again, go to a vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding calming the chameleon... this is a wild animal, not a domesticated pet.  Furthermore, it is injured (possibly quite severely).  The only way to calm it is to leave it alone as much as possible.  It will perceive you, your daughter, and especially your cat as a dangerous predator, and even seeing you will likely cause it considerable stress in its current condition.  I suggest putting it in a box (one that lets air in, of course, but which it can't escape from), and bring it to a vet ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-16T16:41:14.677" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T16:41:14.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="745" CreationDate="2013-10-16T20:01:14.940" Score="12" ViewCount="525" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes ferrets can get a little stinky. I've also heard that using shampoos and sprays on them can make their skin dry out and make them stink more in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I keep them from smelling bad without using harsh shampoos and chemicals? The ferrets were obtained from a big chain pet store and have been spayed/neutered and de-scented. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="153" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T21:31:37.563" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T16:34:33.657" Title="How can I prevent my ferrets from smelling bad?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2013-10-16T20:13:15.857" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can bathe your ferrets, so long as you don't do it too often.  Once a month is the most frequent I've ever heard a vet or other relatively expert opinion on ferrets express.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_11?url=search-alias%3Dpets&amp;amp;field-keywords=ferret+shampoo&amp;amp;sprefix=ferret+sham%2Caps%2C237&quot;&gt;shampoo&lt;/a&gt; formulated specifically for ferrets, as they will be less harsh on their skin and the oils they naturally produce.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The few times I bathed my ferrets, I used &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002ASZVY&quot;&gt;this product&lt;/a&gt;, and had good success with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from infrequent bathing, you can help cut down on the musky smell associated with even descented ferrets by cleaning their bedding and any other washable &quot;furniture&quot; they might spend a lot of time in (tubes, hammocks, etc.) frequently.  Bedding in particular tends to pick up a lot of the oils, and it becomes a feedback loop of stink if you don't keep them clean :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=1854&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; that provides some good general tips on bathing your ferrets that may be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T20:13:15.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2013-10-16T20:18:20.477" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The odor you smell is their skin oil and it is completely natural. You can reduce the odor by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pay attention to your ferret's diet.&lt;/strong&gt; Proper food can reduce odor.&#xA;  Ferrets are obligate carnivores so make sure you're not feeding him anything (diet or treats) that has corn, wheat, fruit, vegetable, fruit juices, or sugar as one of the first three ingredients. Fish ingredients also greatly increases the smell of the food and the ferret. Just because a bag of food has a picture of a ferret on it or was being fed to your ferret at the pet store does not mean that it offers your pet a nutritious, less smelly diet. Appropriate food will have 35 to 40 percent protein and no less than 19 percent fat. A good diet will give your ferret well formed droppings that won't smell too bad as well as soft shiny fur, bright eyes, high energy, and overall happiness. Source : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Ferret-Odor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Reduce Ferret Odor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, If your ferret is in a cage or litter box, you should make sure the cage is always in a ventilated area and clean it regularly. Clean their ears on a weekly basis because most of the smell is generated from their ears and not cleaning will tend to increase the odor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:39:08.540" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:39:08.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="747" CreationDate="2013-10-16T20:37:51.877" Score="19" ViewCount="20511" Body="&lt;p&gt;The top and bottom of my tortoise's shell tend to get messy from wet substrate, waste, etc. How can I safely clean the shell, without damaging it in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T14:23:31.857" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T15:39:14.577" Title="How can I clean the shell of my tortoise?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="746" CreationDate="2013-10-16T20:37:51.877" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was afraid of damaging the shell (particularly in the growth regions) by scrubbing at it, so the tortoise's vet recommended using something like baby shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baby shampoo has had some unfavorable press in the last few years due to additives. However, most of these additives have been removed from the formulations, and it also uses mild surfactants instead of soap. Surfactants are safer than soap to use in the growth regions in between the scutes (plates) of the shell, because these regions can dry out with regular soap, causing cracking and disturbing the natural &quot;growth rings&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a soft cloth or chamois to gently wipe the surface and rinsing the tortoise well to get rid of any residue will remove most of the surface dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2014-06-09T23:13:23.527" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T23:13:23.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="725" CreationDate="2013-10-16T21:03:37.927" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aunt raises goats (specifically, she raises Saanen goats and Toggenburg goats for the most part, but she has had a couple of Angora goats in her time), and she always taught me that we could feed the goats almost any fruit or vegetable table scraps, except melons, because those were apparently prone to giving the animals diarrhea, which is super unpleasant. These things should be treats, though, same as the bread, and should not compose the entirety of the goat's diet. She taught me as a kid that they are like &quot;goat candy&quot; - good sometimes, but not as the only food they get. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goats are browsers, generally, and your Angora is no exception! They love having grass and such to nibble on, so making sure they can do that is important. If there isn't grass to feed on, giving them hay is a good substitute. Be warned, though - the goat is likely to try eating anything and everything plant like, so make sure that they are fenced off from anything you don't want them to at least try to nibble upon. (This includes small trees and bushes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using hay to supplement the goat's diet, they generally won't eat anything that has been walked on or laid on. This shouldn't be too much of a problem since you appear to have only one goat, but it is something to be aware of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grain is also good for the goat, and you can get recommendations from a feed store or the like about what would be good for your goat (it can vary depending on age and other factors). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also making sure they get a lot of water is important, as it is with any animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nice beginning guide to Angora Goat care is &lt;a href=&quot;http://4h.msue.msu.edu/uploads/resources/4H1480Your4-HAngoraGoatProject.pdf&quot;&gt;this 4-H project guide&lt;/a&gt;, it gives further tips on how to feed the goat, and how to care for it. I have summed up a lot of the information here, but it has other care tips beyond feeding, and might be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-16T21:03:37.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="896" CreationDate="2013-10-16T21:16:14.200" Score="25" ViewCount="911" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that invisible fences work by giving the dog a shock through his/her collar when they get near the fence. Is this shock dangerous to dogs? Can repeated exposure cause long term health risks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know that some of these invisible fences use ultrasound. Is this harmful to dogs? Can repeated exposure to ultrasound cause long term health risks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T20:54:03.317" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T12:58:31.687" Title="Do invisible fences pose long term health risks to dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="750" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-16T22:25:08.993" Score="12" ViewCount="1887" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, from what I've seen and heard amongst various sources, my Bichon puppy should have had her first season at approximately 6 months. She is just over 11 months and hasn't yet had her first season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, should I be worried? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, we don't plan on breeding her, we were planning on having her spayed after her first season (that's what seems to be recommended).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="147" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T08:31:58.043" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:23:58.233" Title="Should I be worried that my 11 month old Bichon Frise hasn't had her first season?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1688" CreationDate="2013-10-16T22:28:05.523" Score="14" ViewCount="7584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three pet hermit crabs, and they live in a 10 gallon fish tank. How often should I clean this hermit crab tank? How often should the sand be replaced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorUserId="79" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T03:37:28.547" LastActivityDate="2019-10-29T06:56:29.663" Title="How often should a hermit crab tank be cleaned?" Tags="&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-17T02:17:12.880" Score="6" ViewCount="3608" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://australianmuseum.net.au/Eastern-Blue-tongue-Lizard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blue tongue lizard&lt;/a&gt; that has been living with us in our garden for  a few years. He is large, approx 50 cm long (1.5 - 2 foot long)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We regard him as a pet, even though he not in an enclosures, and we take precautions to keep him safe and try to make sure he is healthy. Over time he has become pretty relaxed with us, but he gets stressed when we get within a few feet of him. We are about him and don't want him to feel threatened by us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do to make him feel more relaxed around us? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;nb,  this question is being asked retrospectively. We regarded him as a pet and called him Harry after our late dog.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/75/how-do-i-introduce-our-dog-to-a-brand-new-baby/200#200&quot;&gt;How do I introduce our dog to a brand new baby&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-03-26T05:50:34.607" Title="How to tame a blue tongue lizard" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="838" CreationDate="2013-10-17T04:35:00.637" Score="9" ViewCount="830" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has recently acquired a snapping turtle no smaller than a couple of inches long and we are wondering what we can feed it. Since it is so small we figured that we should be careful with what we feed it.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We believe a tank with room temperature water and some land for it to walk on would be a good habitat for the turtle to live.  Can someone verify that for me as well? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T10:38:37.313" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T10:38:37.313" Title="How can one care for a small snapping turtle?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2013-10-17T05:33:09.867" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people keep hamsters in 10-gallon tanks, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/hamsters/tips/hamster_housing.html&quot;&gt;Humane Society&lt;/a&gt; writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Size: &lt;b&gt;Minimum 24 inches long and 12 inches wide; 10-gallon aquariums are too small.&lt;/b&gt; Consider not only size but shape—a long aquarium is better than a tall aquarium with unused height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you might want to consider a larger 20-gallon tank if you can manage it.  Hamsters are very active and like to run around a lot, and they like to have different areas for different things: one place for food storage, another for sleeping, and so on.  They're really quite happy with more space!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't think that's why your friend's hamster is always trying to get out.  To be honest, that's just normal hamster behavior!  I've had over a hundred pet hamsters, and I can tell you that most of them were very happy and had more than enough space, but they'd all try to escape anyway.  In fact, hamsters are well known for this behavior: they're often referred to as &quot;escape artists&quot;!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure they can't get anywhere they can hurt themselves.  Make sure any Habitrail lids (or other openable sections) are securely fastened.  Hamsters chew everything in sight, and they can eventually gnaw away the tab that holds a skyhouse shut and pop it open.  Or they can chew an opening large enough to squeeze through--they can squish themselves through surprisingly small spaces! So make sure you regularly inspect your hamster's living environment and keep it secure, whether it's large or small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user43" LastEditorDisplayName="user43" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T05:58:31.973" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T05:58:31.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2013-10-17T08:36:54.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Female_Dog_Heat_Cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Understanding the Heat Cycle of Female Dogs&lt;/a&gt;, By Kelly Roper , there doesn't seem to be a &lt;strong&gt;hard fast&lt;/strong&gt; rule as I'd been previously told (even by a Vet!!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;em&gt;loosely&lt;/em&gt; based guideline though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While it is not a hard rule, most females come into their first heat cycle around six months of age, although some females wait as long 12 to 18 months old. Very large breed females may begin cycling as late as 24 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T08:23:58.233" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:23:58.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-10-17T09:32:03.140" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;While our cat bravely eats her blood-pressure lowering pills on her own (apparently they're tasty), she &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; evaded taking others (antibiotics I think) due to them tasting horribly. For a while, hiding the pills in treats worked quite well and I was hoping to Pavlov her into associating taking the pill with receiving treats, but ultimately she figured it out and spit out the pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, the trick was grinding the pills and mixing them with her favourite food - fish of course...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T09:32:03.140" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="615" CreationDate="2013-10-17T10:03:02.573" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_%28cat%29&quot;&gt;Thai&lt;/a&gt; also doesn't sit in our laps, she merely stays there maybe once a month if we lift her there. This does however not mean she doesn't like us, it's just that her breed (and Siams, and probably others as well) is not as clingy as others. So if the other hints given to you here don't work, don't worry - maybe she's just a lady who prefers to sit close to you but not &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; your lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T10:03:02.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="759" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="763" CreationDate="2013-10-17T10:47:12.093" Score="8" ViewCount="22144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 or 10 year old Cocker Spaniel mix. There is definitely some poodle in him as well. How long is he expected to live?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T15:51:29.737" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T23:54:36.400" Title="What is the average lifespan of a Cocker Spaniel dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="762" CreationDate="2013-10-17T11:16:28.987" Score="9" ViewCount="850" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of information online debating the optimal age to de-sex a cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted two 16-week-old kittens, a brother and sister, from a shelter. &#xA;They were already desexed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering how the early de-sexing of these cats may have affected them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-03T16:46:44.843" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T16:46:44.843" Title="How does early desexing affect my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2013-10-17T11:16:28.987" Score="8" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Early-Age Desexing (also referred to as EAD), has been a widely accepted practice in Australia over the past decade. It was originally tried in the US in the 1980s and has since been adopted by the vast majority of pet welfare organisations throughout Australia, including the RSPCA (which is often at the forefront of Animal Rights issues and the formation of best practice guidelines, that become adopted by our Governments).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There has been research and debate about the benefits and risks of EAD and the consensus here, seems to be that, overall, the benefits of EAD on pet cats is far greater than possible drawbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As cats can come into season as early as four months, early desexing prevents any unwanted litters that may be born when the, previously recommended 6 - 8 months of age desexing was practiced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;EAD has been known to provide a variety of health benefits for cats, including the reduction of urinary tract health problems and  some cancers. It has also been shown to help reduce behavioural problems pet owners experience, as the result of sexual maturation, including spraying and wandering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the down side, cats that are desexed before 16 weeks of age are prone to growing larger, which is not to be confused with obesity. It is also, not recommended for small animals &amp;lt; 1 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note the majority of the pets I have owned and cared for through welfare organisations have all been desexed prior to 16 weeks of age and I have noticed that these pets have not suffered the same degree of behaviour issues that can be associated with sexual maturity. From a health point of view, I haven't experienced a complication as a result of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://petsaustralia.org/the-big-issues/early-age-desexing-for-dogs-cats-blessing-or-curse/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Early Age Desexing for Dogs &amp;amp; Cats – Blessing or Curse?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a comprehensive study by the University of Queensland,&#xA;advantages of Early Age Desexing include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;shorter recovery times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;minimal blood loss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;cats and dogs desexed early tend to be bigger as adults, because bone maturity is delayed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;reduced frequency of urinary disease in cats (3% vs 17% for late desexed). Urinary disease is a key cause of illness in older cats and&#xA;this is a major change&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;reduced aggression in cats and dogs, even compared with the positive effects of later desexing  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Why-does-the-RSPCA-advocate-early-age-desexing_419.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RSPCA Australia:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... over the past decade, desexing at an earlier age (from eight weeks onwards) has become more common. This is known as early-age desexing or EAD. The RSPCA has been desexing kittens and puppies in its shelters at this earlier age for many years, and based on this experience and the cumulation of considerable scientific evidence, the RSPCA considers EAD to be a safe and effective strategy for the wider community to prevent unplanned/unwanted litters in cats and dogs.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;...&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Desexing surgery is faster and easier when carried out on younger patients as their anatomical structures are less developed. There is less tissue trauma and less tissue handling involved, the surgery incision site is smaller, and bleeding is reduced and minimal. It also takes less time to prepare the animals for EAD surgery which means less time under general anaesthesia. The anaesthetic recovery and wound healing times are also shorter, providing further animal welfare benefits. EAD significantly reduces the risk of mammary cancer in both dogs and cats. These benefits are in addition to all of the commonly accepted benefits associated with general desexing, such as a reduction in wandering/roaming and undesirable sexual behaviours such as mounting and urine spraying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;References&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pets Australia  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Report on Validity and Usefulness in Early Age Desexing in Dogs and Cats&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Department Primary Industries &amp;amp; Fisheries&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Queensland, Australia  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uq.edu.au/ccah/docs/15309finalreport.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T11:16:28.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="760" CreationDate="2013-10-17T11:43:32.793" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Skippy's excellent information, one thing I've noticed is that there's a much higher likelihood of hormonal issues with later-desexed animals. If the cat or dog is mature when the operation happens, their hormonal balance tends to &quot;freeze&quot; at the point where they were spayed or neutered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen this lead to compulsive over-eating, permanent &quot;in heat&quot; behavior, and other similar issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats I've lived with that were fixed before maturity (usually before 4 months - the vets I went to would spay a cat from 12 weeks on, and neuter &quot;as soon as the testicles dropped enough to see them&quot; (this was my brother-in-law, who is currently a vet in the Brisbane, Australia area)) never had any of these issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the cats I've lived with who were fixed young tended to be more affectionate and kittenish throughout their life where those fixed older tended to be less inclined to bond strongly with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T11:26:50.053" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T11:26:50.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="759" CreationDate="2013-10-17T12:12:51.717" Score="6" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cocker Spaniels usually live to 14 years, but with exceptional care have been known to live up to 16 years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poodles usually live to 15 years, (18 for a toy poodle).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cavoodles (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel crossed with Poodles) have a lifespan of 10-15 years; understandably Cavalier King Charles are a different breed than Cocker Spaniels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smaller dogs tend to live longer than big dogs. A cross-bred dog more &lt;em&gt;naturally&lt;/em&gt; mixed as yours sounds, tends to fare better in terms of health and behavior due to a widened gene pool.  Unfortunately, a lot of &lt;em&gt;designer&lt;/em&gt; hybrids can reveal health and behavior problems inherited from the two seeder breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without concrete statistical data for your dog, I can only estimate that your dog, being in good health at his age now, would have a good chance of living to 14 years, or longer with proper care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cherishedcockers.org/allaboutcockers.htm&quot;&gt;All About Cockers&lt;/a&gt; (Cherished Cockers)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pedigree.com.au/breeds/?b=57&amp;amp;p=c&quot;&gt;Cocker Spaniel&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pedigree.com/All-Things-Dog/Article-Library/The-Toy-Poodle-s-5-Biggest-Health-Risks.aspx&quot;&gt;Toy Poodles&lt;/a&gt; (Pedigree.com)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Dogs/Poodles/74&quot;&gt;Poodles&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Dogs/Cavoodle/2094&quot;&gt;Cavoodles&lt;/a&gt; (Burke's Backyard)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-17T17:13:17.463" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T17:13:17.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2013-10-17T13:47:35.430" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ashley Nunn made some great suggestions, and I won't repeat her advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will add, though, a couple of suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure she has a comfortable perch with a view.  Some cats can be quite content to watch what's going on outside.  There are a variety of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;amp;field-keywords=cat+window+perch&amp;amp;sprefix=cat+windo%2Caps%2C243&quot;&gt;cat perches&lt;/a&gt; that you can mount on a window sill, or, if you have a cat tree, such as Ashley Nunn suggested, make sure to place it somewhere that provides a good view of the outside, if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to come up with some games that allow you to interact directly with the cat.  I've known cats who loved to play fetch (with objects ranging from plastic soda bottle lids to full-sized feather dusters), hide-and-seek (take turns stalking each other), or peek-a-boo (hide behind a chair or other piece of furniture, then slowly peer over it at your cat, then duck back down; rinse and repeat until you get a paw whacking you on the nose!).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since most treats aren't an option for you, you can turn regular food into a game by throwing individual pieces for her to chase.  This assumes, of course, that your cat is willing to eat dry food; don't try throwing canned food in your house!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This one may seem particularly odd, but it may be worth a try: television.  We had one cat who liked to watch (I kid you not!) nature shows featuring feline predators.  We noticed this when she stopped suddenly in front of the TV while a documentary about a lion pack was playing.  She turned, sat down squarely in front of the TV, and stared at it until the next commercial break.  There are DVDs you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;amp;field-keywords=cat+dvd&amp;amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acat+dvd&quot;&gt;purchase&lt;/a&gt; that are intended to provide distractions and entertainment for cats, but we've never found any our cats showed any interest in (including the one who liked to watch lions).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-17T13:47:35.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-17T16:14:54.503" Score="11" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;After trimming my dogs' nails, I accidentally left the jar of styptic powder open overnight. During that time, it absorbed some water from the atmosphere so that the top layer is slightly damp and clumps together. I'm concerned that having some water in the styptic would allow bacteria to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this slightly damp layer still safe to use on my dogs? If not, what about the powder that was underneath the surface layer that is still dry? Can I do anything to dry it out like heating it gently for a time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T23:29:42.687" Title="Is styptic powder OK to use after it gets damp?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="957" CreationDate="2013-10-17T21:03:25.717" Score="31" ViewCount="1818" Body="&lt;p&gt;After asking &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/681/can-a-dog-contract-a-sexually-transmitted-infection&quot;&gt;Can a dog contract a sexually transmitted infection?&lt;/a&gt;, I want to advise my friend to neuter his dog and I want to do the same with my own dog.  I want to ensure my dog is still safe, so I want to know if neutering my dog will affect his health negatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will neutering have any negative health effects (or any negative effects at all) on my dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a Male mixed breed around 10 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T08:57:10.507" Title="Does neutering have any negative effect on the health of a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="767" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1037" CreationDate="2013-10-17T22:22:00.747" Score="19" ViewCount="54440" Body="&lt;p&gt;One behavior I often observe with my dogs is that they'll put their heads on or above the backs of other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastEditorUserId="162" LastEditDate="2016-07-18T04:05:08.847" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T14:21:01.427" Title="Why do dogs place their heads above the backs of other dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="839" CreationDate="2013-10-18T01:21:48.450" Score="7" ViewCount="467" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is it that certain birds are able to mimic back what humans say to them? It would take not only the vocal cords, but some level of intelligence to comprehend what we are saying. Dogs are able to understand what we say to a large enough level to respond with the appropriate action - such as sit - but they never talk back. Is there a difference in the vocal cords of some birds that permits them to speak back to us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastEditorUserId="88" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T15:19:48.673" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T02:06:50.347" Title="How can I identify a pet bird that will be able to mimic human speech?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="770" CreationDate="2013-10-18T04:35:21.967" Score="4" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/765/is-styptic-powder-ok-to-use-after-it-gets-damp&quot;&gt;Is styptic powder OK to use after it gets damp?&lt;/a&gt; , I wondered why people would use such a product. For some animals there may be health conditions that would cause nails to bleed when clipping, but for the purposes of this question, I am referring to a healthy dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I much prefer the idea of not cutting my dogs nails so deeply as to draw blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What techniques are there to help prevent cutting the quick in dog's nails?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it cause damage or pain to a dog when cutting into the quick?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:55:11.333" Title="How can I prevent cutting my dog when clipping his nails?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="769" CreationDate="2013-10-18T06:19:54.933" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;I much prefer the idea of not cutting my dogs nails so deeply as to draw blood.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well so do I, and I don't cut them so deeply; not deliberately at least.  I don't think anyone does it deliberately.  From my experience, cutting the quick is done accidentally, and many times cannot be easily prevented even when due care is taken.  When cut, quicks tend to bleed without stopping as there is no skin to cover it. While the dog shouldn't bleed out, the presence of blood can cause the dog to lick the nail incessantly, and he will trail blood wherever he walks. Styptic powder (or cornstarch powder) will stop the bleeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last 11 years, I have owned a dachshund who has very long quicks.  His nails grow quite fast; they don't grind down on walks like the nails of my other 2 dachshunds, and he gets very angry and fearful about getting his nails cut, especially when he sees the clipper. This is probably due an issue established by one of this three prior owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I take him to the vet, they tell me they can only cut his nails back so far; his quicks are too long.  They have told me the way to reduce his nail quick is to cut his nails frequently.  I have been taking him to the groomer (who is less expensive than the vet) every two weeks to get his nails trimmed.  They are reducing in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, due to his innate nervousness, he has had issues with thrusting his nail further into the clipper at the last millisecond, causing a shorter nail trim than intended, and drawing blood.  Other times, bleeding just happens with my other dachshunds who have shorter nails.  It's not every nail, just maybe one, once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than let them bleed everywhere, the vet and/or groomer it has happened with have pressed the nail into either cornstarch powder or styptic powder to staunch the bleeding.  That's why they keep it around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Does it cause damage or pain to a dog when cutting into the quick?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it causes them pain, otherwise my dog wouldn't be so nervous around a nail clipper, and he wouldn't yelp when he accidentally gets his quick cut into.  It must be similar to when one clips their own nails too short, or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;What techniques are there to help prevent cutting the quick in dog's nails?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look for the white or black part, depending on the dog or the nail (my 13-year-old has one orange nail with a black interior out of all his black nails with seemingly white interiors), and not trim so close to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000OZREE6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The QuickFinder&lt;/a&gt; is an electric nail clipper which works like a wall stud finder, sensing the quick and telling you when you've gone too far up the nail.  I have been told by two individuals who have tried it that it is useless and prone to false-positives and false-negatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001FMHZSC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PediPaws&lt;/a&gt; is a Dremel-like tool, &quot;As Seen on TV&quot;, used to scrape down the nail instead of cutting it.  The flailing which ensued when I tried to introduce my dog to this rapidly spinning and whining device caused me to have to return it to the store.  Neither dog I had at the time settled down to it, and when they did, the friction caused the nail to heat up fiercely.  I cannot recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T18:55:11.333" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:55:11.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="53" CreationDate="2013-10-18T09:03:48.327" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing exactly what preceded each episode of neck shaking, this requires a little more caution in how this needs to be approached. If you had defining incidents that precipitated the behavior, these behaviors could be monitored, but in this case, all  behavior needs to be monitored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have successfully reintegrated them in the past, I won't focus too much on that, as opposed to preventing the neck shaking from reoccurring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reintegration:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To begin with the dogs should be safe to reintegrate on leash, by being in the same room for periods of time while under the supervision of their owners. This allows them to get used to being in each other's company without any more aggravating behaviors. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gradually allowing them supervised time off leash, in each others company. Offering plenty of praise and distraction. The idea being, they will learn to be in each other's company without being focused on each other and even forgetting about each other.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevention:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The best way to prevent the neck shaking or other aggressive behavior is to nip all rough play in the bud. The dogs need to be allowed to meet and greet, the investigative sniffing, and can be rewarded for good behavior by being allowed off leash together. However any sign of rough play, mouthing, jumping on each other, the pug jumping up at the boxer, the boxer pawing the pug, any growling, must be met with firm vocal chatisation from the most suitable person present; there and then. A firm, deep and bellowing &lt;code&gt;No!&lt;/code&gt; with the accusatory finger pointing at the offenders with continuous eye contact until the offenders (I put them in this basket together) both posture submissive stances with the owner. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Generally the adult mot likely to achieve an effective result in discipling dogs in this way, will be the one who will naturally react quickly to handle the situation, so it is not even something that needs to be clearly defined, who does the disciplining, but that there is some sort of consensus and consistency in how the dogs are disciplined.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible causes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs will naturally wrestle for dominance within a household, usually the hierarchy of dominance is established early on and this tends to remain the status quo (unless more dogs are introduced), however it does not prevent the lessor ranking dogs from wanting to push the boundaries from time to time, and in some cases the &lt;em&gt;established&lt;/em&gt; hierarchy can be a little shaky and enforced without a convincing submission from the under dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule for desexed males the older dog will be the most respected, a female will tend to boss over the males. I have noticed that the desexed males will tend to have more flux and tousles over dominance. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, usually this is not an issue, unless one dog decides he no longer wants to defer to the older dog. This is what I think may be happening here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solutions for dominance:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As the boxer is the offending dog in this case and the younger and so, most likely, more trainable dog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your parents could try practicing a few techniques to reduce the dominant features their boxer is displaying. Although it is a good thing for a dog to be protective of it's humans, a dog can become a little overprotective, which can result in some over zealous or aberrant aggressive behavior. These are some simple techniques that can be used explained in thiese posts &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/586/how-can-i-stop-my-dog-jumping-at-the-table-and-mouthing-my-fingers/592#592&quot;&gt;How can I stop my dog jumping at the table and mouthing my fingers?&lt;/a&gt; and here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/387/why-does-my-dog-act-differently-outside-the-house/412#412&quot;&gt;Why does my dog act differently outside the house?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is worth mentioning that this is not outrageous behavior by dogs, by any means. Dogs can be prone to friction and they can't argue it out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Given your only want to bring the dogs together for 3-4 hours and that in the past, they had been together for a prolonged period before this neck shaking occurred, I'd be quote hopeful that you could integrate the three dogs for family gatherings, but I would not leave them unsupervised.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T09:03:48.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="765" CreationDate="2013-10-18T11:01:05.683" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moisture breeds bacteria, styptic powder is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihemorrhagic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Antihemorrhagic&lt;/a&gt;.  It is used for medicinal properties on open bleeding wounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best practice is to treat your pets medicine and treatment with the same care and concern you would for yourself or your family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-01-18T23:29:42.687" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T23:29:42.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="836" CreationDate="2013-10-18T12:31:18.153" Score="14" ViewCount="107304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed this behavior on two of my cats, and I don't believe it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_feline_hyperesthesia_syndrome&quot;&gt;feline hyperesthesia&lt;/a&gt; (neither exhibit any of the other symptoms commonly associated with the condition, and the back twitching does not seem random).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I believe it is possibly a social/communication cue of some sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, it seems that the two cats (our oldest, an alpha female, and our younger male) both will display the back-twitching behavior when I start talking to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean?  Is it an invitation to pet them (both are quite affectionate)?  Is there documented research that describes this behavior as a social cue among cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T00:41:55.460" Title="What does it mean when the skin on my cats' backs twitches?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="776" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-18T13:23:34.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are not the only pets that may be leash trained.  It is possible to train cats, ferrets, and many other exotics to walk while on a leash or lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related tags: &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'training'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;training&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'behavior'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/discipline&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'discipline'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;discipline&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T13:53:43.080" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T13:53:43.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="777" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-18T13:23:34.450" Score="1" Body="Training a pet to walk with a human, while constrained by a leash/lead, harness, collar, etc.." OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T13:41:13.990" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T13:41:13.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="782" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:05:45.790" Score="13" ViewCount="1590" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever since I was a little kid, I have wondered why dogs wag their tails. So, why do dogs wag their tails? I am looking for an answer from a credible source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T14:24:32.657" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T23:02:45.087" Title="Why do dogs wag their tails?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="784" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:37:54.053" Score="14" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat seems to enjoy a bowl of cow's milk. I have noticed some runny stools, since I have been giving him milk. Could the milk be causing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are thinking about getting another cat (as a kitten), would it be advisable to feed the kitten milk and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:59:19.217" Title="Should I feed my cat milk?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="786" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:41:47.457" Score="14" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's all this fuss over feeding dogs chocolate and how it can be harmful and even fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had never heard of this growing up and we never had a problem all the years we had dogs, but looking back I cannot remember a time any of our dogs would've eaten chocolate &lt;em&gt;(we were much too concerned with consuming it ourselves than to let our dogs get a hold of it!)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that chocolate can be harmful for dogs, and if so, why?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it harmful for puppies, or are they different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T14:19:37.760" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T14:19:37.760" Title="Is chocolate harmful for dogs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="779" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:46:26.043" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tail wagging can actually mean quite a few different things, depending on how the tail is held, how broad or short the strokes of the tail wagging are, and how quickly the tail is moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen dogs wag their tails to indicate that they were happily excited, such as upon seeing a favorite toy.  I've also seen dogs wag their tails in what seemed to be pitiful dejection, such as slowly wagging it back and forth while watching their human leave.  Sometimes it can suggest that the dog is nervous, or that the dog has done something wrong and knows it.  Sometimes it simply means that they're all wound up and have simply too much energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has been a fair amount of research on the subject, and research and experts have found some surprising (and not-so-surprising) nuances to tail-wagging in canines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.uvic.ca/%7Ereimlab/robodog.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A study using a remote-controlled lifelike dog replica&lt;/a&gt; simulated 4 different combinations of tail lengths and wagging: short/still, short/wagging, long/still, long/wagging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger dogs were less cautious and more likely to approach a long/wagging&#xA;tail rather than a long/still tail, but did not differ in their approach to a short/still and a&#xA;short/wagging tail. Using discriminant analyses of behavioural variables, dogs responded&#xA;with an elevated head and tail to a long/wagging tail model relative to the long/still tail model,&#xA;but did not show any differences in response to tail motion when the model’s tail was short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, a clearly visible wagging tail made dogs more comfortable and confident in being able to safely approach the replica.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolfcenter.org/tail-posture.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wolves&lt;/a&gt;, wagging tails typically indicate an increase in energy or excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two specific styles of tail wagging that wolves perform: rigid or fluid movement. A rigid tail (like a pendulum) wag means the wolf is excited and has dominant tendencies. A fluid, or snake-like wag typically is a signal of play or greeting toward other pack members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The elevation and movement of each wolf's tail work together to describe the behavior of each individual. So, a wolf who is rigidly wagging a T1 tail is exhibiting intense dominance, however a wolf fluidly wagging a T3 tail is probably soliciting social play with other pack members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070319/full/news070319-6.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;One study showed that the direction of the wag (left-&amp;gt;right or right-&amp;gt;left) indicates different things&lt;/a&gt; in domestic dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs wag their tails to the right when they see something they want to approach, and to the left when confronted with something they want to back away from, say researchers in Italy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over a series of trials, they videoed each dog's response to being shown either their owner, a human stranger, a cat, or a Belgian shepherd malinois, a large dog breed similar to a German shepherd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shown a human or a cat, tails wagged consistently to the right. The unfamiliar person elicited less wagging than the owner, and the cat the least wagging of all — probably because the dog was so interested in giving chase that it was distracted from wagging, says Vallortigara.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shown a large, unfamiliar and intimidating dog, the dogs wagged their tails more to the left. Dogs also wagged to the left when left on their own without anyone to look at, the researchers report in &lt;em&gt;Current Biology&lt;/em&gt; (Quaranta A., Siniscalchi M. &amp;amp; Vallortigara G.. Curr. Biol., 17 . 199 - 201 (2007).)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mathrubhumi.com/english/story.php?id=139704&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Other research&lt;/a&gt; indicates that how widely a dog's tail wags, and how quickly, has meaning, too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speed of the wag indicates how excited the dog is .The breadth of the wag shows whether the dog's emotional state is negative or positive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some combinations that Dr Coren describes-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A slight wag-with each swing of only small breadth-is usually seen during greetings as a tentative 'Hello there,' or a hopeful 'I'm here.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A broad wag is friendly; 'I am not challenging or threatening you.' This can also mean, 'I'm pleased,' which is the closest to the popular concept of the happiness wag, especially if the tail seems to drag the hips with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A slow wag with tail at 'half-mast' is less social than most other tail signals. Generally speaking slow wags, with the tail in neither a particularly dominant (high) nor a submissive (low) position, are signs of insecurity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tiny, high-speed movements, that give the impression of the tail vibrating, are signs the dog is about to do something - usually run or fight. If the tail is held high while vibrating, it is most likely an active threat.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T23:02:45.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="883" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:48:05.233" Score="4" ViewCount="1406" Body="&lt;p&gt;We grew up using check chains (also known as choke chains) on our dogs (responsibly, or so I thought). There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://flyingpawsdogtraining.weebly.com/damage-by-choke-chains.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;articles like this one (Flying Paws Dog Training)&lt;/a&gt; saying these chains should never be used in training. I really am unsure what to think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training big dogs, it's important to have some control over them.  I can understand how a small dog could be hurt by incorrect use of a check chain, but some big dogs have pretty strong necks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are check chains truly bad for a dog's health? &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there statistical research to back this up?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What effective physical control substitutes exist for check chains?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T14:17:37.237" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T15:19:02.570" Title="Can check (choke) chains still be used to successfully train dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="780" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:50:29.157" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you should not if you're seeing signs of runny stools!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like humans, cats can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cats-and-dairy-get-the-facts&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;lactose intolerant&lt;/a&gt;.  While some cats seem to handle milk fairly well, many get diarrhea from it.  Some cats may also get an upset stomach, or it may even trigger vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the WebMD article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of us have probably given our cats a bit of milk and never noticed a problem. That’s because some cats tolerate milk just fine, Wynn tells WebMD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you tell? Try offering your cat a tablespoon or two of milk. If you don’t see symptoms within a day, chances are good your cat will do fine with milk as an occasional treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, most veterinarians don't recommend it. Cats don’t need milk, and the potential problems outweigh the potential benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that treats of all sorts -- such as tuna, meat, cheese, or other “people foods” -- should make up no more than 5% to 10% of your cat’s diet. The rest of your cat's calories should come from a high-quality, nutritionally complete cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that some cats apparently do not have a problem digesting milk, even as an adult.  There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://tcfeline.com/2013/04/04/people-cattle-cats-and-milk/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;speculation&lt;/a&gt; that this may be an evolutionary response to the domestic relationship between cats and humans, due to human cultivation of cows as a food source:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, early during the domestication of sheep, cattle, and goats, humans appreciated the milk of these animals as an extremely valuable food resource. Interestingly, as humans began using dairy products in their diet, nature selected for those individuals in whom production of lactase persisted into adulthood, which gave them an advantage over those who could not digest lactose but instead became ill from consuming milk. Lactase Persistence is a gene. Those individuals in whom the gene expressed itself were healthier and longer-lived due to the superior nutrition received from milk. They were more likely to have more children, and so the lactase persisting gene got passed on and spread. Lactase persistence is most prevalent in people of European descent, because very early in this period, cattle spread with humans from the “Fertile Crescent” into Europe with the Neolithic Expansion. The gene mutation, enabling Lactase production into adulthood, originally occurred in the region of today’s Austria and Hungry, and began spreading 7500 years ago from there throughout Europe – especially northern Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By nature, cats are attracted to foods rich in protein and fat from animal source. 9000 years ago, milk and simple dairy products would have caught their attention as much as these foods do today. Thousands of years ago, people most likely delighted in gaining an animal’s affection by offering it food in the same way as we do today. By which other way could domestication have occurred? Cats may have been exposed to milk and dairy product as food past their infancy for nearly as long as people have. The possibility exists, that some cats have developed Lactase Persistence in a similar way that people have. In fact, there are some strong hints made among those who study evolution, that domestic cats , especially from European descent, have. Such a suggestion was re-published, for example, by Jerry A. Coyne, Ph.D, Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago in an entry in his blog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T14:59:19.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-18T14:51:56.907" Score="8" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/783/whats-the-deal-with-using-check-chains-these-days&quot;&gt;Can check (choke) chains still be used to successfully train dogs?&lt;/a&gt; and wanted to address specifically the use of a prong collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SQpLP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;prong collar&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ProngCollar_wb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it harmful to  use a prong collar and if so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T15:47:18.593" Title="Is it harmful to use a prong collar?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="781" CreationDate="2013-10-18T15:05:43.853" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is &quot;yes, it could kill your dog&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dogs-and-chocolate-get-the-facts&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt; (one of many, many references), the problem is that theobromine, a compound in cocoa beans that's similar to caffeine, is something dogs don't metabolize terribly well, so it affects them much more for their body weight than it would a human. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means that the darker the chocolate, the more dangerous it is. It also means that a smaller dog (or a puppy) would be much more severely affected than a big adult dog - which is just as well, considering the box of chocolates my parents Old English Sheepdog ate once! (That was the last time Christmas gifts of food items went under the tree) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T15:05:43.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="791" CreationDate="2013-10-18T15:12:28.680" Score="4" ViewCount="973" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/781/can-chocolate-really-harm-my-dog&quot;&gt;Is chocolate harmful for dogs?&lt;/a&gt; , are there foods which can endanger my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some relevant answers could be found here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/802/is-it-safe-for-my-dog-or-cat-to-eat-grapes-raisins-and-sultanas&quot;&gt;Is it safe for my dog or cat to eat grapes, raisins and sultanas?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/798/is-it-ok-to-feed-my-dog-or-cat-candy-with-sugar-substitutes&quot;&gt;Is it OK to feed my dog or cat candy with sugar substitutes?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/796/why-are-onions-dangerous-for-my-cat-or-dog&quot;&gt;Are onions dangerous for my cat or dog and why?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/984/should-i-worry-if-my-cat-accidentally-ate-some-chocolate&quot;&gt;Should I worry if my cat accidentally ate some chocolate?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2841/what-happens-if-cats-drink-coffee&quot;&gt;What happens if cats drink coffee?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-15T21:36:39.627" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T21:36:39.627" Title="What treats are dangerous for me to feed my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="800" CreationDate="2013-10-18T15:19:55.120" Score="4" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbors whippet recently died from going into the bush when there were fox baits. The councils do warn that they are laying baits. (I also had a whippet that died from being baited on our common property here, but that's a separate story)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The local councils here use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalcontrol.com.au/fox-bait1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foxoff®&lt;/a&gt; poison baits (containing 1080). Is this kind of bait something that becomes safe after a certain time or do they all need to be eaten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It concerns me, as even though the council gives a time period that is not safe, after my neighbor's dog died, I've been a bit worried about baits being left in the bushland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, does anyone know how this kills the dog, is it a painful way to die? I haven't been able to ask my neighbor exactly what happened as she is too distressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-18T22:59:05.167" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T01:48:32.210" Title="How long can fox baits be harmful for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-18T15:33:28.357" Score="7" ViewCount="17663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/788/how-long-can-fox-baits-be-harmful-for-my-dog&quot;&gt;How long can fox baits be harmful for my dog?&lt;/a&gt; about my neighbor's dog dying from eating fox bait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a rescue whippet when we first moved into this apartment complex. She loved to go for walks with our neighbor, a lovely lady, also a whippet owner, who would also have another, third whippet join the dogs on the walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the time our body corporate was inundated with some very nasty threats by one of the apartment owners. Another neighbor's dog (a Staffordshire Bull Terrier) was suspected of being poisoned (baited) as she was very ill, but came through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one walk where I was not present, I was told that the three dogs ran down one of the stairwells, then came running back and that my dog had gone into the garden to relieve herself and maybe sniffed around a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shortly after, my dog started having a seizure and foaming at the mouth. I was told this lasted for approximately half an hour, as my neighbor rushed her to the vet, but my dog died in the car on the way. I was told she seemed to be in pain and was panting, but at one point calmed down, before resuming the seizure (if that it what it was) and dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had been an abused whippet and my neighbors were convinced it was because of that, maybe she had been hit on the head and a previous brain injury and so had the seizures from this (which can happen with head injuries).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However since then, my neighbors dog died from running into the bush and eating a fox bait. So it has gotten me thinking about my little dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some of the symptoms of a dog being poisoned/ baited and how long could it take for the symptoms to surface after ingesting a bait?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is Coco, our whippet, who died. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IMj7A.png&quot; alt=&quot;Coco :(&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T14:16:06.557" Title="What signs indicate a dog has been baited with poison?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="83" CreationDate="2013-10-18T16:22:39.143" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article &lt;a href=&quot;http://wvcats.com/integrating_kittens_with_cats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Integrating Kittens with Cats&quot; (W.V. Cats)&lt;/a&gt; provides intricate details on a procedure for introducing kittens to adult cats.  According to the article, the paraphrased steps (backtrack to the prior step if there is an issue) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the new kitten / cat separate from the household for multiple days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Providing scents from each feline involved to each other; transmitted through use of cloths.  This begins the process of a safe introduction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Non-interactive transference of each cat to the other territory to continue scent familiarization.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Visually introducing the cats for a few minutes, without physical interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feeding or rewarding the cats near the territory borders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Introducing the cats physically under intense supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brief visitation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;continue rewarding with treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;separate if fear or hostility is apparent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Introducing the cats for longer visitations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;multiple hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;constant supervision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allow unhindered interaction, but separate when unsupervised&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allow unhindered, unsupervised interaction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allow only when kitten has reached 16 weeks old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allow if all prior steps were successful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-08-07T21:09:55.820" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T21:09:55.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="787" CreationDate="2013-10-18T16:49:47.687" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;When deciding on treats for your cat, remember that they are obligate carnivores and shouldn't be eating much other than meat. If you want to give your cat treats, try to look for freeze dried raw meats like beef liver and chicken. These are usually cheap and my cat loves them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any vegetables, dairy, candy and the like should be avoided, and probably never fed to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/humanfood.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; lists many of the foods you should not give your cat. There are many other sources available through &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=dangerous%20cat%20treats&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;aq=t&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;amp;client=firefox-a#q=harmful%20cat%20foods&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;amp;safe=active&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common misconception about cats is that milk is good for them. &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cats-and-dairy-get-the-facts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Milk should not be given to your cat.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just like people, cats can be lactose intolerant. And although we tend to think that’s a problem, it’s actually completely normal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized that there is a similar answer about milk &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/780/should-i-feed-my-cat-milk&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T16:49:47.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="872" CreationDate="2013-10-18T16:56:20.650" Score="17" ViewCount="11070" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to spoil my yellow-bellied slider a little bit, but I don't know what to provide as treats to break up the regular diet of pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that they are omnivores, and her previous owner said that she occasionally got fish, which also provided some extra exercise. I was thinking of going that route, but I have no idea what type of fish to purchase. Also, what kinds of vegetables do they eat? Do they eat crickets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kinds of fish, bugs, and vegetables can I offer my pet turtle to make her happy? What kinds should I avoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T16:52:31.423" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T20:54:20.457" Title="What are some safe, healthy treats for my turtle?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="787" CreationDate="2013-10-18T17:18:53.590" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this may sound odd, I had a cat that was addicted to coffee. She would hang around my feet in the morning while I made the daily brew, hoping for me to make a mistake and spill some beans or grounds. I gave in every now and then and would allow half a bean to drop, but decided to ask her vet if this should be allowed as she got older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that cats are more sensitive to caffeine than humans, and while the amount that I was allowing was &quot;acceptable&quot; any more should be considered dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself with a feline that has acquired a taste for the oils in the coffee beans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2013-10-18T17:18:53.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="794" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-18T22:30:17.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues regarding the care of pet turtles, shell care, environment, nutrition and general aspects of caring for a pet turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T03:24:39.947" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T03:24:39.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="795" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-18T22:30:17.860" Score="0" Body="Aquatic shelled reptiles, commonly kept in tanks or ponds; as opposed to land dwelling tortoises which have their own [tortoises] tag." OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-03-26T05:09:59.893" LastActivityDate="2020-03-26T05:09:59.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="797" CreationDate="2013-10-18T23:54:00.753" Score="18" ViewCount="2338" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone advised me not to feed my cat or dog foods which include garlic or onion, as they are bad for my pets and can make them sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? How would it make my cat or dog sick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T09:43:40.147" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T13:09:25.163" Title="Are onions dangerous for my cat or dog and why?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="796" CreationDate="2013-10-18T23:54:00.753" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feeding onions and garlic to your dog or cat is not only bad for their health, but is potentially fatal for your pet. It's not just onions or garlic, but the whole category of plants that fall under the botanical name &lt;em&gt;Alliacea&lt;/em&gt; (see table below).   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Onion, garlic, and many variegations of the onion plant  contain sulfoxides and disulfides - onion itself has higher concentrations. These chemicals cause the red blood cells in cats to break up, which can result in hemolytic anemia. This type of anemia can make a cat fatigued, affect a cat's physical and mental performance and is potentially life threatening; the condition is known as  allium toxicosis.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If this type of poisoning occurs there is nothing that can be done to reverse the effects; only the symptoms can be treated. Affected animals may be treated with intravenous fluids and may require blood transfusions. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note the signs of toxicosis may not surface for several days after the animal has ingested the offending food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your pet has eaten onions in any food, please monitor your pet and if any symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea, develop or your pet seems unwell over the following few days, seek veterinary attention.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Common sources for pets ingesting these toxins are onion plants, table scraps, garbage cans, and manufactured food made for humans, including baby food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The signs of toxicity are:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CLINICAL SIGNS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In dogs and cats, clinical signs of Allium  species&#xA;  toxicosis may appear within one day of  consumption if large amounts&#xA;  of material have  been ingested. However, it is more common [to see] the&#xA;  development of clinical signs after a lag of  several days. The&#xA;  first signs are usually of  gastroenteritis: vomiting, diarrhea,&#xA;  abdominal  pain, loss of appetite, depression and dehydration.  It&#xA;  will take a few days for the dog to display the  signs associated with&#xA;  the loss of red blood cells:  pale mucous membranes, rapid respiratory&#xA;  rate,  difficulty to breathe, lethargy, dark colored urine  (reddish&#xA;  or brown), jaundice, weakness, and rapid  heart rate. Depression,&#xA;  hemosiderin in urine,  exercise intolerance and cold sensitivity may&#xA;  also  be observed. In cases of recent ingestion, the  breath of&#xA;  the affected dog or cat may smell like  onions or garlic. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A full list of the plants associated with allium species toxicity is here:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N9dVQ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; table courtesy of Allium species poisoning in dogs and cats, Salgado BS, Monteiro LN, Rocha NS (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: these remain harmful after being cooked.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cooking or spoilage&#xA;  of Allium species does not reduce their potential toxicity. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allium species poisoning in dogs and cats&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Salgado BS, Monteiro LN, Rocha NS &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scielo.br/pdf/jvatitd/v17n1/02.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt; (1) ISSN 1678-9199 | 2011 | volume 17 | issue 1 | pages 4-11 &#xA;The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/news/pet-news/foods-that-are-dangerous-for-your-cat/508&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Foods that are dangerous for your cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;VCA Animal Hospitals&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.denneyvet.com/INFONEW.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;DennyVet.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dungenessranchpetresort.com/images/vetm0805_562_566.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alliumspecies poisoning in dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt; R.B. Cope, BSc, BVSc, PhD&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-04-14T13:09:25.163" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T13:09:25.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-19T00:07:36.730" Score="4" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can understand that giving candies or sweets to a cat or dog can rot their teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok for me to feed my dog or cat candies with sugar substitutes like   &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Xylitol&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artifical_sweeteners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;artificial sweeteners&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T18:11:43.457" Title="Is it OK to feed my dog or cat candy with sugar substitutes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="801" CreationDate="2013-10-19T00:52:36.483" Score="8" ViewCount="15613" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that chocolate is bad for dogs, but is it bad for hamsters too? I would like an answer from a credible source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T07:32:14.253" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T08:13:48.780" Title="Does chocolate hurt hamsters?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="788" CreationDate="2013-10-19T01:48:32.210" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the link in your question &quot;A single FOXOFF® bait is lethal to the largest fox.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fox is closely related to domestic dogs.  They are both part of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canidae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the family Canidae&lt;/a&gt;.  They are shelf stable meaning that they remain potent for a long time.  For safety sake I would not permit any animal to eat one ever no matter how long it has been there.  Just because it may have past its expiration date does not mean that it is no longer poisonous just that the manufacturer is not guaranteeing its effectiveness.  It is a type of poison that is going to be very effective against most dogs so you are best to avoid them, and not let your dog root around in gardens where you are not sure if the baits exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T01:48:32.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="799" CreationDate="2013-10-19T03:02:46.867" Score="7" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chocolate can be very harmful to hamsters, even lethal. Chocolate contains   theobromine (aka 3,7- Dimethylxanthine) which remains in the systems for prolonged periods. This has a toxic effect, as a hamster is such a small animal, a small ingestion of chocolate will release a larger proportion of theobromine per kg of body weight than a human eating the same amount. Prolonged ingestion of theobromine can cause testicular damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Theobromine is the principal alkaloid of the cacao bean. It is extracted from&#xA;  the bean husks and used in the synthesis of caffeine. It has been used in various&#xA;  pharmaceutical products. Theobromine is consumed in coco a and chocolate&#xA;  beverages and in various forms of chocolate-based foods. Theobromine is also&#xA;  present in small amounts in green coffee beans, tea and mate. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The other dangerous ingredient of chocolate is caffeine. Which affects the central nervous system, increasing heart rate and arousal; the reason human beings enjoy ingesting caffeine, in such a small animal as a hamster can lead to stress or even death.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It should also be noted chocolate can be toxic for unborn hamsters of pregnant hamsters and babies of a nursing hamster, as these, potential, toxins pass through the placenta and breast milk.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following diagram shows the varying levels of caffeine and theobromine within different chocolate sources.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i0AXR.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; image courtesy of  St. Francis Animal and Bird Hospital and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referenes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Theobromine, IARC MONOGRAHS VOLUME 51 &lt;a href=&quot;http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol51/mono51-12.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stfrancisanimalandbird.com/ResourcesLibrary/?page_id=386&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chocolate Toxicity&lt;/a&gt;  St. Francis Animal and Bird Hospital&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i0AXR.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some food toxic for pets&lt;/a&gt;, Kovalkovičová, et al Interdisciplinary Toxicology &#xA;Slovak Toxicology Society SETOX &amp;amp; Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, Slovak Academy of Sciences&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T03:08:39.923" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T03:08:39.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="803" CreationDate="2013-10-19T03:21:24.020" Score="6" ViewCount="2915" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if some of the blogs about feeding pets certain human foods is really harmful for my pet or just some of the latest hype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for my dog or cat to eat grapes, raisins and sultanas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T14:53:25.060" Title="Is it safe for my dog or cat to eat grapes, raisins and sultanas?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="802" CreationDate="2013-10-19T03:21:24.020" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unfortunately is it not safe to feed your pets, especially dogs, grapes, raisins and sultanas.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cause of this toxicity is, as far, unknown, but there have been researched findings that the ingestion of grapes and their derivatives, are known to cause renal failure in our domestic house pets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of toxicity from grapes, raisins or sultanas can include, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea,  fatigue, drowsiness and weakness. A urinalysis will show an increase in by products that should not pass through the kidneys into the urine, such as glucose.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your pet has ingested any of these foods, the possible symptoms of poisoning will generally appear about 6 hours after ingestion. Having said this, if you fear your pet has eaten these foods, it would be prudent to seek medical help before the onset of symptoms, as this can be fatal, causing irreparable kidney damage. It is a case of prevention is the best medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ingestion of any quantity of grapes, raisins or sultanas by a dog should be considered treatable. Digestion of the fruits appears to be slow and decontamination several hours post-ingestion may be worthwhile as whole grapes and swollen raisins have been recovered after remaining in the stomach overnight. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some food toxic for pets&lt;/a&gt;, Kovalkovičová, et al Interdisciplinary Toxicology &#xA;Slovak Toxicology Society SETOX &amp;amp; Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, Slovak Academy of Sciences (1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T03:21:24.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="798" CreationDate="2013-10-19T03:31:56.083" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Products containing Xylitol are potentially lethal if fed to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Xylitol, an artificial sweetener, is present in many products, such as candy, sugar-free chewing gums, toothpaste and baked goods. Ingestion of these foods by dogs results in a significant, and often sustained, insulin-mediated hypoglycemic crisis (Cope, 2004). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Xylitol is metabolized differently by dogs and cats than humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In dogs, Xylitol cause the dog's pancreas to release much larger amounts of insulin; this overproduction of insulin can lead to hypoglycaemia, and possibly resulting in  coma and death.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The effects of ingesting candies or products with Xylitol are seen fairly quickly (within 30 minutes) and are the signs consistent with hypoglycemia. Trembling and shaking, weakness, lethargy, vomiting, and possible loss of consciousness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your pet has ingested such food products, induced vomiting is recommended and urgent veterinary help should be sought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An important note for cats: The same effect can be seen in cats, however less cases of such poisoning are seen due to cats being more fussy about what they eat than dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some food toxic for pets&lt;/a&gt;, Kovalkovičová, et al: Interdisciplinary Toxicology,&#xA;Slovak Toxicology Society SETOX &amp;amp; Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, Slovak Academy of Sciences (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tucsonveterinaryhospital.com/XYLITOL.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pima Pet Clinic&lt;/a&gt; TucsonVeterinaryHospital.com&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T18:11:43.457" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T18:11:43.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="805" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T07:50:08.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Covering any type of bird kept as a pet. From parrots, to exotic birds and poultry that are kept as pets and not primarily as livestock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet birds kept in aviaries, cages, enclosures or free range. Can include wild birds where there is a definable dependence and  human bird animal bond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T07:50:08.870" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T07:50:08.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="806" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T07:50:08.870" Score="0" Body="Covering any type of bird kept as a pet. From parrots, to exotic birds and poultry that are kept as pets and not primarily as livestock. Can include wild birds where there is a definable dependence and  human bird animal bond." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T07:50:08.870" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T07:50:08.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="807" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:00:19.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the ages of zero to full maturity. All issue regarding feeding, worming, vaccination. Separation from the mother, rehoming, socialization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caring for abandoned puppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:00:19.703" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:00:19.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="808" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:00:19.703" Score="0" Body="Puppy care, health, training. Breeding and weaning issues. Including newborn." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:00:19.703" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:00:19.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="809" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:05:46.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any type of reptile that is kept as a pet, and only questions relating to keeping that particular reptile as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Including subset tags: &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/tortoises&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'tortoises'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;tortoises&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/turtles&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'turtles'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;turtles&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/snakes&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'snakes'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;snakes&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/lizards&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'lizards'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;lizards&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:05:46.267" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:05:46.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="810" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:05:46.267" Score="0" Body="Relating to keeping a reptile as a pet; housing, feeding, care.  No generalised reptile questions." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:05:46.267" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:05:46.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="811" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:40:17.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any type of goat kept as a pet, not as livestock. It is helpful to mention the breed, age and sex of your pet when asking a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:40:17.190" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:40:17.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="812" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:40:17.190" Score="0" Body="Relating to goats kept as pets, as opposed to livestock." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:40:17.190" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:40:17.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="813" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:43:11.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feces&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'feces'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feces&lt;/a&gt; pertains to any issues surrounding problems found with the feces, or  to the pet having trouble relieving itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:43:11.173" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:43:11.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="814" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:43:11.173" Score="0" Body="All issues regarding droppings, pooping, excrements. Pet relieving themselves of fecal matter." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:43:11.173" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:43:11.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="815" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:45:32.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All issues relating to the care of tortoises kept as pets, including shell care, feeding, environment, behavior and common health issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:45:32.983" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:45:32.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="816" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:45:32.983" Score="0" Body="Tortoises, land living reptiles, kept as pets; as opposed to [tag:turtles]" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:45:32.983" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:45:32.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="817" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:46:40.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any questions about the use of toys with pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:46:40.363" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:46:40.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="818" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:46:40.363" Score="0" Body="Toys bought, made or used for the enjoyment of pets, not people." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:46:40.363" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:46:40.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="819" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:50:42.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about amphibians kept as pets, animals classed as amphibians, not for  reptiles or aquatic animals. The amphibian's life cycle is dependent on living in an aquatic and on land environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:50:42.760" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:50:42.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="820" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:50:42.760" Score="0" Body="For amphibian pets, such as frogs, axolotls, salamanders, that have life cycles both within the water and on land." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:50:42.760" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:50:42.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="821" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:53:35.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues about keeping pets safe, within the environment, and with basic care. Also about issue about an aggressive pet and the safety of people with that pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:53:35.093" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:53:35.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="822" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:53:35.093" Score="0" Body="For safety issues concerning the safety of pets, and also the safety of people from a pet." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:53:35.093" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:53:35.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="823" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:55:44.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues to do with the reproductive cycle and process of mating and breeding a pet, including gestation, birth, feeding and weaning. For any type of animal that is kept, predominantly as a pet. Not for questions about livestock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:55:44.000" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:55:44.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="824" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T08:55:44.000" Score="0" Body="Issues to do with the reproductive cycle and process of mating and breeding a pet, including gestation, birth, feeding and weaning." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T08:55:44.000" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T08:55:44.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="825" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T09:01:32.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions relating to the general care of a pet, in maintaining an optimum environment and lifestyle for a pet. Issues regarding the comfort and needs of a pet, with regard to lighting, heating, sleeping, supervision; questions that may not be specifically  related any topic like health or feeding as a few examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T09:01:32.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T09:01:32.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="826" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T09:01:32.270" Score="0" Body="For questions relating to the general care of a pet, in maintaining an optimum environment and lifestyle for a pet. For issues that may overlap several specific needs and comfort of a pet." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T09:06:49.817" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T09:06:49.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="827" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-19T09:08:14.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions concerning the care, health and needs of a keeping a donkey as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T09:08:14.200" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T09:08:14.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="828" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-19T09:08:14.200" Score="0" Body="Related to donkeys kept as pets, not as farm animals." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-19T09:08:14.200" LastActivityDate="2013-10-19T09:08:14.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="835" CreationDate="2013-10-19T20:57:49.460" Score="15" ViewCount="478" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a fair number of people in my area leaving their dogs in the car while they eat at a restaurant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't strike me as a particularly safe or healthy practice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from expected risks like criminal activities, having your car towed, etc., what are the objective risks associated with leaving a dog locked in an unattended car?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T16:04:33.463" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T19:50:07.120" Title="What are the risks of leaving a dog unattended in the car?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="831" CreationDate="2013-10-19T23:40:02.197" Score="12" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it hot enough to &amp;quot;fry an egg&amp;quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it's also hot enough to fry a dog's brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGKfd2v85po&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;- U.S. Public Service Announcement from 1987&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question is common sense; you don't leave a child unattended in a car because the interior of a car can heat up intensely within minutes.  Dogs in particular cannot sweat, they can only pant; this heat can affect them even more severely than other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not to mention the other, less-obvious, reasons you wouldn't leave an animal unattended in a car: they can potentially press buttons, pull levers, set the car rolling or moving, lock the car on you, defecate on your upholstery, urinate on your clutch, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's just chalk it all up to common sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T19:50:07.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="833" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-20T03:22:44.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tortoises, land living reptiles, kept as pets; as opposed to &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/turtles&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'turtles'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;turtles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All issues relating to the care of tortoises kept as pets, including shell care, feeding, environment, behavior and common health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T03:22:44.340" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T03:22:44.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="834" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-20T03:22:44.340" Score="0" Body="Tortoises, land living reptiles, kept as pets; as opposed to turtles. All issues relating to the care of tortoises kept as pets, including shell care, feeding, environment, behavior and common health issues." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-01-13T14:45:34.823" LastActivityDate="2020-01-13T14:45:34.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="831" CreationDate="2013-10-20T08:50:19.510" Score="16" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The interior of a car is capable of reaching far higher temperatures than the outside environment, becoming an oven for a dog (or child, for that matter) left inside it.  This can happen quite rapidly and affect swiftly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs rely on cooling their body temperature through their paws (which is where most of their sweat glands are - have you noticed a vet's exam table get wet from a dog's paws?) and through panting; this makes them even more susceptible to overheating in an enclosed environment like a car.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even with the windows left down, a car can heat up quickly. People have been known to resort to smashing windows to remove a dog from a locked car.  In places where it is illegal to leave dogs alone in cars, the cost of the window repair is not recoverable by the owner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that if any dog is left in a car, the dog is at a much higher risk of developing heat stroke; which can be fatal. &lt;em&gt;(Thanks to @sulfureous)&lt;/em&gt; This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-Heat-Stroke-in-Dogs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wiki How Article&lt;/a&gt; gives some good advice on managing heat stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.racq.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/48796/09_Temperature_in_Cars.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;RACQ&lt;/a&gt; study below demonstrates temperature changes in cars over time, with windows closed and open:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EdeHK.png&quot; alt=&quot;RACQ Temperature study&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T16:02:16.077" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:02:16.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="774" CreationDate="2013-10-20T11:08:27.533" Score="14" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly normal for a cat's back to twitch from time to time. Cats have a sheet of muscle under the skin of their trunk called the cutaneus trunci muscle (CTM). There are  involuntary responses to being touched on the skin, which result in twitching. This involuntary twitching  may assist in flicking away insects that may land on the cats fur. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This reflex can be stimulated by emotion in cats, fear and/or excitement. It is possible your cats are excited to see you, anticipating food, fun or affection (I would doubt they are fearful of you!). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats tend to do this when patted in certain places, and for some, it can lead to agitation if they are being patted in a repeated fashion, like tapping, as opposed to stroking &lt;em&gt;(this I learnt in a neuroscience lecture for humans, where tests were done on cats!)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In terms of this being a communication tool between cats, I have not found any studies about this (there may be), but as with many features of animal body language, many of these twitches can be &lt;em&gt;tells&lt;/em&gt; or signals to other animals that an animal is frightened, agitated or excited.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A decreased or absent reflex may show: ...&#xA;   excitement and fear.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  An exaggerated reflex .... may simply be due to excitement&#xA;  and fear. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is also normal for cats to have no twitching reflex.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cutaneous trunci reflex is frequently absent in the cat. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2600623&quot;&gt;Descending pathways to the cutaneous trunci muscle motoneuronal cell group in the cat.&lt;/a&gt; Holstege G, Blok BF.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikivet.net/Neurological_Examination_-_Dog_&amp;amp;_Cat&quot;&gt;Neurological Examination - Dog &amp;amp; Cat&lt;/a&gt; wikivet.net  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neurology - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcavm.org/04dec.html&quot;&gt;lecture notes&lt;/a&gt; Joane Parent DMV, MVetSc, ACVIM Neurology &#xA;University of Guelph (2)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T11:08:27.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="71" CreationDate="2013-10-20T13:28:46.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As  an adjunct to the other answers, there are a few more things you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firstly maintain a flea free environment, a lot of dogs can have an allergic reaction to flea bites. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The usual advice, of keeping pets off grass and out of garden beds. There are certain plants that dog's are more prone to be allergic of than others. It's hard in a global community to address these specifically.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Antihistamines can be useful to relieve allergic reactions, and in some cases one of the side effects of antihistamines is drowsiness, which is not a bad thing, when a dog is being driven to distraction with itchiness. Sometimes it can be hard for the dog to get some good rest and a break from the itching. Having said this, I would not recommend dosing a dog with antihistamines, without &lt;strong&gt;seeing and taking the direction of a qualified veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt;, as animals do not metabolize many over the counter medications as humans do. They are usually used as part of an overall treatment plan for helping dogs with allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Antihistamines are useful in the management of some cases of atopy (atopic dermatitis). ...  They vary greatly in their efficacy, dosage, side effects and cost. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bioavailability and receptor affinity of antihistamines in the dog and cat are often not known &#xA;  and as such dose rates recommended are often anecdotal. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Side effects are uncommon with antihistamines but include sedation, constipation, dry gums and anxiety. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ingleburnvet.com.au/antihistamines.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Antihistamines&lt;/a&gt; - Ingleburn Veterinary Hospital ingleburnvet.com.au (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Antihistamines in the dog and cat - Melbourne Veterinary Specialist Centre melbvet.com.au  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.melbvet.com.au/files/NNBML3FCLS/Antihistamines.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;  (2)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T13:28:46.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2013-10-20T14:02:53.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A two inch snapping turtle would only be young, as they grow to 8 inches long. They naturally scavenge and even hunt for their food, so it might be a good idea to provide some live food. As they grow they are able to handle larger prey.  They are omnivores and require both plant matter and meat to remain healthy. In the order of one third plant matter to two parts meat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Younger turtles will scrounge for insects and spiders, frogs, worms and small fish. So I would suggest getting live worms and live trapping some insects and spiders without using insecticides. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As they grow older they will prey on fish, small turtles, crayfish, snakes, birds or any meat source  (dead or alive) that is small enough to swim or crawl by.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Young turtles will forage for food, but older turtles often hang motionless in the water and ambush their prey by lunging forward with the head at high speed and powerful jaws to seize prey. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Housing&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Snapping turtles spend most of their time within the water, in fact the adult turtles will remain submerged awaiting their prey. In nature they survive cold weather by nestling into leafy muddy banks in the shallows. Depending on where your turtle is housed, indoors? would depend on the need to keep it warm. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If indoors, the ambient room temperature for human beings would be warm enough for your turtle. Given your turtle wouldn't have a warm river bank to nestle into, you would need to provide some kind of protection from the cold (whether using a heating system or other), if the turtle's tank is outdoors, or in a shed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Snapping turtles are almost entirely aquatic and can be found in a wide variety of aquatic habitats, preferably with slow-moving water and a soft muddy or sandy bottom.  (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2723&amp;amp;q=469200&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Snapping Turtle&lt;/a&gt; - Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Connecticut  (1)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T14:02:53.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="768" CreationDate="2013-10-20T15:36:03.267" Score="6" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Birds that are trained to say human words are not actually speaking with human language but are imitating often heard repeated sounds. Many birds will do this of any type of repetitive sound within their environment. It is still unclear why birds mimic sounds, but there are several theories abounding. None, yet conclusive. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Birds that are good mimics have larger range of vocal expression, which enables them to mimic a variety of sounds, not natural to their species. This is due to these birds have a more flexible syrinx, vocal cords of the bird. Their vocal box is not unlike humans, as air is passed through two membranes to create sounds, humans can only control both membranes in unison,  birds can control each membrane separately and are able to produce two separate notes simultaneously. &lt;em&gt;for further reading&lt;/em&gt; (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Including lyrebirds, imitating the sound of a chainsaw, (from local deforestation) and it's a convincing imitation, one would be hard pressed to realise it wasn't a real chain saw they were hearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some birds are adapted to mimicking the sounds of their environment, it is hypothesized, as a survival skill. A small parrot, might well be the prey of larger birds, so learning and imitating the calls of predators, can serve as defence of &lt;em&gt;aural&lt;/em&gt; camouflage. At least possibly confusing the predator long enough to find escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some birds will also mimic human behavior, they will mirror their owner's movements for example, when the person rocks side to side the bird will copy. This is in keeping with the sensation people have that a bird is actually talking to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As birds that are good at imitating human speech, are generally sociable with human (when captive) and will also imitate the actions and attitudes of the people they are in regular contact with. This may precipitate a learnt phrase on queue from a person, as the intelligence with these types of birds, is not in understanding the human language, but by reading the queues of other animals. (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An interesting feature of the &lt;em&gt;Albatross&lt;/em&gt;, they mate for life and spend many months  choosing a mate. The entire mating process is done by prospective suitors imitating each other movements, like in a dance. As they begin to settle on a mate these movements or dances become more and more intricate  between each pair of mates. By the time a pair have settled upon each other the dance is so intricate, that it is entirely unique between the pair. Both birds mirroring each other's movements, so every intricate detail. Funnily, they never perform the dance again, after mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Like the Albatross it is theorised that parrots, capable of mimicry, use unique sounds to identify each other in large flocks. This type of mimicry can be used in the negotiation of flocks deciding whether or not to join as a flock. (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, like birds, do not cognitively understand what a word or phrase means, they are trained in a &lt;em&gt;pavlovian&lt;/em&gt; manner to associate a particular sound with certain actions or consequences. For example, the sound &lt;em&gt;sit!&lt;/em&gt;, is associated with the fact that if the dog sits, it will, most likely receive a reward. (4)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;These differences may seem inconsequential, petty or subtle, but are not, as to truly comprehend language as the human being does, requires development within the brain that these species do not have. Most animals have a level of &lt;em&gt;language&lt;/em&gt; to communicate base emotions between each other or possible predators or prey; fear, aggression, and the like. Growling will, generally, instill fear in other animals (including humans). This is a more primitive form of communication. This type of analysis and evolution would make a good question on &lt;a href=&quot;https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Cognitive Sciences Stack Exchange&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are sometimes sensational claims made about a bird's ability to comprehend human language and converse authentically with human beings; this has not been proven by objective, statistically significant scientific research. The evidence is usually anecdotal and the full process of the bird's attainment of such skills cannot be objectively assessed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scientifically, the following would not hold up to scrutiny. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2458346/Parrot-learned-say-I-love-mean-word.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the case&lt;/a&gt; in the daily mail &lt;em&gt;Alex, the parrot who learned to say 'I love you' and MEAN it: In an astonishing new book, a woman scientist says she's proved animals can talk.&lt;/em&gt; This woman, has spent 30 years, owning, training and interacting with this bird and has been actively attempting to precipitate meaningful dialogue with this particular bird. It should be noted that this individual has financial interest vested in this story. .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But just why some birds learn and repeat sounds - lyrebirds, crows, budgerigars and parrots are known to -  is a mystery experts are gradually unravelling. &amp;quot;It's a part of their language,&amp;quot; says Jaynia Sladek, from the Australian Museum's ornithology department. &amp;quot;For some species it's like advertising 'I am very fit because I can learn a lot of different birds' [calls]'&amp;quot; (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/why-parrots-and-other-birds-talk.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parrots and lyrebirds: the great pretenders&lt;/a&gt;, Hannah Price, Australian Geographic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) Acoustics and physical models of bird sounds, Seppo Fagerlund, HUT Laboratory of Acoustics and Audio Signal Processing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acoustics.hut.fi/research/avesound/pubs/akusem04.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thorsten argues that parrots have developed the ability to communicate in this noisy, constantly-changing environment. (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researchers are yet to work out why the birds converse with each other in this way. One theory is that the mimicking calls are part of a negotiation about whether flocks should join together, or who should lead the fused flock. (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/parrots-mimic-individual-calls-to-communicate-.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parrot mimics for bird-to-bird conversation&lt;/a&gt;, Natalie Muller, Australian Geographic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WHO'S A BRAINY boy then? African grey parrots not only learn to talk,&#xA;but outperform human two-year-olds in a test of intelligent reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No other animals apart from great apes match the birds' ability to&#xA;understand noise-related causal connections, say scientists. (4)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(4) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/parrots-smarter-than-the-average-toddler.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parrots smarter than the average toddler&lt;/a&gt;, Australian Geographic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T02:06:50.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="853" CreationDate="2013-10-20T17:52:45.383" Score="16" ViewCount="951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told that dogs are carnivores because they inherited the trait from their ancestors, The Wolves. I also read an article online that says that dogs have been able to evolve over the years on meat and non-meat scraps and leftovers of humans. The article also says that 80% of dog food should be meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are dogs actually carnivores or omnivores?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that 80% of dog food should be meat?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How will not feeding them meat affect their health? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T05:04:54.423" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:41:52.253" Title="Are dogs carnivores?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="846" CreationDate="2013-10-20T22:09:27.937" Score="13" ViewCount="5927" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just installed a cat door in our basement, to let the cats get into a room that we've been using for storage.  Ultimately, we intend to move the cats' litter boxes into that storage room, which is why we installed the cat door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of our cats have ever used a cat door before.  What is the best way to teach them how to use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to ensure that they have no difficulty accessing the area where we'll be moving the litter to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:06:49.753" Title="How should I teach my cats to use a cat door?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-20T22:11:53.450" Score="11" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;We want to move our cats' litter boxes to an enclosed room in the basement (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/841/how-should-i-teach-my-cats-to-use-a-cat-door&quot;&gt;accessible via a cat door&lt;/a&gt;).  Currently, the boxes are upstairs, in an open room easily accessible to the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't want to have any accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything special we should do to ensure a smooth (and clean) transition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T04:02:44.573" Title="Are there any special considerations involved in moving our cats' litter boxes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="842" CreationDate="2013-10-20T22:20:56.873" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I adopted two adult cats last year, I initially secluded each in a different room upstairs (at the advice of the shelter).  This left me with your problem: after the cats had access to more of the house, I wanted those boxes to be in the basement.  (Mine aren't behind a cat door, though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked the folks at the shelter (Animal Friends in Pittsburgh PA) for advice on making a smooth, accident-free transition, and they said a drastic change would confuse the cats and I shouldn't do that.  Their advice was to move the boxes about a foot a day.  When I got to the steps I obviously couldn't maintain that (couldn't prop it up on a step), but what I did there was to move from the top of the steps to the landing in one day, to the other side of the landing the next, and to the foot of the steps the next day.  From there I continued the foot-or-so-a-day progress toward the final placement.  I did pick up the pace toward the end, more like two to three feet a day, and they seemed to do fine with that.  This leads me to suspect that the advice I got was overly conservative, so you could try faster movement.  I did make sure that the box's placement after a move was always within sight of where it had previously been.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also had another box in the basement the whole time, but they didn't start using it until near the end of the move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I would recommend moving the litter boxes first and only then introduce the cat door.  Can you leave that door open during the move?  (I say this because you don't want to place any barriers between them and the boxes, and a door they don't know how to use is a barrier.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-10-20T22:42:55.210" LastActivityDate="2013-10-20T22:42:55.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-20T23:14:24.800" Score="11" ViewCount="9793" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that sometimes my dog usually prostrates, stretching his fore legs with face towards the floor.  He does this early in the morning when I wake up and we see each other, when I get back from school, or when I go out and then come back, etc. I am wondering if this is some kind of greeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image of a dog prostrating (stretching):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XuVAD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This is not my dog, but this is what he does.&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stockfreeimages.com/7027347/Lazy-Dog.html#&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;stockfreeimages.com&lt;/a&gt;  © Baydem  ©  StockFreeImages.Com 7027347&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T17:05:46.550" LastActivityDate="2017-02-25T00:06:05.687" Title="Why does my dog prostrate (stretch)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1174" CreationDate="2013-10-20T23:38:43.560" Score="12" ViewCount="4597" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my 6-month-old male puppy gets hiccups, he has 2-to-3 hiccups in sequence.  My other two dogs have normal hiccups, the same sort I've come to expect from humans.  He has done this since he was a few weeks old till his current 6-month-old state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is something I should be worried about? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T21:26:32.517" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T04:27:41.897" Title="Why does my puppy have multiple hiccups when my other dogs don't?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="841" CreationDate="2013-10-20T23:51:38.980" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I would do is that I would first move the door flaps up and hold them up with tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once both the flaps are open call your cat through the door and present it to a nice treat, I'm sure he'll make it through the door very when he smells what he can get on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One your cats go through the door without any issues you may remove the tapped door flaps in order to take them on to the next level which is just to simply push forward and passing through to get the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like any other training, it just takes patience, don't get frustrated if they don't do it right away and do it in small lapses of 10 to 20 mins for 2 to 3 times per day. You'll see this resolved in a matter of a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry if they don't do it right away, don't be too pushy with the training, I happen to know that cats are extremely curious in their nature and I'm sure you won't have any trouble with the cat door training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="191" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T16:06:49.753" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:06:49.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="848" CreationDate="2013-10-21T00:22:40.030" Score="10" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Five months ago, I added a male dog to the family, a 7-months-old, Boxer / Pit Bull mix (though he looks like a Shar Pei) named Butcher.  The existing dogs are females: Brownie, 3-year-old, Weimaraner / Boxer mix, and Cochi, an almost 2-year-old, Boxer / Pit Bull mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brownie is balanced; she remains very calm when Butcher is playing around her and teasing her.  Butcher is hyperactive, likes to play all day long, and is a bit insecure;  he often hides when he is barking at other dogs. Cochi is very energetic as well, it feels like she wants to protect everything from Butcher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have observed Cochi acting aggressively against Butcher since the beginning: she growls at him when he gets close to her. I don't want to interfere with the normal hierarchy. How can I improve the relation between them?  Is it OK to protect the little one when my older dogs growl or bark at him? I can tell Cochi senses Butcher's insecurity; how can I make him more confident?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T16:17:50.913" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:17:50.913" Title="How can I improve the relations between my 3 dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="847" CreationDate="2013-10-21T01:42:44.790" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs in a pack tend to seek security, predictability, and everybody playing a role.  One of these roles is that of the pack leader which undoubtedly at least one dog will claim.  The pack leader owns everything and everybody in the pack.  He or she will assert on other pack members by displaying acts of dominance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Guarding a particular toy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always eating first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking items or toys from other pack members to assert ownership&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not accepting unstable or unpredictable behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not accepting other pack members to display dominance while they are around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Human psychology tells us this is barbaric and hellish but to dogs they find this nature comforting and secure.  A dog feels comforted in knowing that there is a strong pack leader that will take charge and look after everybody.  For our pets it helps us to understand this so that we know to always let our dogs know that we are in charge and that everything will be alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cochi clearly has a lot of stress around Butcher who is overly hyper and energetic, probably because she assumes that she is pack leader and this young pup doesn't seem to want to accept her role.  Cochi needs to understand that in fact you are the pack leader and that you will not accept acts of dominance from either her or Butcher from now on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When Cochi starts growling and guarding her toy, correct her immediately and take the toy from her.  This establishes that you own the toy and that you are in charge.  If Butchers gets too rough or Cochi has had enough then correct Butcher and coming between them if you can.  If this doesn't work then separate them temporarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Butcher sounds like a typical puppy and is still learning the bounds of what is acceptable from both you and the other two dogs.  It is normal for dogs to correct each other when they have crossed the line, but let it be known that acts of dominance amongst each other while you are there is unacceptable.  They will grow more trust in you and in each other, and just generally be all around happier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip might be to introduce more frequent exercise for Butcher to help expend a lot of that pent up energy.  A wound anxiety ridden dog introduces instability to a pack and this will increase the stress of the other dogs.  Try running with Butcher or even supervising him on a treadmill to get rid of some excess energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T01:42:44.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2013-10-21T10:24:42.983" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;All &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/251/putting-a-cat-into-a-carrier/344#344&quot;&gt;but one&lt;/a&gt; current answers talk about &quot;forcefully&quot; &lt;em&gt;putting&lt;/em&gt; the animal into the carrier. I do not believe that this is a good practice because it could cause your animal to have bad associations with the carrier (or just add to existing reluctance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: My experience with this has been exclusively with kittens, the methods needed (and results) for an adult cat (or any animal) may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best method in my experience is also the one that will take longest. Training, training, training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method will take time. You'll have to start it long before you actually need to use the carrier for real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place your animals food bowl next to the carrier (but not too close at first).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over the next few feeding rituals, start moving the food closer and closer to the carrier finally placing it right next to (even touching) the carrier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once your animal gets used to the food being in the general vicinity of the carrier you can place the bowl at the entrance. Let the animal get used to each position leaving it there for a few days (I told you this would take time, no?).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The next position should be inside the carrier but as close to the entrance (or exit in the eyes of the animal ;) ) as possible. For a &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S9S1B.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bag carrier&lt;/a&gt;, you might need to place it on it's side or upright so that the animal can actually reach the food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It might be a good idea at this stage to make the inside of the carrier as comfortable as possible. You could achieve this by placing some soft blankets and toys that have a familiar scent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The final step is to put the bowl right at the back of the carrier. This will require the animal to enter the carrier right to the end. By this time, the animal should already be comfortable being around the carrier and shouldn't put up too much of a fuss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used the term &quot;animal&quot; in this answer because I believe that the same method could be used for any pet. Many are reluctant to get into such a small space but almost all will have to go through this experience at some stage. It is better to start as early as possible to avoid the &quot;forceful&quot; methods that might even exaggerate the carrier creeps!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T10:24:42.983" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="841" CreationDate="2013-10-21T11:37:19.257" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sulfureous's answer is very similar to the way I've taught cats to use a cat door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To some extent it depends on the cat: some of the cats I've lived with figure out with little more than me pushing the flap that they can go through it; others need the stage of having the flaps taped up (or removed) first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the flaps are down, I put something they really like and can smell on my side of the door and the cat on the other side, then call the cat through. Some cats need extra hints here and can need the extra reinforcement of me pushing the flap to show them that it can move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm trying to move their litter to the other side of the door, I'll also move their food there - preferably in a location where they have to go past the litter box to get to the food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem I've had so far is with a very timid cat who's afraid of the basement. That one hasn't been resolved yet because we're keeping a litter box upstairs for the 18+ year old cat whose arthritis makes her reluctant to use stairs at all (We're also feeding upstairs because of this). When she passes, we'll be needing to get the fraidy-cat comfortable with the basement so we can move all the kitty litter and food downstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T11:37:19.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="840" CreationDate="2013-10-21T14:36:52.887" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfed.com/myths/omnivores.html&quot;&gt;Dogs are carnivores&lt;/a&gt;.  They need meat to be healthy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs are carnivores, not omnivores. Dogs ARE very&#xA;  adaptable, but just because they can survive on an omnivorous diet&#xA;  does not mean it is the best diet for them. The assumption that dogs&#xA;  are natural omnivores remains to be proven, whereas the truth about&#xA;  dogs being natural carnivores is very well-supported by the evidence&#xA;  available to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That they can eat human left overs is an artifact of domestication in that it was a trait that would help an animal survive if it could eat left over food scraps it became more valuable.  When dogs were first domesticated (prehistoric times) they were primarily kept around to take care of rats and other rodent pests.(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.history.com/shows/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us/videos/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-mans-best-friend&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)  Since table scraps would often attract these rodents a dog who would clean up the scraps would be more beneficial to the man.  In addition this extra nutrition would help the dog survive during lean times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How will not feeding them meat affect their health?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs [do not] have the kinds of friendly bacteria that break down&#xA;  cellulose and starch for them. As a result, most of the nutrients&#xA;  contained in plant matter—even preprocessed plant matter—are&#xA;  unavailable to dogs. This is why dog food manufacturers have to add&#xA;  such high amounts of synthetic vitamins and minerals (the fact that&#xA;  cooking destroys all the vitamins and minerals and thus creates the&#xA;  need for supplementation aside) to their dog foods. If a dog can only&#xA;  digest 40-60% of its grain-based food, then it will only be receiving&#xA;  40-60% (ideally!) of the vitamins and minerals it needs. To compensate&#xA;  for this, the manufacturer must add a higher concentration of vitamins&#xA;  and minerals than the dog actually needs. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfed.com/myths/omnivores.html&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T14:36:52.887" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-21T14:44:59.410" Score="27" ViewCount="208589" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cottontail rabbit that made a nest near our garden.  She had a litter of babies about 2 weeks ago but the other day she was hit by a car.  I checked on her babies this morning and only one is still alive.  We are going to try and raise it and were thinking about making it a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can wild rabbits raised as a baby be good pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have other rabbits will the wild rabbit present any risks to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to feed the wild rabbit any differently than a domestic rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:52:36.403" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:03:12.413" Title="Can I make a baby wild rabbit a pet?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="855" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-21T14:53:54.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feral animals can sometimes be treated as pets, and various levels of re-domestication may be achieved. However, these animals frequently bring unique challenges to the table, and there may be special considerations in any attempt to integrate them into the role of pet. Feral animals shall not be confused with stray ones - the difference is, stray animals are socialized to humans, as they once used to be pets but at some moment they got lost or abandoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:45:47.807" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:45:47.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="856" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-21T14:53:54.897" Score="0" Body="Feral animals are species that are typically considered to be domesticated, but the individuals have been raised in the wild without significant human interaction and generally tend to fear humans.&#xD;&#xA;Please include relevant species tag, such as &quot;cats&quot;." OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:45:17.587" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:45:17.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2013-10-21T15:26:12.280" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several legal issues with making wildlife into a pet, these laws vary by location and any response on that topic would be out of scope for this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It happens that Saturday; I met a woman whose children found a baby cotton tail rabbit and kept it in captivity for several years (I believe she said 13).  It was particularly interesting to note that the rabbit did not appear to become the friendly creature we expect with domesticated bunnies.  But this is not in itself conclusive, as any animal who is not suitable handled and trained, will not become a &quot;suitable pet&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spend a lot of time doing domestic bunny eduction, and interacting with the public who have used varied methods of interaction with a &quot;pet bunny&quot;.  In this case I got the impression that the care provided to the wild bunny was neither significantly better or worse than average domestic care. In the end I left the conversation feeling that the experience was not as rewarding for the family or the bunny as one would expect with a domestic bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again depending on local laws your local shelter may or may not be able to intake wildlife.  You may wish to consider searching for local &quot;wild animal rescue&quot; organizations, and discussing the situation with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep the wild bunny separated from your pet bunnies, as most if not all of the illnesses and parasites that infect wild rabbits can cross to your domestic bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end if you want a bunny to be a good pet, obviously the best results will be with one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rabbit_breeds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;domestic breeds&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Expand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last evening I attended a presentation by Jill Argall who is the Director of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalrescue.org/wildlife-rehabilitation-center/i-found-an-injured-wild-animal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wildlife Center for the Pittsburgh Animal Rescue League (ARL)&lt;/a&gt; they intake both domestic and wild cotton tail rabbits (&lt;em&gt;the public often does not know the difference&lt;/em&gt;).  She said that the difference in response to humans was significant between the wild and domestic species of rabbits.  They have good results with releasing young weaned cotton tails rabbits as well adults who are brought injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ARL has both wildlife and domestic animal programs.  Domestic rabbits would transfer to the shelter system, to be placed for adoption.  Wild rabbits would stay in the wildlife system to prepare for release.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:03:05.297" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:03:05.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-21T15:37:18.690" Score="3" ViewCount="12893" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat caught and ate a lizard. I do not know the type of lizard he ate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Might this affect my cat negatively?   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What signs should I look for to see if my cat is OK?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it necessary to take my cat to the vet? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T12:20:29.703" LastActivityDate="2020-01-10T11:56:23.090" Title="My cat ate an unidentified lizard! What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="858" CreationDate="2013-10-21T15:41:14.970" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about any urgent health issue with your pet, you should call a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That having been said, cats are hunters and will eat small animals, including rodents, birds, bugs, and lizards.  If you don't notice anything unusual with your cat, there probably isn't anything to worry about.  But again, if you are concerned, call your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T03:55:04.870" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T03:55:04.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="866" CreationDate="2013-10-21T15:50:52.440" Score="13" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do dogs lick people and other dogs in the face?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastEditorUserId="162" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T18:48:42.673" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T18:48:42.673" Title="Why do dogs lick the face?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="868" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:07:14.693" Score="10" ViewCount="24449" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of my cat's claws are very thin, and come to a needle-like point.  However, two of hers are shaped quite differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are much thicker along the inside of the curve, and the tips are much blunter, and almost rounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I cannot get a picture, because I'm lucky just to be able to trim them on occasion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes this?  Is it something I should worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T12:56:45.507" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T12:56:45.507" Title="Why are two of my cat's claws thicker than the others?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="862" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:13:23.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you're looking to learn how to maintain something, you should use this tag. Maintenance questions could be anything from &quot;How do I reseal an aquarium?&quot;, or &quot;How to I replace the substrate for my snake?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T23:35:01.177" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T23:35:01.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="863" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:13:23.200" Score="0" Body="The process of maintaining, or preserving, something. Either by making repairs or replacements to it." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T23:34:56.953" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T23:34:56.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="864" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:16:35.873" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-21T16:16:35.873" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:16:35.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="865" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:16:35.873" Score="0" Body="removed - DO NOT USE." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:47:49.320" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:47:49.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="860" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:23:08.103" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Domesticated dogs inherited this trait primarily from wolves, and more specifically, wolf pups.  Wolf pups will lick the faces of their mother to try and induce her to vomit some of her last meal.  For a weaning pup this is far easier for them to digest and eat than meat and bones right from a carcass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolfcountry.net/information/WolfPup.html&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the selective breeding that went into creating the domesticated dog species thousands of years ago involved breeding of more timid wolves and wolves that exhibited more puppy like behavior. Most adult wolves would have an untenable and difficult relationship with humans so a more fitting companion to a human would be a wolf that is less aggressive and more willing to follow the human pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other wolf puppy behaviors that dogs carried is play.  Adult wolves rarely play while wolf pups play consistently as a means of learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:23:08.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="626" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:44:32.160" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because puppies’ bones are still growing,  most experts recommend that&#xA;  puppies are not taken on long walks until they are approaching their&#xA;  first birthday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An often quoted rule of thumb is five minutes of exercise per day for&#xA;  every month of the puppy’s age.   This would mean no more than 35&#xA;  minutes of walking a day for a seven month old dog.(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=941&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is a the breed of the dog.  Smaller dogs usually can not go as far as a dog like a lab can.  And the larger breeds take more stress on their joints making long walks somewhat dangerous to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of exercise your puppy needs depends on his age, breed and&#xA;  medical condition. Not every breed will be up for a long walk through&#xA;  Central Park. Some breeds are just not built to go the distance, while&#xA;  others are always ready to romp. Some of the breeds that need the most&#xA;  exercise are Border collies, Labrador retrievers, Jack Russell&#xA;  terriers and Dalmatians. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://animal.discovery.com/pets/how-much-exercise-does-a-puppy-need.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/askthevet/basicadvice/puppies-exercise#ixzz2iNLXe4nR&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Caesar Milan points out&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be sure that your dog does not overheat.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;If you are too hot, assume your puppy is too hot, too. Provide water to your puppy or try&#xA;  to run in a cooler area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be consistent with exercising puppy.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;The weekend marathon after a week of couch potato life is very hard on the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be cautious with your puppy's feet.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;Running on cement (especially hot cement) can cause sloughing of the foot pads, so try&#xA;  to have breaks on softer surfaces or at least work your puppy up to&#xA;  the harder surfaces to give them a chance to form the necessary&#xA;  calluses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be aware of your puppy's limits.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;Until you understand your puppy’s stamina, be sure that you are able to stop when your puppy&#xA;  starts to lag behind. That means taking the short route 5 times&#xA;  instead of the long route once. If you feel that the puppy is not able&#xA;  to go as far as he should, consult a vet to see if there is a health&#xA;  reason for the intolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-10-21T16:44:32.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2013-10-21T16:58:58.587" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't mention how old your cat is - according to my vet this is quite a common issue with older cats. Their claws thicken and need to be watched with care because the thickened claws can be more brittle than normal claws (my vet calls them &quot;old lady nails&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of my 18-year-old cat's front claws are like this. While they are quite blunt, they don't shed the way they should (which is why the thickening), so you have to stay on top of them or they will end up curling over into your cat's paw pads and causing her difficulty and pain when walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Claw injuries (where the cat has caught her claw in something and pulled too hard) can also do this, in which case if you keep the claws trimmed they can gradually return to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to be extra careful trimming the thickened claws. They split quite easily and can split to the quick (happened to me...). Also, extending the cat's claw for trimming can be painful if the thickening is too extensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that the scissor-style trimmers with the very small profile (I can't link, sorry - I'm at work and the sites will be blocked - I'll try to get a link in once I'm home) are best, but you will need to replace them as soon as you start having difficulty cutting the claws. The small curve allows you to get the lower part of the trimmer between the cat's claw and pad, even for very thickened claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: here's a link for the kind of clipper I use for my cat's old lady claws: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chewy.com/cat/jw-pet-gripsoft-cat-nail-clipper/dp/40179&quot;&gt;http://www.chewy.com/cat/jw-pet-gripsoft-cat-nail-clipper/dp/40179&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is showing signs of pain when you try to trim her claws, I'd recommend you see your vet. You might want to consider booking regular visits to keep her claws trimmed so there's no need to fear the thickened claws overgrowing into her pads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she balks at having you touch her paws, you can try to get her used to this by working her paws and extending the claws while you're petting her - give her lots of praise and love when you're doing this, so she associates having her feet manipulated with good things. Extra treats when you trim her claws will also help to get her used to the idea that this is going to happen and that it's not such a bad thing (I will say I've never had too much success with this, but I've heard others have - it depends on the cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T00:46:33.163" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T00:46:33.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-21T18:48:56.453" Score="15" ViewCount="5508" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I understand cats and their desire to bury their waste when they are finished, my cat often sits in the litter box and digs against the plastic side of the litter box, not actually in the litter itself, so much so that he is actually wearing down the sides in places. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he doing this? Is it a problem (other than the destruction of the litter box)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T13:21:48.303" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T10:05:52.930" Title="Why does my cat scratch so much against the sides of his litter box?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="873" CreationDate="2013-10-21T21:08:42.290" Score="12" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a UV-A/UV-B fixture similar to the one below.  I would like to cover the bulb portion with plexiglass to protect it from moisture damage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that covering it up will attenuate some of the crucial UV-B radiation for my reptile and render it useless in this regard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To what extent (percentage, a ballpark estimate is more than ample) would putting a 1/8&quot; piece of clear plexiglass over the bulb decrease the effectiveness of the lamp?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fyGlS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T21:29:44.877" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T21:29:44.877" Title="Would putting a thin layer of plexiglass over a UV-B fixture in a reptile enclosure filter out a significant amount of light?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-21T21:53:35.867" Score="11" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this might sound weird, I take the opposite approach to spiders as most people I know. While poisonous, they are extremely beneficial and help keep down insect and bug populations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While spraying Bug Barrier outside of my house to prevent the invading hordes of boxelder and asian lady beetles from entering my house, I came close to directly hitting a hobo spider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it took a direct hit, but I did move it to a nearby tree to further limit its exposure. I figured moving it away from the treated area and leaving it alone would be best. It is climbing the tree but moving a little slow. &lt;strong&gt;I'm wondering if there's any treatments for these scenarios where a spider is exposed to poison?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for why I'm spraying, I can't live with hordes of boxelder and asian beetles swarming in my house over the winter like I'm in a Hitchcock movie. It does really get that bad; I am not exaggerating.  I do try to be cognizant of what I'm spraying so I can give the non-pests, like spiders, a fighting chance. If I see them before I spray, I move them. But I don't necessarily know where they'll be. For pet owners, the preventative answer would be &quot;move the spider before spraying or don't spray near it&quot;, but accidents do happen, and someone out there might be helped by this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this particular hobo spider is not technically a pet, people &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; keep them as pets. Surprisingly, there is no information on the Internet on how to treat a spider exposed to poison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:52:57.823" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:52:57.823" Title="How can one treat a Hobo spider that was mildly exposed to bug barrier?" Tags="&lt;poison&gt;&lt;arachnids&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="792" CreationDate="2013-10-22T01:46:47.177" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles love to snack on all the things you've suggested, fish, crayfish, insects, vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fresh water turtles will happily feed on insects, spiders, fish, crayfish, earthworms and meal worms. A regular &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allturtles.com/turtle-food-facts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;live fish&lt;/a&gt; as a treat is a good idea. Preferably the type of small (or young) fish that the turtle would naturally encounter. In this case freshwater fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Australian Freshwater Turtles gives a comprehensive list (1) of fish suitable to feed fresh water turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sword Tails (Xiphophorous hellerii)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Mollies (Poecilia sphenops)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Platys (Xiphophorus maculatus)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Common Guppies (Poecilia reticulata)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Gold Barb (Puntius sachsii)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Flat-headed gudgeon (Philypnodon grandiceps)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Carp Gudgeons (Hypseleotris spp)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Gambusia (Gambusia affinis)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(this list is compiled from The Australian Freshwater Turtle (1))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plants&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chelonia.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The World Chelonian Trust&lt;/a&gt; has some extensive information for nutrition for turtles (and tortoises) (2), I have created a brief summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vegetables and plants that are well recommended for providing good nutrition for your turtle  are: chicory, raw-collards &lt;sub&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;, dandelion, duckweed, endive, grape leaves, kale &lt;sub&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;, kelp, prickly pear fruit and pads, turnip greens and watercress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value for turtles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;sub&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sub&gt; High consumption of cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards and the like can lead to thyroid problems (this will not always be a problem for turtles, but can be).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/753/how-can-one-care-for-a-small-snapping-turtle/838#838&quot;&gt;How can one care for a small snapping turtle?&lt;/a&gt; also gives good feeding tips for turtles, that would be helpful for your yellow-bellied slider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.australianfreshwaterturtles.com.au/forum/showthread.php?6058-Feeder-Fish-for-your-Turtles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Australian Freshwater Turtles&lt;/a&gt; australianfreshwaterturtles.com.au&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What Do Turtles Eat &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.what-do-turtles-eat.info/what-do-pet-turtles-eat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;what-do-turtles-eat.info&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/nutrient.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrient Analysis of Replacement Turtle and Tortoise Foods&lt;/a&gt; - Darrell M. Senneke, World Chelonian Trust &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T01:46:47.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="870" CreationDate="2013-10-22T08:01:55.793" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;UV-B radiation is from about 280nm to 320nm (or 315nm depending on the reference that you use), and is subject to attenuation (and scattering) far more than the longer wavelength UV-A. As you more than likely know, there are different types of plexiglass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chart below compares the UV-Visible transmission properties of different types of plexiglass, taken from the blog entry &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plasticgenius.com/2011/05/infrared-and-ultraviolet-transmission.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Infrared and Ultraviolet Transmission in Plexiglass Acrylic and Makrolon Polycarbonate Sheet &lt;/a&gt; and the image is originally from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ilphotonics.com/cdv2/Philips-%20Plastic%20Optics/raw%20material%20used.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plexiglas information sheet&lt;/a&gt; (Altuglas Group):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wTBmI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the blog, the curve labelled 'MC' is your general purpose plexiglass.  A key thing to note is the precipitous drop in transmittance (hence, increase in attenuation) in the high UV-A values.  The transmittance values in the UV-B area are extremely low, so much so that &lt;strong&gt;even a thin piece of general purpose plexiglass would result in over 95% attenuation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type labelled G &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.polymerplastics.com/transparents_uvta.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;UVT (UV Transmitting)&lt;/a&gt; has impressive transmittance (low attenuation) in the UV-B, but this is a specialised product and is considerably more expensive than the standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user194" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T19:48:38.940" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T19:48:38.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="871" CreationDate="2013-10-22T14:08:45.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there aren't any medical treatments for Hobo spiders, and there isn't any antidote for insect pesticides that you will be able to administer to a wild Hobo spider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best option is to move it away from the sprayed area (which you've already done) and hope for the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you think the spider is suffering, you could euthanize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the disadvantages of spraying poison around your home; along with your intended target, it will affect other wild animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm not suggesting that it is wrong to use a spray around your home.  However, if you are concerned about the welfare of wildlife around your home (as you seem to be), this is something to consider when making a decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:46:31.253" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:46:31.253" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="875" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="876" CreationDate="2013-10-22T15:23:28.010" Score="9" ViewCount="7495" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/214/what-causes-the-fur-on-my-cats-back-to-clump-how-do-i-prevent-it&quot;&gt;What causes fur clumps on my cat&amp;#39;s back, and how can I prevent them?&lt;/a&gt; , some severe cases of matted fur need to be removed through cutting or shaving.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an electric shaver might spook a cat, are there any safety scissors that can be used?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What methods exist for an individual to perform a matted fur removal task safely? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T00:50:41.403" Title="How can I safely trim matted cat fur?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="875" CreationDate="2013-10-22T15:34:57.200" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one of my past cats got old he started developing mats that I wanted to trim out (to keep them from getting worse).  After once accidentally cutting him with the small scissors I was using (oops), I came up with the following solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used a comb to comb from his skin to the mat.  I then backed off (moved the comb toward his skin) just a bit, so that I could place the scissors between the comb and the mat. If the mat was far enough away from the skin I could cut it out that way; if not, I could still cut off part of the mat, which sometimes helped me comb the rest of it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was old and docile so the fact that this required two hands (one or the comb and one for the scissors) wasn't a problem.  If your cat resists combing, you would need a second person to hold/calm him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T15:34:57.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="875" CreationDate="2013-10-22T17:02:14.890" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;A method I've used with some success is while petting the cat to gently tease the mat apart with my fingers until I have a gap I can guide snips through, then cut the mat open from the gap out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep breaking the mat into progressively smaller pieces that can be either cut free or combed out, until it's gone. Sometimes this takes me several petting sessions with the cat (particularly the 18+ year old part Persian, part Siamese, and part who knows what with the long fluffy fur that periodically has fits of matting up really badly then will give me no problems for months on end). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on the cat's temperament - if the cat is willing to sit and be petted and groomed you can do much more in a single session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat doesn't want to stay still for long, frequent short grooming sessions mixed with petting will help get the cat used to the idea that the brush or comb is not a bad thing, which in turn will make it easier to prevent mats as well as to get them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T17:02:14.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="894" CreationDate="2013-10-22T17:07:15.693" Score="11" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a &quot;positive reinforcement&quot; approach to maintain my dog's good behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find myself &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; often telling her &quot;good girl&quot; when she's just sitting nicely, walking with me, or doing anything else that I deem as being &quot;good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that after an extensive period doing this, she may no longer see praise as a reward, as she may be receiving it so often.  Can this happen in the long term, or are there are other negative long term effects over-praising my dog could have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T20:00:22.393" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T00:06:16.930" Title="Can over-praising my dog have negative long term effects?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="942" CreationDate="2013-10-22T19:31:44.197" Score="16" ViewCount="8048" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats has a habit of jumping on the kitchen counter and chowing down on any leftover scraps from dinner. Personally, I don't mind this, as it's mostly &quot;licking the plate&quot; kind of stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does supplementing him this way adversely affect his diet to where we would want to discourage this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is okay, are there any foods we'll want to keep an eye out for our cats to avoid altogether?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T19:38:26.510" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T09:30:14.553" Title="Is it a good idea to allow my cats to eat leftovers / table scraps?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="885" CreationDate="2013-10-22T20:05:08.297" Score="16" ViewCount="639" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no experience with reptiles.  I was reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/870/would-putting-a-thin-layer-of-plexiglass-over-a-uv-b-fixture-in-a-reptile-enclos&quot;&gt;Would putting a thin layer of plexiglass over a UV-B fixture in a reptile enclosure filter out a significant amount of light?&lt;/a&gt; and I would like an explanation as to why a special UV-A/UV-B bulb is necessary for their enclosures.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it keep them comfortable, simulating an environment, or is it a dietary need, or both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T18:13:52.893" Title="What is the importance of UV radiation to pet reptiles?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="881" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="891" CreationDate="2013-10-22T20:07:29.607" Score="16" ViewCount="96333" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to drink out of my water glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't try to encourage the behavior, but sometimes she sneaks a sip while we're not looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also sometimes tries to have a taste of our food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can drinking or eating after my cat has taken a turn make me sick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T22:29:50.817" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T22:29:50.817" Title="Can I get sick from my cats sharing my food or drink?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="880" CreationDate="2013-10-22T20:14:40.823" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reptiles, just like humans, rely on sunlight for vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; synthesis.  Vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, among a host of other things, helps with calcium absorption in the body, promoting strong bones (and in the case of shell-bearing reptiles, a strong shell, which is vital for protection from harm, but also in a practical sense, it is an extension of the animal's vertebral column).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UV-B has a wavelength from 320-290 nm (the &amp;quot;B&amp;quot; is a designation for a portion of the UV spectrum, the whole of which goes from 400 nm down to 100 nm), and promotes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Synthesis_in_the_skin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;photoconversion&lt;/a&gt; between the precursors of vitamin D and the active molecule.  Since captive reptiles aren't getting as much sun as their native cousins, using a light with a strong UV-B component helps them get the nutrients that they need, particularly in reptiles that don't get much D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; from their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T01:26:58.070" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T01:26:58.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="783" CreationDate="2013-10-22T20:15:07.460" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would personally advice against the use of Choke chains on dogs. First of all, what is the benefit of choke collars, It teaches the dog what you want it to know faster but this can still be achieved using normal methods and with more patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choke chains have been scientifically proven to cause Injured ocular blood vessels, Tracheal and oesophageal damage, Severely sprained necks, Cases of fainting, Asphyxiation, Transient foreleg paralysis, Laryngeal nerve paralysis and Hind leg ataxia. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stiankarlsen.me/s/choke/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quotes stating why choke chains are bad for the health of a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a retrospective study on spinal pain, injury or changes in dogs conducted in Sweden, Hallgreen (1992) found that 91% of dogs with cervical anomalies experienced harsh jerks on lead or had a long history of pulling on the lead. Uses of chokers was also over represented in this group. This strongly suggests that such corrections are potentially injurious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Karren Overall MA, VMD, PhD, DACVB Clinical Behavioural Medicine for Small Animals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cardiffcaninecitizens.com/528/choke-chains/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alarming facts from a recent survey [..] 63% of the dogs examined had neck and spinal injuries. [..] 78% of the dogs with aggression or over activity problems had neck and spinal injuries. [..] Of the dogs with neck injuries, 91% had experienced hard jerks on a leash or had strained against their leashes. [..] The study concludes that leash corrections, the dog forging ahead or a tethered pet hitting the end of a solid line may inflict spinal injury. [..] The study was conducted on 400 dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scotty Valadoa, Accredited Animal behaviorist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.friendsofthedog.co.za/choke-chains.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although Choke chains is a very effective way of Negative Reinforcement, It has its own consequences on the dog. &lt;strong&gt;LET'S TEACH THEM NOT CHOKE THEM&lt;/strong&gt;. Instead of using a choke chain. I'll advice a&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat Collar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head Collar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive Reinforcement should also be used for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T20:15:07.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2013-10-22T20:52:13.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is most likely a combination of marking his territory (aka the litter box), and also possibly cleaning off his paws from the litter that gets in-between the pads. It's not really a problem, because trying to stop it could give the cat an aversion to the litter box, which results in the cat using anything else as a litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be that the cat is entertaining himself by digging in the litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T20:52:13.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="880" CreationDate="2013-10-22T21:13:26.750" Score="24" Body="&lt;h3&gt;The Need for UVA Lighting For Reptiles&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles can see much farther into the UVA spectrum than humans… more so than can be provided by &amp;quot;regular&amp;quot; light bulbs. This allows them to perceive patterns and colors beyond what we can see. Depriving them of a large portion of their &lt;em&gt;visible world&lt;/em&gt; can cause serious health issues, as well as physiological and behavioral abnormalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving a reptile blind to half of their environment causes unnecessary stress, which will generally affect their overall well-being. Lack of UVA light can impair a reptile's ability to recognize friend from foe. The UVA spectrum is used to recognize patterns of their fellow species from other animals, and plays a big role in helping them detect movement. It also helps them recognize their diet foods and generally stimulates the appetite by telling them what's good to eat. UVA also provides the visual cues that controls the basking instincts that they need to regulate their body temperature. UVA generally promotes more activity, foraging, social behaviors and reproductive activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The Need for UVB Lighting For Reptiles&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UVB light controls the synthesis of vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; through the skin, which is needed to metabolize and absorb calcium and other minerals. The need for UVB varies by species. Generally speaking, diurnal reptiles (active during the day) need UVB to manufacture vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;. Nocturnal species (primarily active at night) will typically meet their vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; needs through their food source. &lt;strong&gt;Do your research on your chosen reptile.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without enough vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, reptiles can suffer from chronic calcium deficiencies leading to bone deformities. Vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; is also important to proper organ development and regulating the immune system. Reptiles that do not get enough vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; at a young age can even &lt;em&gt;lose&lt;/em&gt; the ability to synthesize D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; through UVB absorption at a later age. Most reptiles do not exhibit signs of these illnesses until they are quite advanced and beyond help, so do your research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&amp;quot;Full Spectrum&amp;quot; Lighting&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another note of caution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been to a lot of pet stores that sell reptiles as a side line, and received a lot of bad advice throughout. They simply do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; know what they are selling, so you have to do your research. Manufacturers learned long ago that herp enthusiasts were being told to &amp;quot;use full spectrum lighting&amp;quot; so anything that might typically be considered broad spectrum is being marketed as &lt;em&gt;full spectrum.&lt;/em&gt; The amount of UVA and UVB output by a fixture can vary greatly. The needs of different reptiles vary greatly. Supplements range from somewhat helpful to actively harmful in overdose situations. But this all goes well beyond the scope of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T18:13:52.893" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T18:13:52.893" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="886" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-22T21:28:29.353" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T21:28:29.353" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T21:28:29.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="887" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-22T21:28:29.353" Score="0" Body="Related to lighting for aquariums and terrariums" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-22T21:32:55.470" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T21:32:55.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="912" CreationDate="2013-10-22T21:35:24.433" Score="10" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering buying or adopting a new dog, and was wondering what signs I should look for to indicate health issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T20:59:25.087" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T20:59:25.087" Title="What danger signs indicate health issues when aquiring a new dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="888" CreationDate="2013-10-22T22:02:00.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;HEALTH ISSUES SIGNS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each disease comes with its own symptoms but some common symptoms are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog might be very thin and skinny.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog might have lost a lot of hair. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog might also scoot a lot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog might have a dry and rough coat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more dog diseases and signs, see : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/dog-diseases.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Dog Diseases: Signs, Symptoms and Treatments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T13:37:44.807" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T13:37:44.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="943" CreationDate="2013-10-22T23:16:52.977" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep goldfish in large outdoor pots (homemade ponds).  Other than noting their swiftness when surfacing for food, it is difficult to determine if my goldfish are unwell.  It is only obvious they are sick when they start to float sideways; they usually die soon after.  I would like to be able to recognize sickness before they get to such a critical stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a sign of good health when goldfish rise quickly and gobble up the food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other signs to indicate if my fish are healthy (or sick)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T02:43:25.030" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:37:49.613" Title="What indicates whether my outdoor goldfish are healthy or ill?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="881" CreationDate="2013-10-22T23:37:23.660" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer answer is that while, for the most part, there aren't many zoonotic diseases that can transfer from cats to humans, there are some infections that can be transmitted from the cat to you through shared sources, notably &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/zoonoticdisease.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;protozoal infections&lt;/a&gt;. These are basically single-celled organisms that can cause severe diarrhea in both humans and cats and are normally contracted from the same sources (e.g. tainted water). However, depending on the cat and its habits they may be drinking water you are not, such as toilet water, and so it's possible that it taints your water via transfer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the great indoors is not always isolated from the great outdoors. Mice and other small rodents, along with insects, can also enter the premises and they may contaminate things that, in turn, get picked up by the cat. The Center for Disease Control has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of possible infections&lt;/a&gt; that could arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T00:26:20.860" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T00:26:20.860" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="840" CreationDate="2013-10-22T23:47:29.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are carnivores but you need to keep in mind that when dogs eat an animal (mice or squirrels for instance), they eat the whole animal and that includes partially digested plants and grains in the stomach and digestive system. This can be substituted with meat (muscle), bone and plants, as is done in commercial dog food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-22T23:47:29.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-22T23:52:04.907" Score="8" ViewCount="14118" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some odd reason, my Schipperke mix is extremely afraid of flies. Whenever he hears or sees a fly, he runs and hides. He isn't really afraid of them outside though. He has even learned the word &quot;fly&quot;. My question is, why is he so afraid of them and how can I help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="201" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T02:38:33.683" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T02:38:33.683" Title="Why is my dog afraid of flies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2013-10-26T00:23:07.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="878" CreationDate="2013-10-23T00:06:16.930" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;For best results in positive reinforcement long term, you should be providing rewards of variable value from high value to medium value to low value to no reward. Initially, you want to use high value rewards when the behavior (or positive reinforcement in general) is new. Then you should switch to randomly providing high value or low value rewards, gradually moving to no or usually a low value reward for established behaviors. It should be like a slot machine, usually you get nothing or just a few coins back but every once in a while, you get a huge jackpot and that keeps it from getting boring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't say where on the reward scale 'good dog' fits for your dog. I had one dog for whom that was reliably one of the highest value rewards and another for whom it was merely the marker that there might be a reward coming (ie like the slot wheels spinning.) But the important thing is the variable reinforcement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of good information about positive training on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogscouts.org/training/reward-based-training/&quot;&gt;Dog Scouts of America Training Page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T00:06:16.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="908" CreationDate="2013-10-23T00:14:21.627" Score="9" ViewCount="1171" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has a mated pair of Swainson's Lorikeets (&lt;em&gt;Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus&lt;/em&gt;), a subspecies of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Lorikeet&quot;&gt;Rainbow Lorikeet&lt;/a&gt;, that he hopes to breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female is 3 years old, and has just laid her second clutch of eggs since my friend got her. The male is 15 years old and is a proven sire, though with a different, now deceased, female. The birds have sex frequently but the first clutch of eggs were clear, so he's concerned that the male may no longer be fertile. These birds can live to their late 20's, so 15 seems a little young to stop producing sperm. A bird specialist vet examined them recently and said they were both in good health; my friend didn't have any fertility tests done at the time (he says he will if this clutch also turns out to be clear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given all of the above, until what age will a male Swainson's Lorikeet typically remain fertile?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T14:36:00.807" Title="What age will a male Swainson's Lorikeet remain fertile until?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="749" CreationDate="2013-10-23T00:53:48.827" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary safety issue with invisible / electronic / underground fences is that they do not protect your pet from people and animals coming to your dog and possibly harming it. A standard fence, for example, keeps unfriendly dogs out as much as it keeps your dog in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the collars, I bought a Tri-Tronics vibration only collar for one of my deaf dogs (and then trained the vibration to be a positive experience.) The manual was the same as the one for shock collars and it recommended that for the dog's health and safety that you make sure the dog has an extra pad of fur underneath where the electric part hits. I read that as the manufacturer saying they aren't necessarily safe as is.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also a number of risks to using punishment based training at all, these are well covered in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://avsabonline.org/uploads/position_statements/Combined_Punishment_Statements1-25-13.pdf&quot;&gt; &quot;American Society of Veterinary Behavior Punishment Position Statement&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that if you get such a fence, you also need to train your dog to the boundary, so that the collar only goes off when they break the 'rules' they have already learned. It is possible to teach this behavior without purchasing the fence in the first place. Additionally, the fence itself can negatively reinforce behaviors other than leaving the yard - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hollysden.com/say-no-to-shock-collars.htm#Invisible_Fencing_Systems&quot;&gt;Trainer Experiences with Invisible Fencese&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T00:53:48.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="643" CreationDate="2013-10-23T00:59:11.960" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that your dog's bowl is filled with tap water that contains chlorine, while the pond contains untreated water (or primarily untreated water, depending on what is in the tank that you top it up with.) Some dogs do not like the taste or smell of chlorine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is evidence that cats have evolved to prefer moving water to stagnant water because the former is usually safer to drink, this may also apply to dogs (or some dogs) and the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T00:59:11.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="931" CreationDate="2013-10-23T02:35:00.380" Score="11" ViewCount="606" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frequently people are adopting dogs from rescue shelters. Adopting any adult dog can be a bit of a challenge in that it's hard to know the dog's history. Some rescue dogs have a history of abuse and/or neglect. The process of meeting and choosing a dog doesn't give the dog or the people a great environment to get to know each other. Dog's can sometimes be different at a shelter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the, sometimes, unnatural process of getting to know a possible future adopted dog;  &lt;strong&gt;Are there ways, when choosing a dog, to see if the dog has problem behavior?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This question originally discussed looking for potential health problems and signs of abuse when adopting a dog - it was separated into two questions.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/888/what-danger-signs-indicate-health-issues-when-buying-a-new-dog&quot;&gt;What danger signs indicate health issues when aquiring a new dog?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T00:02:52.510" Title="How do I spot potential problem behavior when adopting a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="652" CreationDate="2013-10-23T04:17:05.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't really need to stir it, all you need is to siphon the top of the substrate at most. Think of all those planted tanks having a complete carpet of foreground plants, they can not even siphon properly. While its an eyesore, but eventually the waste will break down and taken care of by the filtration system or live plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T04:17:05.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="904" CreationDate="2013-10-23T11:19:00.593" Score="12" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 500 L aquarium I would like to fill with saltwater and eventually fish. I have an 80 L tank starting to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saltwateraquarium.com/cycling-a-saltwater-aquarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cycle&lt;/a&gt; now on the 3rd week, containing about 2 kg of live rock. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to partially fill the 500 L tank with the contents, filter and power head of the 80 L tank, and over the following weeks, put in newly purchased live rock, more coral substrate, and more water. Week by week, I plan to add more water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this plan have a chance at success, and if not how should I modify it? I don't want to spend all my money at once! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="214" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T12:49:52.150" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T12:49:52.150" Title="Would a new 500 L marine aquarium need to be cycled again if upgraded from 80 L nearly finished cycling?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="858" CreationDate="2013-10-23T12:18:19.523" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this answer isn't going to be comprehensive, I had heard of one danger from cats in Florida eating lizards (though this is not contained to Florida), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_liver_fluke_infestation&quot;&gt;this PetMD article&lt;/a&gt; confirmed it.  When a cat eats a lizard, you have to be careful of a &lt;strong&gt;liver fluke infestation&lt;/strong&gt;, which can be acquired from eating lizards which have eaten liver fluke themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the article, which you should read because it'll be more informative than this, many cats do not display symptoms, but symptomatic cats could display any number of gastrointestinal symptoms: from fever, vomiting and diarrhea, to anorexia, jaundice, weight loss, and/or stomach distention.  True diagnosis is only through microscopic observation of biopsied liver cells, or by identifying eggs in the cat's feces.  Treatment requires hospitalization.  &lt;strong&gt;You can prevent an infestation by administering a periodic preventative medicine from your veterinarian;&lt;/strong&gt; this will probably not work on a cat that is already infected.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check with your veterinarian; I am not a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T13:27:43.520" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T13:27:43.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="902" CreationDate="2013-10-23T12:20:19.740" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer assumes you have a deep sand bed (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/296246-deep-sand-bed-anatomy-terminology/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;photos&lt;/a&gt;) in your aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you cycle your aquarium, it means all your micro-fauna are being built. The lower part of the sand bed should already have some anaerobic bacteria living in it. I'm not sure that it's already built up in 3 weeks, but surely it is on its way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you move items to a new aquarium, probably you'll lose some of your bacteria.  To prevent having to cycle from the beginning, you could move all that sand very carefully, keeping the bottom sand at the bottom and the superficial sand at the surface. This way you can preserve the majority of your bacteria.  Over time, they will recompose, without taking an entire cycling period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be a successful process, but it'll add 1-2 more weeks to the entire process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T15:19:24.353" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T15:19:24.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="907" CreationDate="2013-10-23T13:25:29.213" Score="12" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the last few years, I've heard from the news that jerky treats are poisoning pet dogs and cats. Even today (October 23rd, 2013), I'm hearing about it on the news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned; what is going on, how can I identify the poisoned treats, how do I know if my pet is affected, and where can I get more information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-28T21:33:47.170" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T21:33:47.170" Title="How can I identify and get more information about poisoned jerky treats?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;recall&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="906" CreationDate="2013-10-23T13:25:29.213" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/productsafetyinformation/ucm295445.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This FDA page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has the majority of the answers to your questions.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/downloads/NewsEvents/Newsroom/FactSheets/UCM371715.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Jerky Pet Treats Fact Sheet (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; is an FDA-hosted resource for pet owners.  I will summarize the major points below, but &lt;strong&gt;if you are concerned, you need to visit the FDA site&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding the news alerts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm360951.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;primary FDA Jerky Treats page&lt;/a&gt; updates with alerts.  This has been going on since 2007.  You heard about it in the news today because the FDA sent letters out to veterinarians yesterday (October 22, 2013) with information on how to alert their clients, and the news stations report on updates.  The summary pages on the FDA site were also updated, though I am unable to identify changes. Prior reports include those from 2010, 2011, 2012 and earlier in 2013.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary of the Issue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the FDA, pets are becoming ill when consuming jerky-based pet treats, the majority of which are sourced from China. Since 2007, dogs and cats have been affected with at least 3600 reports including over 580 deaths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What types of treats?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chicken-based, duck-based and sweet potato-based jerky (treats, tenders, strips), including those which use one or more as a combined ingredient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which consumer brands?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no single identified brand, but the majority are sourced from China. If the package does not state the country of origin, it may still be sourced from China or another exporter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about recalls?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While reports are ongoing, identified treats are being removed from store shelves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which areas are affected?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not confined to any geographic location.  Other countries than the U.S. may be affected, see the pages for further information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are the signs of illness?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are feeding jerky pet treats, look within hours or days for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;decreased appetite / activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vomiting, diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increased water consumption&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increased urination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pet shows signs, contact your vet and save the treat product in the original packaging for future testing.  You can report your findings to the FDA by calling 1-888-INFO-FDA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the poison?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inconclusive at the moment, though instances are reported of unapproved antibiotics being identified.  It may be a combination of factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where can I get further information?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/productsafetyinformation/ucm295445.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The FDA Q&amp;amp;A Page&lt;/a&gt; (linked previously) goes on to explain how they conduct inspections, testing, and additional information including other affected countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-28T16:50:17.893" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T16:50:17.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="895" CreationDate="2013-10-23T14:12:09.257" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rainbow lorikeets male and females reach sexual maturity at 2 years and are known to be fertile for most of their lives. So it could be a safe guess to assume that this male could remain fertile well into his 20s. This would depend upon his actual individual life expectancy, and health. As failing health is generally a precursor before death, if he is unwell, then this may have affected his fertility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be hasty to assume that one empty clutch means he is no longer fertile. These bids generally pair and mate for life. I am unclear about whether this would affect the fertility between a new pair when a long time mate dies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been difficulties breeding birds raised in captivity, due to behavior problems, as opposed to fertility per se. Also, males can react to other males, even their own offspring within an aviary. It would be hard to make an actual diagnosis, or well educated guess, if there is a problem and what it may be without more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the next clutch is empty, perhaps then your friends could seek some advice. The fertility problem could also be with the female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rainbow Lorikeets can be very long-lived. Females can breed until they are into their twenties and males can retain their fertility even longer. In Australia, a female Red-collared was 35 and breeding until 12 months previously. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/43zUb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;rainbow lorikeet&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trichoglossus_haematodus_-Jurong_Bird_Park,_Singapore_-Dec2009.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;em&gt;One of my favorite birds, we have always had them in our garden, wherever we have lived.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1) Northern Parrots &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.northernparrots.com/rainbow-lorikeet-fact-sheet-blog97/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rainbow Lorikeet factsheet&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) Latitude 42 (2011) Pest Risk Assessment: Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus). Latitude 42&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Environmental Consultants Pty Ltd. Hobart, Tasmania. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/CSTS-8K73SV/$FILE/Rainbow%20Lorikeet%20final.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T14:36:00.807" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T14:36:00.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="909" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="911" CreationDate="2013-10-23T14:45:14.927" Score="16" ViewCount="47424" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog just drank soap water that I left outside the house. I don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this negatively affect his health?  Should I take him to see a vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T03:02:00.887" LastActivityDate="2019-03-24T03:11:28.533" Title="What harm will soap water do to my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="898" CreationDate="2013-10-23T14:52:03.393" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experiences with dogs and animals in general, the signs are quite easy to spot. The animal's body language should speak for itself. Backing away when approaching the animal, nervous twitch, the eyes, the tail etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it's easy for me to say and not explain it thoroughly yet that's the general explanation. Always let the animal approach &quot;you&quot; and leave your hands by your side so that it will &quot;check you out&quot; and no sudden movements. If you feel the animal will strike, best to just back away and use a gentle voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added note: It's not the same thing when you're standing in the back of a &quot;horse&quot;. You better have some pretty quick reflexes when that puppy &quot;bucks&quot;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="216" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T14:52:03.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="909" CreationDate="2013-10-23T14:52:39.593" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;It basically does the same thing to dogs that it does to humans, which means he's in for a bit of an upset tummy, a whole lot of gas, and very likely uncontrollable bowel movements depending on how much he drank and how soapy the water was. It should pass fairly quickly, but if it doesn't you should definitely contact a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, read the label to see if there's anything in that soap but soap that might be toxic - if the label advises you to contact a poison control center if ingested, then you should definitely contact your vet. If it's household dish soap or similar, you probably don't have much to worry about - but do check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure he's got plenty of water and make sure he's got enough water (he can dehydrate due to a very active bowel, just like humans can). It's also probably a good idea to keep him in a comfortable shady spot &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; for a while for ermmm .. environmental reasons :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - dogs have a pretty good sense on what they can and can't digest (though it's not perfect by far). If there was enough soap in the bin to &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; make him sick, he probably would not have drank it, or at least stopped after the first taste of it. Just keep an eye on him, he'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastEditorUserId="105" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T23:26:17.147" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T23:26:17.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="888" CreationDate="2013-10-23T15:09:40.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Health issues&quot; is such a broad brush... So, a general answer would be to examine the dog and make sure everything seems correct and use some common sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they clean, well kept, groomed, skinny/fat, breathing normally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get them out on a leash and make sure they walk/run correctly (no limping or favoring). Maybe let them out in a fenced area... watch for any signs of abnormal behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the eyes, are they clouded or abnormal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally spend some time with the dog and use your common sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a more specific health issue, list that in the question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="217" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T15:09:40.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="920" CreationDate="2013-10-23T17:31:01.617" Score="22" ViewCount="197236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard cats purr to show contentment (though humans who want that to be true may be imagining it).  &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/why-cats-purr&quot;&gt;WebMD suggests&lt;/a&gt; they purr (1) to get our attention (&lt;em&gt;&quot;feed me!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;); (2) when content (&lt;em&gt;&quot;petting time&quot;&lt;/em&gt;); (3) when anxious (&lt;em&gt;&quot;oh no, the vet!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;); and (4) for healing.  These reasons seem to be somewhat acute; I would expect a cat to purr when in those situations, but not all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My adult (~7 yo) male, indoor cat, adopted from a shelter about a year ago (and already neutered when he arrived), quietly purrs nearly non-stop when he's awake, enough that the shelter's medical-exam notes included a comment about being unable to hear his heart clearly due to the purring.  He doesn't just do it when interacting with humans; sometimes he'll be across the room doing his own thing, yet if I listen closely, I can hear him purring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my cat just very happy all the time or is there something else going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't consider this to be a &quot;problem to be solved&quot;, as I enjoy the purring, but none of my other cats have done this so I'm wondering if there is any cause for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T05:03:30.123" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T02:30:41.807" Title="Why does my cat (almost) constantly purr while he's awake?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2013-10-23T17:31:44.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Budgerigars (commonly known as budgies) will generally not lay eggs unless there is a suitable nesting area; in fact usually they will require a nesting box. The best remedy would be to ensure that there is no build up of matter in the cage. There will be less likelihood of them laying. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put any fruit or snacks in a small ceramic dish for several hours during the day and then remove it. That's what I do with my birds, to avoid getting  old fruit bits rotting in the cage. This will also stop the build up in the bottom of the cage. If you are meticulous with keeping the bottom of the cage cleared and raise any perches of ladders you have that are closer to ground level, it will remove the nest like feel the birds are experiencing at the bottom of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience of owning budgies (which extends over 40 years, I was 3 when I got my first budgie), budgies are not particularly &lt;em&gt;skittish&lt;/em&gt; as far as birds go. They are quite personable. However a larger group of them will make them less user (human) friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As far as harming the budgie laying the eggs. It is more humane to remove the egg promptly, than have a bird nest on an egg that is not viable. Without a proper nesting box or nest, it is unlikely the egg will be kept warm enough to survive. When I was studying animal husbandry, we were given the experience of  trying to keep an egg warm enough to survive hatching and it requires continuous warmth. The air currents, although minimalised from the relative shelter at the bottom of the cage would still be enough to cool the egg.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(1) IMPROVING BREEDING OUTCOMES FOR BUDGERIGARS &#xA;Notes from a lecture by Dr Rob Marshall BVSc(Hons) FACVSc(Avian Health) &#xA;Lecture given at Wynnum approx 5 years ago and reprinted for the benefit of our &#xA;newer members  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prbs.org.au/files/IMPROVING%20BREEDING%20OUTCOMES%20FOR%20BUDGERIGARS%20By%20Dr%20Rob%20Marshall.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T17:31:44.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="519" CreationDate="2013-10-23T18:09:02.893" Score="45" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats purr, as well as meow to communicate. Purring doesn't always mean the cat is happy. It's a type of language for the cat. There has been research into the way cats communicate with their owners and how the different types of meows and purrs evoke reactions in their owners, ultimately helping the cat to communicate her needs and wants and getting them met. The pitch of the sound will evoke certain emotional responses within cat owners to express whether the cat's needs are urgent or a signal of being contented. (1)(2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is also known as the purring disease; is an illness that can be fatal to cats and one of the features is that the cat will continue to purr up until the moment of death or last consciousness before death. The purring may also be more noticeable due to chronic airway congestion. (3)(4)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that there would be an upper limit in a healthy cat. Some cats will be more inclined to purr more than others, for more reasons than are practical to list here. If your cat is not &lt;a href=&quot;http://manhattancats.com/Articles/drooling.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;drooling&lt;/a&gt; when she purrs, has &lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/askamy/a/why-do-cats-drool-when-petted.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bad breath&lt;/a&gt;, difficulty breathing or sounds congested, does not have any &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/behavior/normal_social_behavior_and_behavioral_problems_of_domestic_animals/behavioral_problems_of_cats.html?qt=cat&amp;amp;alt=sh&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;erratic behavior&lt;/a&gt;, it would most likely be safe to say your cat is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, there is some research into cat's purring and links to the purrs increasing the pet owners &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailyinfographic.com/the-healing-power-of-cat-purrs-infographic&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt; due to the frequency of a cat's purr resonating with the human body. It suggests a form of entrainment that is similar to the effects of soothing music on the body that is discussed here  &lt;a href=&quot;https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/4723/does-music-affect-heart-rate/4734#4734&quot;&gt;Does music affect heart-rate?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1) University of Sussex News &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/index?id=1210&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Research reveals how cats purrfect the art of exploitation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=1495&amp;amp;S=2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Myths Debunked: Cats Purr Whenever They're Happy&lt;/a&gt; THE FELINE BEHAVIOR SERIES&#xA;Paul D. Pion DVM, DipACVIM (Cardiology) and Gina Spadafori&#xA;VeterinaryPartner.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dr-addie.com/WhatIsFIP.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)?&lt;/a&gt; dr-addie.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(4) Understanding Feline Infectious Peritonitis&#xA;Niels C. Pedersen, DVM, PhD  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ccah/local-assets/pdfs/PedersenFIPinterview9-10-08.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="18361" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T19:23:13.213" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T19:23:13.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-23T19:08:20.263" Score="4" ViewCount="2027" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm asking this in response to the question:  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/796/are-onions-dangerous-for-my-cat-or-dog-and-why&quot;&gt;Are onions dangerous for my cat or dog and why?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above question concludes that onions and garlic are poisonous to dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about &lt;strong&gt;trace amounts&lt;/strong&gt;? If I feed table scraps to my dog that have only been &lt;em&gt;seasoned&lt;/em&gt; with onions or garlic, is that still dangerous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of what I'm referring to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A piece of steak that has been marinated with a marinade that had onions in it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A hamburger that had onions on it(with the onions taken off)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pizza crust(which almost certainly has trace amounts of sauce which normally contains garlic)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T04:05:01.237" Title="Can trace amounts of onions, or other foods poisonous to dogs, be harmful?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="914" CreationDate="2013-10-23T19:55:57.007" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The language of purring&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats also purr if they're injured, while giving birth - even when dying.  British zoologist Desmond Morris has observed that  purring is &quot;a sign of friendship - either when the cat is contented with a friend or when it is in need of friendship - as with a  cat in trouble. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's purr is a type of language, as is the meow. The meow tends to be a more intense expression than a purr. Although purring can also have emotion effect on cat owners. Purring doesn't always indicate a cat is content, it can mean a variety of things. (2)  At the very least it is a way of displaying submissive as opposed to aggressive intention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;German ethologist and cat behaviourist Paul Leyhausen interpreted the&#xA;  purr as a signal that the animal is not posing a threat. (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Purring and attachment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you're across the room, your cat is still communicating with you, and being affected by your presence, which is probably reassuring for him. An interesting test would be to film him while you're out of the house. It could be his way of maintaining a connection with you. It is theorized that kittens and mother cats use purring as a way of bonding and that this may be a form of communication used throughout a cat's life to facilitate bonding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kittens are able to purr from a few days after birth. They can purr&#xA;  while suckling from their mother which may communicate contentment or&#xA;  maintain contact with her. ... Mother cats may also purr while nursing kittens, perhaps &gt;to  maintain contact with their offspring. Or maybe it’s all down to the&#xA;  hypothalamus detecting a pleasurable sensation and helping to trigger&#xA;  purring. (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible emotional damage of rescue pets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contrary to the prevailing view, there is evidence that emotional pain may induce greater suffering than physical pain. Studies have shown that emotional factors weigh more strongly in animals’ behavioral choices than physical pain. (4)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it has yet to be determined what the long term effects of psychological or emotional suffering can be; it is becoming more apparent that a history of emotional abuse or neglect may well have lasting effects on a pet's psychology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given you got him from the shelter, it might be a huge relief for your cat to have found you, and this could result in him being extra purry. He may well have an underlying insecurity, without knowing his history, he may have been happy with another owner and then suddenly removed, this is conjecture, but the fact he ended up homeless, means he's been uprooted. It would be hard to provide a definitive explanation as to why your cat purrs so much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What we know for sure is that animals do suffer psychological and not just physical pain, and that emotional abuse and maltreatment may be far more widespread and pernicious than physical abuse. (5)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The many articles I've linked discuss the variable nature of purring. If your cat is in good physical health and as settled as he sounds, it doesn't sound like something to be concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for something else going on in terms of &lt;em&gt;physical health&lt;/em&gt;, there is some discussion about possible physical health issues that can cause (perceived) excessive purring.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/916/87&quot;&gt;How much purring is too much purring?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=1495&amp;amp;S=2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Myths Debunked: Cats Purr Whenever They're Happy&lt;/a&gt; THE FELINE BEHAVIOR SERIES&#xA;Paul D. Pion DVM, DipACVIM (Cardiology) and Gina Spadafori&#xA;VeterinaryPartner.com&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(2) University of Sussex News &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/index?id=1210&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Research reveals how cats purrfect the art of exploitation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;CAT COMMUNICATION - &lt;a href=&quot;http://messybeast.com/cat_talk2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;BODY LANGUAGE&lt;/a&gt; 2002-2009, Sarah Hartwell  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;CAT COMMUNICATION - &lt;a href=&quot;http://messybeast.com/cat_talk.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;VOCAL LANGUAGE&lt;/a&gt; (CAT CHAT)&#xA;Copyright 1995 - 2012 Sarah Hartwell  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(3) CAT COMMUNICATION - &lt;a href=&quot;http://messybeast.com/cat_talk3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;THE ENIGMATIC PURR&lt;/a&gt; 2008-2013, Sarah Hartwell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;humanesociety.org Cat &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/cat_communication.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chat: Understanding Feline Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(4) A world of hurts—is pain special?&#xA;Franklin D. McMillan, DVM, DACVIM &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/Clubs/scivapm/docs/World%20of%20pain.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(5) Emotional Pain in Animals: An Invisible World of Hurt&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-dogs-go-heaven/201204/emotional-pain-in-animals-invisible-world-hurt&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Recognizing the psychological effects of animal abuse&lt;/a&gt; by Jessica Pierce, Ph.D. in All Dogs Go to Heaven&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(a) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dr-addie.com/WhatIsFIP.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)?&lt;/a&gt; dr-addie.com  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(b) Understanding Feline Infectious Peritonitis&#xA;Niels C. Pedersen, DVM, PhD  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ccah/local-assets/pdfs/PedersenFIPinterview9-10-08.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T02:34:13.067" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="909" CreationDate="2013-10-23T20:02:10.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone drinks something that can foam, he should avoid vomiting. In case he vomits, there is the danger of suffocation. I think it is not a good idea to encourage him to drink much water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T02:56:44.807" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T02:56:44.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="469" CreationDate="2013-10-23T20:28:41.233" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution has two parts. First, tire out the kitten so she's less likely to view the adult cat as a plaything.  Wand toys &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/104943/Da-Bird-Feather-Teaser.aspx?CoreCat=LN_CatSupplies_CatToys&quot;&gt;like Da Bird&lt;/a&gt; are pretty effective for most cats (though I have one who prefers snake toys, so we have a wand toy with a feather boa instead of a &quot;bird&quot; attached for him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, make sure that the older cat has enough pathways to escape the younger cat's advances without getting cornered. You want to make sure that there aren't any &quot;dead ends&quot; in your house, and where there are dead ends, generally add vertical shelving/trees to enable the older cat to escape UP and continue getting away instead of having to face the younger cat.  In a similar situation we've also belled our youngest so that the older cats can easily find him.  For more information on building cat highways through your house, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's Catification pages&lt;/a&gt;. Jackson Galaxy also has a great show on Animal Planet (and Netflix), My Cat from Hell, that may be able to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T20:28:41.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="145" CreationDate="2013-10-23T22:03:42.833" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answering in regards to a bird, generally it should be okay (physically) to leave them alone for 24 hours as long as they have a full bowl of food and water.  They only eat when they are hungry and they will never drink all of the water before it becomes disgusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many birds will dunk their food in their water bowl to soften it up, which will make it quite disgusting overtime, but it won't hurt them if they drink it like that for a little while.  Don't let them go too long without fresh water though because overtime they can develop a crop infection if they have dirty bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things to pay attention to with your birds is if they have a habit of defecating in their water bowls or if they bath in their water bowls occasionally.  If they do either of these things it is best to change their water immediately as even them dunking their feet in the water can contaminate it with feces.  If they do neither of these things then they should be fine for the better part of a day and night without immediate care (Disregarding if they are emotionally accepting of being alone for long periods).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-10-23T22:03:42.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-23T22:59:46.003" Score="9" ViewCount="13503" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried remedies I got from the internet but they do not work and she still has fleas. I do not know what else to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-10-23T23:42:34.137" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T17:25:50.960" Title="How do I get rid of fleas on my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-23T23:12:18.543" Score="13" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year was my first time showing a rabbit, but I got marked down because I didn't practice with her. I had no help from the adviser for bunnies where I go to school, so I did not know what to do. What are the important things to know and do when showing a rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:16:38.697" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:16:38.697" Title="How can I learn to do rabbit showmanship?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="925" CreationDate="2013-10-23T23:42:08.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flea treatment for your rabbit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Comb your rabbit regularly with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3706190&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flea comb&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit stays in the house then it is possible that your house might also be infested so also treat your house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, Fleas find the smell of vinegar very offensive and it also makes the environment very acidic for them so grooming your rabbit with vinegar mixed with water would also prevent fleas&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit stays in a cage make sure the cage is cleaned (with hot water preferably) and regularly vacuum the surroundings of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to vinegar, some other things that repel fleas are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppermint&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Peppermint Oil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cinnamon&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbopogon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lemon Grass&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see &lt;a href=&quot;http://video.about.com/cats/Make-a-Homemade-Flea-Trap.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for how to make a homemade flea trap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T18:34:46.267" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T18:34:46.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="145" CreationDate="2013-10-24T02:56:31.713" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, since there are answers for dogs and birds, I'll tackle cats.  This answer is based on personal experience, as advised by vets in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy adult cats can generally be left alone for a day or even two.  Some specific issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water:&lt;/strong&gt; Make sure they have plenty of water available.  Putting out an extra bowl is a good idea, just in case one gets spilled or soiled somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food:&lt;/strong&gt; dry food can generally be left out for a couple days.  If your cats already free-feed, then just fill up the bowl(s).  If you restrict their food, then either give that up for a day or you can use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B005GJNFFC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dispenser with a timer&lt;/a&gt; to regulate the feeding.  (Note: I just picked that product out of a long list of options; my own cats free-feed so I haven't used such a device.)  If you use a timed dispenser, be sure to do a trial run before your trip to make sure there's nothing about it that would make your cats reluctant to use it.  (Devices with mechanized parts or that make noise can weird some cats out, so make sure yours don't mind before you leave.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canned food gets unpleasant after a few hours, so I wouldn't try that in a timed dispenser.  If you fill up a bowl with it your cats might eat it all at once (and stand a chance of vomiting it up later).  For a short absence I find it's better to just skip the canned food.  &lt;em&gt;If your cats primarily eat canned food, this means you'll need to transition them to more dry food before leaving.&lt;/em&gt; Don't just shock them with a food change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Litter box:&lt;/strong&gt; If you scoop the box once a day, then scooping right before you leave for an overnight absence should be enough.  If you scoop twice a day, or if your cats are particularly fastidious, put out an extra box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General safety:&lt;/strong&gt; You already probably leave them alone for long stretches while you're away at work/school/etc; an overnight absence isn't &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; longer than that.  I've found that the general precautions I would take for my house (lights, temperature regulation) are enough for the cats too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said at the beginning, this is for healthy cats who don't require any special care.  If your cats are on any medications, or are particularly frail, or are overly needy (separation anxiety?), then you may need to arrange for somebody to come in while you're gone.  In extreme cases, you may need to either have someone sleep at your place or take your cats to someone else's house, as I did for my elderly cats with complicated medical issues.  (It's better if you can avoid displacing the cats.)  For kittens I would definitely have somebody come in a couple times a day, because (a) they can get into more trouble and (b) people-time is more important during their formative years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T14:20:36.333" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T14:20:36.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="708" CreationDate="2013-10-24T07:36:10.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my 200 L fresh water tank, which is an aggressive tank, fish occasionally get harassed to death. I let the other fish eat the dead but take it out if it's still there after a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dead snails on the other hand have seemed to have cause major apocalypses in the tank over the years so now I always take them out immediately.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="214" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T07:36:10.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="934" CreationDate="2013-10-24T09:47:01.677" Score="16" ViewCount="28396" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in a fairly agricultural area, so we don't keep a litter box.  My 2-year-old female cat goes outside to play and do her business.  She was spayed at around 7 months old, but the large neighborhood tomcat continues to terrorize her.  I had assumed once she was spayed, there wouldn't be any issues.  I don't want to lock my cat inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to prevent these attacks? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T15:32:32.423" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T01:21:06.107" Title="How can I prevent a neighborhood tomcat from harassing my neutered female cat when she goes outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="898" CreationDate="2013-10-24T10:39:14.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One additional thing to keep in mind is that many pet shelters accept that your adopted pet may have unforseen problems, as you say they can sometimes behave differently at a shelter versus at your home. The policy will vary between shelters but for example the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rspca-act.org.au/adopt-a-pet/adoptionpolicy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RSPCA Adoption Policy&lt;/a&gt; for the ACT in Australia includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While we hope your pet selection process is successful and permanent, we do offer a fourteen-day period to ascertain acknowledged behavioural abnormalities during which time depending on the problem a refund may be available. During this period you may surrender the pet for any reason and no charge will apply to the surrender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A local shelter that I'm familiar with doesn't offer any sort of refund policy but does make it clear you're welcome to try adopting a different pet if things just don't work out. The nervous reaction of a dog (or any other pet) can be a sign of abuse, but it's no reason to totally avoid them and instead look of it as the chance to give them a great new life full of affection. In my experience sometimes pets that have been abused in the past will form an even greater bond with you, given some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T10:39:14.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="981" CreationDate="2013-10-24T11:34:51.210" Score="4" ViewCount="40918" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs start off mating like many mammals, the male mounting the female. But they then turned away from each other during the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they do this? What purpose would it serve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T16:10:06.350" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T20:54:31.110" Title="Why do my dogs stand back to back when they mate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="935" CreationDate="2013-10-24T11:37:49.210" Score="7" ViewCount="1893" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has two pet cats. I saw them mating. After mating, when the male jumped off her back, the  female cat screeched. This is not to be mistaken with cats fighting, he didn't bite her or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T00:03:52.080" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T00:03:52.080" Title="Why do cats often screech when mating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="930" CreationDate="2013-10-24T11:53:18.347" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience there really isn't much you can do - without getting a dog (and having the &quot;fun&quot; of introducing your cat to the dog) the best I've ever managed is to chase the offending cat off my property any time I see him around. That tends to make the tomcat a bit more circumspect around your property - which should give your cat a safe-ish outdoor area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other option I can suggest is an outdoor cat run she can access from indoors (usually via a cat door) where she has plenty of space but the tomcat can't get to her. That's going to cost you either money or time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, your cat being spayed isn't enough for some toms, particularly if there's a queen in heat and they can't get to her. They're going to try to mate with anything feline that holds still long enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there's some dominance behavior going on here - the tom regards your property as part of his territory, and he's trying to ensure that your cat acknowledges him as the top cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you keep an eye on her - in situations like this it's not uncommon for the female cat to be injured trying to escape the tom. More than once I've had to take neutered females to the vet to treat bad claw wounds near the base of the tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T11:53:18.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="933" CreationDate="2013-10-24T11:57:37.097" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand (and a bit of time with Google), cat penises are barbed for a better grip. This makes mating painful for the female - and explains why cats mating often looks and sounds a lot like cats fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other &quot;fun&quot; aspect of cat mating as I recall is that the female ovulates when mated, which can mean that a roaming queen's kittens could be sired by as many toms as she has kittens (Cat genetics are fun...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T11:57:37.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="938" CreationDate="2013-10-24T13:22:49.433" Score="17" ViewCount="384140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever my dog mates, he ends up stuck inside the female.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attempts to separate them prove futile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are they stuck together after mating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-24T13:58:36.553" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T04:51:16.067" Title="Why does my dog get stuck to the female after mating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-10-24T13:46:27.217" Score="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update :&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1099/231&quot;&gt;Zaralynda's answer&lt;/a&gt; below contains &lt;strong&gt;very important advice&lt;/strong&gt; I wasn't aware of when writing this answer.  To summarize, you &lt;strong&gt;must&lt;/strong&gt; make your cat drink water after pilling him/her, or s/he may suffer esophagus damage.  I believe the best is to wait for the cat to be thirsty or hungry before pilling him/her.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about one month of daily giving several pills to my cat, I managed to find the process not so difficult after all.  Only one person (with two arms) is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, firmly catch your cat by the neck's skin with your left hand (mirror this howto if your left-handed), where it is insensitive (you know, just as the cat mother catch them with her jaws to move them), while he's still on the ground.  You don't want him to be too uncomfortable, so if you feel your hand is not at the right place, move it until you find the right spot.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Edit :&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1003/231&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;be cautious&lt;/strong&gt; with this technique&lt;/a&gt;.  You may prefer alternative ways of handling your cat (like the towel technique, handling your cat with your arm under his throat, or help from a second person), especially if s/he is old, fat or becomes aggressive.  However I feel in most cases this technique is the most appropriate for pilling a reluctant cat.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Edit2 :&lt;/strong&gt; I tried several times to handle the cat without scruffing him, but the results were always terrible and most of the times I ended up scruffing him anyway.  I feel it's much more comfortable for the cat to be scruffed during 15 seconds (actually less than 5 seconds when you're used to it and everything goes well) than to be gently tortured during 5 minutes or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then, bring his neck up so that he's on his back paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take the pill between the thumb and the forefinger of your right hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use your middle finger (or others if you find it easier) both to open his jaws and to keep his muzzle up.  (Now that our cat is used to this procedure, I find the opening of the jaws the most difficult part of the whole procedure, as he won't open his mouth willingly — in particular after the first pill…)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w1JgF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Use your middle finger to open the jaws.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once the jaws are open and the muzzle up, release the pill, aiming at the oesophagus.  You may have to wait for the cat to flatten his tongue before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M7oF1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Release the pill and keep the muzzle up.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, and it took me a while (and many many spitted pills) to figure this out, &lt;strong&gt;the key is to keep the cat muzzle up until he swallows&lt;/strong&gt;.  This reduces drastically the spitting (thanks to gravity, I guess).  On a side note, actually I managed to give my cat a pill yesterday while he was laying comfortably, without steps 1 &amp;amp; 2, just by ensuring his muzzle stayed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Caress his chest and release him.  &lt;strong&gt;Make sure he drinks something to help the pill get into the stomach&lt;/strong&gt; (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1099/231&quot;&gt;Zaralynda's answer&lt;/a&gt; below).  If he doesn't, use a syringe to force him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the cat may still spit sometimes, but just take the pill back and try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip : if you have several pills, have them ready and don't release the cat until you're done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS : I didn't invent anything, it's the way my vet taught me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T11:05:21.637" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2013-10-24T13:51:27.147" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The males penis will swell inside the females vagina during the mating. This will cause them to get stuck. It is completely normal for dogs to get stuck together after mating and you should not attempt to divide them. If you don't want them to mate you should have had enough time to try separating them before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our non-neutered female dog mated with our castrated male a few times. Especially during the first few times we had to secure them, as she got very excited after the mating. She tried to run away and this caused or male incredible pain. I held her by her chest/neck area so she could not run away any longer and waited until they separated on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time it takes for the swelling to reduce and allow separation differs, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/breedingtie.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;one article on the &lt;em&gt;breeding tie&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; suggests a time between 2 and 30 minutes. I quote some other information from the article I think is noteworthy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting stuck together is normal. Do NOT ice them to get them apart. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is advised that you give close supervision and keep them calm. […] You do not want the female to panic and start squirming. If she is larger than the male she can really hurt the male. He is helpless and will usually stand perfectly still, waiting. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a tie […] check your male, and make sure that his penis has gone back inside of him and is not strangled in hair or stuck out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the article is about breeding, thus I removed information that does not relate to your question about mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T13:51:27.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="879" CreationDate="2013-10-24T15:57:32.367" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not a good idea to let cats eat scraps off plates for two reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It encourages bad behavior. It would be better to select any suitable scraps and put them in the cat's food bowl. This also ensures that what the cat is eating is being supervised. When selecting table scraps for you cat, pick off cooked, unseasoned meat and feed it to your cat in her food bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are many things that can be, potentially, harmful for a cat to eat from human leftovers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats will vomit up table scraps, as they don't cope well with big diet changes, they cope better with gradual changes and introduction of new foods. Also the type of seasonings and spices human foods have frequently do not agree with a cat's gut and can cause irritation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The following list is by no means comprehensive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;avocado&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avocado contains persin, which is a dangerous toxin for cats. It can cause gastrointestinal upset, cardiac edema and difficulty breathing. For more detail see here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/939/is-it-safe-to-feed-my-pet-avocado&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/939/is-it-safe-to-feed-my-pet-avocado&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;broccoli&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Broccoli contains isothiocyanate which if given in greater than 10% of the total diet will cause gastrointestinal upsets, if it reaches 25% of the total diet, can (and most likely will be) fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cooked bones&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cooked bones are not recommended to feed cats or dogs. Cooked chicken bones tend to splinter and can cause damage to the gut by perforating the bowel or causing a blockage, as they can be hard to pass through the bowel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;grapes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grapes and their derivatives are also bad for cats. This is discussed in more detail here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/802/is-it-safe-for-my-dog-or-cat-to-eat-grapes-raisins-and-sultanas&quot;&gt;Is it safe for my dog or cat to eat grapes, raisins and sultanas?&lt;/a&gt;. Grapes can permanently damage a cat's kidneys and can cause renal (kidney) failure in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;liver&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Liver can cause vitamin A toxicity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;milk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk, cats are do not produce lactase and cannot digest cow's milk. It can cause diarrhea. Addressed in more detail here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/780/should-i-feed-my-cat-milk&quot;&gt;Should I feed my cat milk?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;nuts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not advisable to feed your cat nuts. Nuts are a more complex issue addressed here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/940/is-it-healthy-to-feed-my-dog-or-cat-nuts&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/940/is-it-healthy-to-feed-my-dog-or-cat-nuts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;onions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onions and plants from the onion family, like garlic are addressed in detail here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/796/are-onions-dangerous-for-my-cat-or-dog-and-why&quot;&gt;Are onions dangerous for my cat or dog and why?&lt;/a&gt;. To give a brief overview, onions and garlic are frequently used in cooking and are also found in many processed foods, even baby food. Onions cause hemolysis of red blood cells (RBC). It causes the RBC to break, which can lead to a potentially fatal condition allium toxicosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sweetener&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweets left on plates are also not a good idea to feed cats. If they have a taste for some leftovers using Xylitol can cause hypoglycemia in cats and can lead to coma and be fatal. This is discussed in more detail here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/798/is-it-ok-to-feed-my-dog-or-cat-candy-with-sugar-substitutes&quot;&gt;Is it OK to feed my dog or cat candy with sugar substitutes?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sugar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for sugar, generally, it serves no good nutritional value for a cat, it has a high glycaemic index, which can affect blood sugar levels and over time increase a cat's chance of developing diabetes, not to mention tooth decay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;vegetables&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also risk in feeding your cat some other vegetables. For more detail see here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/941/is-it-ok-to-feed-my-dog-and-cat-vegetables&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/941/is-it-ok-to-feed-my-dog-and-cat-vegetables&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T15:57:32.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="890" CreationDate="2013-10-24T16:11:32.693" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are able to spot any damage, growths, or abnormal behavior like swimming on their side or gasping for air, it would be a sign. Lethargy and disinterest in food is probably the easiest way to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what type of goldfish you are keeping, but unless the pots are huge, and you're providing some type of filtration, they're not very well suited for any type of fish. Your typical comet feeder goldfish are very messy and require about 30 gallons (114 liters) of water each for them to survive long term. Koi would need substantially more volume. Both need some mechanism of filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:37:49.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:37:49.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="965" CreationDate="2013-10-24T16:48:04.580" Score="15" ViewCount="10782" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a yellow-bellied slider, and the people who had her said that they had been keeping her for about 10 years, when they adopted her from a rescue house. I don't know how old she was when they adopted her, and I don't hold any hope of finding any information on the rescue house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming I don't have any outside information beyond the &amp;quot;around 10 years ago&amp;quot;, is there any way that I can determine the age of my turtle? I've read conflicting answers on the reliability of using shell scales (like tree rings), but I can't find any other information on how to estimate her age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T20:14:52.017" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T20:14:52.017" Title="How do I determine the age of my turtle?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="64" CreationDate="2013-10-24T17:16:05.743" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most &quot;diet&quot; cat foods load up on carbs, which cats don't need (they're carnivores!). The reason is that they want the cat to feel full, but the problem is that the cat has to ingest more calories to get the amount of protein that they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats need to be eating a diet of entirely wet, low carb food. This food is better for your cats and contains fewer calories (carbs) that they don't need. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity&quot;&gt;Cat Info has a really good page describing how to pick a good quality food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, they need to be eating on a schedule. The schedule will help reduce the food anxiety (she'll know that at 6pm her bowl will have food in it, even though at 5:45 it does not). We have one cat who still gets a little anxious at times, so we've voice trained her to &quot;take a breath&quot; and she steps away from the food for a few minutes, which is enough to keep her from puking. We did this by picking her up and putting her somewhere else for a few minutes until she figured out that's what we wanted. If your cats are food aggressive enough to attack you I wouldn't recommend that method though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, if the aggressive cats chase the timid cat away from the food, they should be locked in a different room and fed there. Our anxious cat also hoards resources and gets hissy if anyone is around her when she is eating or drinking, so her bowls are in a different room away from everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep playing with her! As she starts losing weight she'll want to play more because it won't take as much effort (and she may have joint pain right now, and that should ease up as she looses weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-10-24T17:16:05.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17398" CreationDate="2013-10-24T17:57:22.937" Score="18" ViewCount="9050" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have three cats, one 1.5 year old and two ~6 month old kittens, all of which we got at the same time. As soon as we got the cats home, the older cat started eating the food from both bowls, hers and the kittens', causing her to gain a lot of weight. I feel bad for the kittens because they may not be getting all the food they need. However, I can't put more food out, and I don't want to lock them up specifically for feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good way to keep the older cat out of the kitten food and keep her from eating 1.5x her recommended daily serving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Physical separation was the only way to get these cats to eat their share, but the two younger cats graze whereas the older cat eats her fill whenever she's hungry. We attempted to use &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/952/234&quot;&gt;PeterJ's response&lt;/a&gt;, but that only lasted until the cats were all about the same size. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31390/234&quot;&gt;Flater's response&lt;/a&gt; about bowl availability and limiting eating time ended up with our two younger cats eating too fast and vomiting because they would try to eat everything before the older cat finished her food, skipping chewing in the process. This was mostly caused by our work schedules making us unable to feed them at well spaced intervals. We found &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/17398/234&quot;&gt;Megha's response&lt;/a&gt; the most helpful, but not quite what we needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="234" LastEditorUserId="234" LastEditDate="2021-05-19T18:42:43.713" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T19:41:41.607" Title="What is the best way to keep a cat in a multi-cat home from eating all the food?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="950" CreationDate="2013-10-25T02:55:41.900" Score="9" ViewCount="743" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a genetic, incurable autoimmune disease. This causes me to be chronically immunocompromised.  Keeping a pet is a decision of weighing the benefits vs. possible health risks.  I've decided the benefits far outweigh possible health risks; &lt;em&gt;this is my choice and a personal one&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/9219/can-contact-with-cat-feces-be-harmful-for-pregnant-women&quot;&gt;Can contact with cat feces be harmful for pregnant women?&lt;/a&gt; explains it is unsafe for pregnant women to come into contact with cat feces. The same holds true for the immunocompromised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone advise me on how to manage a cat litter box to reduce possible contact with the litter and feces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:41:15.773" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T10:47:45.740" Title="How do I manage a cat litter box to maximize hygiene?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="514" CreationDate="2013-10-25T03:03:50.073" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits mark their territory using scent gland located under chin. Male rabbits, or bucks in particular, will often rub their chin on anything they consider theirs.  This is referred to as chinning. Rabbits will do this to define territory boundaries. In addition, rabbits will spray their territory. Bucks and Does are both capable of spraying; however, bucks do so more frequently.  This behavior is often subdued by altering the animal. Another method rabbits use to identify territory are territorial droppings.  These dropping are often scattered within territorial boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits, being a prey anima,l will generally not fight larger animals who enter their territory. Some pet rabbits, especially Does, will become territorial if kept in a cage environment. Generally, the rabbit will warn intruders with grunts and thumps. Thumps are used to warn other rabbits of nearby danger. Sometimes, rabbits will cower, charge, scratch and or bite when felt threatened. If these behavioral traits are noticeable, it is wise to approach your rabbit from the side rather than the top, since this can be considered threatening. Altering the animal can cut down on territorial aggression caused by hormones. Additionally, making each encounter with the rabbit enjoyable by petting or hand-feeding can calm uneasy feelings toward the handler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References can be provided.  However, I have 10 years experience raising and breeding Netherland Dwarves, which is a particularly territorial rabbit breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-02-13T14:08:45.747" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T14:08:45.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="948" CreationDate="2013-10-25T03:10:15.390" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Centers for Disease Control, in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pregnant.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article about risks to pregnant women&lt;/a&gt; from toxoplasmosis (a parasite-induced infection), give the following advice on managing the litter box:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you own a cat, have a non-pregnant person change the litter box every day. If there is no one else to change the litter box, wear gloves and wash hands with soap and running water after changing the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Risk may be reduced if the litter box is changed every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep cats indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid adopting or handling stray cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed cats only canned or dried commercial cat food, never undercooked or raw meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not bring a new cat into your house that might have been an outdoor cat or might have been fed raw meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(They also note that you are more likely to contract this particular illness from eating undercooked meat than you are from your cat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your concern is not pregnancy but a compromised immune system, it seems like the risk-mitigation strategy would be similar: minimize exposure.  The CDC's advice seems to apply to your situation as much as to their original situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about airborne challenges to your immune system (I don't know if you are), you might add a mask to the gloves when scooping the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T03:10:15.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="953" CreationDate="2013-10-25T04:37:53.510" Score="6" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've asked some questions about my goldfish &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/890/what-indicates-whether-my-outdoor-goldfish-are-healthy-or-ill&quot;&gt;What indicates whether my outdoor goldfish are healthy or ill?&lt;/a&gt; and noticed a lot of response referring to the likelihood that fish would survive in such an unfiltered environment. Yet they have lived and thrived within this environment for a few years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a size limit to ponds that requires filtration? Could the plants be assisting in oxygenating and filtering the water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:54:52.777" Title="Filtration of smaller ponds" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="946" CreationDate="2013-10-25T07:25:51.707" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way that might work while there's a significant size difference is to place the kitten's food in a location that the larger / older cat can't physically get into. If you're a DIY type person you might be able to come up with something elaborate but a simple and cheap way that comes to mind is to use a document storage box such as the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rxygH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could cut a hole in the bottom using a box cutter until the kittens can just fit in while the older cat can't and keep enlarging a little as they grow older. The lid on most of these boxes are fairly tight-fitting and I doubt a cat would be able to remove them, but if that or it getting pushed around turns out to be an issue they are robust enough to cope with quite a bit of weight, so you could place a few bricks or similar heavy object on top to prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tops are easy enough to remove for food replenishment and they're sufficiently cheap to replace from time to time if they get dirty or you could use a liner. As an added bonus kittens seems to like to get themselves into the smallest possible area so they'll probably enjoy their own little &quot;getaway&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T07:25:51.707" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2013-10-25T12:08:46.853" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Natural bodies of water with plants, algae, and circulation are capable of handling a certain volume of organic waste from fish and wildlife via biological filtration. Artificial ponds, in order to support life in them, need to mimic natural features. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your ponds may be on the threshold of the size needed for your fish volume, but there might not be much elbow room in them. Plants will provide natural filtration, but circulation is also a good thing to have to avoid stagnant water and a good rule of thumb there is that you should have a pump that is capable of circulating the entire water supply every 1 to 2 hours. So, if you have a 1000 gallons in the pond, a 500 gph pump is the minimum you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, in addition to plant filtration, you should filter the water. I think you could probably combine the pump and filter for smaller artificial ponds and you want to have a biological system to encourage the nitrogen cycle. I suspect your ponds are more like big fish tanks, so you could approach it from that angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T12:08:46.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="955" CreationDate="2013-10-25T16:18:07.260" Score="12" ViewCount="13169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snakes used to attack the eggs my chickens laid.  We've tried to kill or chase away the snake; we finally killed the snake through baiting with a poisoned egg. We sold some chickens to reduce their volume and prevent attracting another snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we want to buy more chickens.  What can we do to prevent a new snake from being attracted to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T17:50:19.833" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T15:59:13.277" Title="How can I protect my chickens' eggs from snakes?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="954" CreationDate="2013-10-25T18:13:57.987" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snakes are extremely beneficial to have around, as they are very effective in keeping down vermin populations.  However, there are many species that will quite happily eat eggs, hatchling chicks, or even full-grown chickens if the snake is large enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an advocate of killing snakes, even poisonous ones.  There are some nonlethal steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of snakes bothering your chickens, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't leave the eggs in the chicken coop.  The quicker you are to remove eggs after hens lay them, the less tempting a feeding spot the coop will be to snakes.  Try to keep on this daily.  Some chickens can become quite clever about hiding their eggs, so be sure to search thoroughly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eliminate cover snakes may hide in to approach the coop.  Keep your grass and vegetation outside the coop well-trimmed.  Most snakes don't like to be too exposed in the open, and try to stick to areas where they can be well-concealed, such as tall grass, thick shrubbery, or even areas where lots of dead leaves on the ground can hide them.  The less cover they'll have when approaching your coop, the less appealing it will be as a food supply.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eliminate hiding places in the coop itself, and any adjoining buildings.  This can be much more difficult than it may sound.  Snakes are experts at squeezing into tiny cracks most people never notice.  On older buildings, particularly ones made primarily of wood, there can be a multitude of hiding spots snakes can squeeze into.  Keeping barns, sheds, outhouses, coops, and other structures in good repair goes a long way towards making them less attractive to snakes.  Use materials such as caulk to block up any external openings, and clean up debris or clutter both inside and out that snakes might use to hide in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep your property clean of food.  Exposed food may attract mice or rats.  Mice or rats attract snakes.  If you have seen rodents around your house, or signs of rodents, getting rid of them should be your first priority.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;amp;field-keywords=snake%20repellent&amp;amp;sprefix=snake+re%2Caps&amp;amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asnake%20repellent&quot;&gt;snake repellent products&lt;/a&gt; available, although I have never used them, and I honestly don't know how effective, if at all, they may be.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can also set safe, humane &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11IQoDr5Wg&quot;&gt;traps&lt;/a&gt; for snakes, and then relocate the snakes after you catch them.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T18:13:57.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="948" CreationDate="2013-10-25T18:18:16.247" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catgenie.com/&quot;&gt;cat genie&lt;/a&gt; which I seriously think is the best thing ever. Essentially, when the cat uses the litter box, it washes and dries the pvc granules, and all of the waste goes down the drain (they recommend either a laundry waste pipe or a toliet, but we also have one hooked up to a sink drain pipe, that took a bit more plumbing knowledge). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improved smell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced dust &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No handling of waste (other than once every 6 month cleaning of entire box assembly) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supplies are lighter (we live in a 3 story townhouse, so carrying heavy litter around was annoying) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fewer litter boxes (for 4 cats we run 3 cat genies, but should have 5 traditional style boxes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Downsides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Environmental concerns (they say the pellets are biodegradable, but I don't know; on the west coast there are concerns about flushing cat waste w/some of the wildlife).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cost (the boxes and supplies are expensive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not sold locally (have to plan in advance not to run out of supplies!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra electricity/water costs (essentially a toliet flush and 30 minute hair dryer each time your cat uses the litter box).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pellets track worse than traditional litter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't handle runny poop well (and one of our cats has IBS, so sometimes has runny poops). It smells terrible, so we run the bathroom vent fan for 30 minutes or so and then it's fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully that gives you a clear picture of what it's like to live with the cat genie litter boxes! I only know of one person who tried it and went back to traditional litter, and that was at the request of his landlord while he was in transition (while you're training the cat to use the new litter box, you leave a traditional box nearby and don't clean it, so it can get pretty terrible for a week or two).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T18:18:16.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="766" CreationDate="2013-10-25T18:23:41.567" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recent studies focusing on pet altering show an emerging concern of spaying or neutering pets too soon can have adverse effects on the animals health. While some will argue that the testing samples are too narrow (focusing on certain breeds) and too small of samples, the results may be of interest to pet owners. While this procedure is the most common pet surgery performed in America, in Europe this operation is considered risky before the age of one, and in general Europe does not typically alter their pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/131101a.aspx&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medial Association&lt;/a&gt; or AVMA and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0055937&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;PLOSE ONE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; a study done at University of California-Davis shows a link between altering and musculoskeletal disorders (hip dysplasia and other joint issues) and some forms of cancer. The study followed 759 Golden Retrievers that showed in several instances intact dogs have a much lower overall incidence of several cancers and joint disorders. Other studies published by &lt;em&gt;JAVMA&lt;/em&gt; have shown intact animals mixed and purebred in cats and dogs there are lower incidences of obesity and incontinence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many experts believe that the UC-David Golden Retriever study data cannot be applied to all dog breeds. In fact, in a similar exploratory study by UC-Davis using Labrador Retrievers the same links were not found. Also many studies have been shown to prove the opposite of the UC-Davis Golden Retriever study, many altered animals have shown lower incidence of reproductive diseases in AVMA past studies. Many experts feel this is an issue related to the age of the animal being neutered. Earlier castration can cause more adverse effects. However, according to &lt;em&gt;PLOSE ONE&lt;/em&gt;'s data, intact animal's almost always have the lowest incident of cancer and joint issues among Golden Retrievers even for those who have been neutered later in life. Past studies have also shown a link between early neutering and longevity. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grca.org/pdf/health/healthsurvey.pdf&quot;&gt;The Golden Retriever Club of America&lt;/a&gt; had this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The difference in age at death between intact and neutered dogs probably resulted from&#xA;selection bias rather than from any biological advantage to neutering. For example, for a dog to be neutered at 8+ years of age, it must first live at least 8 years. Thus, only older dogs fall in this age category and this artificially results in an older age at death. Also, Goldens in this population were probably neutered earlier in life if they had physical or medical problems that made them unsuitable for breeding.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I take away from this research? This research is considered new and emerging and many experts have conflicting ideas about spaying and neutering Even the AVMA Has published an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/spay-neuter.aspx&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; still advocating the need for spaying and neutering as well as citing its health benefits. Sites like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nwspayneuter.org/spay-neuter/why-spay-neuter.htm?gclid=CPqphPrIsroCFaZcMgodvGIAvA&quot;&gt;Northwest Spay and Neuter&lt;/a&gt; even suggest altering your pet as young as two months old. Listening to your trusted vet on the right age for your pet, because it will depend on your dogs condition and breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is there is still a misunderstanding among backyard breeders and the overcrowding in pet shelters. Irresponsible breeding behaviors have led to this push to spay and neuter all pets, and I will personally advise to anyone to spay or neuter their pets as well. Many people will not take the precautions to prevent their dog from having a litter of puppies (because they don't know how or they don't mind if their dog adds to the pet overpopulation). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-10-26T19:11:46.800" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T19:11:46.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="961" CreationDate="2013-10-25T21:32:13.423" Score="9" ViewCount="77989" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 13 week old puppies who have a playpen that is partially shaded by a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_stellata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;star magnolia&lt;/a&gt; tree. Winter is coming and the tree is starting to lose its leaves. I sometimes see the puppies chewing on leaves while playing (a favorite game is for one to pick up a leaf and the other to chase after him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some online searching indicates that star magnolias are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/magnolia-bush&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not toxic to dogs&lt;/a&gt;, so I'm not worried about poisoning. I'm more concerned about things like intestinal blockage from eating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I worrying about nothing, or should I try to stop them from chewing and eating the leaves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T20:15:36.713" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T20:15:36.713" Title="Should I be concerned that my puppy is chewing on fallen leaves?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="958" CreationDate="2013-10-25T21:53:48.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be concerned if there were pesticides sprayed on the leaves, otherwise if they're non-toxic, and they're plant matter, I don't see that they would cause intestinal blockage as long as the puppy is chewing them and not eating them whole.  If it really bothers you, rake the leaves, monitor their bowel movements (frequency and consistency), and provide the pups with some appropriate toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am not a veterinarian.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T07:56:24.297" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T07:56:24.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="646" CreationDate="2013-10-25T22:41:17.187" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might consider adding a few &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clea_helena&quot;&gt;Assassin Snails&lt;/a&gt; to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a rapidly growing population of pond and ramshorn snails after I had introduced some plants into my tank, and was looking for a solution.  I saw them at the local pet place when I was out looking for loaches, and after a bit of research decided to give them a try.  Assassin snails are actually fresh water Whelks... and are quite carnivorous.  Once placed in the tank, the three of them I had brought home commenced what I can only describe as a war crime against the native snail population.  Within about 6-8 weeks they had wiped out the snails.  The substrate was littered with empty pond snail shells.  There was not a snail to be seen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am starting to see some ramshorn snails pop back into the picture now.  But I havent seen a pond snail for a good 8 months.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are harmless to fish and shrimp. Though I imagine they will go after any fish or shrimp eggs they come across. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're also very fun to watch.  They move across the substrate awkwardly like Jawa Sandcrawler, sticking their proboscis out looking for prey.  They move slow, but steadily.  If you keep an eye out, you might actually catch them in the act of stalking and capturing a snail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2013-10-25T22:41:17.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="958" CreationDate="2013-10-26T00:00:55.847" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some online searching indicates that Star Magnolias are not toxic to dogs, so I'm not worried about poisoning. I'm more concerned about things like intestinal blockage from eating them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies will naturally chew on leaves, bark and twigs. They are teething and need to chew. Chewing on non-toxic plant matter should not, generally, be a problem, even seeing the occasional leave matter in the feces is normal. If this is becoming excessive and you are seeing plant litter in the feces every time your puppy relieves herself or she becomes constipated, is struggling to defecate, or has runny* or hard feces, then you perhaps should rethink letting her play in the leaf litter unsupervised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies chew all sorts of things and it's a matter of encouraging them to chew the things we want them to chew. The best way to steer puppies in the direction of what we want them to chew, is to remove the objects from the puppies reach i.e. shoes, to the remove the puppy from the source (in this case it would be leaves) or replace the object of chewable affection with a more desirable chewable object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned, provide your puppies with chew toys, dental chews and appropriate fresh meaty bones for them to chew on (they will enjoy these and they are good for them). If introducing fresh bones, do so gradually, as a sudden change in diet can cause stomach upsets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also clear the leaves from the play pen each day, or move the playpen to another area, where the leaves won't fall in; Or provide a protective and angled shade cloth over the pen, if it remains under the tree, the leaves will cascade over the shade cloth and fall on the ground outside the shade cloth, if moved from under the tree, your puppies will have shade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is, these puppy stages do not last for many seasons, so this may be the only fall you need to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A note about runny feces with blockage. When the bowel is partially blocked, there can be some runny fecal overflow that passes through the bowel in an attempt to clear the body of waste.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T00:00:55.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="844" CreationDate="2013-10-26T02:49:06.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Older dogs frequently greet their owner's like this, as younger dogs and puppies tend to be exuberant and bounce around the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stretching, is most likely, caused be the fact he's being lying down and needs to stretch (as mentioned in the comments). It's a sign of relaxed happiness to greet you like this, as a dog generally won't do this when a stranger turns up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that the dog has his head lowered  (apart from the fact it's a nice stretch) and not the opposite (with his behind lower and head stretched up) is an indicator that the greeting is non aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If your dog is submissive, he’ll lower his body or even cower on the ground. His head might be raised, though, if he’s greeting a person or another animal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/canine-body-language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canine Body Language&lt;/a&gt; ASPCA.org&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are he gets a pat when he greets you like this, so he would have learnt that this is a smart way to greet his owner, as it i not boisterous, nor domineering, but endearing and he gets a pat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T20:57:52.800" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T20:57:52.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="966" CreationDate="2013-10-26T12:17:42.837" Score="8" ViewCount="633" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three big outdoor pot ponds for goldfish. There were three living in a pot together for 2-3 years. I then moved the biggest fish into a separate pond pot by himself, as he was bumping at one of the smaller fishes when they were being fed. He is healthy enough, but I worry that he may be lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any research about whether goldfish are better in pairs, or alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The ponds are large planters&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T09:18:24.557" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T09:18:24.557" Title="Is my goldfish ok on his own in a pot pond?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="944" CreationDate="2013-10-26T12:45:15.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the information I could find, there is no definitive way of determining the age of an adult yellow-bellied slider, unless you've owned it from a baby. Counting rings on the shell is not significant in determining years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For young females the yellow mark behind the eye is more striking, as is the underside of the belly. These feature tend to fade with age.  The males tend to grow darker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So without asking the previous owners if they know how old she was when they took her, it's hard to guess. It is understandable that you would want to know. They can live for many years, but it would be good to know where on her lifeline she is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are brown or olive green, usually with a prominent patch of yellow on the side of the head. The lower jaw is rounded. The shells of yellow-bellied slider turtles average in size from 5 to 8 inches; the record is about one foot. The yellow blotch behind the eye is the most conspicuous marking and is most prominent in juveniles and females. The yellow underside of the turtle's shell sometimes is marked with round dusky smudges; these markings may be reduced in older turtles. Also, adult males may become very dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://srel.uga.edu/outreach/factsheet/slider.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yellow-Bellied Slider Turtle Fact Sheet&lt;/a&gt; Factsheet  produced by the Outreach Program of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, The University of Georgia &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yellow-bellied sliders are omnivorous, however, juveniles tend to be more carnivorous than adults. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptile-species/turtles-and-tortoises-profiles/yellow-bellied-slider-2.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yellow-Bellied Slider Species Profile&lt;/a&gt; ReptileChannel.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T12:45:15.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="964" CreationDate="2013-10-26T13:10:41.370" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll preface this by saying that this answer is from a bit of research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puregoldfish.com/goldfish.php?s=87&quot;&gt;PureGoldFish.com: Aggression&lt;/a&gt;, the bumping or nudging in a limited environment, particularly when at feeding time, is the larger fish asserting dominance, and according to the website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;some fish keepers may experience bullying if they have a goldfish that is much larger than the others. These may try to assert their dominance and play “king of the tank.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and they advise that if you have small containers, to keep fish of the relative same size together to avoid this behaviour.  However, having said that, according to the RSPCA's webpage &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Should-Goldfish-be-kept-with-other-fish_460.html&quot;&gt;Should Goldfish be kept with other fish?&lt;/a&gt;, goldfish are social animals and in normal circumstances are not aggressive, and pertinent to your question,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Solitary fish can exhibit depression and lethargy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, putting it all together, they should be able to coexist, but in a larger enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user194" LastActivityDate="2013-10-26T13:10:41.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="974" CreationDate="2013-10-26T15:56:03.900" Score="12" ViewCount="28669" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 13&amp;frac12; year old dog who is almost blind. She is still able to make her way outdoors to go potty but due to her age and poor eyesight, doesn't get very far before she squats down: essentially, off the porch, past the flowerbed, turn right. The upshot is that one spot in my yard gets &quot;watered&quot; a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since that spot is right by the porch, if I'm dining outside or just sitting enjoying the evening sun, I frequently get hit with a blast of stale dog urine. This is especially bad during the summer months because (a) I'm outside more, and (b) we get warm, dry summers here which means the urine doesn't get washed away quickly (even running the sprinkler in that area more than usual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to reduce or eliminate the smell of her urine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My other dogs are grazers so any answers involving chemicals should take toxicity into account.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:14:33.850" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T23:05:32.277" Title="How can I reduce the smell of stale dog urine in my yard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1446" CreationDate="2013-10-26T21:11:07.603" Score="10" ViewCount="7664" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am filling a 55-gallon freshwater tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to add group fish, schooling fish, like guppies and tetras.  I am avoiding African Cichlids and solitary fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for additional, non-fish animals to add to the tank; crabs (hermit or otherwise) or shrimp or snails, for example.  I want to avoid destructive animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I be looking to add?  Is there anything I should explicitly avoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:12:56.183" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T14:12:56.183" Title="What non-fish animals are safest for my freshwater aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-08-04T20:24:40.523" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="948" CreationDate="2013-10-26T22:42:31.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you should consider training your cat to use the toilets.  I find it has many advantages :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no more time and money spent on litter ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ecofriendly (much less CO₂ and pollution and probably less water, since you don't need litter factories and transport of litter bags anymore — but you have to pay the bill for the toilet flush) ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;odor-free ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and the most relevant point to your issue : much more hygienic as the cat don't have to walk in dirty litter anymore, and you don't have to clean the litter box either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't make advertisement but you can easily find training kits on the web.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, this answer is probably a good place to emphasize again that &quot;unsafe&quot; is a big word, &lt;a href=&quot;https://parenting.stackexchange.com/a/9231/4929&quot;&gt;odds to be contaminated by a cat seem quite small&lt;/a&gt;. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:41:15.773" LastActivityDate="2013-10-27T07:54:06.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="973" CreationDate="2013-10-27T01:28:34.540" Score="11" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked a question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/948/how-do-i-manage-a-cat-litter-box-to-maximize-hygeine&quot;&gt;How do I manage a cat litter box to maximize hygiene?&lt;/a&gt; and received &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/948/how-do-i-manage-a-cat-litter-box-to-maximize-hygeine/970?noredirect=1#970&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; answer suggesting to train my cat to use the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train my cat to use the toilet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T18:53:07.063" Title="How can I train my cat to use the toilet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1912" CreationDate="2013-10-27T03:39:35.183" Score="9" ViewCount="10250" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a large number of pigeons in our backyward and doing some research I have found that the histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis diseases carried in their feces can be harmful to cats and dogs. Searching around I've seen some suggested solutions although a lot really wouldn't be useful in our situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barriers and various spices to keep them away where they roost - the yard is too open for barriers to be effective and they seem to fly in and wander around rather than nest in a particular area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove food sources - we did the obvious step of bringing the dog bowl back inside some time ago but we have a lot of trees and they seem quite content with amount of natural seed. Also we have budgies outside and while we try to sweep up the area often no doubt some sits there a while before we get to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The various loud sound ideas wouldn't go down well in a residential area and I wonder if the ultrasonic options would also disturb our budgies and/or dog?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know much about pigeons but one possible reason they may like to congregate here more than adjoining properties is that the previous owner used to breed / race them. Although that was close to twenty years ago so presumably it would have to be their offspring and I've never seen a sign of them actually nesting on the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't had any problems so far with our pets contracting those diseases but the number seems to be on the increase. Given the above constraints does anyone have any other ideas that might be worth considering? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T14:35:00.833" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T18:27:30.337" Title="Keeping pigeons and their droppings away from other pets" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="971" CreationDate="2013-10-27T07:53:22.760" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the answer of the other question, there are several reasons to toilet train your cat :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no more time and money spent on litter ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ecofriendly (much less CO₂ and pollution and probably less water, since you don't need litter factories and transport of litter bags anymore — but you have to pay the bill for the toilet flush) ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;odor-free ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;much more hygienic as the cat don't have to walk in dirty litter anymore and you don't have to clean the litter box either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find several commercial kits, books and DIY guides &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.fr/search?q=cat+toilet+training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on the web&lt;/a&gt;.  I guess they all use the same principle :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First you have to train your cat to use his litter on the toilet seat.  It's probably the easiest step.  Some people recommend to start by putting the litter box aside the seat and to elevate it progressively, but you can choose to simply put directly the litter on the seat and show it to him.  It may help to have a small stool or a pile of books to help him accessing the seat at first.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then you put a small hole at the center of the toilet seat, and increase the size of the hole until you can remove completely the temporary layer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most famous commercial kit advertises that you can achieve this in 8 weeks.  Note that though some people report less, it seems that some cats are reluctant (or maybe their owners make errors ?) and it may take longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've bought this kit (note that the price (~40 €) is much higher than the actual cost of the material, but as far as I'm concerned I decided that it was worth remunerating the inventor for the positive ecological impact induced by his kit, plus it's nothing in comparison to the cost of litter on a cat lifetime), but for now I don't have much feedback yet since our cat is ill (chronic diarrhea, which doesn't help…) so we're waiting for her to feel better before to switch to step two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I can already tell of some caveats to avoid and a few tips (though I guess most of them also apply to the use of litter boxes) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;never use bleach to clean around the toilet seat — cats feel the urge of urinating where you did, presumably because the chlorine remind them of cat urine ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;on the other hand, you may add a drop of bleach at the bottom of the litter box or in the toilet seat (depending on the step you're on) to attract the cat ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;always have the litter box clean — that is, remove feces and urine as soon as there are, and you may add a thin layer of new litter on top ;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not sure how efficient it is, but when the cat happens to &quot;miss&quot; the litter box or the toilet seat, we use white vinegar to remove the odor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, some people think toilet training should be avoided, arguing it's an unnatural behaviour for a cat.  I guess they live in a world where cat food grow on trees…  ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update :&lt;/strong&gt;  The difference between the first and second steps of the famous kit we've bought seems to be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.fr/search?q=litter+kwitter+amber+stage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;too large for most cats&lt;/a&gt; — including ours.  So if you go for the same kit, save some time and trouble : unless your cat is at ease at soon as you put the second stage on the toilet seat, go straight for the so-called &quot;cardboard method&quot; (or other alternatives).  The idea is to close the hole with cardboard or other (strong enough) material, and to dig a small hole in it which you gradually increase.  I would not advise to simply scotch it below the frame as some people seem to suggest, though : there is an edge on the white frame which you can use to support the material, I feel it's much safer this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that while not cancelling it as it's still easier to use, this inconvenient reduces the interest of such a kit with regards to a DIY solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="231" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T18:53:07.063" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T18:53:07.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="967" CreationDate="2013-10-27T12:53:18.280" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary reason that the smell is so powerful is that urine contains &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia&quot;&gt;Ammonia&lt;/a&gt;.  It is that chemical that bonds with other chemicals in your dogs urine to produce that smell.  Normally this would not be much of an issue as you noted because it would be spread out and Ammonia would get broken down by the plants and grass.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it gets concentrated in one area though the plants some times can not keep up and sometimes the amount can even be so concentrated that the soil will be toxic to plants.  Since this is a garden I would suggest first breaking up that soil and mixing in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_lime&quot;&gt;Garden Lime&lt;/a&gt;.  The Lime will help the plants deal with the excess ammonia, and contains other minerals that help make a garden grow stronger.  Lime is natural and mostly non toxic so you can dust the top of the area where your dog likes to urinate once a week(more if necessary) to help keep the smell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use Vinegar and water or baking soda.  Both of these work to bond with the ammonia and convert it into a chemical compound that is less pungent.  These may be better options if your problem is from a larger area that is not easily tilled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-10-27T12:53:18.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1042" CreationDate="2013-10-28T01:35:37.277" Score="6" ViewCount="703" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I was at a local shelter for a &quot;bun run&quot;, where they let about 20 bunnies out for social time (some with each other, all with humans), and I noticed that even the ones who were supposedly litter-trained were leaving droppings during the run.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What is required to house break a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; that bunnies can be litter box trained, so why are they dropping poops all over the place?  How come they were not using litter boxes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T21:17:21.320" Title="Why do rabbits leave droppings at the Romp?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2013-10-28T06:57:20.217" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to wash the food bowl and the water bowl. I started doing this for the last couple of months now and it completely eliminated the bad breath issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs and I found somewhere on the internet at some point, an article that recommended that you wash their water bowl and their food bowl every couple of days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture how nasty it would be if you always ate on the same bowl and drank water from the same cup without ever (or maybe once in a blue moon) washing it before use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try that approach first as it seems to be the least expensive and more natural solution for bad doggy breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, make sure your dog does not get to the trash or anything like that because that is a very common cause of bad breath on dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T06:57:20.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="932" CreationDate="2013-10-28T13:35:32.197" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;When dogs mate, the male dog gains entry to the female by mounting her from behind. The bulbis glandis, a part of the penis, swells and lodges  inside the vagina of the female. The female has strong sphincter muscles at the opening to the vagina, which contract around this swelling, further securing the penis inside the vagina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs then &lt;em&gt;turn&lt;/em&gt;, maintaining this contact and face away from each other in what is known as a &lt;em&gt;tie&lt;/em&gt;. The dog penis is able to turn to accomodate this rotation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it takes 20 minutes for the entire mating process to complete, it is theorised that the evolutionary reason for this turn is so the dogs are not left defenceless in the original mount position, with the males dog's back and genitals exposed. Both dogs' faces and jaws are facing outwards, forming quite a formidable defence against would-be predators or other dogs wanting to mate with the female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After ejaculation the swelling subsides and the vagina muscles relax and the dogs are able to release and break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T03:01:18.827" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T03:01:18.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1097" CreationDate="2013-10-28T14:58:53.930" Score="8" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am setting up a 55-gallon freshwater fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add animals other than fish (crabs, snails, crayfish, shrimp) to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which freshwater fish, viable for my tank size, are most tolerant of (don't attack, tend to avoid) non-fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am avoiding African Cichilds or solitary fish.  I am looking for group fish, schooling fish, like guppies and tetras.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T12:44:38.283" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T13:54:43.677" Title="Which freshwater schooling fish tolerate non-fish best?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-28T19:49:58.540" Score="18" ViewCount="43196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I shouldn't feed a cat chocolate, and I also know dogs can get sick from it. Do I have to worry for my cat's health if (s)he eats some chocolate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-15T21:38:59.537" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T21:38:59.537" Title="Should I worry if my cat accidentally ate some chocolate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="993" CreationDate="2013-10-28T20:03:19.543" Score="20" ViewCount="78647" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to bite and pull at the carpet everywhere there is a seam (between rooms, patches, etc).  I've tried squirting him with water, but now he just runs away if I even move while he's doing it.  Since I can't be there all the time, I need some way to keep him from ripping up the carpet while I'm at work or asleep.  I've seen products that are supposed to keep cats away from an area, but that would require spaying the doorway. I don't want to prevent him from entering those rooms, just to stop messing with the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="260" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:06:01.273" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:04:04.000" Title="How can I prevent my cat from chewing up the carpet?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-28T20:22:26.073" Score="12" ViewCount="20833" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 1-year-old dog tends to whine loudly when left alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog settles down very quickly when in the car, but if left outside a shop or inside and kids are playing outside, she whines. She tends to run away, so adult supervision is required and thus she cannot be let out every time the kids are outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had some success click-training her for regular training, but am unsure how to train a behavior away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently working on the issue by taking the dog outside as often as possible, just so she will get familiar with situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T07:45:22.380" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T23:24:22.507" Title="How can I train my dog to not whine when left alone (outside shops, indoors while we're outside, etc.)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="989" CreationDate="2013-10-28T20:39:09.670" Score="26" ViewCount="82881" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like lying in my bed with my arms up, but my cat sometimes comes to lick my armpits. His sandpaper tongue doesn't feel that nice. I'm using a stick antiperspirant, but he usually does this in the evening after the antiperspirant is long absorbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is so tasty about my stinky, sweaty armpits? Is it healthy for my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:19:28.040" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T04:43:38.637" Title="Why does my cat like licking my armpits?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="988" CreationDate="2013-10-28T21:00:35.557" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans secrete a fair amount of salt when sweating and many animals, especially cats, are attracted to the taste of that for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason is, actually, scent. Your cat may be trying to apply their scent to you in, well, a fairly obvious spot for them to override. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third reason is grooming. Cats will groom their human companions. This is a sign that they're quite relaxed and comfortable around you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for health, well I can't say, except that I doubt it's dangerous if the antiperspirant is truly gone. You could look at citrus-based deodorants as a deterrent since your cat won't like the taste. Might sting a bit though...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T21:00:35.557" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2114" CreationDate="2013-10-28T21:01:25.203" Score="16" ViewCount="23183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 pugs. When they see an animal on television, they alert and bark like crazy.  If I tell them to stop, they will stop barking loudly, but continue to growl. If the animal stays onscreen for a few seconds longer, they start barking again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be worse with horses or other barking / noisy dogs. If they notice other dogs on TV, they also get excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I change this behavior?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T07:44:17.893" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T20:19:29.237" Title="How can I stop my dogs from barking at animals on television?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2013-10-28T21:14:36.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats nails keep growing and they have the need to scratch to shorten them and keep them dulled down. If they don't get to go outside or don't have something to scratch they will do it to the carpet.  I would recommend a scratching post of some sort for your cat to use. If they have that they should not do it to the carpet. To attract your cat to the post you can use fresh or dried cat nip on the post. You can even use a log if it will stand up. My research for this answer comes from many years of cat ownership.  Hope this helps your carpet and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="266" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T21:14:36.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="95" CreationDate="2013-10-28T22:14:28.040" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some rules of thumb and even stocking calculators out there that you can use to get a rough sense of what works, but every new tank setup could use a bit of research. There's a lot of complexity, but there's also a lot of experience out there, and it's always a good idea to get feedback on your stocking and setup plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to consider, basically, the capacity of your system to handle waste vs. the capacity of your animals to produce it, and like the other answers say, there's no simple fish:volume formula that Just Works. It depends on a lot of factors: the type of fish, the type and capacity of your filtration, your water quality (both from the tap and once the tank has matured), how many and what kind of plants you have, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also have to consider how compatible the animals are. There might be fish that are fine for your tank in terms of bioload, but are extremely territorial and wouldn't have enough space to stay out of sight from each other. On the flip side, some (like the tetras you mention) do best in schools and may experience high stress and aggressive behavior on their own -- and some schools of fish might need a lot of open room to cruise in. You also want to look out for combinations of species with such different water quality requirements that you can't find a healthy point for both of them at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's not as big an issue for the tetras you mention, but always plan for the &lt;em&gt;adult&lt;/em&gt; size and behavior. You hear horror stories about people stocking things like red-tailed catfish or arowana in their 10-gallon because it was only a few inches long at the pet store...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T12:09:21.093" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T12:09:21.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2013-10-28T23:57:16.983" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats are horizontal scratchers instead of vertical ones, they like pulling and yanking at carpet and stuff rather than, say, a couch or something, if they don't have something appropriate. You can get scratchers that are just corrugated cardboard stuck together in flatter box shapes that you set on the floor - I had a cat who was determined to yank up all my carpets, and then I gave him something like this, and he stopped trying to pull my carpet up, and chewed and scratched on the cardboard thing instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it isn't a scratching need, then you might want to try putting pepper (cayenne or black pepper, I have used both) in the area you want to keep him out of, like along the seams. I do this to keep my cat out of plants and other places, and it works pretty well. Also lemon juice or vinegar also work, although make sure they won't damage your carpet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also get a small rug and try to train him to only pull at that one, but I have never  really gotten it to work (although other people apparently have.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are commercial sprays you can use, that claim to keep cats from scratching at things, but I can't speak to how well they work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also might be a boredom thing, or an attention seeking behaviour, and he might just want more active playtime, and there are a large variety of toys and things you can get to help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I found some cats responds better to a noise deterrent than being sprayed with water - for one cat I had, I used a can/jar with rocks in it and shook it right near him when he was doing stuff I didn't like, and it worked well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-10-28T23:57:16.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="990" CreationDate="2013-10-29T01:01:46.827" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have an instinctual reaction to alert the pack when they are aware of another dog or animal in the vicinity that they are unfamiliar with.  They can be alerted by smell, sight or sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog's mind is usually wired to smell.  Even a little dog can have more than 20 times as many scent receptors as a human being, and their neural pathways are highly linked to this amazing ability. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-a-dogs-sense-of-smell.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pugs are a bit of a unique breed in that their nose is much shorter which makes their sense of smell much worse comparatively to other dog breeds, so they can sometimes learn to rely on their senses more than their scent.  This is possibly making them oversensitive to animals they see on TV where a basset hound may not be concerned at all since they trust their nose more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worse thing you can do is try to hold them or give them attention when they are exhibiting the unwanted behavior.  This would be a reinforcement to them that they are right to be on guard and alerted to animals on TV.  You are doing the right thing by correcting them with the barking, but make sure not to tolerate the growling afterwards.  This means they haven't fully submitted to you and when you let that slide you cause them to question your ability as pack leader. Do not back down until they have fully submitted or relaxed in your presence, maintain the calm assertive leadership the entire time.  If you are overly emotional or angry then you will seem unstable and that will probably make them more anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lesson should be that they should learn to not be so alert with their eyes and more so with their noses, as a dog naturally would.  When they have fully relaxed after the correction you can reward them with a treat but make sure they are not visually fixated on the coming treat.  Try and train them to look up to you and not the treat.  Let them smell the treat before giving it to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to reinforce the importance of smell to your dogs is to ensure that they do not greet other dogs or humans with visual fixation.  Ensure they are being calm and submissive with their back turned away from the oncoming visitor.  When the dog or person is in smelling distance then let your dog greet and identify with the visitor by using smell rather than vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above exercises will help your dog move from visual fixations and focus on using their more primal senses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastEditorUserId="182" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T13:55:27.927" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T13:55:27.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="987" CreationDate="2013-10-29T03:17:18.673" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of things to consider here, environment, situations, people around you who can help you with the training sessions and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Around the house you can start by:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Making sure you get his attention with treats, when there are kids or exciting stuff (for him) happening outside I believe that it's a good idea to reinforce him into a calm state where he doesn't prance around or whines, where you get his attention inside the house and reward him with a treat once he sits down. I would repeat this one or two times per day or every change you get to see him whine when distracting stuff is going on outside.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can then raise the training level by making him not just sit, but also lay down, and make sure that he calms down a bit before you reward him for his calm state. You need to be able to walk around a bit and make sure he &quot;stays&quot; there, reward his staying behavior as well with a treat and a click. Repeat this for a few days same as with the first point above.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, if the dog's bed or kennel is around the area you may also make him calm down first while in the trouble area while kids are playing, once he's calm and he got a treat you can extend the training a bit (if you wish) and reward him if he goes to the kennel or simply lays down in one of his spots in calms down on his own, it's further rewarding his calm behavior, not just on the spot, but also on his own choice if calming down and going to his favorite spot to lay down or be calm if it's what you desire... or maybe he will simply start to ignore those outside distractions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all kind of training with dogs it just requires patience, practice, consistency... do this for a few days, maybe dedicate 10 minutes to each session where he starts to whine, don't get frustrated if the behavior doesn't go away on the fly, it might take a couple of sessions, as long as you get him to calm down once or twice per session the number of times you need to calm him down will reduce over time for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Outside the house but still in your property:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog whines when you leave it alone outside, it may be scratching the door, crying, barking or what not, in hopes that you have a front door and back door in your house you can get someone to tell him to &quot;stop&quot; or &quot;be quiet&quot; while you circle around to confront him so the door never opens until he's calm. By the time you'll get there and start to correct the behavior (in your own way of handling that) you can reward with a treat and a click and simply go in through the door without letting him in. Repeat this process with the same recommendations as the approach described above (10 mins or so a day for a couple of days).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually the dog will stop his whining around the house when left outside or when he's inside the property and there's commotion outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will notice that by the time you take your training to a public area such as the store how you describe you will have a much calmer dog that will probably won't need a lot of effort because you will notice that the dog will most likely be calm because of the behaviors he learned while being in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...And Yes, there's a lot of new distractions to deal with when he's outside and it might be an issue or it might not, depends on your dog's temper and energy level, just remember that the more you can correct things at home in a more controlled environment the easier it will be do take charge in public areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;And just in case for public areas:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can start to determine if the bad behavior is cause by &quot;you&quot; the master leaving his sight by having someone stay outside with him for a bit to see how he reacts to you leaving.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can also see if there's anything specific that freaks him out outside when left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two things (and more) can be determined much faster once your dog does the home training at first, and once you determine what the cause of him freaking out might be (if any still) when he's left outside in a public area and start to train again in the house by paying close attention to what triggers his behavior and coming up with a simple way of correcting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In example:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog is reacting bad when you leave and not when everyone leaves then you can train him by doing the distance thing when you make him &quot;stay&quot;  and you take a few steps back, and continue going back until he gets up to follow. Once he does that you tell him to go back where you told him to stay and continue making more distance and coming back to rewarding him based on the milestones he's covering with more and more distance, you can do this in the same room, from room to room, from floor to floor, etc... he should be there staying and waiting for you until you come back, correct him right away if he gets up and runs towards you, he needs to wait there until you call him or release him from his stay command.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, lots of things to consider here, but I think that my answer is hopefully wide enough to cover your question and I wish you all the best with the training, it's just patience, patience and consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if I missed anything and I'll be glad to edit my answer, cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T03:17:18.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="997" CreationDate="2013-10-29T05:46:30.277" Score="17" ViewCount="873" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen it recommended in many places that you should own a litter box for each cat in your home plus an extra. What are the reasons behind this, and is there an upper limit where this strategy stops helping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/preventing_litter_box_problems.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example from The Humane Society of the United States&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How many?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rule of thumb is one box for each cat plus one more. Then none of them will ever be prevented from eliminating in the litter box because it's already occupied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="269" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T17:35:35.010" Title="Why should there be one more litter box than the total number of cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="996" CreationDate="2013-10-29T06:33:16.847" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/lifestyle/how-many-litter-boxes-do-i-need&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on Pet Health Network&lt;/a&gt;, there is not really some special reason behind having an extra litter box - it is just for precautionary reasons. A dirty litter box could cause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inappropriate urinating or defecating in the house (outside the litter box)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medical problems such as &lt;strong&gt;feline urethral obstruction&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;feline lower urinary tract disease&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very territorial animals and might not want to share their litter box. So what happens when your cat's litter box becomes dirty and you are not around to clean it up? (The extra litter box comes in). An extra litter box can also give your cat variety of choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="809" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T23:39:07.283" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T23:39:07.283" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="984" CreationDate="2013-10-29T06:37:40.473" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This issue is addressed at length in these questions: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/799/does-chocolate-hurt-hamsters&quot;&gt;Does chocolate hurt hamsters?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/781/is-chocolate-harmful-for-dogs&quot;&gt;Is chocolate harmful for dogs?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chocolate contains potential toxins for cats: theobromine and caffeine. Animals are unable to process these in large amounts.  Human beings can eat chocolate with varying success, as we are larger and able to process the theobromine in relatively small quantities. What would be a small quantity for a person (in terms of grams / body weight) may be a large quantity for a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It cannot be definitively answered whether your cat has been, effectively, poisoned by an ingestion of chocolate.  The best thing would be to monitor your pet for any symptoms of toxicity and do not delay seeking veterinary treatment.  A cat will usually display signs of toxicity with the first few hours of ingesting the chocolate, but this can be delayed for up to 12 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some signs to look out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vomiting and/or diarrhoea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trembling, seizure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hyperactivity, both behaviourally and physiologically, increased heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any changes or signs of unwellness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Always, if in doubt, the internet is no substitute for professional veterinary attention, which a consultation with your local vet can provide.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T22:14:41.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="353" CreationDate="2013-10-29T07:40:10.363" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly I'll thank @John Cavan for providing the link to the Bichon Frise Club of America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother and grandmother owned &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillon_%28dog%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Papillons&lt;/a&gt; for many years. Papillons have lone fine coats and require very regular coat care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We (as our pets have always been a collective ownership :) used an assortment of implements to groom the dogs. A variety of brushes and combs. It was interesting and reassuring to see the Bichon Frise Club of America also recommend this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metal and plastic combs (designed for humans) can both be useful in dealing with difficult knots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog is not maintained daily: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, using a brush, I'd suggest a slicker brush to begin with to remove smaller entanglements, then a pin brush. Some pin brushes have more spaced pins than others, I would recommend one with decent spacing, as opposed to close spacing, as it acts like a comb and a brush and will help untangle knots a brush cannot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This then leaves the more difficult knots and is where a comb is handy. Working on each individual area with a comb can be effective in removing knots. Sometimes it may required careful snipping out matted fur that is beyond successful grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your dog is maintained daily (which is optimal for a Bichon Frise) you can lightly brush through the dog, but keep the focus on using the comb. There is nothing nicer than combing through fine, untangled dog fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also an assortment of detangling techniques that can be used in conjunction with brushing, especially combing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/741/87&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; provides some good advice about dealing with the differing fur types on your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bichon.org/CareGroomingTips.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, you'll find pictures of all the recommended tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T07:40:10.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-29T08:27:06.367" Score="6" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three outdoor fish pot ponds. They are taller then they are wide. Now this mean the surface area meeting the atmosphere is quite small compared to the volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was under the impression, that it's the surface of the pond that helps to bring oxygen into the water. I could be totally mistaken about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if there is any information about pond depth and the surface area exposed to the atmosphere and the environment health, in such, as being optimal for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please this is not a question about artificial filtration, it is about possible exchanges made at the surface of the pond and any possible natural conventions created within the pond.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T17:57:56.387" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T17:57:56.387" Title="How do I balance surface area and volume in my outdoor fish pond?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6540" CreationDate="2013-10-29T09:12:32.277" Score="52" ViewCount="20672" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love playing tug of war with my dog.  This is partially because he didn't show interest in toys at all early on, and getting him to actually pay attention to a tug rope was a long and often unrewarding process. Thankfully, he is now always excited to have a quick game of tug with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am confused about who should be winning this game. On the one hand, I've read (for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturaldogblog.com/blog/2007/07/how-to-play-tug-of-war-with-your-dog-and-have-the-happiest-dog-on-the-block/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) that &lt;strong&gt;you should always let the dog win&lt;/strong&gt;, because it sates their natural prey drive, and encourages them to look to their owner for help in relieving aggression or anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, numerous sources (The Dog Whisperer, for example) say &lt;strong&gt;you should never let the dog win&lt;/strong&gt;, especially if the dog is a dominant breed (bull terrier, ...), because they need to recognize you as the alpha, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, &lt;strong&gt;which is it?&lt;/strong&gt; I suppose it depends on the dog and its temperament, why we're playing, etc., but I am interested in any pertinent information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I request no anecdotal answers.  I am only interested in scientific reasoning (or lack thereof) behind the claims above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:07:27.963" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T23:59:30.847" Title="Who should win at tug of war?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1001" CreationDate="2013-10-29T10:16:15.453" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want the tug of war to satisfy your dog's natural prey drive then it is essential that your dog must always win. The issue of winning in order to show your dog that you are the alpha won't get your dog the benefit he is supposed to derive from the tug of war. As you said,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] and encourages them to look to their owner for help in relieving aggression or anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will the tug of war help them to look to you for relieving their anxiety if you always win?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s not that you want your dog to want to eat you (obviously). What you DO want is for your dog to associate being around you with the highest levels of satisfaction possible. Now, how satisfying do you think it is to your dog to be flipped over on his back and shown who’s boss? Furthermore, how satisfying do you think those little treats are after you’ve given your dog a million of them? Clearly we need ways to up the ante with our dogs, so that interacting with us leaves them feeling like they just had the best day of their lives…again…and again. And one of the best ways is – playing tug of war. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturaldogblog.com/blog/2007/07/how-to-play-tug-of-war-with-your-dog-and-have-the-happiest-dog-on-the-block/&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other ways to show your dog that your are the one in control but if you want to play tug of war, Your dog should always win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tug of war is supposed to give your dog an outlet for his natural aggresion so that he doesn't end up taking it out on the mailman or on some children passing by, etc. You dog will not be able to let put his whole aggresion if you're the one that always win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20131010183849/http://leecharleskelley.com/top10myths/dontplaytugofwar.html&quot;&gt;LEE CHARLES KELLY's Article&lt;/a&gt; about the myths of tug of war with your dog also says that from his experience with various dogs, your dog should always win and outlines some essential rules to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when playing tug of war with your dog, your dog should &lt;strong&gt;ALWAYS WIN&lt;/strong&gt;. If you feel you cannot contain your dog then it is better not to play tug of war with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-10-10T10:22:43.087" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T10:22:43.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1061" CreationDate="2013-10-29T11:51:28.193" Score="34" ViewCount="132422" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 18 month old male, neutered cat. &lt;em&gt;(His full name is Mr Sid Cuffuffle- Sid to his friends - no lie!)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mother cat carries her kittens by the scruff of the neck, as the skin is very loose. I am wondering if it is ok to pick a full grown adult cat up by the scruff of the neck. Our cat is only a young adult, so is it ok for younger adults, is there some cut off point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/721/how-do-i-give-a-cat-a-pill/937#937&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; recommends holding a cat by the scruff of the neck, but I can imagine that there would be a difference between this and holding a cat up in the air by the scruff of the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the facts about picking up or holding adults cats by the scruff of the neck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6fuaj.png&quot; alt=&quot;Sid&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Mr Sid Cuffuffle (aka Sid)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:02:30.507" Title="Is it ok to pick my adult cat up by the scruff of the neck?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1001" CreationDate="2013-10-29T12:01:07.393" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tug of war is a game I prefer to avoid with dogs,  as it is a battle of wills, with a clear winner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of a dominant dog, never let them win. For some dogs, grabbing at leads and clothing, anything and failing to return it to the owner is a behavior problem, which, frequently, stems from the dog trying to assert dominance over the owner. The problem is, some dogs are just too strong to beat at this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is much better to play games, like fetch. The owner is choosing to relinquish the ball or stick. When playing with only one dog, if the dog doesn't return the ball, it's game over, so it's a self limiting challenge over possession. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With submissive dogs, there would be no issue over letting them win at tug of war. However submissive dogs are less likely to play, with any vigor anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the issue of harming the dogs teeth. Depending on the dog's size, age and dental health, combined with a vigorous game of tug of war, a dog can lose or damage teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to sound like a party pooper, I'd recommend other games, for the reason's you've asked  (it does involve dominance) and the others I've mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T12:01:07.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2013-10-29T12:13:25.190" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are products that you can stick on a surface (including carpet) to prevent scratching there. I've seen them in the &quot;sticky&quot; variety (like double-sided sticky tape) and the smooth variety. Either way, your cat is likely to find a different place to destroy and you'll be playing a never-ending catch-up game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is the rug/carpet item that the cat is allowed to destroy - it should look, feel, and smell different than your regular carpet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that your cat is biting and pulling the carpet with his teeth suggests that he's bored and looking for something to play with: (reference) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cat-Training-Behavior-3489/cat-behavior-4.htm&quot;&gt;http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cat-Training-Behavior-3489/cat-behavior-4.htm&lt;/a&gt; Providing him with more toys, especially chewable or destroyable toys will probably help here, as will you playing with him. If he spends a lot of time alone (which happens when the cat's human works) you could consider getting another cat - I've personally found that it's easier to add a kitten to a household than an adult cat, and that a new cat of the opposite sex will be better tolerated than one of the same sex, particularly if the current cat is used to being the only cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest starting with toys that he can destroy without problems. I've also had success with the toys that have balls in tracks that the cat can bat around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T12:13:25.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="99" CreationDate="2013-10-29T12:34:02.467" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neons and black skirt tetras* are both easy-going fish, so you won't have much problem with them being aggressive to newcomers. As long as anything you add isn't highly predatory/aggressive and isn't too huge, they'll probably play nice. (Bear in mind that if one fish can fit another into its mouth, it probably will at some point.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that I'm not 100% clear on is whether these are the only fish in the tank. If so, it seems like you've got the upper/middle of the water column in your tank pretty well stocked, so I'd look at some bottom-dwelling fish. If you want to keep the South American theme -- which isn't necessary, but does make it easier to pick your target water conditions -- you could look at adding a handful of corydoras cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've already got a bit of a community setup and are looking to add more schooling fish, there are tons and tons and tons of options. Aesthetically-speaking, you've already got a nice contrast in color and body shape between the two tetras though, so you might just want to fill out the black skirt tetra school if you've only got a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Just another common name for your black tetra; same fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T12:34:02.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1008" CreationDate="2013-10-29T13:49:25.053" Score="11" ViewCount="7097" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ferrets tend to have a thing for chewing wires and all sorts of rubbery things. Swallowing pieces of this indigestible material can result in expensive surgeries to remove the foreign object or death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to give my ferrets run of a room, but I also need to keep a small air conditioner (we don't have central air; we live an old apartment with window AC units) in there where the only outlet is within their reach. I also like to keep a television in there so I can watch TV and game while I hang out with them. How can I discourage them from chewing at the plug or any wires for that matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-29T01:11:47.340" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T01:11:47.340" Title="How can I prevent my ferrets from chewing on wires?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2013-10-29T13:49:25.053" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's worked very well for me is a combination of a few things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I limit the amount of wires the ferrets actually have access to. The power-strip for the television is hung on the underside of the table with &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00404YKZI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;large command strips&lt;/a&gt;. The table is a little over two feet high and I don't put anything under it so the ferrets would never be able to jump/climb up to the wires. Gratuitous use of cable ties keep TV and console wires on the tabletop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The power-strip cord is held up along the perimeter of the wall with command hooks, out of ferret reach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part of the cord they do have access to, around the outlet, is coated with this &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002ARQ96&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bitter spray&lt;/a&gt;. It's available at Petco and other chain pet stores. It tastes horrible (tried it on the car ride home; big mistake) and once the ferrets get a lick, they're usually very uninterested in whatever they just tried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I would not give my ferrets any toys made of rubber or similarly indigestible material that they could bite a chunk off of. Ferret kongs are a good example of what not to give them. They can bite off a piece, swallow it, and get a bowel obstruction. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petcarevb.com/wordpress/ferrets/gastrointestinal-obstruction-in-ferrets/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ferret proofing&lt;/a&gt; is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vigilant “ferret proofing” of the home is a must, being especially careful to remove all rubber and foam items that ferrets are particularly fond of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last part requires a bit of diligence. I watched my ferrets and every time they went for the wire, I would &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7c4BBIygB4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;scruff&lt;/a&gt; them and drag them away from the wire. The dragging is something that ferrets will do to each other when trying to establish dominance. This is useful for training out any bad behaviors in ferrets (like nipping as the video mentions). You need to be consistent and make sure you get them every time they do it immediately after they do it, else they won't get the right idea. With enough time, it's possible to get them to ignore the wires completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="153" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T14:13:41.467" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T14:13:41.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-29T13:53:42.270" Score="26" ViewCount="48727" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 year old cat has recently began urinating in inappropriate places. How can I correct this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first he started urinating on the floor, in a small area in the basement. I moved a litter box to the area, thinking maybe he felt safer in this area and preferred this place (I have two dogs that go down into the basement from time to time, but are typically restricted from going down there).  Since then, he's started urinating all over in the basement. In the 8 years I've had him, he's never not used the litter box.  He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms of dementia, so I'm reluctant to suspect that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to correct this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="271" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:14:57.900" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T02:03:16.023" Title="How can stop my adult cat from urinating in inappropriate places?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2013-10-29T14:20:34.127" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first step for a responsible pet owner when their pet exhibits a significant change (such as described here) is to take the animal to the vet to make sure that there are no health problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Health problems can cause litter box issues in several ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cat with urinary pain (an infection or stones anywhere in the system) will associate that pain with the litter box and will look for alternate sites.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cat who was declawed (either front only or front and rear), or a cat with arthritis, may find the litter uncomfortable to use, and look for softer places to go. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cat with anxiety or other mental disorders may suddenly decide that they need different boxes for pee and poop, and if you're only providing a single box, pee does not need to be buried. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, anxiety could cause feelings of insecurity, so they could be marking territory. This is especially true if the cat is not desexed (but I've had this problem even in a spayed female).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once health problems have been ruled out, start looking for behavioral solutions. For one of our cats this phase took 2 years, so be patient and consider everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, look at changes in the environment. Have you changed litter? Are the dogs new to the household? Have you moved? Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't able to identify any changes (there's been a change, but sometimes it's hard to find), then start laying out litter boxes.  One suggestion is to put a box everywhere he's gone. Another suggestion is to just put out a bunch and make sure that you clean the places he's been really well (use a blacklight to ensure it's gone). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try different types of boxes (covered, uncovered, different sizes, different heights(sometimes an older cat will have a hard time getting into a tall box), different shapes, etc). Try different types of litter. Try different locations (some cats want a quiet place away from traffic, others want to be in the middle of everything).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep using the blacklight to track where he's going and make sure you clean where he's been really well. If you don't get rid of the smell, the cat will continue to associate that spot as a place to urinate. There are some cleaners you can use, like Nature's Miracle, or some common household products, such as vinegar. Don't use bleach to clean cat urine, as that can actually act as an attractant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some notes from my own experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We went through a phase with one of our cats where I changed litter suddenly and then he wouldn't go back to the box even after switching back to the original litter. I locked him in the bathroom with the litter box for about 2 days (with food and water placed on the other side of the room from the litter box), and then he was fine again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have another cat who has anxiety/territorial issues. We tried her on prozac, but that didn't help the litter box situation. Eventually, we set up her own litter box in the master bathroom, moved her food and water bowls to the bedroom, and made that her territory. When we are asleep or not home, she's in there with the door closed. She only interacts with the other cats when we are able to supervise. That's mostly fixed the problem (occassionally when we're home another cat uses her litter box, so we also switched to cat genies, a type of automated box, so she has a fresh box that's hers and we don't have to clean that box immediately if another cat uses it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2013-12-26T22:15:01.807" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T22:15:01.807" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1035" CreationDate="2013-10-29T14:22:13.927" Score="10" ViewCount="11335" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has bad breath, e.g. when yawning. Is that normal or is it a sign that he might have dental or digestive issues? Apart from that I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His menu mainly consists of &quot;Royal Canin Indoor&quot; dry food and cat grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="237" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T12:07:42.390" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T11:46:32.757" Title="Is it a bad sign if my cat has bad breath?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="652" CreationDate="2013-10-29T15:02:33.770" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stuff in the gravel can be a source of anaerobic bacteria and ammonia/nitrogen if you let it build up too high, so it's definitely a good idea to get rid of. It'll break down somewhat on its own, but nearly all tanks with any animals will produce waste faster than they eliminate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend using a gravel siphon rather than just randomly stirring though: that way you're removing the waste immediately instead of mixing it into the water column. (And doing your water change.) You'd need to siphon out any of the denser solids/particulates anyway, since they're likely to settle out before any mechanical filtration can grab them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleaning the substrate is especially important if you have an undergravel filter. Those will pull waste deep into the gravel, and that waste will start to block the flow of water as it builds up. If it gets too bad, the denitrifying bacteria in those spots will die back due to a lack of food (the ammonia and nitrites that you want them to consume) and oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T15:02:33.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1014" CreationDate="2013-10-29T15:32:22.333" Score="9" ViewCount="1810" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that ferrets can have small quantities of fruit, veggies, yogurt treats, and similar things you'd find labeled as &quot;For ferrets&quot;. Are these actually safe for my ferret? Aren't they carnivores? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="188" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T17:42:53.710" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T10:17:06.270" Title="What treats are safe for my ferrets to eat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1013" CreationDate="2013-10-29T15:32:22.333" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ferrets, like cats, are obligate carnivores and should not eat much else other than meat! It's best to avoid grains, fruits, vegetables.. anything that's not meat. Treats like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002AROQG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Marshall Bandit Ferret Treats&lt;/a&gt; contain wheat flour and shouldn't be fed to your ferret. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even occasionally feeding your ferret these sugary snacks has the potential to cause &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2ndchance.info/insulinoma.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Insulinomas&lt;/a&gt; which are essentially tumors of the pancreas caused by an insulin imbalance. It's expensive to treat and makes life much harder and more painful for your little one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insulinoma is primarily a metabolic disease not a cancerous disease. It occurs because of the way the ferret’s body utilizes the nutrients in its diet to maintain its body. The most important step you can take to try to prevent this condition is to feed your pet a high quality, meat/poultry-based diet with as few additional plant ingredients as possible. Ferrets are very little animals. So even a few high-carbohydrate snacks and treats are significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give your ferrets treats, as I suggested in the other &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/787/what-treats-are-dangerous-for-me-to-feed-my-cat/791#791&quot;&gt;question about cats&lt;/a&gt;, look for freeze-dried raw meats like beef liver, chicken, and turkey. Read the ingredients label and make sure that the meat is the ONLY ingredient in it. Treats like these are usually available at most chain pet stores. Things that contain grains (wheat/rice) should never be given to your ferret. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T16:29:01.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="698" CreationDate="2013-10-29T15:32:37.610" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;One problem you might run into is that new silicone will not stick to cured silicone, so you won't get a perfect seal just by caulking over the old stuff. I would also be concerned about the strength of the rest of the seam that's not leaking &lt;em&gt;yet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for silicone, like Baarn says be careful about any with fungicides or other additives. Dow Corning 999A (clear) and 795 (black, I think) are both fish-safe, I believe. Another thing to look out for is the expiration date, since some types (particularly 795) won't cure if they're too old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T15:32:37.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="925" CreationDate="2013-10-29T15:56:03.590" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Precious Tijesunimi has some organic remedies in their answer, if appropriate these should be seriously considered. I have also heard of other organic options. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a non-organic solution, there are a few options that are sold for cats and dogs that can also be used on Rabbits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Use extreme caution when choosing one of these methods, some can be fatal to rabbits&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not use flea collars on Rabbits &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=uEpNZaRn0egC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=Blackwell%27s+Five-Minute+Veterinary+Consult&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=hjNwUrXZLozxkQenyYGAAQ&amp;amp;ved=0CEQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Blackwell%27s%20Five-Minute%20Veterinary%20Consult&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Small Mammal edited by Barbara L. Oglesbee page 149&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not use products containing Fipronil (i.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hartz.com/About_Hartzpet/Research_and_Innovation/EPA_evaluation_of_pet_spot-on_products.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frontline&lt;/a&gt;) on Rabbits.&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=eE2IvM10IX4C&amp;amp;pg=PA990&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+flea+treatment+toxic+Fipronil&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=YzJwUp_eE4O0kQfhr4GoAg&amp;amp;ved=0CEAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20flea%20treatment%20toxic%20Fipronil&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Merck/Merial Manual For Pet Health: Cynthia M. Kahn, Scott Line&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunnies are different then dogs and cats and can have fatal results if the wrong product or dosage is used.  Always consult a vet who is a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;skilled rabbit care provider&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; before making a decision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 3 bunnies that go camping with us, often in locations where wild bunnies live.  Also we volunteer with and are aware of several organizations that take in abandoned and neglected bunnies.  As you can image, the risk of parasites in all of these situation is large and a non-organic solutions may be the best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use Revolution (Selamectin) which requires a prescription in the US and is relatively expensive. We are aware of hundreds of bunnies that this product has been used on, and are not aware of any adverse side effects related to the treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, what ever solution you choose; talk to a vet who is familiar with rabbits and flea treatments.  Conduct your own research and carefully consider before making your own choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-10-12T17:25:50.960" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T17:25:50.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2013-10-29T15:56:42.153" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal for a cat to get upset if an unfamiliar creature passes 'their' lawn/street/window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem here is that they bother you when it happens. This means you have to teach them that waking you up won't help them. If they wake you up, don't give them anything, including attention. Try to just roll over and go back to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are persistant, use your usual behaviour for when they have done something wrong (I don't know what you do, I normally give a soft nudge in a direction away from me at first, and if it doesn't help I speak in a harsh tone to her)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They might still be upset, but they will learn to deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="273" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T15:56:42.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1001" CreationDate="2013-10-29T16:11:04.810" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1002/&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dominance problem with the dog (which MANY people do) letting the dog win will just exacerbate the aggression displayed by your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The act of playing is a release of energy and aggression, so I don't agree that you need to let the dog win in all circumstances.  Personally I don't let my dog win at tug-of-war, and she isn't the least bit less interested in playing because of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I have trained some very timid dogs, and it is beneficial to them to win at tug-of-war, as it increases their confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with many other things, one answer is not suitable for all dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let them win:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjGyBhT3kk0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjGyBhT3kk0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://intentblog.com/develop-deep-connection-your-dog-tug-war-right-way/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://intentblog.com/develop-deep-connection-your-dog-tug-war-right-way/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/40453-dogs-follow-friends-not-alphas.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.livescience.com/40453-dogs-follow-friends-not-alphas.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let them win:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/general-info/91525-never-let-your-rottie-win-tug-war.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/general-info/91525-never-let-your-rottie-win-tug-war.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/dog-stop-nipping-during-tugofwar-1709.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/dog-stop-nipping-during-tugofwar-1709.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.k-9campus.net/articles/Signs%20That%20Your%20Dog%20May%20Not%20Be%20Treating%20you%20as%20the%20leader%20of%20the%20pack.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.k-9campus.net/articles/Signs%20That%20Your%20Dog%20May%20Not%20Be%20Treating%20you%20as%20the%20leader%20of%20the%20pack.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends (there are a lot of these, I left most of them out):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Play-with-Your-Dog&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Play-with-Your-Dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netplaces.com/dog-obedience/games-dogs-play/tug-of-war.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.netplaces.com/dog-obedience/games-dogs-play/tug-of-war.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm not asserting that all of these sources are credible by any means, but it gives you an idea that the problem is hardly &quot;solved&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T17:31:06.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="93" CreationDate="2013-10-29T16:11:45.157" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Double-check all your rocks: many, like limestone, have enough calcium to keep your pH high. The usual &quot;vinegar test&quot; is to see whether the rock fizzes when it comes in contact with a drop of acid -- vinegar or ideally stronger. If so, it's definitely affecting your pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, don't worry &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; much if you can't get it super low. Don't assume every fish you see at your LFS will adapt to your water, but many fish will as long as you're on top of regular maintenance. Some of the more common commercially-available fish are domestically bred in water conditions that don't really resemble what they &quot;should be&quot; on paper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So bring it as close as you can, but I'd avoid any drastic measures, especially anything you'd have keep adding and adding. If your tap water and tank conditions have a steady-state pH that's a bit high, it's easier for your fish to adapt to that once than it is for them to have the pH repeatedly go up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T16:11:45.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-29T16:12:04.763" Score="10" ViewCount="4894" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four ferrets but they don't all get along. Each pair of ferrets doesn't like the other. At the moment they have separate play times outside of the cage. They're also caged separately in case that wasn't clear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried letting them fight it out to work out their dominance issues repeatedly over a period of about a week at a time. I also tried doing this for one month with no visible change in behaviors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was let everyone out of the cage and let them have it. I tried to keep them busy by playing with them and their toys and distracting them from the other ferrets. If there was a scuffle, I watched for any violent biting, grabbing, and rough shaking (ferret grabs the back of the neck and shakes violently from side to side). If I saw any of this, I would pull the fighting pair apart and put the aggressor in a &quot;sin bin&quot;, a cat carrier, for three minutes to let them know this behavior was bad. Despite trying to be as consistent as possible, I've had no luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's never been any injuries that involved blood or breaking skin, just a minor irritation from the biting. No one's ever peed or pooped from being too nervous or scared either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One pair is clearly more dominant as now the other pair tends to just run and hide and wait for me to put them back in the cage. They also lose (at least I think they're losing) most of the scuffles that happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I can try to get them all to play nice together? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T14:24:15.267" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T12:07:48.120" Title="How can I get my ferrets to play nice together?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1022" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:48:18.230" Score="8" ViewCount="389" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been having some trouble clipping my ferrets nails. I try to scruff them and hold them still, but they just weasel out of the hold and run away. It's very frustrating to have go chasing after them, especially when I have to do the job myself. Is there an easier way to clip my ferrets' nails? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:50:31.813" Title="How can I more easily clip my ferrets' nails?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1021" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:48:18.230" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This method has been working for me since I discovered it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a bottle of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002DHM4C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ferretone&lt;/a&gt;. Lay your ferret on his/her back and put a few tiny drops on your ferret's belly. They will spend about 3 or so minutes licking up all of the Ferretone and ignore you completely while you clip their nails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember to use a small pair of accurate, sharp scissors and do not cut too close to the quick. You can injure your ferret and make the nail-cutting process more difficult in the future. If you're unsure of yourself with the scissors, keep some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/769/how-can-i-prevent-cutting-my-dog-when-clipping-his-nails&quot;&gt;styptic powder on hand in case you do cut the quick&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Easy-Way-to-Cut-Your-Ferrets-Toenails/?ALLSTEPS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this guide&lt;/a&gt; for pictures and video. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to buy the Ferretone, extra virgin olive oil should also work as it is mostly the same thing as the Ferretone. This has been working on all four of my ferrets since I've had them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:50:31.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1023" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:55:54.357" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T17:55:54.357" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:55:54.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1024" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:55:54.357" Score="0" Body="Regards concerns about households containing multiple pets of the same or different species and their interactions." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T18:01:29.507" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:01:29.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1025" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:56:43.923" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T17:56:43.923" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:56:43.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1026" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:56:43.923" Score="0" Body="Aquariums which are freshwater-based, indicating a different maintenance style from other water types." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T18:02:29.073" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:02:29.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1027" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:57:18.833" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T17:57:18.833" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:57:18.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1028" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:57:18.833" Score="0" Body="Refers to the place where the cats do their business." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T18:01:45.037" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:01:45.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1029" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:58:20.293" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T17:58:20.293" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T17:58:20.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1030" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:58:20.293" Score="0" Body="Refers to young cats, usually younger than 1 year of age." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T18:02:14.070" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:02:14.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1031" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:59:26.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should be used for questions about elements of chemical danger to pets. This tag could also be used alongside with the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt; tag if the questions also concerns the health of the pet. For better answers, use this tag along with the pet tag e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T15:23:58.177" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T15:23:58.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1032" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-29T17:59:26.397" Score="0" Body="Topic refers directly to poisons, toxins, pesticides and other elements of chemical danger to pets." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T15:33:07.937" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T15:33:07.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="523" CreationDate="2013-10-29T18:36:13.597" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even when the cage is secured to the car, the cat is not secured inside the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that even though the crate will not move (in relation to the car) the cat will still hit the inside of the crate in the event of an accident.  For a similar reason, this is how whiplash is caused in people, where the body is secure but the head is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think that there is a great solution to this problem, cars are designed (as you mention) for the safety of people in mind.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the size of the crate as close a fit as possible to the cat's size will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-02-21T05:18:20.347" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T05:18:20.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1003" CreationDate="2013-10-29T18:44:02.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This post, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Hold-a-Cat-by-the-Scruff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Hold a Cat by the Scruff&lt;/a&gt; (wikihow.com) talks about how to hold a cat by the scruff.  It mentions that you may want to support an adult cat with the other hand to lighten the weight of the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The degree of discomfort is likely to vary from cat to cat ... big ones obviously won't appreciate being picked up like this.  I would recommend observing your cat's behavior, if he/she doesn't like that treatment, you'll know about it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:30:20.093" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:30:20.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1011" CreationDate="2013-10-29T18:47:07.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question is yes, there is a possibility that extremely bad breath in a cat is a sign of either dental issues (such as tooth decay or gingivitis or worse) or of more general sickness that is not otherwise visible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, you may be hyper-sensitive to the smell of that particular brand of cat food once ingested. One way to find out is to change brands, but just move to it slowly so that the cat acclimatizes to it. Cats are not keen on changes there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, I think it's worthwhile assessing your cat a bit. If he doesn't seem appropriately active, perhaps more lethargic than usual, or sensitive to certain forms of petting, then getting a check up might be good. You can also inspect his teeth (they're a little fussy about that, but don't let him win) and see if things look okay. Yellow discoloration isn't a big problem, look for signs of really reddish and inflamed gums, loose teeth, blackening, etc. Any sign of that kind of thing and you should get him into the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all is well medically, try a new food. It may be that you're just not going to find a cat's breath that tolerable... I'm not a fan either. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T18:47:07.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1003" CreationDate="2013-10-29T18:54:34.337" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a behavioral perspective, picking up an adult cat by the scruff is not recommended because the cat has already outgrown it's kitten reflex to go limp when their scruff is held. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior is typically used by a dominant cat (the mother) on a subordinate cat (the kitten). If you use this technique to lift your cat when they've done nothing wrong, they will (rightfully) be confused. Over time, it can contribute to unsociable behavior (why would the cat want to socialize with someone who's going to punish them for nothing?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, it's scary to be up in the air unsupported! Adult cats generally have been picked up by the scruff when they were kittens, but that was when they were babies and YEARS ago. To suddenly have it happen again is frightening. Again, some cats don't have the go limp reflex (our youngest doesn't), and may lash out (bite/claw) at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source for behavioral piece:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Avoid scruffing cats as a routine restraint method. Scruffing actually is not a secure way to restraint a cat, and it aggravates many cats more than necessary. There is no magical &quot;limpness&quot; button on a cat's scruff and the analogy of a mother cat carrying her kittens is inaccurate. This flexor reflex occurs only in kittens and they outgrow this as they mature. Adult cats are grabbed by the back of the neck in only 4 natural situations: fighting, play fighting, reproduction, and predatory attack – none of which are desirable to mimic in a clinic setting. Alternative methods can be more successful. &#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/avhc/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=648246&quot;&gt;Safe Humane Restraint&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, an adult cat is heavier than a kitten, so there are health risks associated with being held by essentially just a handful of skin, including damage to internal organs, muscles, or other soft tissue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should not pick up a cat over a few months of age by the scruff of the neck. Yes, this is now mother cats pick up and move her kittens, but they are small and light. A fully grown cat can range in weight from 4kg to 8kg and picking up by the scruff without providing additional support is going to place enormous strain on the spine and muscles. &#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cat-world.com.au/General-Cat-Articles/how-to-pick-up-a-cat.html&quot;&gt;How to Safely Pick Up a Cat by the Neck &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cats who find the scruffing reassuring, it's fine to hold their scruff WHILE SUPPORTING THEIR REAR END, but I would never pick my cat up with just the scruff unless it was some kind of emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2013-10-29T19:50:53.900" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T19:50:53.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="767" CreationDate="2013-10-29T19:06:57.713" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an attempt to assert dominance over other dogs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the dog world, simple behaviors are used to display dominance over each other.  For instance, have you ever seen two dogs stare at each other until one looks away?  They are intimidating one another to establish a pecking-order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other aggressive/dominant behaviors that dogs display (and you can watch out for them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking in front means you're the boss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standing on or pushing people/dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eye contact or &quot;staring&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;humping other dogs is a sign of dominance (even females will do this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many others, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.apdt.com/petowners/park/body-language/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; for more details&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T19:06:57.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="926" CreationDate="2013-10-29T20:31:40.427" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you are doing showmanship (ARBA, 4-H, FFA, etc) there will be some sort of reference regarding what is tested. You will want to find that reference and be prepared to do the things that are asked. This means that both you know how to do them and your rabbit will cooperate. This takes practice. For instance, a common request when I was in 4-H showmanship was demonstrate how to sex your rabbit and identify the sex organs. This involves knowing how to turn your rabbit over and pop out the genitalia, being able to identify the parts of the genitalia, being able to do so without visible embarrassment, laughing or blushing, and your rabbit cooperating with the procedure. You also need to teach your rabbit to sit calmly on the table even with other rabbits nearby. Other tasks I remember that took a lot of training with my rabbit were examining the nails and ears and showing the ear tattoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to remember for showmanship is that you and your rabbit should be clean and neat. You should dress both nicely and in colors that compliment your rabbit. You will want to make sure that your hair doesn't fall in your face or on your rabbit, as that can be distracting to the judges if not to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can learn a lot about showmanship from other people doing showmanship even (and maybe particularly) if they aren't doing rabbit showmanship. If you are in the US, your county extension service probably has some free or low cost resources on doing showmanship, although they may not be for rabbits, they would still be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T20:31:40.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1040" CreationDate="2013-10-29T21:26:44.613" Score="9" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that ferrets are illegal to own in some parts of the United States. I currently live in New Jersey but I'm planning to move in about a year and would like to know what my options are. Giving up my ferrets is not an option for me. Where is it illegal to own ferrets in the United States? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T20:22:34.727" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T20:22:34.727" Title="What is the legal status of ferrets in the United States?" Tags="&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;united-states&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1039" CreationDate="2013-10-29T21:42:22.450" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cypresskeep.com/Ferretfiles/Legal.htm&quot;&gt;Legal Weasels FAQ&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets are legal in 48 of the United States but in the year 2000 California and Hawaii declared ferrets illegal. Also, some cities like New York, Dallas have their own laws restricting ferrets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is important to have a copy of the current animal control ordinance of the city you plan to move into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T21:42:22.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1069" CreationDate="2013-10-29T22:26:41.667" Score="15" ViewCount="2871" Body="&lt;p&gt;In October 2013, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Naegleria fowleri&lt;/a&gt; (a.k.a. &quot;the brain-eating amoeba&quot;), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/09/water-system-brain-eating-amoeba/2951933/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;was  confirmed to be found in the Louisiana public drinking water systems&lt;/a&gt;.  I live in the southern US and am concerned, as I have dogs in areas where there are low waterways, and I provide them tap water to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/pmahaney/2013/sept/could-your-dog-be-at-risk-for-brain-eating-amoeba&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Could your dog be at risk for brain-eating amoeba?&quot; on PetMD&lt;/a&gt;, but the authoring doctor notes that while &lt;a href=&quot;http://deadlymicrobes.com/naegleria-fowleri-risks-symptoms-and-treatment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deadly Microbes&lt;/a&gt; claims dogs are not at risk (just mice and humans), his research on the Veterinary Information Network revealed one potential case of an infected dog from 1997, (&lt;code&gt;Steele, K.E. et.al. Amoebiasis in a dog with gastric ulcers and adenocarcinoma. J. of Vet. Diagnostic Investigation 9(1): 91-93. 1997.&lt;/code&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://vdi.sagepub.com/content/9/1/91.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;case&lt;/a&gt;). He was unable to confirm his findings as the the source document was unable to be located at the time of the article.  The article has been located and the doctor has been alerted to its existence via Twitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would assume the precautions I can take are to use distilled water to feed my dogs and prevent them from swimming or drinking from waterways or standing water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question remains: can dogs be infected by this horrible amoeba?  Can I feel safe letting my dogs swim in the pond?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T15:12:39.483" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T02:55:55.997" Title="Can dogs be infected by the brain-eating amoeba?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="978" CreationDate="2013-10-29T23:16:30.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Pittsburgh area you may have attended a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org/site/c.elKWIeOUIhJ6H/b.8540985/k.8815/Animals_Rabbits.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bun run&lt;/a&gt; or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpahumane.org/bunnyromps.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rabbit romp&lt;/a&gt; in both of these events the rooms are used for multiple activities that include other types of animals.  The bunnies spend the majority of their time at these shelters alone in cages (or with a bonded partner).  As outlined in the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514/what-means-do-rabbits-use-to-mark-and-defend-their-territory&quot;&gt;What means do rabbits use to mark and defend their territory?&lt;/a&gt; bunnies do have a tenancy to mark and defend their space, and the droppings at runs and romps are often attributed to this marking behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may or may not be marking behavior.  Both of these events began with bunnies haveing free range in the run/romp area, making the inclusion of litter boxes challenging.  Each bunny has their own litter box, so bringing a couple of personal litter boxes could lead to territorial defense issues.  Bringing a couple of fresh communal litter boxes could work, but as described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What is required to house break a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; half of the training is about location, so that adds problems to getting bunnies to use litter boxes that they are unfamiliar with.  Additional I can attest from personal experience some bunnies get overly defensive of a litter box that they consider &quot;theirs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the run and the romp are held on pet accident proof floors, given all of this there is little incentive to actually attempt to include litter boxes at the event. As most of the droppings are solid and bunny droppings are really easy to sweep up with a broom and a long handled dustpan, it is just easier to not have the litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the potential for bunny fights the WPHS romp now keeps the majority of the bunnies in separate exercise pens.  About a year ago at one of the romps I tried an experment and brought up each bunnies litter box with them, and placed it in the exercise pen with the bunny.  While there was some usage of the litter box, we still saw lots of marking type behavior.  There was insufficient motivation to try it a second time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all may be do to marking behavior, or it may be learned behavior. There is a long history of run/romps without litter boxes so, the bunnies may have &quot;learned&quot; to behave this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We we take these same bunnies to offsite events (pet stores, schools, etc) we will bring the bunnies litter box with them, and while there may be some marking behavior (and sometimes not) we tend to see the majority of the droppings in the litter box.  I have occasionally forgotten to bring the litter box and have been able to keep clean floors by taking the bunny out (on a leash) to pet area to do their business every 30 - 45 minutes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also been to a few &quot;bunny parties&quot; where groups of bunny parents bring their bunnies to someones house for a party.  Depending on the weather these can be indoor or outdoor events, there is really no point in a litter box at an outdoor event (on the grass) so I don't have any real experience to offer on that. For indoor events there is generally a a couple of community litter boxes provided, and many parents bring their own litter box. The bunny and their box are set down together, and the bunny leaves from this &quot;home territory&quot; to visit and returns as needed (dropping or personal space).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these events there are a lot of bunnies running around much like a romp, but we don't see the marking and dropping behavior that you do at run/romp.  This may be because the &quot;Territory&quot; is clearly claimed by the home court bunny, and everyone else is on their best visiting behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, the most likely explanation for droppings at a run/romp is territory marking of area that is NOT clearly claimed by another bunny, where there is a lot of competition for this unclaimed area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-10-29T23:16:30.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1043" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:49:20.587" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T06:49:20.587" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T06:49:20.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1044" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:49:20.587" Score="0" Body="Refers to a domesticated mammal from the weasel family." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:08:34.460" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:08:34.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1045" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:50:52.467" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T06:50:52.467" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T06:50:52.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1046" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:50:52.467" Score="0" Body="Referring to incidents where audio or loud noise is a factor, such as broadcasts, radio, music, thunder, and explosions." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:09:23.667" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:09:23.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1047" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:52:15.740" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T06:52:15.740" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T06:52:15.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1048" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:52:15.740" Score="0" Body="Refers to a snack or consumable used as a reward for a pet, generally for training purposes or as a... treat." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:09:17.993" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:09:17.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1049" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:54:09.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Additional Information&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag should be used for labeling questions related to pack theory as it relates to dog training. This theory has modern adherents, but is also widely contested by behaviorists and ethologists, and can be contrasted with other methods of dog training that used behaviorist models such as classical and operant conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Related Links&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/dominance/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dominance and Dog Training&lt;/a&gt;, Association of Professional Dog Trainers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/14_12/features/Alpha-Dogs_20416-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;De-Bunking the &quot;Alpha Dog&quot; Theory&lt;/a&gt;, Whole Dog Journal: Dec. 2011.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-training/myths-truths/pack-theory-debunked/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pack Theory Debunked&lt;/a&gt;, Victoria Stillwell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0816610266&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species&lt;/a&gt;, Mech, David. Univ. Of Minnesota Press, 1981.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-08T23:34:28.620" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T23:34:28.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1050" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:54:09.670" Score="0" Body="For tagging questions related to behavior where dominance and pack hierarchy (e.g. &quot;alpha dog&quot;) are assumed to be factors between 2 or more animals, including humans." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-08T23:33:50.233" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T23:33:50.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1051" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:54:54.377" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T06:54:54.377" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T06:54:54.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1052" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:54:54.377" Score="0" Body="Refers to the activity of exercise in order to promote health and well-being, or for strengthening purposes." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:09:35.137" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:09:35.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1053" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:56:21.307" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T06:56:21.307" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T06:56:21.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1054" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:56:21.307" Score="0" Body="The act of rendering a pet clean through shower or bath or scrubbing purposes; may also refer to a cat &quot;bathing&quot; itself via tongue." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T22:33:43.580" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T22:33:43.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1055" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:58:45.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First-aid is the initial treatment received in case of an accident. This tag will be used for situations regarding application of first aid, such as how to stop profuse bleeding.  This tag is not for real-time questions requiring real-time answers.  Do not expect immediate answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-26T14:59:19.750" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T14:59:19.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1056" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T06:58:45.507" Score="0" Body="Refers to a situation requiring application of initial treatment in case of an accident such as how to stop profuse bleeding. Not for real-time questions." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T08:24:07.410" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T08:24:07.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1057" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T07:00:26.860" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:00:26.860" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:00:26.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1058" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T07:00:26.860" Score="0" Body="Refers to the reverberating sound (generally) cats make." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:08:48.057" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:08:48.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1059" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-30T07:01:41.880" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:01:41.880" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:01:41.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1060" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-30T07:01:41.880" Score="0" Body="Refers to a product recall from either a manufacturer or government." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-10-30T07:09:07.230" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T07:09:07.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1003" CreationDate="2013-10-30T14:06:55.197" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course, there is a huge difference.  I'd never condone holding an 8 kg cat in the air by the scruff of the neck : always keep his back paws on ground, and as far as the answer linked in the question is concerned, release him as soon as he has swallowed his pill.  And don't use scruffing when not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, having tried to pill my cat without scruffing him, I feel it's &lt;strong&gt;much more comfortable&lt;/strong&gt; for a cat to be scruffed during a few seconds than to be gently tortured during 5 minutes or more.  That's a fact. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, no other facts, but experts advices (the bold weighting is from me) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Traditionally, scruffing (grasping the cat by the scruff of the neck) has been considered an acceptable way to maintain control of a cat because &lt;strong&gt;it does not harm the cat if done properly&lt;/strong&gt;, and it is effective in many cases.  However, scruffing has become a controversial issue.  &lt;strong&gt;Some cats react negatively to scruffing&lt;/strong&gt; and actually fight harder instead of holding still.  Also, &lt;strong&gt;some overweight cats have very little loose tissue to scruff&lt;/strong&gt;, so the hold will be less effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, scruffing should be used only if minimal restraint techniques are not working.  If scruffing seems necessary, try it for a few seconds.  If the cat gets worse, discontinue and try something else.  When scruffing a cat, &lt;strong&gt;use the minimum amount of force necessary and take care to avoid injuring the cat's neck.  A cat should not be lifted or suspended by the scruff because this is uncomfortable&lt;/strong&gt; and may make the cat's behavior worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Joanna M. Bassert &amp;amp; John A. Thomas, &lt;em&gt;Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians&lt;/em&gt;, 8th Edition, McCurnin's 2013, ISBN 978-1437726800 — &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.fr/books?id=i-YhIvDgfJoC&amp;amp;pg=PA186&quot;&gt;p.186&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘Scruffing’ is a general term for a variety of holds on the skin of the cat's neck.  Grasping the scruff of the neck varies from a gentle squeeze of skin, to grasping a larger fold of skin with varying amounts of pressure.  Consideration of natural feline behavior can help put this technique into perspective.  Cats grasp the scruff of the neck of other cats in only limited circumstances.  During the first few weeks of life the mother cat may lift kittens by the scruff of the neck using her mouth.  This is a method of transport and immobilization, and not a form of discipline. During mating, the tomcat grasps the scruff of the queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some veterinarians and veterinary behaviorists do not use scruffing and do not condone its use.  They find that using other gentle handling techniques is less stressful, more time efficient, provides greater safety for personnel, and allows the cat to have a sense of control.  They prefer other methods to manage situations where feline welfare or personnel safety are at stake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other veterinarians handle cats gently and use scruffing only if it is necessary to protect the welfare of the cat or for the physical protection of personnel.  Still others think that scruffing a cat is acceptable for short procedures, in an emergency, and to prevent the cat from escaping or injuring someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you think this technique is the only alternative, carefully evaluate the cat for any signs of fear or anxiety.  The cat may become immobile but may not be comfortable, or may become aggressive.  Handle the cat as gently as possible and guard against using aggressive handling techniques out of anger or frustration.  &lt;strong&gt;The panel does not condone lifting the cat or suspending its body weight with a scruffing technique because it is unnecessary and potentially painful.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Ilona Rodan &lt;em&gt;et al.&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines&lt;/em&gt;, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Volume 13, Issue 5, May 2011, Pages 364-375, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfms.2011.03.012&quot;&gt;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfms.2011.03.012&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Having a sense of control, even if it is not exerted, makes the cat more comfortable and reduces stress.  Importantly, using the minimal amount of handling gives the cat a greater sense of control, so the cat is less likely to be aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most of us have been taught to scruff cats, but scruffing often only increases a cat's arousal and fear, because scruffing removes the cat's sense of control.  Many cats become fearfully aggressive when scruffed in an attempt to protect themselves.  Some veterinarians, especially in Europe, find “clipnosis”¹ helpful for restraint.  This procedure is also controversial, again because it removes the cat's sense of control. In the author's experience (at least 5 years without scruffing or clipnosis), cats are usually calmer and easier to handle if they are not scruffed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Ilona Rodan, &lt;em&gt;Understanding Feline Behavior and Application for Appropriate Handling and Management&lt;/em&gt;, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, Volume 25, Issue 4, November 2010, Pages 178-188, ISSN 1938-9736, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.tcam.2010.09.001&quot;&gt;http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.tcam.2010.09.001&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;¹ IIUC, clipnosis consists in pinching the scruff of the neck with a clip in order to induce behavioral inhibition — hence the term &quot;clipnosis&quot;, deriving from &quot;clip&quot; and &quot;hypnosis&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, thanks for asking, I didn't thought about such behavioral implications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="231" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T22:30:03.533" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T22:30:03.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1067" CreationDate="2013-10-30T15:29:03.553" Score="9" ViewCount="1802" Body="&lt;p&gt;My uncle's dog is obese (too fat) and my uncle wants him to lose weight.  As the dog is currently staying with me, I was thinking of reducing his food intake and not giving him food as regularly as before, but I think doing this will affect his health as he is used to his regular food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make sure reducing his food intake won't negatively affect the dog's health? Is there a trusted way I can help him lose weight without reducing food intake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog's current foods are mainly beef and sometimes a little rice and vegetables. He also enjoys canned food and snacks, which he eats a lot of.  The dog is always taken for a walk every morning for about 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T15:57:15.177" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T19:59:15.083" Title="How can I help a dog to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1065" CreationDate="2013-10-30T15:45:23.717" Score="9" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new tank (40 gallon long) that's just finished cycling. I've had plants in there for a few weeks already and they're doing well overall, but are starting to show some real algae build-up. In particular my pygmy chain sword plants (&lt;em&gt;Echinodorus tenellus&lt;/em&gt;) have quite a lot of brown diatoms and green hair algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I can finally start stocking the tank with fish, I was thinking I might start with an algae-eater that might clean up the plants. It's a South American community tank, so my three options that I know of are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A small pack of &lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A bristlenose, bulldog, or other smallish herbivorous pleco. (Definitely not a common pleco.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;em&gt;Farlowella&lt;/em&gt;, or one of the other whiptails&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tankmates will be 3-4 &lt;em&gt;Apistogramma&lt;/em&gt;, a group of &lt;em&gt;Corydoras&lt;/em&gt;, and two schools of some apisto-friendly tetras, TBD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note that I'm looking at these fish mainly because I think they're all interesting. I'll be choosing their primary diet appropriately, and any algae-eating is a bonus. On that basis I'd prefer a pleco or whiptail, but I don't have personal experience with either, and I'm thinking they'll be too large to pay much attention to the dainty little leaves on the pygmy chain swords. How efficient would they be at keeping them clean? Would either of them significantly damage the plants in the process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow-up: Once I was actually looking at the fish in person, I ended up really, really liking the clown plecos, which don't eat much algae. (And importantly, the girlfriend likes them too.) I decided that this outweighed the utility factor, and got a pair of them. My algae right now is not a &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt; problem, but if it were I'd have definitely gone with a pack of &lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T19:25:55.060" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T19:25:55.060" Title="Which South American fish will keep pygmy chain sword plants clean?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1068" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:02:43.743" Score="22" ViewCount="1006" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have friends who recently found a stray cat (who appears to be a little older than a kitten, but not much). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They want to keep her (if she doesn't belong to anyone), but don't know anything about her or how to care for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how I take care of my cat, so I gave them what advice I could, but since I got my cat as a kitten, not an older cat, I wasn't sure if there was anything in particular they needed to do or to know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sort of things do they need to do specifically with this cat they have found? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:24:34.737" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T16:24:34.737" Title="Are there any special considerations when taking in a stray cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1063" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:09:32.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinodorus_tenellus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Echinodorus tenellus&lt;/a&gt; should grow pretty fast if they have enough light and a good substrate. So, probably, your fish won't be able to destroy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I would go with some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otocinclus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/a&gt;. Although they are somehow sensitive, they do good in planted aquariums, specially if it has enough algae, that seems to be your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:09:32.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1064" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:35:50.060" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the steps I'd take if I found a kitten and wanted to keep it and wasn't as horrendously allergic to feline dander.  Note that several are generic, applicable to any newly &quot;found&quot; pet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring it to a vet to establish a health record and determine if there are any immediately outstanding health issues.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be willing to shell out some $.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vet should check for the unlikely case the kitten was micro-chipped and therefore has an actual owner who is missing a pet.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you shelled out some $ in the prior step, the actual owner should repay you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vet should recommend a strategy to keep the kitten in good health.  This would include monthly preventatives, advice on feeding, and other general health concerns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Observe local lost pet websites if you know any, and check for flyers of a lost kitten.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternately, post a couple lost kitten flyers where the kitten was found.  Kittens are small and this one could easily have escaped from somewhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conform your house to a kitten-owning lifestyle.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decide if the cat is indoors or outdoors (I'd preference indoors).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the bare-bones necessities for a cat (litter box, place to sleep, minor toy or two).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't invest too much into it until at least a week passes, in case an owner is found.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do whatever else you need to do now that you own a cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T16:35:50.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1062" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:49:01.737" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;A healthy weight for a dog is typically one where if looking down at the back of the dog you see a noticeable curve inwards where the belly meets the hind quarters.  If it seems the hind quarters meet straight with the belly then the dog is overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eGnBt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://clicktreat.blogspot.com/2012/03/does-your-dog-have-waist.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More exercise will help somewhat but this isn't always the best option for an older dog that may have joint pain.  Change of diet is usually the best approach.  Controlling your dogs feedings is the absolute best way to ensure that they stay a healthy weight.  This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Food Calculator&lt;/a&gt; is a really helpful way to find out just how much you really should be feeding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people like to feed their dog one big meal but I think for increasing an overweight dogs metabolism you will probably want to split their calorie consumption into two or three equal meals a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would feed them is a dog food without corn wheat or soy.  If the dog grew up on beef then it is likely they may not take to a change in diet very well so beef is okay depending on the cut and the fat content.  Personally if I was feeding my dog beef, I would mix in some steamed brown rice with boiled hamburger.  This will be easy on their stomach and it removes a lot of the fat that you don't want them to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For treats I would give them low or zero calorie snacks like pigs ears, raw hides and dental chews.  I would also consider giving them a boiled egg as it will help with their joints and for a nice shiny coat of fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember it is normal for a dog to get a bit of nausea or diahreah when changing their diet. They do not have as adaptive and complex of a digestive system as humans do, but this is mostly temporary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastEditorUserId="182" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T00:02:49.747" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T00:02:49.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1064" CreationDate="2013-10-30T16:49:48.250" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several considerations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health:&lt;/strong&gt; A top priority is a visit to the vet to check for any health issues (illness, parasites) and get any immediately-needed vaccines (your vet will advise on this).  The vet should also check for a microchip; if for any reason the vet can't check this, call a local shelter and ask where you can have the cat checked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do not allow the cat to interact with any other pets in your house before being cleared for health issues by a vet.&lt;/em&gt;  When I adoped a stray from the street she lived in the basement for a few days, well-separated from everybody else -- not much fun for her, maybe, but better than living on the street or potentially infecting my other cats with something contagious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to find the owner, if one exists and wants to be found:&lt;/strong&gt; I mentioned checking for a microchip above; other things you can do, as JoshDM mentioned in his answer, are checking for and posting lost-pet notices.  It's also useful to call all local shelters and the animal-control division of local government to report the found cat.  An owner who's lost a pet will be calling those places, so this maximizes chances of you finding each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;House prep:&lt;/strong&gt; If these are their first cats, they'll need to do the &quot;cats 101&quot; stuff -- food, litterbox, removing (or putting away) household hazards, etc.  That's beyond the scope of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Integration:&lt;/strong&gt; If there are other pets in the house, follow the usual practices for gradually introducing the newcomer to them.  (I answered a related question about moving house &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/482/31&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;; I can't find a general &quot;how to introduce cats to each other&quot; question.)  If the cat is feral (as opposed to one who was previously a pet) things can be more complicated; see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/105/31&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T03:02:44.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1041" CreationDate="2013-10-30T18:44:59.183" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect the answer is theoretically &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot; because basic chemical makeup and temperature of a human brain is not dissimilar from a canine brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, can the canine brain become infected with the amoeba?  In humans, the infections have come from swimming in contaminated water and taking the amoeba in through the nose or through use of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_24409986/neti-pot-caused-brain-eating-amoeba-death-mans&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Neti-Pot&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term &amp;quot;brain-eating amoeba&amp;quot; makes the amoeba sound like a tiny&#xA;zombie stalking your skull. But brains are accidental food for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the CDC, N. fowleri normally eats bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that if you were to drink a glass of water&#xA;infested with N. fowleri amoeba, you would not get a brain infection.&#xA;It infects people by getting into your nose. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the risk comes from ways your dog can get water in the nose.  And then, even if the water gets into the nose, only a small percentage of time will that water contain an amoeba, and even if it does contain the amoeba, there is a good chance the amoeba will not make it to your dogs brain, but instead end up cycling through his system the way the rest of the water does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Do Amoebas Get in the Brain?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies suggest that N. fowleri amoebas are attracted to the chemicals&#xA;that nerve cells use to communicate with one another. Once in the&#xA;nose, the amoebas travel through the olfactory nerve (the nerve&#xA;connected with sense of smell) into the frontal lobe of the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Frequently Do People Get Infected by Brain-Eating Amoeba?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though N. fowleri amoebas are relatively common, they only rarely&#xA;cause brain disease. N. fowleri disease is known as primary amoebic&#xA;meningoencephalitis (PAM). It occurs from zero to eight times a year,&#xA;almost always from July to September. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a rare occurance, and it mostly happens in the summer.  The best thing to do is not stress to much, avoid allowing your dog to swim in untreated warm freshwater (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/pmahaney/2013/sept/could-your-dog-be-at-risk-for-brain-eating-amoeba&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOURCE: see &lt;em&gt;How Can Infection with Naegleria fowleri be Prevented?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) and be careful while giving him a bath, and your dog should be fine.  As noted in one of your links, there are many experts who believe that it is not possible for a dog to even get the parasitic infection in the first place.  I asked my vet friend, and while she was unwilling to commit to the opinion that it was impossible, she stated there was enough differences in the canine nasal cavity from the humans, that she believed the incidence of infection would be drastically reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T04:45:23.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-30T19:13:57.690" Score="9" ViewCount="1018" Body="&lt;p&gt;Owners of Labradors are probably familiar with their dogs jumping into everything that contains at least trace amounts of water, murky ponds, muddy puddles, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1041/58&quot;&gt;a question about a certain sort of amoeba&lt;/a&gt; brought up the idea that it should be safest for the dog to only swim in chlorinated water. The answer has since been edited, but I still consider the question to be interesting.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Swimming in chlorinated water is safe for humans, as long as you don't swallow too much. I assume that this is also the case for dogs, but is hard to tell a dog not to swallow any water. Is it safe to let a dog swim in a chlorinated pool?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T12:15:28.903" Title="Is it safe for dogs to swim in chlorinated water?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2013-10-30T19:35:10.940" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on the amount of chlorine in the water. From what I remember from chemistry class, chlorine is used to purify water so a chlorinated water, &lt;strong&gt;if there is a chemical-balance&lt;/strong&gt; is not harmful to your dog. So it is important for the chlorine not to be too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if there is excess chlorine, your dog will fall sick, if he drinks the water. Even if he doesn't drink water he might get skin irritation and he might have eye problems if the water gets into his eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make Sure the pH level is  between 7.2 and 7.5&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T12:15:28.903" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T12:15:28.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2013-10-30T20:09:19.397" Score="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punishment rarely works because cats don't have a social structure that recognizes you as the dominant being in the home, they only understand that you're doing something to them that they don't want (squirting them with water, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, it's much more effective to figure out why your cat is exhibiting the undesireable behavior and meet those needs in a way that is acceptable to both of you rather than punishing the cat for the undesireable behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, cats climb on countertops because they have instincts telling them to climb (better view, hiding from predators/prey, etc).  To keep them from the kitchen countertops, you should install cat wall shelves and/or cat trees to give them that height advantage that they are looking for. Sometimes it's hard to find space for these things in the kitchen, but even devoting a corner to a set of shelves so they can watch you cook can be helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(They also may be climbing on the countertops if you leave dirty dishes out that they can scrounge for food from, so housekeeping is important!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with dog/cat interactions, so it's difficult for me to give advice there. We do have a cat who's much younger than the other cats and often would harass them because he had a lot of energy and wanted to play. I started making SURE that I spent 30-60 minutes a day playing with him with wand toys to tire him out, and he is now much less bothersome to the older cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T16:14:08.547" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T16:14:08.547" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="373" CreationDate="2013-10-30T20:19:45.537" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not fond of kittens and tend to get rescue kitties who are adults, so my advice is going to be based on my experience of mature, adult cats. I'm not sure if their young age would affect anything here, but I just wanted to point that out ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats may have different play drives. The older cat wants to end the play session (thus, the chokehold) while the younger cat doesn't accept the signs that the older cat wants to quit until the older cat uses the chokehold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of this is likely normal until the younger cat learns the proper language signs for &quot;I'm done&quot; from the older cat. Or the older cat (who is still really young IMO) hasn't learned yet how to communicate that he's done except with the chokehold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is have your own play sessions with each cat to ensure that the youngest cat is getting enough play without having to harass the older cat for more play.  Interactive toys (like wand/string toys) are generally best for this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you an idea of how much play is necessary, my two boys take about an hour to get tired and done playing. The boys are 9 and 4 (the girls don't like play time nearly as much for some reason).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The youngest boy spent a lot of time harassing the other cats (especially the oldest girl), but since I've made sure to give him enough play time and wear him out, they've actually become quite friendly and she tolerates him (she wouldn't let him get within several feet of her before).  It does definitely help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also belled our harasser so that everyone else could avoid him if they wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-10-30T20:19:45.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1062" CreationDate="2013-10-30T21:04:19.787" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;To elaborate on @maple_shaft's recommendation of healthy, low-calorie treats for dogs, &lt;strong&gt;nothing beats appropriate vegetables and fruits&lt;/strong&gt;.  By &quot;appropriate&quot;, I refer to vegetables that are safe for your pet to consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dogs have carrots with almost every meal; they also always claim the celery from our orders of chicken wings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pumpkin (canned) is a great food filler (though moderation must be taken or it could cause loose stool), and cooked / blanched / boiled green beans and asparagus work great.  Not all vegetables are good for dogs; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/796/are-onions-dangerous-for-my-cat-or-dog-and-why&quot;&gt;avoid onions, garlic and similar&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try some fruit, including apples, but again in moderation.  Be sure not to give them apple seeds, which can contain trace cyanide.  Not all fruit is good for dogs; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/802/is-it-safe-for-my-dog-or-cat-to-eat-grapes-raisins-and-sultanas&quot;&gt;avoid grapes, raisins and similar&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Online research reveals &lt;a href=&quot;http://animal.discovery.com/pets/10-fruits-veggies-aid-dog-nutrition.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;10 Fruits and veggies that aid in dog nutrition&quot; (Discovery)&lt;/a&gt;, which backs up my claims (though it doesn't mention asparagus) and adds broccoli, cantaloupe, spinach, pears and oranges to the mix.  My dogs do not prefer citrus.  The referenced article provides extensive rationales for each, including health benefits beyond those of weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T19:59:15.083" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="116" CreationDate="2013-10-31T01:12:09.333" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that there isn't an association between strings on toys and shoelaces.  Two of our cats (Hunter and Juliet) would rather play with the strings on wand toys than whatever the strings are attached to (feathers or whatever), but they haven't really carried that connection to other similar objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We first knew that we had a problem with strings when we tried a specific type of toy. There are some toys that are meant to be tied to a doorknob and left, a string (or elastic) will help keep them entertaining for the cats without your direct participation. Hunter and Juliet just sat there chewing on the string until it broke, and then they tried to eat the string.  Yet, we leave random string objects around the house all of the time and they don't mess with them (I looked around the living room this evening and found charging cables for various electronic devices, lanyards from conferences/events, a soft measuring tape, and other string like objects). Our cats have never made the connection between these objects and their string toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that I do try to do is pay attention to their body language, and if they get that attentive &quot;I'm going to jump on something!&quot; look when looking at something that is Not Their Toy, we try to focus their attention elsewhere so they don't make the connection that (for example) the drawstring on my pajamas is a toy.  The methods (and success) differ depending on each cat and their personality. For example, Hunter thinks the sun rises and sets on whatever my husband wants, so if he tells Hunter &quot;no&quot;, Hunter will stop whatever it is (and sulk a bit). Kendall is still very young and kittenish (by my standards, he's about 4), so I generally have to give him something that IS his toy to distract him. With most of the cats, we don't generally try to punish them, but try to focus more on redirecting (give me that, here have this instead). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that an existing belief that shoelaces are toys can be retrained. When we first got Juliet, she also loved to chew on electrical cables. We went through, removed all of the cables we couldn't supervise (or covered them in protectors), and gradually broke the association. After about a year of paying close attention to it, she was apparently out of the habit of it, because now we leave cables and stuff out all of the time without any harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most behavior problems can be lessened by giving them more play, so if they have enough playtime they are less likely to be looking for hunting opportunities at other times. One thing I've seen people do is put a wand toy in their belt loop as they move around the house cleaning (or whatever), which can lessen the time investment for you and may focus their attention on the toy rather than your shoelaces, but it may just train them to be underfoot when you're busy. I haven't ever done it regularly (some times when I'm playing and have to go stir something on the stove or change laundry I've done it, but not as a regular thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last suggestion I have is if they are playing with your shoes in your bedroom while you're trying to sleep, train yourself to put your shoes away. Ginger likes to lick plastic (bags, tape, all sorts of things), so we have to look around the bedroom for things she might lick in the middle of the night. It's annoying, but she doesn't wake us up with rustling plastic sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T01:12:09.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-31T12:44:45.707" Score="25" ViewCount="2425" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our dogs is currently under very heavy medication (something similar to cortisone). Our vet who took this stuff herself during an illness described the side effects to be so exhausting it makes death seem the better option sometimes. A person however is capable of understanding the need of the treatment, what causes the side effects and that they will end after treatment. It is impossible to explain this to a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last few days our dog fell into the pond several times while he tried to drink. He always drank from the pond before and normally isn't as clumsy, sometimes he really seemed to slip into the pond on purpose. This only happened after the dosage was reduced, before he was too exhausted to go outside most of the time. I am not interested in the cause of this behavior, as I am currently not near the dog and can't really judge the effect of the drugs on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are dogs capable of committing suicide?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are they aware of the consequences their actions have and can chose to die intentionally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201008/do-dogs-commit-suicide&quot;&gt;some articles&lt;/a&gt; written about this topic, those I've found and the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_suicide&quot;&gt;animal suicide&lt;/a&gt; are inconclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I am interested in research on this subject, opinions or anecdotal evidence can't really answer my question. An answer does not have to be specifically about dogs, but it should show that assumptions made on other animals apply to dogs, too.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:16:25.983" LastActivityDate="2018-06-20T08:28:02.517" Title="Do dogs commit suicide?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1077" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-31T12:45:10.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aquariums which are freshwater-based, indicating a different maintenance style from other water types.  &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;aquarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt; should normally be included with the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T12:56:24.200" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T12:56:24.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1078" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-31T12:45:10.160" Score="0" Body="Aquariums which are freshwater-based, indicating a different maintenance style from other water types.  The &quot;aquarium&quot; tag should normally be included with the question." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T13:02:10.337" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T13:02:10.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1079" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-31T12:52:19.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aquariums which are saltwater-based, indicating a different maintenance style from other water types.  &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;aquarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt; should normally be included with the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the distinction is necessary, this tag can be coupled with other saltwater-themed aquarium tags including &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/reef-tank&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;reef-tank&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;reef-tank&lt;/a&gt; for coral tanks, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/fowlr&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;fowlr&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;fowlr&lt;/a&gt; for fish-only with live rock, and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/fish-only&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;fish-only&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;fish-only&lt;/a&gt; for fish-only saltwater tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:07:27.820" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:07:27.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1080" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-31T12:52:19.723" Score="0" Body="Aquariums which are saltwater-based, indicating a different maintenance style from other water types.  The &quot;aquarium&quot; tag should normally be included with the question." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T13:00:44.783" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T13:00:44.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-10-31T13:56:19.057" Score="17" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a black lab going on 12 yrs. She seems to enjoy her walks and can still run, but in the mornings she seems particularly stiff and can sometimes stumble or walk with a limp. She's having a harder time navigating stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's developing arthritis, but is otherwise in decent health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can this be eased by feeding her specific types of food or should I talk to a vet about pain medications?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T16:42:37.290" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:48:41.580" Title="What will help an aging dog with arthritis?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1081" CreationDate="2013-10-31T14:22:49.540" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several types of arthritis that can affect your dog. Some of these are very treatable, others less so. In either event, I think it is a good idea to get her looked at by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of general activities/considerations as a lot of the arthritis management truisms for us apply to them&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that her weight is ideal. Heavier dogs are going to be harder on their joints than dogs at an ideal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Certain forms of exercise can be really beneficial, notably swimming. Swimming does a couple of things here: relieves pressure on the joints and provides non-impacting exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep her exercises less impacting in general. For example, softer surfaces for walks (grass rather than pavement) and reduce leaping around (especially jumps from heights).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of medicating, I think it's best to talk the vet. There are some human medication options that can help, but best for your vet to recommend. If it is a treatable condition, then its almost certain there will be a regimen of medication to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;i&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline (5th Edition): &lt;/i&gt; Osteoarthritis, Appropriate Health Care&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-09T16:03:58.747" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T16:03:58.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1081" CreationDate="2013-10-31T15:19:52.683" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arthritis is a common health problem in older dogs. Arthritis comes in many ways, but the most common cause is the simple wear and tear you’re pet’s joints undergo over the years. Some things that can reduce pain for you dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Good nail and foot care : Its important to keep your pet's toenails clipped properly so its normal walking and is not distorted&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feeding your pet calcium and antioxidants can also help ease the pain. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some medication that can ease you dogs pain are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosamine&quot;&gt;Glocosamine&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid&quot;&gt;Omega-3 fatty acid&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perna_%28genus%29&quot;&gt;Perna&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine&quot;&gt;Creatine&lt;/a&gt;. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/keep-older-dogs-suffer-arthritis-pain-free-6530764.html?cat=53&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T15:19:52.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="229" CreationDate="2013-10-31T16:27:45.953" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say that you have scratching posts around your house, but they may not be the right type. Cats have definite preferences for scratching surfaces, and something about that chair makes it &quot;better&quot; than the posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, we had a cat who LOVED to scratch on our ottoman. We had plenty of posts, but eventually figured out that we didn't have one tall enough for him - he wanted to get a good long body stretch, so the post had to be about 3 feet tall. Once we added a post of that height, he rarely touched the ottoman again (instead of a daily thing it became something he did once a month or two).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Material (cardboard, carpet, sisal rope, sisal material (rope and material have different textures).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size (a post should be tall enough for them to stretch their entire body, at least 3 feet; most pet store posts are NOT tall enough). Horizontal scratchers should be large enough to stand on while scratching (generally).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shape/configuration (post, horizontal, incline, specialty)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Location (if your cat is scratching a specific chair, put the posts near the chair; another problem we had with the ottoman was that it was in the middle of the walkway, so it was super convenient, unlike the scratchers we had at the time).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lures (give your cat a reason to hang out with his scratcher; catnip, attached toys, attached lounge pillows, will all increase his feelings of possession to the scratcher and make him more likely to want to scratch (and put his scent on) HIS furniture).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, make sure to keep their claws trimmed. Even if they aren't scratching on your furniture on purpose, running and playing across the furniture can cause damage. An alternative to trimming (which may help while you're figuring out what kind of scratcher he wants) would be to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softpaws.com/&quot;&gt;nail caps&lt;/a&gt;. He'll still make scratching motions on the furniture (so you can monitor your progress with finding the right scratcher) but it won't cause damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You CAN have nice furniture even with cats! We have 4 cats and leather furniture. We occasionally get accidental scratches from running and playing, but nothing on purpose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a last note, declawing is NEVER recommended. Cats generally become more aggressive (especially biting) when you remove their claws because it's painful and you're taking away their defense mechanisms. In addition, as a declawed cat ages it will tend to develop arthritis on the paws which will make using a litter box painful, and cause an aversion to the litterbox. For more on the hazards of declawing, I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawproject.org/&quot;&gt;the Paw Project&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T16:27:45.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1086" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1476" CreationDate="2013-10-31T17:41:20.643" Score="10" ViewCount="954" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had trouble with my female &lt;em&gt;B. orientalis&lt;/em&gt; eating or accidentally killing the eggs she lays.  I've read online that in China, fire-bellied toads are commonly found in rice farms among the rice paddies.  Since the water is so shallow, I'm wondering if using rice paddies in a deeper water setup would be a good idea to protect the eggs until they hatch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to use sandy loam with about an inch or so of soil or other substrate that will keep the water clear on top, then plant long-grain, brown rice and have it drenched in a ton of non-incandescent 6500k light bulbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a valid process to follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I should know before attempting to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice for growing rice paddies inside a vivarium or has anyone ever even had success with this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Information&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 gal generic brand aquarium&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Potential) vivarium set up (with live plants)&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not next to any significant source of natural light&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50:50 land/water set up (filtered water, sphagnum moss)&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 fire-bellies (one male, one female, about 1 year-old, active in breeding)&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T00:33:05.770" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T13:51:47.607" Title="How can I best protect my fire-bellied toad eggs from the mother?" Tags="&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="327" CreationDate="2013-10-31T19:25:17.837" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &quot;in balance&quot; could mean a lot of things, but I'm guessing you mean you want to add plants to keep your water quality in check. If that's the case, the better solution might be to look for improvements in your filtration and maintenance routine first: 30 or 40 fish is a pretty full load for a ~120L/30gal tank, so there might be more effective, or even necessary, things you can do without adding any new organisms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to completely eliminate the need for basic maintenance like water changes or siphoning just by adding plants. Even tanks that are heavily planted with few animals can't escape that. Plants do help reduce some waste products like nitrates, but there are other things that will get &quot;unbalanced&quot; over time, like water hardness and solid wastes. The plants themselves are a source of maintenance too, since they all have different lighting, nutrient, and substrate needs that your tank may or may not meet as-is. (A deep discussion on that would be off-topic for Pets, but there are some excellent resources out there, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plantedtank.net/&quot;&gt;The Planted Tank&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com&quot;&gt;APC&lt;/a&gt;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barrreport.com/forum.php&quot;&gt;Barr Report forum&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said: they do help keep your water quality stable, make your tank look better, and your fish more comfortable. They're a valuable addition to a fish-oriented tank. So again, make sure your filtration and maintenance are enough for your bioload as a first step, because you'll need to do that with or without plants. Then do some research to find out what luck other people have had with your particular lighting, substrate, and fish community. Most plants will grow and reproduce if they do well, so you can start with a few to get a handle on them and then add more later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T19:25:17.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1088" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-10-31T19:54:27.080" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T19:54:27.080" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T19:54:27.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1089" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-10-31T19:54:27.080" Score="0" Body="Aquatic plants that are kept with fish, amphibians, or other pets. Questions are generally about how they affect some aspect of the pet's care, behavior, or health; or vice-versa. If the question could be asked without any reference to the pet itself, it's probably off-topic." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-10-31T20:09:31.947" LastActivityDate="2013-10-31T20:09:31.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1091" CreationDate="2013-11-01T00:15:33.197" Score="9" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Burmese cat who was diagnosed with diabetes almost 10 years ago.  Through twice daily insulin injections and a controlled diet, he is now almost 16 years old.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been told that Burmese cats are more prone to diabetes than other breeds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence to support this claim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:53:36.243" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T13:53:36.243" Title="Are Burmese cats more prone to diabetes than other breeds?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;&lt;burmese&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1090" CreationDate="2013-11-01T00:44:53.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a study at the University of Queensland&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9247686&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Over representation of Burmese cats with diabetes mellitus.&lt;/a&gt; Rand, et al:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Burmese cats were significantly over represented among cats with diabetes mellitus. Irrespective of breed, the risk of diabetes in the study population increased with age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there's definitely evidence of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T08:14:19.450" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T08:14:19.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1092" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T02:15:16.963" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T02:15:16.963" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T02:15:16.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1093" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T02:15:16.963" Score="0" Body="Question is specific to both the American and British Burmese cat breeds." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T03:12:20.333" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T03:12:20.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2013-11-01T02:31:08.923" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just want to add that certain breeds of rabbit you find in the wild could be either pest species, endangered (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_cottontail&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) or be a limited link in a food chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild animals are best left in the wild, but in situations where wild animals cannot look after themselves and are not a pest species there are organisations with people who have experience in rehabilitating and releasing animals back into the wild (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wires.org.au/&quot;&gt;see WIRES in Australia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that just came to mind, as per your question, if you take a wild animal in and have it in close proximity to other animals including domestic breeds and then you release the wild animal (or it escapes) you run the risk of introducing a disease into a wild population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="306" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T14:08:39.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T14:08:39.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1076" CreationDate="2013-11-01T13:21:27.803" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question.  Personally based on the information I've seen, I don't believe a dog has the cognitive ability to decide that death is better than their life.  They probably can't even comprehend what &quot;death&quot; is.  The idea of committing suicide is a very advanced thing to think about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure we've all heard the classic idea of &quot;self-awareness&quot;, where it was proposed that humans are the only animals that are self-aware.  According to this wiki article, this idea extends to a few other animals, namely apes, elephants and dolphins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-awareness&quot;&gt;Self-awareness&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But self-awareness would probably be necessary to knowingly cause your own death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a smaller part of this I think would be the idea of time.  When you commit suicide, you're deciding that your future won't get better over time.  The Jury is out on whether or not one could consider a dog to have a sense of time, but there are some interesting reads&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DOG BEHAVIOR&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animal.discovery.com/pets/do-dogs-understand-the-concept-of-time.htm&quot;&gt;Do dogs understand the concept of time?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall I think that it's possible for a dog not to have the &quot;will to live&quot; but I think that choosing their own death is a bit too advanced for his mind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T07:53:41.597" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T07:53:41.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="982" CreationDate="2013-11-01T13:54:43.677" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never owned crabs or crayfish as pets before, but I've had success with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/114348/Rasbora-Brigittae.aspx&quot;&gt;Mosquito rasboras&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cloud_Mountain_minnow&quot;&gt;White Cloud Mountain minnows&lt;/a&gt; in a community tank with shrimp and snails. They are very pretty schooling fish and fairly tolerant to other species. The only thing I would be concerned about is the crayfish or crab feeding on the smaller schooling fish. I'll leave that to your discretion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there are a few tetras such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_tetra&quot;&gt;Cardinal/neon tetras&lt;/a&gt; and rummynose tetras that are reputedly good schooling fish for shrimp and snails, though I've had no such combination personally. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-chat-9/shrimp-freindly-schooling-fish-18634/&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning your crayfish/crab combination, I really wouldn't advise it because if you scroll through forums there are plenty of reports of crayfish and crabs killing fish and feeding off the dead bodies (who can blame them?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;[1] - Just be careful with raboras, because in their natural habitat, they feed on very small crustaceans. I wouldn't be too worried about it if your shrimp/crab/crayfish are bigger than the opening of their mouth.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T13:54:43.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2013-11-01T14:09:53.187" Score="16" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Can wild rabbits raised as a baby be good pets?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is probably not.  You can generally raise an animal from a baby to not fear humans.  But domesticated animals, including rabbits, have been specially bred to reduce the factors that make wild animals dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestication is when humans take a plant or animal species and,&#xA;through selective breeding, transform the species into something&#xA;beneficial for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A single wild animal can be tamed if it is captured at a young age and&#xA;raised with a lot of careful human nurturing. But this is strictly an&#xA;acquired trait, and a single taming does not suddenly make the entire&#xA;species domesticated. &lt;a href=&quot;http://io9.com/5756178/why-can-some-animals-never-be-domesticated&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tamed just means that it does not fear a few specific humans not that its natural instincts and needs have been suppressed.  You can may even be able to teach it some tricks, but it will still have the natural needs and instinctual fears. One of those is that humans should be feared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are very scent oriented. Their sight is highly attuned to movement and basic shapes rather than visual recognition. A new persons scent is found the rabbit will not have been trained to trust that scent and will likely be very afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have 100 million scent cells, making for a very keen sense of&#xA;smell, which they use to identify other rabbits and animals. The nasal&#xA;membrane is very sensitive to perfumes, chemicals and dust, and these&#xA;agents can cause upper respiratory problems for the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit's sense of smell is far more developed than that of the&#xA;human. Moveable folds inside the rabbit's nose assist in the detection&#xA;of scent. The sense of smell in a rabbit is present at birth, allowing&#xA;a newborn to find his mother's teat. Rabbits shift their noses up and&#xA;down when trying to identify a scent; this is called &amp;quot;nose blinking. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/small-mammals/rabbit-senses-what-is-it-like-in-their-world/page1.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;We have other rabbits will the wild rabbit present any risks to them?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/857/9&quot;&gt;James&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1094/9&quot;&gt;Xiaohouzi&lt;/a&gt; pointed out in their excellent answers wild rabbits are exposed to parasites and diseases that domestic rabbits are not.  A baby rabbits immune system has been boosted by drinking its mothers milk so it has transferred resistance to some of them that a domestic rabbit does not have.  And once the it stops drinking mothers milk it will not have it either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely potential disease to cause infant/weanling mortality&#xA;is mucoid enteritis. Although it does occur occasionally in weanlings&#xA;who have been fed by their mothers, it is seen much more often in&#xA;hand-fed babies and those who are removed from their mothers before&#xA;eight weeks of age. It manifests as severe diarrhea, anorectic&#xA;behavior (refusal to eat) and may contain blood or mucous. It also&#xA;causes bloating and gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mucoid enteritis is caused by a pathogenic bacterial overgrowth,&#xA;usually of Clostridium spiroforme, in the hindgut (cecum) of the baby,&#xA;as the normal microflora are attempting to establish. These normal&#xA;microflora help the baby achieve adult digestive capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult rabbit stomach pH is 1-2, but a neonates' stomach pH is much&#xA;higher; the stomach and gastro-intestinal tract of neonates is also&#xA;sterile (containing no living microorganisms.) As babies wean off of&#xA;milk onto adult solid foods, the gut pH gradually changes by getting a&#xA;lot of help from the mother's changing milk constituents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By ten days of age, the babies eyes will have opened, and they will&#xA;begin eating their mother's cecotropes, (also called &amp;quot;night feces&amp;quot; or&#xA;&amp;quot;cecal droppings&amp;quot;). Cecotropes help provide the babies with essential&#xA;nutrients and later, inoculate the hindgut with the essential flora&#xA;that is needed to metabolize a diet that is changing from milk to&#xA;solid foods. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do I need to feed the wild rabbit any differently than a domestic rabbit?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Domestic rabbits have been bred to thrive on a diet of pelletized food and hay.  Wild rabbits need more diversity and different food stuffs than its domesticated counterparts.  Be aware that even domestic bunnies that have to be hand fed(with in the first 3 weeks) have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rainbowwildlife.com/baby-rabbit.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;90% mortality rate&lt;/a&gt;.  If you insist on trying to save a wild baby bunny, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/wildbabies.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper from Univerity of Miami&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent guide.  But as the paper notes you and the baby will most likely be better off if it is turned over to a animal service for treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T14:09:53.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:07:23.287" Score="25" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Important notice about dry-pilling your cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really have anything to add to the actual act of pilling a cat, but it is super important that &lt;strong&gt;after you give the cat its pills, you should either syringe 4-5 cc's of water/tuna juice into the cat or feed the cat some wet food&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat is dry-pilled, the pill will sit in their esophagus and cause irritation. Humans will feel the pill in their esophagus and drink water to make sure it enters the stomach, but a cat doesn't understand that's what they're feeling and how to make it better. They just feel the irritation and burning as the pill dissolves in their esophagus.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a study &quot;Evaluation of the Passage of Tablets and Capsules Through the Esophagus of the Cat&quot; presented at the 2001 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum, when cats are dry-pilled:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After 5 minutes 84% of capsules and 64% of tablets are still sitting in the esophagus. Similar results were published in another study by JP Graham (American Journal of Veterinary Research 2000).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the wet swallows: (i.e., the pill was followed by 6 cc of water)&#xA;  At 30 seconds, 90% of the pills were in the stomach. All pills were in the stomach by 120 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can cause serious damage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The main concern with this information is that if tablets and capsules sit in the esophagus for a prolonged period of time, this can cause damage to the tissues in this area. This damage can lead to esophagitis, which can lead to nausea, vomiting and megaesophagus. At times, the esophagus can also respond by developing an ulcer or stricture. The latter is a very serious complication requiring aggressive therapy, preferably with balloon dilatation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on this study and others, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=pillingcats&quot;&gt;Lisa A. Pierson&lt;/a&gt; has a very comprehensive site on pilling cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a cat with severe esophagus damage (he died of it and complications). &lt;strong&gt;Please don't dry pill your cats!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T15:13:43.707" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T15:13:43.707" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:17:33.557" Score="14" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has two female &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_redknee_tarantula&quot;&gt;Mexican redknee tarantulas&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he first got them, he handled them on a fairly regular basis, and they were quite docile.  However, they are now both more than 10 years old, and it has been several years since he's handled them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time he tried to pick one up, it acted quite defensive, and kicked off some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urticating_hair&quot;&gt;urticating hairs&lt;/a&gt; at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it too late to retrain them to be comfortable being handled?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, how should he go about getting them used to being held, without getting bit or sprayed with the defensive hairs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T01:48:12.243" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T16:02:59.897" Title="Can older tarantulas become reaccustomed to being handled?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;tarantulas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1103" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:23:58.887" Score="14" ViewCount="24311" Body="&lt;p&gt;In college, I had a pet lizard that ate crickets.  However, the dorm room was quite small, and keeping crickets on hand proved problematic, as their chirping at night was annoying, and interfered with my sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I could do to keep them quiet during the night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T20:11:49.897" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:29:40.987" Title="How do I keep my supply of feeder crickets from keeping me awake at night?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sound&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1122" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:29:10.490" Score="14" ViewCount="905" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been many years since I've owned hermit crabs, and I'm thinking about getting some for my son.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recall that they can be quite choosy about changing shells.  How many empty shells should I provide for them (I haven't yet decided if we'll get one or several)?  Are there any special considerations on what types of shells I should provide?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:21:32.490" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T16:21:32.490" Title="How many shells should be made available for a growing hermit crab?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:31:01.350" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;We buy crickets regularly for two frogs, and we have purchased crickets from two local pet stores.  Every batch of crickets we have purchased from one of the pet stores is noisy, chirping like crazy.  Every batch of crickets we have purchased from the other pet store is essentially silent.  As a result, we now only purchase crickets from the store with non-chirping crickets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest trying different stores until you find quieter crickets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I originally thought that it was the different species of crickets at the different stores that caused the difference in chirping.  However, I asked the guy at my favorite pet store.  He had no idea what species of crickets he had, but he said that the difference was in the size of the crickets.  He said that crickets start chirping when they get to about 1 inch in size.  At other pet stores, their &quot;large&quot; crickets are 1 inch long, and lots of them will chirp.  He specifically stocks 3/4 inch crickets as his largest size, and as a result, they hardly ever get a chirping one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you need quiet crickets, get smaller ones.  If your pet store doesn't have a good selection of smaller crickets, it is time to find another supplier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T04:40:47.823" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T04:40:47.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1824" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:34:42.287" Score="16" ViewCount="861" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a skin infection going around in our house right now, and the vet's instructions were to bathe the cats with a special shampoo. Once we get them lathered up, the shampoo has to sit on their skin for 10 minutes before rinising off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to bathe a cat without injury to either cat/human, and the least amount of stress on the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-12-31T00:43:44.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:31:10.827" Title="How do I bathe my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1105" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:41:37.223" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T15:41:37.223" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T15:41:37.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1106" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:41:37.223" Score="0" Body="A family of crustaceans known for protecting themselves by carrying empty snail shells. Both marine and terrestrial species are kept as pets, and this tag can refer to either." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T15:44:31.987" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T15:44:31.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1107" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:59:05.500" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T15:59:05.500" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T15:59:05.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1108" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T15:59:05.500" Score="0" Body="Photosynthetic microorganisms that grow in wet environments. Algae are not plants, but large growths can sometimes resemble them superficially. Pet owners may encounter algae as a cosmetic nuisance, a food source for herbivores, a water quality problem, or even symbiotic growth within an animal (most often corals). This tag will often be used in the context of an aquarium or pond, but not exclusively." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:01:39.213" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T16:01:39.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1136" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:01:17.823" Score="11" ViewCount="831" Body="&lt;p&gt;My uncle bought a female dog, but had to go on a business trip and gave her to me. The dog stayed with me for 6 months and became used to me. Now my uncle is back and wants to take the dog, but any time he takes her, she doesn't want to go with him. When she does, she doesn't eat or play until she sees me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is as though the dog won't recognize my uncle as her owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make her accept my uncle as her owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:47:53.963" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:37:35.220" Title="How can I make a dog recognize another person as her owner?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:02:56.237" Score="21" ViewCount="5123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a fighter fish in a bowl today. Only one fighter is put in a bowl. Now I am wondering if it will get lonely. How will it mate? Am I depriving it of a companion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="310" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-26T11:12:01.090" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T06:48:07.750" Title="Is it okay to keep my fighter fish all by itself in a bowl?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1110" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:18:08.323" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you're referencing the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish&quot;&gt;Siamese fighting fish&lt;/a&gt; (correct me if I'm wrong.) They tend to be very aggressive, as I'm sure you know, and it is very popular to keep two of them with a separator made of plexiglas or some other acrylic see-through material. I don't think they get &quot;lonely&quot;, rather &quot;bored&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as breeding them goes, just be careful. You shouldn't have a male and a female together at all times, and preferably not longer than enough to mate. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Breed-Betta-Fish&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s a good article on breeding betta fish. Other than that, they prefer to be alone, and no, you're not depriving it of a companion. If you want to keep it from being bored all day, you can put ghost shrimp or snails if you're willing to keep those up as well. :) But that also depends on the size of the environment. I see you're keeping it in a fish bowl, which I'm guessing isn't very big compared to an aquarium, so be careful about how many other animals you introduce into your bowl. Mind that snails waste a lot, so you may have quite a lot of cleaning on your hands if that's what you decide to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:23:33.743" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T16:23:33.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1110" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:27:33.020" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta fish, which is how your fish are more commonly known, are famously aggressive. Males in particular should never be kept with other males -- one &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; kill the other. Females can be kept together in larger groups with care, but pairs or mixed-sex groups won't work. Don't even worry about trying to find it a mate until you're really comfortable keeping them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if they weren't aggressive, the bowl itself is a problem. Bettas really need more water than the bowls they're usually sold with, and there's definitely no room for anything else. They don't need a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; tank if they're on their own, but you may have trouble keeping him in such a small space long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never personally kept bettas and don't know offhand what the go-to references would be, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://nippyfish.net/&quot;&gt;nippyfish.net&lt;/a&gt; looks like a good place to learn more. There are sections on &lt;a href=&quot;http://nippyfish.net/bettas-101/choosing-a-tank/&quot;&gt;how to house them&lt;/a&gt; and how to choose &lt;a href=&quot;http://nippyfish.net/bettas-101/tankmates-for-bettas/&quot;&gt;non-betta tankmates&lt;/a&gt; down the road, and lots of other information about their care and natural history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:37:16.987" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T16:37:16.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1113" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:46:40.390" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:46:40.390" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T16:46:40.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1114" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:46:40.390" Score="0" Body="A tag for questions pertaining to the Siamese fighting fish, also known as the betta fish or fighter fish." OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T16:47:00.923" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T16:47:00.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1115" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:58:20.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to chirping insects usually used as feed for larger pets, such as lizards and frogs.  Relevant topics may include keeping crickets as pets, how to maintain feeder crickets, discussion on proper ways to present crickets, and types of crickets to select.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T17:00:12.217" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T17:00:12.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1116" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T16:58:20.430" Score="0" Body="Refers to chirping insects usually used as feed for larger pets, such as lizards and frogs." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T17:00:38.207" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T17:00:38.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1117" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:02:01.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to forms of the exotic hairy spider popularly kept as a pet.  Sample topics may include the caring of (feeding, housing), behavior, handling, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T17:07:37.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T17:07:37.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1118" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:02:01.217" Score="0" Body="Refers to forms of the exotic hairy spider popularly kept as a pet. " OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T17:07:25.980" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T17:07:25.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1119" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:07:46.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Woof-woof, arf-arf, yarp-yarp, bark! Refers to the typical sound associated with dogs.  Dogs bark for many reasons ranging from warning to play.  Some situational topics could involve requiring a way to control barking or determining the rationale behind barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T17:14:27.597" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T17:14:27.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1120" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:07:46.677" Score="0" Body="Refers to the typical sound associated with dogs." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T19:38:47.910" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T19:38:47.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1104" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:11:46.827" Score="14" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clip the cat's nails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the cat either in a tub or kitchen sink with a towel on the bottom for good footing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a bowl to pour water over them after making sure it is a good temperature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not work on the head too much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat will fear drowning far more than being wet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Having feet on the ground should make it a lot calmer about the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:31:10.827" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:31:10.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1102" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:23:22.980" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have much to say about terrestrial hermit crabs specifically, but the marines ones I have experience with can &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; be picky. Somebody else offered a great answer to another hermit question a few weeks ago, so hopefully they'll see this one as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally seen hermits go through on average 2-3 good choices before they pick a new shell, and when you have more than one hermit, they sort out who gets what for themselves. Shell possession is a really big factor in their social interactions: I've seen hermits pull others from their shell, take it over, and then not let the naked hermit into the old one. (Again, that's my local marine species -- land species might not be so aggressive, I don't know.) And there's been interesting research lately into &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=vacancy-hermit-crab-social-networks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vacancy chains&lt;/a&gt; that form when a big hermit finds a new shell, the next hermit shifts into the old one, and so on down the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different species of hermit crab prefer shells from different types of snail, and that preference can change as the animal grows, but my feeling is that the shells you see at most decent pet stores are probably an acceptable shape for the hermits they're selling. A safe bet would be to just get a shell that looks like a bigger version of the one your hermit came in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the snail species, the two most important factors I've noticed are: A. is the shell the right size, and B. is it in good condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For size, the crab needs to be able to actually carry the shell around (obviously), and generally it needs to be able to withdraw its entire body into it, with the claws acting as the &quot;plug&quot;. Having a shell that fits well is very important to their overall health, so keep an eye out for hermits that are starting to look a bit cramped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For quality, avoid any shells with holes, or with pitted or crusty interiors. The marine ones that I know don't seem to care much about coralline algae, hydroids, or other growth on the outside, as long as it doesn't weaken the shell itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-09T15:10:16.813" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T15:10:16.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="214" CreationDate="2013-11-01T17:39:35.403" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is pretty common for cats to get stiff with age.  This can make them unable to properly clean hard to reach spots on the back and by the tail.  The extra grease and grime acts as a trap to cause the mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A way to help clean the cat is to purchase some vet approved cleaning towelettes to get the grease off before it causes another mat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T17:39:35.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="130" CreationDate="2013-11-01T18:58:36.670" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second easiest way of eliminating fights is increasing their space i.e. give them a bigger cage. How big depends on the guinea pigs in question, but it needs to be big enough to fit at least one house per pig, and preferably one food bowl and one water bottle per pig as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to stop female guinea pigs from fighting is to introduce a neutered male. Preferably a secure and dominant one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not believe you can train the pigs not to fight - they disagree about who's the boss and/or how that role should be managed. And I do not think neutering is the answer, it is quite risky to spay female pigs and nothing I would recommend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="314" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T19:21:24.273" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T19:21:24.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1127" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T19:31:46.260" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T19:31:46.260" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T19:31:46.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1128" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T19:31:46.260" Score="0" Body="A diverse family of fish, popular among aquarists for their interesting social and breeding behaviors. Cichlids often require particular water parameters, diets, and tankmates to thrive in the home aquarium." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T19:38:04.210" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T19:38:04.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1129" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T19:37:30.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bred to hunt badgers, the dachshund has a long body and short legs with paws designed for digging in tunnels.  The dachshund (or teckel) typically has one of three coats: short-hair, long-hair or wire-hair (curly).  There are two officially recognized sizes, miniature and standard, though many owners refer to an in-between size as a &quot;tweenie&quot;.  Nicknamed the &quot;wiener dog&quot; due to their resemblance to a wienerwurst (a frankfurter / hot dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T16:59:46.933" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T16:59:46.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1130" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T19:37:30.987" Score="0" Body="Referring to any type of badger hound / &quot;wiener dog&quot; / teckel of any hair length and body size." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:15:37.367" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:15:37.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1131" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T19:52:40.570" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T19:52:40.570" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T19:52:40.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1132" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T19:52:40.570" Score="0" Body="Related to training in order to compete for awards in appearance, breed (conformation), or training." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:15:47.103" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:15:47.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="925" CreationDate="2013-11-01T20:07:58.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will ideally want to use a product containing Selamectin (UK brand name Stronghold - manufactured by Pfizer ETA: Revolution as suggested by James appears to be the US brand name) or Imidaclopromide (UK brand name Advantage - manufactured by Bayer) as these are effective against a number of parasites including fleas.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most over the counter &quot;spot on&quot; treatments contain relatively benign ingredients or Ivermectin (UK brand name Ivermec) which is very effective in treating mites and lice but not fleas (This could be why the treatments you used didn't work!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fipronil (UK brand name Frontline) is effective against fleas but carries a manufacturer's warning due to number of reports of adverse reactions in small or young rabbits so should be used with caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source - Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, Frances Harcourt-Brown, ISBN 0 7506 4002 2&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="193" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:42:58.973" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:42:58.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1134" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T20:13:40.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Used for any discussion involving issues specific to the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;care&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;care&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/maintenance&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;maintenance&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;maintenance&lt;/a&gt; of a reef tank, which is a marine aquarium used to house live corals, distinct from &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/fowlr&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;fowlr&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;fowlr&lt;/a&gt; (fish only with live rock) marine aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider adding the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;aquarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/saltwater&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;saltwater&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;saltwater&lt;/a&gt; tags to questions tagged with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/reef-tank&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;reef-tank&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;reef-tank&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:15:44.320" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:15:44.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1135" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T20:13:40.160" Score="0" Body="Refers to an aquarium primarily used for the housing of live corals and related material." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:15:41.057" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:15:41.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1109" CreationDate="2013-11-01T20:21:25.353" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've cared for dogs over 5-6 month periods and given them back to their original owners before.  Even though dogs create an emotional attachment to their owners, I think they are smart enough to realize when someone else is feeding you, walking you and taking care of you, then that person becomes their new (or original) owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Eating Issues / Concerns&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was in your uncle's position I would just keep an eye out for eating problems.  I'm sure the dog won't go more than a couple of days without eating, and while it breaks our heart and we worry, we must remember that they are dogs.  They don't think or feel like humans do; we must respect that and we should be in enough control to do what's best for the dog, by not spoiling it beyond control and remembering he's a dog, as much as we love 'em and want to hug 'em!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep a strict feeding regimen (schedule).  If your dog has the bowl and doesn't want to eat because he's in a strange place or you think it's depressed, then take away the bowl after a couple of minutes of trying and don't feed him again until the next feeding time comes around. Don't yell at him, don't put him down, just be patient and serve the plate at the right time of day every day.  Always make sure there's water for him to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am 99% sure the dog will recognize your actions and start eating sooner than later; a few days with no food is &quot;not a big deal&quot;.  I've successfully trained my dogs to eat at the same time even when sometimes one of them was too picky to eat when I served the bowl and said &quot;eat!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tip:&lt;/em&gt; I used to put a little broth from chicken or beef soup just to moisten the dog food and entice an appetite with greater success.  I only did it a few times or when it was available and I felt like it.  Just a little splash of broth will do enough to make the Alpo taste much better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Re-homing the Dog&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we have pets, such as dogs, I believe we need to establish ourselves as leaders to them.  Dogs naturally expect to follow or lead, and in our daily lives, it's much better that we lead and not give them the responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to ask the dog permission or see if he wants to leave with someone or not; you simply do it (without any physical abuse, of course).  Your uncle needs to learn to be patient and willing to accept that the dog will take a little bit of time to recognize him as his new master.  This is completely normal, in my opinion, and the more he establishes some rules and limitations with the dog, the sooner the dog will realize his position in the pack with his new leader (your uncle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one of the comments, @JoshDM said you should avoid being present in the dog's vicinity for multiple weeks. I completely agree with him and think that it's a good thing for the dog to get used to the fact he's going to be in a new home and it's OK for you to come, and visit, and leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tip:&lt;/em&gt; When you come to visit, don't just run straight into saying hello, making the dog pee itself with happiness.  It's s not healthy for him to get over-excited, and then sad again when it comes time for you to leave. There's always a time to play with your dog and be at ease, but we as humans tend to break that and just give them a lot of love and affection because it's super hard to resist not doing when you love your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Walking with the Dog - Creating the Ultimate Bond&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is something I really agree with &quot;The Dog Whisperer&quot; (Cesar Millan); simply walking with your dog creates a very cool bond and respect for each other.  This is how the dog starts to acknowledge you more as a pack leader; you're out letting him explore with you, while you lead the way, the pace, and the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully during it's time you, you've taken the time to teach the dog to walk properly on the leash and try to ignore cars, other people, and the daily distractions of life in the city. Going out for a walk with the dog should help strengthen the bond between your uncle and his dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tip:&lt;/em&gt; In your mind you should also accept this if it's what's in the best interest of everyone.  Accepting this change will make your energy transfer positive feelings and reassure the dog that he's going where he belongs and will be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T20:37:35.220" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T20:37:35.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:05:59.297" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;A trick I did was to grab and hold my cats close if they disturbed me during the night. They didn't like it, but it was not painful.  In order to avoid it, they leave me alone when sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:05:59.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1138" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:42:58.217" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:42:58.217" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:42:58.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1139" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:42:58.217" Score="0" Body="Referring to the act of treading water with the intent to travel through it." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:59:21.143" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:59:21.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1140" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:47:35.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the general tag for all lizards (bearded dragons, chameleons, geckos, anoles, etc.); consider using it and / or in conjunction with a species-specific tag, if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:59:30.660" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:59:30.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1141" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:47:35.867" Score="0" Body="General tag for all lizards (bearded dragons, chameleons, geckos, anoles, etc.)" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:59:37.567" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:59:37.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1142" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:49:42.440" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T21:49:42.440" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T21:49:42.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1143" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-01T21:49:42.440" Score="0" Body="For topics specifically regarding the various Cocker Spaniel dog breeds (English, American, or mixes)." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-01T22:00:01.880" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T22:00:01.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1213" CreationDate="2013-11-01T22:20:24.117" Score="14" ViewCount="10827" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat (a 7-8 month old unsterilized female) eats only dry cat food (actually she's currently eating prescribed &quot;Veterinary Diet S/O Fibre Response&quot; brand food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I follow the recommended dose printed on the bag (according to her weight) and give it at once, after a few hours there is nothing left and at the end of the day she's licking the empty bowl and wailing for more.  I often took pity and gave her more, but anyway she lost about 200g in two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mentioned it to our vet, who said we may give her a bit more than what is written, and to give it as several portions rather than at once.  Today I gave her three portions, equivalent in total to the bag recommendation.  She didn't complain, and actually I noticed she only ate half of the last portion immediately, and the other half later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have feedback on the influence of the new policy on her weight, but it seems obvious that it has a physiological influence, since she doesn't seem to be hungry anymore, while eating less.  Hence the question, &lt;strong&gt;is there an ideal frequency for feeding a cat?&lt;/strong&gt;  For me, it seems that once a day is not a good policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: Amusingly, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/312/231&quot;&gt;similar question for Bichon Frisé&lt;/a&gt;, which says the printed recommendations on the food packaging is usually &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt;…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit :&lt;/strong&gt; To clarify things since both current answers mention we're doing the right thing as the cat is losing weight, we &lt;strong&gt;do not&lt;/strong&gt; want her to lose weight, she's already quite thin — and she's 7-8 months old, she's supposed to &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; weight.  We feed her prescription diet food because of transit issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T17:33:17.590" Title="How many times a day should I feed a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2013-11-01T22:32:33.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since cats in nature hunt at dawn and dusk, a two meals a day strategy fits best with their nature.  I have some dry food out for nibbling with my cats, but they don't have an eating disorder.  In your case you could use a treat or a bit of the food as a between meals snack so the cat doesn't feel deprived of food and get anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One advantage of feeding when the cat is more active is that you have a chance to work some off right then by play just before or after the meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cat is losing weight, looks like you are doing something right!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T22:32:33.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2013-11-01T22:40:23.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off the bat, I don't think there's a specific ideal to feeding a cat; this is going to vary a bit based on the age and the activity level of your cat. In general, we feed ours twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening and both cats are at good weights. That's pretty anecdotal, however, and it's mostly because we must feed moist cat food and medically dose one of the cats for megacolon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, in my experience, a cat that has plenty of space to move around and exercise will eat according to need and balance out their weight properly. I've never had an issue with an endless food supply and active cats, it's only when they don't have a lot of space and become especially sedentary that I've seen the weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(Edit to reflect update)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're feeding her diet food and want her to maintain weight, not lose it, then I think you may want to ensure that the food is always readily available rather than having spaced feeding times. She's already demonstrated that she'll eat what she wants and move on, coming back for more later when she is hungry, so I would key off that and then monitor her food dish and her weight, but otherwise keep her supplied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T11:07:36.213" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T11:07:36.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1159" CreationDate="2013-11-01T22:55:06.700" Score="31" ViewCount="135760" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in my yard the other day playing with a football and my dog was nearby. I was kicking the ball against the wall when my dog was walking past, I didn't see him and accidentally kicked him in the side toppling him over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After crying out in pain, he slinked away and wouldn't come to me when I called him. It's been 2 days now and he is still behaving like this. He will move when he sees me coming or if I corner him and try to pet him, he puts his tail between his legs and cower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my dog of nearly 4 years, a dog that would come to meet me at the gate or come running at a call when going for a walk. How can I gain his trust back and show him that I mean no harm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T03:05:56.527" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T00:39:59.430" Title="How can I gain back my dog's trust after accidentally kicking him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1147" CreationDate="2013-11-01T23:45:36.640" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to read about the accident, but these kind of things happen. First of all, I think that two days is very little time so far in order to let the dog soak in what happened, don't push it and you will see that dogs are very forgiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't beat yourself up too much, it was an accident and you need to let the dog recover and regain his trust, I think that if you don't push it too much and project a positive energy towards him then he will soon understand that you didn't mean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again if you always feel super bad that you did this and you just want him to love you again and all that stuff then it might be overwhelming for him to feel down and sad and super emotional every time he's around you right after the accident occurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you check that he's not seriously hurt, be gentle, not pushy and reward him with a treat or something when he comes near you (on his own).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hoping this helps, cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastActivityDate="2013-11-01T23:45:36.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1193" CreationDate="2013-11-02T01:04:56.643" Score="20" ViewCount="37930" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of opinions on this topic, with a lot of different views. We know from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/goldfish-memory-minimyth.htm&quot;&gt;Mythbusters that even goldfish have memories&lt;/a&gt;. Is there any reliable science on fish boredom? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For common house pets, like cats, dogs, and rabbits, a bored pet tends to be a destructive pet.  It is hard to imagine a fish destroying your furniture, so what kind of behavior might a bored fish exhibit?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T02:40:03.073" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:34:11.667" Title="Do fish get bored, and if so, how can fish boredom be identified?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1151" CreationDate="2013-11-02T01:24:17.673" Score="3" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog passed away, I was told he would meet me by the Rainbow Bridge.  I have heard others mention this anecdote as well.  I understand it has some popularity as an aid in a time of grief due to the loss of a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please elaborate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T00:15:06.910" LastActivityDate="2018-09-16T21:27:17.727" Title="What is &quot;The Rainbow Bridge&quot;?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1150" CreationDate="2013-11-02T01:24:17.673" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Rainbow Bridge is a currently unattributed poem (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_%28pets%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia mentions multiple contenders for authorship&lt;/a&gt;) sourced from the internet (UseNET) purportedly by way of a canine rescue organization newsletter.  There are multiple interpretations and versions of the poem.  Some versions may mention Heaven directly, I have seen others that do not.  While there are similarities in concept, I do not believe it has any connection to the rainbow bridge of Norse mythology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a coping mechanism and frequents condolence cards given to those who have lost a pet.  I received a card with one version written on it, and a letter from my veterinarian with another iteration of the poem.  There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!topic/rec.pets.dogs/KW-Rgq_iOKA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/2907.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;versions&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1094&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;online&lt;/a&gt;.  All of them are similar in scope; none seem specific to a species or breed of pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a variation of the one I received when my dog passed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just this side of Heaven&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  is a place called Rainbow Bridge.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When an animal dies that has been &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  especially close to someone here, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There are meadows and hills &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  for all of our special friends &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  so they can run and play together. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and our friends are warm and comfortable.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  All the animals who had been ill and old &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  are restored to health and vigor. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Those who were hurt or maimed &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  are made whole and strong again, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  just as we remember them in our dreams &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  of days and times gone by. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The animals are happy and content, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  except for one small thing; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  they each miss someone very special to them, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  someone who had to be left behind. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They all run and play together, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  but the day comes &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  when one suddenly stops &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and looks into the distance. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  His bright eyes are intent; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  his eager body begins to quiver. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Suddenly, he breaks from the group, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  racing over the green grass, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  his legs carrying him faster and faster.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You have been spotted, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and when you and your special friend finally meet, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  you cling together in joyous reunion, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  never to be parted again. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The happy kisses rain upon your face; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  your hands again caress the beloved head, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and you look once more &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  into those trusting eyes, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  so long gone from your life &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  but never absent from your heart.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2018-09-16T21:27:17.727" LastActivityDate="2018-09-16T21:27:17.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1152" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-02T04:05:55.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The litter box is an area, usually indoors, for pets to go to the bathroom.  Rabbits and cats are two primary users of these facilities. Sample questions include those that are &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/maintenance&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;maintenance&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;maintenance&lt;/a&gt;-related, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;training&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;training&lt;/a&gt;-related, or even &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt;-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T16:26:43.587" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T16:26:43.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1153" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-02T04:05:55.867" Score="0" Body="Refers to the indoor place set-aside for felines or rabbits to do their business." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T16:26:36.600" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T16:26:36.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1154" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-02T04:11:13.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chewing topics typically refer to preventing a pet from chewing something, but may also involve just the act of doing so and explanations for &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T04:44:11.563" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T04:44:11.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1155" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-02T04:11:13.373" Score="0" Body="Referring to the act of mastication and the targets of receiving the attention of the act." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T04:44:06.843" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T04:44:06.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2013-11-02T07:43:17.003" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the hamster is constantly trying to get out, this could be a sign that the cage is too small. In my personal experience I've seen several hamsters with negative behaviour traits (aggression and/or constant bar chewing) have their behaviour improve after being moved to a larger cage.  I did have one hamster who would bar chew regardless of cage size;I have heard wild Syrian hamsters have territories up to 5-miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are several species of hamster with varying sizes (Syrians are the largest and most common to have as pets), recommended cage sizes end up being similar across the board as Syrian hamsters are solitary, while dwarf or Chinese hamsters tend to be kept in small groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The RSPCA &lt;strong&gt;minimum&lt;/strong&gt; recommended size is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/BlobServer?blobtable=RSPCABlob&amp;amp;blobcol=urlblob&amp;amp;blobkey=id&amp;amp;blobwhere=1169720056106&amp;amp;blobheader=applic...&quot;&gt;75cm (30&quot;) x 40cm (16&quot;) x 40cm (16&quot;)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Woodgreen (our local rescue) &lt;strong&gt;won't home to less&lt;/strong&gt; than &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.woodgreen.org.uk/pet_advice/557_hamster_accommodation&quot;&gt;80cm (31&quot;) x 50cm (20&quot;) x 35cm (15&quot;)&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have heard it is now illegal in Germany to sell hamster cages with a base less than 100cm (40&quot;) x 40cm (16&quot;). (I have no source for this.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T15:21:31.583" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T15:21:31.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1158" CreationDate="2013-11-02T09:31:37.957" Score="9" ViewCount="4319" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bunny has been pooping connected poops (see picture).  I sometimes see a couple of these when cleaning the litter box. Is something wrong? What causes this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fWh4k.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:03:48.820" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:03:48.820" Title="Should I worry that my rabbit is leaving connected poops?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1157" CreationDate="2013-11-02T10:26:37.200" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are two concerns here (assuming colour is accurate)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) the connection appears to be fur which suggests the rabbit has an increased chance of going into &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/692/193&quot;&gt;stasis/gut immobility from wool block&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) the colour of the faeces is quite dark, and maybe a bit small which can suggest a poor diet (unless this is an exposure issue with the picture?) a normal rabbit poo should be a golden colour e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SRRIf.png&quot; alt=&quot;picture of rabbit poo&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as the picture suggests, size is also a consideration but this will vary with breed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;overall i'd suggest reviewing the rabbit diet and in particular making sure it is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/551/193&quot;&gt;having enough hay (it should be ~90% of their diet)&lt;/a&gt;. You could also look at grooming your rabbit so that it isn't eating so much fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T18:31:31.057" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1147" CreationDate="2013-11-02T13:19:36.207" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it means anything to you, dogs have a very high tolerance for pain, so when they scream out it is more because of them being startled or shocked than because of pain.  I accidentally closed a door on my dogs tail, not hard but the startle caused him to let out a loud yelp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will regain trust you in over time, but an important thing to remember for the future is that dog psychology is VERY different than human psychology.  Your first reaction if you accidentally hurt a child is to immediately fawn over the child and shower him/her with affection.  The child needs to cognitively recognize the accident to get over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you immediately get emotional, nurturing and reactive after an accident then you are teaching the dog through your nurturing that you are rewarding them for feeling scared.  Nurturing is a reward for wanted behaviour so in the dogs mind you are telling the dog it is right to be scared and anxious about the very person or situation involved in the accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is to check the dog for injury, then immediately move on and try to get the dog to not dwell on what happened.  After the dog is calm again, give them a treat to reward them having calmed down and give them extra affection then.  It is never a good idea to give affection to a dog in emotional distress (physical distress is a bit different).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find the dog will move past the incident rather quickly because the dogs ancestors don't dwell on accidents.  They make their intentions very known through deliberate communication and action.  Dogs also live in the present.  They don't dwell on past memories, their memories of what happened in the past are mostly emotional based and not event based.  Eg. they smell the grounds of a dog park where they were attacked by another dog and they get an emotional surge of fear.  The fear is an automatic reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T13:19:36.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1161" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-02T14:52:06.597" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T14:52:06.597" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T14:52:06.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1162" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-02T14:52:06.597" Score="0" Body="Parrots are birds that can mimic sounds. They are sometimes called talking birds." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T21:22:36.660" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T21:22:36.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1163" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-02T15:21:46.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poop is short name for feces or waste products. Poop is also a process of removing those waste products from the body. This tag should be used for questions related to waste products and process of removing them for the system of a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T21:22:18.143" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T21:22:18.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1164" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-02T15:21:46.370" Score="0" Body="This refers to feces, waste products from pets. It is also the process of defecating." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-02T21:22:41.893" LastActivityDate="2013-11-02T21:22:41.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1165" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T04:29:10.493" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T04:29:10.493" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T04:29:10.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1166" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T04:29:10.493" Score="0" Body="Referring to jumping, blood-sucking, insect parasites known to infest the fur and hair of many pets." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T05:10:50.813" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T05:10:50.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1167" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T04:30:51.217" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T04:30:51.217" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T04:30:51.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1168" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T04:30:51.217" Score="0" Body="Refers to any form of entertainment or distraction which can keep a mind running, such as a complex toy, an interactive companion, or a visual display." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T05:10:58.007" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T05:10:58.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1169" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T05:19:32.630" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T05:19:32.630" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T05:19:32.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1170" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T05:19:32.630" Score="0" Body="Referring to the small rodent which can be kept as a pet, or as a food source for other pets." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T08:23:43.440" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T08:23:43.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1171" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T05:22:15.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to all forms of the croaking amphibian which grows from a tadpole form to a full grown adult.  Consider including a species-specific tag if the question is exclusive to the specific species posted about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T08:23:51.817" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T08:23:51.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1172" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T05:22:15.800" Score="0" Body="Refers to all forms of the croaking amphibian which grows from a tadpole form to a full grown adult." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T08:22:22.937" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T08:22:22.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2013-11-03T09:10:01.717" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your specific situation, you note that this was not your fish and that you were caring for the property of someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, not knowing what the owner would want, and realizing the fish was dead, I would have taken a Ziplock or otherwise seal-able bag, put the dead fish in it, taped a written note to the bag noting what it contains, and placed the sealed bag into the owner's freezer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would ensure preservation of the longevity of the dead fish until the owner got back, and would also prevent it from contaminating anything.  This would place the decision of what to do firmly in the responsibility of the fish owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T09:10:01.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="845" CreationDate="2013-11-03T12:23:48.237" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs get hiccups for a variety of reasons including eating too fast (common with dogs, especially puppies), stress, excitement, or even hypothermia. If the hiccups are not lasting for very long (you don't really indicate how long, so I'm assuming they're short-lived) then I wouldn't be concerned even if they're a little funny, humans can have funny hiccups too. At any rate, puppies are more prone to hiccups than full-grown dogs, so you should see a reduction as he gets older and maybe even a smoothing out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a little concerned still and want to help, you can always give him some water or massage his chest to help loosen and relax his diaphragm muscles. If the hiccups do go on for an extended period of time, then taking him in to see a vet is a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good detail on doggy hiccups can be found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/do-dog-hiccups-require-treatment.html&quot;&gt;Vetinfo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T12:23:48.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-03T13:14:48.597" Score="8" ViewCount="1192" Body="&lt;p&gt;After viewing answers to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/766/does-neutering-have-any-negative-effect-on-the-health-of-a-dog&quot;&gt;Does neutering have any negative effect on the health of a dog?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/681/can-a-dog-contract-a-sexually-transmitted-infection&quot;&gt;Can a dog contract a sexually transmitted infection?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, I am curious to know if there is a trusted way to &lt;strong&gt;prevent my dog from mating&lt;/strong&gt; without neutering/spaying him/her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T11:33:49.960" Title="What are alternatives to prevention other than spaying or neutering?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1176" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T14:34:48.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whippet is a medium-sized breed of dogs that originated from england. They sometimes look like a small greyhound This tag should also be used along the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt; tag. For better answers include size, age, etc where necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T07:39:09.013" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T07:39:09.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1177" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T14:34:48.550" Score="0" Body="A whippet is a medium-sized dog breed that originated from England." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T20:39:24.777" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T20:39:24.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1178" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T14:44:03.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of, or relating to, the ongoing oral health of pets including such topics as appropriate foods, dental options, brushing, signs of decay or gum disease, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T14:44:03.230" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T14:44:03.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1179" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T14:44:03.230" Score="0" Body="Of, or relating to, the ongoing oral health of pets." OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T14:44:03.230" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T14:44:03.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2013-11-03T15:29:25.907" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, yes. For male dogs there is a technique (now FDA approved) called &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogingtonpost.com/zeutering-now-fda-approved-chemical-castration-for-dogs/#.UnZqOPmkpcQ&quot;&gt;&quot;Zeutering&quot; or zinc neutering&lt;/a&gt; that uses chemical compounds to effectively neuter a male dog without surgical removal of the testes. As the article noted, the long-term effects are still being studied and the dog must be quite young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also look at Tardac, which is basically another form of chemical neutering for male dogs, but the effects only last about 3 months and then you have to do it again. Considering the expense, I would probably treat that as a short-term measure for a specific reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T15:29:25.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1181" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-03T15:51:10.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to the act of putting a pet &quot;to sleep&quot; (to death), likely due to old age and inability to function properly due to pain, wounds or other illness.  Typically performed by a veterinarian through chemical injection.  Consider the appropriate species tag and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/death&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;death&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;death&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T16:02:03.873" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T16:02:03.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1182" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-03T15:51:10.383" Score="0" Body="Refers to the act of putting a pet &quot;to sleep&quot; (to death), likely due to old age and inability to function properly." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T16:02:08.937" LastActivityDate="2013-11-03T16:02:08.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1188" CreationDate="2013-11-03T20:37:43.713" Score="13" ViewCount="2410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three dogs and I can say that they get along very well 99% of the time they are together (which is technically most of the time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes they start a fight out of the simplest thing that might tick them off one time and it might not tick them off the other, so I did a little research and concluded that the ideas that I was considering to be the problem were mostly it, the triggers for that reaction are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.familypet.com/what-could-cause-my-one-indoor-dog-to-lash-out-at-the-other-dog-theyve-always-been-friends/&quot;&gt;described here&lt;/a&gt; and they make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My question is:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How should I react to this?&lt;/strong&gt; I figure it's a bit normal that we as humans tend to tense up when your best friends all of the sudden lash-out at each other... My usual reaction was to yell at them to get their attention and carefully break it up withing being accidentally bit or what not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've never made themselves bleed or anything that rough, but I don't know if I should continue to yell and break it up or let them handle the dispute as long as it doesn't get too violent? ...And please don't take me wrong, I do not condone any sort of dog fighting or anything like that, but I'm realistic about the fact that they are still animals (as much as we love them) and I might be getting in the way of something that comes natural to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me specify that they do this 1% of the time so it's been probably 2, 3 occasions in a 2 to 3 year span, and as soon as I break them up I don't separate them into different rooms or anything like that, I just standby ready to see if they still feel aggressive against each other but it's usually the other way around, they'll be licking each other's scuffle wounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as a final note for what it's worth, they don't always lay down in the same place, we leave the doors open around the house so sometimes one is in another room; so I guess what I'm saying is that it's optional to them if they want to be together (they usually are).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="191" LastEditDate="2013-11-03T22:53:50.157" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T12:30:00.540" Title="How to react when a dog lashes-out at his dog friend?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2013-11-03T21:18:29.270" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;On humans the two surguries used are called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/dailyvet/2009/October/02#.Una5QRCErCs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vasectomy&lt;/a&gt; for males and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedogplace.org/Spay-Neuter/vasectomy_Turner.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tubal ligation&lt;/a&gt; for females.  These surgeries can and have been done on dogs, they are clearly effective in stopping pregnancy,  though there is some risk (in humans or dogs) of the tube reconnecting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubal_ligation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tubal ligation&lt;/a&gt; a female's Fallopian tubes are surgically altered so that the egg can not reach the uterus.  In &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasectomy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vasectomy&lt;/a&gt; a male's vasa deferentia are surgically altered to prevent the sperm from being ejaculated.  In both cases the products of reproduction (eggs &amp;amp; sperm) continue to be produced but are not allowed to complete the reproductive path, so they are adsorbed by the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These surgeries tend to be a bit more expensive, and are not available in all areas. &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/humanefix/friendly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some areas&lt;/a&gt; that have legal sterilization requirements (spay/neuter) do not recognize the surgical interruption methods. But these surgeries will only prevent conception, and are not 100% effective at that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in comments; this and any surgery that leaves a penis and/or vagina intact will not prevent &quot;mating behavior&quot; from occurring where there are two animals present. Physical separation without the possibility of interaction is the only possible method of stopping all &quot;mating behavior&quot;.  There multiple problems in actually making this work, both realistic and psychological. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T11:33:49.960" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T11:33:49.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1187" CreationDate="2013-11-04T03:10:07.530" Score="20" ViewCount="1146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 2 cats always used to make a mess, so we got &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002ZS20I&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this litter box&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/16FzP.png&quot; alt=&quot;reduced size image&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They still made some mess, but it was much smaller and we had a carpeted floor, so whatever spilled stuck next to the box and was easy to clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently moved and have all hardwood floors, which causes this mess to spread everywhere.  We've stuck this box under a desk, so the cats need to walk across the top whenever they climb out, but that doesn't seem to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we prevent our cats from getting litter everywhere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="326" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T14:41:23.957" LastActivityDate="2018-02-13T22:47:05.937" Title="Cats making a mess with litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-04T04:37:56.433" Score="10" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2-year-old Yorkshire Terrier really hates to be groomed, and with the amount of hair Yorkies have, this is not good.  To my knowledge, he hasn't had a bad past with groomers, unless it happened before we adopted him at 6 weeks.  When I try to comb him with a wide-tooth comb, he will bite the comb, squirm, and I am unable to finish combing him.  I am unable to obtain the supplies to groom him properly, so I take him to a groomer about once a month.  I would like him to behave for the groomers, but am unsure how to &quot;train&quot; him to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train my dog to behave during grooming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T18:13:25.130" LastActivityDate="2020-12-31T04:22:37.357" Title="How can I train my dog to behave for grooming?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2013-11-04T11:33:26.370" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get a drip pan for under a car at the auto parts store for about $10(US) it is about 24 inches by 36 inches.  Place towel over it to provide traction and absorption for the cat getting in and to catch anything trying to leave.  You may want to use a layer of anti-slip cabinet lining between the drip tray and the towel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place the litter box on the tray/towel combination to encourage the cat to take the longest trip on towel practical.  We use a similar solution for bunnies as seen in this picture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tL4J2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bunny litter box, with hay, water bowl, towel and tray under all&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note the pictured solution is for a rabbit.  Rabbits require hay 24/7 and they do not have a tendency to jump on tables. So the hay tied to the table legs would not be part of a cat solution&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T17:02:29.090" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T17:02:29.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1183" CreationDate="2013-11-04T12:30:00.540" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aggression in a dog is usually not a natural behavior but an attitude and frame of mind within the dog that they learn as a potential way to deal with a situation that they find highly uncomfortable.  When feeling uncomfortable with a situation a dog usually lets out a number of warning signs to let others know that they do not like the situation, such as averting gaze, growling, baring teeth, hair standing up, body tensing up.  When all else fails the dog may resort to a corrective nip or even a full out attack.  This is normal behavior for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abnormal behavior is if the dog is so used to his warning signals being ignored or so used to being in generally uncomfortable situations that the dog quickly goes from giving no warning at all to full on attack mode.  The dog learns that aggression is the only way to deal with what makes it uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A truly aggressive dog is not calm, is excited, their tail may even be wagging.  They look at who they are attacking or about to attack with an intense predatory gaze, they intend to kill or be killed.  When attacking or being held back from attack you may hear them whine or yelp and get increasingly high pitched.  Trying to physically hold them back may cause them to turn on you and attack you.  If your dog is in this state of mind ever then immediately try to remove the dog from the situation until it has calmed down.  Do not try to yell or provide corrective action to a dog in this state of mind, you will only foster and encourage the aggression.  Furthermore if your dog ever gets in this state around humans then you should absolutely never allow this dog to be around children without a muzzle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to determine if your dogs are truly trying to hurt each other or if they are just engaged in excited play.  Growling while rough housing is normal, but high pitched barks and yelps are usually a sign that they aren't playing anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They lick each others wounds when they have exited that state of mind because dogs ALWAYS live in the present.  What happened in the past doesn't really matter anymore, in the present they are hurt and they are a pack so they will tend to each others wounds and may take a nap together like nothing ever happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think because you have trouble pointing out a single cause for these outbursts, because they don't exhibit aggression towards humans and because these incidents are relatively rare that the best thing to do is immediately remove them from this situation when it occurs until they have calmed down. Do not yell and do not do anything that might get yourself hurt.  Try to pick up on aggressive cues before an outburst and correct the dog exhibiting aggressive warning signs before this happens.  Also correct the behavior of the other dog if you see it is doing something that is inadvertently antagonizing the other.  They will both learn to trust you more by doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T12:30:00.540" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2013-11-04T14:27:27.050" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use cat genies, and their specialized pellets track worse than anything I've ever seen. I once found a pellet on the floor in the restroom at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution we've found for catching litter is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00BETTA7K&quot;&gt;LitterTrap Mat&lt;/a&gt;, which we place at the entrance to the box (I guess you would put it on the ground wherever they jump into/out of the box).  We also have a small stick vacuum (about $30) that we use to vacuum the litter up pretty regularly (easy on hard floors). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're getting ready to make a more sightly version for our master bathroom out of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20165486/&quot;&gt;IKEA's Platta flooring&lt;/a&gt;. For more details (and pictures of the backside), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/07/spa-bath-mat-from-ikea-outdoor-decking.html&quot;&gt;IKEA Hackers has a overview&lt;/a&gt;, including pictures of the underside of the flooring. Since the wood is raised up from the floor, the litter can drop down to the floor to reduce being tracked further away. You'll still need to vacuum under the &quot;rug&quot; regularly though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T17:21:06.743" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T17:21:06.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1190" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-04T15:27:53.050" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T15:27:53.050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T15:27:53.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1191" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-04T15:27:53.050" Score="0" Body="Small schooling fish, tetra are one of the most popular groups of fish in the pet trade due to their peaceful nature, attractive appearances, and easy availability. Strictly speaking, tetra are characid fish from Central or South America, though the name is used for some of the closely-related lebiasinids and African alestids as well." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T16:13:38.000" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T16:13:38.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1104" CreationDate="2013-11-04T17:39:15.333" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since we're having to give the cats multiple baths (every 2-3 days), I'm trimming their claws on the &quot;off&quot; bath days to give them time to dull a bit (a recently trimmed claw can still be sharp-ish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a handheld shower head installed in my bathtub, so I just climb into the bathtub with the cat (fully clothed). I found it's easier to manuever everything when I'm on the same level as the cat and not leaning over the bathtub wall. The handheld shower head makes it easy to direct the water where I need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of the cats are easy to bathe, they just cry and stand there pitifully. The other two fight and claw to get away. When I'm bathing the fighters, I'll either hold them by their scruff (not because they go still, they don't; it's a place where I can grab a lot of skin to hold them securely), or wrap my hand around their chest/shoulders (usually just while I'm working on the scruff, as the scruff is much more secure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, my husband helps with the drying part. We use two towels to wrap them up and rub them down a bunch. Normally if there's a chill in the house I'll also blow dry them a bit (but with the current medicated shampoo I'm not allowed to do that, so we let the house get a bit warmer than usual after bathing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T17:39:15.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1149" CreationDate="2013-11-04T19:32:42.363" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've seen, there's not a lot of settled science about the inner lives of fish. It's not really obvious whether they even experience emotional states like boredom in a way we would recognize. Most of the research in this field of animal behavior focuses on larger vertebrates from what I can tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we talk about a bored pet, what we're basically talking about is whether the environment we provide offers enough stimulation to meet its behavioral needs. In other words, how do we recognize when we inadvertently cause stress by keeping an animal from interacting with its surroundings in the ways it's instinctively prepared for? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like many animals, unusual behavior is one of the most visible indicators of stress in fish. Changes in behavior from things like poor water quality or disease are usually easy enough to spot, but the stresses we're concerned with here tend to cause more chronic problems. Identifying these means knowing what's typical behavior for the species, and recognizing when an individual is acting out of character. That could mean aggression in a peaceful fish, a heightened fear and startle responses in a calm one, or constant hiding in a bold one, for example. If a fish is known to readily breed in healthy conditions, it probably won't when it's under significant stress. The trick of course is that all these things can be caused by more urgent physical problems, but if your water parameters are good and no obvious disease presents itself over time, the stress may be psychological.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, it's not too hard to identify the source of the problem. A fish acting aggressively might need to be in a larger school, or it might need more hiding spaces it knows it can retreat to. These kinds of needs are often collectively known about your animal; if you have something kind of new to the trade, you may need to look at what's known about similar species, or even better, its natural behavior in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally this sort of thing is known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_enrichment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;environmental enrichment&lt;/a&gt;, and my own opinion is that it will help minimize stress for most captive animals, aquatic or otherwise. Many aquarists provide some degree of this already. We keep community tanks, so there's plenty of inter- and intra-specific interaction. We keep plants and driftwood and other decorations that can be grazed on, hidden under, and claimed as territory. We (hopefully) provide enough physical space for the fish to be explore and be active within. All these things present our fish with regular &quot;natural&quot; events to initiate or respond to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more proactive things we can do as well. Food in general is one of the best approaches we have: if you can, present it in a way that mimics how the fish would encounter it in the wild, like chasing down food in the water column or foraging in the substrate. (Fortunately, this is a big part of the branding for many prepared foods.) Live food that needs to be hunted is great, but just having a varied diet is helpful. Species that have distinctive reproductive behaviors, such as parental care or elaborate courtship rituals, should be encouraged to breed if you can accommodate it. Basically, look at the kind of puzzles your fishes are specialized to solve -- like &quot;all my food lives in the sand&quot; or &quot;I need to defend my own little kingdom about 30cm in diameter&quot; -- and try to provide safe opportunities for them to solve those puzzles. I suspect this is what the cause of &quot;boredom&quot; in pets, and even humans, ultimately boils down to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the research I've found on this is mostly paywalled, and for the most part I can only get to abstracts. Here are some of the more interesting pieces:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2011.08.008&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The effects of mixed-species assemblage on the behaviour and welfare of fish held in home aquaria&lt;/a&gt; by Katherine A. Slomana, et al, &lt;em&gt;Applied Animal Behaviour Science&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.09.001&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fish welfare: Current issues in aquaculture&lt;/a&gt; by Paul J. Ashley, &lt;em&gt;Applied Animal Behaviour Science&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.05.041&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour?&lt;/a&gt; by G. Mason, R. Clubb, N. Latham, S. Vickery, &lt;em&gt;Applied Animal Behaviour Science&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_intelligence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This wiki article on fish intelligence&lt;/a&gt; has a lot of good information and references. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="16778" LastEditDate="2019-10-24T18:13:12.097" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T18:13:12.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-04T20:11:15.073" Score="13" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most purebred dogs are prone to breed-specific diseases, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=282&quot;&gt;hip dysplasia in Labrador Retrievers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_breed_dog&quot;&gt;Mixed-breed (mongrel)&lt;/a&gt; dogs are said to be less prone to genetic diseases than purebred dogs due to higher genetic diversity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this also hold true for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_crossbreeds&quot;&gt;crossbred dogs&lt;/a&gt;?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How likely are crossbred dogs (aka &quot;designer&quot; or &quot;hybrid&quot; dogs) to inherit breed-specific diseases of either or both parent breeds? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are crossbred dogs healthier in general, compared to their parents?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T20:19:36.650" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T20:19:36.650" Title="How vulnerable are crossbred (hybrid) dogs to genetic disease?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1195" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-04T20:48:04.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag is used for questions about pets resulting from mating 2 different breeds of the same species. This tag should be used along with the specific species tag (&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc.)  Questions should indicate parent breeds if necessary.  Synonyms include &quot;mix&quot;, &quot;mutt&quot;, &quot;mongrel&quot;, &quot;hybrid&quot;, and &quot;designer pet&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T14:43:31.033" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T14:43:31.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1196" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-04T20:48:04.977" Score="0" Body="Crossbred pets are the results from mating two different breeds (dachshund, husky) of the same species (dog).  Synonyms include &quot;mix&quot;, &quot;mutt&quot;, &quot;mongrel&quot;, &quot;hybrid&quot;, and &quot;designer pet&quot;." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T14:43:31.033" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T14:43:31.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1197" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-04T21:03:03.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should be used for questions about the process of pairing two opposite sex pets for reproduction. This tag can also be used for questions about how to prevent mating in pets along with the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/desexing&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;desexing&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;desexing&lt;/a&gt; tag. For better answer, use the pet tag e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc and include age, breed of the pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T21:27:02.747" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T21:27:02.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1198" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-04T21:03:03.303" Score="0" Body="Mating is the process of paring two opposite sex pets for reproduction." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T21:26:56.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T21:26:56.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1199" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-04T21:08:22.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should be used for questions about preserving the health of pets through practices like &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/bathing&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;bathing&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;bathing&lt;/a&gt;, etc. This tag should also be used along with the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt; tag since it concerns the health of pets. For better answers use the specific pet tag e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc. and include age, breed, sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T21:12:36.783" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T21:12:36.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1200" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-04T21:08:22.687" Score="0" Body="Hygiene is a set of practices performed for a pet to preserve their health and well-being." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T21:11:00.793" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T21:11:00.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1194" CreationDate="2013-11-04T21:29:01.333" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to interpret the genetics portion of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_crossbreeds#&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; you cited in plain English, and add what I know from college Biology class:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the parents you use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crossbreeding dogs (hybridization) is a tactic used by breeders to reduce the chance of inheriting a poor trait from a parent.  Before breeding, it is important to already know the chance of disease for the particular source breed, and knowing the disease / genetic history of the individual source parent.  Genetic testing of the parents prior to breeding may help disqualify parents for crossbreeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a bastardization of theory, inbreeding has traditionally shown to produce poor genetic results; while the introduction of additional genes through cross-breeding may introduce different traits to a line, based on the rules of evolution, the resulting crossbred dog most likely to survive will be the one with the best genes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T22:06:10.390" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T22:06:10.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-04T22:07:11.237" Score="4" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 7 female and 2 male chickens. The females are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghorn_%28chicken%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leghorn&lt;/a&gt;.  One male is Leghorn, but the other is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock_%28chicken%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plymouth Rock&lt;/a&gt;. The 2 males fight for everything: food, water, and mostly to mate the females. Despite multiple female choices, they still fight just to mate one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a normal dominance behavior? I think it is excessive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can I do to stop this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T23:00:19.590" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T00:17:22.493" Title="How much dominance is expected from two male chickens of different breeds?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1203" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-04T22:21:48.050" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-04T22:21:48.050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-04T22:21:48.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1204" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-04T22:21:48.050" Score="0" Body="The domesticated fowl known as a chicken. Chickens are omnivores and often scratch the soil to find seeds, insects, etc." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T22:05:51.050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T22:05:51.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1202" CreationDate="2013-11-05T00:17:22.493" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of variables including age and breed of rooster.  Ranges for cock to hen range from &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=YTkBu_R6jiYC&amp;amp;pg=PA174&amp;amp;dq=rooster+to+hen+ratio&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=eTN4UuWvFcmssATKroC4BQ&amp;amp;ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rooster%20to%20hen%20ratio&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;1 to 8&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=YTkBu_R6jiYC&amp;amp;pg=PA174&amp;amp;dq=rooster+to+hen+ratio&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=eTN4UuWvFcmssATKroC4BQ&amp;amp;ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rooster%20to%20hen%20ratio&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;1 to 20&lt;/a&gt;, these numbers are for successful fertilization. Having to many roosters to hens, can also cause harm to your hens as the roosters will try to make the same number of matings per day regardless of the number of hens, so each hen gets more then her required matting's.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one hen that is getting matted the most is probably the least dominate, and because the roosters feel the need to each mate about twice as many hens as you have she is getting overly abused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously there are several methods of changing the cock to hen ratio.  You will need to decide which is best for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roosters can be neutered, when altered they are called a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capon&quot;&gt;capon&lt;/a&gt;.  This is usually done at an early age and is primarily to increase the animals value as a meat product.  There are behavior modifications with this surgery as well.  I am not familiar with nor did I find reference to neutering at a mature age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With 7 hens unless you have a need for a rooster, one is really not needed.  From personal experience I have run flocks of 8 to 15 hens through the winter without a rooster. I find that usually one hen will take a more dominate (and noisy) role. If needed an unrelated rooster can easy be obtained in the spring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T00:17:22.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="698" CreationDate="2013-11-05T04:48:03.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a temporary solution: I had a small crack in my tank, and stuck some chewing gum on it until I was able to get a new tank a few weeks later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="331" LastEditorUserId="66" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T10:55:18.283" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T10:55:18.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1207" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-05T14:21:34.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Referring to pet food that is alive, including crickets, goldfish, mealworms, and other feeder fish and larvae. Sample questions may include the acquisition, storage, maintenance, and handling of these sorts of animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T14:46:25.050" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T14:46:25.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1208" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-05T14:21:34.930" Score="0" Body="Pet food that is alive, including crickets, goldfish, mealworms, and other feeder fish and larvae." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T22:33:17.780" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T22:33:17.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1209" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-05T14:29:19.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to weather conditions, including but not limited to storms, thunder, lightning, rain, hail, snow, sunlight, and clouds, which may affect a pet's behavior or environment.  This tag also refers to posts of simulated weather, such as those used on an &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;aquarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T14:46:33.600" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T14:46:33.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1210" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-05T14:29:19.300" Score="0" Body="Refers to weather conditions (incl. thunder, lightning, rain, snow, etc.) which may affect a pet's behavior or environment." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T14:46:37.473" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T14:46:37.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1326" CreationDate="2013-11-05T15:29:36.760" Score="11" ViewCount="11942" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lone goldfish, a comet, about 10 cm long from tip to tail. I want to buy a second fish  and am wondering about size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to introduce a much smaller goldfish, or maybe three smaller goldfish; so they are a little protected group and not an odd number,I don't want any of them to be left out. Or is it preferable to get a fish a similar size to my existing fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some expert advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without concern for pond size, what are the general guidelines for matching fish like this for size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a danger a smaller goldfish could be eaten by the larger goldfish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am wanting to know about matching goldfish (in this case comets), as opposed to what will or will not fit in my pond.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;The dimensions of my pots were brought up in the comments, but it is not answering my question about the compatibility of the fish with regard to size (in this case, comets).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been investigating fish ponds for the past 4 years. In the meantime, my neighbors gave me their goldfish. I am wanting to learn about the fish, prior to buying a large fish pond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T09:07:06.573" LastActivityDate="2019-11-14T14:26:23.263" Title="Choosing a second fish for a lone goldfish" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-05T15:44:37.303" Score="14" ViewCount="11811" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been several years since my ferrets passed on, but I was quite impressed with just how smart they were (well, really only one of my two... the other was sweet, but wasn't particularly bright).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My male surprised me several times with what appeared to be some fairly clever problem-solving.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, he was obsessed with getting into the trash can.  To do this, he started by reaching up, hooking his claws into the plastic liner (which he could just barely reach), and then putting his weight on it until the can tipped over (I caught him swinging back and forth while dangling from the liner to tip the can).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I solved this by raising the can up so it was too high for him to reach the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He responded by opening the bottom cabinet drawer next to the can, climbing in, then opening the one above, climbing into that one, and on until he reached the top (using them like stairs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much as I love my cats, I can't imagine them doing anything quite so involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know intelligence is an incredibly difficult thing to quantify, but have there been any credible studies on ferret intelligence, particularly in the area of problem solving capabilities?  How do they rank compared to other common pets?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-31T12:03:52.600" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T00:43:03.260" Title="How smart are ferrets?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2013-11-05T15:53:51.320" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When studying animal husbandry, we were taught that cats, in nature, generally fed on many small meals throughout a 24 hours period. An example being they may catch mice at different points throughout the day and night. They don't have the same circadian rhythms as human beings, or dogs, and, naturally, spend as much time active during the day and night. I mention this, as it is different to feeding dogs, that will usually thrive on one good meal a day and then sleep afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience and study, it is best to feed for cat &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; three smaller meals a day. If the cat does not have a weight problem, and feeding the cat frequently is an issue, that is where dry food comes in handy, as the cat can munch on this on and off throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;is there an ideal frequency for feeding a cat?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, 5-6 small meals a day is the ideal feeding regime. It's not that pets cats are being mistreated being fed less than this, the question is asking for ideals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly feeding a cat once a day, and not having dry food left out, is not a pleasant experience for the cat, as they get hungry and are prone to prowling. Any frequency under three times a day, it would be preferable to have dry food left out, but this does cause problems in households with multiple pets and obese pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T15:53:51.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1215" CreationDate="2013-11-05T16:03:15.700" Score="1" ViewCount="2775" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that rabbits are currently the third most popular pet in the United States, is this true?  Is popularity dependent on country (&lt;em&gt;and if so how is it measured&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know from experience that shelters in the Pittsburgh Pa (USA) area who take all kinds of pets get more bunnies then any other non Dog/Cat animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where &quot;Popular&quot; is defined by a studies criteria &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where Popular is number of animals owned in a non-commercial (household) count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:58:51.687" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T07:24:34.873" Title="Are rabbits really the third most popular pet?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1214" CreationDate="2013-11-05T16:24:14.490" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how reliably anyone could quantify this, as I know of no global pet survey, but it appears the answer to the question of whether rabbits are ranked #3 is: &lt;strong&gt;probably not&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the numbers vary from country to country, cats, dogs, and &lt;em&gt;freshwater fish&lt;/em&gt; tend to be more popular than rabbits (and fish seem a very unlikely candidate for a shelter, which may be why you missed them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_ten_most_popular_pets_in_the_US#slide5&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This slideshow&lt;/a&gt; (citing athe AVMA, who cited the 2007 U.S. Pet Ownership &amp;amp; Demographics Sourcebook) provides some raw statistics for the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Total Number of Owned Animals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;81,721,000 Cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;75,898,000 Fish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;72,114,000 Dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11,199,000 Birds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10,995,000 Livestock&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7,295,000 Horses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6,171,000 Rabbits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Number of Owner Households&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;43,021,000 Dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;37,460,000 Cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9,036,000 Fish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4,453,000 Birds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2,087,000 Horses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1,870,000 Rabbits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petquestions.com/12502/what-are-the-most-popular-pets-around-the-world/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This unsourced answer&lt;/a&gt; to a similar question lumps rabbits under &amp;quot;small animals&amp;quot;, but still places them fourth, behind cats, dogs, and fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pitchengine.com/noporkpies/the-uks-10-most-popular-pets&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2011 survey in the UK by the Pet Foods Manufacturer's Association&lt;/a&gt; placed rabbits at #4 in the UK, also behind fish, cats, and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T16:24:14.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1211" CreationDate="2013-11-05T17:06:42.950" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @John Cavan comments (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/do-goldfish-need-a-big-tank/&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; too), goldfish &lt;em&gt;in general&lt;/em&gt; need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fancy goldfish: 3 feet long and a volume of at least 20 gallons for one goldfish. If you plan to keep more than one goldfish in your tank then add an extra 10 gallons for each additional fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your pot pond has more or less 70 liters (18.5 gallons). Your pond has room for one goldfish, adding another one will more likely make them fight than become friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding smaller goldfish might not be the solution either, since they will grown and there'll not be room for them in the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When properly cared for, goldfish will not stop growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/goldfish-myths-debunked.htm&quot;&gt;this site: Goldfish myths debunked&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And will it be lonely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note that a goldfish will live happilly alone as well, so if your tank can't handle a second fish because of size constraints, it is better to keep just one in a healthy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.csh.rit.edu/~tonyl/goldfish/testarea/advcare.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.csh.rit.edu/~tonyl/goldfish/testarea/advcare.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T17:06:42.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2027" CreationDate="2013-11-05T17:10:11.270" Score="17" ViewCount="8849" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I grew up, I was taught that a goldfish will only grow to a certain point dependent upon the size of their container and how many fish are in the container; all the fish within the same container would be limited by this rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that the growth of a goldfish is limited by its container size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T19:23:32.863" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T19:23:32.863" Title="Is it true that goldfish growth is limited by container size?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2013-11-05T17:22:36.607" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's true-ish. Goldfish don't naturally stop growing, but if their environment is poor (which is usually the case in a smaller tank), they won't be healthy and that will stop/slow their growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is an element of truth to this, but it is not as innocent as it sounds and is related more to water quality than tank size. When properly cared for, goldfish will not stop growing. Most fishes are in fact what are known as indeterminate growers. This means that, unlike humans, they grow until they die. What really stunts a fish’s growth is poor water quality and improper care. In smaller aquariums or bowls, water quality is typically very poor. With little or no filtration and infrequent water changes, goldfish suffer. The stunting that results is not a good thing. Rather, it is a sign of ill health, and, frequently, stunted fish take on a deformed appearance and die at a young age. As already stated, some goldfish grow very large, so it is important to know what size your fish will attain before purchase and to make sure you can provide it with the proper care it requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/goldfish-myths-debunked.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Goldfish FAQ on Tropical Fish Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T17:22:36.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2013-11-05T17:26:00.370" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that this is a myth with a sort-of truth to it: Fish in undersized tanks are more likely to be stressed due to a lack of swimming space (if the species is an active swimmer), overcrowding, and poor water quality, which leads to health and feeding problems. So the growth may be stunted, but it's not something you can really consider as a healthy approach to housing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reference I found to support this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2109.2006.01561.x&quot;&gt;Effect of tank size on food intake and growth in individually held juvenile rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum)&lt;/a&gt;, by Tomi Ranta &amp;amp; Juhani Pirhonen in &lt;em&gt;Aquaculture Research&lt;/em&gt;. They note a surprising lack of research in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T17:34:12.303" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T17:34:12.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-05T17:53:52.883" Score="12" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=734&quot;&gt;clown plecos&lt;/a&gt;, and need to reshape the tank a little bit to give them more hiding places. They're still small (about two inches) and have only been in the tank about a week, but neither one has really claimed a permanent territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will they use the &quot;pleco caves&quot; that are available?  Once they've settled in and have more options to choose from, will they each pick a space and stick with it over time, or will they just grab the first convenient hiding place every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T00:32:52.973" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T14:31:21.580" Title="Do plecos keep their territory permanently?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;clown-plecos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1708" CreationDate="2013-11-05T19:44:41.900" Score="18" ViewCount="10353" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this seems extremely fun for my dog (just one out of my three dogs loves the water hose) and me, it can get a little bad when I don't want to play and I just want to wash my car or water my plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of months into my puppy's life we noticed that he would bite the water from the hose when we were using it, and while I did consider it was pretty funny at the time; I also noticed that he got a little fixated on biting the water and wanting to get wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pup is what appears to be a mix of Boxer, Pitbull with a hint of Shar Pei I suppose (he's got a very wrinkled face)... he's the smallest of the pack (7 months), he shares our house with two female dogs, they are all fixed. He's really the only hyperactive one (even at his age more so than my other two dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How could I teach him to not bite the water?&lt;/strong&gt; The problem is that if he doesn't bite the water he'll start to bite the hose as I drag it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to leave him inside the house, but he'll just whimper a bit and wish he was outside making a mess with the hose. I've tried to put him on a leash tied to a post while I do my stuff outside, but I get the same reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I wouldn't mind it if he knew when to stop or not do it unless I allow it.  I'm looking to see if someone has a training method or psychology I can use to try to correct this behavior; I've successfully trained him in many other things, but the hose is one of those things that just gets him going nuts out of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not my dog, but an example of what's going on:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KVJU9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A dachshund&amp;#39;s poor reaction to a hose&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T05:27:05.287" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T19:03:20.683" Title="How can I make my dog stop playing with the water hose?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="666" CreationDate="2013-11-05T21:52:26.313" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how eating random bugs will affect cats specifically, but generally poisonous bugs taste really foul -- the whole point of being poisonous is to train predators to not eat members of your species. Your cat has probably already learned to not eat any of those you might have in your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ants in particular are not typically &lt;em&gt;poisonous&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. containing a substance that's dangerous to consume), but many are &lt;em&gt;venomous&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. able to inject a dangerous substance by biting or stinging). Many venoms are not really dangerous to consume -- they get digested before reaching the bloodstream. There are plenty of ants that defend themselves with formic acid, for example, which is painful to be sprayed with and probably tastes awful, but is a fairly common food preservative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main concern with ants is actually the poison people use to control them. Ant poisons need to be slow-acting in order to have time to affect the entire population. (Worker ants typically forage for food, and when two sister ants meet they share the contents of their stomach, so food gradually &quot;averages out&quot; across the entire colony.) So if the ants from one colony are taking poisonous bait and your cat is eating the ants, it may be accumulating that poison too. To be clear, this is something I can imagine happening, but I don't know how much of a risk it really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-05T22:44:17.937" LastActivityDate="2013-11-05T22:44:17.937" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-05T23:33:10.873" Score="13" ViewCount="12047" Body="&lt;p&gt;My roommate's dog broke a toe recently. The vet splinted the toe with bandages to hold the splint in place. The dog's supposed to be splinted for a total of 6 weeks. The vet provided a cone for the dog to wear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since his paws/legs are streamlined in shape, the dog was able to pull the splint off. The next day, my roommate went to get it re-bandaged up to the elbow.  The dog pulled it off again.  The next bandage went up past the elbow, and next bandage after &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; went up all the way around his chest like a harness, to hold it on. (This has been expensive.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got home today, the dog, &lt;em&gt;still wearing a cone&lt;/em&gt;, somehow managed to slide his leg completely out of the bandaging, which was still whole and dangling from the chest wrapping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can be done short of sedating him to keep him from tearing his splint off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T09:20:28.987" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T04:34:09.710" Title="How can I prevent a dog from removing a splint/bandages?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1226" CreationDate="2013-11-05T23:59:00.357" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest using a sleeve over the bandage. The problem with this is finding the right balance between too loose, hence he can remove it and too tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt; port of call, the vet would most likely have a suitable sleeve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second&lt;/strong&gt; option, DIY sleeve. Using some firm and tubular fabric, like a sock. The sock is put over the bandage (like the dog is wearing a sock). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before doing so, attach long  ties to the tops of the sock, so these ties can be brought up around the dogs chest and back and tied, so the dog is unable to pull the sock off. Much like your principle of bringing the bandage up over the chest, but unravelable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to use a material that won't cut into the dog's fur, broader apron like strips or even use some of the excess bandages purchased to create a stretchy sling attachment to the sock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you need it someone able to thread a needle, as the presentation is not important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if this works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third&lt;/strong&gt; option, &lt;em&gt;which I am reluctant to recommend&lt;/em&gt; is, using a sticky backed elastoplast product (I am in Australia here) or adhesive bandaging and wrapping this around the crepe bandage, in a similar fashion to how you would use the crepe bandage. I would not suggest putting this against the dog's fur. If this is done sufficiently firmly, it will make it harder for the dog to remove. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only issue is that it is not too tight to restrict blood flow, as you don't want to damage the tissue in the dog's toes or leg. Wrapping an adhesive gauze around a led like this can easily restrict blood flow. To get the right balance between too loose (and the dog being able to remove it) and too tight is a tricky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;note.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;em&gt;I would not recommend a  compression type bandage, it will hold the bandage firmly in place, but may also compromise blood flow.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My homemade pictures of how it would look (&lt;em&gt;no dogs were injured in creating this image&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With the bandage&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZeNyP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sock over bandage&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wVJFi.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T05:27:09.507" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T05:27:09.507" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1214" CreationDate="2013-11-06T00:08:39.447" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This myth seems to originate from a &quot;Humane Society of the United States&quot; report that is often quoted but I am not currently able to find, that Rabbits are the third most &lt;strong&gt;ABANDONED&lt;/strong&gt; pet in the United States. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-2/winwin.html&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalit.ca/2010/11/rabbit-3rd-most-abandoned-pet-after.html&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petroglyphsnm.org/rabbits/plight.html&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Europe &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6166113.stm&quot;&gt;Rabbits are the most abused domestic pet in England and Wales, with 35,000 abandoned every year, says the RSPCA&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. This BBC article goes on to say that &quot;Rabbits are the third most popular pet after cats and dogs&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to some surveys 80% of Rabbits in shelters are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mybunny.org/misc/easter.htm&quot;&gt;abandoned Easter Bunnies&lt;/a&gt;. In fact there are entire books written about this i.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=dLWoTHbsmfoC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=inauthor%3a%22Gretta+Parker%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=RYR5UpCzOpPfsASl8YFg&amp;amp;ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;The Easter Bunny That Grew Up By Gretta Parker&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides being taken to shelters they are dropped abandoned in the wild where they &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hopperhome.com/feral_rabbit_colonies.htm&quot;&gt;suffer terrible fates&lt;/a&gt;, Parasites, attacks by wild rabbits, inability to bread with wild rabbits, and death from a number of avenues.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live rabbits may or may not be the 3rd most popular pet, but they are likely in the top 3 abused and abandoned pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T00:08:39.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-06T02:15:03.750" Score="4" ViewCount="1607" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grandfather used to breed dachshunds, needless to say we and many of our extended family owned dachshunds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to their long back and small frame and legs, they are prone to back problems; in particular herniated discs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my grandfather's dogs developed a back problem and couldn't use his hind legs. Surgery wasn't an option and the vet recommended putting him to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything owners can do to help their pet dachshund with this kind of problem, rather than putting the dog to sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T18:23:32.057" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T18:23:32.057" Title="What can owners do to help their dachshund's existing back problems?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1229" CreationDate="2013-11-06T02:15:03.750" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grandfather was a devoted dog owner and could not bear to have his dog put to sleep. He was retired, so had ample time throughout the day to tend to his pets. Initially his dog required some wheels at his rear quarter so he could walk around with his front legs without having to drag his body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday he would fill their bathtub with water. He would leave it filled for the day, and twice a day he would put his dog in the bath and support him and encourage him to swim. He never missed a session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water relieved the dog's back of the strain of his body weight, and the problem causing the disc compression (perhaps because his spine was stretched and not under any strain?). His back muscles and rear leg muscles were able to strengthen, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; waste due to lack of use which is especially important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually the dog was able to start moving his back legs and scrambling around. His back improved and the strength and use of his back legs kept improving and he no longer needed the aid of the wheels to support the weight of his rear quarter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, he was able to walk on all four legs. He always wobbled. Never able to totally recover, but enjoyed a happy and long life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In dogs who have suffered motor losses, physiotherapy is extremely useful to speed their recovery to more normal function. &lt;strong&gt;Swimming&lt;/strong&gt; is the best exercise because it allows the limbs to move freely in the water without having to bear weight. It also provides a bath to clean the dog and prevent skin infections. The lukewarm water also serves to increase circulation in the limbs and massage the muscles. Most chondrodystrophic dogs will fit nicely into a bath tub filled with just enough water to allow the dog to float with its toes off the bottom. Care should be taken not to leave a dog unattended to avoid drowning. Swimming exercises may be begun 4 to 5 days post-operatively. The surgical incision may be &quot;waterproofed&quot; with a thin film of Vaseline. The dog should be exercised until tired and then removed and thoroughly dried. Each day the sessions will lengthen as the dog's endurance builds up. Swimming once daily is good but twice daily is even better. This will vary with the time available to the owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dachshund-dca.org/discbook.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canine Intervertebral Disk Disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The Dachshund Club of America, Inc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;by Patricia J. Luttgen, DVM, MS&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Diplomate, American College of&#xA;Veterinary Internal Medicine,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Specialty of Neurology&#xA;Denver, Colorado&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T04:26:44.940" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T04:26:44.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1233" CreationDate="2013-11-06T02:28:45.537" Score="19" ViewCount="19040" Body="&lt;p&gt;My seven month-old puppy eats way too fast, he doesn't choke or anything like that, but I feel that he's not enjoying and obviously not even chewing his food, he can go through his plate (one cup four times a day for a total of 4 cups) of Alpo dog food in 10 seconds or less (haven't really timed it, but it's way too fast.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's fed strictly at the same time every day four times a day and he'll do that fast eating routine 99% of the time like there's no tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While looking for tips on this I stumbled upon a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-a-Dog-from-Eating-Too-Fast&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WikiHow on a couple of tips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; such as turning over the plate, giving him food in multiple plates, doggy toy so he works more to get the food out of it, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a proven approach to help a dog eat slower?&lt;/strong&gt; While I do understand that he's a puppy and most puppies do this, I have a 3 year old dog who eats at a super normal rate, a 2 year old that eats a bit fast and this guy who is seven months and eats like he's getting a price if he finishes faster than everyone; so I'm looking for an answer with someone that's tried something with success with a specific approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will usually wait for the other dogs to finish their plate and go see if there was some left over (there isn't any leftover 100% of the time but he doesn't mind checking always).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that even my 2 year old dog should eat slower if possible, and the reason I mention this is because even if the answer might be &quot;wait it out&quot; I'd still like to know how to help my 2 year old female dog with the similar issue but at a bit slower rate than my seven month dog in question here as I'm assuming the technique will work in both scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="191" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T20:47:17.797" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T00:25:20.197" Title="How can I get my dog to slow down when eating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1231" CreationDate="2013-11-06T03:59:14.453" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite normal for some dogs to scoff their food without chewing. If he is not gagging then it's a good indicator it's ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is hungry and growing. The presence of other dogs would also be an incentive to make him scoff his food more quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to get a dog to eat more and more quickly is to feed the dog in the presence of another dog. So the reverse can also work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your puppy, is most likely, being fed more frequently than your older dogs. I would suggest putting him in a place away from the other dogs when feeding him. Either feed him in the kitchen where you are, with the other dogs locked outside. Or the other way around. Preferably where he cannot see the other dogs while he is eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to provide some suitably sized raw meaty bones. This will help keep him occupied and alleviate his need to scoff, as he will have the sensation of chewing and tasting for a prolonged period. The issue with this is, he may need to be separated from the other dogs, as many fights can break out with unsupervised bones. Or you can feed your other dogs larger bones, but it can still become a territorial battle and I suggest supervising this and collecting unfinished bones from the garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you can do is feed him more frequently (though four feeds is ideal) and/or increase his food. His weight gain may be looking healthy, but he may genuinely be hungry and require more food. It's important to incrementally increase a puppy's total daily food allowance as he grows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase the amount of frequency of feeding, you can create a couple of treat meal times, where the food is not presented in the same way as his usual pattern. Give him something with high protein and fat, like a fatty bony off-cut of meat. That is a suitable size that he can crunch it all up and eat it all. Brisket bones can be really good for this. While recommending some fatty treats for a rapidly growing puppy, it is not something I'd routinely recommend for an adult dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T05:11:19.057" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T05:11:19.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1231" CreationDate="2013-11-06T05:20:54.557" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elaborating on my answer from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/380/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-eating-too-fast-and-throwing-up&quot;&gt;How can I stop my cat from eating too fast and throwing up?&lt;/a&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a dog who ate fast (the way he was raised and Cushing's Disease). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to prevent easy access to his food bowl / trough.  Obstacles help to slow down eating (and encourage critical thinking!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stuffed his food in a Kong, wet it a little and froze it.  Gave it to him mildly thawed and he had to chew his way through it.  Stuffing a Kong (and cleaning it without a good bottle brush) was a pain in the ass to do &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; day, so this was occasional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative was to hand-feed him.  My dog was so food-oriented, he could catch any nugget thrown at his face (he was a dachshund too, which was extra interesting to see).  I'd take his serving of dry food and toss it at him, one nugget at a time.  Exercise, skill training and eating all in one.  This doesn't work as well with wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With wet food and for times when I had no patience, I tried a different tactic with some success.  I took a round food bowl, put the food in, then placed a heavy round object in the middle of the bowl.  The object I used was a very heavy shotput, which was round enough for the dog to push around, heavy enough that it couldn't be pushed out of the bowl, not immobile enough to trap his tongue, and sized so the dog had actual access to some of the food, but not all of the food, at any given time. This obstruction created a physical barrier to speed-eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T15:27:54.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-06T14:04:24.840" Score="12" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have moved and need to accommodate our welsh collie's toilet and outside needs. At the moment we need to take him up and down some steps at both the front and rear of the house. He is 19 years old, largely blind, and arthritic in hind legs and spine, so he needs some help to manage this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is used to a dog flap, but the house we are in now is quite high off the ground at the rear, where we would wish to put the dog flap. My partner is not very handy, and although we talked about constructing a ramp, I think my dog will have passed away before that happens.  We agreed we will need a ramp with sides so he will not fall off due to his blindness.  Right now when we walk him down the steps to give him the confidence to get down (although we sometimes carry him, 23kg), he feels the edge of the steps with his front paw to know where to step.  He is old, but still smart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone tried 'stacking' 2 commercially available dog ramps end to end to make a long ramp?  Some appear to be suitable, if we just made a 'bridge' platform to secure them on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can some ramps be secured?  I have looked at both the Solvit Ultralite Bi Fold Dog Ramp (seems short) and Easipet Dog Ramp - both have sides.  I could really use some advice if anyone has tried this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="339" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:54:39.827" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:54:39.827" Title="Need strategy to add an exterior ramp for my geriatric welsh collie" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;&lt;welsh-collie&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1234" CreationDate="2013-11-06T14:30:09.840" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't had to do this with a dog, but I did have to do something similar for a 21 year old cat to get up to our bed. We staged it out with a ramp, a level surface, and a second ramp and it worked well for her. She could see, so sides weren't a consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the way I see it, there's two things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The angle of the ramp. This is really going to be affected by the stairs here, so measure that angle, but ideally you'd want to be 30 degrees or less (I would suggest 25 degrees such an old fellow would be better, but maybe not doable). Your height is 135 cm and so the math says your ramp length should be at least 270 cm for a 30 degree angle. If you can do the smaller angle and go longer, even better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can you tie the ramps together some way? The underside of the Easipet Dog Ramps are ridged out and so with some drills and supporting wood, you should be able to very tightly couple one end to another. That, at least, seems feasible given the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think you would find such a ramp really, really, easy to build if they pre-cut the planks. Might be worth checking into, a few minutes with a hammer and some deck ties may save you a lot of money and be more flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T14:30:09.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1237" CreationDate="2013-11-06T14:58:00.207" Score="16" ViewCount="3344" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading about things to know when acquiring a ferret, I came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/part2.html#cats_dogs&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; that says that ferrets do not get along with other pets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most ferrets don't get along with birds, fish, rabbits, rodents, lizards, and the like, though there are some exceptions. For a dog or cat, patience is the most important part of the introduction. Give the new animal a chance to get used to you and your home before introducing it to the other pets one at a time, very slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it true that ferrets don't get along with other pets?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is true:&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How will bringing in a new pet affect them?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What steps can I take to help them get along with new pets?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-19T04:04:55.830" LastActivityDate="2018-09-16T12:51:14.543" Title="Do ferrets get along with other pets?" Tags="&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1236" CreationDate="2013-11-06T15:19:37.490" Score="11" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it true that ferrets don't get along with other pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is a qualified &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had two ferrets. The oldest was always, &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; happy to make new friends, regardless of the species.  He was very excited to play with any new dog or cat he met, and would do the ferret &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkrwL0jVvDc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;bounce&quot;&lt;/a&gt; that typically indicates play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other ferret was more curious than playful when it came to other species, but I wouldn't say she didn't get along with the other animals.  It was more that she was simply disinterested in them as play companions (she was very attached to any other ferret she met, though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However... every cat that saw my ferrets immediately freaked out.  The moment they caught scent of the ferrets, they were immediately on the alert, and when they saw my ferrets, the responses were invariably flight, or hunting/stalking/aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend's golden retriever was fascinated with the ferrets, and would gently poke at them with his paws, while my one ferret bounced back and forth in play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the ferrets and the other pets get along is largely a factor of the temperament of each individual animal, as well as the circumstance in which they met. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do know some people who have had both cats and ferrets living in peace together in a household, so they are certainly capable of learning to like each other.  I would suggest that the same steps for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/790/57&quot;&gt;introducing new cats to each other&lt;/a&gt; be used for introducing ferrets to cats.  Go very slow, and take a bit more time with each step than you would with two cats.  Be aware, also, that ferret play typically consists of behavior that most cats will initially confuse with aggression: lunging with an open mouth, nipping, and attempting to leap onto the playmate's back for a nip at the scruff of the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one is particularly problematic, as ferrets have rather sharp teeth, but very thick, loose skin, so a ferret can grab another ferret by the scruff quite hard without causing serious discomfort, but a cat will most certainly &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also be &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; cautious about introducing a ferret to other species of common pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other &quot;pocket pets&quot; such as mice, hamsters, gerbils, etc., birds, or reptiles may actually trigger hunting instincts in a ferret, and the resulting interaction may result in serious injury or even death for the smaller creatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, kittens or puppies would be at risk from a ferret that doesn't know how delicate they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T15:19:37.490" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1236" CreationDate="2013-11-06T15:23:18.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you probably noticed ferrets are extremely social creatures. If you have ever neglected them and didn't give them attention due to being sick or such you would have noticed that they get angry at you for not giving them enough attention. And when they are angry they might even start biting you(it hurts a lot). Yes they are awake only for 8 hours at most throughout the day, but during those 8 hours they want your undivided attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you get another pet and give that pet even an ounce of attention while ferret is awake then they will start to hate the other pet and go after it. If you have a child that can play with ferrets during the time they are awake and then spend rest of the time playing with other pet, then ferrets will have no problem. Or if you are a working person and you give ferret attention whenever you are home and they are awake, then again they will get along with another pet. But the very second they notice that they have to compete for your attention then a war will break out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try getting a cat, since cats are not high attention requiring pets, and most of the time they are by themselves, then ferrets will notice that the cat is not trying to get your attention and will not try attacking the cat. Just remember ferrets love to socialize with you as much as possible, and your attention is the most precious thing to them (except if you have female ferret, then they will also love stuffed toys). So as long as they are socializing with you they will be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T15:23:18.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1234" CreationDate="2013-11-06T15:38:53.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;SOLVIT vs EASIPET&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having looked at images for both the Solvit and Easipet, I can tentatively conclude that they are the same product sold through different distributors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;STEPS ALTERNATIVE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was building &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/256/what-is-the-best-angle-for-a-dog-ramp&quot;&gt;my own ramp for my dachshunds&lt;/a&gt;, who are prone to back problems, so I understand your concern / need for a ramp.  Rather than a ramp, which you state will overlay existing stairs, &lt;strong&gt;have you considered doubling up on the steps that you have&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Create a mid-step between each preexisting step by securing either rectangular bricks or a heavy, long, wooden block in the nook of each step.  This creates more, smaller, dog-sized steps, simulating what a ramp might get you.  Granted, depending how deep your steps are, this may increase the steepness of the incline, but an overlaid ramp would do so as well without angling it properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T21:08:28.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1247" CreationDate="2013-11-06T16:22:52.283" Score="12" ViewCount="1223" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are thinking about adopting a pet rabbit.  We would love to have one in our home for Easter and I do not think that they would be much work or require much time the rest of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I do not want to rush into this.  So what should I know about the care of a pet rabbit before I make a decision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T09:30:05.850" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:03:20.830" Title="What should I know before I decide to adopt a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1244" CreationDate="2013-11-06T16:30:30.207" Score="8" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hamsterific.com/faq.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hamsterific hamster FAQ&lt;/a&gt;, I read about never giving hamsters a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's a naughty word in the hamster world; hamsters don't like water sports. Nature has provided hamsters with a natural oil to maintain the condition of their fur. That's why they spend so much time grooming. Although they can swim, water baths are not recommended. &lt;strong&gt;If a wet hamster becomes cold, it can lead to flu and possibly death.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last line really puzzled me. It inferred that wetting a hamster could lead to its death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it true that wetting a hamster could be fatal for it? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, how effective is their skin oil at keeping their skin clean and comfortable?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I bathe my hamster?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T17:54:16.457" LastActivityDate="2017-08-05T01:06:31.147" Title="Should I bathe my hamster?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1242" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-06T16:34:46.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to household furnishings including, but not limited to: tables, chairs, curtains, beds, couches, rugs, etc.  Questions will generally refer to how to get a pet &quot;off&quot; of said furniture, but other valid questions could include building furniture for use by a pet, home layout, pet-appropriateness, and proper placement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T16:38:59.733" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T16:38:59.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1243" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-06T16:34:46.307" Score="0" Body="Household furnishings, generally those you want a pet to go &quot;down&quot; from: tables, chairs, curtains, beds, couches, ramps, rugs, etc." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T16:39:05.920" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T16:39:05.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1241" CreationDate="2013-11-06T16:40:10.187" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamsters are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Hamster&quot;&gt;desert animals&lt;/a&gt; and are built to live in an environment with a lot less moisture in it. That leads to a couple of considerations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They need to be warm. Despite the fur, they're not a cold temperature animal and so are vulnerable to cold.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They're not naturally water creatures, given desert origins, and so one wouldn't expect to bathe in water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wet fur can lower body temperature, especially as it evaporates, so getting them wet could lead to sufficient chill to cause illness because they need warmth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My hamster, Jack, was very clean and his fur was always soft. I never had a concern that he needed to be bathed or was &quot;dirty&quot; as a result of his efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T16:40:10.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1212" CreationDate="2013-11-06T17:27:42.893" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have observed that male ferrets are much more intelligent when it comes to getting somewhere, and female when it comes to hiding something. Due to that I have observed male ferrets do insane acts of acrobatics, but have never seen female ferret do anything like that. However I suspect that female ferret was the better acrobat out of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never managed to successfully contain the male ferret to any single room, due to his body being able to squeeze literally through anything. He has learned to open doors, open locks on windows, and flip the light switch(always to off, never on :( which made tripping over them and objects thrown around always easy). Most of that was done by finding random objects, dragging them to the place of interest and tower building. Even if I didn't see the male ferret do a certain act sometimes, the objects being thrown around did tell a story about what happened and what was the goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However female ferret was guilty of stashing things she liked in dark areas. I have never observed how the climbing was done, nor have I seen any objects thrown around that would indicate that someone was climbing, but I have found her favorite stuffed toys in places where the male ferret would never be capable of reaching, and there was absolutely no evidence of the climbing being done. The biggest mystery was how she managed to climb all the way to the uppermost cupboard in the kitchen. The surface was mainly marble and everything else was smooth, yet somehow the toys did end up there beside the sugar and other things somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think ferrets do make excellent intelligent ninjas as long as they are interested in what they are doing. They have all the cunning and skills of a true ninja.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T17:27:42.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1240" CreationDate="2013-11-06T18:49:50.677" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Rabbits can live for 10 or more years&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A well-cared-for domestic rabbit &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petrabbitinfo.com/howlongdorabbitslive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;should live for 7-10 years but more is possible&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild, rabbits rarely live for more than 2 years. This has lead to a common belief that rabbits in general only live for a few years.  In the wild, rabbits deal with predators, disease, starvation and extreme temperature changes.  Domestic rabbits do not have these same pressures.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when adopting a new rabbit you should be prepared for the commitment that comes with having an animal that lives for that long.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Baby rabbits grow up (and teenage rabbits are moody)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All baby bunnies are cute.  It is very easy to get attached to a baby bunny in a store.  That rabbit is probably going to double in size over then next few weeks.  Most rabbits sold in pet stores are between 5 and 8 weeks old.  These guys are just starting to grow, are very timid because they have recently been weaned, and still in that playful exploration phase.  This combines to give them that &quot;Oh look how adorable it is&quot; look.  The pet store owners know this and that is the reason that they sell baby rabbits but not adult rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, that baby bunny is going to grow up.  In a few weeks the rabbit will lose that timidness, and enter adolescence.  I think this is the reason that most rabbits are surrendered between the ages of 6 and 9 months.  During this period I have observed rabbits exhibiting behavior that is very similar to that of humans in adolescence.  They exhibit moody, fussy, aggressive, and otherwise obnoxious behaviors.  This can be difficult to deal with.  Around the time the rabbit hits a year old they usually calm down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are not ready to deal with the growing pains, consider adopting an adult rabbit.  You can probably find one in a local shelter; if not, you can find a local breeder.  Chances are they have an older bunny that is no longer being shown that could use a great pet home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rabbits are fragile&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, they need a very consistent diet of hay and pellets.  If you change the food regularly or feed them the wrong things it can be fatal. You will want to research and make sure you can supply your rabbit with enough of the right food and hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have thin bones and their backs and necks are easy to snap.  I have actually seen a rabbit break its own back when it was thumping with its foot.  Some dogs have the hunting instinct, and will pick up a rabbit or other small animal and shake it.  If you have this type of dog then you do not want it interacting with your rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not just the rabbits bones that are fragile; their digestive system is as well.  If your rabbit eats the wrong thing or does not get enough of the things it needs then it can go into GI Stasis.  When this happens, the rabbit seems calm and likely exhibits no outward signs other than it not leaving droppings.  It is very easy to miss and after a few days it is unlikely that the rabbit will be able to recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other diseases and medical issues that can occur with little-to-no outward signs until it is too late.  Many (if not a majority of) vets do not have much experience with rabbits.  It is important that you find a vet that does have experience.  If your vet says he thinks your rabbit has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pasteurella&lt;/a&gt; then unless your rabbit was recently bitten by a meat eating animal, you should find a new vet.  Unless your rabbit was bitten your rabbit does not have Pasteurella.  Even if it was, infections of Pasteurella (while usually fatal) are rare.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rabbits chew all their life&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit's teeth grow fast and continue to grow their whole life. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lbah.com/word/rabbit-teeth-problems/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;They need to be able to chew or their teeth will get too long and they will not be able to use them to eat.&lt;/a&gt;  Once a rabbit has teeth problems it has been my experience that they will need to be treated fairly regularly through out their life.  So it is important that you provide it with proper things to chew.  And if you plan to let your rabbit run around the house, realize they like to chew on stuff, and that cords and other hanging objects are tempting targets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rabbits need some attention&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit should not be left to fend for itself or left alone in its cage all the time.  Make sure it has plenty of toys and things to chew on.  They need to be cared for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to regularly check on your rabbit to make sure that your rabbit does not have unusual pee or poo.  These are usually the first signs of medical problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should feed and water your rabbit the right amount of food.  Feeding your rabbit just enough food for one day allows you to make sure your rabbit is eating and prevent obesity.  The most common first sign of a problem with a rabbit is that it will stop eating and drinking.  You should consult an expert immediately.  If you catch it in the first day or so your chances of saving the rabbit are increased dramatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want your rabbit to be calm and sociable when you have friends over you should make sure it is socialized regularly.  If a rabbit is not socialized for a while it will revert to behavior that seems anti social.  This can include nipping, scratching, and peeing on you or your guests.  You have to train your rabbit to be social and you must continually reinforce this training.  This also is the process of the rabbit training you to be attuned to the rabbit's signs.  You need to learn when your rabbit is unhappy or needs to go back to its cage or litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Behavior that seems cute in the store can often become obnoxious at home&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baby rabbits are cute, and when it is nibbling on your finger with teeth that cant really break skin yet its no big deal.  In a week those teeth will break skin and it will hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is funny to watch the bunny run around the pen like a crazy bun.  It is obnoxious when the rabbit does that in its cage all night long while you try and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is cute when that bunny lifts and sprays your friend or spouse at the pet store.  When it does that on your carpet every time it gets out it stops being funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many rabbits have habits already learned when they get to the pet store. Those habits may be difficult or impossible to break. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T09:29:44.863" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T09:29:44.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1248" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-06T20:34:23.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Welsh Collie is a herding dog breed, developed to herd livestock. The breed is known to be energetic and intelligent.  &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/welsh-collie&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;welsh-collie&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;welsh-collie&lt;/a&gt; can be used for questions about the breed and should be used in conjunction with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;.  To expedite answers to questions, indicate the dog's age and gender, and other factors including training, known health issues, and whether there are other animals involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:05:13.660" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:05:13.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1249" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-06T20:34:23.073" Score="0" Body="Welsh collie also known as welsh border collie is a herding dog breed mainly for herding livestock." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T21:13:47.480" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T21:13:47.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1250" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-06T21:07:08.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adoption is permanently assuming responsibility for a pet from the original owner(s). Adoption is different from guardianship as the latter is only for a temporary period. This tag should be used along with the pet tag e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-06T21:13:36.667" LastActivityDate="2013-11-06T21:13:36.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1251" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-06T21:07:08.793" Score="0" Body="The act of permanently assuming responsibility for a pet from the original owner(s)." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T21:00:34.557" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T21:00:34.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="925" CreationDate="2013-11-06T21:33:06.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop, go to a veterinarian. They will prescribe a medicine like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.revolution.com.au/#/tab/revolution-for-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Revolution for cats&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not attempt&lt;/strong&gt; to pick up flea control off-the-shelf at a local store; you will kill your rabbit. There are only 3-4 specific brands that do not harm rabbits and the dosage is crucial. Only a veterinarian trained for &quot;exotic&quot; animals such as rabbits can give you the proper dosage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T22:32:53.387" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:32:53.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T00:23:53.637" Score="8" ViewCount="8275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I'm doing everything right with my puppy who is now a five month old Frengle (French Bulldog\Beagle mix), but he won't stop nipping and trying to attack me! Oddly enough, he leaves my wife alone or is cuddly with her, but with me he thinks it is always play time.  Granted, I probably play with him more, but I scold him loudly and firmly when he nips me. I'm not sure that it's a dominance issue, but he continues doing it even after I scold him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions how I can stop this behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user347" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:06:49.670" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T05:23:42.000" Title="Why is my puppy nipping at me, but not my wife?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1254" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1258" CreationDate="2013-11-07T03:23:22.600" Score="20" ViewCount="673" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I adopted my current cats last year, the folks at the shelter asked me if I would consider adopting some of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_immunodeficiency_virus&quot;&gt;Feline Immunodeficieny Virus (FIV)&lt;/a&gt;-positive cats since I did not have any other cats at the time.  The adoption counselor and I briefly discussed what this would entail, but since I had just come off of 6+ years of treating complicated diseases of elder cats, I wasn't ready for that challenge at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the counselor, the brochure she gave me, and the time I spent with Google didn't give me a very thorough understanding of the issues.  So, because this question could come up again in the future, I'd like to know what the practical issues are in caring for an FIV-positive cat.  Is day-to-day life pretty much the same as for other cats until the cat gets older?  If not, what's different?  (Diet, medicines, more-frequent vet visits?)  Once the disease starts producing effects on the cat's health, what does an owner need to do to keep the cat comfortable and as healthy as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that every cat is different; as much as possible I'm looking for what is &lt;em&gt;typical&lt;/em&gt; and how much variation there is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T12:51:19.310" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T14:14:14.140" Title="What do I need to know before adopting an FIV-positive cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-07T05:58:24.290" Score="10" ViewCount="16060" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 year old boxer mix seems to have  a problem when we ask her to jump on our bed. She used to do it with no problem at all, but about three months ago she jumped on our bed, stepped over us, got scared and fell off the bed. Now you can see that she really wants to jump up, but she just doesn't, eventually she lays by the side of the bed or she goes to her own bed, even when we show her that there is free space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she scared or do you think she could have some kind of injury? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we make her feel that it is ok to jump on our bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:54:20.797" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:54:20.797" Title="My dog seems to be scared of jumping up on our bed" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1255" CreationDate="2013-11-07T07:37:56.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is she scared or do you think she could have some kind of injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could be either or a combination of both.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Firstly&lt;/strong&gt;, exclude any injury. If she is in pain, that may prevent her from jumping on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could she have some kind of injury?&lt;/strong&gt; If she is showing no signs of injury, it would be unlikely she had any serious injury. Limping, flinching or  yelping when a part of her body is touched. She may have had some superficial bruising from the fall, it most likely would have hurt, as it would hurt a person, but if there is no real symptoms, it is less likely that there is serious injury. You can always have her checked by your vet, if you have doubts, as you are her owner and may be detecting something that is not so obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secondly  she needs time,&lt;/strong&gt; to overcome any possible injury and her fear. Give her a few weeks to let her natural overcome her anxiety, as pushing her may cause her anxiety to worsen. In the meantime, give her plenty of reassurance, verbal praise and petting when she is with you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a few weeks and not at bedtime as you'll need time and patience, it might be a good idea to lift her onto the center of the bed,  so she feels safer than being on the edge and in danger of falling off. Leave one side of the bed clear, so she can see her way clear if she's feel panicked and needs to jump off. Give her plenty of petting and verbal reassurance. Then you can stand up and encourage her gently to follow you off the bed, so she can have the experience of being on the bed as pleasant and jumping off without misadventure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;See how she responds. If she is, obviously, shaky and nervous, don't push her, just give her more time before trying again. It's important to give her vigorous verbal praise and patting whenever she jumps on or off without flight. A bit like being so happy to see a long lost friend.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gradually over time, as you repeat this process, you'll find she comes to enjoy her experiences of jumping on and off the bed again and her time cuddling with her owners. Dogs are fairly predictable creatures, and within a trusting relationship with owners, most little fears like this can be overcome by plenty of positive reinforcement and no pressure. Dogs respond well to reassurance from owners. It's like telling her: &quot;It's ok, we understand, and aren't you so clever for being so brave&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T11:02:57.117" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T11:02:57.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1261" CreationDate="2013-11-07T12:49:52.237" Score="7" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend wants to adopt a dog with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docking_%28dog%29&quot;&gt;docked tail&lt;/a&gt; and is wondering whether his docked tail will affect his behavior or health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any health or behavioral issues that should be noted before adopting docked dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T22:52:54.817" Title="Are there any behavioral or health issues related to docked dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;docking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1254" CreationDate="2013-11-07T12:53:14.967" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the caveat that I don't have a huge amount of experience in this area:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you can lose them very quickly: it seems to be almost random when they enter the end-stage of the disease. I've seen FIV-positive cats go from apparently healthy to dying within a week or two.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they're much more susceptible to any other infections that might be around (obviously!), so you'd want to be more vigilant about keeping them inside, making sure their food and water is fresh, keeping the litter box clean, and keeping your home clean. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll also want to take more care about keeping them away from&#xA;non-FIV-positive cats: while it's possible for fixed FIV-positive&#xA;cats to live in the same household as fixed non-FIV-positive cats,&#xA;the risk of the disease getting passed on isn't negligible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One that I've heard about but never experienced - if the FIV-positive cat is female, do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; allow her to foster kittens. Females (I've heard that this is true of spayed females, although I don't recall the reference offhand) can actually produce milk for foster kittens and pass on the disease this way. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T12:53:14.967" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1259" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-07T13:07:58.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually refers to docking or removal of an animal's tail. This involves amputation of the tail at varying joints, and is usually done for cosmetic reasons. It is illegal in many places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tail docking can lead to incontinence, as when the tail is docked close to the body, some of the sphincter muscles used for defecation can also be severed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tail docking can also lead to problems with animal's communicating with body language, as the tail, as with other parts of the body are important in conveying aggression, submission, fear and contentment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be used in conjunction with other tags relevant to the question  e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T13:21:22.803" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T13:21:22.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1260" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-07T13:07:58.977" Score="0" Body="Referring to the practice of removing (docking) the animals tail, usually for cosmetic reasons. Tail docking for cosmetic purposes is considered illegal in several countries." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T16:19:39.210" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T16:19:39.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1257" CreationDate="2013-11-07T13:30:59.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes there are problems related to tail docking dogs, as is shown in the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/docking&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;docking&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;docking&lt;/a&gt; wiki.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I studied animal husbandry and anatomy of the dog, whilst studying Veterinary Science, we were taught the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where the tail is docked, usually the tail is docked reasonably close to the body.  Part of the dog's sphincter muscles that are used to assist in defecation are located at the base of the tail. Tail docking can sever these muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Severing these muscles has been found to lead to fecal incontinence in some dogs. It can also make relieving blocked &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/549/how-can-i-prevent-my-dogs-from-scooting&quot;&gt;anal glands&lt;/a&gt; more difficult, as it is harder to pull the stub of the tail up when trying to express the glands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behavior&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a socialization front, tail docking removes part of a dog's key means of communication. More dominant or aggressive dogs will have upright tails, a submissive or frightened dog will have a lower tail or tail between the legs. For more aggressive breeds, such as dobermans and rottweilers, there has been a problem with other dog's perceiving them to be friendlier than they actually are, as the absence of a tail, can make the dog appear to be less dominant. Such a dog would, usually approach other dogs with an erect tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This misinterpretation of body language can land some dog's into trouble and an increased likelihood of dog fights with dominant or aggressive dog's that have docked tails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about these risks and other problems at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Backgrounders/Pages/Welfare-Implications-of-Tail-Docking-Dogs-Backgrounder.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AMVA website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many countries cosmetic tail docking is considered inhumane  and is illegal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T22:48:56.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1253" CreationDate="2013-11-07T15:25:26.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be an 'alpha dog' thing (he doesn't nip your wife because hes 'claimed' her). Try it with her scolding him when he nips you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="350" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T15:27:37.220" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T15:27:37.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1231" CreationDate="2013-11-07T15:31:06.513" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are dog bowls designed for slower eating available in most pet stores. They work by having an irregular design that makes it more difficult to get at food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BeIi4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Slow feed dog bowl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try wetting the food; it will go down easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="350" LastEditorUserId="9263" LastEditDate="2018-05-29T00:25:20.197" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T00:25:20.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="137" CreationDate="2013-11-07T15:44:04.667" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most three-legged dogs get along just fine.  The key is to treat them like a normal dog.  They don't know to be sad about it, so you shouldn't be sad either.  They may have some confidence issues you should help them work on, making them feel like the best dog ever!  If it does have confidence issues, then other dogs are more likely to pick on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest health issue I see is weight. Make sure they stay a good, healthy weight so that they don't put a lot of extra weight on the remaining three legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="350" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T19:02:47.983" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T19:02:47.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1186" CreationDate="2013-11-07T15:55:35.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're doing it yourself, you have to have more patience and they will eventually give up the fight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're taking it to a groomer, find a good one, then try having someone other than yourself bring the dog. It's a weird thing, but dogs (like kids) tend to be more dramatic when their &quot;parents&quot; are in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="350" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T20:29:25.520" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T20:29:25.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1269" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-07T16:31:55.127" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T16:31:55.127" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T16:31:55.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1270" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-07T16:31:55.127" Score="0" Body="A cage is an enclosure for keeping pets." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-11-07T17:08:48.703" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T17:08:48.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1020" CreationDate="2013-11-07T19:27:48.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never had to deal with fighting before. However I had worst behaving ferrets. Whenever they did something that I did not like I would slightly tap them on their back. If it continued then I would completely stop paying attention to that ferret for the remainder of the day. You must have noticed how attention seeking they are, so their worst punishment is being ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example what you are doing by putting them into sin bin is correct. Do keep in mind however that certain behavioral problems are very difficult to weed out, so all you can do is just keep at it and keep punishing foul play. Eventually they will learn. For me it took four months to teach them not to bite and not try to eat my keyboard wire or destroy the keyboard(they had beef with keyboards for some reason).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastActivityDate="2013-11-07T19:27:48.797" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1303" CreationDate="2013-11-07T20:52:11.653" Score="10" ViewCount="442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to adopt a ferret in addition to my dog and chickens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The answers to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1236/do-ferrets-get-along-with-other-pets&quot;&gt;Do ferrets get along with other pets?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; suggest ferrets will have no problems with other pets as long as they still get your attention. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The answers to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/743/how-can-i-prevent-my-ferrets-from-smelling-bad&quot;&gt;How can I prevent my ferrets from smelling bad?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; indicate ferrets have a natural skin oil which might smell bad, so I need to pay attention to their diet and clean their cage regularly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other concerns I need to know before adopting a ferret?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2019-06-07T08:55:44.563" Title="What should I consider before deciding to adopt a ferret?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1278" CreationDate="2013-11-07T23:56:29.557" Score="10" ViewCount="25881" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7.5 year old pit bull and he likes to destroy things while I am at work (the couch, anything kind of box left out, anything left on the table - edible or not) and he likes to pee inside.  He has no health problems and gets a check up at least once a year.  He has been tested recently for a bladder infection, etc.  He has never been taught to be in a crate.  I have tried it before but he tore the door off and I am scared he will hang himself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Six years ago the guy I was dating brought this dog home.  Four years later we broke up.  He kept the dog for a year or so and didn't give him the attention he needs.  He would be gone for 14 hours a day and the dog got used to going to the bathroom inside.  He got bored all day so he would destroy things.  The dog has been in my care since the beginning of this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have toys and bones and even a dog walker 3 times a week.  I just came home to find two ashtrays flung around the room and he peed a lot in two spots. I was gone maybe 6 hours at the most.  My best friend for over 12 years just died a week or so ago.  I don't think I can handle this.  I don't want to give him up after all this time and being a pit, I don't think he would find a great home anyway.  My ex may be able to take him at the end of the year but there's a good chance he won't be able to do that, too.  I can barely afford the dog walker.  He's a great dog when I'm home.  I've tried: a &lt;a href=&quot;http://dapdiffuser.com/faq.html&quot;&gt;DAP collar&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.logan.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/91890/Kongs-11.pdf&quot;&gt;frozen kongs&lt;/a&gt;, bones, classical music, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theanine&quot;&gt;L-theanine&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benadryl&quot;&gt;benadryl&lt;/a&gt; (just 25 mgs and he weighs 80lbs, I won't do more than that), ummm... I just don't think I can do it anymore but he's like my child so I want to try.  I've had people suggest not leaving water down during the day but it seems mean (I'm always happier in the mornings, too, and decide him not being thirsty is worth the risk of mess later).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do.  He only does this stuff when I'm not home because he's been taught for long enough that it's okay.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="354" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T02:52:48.220" LastActivityDate="2020-11-17T20:30:44.827" Title="My dog is destroying things and peeing inside when I am at work. How can I get him to stop?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1315" CreationDate="2013-11-08T01:37:08.660" Score="8" ViewCount="1920" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats is completely non-responsive to edible treats. Be it salmon, chicken or beef flavored, he completely ignores any treats I give him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to reward him/get him to come when I shake a bag of treats, but can't figure out any way to do this without edible treats, since he does not respond to praise like a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What alternative ways are there to reward cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-31T12:04:03.873" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T21:36:44.560" Title="How can I reward my cat besides using edible treats?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2013-11-08T03:10:25.330" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is apparently experiencing separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it appears you have done is given the dog the run of the house.  While you were correct in trying crate training, obviously that won't work due to his behavior and tendencies to try and escape.  I am going to suggest you confine him to a single room when you depart, if you haven't already.  It would be best to acclimate him to the room by spending time with him in it.  Check the room so that there is nothing he can hurt himself on if left alone with the door closed. Watch that there is nothing he can tip over or actively damage before you leave him there.  Pay special attention to exposed cords, electrical wires, and window shades (my own dog almost killed herself by getting caught in the window blinds while trying to get a better view when I wasn't home).  Provide some toys in the room for him. Make sure there are no window dressing cords he can entangle himself with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the spilled ashtrays you cite, while your dog shouldn't be knocking them over, it pays to be proactive in your maintenance of the area which he will be roaming, unsupervised.  Keep an active eye out for things that your dog might negatively access in the environment and proactively remedy them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing access to water prior to leaving, then taking it away for up to 8 hours is not cruel behavior unless the dog requires it for medical needs; it will be a learning experience for the dog to know that he needs to drink prior to your departure, and ensuring you provide water to him when you arrive is fine as long as you are diligent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you checked with your dog walker as to whether he observes the indoor urination?  Can he inform you whether it is there before he arrives, or appears after he leaves?  The same goes with the damage to your home.  It is possible the walker is doing something different than you are when you exit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others will suggest a form of training, which is a very correct way to curb the urination problem. You may also want to consider placing a urination &quot;pee pee&quot; pad in an area the dog can access while you are gone (a shower floor, for example).  The pads usually have attractants in them and should contain the mess, though the cheaper urination pads tend to be flimsy and rip easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For anxiety, you can also try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Thundershirt&lt;/a&gt;, but only put it on immediately before you leave and take it off as soon as you get home. Leaving it on for longer periods can have a dog get used to the shirt and it will become less effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T17:53:30.550" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T17:53:30.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1307" CreationDate="2013-11-08T03:19:25.713" Score="9" ViewCount="490" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1273/my-dog-is-destroying-things-and-peeing-inside-when-i-am-at-work-how-can-i-get-h&quot;&gt;My dog is destroying things and peeing inside when I am at work. How can I get him to stop?&lt;/a&gt;  led me to ask this.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the reasons to crate train a dog, as set out by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rspcavic.org/health-and-behaviour/dogs/crate-training-your-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA Vic Australia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Crate training is a new concept for many, but is a very effective training tool for adult dogs and puppies. It may take a little time and effort to train your dog to use the crate, but it can prove useful in a variety of situations. For instance, if you have a new dog or puppy, a crate is a fantastic way of teaching it the boundaries of the house and keeping it safe. When you’re travelling in the car, visiting the vet or any other time you may need to confine your dog (eg. after surgery or if it has been injured), it’s much easier and safer if your dog has been trained to enjoy being in a crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much easier to train a puppy to adapt to sleeping and staying in a crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can an adult dog be crate trained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T15:49:11.403" Title="How do I crate train an adult dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-08T03:22:36.713" Score="6" ViewCount="7274" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2-year old Yorkie that I am having problems with potty training. I read in a few Yorkie books that we should start off by placing potty pads in various places around the house, then slowly transition into the outdoors.  We removed the potty pads slowly after we monitored his usual times for going to the bathroom, then put him outside during those times. This worked for a while and he wouldn't poop inside. Unfortunately, he now has gone back to his old ways, but he poops where the potty pads used to be. How can I effectively communicate to him that there isn't a potty pad there, so he can't poop there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T03:59:02.040" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:13:57.410" Title="How do I transition my dog from using potty pads to going outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2013-11-08T03:45:03.867" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to give a complete answer for such a difficult problem in one post. So I have focused on what can be done &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt; and will bring you, hopefully, enough immediate relief to cope with the situation. I have provided links to useful posts here, rather than reiterate content, as this will become too long, so I apologise for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please note, this is the first step of managing this problem.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he's like my child so I want to try&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a key issue in responding to this. This situation truly is a double edged sword. You are in a stage of extreme emotional vulnerability at the moment, and I am reluctant to suggest to people in this state to ever do anything permanently. This also, and very understandably adds to your pressure to be able to cope with such problems. At the same time, it sounds like your dog is also a source of great emotional comfort and that is something you need right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite rightly, you assume that it is unlikely, given his breed, age and behavior problems that he would go to the sort of home you would wish for him, if you re-homed him. There has been a lot of publicity about pit bulls. Unfortunately all pit bulls have been tarred with the same brush and it makes it hard for many pit bull owners and their dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have rightly observed that being left unsupervised for long periods has helped to give rise to this behavior. A dog cannot be expected to go for 14 hours without relieving himself. So he has grown accustomed to urinating close to his sleeping and eating quarters, which is counter natural to how dogs function and a common problem for dogs confined to small spaces for long periods, an infamous example being dogs from puppy mills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He sounds like an active dog and he would be excruciatingly bored at home for long periods alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best to avoid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly a bit of housekeeping in some of the things that have been suggested and that you've tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not leaving water down during the day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is never advisable for any pet, unless there is a medical reason to do so, dogs need access to fresh water. Besides, it takes some hours for any water that is drunk to make it through the digestive tract and through the kidney before becoming urine, so not leaving water down is not a foolproof solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has never been taught to be in a crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know he breaks out of the crate, but I'd like to add; it's not practical to leave a dog confined to a crate for so many hours during the day, when the owner is away. Crates are better served for sleeping, transporting and the shorter term needs to put a dog out of the way. As a general strategy to cope with your dog being bored and missing you, this generally isn't good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benadryl, many people administer benadryl to their dogs, I personally do like recommending dosing animals with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/400/can-i-use-human-medicine-on-pets&quot;&gt;human medicine&lt;/a&gt;, unless your vet has instructed you to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Solutions&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no easy fix, which I am sure you are aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First port of call is walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog walker taking the dog out three times a week, although a good idea, will not remedy the overall situation. Such a big and active dog needs to be walked as often as possible, given he has no free access to a yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could commence a new routine, where you allow enough time in the mornings to take you dog for a vigorous walk before you go to work. Play a bit with him, fetching or go to an off leash area and let him have a run. Give him plenty of attention, verbal praise and pats, let him know how happy you are to be with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your current emotional state this is going to be the hardest thing for you to implement. However, on all fronts, your dog's well being and your own, morning walks will alleviate the situation, somewhat for both of you. Walking releases all sorts of feel good chemicals in the brain, and although it may not change a situation, it helps both the owner and dog to cope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise do the same when you return home. This will help alleviate some of his pent up energy and boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desexing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is not already desexed, do so. As a general rule, desexing will help calm a male dogs activity levels. If he is not desexed and you do so, you may find some of your previous methods will work better when he is desexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weekends&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the weekends, he needs to be taken out frequently for toilet breaks. Give him plenty of praise and this is the opportunity to re-house train him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This post deals with house breaking your adult dog &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/496/how-should-i-correct-my-dog-when-i-catch-him-drinking-his-urine&quot;&gt;How should I correct my dog when I catch him drinking his urine?&lt;/a&gt;. I would suggest implementing the principles here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also create an area for him to relief himself, within the bathroom or laundry, wherever you have a washable floor and drain. As ideal as this is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;, it's better to try and contain the damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medications&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although there is nothing essentially &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; with your dog, he is behaving normally for a dog with his experiences, it would be well worth a visit to the vet to get some advice and possible medication. Explain that money is difficult, so that a good vet can help provide you with cost effective solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up the treats and bones, they will only help to give him something to do and eat. Also see rearranging the apartment to provide your dog with &lt;em&gt;edible&lt;/em&gt; furnishings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TV or music&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great idea, this question goes into more detail about this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/521/how-effective-is-leaving-a-television-or-radio-on-to-comfort-dogs-when-away&quot;&gt;How effective is leaving a television or radio on to comfort dogs when away?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rearranging the apartment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will require effort that is difficult for someone who is emotionally drained, but will pay dividends. Remove all cushions and portable objects from the apartment, either put them into closets, or storage. Give your dog a couple of cushions that you are happy for him to trash and destroy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you will not be able to stop him from destroying your couches and this may be something you need to tolerate for the time being. Close your bedroom door and keep this room safe. Any objects like ashtrays and the like need to be picked up and placed in the kitchen sink or a cupboard. Clear all benchtops, table tops and minimise the content that he can trash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is by no means a complete solution. This is a beginning, a way to improve the situation immediately. Once you have implemented this, I would suggest posting a new question with the updated developments, so the next step in this problem can be dealt with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T03:45:03.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1279" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T04:31:49.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to a very common, striped, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/freshwater&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;freshwater&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;freshwater&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/fish&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;fish&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;fish&lt;/a&gt;, which does well in &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;aquarium&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt;s, preferring driftwood and omnidirectional water flow. Sourced from Venezuela, the Clown Pleco can be reclusive and territorial, but nevertheless does well with communal aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T04:42:04.177" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T04:42:04.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1280" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T04:31:49.057" Score="0" Body="Refers to a common, striped, freshwater fish, which does well in aquariums, preferring driftwood and flowing water." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:06:10.250" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:06:10.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1281" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T04:42:13.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anxiety behaviors, signs, symptoms, causes and solutions. &#xA;Anxiety can be observed as nervous behaviors like restlessness, lack of concentration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety is a common problem for pets and owners, and can also manifest in many other aspects of pet life, with strangers, busy roads, and all sorts of phobias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a variety of treatments and problem solving techniques to overcome anxiety in a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag should be used for questions about anxiety in pets and should be used along with other  pet tags e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T04:55:13.690" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T04:55:13.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1282" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T04:42:13.990" Score="0" Body="Anxiety provoking situations and behaviors. Signs and symptoms relating to anxiety, and possible solutions." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T04:50:04.017" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T04:50:04.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1283" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:03:38.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treatment is the method or therapy used to cure health or behavioral problems in pets. This tag can also be used for questions about the application of treatment to pets. This tag should be used along with the pet tag E.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc accompanied by the appropriate tag &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:16:51.577" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:16:51.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1284" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:03:38.557" Score="0" Body="The therapy used to cure health or behavioral problems in pets." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:16:54.873" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:16:54.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1285" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:04:09.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues relating to a pet's sleeping patterns, healthy routines and night time quarters and bedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problems with pets not having regular sleeping patterns, difficulty maintaining restful sleep patterns, particularly during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Options for creating bed and sleeping quarters for pets, and how to manage a pet's sleeping quarters within the household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions regarding adequate shelter for sleeping pets, and issues regarding whether pet's sleep indoors or out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:04:09.813" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:04:09.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1286" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:04:09.813" Score="0" Body="Issues relating to a pet's sleeping patterns, healthy routines and night time quarters and bedding. Sleeping pets indoors or outdoors, providing adequate sleeping quarters." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:04:09.813" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:04:09.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1287" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:11:47.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues  related to housebreaking, training a pet to use certain areas and problems encountered with toileting issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behavioral problems from pets marking and other associated issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For advice on training a young pet, to assisting with aberrant behavior in adult pets. Creating options for pet owners, in retraining pets, and maintaining an optimal regime for hygiene for both the pet and owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Difficulties that may arise within multi-pet families.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets from puppy mills with issues over toileting away from feeding and sleeping areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2019-01-15T16:34:50.703" LastActivityDate="2019-01-15T16:34:50.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1288" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:11:47.793" Score="0" Body="Issues  related to housebreaking, training a pet to use certain areas and problems encountered with toileting issues, such as marking." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:11:47.793" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:11:47.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1289" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:38:38.767" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any enclosure,  used for a pet, including fenced areas, pens, coops.  Not including cages which are a separate tag &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cage&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cage&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enclosures can vary greatly depending on the species of pet. Chickens may have totally enclosed coops, dogs can have runs, horses can have yards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Issues regarding adequate enclosures, space needed, shelter. &#xA;Trouble shooting problems with animals escaping or entering enclosures. Issues about suitable materials to be used when constructing an enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:38:38.767" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:38:38.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1290" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:38:38.767" Score="0" Body="Any enclosure,  used for a pet, including fenced areas, pens, coops. Not including cages which are a separate tag: [cage]." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T22:04:29.013" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T22:04:29.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1291" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:40:19.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Food and feed required to maintain a healthy pet, including issues about foods that may be harmful for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:40:19.247" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:40:19.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1292" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:40:19.247" Score="0" Body="Food and feed required to maintain a healthy pet, including issues about foods that may be harmful for pets." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:40:19.247" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:40:19.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1293" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:41:57.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Filtration systems for aquariums and ponds. Issues relating to man-made of natural filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:41:57.007" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:41:57.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1294" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:41:57.007" Score="0" Body="Filtration systems for aquariums and ponds. Issues relating to man-made of natural filtration." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:41:57.007" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:41:57.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1295" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:46:59.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions relating to aspects of keeping horses as pets: Feeding, foot care, shelter, exercise, grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not for advice on keeping horses for professional uses, such as racing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:46:59.617" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:46:59.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1296" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:46:59.617" Score="0" Body="Questions relating to aspects of keeping horses as pets, not for advice on keeping horses for professional uses, such as racing." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:46:59.617" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:46:59.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1297" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:48:36.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Play between pets and pets and their owners. Solutions to encourage healthy play time for pets, what is normal and how to curb destructive play habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:48:36.967" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:48:36.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1298" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:48:36.967" Score="0" Body="Play between pets and pets and their owners. Solutions to encourage healthy play time for pets, what is normal and how to curb destructive play habits." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:48:36.967" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:48:36.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1299" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:50:19.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues about pets marking territory, frequently by urinating, but also by other means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some pets will defecate, roll, chew or destroy things in an attempt to mark their territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:50:19.163" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:50:19.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1300" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-08T05:50:19.163" Score="0" Body="Issues about pets marking territory, frequently by urinating, but also by other means." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T05:50:19.163" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T05:50:19.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1305" CreationDate="2013-11-08T06:28:43.817" Score="4" ViewCount="10790" Body="&lt;p&gt;My children fed our cat a snack &lt;sub&gt;1&lt;/sub&gt; of cooked white rice and tuna.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy for my cat to eat rice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;1&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;em&gt;In Australia, by snack, I do not mean a treat, it is not a full meal, but like a small meal, much like someone grabbing a honey sandwich. You wouldn't want to live on them, but it fills the spot. It also saves throwing away food, that the cat may enjoy, but only if it is not harmful for him.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T16:15:18.627" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T08:27:05.327" Title="Can cats occasionally be fed rice?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1277" CreationDate="2013-11-08T11:48:05.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you take him out, take a potty pad as well.  Let him do his business on the outdoor potty pad.  Start making the potty pad smaller, first cut it in half and just use half of it.  Then keep using smaller and smaller pieces. Hopefully at some point he will transition from pad to grass as the target, but if not change from a potty pad to a tissue or some other biodegradable product. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you place the potty pad in different areas you should have better results in the transition from pad to grass, though if you always place it in the same area it could make clean up easier.  You will need to periodically adjust your training approach based on your dogs responses.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T15:05:01.657" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:05:01.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2013-11-08T14:31:07.437" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a general answer, without taking into account breeder issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your profile says you live in Lagos, Nigeria. I'm not familiar with any breeders there and American vaccination laws may not apply to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do have it right in that ferrets will smell bad if their diet is poor. So it's important that you give them food that doesn't have fillers like grain and vegetables. They should be eating a high quality meaty diet. My four ferrets get a mix of raw Cornish hen, quail, chicken, lamb, beef, pork, rabbit, and the organs. It's a bit more expensive, but they're much healthier and more energetic with the raw meat diet. If you feed a commercial diet, try to avoid brands like Marshall and Kaytee. These contain too much filler and aren't good for your ferret. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets are diurnal and will often adapt to your sleep schedule. They spend most of their day sleeping, about 18-20 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets are prone to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cypresskeep.com/Ferretfiles/Heatstroke.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heat stroke&lt;/a&gt;. You'll want to make sure that you have good air conditioner for the summer months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit are uncomfortable for ferrets, temperatures above 85 can cause medical problems within hours, and temperatures above 90 can be fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ferrets are climbers, meaning they will climb tall objects like their cage without a plan for how to get back down. Whenever they're out of the cage, they should be supervised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1007/how-can-i-prevent-my-ferrets-from-chewing-on-wires&quot;&gt;ferret-proof&lt;/a&gt; any rooms that they will be spending time in. Ferrets like rubbery things and can chew off pieces to swallow. Bowel obstructions are an expensive and often deadly problem with ferrets. I've also heard horror stories of ferrets clawing out of screen windows and falling. Ferrets are cunning and problem-solvers. If you don't want them to get somewhere, they will probably get there anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets are prone to diseases like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2ndchance.info/insulinoma.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Insulinoma&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1983&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adrenal disease&lt;/a&gt;. Both of these can be painful and expensive to treat. A high quality diet can help prevent both of these. Even with high quality diets, many ferrets often experience some sort of health problems as they get older. Most ferrets sadly do not die of natural causes and are likely to suffer from some sort of health problem as they age. You should be prepared for the worst case scenario and expect to spend some amount of money on vet bills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you should be able to find a veterinarian who has experience treating ferrets and small animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferret vaccinations are a debated issue. I've had three of my ferrets given rabies and distemper vaccines. The fourth has received none aside from what he got at the Marshall farm. I'm afraid of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2ndchance.info/fervacs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;potential reactions&lt;/a&gt;. Ferrets seem to respond more negatively to vaccines than other animals. I don't do yearly boosters for my ferrets. They stay indoors, so it's unlikely they'll get anything anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;studies have shown that many of the rabies vaccines we use give us longer protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's up to you. Most states require yearly rabies vaccines, but the ferret police aren't going to come knocking on your door, either.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T15:03:51.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2013-11-08T14:56:12.673" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly to get some things out of the way. The thing about smell is not 100% correct. A lot of pet stores (especially in my area), remove the glands from ferrets that cause bad odor. So when I got my ferrets they were not smelling so bad (or maybe my nose simply sucks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to thing to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Ferret love to chew everything that has electricity running through it(due to rubber insulating said electricity), so if you have ferrets consider rewiring things in your house so that all the wires run on walls rather than floor. That will also make things better for ferrets. My ferrets loved to use wires on walls as climbing tools and never bothered eating them once they were off the floor. I am not kidding do not leave any wires on the floor unless you want your ferret to be in a lot of pain due to rubber being stuck in digestive tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Hide all your writing utensils(especially pencils). The also enjoy eating them a lot. A swallowed rubber end from a pencil can kill your ferret very quickly unless surgery is performed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Keep in mind that ferrets have very small digestive tracts, so anything they eat will come out very quickly, and they will be getting hungry very often. However it only happens only when they are awake. But due to that they do have good appetite, and if you notice that they do not eat rush to the vet asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Find a vet that KNOWS ferrets REALLY WELL. Your ferrets will get themselves into trouble as you learn how to take care of them, so it is important to know which vet to go to asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Males are dirtier than females, and are more hyper. Female ferrets do not smell so bad and go potty well and are easier to train. They also have obsession with stuffed toys, but are much less sociable and crazy. Males will sometimes have fecal matter stuck on them, will never sit still while awake, are easy to anger if you ignore them and are insane climbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) They sleep a lot, but when awake you better pay attention to them or you will suffer very bloody fingers. Their teeth are sharp and they are not afraid to use them if you displease them. Think of them as spoiled 4 year olds who always seek your attention. It is your job to train them to not be spoiled brats and play nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) They love cozy snug holes and can get stuck inside, so make sure to put pieces of wood into crevices around house so that they do not go inside. Especially beware of behind refrigerator. They will destroy the fridge within minutes if they get access to the back of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I have covered everything I experienced that is common and is not too ferret specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just make sure to ferret proof your house before you get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T15:46:40.633" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T15:46:40.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1301" CreationDate="2013-11-08T15:01:55.597" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet advises feeding rice and chicken for stomach/intestine upsets, so rice and tuna should be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that such food is NOT a balanced diet for cats and isn't good for long term use. An occassional treat or meal is fine. Most importantly, homemade diets generally lack enough taurine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If taurine levels are deficient, the retinal cells of the eyes will eventually degenerate, impairing the vision. This condition is referred to as feline central retinal degeneration (CRD). Deficiency of taurine will also lead to a weakening of the muscle cells in the heart, causing a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. Taurine is a component of bile salts, and its deficiency may cause digestive disturbances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/taurine-in-cats/3857&quot;&gt;Taurine in Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T15:01:55.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2013-11-08T15:23:10.263" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1303/57&quot;&gt;d2jxp's excellent answer&lt;/a&gt;, I have a couple of other considerations to add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending upon how well you &quot;ferret-proof&quot; your rooms, and how successful you are at litter training it, you can give your ferret full access to your house even unattended.  However, I suggest you should not do so if he/she will be sharing space with the dog, at least until they have had time to get used to each other, and you are &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; comfortable with how they interact/play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, you can either confine the ferret to a specific room or rooms that the dog doesn't have access to, or purchase/build a ferret enclosure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets seem to prefer enclosures that have multiple levels, to allow them to climb and give them space to explore and exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small hammocks, tubes they can crawl through, soft bedding, and places to hide in are all features to consider.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small soft toy, such as a stuffed animal (be careful with this, if you decide to get one; be alert for signs that the ferret has been chewing on it, as the stuffing could cause a bowel obstruction if accidentally eaten) may be appreciated by some ferrets; others may prefer hard rubber balls (such as dog-safe &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;amp;field-keywords=kong+ball&amp;amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Akong+ball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong balls&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  Just be careful if you do provide hard rubber toys; while these toys are designed to withstand biting and chewing from large dogs, ferrets have &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; sharper teeth, and can gouge out small bits of rubber, which could be very dangerous, even fatal, is swallowed.  I would suggest keeping the balls for supervised play time, both to keep an eye out for any gnawing, and to keep the ball a novel toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play time is important for ferrets, and a big part of the fun of living with a ferret, so the more ferret-safe toys they can play with, the better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dpets&amp;amp;field-keywords=ferret+tube&amp;amp;sprefix=corner+litt%2Cpets%2C134&amp;amp;rh=n%3A2619533011%2Ck%3Aferret+tube&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Long tubes&lt;/a&gt; they can crawl through are toys that most ferrets never seem to tire of.  I would strongly suggest investing in a least a few.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets should have ready access to water.  I suggest a no-drip water bottle attached to the outside of the cage, as some ferrets love to tip over water bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ferrets were much less prone to tip over their food dish, however, I still suggest a fairly heavy, wide, flat-bottomed bowl to minimize the chances of it getting tipped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also invest in one or more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Dpets&amp;amp;field-keywords=corner+litter+pan&amp;amp;sprefix=corner+litt%2Cpets%2C134&amp;amp;rh=n%3A2619533011%2Ck%3Acorner+litter+pan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;corner litter pans&lt;/a&gt;.  Ferrets prefer to back into a corner to excrete, and if you plan on litter training her/him, I suggest you get a corner pan for every corner they'll have access to.  Don't forget to get litter to fill the pans with, too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to go over any room that the ferret will have access to &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; carefully.  Ferrets can fit through holes and gaps that you'd never guess would be big enough, and the tighter the squeeze, the more attractive the opening likely will be to a ferret.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful of letting the ferret near large appliances; one of mine decided that the insulation inside of my oven would be a good nesting place!  It was impossible to get her out, so I had to wait until she came out on her own.  In the meantime, I was terrified she'd chew through wiring or some other dangerous component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to be careful about furniture, particularly reclining chairs or rockers.  Ferrets hiding inside can be caught in the moving parts.  I've heard horror stories of someone sitting in their recliner, only to break the back of a ferret curled up inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T15:49:30.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1276" CreationDate="2013-11-08T15:37:42.617" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crate training or any type of training for that matter is not something that puppies necessarily take to better than adult dogs.  In reality dogs are dogs, but I think the impression that adult dogs are un-trainable comes from the fact that some adult dogs have already learned wrong behaviors that need to be slowly unlearned before training can start.  The advice will be relatively the same regardless of the age of the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some important things to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Associate Positive Emotions and Rewards&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs memories are largely based on emotions.  A particular activity or situation evokes either a positive emotional reaction or a negative emotion like fear, with the dog having no ability to rationalize this.  The crate as a location needs to be associated with positive happy emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost ensure that the crate is sized right for the dog, they need at least enough room to stretch their legs and turn around.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give them a comfortable bedding or cushion that they can sleep on.  When they are alone in the quiet empty house in an enclosed space with nothing to do, they will sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training, start small.  Using a treat, lure them into the crate just a bit, give them a lick when they get a foot or two inside.  Repeat this ad nauseum until the dog starts initiating the desired action on its own with hopes of a treat.  Gradually lure him in more and more repeating until he is comfortable.  Only provide the treat when the dog looks completely calm and comfortable inside the crate.  Once the dog is completely inside, close the door and wait for a bit.  If the dog remains calm for a short amount of time then provide the reward and start slowly increasing the time with the door closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final step here is to close the door and leave the room very briefly.  Return quickly and reward the dog if they were calm.  If they start to panic then take a step back because maybe they are not ready for this step just yet.  Slowly start increasing the time where you have left the room until you can leave the dog alone in the crate for at least 5 minutes with the dog remaining calm and relaxed the entire time.  At this point you and the dog will probably tire, so take the rest of the day off and try it again tomorrow without treats but with affection.  The dog will probably take to the crate very well at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do not award an excited state of mind or fear and anxiety&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crates can be a scary thing for a dog that is not used to it.  Have patience and slowly work through their fears by forcing them to face their mental block.  This is a controversial approach as many dog behaviorists disagree on the most humane way to deal with a dog's fear but this is a very direct way that seems to work extremely well for myself.  I believe the best way for a dog to deal with fear is to be desensitized to what causes it fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Negative reactions mean that the dog is not quite ready to move to the next step.  Take a step back and only reward the dog when it appears calm and relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do not EVER use the crate as Punishment!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not want negative state of mind to be associated with the crate.  Lets face it, dogs can be aggravating little buggers from time to time.  You must resist the urge to put the dog in the crate just so he will leave you alone or to punish him with &quot;timeout&quot; for unwanted behavior.  This can sabotage crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a natural instinct for dogs to have a &quot;den&quot;, a comfortable place that is warm and safe, and where they can safely sleep.  Dogs have an instinctual aversion to peeing or defecating in their dens.  You want to foster the attitude that their crate is their &quot;den&quot;.  This will mean they will be calm, and less likely to go in their crates while you leave the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Watch for Separation Anxiety!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has issues with separation anxiety then crate training may be counter productive for them.  Try to work through these issues first before attempting crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T15:37:42.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="457" CreationDate="2013-11-08T16:13:00.703" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I had a cat with severe (anaphylaxtic shock severe) allergies, we were able to have the vet do a blood test which gave us a list of foods that we had to avoid. It was definitely easier than randomly guessing which food to try next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T16:13:00.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1353" CreationDate="2013-11-08T16:23:37.993" Score="7" ViewCount="1016" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What is required to house break a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; that litter box training a rabbit is very similar to a cat. We know from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/971/how-can-i-train-my-cat-to-use-the-toilet&quot;&gt;How can I train my cat to use the toilet?&lt;/a&gt; that cats can be trained to use a toilet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience I know that bunnies are not as comfortable with having their feet on slippery surfaces as a cat is, so some kind of no-slip seat would be required. I also know that they will readily jump up to chair or couch height, so it seems possible in theory.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any documented cases of a bunny using a toilet?  Does anyone have first person experience in an attempt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T12:15:45.517" Title="How can I train my rabbit to use the toilet?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1311" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1313" CreationDate="2013-11-08T16:26:15.317" Score="1" ViewCount="1947" Body="&lt;p&gt;In relation to this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1257/are-there-any-behavioral-or-health-issues-related-to-docked-dogs&quot;&gt;Are there any behavioral or health issues related to docked dogs?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from cosmetic reasons, what reasons are there to dock a dog's tail?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T07:38:41.467" Title="What reasons are there to dock a dog's tail?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;docking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-08T16:45:06.673" Score="12" ViewCount="10225" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search returns results suggesting that feeding fish to your cat is a bad idea:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/01/03/fish-as-a-protein-source.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HealthyPets.Mercola.com: Warning - The Very Food Your Pet is Addicted to May Contain This Deadly Preservative&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.LittleBigCat.com: Why Fish is Dangerous for Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these articles correct, or is it okay to feed fish to cats? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If not, then what dangers are substantial enough to consider? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If yes, then how much and how often?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-10T18:05:02.717" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T18:05:02.717" Title="Is it safe for my cat to eat fish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1311" CreationDate="2013-11-08T17:44:13.217" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Frequently-asked-questions-about-canine-tail-docking.aspx&quot;&gt;AMVA FAQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Removal of a dog’s tail for medical reasons is not referred to as&#xA;  “docking.” The most common reason for amputation or partial amputation&#xA;  of a dog’s tail is traumatic injury where repair of the entire tail is&#xA;  not possible or advisable. Amputation may also occur in the case of&#xA;  tail deformities that negatively impact a dog’s function or increase&#xA;  risk of injury. An argument might be made for removal of the tail of a&#xA;  dog on the basis of repeated prior injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are times where a dogs tail will be removed for medical reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Precautionary removal of the tail of a young puppy needs to be based&#xA;  on compelling evidence that the animal is at high risk of tail trauma&#xA;  due to congenital defect, breed and/or planned working activity.&#xA;  However, such a justification must be supported by evidence such as&#xA;  empirical data or impartial expert opinion based on extensive,&#xA;  directly relevant experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are times where a dogs health will be affected as it grows up.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://helenathegreat.hubpages.com/hub/CropDock&quot;&gt;For more on that&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs with &quot;happy tail&quot; have the potential to actually break their&#xA;  tails by wagging them too hard and whacking something hard. This is&#xA;  extremely painful for them, and often results in having to have their&#xA;  tails docked as adults, which is much more painful than if it had been&#xA;  done when they were days old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is also the issue of the working dog, which is rare in today's&#xA;  society, but certainly still exists. Herding breeds like Australian&#xA;  Shepherds could get their tails stuck in a gate closing behind&#xA;  livestock, and hunting breeds could get their tails stuck in thick&#xA;  underbrush. Both of these situations would be terrible, and proponents&#xA;  of tail docking argue that working English Pointers and Setters (whose&#xA;  tails are not docked) suffer pain and infected tails because of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is not to say that if a dog fits into this category it should automatically have its tail removed.  A hunter who goes out a few times a year with the dog is far less likely to lead to a tail injury than one who is out practically everyday.  As pointed in the original question the tail is an important part of the dog and &lt;strong&gt;it should only be removed if it is actually necessary.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T18:02:08.490" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T18:02:08.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-08T18:00:31.017" Score="9" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;My new chicken was formerly living with my uncle before I adopted him. According to what my uncle told me, the chicken once experienced another chicken being killed with a knife. Since then this chicken has been very scared of knives. He runs away whenever he sees a knife even if I want to feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help him overcome this fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The chicken is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock_%28chicken%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;plymouth rock&lt;/a&gt; and male)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-09T05:28:19.627" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T05:28:19.627" Title="How do I make my chicken overcome his fears?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1274" CreationDate="2013-11-08T18:34:14.040" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of my cats (mother and daughter) have a fondness for catnip.  Like typical dry treats, shaking the packaging it comes in will make a noise your cat should be able to hear without difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mother cat has a fondness for wet cat food, but will not eat dried fish treats (though she is very interested in the smell).  Her daughter is the exact opposite:  loves dried fish treats but will not touch wet cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that the treat doesn't need to make a noise if all you want to do is teach your cat to come when called.  Many cats associate the sound of a can opener with food and will come running any time they hear it, even when it isn't their designated meal time.  Personally, I like &amp;quot;here kitty kitty&amp;quot; since it can be heard from very far away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Non-food options&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats also respond to the sound of patting my hand on the top of their scratching post.  This is already a place that they like to be.  They've come to associate that noise with lots of petting, so all I have to do is say their name when I do it and they will come running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also to try a brush for your cat.  Mine absolutely love being brushed so much that they'll tolerate being near my dog (I got him a year ago and the cats are still standoffish towards him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T18:59:56.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1312" CreationDate="2013-11-08T18:46:04.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never had any problems with giving my cats the occasional treat of cooked fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are risks that you need to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ocean fish, particularly tuna, can concentrate mercury, so large amounts of tuna may cause mercury poisoning (via WebMD). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raw fish in large quantities can cause issues because raw fish&#xA;contain a compound that suppresses absorption of essential nutrients&#xA;(again, WebMD).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bones in cooked fish can be harmful, too - so you probably want to&#xA;take the same precautions you take when you eat fish yourself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there's nothing wrong with including cooked, filleted fish as part of your cat's diet or as an occasional treat (and if your cat likes cooked cod as much as mine do, good luck NOT including it as a treat!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T18:46:04.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1312" CreationDate="2013-11-08T21:12:07.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can eat fish as part of a balanced diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding fish as the only source of food can lead to crystallization within the urinary tract  system, so it is advisable to give cats a variety of meat products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eukanuba.com/cat-articles/cat-health/cat-urinary-tract-infections&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat foods that contain large amounts of animal- and fish-based proteins produce a more acidic urine. &lt;sub&gt;Eukanuba.com&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can easily snack on tinned fish, like tuna and have pet food products containing fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish, such as tinned sardines in springwater; tinned tuna and tinned salmon (care with any fish bones) can also be offered as a treat occasionally. Please avoid feeding fish constantly&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-should-I-feed-my-cat_262.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA Australia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for sulfide based preservatives, that can be found in a range of products, these should be avoided altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raw food offered to cats should always be fresh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose human-grade raw meat and raw meaty bones because some pet meat/pet mince/pet rolls/pet meat and bone products can contain preservatives which can be detrimental to the cat's health (e.g. sulphite preservative induced thiamine deficiency which can be fatal) . However avoid sausages, sausage meat and cooked manufactured meats as they can contain sulphites.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-should-I-feed-my-cat_262.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA Australia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T21:12:07.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1314" CreationDate="2013-11-08T21:42:08.877" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to encourage your bird to relax around you is to alter the situation in how you approach him. Changing your body language, making soft clucking sounds and approaching slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep all your movements slow and predictable. If you can maintain a predictability around the bird, it will help alleviate anxiety the bird experiences when he's is approached by humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When livestock are handled by people, they can become nervous and edgy around handlers, unsure of when they may be grabbed. If possible do not try and grab your chicken, take him his food and sprinkle it to him quietly on the ground between you. Over time the bird will learn to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bird seems obviously frightened of an implement, such as a knife  then do not take such things with you, when you are around your bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following citation is lengthy, but very explicit in managing fear in poultry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.poultryhub.org/production/husbandry-management/poultry-behaviour/fear-in-poultry/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fear in poultry&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Domestic poultry are exposed to human contact on a daily basis during&#xA;  routine farm husbandry, but often display fearful behaviour when in&#xA;  proximity to humans. The initial fear experienced by these birds may&#xA;  be due to a lack of familiarity with humans, but this may develop into&#xA;  a specific fear of humans over time when exposed to unpredictable,&#xA;  sudden or aversive human contact. This fear response is a powerful&#xA;  emotional state that may influence the welfare and productivity of the&#xA;  birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reducing fear&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People handling stock should be taught to handle them without causing&#xA;  fear Source: Australian Egg Corporation Limited&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Several methods for reducing fear in poultry have been proposed, such&#xA;  as enriching the birds’ environment, allowing them to become used to&#xA;  humans and genetic selection toward less fearful strains of birds.&#xA;  Theoretically, environmental enrichment introduces animals to novelty&#xA;  and allows them to learn that novelty is not harmful. When these&#xA;  animals are later introduced to potentially frightening stimuli, they&#xA;  are able to adapt better than animals in a less enriched environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Frequent contact with humans that is not aversive in nature will also&#xA;  help to reduce the fear of humans experienced by the birds. This&#xA;  contact does not need to be physical; visual contact of a slow and&#xA;  predictable nature has been found to be effective, and can be&#xA;  implemented by farm staff at no cost. However, a current limitation is&#xA;  that our understanding of the human behaviours that affect birds’ fear&#xA;  responses is poor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, when studying human slaughter practices in Australia, much of the stress involved is created from the handling of animals, as opposed directly to the slaughter process. Unduly stressed animals release chemicals which affects meat quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Livestock at Slaughtering Establishments - CSIRO Publishing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.publish.csiro.au/Books/download.cfm?ID=2975&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6909e/x6909e04.htm&quot;&gt;Effects of stress and injury on meat and by-product quality&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-08T22:12:18.093" LastActivityDate="2013-11-08T22:12:18.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-09T10:45:20.657" Score="8" ViewCount="2476" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about getting a rabbit and during my research I learned about bunny proofing, litter boxes, and have heard about cages for the bunnies and that they need to room to run.  There seems to be conflict between the having a cage and having room to exercise. I did a search for 'Rabbit Condo' and found lots of different images.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I bunny proof the whole house can I just let the bunnies have free access to the whole house all the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-10T02:04:47.523" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T12:10:40.587" Title="Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1320" CreationDate="2013-11-09T15:26:16.610" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The act of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-rabbit-proofing/&quot;&gt;bunny proofing&lt;/a&gt; your home is about providing a safe and comfortable place for your rabbit(s) to play and exercise while protecting them and your home from incidental damage from the rabbit's natural tendencies and needs (e.g. chewing). The practicality of doing this to your &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt; home depends, of course, on your home and that's where the caveats/considerations come in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's very difficult to ensure that you protect everything. For the most part, if you're okay with a bit of chewing on some wood furniture or such, then no big deal. Electrical, however, is where it gets a bit scary. You might miss something (easy enough to do in a larger space) or the rabbit might eventually chew their way through the defence. Regular inspection helps, obviously.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stairs and other high surfaces in the home can present a challenge, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-12/flights.html&quot;&gt;not an insurmountable one&lt;/a&gt;. I agree with her general assessment (in the linked article), all of my rabbits liked to get up on things (especially after being brought up to them once), despite people trying to tell me that, as prey animals, they would avoid that. It's anecdotal, but I've seen &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of such anecdotes... My concern in this environment is risk of injury from falls or miscues with more slippery surfaces. Rabbits, in my experiences, have a hard time with slippery surfaces and while they tend to have powerful muscles, their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Bone_diseases/Fracture/Fracture.htm&quot;&gt;bone strength is not as good&lt;/a&gt;, and so I would have some care about where they might leap and slip and cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My general feeling, at least, is that having a large, but more confined space may be better and easier to do as it's also easier to supervise your rabbit(s) in that environment. Having said that, if you take some precautions and inspect your proofing efforts on a regular basis and repair any showing signs of being breeched, then I think you can allow them to roam freely. That is, after all, the best way to interact with them and, I think, keep them healthy and active. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I never could give mine free run, my house was just not practical for it, so I set up a huge space in the basement for them (about 100 sq feet), which was shared with my home office and so allowed for me to be with them very frequently and interact while giving them plenty of space to do the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE3_L1M4rgI&quot;&gt;bunny 500&lt;/a&gt; at will.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-09T23:59:19.130" LastActivityDate="2013-11-09T23:59:19.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-10T02:57:37.753" Score="12" ViewCount="3288" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 15 now and was diagnosed with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=2722&amp;amp;S=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squamous cell carcinoma&lt;/a&gt; and it seems she may be on the last of her lives.  While my family is very saddened about this news and didn't know about the risk factors early on in her life, we now have to just take care of her as best we can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately for my parents, who keep her in the house, she drools almost constantly because of the ailment in her mouth. This has resulted in having to constantly wipe her mouth; her legs become dirty from the saliva mixed with food, and the furniture and floors get dirty as well.  While this may seem petty to worry about, my parents have to do a lot of extra work cleaning up everything, and it is sad to see her unable to control it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to feed her soft, cold foods, clean her regularly, and give her &lt;a href=&quot;http://catwithcancer.blogspot.com/search/label/life%20gold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Life Gold&lt;/a&gt; (this is not a plug for the product but it does seem to be helping), but the problem of her drooling still remains.  Is there anything we can do to help stop this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="361" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:54:11.853" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:54:11.853" Title="How can I best manage the drooling from my sick cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1351" CreationDate="2013-11-10T05:46:38.797" Score="8" ViewCount="1155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three freshwater fish pond pots. I do not have a man-made filtration system and the fish are doing well. &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1000/surface-area-to-volume&quot;&gt;How do I balance surface area and volume in my outdoor fish pond?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; asks about atmospheric oxygenation with respect to the available surface area of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which plants or animals can I add to help naturally oxygenate the fish ponds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am not interested in the pros and cons of natural vs man-made filtration / oxygenation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T00:59:07.570" Title="What plants and animals can naturally oxygenate a fish pond?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1325" CreationDate="2013-11-10T09:12:22.483" Score="3" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to optimize my ponds through natural means.  Per &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/680/would-my-fish-benefit-from-snails-in-their-pot-pond&quot;&gt;Would my fish benefit from snails in their pot pond?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, I understand that my fish would benefit from snails, but I don't know which species of snails to acquire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which snails should I get to focus on consuming the algae and not the plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there snails that I can use to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T16:55:08.950" Title="Which snails can I use to just eat algae?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1324" CreationDate="2013-11-10T13:51:01.337" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramshorn_snail&quot;&gt;ramshorn snail&lt;/a&gt; is an algae eater that will tend to stick to algae unless they become starved. As wiki notes, though, they can end up being a pest in the tank rather than an aid to it if you have more than one. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Neritina_natalensis&quot;&gt;nerite snails&lt;/a&gt; are also algae eaters, but with the added bonus that they won't breed in fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mystery_snail&quot;&gt;trapdoor snails&lt;/a&gt; are algae eaters, they're bigger, and they can give warning of water issues before they become acute. These use to be hugely popular in fish tanks back in the day, you probably saw them in action plenty of times as a kid. They also live breed rather than lay eggs. These may be hard to get, but I would think these are ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases, all of these snails will prefer to algae over other plants in your tank or mini-pond. However, if they run low or out of algae, then plants are probably fair game to them. There are fish species that are far better algae eaters, but as far as I know, none are goldfish compatible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, there's various beliefs that goldfish can/will eat smaller snails. Dead snails maybe, there's not really any good evidence that they can, or will, eat live snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-10T13:51:01.337" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1211" CreationDate="2013-11-10T15:08:41.520" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'd like to address a couple of challenges first and then make a suggestion that might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Size of Tank&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ponds you currently have are basically sized for a single goldfish. The risk factor here is that more than one goldfish will &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish#In_aquaria&quot;&gt;overload the environment&lt;/a&gt; as their waste product can be toxic to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are very hardy and can survive in less than ideal conditions, but it's not necessarily true that they're thriving. Bear in mind that a healthy goldfish should &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_74/goldfish-size-life-expectancy.htm&quot;&gt;reach to about 24cm&lt;/a&gt; by their second year. Look for black spots or abnormalities on the fish to detect the effects of their waste product on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the RSPCA of Australia lists that &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/How-should-I-keep-and-care-for-Goldfish_456.html&quot;&gt;50 litres is a minimum&lt;/a&gt; tank size. So, there is a little bit of dispute about the minimum and if the fish is healthy, you may have some room to spare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as you grow the size of the environment, the rule of thumbs are best to keep in mind. Ideally 20-30 gallons to start, add 10-15 for each new one. Err to the side of more, it will never hurt to have more space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aggression&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-should-I-feed-my-Goldfish_457.html&quot;&gt;omnivores that eat plants and other aquatic animals&lt;/a&gt; and they're opportunistic feeders. They will, of course, eat other fish as consequence, especially if the fish can fit in its mouth. So, obviously, any companion fish for them needs to be bigger than what the golden fellow can directly eat otherwise they may dine on your intended companion fish, including other goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breeding&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting additional goldfish may result in having more than you expect... Unless you've correctly sexed the fish. Something to keep in mind. Mind you, domestic goldfish will &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.desktopgoldfish.com/goldfish-breeding.php&quot;&gt;often eat their own eggs&lt;/a&gt;, so you may not end up with a litter as it were anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Immediate Considerations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, goldfish are &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Should-Goldfish-be-kept-with-other-fish_460.html&quot;&gt;social creatures&lt;/a&gt; and that does argue for your concern about companionship. I don't think your tank sizes are ideal for having an additional goldfish, I think you're pushing the edge of good size for a single. The link I just gave makes some recommendations on alternate companion fish. Of those, I would actually recommend going with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_danio&quot;&gt;danio (or zebrafish)&lt;/a&gt; as being the most suitable for your conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The danio are hardy fish and social fish that get along well with other species. They're active and playful, as are comets, so would seem to be a good blend. They're easy to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/zebrafish.php&quot;&gt;keep and feed&lt;/a&gt; being omnivores. Tank size recommendations are about 5 gallons per fish, so you might be able to get a couple in there. I would probably start with one and see how it gets on before adding any additional ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that I've pushed on the tank size a bit and I have because hardy fish species can create an illusion of thriving when they really aren't. While I agree that your goldfish need companions, I think you might want to pay extra attention and care to their health and activity if you introduce additional fish to their current ponds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Future Considerations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, adding the danio today isn't a bad idea and may alleviate the initial concerns about the the current fish. With respect to having more goldfish together, given a future environment, the considerations are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Size. Larger fish won't normally be an issue if there is sufficient space, but if a larger fish is much larger and more aggressive, it may be best to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puregoldfish.com/goldfish.php?s=87&quot;&gt;move them out&lt;/a&gt; (last paragraph) or separate from the smaller fish regardless of space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Type. Mixing varieties, especially &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/keeping-other-fish-with-goldfish/&quot;&gt;common with fancy&lt;/a&gt;, can lead to problems. The comet variety, as I noted earlier, is an active fish and so you probably want to keep like to like.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would generally try to size the new fish to be reasonably close to the size of the current ones where possible. This is not an absolute must, but will enhance the chance of the introduction being successful. Bear in mind that you can still keep the danio if you do end up adding them to your current ponds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T01:33:12.550" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T01:33:12.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-10T23:26:23.480" Score="10" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat and I usually feed him tuna and dry cat food. I wanted to know what other foods I could, or should, feed him for him to be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="243" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T01:53:50.310" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T02:28:23.700" Title="What are the healthiest foods I can feed my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1211" CreationDate="2013-11-11T01:16:29.770" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cory catfish with a goldfish for about 5 years.  They were happy together.  The goldfish died and now the cory is in a larger aquarium with many fish &amp;amp; is still living &amp;amp; happy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T01:16:29.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1327" CreationDate="2013-11-11T02:08:46.773" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are carnivores, they &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore#Obligate_carnivores&quot;&gt;have to eat meat&lt;/a&gt; in order to be healthy. In regards to your current feeding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuna in the can for human consumption is generally the muscle of the tuna, not the organs. Cats need to have both to get the nutrients they need. So, strictly speaking, tuna alone is not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dry cat foods are often loaded with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.consumersearch.com/cat-food/best-dry-cat-food&quot;&gt;vegetable based fillers&lt;/a&gt;. It is important to really read the ingredients on the food to ensure that you're getting dry foods that are mostly based on animal proteins. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest risk for cats with insufficient animal protein in their diet is the lack of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine&quot;&gt;taurine&lt;/a&gt;. This can cause some pretty severe issues in their health, including blindness, hair loss, and tooth decay. So, how can you make sure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Very high quality dry cat food should have the required nutrients. Just double check. If this is the case, and it very likely is, then you probably want to be sure that the tuna eating isn't excluding a good daily intake of their regular food. Keep it as a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look to supplement their diet with wet cat foods (I have reason to believe that you already do) as they are less likely to have vegetable filler. However, it needs to be a good food, check the ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to cat foods, as a note, please really pay attention to the ash content and the nature of it. I learned, the hard way, that &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-03-29/news/9803290433_1_cat-food-male-cats-spay&quot;&gt;too much can be very fatal&lt;/a&gt;, very fast, especially to male cats. It really is within 24 hours, I can sadly attest to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some good, if a bit loaded with technical vet jargon, see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/avhc/Veterinary+team/Cats-obligate-carnivore-Proceedings/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/754078&quot;&gt;Cats: obligate carnivore&lt;/a&gt;. You may need a translator. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, assuming you're in good standing with all of the above, then there isn't other foods for you to add. Cats &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=100&quot;&gt;don't like variation&lt;/a&gt; (with reason), so if your fellow is healthy and happy, you have no need to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T02:28:23.700" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T02:28:23.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1332" CreationDate="2013-11-11T02:31:16.797" Score="16" ViewCount="1921" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats, and I assume others, show signs of movement in their sleep similar to what people show when they're dreaming. There seems to be some schools of thought that suggest that cats do dream, but is this really the case or are we just projecting our experiences on to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T18:04:13.413" Title="Do cats dream or is it just restless sleep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1339" CreationDate="2013-11-11T02:35:10.567" Score="20" ViewCount="28588" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed this with my cats over the years and with the cats of friends and family. Quite often, though not always, the cat will tuck their head down and under, perhaps into a pillow, a gap in a couch, or even into the crook of your arm. The question is... why? It seems counter-intuitive to self-defense to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T22:08:17.037" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T04:01:53.443" Title="Why do cats tuck their heads when sleeping?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1330" CreationDate="2013-11-11T05:44:05.443" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do dream when they sleep. The phenomena you are observing is related to sleep patterns that are also observable in human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were (perhaps unfortunate studies) performed on cats to demonstrate the part of the brain responsible for for allowing  movement when  dreaming. A phenomena called  REM sleep without atonia (RWA),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Jouvet&quot;&gt;Michel Jouvet&lt;/a&gt; did some, now, famous experiments on sleeping cats, where he created lesions in the peri-locus coeruleus and demonstrated the variation between paralysed REM sleep and RWA. From this they were able to deduce the part of the brain responsible for preventing movement during sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;REM sleep without atonia (RWA) and &quot;oneiric&quot; behavior that could only be explained by &quot;acting out dreams&quot; (or &quot;dreaming out acts&quot;),  (1) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15493548&quot;&gt;Rem sleep without atonia--from cats to humans.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Mahowald MW, Schenck CH.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T05:44:05.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1322" CreationDate="2013-11-11T06:01:51.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is difficult and heart breaking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you have told me, it would seem that she is not producing excess saliva, as perhaps having difficulty swallowing her saliva. (please advise if this is not the case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your parents could make up a saline solution, of warm water and salt, and use a syringe  plunger to inject the solution across her teeth and gums after eating. This would help remove some of the food. By placing the syringe in the corner of the cheek (facing towards the front of the mouth and ensuring the cats head is no back, as we don't want her to choke on the solution), gently and slowly expel some of the saline solution from the inside of her cheek towards the teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A warm water solution and cloths can be used to wipe her face, legs and chest to help her keep clean. Adding a cleaning substance to the water, may be too much for her to tolerate, the foreign smells and cause her further distress if she attempts to clean herself, so I recommend, just plain warm water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consult the vet for any topical products that may relieve any pain in her mouth that may be preventing her from swallowing. If she is suffering, there may also be a systemic analgesic that may also help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is to try her on increasing liquid substitutes. There are various liquid formulas that your vet can recommend. Many cancer patients end up having to supplement their diet with liquid nutrition. Also, this may not be viable, depending on how well she is able to drink, as if she cannot swallow her drool, this could be a problem.  I don't know how she would go drinking from a baby bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way, I can see, is for her to have this careful regime 3-4 times a day to help keep her as clean and comfortable as possible. It sounds like she may not have a long time in this state, as she will eventually be unable to chew and swallow food. So this can offset the difficulties of caring for her, knowing that it won't be for a very long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is unable to swallow properly, be sure to keep checking that she is not dehydrating, as this is a painful condition, and if these types of complications cannot be managed, it can sometimes be kinder to take the hard road of euthanasia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not say this lightly, and hope she is able to have some comfortable months and your parents are able to enjoy her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have not recommended specific products, as I'd prefer to see her vet do this.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T06:01:51.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1473" CreationDate="2013-11-11T07:13:59.093" Score="9" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of my chickens just hatched their eggs and I noticed since then that whenever I call them to give all of them food, two of the chicken mothers start fighting for where to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't worry until now because I usually notice this whenever two of my chickens hatch their eggs around the same period. I solved this problem by spreading the food, the chicken mothers will then go to two locations and stop fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, doing that still doesn't solve the problem of these two. No matter how far I spread the food, they will fight to eat at the same spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the cause of their fight? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I stop it and make them eat peacefully?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T05:51:00.307" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:15:00.437" Title="How can I make two chicken mothers eat peacefully?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-11T11:34:25.010" Score="9" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have five toes on their front paws, yet if I search online using a &quot;cat paws&quot; pattern, the results always yield paws with four toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this because the fifth toe is not pressed firmly to the ground, so doesn't leave evidence of its existence, or is the existence of a fifth toe just a misconception?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="365" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T15:33:05.503" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T15:33:05.503" Title="Does a feline footprint include a trace of the fifth toe?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1335" CreationDate="2013-11-11T11:42:28.080" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fifth toe, otherwise known as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewclaw#Cats&quot;&gt;dewclaw&lt;/a&gt;, is set back from the main claws. It is not long enough to reach the ground to leave an imprint unless the cat travels over an extremely loose or moist surface to sink in to that depth. Highly unlikely to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T15:31:12.587" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T15:31:12.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1337" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-11T11:46:05.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The anatomy of a pet. Normal and abnormal anatomy. Anatomical features typical to certain pets that may be prone to causing problems or require special care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T11:46:05.840" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T11:46:05.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1338" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-11T11:46:05.840" Score="0" Body="The anatomy of a pet. Normal and abnormal anatomy. Anatomical features typical to certain pets that may be prone to causing problems or require special care." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T11:46:05.840" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T11:46:05.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1331" CreationDate="2013-11-11T12:13:05.960" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not so counter intuitive for a cat  to sleep curled up as you suggest. Protecting the head whilst sleeping is not counter-intuitive for safety.  If you think about it, it is, perhaps, the safest position to sleep in. The back is exposed and all the soft belly and face is protected. Even the hard skull at the back of the head is a like a little armour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iTDW9.png&quot; alt=&quot;Sid Curled up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As opposed to a stretched position, where this picture illustrates well the soft underbelly that the cat is protecting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d00Bs.png&quot; alt=&quot;Sid stretched&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs will often sleep rolled up in a ball also, it's good to observe when they do and when they are relaxed enough to lay out stretched, or even have a play stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also noteworthy that  animals will find the safest place to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T04:01:53.443" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T04:01:53.443" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1350" CreationDate="2013-11-11T12:28:34.207" Score="13" ViewCount="5380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have observed over and over again in dogs (mine and others) that they will often walk around in a little circle, on the spot, where they are about to lie down. It's like they need to rotate a certain number of times before it's ok to lie down and curl up in a ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also noticed that they will only tend to do this, if they are going to curl up in a ball to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do dogs often turn around in a circle before lying down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And is it connected to them wanting to sleep curled up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-06-25T23:25:22.607" Title="Why do dogs turn around in a circle before lying down?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1330" CreationDate="2013-11-11T13:05:21.717" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Skippy says, cats definitely dream. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a slightly less disturbing reference, this article summarizes the current state of the research and includes a brief biological explanation (the short version is that the hippocampus operates the same way in almost all vertebrates including mammals - meaning that if it's got an internal skeleton it probably dreams): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsitusa.com/blog/?p=3363&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petsitusa.com/blog/?p=3363&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a side note - and a personal one - this means that pets can also suffer sleep disorders similar to the ones we humans get to deal with... I'm narcoleptic, and a good deal of the knowledge about how narcolepsy works comes from observations of narcoleptic dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T07:57:32.653" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T07:57:32.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1342" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-11T15:10:01.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating is the act of consuming / ingesting food or other objects to provide nutritional or medicinal needs to a pet.  This tag should be used for questions regarding the process of eating; it can be used in conjunction with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/food&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;food&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;food&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/health&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;health&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;health&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/nutrition&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;nutrition&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;nutrition&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distinct from and complimentary to &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt;, which is the act of providing food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider applying an appropriate pet-based tag (&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T03:41:24.060" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T03:41:24.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1343" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-11T15:10:01.547" Score="0" Body="Eating is the act of consuming food (or other items) to provide nutritional or medicinal needs to the pet." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T03:41:27.933" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T03:41:27.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1344" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-11T16:17:17.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor containers, vivariums, which hold non-aquatic creatures, such as lizards and reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample questions might discuss set-up, environment &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/maintenance&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'maintenance'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;maintenance&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/care&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'care'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;care&lt;/a&gt; for residents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the purpose of this tag, terrariums are defined as contained indoor or outdoor habitats of any size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquatic vivariums should use the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/aquarium&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'aquarium'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;aquarium&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:37:35.003" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:37:35.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1345" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-11T16:17:17.983" Score="0" Body="An enclosure, a vivarium, that recreates a terrestrial habitat.  These are often used to house reptiles, amphibians, and other small, non-aquatic, animals." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:34:32.447" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:34:32.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1346" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-11T16:34:04.767" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T16:34:04.767" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T16:34:04.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1347" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-11T16:34:04.767" Score="0" Body="Questions about how the biological systems within a pet's body actually work." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T17:04:39.430" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T17:04:39.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1340" CreationDate="2013-11-11T19:58:56.093" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody's exactly sure why domestic dogs do this, long after the need for it is gone (is that carpet really that much different after spinning around on it?). However, there are plenty of theories running around. I'm not sure that it's possible to know the answer for sure, or if they do it for multiple reasons, in different situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some possible reasons that people have come up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.globalanimal.org/2012/04/07/why-does-my-dog-circle-before-lying-down/&quot;&gt;Trampling down the grass&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; In addition to carving out a spot in the tall grasses in the wild, the repeated stamping of the feet would also scare away snakes and other small animals, and also reveal the location of any large rocks that might be uncomfortable to sleep on. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spca.org/document.doc?id=122&quot;&gt;Keeping cool&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Wild canines have been observed turning and curling after digging in the cool soil. The turning may help get their bodies in position before laying down in a tight curl to get the most out of the cool earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/turning-circles-lying/&quot;&gt;Testing the wind&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; It helps the wild dog determine which way the wind is blowing so that they can sleep with their nose to the wind, alerting them to any enemies or prey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defining &quot;mine&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; Dogs have a pack mindset. It's been proposed that by doing this, they are indicating that they intend to lay down in this area and are defining boundaries for the others in their pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the reason, it's definitely a throwback to the wild days of the prairie, and one that hasn't been necessary to select against or stamp out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="188" LastEditDate="2013-11-11T21:37:42.003" LastActivityDate="2013-11-11T21:37:42.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2013-11-12T00:59:07.570" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer with respect to oxygenation is any freshwater plants will do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To explain... the oxygen from this presence is a natural &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis&quot;&gt;byproduct of the photosynthesis&lt;/a&gt; and for a plant submerged in the water, it's only going to go where you want it to go. However, there are some added &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/plants/choosing.php&quot;&gt;advantages&lt;/a&gt; to this cycle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Removal of carbon dioxide from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hiding place for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Natural &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/beginner-planted-aquarium/basic-approach-natural-planted-aquarium-part-34858/&quot;&gt;filtration&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the logical follow-on is, what plants are good with your fish? Since I know you have goldfish and your pond pots are deep, you can get some bigger plants. The primary concern is that goldfish are opportunistic eaters and will nibble at your plants and so bigger, hardier, plants are going to be more likely to survive the fishy assault. Some possibles include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallisneria&quot;&gt;Giant vallis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/amazon-sword/&quot;&gt;Amazon Sword&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/java-fern/&quot;&gt;Java Fern&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a whole lot more. A quick search with Google for goldfish friendly plants will give you a lot of information. Once you have planted your pots, however, you need to keep an eye on the plants. Goldfish are hard on them and a dead/dying plant can actually be &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/effect-aquarium-plants-ph-5049.html&quot;&gt;counter-productive&lt;/a&gt; to the situation and health of the system. Something to be aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T00:59:07.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1364" CreationDate="2013-11-12T04:40:50.433" Score="9" ViewCount="13602" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apply a flea / tick / mosquito preventative (SimpleGuard) to the back of my dog on the first of every month.  I have to assume bathing my dog will affect the effectiveness of any applied preventative.  I have also been informed that applying preventative should not be done soon after a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads me to 2 related scheduling questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How soon after application can I bathe the dog without reducing the effectiveness of the preventative?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long after a bath should I wait before applying the preventative?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T18:54:57.930" LastActivityDate="2018-09-29T20:06:12.960" Title="How should I schedule application of flea preventative against bathing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1310" CreationDate="2013-11-12T15:44:49.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is probably not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First due to the nature of the activities that take place in a human bathroom, there are places that the average human does not come in contact with on a regular basis that can collect liquids and germs.  These types of places, like the seam where the toilet meets the floor, are the type of places that rabbits like to explore.  Rabbit systems are delicate and foreign germs can devastate a rabbits system, and potentially causing death.  Just out of an abundance of precaution I keep my rabbits out of the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another concern is that rabbits are not as agile as cats.  This means that a rabbit that loses  its balance while on the seating area is much more likely to find themselves in the basin with the water and any unflushed waste.  Domestic rabbits are not used to dealing with being wet if you are not there to help clean and dry them this can lead to other issues with their fur, and potentially cause the rabbit to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mybunny.org/info/wellgroom.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;go into shock&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits like to eat hay while in their litter box.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;Successful litter box training&lt;/a&gt; nearly always includes a hay source positioned so that hay can be consumed while producing droppings. Stray or imperfect hay migrates to the floor of the litter box, where it goes to compost with the rest of the litter.  Assuming you train the rabbit to use toilet (conceivable), if you fail to include hay (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551/why-is-adding-hay-to-a-rabbits-diet-important&quot;&gt;a dietary requirement&lt;/a&gt;) at the toilet the rabbit will prefer to use the facilities where the hay is.  If you do include hay at the toilet, your plumbing system is unlikely to appreciate the extra fiber. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition there is really no practical reason for this.  Most bunnies are clean and will leave their potty in the same place most of the time.  If you provide them with a litter box to do this they will leave most of their mess there.  Any problems you have with droppings left in other places are not going to be alleviated by training the bun to use the toilet.  They are most likely either territory marking or the fact that rabbits do not have the control like humans do.  Neither of these is going to change if you can manage to train your rabbit to use the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, rabbit dropping are make a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/8156/rabbit-manure-in-the-garden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;super fertilizer&lt;/a&gt; when composed that is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hobbyfarms.com/farm-pets/pet-rabbit-information/using-rabbit-manure.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hard to top&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T12:04:30.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1354" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:08:02.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biting is the act of a pet gripping something with the teeth to sting, injure, affect (or sometimes carry) that thing. This tag should be used for questions about biting in pets. This tag can also be used for questions about prevention of pets from biting. For better answers, use the appropriate pet tag (e.g &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-27T22:50:22.123" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T22:50:22.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1355" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:08:02.993" Score="0" Body="Refers to the act of a pet gripping something with its teeth to sting, injure, affect (or sometimes carry) that thing." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-27T22:50:22.123" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T22:50:22.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1356" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:14:37.360" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T17:14:37.360" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T17:14:37.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1357" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:14:37.360" Score="0" Body="Questions about managing the amount/cleanilness of water that pets ingest, or preventing them from ingesting harmful or unwated liquids." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-05-30T18:46:07.687" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T18:46:07.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1358" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:19:15.377" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T17:19:15.377" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T17:19:15.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1359" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:19:15.377" Score="0" Body="Refers to a special type of poop that is produce from the cecum in the digestive system of mammals" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T18:30:15.220" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T18:30:15.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1360" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:27:01.090" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T17:27:01.090" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T17:27:01.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1361" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:27:01.090" Score="0" Body="Refers to an enclosure for keeping one or more pets. Pen could also mean the act of confining a pet to an enclosure." OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T17:54:24.603" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T17:54:24.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1362" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:31:04.667" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T17:31:04.667" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T17:31:04.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1363" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-12T17:31:04.667" Score="0" Body="Many kinds of pest issues can result from pet ownership. Vermin infestations can threaten the health of pets or humans by spreading diseases, eating the pet's food, or preying on them directly. " OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-27T21:10:11.080" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T21:10:11.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1352" CreationDate="2013-11-12T20:57:11.613" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As instructed from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vethical.com/SimpleGuard3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Simple Guard 3 web page&lt;/a&gt;, the product can be applied as soon as the dog has dried after a bath.  You do not need to wait 48 hours before or after to apply the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q:&lt;/strong&gt; Can I bathe my dog before or after I apply SimpleGuard 3?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A:&lt;/strong&gt; Yes, your pet just needs to be completely dry before applying SimpleGuard 3 and the product needs to dry completely before bathing. You do not need to wait 48 hours before or after application. The shampoo you choose is very important, too. Do not use detergent dish soap or detergent shampoos; this will remove the SimpleGuard 3 from your pet’s skin and hair, resulting in loss of protection for your pet. Remember, if your pet is receiving therapeutic shampoos and rinses from your  veterinarian for other skin diseases, they may affect the duration of action of SimpleGuard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is very brand-specific. According to the packing on the REVOLUTION product, as well as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.revolution4dogs.com/what-is-revolution&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;their website&lt;/a&gt;, you should wait 2 hours after a bath to apply the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;REVOLUTION is quick-drying, nongreasy and waterfast, with no unpleasant odor, so you can cuddle and play with your dog as soon as the product dries. Bathing your dog 2 hours after application does not reduce the effectiveness of REVOLUTION.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used other products in the past that had a 3-day wait period on either side of a bath before it could be applied. It's best to read the labeling specific to your product; if that still leaves you with question, contact your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="111" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T01:15:49.843" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T01:15:49.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-12T21:31:34.380" Score="7" ViewCount="51708" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are YouTube videos of dogs walking with socks on, in which the dogs are clearly uncomfortable with walking while wearing socks. Why is that?  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaFx5vNw3OI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sample YouTube video for reference&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="370" LastEditorUserId="181" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T15:37:16.267" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T20:46:40.650" Title="Why do dogs not appear to be comfortable walking with socks on?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1374" CreationDate="2013-11-12T21:39:45.377" Score="3" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't use topical flea products on my cats or dogs.  I worry about using a pesticide that is absorbed systemically. &lt;em&gt;This is just my own personal concerns and not intended to alarm people.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was looking for a reference to answer &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1352/how-should-i-schedule-application-of-flea-preventative-against-bathing&quot;&gt;How should I schedule application of flea preventative against bathing?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and got sidetracked after discovering negative search results warning about topical applications. The results just reinforced my concerns, but maybe I'm just a bit too worried. It is also difficult to know if I can trust everything I read, as I am not sure the search results will be reputable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are topical flea products safe for dogs and cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T18:11:24.247" Title="Why all the safety concerns regarding topical flea products?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1369" CreationDate="2013-11-12T21:41:37.093" Score="16" ViewCount="1805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been in the habit of leaving my room in the middle of the night to get some food to eat in my room (which I make sure she doesn't eat, of course), but I recently got a cat (I had two cats eight or so years ago, but unfortunately they both passed away [ages 18 and 20]). Said cat is in the habit of sleeping in a small niche between a wall and a chair at the end of the hallway, or on a chair in the kitchen. Although I try to stay quiet, occasionally I wake her up, and then I pet her for a while before retiring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could my walking past my cat in the night be disturbing her sleep, even when she does not visibly wake up, and if it does, could this disturbance be detrimental to her health? (She is around 12 years old)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="371" LastEditorUserId="371" LastEditDate="2013-11-12T23:29:11.167" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T05:40:46.037" Title="Can walking past my cat at night disturb her sleep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1365" CreationDate="2013-11-12T21:53:18.440" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting, I had never seen these videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, dogs (like people) require the use of all the pads on their feet to balance, as a person wearing socks can have difficulty on a slippery surface, so can dogs. Also, people who wear shoes that are not well fitted also have difficulty walking. Think about wearing shoes that are too loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can see, the dogs, by and large feel uncomfortable with the socks on and in most instances are trying to remove the socks as they are walking; hence the funny walk. In the video you linked, the dog looks like he feels uneasy walking with the socks on, and his gait widens to help adjust his balance, indicating that he is feeling uneasy walking in the socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a dog's claws grow too long they can have difficulty maintaining a normal walking gait, it is similar to this, in that anything that impedes balance, grip, especially something a dog is not used to will create a funny gait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed in some cases, when baby booties were used and tied on firmly, this would irritate the dog more, as s/he could not remove them easily, hence the gait was strange for a longer period of time, as the dog was continually struggling to walk and remove the booties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really is for the entertainment of the human, not the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-12T21:53:18.440" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1367" CreationDate="2013-11-13T01:51:46.290" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, first thing to note... Cats tend to actually be more &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Behavior&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;active at night&lt;/a&gt; and so, if you're sleep disturbing then, the impact is probably lessened. Having said that, I don't think you need to worry. Why? Because cats have &lt;a href=&quot;https://ceasecatspraying.com/pdf/indoor-cat-manual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;very different sleep patterns&lt;/a&gt; (pg 9) than we do and are more often in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_sleep_so_much&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;light doze than a deep sleep&lt;/a&gt; as a result of being predator aware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also not around them 24 and 7, so any sleep loss that might have resulted from your incidental night passage is likely going to be made up at a different time. She may enjoy the petting (we do this to ours all the time), but I think if you want her to go to sleep faster, then this is actually counterproductive. If she likes it, however, keep it up. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-03-03T19:51:43.487" LastActivityDate="2018-03-03T19:51:43.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1366" CreationDate="2013-11-13T02:17:54.223" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Safe&quot; really depends on your tolerance for risk. For example, I don't give my cats a topical pesticide even though mosquitoes can come into the house (open doors when we go in/out) and they can bite my cats and give them heartworm.  I've judged that the risk of them getting heartworm is less than the risk of problems from putting the products on their skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good resource for investigating the risks involved in various flea treatments is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.greenpaws.org/_docs/GP_productlist.pdf&quot;&gt;this pdf from Greenpaws&lt;/a&gt;. It lists what is known about each flea preventative/treatment.  As an example, this is the info given for Selamectin (the active ingredient in Revolution, which is a popular vet recommended treatment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Selamectin is a relatively new insecticide and little information exists on its toxicity. However, early evidence suggests that Selamectin has very low toxicity in mammals and chemically similar compounds have not been found to be carcinogenic. Measurable transfer of residues from fur has been detected and further safety evaluations are needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each statement has several references so you can look further if you're interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T02:17:54.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1371" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-13T04:14:32.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Topics involving how pets communicate, with focus on verbalization. Purring, growling, barking, as opposed to the generic &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T04:14:32.473" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T04:14:32.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1372" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-13T04:14:32.473" Score="0" Body="Topics involving how pets communicate, with focus on verbalization. Purring, growling, barking, as opposed to the generic *behavior* tag." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T16:43:26.227" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T16:43:26.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1376" CreationDate="2013-11-13T06:38:06.637" Score="7" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been asking a lot of questions about goldfish, as I am preparing for a bigger pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have three comets that I will move to  the bigger pond. The pond will be approx 350 L so there will be ample room for them. When the three fish were together, the smallest one was being pushed out of the way at feeding time, now this could be due to them needing more room. Since I moved the largest fish to his own pond, this has stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering, with small numbers of goldfish, is it better to have an even number to reduce bullying or does it make no difference? I am wondering if they form friendship pairs? &lt;em&gt;(I am not referring to mating pairs, as I have no idea what sex these fish are, but if there is information abut mating pairs, this is also a good thing).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T19:22:49.433" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T19:22:49.433" Title="Do smaller numbers of goldfish form pairs?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1366" CreationDate="2013-11-13T15:03:23.750" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much all flea treatments marketed for pets are toxic in the same way that coffee and chocolate are to people: a high enough quantity will cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If health concerns are genuinely a problem, you may want to look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth&quot;&gt;Diatomaceous Earth&lt;/a&gt; for flea control purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What is Diatomaceous Earth?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It is used as a filtration aid, mild abrasive in products including toothpaste, &lt;strong&gt;mechanical insecticide&lt;/strong&gt;, absorbent for liquids, matting agent for coatings, reinforcing filler in plastics and rubber, anti-block in plastic films, porous support for chemical catalysts, cat litter, activator in blood clotting studies, a stabilizing component of dynamite, and a thermal insulator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How it works&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fleas and other insects with an exoskeleton (hard shell) are susceptible to the glass-sharp edges of the microscopic diatoms. The silica shards cut through the waxy exoskeleton surface, effectively drying out the flea, resulting in death to these types of insects and their larvae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/a/Diatomaceous-Earth-For-Flea-Control.htm&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because DE is not a poison or toxin, insects cannot build up immunity to it.  Also, it does not reduce in potency:  as long as DE is still present, it is just as effective as when you first applied it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Safety concerns&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided you get food grade DE, it is completely safe to touch and eat (in fact, it is commonly used for pest control on food crops intended for people, so there is a chance that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; ate some recently).  However, it is not good to inhale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless it is labeled 100% DE, it likely contains poisonous additives that your pet should not have.  If the label says &quot;do not use on food&quot;, then don't use it on your pet.  You will likely need to seek out a natural food store or special order it online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fleacontrolbook.com/naturalfleacontrol/diatomaceous-earth-the-a-miracle-cure-for-flea-control/&quot;&gt;http://www.fleacontrolbook.com/naturalfleacontrol/diatomaceous-earth-the-a-miracle-cure-for-flea-control/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T15:03:23.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1377" CreationDate="2013-11-13T16:09:19.173" Score="9" ViewCount="8700" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have a 30 gallon (ca. 113 litres) tank that is medium planted. Would it be OK to keep two male bettas, or one male and one female betta?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read a lot of stuff online about keeping a group of females and such, however I am wondering if I can specifically have only two bettas where one of them must be male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally I intend to include 10 neon tetras, two snails, and a few shrimps of different variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorUserId="207" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T10:52:24.037" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T10:52:24.037" Title="How many gallons is enough space for two bettas where one is male?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1373" CreationDate="2013-11-13T17:10:29.200" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, goldfish do not &quot;pair up&quot; &amp;mdash; not socially, and not even in breeding. Goldfish are okay in smaller numbers in aquariums, but in larger ponds, they'll do much better in schools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are moving the fish to a new home, try to add them to their new home all at once. This will help avoid some of the territorial behaviors which can lead to aggression. And if you are introducing &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; fish to a group, it's sometimes helpful to move around any accessories or decorations you might have in the pond to break that &lt;em&gt;&quot;this is my spot&quot;&lt;/em&gt; instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reference (below) talks about group spawning, but that schooling behavior applies to any type of social activity: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=v5EnQah5bNEC&amp;amp;pg=PA134&amp;amp;lpg=PA134&amp;amp;dq=do+goldfish+form+pairs&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=yrvygIK-Hd&amp;amp;sig=yS4NQiKq7ZFFaP4nhu_rejWQ64A&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=YK6DUrjAL4au2gXhxYCYDw&amp;amp;ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=do%20goldfish%20form%20pairs&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;Goldfish, Gregory Skomal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-11-13T22:16:01.617" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T22:16:01.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1375" CreationDate="2013-11-13T18:20:21.047" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have direct experience with bettas, but I've never heard that pairs will work long-term in any male/female combination. There's research that suggests they prefer to be alone or in large groups, rather than with one other fish. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635705002378&quot;&gt;Social partner preferences of male and female fighting fish (Betta splendens)&lt;/a&gt;, by J.L. Snekser, S.P. McRobert, and E.D. Clotfelter in &lt;em&gt;Behavioural Processes&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite high levels of conspecific aggression by both sexes (e.g.&#xA;  Goldstein, 1975 and Jaroensutasinee and Jaroensutasinee, 2001b), in&#xA;  most situations &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; chose to spend significantly more time with&#xA;  other fish rather than swimming on the empty side of the test tank.&#xA;  Two exceptions to this general preference were seen: males did not&#xA;  spend significantly more time with a single female test fish and&#xA;  females chose to spend significantly more time on the side of the test&#xA;  chamber that was empty than spend time with the single male fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, lone females went out of their way to avoid lone males, and lone males didn't seem to care much one way or the other about lone females. A pair of males was found to be the most aggressive combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paper also mentions that, in the wild, you'll find about 1.7 bettas per square meter. And that's in the wild: remember most &lt;em&gt;domestic&lt;/em&gt; bettas have been bred for aggression and are probably even less tolerant of their neighbors. A typical 30 gallon has a 0.27 square meter footprint (91cm by 30cm), so I'd say that's not enough room for a pair to establish their own territories. (I'm not personally sure if the females are territorial, but if not they probably prefer to avoid a male's territory when they're not breeding.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for compatibility with neons, nothing I've heard makes me think it won't work unless you have a &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; aggressive male. That many tetras should feel safe in their shoal, so I wouldn't expect to see much fin-nipping from them; and 30 gallons planted means they won't constantly be in the betta's personal space. And the bioload from this community would be perfectly safe for this size tank. One thing I'd suggest you check though, if you haven't already, would be water parameters: neons tend to live in cooler waters than what I've heard about bettas. You might find cardinal tetras a better fit if the bettas need more than say 75 degrees F or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T02:59:15.243" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T02:59:15.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2013-11-13T20:08:05.610" Score="10" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Humane Society of the United States opposes declawing except for the rare cases when it is necessary for medical purposes, such as the removal of cancerous nail bed tumors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not the practice is inhumane is not the only the only reason to avoid declawing, there may be undesirable behavior changes as a result:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People often mistakenly believe that declawing their cats is a harmless &amp;quot;quick fix&amp;quot; for unwanted scratching. They don't realize that &lt;strong&gt;declawing can make a cat less likely to use the litter box or more likely to bite&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who are worried about being scratched, especially those with immunodeficiencies or bleeding disorders, may be told incorrectly that their health will be protected by declawing their cats. However, declawing is not recommended by infectious disease specialists. The risk from scratches for these people is less than those from bites, cat litter, or fleas carried by their cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html#.UoPYfEA7hok&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't vouch for litter box troubles, but I've certainly seen an increase in biting from declawed cats (a friend of the family had theirs declawed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T20:08:05.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1380" CreationDate="2013-11-13T20:47:01.857" Score="12" ViewCount="13415" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has recently started chewing on paper products I leave around the house. I try to keep him away from the paper stuff, but, well, I can't be everywhere always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figure since paper isn't cat food, he shouldn't be eating it, but just how worried should I be? What are the dangers of him eating paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T16:03:28.497" LastActivityDate="2016-11-06T07:22:08.253" Title="What are the problems associated with my cat eating paper?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1379" CreationDate="2013-11-13T21:24:05.150" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name for this problem is &quot;pica&quot;. Most often cats are attracted to wool or blankets, but I have one who loves to chew on plastic (he doesn't have teeth anymore, so he just gums it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pica can be the result of medical problems (brain tumors, FIV, dietary imbalances, mental issues like compulsion, etc), so you should get your cat checked by the vet if you haven't already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once medical problems are ruled out, the treatments for pica are generally &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove the material (as much as possible)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make the material unpalatable (bitter sprays, which wouldn't work in your case)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Provide stimulation (it could be caused by boredom) with lots of interactive play&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Provide safe chewing alternatives (rawhide, toys, raw chicken necks, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove/reduce any environmental factors that could be causing stress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any problems SPECIFICALLY from pica with paper, but the general risks of pica are that the material could create a blockage in his digestive system and require surgery to fix. Also, if the paper material has staples, that could be an additional hazard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll admit that some tough plastic items we just let Hunter gnaw on because we know there's no way he can do enough damage to cause any part to be swallowed, but that's a unique situation. Any time a cat is swallowing a non-food item you should be concerned and try to remedy the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-13T21:24:05.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-14T02:18:24.620" Score="18" ViewCount="13209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read on some sites that dogs lean on you because they feel comfortable with you. Other sites say that it is a sign of dominance. So, is it good or bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="169" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:02:27.900" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T14:37:35.110" Title="Why do dogs lean against you?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-14T12:26:23.540" Score="6" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in a small office of eight people, one of whom bought a Cockapoo puppy a year ago. In the main it's a great set-up (for Twiglet and us), but recently we've been having some problems that we're finding difficult to solve, made worse by some people in the office not being 'dog people'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twiglet's a sweet dog, quite small, with a wonderful attitude towards people and other dogs. He's not hyper but he has a lot of energy which he uses up playing and running in the park next door to our offices, which various people from the company walk him in throughout the day. When he's in the office someone will often sit and play with him for a while, hiding treats or toys and getting him to find them, teaching him tricks, etc. I know that problems of understimulation are associated with having dogs in a work environment, but I really think he's doing okay on that front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE PROBLEMS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people in the office love having him around and interacting with him but recently he's been displaying two behaviours more and more: jumping up for attention and unbearable whining when either his owner, Jacky, or a man called Ed to whom he has developed an inexplicable attachment, leaves the room even to go to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PROBLEM #1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I understand the causes of the first problem: some people love him jumping up and encourage it by hugging and petting him. We have made it clear in the office that it is not to be allowed, and in the main he has been getting better. But there is one woman, who is NOT a dog person at all, who just doesn't get it, and who, by pushing him down quite strongly whenever he jumps up, makes it much worse by exciting him. I just can't get through to her politely what she must do in order to get him to stop. She just can't help it: she's quite well strung. I sympathise but I just don't know what to do. If she can't join in with the rest of us in not rewarding him with attention when he jumps up, I don't things are going to change. In the meantime this lady and the rest of us are very tense and nervous, as she can't sense him coming and he gives her a terrible fright. She is quite elderly, perhaps not in years (I think she's less than seventy) but a little frail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PROBLEM #2 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite being happy in the office and being great friends with the rest of us, Twiglet only really has eyes for Jacky (owner) and Ed (friend). Whenever one of them shows signs of leaving the room, as indeed they have to, often at the same time, for work reasons, or just to go to the toilet, Twiglet goes a bit mad. He whines, often developing into barks, runs around the office, looking out of windows... it's a bit hard to deal with. What should we do when this happens? Should we try to ignore him? Usually we sit with him and try to calm him down by stroking him, or getting him to do tricks like Paw or Lie Down, which distracts him slightly. But I worry that this is rewarding the behaviour with attention. However, is it behaviour that is the problem, or an emotional state? ANY advice on this would be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;QUESTIONS IN BRIEF&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How to deal with the following situation: training a dog not to jump up at people while they're working when one of those people doesn't understand or appreciate the importance of ignoring the dog. She simply reacts quickly and to an extent violently by pushing him down, which gets him excited and leads to more jumping. Very tense situation all round.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How to deal with a dog that whines unbearably when his owner or a friend whom he has an attachment with leaves the office. Should we give him attention? Ignore him? Is there anything else we could do?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="375" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T12:52:02.610" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T12:52:02.610" Title="How can I help my colleague train her dog to behave in the workplace?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2013-11-14T15:15:57.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1381" CreationDate="2013-11-14T14:29:00.830" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue of the reason for dogs leaning on owners is quite conflicting. As you said, some people believe that it is a sign of dominance but from personal experience and some research, I believe your dog will lean on you for affection, to get your attention .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog leans on me mostly when he wants something. Like, to play fetch, remind me it is time for me to feed him, etc. This absolutely is not dominance, he is just trying to get my attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not a single person brought up the fact that many dogs will lean on their owners for security. They will lean on their owners because they are shy, fearful or insecure. They are not trying to dominate their owners. They are trying to feel safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nine times out of 10, when dogs lean on us they really are just seeking attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Shy dogs might lean on their owners for security.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to react to this is not to pet the dog because this will not build his confidence rather it will make him more timid and shy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s easy to nurture a small dog’s fear by carrying him around and telling him “It’s OK. It’s OK, baby.” But this will not help the dog build any confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, the owner should place the dog on the ground and slowly help him understand that nothing bad happens in new situations. The owner should ignore the dog or move away when he frantically paws at her legs to get back up. She should give him a treat or pick him up only when he is calm or if the situation is truly unsafe for the little guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll say is not bad for your dog to lean on you as long as you understand your dog so as to take the appropriate actions. When your dog is leaning for affection, It is best to pet him and show the affection he wants but when your dog is leaning for security or because he is scared, It is better to help him build up his confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thatmutt.com/2011/11/11/why-does-my-dog-lean-on-me/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why does my dog lean on me?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dailywag.marthastewart.com/2011/05/lean-on-me.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The daily wag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T14:29:00.830" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1384" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-14T16:10:45.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refers to the &lt;strong&gt;act&lt;/strong&gt; of a pet eating something, whether the action is appropriate (&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/diet&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;diet&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;diet&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/treats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;treats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;treats&lt;/a&gt;) or inappropriate (&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feces&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feces&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feces&lt;/a&gt;, plants, wires, etc.). &quot;Pica&quot; is the proper terminology for consuming non-food items, and is covered by this tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The act of eating encompasses chewing / mastication, but does not refer to aggressive &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/biting&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;biting&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;biting&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concerns involving the process of providing food to a pet, use &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/feeding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;feeding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;feeding&lt;/a&gt;, which may also be used in conjunction with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/eating&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;eating&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;eating&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concerns involving what is appropriate to feed to a pet, use &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/diet&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;diet&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;diet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T19:25:19.360" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T19:25:19.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1385" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-14T16:10:45.360" Score="0" Body="The &quot;act&quot; of a pet consuming or chewing on something, whether the action is appropriate or not (pica)." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-14T19:25:29.190" LastActivityDate="2013-11-14T19:25:29.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-14T17:31:50.070" Score="9" ViewCount="1131" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I know, puppies feed on breast milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any healthy foods that I can feed a puppy along with breast milk, or does breast milk contain all the nutrients they need to grow to full maturity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T15:53:10.237" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T15:53:10.237" Title="Should I supplement the diet of a breast-feeding puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1387" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-14T23:02:26.217" Score="15" ViewCount="1213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 50-gallon wide tank and all associated materials.  On November 1st, my tank had tap water chemistry (meaning 0 ammonia, 0 everything); I had just set up my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added Stress Zyme by API and stress coat to dechlorinate and dechloramine the water.  It also added beneficial bacteria - I have driftwood, slate, and moss in my tank.  I have marbles on top of my gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At two weeks after set-up (Nov. 14) and adding 30 drops of ammonium chloride weekly, the tank has 0.5 ppm ammonia, no nitrites, and 40ppm nitrate.  Is my tank done cycling?  Should I add more ammonia? I added a rotala plant two days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-15T19:49:55.800" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:59:35.827" Title="When is it safe to add fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1386" CreationDate="2013-11-15T00:32:17.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, as a general rule, you should expect that the puppy is getting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/newborn-puppy-care&quot;&gt;sufficient nutrition in the early stages&lt;/a&gt; of growth from the milk supplied by the mother. However, the health and general condition of the mother plays a role here. It's important to ensure that she is &lt;a href=&quot;http://cvm.msu.edu/hospital/services/nutrition-support-service-1/client-education/care-and-feeding-for-your-pregnant-or-nursing-dog&quot;&gt;sufficiently looked after&lt;/a&gt; to ensure that she produces sufficient milk for the litter and that the the milk she produces contains the necessary nutrients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also important, especially if the litter is large, is that you monitor the puppies to ensure proper feeding is happening, look for signs that the puppies are nursing and weigh them daily to see evidence of growth and weight gain. In general, your puppies should be feeding about every 2 to 2.5 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the female is not in good health and properly nourished or is producing insufficient milk for the litter, then you may need supplemental options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this only goes on for about a month, then you can start to transition them to regular food (as the linked ASPCA article mentions). Obviously, the milk from the mother is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; sufficient to bring the puppies to full growth, but it should be sufficient to bring them to a point that they can get nutrients from other sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T00:32:17.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1387" CreationDate="2013-11-15T00:51:21.040" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this stage, I would look to add fish and stop artificially adding ammonia to the system. Ideally, you want to start small, with a few hardy fish added to the tank, much less than your tank is expected to handle, and then begin adding more fish over the next few weeks as you system equalizes from the prior additions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you now want to slowly encourage the bacterial growth in the tank towards the amount needed to sustain the quantity of fish you intend to keep. It's best to do that with the fish. Don't overcrowd, make sure that you slowly build up to the recommended capacity of the tank and don't add too many at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T00:51:21.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1387" CreationDate="2013-11-15T01:20:50.007" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I'd say no, not if you still have that much ammonia showing up. The rule of thumb I've seen is you should be able to add 2ppm ammonia and have it completely converted to nitrates within 24 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's odd that you're seeing ammonia and nitrates at this stage: you tend to see the ammonia-consuming bacteria show up very quickly (see the graph &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/The_Nitrogen_Cycle&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;), then the ammonia disappears but nitrites skyrocket and linger forever. They might not actually be coming from your denitrifying bacteria: do you know for a fact that your tapwater has 0ppm nitrates? If you haven't done so already, mix up a batch of new water as if you're doing a water change, let it sit about half an hour, and then check to see what your starting conditions really are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also skeptical because you've been dosing the ammonia weekly. Were you testing to see when the ammonia started dropping to add more? If not, your NH3-consumers may not have had enough food to get established. (Two thumbs up for dosing your NH3 by the way: it's a lot more work than using fish, but so much safer for them, and more reliable.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not convinced many of the bottled nitrogen cycle starters are very reliable, by the way. Older recipes don't actually have &lt;em&gt;Nitrospira&lt;/em&gt;, the bacteria that consumes NO2, because until a few years ago, other dentrifiers were thought to be much more important to the aquarium nitrogen cycle than they really are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T01:20:50.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1391" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-11-15T01:50:17.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common examples of water parameters include pH, temperature, salinity, nitrogen wastes content, general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimal water parameter values may differ significantly depending on the inhabiting species and the fact whether the aquarium is freshwater or marine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, regardless of the aquarium settings, it is generally accepted that the optimal measurable content of ammonia (NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) and nitrites (NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;) should be 0, as they are both highly toxic to aquatic life. The only exceptional case where it's desired to have measurable amounts of ammonia and nitrites in the water is when one hasn't introduced any animals to the aquarium yet and attempts to start the nitrogen cycle going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrates (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;), on the other hand, aren't nearly as toxic. Generally, many fish species could tolerate suboptimal, raised levels of this substance and wouldn't display acute poisoning symptoms unless the nitrate content exceeds around 100 parts per million, but optimally the nitrate content in freshwater aquarium should not exceed 10 to 20 ppm. A prolonged exposure to slightly raised nitrate concentrations, exceeding 30 to 60 ppm, could lead to negative interference with fish' immune system, leading to diseases; it would also prevent them from fully thriving. Consequently, it is especially important to maintain low nitrate content in hospital tanks. What is more, elevated nitrate levels could cause an undesirable algae bloom since nitrogen (N) is often the limiting nutritient for plants, so generally it's wise to keep their concentration relatively low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tfhmagazine.com/freshwater/feature-articles/keeping-up-with-nitrate.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on nitrate levels in freshwater tanks at tfhmagazine.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For marine reef and coral aquariums, however, even a miniscule amount of nitrates could cause severe damage - for that reason, the general guideline for nitrate content it these types of settings tells it should be below 1 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://fishlab.com/nitrate/#ideal-nitrate-levels&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ideal nitrate levels at fishlab.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-04T21:59:13.393" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T21:59:13.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1392" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-11-15T01:50:17.807" Score="0" Body="The physical and chemical aspects of an aquarium's water that affect the animals living within it. Please provide specific details of what spieces are inhabiting the aquarium and include their respective tags.&#xD;&#xA;Common examples of water parameters include pH, temperature, salinity, nitrogen wastes content, general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH)." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T10:35:43.420" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T10:35:43.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1395" CreationDate="2013-11-15T11:47:09.723" Score="15" ViewCount="4951" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many houses have a room with a large white bowl that is regularly refilled with fresh water.  The door is open unless the room is occupied.  The bowl holds much more water than any water dish.  Unlike the water dish, the bowl is refilled several times a day with cool water.  If you are a big dog or an agile cat, what is not to like about this fancy porcelain bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the pet perspective, a toilet bowl has a lot to offer for drinking water options.  Given the places their tongues go and the things they eat, the toilet is not as dirty a place as a person might imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming a toilet has water coming from a fresh water supply (without additives) and the bowl is cleaned regularly, is it safe for a pet to drink from the toilet?  Are there any studies or research linking drinking water from the toilet bowl to health issues in pets?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T19:04:19.660" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T22:00:11.010" Title="Will my pet get sick drinking from the toilet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2013-11-15T12:38:32.853" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any studies or research showing there's a problem for the pet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/is-drinking-from-the-toilet-dangerous-for-my-cat&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; sums up the current knowledge pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But, honestly, there’s nothing in the bowl that she wouldn’t be better&#xA;  off not having.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short version is that as long as you don't have additives in the water and you're flushing after you use it, the water in there is likely to be cooler and fresher than the water in the pet's water dish. As the article points out, cool, flowing water indicates to the pet's instincts that the water is safer to drink, as it is less likely to harbor dangerous algae than warm, still water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can say from my experience that even a not terribly agile cat can drink from the big porcelain bowl - my 18 year old cat with arthritis manages to get herself up on the seat and drink from the bowl. She usually manages to get her feet wet and splash water everywhere as well... Curiously enough, the two younger cats (one is 6 and the other is 8) don't show any interest in the big white water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article suggests that if you don't want your pet drinking from the toilet, a pet drinking fountain that's providing a constant source of flowing water is likely to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-11-16T15:06:27.457" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T15:06:27.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-15T14:46:22.113" Score="9" ViewCount="7599" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are looking for a dog, preferably a larger breed of dog such as a Siberian Husky or German Shepherd. The problem that I am having with the situation is that my wife and I both live an hour away from work. That means we are both away from home 10 hours a day and work the same schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a breed of dog that would be okay with this type of separation? My wife is not convinced that it would be a bad idea for a dog; however, I am thinking that a dog just would not fit our work schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am hoping my question is not too opinion-based or too broad, so my question breaks down to whether factual information exists regarding which dog breeds better handle being alone for long periods of time.  Also, is separation anxiety gender-related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="378" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T16:00:39.523" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T16:00:39.523" Title="What breeds of dog are known for handling separation anxiety well?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2014-04-25T12:58:28.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1399" CreationDate="2013-11-15T18:43:04.713" Score="16" ViewCount="567" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to have bettas in my 50-gallon tank, which will consist of schools of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose I obtain a group of (maybe 4) female bettas and I have a shoal of 10 neon tetras in a 50-gallon tank. There are about 8 places for the fish to hide.  Would they end up being compatible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose some of the tetras begin nipping one or a few of the bettas' fins?  How should I resolve the situation?  Would I have to get a new tank, which isn't an option, or would I release it back to a pond?  What should I do?  Can someone answer this from experience? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:01:35.263" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T18:51:58.050" Title="How can I resolve a fish conflict in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1398" CreationDate="2013-11-15T19:20:56.597" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of pet stores - particularly those dedicated to aquariums - will happily take unwanted fish off your hands.  So if that ends up the case, and you can't put them in another tank, call around and see if any stores will take them.  Often the fish just end up getting resold by the store.  I've heard some stores may even give you store credit towards the fish you 'trade in', though I've never asked for such.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never&lt;/strong&gt; release them into the wild unless that's the habitat they came from.  They'll almost certainly die right off the bat, and if they do survive, you risk introducing an invasive species (such as the Lion fish off the US East Coast and pythons in Florida) or a disease/parasite into the local habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T19:20:56.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1386" CreationDate="2013-11-15T19:59:00.787" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to make sure the mother is on a lactating diet. I've learned in the pet food business that lactating mothers have the highest need of nutrition over all other life stages. Also when you start the puppies on solid food, try wetting the food first and make sure its a puppy specified diet. An 'All life stages' food is okay but not optimal for the calories and building block nutrients puppies need. As well large breed puppy food is different then small dog puppy food so I would go to a pet store and ask to make sure they get the right food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="350" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T19:59:00.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="257" CreationDate="2013-11-15T20:12:07.050" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some food related things I know to be a help  from working with pet food and supplements are:&#xA;- Coconut unsweetened sprinkled over the food can help the oil in the skin and coat to promote its health, or also coconut oil rubbed into the skin. they love licking it off though (its fine for them to eat) so you got to rub it in good before they get a chance to lick it off. &#xA;- An oatmeal based food and or shampoo can help as well&#xA;- Their are also many treats and supplements at pet stores that are tasty and if given according to the instructions on the packaging are great for promoting skin and coat heath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="350" LastActivityDate="2013-11-15T20:12:07.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-15T20:27:39.803" Score="8" ViewCount="2692" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is just what's in the title. I was under the impression that Boxers were one of the type of dogs that have that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_gland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gland&lt;/a&gt; near their anus that can cause them serious discomfort, as well as frequently getting &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_eye&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cherry Eye&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that a select few breeds have these issues quite commonly, where many other breeds rarely if at all have these problems. If that's an inaccurate portrayal please tell me as such and I'll accept that answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="172" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:28:40.120" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:28:40.120" Title="Do Boxers have a tendency towards Cherry-eye and gland-expression issues?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1404" CreationDate="2013-11-16T10:44:38.987" Score="14" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pond_turtle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;European pond turtle&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;red-eared slider&lt;/a&gt; as pets. They had been living together in harmony in an aquarium for about 8 years, but when I moved them both to a larger aquarium a year ago, I started noticing something weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every now and then, the pond turtle (which is about half the size of the red-eared) would climb on the back of the red-eared slider and stay there. The red-eared doesn't seem to like it and tries to remove the pond turtle from its back, but the smaller pond turtle manages to stay there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal behavior, or could it be harmful for the red-eared slider?  Should they co-exist in the same aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="384" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-17T03:53:13.303" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T03:53:13.303" Title="Why does my European pond turtle rest on the back of my red-eared slider?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1403" CreationDate="2013-11-16T14:51:40.263" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is, they lived together for 8 years in a smaller tank, so that does mean that they &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.redearslider.com/cohabitation.html&quot;&gt;can live together&lt;/a&gt;. Ideally, you would mix turtles of similar size, as that reduces some risk, but from your description I don't think there's much in the way of aggression going on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do think is happening, and the larger tank is the key to having me think this, is that the smaller turtle is stacking on the larger one to get closer to the basking light(s), which is actually fairly normal. However, this irritates the larger turtle because your RES also wants (and needs) to bask. If it's happening all the time, this could be an issue for the RES since sufficient UV radiation is necessary for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.happyturtlespub.org/habitat/lightbask/&quot;&gt;shell and bone health&lt;/a&gt;. If it really is infrequent, as you kind of indicate, then I don't think it's a risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you might want to help out the situation, perhaps ensuring a larger basking area and bringing the lamps closer in, if possible. If the tank is large enough, you might also want to consider a couple of basking areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-16T14:51:40.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2013-11-16T21:21:50.693" Score="27" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why do cats lick plastic bags?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extensive online research shows it is not just plastic bags which appear to be cat tongue attractants, but photographs as well.  The activity of bag licking varies among cats; not all cats lick bags and not all bags get licked.  There is no definitive answer, but most theories support @JohnCavan's answer of bags being rendered with animal fat or having acquired smells.   Unfortunately, the majority of answers found are incestuous, referring to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the culmination of what I've discovered, with each reason listing the seemingly independent sites which support each conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Manufacturing&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the bio-degradable nature of the bag, it was rendered with something that created a lingering odor.  This could be anything from rendered animal fats (&amp;quot;tallow&amp;quot;), lanolin, petrolium products, gelatin, or corn starch.  As regards photographs, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manhattancats.com/Articles/PICA.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manhattan Cats&lt;/a&gt; notes that gelatin is also used in the photo emulsion process, directly connecting photo licking to bag licking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinexpress.com/cat-behavior/plastic-bag.asp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline Express&lt;/a&gt; article breaks down bag materials as it relates to cats, noting the manufacturing process may have simply created an odor which we cannot detect, but cats prefer.  Though &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.chron.com/animalqa/2010/01/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chron Blog&lt;/a&gt; proposes corn starch, Feline Express dismisses the ingredient, as corn starch bags were only manufactured for a short time among few vendors.  Feline Express continues by dismissing tallow and even fish scales, referencing quotes from manufacturers stating they are not used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting Sites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetriscience.com/blog/2012/12/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vetriscience&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.chron.com/animalqa/2010/01/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chron Blog&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinexpress.com/cat-behavior/plastic-bag.asp&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline Express&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://askville.amazon.com/cat-lick-plastic-bags/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=6806711&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amazon AskVille&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manhattancats.com/Articles/PICA.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manhattan Cats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hdw-inc.com/behaviorswhy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HDW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Acquired Odor&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what the bag has touched or held, there may be lingering odors from the prior contact, which the cat can detect and is trying to taste, or is simply curious about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting Sites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetriscience.com/blog/2012/12/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vetriscience&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.chron.com/animalqa/2010/01/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chron Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Texture&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The coolness of the plastic, or the texture of the material, feels good to the feline tongue, and may even taste good as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting Sites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hdw-inc.com/behaviorswhy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HDW&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manhattancats.com/Articles/PICA.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manhattan Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Sound&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat likes the sound of the plastic bag being licked.  It may simulate the noise of a caught animal.  This is dismissed by some sites as unlikely since cats tend to dislike noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting Sites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetriscience.com/blog/2012/12/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vetriscience&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manhattancats.com/Articles/PICA.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manhattan Cats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.chron.com/animalqa/2010/01/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chron Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Diet / Cravings&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plastic bag licking is compensation for an unsatisfied dietary craving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting Sites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.chron.com/animalqa/2010/01/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chron Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Mental Health / Pica&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may either have pica, the compulsion to eat things which are not food, or obsessive compulsive disorder.  Either seems unlikely since the licking activity is apparently quite common among cats.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hdw-inc.com/behaviorswhy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HDW&lt;/a&gt; proposes the cat may be performing an orally compulsive act to replicate &amp;quot;nursing&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting Sites: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetriscience.com/blog/2012/12/why-does-my-cat-lick-plastic-bags/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vetriscience&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hdw-inc.com/behaviorswhy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HDW&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://askville.amazon.com/cat-lick-plastic-bags/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=6806711&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amazon AskVille&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is there any harm in it?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per all the sites, you should not allow your cat to persist in licking a plastic bag, as this may tempt them to chew and swallow plastic pieces which may result from the activity.  Consuming these pieces could potentially create intestinal blockage.  Several of the cited sites refer to instances where plastic bags had to be removed from cats, or plastic pieces were found in excrement from the litter box.  Additionally, you might not know the history of the bag; it could have contacted a substance poisonous to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend, when possible, that you do not allow your cat to continue licking plastic bags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T19:47:30.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1406" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-16T23:23:45.780" Score="13" ViewCount="467" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5 year old male German Shorthair Pointer / Black Lab mix. When I let him outside, I would like him to bark to get back in, so that if I am not in the room to let him in, I could hear him bark. We have gotten him there partially, except he doesn't really bark. He just whines at the door and scratches it, until about 10 minutes have passed. Then he will bark. I have tried getting a treat and putting it on my chin, as suggested by a book I read. I have praised him when he does bark. However, he continues to whine when he is at the door. What are some other things I could try to make my dog bark?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T18:06:07.983" Title="How to teach a dog how to bark?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1408" CreationDate="2013-11-17T12:58:41.543" Score="13" ViewCount="8375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that birds need to eliminate every 10 to 20 minutes.  I have also heard some birds can be trained to poop on command.  We are considering a pet bird in the house, and are wondering which types of pet birds can be house-trained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T14:01:32.683" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T14:01:32.683" Title="What types of pet birds can be house-trained?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2013-11-17T14:25:09.103" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The parrot family appears to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mit.edu/~rei/birds-potty.html&quot;&gt;quite trainable&lt;/a&gt;, likely a function of being highly intelligent. However, any bird species that you're likely to allow to fly freely can be trained with appropriate patience. Several articles out there also describe the basics of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birdieboutique.com/howtopottrai.html&quot;&gt;How to potty train birds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/potty-training-your-bird.html&quot;&gt;Potty training your bird&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, the idea is to watch for signs that your bird is about to poop and then move them to an appropriate poop spot and then tell them to go. Reward them when they do it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, this training is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; without some risks. Birds only have one sphincter and they urinate and defecate from that one opening, so this is a biological structure that is not intended for long-term &quot;holding it in&quot; activities. The single biggest risk here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chloesanctuary.org/styled-7/theprolapsedcloaca.html&quot;&gt;prolapsed cloaca&lt;/a&gt; which poses serious danger to the health of the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, I had a pet budgie once and allowed him to fly freely around my apartment at the time. The thing is, he tended to hang out at two general places: some rings I'd set in front of the balcony and in the cage I had hung on the wall. If you know that birds tend to poop when &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/faq/unusual_questions/document_view&quot;&gt;they take off&lt;/a&gt; before flying and for a while after eating, appropriate paper/plastic cover at their hangouts is a good way to avoid any significant cleaning chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summation: pick the variety that appeals to you the most. The parrot family is good if you like to talk with them and budgies (it is a small variety of parrot), in particular, are really, really, easy to keep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T14:25:09.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1416" CreationDate="2013-11-17T16:01:44.577" Score="14" ViewCount="22297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan to keep about 4 yo-yo loaches and a few shoals of schooling fish (neon tetras, danios, mollies, and maybe more smaller fish) in my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard that ghost shrimp eat small fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of shrimp is best to keep in my proposed freshwater aquarium set-up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:01:03.357" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T04:46:36.317" Title="Which shrimp will co-exist with my loaches and schooling fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1406" CreationDate="2013-11-17T18:06:07.983" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your teach your dog how to bark on command then it will be easier to teach him to bark when he wants to come in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching your dog to bark on command will require a lot of patience and dedication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;METHOD 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, pick a command that will be suitable and comfortable for you to use like &quot;Bark&quot;, &quot;Speak&quot;, &quot;Yes&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold a toy that makes your dog and call the command to make your dog bark. Once he barks, give him the toy along with treats and praise him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the process in 2 for a few times. Very soon he will get used to the command and understand what you want him to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try saying the command without holding the toy and see if he responds, if he does reward him with a lot of praises and treats. If he doesn't, Repeat the process in 2 again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;METHOD 2 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pick a command that will be suitable for you to use like &quot;Bark&quot;, &quot;Speak&quot;, &quot;Yes&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put your dog in a situation of frustration because frustration will likely lead him to barking. An Example is tying him and going to a corner and calling his name. He will try to break loose and come and meet you, since he cannot he will most likely start to bark. Another example is tying him and then putting a favorite toy close to him (but not within his reach). This will most likely cause him to bark.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try putting the command before your dog barks. When he barks praise him with treats&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Continue the process in 2 until your dog is now regularly barking. Very soon he will realise what you want him to do and will bark once you give the command).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have trained your dog to bark on command, whenever he is at the door and doesn't bark, Give him the command and once he barks, open the door and praise him. Repeat this for a few times and soon your dog will get used to it and will bark when he is at the door even without you giving him the command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toN-xuTAQhk&quot;&gt;This video on youtube&lt;/a&gt; might also help you to learn to train your dog to bark on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/teach-dog-bark-stranger-1775.html&quot;&gt;How to Teach a Dog to Bark at a Stranger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_14237_train-dog-bark.html&quot;&gt;How to Train Your Dog to Bark on Command&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedogtrainingsecret.com/blog/teaching-dog-bark-command/&quot;&gt;Teaching Your Dog to Bark on Command&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastActivityDate="2013-11-17T18:06:07.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1450" CreationDate="2013-11-17T20:16:53.027" Score="8" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the signs of good water quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add fish to my freshwater aquarium, and I want to make sure they have the least chance of dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T15:19:28.797" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:30:25.003" Title="What signs indicate good water quality for tropical fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1411" CreationDate="2013-11-17T21:44:42.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some signs of good water quality:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The normal pH levels of 6.5-7.5; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The normal temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;no ammonia, nitrite or nitrates present;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;algae present in small, controlled quantities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user34" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:15:52.980" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:15:52.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1414" CreationDate="2013-11-17T22:22:02.097" Score="19" ViewCount="1106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traveling with pets on airplanes can be challenging.  Trips can be long and airports do not normally have areas for animals to relieve themselves.  Furthermore, animals that are too large need to be placed in the cargo section of the plane.  This can be scary and dangerous for the animals and is only viable at certain times of the year and over certain routes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Travelling by train seems like it wouldn't have the same space and temperature issues that traveling by plane might have.  Can I travel with my cat or dog on Amtrak?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T00:42:56.733" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T12:45:15.610" Title="Can I bring my dog or cat on Amtrak?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2013-11-17T22:22:02.097" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;As of November 2013, Amtrak does not allow pets on trains (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amtrak.com/service-animals-and-pet-policy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amtrak's website&lt;/a&gt;).  However, there are bills in Congress which would require Amtrak to change this policy: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/house-bill/2066&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;H.R. 2066: Pets on Trains Act of 2013&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1710&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;S. 1710: Pets on Trains Act of 2013&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  The bills state that Amtrak must designate at least one car (on all trains with two or more cars) for passengers with pets.  The pets must ride in crates at all times and are only permitted on trips that are less than 8 hours.  It also states that Amtrak should charge a fee to pet-carrying passengers that would at least recover the cost of implementing this policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can follow the progress of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2066&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;house bill&lt;/a&gt; or the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1710&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;senate bill&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.govtrack.us/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;govtrack.us&lt;/a&gt;.  The site also provides instructions for contacting your congressman about supporting this bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to go even &lt;em&gt;further&lt;/em&gt;, I've created &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1d8y8_32AFSrfjuVCKZWjf2lGjfDqXRAhjNYrNU6D_-Y/edit?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a flyer&lt;/a&gt; you can print out and post at your train station, pet store, vet office, or kennel/day care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;March 2015 Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2016-2019 Amtrak Funding Bill, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/749&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;H.R. 749&lt;/a&gt;, includes a provision directing Amtrak to introduce a pilot program allowing pets on certain routes. This bill has passed the house and is on to the Senate. The specifics are similar to what was proposed in H.R. 2066 and can be read &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr749/BILLS-114hr749rh.xml#toc-H63D113381A554306846D585D711474E5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in section 210 of the bill's text&lt;/a&gt;. The pilot program shall be in effect on the Northeast Corridor and routes less than 750 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;May 2016 Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amtrak has unveiled an official pet policy. Pets that are 20lbs or less are allowed on most trains on trips that are 7 hours or less for a fee of $26.  For full details, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amtrak.com/pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amtrak's official rules&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastEditorUserId="385" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T12:45:15.610" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T12:45:15.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="567" CreationDate="2013-11-18T06:45:33.707" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consolidated analysis of responses to a similar question on&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-35414.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tortoise Forum&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hermann-tortoise.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=7172&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hermann Tortoise&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Environment&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a question such as this, you should supply your habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;substrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;measured temperature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;measured humidity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Substrate Issues&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The tortoise could be allergic to your substrate&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;changing to kitchen towels or newspapers can single out this issue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The substrate could be too dry and might require additional humidity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loose substrate could have become lodged in the tortoise's nasal cavity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Poor Humidity&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wheezing and clicking can occur with Redfoot tortoises when they lack proper humidity or are kept too dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ensure he doesn't feel light or have dry, flaky skin; this can indicate dryness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if the eyes of the tortoise are slightly watery; this can indicate dryness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increase the humidity; try for 80%. You can use a digital hygrometer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;provide access to a warm, fresh, water bath at least once daily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about shell rot due to increasing humidity, ensure the enclosure is kept clean and periodically clean your tortoise lightly with a soft toothbrush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;General Dehydration&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ensure the water content of foods is sufficient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ensure water is available&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Illness / Disease&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whistling when breathing may indicate a respiratory infection or pneumonia.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) causes shell deformity, which could create breathing irregularities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you suspect either of these, consult a professional veterinarian, as medications may be needed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Normal Whistling&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some red-footed tortoises just whistle regardless of humidity and health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your particular case, I suspect this is due to humidity, but we would need more data and an implementation of a humidity plan to conclude this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T06:45:33.707" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1409" CreationDate="2013-11-18T07:14:05.853" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caridina_multidentata&quot;&gt;Amano&lt;/a&gt; shrimp are good tank mates for community fish.  They'll ignore your fish altogether.  And they eat algae 24x7, which never hurts.  Amano shrimp require brackish water for breeding, so won't breed in most tanks.  This also makes them difficult to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_shrimp&quot;&gt;Cherry&lt;/a&gt; shrimp (and their color varieties) will also be no threat to your fish.  But, they are very small, so aggressive fish (barbs, for example) may go after them.  They breed quite easily and rapidly, so if you want more of them make sure you have plenty of hiding places for the young shrimp.  Cherry shrimp are also algae eaters, though being so small you'll need huge quantities of them to have an real impact if algae controll is a goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, for most shrimp in tanks, the issue isn't if they are a danger to the fish, but if the fish will be a danger to the shrimps.  Even larger shrimp may find their extremities and tails the target of nipping.  The tetras shouldn't be a problem for the shrimp, but the loaches may go after them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: One heads up about shrimp (and most aquarium invertebrates, actually).  A lot of medications and chemicals you might use in a tank are poisonous to them.  So once they are in there, you'll need to be extra careful with what you put into the tank, and check that it is safe for shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="240" LastEditDate="2013-11-19T16:48:31.070" LastActivityDate="2013-11-19T16:48:31.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1417" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-18T10:48:30.637" Score="22" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;Modern rodenticides are specially designed chemicals that cause vermin death by altering vermin's metabolism. One often used group of such chemicals is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodenticide#Anticoagulants&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;anticoagulants&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  No symptoms are displayed by a vermin earlier than several days after eating the rodenticide loaded bait for the first time. The vermin can eat and digest several food intakes before it develops the first symptoms. Then the vermin starts being disoriented and becomes easy prey for cats and the concentration of rodenticide in the vermin body can be enough to kill a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the typical approach to this problem except abstaining from rodenticide use (which is hard to expect from the whole neighborhood) and keeping the cats shut home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="365" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-11-19T15:14:46.437" LastActivityDate="2013-11-19T15:14:46.437" Title="How can cat owners protect cats from secondary poisoning from rodenticides?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1320" CreationDate="2013-11-18T12:10:40.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;John Cavan has some very good points in answer to this question.  But there are more things to consider.  Bunny proofing and litter box training are the two most obvious issues.  But as you expand the bunny space to the whole house there are other considerations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Socialization: Is your bunny used to interacting with people, will they come dependably when called or will they be hiding in a &quot;safe place&quot; every time you approach?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Safe place: Does the bunny have a safe place?  House rabbits come from the descendents of burrow living wild rabbits. They need to have a safe place to relax and feel secure. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Secure place: Households cannot be 100% bunny safe all the time.  Kids, other pets, deliveries, recliners, visitors, and other life events, can impact the safety of the bunny.  Even if you and the bunny are fine with bunny having access to the whole house, there will be times when you need to limit the bunnies space. The safe place and the secure place should be in the same area, and some means of keeping the bunny restricted to that area provided.  This can be anything from a carrier to a bed room. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;House hold barriers: Slipper floors, and stairs can both be barriers for &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; bunnies, some bunnies will travel stairs and cross slippery floors, others will not, but neither scenario should be considered an absolute. Your bunny at any time may choose to start or stop crossing these barriers. Both sides bunny barriers need to be bunny proofed, for occasional barrier crossing bunnies, hay and litter should be provided on both sides. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Training: Teaching a bunny what is and is not appropriate behavior (&lt;strong&gt;including what not to chew on&lt;/strong&gt;) requires your supervision and interaction.  Teaching a bunny not to chew on furniture is fairly easy, but it does require your presence with the bunny while they are learning.  If you and the bunny are in different rooms, you will not be able to modify misbehavior.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Health issues: If the bunny gets sick, is the area to big for you to notice?  Can the bunny get anyplace where you cannot access them (i.e under big heavy beds)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Summary, once you have identified and addressed all the concerns, your bunny can have access to the whole house all the time, with brief restrictions during times of non-bunny safe events.  You should find your bunny seeking you out for grooming and petting, on a regular (&lt;em&gt;several times a day&lt;/em&gt;) schedule, and you should not see any damage to your home above normal wear and tear.  If needed, restrict the area while re-addressing issues.  It is much easier to teach acceptable behavior early, then to modify inappropriate behavior after it has become a habit.  Start in a small area and expand as you and the bunny become comfortable with more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T12:10:40.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4348" CreationDate="2013-11-18T17:48:11.993" Score="12" ViewCount="53941" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently (within the past 2 weeks or so), touching my cat's hindquarters has resulted in him frantically biting his (FRONT) paws.  I noticed it for the first time when I was petting him while he was sitting (he looked like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_bird&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;drinky bird&lt;/a&gt;). Also, if he can't reach his paws (I'm in the way or something), he'll bite whatever is in reach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biting isn't a problem (he had stomatitis so badly that we had his teeth removed), but I can't figure out what's causing this behavior (and the other 3 cats don't do it). Has anyone ever seen this before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: After a few weeks all of our cats developed this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-02T19:27:05.087" LastActivityDate="2019-01-12T17:43:09.973" Title="Why does touching my cat's hindquarters make him bite his paws?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1417" CreationDate="2013-11-18T18:15:52.993" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't the answer that you're looking for, but the best way to prevent secondary poisioning from rodenticides is to keep your cats indoors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping your cats indoors protects against MANY problems that can make your cat sick or die! Cats who are either part-time or full-time allowed to roam outdoors alone face the following risks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disease (feline leukemia (FeLV), feline AIDS (FIV),FIP (feline infectious peritonitis), feline distemper (panleukopenia), upper respiratory infections (or URI))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites (fleas, ticks, ear mites, intestinal worms, ringworm (a fungal infection))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Car strikes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animal cruelty (neighborhood children)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury from other animals (both wild and domestic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toxins and poisions (in addition to rodenticide, antifreeze is sweet and delicious, but deadly!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trees (if a cat can't/won't climb down, he'll get dehydrated and weak, eventually falling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/adoption-pet-care/caring-for-your-pet/indoor-cats-vs-outdoor-cats.html&quot;&gt;Indoor Cats vs Outdoor Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're determined that your cat should be allowed outside, the best solution is to build a protected enclosure (often referred to as a &quot;catio&quot;). There are a ton of resources online for how these can be built/bought, performing a google search for &quot;outdoor enclosure cat&quot; and &quot;catio&quot; turns up a lot of resources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T19:58:04.600" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T19:58:04.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1424" CreationDate="2013-11-18T20:13:33.270" Score="9" ViewCount="37615" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the time while washing herself, she also starts to 'grab' the nail to one of her 'thumbs' with her teeth and it looks like she is pulling it really hard. Don't know if she does it with other nails too, but I have seen it before. The nail doesn't look strange or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that normal behavior? Why is she doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; Actually I've observed her doing it at both front paws and &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; both 'thumbs'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2013-11-28T21:48:09.817" LastActivityDate="2018-06-10T10:47:12.390" Title="Why is my cat pulling her nail?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-18T20:18:24.890" Score="6" ViewCount="6462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up a pair of guinea pigs this weekend and I noticed that all of the guinea pig cages I find for sale in the stores and online have solid bottoms, as opposed to a wire mesh bottom many rabbit cages have.  Is there a reason that guinea pigs need a solid bottom?  Is there any way that I can utilize my wire mesh cages that I use for rabbits to house the guinea pigs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-18T20:55:41.363" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T15:21:50.797" Title="Is there a reason guinea pigs need a cage without a wire bottom?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1428" CreationDate="2013-11-18T20:27:41.890" Score="9" ViewCount="32663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a rabbit breeder and I occasionally sell rabbits to other people.  When changing food and often due to extra treats that new rabbits are given, the rabbits will suffer from a condition called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Mechanical_diseases/bloat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bloat (warning: link contains images of dissected rabbits)&lt;/a&gt;.   It is difficult to convince some people to spend $100 or more on a vet visit for an animal they can replace for $50.  So, sadly most people will just allow nature to take its course, which is a painful way to die.  Is there anything I can do to relieve this condition without having to consult a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-11-28T17:47:44.463" LastActivityDate="2019-02-12T13:02:46.223" Title="Is there anything that I can do to treat bloat in young rabbits?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1421" CreationDate="2013-11-18T20:36:32.647" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you able to get a good look at your cat's claws? If there's any redness of the skin around the claw, or discoloration of the claw bed (extend the claw), or your cat acts like he's in pain while walking, then your cat may have a medical problem and need to be looked at by your vet. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_nail_nailbed_disorders&quot;&gt;here's a brief overiew of the potential problems&lt;/a&gt;, but your cat needs to be seen by a vet for treatment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's no problems, then don't worry, it's normal, especially if your cat doesn't have access to a scratching post (or the post is defective in some way, not big enough, wrong material, wrong shape (horizontal or vertical scratching surfaces are preferences).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats claws grow, they get longer AND grow layers. The outer layers need to be stripped off. Normally, this is done by clawing something, but if the scratching surfaces are inadequate, she'll try to scrape if off with her teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've manually removed the outer layers occassionally when trimming claws, but I think it hurts them so I stopped doing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T20:36:32.647" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1422" CreationDate="2013-11-18T20:37:50.373" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wire bottom cages can cause a condition called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html&quot;&gt;bumblefoot&lt;/a&gt;. It can be very painful for your guinea pig and you're better off springing for a cage with a solid bottom. This condition can also occur in rats. It's the reason we got a solid bottom cage when I had them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ulcerative pododermatitis, also known as bumblefoot, is an extremely painful infection of the footpad. The footpad is swollen and may be crusted and/or bleeding. In severe cases, the cavy may be reluctant to move, depressed, and anorexic. If the bone becomes infected, the leg may need to be surgically removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pododermatitis is often attributed to abrasions caused by wire floors or rough bedding which allow infections (typically Staphylococcus aureus, a common environmental bacteria) to become established. Poor sanitation, wet bedding, lack of activity and obesity may be factors. Prevention focuses on avoiding these causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can completely cover the bottom of your cage with something soft yet sturdy, like fleece (I think this is safe for guinea pigs), I think they would be OK. You would need to be diligent about changing out the fleece so it wouldn't get disgusting (every 1 or two days; buy A LOT). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also always thought &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm&quot;&gt;this website for guinea pig cages&lt;/a&gt; was really cool. It's a DIY site for making guinea pig cages that are modular, functional, and easy to clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="153" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T21:35:10.163" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T21:35:10.163" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-18T21:36:46.417" Score="9" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to add additional fish to my freshwater aquarium, and I want to make sure they have the least chance of dying.  After considering the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1411/what-signs-indicate-good-water-quality-for-tropical-fish&quot;&gt;this question about water&lt;/a&gt;, what else should I take into consideration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T22:59:31.620" Title="Besides water quality, what should I consider before adding more tropical fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1423" CreationDate="2013-11-18T22:32:42.857" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gastric dilation, also know as bloat, is a veterinary emergency. Rabbits, as you likely know, are not able to vomit and so cannot void the contents of their stomach if the normal outflow is blocked for any reason, which may not always be physical, apparently stress and severe stomach movement can cause this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, according to Blackwell's Five Minute Veterinary Consult for small mammals (second edition - Section IV, Chapter 186) , the rabbit requires immediate medical therapy involving gastric decompression using intubation and surgery is likely required to treat the condition if intubation efforts fail to relieve the issue. It is also possible that decompression may be required several times depending on the actual causes of the bloat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, unfortunately, the answer to your question is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T22:32:42.857" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1419" CreationDate="2013-11-18T23:11:54.283" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; what you're encountering is called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/HyperesthesiaSyndrome.cfm&quot;&gt;Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; but the common name is rolling skin disease. Not all symptoms may manifest, but according to Blackwell's consult, the episodes can range from several seconds to minutes in length and can involve one or more of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;twitching skin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;violent tail swishing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vocalizing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;biting or licking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may also have dilated pupils and appear further agitated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some medicinal treatments, but one practice is to try and train them out of this if possible (may not be, causes will effect this). However, as the linked article notes, there are other diseases/illnesses that have similar symptoms (e.g. hyperthyroidism), so getting him checked by the vet would be a very good idea regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional information available on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.renovet.com/info.html&quot;&gt;Reno Animal Hospital&lt;/a&gt; site as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidence for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catchannel.com/media/experts/arnold_plotnick/plotnick-bites-paws.aspx.pdf&quot;&gt;front paw activity&lt;/a&gt; from the Cat Channel and on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&amp;amp;C=189&amp;amp;A=2873&amp;amp;S=0&quot;&gt;VeterinaryPartner.com&lt;/a&gt;. I don't think you should rule this out, it may be a mild case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-19T01:54:53.440" LastActivityDate="2013-11-19T01:54:53.440" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="444" CreationDate="2013-11-18T23:39:38.443" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The behavior in wolves is known as &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/about_gray_wolves.asp&quot;&gt;scrape behavior&lt;/a&gt;&quot;; it is also present in their domesticated relatives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;Canine Behavior: Insights and Answers&lt;/em&gt; (Bonnie V. Beaver) the activity is commonly seen to be a visual marking, the scrapes, as well as a means of spreading scent to mark territory (as noted, dogs have scent glands in their paws). This activity happens most often in new areas, in the presence of other dogs, and in the early mornings. (Chapter 8, page 251).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.chron.com/animalqa/2010/03/why-is-my-dog-suddenly-scuffing/&quot;&gt;train your dog&lt;/a&gt; out of this behavior if you so desire. Basically, it involves distracting him immediately after his activity with something like a treat in order to get him out of the habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-23T13:59:31.580" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T13:59:31.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1427" CreationDate="2013-11-18T23:56:08.427" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;So... What I would consider/do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aquadaily.com/2009/01/23/how-many-fish-can-you-keep-in-your-tank/&quot;&gt;Tank capacity&lt;/a&gt; according to the fish you already have and the size of your current tank. Bear in mind that these are rules of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.talkfishy.com/resources/aquarium-basics/343-tropical-fish-compatibility-tips-you-need-to-know&quot;&gt;The species&lt;/a&gt; you have and the species you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.talkfishy.com/resources/aquarium-basics/343-tropical-fish-compatibility-tips-you-need-to-know&quot;&gt;intend to add&lt;/a&gt;. I don't know what you have and what you'd like to get, but before doing so, do check. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed the fish in your current tank before adding new ones. That will help with any potential aggression as that is commonly related to food sources.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that there's plenty of places for the newbies to hide. May be needed initially if there are dominant fish in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You probably don't add the total planned all at once. Do it in stages and let your water quality stabilize before adding more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-18T23:56:08.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1432" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1434" CreationDate="2013-11-19T02:55:12.763" Score="11" ViewCount="899" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have about 12 plants in my 60 gallon tank. I am planning on adding the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 Albino Corys&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 Black Mollys&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 Male Gourami and 2 female Gourami&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 SAEs (siamese algae eaters)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 Yo-Yo Loaches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would that be too high of a bioload? How can I measure the bioload of a tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:35:46.630" Title="Is my bioload too high?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1427" CreationDate="2013-11-19T14:23:31.893" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add some more tips I do in my aquariums:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remember to add some more food &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you have inserted those new fishes. It's easy to forget and keep with the same amount, what might stress your older fishes (since there will be new mouths disputing with them)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take care with old /weak fishes: if your fishes are a bit old or aren't in good health (not just sick, but debilitated somehow) they can be hunted by those new fishes, if they are disputing territory, food, a place in the sun...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'd put them in the night, with few light or light off, except if some of the old/new are nightly fish&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add some plants (if you don't have many) so that the aquarium changes slightly, and not only the new fishes are &lt;em&gt;the news&lt;/em&gt; there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2013-11-19T14:23:31.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1432" CreationDate="2013-11-19T15:51:21.613" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have an appropriate filter setup and do regular water changes, this is probably fine. My caveat is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php?AquTankName=&amp;amp;AquListBoxTank=Choose&amp;amp;AquTankLength=36&amp;amp;AquTankDepth=18&amp;amp;AquTankHeight=21&amp;amp;AquListBoxFilter=Eheim%202217&amp;amp;AquTextFilterRate=160%20&amp;amp;AquListBoxFilter2=Choose&amp;amp;AquTextFilterRate2=N/A%20&amp;amp;AquFilterString=loach&amp;amp;AquListBoxChooser=Yoyo%20Loach%20%28Botia%20almorhae%29&amp;amp;AquTextBoxQuantity=5&amp;amp;FormSubmit=Add%20%3E&amp;amp;AquTextBoxRemoveQuantity=&amp;amp;AlreadySelected=200909300005:6::,200909300131:3::,200909300029:3::,200909300207:3::&amp;amp;FilterMode=Display%20all%20species&amp;amp;AqTempUnit=C&amp;amp;AqVolUnit=gUS&amp;amp;AqLengthUnit=inch&amp;amp;AqSortType=cname&amp;amp;FilterQuantity=2&amp;amp;AqJuvMode=&amp;amp;AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&amp;amp;AqSearchMode=simple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AqAdvisor&lt;/a&gt; treats the loaches as potentially reaching 10&quot; (25 cm), which would be a bit large. &lt;a href=&quot;http://fishbase.org/summary/Botia-almorhae.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fishbase&lt;/a&gt; says the largest on record was about 6&quot; (15 cm) though; I'm not sure which site has the better handle on that species. (Note that I picked a fairly hefty filter for the AqAdvisor setup, and assumed you have a rectangular tank.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bioload isn't one single thing to measure. It actually seems to be more of an aquarist term than scientific. I just did a quick search and found a small number of research papers that use it, generally in the sense of microbial colonization or parasitic infection. (I was wondering if there was a standard unit to quantify it, but that doesn't seem to be the case.) So be aware that it can be used in different contexts with different meanings. I've heard it used to refer to the animals in a system, to the nitrogen waste they produce, to any waste product they produce (even shed hair/feathers/scales), and so on. I think it's useful as a high-level way to think about a tank's ecosystem, but you'll want to be more specific when thinking about the actual pieces of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an overall concept, it lets us think about all the basic components of life needed by the organisms within a system, all the byproducts they create, and the natural cycles of consumption and creation they form. Bioload is, in a sense, a way of thinking about how open (or unbalanced) these cycles are within the tank: the heavier a bioload, the more pressure it places on these cycles. If you've overstocked your system, the bioload is demanding more resources and creating more waste products than you or the system can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We take for granted that some of these cycles are completely open and need constant intervention. For example, the bioload of your system has a certain caloric requirement that it can't produce itself to any real degree, so you fill in that gap by feeding the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often people say 'bioload' as a shorthand for nitrogen wastes: ammonia (NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;), nitrite (NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;), and nitrate (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;). You should be testing those weekly with a reliable test kit (I like API's), or more often if your system shows signs of having an unstable biofilter. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish in any measurable amount; some nitrate can be tolerated but they should be kept under say 20ppm or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sense, a bioload is too large when ammonia and nitrite are being produced faster than the biofilter can reduce them to nitrate. It's hard to say &quot;if you have &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; fish you need &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; biological filtration&quot; because each species of fish and each model filter is different. But generally it's hard to provide too much biological filtration, so get the biggest filter you can. Plants and water changes will help keep nitrate levels down, and these are really the only way to 'close' this cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxygen is another critical cycle. The gas exchange that oxygenates the tank happens at the surface of the water, and you can run into problems if you don't have a lot of water movement to mix the surface layer back down to the middle or bottom of the tank. Plants will help with this too, but you'll still need water motion to get oxygenated water to the entire tank. Odds are you won't have a way to measure how much dissolved oxygen your water has, and as long as your water is moving top-to-bottom and side-to-side you'll probably have enough. You can read more about DO levels &lt;a href=&quot;http://water.epa.gov/type/rsl/monitoring/vms52.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at the EPA&lt;/a&gt; if you're interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other cycles as well, like phosphorus and carbon, that you don't need to worry quite so much about. They tend to be at such small scales that normal maintenance easily keeps them closed. These can be more important in heavily planted tanks though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:35:46.630" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:35:46.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1423" CreationDate="2013-11-20T11:49:52.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is often said that &quot;An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure&quot;.  I assume that since you care about the welfare of the bunnies and that you are dealing directly with the new parent that you are screening for appropriateness of the home and providing eduction to the new family, so I will not address those points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our (&lt;em&gt;my wife and I&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/13/james-jenkins&quot;&gt;volunteer capacity&lt;/a&gt; we almost constantly have bunnies staying with us in our home.  We also realize that dietary changes can be fatal.  For visiting bunnies, they arrive with the type of food they are already eating. We keep them on that diet the whole time.  If a bunny will be changing diets while staying with us, they stay 100% original the first week, then 75/25 the second week, 50/50 the third week and 25/75 the fourth week.  On the fifth week, they are 100% new diet (assuming no issues).   See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1441/9&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more on changing your rabbits food type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your situation, I would recommend including a supply of food with the bunny when it is placed in its new forever home. Include instructions on how to change the diet, what to watch for and what to do if there is a problem.  The best thing you can do is provide the new family with the food, and directions to prevent or limit the occurrence.  Presumably you are feeding breeder-type food, which is generally too rich for maintenance of house rabbits in a home environment, so staying on the same feed is not a viable alternative.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T04:33:35.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1423" CreationDate="2013-11-20T16:01:18.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For treating gas or anything that is even remotely digestive related, I always start with a good dose (half a table spoon OR 1.5cc) of baby gas drops &quot;Little Tummys Gas Drops&quot; is the name brand I usually use, but if available have also used generic brands.  According to my vet, there are no counter indications to using it, and there are no dosage limits. So using as often and as much as you want (common sense) is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;My bunny that usually has the problems&lt;/a&gt; will often lick the flavored kind from a table spoon.  If necessary, I use a syringe to get him to drink it. Anytime a bunny is having a diet issue, '&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GI stasis&lt;/a&gt;' is the first concern, so keeping things going through the system is important.  If the Gas Drops have not caused a return to eating/drinking in an hour or so, I begin forcing feeding baby food (carrots, banana or squash) and water. I continue this every 2 - 4 hours until he begins taking food/water on his own.  Usually he is back to normal in 6 to 48 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had some recommendations for subcutaneous fluids and have used them sometimes. In my personal opinion (and many will differ) for ailments solely related to digestion, the mouth is a better avenue for all but the most severe cases that are primarily digestive in origin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This answer is from personal experience, contact your veterinary professional before making any oral drug choices for your rabbit.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T22:14:02.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1427" CreationDate="2013-11-20T16:15:14.690" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to making sure the new fish are a good fit for your tank, you'll want to prepare for any diseases or parasites they might come in with. These are often latent and brought out by the stress of moving, so you can't rely entirely on picking only the healthiest fish in the tank. (Though of course that's a good thing to do.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, set up a small temporary quarantine tank to keep new fish in before adding them to your community. Watch them closely for 2-3 weeks for any obvious symptoms like white spots or fuzz, really long trailing poops, or red streaks, and more subtle things such as loss of color, weird behavior like flashing against the gravel or swimming off-balance. Some fish are known for having particular ailments (like neon tetra disease), so it's a good idea to read up on those in advance. And if you can't QT the new fish, then you'll need to watch everyone in the tank, not just them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish disease would be a bit off-topic to really go into here, but just be aware that there are different classes of disease that require different treatments, just like with humans. There are no one-stop-cures despite what you'll read on product packaging, so diagnosis is the first step -- that can be very hard and unfortunately in some cases time-sensitive, so don't hesitate to ask for help if something looks out of place after you've added new fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;QT and all this is a pain and not terribly fun to deal with, but believe me when I say there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a whole tank community come down with the plague. Thinking about it when you're in the planning stages is so much better in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T16:15:14.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1439" CreationDate="2013-11-20T19:24:58.613" Score="18" ViewCount="38988" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is currently on &lt;a href=&quot;http://us.atopica.com/atopica-for-cats/atopica-for-cats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Atopica&lt;/a&gt;, which comes as a liquid.  Apparently this medicine tastes awful, based on his reaction to it.  Mixing it into food or tuna juice does not help; he rejects the entire bowl, even if the ratio of drug to food is fairly low.  There is another cat in the household, so I can't just leave it out for a while in hope that he'll come around -- I have to supervise (or isolate somebody, but that's no fun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I know &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/721/31&quot;&gt;how to give a cat a pill&lt;/a&gt; I plan to ask about getting this as a pill when it's time to refill, but that'll be a couple months.  In the meantime, is there anything I can do to help my cat tolerate the taste of this medicine?  Are there particular foods that do a better job of masking unpleasant flavors, for instance?  I'm already pushing the syringe as far back as I can to minimize contact with his mouth/tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is a ~7-year-old neutered male, indoor-only, with no known medical issues other than the allergies for which this drug is being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:27:32.590" Title="How do I help my cat tolerate a bad-tasting liquid medicine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2013-11-20T20:00:51.360" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't help you get your cat to tolerate the medicine better, but &lt;strong&gt;what I can do is confirm and clarify your current delivery vehicle.&lt;/strong&gt;  I've had to suffer with liquid medicine as well, but with dogs (I suspect they are much more compliant or easier to handle than an acrobatic cat).  I've found the longer and thinner the tip of the delivery tool, the easier it is to get past the taste areas.  &lt;strong&gt;Using a tool with a better reach might solve your dilemma.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the syringe you are using, what I can recommend is to find one with a longer, thinner tip, or to use a pipet.  The syringes I am familiar with for this purpose change width abruptly from a 1-inch long, millimeter-scale width tip to a 4-inch long, inch-scale width base.  You will either want a syringe that has a much longer millimeter-scale tip, or you can go with a similarly-shaped pipet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike a syringe, most of which change width abruptly, a pipet (or turkey baster) changes width gradually.  This means when using a pipet, the only hard stop for depth is how far you can reach down the back of your cat's throat (past the teeth and over the tongue; look out stomach, here it comes!).  Obviously, be reasonable about how far you go.  Your chosen tool should be of the appropriate starting width, widening gradually.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of posterity, it needs to be said one should select plastic over glass for their chosen instrument because no cat wants to chip his tooth or swallow glass shards.  And even though it's plastic, take care the cat doesn't bite it too much.  A small width tip means it might not take a lot for a bite to nip it off and create a potential choking hazard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide access to lots of fresh water afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-21T19:41:36.190" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T19:41:36.190" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-20T21:13:55.923" Score="23" ViewCount="9845" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats were always allowed in the bedroom. Lately, the youngest one, who is the least affectionate and the most adventurous and most-likely to get into trouble, has been waking us up every night. He will leap into the air to grab onto the curtains, he will jump onto the bedside table and knock off pill bottles or jewelry, he will scratch at the closet and meow and jump on things. He doesn't come up onto the bed at all or touch us, but he definitely seems to be trying to get our attention. We have two other cats and they just sleep throughout the night and never wake us up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried spraying him with a water bottle, but that only stops him for ten minutes or so, or he goes and does something outside of my range. We've been locking all of the cats out so that we can sleep but we would like to let them in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-20T21:26:41.803" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T14:55:14.967" Title="How to get my cat to stop being annoying at night?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-20T22:07:18.867" Score="11" ViewCount="3073" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding my rabbit a popular name brand rabbit food.  I was recommended that I change my food to another brand that meets the needs of my rabbit better.  Do I need to do anything special when changing their primary diet like this or is all rabbit food basically the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T12:42:59.657" Title="Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1440" CreationDate="2013-11-20T22:25:04.690" Score="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's bored. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first goal should be to make some place (not your bedroom) a much more entertaining place to be than your bedroom is. Set up some toys in your living room or some other place like a puzzle feeder, automatic wand toys, or other toys that he likes. In the morning these toys should be put away to keep his interest level in them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, make your bedroom as uninteresting as possible. Put the pill bottles and jewelry away, don't respond when he steps on you, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, take advantage of the cat's hunt, feed, groom, sleep cycle. Use an interactive toy for awhile right before bed, then give him some food. He should settle down pretty quickly after that (it works amazingly well on our youngest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/fuzzy-alarm-clocks/&quot;&gt;Pam Johnson Bennett&lt;/a&gt; outlines this plan in more detail on her site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T22:25:04.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1440" CreationDate="2013-11-20T23:55:47.257" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;This probably sounds really mean, but there is demonstrated evidence that cold temperatures tend to encourage animals to curl up and sleep. So, I would recommend turning down the air temperature in your room and the cat will probably look for a warm place to snuggle instead of running around all night. I've done this many times with my own 2 cats and it definitely has worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2013-11-20T23:55:47.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1441" CreationDate="2013-11-21T04:38:01.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say to have some sort of a gradual transition, you should start off by giving him his normal amount of food. Instead of giving him all of the brand you intend on switching him to, you should mostly fill the bowl with his old food, with a few pellets of the new food. Do this for a couple of days. After a few days, gradually increase the percentage of new pellets until you are completely on the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; This is only a guide. You should monitor how the rabbit is reacting to the new food. You may need to go slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T04:38:01.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="969" CreationDate="2013-11-21T04:46:57.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snails would be good. They don't do much, but it adds to the authenticity of the tank. They are good for eating algae as well. They usually require a different diet from the rest of your fish, such as shrimp or veggie chips. You will have to be careful with adding snails, because some breeds of fish will eat the snails. I have had snails in the past, and they are actually quite cool, especially when it goes on the side of the tank and you can see its belly. You will also have to watch to make sure that your snail population doesn't get out of control, as snails can lay a lot of eggs if the conditions are right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to add some land to your tank, you could check out some sort of frog, turtle, or newt. The most popular are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theamphibian.co.uk/Fire-Bellied_newt_caresheet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fire-bellied newt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.backwaterreptiles.com/reptile-care-sheets/fire-bellied-toad-care-sheet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fire-bellied toad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/caresheets/turtles/Turtle_RedEaredSlider.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Red-eared slider turtle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastEditorUserId="88" LastEditDate="2013-11-21T04:55:32.350" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T04:55:32.350" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1546" CreationDate="2013-11-21T06:02:48.197" Score="11" ViewCount="2732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep seeing pictures of pet turtles in various knitted costumes (so far I have seen a turtle dressed as a hamburger, and as a dinosaur), and while these are really cute, I wonder, are they okay for the turtle to wear? I would think people are only using them for photo props, but at the same time, they might not be. Are there risks to that sort of thing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T18:11:43.020" LastActivityDate="2018-11-06T17:31:58.180" Title="How safe is it to dress up a turtle?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1452" CreationDate="2013-11-21T08:33:39.290" Score="18" ViewCount="1192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, both under 6 months old (I guess you could call them kittens). I have used a spray bottle in the past as negative reinforcement, which worked great on one of them (the one that's scared of water) and less effectively  on the other (which, for &lt;em&gt;some reason&lt;/em&gt; really likes water). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, this has proven to be less effective. The latter cat (water lover) is no longer responding to this bad reinforcement and doesn't seem to be fazed by the mist of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I add something to the water, without it being harmful to the cat, that will make it more uncomfortable for him and maybe react to the use of the bottle in the way I expect him to? (Maybe a tinge of lemon juice for sting?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="163" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-22T23:06:02.570" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T12:57:56.693" Title="Spray bottle becoming ineffective" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1427" CreationDate="2013-11-21T10:02:01.070" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of the answers addresses two of the most important considerations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quarantine your new fish after purchasing, for at least 7-15 days. This makes sure the new fish does not bring anything bad to your tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acclimate them by matching the water temperature, pH, TDS of their old home and the new one. This is usually achieved by adding your tank water to the fish bag repetitively by a small amount. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, make sure the new fish is compatible to your existing ones. It might be necessary to change the decorations slightly to break any territorial aggressions. I usually keep the light off after releasing them into tank and let them settle in. Do not try to feed them immediately, they will not eat and the water will get foul. Do not add more than a few fishes at once, otherwise the tank cycle might restart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T10:02:01.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1411" CreationDate="2013-11-21T10:07:06.567" Score="8" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your water parameters, it should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite. Some nitrate presence is not lethal as long as it's within the limit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Match the pH and temperature depending on the species you plan to put it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water should not be cloudy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There should not be any bio-film forming on top of the aquarium. In case it forms, increase surface agitation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your tank has enough filtration to support the bio-load.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tank decoration should match the requirement of the species. Some prefer less open area and more hiding place, some prefer the opposite. Some prefer plants, some prefer rock, some prefer a piece of wood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:30:25.003" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:30:25.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1441" CreationDate="2013-11-21T12:02:47.283" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience the digestive health issues are one of the primary causes of rabbit mortality in pet rabbits. Anything diet related should be considered carefully before changing.  There are many rabbit food options, a rabbit's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dietary requirements&lt;/a&gt; change through it's life cycle, or your bunny may be on a food that is was chosen for it's marketing instead of it's appropriateness.  In any case, changes are potentially fatal; leading to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1423/is-there-anything-that-can-be-done-to-treat-bloat-in-young-rabbits&quot;&gt;bloat&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GI Stasis&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our (&lt;em&gt;my wife and I&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/13/james-jenkins&quot;&gt;volunteer capacity&lt;/a&gt; we almost constantly have bunnies staying with us in our home.  For visiting bunnies, they arrive with the type of food they are already eating. We keep them on that diet the whole time.  If a bunny will be changing diets while staying with us, they stay 100% original the first week, then 75/25 the second week, 50/50 the third week and 25/75 the fourth week.  On the fifth week, they are 100% new diet (assuming no issues).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the entire change process we closely monitor their intake and dropping for signs.  We expect that the intake will remain consistent through out the change, as they are getting a measured amount of pellets (&lt;em&gt;1/4 to 1/2 a cup per 5 pounds of body weight&lt;/em&gt;), decreases are the only likely change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your bunny was on a low fiber diet, the probably had small poops, and you would expect to see an increase in size of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your bunny was on high calorie diet, they are probably making more &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecotrope&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; than they consume, you would expect to stop seeing these and you would expect the color of the normal droppings get lighter in color. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bunny is new to you it is important to wait a week before starting the change so you become familiar with dietary, elimination and other habits so you will recognize if there is a change. As prey animals they naturally cover any signs of illness, symptoms that are more evident in dog, cat or child or much more subtle in a rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the pellet food change do not make any drastic changes in treats or fresh greens. It is always ok to &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; give high sugar foods like apples and carrots. If the rabbit is used to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inappropriate amounts of high sugar foods&lt;/a&gt; you can withdraw those immediately but wait an extra week before starting the pellet change to allow the digestive system to re-balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bunny should have timothy hay 24/7 and a daily severing of fresh &lt;strong&gt;dark&lt;/strong&gt; green vegetables. Do not add new vegetables during a pellet change, if there is a change in the rabbits health you will not know if it is from the new pellets or the new vegetable.  New vegetables can be added to the diet after your bunny is stabilized on healthy pellet.   As with the pellet change add some to of the new kind with old, for the first few days.  But you can go straight to a 50/50 mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a staple green we use Romain or Green leaf lettuce (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1457/why-is-iceberg-lettuce-bad-for-rabbits&quot;&gt;NEVER ICEBERG&lt;/a&gt;), if a bunny does not have greens in it's existing diet, either of these is a good place to start.  In my experience Romain tends to have a longer shelf life in the refrigerator, so it is my primary choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treats are an important part of training and relationship building with your bunny.  When shopping for treats (and food) if it is bright color, then don't buy it.  Brightly colored foods tend to be aimed at getting the attention of the shopper, with little or no attempt to meet the health needs of your pet.  Personally we use &quot;Vitakraft Nibble Rings&quot; you can add these to your bunnies diet from day one, but try to limit to one a day (particularly during a diet change).  They can be broken in to 2 - 4 pieces and provided multiple treats events while staying at a one per day ration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T12:42:59.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1448" CreationDate="2013-11-21T17:07:57.610" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Zaralynda said in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1072/31&quot;&gt;this answer on another question&lt;/a&gt;, it's better if you can identify and address the cause of the bad behavior.  But that doesn't always work immediately, and so in the meantime, there's the squirt bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention the &quot;mist of water&quot; being ineffective.  I use squirt bottles with adjustable flow; I can produce anything from a fine, broad mist to a narrow burst of water (think squirt-gun-sized stream).  I've found the latter to be more effective; it's more concentrated and I think the cat notices more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not already using an adjustable bottle, try that first.  It might do the job without any additives, at least long enough for you to find and fix the core problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T17:07:57.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1440" CreationDate="2013-11-21T21:13:52.393" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do not mention the size of your living accommodations - but if they are large enough you could contain the playful cat in another room that has litter and toys.  That way your door is still open to the others.  That is assuming, of course, that you have an available litter pan for the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T21:13:52.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-21T21:58:55.280" Score="14" ViewCount="1347" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a cat care guide book it is strongly adviced never to let a Maine Coon run free, because these cats are very effective predators and run a very large territory. I have no plans to let my Maine Coon run free in the nature, but this advice made me curious. How large is a &quot;very large&quot; territory of a mere domestic cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For comparison, when we let our two shepherding breed dogs out alone, with no supervision, they roam an area of roughly 200 yards (around 180 meters) radius around the house. We don't have neighbours nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:06:59.340" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:06:59.340" Title="How large territory does a Maine Coon cat have?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;territory&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1454" CreationDate="2013-11-21T22:58:19.050" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how breed affects the range of a cat, but food source (if the cat is provided food by owners, or if the cat has to hunt food) is known to affect how far a cat may travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0526_cat_study_Horn-Mateus-Warner.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A study by in 2011 performed by the University of Illinois&lt;/a&gt; using radio collars determined:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mean home range for pet cats in the study was less than two hectares (4.9 acres).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's often thought (using studies that track cat movement though observations of people instead of radio collars) that gender and season affect the range of a cat, but they couldn't find a relationship in the radio collar study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A surprising result of that study is that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the cats in the study stayed within about 300 meters of human structures, said co-author Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, a wildlife veterinary epidemiologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey at Illinois.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Even feral cats were always within range of a building,” she said. “That shows that even though they’re feral, they still have a level of dependency on us.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have no neighbours, this result may be more applicable to your situation than the previous &amp;quot;average housecat&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-11-21T22:58:19.050" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1221" CreationDate="2013-11-22T03:38:03.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never seen plecos claiming territory permanently. That being said, fishes have personality too and the behavior will surely be different for different fishes. Like a lot of species, plecos love to remain in some kind of shelter i.e near the filter, under a wood piece/decor etc. It is always a good idea to provide more hiding places than needed, fishes will choose the place they feel safest leaving the open ones behind. But as they settle in, they'll claim more of the open space and can be seen swimming everywhere in the tank. Not sure if you have any other species in the tank, if so, make sure they don't disturb the plecos since they're small in size, any fish might want a piece of them :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T03:38:03.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1457" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1459" CreationDate="2013-11-22T12:39:12.763" Score="26" ViewCount="33614" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/what-to-feed-your-rabbit/&quot;&gt;read&lt;/a&gt; that rabbits should not be given iceberg lettuce.  Why is that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:30:52.693" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T03:26:29.327" Title="Why is iceberg lettuce bad for rabbits?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1457" CreationDate="2013-11-22T15:34:39.087" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, iceberg lettuce is mostly water with little to no nutrient value. A rabbit can fill up on it (because of the bulk), but still need food because they didn't get enough calories, vitamins, minerals, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3002?manu=&amp;amp;fgcd=&amp;amp;ds=&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the USDA's webpage on iceberg lettuce.&lt;/a&gt; You'll notice that water makes up just about 95% of the nutrients, leaving 5% to be divided up between every other nutrient. Protein is a little less than 1%, Carbohydrates less than 3%, and sugars less than 2%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, you want to pay attention to the vitamin and calorie content. Iceberg lettuce has only 14 calories per 100 grams (2 calories or less in each leaf), and 18mg of calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other effects to consider, is when fed straight from the fridge, lettuce will be cold and wet, both are conditions that can upset a pet's stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, since most rabbit breeders do not feed lettuce to their baby rabbits, it is an unfamiliar food and if the rabbit owner does not add lettuce to the diet gradually, it will cause stomach upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it is often believed amoung rabbit breeders that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits should not eat some lettuces (such as iceberg) as they contain a substance called laudanum which can be harmful in large quantities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/rabbits/diet/myths&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA: Rabbit Diet Myths&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is disputed because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lettuce does not contain laudanum. Edible lettuce does contain a chemical called lactucin which is a component of lactucarian. Lactucarian is the milky fluid found in some species of lettuce and occurs in much larger amounts in wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lactucarium has sedative and analgesic effects. It creates a sense of mild euphoria. The milky exudate resembles that of opium and it can also be reduced to a thick substance which can be smoked in the same way as opium. As a result of which it acquired the name ‘lettuce opium’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edible lettuce, Lactuca sativa, does not even contain lactucarium although it does contain lactucin which is in lactucarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dried-vegetables.co.uk/lettuce/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lettuce for Rabbits and Guinea Pigs&lt;/a&gt; (note that rabbits and guinea pigs have different digestive systems, this link is included for the information on lettuce composition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not known if lactucin turns into lactucarium during the digestive process in the rabbit, there are some accounts of rabbits appearing sedated after ingesting large quantities of lettuce. Regardless of the laudanum/lactucin status, there's no reason to feed iceberg because of the low nutrient value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society's website&lt;/a&gt; has even more details on what foods are good for rabbits and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T19:05:22.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1462" CreationDate="2013-11-22T16:18:16.797" Score="7" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a few questions such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551/why-is-adding-hay-to-a-rabbits-diet-important&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit's diet important?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1457/why-is-iceberg-lettuce-bad-for-rabbits&quot;&gt;Why is iceberg lettuce bad for rabbits?&lt;/a&gt; However, they don't necessarily tell you what the basic diet should look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as a rabbit keeper, what are some basic diet requirements that I should follow, and pay attention to, in order to help ensure that my rabbits remain healthy and happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-03-11T07:42:35.610" Title="What are the basic requirements of a healthy adult rabbit's diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1460" CreationDate="2013-11-22T17:12:49.337" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According the the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;University of Miami Biology department&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hay:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic diet of a domestic rabbit should be primarily &lt;strong&gt;grass hay&lt;/strong&gt;!  This means not alfalfa or clover.  Mostly because this hay is richer and higher in calories, protein, and calcium than most rabbits need.  If all that you have available is alfalfa or clover hay, that is better than no hay.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pellets:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to ensure that your rabbit gets all the nutrients that it needs, you should also feed a quality pellet.  Most commercial rabbit pellets feature an alfalfa-based pellet.  You should try to avoid pellets that include corn fillers.  These are not beneficial to your rabbit's diet and can harm their system(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossroadsrabbitry.com/rabbit-myths/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source see #7&lt;/a&gt;).  If you look at most of the common rabbit foods on the pet store or supermarket shelves, you will find the corn or soy fillers as well as many extras that your rabbit does not need.  For this reason I personally recommend going with a quality commercial grade food like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.purinamills.com/Default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purina&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.admani.com/Rabbit/Rabbit%20Index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pen Pals&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mannapro.com/products/rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manna Pro&lt;/a&gt;, or other quality feed. Most areas have a farm supply store near by.  I recommend talking with someone there to help you choose the right food.  You will probably find that the larger bag of food will be cheaper there than the small bags of filler at the pet stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few premium foods like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1550&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Oxbow Essentials - Adult Rabbit Food&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zupreem.com/products/natures-promise-timothy-naturals-rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zupreem&lt;/a&gt; that feature a Timothy hay pellet.  None of the pet of Farm stores in my area carry them, but I did talk to my Farm Supply store and they were willing to order it in for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need the highest quality pellets for most rabbits.  If it is just a pet house rabbit, then the 14-15% protein is fine. This is usually the cheapest variety.  If you have a wool-producing rabbit, you may want to consider the 18-19% protein blend because this will help with the keep their fur nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Special Treats:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I limit my treats to 4 different things.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parsley&lt;/strong&gt; because it actually helps a rabbit's sensitive gut maintain balance.  Parsley comes in bunches, but if you give the rabbit too much you are liable to cause diarrhea.  I generally limit my rabbits to 2 or 3 sprigs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carrot Greens&lt;/strong&gt; When we make dinner with carrots we purchase the carrots with the green leafy tops so that we can treat our rabbits with the tops.  They mostly love the greens but will also sometimes eat the orange tops.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dried Papaya&lt;/strong&gt;  We treat with a small piece of dried papaya every few months.  Usually, for a few days after, we notice a little more hair in their poop.  This is the desired effect.  If you have a wool (Angora, Jersey Wooley, Lionhead, or Fuzzy Lop) breed you may want to increase the frequency to monthly.  This is a sugary treat so you do not want to over feed it. A small piece goes a long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dandelions&lt;/strong&gt;  We pick the greens and flower, then rinse them well in cold water.  I would never use these if I thought there was a risk of pesticides.  But dandelions are a very mild food and are one of the first treats that are safe to give young rabbits.  They will eat the flower, stem and leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other things that you can use for treats as well.  But it has been my experience that rabbits do best when their diet is constant and consistent.  So whatever rabbit-safe treats you choose, choose a very few types, and stick with those. &lt;strong&gt;Never feed seeds, nuts, or anything that can cause gas.&lt;/strong&gt;  The rabbit system is fragile, and these things can disrupt the balance and often with fatal results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T16:19:55.557" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T16:19:55.557" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-22T17:41:34.490" Score="12" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, my ferrets eat a mix of raw beef, hen, chicken, pork, and the bones &amp;amp; organs. I usually purchase these on sale from the supermarket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started ordering from a new place because it's already prepared and balanced for me. But a couple of my ferrets haven't been eating it that much. It's the same meats that I've been giving them. It just has all the organs and bones ground up and mixed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of my ferrets are not eating that much of it, so I've still had to rely on their previous diet (which is a lot more work). I've tried putting Ferretone on the new stuff and mixing it with bits of the old. The change has been gradual over the past few days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know ferrets &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ferret.org/read/faq.html&quot;&gt;imprint&lt;/a&gt; on food at a young age and it is difficult to change their diet as adults. I think they're just being stubborn and fussy since they do eat little bits of it. Is there anything else I can do to get them to eat more of the new stuff? Or do I just need to keep at it and make sure they still get their old diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T03:10:00.600" Title="How can I transition my ferrets to a new diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-22T20:00:38.967" Score="15" ViewCount="5249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard some real horror stories about taking dogs to the dog park.  Too many owners just let their dogs run unsupervised, and many people seem unable to distinguish dog-on-dog play from dog-on-dog aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I bring my dog to the dog park, what signs should I be on the lookout for, both to indicate that my dog is being bullied, and to indicate that my dog may be bullying other dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T23:41:42.013" Title="How can I tell the difference between play and aggression at the dog park?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1464" CreationDate="2013-11-22T20:57:32.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be alert for signs of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/diagrams.html&quot;&gt;appeasement behavior&lt;/a&gt;&quot; on the part of your dog whenever he/she interacts with other dogs, particularly when the other dogs are larger (although you dog may feel threatened by smaller dogs, too!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs of appeasement behavior can include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A curved spine&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lying down&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Turning the head to the side; averting gaze from the other dog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ears lowered, but relaxed&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the appeasement behavior does not curb the offending dog's aggression, there are some other indications that your dog is feeling threatened:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tail tucked down&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ears pinned back/down&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Attempts to make eye contact with you&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lips drawn back&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eyes are wide open (&quot;Whale eye stare&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Placement of body against walls or other structures&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see any signs of this, &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; intervene, and separate the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, you should watch your dog for signs of aggression against other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to watching for the above signs in dogs your pet is interacting with, watch your dog for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Erect tail&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Body lined up with head and haunches, facing towards the other dog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.yahoo.com/body-language-dogs-understanding-7970004.html&quot;&gt;Raised hackles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full-speed running/chasing behavior, particularly after a smaller dog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whenhoundsfly.com/well-socialized-well-traumatized/&quot;&gt;This website&lt;/a&gt; has some excellent walkthroughs of some of these behaviors, in the form of videos with commentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T20:57:32.593" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1464" CreationDate="2013-11-22T20:57:52.807" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm speaking here as an owner of a Shiba Inu, who is frequently &lt;em&gt;the bully&lt;/em&gt; as well as split from playmates because their person is unable to tell that they are in fact playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Biting isn't always a sign of aggression&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs use their mouths to interact with the world, some do it more than others.  Play biting is very common when dogs are wrestling.  My Shiba will generally target legs of larger dogs in an effort to get them on the ground so he can reach them better.  Dogs usually learn at a very young age how much pressure is ok to apply with a playmate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Barking/growling isn't always a sign of aggression&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen owners show concern over a bark, growl, or even a squeal, but many dogs are vocal while playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Not every dog can wag their tail&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A wagging tail is generally a positive sign, while crouching/tail tucking is a negative sign.  A dog that's wagging their tail usually isn't aggressive.  However, not every dog can wag their tail either because it has been docked or because they're physically incapable (my Shiba cannot).  Similarly, a tucked tail isn't always something that can be discerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Body posture is your most reliable real clue&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my Shiba comes face to face with a dog he doesn't like, you can see it in his entire body:  his lips may curl, his hackles are raised, and he tries to stand as tall as possible.  When he's distressed, his tail will partially uncurl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs he bullies generally respond by yelping, slinking along the ground, and/or running away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T20:57:52.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1478" CreationDate="2013-11-22T21:20:31.020" Score="3" ViewCount="600" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our goldfish was found outside of the pond, on the ground and the cat was sitting next to it, playing with it. We are not sure if the cat fished the goldfish out or if it jumped out, as the pond was very full due to recent rain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish was put back in and seems healthy, but could have minor injury that we cannot see, as we have not examined him/her, just allowed her to swim and relax. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I fed them the next day, one of the fish was bumping the other one out of the way when they fed (and I cannot tell which is the one that had been out of the pond). This used to happen when there was a larger fish in the pond with them and this larger fish has subsequently been put into his/her own pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This just may be a coincidence in the timing with the out of pond misadventure, but I know birds can peck at an injured bird. Can the same thing happen to goldfish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this bullying bumping behavior be the result of being injured perhaps? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T15:26:18.740" Title="Can goldfish bully each other after an injury?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-22T21:23:27.737" Score="9" ViewCount="547" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our goldfish was recently found outside the pond, on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat was playing with it. The cat may have fished  it out of the pond or the fish may have jumped out, as the pond was very full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a recommended level or gap between the top of a pond of tank  the water should be filled to, to prevent fish from jumping out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T17:55:57.693" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T17:55:57.693" Title="How high should our goldfish pond be filled from the top?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1479" CreationDate="2013-11-22T21:27:32.363" Score="4" ViewCount="5448" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching my goldfish swim around and one appeared to be chasing the other in circles. This did not last long and then they seemed to be relaxed and following each other and just swimming together. I am concerned, as if there is bullying, I will have to separate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is healthy fish behavior, and what is a sign that there is bullying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is after asking this question here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1468/can-goldfish-bully-each-other-after-an-injury&quot;&gt;Can goldfish bully each other after an injury?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T01:51:57.230" Title="How can I tell if my goldfish is being bullied?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1448" CreationDate="2013-11-22T23:13:51.723" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to @Monica's answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes adjusting the nozzle so the water sprays more as a stream rather than a mist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't advise adding lemon juice to the water, as this could sting the cat's eyes. At this stage I would suggest changing the regime a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat jumps onto the kitchen bench I flick water at him from my fingers and make a hissing sound. In this case, he doesn't like the water, but I have gotten him to associate the hissing sound with something unpleasant. Originally it involved me also, physically removing him from the bench. Now, if I am not in the kitchen and I chastise him with the hissing sound he jumps off. I also use his name in a strict tone of voice. They get used to repetitious sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, you may have to combine a stronger squirt of water with a hissing sound and go through the protracted training of physically lifting your cat out of whatever situation it is you want him/her to stop. It can take a longer time to do this, but yields good results, as it is the process of associating the sprayer with physically being removed from a situation that will teach your cat to like the water sprayer less. With cats I find it is not so easy to do things by remote until we have made it clear to them what we want from them whilst in close proximity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-22T23:13:51.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2013-11-23T03:52:43.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The level of toilet water varies between countries dramatically. In some countries toilet bowls are largely filled with water in others there is only a couple of inches of water in the bottom of the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comparison between where pets may put there mouths and finding worse germs that from a toilet bowl is a debatable assertion. A bowl designed to take human waste is by no means a suitable place for animals to drink from. Any gastric bugs that may be present within a person may be found in the bowl and may or may not be harmful to a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frequently dogs will drink uneventfully from a toilet bowl. A toilet bowl with chemicals in it will be less enticing for a dog to drink from. Dog's immune systems are very different from people and their guts seem to withstand many organisms that could kill or at least hospitalise a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said this, just because a dog may not be harmed from drinking from a toilet, there is no benefit from allowing a dog access to a toilet as a drinking source. It is a place for people to defecate, a bowl kept for the exclusive purpose to provide fresh drinking water is the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for cats, there is the added possibility of drowning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toilet doors can be closed and toilet lids are best kept down to prevent pets from drinking out of them, or worse still drowning in them. (or for families with toddlers, to stop them from playing in them!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T03:52:43.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1334" CreationDate="2013-11-23T04:06:14.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is any way of feeding them in separately enclosed places, this would be the easiest solution to begin with. Is it possible to keep one locked in the coop and allow one out to start feeding first before letting the second one out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and observe which is the more aggressive of the two mothers and feed her first. By reinforcing the natural pecking order, it may help alleviate squabbles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you scatter the food into two areas, as opposed to over a large general area and place one chicken in each area with a reasonable gap between the two areas, it will make each chicken more reluctant to leave her food to go chase the other chicken from another pile of food, as she risks losing her food pile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible stand between them while they eat, you can be a human fence and referee in the middle of their feeding escapades. You can use your voice to praise or scold them, you seem to have a close relationship with your chickens and  they will get the idea of approval and disapproval from you. Whilst this, on it's own would have little effect, it will improve your communication with them and increase your overall bond. As mentioned in an &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1319/87&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1314/how-do-i-make-my-chicken-overcome-his-fears&quot;&gt;How do I make my chicken overcome his fears?&lt;/a&gt;, animals respond to how they are handled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to try feeding them more regularly or providing more feed. If they are going a bit hungry this will increase the likelihood of squabbling over food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T04:06:14.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="444" CreationDate="2013-11-23T08:28:26.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of information about marking, but there are also some other reasons dogs wipe or dig after relieving themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs will behave different types of behavior depending on their environment, whether they are in a public place, contained in a limited area and their background. As shown by animals from overcrowded and inhumane puppy mills. So observed behavior can be an aberration of natural behavior and sometimes an adaptation of being kept in captivity. It is natural and right to derive animal behavior from it's natural state in the would, but behavior within the context of captivity cannot always be definitively explained. As with the pawing on the ground with elimination and defecation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs will also scrape or wipe their paws, or make digging actions after elimination or defecation for hygiene reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason dogs scrape their paws after urinating or defecating is to clean their paws and another is to cover their waste. Similar to cats covering their mess, but not as thorough. You'll also find they scrape away from the direction of any food or water source or place that they sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you observe a dog that does not cock his or her leg to urinate, the urine pools and usually the dog will extend their back legs in a display as they are wiping their paws clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are observable differences between how dogs scrape and dig after going to the toilet, depending on the ground surface, and how they have relieved themselves. Sometimes they will be more digging with front paws included in an attempt to cover up the faeces, other times the paws will be scraped backwards from behind the mess in an attempt to wipe urine from them. When there is plenty of earth and leaf matter on the ground, a dog will make a better attempt of covering up fecal matter, than well relieving themselves on a lawn. Then there will be the more theatrical scraping, which is consistent with marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-dog-kick-the-grass-after-pooping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In the wild&lt;/a&gt;, canines such as wolves, dingoes and foxes may kick the ground after elimination for sanitary reasons. They are simply covering up the mess ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-11-23T14:05:45.983" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T14:05:45.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1457" CreationDate="2013-11-23T12:55:01.243" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zaralynda has a fantastic answer, that runs counter to my in belief the &quot;badness&quot; of iceberg lettuce for bunnies. In an attempt to support my beliefs I did lots of research, the following is what I learned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all agree that Iceberg Lettuce is not a good source of nutrition, but is it actually bad for rabbits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several mentions online and in print of iceberg lettuce, containing laudanum and being related to Opium producing plant &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_somniferum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Papaver somniferum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, in fact iceberg is no closer to this than any other lettuce &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettuce&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lactuca sativa&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Plants are scientifically classified in the Kingdom &lt;em&gt;Plantae&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_%28biology%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this is the division between plants and animals&lt;/a&gt;).  The nearest classification they have in common is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudicots&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eudicots&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; which includes many flowering plants including &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;apples&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;maple trees&lt;/a&gt;. This pretty much destroys the relationship myth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So where did the myth come from?  It seems that many plants including lettuce have a bitter latex like substance that has been used for a &lt;strong&gt;substitute&lt;/strong&gt; in producing the soporific effects of opium &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Ulm5mCqAVZUC&amp;amp;pg=PA117&amp;amp;dq=iceberg++laudanum&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=4ZKQUvCfE6rIsASD0YCwBg&amp;amp;ved=0CFkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=iceberg%20%20laudanum&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 4 By Peter Sell, Gina Murrell, page 117&lt;/a&gt;.  Lettuce appears to have been a popular source since the time of the anciet Egyptian, this was generally collected when the plant had bolted (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolting_%28horticulture%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;flowered&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;).  The drug is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactucarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lactucarium&lt;/a&gt;, it does not appear to hold it's effects well in commercial productions, but does appear to be less disruptive to the digestive system then opium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I did not find reliable references on the bloat and gas concerns related to iceberg lettuce&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related questions &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1502/what-is-the-cause-of-bloat-in-rabbits&quot;&gt;What is the cause of bloat in rabbits?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1503/can-rabbits-fart&quot;&gt;Can rabbits fart?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T19:23:17.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1086" CreationDate="2013-11-23T13:51:47.607" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the sound of it, you are doing the right thing in providing adequate housing for your toads. There would be a couple of points to optimise breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increasing the ratio of male to female toads. It is recommended to have 2-3 male toads per female toad, in the wild this ratio is larger than this and assists in the mating process. As males are smaller, it's easier to keep an extra male.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rather than trying to raise the eggs within the vivarium with the adults I would recommend removing the eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would appear that removing fertilised eggs from the tank and raising the babies separately from the adults is a more viable way of breeding in captivity. Both the egg to tadpole stage and then the tadpole to land stage of development require some specialised and separated housing. Given the complex set up for the adults, the housing for the babies should not be too difficult for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd require a small aquarium for the eggs and tadpoles and plastic ice cream type containers for the land dwelling babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have quoted from two sources. The second link also has email contact on the website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Typically, eggs are laid&#xA;  on submerged plants near water's edge. Eggs hatch after a period of 3&#xA;  to 10 days. In the first week following hatching, the tiny larvae&#xA;  absorb their yolk sacs. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After fertilization, the jelly layers of the eggs absorb water and swell. The eggs remain in this &quot;jelly&quot; state until hatching. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If mating is successful females will deposit their 40 - 110 eggs either individually or in small clumps of 4 - 25 eggs very close to the water surface where the warmth of the sun (spotlight) can aid embryo development. It is advisable to remove the eggs to a separate 90cm aquarium (per 100 eggs) containing 20 - 30cm of cool (60 - 65°F.), well-oxygenated and most importantly fresh water. Within 5 - 8 days the 6mm black tadpoles hatch out to spend the first week of their life clinging inanimately to the glass sides, plants or rocks while absorbing their yolk sac. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the first few weeks of their land-based life Bombina toadlets can prove quite difficult to raise. They are best removed to plastic ice-cream tubs with a secure but well-ventilated lid containing a base of soaking kitchen tissue paper. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Bombina_orientalis/&quot;&gt;Bombina orientalis &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By Todd Szcodronski&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Animal Diversity Web&lt;br&gt;&#xA;University of Michigan&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Museum of Zoology&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amphibian.co.uk/bombina.html&quot;&gt;The Fire Bellied Toad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Bombina Species) FAQ&lt;br&gt;&#xA;by Marc Staniszewski&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-23T13:51:47.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="219" CreationDate="2013-11-24T06:25:54.937" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going for several days without food is not usual for a healthy dog. I would ask, are you sure your dog eats absolutely nothing in this time, as I would be skeptical. Having said this, dogs can go for a number of days without eating, though this is not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following is advice for a healthy dog. It is always a good idea to get your dog checked if you are worried. If your dog shows signs of poor health, weight loss, lethargy, any worrying signs, it is a good idea to get her checked professionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The best  and easiest solution.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to encourage a fussy eater to eat is to introduce competition for the food. Many dogs that eat slowly, are fussy and will not finish their food will eat reasonable helpings in good time when there is another dog present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not always a viable option, especially to own a second dog. If you have any friends, family or neighbors with dogs, it would be worthwhile experimenting by feeding both dogs together, separate bowls, but within reasonably close proximity and see if this makes a difference. If not then there may be an organic cause for your dog's sussy eating behavior. As a general rule, though these things are behavioral and your dog has no reason to gulp her food quickly, and it pays her to be a fussy eater, as she is fussed over, petted, offered a variety of food and hand fed. It is good to remove these rewards if this behavior is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The harder and more realistic solution.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the key word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must not feed her, except for what is in her bowl for the following to work. Make sure the family eats their evening meal first. When this is finished, place a set amount in the bowl for 30 minutes, and take it up until the next day and repeat. She needs to learn two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will not get treats by holding out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is at the bottom of the pack, so needs to be grateful for the food she gets at the end of the meal. Currently, she is ruling the family, by waiting until she is fed the things she wants to eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give in, she will learn that she just needs to wait it out. She's obviously not starving, or she would eat, and the pay-off of holding out is worth it for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ruling out health problems, you'll find your dog will eat what she needs to maintain a healthy body weight. &#xA;The one problem you will have is going to her less favorite foods, try and keep her on her most favorite dog food mixtures, this is something you can worry about changing down the track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T06:25:54.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1468" CreationDate="2013-11-24T15:20:43.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, the short answer to that question is yes, but it's not necessarily bullying, it may actually be a natural reaction to a sick fish. Basically an attempt to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puregoldfish.com/goldfish.php?s=87&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avoid getting the same&lt;/a&gt; illness or because they're &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goldfish-emergency.com/viewpage.php?page_id=37&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;attracted to the damage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be that the aggressive one is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hartz.com/Fish/Getting_Started/understanding_aggressive_fish.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;injured one&lt;/a&gt; (last para). In this case, it may be acting aggressive to protect itself from further injury and to get more food to help with healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, if the aggression is the result of injury, then separating the two is probably the wisest idea, if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility, which the first article mentions, is mating. It seems unlikely, given the behavior described, but given you're entering summer, the tanks are warming up and getting more light, it can't be entirely dismissed. Look for the signs of a male looking to mate (white dots on the gills and pectoral fins), signs of white spots elsewhere may mean that it has ich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-24T15:26:18.740" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T15:26:18.740" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1470" CreationDate="2013-11-24T15:46:11.527" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than direct observation of the bully behaviour? Look for more general signs of distress or stress in your fish as bullying is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/healthy-aquariums/fish-stress.aspx&quot;&gt;very stressful situation&lt;/a&gt;. Some common signs include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Surface gasping (usually more about oxygen in the water, so unless only one is doing it, it's not a bullying thing, but watch for it anyways).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish doesn't eat. If the bullying pushes them away and they give up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hiding. The bullied fish hides and doesn't come out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visible injury or illness. May not be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puregoldfish.com/goldfish.php?s=87&quot;&gt;result of bullying&lt;/a&gt;, may be the reason for it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming funny, which could be a consequence of injury from bullying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last two look a bit chicken and egg, so knowledge of the history of the fish in question are useful. In your case, you have reason to believe that one may have already been injured, so you're probably looking for other signs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-11-24T15:52:21.750" LastActivityDate="2013-11-24T15:52:21.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="569" CreationDate="2013-11-25T02:16:37.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often found that giving my cats chicken broth when they seem to be getting a cold has either shortened the cold or prevented it altogether. Basically if the cat sneezes more than once they get a bowl of chicken broth (yes, usually low sodium is best).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T02:16:37.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="610" CreationDate="2013-11-25T02:33:00.237" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is pulling on the leash because he is in a hurry to get somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to stop a dog from pulling on the leash is to just stop.  When he stops pulling, then you can start walking again.  Be patient and consistent.  Eventually, your dog will get it:  pulling on the leash stops them from getting what they want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that chasing prey (cats, rabbits, etc.) is something you may never be able to curb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T02:33:00.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-25T12:46:39.380" Score="12" ViewCount="2289" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 7-month-old cat.  I would like to prevent her from getting on the dinner table because it's likely there's something to eat, or at least a water jug there, and we don't want her to start stealing (or putting her head in the water jug as she loves to do…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she gets on the table, I will push her down and tell her severely she must not get up there, often pointing to the table with my hand.  I'm pretty sure she understands that.  The point is, she feels it's a game: when I push her down, she starts getting up again on the other end of the table with her playful look, on alert.  She will continue this again and again, a dozen of times or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I will just let her on the table because I see there's nothing on the table and I don't feel like fighting (usually when I'm at the other end of the room, and if I push her down she'll wait for me to sit down before getting again on the table, again and again…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit lost here.  Any clue as to how to handle this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T21:13:52.887" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T21:24:03.190" Title="How do I prevent my cat from getting on the table?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1484" CreationDate="2013-11-25T14:38:49.247" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat does not understand you when you tell her to stay off the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 7 months old, she's still a kitten (really more like an adolescent, actually, which makes it even more difficult).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you sometimes let her up on the table, then you're not sending a clear message to her.  You have to be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to ban her from the table, then you have to remove her immediately after she gets on the table, whenever you see her doing it.  Every. Single.  Time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she persists in treating it like a game, you have a couple of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is to remove her from the room altogether.  If she jumps on the table, immediately pick her up and put her back on the floor.  If she tries to immediately jump back up again, pick her up and carry her out of the room, then put her down.  Removing her from the room sends a much clearer message that you aren't playing, and that her being on the table is undesirable behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to make the table much less inviting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it stands now, you've made the table top a very attractive and entertaining place for your cat to be.  There's water to drink, games to play, and possibly even sometimes a snack available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's drinking water out of the container on the table, remove the container of water from the table.  Make sure an alternate, more appropriate water source is available somewhere nearby, instead.  If her normal water source isn't in the same room as the table, consider adding a dish of water for her (or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;amp;field-keywords=pet%20water%20fountain&amp;amp;sprefix=pet+wa%2Caps&amp;amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apet%20water%20fountain&quot;&gt;pet water fountain&lt;/a&gt; nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, you can try making the table top actively uncomfortable for her to be on.  Put a tablecloth on the table, and place long strips of double-sided tape along the top.  She will almost certainly dislike stepping on the tape, and it should dissuade her from being on the table top.  After a week or two, you can try removing the tape to see if she's learned to avoid the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T14:38:49.247" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1491" CreationDate="2013-11-25T15:14:04.403" Score="12" ViewCount="7326" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a cat who's a bit of a loner.  Really hates contact unless it's under his terms and he very rarely wants contact except for about 10 minutes in the morning.  Unwanted contact is met with serious aggression.  He's been neutered if that matters at all, and he's 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now onto my question.  Most nights he'll pick up his favorite toy and meow (which sounds more whiny than usual), bring it to us, then look at us, meowing expectantly.  If we reach for the toy, he sits on our arms and look panicked in what I can only describe as a submissive/aggressive, almost playful, but slightly pathetic way.  No biting unless it's very soft, which is very unusual for him.  After we reach for it a couple of times, he'll take it away and return a couple minutes later, back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: What is this? What is he doing? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="403" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T17:44:37.117" LastActivityDate="2015-04-11T04:44:43.830" Title="Why is our cat bringing his toy to us and whining?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-25T15:26:16.057" Score="7" ViewCount="10820" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now, I have 2 fish tanks in my home and it is very difficult for me to maintain both at the same time.  I have attached images of both fish tanks and fish living in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first fish tank I have a single giant gourami.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First tank picture:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tmFjc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second fish tank I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kissing gourami&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milky white koi carp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sliver shark&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blue gourami&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Twin fin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sea angel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hypostomus plecostomus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second tank picture:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7pvuD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that giant gourami can kill the other fish like oscar and arowana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, can the giant gourami live with all these fish in a single tank, or do I have to keep it alone? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I put them in a single tank, what kind of filtration is required?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="402" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:36:15.717" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:45:28.060" Title="Do giant gouramis tolerate tank mates?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;gourami&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-25T16:40:10.723" Score="12" ViewCount="544" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a very young kitten about a week ago.  From the previous owner, she was litter trained, and only had a couple accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get her home, and I can't seem to get her to use her litter box at all.  She's peed her basket and the couch a couple times, and poops on the guest bed (which is where her food bowl and litter box are).  I've managed to catch her peeing a couple times and put her in the litter box, but that doesn't seem to catch on for her.  I also threw all her poop into the litter box, and very thoroughly washed the sheets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before she was weaned, she was kept in a single room, where her food, litter box, and toys were all there.  Her food dish and litterbox are still in the same room, but I'm using a different type of litter; she had newpaper pellets before, and I'm using a gravel type now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I put her in the litter box to show her where to do her business, she just jumps right out.  What can I do to re-train this kitten to use her litter box?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="205" LastEditorUserId="205" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T20:22:46.130" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T10:48:41.480" Title="How can I indicate where my kitten is supposed to do her business?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1494" CreationDate="2013-11-25T16:56:19.703" Score="9" ViewCount="8605" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased a veiled chameleon, and I was wondering if it could eat bananas or any other type of soft fruit. I read that it will eat plants and vegetation, but I haven't read anything thus far about bananas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first concern would be the health factor, as the banana was purchased from a grocery store, so it's probably genetically modified in some way. Is this particularly bad for the chameleon, or is there something else I should worry about?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is not constrained to bananas, and refers to any soft fruit, include strawberries, kiwi, grapes, oranges, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is also not necessarily constrained to any specific type of chameleon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T22:41:44.570" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T20:29:18.063" Title="Should I feed soft fruits to my veiled chameleon?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1613" CreationDate="2013-11-25T17:12:24.727" Score="12" ViewCount="2682" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dachshund who will not actively play with toys. She will, very rarely, pick up a bone or a chew toy (mostly a bone).  She has a myriad of toys available to her, ranging from small, fluffy, squeeky toys, to large rubber rings, a coupled stuffed animals, some rubber chew toys shaped like food, ropes for tugging, some kongs, etc.  She has some small circular bones available and a long bone.  No rawhides, no pig ears, no hooves.  99.9% of the time, she ignores the majority of the toys she has available to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does chase a bone if she's in the right mood, but will never fetch it back; she will either ignore the bone one she arrives, or will pick it up, walk to another location to chew it, and leave the bone there when called to play again.  That is the only play activity she seems to interact with; she won't go after a toy if thrown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I leave her, I break up a dog treat to fill a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0038WP1YC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dog puzzle&lt;/a&gt;, which is always &quot;solved&quot; less than 5 minutes of my departure.  I leave the TV on for her when I go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves to be by my side and pursues any cat or squirrel that enters the yard.  She actively patrols our yard for intruders.  She likes to lay on her back in the sun.  She is very intelligent; she always seems to know exactly what I want her to do.  She simply will not play, and I want her to be entertained when I am unable to play with her or when she's unable to go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does respond well to treats and food, but I don't want to overload her with treats as doxies are prone to getting overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do for her to keep her busy?  How can I entice her to be interested in her toys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:52:58.377" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T07:16:41.600" Title="How do I get my dachshund to be interested in toys?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1486" CreationDate="2013-11-25T18:10:27.523" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see two possible explanations, and the reality may have a bit of both or more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He might just want you to play with him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The meowing you describe might be the kind of call an adult cat uses when announcing prey he/she caught; usually reserved for her kittens. While I have not personally witnessed toms behave this way, I have observed the behavior in cats which have been neutered for more than five years. Especially when bored and “catching” a pack of handkerchiefs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried finding an example for this sound on YouTube, but had no luck. You could find something that sounds like your cat, or post a recording yourself for further analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="404" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T20:51:51.960" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T20:51:51.960" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1484" CreationDate="2013-11-25T18:17:51.113" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Beofett’s answer (which I am not going to repeat, although I agree with large parts): It sounds like you’re giving your cat attention whenever she misbehaves. She probably loves that and will continue behavior for which she gets (non-threatening) attention. Just place (or nudge) her down and ignore her for a few minutes. But do give her attention when she is well-behaved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="404" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T18:17:51.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1490" CreationDate="2013-11-25T18:42:06.710" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about a lack of interest in retrieving, since most dogs have to be taught how to do this.  My dog (Shiba Inu) treats a game of fetch as a way to start a game of &lt;em&gt;keep-away&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Toy Recommendations&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boy bores easily, so most of his toys (flatties, ropes, and Kong rope stuffed animals) are used for either chewing or playing keep-away.  There are 2 toys that he enjoys more than any others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dXWaw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yep, a cat toy.  It's just a plastic ball trapped in a durable plastic track.  I'm not certain who the manufacturer is for the one I have (I received it secondhand), but &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002AT5AY&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;I found one that looks just like it on Amazon&lt;/a&gt;.  Mine is exceptionally durable and has taken a lot of abuse without cracking or breaking.  Assuming this is a toy your dog would be interested in, all you should need to do is start the ball rolling around the track to show him how it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RB8cF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get a Chuckit! Erratic Ball just about anywhere that sells Chuckit! toys, though you may need to order online to get it in the small size.  Unlike normal balls, these will roll/bounce around unpredictably.  My boy has other balls, but this is the one he prefers the most.  He taught himself how to throw it so that he can chase it as it wobbles around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Other things you can try&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You already have a Kong, try stuffing it with mostly dog food and only a couple treats.  Just make sure you subtract the food you put in the Kong from his daily food allowance.  Try checking the Kong website for ideas on how to fill it (such as wetting the food so that it expands, making it more difficult to get out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try hiding some of his normal kibble throughout the house in places where he would be certain to find it (behind a char, under a bed, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a window accessible to your dog.  I live in an apartment on the ground floor, so my boy is able to sit and watch squirrels running around.  This might not be appropriate for all dogs, as they might bark or scratch at the window (my boy doesn't bark at people or dogs that he sees outside)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make him jealous.  Toys are always more interesting when they belong to someone else.  I've bought toys that my boy found interesting that belonged to other dogs.  Guess what?  He doesn't play with the ones I buy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T18:42:06.710" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1489" CreationDate="2013-11-25T19:41:10.713" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason that the veiled chameleon will eat leaves and such isn't for diet, &lt;a href=&quot;http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Veiledchameleon.cfm&quot;&gt;it's for water&lt;/a&gt; and I don't think that in captivity it is going to have poor water access. So, diet-wise, it is an insectivore and should be fed insects, usually crickets, for its dietary needs. At any rate, he may or may not eat the offered fruit, but you'd be better off getting the crickets (and other insects) loaded up on that sort of thing rather than your chameleon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T16:11:53.743" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T16:11:53.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1501" CreationDate="2013-11-25T20:05:25.827" Score="7" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that my dog's nose is always runny, wet, and cold.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It seems like that's a good thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if my nose was runny, wet, and cold, that's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-11-25T20:52:34.183" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T04:57:01.360" Title="Why is my dog's nose wet and cold?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2013-11-25T21:09:25.983" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats, even young ones (who &lt;em&gt;tend&lt;/em&gt; to be more adaptable), can react badly to changes in their environments.  It sounds like you have moved the cat (you just got her a week ago from a previous owner), given her access to more of your living space (not just one room), and changed her litter.  Anecdotally, changes in food and litter types often cause problems, hence the common advice to make these changes gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your top priority now is to prevent her for forming bad habits.  Switch back to the type of litter she was using right away.  Later you can transition to the type you prefer (possibly using multiple boxes).  But right now you've got to stop the inappropriate elimination, so give her as close to her &quot;previously normal&quot; environment as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to restrict her space.  Try keeping her in the one room (with plenty of people time) for a little while.  Even a kitten who knows where the box is (and knows to use it) may sometimes struggle to get there in time if your house/apartment is large.  So work up to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if this kitten has not yet been to the vet for initial exams and vaccines, you should do that right away -- both as general good practice, and because inappropriate elimination can be a sign of a medical problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T21:09:25.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1497" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1506" CreationDate="2013-11-25T22:44:47.573" Score="10" ViewCount="21259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the API freshwater kit. I tested for 0.25 ppm ammonia and 40ppm nitrate. After the water change, I have 0.50 ppm ammonia and 5ppm nitrate. &lt;em&gt;WHAT THE HECK?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact right before I put water in and after I took 25% water out, my ammonia was 8 ppm. I cleaned the gravel, so maybe that's why the ammonia rose? But that doesn't make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I treated my water before adding it with API stress-coat, which is a dechlorinator / dechloraminator and Stress Zyme, which adds bacteria. I also added Seachem Flourish for plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T14:20:01.077" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T20:21:11.970" Title="Why did my ammonia level rise after a water change?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-11-25T22:46:01.983" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the pill inside a tasty treat. Simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T22:46:01.983" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-25T23:28:48.493" Score="9" ViewCount="2684" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 8 Albino Corydoras and all they do is swim against the wall all day, even when the light is off. I am guessing my tank has great reflection. They almost never go into the middle of the tank; it's always the left or right side of the tank (usually the side of the filter because there's more space).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I noticed today my fish weren't swimming at all. They were resting on the bottom, or so it seemed. I tested my water at ammonia 0.5 ppm and 40 ppm nitrate and changed it; the water is now 0 ppm ammonia and 5 ppm nitrate and they are all swimming again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are other good ways to identify erratic fish behavior due to environmental stress?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I don't think it has to do with the ammonia.  Four days after I initially posted this question, I have negligible ammonia (less than 0.25 ppm) and more or less 5 ppm nitrate. They are still exhibiting this behavior. They will also not swim above the highest plant in the tank (recently my banana plant has grown past the Anubia plant and now they are not scared to feed from the surface). Nothing is wrong with my fish; I just wish to inquire about normal fish behavior, in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T05:03:05.337" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T17:54:20.053" Title="How do I identify abnormal or erratic fish behavior?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="610" CreationDate="2013-11-25T23:44:52.150" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important aspect about controlling your dog on the leash is for your dog to understand that you are the one who leads and not the other way around.  When your dog pulls you in a direction that you do not wish to go, or even in a direction that you wish to go but not at that pace then you are submitting to the dog's will and degrading your image of being the pack leader in the dog's eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog's being pack animals feel reassured when they clearly know who the pack leader is.  It may seem strange that your dog would be less stressed being lorded over but this is dog psychology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Walk starts with putting the leash on&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Setting the precedent off right from the beginning can help set the tone for the rest of the walk.  When you pick up the leash I imagine your daschund gets extremely excited and can't wait to exit the door.  When you reward the dog in this excited state of mind then you set the tone for the rest of the walk to be excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may take a while, but be patient.  Wait for the dog to be calm while you hold the leash.  Only once calm can you attempt to put the leash on the dog.  The first several times you try the dog will probably become excited again meaning you will pull back and wait for the dog to become calm again.  Once you are able to leash the dog in a calm state of mind then you can move to the next step!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exiting the Front Door&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This little tip I learned from reading Cesar Milan's books on dog training.  Before you leave the front door make sure the dog is completely calm.  When opening the door if the dog becomes excited again then close and wait for calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not let the dog leave the door first.  This sets the tone that the dog is alpha for the walk and will lead.  Alpha dogs are the first to enter and the first to leave always.  Make sure that you exit the door first then your dog can follow you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tension on the Leash&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your body language and natural tension is picked up by your dog.  If you are nervous, anxious, frustrated or angry then your dog will pick up your tension.  This tension will make your dog more excitable and actually encourage more bad behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your shoulders relaxed and keep tension on the leash to a minimum.  Only the gentlest confident nudges should communicate to your dog where you want them to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Following on the side or behind&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to allow your dog to walk in front of you.  If they try to walk in front then hold them back with the leash until they are at your side and stop moving forward completely.  The dog will learn that in no way do they ever get closer to where they want to be by pulling and leading.  This can be frustrating but patience will pay off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Meeting People and other Pets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we walk we occasionally run into other people or pets that would like to meet our precious little pooch.  The challenge here is to let others know that you are training your dog to be calm when approaching people.  If the dog gets super excited to meet somebody and pulls towards them, then hold them back until they calm down.  Only then allow them to approach.  You should be able to identify calm energy from your dog as opposed to excited energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Too Much Energy?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When all else fails sometimes dogs do not get nearly enough exercise and they can be physically and mentally frustrated because of it.  Puppies and high energy breeds have this problem especially.  Try taking your dog for a run or a swim in the pool if you have access to one.  This will help them expel excess energy and allow them to be more receptive to your cues and get into that calm state a bit easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-11-25T23:44:52.150" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1495" CreationDate="2013-11-26T04:57:01.360" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to dig into this because you caught my curiosity itch with the question... Given the usefulness of dogs in our daily life, especially with respect to the value of their sense of smell, it's not surprising that some research has been done on the nose of the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... a 2008 study from Pennsylvania State University discusses the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/7/47/933.full&quot;&gt;fluid dynamics of a dog's nose&lt;/a&gt; and comes to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1089988/Dogs-wet-noses-enhance-sense-smell.html&quot;&gt;essential conclusion&lt;/a&gt; that the wet nose allows them to pre-sort the different odors so that each individual odor can be distinguished from another. Basically, the moisture acts as a form of filter that allows for different scents to reach different points in the nasal passages, thereby allowing &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.psu.edu/story/141323/2010/04/13/research/probing-question-can-dogs-smell-disease-humans&quot;&gt;fine-tuned assessment&lt;/a&gt; of the information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.doghealth.com/how-and-why/why-dogs-have-wet-noses&quot;&gt;Other theories&lt;/a&gt;, are a little less dramatic and include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleaning their nosey selfs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cooling off (bear in mind that dogs don't sweat like we do)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm generally inclined to the more scientific theory, but I think there's an element of all three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T04:57:01.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-26T13:00:30.877" Score="4" ViewCount="3184" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of web sites and published works, with a lot of different and often contradictory causes for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_dilatation_volvulus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bloat&lt;/a&gt; in rabbits. Many seem to be reflecting opinions and best guesses.  The few works I found with scientific research included in their documentation did not indicate an identifiable cause or causes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two facts that I believe are not in dispute:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rabbits cannot vomit (or burp)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bloat is nearly always fatal (and painful)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answers quoting a web page saying bloat is or is not related to GI stasis, are discouraged.  Answers with reliable references including scientific inquiry, or personal experience where one or more specific (&lt;em&gt;irregular&lt;/em&gt;) changes occurred in close proximity to the event are encouraged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T22:52:07.697" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T21:47:04.870" Title="What is the cause of bloat in rabbits?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1508" CreationDate="2013-11-26T13:14:30.410" Score="14" ViewCount="34837" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an uncontested fact that rabbits are physically incapable of vomiting.  Rabbit health is primarily &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dependent on digestion&lt;/a&gt;, moving large quantities of low-value food from one end to the other, sometimes making the passage &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;more than once&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, rabbits suffer from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1502/what-is-the-cause-of-bloat-in-rabbits&quot;&gt;bloat&lt;/a&gt;, which comes from a buildup of gas in the stomach.  If gas is created in the intestines rather than the stomach, are rabbits able to expel it or will it migrate to the stomach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T00:05:38.847" Title="Can rabbits fart?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1509" CreationDate="2013-11-26T14:18:13.537" Score="11" ViewCount="1080" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the northeast United States, and the weather can become fairly cold here in the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jackets and sweaters for dogs seem to be popular around here, but are they necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand some breeds of dogs with shorter fur needing some additional assistance in cold weather, particularly if they originated in warmer climates (e.g. chihuahuas).  However, I frequently see dogs with longer fur bundled up against the cold, such as terriers, poodles, and bichons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these merely fashion accessories, or do dogs need protection from cold weather even on short walks?  If the extra protection provides actual comfort, instead of fashion, how do you determine when the weather is cold enough to merit it for a dog?  Presumably the point at which clothing becomes beneficial varies from breed to breed; is there a simple guideline I can use?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T14:53:20.377" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T14:53:20.377" Title="When does a dog need to wear a jacket or sweater?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1503" CreationDate="2013-11-26T14:58:57.180" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can definitely fart&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gas will need to be expelled somewhere, and it seems likely that if they can poop that they'll be able to fart also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to many websites, the jury seems to be out on whether it's common for rabbits to burp (and whether or not this is indicative of gastrointestinal problems.)  Intuitively, because rabbits can't vomit, they'll probably have some difficulty burping as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-06-28T00:05:38.847" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T00:05:38.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1497" CreationDate="2013-11-26T15:15:27.647" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're changing an awful lot of variables all at once, so your readings (and your nitrogen cycle) are likely way off. Slow down a bit, and let's look at the possibilities one at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, most water treatments that neutralize ammonia work by converting the ammonia (NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) into harmless ammonium (NH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;), which will by removed by your bio filters. The test kits can't tell the difference, giving you false positives. Similar story for chlorine and chloramine treatments. You shouldn't take water readings too shortly after making water or chemistry changes. You have to give it a day or so for the water chemistry and readings to stabilize; otherwise, you'll be chasing thrashing readings and probably making things progressively worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the beneficial bacteria that remove these compounds lives in your filter media and your substrate. When doing your partial water changes, you should only siphon off the surface debris and only &quot;deep clean&quot; about a third of your gravel in any given week (max). Also, changing your filter material can cause an ammonia spike because you're throwing away the &quot;bio&quot; part of your bio filter which stalls your nitrogen cycle. You should only &lt;em&gt;rinse&lt;/em&gt; your filter media in aquarium water (not replace) and only when needed. I only replace individual pieces of my filter media when it is absolutely falling apart (try not to do too much at once).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if you've determined that you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; all those other chemicals you're adding during routine water changes, but in general&amp;hellip;  stop adding any chemicals that you don't explicitly need &amp;mdash; i.e. you &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a water conditioner but really not much else unless you have diagnosed a specific condition that needs treatment. I'm assuming your tap water is basically okay with the chemicals you are using, but you may want to take a fresh sample to your local aquarium shop for a test to see what you actually need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2013-11-26T21:15:16.160" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T21:15:16.160" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1487" CreationDate="2013-11-26T16:16:49.500" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going by your pictures, no, you can't combine these fish. Please don't take this the wrong way: these tanks are much too small for the animals in them, and have inadequate filtration. Giant gouramis get huge, bigger than some cats and dogs -- you're looking at a fish that needs several hundred gallons of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other tank already has too many huge, incompatible fish, so the behavior of the giant gourami is not really relevant. I think your silver shark is what I know as a Bala shark, which will grow to be over a foot long. I've  seen plecos easily reach two feet in length. The koi will reach, at minimum, a foot long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is not the answer you're asking for, but I really don't think your fish are going to do well like this.  People say fish only grow to the size of their tank, but what actually happens is they just don't survive long enough to reach their full size in those conditions. The fact that you're already having trouble keeping up with maintenance is a warning sign. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-11-26T16:16:49.500" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1503" CreationDate="2013-11-27T02:56:12.483" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I did not find any reliable references that clearly put it as boldly as the question, there can be little doubt that rabbits do fart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets begin by looking at a rabbits digestive track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rrZjV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image from &lt;a href=&quot;https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anatomy_and_physiology_of_animals_Gut_of_a_rabbit.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikimedia Commons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that the stomach is very early in the digestive track, this is the usual problem area noted for gas accumulation in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1423/is-there-anything-that-can-be-done-to-treat-bloat-in-young-rabbits&quot;&gt;bloat&lt;/a&gt;.  Then follows the small intestine, and the at the beginning of the large intestine is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;caecum/cecum&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit cecum is much more developed than in most other animals.  Food products stop in the cecum and ferment (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=-mwUu6PL1UgC&amp;amp;pg=PA67&amp;amp;dq=Rabbit+cecum+gas&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=tkyVUs6sDKvJsQTLj4Io&amp;amp;ved=0CGgQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Rabbit%20cecum%20gas&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nutritional Ecology of the Ruminant By Peter J. Van Soest Page 67&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) generally staying there until night, with gas as one of the products of fermentation.  The rabbit cecum is described in veterinary imaging references as a &quot;large gas chamber that contains a mixture of food and gas&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=EH_H__LID8wC&amp;amp;pg=PT453&amp;amp;dq=Rabbit+cecum+gas&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=tkyVUs6sDKvJsQTLj4Io&amp;amp;ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Rabbit%20cecum%20gas&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diagnostic Imaging of Exotic Pets: Birds, Small Mammals, Reptiles By Maria-Elisabeth Krautwald-Junghanns, Michael Pees, Sven Reese, Thomas Tully&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;), which is particularly noted for it's difficulty to image (i.e. Xray, etc) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disruption of motility of the cecum is called &quot;cecolith&quot; and can be diagnosed by an increase in the amount of gas in the cecum. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=VvICUGYAWtUC&amp;amp;pg=PT789&amp;amp;dq=Rabbit+cecum+gas&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=tkyVUs6sDKvJsQTLj4Io&amp;amp;ved=0CFwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Rabbit%20cecum%20gas&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ferrets, Rabbits and Rodents: Clinical Medicine and Surgery By Katherine Quesenberry, James W. Carpenter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we know that gas is produced in the cecum, and if there is decreased motility the gas increases, the logical conclusion is that in the healthy rabbit the gas continues through the colon, and is expelled from the anus. At this point there can be little doubt that healthy rabbits fart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the recognized treatments for gas in rabbits is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simethicone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Simethicone&lt;/a&gt;, an anti-foaming agent that helps in the passing of gas (&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=gDWWKjUoOHYC&amp;amp;pg=PA38&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+Simethicone&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=zVGVUsnBJ4XO2AXQh4GwDg&amp;amp;ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20Simethicone&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rabbit Health in the 21st Century: A Guide for Bunny Parents By Kathy Smith&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;).  Note that gas accumulation in rabbits is potentially (often) fatal, so &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1423/is-there-anything-that-can-be-done-to-treat-bloat-in-young-rabbits/1435#1435&quot;&gt;prevention of accumulation&lt;/a&gt; is extremely important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T02:56:12.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1504" CreationDate="2013-11-27T18:41:59.250" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, there are breeds of dogs where this is clearly not necessary (e.g. any sled dog) and may cause overheating if engaged in strenuous activity. Bearing in mind that all dogs have some insulating features to a greater or lesser degree, so there's no one-size fits all, you did mention some rules of thumb to consider&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Small dogs have less of a self-heating engine as it were and can benefit from the extra insulation of a sweater. You noted the chihuahua as one example, but that could also include your terriers, toy poodles, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Old and/or sick dogs, like humans, are less able to fight off the chill of cold weather. So, in this case, the added help can make them more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thin fur dogs that don't have the same insulation as similar, but more richly furred, dogs of a comparable size.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When? Well... once you start needing a winter coat, then if your dog falls into one of the above, you'd probably want to look for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shivering&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reluctance to go outside to do business&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other signs of discomfort in the cold&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heavy snow (to keep it off them)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind the activity they're going to engage in. If it's strenuous then consider the overheating risk. Happens to us to, but we can unzip our coats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;Source and some additional information at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/seasonal/evr_dg_sweaters_for_dogs#.UpY7PMRJN8F&quot;&gt;Pet.MD&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/do-any-dogs-really-need-sweaters-or-coats&quot;&gt;Vetstreet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-11-27T18:41:59.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-27T19:06:52.457" Score="4" ViewCount="2603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1497/why-did-my-ammonia-level-rise-after-a-water-change&quot;&gt;performed a water change two days ago&lt;/a&gt;. My ammonia levels were at 0.25-0.5 ppm right after the water change, which one user suggested was due to the chloramine removers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it has been two days and I saw one of my fish lying at the bottom of the tank, resting... &lt;strong&gt;during daylight&lt;/strong&gt;. Its back fin is also tense, as in, it's not as big as it should be because he's contracting it out of stress. I tested for ammonia and it's at 0.5 ppm. My nitrates have increased to 10 ppm.  I'm going to perform another 25% water change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added a carbon filter two days ago inside my AquaClear filter consisting of a one-month old bio-filter and a mechanical filter. &lt;em&gt;WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; Just performed another water change, it definitely has to do with the de-chloramines. Maybe they aren't settled? &lt;strong&gt;What is the chemical reaction behind it&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T19:23:15.497" Title="Why are my ammonia levels still high?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1510" CreationDate="2013-11-28T07:03:18.720" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were to make a safe guess, it would be the tank cycle is not completed yet. If it is a matured tank, then something must have been disturbed which triggered the tank cycle to reset. If your tap water has high chlorine/chloramines, this could possibly kill the beneficial bacteria colony inside the filter. If you have washed your filter using tap water, this might kill the bacterias a well. I am not sure if you're using any dechlorinator, if not get one. You could also try doing water changes using aged water. In that case age the water in a bucket for at least 24 hours with an added air-stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2013-11-28T07:03:18.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1515" CreationDate="2013-11-28T20:31:31.167" Score="9" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today (November 28, 2013) is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thanksgiving Day&lt;/a&gt; in America, and for Thanksgiving, we eat a lot of turkeys.  It is currently tradition for the U.S. President &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Thanksgiving_Turkey_Presentation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to give a &quot;Presidential Pardon&quot; to a turkey&lt;/a&gt;.  The turkey's life is saved and it lives through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens to the pardoned turkey after Thanksgiving?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it go on to live a life of leisure as a cherished pet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I adopt one of these pardoned turkeys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-02T22:15:37.317" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T03:12:43.143" Title="Can I adopt a Presidentially-pardoned Thanksgiving turkey?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-28T21:23:28.863" Score="13" ViewCount="19203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been catching my cat licking windows and recently some walls. The doubtful advantage is that the lower half of my windows don't fog any more, but why is she doing that? Is it unhealthy for the little creature? Should I discourage her doing so and if yes, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2013-11-29T04:22:41.950" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T16:18:01.907" Title="Why is one of my cats licking walls and windows?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-11-28T21:30:31.947" Score="8" ViewCount="1638" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pet shop sells special food called &quot;Calm&quot; for both cats and dogs, apparently for the holiday or fireworks season. Is this food really a solution, or is it feel-good for the pet owners?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cM1q5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once read an article that animals get afraid of the loud noise outside, and as a result of eating the 'keep calm'-food, they don't have the energy to hide and get even more afraid, sometimes even panic. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2013-11-29T20:56:40.190" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T05:53:13.623" Title="Does calming food really help my pets?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1512" CreationDate="2013-11-29T01:54:02.570" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/27/politics/pardoned-turkeys/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CNN&lt;/a&gt;, pardoned turkeys go to a farm to live the rest of their time.  &lt;em&gt;&quot;George Washington's Mount Vernon estate [has] a sizable wooden pen built specifically to house the [...] turkeys&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123988&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ABC News&lt;/a&gt; reports President George W. Bush's turkeys went to Kidwell Farm.  The turkeys are put on display for the public, but generally die within months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the CNN article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/27/obama-set-to-pardon-two-turkeys-for-thanksgiving-but-history-warns-their-days/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;and others&lt;/a&gt; go on to explain that the turkeys selected to receive Presidential pardons were bred to be eaten; by the time they are pardoned, they are grossly overweight and physically unfit for extended survival.  Historically, most have died from illness within a year of being pardoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would assume that due to their lack of longevity, unless you were one of the qualifying farms selected by the President or his staff to house and display the turkeys, it is unlikely you would be able to adopt one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-02T22:11:13.937" LastActivityDate="2013-12-02T22:11:13.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1513" CreationDate="2013-11-29T04:14:56.157" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat licking glass should generally be unharmful &lt;strong&gt;depending on your window cleaning methods.&lt;/strong&gt; If you use a commercial cleaner (which would be harmful if ingested), then I would recommend switching to something non-toxic. I usually use water and microfiber towels. I've also heard that folks have good results with a vinegar/water mix, and this may also have the added benefit of tasting terrible and discouraging her from doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am definitely concerned about her licking the walls. Cat tongues are rough and she may be able to get paint (or wall material, depending on your construction) off. If she licks in only certain areas, I would try cleaning those areas with an enzyme or CO2 cleaner - there may be something there that she's attracted to. You could also try breaking her of the habit by blocking the areas with furniture, sheets, or other objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older homes have an added danger of the possibility of lead based paint. If your home could potentially have lead paint, you should immediately take her to the vet and ask for a lead screening. According to the EPA (in the USA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most homes built before 1960 contain heavily leaded paint. Some homes built as recently as 1978 may also contain lead paint. This paint could be on window frames, walls, the outside of homes, or other surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.epa.gov/iaq/homes/hip-lead.html&quot;&gt;Indoor Air Quality: Lead-Based Paint&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she continues to lick walls/windows even after you've thoroughly cleaned the surfaces, I would suggest taking her to the vet and explaining her behavior. One of our boys chews on things because he had terrible mouth problems (we ended up pulling out all of his teeth), and one of the girls licks everything because she has some anxiety issues. If the behavior is the result of an underlying medical issue, there are medications and treatments that can help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-11-29T04:14:56.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1514" CreationDate="2013-11-29T05:38:20.723" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to speak from a perspective about CATS because that's what I know. Some of this may apply to dogs, but I'm not nearly as familiar with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of my girls are super anxious, and their anxieties have totally different sources and manifest in totally different ways. So we've tried a wide range of products aimed to reduce anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't able to find the ingredients list on the Royal Canin website (got a maintenance message), but Petfooddirect shows the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chicken meal, corn, brewer’s rice, wheat gluten, corn gluten meal, wheat, natural flavors, powdered cellulose, dried chicory root, chicken fat, fish oil, calcium sulfate, salt, potassium chloride, , DL-methionine, vegetable oil, fructooligosaccharides, taurine, psyllium seed husk, choline chloride, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), inositol, , niacin supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), D-calcium pantothenate, tripolyphosphate biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A acetate, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], L-lysine, dried hydrolyzed casein, L-tryptophan, trace minerals (zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), L-carnitine, rosemary extract, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols and citric acid. &#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product/51833/Royal-Canin-Veterinary-Diet-Calm-Formula-Dry-Cat-Food#ingredients&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first thought when reading this question was that this would be an herb-based anxiety reduction (there are a lot of those on the market). I pulled out &lt;em&gt;Dr. Kidd's Guide to Herbal Cat Care&lt;/em&gt; (2000), and he suggests Oat, Catnip, Valerian, Chamomile, Lavender, Skullcap, St. John's Wort, or Kava Kava for anxiety. I don't see any of those (or their scientific names) in the ingredients list. The only herbs I see are chicory (my reference says that's for liver function) and rosemary extract, which he says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;contains bioactive ingredients that help prevent the breakdown of the chemical acetylcholine in the brain. A deficiency in acetylcholine is believed to be a contributing factor in senility in general and Alzheimer's disease in particular. (p 47)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most interesting thing in rereading the chapter on treating stress is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, and perhaps most important, when Pet needs on of the herbs, take the same herb yourself. When you are calm and relaxed, your cat will follow suit. Just be sure to consult your physician or herbalist before taking a new herb, especially if you are already taking medication. (p 104)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reminds us how important our own feelings are to our pets! There are a lot of anecdotal stories online of many remedies working for anxious pets. In some cases, it may be that the owner felt they found a solution and so they felt better, thus allowing the pet to feel more relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT, we still haven't really figured out the RC Calm food! One thing I noticed when looking at the ingredients is that it has a lot of protein for a grain-based commercial dry food (34%! by comparison the standard &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product/1495/Royal-Canin-Feline-Health-Nutrition-Indoor-Adult-27-Dry-Cat-Food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RC Indoor dry food&lt;/a&gt; is 27% protein). They claim that hydrolyzed milk protein and tryptophan (amino acid) help maintain your cat's emotional balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was able to find a bunch of related studies performed on dogs. In the first study, selegiline is a prescription medication used to treat anxiety in dogs. Zylkene is a hydrolyzed milk protein dietary supplement. They appear to be roughly equivalent in effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effects of alpha-casozepine (Zylkene) versus selegiline hydrochloride (Selgian, Anipryl) on anxiety disorders in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research Volume 2, Issue 5 , Pages 175-183, September 2007 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.journalvetbehavior.com/article/S1558-7878%2807%2900203-1/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second study used measured cortisol values as well as behavioral observations, but noted a high level of variation before concluding that the hydrolyzed milk protein may be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Efficacy of a diet containing caseinate hydrolysate on signs of stress in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research Volume 5, Issue 6, November–December 2010, Pages 309–317 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787810000778&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, finally, I found a study with a negative result (this is actually uncommon with publication bias) about the effects of serotonin precursor tryptophan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dietary tryptophan supplementation in privately owned mildly anxious dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science Volume 121, Issues 3–4, December 2009, Pages 197–205 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159109002834&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that there is some evidence that hydrolyzed milk protein &lt;strong&gt;MAY&lt;/strong&gt; help calm anxiety when fed several weeks ahead of the anxiety-producing event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address the second part of your question about animals getting afraid of the &quot;keep calm&quot; stuff - I would be surprised to see this reaction to food or a particular supplement/medication (the process of BEING medicated, certainly - we switched our human-anxious cat to transdermal anti-anxiety medication that we could just rub on her ears). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could happen if you were trying a devices like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/Product/ThundershirtForCats.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a Thundershirt&lt;/a&gt;, which is supposed to calm anxiety. I did buy one of those for the cats, and even when I put it on the cats that are much easier to &quot;read&quot; (i.e. figure out how they're feeling) than the anxious cat, they didn't seem scared of it, but more confused by the feeling of something on their back.  Every animal is different, but mine weren't scared of it, but I could see it potentially happening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-01T05:53:13.623" LastActivityDate="2013-12-01T05:53:13.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1518" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6068" CreationDate="2013-11-29T11:32:47.720" Score="12" ViewCount="1685" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our area, we have several animal shelters. I have heard some described as &quot;Open Door&quot; shelters and others as &quot;Limited Access&quot; shelters.  What do these terms mean, and what is the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T14:03:28.777" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T14:03:28.777" Title="What is the difference between &quot;Open Door&quot; and &quot;Limited Access&quot; shelter policies?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1518" CreationDate="2013-11-29T11:50:30.860" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it varies from area to area, but I believe that 'Open Door' implies that the shelter &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.opendoorshelters.org/&quot;&gt;accepts any animal, any time of the day in pretty much any condition&lt;/a&gt;. Limited access shelters might not take certain kinds of animals, or animals with what appear to be serious health or behavioral concerns. They can also accept certain kinds of animals, but disallow specific breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a term that I first became aware of when I discovered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alleyanimals.org/&quot;&gt;Alley Animals&lt;/a&gt;, an organization that feeds, rescues and places strays in the Baltimore / Washington area. They came into existence broadly &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; so many of the shelters and animal hospitals were / are limited access - and generally won't accept known feral animals. The only agency accepting these animals was animal control, which meant an almost certain unpleasant outcome for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've found a stray or injured animal, you definitely want to look for an open door shelter. Lost pets with collars, tattoos, etc would generally be welcome in a limited access facility, but your best bet is to just call them if you can to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worth noting, limited access facilities aren't necessarily &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; places, and I certainly don't want to portray them as such. They just have very limited facilities, and cope with that by limiting what comes in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastEditorUserId="105" LastEditDate="2013-11-29T16:46:07.887" LastActivityDate="2013-11-29T16:46:07.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1521" CreationDate="2013-11-30T11:21:07.773" Score="17" ViewCount="545" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to give someone a pet as a gift.  I was thinking of making it a Christmas gift, but it could be a birthday gift if I don't find the right pet soon.  So I was discussing the options with some coworkers asking things like, &quot;Should I give a pet as a gift? And if so, what kind of pet would be best?&quot; or &quot;Would a dog, a cat, or maybe something else be best?&quot;  But decided I needed to give this whole thing some more thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, Is there anything I should know or consider before giving a pet as a gift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:23:20.143" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T13:33:27.250" Title="Is there anything I should know or consider before giving a pet as a gift?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1520" CreationDate="2013-11-30T14:17:22.840" Score="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As a general rule, it is unwise to ever give a pet as an unsolicited gift.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pet is a large commitment, and there are animal shelters full of unwanted Christmas, Easter and birthday gifts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy, kitten, bunny; any pet is a living being and totally dependent upon their owners in all ways, they are a lifetime commitment. Too often, life's circumstances will force dedicated pet owners into the difficult corner of having to surrender their loved pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deciding and choosing a pet is a decision which takes time and forethought on the part of the would-be owner. Facilities, lifestyle, time, and financial constraints are unique to that household; an outsider can only guess at these factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Families may have many varying restrictions on whether or not a particular, if any, type of pet is suitable for that family, so an outsider buying a pet for a family or person, does not constitute responsible gift giving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for parents buying their children pets as gifts, any wise parent knows that the responsibility of a pet ultimately lies with the parent, just as the responsibility of the child is with the parent. So if a parent chooses to give their child a pet as a gift, at any time of the year, the parent needs to know and accept responsibility for that pets well being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to decide if you are gifting a pet, you need to replace  these question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) Is this pet a suitable gift for [insert person]?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this more important question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2) Am I going to be caring for this pet?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the answer to the second question is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;No&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, then the answer to the first question is also &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;No&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Am I going to be caring for this pet after it no longer young and cute? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Am I willing to care and pay for the pet when it gets old and/or sick?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many pets are given as baby pets while they are cute, young and healthy, a pet remains dependant upon their owners as they grow old, sick and have behavior that does not always &lt;em&gt;suit&lt;/em&gt; our lifestyles. Maintain an animal within a human household requires effort. A pet doesn't attribute value to material things as people do, so when a cat is scratching up furniture, or a dog chews an expensive pair of shoes, or a bunny leaves dropping all over the house, this all requires effort, patience and expense, that can make the reality of owning a pet outweigh the cuteness of the original gift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unless&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; you have prearranged with someone , with  whom after long consideration and consultation, has  agreed and desires a particular pet, a responsible adult who is prepared to make the lifetime commitment of caring for and homing the pet and together you have chosen this pet; the answer is &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; a categorical &lt;strong&gt;no pet is suitable to give as a gift.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) My neighbors took my daughter for a walk (as they often do), but this time returned with two goldfish in a small goldfish bowl.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was dubious about the potential survival of the fish, as the bowl was small and we had nowhere to place the bowl where it would not be bumped.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the first fish died, we had our neighbor add the surviving fish to their pond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The moral of the story:&lt;/strong&gt; No matter how easy caring for a pet may seem, do not give pets as unsolicited gifts.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I was given a bird, a budgerigar as a  child. The bird was I failed to feed and provide the bird with fresh water and he died. My mother then used the event as a let this be a lesson to you, birds need fresh food and water daily. I then placed food and water beside the dead bird (it didn't help). This I have never forgotten, and although my children have pets, and I prompt and remind them to feed them, the responsibility lays firmly at my feet to ensure that our pets have  daily fresh water and food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The moral of the story:&lt;/strong&gt; No matter how responsible or ready our children may seem to be for pet ownership, the responsibility, ultimately, lies with the parent, so gifting a pet to a child, in reality means gifting the pet to the parent.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T01:01:27.600" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T01:01:27.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-01T08:08:12.340" Score="11" ViewCount="2049" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18222719&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;studies&lt;/a&gt; using &quot;clipnosis&quot; a.k.a. pinch-induced behavioral inhibition (PIBI) as a technique to immobilize a variety of animals. The following study examines the use of such a technique on cats: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research has documented immobilization of rodents, rabbits, guinea pigs and dogs by mechanical means, typically using neck clips or inversion ('animal hypnosis').  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   Domestic cats may be effectively immobilized by clips placed along the animal's dorsum. We use the term 'pinch-induced behavioral inhibition' (PIBI) for this behavior because it describes both the method and the response, while avoiding the more anthropomorphic term 'hypnosis'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such a technique renders many cats incapable of moving, as the loose skin is pinched and it &lt;em&gt;appears&lt;/em&gt; that movement would prove to be painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many pets are carried by the scruff of the neck by their mothers as babies, but this is usually considered unwise practice because as animals mature (as discussed &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1003/is-it-ok-to-pick-my-adult-cat-up-by-the-scruff-of-the-neck&quot;&gt;Is it ok to pick my adult cat up by the scruff of the neck?&lt;/a&gt;), the skin is not designed to carry the weight of a animal. In the wild, a grown animal being carried by the scruff of the neck would usually be the next meal of the animal within whose mouth it was being carried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The immobilization and subsequent inactivity of the animal is perceived to have a hypnotic or calming effect. I argue that this perceived calming effect is due to the animal's inability to move, and the pain involved in attempting to move.  I also see this technique as being threatening to the animal, as it is not a natural position for an adult pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/437/87&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; advocates the use of PIBI, but be warned the images here can be upsetting to some people.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What research is there about whether it is painful for the cat and the psychological effects with regard  to PIBI?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T13:36:44.100" Title="What research is there on the long term effects of pinch-induced behavioral inhibition conditioning on cats?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2013-12-02T04:46:38.027" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are other good ways to identify erratic fish behavior due to environmental stress? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behaviors vary highly from fish to fish and are almost impossible to generalize, but some abnormal behavior includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fishes will show less activity and become lethargic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They'll stop taking food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will hide most of the time, behind decorations, filters, heaters. They will remain at the same place for extended period of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Color will fade. Some fishes show stress bars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish will swim near to the surface (note: top dwellers always swim near surface. i.e Killifish, Arowana etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snails will climb out of the water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some fish will show white color burns at the edge of their tails and fins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish will develop cloudy eye or white patches across their body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-25T05:02:26.843" LastActivityDate="2014-01-25T05:02:26.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1532" CreationDate="2013-12-02T17:40:11.233" Score="14" ViewCount="91016" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a male betta fish for a long time, and was told by the people at the pet store that I could put in a pleco fish (aka an algae eater) because it would stay near the bottom. Since, he claimed, the betta would spend all his time near the top, the betta wouldn't notice the pleco and they would get along fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This worked out for a while, but one day I came home and they had attacked each other and both had died. This leaves me wondering - was it really okay to put the pleco in there? Should I have left the betta by himself? Was there a better type of fish to add to that tank? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T14:38:38.427" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T12:18:17.920" Title="Can I put any other fish in with a male betta?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1527" CreationDate="2013-12-02T17:47:43.200" Score="26" ViewCount="35706" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to climb on my desk at home. Problem is, he is constantly knocking things off (he broke a cup and a couple other things this week), and messing up stuff on my desk, bumping my monitors, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried spraying him with water to get off my desk, I have tried scolding him, I have tried putting unpleasant things on my desk, and also bodily removing him every time he gets on it while I am home and can see him. I can't take everything off my desk, either, unlike, say, a table. He's three years old now, and I am getting super frustrated by this behaviour. It only started since he has been the only cat in the house (for about a year now). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing seems to stop him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I keep his treats in one of my desk drawers - could this be part of the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I keep my desk cat-free, while still keeping my stuff on it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T03:17:14.227" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T04:00:47.393" Title="How can I keep my cat from climbing on my desk?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2013-12-02T21:24:07.530" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;He gets lonely after losing his companion. Attention seeking adventures on your desk help him a lot. Every kind of attention you give a cat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; attention. The cat gets noticed. Be it just a lifting off the desk or whatever, he gets what he came looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you know you are going to work at the desk, start by playing with your cat first. After a healthy session of playing, you feed him. If he is on constant food offer, then you feed him those treats. What is important is that after the play he eats something. After eating you should have a satisfied cat lying on the sofa instead of harassing you on the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, remove the treats from the desk drawer. Put &lt;strong&gt;garlic&lt;/strong&gt; in there instead. The unpleasant smell of garlic should turn the previously interesting hiding place of treats not so interesting. There are a &amp;lt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.squidoo.com/eeeeuuu-scents-that-cats-hate#module156315652&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;selection of scents&lt;/a&gt;&gt; that cats are said to dislike; for example citrus, lavender, rosemary etc. The smell of garlic has worked wonders for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a technical approach to this. It is a movement sensor actuated spray of odorless liquid that is supposed to scare a cat away from a certain place. In this case you would place the device somewhere on your desk and turn it On when you leave the desk. I have not used this myself, but a cat owner friend (having two cats) tells me it works nearly perfectly. Product name is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;ssscat&quot; in Amazon.com&lt;/a&gt; and you can order refill bottles for it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ocPCq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ssscat automatic spray&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;photo by Maritta Arvilommi, used here with permission.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this does not work, I think giving up is advisable. Give up like you own the place: if there is a shelf of sorts on your desk, or right next to it, I suggest to make a bed for your cat up there. You know, something that he finds comfortable to lie on. If you currently have no suitable platform for this, buy something. Your cat should find the platform/shelf a good vantage point from where to keep an eye on you and your business. This leaves only the problem of how he will get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T22:41:05.677" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T22:41:05.677" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1231" CreationDate="2013-12-02T22:21:34.770" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;We did not use a bowl for dry food when our older dog was our only dog. When it was time for food we simply threw the dry food on the floor, so that the food spread out quite a bit. Wet food needs a bowl, naturally, but we did not give him much of that. Dry pellets don't make a mess, and you can guess that none of the pellets was ever left uneaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the youngest dog to eat fastest is natural. He is no match for the older dogs, inferior in status, so if he has anything left when the other dogs are finished it might mean the older dogs could simply rob the food off the slow youngling. He has to be eating quick to get his full share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with two dogs eating at the same time, we don't do this anymore indoors, it does not work for two dogs in the small area of kitchen floor, not even in the living room. But during weekends at our 2nd home we occasionally throw the food out on the yard or lawn. This works because the older dog is keen on using his nose so his food gets thrown farther away and spread out a lot, while the younger dog is not so interested and his food we simply drop on the ground under his nose. Older dog keeps on sniffing around for every last bit of food, younger dog just lies down after eating his own part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home, indoors, we have these special bowls which have a clump in the middle. The kind that Nakiki350 &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1265/278&quot;&gt;already mentioned&lt;/a&gt;. The more in a hurry a dog is, the longer it takes to eat. A calm dog eats faster from these bowls (pic below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UOCtT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;food bowl with a clump&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T09:34:40.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-02T23:59:20.173" Score="6" ViewCount="20761" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a few days ago I added 8 Zebra Danios and 8 White Skirt Tetras to my 60 gallon tank of 8 Albino Corys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the Danios is chasing all of the other Danios around. In fact it is bossy - but this only started today and the bloated Danio has been bloated since I got it. I thought it was a normal female trait. However the fish keeps floating up easily, but manages to stay down at the same level - leading me to conclude &lt;strong&gt;it might be swim bladder disease&lt;/strong&gt;. Google turns up inconclusive. (Maybe it's pregnant?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've ruled out almost all disease, including dropsy, because it looks normal, just bloated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed the tank freeze-dried brine shrimp and bloodworms, daphnia, sinking wafers, fish flakes, and that's all. The Danios 90% of the time eat what's on the surface, which is just blood worms and daphnia. Brine shrimp as well, but the tetras usually get that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T14:34:35.317" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T10:07:05.810" Title="Why is my Zebra Danio bloated?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;danio&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="16" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T00:10:03.283" Score="10" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;My eight year-old, female Shih Tzu (Lucy) has always balked at getting her teeth brushed, and it has gotten to the point where she refuses - no matter what treats or approach I take.  Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="414" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T01:31:00.167" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:37:35.397" Title="How do I retrain my 8 year-old Shih Tzu to tolerate tooth brushing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2013-12-03T00:25:44.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, betas cannot be kept with other fish.  I have been told that their individual temperament will determine whether they could get along with other fish; however, since that can only be determined by adding other fish, I would not suggest it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="414" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T00:25:44.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2013-12-03T01:03:13.640" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most male bettas will fight with anything that even remotely resembles another male in finnage or coloration. Some will attack any fish indiscriminately, regardless of its appearance. It is inherently risky to house bettas with other fish. &lt;strong&gt;Some&lt;/strong&gt; bettas are too aggressive to be kept with any species, and many community species will damage the finnage of a betta. This species does best when kept solitarily due to its special environmental and social needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, community keeping is possible with careful monitoring and appropriate tank-mates if the betta's personality permits. Communal housing should always be approached on a case by case, individual basis!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Placid males and females can often be housed in a well-planted community tank with mellow, dully-colored fish, as well as some aquatic invertebrates or amphibians. Careful monitoring is demanded, and the positives and negatives of the housing situation should be thoroughly evaluated prior to mixing species, but the community betta is not an impossibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately, or in conjunction with other fish, consider offering a mirror as a safe companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-21T14:47:31.187" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T14:47:31.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1537" CreationDate="2013-12-03T01:06:53.027" Score="19" ViewCount="37616" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 8 white skirt tetras, 8 albino cory cats, and had 8 danios. Now I have 7 danios. One mysteriously disappeared. I am very doubtful it is hiding because my danios don't do that; all they do is swim at the surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible for the fish to have eaten the danio. They are too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible for the fish to have jumped out. The tank is fully covered. I checked around the tank, searching for a good 30 minutes - nothing found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fish isn't dead. The cory cats would have easily started feasting on it. They eat anything that's at the bottom, essentially. (Perhaps it died while I wasn't around?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My filter doesn't contain the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No sign of a fish skeleton &lt;strong&gt;ANYWHERE&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could have happened to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T18:43:32.317" LastActivityDate="2019-01-06T22:42:57.120" Title="Where did my danio fish mysteriously disappear to?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;danio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2013-12-03T01:54:54.103" Score="8" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not spray&lt;/strong&gt;  I wouldn't advise spraying your cat when he is on your desk, the risk to damaging electronic equipment is too great.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food and drink sources:&lt;/strong&gt;  remove the treats from your desk drawer, it can only help. I keep all food sources away from anything I do not want to be damaged by food, liquid, pets, children or pests (for example we are having an ant invasion and they recently destroyed my coffee machine - which has resulted in extreme tiredness and sour mood - but this mood would only be worse had they invaded my laptop).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Persistence&lt;/strong&gt;, all you can do is to continually mechanically pick him up and tell him no as you do so whenever you see him there. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The mice will play when the cats away&lt;/strong&gt; Ultimately you cannot control your cats behavior (beyond all sort of complex electronic surveillance equipment) when you are absent. This is always a dilemma for pet owners and parents of teenagers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat proof the desk&lt;/strong&gt; Pets can be similar to having toddlers and toddler proofing a home. Unclutter your desk. Cats are notorious for knocking things over in their explorations. Remove anything from your desk that you cannot afford to be knocked over. This may mean keeping pens in a drawer, as opposed to a pen cup holder. As a general rule, I never keep a drink on the same surface as a pc, I assume it can be knocked over, I always have my drinks on a separate surface to electronic equipment, and books this will immediately alleviate some of your stress levels).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The other answer is quite right, in he wants your attention, plus it is an interesting adventure. You can adopt an attitude of the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Realistic expectations&lt;/strong&gt; Accepting that he is a cat and it's their nature to be explorers. By cat proofing as much as possible, thereby limiting consequences, his behavior will be less annoying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perspective&lt;/strong&gt; It is a compliment he wants to be in your business and have your attention. By changing your attitude it will help you to cope with the stress and replenish your patience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another thought is to encourage your cat to sit on your lap when he climbs onto the desk whilst you are sitting at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-12-03T10:26:40.233" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T10:26:40.233" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-03T02:59:36.543" Score="14" ViewCount="5386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been considering getting a dog in my apartment. Being in a high-rise, it will be time-consuming to let the dog outside, so it needs to be planned out (I.e. a doggie door won't work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often should a dog be let out each day to avoid discomfort from a full bladder? Are there any studies, and does it depend on the breed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:01:57.523" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T20:30:46.413" Title="Giving a dog in a high rise enough potty breaks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2013-12-03T03:28:46.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has only been the last few years that we have lived in an apartment and been faced with dilemma, with the advent of increased housing density in many cities globally this is a very good question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly a healthy house trained adult dog has different requirements to a puppy, sick or elderly dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Healthy house trained adult dog.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As a bare minimum dogs need to be taken out at least three times a day.&lt;/em&gt; Morning when they first wake, as most people know, this is a time the bladder has been accumulating bodily fluids and there is usually the most pressing need to go. During the day, after lunchtime and before bedtime. People (including myself) have successfully homed dogs with this type of routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a dog is taken for such a toilet break, the break needs to include a min-walk at least on each occasion, this allows the dog opportunity to relax and relieve themselves several times before returning inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exceptions to this will be, if the dog indicates it needs to go out, or the dog is unwell, or there has been a change in the feeding routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Puppies.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of times a puppy needs to be taken out is very age dependent (for this purpose I am assuming that the puppy is actively being house trained). To begin with, young puppies 8-12 weeks age, need to be taken out every time they wake from a nap, after they eat and whenever they sniff around in a manner that indicates they need to relieve themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be reduced as they gain bladder control. The biggest thing with puppies is going to the toilet when they wake up from sleep, it seems to be a time when the first thing they want to do is urinate. This is also a key time to help successfully house train a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sick dogs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the ailment, whether a dog is recovering from surgery or ill in some way, this will usually increase their need to relieve themselves. It is best to go by advice from a Vet and cues from the dog, when they need to relieve themselves. Like puppies, unwell dogs will often need to urinate when they wake from a sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elderly dogs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As bladder control is reduced and a dog is unable to hold for either urination or defecation, it is better to take an older dog to the toilet more frequently. To begin with a dog will show signs, by going to the door asking to go out, that they are not coping with a previously successful toileting regime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a dog that previously was happily let out three times a day for the toilet, may start needing two toilet breaks during the day, or an early evening, then late night break. It is something that develops gradually and cannot be definitely said, [this many] breaks is the magic number. The key is to know your dog and read his/her cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T03:28:46.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1533" CreationDate="2013-12-03T06:19:29.310" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is actually not uncommon for fish to disappear, seemingly without a trace.  It has happened to me a few times.  Sometimes you eventually find out what happened, sometimes you don't.  There are several things that could have happened to it.  Each of these things has happened to my fish at some point in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It might be hiding.  Some fish are really good at this.  We had a kuhli loach that was very good at hiding in the gravel.  One time we didn't see him for a week, and we thought sure he was gone, and then one day he was swimming around the tank again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could have jumped out.  Even if you have a cover on, if there is a small gap around the filter or heater cord, a fish can jump through it.  We had a glass bloodfin tetra that disappeared, and we eventually found it on the floor underneath a book rack next to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When a fish dies, often other fish will eat it very quickly.  This can happen fast (a matter of hours).  It doesn't mean that you have aggressive fish, it just means that once your fish dies, the others see it as food.  They are fish, that's what they do.  This is probably the most likely scenario in your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the fish might be the victim of an aggressive fish.  This is always a possibility, even if the fish are supposed to be peaceful, and there isn't a big size mismatch.  We had a molly that, for whatever reason, always attacked any other molly in the same tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T06:19:29.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2013-12-03T13:11:03.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We tried putting a male betta in a community tank once. We were concerned that the betta would start attacking the other fish, so we kept a close eye on it. Instead, the opposite happened: the betta went to the corner of the tank at the top, and didn't really swim around much at all. It looked very uncomfortable around the other fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the other fish said to him, but he was not happy. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it might be possible to keep them in a community tank, in my experience they do best by themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T13:11:03.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2013-12-03T23:01:59.143" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_cricket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Field cricket&lt;/a&gt; will not begin chirping until mid to late summer, when the breeding cycle begins. For much of the cooler part of the year they can remain quite (quiet) dormant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to leave a fan on blowing over your cricket tank, the movement of the air will mimic the possibility of nearby predators, and will often keep them quiet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Chad's comment of putting them in with the lizard is not such a bad idea, as the the presence of a predator is a sure way to get them to stay quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T08:29:40.987" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:29:40.987" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="630" CreationDate="2013-12-03T23:42:39.130" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tortoises can overeat and being chronically overfed (whether they are  overweight or not) can cause long term health problems. Determining when your tortoise is sated is more of an issue of looking at your tortoise's growth and overall well being than on how much he is eating in one sitting. Many tortoises will eat and overeat on prepared commercial foods for  dogs and cats (yes people feed their tortoises commercial dog and cat food) and the high protein content of this food can cause an enormous health problem. I have found no articles supporting the use of commercially prepared tortoise pet food, the experts all seem to agree that this does not meet the needs of any type of tortoise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much should I feed my tortoise?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/webdiet.htm&quot;&gt;General rule for feeding Mediterranean tortoises&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In captivity, a high fiber, low fruit content, low protein and calcium rich diet will ensure good digestive tract function and smooth shell growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tortoise's dietary needs will vary depending on whether it is kept indoors, outdoors, it's activity level, and whether it is a herbivore or omnivore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, determining what your individual tortoise's needs are is not clear cut and cannot be answered with a generalised answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tortoises have such a range in growth rates and hence feeding needs it's impossible to give a quantifying amount of what to feed tortoises generally, in terms of overall quantity. One good tip is to give the tortoise an off day, this has also shown to improve growth smoothness. This article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/amteat.html&quot;&gt;Mediterranean Tortoises: How much to feed?&lt;/a&gt; By A C Highfield, The Tortoise Trust gives a good overview of the varying nature of tortoise needs and growth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Determining whether your tortoise is eating enough is more a scientific endeavour, rather than an intuitive one. This FAQ with The Tortoise Trust:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/faq.html#eating&quot;&gt;Therefore&lt;/a&gt; study the natural habits of your animal and keep accounts of how much, when and what you offer. Keep regular weight measurements and make adjustments if you notice weight lost or gains. After awhile you'll learn the specific requirements to keep your individual animal well fed and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem associated with overfeeding:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A diet with too much protein can lead to a condition known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petinfoclub.com/Exotics/Know_your_pet/Health__pyramiding_in_tortoises.aspx&quot;&gt;pyramiding&lt;/a&gt;, where the shell forms pyramid protrusions, in it's most severe form this can be life threatening. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finding the right balance of vitamin D, calcium and protein is essential for any tortoise's health, this is done through diet, and environment, so the tortoise's diet cannot be examined in isolation from the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-12-03T23:42:39.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1544" CreationDate="2013-12-04T03:00:21.293" Score="16" ViewCount="678" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son loves a cat in our building. The cat rolls on its back and stretches out, and my son strokes his fur. But then he tries holding the cat with both hands, sometimes around the waist (the cat steps out) and sometimes the cat's head. He gets more bold the longer they play, and I usually get nervous and intervene while the cat still seems happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I determine if my son is doing something that will hurt the cat, make it afraid, or make it bite/scratch him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="38" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T03:09:39.050" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T20:01:03.147" Title="How do I know if my toddler is making a cat dangerously uncomfortable?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1543" CreationDate="2013-12-04T05:53:22.570" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some basic signs:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cat will try to escape from an unwanted embrace, I assume this is what you mean by steps out. This is not a problem, unless the cat is prevented from escaping, then she is more likely to scratch your son.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Growling (cat growling, that low lying ethereal sound cats can make) or hissing. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tail wagging, cat being opposite to dogs, a swishing tail is a sure sign of a potentially aggressive cat. I think it serves to assist as a distraction for prey or predators.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ears, a cats ear will sometimes flatten or point backwards when they are not happy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3aowV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat with backfacing ears&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Usually cats will give people a warning before biting or scratching. This cat sounds like it is quite patient. If you come across a cat that scratches or bites without warning, best to teach your son to avoid that particular cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to teach your son.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the cat displays these signs its time to teach your son (as best you can a 3 year old), &lt;em&gt;&quot;no cat's not happy say 'bye bye' pussy cat&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps showing him that just patting the cat is a good thing. &lt;em&gt;&quot;Let's say hello to the pussy cat with gentle pats&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With lots of praise, &lt;em&gt;&quot;see the pussy cat likes this&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&quot;look she's not running away&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;&quot;she's making her happy sound (purring)&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A point to be emphasized is, to not allow your son to pick up other people's cats (or dogs). As a cat can scratch a person, without warning, trying to escape an unwanted embrace. As the cat tries to escape when your son attempts to pick him up, it is a sign the cat does not wish to be picked up (and honestly most cats do not enjoy being picked up by small children). So I would reiterate, to encourage your son to offer gentle pats in lieu of attempting to embrace the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching small children things is a bit like training dogs, except training dogs is much easier :7)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-12-04T20:01:03.147" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T20:01:03.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1571" CreationDate="2013-12-04T16:03:50.973" Score="11" ViewCount="31395" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/12460341#12460341&quot; title=&quot;What is &amp;quot;crossed eyes&amp;quot; ?&quot;&gt;short discussion&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/10964/the-litter-box&quot; title=&quot;The Litter Box&quot;&gt;chat&lt;/a&gt; made me wonder: do cats that are cross-eyed require any special care?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TnHRJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Spangles the cat&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208846/Are-looking-Spangles-cross-eyed-cat-internet-sensation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Are you looking at me? Cross-eyed cat Spangles... whose pupils come at you from all angles&quot;&gt;dailymail.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it affect the cat's balance (or negatively in any other way)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can (or should) it be corrected?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-26T19:35:17.137" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T08:54:55.733" Title="Are there any special considerations for adopting a cross-eyed cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1447" CreationDate="2013-12-04T16:05:13.697" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles are cold-blooded animals. As such they receive heat from the sun and other ambient sources. This means that sweaters and costumes will keep them colder, not warmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clothing does not make things warmer, it only prevents heat transfer. Humans become warmer with clothing because it traps the heat from their bodies; reptiles become colder because it prevents heat from getting to their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it may be a bad idea, depending on the weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T16:05:13.697" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1548" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-04T16:51:21.087" Score="7" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney_dog_incident&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In June 1983, the Romney family left their Belmont, Massachusetts home on their way to Romney's parents' cottage in Beach O'Pines, Ontario for an annual vacation along the shore of Lake Huron. Seamus rode in a carrier on the roof of the family's Chevrolet Caprice station wagon for the 12 hour trip. Romney had built a windshield for the carrier to make the ride more comfortable for the dog. During the 650-mile (1,050 km) trip, Seamus had a bout of diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from the diarrhea, was this a proper method for transporting a dog? What methods should owners use to transport dogs when travelling cross-country?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T13:30:58.383" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T00:05:52.440" Title="How should I transport dogs across the country?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-04T17:03:17.063" Score="8" ViewCount="16296" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 month old chihuahua-yorkie mix refuses to wear a collar with her identification on it.  She is a very small dog, weighing 4.6 pounds, and the vet says she is full-grown.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11180170&amp;amp;lmdn=Brand&amp;amp;f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;extra-small dog collars&lt;/a&gt; with the collar as tight as possible, but loose enough so we can still fit two fingers beneath it.  Somehow, she is consistently able to get the collar wedged into her mouth and she either chews through the collar or it will get stuck in her mouth, keeping it open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of her latest chewed-through collar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5yflW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can guess, this is very concerning. We are worried that she will choke when it gets stuck, but we don't like leaving her without any type of identification. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train my dog to be comfortable with the collar on so she doesn't try to chew it off? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T19:39:35.567" LastActivityDate="2019-02-19T00:40:47.417" Title="How to train my dog to wear a collar and not chew through it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1551" CreationDate="2013-12-04T17:12:32.823" Score="19" ViewCount="17301" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever we need to take one our cats in the car (usually to the vets, but not always), the in-car drama is quite intense with a yowling and even vomiting (rare for short durations). Why do cats, unlike dogs, hate riding in cars? Is there a way to make this a better experience for them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T02:40:04.983" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T03:43:32.263" Title="Why do cats hate riding in cars?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1550" CreationDate="2013-12-04T18:15:14.053" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I have to first say that not all cats hate riding in the car.  I've known at least one cat that was perfectly content to ride in the car.  This cat started as a kitten going for rides to all sorts of different places, which is probably directly relevant to what follows in this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that the main difference between cats and dogs in this regard involves differences in how the two species remember information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I was unable to find specific research covering this, my own experiences and some &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/cats-longterm-memory-8646.html&quot;&gt;insufficiently referenced articles&lt;/a&gt; indicate that cats have the potential for some degree of long-term memory &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/how-cat-memory-works.html&quot;&gt;that works in a fashion fundamentally similar to humans&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, on the other hand, seem to have generally &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/dogs-longterm-memory-2305.html&quot;&gt;less ability to remember specific things or events&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps most relevant, though, is that cats have significantly better retention, both short-term and long-term, than dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers have discovered that there is not much difference between how a cat, a human, or another animal’s brain utilizes certain cues to assist in the creation of short and long-term memories. A cat’s brain functioning has been compared to that of a two to three year old child and, when compared to a dog, a cat’s memory is almost 200 times more retentive. Without repeated and reinforced training, a dog’s memory span is about 5 minutes. Cats, on the other hand, averaged about 16 hours, only IF the activity benefited THEM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.critters360.com/index.php/feline-memory-retention-cats-remembering-cats-memories-short-term-memory-long-term-memory-21774/&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless the car ride to the vet, and the wait to actually see the vet, is less than 5 minutes, your dog probably forgot the series of events of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get in the car&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arrive at the vet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wait to see the vet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get poked, prodded, restrained, and possibly stabbed with one or more needles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get back in the car&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go home&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, #4 generally provides a lot of distractions to a dog, such as a novel environment filled with new smells, or a variety of other pets also waiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, on the other hand, seem to recall quite well that step 1, get into the cage, most likely leads to step 6, get poked, prodded, and possibly stabbed with one or more needles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly some dogs can, and do, form an association with car rides and going to the vet, but for most dogs a trip to the vet seems to be less frightening and unpleasant than it is for a cat (a cat is far less likely than a dog to look upon a room full of new smells and strange animals as a positive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, dogs are more likely to have travel experiences that don't involve a trip to the vet (e.g. a ride to the dog park, going to a pet-friendly pet store, hiking, hunting, or even on family vacations), and less likely to be confined to a cage during the ride (and of those dogs who do ride in a cage during a car ride, many of them have probably been specifically &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html#.Up9vBNLBP4I&quot;&gt;crate trained&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to how you might improve the experience for your cat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to reduce the negative associations your cat already has with being in the car (and probably being put into a carrier prior to the car ride).  It is certainly easier to do this when they're young, before they've formed the negative associations (such as the kitten I mentioned earlier in my anecdote), but you may have some luck by taking your cat on &quot;joy rides&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by bringing your cat out to the car, and let them explore (closely supervised! You don't want the cat to get wedged under a seat where you can't get them out) the car while it sits parked, with the engine off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this every couple of days (or even every day), until the cat seems comfortable in the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then progress to short trips around the block.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat handles strange animals (particularly dogs) reasonably well, you might eventually try a trip to a pet-friendly pet store, but for most a nice quiet park where they can walk while on a harness would be a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your cat becomes accustomed to these pleasant (or at least, not unpleasant) trips, you should (hopefully) see a reduction in anxiety during car trips in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-12-04T18:15:14.053" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1520" CreationDate="2013-12-04T19:51:37.597" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/6796/yvette-colomb&quot;&gt;@Yvette&lt;/a&gt; totally &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1521/6796&quot;&gt;nailed it&lt;/a&gt;, but I will emphasize another consideration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe some people can bond with and love any animal that shows up on their doorstep, but I can't, and I think it's too much to ask of anyone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither spouses nor pets should be chosen sight unseen by a third party, largely for the same reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to live with and care for an animal for the rest of its life, you need to have chemistry or it'll be drudgery, not joy. And the likelihood of good chemistry in a random pairing is very low; the two of them must have met and selected each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even somebody who wants a pet and is willing and capable of taking care of it, deserves to pick the particular animal that they will have to be paired with. And the pet deserves somebody who wants them, in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-02-01T13:33:27.250" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T13:33:27.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1555" CreationDate="2013-12-04T19:59:46.160" Score="7" ViewCount="69779" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I have cooked meat or fish in my refrigerator that is a week old.  Is this food safe to feed to a dog without reheating?  Is it safe to feed to a dog after reheating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T11:44:19.193" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T06:45:18.313" Title="Can I feed a dog cooked meat or fish that is a week old?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="339" CreationDate="2013-12-04T23:53:10.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What did you do before bringing the puppies home? I read the question and it looks like you just brought home three strange animals who run around and make noises and smell ever so odd and unfamiliar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we already had a male dog and decided to buy another male dog, we naturally went to see the newborn puppies a many times. For only two of these visits we brought our older dog with us to the house where those little puppies were growing up. We let our dog have a smell sample of the puppies, and he did, but he was also wary of the mother dog and most of the time he simply steered clear of the puppies and their mother. However, with our clothes the smell of those puppies came home to us after each visit, and on those two visits our older dog got a firsthand experience of the puppies and smells of that house and all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When those puppies were 8 weeks old we went to get our puppy and we took our older dog with us for the trip. So he was one of us, bringing home a new member of our family. When we got home, at first we did not let the puppy on the floor, but kept him in (my wife's) lap so that our older dog could take a proper smell sample of the newcomer. The older dog was not quite &lt;em&gt;happy&lt;/em&gt; about the new dog, for it was too noisy and far too full of energy while awake. However, he &lt;em&gt;accepted&lt;/em&gt; the puppy. Of course the old dog had to bark and growl at the new dog at first, as of saying &quot;we are not friends yet!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second day of the new puppy at home with us they were already sleeping this near to each others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/clHJq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dogs sleeping near&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And ten days later they already sleep in the same basket, even though the puppy had a basket of his own, he preferred the warmth of the older dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IP1Nc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;two dogs, one basket&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when you bring a new animal in your home, do not expect your older animals to accept them just like old friends. They don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get smell samples for your older dog. If you can't take your older dog to the puppies, at least take a towel there for a few days and then bring the towel home (with the smells) a week before the puppy/ies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take your old dog with you when you go get the puppy/ies home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep the puppy/ies in place at first, for the old dog to come safely close and sniff the newcomer(s). Do not let the puppy/ies to run free around your house right away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When your older dog barks and growls at the puppy/ies, don't panic, don't get nervous, but keep calm and see what happens. Your dog mirrors your feelings, and will eventually calm down too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry but I don't have experience what to do, if these steps were not taken and the older dog wants to attack your puppies. I have no answer to that :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, there is one thing I would try first of all. For dogs have this &lt;em&gt;&quot;Get lost, I was here first!&quot;&lt;/em&gt; mentality. So, take your old dog for a long walk. While he is away, let somebody play with the puppies so much that they get sleepy. Before they fall asleep, let them eat well. They should be sleeping by the time the old dog returns, and now the puppies are the &quot;first ones here&quot; and your old dog is the one coming in. The puppies are safe (from the old dogs point of view) to go near and sniff. And they were there first... No guarantees, but worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T00:39:46.687" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T00:39:46.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1553" CreationDate="2013-12-05T00:04:17.710" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing to know is that dogs that become feral are known to be scavengers&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; and as consequence are not necessarily eating fresh, unspoiled meats. From that aspect, you can discern that dogs are capable of eating meat that could very will sicken and kill us. The reason that dogs are able to do this is that their stomachs are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=107&amp;amp;Itemid=113&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; acidic&lt;/a&gt; and that allows for the dog's natural biology to destroy harmful bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, despite the evidence that would indicate that it is probably safe to feed your dog the meat, I don't know that I would. In general, if (s)he is already getting a properly balanced set of meals and snacks, I'd just toss the meat. The risk may be low, but there's no real value in it anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;The Behavioural Biology of Dogs, edited by P. Jensen, 2007, pages 157-158&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T00:23:23.087" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T00:23:23.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1559" CreationDate="2013-12-05T00:22:56.440" Score="20" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never adopted an animal. What costs are there? What about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The adoption costs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food costs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litter bix/bedding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pet sitting for trips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etc. What categories did I miss? How often do expenses arise in each category, and what is a rough range of the costs in these categories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really know nothing, and would like to be prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T11:44:46.250" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T11:44:46.250" Title="As a complete novice, what costs should I plan for when adopting a shelter cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2013-12-05T00:27:39.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We always put it crushed up in a bit of butter or on a sardine.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T03:06:55.167" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T03:06:55.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2013-12-05T02:02:22.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course the most effective solution will depend on the individual cat, but a couple of things to try (which I have done myself) are fairly simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tuck the chair in when not in use—of course this depends on the agility of the cat and the height of the desk (my cat kept using it to jump on the desk; without it, she can’t jump high enough).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure there are not other items nearby that they can use (her cat-perch was close enough that she would jump across to my desk; moving it a little further fixed that).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove anything tempting from the desk (I used to keep a bag of cat-treats on the desk, so &lt;em&gt;of course&lt;/em&gt; she would try to get to it; removing that removed the motivation).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to add to a couple of things already mentioned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove anything fragile. This is obvious enough; if the cat makes it up there despite your best efforts, then it’s not a problem if you have nothing light or fragile that can be dropped or broken.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a perch or bed or something nearby so that they take ownership of that and instinctively go there instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tips go for any surface or area that you want to keep a cat (or other pet) out of. For example, we learned the hard way when we discovered that our cat had used a chair in the basement to jump onto the table where we put a couple of trays of freshly-baked mini-cheesecakes to cool overnight. Likewise when she jumped on several things to make her way up to a bowl of snack on a shelf in the dining room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we always make sure she has &lt;em&gt;no physical access&lt;/em&gt; to anywhere she shouldn’t be. In addition, we try to properly &lt;em&gt;store&lt;/em&gt; all foods because even if she can’t actually get to it, it would be cruel to make her have to smell it all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="203" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T02:02:22.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1556" CreationDate="2013-12-05T02:13:42.430" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any specific cost figures will be (a) localized and (b) out of date eventually, so I'll address categories more broadly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adoption costs:&lt;/strong&gt; The shelter sets a fee for this, sometimes reducing it for older animals.  At least in the US, but I suspect most other places too, the cat will come microchipped, spayed/neutered, and current on vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the cat is current on vaccines, it's a good idea to take it to a vet for an initial checkup soon after adoption.  The shelter I used required this within two weeks.  See &quot;vet&quot; below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food:&lt;/strong&gt; This depends on what you feed, both type and brand, of course.  To estimate this, look at packages in the store, using the feeding instructions and package size to work out cost/day.  Then do the math.  My two adult cats go through about a pound of dry food a week (together) plus about 10 cans; your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to food you will probably want to keep &lt;strong&gt;treats&lt;/strong&gt; on hand.  This is a minor addition to the food bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Litterboxes and litter:&lt;/strong&gt; The conventional advice seems to be to have one litterbox per cat plus one more.  The box is a one-time expense.  The initial filling of litter is more expensive; after that you just need to top off to replace what you scoop out.  I go though a 20-pound jug of litter every couple weeks, I think (for two cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For both food and litter, you can also ask the shelter for advice on rate of consumption.  They have data; I have anecdotes. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Routine vet visits:&lt;/strong&gt; Plan for an annual checkup and vaccines (twice-annual later in life).  A vet can give you prices for this over the phone.  Prices vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Non-routine medical care:&lt;/strong&gt; As with people, sometimes stuff happens -- pets get sick, or have accidents, or some emergency comes up.  As cats get older the likelihood of conditions requiring medical attention rises.  You're adopting a cat for its lifetime, not just its good years, so do plan on this.  Unfortunately this is hard to predict; some cats may be fine with regular checkups and others may need a lot more.  Once cats reach about ten years old, in my experience vets start recommending twice-annual checkups (no longer just annual) and at-least-annual bloodwork (CBC screen or the like).  The latter helps to detect problems like kidney disease or liver disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supplies:&lt;/strong&gt; You'll want to have a variety of toys (stuffed toys, string toys, balls, etc) on hand.  Different cats prefer different types, so don't buy a lot until you find out what your cat likes.  These aren't that expensive, and some you can make yourself if you're inclined.  Over time they get destroyed and you replace them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to have things to scratch.  Some cats prefer to scratch vertically (scratching posts) and others horizontally (cardboard scratching pads).  Don't skimp on a cheap, short scratching post; the cat needs to be able to stretch out.  I've found that the ones with sisal rope get more use than the carpet-covered ones, but I don't know if that's common or just my cats.  I get about a year out of the cardboard ones before I have to replace them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats like beds, cat trees, padded window seats, and the like, and others completely ignore them and sleep on your couch (or your bed, or you if you let them).  Among the cats I know, the &quot;doughnut&quot; beds seem to be the most popular of these items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grooming:&lt;/strong&gt; Nail clippers, a good brush, and a flea comb are essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carrier:&lt;/strong&gt; You will need a carrier to transport your cat safely (e.g. to the vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pet-sitting:&lt;/strong&gt; Cats are creatures of habit so it's &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; better to have somebody come into your house than for you to board the cat when you travel.  Pet-sitters are probably listed in the phone listings, and if your vet offers a bulletin board for ads, business cards, etc you'll find many options there.  Prices vary, so shop around.  Personally, I prefer to trade cat-sitting services with friends who also have cats; that way I know the people who are coming into my home and all the cats get to know the people involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Household wear and tear:&lt;/strong&gt; Some things are going to get scratched, knocked over, or occasionally soiled.  It happens.  For the last, the right cleaning products applied promptly should fix it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T02:13:42.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1553" CreationDate="2013-12-05T02:34:54.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no definitive time frame to say, it is ok or not ok to feed a dog meat at this point. Has the meat been thawed and prepared hygienically. Has been kept refrigerated? What other foods have been prepared with it (as some food will go off before others)? What type of meat is it? How fresh was the meat when it was cooked?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can eat many things that would make a  person ill, some gross examples being, they can eat dog poop, and drink from toilets without necessarily becoming sick, which I doubt any person could do ever. They can manage to digest food with   higher levels of bacteria than we can. Having said this, they don't need to be fed bacteria platters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The general rule I use is, does it smell off? Does it look off?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it smells off, this means it is off, the smell is coming from bacteria and I would advise against feeding this to your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the meat looks dry and so unpalatable for a person, this doesn't mean that a dog will not enjoy it. As John said in his answer dogs can be scavengers. However, if it is green or has growth on it, then toss it. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Any  obvious signs of bacteria and it's not a good thing for your dog.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T02:34:54.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2013-12-05T02:53:43.097" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly two fingers is a subjective measurement. Two large man fingers is quite a bit more space than two petite women fingers &lt;em&gt;(No sexism intended!)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog is able to slip the collar between his teeth, it's a sign the collar is too loose. While it is vital to not have a collar too tight, a loose collar can also be a hazard and can be effective as a noose for adventurous pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try putting the collar &lt;em&gt;(a new collar!)&lt;/em&gt; on a bit tighter. If you are a man, use one finger gap,  or even a pinky finger gap, as it is difficult to give a guideline without seeing the dog. A chihuahua-yorkie cross should have a reasonably thick head, as opposed to a slimline greyhound, or whippet, so there should be enough differential between the neck diameter and head to secure a collar without the dog getting it between his teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The collar needs to be tight enough that it cannot be chewed by the pet and loose enough that the pet can freely swallow and the collar will not dig into the skin. When dealing with such a tiny dog, it is not always viable to go by two fingers, as the two fingers can be half the width of the dog's neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are having a problem finding a small enough collar, try using a cat collar. They can work well for smaller dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog cannot pull the collar off he will eventually adapt to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she seems bothered by a fitted collar, you can try putting it on her for an hour a day and increase the time. Try to distract her with interactive play and treats while she is wearing the collar. You don't want to teach her that when she struggles you take the collar off, you are the master not the puppet so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving her a reward when you put the collar on and lots of verbal praise, and a play session can turn the collar into something that she can be excited to see, over time she will eventually forget that she is wearing it. I personally like to take my dog's collars off when they are in the home, to give their necks that freedom and stop any unnecessary hair loss, from rubbing that can happen with some dogs. This is a safety decision, as a collar is also an asset to have if a dog can escape from a yard, so this is not a blanket recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to train dogs to become used to collars and leads is to put them on as young puppies and let them run around with them, make them fun, but your dog is past this small puppy stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T02:53:43.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1548" CreationDate="2013-12-05T03:03:39.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carrying dogs on the roof of a car where there is no protection from the elements, and the wind factor from being transported at high speed would not be healthy for a dog and could even be inhumane.  At the very least, it would cause agitation, if not ill health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Australia, we had &lt;a href=&quot;http://indymedia.org.au/2009/06/12/coroner-finds-aboriginal-elder-cooked-to-death-in-a-police-van&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an incident of a man dying &lt;strong&gt;(linked article may be disturbing)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=police%20paddy%20wagon&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHMO_en-GBAU531AU532&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=122&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;ei=8uufUojwKKWuiAeH4YCgDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CDgQsAQ&amp;amp;biw=1241&amp;amp;bih=580&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the back of a police paddy wagon (van)&lt;/a&gt;. He was being transported across part of the country for a similar time frame as Mr. Romney's dog, and died of dehydration and severe burns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Placing a carrier on top of a vehicle is a similar arrangement to the one which killed the man from the article.  As it is a separate compartment from the main cabin of the vehicle, the driver has no idea of or ability to regulate the carrier conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2014-01-23T18:39:52.160" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T18:39:52.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-05T04:44:52.363" Score="8" ViewCount="5447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it very difficult to identify the gender of my giant gourami. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people told me that the gender will be determined when the giant gourami crosses 3 years of age, is it true? (My giant gourami is 2 years and 6 months old)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me how to identify the gender of the giant gourami and also please convey me the gender of my fish. The words of people are always different and it is very confusing for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few pictures of my giant gourami fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bD3Wm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bD3Wml.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;fish&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MnxxI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MnxxIm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;broken to scale&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PcDP3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PcDP3m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;unbroken to scale&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Click for full size image&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="402" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T05:29:39.280" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T11:56:37.957" Title="How can I identify the gender of my giant gourami?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;gourami&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1564" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-05T08:16:47.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions asking for assistance in identifying  breed, species or gender of pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T22:05:26.000" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T22:05:26.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1565" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-05T08:16:47.140" Score="0" Body="For questions asking for assistance in identifying  breed, species or gender of pets." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T22:05:26.000" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T22:05:26.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2013-12-05T14:08:15.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe nerf guns and water bottles, as per my comment, won't be well received but there are lots of other good options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ssscat&lt;/a&gt;  or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000DZFFN4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stay Away&lt;/a&gt;. Odorless and &quot;safe&quot;. Videos of it in action. #2 Stay away has an audible component which some claim is just as effective as a deterrent (and some claim was removed from #1 Ssscat to sell more canister refills).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stay Off Matt&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00405WMS4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sofa Scram&lt;/a&gt; are another two good, rather well reviewed options. No spraying, reusable in other areas for other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003HHFW8S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Audible Deterent&lt;/a&gt; - Silent to humans, motion detecting. Maybe harder to setup on a desk but shouldn't be impossible. This one seems to have bad reviews, but others exist that are better recieved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'd prefer something that's automatic, reusable, works when I'm not present and is obviously not dangerous or harmful. &lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/behaviortraining/tp/comldeterrent.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; has even more ideas for training and repellents for different situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T14:08:15.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1563" CreationDate="2013-12-05T14:58:58.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bristolzoo.org.uk/giant-gourami&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bristol Zoo Gardens&lt;/a&gt;, the male of this species has more pointed dorsal and anal fins and will have distinct swelling of the forehead when mature. In addition, several sites indicate that the body of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tankfishtips.com/giant-gourami/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;male is darker&lt;/a&gt; and downplay the forehead. At any rate, the pointedness of the dorsal fin seems to be a commonly agreed upon means of sexing, other signs may be additional indicators to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your fish, it's really hard to tell from the pictures you posted I'm afraid. I can't get a good look at the dorsal fin, though it appears fairly pointed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T14:58:58.193" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1550" CreationDate="2013-12-05T15:59:03.207" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ended up discussing this with my vet one day (one of the girls had surgery and stopped eating, so we inserted a feeding tube to feed her until she started feeling better. We picked her up from the vet, got the feeding lesson, and went home. She puked on the way home, so we had to go back and make sure everything was still in place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my vet's belief that cats don't process the motion of the trees and such well, and they do better if you place a towel over the carrier or arrange things so that they can't see out of the windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that this may be partially right, but also that cats get anxious for different reasons, and the best way to ease the trip for your cat is to determine what causes anxiety for your cat and treat that as best as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this particular girl, she gets anxious about being handled by people at all, and by unfamiliar situations. There wasn't much we could do except be as calm as we could be and take care of everything quickly.  Usually, when she isn't so ill, we try to combine her trips with one of the boys (they get along together well) and the presence of a buddy helps keep her calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We once had another cat who only ever wanted to be petted. He would cry and cry and cry and finally we would relent and whoever wasn't driving would let him sit on their lap and he was quiet and calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our youngest boy is high energy and gets bored, so we try to give him a toy, or talk to him or distract him somehow, and that helps him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These examples may or may not work for you, but they're examples of how we've looked at each cat's personality and tailored a plan to help each one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, for a longer trips or for extreme stress (the cat is harming itself) you can talk to your vet about sedative medications. Your vet should explain the risks and benefits of those medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T15:59:03.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1569" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-05T16:43:23.360" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T16:43:23.360" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T16:43:23.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1570" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-05T16:43:23.360" Score="0" Body="A popular family of freshwater anabantoid fish, native across southern Asia. Gourami are known for their attractive colors and fins, and for their interesting parental behaviors. The males of some species can be intolerant of each other, and of other similar-looking fish." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T23:14:44.393" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T23:14:44.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2013-12-05T20:48:44.033" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strabismus the medical name for this condition. It can affect one or both eyes, and the eyes may tend towards any particular direction (not just inwards). Siamese cats breed from the original stock given to the Europeans tend to inherient this trait because they were culls (unknown to the Europeans!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As an aside, the cat in the picture lacks the distinctive colorpoints that usually indicate Siamese ancestry, but the blue eyes are a common characteristic of the breed not usually seen in other breeds, so I suspect this cat does have some amount of Siamese/Oriental ancestry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/eyes/c_ct_orbital_diseases&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Petmd gives some possible causes of strabismus&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;an imbalance of extraocular (outside of the eye) muscle tone, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;something decreasing the mobility of the muscles surrounding the eye&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Genetics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Restriction of eye muscle mobility from scar tissue (usually from previous trauma or inflammation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Abnormal crossing of visual fibers in the central nervous system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a study done where cats were inflicted (surgically) with strabismus and their ability to jump was judged over time. Kittens were able to adapt to the strabismus, while adult cats were less able to adapt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J Neurophysiol. 1980 Mar;43(3):792-806. Spatial localization in cats reared with strabismus. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7189550&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(abstract)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're looking at adopting a kitten with strabismus, the cat will learn to adjust and you shouldn't expect any problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're adopting an adult and the onset of the strabismus is unknown, then you may need to observe the cat to determine how well he/she is able to compensate. I wouldn't have any concerns adopting a cat with clear Siamese heritage (3 of my 4 cats are from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.siameserescue.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Siamese Rescue Center&lt;/a&gt;) because it's likely that that cat has had strabismus from birth and was able to adapt as a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no reason to correct genetic strabismus (that was present from birth). It's a cosmetic condition once the cat has learned to adjust for the condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has normal eyes and suddenly one (or both) become cross eyed (or otherwise turned in an odd direction), then you should immediately take your cat to the vet. Your cat may be sick or injured and it needs to be examined immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T20:47:08.943" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T20:47:08.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2013-12-05T21:00:20.803" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can't stand the odour of citrus. We trained our cats to stay off our bookshelves and my desk by leaving orange peel on them for a number of days - replacing dried out peel with fresh when necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nice thing about this approach is that it doesn't hurt the cats and there's no spray involved either, so it can't affect anything electronic left on the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="225" LastEditorUserId="225" LastEditDate="2013-12-05T21:37:24.023" LastActivityDate="2013-12-05T21:37:24.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-05T21:05:35.877" Score="4" ViewCount="970" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 60-gallon fish tank, 48 inches by 12 by 24 LWH. I have many plants which keeps my ammonia negligible (but the nitrates will build up). I have 8 tetras, 8 cory cats, and 8 danios. (the cory cats are albino)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My water is usually 10dH so it's hard water, I guess - but my fish seem to love it. It's hard, I suppose, due to all the Flourish Excel I put in it. It makes the ammonia and pH test go off the charts. I have Daphnia, Brine Shrimp, bloodworms (all freeze-dried, they all float and only go in the depths when brought down by the filter stream), fish flakes, and sinking wafers. So my cory cats will eat the wafers, tetras the fish flakes, and the tetras and danios take care of everything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add something smaller than a pink kisser. Those, I think, will eat my danios, which aren't big enough yet (they're like 2 inches). I don't know if I want to add schooling fish, or fish that are ok with being group of 3 - I don't know if any species of freshwater fish will tolerate being alone, like an angelfish - but I don't know if they'd be suitable due to fin nipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T10:36:34.837" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T10:36:34.837" Title="Which smaller fish to add to a 60-gal. tank of danios, corydoras and tetras?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1000" CreationDate="2013-12-06T01:23:39.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this professor's explanation about what atfects oxygenation in ponds:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/lowoxygenandpondaeration.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/lowoxygenandpondaeration.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly, it suggests to me that the total depth matters more than the surface/volume ratio. In particular, ponds over 8 ft. deep can lose oxygen at lower levels in hot water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T01:23:39.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1683" CreationDate="2013-12-06T01:28:34.447" Score="9" ViewCount="14196" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should you do if you lose a hermit crab? I have a friend whose family put very large shells in for the crab to try, and it disappeared. That was a long time ago, so it's obviously dead, but what should you do if you haven't seen it for a few days? Is shaking the shells inappropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user87" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:01:24.370" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T19:20:39.833" Title="How to handle a disappearing hermit crab?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-06T02:32:36.310" Score="8" ViewCount="1660" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1574/87&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1000/surface-area-to-volume&quot;&gt;this question about surface area to volume&lt;/a&gt; led me to an interesting article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;LOW OXYGEN AND POND AERATION William&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A. Wurts, Senior State Specialist for Aquaculture&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension Program&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/LowOxygenandPondAeration.PDF&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From which I quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oxygen Depletion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sudden death of phytoplankton or algal bloom, &amp;quot;bloom crash&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, may result from insufficient light (e.g. cloud cover) for photosynthesis, inadequate pond nutrients (a bloom too dense to be supported by available nutrients and oxygen) and/or bloom senescence (the plant cell line becomes too old to continue reproduction).  Oxygen is consumed or depleted when dead phytoplankton/algae decay.  During the nighttime hours, a dense phytoplankton bloom can remove all oxygen from the water for respiration (to breathe) alone.  When a bloom crash occurs, the water appears to have become &amp;quot;black&amp;quot; or clear overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would seem that certain algae levels are helpful for oxygenating ponds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I maintain several pet fish ponds.  What role does algae play in establishing a healthy pond environment for my fish and other aquatic or semi-aquatic species I might introduce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T13:35:01.690" Title="What role does algae play in healthy pond life?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1579" CreationDate="2013-12-06T11:53:28.363" Score="15" ViewCount="43191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware the issues surrounding &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_cat&quot;&gt;feral cats&lt;/a&gt; and I would never consider turning a dog loose to fend for it's self.  But rabbits are not predators so would seem unlikely to have a negative impact on the ecosystem, also I see wild bunnies in the fields and woods around my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine that if I turned my rabbit loose it would go make friends and babies with the wild rabbits in the area.  Is it alright to let my rabbit free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This question is posted to provide an opportunity for the answers to be posted and available. In my volunteer capacity I actually rescue domestic rabbits that have been set free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T09:17:50.457" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T23:15:13.210" Title="Can I release my pet rabbit in the wild?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2013-12-06T12:54:08.297" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is no. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pet rabbit is probably a different breed than the wild rabbits you see around. It's been bred from tame/domesticated rabbits for generations. It doesn't smell like them, and it doesn't know how anything about living wild. If you let it go free, it will almost certainly be killed or eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in an area where rabbits are not a natural species, your rabbit, if it survives, could cause immense damage (google &quot;rabbits in Australia to get an eyeful of the damage introducing rabbits has caused there). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, any pet is for life - your life or its life. If you can't look after the rabbit any more, the responsible thing to do is find a shelter (preferably no-kill) and surrender it to them. Simply releasing any pet is cruel and a betrayal of trust. That pet, whether a rabbit or any other animal, looks to you to provide food, protection, and shelter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T12:54:08.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1681" CreationDate="2013-12-06T14:04:32.520" Score="14" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up in a suburban area. Our next door neighbors had horses on a half-acre of land, and they seemed fairly happy. If I were to take care of horses, how much land would I need for them to have a healthy life? Does it depend on the type or number of horses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:00:50.750" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T14:48:47.177" Title="What does a horse need in terms of land?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-06T14:41:25.747" Score="8" ViewCount="2177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three dogs that live in individual crates for roughly 5 hours every weekday. Two of them consistently prefer to poop inside, mostly on the pee mat. The third has always been the 'good boy' who doesn't go inside. Recently, he has begun pooping inside his crate while I am away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel I give him appropriate time outside to do his business, but the pooping area has recently shrunk.  He acts 'shy' of pooping near my other dogs, and I'm concerned this shyness is overriding his drive to not poop outside his crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I prioritize pooping outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="428" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T16:10:56.493" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T05:19:34.583" Title="How do I handle my 10-year-old dog, who is now habitually pooping in his crate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2013-12-06T15:04:43.303" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I take you from your home and fly you across the world to a place you&#xA;  have never been.  Everyone around you looks different than you, and&#xA;  there are quite a few people who want to kill you.  There is no&#xA;  authorities around to prevent it either.  So you take off running and&#xA;  find a place to hide.  You have no idea how to get food here because&#xA;  there are no supermarkets or packaged foods.  The people here are much&#xA;  leaner than you are and have signs of illness that you have never&#xA;  seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long do you think you would survive in this scenario?  Your rabbit lacks your reasoning abilities that have allowed your species to become the top predator despite not being any where near the most physically gifted.  So while you could potentially plan a strategy for survival your rabbit can't.  Your rabbit, assuming it survives, will spend its time in fear, hungry, and thirsty.  Chances are if a predator does not find it and put it out of its misery, then your rabbit will die from hunger, disease, stress, or dehydration with in a month.  Is that really what you want for your pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really can not keep your rabbit, there are rescue places that will allow you to surrender your rabbit.  There are also places that will humanely euthanize your rabbit and use them as feed in zoos.  But do not release them to the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T15:04:43.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2013-12-06T16:54:10.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had a apartment dog (and we know quite a lot of apartment dog-people) and something that is pretty important is to set a routine - People walk their dog between twice and 4-5 times a day and if your dog knows its poo/walkies time, they're more likely to do things then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twice a day is sensible, and is a bare minimum in my opinion (ours gets 4 - he used to be the office dog, so we followed work times and one more walk). Distance is also important to an extent, generally a successful poo run for our westie cross is not less than 10 minutes - but we bring him for walks of up to an hour and 2 km. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting let out isn't just about pooing though - dogs need exercise, and well adjusted dogs need to socialize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said and done, after a while you'll know. You'll work out a routine, and your dog will get that routine. He'll also know when and how to let you know he absolutely has to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T20:30:46.413" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T20:30:46.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2013-12-06T17:07:06.320" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a similar experience, though with harnesses - our dog used to chew through harnesses, but seemed perfectly happy with a collar. In your case switching over to a harness might help - if nothing else if it fits right, its going to be harder to chew. She might even end up being more comfortable with it, which would be a good thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T17:07:06.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1586" CreationDate="2013-12-06T18:00:39.720" Score="8" ViewCount="14171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that one of my cats has a raw section of his nose, on the leather section. It appeared after a night where the two cats I have got into hissing/low growling during 'play'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is acting normal and doesn't seem to be in pain, but we cannot figure out what could have caused it since it does not look like a scratch, and it covers about 1/3 of his nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any special considerations I should take to ensure that his nose doesn't get infected, or is this something that requires a vet visit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-15T19:34:58.430" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T23:35:49.213" Title="How do I treat a fresh raw/scabbed nose injury on my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1585" CreationDate="2013-12-06T18:54:23.940" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;First aid for a fresh (minor) cat injury is to clean the area with fresh water (no hydrogen peroxide). On noses, lips, and paw pads I'll apply either a 100% shea butter or vaseline (something that they could lick off and be okay).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on the injury for the next few days, if it becomes infected you'll need to take your cat to the vet. If your cat shows any sign of distress (panting, lethargy, hiding, crying), you need to go to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T18:54:23.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2013-12-06T19:44:38.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;we don't like leaving her without any type of identification.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your concern is ensuring your dog is identified, you should consider having your dog micro-chipped if the service is available in your area (nation).  A microchip is a device the size of a grain of rice which is inserted under the dog's skin through a quick procedure.  My experience is that the service has cost upwards of $35 to perform, and there are veterinarians who occasionally run &quot;chipping&quot; specials, as it is a good way to keep missing dogs identified and get them back with their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most veterinarians have access to a scanner which can be run over the dog and will beep with the dog's identification information.  Many pet rescue organizations microchip dogs which they foster, so if you rescued your dog, it may already be micro-chipped.  A micro-chipped dog will not prevent it from being stolen, but if it is brought to the vet, some vets will scan the dog on its first visit, and the owner will be identified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T19:44:38.083" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1588" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-06T20:57:57.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The natural subconscious reactions and tendencies of animal species. This can include hunting tendencies, fear vs flight, and other behaviors more commonly associated with the species as a whole. For behaviors more specific to individual pets, use the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt; tag or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T20:57:57.357" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T20:57:57.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1589" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-06T20:57:57.357" Score="0" Body="The natural subconscious reactions and tendencies of animal species." OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-06T20:57:57.357" LastActivityDate="2013-12-06T20:57:57.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1597" CreationDate="2013-12-07T02:51:25.397" Score="9" ViewCount="21602" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I woke up to a glob of jelly with weird yellow dots in them attached to one of my hairgrass. I looked up the situation and I think I have tetra eggs, because my danio minnows and cory cats lay non-adhesive eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have removed the eggs (and the hairgrass leaf it was attached to) from the tank twelve hours ago and put them in a styrofoam bowl. Will they be ok? How long until hatching time? Any signs to look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T09:45:38.403" Title="How to take care of fish eggs?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1595" CreationDate="2013-12-07T12:42:20.563" Score="10" ViewCount="6516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard of and personally observed this behavior in both dogs and house rabbits.  It may occur among other species as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An otherwise perfectly litter trained and/or housebroken pet will get on the bed of person they identify strongly with and urinate. In my experience the behavior is notable in animals that have otherwise perfect house habits.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my imperfect memory it seems like there is often a relationship to the owner of the bed being away or the animal feeling loss of attention, and this behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a known cause, cure and/or rationale for wetting the masters bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:02:05.863" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T15:48:05.980" Title="What causes a housebroken pet to wet the masters bed?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="522" CreationDate="2013-12-07T14:00:17.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;John Cavan has some reasonable and appropriate methods for increasing a rabbits weight in his answer. These should as he points out be used with careful monitoring, because high value foods can ultimately be harmful to your rabbit. The House Rabbit Society has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;good diet recommendations&lt;/a&gt;.  Rabbits are somewhat dependent on having a high volume low value food supply for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;optimal health&lt;/a&gt; so &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441/do-i-need-to-do-anything-special-when-i-change-what-i-feed-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;dietary change&lt;/a&gt; to attempting weigh gain should only be considered when medically necessary, include  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets/products/critical_care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Critical Care&lt;/a&gt; and canned pumpkin (NOT Pumpkin Pie Filling) to John's answer when medically necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention in your comments that your rabbit is validated to be in good health and the rationale for the weigh gain is cosmetic, to meet arbitrary requirements to gain recognition in competition.  Assuming the the 9 pounds of current weight give your rabbit a healthy exam rating, then it is difficult to imagine that increasing that weight by a third will be healthy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits suffer health risks from increased weight (fat) the same as humans. Assuming that your rabbit's health and well being are your primary concern, and that showing her at her best is an attribute of that.  Let her health and not her weight be your guide.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention providing fresh parsley every other week, it is unclear if this is special treat or an attempt to provide fiber and/greens.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;current recommendations&lt;/a&gt; call for daily servings of fresh leafy greens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not limit the amount of hay available to your rabbit. Serious life threatening conditions like &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits&quot;&gt;wool block&lt;/a&gt; can occur in the absence of sufficient fiber. I do not believe there are any reliable references that recommend restricting hay (&lt;em&gt;or alfalfa if appropriate&lt;/em&gt;) at anytime. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase your rabbits exercise opportunities.  Assuming that your rabbit has a frame larger enough to weigh 12 pounds, adding muscle would be the optimal form to add it in. Exercise will increase both your rabbits physical and mental well being. It may or may not increase her weight by a third, but it will increase her quality of life.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary to your question &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Is there anything safe and natural we can do to encourage her growth?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, give her a healthy diet consisting of unlimited hay, daily fresh leafy greens, pellets in moderation, and treats only occasionally. Provide her with at least twice daily opportunities for exercise, with sufficient area to jump, play and run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; Expanding options &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to a recent illness in one of our rabbits high nutritional values foods became a necessity.  Keeping in mind that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441&quot;&gt;you do need to be careful when changing a rabbits diet&lt;/a&gt; are are some foods that we used, they were all recommended by rabbit recovery specialists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canned pumpkin (NOT Pumpkin Pie Filling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rolled Oats, (Oatmeal that is not instant, feed dry and uncooked)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sports hydration drinks (Gatorade, or similar with electrolytes) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.platinumperformance.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Platinum Performance® Equine&lt;/a&gt; (mix with other foods)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets/products/critical_care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Critical Care® herbivores &lt;/a&gt; (mix with water or other foods)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beet_pulp#Feeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Beet Pulp&lt;/a&gt; (feed wet or dry)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T09:16:21.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1593" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-07T14:10:24.987" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T14:10:24.987" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T14:10:24.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1594" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-07T14:10:24.987" Score="0" Body="Aquariums intended to keep more than a single species of animal. Most aquarium questions will probably involve community tanks, but this tag is only appropriate when the question specifically deals with some aspect of keeping multiple species together." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T21:08:53.830" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T21:08:53.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1591" CreationDate="2013-12-07T15:20:04.613" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I covered the question a bit more broadly since the general problem may be of interest. Using the bed (or other furniture) is basically a subset. At any rate, by the three major trainable species:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Cats&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Inappropriate&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litter box quality is low, in other words it's not very clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litter type may bother the cat, some may not like clay, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinary infection or illness can lead to the cat selecting softer surfaces. Some include:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinary tract disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diabetes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Senility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough litter boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Previous painful urination in the litter box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Marking&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marking is usually on vertical surfaces, but not always possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New cat in the home or area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aggression between cats already in the home, especially if there's evidence that one cat is trying to keep the others away from a spot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something new in the house (e.g. a new bed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;As Caregiver&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is not a sign of spite or anger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scolding/punishment will cause the cat to avoid the person, not correct the issue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minimize change and/or introduce it slowly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep litter boxes very clean and in low traffic areas away from food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Dogs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;General Causes&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incomplete housetraining&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Marking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Submissive behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excitement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anxiety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cognitive Dysfunction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medical conditions and, similar to cats, the soft surface may be less painful, some of which include:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Degenerative illnesses (e.g. arthritis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Illnesses like diabetes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inflammation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;As Caregiver&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean soiled areas with cleansers designed to help remove pet induced odors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Punishment will not help, it will generally lead to the dog &quot;sneaking&quot; around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep dog supervised or confined (if supervision not always possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase frequency of outdoor trips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward appropriate urination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Rabbits&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;General Issues&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little harder to find good information here, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinary incontinence can have medical basis:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neurological issues from injuries or other illnesses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinary bladder storage dysfunction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Estrogen-responsive urinary incontinence in females with a hysterectomy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinary tract infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anatomical anomalies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dominance - the rabbit is attempting to become the top bunny in the house and that includes you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;As Caregiver&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For medical issues, see a vet, there's no training option&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For dominance issues, you'll need to train the rabbit out of it. Usually by blocking or controlling access to the areas or furniture the rabbit is urinating on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources and Further Reading&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline, 5th Edition. Housesoiling - Cats and Housesoiling - Dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VeterinaryPartner.com: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=2456&quot;&gt;Urinating on Beds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Small Mammal, 2nd Edition. Incontinence, Urinary (Rabbit).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;House Rabbit Society: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-training/&quot;&gt;Training FAQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-07T15:48:05.980" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T15:48:05.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1581" CreationDate="2013-12-07T17:40:24.907" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;How large is the dog's crate? It's important to give them enough room to turn around and lie comfortably in, but there is a point in which one can be too generous with space when it comes to dog crates. Typically, a dog doesn't want to poop where it sleeps... if the crates you have didn't come with dividers, I would suggest looking into a way to decrease the amount of space he has in his crate. He won't feel comfortable with the idea of pooping in one corner, lying in another, and waiting for you to come home and pick it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="432" LastActivityDate="2013-12-07T17:40:24.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1590" CreationDate="2013-12-07T21:42:31.383" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;These actually sound like snail eggs to me. Your tetras are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishbase.org/Reproduction/FishReproSummary.php?ID=4682&amp;amp;GenusName=Gymnocorymbus&amp;amp;SpeciesName=ternetzi&amp;amp;fc=102&amp;amp;StockCode=4900&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;egg scatterers&lt;/a&gt;, and lay tiny eggs hidden in rocks or thick plants growth. You can see what their eggs look like in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVBxAJjgQz4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; -- very tiny, and not protected in a gelatinous mass like the ones you've found. (Note that your tetras are an albino or leucistic strain of the ones in the video, but the same species, &lt;em&gt;Gymnocorymbus ternetzi&lt;/em&gt;.) The danios I'm familiar with have similar spawning behavior, including zebra danios if that's what you have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corydoras eggs actually are sticky, but they're also not laid in a gelatinous glob. The ones I've seen are pearl or cream color and relatively large, about the size of a grain of couscous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/328370-are-these-eggs-in-my-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt; for some great pictures of both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/328370-are-these-eggs-in-my-tank/#entry2729028&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cory&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/328370-are-these-eggs-in-my-tank/#entry2726880&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;snail eggs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are snail eggs, then you don't really need to do anything special if you want to grow them out -- the hard part about breeding most aquarium snails is getting them to stop, really. I would just put them back in the main tank, maybe in a hang-on breeding chamber to keep the fish away. Personally I would be hesitant to let these grow out unless you know you definitely want them in your tank, because snail populations can get out of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growing out fish eggs is a lot more variable, because fish employ so many different spawning strategies. Fish love to eat fish eggs, even their own, so isolating the eggs is a must in a community tank; it's common to see dedicated breeding tanks. From there, you'll then need to keep the eggs at the right temperature, and the water generally should be kept clean and well-oxygenated. It's common to see infertile eggs go moldy, so watch carefully and remove any that look fuzzy immediately; you can use methylene blue as a preventative anti-fungal agent. Fish eggs usually hatch in just a few days, depending on how warm the water is. Specific care instructions really depend on the exact species, so if they are fish eggs, you'll probably want to edit your question/title to include which are the parents (or if you can't ID them, a photo of the eggs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-03-29T14:29:18.817" LastActivityDate="2014-03-29T14:29:18.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1599" CreationDate="2013-12-09T13:43:00.357" Score="8" ViewCount="2406" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is scared of everyone except me. He used to stay on a farm where some people always teased him. Now he is scared of everyone except me because he knows me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="434" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-09T16:10:06.227" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T16:28:58.923" Title="What should I do with a dog who is afraid of everyone except me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1598" CreationDate="2013-12-09T14:28:38.003" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You work on it &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt;. Trust is a difficult thing. Take him out, slowly get him socialised to a few people, and more and more. Deal with how he manifests the fear - talking to a dog calmly and quietly works wonders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also have to use what motivates him to open up. Once he realises that people have food/will play with him/will pet him, he'll start getting used to it. Start with your family (and let them know there &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; be concequences if they tease or otherwise mess with the dog), and then slowly increase his circle of people. Take it slow, be patient, and use lots of positive reinforcement, and you'll be on your way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, some dogs are just not people dogs. Even if your dog isn't the center of attention, and ignores people, its better than fear ;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T14:28:38.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1602" CreationDate="2013-12-09T18:03:45.090" Score="30" ViewCount="6652" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's that time of year when many of us put a pine tree up in our living room and decorate with lots of shiny objects and string-like items. It seems that many cats find this combination to be almost irresistible. So... what can I do to keep my cat from getting too festive in the tree?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T17:04:50.920" Title="How do I keep a cat out of my Christmas tree?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1604" CreationDate="2013-12-09T18:37:11.940" Score="25" ViewCount="2226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a few friends who are vegetarian or vegan, who have considered putting their pets (mainly cats, which is why I specified in the title) on a similar diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like that might not be good for the animal, but I feel like I can't discuss it with them without being throughly educated on the topic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to feed a cat a vegetarian or vegan diet? Why or why not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:27:11.800" Title="Can I feed my cat a vegetarian or vegan diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1600" CreationDate="2013-12-09T18:44:18.687" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;We used to hang a bell on a low branch that would ring when the cat started to climb the tree.  We called it the &quot;cat alarm.&quot;  When it would ring, we would come and get the cat out of the tree right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not your cat will eventually get discouraged from climbing the tree is up to your cat.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing we did was we cut out a three foot circle out of plywood, and screwed the tree stand down to the plywood.  That way, even if the cat did climb the tree, there was no way he could knock it over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T18:44:18.687" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1600" CreationDate="2013-12-09T18:51:47.657" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We made the bottom of the tree as uninteresting to cats as possible. This involved putting all  ornaments up higher on the tree, keeping it away from the chairs, and monitoring the tree when we're around it and immediately spraying the cat with water when they get into the tree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat did this almost daily when she was a kitten and it was her first Christmas, but after a week or so of pulling her out and scolding, spraying with water, and removing the unexplainably fun ornaments from the bottom 25% of the tree, she stopped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T18:51:47.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1601" CreationDate="2013-12-09T18:57:31.967" Score="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although PETA seems to say that it's perfectly healthy, cats are not vegetarian and thousands of years of evolution has made them into carnivores.  They have a specific requirements for nutrients that vegetarian diets just cannot provide. With the exception of special situations where the cat requires a modified diet, vegetarian diets should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted below, cats have issues producing Vitamin A &amp;amp; D as well as taurine, which are difficult to get from a vegetarian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vitamins A and D: Dogs and cats cannot make vitamin D in their skin, so it needs to be in their diet. And the vitamin D needs to be D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, which comes from animal sources, not D&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, which comes from plant-based sources. “People and dogs can use D&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to some extent, but cats really need D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;”, Heinze says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taurine. Dogs can make taurine if provided the right building blocks through dietary protein. Cats cannot make their own taurine at all, so it is regarded as an essential amino acid in this species and must be present in adequate amounts in the diet. Both species can suffer taurine deficiencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If attempting a vegetarian/vegan diet, consulting a vet first is crucial, and then only going with cat food that has been specifically formatted in order to provide the required nutrients. Attempting a 'home grown' vegetarian diet is not healthy for cats and can kill them or cause serious harm. In no conditions should a vegetarian/vegan diet be attempted with a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:27:11.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1601" CreationDate="2013-12-09T18:57:49.033" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats require an amino acid called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Taurine&lt;/a&gt;, since they are unable to synthesize it themselves.  This particular amino acid is only found naturally in animal tissue.  Because Taurine is destroyed by heat, a Taurine supplement is added to commercial food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are vegan websites that claim you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; give your cat a vegan diet, however it may not be appropriate for all cats.  Depending on the pH of your cat's urine on this type of diet, it may allow the formation of bladder stones (I can tell you from experience, this is not fun to deal with).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Urinary tract problems are fairly common in cats, and because of the relative acidity of meat to vegetable protein, some vegan cats suffer from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the greater risk to males, you may want to give your cat some canned meat-based foods (a veternarian-prescribed pH balancing formula is ideal) be given along with vegan food, particularly if they have had any past history of urinary tract issues or crystal formation. Cats who have never displayed any tendencies to develop urinary tract problems can often get by with a fully vegan or nearly all-vegan diet, but you must be vigilant with males due to the urgency of needing proper care if there is blockage due to the formation of crystals in the urinary tract. Those who have had problems in the past may need as much as 1/2 to 3/4 of their food consist of meat in order to completely mitigate this risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vegancats.com/veganfaq.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the only treatment for this type of urinary problem is diet.  If your cat is prone to crystal formation, your vet will instruct you to switch foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T18:57:49.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1600" CreationDate="2013-12-09T19:02:04.007" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may sound a little mean, however it works for Christmas trees, getting on top of the counters, and generally training the cat not to go certain places: quickly mist them with a spray bottle. If your cat doesn't like water as much as most cats don't, then this will work. Eventually you can get to where you don't even have to spray it and just make a spray sound with your teeth, sometimes bringing the bottle out; though the appearance and the remembrance of the event will be enough to train them not to go certain areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it may take a while for some cats to be trained, and Christmas trees are not usually put up for very long, so the effectiveness of this method will depend on how quickly your cat picks this up and how long you leave your tree up. Also, you don't want to spray too much for both the cat's and the tree's well-being. Last thing you want is a musty, damp tree that drips, or a cat that no longer trusts/likes you. :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T19:02:04.007" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-09T19:18:37.783" Score="9" ViewCount="1054" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found my cat when it was very small. I took it home and since then, tried to feed it whatever I thought it would like, starting with milk, then fish, meat etc. It has never touched them or any cooked food. So I started to buy cat food from the supermarket. I have tried around 30 different brands and flavors and it only eats 2 - 3 of them. Also sometimes it likes toast cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have it since September 2012.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="437" LastEditorUserId="437" LastEditDate="2013-12-09T19:39:16.403" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T13:38:34.367" Title="My cat doesn't like to eat anything!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1607" CreationDate="2013-12-09T20:22:06.180" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;From talking to my vet, I know that cats don't need a hugely varied diet. As long as they are getting the nutrients they need, and their diet is appropriate for their age (kittens need different food than adults, for example, and adults need different food than older aged cats do), you don't have to worry too much about varying the diet. If the cat is happy eating one or two different kinds of food, and those kinds meet their needs, then let them just eat those!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has eaten the same kind of hard food and the same kinds of wet food for a year now, and that makes him happy. He has a little variation (between one or two kinds of dry food, and a handful of different wet food brands). He likes what he gets, its balanced, so there isn't any worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/FeedYourCat.cfm&quot;&gt;This fantastic guide to feeding your cat&lt;/a&gt; basically echoes that point, saying that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once you have determined that a food is complete and balanced,&#xA;  choosing between the types of food may be a matter of what your cat&#xA;  prefers. Some cats like canned food, some like dry food, and some like&#xA;  a combination of the two. Today's market offers many well-formulated&#xA;  foods for cats at all life stages, so you can choose the ones that&#xA;  work best for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So once you find something that your cat likes, and that is balanced for its age and other needs such as size and breed and other factors, it can happily stay eating that for as long as it wants that particular food (taking other feeding considerations, such as amount, into consideration).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the food not meeting its needs, you can always ask your vet about it. I know mine was great about discussing lower-cost options for my cat, because I am on a student budget, so I can't necessarily afford high end food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-12-09T20:22:06.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-09T23:30:51.593" Score="17" ViewCount="14335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three neon tetras and I'd like to add some more. My reading on the subject gives me different advice on what is likely to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One outcome is the two sets of neons will not school together, the other outcome is that they will school together, but to varying degrees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any concerns with adding new neon tetras to an aquarium with an existing school?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: See my answer below for what happened when I added new neon tetras. See also this related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1949/how-long-should-i-wait-after-moving-aquarium-before-adding-new-fish&quot;&gt;how-long-should-i-wait-after-moving-aquarium-before-adding-new-fish&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="443" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T12:12:16.027" Title="Adding neon tetras to an existing school - Any concerns?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2013-12-10T00:15:02.773" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, neons will school at all times.  It doesn't matter if they came from the same batch or not.  When it comes to neons, the more, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even tetras of different breeds (as long as they physically look similar) will school together if there aren't enough of the same breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T12:12:16.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T12:12:16.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2013-12-10T00:37:49.143" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pets should &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;NEVER&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; be released into the wild.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are countless reasons for this.  Your pet might not be native to the area you live in.  It can cause harm to the environment.  It may carry a disease that the local wildlife do not have a resistance to.  It doesnt have the survival instincts its wild cousins have.  Pets are physically different than their wild counterparts, it may not have the right muscle, fat, size, teeth, whatever to survive in that area.  The list goes on and on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you no longer wish to care for your pet, find someone who does.  Or look for a rescue or shelter to take the animal in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T00:37:49.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1490" CreationDate="2013-12-10T00:44:19.383" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be that &lt;em&gt;she's just not interested&lt;/em&gt;. She's obviously smart, and does interact with &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt;, but toys simply may not catch her attention. She might just find it &lt;em&gt;boring&lt;/em&gt;. Alternatively she may just be picky - our resident canine won't bother with anything non-squeeky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also experiment with varied play - we tend to 'refuse' to give ours a toy, teasing him and making him run around, hiding toys and so on. If a dog doesn't play on her own, and doesn't show any issues related to boredom, I'd suggest just letting it be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-10T22:19:58.017" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T22:19:58.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1573" CreationDate="2013-12-10T00:47:30.180" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could put in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Betta splendens&lt;/a&gt; (aka Siamese fighting fish).  Contrary to their name, they get along with most fish quite well.  I have one in my tank with neons, corys, hatchet fish,  guppies, and some other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you don't put them in with another male, or similar looking fish, or fish in the same family (the Pink Kisser and other gouramis would be out), it will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas are very hardy fish and can survive a wide range of water and temperature swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T20:33:10.403" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T20:33:10.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1575" CreationDate="2013-12-10T00:50:17.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish and crabs die.  It could be that the other members of the tank took him as a free meal and there is nothing left.  It couldn't hurt to look for him and remove the body if you find it.  However, I wouldn't be to concerned if you don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may get lucky, he just might be hiding...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T19:20:39.833" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T19:20:39.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1617" CreationDate="2013-12-10T02:40:21.277" Score="12" ViewCount="105236" Body="&lt;p&gt;For quite some time now my cat's new hobby have been destroying cardboard boxes. He can spend sometimes up to a few hours in a box chewing the walls non-stop and ripping it to pieces. My cat used to destroy loose sheets he found laying around and the corner of a few boxes, but now it seems more serious as there's cardboard pieces everywhere (and I even drag some to work without knowing). I doubt eating &lt;em&gt;that much&lt;/em&gt; cardboard is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I thought it was because I wasn't feeding him enough, but the fact that he is spitting the pieces around makes me think otherwise. Could it be toothache or is chewing cardboard is a &quot;normal&quot; cat thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one of the boxes, took less than three weeks : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/txskq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Box destruction&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="445" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T14:00:29.950" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T19:50:04.187" Title="Is chewing cardboard normal for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1616" CreationDate="2013-12-10T02:55:23.600" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chewing cardboard, amongst other things, can be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/unusual-cat-cravings&quot;&gt;sign of pica&lt;/a&gt; in cats. Basically, this is an eating disorder that could be a consequence of dietary deficiencies or cognitive dysfunction (old age, senility), and some others. This isn't entirely normal, though not all that uncommon, so it would be a good idea to get him checked out by a vet to make sure that he's generally healthy (he looks it though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-10T03:01:33.497" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T03:01:33.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1682" CreationDate="2013-12-10T07:53:04.633" Score="7" ViewCount="10133" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have five cats, four adults and a kitten. Other cats eat well but this one is just keeping slim lean thin like it was a fashion model on a catwalk. She is a Maine coon and just got two years old this month, and I'm getting anxious about her weight. She is a little over 90 cm (3 feet) including tail, and weighs about 3,5 kg (under 8 lb). Wikipedia says an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon#Breed_description&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adult female Maine coon&lt;/a&gt; should be 10 to 15 lb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats dry food and wet food, just like the others, but ever so small amounts of it at a time. We have dry food on constant offer and wet food two or three times a day. During the first 18 months I told myself that she is just busy growing up, as these Maine coons are slow to build up their body, so she just don't get body mass until she has reached her full size. But our other cats are (slightly) younger than this one, and they're looking like already at their full adult size. So for the last half a year I've been wondering if she is allright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Half a year ago she was at a vet to get her vaccines and the vet said something about her possibly being in heat every so often, and that consumes a lot of energy. The vet said our cat sure is a bit too lean, but it should change soon after spaying. I don't know, we have plans to let her have one set of kittens before doing that. And we've been waiting for her to grow up before introducing her to a tom. (That's part of it why we now have the male kitten..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that talk with the vet I've started buying &lt;em&gt;Royal Canin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicanimal.com/product/~product_id=106444&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exigent 33 Aromatic Attraction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; food for fussy cats. The slim cat seems to like it, but our other cats love it. So our other cats are gaining weight perhaps a bit too merrily, only because I'm trying to fatten this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up: a two year old female Maine coon is ever so slim, even though she does eat. How slim is normal for this breed? Am I worried for nothing, and if not, what can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T21:17:43.180" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T20:51:51.357" Title="Is my two-year old Maine coon too lean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1619" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-10T08:04:08.703" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-12-10T08:04:08.703" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T08:04:08.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1620" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-10T08:04:08.703" Score="0" Body="Maine Coon, a.k.a American Longhair, is one of the largest breeds of domestic cats. " OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2013-12-10T13:28:37.540" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T13:28:37.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1623" CreationDate="2013-12-10T10:32:06.023" Score="7" ViewCount="572" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Bichon's just started having her first season and I want to take her for a walk. Is this a good idea? I know she will emit a scent that male dogs will obviously recognize as her being ready to mate, but don't know whether I can simply pick her up when we see another dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, I don't want her to have puppies yet (or ever really), but I don't want her growing restless with a lack of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T15:50:44.757" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T16:10:28.247" Title="Can I take my in-season puppy for a walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1622" CreationDate="2013-12-10T11:03:31.160" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be a good idea to avoid popular dog walking routes and you'll perhaps need to scare off interested males. No need to pick her up when she gets approached, just stepping in between her and the other dog should be enough. Chances are she won't approve of the other dogs and refuse their mounting attempts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you meet another dogwalker during your walk then communicate that she is in heat up front so they can then call their own dog off should they get too friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you never want puppies then consider getting her spayed sooner rather than later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T16:10:28.247" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T16:10:28.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1600" CreationDate="2013-12-10T12:02:10.270" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to keep your cat and your Christmas tree from entertaining each other is to physically separate them.  This is probably impractical, and likely impossible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some answers here suggesting changes to the bottom of the tree, to prevent tipping, or discourage climbing.  Cats (and ferrets) are very unlikely to be permanently discouraged, and increasing the base or stand to prevent tipping, is difficult, and bulky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look to the ceiling for your solution. Before erecting the tree, find a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joist&quot;&gt;joist&lt;/a&gt; in the ceiling over where the tree will be placed.  Screw a strong hook into the ceiling joist, I would suggest a 25 pound rating on the hook with a threaded end about 2 inches long, creating a strong attachment to the joist.  Once the tree is in place, tie the top of the tree to the hook, it should be snug but not lifting the tree.  This will keep the tree from tipping over if (when) climbed, and the base will return the tree to proper position once the tree climber (pet or child) is down.  While not essential, centering the tree under the hook will provide the best results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to consider decorations that are not fragile.  Activity in and around the tree are likely to cause some accidents and broken decorations can be harmful to everyone in the home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hook can be used in the off season to hang; a plant, dream catcher, etc.  I would not recommend removing the hook.  It will provide the best service over the years if allowed to remain in place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2013-12-10T15:39:55.757" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T15:39:55.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1607" CreationDate="2013-12-10T13:38:34.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Ashley said, as long as your cat is healthy and happy, there's no problem with sticking to the one or two types of cat food he likes. The only time you need to change is if the cat isn't healthy or if the cat isn't eating what you're offering (or as a temporary measure if your cat has a virus which blocks his sense of smell, add a particularly stinky brand of canned food - according to my vet, cats decide if something is food or not by sense of smell, so if they can't smell the food they won't eat it. This also works for geriatric cats whose senses aren't working that well any more). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My three have been eating the same two types of dry food and the same brand of tinned food (in one of 4 or 5 flavors) for several years now, without complaints (except that the food bowls are allowed to get &lt;em&gt;empty&lt;/em&gt; - the horror!). Unless the only  food your cat will eat is the super-expensive gourmet variety and you're on a tight budget, I don't think you have anything to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T13:38:34.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1703" CreationDate="2013-12-10T18:56:08.110" Score="17" ViewCount="2036" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a tall climbing tree, which has the lowest resting platform quite high up. All but one of cats know how to climb down tail-first, but the 4-month old kitten comes down head-first. Climbing head-first is not easy, so he falls down often. Being that young, I would bet it hurts a bit, but he doesn't seem to mind. Anyway, is it possible to teach a young cat to climb down tail-first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My idea with the tree was to offer a good continuous climb up without distracting platforms in-between. Should I change the tree / just let the kitten drop himself down like a rock / try to train him to climb down safely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/458691_10150949777817745_452016854_o.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tall climbing tree&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-13T18:42:05.587" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T04:57:00.320" Title="How to train a kitten to climb tail-first down a tall climbing tree?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1628" CreationDate="2013-12-10T22:36:04.370" Score="7" ViewCount="19838" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female 5 months old puppy, and she's been with us for 3 weeks now. Thing is, she's a pretty large dog already, and her biting hurts. At the beginning she bit rather gently when playing, but it got rougher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried telling her no and stop playing with her, but problem is that she just follows, jumps and bites, so there's really no stop playing here. When I tell her no, sometimes she listens and relaxes, though most likely 2 minutes later she'll be biting again, and other times she ignores or starts barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my girlfriend its even worse, she completely ignores her when she says no and continues biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastEditorUserId="452" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T06:18:01.880" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T06:18:01.880" Title="Teaching a 5 months old puppy not to bite" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2013-12-12T00:57:46.447" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1627" CreationDate="2013-12-10T23:22:29.160" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;When she bites, yelp AI in high-pitch voice, and turn your back to her. Walk away, and when she will run around you, keep on turning your back to her. That is a strong signal she'll understand (after a while at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really should be obvious, but the mistake is common. The puppy biting is kind of cute, the little teeth not doing any damage and the play goes on. Many new dog owners wake up only after the bites become strong enough to hurt. The right way is not to let any biting at all, not even once. Teeth on skin should result in stopping the play at once and not start again until a good while later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time she bites, yelp and take your hand away, turn your back and go to do something else. Wash your hands, make coffee, build a sandwich, such things that you'll have a desk or table in front of you so she'll not be able to jump up to you. Ignoring a dog can be hard, but it often works. Now, when she'll be calm again, then you notice her. That's her reward for calming down. Rewarding does not always mean giving a treat or playing or suchalike. Very often a reward can be something that you don't even think is a reward. In this case the best reward for calming down is that you turn to her and say hi :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other ways too to get rid of biting, but don't mix different techniques. Choose one and then do it as long as you need to be sure it is either working or not working. I have &quot;programmed&quot; my dogs to react to the snapping of my fingers. Whatever they are doing at the moment, they stop it when I snap my fingers. Saying &quot;No&quot; is reserved for the real serious cases, and I have to say I don't even remember when was the last time I said No. Anyway, when you say No, do it every time the same way. Don't say &lt;em&gt;&quot;Noooo&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. Don't say &lt;em&gt;&quot;no no no!&quot;&lt;/em&gt; Don't say &lt;em&gt;&quot;no?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. Say it firmly, with low pitch voice, sharply. Say it like you mean it. - Sorry I'm drifting away from the subject here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: Puppy is biting, you stop the play and Yelp as in pain, ignore her and then reward her with giving her your attention when she is cool again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2013-12-10T23:22:29.160" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T00:05:44.157" Score="19" ViewCount="31258" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure that having kittens (and nursing them, etc) changes a female cat both physically and mentally. &lt;strong&gt;Exactly how it changes the cat&lt;/strong&gt; is not quite clear to me. To me a female cat that has had kittens seems more &quot;adult&quot; than another one who was spayed before ever having kittens.  I have never given much thought to it really. I believe that having kittens is good for the cat, and especially for me, because I don't want my cat to behave like a big kitten all through her adult life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting rid of the kittens has not proven difficult, at least in the country I live in. People will buy cheap cross-breed kittens willingly, especially from a seller like me, who sells clean and healthy vet-checked, vaccined, dewormed kittens. I'm asking for approximately the &quot;production costs&quot; price only, so it is definitely not a business to me. The only issue is if I really want to have my cat have kittens at all. At the moment I have one unspayed female cat, so this question is about her. Of all the cats I've ever had I've let two females produce kittens, first in 1988 and second time in 2012.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: How does a cat change after having kittens? What kind of differences there is between two spayed female cats, when one has had kittens and the other one has not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-02-23T09:15:48.200" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T17:32:39.440" Title="How does a cat's personality change by having kittens?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T00:55:34.030" Score="11" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats tend to leave small toys or items (favorites: socks, sweatbands and a Jerry Springer koozie) around the house when we're not at home and we find them in the hallway when we get home. What does this mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T01:24:33.430" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T06:18:22.963" Title="Why do my cats leave small toys/items around the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1630" CreationDate="2013-12-11T02:06:30.533" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats (and all animals in general) do not understand the concepts of order or tidiness. The idea that things have a correct place to go is a human idea (and a learned idea at that). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you specifically train your cat to put a specific toy in a specific place, you will always need to pick up after your cat. And your cat will probably never understand the idea that he should put things back where he got them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T02:06:30.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T03:18:19.400" Score="31" ViewCount="1393" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then when some natural disaster hits, I see stories in the press about abandoned pets or people being turned away from emergency shelters because they have pets with them, and I think: &quot;I don't want to be those guys&quot;.  I live in an area that isn't prone to disasters, but that doesn't mean that I'll never find myself in that situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that, just as for people, one needs to have an emergency kit with food, water, (litter in the case of the cats), anything medically needed, supplies, and so on.  I'm not asking about the contents of the emergency kit.  Rather, what I want to know is: suppose disaster strikes and I load up the cats (in carriers) and the gear in a car and get as far away as possible.  &lt;em&gt;What now?&lt;/em&gt;  How do I find emergency housing that will take me &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; them?  Or is my best bet to drive as far as possible and look for friends/relatives/inernet people?  If it's frigid winter or very-hot summer we can't just live in the car for the duration, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: what should I do (a) in advance and (b) during the emergency to ensure a safe place for my pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2013-12-24T17:17:19.990" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:26:47.310" Title="How do you safely evacuate with cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;disaster&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T03:24:46.763" Score="11" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen and heard some really bad things about puppy mills and other pet mills.  And many places, like the AKC, recommend finding a reputable breeder to purchase an animal directly rather than buying one from a chain pet store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference and why is once considered better than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:57:18.240" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:57:18.240" Title="What is the difference between a &quot;reputable breeder&quot; and a &quot;pet mill?&quot;" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1632" CreationDate="2013-12-11T03:48:07.570" Score="18" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Planning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to consider is planning.  It is recommended that you keep at least a week's supply of any consumables you will need for your pets in or near your emergency shelter.  You should plan in an emergency how you plan to deal with your pets.  You should also realize that during an emergency you pet is likely going to be acting differently than they will during normal calm periods.  If you have an animal that is normally caged taking them out of the cage then you will want to make sure you have a transport carrier or cage ready that the animal can be safely kept in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have more than one pet, make sure that everyone knows what to do with each of your pets during an emergency and set up who has the primary responsibility for each animal.  Doing this will help get the animals to safety rather than trying to figure out what animals still need to be rescued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally as sad as it is to lose a pet your life is much more valuable than that of your pet.  Do not put yourself at great risk to save your pet.  Running into a burning building to look for a loose pet is a lost bet.  If the animal was loose it may already have escaped and run away.  If it is trapped inside unless you know right where it is chances are more likely you will be injured than you will be able to save your pet.  Tell the firefighters where the pet is, if they can save it they will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recovery after&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently an area about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.indystar.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2013/11/18/aerial-views-of-illinois-tornado-damage/3635497/&quot;&gt;10 miles from my home lost over 1000 homes&lt;/a&gt; to an F4 tornado.  The local vet clinics have been offering a weeks free boarding for animals to help their families get a chance to get on their feet.  This is pretty common, as a friend of mine had the vet offer them the same when they lost their house to a fire.  So I would recommend you call your vet and see if they can help, or if they can refer you to someone who can help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also some families offering to foster animals until the families are back in a position to care for their animals.  This is a risk but if you are unable to afford to board your animals for the months it may take to rebuild, this may be an option.  I expect most of the people offering this service are doing so in good faith.  But I would still want to vet them before I turned over any of my animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also something you can plan for.  Talk with your family and friends and see if there is someone willing to commit to helping you out with your pets should the need arise.   This is also something to think about in case you need someone to take care of your animals should you and your family become unable to.  We have an arrangement for our dogs with one friend, and our rabbits with another. So if something were to happen we know they would be taken care of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T03:48:07.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1633" CreationDate="2013-12-11T03:59:37.420" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak for other species, but for dogs, the AKC page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/future_dog_owner/find_breeder.cfm&quot;&gt;Finding Your Dog&lt;/a&gt; describes &quot;responsible breeders as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The American Kennel Club believes that breeding programs should be undertaken responsibly for the purpose of preserving breed characteristics and producing healthy, well-socialized puppies. Responsible breeders are expected to give careful consideration to health issues, temperament, and genetic screening, as well as to the individual care and placement of puppies in responsible homes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also say about discussions between you and the breeder (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your contact should be willing to answer all of your questions fully. He or she should also ask questions about you, your lifestyle, and your family. If a contact doesn't respond to your inquiries, &lt;strong&gt;or doesn't show any interest in the life the dog will lead after it leaves his or her premises&lt;/strong&gt;, you may want to look elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good breeder &lt;strong&gt;cares&lt;/strong&gt; about the animals they raise. They want to be sure that it has a good life with you, and vice verse. They also care about raising good animals, so they should be able to provide you with details of health screenings above and beyond normal vet visits such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.vmdb.org/home/&quot;&gt;CERF&lt;/a&gt; (eyes) or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.offa.org/&quot;&gt;OFA&lt;/a&gt; (orthopedic) screenings. They may want to visit your home to see the environment the puppy will live in, or have you visit them to meet the puppy on its home ground.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good breeder will also keep good records about the animals that they are breeding. They won't be bred until fully physically mature, and they won't be bred after a certain age (I've heard between 6 and 8 years for different breeds). If it's an AKC-recognized breed, they should be able to provide AKC paperwork for the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expect to sign a contract when you purchase the puppy. If it's not sold as a show dog, you can expect a spay/neuter clause. You could also see a clause about returning the dog if he or she doesn't work out at your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy mill cares very little about any of this; dogs are often bred as soon as they reach sexual maturity, and are bred on every heat until they die. They are often kept in unsanitary conditions with little opportunity for exercise or socializing. All they care about is getting your check and handing over a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T04:05:47.627" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T04:05:47.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-11T06:05:31.080" Score="17" ViewCount="1420" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you say something about being inhumane, please hear out our situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma about 2 months ago. The doctors could not say how much longer she would live, either a few weeks or a few months. They prescribed some pain medication recently to prepare for the inevitable. In the past week her condition has been worsening: she has gone blind, she moves less, sleeps a lot more, and stumbles sometimes if she is walking; we are not sure if that is due to the cancer, the pain medication that we are regularly giving, or the blindness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are ready to take her to be put to sleep, but one problem remains: This is my sister's cat of 15 years, but my sister is currently studying abroad, and won't be home for another week. My sister cannot come earlier because of final tests taking place in those 7 days. To my sister she means everything, and of course she wants to be there when we put her down. Our family all fears that 7 days may be too long, but we are having a very difficult time in deciding if we need to do this now or wait just a little longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this sounds like a selfish decision, and actually my sister says if we need to do it without her, we should do it ASAP. But if there is a chance to hold out, how would we be able to tell? Our cat still eats and drinks every few hours, and besides the problems described above, gives no obvious signs of pain (probably expected since we are giving her doses of medication). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone with experience in this can weigh in, we would really appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="361" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T11:30:05.490" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T11:30:05.490" Title="How long can we hold off euthanizing our cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1655" CreationDate="2013-12-11T07:29:53.253" Score="24" ViewCount="6344" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a cat is sick, it is often quite obvious to its owner, but sometimes it is not so clear. What if the cat was in terrible headache or suchlike? What are signs to look for when I suspect my cat is in pain, but is not bleeding, drooling, vomiting, walking erratically or showing other obvious signs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T16:40:11.873" LastActivityDate="2014-09-17T15:41:39.717" Title="How can I know if my cat is in pain?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2013-12-11T08:39:43.807" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neon tetras will school together irrespective to the order of introduction. The new fishes may hide and not eat for the first few days, but eventually even you wont be able to differentiate them. While not necessary, try to get same sized fishes as the existing ones. Acclimate them properly. Turn the lights off after releasing them into you tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Neons even school with Cardinals. The same goes for Harlequin and Lambchop rasboras. As stated by Keltari in another answer, as long as the visual differences are not easily distinguishable, they will school together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T08:39:43.807" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1636" CreationDate="2013-12-11T16:32:52.127" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are trying to balance the cat's pain on the one hand versus your sister's distress if this happens before she can get there.  You can talk with your sister to gauge the latter, but you can't ask the cat how much pain she's in, nor ask her for an opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's impossible to judge these things over the Internet (and I am not a vet), you seem to be describing a situation that is under control.  In particular, the cat is still eating and drinking; from personal experience, once they stop doing that you're in trouble, but you're not there yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to discuss this with your vet, who is probably the only one who can assess the cat's level of pain and discomfort for you.  I trust that you're also giving the cat plenty of TLC -- holding, petting, and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was overseas when my 19-year-old cat's heart condition took a big turn for the worse.  I was already boarding him at the vet's (due to him needing medicine that needed ongoing adjustment) and I was in daily contact with my vet, trying to figure out what was best for him &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; me, desperately wanting him to hang on a little longer and questioning whether I was putting him through pain on my account.  This was very stressful for me, but the regular updates made a big difference (and I knew the cat was in good hands).  It might be good for your sister to talk with the vet directly, in addition to talking with you about what the vet said.  Ultimately she should be part of the decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T16:32:52.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2013-12-11T18:19:00.847" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was once in pain, and I picked up the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat was once noisy, but he suddenly got very quiet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat started running away and hiding from me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look for sores and listen in the night for fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="434" LastEditorUserId="361" LastEditDate="2013-12-11T18:29:37.903" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T18:29:37.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1648" CreationDate="2013-12-11T19:40:05.910" Score="4" ViewCount="17237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 8 white skirt tetras and 17 other community fish in my 60-gal tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, I noticed my white skirt tetra swimming against the filter flow (which I understand to be swimming &quot;upstream&quot;) and observed that whenever another tetra got in its view or close to it, it quickly attacked it and went back swimming to its stream. What is the cause of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-13T15:43:32.040" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T17:21:39.907" Title="Why is my tetra attacking other tetras when they swim nearby?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2013-12-11T19:54:26.713" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my elderly cats were dealing with various serious conditions (kidney disease, heart disease), my vet advised me that cats try to hide their pain.  She told me to look for behavior changes, specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;changes in eating habits, especially loss of appetite or thirst (the latter is very serious and requires intervention)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;hiding (my kidney-failure kitty did this in her last couple days)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;listlessness&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other behavior changes may or may not be pain-induced; when one of my cats (who had previously been generally quiet) started yowling a lot, particularly in the middle of the night, I asked my vet about it and she suggested that senility or disorientation was more likely than pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-12-11T19:54:26.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-12T00:03:27.630" Score="9" ViewCount="1871" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my male chickens loves making trouble and gets into fight with the other gentle male chicken almost all the time. An article I read said in this type of cases debeaking the stubborn male is a viable option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before doing so, I want to understand the full process of debeaking, I have read some articles but I still need advice on some issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the negative effects (health and behavioral) that debeaking will have on my chicken?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-01-21T12:01:04.413" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T12:01:04.413" Title="What are the negative effects of debeaking a chicken?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1064" CreationDate="2013-12-12T02:43:35.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When first bringing an outside cat into your home, you need to start by confining them to a small area (like a bathroom) which has a litter box, soft bed, food and water. It may take some time for the cat to get used to being inside and you can help the cat with the adjustment by gradually giving her slightly more access to the rest of the home. This is the tried recommended way of bringing in a cat, but like anything else it all depends on the individual cat and what she's comfortable with. For instance my friends (who had been feeding the feral cat colony for months), one night scooped Corky off the street and she was sleeping in their bed that night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T02:43:35.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1643" CreationDate="2013-12-12T03:24:49.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is a bit like asking &quot;Why does Sally like Pizza&quot; and thus I'm a bit reluctant to answer it as all animals have their own personalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, it's likely that your fish is stressed, or just a psychopath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say your school size is 8, while usually a minimum of 6 is recommended for schooling fish, after living in a large school at the pet store, it is likely the fish is feeling a bit naked and unprotected, and thus is feeling at bay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, fish like to swim upstream to get more water-flow to flow over their gills, and thus more oxygen into their blood.  Once again this is a sign of stress, and could also mean the oxygen levels in your tank are too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T03:24:49.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1643" CreationDate="2013-12-12T03:30:02.063" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many schooling tetras squabble quite a bit among themselves: the attack sounds more like a fairly typical 'charge and intimidate' move rather than real aggression, and it might not even be connected to the swimming behavior. Unless you're seeing actual injury result from it (most likely along the fins, scales, or eyes), it's not a big problem. You'll probably see this kind of roughhousing among the other tetras at some point too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the swimming behavior, fish just do this sometimes. Fish that normally spend a lot of time moving often swim into currents to force more water across their gills. It's not a behavior that's a big warning sign by itself, like flashing against the gravel or swimming upside-down. White skirts (aka black skirts) are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myFish.php?do=view&amp;amp;p=168&amp;amp;n=Black_Skirt_Tetra_Gymnocorymbus_Ternetzi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fairly active tetras&lt;/a&gt;, so it might just think it's on its way somewhere new and exciting. For the most part, this will usually falls into the class of harmless fish activities that make perfect sense to them, and none whatsoever to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the fish isn't just trying to explore, there are a lot of things this &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be, some scary and some not. It might be having trouble breathing, either because of water quality problems or some individual disease/deformity. It may be irritated by some external parasite.  It might have lost a big fight with a higher-status shoalmate. Impossible to say for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I'm not clear on is whether this is new or recurring behavior, and whether it's continuous or sporadic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changes in established behavior are always important to watch, because they're often symptoms of some other change you don't know about yet. But if I remember your other questions correctly, I think this tank was set up about a month ago, right? So it's a bit early for them to have completely settled in yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've just seen this behavior once, it's likely that it's just a fish being weird. If this fish has stopped doing anything else though, it may be a symptom of something. Keep an eye an all your fish for any other changes over the next few days: changes in body (darkening) or gill (lightening) color, white spots or patches (which will obviously be hard to spot on this particular species), bloody streaks, loss of appetite, weak or spiraling swimming patterns, and so on. As long as you don't see any of those, there's not much cause for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-13T20:34:46.120" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T20:34:46.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1645" CreationDate="2013-12-12T03:36:09.420" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beak-trimming will always cause a deprivation of sensory input in the beak, an important source of information in birds, and the end goal should be the avoidance of beak-trimming altogether through genetics, housing conditions, and management. – Philip C. Glatz, ed., Beak Trimming, 2005, p. 77.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The arguments against debeaking are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debeaking is often done improperly and in such cases has been shown to be chronically painful to the chicken.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debeaking makes foraging very difficult.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debeaking hinders the chicken from normal preening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debeaking makes eating more difficult.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some owner's feel that debeaking can be physiologically harmful to the chicken and may make birds act &lt;em&gt;shell-shocked&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;skittish&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.upc-online.org/winter07/debeaking.html&quot;&gt;Poultry Press&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.henspa.com/debeaking.htm&quot;&gt;Eggantic Industries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.babble.com/babble-voices/heartlandia-jessie-knadler/archaic-farming-practices-still-prevail/&quot;&gt;Jessie Knadler's Heartlandia&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T15:39:07.650" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T15:39:07.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="358" CreationDate="2013-12-12T05:24:21.543" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;After 15 years of multiple rabbit ownership, I can assure you it is the smell draws them to the wire, and the texture keeps them coming back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, extremely rubbery remote control buttons are the one of the most sought after of all rabbit delicacies second only to sugar filled edibles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KeB_z5rHOqY/Uqk9vemahwI/AAAAAAAAHyE/NkXt9kyfrYc/w426-h240/SDC10826.JPG&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A face up remote is a sure fire way to get a bunny that knows the taste of one onto a couch.  However, the high number of reminate buttons seems to indicate, they while fun to chew on, rubber doesn't taste all that great to them, hence, my assertion that texture must play a part in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above picture happened while I left my remote atop a 2.5 foot high stool and steeped away during a commercial break to use the bathroom.  She had tasted a different remote a week prior and for months after any face up remote meant a lurking rabbit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because she was obstructed from seeing the remote was face up during this incident (and the fact rabbits have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vision.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;trouble seeing things up close&lt;/a&gt;), I am extremely confident that smell of rubbery like materials is strong factor in the attraction.  If you think about it, this makes sense as rubber is a natural product that comes from trees, and thus rabbits might find the smell alluring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also test your own rabbits &quot;ability to see with it's nose&quot;, Have you ever left kibble on a counter out of sight to but within climbing reach to them?  They will eventually (usually rather quickly) find there way there because their nose is what they use to identify things (food and each other and even us) with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, in my years of experience, smelly rubber coated wires such as OEM usb cords are sought after preferentially over more plastic-y lamp cords or power wires, and I've lost 2 USB webcams because I thought I had all routes to the back of my computer covered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This preference also seems to de-bunk the &quot;buzzing wire&quot; theory as USB cords carry DC power, so there is no current oscillating in them to make them buzz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another strike against the buzzing wire theory, while laying credence to the texture theory is that when the same wires are covered with hard plastic cord organizers such as these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hosatech.com/dimg/64f4f738cea186831de89f2e8657e1bc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.hosatech.com/dimg/64f4f738cea186831de89f2e8657e1bc.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the rabbits leave the cords and the organizers alone.  However, if you buy the cheaper, less softer plastic home-depot version, they will occasionally chew on the organizer.  And if you get the extremely soft, almost rubbery kind of cord organizer form Ikea, they won't deter the rabbit at all and both your organizer and enclosed cables will be destroyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once theorized it the location also had something to do with it as the rabbits might just be following their natural instinct to clear a runway though the briar patch to their hide away, but that was promptly debunked when the rabbit climbed to the back of a couch than traversed to a nearby desktop to take out a rubbery coated speaker wire that was hanging off the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, not all rabbits are wire chewers (though I haven't met one that doesn't like rubber), but those same rabbits tend to be quite finicky about everything.  For instance, my albino lion head and doesn't chew on wires, but he also won't eat most forms of leafy greens and hates our hardwood floors so he stays on the area rugs and thus has less exposure to wires to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a finicky rabbit, you probably can train it not to chew wires with normal coatings, but I wouldn't push my luck with anything rubbery.  In any case, it is easy enough to just cover every exposed wire with one of the above organizers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-01-18T17:13:53.783" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T17:13:53.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1652" CreationDate="2013-12-12T07:51:40.847" Score="11" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I do to know that my dog will be safe if I go on vacation? Sometimes I go on vacation and I leave my dog at home. What should I do so they will be safe and not scared? On New Year's there are fireworks that scare them, old food can't be removed, new water can't be poured, and other things could happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="434" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T15:49:12.483" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T15:49:12.483" Title="What should I do to know that my dog will be safe if I go on vacation" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1651" CreationDate="2013-12-12T08:10:50.003" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; leave a dog alone, unattended for an extended period of time. What if your dog trips on some wires and a TV drops on him? Or he gets sick or has food poisoning? Or he drank all the water. In addition dogs need exercise, and have to have a chance to take care of their bodily functions. There's just too much risk involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can probably find a reliable pet-sitter or pet hostel in most major cities - we leave our dog at a place that specialises in it, but we have a nice lady in our neighbourhood who babysits a mini schnauzer when his owners are on vacation. The peace of mind is well worth the money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T08:10:50.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1675" CreationDate="2013-12-12T11:02:21.623" Score="9" ViewCount="5577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want get some chickens, my local municipality does classify them as allowable pets.  There are no restrictions for 'small' groups of chickens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like any pet there are a lot of considerations when choosing what type of pet to get, but chickens seem desirable, as in addition to their other attributes you get fresh eggs to eat.  While it may or may not make any health difference I have decided to include a rooster, so I can have fertilized eggs. I won't be breeding any chickens just harvesting their eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have chosen the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_Red&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rhode Island Red&lt;/a&gt; for it's appropriateness for the home environment and it's attractive color.  From the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1202/how-much-dominance-is-expected-from-two-male-chickens-of-different-breeds&quot;&gt;How much dominance is expected from two male chickens of different breeds?&lt;/a&gt; I learned that some consideration should go into the hen/rooster ratio but am not sure what the ratio should be or how to determine it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T04:37:07.503" Title="What should the hen to rooster ratio be in a backyard chicken coop?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2013-12-12T12:41:52.167" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience and from discussions with vets, spaying a mature female cat tends to &quot;freeze&quot; their hormonal balance. A cat who is spayed while in or near season can spend the rest of her life acting as though she's in season. A cat spayed before her first season is effectively still a kitten and remains that way all her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats who are spayed before they have a season tend to be more kittenish in their behavior - more affectionate and more tolerant of other cats (this obviously is also affected by whether the cat tolerates others or not as well as whether she is used to living with other cats - I've found a female cat is more likely to accept a male than another female, for instance, but if they're littermates who grow up together or are introduced as kittens two females can get on fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats who have had kittens are more likely to adopt a very young kitten (and have been known to produce milk for unweaned kittens even if they are not the mother). They are also more likely to develop issues when spayed such as uncontrolled eating (I had one who had this issue) due to the tendency of the hormonal cycle to freeze in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every vet I've spoken to prefers to spay before the cat matures because of the higher chance of hormone-related health issues when an adult cat is spayed. That said, every vet I've spoken to would rather spay a queen at any age than not spay at all, because of the number of kittens that could be produced: there's a decent calculation at about.com (&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/faqspregnancyandbirth/f/How-Many-Times-Could-My-Cat-Become-Pregnant-In-A-Year.htm&quot;&gt;http://cats.about.com/od/faqspregnancyandbirth/f/How-Many-Times-Could-My-Cat-Become-Pregnant-In-A-Year.htm&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T12:41:52.167" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2013-12-12T12:56:36.657" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Monica and Me123 have said, the big two signs of cat distress are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hiding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;changes in eating habits, especially not eating or drinking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other signs I've seen with various cats include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat is injured, touching the area that's in pain will get complaints from the cat - depending on how badly the cat is hurting anything from crying to trying to bite to get you away from the painful place. This also happens with arthritis if you try to move the arthritic joint.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any change in the cat's normal behavior. A normally standoffish cat who becomes very affectionate is likely trying to tell you something (I had this happen with a cat who was normally very aloof. She became very affectionate for a day or two, then went into hiding. At that stage she was in advanced kidney failure - she was aware she was failing and was 'saying goodbye'). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seeking cool areas (normally cats will chase the warmest part of the house) can mean that the cat is feverish, especially if it sprawls out to get as much body contact as possible with the cool surface.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inexplicable crying - a cat's distress meow is quite different from the normal talkative meow - particularly if the cat doesn't calm down with your voice or presence (an elderly cat that's having senility or disorientation issues is likely to calm in response to your voice, where one that's in pain probably won't).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rapid weight loss or weight gain, particularly if there's no change in the cat's eating habits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you see a bluish tint to your cat's paw pads, nose (only works on cats with pink pads and noses, obviously), and tongue, the cat's breathing is impaired and there isn't enough oxygen in its system. The cat could be sprawled out panting (I've seen this in a cat with pneumonia - we got him to the vet in time, but the permanent lung damage he sustained took him from us when he was ten - the damage was something like emphysema and he ultimately couldn't get enough air in to sustain himself), or he could simply be not moving around much. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T12:56:36.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1636" CreationDate="2013-12-12T13:07:14.997" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is probably the most difficult decision anyone with a pet can make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, while the cat is still eating and drinking and not showing any signs of pain, I'd suggest holding off, particularly since your sister will be back in a week. In the meantime, you certainly want to keep your sister updated by talking to her every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can video chat with your sister, I'd suggest doing that so she can see the cat for herself - put the computer on speaker so the cat can see and hear her, since cats will often bond strongly to one person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Monica said, your sister needs to be part of the decision no matter which way it goes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T13:07:14.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1632" CreationDate="2013-12-12T13:19:02.250" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Chad's (user9's) suggestions, I'd recommend looking for places within range that will take pets and have a list in each direction you're likely to need to use, ordered by distance (the likely evacuation distance for a hurricane is quite different than for an earthquake, for instance). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd make sure to list the distance of the pet-friendly places, too, since a mass evacuation usually involves clogged highways and much slower than normal traffic - a place that's an hour away under normal travel conditions could take 8 hours to reach in a mass evacuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make sure the list is kept up to date so that you can phone ahead to say pet friendly hotels and book emergency accommodation. If necessary, be prepared to camp in the car with your pets - it will cost you in fuel in frigid weather, but is doable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A list of people you know who you've made prior arrangements with, complete with phone numbers, driving directions, and distances, is also a good idea, since many shelters don't take pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T08:26:47.310" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:26:47.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1653" CreationDate="2013-12-12T15:28:27.533" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You only need a rooster if you intended to breed the chickens.  If you just want pet chickens that also provide you with eggs, then I would not even have a rooster.  The female chickens will lay just as many eggs and there is usually less incidents for aggression with the chickens when the rooster is not present.(&lt;a href=&quot;http://hencam.com/faq/chicken-keeping/&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are intending to take on breeding then you will want to separate the roosters and the hens and only allow them to interact when you are ready to breed.  If you are just breeding to get more chickens and not for show or to bring out certain traits then a single rooster may be enough for all of your needs.  But in general you want a ratio of around 10/1 or less.  You also want to try to keep each coop to 10 or less chickens.  This ratio will allow the chickens to socialize which is important.  But the more chickens in a flock the more likely there is to be aggression and conflict.  Keeping coops with a consistent flock of 10 or less birds will help minimize this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is that most Roosters crow early in the morning and very loud.  This is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.discovery.com/animals/roosters-are-pre-programmed-to-crow-130318.htm&quot;&gt;genetic thing&lt;/a&gt; and there are some roosters who do not crow.  Your neighbors many not appreciate you getting a rooster than does crow.  So if what you really want is eggs and chicken pets, you may want to consider just sticking with hens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T19:18:15.543" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T19:18:15.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2013-12-12T15:38:29.000" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to propose another idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've experienced the same problem and noticed that proper exercise, especially in the hours prior to them being left alone, can help calm their behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many occasions, anxiety causes them a high level of distress, to the point any noise or movement results in them barking for an extended period to an invisible threat. However, the most exercise they do, the more physically and mentally relaxed they are (socializing with other dogs also helps). The more relaxed they are, the less likely they will be bothered by your absence (especially when they spent four of those hours sleeping!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously, I've got many complains from neighbors of incessant barking; and so I started to take her to park or for extended walks/runs very early in the morning before work. It has both improved her psychological state (she's less anxious, less insecure, more calm and happier) and reduced the complains from neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember that in your absence the dog will do its best to protect your/their home. It is part of their instinct. For them it is a purpose, a 'job' if you will; and barking is one the tools they use to get the job done. Be very careful when repressing this instinct (with collars, gizmos, etc) as it can cause further psychological issues and/or sense of uselessness in the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T15:38:29.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1662" CreationDate="2013-12-12T17:41:58.383" Score="8" ViewCount="3593" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a 15 gallon fish tank at home with just a couple fish and a plecostomus bottom feeder which does a good job keeping the glass and things clean in there, but obviously I still need to replace my filter every so often as it gets filled with garbage from all the fish in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious, considering the pleco eats all the junk from the fish tank, could I just take the dirty filter, put a clean filter in it's place, and toss the dirty filter into the tank - and if I did would the pleco clean it to even being usable again? Or would the pleco even clean it at all just as a matter of feeding him - would it be nutritional to the pleco?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just silly, or is there some merit to the idea I'm speaking about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="172" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T20:25:11.720" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T12:34:55.783" Title="Can a bottom feeder (pleco) clean and or get nutrients from a fish tank filter?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2013-12-12T17:55:19.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's getting sufficient nutrients, it would have little need of any other possible nutrients on the filter (assuming they exist). It would seem unlikely that it would do much in the way of significant cleaning of it as a result and even then, any active parts of the filter have already been used up, so reuse potential isn't really there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, I'd just toss the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T17:55:19.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2013-12-12T19:30:23.193" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, this won't work. Plecos don't eat garbage: they're often thought of as 'cleaner fish' because some species will conveniently eat algae and leftovers, and because they tend to be pretty inconspicuous, but none of them will thrive for long on detritus. The muck in your filter media is a mix of rotting food, fish poop, and bacterial growth. Even if they could clean it out completely, it wouldn't be a healthy diet for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/family.php?family_id=4&quot;&gt;hundreds of species&lt;/a&gt; of plecos (or, more formally, loricarids) and they all have particular diets composed of plant matter, microorganisms, meat, and even driftwood. And naturally, a diet that works for one species may not work for another. You probably have what was sold as a common pleco, which likely to be &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php?species=pterygoplichthys%20pardalis&amp;amp;article_id=366&quot;&gt;Pterygoplichthys pardalis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, but could be one of several similar species. All the fish sold by this name are omnivorous, and as grazers which a need to eat nearly constantly, they tend to eat a lot of plant matter -- they'll eat algae when they're young, but they benefit from blanched vegetables like squash or zucchini, and that type of plant matter becomes more important in their diet as they grow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a warning, anything sold as a 'common pleco' will outgrow your 15 gallon tank and then some; they can grow to about two feet long, and even when relatively small are high-capacity poop machines that will overload a small tank's filtration. My frank opinion is that these plecos are not really suitable for most home aquaria.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some filter media can be easily rinsed off with some light hosing, by the way -- though you have to be careful to not kill your biofilter when you do this, of course. A lot of hang-on filters don't have what look to me like very durable media cartridges, but sponge and canister filters are designed to be cleaned and reused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-13T12:34:55.783" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T12:34:55.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1663" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-12T19:35:54.403" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T19:35:54.403" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T19:35:54.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1664" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-12T19:35:54.403" Score="0" Body="One of the many suckermouthed armored catfish, typically from South or Central America. Several species are found in the pet trade, and because some of these eat algae as juveniles, are usually mis-characterized as &quot;cleaner fish&quot;." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-12T20:24:29.997" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T20:24:29.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1530" CreationDate="2013-12-12T21:58:03.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise a different approach: get her a &lt;em&gt;raw&lt;/em&gt; bone, preferably of lamb or pork, since they do not break into sharp pieces and are safe to digest. Do not use beef as some have proven it could break their teeth since they are too hard; chicken or turkey bones do not break nicely and may be too soft to help her teeth; but depending on her size, a turkey drumstick might be great for her. That's how we started our puppy, with turkey drumsticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw bones are nature's toothbrush in a way. The action of gnawing on the bone helps reduce build up of bacteria. However, be sure not to give her cooked or smoked bones; they are very hard and could cause digestive problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastActivityDate="2013-12-12T21:58:03.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-13T16:07:27.020" Score="8" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you search for &quot;rabbit herding sheep&quot; you will find multiple links on YouTube and to news organizations like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbsnews.com/news/swedish-sheep-herding-bunny-becomes-viral-hit/&quot;&gt;CBS&lt;/a&gt; showing a cute little brown (dwarf?) bunny, herding a small flock of sheep.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flocking behavior of sheep is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep#Flock_behavior&quot;&gt;well known&lt;/a&gt; so there is no surprise that they stay together when chased.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any known habits or behaviors of pet rabbits that would make this a semi natural event?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably if it is semi natural behavior, it could be recreated with little difficulty.  If not then this is one very special little bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditDate="2013-12-13T16:27:23.620" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T16:26:45.190" Title="What would make a rabbit herd sheep?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;sheep&gt;&lt;herding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1502" CreationDate="2013-12-13T21:47:04.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the abstract to &lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/161/12/409&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gastric dilation and intestinal obstruction in 76 rabbits&lt;/a&gt; (F.M. Harcourt-Brown, Veterinary Record 2007;161:409-414):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eighty-four incidents of gastric dilation (bloat) were investigated in&#xA;  76 pet rabbits, and an intestinal obstruction was confirmed in 64 of&#xA;  them. In 49 the obstruction was due to pellets of compressed hair, in&#xA;  four to locust bean seeds, in five to neoplasia, in two to postspay&#xA;  adhesions, and in one case each to carpet fibre, tapeworm cysts, a&#xA;  strangulated hernia and diverticulosis. In all but four cases, the&#xA;  obstruction was in the small intestine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first thought would be that you might be able to reduce the risk of this disease with regular brushing, given the large number of hairballs the author found. Someone who has experience with rabbits and access to the full paper (I have neither) might have more insight into this research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2013-12-13T21:47:04.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-14T19:38:43.667" Score="4" ViewCount="26282" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed first-hand that some dogs freak out when certain people are around (barking, squeaking/squealing, fidgety, stressed-like, etc.), but then when I come around those exact same dogs they are perfectly calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my brother comes to visit, comes inside the house and the dog will start barking viciously, but if I do the same exact thing (with the dog a distance from the door and unable to see) the dog will not make a peep. Also, sometimes the dog will get aggressive or stressed out when certain people get near them, but most dogs I get near never act this way, and are usually calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it that some dogs freak out, snap, stress out, get angry, etc. around certain people (even those they may see often), but to others, like me, they are usually soft, more relaxed, calm, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had first proposed a theory that maybe it had to do with the dog's observation of the human's behavior. But I don't think dogs are too complex in their brains/reasoning to be able to recognize variating moods, and doubt they can read emotional intelligence that well(if at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="463" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T01:28:12.323" Title="Why are some dogs snappy to some people, but not to others?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-14T23:54:49.940" Score="7" ViewCount="491" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any reliable numbers on what percentage of purebred puppies are solid/adopted in the United States?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the majority of purebred puppies in the United States are created with the intention of being sold or adopted.  Where adopted includes spending the rest of their natural life in the breeders home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purebred&quot;&gt;Purebreds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding.&lt;/a&gt; It is reasonable to expect that each birth occurs through intentional breeding, to perpetuate the species and breed, or other specific husbandry goals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How perfect is this current system in the United States?  Are 100% of live healthy whelped puppies placed in homes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T20:20:04.823" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T20:20:04.823" Title="In the United States what percentage of purebred puppies are purchased/adopted?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;purebred&gt;&lt;united-states&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1678" CreationDate="2013-12-15T00:28:22.763" Score="12" ViewCount="13378" Body="&lt;p&gt;What options do I have to transport my fishes if I am moving a far distance? For example flying from NYC to San Francisco?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: There will be no prepared tank set up after moving. Also, this will take place during the summer of the northern hemisphere. I have 2 young goldfish about 5 inches long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="464" LastEditorUserId="464" LastEditDate="2013-12-15T02:50:23.627" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T11:28:01.540" Title="How to transport fishes over large distance?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1696" CreationDate="2013-12-15T10:44:27.963" Score="14" ViewCount="42653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently noticed that dogs see directly into the humans eyes. &lt;strike&gt;Clearly the same for wolves.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they do it? Is is only for communication or affection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="466" LastEditorUserId="466" LastEditDate="2014-06-13T14:00:00.320" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T22:57:51.060" Title="Why do dogs look humans directly in the eyes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2013-12-15T12:25:00.173" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to add a relatively tall climbing tree (the number one answer to almost anything related to cats) or similar high-up vantage point near the window and instead of closing the curtains I'd let a view to the outside from this tree. Closing the curtains forces your cat to go on the windowsill where s/he is then suddenly too close to the passerby. Having the window glass between them makes no difference, as you've noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide your cat with the high-up observation platform with a good view to keep watch over the &quot;intruder&quot; while the cat itself can stay invisible (or at least feel like invisible). How this might work depends a lot on the reason &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; really upsets your cat in the first place. Usually it is the close proximity to the passerby, which is quite unavoidable if the cat sits on a windowsill and the intruder moves right under your cat's nose. &lt;strong&gt;Stealth is life!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What changes between night and day is the lighting. During a day the brightest light comes from outside, which makes it very difficult from the outside to see in. An animal passing the window at daytime can't really see in, so &lt;em&gt;it can't make eye-contact&lt;/em&gt; with your cat. Your cat is invisible because of the glass reflection. Night changes this. An animal on the outside can see your cat so close on the windowsill and makes eyecontact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case there is an outside lightsource that shines through the window illuminating your cat as well as the outside creature, then a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/#q=roll-down+curtain&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;roll-down curtain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; might help by shadowing your cat out of view. Like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9Gsrp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From what I've later understood of the setting, it seems the above pic is not quite what your basement apartment looks like. If I got it right, the relation of ground level to window looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nphwp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the happiness of the cat I would not try to prevent access to the windowsill, as cats seem to like to sit and watch things through a window. I would turn the window into a one-way-mirror to the outside, which adds some darkening effect to the inside. Making it one-way to outside allows you (and your cat) to see out, but from the outside it appears to be a mirror. I don't know what the product is called in English, but it is a thin foil-like adhesive film that is spread on the window glass. Though there's no guarantee that this would work, but at least it would &lt;strong&gt;prevent eyecontact&lt;/strong&gt; between your cat and the by-passing animal, as I believe that is an important part of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The get a full mirror-effect requires that there's some light on the outside and relatively dark in the room inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T08:32:18.587" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T08:32:18.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-15T22:27:43.540" Score="9" ViewCount="4507" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats who are both allowed outside.  Our cat-flap is one of the fancy ones that authenticates the cat using its ID chip, but sometimes it doesn't shut properly and one of the neighbours' cats has taken to coming in and making himself at home.  We chase him out whenever we see him inside, but he has yet to take the hint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes we come home (or come downstairs in the morning) to discover that a cat has sprayed in the kitchen.  We're assuming it's the visitor.  Is there any way to discourage the visits, or at least discourage the spraying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="456" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:56:59.533" LastActivityDate="2020-12-31T04:26:15.443" Title="How do I stop the neighbours' cat coming in and spraying?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1653" CreationDate="2013-12-16T04:29:51.763" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that around a dozen hens and one rooster works well. I know that some people keep roosters with smaller groups of hens, but this can lead to problems as with only a handful of hens, the rooster's attentions will be more &quot;concentrated&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We never separated the rooster from our hens. If they went broody, we'd either let them sit and hatch their clutch or just collect the eggs as normal depending on whether or not we were planning on &quot;retiring&quot; any of our older girls in the near future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are only planning on having laying hens to produce eggs for your own personal consumption, keep in mind how many eggs you're going to be getting from ten or twelve hens! Young hens are probably going to produce about an egg a day in the summer with production dropping off in colder weather and as they age. If you're happy with getting 8-12 eggs a day and you don't  mind the crowing and you have the space to keep that many chickens, go for it! But if these eggs are just for your family's personal consumption, you'd probably be far better off with just 3-5 hens and no roosters. Much as it might be a nice image and you might have a preference for fertilized eggs, I just don't see it as a practical option unless you're in a rural area and are also able to sell of or otherwise use the excess eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T04:29:51.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1645" CreationDate="2013-12-16T04:42:56.767" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've already received an excellent answer, but I just wanted to add my recommendation that I feel that beak-trimming should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also strongly advise against housing roosters together. While there may be some exceptions, in general, housing two males together is going to result in aggression. Beak-trimming may deprive the aggressor of his main &quot;weapon&quot;, but it can lead to other problems (difficulty eating, etc.) and is by no means an optimal solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T04:42:56.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2013-12-16T05:33:51.847" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that when I was doing research into this, I found several references that mentioned that spaying before the first estrus (heat) cycle decreased risk of certain types of cancer. (Unfortunately I no longer have said references easily to hand.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, not nearly as many studies have been done on the physiological effects of estrus and pregnancy in cats as have been conducted with dogs. I did find an interesting paper &lt;a href=&quot;http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/364/1/Veterinaria162.pdf&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. It discusses many aspects of the feline reproductive cycle but, from what I've read, does not appear to offer any comparisons between nulliparous cats and those who have successfully reproduced. It may be of interest nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information I was able to find during my previous research and my own experience, I do not feel there are any physical or psychological benefits to breeding a cat prior to spaying. Given that there are so many cats available for adoption from myriad shelters and private individuals I see no reason to post-pone spaying pets any longer than necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T15:56:49.493" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T15:56:49.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1671" CreationDate="2013-12-16T11:12:11.017" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you aren't driving and therefore can't place them in a bucket with an air source, the best bet is to ship them in breathable bags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most widely-known breathable bags are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kordon.com/kordon/products/aquarium-pond-accessories-2/breathing-bags#suppliers!&quot;&gt;Kordon Breathing Bags&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stocked sizes include:&#xA;     - 5.5&quot; x 8&quot;&#xA;     - 7.5&quot; x 12&quot;&#xA;     - 11.5&quot; x 19&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing Bags allow the transfer of carbon dioxide and oxygen through the plastic wall of the bag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbon dioxide exits the bags at 4 times the rate oxygen enters the bags, thereby constantly purging the water of toxic carbon dioxide.&#xA;With no need for an air space shippers can fill the entire bag full of water. This in turn provides more room for the occupants and also prevents stressful sloshing that occurs in transport. An unlimited source of atmospheric oxygen allows shippers to choose slower and more economical methods of transport. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One major key for shipping, in my experience, is to fast your fish for an appropriate amount of time prior to shipping. This allows their metabolism to slow a bit, but more importantly, it purges waste from their bodies prior to moving them into the shipping bags. The less waste they produce during shipping, the less ammonia will be present in the bag. Normally a 3 day fast period is best, but depending on the fish and the size of the fish, more or less may be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also believe in moving the fish into a separate container prior to shipping for them to purge their bodies of the last waste. Usually a move will &quot;shock&quot; them into doing this. Then, move them into the shipping bag with clean water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also want to keep them in the dark during transport. This will keep them calm and cause less stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another key is to ship them in an insulated container that will keep them warm/cool depending on their conditions and the weather. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish are healthy and shipped correctly, the chances of them surviving the trip are very high. Be sure to acclimate them properly in their new home to avoid shock!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick edit - it's best to leave one fish per bag, in case one doesn't make it, it won't cause water conditions to deteriorate for the others!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A note about pressure changes in air transit - This is a concern with regular bags that are filled with air, the change in pressure can affect the bag tension. With the breathing bags, the exchange of oxygen through the membrane paired with the fact that the bags are filled with water and no gas, allows the fish to be shipped with no concern in pressure change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastEditorUserId="468" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T11:28:01.540" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T11:28:01.540" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1674" CreationDate="2013-12-16T12:58:45.297" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first and most obvious step here is to fix or replace the cat flap as soon as possible. If the neighbor's cat can't get in, he can't spray inside the house. Do this first because any cleaning you do will just get sprayed over (Obviously, you need to clean enough that your nose can't pick up the cat pee smell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the neighbor's cat is the culprit, there's a fair chance your cats will spray over the top to reclaim the area as their territory. If one (or both) of your cats is spraying to tell the interloper who &quot;owns&quot; the territory, they will continue to mark until they can't smell the interloper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with that delightful little issue, you're going to need a black light torch to find every place that's been sprayed. You'll need to clean the whole house with an odor neutralizer, but the sprayed surfaces will need extra attention. Don't use anything with chlorine (many cats react to chlorine the same way they'd respond to catnip, and you don't need your cats associating the marked spots with getting high) or ammonia (since that's one of the major components of urine, any cleaning product containing ammonia could smell enough like marked territory to convince a persistent marker that he (it's usually a he, although females can also spray) needs to freshen up his scent in the area). An oxygen bleach (cheaper) or specially formulated cat odor neutralizer is probably your best bet - make sure you get plenty of it, because it's likely you'll need to do this several times before the problems stop. (I won't list products because I'm in the USA and you're using UK/Australian spelling, so you're probably not going to be able to get anything I recommend anyway)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've inspected with black light and cleaned, wait a day or so, then get someone with a good sense of smell to prowl the house sniffing for cat pee. It's amazing the places cats will find to mark: you're likely to find the remains of marking in all sorts of odd corners.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. I've suffered through this myself, and it's not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T12:58:45.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1601" CreationDate="2013-12-16T17:54:29.450" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are &lt;em&gt;obligate carnivores&lt;/em&gt;. Note the &quot;obligate&quot;. While they can process and obtain nutrition from some vegetable/plant matter, they &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; receive or produce all the nutrients they need this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Omnivores (like humans and dogs and many others) have certain metabolic pathways available to them that mean that they can make use of both plant and animal matter fairly well. We need vitamin A. We can get this directly from other animals (meat), but our bodies can also manufacture it from beta-carotene which is found in many plants. Cats cannot do this. Vitamin A does not occur in plants, only vitamin A precursors, which cats cannot adequately make use of.&#xA;Same story with taurine, vitamin D, and many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have a carnivore's digestive tract and a carnivore's metabolic system. With &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; careful balancing and supplementation, it might be possible for a cat to survive on a vegetarian diet. However, there is a difference between surviving and &lt;em&gt;thriving&lt;/em&gt;. Cats should not be forced to eat a vegetarian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your friends wish to maintain a vegetarian/vegan household, that's fine, but they should look into pets who are suited for such a diet in that case. Cats, unfortunately, are not one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T17:54:29.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1580" CreationDate="2013-12-16T18:08:47.507" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;People's opinions on this will likely vary widely. Personally, I favour a set-up that allows enough pasture for horses to graze without need for supplementation in fair weather. I also feel strongly that it is better for the horse if they can be outside as much as possible. I know that many horses spend much of their lives in stables, but I have seen many negative consequences from this approach (both physical and psychological) and prefer to reserve stabling for harsh weather or other exceptional circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I would say the more space you can provide, the better. (It is nice to be able to have two or more paddocks available so that you can &quot;rotate&quot; in the spring when the grass is just starting to grow, etc.) But I would give ~1 acre per horse as a rough lower limit. Unless you are planning on keeping miniature horses or possibly small ponies or similar. In that case you might be able to get away with half an acre per horse, but I wouldn't really feel comfortable keeping any type of equine on less land than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T18:08:47.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1618" CreationDate="2013-12-16T18:38:48.890" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, there are a few points that may be relevant here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maine coons do have a tendency to grow and mature slower than other breeds. She may not be done growing yet or that may just be her body type/metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her metabolism will likely change (read: slow down) after being spayed, so that should help. (I'm somewhat curious as to why you want to breed her before spaying, it's generally best if you can actually spay cats slightly &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; their first heat cycle. There seems to be a belief that it is somehow beneficial to the cat to reproduce before getting spayed, but I have not been able to find any sort of evidence to back this.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to watch out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If she starts losing weight, get her checked out ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If she ever goes for 24 hours without eating she could be in danger of hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver). This is very serious, if you cannot get her to eat, get her to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you notice a yellow tinge to her skin -- look particularly around the mouth and the inside of the ears -- this is a sign of jaundice which often accompanies liver problems such as hepatic lipidosis. Again, an immediate vet trip is in order if this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you notice a change in behaviour. If she becomes lethargic, begins throwing up a lot, seems unusually irritated or hostile; keep a close eye on her, make sure she's still eating, check to see if she's lost any weight, look for other signs of trouble, etc. If she does not go back to &quot;normal&quot; after a week or so or you notice any other signs of problems, get her checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, if she seems generally happy, healthy, and active, I would just continue to keep an eye on her, but otherwise, not worry about it too much. If in doubt, consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T18:38:48.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1575" CreationDate="2013-12-16T19:28:41.857" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, there are several things I want to touch on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I'm not sure what you mean when you say they put in very large shells and it &quot;disappeared&quot;. Do they suspect the crab escaped when they were adding the shells? Or could they just no longer spot it in the terrarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Depending on how long &quot;a long time ago&quot; was, the crab may actually still be alive. Hermit crabs are ectotherms (cold-blooded) and, especially as they get older and larger, they can go for quite a while without much food. Gluttony, my largest crab, will sometimes burrow into the substrate and disappear for eight months or more!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Hermit crabs often disappear when they are molting (shedding their exoskeleton so that they can grow). This is their most vulnerable time, so they tend to burrow into the ground/substrate to hide until their new exoskeleton has hardened. Again, as your crabs get older and larger, they will likely disappear for longer and longer time periods during molting, however, the frequency of their molts should decrease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) If a shell is inhabited, you should be able to see the crab inside simply by flipping it over. (You'll see their big pincer bocking the entrance.) I would not recommend shaking shells. This will only cause undue stress to your crabs and it's not some how going to &quot;shake them loose&quot;. If anything it will make them retreat as far as possible inside their shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) If your crabs have burrowed into the substrate, do not disturb them or try to dig them up. Disturbing a hermit crab during a molt can be fatal. I know it can be hard waiting for them to resurface, but just keep maintaining the terrarium and eventually they should re-appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Give your terrarium a good sniff! If you notice any sort of fishy smell -- especially a dead/rotting fish smell -- you probably have a dead hermit crab on your hands. Start looking for a body and dispose of it ASAP. The general wisdom though is that if you do not smell &quot;the smell&quot;, nobody has died and your missing crab(s) should eventually re-appear. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T19:28:41.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1689" CreationDate="2013-12-16T19:35:03.207" Score="7" ViewCount="6863" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up a praying mantis from outside our apartment, just before the weather became freezing.  Since then, we kept it in a fish tank, feeding it pet store-bought crickets.  (I don't know the exact species.  I am in NW Indiana, USA and it looks just like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.duneland.com/images/fullsize/praying-mantis-eating0158.jpg&quot;&gt;this insect&lt;/a&gt;.)  It seems to be doing fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It deposited three egg sacks since it's been with us.  When can I expect these egg sacks to hatch?  The room temperature is pretty much a constant 21°C / 70°F, so I'm worried they'll hatch early.  I would like to keep them from hatching until spring (when I can just put them outside) because I don't want any more mantises now, and I am not prepared to raise small ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="470" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T20:11:16.900" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T21:03:55.027" Title="When will mantis eggsacks hatch if kept at room temperature?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1685" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-16T20:22:35.530" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T20:22:35.530" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T20:22:35.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1686" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-16T20:22:35.530" Score="0" Body="A class of physically small but highly diverse arthropods; one of the most numerous groups of animals on the planet, though not often kept as pets. Questions might deal with those that are, such as mantids or hissing cockroachs; or with species that are kept as feeders for other pets. Note that this tag does not apply to spiders, centipedes, or other non-insect 'bugs'." OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-16T21:53:30.993" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T21:53:30.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2013-12-16T20:24:09.150" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas are often kept in community tanks. Care should be taken to avoid particularly brightly coloured or long-finned fish as this can increase the risk of aggression from the betta. Also, bettas should never be kept with other anabantoids (labyrinth fish) as aggression is nearly guaranteed between such species. Known fin-nippers should also be avoided as they can actually be quite dangerous to the betta. Beyond that, it often depends on the individual betta, the size of the tank, the other fish, and the general conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is probably also a good idea to have an additional tank available just in case aggression becomes an issue as the fish mature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding the betta last can also sometimes help. If the betta goes in first, then other fish are entering his established territory. However, reversing the roles can help to reduce the likelihood of aggression. Again, no guarantees, just better odds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I advise keeping bettas alone. It's difficult to guess how aggressive or mellow a betta will be ahead of time. If you do wish to keep other things in the tank with your betta, considering non-fish tankmates that enjoy similar conditions (water temperature, hardness, current, etc.) might be a good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some common recommendations for betta tankmates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) African dwarf frogs - like bettas enjoy warm, calm, fresh water. Just be careful the betta doesn't eat all their food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Snails - Apple snails and mystery snails are common choices, just be sure you have enough water volume and filtration to deal with the amount of ammonia they produce. You could also just throw in a few plain old pond snails. They do fine in my betta tank. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Shrimp - If you have lots of little nooks and crannies and hiding spaces in your tank, shrimp may be a viable option. Ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp are both fairly hardy and should do well in a betta tank as long as your betta doesn't decide to make them a tasty snack! Ghost shrimp as less likely to get eaten. Cherry shrimp are easier to breed (if that's something that interests you) and are better algae eaters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Small peaceful bottom feeders - Corydoras catfish might be a good fit here if you have enough space to accommodate a small school. (They do best in groups.) They stay near the bottom and, in my experience, tend to be most active at night, so interaction with betta should be minimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) White cloud mountain minnows - I have seen these recommended as betta tankmates many times. They are hardy fish and fast, agile swimmers who tolerate a wide range of water temperatures. Personally, I would reserve them for temperate, rather than tropical tanks, but they may still be a viable option. Again, I would recommend a school of 6-12, rather than a lone fish. This means having a tank large enough to accommodate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be interested to know what kind of fish you actually had in the tank. Usually, fish going by the common name &quot;algae eater&quot; are either Gyrinocheilus (Chinese algae eaters) or Crossocheilus siamensis (Siamese algae eaters). The Chinese algae eater (often confused with the Siamese) tends to only fulfill the &quot;peaceful bottom feeder&quot; role until it matures. Adult Chinese algae eaters don't tend to eat algae at all and are quite aggressive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also many different types of plecos. However, the &quot;common pleco&quot; will actually grow to a fairly gigantic 18-24&quot; and is generally not appropriate for the average home aquarium. Bristlenose and rubberlip plecos stay relatively small and are generally a far more appropriate choice for home aquaria, but are also harder to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T20:24:09.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="751" CreationDate="2013-12-16T20:36:03.083" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally you should spot clean daily (removing uneaten bits of food, etc.).&#xA;Deep cleans (taking everything out, rinsing it off, replacing substrate, etc.) should be done about twice a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, sometimes your crabs have different ideas. If one or more of them is down for a molt when you want to clean, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just wait until they're all on the surface again, put them in an iso tank, and do your cleaning then. I've had to go a year+ between deep cleans before due to molting schedules and uncooperative crabs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T20:36:03.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2013-12-16T20:44:57.393" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mantis in your photo is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mantis&quot;&gt;Chinese Mantid&lt;/a&gt;, an introduced species commonly found in the eastern part of the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've raised many a clutch when I was a kid, but only outside; I never brought them inside to store, and I'd advise against doing so for 3 main reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the egg cases (called an ootheca) does hatch, you will have anywhere from about 150 to as many as 400 tiny baby mantids from each ootheca. These 1st instar (meaning that they have not yet shed their skin) babies will be able to fit through screen mesh or other very small openings, and the chances are excellent that they will swarm out of your fish tank, and spread throughout the room. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Temperate region mantids, like the Chinese Mantid, require a phase called a diapause, during which colder weather slows development of the babies within the individual eggs.  This helps to regulate their growth to time the hatching with spring, when food is naturally available (aphids, fruit flies, etc.).  It is possible to simulate the temperature drops to trigger an artificial diapause, but I have no experience in trying this with Chinese Mantids.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/caring-for-mantis-eggs/&quot;&gt;One source I found&lt;/a&gt; suggests dropping the temperature to 12-15 degrees Celsius for at least 8 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mantis oothecae are a bit finicky with regards to humidity.  Keeping them inside runs the risk of them drying out, and killing the eggs.  You may be able to regulate the humidity by periodically spritzing them with a water mister, but be careful not to overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also that you may not get any babies even if you do everything perfectly.  Female mantids will lay oothecae even if they have not mated, in which case the eggs will be unfertilized, and will not hatch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to put the fish tank with the oothecae outside, in an area outside of direct sunlight.  Check it daily once the weather starts to turn nice, and then be prepared to deal with hundreds of teeny, tiny baby mantids running everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T20:44:57.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="690" CreationDate="2013-12-16T21:04:06.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I've done my math right, those pots will probably hold a bit under 40 gallons of water (depending on the exact shape of the pot, depth of the substrate, etc.). That should be sufficient for two or three adult goldfish assuming adequate filtration. I would have concerns about temperature fluctuations given the black paint job in the sun though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the algae goes, I know you already have some plants, but adding some floating plants might help to keep the water clear. Water hyacinth and/or water lettuce would probably be good candidates (as long as your goldfish don't snack on them too much).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a few snails or a compatible fish that enjoys a high algae diet may also help. Bristlenose plecos are generally considered to be fairly goldfish compatible. They tend to stick mostly to eating algae and driftwood, and don't snack on slime coats like some other plecos will. They get large enough not to be eaten by the goldfish, but stay small enough that you should be able to get away with one in a 40 gallon tank/pot. They will also tolerate the cooler temperatures that goldfish prefer. Just be careful not to go too cold! (72-77F is generally best for them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T14:24:29.247" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T14:24:29.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1693" CreationDate="2013-12-16T21:45:08.987" Score="6" ViewCount="5568" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone told me that I should gut load my crickets before I feed them to my lizard.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is gut loading, why should I do it, and how do I gut load my feeder crickets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T15:59:44.837" Title="How do I gut load a cricket" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-16T21:48:53.100" Score="14" ViewCount="69136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told that I should only use white light for my bearded dragon and that red bulbs can actually be detrimental to them.  The pet store sold me an expensive red bulb to use, so I am confused whether this is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should only white bulbs be used during the daytime for my bearded dragon?  Is this true of most pet lizards, or is it just because of the type?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up,  my question is what is the proper way to provide heat and lighting for my bearded dragon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T18:55:56.613" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T22:28:01.747" Title="Why are red bulbs bad for my bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2013-12-16T21:57:31.930" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gut loading is the process of giving your live-food animals a diet intended to enrich them nutritionally. It's exactly what it sounds like: you load up the feeder animal's gut with something you want to give to the animal that will eat it. It a sense, you're basically using the feeder as a vehicle for the pet's supplements. It's not a technique you can only use with crickets: it works with any live food that eats, though it's less important when your food animals have more nutrient-rich bone and organ meat, like mice. And it's not something you'd only do for lizards, by any stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I've kept feeder crickets in the past, I used a vitamin-rich cricket gel (probably Fluker's, I think) as their main diet. These are pretty common, because crickets aren't hugely nutritious by themselves; if you're feeding your crickets a store-bought diet, check the label, because you might already be gut loading them. That's all gut loading comes down to: the crickets ate the gel, than the animals I fed them to benefit from the vitamins. With some animals I supplemented that by dusting the crickets with a calcium-rich powder right before feeding. That's not gut-loading, just another easy method of enhancing live food that can sometimes be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; gut load live food depends on the nutritional needs of your pet, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/exotic_and_laboratory_animals/reptiles/management_of_reptiles.html#v3307483&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how well those are met by the diet you can provide&lt;/a&gt;. Often you do this because the feeder itself isn't nutritionally balanced for the pet, or because the pet has a particular dietary need that can't be easily filled otherwise. Non-carnivorous lizards tend to need calcium and vitamin D supplements in captivity, so the dietary cricket gels you can buy are great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your particular pet (lizard or otherwise) needs a different balance of fats and proteins, or even vegetable matter, gut loading crickets won't do anything to address that. So think of gut loading as a good way to fill in small nutritional gaps, rather than the foundation of the diet itself. You also have to make sure you're not overdosing any particular nutrient, but this is true of any diet you provide. I've heard of many more problems due to a lack of calcium and vitamin D than I have from too much, and I suspect you would need to really overfeed your lizard for any gut loaded supplements to become a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T15:59:44.837" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T15:59:44.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1670" CreationDate="2013-12-16T22:25:23.117" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The numbers are going to vary by breeder, and how the animal is marketed, and the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some breeds have been inbred to the point that they suffer from a high incidence of genetic defects.  Some of these defects make it impossible for dog to live a long and healthy life.  Most responsible breeders will euthanize these animals when they are identified.  Another practice common in selective breeders is that they we sterilize the animals that are not of breeding stock, and sell those as pets.  Responsible breeders will only breed enough pets to fill the demand.  However some breeders we euthanize any excessive pet stock, to focus on their quality breeding stock, and others will sell this excess to pet stores without regard to how their animals with be treated after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet stores have are in business to make money and puppies sell really well... what does not sell well are adolescent dogs that have behavior problems because they have spent 3-6 months in a small display kennel.  Many of the big chain pet stores return these adolescent dogs to their distributor who euthanizes the animals.  I suspect this rate is not high, there is quite a bit of cost in having the dog in the store for 2 months to not have them sell, but it is also not zero.  I seriously doubt that any of these chain pet stores will release the numbers because I am sure that for the entire chain the numbers are large enough to make pet advocates very upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other issue is with wholesale live animal dealers.  These include puppy mills, but also include the wholesale distributors that supply the chain(and some times even locally owned) pet stores with the live animals.  These dealers do no want any puppies that are over 12 weeks old because they are harder to sell.  Many of these wholesalers will take animals that are weaned earlier than is healthy so that they can get more puppies in the 6-8 week range to the pet stores because those sell the best.  A number of those puppies pulled early will die in the first few days after weaning.  If they do not get sent to a pet store before they get to 10 weeks the chances are very high that they will end up being euthanized.  Again the actual numbers of this are going to be kept secret.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-12-16T22:25:23.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2013-12-17T04:58:24.937" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Atopica has the worst taste! My cat also hated it with a passion, but it helped his allergies so much more than anything else. Yes I actually tasted it, I wanted to see why my cat was acting up so much when he took it and I only put a tiny amount- not even a drop- on my tongue and it was just horrible. I don't recommend trying that...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was not able to use the pill version as it only comes in dosages much higher than my cat needs and it can't be divided.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I finally figured out a way to keep my cat from having to taste the Atopica though. I bought some empty pill capsules, and I use the dosing syringe to measure his medicine into the empty capsule, and then just give it to him like any other pill. So that way he doesn't need to taste it at all.  I even found a website that does flavored empty capsules for pet medication, so it masks the taste even more. Just be careful not to get any of the Atopica liquid on the outside of the capsule when you are syringing it in, or else they can still taste it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T04:58:24.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1672" CreationDate="2013-12-17T11:34:02.937" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people (including myself) believe that dogs can read and understand human emotions. Studies attempting to look at this claim from a scientific point of view have shown that humans display emotions and feelings through their eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was found that when two people meet, they look into the right side of human face first and the same behaviour was found with dogs - dogs look at the right side of human face first as that side displays the strongest of emotion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently watched a BBC documentary that was very closely related to this article and what I took away from that is the key why dogs are so close to humans are because they can &quot;understand&quot; your emotions and feelings and react accordingly, and they do that by reading into your facial expressions, esp. your eyes. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK7wp2xWOo4&quot;&gt;See the relevant sequence of the documentary on Youtube&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot speak for wolves, but dogs at least seem to gaze into humans eyes to gauge our emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="473" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T13:09:33.520" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T13:09:33.520" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1672" CreationDate="2013-12-17T15:24:09.117" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason depends on the rest of the body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the ears are down and the tail is up then staring in the eyes is a show of challenge to your dominance.  Most of the time if you see this and tell the dog to knock it off (or what ever your method is) the dog will back down and that is the end of it.  This behavior can be dangerous if the dog is exhibiting it towards children.  It is important if you see that, that you correct it or you risk your dog acting out aggressively towards the child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pugs exhibit a behavior where they will get a sad face, pull their ears back, put their tail down demonstrating submission and look at me trying to get attention.  Someone with a stiffer spine than I have would do well not to indulge this behavior because once you reward it you find that the dog will employ it more often.  Trust me on that...  Though I have to admit it is so freaking cute and really who can resist a pug looking pitiful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other frequent behavior I have witnessed is ears up and tail up because they want to play.  Many times my dogs will exhibit this behavior by bringing me a toy they want to play with, or when I am absentmindedly playing with one of their toys.  This is just their way of letting them know they want to play with you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T15:24:09.117" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-17T15:40:19.933" Score="8" ViewCount="1367" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historically, my cat's water bowl has always been in the vicinity of his litter box. Not adjacent to it, but close by and in the same room. He has recently adopted the habit of jumping up on the bathroom counter (different room than the litter box) in hopes of drinking from the faucet (regardless that the water bowl is clean and full).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to dissuade that behavior, I have placed a second water bowl in the bathroom, which he seems content with. However, I've noticed that he seems to prefer drinking from that one; I find myself refilling it more often that the primary bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any possible explanation for this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T06:30:30.080" Title="Is there a correlation between water bowl and litter box placement?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1702" CreationDate="2013-12-17T16:09:02.987" Score="21" ViewCount="1628" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a feral cat in my neighborhood, It will not come near anyone, but will eat food if placed out for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone mentioned a program called &quot;Spay and Release&quot;.  It seems like the idea is to capture the cat and have it neutered or spayed and then turn it loose again.  I can understand having a cat fixed, but I don't understand why releasing is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I misunderstanding? Is this really a good idea?  If a cat has already been spayed and released, do they just keep getting captured and spayed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-23T08:32:13.043" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T08:32:13.043" Title="Why are cats released as part of &quot;spay and release&quot; programs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1699" CreationDate="2013-12-17T16:19:16.710" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;While capturing a cat is relatively easy, &lt;em&gt;keeping&lt;/em&gt; it is another thing altogether:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There has to be a potential owner available.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The animal itself should be relatively tame.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of such programs is to reduce the number of reproductively active animals in the streets, eventually reducing the number of stray animals itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as recapturing an animal goes, any qualified vet should be able to tell that it has been already neutered and release it immediately, rather than attempt to neuter it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T16:19:16.710" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1698" CreationDate="2013-12-17T16:30:49.667" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible that your cat, like some people, has simply gotten more finicky with age.  Or perhaps there's been an environmental change that makes the original placement now undesirable; for example, if heating or ventillation has changed in that room with the change of seasons, maybe the odors are trapped for longer.  Or perhaps he's discovered that the bathroom faucet is fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've often heard advice to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; place food and water near litterboxes.  In my case the food/water are in the basement hall and the litterboxes are through an open door in the utility room.  It's no more than 10 feet but it's far enough that the box contents aren't unappetizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second water bowl is not a bad idea in any case.  I have one upstairs and it gets more use than the one in the basement (except at meal-time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T16:30:49.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1699" CreationDate="2013-12-17T17:14:19.320" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feral cats tend to stick to specific areas, and may form loose colonies with other local feral cats.  These colonies can range in size from a handful to dozens of adult cats, and, in the absence of concerted spay and release efforts, the size of the colonies tend to continue growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger populations of feral cats in neighborhoods can become a real nuisance, with issues including noise (particularly when one or more females go into heat), food raids (garbage cans being tipped over, unguarded food snatched, etc.), and waste (gardens make good substitute litter boxes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When local cats are viewed as pests and nuisances, the likelihood of abuse from the human residents increase.  These cats are at risk of deliberate poisoning, getting shot, trapped in inhumane ways, or even torture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind spay and release is that you are allowing the animals to live out their lives in a way that gives them at least &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; chance of happiness, while putting a stop to the cycle of breeding to avoid more cats being born into the rather harsh conditions most feral cats put up with.  The gradual reduction in numbers reduces the pressure from the local environment on these animals, largely by making them less of a nuisance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People actively involved in spay and release programs frequently feed the feral cats in their neighborhood.  Their houses or businesses therefore tend to be areas where the local feral cat population will converge.  This makes it easier to keep track of which cats they've already captured and had &quot;fixed&quot;, so if one is accidentally recaptured, they simply release it immediately instead of bringing it to the vet (unless they decide to bring the cat in for other medical reasons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat that has already been fixed is captured/recaptured, a veterinarian will be able to ascertain this prior to committing to surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1700/57&quot;&gt;thkala&lt;/a&gt; mentioned, there are issues with finding homes for feral cats.  Simply put, they tend to make horrible pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother was active in spay and release with the local cats in her previous neighborhood, and the people who owned the house prior to her made a habit of feeding the neighborhood cats.  Over time, all but one of the local cats disappeared (presumably dead).  When she finally moved to a new house, she caught the remaining feral cat, and brought it with her (fearing that it had become overly dependent upon her providing food, which was not something she could guarantee the next owners of the house would continue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still has this cat.  It lives in her basement, and hides in a storage area.  It does come out to interact with the domesticated cat they also have, but my mother almost never sees her (and when she does, it is just a quick glimpse as the cat runs and hides).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very few people want an animal like that living in their house, and therefore finding a home for individual animals, let alone an entire colony, is almost impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many areas have charitable organizations dedicated to supporting the costs and logistics of spay and release programs.  These programs may offer live animal traps, assistance in finding local veterinary offices that will assist with spaying, or even vouchers to get the procedures done at a reduced cost.  Individual veterinary offices may also support the practice with discounted rates or other services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth a quick search in your area to see if there are any spay and release organizations nearby.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T17:14:19.320" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1626" CreationDate="2013-12-17T22:10:09.660" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience (having owned over a dozen outdoor cats), they tend to learn this skill on their own through trial and error. It helps if they have siblings and/or other cats they can watch and learn from as well. Although I was unable to find any formal documentation or guides on &quot;how to train your cat to climb down&quot;, I did find &lt;a href=&quot;http://goldenpegasus9.hubpages.com/hub/goldenpegasus9&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; which details how one owner trained their cats to climb down through the use of a harness, patience, and treats; the basic gist being, have your cat climb the post, then physically move their paws backwards/down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would be hesitant to attempt to &quot;force&quot; your cat to learn through physical intervention because if its unpleasant for them, they may come to associate the climbing post with discomfort and avoid it altogether. If you are concerned with the cat injuring itself, you may do well to add some kind of padding underneath the post, or lower the platform some, though I would dissuade you from going overboard with such measures because if it becomes &quot;easy&quot; for the cat to simply leap off, then that will impede the speed at which they learn to climb down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="478" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T04:57:00.320" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T04:57:00.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1699" CreationDate="2013-12-17T22:18:13.817" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question has been mostly addressed, but just to touch on the question of recapturing cats that have already been altered: Often, when a cat is spayed/neutered under a program such as this, their ear is notched (a small piece cut from the tip of the ear) so that it's easy to visually ascertain that a cat does not need to be recaptured. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/JLYFBo1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://i.imgur.com/JLYFBo1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="479" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T22:18:13.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1464" CreationDate="2013-12-17T23:33:17.910" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is often the fear and misunderstanding of dog owners that they transfer to their dogs, which leads to critical situations. Typical situation: the tiny pinscher or yorkshire that is taken up (often with one hand) because &lt;strong&gt;the owner&lt;/strong&gt; fears &quot;big, aggressive dogs&quot;. (This is totally silly btw, because if a dog the size of a labrador, say, really wants to get the small one, he'll get him, because such dogs can jump 5 feet from standing without much effort. They will just tear you down, before you ever notice, you can hold your tiny dog as high as you want - you simply can't protect him that way. So better see to it that &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; dog is behaving orderly - for example, does not bark at bigger ones. You can easily teach him by going away as soon as he starts to bark - this will be a sign for him that he will have to fight on its own, and he'll soon realize that it is better not to, and will follow you.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, be aware that normal dogs play can appear quite violent, when in reality it is just fun to the dogs. Serious fights are seldom among good socialized dogs. Bullying happens, of course, but even then it is not correct to apply human ethics here. (Of course, if your dog can't deal with it, and you see that it doesn't want to go there, just don't go there.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for aggression: we don't need to prevent aggression in all cases. For example, a dog may defend its toy very aggressivly, and the other dog will know by that that he may not take it. This is a problem only if the other dog thinks it is his toy. But aggression amon dogs does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; mean &lt;strong&gt;I will fight you until you're dead.&lt;/strong&gt; To the contrary, this would be a sign of a psychotic dog (hopefully a rare case in your country, and usually the fact that their owners bring them to a dog park means it is not), i.e. one that does not belong in a dog park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, be sure to socialize your dog early. From the first week on, see to it, that it comes in contact with other dogs as often as possible, ideally in a puppy play group or something. The dog knows then how to behave in the presence of other dogs, and things will be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastEditorUserId="480" LastEditDate="2013-12-17T23:41:42.013" LastActivityDate="2013-12-17T23:41:42.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1692" CreationDate="2013-12-17T23:33:46.457" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: This will be true for most, if not all, lizards, but not necessarily for snakes and possibly turtles, as their eyes are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind the red bulbs was that reptiles couldn't see the red spectrum of light. With this in mind, the idea was you could have the red light on all night, keeping them warm, but not keeping them awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty well accepted to be false now, as there wasn't any research to back the claim up, and research has shown that reptiles, while they see things differently than us, are capable of seeing color and lights (If you watch TV with your dragon, you might notice him watching it with you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless you give your lizard a really nice place to hide out of the light, it will keep them from sleeping well. Think of it like if you slept in a room with the light on each night. You might be able to sleep, but you might not sleep quite as well as you would with the light off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as red lights in the day: in my opinion they're just colored lights, and I'm not aware of any long-term effects from having them as day lights. But they won't give off any UV light, and they likely won't give off enough heat for a bearded dragon, so they're effectively useless to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a bearded dragon, you will want a good UV light that's meant for desert reptiles, and a good heat lamp that will keep the basking side at about 100 degrees fahrenheit. Personally, I use ReptiSun 10.0 UV lights ( the straight tube not the coils), and a ceramic bulb for the basking area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've actually used normal 100 watt light bulbs for my basking lamp before and they worked fine. Although they burnt out too quickly for my taste (about once a month), which is why I switched to a ceramic lamp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-04-08T14:01:41.770" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T14:01:41.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1222" CreationDate="2013-12-17T23:40:41.207" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;About the only way I know of to deal with this problem is through conditioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, that topic is too huge to thoroughly handle in an answer.  However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/index.htm&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; is a great reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic idea is to train your dog not to react to the hose though exposure to the stimulus, in this case water spraying from the hose, and then punish behavior that is not desired, but reward behavior that is desired.  What works and does not work often varies by dog, and ideally you want to use the method that causes the least amount of stress to your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option would be to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogmantics.com/progressive-reinforcement-training-manifesto/&quot;&gt;progressive reinforcement training&lt;/a&gt;.  This is really just a type of conditioning, but many trainers believe that it is a type of less stressful conditioning than some of the other options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to remember when training your dog is that you do not want to become your dog's opponent.  If it becomes a contest of wills, your relationship with your dog will change, and could become unhealthy.  Instead, try to work with your dog to keep both you and your dog on the same side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T16:09:33.200" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T16:09:33.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2013-12-18T01:13:31.520" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some things for you to do to train your kitten not to use her claws. After all, right now she's only a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 1. Don't play with your hands. If your kitten associates you with being a toy, that just leads to trouble later on. You want to be associated with being the person who gives her food and pets, not as a scratching post. Toss her a jingly toy, play with a feather on a string - Toys that will let her associate playing with you, but not in the bad way. It's important to note that she's only playing how she would with other kittens. It's just that you're not a kitten, so you have to teach her how to play differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 2. The second she claws at you toss her down and ignore her. Don't resume playing for quite some time. It will take some time, but she will start to understand that when she uses her claws she doesn't get to play anymore. If you feel it's necessary to take it up a level, you can put her in a room by herself for a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 3. Make sure you set up a good relationship between your toddler and your kitten. Kids stress cats out because of how rough they are. Rough people encourage rough cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, be patient. She's just a kitten, and doesn't know any better yet. since you can't communicate with words, she'll be watching you actions to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T19:27:03.470" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T19:27:03.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1463" CreationDate="2013-12-18T03:10:00.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're on the right track, the best way I've found is to gradually start mixing in the new food. That way they won't notice it overtaking their old food until they're used to it. The real trick is to do it very gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started with just a spoonful of the new food mixed into their old each time I refilled it. After about two days, I added two spoonfuls. Another two days, about three. You see where this is going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beauty of this is if they start to catch on, you just go back a spoonful for another day or so until they get used to it; then keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another trick I've come across is to give the new food as a treat. Then, once they associate it as a treat, they'll be super excited to have it for dinner all the time. I haven't had luck with that myself, and I assume that's what you were trying with the ferretone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a pretty good article covering it, hopefully that will give you some ideas too. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2069&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2069&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T03:10:00.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1698" CreationDate="2013-12-18T06:30:30.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware of, it's instinctual, to avoid contamination. For one, running water is safest because it doesn't allow for bacteria to grow, as it would in stagnant water. But, given the choice of two puddles, pick the one furthest away from visible contaminants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats, though not all, will also defer to the sink/bathtub if their water dish is too close to the food dish. Instinct says that if the food is sitting near the water, then the water is contaminated. Likewise water near the litter box is contaminated. Which in reality, it probably is, as cat litter is really dusty and gets everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually it's best to have some space between the food, water, and litter box. But some cat's don't mind the food and water being next to each other. The easy solution is to get one of those water fountain bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T06:30:30.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1721" CreationDate="2013-12-18T08:51:22.147" Score="13" ViewCount="1734" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I have 4 kittens and they are hungry as their mother just died 4 or 5 hours ago. I need to prepare food for them as they are only 34 days old. What can I feed them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="487" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T14:25:49.313" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T14:25:49.313" Title="Kitten Food in an Emergency" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1720" CreationDate="2013-12-18T11:17:00.823" Score="6" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that some dog breeds are more prone for hip issues than others, and those can be aggravated by them having to climb stairs or walking on slippery floors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When selecting a dog breed, what can I do to make sure that I chose one that will not develop long-term skeletal or joint damage from such an environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that possible at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="490" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:56:10.780" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:56:10.780" Title="How to find a dog breed that will not suffer hip issues due to slippery floors and steep staircases and the like?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1529" CreationDate="2013-12-18T11:36:52.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience with Danios has that they always have been &quot;bossy&quot; fish. I don't recall one being the boss of the pack, but I recall that any Danio would usually go fin pecking the other species as well as their own species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This wasn't due to overpopulation, a small tank nor under-feeding. It just seems that Danios have that kind of temperament and are territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T11:36:52.890" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1722" CreationDate="2013-12-18T13:13:59.567" Score="19" ViewCount="460" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family and I are considering adopting a cat.  We currently have a few dogs but they are quite docile.  I know that bringing a new creature into the house can cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to minimize the stress to the dogs, cat, and my family during this introduction?  Is there any way I can tell prior to adoption if the cat and dog will be able to adapt to each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="492" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T14:16:35.917" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:33:26.317" Title="How can I introduce a cat into a household with dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1715" CreationDate="2013-12-18T13:29:08.090" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used PetAg &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=PetAg%20KMR%20Milk%20Replacer%20Food%20Supplements&amp;amp;oq=PetAg%20KMR%20Milk%20Replacer%20Food%20Supplements&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60j0l2j69i60.836j0j4&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#es_sm=93&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;q=PetAg%20KMR%20Milk%20Replacer%20Food%20Supplements&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;tbm=shop&quot;&gt;KMR Milk Replacer Food Supplements&lt;/a&gt;. I would suggest getting the big container of powder over the pre-mixed canned milk. The cans will go bad two days after you open them. It sounds as if they're old enough to be able to drink it from a bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feed them cow's milk. It's not the same, and will make them sick. Even adult cat's shouldn't drink significant amounts of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, they should be starting to wean away from the milk. You can try to start this process yourself by offering them soft food at mealtimes. If they aren't too interested, you can encourage them to eat the soft food by mixing in a bit of the milk. Slowly encourage them to switch over to the soft food by switching the milk with water for periods of time throughout the day. So that eventually the milk will be seen as a treat, not a source of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would wait another two weeks before considering putting them on hard food. For kittens it's easier to digest the soft food. There also aren't many hard foods made for kittens under a year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T13:29:08.090" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2013-12-18T13:58:24.793" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As important as selecting a dog breed is to select the breeder or the place you buy it. And while it is not a direct answer to your question, keep in mind that if you buy some puppy from a breed with less HD risk on some street corner, you do not buy a breed or race, but an individual dog. So it is just important to know the HD status of the parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good breeder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will welcome you to watch his kennel, without implying that you must buy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will show you documents about the health status of the parent (and grand-parent) dogs, including, but not limited to, HD status.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will invite you to visit young mother along with her puppies when they are about 3 weeks old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will not give away the dog too early (when they still need the mother, and their brothers/sisters) or too late (after the embossing phase is over). 12 weeks is common.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will have the puppy checked and vaccinated by a veteranian according to the laws in your country.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will have a clause in the contract that says that he will take back the dog if it should turn out later that its health is not ok due to his fault.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastEditorUserId="480" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T14:50:18.953" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T14:50:18.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1715" CreationDate="2013-12-18T14:04:07.300" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an emergency situation, absence of an available vet or pet food store where you can get appropriate milk replacement, you can use a couple of options that should be readily available from a local convenience store:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/centers/kitten/adoption-getting-a-kitten/evr_ct_orphaned_kitten_care#.UrGpKfRDvAk&quot;&gt;Simple option&lt;/a&gt; is an egg yolk mixed with a can of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;unsweetened&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; evaporated milk.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More &lt;a href=&quot;http://petvet.co.nz/cats/orphan-kitten-care/&quot;&gt;complicated option&lt;/a&gt; (in absence of the evaporated milk) would be egg yolk, mixed with whole milk, multi-vitamin, and some crushed antacid pills.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, this must be &lt;em&gt;short-term&lt;/em&gt;, emergency feeding only. Ideally, as Matt S noted, you want to get proper milk replacement (powdered options are available) and kitten food for anything beyond a few feedings. For feeding, you can use an eyedropper or similar, just make sure it's been cleaned very thoroughly if you ever used it for medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T14:04:07.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1718" CreationDate="2013-12-18T14:55:29.337" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tl;dr - Dogs decide a lot of things solely by how it smells. Let the animals get used to the smells of each others, and keep the dogs calm no matter what the cat does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have brought a cat, and then some more cats, to our home where we already had two dogs for several years as our only pets. Every cat was brought in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First the cat was brought in our home in its container letting the dogs take a quick sniff of the container and its inhabitant through the narrow slots, then I took the container and cat in one room and closed the door. Our dogs were quite cool during the brief moment, possibly because the container was in my hands, and our dogs tend to keep their calm better with me than with my wife.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once the cat is in that one room, it was let free by opening the container door. Some cats take longer to come out, some sprint out pretty soon, point is that the cat comes out voluntarily. That's it for a couple of days. The cat will get to know you, and feel safe in the room. It will find food, water, litterbox and normally it will feel at ease soon enough. Depending on the age of the cat, and its personality, this phase could take longer than two days, but two days has been enough for us so far.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next we have taken the cat into livingroom in my wife's lap, in such a moment when the cat has recently eaten and is calm, sleepy even. Gone to sit in a sofa with the cat in her lap, so that our dogs can come close and sniff the cat. (Our dogs are not allowed on the sofa, they stay on the floor.) My wife holds the cat so that it can't see the dogs, but dogs see the cat, or at least its rear end. If dogs become excited, I'll take them into another room and leave them there. Goal here is to let them get the smell of the cat, and to see it protected by a human member of our family. We let the dogs sniff the cat as much as they like, just as long as they do it nicely and stay calm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat step 3. a few times, a couple of times a day or even more. This is to see how the dogs react, and as soon as they are cool with seeing the cat then my wife has started letting the cat see the dogs too, and perhaps even let it move with some freedom on her and on the back-rest of the sofa. Kittens are nice in this phase, adult cats might be more eager to seek a hiding place. We have returned the cat into its room once it starts to turn playful or my wife gets tired to hold the sleepy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the cat is in livingroom with my wife, I let the dogs in the room the cat has for itself. I only remove the food first, then the dogs may sniff around as much as they wish, drink the cat's water if they like, just as long as they want and stay calm. If they get excited, it's the penalty room again for them (never a long penalty, just for the moment while the cat is still in livingroom with my wife).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The better the dogs behave, the faster the cat is let more freedom to explore the livingroom. With our cats and dogs this phase has come in less than five days, but I'd guess this is because we've been bringing kittens in house. It may take a lot longer with adult cats, but I've never done that (yet).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later, when the cat is fully accustomed to its new home, we have still needed to keep an eye when our dogs are eager to take part, or to shepherd, the cat when it is playing. We discourage the dogs to take part in the play. At the moment we have five cats and sometimes they play quite roughly by themselves. Our dogs tend to &quot;go looking&quot; when a cat is complaining over too rough play. We just tell the dogs to let the cats be, and that's it. I can see the dogs would still like to go and see what's bothering the cats. Maybe they do it while we are away, however I can tell the cats don't just stay up on their platforms when we are away, there's always clear signs of cats having been playing around the house when we come home :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vF940.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;black dog and white cat sleep side by side&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has actually been the easy way, when our cats have come in as kittens and our dogs have been more than three years old. Younger dogs can be very different, for they are still &quot;teenagers&quot; and have lots of extra energy, and an older cat can be a handful as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T18:33:26.317" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:33:26.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="399" CreationDate="2013-12-18T15:03:23.467" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always suggest keeping tortoise pens as open as possible. In general, tortoises require better airflow than other reptiles; At least in the sense that they do not do well in an aquarium-type enclosure. The walls of glass terrariums are too high and block off airflow, making it easy for the ammonia from their urine to build up, and heat to build up from the stagnant air. So providing some fresh air not only helps to clear the ammonia, but makes sure that it doesn't overheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean it's not possible to keep a tortoise in an aquarium, it just takes some work. I've seen some people use computer fans to regulate the airflow and temperature, but I think most people decide that for the amount of work it would take, it's better to build a custom habitat with lower walls. It's also just more important to have floor space than wall height, since it's not like the tortoises are likely to climb out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using the exo-terra coconut fiber bedding, that actually holds moisture really well. The sphagnum  moss does too. You don't want the soil to be soggy, but if you mist it with a spray bottle enough to keep it moist, that should keep the enclosure humid even with a screen top. Simply having a dish of water also helps add to the humidity too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plants are also really good at helping to keep enclosures humid. if you have the space you could add some plants. Even some &lt;a href=&quot;http://redfoottortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;edible plants&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't needed them, but other options would be getting an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=994&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;amp;q=reptile%20mister&amp;amp;oq=reptile%20mister&amp;amp;gs_l=serp.3...5741.7067.1.7628.8.8.0.0.0.7.982.3228.0j1j2j2j6-2.7.0....0...1c.1.32.psy-ab..8.0.0.DFMOq481iyI&amp;amp;pbx=1#es_sm=93&amp;amp;q=habitat%20mister&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;tbm=shop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;automatic mister&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=994&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;amp;q=habitat%20fogger&amp;amp;oq=habitat%20fogger&amp;amp;gs_l=serp.3...17643.18423.1.18626.6.6.0.0.0.0.265.1014.2-4.4.0....0...1c.1.32.psy-ab..5.2.530.n0Qz6lr5J9s&amp;amp;pbx=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reptile fogger&lt;/a&gt;. It's always a good idea to keep track of the humidity still. Don't assume that because it's automatic, that it's correct. Always keep a thermometer and a humidity gauge in your enclosures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to remember that too much humidity can be bad as well. It can cause respiratory issues. You'll be shooting for a humidity of about 70%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T05:51:40.193" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T05:51:40.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="752" CreationDate="2013-12-18T15:31:00.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not going to say it's impossible, but it's very unlikely. What you're looking at is taming a reptile in a way you would if you received one that's been mistreated or one that wasn't captive-bred. Pretty much all methods rely on you having the reptile in your immediate care, and having it rely on you entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, taming works best when the animal is a baby. Since he's already full grown, it's going to take a bit more patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, Blue-Tongued Skinks are regarded as being one of the most friendly lizards. I have seen arguments occur between which is friendlier, a Blue-Tongued Skink or a Bearded Dragon. So there is something in your favor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems as though he's starting to be comfortable around you. But it sounds like he still sees you as a possible threat. This might not ever change since he's still a wild animal. The best way you can solve this is spending as much time with him as possible. This is where if he was in an enclosure, you would throw a worn t-shirt, or something into it to get him used to your scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to tame him, you need to offer him food. Sort of like a stray cat, start by just having him accept food that you offer him. Place some food down, give him some space. If he eats around you that shows he's comfortable. Slowly (as in each day) start inching closer each time you feed him. Eventually, you should be able to offer him food right next to you. At this point off food from your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with that being said, you should take into account the side effects of feeding wild animals. As you work to tame him, he'll start to rely on you for food. he will stop looking for food on his own and start to expect food from you. This might not be a problem at the moment, but how will he get food if you go on vacation, or move away? I always say not to feed wild animals unless you plan on taking care of the completely - For the sake of their independance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're planning on taking him in as a pet. The best thing you can do is just be present. He will start to understand that you aren't a threat to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T15:31:00.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="483" CreationDate="2013-12-18T15:31:05.270" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a professional trainer, but training is what I would do if faced with such a condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take the cat into my lap while the dog is watching and caress him (the cat) to make it clear to my dog: he's one of us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Opposite direction: when the dog bites the cat's tail, yell at him to stop. If he repeats it many times, say &quot;bad dog&quot; and ignore him for few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, even the most stubborn (or stupid :) ) of dogs will take the hint and leave the cat alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-18T16:20:49.007" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T16:20:49.007" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1529" CreationDate="2013-12-18T17:55:12.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zebra Danios are extremely hardy fish. They are almost difficult to kill. They are indeed &quot;bossy&quot; and instill a rigid pecking order. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diagnosis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely sounds like swim bladder disease. Swim bladder disease bloats the fish, and they struggle to retain the proper depth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treatment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time you've identified a disease like dropsy or swim bladder, it's usually too late for the fish. The best treatment I've found is Melafix, but it's quite expensive, and &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; pungent and stinky. A single dose stunk up my entire bedroom and hallway for about a week, and the first few days I didn't want to come home because I didn't want to bear the smell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To medicate the fish you'd optimally put it in a separate tank by itself, so your other fish don't get the treatment, too. But separating it often means a smaller tank, and the smaller the tank, the easier it is for things like pH to get out of whack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Afterthoughts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where did you buy the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Department stores like Walmart are &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; guilty of selling sick/diseased fish and not caring. Pet stores are generally a little better about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you know that you might be able to get a new fish replacement for free? Check your receipt. I like to hang onto my receipts for this reason, especially for expensive fish (which Zebra Danios aren't). In the past, I'd stick my dead fish in a baggie with some water into the freezer and take the frozen baggie with fish to the store for a free &quot;exchange&quot; with receipt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T10:07:05.810" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T10:07:05.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1334" CreationDate="2013-12-18T18:15:00.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chickens will always squabble, it is part of their mental need for a pecking order. Some particular breeds are notorious for being especially nasty, so if your two hens are different breeds, you might want to look into that. You only need to worry if the pecking is excessive, for example, bald spots forming, blood being drawn. A peck here and there and a small squabble now and then is natural, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as the other answers say, spreading the food out, feeding abundantly, or confining while feeding will help the issue, but they will always squabble at least a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:15:00.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1669" CreationDate="2013-12-18T18:24:57.367" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really too broad of a question to have any specific answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the purposes of an answer, the answer is : &lt;strong&gt;it depends.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The individual dog always has its own temperament - calm, excitable, nervous, etc. And the individual dog will usually be calmer around those it is comfortable and familiar with. I want to include the dog's history here; if a dog was picked on by children, the dog may always be timid around children because of that association. Don't forget that dogs live life, too - they may be having a bad day, overly anxious already, or too tuckered out to care much. Dogs also have their own preferences and affinities, and it is possible a dog may not &quot;like&quot; someone very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs also pick up clues from humans and their behavior. From the human's attitude, walk, energy levels, or even their general &quot;vibe&quot;. Dogs can indeed read human expressions and have been shown to empathise with humans on some level through scientific studies (the study where the dog yawns because the owner yawned is particularly interesting). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:24:57.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1530" CreationDate="2013-12-18T18:37:35.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me that you may be better off taking a different approach alltogether. Have you considered dog treats specifically for teeth considerations, such as Greenies? Or how about dog toys for the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the purposes of teeth brushing, I'd try a different teeth-cleaning method, for example, if you are using a &quot;toothbrush&quot;, try a finger brush. A different doggie toothpaste might also help. Keep praising and treating. You can try to build up confidence by taking little steps towards a bigger goal, such as treating when the teeth things are out, treating for the dog letting you put it in his mouth, treating for a few seconds of scrubbing, etc. Remember to praise and smile! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T18:37:35.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1734" CreationDate="2013-12-18T20:28:59.003" Score="24" ViewCount="42346" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our eldest cat is 18 1/2 and is healthy for his age. He still runs, loves attention, goes out for 'constitutionals' (short walks round the neighborhood) and generally appears to thrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has lost a little weight but we think that that is normal for his age. He still has a very healthy appetite, and makes sure we know it is feeding time. He is a little stiff, but stairs and laps are no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as of late, he has taken to sleeping in the litter tray. We have two of them (we have multiple cats, all with access to the outdoors), but he has picked one tray as a bed. The other cats don't use that tray much, and especially when the tray is clean, the old cat curls up on it and sleeps there. When we move him to another, comfortable place, more often than not he'll trot back to his tray again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tray is not in an especially warm place, so the behaviour has us puzzled a little. Is this something we should be worried about? What might cause him to prefer such a sleeping place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15" LastEditorUserId="15" LastEditDate="2015-09-11T10:09:24.877" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T11:19:28.277" Title="Is it okay for an elderly cat to be sleeping in the litterbox?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1730" CreationDate="2013-12-18T20:47:47.440" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since this is a change in his behaviour, and he has lost weight, I would take him to the vet for a check-up. You will want to rule out any health issues first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet does not have any answer for you, then I would have to say that something is causing him to feel insecure. Either he is guarding the litter box, or something has happened where he doesn't feel safe sleeping anywhere else. In either case you'll want to watch your cat and his interactions for a few days to see what might be causing him stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T20:47:47.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="288" CreationDate="2013-12-18T21:40:03.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar situation. My cat would run into her litterbox and start throwing litter around like she was playing with it. My solution was to get one of those covered litter boxes like the one's you can buy at Target or WalMart. She doesn't throw the litter around anymore. And she still seems content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="498" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T21:40:03.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1730" CreationDate="2013-12-18T23:19:00.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds similar to my cat, and there was an underlying health condition causing them to act like this; I hope yours isn't the same, but mine had kidney failure and sadly we had to have her put to sleep. She still ate loads, however she started to drink a lot more water, which would make sense considering the issues she was having. A little stress is sometimes worth it when it could be an underlying major issue. Better safe than sorry :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="489" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T01:47:17.250" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T01:47:17.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1730" CreationDate="2013-12-18T23:19:08.553" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, with any behavior change, you should take your cat to the vet to make sure there's no underlying health problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the vet has determined that the change is behavioral and not related to a physical problem, you can start to look at your cat's environment &lt;em&gt;from his perspective&lt;/em&gt; to try to track down the change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand that cats are comforted by things that smell like them (they have a much stronger sense of smell than we do and it's much more important to their understanding of the world). The litter box is definitely a strong personal scent (even a &quot;clean&quot; litter box will retain some of the scent to a cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So look around for things that may be causing stress for your cat. Some possibilities include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any changes in the home environment (addition/subtraction of family members, furniture rearrangement, illness in the home, unusual visitors, unusual frequency of visitors, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any changes in your neighborhood, since he's an outdoor cat (mainly here I'd look for a new outdoor cat in the neighborhood, but nearby construction or new neighbors who spend more time outside are other possibilities)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any changes in your interactions with him (new food, new water fountain or bowls, different mealtimes, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Miscellaneous - anything that causes loud, unexpected noises can cause stress, as can a lack of hiding places or safe pathways through the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have some ideas (or even if you don't!) there are some ideas that you can use to reduce your cats' stress level. If you can pinpoint a few things that could be causing stress, try ideas from the following list that are related. For example, if there's a new dog in the house, then installing elevated pathways (bullet 2) will help him avoid the dog and feel more secure in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try providing different sleeping places. A cat's ideal sleeping place is &lt;strong&gt;warm&lt;/strong&gt; (sunbeam, covered house, thick bedding), with &lt;strong&gt;a good view&lt;/strong&gt; (think elevated - a wall shelf, a cat tree, or a wide window ledge perch), and &lt;strong&gt;often partially secluded&lt;/strong&gt; (again, a covered bag/house, or thick bedding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your cat has &lt;strong&gt;pathways&lt;/strong&gt; through the house so that he can travel through the house without confronting anyone (human, cat, or any other pets you may have). Usually these paths are elevated to promote a sense of safety in the cat. A good resource is &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/category/catification/&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's Catification pages&lt;/a&gt;, but the main idea is to make sure there are pathways and no deadends). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce the competition for resources&lt;/strong&gt; among your cats. Start feeding your cats separately to reduce the feeling of competition among them for food. Also add more water bowls/fountains to different locations in your house. Generally there's a recommendation to add litterboxes until you have one more box than the number of cats, but I don't know how that would be changed by allowing the cats outdoors. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you spend enough time in &lt;strong&gt;interactive play&lt;/strong&gt; (with each cat). This utilizes their hunting skills and helps keep their minds sharp. If another cat is bored and attacking the elderly cat, this will help reduce the number of attacks/harassment. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To end this novel, I'll add that the first winter we had &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catgenie.com/&quot;&gt;Cat Genies&lt;/a&gt; we found Kendall sleeping in one. They wash &lt;em&gt;and blow dry&lt;/em&gt; the PVC litter-pellets, so we eventually figured out that he was cold and put &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001AZLVG6&quot;&gt;a heating pad&lt;/a&gt; in a hidy-box. Now we know the weather is starting to turn cold because 3 of our 4 cats fight over who gets to be in the hidy-box (only 2 fit at a time). So, sleeping in the litter box is not always an insecurity thing. In our case, what changed was the litter box and the weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-12-18T23:19:08.553" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1100" CreationDate="2013-12-19T01:26:55.663" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible, it'll just take a bit of patience. Tarantulas can't really be tamed like other animals, they're just too primitive. But, you can get them used to your presence, and used to being picked up, which is close enough I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to know is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oR7PKYVr0Y&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to pick up a tarantula&lt;/a&gt;. Since the goal is for the tarantula to be comfortable with you picking it up, it's best to know how to pick it up in ways that won't cause it to be defensive. It's up to you which method you're comfortable with, and which one works best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your tarantula is really stressed out by you trying to pick it up right away, you might want to try getting it used to your hand first. Just have your hand present in the terrarium for a few minutes each day, so that it doesn't consider you threatening. then try touching it without it getting defensive. Finally, try picking it up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T16:02:59.897" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T16:02:59.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1737" CreationDate="2013-12-19T02:11:57.483" Score="9" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the summer, I feed my rabbit treats I get from  my yard including twigs, leaves, and grass.  However, during the winter here my trees lose their leaves and the grass is mostly dead.  Are there any treats I can gather from my yard or neighbor's yard during these winter months?  I hear most evergreens are poisonous, but maybe there are some I have never heard of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My yard is small so I have only an apple tree and a hemlock.  The apple tree is great during the warm season.  As far as trees go, I would have to go to my neighbors' yards but I am not sure what kinds off the top of my head. I live in West Virginia If that helps and there are plenty of trees around.  Pines, spruces, hemlock (poisonous), and holly are common evergreens but I don't know which and which parts are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="500" LastEditorUserId="500" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T04:00:04.163" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T07:50:22.330" Title="What plants or other winter yard items are safe for a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1736" CreationDate="2013-12-19T04:08:02.917" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you probably know, rabbits love to chew and they need to chew. Fresh wood is generally a good thing and you can give them fresh cut apple branches. When we still had rabbits, we used to supply them with plenty of apple branches from our yard (we had 3 apple trees) all year round. In the spring and summer that meant also getting leafy branches, but even in the fall and winter, the buns still loved the apple wood even without the greenery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all wood is safe, however, as you noted. For the most part, avoid trees that bear fruit with pits (e.g. peach) even if drying them out should make them safe. Given how many varieties of wood is actually safe, why chance it? There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://kanin.org/node/190&quot;&gt;pine options&lt;/a&gt; that are safe, including spruce and juniper, and a whole lot more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Food/feeding_en.pdf&quot;&gt;tree varieties&lt;/a&gt; (see page 21), such as maple, aspen, poplar, pear, and more that should be readily available to you given your location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else, the odd raisin here and there in the fall/winter will help make your bunny forgive you that bleak period where they don't get yard treats. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T04:08:02.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1742" CreationDate="2013-12-19T05:24:23.583" Score="8" ViewCount="1209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't use a spray bottle in training our pets. I did use it in the 80's when I had the 2nd cat of my own, but it did not really work out so well. With the first cat I did not know about spray bottles being used for this, and later I've not seen a need to use one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I hear a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=spray%20bottle&quot;&gt;spray bottle is useful&lt;/a&gt; whenever my dogs or cats (we have both) behave badly, and for example to teach them not to get on couches and chairs. Well, our dogs don't go on couches and chairs anyway. I heard that the dog/cat should not see me spray it, but I should do it covertly from behind a corner or something. Why is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a spray bottle useful in training? What is the correct way to use it as a training aid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T22:12:08.940" Title="How to use a spray bottle as negative reinforcement?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="436" CreationDate="2013-12-19T05:51:24.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to ask yourself &lt;em&gt;Why is he going hyper after I tell him &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/em&gt; Is it because you would want to take him away from the action he is performing that you want to stop? So you are chasing him, and he gets scared and refuses to be taken hold of. If this is the case, you have effectively trained him to expect trouble after hearing &quot;no&quot;, so he'll simply panic and run wildly around in order to avoid being manhandled. The training has been effective, and he'll run now whether you still chase him or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I can't know if this is the reason your cat goes hyper. However it is the key to solving the problem when you realize what makes the cat do it. It would work better to find ways to prevent his wild running beforehand, than to seek ways to calm him down afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment it is the word &quot;no&quot; that launches your cat ballistic. Stop using it. Deal with the bad behaviour (the one that makes you say &quot;no&quot;) by other means. A spray bottle, for example. Though the spray bottle use is tricky, actually I'd imagine it won't quite do the magic in your case. Choosing the method depends on what the cat is doing that you want stopped. The saying &quot;no&quot; is obviously not good anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short; change the way you react to your cat's bad behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T05:51:24.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1741" CreationDate="2013-12-19T07:37:11.343" Score="7" ViewCount="1886" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live on an upstairs floor and have a big balcony. To protect my cats from jumping off the balcony, I've put on a net around the whole balcony, but the cats jump on the net and climb to the top. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop them from doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="335" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T18:57:37.760" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T20:22:40.060" Title="How do I stop cats from jumping and climbing on a balcony net?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2013-12-19T10:13:58.403" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question should firstly be: Is it really important to stop them from jumping off the balcony? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think it is that important as the chances of a cat jumping/falling to his death is extremely rare. Cats can jump quiet large distances, but they are smart enough not to jump to their death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe by putting up a net you have just given your cats a nice play area, so they will climb the net and explore it. If you wish to have this net up to save them from accidentally falling off the balcony then just accept that the cats will climb it and let them have their fun. Just make sure the net is securely fastened, especially at the top and sides and make sure there are no holes where they can worm through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="295" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-19T17:56:01.130" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T17:56:01.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1738" CreationDate="2013-12-19T15:05:10.423" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just addressing &lt;strong&gt;cats&lt;/strong&gt; here. I actually grew up with dogs (not cats), but as an adult who owns cats, I've done a lot more study/reading of cat behavior and don't feel qualified to speak on dog behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punishment rarely works because cats don't have a social structure that recognizes you as the dominant being in the home, they only understand that you're doing something to them that they don't want (squirting them with water, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, it's much more effective to figure out why your cat is exhibiting the undesireable behavior and meet those needs in a way that is acceptable to both of you rather than punishing the cat for the undesireable behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's any useful way to use any sort of punishment as a cat training aid. Redirection (for bad behaviors) and reward (for good behaviors) work much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T15:05:10.423" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1744" CreationDate="2013-12-19T16:02:18.403" Score="6" ViewCount="11948" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats, from time to time, goes into fits of sneezing (almost machine gun-like) that is worrisome, but there is also sometimes blood in the discharge. She's eating and drinking fine and her behavior is unchanged from normal, so beyond the sneezing and discharge, she appears fine and content. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the cause or concerns with this? Online info indicates that it's not really the big a deal if she's eating and drinking normally. If that's true, what can I do to make it easier for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T22:44:21.867" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T23:50:53.007" Title="Why does my cat's sneeze contain blood?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1743" CreationDate="2013-12-19T16:13:22.710" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a sign of an upper respiratory infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Home treatment is to put her in the bathroom while you take a hot, steamy shower (okay, I've never seen results with this) or to give her some saline drops in her nose to help clean her nose out (&lt;em&gt;GOOD LUCK&lt;/em&gt; I can only do it because this is our most docile cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it continues, you should take her to the vet and get some antibiotics. In humans I'm strongly against antibiotics for sinus infections, but cats don't understand how to rinse/flush their sinuses so sometimes antibotics are the only thing that will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it continues after a standard antibotic (or returns - Hunter has chronic sinus infections) then your vet can test to determine the strain of bacteria/virus/fungus causing the problem and you can try to re-treat based on that information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunter's problems have continued long enough that there are actual visual changes in his lung x-rays (we thought for awhile that he had lungworm), and we're currently considering an immune suppressing medication to see if that helps. I'd encourage you to treat this seriously and early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T16:13:22.710" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="599" CreationDate="2013-12-19T16:31:04.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's actually quite common with different species of tortoises to pick at, and even eat, pieces of white gravel. I don't think anyone has come up with a solid reason why, although I haven't really studied it too much to be honest. I can tell you the different reasons I've come across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could be an indication that they are lacking in something in&#xA;their diet. It wouldn't hurt to review your tortoises diet, and make&#xA;sure there's not something that he might be missing. &lt;a href=&quot;http://redfoottortoise.com/redfoot_tortoise_diet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a&#xA;decent resource to get you started&lt;/a&gt; Although it sounds like&#xA;you've had yours for a while, so I don't think this is likely.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could also aide in digestion. Kind of like how dogs will eat&#xA;grass. It's not that hard to believe, as birds and several reptiles&#xA;will do this. Especially since tortoises beaks don't allow for the&#xA;the type of grinding that would be useful for a vegetarian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One that I found interesting wast that shells and bones would be&#xA;bleached white under the sun in the wild. So that color of white is&#xA;instinctually recognized as a source of calcium. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't swallow any overly large stones, I haven't heard anyone have trouble with impaction from it. Although I wouldn't say it's not a risk. I'm also not sure if there's any way to discourage it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T16:31:04.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1749" CreationDate="2013-12-19T18:47:19.020" Score="11" ViewCount="3400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be travelling between Christmas and New Year's, and so I'm working on making sure all my pets are being taken care of while I'm gone. Some of them are coming with me, and others are being left with automated feeders. But I simply don't have the space to take my bearded dragon with me, and I don't have any automated feeder set up for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is still under a year old, so his diet should be 90% carnivorous. I've been working with him to eat pellets, but so far I haven't gotten him to eat them without anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm new in town I don't know many people, and the people I do know are also travelling during the holidays. So I can't really have someone stop by to feed him every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have everything else about his enclosure automated, so I'm not worried about lighting or heating. But is there any way to make sure he's able to eat for at least the first 5 days? I'm worried about any vegetables I leave drying out, and I don't like the idea of crickets running around the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T15:59:40.683" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T15:59:40.683" Title="Is there any way to make sure my bearded dragon has enough to eat while I'm on vacation?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2013-12-19T20:22:40.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you want to be able to see out the balcony, and that you don't have time to spend training them to stay off of the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replace the net with plexiglass or window glass.  There are no other see through, non-climbable material solutions to your problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could spend a long time supervising them to try and train them not to climb on it, but as they have already learned to enjoy it, you are likely only going to be able to train them not to climb when you are near. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T20:22:40.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1746" CreationDate="2013-12-19T21:08:54.857" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, no. Leaving a bearded dragon alone for a week is a crap shoot, at best; especially a young one. Their nutrition requirements are simply too high. As you noted, a young bearded dragon has a higher carnivorous requirement, so it's not like you can load up on hardy greens that &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; get them through at least part of your time away. Maintaining a fresh supply of water, as well as assuring adequate lighting and heating is challenging, but doable; but I don't see a reliable way around the feeding problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Call your local veterinarian dealing with reptiles. They may offer boarding services. Failing that, try your local pet stores. They might not provide as focused a level of care as you'd like (and there's more risk of mites), but it's better than trying to put a herpetarium on autopilot for a week. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2013-12-19T21:08:54.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2013-12-20T00:44:53.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are other ways to deal with poop than potty training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As John said, potty training is not without its risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we do instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put paper under the bird's favourite places (under the cage, a few spots in the room).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a shirt or a short cape specifically for this purpose, so the bird can stay on one's shoulder or knee without soiling good clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a while you'll learn to tell when the bird is about to poop and you can catch it, hopefully with a piece of napkin ...  I got pretty good at this over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The consistency (and cleanability) of the poop depends on what the bird ate and especially on how much it drank.  Drinking warm water (or drinking a lot during a bath) inevitably leads to a mess.  You can be prepared, or just put it in the cage for a while after drinking a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, birds can be quite messy and accidents will happen many times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the intervals, for cockatiels it's about 10-20 minutes, as you said.  I believe for bigger birds it's longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="470" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T00:44:53.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-20T12:30:20.050" Score="13" ViewCount="916" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I have had many reptiles over the years (bearded dragons, snakes of various sizes etc) but our latest additions are 2 leopard geckos - we're not sure exactly what breed, but we think the younger female is a hypo, if that means anything to anyone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They live in the same vivarium and are very friendly with each other, but we separate them when we cannot supervise them as we think him trying to mount her while still so young would stress her out unduly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What vitamins should we be adding to their food, and is there anything in particular we should be feeding them? They currently eat morio worms, small (4ths) locusts and the occasional wax worm. The locusts and morio worms are popular, but neither of the geckos appear too keen on the wax worms. Should we be putting vegetation for them to graze on as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="509" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2014-01-02T20:20:10.417" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T19:14:31.403" Title="What types of food and vitamins are appropriate for a leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1751" CreationDate="2013-12-20T14:55:21.497" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos are carnivorous, so they probably won't even consider eating any vegetation you put in with them. If you're worried about vitamins, gut-loaded crickets are the easiest, and best, option in my opinion. If you can't purchase crickets that are already gut-loaded at your local pet store, you can gut-load whatever crickets you purchase by feeding them &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=fluker%27s%20cricket%20food&amp;amp;oq=fluker%27s%20cricket%20food&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0.3429j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8#es_sm=93&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;q=fluker%27s%20cricket%20food&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;tbm=shop&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fluker's cricket food&lt;/a&gt; (I use the orange cubes). It's a good idea to continue feeding already gut-loaded crickets this food anyways, since once the food they were given is digested, any benefits are lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also dust my crickets with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=994&amp;amp;tbm=shop&amp;amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;amp;q=leopard%20gecko%20calcium&amp;amp;oq=leopard%20gecko%20calcium&amp;amp;gs_l=serp.3...317100.320750.1.320984.21.11.0.0.0.0.250.360.0j1j1.2.0....0...1c.1.32.psy-ab..19.2.360.bt3UsBsNicc&amp;amp;pbx=1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;calcium&lt;/a&gt; occasionally. Just enough to help with bone growth, they require much less calcium when fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also put a bit of vitamin/calcium powder in some water and most leopard geckos will drink it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard of anyone feeding their leopard geckos locusts, but I don't see anything wrong with it. You might want to look up their nutritional value vs crickets to see where they stand. As far as waxworms go, personally, I say it's a good thing they don't like them. Waxworms are high in fat content, and their exoskeletons are difficult for reptiles to digest. So they really aren't the greatest of foods to offer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this isn't really part of the question, but I separate sexes of my animals unless I want them to breed. There's nothing you can really do to prevent the male from stressing the female out, and there's nowhere for her to escape the attention in a terrarium. They'll both do fine in separate 10 gallon terrariums, and if you're worried about expenses with new lights they don't require UV lights since they've been bred in captivity so long. Although some small studies have shown that even reptiles that don't require UV light will benefit from small amounts, so I still suggest it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-03T23:38:57.790" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T23:38:57.790" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1754" CreationDate="2013-12-20T15:38:14.697" Score="6" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1601/can-i-feed-my-cat-a-vegetarian-or-vegan-diet&quot;&gt;Can I feed my cat a vegetarian or vegan diet?&lt;/a&gt; that trying to force a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vegan&lt;/a&gt; diet on some types of pets might not be healthy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone is looking for pet, with a preference for a mammal that can be housebroken, with a naturally vegan diet (herbivorous), what common animals would they want to consider? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:40:02.060" Title="What mammals that are commonly kept as pets can be kept healthy on a vegan diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-02-10T03:09:41.330" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2013-12-20T15:50:40.427" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only mammals you'd be able to keep healthy on a vegetarian diet would be rabbits, or rodents like gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, guinea pigs, etc. They will all do fine on a diet of vegetables and grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the means to, you could keep an exotic pet like a fruit bat. But I would stress that bats are high maintenance, might require a license depending on where you live, and aren't able to be housebroken. The first question you have to ask is are you willing to have a bat fly around your house all night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise you'll want to look into animals like birds, fish, or even a select few reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other mammals are either carnivore (all meat), omnivore (some meat), or insectivore (almost all insects).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2013-12-20T17:27:10.367" LastActivityDate="2013-12-20T17:27:10.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2095" CreationDate="2013-12-20T16:38:36.910" Score="8" ViewCount="1061" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a terrarium of Red-Devil Crabs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sh82C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The terrarium is about 70% land, 30% water. I have pea gravel underneath the Exo Terra bedding, so that it isn't touching the water. There's no airstone or filter as it's about a liter of water and is only about an inch deep. They are terrestrial crabs, so the water is only for them to molt in, and occasionally drink from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep a few aquariums, so I have equipment for water changes. What I don't know is if I should change the water in the crab's terrarium about the same frequency as I would for the aquariums, or less since the crabs are never really in it. I want to keep the water fresh for them, but if there's nothing in the water to cause it to go &quot;bad&quot; how often should I change it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T14:14:47.943" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T14:14:47.943" Title="How often should I perform water changes in my Red-Devil Crab terrarium?" Tags="&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1522" CreationDate="2013-12-20T20:41:03.117" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of research here. I'd like to read the entire study linked in the question, but don't have access to the full text through my institution. But I was able to find &lt;a href=&quot;http://vet.osu.edu/cvm/clipnosis-technique-can-calm-cats-vets-office-and-home&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine&lt;/a&gt; that discusses it. To be clear, the study did not investigate &lt;em&gt;carrying&lt;/em&gt; them by the scruff of the neck. It specifically recommends this as a form of restraint during veterinary checkups, claw trimming, vaccinations, and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a caveat, the study was also conducted at OSU so this is to some degree a PR piece, but the lead author specifically says he believes the technique is painless:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Cats generally seemed more content, sometimes even purring, and less&#xA;  fearful during veterinary procedures when clips were used instead of&#xA;  restraint by some other means,&quot; Buffington said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It's easy to tell if you're hurting animals because they don't like&#xA;  it when you do things to them that hurt,&quot; Buffington said. &quot;When the&#xA;  cats in this study saw the clips, they often would lie down. If the&#xA;  cats were hurt by them, they would have seen those clips and tried to&#xA;  get away. If anything, the effect on them is positive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/650761&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, written by a vet, that discusses the study in more detail. It says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cats did not exhibit signs of pain such as tachypnea, tachycardia,&#xA;  or mydriasis. Moreover, no significant changes in heart rate, blood&#xA;  pressure, or temperature were observed in 15 of the cats that had&#xA;  implanted telemetry devices. The researchers concluded that PIBI is&#xA;  not a fear or pain response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all sounds pretty reasonable to me, based on my own experience with cats. I've known several that picked up pretty strong aversions to things they associated with pain or trauma, like the sound of heavy footsteps after having been accidentally tripped over. Even if they didn't associate the clip with pain in the future, they would certainly react fearfully once it had been removed, and it doesn't sound like this was the case at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author of the study describes the pressure as roughly similar to a blood pressure cuff, and carrying no real risk of injury. So the idea behind the technique is not, as suggested in the question, to pinch the skin so tightly that the cat can't move. It's to take advantage of a reflex behavior that's useful for mother cats managing their kittens, and that many cats happen to keep throughout their lives. It seems really unlikely to me that a gentle pinch would be calming and painless as kittens, but then becomes paralyzingly uncomfortable as adults while evoking the &lt;em&gt;exact same physical response&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, the author does seem to have some affiliation with a company that sells a product to do this. I think, from looking at their website (which I'd rather not link to; it's in the second article), that it's sold to vets rather than pet owners. I'm not sure what the connection is or whether the study or idea for the product came first; the second article does mention that he donates all of his proceeds to one of OSU's cat initiatives. So this may be a significant conflict of interest, or the university may have licensed his clip design after the study and the company wanted him as an advisor. I could see where he might have become convinced by the research that this is a helpful technique, and thinks it should be easy for vet staff to use the technique in a consistent, safe way. Or it could be a money grab with peer-reviewed advertising. In any event, it would be trivial for another practitioner to try to reproduce the results of the study, so I'd be pretty surprised if they're that far off the mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with this, the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the International Society of Feline Medicine say, in their &lt;a href=&quot;http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/13/5/364&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines&lt;/a&gt;, that there's some controversy around the technique among veterinary professionals. The guidelines reference the OSU study, so they are aware of its conclusions without completely adopting or rejecting them. They do also &quot;strongly support the view that scruffing&quot; -- which they distinguish from clipping -- &quot;should never be used as a routine method of restraint, and should only be used where there is no alternative.&quot; (&quot;About Scruffing Techniques&quot;, page 9 of the PDF.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'd like to see more research before I firmly say it's humane or not. I didn't see any direct responses to the OSU study, or anything else that uses the terms &lt;code&gt;clipnosis&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;PIBI&lt;/code&gt;. My instinct is to say that I don't see anything indicating that it's painful or traumatic, and on the surface it seems reasonable, but I having read all this I could still be convinced by a practicing veterinary professional in either direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2013-12-21T13:36:44.100" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T13:36:44.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-20T21:38:18.600" Score="10" ViewCount="3623" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apologies for the long post in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After our beloved Dobermann passed away some time ago, we decided to get a new dog. We picked a cute 5-month mixed race puppy from a local shelter. In the shelter she looked lovely: active, curious, loving of human interaction, very good relationship with the rest of dogs, etc. She did look like the perfect dog for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we picked her up from the shelter and took her home. She was great, very excited all the way, and very loving. But after 30 minutes of snooping around the house, she jumped on the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought 'here we go', and simply picked her up and put her down on the floor, saying 'Off'. Same thing we did with our previous dog when she was a puppy, and it wasn't a big deal. It just takes some repetition and conviction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So down she went to the floor, and 5 minutes later she jumped again. So i picked her up again, and then she growled a bit. I thought 'wow, this one's bold'. After 3 or 4 more attempts, the growling started to become serious. I remained calm and kept putting her down on the floor, saying 'Off'.&#xA;A little bit later, I was in the kitchen when I heard my wife yell at the dog. The dog had snapped at her and she was quite upset and afraid to pick her up. So I grabbed the dog again, she growled very menacingly and tried to bite me too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situation got worse progressively. After 3 or 4 more attempts, the puppy would growl at us just by getting anywhere near the sofa. I knew we had to stand our ground, or else she would just be reinforced in her behaviour. So I tried sitting in the couch as close as possible so that she wouldn't growl, then slowly inch towards her, trying to 'claim' the space back by spreading my legs, square shoulders, and so on. When I was close enough I just picked her up again and tried to put her on the floor and then she bit me in the arm. The teeth didn't get past the thick sweater I was wearing but it was a bite nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some hesitation, I was determined to take the dog away from the couch. So I wrapped my arm with a thick blanket and picked her up and put her down again, and she tried to bite me, a lot. After she was on the floor we took her out to the garden and waited til she was calm, then i put her on leash and let her free again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we're just sitting on the couch and every time she jumps on the couch, I just pull the leash and put her down. Oddly enough, this does not seem to upset her and she goes back to her dog bed after that. She's now sleeping in her bed looking all cute and innocent, waiting for the next opening... This has been going on for about 1 hour now and I'm writing during this break in the hostilities to ask you people, how weird is this? &#xA;I've been reading online and this seems to be a common problem with dogs, but it seems to happen with people who start by letting the dogs on the furniture, and then the dogs become possessive/dominant over time and etc. This also usually happens with teenage dogs, not puppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dog has been with us for a total of 6 hours, and I know for a fact she's never ever seen a couch before in her life, since she was abandoned when she was days old and left at the shelter together with her brothers. She hasn't been abused or had any incidents that might explain this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also strange that she seems to click out of this behaviour as soon as she touches the floor. 5 minutes after biting me, she was all sweet and licking my hand and following me around the house like nothing ever happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think this is just her testing the waters and trying to find her place, and will go away soon? Or is it an indication of some kind of problem? We plan to have children soon and I'm not having an unstable / nippy dog around the house when that happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; as per suggestions in comments, we tried putting some unwashed clothes on the dog bed. This seemed to work for a while. After an uneventful night, we are now more or less back to the situation of yesterday, minus the biting because we use the leash to pull her off the couch, but the growling continues. We will now seek advice from an ethologist to try to find a solution for this. In the meantime, any suggestions or thoughts are very welcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="302" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:09:20.207" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:09:20.207" Title="5-month puppy first day at home: guarding couch, growling, biting" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1757" CreationDate="2013-12-21T13:00:40.300" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Things to remember/think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You just got her from her usual environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The binding phase where dogs learn to interact and live with humans&#xA;is long over. It sounds like she had not much interactions with humans?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 months is rather a teenager than a puppy. Prepare for a hard time measured in weeks/months, not in hours/days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay calm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't allow her to enter the couch once you have decided this way (IMHO unfortunate decision, but too late), while avoiding violence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure there are other games besides &quot;who can enter the couch&quot; so that she can have positive experiences with you and your partner. Avoid that &quot;they wont let me onto the couch&quot; is the only or dominant experience she makes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reinforce/reward each and every good behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure she doesn't get any success whatsoever by biting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed her at fixed times and &lt;strong&gt;out of the hand only&lt;/strong&gt; until you have build up a relation. Feeding needs to stop on continued misbehaviour (i.e. biting, trying to get the food by force). You can make it good by giving more next time, or feeding more often. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience I can tell that dogs at this age seem to have unlimited energy, meaning, she can do that couch game for hours. The measures I told above are thought a) to steer this energy in a positive direction b) make it clear that you control the most important ressource - food. Dogs love people that give them food. Dogs learn very very fast the conditions that must be met to get food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Unlimited access to food at all times is not somehow a natural right for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastEditorUserId="480" LastEditDate="2013-12-21T13:12:09.870" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T13:12:09.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1576" CreationDate="2013-12-21T14:03:48.427" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could write a book on this; in fact, there are many books on this. The short version is -   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae is &lt;strong&gt;beneficial&lt;/strong&gt; to fish the same way that plants are - they convert nitrate to a usable nitrogen source for consumption with the byproduct of oxygen. This oxygenates the water and removes harmful (to fish) nitrogen compounds. This is assuming alkaline water, it work differently in acidic water. Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://neptunesneighborhood.com/Nitrogencycle.pdf&quot;&gt;this simplified article&lt;/a&gt; on the nitrogen cycle. &lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: it's my article on my site where I also may or may not advertise products.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae is &lt;strong&gt;beneficial&lt;/strong&gt; to snails, fish and other organisms that may eat it. It can be a great food source, depending on the type of algae and the type of organism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is an &lt;strong&gt;indicator&lt;/strong&gt; of adequate (or excess) nutrients in the ecosystem. Because it is a plant, it indicates that there are sufficient nutrients and light for it to grow. It also indicates that carbon (the most common limiting factor) is adequate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's a &lt;strong&gt;detriment&lt;/strong&gt; to other plant species. Because it is so efficient at utilizing nutrients and expanding to choke out other organisms competing for them (and light), it can and will damage other plants. It does this to assure its own survival. It can also perform types of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allelopathy&quot;&gt;allelopathy&lt;/a&gt; which can be detrimental to other plant species.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By choking out other plants, it may choke out food sources, oxygenating sources or camouflage/cover for other organisms. This is, once again, &lt;strong&gt;detrimental&lt;/strong&gt; to the balance of the ecosystem and may cause it to crash.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, algae, in and of itself, is a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem, but (like anything) in excess, it can be harmful. It's great to see some algae and know things are going well, but it's also very important to keep it under control to ensure it doesn't disrupt the balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T14:03:48.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1469" CreationDate="2013-12-21T14:19:52.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish that jump - will. Predators from land, in the water or in the air that hunt fish - will. The only way to ensure that fish stay in the area that is designated for them (pond or tank) is to put a cover on it, whether it be a lid, netting, screen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to leave enough distance between a solid-cover and the top of the water to allow for oxygen (and other gas) exchange. This is typically about an inch (2.5cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important that the cover not block out light so that plants can grow and fish still have a day/night cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A bit off-topic, but important to note, is with a fish pond that is not above ground, it is very important to make sure there is a barrier or a path of lesser resistance for water run-off to not enter the pond. The biggest concern is pesticides or other toxic (to fish) compounds getting into the pond. (noted in the comments by @JohnCavan). You can also deter fish jumping (due to being startled) by providing cover such as floating plants (noted in comments by @MattS.) or underwater cliffs/plateaus, but you'll want to also provide a barrier so that birds and other predators are less likely to surprise the fish from above.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T14:19:52.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1221" CreationDate="2013-12-21T14:31:21.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plecos only claim territory when they are spawning or the male is fanning eggs. Overall, they are generally nomadic and as long as there is a place for them to hide, they'll be fine (not stressed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good strategy for fish that are being picked on, is to remove all the fish, reorganize the tank and re-release the fish. This will cause any established territories to be removed and the pecking order re-established. In general, this would mean reorganizing the tank (with no spawning fish) won't cause too much stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T14:31:21.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="483" CreationDate="2013-12-21T15:44:11.557" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all: Get yourself in a relaxed, but assertive mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now get together with the dog and the cat. The dog now shall always be calm and unexcited. As soon as he starts to play with the cat, make a sharp &quot;shhhht!&quot; (or any other sound you want, but it should be a disapproval sound). If the dog doesn't react, use your hand and imitate a little bite into the side of the dog's neck (not hurting!, but the dog should feel it). This is how a mother emends her children dogs or how dogs emend each other in a pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog shall remain calm and quiet. Deny all unwanted behaviour as soon as it starts by the method described above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wait until the dog gets quiet. He will then sit or lay down and not be focused to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may need a couple of minutes. Keep patient and attentive. Don't try to calm down or to complement the dog at any time when he is not showing the behaviour you want him to have. Instead, use the sharp sound and/or the hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this training for a subsequent couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: Don't worry about the &quot;bite&quot; in the neck. I am absolutely against hurting a dog (or any other animal) in order to command him. But this is a natural way amongst dogs to show him, that a certain behaviour is not wanted in a pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastEditorUserId="104" LastEditDate="2014-02-25T23:20:25.430" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T23:20:25.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1764" CreationDate="2013-12-21T20:31:15.880" Score="12" ViewCount="5848" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat's nose is usually very moist. However, today I found it to be very hot and dry. I've searched about that, but the Internet seems really divided about the subject; some says a dry nose means a sick cat and others that it's a wet nose...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this makes me wonder, what's supposed to be normal for a healthy cat, a dry or moist nose? And is this even a good health indicator?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="445" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T20:52:30.673" Title="Should a cat's nose be wet or dry?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1763" CreationDate="2013-12-21T20:52:30.673" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to worry about this a lot (I grew up with cats, but when I started living alone and I was the only one caring for my cat, I started to worry more about every little thing my cat did or didn't do). So, I did some research and talked to my vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since a cat's nose is right there on the outside of their body, its qualities are going to change a lot with the temperature or humidity etc. in its living space. For example, in the winter my cat sleeps near a heater a lot, which leaves his nose drier than when he sleeps other places during the rest of the year. It's like how your own nose can get dry and possibly sore in a dry environment, and change when you are in a warmer or more humid environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet told me that while it can indicate illness, it is really not the best indicator, as so many other things affect the cat's nose. It is better to look at the rest of the cat, and see if they have other signs of illness, like lethargy or they're not eating or they are indicating they are in pain, and so on. Their noses aren't really a &quot;I am sick&quot; or &quot;I am well&quot; magic button - they are subject to outside environment factors just like human noses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2013-12-21T20:52:30.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1765" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1766" CreationDate="2013-12-21T21:11:14.047" Score="18" ViewCount="48323" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aquarium fish is sick and I don't know the least painful way of putting it down. How should I kill it so that it doesn't suffer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:47:31.327" Title="What's the least painful way to euthanize a fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1765" CreationDate="2013-12-21T21:11:14.047" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the size and temperature limitations of the species, there are several ways approved by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Euthanasia-Guidelines.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-step process of immersions (intentional overdose via immersion) in easily obtained (for hobbyist) solution includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eugenol (clove oil).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ethanol. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbon dioxide saturated water, for most fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to note a concentration of 95% ethanol is humane and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; saturated water should be saturated from pure sources, such as CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; canisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preferred method is clove oil as it is cheap and painless. It acts as an anesthetic to the fish. I remove the fish from the tank and place it in an easily cleaned or thrown out container of tank water. I take another container (usually a pill bottle) and put 3–5 drops (for fish up to 4 inches / 10 cm in length) of clove oil along with tank water and shake until the water is milky. Then I add this slowly (while stirring) to the container the fish is in. The fish will slowly go to sleep and will flip over and float upside down. This is just the fish being knocked out. I then mix another concentrated bottle of clove oil with water and add that to the container which causes the fish to die. &lt;strong&gt;Depending on the size of the fish, adjust the concentration.&lt;/strong&gt; I leave the fish for about 10 minutes and then check for gill movement. I've had pretty decent success with this method with a very low percentage of fish showing any signs of distress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep clove oil on hand. If you don't have access to these methods, there are physical methods described in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AVMA Euthanasia Guide&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DO NOT flush the fish while alive as the chlorine in the tap water&#xA;will burn the fish's gills or they may not die.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DO NOT leave the&#xA;fish out of water as this is not humane.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:47:31.327" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:47:31.327" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-22T05:27:28.710" Score="9" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ragdoll kitten is now 5 months old and it has developed a somewhat stout body. The healthy cat body figures I've found are showing an adult cat. By these figures my kitten is overweight, but as it is still a kitten I've not paid much attention - until recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ragdoll kitten is one of six. In my mind I see him fighting for food when he was still living with his littermates. We received him at the age of 13 weeks. Now, I'm comparing this ragdoll to our two years old Maine coon, whom we received when she was 15 weeks old. The Maine coon was, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1618/278&quot;&gt;still is&lt;/a&gt;, quite a lean bodied kitten/cat. As far as I know she is one of three littermates and therefore would not have needed to fight for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that the number of littermates has an effect on the kitten's appetite later in life? We have dry food on constant offer for our cats, and we serve wet food without a firm schedule two or three times a day. The &quot;largelitter&quot; ragdoll attacks wet food like he was starving to death, while the &quot;small-litter&quot; Maine coon stays away and goes to eat only after all our other cats have left the vicinity of food plate(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is this just coincidental to these kitten and cat that we have, or is it generally true? Additionally, should I pay attention to this when shaping our feeding policy and habits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:13:47.330" Title="What effect does the number of littermates have on the appetite of a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1767" CreationDate="2013-12-22T22:54:18.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know that the number of littermates is as important as the amount of mother's milk available to them as kittens.  If the kittens did not have to fight to get an ample amount, then they are less likely to display this behavior as mature cats.  However, a large litter is much more likely to suffer from the inability of the mother to produce as much milk. It also happens with smaller litters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are replacement milk products available that can be used to supply the kittens with enough food should the mother not produce an adequate amount.  These products are available at farm supply stores in the US as well as though veterinary offices and pet supply stores.  My experience is that the kittens respond well to this feeding and as long as it is detected early do not usually develop this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T06:13:47.330" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:13:47.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1830" CreationDate="2013-12-22T23:42:33.000" Score="6" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume that, being frogs, they're insectivores, but what insects would be a good diet for them? Would a diet of only crickets be okay, or would I need to feed them other types of insects as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T13:27:48.813" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T13:27:48.813" Title="What kind of diet do Vietnamese Mossy Frogs need?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="229" CreationDate="2013-12-22T23:51:10.203" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to crush garlic and put the bits in a small amount of water, letting it stand overnight and then filtering the stuff out leaving only the garlic-smelling water, which I then used in a spray bottle to spray on the furniture I wanted to save from scratching. Sometimes I added vinegar and/or fresh lemon juice in with the garlic. I don't know what did the trick; the garlic, vinegar, lemon, or just the &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; of the smell nevermind what it was. After all, it worked and I don't care how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love garlic in my own food, and that may explain why I never noticed my furniture might have been smelling like garlic. Or then, perhaps the scent really was so weak that there was nothing for a human nose to notice? On the other hand, a cat's nose is not among the best of animals either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion it is a given, when I take cats to live in the same apartment with me, that I simply have to suffer the consequences, but the cat was scratching my favourite leather recliner. The smell of garlic on the leather saved my chair. Later in life another of my cats relieved herself on the chair, and that resulted in a smell I could not cover with garlic - I had to rid the chair, but the cat stayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the case, I would never ever clip a cat's nails. Nor would I ever put any nail-caps on a cat's nails. A cat is very clever with the use of its nails and I see no reason whatsoever not to let a cat use them. If those nails bother you it means you have taken the wrong animal to live with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2013-12-22T23:51:10.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-23T01:18:59.150" Score="12" ViewCount="1299" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that Sailfin Dragons a quite receptive of human handling and can make pretty good pets. I'm curious if that means they would get along with other animals too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, and they're both well behaved around reptiles. They show some interest in the smaller lizards that scurry about suddenly, but other than that they ignore them (they're well aware they would be in huge trouble with me if they bothered any of the reptiles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I acknowledge that most reptiles see cats as predators, and there's a short period where it takes them to get used to their presence and realize that they're perfectly safe. What I'm curious about, is that since sailfin dragons get to be about a meter long, would they consider my cats to be predators at all? A meter is a little over 3 feet long and easily larger than both of my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I'm interested in them, is that they're supposed to be a more reasonable cousin of iguanas, but should I worry about them attacking my cats? How well would a sailfin dragon get along with a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T03:31:03.353" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T03:42:22.257" Title="Would a sailfin dragon get along with a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1774" CreationDate="2013-12-23T03:10:22.753" Score="16" ViewCount="6622" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 months old Labrador puppy who is very active. She is a very smart dog, maybe a little over-smart. The problem is that she tries to chew anything that comes into her way.  Be it a ball, pebble or anything, she just tries to chew it. I'm guessing this is way to relieve pain that might be caused by incoming teeth. Or maybe it is boredom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I discourage my puppy from chewing on objects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="516" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T14:14:11.963" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:49:03.077" Title="How can I prevent my puppy from chewing on objects?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1772" CreationDate="2013-12-23T03:30:23.910" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 3 months old it's probably teething. But Labradors will chew anything and everything, it's just something that comes with the breed. My Labrador I had as a kid chewed a hole through the wall of our wooden shed and then chased a possum through it one night. Her favorite thing to chew on were these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=pets&amp;amp;field-keywords=donut%20dog%20bone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rawhide bone donuts&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OYz0q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Donut Dog Bone&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.i-pets.com/rawhide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably because those were the only things that would take her over a day to chew through. There are even alternatives if you prefer not to give your dog rawhide; Like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00A0IYGYS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chase N Romp Foraging Ring&lt;/a&gt;. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002AR0I8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kong toy&lt;/a&gt; filled with &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003JVBQ6Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;treats&lt;/a&gt;, or even just dog food, will keep her entertained as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oFX7N.png&quot; alt=&quot;Kong Toy with Stuffing&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://woofwoofmama.com/2013/09/03/kong-classic-toy-treat-filling-deal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play lots of fetch, give her lots of toys to chew on. Labradors are a a working dog, so she'll have plenty of energy to spend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T17:16:45.857" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T17:16:45.857" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1772" CreationDate="2013-12-23T06:11:08.753" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Buy a new pair of shoes and a woodworks lathe.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; said an old man to me when I went about asking what and how should I prepare for my first dog (puppy). I said I can imagine why the shoes, but what's the lathe for? His prompt answer was &lt;em&gt;&quot;you see, it is not nice to walk barefoot to a shoes dealer; that's why you buy the new shoes now and hid them somewhere high up. And the woodworks lathe comes handy when you are constantly in need of new legs for your chairs and knobs for your drawers, it'll also become cheaper in the long run if you have your own lathe for the job.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The straight answer to your question is no, chewing can't be prevented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chewing is normal at all ages of a dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive chewing is normal for a young puppy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GdTU5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;knobs for your drawers&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that age it is quite normal for a dog to chew after chewing. It is for the new teeth coming up and the worst of the chewing will end soon enough. Just keep on feeding your dog with things to chew. Not only toys and such, but also chewing sticks and bones. Even an adult dog will occasionally like to chew something, but for a puppy it is a necessity. The odd thing is they don't like to chew just anything. There's your job to find out what he'll like to chew and what not. My family is lucky to have two dogs who won't chew our shoes, though they did chew almost anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might use this in the training and socializing of your puppy. Use chewing sticks as reward for succesful obeying of &quot;Here&quot; command. After all, that's the most important command you'll need to drill into a dog's nerve system, so you might as well use such rewards that your puppy will value highly at the moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is something I am not quite sure about, but I'd think it good that your dog is not drawing an equal mark between &lt;em&gt;&quot;I'm bored&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and chewing. You should do good to make him associate chewing with play and training and fun and rewards from you. Later in life, when you are at work and your dog is home alone and gets bored in waiting for you to return - there is a chance he won't start chewing down your furniture if he doesn't connect boring and chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2013-12-23T06:24:48.497" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T06:24:48.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1772" CreationDate="2013-12-23T14:19:11.150" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two small things before I start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You have a pup. Puppies at her age are beginning to feel pain in their teeth as new teeth begin to push out the old ones. Remember that teething is a way for her to ease the pain -- she's not trying to be a bad dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Puppies will teeth for the sake of easing pain until they're developed -- then they'll do it for fun. This is what dogs do. Once all her adult teeth are completely in (if they look in but she's teething in an odd way, check the back of her mouth. Bowser, my 7-mo-old, is trying to shove big bones all the way to the back of his mouth to ease the pain of those molars coming in), she'll still teeth a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teething is a really a good opportunity to begin training your dog. The first rule is to always have her supervised. When she begins teething on things she's not supposed to, give her a stern no and distract her with something else. A few good things to distract her with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puppies love ice cubes. It will help numb the gums and ease the pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try getting a clean, old towel and getting it wet. Wrap it up and tuck in the edges. Stick it in the freezer overnight and when she starts chewing, pull it out. If she begins ripping the frozen, hard towel, take it from her (this is also a good training opportunity -- don't let her growl!), cut off the extras, and give it back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowser loves nylon bones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Towels are good too. I've seen dogs play two ways with towels. One is the &quot;let me rip this thing apart&quot; way, and they start eating it like a bone, finding the best way to shred it. Sometimes, though, I've seen teethers stick part of it in their mouth and just start clenching really hard. The second way is best. With both ways, the towel will rip eventually, so make sure to cut off anything that could get caught inside her mouth/organs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want, run to the pet store and get something like a bully stick or deer antler.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember not to reward bad behavior. If you spend five minutes trying to get the dog to stop chewing on the furniture, that's attention time. She'll love it. If you distribute the &quot;no&quot; and get right to redirection and replacement, then reward, she'll learn what she gets attention for and what she doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2013-12-24T22:49:08.887" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T22:49:08.887" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2013-12-23T21:31:01.070" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Europe in a country where most of the ferrets were imported about 15 years ago and most of the current population comes from only small number of animals. I know about cases when a ferret had the same male as father, grandfather and great-grand-father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the years, a lot of people tried to fix the situation by importing animals from other countries but there are still many animals which die young (2-6 years) because of various health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;The longevity of ferrets is most affected by genetic predisposition.&lt;/b&gt; Yes, care and diet will affect the longevity, but in-breeding will affect it (shorten it) much more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ensure the longevity of your ferret, you should first check its ancestors. How healthy are they? Do they have kidney problems? Are you sure the parents or grandparents were not related to each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vendor cannot tell you about the ancestors (or show them to you and let you pet them), don't even consider buying a ferret there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that the character of a ferret can be affected a lot during the first 3 months of its life, which is the time when the little ferret is still with the breeder. Getting a ferret from a big farm usually means getting a ferret that has not been pet at all and it's a wild animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend not to buy a ferret from a breeder that has more than 3 litters a year. He/she just cannot pay enough attention to every ferret and the risk of a wild ferret is too big. Don't buy from someone who actually has ferret breeding as a living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer to &lt;code&gt;how can I avoid purchasing...&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;Is just &lt;code&gt;Invest the time to learn about the breeder and the parents of your ferrets&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="527" LastActivityDate="2013-12-23T21:31:01.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-23T23:51:41.503" Score="4" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves being combed, he purrs and nuzzles my hands, but whenever anything, be it a comb or my hand, tries to reach his belly, he attacks it with all his four legs as soon as he notices it. Even petting his belly is tricky as I have to move from behind. When he's lying on his back, chances of petting him are nil. All my attempts with the comb have been a failure so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to comb my cat's belly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T12:26:56.080" Title="How to comb/brush my cat in hard to reach areas?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1778" CreationDate="2013-12-24T12:26:56.080" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presuming that you need to do this (your cat has flea issues or is a long-haired cat with a tendency to get matted), about the only way I've found effective with this is persistence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My technique is to start by giving the cat the preferred type of grooming until the cat is happy and relaxed, then move to the area the cat dislikes. I try to use one hand to &quot;catch&quot; the cat's paws so the other can reach the targeted area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the attack is a play/scratch my chin attack (no claws, the front legs pull your hand to the cat's chin/chest), I'll scratch and gradually lift my arm so the comb can get in and work the cat's belly (this is tricky, but can be done). If it's the protect/kill reflex I withdraw and give the cat no further attention for a while. When the cat has calmed, I'll try again starting with the preferred grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method has let me get to the belly of cats who preferred not to have their stomach touched, but it's not one I'd bother with unless there was a clear need for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T12:26:56.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1785" CreationDate="2013-12-24T13:47:42.323" Score="8" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading through &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ready.gov/&quot;&gt;http://www.ready.gov/&lt;/a&gt; I have a family plan and am creating a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit&quot;&gt;Disaster Supply Kit&lt;/a&gt;.  What considerations should I have for my &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_rabbit&quot;&gt;house rabbit&lt;/a&gt;?  What supplies should I include in the kit for my bunny?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T20:37:01.857" Title="What disaster considerations should I make for my pet rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;disaster&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-24T14:03:31.117" Score="7" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an 8 year old cat that recently started peeing in one spot in the hallway. During the summer months she spends most of her time outside but during the cold winter she stays inside mostly, could this be causing her some anxiety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-12-24T15:47:38.967" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T15:47:38.967" Title="Why is my cat suddenly urinating outside of the litter box?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2013-12-25T18:02:31.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1807" CreationDate="2013-12-24T15:01:00.300" Score="11" ViewCount="2284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_rabbit&quot;&gt;house rabbit&lt;/a&gt;.  I want to create a first aid kit, that has items specific for bunny first aid, what should it include?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T13:17:55.833" Title="What should be in a rabbit first aid kit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;disaster&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1772" CreationDate="2013-12-24T18:42:42.983" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 month old lab pups should be contained in a crate or pen when they are not supervised. Use bitter apple as a taste deterrent on the legs of the table, if that is where the pup seems to want to focus. Substitute appropriate chew toys if the pup goes for the table leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other fun things to give them to chew on: ice cubes - or a large ice cube made in a plastic butter tub - making a hockey puck size toy. You can freeze a few pieces of kibble in the ice cube to make it more interesting. Also, try putting a nylabone in the freezer for a bit. The cold feels good on teething gums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thought: the best chew toy I found for labs in on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goughnuts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;goughnuts.com&lt;/a&gt;. This company makes nearly indestructible chew toys, and the company replaces them when they get worn down. The green &lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; size is good for lab pups, but they will graduate to the full size when 7-9 months old. The black toys are for the super strong chewers - which most of my labs turn out to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really focus on chewing issues when the pup is young, you should get past that stage in a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="532" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:49:03.077" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:49:03.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1781" CreationDate="2013-12-24T20:37:01.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the most important things is that you get an appropriately sized travel carrier.  The carrier should be large enough that your rabbit can fit in it comfortably but should not allow room for the rabbit to move a lot when the carrier gets jostled.  During an emergency you likely will not have time to slowly and carefully move your bunny.  A properly sized carrier will help keep your bunny from experiencing trauma from being thrown around its cage.  A bunnies back and neck are relatively fragile so this is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HbX5r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;  &lt;em&gt;This is a double carrier for 2 rabbits but you can also find single or triple carriers depending on your need.  These carriers are also available in various sizes.  It is important that your carrier not be too big or too small for your rabbit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have at least a weeks supply of food. Rabbits do not handle stress well and the emergency is going to be enough stress.  Changing its food at this time could very well push it over the edge.  &lt;strong&gt;Stress can kill a rabbit.&lt;/strong&gt;  Having a week of the food that it is used to should help your rabbit get through this period, as well as giving you time to find more food.  If you are unable to find a source of the same food your rabbit is used to by day 3 then I would start mixing in what ever food you plan to replace it with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit should be able to handle a few days in the carrier but you will want to find it at least a temporary cage as soon as you get to someplace you can stay for a few days. If that will not be possible then you should have a temporary rabbit sitter that can provide that stable place for your rabbit.  I am against boarding a rabbit at a Vet clinic only because your rabbit is liable to be exposed to some diseases it has no immunity for during a time where it is already stressed.  But if that is your only option your rabbit is better off there than riding in your car.  Having an emergency sitter prepared ahead of time will save you and your bunny stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2013-12-24T20:37:01.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1786" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-25T11:17:07.097" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2013-12-25T11:17:07.097" LastActivityDate="2013-12-25T11:17:07.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1787" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-25T11:17:07.097" Score="0" Body="Herding is to move and control a number of animals, often with the help of a pet or pets trained in herding, usually using dogs from the Herding group." OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T09:01:06.530" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T09:01:06.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1789" CreationDate="2013-12-25T17:19:55.743" Score="21" ViewCount="75557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am tired of having tons of dying cockroaches around my house from poison so &lt;strong&gt;I am thinking of letting a gecko loose in my house to help get rid of the infestation&lt;/strong&gt;.  I would stop using the poison and just let the gecko eat the roaches and am wondering what I should do to help it to live, like how will it get water (how much water do geckos need)?  They feed the gecko cockroaches at the pet store, so I figured it would work.  We have a LOT of cockroaches, so he will have plenty of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I was wondering what precautions I should take or if anyone has ever done this before or has heard of this being done or can give any helpful advice to help me avoid ending up with a dead gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help will be appreciated as I know about nothing about keeping geckos.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="535" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-11T03:14:08.347" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T17:16:02.620" Title="Can I use a gecko to get rid of a cockroach infestation?" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1788" CreationDate="2013-12-25T18:08:12.120" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I read your question right, you want to use the gecko to clean up the poisoned roaches? You'll just end up with a poisoned gecko that way. But either way, a free-roaming gecko isn't going to make a dent in your roach problem, because roaches go out of their way to live and breed in places that predators can't reach, and to be honest the population is probably more than large enough to sustain itself even with minor losses from poison or predation. Plus, roaches tend to live within a few meters of their food supply, and letting reptiles run around your kitchen increases &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=6016&amp;amp;articleid=2467&amp;amp;d=160&amp;amp;category=293&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;your risk of catching salmonella&lt;/a&gt; from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have a pretty bad infestation, which unfortunately is not going to be easy or quick to get rid of. There's never a silver bullet for any kind of infestation, and you need to look at everything that's encouraging the roaches to settle in your kitchen: how new ones come in, where they're getting their food and water, where they're hiding and breeding, and so on. This approach is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcsaferoach.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;integrated pest management&lt;/a&gt; (IPM), and it's the most effective response to any vermin problem. It's perfectly reasonable to hire a professional exterminator who understands IPM in a case like this (and I'd personally be skeptical of any exterminator who doesn't).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="5148" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T17:16:02.620" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T17:16:02.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-25T19:23:07.660" Score="9" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two sturgeons in the pond which &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/69/58&quot;&gt;need to be fed during winter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know koi don't need food during frost periods and only a small amount when the pond isn't frozen. I kept feeding the sturgeons on one spot of the pond, unfortunately that is the very same spot the koi choose to spend most of their time at now that it got cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the sturgeon activity have an impact on the well being of the koi? Should I feed the sturgeons at another spot, eg some meters away from the koi?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T13:25:40.277" Title="Will feeding other fish in the same pond have an impact on my koi in winter?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;winter&gt;&lt;sturgeons&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1791" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2013-12-25T19:40:33.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Koi are domestic carp, bred to be optically pleasing. The japanese word koi (鯉) actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E9%AF%89&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stands for carp&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koi are related to goldfish, but grow bigger in size. Koi that have grown over 50cm are not unusual. The colors of koi vary, most commonly are red, white or black, or a mixture of two or more colors with different patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koi are often considered as a status symbol by their owners, as a result they can sometimes become very expensive in auctions. This holds true for big specimen or fish that sport a specific pattern. (E.g. white koi with a red dot on the head which resembles the Japanese flag.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-12-25T19:40:33.807" LastActivityDate="2013-12-25T19:40:33.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1792" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2013-12-25T19:40:33.807" Score="0" Body="Koi are domestic carp, that have been bred to be optically pleasing. They are related to goldfish but grow bigger." OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditDate="2013-12-25T19:40:33.807" LastActivityDate="2013-12-25T19:40:33.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-26T01:53:00.770" Score="12" ViewCount="10188" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had our puppy for about 6 weeks and have been unsuccessful at house-breaking him.  We are at wit's end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been doing strict crate-training for about 4 weeks now.  It has worked to some degree - when he needs to go, he starts crying and whining in the crate, and he will immediately eliminate when taken outside.  Even though he's young (16 weeks), he doesn't have accidents in the crate, and doesn't need to go out more than every 6 or 8 hours or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is when we let him free in the house (which we only do after he pees and poos outside).  After a variable amount of time (as little as 40 minutes) he eliminates in the house without giving any kind of warning.  He seems to have reached the conclusion that going outside is mandatory, but going inside the house is optional and perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is very smart, and we have trained him to do lots of other things -- play fetch, sit, stay, respond to his name, and to stop biting.  It's just this house breaking thing that has been an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  It's been an additional 2-3 weeks since I posted the question.  He finally seems to be learning that it is unacceptable to go in the house, although he's really bad at telling us that he needs to go outside (he just sort of starts glancing at the door).  The bell hasn't worked for us since he considers it the world's greatest toy, and just wants to ring it constantly.  But we will find another signal and finally get him house-trained.  This was a long road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trainer told us that it takes as long for a dog to un-learn a bad behavior as he was allowed to exhibit it.  So by her theory, since he was going in the house for about 3 weeks, the first 3 weeks of crate-training was just erasing, and getting us back to zero.  That makes sense given how long we've had to spend doing the crate-training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="536" LastEditorUserId="536" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T14:58:41.697" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T17:00:13.890" Title="Crate-training our puppy is not working - help!" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1793" CreationDate="2013-12-26T02:55:36.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try spending more time outside when you first get him out of his crate. Some dogs learn to do their business as quickly as possible so that they hurry inside and do fun things, and as a result they might not completely &quot;empty&quot; themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also time he started learning to take himself out when he feels the urge. If you happen to see him in the act, interrupt him, take him outside, and then give him time to finish his business and reward him when he does. This should help him to get the idea that toileting outside is a way cooler thing to do than toileting inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="534" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T02:55:36.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1793" CreationDate="2013-12-26T04:01:28.340" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Housebreaking doesn't work simply by putting a dog in his crate. There are things you need to work on even when the dog isn't inside his crate to make sure he learns where he can go and where he cant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you have to realize is what you're doing &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; working. Your dog isn't broken, and your on the right track. Many people have similar issues, and it's going to take time (more than 6 weeks!) to housebreak your puppy. A few tips below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he pees every 40 minutes, make sure to bring him outside every 39. There's really no way around this. If you suspect he's going to pee, bring him outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supervise and limit. The most important thing you do is to limit what areas of the house he has. My dog Bowser was restricted to the kitchen until he could master it. Then we started bringing him into the living room. Don't let your puppy leave the kitchen until he masters it. Use a dog gate like the one below if you don't feel like shutting doors.&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3SfZK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dog gate&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carpets are harder than floors. Once your puppy masters hard flooring, he's still not 100% housebroken. For a lot of pups, the carpet is confusing and takes a while to get used to. Put a rug that feels like carpet in his crate to get him used to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the pup outside after eating, drinking, playing, sleeping, training, chewing, running, etc... Also, once you bring him outside and he pees, bring him right back in. Don't let him think you were going outside for a walk and the pee was optional.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he pees inside, always make sure to catch him in the act. This is another reason why limiting his area is important. Catch him in the act, startle him with a stern no, immediately pick him up or leash him, and bring him outside. Once you catch him, he should be outside within 30 seconds -- no exception. While you take him out, have someone else clean the area with water and vinegar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some find it useful to use a bell. Hang a bell by your backdoor and whenever you go outside for the puppy to eliminate, ring it. When you catch him in the act and bring him outside, ring it. Eventually he'll begin to ring it himself. Praise him when he does and make sure he goes out. If you don't want to buy a bell, grab some fabric and jingle bells and DIY.&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cl.ly/image/2x0u1G300y3A/IMG_2321.jpeg&quot; alt=&quot;Jingle bell dog bell&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you take the pup outside to go, you should be using a command. As the dog crouches to eliminate, repeatedly say something like &quot;go to it,&quot; or &quot;potty,&quot; until he's done. Praise afterwards. Eventually he'll associate the command with the action.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to use praise when he goes outside. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.220" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T15:39:34.083" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1788" CreationDate="2013-12-26T08:28:16.517" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, for your plan to work, your house would need to be infested with geckos, then you'd be looking at something that eats geckos, something that eats the animals that eats geckos. Etc. Your best option is to cut off the roaches food supply. Clean the area that you're finding roaches with a burning passion. Then, seal off any cracks you can see. Cockroaches can fit in any space that's as thick as their head, and their heads are tiny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the issue if securing the gecko as well. If the gecko isn't native to the area you live, and it escapes, you could become responsible for introducing an invasive species into the wild. It's really hard to say what kind of impact it could have on the local wildlife and even plants. Certain species of geckos can store sperm for later use, so a female that gets loose will be able to reproduce without a mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the area is non-conductive to geckos living in the wild, it's still immoral/unethical to put a gecko into the situation where they wouldn't be able to survive on their own. It's not the same as letting a cat loose to catch mice in a barn as the cat can move onto a different area if food runs out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a related note if you actually care about the gecko you should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; feed your it wild insects. If it's an issue of not wanting to buy insects every so often, ask how to set up a colony for it. I can tell you how to get one going. Feeder insects are a separate strain of insects bred in captivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild insects are exposed to many things in their lifespan. Chemicals people spray in their grass like weedkiller and pesticides. Poison like you're using. Insects can also carry parasites that are harmful to reptiles. This is why people breed insects as feeders, so that they know their insects are clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt; If it's just a tool you want to get rid of the cockroaches then you should get a tool, not an animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-06-10T22:06:07.943" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T22:06:07.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1798" CreationDate="2013-12-26T12:17:01.407" Score="14" ViewCount="853" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 months old dog loves her hairy friends. She loves them too much. When there's another dog around, she plays with them, jumping and biting them. When that happens, she completely ignores us or any other people/toys around, and all she cares about is the other dog and playing with him/her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a minor annoyance when the other dog cooperates and plays with her (I'd still like her to listen to me when I call her and give her commands), but it becomes intolerable when the other dog doesn't. If the other dog lashes out and bites/warns her, then she sees it as a game and just goes on pestering, but even worse when the other dog ignores her, she starts barking at him/her really loud, and we live in an apartment...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I try calming her, even pulling her away and holding her, but she's so enthusiastic that she does whatever she can to get free, including biting my arms pretty hard (not aggressively though). If I put her in another room she starts scratching the door (even if I'm in that other room with her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-15T17:41:05.047" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T00:08:01.847" Title="Dog jumps and bites when another dog is around" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1797" CreationDate="2013-12-26T20:06:39.227" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the best ways to calm her down is repetitive training. Trust me -- I have a 7 month old, and I know it sounds a lot easier than it is. But training really is the best way for this. Unfortunately, this issue is extremely common and hard to break. Every dog is different. Below I'll list a few methods/tips, but it's up to the trainer to exhaust themselves with the methods and evolve them to work around their dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to train your dog behaviorally starts with her obedience. You don't say how well-trained she is this far, but I'd start with making sure she has a few basic commands down. As a general guide for future people having the same question, a few of the most important commands are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sit.&lt;/strong&gt; Sit is a great way to keep your dog still and close. It also sets the tone for how you want to introduce your dog to the other dogs. Once your dog has a basic understanding of &quot;sit,&quot; begin making her sit before meeting people, going outside, and eating. Once she obeys, use a release command and reward her with whatever it is you were doing (i.e., allow her to eat the food or walk up to the new guest). For many dogs, these are all exciting activities and it's likely she'll have trouble doing these at first. Once she masters sitting under these stressful situations, begin to make her sit when passing dogs on a walk and before playing. While walking, it's likely you won't be able to allow her to play with a passing by dog, so make sure to keep treats in your back pocket. Before playtime, make sure that once she sits and stays still for a few seconds, you give her a release command and allow her to roll around with her friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Come.&lt;/strong&gt; Also known as &quot;here&quot; or &quot;front.&quot; Come is essential when encountering an unfriendly dog or a dangerous environment. First, make sure that your dog can come in stressful situations. After your dog has a basic understanding of come, introduce it when your dog is in the backyard, when she's playing with another person, or when she's chewing on a bone. After she has these situations down, try it during playtime. Make sure to reward tons, depending on how stressful the situation was. If she chose you over a squirrel or another pup, you better have treats in your pocket. Also, remember that a command is a command. She needs to obey them. Bowser will be barking around the backyard at another dog, and no matter what I do he won't stop. But when I say the word &quot;come,&quot; he better hopes he comes or one little pup is in a bit of trouble. Because of the way we trained him (command is a command, not a request), he'll come running to me when I say come. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay, heel, and wait.&lt;/strong&gt; Once your dog masters sitting for a few seconds in front of playmates, begin to give short stays and releases. Similarly, if your dog will allow another dog to pass by on a walk while sitting without going crazy, begin to use heel. Wait is more of a temporary command where your dog should know to stop doing whatever she was about to do. You can teach this command by keeping your dog on leash and throwing a treat in front of her. When she bolts for it, give a tug on the leash (*Note: this better be a light tug. Ideally, use a training harness like the the easy walk or sensation harness. You don't want to damage her trachea/neck area. If the tug hurts her and/or is too violent, she'll brace herself for pain when you say wait instead of actually waiting). Then let her go for the treat with a release like &quot;okay.&quot; Do this repeatedly (remember, &lt;strong&gt;don't hurt her&lt;/strong&gt;. Use a training harness like the one below, &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt;!) until she gets the hang of it. Begin to do it before letting her outside or when she encounters something like a stick while walking. Make sure to treat when she listens to you.&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h418/FreestyleLaila/Senseation%20harness/IMG_3345.jpg&quot; width=&quot;450&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your pup understands these commands (this can take up to a few months! Don't expect it to happen overnight), your dog should be more controllable, especially around dogs that &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; appreciate your dogs energy. I'll list a few tips below that should begin to help your puppy with high energy situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you need to lock her in another room while a dog is over, lock her in with a bone, give her a small treat, and then ignore her. Don't pay attention to her if she begins barking and whining. This will only make her think that you'll give in if she whines, and she'll begin to train you. Once she settles down and stops barking, you can reward her from another room (i.e., give her a nice &quot;good girl Lucy! Good girl!&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure she earns playtime. If she won't sit while another puppy is around, don't let her play with that puppy. Once she does what you want her to do, reward her. Remember that you need to make this subtle at first. If, for the first time she sits, but only for a nanosecond, make sure to reward and let her go. On the second time, you want her to do it for two nanoseconds. On the third, maybe a full second.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the middle of playtime, give her a come, make her sit, reward, then release. It's important that she knows that coming and sitting doesn't mean it's time to go. At five minute intervals, be sure to interrupt her playtime for a short training session. If she doesn't listen to you, grab her (ideally, get your friend to grab his/her pup also) and then get her to sit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find a treat that your dog really, really likes (bananas and pup-peroni with my dog). Hold it in front of her nose when you want her to stay by you. Don't force her to stay by you by pulling on her leash (i.e., there should always be slack in the leash, but limit the length of the leash to ~3 ft so she stays close). Control her by the treat and reward when she does a good job. As she gets better, you can start moving the treat closer to your body instead of right in front of her nose (like pictured below).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ckTeZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dog heeling&quot;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use patience. Your dog is a puppy, and she's only 6 months old. Training will take a while. Additionally, if you don't have basic obedience down, don't expect her to know &quot;sit&quot; during stressful situations if she can't even sit at all. Work with her and do what works.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.343" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T16:53:15.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1738" CreationDate="2013-12-26T21:40:40.847" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience as a cat owner is that I get better results when my cat sees me spraying it, but it depends on what the problem is.  The main reason we end up using a spray bottle is when we need the cats to leave a room and they decide to resist our instruction because they are being playful.  A combination of first indicating to our cat what is expected and then spraying her with water to coax her out of her hiding spot has worked very well and while still occasionally necessary, she now realizes what is coming if we leave the room after indicating to her that it is time to go and she will then run out on her own most of the time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important caveat: Do not try this if your cat is hiding for fear, only if they are hiding to be playful.  You can tell by watching how they behave.  If they are out normally and immediately go hide when they realize it is time for them to leave and is a very playful cat, then they are being playful.  If they stay hidden when you offer them play, then they are scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one major caveat I have to indicate though is that they do not easily form that connection.  When training our cats, we would always go over and spend time being affectionate and friendly with them after a short interval after they did whatever it was they were supposed to do.  This way we reinforced that it was not us just being mean to them, but rather connected with their action and showing them that we are still friends.  I end up doing it more often than my wife and I've noticed that the cat that requires the most frequent discipline responds more positively to me than my wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is still very affectionate towards me though, so it does not seem to have harmed our relationship any.  She knows she can't push back against me, but she also loves to be affectionate with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="538" LastEditorUserId="538" LastEditDate="2013-12-26T22:12:08.940" LastActivityDate="2013-12-26T22:12:08.940" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1802" CreationDate="2013-12-26T21:46:52.707" Score="14" ViewCount="649" Body="&lt;p&gt;First; this is not to ask for a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1276/278&quot;&gt;step-by-step training&lt;/a&gt; advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=%5Bdogs%5Dcrate&quot;&gt;questions and answers on Pets-SE&lt;/a&gt; that mention &quot;crating&quot; and &quot;crate-training&quot; a dog. First time I personally found crate-training was in this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1793/278&quot;&gt;Crate training our puppy is not working?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having my doubts I went to Google it, to find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/cratetraining.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;How to Crate Train your dog or puppy.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; which I read until this &lt;em&gt;&quot;Never close the door until the dog is relaxed and comfortable.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; came up. Of course I read the rest of the article too, but that quote is what made me ask this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, we had a crate for our dog too. The crate was there for the dog to go in to have a peaceful place to sleep and rest. Here's the difference, we &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; closed the door. At the moment we don't have any crate at home, except those disassembled ones in basement. I consider both of our dogs &quot;crate-trained&quot; so that they feel okay in a closed crate when we take them to a dog show. Maybe we are just lucky to have two such nice dogs that we can leave them home by themselves while the human members of our family are away at work and school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question. Why would I close the crate door at home? What &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; &quot;crating a dog&quot; really? What purpose has it, other than to offer a dog a safe place to sleep and rest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T22:21:18.917" Title="What is &quot;crating&quot; a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-26T23:11:32.467" Score="12" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to purchasing toys for dogs, how can I determine whether or not it will last just by looking at it or touching it?  Websites that sell toys typically include reviews, but they are rarely helpful since any given item will have just as many glowing reviews (it lasted for months!) as it has negative reviews (my dog destroyed it in an hour!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T01:28:38.173" Title="Choosing durable toys for dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1800" CreationDate="2013-12-26T23:25:12.920" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Crating&quot; a dog is putting a dog in a crate with the door closed for whatever reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major benefit of using a crate with a young puppy is to prevent the puppy from learning bad habits when it is not being closely supervised. A puppy that is confined to its crate will not be peeing on the floor or chewing up your shoes. It also teaches the pup to settle down when you are just hanging out at home. Of course, the pup should spend plenty of time out of the crate as well, but only when you are able to keep an eye on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a well-trained adult dog there is rarely any need to close the crate door. The major exceptions would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the dog is recovering from an injury or surgery and must not be allowed to exercise at all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the dog is being transported in a car or plane, or must be left unsupervised in an unsafe environment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the crate is being used as a management tool to prevent a poorly-trained dog from indulging in bad behaviour. This is obviously not an ideal long-term solution for the dog's welfare, but can be useful as a temporary measure while retraining is taking place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="534" LastEditorUserId="534" LastEditDate="2014-01-01T22:21:18.917" LastActivityDate="2014-01-01T22:21:18.917" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1801" CreationDate="2013-12-27T08:45:00.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friendly pet accessories shop owner told me there is no guarantee on toys for dogs. I was looking for a ball for our dogs and asked this same question that you ask now. The shop owner is herself a dog owner and has been selling these things for ages. I trust what she says. She said: &lt;em&gt;&quot;Any toy can last anything between a lifetime and five seconds. There is no such thing as a durable toy for dogs.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also my experience from over six years with medium size dogs. No matter how durable the toy seems to be, it may be broken in five seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T08:45:00.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1801" CreationDate="2013-12-27T15:43:02.493" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a Shiba Inu, and I would classify him as a &lt;em&gt;destroyer of toys&lt;/em&gt;.  Here are my general guide lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's on the inside is going to be on the outside in a very short time (applies to plush/stuffed animals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I can cut it with scissors, he's going to shred it with his teeth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's not a good sign if the packaging specifically warns against letting the dog play with it unsupervised&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is brittle or if I think even I could break it with my bare hands if I squeeze it just right, he's going to break it pretty easily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more seams it has (rubber, cloth, or faux fur), the more points there are for the item to fall apart&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is such a thing as &lt;em&gt;too firm&lt;/em&gt;, which may vary depending on the size of the dog (Kong food toys and rubber balls are too firm for my guy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Types of toys I avoid&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stuffed animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeaker toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any rubberized toy that's very thin (~1/4&quot; thick or less)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kong squeaker balls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Types of toys I've found to be fairly durable&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most toys designed to put food inside of them (Kongs, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rope or floss toys (usually 1/2-1 1/2&quot; thick), typically tied in knots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nylabones are specifically designed for chewing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Skinneeez&lt;/em&gt; (a stuffed animal without the stuffing -- my dog doesn't feel compelled to rip it up any further once the squeakers are out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tennis balls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog's oldest toys that he still plays with regularly and are in decent to good condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crazy cat track (belonged to my cats long before we got the dog 13 months ago)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skinneeez fox (1 year old)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chuckit! Erratic ball (6 months old?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T15:43:02.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1811" CreationDate="2013-12-27T18:48:55.813" Score="25" ViewCount="15703" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a cat owner, I'd of course like to know if my cat is happy. However, most known indicators don't really apply; purring seems to happen for a variety of emotions, meowing vary greatly between different cats and they do not wag their tails like dogs do to express themselves... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this makes me wonder, do cats use some &lt;em&gt;universal&lt;/em&gt; &quot;clues&quot; to show their happiness, like a special body language for example? If so, what are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="445" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T15:59:12.907" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:23:16.963" Title="How can I tell if my cat is happy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1790" CreationDate="2013-12-27T20:35:01.033" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Koi simply won't eat the food if it's too cold, they know their metabolism isn't fully functional and therefore they couldn't process the food. The Koi will likely sit on the bottom and the sturgeon (if hungry) will come up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just feed sparingly and none of the food will fall to the Koi, not that they'd be interested anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the Koi are still active instead of staying in the warmer water, then their metabolism is still functioning enough for them to eat, if they want it. &lt;em&gt;If they really go after it, then yes, feed the sturgeon as far away from them as possible, one pellet at a time.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2013-12-27T20:35:01.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2013-12-28T06:26:37.593" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing you can do to help an injured rabbit is to avoid &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mybunny.org/info/gi_stasis.htm&quot;&gt;GI stasis&lt;/a&gt; by ensuring that he/she keeps eating!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus the first aid kit should include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your rabbit's hay (in-case you run out)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timothy pellets - these are enriched treats,like a fiber one bar for humans. It's okay to have a little every day, but no more than a 1/4 cup per 5 lbs or rabbit. They can be used as a meal in dire situations where your bun won't take hay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Critical care - This is a timothy hay milkshake that you force feed the rabbit if it's not eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5cc up to 25cc syringe - for dispensing the critical care with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A small towel - to make a &quot;bunny burrito&quot; with so you can keep the rabbit still and calm while force feeding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Septic powder - to stop the bleeding in case you cut a nail too close.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also consider asking your vet to keep a standing prescription for a motility agent, such as metoclopramide, on file for you in case your bun is having trouble digesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, it's much better to be proactive than reactive; it's very hard to help a rabbit on your own, and almost anything besides a badly clipped nail can be extremely dangerous.  Because rabbits are prey animals, they naturally do everything in their power not show they they are hurt and weak, and thus it's very hard to tell how badly hurt they really are.  Any rabbit that seems to be injured really needs to be brought to a vet for a thorough examination.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, to avoid vet visits, invest in a good set of nail clippers (I prefer ones with a backstop so you can't slip and cut too much off) so you can avoid nail problems.  Plan on spending a small fortune on chew toys until you can find what your rabbit likes better than your furniture as the must wear down their teeth or risk painful molar problems.  Ensure your house and especially your baseboards are lead free (I learned this one the hard way).  Finally, cover all wires that the rabbit might be able to access with a hard plastic wire cover to prevent electrocution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any other questions check in with your local rabbit society as they'll have the info about where to get the best food and doctors in your area: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/&quot;&gt;http://rabbit.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2013-12-28T17:26:32.160" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T17:26:32.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1979" CreationDate="2013-12-28T08:57:20.657" Score="12" ViewCount="2426" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 rabbits, and in the winter they become so full of static that I can't even pet them without giving/receiving a static shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a humidifier helps a great deal. Yet, even with relative humidity at 50%, static shocks begin after just a few strokes across their back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this isn't surprising as rabbit hair is one of the most positively charged natural substances on Earth, it's quite annoying as the discharge is usually to the rabbits' ears or nose, or to my face.  I'd love to find another way to combat it that won't harm my rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any natural and safe-to-eat anti-static treatments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I correct to assume that dryer sheets, diluted fabric softener and/or anti-static salon products are too toxic to use on a pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T22:10:19.987" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T22:10:19.987" Title="Are there pet safe ways to eliminate static in pet fur beyond a humidifier (especially in rabbits)?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1805" CreationDate="2013-12-28T17:18:30.070" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some common indicators that a cat is happy and relaxed include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greeting you (other people, other cats, etc) with an erect, upright tail (often with a twist at the top).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Napping with its feet completely underneath it (especially in an open, unprotected area)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Returning your look with a slow blink&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fur laid flat/relaxed to the skin (not upright, especially on the back ridge)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whiskers relaxed (pulled forward indicates interest and can happen when the cat is happy, but pulled back is a protection instinct and indicates fear/discomfort)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ears upright, relaxed (swiveling to listen to sounds indicates interest, laid flat is fear/anger/anxiety).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know your cat well, you can generally get an idea of the indicators that &quot;depend&quot;. For example, Hunter (our only non-Siamese) meows only in distress while the three other cats talk all of the time about everything (my food bowl is empty, my food bowl is full, my food bowl is downstairs and I'm upstairs, hey I can meow!). Distress purring has a different sound than happy purring (it's subtle, but pay close attention next time you take your cat to the vet and you may be able to hear it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, if your cat is meowing but you aren't sure what it means, you can look for other clues to help you figure it out. If your cat is meowing while standing next to the food bowl and you haven't fed them in several hours, it's probably distress (help help I'm going to starve!).  If your cat is purring while snuggling with you on the couch (fur/whiskers/tail relaxed) then your cat is probably happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2013-12-28T17:23:40.177" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T17:23:40.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1809" CreationDate="2013-12-28T17:48:20.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with rabbits, but if I was having this problem with one of my cats I'd try supplementing their diet with some type of oil (Omega 3 or Omega 6 come to mind) to get more moisture into their fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Okay, I did once apply shea butter to one of the cats to try to moisturize her skin. Not recommended!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T17:48:20.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1753" CreationDate="2013-12-28T23:29:45.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would consider looking into a house rabbit - they are wonderfully engaging little critters, can be litter trained and enjoy veggies. However, they do take considerable care and research beforehand - I highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rabbit.org/&lt;/a&gt; (the House Rabbit Society) for helping you make your decision. We have three dwarf lops that we are just crazy about!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-28T23:29:45.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1820" CreationDate="2013-12-29T05:51:45.223" Score="16" ViewCount="2833" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bird's cage is starting to show its age a bit and could use a fresh paint job. I've heard that you have to be careful with the type of paint you use, since birds will pick at the bars of their cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of paint should I use that is safe for birds and is there anything else I should consider when painting my bird's cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-28T00:06:53.500" LastActivityDate="2020-12-28T00:06:53.500" Title="What kind of paint is safe to use on a bird cage?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2013-12-29T14:49:03.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;virtualxtc has a great answer which I have accepted.  I am also posting my own answer, with photos, and a couple of minor difference (opinion based, just different not right or wrong).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention is the most important part of first aid, and grooming is the interactive part of prevention. The first image is of my traveling grooming kit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Background &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My &quot;Bunny Chair&quot; custom made, with cabinet in the back to carry all the supplies.  This chair lets me sit at ground level with back support, and have a bunny in my lap for grooming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra Q-Tips in baggy (on seat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Foreground Left &gt; right &amp;amp; top &gt; bottom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small brush with round tips &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kong Brush &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head lamp (light is always pointing where you need it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small LED light (for shining toe nails to identify quick)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scissors (Carefully remove matted hair)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toe nail clippers (I have a couple styles, any cat style that you like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mans comb (separate mat from skin while &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/875/how-can-i-safely-trim-matted-cat-fur/876#876&quot;&gt;trimming matted hair&lt;/a&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q-Tips (for cleaning scent glands)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowl (for water to wet Q-Tips)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ear cleaner solution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't own or use Septic powder, because I unless I am 100% sure I will miss the quick, I don't cut the nail. This is really easy to say and extremely difficult do, particularly with dark nails. Stuff does happen, bunnies move, etc. including Septic powder in your kit is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't include a towel, because I turn bunnies on their back for nail trimming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifics about each of these tools, are fodder for separate questions.  So I won't go into detail here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j83qf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Traveling Grooming Kit&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Aid Kit (left &gt; right)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gas Drops (Little Tummys over the counter, any brand is fine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spoon for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1423/is-there-anything-that-i-can-do-to-treat-bloat-in-young-rabbits/1436#1436&quot;&gt;feeding gas drops&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reglan (or whatever prescription motility drug your vet proscribes) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 ml/cc syringe (for force feeding gas drops and/or motility drug)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squash Baby food (or pumpkin for food when sore teeth or needing force fed) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 ml/cc syringe (for force feeding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Critical Care (dry powder to mix with water for herbivores) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else required should be part of your personal first aid kit and/or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1781/what-disaster-considerations-should-i-make-for-my-pet-rabbit&quot;&gt;disaster plan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SwZww.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;First Aid Supplies&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T14:49:03.063" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1833" CreationDate="2013-12-29T15:00:05.880" Score="12" ViewCount="2211" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much every iconic image of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_Bunny&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bugs Bunny&lt;/a&gt; shows him with a carrot in his hand/paw. For many people, this image of Bugs is one of the first things which pops into their mind when considering what to feed a bunny.  If you put a carrot in with a bunny, they will be extremely happy and do their best to eat the whole thing no matter how big, in a single meal.  So it must be good, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to pet rabbit diet, is Bugs Bunny a good role model?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-07T19:36:55.073" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T23:01:45.463" Title="Are carrots a healthy part of a rabbit diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1821" CreationDate="2013-12-29T15:10:17.627" Score="11" ViewCount="18249" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when my bunny is out running around the house she will go in the corner and dig at the carpet.  I stomp and clap my hands while saying &quot;No&quot; sternly, and she stops but will often go back to doing it a while later.  Sometimes months will pass without her digging like this, then it will start again and I have to keep a close eye on her for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I modify this behavior? Is there anything I can do to limit or prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-03-09T02:37:12.163" Title="My rabbit is digging at the carpet in the corner of the living room, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2013-12-29T15:50:33.903" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does your bunny have a digging box or an area where it is ok to dig?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When bunnies start to dig you could redirect them to the digging area by moving them. Or move the box to the area they like to dig if that is feasible. Digging/Diggy boxes are often just bins or baskets filled with shredded paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I find my bunnies have a great time destroying cardboard boxes, so amazon boxes when empty are always getting tucked under chairs or behind cages for bunny amusement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T15:50:33.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1816" CreationDate="2013-12-29T15:54:37.043" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Primarily bunnies need lots of hay - what type depends on the age of the bunny - here is an excellent source for bunny diet: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/what-to-feed-your-rabbit/&quot;&gt;http://rabbit.org/what-to-feed-your-rabbit/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our get unlimited hay buffets of orchard grass, timothy and a bit of oat grass, and then a scoop of alfalfa pellets. An occasional alfalfa cube as a toy/treat. They get daily &quot;bunny bowls&quot; filled with leafy greens and favorite foods - they like fresh apples, broccoli, carrots. The preferred bunny treat for our three bunns is dried apples from Trader Joes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T15:54:37.043" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1814" CreationDate="2013-12-29T16:09:15.783" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest I don't think any type of paint applied to a bird cage after the fact is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paint that is applied to a bird cage is the negatively charged powder type that is typical in industrial processes where you want to ensure a strong long term bond to a smooth metal surface.  The metal cage pieces are positively charged while the paint is negatively charged causing the paint to adhere better than any DIY'er could do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you attempt to paint the cage after the fact then likely it will chip off easily during cleaning, during beak sharpening or simply because rust will start forming underneath the paint and causing it to bubble.  Instead of painting I would suggest using a scour pad to rub off invasive rust as it forms, especially along the bottom of the cage where it is exposed to corrosive bird droppings.  As long as you keep up with this on a bi-weekly basis then you can get decades more life out of a rusty old cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T16:09:15.783" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2013-12-29T16:17:07.870" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Digging is normal behavior for rabbits.  House rabbits come from a heritage of underground burrow/warren living &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagomorpha&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wild cousins&lt;/a&gt;. But your pets instinctive behaviors should not be causing damage to the home you share with them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stomping and/or clapping your hands while saying &quot;No&quot; sternly, is the best method for stopping any bunny behavior including digging while it is actively occurring. For long the long term solution you need two things; One protect from the occasional occurrence, Two redirect the instinctive behavior into an acceptable direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digging on the carpet is almost exclusive limited to an accessible corner.  In my experience there are 1 or 2 corners that the bunny will be extremely drawn to dig at. A ceramic floor tile placed in the corner will protect the carpet, and significantly disrupt the digging.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tiles can be purchased at your local home improvement store very inexpensively.  Size from 4 to 12 inches can be effective.  The larger tile, also provides a cool place for the bunny to lay on hot days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tile disrupts the behavior in two ways. First it protect the carpet, if the claws don't touch the carpet, they carpet does not get harmed.  Second it protects the carpet, if the carpet is not modified by the digging, than the digging is ineffective and the rabbit stops digging there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Is569.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tiles in the Corner&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Redirect&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So now you protected her favorite digging corner, and you don't want her to find another corner to dig in, or to decide she needs to dig out her litter box.  It is time for the redirection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Build your bunny a digging box!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit needs to dig, in the same way some dogs need to fetch, or a cat has to claw the bed before laying down. So give her a place to dig that will not harm anything and provide opportunities for exercising muscles and instincts. There are multiple examples on the internet.  The following example stems from a solution I found years ago and has been modified by my experience and requirements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardboard boxes can be used, but they don't live very long and the carpet under the box can be damaged from activities.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A plastic storage container with a hole cut in one end and filled with litter and hay makes a perfect, long lived, happy place for your bunny to dig.  It can be carried out to the compost pile to be emptied, cleaned and refilled.  With two 6 pound girl bunnies using it we empty and restock it every other day. Adding fresh hay as needed through out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The girls eat and dig in the hay, they also use it as a litter box.  We purchase timothy hay in bales (horse/cow size) at the feed store, so conserving hay is not an issue.  If you are purchasing hay at the pet store, you may want to use a different filler (i.e. paper or cardboard with out glossy print).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kGgT0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Front View lid on&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/147Rw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rear View lid off&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now this seems like a great solution, but it does have a drawback, sometimes one of the girls decides she needs to do some housekeeping (even if I just changed it) and she will try and dig all litter and hay out of the digging box through the door.  As you can see in the image, this model has a tray on the floor in front of the door.  When it gets dug out I can pick the tray up and dump it back in the digging box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The door in the front was primarily designed to allow an older disabled bunny to get in and out, he is no longer living with the girls (he is the bachelor room now).  So we created a new version, without a door.  No top and a board is used as a landing place so they can jump up and down without having to clear the sides in one leap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hoWiC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lyra in the new box&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7req4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Harmony on the shelf &quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-12-29T16:17:07.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-29T21:48:48.717" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 3 years ago, my cat was diagnosed with Cancer (Lymphoma).  The vet told us that if we went with surgery, the best we could hope for is another year or two before it returned.  She was 10 years old at the time and already to the point where she was eating very little due to her stomach being constricted by the tumor.  We had her put down the following week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there types of cancer where treatment is actually a viable option?  How likely is it to even diagnose when odds of success are good?  (In my cat's case, an x-ray done 7 months prior showed no signs of a tumor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastEditorUserId="356" LastEditDate="2013-12-30T13:40:18.880" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T13:40:18.880" Title="How successful is Cancer treatment?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2013-12-30T14:28:36.960" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1822" CreationDate="2013-12-29T23:07:55.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0813807638.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;information I have (Blackwell's Consult)&lt;/a&gt; is dependent on the treatment options...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prednisone (immunity suppressant) only: 2 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;COP/CHOP-based Chemo: 6-9 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doxorubicin-based Chemo: 3.5-17.5 months (median based on Feline Leukaemia status) but anatomic location is also a factor:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Renal: 6.5 - 11.5 months (median based on Feline Leukaemia status)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nasal: 1.5 - 2.5 years (radiation and chemo)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grade of the tumor also impacts as well with as little as 2 months to well over 2 years depending on remission. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;There's quite a lot of variance and swing in this, so individual diagnosis will matter a great deal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. At any rate, the information from your vet seems in line with my book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put some of these timespans into perspective, if the average lifespan of a domestic cat is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;14-16 years&lt;/a&gt; then 2 years for the cat is equivalent to about 10 years for a human with respect to lifespan post treatment. That is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/non-hodgkins-lymphoma/treatment/statistics-and-outlook-for-non-hodgkins-lymphoma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comparable&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/hodgkins-lymphoma/treatment/statistics-and-outlook-for-hodgkins-lymphoma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;better&lt;/a&gt; with regards to similar in humans (first link is non-Hodgkins and the second is Hodgkins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, for dogs at least, the treatments and survival rates are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-30T01:59:01.083" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T01:59:01.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1104" CreationDate="2013-12-30T13:13:34.823" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;One method I've used for flea medication baths is the kitty burrito - wrap the cat securely in a towel then immerse cat and towel in the water (keep the water warm without being hot). This works best if the water isn't deep - you want enough for the medicated shampoo to soak through the towel to the cat's skin then use the towel to rub the shampoo in once the towel is soaked. Talk to the cat the whole time: very few cats like being bathed. The combination of your voice and a firm grip will help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your situation, I'd use two tubs - the shampoo tub and a rinse tub. The shampoo tub can be a bucket inside a larger tub that you use to rinse off (like sitting in your shower). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To rinse off, remove the cat from the shampoo tub (preferably with an accomplice to get it out of the way - otherwise have both prepared in advance) and stand it in the rinse tub, then pour clean warm water over the towel. If you've got an accomplice, have them remove the towel while pouring (yes, I've done this while giving a cat a flea bath).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a clean, dry towel to dry the cat off as much as possible, and have a heater somewhere the cat likes so it can finish drying somewhere warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you've got an unusually tolerant cat, you'll probably get snubbed for a while: have some of the cat's favorite treats on hand to give out after the bath so the cat has something nice to associate with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does depend a lot on the cat - I've seen a very elderly cat object loudly to going into the tub then relax and start purring and rubbing her head against me once she was in the water (she had arthritis - I suspect the warm water felt good on her joints. She always had a radiant heat heater set out to finish drying), and a young male who had to be actively discouraged from jumping in to share the shower with me, as well as the more typical reactions of &quot;oh, no, I'm not doing that&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T13:13:34.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1805" CreationDate="2013-12-30T14:42:41.907" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1811/57&quot;&gt;Zaralynda's answer&lt;/a&gt; covers most of the basics, but there are some additional cues that can be very important, depending upon the cat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Head-butting&quot; behavior (or &quot;bunting&quot;), where the cat lowers its head and bumps the top of its head against anything ranging from furniture to you, to other cats.  This is a bit different than the normal scent-marking behavior of rubbing the sides of their face against furniture or you, which is generally more a territoriality thing (although it can have overtones of contentment, as well).  Bunting is still scent (pheromone) marking, but it is believed that it marks something as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-cat-head-butt-me&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;safe or comforting&lt;/a&gt;, rather than &quot;territory&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ODzxl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Headbutt of friendship!&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying on their back/exposing their belly.  This is a great sign of comfort/contentment, as it is generally a very vulnerable position.  Note that this is not always an invitation to pet the cat; many cats do not like their bellies touched, and no matter how inviting they look, petting them (even on their back) may trigger a fairly aggressive response (although some cats do enjoy having their bellies petted).  If the cat waits to make eye contact with you, and then rolls over onto their back, this is a much stronger message of trust and affection directed at you, personally, as opposed to general contentment with their environment.  Again, though, this may be an invitation to play, rather than an invitation for a belly rub, depending on the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tVZTn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;I want belly rubs... but only three!  Then I&amp;#39;ll bite you.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a cat tends to spend a lot of time in the same room as you, even when they have already been fed, it usually indicates that they are happy (assuming, of course, that they have the option of going into unoccupied rooms).  This can sometimes indicate distress, though, so it isn't a good indicator by itself.  However, if your cat is lying contentedly in the same room as you, but gets up and follows you to another room, then lies nearby you, but out of reach, then it's a pretty good indicator that they're fairly happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T14:42:41.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-30T15:39:55.123" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep seeing TV and News paper ads for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Humane Society of the United States&lt;/a&gt;, if I donate money to either of these what percentage goes to my local shelter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T19:42:40.970" Title="How much goes to my local shelter?" Tags="&lt;shelter&gt;&lt;humane-society&gt;&lt;fundraising&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-01-01T03:25:16.307" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1828" CreationDate="2013-12-30T16:28:46.350" Score="8" ViewCount="3542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep seeing TV and News paper ads for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/&quot;&gt;The Humane Society of the United States&lt;/a&gt;.  If I donate money to either organization, where does the money go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-30T20:26:42.197" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T15:48:26.790" Title="How is funding donated to the ASPCA and Humane Society animal charities applied?" Tags="&lt;humane-society&gt;&lt;fundraising&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2013-12-30T17:16:26.263" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;ASPCA&lt;/strong&gt; distributes its income in the following ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Program Expenses 58.4% &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Administrative Expenses 5.2% &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fundraising Expenses 36.2%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&amp;amp;orgid=3286&quot;&gt;Charity Navigator Rating - ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Program Expenses fund the charity to do its mission work. The ASPCA reports that it engages in many &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/about-us/programs-and-services&quot;&gt;programs and services&lt;/a&gt;, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Anti-Cruelty Group &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Anti-Cruelty Behavior Team &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cruelty Intervention Advocacy Program &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Field Investigations and Response &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;ASPCA Forensic Services &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Legal Advocacy &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Strategy and Campaigns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Animal Health Services &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Animal Poison Control Center &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;ASPCA Animal Hospital &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Spay/Neuter Operations: Mobile and Stationary Clinics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Community Outreach&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;ASPCA Onyx and Breezy Shefts Adoption Center&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Community Initiatives &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;ProLearning &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Shelter Research and Development&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Grants&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Government Relations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;Humane Society of the United States&lt;/strong&gt; distributes its income in the following ways: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Program Expenses 78.6%    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Administrative Expenses 3.4%    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fundraising Expenses 17.9%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&amp;amp;orgid=3848&quot;&gt;Charity Navigator Rating - The Humane Society of the United States&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/about/overview/2012_accomplishments.html&quot;&gt;2012 HSUS Accomplishments&lt;/a&gt; include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Provided Care for 100,000+ Animals, Including Pets Affected by    Hurricane Sandy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Spared 110 Chimps from Use as Research Subjects&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Banned Four Giant Snake Species as Pets Banned New Ownership of Dangerous Wild Animals in Ohio &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Encouraged Amazon.com to Stop Selling Whale and Dolphin Meat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Banned Hound Hunting of Bears and Bobcats in California &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Helped Land a Historic Judgment Against a Slaughter Plant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Defended a Law Against Selling Foie Gras from Force-Fed Ducks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Garnered Support from the Courts Across the Country &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Expanded the Pets for Life Program to the West Coast &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Led an Investigation that Helped Prosecute a “Big Lick” Horse Trainer &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Convinced Corporations to Get Out of the Gestation Crate Business &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Won Awards, Made News and Produced Videos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2013-12-30T20:34:05.233" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T20:34:05.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1769" CreationDate="2013-12-30T20:37:45.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any experience with this particular species, but I do currently keep some other frogs.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saurian.net/htm05/froginfo_mossyfrogcare.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; confirmed what I suspected about their diet; crickets are the best thing to feed them.  Sprinkle some reptile vitamins on the crickets before you give them to the frog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've never used crickets as live food before, you might want to check out some of the other cricket questions on this site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/341/7&quot;&gt;How can I make it easier to live-feed my frogs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1101/7&quot;&gt;How do I keep my supply of feeder crickets from keeping me awake at night?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2013-12-30T20:37:45.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2013-12-30T23:37:12.583" Score="4" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago my then-newly-adopted adult male cat had a small growth under his tongue, which my vet removed and biopsied.  It was a benign fibrous polyp, which I understand sometimes happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, almost a year later, he has another one (much smaller so far) in the same place.  My vet was surprised; she said they don't usually come back like that.  The surgeon who removed the first one happened to be there so we consulted her too, and she said she'd never seen that before and she believed she'd left a large enough &quot;buffer zone&quot; in removing the first one, but she'll leave a larger one this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet recommends removing and biopsying this one and I will follow that recommendation.  My question is: what might be causing this?  Should I expect it to happen yet again in the future?  Is there anything I should be doing to reduce the likelihood of recurrence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is estimated to be about 5 years old, indoor-only, and eats standard dry and canned food with the occasional treat.  He is missing several of his teeth (incisors); we don't know why (he came that way).  I understand that sometimes polyps form around foreign bodies; this was not the case the first time.  I'm not aware of any mouth injuries and he hasn't been in any fights involving biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T03:33:05.937" Title="What would cause an oral polyp to recur in my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1831" CreationDate="2013-12-31T01:14:00.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, assuming that a new source is not the basis (e.g. foreign object) and this is a recurrence of the polyp in the same location, then the primary cause for return is that there were still neoplastic cells outside the surgical margins (her &quot;buffer zone&quot;) and/or the excision didn't include periodontal structures (this is from Blackwell's Consult, Canine and Feline, 5th edition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also find some further reading (much older study) on &lt;a href=&quot;http://vet.sagepub.com/content/26/2/121.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Feline Oral Neoplasia&lt;/a&gt;, recurrence is rare with humans, but not unheard of, and that feline treatment would be similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs049/1102880900249/archive/1103417791586.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;odontogenic tumors&lt;/a&gt; article from vet dental specialist talks about possible frequency of recurrence when the surgical margins are insufficient as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2013-12-31T03:33:05.937" LastActivityDate="2013-12-31T03:33:05.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1816" CreationDate="2013-12-31T15:36:19.460" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bugs Bunny is not a good role model for house rabbits. This &lt;a href=&quot;https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/9334/was-bugs-bunny-impersonating-someone-when-he-ate-the-carrot&quot;&gt;related question&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_Bunny#Personality_and_catchphrases&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;supporting information at Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; indicate he uses the carrot the same way some comedians use a cigar, and as a satire of a scene by Clark Gable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;guidelines&lt;/a&gt; carrots and other NON-LEAFY VEGETABLES should should form only a small part of your rabbits diet.  Large quantities of sugary items (&lt;em&gt;like carrots&lt;/em&gt;) can be fatal to your bunny, resulting in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;GI Stasis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carrots are particularly harmful to rabbits due to their high sugar content.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot#Nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Most carrot are about 7% sugar&lt;/a&gt; as opposed other non-leafy greens like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celery#Nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;celery which has about half as much sugar&lt;/a&gt;. It is no surprise that fruits like apples are high in sugar, but an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple#Nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;apple only has about twice as much sugar as a carrot&lt;/a&gt;.  To make matters worse the apple which is easy to recognize as a treat has &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose#Food_sources&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;over half of it's sugar as fructose, while only a small part of the carrot sugar is fructose&lt;/a&gt;.  The amount of fructose is important because  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the ability of the post-weaning rabbit's small intestine to digest fructose (fruit sugar) increases, while the ability to digest all other sugars decreases (Buddington 1990)&lt;/a&gt;.  So these non fructose sugars are more likely to arrive in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1503/can-rabbits-fart/1508#1508&quot;&gt;cecum (&lt;em&gt;or caecum&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; where they &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;create a change in the pH of the cecum and eventually can throw the whole system off&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat carrots like candy, and offer sparingly as an occasional treat. Bugs Bunny like many bigger than life characters, is not a good roll model for a house rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T19:55:32.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1839" CreationDate="2014-01-01T11:05:36.360" Score="12" ViewCount="65688" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Maine Coon kitten who is 1.5 months old. When he's playful, he starts biting and scratching whenever he sees your arm next to him, and any hand movement is like an invitation to bite. Trying to put a hand on his back causes him to roll over and fight it with claws and teeth. Same is with feet. He even purrs when biting. He never purrs when playing with toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's sleepy, he's nice and sweet, purring and allowing to be petted. He sleeps next to us, so he doesn't hate us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different internet resources divide into two groups: some say 'He's just a kitten, it's totally fine, he'll stop', and others say 'If I don't teach him not to bite, he'll bite all his life'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried playing with him with toys, tried screaming when it's painful, tried spraying with water once, nothing seems to be working really. At most, he switches to something else, and next time he wants to bite again, he bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, maybe he's really too young to stop just yet? At what age they stop biting on their own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T19:48:39.490" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T00:47:06.287" Title="At what age cats should stop biting and scratching games?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1841" CreationDate="2014-01-01T11:14:56.167" Score="5" ViewCount="844" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our indoor kitten, like any, is very playful. Either he's playing or he's sleeping. Whenever we go into bedroom and close the door, he scratches and meows to let him in, and after letting in, just plays in front of us, so he's lonely without attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some problems in his behaviour, and some of the answers on different resources are &quot;he's seeking attention&quot;. I think we play a lot with him, several times a day for about 10 minutes each, and if we're home, like on a weekend, more. Apart from actual playing, we talk to him, pet him, look at how he's playing by himself, so I wouldn't count him at lacking attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, it is the first kitten in my life, so we don't know, how much games and attention should be enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastEditorUserId="557" LastEditDate="2014-01-02T07:20:14.507" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T18:02:19.770" Title="How much game time is required for a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-01T11:46:17.750" Score="7" ViewCount="3322" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother in law (MIL) lives with us and she has two chihuahuas. We also have 2 chihuahuas and all 4 are female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 of the 4 are house-trained &quot;enough&quot; but the 4th one has the habit of peeing on &lt;strong&gt;our&lt;/strong&gt; furniture when we're not around. If we leave our bedroom door open she will sometimes jump on the bed and pee on it. She's done the same to our couch and some blankets and things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She never does it with my MIL's furniture though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how to train her out of it or how to correct &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt; behaviour &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; we are causing it. While we have a special place in our hearts for our two we treat her with as much love as we know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't tried training her out of this. No rubbing her nose in it afterwards or anything as I'm not really comfortable with that style of training. My normal style of training is to catch the animals in the act and give a verbal scolding in an angry voice, but since I never catch her in the act, I've not had an opportunity to do it with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I little bit more background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My MIL's dogs are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chani (female, about 7 years old, impeccably house trained)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zaan (female, about 2.5 years old, MIL is the second owner, the &quot;problem&quot; dog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Luna (female, about 3.5 years old, our first dog, I think she's dominant on our side)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lily (female, about 2.5 years old, I think she thinks she belongs to Luna and not us)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our living arrangement is slightly complicated: MIL used to live with us before, then it was only Chani and Luna and they got along well. Then MIL moved out for a few months and in this time she got Zaan and we got Lily. She moved back in with us about 1.5 years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; the following are true:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chani believes my MIL is the leader of their pack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zaan thinks she herself is the leader of their pack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Luna is dominant on our side&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lily is slowly realizing that she belongs to humans and not another dog. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our dogs are very territorial, but I do think they defer to me as the pack leader.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the dogs except Chani sometimes makes a mess in the house. I heard that Chihuahuas are hard to house-train and I think the problem might be make worse by my partner and my MIL humanizing the dogs instead of treating them like &lt;em&gt;dogs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I'm at home (non-office hourse) we have a nice routine where I take our dogs out regularly and while that is going on I never see them making a mess in the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I'm at the office I think they'll sometimes go in the house because no-one wants to go out with them (we have nice weather, so it's not always that)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="558" LastEditorUserId="3708" LastEditDate="2015-03-02T05:11:20.960" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T05:11:20.960" Title="Why is my MIL's chihuahua peeing on our bed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1834" CreationDate="2014-01-01T12:10:37.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explanation:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is like asking &amp;quot;When will human-children stop watching cartoons?&amp;quot; (I'm a 22 year old male and I still watch cartoons.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will happen when they think they are too good for scratching/biting (you) and/or lose interest in that. (Same way humans lose interest in cartoons.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hope&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; he will stop biting before he is this big (not all of them get this big):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iRjQ5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Huge Maine Coon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things I suggest you shouldn't do:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Screaming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spraying water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thing you should know:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;quot;Love bites&amp;quot; can hurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-06T00:47:06.287" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T00:47:06.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1834" CreationDate="2014-01-02T16:16:10.340" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens need to stay in with their mother for 12 weeks. That's three months and your kitten is already with you when only 1,5 months old. Being with the mother is not all about the mother cat nursing her babies, it is also an important period of time when they learn to play safely with their littermates and with their mother as well. Little kittens have the sharpest teeth and claws there is, at least that's how it feels to us humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got firsthand observations of this learning process when we got two male kittens at the same time. They were both 12 weeks old but from different homes and different mix of breeds. The other one came from a fluffy thick fur litter while the other one is from a slick short hair litter. They both naturally learned to adjust their play so as to not hurt their own littermates, but the one with thicker fur had learned to play rougher. It did not start well when these two started playing together here at us. A lot of meowing and hissing from the thin coat fellow went into educating his thick furred mate on safe play rules. After all it worked, they still play together but there's almost no hissing or such sounds nowadays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When does a kitten learn to play safe? At its first months of life, and that with the best playing pals; its own littermates. When a kitten in question has been taken away from his littermates at so very young age it means the play training is a job for his owner(s). How to do this is something for another Q&amp;amp;A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play training by the kitten's owners is possible, I'm sure of that, it only takes time and effort. My best advice, given your kitten's young age, is to quickly get another kitten to play with this one. Just be sure to find one who is well past 12 weeks old already, one who has spent all that time with other kittens and thus knows the rules. In your place this is without a doubt what I would do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T16:16:10.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1835" CreationDate="2014-01-02T18:02:19.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the kitten, but a good guideline I've found with kittens is to have a mix of toys they can play with on their own, and at least one session a day when I play with the kitten until it's ready to sleep. This is more important if you don't have any other cats because you're the kitten's sole source of companionship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sorts of toys that tend to work well for solo play in my experience are the ball-in-track toys (at least one of my cats figured out that if he batted it just right he could speed the ball up a ridiculous amount), anything dangly with feathers (although with one cat, the feathers rarely lasted more than a week), anything that rolls around the floor and makes noises/flashes light when it moves (be prepared to fish this out of inaccessible locations regularly - but every cat I've had who's been introduced to this loved it. Including in the middle of the night...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To wear the kitten out, I'd suggest the old standby of the red dot - just make sure you've got something in reserve for the kitten to kill when he's tired out, so he doesn't get too frustrated. He gets a long (for kittens) chase and hunt game, you get the fun of watching him bounce all around the room after that danged red dot, and he gets the satisfaction of catching something afterwards. Then you can have a nice long snuggle with the sleepy kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is giving him a lot of attention when you get home from work, since he'll have been alone for what, to a kitten, is a very long time. When you get home is a good time to feed the kitten, then talk to him and pet him once he's eaten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't had him long, there's a good chance he's still missing his littermates and mother, so he needs to be reassured that you're going to be around for him. Once he figures out that he's got everything he needs and plenty to play with when you're not home, and that you're there for him if he needs you, he'll settle down and not be so needy (although it could take a few months...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-02T18:02:19.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-02T23:09:02.447" Score="13" ViewCount="18853" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time I have to put my very energetic cat in my bedroom for an hour or so while I'm cleaning, or working on something I can't have her messing with. In the evenings if the lights are off, it's very dark in the bedroom. Do you think my cat cares whether the light is on or off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="563" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:59:31.960" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T02:41:01.987" Title="Do cats have a preference of being in the light or being in the dark?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1845" CreationDate="2014-01-02T23:47:05.397" Score="12" ViewCount="6768" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male kitten—1.5 month old Maine Coon, who has been living with us for a week or so—and there is possibility to have another one, not necessary the same breed, for their &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1839/557&quot;&gt;own good&lt;/a&gt; and our fun. The cats would live indoors, in a two-room flat. Maybe occasionally have some free or semi-free time in a summer cottage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What gender should another kitten be, if we're to take one? Right now, we're considering neutering our kitten when he's old enough for that, but I would invite answers for both neutered and natural cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important note, it is not for purposeful breeding, but for a peaceful and fun lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T20:00:25.623" Title="For two kittens in the apartment, how important is gender?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-03T05:00:59.333" Score="10" ViewCount="12501" Body="&lt;p&gt;When going to work, two cats are left alone in the house.  When coming home at night, there's a big mess on the floor.  The only solution so far has been to put the aggressive cat inside a cat carrier for a portion of the day/night to allow the meeker cat the opportunity to use the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next solution is to possibly make the more aggressive cat an outdoor cat, but that might not be fair.  What can be done to curb bullying where one cat won't let the other cat use the litter box?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-28T13:50:47.460" LastActivityDate="2020-11-28T13:50:47.460" Title="How can I stop a cat from preventing another cat in the house from using the litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1843" CreationDate="2014-01-03T08:37:28.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr version:&lt;/strong&gt; Any combination can work. A mixed gender pair is often found good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know enough of this issue to post a good definitive answer, but all I've heard of is that any combination &lt;em&gt;can be&lt;/em&gt; successful and that mixed gender pairs generally work out better than same gender pairs. Then again, individual personalities can vary more than the average of gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that the advices seem controversial about whether male-male pairs are better than female-female pairs. Some sources say this and others say that, and no source claims to know it for sure proven fact. If I had to pick my choice of preferable same-gender cats I would take two males, but I have no explanation. Really I would rather take a mixed gender pair, and that's what I've already adviced before; whenever anyone has cared to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/cat-behavior-and-training-multi-cat-households-adding-a-new-cat/216&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; they say: &lt;em&gt;&quot;...in cases of same-sex pairs, two males were slightly more likely to be compatible than two females.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in &lt;a href=&quot;http://animal.discovery.com/pets/how-to-introduce-a-new-cat-to-an-old-cat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; they say: &quot;...two female cats will pair up better than two males, whose instincts may prompt aggression.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my thinking there is difference in the male-male pairs whether those males are neutered or not. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catscenterstage.com/choosing-companion.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; says the same: &lt;em&gt;&quot;In general, male cats are more accepting of either another male or a female. Of course, &lt;strong&gt;we are talking about spayed/neutered cats&lt;/strong&gt; - which is what your cats should be in any case - you don't want those hormones raging, for a multitude of reasons! Female cats may have difficulty getting along with each other - just really depends on the individual.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (bolding by me)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to blur things up a bit more; also the breed of them has a small effect on the success of a pair of cats. However, your present cat is a &quot;gentle giant&quot; Maine-coon and they should be quite accepting to any cat companion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JBLAb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;male and female cats sleep in peace&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The brown cat is a mixed-breed male. He likes to sleep with the Maine coon female, and not only &quot;with&quot; but on and across her, and she doesn't seem to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-01-08T08:03:43.003" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T08:03:43.003" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1844" CreationDate="2014-01-03T11:15:02.640" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you've directly observed one cat bullying the other over use of the litter box, one possibility is that the more aggressive cat is simply using the litter box that appears cleanest / most convenient at the time. While some cats are very fussy in that regard, we've got one cat that doesn't seem to care much if the litter box has been used by another cat and uses whichever one is closest, while the others refuse to use it once that has occurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that sounds like a possibility, the main option that comes to mind is to provide maybe two or three litter boxes and see how it goes. In my experience most cats don't tend to go out of their way to mark their territory like many dogs do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the more aggressive cat has a few favorite spots, maybe place a litter box or two near those areas and place another in a less convenient area, and maybe there'll be less contention over who gets to use each one. That may also help if there is direct bullying, because the more aggressive cat may be less aware that the other cat is using the litter box if it's a distance away from where he/she normally hangs out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T06:10:11.273" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T06:10:11.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1844" CreationDate="2014-01-03T11:20:51.853" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add a second litter box to the house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not unusual for any animal to get overly protective of 'their' litter box.  I have seen this behavior in both cats and rabbits.  It is generally solved by adding a second litter box some distance from the first.  While the more aggressive pet might want to protect both boxes, it is logistically difficult to do so if they are well separated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many variables, but either both pets will start sharing both boxes, or one pet will use one exclusively while the more dominant pet will use both.  In either case, there will be adequate facilities available. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be other behavior issues that need to be addressed as well you can find related questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/aggression+cats&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T11:20:51.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1848" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1851" CreationDate="2014-01-03T11:50:25.660" Score="6" ViewCount="544" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the most appropriate age to neuter or spay a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does gender, way he behaves, time of year, anything else affect it?&#xA;There is a related question, which I think should be linked, but doesn't exactly answer the question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/760/how-does-early-desexing-affect-my-cats&quot;&gt;How does early desexing affect my cats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T00:40:19.530" Title="What is most appropriate age to neuter/spay a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1844" CreationDate="2014-01-03T14:11:34.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to make some assumptions here - that you've observed the aggressive cat preventing the other cat from approaching the litter box or otherwise bullying the more timid cat, and that the two cats aren't getting on terribly well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation, your best bet is to make a closable room a refuge for the timid cat (similar to what's recommended to stop middening). The room will need a selection of cat toys for your timid cat, a lot of things that smell of you, and a litter box, food, and water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to spend plenty of time in the room with the timid cat (if you have a study with a closable door, this is perfect). You'll also want to provide a place in the room where the timid cat can hide and feel safe. The recommendations for middening are that it will usually take a week or so for the cat to relax. You will want to change the items in the room around a bit (you want to make sure the timid cat is relaxed even with items that smell of the aggressive cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In time both cats should start getting lonely and trying to play with each other by poking paws under the door. At this point, you can bring the timid cat out for some supervised time in the aggressive cat's company. If the aggressive one starts bullying, take the timid one back to the sanctuary, and leave both alone for a while (you don't want the timid cat associating being bullied with getting your attention any more than you want the aggressive one associating bullying with getting your attention). Rinse and repeat until both cats are relatively calm in each others presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this method fails, then the last ditch is to get one of those expensive cat doors with a key and put the cat door in the door to the timid cat's sanctuary. The timid cat gets to wear the collar with the key so it has somewhere to go that the aggressive cat can't reach it. As long as the timid cat has litter, food, water, and toys in there, you shouldn't have any more messes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T14:11:34.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1848" CreationDate="2014-01-03T14:16:05.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been told by vets that the most appropriate age is &quot;as soon as they're old enough for the operation&quot; - usually in the order of 4 months for males, 4 - 6 for females. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the vets I know have said is that the males need to have their testicles dropped before they can be neutered. The females need to be large enough that the vets can find their ovaries and uterus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the cats I've had have been neutered young: very few were older than 6 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T14:16:05.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1618" CreationDate="2014-01-03T17:24:12.987" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer occurred to me the other day. No, I still don't know if this cat is &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; lean or what, but an answer to how I can get her to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is actually so obvious that I wonder why it took me so long to get to. This shy eater needs to be fed separately. Now I put wet food on a plate and place the plate (bowl) in such a place where only one cat at a time can get to. In my home I chose a narrow ledge in front of the microwave oven. The cat eats alone up there and no matter how many other cats come watching, they just can't jump on the narrow ledge while this shy cat is there eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cats will try though, so I need to stand there keeping watch over the situation. Somehow I had thought it enough when we have dry food on constant offer, and wet food at times, but that alone seems to just keep the shy cat alive, she is not really gaining weight. Then again, so far (two weeks gone by) I have not noticed much change in her weight yet. Anyway, the cat seems happy with her own private spot where to eat in peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also allows me to feed her high energy food without those other cats having access to the same. If I find a spot in our apartment where only she can go (has to be a place for which an extreme jump is needed) then I don't need to keep watch anymore on her eating different food than the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-01-03T17:24:12.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1858" CreationDate="2014-01-03T20:03:53.287" Score="12" ViewCount="200274" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some controversy on bathing rabbits. There are multiple claims that bathing a rabbit can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitcarecompleteguide.com/1/post/2013/03/do-not-bathe-your-rabbit.html&quot;&gt;cause&lt;/a&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fuzzy-rabbit.com/hfaq.htm&quot;&gt;fatal&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/the-dangers-of-giving-a-rabbit-a-bath/&quot;&gt;shock&lt;/a&gt; at the same time there are multiple videos online of bunnies getting a bath.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I find several respected rabbit authorities repeating this warning, I am not finding any reliable reference indicating a documented death related to a bunny bath.  I want to take the best care of my pet rabbit, but I also don't want to make a choice based on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_wives%27_tale&quot;&gt;old wives' tale&lt;/a&gt;.  It is pretty hard to imagine a scenario where an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit&quot;&gt;animal domesticated from Europe&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;and exposed to rain in the wild&lt;/em&gt;) could have evolved in few hundred years to the point it might die from getting wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; rabbits are generally self cleaning like a cat.  I am granting as a given that a rabbit bath would only be required in extreme cases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:30:31.063" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:09:23.853" Title="Can a bath really kill a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1854" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-01-03T21:35:25.877" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions with this tag consist of &quot;false common knowledge&quot;: a rumor, myth, legend, or old wives' tale, which requires clarification; debunking.  Answers should attempt to provide both the correct process or procedure, as well as validity to the truth behind the myth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-04T00:18:04.750" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T00:18:04.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1855" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-01-03T21:35:25.877" Score="0" Body="(DO NOT USE) A rumor, myth, or old wives' tale which requires clarification or debunking." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:32:02.093" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T03:32:02.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1866" CreationDate="2014-01-03T23:36:35.167" Score="12" ViewCount="161579" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aquarium has live plants with a betta, hatchet fish, barbs, a cory, and a Siamese algae eater.  Black algae is growing on the decorations and glass.  I scraped it off the glass.  What else should I do to keep it from coming back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My tank is not next to a window and the light is on for 8 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-17T10:30:10.693" LastActivityDate="2019-05-01T18:25:53.280" Title="How do I eliminate the black algae from my planted aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1863" CreationDate="2014-01-04T00:46:33.847" Score="6" ViewCount="15291" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that you can trance a rabbit to help with tasks such as nail clipping and cleaning the underside.  Is doing this safe for my rabbit?  How do I do it? Are there other applications where this is effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-01T10:12:21.247" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T22:50:00.770" Title="How do I trance my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;trancing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1853" CreationDate="2014-01-04T01:05:39.893" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kind of...  bathing can be very stressful to a rabbit; stress can cause body function changes that can kill a rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit digestive systems are fairly fragile, and stress can upset the balance in their gut causing them to go into GI Stasis.  When this happens, the GI tract shuts down and unless this is dealt with in the first few days, it is usually fatal.  The problem is it can take a day or two before you can tell for sure that your rabbit is in stasis, so the rabbit is often beyond help before the problem is noticed.  GI Stasis kills more rabbits than any other cause.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a few rabbits that have needed a bath from time to time.  These are the tips I have for bathing your rabbit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you have rabbit safe shampoo.&lt;/strong&gt; Many human, dog, and cat shampoos contain chemicals that are toxic to rabbits.  Make sure you are going to use a cleaning product that it is rabbit safe.  If it does not state that it is, assume that it is not, just to be safe.  Make sure that you really need shampoo.  If you just have urine on the hindquarters (this is pretty common in male rabbits), that can usually be rinsed away with water on the surface of the fur, without the need for thorough cleaning with shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use warm, but not hot water.&lt;/strong&gt;  Rabbit fur generally protects your rabbit from the effects of water, but when you are bathing them, the water will soak through to the skin.  If it is too hot or too cold, your rabbit could go into shock.  My rule of thumb is water that I could put my hand in with no immediate discomfort, and leave in without any discomfort.  If it is too hot/cold for you, it is too hot/cold for your rabbit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not make your rabbit sit in a pool of water.&lt;/strong&gt;  I have a raised grate that I use for rabbit baths.  It is not normal for rabbits to sit in water, and doing so causes them stress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep your rabbit properly supported.&lt;/strong&gt; - A rabbit spine can break relatively easily.  And even if it does not break, if your rabbit is not being supported properly, it can be painful and cause stress.  Most of the time, your rabbit will want its back feet supported.  When you need to clean that area, flip the rabbit over into &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1857/9&quot;&gt;Trance position&lt;/a&gt;.  Make sure that the rabbit's back is properly supported, then clean the feet, and genital area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bathe only the areas needed.&lt;/strong&gt;  The most common problem I see is that some of my rabbits will get some poop caked on their feet and/or underside.  When this happens, I do my best only to wash the areas that need cleaning.  This will reduce the time spent in the bath.  Also when you bathe your rabbit, the process will wash away some of the natural oils that protects the rabbit and its fur.  Limiting the areas you bathe reduces the impact of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to avoid getting water in their nose.&lt;/strong&gt; This is as uncomfortable to a rabbit as it is to you, and they do not have the ability to blow their nose like we do.  For this reason, I try my best to avoid getting my rabbits' heads wet at all.  When it happens, I immediately try to help the rabbit by drying their nose with cotton balls.  Just hold it for a second or two on each nostril, repeating until it comes away dry.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dry your rabbit as thoroughly as possible.&lt;/strong&gt;  When the bath is done, if the rabbit is not dried well, they will get cold and this causes stress, and may even send them into shock.  I dry my rabbits with towels.  If the rabbit has angora fur, you may want use a blow dryer on low heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;YOUR RABBIT SHOULD NOT SMELL LIKE FRUIT OR FLOWERS!&lt;/strong&gt; Rabbits are very attuned to scents, and changing the scent on them can be traumatic to the rabbit, which may cause problems with any of its companions.  Rabbits normally have a gamey smell to them.  This is their natural scent and using scented soap or perfumes on them can be very stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also note that my rabbits are used to being picked up, held, petted, posed, and thoroughly examined.  We do this partly because they are show rabbits and need to be able to handle that, and partly because we love them very much and they get a lot of attention.  I believe that their being used to this treatment helps reduce the stress when a bath is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T23:10:36.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1865" CreationDate="2014-01-04T01:59:55.103" Score="15" ViewCount="2479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am the owner of a 25 lb. pug.  When we get snow here in the northeast United States, he loves to go out and play in the snow when we are shoveling the driveway, and even tries to start digging up the snow.   However, since he is a short-hair dog, I try to monitor him closely and I get extremely worried that he will get too cold while we are outside, especially when the temperatures are extremely low.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the warning signs of hypothermia in dogs so I know when I absolutely need to get him inside ASAP?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2014-01-06T22:48:43.990" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T22:48:43.990" Title="How can I tell when my small dog is too cold" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2042" CreationDate="2014-01-04T10:12:24.393" Score="12" ViewCount="1261" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does hissing always mean fear or aggression or it can be a part of the play? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when playing hide-and-seek or chase games with a kitten, he allows himself to be chased into a corner, and then he turns and hisses. Does it mean we've overdone something, like stayed too close or chased too far, or it is of no concern in such games at all and is a healthy part of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, these games do not include intentional startling, hurting, holding or carrying him around against his will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T18:24:02.747" Title="Does hissing always mean fear or aggression?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-04T14:06:09.847" Score="3" ViewCount="2817" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard about rabbit owners using a &quot;bunny burrito&quot; as part of their rabbit grooming process.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How and when should it be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T15:17:51.643" Title="What is a &quot;bunny burrito&quot; and when would I use it?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1874" CreationDate="2014-01-04T14:23:24.457" Score="11" ViewCount="42307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard several times about rabbits being kept in outdoor cages where, a dog or other predator barked and/or scratched at the cage.  The person came out and found the rabbit(s) dead in a still secure cage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assumption generally relaid in this scenario is that the when the predator came up, the rabbit was scared to death (implying a quick death).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that the predator had made multiple threats to the caged rabbit, and it died of long term stress (or other) health related issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for to prove or disprove that a rabbit can be suddenly &quot;scared to death&quot;.  Where death follows with seconds or at most a few minutes of from an initial encounter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:30:16.403" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T11:22:16.970" Title="Can a rabbit be scared to death?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1857" CreationDate="2014-01-04T14:27:05.130" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trancing or Hypnotizing your bunny is possible and is often used as part of the grooming process.  There are two opposing thoughts on trancing: The first being that it is calming and a good solution for many situations.  The second being that the rabbit is in fear for it's life, it enters a &quot;play dead&quot; natural response common to many prey animals, and is stressful for the bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calming&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several online and published references to trancing a rabbit to calm them after a fearful encounter, to promote bonding with a person, and even for performing semi invasive procedures such as neutering. That this is effective is self evident, the bunny is obviously not struggling, and when awakened will snuggle next to you, even if it had been struggling earlier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fear Response&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Described in 1839 by Darwin as the 'death feint' this well known response in prey animals may more properly be referred to as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_death#Tonic_immobility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tonic immobility (TI)&lt;/a&gt;.  That TI causes a stress response in rabbits is well documented in &lt;em&gt;'Trancing rabbits: relaxed hypnosis or a state of fear?'&lt;/em&gt; Rabbits and many other prey animals will 'play dead' when attacked by a predator, often leading to decreased injury and offering a chance to escape.  Verifiable chemical and behavioral fear responses have been document with TI in rabbits.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1862/can-a-rabbit-be-scared-to-death&quot;&gt;Stress can be very bad for your rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Trance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each animal will have a unique response in duration and difficulty of induction to TI.  When positioned so that the rabbit may remain on their back many will stay in TI for several minutes.  The eyes will be closed, breath shallow and limbs relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place the rabbit on it's back on a towel or positioning against the handlers body to provide stability.  Pet the rabbits chest and or head for 2 or 3 minutes.  When the rabbit remains unmoving it is in TI. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several variables here. If you are going to be trimming nails I find having the bunny on the lap made by my thighs touching, and my legs in front is most useful. For two person operations the space between your arm and belly, as you might hold a human infant can be effective (Caution do not let them fall from a standing height).  For xray a towel positioned on the table, can be effective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, ensure that rabbit is protected from falls, table or human waist level falls can seriously injury your pet bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit will be resistive to being turned upside down, but will quickly &quot;calm&quot; when held level or head slightly down on their back. Persons not used to handling the pet in the &quot;right side up&quot; position should not undertake handling in the &quot;upside down&quot; position. Begin with a calm rabbit being held in a position of comfort, and transition to upside down, maintaining a space of not more than a foot or so between the bunny and the ground or table at all times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally position the bunny right side up, facing my stomach, on my lap with the all my grooming tools near me.  I am sitting on the floor, with my back against the wall or on my &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit/1815#1815&quot;&gt;bunny chair&lt;/a&gt;.  When the bunny is relaxed, I slide my hands along it is sides, my thumbs going under it's front arm pits.  I lift up and swing the bunnies butt toward my stomach, bringing my elbows together behind it's butt.  I lay the rabbit on it's back between my thighs.  I find that best results are when the bunnies back and neck are straight and they are not tipping to one side or the other.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When returning the bunny to right side up, use caution.  The rabbit may suddenly struggle, using the same firm grip used to get the bunny upside down, return them to an upright position.  Give gentle caresses and allow a few moments or minutes for them to orientate before releasing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every person needs to make their own choice for what is in the best interest of the pet in their care. Some points to consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Given the available research, casual trancing for bonding or to decrease fear, would not seem to be the best choice.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no indication of analgesia (pain relief) in TI, so use caution with any activity during TI. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trimming nails and grooming the stomach area when needed are activities that must be done. A &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1861/what-is-a-bunny-burrito-and-when-would-i-use-it&quot;&gt;bunny-burrito&lt;/a&gt;, sedation and TI are all options.  There is insuffient research to show which is the least traumatic.  But sedation is often referenced as higher risk. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits and Hares. Whittet Books Ltd. McBride, E.A., Day, 8., McAdie, T.M., et al., 2006. &lt;strong&gt;Trancing rabbits: relaxed hypnosis or a state of fear?&lt;/strong&gt; In: Proceedings of the VDWE International Congress on Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hopperhome.com/Trancing%20Rabbits-Tonic%20Immobility%20.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Live link Jan 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, by Molly Varga, Publisher Elsevier Health Sciences, 2013 ISBN 0702054194, 9780702054198 &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=yZV5AAAAQBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA107&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+trancing&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=gvPHUsOvNsvMsQTd7YGgDg&amp;amp;ved=0CD0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20trancing&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Live link Jan 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small Animal Dermatology (Saunders solutions in veterinary practice), by Anita Patel, Peter Forsythe, Publisher Elsevier Health Sciences, 2008 ISBN 0702028703, 9780702028700 &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=WAr9sRH0ctgC&amp;amp;pg=PA102&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+trancing&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=gvPHUsOvNsvMsQTd7YGgDg&amp;amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20trancing&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Live link Jan 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit Medicine and Surgery for Veterinary Nurses, by Mary Fraser, Simon Girling, Publisher John Wiley &amp;amp; Sons, 2009, ISBN 1405147067, 9781405147064 &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Nn-3h3kMFUUC&amp;amp;pg=PA80&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+trancing&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=gvPHUsOvNsvMsQTd7YGgDg&amp;amp;ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20trancing&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Live link Jan 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T14:27:05.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1859" CreationDate="2014-01-04T14:47:00.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike kids, I don't think (adult) dogs are in danger to get too cold, as long as they have the option to go inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even puppies try to avoid cold. We got ours some years ago at the age of 12 weeks at the end of february, and the weather wasn't too cold then. We almost had him housebroken already, when end of march the winter came back and it had severe frost outside. Suddenly, he started again peeing in the house. Turned out he simply didn't want to go out in the bitter cold. Once spring broke trough, the problems were gone, and he started to show us again that he need to go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, when the dog is quivering, I'd take him in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T14:47:00.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1859" CreationDate="2014-01-04T14:50:24.360" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are various stages of hypothermia to be aware of in terms of signs and sometimes improvement in a sign is an indication that the animal is getting worse, especially when talking about shivering. Early stages have shivering, it abates at later stages, so keeping an eye on your pet is critically important in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very young and very old animals are at greater risk as are smaller animals with less natural defence. For mild or moderate hypothermia, you can treat with active external warming such as warm blankets, warm moving air, and the like, though checking with a vet is advised for moderate hypothermia. For severe hypothermia, you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; seek medical assistance from a vet, though starting the warming process by drying and covering them is important too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whatever you do, do not, however, put the dog into a warm water bath as it could kill them from the shock.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you might want to do is find out how to take your dogs temperature, have your vet demonstrate it if possible. Knowing this will allow you to check, dogs should have a core body temperature around 101° - 102.5° so dropping below that indicates too cold (as a note, cats are similar and have the same warning signs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mild (95° - 99°)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Signs of weakness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shivering (dogs and cats seldom shiver, pay attention for this sign especially)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Signs of confusion or agitation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Variable rate of breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feels cold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moderate (90° - 95°)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Collapse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shivering abates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appears to have stiff muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shallow and slowed breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Severe (&amp;lt; 90°)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No shivering&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appears to have stiff muscles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dilated pupils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shallow and slowed breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;May have coughing with signs of blood (sign of fluids in the lungs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main Sources&lt;/strong&gt; (for additional reading if you want)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The First Aid Companion for Dogs &amp;amp; Cats, Amy D Shojai&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline, 5th edition, Larry P. Tilley and Francis W.K. Smith, Jr.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T14:50:24.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1856" CreationDate="2014-01-04T15:59:49.367" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you want to do to battle algae is to remove excessive light. The worst is when sunlight reaches the tank. Algae can grow in very little light, so given sunlight (or even a tank light that's on for more than 12 hours), algae will be able to grow even faster. It's different for each tank, some of mine I can keep lit for almost 12 hours, others for only about 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have your light regulated, you're going to want to take some extra steps to reduce algae growth. This all comes down to removing the nutrients that the algae uses to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scrape any algae you can off the glass. By far the best option is to get in there with an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0006JLOAK&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;algae brush&lt;/a&gt; and get rid of it by hand. The more algae you scrape away, the less is able to grow later on. Make sure to do a small water change after this to remove the algae you just scraped free.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the water you use for phosphates; they act as a fertilizer for algae. If you can, get some RO water from a nearby pet store, or jugs of distilled water from a store/vending machine. You can put &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002DGIOW&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;phosphate remover media&lt;/a&gt; in your tank filter and/or if you are able to, you can even put an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003XELTTG&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;RO filter&lt;/a&gt; in your sink.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean the gravel. Any waste from your fish, including leftover food, is going to be sitting in the gravel. That waste is food for algae, so remove it and algae can't eat. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000YAJKL6&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gravel vacuums&lt;/a&gt; are a huge help with this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On that note, make sure not to overfeed your fish so that there isn't any leftover food. You should only feed your fish what they will eat in a 5 minute timespan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've used API Algaefix on an algae bloom before and it worked. Although, I found that I would keep having to use it which I didn't like. It might work differently on black algae, but I wouldn't rely on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had the best luck with goldfish (the 15 cent feeder goldfish you can get at the store) eating all types of algae including string algae and quickly. Once they reached 3-4 inches in length 2-3 of them seem to clear a 40 gallon aquarium overnight. The only caveat is you'll need a place for your new pet goldfish. Once they grow large enough they'll start eating your plants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some things you can do to proactively rid your tank of algae. If you think you have the algae taken care of for the moment, but it might come back, these are some things to think about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep using phosphate removers/RO water as I mentioned above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add more plants to the tank. The more plants you have in the tank, the more competition there is for the resources. Even small plants can help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It works best if you have several broad-leafed plants in your tank, but adding supplements like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flourish Excel&lt;/a&gt; works by helping your plants absorb nutrients better, helping to starve the algae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've used a UV filter to get rid of algae blooms that left my tank cloudy. While it won't get rid of algae that's attached it will kill any that's floating freely in the tank. So far the only algae it hasn't been able to get rid of is string algae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hydrogen Peroxide will kill algae. And will diffuse into water and oxygen after 24 hours. As part of getting rid of hair algae in my tank I quarantined my plants and dosed them with a few tablespoons for two days. If you're doing it in a tank with fish in it. It's a ratio of 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 150 parts water. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Hydrogen_peroxide&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can add algae eaters to the tank. But keep in mind that they'll only eat so much per day. So it's a matter of having a higher ratio of algae eaters to algae that they can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Probably the one of the most common algae eaters are snails, nerite snails seem to be the most popular.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shrimp are possible depending on the fish you have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Pleco.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plecostomus&lt;/a&gt; are a good option, but go for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishlore.com/profile-bristlenose-pleco.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bristlenose&lt;/a&gt; if you don't have a tank larger than 40 gallons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishlore.com/profiles_otocinclus.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Otocinclus catfish&lt;/a&gt; are about the best fish for algae in my opinion; though they are quite small and sensitive to water quality.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My farlowella catfish seem to eat everything but string algae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other types of catfish won't help with algae, but should help take care of leftover food in the gravel that the algae uses for food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a larger tank, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_algae_eater&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Siamese Algae Eaters&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Fox_%28fish%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flying Foxes&lt;/a&gt; are good algae eaters. They get around 6 inches in length which is why they need some space. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrinocheilus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chinese Algae Eaters&lt;/a&gt;, despite their name, are terrible for taking care of algae; they're too lazy, and sometimes eat away the slime coat from other fish. They are unfortunately confused, and sometimes sold as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_algae_eater&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Siamese Algae Eaters&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Fox_%28fish%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flying Foxes&lt;/a&gt; also get sold as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_algae_eater&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Siamese Algae Eaters&lt;/a&gt;, but that isn't as bad of a trade-down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-02-10T18:10:14.703" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T18:10:14.703" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1836" CreationDate="2014-01-04T18:15:36.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, four dogs at home is pretty much a &lt;em&gt;pack&lt;/em&gt; and there should be a &lt;em&gt;leader&lt;/em&gt; for each pack. There might be different scenarios around, but to me these are the most likely ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dogs are a pack and your MIL's dogs are also a pack, so you have two different packs in your home. This particular dog that you're talking about is the dominant in her pack, but not in the other pack. So, basically what she does is to mark &lt;em&gt;your dogs' territory&lt;/em&gt; as her own. Probably your dogs are going on the couch and bed and she tries to mark those places as her own territory.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs follow the power, and they look at us like another dog in their pack. It's possible that your MIL has already established a dominant role for her dogs. You have done this for your dogs -- probably you don't have a dominant dog, but you still haven't done anything for your MIL's dogs. One of them is dominant and she believes that she has more power rather than you. So, she's trying to mark your territories as her own.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do to solve the problem -- doesn't really matter what is the reason of her behavior, is to &lt;strong&gt;claim&lt;/strong&gt; your bed and couch. You can Simply sit on the couch or bed and call her name or let her comes close to you. Just in the moment she tries to jump on the couch or bed, stop her. No need to get angry on her, no need to make noise, just keep a long eye-contact with her and try to look serious. She will feel that straightaway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she stopped, wait for a few seconds, then smile and call her again. When she came close, get your poker face again and a long eye-contact and stop her coming up -- no need to show an angry face. You can make a small noise like &quot;hishhh&quot; or &quot;hey&quot; to just simply distracting her from approaching the couch or bed. If you repeat it for a couple of times, then she will realize that that specific place or thing, is your &lt;em&gt;property&lt;/em&gt; not hers, and that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a dog realizes that a place or stuff belongs to someone else -- who has more power than him/her, then he/she would never try to claim it or play with it, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do the same for all of my dogs/puppies, even if they chew something and that simply works. What do I need to do is to &lt;strong&gt;claim&lt;/strong&gt; that thing, and they would never chew it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it didn't work you can drop a little bit of vinegar on the places she's peeing around. The smell will keep her away for a while but that's not the final solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you should not &lt;em&gt;punish&lt;/em&gt; your dog, it won't help neither you nor them. You need &lt;em&gt;discipline&lt;/em&gt; in order to make them follow your orders. If you really need to make them understand they did something wrong, you can spray a bit of water into their face -- you can do it with your hand even. It just annoys them and if you repeat enough, they won't do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you give us a little bit of their background, then you will get better answers. For example for how long they live with you? A little bit of their personality? Who is the &lt;em&gt;Leader&lt;/em&gt;? Who is the &lt;em&gt;Buddy&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your update, I'm 99% sure that neither your MIL nor you are the leaders from your dogs' point of view. They're simply attracted to you because they get &lt;em&gt;Love&lt;/em&gt; from humans, and only humans -- specially not from other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, here is what I can recommend to you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, when Zaan or others peeing somewhere clean it instantly and use some odors to make sure it doesn't smell their pee anymore. If it smells, they'd just simply pee there again, just because it smells like their or someone's else pee. So, clean it and use some light odors if you're suspected the smell haven't gone completely.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your rooms/stuff are separated from your MIL, try to make them mixed. If you make a clear zone between your rooms and your stuff to your MIL's room and stuff, and if some of your dogs live in one zone, then it becomes &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; zone as well. For a dog, it should looks like a home, the whole thing, not this is MIL's stuff, that is for the rest. In order to do that you can bring some of your MIL things into your room or ask your MIL for example to spend sometime on the couch with Zaan and Chani, and preferably others as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you don't take the leadership for the whole pack, then you're making life much harder for yourself and your dogs. Currently I have an English Pointer puppy at my place and I still can't get the leadership from him; The result: He's always alerted, doesn't matter where and when, he is just alerted and does reaction to every single noise or movement. Therefore it makes him nervous and less sociable also. The problem is that my family and I couldn't take the leadership position for couple of reasons. It's not a huge issue and it's gonna be fine in the next months of course, but until that day he will still suffer and that makes me sad.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to take the &lt;em&gt;leadership&lt;/em&gt; you have to make them understand that you're more &lt;em&gt;powerful&lt;/em&gt; comparing to all the other dogs in the pack. How you can be more powerful? by being &lt;strong&gt;Calm&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To picture it better, imagine when a dog aggressively barks for you that literally means that &lt;em&gt;hey, I felt danger when you came, so I'm barking to scare you up&lt;/em&gt;. That's why a dog doesn't bark for a bird, because there is no danger, but he does bark for a human or a car or an unknown sound. So, if you stay calm and simply look at his eyes while he's barking, you will see that after a few minutes or seconds, he will stop barking. Why? because you're calm. That means &lt;em&gt;hey, look, you can keep barking for 10 days, but I'm here and I'm not afraid of you. It just doesn't work for me. I am the dominant one here and you have to accept it&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you could show something like that to your dogs for example by claiming their food, and then let them eat that, or being calm and powerful when meeting other dogs while going out for walk, then they will accept you as the leader, because they can feel that you're calm, and that's what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also another thing is usually small dogs can't understand how small their are. Seriously. Because you're always keep them in your hand -- let say if you meet an aggressive Mastiff you will simply take your dogs and what happens is that they look at that big-aggressive Mastiff from above. Because they are small they got some much attention from everyone, so they slowly became like Cats: They think they're God. If you treat them more like the other dogs, then you will see that they will change their general behavior also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't you forget that dogs live in the &lt;em&gt;moment&lt;/em&gt;. That means you can get OR lose the leadership, just in a second. Humans are the only creatures who's following powerless leaders, animals simply won't do that. So, stay calm and leader!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="566" LastEditorUserId="566" LastEditDate="2014-01-04T21:06:14.363" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T21:06:14.363" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1672" CreationDate="2014-01-04T18:25:23.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because they &lt;em&gt;intend&lt;/em&gt; to know your &lt;em&gt;intention&lt;/em&gt;. That's also unique in dogs not wolves; They don't have any interest to keep eye-contact with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="566" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T18:25:23.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1870" CreationDate="2014-01-04T18:39:37.173" Score="10" ViewCount="1949" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a budgerigar parakeet with a leg band.  Lately, she has been picking at the leg band with her beak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way we can get her to stop picking at her leg band, or does the leg band need to be removed?  If it needs to be removed, is there a way to do this myself, or does a vet need to do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T20:00:22.903" Title="Budgerigar parakeet is picking at her leg band. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1869" CreationDate="2014-01-04T20:00:22.903" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The leg band is used to identify the bird and contains some pretty useful information (usually, though not always) about the bird including birth year, location, etc. At any rate, removing the band requires a special tool and you risk injury to your bird, such as a broken leg, if you try to remove it yourself. Remember, bird bones are hollow so they're easily damaged by us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, unless you see evidence that she's hurting herself by pecking at it, it may be just a handy means of sharpening up her beak, or something along that line, and so harmless and you can ignore it as a quirk. If it does look like she's hurting herself, even a little, then you could take her into a vet and see about removing the band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meanwhile, if you want to encourage her to stop, you can try interrupting the activity, perhaps talking to her and distracting her. Budgies are very smart birds, she may pick up that you don't want to her do that if you persist. In the meanwhile, as long as the band is on her, it's probably not a bad idea to write down the information on it and store it. It's handy info, regardless, and you might need it some day for a trip to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T20:00:22.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1860" CreationDate="2014-01-04T22:59:11.607" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends largely on the personality of the kitten: does he get intimidated or scared easily in other situations? Is he trying to continue the game shortly after being cornered or has he lost interest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me it sounds like he just gets caught up in the game. Similar to little kids screaming when playing chasing games. Just make sure you only keep him cornered for a moment and then leave him a way out so he can easily slip away when he get uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="237" LastActivityDate="2014-01-04T22:59:11.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1856" CreationDate="2014-01-06T15:44:11.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you currently have an algae problem, the main thing to do is identify the cause of the algae. Usually the cause is an imbalance in the tank, usually it's due to excess light or excess nutrients. This is something you'll need to balance so that you stop battling the algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as this question is &quot;how do I get rid of algae,&quot; I'll outline the steps - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scrape off the excess algae on the glass and decor with a razor&#xA;blade. If you have acrylic, use a magic eraser. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you scrape off algae, it may die. This will cause water issues, so also perform a&#xA;water change. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since you're changing the water, remove waste by doing a gravel vacuum or something similar.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you're doing maintenance, might as well clean out the filter in some tank water so it operates a little more cleanly. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Black out the tank. No light at all, this will kill the algae. If you have other plants, you can't black out for too long, but they will survive better than the algae. You can also cover the tank with something to block out ambient light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you dose ferts or run co2, you can try reducing or stopping that. Your plants may melt in which case they will fail to out-compete the algae, so pay close attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If need be, run some carbon in your filter or even dose some seachem excel directly on algae spots.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat as necessary. More water changes and gravel vacs has never hurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Performing these steps should kill the algae, but remember the best key is to find out what is out of balance and prevent the algae from coming back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T15:44:11.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1862" CreationDate="2014-01-06T20:33:02.093" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This condition is called &lt;strong&gt;Exertional or Capture Myopathy&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wildlifedisease.unbc.ca/exertional_myopathy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manual of Common Diseases and Parasites of Wildlife in Northern British Columbia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exertional or capture myopathy (disease of the muscle) is a&#xA;non-infectious disease of muscles that is characterized by damage to&#xA;muscle tissues brought about by physiological changes, usually&#xA;following extreme exertion, struggle and/or stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be seen peracutely (immediately), acutely (within minutes) or chronically (in hours, days or weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.houserabbitga.com/?page_id=1840&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society of Georgia&lt;/a&gt; describes the mechanics of the disease in rabbits over long term:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The perception of a dangerous or frightening situation causes the&#xA;release of chemicals called neurotransmitters from the pituitary gland&#xA;at the base of the brain. These neurotransmitters affect many tissues&#xA;in the rabbit’s body, but most notably the adrenal glands that release&#xA;epinephrin (adrenaline) and, with protracted periods of stress,&#xA;glucocorticosteroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Epinephrine causes the rabbit’s heart rate and blood pressure to&#xA;increase. Blood flow is directed to vital muscles and organs and away&#xA;from those that are nonessential in this dangerous situation. The&#xA;rabbit’s respiratory rate increases, his eyes dilate, and his blood&#xA;sugar (the fuel for the bodies tissues) soars. Other neurotransmitter&#xA;and hormonal effects of fear not as easily understood are that they&#xA;cause an ileus of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract-that is, they cause&#xA;the GI tract to stop moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....when these physiological conditions exist for a long period,&#xA;they affect the rabbit negatively. Restriction of blood supply to&#xA;“nonessential tissues” leads to their dysfunction. Ileus results in&#xA;changes in GI tract bacterial balance and potentially can lead to gut&#xA;stasis, diarrhea, enteritis or even enterotoxemia. Exhaustion of liver&#xA;energy stores leads to a starvation of body tissues that may be&#xA;lethal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the short term, death seems to be caused by what we intutitively expect - adreneline's effect on the heart. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928468099000073&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;A study conducted on rabbits and rats&lt;/a&gt; reports (in the abstract):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arterial hypertension, hypotension, and heart failure are the&#xA;reactions typical of the stress-sensitive animals. The main cause of&#xA;sudden death under emotional stress is the abrupt decrease in&#xA;peripheral vascular resistance. Adrenal hormones are crucial to the&#xA;mechanisms of sudden death under emotional stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-01-06T20:33:02.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1875" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1878" CreationDate="2014-01-06T20:42:29.680" Score="11" ViewCount="1394" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed some sign of illness in my cats' litter box (blood, diarrhea, small urine volume, large urine volume, whatever), and I have multiple cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best/fastest way to tell which cat is sick, or should I take all of the cats to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T19:03:39.677" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T19:03:39.677" Title="In a multiple cat household, how do I tell which cat is sick?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1879" CreationDate="2014-01-06T20:48:06.247" Score="8" ViewCount="3112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that when my poodle needs to defecate, he often stands on his two front paws; lifting the rear half of his body upwards toward a tree.  He has done this ever since I've rescued him off the street last year.  I've never seen any other dog exhibit this kind of behavior.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would he be doing this?  Is this normal?  Should I be concerned at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:07:30.107" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:07:30.107" Title="Balancing on two front paws while defecating" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1875" CreationDate="2014-01-07T03:39:02.400" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, assuming you're willing to play a little doctor...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take their temperature. This is intimidating for some, since it has to be done rectally, but the temperature of a cat should be between 99° and 102.5° Fahrenheit. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check their gums. Gums should look pink and healthy, but pigmented black and brown areas are not a sign of illness, look for a non-pigmented area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check responsiveness of blood flow. Basically you can lift their upper lip and &lt;em&gt;gently&lt;/em&gt; squeeze a bit, the white mark should fade back to pink within 2 seconds, if it's longer, contact the vet. You can see the effect on your own skin to get a sense of what you're looking for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration check with the scruff of their neck. If all is well, a pulled scruff should spring back into place when released.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the heart rate. Tricky and a little hard to master, place your hand on their left side behind the point of their front elbow, but a cat should have a heart rate between 120 and 240 bpm. You can use a stethoscope if you have one, they're not that hard to get and probably better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check their breathing rate. Cats should be about 10 to 40 times a minute depending on rest level. Also, check to see if it seems labored and, unless it sounds normal, check with a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of the above being off are, really, very good reasons to take your cat to the vet or at least give them a call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of these seem prevalent in any of the cats, then some isolation time is probably needed. Ideally, you'll have sufficient litter boxes and rooms for this, but isolate the cats from each other for 24-48 hours and try to detect the one with the issue based on the isolation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't do any of that, then bundle them all up and take them in to the vet. We did that once with 7 guinea pigs just to get them all sexed properly (it's surprisingly hard unless they're pregnant) and found out what we needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: as a piece of advice, especially in a multi-pet household, having baseline readings for all of your pets of some of the above is really helpful. It's a bit like brain tests done on athletes used as a base for detecting concussions, if there is deviation from the expected norm, something may be amiss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-01-07T04:02:40.437" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T04:02:40.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1876" CreationDate="2014-01-07T03:54:26.603" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, normal? No, I don't think it is. What it does seem like is possibly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/evr_dog_behavior_compulsive_disorder#.Ust372RDv48&quot;&gt;canine obsessive-compulsive disorder&lt;/a&gt;. You mention that he's a rescue from the streets and it's entirely possible that during his street time he reacted or moved into that position during defecation as a result of something happening on the streets and it stuck, it may have even happened more than once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, there are many signs of OCD in dogs, and one of them is ritualistic behaviors (&lt;em&gt;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Cats and Dogs&lt;/em&gt;, Dr. Karen L. Overall, page 938) which this seems to fall into. There are behavioral and medicinal treatments for OCD if that is what he has, but you need to get a formal diagnosis and it should be interfering with his day to day life. Having said that, the behavior seems odd, but generally innocuous as you described it and so I don't know that I'd be worried unless it really is preventing him from do his business properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now bear in mind, I'm not a vet nor do I play one on TV. This behavior seemed to have some fit with what I read on canine OCD, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;but this is not a diagnosis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (sorry, but I feel I should make that clear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T03:54:26.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2014-01-07T08:58:10.037" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A direct answer to your question: no, I don't know a way to actually prevent kneading, but redirecting it to another material may be possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to train a cat to recognize a certain surface as a no-kneading surface, but I think it needs to be &lt;em&gt;something easy for the cat to distinguish&lt;/em&gt; from other materials. I'm thinking of a leather sofa for example; you can train the cat not to tread/knead on leather while all other materials are okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; result in a situation where the cat remembers the rule only when you are near and the rest of the time when that cat feels like kneading it won't matter what's under its paws. Perhaps this would still be better than nothing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have trained one of my cats to avoid kneading on my own skin. Especially in summer but also around the year I like to dress lightly at home. Wearing shorts and T-shirt all year, and having a cat that liked to knead &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; whenever brushed and petted. While in my lap she would knead on my skin like in a trance. Every time she started doing this on my skin (arm, leg, whatever exposed) I gently lifted her paws off and moved them on cloth nearest to the cat at the moment. Usually that cloth surface was either my jeans or T-shirt or a pillow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took time and many attempts at kneading on skin going by, but eventually that cat learned to notice what was under her paws when she felt like kneading. Success was noted when the cat started to knead on skin and then immediately moved her paws herself onto a cloth surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean by &quot;gently lift off her paws&quot; is that I put my fingers under her &quot;ankles&quot; just behind paws and lift the paws up a little, then carry the paws sideways to the nearest cloth surface, moving the cat just so little in the process so as not to disturb her kneading too much. If a pillow was nearby, I would not move the paws at all but just lift them and move the pillow under her paws. She did not get a message like &lt;em&gt;&quot;kneading is bad&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. For her kneading is okay when she does it on cloth. As I said, it eventually worked out great :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:40.833" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:40.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1881" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1886" CreationDate="2014-01-07T10:12:24.703" Score="14" ViewCount="1149" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one has determined that a cat is drinking too little water, how can one stimulate him to drink more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean medical or other immediate cases, so syringe is out of the question, I mean to get him to drink on his own on a regular basis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a suggestion to add a little bit of cow milk to water, but it seemed rather wrong, and, again, very short-term, as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adult cats may be intolerant to dairy products;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vet said combination with some food can cause diarrhoea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditDate="2014-01-07T20:15:43.280" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:42.530" Title="How do I motivate a cat to drink more water?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-07T12:38:28.047" Score="2" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to guidelines posted by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society&lt;/a&gt;, sugar (&lt;em&gt;from fruits, etc&lt;/em&gt;) intake should be limited for rabbits. A comment in a question about rabbit diet suggested that bunnies that are more active could have a higher percentage of sugar in their diet than less active rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you safely increase the sugary foods given to a rabbit if they are more active?  If so, how do you define what the activity level to sugar ratio is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditDate="2014-01-07T20:24:41.823" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T15:46:08.127" Title="Does a rabbit's activity level impact the dietary limits of sugars?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1881" CreationDate="2014-01-07T13:05:18.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try placing the waterbowl &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; next to the feeding dish but maybe in another room or at least some meters away. Works fine with our two cats!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="571" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T13:05:18.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1881" CreationDate="2014-01-07T13:18:19.040" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;An expensive solution is a water fountain which will provide the cats with flowing water (which the cat will regard as fresher). If that isn't feasible, then providing the cat with multiple water bowls which are refreshed frequently and not with the food will help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1394/will-my-pet-get-sick-drinking-from-the-toilet/&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; also have some bearing on your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-01-07T13:18:19.040" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1897" CreationDate="2014-01-07T16:11:01.500" Score="22" ViewCount="3380" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the pet store this weekend, we were approached by a sales representative marketing a &quot;gourmet&quot; pet food brand.  One of the biggest selling points was apparently that the food contains &quot;wholesome whole grains, garden veggies and healthy fruit&quot;, in addition to meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I understand that vegetable products such as corn meal are frequently used as fillers for dry pet food, I question the value of fruits and vegetables being added to cat food, since cats are obligate carnivores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main selling point was that the first ingredient on the list of each of their foods were &quot;real meats&quot; (as opposed to meat by-products), so presumably the food contains enough crude animal proteins to meet the cats primary dietary requirements, but does adding fruit and vegetables have any actual health benefits to a cat?  Or is it just a marketing gimmick, playing on people's assumption that if the food sounds appealing to them, it might be more appealing to their cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T08:42:39.720" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T16:46:30.160" Title="Is there benefit to feeding my cats cat food that incorporates fruits and vegetables?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1881" CreationDate="2014-01-07T17:58:25.137" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't have much of a natural thirst drive and instead have evolved to get much of the moisture that they need instead from their prey. I focus my efforts on making sure that the cat's entire diet has enough moisture rather than just worrying about plain water intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, first, make every effort to feed wet food instead of dry food. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lisa A. Pierson, DVM:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cat's normal prey is ~70% water.  Canned food is ~78% water. Dry&#xA;  food is ~5-10% water.  Cats have a low thirst drive and they do not&#xA;  make up the deficit at the water bowl.  They are designed to get water&#xA;  with their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats on canned food have been shown to consume at least double the&#xA;  amount of total water when compared to dry food-fed cats when all&#xA;  sources of water (food and water bowl) are considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&amp;amp;aid=8404201&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;supporting study&lt;/a&gt; - Effect of dietary water intake on urinary output, specific gravity and relative supersaturation for calcium oxalate and struvite in the cat. Catherine M. F. Buckley, Amanda Hawthorne, Alison Colyer and Abigail E. Stevenson. British Journal of Nutrition / Volume 106 / Supplement S1 / October 2011, pp S128-S130&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other environment enrichment activities (such as the addition of water fountains) can be considered after changing the cat's diet. From observation I've noticed that my cats have very different preferences for what type of water they like to drink. Some of my cats like falling water, some like water that is rising up (from a pump), while others like to drink from a flat surface of water. Since I have a multi-cat home I have fountains that provide all of these different types of water environments.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats definitely prefer clean water, so cleaning the water bowls/fountains regularly must be part of the household routine. I choose fountains made of ceramic or stainless steel since plastic can harbor bacteria. I also make sure that they are dishwasher safe so they can be sanitized easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:53:42.530" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:42.530" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1853" CreationDate="2014-01-08T06:41:03.307" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chad's (user9's) answer strikes at the root of the bath problem; stress can cause heart attacks and GI stasis, both are deadly.  Nevertheless, any discussion of bathing isn't complete without review of the function of a rabbit's coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit's fur consists of a slick top coat and dense undercoat that constantly sheds.  This design makes the fur self-cleaning.  The top coat protect the undercoat and skin from moisture in wet conditions, keeping the rabbit warm.  As such, rabbits neither sweat nor bath.  Despite this, some rabbits, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/sylvaqua.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;swamp rabbits&lt;/a&gt;, will swim or hide under water when threatened.  However, swamp rabbits have adapted an extra dense coat to prevent water from soaking though to their skin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By bathing a house rabbit, you inevitably soak undercoat to the skin. The rabbit's dense coat, even when toweled off will trap water against the skin causing the skin to waterlog making it weaker and more prone to abrasion and dander issues.  Further, the now damp rabbit may become hypothermic after the bath, just as walking around in damp clothes all day will make you cold. Thus, bathing a rabbit, even with great care, should be avoided whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There some disagreement, however, about whether this rule applies to extremely long haired rabbits, like Angoras.  Angora's been genetically bread such that their coat is extremely long and impossible for them to care for on their own.  It's length also defeats the prevents the cleaning properties of the fur from being as effective, especially when molting.  Moreover, especially with angoras, self-grooming can lead to the ingestion of large amounts of fur which can ball up and cause blockages resulting in GI stasis.  Therefore, some Angora owners choose to bath the rabbit to augment brushing during times of heavy molting, while others find it a better choice to shave the rabbit during these times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For normal to average haired rabbits, its recommend to combat hair balls with brushing and petting.  If your rabbit seems to be having trouble passing hair balls, most vets would recommend feeding them a motility agent, such as metoclopramide rather than trying to bath the rabbit and risk stressing it during this delicate period.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit has poopy butt: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STOP FEEDING IT SUGAR and non-timothy based pellets&lt;/strong&gt;  Give it only timothy based products (97% hay) and willow sticks.  Use a damp wash cloth to clean the affected area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit smells: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure it has a clean litter box, and switch to hardwood pellets for bedding.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all of these options have been exhausted and your rabbit still smells, there is a high probability your rabbit is having health issues, and you should monitor your rabbit closely to ensure it's able to keep up with it's molt, and it's feces are normal sized.  If you suspect there is a problem, you should call a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, some rabbits, especially males, do have a musky odor that is produced by their scent glands, this can be especially pronounced after your vet, either during an appointment or during your yearly checkup, cleans the rabbit's glands of dried out matter.  The smell will usually subside to normal after a few weeks.  Moreover, I've never bathed my rabbits, but find that they usually smell &quot;mountain fresh&quot; when they are in good health and properly grooming themselves.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T08:09:23.853" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:09:23.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1882" CreationDate="2014-01-08T09:38:24.913" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With respect to fruit and other items in your link the answer is &quot;no&quot;, the more active rabbit is not likely to be consuming a significantly larger proportion of hay to make it correspond to that of a rabbit with a larger body size.  Moreover, the rabbit's intestinal track is the same diameter of other buns his size, and thus a larger sugar intake could create a disruptive pocket of undesirable flora around the sugar bolus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugar can destabilizing a rabbits GI flora, which for a rabbit, can be deadly.  As such, before trying to add the extra sugar to the buns diet, you might want to ask: &quot;Is really worth risking your rabbits health just to get her to beg for an extra half of cherry?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, there is a gowning number of scientific studies that seem to indicate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sugar is actually toxic&lt;/a&gt; to all animals, and that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/sugar-addiction-drug_n_4173632.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sugar addiction is real and can be on par with that of cocaine&lt;/a&gt;.   While this explains why your rabbit tries to crawl into your mouth to find the rest of that banana you ate, it should also leave you concerned.  Thus, erring on the low side of sugar intake is the best choice for a concerned owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, the single teaspoon of sugary foods per 2 lbs of rabbit is only a guideline, and not all fruit is equal.  Papaya, for instance, contains enzymes that help your bun digest, so a little extra isn't bad (but the less sugary tablets are preferred).  Further, the difference in sugar content from an just edible banana, to an almost over ripe one can be close to double.  Thus, you bun might be fine with some variation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Occasionally&lt;/em&gt;, I feed up to 2 teaspoons of just barley ripe banana to my 2 pounder and haven't had any issues.  However, as the banana ripens, leaves behind string like pieces that I use in-place of breaking off a chunks as the strings provide prolonged interaction and extra opportunities to teach your bun new tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet beware, overweight buns, and buns with GI problems tend to consume less hay than their more fit counterparts, and therefore should exclude sugary foods that could irritate their GI track and increase their overall caloric intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from fruits and sugary vegetables, pellet food is another way rabbits obtain sugars in their diet.  The sugar in pellet food, is more dispersed and thus much less likely to cause GI floral issues.  Because of this, and the larger portion that pellets take up in a rabbit's diet, you might consider slightly increasing pellet intake for extremely active buns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The HRS recommends no more than a 1/4 cup per 3 lbs of rabbit. This recommendation is for normal activity levels and assumes the weight of the rabbit correlates with the number of calories required to sustain it and thus it's overall hay intake.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smaller rabbits, such as dwarfs are generally more active than normal and large rabbits, but tend to maintain the overall hay intake to weight ratio.  This is because, the bigger they get, the more energy they need to move.  Thus, it's not advisable to correlate high activity in smaller buns to higher caloric need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you happen to have a large rabbit that is highly active, he will increase his hay intake in-order to make up for lost calories.  This increase in the amount of hay he's consuming means that your might also proportionally increase his pellet intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-01-08T15:46:08.127" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T15:46:08.127" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T12:58:45.210" Score="6" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in a small office of eight people, one of whom bought a Cockapoo puppy a year ago. For the most part it has been a positive addition to the office (for Twiglet and for us--we love walking and playing with him), but recently we've been having a problem that we're finding difficult to solve, made worse by some people in the office not being 'dog people'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE PROBLEM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently Twiglet's been getting very territorial. I think that's the right word. He barks uncontrollably at anything he sees moving out of the window (the windows on the first floor of the office go down to floor/dog-level) and people coming to the door downstairs (glass door).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's becoming something of a problem: we need a professional atmosphere and at the moment all our visitors are accosted by a barking furball when they ring the doorbell!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we correct this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="375" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T10:10:08.363" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T10:10:08.363" Title="How can we discourage territorial behaviour in a dog at the workplace?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2087" CreationDate="2014-01-08T13:49:57.397" Score="6" ViewCount="15802" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats that usually make their business on a regular indoor litter box and also outside everywhere over the garden. They often spend the night outside, or even some days if I travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to make them poo in ceratin area of the yard/garden? I would like to set an area and not have to clean it at all. I don't know if it is possible on earth ground. Maybe with some sand, hay, pellets or other materials that help degradation and could be regularly added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would they feel attracted by this king of &quot;litter box&quot;? Would it be naturally clean enought for their taste?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="576" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T16:05:47.277" Title="How to make my cats poo in certain area of my yard/garden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1861" CreationDate="2014-01-08T15:17:51.643" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bunny burrito should really be called bunny enchilada; it's when you wrap up the bunny up tightly in a towel so that only its face and tail stick out, thereby restricting it's ability to use it's legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's most commonly used when force feeding medicine and inspecting oral hygiene and genitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunny burrito usually is not used for grooming, but could be effective if one needed to focus grooming on an area near the tail or face, however, putting a bunny on a low traction waist-high table, or holding it against your chest, or just petting it with all &quot;4 on the floor&quot; are all preferred of this more stressful technique.  Contrary to the information in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1857/how-do-i-trance-my-rabbit/1863#1863&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, it is not possible to use bunny burrito for belly grooming as exposing the belly would also leave the bunny's legs mobile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunny burrito could potentially be used for nail trimming by loosening one edge of the towel just enough so that a paw my be removed and individual addressed.  However, the bunny trance method, while considered equally stressful, provides faster quicker access to the rabbits paws and thus is preferred by rabbit care professionals.  Moreover, professionals recommend owners try the table method first as it's least stressful for the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T15:17:51.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1894" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:04:22.370" Score="4" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit makes a squeaking sound when she sleeps.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can rabbits snore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T17:04:46.987" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T17:04:46.987" Title="Can bunny rabbits snore?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;snoring&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1893" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:04:22.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes rabbits can snore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 7 exotic vets I've seen at &quot;Angel Memorial&quot; and 2 in my local rabbit rescue group &quot;Sweet Binks&quot; describe this as normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They often further generalize that rabbits with flatter faces like lop eared and some lion head breads have a genetic defect (which is why their face is flat) that leaves them with less developed sinuses which leave them prone to a plethora of respiratory issues that include snoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-01-16T18:07:48.133" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T18:07:48.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1914" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:11:16.163" Score="8" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently discovered that my lionhead rabbit has a genetic defect, which causes him to have severe respiratory issues. The defect was actually bred into the rabbits because the breeders desired a flat-faced rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I love my bun, had I known about this bred in problem, I probably would not have let the girlfriend buy him from a pet store as a way to vote with my wallet against continuing the practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly certain I've convinced the girlfriend to always adopt going forward, however I'm still curious, Is there a way to tell if the rabbit you're looking at has been bred with genetic health problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T10:09:51.060" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T10:09:51.060" Title="How do I avoid purchasing a rabbit with genetic health problems?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1921" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:23:17.973" Score="4" ViewCount="9405" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my lionhead rabbit tries to relax, even while he's eating, he begins to emit a wheezing sound and his whole body begins to rock.  I've been told this is rabbit snoring and is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as the rabbit falls more deeply into sleep, the snoring gets extremely loud and more grunt- and gurgle-like; his breathing becomes irregular, and begins to mimic someone having an asthma attack. Moreover, his body begins to shake and it almost looks like he is convulsing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear that this isn't very comfortable for him, and is probably causing a type of bunny sleep apnea, as he tends to be less engaged than my other rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to help my bunny breathe better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed controlling the humidity in my house does seem to reduce the loudness of the snoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByaiBML563DWRk5YZ1ZmaGhVMkk/edit?usp=sharing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Video my bun sleeping&lt;/a&gt; as requested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T12:02:22.953" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T19:02:51.123" Title="What can I do to help my rabbit breathe more easily?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;snoring&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1885" CreationDate="2014-01-08T16:32:53.583" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the relevant work seems to indicate that the &lt;strong&gt;nutrients found specifically in vegetables/fruits aren't digestible by cats&lt;/strong&gt;, and the nutrients that they need are found in animal tissue (usually muscle or fatty tissue). So the inclusion of these ingredients in their food is not poisonous, but adds indigestible mass that they don't need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/docs/DrZoran.pdf&quot;&gt;The carnivore connection to nutrition in cats&lt;/a&gt; (JAVMA, Vol 221, No. 11, December 1, 2002) Dr. Debra L. Zoran states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vitamin A is found naturally only in animal tissues, and it must be&#xA;  provided as the biologically active form in diets formulated for cats&#xA;  because of the fact that cats cannot convert β-carotene (which is&#xA;  plentiful in plants) to retinol (the active form of vitamin A); this&#xA;  conversion is not possible, because cats lack the necessary intestinal&#xA;  enzyme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In high enough levels, being unable to digest some materials can actually be harmful to the cat.&lt;/strong&gt; For example, benzoic acid is one of the components in cranberries (a popular fruit to add to cat food because of its folklore status as a cure for urinary tract infections in humans). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v18je04.htm&quot;&gt;Too much benzoic acid can be fatal for cats.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Outbreaks of poisoning affecting 28 cats have followed ingestion&#xA;      of meat containing 2.39% benzoic acid. The effects were nervousness,&#xA;      excitability, and loss of balance and vision. Convulsions occurred and&#xA;      17 cats either died or were killed. Autopsies showed damage to&#xA;      intestinal mucosa and liver. The sensitivity of the cat may be due to&#xA;      its failure to form benzoyl glucuronide and toxicity may develop with&#xA;      quantities greater than 0.45 g/kg single doses or 0.2 g/kg repeated&#xA;      doses (Bedford &amp;amp; Clarke, 1971).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you'd have to feed your cat a LOT of cranberries to get to this level of toxicity, so I don't believe your cat would be in any danger from a commercially produced food that included cranberry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cranberries&lt;/strong&gt; are somewhat of an unusual case. Their inclusion is often to promote urinary health, not just to increase the &quot;nutritiousness&quot; of the food. &lt;a href=&quot;http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2012/03/crananidin-cranberry-extract-for-urinary-tract-infections-in-dogs-and-cats/&quot;&gt;Skepvet summaries his findings&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is weak theoretical justification for using cranberry products&#xA;  for UTIs, though none of the supporting preclinical evidence involves&#xA;  dogs or cats. There is conflicting clinical trial evidence in humans,&#xA;  and no clinical studies in dogs and cats. There are weak theoretical&#xA;  safety concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Peas and pumpkin&lt;/strong&gt; can also be included not for nutritional value, but to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinecrf.org/constipation.htm#fibre&quot;&gt;bulk up the stool and relieve constipation&lt;/a&gt;. I don't generally recommend feeding fiber to an otherwise healthy cat and prefer to monitor the situation myself. GI symptoms can be the first sign of an illness, so I prefer to know as soon as possible that something may be wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T16:32:53.583" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T19:23:24.993" Score="6" ViewCount="2693" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about getting a Newfypoo (a cross between a Newfoundland and a Poodle) puppy. How much daily playtime and training does a Newfypoo need on average?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="578" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T14:02:06.553" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T21:35:34.167" Title="How much daily activity does a Newfypoo need?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-08T22:38:58.170" Score="6" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering adopting a dog from a locally owned pet store, it a registered breed and has a pedigree.  Is there any way I can check to find out if the dog is from a puppy mill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T02:41:27.317" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T02:41:27.317" Title="How can I find out if a dog I am considering is from a puppy mill?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1906" CreationDate="2014-01-08T22:46:43.237" Score="12" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed lately that both of my adult, non-elderly cats tend to snore when sleeping.  Usually they're sleeping on their sides or curled up when this happens.  (I don't notice it in &quot;meatloaf&quot; position, and they don't sleep on their backs.)  They don't appear to be in any distress, and we've just been to the vet for a routine exam and gotten a clean bill of health.  Is snoring normal?  Are there particular factors that affect it, like diet or environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did get told that they're both a bit overweight and we'll be taking measures to deal with that.  But we're not talking Garfield-class cats here; they should each lose a pound or so.  (They're both 13-pound regular domestic housecats, no identifiable breed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T17:05:16.037" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T17:05:16.037" Title="How common is it for cats to snore?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;snoring&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1890" CreationDate="2014-01-08T23:31:05.603" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working through a similar problem with my dogs barking at my neighbours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first part of my solution was classical conditioning to change the dogs' emotional response - they were becoming extremely excited as soon as they heard a noise outside. I put stashes of cookies in every room of the house, and the split second I heard a noise outside I would rush to the nearest cookie station. The two most important things to remember about classical conditioning are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The treats should start as soon as the dog sees/hears the thing that it has been reacting to, and stop as soon as that thing is no longer there. You want to build a really strong association that person walking past = awesome treats, no person walking past = no awesome treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog does not have to do anything in particular to &quot;earn&quot; the treats. You are trying to change a subconscious emotional response at this stage, not the dog's behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I would have to grab the treats and then walk over to my barking dogs and shove cookies into their mouths. Within a few days the barking had become much less frenetic and they were able to respond to their names when I called them. Now I could start the second part of the training - teaching them to sit and look at me when they heard a noise. As soon as the noise started, I would call the dogs and then only feed them once they were sitting in front of me. After a few weeks of this, I no longer need to call them - sometimes they don't respond to a noise at all, and when they do they come straight to me to sit for their cookie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My progress has been quite slow because my neighbours are actually pretty quiet so I only get 3-4 training opportunities per day. In a busy office environment you might have many more chances to work on this. You might also be able to predict when disturbances are likely to occur, or even set them up by getting people from other offices in the same building to come visiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenge is likely to be getting everyone on board to work on the problem, and to make sure that he doesn't fall back onto old habits when nobody is paying attention. If possible I would try to screen off the bottoms of the windows so that he can no longer see out (reassure everyone that it is only temporary) except by the areas where people who are willing to work on the problem sit. You could either make a rule that the person who is nearest to the dog needs to work with him each time a training opportunity arises, or set up a roster and take turns - half an hour each in the morning, and then half an hour each in the afternoon. In the short term some people may get a teeny bit less work done, but remind them that it will be much easier to concentrate once the dog is no longer sounding off every time someone walks past!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="534" LastActivityDate="2014-01-08T23:31:05.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1899" CreationDate="2014-01-08T23:53:51.893" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way would be to visit the breeders, see the conditions that the dogs are kept in, and meet the parents. If the place seems clean and the adult dogs are sociable and have had some basic training, it's not a puppy mill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the breeder is too far away to visit, references from other breeders and puppy buyers are very useful. I'd also check out the breeder on Facebook, both the kennel page and their personal profile if you can find it. A pure money-making operation might have birth and death announcements, show results, and photos of dogs in a fenced yard or in kennels. What would be missing is evidence that the dogs are part of the family and regularly spend time interacting with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="534" LastEditorUserId="534" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T09:28:26.700" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T09:28:26.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1900" CreationDate="2014-01-09T00:05:06.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had several cats that snore.  It sometimes gets worse with age.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dramatic change might be due to a serious medical cause - like a cold.  But since you have checked that out, I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T00:05:06.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1891" CreationDate="2014-01-09T00:06:08.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put a pile of sand there and they will almost certainly get the idea themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T00:06:08.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1905" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-09T01:04:35.083" Score="18" ViewCount="1943" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got my first kitten 2 weeks ago. She is 14 weeks old and likes to chew everything. I bought a couple of toys and she seems to enjoy them very much. But as soon as she gets access to some kind of cord she starts to chew them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to keep the electrical chords unaccessible (it takes a lot of workarounds), but I usually let my battery charger, phone cables and earphones over the bed (which she climbs with ease). It's a little annoying to have to hide them every time  go to the bathroom or eve\n when I'm sleeping, so I would like to know if there's something I could do to teach her not to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I spot her doing it, I usually take her away and show her a toy so to attract her attention. I wonder if there's some technique to prevent this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="577" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-26T19:46:39.590" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T19:46:39.590" Title="What can I do to prevent/educate a kitten from chewing wires?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1900" CreationDate="2014-01-09T02:09:15.683" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/respiratory/c_ct_noisy_breathing#.Us4DfWRDv48&quot;&gt;Stertor&lt;/a&gt;, also known as snoring, isn't as common in cats as with dogs, but there are no obvious age/breed/sex patterns to it and it's well known, though being overweight can exacerbate the condition. In general, there are surgical treatments for it (not surprising, the same is true for us), but if they're not distressed and generally healthy, I wouldn't be considering that. If you've talked to the vet and they're also not concerned, then, well, hopefully they don't keep you awake at night. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing, however, is that it may signal is a possible issue for them: narrowing of the nasal passages (with the delightfully unpronounceable name of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.ca/#q=nasopharyngeal%20stenosis%20cats&quot;&gt;Nasopharyngeal Stenosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; being the clinical term). Cats of any breed, age, or sex can have this and a possible sign of it is whistling or snoring sounds when breathing (there are other signs that may or may not be present). However, it is triggered usually by an upper respiratory illness or some foreign body or irritant in the area. Probably a red-herring, but if you know your cat's history, you may consider that something to have looked at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T02:09:15.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1905" CreationDate="2014-01-09T02:22:20.423" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to what I've implied in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1738/278&quot;&gt;&quot;How to use a spray bottle as negative reinforcement?&quot;&lt;/a&gt; this is one exception of the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; used a spray bottle, but instead I've kept a glass filled with very small amount of water near the place(s) where my kittens have liked to play with electrical wires. When I noticed anyone of them playing with wires I've sneaked near, taken the glass of water (placed near the place beforehand), then waited a short moment, and finally dropped the water on the kitten. I've kept the amount of water so small that I haven't feared shortcircuiting anything, not even felt a need to wipe the spilled water off the floor afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is different between a spray bottle and a tiny amount of water dropped from a glass is in the way the water falls on its target. Spray bottle makes a squirt that has direction and length, while a drop is a single point in time-and-space when it lands on the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time kittens are so focused on the small area immediately around them that they can't really figure out where the water came from. I'm not standing quite next to them, and not moving, so they (usually) haven't made a connection between me and the water. What is right there in front of the kitten is the wires, and s/he was playing with those wires, which makes an obvious connection between the unpleasant surprise and the wires. So far I've had good results with this method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult cats are far more observant to their surroundings. I'm quite convinced that this method would fail to make the wanted change in their playing with wires. I have one adult cat who likes to chew thin wires, like headphones cables and batterycharger wires. I haven't even tried to train him away from this habit, instead I've just removed all thin wirings from his reach. Somehow he still finds all of those that I forget to hide. Casualties of the last year: four headphones and three battery chargers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T02:22:20.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1909" CreationDate="2014-01-09T04:11:34.797" Score="13" ViewCount="63729" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's almost a year now (about 10 months old), and I thought it was just a phase, but it's not so much like that as it seems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had problems with him eating wood (from chewing on tree branches), which almost caused him a visit to the operating room because he would not poop, and threw up everything he ate or drank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't eat his poop, but he eats dirt, rocks, branches, leafs, grass, plastic bags, bones, and even dry wall or anything in  between. Yes, he is the one out of my 3 dogs that gets into the trash, the other two know they shouldn't and they don't!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to move the trash bags to other places where he can't reach them, but that does not seem like a reasonable solution. He doesn't care if I'm right there, if there is something good in the trash can, he's going to at least take a nice big whiff out of it while possibly sticking his head in there to see if he can reach anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not something I had to emphasize so much as to yell &quot;no&quot; or &quot;bad dog&quot; with my other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, how do I handle my rowdy, hyper, eating-everything-he-can dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-25T16:20:20.443" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T17:13:49.703" Title="How can I train my dog to stop eating everything?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1908" CreationDate="2014-01-09T08:57:47.180" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put him on leash, and go for a walk, just not to the places he usually goes for trashes -- you don't want to fight with his instincts, so try to avoid it at first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You must be alone, holding the leash. Ask a family member or a friend to bring the other two dogs as well, but walking quite far behind and without distraction -- you will need them later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he shows interest/over-excitement for garbage (or whatever else), he must be like this, right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C5MBM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do here is to make him calm down. Pull on the leash time to time, don't make noise, just something like &quot;hey&quot; or &quot;it's okay&quot;, you should not being angry or aggressive at all. You can also touch him, so he can gently cool-down. At this point you must be about 5 meters from the trash and you should keep him there like that until he gives-up. Then you will see something like this probably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9g9Ri.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From now onward, you have to walk with him like this, slowly going closer to the trash or object. He should NOT pull the leash, you should keep him calm. If he is pulling, then stop and wait until he calms down, then one step closer. Go closer until you get to the point that you're just a little bit far from the trash or object (but he still can't reach it), and let him sit down there. Seems you're waiting for someone, just wait there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will get to the following point soon or late:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KWUoG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now bring the other dogs. Let them sit down there for a while. Like a normal summer day in your backyard. Then give some of their toys or even some food as a treat. Let them be there for a while and then start walking to the next point. If he is already tired, that's a good news, go back home and repeat it again another day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember this is the correct way of walking with a dog with a leash. He/she should not pull for any reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MkmLo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW I forgot to mention two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed him well with his favorite food before going for walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with him in your place/backyard before going for walk so he wouldn't feel so excited. When playing, try to engaging him with his toys. Let him knows how he can enjoys playing with his toys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="566" LastEditorUserId="566" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T17:06:40.773" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T17:06:40.773" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-09T13:42:06.503" Score="7" ViewCount="11508" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small/medium mixed breed dog who never ever gets along with bigger dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always have my dog on the leash, but in my neighbourhood people often let their dogs run loose. I usually find myself having to kneel down next to my dog, put one arm around him, and use the other arm to keep the loose dog away from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes this works, and the loose dog stays away from us, but sometimes they come really close. They will bark very angrily at my dog, causing him to panic and move around me, then the other dog will also try to go around me to get to my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've already tried talking to dog owners and even to the police, but it didn't solve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, over here it's usually quite windy, so I don't think carrying some kind of spray would be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to protect my dog in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="5313" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T14:32:54.343" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:27:56.023" Title="How do I protect my dog from other dogs that are loose when we're walking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2014-01-09T14:12:16.890" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;What makes you think your dog is in danger? I've seen many instances where large dogs simply come to play (and barking does not mean aggression) and it is &lt;em&gt;the small&lt;/em&gt; dog the one that reacts aggressively, prompting the large dogs to react the same way or to go away. Furthermore, I've seen many small dogs that are awesome playmates of large dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dogs you mentioned are truly aggressive, their behavior won't be limited to small dogs; on the contrary, bigger dogs represent an even bigger threat for them. I doubt the owners or the police simply &lt;em&gt;ignored&lt;/em&gt; large, loose, aggressive dogs &quot;attacking&quot; other dogs. This drives me to think that they are just curious about your dog and not necessarily aggressive. Remember that when you try to &lt;em&gt;protect&lt;/em&gt; your dog (by putting your hand around it to keep the other one away) you are teaching your dog the this represents an actual threat and that it is OK for it to feel afraid and insecure in that situation, and even to react aggressively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestions would be to slowly let your dog be around larger dogs, to the point it feels comfortable in this situation and try to show it some positive feedback when it does not react aggressively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T14:12:16.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="972" CreationDate="2014-01-09T15:48:25.623" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/224/zaralynda&quot;&gt;Zaralynda&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2132/how-can-i-keep-my-neighbors-dogs-out-of-my-yard#comment4682_2132&quot;&gt;recommended&lt;/a&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000071NUS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;motion activated sprinkler&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2132/how-can-i-keep-my-neighbors-dogs-out-of-my-yard&quot;&gt;a dog problem I was having&lt;/a&gt;.  If sensitive enough, I think this could work well for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try some plastic replicas of predators like owls and snakes and Fake peregrine falcons, but without movement these tend to only work okay at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you really need is something that flaps, like a sail or kite, or better yet a plastic predator replica that flaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They likely sell better versions of something like this at your local home store:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETBP0pYzWaM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETBP0pYzWaM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T21:30:45.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2014-01-09T15:53:03.460" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, double-check the dog's &lt;a href=&quot;http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/how-read-your-dogs-body-language/415&quot;&gt;body language&lt;/a&gt; to make sure that it is truly aggressive. If it is an aggressive dog running loose, it is something the police, or animal control should be taking care of. If they have already looked into it, they have either given the owner's a warning, or decided it was not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leash#Leash_laws&quot;&gt;leash laws&lt;/a&gt; where you live? If not, you could start the process of putting one in place (to have fines for owners who let their dogs &quot;run at large&quot; in town).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something you should be working on the side, is getting your dog comfortable with larger breeds. Take him to some dog training classes, and get him socialized. rae1n brings up a good point where your actions when another dog approaches actually hinders his ability to socialize. He learned from you that larger dogs are scary, and you need to protect him. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not good that he now panics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall I'd say the best thing you can do is to talk to the dog owner. Ask them if they could keep their dog from running up to you as you're not comfortable with it. Don't accuse them, as they'll get defensive and dismissive. You could offer to buy them a leash so they have one to walk their dog with, or I would ask them if they walk their dog on a schedule, so that I could avoid crossing paths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I &lt;strong&gt;would not&lt;/strong&gt; spray someone else's dog while that they were walking. Unless you can safely say that the dog was aggressive and running to attack you, that is assaulting someone's dog, and causing it to fear humans. If the dog is not running up to you in an aggressive manner, the problem is that the dog is untrained. I would say it's up to you to understand dog's body language, almost as much as it's up to them to train their dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:53:03.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2014-01-09T15:55:00.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different problems that are associated with specific breeds.  One problem you have is that the Lionhead is a breed that is a work in progress.  This means that the breeders have not had time to breed out most of the problems, like the respiratory issues your rabbit is dealing with.  The breathing issues are actually quite common in the short nosed rabbits as well as dogs and cats.  I have 2 pugs and both of them have some breathing issues, and I have known quite a few people with &lt;a href=&quot;http://kittentoob.com/cat-breeds/himalayan/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ultra-typed Himalayan cats&lt;/a&gt; that also had breathing issues.  Most of them are just a nuisance though some can be life threatening.  The only way to completely avoid this risk is to avoid the brachycephalic(short nosed) breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem of purchasing any animal from a pet store is that the people selling the animal generally know very little about it.  The probably do not know who the breeder is, or how healthy the parents were.  Pet stores generally get the rabbits that many breeders would cull otherwise.  This means that the rabbit probably is not of good type, or part of a breeding project that did not exhibit the traits the breeder is looking for.  All baby bunnies are cute which makes them easy to sell to people as pets.  But the breeders typically keep the best rabbits from their broods to breed with or show.  If you deal directly with a breeder the breeder will be able to talk to you in depth about the rabbit you are buying.  He or she will be able to explain what you can expect from your rabbit when it grows up and what faults the rabbit is showing when he sells it.  Dealing with a breeder will also almost always mean you get the rabbit for less than what you would pay in a store.  But talking to the breeder is the best way to determine what if any problems your bunny is likely to have in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="anon" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T15:55:00.437" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2014-01-09T16:00:15.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are crepuscular, which means they prefer to be awake at dawn and dusk.  As such they've evolved to prefer neither complete darkness or bright light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, human sight is also suppose to be best at dawn and dusk as well.  However, cats proportionally have more rods than cones in their eyes than we do.  (Rods are what give us are ability to see in very low light and their placement in our eyes is why we can see better out of our peripheral vision in very low light.)  Thus cats likely prefer a lower light levels than we do, and are able to see better in darker environments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T16:27:27.147" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T16:27:27.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1666" CreationDate="2014-01-09T16:26:45.190" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits by nature are actually quite pushy creatures (especially before they are fixed).  Most rabbit owners have likely experienced a rabbit raming the owners leg in an attempt to clear a more direct path or move the owner of it's &quot;territory&quot;, or had a rabbit shove a food bowl at them in an attempt to get fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits also happen to be extremely social, and from my observations seem to have proportionally higher number of mirror neurons than other animals (mirror neurons are what cause you to subconsciously smile when someone else smiles at you); if one rabbit starts grooming it self, others that see it can't help but do the same.  For rabbits, this mirroring easily crosses the species barrier and all one needs to do to experience this is to comb their hair or apply lotion in-front of a rabbit, and it will immediately start to groom it self.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus a rabbit exposed to a non-threatening sheep herding dog will likely &quot;learn&quot; to herd sheep in a short amount of time as is pushy and mirroring instincts kick in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T16:26:45.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2014-01-09T18:25:31.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you should realize that this is not &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;your dog's&lt;/em&gt; problem. Don't blame on yourself or your dog. Dogs have different levels of energy and aggression, some of them are more territorial by (bad) training or by instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're jumping in to someone's backyard, you don't expect their (let say) &lt;em&gt;Guard&lt;/em&gt; dog -- whatever breed, doesn't really matter -- to come and play with you, right? Now if you let that dog walk freely around your block, then he is the &lt;em&gt;Guard&lt;/em&gt; dog for the block. You can't tell a dog &lt;em&gt;Look, this is our backyard but that is a sidewalk and it belongs to everyone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what you need to do is to go and solve the problem. Again this is not your problem. It was literally caused by the other owners. Why? by not socializing their dogs properly. And if your dog is afraid of another dog approaching him while barking aggressively, then it's not his problem also. As I said dogs have different levels of energy and of course different characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look at the situation like this: &lt;em&gt;There are some loose dogs that are not very well socialized by their owners&lt;/em&gt;. The solution: &lt;em&gt;Socializing them&lt;/em&gt;. How? well, how did you do that for your dog? That should be pretty similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I'd do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduce yourself&lt;/strong&gt;: Go to your neighbor's home without your dog. Let the dog see that you're in his place. Let him see you with his owner. Go and play with the dog. Simply: make a connection. Go and love that dog, don't hate him, he is not doing anything wrong deliberately and he can be so fun and loving within a second.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduce the dog to your place and your dog&lt;/strong&gt;: Now invite your neighbor to your place. Ask them to bring their dog as well -- preferably with the leash on. Dog won't be aggressive because it's a new place and -- based on the smells, it belongs to another dog. Now you take the dog and let your neighbor goes and make the connection. Let them play with your dog for even a few minutes, while you're holding their dog -- preferably touching him as well, and the dog also should be aware -- probably alerted, and see how his owner plays with your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let them be friends:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Walking&lt;/em&gt; is such an important activity to a dog. At least from their point of view. Sometimes I think they like it even more than eating. Get one of the leashes in your right hand and the other one on your left hand. Start walking from your place -- preferably without your neighbor accompanying you, and also to the opposite side of your neighbor's place. After a few minutes change your direction towards your neighbor's place and end it up by let the dog goes to his place -- after finishing the walk and while your dog is still with you. You might want to have some small treats with yourself also.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess by that time, you will have a big-big improvement in both sides. Just don't you forget that: &lt;em&gt;This lovely dog is not very well socialized, and I am going to help him to have a better life. We all deserve a good life&lt;/em&gt;. That's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="566" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-09T20:22:47.373" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T20:22:47.373" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="288" CreationDate="2014-01-09T20:24:30.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I do is to buy a sheet of plastic carpet protector (with the pointy side to keep it in place) and cover the area around the box with it.  Then scattered litter becomes a broom and dustpan issue rather than a vacuum cleaner issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T20:24:30.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2014-01-09T23:12:12.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biggest concern is introducing a disease to your tank. Especially if you have a decent size group of them make absolutely sure the new ones aren't showing signs of ich or other diseases if you cannot quarantine them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-01-09T23:12:12.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1896" CreationDate="2014-01-10T04:28:46.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The medical term for difficult or labored breathing, when it appears to cause discomfort in animals, is dyspnea. Signs of this include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;restlessness and poor sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reluctance to exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sneezing or other nasal discharge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;signs of anorexia (not eating) and lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some causes include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury or illness, stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Several diseases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nasal obstructions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abscesses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bacterial infections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I didn't post all that to scare the heck out of you. Your description does indicate some evidence that he's reluctant to exercise and so maybe this is a good reason to seek a second opinion on the issue. Not all of instances of this require medical intervention (most are unlikely to), despite apparent discomfort, and that may be what the vet was trying to tell you. Essentially, mild cases being &quot;rabbit snoring&quot; and normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be fair to your vet, stress is a consideration here. It could be that he's not reacting well to the companion rabbit or some other environmental change and that's now manifesting this way. If that is true, then a change in this respect would alleviate things. Other than that, if this is a mild case of dyspnea, I haven't found a home remedy to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T04:28:46.833" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1922" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1923" CreationDate="2014-01-10T04:49:40.107" Score="18" ViewCount="1406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started seeing tiny white spots appear on one of my fish. After asking a friend, he told me it was something called &quot;ich&quot;. What is ich and how do I get rid of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-11T06:49:22.357" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T12:36:22.513" Title="What, exactly, is &quot;ich&quot;?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1922" CreationDate="2014-01-10T04:49:40.107" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ich&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Ichthyophthirius multifiliis&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0q953.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A white skirt tetra with Ich&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?69822-Does-anythinge-else-look-like-ICK&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt; is an tiny &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ectoparasite&lt;/a&gt; that can harm fish if they succumb to it. If not cared for properly, it can kill fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt; is always present, and there is nothing you can do to get rid of it. Fish are naturally immune to &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt;, and only succumb to it when their immune systems or protective &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/slimecoat.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;slime-coating&lt;/a&gt; have been compromised, or when they're stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it like a person with the flu. The flu virus will always be present, and our bodies have natural defenses in place to protect us, but external factors such as lack of sleep, a person who is already infected sneezing nearby, not washing hands, etc. can all cause the virus to get past our defenses and make us sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why you will commonly see fish contract &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt; after traveling, if they're being bullied by other fish, and when they're living in poor water conditions. Also, if you have a fish like a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=plecostomus&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=n2vPUp-cBYXMqgGMsoCgDQ&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plecostomus&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=Loach&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=umvPUuqMCuu1sATB7YHoCw&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Loach&lt;/a&gt;, or certain &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=aquarium+catfish&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=J2zPUqzqHMSRqQHn2IE4&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;catfishes&lt;/a&gt;, they will actually attach to other fish, and &quot;bite&quot; off their slime coating, exposing them to &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, just like if you moved a person sick with the flu into a house full of healthy people, introducing a fish with &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt; into an established aquarium is a bad idea. And just like giving a healthy person flue medicine, giving healthy fish &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt; medicine isn't a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good idea to have a small tank on hand, one that's big enough for one or two fish, so that you can quarantine and treat sick fish away from healthy ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For freshwater fish, &lt;em&gt;Ich&lt;/em&gt; can be treated in several different ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chemical Treatment: Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/102735/Kordon-Ich-Attack-for-Fresh-and-Saltwater-Aquariums.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMAmazonPA-_-Fish-_-Kordon-_-1048830&amp;amp;mr:trackingCode=2EDE2C36-8A62-E311-9C6B-BC305BF82376&amp;amp;mr:referralID=NA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ich Attack&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002A5X7I&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ParaGuard&lt;/a&gt; are two that I personally recommend. Follow the directions on the bottle, it'll tell you how much to put in per gallon, and how often. Be careful, these two shouldn't effect anything else in your tank, but with chemical treatments you always run the risk of throwing off the chemical balance (usually Ph levels). Copper-based treatments like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/fish/p/sentry-aq-mardel-coppersafe-freshwater-saltwater-4-oz-108572?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=Google&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=SPC-079&amp;amp;utm_campaign=GooglePLA&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323902681&amp;amp;utm_content=pla&amp;amp;ca_sku=SPC-079&amp;amp;ca_gpa=pla&amp;amp;ca_kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CopperSafe&lt;/a&gt;, while effective, are also really bad for invertebrates, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=freshwater%20shrimp&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=pHPPUqTeCPS-sQSl0oGQDA&amp;amp;ved=0CCwQsAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;shrimp&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=freshwater%20lobster&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=wXPPUuKdK8upsATJn4H4Cw&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;crayfish&lt;/a&gt;. I would suggest avoiding copper if you have invertebrates in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium Salt: Adding &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0010P0ZJK&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquarium salt&lt;/a&gt; to the water helps calm fish, providing them with certain nutrients, and removes nitrites helping fish to absorb more oxygen. I wouldn't recommend using aquarium salt with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=plecostomus&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=4HPPUrngBO_LsQT6l4KgAQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Plecostomus&lt;/a&gt; in the tank, as they can be sensitive to it, though some people have no problems. Also, aquarium salt is special, don't use other kinds of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Temperature: Raising the temperature to about 86 degrees Fahrenheit will create an environment that the fish can survive in, but not the parasite. Don't leave the temperature at that though, as it will stress the fish out to be in there for long. It's all about who can survive it longer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium Salt and temperature: I prefer this option as the salt helps the fish through the temperature rise more. Again, think twice about salt and Plecos.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For saltwater fish, the treatment is a bit more tricky. The first thing you want to consider is if your treatment will effect the live rock and any corals in your tank. In my opinion, for saltwater tanks, a small quarantine tank (with the same water parameters as the established tank) is a requirement. If you notice a sick fish, move it to the quarantine tank to protect the rest of your tank. There you can treat the fish without worrying about the medicine harming other fish or corals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a quarantine tank, us chemical treatments on the fish. Since you're treating the fish in a quarantine tank, you can use copper-based treatments like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/fish/p/sentry-aq-mardel-coppersafe-freshwater-saltwater-4-oz-108572?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=Google&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=SPC-079&amp;amp;utm_campaign=GooglePLA&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323902681&amp;amp;utm_content=pla&amp;amp;ca_sku=SPC-079&amp;amp;ca_gpa=pla&amp;amp;ca_kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CopperSafe&lt;/a&gt;. I have not had the guts to try it, but according to the bottle, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/102735/Kordon-Ich-Attack-for-Fresh-and-Saltwater-Aquariums.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMAmazonPA-_-Fish-_-Kordon-_-1048830&amp;amp;mr:trackingCode=2EDE2C36-8A62-E311-9C6B-BC305BF82376&amp;amp;mr:referralID=NA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ich Attack&lt;/a&gt; is reef safe. Meaning you should be able to use it in a tank with corals in it without killing the corals. I'm not going to say you shouldn't do anything like that, but I don't want to take responsibility for anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_7?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=uv%20sterilizer&amp;amp;sprefix=uv%20ster,aps,188&amp;amp;rh=i:aps,k:uv%20sterilizer&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;UV sterilizer&lt;/a&gt; will help remove some of the parasites from the water. I've never used one, so I can't say much about them. They're expensive, and if you have the money for one, I think they'd be nice to have.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;On top of the treatment, I would perform gentle water changes. Something like 10% every 5 days. Enough to take out a good chunk of the old water, but not enough to stress the fish anymore than necessary. Have a bucket of water prepared the day before with something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002568S6&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Seachem Prime&lt;/a&gt; for freshwater fish. For saltwater fish, use pre-mixed saltwater already heated to the right temperature to avoid any drastic changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T17:19:24.917" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T17:19:24.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1899" CreationDate="2014-01-10T09:00:27.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the answer is No, you can't. &lt;em&gt;@kaynetoad&lt;/em&gt; mentioned the correct way if you actually know the breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you can't find it out is that dogs have different personalities and also physics. Some of their characteristics is purely inherited from their past generations. In plain English, you can't say &lt;em&gt;If the puppy does A or looks like B, then it comes from a Puppy Mill, otherwise from a good and responsible breeder&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that you might consider when getting a puppy from a pet store is to avoid getting a puppy who's less than 8 weeks old. If you're selling a puppy in less than 8 weeks you're damaging the overall health of the puppy. If you don't care, probably you're not a registered Kennel -- so officials don't check what you do there, and you just wanna make a dollar out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paws.org/puppy-mills.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;paws.org&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Roughly 90 percent of puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you live in states and you don't wanna contribute to the Puppy Mills' businesses, then try to find a good breeder who is registered in Kennel Club. You can probably get a list of registered kennel's in your neighborhood if you simply ask them to provide it for you, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="566" LastEditorUserId="566" LastEditDate="2014-01-10T09:41:57.257" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T09:41:57.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-10T13:56:07.753" Score="22" ViewCount="83062" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I would like to adopt two kittens, however she has cat allergies and currently would not be able to live with them. The adoption group let us foster (with the plan for adoption) a pair of shorthair tabbys that she has fallen in love with. We would like to keep them, but think it is a bad decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't want to take the kittens, and have her live with the allergies, and we don't want to try something that only works for a short period of time. So is there something we can do to keep the kittens without having my wife live with allergic reactions all the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far we have employed other strategies to help with the issue, like dusting often and keeping them out of the bedroom, but we are looking for a more permanent solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From reading online it seems like immunotherapy is an option to help treat those allergies so she would be able to live with them. I am hoping for some kind of treatment like this, but I don't know how effective that is, or if it would even help. What are my options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="582" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-11T01:27:25.550" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:16:52.627" Title="Is it possible to have a pet cat even with cat allergies?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="458" CreationDate="2014-01-10T17:10:44.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;An enclosure is really the only option if you want to let them out without a harness and leash. You can't just let a cat out and watch them not to run away. They &lt;em&gt;will run away&lt;/em&gt; faster than you realize, if there's any chance at all. After the fact all you can do is wait and hope they'll come back later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An adult indoor cat is probably scared of the outside world at first. It may look like all the cat does is to sit and watch its surroundings, and eventually s/he will come happily back inside. That won't last long though. And when that cat finally feels like wandering it goes wandering; and that is dangerous for an unexperienced indoor cat. Plus, how can you know if they know their way back home, like an indoor cat it is. They are just different from cats who have been going out all their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, not all cats are the same. One of my previous cats was almost a dog. She followed me to walks around the neighbourhood without a leash, she would play fetch with me not only at home but in a park too, and when she was out on her own she always came running to me when I whistled in certain way. That cat was also the last one I've let go out free. At the time (late '80s) I did not know a cat can live a happy life being a 100% indoor cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another funny cat lived above me in 1st floor apartment (I was living in ground floor). They had a long rope tied to a basket, and every day they lowered their cat down in the basket and the cat went on its way. Later the cat would jump in the basket and sit still while the owner pulled it up. I always wondered how did they train the cat to do that. Cats are just amazing animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the Amazon link below for an example of a flexi leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0018CG3VE&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Flexi-Retractable-10-Feet-Supports-18-Pound/dp/B0018CG3VE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1389372179&amp;amp;sr=1-1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not purchase a flexi leash online, instead go to a pet accessories store and inspect the leashes yourself. Choose one that has the lightest draw-back tension and the most lightweight lock (that metal thing locking leash to the cat harness). Getting a cat used to wearing a harness is worth another question here in Pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'd go for an outdoors enclosure if I had the place for one. Then the cat can choose when to go out and when to stay in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T17:10:44.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1896" CreationDate="2014-01-10T18:54:12.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem appears to be a defect in the structure of the pathway from the nose to the lungs of your rabbit.  It is not an uncommon problem to varying degrees for rabbits of this type.  Your rabbit is normal, that does not mean healthy just that the normal state of your rabbit is going to be having a slight to moderate obstruction to the respiratory system while resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can be done?  You could have a surgeon operate and attempt to correct the problem through reconstruction.  This will be Very expensive, potentially painful and be a high risk to the health of your rabbit.  Rabbits are fragile, they have small veins, and do not tolerate this type of thing well. Humans by comparison are incredibly robust, and adaptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the rabbit survives the risk that the procedure either is not completely successful, or has other side effects is going to be high.  The reason is no one does this on rabbits with the expectation that they will survive. In humans we do reconstructions of noses for cosmetic purposes so there is a glut of doctors with the skills and experience to make this type of procedure relatively easy.  That knowledge and experience does not exist for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until your rabbit starts to show signs of severe distress from this condition your best course of action is going to be to make your rabbits life happy and to enjoy the time you have with him.  I suspect that the life span should be in the normal range despite this issue.   If the condition starts to create serious medical issues that will be the time to address the condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T18:54:12.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2014-01-10T21:14:46.203" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The allergens that cause reactions in the allergic are carried on the skin and other places the cat touches with saliva.  From what I understand, these allergens tend to be more prevalent in male cats, and some breeds like Siberian have even lower levels for males, and very small in females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that the use of home air filtration could be of use in attracting loose hair/skin that carries allergens.  A quick wash after touching, and cat baths might help limit exposure.  Sweeping up hair frequently would also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it has happened that persons become accustomed to particular cats with exposure, and do not react to that cat while reacting to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-10T21:14:46.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2014-01-11T05:43:11.903" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely possible to live with a cat even if you have cat allergies. There are several things you can do to reduce, and remove the allergens that cause a reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step one is always &lt;strong&gt;fresh air, ventilation, and filtration&lt;/strong&gt;. Open windows when you can to get fresh air flow moving through the house, bring in new air and take away the old with dander and other allergens. If you can't have the windows open all the time, like if it rains or gets cold outside, you can use an air filter like Oldcat suggested (Technically you can use one all the time I guess, but come on, fresh air!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B000R2WEJQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;air filter&lt;/a&gt;. Though I have no idea how good this one is, it has a 4 1/2 star rating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always &lt;strong&gt;give the cat its own space&lt;/strong&gt; so that your wife has places to be safe from any reactions. The bedroom is a perfect place to make into a safe room. You should be able to spend time with your cat whenever you want, but in the case of an allergic reaction, your wife should have a place to get away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brush the cat often&lt;/strong&gt; to get rid of shed hair and dander. Also, brush it outside if you can, or in a well ventilated room. You're brushing the allergens off of the cat and into the air, which is something you definitely don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Furniture and upholstery are allergen traps.&lt;/strong&gt; You can either clean them often, or you can put allergen protectors on them. My wife is allergic to dust mites, so we have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B002UBVIY4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mattress cover&lt;/a&gt; on our bed. I will warn you they make crinkling sounds when you move on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They make &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0010DLYR4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anti-allergen sprays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; that are supposed to remove even pet allergens, though I can't say the effectiveness of those, it might be something to look into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch your vacuum.&lt;/strong&gt; Old vacuums with bags are especially notorious for kicking back some dirt and dust. You can get &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=allergen%20vacuum&amp;amp;sprefix=allergen%20vac,aps,193&amp;amp;rh=i:aps,k:allergen%20vacuum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;allergen trapping bags&lt;/a&gt;, but newer, bagless vacuums are much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the litter box clean. Not only is &lt;strong&gt;cat urine an allergen&lt;/strong&gt;, but &lt;strong&gt;cat litter is extremely dusty&lt;/strong&gt;. You might want to try different kinds of cat litter to see if that helps. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/cat/p/yesterdays-news-original-cat-litter-unscented-119002?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=Google&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=NTP-525&amp;amp;utm_campaign=GooglePLA&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323860677&amp;amp;utm_content=pla&amp;amp;ca_sku=NTP-525&amp;amp;ca_gpa=pla&amp;amp;ca_kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yesterday's News&lt;/a&gt; is made of old newspaper, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00176CC20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline Pine&lt;/a&gt; is made of compressed sawdust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep the cat clean&lt;/strong&gt;. While cats will wash themselves, they will not get rid of all their dander on their own. Also, &lt;strong&gt;cat saliva is an allergen too&lt;/strong&gt; (go figure). I personally don't suggest daily baths; especially for kittens. But a bath once a week or so would help. Daily wipe downs with a cloth or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/cat/p/earthbath-hypo-allergenic-cat-wipes-100-ct-119119?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=Google&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=EEI-045&amp;amp;utm_campaign=GooglePLA&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323903457&amp;amp;utm_content=pla&amp;amp;ca_sku=EEI-045&amp;amp;ca_gpa=pla&amp;amp;ca_kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kitten wipes&lt;/a&gt; are an alternative to baths, and can be less stressful on both of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important notes:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you use soap/shampoo that is safe for your kitten. I use Dawn dish soap, which is what is used to clean animals from oil spills. You might want to look into something that won't dry out the cat's skin if you plan on giving baths more frequently than once a week. Consult a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get water into your cat's ears when bathing, as water doesn't drain from their ears like it does in humans, so it will get infected, even cause permanent damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Finally, I would suggest you &lt;strong&gt;get treatment&lt;/strong&gt; -- Even if it's just taking antihistamines to reduce the allergic reaction. There's also the option of getting an allergy test to tell what specifically you're allergic to. That can help you target the allergens more effectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to speak to a doctor about &lt;strong&gt;immunotherapy&lt;/strong&gt; for the details but I can tell you this much: It will not &lt;em&gt;cure&lt;/em&gt; allergies. What it does, is it gets your body used to the allergens. Desensitizing your body to the reaction and lessening the immune system's response. Your wife still might have allergic reactions after the treatments are completed, but the point is that they're so minuscule she won't hardly notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing to do is understand &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/allergies.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;what an allergy is&lt;/a&gt;. At the basic level, an allergy is the body reacting negatively to an otherwise harmless substance. What immunotherapy aims to do, is expose the immune system to the allergen in minute amounts at first, then slowly increase the dosage until you no longer feel the effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process does take time, so don't expect it to be done anytime soon. The treatment goes something like this: You will go in once a week for a mall dose at first, then once every other week, then once a month, then once every few months, then once a year, then once every couple years. The dosage increasing by a fraction each time. Because there are so many treatments, it can be fairly costly, but I cannot give an estimate with any confidence. I will say immunotherapy has been shown to be an effective method of managing allergies. If you and, more importantly, your wife are patient enough, it will help her manage the allergic reactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;See more at:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/allergies.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T11:16:52.627" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:16:52.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-11T16:43:52.833" Score="1" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please tell me what this is? I am thinking its either a gila monster or a monitor, but could be completely wrong.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2oSlM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="585" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-01-11T17:25:37.167" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T17:22:25.917" Title="What is this reptile/lizard?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-01-12T10:41:45.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1930" CreationDate="2014-01-11T23:45:54.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is definitely not a Gila Monster, as you can see an example of below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0ZPLY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Gila Monster&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.conservation.org/FMG/Articles/Pages/gila_monsters_human_health_mexico.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would definitely help me be sure of what type of monitor it is, if you provided more information. What size the is monitor right now, where you got it from, more pictures. Anything more would be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell, it looks to me like you have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lace_monitor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lace Monitor&lt;/a&gt;. They tend to have that skinny head, compared to other lizards of that size. As well as those distinctive bands. Other monitors tend to be speckled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of a young Lace Monitor for reference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lI3IY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Young Lace Monitor&quot;&gt; &#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sareptiles.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&amp;amp;t=348&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T17:22:25.917" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T17:22:25.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1933" CreationDate="2014-01-12T00:11:21.873" Score="8" ViewCount="1196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buying crickets every few days to feed to my bearded dragon gets expensive, and I hate going to the store. Is it possible for me to breed crickets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-28T18:51:18.767" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T19:05:56.477" Title="Is it possible to breed crickets?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1932" CreationDate="2014-01-12T00:11:21.873" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, and it's actually really easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need are two containers. A large container for the adults, and a smaller one for the babies. I use two &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowes.com/pd_336490-62860-7102HFT-10-111-44_0__?productId=3341160&amp;amp;Ntt=storage%20bins&amp;amp;pl=1&amp;amp;currentURL=?Ntt=storage%2bbins&amp;amp;facetInfo=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plastic storage bins&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can fill the containers with torn up egg carton, which is what the stores use if you peek into their containers. Or even crumpled up newspapers. This gives the crickets places to grab onto and hide. It makes them feel safe, and keeps them safe from each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crickets will eat each other if they don't get other food first. So, it's important to keep plenty of food available. Since you're wanting to feed them to your reptile, take this opportunity to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1691/481&quot;&gt;gut-load the crickets&lt;/a&gt;. You can make your own formula with vegetables and supplements, or use a commercial cricket food. I use Fluker's Cricket food (Both the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/flukers-orange-cube-complete-cricket-diet-116415?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=Google&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=FLU-041&amp;amp;utm_campaign=GooglePLA&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323896402&amp;amp;utm_content=pla&amp;amp;ca_sku=FLU-041&amp;amp;ca_gpa=pla&amp;amp;ca_kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;orange food cubes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/flukers-cricket-quencher-calcium-fortified-16-oz-116417&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;yellow thirst quencher&lt;/a&gt;) because it's incredibly convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you purchase the crickets, you'll only need about 30 or so large crickets. Try to get as many females as possible, as at that size they will no longer be at the point where they will need males since female crickets store semen. Females can be identified by their ovipositor (the thing that looks kind of like a stinger) which is what they use to lay eggs in the ground. Here's a picture of a female cricket for reference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/825Fh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Female Cricket&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gotroaches.com/blog/2006/06/27/raising-crickets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the bigger storage bin, with the adult crickets, keep a small container of &lt;strong&gt;clean&lt;/strong&gt; dirt for egg-laying. You can use topsoil, or I use Exo-Terra &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/plantation_soil_brick.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;coconut bedding&lt;/a&gt;. Do not use potting soil because the additives can be harmful, and don't use dirt from outside, as it can have been exposed to chemicals and have parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the dirt moist, so that any eggs laid do not dry out, and simply wait somewhere between one to two weeks for the crickets to finish laying their eggs. When you're ready to incubate the eggs, take the container of dirt, and move it over to the smaller storage bin. The point of separating the adults, and babies, is because the adults will eat the babies, and even eggs if they're left in there with them for long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it's important to remember baby crickets are tiny. They're microscopic when they're first born, so you probably won't even notice that they've hatched at all. Leave some pieces of cricket food on, or near, the soil for them to find when they first hatch, that way they don't starve before you even see them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, since they are so tiny, they can climb up nearly anything. Their legs can fit in the imperfections of plastic, glass, and especially the silicon of fish tanks. It's best to put a strip of packing tape around the inside of the container, a few inches below the top. For whatever reason, the packing tape is smooth enough that they can't climb up it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a poorly made picture of how the tape should go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/02Uda.png&quot; alt=&quot;Baby cricket bin&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowes.com/pd_336489-62860-7101HFT-10-111-44_0__?productId=3341158&amp;amp;Ntt=plastic%20storage%20totes&amp;amp;pl=1&amp;amp;currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dplastic%2Bstorage%2Btotes&amp;amp;facetInfo=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take a couple weeks for the baby crickets to grow. But once your colony is established, it will grow like crazy. Each cricket lays about 30 eggs at a time. Put the container of dirt back into the large adult storage bin, so they can lay some more eggs, and if any crickets in the baby storage bin get to be about a half of an inch in length, you should move them over to the adult storage bin as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T19:05:56.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-12T01:59:26.577" Score="11" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growing up in the country, we always had both dogs and cats around and they all got along just fine with each other.  We even had one of our cats save one of our dogs from an attack by a larger dog that got past our fences and onto our property one day and went into attack mode when it saw our dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I thought that especially if the cat was already in the home when we got the dog, and we then introduced a puppy and socialized it to see the cat as one of the family, things would work out pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, despite a few swipes to her nose, the dog insists on trying to play with the cat (she really wants the cat to chase her because she does the same stuff she does with my parent's sheltie when the puppy wants momma sheltie to play), but the cat doesn't get it and bats at the dog and runs away.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to worry about the cat because he only comes out of hiding at night while the puppy is in her crate despite six months passing and lots of dog training.  Will things settle down over time or is there something more I can do to help this relationship come along and at least include tolerance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="586" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-01-12T05:59:42.660" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T12:53:39.973" Title="How do I help my adult cat accept the young dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-12T15:06:07.150" Score="6" ViewCount="1763" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told by my vet that I couldn't bring my dog's body home with me, after he had been put to sleep for being in a terminal stage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_distemper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;canine distemper&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They told be that he could still infect other animals? Is that true? Is it reasonable to not allow you to give your dog a proper funeral in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="136" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T14:32:21.297" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T14:32:21.297" Title="May I bring my dog's body home when he dies of canine distemper?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2014-01-12T17:33:41.883" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just so happens that not in every neighborhood in the world the police is always there to protect you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also happens that it doesn't matter to how many socializing events/courses you take your dog, some dogs don't want to be friends with every single dog in the neighborhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It quite possibly also happens that even though there are leash laws that say your dogs must be kept on the leash, some dog owners don't respect them, for one reason or another. It's also very likely that these are precisely the people who'll give you a big mouthful if you ask them to put their dogs on the leash. Plus, you don't always have the time to start this discussion, once a German Sheppard is running towards your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also know your fair amount of dog body language, and it just so turns out that all the hair on the back of the loose dog is puffing out and he's trying to make himself look bigger, his ears are pointing forward and his  staring your dog down, like on the picture below. Or you're not quite sure of the other dog's intentions but simply don't want to bet your dogs neck on it, as after all, we're not all dog whisperers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ArLW1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given these circumstances, 2 things might keep these other dogs away from your dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kneel down next to your dog, put one hand around him, holding him tight and put your other arm in front of him. In my experience, this has kept a fair amount of dogs from coming any closer, as it even breaks off the whole staring competition. In some cases, the other dog might want to circle around you to get to your dog, so if you can find something to protect the other side of your dog, like a wall, or a car, that keeps the from doing that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a walking stick, point the stick at the loose dog. When I lived in a condominium of farms, I'd walk my 6 dog pack around with a walking stick. All cocker spaniels or smaller. Once in a while we'd meet another pack of loose dogs. Sometimes it was alright to let them greet each other and smell each other to an understanding, but sometimes it was just to risky, as the other dogs had even &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fila_Brasileiro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fila Brasileiros&lt;/a&gt; on their side. I always managed to keep them away simply by pointing my walking stick at them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2014-01-12T17:33:41.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1992" CreationDate="2014-01-12T20:15:56.373" Score="13" ViewCount="210364" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, I just want to know if it is safe and cost effective to use human shampoo to wash my poodle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11" LastEditorUserId="11" LastEditDate="2014-01-12T23:59:08.907" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T02:06:36.793" Title="Can I use human shampoo to wash a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1935" CreationDate="2014-01-13T00:08:46.727" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for your loss, it's never easy to lose a friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for those unaware, canine distemper is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150_12220-26505--,00.html&quot;&gt;particularly virulent disease&lt;/a&gt; closely related to measles with about a 50% mortality rate amongst dogs. There are a number of reasons that a vet may tell you that you cannot bring home your dog for burial:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Natural route of infection is airborne, droplets, and infected surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Burying your dog in your yard may expose local wildlife, causing additional spread that could come back to domesticated dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1359/jbmr.060805/full&quot;&gt;zoonotic potential&lt;/a&gt; for humans. As I mentioned, the virus is closely related to measles and there is some evidence that it can transmit to humans or trigger complications for us. Most of us are protected by measles vaccination, in any event, but the very young are not, so that too is a risk to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, I have to admit that the vet has a legitimate concern, much as it may have added some distress for you. He may also be prevented from releasing the dog by law, this is not necessarily unusual when dealing with more dangerous illnesses in animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-01-13T01:55:21.390" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T01:55:21.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1952" CreationDate="2014-01-13T06:17:24.580" Score="6" ViewCount="1911" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's castrate, nearly 4 y.o, weights about 4kg(9 lbs), crossbreed of Siberian and unknown dad - very dense and long fur, lives indoor, quite inactive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trim him twice a year for almost zero in spring and late summer.&#xA;The food and water are always there.&#xA;For time to time I give him some milk, chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first 3 years of his life he ate varieties of &quot;Royal Canin&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One year ago I switched for &quot;ORIJEN 6 Fresh FISH&quot; and after about 7 months he's got dandruff.&#xA;On this nutrition he pooped once a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to try &quot;Acana Prairie Feast&quot; and he eats it for 2.5 months now, the dandruff is gone, but I also bought him tablets &quot;For skin&amp;amp;coat&quot; so I don't know which has helped.&#xA;And the pooping, on this nutrition it's twice a day and pretty smelly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="591" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:46:23.300" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:46:23.300" Title="My cat poops twice a day on new nutrition. Is it bad?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2014-01-13T09:37:36.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give your cat a high place where he can observe the dog and feel safe in that the blasted canine can't reach him. This will serve as a safe haven. Also make sure there are at least 2 different ways to get out of that safe haven so the dog can't lay in ambush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During feeding time use put the food on 2 sides of a door opened to a gap, and let the cat start eating first before the dog gets her food. This will allow them to experience each other while eating instead of the already established behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when you do see unacceptable behavior intervene and correct the one initiating the bad behavior (which may sometimes actually be the cat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T09:37:36.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2014-01-13T12:41:17.703" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's absolutely possible - I'm mildly allergic to cats and have three at home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to Matt S's excellent summary, here's a few other things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you've been able to foster without serious problems, the cat allergy is probably not severe enough to impair your wife's breathing. As long as you keep the house reasonably clean and well-ventilated, you should be okay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something I've found necessary, particularly at times when I'm having issues with pollen allergies, is to make sure I &lt;em&gt;wash my hands&lt;/em&gt; after I've been petting one of the cats. If I forget to wash my hands, when I rub my eyes some time later I can guarantee absolute misery for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep their claws trimmed. This might seem silly, but I've found that if you have a kneader, they can poke holes in you and if your allergy leans that way, the injuries will be inflamed and itchy (speaking from experience here). Trimmed claws avoid that issue altogether, and it should be reasonably easy to convince kittens that this is a good thing if you give them lots of attention while they're being trimmed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your wife will habituate. She'll probably want to have eye drops and possibly a mild antihistamine for the times when the allergy hits badly, but for the most part she should find that if she's careful and washes her hands after kitty time, she'll have less trouble the longer the cats are around (of course, this is often specific to the cat - the habituation process will probably need to be repeated for each new cat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she has other allergy issues, she will be more sensitive to the cats when the other allergies are active. I'm rather strongly allergic to oak pollen (to the extent that I spend each spring taking antihistamines) and during spring I react much more to the cats than at any other time of the year. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can choose a breed, sphinxes are low-allergenic (being hairless - although a lot of people find them hideous), as are the rexes (Cornish and Devon Rex - they have the very short, curly fur which has a different texture to normal cat fur). Long-haired breeds are usually worse, although there are exceptions. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T12:41:17.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-13T17:57:06.143" Score="7" ViewCount="17579" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes one of my cats vomits after eating something she really likes. Both my cats like the Whiskas food but they only get a little bit once per day. I suspect she's just eating too fast and that makes her throw up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens when she vomits is that her brother comes running and starts to eat her thrown up food from the floor. Apart from the fact that it is practical for myself as I don't have to clean up the mess, should I allow one cat to eat the vomit of the other one? Is it healty?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the best of my knowledge she is not ill, she's been vomiting sometimes since I know her, and especially when eating very quickly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="259" LastEditDate="2014-01-13T19:55:46.637" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T19:12:37.817" Title="Should I allow one cat eating the other cat's vomit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1944" CreationDate="2014-01-13T19:49:25.513" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is puking because she's ill (or even if she has some illness unrelated to the puking), then it's possible for her brother to pick up the illness from eating her puke, so it's generally not recommended. In my experience, cats will share their diseases anyway, so it's not a large concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than focusing on preventing the second cat from eating the first cat's vomit, you could address the issue by reducing the amount of vomiting that your cat is doing. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/380/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-eating-too-fast-and-throwing-up&quot;&gt;How can I stop my cat from eating too fast and throwing up?&lt;/a&gt; addresses the reason you suspect that your cat is vomiting, and may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T19:49:25.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2014-01-13T21:19:32.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer my own question then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added three new tetras, identical in colouring to the original three tetras. The additions were smaller than the existing ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within two days, all three of the new additions were dead. I am not sure which of the other community fish (guppies, albino catfish, angel fish) were the main culprits. I did see the original neons occasionally bother the new arrivals, as did the guppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A complicating factor is that I had, earlier in the day, moved the aquarium from one room to another. I waited over six hours after moving the tank to allow the fish to settle down. All the original water was retained and returned to the tank after the move. I had assumed that leaving the tank for a substantial period would have allowed the fish to recover before adding new fish. Perhaps I was wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had also added two fancy-tail guppies to the tank at the same time as the three neons. These are doing fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I added three more neon tetras, which I chose to be as close as possible to the size of the original three. One month later, these new additions continue to do fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="443" LastEditorUserId="443" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T01:56:28.180" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T01:56:28.180" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-13T21:22:48.260" Score="9" ViewCount="95090" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I didn't have any experience on fish keeping before. But my child really wanted to have some fish, so I bought a small (0.5 gallon) fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got him two guppies and two gold fish. But the gold fish died two days after I put them into the tank. I did some research online, and people said I have to change the water to keep it clean and maintain enough oxygen. I usually put some tap water in another tank, and keep it for 3 days, and every time I change half of the old water I clean the tank thoroughly. But every time after I change the water, it becomes dirty again soon after, and the fish swim on the top slowly, just like they're lacking oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put some salt into the tank, seems help a bit, but not much. I don't know what to do. Do you think I need to use a pump to pump air into the tank? Will any pump fit that small of a tank? Do you think putting some sea weed will help? If so, what kind of sea weed should I put?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="593" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T11:42:50.157" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T11:42:50.157" Title="How can I keep a very small tank well oxygenated?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-13T21:29:04.293" Score="12" ViewCount="4422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved my established aquarium from one room to another in the house. I had to remove most of the water so that I could lift the aquarium (with help!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once in the new location, I returned the original water to the aquarium and left the aquarium settle down for over six hours. At that time, the fish seemed to be happy and not showing signs of stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added some new fish (three neon tetras and two fancy-tail guppies) to the aquarium - &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1610/adding-neon-tetras-to-an-existing-school-any-concerns/1947#1947&quot;&gt;see this Q&amp;amp;A.&lt;/a&gt; The new tetras died very quickly thereafter. I had followed all the advice that I learned from the pet store and which agreed with most accepted internet wisdom regarding acclimatizing new fish to an existing aquarium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I have waited longer to allow the fish to calm down more following the move? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Further information follows regarding my set-up. &#xA;The aquarium capacity is 100L, and the original occupants were three guppies, one angel fish, two albino catfish and the three neon tetras. There were two plants. The aquarium was well-established prior to the move - i.e. it wasn't part-way through a cycle. I am not able to test water quality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="443" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T11:12:59.777" Title="How long should I wait after moving aquarium before adding new fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1948" CreationDate="2014-01-13T21:55:15.220" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first, and possibly most important, thing to look at is your tank size. In my opinion, .5 gallons is way too small of a living space for 4 fish. If you have room for a larger tank, I recommend it. A bigger tank means more surface area, which means more contact with the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most basic way to introduce oxygen to a still body of water (such as your tank) is to break the surface of the water. This can be as simple as adding a filter. The filter that I have drops the filtered water back onto the surface of the tank, which helps put some oxygen back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also a number of decorations you can put in to help oxygenate your tank. I'm sure you've seen them. Isn't everyone familiar with the treasure chest that opens occasionally and spits a few bubbles out? I see aerating decorations and filters all the time when visiting the fish aisle at my pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address the plant issue: this may or may not be desirable for your tank; it's  up to you to decide. The problem is the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide. While the plants will provide oxygen, will it be enough for the number of fish and tank size? Some plants also don't live very well in oxygen-rich tanks. This would limit the amount of extra aeration (filters, decorations, etc) that you have. It may be easier to start with one of the other methods of oxygenating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/104&quot;&gt;You may also find this article interesting reading.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2014-01-13T21:55:15.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1941" CreationDate="2014-01-14T01:51:05.053" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, first, 1 to 2 times a day is &lt;em&gt;not necessarily&lt;/em&gt; abnormal for a cat, though it's the larger cats that will be more frequent than that. The thing to know is that normal cat feces has a pretty high water level and that even a small increase in the water intake can lead to softer and more frequent stools. One of our cats has megacolon and we actually medicate him to close to a diarrhea state in order to ensure he can pass it, so I'm way more familiar with this kind of thing than I ever hoped to be. At any rate, my initial sense is that your cat's latest diet has a higher liquid content than prior options, hence the increase and, as a consequence, the smell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it may not be the food. There may be a medical issue here, so some things to watch out for, beyond the increase in frequency include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flatulence (persistent, the odd fart is not a problem)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting (some cats are a bit more prone, so if this is new, then it may be an issue)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of those are included in the change, then get your cat into the vet for a look-see. There are a number of &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; concerns that could be in play here, though the best case is you switch the diet back. To quote @Zaralynda in this respect: &quot;&lt;em&gt;I'd recommend taking the skin &amp;amp; coat tablets &amp;amp; ingredient list for his current food along to help your vet in the case of a food intolerance.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; Good advice whenever your cat is not on their game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T01:51:05.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2014-01-14T04:51:39.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have some great answers, but I wanted to warn you, dusting can actually make things worse.  While helpful in reducing inadvertence contact with the allergen through touching a dust covers surface, the act of dusting causes dust to be dispersed into the air.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to deal with dust it to run a HEPA filter, &lt;strong&gt;especially when dusting&lt;/strong&gt;, and try to only dust when your wife will be out of the house for and extended period of time.  Moreover, if you have a &quot;&lt;strong&gt;sealed&lt;/strong&gt; HEPA filter&quot; vacuum, use it to dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a &quot;&lt;strong&gt;sealed&lt;/strong&gt; HEPA filter&quot; it's worth the buy.  I have an 'unsealed' one my self, and it does help, but it's clear that some of the dust gets back into the air, thus I'm saving for the sealed version.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful when cleaning / changing vacuum filters, I once had an incident where removing one sent me to the doctors office to get a shots to calm my allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Oldcat's comments on breeds is important, and it should be noted that there now exists genetically modified cats that have had the major protein allergen in their dander altered such that it's not an issue.  Purchasing a GMO hypo-allergenic cat however, will run you around $5,000, and thus it may make more sense to find rescue an alternate animal such as a rabbit instead.  ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-01-14T13:43:12.960" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T13:43:12.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1948" CreationDate="2014-01-14T07:32:52.897" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a good example of overstocking a fish tank. Don't feel too bad about it, I don't know anyone who didn't overstock their tank the first time. It's just too tempting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the problem though...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish waste contains ammonia, which is toxic to fish. Which wouldn't be a problem for them in a lake or river, but we keep them in a glass box. Meaning, there's no where for their waste to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why we do regular water changes. To replace some of the old, dirty water. It's also to keep the chemicals in the water balanced, or some bad chemicals can become too much for the fish to handle. I am glad to see that you're distilling your water before you use it, but I suggest going a little further and looking up (or starting a new question) how to cycle a fish tank, and why it's important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, in terms of what happened in your tank, there was a spike of ammonia from the fish waste that killed the goldfish. The ammonia came from the fish waste. Normally, in a cycled tank, the bacteria can decomposed the fish waste that isn't caught by the tank's filter. But in that small of a tank, there simply isn't going to be enough bacteria, and the tank's filter isn't going to be powerful enough to keep up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping fish requires a little bit of chemistry, and simply put, the less water you have in the tank, the less room you have for the chemicals that can harm your fish to dissipate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how I like to explain it: If you were to put a drop of food coloring in the tank you have now, it would quite noticeably alter the color of the water. Now put a drop of food coloring in a 10 gallon tank, and it won't change the color nearly as much. Put a drop of food coloring in a 55 gallon tank and you probably won't notice at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good rule of thumb is for every inch of (adult) fish, you need to have 1 gallon of water. This not only balances out enough room for them to swim, but enough water to keep any dangerous chemicals from overpowering the water before you can fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, following that rule, a half-gallon tank will fit a half-inch fish. A full grown guppy will get about an inch long, and a goldfish will get about 12 inches long. That's 26 inches of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You still have two guppies, which aren't going to live for very long unless you get them a larger tank. They are pretty hardy fish, so you might be able to keep them alive for a while, but it's going to take quite a bit of effort on your part. Remember, they don't have that much water to dissipate any chemicals that are harmful to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my suggestion. Get a 10 gallon tank for the guppies, or donate them back to the fish store. They might live for a while in that small tank, but they are a schooling fish, and need at least 4 or 5 fish in the school to be happy. Not too mention you're going to be fighting too much to keep the tank clean (and the fish alive) for you to enjoy having them. And there's simply no point in keeping fish if you don't enjoy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the tank is too small for fish, but that doesn't mean it's too small for anything. Most fish-keepers who get those small tanks get them to sat up a nano tank for shrimp. It's a big enough tank that you can keep a couple of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=cherry%20shrimp&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=0qTUUpS6JKH4yQG_rIDIDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643#q=cherry%20shrimp&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;imgdii=_&quot;&gt;Cherry Shrimp&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=blueberry%20shrimp&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=0qTUUpS6JKH4yQG_rIDIDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643#q=blueberry%20shrimp&amp;amp;revid=1371180846&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;imgdii=_&quot;&gt;Blueberry Shrimp&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=freshwater%20shrimp&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=210&amp;amp;es_sm=93&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=0abUUqSoLIL4yQGtvIGgCw&amp;amp;ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1366&amp;amp;bih=643&quot;&gt;many other interesting kinds of shrimp&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option, is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3924445&quot;&gt;African Dwarf Frog&lt;/a&gt;. Though not very interesting in my opinion, kids seem to like them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I knew someone who just kept a small tank of snails. Again, they don't interest me, but there are some pretty neat ones, like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server4800/e7884/products/77/images/179/tricolor_horn_snail__13539.1330673865.1280.1280.jpg&quot;&gt;Tricolor Horn Snail&lt;/a&gt;, or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://msjinkzd.com/freshwater/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ZebraNerite.jpg&quot;&gt;Zebra Nerite Snail&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T07:32:52.897" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1896" CreationDate="2014-01-14T09:03:23.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already awarded the answer, but wanted to add some additional details based on my conversation with the House Rabbit Society (HRS):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HRS, suggested I reduce respiratory stress by mitigating the amount of dust the bunny is exposed to.  Specifically, they mentioned finding a hay that is less dusty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this isn't likely to help my particular situation as I already have a floor HEPA filter running in the rabbit's cage area (the girlfriend and I are allergic to the hay), and my rabbit actually presented worse problems while the brand of hay that tends to be less dusty (Kaytee) than the more dusty product (Oxbow).  I had previously attributed it to Oxbow being more fragrant than the kaytee and thus the smell penetrates the air and reminds them that it's in their feeder so that they eat more.  Eating hay helps remove hair balls, allowing for easier breathing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I will be on the look out for other brands of hay that might be less dusty than Oxbow but still be as fragrant, and will update this answer if I see a difference.  However, agricultural supply stores are not easy to get to from my location, so I might be restricted to mail-order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HRS also advised I get some video of the problem and/or seek a second opinion.  Video is hard to obtain, because he only exhibits the problem when he's relaxed and he's usually more skiddish when he has breathing problems.  Nevertheless, more documentation is another good suggestion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As exotic vet appointments here are running at $110 (and are $160 for the ER if no appointments are available), I was also happy to find out about there &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnyhopline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bunny Hop Line&lt;/a&gt; which is subscription based on-call (email) vet service that provides you with answers of up to 20 questions for less than half the price of my current vets visit.  For those that live far from a vet, this could be a life-saver.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, I generally prefer my rabbit see the same vet as often as possible so that they have a good knowledge base around his health and problems.  However, I'll likely use this service the next time feel I need urgent, but not emergency care, but can't get an appointment and would otherwise be forced to come in via the ER. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T09:03:23.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1949" CreationDate="2014-01-14T13:53:55.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I think you did fine. I think it's just because tetras, especially neon tetras, are sensitive to changes in water parameters, and your water was too different than the store's for them to handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to keep in mind too,is that angelfish are in the cichlid family, so can be pretty aggressive at times. Generally I'll see them act out when there's food, but fish do have different personalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do when acclimating new fish is to float the bags that the fish is in for about 20-30 minutes in the new tank. Make sure the lights are off, because the bags will be floating, the light will heat up the bag, stressing out the fish and keeping the temperature from matching right. After the 20-30 minutes have passed, I just cut a hole in the bag, and let the fish swim out. I will turn the light back on not long after the fish is out of the bag, but you can leave it off for a few hours if you're worried about the fish still. You can also add a little aquarium salt the day before, or even the morning of, adding the new fish, to keep their stress level low. I don't suggest adding anything as you're adding the fish, just because it's best to keep the water as stable as you can while they acclimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest testing your water chemistry. You can get an aquarium test kit, or even take a sample of your water to stores like Petco and Petsmart to have them test it for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T13:53:55.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-14T20:56:46.423" Score="12" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the 'Do Not Use' zone of West Virginia, so I'm affected by the MCHM CHEMICAL Leak and need to do a partial water change on a freshwater tank. Some of my fish are 16+ years old,  and I don't want to lose them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I cannot use water from the sink, would it be better to use bottled drinking water or distilled water? Besides adjusting the pH and temperature, should I do anything else to help fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T23:12:56.897" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T23:12:56.897" Title="My tap water is contaminated by the chemical (MCHM) leak, what do I use for water changes?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1957" CreationDate="2014-01-14T22:05:43.347" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think either one could work for you without harming the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could use bottled water and treat it like tap water. Since that's basically all it is. The only problem I'd see, is if the company puts in certain minerals to enhance the taste. They could mess with the chemistry of your tank, though probably not noticeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, distilled water would be low on oxygen content, which you can shake the bottle before using it to help get some of the oxygen back. Either way, I'd probably still put in a bit of tap water conditioner just to be safe. Maybe half of the normal dosage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to hold out on doing any serious water changes for the time being. Your fish aren't going to be put in mortal danger by doing a water change a week late. Do about a 5-10% water change to pull through this week, and then go back to a 10-20% water change several days after the water has been declared safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I'm not sure there's anything else you can do for them, just don't expose them to the chemicals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T22:05:43.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1949" CreationDate="2014-01-14T23:26:56.113" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would wait at least a week or two after moving an established tank to add new fish, and ideally closer to a month. Moving the tank does a few things to disturb its normal equilibrium, so it's just safer to wait until things have settled back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really important to monitor your water quality after the move. For one, in a lot of cases you're doing a huge water change -- probably 75% or more with a larger tank. If the pH, temperature, or hardness of the new water is dramatically different, this not only directly affects your fish, but your biofilter as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also kick up a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of detritus from the substrate. All this rotting food, fish waste, bacteria, etc. can easily impact your water chemistry -- it's potentially a lot more than the biofilter can handle right away. And the mechanical filter will have to deal with an above-average amount of, shall we say, fine particulate organic matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also bear in mind that the existing fish have just gone through a highly stressful event. Even if the water chemistry is 100% perfect after the move, they're going to be more prone to health problems for a little bit. The immune system of a healthy fish will normally prevent the latent diseases in an aquarium from actually causing any sickness, but this level of stress can interfere with that. You don't necessarily need to treat the fish as if they're in quarantine after a tank move, but it's good to just watch them carefully over the next few weeks just in case. And any new fish is a potential source of new diseases as well -- it's safer to wait until your fish have settled in, rather than adding this at a point where they're more susceptible than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is sort of unrelated to the new-fish part of your question, but be extremely careful when you move a tank to get as much water as possible out of it. Water is shockingly heavy (when full, your tank weighs more than a grown man), and though the silicone holding a tank together is extremely strong, the shifting weight of water as it sloshes around can put mechanical stresses on side seams that aren't meant to be load bearing. If it's at all possible, try to take all the water, substrate, and decorations out of a tank when moving it, to prevent damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-01-14T23:36:49.650" LastActivityDate="2014-01-14T23:36:49.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1672" CreationDate="2014-01-15T00:20:36.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Clearly the same for wolves&quot;   That is absolutely incorrect! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are the only animal on Earth that will look a human directly in the eye. Not even chimpanzees can do that. As far as wolves? Whoever posted that has been watching too many movies. Wolves do not look humans in the eyes nor do they have any direct companionship with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was proved via NatGeo special which specifically told the difference of a dog and a wolf and their human owners. The wolf, as much as you may want it to happen, can NEVER be bonded with a human. The wolf will ALWAYS be independent. The wolf has no bonding instincts as dogs do. It will NEVER happen. Dogs, on the other hand, bond easily with humans. They are the only ONLY species that will look a human in the eye AND understand facial expressions as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="598" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-01-15T00:54:00.040" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T00:54:00.040" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1961" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2010" CreationDate="2014-01-15T15:59:29.307" Score="6" ViewCount="2943" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rabbit that just came off a series of antibiotic injections.  At first I thought he had some GI issues (jelly stool &amp;amp; loss of appetite). I kept food going through him (by force if needed) until seeing the vet.  After the vet visit I found the cause was not GI related but this question remains worthy of an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have previously been told by the vet that recolonizing cecum bacteria by feeding cecotropes from a healthy bunny is a good thing.  &quot;Fresh is best&quot; but it is often difficult to harvest fresh cecotropes, so harvesting missed ones from the litter box or bedding area is the next choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any knowledge on how long the helpful bacteria will stay active in cecotropes once they have been exposed to the natural environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-01-19T12:00:15.710" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T03:14:20.360" Title="How fresh should cecotropes be when used to recolonize a different rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;cecotropes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1963" CreationDate="2014-01-15T16:04:27.507" Score="11" ViewCount="43151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I have no rabbits, but I'm doing some research on rabbit care, and the most important factor for my small apartment is how much space a rabbit should have. I don't want it to live in factory-farm like conditions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, how much space does a rabbit need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:26:47.083" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T06:15:16.540" Title="How much space does a rabbit need to live comfortably?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1962" CreationDate="2014-01-15T17:15:02.933" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American Rabbit Breeders Association has laid out some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.arba.net/PDFs/CAW.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;minimum standards of care.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They recommend based on weight the following minimum size:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Under 4.4 lbs - 1.5 ft²&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4.4 to 8.8 lbs - 3.0 ft²&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8.8 to 11.9 lbs - 4.0 ft²&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over 11.9 lbs:  5.0 ft²&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or in metric:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Under 2 kg - 0.5 m²&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 to 4 kg - 0.9 m²&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 to 5.5 kg - 1.2 m² &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over 5.5 kg -  1.5 m² &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the minimums.  I think of these as jail house conditions  Sure you can live in a 4x6 feet (1.2x1.8 m) cell but it's miserable. Now if your rabbit will have free run of a larger area most of the time and just having their nest area in the cage then this size is probably fine.  But to your rabbit its cage or hutch is its safe place.  If you can give it a large safe place that is always going to be prefered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me the mimimums are at least double the length of the rabbit wide by four times the rabbits length in length and at least tall enough to let the rabbit sit up on its back legs.  That means that except for dwarf rabbits they need 18-24 inch (45-60 cm) high cages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit needs a place that is can safely relieve itself.  I find the best option for this is a plastic tray under the cage, and if the rabbit will be running freely then a litterbox in the rabbits preferred corner.  If you clean the litterbox daily and the tray every few days this chore is much easier.  The longer the litter is allowed to sit soiled and the longer the tray goes with out being cleaned you will find the smell becomes more pungent and the more effort is involved in cleaning. If the tray becomes to ripe the fumes from the rabbits urine can actually damage and even kill the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your rabbit is in its cage most of the time it still needs time to exercise.  You should get your rabbit out at least daily and allow it to run and socialize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="5219" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2015-08-16T09:37:12.307" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T09:37:12.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1968" CreationDate="2014-01-15T22:17:56.407" Score="6" ViewCount="8382" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cockatiels stop feeding their chicks after about 5-6 days. Sometimes they feed them until they are 10 days old and then they'll stop. I have lost so many chicks due to this bad habit. What should I do make them keep feeding their chicks until they're fully grown?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="606" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T15:58:54.990" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T11:52:40.177" Title="How do I encourage my cockatiels to continue feeding their chicks when they stop?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="704" CreationDate="2014-01-15T22:58:52.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is pretty typical in my experience. I have 2 cats and the older one is very jealous (I call him &quot;Jealous Jack&quot;). If the younger cat (Henry) is laying next to me, Jack will actually try to squeeze between us or annoy(biting, licking) Henry until Henry moves. I don't allow Jack to be a bully and usually just wrangle him into my opposite side and give him lots of pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the short answer, yes this is totally normal behavior. Science says that your head area is warmer than your feet which is why they want to move up further on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to stop their fighting is to hold them separately on the bed and give them lots of pets and that should encourage both to be on the bed at the same time in their own spaces and not fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2014-01-15T22:58:52.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1969" CreationDate="2014-01-15T23:28:27.873" Score="16" ViewCount="1018" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who, like most other cats, really loves catnip. She becomes (joyfully) delusional  and keeps rolling on the ground. Most of the time she would swallow the herb. While I enjoy watching the little show she puts on after catnip consumption, I am a bit worried about the possibility of side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any health benefit associated with consuming catnip? Is there any harm that catnip could potentially do to cats (at some point my cat was so high that I started worrying she could die of heart attack...)? What would be an appropriate amount of consumption? Could the herb be addictive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="325" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T23:27:32.070" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T23:27:32.070" Title="Should I regularly feed my cat catnip?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1962" CreationDate="2014-01-16T00:14:19.183" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chad (user9) has a fantastic answer.  My answer on minimum space comes from a different perspective, and is just different not better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the pet house rabbit there are two common housing scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit has full access to some bunny &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320/can-house-rabbits-have-free-access-to-the-whole-house-all-the-time&quot;&gt;proofed area&lt;/a&gt; all of the time. The bunnies &quot;safeplace&quot; for napping and such is a cardboard (or something) box that cannot be locked.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bunny has a &quot;cage&quot; that they are locked in during nap times and they are let out to exercise in a large area of the house a couple of times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either scenario a couple things to keep in mind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your rabbit is going to live 8 to 12 years, with spans of 16 and 17 possible. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your rabbit can run &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.speedofanimals.com/animals/rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;30 miles per hour&lt;/a&gt; and would like to have room to do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insufficient exercise &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/5-1/sportsinjuries.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;can be harmful&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario 1&lt;/strong&gt;; If the bunny is going to be restricted to a designed area for all or the majority of their life.  The smallest space is about 8 feet by 8 feet (2.4 x 2.4 m), this is two standard exercise pens connected together, or one placed in a corner.  This provides room to make short dashes, and running &quot;binkies&quot; (happy bunny hope). Supplementing this with supervised access to a larger part of the house a couple of time a week, can make for long happy &amp;amp; healthy life.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320/can-house-rabbits-have-free-access-to-the-whole-house-all-the-time&quot;&gt;Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time?&lt;/a&gt; for more detail on expansion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario 2&lt;/strong&gt;; In this scenario for reasons of safety the bunny is restricted to a smaller area during much of the day and night.  Rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crepuscular&lt;/a&gt; - they are most active in the morning and evening.  This is one of the things that makes them excellent companion pets for people with small spaces, who work (or go to school) during the day and sleep at night.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this scenario the bunny is locked in their &quot;safe place&quot; while you are away and they are sleeping.  The space should at a minimum be one bunny wide by two bunnies long. If space is an issue, a smaller space can be used, with the addition of a second floor (but bigger is better).  The bunny must have room to stretch out, and you need space for litter box, hay and water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you wake up in the morning, the bunnies get out, they get to run and roam in a large part of the house that is bunny proofed.  They have lots of room to exercise and when it is time for you to head out for the day, you get their food pellets, call them to their room and they come running, the bunnies and the food go in the &quot;cage&quot; it is locked and secure until you return home.  When you get home in the evening, they get out, run play and watch TV with you.  When it is bed time you prepare their lettuce call them to their room, they come running, the bunnies and their food go in the &quot;cage&quot; it is locked and secure until morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T06:15:16.540" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T06:15:16.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1964" CreationDate="2014-01-16T02:07:42.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a delicate balance between overseeing your cockatiels' hatchlings, and causing them stress. If the parents get stressed, or feel like they're in danger, they will stop caring for (even kill) their babies. Usually they will do this when they're still eggs, like if the breeder is looking into their nest too often, but it's possible that something is happening in the couple days that the babies have hatched where the parents don't feel safe caring for them anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason could be food. The link for Cockatiel Cottage explains that part. You need to be feeding your birds double what you normally would, plus regularly offering them soft food. That way they have enough for them, and the babies. If they don't have enough food for both, they will keep the food for themselves. Although there's the delicate balance again where you don't want them overfeeding the babies, as their crops need to be emptied every 24 hours, or they risk impaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other reason I can think of, is that there is something wrong with the babies, or they think there is something wrong with the babies. Birds can tell when their chicks are born with defects, or are too underdeveloped to survive. So it they don't think the babies will make it, they'll simply ignore them to focus on the ones that will. In this case, since all of the chicks are being ignored, there is something bigger going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest reading up on breeding cockatiels. Breeding any animal is a delicate process and should not be done without proper care. And since I do not specialize in birds, there is a great deal more you can find out from people other than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cockatielcottage.net/breeding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cockatiel Cottage on Breeding&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acstiels.com/articles/breeding/getting.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The American Cockatiel Society on Cockatiel Breeding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avianweb.com/cockatielbreeding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Avian Web on Cockatiel Breeding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping the couple you're breeding aren't related, as trying to breed parents that are related to each other produces nothing but chicks with birth defects, in which case the parents would ignore them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do some research into crop impaction, as that's my best guess as to what's happening here. If they're being overfed, fed the wrong foods, the temperature isn't right, they have an infection, then their digestive systems will shut down. That would cause the parents to ignore them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I think the best thing to do is get someone who breeds cockatiels, or, even better, a vet to take a look at both the adult pair, and the babies. To make sure that there isn't any underlying issues that is causing this. Ultimately I can give you all the advice in the world, but I cannot see the birds, so I'm inevitably missing something. Being able to see them helps a great deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, you're probably going to have to take the babies yourself and hand-feed them sooner than you would normally. The links I provided should help you with that as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-01-16T17:18:46.600" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T17:18:46.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1966" CreationDate="2014-01-16T02:24:27.703" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not come across any cases of catnip overdose where the cat did anything worse than vomit. Some cats know when they've had enough, and some cats don't. Luckily, there doesn't seem to be any harmful side-effects. So the cats that don't know any better don't risk harming themselves. I can't say that I've seen any behavior indicating addiction either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would still avoid feeding it to your cat excessively, since the large amounts do cause them to vomit. It also causes diarrhea, which means at the very least, it causes a disruption in their digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely avoid giving catnip to pregnant cats, as it's known to be a uterine stimulant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/News/PressRoom/Pages/Catnip.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Association&lt;/a&gt;'s article on it. They mention a study on rats that showed they were more susceptible to seizures while on catnip. I would take it with a grain of salt, though, unless you find the study and they accounted for the dosage and  differences in hearts/size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T23:19:34.183" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T23:19:34.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="1970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1978" CreationDate="2014-01-16T07:20:02.560" Score="4" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently &lt;a href=&quot;http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/01/12/pet-parade-lowell-humane-society-3/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rescued a guinea pig&lt;/a&gt;, but now that he's settled in for a few days I began to handle and pet him.  Doing so revelled some scabbing underneath his fur.  Most sources on the internet seem to indicate that this usually means he has fur mites and can be treated with a prescription from a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have 2 free-range rabbits, should I be worried about the fur-mites potentially infecting them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-15T06:47:50.420" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T06:47:50.420" Title="Can guinea pig fur mites infect rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="264" CreationDate="2014-01-16T10:19:11.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provide him with enough physical and mental challenges and focus on reinforcing behaviours you like him to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not take it personally when he's behaving a bit &quot;out of control&quot;, and do not use punishments to try to correct his behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you should try to see if that's just temporary (2 years old dogs can be like human teenagers -&gt; neutering is not a solve-everything method) or if these bad behaviours can be addressed with training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T10:19:11.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="785" CreationDate="2014-01-16T10:37:08.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First we could say that yes, this is clearly harmful, and that's the whole point of it !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we should ask ourselves &quot;do I want to harm my dog&quot; ? This depends on your own point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, more importantly: do we need to harm a dog to train it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many methods that were used in the past, and that are still used in many places are based on outdated concepts and training methods: strongly jerking the leash, using choke collars, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays most successful trainers use so-called &quot;positive reinforcement methods&quot;: from dolphins, chickens, horses, humans (google &quot;tag teaching&quot;), to dogs. These methods are based on real and up-to-date scientific results (applied psychology meeting ethology) and are constantly evolving and being refined. As an introduction to this I suggest to read &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogmantics.com/progressive-reinforcement-training-manifesto/english-manifesto/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answering the question &quot;do we need to use chain collars to be successful&quot; also avoids the endless debate &quot;yes it hurts - no, it's not too bad, etc.&quot;. People arguing to use these tools are constantly getting closer to abusing their pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T10:37:08.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="181" CreationDate="2014-01-16T10:49:10.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing is to teach him an &lt;strong&gt;alternate behaviour&lt;/strong&gt;, so he has another option: the goal here is not to prevent any behaviour, but to help the dog deal with his anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behaviour can be a simple &quot;sit&quot; or a &quot;go to your place&quot;. Once you trained that, then you have to help him do that instead of spinning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can &quot;trigger&quot; the behaviour with, say, a light noise, do it, then ask the dog to sit (if you choose the sit option) and positively reinforce that (ie. with treats, his toy, whatever he finds rewarding). Do it multiple time, possibly increasing the noise, but avoid scaring him (ie. progress in a lot of small steps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog will learn that this is the appropriate reinforced behaviour. At the same time, as it is an anxiety issue, stay calm and do not try to confort it while (or before) he spins (which would be reinforcing the spinning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to deal with such behaviour (this one is not addressing the anxiety issue though) is to put it under &lt;strong&gt;stimulus control&lt;/strong&gt;. A behaviour which is under stimulus control will eventually happen only when cued and won't happen when it is not cued. That is : teach your dog to spin when you say spin. (quickly: lure it into a spin when he's not anxious, treat, then add the cue (for my dog if have &quot;spin&quot; for a clockwise spin and &quot;twist&quot; for an anti-clockwise spin), then practice in difference situations).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T10:49:10.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1966" CreationDate="2014-01-16T12:53:24.333" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Matt S. says, I've never seen any situation where a cat overdosing on catnip did worse than vomit (spectacularly in this cat's case...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, since vomiting isn't a particularly enjoyable experience, it makes sense to limit your cat's access to catnip and keep the dosage to a level she can tolerate - let her get high without going overboard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience every cat is different. The Siamese who ruled my life for 19 years ignored catnip altogether, as does my fluffy 18.5 year-old Siamese/Persian/who-knows-what mix. The Siamese and the fluffy one get/got high on chlorine smell instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of my other cats (no identifiable breed, both rescues) adore catnip. One won't leave off when he's had enough and will keep at the catnip until he starts with the projectile vomiting, the other one does know when he's had enough and will go and sleep it off. After the first accidental overdose, I've been careful about how much I give them and haven't had a repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short version? Watch your cat while she gets high on catnip, and when it looks like she's overdoing it, remove the nip. You'll soon work out the ideal dose to make your cat happy without unpleasant side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T12:53:24.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-16T14:08:27.180" Score="18" ViewCount="4048" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 7 months old, she's pretty large, and is still biting...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog sometimes gets energized, starts biting her toys, running around the house, and this can quickly turn to biting us and our clothing, specially my girlfriend. Saying ouch in a high pitched voice and ignoring her used to work a bit, but no longer, again, specially with my girlfriend. At this point, she starts biting her clothing and pulling (already ruined a few shirts), and biting the legs and ankles, and not very gently. She also gets frustrated when we ignore her and starts howling and barking so that we give her attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't continue to ignore her because her bites are painful, my girlfriend is full of bruises due to these bites and she's getting pretty desparate... We had a trainer that I didn't like his methods so switched to another marker trainer, and she's doing really good with all the obedience training - eye contact, ignoring food, etc, but none of this is helping our most urgent problem of biting... I'm looking anywhere I can to get help, it's getting unbearable. Did I mention she's a large dog? (Golden Retriever hybrid)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should mention that she hasn't been teething for over a month, and that biting us is almost always accompanied by general energy surge. This can happen even after she spent an hour and a half running and playing with other dogs in the dog park, so releasing energy is not the issue. We also try to channel her biting to her toys by playing fetch, tug, etc, but when she's in this biting mood she doesn't care about the toys, only biting us. The only solution we have is putting a door between us, which she then scratches like crazy, barks, and already peeled part of the paint off...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T21:22:25.683" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T14:16:06.210" Title="How do I teach a young dog or puppy not to bite me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2014-01-16T14:17:04.047" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ignoring won't work efficiently as biting is self-reinforcing (ie. you could ignore the dog when he's barking, whining, etc. but if you want him not to rush to its kibble, don't ignore rushing to his bowl !).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should teach the puppy not to bite when... she's not biting. When the dog is calm you should do something with her that would lead her to bite and treat when she's not biting. Imagine she's not biting, move your hand closer to her mouth and treat (or if you're clicker training her: click and treat, or use a &quot;yes&quot; and treat) before she bites. Move on to more difficult setups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then to address the problem when she's biting: teach an alternate behaviour first (a sit for example). Then stop her from biting (remove your hand, move your clothes), ignore immediately for a few seconds, ask the alternative behaviour and treat / praise. As she's progressing, and if the biting is clearly attention-seeking, you could reward a calm behaviour (instead of biting) with praise or petting. If she's biting when you are playing, you can stop her from biting (remove your hand) and then immediately ignore for 30 seconds. If she then jumps on you, ignore. When it stops, go back and play (which is reinforcing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not incompatible with the idea of stopping the game when she bites, etc. That of course can be done. The point is that it is very important to teach (to reinforce) another behaviour. Please also forget the &quot;dominance&quot; explanation: the puppy has no secret plan to dominate you (whatever that means), she's just doing it because it is so much fun ! Also, while it is true that a good way to solve a problem is to address the cause, in this case it doesn't really matter: most of the puppies will (play-)bite, unless she's doing it only in certain circumstances, it doesn't matter to know why each time she's biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-16T16:12:09.940" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T16:12:09.940" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1970" CreationDate="2014-01-16T15:16:27.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to that question is yes. The mite to worry about is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyletiella&quot;&gt;Cheyletiella parasitivorax&lt;/a&gt; which is most commonly found on rabbits, dogs, cats, us... however, it's not limited to that group, they can also be found on cavies. So, treating your rescue and, at the very least, keeping him away from the rabbits until the treatment is finished would be wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other mites that are basically harmless, but given evidence of some scabbing, I don't feel like it's the harmless kind. They might be, but a little caution can save some grief and expense later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As note, please don't use off the shelf treatments for either the guinea pig or rabbits, let the vet do it. Off the shelf products are more typically aimed at larger animals and may harm your pets if used improperly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-16T15:16:27.560" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1809" CreationDate="2014-01-16T17:19:31.457" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saw &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/do-rabbits-shed/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; on rabbit.org and at the end, she recommends moistening your hands with water during the grooming process as a way to prevent hair from flying everywhere / clean up the hair that is everywhere.  Upon trying this, I noticed it also helped considerably with static issues, and seemed to keep the rabbit relatively static free for hours after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T20:49:40.870" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T20:49:40.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2017" CreationDate="2014-01-17T04:34:23.953" Score="1" ViewCount="538" Body="&lt;p&gt;What type of food can I feed to my fish to help them grow faster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have goldfish, sharks, and bluegold fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="610" LastEditorUserId="610" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T05:51:34.563" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T05:07:19.583" Title="What type of food do I need to feed my fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-17T11:57:10.710" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bunny was diagnosed with renal issues last night. In part he has an elevated &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_urea_nitrogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BUN&lt;/a&gt;.  The vet suggested adding beet greens, beet pulp or dandelion greens to his diet to help absorb some of the nitrogen. What is the science behind this chemical reaction?  Are there other sources of what ever the good stuff is in battling the high nitrogen? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T15:38:53.187" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T01:15:01.220" Title="What is the science that makes beet greens a good choice for a rabbit with renal issues?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-17T13:06:02.473" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my two dogs (about a year old) is having trouble adjusting to a recent move to a new state.  He is fretful and nervous.  What can I do to help his anxiety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:00:40.650" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T20:00:40.650" Title="How can I help my dog adjust to a move?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1986" CreationDate="2014-01-17T13:43:19.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to answer as the question is quite broad, but I would have a few advices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check with your vet that there is no real &quot;medical&quot; problem with your dog linked to his new condition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A pheromone diffuser could help the dog relax during the day, and in particular help him relieve his anxiety before/when sleeping. The technical term is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_appeasing_pheromone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dog appeasing pheromone&lt;/a&gt; , your vet could advice you on that&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Help your dog adjust to his new life by keeping a strict schedule, at least temporarily, for the meals, walks, sleeping time, playing time, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T13:43:19.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1984" CreationDate="2014-01-17T16:00:00.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can't find any reputable Veterinary source that states or explains this, I can tell you that Farmers use Calcium Carbonate (Agricultural Lime) to treat acidic soil. The idea is that the Calcium replaces the acidic factor, in your bunny's case, Nitrogen, and that the Nitrogen reacts with the Carbonate to create Carbon dioxide and Water. This causes the soil to be more alkaline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This principle is explained at length here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.noble.org/ag/soils/soilacidity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Correcting soil acidity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for battling the high BUN:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I am nowhere near being a Vet yet, I would suggest you assess what you are feeding your rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Any food high in protein&lt;/em&gt;, such as Alfalfa hay, &lt;em&gt;will cause it's BUN to rise&lt;/em&gt;, because BUN is a byproduct of the body breaking down and using proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can't process dairy products very well. It would be best to avoid GI upset if there are renal problems present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long stem fiber will help to keep bunny's gut from going into stasis (not moving). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, the best way to combat Renal problems or failure is through dietary management. Should the beet tops and dandelion green prove ineffective, you can ask your Vet about Nitrogen binding medication, as it may be available for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="615" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T16:00:00.170" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1984" CreationDate="2014-01-17T16:00:29.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I do not know that this answer is correct.  I have linked the sources of information where i have found  them.  This answer is based on my experience and research, but beet greens and pulp and not a food source I have experience with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty/reusch/VirtTxtJml/amine1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The most common nitrogens in the blood (particularly ammonia) are alkaline&lt;/a&gt;.  In fact they commonly have a PH in the range of 10-11 which is fairly basic and can react with many tissues in ways that cause damage.  Most of the time the body handles this by filtering out the ammonia in the kidneys.  But if the kidneys are compromised(renal issues) they can not filter out these compounds as fast as they are created.  So the intent is to counter them with substances that will naturally react to neutralize the reactivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=7WYrAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA34&amp;amp;lpg=PA34&amp;amp;dq=beet%20urea&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=NtNfuChW31&amp;amp;sig=roBiEYBC6IeNCq06716cKUO60YU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=3k_ZUs2TKOG9yAGov4HoBg&amp;amp;ved=0CE0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=beet%20urea&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;except from a book&lt;/a&gt; which i read to basically say that the beet pulp reacts with the ammonia to neutralize the effects.  In this case we are not looking to cancel out the beneficial effects as was seen in the article but to neutralize the ammonia in the blood stream so that it does not cause damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always used parsley to help with kidney function, and have seen it &lt;a href=&quot;http://northernbreeze.weebly.com/herbal-medicine-for-rabbits.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recommended&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dlwoolees.com/herbal-medicin.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/06/09/medicinal-herbs-for-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;places&lt;/a&gt;.  It helps the rabbits kidneys clean out and function properly.  In season there is nothing my rabbits enjoy more that dandelions.  They are purported to have the following benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;DANDELION – Blood purifying, respiratory ailments, anti-inflammatory,&#xA;  bladder infections, diarrhea, milk flow of nursing does, good treat&#xA;  for does after having a litter. Some rabbit respiratory problems, such&#xA;  as pasteurellosis, can eventually cause serious problems including&#xA;  head tilt, loss of balance and death. There have been tests on rabbits&#xA;  that were treated with dandelion’s showing that it is effective&#xA;  against pneumonia, bronchitis and upper respiratory infections. Use&#xA;  fresh leaves, flowers and dig up root, the root can be dried to make a&#xA;  weak tea to add to the rabbits water. Well known for its curative&#xA;  powers. The bitter milky sap stimulates the working of all glands,&#xA;  including the milk glands of lactating does. The plant has both&#xA;  laxative and astringent qualities and regulates constipation and&#xA;  diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to consider lavender.  I use it quite often with my expectant mothers and its claimed calming effects I believe in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;LAVENDER – Circulation problems, nervous stress, exhaustion, induces&#xA;  labor. To bring on labour or expel placental material etc. in problem&#xA;  kindling’s. Use with caution. sparingly. in extreme cases only. The&#xA;  flowers are actually a mild tranquilizer, acting upon the heart in&#xA;  easing blood pressure rather than acting upon the brain as an&#xA;  anti-stimulant. Great for stressed out rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing i found was Milk Thistle.  I have no experience with this but it appears that it is a common supplement in health food stores.  I do not know how it works but so far my experience with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/06/09/medicinal-herbs-for-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this medicinal herb site&lt;/a&gt; has been completely positive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;MILK THISTLE – Helps take ammonia from the blood and protects both the&#xA;  liver and the kidneys, increases milk flow in nursing does&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T16:00:29.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1330" CreationDate="2014-01-17T18:04:13.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats definitely dreams. Last night when he was asleep, he began making the &quot;chattering&quot; sound that he makes when he sees the pigeons on the garden fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="616" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T18:04:13.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1996" CreationDate="2014-01-17T18:12:49.160" Score="9" ViewCount="797" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats seems to have an adverse reaction to catnip. When it is around, he gets agitated and attacks the other animals and anyone that comes near. It only happens with catnip-infused toys, but when he is exposed to ground catnip from a vial, he has no reaction what-so-ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that can be done to improve his reaction, since the other cat loves catnip and has the normal, high reaction to it? Should I just avoid getting catnip infused toys for the house, or is there a way to remove the catnip, since everything seems to be infused with catnip?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-01-17T21:39:33.130" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T02:47:03.657" Title="Adverse reaction to Catnip" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1938" CreationDate="2014-01-17T21:29:59.697" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common reason not to use human shampoo on a dog is that dogs have different pH levels than humans, as explained by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/grooming/evr_dg_shampoo_for_dogs&quot;&gt;petMD.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The acid mantle can also be defined as the relative pH balance of the&#xA;  skin. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with levels less than 6.4&#xA;  considered high acidity, and levels more than 6.4 considered high&#xA;  alkalinity. The normal range of skin pH levels for humans is 5.2 to&#xA;  6.2, which means it tends to be on the acidic side, and shampoos and skin products are formulated specifically to maintain this balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now consider the relative pH balance for dogs. Depending on breed,&#xA;  gender, climate, and the anatomical size on the dog, the pH levels&#xA;  range from 5.5 to 7.5, tending toward a more alkaline concentration.&#xA;  Therefore, if a shampoo that is formulated for human skin is used on a&#xA;  dog, the dog's acid mantle will be disrupted, creating an environment&#xA;  where bacteria, parasites, and viruses can run rampant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A professional dog groomer, Barbara Bird, performed &lt;a href=&quot;https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59435948/BBird%20pH%20Study.pdf&quot;&gt;an observational study in 2011&lt;/a&gt; on pet and human shampoos, ultimately collecting pH levels for 60 pet shampoos and 45 human shampoos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the human shampoo products are formulated in the more acidic range, as&#xA;  expected. However, it also shows how few of the pet shampoos are&#xA;  formulated in the range they would be expected to fall – above&#xA;  6.5. Forty of the sixty pet shampoos, two-­‐thirds of the sample tested at pH of&#xA;  6.5 or less, in the acidic range along with 89% of the human shampoos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She refers to two studies that look at the effect of acidifying skin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Matousek, J, Campbell, KL, Kakoma, I, Solter, PF, Schaeffer, DJ,&#xA;  Evaluation of the effect of pH on in vitro growth of Malassezia&#xA;  pachydermatis, Can J Vet Res&gt;v.67(1); Jan&#xA;  2003.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Matousek JL, Campbell KL, Kakoma I, Schaeffer DJ. The effects of four acidifying sprays, vinegar and water on canine cutaneous pH&#xA;  levels. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 39:29-­‐33 (2003)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and concludes with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no scientific evidence that shampoo having a pH of&#xA;  5.0-­‐6.0 is harmful to pet skin. In fact, many pet shampoos share that pH range with human shampoos. There are, however, good reasons to&#xA;  use a good pet shampoo on dogs: Shampoos formulated for canine hair&#xA;  are designed to clean well and are often geared toward specific jobs&#xA;  or coat types. Human shampoos are designed for daily or weekly use and&#xA;  may not clean a dirty dog well. They are also mostly formulated to&#xA;  soften hair, which may not be desirable when scissoring a Bichon or&#xA;  maintaining a terrier coat. Human hair shampoos are less likely to&#xA;  have ingredients for whitening, promoting deshedding, or serious&#xA;  deodorizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, basically, it seems to be safe, but it may not be the most effective type of shampoo for your dog's coat (you may need to wash him several times with human shampoo to get him clean, or a dog shampoo may contain whiteners that will make him look better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T21:29:59.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="604" CreationDate="2014-01-17T23:59:33.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knowing that my Bichon does this same thing, I can say comfortably that if there is no medical reason for his shivering, it is &lt;em&gt;most likely&lt;/em&gt; a nervous tendency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you acquired your Whippet, and his own personality, he may have had a bad experience with bath time, feel unsafe with his footing, or even just dislike water that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest starting fresh, and gradually counter-conditioning him to bath time, as well as showing him that there is nothing to be afraid of. Much in the same way of desensitizing a dog with Separation anxiety, it can take quite a while, but will be well worth it in the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to give you a general idea of how counter-conditioning works:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/separation-anxiety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ASPCA on Anxiety (separation)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the possibility of his being cold, crank up the thermostat or use a small heater to bring the bathroom up to about 80. That is quite warm enough to ensure that he wont catch cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="615" LastActivityDate="2014-01-17T23:59:33.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1938" CreationDate="2014-01-18T00:11:45.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is, in theory. The basic difference between human and dog shampoo is PH (though there is some controversy about PH levels). There are multiple considerations and options with shampoos.  You can do a bunch of research and consider all the alternatives but in the end you will find all &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shampoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shampoo is liquid detergent&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not bathing often, and your are not buying shampoo with a lot of extras, anything will do.  If your dog is extremely dirty you might consider a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dawn-dish.com/us/dawn/savingwildlife&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dish detergent&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-01-18T00:29:05.073" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T00:29:05.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1984" CreationDate="2014-01-18T01:15:01.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not spoken to the vet again to ask for clarification (next appointment in 2 weeks), but this is what I have learned.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have an area of the intestine called the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit#Ecology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cecum&lt;/a&gt;.  It works as a factory to convert low value food (hay) into high value protein (cecotropes) which they &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;eat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a class of food described as 'fermentable carbohydrates' these include sugars and starches. Some sugars are absorbed by the bunnies digestion and some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;travel through to the cecum&lt;/a&gt; where they encourage bacteria to create protein. There are lots of different 'fermentable carbohydrates' and beets are a good source.  Beet pulp which has had all or most of it's sugar removed is another source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bacteria are important in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;'Nitrogen cycle'&lt;/a&gt; resulting in the conversion to proteins. When 'fermentable carbohydrates' have traveled through to the cecum, they pull nitrogen from available sources.  Not all 'fermentable carbohydrates' are equal in this process, as described in this study &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FANM%2FANM6_11%2FS1751731112000754a.pdf&amp;amp;code=4d65be2a41b20ad57ed3eff3d6c22b2f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;'Transfer of blood urea nitrogen to cecal microbial nitrogen is increased by mannitol feeding in growing rabbits fed timothy hay diet'&lt;/a&gt; which compared &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glucose&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-mannitol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;D-mannitol&lt;/a&gt;.  The rabbits in this study who consumed D-mannitol had about 50% less nitrogen in their blood as those feed glucose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases balance must be maintained, and diet changes should be slow (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441/do-i-need-to-do-anything-special-when-i-change-what-i-feed-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end it seems that encouraging gut bacteria will help strip access nitrogen.  In the rabbit with renal issues like elevated &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_urea_nitrogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BUN&lt;/a&gt; this can help lower the high values and make your bunny feel better and be healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T01:15:01.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1991" CreationDate="2014-01-18T02:47:03.657" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0323008909&quot;&gt;Manual of Clinical Behavior Medicine for Dogs and Cats&lt;/a&gt; (section on Eating Plants) some cats can become quite forceful from catnip but, while not desirable, is actually considered amongst the normal responses for cats. As noted in the book, the behaviors exhibited by cats in response to catnip is actually highly variable (apparently, cats in Australia are non-responsive, responsiveness is genetic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, alternatives? Have a look for honeysuckle toys. There is a similar, but not the same, compound in some varieties of honeysuckle that is in catnip. Toys with that &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; result in a less aggressive behaviour (or it could be worse, it's very cat dependent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another would be to look for valerian (it's a root) toys. Again, similar to honeysuckle, it's an alternative to catnip and may result in a more desirable behavior change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, catnip is a mint. You can try growing a spearmint plant and see if they like it, some do. However, please &lt;em&gt;avoid&lt;/em&gt; peppermint for this purpose, it can be harmful to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T02:47:03.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2014-01-18T09:10:50.050" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Sharks&amp;quot; are a nickname for several freshwater aquarium fish, you need to be more specific about what the exact species you have before anyone is going to be able to help you with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the speed at which goldfish grow tends to be limited by tank conditions more than their feed, and thus products at your local pet-store of favourite online retailer labelled &amp;quot;goldfish food&amp;quot; should prove sufficient, although general fish food is likely also fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tank conditions that can affect growth:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common growth limiter for all fish is stress.  Stress leads to increased levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine which stunts growth in all animals. Common tank conditions that cause stress are dirty water (high organic particulates), low oxygen, high nitrate and/or ammonia levels, poor pH, improper temperature, over crowding, and the presence of chlorine. These things need to be controlled for all fish in your tank, and are best handled via proper tank sizing, proper filtration, and water pre-treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another, non-stress related tank condition that specifically affects gold fish, and that's hormone levels.  Unlike other fish related by products which can be easily filtered, goldfish secrete the hormones &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Aminobutyric_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GABA&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatostatin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;somatostatin&lt;/a&gt; which report back to them about the amount of space available in a tank.  More goldfish or less space = higher hormone concentrations and thus smaller, slower growing fish.  If you want your gold fish to grow faster  give them the largest volume of space per fish (use multiple tanks if needed) possible and replace the tank water often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a full review see here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://injaf.org/articles-guides/do-fish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://injaf.org/articles-guides/do-fish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;refs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thefishvet.com/2012/02/28/do-goldfish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://thefishvet.com/2012/02/28/do-goldfish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/203/9/1477.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/203/9/1477.full.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T05:07:19.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2001" CreationDate="2014-01-18T10:43:07.023" Score="8" ViewCount="2271" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a couch sitting in front of a living room window, with curtains behind it, and the plug for the lamp right in the middle.  In my experience, if a bunny has a dark safe place, it is likely to chew on and rub against the surroundings, which can be hazardous to their health.  Bunnies are burrowing creatures, so making areas like behind the couch bunny proof is a concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good way to bunny proof this sort of area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-26T19:33:04.100" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T19:33:04.100" Title="How do you bunny proof behind the couch?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="1999" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-01-18T10:44:34.607" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-01-18T10:44:34.607" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T10:44:34.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2000" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-01-18T10:44:34.607" Score="0" Body="To protect an area from casual or intentional damage by a pet." OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-01-18T13:52:56.163" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T13:52:56.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1998" CreationDate="2014-01-18T12:07:42.287" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blocking off areas that are not safe for your rabbit is an option.  But this is not always possible, if the couch needs to be away from the wall to provide clearance for the curtains, or if there are other concerns about bunny safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First position the couch with the desired spacing between the back of the couch and the wall.  Decide if an 8, 10 or 12 inch spacing would be optimal.  If there is an electrical outlet in the area, decide if it will be used and need to be protected.  Identify any other hazards in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have identified that an 8 inch spacing will work best for me. I want to protect an area 10 foot long. I have an electrical outlet that will be used to run power to lamps at each end of the couch.  My previously floor length curtains have been hemmed to just below the window (&lt;em&gt;somebunny started the project and somebody else finished it&lt;/em&gt;).  My lamps have the electrical cord coming out the side of the base of the lamp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Materials list; all available at the local DIY hardware store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;8 inch Concrete Form Tube, these come in 4 foot lengths, with nominal diameters of 5, 10 &amp;amp; 12 inches.  Each &quot;size&quot; actually is made in 3 measurements +- .5 inch, so the 8 is really 7.5, 8 &amp;amp; 8.5 they ship nested inside each other.  I pick 3 (assume one 8 and two 8.5 for this example)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An outdoor outlet cover that will protect the cord while it is plugged in, and has an opening for the cord to exit the box.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A wire cover (maybe called, Chanel, Raceway, Conduit, etc), I prefer the kind where two pieces snap together covering the cord.  I did not need corners for this project.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Optional&lt;/em&gt; Wood shims. Generally used for spacing/shimming around windows and doors during instal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all materials available and the bunnies safely in their room.  Pull the couch away from the wall, give yourself lots of room to work.  Install the outlet cover.  Plug the lamp cords into the outlet and close the covers door.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measure and cut a length of the wire cover.  It will run straight down from the outlet to the floor.  Cover the lamp cords, one wire cover may hold both cords (or not) but make sure there is no exposed wires until they touch the floor.  Position the lamps where they will be when the couch is back in place with the bare wires laying on the floor near the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case the outlet is directly center of the back of the couch. Take the 8 inch tube and place it about center under the outlet.  It now covers 2 foot of lamp cord on the floor at either side of the outlet. Take an 8.5 inch tube and slide it over part of the 8 inch tube.  You want to have at least a couple inches of overlap, but can telescope the tubes to any length you want.  Do the same at both ends (now positioned 8.5, 8, 8.5) as I want a 10 foot section, there is about a foot of overlap on my tubes.  The fit will be a bit loose, you can tighten it by inserting some of the wood shims at the joints (but loose is ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slide the couch back into position, it should go firmly against the tube.  Position the lamps so the wire coming out of the base is covered by part of the tube that is extending beyond the couch. If the lamp cord can not be covered by the tube, use more wire cover to protect it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let the bunnies out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They now have a safe (and fun) bunny tunnel to explore.  Depending on the brand of tube they may chew on the ends of the tube, this fine (ours prefer the taste of the Sakrete brand tubes).  A cardboard box with a round hole cut in it, so one end of the tunnel exits into the box will add to the experience (this can be a later addition).  The bunnies will run through, hide in and generally enjoy the tube tunnel as a substitute burrow.  Ours occasionally try to walk along the top of the tunnel behind the couch.  They don't get get traction, and don't tend to try and relax there.  The sound when they are walking on top of the tube is rather distracting, but we find it best to let them explore and find their own way off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P.S. These tubes also make fun toys rolling loose on the floor, they are less expensive and healthier to chew on then the tubes you can purchase at the pet store.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per the MSDS for SAKRETE FORM TUBE &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sakrete.com/uploads/downloads/SAK%20FormTube%202011-1-131.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The tube contains no hazardous components as defined by OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DTvNp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tube behind couch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-12-15T11:52:43.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T11:52:43.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2004" CreationDate="2014-01-18T18:18:04.630" Score="16" ViewCount="688" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a gum infection (viral), and the vet recommended a complete edentation (removal of all teeth). It is very sad to see my cat with its gums bleeding almost all the time ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat (spayed) is 6 years old and has good overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without judging the actual benefit for this specific problem, are there any life-long problem to be expected? Can the cat eat dry food properly after that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T22:04:11.597" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T22:04:11.597" Title="What quality of life will my cat have after edentation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2020" CreationDate="2014-01-18T20:19:07.853" Score="8" ViewCount="2174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a dog who is already 4 years old and has been moved around a lot. I'm not sure all of the training and habits he has learned in the past, but he does good in the house so far. I have never had a male dog before who marks his territory (only outside), so he is the first and I'm unsure/worried about some things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been training him to walk beside me and correcting him very meticulously when he walks in front of me. I have been giving him time now and then to smell the bushes because it seems he really enjoys that and also I want to make sure he urinates as much as he can during that walk. However, it seems that he urinates only a little bit each time to mark his territory and I'd rather he just urinated a lot at once, or even just a few times. I'm worried that he isn't urinating enough. Should I be letting him mark his territory every time he wants to to make sure he urinates as much as he can, or should I only let him do it a few times until he gets the idea that he can't save his urine to mark his territory everywhere when we go for a walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastEditorUserId="618" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T19:43:39.203" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T19:43:39.203" Title="Should I give my dog more time to mark trees so he urinates enough?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2014-01-18T23:46:26.163" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Edentation, or the removal of all teeth, is a common solution to feline stomatitis when no other solution can be found. My experience with it has been entirely positive, and I've talked to several cat owners who have also had cats with stomatitis who have removed their cat's teeth and no one has ever said to me that they regret the decision. It's a relief to know that my cat is no longer in pain from eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat, Hunter, had mild stomatitis for several years when it suddenly flared so badly that his gums looked like balloons. We treated him with antibiotics (which reduced the acute flare), and then spent a few months trying several different experimental treatments my vet found in veterinary journals. Nothing helped, so we had his teeth removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been about two years, and he's been back to the vet twice for his mouth. The first time, we noticed that once the swelling in his gums went down and everything healed, he had a bone spur on his jaw. It never would have become an issue if he had his teeth, but it was poking through the gum tissue and causing irritation, so the vet opened his gums, filed it down, and stitched everything back together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second time, a small root was surfacing. It had probably broken off during the extraction (which was done by my general vet, not a dental specialist). The vet was able to get it out with only mild sedation (not full sleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His mouth is leaps and bounds better than it was, no redness or puffiness at all. He eats food just fine. He drops it a little more than he used to, so the floor is a little messier, but he'll eat a whole meal at once rather than a bite or two and walking away (we assumed that was because his mouth hurt). We feed wet and dry, and he has no problem with either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-18T23:46:26.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2019" CreationDate="2014-01-19T07:57:12.640" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 7 months old Golden Retriever hybrid keeps scratching herself. I already applied fleas and ticks material, and she definitely doesn't have either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T21:34:49.360" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:34:49.360" Title="What else, other than parasites, is making my dog scratch herself?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-19T11:44:33.457" Score="14" ViewCount="2808" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a female Californian king snake and I'm starting to get worried about her not eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, she has not eaten in 4 months. It's winter at the moment and I know they do not eat at winter, as it happened last year with her not eating for an extended period, but it was more like 3 months. I keep her vivarium temperature between 25&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;32&amp;nbsp;°C .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She spends most of the time sleeping, when she isn't she is very, very active feeling around her enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She handles thst extremely well, however I'm worried this could be part of the main problem she is completely non-aggressive even when I attempt to feed her, she just seems to want to get out of her feeding container and has no interest in the mouse whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I handled her today and she feels lighter and thinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:14:46.210" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:14:46.210" Title="Snake not interested in food" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1375" CreationDate="2014-01-19T11:53:52.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas are highly territorial and no matter what sexes you keep together they will fight. The males are solitary in nature ( like in elephants), while the females might live in schools/small groups. Males and females come together to breed only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not wise to keep any form of Bettas together, specially males, they'll fight and kill each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-01-19T13:48:50.850" LastActivityDate="2014-01-19T13:48:50.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1398" CreationDate="2014-01-19T12:54:09.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I presume you've already sorted this issue out. However, I shall give an alternative for other's who have such issues. First of all having a group of Bettas is a bad bad idea. Specially 2 males and 4 females is even more bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether there are tetras or not the males with fight each other constantly. I've done such experiments in a much larger tank ( a bathtub) and the males fought each other for days on end to establish dominance and one of the males died and was ripped into pieces. ( I wouldn't be surprised if this happens in your case). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally after such a testosterone filled event the male will go build a bubble nest and will start courting females to lay eggs, here's another problem, this spawning ritual might end up in another ugly war where the male might kill all the females in a quest to save his brood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male Bettas fish are brilliant fathers and will kill to defend their brood. So I advice you keep them separate.              &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastEditorUserId="759" LastEditDate="2017-05-15T18:51:58.050" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T18:51:58.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1110" CreationDate="2014-01-19T12:56:58.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes is is okay to keep them separate. The males are very territorial and will fight so much that one of them could end up dead. So what you're doing is right, keep Siamese fighting fish separate for their own good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-01-19T13:54:14.810" LastActivityDate="2014-01-19T13:54:14.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1961" CreationDate="2014-01-19T13:12:38.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cecotropes are the primary protein source and a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;critical part of the rabbits' diet&lt;/a&gt;. Baby bunnies &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html#Feeding_Orphaned_Baby_Rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eat their mother's cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; both for nutrition and to enable helpful bacteria to colonize their gut. Generally the babies will eat cecotropes directly from the mother; in some cases harvesting cecotropes from a healthy bunny and including them in feedings is the only route (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-medicating-your-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;syringe/force feeding&lt;/a&gt;).  Some sources indicate that a rabbit will not eat a dropping that has fallen on the floor; while that may be true in some cases, I have found that is not true in all cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harvesting cecotropes is easier said then done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The recommended method is to put a cone collar on the donor/healthy rabbit, so they are unable to eat them directly, then harvest them from the floor. This may be where the myth that bunnies won't eat them from the floor comes from, but I would surmise that the whole cone collar, can't even eat fresh cecotropes frustration is probably stressful enough that the donor rabbit is not interested in eating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The second method is harvesting as found.  If you notice a bunny with its nose to its tail, you can sometimes distract them and harvest them fresh.  Occasionally, you will see them laying around (small, moist, in grape-like clumps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is primarily to address the second.  Can I harvest and conveniently and store for a future need. It primarily focused on the survival and introduction of &amp;quot;helpful&amp;quot; bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sources &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.friendsofrabbits.org/FoR/public_html/health/firstaid_lathan.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommend&lt;/a&gt; yogurt or freeze-dried, cultures as a source of &lt;em&gt;L. acidophilus&lt;/em&gt; as short term solution to bacterial imbalance.  This is not a constituent of normal flora in the rabbit and the pH balance of the stomach can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html#Feeding_Orphaned_Baby_Rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kill it&lt;/a&gt; before it gets to the cecum, there is some controversy as to its effectiveness. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Probiotics/probiotics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;similar conciderations&lt;/a&gt; with commercially available probiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have a significantly different digestive flora (&lt;em&gt;cecum bacteria&lt;/em&gt;) than most other mammals. The stomach and small intestine have no native bacteria, they all reside in the large intestine and cecum.  The majority being &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteroides&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bacteroides&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;Lactobacillii&lt;/em&gt; which are common in most other mammuls are generally absent in healthy rabbits. &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=7ZRJVuiMCHIC&amp;amp;pg=PA26&amp;amp;dq=cecotrope+content&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=qMbXUtftNK3gsATa0oCQAg&amp;amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=cecotrope%20content&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source Rabbit Feeding and Nutrition, by Tony J. Cunha &amp;amp; Peter R. Cheeke, Elsevier, 1987, ISBN 008057078X, 9780080570785&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to get &lt;em&gt;Bacteroides&lt;/em&gt; through the digestive system to repopulate the cecum. They are an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerotolerant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aerotolerant, anaerobic organism&lt;/a&gt; (don't need oxygen, and exposure to air will not kill them &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;quickly&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;). Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sources suggest&lt;/a&gt; that the mucus covering of the cecotropes help protect the bacteria to get through the stomach alive in order to recolonize the cecum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have identified the mechanism of transfer from mother to kit, the challenges of the bacteria in surviving the trip from the mouth to the cecum.  We know that type of bacteria we want to colonize with is &lt;em&gt;Bacteroides&lt;/em&gt;.  Now, unfortunately, we discover that they are relatively fragile outside of the body.  The article &lt;a href=&quot;http://aem.asm.org/content/41/1/325.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bacteroides&lt;/em&gt; Species: Maintenance of Laboratory Strains&lt;/a&gt; does a good job of describing the process to maintain a culture for laboratory study.  It appears that due to this commercial products containing &lt;em&gt;Bacteroides&lt;/em&gt; are not available. One &lt;a href=&quot;http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Probiotics_-_we_should_all_be_taking_these_all_the_time_and_double_the_dose_following_antibiotics_and_gastroenteritis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; was found giving directions for creating an on going culture in the home for self inoculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary it seems that  &amp;quot;fresh is best&amp;quot; is the solution.  It seems probable that cecotropes that no longer have a moist mucous covering, have passed their use by date for potential &lt;em&gt;Bacteroides&lt;/em&gt; recolonization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image of cecotropes (warning - potentially NSFW):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VbJEU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VbJEU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T03:14:20.360" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T03:14:20.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2014" CreationDate="2014-01-19T23:22:47.363" Score="4" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment and when I'm away or busy doing work in another room, I feel bad for the dog because there is nothing really for him to do. He doesn't have much interest in his toy (I should find some new ones) and he doesn't have  I know it would bug me to be locked inside for most of the day in a quiet room, but I also know dogs are not humans. Should I leave the TV on for him or put some ambient noise on the speakers? If so, what ambient noises are good? Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T02:05:41.113" Title="Are ambient noises useful for keeping the dog calm while I'm away?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2018" CreationDate="2014-01-20T00:31:07.423" Score="17" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much every cat I have ever owned has always liked catnip; so much so that they go nuts whenever I give them a catnip-related toy to play with. Why do some cats love it so much? What's in that stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T21:30:59.560" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:30:59.560" Title="Why do cats like catnip?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2012" CreationDate="2014-01-20T01:43:54.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it will help. My dog gets annoyed very fast, so I leave the radio on, and leave him a ball(not a tennis ball, but a hard ball, which keeps him busy). Have you tried already those sticks, things he can chew on? Search for a none dangerous toy that he likes. Bored dogs get frustrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="625" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T02:05:41.113" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T02:05:41.113" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="972" CreationDate="2014-01-20T01:53:59.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I can say is that my father races pigeons and in the 20 years having dogs, chickens and rabbits, no animal became sick, so I wouldn't be too worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pigeon can become older then 20 years, but if the former pigeon owner is away from years, then it isn't his offspring. Pigeons needs food and if there's nothing to find, they leave... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our oldest dog, a Labrador eats pigeon/cheap/dog/geese droppings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pigeons don't like strange bright objects, so you can try putting something like a flag to scare them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="625" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T18:27:30.337" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T18:27:30.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2014-01-20T02:02:34.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would watch out, don't use cleaning solvents with the toilet he uses, but besides that&#xA;it's quite innocent.  One of our dogs for example, prefers drinking from the 'river' made in the garden and a lot of birds wash themselves in there...  I think that, because a cat is a hunter and kills birds and also then comes a lot in contact with bird/mouse scat and stuff, so that a clean human toilet is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="625" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T12:56:35.307" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T12:56:35.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2014-01-20T02:28:16.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you're feeding your fish an appropriate diet and keeping them in healthy conditions -- with adequate filtration, enough space, good water parameters, and so on -- they'll grow as quickly as they're meant to. If your fish don't appear to be thriving, a poor diet is one possibility, but it's not the most likely culprit: the nutritional balance of most prepared fish foods is usually fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most fish in the pet trade are omnivorous and don't have a single &quot;best&quot; food. In the wild they'll eat insect larvae, random eggs, little worms, algae, aquatic plants, whatever they can find. The name-brand general diets you'll find at your fish store are usually formulated to meet their nutritional needs. (If you're interested in what those actually are, you can learn a lot about the topic in &lt;a href=&quot;http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa097&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guide to preparing your own fish food&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the sharks you mention are something like bala or rainbow sharks, and that the bluegold fish is just a variety of goldfish, you're not keeping anything with a particularly odd diet. But be aware that some fish in the trade are basically herbivorous and need a lot of plant matter, either through algae wafers or lightly steamed vegetables; others are more carnivorous and need live food or even meat of some kind. So always make sure you understand the broad dietary needs of your fish before you plan out their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the food you buy is the right size for your fish to eat, and that it'll reach the part of the water column where your fish prefer to feed -- no floating sticks for corydoras, for example -- and that it's not a cheapo no-name brand. I prefer pellets, since they're neater and I suspect that flakes leech their nutrients into the water too quickly. Most frozen or freeze-dried whole foods (tubifex, bloodworms, baby brine, etc.) are best as occasional supplements rather than day-to-day staples, since they're not as nutritionally balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see special diet foods for goldfish, but to be honest, goldfish are such generalists that I suspect this has more to do with marketing than with providing something unique that's lacking in other products. And the &quot;color improving&quot; formulations you'll see usually just have carotenoids or other cosmetic color enhancers added, and aren't necessarily any better for your fishes' health. But I don't know of any reason &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to get those products, and don't personally avoid them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(One exception to this is that I would not feed freshwater fish a product labelled specifically for saltwater fish, or vice versa, since they actually do have different nutritional needs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other half of the equation is the living conditions your fish are kept in. Make sure they've got enough space, keep the tank clean, and stay on top of water changes and other maintenance. Since you're asking about how diet impacts growth, be sure you do not give in to the temptation to overfeed. Your fish, especially your goldfish, will eat whatever you give them, but this is no more healthy for them than it would be for us -- it can lead to issues like constipation, weight problems (or whatever you want to call it when a neutrally-buoyant animal has too much body fat), renal problems, liver problems, swim bladder problems, just about every kind of internal fish problem. It also impacts your overall system as the increased amount of fish waste puts stress on your biofilter, and the increased amount of rotting food and detritus promotes bacterial and parasite growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T02:28:16.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2014-01-20T02:37:15.683" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly enough, feline response to catnip is genetic in origin and not all cats respond to it. For example, cats in Australia generally don't respond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, the active compound in catnip is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepetalactone&quot;&gt;nepetalacton&lt;/a&gt; which acts as a mood elevator in many cats and can make them happy. However, cat response to this being variable means that some can become overly aggressive. Alternatives, with similar chemical compounds that can cause like reactions include honeysuckle and valerian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T02:37:15.683" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2014-01-20T03:28:34.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few possible causes, but a fairly straightforward possibility is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skinvetclinic.com/atopicdermatitis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Atopic Dermatitis&lt;/a&gt;. It's a chronic, non-contagious, skin irritation caused by hypersensitivity to pollens, molds, dust mites, and other allergens. So, basically, an allergy. This problem is more prevalent in dogs than cats, though not exactly common in either case. In the United States, the golden retriever has a predilection for this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physically, which bears out based on the exam you mentioned, there isn't necessarily a lot of evidence. Lesions can be none at all, to broken hairs, to much more obvious. The onset is usually relatively mild, but can get worse with age. Signs of this issue include itching, scratching, rubbing, and licking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... given that there's not a lot of physical evidence, your means to confirmation is allergy tests. These are available and treatments, should this be a positive match, can range from removal of allergen, to modified diets, to several drug regimens as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In any event, as has been mentioned, you should get her into a vet to have this checked. Ideally, you want to see if you can find a vet that specializes in animal dermatology. Even if the issue isn't an allergy, a vet with solid experience in that area is probably going to have a better chance of diagnosing this issue over a more general practitioner.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T13:53:56.233" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T13:53:56.233" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2003" CreationDate="2014-01-20T05:38:58.130" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dog learns soon how long an average walk is with you, and administers his dosage of pee so that he can keep on marking his territory as far as the walk continues. When there's more people involved in walking the dog daily then it will also learn to individual habits of each person regarding the length of a walk. Some clever animals, dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite okay to not let him urinate at his own will if you want a good walk for your own health. Just shorten the leash a bit and pick up speed. Your dog learns what that means and will happily go along. With my dogs I also include a command to that, I use a Finnish word that translates to &quot;Going!&quot; and the dog knows it's time to really go and leave those inviting smells for a while. I don't want the entire walk to turn into a continuous stop-and-go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not just boring day to day routine though, you'll notice. For example my dog likes to drink unhealthy amounts of water when we go to a beach. Some two or three hours after coming back home he'll become nervous and makes it clear he needs to go. I have witnessed him peeing for over two minutes without a break after such visit to beach. After he relieved himself we don't go for a walk (if it is not that time) but instead return immediately home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When peeing for territorial marking the dog first sniffs for previous markings. If he was the last one to pee on that bush/tree/whatnot then he might well leave it without marking. If there is new markings after his last visit, he'll most likely try to cover it with his own pee. If there is a female dog in season nearby, then her peeing spots will be of great interest and will get marked by your dog after examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marking is not only a territory thing, it is also communication between other dogs in the neighbourhood. That's why it is important for him to adjust his markings so that he can continue the job throughout the walk. It is a sad dog who runs out of pee in the middle of a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-01-20T07:55:51.133" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T07:55:51.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T08:11:44.413" Score="9" ViewCount="7119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joey and Pheobe are two and a half year old Bengal/Domestic crosses (1/2 Bengal) and both are/were reasonably vocal but not to any level of excess.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joey was (we assume) hit by a car in late Summer 2013 and had to be kept caged for two months whilst his back leg healed. During this time his sister (Pheobe) could get quite freaked out by him, presumably because he smelled &quot;ill&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pheobe, his sister, was last seen October 5th. This was two months since Joey had been allowed out of his cage, under house arrest for a month and allowed outside for the second month. They were socialising normally and playing as they'd previously been seen to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since Pheobe disappeared, Joey has become a lot more vocal. When he comes in during the day/evening he'll meow loudly (verging on yowling) to &quot;announce&quot; his arrival. When he comes in at night, if we're in bed (asleep or otherwise) he'll meow very, very loudly as he comes up the stairs to the bedroom. Previously he meowed a little when coming upstairs at night, but not a lot at other times (other than if he was picked up and not in the mood to be!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I be concerned at this change in his behaviour?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is he &quot;acting out&quot; as he's lost his sister/playmate and is missing companionship?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything I could do, or should do, to manage this behaviour in a way that's beneficial to him?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Note: He's recently had his boosters / a check-up and the Vet had no concerns regarding his health)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="626" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T17:13:34.767" Title="Should I be concerned that my cat has become more vocal since losing his sister?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2021" CreationDate="2014-01-20T13:27:30.597" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen similar issues with a cat after losing a companion. Essentially, your cat is grieving and missing his companion, so he wants/needs more companionship from you. He may also be calling for his missing sister, and upset that she isn't responding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience here is that a cat who's accustomed to having another cat around does miss the companionship and will cry/call for them. For many years my 18-yo cat was accustomed to being left with my parents and their cat when I had to be away from home for a while. The first time she was there after my parents cat died, she spent a long time calling for him and was quite clingy for weeks after that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later on, after I married, she and my husband's cat tolerated each other, but when my husband's cat died, she was clearly distressed and became very vocal and wanted a lot of attention. This persisted for long enough that we went to the local rescue and adopted a 6 month old kitten. After the initial introduction she settled down and returned to her normal behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T13:27:30.597" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1788" CreationDate="2014-01-20T14:24:13.337" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would be harmful to your gecko. For a start, the cockroaches are probably too big for the gecko to safely eat. You should never feed your gecko any animal that's bigger than the space between its eyes. (Ones that are long and thin, like mealworms, are fine - as long as they're not wider than that space - otherwise it risks choking on something that's too big for it to safely swallow.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also never feed your gecko wild insects. It might save money in the short term, but wild insects can carry a whole host of parasites (not to mention pesticides that they might have picked up from the gardens in the neighbourhood). You don't want to risk exposing your lizard to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, leaving the gecko to run around the house will not do it any favours either. If there's space for the cockroaches to get in, there's space for the gecko to get out, and then it ends up being eaten by a cat or something. Even before it escapes the house it is in significantly more danger roaming around than it would be in a safe environment like a terrarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers have suggested alternate methods of pest removal and I would strongly suggest you follow one of these - and look into gecko keeping (leopard geckos are a great species to start with) separately, if you want to do that as a hobby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T14:24:13.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1751" CreationDate="2014-01-20T14:35:20.237" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to give them vegetation - but not directly :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are carnivores - more precisely, insectivores - so will not (and should not) eat any plant matter of its own accord. However, you need to &quot;gut load&quot; their feeder insects for 24 hours before offering the insects to the geckos. Just feed the insects a huge pile of goodies - carrot, lettuce, spinach, orange slices, etc. Some people recommend dry cat food (with milk powder to give some extra protein) as a good food source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crickets in particular have very little nutritional value without this gut-loading - they are basically just a crunchy shell. In order to feed your lizards properly you need to feed their food. When you buy the insects from the pet store or mail order they won't have been fed particularly well beforehand and you really need to stuff them full of goodies to be certain that they are... stuffed full of goodies. Google &quot;gut loading&quot; to find out more information - there are numerous guides out there that should be able to help you, and lots of different people recommending lots of different foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dusting the insects with multivitamin or calcium supplements is a separate (and recommended) way of increasing the nutrients that your geckos get, but it is NOT to replace gutloading - they are both separate and both necessary parts of your gecko's diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-06-09T19:14:31.403" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T19:14:31.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-20T15:40:34.377" Score="9" ViewCount="1917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about building my own wooden rabbit enclosure and want to waterproof it for ease of clean-up. If I use tung oil to waterproof the wood, will it harm the rabbits (as long as the wood is cured and the oil has not been freshly applied)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this oil is toxic to rabbits, how else can I waterproof the wood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_oil&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_oil&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:28:26.223" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T21:28:26.223" Title="Is it safe to use tung oil to waterproof a rabbit enclosure?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2025" CreationDate="2014-01-20T23:39:08.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As John say's in his comment, there is some possibility that the Tung oil is toxic to rabbits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we built the 3 story condo below (Dec 2009), we did a a lot of research. Latex was ok in theory, but there was some questions about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We ended up going with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_paint&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;soy paint&lt;/a&gt; the brand we choose was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ecosafetyproducts.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/durasoy.pds.1009.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DuraSoy&lt;/a&gt; this was applied over plywood.  It has been 4 years now and is holding up well. It was rather pricey as I recall, it has performed well and I would purchase it again. The rabbits have not shown any substantial desire to chew on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this condo, we also use waterproof floor coverings.  We purchased some white plastic panels then cut them to size.  We cover them with a homemade pillow case (kind of thing), made of heavy cotton fabric.  This provides tracktion, waterproof, and is easy to wash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the second floor, you can see there is a water bowl, on the dark blue covering.  Because the painted surface is rather slippery (in bunny terms) we also put no slip strips on the stairs (there are stairs along the back wall connecting each floor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bare wood you see is completely untreated. Sharp edges near the wire are always getting chewed on, so leaving them bare seems to be a good idea.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dIiV9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cond&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-01-20T23:39:08.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2014-01-21T03:51:20.053" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toxotoes answer references an article on &lt;strong&gt;trout&lt;/strong&gt; studies.  There's no basis for equating a study on trout with that of goldfish.  Moreover, the study referenced doesn't even support the researchers hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;It is true, goldfish, even when kept in good conditions, will only grow to a proportional size of their tank.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike other aquarium fish, goldfish excrete a hormones such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Aminobutyric_acid&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;aminobutyric acid (&lt;strong&gt;GABA&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatostatin&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;somatostain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, that acts as signal of how many other fish and what sized body of water they are in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild, this will regulate their size and the size of others and help keep them from running out of resources.   While the GABA / somatostain regulation is an example of a &amp;quot;crowding effect&amp;quot;, it shouldn't be confused with the stress based responses common to all fish in which epinephrine and norepinephrine increase due to poor living conditions (bad water and overcrowding).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/203/9/1477.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/203/9/1477.full.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thefishvet.com/2012/02/28/do-goldfish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://thefishvet.com/2012/02/28/do-goldfish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-01-21T05:02:08.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-21T19:51:59.500" Score="4" ViewCount="664" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have three chihuahuas in our family, two of which are unable to walk down stairs so I often find myself having to carry them outside. They don't like to do anything outside, if the whole group isn't there and I don't like leaving them outside without supervision, even momentarily. So, I find myself having to carry both of them outside on one go, one on each hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the optimal way to carry them so that they would feel as comfortable as possible on the way? Should I really be taking them outside one-by-one instead, and leaving the other two unattended for a moment, while I carry the third one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T21:23:57.203" Title="What's the most comfortable way (for the dogs) to carry two chihuahua's outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2028" CreationDate="2014-01-21T21:13:45.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own two dachshunds and have a 2-story home.  My office is upstairs and my dogs love to hang out with me.  Dachshunds are notorious for developing bad backs, so I try to prevent them from climbing the stairs. I have a large, flat-bottomed, metal-reinforced, wicker basket inside which I've laid a very thin cotton blanket.  My dogs know to lay on the blanket inside the basket, which I then pick up to carry them up or down the stairs.  We always keep the basket near the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to owning the basket, we used a large dog bed to carry both hounds, but it was much heavier and bulkier than the basket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly sure my dachshunds are heavier and larger than 3 chihuahuas; the tail and head of one of them hangs over either end of the basket unless she curls up, which she often does.  You can check your local craft store for appropriately-sized wicker baskets, the availability and variety of which increase nearing Easter time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T21:23:57.203" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T21:23:57.203" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2034" CreationDate="2014-01-22T06:16:16.583" Score="7" ViewCount="18727" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out what type of cat I have. My cat is a male, tuxedo, cat and I think he's a tabby, but how can I figure it out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:16:35.807" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T10:32:28.530" Title="How can I describe my cat (color/breed/type)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2048" CreationDate="2014-01-22T14:30:02.647" Score="15" ViewCount="904" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering if my horse understands his name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;understand&quot;, I mean &quot;does he know I address him in particular if I call his name&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sure how to verify this, but I'm tempted to think the answer is no and therefore it does not make sense to give names to horses other than to make it convenient for humans to refer to them. On the other hand, my cats understand their names and if I call one particular cat, most of the time only the one I call comes running. Therefore, it would not be surprising if horses could learn their name, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please, if anyone could share any personal experiences that either prove or refute it it would be truly helpful to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell whether my horse recognizes his name?  Is there any training that can be done to help my horse recognize his name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T15:25:22.087" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T11:03:01.473" Title="How can I tell whether my horse recognizes his name?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-22T14:41:24.203" Score="8" ViewCount="11382" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading up on cat nutrition and switching my cats to raw meat plus a supplemental powder, I've been wondering if it wouldn't be healthier to feed them live mice that I breed at home.  I'm not sure if they would like that, so before I go to the pet shop to buy mice, I thought I'd ask for advice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone fed live mice to their (indoor) cats, and how successful has your experience been?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found feeding live mice documented in a book about cat nutrition. I'd like to post the reference with an excerpt as an answer. (but I don't have enough reputation to vote to reopen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditDate="2015-01-25T02:55:14.703" LastActivityDate="2015-01-25T02:55:14.703" Title="Any experiences with feeding your cats live mice?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2014-01-23T18:07:04.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2030" CreationDate="2014-01-22T17:24:12.320" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer addresses both how to determine color and breed of a cat obtained from a shelter/rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coat Colors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some names are used to describe coat colors, but are not actual cat breeds. If your cat looks like the description, then you can use the name to describe your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tabby&lt;/strong&gt; - Tabbies have striped or spotted patterns and a distinctive &quot;M&quot; on their foreheads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1htIU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tabby cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cat_November_2010-1a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tuxedo&lt;/strong&gt; - Tuxedo cats have a white chest and paws, with a different color on the rest of their body. They often have white on their face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Bk2X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tuxedo cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Female_tuxedo_cat.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calico&lt;/strong&gt; - Calico cats are tri-colored (have three colors) in large patches all over their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BTiNd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Calico cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Calico_cat_-_Phoebe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tortoishells&lt;/strong&gt; - Tortoishells are almost entirely female. They have 2 non-white colors either mixed or in patches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1S22j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Long-haired_tortoiseshell_DSCF0193.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat Breeds&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you obtained your cat from a shelter or rescue, then your cat is likely of &lt;strong&gt;mixed breed&lt;/strong&gt;. It is very rare (with certain exceptions that I'll discuss below) for a purebreed cat to be found in a shelter because most reputable breeders only place culls (non-breeding pet quality cats) with a contract that stipulates that the cat must be returned to the breeder if it is no longer wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Often shelters will assign a breed name&lt;/strong&gt; (such as Russian Blue to a grey cat) &lt;strong&gt;to increase its appeal to the public.&lt;/strong&gt; These cats are almost never actually that particular breed, but if you want a cat with a certain coat color it can sometimes be a useful way to search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are several TYPES that can be identified by their features. The most basic are &lt;strong&gt;Domestic Short Hair (DSH)&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;Domestic Long Hair (DLH)&lt;/strong&gt; (at least in the US, the names may differ in other countries). DSH are known for their short fur, while DLH are known for their long fur. For most rescued cats, when filling out paperwork that asks for breed (such as at the vet), one of these designations will work just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exceptions that I noted above are that some cat breeds have become very popular with the public and so were not always bred by reputable breeders. Two that are fairly easily identifiable in the US are the Persian and Siamese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats with &lt;strong&gt;Persian ancestry&lt;/strong&gt; (again, I'm assuming a rescue so we can't say that it's purebred) will typically have the squished face and long hair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ks7S8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of a Persian&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Missionhillcosmicrainstormcrop400.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats with &lt;strong&gt;Siamese ancestry&lt;/strong&gt; typically have colorpoints (darker face, ears, legs, and tail) and blue eyes. They also tend to be very vocal. Modern Siamese are very thin and have wedge shaped heads, but cats with Siamese heritage can come from older stock (the breed gained a lot of popularity in the 1970s in the US) and can have a more traditional DSH body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kN0zW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;IMage of a Siamese&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Siam_lilacpoint.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Putting Color and Breed Together&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use both color and breed to describe your cat. For example, if you have a striped cat of unknown/mixed ancestry with short fur, you can say you have a &lt;em&gt;Tabby DSH.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-01-22T19:18:17.197" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T19:18:17.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2030" CreationDate="2014-01-22T17:47:17.180" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that all pedigreed pets have in common is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbuyerguide.com/cat_breed_standards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;there is a standard that is used to judge and identify quality pure bred animal&lt;/a&gt;s.  A pure bred animal should be sold with a pedigree that includes at least 4 generations of lineage, that is the cat itself as the first generation, its parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.  These should list the breed, weight, date of birth, and any registration information.  Often times it will include information on show winnings as well if they apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a mixed breed you can review all of the standards looking for the features that are exhibited in your cat.  Many features and markings are common to many breeds so if you can find some features that are unique to  certian breed and in your cat, you can safely assume that your cat has some of that breed in its genetics.  But your best bet is going to be to try to find a breed or tho where you cat has a large number of traits that the breed is required to have and deduce what your cat most likely is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that all the breeds have in common is the coat color genetics.  So as a previous answer states you could just call your cat an XXX Domestic Short Hair/Domestic Long Hair where XXX is replaced with the color of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can consult &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cedarseed.com/tuts/catcol-wp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt; to help identify the color pattern of your cat, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cedarseed.com/tuts/catbreed-wp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt; to help identify the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ZCDa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ZCDa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;guide-to-housecat-coat-colors-and-patterns&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorUserId="9832" LastEditDate="2020-02-12T10:32:28.530" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T10:32:28.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1548" CreationDate="2014-01-22T17:52:37.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are keeping a dog on the roof of the car, especially for such a prolonged period, you need to ensure he is protected from the elements, but has appropriate ventilation and periodic stops.  Keeping a dog on the roof of your car is a safety concern, and having a lack of direct contact on the dog's condition is a health concern.   For an inferred sustained, 12-hour, non-stop period, it certainly does not appear to be a humane way to transport a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the dog is traveling with you, the safest and proper way to transport a dog is in a controlled environment: inside your vehicle, with the appropriate air conditioning or heating enabled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Vehicle&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reactions of dogs traveling vary, but if you plan to drive for a long while with your dog, you should familiarize your dog's in-car behavior with a number of short drives.  As it stands, the dog should lay down on a seat, possibly with a blanket to grip, or a carpeted area.  If there is no carpeting and it is a smooth metal floor, such as the inside of a van, consider a rubber-bottomed floor mat so he can stay stable.  If the dog is larger and sits with a seat belt, do so.  If you need to keep Fido in a dog carrier in the car, do so.  If you have a dog crate and want him in it, make sure it is secure so it doesn't slip or move around in the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Equipment / Provisions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bring a heavy blanket for the dog to rest on.  This should give him a good grip for balance.  Bring along some kibble and water and a drinking bowl / container for the water.  Bring a heavy leash so your dog does not leave your grip when you walk him.  Bring some disposable plastic bags to pick up waste, and a roll of paper towels and hand sanitizer in case you get soiled.    Bring some cloth towels as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bring a copy any of your dog's identification documents including microchip information if you have it, and vaccination documentation as well as your dog's veterinarian contact information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Feeding&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide drink at rest stops or if you provide it in-car, make sure it won't spill and keep the water level low.  Provide kibble at your discretion.  Consider how your dog normally schedules his relieving in relation to consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Rest Stops&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Identify rest stops / parks on the trip map.  Plan some stops at grassy areas / rest stops and try to base your schedule on how you generally schedule your dog's outside periods.  Do not let your dog go off on his own in unfamiliar areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Related Questions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the answers to the following related questions for additional helpful advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't leave the dog unattended in the car: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/831/what-are-the-risks-of-leaving-a-dog-unattended-in-the-car&quot;&gt;What are the risks of leaving a dog unattended in the car?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternate strategy for a long car trips: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/511/what-strategy-to-undertake-for-a-long-car-trip-with-my-dog&quot;&gt;What strategy to undertake for a long car trip with my dog?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Concerns for cats can be applied to some smaller dogs: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/523/how-can-i-keep-my-cats-safe-in-my-car&quot;&gt;How can I keep my cats safe in my car?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T00:05:52.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2039" CreationDate="2014-01-22T18:49:22.817" Score="5" ViewCount="691" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year, I took my 17-year old dog to be euthanized. My dog was severely arthritic and incontinent, fairly deaf, but otherwise in decent health. I decided to put it to sleep because I felt the dog's quality of life was low, but it was a very tough decision because the dog was not really sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took the dog to this particular veterinarian center because that is where it had received most of its care. The veterinarian started the process by inserting an IV into my dog's paw. The dog was usually impervious to pain, but in this case it reacted to the IV by trying to lick it (or remove it?). I am bothered by the thought this was causing the dog pain. I believe the vet could have given the dog an anesthetic in the area before inserting the IV. I think it's possible my dog experienced its last few minutes of life in unnecessary pain because of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not need any reassuring about the difficulty of putting pets to sleep. I simply would like to know how else this could have been handled by the vet so the dog could have been more comfortable in it's last few minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T22:04:42.747" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T22:04:42.747" Title="How can I tell whether my dog was euthanized in a painful fashion?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2032" CreationDate="2014-01-22T19:09:13.527" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the factors to consider before switching your cat to a live food diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Legality&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some jurisdictions it is illegal to feed live mice (or illegal to feed live food when the animal will eat dead food). The laws are generally written with reptiles in mind, but may apply to cats depending on how they are written. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Willingness of your cat to kill live mice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With live prey you have to consider how you will offer the mouse to the cat in a way that will prevent it from escaping into your house if your cat is not interested or does not kill the mouse right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it animal cruelty?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you buy frozen mice, the mice have been killed quickly. If you offer your cat a live mouse you are giving it mental stimulation/enrichment at the cost of the mental wellbeing of the mouse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your willingness to clean the leftovers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike reptiles, cats do not swallow mice whole and may leave bits for you to clean up. I've read some accounts (when researching nutitrion) that cats often leave the stomach/intestines uneaten. Are you willing to clean this up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health of the feeder mice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been some accounts of pet-store mice having parasites and other transmissable diseases because they are kept in such close contact with each other. Are you able/willing to fully vet the health of your food source?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monitoring your cat's health&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're counting on the mice to have all of the essential nutrients that cats need (such as taurine) that you're supplimenting right now. If you plan to feed exclusively live food, you should know the signs of deficiency and make sure your cat has regular vet check ups in case the mice are deficient in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My experience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats won't eat anything that does not look like cat food. I've experimented with food items like raw chicken necks and my cats don't seem to recognize that it's food (they think it's a toy). Before making the jump to live food I would suggest trying similar items (already dead mice, for example) to see if they recognize it as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T19:09:13.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2037" CreationDate="2014-01-22T19:12:14.297" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your concern is regarding the IV causing your dog pain, anyone being stuck with an IV can be caused pain.  IVs are commonly used in many procedures (not necessarily euthanasia and not just for dogs) and they can make anyone uncomfortable.  A dog will lick due to unfamiliarity, so it might have been bothered by the IV, but if a dog is in severe pain (for example: having its paw stepped on), it would more than likely yelp loudly and jerk away.  From your description, I can only surmise there was only the expected discomfort afforded a typical IV insertion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that some veterinarians render pets unconscious through gas, pills, or a mild injection prior to the final injection, which is performed after the animal is unconscious.  If this is a concern, ask your veterinarian what your options are prior to proceeding; you can always phone alternate veterinarians to ask them what their options are as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T21:40:51.987" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T21:40:51.987" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2014-01-22T22:16:59.790" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;My last cat's (Billy) teeth started to fall out when he was about 6 years old or so. Mostly due to rough-housing with the dogs or his regular vomiting from binge eating and hairballs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Billy lived to be nearly 21 years old with only 1 canine tooth left and he ate dry food just fine. Like Zaralynda mentioned, the crunchies tended to fall out of his mouth a bit more, and Billy would drool when he was happy, but overall he had a great quality of life and having only 1 canine tooth didn't affect him at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2014-01-22T22:16:59.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-23T11:35:27.787" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rabbit_breeds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rabbit breeds&lt;/a&gt; lists two groups  American Rabbit Breeders' Association (ARBA) &amp;amp; the British Rabbit Council (BRC).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these the only two groups for defining rabbit breeds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-01-27T13:28:01.573" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T23:14:08.307" Title="Who are the authorities for rabbit breed definitions/descriptions other than ARBA &amp;BRC?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;purebred&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1860" CreationDate="2014-01-23T18:24:02.747" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;In games, your cat is learning skills that he will use throughout his life. When he accidentally corners himself, it's scary, and he reacts out of fear (by hissing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As his guardian/playmate, if you respect his hiss and back off until he can uncorner himself and show interest in playing again, then he will learn that his verbal warning is effective. In the future, he will continue to use this warning (and not launch straight into a fight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, he should also learn how not to corner himself (from these experiences), so you will see this happen less frequently as he grows up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T18:24:02.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1938" CreationDate="2014-01-23T19:58:45.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally... I absolutely HATE dog shampoos.  Not only are they very expensive but have very strong smells, I admit I'm very sensitive to smells but that's nothing comparing to what the dog is smelling.  I agree with the comments on PH levels, and having said that most dog shampoos are loaded with detergent instead of gentle glycerin based soaps which would be PH neutral.  To wash my dogs I get natural, scent free soap bars from a health store; and feel free to splurge on a good quality bar because, unlike the liquid shampoos, it will last and last and last.  As an added bonus I found it much easier to use a bar of soap to wash both my giant mutt and a pocket sized min-pin, just rub the bar all over their coats, give the doggies a good massage, rinse and prepare for a shake-off :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="639" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T19:58:45.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2006" CreationDate="2014-01-23T22:29:12.210" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, since I don't know what she looks like now vs before, it's going to be up to you to decide if the loss of weight is severe enough to take her to the vet. It also doesn't hurt to make sure that nothing else is going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two reasons other than &lt;a href=&quot;http://lllreptile.com/info/library/care-and-husbandry-articles/-/reptilian-brumation/&quot;&gt;brumation&lt;/a&gt; that I can think of that would explain why she doesn't feel like eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The timing is funny and she's going to be shedding soon. Pretty much every reptile will eat significantly less, if not stop eating at all, while shedding. In the wild it would be too energy consuming to hunt and shed at the same time. Also inconvenient since it takes away from camouflage a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She's decided to fast through breeding season. Breeding season for&#xA;snakes generally comes after brumation. That's why you'll hear snake&#xA;breeders setting up their snakes to hibernate. Which on a side note,&#xA;if you're not breeding your snakes, don't try to hibernate them,&#xA;it's an unnecessary risk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on to ways you can encourage your snake to eat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You're already doing this part, so good for you, but bringing the temperature of the mouse to a normal body temperature is a good way to encourage a snake to eat. It's more important with vipers and pythons, as their heat pits will sense if the mouse is too cold to be of interest, but heating it up helps it smell stronger.Snakes also tend to let go of rodents that feel cold when they bite them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another way to make the mouse smell stronger or more enticing, is to either cut it's stomach a bit to expose the insides, or it's skull to expose the brain. It's not for someone with a weak stomach, but sticking a toothpick in and getting a bit of brain matter onto the mouse's face/nose is very effective (referred to as braining a mouse). I think you can get some scents that are supposed to be the same idea, but I can't say that they're as effective.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You might want to try feeding her something different, to see if she's being picky for some reason. I don't know the size of your snake right now, but feeding her a hopper mouse would give her some nutrients, though they wouldn't last long with a larger snake. Gerbils are also something to try, or if you can find some, baby rats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you find that she like the smell of a different kind of rodent, but you want to feed her mice still. Like if she likes gerbils, but they're small enough that you'd have to feed her too often to make them a feasible food source. You could keep a pet gerbil, then run your feeder mice through the cage to make them smell like the gerbil.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm listing this last because I personally don't like it. But dipping a mouse in a can of chicken soup and offering it to snakes is another pretty effective method of getting snakes to eat. The reason I don't like it is because the soup has so many additives and preservatives that it's hard to say how good it is for a snake's health. I don't think it would hurt to do it once in an emergency, but I wouldn't rely on it as an option myself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I'd like to mention is that switching sources for your feeders can actually make a difference. As mice from different breeders will have different scents. It could be as simple as finding someone else to buy some, or maybe the person you're buying from switched sources and you didn't know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, one last thing to consider, is keeping a growth chart. By weighing her every few weeks, you can keep track of what kind of weight loss is normal when she stops eating (while she sheds/brumates). You can add how long it takes her to shed/brumate too. Just as an extra way of gauging what is normal for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-28T20:27:05.300" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T20:27:05.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2046" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-01-23T22:44:45.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rare or unusual animal that generally isn't thought of as a pet. Loosely defined as a pet that isn't a dog or a cat, though as the pet industry grows, less animals are being considered exotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, an exotic pet is one that not indigenous to the owner's location. An animal that has been imported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exotic pets are usually lacking in care information, and require a great deal of research before making the decision to care for one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-24T00:03:22.410" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T00:03:22.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2047" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-01-23T22:44:45.403" Score="0" Body="Exotic pets are generally rare or unusual animals that aren't usually thought of as pets." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-24T00:02:43.187" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T00:02:43.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2014-01-23T23:40:10.147" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;A name is really just a cue for a generic &quot;pay attention&quot; behaviour. In my dogs, the response can range from running towards me, to turning a head towards me, to sometimes just flicking an ear towards me, depending on their activity level at the time. I'd expect to see the same response in a horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that horses sometimes do not develop as strong a response to their names because we do not talk to them as much as we do to a dog or cat, and rely more on physical prompts rather than verbal cues when we train them. They also would not get as many repetitions of the name=reinforcement pairing as an animal that lives in its owner's house, particularly since many horses do not get a lot of positive reinforcement from their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a horse of my own, but when I was a kid I took riding lessons and I have no doubt that the horses at the riding school knew their names. Sadly for the horses, it wasn't a &quot;pay attention&quot; cue so much as a &quot;keep doing that and I'll punish you&quot; cue. The instructors would yell out a name towards a group of horses, and only the target horse would show a fearful reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="534" LastActivityDate="2014-01-23T23:40:10.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2030" CreationDate="2014-01-24T01:40:26.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tabby&quot; is a pattern, not a color. All cats are Tabbies, as there is a Tabby gene.  Other genes can mask this to produce a solid-color cat.  All orange cats will show the tabby pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tuxedo&quot; is the common name for a degree of the White Spotting gene.  The degrees can span from no white to 100 percent white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat Colors are Black or Orange.  Females can have both colors, called TortoiseShell, and if they have White spotting too are called Calicos.  There are several rare variants of Black, called Chocolate and Cinnamon.  All these colors can be Diluted with another gene to produce lighter shades of all of the above.  Diluted black is called Blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T01:40:26.823" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2014-01-24T12:02:45.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your horse's name is the sound made when you have some grain in a can and swish it around, it should be relatively easy to discover if he knows his name. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, though, as Kaynetoad suggests, all naming conventions (human, dog, horse or rabbit,) all break down to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlovian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pavlovian conditioning&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your horse perks up its ears and looks for the source of the sound when called, then they know their name AND associate it with pleasant things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your teenager turns up the volume on their music, when called on garbage day, then they know their name AND associate it with unpleasant things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are really two parts to the answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is the association pleasant or unpleasant?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you see the associated response when calling by name, without additional stimuli?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your answers to these questions will allow you to answer your question &quot;How can I tell whether my horse recognizes his name?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T11:03:01.473" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T11:03:01.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2051" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2052" CreationDate="2014-01-24T15:47:46.463" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet who has been prescribed twice daily oral medications and twice daily subcutaneous (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcutaneous_injection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sub-Q&lt;/a&gt;) fluids (40cc).  He kind of likes (&lt;em&gt;or at least does not hate&lt;/em&gt;) the taste of the medications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally I thought do the shot, then the oral medications, thinking I was keeping the best for last, but handling him with the bolus of fluid under the skin does not seem right (&lt;em&gt;some can even leak out&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to do all the medications in a single session, to get all the unpleasantness out of the way via 2 handlings per day instead of 4.  This leaves the rest of our interactions for positive cuddling to help keep his spirits up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a purely logistical perspective, oral followed by sub-Q works the best.  Is there any medical reason for a specific order? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(pet = rabbit in this case, but I assume the answer would be consistent across species)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:01:46.253" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T20:01:46.253" Title="Should oral or subcutaneous medications be given first?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2051" CreationDate="2014-01-24T16:13:48.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really does not matter.  The 2 medicines are absorbed into the system in a different manner.  The subcutaneous will be absorbed quickly and enter the blood though absorption into the tissues.  The oral medication will need to be metabolized to enter your rabbits system.  Many times, it enters through the stomach or intestines, then is often altered in the liver before it becomes effective in treating the condition. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_%28pharmacokinetics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, unless the medicines your rabbit has been prescribed work at cross-purposes, the order they are given should not matter.  It is still probably worth a call to your vet to make sure that they do not need to be spaced out or given in a certain order.  Sometimes, one medicine is given to treat and then another is given to counter that treatment before the treatment itself becomes toxic.  I doubt that is the case here, as most vets would do that treatment in the clinic to make sure the regimen is carried out appropriately, but it is still probably worth the phone call to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the event your vet is out for the weekend, you could also research the medicine prescribed and make sure that they are safe to take together.  If you are unable to find anything, call your pharmacist to explain your situation and ask them whether there is a risk of interaction.  Even though it is a pet medication most pharmacists have some knowledge of the basic types of medicine and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10089&amp;amp;page=14&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;most pet medicines are derivative of the medicines given to humans&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-01-24T21:06:41.593" LastActivityDate="2014-01-24T21:06:41.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2054" CreationDate="2014-01-25T01:02:45.947" Score="7" ViewCount="985" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that fruit flies make a good staple food for my Red Devil Crabs, but it's expensive to keep buying a new batch of them every time the substrate starts to mold. Is there a way I can make my own substrate for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-25T03:34:49.973" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T21:02:18.440" Title="Can I make my own substrate to keep fruit flies alive?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2053" CreationDate="2014-01-25T01:02:45.947" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's incredibly simple to culture fruit flies. Here's a list of what you'll need for a pretty &quot;bread and butter&quot; recipe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An empty container (I use peanut butter jars).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instant Potato Mix.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powdered Milk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sugar (I use regular, some people use powdered).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baker's Yeast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mix together the following ingredients with equal parts water:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;4 parts of the potato mix, &#xA;2 parts of the powdered milk, &#xA;and 1 part sugar.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Line the bottom of the container with the mixture and sprinkle in a pinch of the yeast. It will seem a little mushy at first, but the potato mix will soak up the water after a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final thing you'll want to do is make sure the fruit flies have a way of climbing up off of the substrate to lay eggs (they won't lay eggs in it). I use a shredded-up paper towel, but you can stick in popsicle sticks or use straw/hay; just about anything since they're so small and light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as maintaining the cultures, you should be able to notice when the substrate starts to mold after a few weeks (as the substrate is white, and the mold is black).  I would say the substrate lasts 5-6 weeks, after which you should transfer any flies leftover to a new container or use them for feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flies will grow exponentially, so you can start a new culture each week or so, until you are comfortable with the amount of flies being produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-02T21:02:18.440" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T21:02:18.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2056" CreationDate="2014-01-26T15:35:39.590" Score="12" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Backstory:&#xA;I have a 6 month old Australian Labradoodle, that has been housetrained since we brought her home at 8 weeks. She is very trainable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue we are experiencing is that she rotates/moves around as she is defecating, so she sometimes steps in her own feces. Using commands like stay/stop just seem to confuse her in those situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to find a way to get her to stay in one spot to prevent the potential for accidentally stepping in her own poop. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T11:39:24.453" Title="Teach dog to stay in one spot while defecating" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2055" CreationDate="2014-01-27T11:39:24.453" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen several dogs that move while defecating, but never one that turns in tight circles. This seems to be some kind of natural behavior, so instead of trying to teach her to stay in one spot, teach her to move forward rather then in circles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep her on leash, stay in front of her with no slack in the leash, not pulling, but just making forward the only choice.  Praise her staying put as well as for moving forward.  I would not use negative commands for turning, as you point out that only confuses her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note travailing deification in your pet requires a higher pooper scooper effort on your part.  She is likely to step in a previous pile, if the area has not been cleaned for a couple of days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T11:39:24.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2057" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2058" CreationDate="2014-01-27T13:24:50.523" Score="22" ViewCount="22098" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love cats, I also work a full time job and am in the office from 11&amp;nbsp;AM till 9&amp;nbsp;PM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to get a cat, but am afraid that my absence for majority of the daytime will be a problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there problems that arise from being away from home for 10 or so hours a day when having a cat as a pet?  Is there anything I can do to minimize the problems, or is it just better if I didn't get a cat for a pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="651" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T19:33:13.437" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T23:04:59.417" Title="Are cats appropriate pets if I am not home for most of the day?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2057" CreationDate="2014-01-27T14:17:29.447" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer: &quot;Yes&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer version: cats are generally pretty independent creatures, but they do miss their humans especially if we're not at home during the day. If you have just one cat, be prepared to be met with demands for attention, playing, and a great deal of petting when you are home. This will be strongest after you get the cat, because it won't be sure that you're coming back until gets used to your work routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things you can do to help are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get two cats (preferably littermates). This way the cats have each other for company while you're at work. The downside is that you'll need to deal with twice as much kitty litter (at least), twice as much cat food, and twice as much mess! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure there are plenty of cat toys for your cat(s). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure the cat toys include things your cat(s) can destroy. It's much better that they destroy a cat toy than your furniture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-01-27T14:17:29.447" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2014-01-27T22:56:25.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's first talk about your tank a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ammonia:&lt;/strong&gt; Must be zero at almost all times. Your tank is having huge difficulties keeping up with bioload it seems, and that can cause a lot of issues, such as gills burning due to ammonia, there being insufficient oxygen to breathe, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reflection:&lt;/strong&gt; Fish will not see their reflection in the tank unless you have the lights in the tank turned on and the lights in the room completely off, or if you hold up a mirror to the side of the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, &lt;strong&gt;signs of stress&lt;/strong&gt;. Biggest signs of stress are fish not swimming as much and not eating.  Eating, by far, is the biggest because in my 5 years of fish-keeping, I haven't seen any fish that refused to eat the food it was given.  If you choose to ignore those signs, then the next signs will be discoloration, and bumping into things. The last sign before death (if your fish are still alive) will most likely be their scales falling off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T17:54:20.053" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T17:54:20.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-28T02:36:46.620" Score="12" ViewCount="1509" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dominant white cat with blue eyes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is said&lt;/a&gt; to be at high risk of being deaf. (Here the &quot;dominant&quot; refers to the white color gene, not behaviour.) In case of a white cat with odd eyes, the ear on the side with the blue eye may be deaf, though in some rare cases an odd-eyed cat can also be totally deaf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CVPl0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My cat with Heterochromia iridum&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's one of the cats I have. Totally white fur, pink pads and ears, and odd eyes. I have tested her for hearing and it seems quite obvious that she can hear, but does she hear only with one ear or two? How would I test if she's deaf in the ear on the blue side?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:28:25.793" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:28:25.793" Title="How to test one deaf ear of a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1898" CreationDate="2014-01-28T09:02:50.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm far from an expert; I just want to share my personal experiences and what I've learned from recently getting my first dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the breed of the dog doesn't matter as much as choosing a dog that matches your energy level. *&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you jog for 2 hours every day and want to take your dog with you, you would choose a puppy with slightly higher energy level than, say, someone who lives in an apartment and cannot take his dog out regularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a dog with a higher/lower energy level than you may cause problems down the road; you wouldn't want a hyperactive dog due to lack of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend some time with the puppy, take it for a walk (if you can) and, depending on the age, you should get a rough idea of the puppy's energy level. If its possible in your case, spend some time with more than one puppy; it may be easier to compare energy levels, if you have no previous experience like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, energy levels vary greatly, even between puppies from the same litter. Try to pick one that matches &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; energy level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[*] Having said that, some breeds can naturally be more active than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/yournewdog/finding-a-dog-with-the-right-energy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cesar Millan - Adopt a Dog with the Right Energy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastEditorUserId="90" LastEditDate="2014-02-03T07:33:27.790" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T07:33:27.790" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-28T19:41:50.213" Score="7" ViewCount="1195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4-year old dog who, at times, is very fearful. We can deal with her fearfulness, but the problem we can't seem to resolve is her sensitivity to noise. If someone slams a car door outside and turns the alarm on, she will start to growl. If she hears kids playing outside, she will start to bark. Finally, if someone rings the bell, she will bark at will until finally I must stand in front of her, blocking her view from anything, and tell her to stop.  I like that she barks on the initial door ring or door opening, but long after the event is over, she is still barking; let's say, 5 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips to help desensitize my dog to noise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="661" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-28T20:16:35.420" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T01:29:15.483" Title="How can I get my dog to stop being so sensitive to noise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sound&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2060" CreationDate="2014-01-28T20:17:16.820" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a good reason to be concerned about deafness in your cat, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/inherited-deafness-white-cats&quot;&gt;according to International Cat Care&lt;/a&gt;, white cats with one blue eye have about 30-40% chance to have some amount of deafness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In cats, inherited congenital (present from birth) deafness is seen&#xA;  almost exclusively in white coated individuals. The deafness is caused&#xA;  by degeneration of the auditory apparatus of the inner ear and may&#xA;  affect one ear (unilateral) or both ears (bilateral).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/VetClinNA.htm&quot;&gt;Dr. George Strain wrote&lt;/a&gt; on the subject on determining if an animal is deaf:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Behavioral testing has limited value; animal responses rapidly adapt&#xA;  even when hearing is present, stressed animals with intact hearing may&#xA;  fail to respond, and unilateral deafness cannot be detected. In&#xA;  unilaterally deaf animals, the only behavioral sign of deafness is a&#xA;  difficulty in localizing the source of a sound, and many animals adapt&#xA;  to that also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice - Special&#xA;  Issue: Pediatrics&lt;/em&gt; - July, 1999. &quot;Congenital Deafness and Its Recognition&quot;&#xA;  George M. Strain, PhD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in other words, if you clap your hands and your cat looks around for the source of the sound instead of directly at you, then your cat may be unilaterally deaf. If the cat knows that you're the source of the sound (you're the only human in the room) then the cat will look at you anyway, and you won't know if that's because she can tell where the sound is coming from or if she's smart!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to be absolutely sure is to have a specialist perform a BAER test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the BAER can be defined as the electrical response of the brain to a series of auditory stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aht.org.uk/cms-display/sa_deafness.html&quot;&gt;Animal Health Trust's page&lt;/a&gt; gives several examples and pictures of dogs and cats undergoing this test. This test is also performed on infants, since it does not require the subject's cooperation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-28T20:17:16.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2065" CreationDate="2014-01-28T21:46:32.753" Score="11" ViewCount="3774" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen good reviews for LED lighting for aquariums, with people mentioning they use them for saltwater.  Do they generate enough of the right light for happy live rock and whatnot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One I am thinking about getting in particular is the &lt;em&gt;&quot;Wave-point Super Blue and DaylightMicro Sun LED High Output Clamp Light&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. I have used expensive/loud/hot aquarium lighting for so long, that I am having trouble trusting these LED fixtures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tanks specifics: (even though i really was just curious about the general concept of LED for marine tanks)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 20 gallon tank with 2 clowns and a 6 line wrasse pretty much filled to the brim with live rock. No corals, besides a couple little ones that i dont care about, or any inverts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="662" LastEditorUserId="662" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T15:32:07.943" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T16:15:41.803" Title="Is LED lighting good enough for a healthy saltwater tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2014-01-28T22:56:41.763" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, LED's can support thriving reef and fish-only saltwater tanks. Just like with traditional lighting, there are a ton of factors; including the type and quality of the LED, the color spectrum, LED lenses, the total output, and the specific requirements of the livestock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for reef quality lighting, it's going to be at the upper end of output and cost. The fixtures you listed are likely insufficient for most reef lighting, except for possibly very small, pico-size tanks. For FOWLR lighting, these could very well be suitable depending on the tank size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit. So based on your tank specs, these would probably be fine for it. They may support very low demanding coral, but if your plan is primarily just for lighting the tank with fish and inverts only, they should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T14:34:20.547" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T14:34:20.547" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2062" CreationDate="2014-01-29T01:29:15.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hoo boy, that's a fair-sized chapter in my copy of the Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Cats and Dogs... Having said that, there are both medicinal and non-medicinal options to trying to treat noise-based anxiety in dogs. Since I'm not a vet, I'm going to totally avoid medicinal options and mention some behavioral ones. Having said that, it would be wise to consult a behavioral specialist regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, a couple of don'ts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't tell them that it's &quot;okay&quot; (or whatever words you use to give permission) as that sends the message that the behavior is permitted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't pet them to soothe. This could actually have the opposite effect, by basically telling them that it's a good response by rewarding the response.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; do's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay by the dog, but quietly, not rewarding. Your presence can comfort without rewarding.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apply gentle pressure on the dog with your arm or body, almost like a hug. Basically, you're trying to relax the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give them access to their crate, if they find it a comforting space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dark rooms or environments can provide a calming space if you can make that available.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the above are not working for you, then a specialist is your best bet. There are people quite skilled in this area that can help, especially given the ease at which your dog's anxieties can be triggered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T01:29:15.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2069" CreationDate="2014-01-29T03:01:55.993" Score="8" ViewCount="4237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was about to buy a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000VDXFU8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;balance ball&lt;/a&gt; to do some workouts in my living room. Has anyone kept a ball like this inflated where their cats had access to it? I'm worried that they may be able to pop it (startling them, perhaps damaging their hearing, and leaving shards of rubber that they may chew/eat until I discover it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally keep my cats claws trimmed, but our ex-hoarder cat is skittish and doesn't get trimmed as often as she should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yu4FZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;large green rubber ball with textured nubs and &amp;quot;GAIAM&amp;quot; printed on it, a pump to inflate it, and a workout DVD&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T20:15:48.580" Title="Can my cat pop a balance ball?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2057" CreationDate="2014-01-29T03:12:05.017" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Know that it will likely take time for the cat to adjust to whatever your routine is. I know that when I shifted from being home a lot to working/being on campus for school more, my cat took some time to adjust. He meowed more and worked harder to get my attention when I was home, until we both got used to the new schedule. Some cats might express this by other unpleasant behaviours - I had a cat growing up that, after my family came home from a week of camping (where a neighbour would stop in and care for the cats), would express his displeasure at us being gone by pooping on the first bed he could find once he saw we were home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I am unemployed, so I am home all the time, but there have been many days in the past where my cat was home alone from 9 am until 10 pm, or even overnight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make sure my cat doesn't get bored or lonely, I first make sure he will have enough to eat and drink while I am gone. Then I try to find ways to make home more exciting. For my cat, he likes hunting, so I hide treats in things all over the house (in bags or boxes, in toys he can get them out of, in windowsills, etc.). I also make sure he has lots of other things to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also has a number of things he can scratch on, like his climbing tree, and a few cardboard scratching things around the house. Also, I have sometimes suspended a hanging toy from a doorframe - high enough he can reach it, but not low enough he can get tangled in it. (Might just be a personal worry, though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having another cat in the house is sometimes helpful, but I know that can also add cost and such, so it might not be viable. I have also seen houses where they get two cats for that reason, and then the cats fight so much they have to separate them, so it is something you want to be careful of. Getting cats that are from the same litter or who have grown up together might make that easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats adjust well to the situation, and might not even seem to notice or care that you are gone. Mine seems to, because he knows if I come home after being gone all day, he usually gets treats, so he has associated the door opening and my footsteps with that. So he comes for the treats, at least. No idea if he misses me, or just likes the treat part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T03:12:05.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2067" CreationDate="2014-01-29T03:38:30.687" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had one, while also having two cats who aren't declawed. They were mostly scared of the giant ball, so I never had a problem with it. In fact, from some research, it seems the most common reaction to a ball like this is fear and avoidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have read that for a number of people, the balance balls have been attacked by cats and deflated. They don't pop (I know this from accidentally puncturing one with a push pin), they just kind of deflate. You can theoretically repair it with a tire repair kit like you would use for bicycle tires, but like most home repair solutions, you are doing that at your own risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as a risk for your cat, the most I can see really happening is they cause it to deflate, and they get hit with the air hissing out, but I can't see that really being harmful, other than perhaps being a deterrent from ever interacting with the ball again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for what it is worth, when I did some brief searching, the brand of ball in your picture comes the most recommended by people on the internet who have cats and also have an exercise ball. There have been claims it is cat proof, but lacking any real evidence from the manufacturer, or hard science to back it up, I would assume any ball can be at risk of deflation from a cat attack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-01-29T06:29:21.157" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T06:29:21.157" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2067" CreationDate="2014-01-29T05:38:17.510" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good quality exercise balls are made of relatively thick material with &lt;a href=&quot;http://homeguides.sfgate.com/exercise-balls-recyclable-79390.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PVC plastic&lt;/a&gt; (vinyl) the most important, if not the only ingredient, in the mix. The material is designed not to burst even when punctured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's claws are like needles. A puncture, if they ever manage to reach fully through the ball material, will just deflate the ball slowly without a loud hiss, not a loud &quot;bang&quot; and certainly no shreds lying around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise ball (or Swiss ball, balance ball, fitness ball, pilates ball) manufacturers do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livestrong.com/article/72933-repair-fitness-ball/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;not recommend repairing&lt;/a&gt; a punctured ball for safety reasons. A broken ball should be replaced with new. The ball is designed to let you do all your exercises safely and without fear of the ball bursting out under you, and will be quite safe for your cats too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T00:07:20.023" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T00:07:20.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2014-01-29T06:34:24.057" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on what type of tank you have, whether it's a reef or fish only, you're going to want a certain temperature of light. Normally, for a fish only tank, you're looking at a light around 5,000-6,500 Kelvin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a reef tank, you'll want to have a light up to 10,000 Kelvin, but be sure to monitor it, as you don't want to harm the coral. Too much will kill the microorganisms that create the coral, and when they die you'll notice the coral turning white. That's what is happening when someone is talking about corals bleaching. In my opinion, light timers are a necessity for reef tanks. Even just a cheap dial timer you can get at Walmart can help you keep the right schedule for the tank's lights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the light you picked out goes, it will work depending on your tank size. From looking at it, it looks like it's made for 10 gallon aquariums (If the light doesn't span the length of the tank, it's not enough). So for a fish only tank, you'd want it set at the &quot;super blue&quot; or &quot;6500K Daylight&quot; setting. Either of the 10,000K settings should work for a small reef tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, and maybe more so for freshwater tanks, these types of LED lights are commonly used for open style tanks (where there's nothing covering the top of the aquarium). While I like the look of open tanks, it requires careful planning to make sure you don't have anything that will get into your tank, or any fish that will jump out. I tend to go with glass-top covers on my tanks, they have some downsides like needing to clean algae off of them on occasion, but I prefer them over using a hood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-08-17T16:15:41.803" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T16:15:41.803" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1381" CreationDate="2014-01-29T07:28:25.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I think dogs can detect when people are sad or down in the dumps, I've had a number of different owner's dogs walk up beside me and lean.  Some I never met prior.  Once at a party with a number of people wondering about, out of nowhere, dog walks up beside me, sits, leans and the dog's owner told me later he never did it prior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="663" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T07:28:25.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-29T09:28:42.580" Score="11" ViewCount="5424" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat takes a huge chuck of wet food from the bowl and then drops it on the floor and proceeds to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She sometimes takes a chunk of food from the bowl, moves a few feet away and does the same there, then comes back, takes another big chunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not do the same with dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get large spots of sticky dry cat food around her bowl and in the other place she sometimes move and its disgusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="665" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T19:52:55.193" Title="Why does my cat spit her food when she eats it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2079" CreationDate="2014-01-29T10:15:12.793" Score="15" ViewCount="3798" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 year old neutered female cat has gone mental on playing with silicone earplugs. They are small, chewy, yellow things you put in your ears to block out noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat thinks they are THE BEST THING EVER.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have one in my hand, she meows, jumps and slaps it out of my hand. When I give her one, she plays for hours and hours until collapsing of exhaust. There are probably a thousand of them under the bed and various places she slaps them into then attempting to grab them, pushes them deeper. Cats, go figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that she won't play with any of her other toys. She ignores catnip and catnip toys. I got her one of those ball in tunnel with holes to poke around, but in vain - she is absolutely not interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she doesn't get an earplug, she will meow, act depressed and sometimes get anxious and be aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want my little darling to get depressed, but I fear she may swallow and choke or eat and get an intestinal blockage or something of the sorts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="665" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:52:19.920" LastActivityDate="2021-05-17T19:37:22.323" Title="My cat will only play with silicone earplugs, which is concerning. How do I fix that?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2014-01-29T10:23:54.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbors had a cat for 6 years. She has spawned 2 litters per year because she apparently is a strong, free spirited, and independent cat.  I have been playing with her since she was a kitten (I stay at my neighbors a lot), and she has not displayed noticeable changes in her behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She plays with toys and her kittens (when they become of age). Imagine a full grown cat and 3-4 kittens running around the house... hilarious.  She accepts us as her family and lets us pet her babies, but won't let strangers do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cats in my lifetime have grown less playful with age, wanting sleep more than fun. Purring also decreases with age, but having kittens has not affected any of my female cats. Sure, they concentrate on their babies (cleaning, feeding), but after a group nap they go galloping and jumping all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen two sister cats, one spayed and the other with kittens. The spayed cat has licked the kittens, but couldn't stand feeding them (no milk or instinct to do so). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="665" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T18:04:02.963" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T18:04:02.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2080" CreationDate="2014-01-29T11:40:08.453" Score="8" ViewCount="7242" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat does something like attacking people feet at the afternoon times, climbing places where it shouldn't be or going to be aggressive while playing, how to tell it to &lt;strong&gt;stop, this is bad&lt;/strong&gt;‽&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I tried shouting at her, if she is in a wrong place, than she realizes that it's bad and jump off immediately, but she will go back later and won't remember that it's forbidden.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I tried to use this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/436/calming-a-cat-down-after-being-told-no&quot;&gt;tactic&lt;/a&gt; and drop her outside of the house (she loves to play outside), but it's not like a punishment, she will not notice it was bad.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I also tried to carefully squeeze her a little bit, she finds it uncomfortable because she can't move, and when I released her, she started to clean herself and then she leave the scene. But that still not stopping her to attack my feet next afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And waking up in the night because your kitty attacks your feet is not a good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="667" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T14:17:08.290" Title="How to say no to a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-01-29T17:09:21.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2074" CreationDate="2014-01-29T15:05:02.003" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, not giving your pet objects to play with that may be harmful to them is a good practice.  So &quot;the fix&quot; is to clean up all the earplugs that are in the house, and stop bringing in more.  Throw them out at the job site, or leave them in your vehicle in the future.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your current conditions, doing the clean up on Friday night would be best, this will allow you the weekend to address (or redirect) any behavior that develops.  A new safe toy, should be purchased beforehand.  A soft ball or toy mouse possibly with catnip in it might make a good replacement.  You may want to purchase several possible replacement toys, before the clean up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that for the most part she is getting the ear plugs after you have worn them.  There may be some connection to your scent and the 'toy'.  If so you many want to take one of the replacement toys to work, with you and keep it close to your body, so that it will be exposed similarly to your scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T15:05:02.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2076" CreationDate="2014-01-29T16:34:45.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard from others that they use water pistols to spray the cat when they are misbehaving, or rub lemon in the places where it shouldn't be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily for me, my cat learned that no is no, so keep trying that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="659" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T16:34:45.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2074" CreationDate="2014-01-29T17:07:54.713" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2077/57&quot;&gt;James Jenkins' answer&lt;/a&gt; is very near what I would have suggested, but I see from your comment that you've tried alternative toys with little success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I go on, I want to repeat what James said about the existing headphones: get rid of them.  All of them.  Keeping your cat entertained isn't worth the risk of an intestinal blockage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since new toys haven't worked for you, try creating safer versions of the preferred toy.  Find something made out of safer material that is of a size and shape similar to the earplug.  In fact, a cat treat or piece of dry cat food tied to a string may work, and could conceivably be even more attractive to the cat than the earplug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If food doesn't work, try other small objects of a safe material.  If you can entice your cat to play with something different, even briefly, you will eventually be able to get your cat to forget the earplugs altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be sure to not leave the string itself unattended where the cat could possibly get to it; an ingested string can be very dangerous if it becomes tangled in the intestines (we had a cat that the vet suspected of doing that, and we wound up having extensive surgery to address the concern).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T17:07:54.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2076" CreationDate="2014-01-29T17:43:39.210" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing to remember with animals, is that they don't actually understand human words. When we train them we're teaching them to associate a word with an action. So when you shout at your pet, they might be able to grasp that the noises you're making are angry, but more likely they'll just be startled that you're shouting and want to get away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to keep your cat from going in a certain place, you'll need to be prepared for lots of repetition. I've taught my cats not to go in the kitchen, but it took several weeks of constant nagging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a lot easier if you can set up a visual barrier to start with, that way she knows how close she's allowed to get. I use tape, because it's cheap and removeable. Also, if you place it sticky side up, you can tell when your cat tried to sneak past it ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you catch your cat in a place you don't want her, pick her up, and place her just outside the border or where she's allowed. Firmly say &quot;no&quot; as you do this. If you happen to be at the side of the border she's not allowed to cross, you can push her back and say &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to think about is to resist taking the punishment somewhere else. Back on the association thing, if she associates climbing onto something with punishment, she'll find something else to climb on (Note: She's going to find something else to climb on, she's a cat). The &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; thing you can do for a cat that wants to climb, is to provide her with a place she's allowed to climb. If a cat tree is too expensive, you can build one yourself for as much as you want to spend. Mine is a little over 5 feet tall (3 stories) and I spent about $50 I'd say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the playing, you're going to want to teach her how to play. As soon as she starts playing in a way that you don't like, stop and ignore her. Push her away while firmly saying &quot;no&quot;. Of course this requires you to play with her in ways you want her to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to use toys that are away from your hands. The feathery toys on a stick, tossing small feathery balls (my cats really like feathers, so everything of theirs is feathery) all keep your cat entertained, without teaching her it's okay to &quot;attack&quot; you. Play &quot;Attacking&quot; is how cat's learn to hunt, and they usually do this to each other, so you're going to want to divert that attention to toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as attacking your feet goes, I worked to associate the bed with sleeping, not playing. Any playing my cats do, is outside of the bedroom, if they want a quiet place to sleep, they go to the bedroom. You can do this by moving your cat when she's sleeping to the bedroom, and moving her out of the bedroom when she's playing. If she's waking you up by jumping on top of you at night, I've done it where I've held my cats still for a couple minutes until they've either calmed down, or left out of annoyance. I would be careful with squeezing them though. You can also see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1440/how-to-get-my-cat-to-stop-being-annoying-at-night&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more in-depth advice on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T17:43:39.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2073" CreationDate="2014-01-29T18:45:42.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like she is just a little unsure - she doesn't hover over the bowl to eat, but takes it to a safer place to finish each bite.  Or she finds the bowl itself to be an impediment to eating how she likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two things to try - you could feed her in a shallower bowl or plate and see if she finds that more comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also get a mat or carpet scrap to put the cat dishes on so that any dropped food goes on something easier to change out and clean up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats gives a little head shake when eating, which scatters things farther too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T18:45:42.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2073" CreationDate="2014-01-29T19:52:55.193" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be a few reasons, and without experimenting it may be difficult to know for certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the wet food a new variety? The cat may just be unsure of the food, giving it a &quot;taste test&quot; before deciding to finish it. I've seen my cats do similar things with new foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is a cat's natural instinctive behavior pattern: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/cat-toys&quot;&gt;hunt, play, eat, clean, sleep&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. If you watch a cat hunt live prey, you'll notice it won't eat its prey immediately when she catches it. Instead, it will play with it before finally eating, cleaning itself, and then resting for the next hunt. I would recommend playing with your cat before feeding, allowing it to get the &quot;hunt &amp;amp; play&quot; urges out before meals and then immediately follow play sessions with food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that your cat doesn't feel &quot;secure&quot; in the space where the food bowl is kept and is taking the food elsewhere to enjoy it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there other cats in the house? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have there ever been cats in the house before that might have left &quot;territorial markings&quot; (urine, can be checked with a black light) in that spot?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it near a window where neighborhood cats may be seen from? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try moving the food bowl, or playing and giving treats to her around the food bowl so she associates &quot;good things&quot; with that spot. Depending on how dependent your cat is on you, she may just want your presence while eating. My cats prefer to eat when I'm close by and will rarely finish their meals without me around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the cat isn't happy with the taste of the wet food? Have you tried other varieties? Some cats are very picky and will take their time if they don't like it as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, it also could just be your cat's individual personality and instincts. I'd advise putting a plastic matt near the food bowl to make cleanup easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2014-01-29T19:52:55.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2084" CreationDate="2014-01-29T21:52:08.567" Score="5" ViewCount="2518" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mum just brought 3 matured guinea fowls home and was told that they could fly off and never come back if they don't get used to our house. Therefore, we should tie their legs to prevent them from flying. They have been tied since then and we feed them regularly. I am wondering if just tying them up will make them get used to our house, or if there is something else we could do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we make the guinea fowls get used to our environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T02:05:08.533" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:45:16.703" Title="How can I make my guinea fowls get used to my house?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;&lt;guinea-fowls&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2083" CreationDate="2014-01-29T22:32:42.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that taking them to a groomer to have their wings clipped would be the best solution. That way, if they get startled by a loud noise, they will be least likely to try to fly into a wall, or worse. Clipping a bird's wings is a common method for keeping birds from flying around until they're used to their new home, making them fully dependent on their owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's done correctly, wing clipping doesn't hurt the bird, although it will generally look a bit unruly. Since clipping the bird's wings removes their ability to fly, it also removes their ability to exercise.  I suggest that you don't continue to clip the bird's wings after they are comfortable living with you, when the risk of them flying away is gone.  You'll have a much happier and healthier bird in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to clip the bird's wings yourself, I suggest using the standard cut. There are other cuts that are intended to make the wing look &quot;attractive&quot;, but generally it's best to leave those cuts to professionals as you don't want to cut the pin feathers (sometimes referred to as blood feathers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hhOSA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Standard cut&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/01/27/wing-trimming-for-pet-birds.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's an article&lt;/a&gt; that gives a pretty good overview of what wing clipping is, and why bird owners decide to do it. They also suggested the use of a bird harness, which is another good option if you're not comfortable with having their wings clipped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything else really just takes time. Try not to cause them unneeded stress, and don't try to handle them too much for the first couple days. It's also a good idea to try to keep the house fairly quiet, or at least avoid making startling noises or movements around them. In time, they'll be used to their new home and associate you with food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T18:00:16.273" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T18:00:16.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-30T07:47:44.073" Score="4" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 50 gallon tank in which I have four Mollies, one Angelfish and one Blue Dwarf Gourami. I want to add one male Siamese Fighting Fish (a.k.a Betta) and my tank for me is then complete. Question is; will this be ok, as the other fish are happy, and all friends, and yes they are all young. Will a fighter fish be a hassle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="675" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-01-30T08:24:27.573" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T08:24:27.573" Title="Will a Siamese fighting fish fit in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-01-30T08:25:07.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="789" CreationDate="2014-01-30T07:48:01.810" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt; - Yes, it sounds like a possible 1080 fox bait poisoning. Can't be sure though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traditional fox bait is called 1080. That poisonous bait is still used in a few countries to kill foxes, rabbits, possums and other mammal pests. The toxin in 1080 is Sodium fluoroacetate. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_fluoroacetate&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; is a bit vague on symptoms in animals, but for humans they say:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In humans, the symptoms of poisoning normally appear between 30 minutes and three hours after exposure. Initial symptoms typically include nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain; sweating, confusion and agitation follow. In significant poisoning, cardiac abnormalities including tachycardia or bradycardia, hypotension and ECG changes develop. Neurological effects include muscle twitching and seizures...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might safely assume a dog, especially a small Whippet, would show symptoms of poisoning faster than the 30 mins stated for humans. The listed (human) symptoms look like a good fit to what your neighbour reported about your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/59521/IPA-Wild-Dog-Fact-Sheet-Strychnine.pdf&quot;&gt;Strychnine&lt;/a&gt; is another commonly used poison against mammal pests. It affects the animal's muscles so that contracted muscles can no longer relax. That means the muscles responsible of breathing cease to operate and the animal suffocates to death in less than two hours. This sounds like unlikely case with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possibility is unintentional pet poisoning by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogchatforum.com/snailbait-poisoning-dogs.htm&quot;&gt;snail/slug baits&lt;/a&gt;. These baits are meant to control a population of snails and slugs in a garden. Because the pelletized bait looks a lot like dry food made for dogs it is easily one of the most common causes of unintentional poisoning of dogs. The toxin in these baits is Metaldehyde and a dog may die inside four hours of ingesting these baits, which sounds like too slow to explain what happened to your dog, even though the symptoms of this toxin are somewhat similar to your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, the malicious use of poisons against neighbourhood dogs can vary a lot. In fact they don't end with just pesticides but also other harmful matter, like medicine made for humans and even razorblades stuck inside a meatball, have been found in baits. It is quite impossible to say what might have caused the death of your dog, at least without autopsy and toxicology tests. The 1080 is just one of the possible explanations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to always use a leash when walking dogs in populated areas and only let dogs free (when allowed by local legislation) in unpopulated parks and forests and suchlike places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T07:48:01.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1891" CreationDate="2014-01-30T16:05:47.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to start by associating an certain area of your yard with the litter box. Whether you use some of the cat litter(disclaimer: I have no idea about what environmental effects this would have), or if you use sand or loose dirt like Oldcat suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to keep a section of litter or sand in your yard/garden, you can slowly start to take it away as your cats become accustomed to going in that spot. Just be sure that you keep the dirt in that section loose,,or slowly switch the sand out with soil. I can't imagine your cat's will want to go in packed dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take some watching, but you can train them the same way you would a cat that's refusing to use the litter box inside. Every time you catch them going outside of the &quot;litter box&quot; section, pick them up, and place them in it. Associate the area with doing their business. If you want, you could even plant some of their old business in the area, so they know that's what it's for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As nice as it might sound, there are some drawbacks to having your cats going in a certain area of the yard. You will still have to clean it occasionally, unless you designate a fairly large area for them to use, it's not going to decompose fast enough to be feasible without occasional cleaning. There's also the risk of the feral cats in the area using it, adding to the mess, and even possibly deterring your cats from using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T16:05:47.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2041" CreationDate="2014-01-30T23:14:08.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Groups like the American Rabbit Breeders and The British Rabbit council work in a way similar to dog breeders associations. For instance, the American Kennel Club recognizes breeds differently than the Continental Kennel Club. Each association has different breeds that may or may not overlap and may not have similar standards. In order for a new breed to be recognized a breed club will form and then create a working standard that the association may or may not recognize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, breeds such as the Lionhead rabbits are not recognized by the ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association). This rabbit is still considered a breed just not recognized at this time. So these clubs do not define breeds, it is the breed club that defines them. Once they wish to get recognized, they will need to work with a parent club such as the ARBA to come up with an agreed upon standard in order to get their breed sanctioned. The lionhead and other rabbit breeds are currently working on ARBA recognition. For instance, one can still show lionhead rabbits at a show if they bring a working standard with them to the show. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ARBA and the BRC are the largest all breed rabbit associations and are often the governing bodies for hundreds of smaller regional clubs. If your questions is more based on whether the standards created by these clubs are guides for rabbit shows. The answer is yes, most rabbit shows will use either the ARBA's Standard of Perfection or the BRC standards. They do not define the breeds, the breed clubs do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastActivityDate="2014-01-30T23:14:08.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1419" CreationDate="2014-01-31T00:14:25.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are sensitive and highly strung, and can sometimes have odd reactions to being over-stimulated.  A cat I had would repeatedly pop out her tongue when her back was scratched and would stop when you stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snapping with the teeth is common reaction in many cats, leading to the 'but I thought he liked it' cry.  Usually it is at the hand doing the scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just interpret this as a reaction to being over-stimulated and ease off when the biting starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T00:14:25.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-31T07:11:40.677" Score="8" ViewCount="11747" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know whether it is necessary to change the bloodline when breeding between sibling budgies (e.g. the breeding male and female pair are also brother and sister). I recently bred with a sibling pair and the resulting chick size is smaller than a normal budgie chick.  When this chick grows up, will its body structure remain small? Is there any specific reason behind it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="681" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T16:17:29.273" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T20:48:25.013" Title="Should I be breeding sibling budgies?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2083" CreationDate="2014-01-31T16:10:16.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I lived in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washignton_%28U.S._state%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Washington State&lt;/a&gt;, I had a small farm.  I brought home about 7 or 8 &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_fowl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guinea fowl&lt;/a&gt;.  They were added to the farm because of their insect eating habits, for organic pest control. This was probably 20 years ago now, so the memories have faded a bit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had free roaming Chicken's &amp;amp; Muscovy Ducks, everyone went it to the pens at night, if they came when I served evening grain.  Otherwise they spent the night in the trees, and on top of the coop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Guinea fowl were very problematic. The first time I let them out, 2 or 3 flew away straight off, leaving me with 5.  Those 5 stayed around ok, and did ok coming when called to feed. As I recall they did not breed well, laying their eggs without much interest in sitting them.  I would place some eggs under a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_%28poultry%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;banty hen&lt;/a&gt; for brooding.  As I recall I never really got more than about 5 at at time.  They never really did well, I always had a good supply of chickens (several types), ducks, turkeys (not free roaming) and goats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they came up at the livestock auction for a reasonable price I would get a couple and bring home, to add to the flock. All in all they did ok, but they never really got the &quot;this is my space&quot; attitude.  The never really got dependable at coming for feed either. To me they did not seem as domesticated as other types of poultry.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, I don't think there is really anything you can do with Guinea fowl to create the same kind of stay at home habits that you would expect from a chicken or a duck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T16:10:16.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2091" CreationDate="2014-01-31T17:32:10.333" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breeding animals is all about genetics. So, let me give you a quick, as simple as I can make it, lesson in genetics. (Disclaimer: It will be so grossly simplified that anyone who's studied genetics will probably yell at me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably heard of genes before; they're blueprints that contain the DNA passed down to children from their parents. There are also things called alleles, which produce the variations in each trait.  In a very simple explanation, the genes contain the code, but the alleles decide what to do with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the parents pass down genes to their children, and then through a complicated process of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/scitable/topic/gene-inheritance-and-transmission-23&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gene inheritance&lt;/a&gt; (not a simple explanation), alleles decide which traits become dominant in the child based somewhat on the parents, and somewhat on their own.  For example: if you take two people with brown hair and they have a child, that child is more likely to have brown hair, as brown hair becomes the dominant trait, but it's also possible for it to have a different color of hair based on whatever recessive traits are in its genes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dominant trait is simply a trait that's more likely to occur in the child, while a recessive trait is less likely.  In humans, for example, red hair is a recessive trait, and because we don't breed for the sake of hair color, the chances of a child having red hair in the future will continue to shrink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note here that not all traits are as harmless as the color of a person's hair or eyes.  Passed on traits can include susceptibility to certain diseases, proneness to certain types of cancer, and various deformities.  A high &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_diversity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;genetic diversity&lt;/a&gt; reduces the risk of the harmful traits, as healthier genes are more likely to be combined and take priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's where it becomes related to your question.  When you take two people who are related to each other, and they have a child, it increases the chances for those recessive traits to become dominant, as they're apparent in both parents.  What you're seeing with your chick being a smaller size than normal is actually one of the milder examples. Other cases include infertility, missing/extra limbs, miscarriages, lower mental capacity, and a loss of the immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't suggest it, it's a pretty common practice in the more (for lack of a better term) driven breeders to take two siblings with a certain trait they want and breed them to make that trait the dominant one. These breeders are also prepared to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cull&lt;/a&gt; any part of the litter that has defects.  Even then though, it's important that only the first generation is bred together, and further along, and the risks increase incredibly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this being said, unless you're prepared to deal with any children that are born with undesirable traits, and you're aware that birds will attack a chick if they can sense it is producing an undesirable trait (especially deformities), I say that it is a necessity to keep breeding pairs of unrelated individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T20:48:25.013" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T20:48:25.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1755" CreationDate="2014-01-31T19:28:25.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that with a properly set up terrarium, the substrate shouldn't come into contact with the water, so the only decomposing matter in the water should be the crab's molted shells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my terrarium is 30 gallons, and it's only used for molting, I've elected to change the water about once a month. I also put a pinch of aquarium salt into the water after the water change, and about halfway through the month until the next water change, to add minerals to the water that help the crabs molt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In hindsight, I wish I had taken the time to build a miniature sump to take the water out of the tank and filter it back in. Otherwise I think putting a waterfall, or pool feature, like you would for poison dart frogs would be best. Just note that the crabs can't swim, so it's important for them to be able to climb out of the water, or they'll drown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T19:28:25.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-01-31T20:03:46.527" Score="5" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog's name is Magic (a Pomeranian).  She's about 13 years old now.  She went through emergency surgery for pyometra (a uterine infection) 3 days ago (Wednesday, Jan. 29th, 2014) and ever since then, she hasn't eaten anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just about an hour ago, she threw up greenish fluid and start frothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried?  What do I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="412" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T14:10:42.433" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T14:10:42.433" Title="What do I do with a dog who vomits while recovering from surgery?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2096" CreationDate="2014-01-31T20:07:52.890" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should call your vet immediately!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T20:07:52.890" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2098" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-01-31T20:56:48.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emergency tag is used to label questions which are concerns that require (or required) immediate responses and attention. As this is the internet, and Pets.SE is not an emergency help clinic, you should not wait for an answer and instead must consider contacting a local veterinarian immediately for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T21:01:09.087" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T21:01:09.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2099" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-01-31T20:56:48.370" Score="0" Body="A situation which requires immediate attention. You will more than likely be directed to contact a local veterinarian." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-01-31T21:00:55.897" LastActivityDate="2014-01-31T21:00:55.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2014-02-01T00:45:21.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have live rock, coral, snails, crab, starfish, many other fish and invertebrates, and the led works fine. It runs cooler too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take more lights to get the same amount of lighting as you get from a standard lighting system (depending on the type of led setup you go for) and it can get really expensive, but it looks great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="688" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-01T01:05:55.107" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T01:05:55.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1935" CreationDate="2014-02-01T03:13:47.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see that you have already received a good answer to your question and I agree with it. It is possible that the virus could still pose a threat to other animals and I do believe your vet has legitimate reasons for not allowing you to take the body home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would still like to have some sort of funeral or burial for your dog, you may be able to ask about cremation. Some vet clinics will offer cremation for deceased pets and allow you to take the ashes home. This should provide a much safer option in cases where disease is a concern. However, I don't know if it's an option where you are. It might be worth asking your vet about though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T03:13:47.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2112" CreationDate="2014-02-01T04:55:35.910" Score="9" ViewCount="6663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two kittens, not from the same litter. The older kitten is 5 months old, and I have had her for 3 months. The younger kitten (not even half the size) is 3 months old and I have had her for 2 months. The older kitten was already quite a bit bigger than the younger kitten when the younger kitten joined us. No, it is not the older kitten stealing the food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Younger kitten suddenly morphs into what I call &quot;piglet-face&quot; as soon as she realizes it's time for wet food. She gulps it back as though she hasn't eaten in days, and then beelines for older kitten's food the instant she's finished hers. There are two bowls of dry food out at all times, so she is not starving because she is eating that regularly throughout the day. Older kitten has never tried to get at her food while she's eating, in fact, older kitten eats very slowly and calmly, likes to eat some and come back for the rest later, and when younger kitten comes and shoves her face into older kitten's bowl, she makes no attempt to stop her, just sits there looking put-out. Older kitten does not act passively like this in other situations though (playing, lap-sharing, etc), she has no problem standing up for herself, or just being plain saucy, then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Younger kitten does not have worms, so it isn't that (older kitten was actually very dirty with loads of fleas and really bad worms when I got her, but got rid of them before younger kitten joined us).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried putting older kitten's bowl in a higher spot away from the usual food area, but this seems to put her off her food a bit (maybe it seems like punishment?) and younger kitten gets it anyway. I have tried putting younger kitten in the bathroom with her food until older kitten has finished hers, but like I said, older kitten likes to eat her wet food in 2-4 different goes, so not fair to younger kitten if she is locked in the bathroom that whole time (plus the litter box is in there, so it means older kitten would also be locked away from litter box...just doesn't work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can teach younger kitten to slow down and/or stop stealing older kitten's food? Or teach older kitten not to let her food be stolen? Or just some suggestions for eating arrangements so everyone gets to eat their own food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-02-01T07:05:52.537" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T00:17:30.183" Title="How can I teach my kitten not to steal the other kitten's food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-01T06:35:19.070" Score="9" ViewCount="38181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed today that my bearded dragon has a dull-looking patch on her back. Does anyone know what might have caused this?  Is she sick?  I'm very concerned.  Any info would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2aVMo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;picture of bearded dragon&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="690" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-01T21:33:45.723" LastActivityDate="2015-10-11T23:01:33.650" Title="What is this dull patch on my bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2106" CreationDate="2014-02-01T12:37:43.517" Score="9" ViewCount="14296" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do birds respond to petting, like cats and dogs do?  Do they like being gently brushed against their heads?  Does grooming in this sense exist in the avian world?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="319" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-01T18:26:23.483" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T21:43:19.543" Title="Should you pet a bird, and if so, how?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="990" CreationDate="2014-02-01T17:21:42.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A remote control training collar will stop the behavior almost immediately. Many people are initially against the idea of using shock punishment. In my opinion, from many years of experience, the effectiveness in stopping the bad behavior and the fact that it usually only requires a few corrections (sometimes 1 or 2) makes it a valuable tool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A chosen, short, one-word command, such as &quot;Quiet&quot;, should be associated with the behavior you want to train. Say the dog's name, followed by the command.  If you do not get the correct response, repeat the name/command, and then give a correction by pushing the button on the remote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, the elimination of bad behavior using this method is far more humane because it allow for a quick, successful training and a healthy relationship between you and your dog.  This means the dog will stay around and not be abandoned due to bad, 'untrainable' behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: First let me say I LOVE dogs, more than most people. I have had a houseful of them for my whole life (55 years) and they a major part of my life and considered my family. I assumed there would be the normal negative response to punishment training. I am certainly not against positive reinforcement training methods and I use them often. But speaking from real world experience over many years, people often have a similar response to those shown here, but then are absolutely amazed at how fast behavior can be modified using training collar PROPERLY. Dogs do immediately make a connection between a behavior and a correction. It is not the only method or always the best method. But many times when push comes to shove, it is the method that WORKS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user694" LastEditorDisplayName="user694" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T22:22:06.143" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T22:22:06.143" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2104" CreationDate="2014-02-01T17:45:22.793" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many socialized birds do enjoy a gently scratching. The favorite places are the side of the neck and some birds enjoy under the wing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many parrots do groom each other, especially areas they cannot reach themselves, like the back of the neck and head. Scratching these areas closely mimics this grooming. An important part of the grooming is to clean away the 'plastic like' casing around a new feather as it emerges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bird will give clear indication when they like it, often dropping their head and fluffing the feathers around the head and neck. Start slowly and gently until your bird grows accustomed to it. Every bird is different, some LOVE it and others do not. It is highly dependent on the bond you have developed with the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user694" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T17:45:22.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2113" CreationDate="2014-02-01T19:35:57.417" Score="11" ViewCount="4982" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very new to keeping fish as pets. I was surprised to find out that you can order fish online and have them shipped. Is there any way to be sure that the fish will be healthy? Should I just stick to local stores?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="696" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T05:58:00.220" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T15:04:56.073" Title="Is it a good idea to buy fish online rather than from a local pet store?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2103" CreationDate="2014-02-01T20:08:29.110" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on you picture, I'm happy to say that your bearded dragon  is shedding. All you'll need to do, is make sure that she is able to get rid of it okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles shed their skin as they grow larger, if you got your bearded dragon when she was older, you might not have noticed it before as the older they get, the slower they grow, which means shedding less often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tkOUU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bearded Dragon shedding&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?f=44&amp;amp;t=184248&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to help, is to give her a lukewarm bath. Fill a container with enough water to reach her shoulders, and let her soak for a couple minutes to help the skin detach. Then you can gently massage her with your fingers, or a soft bristled toothbrush, to help coax some of the dead skin to fall off. It's important that your &lt;strong&gt;never pull on shedding skin&lt;/strong&gt;, if you pull on the skin before it's detached, it can be very damaging to your bearded dragon as that skin is still attached and a living part of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to keep an eye on when she's shedding, is if any of the old skin gets left on. Skin that doesn't get shed can build up and cut off blood circulation underneath it. It's a common ailment in bearded dragon's tails, where a couple layers of old skin build up, acting like a tourniquet, eventually leaving that part of the tail to be amputated. Bearded dragon's fingers are also an area to keep a close eye on for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I was worried about when you first said that it was a dull spot, was if the spot was a fungal infection. In that case, you would want to give her a bath with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cvs.com/shop/product-detail/Betadine-Solution?skuId=269281&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Betadine solution&lt;/a&gt; diluted in the water, until it looks like weak tea. You would give her these baths each day, until a day or two after don't see the infection anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bLjMi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bearded Dragon with a fungal infection&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?p=1284462&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what substrate you have, you would want to either get rid of it, or wash it thoroughly. It's almost easier to use paper towels while the infection is still occurring, that way you can replace them each day. Sand is very good at harboring fungus, so definitely throw that away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fungus infections are something where you'll want to find a vet that can handle reptiles for, because while the baths will get rid of the fungus growth, it sometimes comes with infections in their system that require oral medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-02T15:11:02.100" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T15:11:02.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2108" CreationDate="2014-02-01T21:00:24.430" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a bad idea; there are pros and cons to both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the store, you get to see the fish you're sold, and make sure they're healthy before taking them home. Online, you might not get to see the fish firsthand, but you can get fish directly from specialty breeders; fish that local stores might not have the setups to care for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as shipping goes, most will ship it in breathable plastic bags, to ensure that the bags don't run out of oxygen. I know several that add more oxygen to the bag to help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, since shipping is so high, I would check with the local stores for fish first. They might even be able to order some for you.  Otherwise, just make sure you order from someone with a reputation for selling good quality fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T05:59:28.057" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T05:59:28.057" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1944" CreationDate="2014-02-01T22:20:51.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do your cats get some other food than the &quot;small amount of Whiskas once a day&quot;? If this is all they are getting, chances are that they are underfed and very hungry, which would explain why the one gulps back food until she pukes, and the other comes to eat the puke. In this case, they should be fed several times a day. I have dry food out for my cats at all times, and give them wet food once a day for dinner (thinking of splitting this into two wet meals each day though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are getting other food and this is just how your cat eats (one of my cats is a wet food &quot;gulper&quot;, though she's not made herself puke, while the other slowly licks her wet food over a few sittings), I would suggest looking for ways to slow down your cat's eating as Zaralynda suggested...there are some great suggestions on the thread s/he linked to in his/her answer that I will be trying myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T22:20:51.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2102" CreationDate="2014-02-01T22:31:38.963" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some excellent suggestions on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/380/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-eating-too-fast-and-throwing-up&quot; title=&quot;how can I stop my cat from eating too fast and throwing up?&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt;. Placing an object in the food bowl so she has to eat around it, mixing in some dry food, and/or a food dish which makes her fish out a little at a time with her paws in order to eat it seem like the most promising solutions...hopefully she will find this even more stimulating, and not so annoying that she ignores her own food and tries to steal older kitten's food right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-01T22:31:38.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2108" CreationDate="2014-02-02T00:46:18.900" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing inherently sketchy about ordering fish online: most legit dealers (whether individual breeders or larger fish farms) should know how to ship fish safely, and I've seen many who are confident enough to offer live-on-arrival guarantees. Most dealers will describe how they ship pretty clearly, and you should be able to get a sense of how legit they are from that: Good bags, some sort of temperature control depending on the weather (heat packs, ice packs, etc.), and fast shipping are all things to look for. If you get the sense the dealer doesn't really know how to get the animal to you, or is being cagey about how they'll do it, I'd probably say look elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The health of an online dealer's stock can be a gamble, but the same can really be said for the ones at your LFS -- it's true you can avoid any obviously bad fish you can see in person, but a good dealer won't sell you an obviously sick/dying animal regardless of whether you're there in person; and even healthy fish can have latent diseases and parasites that are brought out by the stresses of being transported to your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there's an element of trust with any new dealer that you're considering. See what kind of reputation they have on the various aquarist forums, ask anyone you might know who's done business with them, even get in touch with them and see how they answer your questions. Then, if the price is right and you're convinced enough to give them a shot, go for it. If you can, quarantine is always a good idea, since it mitigates a lot of the risk in bringing home new animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I tend to get my fish from a little local store, because I like the owner and he usually has a interesting and healthy (though small) selection. But I'm planning on adding a few dwarf cichlids in a few months, and I'm probably going to get them from a specialty cichlid farm that I've heard good things about: they're just the next state over, but overnight shipping will probably cost less then the gas it would take to drive there. We have some of the big-name pet stores around here too, and while I've never had outright &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; luck with them, I think I trust the specialists more, whether online or brick-and-mortar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-06T14:01:24.537" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T14:01:24.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="990" CreationDate="2014-02-02T08:00:25.197" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried counter-conditioning your dogs using a positive (reward) based approach? That is, when the dogs start their behavior use a &quot;tasty treat&quot; to train them to turn away from the TV and sit quietly facing you on some cue. It may take several steps to train the complete behavior. I would suggest either consulting a good modern book on dog training or getting help from someone who is familiar with using reward based training methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common objection to this approach is the belief that by rewarding the dogs, you would just reinforce their unwanted behavior. This reflects a common misunderstanding of dogs and a dog's attention span by humans. The link below is to a video on Dr Sophia Yin's web site where she demonstrates that it actually does not work this way.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://drsophiayin.com/resources/video_full/counter-conditioning_a_dog_to_blowing_in_face&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Video demonstrating counter conditioning on drsophiayin.com.&quot;&gt;Training Aggression? Counter-conditioning a Dog to Blowing in Face.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Dr Yin explains in the video, the purpose of the treats in this case is to change the dog's underlying emotional state. Instead of an image on the TV being a reason to be alarmed, it becomes a &quot;good&quot; thing because it means a treat may follow if they behave properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using aversives such as remote &quot;shock&quot; training collars is one of the worst ways to train a dog. It's not so much that you won't have an effect on the dog's behavior. It is that you won't know with a good degree of confidence &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; a dog is learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People, being people, think it is &quot;obvious&quot; that if the dog is shocked while barking it will make a direct connection between the shock and the barking. But if you view it from the dog's perspective, the dog has no idea from where or why the pain is coming. So how can you know in what ways it may change the dog's behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would also definitely increase the dog's anxiety level and that is never a good thing since it could lead to other behavior problems in another context. If a dog stops barking but then also begins to pee or poop in the house or chew or otherwise destroy property, would you be happy with the net results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, humans have used aversives as the primary training method for (probably) millennia. But this says more about how easily and completely people can misunderstand how dogs learn that it does about what training methods are most effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was not until the last decade or so that behavioral research confirmed that using a reward based approach with minimal aversives produces the quickest and most consistent training results. This is becoming the standard approach with professional dog trainers. It is unfortunately taking much longer for the general public to catch up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update: 06 February 2014&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to a blog entry by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/simply-wrong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;blog comments about the 'SimpleLeash' shock collar&quot;&gt;Dr Patricia McConnell, &quot;Simply Wrong&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. It begins with some observations about a particular type of shock collar she saw an ad for, the &lt;em&gt;SimpleLeash&lt;/em&gt;. She gives examples of other interpretations a dog can make about the &quot;shock&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From a comment by Chad:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;We correct the behavior now and have for 3 years. But the behavior&#xA;  remains until they are scolded they bark.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have not yet tried to counter-condition the behavior, then I would urge you to do so. It sounds as though all you have trained them to do is bark until you bark back at them. I think teaching them a more acceptable, alternate behavior they can engage in would be more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the shelter I volunteer at we usually use counter-conditioning with dogs who react to other dogs. It can be very effective, but can also take a lot of repetition to generalize. It depends on the dog and how consistently you can train the alternate behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's not pertinent, I personally find it interesting that you say you &quot;scold&quot; them. This is so quintessentially &lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt;. We have many behaviors which are so much a part of our being that it can be very hard for us to believe they might &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; be the most effective way to interact with another species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans talk. We &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; to vocalize. But there is compelling anecdotal evidence that, at least initially, it is easier for a dog to understand hand signals than verbal cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also love to hug. Dogs, in general, not so much. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.michaelbaugh.com/2012/07/12/to-hug-or-not/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;aka 'please just let this be over soon'&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;To Hug or Not?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="685" LastEditorUserId="685" LastEditDate="2014-02-06T20:19:29.237" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T20:19:29.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="324" CreationDate="2014-02-02T09:55:47.287" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of forcing the lean cat to eat in a &quot;prison&quot;, like a carrier box or a closed room, you could take advantage of the fact that the fat cat is just that; fat. Can he jump as high up as the lean one? Can he fit through a hole so tiny that the lean cat is just able to wiggle through?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find such place in your home that only the lean cat can jump onto, and put the food bowl up there. Show the place to the lean cat, so it'll know where to find food. The fat cat can't get there; problem solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of a cat's ability to jump and climb:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mzmBM.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(This animated gif is found in several pages in internet, I don't know whom to credit for it.)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have this situation with our cats. We have five cats, the youngest of which is overweight. I feed four of the cats on kitchen counter. This one cat is not willing to jump even this much, a relatively low (85 cm/34 inches) height for a cat, but simply waits on the floor until I give him the leftovers after the other cats have all eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-06-03T20:19:40.450" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T20:19:40.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="990" CreationDate="2014-02-02T11:54:27.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desensitization_%28psychology%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Desensitization&lt;/a&gt; may be effective, get a video that will have them on alert the whole time and play it over and over again, until they get tired. Currently they are getting positive reinforcement, because the creatures on the TV always go away when they bark! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T11:54:27.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2126" CreationDate="2014-02-02T15:48:40.727" Score="4" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, who is a Black Mouth Cur, yawns sometimes. I can't figure out the reason. Note that yawning doesn't appear to be due to tiredness or the dog feeling sleepy, because it will yawn even in the daytime when it appears to be fresh and awake.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is my dog yawning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="699" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-02-02T17:24:56.363" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T20:42:55.763" Title="Why do dogs yawn?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-02T17:40:13.957" Score="2" ViewCount="3120" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog's name is Magic (a Pomeranian). She's about 13 years old now. She went through emergency surgery for pyometra (a uterine infection) 4 days ago (Wednesday, Jan. 29th, 2014) and ever since then she has been on homeopathic rescue medicine and Arsenic Antibiotic 200. Even though she has not been eating she is pooping and has really heavy breathing. Why is this happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="412" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2014-02-03T17:13:45.980" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T17:13:45.980" Title="My post surgery dog is not eating, is pooping, and is breathing heavy. How can I help her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2119" CreationDate="2014-02-02T20:36:56.033" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canadianveterinarians.net/documents/pyometra-surgery-what-you-need-to-know#.Uu6pxbRpoRw&quot;&gt;Canadian Veterinary Medical Association lists the complications of pyometra treatment&lt;/a&gt; as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Serious complications can include system wide infection, with shock&#xA;  and toxaemia, organ damage, abdomen infection, and stump infection&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For localized infections, you can look at the surgery site. If it's more red/swollen than when you brought her home, she likely has an infection. For systemic infections, you could take her temperature (if it's over 102F or 39C she likely has an infection).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WebMD gives the signs of &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dog-shock-anaphylactic-shock__&quot;&gt;shock in dogs&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Signs of early shock include panting, rapid heart rate, bounding&#xA;  pulses, and a bright red color to the mucous membranes of the lips,&#xA;  gums, and tongue.  Signs of late shock (the ones seen most often) are&#xA;  pale skin and mucous membranes, a drop in body temperature, cold feet&#xA;  and legs, a slow respiratory rate, apathy and depression,&#xA;  unconsciousness, and a weak or absent pulse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IF ANY OF THESE DESCRIPTIONS MEETS YOUR DOGS SYMPTOMS, YOUR DOG MUST BE SEEN BY A VETERINARIAN IMMEDIATELY.&lt;/strong&gt; If your regular vet cannot or will not see your dog, you must look for another. &lt;strong&gt;This is a medical emergency.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-02-02T20:36:56.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-02T20:54:31.043" Score="11" ViewCount="2014" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cockatiel got into the habit of going into tight spaces and getting angry there.  She goes into the cupboard, clothes dryer, climbs into any pots or dishes that are around, or just squeezes inbetween my thigh and the arm of the sofa.  When she's in closed spaces like this, she gets angry when I put my hand near her, or sometimes even if I just go close to her.  She hisses, fans out the tail and sometimes screams at me.  As soon as I remove her from the closed space, she's a friendly bird again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bird started doing this maybe 5 month ago or so.  She's 18 months old now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to put her into the cupboard often before, because she would stay put and play happily with bread tags in there while we were doing something else in the kitchen (usually washing dishes in front of the same cupboard).  It's difficult to get some work done with a bird that keeps following you around and always poking her beak into whatever you're doing, so it was convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After she started getting angry in such places, we didn't let her go there any more, and we're trying to not let her into tight spaces in general.  Though the cupboard is still her favourite place and she'd try to fly inside whenever it's open.  (Second favourite are all kinds of pots or bowls.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt; Why does the bird do this, and in particular, is this &lt;em&gt;usual&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;common&lt;/em&gt; behaviour for cockatiels?  Is this some kind of nesting instinct and is it related to sexual behaviour?  What can I do to avoid it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately the bird can't help obeying the step up command if my voice is insistent enough, so usually I manage to remove her from the cupboard without getting bitten.  Once she's out everything's back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="470" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T11:30:11.507" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T16:04:13.490" Title="Cockatiel going into tight spaces and getting angry" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2124" CreationDate="2014-02-03T06:47:28.987" Score="8" ViewCount="10185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am back from the ER, the rabbit seems okay right now; but I'm still concerned that there might be something wrong with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/photos/114445363669080969088/albums/5969840988614763937/5975945480262307394?authkey=CPahnfzIlOGq9wE&amp;amp;pid=5975945480262307394&amp;amp;oid=114445363669080969088&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a video of her in hyperventilating and unable to get comfortable&lt;/a&gt;.  My presence makes her a bit less shifty than when I first noticed her; but once I re-adjust the camera you can kind of get an idea of how she was acting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The time line&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;~16:20 EST&lt;/em&gt;:    One of my free range rabbits starts following me around to indicate he'd like some kibble, after a minute or two I give in, scoop up the kibble.  Surprisingly my other rabbit seems unaware of what's going on and I need to flag her down to get her attention.  She acts a bit confused for a few seconds, but then catches on and  flies up to the top level (4 floors) of the condo quicker than I can dispense the kibble.  I note to my girlfriend how I've &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; seen her move that fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;~16:35 EST&lt;/em&gt;:  The caged guinea pig in the living room that we adopted 3 weeks ago starts to wheet, and I decide to give it some Romaine lettuce.  I take a few extra leaves over to the rabbits.  My female rabbit refuses the lettuce which is highly unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;16:50 EST&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;I notice my female rabbit is acting strange and throws her self into the corner litter pan, which almost never gets used because it's highly exposed and doesn't have great access to hay.  This is quite odd, my female rabbit (unlike the make) never lays or roots in the litter pans.  Upon closer inspection, I notice that her breathing is more than twice her normal rate (hard to see in the video due to the frame rate).  I watch her for several minutes as she struggles to get comfortable, and keeps kicking the back of the liter pan because she is unable to fully stretch out in it.&lt;/strong&gt;  After a few minutes of this it becomes clear she isn't playing, or scared of me or something in the house.   I try to console her, it doesn't help, and seems to make her switch positions. I back off and call for the girlfriend, who agrees, there's something seriously wrong.   I struggle with what to do; she looks like she might have a heart attack; a car ride to the vet could make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;16:48 EST&lt;/em&gt;: I decide she needs to see a vet, but that I need a video of her behavior before I go.  I call the ER in case they can give me some advice; the person who answers is almost useless, and for some reason thinks I'm talking about a cat when I clearly opened with &amp;quot;my pet rabbit is hyperventilating&amp;quot; after waisting 4 more minutes to determine that this person is incapable of pulling up my rabbits medical files (we always take her there) I'm able to hang up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;17:10 EST&lt;/em&gt;: I gather both rabbits into their carrier (oddly the male puts up no fight whereas he NEVER lets me pick him up, he must somehow understand the severity of the situation).  My female tosses and turns after being placed in the carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;17:38 EST&lt;/em&gt;: I arrive at the medical center, and have to wait in line behind 2 people at the emergency counter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;17:45 EST&lt;/em&gt;: One of the 4 people at the main (non-ER) desk recognizes the queue and asks if we are all there for emergency, we all say yes.  This spurs one of the other people there to call the person in front of me to their counter a minute later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;17:53 EST&lt;/em&gt;:  I'm annoyed that I'm still in line; the person being served in front of me has been has been at the counter for 15 minutes, and it's clear her problem might not even be urgent, let a lone an emergency.  &lt;strong&gt;I decide to unzip the carrier to verify my rabbit is actually still alive, thankfully she is.  Her breathing has slowed, but is still faster than normal.  I place my hand under the carrier to better support her and feel her shiver for about 2.5 seconds then stopped, then repeated again about every 5-10 seconds.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;18:03 EST&lt;/em&gt;: The person in front of me finally look like they are finishing up payments and other administrative things and begins reaching for her suitcase.  About 2 minutes later she pulls out a black trash bag with a cat inside. A minute later the receptions phones for someone to pick up a 'DOA cat'.  My confidence in the hospital begins to fade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;18:05 EST&lt;/em&gt;: I can finally rest my carrier on the counter and get a better look at my rabbit as I begin to check her in.  &lt;strong&gt;I can visibly she her tremble / shiver.&lt;/strong&gt;  The receptionist immediately realizes she should call someone up front to determine if my rabbit should be triage.  We continue the check-in process and for some reason they again struggle to pull up my rabbit's records. After 5 minutes, the receptionist recognizes that no one has come to access the rabbit yet, and calls again for someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;18:12 EST&lt;/em&gt; Finally some one qualified comes to check out the rabbit.  She of course doesn't notice her shiver, just her breathing.  After questioning me about the last time she ate, decides she's &amp;quot;stable enough&amp;quot;, and my check in process continues for another 2 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;~18:40 EST&lt;/em&gt; An on staff vet meets me in the waiting area, and brings me to a examination room.  &lt;strong&gt;My rabbit is still shaking at this point, but breathing is almost normal.&lt;/strong&gt;  She does seem a bit more confused than usual.  After explaining the situation, the doctor asked if she'd any trouble breathing or small poops.  &lt;strong&gt;I noted that she had been having slightly smaller poops that we attributed to trying to introduce her to the guinea pig over 20 hrs ago, and that at ~04:00 EST she had done what sounded like a sneeze followed by 5 coughs, which was unusual for her.&lt;/strong&gt;  The doctor asked me to send her the video I had taken (posted above), and to take the rabbit to the exotics area where she'll preform the examination since it will be more quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;~19:00 EST&lt;/em&gt; The doctor returns with my rabbit and says she seems fine now.  Indeed, &lt;strong&gt;all symptoms are gone&lt;/strong&gt;.  The doctor tells me she wasn't sure what was wrong, perhaps she was just afraid.  I told her this wasn't likely as she's one of the most people tolerant rabbits I've ever had, and explained I thought it was pain or neurology related.  She agreed and listed a bacterial cause, lead poising and gas as possible culprits, but said there wasn't any evidence of physical harm.  She prescribed the usual regiment of metoclopramide, pain killers and critical care and recommended that I pick up some simethicone from a regular pharmacy and feed her 1 ml to treat gas.  She went on to tell me how their exotic vet would be on staff tomorrow if I felt I needed her to see someone who knew more about rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;19:25 EST&lt;/em&gt; I bring the rabbit back into the house.  When released from the carrier, she immediately begins to gorge on hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm glad my rabbit seems to be alright now, but obviously, my confidence in the hospital has been shaken a little by my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone seen rabbit behavior like this before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could she really have E. cuniculi, or could have it really been just gas pains?  Is there anything else it should have been? Perhaps something the guinea pig gave her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm doubtful about the lead poising as she had it before and the symptoms were much different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to determine weather she should be brought to the specialist tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, it would be nice to have a plan if this were to ever happen again in the future. Should I just feed her some simethicone instead of heading to the hospital, or perhaps I should call around and try to find an ER with an exotic vet on staff next time even if that means driving an 1.5 hrs instead of 20 min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update&lt;/em&gt;: about 2 months later my other rabbit choose the same potty to exhibit very similar behavior, though he acted a little less frantic, perhaps because he's overall more fearful of people and was likely to be trying harder to hid it.  With my other rabbit it also seemed a bit more evident that it was stomach related and not neurological.  The exotics vet wasn't on call that night so we fed him metacloprmide for 12 hrs.  He seemed to be in less pain in the morning, so we kept going. About 18 hrs later he was back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-05-29T04:59:17.733" Title="My rabbit is hyperventilating and can't get comfortable. What is wrong with her?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2123" CreationDate="2014-02-03T12:08:39.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I have not noticed rapid breathing all the other symptoms you describe are very similar  to the 'episodes' &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;Baxter has as shown in this case study&lt;/a&gt;.  You should definitely see your exotic vet as soon as possible, to rule out other causes.  It has been our experience a longer wait for more qualified rabbit vet is generally more helpful than a faster visit with a vet that simply &quot;see's rabbits&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I am not a vet, in the absence of other evidence the most likely explanation is GI distress. The smaller than normal poops, are somewhat concerning.  I have no ready explanation for them other then possibly stress induced unusual eating habits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit&quot;&gt;rabbit first aid kit&lt;/a&gt; should contain simethicone, and it can be given at any sign of distress. If the symptoms actually indicate anything other than a GI issue, taking your bunny to anyone other than the most skilled rabbit vet in the area, will not add value.  If it is a GI issue, as long as you can keep water and anything with fiber going through the bunny (all the way through, fiber &gt; poop) your are able to wait to see a real rabbit vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, if it is GI related, you can and should have everything at home to address the issues, for the short term and possibly have a full recover.  If it is not GI related, the more sever the illness the more critical it is that you see a higher level, rabbit vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Of course  if if the injury is trauma related, any veterinary surgery (even a non-rabbit specialist),  as soon as possible would be indicated.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T13:52:30.280" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2122" CreationDate="2014-02-03T16:32:44.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the comment, I would expect she is looking for a nesting site and is trying to protect that area. Most birds will attempt to locate a nesting site prior to laying eggs, but will occasionally lay with out a predefined nest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing a nesting box can help provide her with a safe comfortable place to meet these basic instincts.  There are multiple resources for meeting the nest box requirements so I won't go into them here.  But it should have the ability so you can check for eggs and preform cleaning as needed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she does lay eggs and you don't want them to hatch or if there is no male, you will want to remove the eggs and replace them with a similar sized object.   If you take the egg (without leaving a replacement) she will decide the nest is not safe and start looking for a new nest site.  Many craft supply stores sell wood eggs and balls in different sizes.  Most birds can not count, so if you leave one wood egg she will continue to lay the second egg (day after day, as long as her biology will allow).  Sitting (in my experience) is started when she feels like she has the most eggs she can fit under her and keep warm.  If you want her to stop laying and encourage her to sit, you can remove the real egg and add wood egg every day. At some point she will stop laying and start sitting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Letting your bird sit a batch of wood eggs, should not be undertaken lightly and would be best addressed in a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T16:32:44.460" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2118" CreationDate="2014-02-03T18:53:28.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Expanding on kmm's comment, kmm's &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/7011/why-do-we-yawn&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; references &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brown.edu/Departments/EEB/brainerd_lab/brainerd-sicb-2004.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Brainerd at al. (2004)&lt;/a&gt; whom conclude:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yawing is common to all vertebrates and thus only seems to serve the purpose of stretching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, yawing is a sign of high nitric oxide levels.  Nitric oxide is also the hormone that results in blood-flow toward the genitals, and thus could just also be indicating that your pet is horny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, excessive yawning has been correlated with heart problems, and of course poor sleep (secondary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthonlinezine.info/excessive-yawning-could-be-a-sign-of-serious-disease.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ref here&lt;/a&gt;).  If your dog does yawn excessively, and it doesn't seem to be correlated with poor sleep / loud snoring, it may be worth it to have them examined by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2014-02-03T18:53:28.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2129" CreationDate="2014-02-03T19:42:14.077" Score="3" ViewCount="5725" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have metoclopromide (Reglan) oral solution in my &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit&quot;&gt;rabbit first aid kit&lt;/a&gt;.  It should be dispensed in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/archives/fdaDrugInfo.cfm?archiveid=3705&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;light-resistant&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/metoclopramide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tightly sealed&lt;/a&gt; container and stored at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drugs.com/pro/metoclopramide-oral-solution.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;room temperature&lt;/a&gt;. It has &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2123/my-rabbit-is-hyperventilating-and-cant-get-comfortable-what-is-wrong-with-her/2124#comment4652_2124&quot;&gt;been suggested&lt;/a&gt; that the shelf life of the product is fairly short.  But I am unable to find any reliable references discussing how often it should be replaced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any published information on how long the drug will remain viable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T04:23:45.157" Title="What is the shelf life of metoclopromide (Reglan)?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1618" CreationDate="2014-02-03T22:21:44.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maine Coons take 5 years to reach physical maturity. She's still growing. My male is quite lean -  he is one and my female is 9 months and she is much bigger than him.It depends what lines they come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="702" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T02:05:46.933" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T02:05:46.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2127" CreationDate="2014-02-03T23:13:00.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My veterinary pharmacist tells me it has a 1 month shelf life and cannot be frozen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to conflict with some literature that James dug up that suggests 6 months.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I did  stumble upon &lt;a href=&quot;http://globalrph.com/metoclopramide_dilution.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this technical document&lt;/a&gt; about parenteral preparations of metoclopromide.  It claimed that it's okay to freeze saline mixtures for 4 weeks, but that dextrose formulations will degrade metocloprmide.  Contrairly, it clamined that unfrozen, any mixture should be good for 24 hrs unprotected from light or 48 hrs if protected from light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheles, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2710.1997.tb00016.x/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research paper&lt;/a&gt; casts some doubt on about those clams.  Hor et. al found no apparent differenced between metaclopramide's stability at room temperature over a 48 hr time frame in either saline or dextrose solutions, or dark vs light conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In-contrast, during my attempt at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetdepot.com/metoclopramide-oral-solution-5-mg-5-ml-pint-473-ml.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;purchaseing the solution&lt;/a&gt; my self, the pharmacy assured me that their solution was good for greater than 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The discrepancies can best be attributed to formulation, and the addition of stabilizers to some products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-02-05T04:23:45.157" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T04:23:45.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2127" CreationDate="2014-02-03T23:31:42.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According the flyer for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.abbeyvet-export.co.uk/pdfs/EMEPRID%20-%20Anti-emetic%20and%20pro-kinetic%20Metoclopramide%20injectable%20and%20oral%20solution.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Emeprid Oral Solution 1 mg/ml metoclopramide(pdf)&lt;/a&gt;.  The oral solution has an unopened shelf life of 3 years, it is stable after opening for 6 months.  As mentioned in the question, it should be dispensed in a light-resistant, tightly sealed container and stored at room temperature.  There are some references suggesting it is ok to freeze for a short time, but all of these are for injectable when &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; mixed with sugar. The syrup is going to have sugar (or should have) so you are probably best to not freeze it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T23:43:48.787" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T23:43:48.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2102" CreationDate="2014-02-04T00:17:30.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very young kittens need a surprising amount of food due to their rapid growth. It might be that you just aren't giving enough.  You could try giving more to the young cat for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn't the issue, you could help out the nibbler by giving her only a part of her dish with the other kitten, then sneak in the rest in a separate session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T00:17:30.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2139" CreationDate="2014-02-04T06:52:25.620" Score="12" ViewCount="18967" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbor owns 2 Springer Spaniels that they never leash.  Our yard is divided by a low rock wall, whereas the neighbor to the other side has no such barrier.  Because of this, the dogs see my yard as &quot;outside their property&quot; and thus, like to use it for defecation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've complained several times, and occasionally they'll pretend to leash the dogs if they think I'm watching, but the minute I'm out of sight, and certainly when I'm not at home, the dogs are over in my yard again laying down land mines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried growing larger plants along the wall, but the dogs just go around the wall instead of over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also tried an ultrasonic dog deterrent, but it hurts my ears, and only seems to work uni-directionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've considered escalating this to the city, but we both use our yards frequently, so it seems like that solution wouldn't be worth the awkward discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:40:31.080" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:40:31.080" Title="How can I keep my neighbor's dogs out of my yard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2143" CreationDate="2014-02-04T07:03:57.307" Score="6" ViewCount="478" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently rescued a guinea pig, and it has clearly been trained to understand what the refrigerator door is and that treats usually come inside plastic crinkly things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, anytime he's active and I open the refrigerator door, or touch something wrapped in plastic, he goes off like an alarm (he wheets AKA weeks).  My girlfriend is taking classes and it can be quite distracting / annoying when all I want to do is cook some toast or ramen.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like it would be quite hard to separate those sounds from occasional treats, thus I'm wondering if its even possible to un-train him.  Are there any examples of un-training guinea pigs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T20:42:35.330" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T23:13:06.937" Title="How can I un-train a guinea pig so it won't 'wheet' when it hears plastic or the refrigerator door?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2142" CreationDate="2014-02-04T08:08:56.343" Score="6" ViewCount="10080" Body="&lt;p&gt;My young puppy (4 months old) is quite healthy as of today, but my vet mentioned that Royal Canin has &lt;code&gt;veterinary diet&lt;/code&gt; kibble for dogs with no clinical problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he's eating Royal Canin Medium for puppies (he's a pure breed Brittany Spaniel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with the veterinary diet food? Does it improve the overall diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T08:28:52.753" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T06:41:34.963" Title="Is Royal Canin veterinary diet for dogs better than regular diet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2135" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T09:16:58.747" Score="12" ViewCount="91687" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dogs are four and six years old. We have been feeding them twice a day since each was one year old. Recently I came across a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawboutique.com/dodisy.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;web page&lt;/a&gt; that argued quite well on the reasons why it is better to feed an adult dog only once a day. That text did not say (or I missed it) what would be a good time of day for feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On this site I found an answer to another question (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/633/278&quot;&gt;motionsickness in a car&lt;/a&gt;) where the answerer said &lt;em&gt;&quot;an adult dog only needs to be fed once a day and this is usually, best done in the evening.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, we are now willing to change our routine and start feeding the dogs only once a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is evening better? The food we give our dogs is dry pellets, which in my imagination makes for easy digestion. Won't the dogs then have empty stomach by the next day and won't that make them restlessly looking for the next bowlful of food? My family is away from home during the day and I'd like our dogs to calmly rest that time. Wouldn't it be good to give them food in the morning before we leave for work and school?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2019-03-05T14:08:30.543" Title="What time of day to feed our adult dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1402" CreationDate="2014-02-04T09:32:06.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/eye-problems-boxer-dog-6138.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt; boxers are more likely than other breeds to suffer from cherry eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, &lt;a href=&quot;http://forums.thebump.com/post/quote/8982321/Comment_73848664&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this comment&lt;/a&gt; (full thread &lt;a href=&quot;http://forums.thebump.com/discussion/8982321/dog-anal-gland-problems?scrollreply=1#Form_Comment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) confirms that boxers are one of a few breeds that may need their anal glands expressed in-order to avoid dis-comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T09:32:06.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2014-02-04T09:42:08.137" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm tempted to suggest simply trapping the &quot;stray&quot; dogs and taking them to the nearest pet shelter, but this would surely hurt the relationship between you and your neighbour. On the other hand, your neighbour is already hurting that relationship by letting those dogs out free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs pooping on your yard is an issue to be taken to your local government, but I'm unsure about which department would it belong to. It is a health and sanitation related issue. Have you consulted any such department yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/PlanningEcDev/Divisions/ParkingBylawServices/MunicipalLawEnforcement/&quot;&gt;Here's how they do it in Hamilton.&lt;/a&gt; Quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...providing a community mediator who will work with participants to try to resolve some or all of the issues. We believe that an open, non-threatening discussion will assist in resolving matters and help to improve the quality of life in neighbourhoods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Matters listed on the page include &lt;em&gt;&quot;Yard maintenance - Dog feces (accumulation in yards)&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They really care about the people and relationships between neighbours there in Hamilton, and I think you have not yet fully explored the ways of help you can get from city officials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T09:42:08.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T11:56:29.063" Score="9" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question was inspired by a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2122/cockatiel-going-into-tight-spaces-and-getting-angry/2125#comment4650_2125&quot;&gt;comment to my answer to &quot;Cockatiel going into tight spaces&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_binding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; on egg binding explains that it is a medical condition where a bird is unable to pass an egg lodged inside them.  The Wikipedia article is primarily about reptiles.  I am concerned about birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there specific causes of egg binding in birds and if so, what are they?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to decrease the probability of egg binding occurring? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell if my bird is egg-bound, and if she is, how can I address it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T20:27:43.743" Title="What is the cause, prevention, and remedy for an egg-bound bird?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2014-02-04T15:52:19.993" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Esa Paulasto is correct that at this point, taking it up with your local government department that handles this is probably the next step to take. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could look into the laws in your town, I know most towns I've lived in had laws where it's required for people to clean up after their pets. Leash laws would also come into effect here if your town has those. For either of these, you can call your local police on their non-emergency number, and they'll probably send out an animal control officer to check it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as deterrents go, most deterrents that will work are also bad for your lawn. Mothballs and ammonia are two that I can think of. You could try a motion activated lawn sprinkler, but some dogs like to play in sprinklers, so it might not have the desired effect. Springer Spaniels are hunting dogs, and I would be willing to bet that they'll get over any initial shock over the sprinkler pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard ground pepper suggested before, so if you can buy ground pepper in bulk, you could sprinkle that around. The idea is that it irritates the dog as they're sniffing for a spot, so they look somewhere else. Ashes, especially tobacco ashes, should work in the same effect too. I don't know if either would have any effect on the grass. I'd think they would also wash away in rain pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't too worried about your relationship between you and your neighbor, an effective way to get the message across, and to get them to at least make sure their dogs don't go on your lawn, is to send the dog's poop back to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put it in a bag, and attach it to the dog's collar so the dog brings it back with them. (Only works if you can catch the dog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put it in a bag or a box, and leave it on their doorstep. (Passive-aggressive bonus if you leave a note saying they forgot it, extra bonus if you don't use a bag or a box.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight up, just toss the waste back into their yard so they can deal with it like they're supposed to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd start with the government officials and deterrents first though, as it's best to avoid wars with your neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T15:52:19.993" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2158" CreationDate="2014-02-04T18:13:19.373" Score="7" ViewCount="3080" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog always seems angry with me when I return from my office.  This behavior is regular and he bites almost all of my family members, but still we want our dog to be with us. Any idea why is he behaving like this?  Any solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="704" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T17:33:10.853" LastActivityDate="2016-08-28T11:28:47.280" Title="Why is my dog always angry with me when I return from my office?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2134" CreationDate="2014-02-04T18:53:09.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately many vets will recommend a food brand that they are essentially sponsored by.  Vets do nit receive much training on nutrition during their schooling and will therefore rely on the marketing information provided to them from the company they are  sponsored by.  Vets will earn a commission for each bag they sell.  The most common brands you will find in vet offices include royal canin, science diet, eukaneuba, or iams.  These are not high quality foods and are mostly made up of fillers such as corn and low quality meat products...sometimes they don't even specify the type of protein...so it is just scrapings left over from regular meat processing - might have chicken and beef or pork no way to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend you visit www.DogFoodAdvisor.com to learn about dog food make ups.  They have very detailed reviews and they can help you learn how to select a healthy food choice for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly any very that tries to sell you a prescription diet for a healthy normal puppy is just looking to make money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="705" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T18:53:09.330" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2134" CreationDate="2014-02-04T18:54:35.650" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Asking what constitutes a &lt;em&gt;&quot;good&quot;&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;&quot;bad&quot;&lt;/em&gt; diet for dogs, cats, and other pets is a topic which people often have strong opinions about. This makes it difficult to reply objectively to questions like this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most people accept that the manufacturers market their products to people ... not the animals, obviously ... by resorting to emotional appeals rather than verified health benefits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One has to dig into the ingredients listed on the package to make a more informed choice.  Even then the discussion is seldom definitive. There are many ingredients best described as &lt;em&gt;&quot;controversial&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. By this I mean many people have strong, anecdotal feelings that an ingredient is bad in some way. But there are no definitive scientific studies which prove that its use leads to health problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, lack of proof is also not proof that an ingredient is benign. It merely means we don't know. Hence the frequently expressed strong opinions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One source I have referred to is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;the Dog Food Advisor site&quot;&gt;Dog Food Advisor&lt;/a&gt; site. What I like about the site is that the commentary discusses each ingredient listed on the package. They offer brief, understandable explanations for cryptic industry terms such as &lt;code&gt;brewers rice&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;chicken by-product meal&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to their comments on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/royal-canin-medium-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;review on Dog Food Advisor site&quot;&gt;Royal Canin Medium (Dry)&lt;/a&gt;. If you refer to it, you should cross check the ingredients on the food you are feeding your puppy to be sure they are talking about the product you are using. They do not rate each product in a manufacturer's line. Instead, they select one product in the line to represent the others on the assumption that they will be essentially identical.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not be sure which Royal Canin product your vet was talking about from the information you provided in your question. I noticed that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;the Dog Food Advisor site&quot;&gt;Dog Food Advisor&lt;/a&gt; does not discuss veterinary food products.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal opinion is that Royal Canin does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; impress me as dog food goes. But it is &quot;better&quot; in terms of the quality of the ingredients than a lot of other lower cost, foods.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;the Dog Food Advisor site&quot;&gt;Dog Food Advisor&lt;/a&gt;  ranks it as 2.5 out of 5 or (slightly below) average by their criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also not sure what benefits the Royal Canin sold by your vet would offer. Do you have a specific product name? I personally would feel a lot better about a product recommendation if I knew that the vet would not benefit financially from it. But who knows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="685" LastEditorUserId="685" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T15:32:11.620" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T15:32:11.620" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2133" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:05:44.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What your guinea pig is showing out is called conditioned behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An experiment with chicken: Two cages of chickens had a similar food automatic device. The automat gave a grain of food when a chicken pecked a button next to the automat. In cage A the automat gave the prize every time the button was pecked. In cage B the automat, with no pattern, sometimes gave a prize and sometimes it did not. In both cages the chickens quickly learned to use the automatic to get the prize; the grain of food. That's conditioning with food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interesting part (considering your question) is what happened when the experiment had been going on for a length of time and then the automat was turned Off. In cage A the chickens gave up pecking the button quite soon, but in cage B the chickens kept on pecking the button a very long time after the automat was turned Off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For un-conditioning your pet from its acquired behaviour the first thing to take care of is to never again offer him/her the prize right there in your kitchen when s/he comes running. (The word &lt;em&gt;&quot;wheet&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is unfamiliar to me and also to those online dictionaries I searched.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing to do is to give the prize in an agreed upon (with your better half) spot somewhere in your home. A good place might be near the pet's cage. Whenever you want to give a treat to your pet, always take it to that spot. This way s/he will learn to wait there when hearing the sound of possible treats. I do this with my dogs. Any treat, like a leftover carrot when I prepare a dinner, I give in a certain spot outside kitchen. Our older dog likes a piece of carrot and goes to the right spot to wait when he hears me cutting carrots. I haven't trained any guinea pigs, but I see no reason why this might not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with the chickens in cage B, the re-conditioning of your guinea pig will take time. The real hazard to the success is those accidental drops of treats that your pet has learned to wait. Accidental drops in kitchen may turn the task an impossible one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Something to read:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Not related to this problem at hand, but otherwise rather interesting article about animal core instinct vs. conditioned behavior. &lt;a href=&quot;http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Breland/misbehavior.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link to article.&lt;/a&gt; The core instinct eventually wins over conditioning.&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T22:17:02.233" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T22:17:02.233" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:19:49.393" Score="4" ViewCount="789" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reluctant to ask this question as there many lists like this all over the net.  However, another &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2133/how-can-i-un-train-a-guinea-pig-so-it-wont-wheet-when-it-hears-plastic-or-the?noredirect=1#comment4702_2133&quot;&gt;question I had about cavies&lt;/a&gt; made that there isn't a good list of all synonyms and what information is availalbe isn't presented as clearly as one would hope.  Therefore, I'm hoping this community can compile a comprehensive list of the onomatopoeias used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Most guinea pig noises are described by several different onomatopoeias, what triggers have they been associated with?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T22:52:39.717" Title="What distinct sounds do guinea pigs make? and what onomatopoeias are commonly used to describe them?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:30:06.960" Score="5" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an urban area and I don't have a car so it's not practical to go to the pet shop every week to pick up new live insects when I don't need anything else from there. There are plenty of suppliers online for live insects - the pet shop itself has its own website, as well as assorted vendors on Amazon and other places. When choosing where to buy them from, what factors should I consider? Or should I just try a few sellers out and judge the quality of the insects that they send? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T14:35:47.930" LastActivityDate="2014-12-08T14:35:47.930" Title="How do I choose a good supplier for buying insects online?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2148" CreationDate="2014-02-04T19:30:29.887" Score="7" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cavy is interacting poorly with my rabbits and it seems to primarily be based around hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shelter that I rescued my guinea pig doesn't fix their guinea pigs because they claim they are &quot;too small&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this makes sense for me with respect to spaying, it seems to me that because neutering is so much less invasive the procedure should be rather trivial.  Am I wrong?  are there other reasons, aside from removing it's ability to breed that I would not want to neuter my cavy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-23T08:31:51.167" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T08:31:51.167" Title="What are the arguments against neutering a guinea pig?" Tags="&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2145" CreationDate="2014-02-04T20:03:14.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reviews help a lot, so when you're looking, make sure you can read what other people are saying they received. If there aren't any reviews, it's just a shot in the dark. A lot of places will only take orders on Mondays through Wednesdays, so that the crickets won't be sitting in a box over the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to keep in mind though, is that crickets have a pretty short lifespan as adults, and they're extremely susceptible to temperature drops, mishandling, and other factors. So No matter what, you'll have some dead crickets in your order from a combination of crickets that were old and going to die during the shipping process, and some that couldn't handle the stress of bouncing around, if there wasn't enough food packed with them, they'll start to eat each other, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The temperature shouldn't be too big of a factor unless it gets cold where you are right now. Basically you want to avoid ordering crickets in the winter, and if you do, don't let them sit outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the space it's really easy to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1932/is-it-possible-to-breed-crickets-for-food&quot;&gt;breed your own crickets&lt;/a&gt;. Especially if you start by ordering several hundred online, you'll have a good start towards a colony where you'd only want to get some new crickets every few months or so, just to keep from inbreeding them too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as other insects go, I don't have too much experience with them, but generally speaking they should all be hardier than crickets. Mealworms and superworms are generally kept refrigerated anyways, so unless it's extremely cold outside, they should be fine with a little temperature drop. Since they are larvae, if you're shipped some that are at the end of their larval stage, it's possible you might get a couple that have turned into beetles. Which is something that you might want to check if you're buying them in a store anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dubia roaches are cockroaches so they'll survive the apocalypse I'd think. I'd be worried about the caterpillar type feeder insects like hornworms. I haven't had any experience with them, but I imagine them to be fairly sensitive to temperatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T16:21:32.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2146" CreationDate="2014-02-04T20:05:27.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several guinea pig references say the same thing, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cavy Spirit&lt;/a&gt; is pretty well known&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only valid, non-medical reason to neuter your male guinea pig is&#xA;  because you have a female you want him to room with. Neutering does&#xA;  little to change the behavior of aggressive guinea pigs, unlike the&#xA;  effect it has on other types of animals. Likewise, neutering does&#xA;  little to curb mounting or sexual behavior. It will prevent unwanted&#xA;  pregnancies. There is no need or reason to neuter two boars living&#xA;  together. If they don't get along now, neutering won't help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further down the page they go into some detail on what makes this surgery so difficult and risky, so it's something to keep in mind as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The testicles of dogs and cats are relatively prominent and outside of&#xA;  their body. The inguinal (groin) rings of guinea pigs are open and&#xA;  testicles can be retracted into the abdomen. If not done properly, the&#xA;  abdominal contents can prolapse through the suture sites, causing&#xA;  death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T20:05:27.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2118" CreationDate="2014-02-04T20:37:18.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yawning is also known as a calming signal in dogs.  Meaning that a dog will yawn when it is over stressed and is either trying to tell another dog to calm down or trying to calm himself down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example if my dog is too excited and I ask him to sit or lay down....he needs a way to disperse that excess energy and will give a big yawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A shy dog might yawn a lot if he is in a situation where he is uncomfortable like meeting new people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do google searches for Turid Rugaas and calming signals and you will learn about all the different little body language hints our dogs give us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.turid-rugaas.no/calming-signals---the-art-of-survival.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link to Turid's website describing the list of calming signals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="705" LastEditorUserId="705" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T20:42:55.763" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T20:42:55.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2155" CreationDate="2014-02-04T21:16:08.120" Score="7" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently moved from a condo to a full house with a yard and would like some pointers on how best to introduce a dog to the new household, a household which will no doubt have a range of foreign, strange smells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a 2 year old Basset hound male, he is very mild tempered, happy go lucky and submissive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, The next door neighbour's dog is a very vocal and dominant 'guard dog' for the neighbouring yard (fully fenced).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we make the transition as stress-free as possible for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="686" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T22:24:30.990" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T08:56:44.733" Title="How can I introduce my dog to a new home with minimal stress?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2123" CreationDate="2014-02-04T21:17:05.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I awarded James the answer because the case study he linked to mentions x-rays, which would have been the best way to rule out neurological issues such as bacterial and lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;However, I wanted to clarify what I perceive to be the answers to the questions I posed:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why was my rabbit hyperventilating?:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;She likely was in extreme pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why was she shifting so much and acting uncomfortable?:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, she was in pain, most likely from gas (or possibly a hair ball).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her diet had changed due to an increased availability of fresh greens are required to maintain a guinea pig.  Moreover, her stress levels were risen by the new addition which likely caused digestive problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What problems might her behavior been a symptom of?:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pain&lt;/em&gt;:  Internal issue, most likely a GI problem, or a physical injury such as broken bone, or puncture wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neurological Issues&lt;/em&gt;: Lead poising, or &lt;em&gt;E. cuniculi&lt;/em&gt; infection&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How should I have gone about diagnosing the actual problem?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit should have had an X-ray at while at the ER/vet to determine if there was indeed some GI blockage or gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not blockages or gas are found, then blood work / a chem panel should be done to rule out led and other toxins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I treat the rabbit (in the event of gas or GI blockage)&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buprenex (for pain), simethicone (for gas), and metoclopramide (for motility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Force feed critical care if the rabbit isn't eating to avoid GI stasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current status&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was droopy again yesterday (but seemed to be in less pain) simethicone, and metoclopramide seem to have cleared up the problem and she's fine today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-01-20T22:23:45.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2152" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2154" CreationDate="2014-02-04T21:56:43.200" Score="17" ViewCount="65315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that my cat's nose gets wet from time to time.  I called the vet and he told me that I should observe the cat's activities: whether it starts being miserable, whether it eats less, etc.  None of them happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every night when my girlfriend and I go to bed, my cat lies between us for a while, always purring.  And her nose &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; gets wet.  So, I realized that my cat's nose basically just gets wet when she purrs.  All the rest of the day, it seems to be dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of her activities have changed; the only change I can think of is that recently she has started sleeping longer hours, but that could be caused by her age as she's not as young as she was (2 years and a half now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does her nose get wet when purring? Should this be something to worry about?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-04T22:26:30.243" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T17:39:49.210" Title="Why does my cat's nose get wet when purring?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2144" CreationDate="2014-02-04T22:35:06.337" Score="6" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Guinea Pig Onomatopoeias and Their Meanings&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weeak:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; wheet. whistle, &lt;code&gt;squeek&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;squeel&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Excitement, anticipation; a call for attention, usually in association food associated sounds, requests for help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hesitant Week&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Uncertain Beg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt;  Unclean cage, or a guess that food is near by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Shriek (high pitched wheek)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; scream, &lt;code&gt;squeel&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Pain, or great fear, or warning to stay away&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bubble&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;code&gt;squeak&lt;/code&gt; (shopping cart wheel)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Contentment, usually accompanied by occasional purring&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Purr&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes confused with a rumble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Happyness, Joy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Durr&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Short Purr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Noises that frighten the guinea pig, annoyances&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rumble&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Deep Purr, Coo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Mating call&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Chut&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Chubble, Mutter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Freedom, exploration, contentment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Whine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Moan, Complaining&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; A pig is disturbed by another in it's own cage, or dislikes the way a human is touching it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Chirp&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; singing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Unknown; possibly because a guinea pig was startled, or just because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Chuffing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; (teeth) chatter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Angry, Upset guinea pig with the potential to become hostile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hissing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt; (none)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Causes:&lt;/strong&gt; Anger, agitation; usually accompanies by teeth chattering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[Jackie's Gunnie pigs]((&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigsounds.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigsounds.html&lt;/a&gt;) is a good reference that has recordings of many of the guinea pig noises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guinealynx.info/behavior.html#chirping&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guinea Linx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guineapigcorner.com/sounds-and-noises&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guinea Pig Cornner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/guineapigs/a/gpbehavior.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;About.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guineapigmanual.com/guinea-pig-sounds/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guinea Pig Manual&lt;/a&gt; also has example noises&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aboutguinea.com/guinea-pig-sounds/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;All about Guinea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-02-04T22:35:06.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2014-02-05T02:53:44.817" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often cats will drool when they're happy. My youngest boy will drool a big puddle on me every day if I let him. I suspect that your cat's nose is getting wet from a small amount of drool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally drool isn't anything to worry about. It can indicate state of mind (cats drool when they're happy/relaxed, and also when they're nervous). However, drool can occasionally indicate dental problems, especially if your cat has started eating less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A two and a half year old shouldn't have a drastic change in schedule, so depending on how much more she's sleeping it may be worth a call to your vet. Make sure you're specific about how much more she's sleeping (if she's not greeting you at the door after work, that's probably not a big deal, but if she doesn't wake up for meals or playtime, that's a much bigger concern).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T02:53:44.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2150" CreationDate="2014-02-05T08:56:44.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you arrive take him for a long walk around the new neighbourhood before entering the house with him. when you get back to the new house provide food and water and prepare his new sleeping place with his blanket/pillow that he normally sleeps on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will tire him out and the sleeping spot will provide a familiar scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible coordinate with the neighbour to introduce him to his dog, if they hit it off then you just found a potential dog-sitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T08:56:44.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-05T13:37:24.907" Score="7" ViewCount="8378" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no intention of doing this myself, but I saw some photos on Facebook of someone's bearded lizard with painted toenails and I was curious. Apart from the look of the thing (I'm not in favour, personally, but it's clearly opinion based!) I was wondering if this was safe or not. Could it damage your lizard? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I see at least two possible hazard areas:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the nail varnish itself being toxic and either being absorbed through the nails or swallowed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the nail varnish flaking off and posing a choking hazard, particularly for a smaller reptile like a gecko&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If toxicity is a problem, are children's nail varnishes less toxic? And if it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; all right to use nail varnish on a reptile, how would it be safely removed? Leaving it to flake off could be a problem if the lizard eats it, but I would think any commercial nail varnish removers would be more of a problem than the nail varnish itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2016-09-18T04:02:31.280" Title="Is it safe to paint the toenails of a reptile, or does it pose a hazard to the reptile?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2140" CreationDate="2014-02-05T13:39:24.550" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, first of all, I don't think it's anger. Behaviors like this are often a result of earlier &quot;play&quot; with the dog that was a little more physical than appropriate and so the dog learns that biting is a part of play. I can't say, for sure, if this is your case, but it's a common cause. Net effect, this may be a sign that the dog misses you and wants to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the problem here is that the biting is not desirable. The key to that is to make sure that you don't reward the behavior, even unintentionally. Also, don't engage in physical punishment. The idea here is to encourage the good behavior so that the dog learns to gravitate to that rather than the undesirable behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he starts to bite when you return, you should stop any interaction, gently extricate yourself, and give some verbal clue such as &quot;no!&quot; to the dog. Do not try to move away (you may be sending a chase play signal) or try to calm him with petting as this would be rewarding the behavior. Ideally, if you can treat or reward him for the times he does &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; bite when you come home, then you'll start to encourage that behavior as a reaction to when you come in the door. In other words, treat when he responds well, no treat when he nips and bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T13:39:24.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2160" CreationDate="2014-02-05T14:11:53.233" Score="9" ViewCount="15469" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/amphibians/1016518-axolotl-quextion.html&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; on an amphibians forum. The answers provided on there were contradictory and I was hoping we could do better here on Pets.SE. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have had my first axolotl for four months now. She lives in a tank on her own at the moment, but I was hoping to get her a friend. I'd like to get a second axolotl and a pleco. Would these three animals be compatible to keep together? What environment variables should I take into account when considering introducing multiple animals in the same aquarium? Her tank is 18°C, 96 litre, 3 foot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T14:19:55.297" LastActivityDate="2018-10-04T20:24:46.060" Title="Are axolotls and plecos compatible?" Tags="&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;&lt;salamanders&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2159" CreationDate="2014-02-05T15:33:23.017" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several problems I can see with putting an Axolotl and a Pleco together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Space.&lt;/strong&gt; Axolotls generally get to be about 12-14 inches in length, while common plecos will get to be about 2 feet long when they're fully grown. A common pleco itself needs a minimum of a 40 gallon(about 150 litre) aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Temperature&lt;/strong&gt;. Axolotls are naturally from coldwater streams/lakes, while freshwater fish kept as pets are generally from warm/tropical streams/lakes. The temperature range for axolotls is about 60-65°F (16°C-18°C), while the temperature range for plecos is about 72°F-82°F (23°C-28°C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you could find a coldwater fish and keep them with the axolotl, but the main problem with keeping things with axolotls is that they try to eat everything. I know some people who will feed guppies to their axolotls. So my worry is that if the pleco isn't the same size as the axolotl to start with, the axolotl will try to eat it. Plecos have bones in their fins that would catch in the axolotl's throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aggregated list of disasters&lt;/a&gt; involving people mixing species. One of which is a pleco and an axolotl. These are the worst case scenarios, but it's all there to show that these things do happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings up my next worry, that plecos are notorious for chewing on everything. They commonly suck the slime coating off of other fish, causing them to get sick. I'd be worried about other fish as well, I'd be willing to bet any fish would nibble at the axolotl's gills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, the best companion for an axolotl is another axolotl. I don't think the risk of the axolotl choking on a fish, or a fish chewing on the axolotl's gills, is worth any perceived friendship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I know people who keep apple snails in their axolotl tanks to take care of the algae, but that is because the snails can be big enough that the axolotl's can't eat them. You have to get one that's as big as the axolotl's head, or you'll be pulling it out of it's mouth later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that ghost shrimp are ignored by axolotl's pretty regularly, so if you're looking to have something in your tank other than axolotls, that would be my suggestion. Worst case scenario is that they get eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.axolotl.org/housing.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Axolotls Housing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.axolotl.org/requirements.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Axolotls Water Requirements&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-10-04T20:24:46.060" LastActivityDate="2018-10-04T20:24:46.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2157" CreationDate="2014-02-05T15:52:29.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see bearded dragons dressed up, and with painted nails all the time, so I wouldn't say it's terrible. But I wouldn't say it's a good idea either. At this point, I haven't come across anything that suggests any harmful side-effects of doing it, so if the bearded dragon is healthy, it should theoretically be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with it, is that bearded dragons like to test things with their tongues, so they'll probably test the new &quot;stuff&quot; on their feet before it's dry and, as you said, if they see the chips lying around they'll probably try at least one. At 100ºF, I'd say the nail polish would chip pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to paint your bearded dragon's nails, I'd suggest that you at least use children's nail polish, as they're generally made to be less toxic than the stuff made for adults. There is non-toxic nail polish made for dogs and cats, so if it's possible to get a hold of that, I'd say that's the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T15:52:29.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2165" CreationDate="2014-02-05T16:36:15.360" Score="8" ViewCount="1174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have crickets that are laying eggs in a dirt bin. I've noticed tiny eggs that look like super small grains of semi-translucent rice. I'm curious, is it possible that a female cricket might lay barren eggs (non-fertilized)? Some animals I know will lay barren eggs regardless of whether or not they have bred (unrelated, but chickens being the most famous example), but also other insects, and especially some of the reptiles I keep. I couldn't find any information on this online so I'm hoping all the eggs they lay are indeed fertilized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any reason for suspicion comes from the fact that as soon as I put a small container of moist dirt in their bin, the females immediately stuck their ovipositors in the dirt and they had only been together for five minutes after I took them home from a reptile shop, which is a little suspicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight would be much appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditDate="2014-02-05T19:28:37.080" LastActivityDate="2018-06-22T18:10:21.813" Title="Will crickets lay barren eggs?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2164" CreationDate="2014-02-05T16:50:14.320" Score="12" ViewCount="21124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Found this question on a leopard geckos group on Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My new gecko keeps digging in her earth. As soon as I flatten and evenly spread it out she pushes it all back to the same spot and sits on top of it. Could this be a sign of eggs? Or is it stress-related? The guy I brought her from said she's 6 months but she's very small for that age so I'd say 4 maybe 5 months at most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best answer they had on there was&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;since theres a few of us with same issue im guessing its pretty normal? if you cant see any eggs and the fact shes so young suggests just behaviour rather than preperation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so I'm hoping some experts on here can clear it up so I can link this page to the person who was concerned :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T04:30:59.450" Title="My leopard gecko is digging. Does this mean she's gravid and trying to lay eggs?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2163" CreationDate="2014-02-05T17:55:07.870" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is about the end of their mating season (Jan 1st to Feb 1st), so it's possible that she's building a nest for eggs. It could just be instinct to do it, so unless she's been exposed to a male (they can store sperm for later), I wouldn't worry too much about finding eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally they won't lay eggs unless they're fertilized, although it is possible. But if she's still eating and defecating like normal, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since they live in the desert naturally, it's pretty ingrained into their behaviour to dig. When I used to work with them, I would find them dug underneath their water dish all the time. It's just a matter of them feeling comfortable I think. In the wild, they would dig to make a place to rest/sleep and be safe from predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T17:55:07.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2162" CreationDate="2014-02-05T20:35:02.910" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible, but I consider it unlikely. I found a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flukerfarms.com/pdfs/cricket.pdf&quot;&gt;reference guide for the life cycle of crickets&lt;/a&gt; if you want to look through that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, female crickets can store enough sperm to lay eggs (roughly) every other day for about two or three weeks. At that point, she would probably come across another male cricket, and they would mate, giving her enough sperm to continue on for another two or three weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of mating this way, rather than having to mate before each clutch of eggs, is that they can breed quickly, without having to spend effort searching for a mate. It's more likely that in passively searching for a mate while laying eggs, that they're going to run across one, then if they had to actively search for one before laying eggs. Also, most would get eaten if they had to search for mates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since crickets at the pet stores aren't separated by sex. They're able to mate, but don't have anyplace to lay their eggs. The females will just hold onto the sperm until they can find a place to lay eggs, and when you take them home and give them some dirt, that's all they really needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-05T20:35:02.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2167" CreationDate="2014-02-06T00:59:41.240" Score="13" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I was mounting the other day, I was advised to give two things to the horse I was mounting, water and salt. The water is somewhat obvious but the salt left me curious, why is that I should give salt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="712" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T03:27:21.520" Title="Why should I give salt to a horse?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2166" CreationDate="2014-02-06T03:27:21.520" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Salt controls the hydration level of the horse and is generally absent from their normal diet, in comparison to mineral requirements such as potassium, hence the reason you need to provide it. If the sodium level of the horse is below optimal, the horse's body will act to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/electrolyte-products-should-match-horse-sweat/&quot;&gt;conserve the salt levels&lt;/a&gt; in their body at the expense of other minerals and water, leading to dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, for the horse to maintain a healthy water level, you need to provide &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalhorse.com/archive/volume1/Issue6/article_1.php&quot;&gt;sufficient salt&lt;/a&gt; to prevent them from shedding too much water to relieve heat in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T03:27:21.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2171" CreationDate="2014-02-06T15:33:04.403" Score="14" ViewCount="5740" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two Labradors, a male and female from the same litter, that we got when they were two months.  They are now 5 months old. They are both very friendly and loving with the kids, but the female seems to be afraid of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I call for the female, who is also smaller than the male, she really avoids me.  She will normally cower and urinate on the spot most times when I call her.  The male dog is very confident. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My one theory is that because the male is very dominant over her and a little jealous, she is afraid he will hurt her if I show her affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility I have thought of is that her reaction stems from when I have been reprimanding them (often accompanied by a smack) to discourage defecating on the porch and jumping up on us and the children, but then I wonder why only she is afraid and not the male, as both have been reprimanded the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: I found an interesting article about Submissive Urination which describes a number of causes and how to address them. Thanks for all the input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogcareclassroom.com/dog-submissive-urination/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dogcareclassroom.com/dog-submissive-urination/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="713" LastEditorUserId="3708" LastEditDate="2015-03-02T05:11:26.597" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T20:04:14.097" Title="Why does my dog urinate when I call her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2014-02-06T16:09:21.810" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Urination like this is often a result of either fear or excitement and excitement is clearly not the case. So, I'm basically convinced that it's because of striking her. Physical punishment, like that, can lead to extreme fear which, in turn, can lead to urination happening out of that fear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, she now believes that when you call her name that you're most likely going to strike her and so she reacts. Not all dogs react to these things the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, corporal punishment is usually not effective. You're are assuming that the dog can connect the misdeed with the punishment and that's often not the case. What often happens is that the punishment becomes connected with the one administering it. I find, with most animals, it's generally better to work with a reward model to encourage desirable behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T16:09:21.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2014-02-06T16:11:29.357" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just because both dogs have been getting the same reprimands does not mean they will react the same way. If the female has more of a submissive personality to begin with, which it sounds like from your other statements, she is very likely to have a stronger fear response. As a result, she is learning to associate her name -- or at least, her name when called by you -- with punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try positively loading the word by saying her name and then reinforcing with something positive: a treat, a favorite toy, a gentle scritch, whatever she likes. Start by doing that several times in a row -- name, treat, name, treat -- a couple of times a day. Since she seems to be afraid that the male will intervene, do this with the male closed in another room to remove that external stimulus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she is more comfortable with you calling her name, reintroduce the male during these times, but be ready to remove him again if he does try to interfere with your affection to the female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(On a side note, the best way to discourage jumping, I've found, is to just turn your body away from them when they jump, and give a firm &quot;No!&quot; or &quot;No jump!&quot; Follow that with an alternate command, like &quot;Sit&quot; and then treat and pet when they do. The point is to let them know that if they want affection, they have to ask for it the right way -- by sitting, not jumping. Always replace a negative behavior with a positive one so they can learn what they &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; do.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T16:11:29.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2356" CreationDate="2014-02-06T16:16:41.380" Score="8" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dogs absolutely love these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puredog.co.uk/our-products/stagbar-antler-dog-chews/&quot;&gt;Stagbar dog chews&lt;/a&gt;. They are the only treat I can find which keeps our dogs interested and is durable enough to last more than a few hours (the large ones usually last a few weeks). One of our two dogs also has severe trouble digesting normal bones/rawhide treats but these don't seem to have any adverse effects at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However recently, our local pet store has stopped stocking them. I was wondering if there was maybe something wrong with them that they've stopped selling them? They also seem to be very low on stock on Amazon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any similar alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Took Ashley's advice and e-mailed the supplier - they replied with the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Due to the popularity of the product we saw a huge spike in demand&#xA;  Sept/Oct last year. As a result we ran the whole European stock out&#xA;  before the new shed antler arrives in April.   As you know it’s a&#xA;  natural product and we can’t just produce as much as we want.   We&#xA;  hope to have Pets at home restocked in March and have sourced some&#xA;  antler from the Southern hemisphere but it takes a long time to get&#xA;  here and get all the correct government paperwork in place.   So&#xA;  hopefully during March you should see a return to normal, but in the&#xA;  meantime if you do require some we are keeping a small supply&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is good news and alleviates any concerns I had about the product, but I'd still like to know if there are any similar alternatives, given the apparent supply shortage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastEditorUserId="14" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T09:25:03.013" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T02:37:24.337" Title="Are there alternatives to Stagbar antler chews?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2014-02-06T17:01:31.077" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember that a dog does not have a &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; really. We humans think it as a name, but for a dog it is just another command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name should be a &amp;quot;call to attention&amp;quot;. For example, when you say the dog's name and then another command, like &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Tina, come!&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; then, what the dog hears, is &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;You there, not the other one but you, run here doubletime!&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; That's the proper way a dog should take its name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog urinate when I call her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female dog in question has got her name a bit wrong now. Looks like she takes it as verbal punishment. It is confusing to her, because she doesn't understand why you are punishing her again, and confusing to you because you only called her name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a dog's name only for its attention. Nothing else. The dog is not supposed to come running to you when you only call its name. What should happen when you say/yell a dog's name is that the dog raises its head and turns to look at you. With the name you now have the dog's attention and &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; you can tell it what you want done, whether it is &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;come&amp;quot; or whatnot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T20:04:14.097" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T20:04:14.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2195" CreationDate="2014-02-06T20:02:46.387" Score="11" ViewCount="2489" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2169/why-does-my-dog-urinate-when-i-call-her/2170#2170&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; got me thinking, is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;corporal punishment&lt;/a&gt; really an effective training method for dogs?  Without doubt there are people firmly on both sides of any position like this, so answers that we have always done it 'this way' are not what I am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any reliable studies, showing the effectiveness of corporal punishment, versus other training methods in dogs?  Alternately any studies that show effectiveness of any particular line of training that be compared in your answer to corporal punishment as a method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T12:25:06.763" Title="Is corporal punishment an effective training method for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2169" CreationDate="2014-02-06T20:52:22.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second the corporal punishment concept. It is likely the association of a the smack (hit) is tied to the calling of the dog's name. If the reprimand is to occur, it must occur before or at the very moment of the action you are trying to correct and not afterwards as a dog has no concept of the connection between the two. Calling a dog over to reprimand or strike him/her only associates the reprimand with the tone of voice with which you used to call the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I add that additionally, I had two labs as well with the roles reversed. The female being dominant over the male (both the same age). The male cowered (but did not pee) and hesitated when offered treats because of the female dog would regularly take the treat from him afterwards. As an alpha male (the owner) I spent many years reprimanding the female dog when when she exhibited dominant behavior until the male dog unlearned the submissiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="719" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T20:52:22.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2183" CreationDate="2014-02-06T21:01:41.753" Score="6" ViewCount="372" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently rescued our dog (6-12 months old), who was very undernourished and slept quite often. As we've done with other pets, we attempted to crate train him. At first, it didn't appear that he had any issue with the crate and would not bark or show any signs of distress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This changed once we took him to the vet for the first time. He received some pills and vaccinations to prepare him for the being around other dogs. That night, he began barking quite loudly in his crate for 10-15 minutes before giving up and going to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that the vet gave him some type of medicine that could have caused this change in behavior? Or, is this behavior symptomatic of his health quality increasing, and with that, additional energy to express his distaste for being crated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what the reason, are there any suggestions for dealing with this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T05:30:06.090" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T07:21:56.427" Title="How do I stop a crated dog from barking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2133" CreationDate="2014-02-06T23:13:06.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Esa answered the question well and thus have awarded him the answer.   Nevertheless, I'm finding it impractical to move the pet every time I want to feed it (unfortunately all food is considered a reward to a guinea pig).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since nearly all guinea pigs hate to be picked up, the act of picking him up when her wheets seems to be a great negative conditioner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, going forward, I plan to use these same conditioning techniques to re-associate wheeting with being picked up, instead of being rewarded.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I  will update this answer with results or changes in a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2014-02-06T23:13:06.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2176" CreationDate="2014-02-07T02:14:39.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, giving them a soft toy a plush animal for example, with your scent in it did wonders for me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;28 Years old&#xA;Lived with and helped raise 7 Boston Terriers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="726" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T02:14:39.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2187" CreationDate="2014-02-07T04:28:47.020" Score="21" ViewCount="38810" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted our full-grown cat when she was a couple of months old.  She has never shown any signs of having been ill-treated prior to our ownership of her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that whenever I grab my cat and hold her close to my chest, she stays still for a while (10 seconds at most), and then fights to be put down. I didn't experience this with my previous cat. It's also very rare for her to sit on my lap or jump on my bed. It's like she's not very fond of physical contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why could this be? Can I correct this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T05:25:37.923" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T17:22:15.237" Title="Why doesn't my cat like being held?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2179" CreationDate="2014-02-07T04:56:44.633" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats don't like being held.  It's not necessarily a sign of past trauma; it's just personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I notice that you said you &quot;grab&quot; her.  If you are in fact making a sudden motion, and particularly if you're picking her up from the floor and holding her to your chest while you're standing, then it's not too surprising that she's alarmed -- she's now, through no act of her own, several feet in the air with nothing but your grip to protect her.  If you want her to be comfortable being held, then try &lt;em&gt;sitting&lt;/em&gt; with her so she has an easier way out (easier to jump down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a skittish female cat (adopted as an adult, background unknown) who was never comfortable being held and wouldn't sit in my lap.   But over time I was able to coax her to jump up on the couch or chair next to me and accept petting.  So long as she was in control (not being held) she seemed to be ok with this, but as soon as she was being held, her &quot;flight&quot; instinct seemed to kick in.  (&quot;Hey man, this 'being held' thing is totally not my idea -- run away!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T04:56:44.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2184" CreationDate="2014-02-07T04:57:21.220" Score="9" ViewCount="1993" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted a guinea pig and in contrast to our rabbits, he's a smelly slob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We clean his cage every other day, yet he's still musty.  He has a litter pan which he uses, but still occasionally decides to pee on the cage floor and then sleep on it.  Is there something else I should doing to help him help himself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, I'm allergic to his hay, but he seems to bath in it, which makes him difficult to hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be giving him daily baths?  Are there other products I should be using?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2020-10-11T06:18:22.957" Title="How can I keep a guinea pig clean?" Tags="&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2176" CreationDate="2014-02-07T07:21:56.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened once and lasted 10-15 minutes?  If so, it's normal and just coincidence that it followed a vet visit. Nothing the vet gave him had anything to do with it. A puppy of that age is likely to holler a bit before giving up and going to sleep.  Unless it becomes a chronic problem it's nothing to worry about.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion for dealing with it is what you've already done.  Just ignore it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T07:21:56.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2181" CreationDate="2014-02-07T07:37:15.013" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, bathing a guinea pig too often is a bad idea. Keep in mind a guinea-pig is a very sensitive pet, if you do that, you'll probably be harming their natural skin protection, which will lead to illnesses. If you really have to, I'd recommend bathing them once at month at most. Even if you don't believe it, guinea pigs are very self cleaning and they take care of it! They spend a part of their day just cleaning themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hay is an absolutely &lt;em&gt;basic&lt;/em&gt; element in their life, as they use it for many things, but the most important is their digestive properties. In normal circumstances, a guinea pig will eat big amounts of hay per day. Additionally, they may use it to &quot;&lt;em&gt;decorate&lt;/em&gt;&quot; their bathroom, and also as the base of their bedroom so they are more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing I'd advice to do is cleaning the cage every 3-4 days (more often would also might be harmful). Don't worry if they pee on the same place they sleep - but as I read your question, it seems you're not putting any base/substratum? If so, this is very important, in pet shops they sell several types of substratum that additionally absorb smells and makes your guinea pig more easy to live in their cage. Another option is putting the hay as the base of the cage, it'll probably like it more to your guinea pig, but it doesn't absorb smells and plus if you're allergic... Ask at the shop!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T07:37:15.013" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2179" CreationDate="2014-02-07T10:41:54.130" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you holding your cat correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of holding it like you would a baby, on its back.&#xA;Try holding it so that it is lying along your arm. One arm supporting its rear legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also this link here &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061112211608AAWYMmO&quot;&gt;Yahoo Answers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll quote the relevant bit here &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes I carry them in what my wife calls &quot;the football hold,&quot; one arm underneath the whole cat supporting him while he leans against my stomach/chest -- again, in this &quot;football hold&quot; the cat is actually standing on the level part of my arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="735" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T10:41:54.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-07T12:01:13.600" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;My &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire_Bull_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Staffie&lt;/a&gt; moves his bum around on the couch like he has an itch or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have given him de-worming pills, but he still continues to try and scratch it - albeit very unsuccessfully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any advice on what I can do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Thanks, I read through &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/549/how-can-i-stop-my-dogs-from-scooting-dragging-their-butts&quot;&gt;How can I stop my dogs from scooting / dragging their butts?&lt;/a&gt; and it was very helpful although I don't think I have the stomach to do it myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks all, this site is very helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="737" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T13:04:18.613" Title="How can I help my Staffie who seems to have an itch in his bum?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-02-07T21:22:27.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2179" CreationDate="2014-02-07T13:53:43.433" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be the cat's personality; however, you may well be able to change that to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted our cat when she was about two years old.  (She is now about thirteen.)  At first, she was very skittish and spent most of her day hiding behind furniture.  It's possible that she was badly treated by her previous owner, and certainly she was traumatized by the noisy, competitive shelter.  To this day she is still rather hesitant to approach strangers; and she still does not like to be picked up.  (The latter is because we have not tried to alter this behavior, and usually when we pick her up we're about to stuff her in her carrier to go to the vet, or give her medication!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what we did to encourage her to be petted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At first, we simply got her used to being petted.  To do so, we just held our hand near the side of her face, so that she could sniff our hands.  Then sometimes, after a few seconds, she would gently rub the side of her face against our hand (indicating that it was OK to pet her).  When she did that, we would pet her a few times, which she enjoyed.  Nowadays she does not require us to follow that ritual; she is happy enough for us to come up and pet her anytime.  If she wants us to stop (which is rare), she will let us know.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's also probably worth trying to figure out exactly how your cat likes to be petted (by how she rubs her face/body against you when you pet her).  It turns out our cat particularly enjoys us rubbing the bridge of her nose, under her chin, and scratching right behind her ears.  She does not like her belly to be rubbed, which is common especially in adult cats.  Experiment a bit and see what she enjoys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After she had gotten used to being petted, we would hold our hands out a few feet away from her and encourage her to come over to us, by saying her name and patting the floor.  She figured out that if she wanted to be petted, she would have to come over to us.  Of course, if she came over, we would always reward her with some pets and encouraging words, to reinforce the behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays she responds to her name; she jumps on the bed and purrs if she sees that we're there; and she will come over and jump on my lap (and purr) if she sees me sit down.  We've even trained her to meow for treats, &quot;stand up&quot; and paw at my leg to get me to pet her, etc.  She did not do any of this when we first adopted her -- and she was an adult at that point.  So don't give up: it can be a long, slow process, but at least in our experience, it is possible and quite rewarding in the end!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T13:53:43.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-07T14:45:33.813" Score="6" ViewCount="8594" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest how to make an icing/frosting to decorate dog treats with that doesn't use confectioners sugar, but would still harden like royal icing?  I purchased some icing that you just add water to that works real well, but could prove to be costly for decorating a lot of treats.  The icing I purchased was yogurt-based, but most of the yogurt-based recipes I have found say the icing doesn't harden.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="741" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T20:51:42.577" LastActivityDate="2018-03-22T04:01:15.017" Title="How do I make a dog-safe decorative icing to harden properly on treats?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2191" CreationDate="2014-02-07T16:35:12.430" Score="16" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's come to my attention that not all vets are trained to treat reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the obvious &quot;Do you have a vet trained in treating reptiles?&quot;, what are some pertinent questions I can ask a veterinary practice to determine how well qualified they are to look after my pet if there is a problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to contact several practices, ask some questions and compare their answers, so I'd like to have a few really good questions that will provoke enlightening answers. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to start or what I want to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either questions regarding reptile veterinary care in general, or, if appropriate, more specific ones regarding leopard gecko care, would be suitable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T13:27:25.590" LastActivityDate="2020-12-15T02:46:09.047" Title="How can I gauge a vet's experience with reptiles?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2190" CreationDate="2014-02-07T17:19:08.407" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I'd look for is a vet listed as an &lt;strong&gt;exotic-pet&lt;/strong&gt; veterinarian because they're more likely to be able to care for reptiles than a normal veterinarian would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be a different case in bigger cities where vets see a wider variety of animals, but I've not been impressed with the knowledge of non-exotic vets regarding animals other than cats and dogs. I believe this to be an issue of demand, which might change as reptiles become more popular as pets, subsequently being considered less exotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most vets probably do have some training with reptiles, but I wouldn't expect it to be as in-depth as a vet specializing in exotic pets. There's also the matter of how often they see reptiles compared to how often they see cats and dogs.  Even if trained with reptiles in school, if practicing on a reptile is a rare occurrence, their reptile training might diminish due to lack of use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking the obvious question, &lt;strong&gt;if they're trained to care for exotic pets (specifically reptiles)&lt;/strong&gt;, is best.  It should result in an answer of either yes or no. If the answer is no, you should follow-up asking whether they can recommend a properly trained vet in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any vet who would lie about this, as (as it is with human doctors) it's a pretty big risk that if something goes wrong, they can be held liable for it. If you're worried a vet you're seeing isn't as capable of caring for reptiles as they say, ask a couple follow-up questions about their comfort levels with reptiles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how many reptile owners see them for appointments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what kind of reptiles do they usually see for appointments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have to use your best judgement to decide if you want to trust them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If no vets in your area are trained to care for your pet, that doesn't necessarily rule them all out.  A vet who is willing to learn and consult a specialist or reference manual if needed, is a much better option than not taking your pet to a vet at all.  It all comes down to a matter of using your best judgement on which vet to trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all that being said, I would say the &lt;strong&gt;best&lt;/strong&gt; way to find vets who are qualified to care for exotic pets is by searching through the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arav.org/&quot;&gt;Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians&lt;/a&gt;' website. They have a search feature for certified vets by state.  Likewise, there is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aemv.org/&quot;&gt;Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians&lt;/a&gt;, and an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aav.org/&quot;&gt;Association of Avian Veterinarians&lt;/a&gt; if you're into those types of pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else, ask around.  Find a local group of reptile keepers or your pet store, and ask them which vet they use and trust.  It is the same as finding a vet for a dog or a cat; hearing personal recommendations is always helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T20:36:57.440" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T20:36:57.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2200" CreationDate="2014-02-07T19:28:41.413" Score="8" ViewCount="4134" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bring your rabbit in with a urine sample&quot; says the vet.  On occasion when we have been in to the vets, he is able to get a sample by holding the bunny and pushing on the bladder, while someone holds a cup and catches the stream.  It does not always work for the vet; and I hesitant to try it home, as I have no idea what the right amount of pressure is.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbits are litter box trained.  I am pretty sure abunch of wet sawdust as the sample is not going to be a good idea.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I leave the bunny in a carrier long enough they will eventially pee, not sure I can wringout a sample from a towel.  If it lands on the carrier floor (plastic) the bunny is likely to get all wet with little left to pour into a container.  I am also not keen on the psychological trauma, this would induce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for ideas, how to accomplish getting a urine sample from my rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T11:35:52.500" Title="How to collect a urine sample from a house rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2193" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-07T21:04:14.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions tagged &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/veterinarian&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;veterinarian&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;veterinarian&lt;/a&gt; discuss the medical personnel (doctors, nurses, surgeons, technicians, specialists) who work with pets, generally for reasons of health.  Can also refer to a facility or veterinary surgeon / surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample questions may include how to speak or properly interact with a veterinarian, how to gauge qualifications, or even how to locate a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-07T21:20:39.927" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T21:20:39.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2194" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-07T21:04:14.907" Score="0" Body="Use this tag for questions about interacting with a veterinarian (trained medical practitioner including doctors, surgeons, and specialists, and their facilities). For questions about specific injuries or diseases, use those tags." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T12:55:46.450" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T12:55:46.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2174" CreationDate="2014-02-07T21:50:29.753" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No,&lt;/strong&gt; corporal punishment is not an effective training method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hiby et al reviewed dog training results, but included corporal punishment under the broader category of punishment based training (including yelling at the dog and putting him out) and concluded&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Overall, our results suggest that punishment-based training is not&#xA;  effective at reducing the incidence of problematic behaviours, and its&#xA;  use seems to be linked with the increased occurrence of potential&#xA;  problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EF Hiby, NJ Rooney, and JWS Bradshaw. Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare. Animal Welfare 2004, 13: 63-69.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogscouts.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/art_training_methods.pdf&quot;&gt;accessed 2/8/2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Herron, et al performed a study focused on the dog's response to specific negative training techniques, and noted that 43% of the dogs in the study (12/28) responded aggressively when they were hit or kicked for exhibiting undesirable behavior. This display of aggression is a safety concern for the owner, as well as not being a desireable training outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and&#xA;non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs&#xA;showing undesired behaviors&quot;&#xA;Meghan E. Herron, Frances S. Shofer, Ilana R. Reisner&#xA;Applied Animal Behaviour Science 117 (2009) 47–54&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vet.osu.edu/assets/pdf/hospital/behavior/trainingArticle.pdf&quot;&gt;accessed online Feb 7 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-02-09T03:58:28.243" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T03:58:28.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2192" CreationDate="2014-02-07T22:44:27.427" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would put the rabbit in it cage and confine it with some water, every 10 to 15 minutes try to pick it up and express some urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me I find it easiest to hold them so their body is vertical. Then apply firm pressure to the belly.  If the rabbit has to pee this pressure will be enough to trigger it to release.  It is best to have someone hold a cup over the area to collect the urine.    The pressure should not be so much as to cause damage but nice firm pressure with the flat of you hand.  If the rabbit does not pee repeat the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9" LastActivityDate="2014-02-07T22:44:27.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2192" CreationDate="2014-02-08T06:59:09.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, I'll borrow Monica's idea and say: &lt;strong&gt;fill the rabbits litter tray with fish tank gravel&lt;/strong&gt; (you probably want to wash the gravel first).  Then just pour the pee out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2014-02-08T06:59:09.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5682" CreationDate="2014-02-08T07:15:15.647" Score="4" ViewCount="991" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Do male guinea pigs perform their mating dance before attempting to mounting other male guinea pigs?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a guinea pig and find it strange that he's dancing for both my female rabbit as well as my male rabbit.  Is this just typical guinea pig behavior?  or might it just be because my rabbit is fixed? or just because he's a different species?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T20:55:31.210" Title="Do male guinea pigs do their mating dance before mounting other male guinea pigs?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2287" CreationDate="2014-02-08T11:53:18.900" Score="4" ViewCount="2015" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people are looking for ecologically-friendly rabbit litter box solutions.  One solution is a non-absorbent litter in a drain-through litter box. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smartcatbox.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smart Cat Box&lt;/a&gt; caught my attention when researching; it is filled with whole &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safflower&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;safflower seed&lt;/a&gt;.  Granting the claims of the manufacturer and assuming the system works well, what advantages and disadvantages should I consider when using a safflower seed litter box with a pet rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main area of concern is that safflower seed is a feed product for rabbits. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feedipedia.org/node/49&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;feedipedia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;processed&lt;/strong&gt; seed has been used with good results in production rabbit feeds. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safflower#Seed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;strong&gt;whole&lt;/strong&gt; seed is a good bird seed because squirrels don't like it.  The whole seed is an ingredient in at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/122094/Purina-Garden-Recipe-Rabbit-Diet.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one pet rabbit feed&lt;/a&gt;, but it is not an ingredient (&lt;em&gt;processed or whole&lt;/em&gt;) in either of my two, favorite quality, pet rabbit feeds &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1550&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zupreem.com/products/natures-promise-timothy-naturals-rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, could presenting a litter box full of whole safflower seed, be like presenting a bath tub full of sugared cereal to your child, or might they ignore it completely, or should I expect something in-between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, I'm looking for answers from experience on rabbit consumption of &lt;strong&gt;whole&lt;/strong&gt; safflower seed (the type used by the litter box), and/or research on the long-term (8 - 12 years) digestion of large quantities of whole safflower seed by rabbits (&lt;em&gt;alternatively demonstrating that a rabbit cannot digest a whole seed&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-09T05:13:34.333" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T18:22:12.817" Title="What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a safflower seed litter box with my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2192" CreationDate="2014-02-08T12:06:14.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This suggestion is from one of the members or our local pet bunny community, she has used it with good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fill your litter box with clean litter and cover the litter with a light plastic wrap (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saranbrands.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;saran wrap&lt;/a&gt;).  The bunny will use the litter box like normal, but it will leave a puddle.  Use a sterile syringe to collect the urine as soon as they hop out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-02-08T12:06:14.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-08T19:00:30.817" Score="22" ViewCount="15885" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed over many years of cat ownership, a lot of my cats have a very excited interest in bedmaking. My current cat will come from any corner of the apartment when he hears me start to shake out the sheets and blankets, and scrambles under each blanket as I put them on my bed. This happens when I make beds at my mom's, too, where you can have up to four cats scrambling to get under the covers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it about the putting blankets on my bed that is so very exciting to my cat? Is it just a random amusement for them, or does it have some deeper meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T15:34:33.473" Title="Why is my cat so interested in me making the bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2202" CreationDate="2014-02-09T00:16:55.303" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot provide a definitive explanation. I only have my own anecdotal assumptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always assumed that the cats which do this are motivated by their prey drive and their &quot;need&quot; to hunt &amp;amp; stalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats differ as to how they express this need.  A common way people experience a cat's  prey drive is as an obsession to chase a dangling piece of string. A more elaborate cat toy designed to stimulate this same impulse are the wand toys such as &quot;Da Bird&quot; (example pic below). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lk3j8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat going after Da Bird&quot; title=&quot;Customer photo from Amazon illustrating &amp;#39;Da Bird&amp;#39; wand cat toy in use&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Media figure Jackson Galaxy advocates regular &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/category/cat-behavior-and-care/play-therapy/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Play Therapy links on Jackson Galaxy&amp;#39;s web site&quot;&gt;play therapy&lt;/a&gt;&quot; with your cat(s) in order to satisfy what he considers an innate need to hunt.  I tend to agree with this advice, though I don't know if it has ever been investigated (verified) in a formal fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you make the bed, the cats can be attracted by the sheets flying through the air and attempt to pounce on and catch them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another motivation can be either to explore or hide in the small &quot;burrow&quot; created when they get underneath the sheets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether a cat is playing or hunting when they do this does not strike me as something worth debating.  It is likely different elements of each for different cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have several cats, but only one of them is especially interested in &quot;playing&quot; when I am trying to make the bed. I find it extremely annoying. (I also really miss it the occasional times he does not do it.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="685" LastEditorUserId="685" LastEditDate="2014-02-13T18:47:50.377" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T18:47:50.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2014-02-09T05:18:13.307" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fire alarm and battery UPS will sometimes beep when power is lost.  Even if this had only happened once in your dog's past, the link between power outage and beeping is set in stone and can trigger anxiety. The beeping may not happen in subsequent outages, but some part of him is expecting it. My dog practically climbs on top of my head when he hears the UPS or fire alarm beeping due to low batteries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T05:18:13.307" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2236" CreationDate="2014-02-09T13:47:44.447" Score="10" ViewCount="27915" Body="&lt;p&gt;George, my 9 year old German Shepherd Dog/Border Collie mix, will make a huge fuss when my wife comes home. If he even thinks he hears her car coming, he will start barking, whining, and making lots of other noises until she comes in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if she is home and I come in, he'll trot over to me, sniff and lick my hand, and then be on his merry way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he makes such a fuss when she comes home?  Is this something I should be concerned with and correct?  If so how should I go about correcting the issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[more info, as requested]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If nobody is home when I get home, George will come to the door when I get home. I'll pet him, talk to him, and then take him out. If my wife is home, he'll be a bit more happy and excited, but he doesn't bark and make a fuss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I'm home when she comes home, George will start barking and whining and pacing the kitchen until she comes in. He'll start as soon as he hears a car that sounds like hers. He'll continue barking for a bit while she comes in and settles down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apparently if I'm not home, he doesn't do this as much when she comes home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he sees someone he knows (he spends a lot of time in the kitchen because the windows go almost to the floor), who he likes, he'll become excited and do the excited/happy routine that he does when my wife comes home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he sees someone he doesn't know or doesn't like, he'll bark and raise his hackles. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we both come in at the same time, he'll come to the door, but he won't do the whole barking routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="749" LastEditorUserId="749" LastEditDate="2014-02-10T23:27:46.697" LastActivityDate="2020-02-11T08:44:54.860" Title="Why does my dog make a fuss when my wife comes home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2199" CreationDate="2014-02-09T14:34:09.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Safflower seed can be, and is, used in rabbit feed with positive results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seeds (hulled and standard) used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feedipedia.org/node/49&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;extensively in rabbit feed&lt;/a&gt; in Mexico in place of soybean meal which needed to be imported (which you linked to).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Studies have shown that safflower seed based &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.ca/books?id=G7c5xQwhtIAC&amp;amp;pg=PA286&amp;amp;lpg=PA286&amp;amp;dq=rabbit%20diet%20safflower&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=OLvjeVfRLk&amp;amp;sig=-BfKPCLBy8Q8eeNHu7mb6CtFIKk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=24j3UqD7M8jcyQHs4YC4DQ&amp;amp;ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20diet%20safflower&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;meals are as productive&lt;/a&gt; as meals based on other seeds such as soybean or flaxseed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Safflower can be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.ca/books?id=7ZRJVuiMCHIC&amp;amp;pg=PA259&amp;amp;lpg=PA259&amp;amp;dq=rabbit%20diet%20safflower&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=8p9FbVChgj&amp;amp;sig=1YKEnrE_pT0_wrUHV0fxfEAWyGA&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=24j3UqD7M8jcyQHs4YC4DQ&amp;amp;ved=0CGIQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20diet%20safflower&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;preferred meal base&lt;/a&gt; over alfalfa, but of additional interest is that is dehulled primarily to increase protein and reduce fibre, not because it needs to be (as indicated in point one).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A bit of a moldy oldie here, but safflower oil in rabbit diet had a &lt;a href=&quot;http://circres.ahajournals.org/content/7/5/779&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;profoundly positive&lt;/a&gt; effect on rabbit cholesterol levels. While this study is about human heart health, the ability of the safflower oil to counteract the coconut oil in the diet would indicate a positive side to a diet that contains some.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to your question of a litter box full being a potential candy bowl... probably a little in between. It's not the same as a litter box of raisins, that's for sure, but it is edible. In other words, I would suggest that if safflower seed was to be introduced into their environment, it would be best if it was in a more controlled manner than via a litter box that they're more likely to eat than use as litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-02-09T14:51:56.657" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T14:51:56.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2014-02-09T15:59:59.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my dogs, the Vet recommended twice a day (morning and evening), as do most food packages (although the packages usually recommend way too much food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With water is keep it full, perhaps taking it away in the evening to prevent accidents int he middle of the night. Just as an additional FYI excessive drinking and urination is a sign of problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="719" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T15:59:59.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2014-02-09T16:56:39.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if I should be helping an Hidden Leaf, Uchiha clan member, especially one as infamous as Madara, but here goes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the comments mentioned the absence of a comforting sound, as well one of the responses mentioned the UPS of Fire Alarm beeping. That is the symptom of the power outage that the dog is noticing. Additionally, dogs can hear very high pitched noises, e.g.  fluorescent lights, sodium lights buzzing are easily heard by dogs. Not unlike the hairs on your neck raising when you step out into a thick fog where the usual traffic, trees, grass and animal sounds are absent; a dog also senses this absence and triggers a warning response. It is the same reaction that, in the wild, will keep a wild dog hunkered down in the den when a thunderstorm goes overhead. So Akamaru might be able to fearlessly fight off armies of kunai wielding ninjas, but unless the he has been conditioned to not be fearful of lightning, Akamaru will still cower at something far less dangerous. Similarly, the military dogs (and hunting dogs) are trained as a puppy to be less sensitive to gun shots, where as my labs go slinking under the desk every year close to the Fourth of July (here in the States).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as conditioning goes (and I can't imagine why you would want to waste the time) just turn off the breaker for a few hours randomly throughout the day until the dog becomes accustomed to the event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="719" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T16:56:39.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-09T19:37:19.590" Score="25" ViewCount="47010" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little morbid, but my rabbit died last night, and since the ground in my yard was frozen I could only manage to a dig a foot deep. The rabbit is not wrapped in anything, and there is roughly 3-4&quot; of soil covering him from the 'highest point' where his body begins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in a neighbourhood town. The rabbit presumably died of old age (10 years old at this point) because it suddenly started losing weight last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not want raccoons or other scavengers digging it up, but the thought of me having to dig him up is just as scary. What should I do, if anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="750" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:19:16.113" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:19:16.113" Title="How deep should I bury my pet (should I rebury)?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2210" CreationDate="2014-02-09T20:26:13.937" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;At only a few inches deep, it's still easily detected by coyotes and foxes. Something else to consider is once the ground thaws and it rains, some of the soil on top is going to wash away. I don't think it's necessary to make a grave six feet deep, but a couple feet is much safer than a couple inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If transferring him to a deeper grave is not something you're comfortable doing, the best option I think is to cover the grave. You could use a large stone over the top as a gravestone, or even a pile of smaller stones. If you don't want it to look like a grave, you could put a large potted plant on top of it. Something large enough to keep the rain from washing away the dirt, and to discourage digging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T20:26:13.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2210" CreationDate="2014-02-09T21:15:52.183" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live, burying your pet in your yard may be illegal.  You should check your local laws, before undertaking a reburial. If the area is in a neighborhood, the possibility that a neighbor's dog may find and remove your pet is very high, given the depth the you describe. Also, as you mention, the risk of wildlife exposing the body is significant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A shallow grave is more likely to allow smells and other evidence of the decaying body to be noticeable in the area.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.greenburialma.org/?page_id=10&quot;&gt;some sources&lt;/a&gt;, the appropriate depth for a green burial is 3 - 4 feet (Meter +).  There are also health concerns for any other bunnies now in your home or in the future (and possibly you or your loved one).  As an example &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitozoon_cuniculi&quot;&gt;Encephalitozoon cuniculi&lt;/a&gt; occasionally called 'EC' is a debilitating organism '&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitozoon_cuniculi#Life_cycle&quot;&gt;which can survive for a long time in the environment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;'. It can infect both humans and particularly devastating to rabbits.  A shallow grave may allow this or other organism to be transmitted, this is of particular concern if a &lt;strong&gt;contagious diseases&lt;/strong&gt; was &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_risks_from_dead_bodies&quot;&gt;the cause&lt;/a&gt; of your pets death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your local vet should be able to address available options in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-02-10T17:37:04.620" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T17:37:04.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2210" CreationDate="2014-02-09T23:49:11.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you should dig him up. Just mark the spot with stones, and, to reduce odor, guarantee that no disease is spread, and accelerate decomposition, cover it with quick lime (mix it with the soil above). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is a one time issue, and it's in your yard, I don't believe you need a license.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastActivityDate="2014-02-09T23:49:11.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2262" CreationDate="2014-02-10T02:01:04.570" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are obviously many ways to do so, but what is the most efficient and best for the dog ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to have the dog sit on a verbal and/or visual cue and then stay in position until released. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T08:46:02.327" Title="How to teach a dog to sit and stay" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2239" CreationDate="2014-02-10T15:09:39.620" Score="4" ViewCount="836" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog that has 3 months and 3 weeks and I walk with her regularly along the street since she was 2 and a half months, I also have an old dog (15 years) that's blind and they live together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my younger dog is afraid of any kind, size and age dog we see on the walks we do.  She hides behind me, cries, and hide her tail between legs, and when the other dogs tries to smell her or anything she growls. She has met younger dogs, male, female, older but never a rough dog, so I don't know why she's always afraid.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to help her get over her fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="746" LastEditorDisplayName="user9" LastEditDate="2014-02-10T17:05:13.967" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T03:45:42.317" Title="How can I help my dog that is afraid of other dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2225" CreationDate="2014-02-10T17:41:18.083" Score="19" ViewCount="2868" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a neutered male dwarf rabbit who's about 18 months old. He's been an only pet for almost his whole life. He has a big cage to hop around in, and for the most part we leave its door open, giving him freedom to hop around his room and eat the cardboard boxes we leave in there for him. He's allowed to venture out into the living room or bedroom as long as one of us is there to keep half an eye on him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're thinking about adding a cat to our household (bringing the tally up to two humans, one bun, and one kitty). We want to make sure any cat we adopt will coexist with our rabbit, or maybe even be friends. The rabbit is pretty chill with new people as long as they aren't too aggressive with him, so we're hoping the same would be true with a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be hard to find a cat with experience with bunnies, so what else should we look for? Should we get a young cat or kitten, hoping we can train it not to antagonize the bunny? A kitten would be about the size of the bun (for the first few weeks), so that might help him not fear the cat. Or should we go for an older cat that's too lazy to care? The bunny wouldn't feel threatened by the cat's attention if it were totally apathetic toward him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should we go about finding a feline companion for the bunny?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T06:50:32.687" Title="What should we look for in a kitty companion for our rabbit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2202" CreationDate="2014-02-10T19:34:37.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of elements that could factor into the interest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The hunting / fun aspect as @irrationalJohn mentioned.  Moving sheets look and sound much like a cat's natural prey.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats in general are interested / afraid in any change to their environment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bed is a very important place in the cat's world.  It is usually the safe house that they run to.  It smells the most like his people when they are not there.  It often is the prime nap spot.  A troubled cat often uses the bed to signal distress to the owners.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a change to the bed can have an even larger symbolic impact to the cat, and there might be a bigger need to reclaim that space right away by being a part of the process.  It is similar to cats who dig in a litterbox immediately after it has been cleaned up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-13T15:03:41.473" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T15:03:41.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2445" CreationDate="2014-02-10T20:32:13.777" Score="10" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been watching some of the breed judging at the 2014 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/&quot;&gt;Westminster Kennel Club&lt;/a&gt; conformation show online and I noticed that there are two stewards in the ring. Any of the other dog shows that I've been to have had a single ring steward (I've shown at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/&quot;&gt;AKC&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ckc.ca/en/&quot;&gt;CKC&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://iabca.com/&quot;&gt;IABCA&lt;/a&gt; shows, and attended but not shown at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ukcdogs.com/&quot;&gt;UKC&lt;/a&gt; shows). Looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/2014/show/WKC_2014_Judging_Program.pdf&quot;&gt;judging program&lt;/a&gt; for the show, there are indeed two stewards listed for almost every ring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why does the Westminster KC show use two stewards for most rings? And in the few cases that they only have one, why are those rings different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:11:03.280" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:11:03.280" Title="Why are there two ring stewards at the Westminster Kennel Club show?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2362" CreationDate="2014-02-10T20:59:55.330" Score="6" ViewCount="12561" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have owned three dogs, L, R, and C.  Here is their development in chronological order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;L is our first, male, neutered dog; born in 2000, we've had him since 2002 and he is still alive as of this posting.  He shivers a lot, and was nervous coming out of his crate for weeks after we first got him. He loved to live under the bed. Eventually, he lives on top of the bed and buries himself, but he also makes his way down, eats, goes outside, and sometimes relaxes.  He is very attached to my wife, going so far as to want to be in the shower with her; we used to have to lock the bathroom door to prevent wet dog every morning, until we got a shower with a sliding door.  He seems to have wised up about these things and simply lays down on the rug and waits.  L does not play with toys unless no one is looking.  L would not eat unless no one was looking.  L acts very submissive to my wife, flipping over for her and somewhat friendly (but also very vocal with barks) when she is home, but is a different, quiet dog when she is not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;R is our second, male, neutered dog; born in 2001, we got him in 2003 or 2004 as a companion to L to help get L out of his shell.  He passed away 3 years ago.  R was a foodie and would eat until he burst if we let him (he had Cushing's Disease).  R could be very aggressive in play, and loved to tug on rope and chase and catch frisbees.  R would try to steal L's food (and our food).  L would growl and chase R away from his food.  Sometimes R didn't care what L thought, but other times he deferred to L.  To get L to eat, instead of waiting for night time, we would bring R into the room, then L would gobble his food down.  L and R played together a lot and relaxed against each other at times.  It was rare, but occasionally L and R would fight, mostly over treats (which R would steal from L and hoard; we chalked that up to his hunger disease), and they each had nips in their ears from the other having bitten down.  R was a larger sized dog than L.  R was extremely attached to me and would follow my every command; he acted depressed when I was not around, but would still participate in play.  He came when I called for him and tried to be with me whenever he could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C is our third, female, spayed dog and is also alive at this time. We suspect she was born in 2008, and we got her in 2012 as a companion to L after R passed.  She grooms L on the face constantly, and L licks her mouth at times and sniffs her.  There has been a rare mounting attempts from L.  They lay down next to each other and sleep together in a basket, not unlike how L and R would.  She is the same size as R was.  Now that L is older, he eats his food without prompting; something he learned during the his time with R.  L will now try to steal C's food.  If C sees L stealing her food, she rushes over, shoves L out of the way with a growl, and eats her food.  She occasionally takes from L's bowl, but only when he isn't around.  Like R, C is attached to me and waits at the door for me to come home; she dances like crazy when I arrive.  She seems mopey when I am not home, in the same fashion that L is mopey when my wife is not home.  She comes when I call for her and tries to be with me whenever she can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is (was) there an alpha dog here, and what could be used to identify the alpha?  Is it L or C?  Was R an alpha?  Perhaps myself or my wife?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-25T04:01:18.187" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:22:55.713" Title="How do I identify my alpha dog, or do I even have one?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2223" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-10T21:23:24.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Conformation shows are competitive events where animals are judged against a written standard for their breed or variety. The animal that conforms most closely to the standard is deemed to be the winner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The winner gains points based on the number of animals defeated in competition, with the eventual goal of attaining the title of &quot;Champion&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;External links&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Dogs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;American Kennel Club&quot;&gt;AKC&lt;/a&gt;: &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/dog_shows_trials/conformation/index.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Conformation dog shows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/RREGS3.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rules Applying to Dog Shows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ckc.ca&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Canadian Kennel Club&quot;&gt;CKC&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ckc.ca/en/Portals/0/pdf/Rule-Books/310-01-05%20Conformation.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Conformation Show Rules and Regulations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://iabca.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;International All-Breed Canine Association&quot;&gt;IABCA&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://iabca.com/showinfo.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Show Information&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-02-10T21:40:08.410" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T21:40:08.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2224" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-10T21:23:24.143" Score="0" Body="Competitive events where animals are judged against a written standard for their breed or variety, with the one that conforms most closely to the standard deemed to be the winner." OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-02-10T21:39:30.423" LastActivityDate="2014-02-10T21:39:30.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2219" CreationDate="2014-02-11T01:10:56.930" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am active in the local rabbit rescue and humane society. This answer is based on multiple conversations with many cross species pet parents. All the points made are from experiences shared by parents and supported by reliable references where available. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion and experience a rabbit &amp;amp; cat are probably the two easiest animals to join together in a single household.  In any introduction of a new family member to the household early visits should be supervised, and the new member should not be left alone with existing member(s) until everyone is comfortable. Introducing two rabbits to each other is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-4/tough-bonding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;called bonding&lt;/a&gt;, it can be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-bonding-multiple-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;significant undertaking&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most appropriate cat is going to be a well socialized (not feral) adult cat, in short a cat that acts friendly to you can reasonably be expected to act friendly to the rabbit in your family.  A kitten can be brought in but is more difficult, with the kitten being &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/How-do-I-introduce-my-new-kitten-to-my-rabbits_33.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;somewhat at risk&lt;/a&gt;.  The size difference between the cat and rabbit are of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/cats-and-rabbits-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;minor concern&lt;/a&gt;. With the most important issue being to prevent the prey/predator responses particularly during the first visit. Rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514&quot;&gt;territorial&lt;/a&gt; and may be overly aggressive toward the cat during early visits so, do not let stereotypes cloud your judgement during introductions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what makes a rabbit and cat so well suited for each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They eat different &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1460&quot;&gt;food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They use different &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3&quot;&gt;litter&lt;/a&gt; boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are about the same size &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They both like to have friends&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They have complementary body language&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first 4 make perfect sense, but what is this complementary body language thing?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than who gets the peoples' attention, cats and rabbits only have one thing to argue about: Dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When two rabbits come together the one on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbitadvocates.org/careinfo/packet/behavior.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bottom is dominant&lt;/a&gt;; they are presenting themselves to be groomed.  Failure to provide grooming on demand can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk_hierarchy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;painful&lt;/a&gt;, this is part of why the rabbit will often be the most dominant pet in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when the cat and the rabbit approach each other, the rabbit will have its head lowered to assert its dominance (I AM ROYALTY YOU MUST GROOM ME).  The cat will immediately notice that the bunny is approaching in the classic cat language, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.messybeast.com/cat_talk2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;submissive head down&lt;/a&gt; posture, and the cat knows that the bunny has recognized the cat's natural dominance and is bowing before it.  The image below captures abby hairboat's (OP) Kitten meeting her rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jkm3o.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jkm3o.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Abby&amp;#39;s New Kitten meets the rabbit&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this one most important element, the battle for dominance, &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt; the cat and the rabbit &lt;strong&gt;win&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should you look for, in finding a feline companion for the bunny?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The perfect candidate will likely be at your local shelter.  They will probably be in a room with multiple cats (sometimes called a cat colony, where the most sociable cats live in a group).  They will be an adult of any age.  You and the cat will like each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The largest concern, is litter box sharing.  A cats litter and litter box are &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-litter-training-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not appropriate&lt;/a&gt; for a rabbit.  Addressing that is the subject of the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2229&quot;&gt;If I have both a cat and a rabbit, can they (or should they) share a litter box?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T22:08:07.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2227" CreationDate="2014-02-11T06:32:03.640" Score="6" ViewCount="29864" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loud constant meowing, getting into that weird &quot;mate with me&quot; position, a little blood discharge... yeah, my cat's going into heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a 100% indoor cat, and we don't intend for her to have any kittens. Is her loud meowing a signal of pain and, if so, is there anything I can do as an owner to make her more comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:21:07.933" LastActivityDate="2019-11-01T23:05:19.973" Title="How can I keep my cat comfortable through the estrus cycle?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2226" CreationDate="2014-02-11T09:56:29.287" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you know, it is a natural thing to happen, therefore, with my own cats, I haven't paid much attention to it, just let the cat get over it. I don't know if there is any pain involved in it, but to my understanding the meowing is more a call for any toms in the neighborhood. If pain was part of the matter I would still not medicate the cat in any way, since it is natural, and medicating the cat would be more for my own peace of mind than for the cat's ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware of possible escape attempts, especially if there is a tomcat nearby answering to your cat's calls. A female cat in heat, hearing a tomcat answering to her, may summon tremendous strength and agility to conquer any obstacles in her way outdoors to mate. The first heat of a young cat is yet weak, but in later heats the cat may become hard to handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spaying the cat would be a good, and permanent, solution to her anxiety, but is it quite answering your question &lt;em&gt;&quot;...through the estrus cycle?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; because spaying effectively removes most of the cycle. However, that is what I've done to my cats after one or at max three heats. Much easier for everyone and actually it is good for the health of the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor cats who don't get to mate while in heat have a chance to go into heat again quite soon, possibly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/estrus-cycles-in-cats/5635&quot;&gt;as soon as two weeks&lt;/a&gt; after the previous heat period ended. There is a variety of risks to the cat's health involved with each heat cycle, for example an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/pyometra-in-cats/330&quot;&gt;infection in uterus&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=2445&quot;&gt;breast cancer&lt;/a&gt;, so eventually spaying your cat would benefit both her and you, and even your neighbors with the reduced number of loose tomcats circling and spraying your house and the houses of your neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T14:17:14.050" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T14:17:14.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2226" CreationDate="2014-02-11T11:22:06.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spaying your cat, would be a wonderful solution.  According to some sources spayed cats &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spayusa.org/benefits.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;live longer healthier lives&lt;/a&gt;.  Additionally there is less risk of accidentally escaping.  As a '&lt;em&gt;100% indoor cat&lt;/em&gt;' she would be in extreme risk of traumatic injury should she suddenly find herself outside and making poor chooses because she is in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spaying adds another layer of insurance to your loved one, should she suddenly loose you through accident, and need to be re-homed, that processes will be much easier if she is already spayed.  Imagine your cat suddenly finds herself without your home, placed in a shelter, looking for another home, and having to undergo spay surgery; possibly at an advanced age and without you for comfort.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T11:22:06.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2238" CreationDate="2014-02-11T11:41:58.680" Score="10" ViewCount="4682" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219&quot;&gt;What should we look for in a kitty companion for our rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; we learned that cats and rabbits can make good friends for each other, but it was stated the litter boxes could be a problem. What do I need know or do concerning litter boxes when a rabbit and cat share the same home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T17:34:23.417" Title="If I have both a cat and a rabbit, can they (or should they) share a litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2257" CreationDate="2014-02-11T11:49:32.937" Score="5" ViewCount="972" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3&quot;&gt;rabbits are easy to litter box train&lt;/a&gt;. At the pet store there are some litters in the cat area, and there are different litters in the rabbit (small mammal) area.  Can I use a cat litter?  If not what should I consider when choosing a rabbit litter?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T18:12:20.627" Title="What do I need to consider when buying litter for a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2234" CreationDate="2014-02-11T11:59:53.160" Score="3" ViewCount="1307" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where is the best place to get a white mouse online?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastEditorUserId="153" LastEditDate="2016-04-19T13:10:27.793" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T13:10:27.793" Title="From where can I purchase a pet white mouse?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2210" CreationDate="2014-02-11T13:28:09.880" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the concerns given are valid... but I would leave it where it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I buried a 22 year old cat of mine last summer and the arangement was shallower than I would have liked.  There are foxes, racoons, and other predator / scavangers about in my area.  Yet I had no issues with smell or the grave being dug up.  This doesn't mean it can't happen (it certianly can) but just that it won't neccessarily occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned you can place heavy rocks or pots of heavy soil above the grave to discourage things from digging it up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T13:28:09.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2231" CreationDate="2014-02-11T14:18:46.900" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most pet stores sell white mice for both pet and reptile feeder purposes.  Choose one for pet purposes, as feeder mice are intended for food and are potentially genetically inferior, possibly due to inbreeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That having been said, using a rescued feeder mouse with a potentially short life-span could be a good training tool to familiarize oneself with mouse pet care.  Unfortunately for the feeder mouse, I suspect the monetary investment difference between feeder-intended and pet-intended mice is negligible; therefore, you're better off selecting a pet-intended mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-11T21:58:31.090" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T21:58:31.090" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2231" CreationDate="2014-02-11T14:34:44.397" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd probably have the best luck at a pet store, unless you happen to have a friend that breeds them (or a local breeder). However, if you go to the pet store, make sure they know you want &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; pet and not &lt;em&gt;food&lt;/em&gt; for another :) While feeder mice are cute, cuddly, white, and everything else you are looking for - they're specifically bred for food and sometimes not under the best of conditions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domesticated mice tend to be a bit bigger, live longer and have been handled properly since breeding - making them a bit more naturally curious around humans and less likely to bite if frightened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend buying them in pairs, and getting a habitat large enough for the two of them to run around. Wheels, tubes and other accessories help to keep them active which leads to longer life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastEditorUserId="105" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T05:55:30.077" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T05:55:30.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2206" CreationDate="2014-02-11T19:48:41.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I notice that I am a lot calmer than she is when I come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned this in the comments. Dogs respond a lot to our energy -- if she comes in the door and goes into a falsetto voice and greets him and puts down whatever she's carrying and pets him excitedly, he's going to learn that her car means play time is about to start. If he knows that when you come home you're going to say hello and pet him calmly, his energy when he thinks you are coming home will reflect that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if that applies to the other people he sees coming to the house, too -- you say he gets excited when he sees people he &quot;likes&quot;, but what does that really mean? Does he get excited when he sees people coming who he regularly acts excited towards and they play back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its hard to say without seeing first hand the behavior not only of the dog but of the people as they come in, but as a general rule (and supported by your comment), dogs will act more excitedly/with higher energy if that behavior has been rewarded in the past with excitement/high energy in return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="299" LastActivityDate="2014-02-11T19:48:41.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2372" CreationDate="2014-02-11T22:39:32.647" Score="9" ViewCount="19410" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both my rabbits are fixed (spayed/neutered). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, anytime there's a new pet in the house (currently a guinea pig), my rabbits start spraying (marking with pee).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it would seem like this would coincide with questions about pecking order, it also occurred when we rescued a Yorkie off the highway and held it for a few days before its owner claimed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, I would attribute it to territory and having to share space, as the guinea pig and the rabbits like the same hideaways, but in the case of the Yorkie, it never entered their territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some general tricks, or things I can do to discourage this type of behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T20:10:51.577" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T07:52:16.017" Title="How do I discourage rabbits from spraying?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;marking&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2229" CreationDate="2014-02-11T22:59:08.660" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;You likely do not want a rabbit to share a littler pan with a cat (or dog) due to possible parasite transfer.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat (and dog) feces may contain worm eggs. Contact with this is the primary way a house rabbit can contract worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue you may run into with sharing a litter box is odor, and while you may be tempted to use cat litter for it's odor fighting properties, this can be harmful to a rabbit.  Rabbits have sensitive airway passages and the dust form clay litter can cause a lot of problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Instead, ensure that the cat box is in a place only accessible to the cats and not the rabbits.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, indoor cats with low exposure to outside animals (like mice), are much less likely to be worm egg carriers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;If you are going to try to share a litter pan, then pick the litter that's best for the rabbit not the cat.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use hardwood pellets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have personally found that hardwood pellets make the best litter for a rabbit as it is edible and does the best job at moping up their pee (which is usually what makes the box stinky).  However, while ideal for rabbits, it is likely not going to do a great job at masking the smell of cat feces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the smell is intolerable, then you should not combine litter pans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ref: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicanimal.com/viewarticle/%7EcontentId=MA19749/%7EnodeTrailCsv=AR-SMALL_ANIMALS-RABBIT_SPECIFIC,MA19749/%7Ecategory_id=MA_SMALL_ANIMALS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Worming your Rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T16:58:12.913" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T16:58:12.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2218" CreationDate="2014-02-12T03:45:42.317" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Socialization is really important for dogs in the first 3 months. The aspca has a great article about socialization &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/socializing-your-puppy&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When socializing, take it slow, be relaxed(this is important, your dog can sense if you are anxious which only makes the situation worse) and praise praise praise after a successful encounter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have friends with dogs or meet someone willing to help you - it's worth it to work with a dog that you are familiar with(yours would probably be perfect). Have your pup sit on a leash while the other person is out of sight. Have treats (hot dogs or chicken, something with a stronger scent to keep attention). Have the other person walk by with the dog, and before your pup even notices the other dog get her attention with a treat and keep her attention as the other dog walks by. This helps her get used to other dogs being in the vicinity before moving up to direct socialization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really can't get her used to direct contact with other dogs, you might want to invest in a class that will help your pup learn how to socialize properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="775" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T03:45:42.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2256" CreationDate="2014-02-12T08:47:39.083" Score="4" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a young puppy and I'm now walking him with a simple collar at night.  I want to improve his visibility to others.  I've recently added a flashing light (see picture).  What other tools/utilities can I use to make him more visible?  How about a harness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZuvN0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-13T04:38:10.207" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T19:22:18.080" Title="When walking my dog at night, how can I improve his visibility to others?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2253" CreationDate="2014-02-12T08:57:18.297" Score="9" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 4-month old Brittany.  What kind of games can I imagine to help conduct some scent-training to exercise his nose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought about hiding objects with some treats inside, or setting up many small boxes, only one would have something inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any better ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-13T14:41:23.780" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:50:15.860" Title="How can I scent-train my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2240" CreationDate="2014-02-12T09:14:27.453" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.be/search?q=high%20visibility%20vest%20dog&amp;amp;num=100&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;high visibility vests&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.be/search?q=high%20visibility%20harness%20dog&amp;amp;num=100&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;harnesses&lt;/a&gt; available for dogs for most sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have one for a human and some sewing skills, it is simple to convert it to one for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastEditorUserId="446" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T23:29:28.393" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T23:29:28.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2244" CreationDate="2014-02-12T10:34:58.317" Score="9" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;Retrievers get their name from being excellent hunting companions, just as Shepherds are excellent herding dogs. However, the modern pedigree breeding business selects dogs for beauty and temperamental suitability for dog shows. As such, it would appear that pedigrees should begin to lose their original character traits. Both the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Ridgeback&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rhodesian Ridgebacks&lt;/a&gt; my family has purchased have been incredibly friendly and trusting of strangers (much like Golden Retrievers) and a little timid. They are not the ferocious and fearless &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Ridgeback&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guard dogs&lt;/a&gt; dog books and Wikipedia would have us believe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I found the following interesting comment by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Konrad Lorenz&lt;/a&gt;, founder of modern ethology and a Nobel Prize winner, about the ways in which dog shows have altered dog breeds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I have already intimated, it would be quite possible for breeders&#xA;  to compromise in the choice of physical and mental properties, and&#xA;  this contention has been proved by the fact that various pure breeds&#xA;  of dog did retain their original good character traits until they fell&#xA;  a prey to fashion. ... ... Modern breeding of the Chow has led to an&#xA;  exaggeration of those points which gives him the appearance of a plump&#xA;  bear: the muzzle is wide and short almost mastiff-like, the eyes have&#xA;  lost their slant in the compression of the whole face, and the ears&#xA;  have almost disappeared in the overgrown thickness of the coat.&#xA;  Mentally, too, these temperamental creatures, which still bore a trace&#xA;  of the wild beast of prey, have become stodgy teddy bears. But not my&#xA;  breed of Chows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Konrad Lorenz, Man Meets Dog, Routledge: London and New York, 2005, pp. 86-87), quoted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://andruska.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/how-breeders-and-judges-destroyed-the-unique-chow-chow/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, many websites (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds/laid-back-dog-breeds.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this dog breed selector&lt;/a&gt;) and books suggest that each breed retains its own temperament. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="777" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-13T04:27:15.473" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T04:27:15.473" Title="Do most pedigree dogs retain the personality traits of their ancestors?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2243" CreationDate="2014-02-12T10:59:40.760" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breeding for the show ring has most probably a large influence on the &quot;working&quot; characteristics of many breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example the border collie, is, in most cases not bred for its herding capabilities, thus selecting and strengthening that trait, but for the show (or agility). In fact breeders would in most cases not be able to recognise good or bad herders, as these dogs are not working anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the absence of specific selection, strong trait of character or physical abilities will slowly fade away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand as more and more dogs are bred for their apparence, and not for their physical abilities, many genetic diseases or malformation are now &quot;free&quot; and they quickly spread in the breed. I'm think hip displasia and Legg-Calve-Perthes disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more aspect to consider is this: in my opinion there is an important confusion as how behavioural traits, that were considered only recently (a century ago people would care much less about &quot;dog being friend with children/cats&quot;, &quot;can stay alone without barking&quot;, and many other behaviours that modern dogs should master), are associated with breeds, although these breeds never selected such traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: newfoundlands are good with children: this is only marginally an hereditary trait and to my knowledge, newfoundlands were never supposed to be bred to strengthen that. So at best, it is only a recent aspect, introduced to meet the new role of these dogs, mostly companion pets, but at the same time, this tends to dilute other traits their ancestors were bred for. I'm not saying this is wrong either, although in some breeds this allowed some malformation to emerge quickly, see my previous paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing: many &quot;encyclopaediae&quot; with one-page breed description tend to state what one would want the breed to be (&quot;golden retrievers retrieve and are awesome with children&quot;), while the breeding reality is much more complicated. With time and breeding for the appearance and temperament only, the strong &quot;physical&quot; working capabilities (here retrieving) will fade and hereditary health issues are more likely to develop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an &quot;easy to read&quot; reference on the subject, I recommend the book &quot;Dog Sense&quot; by John Bradshaw which covers that topic in some length (among other things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T10:59:40.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2140" CreationDate="2014-02-12T11:55:07.310" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if I can't really answer the &quot;why&quot; part of your question and if I doubt it is actual anger, here are a few things you should try to reduce or eliminate that behaviour, assuming that your dog is quite excited because you're back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stay calm, do not actively pet him before he calms down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if he jumps and/or bites you, do not say anything, this will very likely excite the dog even more and certainly it will not efficiently give him information that it should not happen, and on what should happen instead&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do not punish him or whatever, this will create even more stress when you're coming home&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead try to practice a few exercices when you have time and are relaxed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take a treat pouch with you (and a clicker) and leave for a minute&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;come back as you usually do and treat him for staying with 4 feet on the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeat with some variations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do the same exercice but first thing you do when you open the door is to ask him to sit (or whatever else, handstand is more difficult), then treat, you should highly reinforce that. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to teach an alternate behaviour that you can then reinforce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then if he's doing &quot;the wrong thing&quot;, you can redirect to another behaviour. The dog will quickly learn what's appropriate, ie. what pays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first you can treat, then as he learns what to do, you can simply pet him. For example you come back home, ask him to sit (which he might have done already), do whatever you want to do first and then come back to him, petting, affection, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My key message is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your dog does not know what to do you when you come home. Consequently he is very likely to propose a behaviour that we (humans) consider incorrect. Teach him an alternative behaviour that you highly reinforce. When it is done do not punish the incorrect behaviour but ignore it and redirect quickly to the correct behaviour which in turn can be rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will certainly take some time and it will be frustrating at first, but eventually it will work and your dog will have learnt something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T11:55:07.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2246" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-12T12:50:35.660" Score="11" ViewCount="3570" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I recently moved into a condo with a roommate. Since we want privacy for our bedroom, but don't want to have to worry about animals making noises at our door at night, we installed a cat flap in our bedroom door for our dog and two cats. The two cats (both about 4-5 years old) took to it immediately, but our dog (who is seven years old) is having some issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, the dog wouldn't go through the door at all. However, after a month or so, she would go through it to get into our bedroom at times when she wanted to get away from guests (or the cats). After that, she'd use the cat flap just as the cats did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past month however, the dog will only use the door to &lt;em&gt;leave&lt;/em&gt; our bedroom. Indeed, she'll rush out through the door if she wants to get a drink or investigate a noise, then sit outside and bark until someone opens the main door for her to come back in. Even holding the cat flap open and tempting her through with treats doesn't beckon her through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any technique for alleviating my dog's issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="660" LastEditorUserId="660" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T17:30:01.253" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T17:30:01.253" Title="How do I get my dog to use the doggie door in both directions?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1898" CreationDate="2014-02-12T13:24:10.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have a 1-year old Newfypoo. Honestly, they are more low-key and sweet than most puppies, although they are still a puppies and the poodle breed has undesirable characteristics due to its intelligence. Here was our experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the time we got the puppy, we had semi-opposite work schedules, when we did work some of the same days.  Schedule included 1 hour of playing &amp;amp; training in the morning, until about 8 months.  This does not help you get ready for work, as the puppy required full attention.  A 15-minute walk before we went to work.  Crated the puppy.  As a poodle mix, Newfypoos are known for separation anxiety and will chew/eat things when left alone.  The dog walker would either come over around 1 PM, or we would took him to doggie daycare for the day (maximum twice a week, otherwise too much physical play for a large breed; you have to restrict high-impact exercise).  Another 15-minute walk when we came home, plus one more hour of play &amp;amp; training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem we had was when he misbehaved and had puppy temper fits, they were from a giant breed puppy.  You must train a Newfypoo very strictly due to their size.  There is a helpful growth chart at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newfypoobreed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Newyfoo Breed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="778" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T17:02:39.577" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T17:02:39.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2250" CreationDate="2014-02-12T16:06:26.767" Score="7" ViewCount="2132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old ridgeback who has been crate trained since I got him as a puppy.  His house training is going well and I am prepared to start trusting him with a bit more freedom around the house.  I'd like to work up so that I don't have to crate him when I go to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently he is crated for about 4 hours when I go to work in the morning until lunch, when I take him for a walk and play for a bit, then another 4 hours till I get home at night.  Though he understands being locked in the crate, when I leave him free in another room with the door closed, he begins to whine and bark (similar to what he did when he was first crate training).  I've done my best to puppy proof the area but I am still afraid he will find something to destroy out of frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tricks for helping bring a puppy to this next stage of house-proofing?  Is it similar to crate training where I will need to start short and just continually work up to longer and longer times alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="780" LastEditorUserId="780" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T16:35:20.580" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T19:30:02.757" Title="Preparing a dog to stay alone without crating" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2248" CreationDate="2014-02-12T16:26:48.447" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you plan to confine him in another room than the one where he's usually crated, you could first move the crate there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way that other room will feel more like &quot;his place&quot; when you're away, and you can then leave the door of the crate open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's confortable being crated there, I suggest to just proceed in a similar way as for crate training. Try to practice on the week-ends when you leave for a much shorter duration. Leave the crate open and let him play with a toy outside the crate. You can also do the same when he's tired and will more likely go in the crate to sleep (if that's what he usually does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, even if you did your best to puppy proof the room, be prepared that he might chew/destroy a few things...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T16:44:20.027" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T16:44:20.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2248" CreationDate="2014-02-12T16:41:04.737" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;When proofing a room, it is best to acclimate him to the room by spending time with him in it.  Provide some unbreakable toys for him, ones you know he won't chew into bits or choke on.  Check the room so there is nothing he can hurt himself on if he is left alone with the door closed.  Watch that there is nothing he can tip over or actively damage before you leave him there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay special attention to exposed cords, electrical wires, and window treatments. Make sure there are no window dressing cords he can entangle himself with; my own dog almost killed herself by getting caught in the window blinds cords while trying to get a better view when I wasn't home. I thought I resolved that by pulling the blinds up, but she went over and chewed through the window cord.  I repaired both and now pull the blinds up even with the cord, so neither are in her immediate view or access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It pays to be proactive in your maintenance of the area which he will be roaming, unsupervised, so keep the area clean of trash bins, especially plastic-lined ones, and detritus-filled containers, such as ashtrays.  Keep an active eye out for things that your dog might negatively access in the environment and proactively remedy them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing access to water prior to leaving, then taking it away for up to 8 hours is not cruel behavior unless the dog requires it for medical needs. It will be a learning experience for the dog to know that he needs to drink prior to your departure, and ensuring you provide water to him when you arrive is fine as long as you are diligent.  If your dog is fine with water being around, put it in a very heavy, stable bowl he won't be able to tip over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you let your dog out to relieve himself before you put him away, and let him go out again as soon as you get back.  If your dog has issues with retention, you can consider using a urination &quot;wee wee&quot; pad in an area the dog can access while you are gone (a shower floor, for example). The pads usually have attractants in them and should contain the mess, though the cheaper urination pads tend to be flimsy and rip easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is especially anxious, you can try a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot;&gt;Thundershirt&lt;/a&gt;, but only put it on immediately before you leave and take it off as soon as you get home. Leaving it on for longer periods can have a dog get used to the shirt and it will become less effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T16:56:30.780" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T16:56:30.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2014-02-12T16:51:20.037" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check the flap.  It is possible your dog had a bad experience with the flap and was unable to access the room from the expected direction, gave up, and was rewarded by you opening the door when she barked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the dog door. Is the door too high for her?  Could she have hurt herself (scraped or bruised her underside, banged the top of her head, maybe caught her tail) when passing through the door? Does she have to explicitly step up and over and through to get past?  If it is uncomfortable to use, she may only want to use it for excited purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possible way to curb her barking is to provide a small rug or mat in front of your door, so that when she feels trapped outside your room, she can at least lay down on something (this assumes you do not have a carpeted floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really should consider leaving her outside your room, barking.  You must somehow get everyone in your household to agree to tolerate her barking for a couple nights, with the understanding that you're trying to retrain her so she'll stop doing it altogether.  She will eventually figure out you're not coming to allow her back in, and she'll either make her way in through the dog door or give up.  You can't respond to her barking - she has to realize her barking is not rewarded by being allowed to enter the human way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T17:06:47.710" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T17:06:47.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2014-02-12T17:04:10.900" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just luring him with treats might not work. However, you could try to train the dog using the full &quot;power&quot; of positive reinforcement training (aka clicker training). Obtaining behaviours like the one you want can be done with &quot;free shaping&quot; or &quot;luring&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your not familiar with clicker training, here are a few steps you could try to follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you have a clicker use one, otherwise just use the word &quot;yes&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take some treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pair the clicker/yes with the treats: without asking anything, just say &quot;yes&quot; then treat, repeat a few times. If the dogs knows a &quot;sit&quot; or another behaviour, ask for it, then yes as he's doing it, then treat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point here is that the &quot;yes&quot; will be a marker, meaning &quot;what you're doing right now is good, a treat will follow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now move to the flap. Stay close to it and wait&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At first the dog will probably wonder what's going on, do nothing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, click and treat as he's looking at the flap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then reward (click or &quot;yes&quot; and treat) every steps toward the flap. Follow even the tiniest steps until he's touching the flap, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do so you can lure it to the flap, but the point is to make him understand that the game is about the flap, not about following a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then make sure that he understands that something interesting is on the other side : a toy, whatever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue rewarding actions towards the flap, smelling, touching, going through with one leg, etc. It doesn't matter if he's coming back to you to get the treat, what matters is the moment you click/say &quot;yes&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might take more than one session, but eventually this is creating the best conditions for him to want to go to the other side by himself. If during the first session the progresses are really slow, then you can &quot;play this game&quot; again later, but on the &quot;good&quot; side of the door, where he's more likely to use the flap. That way he will understand the rules of the game and realises I can win a big reward when he wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he does go in the room by himself make sure he gets a &quot;jackpot&quot; treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-CCJxF-9U4&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;. The dog there doesn't want to walk on some kind of floor. At first he's really not doing it, but the technique helps him associate the floor and positive feelings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T17:04:10.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2241" CreationDate="2014-02-12T19:15:29.763" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read this one on a book and worked great with my 5 months old Boston Terrier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - Get some boiled or baked chicken (could be any kind of meat your dog likes, which in our case is anything). Cut it in small pieces. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 - Show one piece to the dog, let him smell it, but not eat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 - Leave it on the floor next to him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 - Get another piece, let him smell it and leave it one feet away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 - Continue increasing the distance and once he gets a hang of the game you can start putting the meat in hidden places or other rooms. Make sure you put the meat in places where your dog can find it, but if he fails help him by guiding him to where the meat is so he doesn't get frustrated with the game. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the first time I played this game with my dog, he learned to search for anything that I would give him to smell and then hide away. Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T19:15:29.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2254" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-12T20:28:42.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Genetics questions refers to the genetic / biological history of a pet, discussing ancestral history, inherited traits, genetics, and pedigree of a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample questions may include dominant and recessive traits when inter-breeding, whether to perform genetic testing, and how to trace lineage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions specifically about combining two different breeds of the same species should use the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/crossbreed&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;crossbreed&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;crossbreed&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T14:46:08.690" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T14:46:08.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2255" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-12T20:28:42.010" Score="0" Body="Biological history, parentage, pedigree, ancestral history, genetics, inter-breeding, and inherited traits of a pet." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-12T20:37:26.183" LastActivityDate="2014-02-12T20:37:26.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2240" CreationDate="2014-02-13T04:45:22.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't just improve the visibility of your dog, but yourself as well, since you are likely the larger of the two.  As suggested by @ratchetfreak, you should get a high visibility vest for your dog, but also consider one &lt;strong&gt;for yourself&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I have seen people clip reflective objects to their leashes.  A &quot;poor man's fix&quot; would be to clip safety pins with aluminum foil to your leash, but if you need to resort to that, you have bigger problems.  If you can forgo your manliness, try using a gaudy rhinestone leash (and collar), as those are quite reflective.  Or you can simply &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&amp;amp;field-keywords=reflective%20leash%20for%20dogs&amp;amp;rh=i%3aaps,k%3areflective%20leash%20for%20dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;buy a reflective dog leash&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have your dog leashed, so you have control of your dog.  Since you have control, walk with your dog on the side of you furthest from the street, as you (the larger object, likely with the now-reflective vest and hopefully wearing light-colored clothing) are more visible to cars than your dog.  You really shouldn't be walking your dog in the street in the first place, but it is understandable if you have no sidewalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T19:22:18.080" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T19:22:18.080" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2230" CreationDate="2014-02-13T05:21:07.540" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The purpose of litter is to keep your pet clean and reduce smell.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a rabbit is healthy, their droppings rarely have much smell.  On the other hand, rabbit pee on can be quite nauseating, especially when bacteria break it  down and begin producing ammonia vapors.  To minimize this problem, you need a litter with a very high absorbency&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best litter for you might vary a bit depending on your budget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Personally, I always choose hard-wood pellets.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Here's a general comparison:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hardwood (saw dust) Pellets&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the best liquid absorbents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fully edible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seems to almost eliminate odor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paws of white rabbits seem cleanest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Softwood (saw dust) Pellets&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High terpene content can irritate airways&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Questionable Edibility (terpenes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the best liquid absorbents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seems to almost eliminate odor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paws of white rabbits seem cleanest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;High-Absorbency Paper Bedding (care fresh)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sticks to almost every type of rabbit fur = very messy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the best liquid absorbents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fully edible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seems to almost eliminate odor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paws of white rabbits seem cleanest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Clay litter:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too dusty for rabbits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Often over scented, and will deter a rabbit form use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some brands are not absorbent as care fresh or saw dust or saw dust pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not very edible for rabbits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Saw Dust:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the best liquid absorbents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fully edible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tends to stick to bunny fur = messy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;News Paper:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does not absorb as well as care fresh or saw dust or saw dust pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;print can stain rabbits fur&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wetness doesn't distribute well; you get patchy potties.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Hay&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does not absorb as well as care fresh or saw dust or saw dust pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tends to amplify smell issues&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wetness doesn't distribute well; you get patchy potties.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Corn Cob Pellets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Absorbs better than most, but not as well as care fresh or saw dust or saw dust pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tends to stick to the fur of longer haired rabbits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Straw Pellets&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Absorbs better than most, but not as well as care fresh or saw dust or saw dust pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Newspaper Pellets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Absorbs better than most, but not as well as care fresh or saw dust or saw dust pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some brands have high ink content that stain the bunny’s feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't seem to deal with odor as well as other pellet litter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pro-tip:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;While not actually approved for pet usage (as it may contain plastics or other contaminates, I almost always buy my &lt;em&gt;hardwood&lt;/em&gt; pellets form my local home center as is usually less than 1/4 of the cost as it would be at the pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T18:12:20.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1630" CreationDate="2014-02-13T06:18:22.963" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;They don't intend to leave those items around the house or untidy the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They just lose interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And socks, sweatbands and any sponge material; they just love this material as these things make one of their favorite activity &quot;Clawing&quot; fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can specifically bring soft toys and even things made of soft wood for them to claw around but they will still explore new things around the house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just like a house with a small child in it, best way is to make sure to keep all personal belongings / fragile items out of their reach and still have lots of play-stuff filled in house which they can use to make their own world. And yes. There is no escape tidying up the house once they are done with their days share of exploring. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask me there is no such thing as training a cat (you can train a dog for sure). You just bring a cat home and wait for her to accept you as his/her family. :) Think of yourself as his/her family and not the other way round and things will be much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="782" LastActivityDate="2014-02-13T06:18:22.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1489" CreationDate="2014-02-14T04:46:22.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Veiled chameleons are considered insectivores, which means their diet consists of insects and bugs. Although I have heard of them eating small lizards and other small vertebrates, I would suggest against feeding yours anything with bones because it risks impaction (when the reptile can't digest something and it blocks their digestive system).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard of some older chameleons eating leafy greens, so if you want to try that you could. I would stick to the more nutrient rich greens though, something like kale. it's also a good idea to break it up a bit before feeding them, as reptiles don't really chew so much as mash their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like John said, you're much better off gut loading your insects to make sure they have all the nutrients you want your chameleons to receive. More so, I would suggest using vegetables more than fruits, as they're higher in nutrients, with the exception of squash which are also good and are technically fruits. You can also feed them a pre-made formula if you want to take some of the scheduling out of it, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/flukers-orange-cube-complete-cricket-diet-116415?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=Google&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=FLU-041&amp;amp;utm_campaign=GooglePLA&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323896402&amp;amp;utm_content=pla&amp;amp;ca_sku=FLU-041&amp;amp;ca_gpa=pla&amp;amp;ca_kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fluker's Orange Cubes&lt;/a&gt; I use for crickets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else you can do is dust the insects with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/tetra-reptocal-calcium-supplement-2-12-oz-116271&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calcium powder&lt;/a&gt; at a couple mealtimes a week. Generally dusting insects is used to compliment gut loading them, as dusting provides more calcium than gut loading would, and gut loading provides more vitamins. It's more important when the chameleons are younger as it helps with their growth and development. Older chameleons don't need calcium dust much more than once a week, maybe even less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some good staple insects to feed them are: crickets, mealworms, dubia roaches, silkworms, and praying mantises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other insects you can feed them, but maybe more so as a treat are: waxworms, moths, and I've heard small stick insects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T04:46:22.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2014-02-14T09:37:43.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good thing is to attend &quot;puppy classes&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many variants exists but one should look for classes where the puppies are allowed to play together in a safe area (in my canine club it is a fenced area next to the main training field).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person in charge should find a balance between letting the puppies play alone and supervising them. If two puppies go to rough then one could intervene (distract them, or simply separating them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also excellent when there is one/two calm and well behaved adult dogs that are willing to play with the puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a real socialisation plan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to make a plan in advance so that you're not tempted to skip a socialisation &quot;training session&quot; with a simple walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my puppy was 2.5 to 3.5 months I did something really new for him twice a week: taking the bus/train/tram, going in the snow, seeing other animals (horses, etc.), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not mix training with socialisation at first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you bring your puppy to an unknown place and need a collar/leash, make sure you &quot;trained&quot; him before to be confortable with it. Same with going to the vet and taking the dog for a car trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not associate different potentially worrying experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T09:37:43.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2214" CreationDate="2014-02-14T12:07:22.987" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll base my answer on my recent experience with &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement training&lt;/em&gt;, aka &lt;em&gt;clicker training&lt;/em&gt; to teach my puppy a sit and stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, a few words on that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Positive reinforcement training is based mainly on positive rewards, that means you will condition your dog that what you want him to do is rewarded and has positive consequences. That means when the dog does the behaviour you reward him with treats, affection, play, toys, etc. Treats work best with most dogs and are easy to use in a training session, and you can have a good reinforcement rate with no interruptions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use of a marker: positive reinforcement training is often paired with the use of a marker. That marker is the &quot;clicker&quot; part in &quot;clicker training&quot;. The mark is conditioned to the reward. To the dog, click means &quot;what I'm doing right now is good, so a reward is coming&quot;. This is called classical conditioning (Pavlov conditioning). It has to be done before training any particular behaviour. Usually 2-3 sessions of just &quot;click =&gt; treat&quot; without asking anything to the dog is sufficient. The marker conveys information to the dog and so timing is crucial. The marker is also a reward in itself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This method avoids any use of physical or psychological punishment (technically positive punishment, something bad is added) which has many advantages (outside the scope of this question) and it also doesn't consider lengthy discussions on &quot;dominance&quot; or question why the dog is not doing the behaviour. If the dog doesn't do what you want, it just doesn't get rewarded and you try again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Studies showed that reward-based training methods lead to better obedience than punishment-only methods (see for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogscouts.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/art_training_methods.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hiby et al.&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being said, how do apply that to teaching a &lt;strong&gt;sit and stay&lt;/strong&gt;. What we want to obtain is this: you cue the dog (verbally &quot;sit&quot; or with a hand gesture) and he sits. And stays in that position. You can move around, he just stays. Then you release him with another cue (&quot;free&quot; or &quot;release&quot; for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is different from the usual &quot;sit&quot; where you sit the dog and then ask him to stay with &quot;stay&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To teach that we have to proceed in a few steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the sit under &quot;stimulus control&quot; and teach the release cue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add duration, distractions and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. Get the behaviour&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be done by &quot;capturing&quot; or luring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Capturing: Take your clicker and treats and wait. When the dog sits, click and treat. Toss the treat away from the dog so that he moves around and then wait again until he sits. Repeat multiple times. Change room, try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luring: Take a treat in your hand and click and treat the dog for following the treat. Then lure the dog into a sit, click and treat. Quickly you have to remove the treat. Pretend to have a treat in your hand and do the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that point the dog will understand the behaviour very clearly and you can practice a combination of both methods over a few sessions. It is important to let the dog think about what he has to do. Luring with the treat just get the behaviour started, then fade the treat. That also provides a good brain exercice session for your dog, similar to humans playing Sudoku ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For both methods, proceed in small steps: first click and treat for muscle movements (the dog is about to sit), then for his legs moving, then when he's properly sitting. That the key point and that's where your timing when you click is important. It is really teaching the dog how to perform the behaviour you want. For a sit that might seem of no importance, but for more complicated behaviours that's where the &quot;clicker magic&quot; happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. Stimulus control and release cue&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you will add a cue to the behaviour. My preferred method at this point is to lure the dog (with and then without an actual treat in my hand) into a sit. But just before doing that, give your cue. Practice by saying &quot;sit&quot;, then lure into a sit. Or practice by doing your hand gesture and then lure into a sit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The timing of your click should be as before, start again with small steps. If after a few sessions you want to click only when the dog sits but he's not doing it, go back a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are at the point where you click for a complete sit, &lt;strong&gt;simultaneously&lt;/strong&gt; always release the dog from the sit. He sits, you click and treat, then give your release cue and let the dog move. You can also say your release cue, toss a treat away from the dog (to make him move) and click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3. Duration, distractions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you have a reliable sit behaviour after your sit cue, but if you move around or wait too long the dog starts moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to separately and very progressively add duration and distractions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Duration: Ask for a sit, wait a bit then click and treat. The dog stays in a sit. Wait a little bit more, give your release cue, the dog moves, you click and treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distractions: Proceed step by step, first clicking when the distraction happens, then after the distraction has happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proceeding in that way makes the whole thing a chain of reinforcement, with the last element of the chain being the one with the more reinforcements. You cue the dog to sit, he's likely to do so as he knows reinforcements will follow. Then he waits, as your release cue is another reinforcer, so he waits because that's the way he gets the rewards, then your release him and that end the chain, with being free + primary reinforcer (treat, petting, etc.). That also explains why you can get the whole behaviour (once learned) with no clicker and no treats. Each part of the chain is a reinforcer for the previous one. At the end you a simple &quot;good boy/girl&quot;, petting, playing with a toy or simply being free to continue the walk will do the trick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;4. Add a bow tie&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rewlj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;References&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find much more on this whole subject in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4PPcE1CqY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Youtube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The foundations and principles of positive reinforcement training and clicker training are covered at length in the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1860542387&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Don't shoot the dog&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Karen Pryor. Another one on the principles and applications of clicker training is &quot;Reaching the animal mind&quot; by the same author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe0-oqqoXvw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;http://michaelellisschool.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Michael Ellis&lt;/a&gt;. I didn't know him before but he seems to be a very experienced competition dog trainer. His training method is not said to be clicker training, however the concepts are exactly the same. Worth watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-20T08:46:02.327" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T08:46:02.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="197" CreationDate="2014-02-14T15:10:44.260" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;John is right, your snake has mites. They're pretty similar in reptiles as fleas are in dogs and cats. Unfortunately the best way to deal with mites is to never get them at all because of the difficulty in getting rid of them. Mites will take refuge in the snake's scales, and pretty much every chemical that would kill the mites is harmful to reptiles as well. They're also so tiny in their larval stage they can hide anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are sprays you can get that can help sooth the bites on your snake. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reptile Relief&lt;/a&gt; is the most commonly used I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To actually get rid of the mites, you should give the snake a bath with some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/betadine-antiseptic-solution/ID=prod1544040-product?ext=gooMedicines_ampersand_Treatments_PLA_Iodine_prod1544040_pla&amp;amp;adtype=%7Badtype%7D&amp;amp;kpid=prod1544040&amp;amp;sst=19c4be97-6b33-447a-9840-382be3d14c02&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Betadine solution&lt;/a&gt; (enough so that the water looks like tea). Wait to put in the solution until after the snake is in the bath, as it might want to take a drink when it's first in there. Also, if the snake defecates while in the bath, you should draw a fresh bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water should drown the mites, while the Betadine solution should help clean the bites. Make sure to also (carefully) treat the snake's head as the mites can take refuge on it's head during the bath. You can use a cotton swab to help get the mites off of the head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now leave the snake in the bath for a couple minutes to let the water kill the mites. If you're comfortable with leaving your snake in the bath for a bit, you can move on to the next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, everything in the terrarium can be considered infested with mite eggs and larvae. A couple things besides the terrarium itself are salvageable. These are the food and water dishes, and the decorations. All of that should be soaked in water with a hint of bleach in it, something like half a cup of bleach per gallon of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let it soak for several minutes to kill the mites, and let the bleach soak and kill the eggs. Anything that can't be soaked should be thrown away and replaced. It's almost best to just use paper towels as a substrate for the next couple of weeks, just in case it turns out that the mites are still around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that the terrarium is empty, fill it up with water and a little bit of bleach. That should hopefully take care of any mites in the silicon corners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, enough time has probably passed where you can draw your snake another bath, this time with just plain water to rinse away the Betadine solution. Now check to make sure you can't see any mites hiding in the scales or vents. If there's only one or two, or if they're dead and just stuck, you should be able to grab them with a cotton swab and mineral oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, go back to the terrarium and decorations, and rinse it thoroughly to get rid of the bleach. Especially in the food and water bowls. Now you're ready to put the terrarium back together and put your snake back in it. Make sure to keep an eye on it for any mites that might reappear, if you see any, you'll want to start the process over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-25T22:44:41.743" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T22:44:41.743" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2276" CreationDate="2014-02-14T15:43:18.037" Score="11" ViewCount="55948" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering a pet rabbit and I am wondering about noise issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If dogs bark and cats meow, do rabbits make any noises, or are they silent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T13:06:25.660" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T13:06:25.660" Title="Do rabbits make any sounds?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2265" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-14T17:03:18.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Acclimation is a term most commonly used in fish-keeping, although it could be used in other areas. It's the act of getting used to one's environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When bringing a fish home, it's important to acclimate it to the tank, to get the fish used to the new water parameters. Likewise, when bringing other animals home, it is important to acclimate them to the new sights, sounds, and smells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T18:57:16.580" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T18:57:16.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2266" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-14T17:03:18.507" Score="0" Body="Acclimation is the act of getting used to one's environment. Questions about acclimation are typically along the lines of getting a pet used to it's new home." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T18:57:32.253" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T18:57:32.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2279" CreationDate="2014-02-14T17:49:44.747" Score="9" ViewCount="722" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a two-and-a-half-year-old Maine Coon dude who really enjoys the food he can get. As I'm having good results clicker training my dog, I'm trying to find time to exercise my cat and teach him some cool behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tricks I thought about, but maybe not in the correct order are: (1) follow a target (a pen), (2) sit, (3) go in your tunnel, and (4) get in a box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dogs, it is quite clear where to start; I don't know what works well with cats, so how should I start his training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-15T00:41:00.407" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T06:54:14.903" Title="What should I start with when training a cat to do tricks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2264" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:04:19.590" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the most part rabbits are silent, but not entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had three pet rabbits and they did, from time to time, grunt. Most of the time it was when they got irritated by the cats, but also when they decided that they didn't like something we were doing (like stealing their plastic keys). At any rate, the grunting sound is a sign of displeasure and a reasonable warning to stop what is bugging them and it's not terribly loud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they'll not approach even the general noise level of regular cat and not even remotely close to a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T22:04:19.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2264" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:24:14.530" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about what passive noises they make, but I do know when rabbits are really stressed/scared, they make a human-like screaming noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They make the same noise to a lesser extent when fighting. It's more like a chirping/squealing noise if I remember correctly. It's been a while since I've heard rabbits fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T22:24:14.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2270" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:44:55.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions about whether two or more animals might be compatible with each other, or even if the animal is compatible with the owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T23:04:36.863" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T23:04:36.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2271" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:44:55.017" Score="0" Body="The ability for two or more beings to coexist together." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T23:04:29.767" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T23:04:29.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2272" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:50:47.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes called a Cavy; Guinea Pigs are medium-sized rodents that have grown in popularity due to the ease of their care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any questions involving Guinea Pigs should use this tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T23:27:40.953" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T23:27:40.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2273" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:50:47.167" Score="0" Body="A medium-sized rodent from the Andes." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-14T23:44:56.243" LastActivityDate="2014-02-14T23:44:56.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2274" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:56:05.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A member of the Agama family; Bearded Dragons are lizards native to Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any questions concerning Bearded Dragons should use this tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T22:13:21.420" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T22:13:21.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2275" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-14T22:56:05.647" Score="0" Body="A domesticated lizard that was originally imported from Australia." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T22:13:21.420" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T22:13:21.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2264" CreationDate="2014-02-14T23:37:07.033" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits make a variety of sounds.  The following are the most significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The loudest normal sound is non-vocal: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mohrs.org/hrswebpg17.html&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;foot stomps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  Anyone who has seen &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumper_%28Bambi%29&quot;&gt;Thumper&lt;/a&gt; in the Disney movie is familiar with this action. The bunny will stomp one of their powerful back legs.  It conveys extreme displeasure or sends a warning of danger. I usually refer to it as bunny profanity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly the loudest sound is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitwise.org/behavior.html&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;screaming or crying&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  It sounds like a human baby in pain.  Hopefully you will never hear it. The rabbit is likely in extreme pain, or in fear for its life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quieter than a dog and maybe about the same volume as a cat, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myhouserabbit.com/tip_noises.php&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;growling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is used to express displeasure and request avoidance (&quot;keep away from my stuff!&quot;).  In some rabbits, it can be a warning; if you are unfamiliar with the rabbit, assume it means the same thing as a cat or dog.  Some of the smaller breeds, particularly the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_rabbit&quot;&gt;Lionhead&lt;/a&gt; types, will use it for communication (&lt;em&gt;&quot;I want my treat NOW!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;). If I am working with a growling rabbit at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpahumane.org/adopt.html&quot;&gt;shelter&lt;/a&gt;, I use caution.  If he is Tigger, our Lionhead, I will nuzzle his nose with mine and tell him to stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nicest noise is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/how-do-i-love-thee-let-me-list-the-ways-2/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;teeth chittering&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, sometimes called purring; a rabbit will click its back teeth together in a pleasant little noise.  The rabbit is very content and has probably either melted on your lap or is laying next to you.  Your bunny loves what you're doing; don't stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits run in the 35-to-40 mph range, and they can get to top speed in your living room. There is a bit of noise when they move at this speed, which can include jumping on or over furniture. This will only be seen on high traction surfaces like carpet, and it is a sight to watch. Usually they will have completed before you can get your camera running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will eat hay, drink from the water bottle (&lt;em&gt;bowls are much quieter&lt;/em&gt;), dig in the litter box, and make other sounds of life. They will also do these things while you're sleeping.  If you need absolute quiet at night, a rabbit is not the pet for you.  For the normal individual, the sounds are not bothersome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have a very thumpy bunny and you live in an upstairs apartment, it is unlikely anyone will hear your bunny outside of your home.  We take our rabbits camping all the time; they stay in the camper (&lt;em&gt;with the air conditioner on for hot weather&lt;/em&gt;), and even the fussiest neighbor has no barking, growling or howling to complain of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-15T00:32:06.393" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T00:32:06.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-15T00:53:39.483" Score="6" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about getting a sugar glider as a pet. What are the main issues I should think about before getting one? Also, I am planning to buy a dog (boxer) later on when we move to a bigger home, will the sugar glider and dogs get along?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="787" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T14:00:12.813" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T13:08:11.810" Title="What do I have to consider before getting a sugar glider as a pet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2277" CreationDate="2014-02-15T07:11:30.903" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm inclined to say that dogs and sugar gliders are not compatible together, because there are enough cases where even well behaved dogs have killed sugar gliders. Even if it's accidental, I don't think the risk is worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple fact of the matter is that sugar gliders are tiny compared to even small dogs; and are so delicate that even though the dog might mean well, an accidental step or a playful nip can cause serious damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider, is that sugar gliders have not been tamed on nearly the same level as dogs, they will still react heavily on instinct. If they feel nervous around the dog, which is pretty likely I say, their defensive instincts could kick in and they might lash out at the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say you can't have both animals in the same house, just that you won't really want them interacting with each other; at most only under strict supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to set up a wire cage for them to keep them contained, but you'll want to make sure it's large enough for them to get enough exercise while inside. Sugar gliders are nocturnal, and it's not really a good idea to let them wander around unsupervised at night.  A minimum size for a pair I would say is 24x24x36-inches, and make sure that you have a way of latching the door shut that they can't figure out how to undo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course since they're nocturnal, that means you also have to take into account that you won't be seeing much of them during the day, and you'll need to work around their schedule as they're very social animals and will require lots of attention. You don't have to become nocturnal yourself, but definitely devote the evenings and early mornings to caring for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably find differing opinions on what to feed them, since they're still fairly new to the pet industry, their needs haven't been documented as well as the more common pets. What I can tell you is that sugar gliders are omnivorous, so they will need a combination of fruits, vegetables, and insects in order to be healthy. It's also important to provide them with a calcium supplement to prevent metabolic bone disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would review &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/oakleysglidersite/safe-and-toxic-foods-list&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; for foods that you can feed sugar gliders, though I'd ignore bananas and any citrus on the list as most sugar gliders don't seem to like those foods. Other foods you can include are crickets, mealworms, and small amounts of unprocessed, boneless, lean meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also varying recipes for mash you can feed them. Commonly using ingredients like egg, applesauce, and yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to vary their diet so that they don't lose interest in eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to glider-proof your home if you plan on letting them out of their cage. Toilets are notorious death traps for sugar gliders, as their curiosity leads them in and they're unable to climb out. Even putting the lid down isn't enough as sugar gliders can fit into very small spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other places to consider are cabinets, if there's access into the walls from underneath sinks, the kitchen appliances, make sure the outlets are safe, the laundry room if you have one, and any air ducts in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suzsugargliders.com/gliderproofing.htm&quot;&gt;Here is a link&lt;/a&gt; to a more detailed list, and she discusses her concerns about keeping sugar gliders with other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T07:11:30.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2267" CreationDate="2014-02-15T07:37:36.923" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely possible to train cats, you just have to take a bit more patience with them and try not to use the same methods as you would with a dog. Cats don't have the attention span for training sessions that dogs do, so it's much more effective to passively train them to do things you want. Thinking about it at the basic level, all training is an association between a command and a behaviour. So if you see behaviour that you want to develop into something they will do on command, reinforce it as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my big cat will come to me whenever I rub my hands together. He does that because whenever I pet him, I will rub my hands or fingers together first, so hearing that sound means that he is going to get attention. It's evolved on its own now, where he'll jump up at my hand to pull it closer to him if I don't pet him right away when he comes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that's dependent on my big cat being a sucker for attention. My small cat doesn't care for attention unless she initiates it, so despite me trying the same things with her, the best I can do is get her attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting is pretty easy, it's the one command that you can train them to do similar to training a dog. I simply worked on it each morning before I gave them food. As soon as they sat, they got food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really know how to get started with following a target, but getting them to go to a certain place is fairly straightforward. Hold your cat while you put some food or a treat that he really likes down in the place you want him to go to when you tell him. Take him a couple steps back and let him go. As he goes to get the food, you'll want to say your command. Simply associate your command with going to get a tasty snack in that place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As he starts to catch what's going on, you can start working on setting the treat down while he can't see it, and give him the command to go to the treat. Once you have it established that your command means go to the place and he gets a treat, you can start saying the command when there isn't a treat sometimes. I think that cats lose interest in following direction if they aren't praised after each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A solution to where you don't have to place a treat down beforehand, is to work in where he comes back to you for the treat. That way you can tell him to go, and then tell him to come for his treat after he's done that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T10:10:40.097" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T10:10:40.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2267" CreationDate="2014-02-15T16:02:58.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are hard to train, but not impossible, and a lot of is really tied to their natural interests. While we don't do a whole lot of training with our cats (especially now that they're basically getting old - 17 years), the types of things we focussed on were behaviours that the cats already exhibited an inclination for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, one of our cats had a paw motion that resembled a &quot;high 5&quot; action. We reinforced the high 5 motion by giving her a treat when she would respond to one of us holding up a hand and saying &quot;Dolly, high 5!&quot; Unfortunately, she's gone deaf on us and so isn't as reactive to this activity as she used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another case, our boy cat Junior had a habit of standing upright to get a treat from the hand as we were lowering it to him. Obviously this was to speed up the treating process, but we used that to teach him to stand on his hind legs with a &quot;stand up&quot; command and a hand motion. When he stood (almost like a classic dog begging motion), he'd get a treat. He's getting a bit older now, but he will still react to the action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a few more, but the keys to these were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Natural inclination&lt;/strong&gt;. If cat really doesn't want to do something, convincing them to do it is pretty close to impossible. Remember, it can't reason out what you're interested in, so don't get frustrated by it's lack of inclination if it doesn't have it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward&lt;/strong&gt;. As with most behaviour modifications around animals, rewarding positive and desired behaviours as opposed to punishing them when they don't is much more effective a means to getting them to do what you what you want. This doesn't always have to be a treat either, it could be a brushing with their favourite comb or brush, or just a good petting session.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patience&lt;/strong&gt;. Cats are far less inclined to hang around for training sessions than dogs are, so you just need to be patient with them and work on it as the cat shows an interest. If the cat loses interest, trying to force it could undo the work you've already done, so resist the temptation to make it your schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trigger association&lt;/strong&gt;. Obviously the cat is doing the action to get the treat but, as with dogs, you can associate the word or action with the sequence that results in a treat. You don't always have to give the reward, but be careful that you don't reward so infrequently as to make the action lose appeal. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T16:02:58.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2283" CreationDate="2014-02-15T18:55:47.737" Score="44" ViewCount="17276" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was talking to my wife last night, it came up that blinking slowly at a cat is supposed to be a way to tell them that you love them. She said that when she tried it with her parent's cats, one cat slowly blinked back at her and the other cat started purring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried it with our two cats and both ignored me, although I rescued the small one when she was still only a few weeks old, so she probably doesn't have the same behaviors / experiences as a normal cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that blinking slowly at cats is a way to communicate the message that you love them? My thoughts are that it's maybe more of a signal of trust, but I don't know for certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T18:04:56.200" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T05:56:30.233" Title="Is blinking slowly at cats a way to tell them that you love them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2352" CreationDate="2014-02-15T21:22:25.813" Score="8" ViewCount="5942" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife has a chinchilla that she will eventually be bringing home. We have two cats that are well behaved, but I want to make sure they're introduced properly so that I can make sure everyone gets along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the best method similar to introducing another cat, where I lock the chinchilla away in another room for a few days to get the cats used to the smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T15:19:01.517" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T15:19:01.517" Title="What's the best way to introduce a chinchilla to a household with cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;chinchillas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2281" CreationDate="2014-02-15T22:05:52.237" Score="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats&lt;/em&gt;, Karen Overall describes the slow blinking motion of a cats eyes as a sign of a fully relaxed cat. If a human is mimicking that action, the message they're potentially sending to the cat is that they're, themselves, relaxed and so trusting in the presence the cat. That consequence of that, in turn, may be to further relax the cat which then causes a similar response as well as, possibly, a soft purr. Basically a whole lot of contentment all around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else, the ability of any animal to be fully relaxed and comfortable in the presence of a human is a sign of trust and confidence and that's as much a sign of love as anything else we could choose to take. So, I think you're both right. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-15T22:05:52.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2264" CreationDate="2014-02-15T22:36:54.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've no clue how can anyone claim they are a silent animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a rabbit at home for around 10 months, and while during the day it wasn't very noticeable, during night the constant sound of him scratching anything was definitely an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, unless you plan to have the rabbit live where people can't hear him at night, you should definitely reconsider it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="795" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:20:48.550" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:20:48.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2286" CreationDate="2014-02-15T23:53:44.003" Score="11" ViewCount="64619" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are so many different types of substrate, what are the reasons to choose one type of substrate over another, or is it all just personal preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T15:56:51.047" LastActivityDate="2019-02-09T04:37:11.623" Title="What is a good substrate for a bearded dragon terrarium?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2285" CreationDate="2014-02-15T23:53:44.003" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two basic types of substrates for bearded dragons, there are benefits and downsides to both, and it comes down to what you feel is safe for your bearded dragon, and what you feel you can manage for cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, particle substrates allow the bearded dragon to dig, which is something they do enjoy doing, but gives a risk of impaction from ingesting the substrate. It can also be considered difficult, or annoying, to keep clean, and needs to be replaced at regular intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile non-particle substrate remove the risk of impaction, but will most likely require you to provide other means of allowing your bearded dragon to dig. Artificial surfaces can be difficult for bearded dragons to walk on, either catching their claws, or being too slippery to provide traction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Particle Substrates:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sand&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to admit, I have a personal bias against sand as I write this, but sand is regarded by many reptile enthusiasts as being a poor choice for a substrate because of its many health risks, that are viewed as outweighing its benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sand is the most common substrate being marketed as the proper substrate for bearded dragons. Because bearded dragons come from the desert, it's easy to market sand as a desert substrate. In truth, a bearded dragon's natural substrate would be a mixture of hard packed dirt, clay, and rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sand can be considered a bad choice for bearded dragon's substrate for the following reasons:&#xA;1. Bearded dragons are messy eaters, so if you feed them in their terrarium, they'll inevitably ingest some sand. Because sand is indigestible, it creates the risk of impaction, a medical condition where the bearded dragon's intestines are blocked, causing paralysis and death.&#xA;2. Bearded dragons &quot;explore&quot; with their mouths. Meaning that even if you don't feed them in their terrarium, the risk for impaction still exists. Mine will still lick things in his enclosure that have been there ever since I set it up.&#xA;3. Sand is dusty, which can lead to respiratory problems if the bearded dragon inhales it. Or cause infections if it gets into their eyelids.&#xA;4. This is dependant on the person taking care of the terrarium, but sand can be considered difficult, or annoying, to keep clean. If fecal matter is left behind, the sand will readily harbor bacteria, causing the terrarium to smell. If it is not kept sanitary your reptile to be exposed to a greater risk of infections/parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;damp&lt;/em&gt; sand can be one of the best substrates to use for a gravid female, as she will wish to bury her eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calcium-Sand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a newer type of &quot;sand&quot; being pushed that is supposed to be good for bearded dragons. The idea is that if bearded dragons are going to eat some of the substrate, then it might as well have calcium in it to make it better for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bad part is that it's not actually sand but calcium carbonate found in limestone and chalk, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tums.com/about/calcium-carbonate/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;and is actually a leading ingredient in TUMs&lt;/a&gt;. The side-effects of this will mean that your bearded dragon will have a harder time digesting their food because of the effect it has in neutralizing stomach acids. And if the bearded dragon feels like it needs more calcium in its diet and eats more of the sand, the effect will only get worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason, calci-sand should be avoided in favor of plain sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Colored-Sand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Included with the calcium-sand is sand that has been dyed different colors. The problem with the dye is that it permanently stains the bearded dragon's skin. I do not know of any health concerns that have been linked to the dyes though. My recommendation would again to stick to plain sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Compacted Soil&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned, a more natural substrate for bearded dragons is compacted soil. I've heard of people mimicking this substrate type by using a mixture of about 50/50 topsoil and sand (the kind you get for children's sandboxes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of this is that the compacted dirt is less likely to get ingested, and even if it does, the dirt is less likely to cause impaction by itself, and it keeps the sand from clumping together, which is what causes impaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside to this substrate is, like all particle substrates, that it can be difficult/annoying to keep clean and needs to be replaced at regular intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Crushed Walnut&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find substrate made from crushed walnut shells in some pet stores. This substrate &lt;strong&gt;Should never be used&lt;/strong&gt; for bearded dragons. The crushed shells have extremely sharp edges, and will cause damage to a bearded dragon's internal organs if ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Coconut Fiber&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This substrate is meant for tropical reptiles, because of it's ability to retain moisture. In a desert terrarium, where that amount of moisture isn't needed, the dry coconut fiber contains too much dust to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wood Chips&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wood chips pose a similar risk to bearded dragons as crushed walnut. While not as consistently sharp, they can still cause damage to a bearded dragons internal organs if ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Non-Particle Substrates:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reptile Carpet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptile carpet is a simple alternative to particle substrates. It comes in a roll of felt fabric that you can lay down at the bottom of the terrarium. The positive side of reptile carpet is that it's easy to clean; you can simply take is out and rinse it off. The downside is that bearded dragons' claws have been known to get caught in the fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I've seen new forms of reptile carpet, that instead of felt, they've taken to simulating sand textures. Which would effectively eliminate the risk of the bearded dragon's claws getting caught on the carpet. My only concern would be the damage that the bearded dragon could do to the carpet, by attempting to dig at it, could require the carpet to be replaced every so often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Paper Towels&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use paper towels, and then you wouldn't have to worry about the bearded dragon's claws getting caught, like you would with the felt carpet, but as soon a paper towel is soiled you're going to have to replace it. This can get fairly pricey depending on the cost of paper towels at your store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Slate Tiles&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slate tile is what I personally think is the best substrate, seeing as it's the one I use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like other non-particle substrates, it's easy to clean, and has no risk of impaction. But, it also has the benefits of holding heat well, and it even helps keep their claws worn down naturally so you'll never have to worry about trimming them yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you can purchase slate tile at your local hardware store, you can usually find many more varieties in colors than you would find for reptile carpet, and the colors look closer to natural substrate colors (you can probably find sand colored tiles if you prefer the look of sand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people go so far as to add grout, I opted not to so that I could take the tiles out in order to clean them, but having grout does have the benefit of keeping dirt from getting in between the tiles. It's really up to you on which method you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T19:57:04.750" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T19:57:04.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2199" CreationDate="2014-02-16T00:54:41.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was at the feed store today getting a couple bales of hay, and some wood pellet litter.  I picked up a 10 pound bag of whole safflower seed.  When I got home I spread some out in the bottom of a baking pan and set on the floor where the bunnies would encounter it.  After about 30 minutes the first bunny approached the pan. After her exploration of the pan she had to taste the contents, ate a bit and hopped off.  A couple minutes later she was back again, for another serving.  I picked up the pan and presented it to one of the other girls, who had not come over to explore, she tasted some, the went back for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As John points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2207/13&quot;&gt;in his answer.&lt;/a&gt; there does not seem to be any issues with rabbits ingesting safflower seed.  It can be a valuable food product.  So other than over eating there are probably no health concerns.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my minimal experiment a drain through litter box using whole safflower seed is probably not a good solution with a rabbit.  It is relatively expensive, and they could easily overeat assuming you kept it topped off. If a cat is using this solution you would want to keep the box away from the rabbit as cat feces could be digested, and this could be problematic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see any advantages to using a safflower seed drain through litter box with a rabbit.  If you want to feed the seed, do so in a controlled method.  With the rabbit eating the all the litter you are unlikely to see the benefits with this type of system as you would with a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.S.&lt;/strong&gt; I tasted the seed it is like a small sunflower seed with a woody but edible shell, The meat inside is correspondingly small. Excessive intake would be a very rich diet and would be contraindicated see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-11T18:22:12.817" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T18:22:12.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2104" CreationDate="2014-02-16T03:06:27.600" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most birds like being pet; however, first they must trust you.  If you just got a bird and want to start bonding with, it my suggestion is to start petting it on the beak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a Red Macaw and it loves the attention; however, I started by petting it on the beak and now after a couple of months, it asks for its petting time.  Birds mostly enjoy if you pet them on their head, gently gliding your fingers against their feathers from back to front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as they have already told you, some birds don't might not like that much attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From all the birds that I have had, I can tell you the most important thing to do is to respect their wishes. If they don't want to be pet, they will let you know.  However, all animals love affection and if you forge a bond with it, it will ask for your attention frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="796" LastEditorUserId="796" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T05:32:04.470" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T05:32:04.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2281" CreationDate="2014-02-16T14:20:29.450" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;Roger Tabor described several behaviours that are considered to indicate friendly or neutral intentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Grooming&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Looking away&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yawning&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Slow blinking&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In his very first book on cat behaviour, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rogertabor.co.uk/books.html&quot;&gt;The Wildlife of the Domestic Cat&lt;/a&gt; Tabor includes anecdotes doing field work observing roaming domestic cats in the street where he would mimic this behaviour to put the cats at ease.  (In some cases it had an inverse effect on people in the neighbourhood, who thought he might be after their cars.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would also explain the paradox of cats being attracted to people who are afraid of cats and avoid their gaze. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="799" LastEditorUserId="799" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T10:48:32.407" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T10:48:32.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2290" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2291" CreationDate="2014-02-16T20:34:56.540" Score="16" ViewCount="131510" Body="&lt;p&gt;Driftwood is expensive to buy at the store.  If I find a piece of wood I really like, is it possible to make it into driftwood than can be safely used in my fish tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T00:11:59.220" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T21:07:15.413" Title="Can I make my own driftwood for my fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;decorations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2290" CreationDate="2014-02-16T20:34:56.540" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible, what you're going to want to do is water-log the wood so that it sinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a small piece, you can drastically shorten the time it takes to water-log it by boiling it constantly for one to three days depending on how hard the wood is. Once the wood is waterlogged enough to sink in water it's ready. Boiling it also helps to rid the wood of any bacteria and/or parasites that might be on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the wood is too big to fit in a pot, you'll need a container that's big enough to hold the wood submerged in hot water. Unless you're able to keep the water at a boiling temperature, this process is going to be much slower, lasting several months (The natural process of  water-logging wood takes about four to six months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Submerge the wood in boiling water and let it sit. Every other day you're going to want to perform water changes, taking some of the old water out, and replacing it with clean, boiling water. As the wood sits in the water, it will release what is called tannins. The tannins won't harm anything, but it does make the water cloudy, so it's best to get rid of it as much as possible before you put it in your fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how you want your wood to look, after a week or so you should be able to start working the bark off. Taking off the bark should speed up the process a bit. If you want to keep the bark on, you'll still want to take a hard brush and scrub the bark to get as mush of the loose parts and dirt off as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing the process of changing the water every other day, and scrubbing the bark once a week, for about two or three months. By that time the water should have seeped into the wood enough to make it sink. If it hasn't you can continue, or weigh it down in your fish tank if you want, by then there shouldn't be much more for tannins leaching into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some thoughts:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer to avoid picking wood that's been in the water already. While it will give you a head start, you also have to make sure you don't bring along any hitchhikers (snails, leeches, small invertebrates). While it takes longer to water-log wood from dry land, simply submerging the wood in hot water should get rid of any hitchhikers there. If the wood you find is small enough to fit in a pot to boil it, then it shouldn't be a worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people suggest adding a tiny bit of bleach to kill the bacteria and hitchhikers when you can't boil the wood. The problem I have with this, is if you don't successfully get rid of the bleach it could seriously harm your fish, which is why I don't suggest it personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard using saltwater helps (saltwater as in ocean water, not adding table salt), but I haven't tried it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was able to at the time, I would have dropped a aquarium heater into the bucket to keep the water constantly warm. A broken heater that would keep the water boiling would be nice too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the bleached driftwood look. You'll have to take off the bark, then bake it under a heat lamp for a couple months before water-logging it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T17:50:30.037" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T17:50:30.037" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2294" CreationDate="2014-02-16T21:43:47.507" Score="7" ViewCount="511" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat's litter box is outside on a balcony.  Usually, he has no trouble going out there and using it, but every now and again (perhaps once a month) he will instead decide to poop indoors, usually in our bedroom.  Most of the time, this happens if we have guests staying, added activity of which disturbs him a little, and because we close some doors that are normally open. However, occasionally it happens for no discernible reason.  It seems as though he sometimes doesn't feel like going outside just because it's cold or raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to train him to stop doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="802" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:58:44.113" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:58:44.113" Title="How do I stop my cat from defecating indoors?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2295" CreationDate="2014-02-16T22:33:46.093" Score="12" ViewCount="7255" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since we've adopted our cat, we're having some trouble with sudden bites. Sometimes when she's in a completely relaxed attitude, she suddenly opens her eyes and bites me or my girlfriend.  Although many people would say she does that just playing, I'm not sure since she bites &lt;strong&gt;so&lt;/strong&gt; strongly (we still have some scars from months ago).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, her first target is our hands and arms when we're cuddling her. She usually has her eyes closed, suddenly opens them, and we get a good chunk taken out. But&#xA; our arms are not the only target; our knees, shins, feet are also. Though those areas  are less frequent and probably weaker, they still hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've never beat her (she obviously gets some spank when she's doing bad), and she also knows biting us is bad, as immediately after the bite, she runs away as far as she can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is sometimes a bit easily frightened; she's the only one cat at home though, and not especially affectionate.  We've tried anything to make her discourage doing this including water spray bottle, spanks, closing her up in her carrier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain why this behavior is happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T00:10:41.713" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T15:06:31.597" Title="Why does our cat suddenly bite us?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2292" CreationDate="2014-02-17T14:00:02.677" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://abrionline.org/expert.php?id=21&quot;&gt;Karen Overall&lt;/a&gt; describes that feline issues with the litterbox most frequently boil down to 4 categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preference for a specific litter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dislike of a specific litter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preference for a location&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dislike of a location&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we take a look at these possibilities in light of your observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter you're using may normally be fine, but when it's cold or wet outside, the feel may change. Bear in mind that litter is absorbent and extra humidity or moisture in the air could cause a change in how it feels to the cat sufficient for it to not want to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to location, that too may be fine most of the time. However, you noted that the presence of guests and that may make the cat skittish and reluctant to leave your presence at night, resulting in elimination in your bedroom. In addition, with respect to bad weather, the box and the immediate location may be covered, but is the path? Cats don't like getting rained on if they can avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're unable, or unwilling, to provide an indoor location for the cat which would, I have to admit, probably eliminate the undesirable behaviour, then a couple of things to try are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change the litter to one that is less reactant to local climate conditions. You may need to get one that is less absorbent or is better suited to outdoor use. Check with your supplier store or online to see if there are some options that might help.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look at a litter attractant. Basically, it's an additive to the litter that encourages the cat to use the box. We had a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; issue with inappropriate elimination for quite some time with a couple of our cats and the use of this has virtually eliminated it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to socialize your cat with the guests as much as you can. If their presence is leaving your cat reluctant to leave the bedroom, then you may have to not let him in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Provide a covered means to get the litter area on bad days. Like I noted, the cat is going to be very disinclined to wander into the rain to do his business, make it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of that helps or works, the you could take him into see a behavioural specialist. My feeling, though, is that the outdoor litterbox is counterproductive to the desired behaviour of him using it and they'll probably tell you that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T14:00:02.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2293" CreationDate="2014-02-17T14:31:16.870" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever watched videos of cats hunting? Ever notice that the cats are relaxed, even appear dozing, and then suddenly explode into action? Cats are sit and wait predators and are able to go from a more covert monitoring of the surroundings to sudden action extremely quickly. That does make spotting the signs very challenging, but it's supposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a quick comment: physical punishment is very unlikely to be effective. I used to be of the &quot;squirt bottle&quot; mindset, but it's effectiveness is extremely suspect. Basically, you're assuming that the cat is connecting &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; aggression properly, rather than seeing it as a reason for their own. In other words, you may be teaching it the exact opposite to what you want to be teaching them here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on various research, cats have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php/Feline_socialisation&quot;&gt;socialization sensitivity period&lt;/a&gt; of about 12 weeks and during that period need to be handled and socialized with humans and with other cats. Based on your description, you were handling the kitten from earlier periods, but it was not fully socialized with other cats and that is how it learns some of its interaction skills. In the absence of the other cats, the sole source of learning in this respect has come from your efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as you noted, your cat is skittish, which is another reason I think they problem is insufficient socialization time. Not being especially affectionate is also another sign. The cat is likely to retain this general pattern even if she eventually completely trusts you and your partner. The one thing to be aware of us that a suspicious, distrusting, cat being confined is only going to enhance aggression, not subdue it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, your better options are to look for ways to encourage the more desirable behaviour and this takes some real patience. When I was much younger, we adopted a persian that had been horribly abused by the &quot;man&quot; (I have a very poor opinion of animal abusers) of the house and as a consequence he was terrified of males and male voices. I spent many, many, hours on my side and stomach talking to him and coaxing him with treats and short pets until he eventually came to trust me and no longer fear. At which point, he became a huge lap cat, one that would happily lie on you and enjoy petting for hours on end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a similar approach may help here. Basically, start out with very short duration pettings and reward her with a treat at the end of the session if she doesn't react aggressively. As time goes by, slowly increase the duration of the sessions, maintaining the reward for success until she overcomes her biting desire. She may never really react to other humans positively, but if you can get her to a place where she will with you, that's something at least. Patience is the key, it can take many months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T14:31:16.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2297" CreationDate="2014-02-17T14:33:32.737" Score="6" ViewCount="1050" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that I will need a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection to travel with a pet (dog) and some airlines require an acclimation certificate. Where can I obtain these certificates and is there anything I should know before attempting to get them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="22" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T17:15:43.410" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T17:15:43.410" Title="Where do I get a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (health certificate) and acclimation certificate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;certificate&gt;&lt;united-states&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2296" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:26:29.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to a checklist from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Traveling-with-Your-Pet-FAQs.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/a&gt; where they give a link to the USDA website to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth?1dmy&amp;amp;urile=wcm%3apath:/aphis_content_library/sa_our_focus/sa_animal_health/sa_vet_accreditation/ct_locate_av&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;find an accredited veterinarian&lt;/a&gt;. If anything, I would say give the veterinarian that you normally visit a call, and ask if they're accredited to give those certificates. If they're not, you could ask if they know of another veterinarian who is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the goal of the inspection is to make sure is that you take your pet into a veterinarian for a health inspection before travelling. They might also require your dog to be up-to-date on heartworm pills. Similar to people travelling, it's really just to make sure the dog is is healthy and provide any needed vaccines to protect against diseases and parasites from where it's travelling. You might also be required to go through a follow-up visit when you return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T15:26:29.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2298" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:37:36.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions about animal handling generally refer to the act of picking the animal up, or holding them. Picking up reptiles is referred to as handling them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions can be anything ranging from the proper methods of handling of an animal to the importance of proper handling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T16:11:37.273" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T16:11:37.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2299" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:37:36.833" Score="0" Body="Questions about how to properly handle animals. With handling generally referring to the act of picking them up, or holding them." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T16:11:34.350" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T16:11:34.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2300" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:41:28.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Performing water changes is an important part of aquarium-keeping. It is the act of taking some of the water away, and replacing it with new, clean, water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions can be anything ranging from how to properly perform a water change, the importance of water changes, when a water change is necessary, and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T16:11:30.563" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T16:11:30.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2301" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:41:28.647" Score="0" Body="Questions involving the act of changing water, most often referring to aquariums." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T16:11:08.203" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T16:11:08.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2302" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:54:39.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions involving the topic of substrate. Anything from the proper substrate to use for a certain species of animal, the benefits of a certain substrate, and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T16:11:22.340" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T16:11:22.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2303" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-02-17T15:54:39.800" Score="0" Body="Substrate is the material used at the bottom of an aquarium, terrarium, or other enclosure." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-17T16:11:19.010" LastActivityDate="2014-02-17T16:11:19.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-17T20:58:02.507" Score="6" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog jumps on me all of the time. How can I get him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="810" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T15:23:16.303" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T15:23:16.303" Title="How do I stop my dog from jumping on me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2304" CreationDate="2014-02-17T22:47:36.923" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The method of choice to eliminate such a behavior is a combination of positive reinforcement and negative punishment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative punishment&lt;/strong&gt;: means that you punish your dog (you do something that will reduce the occurrence of a behavior) by removing something the dog wants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I this case you have to immediately remove your attention: do not talk/yell to/at the dog, do not push back (as this is rewarding), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt;: means that you rewar the dog (do something that will increase the frequency of occurrence of a behavior) by adding something the dog wants: food, attention, petting, play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case the key point is to teach the dog an appropriate alternative behavior, this can be whatever calm behavior you want: sit and wait, go back to his place, etc. at first you can simply rewar having his 4 feet on the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Methods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time to teach a dog not to jump is... When he s not jumping. You have to proceed in two distinct phases: specific training and field training: specific training sessions vs. real life situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;specific training&lt;/strong&gt;: the main goal is to train your dog what to do (eg. Sit) by reinforcing him. So set him up to succeed. Take some treats and start in a low distraction environment. Try to mimic a situation where your dog would jump on you, stay just below that level, let him sit (for the first try you can cue him to sit) and reward. Progressively increase the &quot;excitement&quot; and reinforce when he s doing the right behavior. If he jumps, that means that YOU failed: punish yourself by ignoring the dog ;) ignore until he sits and then immediately reward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progressively you will reward the sit only from time to time (variable schedule reinforcement, once the behavior is learned actually strengthen it and makes it less prone to extinction). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do such training sessions a few times, keep them short and practice only when you are relaxed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;field training&lt;/strong&gt;: the difficulty is to apply the same rules as for the training sessions, but in real life situations. You (and others) have to be consistent. The reward here can be petting or playing as you provably won't come back from work with a bunh of treats. Again keep in mind: ignore the bad behavior and reward the appropriate one. Do not rush and say &quot;sit&quot; if he jumps. Ignore and then when he calms down, cue him to sit and reward. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Discussion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;punishment  (in its common sense, corresponding to the technical terms negative reinforcement and positive punishment) is unnecessary as methods using only positive reinforcement and negative punishment have been found to be very effective (see for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://avsabonline.org/uploads/position_statements/Combined_Punishment_Statements.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this statement from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior&lt;/a&gt; which summarises the key points and provides additional references)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;this method is scientific in the sense that it has been experimentally tested and backed up with facts. On one hand it provides the &quot;keys&quot; for its application to any dog of any breed and of any age. Using these &quot;keys&quot; everyone is free to adapt it to the specificities of its own dog. On the other hand it invalidate the usual argument &quot;it doesn't work with my dog, so I have to go back to aversive methods&quot;: it is up to you to make it work for your dog &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I described the method without referring to the use of &quot;marker&quot;, that is, clicker training. However a clicker can make this very efficient. See for example this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC_OKgQFgzw&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T09:26:42.430" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T09:26:42.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2306" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2475" CreationDate="2014-02-18T14:54:48.890" Score="19" ViewCount="1154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I bring a box home, or I get a package in the mail, both of my cats immediately have to inspect it thoroughly. As soon as it's empty, they'll be playing games with it: jumping in and out, guarding it from the other, etc. If I toss a toy into a box, they'll drop whatever they're doing to immediately get the toy. I've noticed that they'll even grab one of their toys to bring it into the box to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/92/why-do-cats-love-cardboard&quot;&gt;Why do cats love sleeping on cardboard?&lt;/a&gt; doesn't explain why cats play with cardboard as mine do. My cats sleep on the bed with me; they don't sleep in the boxes except for a few occasions where they wear themselves out and don't feel like leaving the box to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their playing reminds me of kids playing with their imaginations, turning boxes into spaceships and things like that. What is it about boxes that cats enjoy?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T09:10:05.123" Title="Why do cats enjoy playing in cardboard boxes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2312" CreationDate="2014-02-18T15:30:16.997" Score="15" ViewCount="24011" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog greatly enjoys stealing socks and running around with them in his mouth any chance he gets.  He doesn't destroy them; he just holds on to them.  Eventually, he will get bored with this and just drop the socks.  I know he does it just to get my attention, but I am not sure of a good way to stop this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, I do my best to keep socks hidden from him at all times, so he doesn't have the opportunity, but every chance he gets, he will pick one up and run off with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop him from stealing socks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="780" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-18T15:53:06.657" LastActivityDate="2019-08-07T10:13:59.593" Title="How do I get my dog to stop stealing socks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2307" CreationDate="2014-02-18T17:12:08.520" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is most likely stealing your socks because they smell like you. A few good ways to prevent this behavior are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plenty of exercise.&lt;/strong&gt; If your dog doesn't have loads of pent up energy, then he/she will be less likely to engage in extra-curricular activities. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attention.&lt;/strong&gt; Have one-on-one time with your dog. After all he/she is stealing your socks for your smell, or, when you catch the dog in act, he/she will receive attention. Whether your reaction is good or bad, the dog still sees it as attention. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep your socks out of reach.&lt;/strong&gt; After all, if they aren't there, then they can't be stolen. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice that the thieving sessions are around the same time every day, then you can easily prevent this by having a short 10-minute training or play session right around that time to distract your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="813" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T05:30:03.440" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T05:30:03.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2306" CreationDate="2014-02-18T17:18:36.170" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats enjoy boxes because they love hiding places. When they are inside a box they are covered on all sides but one. Which means they are safe and can keep an eye out on the one open side. Boxes also allow for the cats to quickly dart from the box if something of interest appears, and allows for a quick retreat if necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="813" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T17:18:36.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1231" CreationDate="2014-02-18T22:19:56.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my dog we spread the food across the floor, so she has to run around and eat each pebble one by one.  It's easy for us with the downside being doggy-tongue all over the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="815" LastActivityDate="2014-02-18T22:19:56.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2307" CreationDate="2014-02-19T02:24:53.017" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look who figured out how to get attention from you! And judging by him making you post here, he's done a fine job of it. Face it, your dog has outsmarted you. Happens to me almost daily. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have already figured out, he's doing it to get your attention, and he's succeeding because you go chasing after him, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time to outsmart your dog! Find an old sock you don't care about and make it a toy for him. Tie a knot in it so you both know which one it is. When you have the time, let him grab that one and make it a game to get it back. This will be the game and the attention he craves. (Yes, dogs not only play games but invent them, and &quot;keep away&quot; is an ever popular one.)  When he grabs a real sock, completely ignore him. Do not try to get it back, do not even acknowledge he has it.  Really, you must completely ignore his stealing of a real sock no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty soon he'll learn that only &lt;strong&gt;The&lt;/strong&gt; Sock gets attention. He'll learn to ignore the others, and now you have only one sock you need to control. It will take some time, probably weeks, but it will happen without undue stress to you or him and with no real major efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T02:24:53.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T05:26:30.080" Score="9" ViewCount="842" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I hear my dog(s) chewing something in another room, I sometimes go to take a look at what it is they are working on. In case it is a shoe, &lt;strong&gt;what immediate action should I take to stop the chewing in such a way as to not reward the dog with attention?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answers to remedy &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2307/278&quot;&gt;this sock-stealing dog&lt;/a&gt; explain how the dog may perceive a response as a reward/attention, especially if you start chasing after the sock.  I can imagine how that dog might never stop stealing socks or chewing shoes because of this &amp;quot;reward&amp;quot;.  In the case of a good shoe being chewed, I simply cannot ignore the chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what is the proper way to react to stop a dog caught in the act of chewing a shoe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-06T01:02:09.533" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T01:02:09.533" Title="How should I handle a dog when I catch it chewing a shoe?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T07:53:42.867" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1322/how-can-i-best-manage-the-drooling-from-my-sick-cat&quot;&gt;How can I best manage the drooling from my sick cat?&lt;/a&gt; and I'm looking for a way to alleviate my cat's pain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is 22m and has been drooling for the last couple weeks.  His vet has prescribed antibiotics and pain reliever, but the drooling has not stopped.  I try to clean his face using soft tissues whenever I see him drool, but I realize that his skin may be very irritated and painful from the drooling.  I'm looking for any kind of relief for my baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because his appetite has slowed, I have been supplementing feeding him via a syringe.  While this seems to eliminate some of the drooling, he has also been making a swallowing action (kind of the way I feel when my allergies and post nasal drip run amok).  Feeding him via a syringe seems to make this worse.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started cleaning his face daily with water, and then dabbing a bit of antiseptic / anesthetic wash to help kill any germs and numb the pain.  I have a followup with his vet for Saturday, but in the meantime, what is the best way to clean drool from my cat's chin and face, and how frequently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="820" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T15:58:46.510" Title="How can I best clean my cat's drooling mouth without making things worse?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-02-19T19:41:10.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2317" CreationDate="2014-02-19T10:06:28.220" Score="14" ViewCount="776" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had three cats, and two of them were the best friends. They used to eat together, sleep together, etc. But, unfortunately, one of them died recently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that if my best friend died, I would get kinda depressed. Can the same depression happen to cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T18:32:27.340" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T18:32:27.340" Title="Can cats get depressed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2192" CreationDate="2014-02-19T11:35:52.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ended up using a combination of the three answers provided with a slight twist.  My rabbit is somewhat handicapped his front legs do not work with maybe 50% function in one and 25% in the other. We have a wire bottom (&lt;em&gt;1/2 inch mesh&lt;/em&gt;) cage that we use when traveling long distances in the car. It has a tray underneath, it is old but in good repair and clean.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I placed some litter in the bottom of the tray to make an uneven surface and then covered it with plastic wrap (&lt;em&gt;saran wrap&lt;/em&gt;). At 8AM I put him in the cage with hay, water and a salt lick. 10AM he still had not urinated. I tired to express some urine, no luck.  Noon he still had not urinated. I tired to express some urine, no luck. He is not drinking much. Gave him a big bowl of lettuce, he eats the lettuce.  2PM he finally urinates! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used a syringe to suck the urine from the puddles on the plastic wrap. Placed the urine filled syringe in plastic bag in the refrigerator until the evening vet visit.  Lab tests seemed fine (minor fluctuations in line with his health issues). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T11:35:52.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2315" CreationDate="2014-02-19T12:42:22.180" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether it's the same as human-style grief and depression, but cats can certainly show signs of depression and grieving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats who lose a close companion cat can show signs of grieving such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;searching the house for the missing companion cat and calling for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;demanding much more attention from their human companion(s).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;change in eating patterns (not eating/overeating) - in my experience this doesn't last long.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inappropriate urination and defecation (this is also an anxiety response - but I've seen it happen in response to a cat losing a close companion cat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spraying (I've usually seen this happen when a companion cat is dying rather than after they die, and it's probably more related to claiming the territory from the dying/dead cat than anything else - but it sure doesn't help matters, particularly when the cat doing it is obviously trying to get your attention (I've seen this happen: cat walks into room with humans. Backs up to curtain. Sprays. Watches humans the whole time. This was a neutered male...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the behavior changes indicate the cat is depressed or not could be argued endlessly, since we can't tell how much is anthropomorphism and how much is the cat's natural response to the loss of a close companion. In my view, it's close enough to count. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T12:42:22.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2318" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T14:52:23.487" Score="6" ViewCount="1689" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we picked up our Bichon Frise pup, he had lived in a crate of shredded paper. They used it as the toilet area for the puppies.  This has made it that my dog does not stick to the crate rule of not soiling where he sleeps.  My dog becomes very distressed when in the crate, or shut away in an area, and will soil and wet all over his bed.  He whines and howls terribly and I'm worried my neighbours will complain.  Due to this reason, he has the run of our downstairs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have puppy pads laid down and hard flooring throughout, but he still goes on the floor.  If I catch him, I tell him &quot;no&quot;.  I have a large garden and I take him out every hour to go to the toilet and praise and reward him when he does.  I have tried several different approaches and nothing is working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T18:37:42.050" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T19:24:41.947" Title="How do I break the bad toilet training habits of my puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2313" CreationDate="2014-02-19T16:03:15.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The method I would use is to simply make the shoes taste bad to discourage your dog from putting them into their mouths in the first place. It might not help you the instant that your dog first tries chewing on your shoes, but it would ensure that he wouldn't consider them something he can chew again. Think about it this way, It will make him think twice about trying to chew your shoes for attention if he tries it and they taste horrible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several varieties of taste deterrents you can buy, or something like lemon or lime juice should work without harming your shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little trick too is to try and time it so that you can take your dog's food and water away right before they go to chew on your shoes, that way they don't figure out that they can get rid of the bad taste by going and getting a drink or a bite to eat. Once you think that it's sunk in how bad your shoes taste, you can give it back to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, with chewing, it's important to provide alternatives. If you can figure out what about the shoes it is they like, you can try to pick a toy that's similar to encourage them to pick that instead. If it's texture, maybe a rawhide or jerky strip. Otherwise, just the difference between bad tasting shoes and a tasty toy/bone should be an easy choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-21T21:38:41.927" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T21:38:41.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T16:14:32.280" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know how to begin (and continue) the experience of toilet training a cat.  How do I go about doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="823" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T19:00:16.527" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T19:00:16.527" Title="How do I begin toilet training a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-02-20T00:14:13.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-19T16:48:29.900" Score="12" ViewCount="13954" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend just got a pair of fancy mice for her children. They are trying to get the mice accustomed to the humans, and my friend said one mouse already bit her, &quot;but it didn't hurt too much&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had mice before and know that they can bite strong enough to draw blood. I also have made the mistake of not teaching a cat to not bite humans when he was tiny and his bites were cute; we couldn't re-educate him as an adult. So, if mice have the ability to learn to not bite, I think it will be in my friend's interest to try to teach them. She told me she is not sure how she should react, but I didn't feel qualified to give advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should my friend try to train them to not bite humans, or is this impossible with mice? If she can train them, what approach can work? If she can't train them, how should she behave? Ignore the bite? Put a distance between herself and the mouse? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She mentioned that the mice are already losing some of their anxiety towards the humans, and she thinks the bite was exploratory behavior, not defense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T03:16:48.150" Title="How to react to a mouse biting?" Tags="&lt;biting&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2321" CreationDate="2014-02-19T17:31:20.803" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Luckily it's incredibly easy to 'train' mice not to bite at hands. Although it's not so much of training as it is getting them comfortable with hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small rodents like mice, gerbils, and hamsters, have it pretty rough at the pet store. Children will come into the store and immediately run to see the cute fluffy rodents, banging their hands against the glass. Not to mention all the awful tapping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is incredibly stressful on them, and they learn that it's the hands that are the cause of all their stress. So the last thing they want is one of the hands anywhere near them. A light nip is their way of saying &quot;I don't really like this&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to fix it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's going to be tough on the kids, but the best way to dissociate hands with stressful feelings is to leave them alone for three to four days. The &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; things you're allowed to do during this time is give them new food and water, and clean their cage as necessary. Absolutely no trying to pick them up or pet them during this time. It's important that they're allowed to get used to their new home, the way it looks and smells, and to forget about their previous experiences with hands. It's easier to show them that hands are good things if you have a fresh start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this adjustment period, don't just jump in to grab the mice. The goal is to get them to want to spend time with you. Start by hand-feeding them. Offer them bits of food out of your hand, and little treats every so often (&lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/Kaytee-Fiesta-Yogurt-Animals-3-5-Ounce/dp/B0002568WM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1392830481&amp;amp;sr=8-10&amp;amp;keywords=yogurt%20treats&quot;&gt;the little pink yogurt treats&lt;/a&gt; are a popular favorite I've found, just break them up as they're a bit big for mice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just hold the food out to them and wait for them to take it from you. It shouldn't take too long before they start to realize that your hand means food. Once they're comfortable eating out of your hand, you can start petting them as they're eating in your hand to get them used to that feeling. After that you should have no problem picking them up and holding them without having to worry about them nipping at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T17:31:20.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2290" CreationDate="2014-02-19T18:25:48.807" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are creating your own driftwood, be very careful selecting wood.  Avoid some processed, pressure-treated, or generally unknown wood, as they may be sprayed or injected with dangerous fire retardation chemicals or anti-wood-burrowing-insect pesticides.  Processed planks with a line of green paint on them is a common indicator of such.  These chemicals are so potent that no reasonable amount of tumbling, boiling, or bleaching can safely remove them.  If such a material is used, it could potentially poison your tank either immediately or discretely over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-19T22:10:18.080" LastActivityDate="2014-02-19T22:10:18.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="470" CreationDate="2014-02-20T06:00:43.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A female dog will eat the feces of her puppies. It starts as soon as the newly born puppies start producing stool and it continues until the puppies have been left to their new owners. In case a puppy stays with its mother the poop-eating may continue for a rather long time. I've witnessed a mother-dog still eating her puppy's poop when the puppy was five months old, being almost the same size as its mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason for this is to prevent predators from finding her puppies by the smell of their poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult dogs mark their territory with urine, but also with feces. It could be that eating another dog's poop would happen in order to disclaim the other dog's territorial rights, but I have no proof to support this as a valid possibility. The other answers to your question seem to have more credibility when it comes to a dog eating old dried-up poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T06:00:43.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2313" CreationDate="2014-02-20T08:39:02.220" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your dog needs something to chew on.  An artificial bone might cater his needs.&#xA;I used the bones that are available for dogs at the pet store and his chewing on other things has reduced considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T15:49:58.837" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T15:49:58.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-20T09:19:59.130" Score="12" ViewCount="11034" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a California kingsnake. She is female and around 4 years old. I have been having some issues with feeding her as described &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2006/snake-not-interested-in-food&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We eventually concluded that the problem was she was bored of mice; when we tried her with day-old chicks, she went for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the chicks are slightly too big for her. I already cut their legs off before feeding, but this time I'm going to try it again and make sure no leg stumps remain, and cut off the wings as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the chicks, &lt;strong&gt;are there any additional alternative foods I can try?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note I live in the UK &amp;amp; Live feeding is illegal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T18:42:06.730" Title="What alternative foods can I try feeding my snake?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2330" CreationDate="2014-02-20T10:40:12.220" Score="10" ViewCount="7190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a pair of Kong toys (see photo) for my puppy, who's home alone when I'm at work. I usually feed him 3 times a day (going back home at lunchtime). The goal is to gradually reduce the &quot;lunch&quot; quantity and to leave him a Kong to play with in the afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: what is the best way to stuff the Kong with his food?  He's eating dry kibble.  To make it more fun and for the Kong to last longer, I'm thinking about freezing the Kong, but of course the kibble won't freeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afAx7p1Hf_4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Youtube video&lt;/a&gt; about frozen Kongs, but they use wet canned food, which I would like to avoid (especially in these &quot;large&quot; quantities). So how should I proceed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could stuff it with the kibble and then &quot;seal&quot; the Kong with something that will freeze... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it both fun and healthy for the dog, how would you proceed ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HNu7F.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-21T02:40:48.570" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T17:06:10.877" Title="What kind of food should I stuff into a Kong?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2014-02-20T11:27:13.230" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;For unattended feeding, I'd recommend considering &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/2975352011&quot;&gt;a timed feeder&lt;/a&gt; rather than a Kong if you're going to use kibble or pellets. There's no good way of keeping it in there, and he's just going to get it out and scarfed down quickly. With wet food, it's frozen, so you don't run into additional problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could use sticky edible stuff to kind of glue it together, but that could have the side effect of inadvertently attracting insects into your home depending on how much of a messy unattended eater your puppy is. Additionally, dogs &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; to throw those things, so there's no telling where the food is going to scatter. They're &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; toys, but best paired with supervision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a timed feeder, depending on the variety you purchase, you might be able to set up several smaller servings. This helps keep him from scarfing it down too quickly, and will probably work out to be neater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T11:27:13.230" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2014-02-20T15:03:16.967" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a dog with Cushing's Disease, and he gobbled food.  To prevent this, I put a portion of his daily food in a Kong.  He primarily ate dry kibble.  To get the dry kibble into the Kong, I wet the kibble with water and mushed it into a paste after it soaked for 5 minutes.  Sometimes I added additional dry kibble (for crunchiness!) and a small amount of peanut butter to the paste.  I inserted the paste into the inside of the Kong and froze it.  This is a time consuming nightly process, but it will solve your issue of not wanting to change from dry food and will allow you to stuff the Kong.  If this is a portion of his daily meal, ensure this stuffed kibble is not outside his daily portions, or your dog can grow overweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help clean the Kong, you should purchase a smaller bottle brush.  While Kong toys appear to be solid, you must replace it once it starts to show cracks, which it will over extended time.  This should prevent your dog from accidentally consuming a chunk of rubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog did not toss the Kong around, but he did roll it around the floor a lot when he didn't grip it.  A small carpeted mat or throw rug that you don't mind getting peanut butter on should help keep it from slipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-06-12T02:08:00.020" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T02:08:00.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-20T15:20:19.567" Score="5" ViewCount="676" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a couple Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (German Blue Ram / Ram chiclid) in my tank, but unfortunately, the female died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I keep the male solitary, or is it really important for them to be held as a couple?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="834" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T16:51:01.393" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T04:24:59.213" Title="Will my Mikrogeophagus ramirezi be okay by itself?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2327" CreationDate="2014-02-20T16:49:37.203" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try switching to rats; weanling rats if you need something smaller. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To us, they seem like basically the same thing as mice. But if your snake is truly getting &quot;bored&quot; with mice, rats will provide a different scent and nutritional profile which may fulfill the snakes instinctive predilection towards varying their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may eventually enjoying eating mice again, if they can get something else on occasion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T16:49:37.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2331" CreationDate="2014-02-20T16:58:20.883" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will likely be fine as long as the conditions in the tank aren't the cause of the female's death. Not sure how long you've had this pair, but rams are very short-lived fish. 2 - 3 years is the typical lifespan of healthy rams.  Bolivian Rams, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, tend to live a little longer than blue or gold rams, but still short lives, regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T19:37:15.073" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T19:37:15.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2290" CreationDate="2014-02-20T17:11:54.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good thread on APC on what species of woods are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/66154-wood-choice-planted-tank.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/66154-wood-choice-planted-tank.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T17:11:54.977" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2327" CreationDate="2014-02-20T17:25:17.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've not really heard people feeding their kingsnakes much besides mice or gerbils, but they'll eat just about anything in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rodents, I would suggest gerbils or baby rats. There are very few places where you can get hamsters that are intended as feeders, so they're a bit too expensive to consider I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try feeding her anoles, geckos, or even small snakes, but that increases the cost of food and also the risk of harm to your snake. Probably safer would be small frogs if you can find a source to buy from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had any experiences with feeding snakes baby birds. So the only comment I would make is to watch for the legs and sharp feet (maybe even the beak), but you're already taking care of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-20T17:33:59.870" LastActivityDate="2014-02-20T17:33:59.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2341" CreationDate="2014-02-20T23:48:29.423" Score="12" ViewCount="1817" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two spayed cats, Alice and Kesha. We took Alice in as a kitten born from a wild cat in a private house backyard.  We received Kesha from her previous owners, who discovered they were allergic to cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats have completely different characters / attitudes.  Kesha is the most friendly and loving cat in the universe; Alice only seems to endure us because we feed her.  We live in a 2-story apartment house, and for the last half-year, we've been struggling with Alice's desire for freedom.  She runs away from home — wandering around in the garden, sometimes fighting other cats (a few times she returned with an injured thigh). She returns home to eat, sleep, rest, then tries to run away again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're afraid she's going to pick up diseases and fleas from the street, which she might pass on to us or Kesha.  Having Alice feels like we are feeding a street cat with nothing in return (she just seems not to care about our existence).  Closing the doors and windows doesn't seem to help, as she simply waits for me to come home with my bike, when I can't stop her from running away.   On the other hand, she doesn't seem to want to live outside either; she cries to get back in the home when she's hungry.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to be simply feeding a street cat; I'm not sure what I can do with her, and could use some advice as to how to proceed with handling Alice's behavior going forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;  I guess I have made up my mind.  I was quite under influence of my girlfriend, saying that it is unreasonable to keep such a cat that doesn't need home. Now I think I'll simply let her to go outside as little as possible, but if she runs... well, I'll open the net I've put on the window (to prevent her from running away), so she'll be able to return. Of course, this will follow a flea treatment. I think the best thing to deal with this is to accept her the way she is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="837" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-26T16:47:05.593" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T16:47:05.593" Title="What is the best way to manage a half-wild cat as a pet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2382" CreationDate="2014-02-21T02:34:01.690" Score="13" ViewCount="37965" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have had my 3-year-old, 65-pound, American Bulldog for about 9 months.  His name is Dewey and he is deaf.  I recently adopted another dog, a 2-year-old, 45-pound, Australian shepherd/Chow mix, named Clint, from the local shelter.  Dewey has clearly asserted himself as boss dog and Clint, being as submissive as he is, seems perfectly okay with the arrangement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clint and Dewey get along pretty well (I took Dewey to meet Clint before adopting) and they play pretty well, normal amounts of &quot;bitey-face&quot; and wrestling.  My question concerns Dewey occasional behavior during downtime.  Dewey, as the title of the post precludes, really enjoys chewing on Clint.  Clint has rather long fur (compared to the short fur Dewey has) and Dewey enjoys gently chewing on this thick mane, as if Clint is a toy.  Clint is totally fine with this (it seems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why might Dewey be doing this?  I'm not looking to stop it because it seems both dogs are cool with it.  A Google search hasn't yielded anything and I'm at a loss for explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="838" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-21T16:35:10.203" LastActivityDate="2018-09-22T22:40:48.390" Title="Why is my one dog's hobby chewing my other dog's fur?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2331" CreationDate="2014-02-21T04:24:59.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally a Remirezi should be happy to be the only of it's kind in a tank, but that does depend on the individual fish as they do have their own personalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice behavior like compressed fins (not fanned out), or if he's hiding or not swimming around, then I would say he would need a companion. He might be less inclined to feel lonely if you already have other (community) fish in your tank though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T04:24:59.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2336" CreationDate="2014-02-21T04:29:35.163" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a feral cat which is, basically, a cat that has not been properly socialized to humans. Generally domesticated cats have been socialized to both their fellow cats and humans  (and potentially other animals, depending on source) during the earlier kitten stages by being around and handled by humans and that is what allows them to interact in a positive way with us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're left with now is a cat that isn't naturally trusting or dependent on humans because it wasn't taught to be from the beginning. You're not likely to entirely break her of this, but you can take some steps to convince her that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are okay. Primarily, you need to do a lot of what I described with a similar question on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2293/why-does-our-cat-suddenly-bite-us/2295#2295&quot;&gt;cat that bites&lt;/a&gt; unprovoked. Your problem is &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; similar, but the key difference is no human socialization as opposed to no feline socialization that that asker had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in a nutshell, you need to look for reward behaviours with her. When she does something you consider positive, reward her so that you can establish that connection between things you want to her to do and things she may want. Recognize, however, that she really is essentially wild and only really sees your home as a part of a greater area of interest for her. You may have to accept the confinement to the house will never work for her&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T04:29:35.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2336" CreationDate="2014-02-21T13:16:38.607" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your Alice is, as John says, basically feral (although not quite, since she clearly sees you as her &quot;provider&quot; (the crying for you to feed her and coming back to your home when she's been outside)). Some things you can consider for her, particularly if she gets on well with Kesha, are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build her a cat run in your garden. This doesn't have to be sophisticated - you can build it out of wire and connect it to the house via a cat door. This will let Alice go out when she pleases and minimize the risk of her getting into fights with other cats. Kesha may or may not go outside as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you haven't already done this, get both cats flea collars (or regularly use other flea protection) and make sure you treat the house regularly. Generally speaking, a healthy cat can keep fleas from being too much of a problem for them, but that's not going to make the humans happy - and you're not going to completely prevent flea issues.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Encourage her to accept you/your family as trusted humans. You're already partway there - but as long as you keep any petting to levels she's comfortable with and stop when she gives signs of being tired of it, she'll be more likely to tolerate your attentions. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you keep both of them up to date on all their shots. From your description you're not going keep Alice from going out, so you need to make sure both cats are vaccinated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't build a cat run, get one of the cat doors with magnetic or RFID locks and give Alice a collar with the key. Once she gets used to it, she'll be able to come and go as she pleases - which is something else that will make her trust you more. The lockable door means that you don't get other cats coming in (caveat: the locks do wear out over time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When Alice does come back, you can consider giving her something she likes (a treat, catnip, whatever). Also give the same treat when she lets you pet her for a while - the idea is for her to associate being with you with things she likes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-02-21T13:16:38.607" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2313" CreationDate="2014-02-21T14:01:28.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two steps to follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Generally, make sure your dog has something to chew on: both edible things and just dog-appropriate chew toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you catch him chewing shoes, do the following: Take a newspaper, roll it, hit it 3 times to your own forehead, and say, &amp;quot;I forgot to lock the shoes away, again.&amp;quot; Then, silently take the shoe away from your dog and lock the shoe away where he can't reach it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-05T15:52:17.163" LastActivityDate="2020-09-05T15:52:17.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2345" CreationDate="2014-02-21T22:13:44.413" Score="6" ViewCount="12244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my sunfish frozen bloodworms, and I was told that touching the bloodworms is a really bad idea; that they carry some terrible bacteria that can be transferred to humans. I tried looking up why you're not supposed to touch bloodworms, and all I found were people saying that if they touch bloodworms, they have an allergic reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that touching bloodworms is a bad idea for more reasons than the risk of an allergic reaction? Or is it okay as long as you don't have a reaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T03:24:30.560" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T21:05:45.640" Title="Why is it a bad idea to touch bloodworms with your bare hands?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2344" CreationDate="2014-02-21T23:06:37.480" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it does not appear that anything harmful beyond an allergic reaction takes place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you search against &amp;quot;Bloodworm allergies&amp;quot;, you will find many accounts related by people who have discovered that touching bloodworms (frozen or not) can cause allergic reactions, which is why you should wear gloves when handling them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the study, &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aacijournal.com/content/1/2/58&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fishing for Allergens: Bloodworm-Induced Asthma&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; at the Allergy, Asthma &amp;amp; Clinical Immunology (AACI) site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloodworms, which are larvae of chironomids (also called freshwater midges), are often used as fish food or bait. Although chironomids can be found in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, allergies to them are mainly due to their use as fish food. Individuals at particular risk of chironomid-induced allergy include fish farmers, fishermen, pet shop owners, and others who keep fish or work with fish [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been a number of previously reported cases of hypersensitivity to chironomids [...] . With the increasing popularity of aquariums, allergy to chironomids may become less of a novelty and become something clinicians should be aware of when searching for the cause of a patient's atopic symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond the allergic reactions, which can be severe, I have found no other evidence of problems from touching bloodworms.  Some of the messages I have read mention sensitivity increases over time, but I cannot find a study to back up that statement.  It is probably best to avoid contacting them at all to avoid any severe reactions.  I am not a doctor, therefore I cannot recommend experimenting with a mild touch to see if you have an allergic reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only relation with bacteria I can find is that using raw bloodworms can possibly transition bad bacteria to your tank; problems with touching bloodworms appears to be sourced solely from allergic reactions.  It is possible these two separate concepts related to bloodworms (bacteria and allergies) may have mixed for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The warning from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hikariusa.com/diets/jumbo-blood-worms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hikari USA' Jumbo Blood Worms&lt;/a&gt; advises the following precautions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handling frozen food derived from a live animal can cause the same allergic reaction possible by handling the live animal itself. To avoid potential problems, always wash your hands immediately after use and avoid contact with your nose and mouth prior to washing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T05:59:22.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5436" CreationDate="2014-02-22T00:48:27.047" Score="12" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;An answer from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2190&quot;&gt;How can I gauge a vet&amp;#39;s experience with reptiles?&lt;/a&gt; mentions &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aemv.org/index.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians&lt;/a&gt;, which as best I can tell is a membership organization, not a certifying organization.  They have some great goals, and I see that one of my favorite rabbit vets is a listed member, but a second, very good, rabbit vet is not.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_animal_veterinarian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, interest in treating exotic pets is the first criteria; additional training and certifications are secondary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any official certification I should be looking when evaluating a potential exotics vet?  If so, what level of competence does it imply?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T00:33:06.127" Title="Does the United States have requirements or certifications to be classified as an &quot;Exotic Animal Veterinarian&quot;?" Tags="&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;united-states&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;certificate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-22T21:07:42.567" Score="1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which breeds of dogs are easy to train? &#xA;I want to own a dog whom I can train on my own very easily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="844" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-22T21:21:12.427" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T22:17:37.020" Title="Which breeds of dogs are easy to train?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-02-23T03:53:33.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2347" CreationDate="2014-02-22T22:17:37.020" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really isn't an easy answer to this, as really all dogs are receptive to training, that's why they're so popular as pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, working dogs are the most receptive to training. Whether it's a breed that's normally used for hunting (i.e. Labradors, retrievers, pointers, hounds), or if it's a breed that's normally used for herding (i.e. shepherds, heelers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say they're most receptive because they've been bred to learn new commands quickly. But it's important to note, what they're also bred for is their energy and stamina. Let a working dog get bored, and they'll find their own entertainment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're prepared for the commitment of a high energy dog, then I would say that whether or not the dog is considered easy to train is the last thing you should be worried about. (It's also important to note, that people will base whether or not a dog is difficult to train based on their experiences, which might not even be the fault of the dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you pick a dog based on how well you think it fits in your home and your lifestyle. Is it the right size, or too big or small? Do you want to take it on walks/runs every day? Is it going to be around children? Is it going to be by itself while you're at work? Once you pick a breed that fits you, it's easy to get help with the specific training methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links to quizzes that can help you narrow down your decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds.html&quot;&gt;Quiz from Animal Planet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.purina.com/dogs/dog-breeds/dog-breed-selector&quot;&gt;Quiz from Purina&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pedigree.com/All-Things-Dog/Select-A-Dog/Default.aspx&quot;&gt;Quiz from Pedigree&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iams.com/dog-breed-selector&quot;&gt;Quiz from Iams&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.selectsmart.com/DOG/&quot;&gt;Quiz from SelectSmart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-22T22:17:37.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2384" CreationDate="2014-02-23T08:30:10.360" Score="6" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/134/what-is-the-optimal-age-to-desex-a-male-dog&quot;&gt;What is the optimal age to neuter a male dog?&lt;/a&gt; , but nothing about spaying female dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard several options about when to spay a female dog; most revolve around the age of 6 months, though I have heard earlier and later, and some options are based on a minimal weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to determine when a female dog is qualified to be spayed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T05:42:07.877" Title="How does one determine when a female dog is appropriate to be spayed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2351" CreationDate="2014-02-23T12:19:25.593" Score="10" ViewCount="906" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently acquired my first dog from somebody who was moving away, but could not take the dog with them.  The dog is a 3-year-old Labrador mix. We don't know what the other breed is, but I suspect a pointer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is amazingly well-behaved.  He can &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;shake&quot;, he doesn't enter any room unless given permission, he is able to spend a day or so alone, I am able to walk him without a leash, and he will return to me every time I call his name.  He is also really kind with small children and friendly in general.  When I take him on walks, he really enjoys jogging with me, jumping up on walls, and marking things.  He will sometimes also jump up onto me in a playful manner, but very rarely.  Another interesting thing I noted is that sometimes he will not eat his food unless either I or my wife stand next to him while eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have been unable to get him to play fetch, or tug of war, or much of anything. I tried to buy him a Kong, but he ignores it, or is happy to get one treat out of it and then stop. I got him a chew toy and a rope, but they have been untouched for a week.  I'm trying to figure out what sort of activities I can do with him inside the house to keep him entertained.  Right now, I have to pet him a lot, or he just sits on his bed.  I'm mostly concerned that he will get bored when we are out of the house and get upset, or start to become destructive, or I will have to tie him up in the yard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked his previous owner what he did, and the previous owner told him he just let the dog hang out in the yard, but their yard was much larger than ours and the dog would sometimes run off and then return an hour or so later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can I do to get my dog to entertain himself?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: Follow Up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It turns out that my dog does not need to entertain himself. He stays at home and does not ruin anything even when we are out for over 8 hours. (Neighbors come to see he is fed and take him on a walk)  He prefers to &quot;play&quot; (going on walks/jogs, being pet, sitting in the same room doing nothing) with people, and not toys, but when alone, he does not appear to have a need to interact with any objects either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T21:01:04.873" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T21:01:04.873" Title="How can I keep my Labrador-mix entertained?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2350" CreationDate="2014-02-23T15:08:48.867" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1490/how-do-i-get-my-dachshund-to-be-interested-in-toys&quot;&gt;had similar issues getting my dog interested in toys&lt;/a&gt;.  One dog will lay in bed all day and only play on his own &amp;quot;in secret&amp;quot; at night.  He is 13-years-old, and historically only interacts well with my wife (his &amp;quot;person&amp;quot;), so I'm not concerned with him.  The more universally-interactive dog will not play with toys, but she will sun herself all day.  I've recently started a couple activities that she has become interested with and I will relate them here.  Both involve a sort of &amp;quot;playful tease&amp;quot;; building her excitement, but not providing her with the toy until she's hit a high level of involvement; a.k.a. &amp;quot;you can't have it.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With both of these activities, I needed to be careful not to get bitten, either accidentally or deliberately (from annoyance).  While she is a small dog, she is a dachshund with a powerful bite.  She is known to look to me over anyone else for attention, so I know she won't hurt me deliberately.  You have a larger dog and must take more care if you try my approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Who's got the Bone?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One act I perform is to get a number of spinal bones from the butcher; these are available at our local grocer, Publix, pre-packaged for dogs.  I give her a new bone every week or so.  Once she has chewed it clean, I take the bone and sit down at the end  of a hallway with her.  Then I show her the clean bone, palm it, and ask her over and over, &amp;quot;who's got the bone?&amp;quot; in an excited voice while moving my hand around in the air.  Sometimes I shake my hand low and near her.  She starts happily jumping in place and shaking and making excited yelp and playful growl noises.  This builds up till she starts barking; that's when I toss the bone down the hall and tell her, &amp;quot;GO GET IT!&amp;quot;.  She'll race after the bone, &amp;quot;catch it&amp;quot;, and either leave it be and walk away, or pick it up and prance away with it to chew for a minute.  If she's chewing, I either produce another cleaned bone in front of her, or I get the bone from her, and I repeat the process.  This can go on for a while; eventually she wears herself out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The Annoying Plush&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She flips over onto her back for tummy rubs all of the time.  Recently, while she was on her back, I took a plush toy and rubbed her with it from nose to tail, and circled back and did it again.  After several passes of me &amp;quot;deliberately annoying&amp;quot; her, she opened her mouth and tried to playfully bite the toy, following its path over her with her head.  This went on for about 5 minutes.  I've done it a few more times.  Since then, I've noticed a toy has moved from her toy chest a couple times, and I know it wasn't the other dog or anyone else, so it must have been her.  This is progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T15:38:36.613" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2282" CreationDate="2014-02-23T20:53:36.250" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;We used to have a chinchilla before I developed an allergy to his hay. We had him in a cage at home from day one, where he could interact with our cats through a mesh screen. Both of our cats are pretty low on the prey-drive, but we still made sure to watch the chin, not just for when the cats were around, but any time he was out and about in the house. Chins are very destructive and love to chew on things, which was more of a concern for us than the potential for our cats to chase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because cats naturally prey on chinchillas, it's most likely going to cause the chin more frustration than it is your cats when chin comes home. Here is what we did, and what I recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring Chin home and keep in a cage where he can veg for at least a week. They are very sensitive to fear and can have a heart attack if they get scared. New environments, new noises, new people - all of that is stressful to them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave him be for a few days. The cats will smell him, and will acclimatise to his presence quickly. After a few days of being left alone, bring him out for short periods and let him explore. Try to do this with your cats nearby and keep a close eye on everybody. Let your cat see you playing with chin so they associate him with something that is yours and something you like. You can give your cats treats during this play time too. Not necessary but it can get some positive associations for having chin around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradually lengthen the time he is out and playing - but if he gets too nervous, starts barking or chatting his teeth, put him away to let him calm down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As he is more comfortable, let the cats 'meet' him. Hold onto him and let the cat smell him. We let our cats smell ours face-to-face, and everyone was quite pleasant. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that a chinchilla is prey to a cat and even if they are buds sometimes the predator instinct kicks in and a cat might chase the chin. We ALWAYS were in the room when all the pets were out, just to make sure nothing happened. As I said before, we were always more worried about the chin chewing a power cord or finding a new hiding spot than we were with our cats' behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-02-23T22:44:59.423" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T22:44:59.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2281" CreationDate="2014-02-23T21:04:28.757" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don't often do this with cats, I do use this technique to calm down scared puppies when I am grooming them for the first time. Not only does blinking slowly communicate relaxation, but your own facial expression as a whole shows you are relaxed. That in turn causes the puppy, or cat, to relax more. I groom cats, but don't usually look them in the eye while I'm working as they are typically stressed beyond blinking-help anyway. Cats and dogs are very receptive to the minute changes in our facial expressions and our body postures. I wouldn't necessarily say that blinking at your cat tells them you love them, but it will convey a sense of calm and happiness, which could be seen as 'love'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T02:40:18.260" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T02:40:18.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-23T21:11:19.590" Score="9" ViewCount="12507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see rabbits in cages with bottles of water hanging on the side.  Can they drink from a bowl like a cat or a dog?  Is there some reason they should drink from a bottle with a nipple?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T02:34:01.190" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T02:32:10.553" Title="Can rabbits drink from a bowl of water?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2014-02-23T21:34:25.000" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a hot button issue in the Vet and Groomer communities right now. If your dog is having scooting and anal gland issues PLEASE do not express the glands at home. Watch this video:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA9SeHAEyQ4&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA9SeHAEyQ4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is Dr Karen Becker. She has a great explanation of anal gland issues, how they need to be treated, and now YOU as an owner, and ME as a pet groomer should NOT be expressing glands. If your dog is having issues, there is a good chance it is an underlying medical condition such as allergies, a gland is turned the wrong way, the gland is obstructed, inflamed, ruptured, etc. The analogy I like to use with my clients is that the anal glands are glands, just like your thyroid, or your pituitary. We don't go around squeezing our neck to make our thyroid work do we? If it isn't working right we see a doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen dogs that have had their owner try and externally express the gland, only to end up at the emergency vet paying a lot of money to surgically extract a ruptured gland. Its not pretty. Pet groomers have been doing anal glands for decades but no one ever questioned why until recently, when anal glands became a huge issue for many of them. I haven't expressed an anal gland in over 4 years, with over 500 dog clients. If I see an issue, we first talk about diet, which leads to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would seriously take a look at your dog's food. Science Diet and Hills are loaded with junk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a great resource to see what ingredients are in the food. Keep in mind that allergies and intolerances to ingredients cause inflammation in the bowel and in the rectum/anus area. Wheat, corn, soy, chicken are all things that cause reactions in large numbers of dogs. I do a lot of nutrition counselling for my clients and it's always our #1 place to start regarding ongoing health issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing: this is from me the business owner. Another reason I do not do glands and I strongly discourage owners from doing it as well is that you can cause major damage to the gland if you squeeze to hard or in the wrong area. Vets do an internal expression, sticking their fingers inside the rectum. This lets them feel for malformations, blockage, gland location, things that I can't tell but doing external. I do not to glands for 1- liability it would cause if I ruptured a gland and 2- the more the gland is manipulated, the less it will work on its own thereby becoming a cyclical problem. Sure I could charge people a ton of $$$ to express glands, but your dogs health is worth more to me than the couple bucks I could make doing something I am not certified to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, that turned into kind of a rant, but I love my clients and I only want what's truly best for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastActivityDate="2014-02-23T21:34:25.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2172" CreationDate="2014-02-23T23:23:14.137" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an aggressive chewer as well and I have found a few chews that she won't destroy too quickly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Himalayan Chews :&lt;/strong&gt; A lot of pet stores sell these in several different sizes depending on the dog's size. These are yak-milk products, but are cured so they do not cause the intolerance issues that cheese normally does for dogs. They are very hard, and it takes our dog weeks to go through one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Petedge :&lt;/strong&gt; If you are looking for antlers, try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petedge.com&quot;&gt;Petedge&lt;/a&gt;. I buy from them often for my business, and I get antlers for our dog there when I need them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marrow bones from the butcher :&lt;/strong&gt; Great for keeping dogs busy for awhile. Once they get all the marrow out, they still have the bone to gnaw at. Our dog loves them, but you do have to be careful about letting them have these on carpet. They can be messy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T02:37:24.337" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T02:37:24.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2354" CreationDate="2014-02-24T11:56:28.573" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, rabbits can drink from a bowl.  Currently, we have 5 pet rabbits; they all drink water from a bowl.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water bottles are extensively used in rabbit production facilities.  They don't take up space inside the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;small cage&lt;/a&gt;, they are easy to refill from the outside of the cage (&lt;em&gt;without interacting with the rabbit&lt;/em&gt;). In fact you can purchase &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00BSH3ODY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Water Feeders for Automated System&lt;/a&gt; nipples that hook to a water line so you don't even need to go near the rabbit cage to change their water, &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; in regards to a pet rabbit, one that is a kept for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;companionship&lt;/a&gt;, this is a completely different situation.  You want to spend time with your bunny; they are not to be locked in a tiny cage for their whole life.  Your bunny is your friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking from a bowl is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therabbithouse.com/equipment/rabbit-water.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;most natural&lt;/a&gt; way for a rabbit to drink.  Selecting the correct bowl is important.  A heavy ceramic bowl without a good place to for the rabbit to grip is important.  Bunnies like to rearrange things and a light plastic bowl with bit of an edge is perfect for flinging across the room (&lt;em&gt;even if it's not empty&lt;/em&gt;).  Keeping the bowl away from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3&quot;&gt;hay and litter box&lt;/a&gt; will help keep the water clean.  Water bowls can go in the dishwasher, so they are easier wash the water bottles and nipples, which require bottle brushes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;large&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dewlap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dewlap&lt;/a&gt;, it may get wet when they are drinking, so having something under the bowl to catch spillage may be important.  We have two rabbits who live in our living room, who don't have dewlaps.  They have a second water bowl on the carpet, next to the T.V., and water spillage is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T18:11:17.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2014-02-24T15:17:17.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I tested &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kongcompany.com/products/for-dogs/treats/stuffn/stuffn-puppy-easy-treat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;KONG Puppy Easy Treat stuffing paste&lt;/a&gt; in a small Kong. I first put some dry kibble, then closed the Kong with the paste, and froze the whole thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to like it and that kept him busy for a while. However the amount of kibble I can stuff is very limited (but that's a small Kong).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-24T16:49:11.547" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T16:49:11.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2313" CreationDate="2014-02-24T17:06:09.270" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used Grannick's Bitter Apple spray when I first got my puppy. I'd spray a bit on the shoe while he was chewing it/about to grab it, then when he was making that &quot;I don't like this taste face&quot; I would quietly take the shoe away and put a toy in front of him right where it was. Only took a few days for him to get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="780" LastActivityDate="2014-02-24T17:06:09.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2397" CreationDate="2014-02-24T17:50:52.300" Score="7" ViewCount="1136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since UV lights are important to reptiles, and I've heard it said that they lose their UV output after about 6 months even if they haven't burnt out, is there a way to measure the UV output of a light? That way I can get the most out of my UV lights, only replacing them when the UV output stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T23:05:44.930" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T23:05:44.930" Title="Is there a way to measure the UV output of a light?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2363" CreationDate="2014-02-24T22:43:31.120" Score="13" ViewCount="28367" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm well aware that hay is a fundamental part of a rabbit's diet. However, my rabbit has become very picky with its food, over time. He eats mostly fruit peels, some vegetables, carrots, and about half of the contents of pellet mix foods, leaving most of the hay untouched. That is, unless it is alfalfa hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said this alfalfa hay should only be used as a treat, mixed with the other hay (orchard, if I remember correctly). The rabbit used to eat more hay when younger, and he had some teeth problems quite recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already tried &lt;em&gt;punishing&lt;/em&gt; him, giving him only hay, but he just waits until I give him more &lt;em&gt;treat foods&lt;/em&gt;. As I'm also aware that rabbits shouldn't spend much time without eating, I end up giving him what he wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I motivate my rabbit to eat more hay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone suggested me to sprinkle his hay with water, or water and honey, so as to freshen up the scent, or make it sweeter. I haven't tried honey, but the water trick seems to have no results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="855" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T19:00:09.747" Title="How do I motivate my rabbit to eat more hay?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2222" CreationDate="2014-02-25T10:18:27.850" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is probably not a direct answer to your question, although I hope it will provide some elements. I try to first give some info about the &quot;dominance theory&quot;, and then try to answer your question more precisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dominance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;dominance&quot; theory is overused in the canine literature and, in fact quite misused. The theory derives from observations of wolves 30 years ago. From these observations it was concluded that wolves have social structures based on dominant individuals (the alpha male and the alpha female) ruling over the group with frequent aggressions. On the other hand &quot;submissive&quot; individuals were trying to avoid conflicts with the alphas and they display submissive behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That theory was, at first, not contested and immediately applied to dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in 2014, that theory has been disputed for 30 years, discussed at length in the literature, and a majority of behaviourists now consider it as useless, at best, or even as plain wrong (references to follow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to summarise what I read from different sources, here are the key arguments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dogs are not wolves. Wolves are their primary ancestor. However, both had plenty of time (&gt; 10 000 years based on the more conservative sources) to evolve separately. Additionally, dogs interacted socially with humans and these skills were &quot;selected&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the observations of captive wolves led to many conclusions that are different if one observes wild packs of wolves, where individuals are free to leave the group (which is a key factor why the aggressive behaviours are less frequent in wild packs)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;more recent observations of wild wolves' packs tell another story about the structure of the pack: usually a breeding pair raising puppies, with the litters from the previous year(s) sticking with the group&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the theory was extended to cover dog-human interactions. The observations of wolves should not play any role here&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;one could learn much more on dogs by observing actual dogs in appropriate social groups (e.g. many dogs' households, &quot;pack&quot; of feral dogs, village dogs, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dogs are often neutered. Reproductive behaviours are key elements in packs of wild wolves&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this evidence shakes the foundations of the usual &quot;dominance&quot;/&quot;alpha male&quot; theory, then what kind of social construct can we use to describe the behaviours of our dogs when they interact together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mention here three key elements, mainly from Ref. 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Resource Holding Potential (RHP): it doesn't require a previous hierarchy to be established, the outcome of an interaction is based on the subjective value that each dog assign to a given resource, for example in territorial disputes. Of course this will vary between dogs and doesn't predict a linear hierarchy to be established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The idea of subjective/perceived value of a resource seems to apply particularly well to domestic dogs. From that we could say &quot;this dog is dominant over food&quot;: the dog puts a large value to the &quot;food resource&quot; and another dog can recognise that and show appeasement behaviours to stop the escalation of the encounter&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Associative learning: dogs learn at each encounter what is successful and what is not so the following responses are also based on that. Additionally the physical and emotional context in which the first encounter was made strongly influences the next ones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0064X82SY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog sense: how the new science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet (book)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1929242808&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dominance in Dogs: Fact or Fiction? (book)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.journalvetbehavior.com/article/S1558-7878(08)00115-9/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dominance in domestic dogs—useful construct or bad habit? (paper)&lt;/a&gt; and references therein. I don't link directly to a PDF version, but it is easy enough to find.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Application to L, R and C&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't comment the dog-human interactions, but on the dog-dog interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description of L, and based on what I wrote above, there is no point trying to say that he was dominant or submissive. First thing is that you apparently had him when he was 2 years old. That means that some of his behaviour was actually learned from his previous experience. Especially the &quot;eat only when alone&quot; part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your description of R seems to indicate that he really values food, while L might not value it as much. That can explain the behaviour around stealing food, growling, etc. If you consider the &quot;dominance in resources&quot; based on the subjective value that each of them give to the food, you explain the outcome of the initial interactions around food. Then the dogs are both learning what works and what doesn't. You can reach a steady state where both dogs are OK with the interaction because it meets their expectations to get their food and they learned not to escalate too much. So the fights would not be an attempt to set a new hierarchy but rather occasional mismatches between the expectations of the two dogs. One would want the treats more than what the other one expected from previous interactions, and they could start a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your description of C you actually mention the learned behaviour of L around food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you seem to have pretty well0balanced dogs (from the interactions they have with you), it is pointless to try to identify an alpha (see the discussion on dominance), as the interactions between your dogs is regulated by the subjective values they assign to resources and learned behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:22:55.713" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:22:55.713" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2361" CreationDate="2014-02-25T12:01:59.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct the keeping food moving through the rabbit is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;critical&lt;/a&gt;.  The primary foods you are feeding are closer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-treat-foods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;treat foods&lt;/a&gt; than the are to an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;optimal diet&lt;/a&gt;.  Some arguments are even made to move to a completely &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/pellet-free-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pellet free diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving your rabbit a healthy diet is not &lt;em&gt;Punishment&lt;/em&gt;, it is the most kind thing you can do (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;case study of poor diet&lt;/a&gt;. It is important that you &lt;strong&gt;make a slow transition&lt;/strong&gt; from the current diet to  healthy diet (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;). If your rabbit has not had enough hay he may any of several issues (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt;) a visit to a qualified rabbit vet may be warranted.  If he has teeth issues, it will take a vet to address the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step in correcting the diet, is to begin substituting old favorites for newer healthier choices.  One healthy treat that should be easily transitioned in is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1613&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hay cubes&lt;/a&gt;, over a few days replace carrots and fruit peels with hay cubes. The carrots and fruit peels are the are probably the worst part of your you rabbits current diet (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1816&quot;&gt;Are carrots a healthy part of a rabbit diet?&lt;/a&gt;) as is any high sugar item (like honey). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next step is to include high quality &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;leafy greens vegetables&lt;/a&gt;, this should be a cup a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timothy hay is probably the best choice for a mature rabbit, but orchard hay will also work.  It should be avaible at all times for your rabbit.  As he moves away from the sweet foods, and gets appropriate quanties of healthier foods, he should migrate to eating more hay.  He should never have an endless supply of pellets or greens, so durring the times those are not available he will naturally eat the hay to fill out his diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, consider the type of pellets you are feeding. There are a lot of different choices out there.  Oxbow and zupreem are two quality brands.  Anything with bright colors and lots of different items in the bag are marketing to the consumer, not to health of the rabbit.  Bulk feed from a farm supply store, is a slightly better option than color pet food feeds, but it is formulated for putting weight on production rabbits quickly, not for long term maintenance of a pet rabbit. Quality foods are dark uniform shaped and formed pellets with a timothy hay base. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you should encounter any difficulties in the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your rabbit stops eating, get to the vet immediately 24 hours can be fatal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post more questions with the same clarity that you used here, we will be happy to help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Browse the existing questions on the site &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits&quot;&gt;tagged &quot;rabbits&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T13:47:47.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2014-02-25T15:56:22.033" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find most cats are pretty easy to train to a sound. It could be a finger snap, the squirt of a spray bottle, a clap of the hands, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to be consistent about it, and only use the sound when they're actually being bad. In addition, try not to let them associate the sound with you, or they'll only be good when you're around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initial training is often done accompanied by an action the cat does not like. I usually use a spray bottle since our cats hate getting wet and its easier to hide the fact that I am responsible for the action. I find that a loud noise or a hiss will startle them and work as well, although it is harder to prevent them from associating the human-made sound with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually had the same problem as you where we had one cat that would always be jumping on the counter when we weren't in the room. As a solution, I lined the edge of the counter in empty pop bottles, and after scaring herself twice by knocking them all down, I haven't caught her up there again. I've heard people report the same sort of success with using tin foil or something sticky like double-sided tape on the counter, however that never worked for me (Tinfoil = Toy, and Sticky Stuff = Annoyance) :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1072/869&quot;&gt;Zaralynda's answer&lt;/a&gt; does provide some good advice too about trying to find and fix the reason for the cat's behavioral problems, however since this question is specifically about how to discipline a cat, I figured I'd provide an answer that addresses that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be just as trainable as dogs, although I find it harder to do since they are usually more independent and not as eager-to-please as dogs, and are sometimes smarter than dogs so can figure out what you're trying to do and choose to ignore you. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T15:56:22.033" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-25T16:19:43.480" Score="15" ViewCount="57253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one cat which seems to obsessively dig at mirrors or glass. We have floor length mirrors on our closet, sliding glass doors to the backyard, a bedside table with glass, the bathtub doors, and the bathroom mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She usually only does it when we're in the room and will dig at it like she's going to go somewhere if she tries hard enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried double-sided tape, which does stop her from digging at the area it's applied, but she'll just go find another area to scratch at, and it's impractical to apply this tape to all glass/mirror surfaces in our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried discouraging her using a spray bottle, which usually works for other bad behaviors from her. However, she'll only stop briefly, wait a minute, then start again. Frequently she acts almost as if she's being forced to dig as fast as she can before she gets sprayed again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She knows it's &quot;bad&quot; behavior since if we look at her, she'll usually stop until we take our attention off her again. Or being the cat she is, sometimes she'll stare back at us, and deliberately do one slow scratch to see our reaction (that one is usually when she wants us to wake up or be petted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has plenty of items to scratch on around the house which she does use, so I don't understand why she feels the need to dig so desperately at glass surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does she do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should probably be noted that she is our &quot;stupidest&quot; cat, frequently doing illogical things like allowing herself to fall off our laps or other surfaces, trying (and sometimes failing) to climb up objects or across small gaps where any other cat would normally jump, and not reacting as quickly or intelligently to various situations as our other cats do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T13:58:44.027" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T13:58:44.027" Title="Why does my cat dig at mirrors and glass?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2386" CreationDate="2014-02-25T16:20:39.727" Score="5" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is 4.5 months old, and he's teething. His gums are quite red and irritated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I provide him with different chew toys (only 1-2 of them at the same time, changing every day). I also give him a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2328/what-kind-of-food-should-i-stuff-into-a-kong&quot;&gt;stuffed frozen Kong&lt;/a&gt; in the afternoon and a frozen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kongcompany.com/zh-hans/products/for-dogs/rubber-toys/puppy-rubber/puppy-teething-stick/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong puppy teething stick&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I doing the right thing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything else I can do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is teething painful for the puppy, and if so, how can we manage the discomfort and pain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T06:43:27.743" Title="How can I best manage a teething puppy?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2202" CreationDate="2014-02-25T16:29:08.560" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;View yourself from the cat's perspective. Cats aren't used to changing their environments. I've never seen a cat move bedding around, they just sleep wherever they feel comfortable. As far as they perceive it, the home in which you live is a natural environment that has always been there and will always be there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when you move around your bedding, changing disheveled sheets, blankets, and pillows into a smooth, covered surface, they are seeing something in their world change in a big way. They must find it fascinating! Why wouldn't they be interested enough to at least watch? I would be surprised if they didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="376" LastActivityDate="2014-02-25T16:29:08.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2370" CreationDate="2014-02-25T16:34:43.587" Score="12" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the San Francisco Chronicle, someone is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Poisoned-meatballs-again-threaten-dogs-in-San-5259552.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;leaving poisoned meatballs around San Francisco&lt;/a&gt;, apparently in an attempt to either poison pets or other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meatballs were placed in carports, behind stairwells, along curbs and in hedges and bushes - places they're more likely to be sniffed out by dogs than spotted by humans.  These were incredibly well-hidden.  The meatballs have been turned over to the San Francisco Police Department, which will analyze them to determine if they are poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;There's a high probability,&amp;quot; said the Police Department. &amp;quot;They look very similar to the ones found last year.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last July, a 7-year-old dachshund died and another dog was seriously sickened after eating meatballs the police believe were filled with strychnine. Police never located the person responsible for the deadly meatballs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do my best to be attentive when I am walking my dogs with their leashes (they are rarely walked off their leashes; only once in a while when going to the neighbor's house 3 doors down; they stick right by my side).  Unfortunately, occasionally they will pick up something hidden in the grass and eat it before I can tell what it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can the residents of San Francisco feel safe walking their pets when someone is apparently out to poison them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T17:04:51.500" Title="What steps should San Francisco pet owners take to avoid poisoned meatballs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2014-02-25T16:34:43.587" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many signs placed out to warn the public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/591/how-do-i-stop-my-dog-from-eating-things-he-finds-during-our-walks&quot;&gt;How do I stop my dog from eating things he finds during our walks?&lt;/a&gt; are quite relevant to this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; Locations include, but are not limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Twin Peaks neighborhood on Crestline Drive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Outer Richmond District around the intersection of La Playa and Cabrillo Street. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; Preventative measures you can take include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping your pets (including cats) indoors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When walking dogs, keep them on a short leash and &lt;strong&gt;away&lt;/strong&gt; from shrubbery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your animal picks up / eats anything, don't hesitate; head to the vet, especially if you are in doubt.  &lt;em&gt;&quot;It's not worth taking chances.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt; If you find a meatball (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&amp;amp;id=9443782&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;piece of meat&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anyone who encounters a meatball is advised to &lt;strong&gt;call 911&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alert others nearby&lt;/strong&gt; to the presence of the meatball so they do not approach it with their pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DO NOT TOUCH the meatball with your bare hands&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/07/12/sf-dog-sickened-by-poisoned-meatballs-dies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meatballs from the July 2013 incident&lt;/a&gt; contained levels of strychnine potentially lethal to humans.  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only handle a found meatball if absolutely necessary and while wearing &lt;strong&gt;heavy gloves&lt;/strong&gt;; if they do contain poison, it may be able to be absorbed through the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of poison for the February 2014 incident is unconfirmed, but the situation &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; similar to the July 2013 incident.  If you know any information to help the investigation, you can call the police department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D5S1X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Photo of meatball from CBS San Francisco&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T17:04:51.500" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2381" CreationDate="2014-02-25T21:34:11.303" Score="14" ViewCount="28576" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have been feeding our two-year-old corn snake mostly when he starts actively hunting, but I'm slightly worried that we're feeding him either too much or too little.  He's probably okay, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the middle, where he's thickest, the scales aren't quite overlapping (they show a bit of skin in between), which I've read is a sign of being overweight; and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The spine is usually visible, which I've read is a sign of being underweight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know which sign to trust.  Should I take him to a vet, or is there an easier way to tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T21:06:21.437" Title="How can I tell whether my corn snake is over- or underweight?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2237" CreationDate="2014-02-26T00:11:56.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct that the first and best step to modify spraying and poor litter box habits is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therabbithouse.com/behaviour/problem-litter-training.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spay/neuter&lt;/a&gt;. You are also correct that the behavior your are seeing is likely related to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514&quot;&gt;territory marking&lt;/a&gt;.  Every bunny likes to be secure in the ownership of &lt;a href=&quot;http://language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk_territoriality.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;their space.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scenario you mention is not unusual, but there is not &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; simple thing you can do to prevent or modify the behavior.  Every situation is unique, and every bunny has their own personality so each solution must be tailored to each bunny.  In researching for this answer, I found essentially the same things I am going to mention here repeated over and over. The following points are based on my personal experience, but are echoed by others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 5 pet rabbits, living in 3 different colonies (or warrens) on the top floor of our two story home. Downstairs we have 2 spaces that are used for visiting foster or border rabbits.  We work with other rabbits away from our home and often come home smelling like other rabbits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make your rabbit secure in the ownership of their space. As much as possible keep strange animals out your rabbits' space.  In our home, every group is separated by a neural zone where no bunny is allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If another animal is going to share space with your rabbit work to ensure that both coexist comfortably together (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;see related&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not allow unaltered animals into your home.  Your bunny is not making sex hormones any more, but if the visitor has them, it may impact your rabbit.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When working away from home with unaltered rabbits change clothes.  &lt;em&gt;Particularly important before laying down on the couch&lt;/em&gt;. It only took one lesson for my rabbit to teach me this rule.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If caring for multiple pets, address the dominant rabbit first.  In our house this tends to be in seniority of adoption. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leave some poops around.  Rabbit poop is the least gross product (liquid or solid) of pretty much any animal.  Your bunny most likely will feel that their property is secure if the find their own poops marking the area.  This may mean harvesting poops from the litter box to place strategically if some bunny came through without authorization.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clean up &quot;accidents&quot; immediately with a 'bio-enzymatic cleaning agent' like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natures-miracle.com/products/pet-odor-stain-removers/original-pet-stain-odor-remover.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nature's Miracle&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After visiting other animal(s), spend time with the rabbit that may feel their property is at risk.  Give attention and maybe a treat. Remember you are also their property. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Add an extra litter box - if one particular area is being urinated or pooped on, your rabbit may be telling you, that a litter box needs to be &lt;strong&gt;Right HERE&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When adding a bunny to a space previously &quot;owned&quot; by another bunny, spray the whole area with a 'bio-enzymatic cleaning agent' and let it dry for a couple of days. Start the bunny with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit/46#46&quot;&gt;small area first&lt;/a&gt; before letting them have the whole place to run in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have a traffic area that bunny insists needs periodic pee, there are some door mats that have a watertight rubber back. Place as needed.  We have an older disabled rabbit that sometimes just can't get from the comfort place to the litter box.  We have had good luck with these rugs, they are easy to wash in the tub and drip dry in a day or so. (get two, so one can be in use while the other is drying).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have a bunch of rabbits who are all trying to claim ownership over the same territory on a recurring basis, get rubber floors &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/978/&quot;&gt;see related question&lt;/a&gt;.  If no bunny &quot;owns&quot; it then every bunny is going to try and claim it, every chance they get. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that the hay is over the litter box, your bunny likes to use the litter box while eating hay.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T20:15:16.933" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-26T00:19:28.553" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet was looking in my rabbit's mouth and said she had a couple of &quot;points&quot; that might need to be addressed on the next visit.  I forgot to ask for clarification and am wondering what he was talking about.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are these &quot;points&quot;, and why are they in my rabbit's mouth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-26T16:53:26.403" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T16:53:26.403" Title="What are the &quot;points&quot; in my rabbit's mouth that my vet is referring to?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2014-02-26T00:30:49.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen nylon or fabric muzzles available (for less than 10 dollars) that would make it impossible for your dog to bolt food on walks and would be safer than hoping you could hold them back with a short leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a cat owner, I don't know how easy it is to train the dog to wear it, but given the circumstances this would be an option well worth trying if I were in the area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T00:30:49.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2373" CreationDate="2014-02-26T00:43:59.967" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could likely be a couple of things. First, it could be that they meant there are a few problem areas in the mouth, but forgot to give you specifics, using &quot;points&quot; as a synonym for &quot;areas&quot; or &quot;issues&quot;. That seems a little strange, though, that they wouldn't tell you what the issues were. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did some brief research on rabbit teeth, though, and that brought up a second option of what they could have meant. They might have meant that there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html&quot;&gt;molar spurs&lt;/a&gt; on your rabbit's teeth. These are sharp points that stick out from the tooth, and can cause pain to the rabbit, as they risk digging into or cutting the rabbit's mouth. These are caused by uneven wear on the tooth. You will need someone trained in rabbit dentistry to deal with the issue - there are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plymouthvets.co.uk/library/rabbits/dental-disease.shtml&quot;&gt;few things&lt;/a&gt; they can do, such as using a burr or something like that to smooth down the spur, or in worse cases, removal of the tooth might be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T00:43:59.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="483" CreationDate="2014-02-26T09:03:13.223" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar experience with my 2 cats and my young puppy (male).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My older cat (female - lived outside for a couple of years before she &quot;moved in&quot; with us) will just naturally set the rules: when the dog is chasing her she sometimes just run to a safe place (higher position, cat tree, upstairs where the dog is not allowed), but most frequently she faces him and hisses and shows him she would be ready for a fight. Then the dog will stop and stay away, unsure of what to do. Usually that really confuses him and he barks a couple of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that would be perfect, if my other cat was doing the same ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cat is a two-years-old Maine Coon (male, neutered). The dog really wants to play, as he would do with other dogs, but of course the cat doesn't get the idea. So he will bite, not the skin but the fur. Of course now his weight is twice the weight of the cat so it can get quite rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this is not happening all the time, when the dog is calm he can stay next to the cats with no problem. It just happens when he's overexcited or when the cat is running (prey mode).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this, it is still a work in progress but I've seen improvements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cats have a &quot;high place&quot; in every room so they can retreat there in case they are chased or in case they just want to rest;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as always the key is to teach the dog how you want him to react (alternative behaviour). When I catches him I separate them and without talking (that would increase the excitement level) I catches his attention and ask him to sit. When he does I strongly praise him or reward him with food. We wait for the cat to calmly move away and the dog has to relax during that time, again praise and/or food. The goal is to reinforce another behaviour and reinforce being calming down after playing with the cat (the goal is not to prevent any interaction);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you can go &quot;Cesar's way&quot; here and try to mimic a bite on his neck, however this &quot;bite&quot; in a way or another is a punishment and it is not teaching much to the dog. If the dog is bitting the cat it is not even sure that he will open his mouth when you &quot;bite&quot; him, so you would need to &quot;bite&quot; harder and so on ... Separating them is a kind of &quot;emergency&quot; action: I would do the same if the dog or cat was about to have a real accident or get hurt in any situation. It is not part of the training. When it is safe then you move on to reinforce the desired behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I also reward the doing staying calm when the cat is passing by or running to another room. The goal is to reinforce staying calm when the cat is moving;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We should not forget that it is a puppy and chasing things and playing with mates is totally normal. So from his point of view he's just doing the right thing all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't deny it can be quite frustrating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T09:03:13.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-26T09:50:04.640" Score="9" ViewCount="3530" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2372/460&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, I was directed to use an enzyme treatment like &quot;Natures Miracle&quot; on my rabbit's pee stains.  To date, I've always used vinegar, which seemed to work well.  Enzyme treatments are more expensive than vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are enzyme treatments more effective at cleaning than vinegar? Are they effective enough to justify the cost differential?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T03:19:17.693" Title="Are enzyme treatments more effective than vinegar for removing rabbit urine?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2014-02-26T18:04:22.597" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats' noses often run or drip when they purr and it is not drool. I've read that it is an indication of them being content and a reversion to their kittenhood when mom cat would lick their little runny noses. When my 5 yr old cat is kneading on me and purring, her nose constantly drips. So much so that there is usually a large wet spot on the bed or me when she walks away. If you take note of the times that the nose is dripping, I think you will find that it occurs when she is purring and happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="882" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T17:39:49.210" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T17:39:49.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="591" CreationDate="2014-02-26T19:58:30.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are low cost fabric muzzles you could use to keep him from eating random things on a walk.  At a park once you see the area you could remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T19:58:30.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2349" CreationDate="2014-02-26T20:23:34.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our vet likes to wait just before their first period which is usually an estimate of when it will happen though. Our last female had her spay scheduled but she happened to go into heat 2 days before. We were advised to wait for the heat cycle to be finished and I remember the spay was then scheduled for a month after the heat cycle ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T20:23:34.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2371" CreationDate="2014-02-26T21:06:21.437" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's sometimes normal to see your snake's skin between the scales immediately after feeding, that's because they swallow their food whole and it's pressing on their skin. If you're seeing the skin between the scales otherwise, then your snake is definitely overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use the spine as a reference for whether your snake is over/under weight, as all snakes, except for the obese ones, will still show their spine. A more accurate method is too look at the shape of the snake. Despite how they're portrayed, they aren't actually round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A snake that's underweight will be more triangle shape, with the sides leading straight from the belly to the spine. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A healthy snake will be rounded at the top, but flat on the bottom, kind of like a half circle. The purpose is to have as much surface area (for traction) on their stomach as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An overweight snake will be rounded, sometimes almost perfectly, with sides of the belly not able to touch the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you might be able to notice are hips/rolls on you snake. All snakes will have creases when they're coiled up, but an overweight snake will have more fat in those creases and it can cause noticeable rolls, or even misshapen scales. The misshapen scales are generally the worst cases I think, they come from the pressure of the extra fat in the creases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZCGPa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;An example of misshapen scales&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=images&amp;amp;cd=&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;docid=kKDAOv4ZDCGjoM&amp;amp;tbnid=hGnfXaPFlfVsBM:&amp;amp;ved=0CAMQjhw&amp;amp;url=http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11891&amp;amp;ei=Z04OU5mOD87_qAHhroDQAg&amp;amp;bvm=bv.61965928,d.b2I&amp;amp;psig=AFQjCNGX3sq9I7OuP9QUlpehf_hhK0YRlQ&amp;amp;ust=1393532803018334&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Notice here too, the stomach doesn't lay flat]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as feeding schedules go, you should always keep a strict feeding schedule for all pets. It's especially important for corn snakes since they're opportunistic feeders, they'll eat even when they shouldn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common feeding schedules for adult corn snakes are more like once every 12-14 days. That might seem like a pretty open schedule, but that all depends on what you're feeding him. Larger or fattier food needs to be fed less often. I would say start by feeding him only once every 12 days, and give him some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can give him some exercise by having him climb up and down a set of stair if you have some, or if he doesn't hate baths, you could encourage him to swim every so often in the bathtub. One trick I really like, is giving them a box full of cardboard tubes, from paper towels and stuff. Just the new environment will encourage them to explore, and you'll have fun watching him explore the maze of tubes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take quite a while to see some improvement. Just like with humans, snakes won't lose weight within a week. I know some cases where it's taken a whole year for people to get their snakes back to a healthy weight. Stick to a longer feeding schedule, and encourage your snake to exercise as much as possible, and he'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T21:06:21.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2337" CreationDate="2014-02-26T21:34:02.190" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it since it's a case of a dog grooming another dog. If it was compulsively grooming itself, it could be a case of dry/irritated skin, allergies, or parasites among others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what probably happened is that sometime during their playing Dewey starting the behaviour and it just became a habit for whatever reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be that it's a mild case of Pica, where he just likes the texture. I know some dogs that will compulsively lick their owner's suede couch because they like the texture of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wolves will practice a type social grooming when they're relaxed, picking fleas, ticks, and burs, out of each other's fur. So it's possible that it's stemming from that behavior, or started as that behavior and evolved into just something they do after wrestling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-02-26T21:34:02.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2404" CreationDate="2014-02-27T01:40:26.100" Score="10" ViewCount="5817" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats are pretty stereotypically afraid of my vacuum. As soon as they see me getting ready to use it, they'll jump up.  The second it gets turned on, they're bolting to the other room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I watch movies and play video games that make sudden loud noises, so it doesn't seem likely to me that the vacuum is scary because it's loud. Is there something else about the noise that's scary?  I was thinking maybe the frequency was at a certain level that only bothers cats, like how humans can't hear dog whistles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it about vacuums that are so scary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T05:34:28.817" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:05:00.983" Title="Why are cats afraid of vacuums?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2349" CreationDate="2014-02-27T06:30:39.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For performance dogs we like to wait until 18 months on average. The point is to wait for them to really be done growing. Removing hormones before that point can cause bones and muscle to grow differently than they would have otherwise. Dogs fixed early tend to be taller and less filled out than they would have been otherwise. However if it is a non - working pet dog than the difference is not likely to matter too much. If it is a large breed  or a breed prone to hip dysplasia I would wait for the 18 month mark at minimum even if the dog wasn't in a sport. I've been training and competing in dog sports for 10 years and I think it is actually pretty amazing that just from the look of a dog you can often guess if they were fixed early but that is just an observation, for the real data...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15319800/spay_neuter_considerations_2013.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a good paper&lt;/a&gt; that sites several studies done that found increased incidents of CCL rupture, hip dysplasia, and patellar luxation in dogs that were fixed early. These injuries seem to correlate with the findings of longer tibia, radius and ulna which are likely caused by the delayed closure of growth plates. The lack of hormones slows the closure and allows the bones to grow longer than they would have otherwise. This results in dogs that are taller and don't have as deep of chest cavities as they would have otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like the bones may be less dense than they would have otherwise as well but I have not yet found a scientific study to back that up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is really encouraging that we are now seeing alternatives to a full spay or neuter that keep some or all of the hormones without the risk of accidental breeding. Some of the alternatives are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2413/884&quot;&gt;ovarian or uterine sparing spays&lt;/a&gt; and for the boys there is now a product called &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2407/884&quot;&gt;Zeuterin&lt;/a&gt;. If these catch on it's possible that we will see the rate of these injuries decrease significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T05:42:07.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="134" CreationDate="2014-02-27T06:37:06.030" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;For performance dogs we like to wait until 18 months on average. The point is to wait for them to really be done growing. Removing hormones before that point can cause bones and muscle to grow differently than they would have otherwise. Dogs fixed early tend to be taller and less filled out than they would have been otherwise. However if it is a non - working pet dog than the difference is not likely to matter too much. And for males, if you are seeing unwanted behavior you will have to weigh your options. If you are seeing aggression, obsessive marking, or wandering and you don't feel that you can overcome these behaviors with training then you may want to fix your dog earlier than the 18 month mark. Also, if you have both an unfixed male and female and you don't intend to breed then do yourself a favor and fix at least one of them... it can be incredibly difficult to keep them separated enough during the females season to prevent an accidental breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a large breed  or a breed prone to hip dysplasia I would wait for the 18 month mark at minimum even if the dog wasn't in a sport. I've been training and competing in dog sports for 10 years and I think it is actually pretty amazing that just from the look of a dog you can often guess if they were fixed early but that is just an observation, for the real data...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15319800/spay_neuter_considerations_2013.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a good paper&lt;/a&gt; that sites several studies done that found increased incidents of CCL rupture, hip dysplasia, and patellar luxation in dogs that were fixed early. These injuries seem to correlate with the findings of longer tibia, radius and ulna which are likely caused by the delayed closure of growth plates. The lack of hormones slows the closure and allows the bones to grow longer than they would have otherwise. This results in dogs that are taller and don't have as deep of chest cavities as they would have otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like the bones may be less dense than they would have otherwise as well but I have not yet found a scientific study to back that up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is really encouraging that we are now seeing alternatives to a full spay or neuter that keep some or all of the hormones without the risk of accidental breeding. Some of the alternatives are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2413/884&quot;&gt;ovarian or uterine sparing spays&lt;/a&gt; and for the boys there is now a product called &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2407/884&quot;&gt;Zeuterin&lt;/a&gt;. If these catch on it's possible that we will see the rate of these injuries decrease significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T06:00:23.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2367" CreationDate="2014-02-27T06:43:27.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have lots of things that are appropriate for the puppy to chew like sturdy rubber toys, bones, and you can even give cold carrots. When the puppy shows interest in something that is off limits redirect them to one of the items they should chew. Don't allow the puppy access to places with things they shouldn't chew without supervision, crate training is invaluable for this and many other reasons. And have patience, this stage will pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T06:43:27.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2014-02-27T07:04:34.940" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either once or twice a day are fine for most dogs. The timing doesn't matter to much either as long as they have access to an appropriate place to eliminate. One suggestion I like is to feed them a little before a long walk.  That way they can go while on the walk and they are tired and full after the walk so will be ready for a quiet day alone or a good night sleep. Any time you change your feeding schedule or amount be sure to closely monitor your dog's weight so that they don't gain or loose if it isn't desired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has motion sickness problems then avoid feeding for a couple hours before the car ride. If it a daily car ride you might choose to feed them after you return so they are always riding on an empty stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T07:04:34.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2248" CreationDate="2014-02-27T07:13:36.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Love the other answer here but I think it would be good to add that 6 months might be a little to early. If your dog is comfortable with the crate then you have done great so far... don't feel you have to rush to the next stage. If you move away from relying on the crate to early your dog may learn bad habits just because it isn't out of the puppy chewing and curiosity stage yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T07:13:36.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="767" CreationDate="2014-02-27T07:23:39.883" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answer regarding dominance is one reason. However many dogs do this as a play behavior as well. While playing more dominant dogs will often switch roles and act submissive towards other dogs. We can guess that they do this to encourage the less dominant dog to play and that they won't get in &quot;trouble&quot; for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog is being forceful or is not correctly reading signs that the other dogs dislikes the behavior than I would step in and not allow it. Otherwise it is part of normal play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T07:23:39.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T10:22:53.300" Score="4" ViewCount="11882" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a four-year-old Schnauzer.  Before a walk, I put her lead on her; she gets so excited she starts screaming/howling with excitement. She also grabs the lead and starts pulling it like a tug-of-war.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried everything to make her stop this behaviour: using treats, taking her out more often, ignoring the behaviour.  I have taken her to dog classes, but when she is there, she walks and behaves like an angel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to walk her early in the morning (5 AM) for a few hours, but the problem is that she makes so much noise, it will wake all the neighbors! :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="886" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T17:06:56.777" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:42:17.423" Title="How can I stop my dog from screaming or howling before a walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2394" CreationDate="2014-02-27T10:55:36.240" Score="9" ViewCount="1979" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a white paste coming out of my gecko's vent. Is this calcium or something else? Should I be worried about it if the gecko isn't metabolising the calcium properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:01:48.750" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T04:29:36.677" Title="My leopard gecko is excreting a white sludge. What is this and is it normal?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;excretions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2393" CreationDate="2014-02-27T10:59:43.573" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not calcium, but uric acid crystals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All animals produce ammonia (a nitrogen compound) as a waste product. Ammonia is toxic and must be converted to something else before being excreted (with a few exceptions of aquatic animals that excrete ammonia directly into the water). Mammals excrete their waste nitrogen mainly as urea, but most reptiles excrete it as uric acid crystals. Uric acid is white and looks a bit like sand or some kind of sandy sludge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conversion of ammonia into uric acid is more energy-intensive than the conversion of ammonia into urea, but it is less toxic and reduces water loss and the subsequent need for water. (Urea requires large volumes of water to be dissolved in and removed from the body.) Since many reptiles developed in hot climates, this is clearly advantageous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stepbystep.com/difference-between-urea-and-uric-acid-99631/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; explains more about the differences between uric acid and urea (although it is primarily concerned with their function in humans and doesn't mention other animals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in summary, you don't need to do anything about it: it's a completely natural and normal part of your gecko's digestive system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T19:50:50.353" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T19:50:50.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2401" CreationDate="2014-02-27T11:16:23.240" Score="9" ViewCount="13340" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a lovely 7-month-old Russian Blue, and we have noticed that he doesn't wash himself as frequently as other cats we had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not, at all, ever wash his head; you know, by licking his paw and rubbing his head and ears.  Because of this, his ears are so dirty they are sticky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does clean his a fur a bit, but also not as much as other cats I had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to get him to clean himself more often or better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="887" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T17:09:54.680" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T01:49:48.853" Title="How can I get my cat to clean himself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2392" CreationDate="2014-02-27T12:25:31.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you want to stop unwanted behaviours, I think there are two key points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not try to &quot;train&quot; the dog when you want to go for a walk. Train at other times when you're relaxed, when you wouldn't worry about the noise, etc. Do short training sessions and repeat that everyday if possible. Then when the dog progresses you can move the training to a &quot;field training&quot;, but without stopping the specific training sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You want to teach an alternative behaviour first, before stopping the unwanted one. That way you'll be able to redirect her to another behaviour, which is appropriate and which has been reinforced. For this problem, that means &quot;staying calm when on leash inside&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case here I would do like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Define what your real call is: imagine what the end result looks like. You will have to reinforce every step going in the direction of the goal you've set.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The excitement comes from the anticipation, so you have to teach the dog another way to react to that. You want the dog to stay calm, possibly sit or lay down close to the door and wait without barking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you have time, put the dog on leash inside. It will get very excited. Ignore everything, but reinforce every small step towards a more calm behaviour. Take some treats. When it stops barking, say &quot;yes&quot; and treat. If it's running around the house, when it stops, &quot;yes and treat&quot;, etc. Don't hesitate to reward small steps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue until the dog is calm enough, then go out. If you don't have time for a walk, come back, remove the leash and play a bit. You can then do that again, immediately or a few hours later. Don't expect the first sessions to be perfect. Keep them short and end the session (that is, go for a (real or not) walk) on a positive note (eg. no barking for some time, or when the dog lays down).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is for the excitement part. On the other hand your dog seems to be conditioned: leash means walk. Part of his response is &quot;automatic&quot;, like a dog drooling when you take out the food, the dog doesn't control how he'll react. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consequently you have to change this automatic response into one that involves the dog thinking, this is the first part above: the dog has to think and understand that only a calm behaviour will be rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand you can also counter-condition your dog. You take the leash, the dog gets excited. So you can from time to time take the leash, or even put the leash on the dog, but then you totally ignore the dog. Eventually the automatic response will fade out. This is the same of for Pavlov's dogs: you ring a bell and then feed the dogs. After a few repetitions, the dogs will start drooling after the bell even in the total absence of food. But if then you keep ringing the bell without feeding them, that automatic response will eventually disapear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally you could watch this video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UCMlpe8uMQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to train a dog that is over excited over food&lt;/a&gt;, different from your case but the same principles apply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T12:25:31.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2360" CreationDate="2014-02-27T12:42:20.757" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;These lights/tubes produce UVA and UVB. The same type of tubes are used in sunbeds and marine tanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To produce UVA, mercury inside the tube reacts with the gas and electricity. This is why you should never shatter tubes because you can get mercury poisoning and they have to be disposed of properly. The mercury will slowly stop to react as expected - as a result, the tube will produce more UVB.&#xA;We do not need UVC to be emitted from the tubes because in nature most of UVC from the sunlight gets stopped by the ozone and atmosphere. UVC is used in germicidal lamps and has no benefits to living matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very noticeable in the sunbed sector, when old lamps start to burn skin instead of tan. It is very unhealthy for all living things as it directly damages DNA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To accurately measure the tubes you need a UVA and UVB meter. Usually sold separately and cost in the region of 100USD each for low quality ones. Anything cheaper is junk that just makes up numbers.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you run your tubes/lights 8 hours a day then it is typical to replace them after 6~8 months, as this will keep your animals and or plants much healthier. You will be better off investing the money in new lights rather than in testing equipment you will use a few times only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="887" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T23:03:11.737" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T23:03:11.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="767" CreationDate="2014-02-27T12:47:58.027" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are social animals and have a large repertoire of communicative signals and behaviors. Additionally the interactions between two dogs also involve many &quot;learned&quot; kind of interactions. One dog can learn that the other dog will let him do something. If that something is associated to a context that both dogs appreciate, it can become a learned habit. For example your dog could do that as a way to relax and send a &quot;I'm calm and relaxed&quot; signal to the other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observe when your dog is doing that and then you tell us what you think are his reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referring to @Chris's answer involving dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The outdated &quot;dominance theory&quot; has been debunked in every aspects, over the last ten years and by many authors (including Bradshaw, Dunbar, Eaton and many others).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short here are some key arguments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dominance theory is based on the observation of captive wolves packs, where the individuals are constrained to stay in the pack and are, in most cases, unrelated&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Observations of wild wolves packs is quite different in term of social structure and hierarchy. A typical wolf pack involve a single breeding pair, along with the previous years litters and the cubs. In that sense, the alpha pair are simply the parents.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do not socially behave like wolves (captive or wild). Studies and observations of feral dogs (eg. Pariah dogs in India) revealed that the &quot;pack&quot; are very different from wolves packs. There is no single breeding pair, the individual from different groups often interact without fighting (which is very different from the behaviour of wolves from different packs: they avoid each other but will fight in almost all cases if they do meet).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;dominance theory&quot; took all of that a step further by claiming that dogs will keep that social structure even in their interactions with humans. No scientific data supports that assertion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notable Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0064X82SY&quot;&gt;Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet&lt;/a&gt; (Bradshaw - book)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1929242808&quot;&gt;Dominance in Dogs: Fact or Fiction?&lt;/a&gt; (Eaton - book)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dominance in domestic dogs-useful construct or bad habit? (Bradshaw - paper - see references inside)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorDisplayName="user2477" LastEditDate="2014-06-15T23:20:48.643" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T23:20:48.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T13:39:45.777" Score="6" ViewCount="6053" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title says it all. I have seen my dog eat other things (rabbits, unknown items, etc.) that had been laying around for days. I would try to prevent that, but she has a much better nose than I do. This question is specifically about cheese (cheddar, jack, colby, etc.) that has gone moldy in my fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="888" LastEditorUserId="47" LastEditDate="2014-03-02T19:29:22.303" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T05:01:09.137" Title="Is it safe for pets (dog specifically) to eat moldy cheese" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2392" CreationDate="2014-02-27T14:35:45.440" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try to change your pre-walk ritual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, it seems like you get the leash and then call the dog (with leash in hand) and put it on and then go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you can first call the dog and make him sit near the door, and then get the leash and put it on him.  Don't allow him to grab the leash.  If he starts howling, then put the leash back in the closet.  If he remains calm, then reward him (especially in the early stages of the new ritual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T17:08:11.080" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T17:08:11.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2395" CreationDate="2014-02-27T14:53:04.123" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are different. Some breeds mature sooner than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd expect him to start doing it later, since at 7 months of age, he seems to think he is still the little kitten who gets taken care of by others. Our 7-month-old ragdoll is the same kind of messy kitten; living the careless life of a young single male. We are just simply waiting for him to wise up. Though one of our neutered adult males grooms the lazy youngster regularly, so he doesn't get too smudgy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are brushing him, with cleaning him in mind, brush him like cats do, with rather short, &quot;decisive&quot; strokes. It should feel different than your normal petting. He may try to wriggle his way out from your hold, but that is normal for kittens, and an adult cat won't let a dirty kitten leave so easily.  Of course, you will have to let him go if he is really going, but not at his first wriggling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T17:12:19.707" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T17:12:19.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T15:15:50.653" Score="3" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are several ways to teach weaves, but I would like to know what methods have people used that have created consistent independent performance. I would like to be able to send my dog to the weaves from any angle and as far away as maybe 20 feet or so and still have my dog know that the job is to enter the first pole with their left shoulder first and continue on from there through all 12 poles without question. Ideally the method would also encourage bigger dogs to use a one footed style instead of hopping with both feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T04:03:21.247" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T21:46:12.157" Title="What is a good method for teaching weave poles?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T16:29:00.597" Score="7" ViewCount="689" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my pet rabbit lives inside, can I contract &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;rabbit fever&lt;/a&gt; from it? I would think that if it never goes outside, there would be no chance for it to become infected.  However, if I take the rabbit outside to munch on grass or run around, maybe it could be bitten by a fly or something?  Is the risk level very high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T17:13:50.107" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T21:09:44.343" Title="Can I contract rabbit fever (tularemia) from my pet rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:00:08.010" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most vacuum cleaners emit a white-noise like sound - this encompasses a wide range of frequencies, including higher pitches.  Most animals are startled by it at loud ranges.  Given the volume of most vacuums, it is startling for most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a previous poster noted, it's possible to train a cat (or dog) to become accustomed to some sounds if done from an early age and consistently.  Due to physical differences in sensitivity, it would appear this has a differing impact on cats across the board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three cats that are terrified of any vacuum.  I have a friend whose cat begged to BE vacuumed given it's long hair and, essentially, the lazy bathing from the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To further test, I would recommend using sounds of similar frequency (other mechnical objects) to see if it has the same impact.  If you have a decibel meter (or a smartphone app) you can also see if the cat is startled by similarly loud sounds.  You would have to measure distance, environment, etc. also to see if it's more about the loudness than the frequencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="891" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T17:00:08.010" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2576" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:02:41.257" Score="4" ViewCount="3045" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 2013, &lt;a href=&quot;http://ktla.com/2014/02/25/family-of-boy-killed-by-rat-bite-fever-sues-petco-over-allegedly-infected-pet-rat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a boy was tragically killed&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/rat-bite-fever/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rat-bite fever&lt;/a&gt;, which a lawsuit states was contracted from a pet rat he had been given 2 weeks prior.  The rat had been purchased from a pet store; in this incident, a Petco.  According to the article, the &quot;lawsuit alleges that Petco failed to ensure it was selling healthy rats or failed to prevent them from becoming infected.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we ensure that a pet rat we purchase from a pet store is healthy and will not transmit this sort of terrible disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T14:19:12.160" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T22:09:12.693" Title="What indicators show a rat is healthy prior to purchasing it as a pet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2395" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:03:28.837" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have experience with kittens, but I have had cats who haven't kept up with their cleaning because of illness. In those cases, I take a warm washcloth and firmly wipe them down once a day or so. That seems to keep them pretty clean until they feel better and take over the cleaning themselves again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T17:03:28.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2407" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:28:56.240" Score="9" ViewCount="1017" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits and drawbacks of using Zeuterin or a product like it for neutering a dog? Zeutrin is a product that chemically castrates a male dog via an injection directly to the center of the testes by a vet. It avoids surgery and leaves some hormone production in place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have talked to several people that are interested in it and I hear that it has been used outside of the US for some time. Does anyone have experience with it? Are there any good places to read about it that are not just from the company producing it? Are there any similar products out there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T19:48:39.043" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T00:59:45.610" Title="What are the benefits and drawbacks of using Zeuterin or a product like it for neutering a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:33:35.120" Score="6" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you teach different cues to help a dog know to go wider during an away and go-by inside flank? Obviously we know we need different cues for the away and go-by flanks and those cues are also used for the inside flank. But what about a cue to indicate a wider go-by vs. away inside flank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that some of the top trainers out there have different cues for each and I'm wondering why the difference is needed and if it has to do with just the inside flank or if you should have different cues for going wider on a normal flank as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-27T21:54:18.130" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T05:46:16.973" Title="Should you teach different cues to help a dog know to go wider during an away and go-by inside flank?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;herding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:38:13.543" Score="3" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I train &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2454/884&quot;&gt;a stopped 2-on/2-off contact&lt;/a&gt; what exercises I can use to help keep them consistent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By consistent I mean they should be within the criteria is the below. I think that other types of contact behavior should be a different question because the different styles are SO different and each deserve their own focused question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A reliability rate of about 80%... I don't want more than this because I think it makes the rules to stiff and doesn't encourage a guessing/edgy dog. I don't want less than that because when we are in the exciting trial environment I want them to hold up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smooth stride up the up side. I don't want them to hit the A-frame hard on the way up because I think that causes to much stress on their shoulders, front legs, and feet over time and certainly doesn't help the speed of the rest of the a-frame.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speed over the top&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Striding nicely on the down side. I don't want a stutter step because it eats up time and also seems hard on their shoulders over time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Striding deep into the down-side yellow. I don't want a jump to the bottom because if they miss the bottom and the yellow altogether it is a fault. And jumping from that height can be hard on their front end over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stop at the bottom with both front feet pretty far into the dirt and both back feet on the obstacle. I want the front feet far into the dirt on average so that the range in the performance doesn't ever include the dog stopped with either front foot still on the obstacle. I think this helps make the desired position clear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An instant release on cue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know others also include some of the below... if you have more ideas on criteria to add please do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having a specific foot forward so that the weight shift on take off is most efficient but I'm not that technical yet. :-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having the dog sit at the bottom instead of standing. I think they do this so that they are loaded to &quot;spring&quot; off... or maybe it is just to help encourage the weight on the back end to reduce wear on the shoulders?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Should this be a community wiki?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T05:02:09.967" Title="I train 2-on/2-off contacts, what exercises I can use to help keep them consistent?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-27T17:48:19.503" Score="7" ViewCount="947" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the benefit of an ovarian-sparing spay? It seems like this would be a great way to avoid Pyometra but also keep the benefits of hormones. Ovarian cancer would still be a risk but I don't know the rate of occurrence on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T15:33:00.660" Title="What is the benefit of an ovarian-sparing spay?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2327" CreationDate="2014-02-27T20:08:20.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in previous answers, rats and gerbils can be offered instead of mice or in a rotation with mice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chicks are fine, but I have been told that a snake fed exclusively on chicks can become malnourished, so you probably want to offer chicks in addition to other foods. (Not that you necessarily need to offer something else in the same feeding, just try to make sure she's eating other things as well on occasion.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that you can try, if they're available in your area, are &lt;strong&gt;quail eggs&lt;/strong&gt;. Again, I would recommend offering these in combination with other foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Setting up a rotation of eggs, chicks, and rodents should hopefully provide an interesting and nutritionally complete diet for your snake that will keep her healthy and eating well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T20:08:20.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2410" CreationDate="2014-02-27T20:41:20.917" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;An ovarian-sparing spay means that you still get the hormones. However, this also means that you still get the heat cycles. Removal of the ovaries generally causes the metabolism to slow down somewhat, which can result in weight-gain. Keeping the ovaries avoids this issue if it is a concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I researched this issue in the past, it mostly seemed to come down to whether or not you were comfortable with your pet continuing to have heat cycles and whether or not you were comfortable with the hormonal/metabolism changes and potential weight-gain. Some conditions become lower risk with the removal of the ovaries (certain forms of cancer, for eg.). Some conditions become higher risk (eg. obesity). There did not seem to be a clear-cut &quot;winner&quot; from the information I read. That said, most of my research centered specifically around cats. There may be a more evident &quot;best option&quot; when applying the question to other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T20:41:20.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2403" CreationDate="2014-02-27T21:09:44.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; contract tularemia from your pet rabbit. However, whether or not your rabbit contracts it depends largely on where you live and what your rabbit is exposed to. Tularemia is generally spread by insects (like deerflies) and arachnids (like ticks) or skin contact with infected animals. (Although water can also be a vector.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are in a particularly high-risk area, you might be able to get a vaccine for either you or your rabbit. There are also antibiotics available for the treatment of tularemia if infection is confirmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If tularemia is prevalent in your area, try to avoid biting insects and keep an eye out for ticks. If you suspect your pet might be infected, get them to a vet as soon as possible and mention that you suspect tularemia when you call. Avoid skin contact and, if you must handle them, wear gloves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-02-27T21:09:44.343" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2416" CreationDate="2014-02-27T21:56:27.067" Score="3" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I really understand where the difficulties are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it only about team strategy? Or do the individual dogs have to be particularly suited to the game?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course they need to be fast, but is there more to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:40:43.170" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:09:48.460" Title="What qualities are required for dogs competing in flyball?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2415" CreationDate="2014-02-27T22:19:16.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flyball can be a fun game for many different types of dogs, but if you are serious about being competitive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperament - first and foremost, your dog has to react appropriately to other dogs and people in a high energy environment. There is LOTS of barking at most competitions - how will your dog react to that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Health - a sound dog will have a long career. You must build up to a competitive shape and treat your dog as an athlete. If you have a couch dog and all of the sudden ask it to run fast, jump, hit the box, and turn tight many times in a row you are asking for an injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ground speed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drive for fetching a ball: this can be taught to some extent but helps if they love balls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When trying to find a compatible team you would consider at least the below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperament - the dogs are running fast and excited in close proximity - helps if they get along.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Height - the jumps for any given team are set to the lowest jump height of that team. This is why many teams are comprised of several large dogs and one small dog to bring the jump height down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:09:48.460" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:09:48.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3085" CreationDate="2014-02-28T07:07:43.543" Score="6" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;For 2014, the United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) added new jump heights to their dog courses.  I think it is interesting that championship classes now have a different number of heights than performance classes have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does the USDAA decide the heights of jumps, especially the new jumps that they added?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:17:10.587" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:17:10.587" Title="How does the USDAA decide the heights of jumps?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2422" CreationDate="2014-02-28T07:11:53.560" Score="4" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know sight hounds like whippets are normally used for lure coursing but can any breed participate? Are there breeds that it would be best to avoid lure coursing with and if so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:41:02.370" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:41:02.370" Title="Can any breed participate in lure coursing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2440" CreationDate="2014-02-28T07:16:39.110" Score="12" ViewCount="1848" Body="&lt;p&gt;What problems may arise if you raise two puppies from the same litter in the same household? I've had many professional trainers say this is a bad idea but I'd like to know the reasons why. And I'd like to know some things I could do to avoid problems if this does happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard they tend to bond with each other more and the humans less. So I would assume having separate training sessions on a very regular basis would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T09:31:28.420" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T19:27:20.530" Title="What problems may arise if you raise two puppies from the same litter in the same household?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-02-28T09:13:27.747" Score="3" ViewCount="960" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2237/how-do-i-discourage-rabbits-from-spraying/2372?noredirect=1#comment5116_2372&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, the new guinea pig is affecting my rabbit's behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, until a few days ago, all behavior changes were traditional territorial cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago, my female rabbit (who seems bonded to me slightly more than her bond mate) started acting very quirky.  Rather than hanging and following me around, she seemed to actively try to avoid me aside from a few  minutes per day.  At one point I came into the room she was in, sat down, and said her name, which caused her to get up from her flopped out position and move to the room on the opposite side of the house!  ... I just figured she was feeling poorly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when she started chasing her bond mate, I decided to hold her for a bit to distract her, and she immediately started purring (not out of the question, but usually I have to have her in my arms for at least 20 seconds). She's currently moulting, so I also began to pluck her.  After about 5 minutes I hit a sore spot and she started to strugle like she would like to be put back down. However, once I got a better grip on her she'd continue to purr, even while I only plucked instead of petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also seemed to be actively looking for mischief: chewing on things she normally has no interest in; taking large chunks of paint off the book shelf and trying to eat them; eating the strips off the sides of my shoes; etc.  I gave her a Timothy cube and the destructive behavior stopped.  However as I'm writing this she's trying to climb out of the condo into the storage area next to it, and this reminds me that she's been climbing the furniture all day (waiting for me on the arm of the couch closest to the door while I was out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a week ago she started becoming more aggressive about making it to the right food bowl first (we have 3 scattered throughout the house to keep them guessing), and somehow is able to get to the top of a 4 floor condo that I built for them faster than I can dispense them (making it very difficult to place kibble in the bowl).  However, as of 32 hrs ago, both rabbits have been extremely kibble focused, and the female is now standing on top of the food bowl and prairie dogging over the top of the condo.  Even stranger, and what spurred me to post was that &lt;strong&gt;10 minutes ago she tried to leap over the top floor barrier at the small cup of kibble I was carrying.&lt;/strong&gt;   Fortunately, she got her back legs hooked in the barrier and fell back to the top floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Could any of the following really be just a bonding thing?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reckless climbing and begging?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disturbed by my presence?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very happy when picked up?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chewing on unusual things?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is my rabbit suffering from brain damage?  (she had lead poisoning 2 years ago)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T20:02:36.600" Title="What would cause a rabbit to suddenly become reckless?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2439" CreationDate="2014-02-28T09:36:51.383" Score="9" ViewCount="1503" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a week or so, my puppy (Brittany, male, 5 months old) doesn't start eating right after being given his bowl, as he happily did so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The routine is like this: I take the bowl from his crate, call him if needed, then he follows me to the room where I keep the food, waits behind the baby gate, and sits (we practiced that, and as before he seems quite happy to do it, expecting the food). Then I put the kibble in his bowl, go back to the main room (he still follows me). When we brought him home (eight weeks old) he would then rush immediately to the bowl. I trained him to wait until I give him an &amp;quot;OK go&amp;quot; cue. Two weeks ago that was working perfectly, he was waiting, he was putting the bowl on the floor, waited a bit then released him and he would rush to the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing else changed, but now I would not rush at all. He would just wait, unsure, and might even lie down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some time he would approach the food and start eating, possibly stopping halfway, and finish the bowl later (say five minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes as he waits, one of the dogs would approach and check the bowl, which usually makes him decide that it is time to start eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there are reasons to be concerned, but I'm unsure about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is the food because I reward him with treats all the time, sometimes he uses his regular kibble and he's happily taking it (one by one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be that it is only because he is teething? I can see that his gums are inflamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T01:28:04.637" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T01:28:04.637" Title="Why does my puppy wait before eating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2418" CreationDate="2014-02-28T11:10:40.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://akc.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AKC website&lt;/a&gt;, only recognised breeds can participate in competition lure coursing trials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However all breeds as well as mixed breeds can participate in a kind of pass/fail test called the &quot;CAT&quot;: &lt;em&gt;Coursing Ability Test&lt;/em&gt; (see picture - photograph from J Bagby Photography, reproduced from N&lt;a href=&quot;http://classic.akc.org/events/coursing_ability_test/new_event.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ew AKC Event Allows ALL Dogs to Discover Fun of Lure Coursing&lt;/a&gt;). In the CAT the dogs run alone (the photograph was shot at an non AKC event).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://classic.akc.org/events/lure_coursing/eligible_breeds.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;breeds allowed to participate in AKC lure coursing trials&lt;/a&gt; includes: Afghan Hound, Basenji, Borzoi, Greyhound, Ibizan Hound, Irish Wolfhound, Italian Greyhound, Pharaoh Hound, Portuguese Podengo Pequeno, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Saluki, Scottish Deerhound, Whippet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SZGph.png&quot; alt=&quot;Non AKC lure coursing&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T11:10:40.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2420" CreationDate="2014-02-28T12:13:32.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have not given any hints suggesting anything remotely biological (i.e. she is not sick). I assume that the cause is psychological. This answer is based on experience I did not researched for references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the make up of the bonding is shifting.  This is not unusual, when adding a new rabbit, and may be occurring because of the new guinea pig.  When you add a new member into the family the family dynamics change, sometimes in vary strange ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we attempted to add a fourth rabbit (Tigger (neutered male) to our existing trio Harmony (spayed female), Lyra (spayed female), Baxter (neutered male) - (Trio in order of dominance) Lyra was overly aggressive to Tigger, the other two were fine with him being there.  Harmony would &quot;protect&quot; Tigger by chasing Lyra away, when Lyra was aggressive.  Prior to the attempted addition, Lyra was beginning to show aggression to Baxter, more rabbits in a warren can sometimes lead to an overall calmer interaction between all.  So adding Tigger to the established group rather than keeping him a single made sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sometime (weeks?) the situation with Lyra was getting worse, so we tried creating a bond with Tigger, Harmony and Baxter.  This failed miserably, on the first visit  without Lyra, this took Harmony out of the protector role and she started acting aggressively towards Tigger.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After much discussion (&lt;em&gt;and due consideration for personality&lt;/em&gt;), we tried the girls as a pair, and the boys as a pair.  Everything worked out fine.  The failed transition into a foursome or a different trio, that had spent weeks getting nowhere was over.  The transition into two pairs occurred smoothly in a mater of hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The girls settled down immediately into a stable group. The boys coexisted peacefully for weeks, then Baxter was very sick for a while and the bond between them grew stronger, they now snuggle and groom each other more.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In answer to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;why would she do this?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, the group dynamics of bonded pair of rabbits is being disturbed. You will need to work through the situation, using personality and behavior clues to guide you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;While this answer focuses on bunny to bunny interactions, all the territory and bonding behaviors are impacted. This example is used for clarity in defining some of the unusual observations.  For those unaware a two girl bunny bonded pair, who are not siblings is considered the hardest pair to create.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T16:47:24.307" LastActivityDate="2014-02-28T16:47:24.307" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2434" CreationDate="2014-02-28T21:51:03.673" Score="9" ViewCount="18034" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have two female dogs. Both were rescued from the streets and arrived very young. One is already 5 years old and the youngest is about 1 year old and weighs roughly 6 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The youngest is very afraid of people, although she gets along very well with the older dog. At first we thought she was abused and she would get used to us over time, but it has been more than six months that she has been living with us and she barely sniffs the tip of my parent's toes when they aren't looking, let alone me (I don't live in my parents house but I'm there often).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I chase her to pet her a little, but she will try to bite me and pee and poop when I catch her. I try to give her treats while she is in my hands but she refuses (she accepts if I throw it from distance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I touch her in the head she does nothing, but if I touch her on her back she jumps like if she was struck by a electrified wire. This makes me wonder if she has had a traumatic experience or if she has hyper-sensitivity to the touch. It is interesting the she has no problems to play with the other dog at all, they get along very well. Is there anything we can do to make her more used to us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="899" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-02-28T22:07:52.990" LastActivityDate="2018-04-18T19:07:04.093" Title="Why does my dog get scared when approached and petted?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2399" CreationDate="2014-03-01T00:30:00.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a digestive system that is better able to deal with gnarly foods, like half-rotten meat, than our own. This is my opinion, but I would be more worried about the fact that it is cheese, than that it is moldy. Dogs do not handle lactose very well and it can cause them to have horrible gas and constipation. I wouldn't think your dog would necessarily get sick from the mold, but more from the cheese itself. The stomach acid should get rid of the mold spores depending on the species of mold. We eat blue cheese, which is moldy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T00:30:00.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2438" CreationDate="2014-03-01T02:08:10.057" Score="7" ViewCount="7503" Body="&lt;p&gt;When traveling with a dog in the car, which is safer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a dog harness made for use with seatbelts?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;or a crate?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My puppy is around 14&amp;nbsp;lbs (6.4&amp;nbsp;kg) and we've been using a crate for travel. I'm inclined to think this is safer, as it keeps the dog in an enclosed space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T16:43:27.957" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T16:43:27.957" Title="Dogs in vehicles - which is safer; harness or crate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2421" CreationDate="2014-03-01T02:47:57.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He needs to see a vet. His behavior suggests he's not feeling well and his gums shouldn't be inflamed from teething at 5 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T02:47:57.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2409" CreationDate="2014-03-01T03:32:10.553" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my current list and the why on each. I have to thank all the AMAZING agility trainers who have taught me this over the last 10 years! And to all the great students who have helped me find the holes in what I've used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to maintain consistent contact performance we must have a routine maintenance package that reinforces all the components of the contact behavior we want. Below describes what part of the contact behavior each game is designed to teach and reinforce. Contact maintenance ideally is done several times a week. It can take as few as 15 seconds to play one of these games. I only aim for 80% of the performances to be rewardable and maybe 20% to be worth &quot;caviar&quot;... striving for more than that will create a sticky release or a slow performance because you are teaching them that they should error on the side of caution. So the error will show up in a slow or non-release or will cause the dog to worry about the yellow and either come down slowly or jump over it to avoid the pressure. What you consider “perfection” should be in the middle of their range not at one of the extremes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 on – 2 off on X:&lt;/strong&gt; Teaches and reinforces the 2 on – 2 off position. X can be a travel board, stairs, phone book, ramp, anything sturdy that has a clear definition of back-end up and front end on the ground. We use this to introduce the position but it should also be used to continue the muscle memory for that position. This game helps to reinforce the position without coupling it to a handler position or action. (Baby dog – Advanced)&#xA;Drive to Position on Travel Board: Reinforces driving into the 2 on – 2 off position. It also helps decouple from the handler position. Releases should NOT be used with this game… use a hand in collar to get out of this one. (Beginning – Advanced)&#xA;Up – Up: Teaches and reinforces “in the yellow” behavior and drive to position on the contact equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Run – Recall – Send:&lt;/strong&gt; Reinforces entire contact behavior with handler running with, in front of, and behind dog. This helps to decouple the performance “before the yellow” with the handler position. (Intermediate - Advanced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Release with Movement:&lt;/strong&gt; Reinforces being ready for the release, clearly defines what the release is, and decouples handler position and movement from the release. This game gives a different picture for the dog because the release could come at any time… you might be moving and release!  (Advanced only)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hoop Run Through:&lt;/strong&gt; Reinforces full stride and “before the yellow” behavior. The dog understands that when a hoop is there they should run through at full stride without a 2-on – 2 off position. (Intermediate – Advanced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reinforcement Position Behavior:&lt;/strong&gt; Rewards the correct position vs. just the stand or release. This can be a front foot tap, head nod, or anything that doesn't put the dog out of position. (Beginning – Advanced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Release Word Reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt; Reward and build up excitement for the release word. Hand in collar, release from down or sit, release from doorway, etc. Remember we are only aiming for 80%... perfection on this will create a sticky release because you are teaching them that they should error on the side of caution. So the error will show up in a non-release… perfection should be in the middle of their range not at one of the extremes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T03:32:10.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-01T03:35:42.800" Score="6" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want both a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2454/884&quot;&gt;stopped and a running contact&lt;/a&gt; how do you train it? I have trained a stopped contact before and I have a dog who is small and training a running contact was not an issue because she doesn't jump over the yellow. But what if you want the choice to use both with the same dog? Also, what if I want a running A-frame but always a stopped dog-walk? Any special issues I'd run into there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pFd84Q6_kk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a great example of a dog with both a stopped and running contact.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T05:08:45.527" Title="If you want both a stopped and a running contact how do you train it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2402" CreationDate="2014-03-01T04:06:58.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best method I've used so far is the 2x2 method that Susan Garrett came up with. You can find the details here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clickerdogs.com/2x2_weave_training.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.clickerdogs.com/2x2_weave_training.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I've used wires, cages, and &quot;the weave pole dance&quot; but those methods have taken much longer to train and I think that the entries are especially strong with the 2x2 system compared to these other methods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T04:06:58.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2427" CreationDate="2014-03-01T04:31:02.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like crates better for a couple of reasons&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have multiple dogs it gives them each their own space&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeps puppies from chewing on things... including the harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For dogs that get car sick it can help reduce the visual and often reduces the car sickness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you use a plastic crate it can help keep the hair contained&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have to leave the dog in the car alone it is in a crate (again thinking of the chewing but also you can leave water in the crate while your away if desired)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I don't like about using wire crates as much but I use them and just keep them away from &quot;crunch zones&quot;. If you are in a car accident and the crate is crunched the wires could injure the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are selling some hardened crates now that would survive a roll-over accident but they are a little expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T04:31:02.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2014-03-01T04:35:13.027" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like the younger dog had a traumatic experience or was abused by people while she was living by herself. One of my aunts had a young dog that she took in that acted the same way with children, because some children in town would throw rocks at stray dogs. She was fine around anyone adult-sized, but she never got over her fear of children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might not ever get over her fear of being touched either, it's possible that she could be comfortable enough to trust certain people enough to pet her, it's hard to say. But in order to make any progress, the absolute first thing you have to do, is don't try and force her interactions with you. That means not chasing her, and not trying to force her to accept being touched. It's like trying to give a person who was almost crushed to death a hug. Even though you mean well, it's not something they can appreciate. The best way to gain her trust is to let her make the first move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might sound weird, but ignoring her will actually help her get more comfortable with you. It helps convey that you're comfortable with them, and aren't a threat. Likewise, keeping sudden movements and sound down to a minimum for a while helps too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offering treats is a good idea, but what I would suggest is to place them on the floor next to you, rather than offering them out of your hand at first. While you're doing something relaxing, like watching TV or reading a book, place a treat down somewhere nearby. Try to figure out how close you can place the treat to you before she can't find the courage to grab it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It probably won't happen in the first day (partly because you don't want to give her too many treats at once), but continue the process of placing a treat near you while you relax, and each time, sneak the treat a little bit closer to you. Eventually the dog should associate your presence with feeling calm and getting treats. Both good things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is that eventually, you can eventually set a treat down right next to you, or even on your lap, and she'll feel comfortable going up to take it. After that, you can start to try and get her to take it right out of your hand. Once that happens, she should trust you enough to let you pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T04:40:38.160" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T04:40:38.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2014-03-01T04:45:16.923" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like she is a very &quot;soft&quot; dog and was not socialized with people appropriately when she was young. I don't think that dwelling on the &quot;was she abused&quot; is productive... you just have to start from where you are at and try to move forward from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are doing good by letting her take her time but there are some things you can do to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have a lot of patience. Sounds like you are doing pretty good on this step already.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stop chasing her... the pee/poop/bite is an extreme reaction so it means she is beyond the &quot;thinking&quot; at that point and you won't be able to prove to her that you aren't going to harm her... she thinks you already did.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;throwing the treats at a distance is a great game/exercise for her to learn. It will be a good long term tool to use when she meets new people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't worry that she won't take the treat when you are close... she is still to anxious to be interested in food with that much &quot;closeness&quot;. You can still offer it but don't be offended when she doesn't want it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since it sounds like she trusts the other dog... love up on the other dog, play simple &quot;sit&quot; games with it and let her watch. Dogs learn a ton from each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be happy with very small gains and when you get them stop there... don't keep pushing for more at that time. If she feels good about that one small step then the next time she is likely to come back to it faster and may take the next step.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A professional dog trainer may be worth your time and money here. Often you can learn a lot from even one session but if you can find one that has a &quot;shy dog group&quot; that would even be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T04:45:16.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2392" CreationDate="2014-03-01T04:56:25.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leslie McDevitt wrote a great book called Control Unleashed (you can find it here &lt;a href=&quot;http://controlunleashed.net/book.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://controlunleashed.net/book.html&lt;/a&gt;) that has a bunch of great training exercises for dogs that need to build up self-control. The exercises help teach the dog that in order to get the reward (the walk) they have to give you the behavior (settled, calm, attentive) you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers here are good too... just wanted to add this for further reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T04:56:25.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2436" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-01T05:02:20.197" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T05:02:20.197" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T05:02:20.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2437" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-01T05:02:20.197" Score="0" Body="Dog Agility is a performance sport where the dog and human move through an obstacle coarse together. The dog performs the obstacles in the sequence directed by the handler. The courses normally have between 13 and 25 obstacles of the following types: jump, tunnel, weave-poles, tire, table, A-Frame, dog walk, chute, teeter, double-jump, triple-jump, spread-jump... and others! " OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T09:06:08.917" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T09:06:08.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2427" CreationDate="2014-03-01T06:16:55.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure there is a winner in this case, unfortunately for pets, cars are designed to protect humans in the case of an accident, nothing else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest issue you have to take into consideration is inertia. When a car comes to a sudden stop, like in an accident, the contents of the car continue to move at the speed the car was going. That's what seat belts and airbags try to solve for humans. The seat belts attach the human body with the car, so when the car stops moving, the human stops too. The airbags cushion the impact of the head and limbs that aren't attached, and still move regardless (Trivia: Neck injuries from the head moving forward while the body stays behind in a car crash is referred to as whiplash).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what does this mean for dogs? Let's say the dog is in a crate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the crate is not strapped in and the car comes to a sudden stop, the crate will continue to move at the same speed until it comes against something that causes it to come to a sudden stop itself. Then the same process will happen with the contents of the crate (the dog, toys, bowls etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the crate is strapped in and the car comes to a sudden stop, the crate will be attached to the car, and therefore stop with the car. But, the contents of the crate will not be attached, and continue to move until they are stopped by the sides of the crate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's say the dog is wearing a harness that is attached to the seat. They still leave room for the dog to move around, which means there's still room for the dog to continue moving if the car stops suddenly. Especially, since only certain parts are held back in the event of a crash, the issue of whiplash is prevalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So then which is safer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this very unscientific study, based on my understanding of physics, I would say that a loose crate is the worst out of the three options I listed. A harness is a better option, but still leaves some things to be desired (in my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion a crate that is attached to the car is the safest option, because even though the dog is not restrained, the impact has a better chance of being spread evenly throughout the body, rather than at a specific point, which can make a big difference (Would you rather land on your back, or on your arm?). You can also choose a crate with solid walls instead of a wire mesh and add padding to the sides of the crate to make it safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T06:16:55.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2421" CreationDate="2014-03-01T15:06:00.550" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that it's a result of teething. Teething with dogs, as with us, can be a painful and uncomfortable experience and for them and, at 5 months, he's probably not finished growing his full adult teeth (usually around 8 months). If this is why, some ice in his water dish may help alleviate the discomfort and you can also try massaging his gums. Make sure he has a good chew toy as well, he needs to chew and may be inflaming the gums because he's chewing on less productive things, like the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it's also quite possible that it's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; teething. There may be dental issues ranging from the mild to the quite serious. If it's mild, such as gingivitis caused by bad chewing, crowded teeth, or the like, then some canine dental work may be in order. He could have cut the inside of his mouth on something and is uncomfortable, etc. It can also be quite serious, but I don't want to throw out alarming terms just to throw them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, while it's quite possibly teething, especially if you're just seeing signs of redness and no other behaviours such as chewing on one side, excessive drooling, and the like, I would still take him in for a visit to the vets. Not a bad thing to do anyways, it might be wise for a general check-up as he grows out of puppyhood to make sure his weight and such are where it should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T15:06:00.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2419" CreationDate="2014-03-01T15:39:37.100" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term of interest here is, I think, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.betternaturedogtraining.com/2013/07/18/littermate-syndrome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Littermate Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and it happens because we naturally think that the best friend for our puppy is one they're already familiar with. If you stop to think about that, it doesn't even make sense for us. While the vast majority of us like and get along with our siblings, there comes a point that we don't want to live with them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Littermate syndrome is, basically, a situation where the two dogs bond &lt;em&gt;excessively&lt;/em&gt; to each other to the point that they don't socialize and bond with humans nor socialize well with other dogs. Not all pairings will fall into this, but there seems to be a huge consensus amongst trainers that this much more likely to happen than it isn't. Once the dogs have fallen into the syndrome, the only real option for fixing the issue is to rehome one of the dogs, often a pretty hard thing to do and is a big factor in trainers recommending you don't raise littermates together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note well, this risk is also prevalent when mixing two developing puppies from different litters. Understand that they both are developing socialization skills with humans at this stage and having them together interferes with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, it is possible to train them, house them, and feed them separately, in all aspects, but that's quite the burden on you. Only you can state if that's worth it, but for the most part I think it's better to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T15:49:11.403" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T15:49:11.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-01T17:43:13.587" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have figured out training my dog to hit the ball with the nose and a closed mouth but I'm not sure on the next step to take. Do I start with multiple balls now or should I teach getting the ball in the goal first? Or maybe training to go around and hit the ball from the other side first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="79" LastEditDate="2014-03-01T21:34:14.927" LastActivityDate="2014-03-01T21:34:14.927" Title="How do you start training a dog for treibball?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2443" CreationDate="2014-03-01T23:01:52.817" Score="14" ViewCount="40333" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've realized that my cat gets very nervous, and even aggressive, if she hears me snorting loudly several times, even when she's a long way away from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I start doing so, she immediately becomes more alert, moving fast from one place to another and, if I keep it doing for a while, she comes running towards me and tries to sit on me sniffing over my face and even putting her paw on my mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's never been in a conflict with another cat and of course we've never beaten her nor used any physical punishment over her. What might be the reason for this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;---- EDIT 1 ----&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional things about that I'm sure of: The position of her ears are straight, but when this happens she adopt a tense body posture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;---- EDIT 2 ----&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night my girlfriend and I did some tests and, definitely, she finally gets very angry. When I started snorting she started being very active, running from one place to other, and even something she had never done before: rolling while face up on the floor. When I continued doing so, she started jumping from one chair to another and after awhile came over to me and I got a good chunk taken out. So, definitely, yes she gets aggressive and now I really doubt it's concern is what she feels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I have done this experiment, I determined some more physical details: the ears, as I said, were straight all the time except when she came to bite me, then she put her ears backwards. Her tail was in a &quot;normal&quot; position all the time she was jumping around, but when she attacked me, she raised her hackles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't want to stress her more so I didn't made any further try but definitely she doesn't like hearing me snorting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-02T23:27:56.457" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T17:09:45.870" Title="Why does my cat get aggressive when I'm inhaling loudly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2442" CreationDate="2014-03-02T14:41:27.750" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, cats can be fairly vocal animals and many of their vocalizations have some meaning with respect to how they may respond. The ones that indicate a level of aggression include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growl, which is usually low-pitched, harsher, and short in duration and mouth is open. Is usually an antagonistic sound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hiss, which is usually open-mouthed and has visible teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snarl, which is very similar to a growl, but higher pitched.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your snorts (or the aftermath of them) sound like the above to her, it could be taken as aggression by her and so she could react accordingly. If you're conscious of this and see her reacting, then some steps to try are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop the activity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to vocalize a murmur (kind of like a purr) sound &lt;em&gt;with your mouth closed&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide some visual clues that you're not antagonistic such as slow blinking which is sign of relaxation in a cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward her with a treat if she calms down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, this is calming the situation and teaching her that when this happens, you're not being aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sudden moves or try to grab her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Open your eyes fully.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your mouth open.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above are seen as aggressive and will exacerbate the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T14:41:27.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2419" CreationDate="2014-03-02T19:27:20.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absence of proof is not proof of absence and &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.betternaturedogtraining.com/about/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jeff Stallings&lt;/a&gt; (the source of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2440/47&quot;&gt;John Cavan's answer&lt;/a&gt;) seems to have a lot of experience, but I'd still like to present some seemingly dissenting information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First though, as a quick &lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted.google.com/#q=%22littermate+syndrome%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Google search&lt;/a&gt; will tell you, there is certainly no shortage of websites from trainers and organisations talking &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caninedevelopment.com/Sibling.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/What-is-Littermate-Syndrome-and-How-Can-a-Dog-Owner-Avoid-Re-homing/2947745&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;littermate&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/littermate-syndrome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;syndrome&lt;/a&gt;, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogstardaily.com/radio/02-littermate-syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ian Dunbar&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all of those articles use eerily similar structure and language and none of them cite any sources whatsoever other than personal experience. Also, at the time of me writing this, there exists &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littermate_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;no Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; on the subject. Certainly not a reason to discount it, but strange nonetheless for such a supposedly well-established phenomena.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, though, there is a piece in John Bradshaw's excellent &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Defence-Dogs-Need-Understanding/dp/014104649X/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In Defence of Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; about an actual scientific study on just how much dogs bond to humans versus other dogs that seems to flat-out contradict the littermate syndrome theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] but there is one study that conclusively shows that dogs are indeed prone to bonding more strongly with people than with other dogs.[13]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subjects of the study were eight seven-to-nine-year-old mogrels that had been living as littermate pairs in kennels since they were eight weeks old; all had been fully socialized to people, and they were being looked after by one carer who was, as far as they were concerned, equivalent to their 'owner'. When the experiment began, the kennelmates had not been apart even for a minute during the previous two years, and hardly ever during their whole lifetimes. However, when once of each pair was taken out of earshot for four hours, the remaining dog's behaviour did not alter appreciably. Puppies separated from their littermates will usually yelp until they are reunited, but these adult dogs barely even barked. Moreover, the level of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood did not change as a result of the separation, provided the dogs had been left in their familiar pen. Overall, therefore, there was no indication that any of these dogs was upset, this despite the fact that, since they had virtually no history of being left alone, they would not have been sure that they would be back with their pen-mate in a few hours' time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, when the dogs were taken to an unfamiliar kennel, they did become upset. They were visibly agitated, and their levels of stress hormone went up by over 50 per cent. Remarkably, this proved true whether they were on their own or with their kennelmate. When the two were together, they did not interact with one another any more frequently than usual; whatever the bond between them, it was not sufficiently comforting of confidence-building to help them cope with being somewhere new, outside their familiar territory. However, if their carer sat quietly with each dog in the novel kennel, it would stay near him and pester him for contact (which he responded to by brief episodes of stroking). This was apparently enough to alleviate the dogs' stress completely, because if the carer was there, their cortisol levels stayed close to normal.[14]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs, although they had kept the company of another dog their whole lives, behaved as if they were much more attached to their carer than to their brother or sister. While they had not led quite the same kind of life as a pet does, everyday experience suggests that the same if probably true of pet dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[13] David Tuber &lt;em&gt;et al.&lt;/em&gt;, 'Behavioural and gluococorticoid responses of adult domestic dogs (&lt;em&gt;Canis familiaris&lt;/em&gt;) to companionship and social separation', &lt;em&gt;Journal of Comparative Psychology&lt;/em&gt;, 110 (1996), pp. 103--8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[14] Subsequent research has shown that dogs' stress hormone levels are different depending not only on the gender of their owners or carers (lower if they are women) but also their personalities (lower if the owners are extroverts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John Bradshaw's phrasing never makes quite clear whether these dogs are actually part of the same litter, referring to them as &amp;quot;living as littermate pairs&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;kennelmates&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;pen-mate&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;brother or sister&amp;quot;. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the original article and can't find a preprint somewhere either, but many of the websites on littermate syndrome also explicitly state that it can also affect unrelated puppies if you get them at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this discount littermate syndrome? Probably not, as the dogs in question were 7-9 years old when tested. Like I said, I'm also not discounting all these trainers' and organisations' personal experience, but it, at the very least, seems to be an area with basically no research into it whatsoever, at least none I could find easily, and, given Tuber et al.'s study, might well be something that only affects puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if that's the case, however, it does not invalidate the fact that two puppies are not simply double the work compared to one puppy but a lot more, so all of John Cavan's caveats still apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="47" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T19:27:20.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2221" CreationDate="2014-03-02T22:47:01.730" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American Kennel Club notes that two stewards should be assigned to large rings in their documentation and rules for &lt;a href=&quot;http://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/PDSTEW.pdf&quot;&gt;Dog Show Stewards&lt;/a&gt; (see near the end of page 2). Given the size of the rings, they're clearly quite large when you view the photos of the events at Madison Square Gardens, and the number of duties that ring stewards perform (as covered in the rules), it would make sense that they would have two stewards for most of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rings with only one, it's likely that the steward is very experienced or the ring is small enough to be handled by one. In general, though, this is a very prestigious event and having a couple of ring stewards in attendance is probably considered a good idea even if some of the rings may not have warranted it in other shows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T22:47:01.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2188" CreationDate="2014-03-02T23:01:22.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So... I did a little research. There exists in the world a substitute for chocolate that is doggie safe: carob. This is much less sweet and lacks the toxic substance (theobromine) that makes chocolate dangerous to dogs. Even white chocolate has this issue, though much less so. and suffers from sugar volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, take 3 cups of white carob chips and melt. Add 1 tsp of vegetable oil and some desired food coloring and mix thoroughly. Dip, spread, or pipe the icing onto the treats and allow to cool. The carob should harden again when it cools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to find these chips at health food stores or, perhaps, online if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://doggiebistro.com/free-homemade-dog-treat-recipes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Doggie Bistro&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://doggydessertchef.com/2012/03/23/ask-the-chef-icing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Doggie Dessert Chef&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-02T23:01:22.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2407" CreationDate="2014-03-03T00:59:45.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, Zeuterin (or Esterisol) is a relatively new means of neutering male dogs in the United States (much longer outside) and there hasn't been a lot of long-term information yet established about it. However, there are studies and the information has been summarized in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acc-d.org/ACCD%20docs/2008%20AJVR%20Levy%20Study.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comparison paper&lt;/a&gt; by Drs. Levy and Crawford. Some possible side effects from that information include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Short-term effects such as swelling were reported inconsistently.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Necrotizing of the tissue (tissue death) in the area, about 4%, was seen in large dogs at the age limit for the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acc-d.org/Esterilsol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs&lt;/a&gt; has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acc-d.org/ACCD%20docs/ZeuterinPPPPJan2014.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;position paper&lt;/a&gt; on the subject. In summary, &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; complications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Testicular swelling and pain (short term).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Necrosis or ulceration of the injection site.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Additional, localized, side effects as described in documentation. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note, and seems to be backed up by the comparison study initially linked (disclosure: found on the same site), the treatment has been used extensively for more than a decade with no long term side effects being reported. Given average lifespans of dogs, I think it's a long enough window to be called multi-generational.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T00:59:45.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-03T10:54:24.873" Score="7" ViewCount="1898" Body="&lt;p&gt;Five and a half months ago I took home from a dog refuge a cross-bred Britanny Spaniel to be company for our Border Collie (who at the time was 7 months old). So today the Border is one year old and the Britanny (Jake) is eleven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, they get on well, and if the young border wants to play too much (he loves chewing the other's ear) the older dog bears his teeth and snarls, and will even chase the younger around the garden to get him stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning, Jake was very quiet and calm, but has opened up and now dashes to me when I get home from work, and will follow me around the garden and all around the house - my wife says that he now lives only for me! Just recently though, he has started to dry hump the Border, and now follows him about like a love-sick suitor! What is strange is that the Border was castrated five months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that dry humping can be a sign of  dominance, but between the two it has always been the Border who is dominant - for example, if the Border has finished eating and Jake hasn't, the Border just pushes him away and finishes the bowl (in practise either I am there to stop this or one eats outside and the other inside).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, finally, my question is &lt;strong&gt;should I have him castrated or is he too old? What alternative solutions are there?&lt;/strong&gt; At the moment, when he does it we say &quot;No&quot; and he usually stops, otherwise we push him away and repeat &quot;No&quot; until he stops (usually for about 10 minutes max!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="904" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-03T14:05:11.220" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T18:15:57.027" Title="Can an 11 year old dog be castrated?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2448" CreationDate="2014-03-03T15:29:16.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can castrate him and that may help significantly. However it will also very likely take a bit of training too. Letting him know that it is not allowed by telling him no and making him stop will be necessary as well. It is a good sign that he didn't do this from the beginning because it shows the behavior isn't so ingrained that it will be difficult to train out of him. I think the key will be to take action quickly so that he doesn't build up a history of it that will be harder to break. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often as dogs get used to each other, age, or other changes happen they will &quot;test&quot; the rules and show different behavior then they had before. Be consistent with your rules and he will fall in line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because he is older your vet will likely do more blood work to make sure he is healthy enough for the procedure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-03-03T18:15:57.027" LastActivityDate="2014-03-03T18:15:57.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2138" CreationDate="2014-03-03T22:21:37.497" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware there's no easy treatment of egg binding. What I've heard suggested is simply giving the bird a light massage to coax the egg out. Taking it to a warmer room or giving it a warm bath is supposed to help too. It's all about relaxing the muscles to help the egg pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't coax it out on your own, then the only &quot;treatment&quot; is to take the bird to a vet where they will try to coax it out, and, as a last resort, break the egg and remove the pieces by hand. If that happens, it's important that the bird, and anywhere it is for the next few days, is kept clean, as the risk of infection is incredibly high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the causes have been actually figured out for sure yet (hopefully someone with more knowledge on birds than me can chime in later), but the most accepted explanation is calcium deficiency. Making egg shells takes a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of calcium, for both birds and reptiles. There are many different products to help your bird keep a healthy intake of calcium. The most popular I've seen are cuttlefish bones. I've heard of ground up eggshells being used too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard some suggestions that it might be other influences in their diet, such as a seed-only diet. Something that's not natural for most birds kept as pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion I've heard is that it's caused by the sedentary lifestyle most pet birds lead. Since most pet birds live in a cage, they don't get to spend a whole lot of time flying; definitely not near the amount they would in the wild. So it's possible that a healthy exercise routine and a healthy diet could help you to avoid ever having to worry about having this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably notice signs of depression more than anything else. The bird will probably stop eating, and could either pass larger droppings than normal, or none at all, due to the egg interfering with the intestinal tract. I think that most commonly, they will sit at the bottom of the cage fluffed up and straining in a way that looks like panting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple links that should hopefully help understand what I've said, and maybe even give some more ideas on how to prevent/treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avianweb.com/eggbinding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avianweb.com/eggbinding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/birdinformation/egglaying.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tailfeathersnetwork.com/birdinformation/egglaying&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T20:27:43.743" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T20:27:43.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-04T04:35:03.347" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my dogs has a &quot;dirtier&quot; mouth than my others. He hates me brushing his teeth. I'll keep doing that anyway, but what other things have you tried that have helped keep your dog's teeth clean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T19:57:15.883" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T19:57:15.883" Title="What different things can I do to keep my dogs teeth clean?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-04T04:37:47.343" Score="4" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;In herding, what is meant by a &quot;flank&quot; and what are the different types? It is easy to see that there are a couple of different types of flanks, one going clock-wise and one going counter clock-wise but I've also heard of &quot;clean&quot; flanks and &quot;inside&quot; flanks. Is there a good description of each of these and what they mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T04:15:20.313" Title="In herding, what is meant by a &quot;flank&quot; and what are the different types?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;herding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-04T04:39:43.667" Score="4" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;In dog agility, what is a stopped contact and what is a running contact? Are there other types of contacts as well? Are the rules always the same no matter what venue you are competing in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T20:34:46.357" Title="In dog agility, what is a stopped contact and what is a running contact?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2453" CreationDate="2014-03-04T04:59:22.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In agility the dog walk, teeter, or A-frame are types of contacts or contact equipment. The yellow at the ends of each designate the area that your dog must touch with at least one foot in order to have completed the obstacle successfully. These rules are in place for the dogs safety to ensure the dogs are not encouraged to jump from high heights on a repeated basis. All venues require contact with the down contact and the different venues have different rules about the up contact with the up contacts (for a list of the specifics see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.activedogsportstraining.com/files/Organiztion%20Comparison.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.activedogsportstraining.com/files/Organiztion%20Comparison.pdf&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;running contact&quot; is when the dog runs through the ending contact area putting at least one foot in the yellow without stopping. For some dogs, especially smaller dogs, it can be very natural for them to always have a stride in the yellow but for dogs with a longer stride this is a trained behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;stopped contact&quot; is when the dog stops at the end of the contact usually with their two back feet on the contact in the yellow and there two front feet on the ground in front of the contact. Some variations on this are a sit or a down at the bottom either still on the equipment or just next to it. For smaller dogs the teeter is a stopped sit or down usually because small dogs have a longer ride on the way down. You do not want a two on two off with a small dog on the teeter... the bounce can end up flicking them off if they only have two feet on and can create a (legitimate) fear of the teeter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-08-29T20:34:46.357" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T20:34:46.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2974" CreationDate="2014-03-04T05:13:17.553" Score="4" ViewCount="5615" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard a lot of people say you should wait until a dogs &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2384/47&quot;&gt;&quot;growth plates&quot; are closed&lt;/a&gt; before fixing them. What does that mean? From what I understand it isn't really a bone structure called a growth plate but more of an area at the end of the bone that has to do with the length or speed that the bone grows... is that right? I'd like to know what it is actually referring to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was listening to a TED talk that was talking about the layer of stem cells over a bone that causes bones to heal and it makes me wonder if that is related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T15:45:51.053" Title="What are &quot;growth plates&quot; in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2451" CreationDate="2014-03-04T05:33:31.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00CB7ELB4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Minties&lt;/a&gt; and they seemed okay. But I tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/dog/p/tropiclean-fresh-breath-water-additive-16-oz-103120&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tropiclean&lt;/a&gt; based on some recommendations and had good results with it. It's what got rid of the plaque buildup in my big cat. I've used the gel for brushing, but the water additive is nicer since you don't have to try and fight with them to brush their teeth, and as far as I can tell they don't mind the taste. My cats seem to even prefer the taste of water with it in. Either that or they're just curious about it each time I put some in. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T05:33:31.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2421" CreationDate="2014-03-04T06:49:24.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers here are good but another reason may be that he is just not hungry. Puppies often go through phases where they don't need as many calories as they did before. Some breeds are less likely to go through this type of phase but it is a possibility. If the vet doesn't find anything wrong then still offer the food but pick it up if the dog hasn't eaten it after 5 minutes or so and wait for there next feeding time. Just be sure to check the dogs weight and ask the vet if you think the dog is underweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard of dogs having a vitamin deficiency that causes stomach ulcers and made the dogs seem to be finicky eaters. In this situation they have treatments that resolve the deficiency but this is a very rare condition so don't jump to conclusions... If you're worried ask your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-04T06:49:24.537" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2975" CreationDate="2014-03-04T14:55:51.953" Score="4" ViewCount="634" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many cool tricks but I really like the walking handstand, so I started investigating how to efficiently train this to my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A watched this clicker-training video (Youtube, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Lb9b9sGw0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Train your dog the walking handstand!&lt;/a&gt;&quot;). It mentions progressing slowly: the dog puts his hind paws on something progressively higher (e.g. one or more books). That makes sense to me and the dog needs time to get his balance right and to have enough strength on the muscles he need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my idea was to start as early as possible (my puppy is 5 months old), that would be a fun exercise for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the video advices &lt;em&gt;not to train that to puppies or before the dog is well over a year old&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good advice and could this be detrimental to the growth of the dog ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-05T12:28:33.620" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T19:57:55.737" Title="Training a dog walking handstands" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-04T16:13:14.163" Score="12" ViewCount="1242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a six month old Rhodesian Ridgeback who I have not been able to cultivate an interest in playing fetch.  I take him outside and he is more interested in walking around and chewing on sticks than he is on playing any type of game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I throw something for him he will often get excited and run after it but then just ignore it once he gets there.  He rarely ever decides to pick up the toy let alone run back to me with it.  As such I never get a consistent opportunity to shape the game through clicker training, and oddly enough he doesn't seem interested in earning clicks/treats when we are out playing.  Even to the point where he did exactly what I hoped for, fetched the toy, brought it back, I clicked and he didn't even take the treat he just wandered off sniffing the ground and gnawing on tree stumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has responded well to clicker training in every other area, so the clicker is well primed, and he has started to learn the click/treat &quot;game&quot;, but I have no idea why it is seeming to fail in this situation.  Can anyone provide suggestions for how to get my dog to play fetch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="780" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T08:52:38.550" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T01:36:22.120" Title="Teaching a dog to play fetch" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2468" CreationDate="2014-03-04T18:14:45.783" Score="14" ViewCount="82084" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an aquarium apocalypse a while back.  Overnight, some white fungus grew over everything and killed most of the fish in my 25 gallon aquarium.  Rather than cleaning it right away, I ignored it like a responsible adult.  So now I have dried crud on the inside of the aquarium glass.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I removed everything from the aquarium.  I have all the gravel in a bucket and I was going to wash and strain it.  I suppose I could boil the gravel to kill any remaining mold spores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about the plastic features?  Whats the best way to clean and disinfect them to kill any remaining mold spores?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what about the glass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, it has to clean the equipment and be safe for the fish when I add water again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T18:26:33.863" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T11:24:25.467" Title="What's the best way to clean a contaminated aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-05T01:53:34.833" Score="11" ViewCount="70852" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a number of live plants in my aquarium. One of them - an oxygen weed - frequently works its way loose from the gravel in which I've planted it. I find myself often having to retrieve bits of the weed from all over the aquarium, gather the stems together, and then replant the weed in the gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any tips for securing such a plant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="443" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-03-07T16:54:43.503" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T06:51:15.717" Title="How to anchor aquarium plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2455" CreationDate="2014-03-05T05:56:51.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growth plates in dogs are the same thing they are in children, so the information below should answer your question. There are many more details at the link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/default.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/default.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What Is the Growth Plate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The growth plate, also known as the epiphyseal plate or physis, is the&#xA;  area of growing tissue near the ends of the long bones in children and&#xA;  adolescents. Each long bone has at least two growth plates: one at&#xA;  each end. The growth plate determines the future length and shape of&#xA;  the mature bone. When growth is complete—sometime during&#xA;  adolescence—the growth plates close and are replaced by solid bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because the growth plates are the weakest areas of the growing&#xA;  skeleton—even weaker than the nearby ligaments and tendons that&#xA;  connect bones to other bones and muscles—they are vulnerable to&#xA;  injury. Injuries to the growth plate are called fractures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2014-03-05T05:56:51.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2463" CreationDate="2014-03-05T20:00:39.367" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Quarantine the fish. Any fish still alive need to be moved into a new tank set up only for them. It doesn't need to be fancy. Just clean water, and nothing you can't stand to risk exposure to. If you notice any fungus growing on the fish, you'll need to treat them with an antifungal treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note: Antifungal treatments are very bad for invertebrates so don't keep them in a tank that's being treated with it]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Boil the contents. To sanitize the contents of the aquarium, simply boil it. The gravel, decorations, anything that can fit in a pot of boiling water should be done. It's especially important for decor like driftwood, which is the perfect harbor for bacteria and fungus as it's so porous. A few minutes of being boiled should kill the fungus/bacteria attached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For plastic decorations that might melt in boiling water, just getting them to a simmer should be hot enough. I've heard suggestions of putting them through the rinse cycle in a dishwasher, but I personally don't think it's safe because of the possibility for soap residue. Soap is &lt;strong&gt;extremely&lt;/strong&gt; toxic to fish, and should be avoided at all cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3:&lt;/strong&gt; Clean anything too big to fit in a pot, including the aquarium. Really, if you want to clean an aquarium thoroughly, taking the silicon off, and cleaning the glass, then putting it back together is the most effective way (since silicon is a bit porous and can hold any cleaning solution if not rinsed thoroughly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since no one want to really go through that process, there are two solutions. The first would be to scrub everything with a mixture of hot water and antifungal fish medicine. This might not be terribly effective as most antifungal medicines need time to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution which is more effective but also more risky, is to use a bit of bleach diluted in water. Scrub everything with the bleach water, then scrub and rinse with dechlorinator, then rinse it thoroughly with plain water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note: If you want to get the glass clear of calcium buildup while you're at it. Scrubbing with vinegar helps to clear the glass.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 4:&lt;/strong&gt; Re-Cycle the tank. Since now you've basically started from scratch, you'll need to set the tank up like it's brand new. Set it up how you want it, and fill it with new water. I would even wait a few days longer than normal before moving the fish back to that tank, to see if the fungus grows back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm basing this on the assumption that it is indeed a type of fungus growth in the aquarium. Although it's pretty common to see white growth in gravel after overfeeding, as the old food deteriorates and molds. That's generally kept in the gravel and not around the glass, so I suspect this is something more serious than decomposing leftovers.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-06T20:01:56.060" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T20:01:56.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-06T01:16:04.707" Score="9" ViewCount="25252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not even sure how to begin with this. I have a very well behaved and sweet cat who does not usually show aggression. Today, he walked over to me as if he wanted to cuddle, but then proceeded to bite and meow as I have never heard before. Every time his jaw moved, he would meow as if distressed. I thought this may have been a dental problem or something, but he was at the vet just a few weeks ago and they saw no problems. I allowed him to bite without jerking back, because that usually makes him stop and become cuddly. Instead of stopping, he started to pull very hard, like a dog tugging on a bone. He kept backing up, like he was trying to lead me somewhere, but stopped and slowly walked off as soon as I began to follow him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what this whole episode was about and I hope I described it well enough. Does anybody have any idea what could be happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:31:39.563" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:46:06.717" Title="Why did my well behaved cat suddenly start biting and meowing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-06T01:35:44.853" Score="6" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very nice, well-behaved cat who seems to like one of my dogs very much (probably because she does not get up in his face like the others). He likes to sit with her, but she is very nervous around him and panics. I have had this dog for seven years or so, so I know her very well and I know she is skittish anyway, but I think she would like the cat quite a bit if I could get her to stop panicking around her. I think her fear of the cat comes from the use of his claws, but they were removed six months ago and she still has not gotten over it. I have tried a few times to hold her gently when the cat approaches, but that only made it worse. Keeping one of them busy with treats does not help much either, for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any ideas about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T04:57:21.487" Title="Getting a shy dog to like a cat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2473" CreationDate="2014-03-06T11:02:49.993" Score="2" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very new to agility, I just started 'researching' about it, so this is a general question about contacts and how to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;code&gt;contact&lt;/code&gt; means that at least one paw is in the yellow zone, right ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there you could train stopped contact or running contact. What is the point of a stopped contact ? Is it required for some obstacles ? Or is it just a way to ensure a proper contact ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now about the training: is the contact just part of the training of a specific obstacle ? Do you re-train it for every one ? Once it is trained &quot;in general&quot;, do you have a cue, to help the dog understand that you want that for a specific obstacle ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about 2-on 2-off contacts ? Is it just a way to make the training more systematic (the dog will eventually understand that he's asked something specific, and then is able to reproduce it on different obstacles more easily) ? How do you train this ? Is it useful to train it &quot;at home&quot; first (like on a book) ? If so, do you add a cue ? With a clicker, would you just capture the behaviour ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks like a bunch of short questions, but I think that one comprehensive answer might clarify the whole problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T08:33:12.237" Title="Training contacts in agility" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1487" CreationDate="2014-03-06T13:43:41.813" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can have giant gourami with any fish like oscar, koi carp, angel, giant gouramis, etc. but you have to keep the fish together from the beginning - in other words, no later than when giant gourami is as small as 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5.0 cm) in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three, one and a half foot giant gourami with 10 oscars and koi carp in a 5 foot (150 cm) long tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem ism if you add new fish (giant gourami) then immediately it will be killed by the other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="918" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:40:51.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:40:51.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2471" CreationDate="2014-03-06T16:07:50.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training contacts is all about ensuring your dog puts at least one foot in the yellow at both ends of an obstacle and to ensure safe performance of the obstacles. The contact zones are the  yellow areas and are a specific depth designed to prevent the dog from jumping from an unsafe height. Giving all the details would be a small book but I'll try to give you enough to get started. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer from here down is for 2 on -2 off contacts. There will be a different answer for other styles. The 2 on -2 off stopped behavior is not required by the rules for competition. I use them because the trial experience is very exciting for the dogs and I have a breed that tends to &quot;bail&quot; (leave the contact before the yellow) when they are excited. A stopped contact also allows you to get ahead of your dog to direct them to the next obstacle. That's one reason they are popular, especially on the dogwalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training them, start at home on stairs or a perch (phone books work nicely, you can wrap them in duct - tape). Clicker training works very nicely for this but if you don't like clicker training you don't have to use it. Do not use a cue at this point. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKxt2mnrBho&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a good video that shows how you can work them at home.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your at home performance is about 80% reliable start doing the same thing away from home. Parks are a great place to practice because they offer a lot of distractions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you can start training on a travel board, a flat A - frame, or one of the ends on a dogwalk lying flat on the ground. When you get about 80% reliable performance then you can make it harder by running with the dog into position, doing it in different places (this is what a travel board is for), and creating challenges for the dog where you are running slightly ahead or behind the dog. You can also start practicing rear crosses at this point. The goal is to have the dog driving into position with speed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important that you never associate you stopping as the cue for your dog to stop or the release with a handler movement. This part deserves it's own separate question so I'm not going to attempt to include that here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people use a clear plastic plate at the end with a treat on it to help the dog drive into position. I prefer not to include the plate because you have to phase it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several games you should start playing at this point that you can &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2429/884&quot;&gt;find here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T08:33:12.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2014-03-06T22:47:00.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are numerous ways. Best way I know of is use very fine sand. Plant substrate which I assume isn't fine, and then pour some very fine sand on top. This should keep your weed down until it roots itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it is also possible that you have trumpet snail infestation. Check if you do, and if it is the case then I suggest you make your substrate deeper. Trumpet snails and worms like to dig up earth, and having deep substrate allows for more digging space and leaves plants in peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorUserId="340" LastEditDate="2014-03-07T18:07:34.870" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T18:07:34.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2306" CreationDate="2014-03-06T23:56:34.863" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not being a cat myself makes it hard to speculate about their motives, but my guess is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats seem to enjoy nesting an playing in snuggly-cuddly enclosed spaces. Not just cardboard boxes, but also baskets, laundry baskets, etc&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The insulation properties of the cardboard probably gives it a warm feel, which cats enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cardboard is easily scratchable and chewable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The flaps are fun to play with, and makes it into a neat hiding place from which one can stalk ones enemies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat was very fond of my mother's wicker baskets, and would exhibit much the same behaviour as you are describing, and would also enjoy the smell of the wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(BTW, I've also had the opportunity to observe parrots and boxes; for them the appeal seems to be that they are chewable, as well as the intriguing conflict between being scared senseless and being curious about what the new thing is.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="922" LastActivityDate="2014-03-06T23:56:34.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2014-03-07T06:12:34.093" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;why don't you tie the plant to a small but considerably heavy stone ?&#xA;it will keep the plant grounded&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="773" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T06:12:34.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2483" CreationDate="2014-03-07T13:57:02.930" Score="5" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often times I chase my dog for fun and giggles and I was always in the impression the fun was for both parties. Until I read this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1464/how-can-i-tell-the-difference-between-play-and-aggression-at-the-dog-park&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; .  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I chase my pug it runs in a silly, awkward position with its hindquarters down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are we having fun, or am I unintentionally bullying the dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="916" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T19:56:46.450" Title="Dog has hindquarters down when we play: am I bullying him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2948" CreationDate="2014-03-07T14:10:24.247" Score="4" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a labrador Mix.  From what I have read on the internet, my dog clearly displays most of the traits, abilities, and temperament of a Labrador. However we can't quite tell what the other breed is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possibility is that of a pointer of some kind, because my dog will sometimes point, or stand still and stare far off into the distance while on nature walks.&#xA;However, some think he also looks a bit like he might have some greyhound, or Scottish Deerhound in him. ( He has that unique large chest, skinny hip thing going on)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my dog would prefer to find things by sight rather than smell, I think that would be important for the type of things I do with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What signs should I look for to know if my dog is a sighthound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2350/how-can-i-keep-my-labrador-mix-entertained&quot;&gt;Related question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: In my research on the net, I learned about different type of hunting dog categories, or gun dogs. Some like to retrieve, some point, others just like to go after a scent trail. Sight hounds are a bit different though and prefer to see and chase.  It's easy to tell if my dog is following a scent, but I'm not sure how to tell if it is following by sight also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T12:24:50.037" Title="How can I tell if my dog is a sighthound?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3038" CreationDate="2014-03-07T16:46:03.263" Score="8" ViewCount="3453" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an Australian LabraDoodle (lab, poodle, cocker spaniel, english spaniel, water spaniel) with curly hair (as opposed to fur).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my understanding that dogs with normal fur produce more oils than dogs with hair, so a spot treatment for parasite prevention spreads correctly. With this in mind, does spot treatment on a dog with hair spread and work as effectively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:34:37.080" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:34:37.080" Title="How effective is flea and tick spot treatment on dogs with hair?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2014-03-07T18:20:38.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's various ways.  A lot depends on the type of plant and whether or not they put down roots or want to float free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pack some heavier rocks around the plant's base.&lt;/strong&gt;  You probably already tried this, but it works for most rootable plants.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tie the plant to something, like a large rock or driftwood.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Use some string to tie the base of the plant to something that sinks until roots take hold, or the plant attaches itself to the rock.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrap the plant around driftwood.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;For some plants which are meant to float and not put down roots, you can string the entire plant under an extruding piece of driftwood, so the wood holds the center down and the rest floats free.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep them in their pots.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;If the plant came with a small plastic pot, plant the whole thing in the substrate.  Or buy a small clay pot to use.  The main problem with this is you end up with a plastic pot permanently in your tank.  But it will keep them in place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use plant anchors.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I've never used them, but available for purchase are soft, bendable lead strips that you wrap around the plant to hold them down.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nylon Mesh.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;For mosses and small carpeting plants, you can cover them with a mesh that will hold them down and give them something to attach to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T18:20:38.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2014-03-07T19:28:26.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way I've found at planting &lt;strong&gt;plants that don't root&lt;/strong&gt; is with &lt;em&gt;Cyanoacrylate gel&lt;/em&gt; - super glue gel. This is safe for fish and cures in water. I superglue java fern and anubias to driftwood, rocks, everything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tying plants to items &lt;strong&gt;is dangerous&lt;/strong&gt; if you have fish that like to cram into small spaces, or look for food in the substrate. They can get caught in the string and will die if not freed, or may injure themselves trying to break free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things you can do for non-rooting plants is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put plant weights on them, like iron bands, wrap around the rhizome and they will sink.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jam them into crevices where they will eventually root to the item (driftwood, rocks, decor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pack them into the substrate and place a heavy object on top of the substrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some sewing board, attach the plants to it, and bury it in the substrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plant them into a terracotta pot that sinks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make sure you keep them planted in a location that is not hit by a lot of current, either at the base or eventually at the top when the plant grows upward. This can cause the plant to dislodge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastEditorUserId="468" LastEditDate="2014-03-07T19:33:38.267" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T19:33:38.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1949" CreationDate="2014-03-07T19:41:12.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something to note about the nitrogen cycle in aquariums is that the &lt;strong&gt;bacteria doesn't live in the water column&lt;/strong&gt;. The bacteria mostly live in the filter media. As long as filter media stays wet, the bacteria will survive short periods without any nitrogen source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be no reason for the aquarium to cycle when you move it, just remove the fish, empty the water (gravel vac), break it down, move it, set it up, put in water and acclimate fish. If you don't lose the filter media, there will be no ammonia or nitrite spike when the fish get reintroduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also note that fresh water (dechlorinated of course) has never hurt an aquarium. No need to move the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T19:41:12.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2477" CreationDate="2014-03-07T21:08:30.930" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well... it could be either but if you have built up trust with your dog and it seems clear that your dog understands this is a game then it is likely that your dog is enjoying it. If your dog likes the game it might even try to get you to engage in the game. Sometimes when dogs have the &quot;zoomies&quot; they run with their hindquarters down... maybe this is what you are seeing. If it is it is usually pretty clear the dog is having a ball (although some dogs do zoomies for stress relief too... but I think it feels good to them in that situation too... just the stress didn't).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is hesitant to come to you after, is &quot;apologetic&quot;, or seems to be ignoring or avoiding you after it probably doesn't like the game. Sometimes I think it is easiest to see if a dog is stressed by observing it's facial expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/how-do-you-play-with-your-dog&quot;&gt;Here is a post&lt;/a&gt; about playing with your dog by a well-known behaviorist Patricia McConnell. She blogs about dog behavior a lot so if you are wanting to learn more you should definitely read her stuff. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/store/Dog-Play.html&quot;&gt;She even has a DVD&lt;/a&gt; out specifically about play both between dogs and dog-human play... I haven't watched it but what I've read from her books I bet is is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience... out of my four dogs, two of them like to play this game with me the other two would rather not. I know that the two like it because they give me &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/tag/play-between-people-and-dogs&quot;&gt;&quot;play bows&quot;&lt;/a&gt; to get it started and have loose jawed happy smiles when they are playing the game. One of the two that doesn't like it would sit down or walk slowly away with her tail down and not try to engage... the other one just doesn't have interest in playing much anyway and wouldn't show any fear or interest at all when I do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-07T21:08:30.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2542" CreationDate="2014-03-08T08:14:34.663" Score="9" ViewCount="1261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats. For a few years they were friends until recently when one was sent to the vet for a couple of days. When he returned, the two suddenly became hostile at each other -- especially the one that came home from the vet. We had no choice but to cage him as they just won't stop fighting to the point where they would kill each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="925" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T12:52:25.537" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T12:52:25.537" Title="How to stop two male cats from fighting after vet visit" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-08T12:12:34.720" Score="6" ViewCount="767" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elastration&lt;/a&gt; is the banding of the testicles restricting blood flow and resulting in removal of the testicles.  This method is commonalty used on farm animals, sheep and goats in particular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special tools and bands are designed specifically for this task, and this question is focused on the health risk comparison of recognized appropriate surgical and elastration neuter techniques, by trained performers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for reliable references on the actual occurrence of infection and/or complications of surgery neuter and elastration, either as a side by side compare, or from different studies which allow for comparison. Preferably on identical species, but if not available, complication rates on optimal species (&lt;em&gt;surgical = dog/cat: elastration = goat/sheep&lt;/em&gt;) would be acceptable &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note; there are some ethical arguments against the use of elastration, this question is specifically looking for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_evidence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;empirical evidence&lt;/a&gt; related to these two techniques for neutering&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:46:53.583" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T18:42:54.117" Title="What are the health risk difference between elastration &amp; surgical neuter?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2488" CreationDate="2014-03-08T22:44:58.547" Score="6" ViewCount="6125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have come to the realization that my dog doesn't really seem to know the difference between the commands &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;down&quot;. He will usually try one and then wait; if you repeat the command, he will try the alternative regardless of whether or not he executed the correct action the first time. So technically he has learned both, but not really. How can I teach him the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, sometimes he will sit or lie down expectantly even before I have said anything. Does this suggest that he doesn't really connect the verbal command to the action?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="609" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T10:48:46.753" Title="How can I help my dog differentiate between &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;down&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2486" CreationDate="2014-03-09T01:31:44.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had similar problem with my dog where he would basically iterate through the three tricks I taught him (up, sit, and down).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I used to helped him differentiate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For down I would take and put it near his nose and all the way down to the floor it is demonstrated &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpAFj-p23ig&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For sit I would just point at him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just some training tips I learned was try to do the tricks sporadically throughout the day so they can't try and predict them(carry treats in a bag where ever you go). If you don't want to keep giving your dog snacks every time you could also use their favorite ball or toy as a reward too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goodluck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="927" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T01:31:44.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2486" CreationDate="2014-03-09T10:27:32.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I start with a bit of background information, and try to give a &amp;quot;recipe like&amp;quot; answer at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stimulus control&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &amp;quot;technical&amp;quot; terms what is missing in your training is what is know as &lt;em&gt;stimulus control&lt;/em&gt;. In the case of a &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dog sits only when cued to sit;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dog does not sit in response to a &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt; cue;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dog does not sit when not cued (*);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dog does not do something else in response to your &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt; cue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) this applies only when the dog identified that he is in a &amp;quot;working&amp;quot; mode; he's of course allowed to sit in any other situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you'll be done with your training only when you have perfect 100% stimulus control (this will never happen). So you have to practice until you reach a level you're happy with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Visual and verbal cues&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training a new behaviour you first have to teach the dog how to perform the behaviour, then you progressively add stimulus control for your visual cue and then for your verbal cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are experts at reading body language, so then will learn the visual cue more easily, and when teaching the verbal cue you can use the visual cue to initiate the behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to teach the visual cue first (without saying anything then), and, only when the behaviour is under stimulus control with the visual cue, you can add the verbal cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is important, when teaching the verbal cue, to remove any kind of body language, so that the dog focusses only on the verbal cue. Give your verbal cue &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot;, without moving, count to 3, then give your visual cue, the dog sits, you reward. Progress slowly, at some point you can remove your visual cue, the dog will respond to the verbal cue only. If he doesn't, give go back a step and give your visual cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people (including me) would be surprised to see that their dog actually responds to visual cues (body language) they are not aware of. Apparently my dog can read my lips... Of course he can't but I realised yesterday that when I say &lt;em&gt;couché&lt;/em&gt; (usual cue for &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt; in French) I have a facial expression that he reads easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Positive reinforcement training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Positve reinforcement training&lt;/em&gt; is a training method based on a scientific approach of how dogs learn. Long story made short, it doesn't use punishments, we focus on behaviours only (and not on the dog supposed dominant attitude for example) and it simply reinforcement behaviours we want and ignore those we don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice you proceed in three steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You get the behaviour (different methods exists, for a sit and a down, luring with and then without food works well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you mark the correct behaviour, either with a clicker or with a word (short &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you give the reward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How should you proceed ?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog knows already how to sit and lye down, I would proceed like this to &amp;quot;clean&amp;quot; your set of signals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assign a clear verbal cue to the &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; and the &amp;quot;down&amp;quot; (usually sit and down, but make sure everyone in your family uses the same).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose a visual cue: make it clear and don't mix it with excessive body language, eg. one finger up for a sit, but don't lean over the dog. When you train the dog, ask someone to check that your visual cues are not mixes with other less obvious (to humans) signals that the dog could interpret&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you just start over your training, based on positive reinforcement. You cue the behaviour, if it is correct you &amp;quot;mark&amp;quot; the correct action (clicker or verbal signal like a short &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;), then you reward the dog. For sit and down a food reward is perfect, it allows you to proceed in quick, fast paced, 5-minutes-long training sessions, once or twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when you're in a relaxed mood, go in a room, alone with the dog. Then proceed first with sit. Second session with down, next ones you can mix both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming he already has basic knowledge of the cues: give your cue, as soon as the dog initiates a sit, click (or say &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;) and reward. Progressively &amp;quot;click&amp;quot; and reward only when he sit completely and quickly. See above for the distinction between the visual and the verbal cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;down&amp;quot; are OK with these criteria, you can start mixing both, and also adding other &amp;quot;neutral&amp;quot; stimuli, eg. saying &amp;quot;banana&amp;quot; (if the dog sits or lies down, don't reward and move on), wearing white socks (but &lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.askmen.com/fashion/fashiontip/tip2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;please don't do that&lt;/a&gt;), with another person in the room, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As dog don't generalise well, you'll have to train in different situations, rooms, adding distractions, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T10:48:46.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-09T12:59:22.617" Score="9" ViewCount="1494" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have two dogs. The smaller of the two is used to roaming free, coming back to the yard whenever she feels like it. She's been known to wander several kilometers and then coming back to the house, many times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents just moved to a new place, and in the new place there's a road close to our house in which cars drive fast. (I wouldn't call it a highway, it has 2 lanes in each direction, but cars drive fast.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One time when we were taking the dogs for a walk, she tried crossing that road and almost got run over. She knows how to cross roads but she's not used to cars that drive so fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the question is what to do about her. I'm afraid that one day she'll wander off, go to the highway and get run over. What can I do? I can try to make the fence so she wouldn't be able to escape, but I don't know whether that'll work, since she's a small dog so it'll be hard to block every single hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to somehow train her to not go near that road, or to cross it carefully? She's not a well trained dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="931" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T20:54:50.687" LastActivityDate="2018-09-05T23:14:14.147" Title="Preventing dog from going to highway" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2490" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-09T16:09:01.547" Score="6" ViewCount="1290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk my dog thrice daily. During the night walk I unleash her and let her play on the lawn with other dogs (we live in a Kibbutz, and unleashing a dog late at night is acceptable). She is extremely happy when I unleash her and I want to keep doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that sometimes - usually the night before an important presentation at work - she plays hide-and-seek with me, and it can take up to an hour to find her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's the best way to find a dog?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="924" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:44:20.437" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:44:20.437" Title="How to locate and catch my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-09T18:28:20.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps she will respond to the sound (or smell, if applicable) of treats.  If it's in her culinary interest, will she come running to you?  Or is the hide-and-seek game more important to her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't work (and I admit it's optimistic), you need to make it easier to find her.  Since this is at night, have you tried using a glow-stick on her collar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a higher-tech approach, try using an RFID sticker on her tag plus a detector (&lt;a href=&quot;http://agbeat.com/tech-news/rfid-enabled-devices-keep-tabs-on-your-professional-belongings/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examples&lt;/a&gt;.  You can, as I understand it, use a special sticker and your smartphone to track your dog if she's nearby.  This won't help with an escapee who might have gone some distance, but if she's hiding nearby this might do the trick.  (I've seen reviews of and ads for these devices, but I have no personal experience with them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T18:28:20.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-09T20:04:00.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did not train my dog, so I don't know how much of this is from prior training, however, if I make loud stomping noises towards going back home, and I shout my dog's name really loudly in a tone which implies I think he is lost,  followed by a &quot;Bo!&quot; (Come) after doing this 3 or 5 times, he usually comes running to me.  However, I believe you have to be willing to start walking back home without her, otherwise it may not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I do is if he is 'bad' one night without the leash the next night I don't unleash him.  I don't know if they have a memory long enough to associate the two but it seems to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="846" LastEditDate="2014-03-09T20:31:19.373" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T20:31:19.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-09T20:23:53.843" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prevention is the key. If you're afraid to be late, or are in a bad mood, just keep him on leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog is unleashed, or if he's not, try to improve his visibility. You can find some useful information in this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2240/when-walking-my-dog-at-night-how-can-i-improve-his-visibility-to-others&quot;&gt;When walking my dog at night, how can I improve his visibility to others?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So prevention, and then training. There are many good resources on how to train a close-to-perfect recall. See for example the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2499/how-to-properly-train-a-dog-to-come-when-i-call-him&quot;&gt;How to properly train a dog to come when I call him ?&lt;/a&gt;, where I added an answer with references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T14:14:53.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-09T21:09:27.523" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog acts the same. What usually works for me is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog sees you (but for example, runs away from you) - turn around and start walking home. Try to walk pretty fast or even run. I try to stomp my feet and make some noise while doing this so my dog will notice. Your dog thinks you're playing catch, so if you run away it means she needs to catch you!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes I just go home, keep the door open and soon enough my dog returns by himself. Since you live in a Kibbutz and not a big city I think there isn't much worry that your dog will get into danger. If she doesn't return in half an hour - then go searching for her again (when this happens with my dog, he's usually already pretty close to home).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="933" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T21:09:27.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-09T23:38:53.383" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;So your dog has learnt that the command &quot;come here&quot; or &quot;here&quot; means run away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember your dog does not speak your language by mouth!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe in positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about when you use the command, and how you caress the dogs response!&#xA;It is very easy to misuse a command and thereby learn your dog a unwanted behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to find something to give as a treat when your dog actually does what you intended it to do by your command. and never respond positive to unwanted behavior, I have found that when my dogs respond in an unwanted manner I try to show it by body language and sound that this is not what I was trying to get you to do (I sigh and giving a almost weeping sound).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case try call the dog in by giving him a toy or another treat.&#xA;But only when he is looking in your direction, and has your focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like you need a &quot;near area training first&quot; get you dog on the leash and give him slack on it (you have your pocket filled with tiny bits of sausage first) when your dog looks away put a piece of sausage in your mouth then call your dogs name, when he looks you in your eyes pop out the sausage piece in his direction and let him get it and caress him by speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train this for a few days 3-4 but only in short time 3-5 minutes is enough.&#xA;after this period try whitout the leash the same exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This you may alter a bit later and you may enhance this by adding factors of disturbance &#xA;eventually.&#xA;but remember this is a very powerful way if you keep the lessons short and give you dog time to adopt what he has learnt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun with your K9 Friend :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs and we have a good life&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="935" LastActivityDate="2014-03-09T23:38:53.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-10T00:36:17.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so you've got a dog running around without a leash and one that won't let you catch him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest taking what some of the other users have said very seriously, but one more thing that you may want to do is something that I train all my dogs to do: love car rides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every dog I've ever owned in my life has been trained to get into a car without a leash. You can do this with treats if necessary, but most of the time it is not. If they ever get out and start running around, you can just open up your car door and they will come. If they don't believe you, just get in the car. They'll know you're serious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I wanted to add. You may not even need to train your dog. Try it in your backyard or in a park somewhere. Just park your car on the green and get out and play with him for a few minutes, being sure to get him all riled up and excited to play hide and go seek. Then stop abruptly and start walking towards your car with the leash, and yell &quot;Come on! Car time&quot; or something to that affect -- be sure, whatever you decide, that your command:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has two syllables (i.e. &quot;Come On, Car Time!&quot;) . Animals respond better to words with two syllables, for some reason. I don't have any empirical evidence to support this, but through simple observation you can clearly see it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you're yelling a particular command, yell the same &lt;em&gt;exact&lt;/em&gt; command, over and over again and in a rising tone and higher pitched voice; because, rising tones correspond to happy expressions and a high voice corresponds to excitement. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a command that you use, like &quot;Cage&quot; or &quot;Kennel,&quot; (which means &quot;get in __&quot;) you can try using that command, if the dog responds well to it. You can attach the word &quot;Car&quot; to &quot;Cage&quot; but not to &quot;kennel&quot; because that would violate the two syllable rule. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every dog that I've ever owned has been trained not only to &quot;kennel&quot; and &quot;car&quot; but also to walk without a leash. It is inevitable that a dog will escape sometimes. The reasoning is that Alsatians can be particularly dangerous, especially when the chase instinct kicks in, and I don't want them maiming some innocent child. The force they can bite with can shatter a cow femur -- I've seen them do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a less serious note, car rides to fun places are a really good motivator in getting them to go into a car. Just like anything else, you have to use operant conditioning to ensure the dog will behave as desired. You can do it, even if it is counter intuitive, such as a feeding thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once trained a dog to not eat their food until I say so. Call me cruel, but I once set the food bowl on the ground and folded laundry for half an hour. I came back to a puddle of drool on the floor and the food not missing. They knew that if they waited I'd give an extra slice of bacon or a treat in addition to their can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all operant conditioning: obedience brings positive reactions, disobedience brings negative reactions ten times as severe as the reward for positive actions. Good luck, you can do it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="937" LastEditorUserId="937" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T16:48:08.247" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T16:48:08.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2306" CreationDate="2014-03-10T02:33:07.397" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This video, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessinsider.com/why-do-cats-like-boxes-2013-6#ooid=x2YWo4Yzq5VK1nLA34HKVIpGAA7bOotr&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's Why Cats Love Boxes So Much&lt;/a&gt;, contains explanation by Stephen Zawistowski (Science Advisor, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;) on why cats love being in boxes .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The video is quite short, with some cute cat footages, and the main points are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;they feel security and can be approached without being aware of it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;they can watch what's around them while feeling safe and secure and they can &amp;quot;dash out&amp;quot; if something interesting comes by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="849" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T09:10:05.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2014-03-10T06:25:16.080" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best approach is play with your cat each night in the evening before bedtime.  Teach him that you will play fetch with him at that time of night.  Plus if you give him a bit of exercise, he'll be happy and tired and less likely to wake you up in the middle of the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he brings you a toy at 3am, bury it under your pillow rather then throw it off the bed.  He needs to learn that he won't get an interactive response from you at 3am.  It may take a while, but if you are consistent about not responding to his overtures, he will stop pestering you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T06:25:16.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-10T09:30:50.037" Score="9" ViewCount="836" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the most important command that every dog should know and obey is &lt;em&gt;&quot;Come!&quot;.&lt;/em&gt; Or &lt;em&gt;&quot;Here!&quot;&lt;/em&gt; which is more like the word I use in my own language. I have no trouble with my own two dogs obeying that command, but I've had it so easy because my dogs are of herding breed and they are easy to train to this kind of commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the problem. My wife is dreaming of a saluki. I have to admit a saluki is very beautiful dog and has a nice temperament, but it is a hunting dog. A runner. I don't think I'll give in to my wife's dream, but just in case, and for curiousity's sake, how do you really drill the &lt;em&gt;&quot;Come!&quot;&lt;/em&gt; command into a dog's nerve system so that the dog is practically unable not to obey it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to train a dog to always come when called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2018-04-22T15:14:50.990" Title="How to properly train a dog to come when I call him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2461" CreationDate="2014-03-10T09:44:56.733" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I'm 100% in favour of clicker training, in this case it might not be the best approach to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to do is to make the dog enjoy and initiate playing fetch. To me this is closer to &lt;em&gt;classical conditioning&lt;/em&gt; than to &lt;em&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clicker training, and positive reinforcement training is about operant conditioning, you condition you dog, through positive reinforcement, but the dog has to think his way to get the reward. Subsequently he &quot;figures out&quot; what actions are &quot;good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Classical conditioning is about innate responses to stimuli. It is in a sense more &quot;primitive&quot; and bypasses any kind of reasoning the dog might have. When you take its food bowl he just gets hungry, there is no reasoning involved. This is opposite to the operant conditioning where you make the dog think, eg. for all the basic cues (sit, down, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a way you want to play fetch with your dog so that he enjoys it. This is not to say that dogs don't enjoy what you train them to do, but here we want a very &quot;primitive&quot; reaction, you take the toy and the dog, without thinking starts playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition it seems that you tried to clicker-train him in an environment with a lot of distractions, that might be the reason why he didn't respond to your clicker. Whatever the real reason, if it doesn't work, that means you have to &quot;go back a step&quot;, either in term of difficulty, distraction or attention (too long training session for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;So how do I answer your question with this ?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should &lt;em&gt;classical condition&lt;/em&gt; your dog toy = fun = excitement. You mentioned that he wandered off sniffing. Take him on leash, try to see where he want to go sniffing, unleash him, and as you let him go, throw the toy. Doesn't matter if he goes to the toy at this point. Ask squirrels for help, once the dog sees them and is ready to dash to them, throw the toy. Do the same we he gets out of the car at the park. You can do the same association with food. First &quot;throwing the toy = food&quot;, then &quot;throwing the toy, the dog runs = food&quot;, etc. You got the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do this, maybe 10 times, you'll have the dog conditioned and excited as you throw the toy. This will then be a perfect starting point to move on the operant conditioning, as you did with the clicker to a real &quot;play fetch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try also to set up clicker training sessions (for whatever behaviour) in more distractive environments. To teach him &quot;play fetch&quot;, or more generally for outdoor training sessions, try to use the distractions and the environment at your advantage. Use it as a reward. Fetching the dog, OK you can go sniff on your own, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always make sure that the dog can succeed. For the first part (classical conditioning) that means throwing the toy only if the dog is somehow excited. Not at the end of a long walk. For the clicker training part, don't do it if the distractions are way to high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T09:44:56.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2499" CreationDate="2014-03-10T10:50:31.927" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;General answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said the goal is to imprint the behaviour in the &lt;em&gt;dog's nerve system&lt;/em&gt;. The methods in use are a mix of &lt;em&gt;classical conditioning&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Classical conditioning is about innate responses to stimuli. It is a &quot;primitive&quot; response and bypasses any kind of reasoning the dog might have. When you take its food bowl he just gets hungry, there is no reasoning involved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is opposite to the operant conditioning where you make the dog think, eg. for all the basic cues (sit, down, etc.). With operant conditioning, you condition you dog, but the dog has to think his way to get the reward. Subsequently he &quot;figures out&quot; what actions are &quot;good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Classical conditioning&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you want to condition your dog that coming to you is the &lt;strong&gt;greatest thing in life&lt;/strong&gt;. That should be a classical conditioning: the dog might be distracted by something else, but when you call him that starts a chain reaction in his brain and he turns and come. Your &quot;command&quot; (or &lt;em&gt;cue&lt;/em&gt; in positive reinforcement lingo) should start the same processes as a squirrel passing by, but making the dog runs toward you of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an infinite number of setups to train this with your dog, but the key points are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;call him&lt;/strong&gt;, call him and call him: you'll never practice enough. At first you don't need to use any specific cue (verbal or visual). Just have him come to you, attract his attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; reward the dog when he comes: this can be food, play, social interaction, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;practice in different environment and start in situations where your dog can &lt;strong&gt;succeed&lt;/strong&gt;, so that you can reward him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;feeding time is a perfect opportunity to practice. Ask someone to distract the dog in another room, call him and gives him his food bowl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The corollary of the second point is: you'll sometime be angry when he comes back (eg. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2490/how-to-locate-and-catch-my-dog&quot;&gt;if he was lost in a kibbutz and you have an important presentation the next day&lt;/a&gt;). Be nice to the dog. You can ruin your training more quickly than you can strengthen it. Some goes for the leash. Don't call the dog only when its time to put it on leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the foundations on which you build a good recall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Operant conditioning&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then comes the second part, &lt;em&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This consists in teaching the dog the details of the &quot;game&quot;. When he turns to run to you, you have his &quot;brain&quot; and you can train him to do specific behaviours: running as fast as he can, stop in front of you and sit, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these you want to train in specific training sessions, first with a low level of distractions, then more and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing is to train the verbal cue. When you dog is already coming to you (classical conditioning), it is time to start adding the verbal cue. Give your cue, attract his attention, as soon as you have it, click and treat. Progressively you'll click and treat only when he's coming to you, then running to you, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of this part is to teach the dog what behaviour is expect when his brain fires the &quot;come&quot; signal. The dog learns that he can act on you to get rewarded even more. If he runs fast, the reward increases (in frequency, as you would soon stop rewarding a slow return). To continue with the food analogy: you take the bowl, classical conditioning the dog start salivating. But then he knows (operant conditioning) that barking will increase the amount of food so he will bark louder and louder (this is a stupid example but why not ?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;click point&quot; should evolves in small steps, first you click when the dog turns his head to you, then progressively when he comes to you. For example to strengthen the behaviour &quot;run as fast as possible&quot; you can click when the dog is at its maximum speed, running to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the clicker is really useful as you can dissociate the rewarded behaviour (when you click) from reward time (when you give the treat or play), which can only be when the dog is back to you (you could imagine to throw a toy but then it would stop the behaviour (coming back to you), while the click will not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the videos below for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is it realistic to expect a saluki running after a rabbit to drop the hunt and come when I call?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here we really have to rely on the first part of the training: &lt;strong&gt;no brain involved&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two things competing: the instinct (running after the rabbit) and something that has been classically conditioned (coming back to you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you managed to condition your dog, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the exact limitations here, as I don't have the experience, but here is what I would do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always: &lt;em&gt;if you want to suppress a behaviour, don't start the training when it happens&lt;/em&gt;. If you want the dog not to run after a rabbit, if you just walk him and wait for a rabbit to come, it will be too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to help the dog generalise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, train him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you can let him see a rabbit and immediately feed him (on a leash for example, or a rabbit in a cage). Or you could practice somewhere it is safe for the dog to run after the rabbit (if it is a young dog and if you don't want him to hunt, the chances of actually catching the rabbit are quite low).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit is clearly a distraction, but as always with distraction, make them your ally: if the dog runs after the rabbit, you call him, he comes back, maybe you can reward him by letting him run after the rabbit later, when you crossed the road (again, that's an example). Or you can even transform the rabbit into a cue meaning &quot;come back&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kp4md.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Salukis running after a rabbit&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links to video demonstrating these principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kikopup youtube channel&lt;/strong&gt; (uses positive reinforcement only, and a clicker)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9Rk-8KF9I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to train 'Come!' - Dog training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5qsH5tjYA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The best way to teach Come when called with DISTRACTIONS!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More specifically for puppies: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjd99MlmqqI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Teach any puppy to come when called!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training positive Youtube channel&lt;/strong&gt; (uses positive reinforcement only, and a clicker)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLo8YP4-D8Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How To Train Your Dog: &quot;Come Here!&quot; PERFECTLY!!!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T08:43:36.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2489" CreationDate="2014-03-10T11:03:31.677" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last sentence of your question, provides some insight to the answer here. If your dog is not well trained now, and she is used to wandering, it would take significant work to train her not to leave the yard.  While not impossible, without constant supervision while she is out, it is unlikely to be successful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also indicate concern that the fence can be made so she is unable to escape. This is a valid concern and limits your options for keeping your dog safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the available information I would suggest a cable run.  There are multiple images and products available via internet search.  I have used the devices very successfully over many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that an overhead cable is installed running between your house and a post or between two trees, or something similar.  A leash or chain is suspend from the cable which is allowed to slide (or roll) up and down the cable giving the dog lots of room to roam, and keeping the dog safe and secure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extremely Important&lt;/strong&gt; There must be nothing for the dog to get tangled around, or anything (like a picnicking table) for the dog to climb on while connected to the run.  Dogs can be seriously injured or killed if the leash gets caught (i.e. jumping off a table the dog can get hung)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally an eye hook is screwed into the house near the door (over head height).  A post is placed firmly (dig deep, use concrete to secure) in the ground 10 - 20 yards (or meters) away.  A cable is run between the house and the post.  A pulley is used to connect a chain or leash to the over head cable.  Measure out from the post the length of the chain or leash and put a cable tie or block that distance from the post.  You do not want your dog to be able to go around the post. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put a second eye hook near the door at the height of your dogs neck.  When you unfasten the chain or leash from your dog you can clip it to this eye hook and it will always be easy to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bJCpL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;picture added by Esa Paulasto&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MAKE VERY SURE THERE IS NOTHING FOR THE DOG TO GET TANGLED ON. Depending on your dog and your situation there are many variables, it is up to you to ensure you have created a safe system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-03-12T10:35:45.810" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T10:35:45.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2503" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-10T11:47:11.600" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T11:47:11.600" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T11:47:11.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2504" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-10T11:47:11.600" Score="0" Body="Clicker training is a method for training animals that uses positive reinforcement in conjunction with a clicker, or small mechanical noisemaker, to mark the behavior being reinforced." OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T12:13:17.773" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T12:13:17.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2519" CreationDate="2014-03-10T12:09:30.833" Score="10" ViewCount="1161" Body="&lt;p&gt;This weekend has been rich in experiences, both for me and for my dog (who is a puppy). As the weather finally improved, we met many more dogs at the park. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experience 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My dog was unleashed. I spotted another dog on the other side of the park that I had to cross and I put my dog back on leash. The other was unleashed. I came closer to the owner and I asked if I could let my dog approach his dog (the other dog was an adult and was not showing obvious fear or anger at that point). The guy said I should not and even asked me to move quickly as his &quot;dog doesn't like other dogs&quot;. Apart from the fact that this doesn't make sense as he should then be the one putting his dog on leash, do you think we should not at least start approaching, and back off in case one of the dogs show signs of fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experience 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My dog and the other dog were leashed. My dog is always excited when he sees other dogs but then usually calms down when given the possibility to sniff the other dog (I think this is normal behaviour, especially with a young dog). There was a third dog around. I let him sniff him and at that point both owners could conclude that my dog should be OK. I then asked the other owner if I could approach, but the answer was, &quot;no, they're on leash so they could get hurt&quot;. I don't think the leash is a real problem here: if they meet in a friendly manner, that's no problem; if they start fighting the leash could be of great help. Of course I agree that we should not let dogs play and get too excited when on leash as it could hurt their legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is &lt;strong&gt;should we have allowed the dogs to sniff and greet each other?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has the potential to be opinion based, so I'm looking for evidence that one or the other would be better for the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-10T13:56:38.947" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T04:26:32.750" Title="Should dogs be allowed to greet each other?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2510" CreationDate="2014-03-10T12:14:49.090" Score="18" ViewCount="26853" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a two-year-old Maine Coon. He's very lean and in good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has all-day free access to his dry food and he eats a small quantity a few times a day. As everything is going well I don't try to keep track of how much he's eating. I just know that everyday I have to add some fresh dry pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However our other cat got sick at some point and the only we found to have him take his medications was to mix it with wet food. We then allowed the Maine Coon to have some as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it has become a habit and both cats get some (about 80 grams) of wet food every day. They seem to really enjoy it and they will make sure to remind us if we are late !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: &lt;strong&gt;Should my cat be allowed some wet food every day?&lt;/strong&gt; (potential disadvantages to this, in term of health or unwanted interaction between the two foods?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T09:00:44.250" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T11:00:38.897" Title="Should my cat be allowed some wet food every day?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2490" CreationDate="2014-03-10T13:22:32.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Just train your dog properly to come when called&quot; is easier said than done sometimes.  I have a Shiba Inu, and just about every Shiba owner will tell you that they are smart, willful, and have very poor recall.  No matter how often &quot;come&quot; is followed by a treat and praise, using &quot;come&quot; while off-leash and outdoors means &quot;fun's over and it's time to go home&quot; to my boy.  When he doesn't want the fun to be over (and he never wants the fun to be over), it can be very difficult to convince him to come and he values freedom over any other resource I can offer (food, toys, petting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this sounds like your dog, I've found that continuing to play and casually grabbing his collar when he gets close to be the most effective way to catch him.  If your dog does like hide-and-seek, play back by hiding behind trees and shrubs.  You could also try using a prop of some sort.  Sticks work particularly well since they can be thrown or used for tug of war.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be worthwhile to use a short leash during off-leash time.  Ideally, it should be just short enough that your dog can't trip on it (or get dragged through mud or dog poop).  The idea is that a short leash is easier to grab than the dog's collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T13:22:32.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2505" CreationDate="2014-03-10T14:50:19.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs should meet and play with other dogs as often as possible. This, however, should be in a location where dogs can go unleashed (like a city dog-park or something like that). Because it is no real play on the leash (how would they play &quot;catch me, if you can&quot;?). Playing with other dogs will make your dog happy, and give him the opportunity to work himself out, so that it will be more relaxed later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Restricting contact with other dogs to zero level will most probably make your dog soziopathic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you do yourself and your dog a favor in the long run when you don't allow play when your dog is on the leash. A young dog should learn that when on the leash it is expected to move along close to your leg, not to pull, and pay attention to your movements, &lt;strong&gt;and that is it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your dog should learn that it is you who decides. For example, suppose your dog is on the leash, and you see another dog owner coming near you. Then first, negotiate from a distance to leave the dogs loose. If there is agreement, let your dog &quot;sit&quot; or &quot;down&quot; while you unleash him. He must not pull while you do this (he must never pull, ok). If time allows, and the other dog is not already running towards you, he should also stay for a short moment, then give the command &quot;Run!&quot; (or whatever). This will teach your dog &quot;impulse control&quot; i.e., he can't just always do what he wants, but only when you allow it. For allowing it, you will be the greatest. But also, in a different situation, you can as well deny it, and your dog is then more likely to accept it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T14:50:19.657" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-10T15:05:45.240" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well first, bear in mind that a cats natural diet is carnivorous and that type of diet is seldom dried pellets. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, dry and wet food options are, these days, quite on par in terms of nutritional quality. In the past, there could be complications from some varieties of foods containing high quantities of ash that could lead to kidney failure (we lost a cat as a consequence of that), but good quality food sources these days have removed that risk. In any event, why you might want to feed wet foods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Closer to their natural foods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides a source of moisture. Cats are often light drinkers and many will get their moisture only from food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allows you to control the food volume better to avoid overeating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why you might want to feed dry foods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Convenient, allows the cat to graze as desired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dental health, crunchy bits gives some teeth cleaning benefits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found no evidence to suggest that there's any adverse issues with feeding both forms of food to your cats as a part of a regular diet and it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/evr_ct_feeding_your_cat&quot;&gt;can be recommended&lt;/a&gt; (link) in some cases.  In general, assuming that they're not overeating and becoming obese, you can get the benefits of both forms of food if the cats are happy to eat them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would, however, make every effort to prevent sharing of food if you're still medicating. As with humans, sharing meds is not a good thing to be doing or to allow to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-10T15:05:45.240" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-10T17:16:06.143" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, have no external sources, but my father is a veterinarian and my mother is a pet dietary consultant. At home, we have 7 cats, all of which are fed purely wet food. We used to feed them dry food, but while on such a diet, they seemed to be somewhat prone to diarrhea. When it comes to your average, low quality pet food; dry food and wet food are about the same nutritionally. However, when it comes to higher quality pet food, wet food can actually be healthier, due to being more fresher comparatively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food that we use is Tikicat by petropics. It's a bit hard to find a store that sells it, but luckily, they have a store lookup on their site here: petropics.com/locator/index.php In addition, with wet cat food, it doesn't hurt to vary what flavor of food you feed your cat, since you don't have to buy a giant bag. Cats can actually be quite picky eaters at times, so by varying the type of food and ingredients, it makes it less likely your cat will stop eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind, if you are considering switching to wet food, your cost will almost certainly go up due to the typical inability to buy in bulk like one can with dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="943" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-04T11:00:38.897" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T11:00:38.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2514" CreationDate="2014-03-10T18:41:07.350" Score="7" ViewCount="3885" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, Some Details:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two young adorable little cockatiels named Schala and Janus. They are very sweet and ridiculously human friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are less than a year old and only 5 days difference in age (they will be 1 in 5 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are born from the same breeder and have the same mother and father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they were born, they each shared a cage with many multiple other cockatiels (all siblings of about the same age), but not each other (there were two cages both with multiple other 'tiels. Schala was in one, and Janus in the other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have always shared a cage together since I have had them (they were little more than one month old when I got them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Schala is your traditional yellow and grey 'tiel while Janus is grey and white (his face will eventually turn white, I am told).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure of the true gender of either bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do vie for my attention almost exclusively, despite spending most of their time together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They get frustrated with each other sometimes, when one tries to take the other's spot on their perch or my shoulder. By frustrated, I mean that they will squawk a bit and clash beaks with their mouths open. They do this to try to be intimidating to the other one, but I have never seen either one of them try to do the other one any serious harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Problem:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came home one day and noticed that Schala had a small hole on her beak (about halfway between the sizes of an ant and a ladybug [sorry struggling with something to compare the size to]). It's on her right side, just under the cere, and my first thought was that they fought and Janus got the best of her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Schala shows no sign of pain, she doesn't favor it or shy away if you try to touch it. Her behavior has been perfectly normal since we have been watching it (it has been about 3 days). It hasn't gotten any worse, any bigger, or changed any color (there is no red or anything, just a small dark hole). Other than the hole itself, there are no other negative signs. She has no trouble getting around, drinking, or eating. I don't &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; the hole goes all the way through, but it's very hard to tell because it is dark and she doesn't like holding her head still for very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be devastated if anything happened to either one of them, but I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to end up taking her to the vet if it's nothing (especially if she gets scared, knowing how fatal stress can be for birds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought about getting a divider cage, so that they could still be close, not get lonely, but still be forced to respect each other's boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any chance that this hole could be caused by anything other than her sibling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it ever grow back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to best ensure the health of my sweet little 'tiel and hopefully the healing of this little cavity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="942" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T00:52:10.243" Title="What should I do about a mysterious hole found in one of my cockatiel's beaks?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2521" CreationDate="2014-03-10T19:43:11.013" Score="9" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two sweet, super-friendly cockatiels named Schala and Janus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is the traditional yellow and grey with the rosy cheeks, while the other is white and grey (her face should change to white when she gets older).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both about 7 months old, but I never had them DNA sexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any signs that might shed some light on their genders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know they both like to perform the wolf call; they both (but not at the same time) like to just barely spread their wings away from their breast and get very vocal (whistling and trying to say &quot;pretty bird&quot;, which ends up sounding more like a squawk than actual words (it's insanely cute)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their tail feathers are black-and-yellow-striped and black-and-white-striped respectively, but they are so young, I'm not sure if that coloration means anything.  I just read a random comment somewhere which says the stripes are some sort of gender indicator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="942" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T21:46:13.760" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:47:13.603" Title="What are the signs suggesting the gender of a cockatiel?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2512" CreationDate="2014-03-11T00:52:10.243" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a discoloration, especially if you can't see through it and if the lighting is poor. Nevertheless, cockatiels are prone to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15%201829&amp;amp;aid=2752&quot;&gt;ulcerative beak lesions&lt;/a&gt; and while it's possible that this is quite harmless and just a chip out from a squawk, especially given appetite and behavior, I would still strongly recommend a trip to the vets just to be sure. The common causes of beak lesions (a parasite or avian pox) in cockatiels are fatal if untreated, so better safe than sorry really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to alarm you with all of that, it could very well be harmless, but whenever there's an unexplained wound on your pets it is best to bring it in to a vet for a look-see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T00:52:10.243" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2515" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-11T01:14:18.040" Score="4" ViewCount="765" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a new puppy and he seems to have a cloudy/blue-ish eye (in one only).  It's not bothering him in anyway as far as we can tell; he plays/eats/etc. all as expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had one vet have a look and they mentioned it was likely just a scratch to the cornea. Another vet during his last shots mentioned that we should be seeing a specialist that costs about 250 dollars just for the first visit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this be, how worried should we be, and what options do we have? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="945" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:26:21.110" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:26:21.110" Title="Cloudy blue-ish eye with redness inside eye of a puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2518" CreationDate="2014-03-11T03:02:12.543" Score="12" ViewCount="32259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two six year old cats, brother and sister (friend &quot;forgot&quot; to fix their parents, so I know the specific litter and birth date). The female keeps scratching her chin profusely, to the point that she bleeds. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/464/what-can-i-do-about-the-black-dots-on-my-cats-chin&quot;&gt;I seriously doubt this is acne&lt;/a&gt; because the black dots are scabbing up and there is blood&lt;/em&gt;. I have not taken her to a DVM yet because I would like to see if there is something simple (and cheap) I can try without incurring vet bills. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/105/when-are-medical-questions-on-topic&quot;&gt;I am not asking for medical advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Ideally, there would be something simple such as &quot;slip a vitamin or something into her food&quot; that I could try first: maybe her skin is dry and a supplement will help. The dog gets supplements to help his skin/fur, but dogs and cats are different so I am not sure what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male has no scratching problem. Sure, he scratches himself like any cat does. However, his sister goes to town on her chin, sitting there scratching until she bleeds: I have had to soak bed sheets to get the stains out when she does this on our bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Daily diet for both cats combined: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.friskies.com/Cat-Food/Wet-Cat-Food&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;5.5 oz Friskies Savory Shreds&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=cat&amp;amp;pid=23&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1/2 cup Core Wellness Grain-Free&lt;/a&gt;. I chose the food, my DVM instructed me this is a good quantity based on their combined weight and the fact it is almost impossible to feed two cats separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I took her to a vet allergist who performed an allergy test. She is allergic to dust mites, which are practically impossible to eliminate from a home. While veterinary specialists can be expensive, it is a worthwhile investment for any other pet owners who are faced with a similar issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user907" LastEditorDisplayName="user907" LastEditDate="2018-02-24T16:19:48.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:53:07.087" Title="How can I stop my cat from scratching her chin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-11T03:11:53.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my cats a roughly 50/50 diet of wet and dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wet&lt;/strong&gt;: cats have a weak thirst drive and tend not to drink enough water. Wet food has a higher water content, not being dry. So you are sneaking more water into their diet which is good. Their stomachs also benefit from the raw meat: my DVM explained it to me but I do not remember all the science behind it, just that she highly recommended at least 50% of my cats' diet is wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dry&lt;/strong&gt;: I am no scientist but the way I understand it is that dry food is chunky and help push hair through the digestive system, where wet food kind of slides by. End rest: fewer hairballs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, a fully wet or dry diet will not really be bad for your cat either way as long as you pick a quality food. A good rule of thumb is no more than one of the top five ingredients should not be protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user907" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T03:11:53.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2014-03-11T04:10:58.147" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Disclaimer: I'm not a vet. This is something I'd see a vet about.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it's just around the mouth, I think it could be an allergy to something in the food. A common allergic reaction for cats and dogs is that their skin dries out, causing itchiness. Something I'd do is try feeding her something else. Find something with the least amount of ingredients. If you notice that it solves the problem, you can try to work  with different foods, adding ingredients each time to try and figure out which ingredient it is that causes it. Common hyper-allergenic foods usually contain different proteins like duck or venison, rather than the normal fish, chicken, or turkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to check her for parasites too. The chin is sensitive enough that fleas or mites really bother cats when they're crawling there. Mites generally like to hide around the ears, while I usually find fleas easier looking on the stomach and back of the head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, ant-flea shampoo usually contains medicine to soothe the skin. Otherwise, plain old oatmeal shampoo will provide relief as well (Just don't do it too often or it will actually dry out the skin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ringworm is a possibility. It's something like 20% of cats can carry ringworm without the telltale signs of red rings on the skin. Supposedly it will show up green under a blacklight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, something to do in order to keep her skin from being dry, is encouraging her to drink lots. Change her water often, and maybe even invest in a pet fountain bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it might be best to give in and buy a cone of shame. Since it's just her chin that she's scratching, it's important that she doesn't continue to scratch or it siply won't heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T04:10:58.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2505" CreationDate="2014-03-11T04:26:32.750" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;To address your specific question first... if the owner of the other dog thinks it isn't a good idea then it definitely isn't a good idea. It is very important to have dog socialization but they must be appropriate interactions. If the owner feels uncomfortable with the situation their dog will read into that and may also become uncomfortable. When you are thinking of letting your dog meet another dog take a look at the owner. If they don't seem relaxed, if they are holding the leash tightly, or if they don't have control of their dog then skip it... this isn't the one you want to take the chance on. If both the person and the dog seem relaxed, the dog is not pulling on the end of the leash to get to you, and the person says it is OK then it could be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the leash part of the question, there are many dogs that are leash aggressive so the concern the people showed may be that their dogs have some leash issues. Just because you didn't witness it at that moment doesn't mean that the dogs are always OK. The owners may have been very carefully managing the situation and you might not have even noticed. So, if they are worried... respect that and don't try to force the meeting. I noticed that you say &quot;if they start fighting the leash could be a great help&quot;, that makes me think that you've had a couple experiences where you had leash fights. I would really encourage you to do a little more reading and watching some video's on dog body language... usually you can see a dog fight before it happens. Sometimes it happens to quickly but that might mean you rushed the evaluation part and didn't allow for enough time to get a real read on the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general a good thing to remember is that you should be much more concerned with the quality of the dogs interactions more than just the frequency of them. One good interaction can be worth 20 so-so interactions and a bad interaction can end up in an injury or a dog that is then scared or aggressive toward other dogs. So if the people are worried then that is unlikely to turn into a great interaction and it's probably not worth the trouble. I know that it is fun to find great playmates for your puppy and, at times, it feels that we NEED them to get rid of energy but you do need to find the right kind of playmates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several different types of puppy experiences that are going to be important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is playing with other puppies of similar age and reasonably similar size or play style. These interactions let the puppies practice all kinds of play-bow, meeting, running, wrestling, and bite inhibition that really are best for puppies to learn from each other and are typically pretty safe. Oh , and they get rid of each others puppy energy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another is learning how to interact with adult dogs. If you can find an APPROPRIATE adult dog these lessons teach the puppy good dog manners. But not all adult dogs are appropriate with puppies, many adult dogs find them pretty offensive. For instance it is bad manners to run up in another dogs face, lick their face/lips excessively, or be in general pushy the way puppies are. A good adult dog can correct the puppy without hurting them, the puppy will likely pout a little after this but will have learned that if they want to interact with other adult dogs they have to have some self-control and respect other dogs space. A really good adult dog will even play with a puppy but this too is a minority of the adult dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as important as those experiences is learning that you don't get to greet every dog and that it isn't the puppies choice who it greets. I really like how the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://controlunleashed.net/book.html&quot;&gt;&quot;Control Unleashed&lt;/a&gt;&quot; describes how to teach this. In the book she describes a system for teaching the dog that when they give you the attention instead of the other dog sometimes they are rewarded by getting to go say hi to the other dog. It works as a very nice natural reward system that rewards the dog with what they really want for doing what you really want. It is best if you can set up a time with a friend so that you can have control over when the release to go play happens and you can wait until the puppy gives you attention before they get the reward of play. It doesn't have to be a long drawn out thing... just a quick routine of letting you get the leash of while the puppy is still sitting is a great way to start. You can practice this many times during the play session, just call the puppy back to you and reward it for coming then get a sit, reward the sit, then say &quot;go say hi&quot; and let the puppy go back to playing. The puppy will quickly learn that coming to you is rewarding and that you even let them continue to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T04:26:32.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2014-03-11T04:57:21.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't try to force a relationship on them. It sounds like your dog is giving the cat the respect the cat insisted on before it was de-clawed. If you don't pressure them they might decide to be friends on their own. If you try to push the dog into it it will likely make the dog avoid the cat more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know a lot about cats but it may be that what you are seeing is that the cat likes the dog because the dog isn't interested in the cat at all. So for the cat, this dog is a no-pressure situation. For the dog, this is a high-pressure situation. If you let them alone the dog may realize over time that it can trust the cat. Or it may not, but if you try to force the situation you will likely be adding more pressure for the dog which is why it would avoid the cat even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T04:57:21.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2513" CreationDate="2014-03-11T10:50:09.240" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;On traditionally-colored cockatiels, once they've been through 1 or 2 molts at most (maybe too early for yours), striped tail feathers are clear marks of a female bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With color mutations, there is a lot more uncertainty, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.justcockatiels.net/sexing-cockatiels.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; has a lot of hints and pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="946" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T21:47:13.603" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:47:13.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2524" CreationDate="2014-03-11T10:58:17.557" Score="6" ViewCount="767" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2515&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; about a dogs eye, got me wondering.  How does a veterinary specialist perform a vision test on a dog?  When I go to the eye doctor, the majority of the testing is based on my verbal responses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:28:04.227" Title="How do they give a vision test to a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-11T11:03:10.013" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a following opinion on one of the cat lover sites (I cannot find the link now. It is in different language, anyway): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats originally lived in the desert. They were not used to drinking much water (there were no many sources of it). They gained fluid by eating the whole prey, including blood. Now when they live at our houses they are still not used to drinking as much water as they should, so we should at least give them wet food and also encourage them to drink (there are many funny ways to do this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also the reason why cats tend to have serious bladder and kidney problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="947" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T01:55:47.313" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T01:55:47.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2522" CreationDate="2014-03-11T14:16:26.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously, you can't get a dog to read an eye chart, but there are other means of determining visual acuity. In particular, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinoscopy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;retinoscopy&lt;/a&gt; can be used to detect the reaction in the dogs eye. There are also some more manual tests, one that you can do at home, using room layouts and light and dark rooms. If the dog navigates okay in both conditions, then eyesight is probably okay, but if he struggles in the dark then a vision issue is likely. Obviously, if he struggles when it's light, then he has a vision issue for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that a dog's vision is actually less than a humans and they rely on other senses such as smell and hearing to help move around, so loss of vision is a problem, but potentially less for them than us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional reading on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinaryvision.com/resources/what-do-dogs-and-cats-see/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Veterinary Vision&lt;/a&gt; site or in greater depth in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iovs.org/content/33/8/2459.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research paper&lt;/a&gt; by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T14:16:26.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2526" CreationDate="2014-03-11T17:00:28.963" Score="7" ViewCount="12423" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently came into possession of an adorable &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=shorkie+tzu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shorkie Tzu&lt;/a&gt; - a Shih Tzu-Yorkie mix. She has rather long hair, with tufts of fur (like little balls) behind her ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do these form, and how do I get rid of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="756" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:31:48.093" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:31:48.093" Title="Why are balls of fur behind my dog's ears, and how do I get rid of them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2525" CreationDate="2014-03-11T17:55:13.483" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely these are just hair mats. They can be caused by scratching in that area, and can be aggravated if the dog's hair is getting wet when she goes outside. Once they've started, they tend to grow rapidly, so you need to take care of them or you'll end up with a short-haired dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can break them apart by pulling on either side of them. Do it so that you're not pulling out from the dog's skin, which she won't like. If you pull parallel to the dog's skin they'll barely feel it. Repeat with the pieces of the mat until they're all fairly small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they're broken up a bit, use a slicker brush to take out the bigger lumps, then comb through the area to take out the rest of the tangles. Make sure you get right down to the skin as the tangles can start to form there (and are even worse because a tangle there will pull on the skin, which could make the dog scratch more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to brush the dog regularly to keep them from forming again. It's easier if you do it when her coat is dry. Always brush her coat before bathing her, otherwise you'll make any tangles worse.  Using a conditioner while bathing her may help -- I've found it effective on some dogs, but useless on others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2014-03-11T17:55:13.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-12T00:22:59.993" Score="13" ViewCount="12111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told that such a running leash is not recommended for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bergerdespyrenees.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;pyrenean shepherd&lt;/a&gt; dog. The advice was, that if I want to let a dog of this breed out alone, I should build a fenced place for him to run without a leash. Using an overhead cable leash would drive my dog insane, or to similarly undesired effect, only I don't remember the advice so well anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bJCpL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of keeping a dog outdoors is quite usual in my country, especially in the countryside, where many dogs are of one or another variety of hunting breeds. Why would a pyrenean shepherd be different? What other such breeds there might be then? And can there be other reasons for not using overhead cable leash? (Naturally only one dog per cable, so they won't get tangled.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:42:47.890" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T14:28:57.837" Title="Is overhead cable running leash suitable for all dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="477" CreationDate="2014-03-12T01:47:01.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a very disobedient 3-month-old puppy.  He howls at the Jeopardy song at a certain spot every time, while completely ignoring almost all other television sounds.  I have not rewarded the behavior ever and, in fact, she did it spontaneously on her own the very first time she heard it, when I wasn't even in the room.  She does it every time the final clue comes on when it gets towards the end of the song, except strangely she won't do it again when I replay it right away and try to &quot;make&quot; her perform by rewarding her, perhaps because she has registered that it is not real after hearing it repeated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot buy the idea that this is a learned behaviour, seeing as I can't even &quot;train&quot; her to do it. I also found similar cases on YouTube of dogs howling at the exact same moment, also to the owners' bafflement and not related to any enticement on their part.  This is clearly something instinctual, perhaps to do with the tone, which triggers the dog to respond in this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the song sounds like a dog howling in the distance to them? Seeing as dogs are also social and they communicate via howls, barks, growls and the like with one another, I would think this is a likely explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="953" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-14T16:36:19.653" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T16:36:19.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2529" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2533" CreationDate="2014-03-12T05:13:39.530" Score="16" ViewCount="136091" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is usually really social. Loves to be cuddled, loves being around people, always crawls in my lap. Today, though, he spent the day hiding in my closet and in his cat tree. He didn't really eat a lot of his wet food breakfast, which is usually a big event in this house. He did eat some treats I brought to him, and cuddles when I come to him, but he doesn't really come out much. His eyes are clear, his nose feels the same as always,and he doesn't appear to react at all to me checking his belly and limbs and such for abnormalities (I didn't notice any but I am also not a vet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, he is about three years old, an indoor cat, and the only pet in my house. I don't have any plants or anything in my house that he could have eaten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Is this a wait and see situation, or a call the vet in the morning one? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-03-13T06:24:26.067" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T02:50:59.203" Title="What should I do if my cat stops eating and starts hiding more?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2531" CreationDate="2014-03-12T08:41:26.147" Score="6" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I enjoy it when my 3 year old dog jumps up on two hind legs to greet me. I also enjoy doing a small dance.  However, I don't want my dog to do with to other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, this has been his behavior.  He will jump up on me, but not other people.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is this problematic? Am I going to have trouble down the road?  Are dogs able to know that it's ok to jump on me, but not other people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T08:53:10.493" Title="Is it problematic to encourage a dog to behave one way with one person but not others?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2530" CreationDate="2014-03-12T08:53:10.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution I'm trying to use for this problem is to put the behaviour under &lt;em&gt;stimulus control&lt;/em&gt;: adding a cue and training the dog to do the behaviour only when cued to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unsolicited jumping can be quite annoying or even &quot;unsafe&quot; for you and others (kids, etc.). So the best thing would be to never encourage the dog to jump unless you specifically ask him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you could train the dog to jump, using positive reinforcement. You set up training sessions and you make him jump and reward. Quickly you can add your cue &quot;jump&quot; for example. You reward when he jumps after you said the cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is an easy behaviour to train, quickly he'll be doing it almost every time. Then you stop rewarding when he jump without being asked. You can progressively make it more difficult: you practice in a situation where the dog is likely to jump. If he jumps you ignore him (really ignore him, &quot;no touch no talk no eye contact&quot; as our friend would say) for 15-30 seconds. You can reward when he goes back on the floor and &quot;wait&quot; for your attention. If he doesn't jump you can also reward him for staying on the floor. Then you ask him to jump and you reward him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So staying on the floor will be reinforced by your &quot;jump&quot; cue, which in turn is reinforced with an real (&quot;primary&quot;) reward (playing, social interaction or food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0553380397&quot;&gt;&quot;Don't shoot the dog&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, Karen Pryor explains in detail how having a behaviour under stimulus control can prevent that unsolicited behaviour. You could apply the same reasoning to barking, sniffing while on leash, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your first question: yes it is problematic. The dog needs consistency. Even if you say &quot;he can jump on me&quot;, it is unlikely that you will want him to jump in every situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T08:53:10.493" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2532" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-12T09:45:07.667" Score="12" ViewCount="1182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a rural area in Kolkota right now and there is a 14 year old downer cow who is lying on her side. She is malnourished and looks like she might die. The local vet gave her a calcium injection and says that she is malnourished and has eaten bad grass and that, as she is very old, she will not survive more than 3 days. Unfortunately, city vets have refused to come down here ans the cow is a farm cow and 14 years old with 5 month gestating calf inside her. She collapsed yesterday morning, and has been lying down, unable to move, and won't eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for advice on how I might to nurse her to recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="955" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-03-08T02:17:43.703" LastActivityDate="2020-03-08T02:17:43.703" Title="Need advice to help a sick and, possibly, dying cow" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2529" CreationDate="2014-03-12T10:47:57.673" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not eating at or near a normal diet the following morning, a call to the vet is definitely in order.  You know your pet, and if their diet is significantly changed for more then 24-36 hours a vet exam is indicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that for some herbivores like rabbits, diet disruption gets critical in less than 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T10:47:57.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-12T14:06:53.223" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has lost a number of teeth - but refuses to go on a solely wet food diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet recommended a rubber thimble tooth brush with some cat toothpaste!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this removes the issue with the wet food being bad for his teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends though on whether your cat will allow you to brush his teeth!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="956" LastActivityDate="2014-03-12T14:06:53.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2535" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2538" CreationDate="2014-03-12T14:19:18.353" Score="6" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently added a dog to our family and bought a cheap lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a pain to use over the last few months.  On cold winter mornings, the lead was virtually impossible to clip back on; definitely impossible with gloves. Looking on the internet, you can pay what you want for quick release leads, but what type of quick release leads would be ideal, and reliable, in these circumstances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="956" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:39:17.800" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T13:39:17.800" Title="What quick release lead options are available for use in poor weather conditions?" Tags="&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2537" CreationDate="2014-03-13T08:39:37.187" Score="4" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of what I have read about dog training, involves creating commands or cues which the dog will then follow. Or teaching it to behave in a specific situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would in theory, like to do the opposite.  I.e., I want to train my dog to communicate it's wishes to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if it has to go to the bathroom, I want it to do one action. If it just wants to walk for fun, I want it to do another action. If it wants to stop playing, I want it to do something else.  The goal here is purely for it to communicate a desire to me, so that I may decide what to do, not for it to go ahead and act on that desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quip, I'd like to train the dog to give me commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T09:56:41.727" Title="Is it possible to train a dog to initiate behavior?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2536" CreationDate="2014-03-13T09:56:41.727" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we were to ask the dogs, they would probably say that's what they do all the time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in a way it's up to us to learn what they are already saying. I've found that I can learn a lot just by observing dogs, not just our dog(s), when they play, walk, meet other people, etc. So their wishes are all there, just behind our eyes (or nose...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog wants to go out to the bathroom he will probably do something anyway, be more active, run to the door and back or whatever. So it would in principle be possible to add a cue that we find more clear (see below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However we should remain a few things about &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0064X82SY&quot;&gt;dogs and how they learn&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dogs live in the moment without explicitly referring to actions in the past. Their level of &quot;consciousness&quot; is not the same as our;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;as a consequence the learning is mostly simple associative learning. That means the way to teach them things is done by conditioning (classical or operant conditioning);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;we should not adopt a point of view that is too anthropocentric and expect elaborate conscious processes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last point means: the dog won't elaborate a full scenario like we would when we want to obtain something from someone. To use the bathroom analogy again: the dog would first need to be fully aware of his need, then he would need to remember a similar situation in the past, and its full context (which is the difficult part), and he would then need to perform some specific action in order to make us let him go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing the limitations can help us have realistic expectations and derive a proper way to obtain them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case my answer would then be that yes, it is possible but primarily through conditioning. A few principles from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0553380397&quot;&gt;theory of learning, applied to dogs&lt;/a&gt; are useful in this case: reinforced behaviours increase in frequency, high probability behaviours tend to increase the frequency of low probability behaviours (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premack%27s_principle&quot;&gt;Premack's principle&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarising my answer taking the example of a dog that wants to go out, but can't open/unlock the door (which is usually the case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the dog's point of view he's already telling you very clearly. But we need to add a cue which is more clear to us. For example ringing a bell or pulling on something, or simply barking in front of the door. The reinforcer here is you opening the door. That's the high probability behaviours, the dog want to go out and every time you open the door you reinforce him to do so. So you want to add a lower probability behaviour, ringing a bell next to the door. You can then train the dog to ring the bell, using the opening of the door as a reinforcer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you used a mix of classical and operant conditioning: the stimulus is the feeling that the dog wants to pee and as he's house trained the response is that he wants to go out. The operant conditioning is that ringing the bell is a reinforced behaviour that is rewarded all the time. That's also a behaviour chain, were the first behaviour is ringing the bell, it is reinforced by another behaviour which is in turn reinforced by an actual reinforcer (primary reinforcer) in this case peeing in the garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note this is a good opportunity to point out one of the advantage of &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement training&lt;/em&gt; (as opposed to punishment based training): we reward the dog for performing behaviours but we never inhibit behaviours with punishment. That means the dog always feels free to perform new behaviours (worst case they won't be reinforced and will extinct). The usual example is the &lt;em&gt;101 things to do with a box&lt;/em&gt; training session: you introduce a box to the dog and you reward him each time he does something. But the rule is: you reward only new behaviour. That's in a way teaching &quot;creativity&quot;. The implication here is that if your dog is free to perform different kind of behaviour in front of you, most of the time you just have to choose what to reinforce. Imagine he wants his toy. If he start barking, you do nothing, then he'll try something else (say sit in front of you), you reinforce by giving the toy, and you achieve your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M76z12srr-4&quot;&gt;&quot;Dog Training: How to Teach your Dog to ring a bell to be let outside&quot;&lt;/a&gt;) covers. I don't fully agree with the first part where he teaches the dog to ring the bell using a food reward. I think we can go directly with the actual reward, that will help the dog associate the bell with the door, and not ringing the bell as yet another trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing: dogs can associate the present context with their action. For example they can probably associate that ringing the bell only works in your presence. However at first I would remove the bell when you're not there, to prevent the behaviour from being unrewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T09:56:41.727" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2535" CreationDate="2014-03-13T10:26:03.943" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My lead's P-Clip got all stiff and as my wife is beginning to suffer from arthritis we searched and searched for pain free solution to this age old problem.  The answer for us was a fairly new product called a Magloc.  It has a magnet that connect the lead to the collar and then some clever little jaws hold it in place.  The best bit is the release, just squeeze the side tabs and it pulls straight off.  In fact, it helps a bit if your dog is actually pulling away when you want to release it.  I got ours here... &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maglocshop.co.uk&quot;&gt;magloc shop&lt;/a&gt; and we love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="960" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T10:26:03.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2535" CreationDate="2014-03-13T11:04:14.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;replace the clip with a carabiner, it's not quick release but much easier to handle than fighting a rusted spring with a little tab &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastActivityDate="2014-03-13T11:04:14.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-13T13:40:42.197" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog just will not go to the toilet while on a leash. I take her out in the morning and 3-4 times during the evening (once before bed). She constantly whines - and when I mention going outside she gets really excited. However, she just will not urinate outside. She instead does it in her kennel while I'm out for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently moved from a house which had a fenced backyard and a few other dogs for her to play with to an apartment with a dog park and many places, including trees, for her to sniff out and use - but it seems nature just isn't running its course here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we go outside, she tends to stand or sit right next to me and rarely sniffs around even though there are many 'dog spots' to indicate this is the bathroom. I'm looking for tips on how I can key her in that it's better to go out here than in the place she has to stay for 8 hours a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 4 year old dachshund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="816" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-13T16:57:21.460" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T14:57:57.580" Title="Toilet training a leashed dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2529" CreationDate="2014-03-13T15:06:18.363" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I see that your situation has resolved itself, but I want to talk a bit about cat anorexia and fatty liver disease because it can be a real problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can stop eating for a variety of reasons. They ate a bug, they have a hairball making them feel weird, they're stressed, they have a cold, there are a ton of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feline Hepatic Lipidosis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main danger when a cat stops eating is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acvim.org/PetOwners/AnimalEducation/FactSheets/SmallAnimalInternalMedicine/HepaticLipidosisinCats.aspx&quot;&gt;feline hepatic lipidosis&lt;/a&gt;, commonly called fatty liver disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The exact mechanism by which fasting in a previously healthy cat&#xA;  causes hepatic lipidosis is not clear. The process is unique to cats&#xA;  in both severity and rate of occurrence. It is understood as the&#xA;  anorexia continues more and more fat is broken down throughout the&#xA;  body and that this fat is then transported to the liver. The liver&#xA;  should then process this fat and export it back to the rest of the&#xA;  body in a new form. In cats developing hepatic lipidosis this process&#xA;  is impaired and fat accumulates in the liver. Damage to the liver&#xA;  occurs as a result of liver cells being too swollen with fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also not really well understood how long it takes for a cat to develop fatty liver disease, but it's believed that overweight cats will develop it faster than normal/underweight cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat with recurring anorexia (as a result of sinus problems) and the general timeline we followed was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day One: Offer Food, no pressure &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Days 2-4: Initiate Force Feeding (high caloric density soft food with a syringe every 2 hours) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5+: Hospital stay for regular liver monitoring (hospital staff continued&#xA;force feeding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately he never developed fatty liver (he was pretty underweight from these recurrent episodes). It's very difficult to get enough calories into a cat with a syringe, and if I knew how often we'd be doing it I would have had a feeding tube placed in his neck to aid in the feedings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dehydration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another concern when a cat stops eating is dehydration, because cats get most of their water through their food (especially on a wet food diet). There are two ways to check your cat for dehydration at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scruff test. Pull the skin of the scruff (the back of the neck) away from their body a short distance and observe how quickly it returns to place (a healthy cat should snap back immediately, a dehydrated cat will sort of slide back into place).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gum test. Press your finger on the cat's gums. When you release your finger, there should be a white spot where your finger was. In a healthy cat, it'll take 1-2 seconds for that spot to return to pink. In a dehydrated cat it will take longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration can be easily treated, but a vet needs to examine the cat to be sure that there is not an underlying problem causing the dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When to See Your Vet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is dehydrated, you should see your vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has not eaten for 2 days, you should see your vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a Friday and your cat just stopped eating and your vet isn't available on the weekend, call you vet and ask for advice specific to your cat's health and any existing conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to Expect&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common treatment for anorexia is appetite stimulants. This medication is often used in addition to treating whatever the underlying cause for the anorexia may be. For example, in the cat with sinus problems, we would often give him antibiotics for the sinus infections and appetite stimulants to get him started eating again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=feedingtubes&quot;&gt;Feeding tubes&lt;/a&gt; are a treatment method for chronic anorexia, or anorexia that has progressed into hepatic lipidosis. It can sometimes be used as a treatment method in other cases of anorexia as well. For example, after a surgery, Juliet stopped eating due to stress. She hates being handled by people (medications, syringe feeding, etc), so I had the vet put in a feeding tube immediately and she was fine a week later. I believe that if we had tried to syringe feed her, it would have continued to stress her out (continuing the anorexia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is also dehydrated, the vet may &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/cat_fluids.aspx&quot;&gt;administer subcutaneous fluids&lt;/a&gt; to your cat, or use an IV for more intensive therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may need to stay overnight or at the vet's for several days if she is very ill (from anorexia, dehydration, or from the underlying cause).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T04:40:32.320" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T04:40:32.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2014-03-13T15:26:32.800" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, what happened is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/aggression-between-cats-after-a-veterinary-visit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Non-Recognition Aggression&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So imagine how threatening it must be for the cat who stayed home to&#xA;  see a cat being let out of the carrier, into her territory, who is&#xA;  carrying unfamiliar scents. In fact, when it comes to not smelling&#xA;  like her normal self, the situation is made worse because the scents&#xA;  are those of a very threatening (from kitty’s perspective)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The returning cat doesn’t smell the same and actually is carrying&#xA;  scents that the returning cat associates with fear. Not many cats look&#xA;  forward to a visit to the veterinarian. Having your companion cat&#xA;  actually bringing those threatening scents into your territory? Time&#xA;  to panic!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linked article (from Pam Johnson Bennett, a cat behaviorist who's work I recommend), includes some tips for how to avoid this situation, but since you're already 3 months in, I don't know that they will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that you'll need to give them a cooling off period to try to forget the aggression. Lock one of them in a bedroom (with food, water, litter) for long enough that you think they'll forget that they're upset with each other. A cage won't work because they'll be able to see each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then start introducing them as though they've never met before. Take a blanket that CatA has laid on and put it in CatB's room, and vice versa. Put CatB in another room and let CatA explore CatB's room, etc. When they start interacting together, make sure that you have a play toy handy so if they look cross, you can redirect that energy into play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will probably take a few months to get them happily cohabitating together like they were previously, but be patient and you can do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-03-14T15:10:07.040" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T15:10:07.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2540" CreationDate="2014-03-14T14:57:57.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult situation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/toilet-training+dogs&quot;&gt;existing Q&amp;amp;A we have for dogs&lt;/a&gt; I don't have a lot to offer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest a path using positive reinforcement. Take her outside on the leash in the area you want her to use and stay there until she goes potty.  When she does, give lots of positive reinforcement, pet her, give her a treat, etc.  It could be a long wait (8 to 12 hours?) so trying to anticipate when her need will be strongest, may help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep a positive attitude while you are waiting, you don't want make the trip to the potty place an unpleasant event.  She has to go sometime, your goal is to have her be in place that you can reward her for at the correct time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T14:57:57.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2550" CreationDate="2014-03-14T16:01:12.157" Score="13" ViewCount="1833" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several questions have addressed how to get cats to get along together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2484/how-to-stop-two-male-cats-from-fighting&quot;&gt;How to stop two male cats from fighting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/655/how-can-i-encourage-two-cats-to-get-along&quot;&gt;How can I encourage two cats to get along?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/223/how-do-we-handle-two-female-cats-in-the-household-demonstrating-alpha-behavior&quot;&gt;How do we handle two female cats in the household demonstrating alpha behavior?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/266/how-to-get-cats-to-coexist-in-peace&quot;&gt;How to get cats to coexist in peace?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/373/how-much-dominance-is-normal-in-2-cats-at-play&quot;&gt;How much dominance is normal in 2 cats at play&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/83/recommendations-for-introducing-kittens-to-adult-cats&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these situations has the potential to create a fight between the cats. While the fight is happening, what is the best way for me to react? Should I stop the fight (if so, how) or let it go on, and how can I tell the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T08:41:30.893" Title="How should I react to two fighting cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-14T18:40:43.857" Score="8" ViewCount="4803" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very interested in pigs, and recently I read that some farmers will give pigs nose rings to prevent them from rooting. This seems cruel considering that the nose is a pig's primary means of interaction with the world. However, I've also seen some arguments that preventing pigs from rooting protects then from parasites and infections that might be in the soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have there been any studies on the psychological and health effects of nose rings for pigs? I am having difficulty finding much information beyond basic pet care and enthusiast sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="966" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-15T00:46:52.140" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T21:40:38.820" Title="Is it cruel to give pigs nose rings?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2548" CreationDate="2014-03-14T19:50:48.163" Score="6" ViewCount="935" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat is about two years old and we got her from a shelter. Recently has been meowing almost non-stop as soon as she sees us, unless she's relaxed, like when we're petting or brushing her. I feel like we give her enough attention; we love our kitty! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also noticed she meows even more when I'm in the kitchen making food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They sound like &quot;happy&quot; meows (soft, higher-pitched in tone). It doesn't sound like or seem like she's in any pain or discomfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because she wants attention? Or wants a sample of what I'm preparing? Is there something she is trying to tell us? Should I even be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T22:26:43.607" Title="Why is my cat meowing so much?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2014-03-14T22:15:21.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;@ThomasH has an excellent answer and touches the question of using secondary punishers in a very precise way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I'm just adding some comments on two aspects of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Punish the wrong behaviour &lt;em&gt;vs.&lt;/em&gt; reinforce the correct behaviour&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the &quot;theory&quot; works the same on the &quot;reinforcer side&quot; and on the &quot;punisher side&quot; and it is effective, we should not forget that suppressing a behaviour does not teach the dog what to do instead and focuses mainly on the &quot;no&quot; part of the training leads to &lt;em&gt;micromanagement&lt;/em&gt;: you constantly need to teach the dog what he should not do. Even if the dog learns that he should not do X in a given situation, he's still free to perform Y, Z, etc. If you positively teach him (reinforce him) to do W instead that will probably stop some kind of vicious circle and make everyone happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Variable rate reinforcement / punishment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@ThomasH explained the concept of secondary reinforcers or punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One aspect to keep in mind is that, contrary to primary reinforcers/punishments, secondary ones have to be rewarded (in one way or the other) using a &lt;strong&gt;variable schedule&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food is a primary reinforcer. Each time the dog gets a piece of food he is reinforced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a keyword like &quot;yes&quot; or a click can become a secondary reinforcer. It is linked to a subsequent primary reinforcer. The key point is that it works because the dog learned that the secondary reinforcer is rewarded, by the primary reinforcer. Once this is learned, the link has to be maintained with actual rewards. At the begin (during the training) the reward will come every time, then it can be rewarded with a variable schedule. The variable schedule is actually strengthening the link as the dog can't anticipate when the primary reward will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is usually applied to &lt;em&gt;tertiary&lt;/em&gt; reinforcers: the cue &quot;sit&quot; is actually a reinforcer, as it may lead  to another reinforcer (a click for example) which then lead to an actual reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We usually never dissociate the secondary reinforcer (the click) from the primary reinforcer (for example the food reward). That keeps the link between the two extremely strong, and the variable rate is applied between the cue (tertiary reinforcer) and the click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in the case of the punishments you don't have a real &quot;tertiary punishment&quot;, so the variable rate of &quot;reinforcement&quot; (understood as punishment in this case) is between your secondary punishment (&quot;no&quot;) and the actual punishment (the box).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:06:10.460" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:06:10.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2546" CreationDate="2014-03-14T22:26:43.607" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you've indicated that you've recently added a new puppy, it sounds like she's just in a period of adjustment. This has happened in our house when we've brought home new arrivals. Once they realize the new kitten isn't going anywhere, there's a period of trying to reassert their place in the household. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else has changed about her behavior (eating, drinking, hiding, etc), then it's likely just a gentle, &quot;hey, I'm still here&quot;, like an older child acting out when mommy brings home the new baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastActivityDate="2014-03-14T22:26:43.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-15T11:55:20.573" Score="6" ViewCount="498" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 pets (a cat and a dog) that receive booster vaccines every year for communicable diseases they're no longer in contact with. They have been adopted from a shelter in non-Schengen area EU country where they had contact with many sick animals with canine distemper, canine hepatitis, etc., but for the last 2 years that I have them within the Schengen area EU, they have been out of that environment, and in no contact with any communicable diseases these booster vaccinations are helping to prevent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exclusively from their health point of view, and the health of other animals they're in contact with, is it still necessary to give them these booster annual vaccines, on top of those required by law in my country, like the annual rabies vaccinations? All animals are otherwise healthy and show no signs of being infected or carrying communicable diseases. Is there still any point in them receiving shots for communicable diseases they're for years no longer in contact with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T16:04:50.977" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T16:04:50.977" Title="Are annual booster vaccinations necessary for dogs and cats that are no longer in contact with communicable diseases they're preventing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2014-03-15T14:07:28.577" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I Stop The Fight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats play fight, and a little squabbling is normal to establish territorial dominance. Signs of a serious cat fight that should be interrupted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood on one/both of the cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growling (aggression), hissing (fear/aggression), or yowling (pain/fear)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puffed out fur (especially on the tail) indicates that the cat is trying to make himself appear bigger and is a sign of serious aggression or fear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ears laid back against the skull (if the ears are upright and pointed the cat is relaxed and happy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Do I Stop The Fight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is to not go near a pair of fighting cats. You risk injury to yourself, the cats, and the cats may associate you with the fight and loose their trust in you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to stop a cat fight is to distract them and interrupt the fight. From a hidden position (you don't want them to associate the distraction with you), create a loud noise (like bang some pots or clap your hands). Often this noise will startle the cats for a few seconds, allowing the victim cat to flee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally you'll need to interrupt the aggressor cat's sight of the victim cat in order to allow the victim cat time to get to a safe location. This should be done with a towel, pillowcase, or piece of cardboard so that you remain safe and somewhat removed from the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-03-15T14:07:28.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2560" CreationDate="2014-03-15T15:23:47.500" Score="16" ViewCount="54436" Body="&lt;p&gt;By demand meowing, I of course mean that loud, aggressive, nonstop meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that you can positively reinforce silence by rewarding a cat when it stops meowing (eg, &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/training-your-cat-to-be-quiet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Training your cat to be quiet&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;), but I don't understand what amount of time to allow after a meow for the reward - if she gets a reward as soon as she is silent for one second, doesn't that still reward the meowing? I'm also not sure whether responding to a &amp;quot;polite request&amp;quot; reinforces demanding requests, or if these different meows can be treated differently in training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, we give her dry food throughout the day, but if we just top it up at various times, it may sit too long and not get eaten. If she tells us that she wants some biscuits, that is helpful. She also gets canned meat once a day, but lately she's started to become very demanding up to 2 hours before the usual feeding time. We always wait it out, and make sure to give her the food once there is a gap in the meowing, but it is a great distraction up to that point and so far hasn't diminished the behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, we don't want to leave the door open all day; if she wants to go out, it's helpful for her to tell us. But if it is not convenient for us to let her out, because we're going out or to bed, she starts to get very loud and demanding. We do keep a clean litter box inside for her, and sometimes we'll place her in it in this situation, but it has never proven effective (maybe because she doesn't actually want to go to the toilet!). (NB she has never had any issue with using a litter box, and will use it no problem when it is the only option [after moving to a new house, for example], but she does strongly prefer doing her business outside).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to stop her from vocally demanding something without dissuading her from politely asking, or is this just too confusing for her? Will us waiting out the nonstop meowing eventually get her to stop doing it in general? Or is there perhaps a way to distract the cat into forgetting about what she so adamantly wants in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="629" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-10-09T15:25:09.783" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T15:25:09.783" Title="How can I train my cat to stop &quot;demand meowing&quot;, but not &quot;request meowing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2549" CreationDate="2014-03-15T15:26:09.480" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rabies vaccine is required because it's protecting against a virus that can affect humans. Sadly, even though the other viruses are actually a high risk for animals (including wild species), they don't have the stigma that the rabies virus does and so they're left as the owner's choice. If Old Yeller had canine distemper, it might have been a different story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live, you might only be at risk for certain viruses. For example, living in the north, I don't bother getting vaccinated for malaria, because it's a slim to none chance that I'll ever get malaria. You'll want to do some research, maybe consult a vet, to see what viruses are more prevalent in your part of the country, so you can weigh your options. Ultimately it's up to you, but I would like to point out that slight inconvenience now, could save you the inconvenience of a pet that contracts a painful illness later on. The costs of treating these illnesses are nothing to scoff at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like measles and the whooping cough for humans, there are some vaccines that every pet should have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core vaccines are considered vital to all dogs based on risk of&#xA;exposure, severity of disease or transmissibility to humans. Canine&#xA;parvovirus, distemper, canine hepatitis and rabies are considered core&#xA;vaccines by the Task Force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-core vaccines are given depending on the dog’s exposure risk.&#xA;These include vaccines against Bordetella bronchiseptica, Borrelia&#xA;burgdorferi and Leptospira bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/vaccinations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core vaccines are considered vital to all cats and protect against&#xA;panleukopenia (feline distemper), feline calici virus [sic], feline herpes&#xA;virus type I (rhinotracheitis) and rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-core vaccines are given depending on the cat's lifestyle; these&#xA;include vaccines for feline leukemia virus, Bordetella, Chylamydophila [sic]&#xA;felis and feline immunodeficiency virus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/vaccinations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These viruses are not just transferred from dog-to-dog or cat-to-cat. They also can be transferred through urine and feces. So while you might think your dog is safe not socializing with other people's pets, they are still at risk if you let them outside, or even if you bring it inside unawares.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dogs:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canine distemper especially is a big risk, because it infects all types of canines, and closely related animals as well so coyotes and foxes that might wander by at night when you don't see them could urinate and expose unvaccinated dogs who sniff that spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canine distemper actually infected the black-foot ferret population, bringing them to what we thought was extinction. It's also thought to be a contributing factor in the Tasmanian tiger's extinction. I believe now it's also affecting African wild dogs, and even mutating to infect sea lions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canine parvovirus is deadly if contracted. The only way a dog can survive after catching this virus is through aggressive treatment in a hospital. The virus causes severe dehydration, and damage to the dog's intestines and bone marrow. Untreated the mortality rate is 90%, treated the mortality rate is down to 80%, so you can see why it's better to prevent it entirely. Not to mention it can infect puppies before they've even been born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canine hepatitis is a liver infection spread by all type of canines (wild and domesticated) as well as bears. It's spread through the feces and urine of infected animals as well as the blood and saliva. Luckily, this one isn't as deadly as the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cats:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feline distemper is the same risk as Canine distemper (although without the history), it can be spread by other cats as well as minks and ferrets. Perhaps more importantly, it can be spread by fleas between all of the animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feline calicivirus is one of the two virus responsible for viral respiratory infections in cats. It's about an even 50% of cats with respiratory infections have this virus I believe. The virus causes mouth ulcers and fever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feline herpes (rhinotracheitis), also known as feline influenza, is the other half of respiratory infections. In younger cats it can cause pneumonia, and supposedly it causes flat-chest syndrome but I don't think there's anything to support that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the Feline calicivirus, and Feline influenza, cats can continue to carry the virus for years, if not for life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-15T16:54:35.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2566" CreationDate="2014-03-15T22:31:59.520" Score="14" ViewCount="838" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I have my dog I check him for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ticks&lt;/a&gt; when we're back from walks in the backcountry. So today I noticed one, then after checking carefully another one. Hopefully there is no other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question was: what should I do to remove it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to improvise a bit. I used tweezers, trying to get it as close to the skin as possible (to remove the whole beast). Is there a better way ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nPkaP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T09:14:25.203" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T12:14:46.030" Title="How to remove a tick on a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2558" CreationDate="2014-03-15T22:38:28.217" Score="6" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2553/how-to-remove-a-tick-on-a-dog&quot;&gt;removed two ticks&lt;/a&gt; from my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are their effects on dogs healths? I heard about &lt;em&gt;tick poisoning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from these direct effects, do they transmit other diseases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T12:58:44.327" Title="What are the effects of ticks on dogs and does it transmit diseases?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2556" CreationDate="2014-03-15T23:44:02.690" Score="4" ViewCount="21691" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike humans, there is no legislation that says that at &lt;em&gt;insert-local-legal-age-here&lt;/em&gt; a dog becomes an adult. However, there is a lot of information (mostly on food) that is different depending on if your dog is a puppy or an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 11 months old, I have no idea if my dog is a puppy or not! How can I tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that this question is similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/177/at-what-age-can-my-dog-be-considered-old&quot;&gt;this one (At what age can my dog be considered old?)&lt;/a&gt; that was closed for being opinion based. But as I mentioned, since there are a lot of products targeted at &quot;puppies&quot; and at &quot;adult dogs&quot; I believe that there has to be a factual answer out there, at least in the eye of the food industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="968" LastEditorUserId="968" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T20:34:39.070" LastActivityDate="2018-06-17T15:28:01.543" Title="At what age can I consider that my dog is an adult?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2555" CreationDate="2014-03-16T00:06:11.913" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Karen Overall, in her book &lt;em&gt;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats&lt;/em&gt; describes some general numbers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Until sexual maturity is the juvenile/puppy phase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6-9 months is sexual maturity and adolescence &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12-18 months is the start of social maturity and ends at about 24 to 36 months where the dog is considered adult.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6-10 years marks entering into senior territory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some senses it will depend on what you mean by &quot;adult&quot; because, as with humans, it's not entirely an age thing. We may call a person an adult at 18, but few seldom really are, that's a legal designation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, depending on the breed, you're talking about social maturity and that's at or around the 2 year mark, give or take. It really has breed variance, so average breed lifespan as a comparison would place any given dog at some point in those ranges and you can use that as a bit of a guide for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The periods described are also described in this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/ages-stages.html&quot;&gt;Dog Ages &amp;amp; Dog Stages&lt;/a&gt; which is backed up by the research information in Karen Overall's book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T00:06:11.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2561" CreationDate="2014-03-16T00:23:25.233" Score="8" ViewCount="51149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just fed my 2 corn snakes five live hoppers each about 5 hours ago. I like to leave them in their feeding boxes for a while to make sure they eat everything. I went back to put them back in their cage and one of them was dead. No outer signs of injury or stress. Now I know it's quite ridiculous to ask for an exact cause of death on here, but does anyone have any ideas how this happened or experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="969" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:29:01.513" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:18:21.893" Title="My corn snake died just after feeding. What are the possible causes?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2554" CreationDate="2014-03-16T00:24:27.333" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh yes, ticks are quite an issue for dogs. Some diseases that may be transmitted by ticks include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.testapet.com/test/babesiosis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canine babesiois&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_rocky_mountain_spotted_fever&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rocky mountain spotted fever&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ivis.org/advances/infect_dis_carmichael/waner/ivis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canine monocytic ehrlichiosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/infectious+cyclic+thrombocytopenia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cyclic thrombocytopenia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19761477&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Granulocytic anaplasmosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/id-mi/lyme-fs-eng.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lyme disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC207105/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American canine hepatozoonosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/circulatory_system/blood_parasites/old_world_hepatozoonosis_and_american_canine_hepatozoonosis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canine hepatozoonosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_tick_paralysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tick paralysis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of these associated issues may also effect humans if the ticks transfer from the dog to the human. So, be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; wary of that and be vigilant in keeping your dog tick free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More localized effects is that the tick can leave a small pimple-like mound that should go away in a day or two. Might be a little itchy. If it doesn't go away in a couple of days, take the dog to the vet. After tick removal, watch your dog carefully for signs of illness (e.g. not eating, vomiting, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T12:58:44.327" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T12:58:44.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2014-03-16T00:48:23.167" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According the &lt;em&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline&lt;/em&gt; the process is to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible with tweezers and &lt;strong&gt;gently&lt;/strong&gt; pull free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would wear disposable gloves and using blunt-tipped tweezers (to protect the skin of the dog), gently grasp the tick body and gently pull in the opposite direction of the mandibles. Avoid crushing the body of the tick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the head of the tick breaks off and remains, don't panic, it will be ejected in a few days and it's very rare in any event. You should wash the area with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide (use a cotton swab) and then apply a little bit of neosporin. A small bump may remain, but it should disappear in a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on your friend. As your follow up question asked, there's quite a lot of diseases associated with ticks, and so if you see anything out of place, get him to a vet ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T00:48:23.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2014-03-16T02:11:06.053" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have several Siamese (a breed known to be more talkative than normal), and when they want something WE KNOW (even when we don't know what it is that they want).  We've also done some basic voice training commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there a way to stop her from vocally demanding something without dissuading her from politely asking, or is this just too confusing for her?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how you would differentiate this in the training enough to make it clear to her without being confusing. The difference is really just &quot;don't meow enough to be annoying&quot; and I (as another human) wouldn't know exactly where that line is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I think it would work would be to instead train her to some behavior that  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when repeated by an annoyed cat isn't going to annoy you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;would serve the purpose of &quot;asking&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for example, sometimes our most bossy cat will just sit quietly by her food bowl when she's hungry and wait for food to magically appear. We laugh at her, but we could encourage that behavior since it's a non-annoying way for her to tell us that she's hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will us waiting out the nonstop meowing eventually get her to stop doing it in general?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, no. Eventually you'll learn to tune it out or get used to it (or lock yourself in the bedroom or turn the TV/radio up louder).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Or is there perhaps a way to distract the cat into forgetting about what she so adamantly wants in the first place?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes? It depends on what the cat wants and what you're trying to do.  Usually Ginger yells at us for attention, so if I put her in my lap that's close enough to what she wanted that she quiets down for awhile, even if I'm not actually paying attention to her. If the cat is bored (which may be why she wants to go outside), try an interactive wand toy. If the cat is hungry, try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/the-benefits-of-using-puzzle-feeders-for-cats/&quot;&gt;a puzzle feeder&lt;/a&gt; with a small amount of food. I'm not exactly giving the cat what she wants, but I am giving her a small part of what she wants, while stimulating her mind and providing excitement. I think these things help a lot for a typical bored housecat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T04:19:49.840" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T04:19:49.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2557" CreationDate="2014-03-16T04:46:41.970" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't necessarily see outward signs of stress. Which I believe is actually the case here. Plain and simple, and I can't stress this enough, you should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; feed your snake live food. If for some reason you absolutely have to, (i.e. you've tried every other option), you should only do so under strict supervision. You should still supervise feedings with frozen foods anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/sEae3MZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a picture of a ball python after a rat was put in it's cage overnight&lt;/a&gt;. Warning! It is quite gruesome. Original post with this image is found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1v80vl/my_friend_woke_up_to_his_pet_snake_getting_eaten/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your snake might not show bite marks, but that doesn't mean that the mice didn't fight back. I mean, why wouldn't they? They're fighting for their lives. Eating live prey can be one of the most stressful things a snake does, and that's why they live so long in captivity, because they don't have to eat live prey. Not to mention, having multiple mice in a feeding container, it's not like the other mice are going to stand back while the snake is eating one of them. It's pretty hardwired into rodents to attack snakes if they see them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some states have made it illegal to feed snakes live prey. Partly because it can be seen as cruel to the feeder animals, but mostly because of how painful it is for the snake to be torn apart by the rodent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes are ambush predators. They sneak up on their prey and catch them unawares. It's practically impossible to ensure that the snake has the upper hand in captivity. Whether you put the snake or mice in first, the mice will know the snake is there. If not by sight, then by smell. Basically, if you want to ensure the snake is able to capture it's food properly, you'd have to let the mice go in your house, and let the snake go after them. Then, you no longer have a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What probably happened, is that the mouse was struggling as the snake was swallowing it, and it's claws tore into the snake's insides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing I'm worried about, is how many mice your feeding your snake. It sounds like you put 2 snakes and 10 mice into the same container and left them to fend for themselves. Corn snakes are opportunistic feeders, and will eat as much as they can, in case there's a shortage of food later on. There wouldn't be, since they're pets, but they don't understand that - It's instinctual. Unless they're in separate containers, it's quite probable that they get different amounts of food each feeding time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say the age or size of the snakes. But even for a grown adult corn snake, they shouldn't eat multiple mice at one time (definitely not 5 at a time). Even though the mice are small, you need to adjust their feeding schedule so you're feeding them more often, not all at once. Even feeding multiple frozen mice to a snake can cause internal damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T04:46:41.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2563" CreationDate="2014-03-16T05:02:59.060" Score="8" ViewCount="6287" Body="&lt;p&gt;This term &quot;hopper mouse&quot; just got used in a recent question, and it seems to be a term that only people that have experience with snakes know. So what is a &quot;hopper&quot; mouse? What are the other terms used, and their definitions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T19:08:09.357" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T03:15:38.723" Title="What terms are used for mice that are fed to snakes, and what are their meanings?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2562" CreationDate="2014-03-16T05:02:59.060" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There a four terms used for different sizes of mice fed to snakes. In order from smallest to largest they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pinky&lt;/strong&gt; Is a mouse that's so young it hasn't developed it's fur yet. The term refers to the color of the mouse's skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it's basically a newborn mouse, it's obviously going to be the smallest size mouse you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fuzzy&lt;/strong&gt; Is a mouse that's just a little bit older than a Pinky Mouse. Just old enough that it starts to grow it's fur. Hence, it's fuzzy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hopper&lt;/strong&gt; Is a young mouse that is at the stage in development where it begins to move around. Since they're still quite young and developing, they move around more by hopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also used to refer to young gerbils (at least in my area), since gerbils move around by hopping on their back legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adult Mouse&lt;/strong&gt; No explanation needed really. It's an adult mouse. It's fully grown, so it's the biggest size of a mouse you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rats are used for larger snakes, but don't carry the same slang terminology as mice. At least in my experience they're simply referred to as &quot;small&quot;, &quot;medium&quot;, or &quot;large&quot;, rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="1218" LastEditDate="2014-04-20T21:09:04.343" LastActivityDate="2014-04-20T21:09:04.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2565" CreationDate="2014-03-16T09:00:21.777" Score="6" ViewCount="1269" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 8 months ago we got a cat from the shelter. About two months after that we bought two guinea pigs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat seems to be both interested and afraid of the guinea pigs. When the guinea pigs are just eating, sleeping, or whatever she likes to watch them very closely. She even sometimes steps into their pen, sits on the roof of the little house the guinea pigs have. Sometimes she drives away the guinea pigs by touching them, usually when she has lots of energy and needs to be played with. When one of the guinea pigs looks at her directly, she immediately backs off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we allow the guinea pigs to roam the living room she keeps her distance though. If a guinea pig comes to close she runs away as if she's afraid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can one explain this behavior? Is my cat afraid of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="970" LastEditorUserId="970" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T17:41:38.520" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T02:00:38.220" Title="Is my cat afraid of guinea pigs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2564" CreationDate="2014-03-16T09:13:51.793" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat was apparently not raised in close contact with guinea pigs. So the cat doesn't know how to react and has a fear reaction when they are too close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it was not a guinea pig but a wolf it is probable that the cat would perceive it as a threat all the time. But here as the guinea pig is small the cat is trying to approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just let things go as they are and they'll get used to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bONNz.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T09:13:51.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2014-03-16T11:51:46.733" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a lot of ticks in the South-West Finland and so I have been removing ticks from our dogs on regular basis every spring. We never seem to treat the dogs with tick repellent early enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To remove ticks I have used normal tweezers, special &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trixie.de/en/prod/Dog_Tick_Tweezers,13060&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;tick-tweezers&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, bare fingernails and a tick lasso. So far the absolutely best device for removing ticks has been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wagthedoguk.com/dont-get-ticked-off-remove-ticks-from-dogs-with-a-tick-lasso/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a tick lasso&lt;/a&gt;. I'm not affiliated with the company named in the picture, but for the old saying; a picture talks a thousand words. A tick lasso:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XEHXw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this device is easy, safe, almost 100% success, and you don't even need protective gloves in hand. Push the button on the other end of the &quot;pen&quot; and a lasso of a thin nylon string will come out from the other end. Ease the lasso over the tick so that it goes around the tick near the dog's skin. Release the button, which tightens the lasso, and raise the pen straight outwards from the skin, then rotate the &quot;pen&quot; while simultaneously pulling gently out. Tick comes out whole, usually still alive even. Drop the tick in a toilet and flush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have removed ticks from real tough places, like from the corner of a dog's eye, where you would not dare go with normal tweezers. I won't recommend anything but a lasso for removing ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qnsld.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Red dot = tick&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-03-16T12:14:46.030" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T12:14:46.030" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2656" CreationDate="2014-03-16T21:51:20.597" Score="8" ViewCount="1460" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the term brumation used when talking about various reptiles. I haven't heard the term used with any animal besides reptiles, so I'm assuming it's something specific to reptiles. So what is brumation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T19:07:23.297" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T15:01:35.163" Title="What is brumation?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2567" CreationDate="2014-03-16T21:51:20.597" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brumation is a form of hibernation that certain species of reptiles will go through. The reason that there are different terms for the two forms, is because the two have different metabolic processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way I can describe it is that hibernation is something that warm-blooded animals have chosen to do through the process of evolution, because it saves them from trying to survive during months where there might be little to no food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: Insects that live for multiple years will hibernate because the plants that they feed on are under snow and ice, which in turn makes animals like bats and frogs that feed solely on insects hibernate because it would be too inefficient to spend energy finding the insect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brumation is something that cold-blooded animals are forced to do, because their bodies are so directly linked to the outside temperature. That is why reptiles that come from tropical climates, where it stays warm pretty consistently, will not brumate. [Note: There are some reptiles that live in consistently cooler regions (like mountain areas) that don't necessarily brumate, because of how their species evolved to live in the colder climate]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because reptiles need certain temperatures to absorb nutrients from their food, the colder temperatures means they cannot gain energy even if they did eat. So, their bodies go into the state of sleep similar to hibernation to keep from starving to death. Most reptiles will  &quot;wake up&quot; every few days as they still need to stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-16T21:51:20.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-17T00:04:09.273" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have some good answers here, I just wanted to add a bit more info based on the research I did before getting my first cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The information I found indicated that a wet food diet was usually more beneficial than a dry food diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wet food is generally subjected to less heat during processing and thus suffers less nutrient and protein degradation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It has a much higher moisture content. Cats have a low thirst drive in general and many cats can end up with chronic low-level dehydration when fed exclusively dry food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Along with the decreased risk of dehydration, the increased moisture content also makes things like urinary tract infections less likely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When dry matter/moisture content is corrected for, wet food often comes out ahead nutritionally (as far as fat and protein and the like are concerned).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wet foods tend to have far fewer &quot;fillers&quot; in them since they don't have to be formed into pellets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wet food tends to be closer in composition to a cat's &quot;natural&quot; diet. Cats haven't been changed by domestication nearly as much as some other animals (such as dogs) and their digestive tract and dietary needs are still much the same as their wild counterparts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats who have issues with obesity often do better on a wet food diet than a dry food diet. Wet food is often thought of as rich and decadent, but a good (or even average) quality wet food will actually provide better nutrition with fewer fillers than your average dry food. This combined with the fact that wet food feedings are normally more regulated than dry food (which is often offered on a &quot;free feed&quot; basis) means that obese cats may actually slim down with a switch to wet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be drawbacks to feeding wet food, but from the information I found, these are more often financial than physical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry food is generally cheaper than wet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many people find dry food to be more convenient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry food is often touted as being beneficial to oral health. However, there doesn't seem to be any data to actually back this up. At best, it seems it is no worse for the teeth than wet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offering food on a &quot;free feed&quot; basis allows cats to regulate their own food intake and eat according to their appetites. Free feeding is generally not practical with wet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have chosen to feed a mix of wet and dry food for my cats. They get a measured portion of wet food twice a day and have dry food available on a &quot;free feed&quot; basis the rest of the time. This seems to work well for me and my cats. Different cats may have different health concerns and specific dietary needs. However, in the general case, I believe that wet food as part or all of a cat's diet is beneficial overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="164" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T00:51:37.240" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T00:51:37.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-17T09:13:29.170" Score="9" ViewCount="771" Body="&lt;p&gt;We own 2 cockatiels but also love cats, so we're wondering whether it would be possible to have one without endangering the birds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a kitten growing up with these birds be friendly with them, or is bird hunting an instinct that cannot be unlearned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be relevant that the cockatiels are not really tame and don't let themselves be petted. They probably would keep their distance from the cat as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="946" LastEditorUserId="946" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T11:18:41.047" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T12:07:58.473" Title="Is it possible to raise a cat not to be a threat to pet birds?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2780" CreationDate="2014-03-17T01:52:15.617" Score="12" ViewCount="225678" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 15-year-old dog has decided she no longer wants to be house trained.  As a result, we have several set-in dog urine spots in our carpet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a consumer Hoover &quot;steam&quot; cleaner and have repeatedly gone over the affected areas on several occasions, but can't get rid of the odor.  Is there any hope for getting rid of the smell?   We don't want to replace the carpet yet, as it's likely she'll keep repeating the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any ways to effectively remove the smell?  How can I know if the smell is permanent and the carpet/padding need to be replaced?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="978" OwnerDisplayName="glenviewjeff" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-19T21:48:13.217" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T17:08:17.543" Title="How can I eliminate set-in dog urine scent from a carpet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2618" CreationDate="2014-03-17T10:47:06.563" Score="3" ViewCount="478" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dog of one of my relatives has fear and anxiety problems. A few months ago the vet suggested &lt;em&gt;micro-massaging&lt;/em&gt; the dog. I didn't know what it meant at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I heard about the &lt;strong&gt;Tellington TTouch method&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;TTouch&lt;/em&gt; if for &lt;em&gt;Tellington Touch&lt;/em&gt;) and realised this was probably what the vet was referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method appear to be based on a set of &lt;em&gt;touches&lt;/em&gt; performed on the dog in some specific ways and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ttouch.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;it is mentioned&lt;/a&gt; that benefits include higher relaxation state, increased learning performances, improved injury healing, etc. The picture shows a &lt;em&gt;TTouch&lt;/em&gt; being done on a dog's ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has apparently been used with different animals, including horses, dogs and ... humans. The main source of information seems to be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ttouch.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;author's website&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Tellington-Jones/e/B000ARBDOA/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bunch of books&lt;/a&gt; from the same person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this method and in what cases could its use be beneficial to the dog mental or physical health? Are there scientific data supporting its benefits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now reading the book &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Getting-Touch-With-Your-Dog-ebook/dp/B00FO82SLW/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1395053099&amp;amp;sr=1-3&amp;amp;keywords=tellington&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Getting in TTouch with Your Dog: A Gentle Approach to Influencing Behavior, Health, and Performance&lt;/a&gt;&quot; so I might answer part of the question later but I'm also looking for an answer based on sources or references from other authors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JmvWw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;TTouch massages on a dog&amp;#39;s ear.&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T14:25:30.760" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T14:25:30.760" Title="What is the Tellington TTouch method and what are the benefits for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;ttouch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2575" CreationDate="2014-03-17T13:02:51.813" Score="19" ViewCount="15686" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has an indoor cat that now lives together with us. I never had any pets before, so I have a hard time interpreting. Sometimes, she will approach me and meow in a voice that sounds like “I desperately want attention”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I slowly reach down to her and try to pet her. Then she turns around and moves away, so that I can barely reach the lower back. She will stop there, notice that I am not petting and make another meow that sound accusatory to me. She turns back around, I pet her sides or her head, and she moves away from me again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This just happened after I wrote the post. She came to me, got petted a little but, went away and rolled over. We often pet her when she lies of her side or her back, but she is getting up directly afterwards today. This is new to the behavior I have described already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20140318053736/http://chaos.stw-bonn.de/users/mu/uploads/2014-03-17/Isi.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;14 MB animated GIF showing me petting her&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, food and water are just fine, so that is probably not the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to pick her up works at some times, often she will jump away like I scared her. If I managed to set her onto my lap, she will stay for some 20 seconds and jump off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually she will come back five minutes later and sit on my mousepad or in front of my keyboard. Then I am able to pet her a minute before she goes away. Now she is sitting on a pillow next to my desk and dozes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does she want when she approaches me and meows like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="12259" LastEditDate="2020-04-17T05:32:05.750" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T05:32:05.750" Title="What does this cat want from me when meowing accusingly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="384" CreationDate="2014-03-17T14:16:22.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in other answers, there are size and lifespan differences you might want to consider as well. Obviously a bigger snake needs more space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as difference goes, it's all dependant on the snake, and the previous owner. Some snakes can just be totally against handling, and there's nothing the owner can do about it. Generally, you'll find snakes with those personalities to be the species that are newer to the pet industry, so most king snakes and some boas should be generally easy to handle. Just know their are always exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get a baby snake, it's all dependent on you to handle it regularly. Regular handling while the snake is young is what gets the snake used to human interaction - giving it the friendly personality. A snake that is rarely handled is more likely to avoid human interaction, and even strike at hands that enter it's cage because it still feels that humans are dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when you get an adult snake, you can get the advantage of a snake that's already been handled regularly. Giving you a head start (you only have to get it used to how you smell), and a more mellow snake. But, you have to be wary of people selling snakes they've had as pets, because they're selling them for a reason. Maybe because they found that caring for the snake is too expensive, or having a snake as a pet isn't what they first imagined it would be like, or more importantly to you, they didn't have time for the snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say adopting an adult snake from someone is more of a rescue operation, and if you take on the responsibility, you should be prepared for a snake that might need some extra attention. Getting it settled into it's new home, and possibly some type of re-taming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T15:23:43.097" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T15:23:43.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2573" CreationDate="2014-03-17T14:48:10.603" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Odds are, the cat's as wary of you as you are of her. She wants to know if she can trust you. These cautious approaches are very typical, and you're handling it very well. As she starts to get more comfortable with you, she'll stick around longer for more attention. Not chasing after her or holding her in your lap when she wants to go are very good things, as she knows that she can get attention from you when she wants and also leave when she wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the video you included, I'd say you have nothing to worry about. She clearly likes the attention you're giving her. She just wants to have it on her terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T14:48:10.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2405" CreationDate="2014-03-17T15:08:16.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll summarize a bit from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ratguide.com/health/basics/advanced_health_check.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Advanced Health Check from ratguide.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's hard to say sometimes with animals, as some types of illnesses are difficult to see from the outside, there are some things you can check in the store, and some other things you might be able to check once you bring it home. Although it's not a bad idea to take any new pets to get checked by a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alertness:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A rat that is perky and energetic is a good sign of a healthy rat. Look for a rat with clear, bright eyes, and perked up ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ears:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Make sure there are no obstructions or discoloration in the ears. They should be a clear pinkish color. Also make sure that they are soft, with no crusting or hardening occurring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail and Feet:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Make sure that there are no signs of inflammation or sore on the tail or feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fur:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The fur should be clean and well groomed. If the rat is not keeping itself clean, then there is a problem. Also watch for excessive itching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Balance:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Place the rat on a flat surface and lift it's chest with your finger. The rat should be able to maintain its balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teeth:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If possible, check that the teeth are growing normally. A slight yellow color is normal (they don't brush they teeth), but you want to make sure they aren't growing abnormally. They should be pretty straight. The gums should be a pinkish color, not white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nose:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Make sure their is no drainage from the nose, and that the rat is able to breath freely. Rats normally breath quietly, at a rate of 71-146 depending on the size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heart:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A normal heart rate is in between 250-493 beats per minute (though a rat's heart might beat pretty fast if it's not used to being held).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feces:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Diarrhea, discoloration, and unusually foul-smelling feces are a sign of illness. Though you might not discover this until you've brought the rat home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Housing conditions:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Most pet stores keep rodents all together in the same cage, and also in a glass aquarium (which is not healthy for rats). These obviously aren't the best conditions and if you notice one or more rats in the same aquarium that are showing signs of obvious illness, then I would avoid getting any rat from that group, as they've all been in close exposure to the illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to look at is how clean the cage is. A cage that isn't kept clean is begging for bacteria growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;What food and water do you see available in the cage they're in at the store? Are they out of water? An empty water bottle could mean that they are not given water frequently enough, and they could be suffering from dehydration. Although that is minor, and easily fixed by giving them fresh water when you take them home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, what kind of food do they have? Is it a good diet? It might not matter too much if the rats don't spend a long time in the cage, but if it's an unhealthy diet, any rats that spend a decent amount of time in the cage living off of the food might be suffering from malnutrition and/or be overweight. This might be relatively easy to solve once you bring them home, but it might take some work to introduce healthy food to them as they might reject the taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight of adult rats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male: 250-550 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Female: 225-400 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note: It's not a bad idea to weigh pet rats on occasion after purchasing them, because weight loss is a good indicator that something is wrong.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Temperature:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 37.5-38 degrees Centigrade (99-100 degrees Fahrenheit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-05T22:09:12.693" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T22:09:12.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2570" CreationDate="2014-03-17T16:23:38.123" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am hoping that someone with more experience with cats and birds will provide a better answer to this question, with &quot;how to&quot; direction. But here is part of the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are naturally drawn to the types of movements that birds (&lt;em&gt;and prey animals in general&lt;/em&gt;) make, there is nothing you can do to to stop them from having an interest in birds. Regardless of the species (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219/&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;see related&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) being introduced, every member of your family (human or otherwise) will need some type of planned meeting and supervised visits to live successfully together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and Dogs have the ability to differentiate members of the household from those not belonging to the household.  But is up to you to provide the training.  In my rabbit volunteer capacity I get a lot of questions about cross species interaction, one of my recurring examples is that just because a dog barks at the mailman, does not mean they will naturally be aggressive to all people...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of decades ago, I lived on several acres with, a multitude of animals.  I had a cat who was free roaming, primarily to keep non-family critters (i.e. mice) away from the grain.  At the same time I had free roaming chickens and lots of baby chicks.  The mother chickens and myself were able to convince cats that baby chicks are family.  One spring I had several baby turkeys in a pen, and one cat in particular, had a strong attraction to watching them. He would leave the baby chickens alone, and never made any move to kill one.  But he would sit outside the pen, watching those turkeys for hours, his tail twitching in that way that implies what he is thinking about doing to those turkeys.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well one day, when the turkeys were all twice as big as him, I scooped him up and let him join me in the turkey pen.  He decided he really did not have a desire to actually be &quot;IN THE PEN&quot; with turkey's and made his desire to be on the other side of the wire, very clear very quickly.  I let him back out, and a few minutes later he was back watching the turkeys with his tail doing that little twitch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my part of the answer is; while the hunting instinct cannot be unlearned, it can be directed.  A cat can learn to except a bird as part of the family.  This will not keep it from going after wild birds, but those in the shared space that are &quot;family&quot; can be safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T16:23:38.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2589" CreationDate="2014-03-17T16:28:35.193" Score="4" ViewCount="496" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard some cat owners speak of &quot;belling the cat&quot;.  What is this, and why would anyone do it to their cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:49:03.930" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:49:03.930" Title="What does it mean to &quot;bell the cat&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2578" CreationDate="2014-03-17T16:40:49.790" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how the term is used I think. I know the term from one of Aesop's fables, where a group of mice gathered together to figure out a solution to keep from being eaten by a cat. They decided to put a bell on the cat so that they'd hear it coming, and be able to run away from it in time. But, when it came time to get volunteers, no one would do it (the usual mumbling and excuses about why they couldn't do it but someone else should).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context &quot;belling the cat&quot; is an idiom to agree to an impossible task (or just one that no one will actually participate in). I think it was used in medieval times, referencing when people wanted to overthrow a ruler. I've never heard it actually being used myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess a more modern use, I'd guess it's taken a more literal meaning, where people are talking about putting a bell on their cat so that they know where it is in their house. That way they know where it is, and if it's causing trouble. That's just a guess though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T16:40:49.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2713" CreationDate="2014-03-17T16:43:40.383" Score="11" ViewCount="7188" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a pretty sweet little Green-Cheek Conure (very beautiful bird) who is pretty well behaved, all things considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she finds her way to us (my wife and I), which is pretty seldom, she is quite pleasant. She doesn't bite, plays a bit, and is overall, really well behaved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know she likes attention by how she acts when we're talking to her and playing with her on her cage (in fact, one time she even made it all the way from her cage on the kitchen table, ten feet away, in the dark, with only the light of the living room T.V., walked across the floor, and started climbing up my side [I was sitting on my knees]). Clearly, she likes attention, when she wants it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing she has a problem with is seeing our fingers as a perch. We raise up our finger, say &quot;Step up!&quot;, she responds by pecking at it (not hard, but enough to tell us to back off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried putting a piece of green apple (which she loves) between her and my finger, but she tends to bite harder with the anticipation of getting the apple (as if the finger is in her way, and not a tool to be utilized to get what she wants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to reinforce good behavior with positive reinforcement, but she never gets it right for me to positively reinforce her, in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to show her that my finger = perch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional Information&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We're not really sure it's a &quot;she&quot; we just call her that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is about (or a little over) a year old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've tried to adopt the approach of putting my finger up, and as soon as it looks like she's going to turn to run away, I back off. I also back off as soon as she reaches out to peck at the finger. I thought this would show her not to be scared, but I don't know if this is the right approach or not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="942" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T05:26:03.083" Title="How Can I Teach My Green-Cheek Conure the Concept of &quot;Stepping Up?&quot;" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="387" CreationDate="2014-03-17T16:47:28.490" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to add an answer here, one that is unfortunately given too rarely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very often we are looking for the reason &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; dogs perform an (usually) unwanted behaviour. It seems that this will help us correct the behaviour but there are two pitfalls here: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;first one is that it is a behaviour that has to be &lt;em&gt;corrected&lt;/em&gt; while it is usually just a matter of changing a behaviour (how would a dog know that we don't like him to pull while on leash? Ask &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogcentral.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Husky-Sled-Dog-9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this guy&lt;/a&gt;!). Using the verb &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; already places you in position where you are &lt;em&gt;against&lt;/em&gt; your own pet... Would you want to correct a kid who's not throwing a ball correctly? Or do you want to spend time with him, teaching him things he doesn't know yet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;second it implies that knowing the inner psychology of the thing will actually help us devise a more efficient training method. In most cases this is plain wrong. Scientific studies have been done on what brainpower the dog actually have and others have led us to a learning theory applicable to most animals (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Dog-Sense-Science-Behavior-Better-ebook/dp/B007ZDDJYE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1395074310&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=dog%20sense&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/1860542387/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i4?pf_rd_m=A1X6FK5RDHNB96&amp;amp;pf_rd_s=center-2&amp;amp;pf_rd_r=11ECZJ61A2EHJXR43441&amp;amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;amp;pf_rd_p=455673027&amp;amp;pf_rd_i=405320&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and references therein).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: your question is a &lt;strong&gt;training&lt;/strong&gt; problem! Not a problem in the dog's mind. We have to find ways to train the dog. Period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your question it seems that your dog should be trained to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not pull while on leash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ignore moving objects and people while walking (this is a distraction on top of the training of the first point)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pay attention to you, ideally making eye contact every now and then, this is an additional criterion to be added to the training of the first point. It has to be trained separately first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is meant to be a constructive answer, not a rant against the other answer, but: if anyone manage to train his dog not to pull on leash following the three steps given at the end of the other answer, please publish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-18T11:26:28.343" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T11:26:28.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2573" CreationDate="2014-03-17T19:02:37.570" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try following her. My cat will sometimes meow incessantly until I get up and follow her to a dirty litter box, empty water bowl, or a closed door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="977" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T19:02:37.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2571" CreationDate="2014-03-17T19:25:18.147" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually like Nature's Miracle as far as pet stain and smell removers go. You can get it in different strengths. If You're finding that it's a tough stain, you might want to try the version made for cat urine. Cat urine generally sticks around more than dog's, so the kinds made to get rid of cat urine are stronger because of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else you can try is vinegar. It's actually really good at getting rid of carpet smells. Basically the vinegar smell replaces the smell of ammonia from the urine, and then you can easily dissipate the vinegar smell with an open window and a few minutes. Just makes sure to use a shop-vac or something to get all the moisture out of the carpet so it doesn't mold underneath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T19:25:18.147" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2584" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-17T19:39:46.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Decorations can be anything inside an enclosure that does not include the substrate. Generally, decorations are more prominent in aquariums and terrariums. Though that doesn't mean that there can't be decorations in other enclosures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of some types of decorations might see in an aquarium or terrarium are: Plants, driftwood, backgrounds, sunken ships/castles, statues, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decorations are used for aesthetic value. Though some decorations also serve a purpose, as in giving the animal a place to hide, or as a part of reproducing the animal's natural habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T20:10:35.530" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T20:10:35.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2585" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-17T19:39:46.413" Score="0" Body="Decorations are items placed inside an enclosure (usually aquariums and/or terrariums), not including the substrate. Decorations are generally used for aesthetic value, though they can also serve a purpose. As in giving the animal a place to hide, or as a part of reproducing the animal's natural habitat." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-17T20:10:40.703" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T20:10:40.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2573" CreationDate="2014-03-17T22:11:51.890" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another option: If this cat tends to be rather vocal, she may just want to have a &quot;conversation&quot; with you. My cat will do this; what she wants is for me to just talk to her, and she will meow back. What's entertaining is she meows with the appropriate intonation in response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she's wary of you, here are a few tips that may help. When you pet her, don't reach down from above. Try instead to bring your hand in from the side. A &quot;giant&quot; hand coming down from above is a little frightening. Also, when you pick her up, do so with an exaggerated amount of gentleness, as if she were a very fragile egg. She will probably love it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-03-17T22:11:51.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2578" CreationDate="2014-03-18T00:01:14.127" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many pet owners that allow their cats to roam outside will often &quot;bell them&quot; to prevent the cat from being able to sneak up on (and subsequently kill) any local wildlife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T00:01:14.127" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2595" CreationDate="2014-03-18T01:04:36.897" Score="27" ViewCount="171813" Body="&lt;p&gt;I opened a can of tuna today and my cats went absolutely insane over the smell. I let them have a very tiny piece and they absolutely loved it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm concerned about is that it's canned tuna. There's already another question about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1312/is-it-safe-for-my-cat-to-eat-fish?rq=1&quot;&gt;whether or not feeding fish to cats is okay&lt;/a&gt;. But I think that question is asking more about fish that are fresh, or frozen. Not to mention the two answers are divided on whether it's harmful, or okay to feed sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if canned fish is okay to give to my cats, at least as the occasional treat? Or there are ingredients in the canned fish that is harmful to cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T14:05:23.163" Title="Is it okay to feed my cats canned tuna?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2600" CreationDate="2014-03-18T09:41:05.347" Score="11" ViewCount="520" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dog of one my relatives suffer from extreme fear reactions and his life is about finding ways to hide in a dark corner of the house and spend half a day there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to describe the dog's behaviour and give my understanding of the problem. In short: &lt;strong&gt;how can we help the dog overcome his general fearful state of mind ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;About the dog&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From time to time he just &quot;shuts down&quot; when noticing that the owner wants to go for a walk. He'll either hide or just &quot;act dead&quot;. He often does that while on walk too, for no obvious reason. It doesn't to be related to a specific thing (like cars or other dogs). He think he's in such a general fearful state that with time he associated many neutral situations with things that were initially starting his fear reactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is clearly afraid of fireworks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog was (in my view) not properly socialised and/or exposed to enough stimuli (cars, people, other dogs, loud noises, etc.) in his early life (from 8 weeks to his final shots, probably around 16 weeks). The reason was that the vet advised to keep him in the house for that period to avoid any potential problem before his first shots. Now that I know how important early socialisation is, this seems a bit crazy to me but that's what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is not showing signs of agression. When facing a &quot;fight or flight&quot; situation he definitely chose the second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is a two and half years old Border Collie, pure breed. I don't have much information about the breeder. The family of the owner reports that the mother was &lt;em&gt;fearful&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all of that is far from perfect and it is quite sad to see the dog in that state of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have detailed explanation but apparently the vet tried to help the dog reach a more relaxed state with &lt;em&gt;micro massaging&lt;/em&gt;. I think he was referring to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2572/what-is-the-tellington-ttouch-method-and-what-are-the-benefits-for-dogs&quot;&gt;Tellington TTouch method&lt;/a&gt; (see the related question, the picture there is not the dog I'm talking about here).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Potential solutions and questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dogs with specific fear-related problems I think the way to treat the dog is with &lt;em&gt;classical counter-conditioning&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;desensitisation&lt;/em&gt;. However I think the difficult part is that it is too easy to go too far too quickly and to actually &lt;em&gt;flood&lt;/em&gt; the dog. &lt;a href=&quot;http://beyondcesarmillan.weebly.com/andrew-luescher.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;There have been many criticism that it is what Cesar Milan does quite often in the presence of fearful dogs&lt;/a&gt; (not my goal to start a debate here but in this case it is my main concern).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as in this case we have a generally fearful dog, how should we proceed ? I don't know if the best strategy is to &lt;strong&gt;work on each fear reaction individually&lt;/strong&gt;, gradually exposing the dog to them. Or if it is better to &lt;strong&gt;treat the problem as a whole&lt;/strong&gt;. If so, I don't know how and I don't know what the techniques are. &lt;strong&gt;This is my main question&lt;/strong&gt;. What is the clinical definition of the situation ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T06:29:46.827" Title="How to improve the condition of a very fearful dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2573" CreationDate="2014-03-18T10:09:24.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have masters, cats have staff, or subjects. Cats need just the right amount of attention and always on their terms not yours. It's really about control. So when this interloper (you) came into her kingdom she feels she has to bend you to to her will.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T10:09:24.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2570" CreationDate="2014-03-18T12:07:58.473" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience, it's possible for a cat to accept birds as part of the household but there are limits and risks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things I'd recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the bird cage is sturdy and hung from the ceiling (if small) in a location the cat &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; reach (this can be a challenge, since cats can jump a long way, and you don't need the cat trying to get at these 'fun playmates' and winding up hanging from the bird cage). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cage is too big to hang, make sure it's not going to be tipped over. Birds frighten easily, and a tipped cage can bend enough that the bird can get out. At that point, the cat's instincts could well take over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the birds are tame enough to be let out of their cage, and especially if they're wing-clipped, make sure the cat is shut out of the room when the birds are out. Even if the cat knows the birds are part of the family, bird movements will trigger the predator instincts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to make sure you don't have vermin. My family lost a much-loved peach-faced lovebird (tame and wing-clipped) because a mouse ran up a curtain too close to the bird cage and when the cat went after the mouse he knocked the bird cage loose. Instinct happened, and that morning we were greeted with lovebird feathers all over the living room and a happy cat who'd had a lovely chase (until then, the cat had ignored the bird and birdcage. But having a distressed bird flapping around in his territory was just too much temptation).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T12:07:58.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2573" CreationDate="2014-03-18T12:49:18.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Roger.&#xA;The animated gif (and to a lesser extent the text) suggest the cat wants to be friends but is also very stressed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body gestures are a mix of &quot;pet me&quot; &quot;I'm afraid&quot; and &quot;don't attack me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sudden strident meow is probably just it being worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just moved- note that is VERY stressful for a cat.  They may know they can get food from a human but they assume that their territory is where the food comes from.  Moving is like you loosing your job and getting a new one where you have no idea what the salary is.  As time goes on the cat will get used to the new territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T12:49:18.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2014-03-18T15:07:50.807" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably one of the worst things tuna has, is the high levels of mercury. Even in humans, high levels of mercury acts as a neurotoxin, damaging the brain and nervous system. Since cats have a much smaller body mass than humans, their tolerance for mercury is going to be lower as well. For that reason, it's important to limit how much tuna you feed your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was actually a study done in 1974 titled &quot;Neurological Changes in Cats following Long-Term Diet of Mercury Contaminated Tuna&quot; by Louis W. Chang, Seiya Yamaguchi and Alden W. Dudley, Jr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall, but it can be accessed &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00687167&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and the first page and an abstract can be viewed. I will try to summarize my understanding of the study below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sixteen kittens (both male and female) were fed a daily diet of tuna&#xA;  that contained a mercury content of 0.5 parts per million. They were&#xA;  given vitamin supplements to cover for the nutrients lost in a tuna&#xA;  only diet. The study lasted 11 months and an average of 21.1kg of tuna&#xA;  was consumed by each cat, along with an average of 6.3mg of mercury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What they found was that there were no observable changes in their&#xA;  growth rate or body weight, but at seven months three of the cats&#xA;  showed outward signs of neurological disturbances. Of the three cats&#xA;  showing symptoms, two of them showed transient symptoms (meaning the&#xA;  symptoms seemed to disappear after 24 hours), and the third displayed&#xA;  severe ataxia and incoordination in movements until the end of the&#xA;  experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After the 11 months, the insides of the cats were observed, and&#xA;  histopathological lesions were found in the nervous systems of the&#xA;  majority of the cats studied (I couldn't find the exact number). The&#xA;  most prominent lesions were found in the cerebellum, at the deep sulci&#xA;  of the cerebellar folia. Many of the granular cells (neurons) were&#xA;  found to be dense and pyknotic (Irreversible condensation of cells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amounts of mercury allowed in tuna hasn't changed over the years I don't think. Even today, the amount of mercury found in Tuna, on average, matches the study at 0.5ppm. But it is important to note that the EPA does not take action until it reaches 1.0ppm, which means that you're likely to see ranges both aboth and below 0.5pmm to reach that average. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Metals/ucm191007.htm&quot;&gt;FDA has a monitoring program&lt;/a&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another dangerous chemical that you can find in canned tuna, and raw fish in general. That chemical is thiaminase. Thiaminase is an enzyme that attacks and inhibits the processing of thiamine, commonly known as vitamin B1. Cat's need high contents of B vitamins in their diet, so feeding a cat too much raw fish would give them a thiamine deficiency. The side-effects of which include seizures and a loss of control over body movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to watch what the tuna is packed with as well. Tuna comes packed with either water, or oil. The oil is bad for cats as it can cause a vitamin E deficiency, which in turn causes problems with their muscles&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;. So you'll definitely want to try and stick only to tuna packed in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the ingredients as well. Tuna also comes either salted or unsalted. As too much salt can cause electrolyte imbalances in cats, it would be best to only get the unsalted tuna (You can always add salt to the portions you eat). Some tuna also has onions and garlic added to it. Both are poisonous to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things that I would suggest you watch for is if your cat has possible allergies to fish, as fish is one of the more popular allergies that cats can have, and if your cat becomes to addicted to the taste of the fish. Just like children, give them a choice between something delicious tasting and something healthy, they'll take the delicious tasting food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this being said. It's won't be harmful to give your cat(s) a tiny bit of tuna as a treat on occasion. But it's really important to keep it in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some good uses for tuna. Because it smells so strongly, it can be used to capture stray cats for catch and release programs. If a cat is sick and/or refusing to eat, a little bit of tuna mixed in might get them to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;See &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0679449531&quot;&gt;The Cornell Book of Cats: A Comprehensive &amp;amp; Authoritative Medical Reference for Every Cat &amp;amp; Kitten&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0309086280&quot;&gt;Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals)&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt; for more information on Steatitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T20:37:32.900" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T20:37:32.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2014-03-18T18:06:46.697" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another issue with using canned tuna as the bulk of the diet as opposed to tuna cat food is that the tuna won't have the additives that are added particularly for cats.  Cat food has added taurine, the absence of which can lead to blindness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would not be an issue for using tuna as a treat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-03-18T18:06:46.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2599" CreationDate="2014-03-18T19:32:52.440" Score="11" ViewCount="6490" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an Australian Labradoodle which has hair instead of fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have concern with the topical treatments, as I worry about exposure to others (my family; my wife has allergic reactions to a lot of harsh chemicals). I also worry about the effectiveness of oral medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is safer &amp;amp; more effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastActivityDate="2014-08-16T13:49:04.337" Title="Which is safer - topical or oral flea &amp; tick control?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2598" CreationDate="2014-03-19T02:48:44.677" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, it's probably worth understanding how each of them works and the upsides to them...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oral&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typically work by ingestion. In other words the parasite takes a bite, as it were, and poisons itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No issue with substance transferring to you or a child, not all people react well to topical medications, including babies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some options are more or less effective. Spinosad kills all and lasts 30 days. Nitenpyram kills adults and Lufenuron is good at rendering eggs and larvae ineffective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Topical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neurotoxin, effects on contact. Spread using the natural oils in the fur.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effective in preventing egg laying and larval growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potential physical contact with a chemicals, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/flea_tick_OTC_pet_products.html&quot;&gt;potentially risky for children&lt;/a&gt; who might pet the animal and then put hands in mouth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, what does that mean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is... it depends. With children around, the oral option is safer, but you need the right one to get the best effect. With topical, it's more effective, especially at preventing the next generation, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/flea_tick_OTC_pet_products.html&quot;&gt;carries risks&lt;/a&gt; with children around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T02:48:44.677" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2591" CreationDate="2014-03-19T06:44:43.227" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple great books by a few different animal behaviorist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/store/The-Cautious-Canine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell, 2005&lt;/a&gt; This one is a pretty easy read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grandin.com/inc/animals.make.us.human.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Animals Make us Human by Dr. Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson, 2009&lt;/a&gt; Great read and has many examples of exercises to help reduce fear&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grandin.com/welfare/fear.pain.stress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Distress in Animals: Is it Fear, Pain or Physical Stress? by Temple Grandin and Mark Deesing, 2002-2003&lt;/a&gt; Info on how fear is processed, the take away from this that pertains to this question is &amp;quot;Fear stress is highly aversive and subjecting an animal to intense fear stress would be very detrimental to welfare&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;including Temple Grandin and  that cover this topic in great detail. I'll come back later and put in the specific names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general it is best to take things slowly and build up confidence in the dog. Something that can be very helpful is to  build a routine that you can go into when the dog encounters something frightening. It will only work if the dog is not overwhelmed so you will have to figure out how to expose the dog to a situation from a distance where the dog can still think. Then teach it fun and easy games at that time. These games should be well known to the dog and highly rewarded. Once you have done this a number of times the dog should start associating the &amp;quot;scary&amp;quot; situation with wanting to work instead of fear. The trick is to take extremely small steps especially in the beginning so that you don't push past where the dog is willing to play/work for treats. Clicker training games are great for this. Keep the sessions very short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also things like &amp;quot;Thundershirts&amp;quot; that work well for many dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Border collies can become a bit obsessive especially if they don't have some kind of job. Sometimes it can present itself as obsesive fear. Often giving the dog more brain work can really help. Exercise is not enough for most herding breeds and I'd say Border Collies can tend to need more brain work than most. It is just as or possibly even more important for them to be exercising their brains, not just their bodies. It might do some real good if you can find a kindhearted trainer in your area to take some classes from. Avoid old style dominance training or strict obedience training for a dog like this and focus on operant and general socialization training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T06:29:46.827" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2014-03-19T15:25:20.627" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fish should all be okay as long as the pond isn't going to freeze all the way over. I would say you don't want the pond to freeze over for more than a day or two, because carbon dioxide can build up under the ice, and new oxygen won't be able to get in. Also, since I'm pretty sure the sturgeon are still active during the winter, they will still need a steady supply of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The koi (and I think the goldfish too, but I'm not sure about them) will go into what is called &quot;Torper&quot;, which isn't quite hibernation it's more like a state of stupor. They become lethargic, sitting in warmest area of the pond they can find. Their metabolisms do slow down while they're in this state, but they will still need a good supply of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty important to try not to disturb them while they're like this (it stresses them out) so I can understand why people don't want to put noisy pumps in their ponds during the winter. If you need to break the ice, I would try pouring boiling water on the ice, or using a hand drill, to make as little noise as possible. I've heard of some people adding salt to lower the freezing point of the pond, but I don't suggest that myself because it changes the chemicals of the water while most people don't have their pumps running, and it's not a good idea to let the water get much colder than 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how you feel about your electricity bill, you might be able to get by with dropping a large aquarium heater to keep a part of the pond just warm enough so that it doesn't freeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:19:12.990" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:19:12.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3017" CreationDate="2014-03-19T15:37:14.197" Score="6" ViewCount="518" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned in two questions (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2553/how-to-remove-a-tick-on-a-dog&quot;&gt;How to remove a tick on a dog?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2554/what-are-the-effects-of-ticks-on-dogs-and-does-it-transmit-diseases&quot;&gt;What are the effects of ticks on dogs?&lt;/a&gt;), my dog got a few ticks recently and I decided to act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog had a topical combined treatment (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selamectin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronghold&lt;/a&gt;: heartworms, ticks, fleas and scabies) over the last months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition we bought an anti-tick collar. The general question is: &lt;strong&gt;What is its correct use?&lt;/strong&gt; (Can the dog wear another regular collar? Should the collar be worn all the time?). Then, if used properly, what is its efficiency: &lt;strong&gt;How quickly is it killing or detaching the ticks and are there any side-effects?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T08:07:26.543" Title="Correct use and efficiency of anti-ticks collars" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2708" CreationDate="2014-03-19T18:05:32.427" Score="9" ViewCount="155773" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we went on a weekend trip a few months ago, I forgot to leave the door open to the cat boxes. So the kitties used our mattress as a replacement. When we got home we cleaned up as best as we could. We bought an enzyme cleaner and some febreeze. We were satisfied with our efforts and tried to continue to use the mattress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a few days after cleaning, the smell of cat urine returned. The smell kept coming back after every cleaning so we decided to switch mattresses with an older one we had on a guest bed. It has been several months now and there is still a smell of cat urine that lingers on the mattress. We have kept the cats out of the guest bedroom so there have not been any additional accidents. We would like to get the smell out and buying a new mattress is not an option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-11T14:24:24.203" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T09:08:07.983" Title="How can I get old cat urine smell out of a mattress?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1616" CreationDate="2014-03-19T23:30:39.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be pica, and could also be (as Dennis Graves points out) just this cats entertainment.  A vet visit might be able to rule out pica.  I actually suspect your cat is just doing this for his own entertainment.  It's not a &quot;normal&quot; cat thing but it isn't unheard of either (some cats do entertain themselves by taking things apart.  One of my cats (Pounce de Leon) used to do something far less extreme, she used to destroy some of the cat toys she had (biting tails off of fake mice...).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-03-19T23:30:39.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="634" CreationDate="2014-03-19T23:41:35.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general I'd say one should feed cats wet food instead of dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that, for a cat with an enlarged colon, and/or constipation issues I'd say should &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; have dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who had mega-colon and possibly has some motility issues (maybe the nerves there don't respond right... who knows).  I've tried &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; with her.  I tried surgery (2/3rds of the colon was removed), and numerous dietary changes (extra fiber in the form of pumpkin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What seems to help are a few things: wet cat food, occasional cisapride to combat constipation (I use it when she is having trouble). Problems are much easier to manage with that combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T10:39:35.293" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T10:39:35.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2014-03-20T00:59:23.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish in general is something cats love but it isn't so great for them. Fish can have relatively high levels of magnesium and phosphorus.  This isn't an issue for some creatures but one of the main things that can cull cats later in life are urinary tract problems.  Magnesium and phosphorus can contribute to the formation of kidney stones and adversely impact an animal that is already prone to renal failure.  I never feed my cats fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-20T14:05:23.163" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T14:05:23.163" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2014-03-20T01:47:27.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know your cat is meowing to demand something it shouldn't have, you can modify that behavior by ignoring the meow.  I have actually seen that this kind of conditioning work.  If my cats are demanding food and I feel I've given them the food they need, I ignore subsequent requests for food.  I do see that while they still meow at me for food, they are much more likely to focus this behavior on someone else who they think will respond to their requests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-03-20T03:14:14.787" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T03:14:14.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2611" CreationDate="2014-03-20T05:36:13.060" Score="8" ViewCount="1604" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's happened at least twice. A friend of mine had been several weeks away, and once he returned, his dog was so excited that it died. Then I saw a Reddit post describing pretty much the same thing recently (not sure if he's the same guy, ha).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, that's pretty cute and sad and funny and tragic at the same time. I may be leaving for several weeks too, and I'm pretty sure this won't happen to my dog, but I guess it would be worth taking some sort of precaution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How may I, upon returning from a prolonged absence, prevent my dog from dying of sheer happiness or getting (dangerously) excited?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps, I have a 3 years old female pomeranian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="329" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T14:34:35.783" Title="How can I prevent my dog from dying of happiness?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2610" CreationDate="2014-03-20T12:57:10.597" Score="6" ViewCount="769" Body="&lt;p&gt;We bought a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/introducing-your-dog-head-halter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;head halter/gentle leader&lt;/a&gt; leash for our two puppies in an attempt to stop them pulling so much on their leash during walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The leashes are great because they mean I can actually walk both my dogs at the same time without them pulling me in a direction when they decide. Most of the time on walks they are off-leash anyway, but in populated areas I like to keep them on their leashes to ensure they don't attempt to jump/say hello to passers-by who would rather they didn't have muddy paws all over them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, my dogs are now over a year old - is there a limit to the age at which these leases can be used? Are there any negative effects of using these kind of leashes over a long period of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:44:32.370" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T20:09:37.973" Title="Do I have to stop using halter leash/gentle leader?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2609" CreationDate="2014-03-20T14:05:39.773" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let me add a few word of caution here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not use a head halter / halt / holt alone. It can cause &lt;strong&gt;serious damage to their neck&lt;/strong&gt;. Use it in combination with a leash attached to a flat collar or harness. The dog pulls on the leash attached to the collar, and you control the head with another leash. You can also use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cani_cross&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cani cross&lt;/a&gt; harness for the pulling leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand it kind of defeat the purpose here, but I think this is a major concern. It is not at all the same problem with horses, the anatomy is quite different (even if it might surely cause problems to horses from time to time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: I don't think you should stop using it because your dog is above one year of age. If your puppy got used to it, there is no reason it would cause additional problems to an older dog. Especially, at 1 year you already have a dog that can pull more than enough to be a problem for the owner or for the dog itself (trachea injuries, or in this case, serious neck injuries). So either it is already harmful or it is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I think that once again it is important to define the real problem here, and to put the solution in a clear and concise way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dogs didn't learn how to walk on leash. The solution is to &lt;strong&gt;train&lt;/strong&gt; them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use as many tools as you want, at the end you have to train the dog. The less tools you use to more you actually &lt;em&gt;teach&lt;/em&gt; the dog (&lt;em&gt;vs. control&lt;/em&gt; the dog). The first step to train a dog to walk on leash should consists in indoor walks without leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm not blaming you here for using it, probably it didn't cause problem to their necks (my first point) and it helped you (your point). So great, now you can go to the next step and train them to walk on leash (I don't want to elaborate too much here, this should be another question and we should add a link).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/introducing-your-dog-head-halter&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;your link&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Using the Halter on Walks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days of short sessions, during which your dog wears her halter and then gets good stuff, you can clip on a lightweight leash and take her for a five-minute walk. Take treats with you, and feed them to your dog when she’s walking beside you, wearing her new halter. If your dog pulls, the leash will tighten and her head will turn to the side. When this happens, encourage your dog to come toward you. When she’s close enough, the leash should go slack again. Make sure it stays completely loose unless your dog pulls and causes it to tighten. (Don’t tighten the leash yourself.) She needs to learn that if she stays close to you, the leash will stay loose and she can walk comfortably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually a short introducing on &lt;strong&gt;how to teach a dog to walk on leash&lt;/strong&gt;. If you actually train the dog that way then you'll have results, then you can get rid of the halter. It is the same with prong collars: if you train the dog to walk on leash, then you can remove the prong collar. Additionally I think it is also of importance regarding my first point (neck injuries): if you use the halter to train the dog during &amp;quot;five-minute walks&amp;quot;, then why not. You're likely to pay attention to the dog and limit the risk. If then you take the dog with the halter for &amp;quot;regular&amp;quot; walks, even with a proper leash training there is the risk that the dog would lunge at a car/other dog/baby and risk to injure himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These 2 pages elaborate on the pro's and con's of the use of halt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/problem-head-halters&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The problem with head halters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogscience.org/workshop/halti.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Head Collar, also called a Halti or a Halter Training Collar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T14:19:23.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2608" CreationDate="2014-03-20T14:34:35.783" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stay calm. Seriously. If you stay calm and don't encourage your dog to be hyper-excited, then your dog will have a better chance of surviving your return. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also a good idea to start practicing this before you really need it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you come home, do you talk in a high, excited voice to your dog and get her all excited? If so, try just waiting until the dog calms down and then praise her. She'll learn that being calm is a good thing and a thing that you want from her. Most dogs want to please their masters, so this shouldn't be something that's terribly difficult for her to learn. Especially at such a young age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog (a 4 year old Jack Russel/Chihuahua mix) is prone to getting too excited and having accidents, so we have to be careful with her. And when we get home from work she jumps up and runs around, but we don't give her any attention until she calms down. And that helps her to calm down faster. It's still a work in progress, but she's so much better than when we first got her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic technique is to just ignore your dog completely when you get home until she sits and is calm. Then calmly praise her. Then do this again and again until it's really set. You might want to go out and come back a few times just for practice because the dog might make the connection a bit faster that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be patient. Every dog learns differently. Just stay calm and positive and you'll get there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="999" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T14:34:35.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2612" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-20T14:45:21.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The actions that come before owning a pet are almost as important as when you own the pet. Whether trying to decide which species fits your lifestyle the best, or even just finding more about a specific species. This tag is for questions that involve the decision making process of selecting a pet, but NOT for pet recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T20:35:34.660" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T20:35:34.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2613" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-20T14:45:21.480" Score="0" Body="The process of choosing which pet to adopt. This tag is for making decisions on which species fits your lifestyle, or researching a species to find out more about them, but NOT for pet recommendations." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T20:36:46.687" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T20:36:46.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2614" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-20T14:53:48.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar to &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/substrate&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;substrate&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;substrate&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/bedding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;bedding&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;bedding&lt;/a&gt; is found at the bottom of the animal's enclosure. The difference is that bedding is referring to dry materials used in cages housing mammals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although some of the same materials that are used as in cages might be used in terrariums, that material is referred to as &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/substrate&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;substrate&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;substrate&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-20T15:25:10.077" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T15:25:10.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2615" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-20T14:53:48.830" Score="0" Body="The materials at the bottom of a cage, be it wood chips or newspapers." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-20T15:25:57.040" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T15:25:57.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-20T16:28:59.977" Score="6" ViewCount="5897" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am working on my computer at home, I like to put my feet up on the desk with a laptop or keyboard on my thighs. This leaves a nice space at my waist for a furry friend to lounge with me while I work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case the friend is a rabbit (&lt;em&gt;actually there are a couple that take turns&lt;/em&gt;) but I assume it is the same with a cat or a dog. At first everything is fine, they make themselves comfortable, and I work.  After the first few minutes they get more relaxed and start stretching out (&lt;em&gt;side to side&lt;/em&gt;), after a while their back side is sliding off my lap.  We have to pause for a moment to reposition and then back to work. With my lap rabbits (&lt;em&gt;not all rabbits are lap bunnies&lt;/em&gt;) it seems to take about 20 minutes before we need to reposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of habit we generally position in the same way (&lt;em&gt;face to the right&lt;/em&gt;).  I thinking what I need is sidecar on my office chair, for the backside to rest on when the bunny starts to stretch out while dozing in my lap. Does anyone have a solution for this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T17:29:33.003" Title="Pet sidecar for an office chair?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1529" CreationDate="2014-03-20T17:17:12.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supposedly Danios need to school which mean you need at least 5-8 Danios in your tank. I had 3 , two female and one male. The male was very very bossy and chased the two female around endlessly. The two female got very fat. I was worried about the male Danio chasing them to death so got some advice that in order to make it stop you needed to add more of them to get them to stop being aggressive. I added two more which totalled 5 now. They just ended up zooming all over the tank and chasing each other. It was insane and stressing out my other fish. Then I tried to remove them all from my tank and it was impossible to catch them. After a few hours and after removing all my rocks, ornaments and plants, I could only catch 3. The other two are still in the tank being crazy and I took the 3 I caught back to the petstore. &#xA;I won't get danios again as they are too crazy and stress me out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1000" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T17:17:12.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2572" CreationDate="2014-03-20T20:54:27.407" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Tellington TTouch practitioner/instructor I have been using this method for many years. I am also a licensed Physical Therapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, specific types of slower, light pressure touching typically induces relaxation and helps to calm an animal. These effects can be attributed to how the nervous system processes and interprets certain types of sensory input. Tellington TTouch is a method that uses specific types of strokes and circular touches with the intent of helping to both calm an animal, build trust between human and animal, and increase focus or the ability to learn new behaviors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decreasing the habitual physiological stress response is the first step in helping an animal learn new, more appropriate behaviors. The TTouch Method also incorporates the use of movement exercises to promote balance, better body awareness, and fluid movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method is based on a philosophy of humane, respectful treatment of all beings with the overall goal of improving the human-animal relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1001" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-20T21:13:54.017" LastActivityDate="2014-03-20T21:13:54.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2014-03-21T00:58:07.250" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had issues off and on with cat aggression.  I've never had truly serious fights with the cats I've owned (they aren't drawing blood) -but- typically one cat is taking things too seriously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one case a cat of mine (Maggie) would try to intimidate the other cats, I could tell she didn't actually want to fight she just wanted to frighten off the other cats without doing any combat.  Most of my cats figured out she was a &quot;paper tiger&quot; and started asserting their rights (which caused her to stop pushing on them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another of my cats (Mufah) is very playful and naturally finds the cat who is frightened of her to be a fun plaything to chase.  In both cases the real problem is one of my cats (Pounce de Leon) took the other cat too seriously and was vulnerable and frightened.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these aren't &quot;serious&quot; fights I don't like seeing any of my cats distressed and I do inject myself when things get out of hand.  These days I'll yell or clap my hands to stop things in the early phase, if that doesn't work I will pull the aggressor away and possibly tap them on the nose (they don't like it but it does no damage) with my finger.  It does reduce the enthusiasm of the bully.  I try to make Pounce more confident so she won't be a target, I've been giving her chew treats that are supposed to reduce anxiety, and trying to encourage her a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T08:41:30.893" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T08:41:30.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2014-03-21T01:03:12.320" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that the tip of the cat nose is the opposite of ours: if we are healthy the tip of our nose should be warm and dry; for them it should be cool and moist.  I would not worry about a wet nose unless it seems to be running all the time, or you hear your cat sneezing frequently, or having trouble breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T01:03:12.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2616" CreationDate="2014-03-21T01:19:35.630" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is what I've come up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/at0tp.png&quot; alt=&quot;Chair Ledge&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that you would use the bolts on each side to vice it onto the supports of the chair's arms, and part of the top would rest on the arm itself. I thought of having it without the vice (add a lip to catch onto the arm instead), but thinking of how my cats would be jumping up and down on it, I think they'd loosen that arm a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you'll want to adjust it to your liking, but here are the parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 12x0.5x12 board for the top&#xA;2 1.5x3.5x9.5 board for the vertical support&#xA;2 1.5x3.5x11 board for the angled support&#xA;4 1.5x3.5x12 board for the vice&#xA;4 bolts for the vice&#xA;However many screws it takes to hold it all together&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T01:19:35.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2014-03-21T01:21:49.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only good thing about dry food is that it can help clean the teeth and make relatively less plaque/tartar, otherwise wet food is better for them for all the reasons stated several times so far.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet food has more water content, which can help if cats choose not to drink as much as they should. Wet food has fewer preservatives, typically fewer fillers, lower carbs, less magnesium / phosphorous, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd pick a wet food first on caloric balance (off the top of my head I think it should be approximately &gt;60%fat, &gt;30% protine, &amp;lt;=5% carbs) you can use some independent test source for that (I used &lt;a href=&quot;http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; page for information. there may be better sources of info out there). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the caloric balance I'd pick one relatively low in phosphorous.  I'd want the food to be as much meat and as little vegetable as possible, bird or red meat is fine, fish is bad (can cause urinary tract problems). If it says &quot;meat by products&quot;: that is not necessarily good or bad, if it is simply cuts of meat people don't like (but still meat and not too processed) that's fine, if it is something like &quot;pink slime&quot; (meat that has been extensively reprocessed mechanically and chemically) I'd want to avoid that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T08:22:19.717" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T08:22:19.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="984" CreationDate="2014-03-21T01:36:32.240" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would keep chocolate well away from any cat or dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Xanthines&lt;/em&gt; (a class of alkaloids which I believe includes caffeine as well as theobromine (present in cocoa)) have very low toxicity to humans but this is not true for cats or dogs.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Alkaloids&lt;/em&gt; (in general) are designed to both deter herbivores with their bitter flavor, and kill them if they don't get the hint (strychnine and many other alkaloids are quite toxic to most animals).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would freak out if my cat ate chocolate (or for that matter: onions, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli - those all have other phytotoxins in them).  Certainly, there are cats and dogs have lived after eating chocolate, but likely they got some organ damage as a result of it, and plenty have also died from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theobromine poisoning: cats, dogs &amp;amp; humans (humans can take much higher doses even mg/kg of theobromine because we have defenses like cytochrome P450 (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytochrome_P450&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytochrome_P450&lt;/a&gt;)) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine_poisoning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="774" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T22:13:24.187" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T22:13:24.187" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1301" CreationDate="2014-03-21T01:52:21.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure you can feed them rice... but it isn't great for them.  They are &lt;em&gt;obligate&lt;/em&gt; carnivores meaning they must eat meat / poultry. Even if you specially processed vegetables to give them the correct caloric balance (fat / protein / carbs) they would die prematurely because they cannot fully convert things into the form they need (for instance taking the vegetable fats and converting them into the many things a body uses fat for, such as nerve insulation, cell walls,...).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rice is not hideously poisonous to them (the high level of nitrates probably aren't great for them though) but it has a skewed caloric balance and is deficient in many areas. Rice is also a common &quot;filler&quot; in many cat foods especially dry foods (large amounts of vegetable matter in a cat food is a bad sign).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T08:27:05.327" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T08:27:05.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="879" CreationDate="2014-03-21T02:01:04.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In one word &quot;NO&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of phytotoxins are very damaging / toxic to an obligate carnivore like a cat.  Humans can eat a wide variety of plant material with no ill effects (and actually plenty of good effects), for cats it is the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never let my cats eat anything I eat. I train them to eat only what I give them and never take any of my food (I'm a vegetarian and my diet could kill them pretty quickly). Even if you gave them stuff like meat with no spices or sauce that would encourage them to view your food as theirs and potentially take from you when you didn't offer (say you were eating something you know is toxic to them like: garlic, mushrooms, chocolate, or any of the things listed above). If you want your cat to live long and be healthy I'd discourage this habit quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T09:30:14.553" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T09:30:14.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2529" CreationDate="2014-03-21T02:10:02.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm glad your situation is better but if I had a cat that stopped eating and went into hiding (and I knew of no good reason for it, like some strange disturbance, very loud noise....) I'd be very worried.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have been known to stop eating and go off to hide somewhere as a mechanism for ending their life. I do not know what tells them to do this but some seem to sense when they have a serious condition and they do this behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evolution could favor this odd behavior as it would help to reduce the passing of some contagious disorders.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never had a cat do this but I know other people who have had  terminal cats who went into this behavior mode (stop eating &amp;amp; get in a good hiding spot).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not drinking is even worse than not eating, but in either case I'd make a vet visit pretty early on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T10:36:57.993" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T10:36:57.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2014-03-21T09:15:18.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to agree with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/651/469&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, here a few things I would also consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, make sure that the dog can't physically get hurt. Toy breeds usually have very fragile bones. With time the dog will get used to the slippery floor and he manage to move around in a better way, but at the beginning he'll be nervous and that could make him fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, for these kinds of problem the strategy that I would adopt is to use counter classical conditioning in combination with positive reinforcement for approaching the location. That means that you'll first reward the dog for approaching the place, stepping on the floor, etc. Step by step, very progressively and with many short training sessions. Then, as the dog approaches the slippery floor and stand on it, the counter conditioning means that he will associate the place with positive events and not with his fear. You could imagine to feed him some portion of his meals there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two key points are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make the dog think for himself and decide to approach and step on the surface (that's operant conditioning, you reward every tiny step)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;suppress completely the old fear that the dog have, that's the classical counter conditioning part&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is explained in details in this video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-CCJxF-9U4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to train your dog to get over his fears!&lt;/a&gt; using clicker training. That's for a dog who's afraid of the kitchen slippery floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When dealing with fear problems two things have to be avoided: correcting the dog for the &quot;bad&quot; behaviour and &quot;flooding&quot; the dog, that means exposing him to a very high level of fear/stress thinking that if the dog overcomes his fear he will be treated. That's the equivalent of locking an arachnophobic person in a closed with hundreds of spiders. I don't think any sane person would recommend that or would volunteer to be treated that way. In the approach I describe above, you start reward the dog as soon as the level of &quot;stress&quot; is present, at a very low level, say 3 meters from the bad spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T09:15:18.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2628" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-21T09:39:22.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about the agility sport, where the human and the pet manoeuvres quickly through a series of obstacles. The pets (usually dogs but it can also be cats) have to go through the obstacle on their own, quickly. The role of the human handlers is to guide the pet around the obstacle course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T11:46:53.990" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:46:53.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2629" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-21T09:39:22.657" Score="0" Body="About the agility sport, where the human and the pet manoeuvres quickly through a series of obstacles." OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T11:46:40.343" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:46:40.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2630" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-21T09:40:46.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specific needs of our senior companions and ways to improve their overall well-being and health.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the younger pet set, try &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/junior-pets&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'junior-pets'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;junior-pets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T18:18:27.297" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T18:18:27.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2631" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-21T09:40:46.210" Score="0" Body="Specific needs of our senior companions and ways to improve their overall well-being and health." OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T11:37:50.433" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:37:50.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-21T10:29:01.980" Score="3" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;em&gt;tropical fish tank&lt;/em&gt; at the moment with 2 types of tetras in it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tiger Tetras &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neon Tetras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and 2 Catfish (not sure of the exact name).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what type of fish would work well in a living environment manner. It doesn't have to look nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1005" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T10:31:49.867" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T10:31:49.867" Title="Neon Tetras what other species would work nicely with them" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-03-22T12:43:59.493" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-21T10:44:45.153" Score="2" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tropical fish tank at the moment with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tiger Tetras;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neon Tetras;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 Catfish (I can't remember the exact species).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What plant would you suggest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1005" LastEditorUserId="7" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T16:30:21.500" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T16:30:21.500" Title="Best plant, live or artificial, to include into a tropical fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-03-28T13:34:47.200" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2014-03-21T11:50:57.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did this when some of my neons died, I would recommend adding a few of the new ones as they can stay together until they familiarise themselves with the surroundings, in my personal experience after a month they were all schooled together no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest getting the same species of tetra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1005" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:50:57.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2108" CreationDate="2014-03-21T11:57:03.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both have their pros and cons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally get them from a store as I know the travel time they have been in the bag for, your oxygen levels would be fine. Also any problems with them I can get a quick response. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1005" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-21T11:58:48.600" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:58:48.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1387" CreationDate="2014-03-21T11:59:35.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure the bacteria levels are correct for whatever type of fish your adding also make sure the filtration system is correct as well as anything in the tank such as plants etc have all there bacteria levels up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think when setting up a tank Anything but Gold fish type species, you need to wait 48 hours that what I remember anyway &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1005" LastActivityDate="2014-03-21T11:59:35.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2644" CreationDate="2014-03-21T22:10:23.687" Score="9" ViewCount="10295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to build an infrared tachometer for my hamster's wheel, but I don't want to distract him with a light source. Therefore I want to choose the wavelength of the LED for my hamster not to see it. Being a nocturnal animal, I suspect him of having some IR sensing capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What spectrum of light does a hamster notice? As a bonus question: are they colorblind as many sources say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1006" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T22:54:59.853" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T22:54:59.853" Title="Light spectrum visible to hamsters" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-22T03:48:55.703" Score="15" ViewCount="5378" Body="&lt;p&gt;I call my cat by his name, &quot;Sterling&quot;, often, either to tell him nice things (&quot;I love you too, Sterling&quot;) or when I need to blame him for something (&quot;Sterling, NO. NO pushing things off of tables!&quot;), or just to call him. I don't expect him to come when I call him, but I would just like him to know his name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I really have absolutely no idea if he does, in fact, know his name. Is there any way to tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1007" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T15:54:30.847" Title="How can I tell if my cat knows his name?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2639" CreationDate="2014-03-22T12:16:40.853" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a high probability that he doesn't really know his name. The problem is that we use our pet's names too often and in too many different contexts. As you describe in your question, we usually call our pets by their name with a lot of hidden meanings. We should try to avoid doing that. Especially in case where we want to stop them. If every time you stop him from doing something you call his name, there will be a negative association: &quot;when I hear &quot;Sterling&quot; I have to stop doing funny things, that's very upsetting&quot; (OK, that's a bit anthropomorphic...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal when you call his name should be to have him look at you, even in the presence of distractions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to teach Sterling to respond to his name here's how I suggest to proceed. The concepts that are used here are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;operant conditioning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reward markers&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Operant conditioning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; means that you will condition the cat to respond to the signal (his name) with a behaviour that he learned (looking at you). You do that with a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: you reward him once he looked at you. He will then choose to offer the behaviour to get rewarded. Note that this is different from luring him to do the behaviour. You reward (positive reinforcement) once the behaviour occurred. The use of a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;marker&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; means that you will &quot;mark&quot; the moment in time when you decide to reward. This greatly helps the cat to understand what he is rewarded for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to play this game, you could follow this recipe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose a moment when you expect your cat to be interested and receptive, that could be when you feed him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take some small treats (a fraction of his daily food or tiny bits of tuna for example), put your cat on a table or sit on the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat will probably be intrigued. As soon as he looks at you, say &quot;yes&quot;, wait 2 seconds and give him a treat (*).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't call his name yet, just reward when he choose to look at you. You should notice that the frequency increases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep doing that for a few days (**).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you're confident that he would look at you, start calling his name first. If he doesn't look at you, don't repeat his name, just attract his attention by other means.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you progress, wait for longer eye contact duration before &quot; yes and treat &quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Up to now you reward every time the behaviour is correctly done. Later you'll use a &lt;em&gt;variable reinforcement ratio&lt;/em&gt;, this will further strengthen the behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(*) A &lt;em&gt;classical conditioning&lt;/em&gt; is created between the marker and the reward. To create the association there has to be a delay between the two. No need to rush for the reward. The marker serves to pinpoint the exact action you reward, then the treat waits a few seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(**) The goal is really to reinforce the cat, not to make it more difficult to stop the reinforcement. At the same time that will strengthen the conditioning between your marker (&quot;yes&quot;) and the reward, this can then be used to train other things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T18:10:32.347" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T18:10:32.347" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2642" CreationDate="2014-03-22T13:27:23.730" Score="4" ViewCount="5506" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my house during the night, my dog sleeps downstairs and is quite quiet. However when we stay over at my girlfriend's house he cries a lot during the night. Her dog initially stays in hall, but inevitability ends up sleeping at the end of the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to deal with his crying? He used to cry a lot when I first got him, but eventually stopped when he realised I wasn't going to come running every time he cried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own thought is that it is the change in house and change in routine that is probably causing the crying, and that it will get better in time once we get a proper routine going. I also think that caving in and letting him come upstairs is the wrong thing to do as it just reinforces the crying to get what he wants behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1008" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T09:29:55.857" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T09:29:55.857" Title="Dog crying at night in different house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2641" CreationDate="2014-03-22T14:17:16.747" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is quite normal that the dog is feeling unsure or unsecure if left alone in an unknown place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is to &lt;em&gt;train / condition&lt;/em&gt; the dog beforehand. So don't just &quot;lock&quot; him downstair and leave for the night. Try to leave him there and proceed with tiny steps, leave for 1 minute, 2, 5, 10 etc. It might seem useless at the beginning but here you have to build confidence in the dog. As you leave for longer period of time, give the dog a toy he likes, or you can also give him a Kong stuffed with food. The food starts a physiological response that helps the dog to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's too hard for the dog, you can crate train him (at your place), and then have him sleep in the crate when you're not home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a long term solution and that will certainly improve the situation over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now when you have to leave him for the whole night, it is not a good idea to let him go upstairs when he's crying. However you could divide the night in two parts, first one he stays downstairs and second part he's allowed with you. My dog starts the night in his crate, then early morning we let him out in the garden, and he finishes the night in the sofa. It is not good to change your mind all the time, dogs need clear directions. However there shouldn't be taboos either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="957" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T14:17:16.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2639" CreationDate="2014-03-22T17:29:35.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does he react if you call his name as opposed to another word? Mine will take a second to look at me when I say their name. That's about the easiest way to tell I think. It's pretty easy for me to know for sure, because I have two cats and when I say only one of their names only that one will react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, it's important to note that if your cat reacts in the same way each time you say his name. For example, if he comes to you each time you say his name he probably thinks that his name means to come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T17:29:35.863" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2638" CreationDate="2014-03-22T19:02:19.813" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;So... First, a quick biology lesson on cones and rods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rods&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoreceptor_cell&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;photoreceptive cells&lt;/a&gt; that are very light responsive and are responsible for most night vision capability. However, very dim light results in colorless vision and rods don't capture color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cones&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are photoreceptive cells that are bright light responsive and are responsible for most color vision in good light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters, it turns out have &lt;a href=&quot;http://ksem.com/filedata/paper/02-Populations%28JE%29.173524.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;97% of their eyes as rod cells&lt;/a&gt;. This gives them very good low light capability, which is handy in a nocturnal animal, but poor performance during the day. As a result, hamsters have very little to no color capability, so yes, colorblind. As an additional note, vision from rods tends to be less sharp, and so hamsters also have a fuzzier vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, they do have cones, but the type and distribution of the cone cells means that hamsters tend see more into the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iovs.org/content/43/7/2468.full&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;green/blue/UV end of the spectrum&lt;/a&gt;. Infrared is in the opposite direction and so less visible to hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough, since you commented on it, I would have actually expected nocturnal animals to tend more to the ultraviolet end. However, it turns out that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.ca/books?id=YlUQPtK8J9kC&amp;amp;pg=PA4&amp;amp;lpg=PA4&amp;amp;dq=nocturnal%20animals%20and%20light%20spectrum&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=NYRdonwP6B&amp;amp;sig=P_1bczFF9XsyJfk8aD1iujMnu7g&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=YNwtU_DUMOSs0AHk4YCwBg&amp;amp;ved=0CIUBEOgBMA0#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=nocturnal%20animals%20and%20light%20spectrum&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;green part of the spectrum&lt;/a&gt; is where many nocturnal animals see (hopefully that Google excerpt link will work) and most are blind to blue and red light where the vision falls off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of which boils down to: you should be fine with the LED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-22T21:31:01.957" LastActivityDate="2014-03-22T21:31:01.957" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2650" CreationDate="2014-03-23T13:46:30.687" Score="6" ViewCount="3124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to have some treats with me at all times so that I can reward him for obeying when it's not 'training time'. I'm rewarding him other ways as well, but I'd  like to do it with treats also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a bag that he won't be able to smell the food in, that I can remove treats from relatively easily, and that I can keep in my pocket (or otherwise concealed)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1011" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-23T18:54:06.040" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T21:11:11.630" Title="Are there smell-sealing treat bags that I could inconspicuously carry with me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2647" CreationDate="2014-03-23T17:20:08.903" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is possible and more importantly and don't think it is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Trying to hide the treats?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0064X82SY&quot;&gt;olfactory capabilities of dogs&lt;/a&gt; are tens of thousands times more developed than ours. That means that even if you find a treat bag and that the dog can't smell the treats, as soon as you open it the dog will smell the treats. Then your fingers will smell, your clothes will smell (I know that my usual outdoor jacket smells like a hot dog stand to my dog). Think about drug detection dogs, avalanche dogs, etc. Whatever you do, it's dog 1 - human 0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last point: imagine the dog doesn't notice that you have treats, as soon as you give him one, he will know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rewarding vs. luring: no need to hide the treats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good news is: you don't need to hide the treats. Your approach of training is based on treats, so that's a good start, and you mention that you want to reward good behaviour, that's very good. But treats can be used in two ways: as a reward or as a &quot;lure&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The modern approach of dog training is based on positive reinforcement, operant conditioning, and the use of a marker. You reward good behaviours, letting the dog figure out what is a good behaviour. You show him the behaviour the first few times, then the dog has to think for himself and has to offer the behaviour on his own. Then he is rewarded. That's very different from simply &quot;luring&quot; the dog with a treat. In &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement training / clicker training&lt;/em&gt; luring is used only for the first few repetitions of the behaviour. It is this key point that is often forgotten and it leads to the belief that the dog will only work when the treats are present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading your question, it seems that you understand that. See the references below if you'd like to get more details on the &quot;theory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An additional aspect is the use of a &lt;em&gt;marker&lt;/em&gt;. It can be verbal or &quot;mechanical&quot; (clicker, whistle, etc.). The marker is classically conditioned to a reward (&quot;click == treat&quot;). It mainly allows to mark the moment in time for which you want to reward the dog. See the references below for more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: a dog who's properly trained using positive reinforcement and markers becomes &lt;em&gt;operant&lt;/em&gt;, ie. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;active&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: the dog understand that he can make you reward him (&quot;he's training you&quot;). That's the opposite of a dog trained with old coercive methods or improperly with treats (basic luring). In that case the dog is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reactive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: he just reacts to his environment: &quot;sniff sniff... OK these are treats let's follow them&quot;. The &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;active&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; dog thinks like &quot;the leash is tense, if I turn back that guy will reward me&quot;. In the first example you're totally absent, in the second one you're &quot;that guy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The marker makes that different even bigger: the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;active&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; dog works for the &quot;click&quot; (or &quot;yes&quot;, whatever marker you use). Of course he knows that the treat (or another type of reward) follows, but that's not the point. In that sense the marker is a communication device: you guide the dog to what you want in a simple understandable language (good behaviours). So the click becomes a reward in itself. Of course, as the click is the main teaching device (for totally new behaviours) we want to always give a &lt;em&gt;primary reinforcer&lt;/em&gt; (food, social interaction, toy, etc.) after a click (which is a &lt;em&gt;secondary reinforcer&lt;/em&gt;). But in general, everything that as been reinforced can serve as a reward. The dog lies down? &quot;Release&quot; is a reward. The dog sits? Down is a reward because it has been reinforced. I don't want to go in more details in this answer, but that's the basic of &lt;em&gt;behaviours chain&lt;/em&gt;. The best example is agility: the tunnel rewards the weave, the jump rewards the tunnel and the primary reinforcer (usually a tug toy or his favourite toy, or simply food during regular training) appear only at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I hope that all this will make you more confident when someone will tell you that &quot;you're just a treat bag to your dog&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;References&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The book &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1860542387&quot;&gt;Don't shoot the dog&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (despite it's very misleading title) is an excellent lecture on the theory and techinques you need to know for &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement training&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0064X82SY&quot;&gt;&quot;Dog sense&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is a scientific book about the different &quot;aspects&quot; of our dogs. It covers in details, and review the existing literature, about the cognitive capabilities of our four-legged friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-23T17:41:08.507" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T17:41:08.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2647" CreationDate="2014-03-23T17:40:05.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly something like a Ziploc bag would work. But like Cedric said, dogs' senses of smell are much greater than ours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are treat pouches used for training that you can take with you. I doubt that they keep the dog from smelling the treats, but they at least make it possible to carry them around with you without them crumbling in your pockets. Perhaps if you keep the treats in a Ziploc bag inside of the pouch, it will seal the smell a little bit better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like this can be nice when you're out walking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vT0tP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Treat bag on leash&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002DH396&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise there are fanny-pack style pouches that you put on your belt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dpxRJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Treat pouch&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0081XINMA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T17:40:05.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2647" CreationDate="2014-03-23T18:17:03.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a company called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.loksak.com/products/opsak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LokSak&lt;/a&gt; that makes odor-proof bags called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.loksak.com/products/opsak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OpSaks&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which are often used for food storage when in the wilderness (to keep the bears at bay).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They might work for storing dog treats as well. They come in various sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1013" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-23T21:11:11.630" LastActivityDate="2014-03-23T21:11:11.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-24T10:37:59.757" Score="6" ViewCount="1080" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother has a new King Charles Spaniel that she has had from a puppy for about 4 months now. He's house trained and has been attending dog training classes and learned basic commands like wait, sit and so on. He preforms pretty well at these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a very lively and active puppy dog and always wants to go over and see new people or things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is when taking him for a walk. If he finds someone &lt;strong&gt;else's&lt;/strong&gt; ball he will charge off it with and refuse to come back close enough to grab him. He will also not swap it for a treat or his own ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did try leaving his lead on, but not held, so it could be stepped on to stop him. He is now learning to stay the distance of the lead away!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest anything? My mother is 62 years old and has been frustrated for long periods of time trying to get the dog to finish his walk in these circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1017" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T11:21:00.533" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T16:07:08.267" Title="New Dog won't return when he has someone else's ball" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2652" CreationDate="2014-03-24T11:28:47.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fully understand how frustrating that can be; in particular when you want to finish the walk and the dog doesn't want to get close to you. My guy has the habit of stealing shoes and I quickly realised that many people leave shoes outside!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the good news is: it is not abnormal and it is a simple &lt;strong&gt;training problem&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the dog has been &lt;em&gt;reinforced to keep the ball&lt;/em&gt;. If you chase him he goes in &quot;play mode&quot; and his understanding is that the game is about keeping the ball. You have to teach him that the game is to give you the ball back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the first step is: &lt;strong&gt;stop reinforcing the habit&lt;/strong&gt;. When you want to play with him, if he doesn't give you the ball after a short while, just ignore him and leave. Don't run after him, don't talk, etc. Don't tell him how frustrated you are, that will just make him more excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to train him but before you do so the rule is prevention: keep him on leash when you walk him, keep him on leash when you train him to give the ball back, etc. If you walk him on leash and pay attention there shouldn't be that many balls to catch. &lt;em&gt;Prevention&lt;/em&gt; is the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have to &lt;strong&gt;train him to bring back and give the ball&lt;/strong&gt;. He's still a puppy so you can benefit from his natural curiosity and desire to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to go into the details of dog training using positive reinforcement in this answer, but I'll link to other answers and resources below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important point is to realise that the training has to be done before the &quot;bad&quot; behaviour occurs. You don't train him when you walk him. You train him in the house, then in the garden, then at the park, and only after all that you'll perfect the training in real life situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start in the house and put him on leash: the leash is there to keep things under control (prevent him from running to another room and stay away from you - it is not used to forcefully bring him back to you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;throw the toy and attract his attention. Reward every tiny steps: reward when he looks at you, reward when he moves toward you, etc. Don't introduce any cue yet! Attract his attention if needed (patting your legs, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the goal is to make him want to give you the toy. To do so you have to highly reinforce that. However you have to start with 2-3 repetitions where you show him that you will reward that. So during the first tries you can take the toy (if he's close enough) or move him toward you with the leash. When he gives you the toy, reward him and give him the toy back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add a verbal cue only when he's offering the behaviour on a regular basis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you have a video of a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=726K56xzKJY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;6-weeks old puppy&lt;/a&gt; that already learned that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some dog training references&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A video of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is clicker training&lt;/a&gt;&quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In general I recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kikopup&lt;/a&gt; Youtube channel. A lot of training videos, all using positive reinforcement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another answer (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2304/how-do-i-stop-my-dog-from-jumping-on-me/2305#2305&quot;&gt;How do I stop my dog from jumping on me?&lt;/a&gt;) where I discussed some &quot;theory&quot; of training, to get rid of some unwanted behaviour;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another one (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2499/how-to-properly-train-a-dog-to-come-when-i-call-him/2501#2501&quot;&gt;How to properly train a dog to come when I call him?&lt;/a&gt;) to teach the dog to come back when called - this is also something you'll have to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately you'll play fetch in the pool!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JaKEm.png&quot; alt=&quot;Cavalier King Charles fetching in the water&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316227706&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;image source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T16:07:08.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2658" CreationDate="2014-03-24T17:17:11.817" Score="5" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somebody posted this picture of a leaking gecko egg on Facebook and asked for advice to save it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaking fertile egg :( laid 9.3.14. Any ideas to save it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UP4g9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;egg picture&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People suggested sprinkling cornflour on it to work as a sort of paste to seal it shut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this sound advice? Could there be any possible side effects?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They advised localising the sprinkling on the split area. Are there any other things like that to watch out for?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any alternative methods for saving the egg?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T01:22:41.067" Title="Using cornflour to save a leaking egg" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2573" CreationDate="2014-03-24T18:00:32.180" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats (actually many, in my experience) find it difficult to sit or stand still when they are being petted.  These cats typically pace back and forth.  It can be frustrating when you're trying to pet them, and they keep moving just out of reach, but this doesn't mean the cat is unhappy, or even mistrustful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a cat that was rescued before fully weaned.  She was very affectionate, and sweet by nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she consistently demonstrated the exact same behavior you describe (and show).  She would walk up to you, clearly asking to be petted, and the moment you started petting her, she'd walk just out of reach, sit down, and turn to look at you over her shoulder, as if she couldn't understand why you'd stopped petting her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This wasn't a trust issue, as she would happily sit in our laps, or even let me (and only me) carry her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did notice other peculiar behaviors with her that eventually led to a &quot;solution&quot;.  She very clearly liked to be petted in certain places, or under certain conditions.  It sounds odd, but she would sit quite contentedly in one place while you pet her if any of the following conditions were met:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She was on the top step of the staircase leading down to the basement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She was in a basket (any sort of basket; we kept several around the house for her), or a cardboard box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She was lying in the window perch we installed for our cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She was lying or sitting on a piece of paper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one was the most useful.  Whenever she went into her routine of walking up to be petted, and then walking just out of reach, I'd pick up a piece of paper, lay it down on the ground in front of me, and she'd immediately walk over and sit down so I could pet her.  The behavior of walking away would cease as soon as the paper went down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suggest is that you pay close attention to your girlfriend's cat's behavior, looking for patterns as to where she seems most comfortable.  If she seems to have favorite spots, try moving there whenever she seems to be asking to be petted, and see if that changes the behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've identified what it is that she's looking for (assuming that it is a similar situation to my cat), try recreating elements of it in more convenient spots.  If she likes to be on a particular blanket (one of my current cats has a favorite blanket), bring the blanket to where you want to pet her.  If she likes to lie on the kitchen floor, try bringing out a cardboard box or box top.  Experiment, and you may find that she's just trying to get comfortable while she enjoys being petted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2014-03-24T18:06:25.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-24T18:06:25.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2567" CreationDate="2014-03-24T21:28:29.333" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You explain brumation quite nicely already in your own answer. I just wanted to expand on it a little and also contrast with hibernation, since that's generally the more well-known term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hibernation and brumation look very similar from the outside and indeed serve a similar purpose (getting through the colder/harsher months) but the way the mammal or reptile body undergoes it is slightly different. Mammals build up a fat store before going into hibernation and then go into a deep sleep from which they do not awaken until springtime, living off that fat during their sleep. Most mammals that do hibernate are from very cold climates, where - as you pointed out - food may not be available during the winter months. Their heart rate, breathing and metabolism slows to the barest minimum that would keep them alive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles, on the other hand, do not enter nearly such a drastic hibernation period. Not all reptiles brumate, but those that do usually eat slightly more in the months leading up to brumation, and during the colder months they can be lethargic and eat less if at all. Unlike mammals, they do still need to drink water, and do not sleep the months away like mammals do (though they will sleep more, and be more lethargic in their waking hours). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many breeders will lower the temperature of the vivarium to induce brumation, because breeding will often not be successful without a period of brumation beforehand. With a constant temperature, reptiles may not brumate - or they may respond to other signals like lengthening nights and brumate anyway. If you choose to lower the temperature for your reptile and continue to offer it food, you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; make sure that it has access to a heat source. Allowing access to food but not heat can be dangerous because reptiles rely on external heat sources to digest their food. If food is eaten but not digested, it can literally rot in the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, sometimes the word hibernation is used for reptiles as well, because the processes are so similar and the general public is more familiar with the word hibernation than brumation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-09-10T15:01:35.163" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T15:01:35.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2659" CreationDate="2014-03-24T22:32:41.013" Score="4" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tilapia, and recently it has developed a growth about &lt;code&gt;3/4 in.&lt;/code&gt; in diameter, and about &lt;code&gt;2mm&lt;/code&gt; tall on its neck.&#xA;The fish itself is about &lt;code&gt;8 in.&lt;/code&gt; long, and is probably 9 months old.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've looked all over the internet, but could not find anything like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is greatly appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1021" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:47:48.323" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T02:47:48.323" Title="Tilapia - Growth on neck" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2654" CreationDate="2014-03-25T01:22:41.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's leaking out is fluid that helps the gecko develop, providing it with nutrients and keeping it from sticking to the shell. As you can imagine, it's important to keep as much of the fluid inside of the egg as possible. Luckily, it's possible to patch the egg to keep the rest from leaking out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of cornstarch being used to seal the egg, but I can understand the idea behind it. Basically, the cornstarch would clump together when it comes in contact with the egg fluid, plugging the hole with a glue-like substance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly have no idea if this would have side-effects, because of how it works, it's going to come into contact with the fluid inside of the egg. I can say that it would use some of the fluid to form the glue, and that's not the greatest solution considering any fluid that's leaked out already is lost, and that the gecko will already need extra attention when hatching due to possible defects or undernourishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better solution in my opinion, and one that keeps any fluid that's left inside of the egg, is to use the fabric from a tea bag. Cut a patch from the tea bag, and rinse it well. Place the patch over the leak and leave it be. The albumin (egg white) will work to create some calcium and seal the hole naturally, and in the mean time. Meanwhile, the mesh will keep the fluid inside,as egg fluid is solid enough that it won't be able to leak through the fine mesh of the tea bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that you don't touch the egg from this point on unless absolutely necessary. Keep an eye on it, and take great care when rotating it. At this point, all you can really do is wait, andf it makes it, you'll have to take care to nurture it as it will most likely be stunted from the leaked fluid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T01:22:41.067" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2657" CreationDate="2014-03-25T01:25:52.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish, just like us, are subject to various forms of cancer and this sounds like an internal tumor manifesting externally on your fish. If it is a thyroid cancer, there is a possibility you can treat this with iodine in the water, otherwise it's inoperable. However, ideally you're able to consult with a vet to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Confirm it is a cancer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Confirm treatment possibilities, if any.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I could be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;very wrong&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; about this and I am &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a vet, so this is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a diagnosis in any way. You can use Google image search for &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.ca/search?q=fish%20tumor&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=X9swU6mUJ6WG0AGU1oGwBg&amp;amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1912&amp;amp;bih=1179&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fish tumor&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and see some images of growths and compare that to your fish to give you some idea. However, as I noted, the best option is a vet that knows fish illnesses, but that can be a challenge it is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T01:25:52.450" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-25T10:48:34.110" Score="8" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a general question, on if cancer surgery on fish can be an effective treatment.  An &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2657/tilapia-growth-on-neck/2659#2659&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; on the related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2657&quot;&gt;Tilapia - Growth on neck&lt;/a&gt; suggests that all cancer surgery on fish will be unsuccessful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally have seen a large carp (&lt;em&gt;in a 5 gallon bucket of water&lt;/em&gt;) with a tumor visiting my exotics vet for surgery.  I have another memory, of similar fish coming in for a check at another visit.  At the time I assumed that it was the same fish, coming in for a post surgery check up. I don't really know what the out come was, I have just assumed everything was fine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;some months later&lt;/em&gt;) Sharing the waiting room, with two large white and orange/red carp again.  Owner verifies the carp is coming in for yet another cancer removal surgery, on a new tumor.  As we know some ornamental fish can &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2784&quot;&gt;live long lives&lt;/a&gt; and it appears survive repeated surgery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for documented results of surgery success rates for growths on fish, cancerous, non-cancerous or undefined.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T18:04:55.450" Title="Can cancer/growth surgery on fish be successful?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2661" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-25T14:29:35.993" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T14:29:35.993" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T14:29:35.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2662" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-25T14:29:35.993" Score="0" Body="Refers to the Tellington TTouch method, based on circular touches on the animal." OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-25T16:34:06.570" LastActivityDate="2014-03-25T16:34:06.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-26T01:21:42.877" Score="8" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an Angora rabbit who is three years old. I just got her from another home, so I don't know much about her medical history. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed when I got her home today that she has a sore on her back right leg. It is scabbed in the middle, but raw around it. I am not sure how she got it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pg7xO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what it looks like currently. I tried cleaning it with a cotton pad soaked in lightly salted water - I just held the pad in place without rubbing it, she basically just sat with it against the affected area. She didn't react as if she was in pain when I did it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed her eating and drinking fine, and everything seems normal, but I want to make sure there isn't something else that I should be doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I can do to help my rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1023" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T21:26:58.833" Title="What can I do for my Angora rabbit's leg sore?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2663" CreationDate="2014-03-26T02:15:04.190" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a chance that it's &lt;em&gt;sore hocks&lt;/em&gt; (the latin term for this is a mouthful) which is a wound that is not uncommon for rabbits raised in wire cages or on hard floors or carpeting. Unfortunately, it's a little hard to tell with the photo (fair warning, a few of us are also serious photographers, we may need to educate there :D).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, some things to help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get her to a vet for a peek. Always a wise idea when there's a wound that you cannot immediately explain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that her bedding is clean, it's soft, and it's dry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that she has plenty of fresh greens to eat (e.g. carrot tops, dandelion greens, etc.) to keep her eating properly which will help the healing process.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monitor the wound closely.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take her to the vet. Yes, I know, I mentioned that, but it's a wise thing to do. If she needs to be bandaged up, a possibility, then probably best to let a pro do it. Also, if she's in pain, the vet can make some medications available.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point 2 is really a very important thing. Clean, dry, bedding prevents infection and inhibits continuance of the wound so, no matter what, this is needed. Do &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; apply medications, topical or otherwise, without the guidance of a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-03-26T02:22:06.510" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T02:22:06.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2665" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-26T11:24:30.227" Score="5" ViewCount="21400" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the life cycle of a leopard gecko? What different stages of development (hatchling, sexual maturity, &quot;menopause&quot; equivalent) are there and at what age do they occur?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it different for male and female, or the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-15T19:23:21.030" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T22:08:14.600" Title="What are the stages in a leopard gecko's life cycle?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2668" CreationDate="2014-03-26T11:31:01.833" Score="4" ViewCount="1728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep seeing the word &quot;rub&quot; when people are talking about reptiles (it was also possibly used in a conversation about rats, but that was a while back and I might be misremembering).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From context, I can tell it's a container pets are kept in, but I can't glean any more details than that. What exactly does it mean? And does it apply only to reptiles, or can it be used for amphibians, arachnids, small rodents...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T19:02:58.057" Title="What is a &quot;rub&quot;?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2014-03-26T19:02:58.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the term as R.U.B. aka Really Useful Box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a description for the new use of plastic storage bins as a DIY vivarium that you can keep snakes in easily (and cheaply), as you can easily build a shelf, or rack to stack the bins along a wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jDet3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Snake rack&quot;&gt; &lt;sub&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boaphileplastics.com/racks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are benefits to these methods as well as criticisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The benefits:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's cheap and easy to clean. It's lightweight, so you can stack it along the wall, where a glass terrarium would be too heavy to take down for feeding times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest arguments for R.U.B.'s is that they're so easy to sanitize. When it comes time to clean, you can place the snake in a new bin, then clean the old one at your leisure. Also, in the case of some illnesses, you can simply replace the bin rather than spending large amounts of time and money on sanitizing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the bins are one piece, you don't have the risk of bacteria growth as in vivariums door hinges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The criticism:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, the only applicability of R.U.B.'s is for breeders, as it allows them to care for multiple snakes easier, and to better organize them. They can be used by home owners of small snakes, unless you can find a sturdy bin that has enough room to keep a large snake in. It's important to remember that R.U.B.s are not a replacement to vivariums if you do not treat it as a vivarium. Snakes still require bedding, decoration, heat, light, and most importantly space, when being kept in a R.U.B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where the criticism comes from. The growing use of R.U.B.s as a way to store snakes for later. I can't say I've seen snakes kept in R.U.B.s that weren't anything but the snake and some substrate myself. Not to mention the snakes kept in bins without room to move around. The benefits of a vivarium is that it promotes the proper care of snakes, with a properly built habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-03-26T19:02:58.057" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="746" CreationDate="2014-03-26T19:47:54.153" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a good guide for bathing tortoises &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/bath.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you really need to clean a tortoise's shell is water and a gentle scrubbing device of some kind, like a toothbrush or washcloth. Scrubbing (provided it's gentle) will not damage the shell and on the contrary can promote healthy shell growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fill a container with lukewarm water so that it covers the entire plastron, and a few centimetres of the carapace. Let him soak for 15-20 minutes. This allows him to rehydrate and also softens any hardened dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replace with fresh water and gently scrub him all over, paying special attention to any problem areas, and rinse well at the end. Be extra gentle when dealing with any non-scaled areas, as they will be more sensitive. Coarse salt can be used as an &quot;exfoliator&quot; on any problem patches (shell only, not skin) but should not be used liberally and should be thoroughly rinsed off. If you find your tortoise has a lot of dirty patches that are hard to clean, it could be a sign that you need to clean his habitat more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A monthly bathing ritual can be a nice bonding opportunity, keeps the tortoise happy and healthy and also gives you a chance to thoroughly examine your tortoise's skin and shell, noticing problems as soon as they occur. Even when your tortoise appears clean, a regular scrub can remove dead cells and encourage healthy shell growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never clean your tortoise with oil - a build up of oil is harmful to a tortoise's shell, because it can clog the pores. Tortoises &quot;breathe&quot; through their shells as we do through our skin and a buildup of dirt or oil can block oxygen transfer and create other problems. Detergents, shampoos, or other &quot;products&quot; should not be used unless recommended by your veterinary surgeon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T13:36:48.750" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:36:48.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-26T23:04:08.307" Score="7" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is currently fed on a twice daily schedule. I'm planning on moving him in with another cat who is currently free-fed. My cat will pretty much eat anything in sight, while the free-fed cat will cry if food isn't available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I should switch the free-fed cat to a schedule, but I'm not sure: Should I switch the free-fed cat to a schedule, or should I switch the scheduled cat to free feeding? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1026" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T17:27:02.617" Title="When moving two cats in with different feeding styles, which should trump the other?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2670" CreationDate="2014-03-27T08:07:13.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats naturally tend to eat tiny portions regularly throughout the day. So free access to food should be preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats and switched from 2 meals a day to free feeding about a year ago. It took a few days to reach a steady state but both cats seem quite happy with it. I can't really correlate the weight loss of the female cat with this change, but certainly my fear that she would gain weight was unjustified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would recommend to switch the scheduled cat to free feeding. Do it gradually, reduce the amount of food you give at fixed times and encourage him to access the food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep two bowls to be sure that both cats are able to eat at the same time if needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T11:42:39.387" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T11:42:39.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2765" CreationDate="2014-03-27T12:53:31.280" Score="6" ViewCount="563" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 male guinea fowls, their breed is lavender and they have their wings clipped to prevent them from flying off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed recently that they cry in the afternoon and sometimes very early in the morning. Every time, I usually go outside to check what the problem might be but I usually find nothing. I just see the three of them somewhere crying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After doing some research I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://afspoultry.ca.uky.edu/files/pubs/Keeping_guinea_fowl.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Keeping guinea fowl (pdf)&lt;/a&gt; and under the reasons to keep a guinea fowl the book said,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Farm yard ‘watch dog’&lt;/strong&gt; : Guinea fowl will sound an alarm whenever anything unusual occurs on the farm. Some find this noise a nuisance, but for others the guinea is an effective tool for protecting the farm livestock&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book said they sound an alarm &lt;strong&gt;whenever anything unusual occurs&lt;/strong&gt; but when my guinea fowls cry I don't find anything unusual when I check them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone with experience in rearing guinea fowls explain why they cry for no reason and probably give a method to control their crying because I find it very disturbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user34" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T10:11:02.940" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T03:50:54.397" Title="Why do my guinea fowls cry unnecessarily?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;guinea-fowls&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2676" CreationDate="2014-03-27T14:27:29.707" Score="6" ViewCount="554" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet rabbit is very protective of her cage. I just got her a bigger one, but even if I am putting hay down in the cage for her to eat she will growl at me. She doesn't bite me and allows me to pet her, but if she thinks I'm about to touch any of her stuff, she growls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cage is 18&quot; tall x 36&quot; x 22&quot;. There is a little &quot;hut&quot; made out of twigs where she can be in her &quot;rabbit hole&quot; where it's dark. By the &quot;hut&quot; there is a mat on the cage wall made of grass with wooden buttons that she can chew on and scratch at. There's also an edible tube on the floor of the cage (that she moves around as she sees fit) made of hay/grass that she can run through, sit in, and nibble at. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just puts food where she likes it so I don't bother with a bowl and just place it into the cage. One corner, the farthest from her &quot;hut&quot;, is designated as her toilet area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cage itself is in the living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T14:33:43.133" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T14:33:43.133" Title="How can I help my rabbit be more comfortable with my influence on her cage?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2670" CreationDate="2014-03-27T17:27:02.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with free feeding is that it requires you to use dry food (wet food will spoil if left out too long). &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1881/how-do-i-motivate-a-cat-to-drink-more-water/1886#1886&quot;&gt;Dry food does not contain the moisture that cats need and are accustomed to in their diets.&lt;/a&gt; Wet food is best, and so meal feeding is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other reasons that meal feeding is preferred:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Portion/Diet control. Many cats will eat all day and not exercise enough, becoming obese. This can also become important if one cat needs a special medical diet (allergies/intolerance is a common reason), or if the cats are at different weights and need different amounts of food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitoring ability. In a free fed multicat household, if one cat stops eating (or starts eating less) due to an illness/injury, it is much harder to detect. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T17:27:02.617" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2674" CreationDate="2014-03-27T19:21:28.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The symptoms you are describing is often called 'cage aggression', rabbits can be very &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514&quot;&gt;protective of THEIR space&lt;/a&gt;. It can take several forms, from growling to lunging to biting. It will generally decrease as the bunny gets more comfortable with you, but THEIR house is THEIRS, and until you are fully accepted as part of their warren, you may have issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First step in dealing with this issue, is to allow you to address housekeeping concerns in her space without causing conflict or stress. You should &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320&quot;&gt;bunny proof&lt;/a&gt; particularly in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1998&quot;&gt;out of the way areas&lt;/a&gt;.  Ideally your bunny cage is on the floor, or has a ramp so she can get in and out of her space by herself. While she is out getting her daily exercise in the living room, you can clean her room and add hay, water &amp;amp; such. In some cases with very protective bunnies you may need to block her from getting back to her space, while you are working.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a long term solution, it is all about spending time with your bunny. Her cage is her space so start by spending time together in a shared space.  If you have not bunny proofed the entire area she can get to while out; use an exercise pen (x-pen) to fence off an area around her space, let her come out and get to know you.  She is entering &quot;your&quot; space here, so she will go slower, be more hesitant and generally treat you as the alpha. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how much handling she had before you adopted her, she may snuggle right up to you for pets or it may take some time to get there.  As the relationship between you grows, the whole cage aggression thing will decrease.  Everybunny is a different individual so progress and outcome will very.  I know one bunny that took more than a year to get past some sever issues (&lt;em&gt;much worse than you describe here&lt;/em&gt;).  My wife does a lot work with these kind of behavior issues, and most of the cases that are significant enough for special treatment can be addressed in 1 to 3 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a bunny named Tigger, who came to us to get his cage aggression treated. My wife later adopted him, because she fell in love; He does not have any remaining cage aggression, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2264/do-rabbits-make-any-sounds/2276#2276&quot;&gt;he still growls&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary. By doing the cage cleaning while she is out, you will not aggravate the issue and will have a faster end to the behavior.  The more time you can spend building a relationship with your bunny, the faster you will get past the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T19:21:28.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2712" CreationDate="2014-03-27T19:32:20.713" Score="7" ViewCount="48329" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often when you see rabbits on TV, they are in cages with wire floors.  It seems to be made out of half inch hardware cloth (&lt;em&gt;wire&lt;/em&gt;).  We know from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; that rabbits can be litter box trained, so a wire bottom cage is not required.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits and risks of a wire bottom cage for my pet rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T15:10:50.930" Title="What are the benefits and risks of a wire bottom cage for my pet rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2679" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-27T21:38:32.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Terminology tag is applied when the question requests the definition or origin of a word, phrase or term, as it relates to pets.  Some &quot;lingo&quot; or &quot;trade talk&quot; used by experts in the field may be unfamiliar to the average person.  The question would revolve around an obscure word used in a very specific context, or a word which is foreign to the questioner's source country or culture.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terminology may also be used to request examples of uncommon terms used in a supplied sample context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answers should provide concise and uncomplicated definitions or examples.  In this case, it may be best to answer the questioner in layman's terms; as if speaking to common folk.  Terminology usage examples should also be supplied if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T21:52:34.847" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:52:34.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2680" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-27T21:38:32.340" Score="0" Body="Requests a definition, explanation, or examples of words, terms or phrases used in reference to pets." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-03-27T21:38:32.340" LastActivityDate="2014-03-27T21:38:32.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2014-03-28T01:10:01.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't usually like to have their paws held, touched, or anything like that.  If they are in a mellow mood and trust you they might not mind as much.  My &quot;grrrls&quot; tend not to mind me gently petting their front paws, but the ones I've had longer (and bonded more with) are more tolerant of it.  Paws are a sensitive area that they depend on and having a paw held probably seems instinctively &quot;wrong&quot; and &quot;dangerous&quot; to them.  They could view it as seriously limiting their mobility.  They have a similar mentality with having their belly petted (a cat who trusts you and is in a mellow mood might let you do it, but otherwise they might get angry) as it is a &quot;weak spot&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would never do this myself but I did observe (when I was younger) someone put bags on their cats feet (with rubber bands). The cat was so disturbed about having the bags on its feet it incessantly walked backwards to try to get its paws out of the bags.  Do not do this as it psychologically cruel to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T01:10:01.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2639" CreationDate="2014-03-28T01:55:16.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats typically don't have a lot of interest in learning words like dogs do.  Most cats will respond to the tone you use and other cues, rather than trying to memorize the sound patterns of words.  I've also found that sounds (not our words) tend to be a good way of getting their attention.  One of my cats I can trill at and she will take that as a cue to come over, other ones I'll call over with other sounds.  A stern tone when one is stealing food from another will sometimes give pause.  Some cats have been taught words but it is not typical and would require a great deal of effort on your part.  I don't think any of my cats &quot;knows their name&quot; or any other words, but it doesn't bother me, and I think I can communicate with them using tone, sounds, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T01:55:16.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2014-03-28T02:07:23.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had similar problems with Pounce de Leon when she was young.  If she was running around on the bed at night, or making lots of noises and ruckus I would verbally reproach her (she didn't understand what I said but the tone I used).  Fortunately for me she was quick at learning and after a few months adopted the habit my other cat (Callie) had of not bothering us before we woke in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all cats will be so quick to learn though, some of my other cats would wake me up for playtime by batting me on the head with their paws.  Worse, the one cat that came to me not declawed, would do that which did not feel nice.  Since I have the odd habit of often putting my head under the pillow this sometimes did help.  Those cats came to me much later and they were already in their teens and not keen to learn new habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T02:07:23.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-28T03:11:15.250" Score="8" ViewCount="10190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat likes to push things off of the table. He really likes to push pencils off. But sometimes he pushes valuable things like my small cellphone. I think he knows he shouldn't do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train him not to push things off the table?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1034" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T10:10:29.153" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T01:53:28.417" Title="How to stop my cat pushing things off of the table" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2014-03-28T10:47:22.300" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you attempt a complete soak of the area. Also, keep in mind that there may be multiple areas, some large, some small. I understand this will be quite challenging for a mattress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read the following for my reasoning, which is based on one company - but applies to all cleaners, enzymatic or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An enzymatic cleaner such as Kids 'n' Pets (I use) sells their product in a large non-spraying bottle, similar to the water bottles used for bike rides. Before their website received an overhaul, they used to have a FAQ page which included &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Why does Kids'n'Pets come in a squirt bottle and not a spray bottle?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; They explained that the common problem with pet-stain-cleaners was that &lt;strong&gt;customers never soaked the area as thoroughly as the urine originally did&lt;/strong&gt;. Urinating directly onto a carpet (or mattress) allows liquid to travel deep down and outward. Customers often &lt;strong&gt;spray&lt;/strong&gt; the &lt;strong&gt;surface&lt;/strong&gt; based on the stain they see or think is there - which always allowed most of the urine (deeper under the carpet) to stay untreated. This leads to reoccurring smell, which leads to customers thinking the product doesn't work. They explained how the large opening squirt bottle encourages customers to actually completely soak the area. This way the product will work, and the customer will be happy. (It was not an expensive product) They promoted simply using your own squirt bottle for stains if you're sure they are surface-only. Unfortunately the product has grown in popularity; their website has gotten fancy; and I cannot find this information anymore. However, the logic is sound. People often just need to use more product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pick a product you're sure will work on urine, not just microbes. If it kills the microbes, but leaves urine in it's original &quot;edible&quot; state, more microbes will just move in later and make the smell again.&lt;/strong&gt; Remember, it's not really the urine that smells, but the microbial action. You need something that will break down urine into a form that's not usable by the microbes which cause the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used Kids'n'Pets for cat accidents including: food-based vomit, bile-based vomit (very very neon green stains) (a medical issue, now treated), feces smears (cat eats long human hair and freaks out during defecation); and very old, very stubborn grease oil (car/mechanic) stains in carpet. I have not used it on urine, but I originally chose it due to fabulous reviews (mostly about urine). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest buying an enzymatic cleaner in bulk from online and soaking as much of the mattress as you can. Try to sniff out all areas in advance and perhaps mark with a pen or marker. Use a black light (UV light) in the dark to find urine stains. Keep in mind that if you properly cleaned the surface - it may be impossible to find the stains visually. Try to remember where you cleaned before and soak those areas and/or use someone with an excellent nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T10:47:22.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2685" CreationDate="2014-03-28T11:29:53.233" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience with cats, your cat is probably doing this for one of two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he wants your attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he wants something to play with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The options - particularly if you can't keep him off the table (I've never had success training a cat to stay off a surface. This is very much a &quot;mileage may vary&quot; thing) - depend on why the cat is knocking things off the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If he wants attention&lt;/strong&gt; - learn the signals your cat gives that mean &quot;I want my human to play with me/pet me/feed me&quot; and give him attention &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; he gets on the table and starts knocking things off. He should figure out pretty quickly that he doesn't need to knock things off the table to get attention - even if that attention isn't quite what he was looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If he wants something to play with&lt;/strong&gt; - don't keep things he'll play with on the table, and make sure there are plenty of kitty toys he likes on the floor. This will take some rearranging on your part, but once you get your table reorganized so there's nothing on it that he can play with and you've got him a collection of things to play with on the floor, he should stop jumping up on the table for kitty toys (the usual rule with kitty toys is that if the cat likes to play with it, it's a kitty toy). Him knocking pencils off suggests that he likes things that roll around, and probably also things that make noise so some possible options are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a ball in a track toy that he can bat around (one of my cats figured out how to accelerate the ball to a ridiculous level by repeatedly batting it each time it circled back to him)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a ball with a bell or rattle inside it that makes noises as it rolls (be prepared to extract this from all sorts of places if your cat takes to it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a ball with a battery-powered movement-activated chirping noise (be prepared to extract this from all sorts of places if your cat likes it. Also be prepared to have it go off at odd hours)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one of those battery-powered toys that simulates (sort of) prey movements. These are expensive: you'll probably want to supervise the cat's interaction with this one or at least make sure it's sturdy enough that the cat isn't going to destroy it in a few days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you've got hard floors, cheap wooden (unpainted and untreated) balls and cylinders can work. They'll make noise when they roll, and they're not easily destroyed. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T11:29:53.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="198" CreationDate="2014-03-28T12:27:26.210" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few points to note before we get down to actual numbers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With all types of fishkeeping, it is better to understock than overstock. &lt;em&gt;Extra&lt;/em&gt; space is not a problem, so to ensure happy, healthy fish, err on the smaller size. Your fish may even reproduce, which could be a problem if you have stocked the pond to its maximum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not add all your fish in the first stocking of your pond. It is recommended you add the stock in small batches, in case there are problems. In other words, add 3-4 fish (scale up if you have a larger pond), wait and see if they are okay, then add more a few at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different fish have different requirements. Koi are specialised fish and will need more space in a pond than goldfish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When determining how many fish your pond can hold, both the surface area and volume of the pond are important. The surface is where oxygen transfer happens, so a deep pond with a small surface area will be able to hold less fish than a one with the same volume which has more balanced proportions. However, volume is also a factor: a pond that is too shallow can cramp the fish and not give them enough room to swim. Koi should not be kept in a pond that is less than 1&amp;nbsp;m deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lagunaponds.com/lagunaeng/careguides/careguides_pond.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This careguide&lt;/a&gt; suggests you allow 1 inch (2.5 cm) of fish per square foot of surface area. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lagunaponds.com/lagunaeng/careguides/careguides_fish.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This other careguide&lt;/a&gt; from the same company suggests allowing 1 inch (2.5 cm) of fish for every 13 US gallons (50 litres) of water. Personally, I would compute the number of fish using my pond's surface area, then again using the volume, and use the smaller of the two numbers (or close to it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good filtration and water features could allow you to increase the fish capacity by up to double the (surface area) guideline above. Having more filtration will increase the number of fish you can keep because it will make the water cleaner as waste will be eliminated more promptly; water features will increase it because the water will get more oxygenated as the water bubbles and splashes around. However, these will only work up to a point - fish still need a certain amount of space no matter the cleanliness and oxygenation of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative way of thinking about it, here is how the above careguide describes the different pond sizes. The measurements are US gallons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 to 5 gallon (3.8 to 19 liters) ponds – offer a carefree way to enjoy small water plants up close.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 to 40 gallon (76 to 150 liters) ponds – get your feet wet. Provide a serene area for you to enjoy&#xA;small to medium sized pond plants. You can also have a small pump and maybe even&#xA;a goldfish. Even better – they’re easy to maintain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;50 to 500 gallon (190 to 1900 liters) ponds – a great place to start, not a big commitment. However,&#xA;once you discover your enthusiasm for pond keeping, it won’t be long before you’re&#xA;making plans to expand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 to 3000 gallon (1900 to 11400 liters) ponds – This size will allow you to keep fish and a large variety&#xA;of pond plants. Consider location, filtration and the number of plants and fish that&#xA;you want to keep when planning your pond.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3,000 gallon (11400 liters) ponds and over - many people find water gardening and fish keeping&#xA;to be the hobby of their dreams and will invest the time and money to get the&#xA;maximum enjoyment out of their water garden. With water gardening, the only limit&#xA;is your imagination. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in larger ponds or lakes, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://harrisonfishery.com/stockingRecommendations.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;guide here&lt;/a&gt; on how many fish to populate your lake with. It's probably outside the scope of pet keeping but might be interesting as further reading. (Bear in mind that bigger ponds can tolerate much more variance, so I wouldn't advise using those figures and &quot;dividing down&quot; for a smaller volume.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T18:07:15.463" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T18:07:15.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1790" CreationDate="2014-03-28T12:56:35.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In researching another answer, I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lagunaponds.com/lagunaeng/careguides/careguides_fish.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guide&lt;/a&gt; speaking about feeding fish in winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few paragraphs to give some context. (It's a guide aimed at koi and/or goldfish pond owners, in case you were wondering why it says don't feed your fish at all.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the water temperature of your pond falls, the fish will require less food. Watch&#xA;  their food intake and adjust your feeding. Stop feeding your fish completely&#xA;  when the water temperature of your pond reaches an average of 45°F (7°C).&#xA;  At 47-50°F (8-10°C) the fish will begin to hibernate at the bottom of the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regardless of the outside temperature or if your fish come to the surface during&#xA;  the winter do not feed them. They are surfacing for oxygen not food. If you feed&#xA;  them during this period, the food will not be digested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If your pond is not suitable to winter your fish you can bring them inside. They&#xA;  can be kept inside a tub or aquarium in your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The middle paragraph is the key point, particularly this bit: &lt;em&gt;If you feed them during this period, the food will not be digested.&lt;/em&gt; That suggests that there are no direct ill effects on the fish themselves through feeding them in winter. There would of course be an effect on their water quality (which would in turn have a negative impact on the fish) if uneaten food was being left to rot in the pond - but if the sturgeon are eating the food, that of course is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T12:56:35.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2014-03-28T13:31:08.290" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regardless of floor choice, remember that they need a burrow-like &quot;safe&quot; area to cope with stress. Many pet rabbit hutches have BOTH a mesh floor portion and a little &quot;house&quot; like portion that has a solid floor with bedding. These are not used industrially because they take up much more space and require bedding changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to decide based on your personal factors, but basically:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;MESH IS EASY FOR PEOPLE. RABBITS PREFER LITTER/BEDDING if you keep it clean like you're supposed to.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Movies&quot; are not a good role model because animals are always provided by a trainer who keeps multiple rabbits and possibly other animals. They will generally opt for the &quot;easiest&quot; and most &quot;industrial&quot; style methods.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- The rabbit cannot be seen when in its &quot;house&quot; - so it is not used in TV or rabbit farming. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- The pan can be swapped out quickly as soon as it's dirty so that viewers do not see waste. With litter/bedding, they might have to change it in the middle of filming, which would take time and also disturb the rabbit (make it nervous). &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- It is very possible that a trainer would have bedding for his rabbits - but uses a classic cage &lt;em&gt;temporarily&lt;/em&gt; during filming/on set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compromise with both. Have a large mesh-bottomed area for easy clean-up (eating, pooping, etc) PLUS a &quot;hut&quot; with litter/bedding for warmth and comfort. The hut can be made to have a big hinged lid for easy access and cleaning. Make sure the wire mess will not hurt the rabbit's feet. (see below) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;OR &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just give the rabbit what it wants and change out the litter. Using a litterbox makes everything even easier, but you should still change all the litter occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Example from Bunny Hutch HQ (.com) This hutch provides THREE levels of protection: a hut, a semi-protected area, and an open area. A simpler hutch would be something like the top portion only, with the left side being either mesh bottomed or solid bottomed with litter. An indoor hutch could be more open on the left side.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SMOV3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;![From BunnyHutchHQ.com]&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mesh doesn't allow rabbits to chew their pellets&lt;/strong&gt; (soft poo) for nutrition. &#xA;- This is similar to a cow chewing its cud. Plant material isn't &quot;finished&quot; on the fist pass through, so the rabbit will re-eat some poo pellets. These will be soft and round and you usually don't see them. They are pooped during resting (such as inside a hut) and eaten immediately. The &quot;finished&quot; poo will be hard and the rabbit usually poops these in one particular corner of the cage. (That's where you put the litterbox for training. You're not training the rabbit, you're just putting the litterbox where it poops.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;All info from this point on is summarized from the rabbit husbandry webpage of &lt;em&gt;The Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department&lt;/em&gt; of the &lt;em&gt;Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fao.org/ag/portal/index_en/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fao.org/ag/portal/index_en/en/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690e/t1690e08.htm#uses%20for%20waste&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690e/t1690e08.htm#uses%20for%20waste&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Litter helps the rabbit maintain warmth and temperature regulation.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Too much mesh can allow too much airflow making temperature regulation difficult. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Indoor housing will help counteract this (do not put near sunlight, drafts, doors, etc where rabbit may be forced to endure a bad temperature or quick changes in temp) &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- *Some mesh is good - and usually provided from at least half of the cage being wire mesh on the top and sides. Less for outdoor cages. Most pet cages meet the fresh air requirement.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- &lt;strong&gt;All mesh makes rabbits rely COMPLETELY on YOU for temperature and airflow regulation.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Litter can encourage certain parasites&lt;/strong&gt; to be spread from one rabbit cage to another nearby rabbit cage. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- This is a bigger problem for rabbit-&lt;em&gt;farming&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;pet&lt;/em&gt; ownership. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- You are unlikely to have this problem is changing the litter and/or using a litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wire mesh can irritate the feet, causing bacterial infection&lt;/strong&gt;. Make sure the wire is fat and the holes are small so their weight is distributed. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- It is even more likely when the area is warm and/or moist. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- It is also more likely if the animal thumps their foot a lot (stress).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- It is more likely in heavy breeds and nervous/excitable breeds.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- &quot;New Zealand White or Californian breeds&quot; were mentioned as being better adapted to mesh flooring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It can be difficult to find proper mesh for just 1 pet rabbit.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Just because the pet store sells it doesn't mean it's any good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Plastic coated mesh can fatten the wire and provide a little more comfort - but rabbits can chew the plastic right off. Depends on the rabbit and mesh size.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Wire thickness:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Diameter 2.4 mm, minimum 2 mm&quot; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Size of &quot;hole&quot;:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;diameter 1 to 1.3 cm, but narrow enough to prevent the feet getting caught in the mesh&quot; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Even the best mesh isn't that comfortable.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Provide at least some non-mesh area for the rabbit to rest on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wire mesh can be disinfected. Wire mesh is easy to clean.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;- Again, this is more of a concern for rabbit-farming type conditions. Wood is naturally anti-microbial, but it's not microbe proof. The site recommended changing a wood floor every 2 years, but their focus was on farming conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can (hopefully) see, mesh is just easy for people to deal with. It's the standard for farming lots of rabbits in a tiny space. This concept has carried over into the pet rabbit, but it isn't necessarily appropriate. Traditional rabbitry in Europe uses straw litter. Modern rabbit farming uses mesh with waste collection pits or troughs (with rabbits stacked above each other - the site has diagrams) so that no one has to change the litter in each cage. This allows maximum rabbits in minimum space. You can collect waste and distribute food and water without opening each cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="1038" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T13:38:39.560" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T13:38:39.560" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2580" CreationDate="2014-03-28T13:34:49.600" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frankly she sounds like she has you trained pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips that I used to teach this to a number of different birds.  Your conure is still very young so this shouldn't be terribly difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't attempt training when they are near their cage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bird sees its cage as its territory and it gives the bird comfort as well as makes the bird feel empowered.  This is a good thing really but this mindset in a bird makes them too independent and hard to train.  Wait until the bird wants attention from you and comes to you up on your shoulder.  Take them from the room to a place they aren't terribly accustomed to.  They will probably be a little more clingy to you because they are out of your element and they will certainly pay more attention to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Find a treat they like as a reward&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My birds adore bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe and apples.  I reserve these foods specifically for treats and rewards and only give them a little bit in their bowl until I want them to have it.  Make sure they can't see it though because they will probably pay more attention to the banana in your hand than you trying to teach them something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Start small and be patient&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limit your training sessions to no more than 5-10 minutes at a time.  Do this a couple times a day.  It is not in a bird's nature to be trained so it is difficult for them.  You don't want them to be stressed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with just touching their chest with your finger briefly and pulling it away slowly.  When he goes to bite you or mouth you use a negative word like 'No'.  When he doesn't react or doesn't get you use a positive phrase like 'Good Girl!' and reward.  After many sessions he should stop pecking you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Move up from here and start slowly massaging the bird's chest with your finger.  Repeat the reward process for not pecking you while you do this.  Start slowly increasing the time you are touching the bird's chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next start with touching the chest and the feet.  Next start using the command for stepping up while trying to lift one of the bird's feet with your fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you will find that eventually the bird will step up to your fingers naturally as they have an instinctual need to climb higher and higher for safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't Be Afraid!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all else don't be scared of getting bit.  If you are fearful then your bird will sense this and be more prone to biting you, HARD.  You being fearful teaches them that it is right to be fearful about your fingers.  They are like children in that they will look to you for how to feel about situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="182" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T14:16:01.277" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T14:16:01.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2014-03-28T15:21:52.603" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;I researched this awhile back when adopting kittens. It seems there are a lot of variables with cat biting. These are some tactics that I've had successful experience with (in slightly different situations):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the cat was biting as a sign of play (your fingers, arm, etc. is like a toy) then ignoring the cat is recommended.&lt;/strong&gt; First, play with the cat (Never let your body be a toy. You can hold a toy, but never make your body part a toy. Use a toy on a string, a long toy or throw a toy. If it's small just do the best you can. I'm just saying this for everyone that might read it.) If the play session ends naturally (cat gets tired or bored) give him a treat. This is a natural occurrence for cats - to eat after play/hunting. If the cat attacks your hand/food/etc (claws or teeth), pull back to yourself and try making a loud sound as if hurt (sharp short high-pitched yelp or hiss) right at the moment of the attack. Do not delay, animals have difficulty connecting your reaction to what they did unless it's immediate. (If you forget to make the sound - don't do it late.) Leave the room as quickly as possible. Take the toy with you. Try to shut a door between you. Ignore the cat as much as possible for at least 15 minutes, preferably longer, like 30 minutes. If you can't keep the cat out, just keep leaving whatever room your cat is in to signal you do not trust to be in the same room with it. Try playing again the next day. If the cat attacks again before the next play time, try to react as you did earlier, as much as is possible within your schedule.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I was trying to socialize a semi-abandoned outdoor kitten that lived in my landlord's barn. He had a terrible biting and clawing habit. This technique (modified for his barn area) worked amazingly well. (Of course leaving him really did mean leaving him for at least a day. Sometimes I only visited for 1 minute! But in just a week I noticed a difference. He stopped biting and started retracting his claws and focusing on toys and walking next to me instead of attacking.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A vet on NPR discussed that nipping (gentle biting) is a natural cat-to-cat interaction that you may never be rid of.&lt;/strong&gt; For example, during petting when your cat wants attention and suddenly nips. To the cat, it isn't really hurting you. But a lot of vets point out that you can sometimes predict these nips. The cat may be flicking their tail or turning their ears or head (signaling displeasure) before they do it. They are getting annoyed with your petting, it's too much or not in the right place anymore. To us a bite seems over-the-top, but to the cat it was a gentle correction. &quot;I swear my cat enjoys it but then it bites.&quot; Then remember that it is possible for something to feel both good and bad, tickling is a common example for humans. Vets also point out that the cat may be anticipating a &quot;bad petting&quot; and biting when a person only walks near to warn off the person in advance. &lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;Two of my cats tend to bite when they get so into petting that they frenzy. They purr like crazy and start rolling over and pacing back and forth. The more frenzied they get, the more likely they'll suddenly bite. When you walk off, they follow you and rub on you &quot;asking&quot; for more petting. The best we've been able to do is stop petting them but stay with them when they start getting frenzied (before they bite). We minimize the petting until they calm back down.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably too late for you (I haven't read anything about it working with adult cats) but &lt;strong&gt;another tactic is to make sure the cat grows up with other cats.&lt;/strong&gt; It's been shown that kittens that grow up with siblings tend to tuck in their claws and bite lightly. This is because they learn through experience with each other that claws and biting hurt. Basically, they learn to tone it down so they can continue roughhousing for fun. The cat grows up with &quot;no-claws&quot; as the default way to play, even with toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of the &quot;hold mouth closed and blow on face&quot; thing for biting, but I have (since you asked about experience) blown on my cats' faces when they get near my food. I don't touch them at all, I just blow a little puff of air toward their face. It works surprisingly well. Anything else and they just came back, but one puff or two and they walk away for good. So I think that might have been a valid idea as a deterrent, not sure as a punishment. Perhaps kittens are more susceptible to being corrected than adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1038" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-03-28T15:39:56.197" LastActivityDate="2014-03-28T15:39:56.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2716" CreationDate="2014-03-28T15:51:28.053" Score="14" ViewCount="56393" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, when my gecko sheds, not all of the skin comes off and I find flaky white patches left behind. I know you shouldn't pull at them to help them come off, so what should you do instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:49:46.137" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:49:46.137" Title="My leopard gecko sometimes has trouble shedding. How can I help?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2715" CreationDate="2014-03-28T15:51:28.053" Score="16" Body="&lt;h1&gt;What to do right now&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, gecko shedding doesn't happen all at once. It happens over about 24 hours. So if there's still some skin present the next day, don't worry about it - that's normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a few days have gone by and you can still see some patches of old skin, it might be time to step in. If a patch of old skin is left on the toe (toes are often a problem area) and not shed, it can lead to lack of circulation as the gecko grows, which will mean the toe will eventually drop off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can try to help soften the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A luxurious bath.&lt;/strong&gt; See this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2109/628&quot;&gt;great description of bathing a bearded dragon to help it shed&lt;/a&gt; from Matt S. The same method can be followed for a leopard gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A decadent sauna.&lt;/strong&gt; A similar principle. Line a small container with warm, wet paper towels, put the gecko in and put the lid on. (Geckos feel safe in small spaces, so if she's used to you handling her and you put her in gently it should be fine.) Let her sit in there for about 30 minutes then gently rub the dead skin and it should come off. If it doesn't, put her back in for another 30 minutes and try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-articles/gecko-sauna.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a site describing the sauna method, with pictures and a video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A sensuous massage.&lt;/strong&gt; This method is best combined with one of the two above. Use a moistened cotton bud to gently rub the dead skin. If it's around a toe, rub in and around all the toes until the skin loosens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of these work, don't force it. Maybe the skin isn't quite ready. Wait a few days and try again. If you keep having trouble, you may have to get help from a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What to do long term&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your gecko often has trouble shedding, this could be a sign of poor humidity in the terrarium. Make sure your moist hide is moist enough. If the gecko spends most of her time in the hot end of the terrarium and the moist hide is at the cool end - or the other way round - try moving it to make sure she actually uses the hide. You could also try misting the terrarium when your gecko's about to shed, to temporarily increase the humidity. (Don't do this at feeding time as excess humidity will kill most insects.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Geckos also need something to rub against to loosen the skin and help it come off. In the wild it would probably be a big rock. If your terrarium doesn't have anything like this (all your hides etc. are very smooth) consider getting something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, some geckos just seem to have more difficulty shedding than others! If you've done all the above and it still happens every shedding time, don't worry about it, just help your gecko out when the time comes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T22:07:51.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2723" CreationDate="2014-03-29T14:19:14.767" Score="3" ViewCount="4698" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I was considering building out a tropical fish tank for my home and wanted to create a good landscape (waterscape?) for both the fish and our visual impact, what are some of the things that I should be considering in my selection and are there examples? Are there special lighting considerations? Filters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would probably be keeping fish like tetras, corydoras, and similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:07:40.740" Title="How to choose good plants for a tropical fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-03-29T22:59:13.827" Score="6" ViewCount="23105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog gets very excited, very easily. He will pace back and forth, making a meowing like noise, whining, and kicks his hind legs backwards as he paces around. I've never seen another dog act this way and I can not find an answer to my question. Everything I read online explains that dogs do this after they urinate, or it is a way of marking territory, but that's not what is happening in this case. He was adopted by us when he was around 1 year old, breed is Papillon, he's done this the entire time we've had him which is about 3.5 years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T03:50:59.100" Title="Why does my dog kick his legs back when he gets excited?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2718" CreationDate="2014-03-30T04:35:19.650" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 3 main factors in setting up a planted tank: Lighting, Substrate, and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lighting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some plants may grow just fine with minimal light (&lt;em&gt;Cryptocoryne&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Anubias&lt;/em&gt;). But most need substantially more light than a basic aquarium light provides. For a planted tank you'll want &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; 1 watt per gallon, but many (most) plants require more - 2 watts per gallon or more. If all you have is a standard aquarium light that came from a kit, its likely you'll want to upgrade that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Substrate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium gravel isn't the best for most plants. Its too difficult for them to grow roots in such rough substrate and it will limit their growth.  Instead, consider a specialized substrate for planted tanks. These will contain the right mixture of minerals and will be loose enough that plants can grow roots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; gets into the water mainly by transfer at the surface, so there's a practical limit to how much CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will 'naturally' be available in the tank. Because of this, many of the very lush planted tanks you see will have supplemental CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; systems. This isn't necessary &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; to have plants (I have a nice planted tank without CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; added). But if you want a lot of growth, they help a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for plant selection, a lot of that is just about what you personally want the tank to look like. Generally people pick foreground (smaller), midground, and background (taller) plants, and arrange them in that order, front to back.  You might also consider some moss to grow over logs and stones. And some carpet plants to cover the substrate. Obviously you'd look at the lighting you have available in the tank and compare that to the requirements of any plants you are thinking about adding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fish may also dictate your plant options. Some fish will eat certain plants (I had some platties tear into my moneywort). Others may enjoy hiding in plants that float at the surface. In your case, for tetras and corys, I don't think you have to worry about either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:07:40.740" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:07:40.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2685" CreationDate="2014-03-30T23:46:26.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat used to steal things off the table but he only does it when we are not around now. The main ways we solved it were to divert him and dissuade him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We diverted him with strings and other various toys, saying his name, or physically removing him to play in another room. We also used treats and catnip. That, I think because he is a cat, only works about half the time. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To dissuade him we use a spray bottle with water in it. He is not a dumb cat and has learned that when I put the spray bottle in front of him (an don't spray him) I do not like what he is doing and usually stops. And he will stop if I do spray him, which I try to avoid doing too often.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat is different. We have a younger cat who completely ignore these warnings and rewards and only responds to being physically moved or verbally told &quot;no&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think that because you might spend a lot of time on your phone, your cat is saying very loudly, &quot;Play with &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;, not that!&quot; when he does that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastActivityDate="2014-03-30T23:46:26.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2718" CreationDate="2014-03-31T10:31:25.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Lighting&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is first important to note that plants use photosynthesis for growth. In doing this, they have light requirements. Amount of light and Watts per gallon are useful measurements, however, the most important light requirements are color and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetically_active_radiation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PAR value&lt;/a&gt;. For standard T-5 or T-8 type lights, you'll want temperature color &lt;strong&gt;6700K&lt;/strong&gt;. This is light that is similar to noon with no clouds. 5500K is daylight and 10,000K is full spectrum (blue). For LED lighting, you want to pay attentin to wave-length. You'll want to get as close as you can do Red 640-670nm and Blue 430-460nm. You'll want more blue than red, anywhere from 60%-40% to 75%-25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Filtration&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plants eat up plenty of nutrients to grow. In doing so, they reduce the bio-load needed to be handled by filters. Ultimately, you'll want to follow the standard filtration requirements of your stocking. However, what you'll want to pay attention to with which plants you get is how much water flow will be occurring where they live. Rooted plants can handle a lot of water flow (similar to a sword plant with a powerhead near it). However, stem plants without roots will be knocked over by high water flow. If they are short you can angle your filter output away from them, however if they are tall you'll need to find a way to secure them or deflect water flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Substrate&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want substrate that the plants can attach to and anchor themselves, or you'll want to anchor them with &amp;quot;lead&amp;quot; or other plant weights. You can also anchor certain plants (anubias or microsorum) by attaching them to driftwood or rock via cyanoacrylate gel (super glue gel) via the rhizome. These plants will then attach themselves via their roots and the cyanoacrylate will eventually dissolve (fish safe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stocking (fish)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With plants, you can usually create a great environment for most fish. Mid- to top-tank dwellers will enjoy tall plants (echinodorus or ludwigia) whereas bottown dwellers will enjoy shorts or bushier plants (cryptocoryne or hygrophila in addition to what's been mentioned). It is important to note that if you pick fish that sift substrate or get large (pleco, clown loach), they will dig up plants or knock them over, so pick strong rooted plants with these fish. There are also fish that eat plants (gold fish, some plecos, etc) so you'll want to check on that to see what they prefer in case you need to avoid plants or pick tougher ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stocking (plants)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the above factors, you'll want to pick your plants. There are a lot of &amp;quot;low light plants&amp;quot; that work well without high light. These plants are usually green plants (vs red or purple). These are also usually the same types as the &amp;quot;beginner plants&amp;quot;. These go by the Anubias name or &amp;quot;crypts&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;java fern&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;hygro&amp;quot;. Taller, strong rooted plants are normally called &amp;quot;swords&amp;quot; and do well for beginners and some even in low light. It's difficult to cover all the possibilities, but what I recommend is looking through plants, picking the ones you like and then researching them before buying. Make sure you can keep them alive in your conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, there are so many factors in planting your aquarium that there are literally books about it. Be sure to research your fish and plants and then set up your aquarium based on their requirements. I recommend a low light or beginner plant stocking at first. You'll find these easier to keep alive and easier to enjoy. Once you learn what you like, you can expand your equipment or plants to suit your needs. You can work with fertilizers or high light, maybe injected CO2. These advanced topics are a lot of fun if you enjoy them, but don't let them intimidate you at first! I run low-light sword tanks (among others) and they look just fine -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iEHLF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Just remember to have fun with it!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T10:31:25.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2685" CreationDate="2014-03-31T18:17:01.943" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you could just put cat toys that you don't mind him pushing off about so he can scratch the itch without hunting more valuable items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-03-31T18:17:01.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2738" CreationDate="2014-03-31T21:59:51.920" Score="34" ViewCount="13426" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is quite dapper and handsome, so when we sit down for a candlelight dinner, he should have the proper attire.  Therefore, I would like for my cat to wear a tuxedo.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to get my cat to wear a cat-sized tuxedo or tuxedo costume?  I plan for him to be dressed this way for several hours.  I may expect him to wear the tuxedo for consecutive days, but generally only for special occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will not have a cane, but answers should consider that I will potentially give him a top hat.  Bonus points if you can figure out the monocle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note, Mr. Pickles is going to be sharing a nice candlelit dinner with me, and consuming food on his own; therefore he cannot be restrained or otherwise rendered incapable of doing so. Valid answers must take this into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, &lt;strong&gt;what's the best way to keep a semi-complex costume on my cat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T18:57:15.203" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T18:57:15.203" Title="How do I get my cat to wear a tuxedo for several hours?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;attire&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="18" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2726" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-03-31T22:06:51.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Attire questions regard clothing a pet may wear, but can also extend to costuming, collars, and other controlling or protective items which can be worn by a pet (for example, sweaters or a comfort device such as a harness, shirt, or vest).  Boots and socks; anything that an animal could wear, is covered by attire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions of attire may include how to create, how to measure, how to get a pet to wear, how to remove, habit concerns (such as a pet which enjoys wearing certain items), and proper application (appropriate Thundershirt usage, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T16:58:13.363" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T16:58:13.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2727" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-03-31T22:06:51.217" Score="0" Body="Anything a pet can wear for the purposes of protection, decoration, or control.  Includes clothing (sweaters), costumes, and collars." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-02T16:58:13.363" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T16:58:13.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2733" CreationDate="2014-03-31T23:27:08.953" Score="7" ViewCount="1564" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have probably 10 pounds of dry food and will rarely use it (occasional puzzle feeders, long weekends, etc). It is stored in an airtight plastic container. How long should we keep it before it is no longer good, or how do we tell if it is no longer good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T17:07:08.443" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T02:46:58.527" Title="How long is dry cat food good for?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-01T00:09:02.460" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purchase the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etsy.com/listing/90658785/cat-tuxedo-classic-black-tie?ref=listing-shop-header-4&quot;&gt;appropriate quality tux&lt;/a&gt; and ask him nicely to dress for dinner.  Nothing helps get a request met like politeness.  As for the hat, I would go with &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00ENRUGUU&quot;&gt;something like this&lt;/a&gt;.  I would stay away from the monocle, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://steampunkcostume.com/2013/06/20/all-in-one-cat-meme-photo-includes-steampunk/&quot;&gt;some cats wear them&lt;/a&gt;, unless he already has a prescription eye piece. Using someone else's prescription could be problematic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="473" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T10:21:27.873" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T10:21:27.873" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-01T01:35:53.913" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats look perfect without any clothing.  Dressing a cat is just about as sensible as throwing a blanket over a statue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want a cat to be in a tuxedo, may I suggest a &quot;tuxedo cat&quot;.  I have a tuxedo  Manx who is always purrfectly groomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main difficulties with dressing a cat is that cats have a strong aversion to being put in things by external forces, so I'd say dressing a cat is not terribly nice to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T01:35:53.913" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2685" CreationDate="2014-04-01T01:53:28.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually take the opposite approach.  Instead of trying to teach my cats not to push things off tables I try to anticipate problems and not let them happen.  One of my cats, Pounce de Leon likes to manipulate objects with her paws or mouth.  Pencils and pens getting pushed off a table, doesn't really bother me (but if we put them in some kind of holder like a cup that reduces that problem greatly).  Small electronics like small digital cameras are attractive to her particularly if they are in a case that has a loop on it- that is an issue.  To stop that we don't leave those items on surfaces that she can get to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can train them to not do stuff but it can be difficult to convey what you want to a cat.  I keep the rules pretty simple with mine.  My cats are allowed on many tables and counter tops but some are excluded for safety reasons, like the one that joins with the stove &amp;amp; sink.  They seem to understand this rule rather well.  When Pounce occasionally broke this rule in the past she would try to pretend she wasn't on the forbidden counter top (but she still got a tap on the nose to let her know it wasn't ok).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My two other cats generally play just with cat toys, but Pounce (like your cat) finds some human artifacts to be interesting.  She would (like your cat) enjoy pushing such an object off a table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T01:53:28.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-01T04:41:30.770" Score="6" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I tell when I need to trim my goat's hooves? I trim them regularly but am not sure if I do it often enough or if I'm being over-zealous. Or maybe when I'm trimming them I don't trim them short enough so I have to do it too often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when do you start trimming a kid's hooves? Is it a certain age or does it depend on the length of the hooves? So far I've been doing it just a very little at a young age with the idea of getting them used to it young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T15:51:38.327" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T04:42:08.437" Title="How can I tell when I need to trim my goat's hooves and how do I tell if I've trimmed them short enough?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;goats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2728" CreationDate="2014-04-01T04:50:23.347" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, dry foods do have a shelf life. Dry cat food does contain moisture, usually less than 10%, but enough to run the risk of molds developing. In addition, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/FeedYourCat.cfm&quot;&gt;vitamins and other nutrients&lt;/a&gt; in the food are not everlasting, they do weaken, and that poses some risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, the exact answer to your question is that it varies. Not all foods have the same shelf life, even within the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/faq-generic.html&quot;&gt;same brand&lt;/a&gt;. If the food is in the original bag, the expiry date should be on it somewhere, if it is not, and you're not sure how long you've had it and can compare to the same in the store, then I would toss it. It's not so expensive to replace in comparison to a trip to the vets. It's probably a good idea to write the expiration date of any food on the outside of the container using masking tape and avoid mixing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of determining if it's gone bad, there's no one answer to that. Some obvious possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mold on the food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It becomes very crumbly and powdery (almost all moisture gone).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't smell right (can be hard for us to tell) or doesn't really smell at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, I'm not aware of anything especially obvious. Which, in some ways, is part of the concern I would have with dry foods because the flavor enhancers on the food may convince a cat to eat it anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T04:50:23.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-01T05:37:58.660" Score="8" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I attended a &quot;Barn Hunt&quot; and had one of my dogs instincts tested. So what I'm curious about is if this is part of the &quot;nose work&quot; category of dog sports and what venues provide titles for &quot;Barn Hunt&quot;. Is this a tracking title?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looked like any type of breed could participate, there were what you would expect... terriers! But Great Danes also performed really well and had a lot of fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rats seemed very well cared for, tame, and tolerant of being sniffed. They were kept in sturdy containers that the dogs couldn't hurt them through and the people running it were very careful to look after the rats to prevent them from being harmed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-19T23:19:54.680" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T18:06:18.400" Title="What is a &quot;Barn Hunt&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2735" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-04-01T05:59:33.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Companion sports are gaining popularity all over the world but have been around since at least the 1800's. Some popular sports include Herding, Rodeo, Dressage, Herding, Lure Coursing, and Agility for Dogs, Cats and even Chickens. Most sports involve considerable training prior to competition involving at home practice, classes and seminars. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several levels of competition in most of the popular sports including local competitions all the way up to world wide competitions for sports like show, agility, and herding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T10:21:44.200" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T10:21:44.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2736" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-04-01T05:59:33.160" Score="0" Body="Athletic or training activities that your pet and you participate in together." OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T10:21:50.953" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T10:21:50.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-01T06:10:28.093" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple years ago one of our sheep had five babies. They all survived but one had to be fostered to another mom and a second had to be bottle fed. The mom was temporarily paralyzed in her back end. We took care of her, moved her around on a tarp and made sure she stayed in the shade and had food and water and a few days later she was able to get up again and eventually was back to normal. Obviously, we won't let her mate anymore, on the off chance she would have too many again and be hurt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how can we make sure this doesn't happen again? The year that happened many of the Ewes had more than two. Is it possible that it's because they had too much nutrition and were overweight? The Ewes in general were VERY large that year. The babies from the other Ewes also seemed to be pretty big. We want to make sure our sheep stay healthy and not overweight so that their pregnancies are dangerous. How can I prevent this scenario from happening again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:48:08.320" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T04:49:18.360" Title="Our sheep had too many babies and was temporarily paralyzed, how can I prevent this from happening again?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;&lt;sheep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-01T06:18:57.357" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will first need to condition the cat to like the clothing. Your goal is to get the cat to associate the clothing with good things. This can include food and petting. You can use wet cat food on a spoon to reward the cat for sniffing and generally being near the clothing. Once the cat is comfortable with that, you can drape the clothing over the cat while letting the cat have the food on the spoon. If your cat loves petting then pet the cat with the clothing. &#xA;It will be important to take small steps and condition the cat over time. You should do this when the cat is calm and in an environment where they feel safe. You also want to make sure the clothing you choose fits the cat comfortably and is easy to get on and, more importantly OFF. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he is comfortable with the tux then you can start the process over with the hat. It will be more difficult because they tend to dislike things on their heads. I would suggest finding a way to attach it to his collar with a stiff enough wire that it can sit lightly on his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can attach the monical to the underside of the top hat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do know... some cats will just want to be naked so don't force it but some cats will be cooperative. Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T14:38:21.347" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T14:38:21.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-01T06:41:47.083" Score="4" ViewCount="654" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four dogs. Three of them have pretty &quot;clean&quot; mouths meaning they are fairly plaque free. Maintaining good dental health for them is fairly easy by occasionally cleaning their teeth and making sure they have bones to chew on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one has a lot of plaque. He eats the same things the other dogs do, chews on bones, but he has way more plaque. What causes some dogs to have more plaque and is there anything I can do to change his diet that would make it better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T11:30:21.073" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T16:49:28.303" Title="Why do some dogs have more plaque than others?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2759" CreationDate="2014-04-01T11:52:34.833" Score="6" ViewCount="21382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering feeding my dachshund some hot dogs and/or sausages. I witnessed my friend feed his dachshund multiple sausages, and the dog seemed fine afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this wise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond having society label him a &quot;cannibal&quot;, are there any actual inherent dangers to feeding my dachshund (or, for that matter, &lt;strong&gt;any canine&lt;/strong&gt;) a hot dog or variant thereof (frankfurter, sausage, bratwurst, kielbasa, blood sausage, etc.)?  If there are dangers, what are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it matter if the hot dog is pork, beef (Kosher or not), other meat (chicken, turkey), or vegetarian (soy, etc.)?  Are there safe hot dog-esque alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, I'd like to know how safe it is to feed hot dogs to a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T20:23:13.967" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T11:52:20.727" Title="Should I feed hot dogs to my dachshund?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2014-04-01T12:01:54.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the risks and pitfalls of wire floors are largely mentioned, I'll mention pros...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a gardener, the waste of a rabbit can be the best fertilizer you've ever used. My vegetables go absolutely crazy on rabbit poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wire also allows the non-hutch area to remain cleaner. There is a sweet spot where the wire squares are small enough to be comfy for feet but big enough for rabbit poo. Also, if the rabbit has digestive problems, you'll notice the mess not falling through and be able to adjust diet issues. The rabbit's edible poo can still be munched in the hutch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wire is sturdy. I've found that plastic can be scratched up (thus harder to clean after a while), and I imagine a dog getting into your yard would be more dangerous if you have plastic instead of metal wire. (Of course, keep dogs far away at all costs anyway.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wire is one of the easier materials to work with when you have some lumber around. I enjoy the project of building my rabbits a cozy castle. They don't always do what I think they will (for instance, two rabbits will live in the same hutch instead of their own rooms), but a home built house makes me smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="1048" LastEditDate="2020-10-19T13:58:52.223" LastActivityDate="2020-10-19T13:58:52.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-01T13:30:23.047" Score="7" ViewCount="4363" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat is about 12 years old and she's recently started pooping right near my pillow. Always the exact same spot -- never near my partner's pillow (thanks for that, kitty). She still uses the litter box (which we clean daily); there have been no major changes to our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do keep the bedroom door closed at night while we sleep, so maybe she doesn't like being shut out? But that's nothing new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live on the third floor of an apartment so it's unlikely there are any cats outside disturbing her. We are both out of the house for a good chunk of the day so she's left alone (also nothing new). We've tried buying her toys and things to entertain her, but she rarely shows any interest in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has a clean bill of health from the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1051" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-01T15:39:04.623" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T11:43:19.110" Title="How do I keep my cat from pooping near my pillow?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-01T15:15:11.527" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that the best way to get your cat to wear a tuxedo is to practice cat hypnosis.  Fortunately, hypnotizing a cat is much easier than hypnotizing people.  It only requires three easy steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. Establish a connection with your cat.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step to hypnotize a cat is to to become its friend. Feed it, play with it, stroke its fur and talk to it smoothly with a calm voice. Build friendly communication with the cat and gain its trust. If the cat doesn’t accept you as a friend, it will be difficult to apply hypnosis techniques on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2. Lay The Cat Down&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you have gained the cat's trust, gently lay it down on its side. Stroke it for several minutes and keep it in a laying position with your other hand. But if the cat wants to get up, don’t force it and continue building trust through friendly communication.  If you build enough trust, then the cat will easily comply when you lay it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;3. Induce the Hypnotic Trance&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you continue to stroke the cat, begin softly speaking quiet affirmations, such as &quot;You are such a good kitty&quot;, &quot;Let your mind drift away&quot;, &quot;Your paws are getting soooo heavy&quot;, and &quot;The sun is so warm on your fur you just want to lie still forever&quot;.   Try to form a mental image in your mind with each statement, as if trying to telepathically project your thoughts onto your cat.  As your cat becomes calm and limp, slowly remove your hands from the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your cat is in the trance, you can proceed directly to giving the cat suggestions as to how you want things to proceed.  Do not give the cat direct commands, just suggest that it would look good wearing a tuxedo, and how much it would enjoy the monocle.  Then suggest that you will be helping the cat to put these on after it wakes up, and that it will be calm and still while you are doing this. When you are finished with the suggestions, be sure and suggest that when you snap your fingers the cat will wake up remembering nothing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T15:15:11.527" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="229" CreationDate="2014-04-01T18:25:35.903" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The technique I have settled on is to drape a &quot;throw&quot; (small blanket) over the chair arms that are the cat's preferred target. Depending on your decorating style, you can make it look like something you did just because it looks pretty. The throw doesn't need to reach the ground, or cover the entire chair, or anything dramatic like that. You just need to notice what height your cat's paws are when it scratches, and make sure that area's covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you may be tempted to use the thickest throw you can find, on the theory that it will offer more protection. But I think a &lt;em&gt;thin&lt;/em&gt; fabric offers better protection because it won't be satisfying to scratch. If you use a thick fabric, it might still work for scratching, and sometimes the claws will go through it. But a thin fabric discourages &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular nail clipping helps a lot too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T18:25:35.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-01T18:27:05.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Photograph the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create a cardboard cutout out of the photo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dress the cutout in the tuxedo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="238" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T18:27:05.603" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2014-04-01T18:37:57.813" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a chance she is trying to get attention. Try moving her litter box, changing her litter, changing the type of litterbox (going from short to tall, covered to uncovered). If she had a clean bill of health from the vet, that's good because she is not sick. But it means that it is likely something behavioral. I really suggest changing the litter or the litter-box first. &#xA;From Jackson Galaxy (of my cat from hell fame)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you see your cat going not inside the box… but getting the perimeters around it, it indicates sort of a dance around litter that is indicating discomfort.  Not just physical discomfort, but spacial discomfort, that “I don’t fit here” feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was a post about a cat peeing outside the box, but if it is behavioral, I feel it may be a similar thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another interesting possibility is suggested by CatFancy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Litterbox&#xA;  Other reasons a cat may fail to use its litterbox have to do with the litterbox itself. The litterbox might be too small, not stocked with a litter your cat likes, or not clean enough. It might also be in a bad location, such as a busy hallway, hidden behind a rumbling clothes drier, next to the cat's food (who wants to urinate next to their food?), too far away, in a difficult place to reach, or past a scary dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;And let's not forget about the dark,&quot; said Sharon Crowell-Davis, DVM, director of the Animal Behavior Service of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Behavior Service in Athens, Ga. &quot;I have seen cats who used their litterbox in the day, but eliminated in other places at night. With one of these cats, it turned out the litterbox was in a closet in the basement and the cat had to negotiate stairs and make it clear through the basement in pitch dark to get to the litterbox. Yes, cats can see well in dim light, but they can't see in total darkness. Adding a night-light solved that problem.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is one reason that your pillow may seem like a good idea to her. So the first thing I would suggest you try is to change the location of the litterbox (if you dare perhaps even in your bedroom) and put up a night light. Older cats have a hard time seeing and moving and these few changes may make a world of difference for you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T18:37:57.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-01T22:51:52.127" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firsty, you need to consider the fact that psychology is the easiest way to achieve with cats - and reverse psychology is the best psychology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell your cat you don't want to eat dinner with him, preferably with cold, metallic voice. Tell him you don't want him to wear tuxedos nor top hat either, and that you will hate him for doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go out to bathroom to give him five minutes to change. Works most of the time, especially with females. Sadly, since it's a male, you may need to put additional effort in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it doesn't work indeed, simply get him drunk, preferably with red wine, and then tell him he looks good in top hat and tails; if that doesn't work, get him drunk enough so he won't resist your attempts at changing his dress code too much. In case he drinks &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt;, simply say you won't give him more wine if he doesn't behave properly. I do it every time I want my more stubborn dinnermates dressed properly, and this method hasn't failed me once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1064" LastActivityDate="2014-04-01T22:51:52.127" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2014-04-02T01:42:39.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Zaralynda.  You probably should take the cat to see the vet to make sure it doesn't have a urinary tract problem.  If it does, treating the problem will probably result in it using the litter box again (though it might take several days even after the problem is gone).  Aside from urinary tract problems cats will pee outside if they are stressed out, marking territory (as in having a dispute with some other animal in the house), or if they smell urine already there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean up the area where the cat peed.  This is very difficult especially if the surface they peed on is porous.  Percarbonate (a solid which is a mix of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda) does a pretty good job of obliterating urine (rinse when you are done) and is not persistent and noxious like bleach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you have a few choices to make.  Can you block off the area where the cat peed?  If so that is a good way to prevent it from revisiting the area in case there is some faint odor lingering (cats have a sense of smell that is much stronger than ours).  If not and you're worried you can put citrus peels there (or rub citrus peels on the area). Most cats find the scent of citrus rather obnoxious (but it varies from cat to cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had cats peeing in the wrong place for all the possible reasons.  When it is a urinary tract problem a vet visit with treatment usually fixes the problem fast.  The behavioral squabbles over territory / smelling old spots is harder to deal with especially on carpeted areas... but you can reduce the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T01:42:39.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2014-04-02T01:48:00.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the poop is unusually large it could be that your cat has trouble pooping.  I have a cat who sometimes cannot poop and when she rectifies the problem (if she doesn't require assistance) it is often outside the litter box.  Probably this is not the case with your cat but it is worth considering.  Another possibility is that it is marking territory.  Using poop to mark territory is common in the wild though most house cats do not do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T01:48:00.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2760" CreationDate="2014-04-02T05:19:49.387" Score="8" ViewCount="9381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I admit I am against clipping a cat's claws, so I have no experience in the area. Because I don't clip the claws of my cats I naturally have not seen how it affects them. Most of my concern is about the climbing ability of a cat after its claws have been clipped dull. Can a cat climb just as well with clipped claws as with needle sharp claws?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is a photo of a climbing tree that has no platforms until the top of the tree. Can a cat climb it easily with clipped claws? How about an outdoors cat climbing a natural tree, which could be more difficult to climb than a sisal-rope coated indoors tree? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vi83g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tall climbing tree&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T22:42:42.993" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T17:01:34.613" Title="Does clipping a cat's claws affect its climbing ability?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2755" CreationDate="2014-04-02T11:02:28.010" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, clipping nails would impact a cats ability to climb.  For cats who are allowed outdoors this can adversely effect their ability survive should they need to climb a tree to escape a predator (i.e. lose dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pointy things go into material much easier then blunt or rounded object. This is why &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_%28fastener%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nail (fasteners)&lt;/a&gt; are created with points on the end that will be entering material.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T11:02:28.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2755" CreationDate="2014-04-02T14:13:05.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's true that an outdoor cat might be adversely affected by it's claws being trimmed, mostly because they need their claws to be pretty sharp in order to dig into the bark of a tree it wants to climb, or to help defend itself if it gets into a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An indoor cat however, has no need to keep it's claws so sharp, and is more likely to have even sharper claws as they aren't being worn down by climbing trees. Providing them with a scratching post helps some, but I've found that they don't really keep their claws from growing too much as it seems to be more about the action of scratching and not the wearing down of claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clipping an indoor cat's nails isn't really a hindrance to climbing cat trees, as the poles are usually wrapped in twine or carpet. Evel dull claws can latch onto the fibers of carpet, or in between the coils of twine. The only reason I could see it being a problem, is if you have a cat tree that isn't wrapped in anything, so that they're basically climbing a real tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T14:13:05.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2014-04-02T16:35:59.193" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing inherently wrong with hot dogs. In fact, they're a popular treat used in training. But, they are treats, and as such should be given in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meat shouldn't make a difference really (though pork should be cooked to avoid parasites, the same as you would if you were planning on eating it). What matters is what has been added to the meat. For safety, I would suggest avoiding flavored hot dogs, as they usually contain ingredients that can be harmful to dogs (e.g. Cheese-filled or beer batter bratwursts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it's important to check the ingredients even with plain hot dogs, as all hot dogs will have various amounts of sodium added. Sausages worry me a little bit, because generally they're packed with various spices, which can include garlic and salt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since hot dogs are generally considered safe for dogs, there haven't been any alternatives that I know of, but there are pet-safe condiments you can add if you want. Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B008J04SSS&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petchup&lt;/a&gt; and/or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00DSFOCDA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muttstard&lt;/a&gt; should be fine to add if your dog likes them. (For cats, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00FEALMQ2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catchup&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B008J04SQK&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meowstard&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T22:09:43.110" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T22:09:43.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2755" CreationDate="2014-04-02T16:44:22.393" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have one cat who climbs up a similar post in our house, and it doesn't seem to matter if her claws are trimmed or not. The other cats prefer to jump to the shelf rather than climb, but I guess that's personality driven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't allow our cats outside (too much risk of disease or injury) so I don't know about the affects of trimmed claws on outdoor climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T16:44:22.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2014-04-02T18:02:27.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clearly the cat is waiting for you to be in a sensible state of attire yourself. Put on a dress. One with a nice neck line. Not too plunging, but enough to hint an the bounty below. Make sure you have a strapless push-up bra that is not visible. This will present your sweater cows more attractive. Wear very sparkly earrings and a butterfly broach. This will help keep his attention through dinner and will be of use to reacquire his attention if he becomes distracted. When it comes time time for the main course, be sure to order something avian. After the main course suggest desert back at your palace. Slip into something &quot;more comfortable&quot; at the first opportunity. When you come out, be sure to strut. Make cats particularly lie that. Do all of this even if you are male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this enough times and he will become conditioned to wearing a tux.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1078" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T18:02:27.570" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2014-04-02T18:31:47.067" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most cats, poop requires more digging than pee (on the extreme end, one of my girls will spend 15 minutes in the box after poop to make sure it's covered up REALLY WELL, but hops right out after pee).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a cat who has been declawed, your cat may be feeling pain in her paws when she digs and so be looking for a soft location (your bed) which does not cause pain. The pain can come from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawproject.org/faqs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;two different sources&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In declawed (and tendonectomizedized) cats, the tendons that control&#xA;  the toe joints retract after the surgery because they are no longer&#xA;  anchored to the bones, and over time these joints become essentially&#xA;  &quot;frozen.&quot; The toes can no longer be extended, but remain fully&#xA;  contracted for the lifetime of the cat. The toes become like hammer&#xA;  toes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers have shown that in the immediate post-operative period,&#xA;  newly declawed cats shift their body weight backward onto the large&#xA;  central pad (the three-lobed pad on the palm) of the front feet and&#xA;  off the toes. This effect was significant even when strong pain&#xA;  medication was given, and remained apparent for the duration of the&#xA;  study (up to 40 hours after surgery). This altered gait may persist&#xA;  over time, and can cause stress on the leg joints and spine, and could&#xA;  lead to damage and arthritic changes in multiple joints. X ray images&#xA;  of declawed cats confirm this theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are effects that take time to develop, and may be why the problem has just started. Generally when a vet examines a cat for inappropriate elimination, they only look at the parts of the cat directly related to pee/poop (whichever the cat is misbehaving with). If your vet did not consider the effects of painful joints, I would encourage you to take your cat back. There are pain medicines that can help if she's experiencing pain!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, the general advice for inappropriate elimination is to add litter boxes, different types of litter, and put litter boxes in new locations in your house until you find something that your cat likes. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1010/224&quot;&gt;I wrote a bit about it for an earlier question&lt;/a&gt; (that was about pee, but the same principles apply)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T19:41:51.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2764" CreationDate="2014-04-02T20:38:57.660" Score="10" ViewCount="32365" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever my cat sees a cup, he has to go inspect it and knock it over even if there is no liquid in it. He really likes drinking the water out of these cups too if there is any in it. I cannot ever leave any cup unattended around him without it being knocked over and the liquid spilt everywhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason he always does this and are there any suggestions on how to stop it? He gets quite a bit of attention so I know that is not the reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="849" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-22T17:13:22.217" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T17:13:22.217" Title="Stop my cat from knocking over cups" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2763" CreationDate="2014-04-02T20:58:06.150" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several possible reasons that your cat could be exhibiting this behavior. What you do about it depends on why he is doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your water is fresh and clean. Perhaps his water is old or his bowl is dirty. You could try cleaning his bowl, refreshing his water more often, or installing a fountain to keep his water fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your water is near you (where he wants to be) while his water is far away. You could try making sure he has water near each place you hang out (in the living room for when you're watching TV, in the office for when you're on the computer, in the bedroom for when you're sleeping, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's bored. You say he gets plenty of attention, but petting and affection isn't the same thing as hunting with an interactive toy. You should make sure that he gets plenty of stimulating play toy with a feather wand or fishing lure type toy each day. At the end of the play session, feed him his dinner or a small treat to stimulate the natural hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, sometimes cats just do things for reasons that we humans can't quite figure out. Often I'll remove the item that triggers the behavior for a few months (so stop leaving cups unattended) and by the time I start relaxing and allowing that item to remain in their environment, they'll have forgotten about that annoying behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T20:58:06.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2672" CreationDate="2014-04-02T21:40:39.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I can think of is that it's another animal startling them. If it's a wild like a fox, raccoon, or possum, or even just a stray cat, it could disappear as it hears you coming to check on the guinea fowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility that you might have to judge, is your other pets are causing it. Whether it's your dog trying to play and it stops as you come out, or maybe they are fighting with your chickens some food they found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution I can think of to find out what's really causing this, since it's ending before you can see it in person, is to set up a camera of some sort. If there's a certain time you think it normally happens, set up a camera to record for at least a half-hour before. Otherwise I think it's just a matter of putting a camera up whenever you can, or hiding out of sight and watching them yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-02T21:40:39.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2763" CreationDate="2014-04-03T01:26:45.530" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're providing you cat with plenty of clean water to drink I suspect this cat is just playing with the water.  One of my cats tended to play a lot more with water when she was young.  Typically this would involve dunking toys or other small objects in the water bowl.  Attention and play are separate, one can give one's cat lots of love and attention and the cat might still want an outlet for its play behavior.  Zaralynda's suggestion on stimulating play time might reduce his interest in these cups of liquid.  At the same time he might be extremely fascinated by them and still want to interact with them even with extra play time.  The final solution would be simply making sure those cups are not within his reach.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T01:26:45.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2763" CreationDate="2014-04-03T02:28:08.000" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have enough rep to comment or this would be a comment instead of an answer, but I just wanted to add that if you're using glass cups, you may want to switch to plastic cups until you break your cat of this behavior. You wouldn't want him knocking a glass cup over and causing it to break, and have him or someone else get cut by the glass shards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; using glass, then perhaps it's the reflectiveness of the glass that he is attracted to, also. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T02:28:08.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2939" CreationDate="2014-04-03T10:10:37.050" Score="6" ViewCount="8830" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have been &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;domesticated for hundreds of years&lt;/a&gt;, historically for farm production/substance reasons.  With the move to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;companion animal&lt;/a&gt; being only with in the last 100+ years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With current technology the most convenient configuration for housing production rabbits is in small, wire bottom cages.  Generally outdoors but in large production or scientific operations cages may be indoors. Discussions on the appropriateness of these operations are out of scope for this question/site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally there is a crossover, a hybrid production/pet configuration, where rabbits are kept for their natural life (8 - 12 years) in an outdoor hutch.  A person having been exposed to production rabbits living in outdoor hutches on a family farm, notices how cute and soft they are.  With or without realizing the relatively short life span of scientific/production rabbits, they make a decision to rescue/adopt/purchase a rabbit and keep it in an outdoor hutch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience people making this choice, believe that they are making a positive choice that will ultimately be a kindness to the rabbit that is now in their care.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is keeping a pet rabbit in an outdoor hutch for its natural life a kindness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T22:32:21.283" Title="Is keeping a pet rabbit in an outdoor hutch a kindness?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2786" CreationDate="2014-04-03T13:30:14.473" Score="12" ViewCount="94136" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I shower, my cat has this unusual habit. She meows at me insistently and repeatedly, and looks at me with wide eyes. I want to mention that I do not keep her in the bathroom against her will. I just leave the door open and she just walks in and starts meowing at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know why she is showing this kind of behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1092" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T13:57:37.773" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T12:46:05.193" Title="Why does my cat insistently meow at me when I shower?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2771" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2783" CreationDate="2014-04-03T18:40:51.113" Score="8" ViewCount="8624" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my two Guinea Pigs died a couple of days ago.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard from several sources that one pig on its own will suffer so I will get another.  Should I do so immediately or wait a couple of weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1095" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T19:16:15.343" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T14:50:43.383" Title="How long should I leave a Guinea Pig before introducing a new partner?" Tags="&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2527" CreationDate="2014-04-03T18:42:30.517" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had dogs that loved being on a cable and I have had dogs that hated it. The placement of the cable, the personality and breed of your dog are very important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a German Shepherd who we once tried to put on a cable. He hated it so much he tore it off the side of the house. We got an electric fence after that, but that did not work either. We ended up putting up a wooden fence, which he was fine with, except the gate had to be short enough for him to see over or he freaked out. His protective personality made a running leash a very bad idea for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had another dog who was a husky/border collie/chow-chow mix. She liked the runner leash. She was relatively strong, but never pulled the runner out. We did not have a fence when we had her and the runner leash was a good idea for her. She was a stubborn dog who loved to run. Our yard was long enough that she was fine with that leash. She also did not mind being on a chain when we were gardening in the front yard (which was important because we lived on a busy street at the time). She was not protective at all and would have been happy to sit on a leash outside all night (which we did for her safety when we went camping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third dog, an Australian Shepherd, has always hated any from of leash. He comes well when called, but wanted to spend more time outside. We were in a different house at the time and chose a chain link fence. He loves being outside in his &quot;pen&quot; so much, that he stays in there even if we accidentally forget to close the gate. He is also a stubborn dog, but he listens to commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are three different dogs I have owned that are different kinds of herding or hunting breeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your specific breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Pyrenean Shepherd was designed to be a sheepdog, and as such is full of the same sort of energy that other herding dogs have, but in a surprisingly small package. This adaptive dog wants to, and can, do all the jobs on the field, and is a natural herder. A dog that needs a job, its cleverness makes it ideal for other work and dog sports such as flyball, competitive obedience and agility. This dog is good with children that they were brought up with. They have a sense of protector over the children.&#xA;  Pyr Sheps are &quot;one-man&quot; dogs, attached and dedicated to their owners, with a desire to follow them around the house to help with daily chores. They sense every mood and often seem to be able to read their masters' minds, as they are constantly watchful. Because of this, they are extremely trainable.&#xA;  Their natural wariness, while valuable in a herding dog that may need to alert their shepherd of strange animals or people, combined with their herding bossiness, can lead to shyness or aggression in even the most friendly puppy if not properly managed. Frequent socialization from a very young age can help counter this trait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrenean_Shepherd#Temperament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrenean_Shepherd#Temperament&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog, if they conform to breed standards, would be more like my old German Shepherd. If they are very loyal to you, they will hate being on a runner and would be much happier with a short fence. The runner would drive your dog crazy because it would not be able to be near you. They are naturally wary, which means that they have the chance of tearing out a runner chain if another dog goes by and your dog fears you are threatened. That is why a Pyrenean Shepherd would be happier in a fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T14:28:57.837" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T14:28:57.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2769" CreationDate="2014-04-03T18:52:51.203" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it depends on what the climate is. If the outdoor hutch is located in a northern climate, the rabbits will have to be brought in during the winter to keep from freezing to death. If it is a warm climate, it might be feasible to let the rabbit live in an outdoor hutch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen rabbits kept in outdoor hutches in Florida and Pennsylvania. The Florida rabbit had a large pen and was only brought in during hurricanes. The Pennsylvania rabbits ended up spending winters in a garage, so I really don't think it is a kindness in the north.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit is used to being inside, it may not appreciate being suddenly put in an outdoor hutch. Predators may come up to the hutch and torment the rabbit, something a scientific/production rabbit would never have experienced before and may have a heart attack. The kindest thing to do, if you want to &quot;rescue&quot; a rabbit, is to take it outside once in awhile to play in the clover but let it spend the rest of its natural life inside where it feels comfortable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T20:25:25.600" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T20:25:25.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2870" CreationDate="2014-04-03T19:08:15.743" Score="6" ViewCount="3625" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 gallon hexagonal fish tank. In it there are 2 catfish, 3 zebra danios, and a snail. The fish that I am concerned for is my older catfish. Hexagonal tanks have a smaller base than traditional tanks, but are slightly taller. My catfish was one inch long when I purchased him and is now three inches long. The tank has a perimeter of 36 inches. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XNg6t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My fish&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I outlined him in this picture. The other fish is hiding behind him. I am worried that my cat fish will get too big and suffer. He has already outgrown his hiding place. So how big is too big for my tank?&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LEg84.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T23:52:05.527" Title="How do I know when my fish are getting too big for their tank? (freshwater tropical fish)" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2318" CreationDate="2014-04-03T19:24:41.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you might want to give up on the crate, at least for a little while. If he whines and howls when he is in the crate, he is not happy in there. The point of putting a dog in a crate is that they go to their crate to feel safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't leave your dog in the crate too long.  A dog that’s crated day and night doesn't get enough exercise or human interaction and can become depressed or anxious. You may have to change your schedule, hire a pet sitter, or take your dog to a doggie daycare facility to reduce the amount of time he must spend in his crate every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Limiting his time in a crate may help him stop associating his crate with a bathroom.&#xA;The source I used has step-by-step instructions on how to crate train a dog. I'm not saying you messed up, but perhaps you may have been over eager and gone too fast for your dog.&#xA;There may also be another reason your dog is whining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whining. If your dog whines or cries while in the crate at night, it may be difficult to decide whether he's whining to be let out of the crate, or whether he needs to be let outside to eliminate. If you've followed the training procedures outlined above, then your dog hasn't been rewarded for whining in the past by being released from his crate. If that is the case, try to ignore the whining. If your dog is just testing you, he'll probably stop whining soon. Yelling at him or pounding on the crate will only make things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the whining continues after you've ignored him for several minutes, use the phrase he associates with going outside to eliminate. If he responds and becomes excited, take him outside. This should be a trip with a purpose, not play time. If you're convinced that your dog doesn't need to eliminate, the best response is to ignore him until he stops whining. Don't give in; if you do, you'll teach your dog to whine loud and long to get what he wants. If you've progressed gradually through the training steps and haven't done too much too fast, you'll be less likely to encounter this problem. If the problem becomes unmanageable, you may need to start the crate training process over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps starting over with the crate training will help your dog and you solve this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-04-03T19:24:41.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2771" CreationDate="2014-04-03T19:25:42.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timing the introduction of a new pig depends on how much your current guinea pig is grieving. Observe the pig's mood and eating habits (weigh it daily to check for weight changes). Once your pig is no longer grieving, you should be able to introduce a new companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pig is grieving, you can try giving him a stuffed toy (make sure there's no parts that he could chew off) to cuddle with, or rearrange his cage or feeding/play schedule to make the loss seem more distant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-04T14:54:28.630" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T14:54:28.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-03T19:47:14.387" Score="1" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: I am intentionally using 'pet' a little bit elastically here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to have a preferably furry office pet without cruelty. It would be nice to know I could have a hamster, but that bears at least two obvious objections besides eccentricity: I don't know that one could bring a hamster to work and take it home on the weekends without being cruel to the hamster, and bosses would have a legitimate concern about allergens even if there were not some rule on the books against mammal pets. I've had a Furby 2.0 as an apartment pseudo-pet before discovering uncanny valley effects, and I've kept a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ac6e/?pfm=Search&amp;amp;t=star%20trek%20interactive%20tribbles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tribble&lt;/a&gt; and an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/eb56/?srp=31&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;electronic goldfish&lt;/a&gt;, and I know that some places will let you keep fish if you take care of it appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the closest approximations available to keeping something furry as a pet that will not run afoul of animal cruelty or bosses' reasonable concerns about what you bring to the office?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T19:51:45.773" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T05:58:32.180" Title="Robotic pets included, what options are there for a cubicle pet?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-04-06T14:27:01.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-03T21:20:59.407" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a good brush or comb for my house-kept hound? Should she be brushed/combed in both directions, or just with her coat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1097" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T21:27:26.293" LastActivityDate="2020-08-23T12:31:13.470" Title="How should I groom my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-03T21:24:14.407" Score="4" ViewCount="1126" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Shih Tzu had his anal glands removed 8 days ago. He scoots a little and when he does fecal matter tends to come out. Is this going to get better and eventually stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1098" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-04-03T23:39:14.903" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T04:12:03.950" Title="Will leakage of fecal matter eventually stop after anal gland removal?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2571" CreationDate="2014-04-03T21:37:31.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attempt 1: Bissel&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I first tried normal Bissel carpet shampoo, thoroughly wetting, sucking up, and re-wetting the carpet many times in the same setting and it did nothing to remove the odor.  Next I bought the Hoover Petplus 2x odor remover solution, which also did absolutely nothing to help the smell. They left virtually no odor masking perfume smell once the carpet fully dried, but didn't remove the urine odor either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attempt 2: Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, I tried the Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer per the instructions on the bottle (not for the carpet cleaning machine). It initially helped much more than the other two products. This product definitely leaves behind a lasting perfume scent, if unobjectionable.  After a few days the entire area still smells strongly of urine.  I repeated and ended up using all of the roughly 1 to 2 quart bottle on the 4 sqft smelly area with no success whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attempt 3: Out! PetCare Stain &amp;amp; Odor Rmoever:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought this at Target for about $4.50, applied liberally with the sprayer--though I was tempted just to dump it on the carpet as my hand was getting sore.  I was pretty skeptical but thought it would be worth a try.  24 hours after application, there's just a mild scent of detergent and virtually no smell of urine.  It does say it contains bacteria and enzyme solution, which I believe might be the key.  Neither of the other solutions I tried mention anything about enzymes or bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Attempt 4: Nature's Miracle Carpet Shampoo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried Nature's Miracle carpet shampoo with my carpet cleaning machine.  I don't recall what the immediate effect was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preventive Strategies:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The salesperson at Petsmart gave me some good ideas once the odor problem is solved--to put down the dog training pads to cover the area where the odor was, in order to catch any follow-up urination in the same spot.  Also, I'm considering putting my dog in dog diapers at night to make sure there aren't further accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, we finally had to euthanize our dog for congestive heart failure about six months after the start of this urine issue.  A month or so afterwards, the carpet odors were undetectable.  I'm not sure which product did the &quot;trick,&quot; or if it was just a matter of time for the smell to dissipate.  It also could have been that somehow our dog was periodically urinating in the same spots without us noticing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="978" LastEditorUserId="978" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T17:08:17.543" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T17:08:17.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2014-04-04T02:33:10.643" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it.  Your cat might simply be confused about what you're up to and wanting to join you but not get wet.  My cats often want to join me in the bathroom but I never let them, and they sometimes are very curious / insistent when I am there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T02:33:10.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2785" CreationDate="2014-04-04T02:40:40.457" Score="6" ViewCount="2269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have three cats and two of them are basically vacuum cleaners when it comes to cat food.  Unfortunately my &quot;kitten&quot; (actually &gt;16 years old) has in recent years become quite fussy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to feed everyone &quot;Friskies Special Diet Turkey and Gibblets Dinner&quot;. I picked that one out because it has the right caloric balance (fat / protein / carbs).  Sadly my &quot;kitten&quot; only wants to eat dry food (I'd prefer not to feed any dry food).  At first I was getting her to eat wet food by putting a few pieces of dry in the wet.  Now she has learned how to just pick out the dry food and eat very little of the wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can put on the wet food to make it tastier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T19:35:43.123" Title="How to make food more appealing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2771" CreationDate="2014-04-04T05:13:36.870" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to hear that, my condolences on your loss. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guinea pigs are definitely social animals (almost too social, it's how I ended up with 7 once before getting them sexed correctly), so being solo is going to be harder on your friend now than it would have been at a much earlier age. They do grieve, I think, based on my own experience with them, but the loss reaction isn't really that lengthy if there's a community with them, so I don't think there's a really easy rule of thumb there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's &lt;em&gt;very easy&lt;/em&gt; to mistake signs of loneliness with signs of grief. Arguably, they're the same. So, I think you don't want to wait too long to bring some companionship back in, but you need to consider a couple of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The current home is this one's home first and (s)he has probably established some habits with respect to that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The newcomer is coming into a whole new world with a whole new situation to contend with. That's a major stress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to mitigate the above as much as possible. Ideally, what you want to do is have them in separate cages that are side-by-side. This is short term, so the newcomer could be in a smaller cage if necessary. In any event, the idea is to get them used to each other with some barrier to prevent any fights from happening as they become accustomed to each other's presence. Let this happen for a week or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the initial &quot;meeting&quot; through the bars such that they're familiar and used to each other's scent, then look to introduce them in a less confined space. Do that for a few minutes at a time, to start, and gradually increase. Be prepared to break up a fight (be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; careful doing that), but you need to allow them to establish a pecking order. Again, do this for a week or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, once you're satisfied that they won't fight, you can house them together. This entire process will give your original pig a chance to grieve because the private space is still there while giving them a chance to get acquainted with a new friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T05:13:36.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3256" CreationDate="2014-04-04T10:35:15.420" Score="8" ViewCount="695" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/freshfish/text/212.htm&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; Carp and Koi have a 40 - 50 year life span, and there are reports of some living 200+ years. Is it really possible for an ornamental fish to live 200 years? If so how could you possibly validate that age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T00:38:47.463" Title="Do some ornamental fish live 200 years?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2782" CreationDate="2014-04-04T15:35:46.673" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this answer I'm assuming that your cat has an adequate appetite for dry food, and you're just trying to get her to transition to wet food. If your cat has a generally low appetite, please see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2541/224&quot;&gt;this answer on the dangers of feline anorexia&lt;/a&gt; and take your cat to the vet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food additives&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food is so appealing because cat food manufacturers use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_digest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;animal digest&lt;/a&gt; on it. One common way to get cats to transition from dry food to wet food is to put &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/Product/FortiFloraFelineProbioticNutritionalSupplement.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FortiFlora&lt;/a&gt; on the food. FortiFlora is a probiotic that is flavored with animal digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats like parmesean cheese, so you could try a bit of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also grind up some dry food and sprinkle it on the wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behavioral Modification&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to make wet food more appealing is to stimulate your cat's appetite. Cats naturally follow a hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle, and you can use this to your advantage.  If you play with your cat with an interactive wand toy, or throw a small amount of kibble for her to chase down and eat.  After the play session, feed her wet food immediately. She will naturally want to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, some cats do better when fed alone away from the noise of the other cats, so try feeding her in a seperate room for a while (on the other hand, some cats are encouraged by watching others eat the wet food, it just depends on your cat's personality).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, some cats can smell that there's dry food available in the house and will wait for it. In these cases you may need to store the dry food in the fridgerator so they can't smell it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T19:35:43.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2014-04-04T17:06:59.597" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, don't worry, this behavior is entirely normal thing that many cats do. I once visited a friend of mine and she warned me that her cat would visit me on the bathtub ledge between the two shower curtains during my shower. He did, but didn't talk to me, so I was super startled to see him there when I pulled back the curtain!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are actually a couple of reasons she could be exhibiting this behavior, or it could be a combination of multiple reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat normally follows you around the house, this is just a normal part of her keeping tabs on you. As Dan S says, she wants to join you but doesn't want to get wet, so she's telling you to get out of there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that if you coo at her and give her attention (verbal, eye contact, etc), she's looking for that attention and knows if she yells at you long enough, you'll give it to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are also creatures of habit. If you get up in the morning and immediately jump in the shower and get dressed before heading downstairs to feed her (or whatever), then she's trying to rush you through your morning routine and get to the part where you feed her faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this behavior is bothering you, the best thing to do is close the door so she can't come in, or ignore her when she does talk to you in the shower. We broke one cat of the habit by switching to an opaque shower curtain so she couldn't see us anymore (and ignoring her cries), so that's another option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T17:06:59.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2777" CreationDate="2014-04-04T18:11:24.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have already engaged in the optimal solution to your question; joining &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Pets&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you will be exposed to all the trials, tribulations and rewards of animal companionship, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/10964/the-litter-box&quot;&gt;this being the only litter box&lt;/a&gt; to address.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-04T18:11:24.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2788" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-04T18:46:58.660" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6yrs old adult male corn snake who looks a little obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he curls up in his hide you can see his skin quite clearly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed him a big mouse every 12 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1106" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T15:22:41.423" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T15:22:41.423" Title="Is my Snake Obese?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-04-05T05:15:49.253" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2801" CreationDate="2014-04-04T18:51:55.817" Score="3" ViewCount="7741" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen rabbits on TV living everywhere from the arctic to the desert.  Can I expect a pet rabbit to do well in the same range of temperatures as their wild cousins?  If not what  temperature ranges are appropriate for a domestic pet rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T20:53:41.240" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:21:25.133" Title="What temperature ranges are appropriate for a pet rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2799" CreationDate="2014-04-04T19:15:28.263" Score="7" ViewCount="4514" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about my sister's rabbit today, who she keeps indoors. Her house doesn't always keep a stable temperature, as it is mostly wood-heated. It is getting warmer out, so I suspect there won't be any issues for the rabbit come spring/summer, but I wonder nonetheless - is there anything she can do to make sure the rabbit stays at a good temperature if the house gets really cold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T20:52:33.433" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T20:52:33.433" Title="How can I keep a rabbit warm?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2845" CreationDate="2014-04-04T21:34:57.970" Score="12" ViewCount="26340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that when my roommates feed their puppy, the puppy will take a mouth full of the kibble (but not chew or swallow it), then walk away from his bowl, and drop the kibble on the ground. He will then walk around and eat each individual piece of kibble that he drops across the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kibble literally gets spread all across the room, and he wanders around eating all the individual pieces until it's all gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does the puppy do this? I'm not really concerned, because he eventually eats it all. I'm just curious as to what causes this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:42:28.760" Title="Why does this dog take food out of his bowl to eat it?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2790" CreationDate="2014-04-05T03:58:39.743" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect you're worrying more than you need to on this score. Wild rabbits handle Canadian winter conditions without issue, based on the bunny tracks all over my yard, and this was a harsher winter than most. While domestic rabbits aren't the same as wild ones, they're not so vastly different that you couldn't draw some conclusions, especially since they still form a winter coat and have some fat to help insulate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, just to give some experience I had... We kept our rabbits and guinea pigs in our basement, which was also my office, and the basement is unfinished with poor heating. When I'm in there, I use a good space heater, but I don't run it when I'm not. Net effect, the room could get &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; cold in the winter and our rabbits and guinea pigs never appeared to have issues and all of them lived to the far end of the standard lifespans. Bear in mind that this included guinea pigs and they're tropical animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider that many &quot;pet&quot; rabbits (and I don't agree with this) are kept outdoors 24/7, even in Northern Ontario. That's a level of extreme your sister's house is unlikely to reach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, if you want to provide some additional heating, then the easiest way is a space heater. If it is a fan-based one, you don't want to blow the air over the bun, it's not really necessary. Indirect, perhaps wall bounced, is probably better. Your other option is a more passive heat source such as a portable oil radiator, which I quite like. Either of these can dry out the air, though, so you may want to couple that with a humidifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T03:58:39.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2779" CreationDate="2014-04-05T04:12:03.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I'm going to assume that the vet/surgeon prescribed some stool softening treatments. This is pretty common for this surgery since the dog is obviously going to be extremely tender in the region and softened stools will make it easier for the dog to pass any feces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if that is the essential source of the fecal matter based on the scooting during the healing phase, then the short answer is yes, it will pass. Keeping the stool softened to the point of easy passage is a fine line between soft and leaking a little. I have a similar issue with a cat that has megacolon and it's a delicate work that sometimes leads to nasty messes to cleanup around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T04:12:03.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2777" CreationDate="2014-04-05T05:58:32.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say whatever best fits your fancy, doesn't annoy your coworkers, and isn't a living creature should do just fine. That not being a living creature part is the most important because if I were your coworker, that would annoy me greatly and so you'd strike out on two points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T05:58:32.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1487" CreationDate="2014-04-05T06:40:50.257" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;you can keep them with each other but in one condition your tank is too small you have to need &#xA;a 20-30 gallon tank with hidings and rocks fore fishes which thought nessary to hide &#xA;fist you should observe fishes that they are not fighting  if they are not so you can keep&#xA;them which each other &#xA;secondly in big tank filteration you can consult aqarium shopkeeper  or other wise you could &#xA;place a high power aquarium filter.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1108" LastActivityDate="2014-04-05T06:40:50.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2806" CreationDate="2014-04-06T08:46:27.237" Score="10" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of times, when my cat is in the garden, I've seen him eating blades of grass (maybe just chewing them, I'm not sure if he swallows).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen? Is it normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="612" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T10:28:14.463" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T10:39:20.153" Title="Is it normal for cats to eat grass?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2790" CreationDate="2014-04-06T11:23:11.480" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;John has great points in his answer (+1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestic rabbits are more tolerant of cold temperatures than heat. I reached out to the chief medical officer of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA323.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Wranglers&lt;/a&gt; to get more information before posting this answer. In general, inside of a home, rabbits are unlikely to encounter temperatures that are too cool.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2789&quot;&gt;related question&lt;/a&gt; for temperature ranges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in situations where there is lack of power, or a sick bunny needs supplemental heat, there are some options. With all of these it is important that the rabbit is closely monitored or has the ability to move away from the heat source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hot water in a thick plastic bottle (&lt;em&gt;Gatorade&lt;/em&gt;) inside of a wool sock or thick towel. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rice packets heated in the microwave&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warm towel just out of the dryer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snugglesafe heating disks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There also some rabbit safe (&lt;em&gt;cord enclosed in metal&lt;/em&gt;) electric heating pads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Share your body heat, snuggle with the bunny under a blanket&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In very extreme conditions without power, the rabbit's litter can &lt;a href=&quot;http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;compost&lt;/a&gt; to create &lt;a href=&quot;http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-compost-heat-water-78520.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;supplemental heat&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of those solutions should be used in a bunny proof area, where the bunny can freely move to or away from the heat source. They should have access to hay and water at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE on composting heat sources&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compost systems are complex and beyond the scope of this answer to fully address. Effective systems can be designed with a volume as small as 10 gallons.  An animal (&lt;em&gt;or person&lt;/em&gt;) next to or sitting on top of the compost system can be warmed by the waste heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T11:23:11.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2802" CreationDate="2014-04-06T12:14:57.523" Score="9" ViewCount="2847" Body="&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2789&quot;&gt;What temperature ranges are appropriate for a pet rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; temperatures above 85 °F (29 °C) are hazardous to rabbits.  How can I help my rabbit stay cool in warm temperatures? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T11:32:10.887" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T11:32:10.887" Title="How can I keep a rabbit cool?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2789" CreationDate="2014-04-06T12:18:53.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the modern home environment, with both heat and air conditioning a domestic house rabbit should be comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are multiple reliable references citing optimal temperature ranges.  These source are mostly for production and laboratory animals so I have chosen not to list them, but instead am summarizing the findings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most reference cite optimal temperatures in the 50 - 70 °F (10 - 22 °C) ranges,  with some sources allowing as low as 40 °F (5 °C) or as high as 80 °F (25 °F) being acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nearly universal recognition that temperatures above 85 °F (29 °C) are hazardous to domestic rabbits. At temperatures above 80 °F supplemental cooling should be offered, above 85 °F it is required. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2800&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;see related&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the cool side, temperatures above freezing are not considered unsafe for a healthy rabbit, if appropriate housing that allows good shelter and food are provided.  At 32 °F or 0 °C when water freezes, a rabbit that has had time to become acclimatized has lack of drinking water as a primary concern.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperatures that fall much below or stay below freezing for long periods, require supplemental heat &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2790&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;see related&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;. Both to provide heat for the rabbit and to keep the water drinkable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:21:25.133" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:21:25.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2800" CreationDate="2014-04-06T13:04:28.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Domestic rabbits, are from rabbits native to Europe (Spain and Portugal), they are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;crepuscular&lt;/a&gt;, being most active around dawn and dusk. In the wild, they tend to spend the heat of the day in relatively cool underground warrens. Temperatures above 85F (29C) can be life threatening to them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally a pet rabbit will be kept in an air conditioned home, but this is not always possible.  Options for supplemental cooling are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An electric fan that provides a breeze that the rabbit can enter and leave at will&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A bottle of frozen water that the bunny can snuggle up to (optional wrap in towel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A ceramic tile (available from DIY stores) provides a cool place to lay when temperatures temporarily get high during the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ceramic tiles can be frozen and rotated in and out of the freezer for long hot spells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cool water dabbed or wiped on a rabbits ears will moisten the hair and the evaporation will help cool the rabbit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we are camping with our rabbits, we generally leave them in the air conditioned camper, while we go out and have adventures during the heat of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often a rabbit presence is required at an educational or fund raising event, where air condition is not available.  Shade is important but is not enough when temp get high. In these cases we take a cooler with a few 1 liter sized frozen bottles. Some bunnies will snuggle next to them to stay cool, other bunnies dislike the condensation on the bottles.  For the rabbits that don't like being next to the bottle of ice, I moisten my fingers with water (often the cool condensation) and rub it on their ears to help them cool down.  A rabbits ears are a major part of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-11/ear.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heat regulation&lt;/a&gt; system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-04-06T13:14:41.310" LastActivityDate="2014-04-06T13:14:41.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-07T00:19:59.787" Score="6" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding of how &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diatomaceous earth&lt;/a&gt; (DE) works is that it's rubbed into the dog's coat. As fleas move through the coat, they come in contact with particles of DE, which pierces their carapaces, causing them to dehydrate and die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that, can DE be used for flea control on shaved (e.g. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poodle&lt;/a&gt; in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle#Continental_clip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Continental clip&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_water_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Portuguese Water Dog&lt;/a&gt; in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_water_dog#The_lion_cut&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lion clip&lt;/a&gt;) or hairless (e.g. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Hairless_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Xoloitzcuintli&lt;/a&gt; [a.k.a. Mexican Hairless] or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Crested_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chinese Crested&lt;/a&gt;) breeds? If so, how should it be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T12:01:53.673" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T00:47:45.277" Title="Can diatomaceous earth be used for flea control on shaved or hairless dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2798" CreationDate="2014-04-07T10:39:20.153" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is normal! As someone said before it is frequent that cats do it for cleanse as their natural instinct tells them to do so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, from my experience, I can say that it is normal as long as it doesn't happen very frequently. If it happens like everyday on a regular basis it may be a problem and you should have your cat checked by a professional. Cats eat grass for cleanse but if its exaggerated it may indicate that the cat is having any related stomach/digestion issues. &#xA;I would suggest that you take a closer look to the situation and see if your cat does it on a regular day basis or just a few times sporadically or every time he's in the garden - for this last one, if the cat isn't allowed in the garden that often, it shouldn't be a problem as the cat is eating grass when he only has access to it.&#xA;Other things to look into, would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any recent dramatic changes on its diet? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did it stop eating as much or over-eating recently?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it vomiting? (not from the grass but from the food you give it&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;homemade or cat food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I repeat, this is from my personal experience and if nothing from the above applies then I believe your cat is just fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never the less I &quot;googled&quot; a bit and come up w/ these links that I found to be quite helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/wellness/evr_ct_eating_grass&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/cat/wellness/evr_ct_eating_grass&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/why-do-cats-eat-grass/&quot;&gt;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/why-do-cats-eat-grass/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1072" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T10:39:20.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-07T16:23:37.013" Score="4" ViewCount="30450" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son is going to get an aquarium.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We picked out a 20-gallon, long aquarium (along with some plants and decorations).  I have yet to pick substrate, pump/filter, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be setting it up and taking care of it until he is old enough and responsible enough to maintain it on his own, but we've let him pick out what will go in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;neon tetras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fancy guppies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cherry barbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;golden barbs &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-Fish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;African claw frogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apple snails (for cleaning)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the size of the aquarium, how many of each of the above creatures should I get to start?  Are there general guidelines for starting populations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been many, many years since I've kept an aquarium.  I'm assuming I want more than one of each, since they're all small.  I also recall that the guppies I had as a kid tended to breed pretty fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there ideal numbers I should shoot for for each creature, in order to keep the fish happy and healthy?  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/124/57&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; seems to indicate I'll be looking at a maximum of between 10 and 20 total fish (assuming I remember the size of the 4 fish species I listed correctly), but is there a minimum?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some of these species do better in larger numbers, and others in smaller groups? Should I start out at small numbers to account for population increase due to breeding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T20:31:40.240" Title="What are the ideal starting fish populations for this 20-gallon long aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2813" CreationDate="2014-04-07T17:13:05.417" Score="12" ViewCount="7594" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister got two turtles a while back, and it was great at first. Though now it seems it's too much for her to properly take care of them. Their tank is very dirty, though she claims they like that. A quick google-search suggested she doesn't know what she's talking about. Though to be sure I wanted to ask here, since I don't know how bad it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some photo's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their tank.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dqRsv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This used to be a white dinosaur skeleton. There were also only little pebbles at the bottom, so the sand-like stuff you see are (I guess) turtle-droppings and sunken food. Also, the filter you see doesn't work any more. There's no water flowing through it any more, I guess it's clogged up.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8c3IF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advice me, because if it's as bad as I think I'm taking action. Then the turtles will be given away to someone who does take proper care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1120" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T10:37:38.997" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T15:46:34.367" Title="Is this turtle tank too dirty?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1771" CreationDate="2014-04-07T17:16:02.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;These lizards are actually not well receptive to human handling. While most lizards can be tamed down and don't commonly bite does not mean they are not stressed. In fact sail fin dragons are easily stressed which is why it is recommended that at least three walls of a sail fins cage is covered to reduce stress of the outside environment around him and reduce damage caused from snout rubbing. Your lizards should be kept out of visual range of your cat. As far as letting them roam free your cat should be separated at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because your cat is OK around one lizard doesn't mean there won't be an uh-oh moment or he will be friendly to all lizards. My cat likes one of our dogs but not the other. The lizard you have now might not be so shy around your cat, but if the new lizard takes off, you won't be able to stop your cat's natural instinct to hunt. Unless you have a fat lazy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in short to answer your question yes, your cat will stress out your lizard. You will stress out your lizard until it becomes used to be handled. Please if it isn't already too late do your research before getting any animal. This requires reading books and checking more than one reptile forum or Google answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1121" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T18:22:34.053" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T18:22:34.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2812" CreationDate="2014-04-07T17:55:29.923" Score="11" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;What approaches and evidence is there that you can teach a dog a new name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for specific techniques and sources that validate such claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1122" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-07T18:51:12.493" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T13:56:29.290" Title="Can you teach a dog a new name?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2811" CreationDate="2014-04-07T18:59:31.410" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have adopted 3 rescue dogs over the past five years; we taught each one of them their new names in a short amount of time by associating their new name with good stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/14_1/features/Naming-Your-Dog-and-Training-Implications_20165-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, dogs do not get personally attached to names like humans do; it's what the name is associated with, this is why experts recommend not using the dogs name if they are being reprimanded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My source goes on to explain that we still do not know for 100% certain what goes on inside a dogs head, but we can deduce that a dog probably learns to associate the sound of their name the same way they associate things like their toys, the leash, or grabbing the keys to the car with good or bad feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1040" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T08:17:57.890" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T08:17:57.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2809" CreationDate="2014-04-07T20:02:48.297" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be interested in hearing her reasoning for why a turtle would enjoy living in a dirty tank. Just to be clear, the tank isn't dirty because there's an excess of dirt, it's dirty because there's an excess of rotting food and feces. Basically, the turtle is living in a toilet bowl that never gets flushed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why is it important to keep the tank clean other than the grossness of it? Here are 3 reasons I can think of from the top of my head. (Excluding my personal favorite of simply being able to see the animal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It keeps you from getting sick. With a good (running) filter, there is enough water flow that it prevents any of the bad bacteria and chemicals that thrive in stagnant water. I'm guessing no one handles the turtle much right now, because touching dirty water like that increases the chances of getting sick if you don't clean it all off afterwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Promoting a neutral smell. Let's face it, bad water smells bad, dirty animals smell bad too. While there is a certain smell to reptiles, you shouldn't be able to smell it unless your smelling the reptile directly. It's similar to how cats have a certain smell, but if you can smell the cats from across the room then you have a problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It keeps the turtle from getting sick. One of the big problems you're going to want to look for is shell rot. It's exactly how it sounds, in that it's bacteria eating away at the turtle's shell. It's something you wouldn't really have to worry about in a clean tank, but in a dirty one like this, I wouldn't be surprised to see it starting at least.&#xA;Here's a photo for reference:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zj2P9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Turtle with shell rot&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://gctts.org/WS/WS.php/Public/WhatDoesThatLookLike&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T20:02:48.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2014-04-07T20:45:26.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try installing a privacy film on your windows. There are several brands, but my experience has been with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gilafilms.com/en/Privacy-Window-Film.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gila&lt;/a&gt; (which can be found at Home Depot). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat (and you) will no longer be able to see outside, but some light will still be able to enter (how much depends on which film you pick). It may not work because your cat may still hear the other animals outside, but it's not a permanent alteration to your living space (it peels right off when you don't want it anymore).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T20:45:26.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2808" CreationDate="2014-04-07T20:49:22.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stocking is very subjective to the specific inhabitants as well as the setup and your aquarium experience. There's a general 1&quot; of fish per gallon guideline for FW tanks, but that's also subjective and most experienced aquarists disagree with it. For your size fish it should be mostly appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're just starting out with it, I would get the tank setup with substrate and water and filter and let it go through the initial cycle which takes about 30 days. Until the cycle is complete, the tank isn't fit for any inhabitants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as recommendations on stocking, the tetras do better in a school, 6 - 10  or more is ideal. The barbs usually appreciate at least a few of their own kind as do the guppies. The barbs are also prone to fin nipping which the guppies would be most susceptible to. I would be hesitant with those snails as they can and will reproduce and can get out of control. Nerits are a better match as they devour most types of algae and they cannot reproduce in fresh water. Clawed frogs are typically fine but the are rather messy and require a lot more food than fish to remain healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as breeding goes, it's not going to be an issue. Even if some do successfully reproduce, there is zero change the babies will survive in a community style fishtank. The guppies are the only ones that will readily reproduce. You could use a net breeder if you wanted to try and rear some of the fry to adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-04-07T20:49:22.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2808" CreationDate="2014-04-07T21:44:31.350" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll always want to add fish into a tank slowly. When you add fish in, there's going to be a bit of an ammonia spike as the bacteria in the tank processes the chemical imbalance. The trick is balancing out how many fish you can add that won't cause too much of a chemical imbalance that they'll be harmed by it. That's why I usually suggest adding the hardiest and smallest fish in first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smallest fish in your case would be the neon tetras. They usually only reach about 1.5 inches in length when full grown. But, they are also quite sensitive to changes in the water (temperature and chemicals). So in that case, I'd suggest adding the guppies first, as they only get about 1.5-2 inches in length and are quite hardy fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish you've chosen are all considered schooling fish, so in order for them to feel comfortable in the tank you'll want to make sure that they have enough of their own kind in the tank with them. In general, 4-5 fish are the minimum needed for a small school. Although there are other factors to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The neon tetras, they'll start to shoal once you get about 8-10 of&#xA;them together.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barbs are typically more aggressive, so by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2835/what-does-it-mean-to-overstock-a-fish-tank/2836#2836&quot;&gt;overstocking&lt;/a&gt; the tank a bit, you remove the territory that they can claim as their own, making them less likely to pick on other fish. Cherry and golden barbs aren't quite as aggressive as far as barbs go, but you might want to plan on a bit more of them than the others. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as far as numbers go, I would put about 4-5 neon tetras and guppies in, and 5-6 cherry and golden barbs in. When introducing them into the tank, I would add a new species in every few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would only put one snail in for the sake of the snails reproducing on their own (you might end up with more than you bargained for in the end), and as long as you get the dwarf african frogs you can get a couple without too much worry about space since they just chill at the bottom of the tank for the most part. Just note that they produce a lot of waste you'll have to clean. Make sure they're not the regular african clawed frogs, as those get to be large enough that they would eat all your fish (think small bullfrog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T16:28:21.560" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2820" CreationDate="2014-04-07T22:16:24.493" Score="11" ViewCount="42701" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever since she was a kitten, my cat has generally preferred to pull her kibble out of her food bowl a piece at a time and eat them off of the floor. She also has a tendency to drink her water by dipping her paws in and licking the water off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She displays this behaviour about half the time. As far as I can tell, it's usually when she is more relaxed or lazy, but there's no discernible pattern from which I can draw conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally she will lounge with one arm around the kibble bowl, pulling the food out with the other paw, almost as if she's eating a bag of chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1123" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:19:16.860" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T16:30:56.467" Title="Why does my cat paw her food from the bowl to eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2805" CreationDate="2014-04-07T23:39:30.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous earth is capable of being fed to livestock to rid them off intestinal parasites. Feed-safe quality diatomaceous earth is safe to apply to bedding to rid it of bedbugs and still be slept in. It can be safely applied to pet fur to help deter parasites, but I would not recommend letting it accumulate as it may result in irritation. DE will keep their skin dryer than normal, and you should expect them to itch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are referring to hairless or (temporarily) short-haired dogs, it can be applied with the same sort of talc brush used by barbers, but be careful to avoid orifices and eyes.  I recommend washing the dog after 48 hours of application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T00:47:45.277" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T00:47:45.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2817" CreationDate="2014-04-08T10:57:40.050" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who does this, and have heard about the behavior in other cats. One researcher (sorry I don't have a reference) believes that some cats don't like their whiskers touching the sides of food or water bowls, so they use their paws. In engineering terms whiskers serve as sensitive proximity sensors, sending a signal to the brain when they contact something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try a bigger bowl or a fountain-style bowl if you don't like puddles of water around the water bowl. Several of my cats enjoy sitting in the tub or sink and drinking a thin steam of water right from the tap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T10:57:40.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1011" CreationDate="2014-04-08T11:46:32.757" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal: Cats, dogs, and humans all naturally have bad breath. It is mainly caused by bacteria in the mouth. The bacteria is normal and aside from some of these native species (normal flora) causing tooth decay and gum disease, it is harmless and may even serve some beneficial role like bacteria in the intestinal tract. Cat's breath will smell like cat food for a time after they eat, much like humans smelling of some of the things they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bacteria in their mouths is one of several biological weapons cats possess, one of many things that make cats interesting. When a cat bites another cat, they transfer some of these bacteria into the wound which often results in a serious and painful tissue-destroying infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John's answer is good in that if their breath smells unusual it may indicate a heath problem or that they ate something inappropriate. Cats can get periodontal abscesses (a form of gum disease), just like people, which can smell particularly foul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just can't tolerate &quot;cat food breath&quot; you can get with your family veterinarian and put together a recipe for home made cat food with should smell better as it is often made of a specific balance of chicken, rice, a bit of vegetables, with some special cat vitamins added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies and kittens also have strong-smelling breath. Some people find puppy and kitten breath pleasant; probably because it reminds them of how much they like puppies and kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T11:46:32.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2014-04-08T11:50:13.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be worth trying one of the artificial pheromone sprays.  In Australia we can get one called FeliWay and it has been recommended by two different vets for various cat neuroses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you either spray an area with the pheromone or you have a thing you plug in a powerpoint like an air freshener.  The pheromone chills the cat out.  We had it recommended to us for a neurotic cat that was over grooming and it has also been suggested for our other cat who is very aggressive on vet visits.  My parents had it suggested for their cats (brother &amp;amp; sister) who were not getting along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats (the aggressive one) does exactly the same thing as yours - stomps around in the middle of the night wailing away because he has spotted an intruder outside.  Your cat probably thinks he is doing you a big favour by alerting you to the imminent danger so chilling him out a bit might help him to pipe down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat only does it a couple of times a week and tbh it doesn't bother us that much - but having used Feliway in the past for other things it definitely helps calm them down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T11:50:13.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10" CreationDate="2014-04-08T12:23:00.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs were domesticated from wild dogs and wolves, with domestic dogs being found around 30,000 years ago. Some wolves are thought to have evolved around 700,000 years ago. Their main caloric and nutrient source is other animals, thus in oversimplified terms they are though of as carnivores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they like to munch on a bit of plant matter every now and then and eat the stomach contents of the animals they kill, they did not roam the land looking for corn to eat. Corn is much cheaper than meat so using it allows for pet food manufacturers to keep costs down. Corn was selectively bread only very recently for human consumption and is not all that great a food source as it is full of sugars, and is not particularly nutrient rich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arbitrarily changing the diet of a 700,000 year old specie carries with is some health risk.  Many American cats and dogs suffer from obesity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see a similar problem in humans where our historical diets have been altered for convenience or culturally-learned flavor preference resulting in obesity, atherosclerosis disease, diabetes, GI tract cancers, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The high-quality dog foods which are mainly made from meat are good alternatives. Better yet get with your veterinarian and make home-made dog food with the proper nutrient balance and whatever added vitamins are recommended. It won't have all the preservatives, dyes, and fillers the store bought pet food has, and the meat will be higher quality. Your vet won't tell you to add a bunch of corn, although dogs do need some grains/veggies to simulate what is found inside the animals they used to eat). The down side is this can be pricey and time consuming so it is not an attractive option to many. Personally I use high quality store bought foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T12:42:59.347" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T12:42:59.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2014-04-08T13:34:37.640" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats does this. Cats rely heavily on smell to identify each other and people so I hypothesize she can't smell me (due to soap and water) and becomes worried and vocalizes a crying/upset type meow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She continues meowing until I pet her profusely when I get out.  So the behavior could also all be her way of getting me to pet her profusely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't smell like we normally do when we are freshly cleaned and covered with perfumes from soap so the cat may feel they need to do something about it. Cats spend a lot of time scenting things, each other, and us, to identify things as their property or as something familiar and accepted. The behavior could be to ensure she has scented me and I her which is highly important in cat socialization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, humans are mostly visually-oriented animals so imagine if your significant other stepped out of the shower and looked different and not themselves somehow. You might go over and investigate and try to correct their appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also this same cat of mine likes freshly laundered things (like laying in a laundry basket with clean clothes) or freshly cleaned counter tops (even with bleach). Maybe it also has something to do with you being freshly laundered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T13:34:37.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="173" CreationDate="2014-04-08T13:48:31.783" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of my cats will bite, swipe, and otherwise play with/at moving water (like from the pet fountain or from a tap). I see it as healthy play or hunting behavior so I don't think you can train her not to do it without substantial effort. Possibly from someone experienced in animal training (e.g. conditioning the cat over time to remove the behavior). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try using a regular old-fashioned water bowl and see what she does with that. You may have to experiment some to find a bowl in a size that she prefers. She may not like a small bowl, or she may go wading and play in a large bowl. One of my cats likes to vigorously dig in large pans of water, quickly emptying them onto the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats like to drink by dunking their paws in water the licking their paws. This may be due to them not liking the sensation of their whiskers touching the side of the water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="281" LastEditDate="2017-11-22T09:09:47.130" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T09:09:47.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2014-04-08T13:57:49.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ferrets love to chew on rubbery things. If you can't keep the wires out of their reach or conceal them, try to find some cladding or conduit that you can put around the wires. Try hunting around your local home store or maybe an auto store. I have seen flexible rigid plastic sheaths for wires that may help save the wires. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T13:57:49.340" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2014-04-08T14:32:25.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hot dogs do not provide a nutritionally balanced meal, are often high in fat, contain low quality meats, spices, dies, preservatives and a number of things your dog (or a person) does not need. Onions are toxic to cats and hot dogs often have onion powder and other spices. I don't know if they contain anything toxic to dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding cats and dogs human food will also lead to begging and food stealing behaviors. Once the animal figures out what you are eating is tasty they will try to get some for themselves. This may be a pain to guests as they get jumped on while eating. Personally I don't like a dog sitting attentively and staring at me (begging) while I am at the dinner table. To me its a sign the owners don't know much about dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Imagine a 90 pound Alaskan Malamute who also wants a bite of the pizza a toddler is running around with. There also may be some nipped fingers as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult a both a medical doctor and a veterinarian and they will tell you that you and your dog should stay away from hot dogs, or perhaps enjoy them in very moderate amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just have to give him a yummy human style meat treat maybe some plain cooked lean beef or chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T14:32:25.967" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2014-04-08T14:40:21.237" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My impractical solution is to put a television into the wall, and have it act as the window that the cat looks out of. That way, you can control what your cat can see, and make sure that there are no animals that are going to show up &quot;outside&quot; Then you can also have different videos during the day, like video of an aquarium, or even a webcam to a zoo exhibit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's roughly how I would do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 1: Acquire a flatscreen television. One that's about 32-inches should be a good size I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 2: Cut a hole in the wall to embed the television into. Cut the hole so that the television is sideways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 3: Mount the television into the hole in the wall and route the wires to a plugin and a computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 4: Put some trim around the television to hide that it's a television and make it look like a window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 5: Put a looping video of the outdoors on the screen, and move your cat to look out of that window instead. No animals on the video, means no noise when your cat is watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another somewhat less impractical solution, is to set up a projector. Set up a fake window with the trim with a white screen inside. The difference with the projector, is that it's generally more expensive, and can possibly not look realistic enough for the cat to show interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T14:50:00.713" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T14:50:00.713" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1277" CreationDate="2014-04-08T15:13:57.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that he's doing his business on different substrates (on the pads, on the floor inside and probably on the grass outside) seems indeed to indicate a lack of potty training, especially for a 2-year old dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not be concerned by the fact that he's pooping on the floor where the pads used to be. That's a good sign: he remembers where you wanted him to poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you let him go outside, try to bring him on the same substrate every time otherwise he might be confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just go back to puppy potty training basics: prevention (the most important part - that means put him outside often), no yelling if he poops inside, praise him (even if the neighbours think you're crazy) when he poops outside. If you catch him inside stop/distract him, bring him outside and praise when he's done. If he's on leash outside, give him time to play/pull a bit before continuing you're walk, that will serve as a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:13:57.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2811" CreationDate="2014-04-08T15:28:28.223" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Zaralynda commented, part of the answer can be found in this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2639/how-can-i-tell-if-my-cat-knows-his-name&quot;&gt;How can I tell if my cat knows his name?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I don't think you are considering the right problem. There is no difference between teaching a dog a new name and teaching a dog his name. What is &quot;teaching a name&quot; in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that we have to teach/re-teach its name to the dog actually tells the difference between dogs and humans: dogs &lt;em&gt;learn&lt;/em&gt; their name by association (a sound associated with other actions on our part, he learns to perform an action on his own) while we &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; our name. The whole concept is totally different, dogs don't have the same level of self-consciousness as we have (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0064X82SY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;, among others and references cited in the book).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as dogs don't understand verbal language and learn by association it is pretty easy to teach them their name, once you've defined what you expect them to do (usually look at you), see the other question mentioned above and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2640/469&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this suggests also that we usually &lt;strong&gt;overuse&lt;/strong&gt; our dogs name. Depending on the way we say it/yell it, we expect the dog to understand subtleties such as &quot;don't do this&quot;, &quot;come here&quot;, etc. If the dog associates his name clearly, he won't be able to guess what we mean, if he understands clearly the tone of our voice, then its name becomes part of the ambient noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we should not tell his name when we want to reprimand him. Of course we'll use it when we pet him, etc. so it is good practice to reinforce the action of looking at us when we say its name (he usually start training sessions with a few repetitions of that exercise every other day, or when perfecting his leash-training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:28:28.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="840" CreationDate="2014-04-08T15:36:51.827" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR version:&lt;/strong&gt; There seems to be some argument about whether dogs are carnivores or omnivores. It is more important that you follow the guidelines for how much meat and plant matter to feed your dog than to worry about the taxonomic distinction that dogs fall into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Case for omnivores&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans and dogs (and pigs and bears) are &lt;strong&gt;monogastric omnivores&lt;/strong&gt;. This simply means that they have one stomach [...] &lt;strong&gt;and consume a variety of animal and plant items&lt;/strong&gt;. Pigs may eat far more vegetables and dogs much more meat, but we all find ourselves somewhere along the same continuum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, on the other hand, are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obligate_carnivore#Obligate_carnivores&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;obligate carnivores&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;While dogs can survive (though perhaps not thrive) on a vegetarian diet&lt;/strong&gt;, cats must eat meat to fulfil their nutritional requirements. [Goes on to describe how dogs' teeth and taste buds are useful for eating vegetable matter.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p0y9b9voiI8C&amp;amp;pg=PA77&amp;amp;hl=en#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grab Life by the Leash&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog's diet should consist of balanced porportions of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and, of course, water. A dog can go days without food and lose 30% to 40% of it's body weight without dying, but a 10% to 15% water loss could be fatal. &lt;strong&gt;All-meat diets are not recommended for dogs due to the lack of calcium and iron found in meat.&lt;/strong&gt; Diet supplements should be avoided. Human foods that can be fatal to dogs include moldy cheese, onions, and chocolate. Feral domestic dogs will eat a variety of foods including animals and fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Primary Diet: omnivore&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Canis_lupus_familiaris.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;University of Michigan Museum of Zoology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Case for carnivores&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do not normally produce the necessary enzymes in their saliva (amylase, for example) to start the break-down of carbohydrates and starches [...] Nor do dogs have the kinds of friendly bacteria that break down cellulose and starch for them. As a result, &lt;strong&gt;most of the nutrients contained in plant matter—even preprocessed plant matter—are unavailable to dogs&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfed.com/myths/omnivores.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt; (author doesn't really cite her experience - seems to be a personal website, albeit one with a lot of quotes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to keeping a dog as a pet, I'm not sure that the actual distinction matters. (If you want a deeper knowledge than that required to keep a dog as a pet, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Biology&lt;/a&gt; Stack Exchange should have plenty of experts who might be able to give a better answer than us.) Further, there is a large variation in how much meat is eaten within &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt; the &amp;quot;carnivore&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;omnivore&amp;quot; spectrums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key things to note are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs, like us, do not thrive on a vegetarian diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They also do not do well on an all-meat diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It would be best to feed your dog a balanced diet that contains both animal and plant items.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different dogs require different levels of meat in their diets. Chihuahuas (and many other toy breeds) have evolved to eat predominantly a &amp;quot;people diet&amp;quot; of vegetables, corn and only a little meat, whereas war dogs like mastiffs were bred an an all-meat diet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drbasko.com/site/dogdietquestion/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How will not feeding them meat affect their health?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[T]he protein and calcium needs of the dog and cat are much higher than those for humans. &lt;strong&gt;These nutrients are most easily provided through animal-derived ingredients.&lt;/strong&gt; Some plants, such as soy, are high in protein, but the amino acids within the protein are not as balanced as they are for most animal-source ingredients. &lt;strong&gt;Dogs and cats also need a dietary source of vitamin B12, a substance not found in most plants.&lt;/strong&gt; All animals &amp;quot;need&amp;quot; this vitamin, but plant-eating animals such as cattle and sheep can make their own through the action of bacteria in their gastrointestinal tracts, provided there are adequate amounts of the mineral cobalt in the diet (which is found in plants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dognutrition.com/vegetarian-diet-for-dogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How will not feeding them plants affect their health?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a distinction between different types of carnivores:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals that depend solely on animal flesh for their nutrient requirements are considered obligate carnivores while those that also consume non-animal food are considered facultative carnivores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;em&gt;Mammals: Carnivores. Duane E. Ullrey. Encyclopedia of Animal Science.&lt;/em&gt; - reference in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore#cite_note-MC-2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even those sources that claim that dogs are carnivores are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; claiming that dogs are obligate carnivores. In other words, even if they are carnivores, they are &lt;strong&gt;not the type of carnivore that eats &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; meat&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[T]here is no such a thing as an all-meat diet in the wild. Wild wolves inevitably digest a fair amount of plant matter too – as they benefit from the plant diet of the prey animals they hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drbasko.com/site/dogdietquestion/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, as quoted above:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All-meat diets are not recommended for dogs due to the lack of calcium and iron found in meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T15:41:52.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2763" CreationDate="2014-04-08T16:10:36.640" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a popular topic in my household. One cat likes to dip her paws in glasses of water creating what we refer to as &quot;cat paw flavored water&quot;. One cat likes to fish the olives out of martinis. One cat likes to flop down on its side on top of tables and knock anything over in the vicinity, especially a beverage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general you can discourage your cats from getting on tables and the like by nicely shooing them away or gently picking them up and putting them on the floor. They will often immediately jump back up - you have to be persistent and consistent. The second you give in they learn that if they are persistent they will get their way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend yelling at your cats or using things like water or squirt bottles to train cats. One popular cat behavior author stated it is bad for their self esteem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really without hiring multiple animal trainers and having them on site 24/7 for a week or two to re-train your cat you are not going to be 100% successful in changing your cats behavior here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly you are going to have to change your behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep drinks out of their reach or out of their sight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drink out of spill-proof sports bottles, or plastic glasses with screw on lids and heavy straws. Anything like an infant's sippy cup.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Guard your beverages. If the cat is within 6 feet of your drink&#xA;    assume they will attack it shortly. Be ready to move to intercept&#xA;    the cat or secure the drink in your hand. Do not leave beverages&#xA;    unattended.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I employ all three strategies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say why they do it with utter certainty. I assume they just like to play with the water. Sometimes they might want a drink and it is easier to get a drink if it is overturned on the counter. Ensuring they always have fresh water may help. Some cats are fascinated by clinking ice. They may also just like to explore the cup or glass satisfying their famous curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T16:10:36.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2840" CreationDate="2014-04-08T16:14:43.940" Score="8" ViewCount="543" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm training my dog the different positions (sit, stand, and down) with an implied &quot;stay&quot;. That means that when I ask him to sit, he's supposed to stay in that position until I &quot;release&quot; him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;down&quot;, so far so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then I realised that these first steps are easy because in the initial position the dog is usually standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was struggling to train a &quot;sit&quot; from a &quot;down&quot;, then I realised that might be the problem, I added another cue to &quot;sit from a down&quot; and he quickly got it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: &lt;strong&gt;are dogs learning the movement or the final position&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly what about a &quot;stand&quot; cue? In my case it means &quot;stand and stay&quot;. But if the dog is already standing, he just has to stay. Do I risk confusing him by using a single cue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T05:44:38.013" Title="Sit/down/stand training: do dogs associate the movement or the final position?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2836" CreationDate="2014-04-08T16:20:09.047" Score="9" ViewCount="2141" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Overstocking&quot; is a term used when keeping fish.  I've heard it used when someone has too many fish, but I've also heard it suggested as a way to make semi-aggressive fish more timid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is overstocking an aquarium good or bad?  What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T16:51:07.047" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T14:13:47.497" Title="What does it mean to &quot;overstock&quot; a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2835" CreationDate="2014-04-08T16:20:09.047" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overstocking a fish tank means putting more fish in the tank than the tank can handle. There are several factors to consider with how many fish can fit in a tank, including the bacteria that converts the chemicals (ammonia from fish waste, to nitrites, to nitrates) being able to keep up, the amount of oxygen being put into the tank vs the amount being used up, the filter being able to take out enough waste, and just plain swimming room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term is commonly used for the extreme, where someone puts too many fish in a tank, or perhaps to large of fish in a tank. But overstocking a fish tank isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means that you will have to be more careful in monitoring the water quality. Changing the filters often, and performing regular water changes to keep up with the buildup of nitrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some of the schooling fish that are semi-aggressive, it's suggested that you overstock the tank so that none of the fish feel like they have a territory that they can call their own. If they don't feel like they have any territory in the tank, then they're less likely to bully the other fish in the tank in defense of their territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that overstocking the fish tank might not be the first solution, as a fish tank should really only be overstocked if you're committed to making sure the water stays clean.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only have a couple fish of a species, and they're picking on other fish in the tank, it could be that they're just looking for more members in their school and don't know how to behave with the other fish (different species of fish school differently). So simply getting  a few more of that species of fish could give them their own school to be happy with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally with more aggressive fish, the larger the school the less likely they'll pick on the other fish in the tank. So if you have room, you might want to try adding some more to their school. Tiger barbs for example, might remain fairly aggressive until there's about 8-10 of them in a tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-08T16:47:52.987" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T16:47:52.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2774" CreationDate="2014-04-08T19:05:58.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those catfish look to me like a type of Corydora (aka Cory Cat). Another picture would help to make sure, but I don't know of any cory cats that get to be any bigger than 3 inches. 2-3 inches is the average size to expect them to grow to I'd say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be concerned about the zebra danios before the cory cats. While they only get to be about 3-4 inches in length, they are very active swimmers. You might be okay with with a circular tank though, as they might enjoy swimming around in circles. I don't have experience with circular tanks really say for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-08T19:05:58.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-08T21:37:23.437" Score="13" ViewCount="7526" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently pursuing a new job which will require a decent amount of travel. I am very conflicted since I don't know who could look after my cat each time I'm away if I get this job. I don't have any friends that live close enough, and bringing my cat to a kennel would be a hassle and it's expensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What solutions would you suggest for making sure that my cat is properly cared for if I get a new job that requires travel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1129" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T20:51:13.937" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:31:12.270" Title="How should I accomodate my cat if I travel for work?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2838" CreationDate="2014-04-08T22:02:42.197" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few distinct ways you can tackle this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Look into getting a quality cat sitter.  Talk to friends with pets, people in your neighborhood with pets, people at your vet's office.  The unfortunate thing is that you will have to filter through a lot of bad info, but eventually you should be able to find some really good pet sitters.  I'd concentrate on getting info from people who you know are REALLY close to their pets.  Vet offices can sometimes be misleading because they sometimes have a mutual backscratching deal.  The young techs get pet sitting referrals by default and so aren't necessarily the best pet sitters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Fostering: can you find someone who would be willing to have your pet as their pet on a part time basis?  Say a friend of yours in the area.  Unfortunately this solution has the same issues that the next one does: namely, cats are instinctively attached to their territory.  A move, be it short or long distance, is always very stressful for them, unless they experience frequent moves and come to realize, &quot;hey, my territory is not the source of my food and all the other goodies&quot;.  This is easier to do with a young cat than an older one who has been in the same place for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Take your cat with you.  Cats instinctively hate to travel &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; some people have broken them of that.  If you start when the cat is relatively young and frequently take it to different surroundings, the cat should be conditioned to lose its strong natural instinct that territory is what defines well-being.  There is a really stupid book on the subject (actually several) called &lt;em&gt;The Cat Who Went to Paris&lt;/em&gt;.  Basically the owner traveled a lot and took his cat wherever he went. I can't recommend the rest of the book, but the parts about his cat I liked. It may be of use to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T14:31:12.270" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:31:12.270" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2834" CreationDate="2014-04-09T05:44:38.013" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a really great question... the answer is it depends and both or either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are VERY specific, they don't naturally generalize as much as humans do. I don't mean that they do not generalize... it just takes more experience\training to get there. This applies to your question because a specific movement from a stand to a sit is very different then the general &quot;I want you in a sitting position&quot; from whatever current position you are in now. It sounds like this is the difficulty you are running into when trying to teach the sit from a down when your dog already knows a sit from a stand well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So depending on what you are rewarding you could teach either the position or the motion to get into the position. If you are not consciously thinking about which you are rewarding then you are probably muddying what your expecting which may explain why it is taking longer for your dog to learn some things and faster for others. If sometimes you are rewarding and naming the movement and sometimes you are rewarding and naming the position after they've already completed the movement. If this is the case you are really calling two different things the same name. Does &quot;sit&quot; mean &quot;lower my back-end by bending my knees&quot; or does it mean &quot;hold still while my back-end is down until you release&quot;? Does it also mean your dog should be looking right at you ready for your next command or can they relax and look around? You can make it mean &quot;move in what ever way necessary to get your back-end down and your front end up then hold still in that position and watch me waiting for the next command until I give you a release word&quot; but that is a lot of steps and a really generalized command so you will have to spend some time teaching your dog that it means all those things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the best thing to do for a complex behavior like that is to decide what you want for the end product then figure out how to break that down. You will then teach\reward each small part and slowly put them together until you have the final product. And you will need to practice it in lots of different places, with different distractions to help generalize (or proof) the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a stand it sounds like you are wanting to teach the general &quot;move into a standing position then stay in that position without moving your feet until I release you&quot;. You could start by either asking for the motion where you would start from a sit or down and reward when they moved out of that position into a standing position. Or you could start from a stand and reward for holding still for longer and longer duration then when the dog got that pretty well you could work on &quot;generalizing&quot; it by teaching the dog to move into a stand from a sit. Then also from a down. Then also from a walk. Then also from a full on run. You get the idea... you just have to keep adding different situations to start from until your dog figures out what the general &quot;stand&quot; means. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For commands where I care about the movement and that don't involve a bunch of steps. I like to specifically reward the movement. So if my dog is in a down and I say down again they should try to get lower to the ground... lower their head press their body down... whatever they can to do show me they are trying to &quot;down&quot; even more. For something like &quot;back-up&quot; you would start by rewarding even the tiniest movement backward then continue to reward additional movement backward and be careful not to reward holding still after the backward movement has stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For additional reading on dogs and generalizing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temple Grandin talks about dogs and generalizing in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002V1GZCS&quot;&gt;&quot;Animals in Translation&quot;&lt;/a&gt; This is an excellent read for anyone who wants to better understand animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nirvanatails.com/training-tips.shtml&quot;&gt;http://www.nirvanatails.com/training-tips.shtml&lt;/a&gt; (more of a how-to... generalizing can also be called or related to &quot;proofing&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/sites/default/files/Bark%202011%20June%20Welcome.pdf&quot;&gt;generalizing in new/different environments&lt;/a&gt; this one is more about exposing dogs to different situations to help them generalize&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animalsense.com/2012/04/swear/&quot;&gt;&quot;hey my dog knows how to do this but isn't... what gives?&quot; an example of someone else who also realized that their training needed more generalization&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T05:44:38.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2842" CreationDate="2014-04-09T07:52:42.923" Score="27" ViewCount="109399" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was drinking my coffee the other day and I accidentally spilled some on the floor (a couple of drops).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat licked them. I don't really think this is a big deal because it was only two drops, but can anything happen to cats if they drink a (relatively) large amount of coffee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-15T21:38:16.443" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T21:38:16.443" Title="What happens if cats drink coffee?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2841" CreationDate="2014-04-09T09:14:06.733" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/caffeine/&quot;&gt;According to petpoisonhelpline.com&lt;/a&gt;, caffeine poisoning is &quot;[g]enerally moderate to severe/life-threatening&quot;, but while &quot;[...] cats appear to be more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than people&quot;, &quot;1-2 laps of coffee, tea or soda will not contain enough caffeine to cause poisoning in most pets [...]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you should be safe with the current situation, but please do be careful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="962" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T09:14:06.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2847" CreationDate="2014-04-09T14:31:09.033" Score="9" ViewCount="6181" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I moved in together a year ago, each bringing one cat.  The older cat moved with me on moving day and the younger one arrived a few days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One cat is an eight-year-old female. She's pretty calm and quiet, doesn't like playing so much, and doesn't even climb up the furniture or the tables.  The other cat is a three-year-old male; he likes to play aggressively (biting, scratching, hunting) and is very loud.  We may have presented the cats to each other poorly, as it seems that they simply hate each other.  Both cats are neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that the younger cat likes to hunt the older one and corner her.  He sometimes slaps her when she's walking near him.  When she's cornered, she starts to hiss and growl.  Frequently, this &quot;game&quot; becomes dangerous if I do not stop them.  When I come back home from work, I often see scratches on the noses or eyelids of both cats.  They fight this way several times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've already tried Feliway (more than once), spray water, and confinement. Nothing works.  It's been a year since this started, and the behavior is the same.  I read &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/266/how-to-get-cats-to-coexist-in-peace?lq=1&quot;&gt;How to get cats to coexist in peace?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, and tried the suggestions.  When I leave home in the morning, I move each cat to a separate room, with a door separating them.  We've been doing this for two months, and still no success: when we leave them free with minor supervision, they eventually start &quot;playing&quot; again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have a lot of toys in the house. They have cardboard castles with holes, and I play with them every day, with toys (including a kinder surprise inside egg); we try to give them variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know if the younger cat is acting aggressively due to jealousy, a mean streak, or is just simply being playful.  I'm scared because of the scratches, and I fear that any day one of the cats will lose an eye or worse.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we handle this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1090" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:14:25.810" Title="Is my cat's aggressive behavior playful or mean, and how do I stop it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2014-04-09T15:34:06.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to me a lot when I was feeding a lot of outdoor strays and feral cats. I had french doors on the back porch and some of the indoor cats were very unhappy when they outdoor cats came close to the door. I took some white posterboard and carefully cut out sections to match the small window openings in the french door and attached them with press-on adhesive squares. I just covered up the bottom row which was cat height. This solved the problem of highly irate screaming cats for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your main problem area are window sills look for a way to just block cat line of sight at the bottom bottom 18&quot; or so of the problem areas. (Adjust height as needed based on indoor and outdoor elevation, cat size, etc.) Sheet metal, opaque plexiglas or lexan would be some materials to consider using. If you are concerned about appearances you can put the material either inside or out, paint it, or wrap the material with a fabric you like. Someone adept at decorating may be able to assist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a fenced-in yard, getting a mainly outdoor dog to scare off the intruding animals would work too, but may create a new set of issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the years there have been various products that claim to scare away wildlife. You could look into what is currently on the market. I have no experience with them though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T15:34:06.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2791" CreationDate="2014-04-09T16:09:36.733" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen dogs do this too. Animals sometime drag their kills off to protect their food from other animals. Feral cats will sometimes rip a hunk of meat of a carcass and run off with it to prevent other cats from taking it. Wolves and other animals often have an eating order and a lower ranking animal may try to steal a bit of food out of turn and run off with it to eat to avoid repercussions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog could be exhibiting an instinct along these lines. Also your dog may feel more secure in the area he is moving its food to. Maybe it is less open or more quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T16:09:36.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2843" CreationDate="2014-04-09T17:12:51.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You either need to wear out the younger cat a lot more than you are, or reintroduce them and get some new house rules it order.  Neither is going to be easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you might consider is to get a third cat, matched in energy to the younger one.  They can wear each other out, and the older can watch or join in.  I have a 17 and 12 year old cat and recently adopted 2 kittens to reduce the issues of young cat playing with old cat.  The kittens wrestle and chase and the old fellows watch from the sides or sit closer when the kittens are worn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T17:12:51.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2843" CreationDate="2014-04-09T17:42:30.790" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first problem that you need to solve is to take stock of the locations in the house where the older cat is getting cornered and stop that from happening. The older cat should always have the option to escape rather than fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may mean clearing clutter, or installing wall shelves, or rearranging your own furniture. &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/category/catification/climbing-perching/&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's Catification Gallery&lt;/a&gt; has tons of pictures to use as an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second you need to keep them separate unless something good is happening, so that they associate the presence of the other cat with the good thing. For example, if you're keeping them in separate rooms, feed them near the door so they can hear/smell the other cat. Gradually (over the course of several weeks) open the door so they can see each other at meal times. If they show more interest in each other, be ready with a blanket or piece of cardboard to break eye contact, but as long as they ignore each other and just eat together, don't interfere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure when you're playing with the younger cat that you use the hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle. Play until he's tired, then feed him. He should then groom and sleep. During the sleep part of the cycle is a good time to introduce the other cat, as the younger cat should be too tired to want to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that some cats are bullies and some are perpetual &quot;victims&quot; and you may never let these cats be together in your home unsupervised. Our Ginger feels cornered and lashes out when she's in the middle of the living room and can run in any direction. We keep her locked in the bedroom when we aren't home and she seems more peaceful than when we left her with the other cats all of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T17:42:30.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2838" CreationDate="2014-04-09T18:00:04.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dan S has a super answer (+1), but the OP has ruled out all of those options in recent comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for a local cat rescue organization.  I volunteer with a rabbit rescue, and one of the things we do is boarding in a volunteers home.  Members/volunteers with the organization will board for a weekend or longer.  It is not unusual for boarding to last months or even more than a year.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the long term boarding parents have obligations that require their extended absence. They generally make a monetary donation to the group while boarding. While local they help 'pay back' by their volunteer activities with the group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T18:00:04.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2838" CreationDate="2014-04-09T19:01:41.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I travel frequently for work.  If you are gone for up to 3 days (possibly 4) your cat(s) will be fine if you leave adequate food and water and buy a humongous litter box and scoop it before you leave.  For 1-2 week long trips I have relatives or my S.O. checkin on the cats every few days, scoop the litter, refill water/food, feed treats, pet them and play with them a bit.  It's not really a big job and the cats seem to get by just fine.  I feel like if you don't have a local relative or friend, that a responsible teen or neighbor could work for this duty at little to no expense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000HHLVA4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BIG Litter Box&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1139" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T19:01:41.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2851" CreationDate="2014-04-09T20:50:41.703" Score="11" ViewCount="31956" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three to four year old female Siamese cat.  She is from a local shelter and according to them she was dropped off by someone who found her wandering around on his deck.  So she was likely abandoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a very affectionate cat.  She likes to sleep on top of me, she demands to be pet the moment either my husband or I have walked in the door.  She's very loud just... not too bright.  She falls off things and runs into assorted objects (including my other cat) and the vet says her eye sight is fine.  She's always playing with anything she comes across and I swear she is a perpetual energy machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, unlike my older male Tuxedo, she never licks my hand.  Instead, she always nips at it. Never hard enough to draw blood, but there are definitely teeth involved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea why she doesn't lick? She cleans herself and will lick the other cat but never the humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1141" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:17:53.100" Title="Why doesn't my cat lick me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2850" CreationDate="2014-04-09T21:49:14.640" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed most cats don't lick people a great deal. I have had only one cat who licks quite a bit. One cat always licks a couple of times then nips. Licking is both a grooming and a social behavior and also a form of kitty first aid. I always liken the social aspect to monkeys picking fleas off each other or girls bushing each other's hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical greeting between friendly cats in the same clowder (group of cats) is the less dominant cat to head butt the more dominant cat. The dominant cat then will lick the head of the less dominant cat. (I use the word dominant out of convenience but it is really more complex than that). Mom cats spend a lot of time licking their kittens. Sometimes you can see two cats just laying around licking each other at the same time which is probably more of a grooming behavior.  Some people believe cats see us as their mother because we feed and groom them, so they may expect to be licked (pet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in classical kitty terms your cat may expect you to pet her since you are the dominant cat, and she would not presume to lick you as that would be inappropriate. Naturally the cats don't follow the rule 100% of the time and some cats are just &quot;special&quot; like the cat who licks me for 15 minutes straight. It is the same with people... we don't always say hello or shake hands even though we believe it to be appropriate. Some people never say hello or shake hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Licking behavior directed at others can also be influenced by one or more of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They like / don't like the way you taste.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They feel you need / don't need grooming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their ideas about appropriate social behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetic factors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your reinforcement of their licking behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their mood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their impression of your mood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Odds are the cat who does not lick you is just observing proper cat etiquette. The other cat who does lick you may be &quot;special&quot; or has been conditioned to lick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="5813" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:17:53.100" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:17:53.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2850" CreationDate="2014-04-09T23:32:06.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats may or may not lick a person based on all kinds of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason cats sometimes do lick people is to get the salt on peoples skins, could be some cats have more of a craving for this than others (likewise some people are saltier or better or worse tasting as Beo points out)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can also lick you as a grooming behavior but they do recognize that humans aren't cats... so I've found that friendly gestures they do with each other they don't always do to or recognize from us.  For instance, a cat is more likely to do nose touching with another cat than with a human (only one of my three cats regularly touches noses with me).  A cat is less likely to trill at a human than they are at another cat (two of my cats trill at me but I regard this as a very nice and unusual bonus, an acknowledgement that I am a kind of &quot;momma cat&quot; proxy).  In the reverse, cats will slow blink at each other or at humans, but if a human slow blinks at a cat the gesture seldom seems to be recognized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats sometimes lick me but frequently don't.  I had a cat (sadly she died last summer at the tender age of 22) who would sometimes lick me and then kind of chew.  She would do that on my nose tip or ears and while it was a nice gesture I'd have preferred she not do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't &quot;sweat&quot; your cats not licking you much.  Mine lick me but not that often and I know mine love me a lot....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-09T23:50:18.620" LastActivityDate="2014-04-09T23:50:18.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2841" CreationDate="2014-04-09T23:35:42.313" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caffeine is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; bad for cats and dogs. Don't let your cats have any coffee, soda, tea, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One tiny dose won't kill them, but you could be racking up organ damage each time. &lt;a href=&quot;http://hccua.org/health/healthandwellness.cfm?id=353&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The HCCUA health website&lt;/a&gt; states that cats will get heart and nervous system damage from caffeine.  I imagine it would also hurt the liver, kidneys, and GI tract as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plants make caffeine to kill off any creatures eating the plants.  Alkaloids (caffeine is an alkaloid) are intended to kill off anything that eats them, not just insects.  Humans and other plant-eating animals have developed defenses to common alkaloids, which is why people aren't really affected by caffeine.  Cats and dogs have no such defenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T15:23:43.230" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T15:23:43.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2858" CreationDate="2014-04-10T11:34:42.420" Score="9" ViewCount="4807" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has long whiskers. And she constantly rubs those whiskers on things, like they itch.  I read up a bit, and it says that's just their way of declaring ownership with scent glands and such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, case closed.  Except it really seems like she's frustrated with the sides of her face.  And if you physically grab her whiskers and just kind of pull on them, she seems more satisfied than annoyed.  Like she's happy you're pulling on them, and if you rub the base of the whiskers she seems even happier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a human who finds beards being itchy and wanting to shave, I am wondering about her point of view.  I've read about trimming whiskers being cruel because cats want to use them for knowing how wide their bodies are etc.  But she is clearly having issues with it and I can &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; tug on the whiskers and she seems more relieved than annoyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any record of overlong whiskers actually annoying a cat?  Has a cat ever seemed happier after a whisker trimming?  The cat hates nail clippings too, but foregoing that meant she cut up her ear scratching it.  Is there something foundational about whiskers where it is not something you should ever worry about because &lt;em&gt;&quot;they are supposed to be as long as they are due to cat science&quot;&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T12:55:47.023" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T01:24:08.060" Title="What if a cat seems annoyed by her whiskers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2890" CreationDate="2014-04-10T11:39:32.573" Score="3" ViewCount="43999" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Maine Coon digs around his water dish before drinking. Is this something that's common with  Maine Coons? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T08:47:55.200" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T17:15:26.730" Title="Why does my Maine Coon dig around his water before drinking?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2871" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:03:01.310" Score="6" ViewCount="4737" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our male British Shorthair is a bit over 4 months and reaching the age we should consider neutering him if we want to avoid spraying and other side-effects of him sexually maturing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, as a young cat he is very mild tempered, and always stays indoors in a spacious apartment on a high floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any chance to avoid the annoying parts of sexual maturity without neutering him? Can perhaps the fact that he will not be coming in contact with other cats prevent him from marking his territory by spraying? And what about developing aggressiveness when he is in heat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And are there any (perhaps pharmaceutical) alternatives to surgical neutering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T08:53:32.223" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T00:32:07.877" Title="Alternatives to neutering a male cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2862" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:15:03.177" Score="8" ViewCount="1231" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the country where I live there has been a mild rabies outbreak, which in turn has prompted the authorities to enforce obligatory vaccination of all cats and dogs, even ones which don't go out. It's an issue that (according to my vet) may put the cat's life in danger since the spot of the rabies vaccine has a higher possibility of developing a tumor in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course a cat can (even playfully) bite or scratch you, but is there a real danger from that? And how can a cat kept inside contact rabies? Is rabies possible to be contacted by the cat even without being bitten or scratched by another ill animal e.g. by contacting bat feces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T16:04:35.707" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T18:42:47.463" Title="Rabies from a cat? Under what circumstances?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2854" CreationDate="2014-04-10T13:46:36.520" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do her teeth look like? It seems to me like it's a matter of her gums being irritated. One of my cats had a bad case of gingivitis when I got him, and would aggressively rub his cheeks/teeth on everything he could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cat has gingivitis it could be something as simple as brushing her teeth to get rid of the gum inflammation/irritation. You should be able to lift up your cat's lip to see if there's plaque on the teeth and if the gums look reddish/irritated. Otherwise it might be a good idea to make a quick stop by the vet in case it's something less visible/more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T14:12:23.193" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T14:12:23.193" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2854" CreationDate="2014-04-10T14:38:54.280" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should never cut a cat's whiskers. Doing some quick research found these pieces of information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/04/what-happens-if-a-cats-whiskers-are-damaged-or-clipped/&quot;&gt;http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/04/what-happens-if-a-cats-whiskers-are-damaged-or-clipped/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_have_whiskers&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_have_whiskers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-whiskers-7-facts&quot;&gt;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-whiskers-7-facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So whether or not the cat's whiskers are annoying the cat, it's far better than if you cut them. A potential issue like Gingivitis, as Matt said, is far more likely. If this has been going on for a little while, I would definitely recommend taking her into a veterinarian to get her teeth checked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="943" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T14:38:54.280" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2854" CreationDate="2014-04-10T14:43:14.230" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is scenting things, marking her territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have scent glands on the sides of their face, lips, head, and chin (other locations as well). Normal cat behavior is to rub the sides of their face on objects, wall and furniture corners, and people to mark them as their territory or as something friendly or familiar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats mark more than others. You can experiment with this by plopping something new down in front of your cat, like a coffee mug or something larger. Your cat may sniff it then start rubbing his face on it. Your cat may also want to scent you when you change clothes or after bathing to re-scent you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't sure about your cat liking his whiskers manipulated so I just went and gently stroked one of mine's and he began purring, so I guess they like it and see it as grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T14:43:14.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2014-04-10T15:02:13.260" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are new methods of chemically neutering cats and dogs: (&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/cs/spayneuter/a/sterilizationdr_2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;). I know removal of some of your cat's parts is unpleasant to think about and it is painful for them .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going in and altering a creature's physiology for the sake of convenience was something I had to morally come to terms with. I had a couple of females that were not spayed that had really bad reproductive system issues because they never got pregnant. This would have been prevented by spaying them. One vet told me female cats live longer when spayed. Some people believe there are health benefits for males as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chemically neutering is not necessarily any more humane. There may be side effect and unseen reactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T15:43:26.543" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T15:43:26.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2857" CreationDate="2014-04-10T15:28:52.867" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Transmission of the Virus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the (US) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/exposure.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Center for Disease Control information page on rabies&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People usually get rabies from the bite of a rabid animal. It is also&#xA;  possible, but quite rare, that people may get rabies if infectious&#xA;  material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets directly into their&#xA;  eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Scratches, abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes contaminated&#xA;  with saliva or other potentially infectious material (such as brain&#xA;  tissue) from a rabid animal constitute non-bite exposures.&#xA;  Occasionally reports of non-bite exposure are such that postexposure&#xA;  prophylaxis is given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Inhalation of aerosolized rabies virus is also a potential non-bite&#xA;  route of exposure, but except for laboratory workers, most people&#xA;  won't encounter an aerosol of rabies virus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other contact, such as petting a rabid animal or contact with the&#xA;  blood, urine or feces of a rabid animal, does not constitute an&#xA;  exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, no, contact with bat feces won't cause your cat to get rabies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Risks to Indoor Cats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are still risks for an indoor only cat. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_resources/rabies.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cornell's Feline Health Center&lt;/a&gt; has an article (written from the point of view of a cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rabid animals don't behave like normal animals - sometimes they're&#xA;  overly friendly or abnormally aggressive. We've heard stories about&#xA;  rabid raccoons breaking through screens and coming indoors, and it's&#xA;  quite common for bats, which have a high incidence of rabies, to find&#xA;  their way indoors. There's nothing that I like better than chasing a&#xA;  bird or bat around the house, and I'll bet that most of my feline&#xA;  brethren would agree. Bats can enter homes or apartments through small&#xA;  cracks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's also always the chance, however small, that an indoor-only cat&#xA;  might sneak outdoors through an open window or door. Some of us become&#xA;  frightened and escape when we're carried outdoors for, say, trips to&#xA;  the vet hospital, and I've heard about cats whose cars have been&#xA;  involved in accidents that left them suddenly free (cat carriers will&#xA;  prevent most of these accidental escapes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabies is a Serious Disease&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article from Cornell's Feline Health Center continues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bite wounds treated by a physician are typically reported to the&#xA;  health department, which may then request proof of rabies vaccination.&#xA;  If the owner can't provide this proof, once again there may be&#xA;  repercussions for both owner and kitty, including a fine for having an&#xA;  unvaccinated animal; a recommendation that the cat be euthanized and&#xA;  tested for rabies, especially if the cat was ill; or a period of&#xA;  quarantine, for the cat. These penalties may seem overly severe, but&#xA;  remember that once the signs appear, there is no effective treatment&#xA;  for rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vaccine Safety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The danger we hear about most often in conjunction with vaccines is sarcoma (ie. cancer). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=vaccines#Side_Effects&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lisa A Pearson&lt;/a&gt; writes: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are highly invasive, aggressive/malignant cancerous tumors that&#xA;  are often fatal within months of appearing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are most commonly associated with vaccine adjuvants but can also&#xA;  form at the site of any injection that causes local inflammation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That said, even though injected substances other than adjuvants can&#xA;  cause sarcomas, these tumors were relatively rare prior to the advent&#xA;  of adjuvants.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adjuvants are substances that are added to vaccines to purposely cause&#xA;  inflammation at the vaccine site in order to alert the immune system&#xA;  to its presence.  They are used with killed vaccines to stimulate a&#xA;  more robust immune response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not assume that your veterinarian uses non-adjuvanted vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ASK - before allowing any vaccine to be injected into your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please note:  NO vaccine (adjuvanted or non-adjuvanted) is to be given&#xA;  in the scruff area under any circumstance. They are to be given as low&#xA;  on a limb as possible.  This is to allow for limb amputation if a VAS&#xA;  occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1997, the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) came out&#xA;  with the strong recommendation to never use the scruff area for&#xA;  vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dr. Pearson also discusses higher incidence of kidney failure among cats who have been vaccinated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The viruses used to make vaccines need to be grown in what is called a&#xA;  &quot;cell culture&quot;.  The cells used to make the FVRCP vaccine are feline&#xA;  (cat) kidney cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When these kidney cells are injected into the cat (along with the&#xA;  vaccine), his immune systems views them as foreign and makes&#xA;  antibodies against them.  Unfortunately, those antibodies do not know&#xA;  the difference between the injected kidney cells and his own kidney&#xA;  tissue resulting in a potential autoimmune 'attack' on his kidneys.&#xA;  ('Auto' means 'self''.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible side affects that she discusses include allergies (both life threatening anaphylactic and milder allergies), Vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, fever, anorexia, lameness, neurologic abnormalities, local swelling and soreness at vaccine site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overall&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are difficult issues that a cat owner must weigh. If a vaccine is legally required, the best you can do is make sure it is non-adjuvanted and injected as low in the leg as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T15:28:52.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2014-04-10T15:29:45.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hotdogs used to give my dachshund terrible, bloody, diarrhea. Her diet was always vegetarian so that could have been why she couldn't handle it on the rare occasions she ate meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We always fed my dog a grain-based dog food.  When we picked her up after a trip to the kennel,  they fed her a piece of a hotdog on her way out. Later that day, she had the stomach issues mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On other occasions, we gave her a lamb bone on Easter (we're Greek and make a lamb soup). Every year we left any meat on it, she also had the stomach problems, but she was always &quot;fine&quot; the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1148" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T17:23:05.970" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T17:23:05.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2864" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-04-10T16:07:21.780" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T16:07:21.780" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T16:07:21.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2865" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-04-10T16:07:21.780" Score="0" Body="Injection to protect against disease, also can be used to discuss legal issues and side affects. " OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T16:07:21.780" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T16:07:21.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2014-04-10T17:01:44.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have the same issue. Our tomkittens went into puberty around 5 months of age (is that early for males?) and the vet recommended we neuter them; we chose to go for the chemical option, which he said would need to be repeated around twice a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if it worked or not, because the kitten who received it eventually (but not immediately) gave up yowling and trying to go outside though he still seems to have an unabated sexual interest in the other kitten. The other kitten did not receive the injection (he was ill at the time) but he gave up yowling and such anyway so there was no obvious &quot;need&quot; for it later on. Neither of them has ever sprayed. I don't know if this is the majority experience but I have in the past come across other sexually mature unneutered toms with similarly stolid temperaments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1149" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T17:01:44.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="256" CreationDate="2014-04-10T17:32:47.623" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While PeterJ's answer completes the question, for everyone's information, I gave up my amateur attempts to build my own ramp, and instead shelled out the dough for &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004IN9NAS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a 3-Step Pine Frame Dog RampSteps&lt;/a&gt;.  Historical observation shows it generally sells for around $150 (I applied a $50 credit).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ramp works great in ramp mode, it's not intrusive, and it easily folds up (and has a hidden handle on the back) so I can store it if needed and, most importantly, my dogs adapted to it easily.  Step mode is super effective as well, but it doesn't work for my needs.  While the ramp misses the top of the bed by a couple inches of soft mattress, my two dogs don't seem to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a stock photo of the item:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a7cR7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;stock photo of RampStep&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T15:38:06.237" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T15:38:06.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2854" CreationDate="2014-04-10T18:38:03.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think your cat is &quot;annoyed&quot; with its whiskers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could have mouth problems (tooth issues, jawbone issues) as Matt suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could have a skin allergy and want to scratch its face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be normal and getting a misinterpretation on its behavior from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whiskers are important for ballance they give feedback on velocity, and position.  I would not shave them or do anything to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T18:38:03.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2857" CreationDate="2014-04-10T18:42:47.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can transmit rabies via biting.... but a cat must first contract rabies from something else.  If it is vaccinated this should not happen.  If it is always inside it is unlikely (but not impossible, a bat or some other rabid animal could enter your house, have an altercation with your cat and bingo... rabid cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabies is an insideous disease and sometimes it happens quickly and othertimes slowly... it replicates itself along a nerve, and until it reaches the brain of the animal it can be treated (by vaccination).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recent research suggests that it isn't 100% fatal as originally thought, but it probably is &gt;&gt;90% fatal for most mammals and the few who survive are sometimes in very bad shape&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T18:42:47.463" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2774" CreationDate="2014-04-10T18:55:59.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to consider with this setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zebra danios are very active swimmers and tend to need a lot of horizontal space to really feel comfortable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zebra danios are also naturally schooling and will likely be more comfortable in a larger group. (Usual recommendation is at least 5 or 6.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your catfish appear to be some variety of Corydoras (possibly Corydoras paleatus?) so I don't imagine they'll grow much larger than their current size&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two cory cats don't necessarily need more than 10 gallons of water volume, but I do think that they would benefit from a tank with a larger footprint (more floorspace)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cory cats are another fish that prefers to be in groups; normally it's recommended to have at least 4-6 although having a pair is definitely better than just having one alone!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;regardless of whether or not you decide to move them to a different tank, if your catfish no longer fit in their cave/hiding place, I would recommend replacing it and/or adding a larger one that they will be able to fit into as soon as you are able&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the type of snail you have may be significant; some snails stay relatively small while others (like &quot;apple&quot; or &quot;mystery&quot; snails) can get quite large and have a fairly high bio-load&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up for this specific setup:&#xA;You probably have enough water volume for the fish you currently have, but may not have enough horizontal space.&#xA;If you decide to upgrade your tank, you may want to consider moving up to a 20 gallon and adding a few more fish of each species so that they can school together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the general case, it can be a bit more tricky and there are several factors that need to be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the fish should have room to turn around comfortably (some fish have a very large turning circle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there should be enough room to have plenty of open swimming space for any active swimmers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there should be enough room to have ample hiding places for fish that need them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there should be enough decor/hardscaping for territorial fish to &quot;stake their claims&quot; as needed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there should be enough water volume and filtration that parameters can be kept in line (ammonia = 0, nitrites = 0, nitrates &amp;lt; 20ppm) and tank can be kept generally healthy with an amount of maintenance that you are comfortable with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fish that have inefficient digestive tracts (like goldfish) will produce more waste and may &quot;outgrow&quot; their tanks sooner (at smaller sizes) than fish with more efficient digestive tracts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some fish prefer to school as juveniles but become territorial or aggressive as adults and/or during spawning; this is another way in which they can &quot;outgrow&quot; their tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some fish require different water conditions as juveniles than adults and may outgrow their tank that way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if you are finding that water conditions are rapidly deteriorating then it is likely that the tank is overstocked and/or the inhabitants are being overfed. Overstocking could mean that there are too many fish for the tank and/or that the fish in the tank have gotten too large.&#xA;Aggression may be another sign that the tank is overstocked. Or it could be stocked with incompatible tankmates.&#xA;Frequent/repeated outbreaks of disease may be another indicator.&#xA;If fish seem stressed (loss of colour, loss of appetite, loss of energy, not displaying normal behaviour, etc.), it's likely a sign that something is amiss. That something isn't necessarily that the tank is too small, but it could be a possibility depending on the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="164" LastEditDate="2014-04-10T19:19:40.153" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T19:19:40.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2014-04-10T18:59:49.860" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are any &quot;good&quot; alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between chemically neutering and surgically doing so I'd think surgery would probably be less painful, more humane, and less likely to have negative health implications (it actually seems to increase life span, so it has one positive one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could opt for the vasectomy... but you said you don't want spraying or other tomcat behavior.  The only way to avoid that is castration of some kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomcat behavior is not uniform... without altering it is possible you could tollerate his behavior.  However, I'd think spraying would be quite likely, also agressive behavior, needing to be outside when some female is in heat... so possibly but quite unlikely.  Also you'd need to give him a vasectomy to prevent him from adding to the stray population....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could put off doing the fixing unless/until he drives you nuts.  Keep in mind he will also become fixated on leaving the house once he matures and sences a female in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T18:59:49.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2888" CreationDate="2014-04-10T19:56:23.013" Score="12" ViewCount="3557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female tortie of unknown age - somewhere between 12 and 16. Overall she's a very healthy and content creature, but in the past few years she's developed a very strange mannerism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she rubs against something with a corner, and the corner rubs a spot in her right cheek, she sneezes. I've been observing this for a while - it's only on the right side of her face, and only when a corner hits it. It's very consistent too - sometimes she'll sit and rub for a few minutes, and sneeze a couple dozen times in a row. The sneezes are very light, almost more like huffs - like ticking your nose with a feather. She doesn't recoil at all, and the constant sneezing doesn't seem to bother or exhaust her; she'll stop rubbing and continue on her merry way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, it's been happening for a few years now. It doesn't seem to pose any kind of problem to her heath, so I'm not worried - mostly just entertained and curious. Has anyone seen this before, or know anything about it? I've checked her for gum inflammation, or any kind of irritation/injuries/scars around the spot, but she's pristine. I can't even make her sneeze by scratching her cheek or poking the spot, only happens when she's rubbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1151" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:49:39.027" LastActivityDate="2020-04-21T17:16:57.087" Title="My cat seems to have a harmless &quot;sneeze button&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2808" CreationDate="2014-04-10T20:31:40.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you'd just like the final numbers and are less concerned about the reasoning behind them, answer is as follows:&#xA;EITHER get 2 African clawed frogs&#xA;OR 6 neon tetras, 6 cherry barbs, 6 gold barbs, 3 guppies, and 0-1 snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Detailed answer below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;African clawed frogs are generally recommended to be kept in a species-only tank. (As in no fish, just frogs.)&#xA;Just so you know, African clawed frogs will eat guppies and probably most of the other fish as well. The guppies will likely breed if given half a chance, so this could be desirable, but I would count on the tetras and barbs getting wiped out as soon as the frog is big enough to swallow them. If your son (or you) would be upset by seeing his fish being eaten by his frog, then I would &lt;strong&gt;strongly&lt;/strong&gt; recommend getting either frogs OR fish and not both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also select your substrate carefully. There's a good chance that the frog will ingest some of it at some point and if the substrate is too large or sharp it could do severe (potentially fatal) damage to the frog's digestive tract. Either select a substrate that will be too large for the adult frog to fit in its mouth or small enough and smooth enough that it will have a chance of passing through the digestive tract without doing damage.&#xA;Pool filter sand would likely be safe for the frog but could potentially clog your filter. (I use pool filter sand in my tank and haven't had any issues, but I also don't have a frog kicking it up into the water column so your mileage may vary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apple/mystery snails can get fairly large and have a pretty high bio-load, so just be aware of that. They may end up putting nitrates into the water (which will feed algal growth) faster than they can eat the algae when they get large.&#xA;Also, like the substrate, they could pose a hazard to the frog if they get swallowed at an awkward size.&#xA;And, if you get more than one apple snail, you may find yourself with a snail population explosion. Again, this could be desirable, but then again, it may not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tetras generally do best in groups of at least six. (Speaking from experience, I can say that I say a dramatic change in behaviour when I went from four black neons to eight.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guppies are generally best kept in ratios of at least two females to one male. (Unless you don't want them breeding in which case you might want to consider all females.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barbs should generally be kept in groups of at least six. They may fin-nip the guppies, especially if you end up with a variety with particularly long fins (veiltails). Keeping them in larger groups (12+) generally reduces fin-nipping. However, I wouldn't recommend putting that many fish in a tank this size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with the minimum recommended numbers of each species (6 of each type of barb, 6 tetras, 3 guppies, 1 frog, 1 snail) and a good filter, you'd likely be looking at doing 50% water changes twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your son is more interested in the frogs, then you could quite happily house a pair of African clawed frogs in a tank that size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is more interested in fish, then you could put all four of those fish species together in that tank (6 cherry barbs, 6 gold barbs, 6 neon tetras, 3 guppies). However, I'd still recommend that you keep a pretty close eye on water parameters (weekly testing) and consider doing &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; a weekly 50% water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's one particular fish that your son would like more of, then maybe you could discuss going with only three species instead of four to allow for more of whichever one he's most interested in. (All of the fish you mentioned would also do well in larger groups.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to get both male and female guppies, try to come up with a plan for what you will do with the surviving fry. (Some may get eaten or sucked into the filter, but some will more than likely survive.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T20:31:40.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-10T20:54:22.767" Score="7" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are healthy animals in general, aren't they? Now I just noticed &quot;regular vet check-ups&quot; mentioned twice (only twice - I searched) here in Pets. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2854/what-if-a-cat-seems-annoyed-by-her-whiskers#comment5996_2859&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2038/278&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've taken our cats to a vet only for their vaccination(s) and de-sexing ops, or if there is a health issue at hand. This means a visit to a vet once every two or three years, depending on the vaccination renewal period. That does not sound like what is meant with &quot;regular check-ups&quot;, which sounds like twice a year at least, if you ask me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why should I take a cat to a vet for a check-up, if I don't notice anything amiss with the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T00:25:21.580" Title="Why should I take a cat to a vet for regular check-ups?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1487" CreationDate="2014-04-10T21:22:15.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend keeping the giant gourami with any of the fish you have in your second tank. Many of your other fish will likely get eaten by the gourami. Also, some of the fish currently housed together in the second tank are not actually compatible long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koi should not be kept at tropical temperatures. Keeping them at temperatures warm enough for all the other fish in that tank speeds up their metabolism, strains their system, and dramatically decreases their life expectancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your silver sharks will likely get large enough to be a threat to many of the other fish in that tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pleco may eventually start trying to eat the slime coat off of other fish in the tank. This will leave them prone to infection and disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The giant gourami may eventually exceed two feet in length and need a huge tank even if it is kept alone. Any other fish in the tank would have to be large enough not to be eaten and either robust/armoured enough or agile enough not to be injured by the gourami. And adding more large fish may mean increasing the required tank dimensions even more! For a large full-grown specimen, you'll already be looking at a tank with dimensions of approximately 6' x 2' x 2' (183 x 61 x 61 cm) - around 180 US gallons (680 liters)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be able to get away with a more modestly sized tank (of 100 or 125 gallons / 380 to 470 liters) &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; your particular gourami only grows to the 18&quot; (46 cm) that seems to be more typical for captive specimens, but there's no guarantee that will be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pleco (if it's a &quot;common&quot; pleco) also has the potential to reach 18-24&quot; (46-61 cm) in length. As does the koi. The sharks will likely be in the range of 12-14&quot; (30-36 cm) when full-grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd actually be best off having three or four separate tanks for all the fish you have listed. If that is not practical for you at this time, it might be best to look into re-homing some of the fish. There may be another fish enthusiast in your area who would be thrilled to adopt some of yours or there may be a pet store that would be willing to take them on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:45:28.060" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:45:28.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="914" CreationDate="2014-04-10T21:25:13.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personal experience here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My elderly cat purrs about 95% of the time, even when he's sleeping. He has some controlled medical issues, but my vet has noticed the purring and never thought it was a problem. Today my vet commented that he'd like to put a video of my ever-purring cat on youtube. At this point, I've not been told that constant purring is a bad thing (except when you're trying to sleep or listen for the cat's heart!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="836" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T21:25:13.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2874" CreationDate="2014-04-10T21:25:41.937" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The big things that are checked in regular checkups for cats are checking for parasites, checking the teeth, listening to the heart, your cat's eyes, and checking for bumps. Cats aren't necessarily healthier animals than others, even humans, and unfortunately, this myth is a very common one. The same reason YOU should go in for regular checkups with your doctor are the same reasons your cat should go into the veterinarian for regular check ups. Check ups allow issues with your cat to be potentially caught in earlier stages, where the symptoms may not be as obvious for a pet owner as for a veterinarian. With any disease or health issue, the sooner you can catch it, the easier, less expensive, and more able to treat it typically is. In addition, I would honestly be surprised if all of your cat's vaccinations lasted more than a year. And yes, you're correct, regular check ups should be done about twice a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few links to look over regarding regular check ups for cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.purina.co.uk/content/your-cat/your-new-cat/responsible-cat-ownership/the-importance-of-regular-vet-check-ups-for-cats&quot;&gt;http://www.purina.co.uk/content/your-cat/your-new-cat/responsible-cat-ownership/the-importance-of-regular-vet-check-ups-for-cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/03/10/how-often-should-your-cat-visit-the-vet.aspx&quot;&gt;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/03/10/how-often-should-your-cat-visit-the-vet.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catdoctor.com/dr.-mcfarland-s-information-center/why-indoor-cats-need-annual-checkups.html&quot;&gt;http://www.catdoctor.com/dr.-mcfarland-s-information-center/why-indoor-cats-need-annual-checkups.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="943" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T21:25:41.937" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2874" CreationDate="2014-04-10T21:44:00.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be a regional thing. Also, the answers and comments you linked to don't specifically mention a time period, so what is meant by &quot;regular&quot; is somewhat open to interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my area, it's typical to take your cat for a &quot;regular&quot; check-up annually. At this appointment, vaccines will be renewed as appropriate. The cat will be weighed to ensure that an undue amount of weight has not been gained or lost (which could be an indication of an underlying health problem). Temperature and heartbeat will also be checked. The vet usually also looks inside the ears and mouth to make sure nothing seems amiss there. Again, what is typical at these appointments may vary by region (or even from one vet to the next).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly, I would advise taking your cat to the vet if you think something is wrong. But sometimes a vet may catch something at a routine check-up that you might not otherwise have noticed. (It wasn't until the vet looked inside my cat's ears that we noticed that her skin had changed hue and she was actually jaundiced!) While it's true that many health issues will manifest in ways that are obvious to the owner or casual observer eventually, it's often beneficial if these things can be caught earlier rather than later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, regular check-ups mean that the vet has a useful baseline for your cat should an issue arise. This means that they know not just what's typical for cats in general, but what's typical for this specific cat which can be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T21:44:00.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1944" CreationDate="2014-04-10T22:48:37.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen both these behaviors in two cats (one of whom later I owned).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maggie had a nervous stomach which was easily irritated by her eating too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sputnick loved the taste of regurgitated cat food (&quot;its warm and prechewed!&quot;) to the point that he would try to push her out of the way when she was puking the stuff up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution was to feed Maggie slower (when I had her she didn't puke up as often because I would feed her in smaller amounts (albeit more frequently) so her stomach wouldn't get irritated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their owner at the time liked what Sputnick did because he'd clean up the puke better than any human could.  He died young and later their original owner moved to another country so I took in Maggie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T22:48:37.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="277" CreationDate="2014-04-10T22:50:27.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lots of plants and keep them all behind closed doors so none of my cats can eat them.  I do this for the benefit of the cats much more so than the plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T22:50:27.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2855" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:00:14.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one Maine Coon but she does not do this behavior.  I do have a shorthair black female polydactyl who does.  Its a habit that isn't ultra common but isn't terribly rare either.  Another black shorthair I had also did it.  I don't think it is breed or coat specific.  It is just an example of play and / or the way some cats like to drink.  It's like pawing at food, dunking objects into the water dish... some cats like to do this but most don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:00:14.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:05:00.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an agreement / elaboration on the other people who said it is &quot;noisy&quot; (ratchet freak, Jenothy, symbol)... cats have a more sensitive sense of hearing then we do.  Can you hear someone pop the plastic reaseal lid on a can of cat food when one floor up or down (probably not)?  A vacuum to them is like a jet engine to us.  In general most (not all) cats can't stand it.  The ones who do put up with it are usually (not always) older cats who have sustained hearing loss due to the aging process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:05:00.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2872" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:09:37.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a spider web in that corner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be (as you say) some weird pseudo reflex kind of thing... or it could be she actually does pick something up.  My Manx likes corners and will chew on spiderwebs if she finds them, sometimes she will also sneeze if one gets on her nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch carefully to see when it happens and check out where it happens yourself.  Also mention it to your vet the next time you take her in for a checkup.  You've already checked for mouth problems (a smart move) and it seems highly unlikely that this is a real problem, but it can't hurt to watch it and or mention it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:09:37.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:17:17.540" Score="7" ViewCount="7911" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats (the one who needs to be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/16/31&quot;&gt;discouraged from biting&lt;/a&gt;, in fact) has, in the last few days, started licking papers that he finds around the house (mostly on my desk).  He last saw the vet two months ago and all was in order then, and I haven't observed any other behavior changes or suspicious symptoms.  We've made no (known) changes in his environment (indoor cat) or diet.  He has toys to chew and otherwise play with (that he likes), and I try to make sure he gets enough interactive play time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1379/31&quot;&gt;chewing on&lt;/a&gt; the paper, just licking it.  He seems to prefer photocopies and laser-printed pages to other sorts, and has shown no interest in newsprint, magazines, or books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might be prompting this new behavior?  Or is it just that cats are weird sometimes and he's just going through a phase -- spring is in the air, or something like that?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: six months later he still does this (and I stop him when I see him doing it), so it wasn't just something seasonal.  He's been to the vet since I asked this question and the vet found no problems in his mouth or his bloodwork.  It is possible that he only does this when I'm around (I wouldn't know, not having a cat-cam); I now wonder if it's a weird way of demanding attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Male, neutered, indoor-only, estimated age 6-7.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:20:36.647" Title="My cat has started licking paper; what does this mean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:20:42.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly disagree with the theory that cats are reacting to trace animal fats on the plastics.  My personal theory is that (the cats who do this) are mistaking the plastics for fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you looked at a molecular structure of most fats you'd find that most of the molecule is a chain hydrocarbon.  Things like polyethylene are the same way and shorter fragments (oligomers) would possibly show up to a cats smell / taste as fats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem with the animal fats theory is multiple:&#xA;1) I think most plastics are manufactured without any animal fats.  For instance, mold release agents like magnesium stearate (the stearate portion could be animal fat derived or not) are not always used, bio-degradable plastics are a relatively small fraction of the plastics made (and typically they use something like corn starch, not animal fat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I've seen cats do this reaction to well worn products.  Thus even if magnesium stearate were used its residues should be on the surface and would have long ago been removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I typically see cats react to plastics that could conceptually be &quot;misinterpreted&quot; by a chemical sensor (taste bud, smell nerve) as a fat.  They seem to react more to things like polyetheylene, polypropylene which would present hydrocarbon chain ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:20:42.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:46:46.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;White office paper contains small particles of synthetic rubber in it.  It could be that he &quot;smells&quot; this as fat.  I knew a cat named Sputnick who was fond of licking plastic and rubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it could be a texture fascination of his.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it could be a symptom of pica.  On that you could take him to the vet and see if they can find any evidence of pica or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try to keep him from doing that, paper is not a food item and some of the chemicals in it might not be the best for him to be licking up.  It isn't as bad as lapping up coffee but I think it should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:46:46.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2874" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:53:44.543" Score="-6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only time I would take a cat to the vet are the following:&#xA;Initial Shots,&#xA;Neutering, and&#xA;Serious injury/illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that's it. Otherwise you're wasting your time or in my opinion, wasting money you could donate to help feed human children. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a dog owner. I took my dog to get his shots... done. He was already neutered. Next time he goes to the vet he will have to be bleeding and even though I love my dog there is a price limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to answer your question, the vet is running a business; they will work on your pet even if there is little chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1153" LastEditorUserId="1153" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T00:08:12.367" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T00:08:12.367" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2872" CreationDate="2014-04-10T23:58:32.390" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat that sneezes a lot, there are many reasons why a cat might sneeze including various viruses and dental issues. However, your cat is sneezing under a specific condition, which is basically a cheek rub with sufficient pressure against a hard, angled, surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The underlying cause of this can, in fact, be dental even if you can't see it. In fact, it's unlikely you would see it, most dental issues in cats will happen &lt;em&gt;below the gum line&lt;/em&gt;. An abscessed tooth or other dental problem that is bothering her, thus causing her to rub it to relieve it, could very easily cause the sneezing to happen. Consider that we too will rub sore areas as a means of relieving the ache, this is activity, specifically to that cheek, seems similar in nature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, examination of the teeth in this circumstance requires putting her under and, if there is an issue, then removal would probably be required to stop the sneezing and, more importantly, ease the pain. Cats are extremely capable of hiding pain, so don't assume that what appears to be contented behaviour means that she isn't in discomfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd have a vet check it out, if it is a dental problem, then it's not going to get better, it will probably get worse as it has with one of our cats. Veterinary medicine being a little less exact than human medicine had decided our cat's sneezes were viral... she now faces a possible full edentation (teeth removal) as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-10T23:58:32.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2854" CreationDate="2014-04-11T05:50:45.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;She almost certainly has problems with her teeth and needs a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may not be serious, but immediate action needs to be taken. Action now can save further problems (and costs) later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This shows some other symptoms of dental problems in cats: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catchannel.com/magazines/catfancy/february-2012/signs-of-oral-pain.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catchannel.com/magazines/catfancy/february-2012/signs-of-oral-pain.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats will need some dental work in their life, so if she's above 5 years old then this adds even more weight to the argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1154" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T05:50:45.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2855" CreationDate="2014-04-11T08:45:02.320" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since we can't know what moves inside a cat's head, it will all be a theory only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And theories there is, several of them. Actually the proper word should be 'speculation'. I believe there is no right answer to this question, and quite possibly there isn't ONE correct explanation either. However, let's try a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cat has its ancestry in the wild cats who needed to find their drinks from little pools of water covered with fallen leaves and whatnot. &lt;strong&gt;Clearing the water of debris&lt;/strong&gt; gives the cat a water surface that is open to drink from. This would be a case of cat's instincts and there's nothing we can do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A water bowl at home should have clean clear water in it. Finding the actual surface of the still standing water is a challenge best defeated by using a paw to find the plane where air and water meet. One could speculate that it is &lt;strong&gt;undesirable to dip your nose&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinarium&quot;&gt;rhinarium&lt;/a&gt;) into water, so the exact level of water surface is important to find. Some cats even check for ground level first, so scraping around the water bowl is needed to measure the distance between ground and water surface. Avoid water bowls made of glass or polished metal in order to help the cat see where water surface is.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digging in the water could indicate &lt;strong&gt;a smell in the water or bowl&lt;/strong&gt;. Chlorine or iron rust can give normal tap water a strong smell that we humans might notice or not. It is also quite possible that the bowl itself smells if washed with strong dish soap without proper thorough rinsing. Surprise; clear clean bottled water sold at grocery shops might have a smell in it too, only different from your tap water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If water is clean and the bowl does not smell, then there just might be &lt;strong&gt;a smell &lt;em&gt;under&lt;/em&gt; the water bowl.&lt;/strong&gt; Most of us keep a water bowl in the same spot all the time. Perhaps you don't see or smell anything there, but the floor under the bowl could be quite a mess. Check with a lamp that gives only UV-light.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When wild animals go to drink at a watering hole, they spend time first checking that the surrounding area is clear of any dangers. Drinking in the wild can be dangerous. A cat &quot;digging&quot; around its water bowl could indicate that the &lt;strong&gt;cat is not happy with the location&lt;/strong&gt; of the bowl. Try moving the bowl to a new spot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An internet search around the subject seems to support the thought that Maine coon cats really are prone to digging in and around their water bowl, but this breed is by no means the only one doing it, and also not all cats of this breed do it. I have one Maine coon too, and she does not fuss with water in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T08:45:02.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2893" CreationDate="2014-04-11T09:46:07.117" Score="7" ViewCount="1604" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time we come back home and we find rather disgusting hair-balls vomited by our Maine Coon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I read these are hair-balls and it might be normal that the cat vomits them. However I don't know if at some point I have to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat has to eliminate the hair-balls. &lt;em&gt;Is it normal to vomit them&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does an increase in frequency means that something else is wrong, like a change in the food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;What can I do to prevent these vomits?&lt;/em&gt; (annoying for the cat I assume)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T12:39:51.110" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T19:09:19.360" Title="My Maine Coon sometimes vomits hair-balls, should I be concerned?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-11T10:47:34.227" Score="7" ViewCount="2941" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently gave away our one year old Persian male cat after keeping it for 10 months. After 8 months of keeping our cat, my wife developed asthmatic symptoms, but since we gave the cat away my wife is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was it the cat or something else? Or is it possible to have such symptoms after 8 months of keeping cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And secondly, is there a possibility she will have same problem if we keep a dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1155" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T13:32:54.930" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T14:56:44.343" Title="Allergies to cats developing after six months?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-09T21:12:09.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2891" CreationDate="2014-04-11T12:10:18.720" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are things to do. Maine coons have long or semi-long hair and there's three layers of it. Regular grooming done by you helps a long way in reducing the amount of hair the cat swallows when it grooms itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat grooms itself anyway, so there will be hair swallowed even if you try to keep loose hair at minimum. However, small amounts of hair can travel through the cat's intestines, which is usually harmless, but may create another problem; blocked bowels. There is special food sold in pet stores, that you can mix in with the regular food, designed to help with keeping the cat's intestines free of hair blocks. The food contains high amount of fiber and it  works by increasing the volume of feces going through while making it softer as well. I have to say this special food is not my personal favourite, though it seems to work as designed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, we can't totally prevent a cat from swallowing hair. Swallowed hair is more safe to come out vomited than pooped. One way to help a cat vomit is to grow fresh grass for the cat to eat. Outdoors cats usually find enough vomitable stuff during their out time, but for indoors cats you should have a small growth of grass available, your cat will eat it as much or little as the cat likes. Pet stores usually sell both seeds and ready planted boxes that only need watering. I prefer buying seeds and growing the grass myself, for no other reason but for fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All's well then? What if your cat is losing a lot more hair than is normal? There could be a skin issue, or parasites inside or outside the cat, or a food allergy making your cat lose hair that ends up swallowed and then vomited. Losing hair is normal, but losing a lot of hair is a sign that the cat is not in full health. If unsure whether it is normal or not, you should take the cat to a vet for check-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="278" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T12:16:01.080" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T12:16:01.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2892" CreationDate="2014-04-11T12:55:40.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allergies to animals, particularly furry ones, can be across the board rather than species specific. Usually the source of this is dander in the fur and cats, dogs, rabbits, etc. will typically have this and so, yes, it's entirely possible that you'll have the same problem if you get a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allergy symptoms for someone may take a bit of time to develop and an allergy can come on at any time even if you previously had none. At any rate, getting an allergy test might be a good idea, just to confirm. If she does have animal allergies, there are some options for cats, such as a Devon Rex, that can work. My sister has very bad animal allergies and was able to keep a Devon Rex. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T12:55:40.250" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2896" CreationDate="2014-04-11T14:52:42.577" Score="4" ViewCount="1008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought an Emerald Swift, and want to add some live plants to his vivarium. What live plants are safe for me to put in there with him? He's an obligate carnivore, so I can't imagine that he'd really nibble on any of the plants, but are there some plants that I shouldn't put in with him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here he is looking grumpy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6fwZA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Emerald Swift&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T15:14:56.190" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T21:10:21.203" Title="What live plants are safe to plant in a vivarium with an Emerald Swift?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2014-04-11T16:26:06.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swifts are primarily insectivores, so they wont be nibbling on your plants. But as a practical consideration, swifts are both avid climbers and burrowers, so it would be quite challenging to find a live plant (and a substrate to contain it) that will hold up to the constant climbing and uprooting that the plant will experience in that smaller space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For climbing, I would provide some upturned slabs of rocks or bark, or pieces of driftwood or other branches that are wide enough to allow him to perch comfortably near the top.&#xA;For a substrate, I would stick to things like sterilized soil and fine grain sand or something like coconut fiber or reptile bark (what you have looks fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider also that, for an enclosed space like that, plants need soil that will need to be watered regularly. That will attract and harbor insects as well as mold and fungus which can thrive in that enclosed environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T16:26:06.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2739" CreationDate="2014-04-11T16:49:28.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a lot of it has to do with individual biology and mouth chemistry. Some dogs (and some cats and humans) have a naturally more acidic oral environment than others. Thus the same foods and residues on the teeth can be more problematic in these individuals than they would be in others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if your dog has any other oral problems (crooked or missing teeth or the like), this could create the opportunity for more plaque to build up. Or simply if the dog is a different breed; some mouth shapes may promote plaque accumulation more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating habits could also potentially play a role. Not just what the dog eats, but how it's eaten, when and how much water is ingested, when and how bones are chewed on, etc. I would say that mouth pH and dental layout/mouth shape are much more likely to play a role here than eating habits, but it still could be a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as improving the situation goes... it may just come down to a more intensive oral care regimen for this particular dog. I have seen some reports that very large kibble can have a beneficial effect on plaque build-up, but I have no direct experience with that. You could try giving him additional bones or dental chews, but you may also just need to clean his teeth more frequently than the other dogs'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T16:49:28.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2891" CreationDate="2014-04-11T16:50:12.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats in the wild spend their days moving though the jungle brush and the like which has a bushing action, removing excess hair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you see their hair all over your home, house cats don't receive the same level of environmental hair removal so they need to be brushed or they will consume more hair than they can sometimes accommodate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should brush a short hair cat at least once a week. A long haired cat at least twice a week. If you cat still has hairballs try brushing them more often or more thoroughly. I like to use this brush as it really pulls out the dead hair, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0040QS3PO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like this one on Amazon&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be gentle when using it. Some cats don't like the way it feels though, so you may have to find a different type of brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats gently cough up hair balls, some just make a bit of a wheezing sound, some actually vomit. Vomiting may be due to be a physiological quirk for the particular cat. It wouldn't hurt to have a vet take a look at your cat to ensure there is nothing else wrong. I had a couple of cats that would vomit rather than cough. The vets could find nothing wrong and both cats lived to be about 17.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-30T07:29:12.617" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T07:29:12.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-11T17:17:11.693" Score="11" ViewCount="14838" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've a male cat, just 5 month old, and I work for a software company so I leave him with my dad (parkinson's patient) everyday morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat senses that I'm going to work, he shows very high affection to me and my dad, and shows sadness and excessive purring (even comes to bathroom while I wash).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He and his parents (now dead) were domestic, and born and brought up at our own house. Since last month, my cat has been showing different mannerisms. After I leave for work he runs away from home after having food, and returns only when needed. Usually he might be waiting for me when comes back. And shows similar behaviours as shown at morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not seem to like eating from anywhere else, our house is large and equipped with enough things, there are few bushes and sufficient land area around the house, he have 3 litter boxes, he can have food at any time he wants it, and Dad is very caring toward him. Still he goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help appreciated, I'm very worried where he runs to, there are many stray dogs and traffic in those streets. I'm also concerned about his health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P. S : He is very less tempered and brought up along two adult cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastEditorUserId="1157" LastEditDate="2014-04-11T20:12:33.477" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T04:20:04.983" Title="Why does my cat run away everyday, and return every afternoon?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2899" CreationDate="2014-04-11T17:42:12.140" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats like to roam and explore. It is normal cat behavior and it does not mean he does not like you or your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are dangers that go with letting your cat run around outside. If you are worried keep your cat inside. Since he is already accustomed to being outside he may try sneak outside or cry or scratch at the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T17:42:12.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2914" CreationDate="2014-04-11T19:01:19.597" Score="6" ViewCount="11713" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I bought my bearded dragon I was under the assumption that it was an inland bearded dragon, but it's now about 6-7 months later and he hasn't grown very much at all. He's about 7 inches right now, and he was maybe 5 inches when I got him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inland dragons are supposed to reach their full length of 18-24 inches in their first year I thought. He was growing pretty quickly when I first got him, eating everyday. I expected him to be about a foot long by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part that's confusing me is that he's not showing any signs of illness. He has no trouble running around his terrarium (belly off the ground), he eats a lot when I feed him, and he defecates about once a day. But, he hasn't been shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's questionable where he came from exactly because I got him from a chain pet store. I can't imagine that he'd come from a specialist breeder, so there's a chance that he's the product of inbreeding I guess. I was looking up miniature bearded dragons and came across Rankin's bearded dragons, which are a different species that get only 12 inches in length when they're full grown. So I was wondering if it was possible I somehow ended up with one of those instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-03-03T15:43:03.813" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T15:43:03.813" Title="My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2899" CreationDate="2014-04-11T19:33:28.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of those things that depends on lots of factors.  Only one of which is how much the cat likes or dislikes your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're treating the cat nicely (and it sounds like you are, plus you are writing here which means you care- which implies you do take care of the cat), and there aren't horrible annoyances in the house (constant vacuuming or other strong noises, another creature that harrasses the cat) then I think we can conclude the cat likes the house (and you and your family).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other factors include the innate temperment of the cat, how the cat was brought up...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've owned four cats and one of them has had a STRONG desire to go outside (at least in the past, it is less these days).  All my other cats have little or no desire to go outside.  One of my cats is curious of the outside world but somewhat scared of it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly normal to have a cat that is hell bent on going outside even if it is being treated nicely, and has no real annoyances to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the idea of cats going outside to hunt or explore, but discourage the practice of it.  A cats lifespan is negatively impacted by the amount of time it spends outdoors.  It could pick up diseases, get run over by a car, get lost, get injured.  The number of cats that get hit by cars is truly frightening...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T19:33:28.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2892" CreationDate="2014-04-11T19:38:28.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main cause of the allergies is proteins in the saliva.  When the cat grooms themselves these are deposited on the fur, when the fur and dander are flying around you get exposed to these proteins too.  Some cats have a mutation where the proteins that people are allergic to are not in their saliva... this results in a cat that doesn't provoke allergies.  A shorter hair cat like a Devon Rex, a Sphinx... will have less surface area (less fur, &amp;amp; less cleaning of fur) and thus might not provoke the same intensity allergic response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to get shots.  The offending proteins are injected into the blood of the human with the allergy.  Typically the immune system learns these aren't a problem and the allergy goes away.  With asthma, given that it can be severe, I'd discuss that with your doctor first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="164" LastEditDate="2014-04-14T14:56:44.343" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T14:56:44.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2899" CreationDate="2014-04-11T20:53:37.673" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neutered cats may, or may not, consider it less important to go outside and examine/defend their territory. That depends in part on how old they were before being neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to watch out for is that trying to get out the door can become a game. You need to make very clear to the cat that it isn't one -- not by being especially nasty, but by responding exactly as you would if the cat jumped up onto a food surface or did something else you've forbidden it to do -- a firm &quot;no&quot;, grab the cat and toss it back inside, maybe a growl or hiss if you want to make yourself perfectly clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My cats don't try to sneak outside, but they do sometimes try to play the door game and sneak out onto the porch. They know they're supposed to wait for permission, and they usually do so ... but apparently they want to check every so often whether the rules have changed. I chastize them, they say &quot;oh, I got caught, sorry about that&quot;, and we're fine for another month.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely agree re keeping cats indoors if at all possible. It may require that you made some minor modifications to your windows, just as you would if you had a toddler who couldn't be trusted. In fact, childproofing products are often useful for keeping pets out of places they shouldn't be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-04-11T20:53:37.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2905" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-12T01:13:38.243" Score="2" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had my dog seven years and suddenly the day after having two teeth removed she begins this ritual where every time we come back to the house from a car trip she diverts from the normal direct path to go to this one area by a bush and start digging.  She digs with her paw ~10 times and then gives up and rejoins me or (rarely) lies down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before this began she never dug or tried to make a bed.  She has never expressed interest in lying outside before.  She seems perfectly happy doing this, not stressed or anxious, but she is clearly strongly compelled to do it, she will try to do it 100% of the time now when we come home from a car trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just curious if anyone knows how or why such behavior would become &quot;unlocked&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1159" LastActivityDate="2014-04-12T01:13:38.243" Title="Why did my dog suddenly begin this ritual of digging on her way back from a car ride?" Tags="&lt;digging&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2899" CreationDate="2014-04-12T04:03:53.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the answers seem right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the age of your cat, the fact that he/she is not likely fixed yet, and the personality of the cat as factors. It is hard to keep a cat in, especially when they are an escape artist, but it should be done as much as humanly possible. Here is why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do want to stress the life expectancy of an outdoor cat: 7 years vs. 17-25 years if kept indoors. This is because of the hazards for cats being outdoors and not being outdoors in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1160" LastActivityDate="2014-04-12T04:03:53.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2899" CreationDate="2014-04-12T05:51:44.777" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is probably doing this to show his disapproval of you leaving for work everyday. Cats don't like not having their way and will do anything to get what they want (including purring and showing &quot;affection&quot;). They are nature's con artists. He probably only comes back just because he knows there's easy food and shelter there. Dogs are much more loyal and tend not to do this sorts of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1161" LastActivityDate="2014-04-12T05:51:44.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2912" CreationDate="2014-04-13T11:56:17.230" Score="4" ViewCount="553" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trancing a rabbit (&lt;em&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1857&quot;&gt;How do I trance my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;) is used as a method for controlling the pet while doing some grooming to scent glands and toenails.  I have received some questions about possible, long term cumulative negative effects, and I am looking for answers that document long term negative impacts to the rabbit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T04:43:59.543" Title="Can trancing a rabbit have cumulative negative effects?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;trancing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2911" CreationDate="2014-04-13T15:32:01.700" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trancing is, for those unaware, the use of the natural fear state of prey animals to go into a near death-like state in order to convince predators that they are dead and should stop being attacked. This is called &lt;em&gt;tonic immobility&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;TI&lt;/em&gt; for short. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/11361/&quot;&gt;immediate side-effects&lt;/a&gt; of coming out of TI include things like increased respiration, heart rate, and plasma corticosterone (a steroid found in many animals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you consider that that basic situation is that the rabbit has been put into a state of extreme fear and that the response after release is to escape and hide which, after all, is the purpose of TI in the first place, then the significant impact would be to its trust in humans and its &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/health/tonic-immobility.html&quot;&gt;willingness to engage in their surroundings&lt;/a&gt;. The impact would only get worse the more frequently the rabbit is tranced and when tranced for long periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In effect, the long term negative is to make the rabbit generally regular feel fear and anxiety in an environment that they can't get out of. The health impacts of that can include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sudden death as a result of increased arterial hypertension, hypotension, and heart failure from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pathophysiologyjournal.com/article/S0928-4680%2899%2900007-3/abstract&quot;&gt;increased adrenaline&lt;/a&gt; in the system. Basically, the rabbit might not actually trance at some point, they might actually die. Essentially scared to death.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wildlifedisease.unbc.ca/exertional_myopathy.htm&quot;&gt;Exertional myopathy&lt;/a&gt; which is basically a muscle disease that can become acute through repeated stress and fear. There's &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of potential problems that can result as a consequence of that as the linked abstract discusses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Immediate injury as a result of escaping from the situation post trance. The rabbit is in fear, its reactions will not be normal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I would resort to trancing in only absolute necessity and avoid using it in a regular fashion if it all possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T15:32:01.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-13T15:40:37.327" Score="4" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a kid, I had many many guinea pigs. I loved them, they were cute, and fun, and relatively easy for me to take care of. I was considering getting another one now that I am an adult, and then I saw skinny pigs. From what I can tell, they are a lot like guinea pigs, but hairless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N7dqV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping that in mind - if I decide that this is the pet I want, is their care the same as the average guinea pig? The person at the pet shop said that it was, but I know sometimes that people at pet stores don't know everything about every animal, so I wanted to make sure I was best prepared before I took on a new pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have to do anything differently with a skinny pig than I would with a normal guinea pig?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T20:51:06.410" LastActivityDate="2020-10-11T07:13:06.737" Title="Is there anything special I have to do for a skinny pig?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;skinny-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2901" CreationDate="2014-04-13T20:40:28.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely that you ended up with a miniature bearded dragon. More likely your dragon has parasites, which are stunting its growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rankin's dragons (sometimes referred to as miniature bearded dragons) are less popular in the pet industry, so it's unlikely that you got one by accident. Although Rankin's dragons and Inland Bearded Dragons can interbreed, and it's possible that someone could have introduced a Rankin's dragon into their gene pool, I would probably discount it entirely unless you know you got your dragon from a breeder who keeps both species intermingled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way that you can tell if your dragon is a true Rankin's dragon, is that true Rankin's dragons don't have beards. You can tell if they have a beard by showing them a mirror, so that they think there is a rival bearded dragon next to them. Or by watching them while they're basking, as they will sometimes stretch their beard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other ways they differ are going to be less noticeable unless you have a direct comparison. Compared to a bearded dragon they have a more rounded head, and they are considered more social than inland bearded dragons, allowing or multiple females to be kept together (males should still be separated). They're also a bit more skittish than bearded dragons, but my opinion is that it's because they're not popularly kept as pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parasites on the other hand, can stunt a bearded dragon's growth. Bringing it to almost a standstill when they're young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, it's considered normal for bearded dragons to have low levels of Coccidia in them. They're a single-cell parasite that live in their stomachs. They don't cause any harm unless they reproduce too much, then they'll cause symptoms like diarrhea and dehydration. They pass through feces so keeping the cage clean will prevent them from spreading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parasite that I believe would be causing your bearded dragon's stunted growth is &lt;strong&gt;pinworms&lt;/strong&gt;. Pinworms like in the digestive tract and steal nutrients. Causing symptoms like a lack of appetite, weight loss, dehydration, and changes in stool (either diarrhea or lack of it altogether).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would advise a trip to a vet with experience with reptiles, along with a fecal sample, so that they can diagnose the cause for sure, and provide you with the correct dosage of anti-parasitic medicine. Along with some high-nutrition food to help supplement his diet for the next few days to get his strength back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only advice I can give for avoiding parasites like pinworms in the future is to keep his cage clean, and avoid contact with other reptiles that might be infected. I've had problems with buying crickets from local pet stores, so I've taken to ordering from stores online. It ends up being cheaper than from the store anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things to keep an eye on that might be causing your bearded dragon to not be growing are the heat and light parameters of their enclosure. As reptiles they need to have the proper temperatures of 80 degrees fahrenheit, with a 100 degree fahrenheit basking area. And a UVB light to help them digest their food. UVB lights will also stop producing UVB rays before the light actually goes out. So be sure to replace them on a schedule of about every 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-03-03T15:36:36.673" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T15:36:36.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2895" CreationDate="2014-04-13T21:05:06.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ficuses and Bromiliads make good live plants for them, I would avoid ivy plants because there are too many conflicting reports about which species are safe or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative I've employed is a jungle vine with some fake ivy (to make it more realistic). The downside is that you lose the added humidty from live plants, so you might have to mist it more often (oh no), but the jungle vine is bendable so you can make it into any branch-like structure that you want. Your swift can then climb around on the vines, and the leaves give him cover to make him feel safe. Just be sure to add a reptile hammock, or piece of bark somewhere in the middle so that your swift can lay and bask all sprawled out if he wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how the vines and leaves look when used with a chameleon setup (how they're commonly used):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zxZuk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Chameleon on vines&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/jungle_vines.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/jungle_vines.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/jungle_vines.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/hanging_rainforest_plants.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/hanging_rainforest_plants.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-13T21:10:21.203" LastActivityDate="2014-04-13T21:10:21.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2937" CreationDate="2014-04-13T21:31:03.027" Score="7" ViewCount="14182" Body="&lt;p&gt;When both of my cats sleep they start to twitch, all over their bodies. their paws/toes, ears, whiskers, tail, even their sides will all twitch as they sleep. It's cute because it looks like they're dreaming about catching a mouse or something, but it seems detrimental for actually getting rest. They don't do it all the time while they're asleep. More so when they first fall asleep, then off and on while they continue to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's normal for humans to move around in there sleep, rolling over to a more comfortable position and things like that. But this seems almost too violent of movements to be constructive to getting a good night's sleep. So why do they do this? Are they dreaming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T20:38:55.100" Title="Why do my cats twitch when they're sleeping?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-14T00:26:18.397" Score="4" ViewCount="5634" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my neighbors (not sure which one) has a cat that keeps defecating in my yard, I keep finding remnants every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While amusing, I don't have time to build the motion activated scare machines depicted in these videos  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbkLjjlMV8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to stop cats pissing on your car&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goZ2DqMnaGc&amp;amp;feature=share&amp;amp;list=UUmCkcCtmrBu5CfFi8LFFcVA&amp;amp;index=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to stop cats forever&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, commercial, and home made scented products seem to have mixed reviews:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001ACRPMI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shake away&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002Y2TKS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;liquid fence&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thriftyfun.com/Homemade-Cat-Repellents.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;citrus sent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, it seems that using a low voltage electric fence to deter cats and dogs is not allowed in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What cat deterrents actually work? Are there other ways to keep a cat from defecating all over my yard?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2132/how-can-i-keep-my-neighbors-dogs-out-of-my-yard&quot;&gt;How can I keep my neighbor&amp;#39;s dogs out of my yard?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:54:13.080" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:54:13.080" Title="How do I keep my neighbor's cat from defecating in my yard?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2917" CreationDate="2014-04-14T01:56:56.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the quickest thing that comes to mind is the possibility of using a litter attractant at your property line. Basically, these are designed to attract cats to use litter boxes rather than undesirable locations, but you could look at that as an option for encouraging the cat onto his own property. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this stuff isn't specifically intended for outdoor usage, so rain and other weather probably means a more frequent application, but if you know that you're in for a dry spell, then it might be worth a shot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also put out a sheltered litter box and use the attractant in it. While it would still mean cleaning it up, at least it would be in a controlled location and less likely to be discovered through more unpleasant means...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T01:56:56.553" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2920" CreationDate="2014-04-14T01:58:13.010" Score="22" ViewCount="35818" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see people out walking their dog to get them exercise and fresh air. However, I have never noticed someone taking their cat for a walk, although I have seen cat &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007KAZ166&quot;&gt;harnesses&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0018CG3VE&quot;&gt;leashes&lt;/a&gt; for outdoor activities with felines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it less common for cats to be taken outside for walks? Don't they need exercise and fresh air, too, (especially when they're young and hyper and active) or do they get enough indoor play-time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastEditorUserId="781" LastEditDate="2014-04-14T21:42:04.767" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:26:37.607" Title="Why is it not common for cats to be taken for walks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T02:25:44.493" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a leash and harness with my cats to let them outside, but I don't take them for a walk as I would with a dog. It's more letting them explore around the yard as much as they want, but controlling how far they go, and when they come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're not interested in walking around the block because they don't really like meeting strangers outside of the house, as they're already nervous from leaving the known safety of the house. I also don't want to take them outside of the yard because I don't want to have to deal with finding out what happens if they meet a dog. They've already had some bad experiences with dogs, so I'd rather keep them away as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only types of cats that really do enjoy walking around the block are cats that are still relatively wild, like Bengals and Servals. They still have strong instincts to patrol/mark a broader territory than normal housecats, along with having higher amounts of energy. Servals are rarely seen as pets due to the legal restrictions on them, and Bengals are generally kept by owners who care more about how they look than how happy they are, so the chances of you happening across an owner walking their cat is almost none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I like to take my cats outside to explore is for the fresh air, really. It's mental stimulation, the same reasons people want to get out of the house: it gets boring after so long. It's just nice to see something different every once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, it's a bit of exercise for them too, but it's not the only way they can get exercise. They are smaller than most dogs, meaning they have more room to run around without knocking into things (most of the time). But really the main difference is that they can climb. I have a 6 foot tall cat tree that my cats can climb up and down, which gives them vertical space to exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T17:40:16.627" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T17:40:16.627" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T10:12:42.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't see people walking cats because dogs run away...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats and dogs need to go outside.&#xA;Cats can simply be let out; they come back by themseves. They rarely cause or get in trouble.&#xA;Dogs needs to be walked to make sure they come back and don't get in trouble while out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1169" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T10:12:42.770" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T10:34:14.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disagreeing with the other answers I would like to share what I have always assumed to be the case: Most cats, like dogs, like to explore their surroundings. Some cats like to stay at home, and keep inside, but those are exceptions. The big difference is that cats are not (that) aggressive naturally, nor are people afraid of cats or worry a lot about their excrements. Although it is perfectly doable to teach a dog to behave in a manner which would allow him to be leashless, the reaction this would solicit from people in the neighborhood would be extremely negative, which is reasonable as it's hard to know whether a 'random' dog has been trained well. Lastly I would like to point out that dogs do not run away, when you go to the woods it's perfectly normal to put the leash of the dog and let the dog run wild and unlike cats the dog will return the second when called. So if anything by that argument it should be cats which require leashes, not dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1170" LastEditorUserId="1170" LastEditDate="2014-04-14T11:15:07.663" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T11:15:07.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T13:11:28.190" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the simplest answer is that (a) dogs are more likely to be actively aggressive toward other pets and livestock, and toward humans, and (b) more people feel threatened by a dog than by a cat, so (c) it's considered more necessary to keep dogs under control and (d) leash laws get written for dogs but not cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, being pack animals, also care more about having another member of their pack with them; cats, given their choice are more likely to explore alone. In fact I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; walked cats/walked with cats (it's unclear who was accompanying who) at times, usually off-leash. And when travelling with a cat I have sometimes used a light leash, but that's more to reassure both the cat and me and to tell everyone else who we belong to than because I expect it to be needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In rural areas, I suspect dogs and outdoor cats are allowed nearly equal freedom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other factor, of course, is that dogs &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to be let outside. Cats, who have an instinct to bury their waste when they aren't the alpha in their area, are much more willing to use litterboxes -- one of humanity's greatest inventions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T13:11:28.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T15:23:46.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this comes from the basic difference between cats and dogs - the former being predominantly solitary animals, and the latter being pack animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild dogs living in a pack are regularly led on 'walks' by the alpha dog. In the wild this is obviously for practical reasons like looking for food. The pack leader starts walking and the others follow because of their place in the pack. This makes the idea of following a more dominant leader very natural for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although there are some cat species that live in a pack, most live more solitary lives. Therefore, an individual cat will go and explore their environment whenever it chooses, not following the lead of a more dominant cat. For this reason they are not naturally prone to following the lead of a human going for a walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1174" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T15:23:46.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T15:34:32.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are with people for much-much longer than cats, and they need directions almost all the time in tough/unfamiliar etc. situations. A leash is the perfect way to communicate with the dog when walking. Cats are more independent and don't need that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, you can train a pet to do anything (within limits). Think about Shepherd dogs who take care of the livestock practically without any directions from humans... but those are not in a megalopolis environment. On the funny side: my cat was raised by a Yorkie terrier, and she fetches toys still, even he passed few years back. Now we have a Scottie which I take for a walk regularly. The cat also takes morning walk with us!!! Although she's hiding in the bushes, tracking us all around the block, sometimes jumping out and back into hiding, playing hunter/prey I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1175" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:26:37.607" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:26:37.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T18:17:19.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a cat and have a harness and a leash for him, he enjoys being outside and running around without the harness.  Even with the harness and leash attached and hooked up to somewhere with the purpose of restricting the area he has to explore, he'll still walk around and enjoy it.  However, as soon as I grab the leash and try to take him for a walk he gives up and lays down and refuses to be led by the leash. The only way he would walk around while I was holding the leash is if the leash had lots of slack and he was leading in whatever direction he wanted to go in.  I've seen other peoples cats do the same thing as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1177" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T18:17:19.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-14T18:21:52.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have walked my cats before.  Had one who loved to go for a walk and walked very well.  Loved to stop and sniff the bejeebers out of every bush and shrubbery.  Same cat used to love going on car rides.. would either sit on my lap and stare out the window (got plenty of odd looks as I drove around) or would sit on the back window ledge and stare outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live out in the country and would love to let my cats outside, but there are fishers in the area and they prey on kitties... so I keep them in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1178" LastActivityDate="2014-04-14T18:21:52.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2545" CreationDate="2014-04-15T02:48:41.887" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any great answers, but since no-one else has chimed in...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't ever ringed our (farm) pigs: we let them dig things up and then move them. How much they root seems to be somewhat of an individual thing (maybe partly a learned thing?). We had one batch of piglets which did much less rooting around. And we know people who raise Large Blacks, who say that they are great on pasture because they don't root unless there are no plants above-ground for them to forage on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd say it's not particularly cruel. Pigs, in my experience, are pretty...mellow? Philosophical? They take life as it comes. I would bet that they don't waste much time being upset about it and simply find other ways to keep busy, even if it's just horsing around with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1186" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T02:48:41.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="919" CreationDate="2014-04-15T04:05:01.237" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a variety of factors that influence this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The size and breed of dog will have an impact on how much of a toxic substance a dog needs to ingest before the effects become visible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In many cases, whether or not the toxin is ingested on an empty stomach will also be significant. (So, a small amount of a toxin present in a large quantity of food will usually pose less of a threat than the same amount of toxin ingested alone.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequency of exposure can also play a big role. Many toxic compounds will stay in the system for some time before they are broken down and/or passed. Others will cause damage that may not be immediately symptomatic but can become so if the body is not given time to repair itself between exposures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chocolate/cocoa, it looks like 1.3g/kg of baker's chocolate will generally cause symptoms. (eg. a dog weighing 10kg would need to ingest at least 13g of baker's chocolate for symptoms to present.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For grapes and raisins, even 10g/kg can be problematic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For onions, 15g/kg is enough for some dogs to show signs of the toxin. (The amount for cats is even less: 5g/kg.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, since you specifically asked about pizza crusts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All forms of onion can be a problem including: dehydrated, raw or&#xA;  cooked onions, table scraps containing cooked onions or garlic,&#xA;  left over pizzas, chinese dishes, any feeding stuff containing onions.&#xA;   - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/&quot;&gt;Some Food Toxic to Pets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quantity of macadamia nuts required to cause symptoms seems to vary widely. Apparently as little as 2.4g/kg can be enough to induce symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T04:05:01.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2014-04-15T14:56:21.227" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as the general lifecycle of a gecko goes, it's quite simple. The gecko starts as an egg, hatches into a young gecko, becomes an adult, and makes more eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IcVa6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Gecko Lifecycle&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cafepress.com/+illustration_of_life_cycle_of_a_gecko_from_egg_to_poster,837028494&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos breed all throughout January-September, and can even store the sperm for later, until they feel they're in the right conditions to lay eggs. Like most reptiles, they prefer muggy (warm and damp) soil to lay their eggs in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The clutch of eggs is usually comprised of two eggs, though a single egg clutch isn't unheard of, and they can generally lay up to 5 clutches each season as it only takes about 2 months for the eggs to incubate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also similar to most reptiles, is how the gecko's sex is decided. If the eggs are incubated at around 80 degree fahrenheit, the hatchlings will be more likely to be females. If the eggs are incubated at 90 degrees fahrenheit, the hatchlings will be more likely to be males. Incubating the eggs at a temperature in between will give a mix of both sexes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the geckos have hatched, they survive off of the egg yolk for the first few days. Until their first shed, at which point they'll survive another day after eating their shed skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, the geckos are ready to start hunting insects. Their only real goal for the 15-20 months until their mature adults is to grow in size. They're about 3-4 inches when they hatch, and reach 8-10 inches when grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After they're matured, leopard geckos jump right into the mating scene. Males begin to seduce females by licking and nipping at them. If the female likes it, she'll respond by lifting her tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This of course, brings us back to the beginning of the circle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lifespan of wild leopard geckos isn't really well documented. Their lifespan is thought to be about 20 years, similar to it's lifespan in captivity, though their are many external factors that can come into effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, it's unlikely that female leopard geckos in the wild will reach a stage of menopause. Not only are they likely to get eaten by a predator rather than dying of old age, but the act of laying eggs is very stressful in itself. It takes a lot of energy from the gecko, as it's passing so many nutrients into the egg(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been documented by leopard gecko breeders that laying eggs shortens a female leopard gecko's lifespan (The same holds true with many reptile species).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, many leopard gecko breeders (along with breeders of other species) only breed their females lightly. Having them only lay one or two clutches a year, and retiring them from their breeding rotation much sooner than you would probably find in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this treatment, it's hard to say if even captive leopard geckos reach a stage in their life that's comparable to menopause. I don't really want to say that they don't, because while they can lay eggs up until they die, if they're in that situation it's likely that they died earlier than what could be considered a normal lifespan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I don't want to say that the do either, because there's really nothing that shows that they do. Some people will say that they go into menopause after 5-6 seasons of egg laying, but I've seen them bred for longer, so I attribute that to overbreeding and/or breeding out of their season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources for more information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/assets/uploads/animals/pdf/LeopardGecko.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/assets/uploads/animals/pdf/LeopardGecko.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Leopardgecko.cfm?pagewanted=all&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Leopardgecko.cfm?pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Eublepharis_macularius/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Eublepharis_macularius/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T14:56:21.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2931" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-15T16:54:12.337" Score="10" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched for pet blood donation online and found there are several organizations.  I don't have any numbers, put there are potentially hundreds in the USA.  Looking at few sites, it appears there is no 'standard', this claim by one organization &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abrint.net/&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The only veterinary blood bank licensed by the USDA and the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture. We are inspected and approved for shipping by the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; implies there are significant differences in quality across the available organizations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if I was considering allowing my pet to be a blood donor, what should I look for or consider before allowing them to participate?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have more than one emergency vet to choose from, what kind of questions should I ask about the source of their blood supply, while doing my pre-emergency research? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:50:15.313" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T21:36:19.273" Title="What should I consider before allowing my pet to be a blood donor?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2934" CreationDate="2014-04-15T20:04:50.853" Score="6" ViewCount="18219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been living with several cats for many years. All of them are lovely and good natured. But I observed some very interesting thing; two of them really change their behavior during the full-moon phase. All routine behaviours change, they start to fight with each other, and start to scream insanely all day long, without any reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any studies, or has there been research done about this weird and interesting circumstance? Is there a link between the full-moon, cats, and the term &quot;lunatic&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1195" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-12T19:44:23.850" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T02:38:05.503" Title="Why do some cat's behaviors change when there's a full-moon?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2913" CreationDate="2014-04-15T20:07:03.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I know is that their skin is delicate, so normal sawdust or straw can hurt them (scratches and stitches). For my bald rats, I used toilet paper, fleece blankets and towels instead. You also need to find a way to present them with lots of hay like 'normal' guinea pigs but in a way that they can't scratch themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the skin is dirty and the skinny pig fails to clean itself, you can take a wet and warm q-tip to clean it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1196" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-15T20:22:16.360" LastActivityDate="2014-04-15T20:22:16.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2932" CreationDate="2014-04-16T00:17:27.780" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't noticed any behaviour like this, but I have heard of the stories about how veterinarians and doctors see more patients on/after a full moon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been tons of studies on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect&quot;&gt;lunar effect&lt;/a&gt; (and it's funny that you use the term &quot;lunatic&quot; as the word &quot;Luna&quot; is Latin for moon), but I don't think there's ever been any reliable studies done that's shown any evidence that the moon has any effect on people's (or in this case, animal's) behaviour. My opinion is that it's an old wive's tale that's evolved over the years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to remember that everything we know now to be true, is something we've learned through science. Learned, meaning we didn't know it before. And the sun and moon have always been an integral part of our lives and culture from the beginning. Starting as our gods, then becoming creations of our gods, you can find references to them everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the process of finding answers to things we didn't know, hypothesis were made. For example, before we knew that hypertrichosis (werewolf syndrome) was a genetic mutation and that it was just a normal person with abnormal hair growth, someone who saw a person with hypertrichosis would during the middle ages would come up with a way of rationalizing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Werewolves were born from this, as people with hypertrichosis at the time would travel with circus shows at the outskirts of the cities. Meaning anyone in the city who saw them, would be at the show, or at the edge of town in the evenings/night. Not knowing any better, people rationalized it as someone who only turned into a wolfman at night, and what's different between night and day? Tada! The moon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays we might know more about a lot of things, but psychology is a recent science that is still very young. Evolved from philosophy in the 1700-1800s people are only just learning about human behaviour, and how the mind works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where some of the myths start to come into play. A popular one was that the full moon causes seizures. Part of this stems from the age-old belief in vampires, and some of it from our lack of knowledge of psychology at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thought was that since we know the moon controls the tides, and we know the human body is comprised of water, then the moon must be able to affect both things right? This thought has evolved to explain many other things. Why are there suddenly so many people making trips to the emergency on a night with a fool moon? Must be the water in the bodies being affected by the moon's gravity. It makes sense as long as you don't think about it too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's think about it. How do the tides work? It's true, that the moon's gravity pulls on the water in the ocean, causing it to rise while it's overhead, then the water recedes as the moon orbits around to the other side of the earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But can the moon's gravity affect the water in our bodies? It's safe to say that it doesn't. If the moon could affect the water in something as small in comparison, then in theory, we should be able to see changes in smaller bodies of water as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to be fair, we have recorded changes in rivers, lakes, and streams, based on the moon's gravity affecting them similar to the ocean. But, the measurements are minuscule. Even the Great Lakes in the U.S. (the largest group of lakes in the world) are effected more by the wind than by the moon. They're considered non-tidal as their &quot;tides&quot; are around 2 inches in height. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gltides.html&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that everything exerts the same gravitational pull like the moon does, it's just that nothing is large enough for us to really feel it's effects over the pull that's keeping us on the ground. But, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/7899-moon-myths-truth-lunar-effects.html&quot;&gt;this article by LiveScience&lt;/a&gt;, the gravitational pull a child feels while being held by it's mother, is 12 million times more than what it feels from the moon - Simply by proximity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, considering tides are affected two times every day, by that standpoint it should be considered that if the water in our bodies were affected by the moon, then it should be affected twice every day with the tides, not only on a full moon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there was a study done by Colorado State university that did show that veterinarians did receive more patients around a full moon (a similar study with doctors showed no difference), but it's important to note that correlation does not equal causation. In other words, just because there are more visits to a veterinarian around a full moon doesn't mean that it's because of the full moon. An alternative hypothesis I believe is more likely, is that people are morel likely to be out at night during a full moon, because of the extra light it provides. More people, means higher chances of accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T00:17:27.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2769" CreationDate="2014-04-16T07:40:57.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question and there are many points to address. Implied is the question &quot;Is a life spent in a cage outdoors, worse than death?&quot; Lets look at some the variables and see if we can reach any conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, how long does a pet rabbit live? &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/easter/flyer/childstory.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbits live an average of 10 years&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much space does a rabbit need? More than is in even the most extravagant outdoor hutch &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;See related question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What impacts do weather changes have on a pet rabbit? Temperatures above 85F (29C) are potentially fatal and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2800&quot;&gt;need to be addressed.&lt;/a&gt; Temperatures at or below freezing are problematic and can only be addressed by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2790&quot;&gt;moving the rabbit inside&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens if the rabbit escapes from the enclosure? &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/easter/flyer/food-not-free.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A loose rabbit is not 'Free' it is 'Food'&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are rabbits happy in an outdoor hutch? &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/easter/flyer/MythFlyer2003.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This popular myth 4, and the answer is no&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion. each person must make their own choice for what is in the best interest of the bunny in their care. The references supplied will provided further information for you to make an informed decision. Rabbits fill two roles in modern society, as food and as companion animals.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/living-with-a-house-rabbit-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Companion animals&lt;/a&gt; are most kindly treated if the can live in doors with you as their friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some case references are supplied by posters which you are encouraged by &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/easter/flyer/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rabbit.org to share&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T07:40:57.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2946" CreationDate="2014-04-16T08:13:10.303" Score="4" ViewCount="1840" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chewing can be a very rewarding activity for dogs and it also provides mental stimulation and helps clean their teeth. So I'm planning to give a bone to my dog from time to time, to keep him busy, but what is the better choice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/659/are-chicken-bones-dangerous-for-dogs&quot;&gt;Are chicken bones dangerous for dogs?&lt;/a&gt; where &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/660/469&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; discusses the dangers of &lt;strong&gt;cooked bones&lt;/strong&gt;. So cooked bones are out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That leaves two choices: &lt;strong&gt;rawhide bones&lt;/strong&gt; or natural &lt;strong&gt;raw bones&lt;/strong&gt;. We can also distinguish between the &lt;em&gt;regular rawhide bones&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dog-bones.com/pressed_rawhide_bones.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pressed rawhide bones&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can they be dangerous for the dog? Is one choice better than the other one? Should I avoid bones altogether and use rubber chew toys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T21:52:24.457" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T21:52:24.457" Title="Are rawhide bones or natural raw bones potentially dangerous for a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2916" CreationDate="2014-04-16T16:34:58.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myoclonus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Myoclonus&lt;/a&gt; these twitches are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions or from brief lapses of contraction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not considered problematic unless it results in an inability to fall asleep. Or unless they are symptom of a related illness.  For the most part, it is just a twitch as one is falling asleep, you have probably had them yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not usually &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_ct_myoclonus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;problematic in cats&lt;/a&gt;, but if you have concerns you should contact your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T16:34:58.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2942" CreationDate="2014-04-16T17:05:19.400" Score="9" ViewCount="659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I and my wife are adopting our room mate's dogs, but they &quot;insist&quot; on sleeping in the bed with us because that is how they lived with my room mate.  This would not be much of a problem if I could sleep okay with them.  However, one of the dogs moves around a lot if I move, which wakes up frequently through the night.  They also get fur in the bed.  It causes me serious problems (e.g. dizziness, poor work performance, dangerous driving, etc...) if I am not able to sleep / sleep well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things we have considered:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we leave them out in another room, they whine and try to break down the gates to come see us, which also keeps us up.  My wife also won't stand for this solution because she does not want to see them upset (and I don't either, but I need to be able to keep my job, etc...).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about getting dog beds beside our bed, but they probably will not stay in them.  Temporarily, my wife is sleeping in the living room with them, or my room mate is sleeping with them, but neither of these are good long term solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also considered giving away the dogs, but it has been my wife's &quot;dream&quot; to have dogs, and I do not want to crush her dream.  This would be a last resort if all else fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggested solutions to this problem?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T02:33:56.897" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T02:33:56.897" Title="How do I deal with dogs in the bedroom?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2769" CreationDate="2014-04-16T17:34:49.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most domesticated rabbits are meant to live indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From bunnymama.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rabbits can be kept outside. MYTH. It is NOT, repeat NOT acceptable to keep a rabbit outdoors in any kind of a pen or cage. In most parts of the country the weather is too extreme for a rabbit to be safe. Excessive heat or intense cold will kill a rabbit that is not properly housed indoors. Here are some good reason why you should NOT keep your bun outdoors. Please make every effort to protect your rabbit, please house him or her in your house with you and your family!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following links have more information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit Rescue: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitrescue.com/outdoordangers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbitrescue.com/outdoordangers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;House Rabbit Society: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-rabbits-outdoors/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://rabbit.org/faq-rabbits-outdoors/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This in no way mean that they cannot be brought outside for exercise, if it is safe to do so (with a proper harness and a watchful eye).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/62oxJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in my experience,  bringing my two Holland Lops outside is a rather stressful experience for them, and I would never consider putting them in an outdoor hutch.  My home is bunny-proofed and they are much more content to get their exercise in the house, where they are much more comfortable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-04-16T18:56:51.827" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T18:56:51.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2931" CreationDate="2014-04-16T18:43:25.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak for the USA but in the UK a key factor is the pet's weight, another is its age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No pet is accepted as a donor if it weighs less than a critical value.  For example a dog must be over 25kg, irrespective of breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details, many of which will be useful in the US, look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petbloodbankuk.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1095" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T18:43:25.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-16T19:22:58.443" Score="10" ViewCount="3261" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're interested in keeping a hamster in the house, and I know my wife is fond of small reptiles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to keep a tortoise and a hamster in the same enclosure? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking this is possible. The tortoise shouldn't try to eat the hamster, and the hamster probably couldn't hurt the tortoise even if it wanted to. Both prefer dry and warm habitats. If you set up the cage right, the tortoise could have some high ground to bask in while the hamster could have some burrowing space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is all conjecture. Experience or sources would be welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1202" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T12:25:27.473" LastActivityDate="2020-06-09T17:10:42.677" Title="Can a hamster and a tortoise/land turtle coexist peacefully?" Tags="&lt;cage&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2938" CreationDate="2014-04-16T19:39:03.150" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I fostered a dog who was insistent on being in the bed with us every night. Something that ended up working for us was to put a couple old shirts in her dog bed (because they smell like us), get her to lay down in it, then cover her with a blanket. Once she settled in we would go to bed. It took a night or two for her to get used to it, but then she was able to sleep through the night on her own. And so were we!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1176" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T19:39:03.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2936" CreationDate="2014-04-16T19:54:49.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We never gave our foster pup (who LOVES to chew) rawhides because we've heard that they're dangerous if they splinter. Instead we gave her deer antlers, which are readily available at pet stores in our area. They don't splinter and they take a while to get through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1176" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T19:54:49.303" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2936" CreationDate="2014-04-16T20:19:56.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest danger I'm aware of (aside from possible chewing off a piece bigger than they can chew and choking) is that the rawhide can expand when it gets wet. So when a dog ingests rawhide, it expands either in their stomach, or in their intestines, blocking their normal bodily functions and causing them harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another is a manufacturing issue. Rawhide is made from separated animal skins, a process that is usually done with chemicals that can be harmful to dogs. As long as you make sure to buy trusted brands, you shouldn't have to worry about it though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-16T20:19:56.080" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2941" CreationDate="2014-04-17T00:51:56.170" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, no. Tortoises and hamsters have different needs for their habitats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While some hamsters might live in the desert in the wild, any hamster you buy in the store will have been bred inside for so long that, among other things, they've evolved to live at a normal room temperature (60-75&amp;nbsp;°F&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;16-24&amp;nbsp;°C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile tortoises simply haven't evolved. While they make perfectly good pets, and can enjoy human interaction, they still require the same habitat as they would live in the wild. This includes temperatures of 78-82&amp;nbsp;°F (26-28&amp;nbsp;°C) on the cool side, and about 90&amp;nbsp;°F (32&amp;nbsp;°C) in their basking area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, rodents chew on everything. They can't really be blamed for it, it's driven into their brains. But to a hamster, a tortoise's shell is just another thing to chew on. Plus the shells contain calcium, which no doubt will encourage the behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russians-legs-chewed-to-bone-need-help.5718/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This thread&lt;/a&gt; was posted after someone's pet rat escaped from it's cage and found their tortoise, chewing it's legs to the bone. I'd like to say that's the first time I've heard of that happening, but unfortunately not. Rodents and reptiles are something that simply shouldn't be mixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:52:20.840" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:52:20.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2936" CreationDate="2014-04-17T06:21:45.230" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience the benefits of chewing raw or smoked bones far outweigh the draw backs. They work really well keeping the dogs teeth clean... much better than brushing I have found. They really help give puppies and young dogs something to chew on to meet that need. I hear that it also serves as a good calcium source but I don't know the scientific facts there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger bones seem to be the best because they breakdown slowly so I can throw them out after a lot of use but before they are small enough to be a choking danger. Some bones from the butcher come with a lot of fat/meat on them so I freeze the bones before giving them to the dogs and only leave them down for 20 to 30 minutes at first to help avoid upset stomachs from the fat. After a couple days of just the 30 minute sessions then they can be left out without worrying about that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that rawhide doesn't help clean teeth as well and they don't last as long. My dogs are hard chewers and they eat the rawhide so fast that I have had it cause upset stomachs. They have also choked a little trying to swallow it so fast too. Pressed rawhide is much better because it breaks down more like a real bone so it provides more chewing time and it does a better job cleaning that the regular rawhide. But my dogs don't like it as much as real bones so I don't bother with those much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated in your question, do not use cooked or boiled bones as they can splinter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 4 dogs with a total 34 years between them and have given them raw and smoked bones their whole lives. I have had only one of my dogs have a chipped tooth. I can't really say if it was a bone that caused it but she was 9 when it happened and even if it was because of the bone, I still think that the bones have done more good for her dental health than bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-04-17T06:29:10.203" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T06:29:10.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2938" CreationDate="2014-04-17T06:38:57.050" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look into crate training. It is a great solution and once crate trained the dogs really like their beds and sleep well. It also gives them a bed that they feel comfortable in away from home. It is important that you learn how to crate train an adult dog before you start though if these dogs have never been crate trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T06:38:57.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2478" CreationDate="2014-04-17T15:35:08.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was all about the breeding. Sight hounds have narrow forward facing eyes to see father better and have short ears that don't get in the way. They tend to be the slender breeds to run faster and chase: think greyhound and pharaoh hound. Scent hounds are shorter and more stockier so they are closer to the ground to smell. They have wider snouts and long floppy ears that help them guide the scent better such as coon hounds and beagles. A mutt can carry many different traits as it wasn't bred for a specific reason. And any of your dogs can be trained for a number of jobs the only difference is some breeds were designed to be more tolerate and suited for certain tasks. Just because my dog isn't a water dog (ie have a double coat with web feet) doesn't mean it wouldn't like to go for a swim now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1206" LastEditorUserId="3655" LastEditDate="2015-02-23T12:24:50.037" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T12:24:50.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2515" CreationDate="2014-04-17T19:35:32.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My late dog had a similar situation with her eyes (but in both) for years. The vet told us that it was fatty buildup that shouldn't affect her vision but that she should go on diet food anyway. The diet food didn't seem to help. We never determined what the actual cause was, but she didn't seem to have issues with her vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as the folks in the comments have said, really the best thing for you to do is to see a vet, a specialist if necessary. The best we can do for you here is to speculate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1176" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T19:35:32.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1076" CreationDate="2014-04-17T20:05:02.587" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that dogs &quot;commit suicide&quot; in the same sense as humans. That said, I do think that dogs decide when their time is up, and I think they generally do it by stopping their consumption of food entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my dogs had an aggressive form of cancer, and when things really got bad she stopped eating. She was on various medications, including one to stimulate appetite, but she refused to eat anything no matter what. (We tried a lot of things.) The vet said that if she's refusing to eat then there isn't anything we can do. I think my dog knew that and it was her way of saying that it was her time to go. So in that sense I think she chose her fate, but suicide is more going out of your way to kill yourself, whereas refusing to eat is more passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1176" LastActivityDate="2014-04-17T20:05:02.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-18T00:36:05.573" Score="9" ViewCount="50982" Body="&lt;p&gt;After the first month, he got settled in and more hyper, and now whenever we leave and no one is in the house (except him and the cats) he defecates inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We take him out before we leave, but we always come back to a mess in the house. Why is he doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1207" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-18T03:31:29.877" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T23:42:06.167" Title="Why is my dog peeing in the house when we're not home?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2952" CreationDate="2014-04-19T06:26:20.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question depends on a number of things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are two things you need to do: go to a pet shop and buy a cleaning product specifically for pets and throw away whatever cleaning products you have that are based on ammonia because it smells like urine and it basically means &quot;pee here&quot;, then clean the floor thoroughly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, how old is your dog? If he's a pup, you'll need to remember that they can't control their bodily functions until they are 3-4 months old and generally need to go out whenever they wake up, which might be every 2-3 hours. If you're away more than a couple of hours, he will do his business on the floor because he can't hold it. If that's the case, you'll need to find a small area for him to stay while you're away and place there his bowl with water and one of the house training mats you can find in pet shops a couple of feet away from the bowl. Hopefully, he'll learn to use that mat while you're away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, let me recommend you Pippa Mattinson's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0091957265&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;The Happy Puppy Handbook: Your Definitive Guide to Puppy Care and Early Training&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. It was recently released but it's by far one of the best books available for new pup owners and it will nicely guide you through puppyhood, including crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog is older, things might get trickier. Normally dogs instinctively know to keep their &quot;den&quot; clean, meaning the area where they eat and sleep, but puppy farms or inexperienced breeders might cause that instinct to go away by locking up a pup in a crate for many hours and forcing the pup to pee and poop right next to his bowl and pretty much in his sleeping area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I own two dogs and they both learned really fast to do their business outside, but from what I've heard the solution would be to keep an eye on the dog pretty much all the time and when he's starting to smell the ground you should quickly grab him and carry him outside and make a lot of fuss when he's doing his business outside. Hopefully, he'll learn but I've also heard that some adult dogs will still pee and poo inside from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, you can't rule out a possible infection and dogs that are ill might not be able to hold it. If that's the case, take him to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1211" LastEditorUserId="1211" LastEditDate="2014-08-20T10:24:15.127" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T10:24:15.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2952" CreationDate="2014-04-19T06:40:22.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really hard to say with out more details. However if you are dealing with an adult dog then it sounds like you may be dealing with a bit of separation anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the best thing to start with here is something that will both help with anxiety and not allow the undesirable behavior to happen when you are not at home to monitor. Crate training is by far the most ideal way to manage this type of problem because it teaches the dog that when you are not around it is time to be settled and crates help with potty training. Crate training restricts movement so that the dog feels secure, isn't as active and will not need to go potty so frequently and they really don't want to go where they have to lay. IF you can't crate train then limit the area the dog has access to one room without carpet. Make sure it is a room that the dog feels comfortable in and that you have spent time in with the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some other tips that should be used even if you can't crate train.  Make sure you are not making a big deal about leaving or retuning.  It is best for the dog if you just walk out without going through a goodbye routine. It is often confusing to the dog when you say in a high pitch or sad tone &quot;goodbye I'll miss you be a really good dog while I am gone&quot; and then you leave.  The dog just understands you are interacting in an exciting manner getting them all riled up and then you leave them with nothing to do. Be calm when you come back home... to you it may feel good that your dog greets you like they thought you'd never come home but to a dog this is actually kind of panic behavior and it doesn't feel good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also practice leaving for short periods of time (a few minutes) and then coming back. Don't make a big deal about leaving or retuning. If the dog is calm when you return then reward them in a calm manner with a nice pet or treat. If the dog is anxious continue to ignore them until they are calm then reward them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T06:40:22.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2958" CreationDate="2014-04-19T07:53:25.320" Score="8" ViewCount="1237" Body="&lt;p&gt;After eating, my cat sometimes makes a noise with his food bowl which is him trying to bury the bowl in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he do this? The only two options we can think of are that he's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to save it for later&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indicating that he doesn't like it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1212" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:17:41.640" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:17:41.640" Title="Why do cats try to bury their food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2014-04-19T13:53:24.453" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the breed of hamster. If it is a Syrian hamster, its cage needs to be at least 360 square inches of floor space or more (12 inches by 30 inches). But if it's a Chinese hamster, or any of the dwarf breeds, it needs 288 square inches or more (12 inches by 24 inches, or 1 foot by 2 feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to add lots of toys such as tubes, hideouts, ladders, etc. Also, you will need a wheel and chews. Just make sure it's the right size wheel though! Syrian hamsters need at least a 8 inch wheel, while the dwarf breeds and Chinese hamster need at least a 5 inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, the hamster will need food, water, and bedding. Make sure its a safe kind of bedding such as: aspen, or any paper based bedding. (carefresh, kaytee clean and cozy, crittercare, etc.) NO scented bedding such as: pine, cedar, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hamster is trying to get out, his cage is too small, or he is bored, so give him toys and a bigger cage. Hope I helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1214" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-19T14:32:08.763" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T14:32:08.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2955" CreationDate="2014-04-19T15:13:29.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats does the same thing. I read it is to hide the food from other animals that may come by and steal it. Oddly the cat's bothers and sisters don't do this.  It appears to be genetic (an infrequently appearing gene, at least in this cat family).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T15:13:29.117" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2955" CreationDate="2014-04-19T21:03:47.843" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/why-do-cats-bury-food/&quot;&gt;Pam Johnson Bennett&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the wild, a cat may attempt to bury or cover any uneaten food in&#xA;  order to avoid attracting any predators to the area. It also is an&#xA;  attempt to not alert any other potential prey that a feline hunter is&#xA;  in the vicinity. Cats aren’t scavengers so they don’t bury the food to&#xA;  consume later – it’s strictly for protection purposes. Even an indoor&#xA;  cat who has never set foot outside retains this survival instinct;&#xA;  it’s just a matter of how much it concerns them and that determines to&#xA;  what degree the behavior is displayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, burying food behaviors have been displayed in cats who are also distressed by litter box cleanliness (one cat even would rebury the other cats' poo if it wasn't covered well enough for his tastes) and other anxiety-related behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it becomes a problem, you can pick up the bowl(s) after the cat(s) have finished their meal (always leave clean water available). A cat with a range of anxiety related behaviors can also be helped with medication by seeing your vet, but if food burying is the only behavior he is displaying I wouldn't worry about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-19T21:03:47.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-19T21:12:42.783" Score="8" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband has recently started a new job telecommuting. We're trying to figure out how to teach the cats to leave him alone while he's working, but Hunter thinks any attention from &quot;his human&quot; is good attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worst behavior is that he'll sit on the desk between my husband and his keyboard. We set up a small shelf (for additional height) next to the husband's monitor (within petting distance) and sometimes Hunter will sleep on it, but not consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my husband kept a small canister of treats/kibble and put them on the shelf to encourage Hunter to go to the shelf when he is working, would that work as a training aid, or would he just get in the way to encourage my husband to feed him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:16:38.480" Title="Will treats make this behavior worse or work as a training aid?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2959" CreationDate="2014-04-19T22:43:36.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound like that will work. If the treats are always available on the shelf, the cat may go eat some treats then go lay on the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you put the treats out when you go into the room with the desk, the cat may wait on the shelf until fed, then move elsewhere as it suits him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training (conditioning) your cat to stay on the shelf rather than the desk would be rather involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat does the same thing and likes to knock over beverages on the desk as well. The most practical solution is to just move your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to move him multiple times each session, but eventually he will learn that there are places he is not supposed to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This won't stop him from jumping up every now and then for some attention. Just give him his attention and set him on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you have moved him a couple times and he keeps returning and you then 'give in' and let the cat sit by the keyboard, he will very quickly learn he will get his way if he persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep gently putting the cat on the floor when he is somewhere you don't want him and he should learn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T11:16:38.480" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:16:38.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="2961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2959" CreationDate="2014-04-20T03:08:08.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The essential problem here is that &lt;strong&gt;you are trying to use positive reinforcement to train a negative behavior&lt;/strong&gt;. Just as you can't train a cat to do something by punishing them, you cannot train a cat to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; do something by rewarding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to Train Your Cat to Repeatedly Jump Onto the Desk&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give positive reinforcement (giving a treat) to train a negative behavior (not jumping on the desk), the cat will instead learn the corresponding positive behavior (jumping onto the desk), not the negative behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give your cat a treat every time it jumps on the desk, so it will leave the desk to eat the treat, it will learn that it should jump onto the desk in order to get a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A child's parents do not want the child to play with matches, so every time his parents discover him holding a box of matches, they give him a piece of candy and take the matches away, placing them on a shelf. Of course, the child will continue take the matches off the shelf every time he wants a piece of candy. In fact, he may not even recognize this as wrong - to him, this is just how he signals to his parents that he wants a piece of candy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This exactly parallels how the cat will react to being rewarded for leaving the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a little thought should reveal a better option:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to Physically Prevent Your Cat From Jumping Onto the Desk&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably the easiest way to get the cat to stop jumping on the desk. If the office has a door, close it. If not, install one, and use it. If you do not have a separate office area you can use undistracted, you are cheating your employer, and need to deal with that first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A child's parents do not want the child to play with matches, so every time his parents discover him holding a box of matches, they take the matches away and place them inside a cabinet locked with a child-proof mechanism. Since the child is not physically capable of getting the matches, he will not have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is, again, probably the easiest way to do this in the short-term. However, your cat may take to hiding in the office, scratching at the door, or otherwise attempting to defeat the physical measures preventing it from entering the office and jumping on the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a long term solution, you may need to actually train the cat to not jump on the desk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to Train Your Cat to Not Jump Onto the Desk in the First Place&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to train the cat to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; do something, you have to use negative reinforcement. One very effective form of negative reinforcement for cats is using a spray bottle filled with water. Each time the cat jumps on the desk, spray it with the bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A child's parents do not want the child to play with matches, so every time his parents discover him holding a box of matches, they give him a spank and take the matches away, placing them on a shelf. While the child may be physically capable of taking the matches, he now has a definite disincentive to do so, and so does not attempt to get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may not be easy for someone to whom any negative reinforcement appears unjustified and cruel, and they may be unable to effectively do this. But in the long run, this is probably the most effective way. There are a number of arguments against using any negative reinforcement at all with cats, some of which are presented in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/the-squirt-bottle-controversy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; which @Zaralynda kindly pointed out. While in the cases they examine negative reinforcement would indeed be ineffective, used appropriately it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; lead to the desired results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, it is important that you are not punishing the cat for engaging in a behavior for which there is not another alternative. You aren't going to stop eating food just because someone pokes you with a sharp stick every time they see you doing it - you will just hide it from them, or something. Similarly, you can't train a cat to not scratch furniture or climb drapes unless they have a scratching post or tree to scratch instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important that this not be done too heavily. In order to effectively use negative reinforcement to train the cat, you can only use it for one behavior at a time. Doing more than one increases the risk that the cat will associate the punishment with the &lt;em&gt;trainer&lt;/em&gt;, rather than the behavior, at which point you will no longer be able to train the cat at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In my case, I used this method to train my cats to not jump on the kitchen counters. The problem here is not the jumping, but having sanitary food preparation surfaces, so they are free to jump on tables, desks, bookshelves, beds, railings, fences, trees, and anything else they could possibly want to jump on. It also helped that there were a large number of members of the household participating, so the punishment was never associated with any one trainer, only with the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result of our training efforts, my two cats stopped jumping on the counters before the week was over, and have not done it since, even 3 years later, but are otherwise exactly the way they were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1216" LastEditorUserId="1216" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T01:33:23.557" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T01:33:23.557" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2972" CreationDate="2014-04-21T14:43:54.940" Score="7" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have been talking about what to do when one of our pets die.  We both find cremation to be a good final choice.  I did some internet searching for pet cremation and find there are a lot of options and maybe some concerns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I consider when researching which crematorium to choose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T14:28:00.427" Title="What should I consider when looking at pet cremation?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2014-04-21T18:07:03.130" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pooping in that context is outright fear -- this dog is terrified. You definitely have to be patient and respect her boundaries or she's just going to get more terrified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a 6 month old rescue dog who is super fearful and we've gotten a lot of mileage out of marker training and &quot;touch.&quot; We don't use a clicker, we just say &quot;yes&quot; and treat. There is plenty of writing about clicker training out there, but roughly, I hold a bit of treat and say &quot;touch&quot; -- as soon as his nose contacts my hand I say &quot;yes&quot; and give him the treat. We worked from there to requiring a pretty firm nose nudge. I haven't gotten to a point where I don't reinforce the &quot;yes&quot; with a treat, but in theory you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably the easiest training game to play and it is really good for getting him to approach and show interest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also feed him by hand, and were able to work slowly up to petting him while he eats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the tips we got from a trainer that really helped:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training time should be training time. Get some treats together, play for a few minutes and then move on. But while you're doing it, focus on doing it. In your case it sounds like maybe separate her from the older dog so that there's no competition for treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use high quality treats. If he's not willing to play for milk bones, escalate. We use big chunks of cooked chicken for stuff he's not crazy about (mostly coming near the leash or sticking his head through a collar). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;update&lt;/em&gt; Adding ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing ... eye contact is scary, so you might want to start by holding a treat in your hand and looking the other way. Let the dog warm up to you as slowly as she needs to. Don't push for eye contact or snuggles unless she's ready to offer them. With our dog we started by putting treats near us, then holding them out and looking away, and slowly moving the offering hand closer in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2014-04-22T03:28:00.267" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T03:28:00.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7515" CreationDate="2014-04-21T18:57:05.393" Score="20" ViewCount="15571" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a very sweet 6 month old shepherd rescue. He was part of an urban feral pack until he was captured, and he spent ~2 mos in the shelter office, getting adjusted to people before we got him one month ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's come a long, long way in the month we've had him. He eats out of our hands and plays &quot;touch&quot; and fetch and doesn't get into things that aren't his to get into (except when he really, really wants attention -- then he'll come steal a piece of paper from me or grab a sock off the drying rack). He is super playful in the morning. We're working on bite inhibition, but he definitely wants to play with us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he really does not want a leash or collar on. Or a harness. He wants nothing buckled around him. We've done enough positive reenforcement games that he comes running over (for a treat) when we get the collars out (we have a bunch, for no good reason) or buckle/unbuckle them.  He takes all his meals from a hand stuck through a collar, but I cannot, cannot, cannot snap anything around his neck. If I get close he lashes out and if I persist he gets more hostile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've played some games -- if I can touch him with the balled up collar, he gets a treat. If he sticks his head partway through, treat. We do a lot of petting and scratching around the collar area, which he doesn't love, but doesn't fight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a collar on him once, by making him stick his head farther and farther through it for yummy chicken, but I haven't been able to repeat that. He has a little plastic tag-collar thing that we've snapped a leash onto, but the times we've done that (twice) it was hours before we could get close enough to get it back off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a harness, but that has two buckles and isn't any easier to get on him. He's really, really, really wary of any restraint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas for more structured ways to acclimate him to having a collar, and eventually a leash put on? He loves other dogs but we can't take him to see other dogs if we can't leave the house!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm keeping my selected answer, but we finally got a sliplead which works well. He snarls when we put it on, so it take some confidence -- I wear a makeshift bite glove to help me feel like I can do it. Getting the lead off is tricky, but doable. He's actually just fine once the lead is on. He walks at my side and says hello to other dogs and doesn't give me any trouble. It is just the on and off that are high drama. Still: now that I have a technique, he goes out 2-3 times a day and he's starting to be more relaxed about the process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** Another Update:** It's been six weeks since we started taking him out on walks regularly and the snarling is over. I did a lot of feeling around on his neck everytime I put it on or took it off, and he's adjusted to the idea that the leash is his key to adventure. He still bows his head and tries to evade the leash but he'll let me put it on and take it off without fussing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T17:53:55.147" LastActivityDate="2019-05-13T14:01:43.957" Title="How do I convince my dog that a collar or harness is not the end of the world?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2014-04-21T19:17:55.420" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;'&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/10498/Super-Pet-Comfort-Harness-and-Stretchy-Stroller.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMGoogleAdExtProd-_-Small%20Animal-_-Small%20Animal%20Collars%20%26%20Leashes%20-%20Low%20Price-_-870684&amp;amp;gclid=CKmfqcql8r0CFY1xOgodT1QAvQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Super pet&lt;/a&gt;' makes a harness that has buckles and Velcro.  I am not sure it comes in a size big enough for your dog.  But when I use it on rabbits I cut the buckles off and just use the Velcro.  You may also be able to find dog &quot;outfits&quot; that Velcro on to work on harness training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you can get some Velcro and make a training collar.  Maybe make a very large circle that he can walk through, and keep making it smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-04-21T19:17:55.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-21T19:30:51.763" Score="1" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem: I bring over a date to the house. Roommate's dog does not leave us alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well first, violence is not an option since it's usually a big turnoff to company. Separating the dog from us with a baby gate makes it cry and whine. Acknowledging the dog makes it worse, and he doesn't do it unless I have someone relatively new, thus making it hard to reproduce and ergo train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog goes and finds a place to sleep when I have someone over, but from the very beginning as a puppy I taught him that he's not the center of attention and should not be around unless there's a reason. So this good behavior is just a side effect of proper training from the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dog does not have that benefit of good, proper training. How can I train someone else's dog to mind his own business? Any tips? It is very aggravating since the dog in general doesn't have manners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1153" LastEditorUserId="209" LastEditDate="2014-04-25T12:57:20.003" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T12:57:20.003" Title="How to get a roommate's dog to stop harassing girlfriends?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2976" CreationDate="2014-04-21T22:49:44.467" Score="13" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to use round-up on my weeds and / or weed and feed in my yard, although the dogs go out in the yard?  My concern is if they eat the weeds, they would be poisoned, or they could possibly even be harmed by walking in it.  If both these products are harmful, do you have any suggestions for weed control that is safe for pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:28:09.550" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T03:53:13.570" Title="How do I control weeds with dogs present?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2014-04-22T04:17:06.003" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are on the right path. All the positive reinforcement will help him learn to learn and trust you as well. Don't give up... you will get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it feels like you have hit a wall it's probably one of two things. ..or a combination. Either he has figured out the &quot;game&quot; or you went to fast at some point. Either way it will help if you change the game a bit so that you are helping him generalize it. In other words you can show him more and more things that are OK so eventually he will learn that just about anything you do to him is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So some things to try... put a piece of fabric on his back, around his leg, touch his tail with it. Change it so it is a sock that you are using or a shirt. Can you get to the point where you can put it over his foot? What about getting him to stick his nose in it (this may also help anyone working on muzzle training too). Can you get him to walk under a sheet that is draped between two chairs?  What if it is on the ground and you hold it up...can you get him to push through it with it touching his back? Every time you work on it try to change it just a little and keep your sessions super short... like some of them should be 5 seconds... you want to end with him wanting more not you pushing to get one last good try. If you get any good progress forward stop and take even a short 5 minute break before you come back to it. Your dog will come back to training with more enthusiasm and willingness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of those things will help him understand that every thing you ask him to do will be ok. It will also take his focus away frrim trying to keep you from putting a restraint on him. This will also keep him guessing... he wont be able yo predict what your goal is. Reward the smallest progress and remember to reward anytime he is really trying for you even if he doesn't guess right. The reward doesn't always have to be food it can be playing with a toy or just getting some love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only try to actually put the collar on him when he is tired. Exercise him as much as you can. Give him a bunch of brain work then let him start to settle down.  Once he is calm then you can try a little to get it on him. Once it is on leave it on for as long as you can. Let him sleep in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all have patience and don't give up. Our dogs are often much more strong willed than we are so it works better if you can convince him it is his idea that the collar is the best thing ever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T04:17:06.003" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2964" CreationDate="2014-04-22T13:51:30.243" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are a responsible and diligent &quot;Pet Parent&quot; in researching what you should consider when selecting a facility to cremate your beloved pet when it passes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet crematories, unlike human crematories are not regulated. I would suggest you consult the Pet Loss Professionals Alliance (PLPA) through the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) for a listing of pet crematories who follow the ethical guidelines outlined by the PLPA. Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iccfa.com/node/2562/grief#faq3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the link to the website&lt;/a&gt; and they have a list of frequently ask questions that will provide more information for you in selecting someone to care for your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you want the remains returned to you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the remains are not returned, how are they handled and where will the final resting place be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of these three possible configurations which works best for you, and what does each mean according to the facility you are considering? &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Segregated/individual cremation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Communal cremation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separated cremation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I encourage you to visit the facilities you are interested in, as they should have an open door policy regarding their practices.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1227" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-04-30T14:28:00.427" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T14:28:00.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2014-04-22T14:00:56.060" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's sounding to me like the main issue is the clicking of the buckle. So perhaps for the time being, if you can use some paracord to fasten a harness that he can wear, just to get used to having something around his neck/shoulders. Then in the meantime, you could try to get him used to the sound of the buckle clicking together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep playing the games you're already playing, they sound like they're working. But maybe add a new game where you have him sit next to you as you click the buckle together. Start by giving him a treat, then clicking the buckle together. After a few times of doing so, try giving him a treat as your clicking the buckle together. The goal is to work your way towards giving him a treat after the buckle click, so he associates the sound of the buckle with getting a treat (clicker training essentially).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you notice him start to &quot;perk up&quot; at the sound of the buckle, you can start to work on buckling it around him. He should be focused on getting a treat more than he notices that he's suddenly wearing a collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T14:00:56.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2455" CreationDate="2014-04-22T15:45:51.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growth plates are &quot;zones&quot; of cartilage that exist at the end of our bones as we grow older. The cartilage is used up in order for the bones to grow. Note: This is a different type of cartilage than what's found in your nose, or what connects joints together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The growth plates &quot;close&quot; when the bones are fully formed. Really just meaning they've contributed all they can to the growth of the bones/the bones are done growing. They close when the animal has grown out of adolescence. It's the same with humans, where human children's growth plates close during puberty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So part of the reason I think a vet would tell you to wait until the dog's growth plates are closed, is that means the dog is no longer a puppy, and you won't have the risk of side-effects from the body trying to change as they've already changed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an image of the &quot;before and after&quot; of a human hand. You can kind of get the idea of what growth plates look like from that. It's a similar process in all mammals I believe (just different speeds in which they mature).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gCg9a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Growth Plates in the human hand&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thebmc.co.uk/should-u18s-use-campus-boards-finger-injuries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T15:45:51.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2460" CreationDate="2014-04-22T15:54:00.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2974/481&quot;&gt;Here is my explanation for what growth plates are&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why it's a bad idea to train a puppy to do handstands before the growth plates have closed, is because the growth plates are so soft and so important for how the bones develop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a growth plate is damaged, it will affect how the bone grows, it's what causes deformities and/or weak points in the bones as they grow. In this case, I would be most worried about the pressure on the joints, causing them to grow in a way that they would grind together strangely after they've developed. Causing problems with the joints, or even shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstream.com/dalehead/html/pdf/Factsheets/Dog/24_265463.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a short pamphlet&lt;/a&gt; on puppy bone problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T15:54:00.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2970" CreationDate="2014-04-22T16:14:14.753" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a herbicide such as Round-Up on your lawn, as well as insecticides, are not only harmful to the environment in general, but especially harmful to dogs and other pets using the lawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets and pesticide use fact sheet:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/petspest.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/petspest.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Animals can be exposed to pesticides when they breathe in the product, absorb it through their skin, or ingest the product.&#xA;  Your pet’s risk of developing a health problem depends on how much pesticide your pet is exposed to and the toxicity of&#xA;  the pesticide to that specific type of animal. Pet owners can minimize the chance of their pet having a problem by following&#xA;  label directions, selecting lower toxicity pesticides, and minimizing the amount of exposure their pet has to the pesticide&#xA;  during and after the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A new study also found that these chemicals can be passed on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/how-lawn-chemicals-and-herbicides-affect-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;from dogs to their owners &lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Gastrointestinal upset is the most common sign seen when ingestion of fertilizer and herbicide occurs,&quot; she says. &quot;However, if large amounts or concentrated products are ingested, veterinary intervention may be necessary. In addition, very young, very old, and debilitated animals may be more sensitive to exposures.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other, safer ways to control weeds and other problems in your lawn, such as organic mixtures (concentrated vinegar and salt solution) as well as a spot-spray weed killer, so it does not affect your whole lawn and will be overall healthier for you and your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/lawn-care-advice/lawn-faqs/kids-pets-wildlife-safety/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/lawn-care-advice/lawn-faqs/kids-pets-wildlife-safety/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h6ZoG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-04-22T16:14:14.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2979" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2981" CreationDate="2014-04-23T12:34:48.630" Score="13" ViewCount="552" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 1 year 2 month-old collie/lab cross. He has a pretty manic/wired temperament so we have to work pretty hard to get him to calm down/relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, we've been having a problem whereby he is urinating when greeting people - including myself and my partner when coming home from work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual series of events is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hears me coming into house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Runs to top of stairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My partner asks him to sit/wait until he calms down (This usually takes a minute or so)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once calm, he is invited down to say hello&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He gets very excited again when he meets me at the door, so I try to ignore him while he calms down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about 5-10 seconds of hyperactivity, he hangs his head, puts his tail between his legs and urinates slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try not to make a big deal out of it - and we don't talk to him/tell him off when it happens - in the hope that it would resolve the problem, but it seems to be going on for quite a long time now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:51:03.123" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:51:03.123" Title="Dog urinating when greeting people" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2014-04-23T16:46:56.050" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of factors that affect the answer here, and each will affect an individual cat/human pair in different amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Harness Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step to being able to exercise your cat outside responsibly is to train him to accept the harness and leash. Often when a cat feels an unfamiliar weight on his back, he will roll over to escape it, and when the harness does not come off he will get confused and distressed. Properly training the cat to accept a harness (instead of just sticking it on him and seeing what happens) is a lengthy process that most cat owners are not familiar with and do not take the time to do properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Territorial Familiarity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are territorial, and an indoor cat will view your home as his territory. He's comfortable there because he knows all of the hiding spots, the food/water sources, and the safe places to eliminate, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you take your cat to a new place (outdoors) you are forcing your cat out of his territory so he's already slightly uncomfortable. Additionally, if the area has any feral/outdoor cats, the area may be scent marked as someone else's territory, further putting him on edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see this behavior some with dogs as they scent mark the route of their walk, but when two dogs meet they may be friends or competition, and they also have a much longer history of looking to humans for socialization cues. Cats are more likely to view an intruder as competition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Territory Structure&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats view their surroundings in 3 dimensions, where people (and dogs) generally just look in 2 dimensions. Climbing helps cats feel safe (they can observe their surroundings without beeing seen), but a walk with a person forces them to only use the more exposed ground level. This can be pretty uncomfortable for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elimination&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are often trained to use a litter box (as predators they will bury their waste to avoid alerting prey to their presence) and so can eliminate inside. Dogs, on the other hand, are rarely trained to eliminate inside and so must have regular outside time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Owner Selection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are generally seen as more independant and requiring less intensive care than dogs, so they tend to attract owners who are looking for a pet that does not require regular walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T16:46:56.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2979" CreationDate="2014-04-23T17:52:51.263" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are doing the right things so far. Another thing to watch out for is eye contact.  My dog does the same thing and when she greets people I ask them to ignore her and avoid eye contact. Sometimes even eye contact will be enough to make her pee when she is really excited and wanting the visitor to pay attention to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he is starting to calm down, but before he pees, see if you can get him to sit for you. That might take enough focus that it distracts him from whatever he is feeling when he puts his tail between his legs and urinates. Make sure you treat him every time he sits. Once he is sitting reliably then only treat him when he doesn't pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1234" LastActivityDate="2014-04-23T17:52:51.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2995" CreationDate="2014-04-24T02:00:49.437" Score="9" ViewCount="7858" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Los Angeles and my two year-old cat is dying to go outside and run. But I'm afraid that if I let him out he will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run away or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get run over by a car or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get eaten by a wild animal (apparently there are some around here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a thing like a closed garden where I can take him to run around? I've looked it up on Google but I haven't found anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's actually very social, particularly for a cat. He tends to love other cats and humans. He's afraid of some dogs, but I'm sure he'd get over it with the right experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just breaks my heart to see him meow at the closed window. There must be a place I can take him to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1007" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T02:09:21.193" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T05:16:12.140" Title="Is there an outdoor place I can take my cat to run around in L.A.?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2982" CreationDate="2014-04-24T02:14:00.507" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right to be cautious.  Run over, run away, injured, made sick... are all likely outcomes.  Good luck finding a safe place to take your cat out to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen people take their cats out, a closed garden area sounds like a good option if you can find one... again that doesn't rule out something bad happening involving another dog, cat, or other animal (or picking up a parasite, disease...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are wonderful creatures and should be paraded about, but at the same time ones that live indoors live longer and healthier than their outdoor or part outdoor counterparts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A body harness and leash should address the run away concern (or at least make it less likely), a closed park should eliminate the run over concern.  If you can carry a robust carrier and have the trust from him to get him in it if an altercation with another animal threatens... that would reduce the chance of bad fights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T02:14:00.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-24T06:12:45.500" Score="4" ViewCount="4785" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my American Short Hair (7 years old, slightly underweight if anything) jumps up into her cage (about 70 cm or so off the floor, or leaping over a metre from the adjacent cat tree) when she knows it's time for food, after turning round to look for the food almost every time she'll shake a front paw (always, I think, the right) for just a second or less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no extra actions like licking the paw or looking at it or looking sorry (although impending meals probably override that reaction!), but I just worry she might have rheumatism or some other age-related disorder. She's never been very active, and in normal activity I don't notice anything. Or am I just worrying too much as it's just a habit she's got into?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="757" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T10:24:32.080" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T23:06:41.780" Title="Why does my cat shake a paw after jumping?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2982" CreationDate="2014-04-24T11:16:54.460" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't get this thing where in the US cats seem to be kept indoor whereas here in Europe everybody lets their cats walk in and out as much as they want. Sure, cats do get hit sometimes, but I have heard about that like... once or twice in my life? And yes, cats are also allowed to freely roam in the bigger cities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, in regards to your concerns: No, cats are bound to a place (as long as there is food in that place) so they are incredibly unlikely to run away. Yes, getting run over by cars happens and No, cats are pretty agile creatures quite high up in their respective parts of the food chains and them getting eaten... seems incredibly unlikely (of which animals are you thinking?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to finish it of, here in the Netherlands often a distinction is made between indoor cats and outdoor cats. For some reason some cats simply want to spend all their time away from home and some stay inside despite both getting raised in the same family from the same age. I have never heard for a good explanation for this, but in case your cat is the outdoor type it seems incredibly cruel to lock a cat inside all the time. I am not sure whether a cat will still learn all the 'tricks' to living outdoor at that age, so that's a separate question, but in and on itself it seems very odd behavior (no matter the fact that I have heard other Americans doing the same thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1170" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T11:16:54.460" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2014-04-24T11:49:41.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flushing it down the toilet, throwing it in the bin or leaving it for wild animals to eat might upset the owner. I have to say that although I appreciate the spirit of storing it in the fridge or freezer for the owner's return, I'd personally be a little uncomfortable with the idea of someone freezing my dead fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative to the suggestions already given, here's what I used to do with mine. I kept a lot of small tropical fish over the years and it wasn't practical to dig a hole in the garden for every one that died, so I came up with this compromise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would remove the fish from the tank with a net, leave it a few seconds so it wasn't dripping wet, then gently wrap it in tissue and put the folded &quot;shroud&quot; in an empty matchbox (you might have to scale up to a bigger box if you had bigger fish than me). I then placed it gently in the waste paper basket (not the kitchen bin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, essentially, I was still throwing it in the bin, but I did it in a way that felt respectful and caring to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think the number one suggestion for your particular situation, since it's not your fish, would be &lt;strong&gt;ask the owner&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm surprised no-one suggested that already. They'll know what they want to do with their pet and are best placed to answer your query. In practice, it would have been better to ask the owner before they went away. A short conversation along the lines of &quot;What should I do if one of them dies?&quot; would better prepare you if you have to deal with this sort of thing again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T11:49:41.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-24T12:09:10.203" Score="4" ViewCount="4111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often find my dog putting his head between my bed and the nightstand, or between the chair arm and my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some websites say this a sign of the dog trying to assert dominance, others suggest it's a sign that the dog wants to be pet, or say hi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any definitive answer on this topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Ok so the dominance theory seems to be bunk. (It's a shame that it's the most common answer on google right now)  So I'll add some more to my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often the dog seems to have &quot;sad eyes&quot; when putting his head between things.  His ears get squished between the objects he is putting his head between, so I don't know if they are flat, forward or backward.&#xA;Often the rest of his body just 'relaxes' (don't know tail position, but I can check next time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to putting his head between furniture, he also, when in the car will sometimes squeeze his head between the driver's chair and the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Observed my dog a few times. The ears are flat facing back towards the body. The tail is hanging limply, a bit between the legs, but not really between the legs, and not curled forward.  He never does this while siting, he is always standing on all four legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:02:01.623" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T16:44:11.240" Title="Is a dog placing it's head between two objects a sign of dominance or a desire for affection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-24T13:15:56.947" Score="4" ViewCount="3505" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may just be my perception, but it seems like cat pee has a distinctly 'Cat' smell that is different from other pet urine.  It seems to have a stronger smell that lasts longer, than other urine smells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it about cat urine that gives it the extra strong and long lived odor? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T16:44:11.620" Title="Why does cat urine have a stronger smell than other pet urine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2993" CreationDate="2014-04-24T13:41:37.917" Score="9" ViewCount="3051" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat I had growing up was very picky about the kind of food we gave him. He had a thing for Meow Mix dry cat food. If we bought him any different brand, it seemed as though he wouldn't eat it as much or as quickly, so we always stuck with the Meow Mix to keep him happy and well fed. He also refused wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did he do this? I have heard of cats having a preference between dry and wet food, but is there really that much difference in the &lt;em&gt;brands&lt;/em&gt; of cat food that he could taste? If so, what makes one brand more preferable to cats than another? Or was this all in our imagination and he really didn't care either way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-24T14:06:40.527" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T00:54:35.417" Title="Can cats be &quot;picky&quot; about the brand of food they eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2989" CreationDate="2014-04-24T13:50:43.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different brands of foods will have different compositions and, as a result, different tastes. Cats are not like us, they're not looking for variety in their food, it's a sustenance thing and not a pleasure source in the same way it is with us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, cats are not generally interested in having their food changed. It's atypical for them to easily switch between foods, though it is possible for some cats to have a couple of foods they like (ours had a particular wet food and dry they would eat). There is some evidence that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/cat/dr-coates/2014/february/why-cats-are-finicky-eaters-31303&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mother's preference influences the cat&lt;/a&gt; but you can alter that over time with a gradual food swap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of brand preference. I've noticed that brands that tend to have less filler and more meat tend to get favoured by cats. Cats have a keen sense of smell too, so the smell of the food will play a role in the appeal (or lack) to the cat. The brand our cats eat definitely has a strong fish (herring) smell and our cats love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T13:50:43.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2987" CreationDate="2014-04-24T14:10:28.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't give a definitive answer on the subject, there are so many things the dog might want to communicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I can't resist to comment on the &lt;em&gt;dominance&lt;/em&gt; idea. The idea that our dogs are trying to &quot;assert their dominance&quot; or higher their position in a &quot;dominance hierarchy&quot; is a myth that has been debunked many times. I don't want to repeat myself in this answer, however I'll link two answer that summarise my position and provide additional references:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2398/469&quot;&gt;Why do dogs place their heads above the backs of other dogs?&lt;/a&gt; My answer is very close to one I could give to your question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2362/469&quot;&gt;How do I identify my alpha dog, or do I even have one?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this is not to say that your question is meaningless. Try to find out by yourself (as you have much more information than we have), you'll learn much more about your dog than just thinking that he is slyly trying to dominate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T14:36:21.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2998" CreationDate="2014-04-24T14:53:37.920" Score="4" ViewCount="3264" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2222/how-do-i-identify-my-alpha-dog-or-do-i-even-have-one/2362#2362&quot;&gt;Based on this answer here&lt;/a&gt; it seems, that this idea that you should never let your dog into your house or room before you enter it is also bunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just trying to confirm if that is true or not.  I.e., even if &quot;dominance theory&quot; is bunk, are there certain behaviors**, that one should insist on for a proper relationship with a dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example Behaviors&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never let a dog lead on a walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never let a dog go into the house first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never let a dog tower over you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:01:33.693" Title="Is it important to walk into a room before your dog? Are any &quot;dominant behaviors&quot; important?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2989" CreationDate="2014-04-24T16:08:23.337" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry food is flavored with a coating of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_digest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;animal digest&lt;/a&gt; to make it palatable to cats (it acts as a flavor and scent enhancer). It's entirely reasonable to assume that different sources of animal digests from different manufacturers will have different flavors, and that your cat prefers the particular flavor from a certain manufacturer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/03/10/how-to-transition-your-cat-to-raw-food-diet-part-1.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Karen Becker&lt;/a&gt; explains &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;there are research and development departments in many of the big&#xA;  commercial cat food companies whose job it is to study what shapes&#xA;  cats prefer. Whether it’s an “x” shape, a triangle, a circle, or maybe&#xA;  a tiny fish, the goal is to develop products your kitty will demand&#xA;  once he’s hooked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if a particular brand all share the same shape, then your cat is expressing their preference for that particular shape of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John is right that cats don't easily change between food, but I do generally recommend a rotation of at least 3 different brands/flavors so that your cat is not in any danger of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2529/what-should-i-do-if-my-cat-stops-eating-and-starts-hiding-more/2541#2541&quot;&gt;Feline Hepatic Lipidosis&lt;/a&gt; if the manufacturer suddenly changes their formulation to something your cat finds unpalatable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, a food rotation also can protect against accidental nutritional deficiencies due to manufacturing error. An article found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawnation.com/2013/12/18/diet-related-thiamine-deficiency-in-cats-more-common-than-though/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pawnation&lt;/a&gt; reviewed a study that found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Since 2009 [article published September 2013], there have been 5 major voluntary pet food recalls&#xA;  involving thiamine-deficient pet foods in the United States that&#xA;  ultimately involved 9 brands of cat foods and at least 23 clinically&#xA;  affected cats. Most of these recalls were instituted in response to a&#xA;  report from a consumer or veterinarian after treating a cat that had&#xA;  clinical signs consistent with thiamine deficiency.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(the study is not available on the web, but it is:&#xA;Thiamine deficiency in dogs and cats. Markovich JE, Heinze CR, Freeman LM. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2013 Sep 1;243(5):649-56. )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T00:54:35.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2984" CreationDate="2014-04-24T16:12:49.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually paw shaking is either a sign of pain or disgust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sure from your description, is she looking at the bowl (when it's food time) but it's empty and then shaking her paw? If that's the case my guess is that she's annoyed that her food bowl is empty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 is pretty young to develop a joint condition (especially since she isn't overweight), but to be sure you could take her to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T16:12:49.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2982" CreationDate="2014-04-24T17:00:42.893" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats should be indoors only, or supervised outdoors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right to be concerned about letting your cat outside unsupervised. Keeping your cats indoors protects against MANY problems that can make your cat sick or die! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/adoption-pet-care/caring-for-your-pet/indoor-cats-vs-outdoor-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to the American Humane Society&lt;/a&gt;, cats who are either part-time or full-time allowed to roam outdoors alone face the following risks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disease (feline leukemia (FeLV), feline AIDS (FIV),FIP (feline&#xA;infectious peritonitis), feline distemper (panleukopenia), upper&#xA;respiratory infections (or URI))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites (fleas, ticks, ear mites, intestinal worms, ringworm (a fungal infection))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Car strikes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animal cruelty (neighborhood children)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury from other animals (both wild and domestic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toxins and poisions (in addition to rodenticide, antifreeze is sweet and delicious, but deadly!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trees (if a cat can't/won't climb down, he'll get dehydrated and weak, eventually falling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, a study highlighted by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.nwf.org/2011/03/new-studies-highlight-impact-of-outdoor-cats-on-birds-and-other-wildlife/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Wildlife Federation&lt;/a&gt; found&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;By some estimates, outdoor cats in the United States kill more than 1    million birds every day on average. Other studies suggest the&#xA;  death    toll is as high as 1 billion per year. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Outdoor cats transmit rabies,    toxoplasmosis, typhus, plague and other viral and parasitic diseases    to both wildlife and humans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats can be Content Indoors with Enough Stimulation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat does not have to be physically chasing prey to be mentally stimulated by it. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anticruelty.org/catsandplay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anti-Cruelty Society&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even if the cat isn't chasing, jumping or otherwise very physically&#xA;  engaged the mental part of play is beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is stimulated by watching out the window. One way to encourage this engagement is to add birdfeeders to your yard, as Joanne McGonagle of &lt;a href=&quot;http://conservationcubclub.com/2014/04/cats-observe-birds-from-the-safety-of-the-great-indoors/?utm_source=rss&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=cats-observe-birds-from-the-safety-of-the-great-indoors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Tiniest Tiger&lt;/a&gt; did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to understand that just because your cat is fascinated by what's going on outside the window, he may not actually want to go outside. All of my cats LOVE watching birds and squirrels through our windows, but when we put a harness on Hunter and took him outside (in our own yard that he sees every day) he absolutely hated it and wanted to go back inside immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outside Supervision&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want to take your cat outdoors, there are methods outlined in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/458/how-to-let-an-indoor-cat-have-some-outdoors-time-safely&quot;&gt;How to let an indoor cat have some outdoor time safely?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T17:00:42.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3010" CreationDate="2014-04-24T17:38:42.063" Score="6" ViewCount="10766" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently (three months ago) adopted a cat from a rescue shelter. He is around 1 or 2 years old, and probably a Maine Coon mix. Half the time he's a sweet, affectionate lovebug, but the other half of the time he's a hyper terror. He will attack and bite (hard!) my feet when I'm walking around, and will sometimes do the &quot;halloween cat&quot; pose with his back arched and tail poofed out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get him to channel his playfulness at his toys (of which he has plenty), rather than my feet? What is the best way to react when he bites to stop him from doing it? Would getting another cat so he has a playmate help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1237" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T15:01:10.910" Title="How can I stop my cat's playful yet aggressive behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3012" CreationDate="2014-04-24T19:27:04.727" Score="13" ViewCount="26528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard different recommendations on how to pick a puppy from a litter to fit a person's needs/lifestyle. I've heard that if I live an active lifestyle, then I should pick the one that runs up to me first, because that one is going to be the friendliest, and easiest to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I've also heard not to pick that one, because it will have the most energy, and therefore harder to train. So if I don't live a very active lifestyle, or if I have children, then I should pick the one in the back instead, because it will be the gentlest and calmest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I've heard that the one in the back is also a bad choice, because it's more likely to have problems socializing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always gone by look (a bit shallow I know), but is there really a way you can tell from a litter of puppies how they'll be for the rest of their lives? Is there any truth to these guidelines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T11:56:08.853" Title="How should I select a puppy from a litter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2992" CreationDate="2014-04-24T21:20:27.477" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;When and why is the (outdated) dominance theory (wrongly) used?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I'd like to clarify me opinion about the so-called &quot;dominance theory&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The starting point of this discussion is that the &quot;dominance theory&quot;, as it is generally depicted, is an outdated concept. For more details see my other answers on the subject,&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2222/how-do-i-identify-my-alpha-dog-or-do-i-even-have-one/2362#2362&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2398/469&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea by itself, using the usual elements (dominance hierarchy, wolves, alpha dog, etc.) is a bunk. Even worse, the &quot;theory&quot; is used at every level of the training or interactions you have with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the most important think to keep in mind is that this &quot;theory&quot; is usually used from the start to the end: it formulates the problem (&quot;my dog pulls on leash so he's dominant), it somehow explains the situation (&quot;the dog pulls because the alpha dog usually walks in front of the pack) and it is somehow the not-so-clearly formulated one-fits-all solution (&quot;don't let your dog be dominant, be the leader of the pack, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's extremely detrimental for the relationship you can have with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs exhibit behaviours we dislike because of many reasons, they all do when untrained (at various levels of intensity) and there is no real point in knowing why (there are a few exceptions: medical conditions, external &quot;extreme&quot; stress, etc). They all do, we all need to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;pseudo-scientific&quot; explanation is a shortcut: once you think it's a dominance problem, you don't think about other solutions and you stop looking at your dog. You start to think it's a wolf trying to overrule your authority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third point looks like a training method, but it certainly is not. It's a general idea we can keep in mind (of course when I want my dog to walk on leash I want to lead him, same for agility handling by the way, that doesn't need to be confrontational). Top (human) athletes projects themselves as winners. I can think the same way over and over, I'll always miss their training (and innate capabilities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Clicker training&quot; or &quot;positive reinforcement training&quot; is not incompatible with leadership. But it acknowledge that leadership is a mindset and something you can achieve with the dog, not a training method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said this doesn't mean I want to let my dog do anything he wants anytime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a puppy my dog was pulling on leash. I didn't really care why. I trained him and now I'm able to lead him on leash and he's not pulling. Here leading means that I decide where we go, I decide when I let him sniff (&quot;ok go sniff the bushes&quot;), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my general mindset. I'll try to address your specific examples below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Never let a dog lead on a walk&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take another approach. Nobody should want his dog to pull on leash. That's tiring, frustrating and not a rewarding experience for the human, the dog and their relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train the dog not to pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have a real relationship, and usually smart enough humans can very easily have leadership in their relationship with their dog. That means setting the rules: we go there at that speed, we stop for a passing jogger, etc. But also understanding the dog's needs: &quot;go sniff that bush&quot;, etc. In both cases you are leading. The rest is a training problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Never let a dog go into the house first&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training (that's the important word here, that means work has to be done. I doesn't mean you can dream that one day and expect the dog to comply instantaneously) a dog to sit at a door is, I think, very important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &quot;teaches&quot; the dog self control with is usually in many other situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a safety issue: a dog rushing in the house might hurt you, your wife carrying the baby, the baby, the cat, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also helps the dog understand that he has control of the environment by deferring to you! &quot;Can I go?&quot; the dog sits and looks at you, &quot;ok go&quot;. That's invaluable in many other situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't let your dog go/sleep in the couch&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual &quot;dominance&quot; reason is &quot;don't let him do that because dominant dogs choose higher places to sleep&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases the annoying thing is not that the dog is in the couch or is not in the couch, but that the dog is trying to get in couch while you're there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, pure training problem. Decide what you want, there are many pros and cons (in my case: I don't care when I'm not in the room, he can go when I'm there only if invited). First part is easy to train: do nothing, wait and see. The second is more frustrating at the beginning but in the end if you're consistent that can work (a longer answer deserves a separated question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is untraining undesirable behaviour important? Is training &quot;good manners&quot; important?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not because it has something to do with dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some trainers every &quot;undesirable&quot; behaviour is a manifestation of dominance. So of course yes, all these behaviours are important and all of them should be untrained (and another desirable behaviour should be trained instead).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many training methods exists. Pets.se has already a bunch of good questions and answers about training, most of them advocating for &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement training&lt;/em&gt; (this list is a bit biased, I mainly looked at answers I've given):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2304/how-do-i-stop-my-dog-from-jumping-on-me/2305#2305&quot;&gt;How do I stop my dog from jumping on me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2530/is-it-problematic-to-encourage-a-dog-to-behave-one-way-with-one-person-but-not-o/2531#2531&quot;&gt;Is it problematic to encourage a dog to behave one way with one person but not others?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2499/how-to-properly-train-a-dog-to-come-when-i-call-him/2501#2501&quot;&gt;How to properly train a dog to come when I call him?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2392/how-can-i-stop-my-dog-from-screaming-or-howling-before-a-walk/2396#2396&quot;&gt;How can I stop my dog from screaming or howling before a walk?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T10:38:57.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="2999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2997" CreationDate="2014-04-24T21:39:02.043" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well first you should rule out health problems. Examine the puppies eyes, ears, mouth, skin and genitals for anything unusual. Gently hold and feel the puppy for any wounds, deformities or sensitive areas. Watch the puppy move and play to ensure he has healthy joints, is strong, and is well developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One advantage of picking the energetic puppy is that sick or defective puppies often don't have a lot of energy. Energetic dogs may be more energetic when it comes to learning so its hard to say if that impacts training one way or another. If the puppy strikes you as unusually energetic and you want a more mellow dog then select a more mellow puppy. Sure there is some truth to puppy behavior and appearance relating to adult behavior but it is more of an art than a science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Runts can be more aggressive than regular sized puppies and may not be as gentle around children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that makes cats, dogs and a few other species attractive to people is that these animals bond with us. Not all animals will bond strongly with a particular person.  So observing the animal's reaction to you is important in selecting an animal you intend to bond with. The animal approaching you and readily engaging in play is a good indicator that you two are compatible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picking a puppy or kitten should also be an intuitive process. You should be able to just observe the puppies for a bit and one may stand out as your favorite. Think of it like identifying an actor, a tree, a story, or a television show you really like; there is no test, or any real thought put into it. One simply is your favorite for some collection of reasons you may or may not be aware of. Trust your intuition and judgment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T21:39:02.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2984" CreationDate="2014-04-24T22:51:58.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bigger cats as well as cats getting a little older (like 7) can experience a bit of joint pain when stressing their joints by jumping. The same applies to people and any other animal. This could also just be a bit of stiffness, a cramp, or what people describe as a &quot;crick.&quot;  This is normal and will not show up on a visit to the vet unless there is significant inflammation or joint damage. Since your cat is just shaking its foot a bit it does not sound like anything significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T22:51:58.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2984" CreationDate="2014-04-24T23:06:41.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paws are very sensitive... more sensitive than your hands.  Landing on them can cause pain and/or that &quot;ringing&quot; you might experience if you hit your elbow (&quot;hit ones funny bone&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be exacerbated by age, arthritis, or other conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to diminish this you can provide a soft thing to land on.  I often find that my &quot;grrls&quot; will preferentially jump onto soft surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat could have arthritis, rheumatism (as you suggest).  As Beo suggests being overweight could contribute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in the absence of any conditions cats deal with this differently, some may experience more pain than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned you could take her to the vet, but, unless it is something odd the vet can't do much.  Still it might be better to rule out anything else bad....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are medicines for arthritis / rheumatism.  There are lickable oils with glucosamine that could help your cat.  With the cat I had who go to 22, she seemed to show some slight improvement from glucosamine (she didn't shake her paws but did have decreased mobility, probably from pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T23:06:41.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2996" CreationDate="2014-04-24T23:16:00.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat will get less aggressive as it ages.  At 1-2 years it is still in a semi formative stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can play with it more in a safe way to try to redirect its energies.  Find some toy that you can use to play with it w/o getting injured (either a toy you can toss or something at the end of a stick or string (careful on the string though, make sure your cat can't sever and swallow it because &quot;poop on a rope&quot; is no fun)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had a similar but different issue.  My Maine Coon is 18 and she is a bit aggressive.  I don't fault her for biting or scratching me during play but the main thing is she is too aggressive with the other cats.  Fortunately only one of them takes her &quot;too seriously&quot;.  I've dealt with the injuries to myself by playing with her differently (she's the only cat who's come to me not declawed by a previous owner... so I was not used to playing with a clawed cat).  With the other cats (not yet a problem for you) I tend to be a bit more strict and break things up and possibly give a nose tap if she really terrorized one of them.  So the other thing I'd say is getting another cat could end up giving you more problems (though if that other cat is also young it could possibly adjust better to your Maine Coon) rather than less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T23:16:00.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2989" CreationDate="2014-04-24T23:24:21.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can be very picky about their food.&#xA;Unfortunately, they pick based on a personal preference (flavor / texture) and not based on how good the food is for them (just like us).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't ask but I'd encourage feeding wet rather than dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dealing with finicky behavior is definitely very annoying.  You want to be able to feed the cat what is good for them and have them eat it, sometimes they can be very insistent that they don't wish to eat that.  I have that issue with one of my cats and it bothers me a lot.  Good luck with your transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-24T23:24:21.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-25T00:09:15.790" Score="3" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has had diarrhea for two days. :( Is there anything I can give him to settle his stomach? He's not eating or drinking much. He was hiding all day yesterday and lying around, which is out of character for him, so I think he feels pretty bad. I just put him in his crate since he was making a mess, too. Someone once told me pedialyte can be given to dogs if they get dehydrated, so does anyone know about this too? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1238" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-25T10:39:53.170" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T10:39:53.170" Title="Is there a home remedy for a dog with a stomach flu?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3004" CreationDate="2014-04-25T00:30:52.253" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;So... First, I think you need to call a vet, as soon as possible. Two days is a long time, his health is at risk as a result of fluid losses.  Your dog is lethargic, from your description, so rubbing some honey on his gums can help a bit, but you really are at the &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;get to a vet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; stage if this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, diarrhea isn't all that uncommon and is often caused by the dog eating something it shouldn't as opposed to an illness. In those cases, there are some home remedies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food break. Take the dog off food for up to a day and that can allow the stomach to settle and heal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep lots of water around, dehydration is a huge issue with diarrhea. Yes, you can use pedialyte to help with the rehydration, go about 50/50 with the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pepto-Bismol or Kaopectate can help, but call a vet for dosage recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if the dog is showing one or more of these signs it is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;critical&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to get him to a vet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Black tar-like or extremely foul stools&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blood in the stool&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain when defecating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy or obvious signs of disinterest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not eating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T00:30:52.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-25T10:30:37.773" Score="7" ViewCount="727" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some puppies seem to have feet to big for their body.  I have often heard that this is an indicator of a dog that will grow to be a larger dog.  Is there any truth to this idea?  Is a the size of a puppies feet in relation to their body, really an indicator of adult size? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:29:46.047" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T03:29:46.047" Title="Do puppies &quot;grow into their feet&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-25T14:06:05.197" Score="2" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2961/846&quot;&gt;According to this answer here&lt;/a&gt;, and it makes a lot of sense, sometimes, you just can't use positive reinforcements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the comments also state, some activities such as pulling on a leash, which one might think can not be taught with positive reinforcement, can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What guidelines can be used to know the limits of positive reinforcement and punishment in pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T14:18:28.777" Title="When should &quot;punishment&quot; be used, and when can it be avoided?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2014-04-27T12:59:36.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-25T14:06:38.137" Score="7" ViewCount="2614" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has Crohn's disease, which basically means he throws up from almost anything. The only treatment we currently have is giving him daily doses of steroids and antiallergenic food, but this just reduces the frequency of him being sick. Can anyone advise of anything else I can give him to reduce the symptoms? Perhaps a different diet or different treatment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="791" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-04-25T14:10:31.823" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T14:45:13.057" Title="Cat Crohn's Disease - What can he eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3008" CreationDate="2014-04-25T14:36:43.437" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the animal variant of Crohn's disease, is diet managed for much of the management of it and you may need to try several different food options before you latch on to one that really helps keep it controlled. In particular, what you want to look at is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High protein/meat content in the food as many foods for cats have fillers and the fillers could be exacerbating the problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foods designed for gastro problems, a good example would be to look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.royalcanin.ca/index.php/Veterinary-Products/Feline-Nutrition/Veterinary-Therapeutic-Formulas/Gastro-Intestinal-Moderate-Calorie-Chunks-in-Gravy&quot;&gt;Medi-cal Gastro formulas&lt;/a&gt; as they're designed to help reduce inflammation and irritation. Their hypoallergenic formula is also very good for this as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish oils can help reduce inflammation (should be noted that the Medi-cal foods use fish oil for this reason). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trial and error is a bit key to all this, unfortunately. Client education recommendations in my books suggest that you'll need to be patient with some food trials. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, however, it's really important to consult with your vet on some of these choices. The Medi-cal foods are supposed to be only available through Vets and so it's a good opportunity to consult and get some recommendations on that front. Be patient, relapse is common and expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a food that works, all other food options need to be removed, including treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T14:36:43.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2996" CreationDate="2014-04-25T15:01:10.910" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the cat was not properly socialized to play politely, so you'll have to teach him manners as well as redirect his energy into toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, when two cats play and one cat gets too rough for the other, the hurt cat will yowl/hiss and stop playing. This is a signal to the over aggressive cat that he needs to tone down his play since he's causing harm.  You need to take the place of the other cats. When he hurts you, cry out (owie, or if mimic a cat pain sound, just pick something and be consistent) and then stop playing and remove yourself from the situation (if you're walking across the room, maybe sit down in a nearby chair and pick your feet up off the ground? Going to have to be a little creative there).  The message that you're trying to send to your cat is &quot;that hurt, stop it!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you want to make sure that your cat's energy is redirected through playtime. You say that your cat has plenty of toys, but the best toys are interactive wand toys that you can control to mimic prey animals (such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.go-cat.com/da_bird_da_bird.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Da Bird&lt;/a&gt;). Generally, you should have at least one play session each day (until he gets tired), then feed him. This should prompt him to go into the natural hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is repeatedly attacking and scaring when you're walking across the room, consider that it may not just be play aggression. Your cat may have been kicked before you got him. A kicked cat will show fear/aggression around feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe this may be the case for your cat, I recomend providing as many elevated towers/shelves/walkways as you can (especially in close areas such as hallways) so that your cat can avoid being on the same level as those scary feet.  One good resource for ideas is &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/category/catification/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's Catification Pages.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you do decide to get a second cat, I would look at getting an older cat (maybe 4-5 years?) who will be tolerant of your teenaged cat's antics, but can provide a mentor-type relationship. Any rescue that has home fosters should have a pretty good idea of their cat's personalities and should be able to help you find a cat that would be a good fit for your current cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T15:01:10.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3008" CreationDate="2014-04-25T16:44:56.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat also has IBS. I have found (through 2 years of trial and error) that she does very well on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/N_4294960807_4294936967/Wellness-Signature-Selects-Cat-Food.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wellness Signature Selects (Petco)&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;mixed with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetdepot.com/pancreplus-powder-12-oz.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ground up pig pancreas (from VetDepot, to help digest the food)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's finally gained back all the weight she once lost, she doesn't excrete everything she eats, and she is happy as a clam and back to her sassy self. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-25T14:45:13.057" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T14:45:13.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2997" CreationDate="2014-04-25T16:54:14.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Health&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/1124/beo&quot;&gt;Beo&lt;/a&gt;'s explanation is best. Be sure to examine the pup in all aspects; eyes, ears, mouth, skin, paws, claws, genitals, etc. You don't need to look for anything specific, just abnormalities. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Size&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The size will reflect the parents' size. When choosing the right weight, I always, always ask what weight the parents are. From there you can compare all the puppies size to determine where it's weight will be when full grown. Meaning, if the puppy is heavier than most of the puppies, then its weight will reflect the heavier parent. Watching the puppies eat may also be an indicator as to how big they will grow. If they are eager to eat then they're probably going to be a little more plump. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Temperament&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperament has always been my biggest deciding factor. Females are generally more calm, but can also be more 'emotional'. For example, a female is more likely to be in tune with the master's actions and aiming to please, but will take correction more harshly. Males are usually more dominant. There's generally an established &quot;hierarchy&quot; by the time puppies are ready to go home. The alpha is the more aggressive, demanding attention, playful, etc. These can be difficult to raise however (speaking from experience). Being an extremely active individual I always enjoyed the alpha male, but they demand a TON more attention and interaction. After having a black lab alpha I turned away from the alpha after experiencing his overabundant and intelligent disobedience. Anyways, the easiest way to test this is to simply hold the puppy on his back! Flip them over on your lap and see how they like it. Pups that struggle more and resist to submit will be more dominant dogs. (Rule of thumb; rolling over to show their bellies is a submissive position for dogs, if dogs show their belly to you to pet for example, means they are acknowledging your dominance and submitting to you). If the dog accepts that you are holding them on their back, means that they are submissive and more calm. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Personality&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personality is my second deciding factor. How do they interact with other pups? Are they playful, far off, aggressive, etc.? Testing this is difficult when they are younger. Make a loud noise (whistle, clap, shout), and observe how they react to it. They more playful, the more 'active' they're going to be. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parents&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with the parents, how do they interact with you? This is a good indication of how the puppy will be when they are older. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all it sounds like you are looking for a dog that is similar to what I picked so here is what I recommend for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't pick the alpha male. The one that runs up to you and demands attention is usually the alpha male, especially if they are constantly demanding your attention. Alpha's are usually incredibly intelligent. While this helps in training, this usually means they will also intelligently disobey, which is difficult to correct. Instead, look for the second or third puppy to enjoy your attention, but not necessarily rely on your attention.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pick a male. For multiple reasons: They're cheaper (usually), they're cheaper if you want to neuter them (spaying is more expensive), they're usually more active and ready for adventures. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Test temperament by flipping them over. The alpha will most likely continuously struggle, refusing to submit to you. If you want a dog that is eager to please, don't pick that one. The perfect temperament for me (maybe you), should struggle quite a bit, but eventually they will let you hold them in such a way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, any dog can be a great dog, it simply depends on how you train it. Love you animal and be consistent! Best of luck and cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Experience: I watched Marley and Me and a Cesar Millan youtube video once. JK, seeing eye dog trainer, but just recently settled down to purchase a pup for my family. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="471" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T20:24:05.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2988" CreationDate="2014-04-25T17:10:06.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This table from &lt;a href=&quot;https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/Sects/ClinPath/modules/ua-rout/sg.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cornell University&lt;/a&gt; lists the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_gravity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;specific gravity&lt;/a&gt; of urine for dogs, cats, and large animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/shWep.png&quot; alt=&quot;Canine sg usual range 1.015-1.045. Feline sg usual range 1.035-1.060. Large animals sp usual range 1.015-1.030&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats usually have the highest urinary specific gravity. Since urine is composed of water and waste material, a higher specific gravity means that cat urine has a higher amount of waste material (the smelly stuff) per volume excreted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-04-25T17:10:06.900" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3008" CreationDate="2014-04-25T20:35:49.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;John's points are good ones. Not to get on the wet food soapbox, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dry food tends to have more fillers such as grains and veggies.  These are fine for humans but &quot;unnatural&quot; to cats and the proteins in them may trigger an immune response (as with your cat).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dry food has more preservatives. Unlikely, but this could also impact your cat's condition.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dry food requires more digestive effort (the plant-based stuff is harder for them to break down). This could add stress to the GI tract.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd pick a wet food with little or no fillers, or make your own cat food.  Try to make the food as much meat as possible. Vitamin type additives (taurine, etc) are good, but avoid plant based stuff.  Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-25T14:44:48.530" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T14:44:48.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3016" CreationDate="2014-04-25T20:50:27.650" Score="9" ViewCount="3577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my little brother a small river turtle, and I would like to know what it eats.&#xA;It's somewhat relatively fast, longish slim tail, seems to be energetic, but I'm &#xA;not sure what it eats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/P4tAZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;River Turtle&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-26T08:03:44.257" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T13:40:13.713" Title="What's an appropriate diet for a small river turtle?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3015" CreationDate="2014-04-25T22:51:58.303" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general a turtle's diet is comprised of 50% protein, 30% vegetables, 10% greens, and 10% fruit. The protein can even be divided up so that it's 25% commercial food, and 25% fresh food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should feed the turtle once daily since it's so young right now, but as it gets older you can move to a schedule of every other day. Some people even go so low as every third day; others keep feeding them daily but in smaller amounts. It's important to keep track of how much you're feeding your turtle because turtles are notorious beggars, and you can risk getting your turtle fat if you give in to its demands too often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule of thumb for feeding times is as much as the turtle can eat in a 15-minute time-span, or an amount of food that matches the size of the turtle's head and neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/zoo-med-labs-aquatic-turtle-food-121577?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=cse&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=ZML-010&amp;amp;utm_campaign=googleproductsearch&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323881028&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zoo Med Aquatic Turtle Food&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/tetra-reptomin-plus-116256?site=CA&amp;amp;utm_source=cse&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc_W&amp;amp;utm_term=UPG-286&amp;amp;utm_campaign=googleproductsearch&amp;amp;CAWELAID=1323867256&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ReptoMin Plus&lt;/a&gt; are the most popular brands of commercial turtle food that you can find in a pet store where I live. Personally I prefer Zoo Med as their focus is on reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your turtle is really young, you'll also want to feed it calcium supplements - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15465&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zoo Med also makes a &quot;Turtle Bone&quot;&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. That will help the turtle's shell and beak grow healthily (avoiding bone/shell deformities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good sources for protein include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Worms (e.g. earthworms or waxworms), but only if your pet store sells them. Earthworms from outside could have been exposed to pesticides, and ones from bait stores aren't sold as food so who knows where they've been.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish, like feeder goldfish or guppies. Guppies are better in my opinion, as the feeder goldfish have spiny fins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boiled chicken is a really good staple; the only downside is that it doesn't give the stimulation live food does.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vegetables/greens include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green Beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Summer Squash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potatoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Okra&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carrots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Collard, Mustard, or Dandelion Greens. (No dandelions from outside because of possible exposure to pesticides and parasites.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say fruits should be more for treats or dessert because of their generally high water content vs actual nutrients. They do make a good way to encourage your turtle to eat if it gets finicky though. Just mix in some of its favorite fruit in with some other food. You can use fruit as a way to administer vitamins too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are any fruits that are really bad for turtles (aside from possible low nutritional value). The most common I know of that are fed to turtles are: grapes, blackberries, cherries, cantaloupe, bananas, apples, kiwis, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also feed it treats like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmountain.com/product/tropical-fish-food/11442-517280/zoo-med-zoo-med-sun-dried-red-shrimp-large.html?utm_source=googleproductads&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;gclid=CNXO29Sn_r0CFQsSMwodPQsA-w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dried prawns&lt;/a&gt;. I consider these treats because they're so high in protein, and so low in other nutrients, that they're not really good as a staple food in my opinion. The goal is to have to give as little vitamin supplement as possible. There is also the risk of your turtle liking the taste too much, and refusing other foods that it needs, like the vegetables. Like a kid given a choice between green beans and candied bacon: it's always going to choose the candied bacon. But you can mix it in with other foods as a supplement if you want to, and definitely if it's something that your turtle might not want to eat by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Live prawns are okay - they give the benefit of mental stimulation to turtles as they have to hunt them. But they can also act as carriers for the bacteria that causes shell rot, so I'd stick to dried ones as treats. Their nutritional value isn't enough to use them other than for treats in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other treats you can give it include mushrooms, corn on the cob, low-fat dry dog food - which is a good source of protein, but not really anything else for a turtle - and on a rare occasion a boiled egg or pinky mouse, though not at the size of your turtle right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foods you never want to feed it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lettuce/spinach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avocado&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Processed meats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meats high in fat or salt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raw meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rhubarb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tobacco leaves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Things that only humans should eat (sandwiches, hot dogs, chili, mac &amp;amp; cheese, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that they can be messy eaters, so you'll want to make sure that you clean the tank after feeding times if you don't feed it in a separate tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, since I'm assuming this is a wild turtle you caught. I'd suggest looking into your local/state laws on keeping native species. I know in most midwestern states it's illegal to keep most native turtles as pets. In some it's actually illegal to even pick up the endangered species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as always I'm going to note that turtles being reptiles require certain temperatures and lights in order to stay healthy. If they don't have the proper temperatures and lights then they won't get the proper nutrients they need from food, and may stop eating altogether. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/880/what-is-the-importance-of-uv-radiation-to-pet-reptiles&quot;&gt;What is the importance of UV radiation to pet reptiles?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some similar Q&amp;amp;As that might give some helpful information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/792/what-are-some-safe-healthy-treats-for-my-turtle&quot;&gt;What are some safe, healthy treats for my turtle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/753/how-can-one-care-for-a-small-snapping-turtle/838#838&quot;&gt;How can one care for a small snapping turtle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T13:40:13.713" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2602" CreationDate="2014-04-26T02:31:35.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may not be the answer your looking for, but... And also I'm not an expert, it just might help...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no proper use of the collar( and they have strict and clear limitations), other than the one put up by the producer(typically: change it often, keep away any tempering agent e.g. water, dirt, shampoo). The way a collar works is by emanating an odor which in turn will only prevent an infestation of ticks but not with a tick itself. It's common sense to see that a tick will still find a place on the body of the pet without having to deal with the odor(source?...experience). But who's to say that they don't keep away at least some of the ticks? It will probably remain an open question until our canine friends develop biped walk and wear shoes. Also, parasites like ticks and any other could develop immunity to the pesticide used in the substance on the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had any side effect with my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog has contracted &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babesiosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;babesiosis&lt;/a&gt; 2 times. Both of the times he was near death. In both cases we could find the tick when it was filled with blood (he has a lot of hair and it is hard to search thorough). Most importantly, afterwards we could pinpoint to exact locations where he could have caught the ticks. Later, we found out that these locations are frequently visited by cattle, which, by local knowledge, are always infested. The moral of the story is that it is better to know the places you are visiting or crossing rather than relying only on collars or on dewormers. Also, trimming the fur helps making the tick's job of trying to stick to the victim harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-26T08:07:26.543" LastActivityDate="2014-04-26T08:07:26.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3021" CreationDate="2014-04-26T19:16:05.733" Score="4" ViewCount="2007" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small river turtle, and I gathered info that they eat vegetables like peas and carrots. I was wondering if frozen ones(once heated and slightly sliced) are in any way bad or different to the turtle? Or can I feed them just as I would fresh ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T19:57:21.617" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T19:57:21.617" Title="Are frozen foods (vegetables) appropriate for turtles?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3020" CreationDate="2014-04-26T20:11:53.753" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frozen vegetables should be okay once thawed. There is a slight problem that they lose some of their nutritional value when cooked. Part of the packaging process of frozen vegetables includes blanching them in order to kill off bacteria (blanching is to put some food in a pot of water and bring it up to a boil), so even if you don't cook the vegetables yourself when thawing them (e.g. heating them up in the microwave, steaming them, or boiling them), they've already been cooked before you even bought them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you're feeding your turtle a balanced diet, it shouldn't make too much of a difference whether they've been cooked. Just note that you might not be able to rely on the vegetables as your sole source of vitamins. Carrots for example will have a lower vitamin C content, so if the only thing you're feeding your turtle that contains vitamin C is carrots, and they're cooked, you might want to look at adding another food or supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the option to get fresh vegetable to share with your turtle I'd definitely suggest that. If you like carrots you can share some peelings off of it, but also the greens from the top that you (probably) wouldn't eat yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would avoid though, is canned foods. Because those are usually processed with various preservatives that are bad for pets to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-04-27T17:53:44.700" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T17:53:44.700" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-27T03:22:28.377" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have grown dogs from puppies and learned by experience and minor sources... Now I would be interested in having a look at the same books used by veterinarians in their school. I've noticed that, for the most part, they have standardized procedures worldwide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T09:30:27.943" Title="List of books used by veterinarians from the first day of training to the last" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-04-27T12:28:42.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-27T07:30:29.077" Score="4" ViewCount="4037" Body="&lt;p&gt;Papaya enzyme is one of my go-to's at the first one of my rabbits might be having GI issues (usually small or strung together poops clues me in).  However the treats them selves are quite expensive (~$10 for 90 tablets).  Human papya enzyme tablets cost 5x less (500 for ~$11).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is it safe to feed my rabbits papaya enzyme tablets designed for humans?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T22:42:09.843" Title="Is it okay to feed rabbits papaya enzyme labeled for human consumption?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3022" CreationDate="2014-04-27T09:30:27.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answers is not meant at telling you how to become a vet in 7 days, but in cases I want &quot;professional&quot; grade information or access scientifically reviewed studies, I would go like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find the webpage of your local vet school, figure how what are the required courses and in what order, go to these courses websites and find out what's the main textbook.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a long list of veterinary medicine/veterinary behavioural medicine worldwide. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elsevier.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elsevier&lt;/a&gt; publishes a bunch of major ones, eg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-animal-behaviour-science/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Applied Animal Behaviour Science&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-veterinary-behavior-clinical-applications-and-research/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research&lt;/a&gt;. Most of them are not (entirely) free and the online access platform of Elsevier is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ScienceDirect&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again this is not meant to promote self learning or self practice of veterinary medicine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T09:30:27.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-27T11:46:07.423" Score="7" ViewCount="23142" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, we took over ownership of a small fish tank (with fish) from their existing owner. They had kept fish for many years without trouble, and told us that they changed the water every 2-3 weeks, and the filter cartridge every 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what size the tank is precisely, but measuring water in and out suggests 25-30 liters. It's currently got 4 small (platy size) fish in it. We try and feed them only a minimal amount, as suggested by the previous owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've discovered that the water becomes acidic very quickly after a water change. We treat tap water with an additive that makes it &amp;quot;safe for fish&amp;quot; and another that's supposed to retain pH balance. The water out of the tap is about pH 7, and remains pH 7 after these are added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However within 2-3 days the pH has fallen to 5.5-6. I'm not sure if this is bad for the fish or not, but since owning the fish, two have died (there were six originally), although this could have been old age. One fish did develop what looked like a red sore spot but this has receded since we started changing the water more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Had I realized I'd need to changing the water more than once a week, I'm not sure I'd have agreed to having fish. Is this frequency of water changing typical of a tank this size, is the acidic pH acceptable for most fish, and if not, is there anything I can do to try and keep a healthy pH for longer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1251" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T23:10:57.967" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T23:16:22.523" Title="Aquarium water becomes overly acidic very quickly" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2014-04-27T14:04:43.017" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The appropriate pH level of the water does vary a bit by fish, but too acidic can definitely kill them. Any change in pH levels that you want to introduce should be done gradually to avoid a shock to the fish, but some ways to go about this include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Partial water changes, about 25% on a frequent basis. You don't have to change out the water completely, but regular, partial changes can increase the pH without the burden of a full change all the time. Also, I don't think I would be doing complete full changes of the water, this is very hard on the fish, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_waterchange.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;partial changes are much better&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use baking soda, yes the Arm &amp;amp; Hammer kind. Take a couple of cups of aquarium water, dissolve 1/8th teaspoon of baking soda in it and then add it to the water. Wait an hour or so and then measure pH. If it's increased a bit, say 0.2 or thereabouts, stop and do the same the next day. This will take a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aerate the water. Basically, what you're doing is driving out the carbon dioxide for oxygen and that raises the pH. Water, over time, will lose the oxygen levels and increase the carbon dioxide levels, thus increasing acidity. Adding oxygen back in changes that. You can get air pumps for your tank at many pet stores for very little. $20-$25 can make life easier for you... :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rocks and/or driftwood from your pet store can influence the pH levels of the tank (and make them more interesting too), though wood will tend to reduce the pH. Check for your species before you buy though.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, you have to do this gradually. A sudden, very, large spike in the pH can be just as harmful. Take your time and do it slowly, that will help them much more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-04-27T23:28:09.217" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T23:28:09.217" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2014-04-27T15:12:01.853" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;John Cavan's advice is good. Some additional advice that I learned the hard way after many years of owning 80 and 300 litre freshwater tanks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't have a working understanding of pH, it is helpful to read up on it. A precise definition of pH is unnecessary; a good way to think of it is that pH measures the amount of free hydrogen atoms in the water. Pure water has one hydrogen per 10 000 000 water molecules; note there are 7 zeros. Slightly acidic water has ten times as much hydrogen, so one per 1 000 000 water. Note there are 6 zeros. Slightly basic water has ten times fewer hydrogens, so one per 100 000 000, note there are 8 zeros.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water with a pH of 5.5 has one hydrogen per ~310 000 water molecules so it is ~31 times more acidic than pure water. (Because 31 x 310000 is about 10000000.) That's pretty acidic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Small tanks are considerably harder to keep in pH balance than large tanks because small changes have a relatively larger effect. Your 30 litre tank will be a lot more finicky than a bigger tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Baking soda -- NaHCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; -- is a great addition to a tank if you're having pH problems. It is a &amp;quot;buffer&amp;quot;, meaning that it will not only bring low-pH tanks back towards neutral, but it also resists the water becoming too basic as well. Essentially it acts like a spring -- if you compress a spring it tries to get back to normal. If you stretch a string, it tries to get back to normal. No matter what you do, it tries to get back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Washing soda -- Na&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; -- will raise the pH of an overly acidic tank faster than baking soda will.  Given what you know from my first point, you should be able to figure out why that is. (Incidentally, Na&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; is what NaHCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; turns into when you bake it; it's what's left in the cake after the baking soda produces carbon dioxide.)  Sodium hydroxide -- NaOH -- will also raise pH quickly. (The OH&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; combines with free hydrogen ions to form H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O and thereby lessens the amount of free hydrogen ions very quickly.) However, see the next point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I recommend measuring pH with a chemical indicator. A sad story: I got an electronic pH meter with my tank and used it to check pH for many years. One day it read that the pH was low, so I put a little NaOH in the tank. The next day, same thing. And the next. And then I realized wait a minute, there is no process that should be making that much acid that quickly in the tank. The pH meter was in fact broken, the pH was very very high, not low at all, and I ended up bleaching some fish to death. Chemical indicators don't break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Note that the chemistry of your tap water can change considerably over time depending on where you live and what local conditions are like. Where I grew up there were two main sources of water; a glacial moraine aquifer where the water was insanely hard (hardness means &amp;quot;lots of dissolved CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&amp;quot; and makes pH very stable) and treated river water. People who lived in the part of the city on the aquifer had the same water chemistry all the time, but the river water changed chemically with the seasons. If you're not sure where the water is coming from and how stable it is, keep an eye on it. Hard water sources will be more resistant to pH change than soft water sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The other answers suggest oxygenation; indeed, dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is acidic, as you can tell if you measure the pH of soda water. It's not clear to me that additional dissolved O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will change that, but it is certainly good for the fish. Note that pumps which bubble air through the tank will help, but the mechanism is different than you think. Most of the absorption of dissolved O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will not be from the bubbles, which have relatively small surface area, but rather from the fact that the bubbles cause the water of the tank to slowly rotate in a cylinder, bringing more water from the bottom of the tank into contact with the air. It's the top of the tank that has lots of contact with the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1253" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T22:14:28.610" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:14:28.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-27T17:57:35.517" Score="10" ViewCount="9897" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is about 2.5 years old, and I got him when he was about 6 months old. At first he was very afraid of me and my wife, but in time he learned to trust us. He is often playful and he sleeps with us in our bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, lately he sometimes acts like he's afraid of me - he won't go near me and if I tell him to sit, he runs and hides under the bed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He is particularly afraid of tick/flee preventing ampoules. Whenever he sees them, he immediately runs and hides. In these situations he doesn't respond to treats and doesn't &quot;take the bait&quot;. I was petting him yesterday (he was relaxed and sitting with us on the couch) and I felt a tick. I went to bring some toilet paper to remove it and he somehow sensed something was wrong so he hid again. He won't let me go near him when I try to remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I try to force the ampoule on him, he growls at me and he seems both violent and afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get my dog to trust me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="933" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:51:51.247" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:51:51.247" Title="My dog is sometimes afraid of me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="726" CreationDate="2014-04-27T19:34:06.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) as user87 points out some human medications may be damaging to cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) even when it isn't the dosage is probably WAY too high (humans weight a lot more than cats, and cats don't have cytochromes in the guts like humans do (since humans have these medication dosages are WAY higher than they'd be otherwise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only give cats human medications if directed by a vet and only in the dosage and manner as prescribed by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, cat isn't as lucrative as human healthcare- thus there is more research on human health problems and a lot of pet medicine (especially the drugs) is &quot;borrowed&quot; and retested to see if it works on animals.  My &quot;baby&quot; cat takes medicine originally made for the human market (but disturbingly pulled because of heart complications with humans, though vets tell me that doesn't happen with cats- still I use it sparingly as a result).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-27T19:34:06.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-04-27T22:55:36.570" Score="-2" ViewCount="41084" Body="&lt;p&gt;My new kitten is six weeks old and I think he's defective!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted him from Craigslist and the people said he was litter trained, but he keeps going to the &quot;bathroom&quot; in the corner of the room. When I give him food I play with him after he eats, let him groom himself a little bit, then I put him in the litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked for advice online and have tried a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I tried to gently take his paws and rub them against the litter so he understands, but he just jumps out of the litter box. He disappears for 15-20 minutes, then I smell the feces, and of course he's in the corner making another mess. :(&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;People said to watch the kitten carefully and if I catch him mid-poop put him in the litterbox. I have tried that too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other people said to take the kitten and bring him back to the feces, then rub his face in it while saying &quot;No!&quot;. I tried that about eight times over 2-3 days and the kitten still doesn't get it! Advice online when I said it didn't work was just to do it again, but rub his face in the poop more vigorously.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's still not getting it! How do I make the kitten understand he has to use the litterbox?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user1256" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-04-29T12:44:30.247" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T15:23:46.520" Title="Kitten is still defecating on the floor even after I rub his face in it, what do I do?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3025" CreationDate="2014-04-27T23:19:26.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The info you've been given in the previous answers is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water that has a decent buffering capacity (generally lots of carbonates) will be more resistant to pH fluctuations than water that does not. (If your water is pH 7 straight out of the tap then it likely has little to no buffering capacity which could definitely account for your dramatic pH swings.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High levels of carbon dioxide in the water will tend to make it more acidic, so forcing the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; out should help to bring the pH back up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Partial water changes are also important since your buffer/carbonates can get used up over time, which can result in the water suddenly becoming more acidic. These partial changes are also necessary to remove nitrates from the water which will build up over time (as a result of fish waste) and can be harmful to your fish if they get to very high levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few more things that might be worth considering when trying to account for fish loses and pH swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the filter media and/or substrate dried out when the tank was being moved then it's likely that most of the beneficial bacteria that live there and convert fish waste (ammonia) into less toxic forms (nitrites and, eventually, nitrates) will have died off. This could result in a fatal ammonia spike if fish waste builds up faster than the bacteria can re-establish themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said that you have been using some sort of pH &amp;quot;balancer&amp;quot;. From what I've seen, these often cause more problems than they solve. Check to see exactly what it is and how it works. Products meant to adjust pH can often result in &lt;em&gt;less stable&lt;/em&gt; water conditions. And if you're looking for something to stabilize pH rather than adjust it, plain old baking soda (as others have suggested) is probably going to do just as good a job -- if not better -- and be much, much cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as using decor items to adjust your pH goes... this can work, just make sure you add things one at a time and carefully monitor your pH after adding each item so that you're aware of any rapid changes. As John Cavan said, rapid shifts in water chemistry should be avoided if at all possible.&#xA;Adding things like crushed coral or limestone will add buffering capacity and tend to raise pH.&#xA;Adding driftwood will actually &lt;em&gt;lower&lt;/em&gt; the pH so I would advise against adding any wood to your tank if you're having trouble with it going low already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, for a tank that is not overstocked, I would find it very unusual to have to do more than a 25% water change once per week. If you're having to change more water than this in order to keep the chemistry stable, then it's worth examining your stock levels, decor/hardscaping, water source, buffering capacity, water additives, etc. to see if you can identify the source of the instability. Hopefully the info you've been given in the answers here will be enough to pin it down and address it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="164" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T23:16:22.523" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T23:16:22.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3031" CreationDate="2014-04-28T00:15:07.170" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;immediately stop&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the activity of rubbing his face in it. This is completely counterproductive, the kitten is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; going to make that association, and is going to see this as abusive and become fearful of you. That advice is brutally bad, it boggles the mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, 6 weeks is way too early to separate a kitten from the mother, 8 weeks is minimum, 12 is best. So, whoever sold it to really has no business doing this and my guess is that they had an unexpected litter and were trying to get rid of them. That's unfortunate, a couple of more weeks and you might not be having this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you understand that the kitten is not properly weaned from the mother and trained by her, then you need to substitute for her. Some initial steps you need to do are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Observe the pattern of elimination:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he go in the same place? If so, put a litter box there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he always avoid the litter? Have you looked at a different litter option? There are some designed to attract cats for this purpose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he go beside the box or entirely away from it? If beside it, the litter or the box may be the issue. Any idea what litter the people that sold you the cat use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he spread it about? If so, he may be marking territory. Seems a little young, yet, for that, but still.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a whole program of behavioural medicine work around the answers to those questions, so a bit out of scope here. However, you can use this information to talk with your vet or use as the basis for trying some things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reasons cats usually don't use the litter box:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prefers or dislikes a certain kind of litter (gravel may hurt his paws for example)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't like the location, do you keep the litter box near his food? We don't like to eat in our bathrooms either&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you clean it frequently, cats are fussy and will avoid soiled boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fear, bad association around the current location of the litter box (which isn't helped by the existing bad advice you've already gotten)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Things to help:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the litter box clean (assuming he's using it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash it out once a week to remove odors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different types of litters, switch them up and see if he shows a preference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litter attractant, basically designed to attract cats to the litter box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the height of the box, he may be having a hard time getting in it as a kitten and so avoids (if he's going beside it, this is a possibility).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't put a lid on the box if you have one (concentrates the odors)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure you thoroughly clean the area he defecated on, preferably with a cleanser designed for this&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the box to a more open area and away from any food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he tends to use quiet areas, move the box to a quiet area. If he tends to busy, move to a busy area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Things to avoid:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liners, some evidence that they reduce litter box usage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Punishment. This will make it worse, not better, and may alienate the cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things about punishment, and why I'm kind of harping on it, is that there's this idea that the cat should be able to grasp &quot;bad&quot; in this context. Get past the idea that cat is like a human, they don't see it this way, they're just pooping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T00:15:07.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3028" CreationDate="2014-04-28T01:30:00.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Yorkie (as well as other mostly large dog breeds). They are well-known for running away from their masters and hiding, ect. When I first had my dog as a puppy, he didn't even like to be petted by me. He loved strangers though-how frustrating!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing is that you say he is growling. That should never happen in a well trained dog. If its serious pain they will nip or whine, and always take that seriously. IMO dogs understand you well if you overstate your emotions: deep sad sighs, saying &quot;ouch,&quot; ect As I said I have several large breed rescues. I would never put up with growling. Most bites to children are actually from small breeds since they are on the level with the child. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Yorkie hides under the bed sometimes, but if he growled (or barked a lot, that's usually how they establish dominance) at me-and he did when he was a puppy-you have to be willing to take apart the entire bed and bring them out. Usually a broom a works, just be very gentle. Don't swat them! Then sternly tell him &quot;no.&quot; If you really put in the effort and it doesn't work, a small percentage of dogs have serious psychiatric problems and you may need professional help. Ask you're vet about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said. It's good you're giving treats. My suggestion is to give the treats more frequently during the behavior you're trying to reinforce and make sure the dog never gets treats when its not doing something you're not trying reinforce, like looking very cute. In the best of all worlds, all people love their dogs, but we shouldn't give them treats simply because we love them. Sometimes treats are given when the behavior is actually negative, such as &quot;the dog was growling from under bed, so I gave it a treat to make it happy&quot;- that would be a mistake, since it reinforces the negative behavior. Also make sure you are being expressive so that the dog understands. Its ok to use a high pitched voice you wouldn't normally use. &quot;Good dog!&quot; They really like that and they will be more likely to warm up to you. (I actually had to teach my Yorkie the command &quot;Give love&quot; meaning &quot;let me pet you&quot; which sounds silly, but they really are that withdrawn sometimes by nature.)    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of my dogs like their flea and tick medication, but they all get it. A little bit of trickery goes a long way here. Trying pulling out the leash to go for walk. Give them the meds. Give them a treat. Then always, always, always go for the walk. They will figure out if you're lying. I learned that one. If they are especially resistant, you could try an extra special treat, such as cheese, soft food, a new toy, ect. I have a very old Yorkie (about 14 years)-a different Yorkie than the above referenced, I have had several that had a hard time finding homes for many reasons- that will only take his medication in certain brands of low nutritional value soft food, for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try getting the oral meds and grinding them up into soft food of course, but I think you need to concentrate on training. I say this since the dog is also sleeping in your bed. In many cases this can cause behavioral issues, so it would be in your interest to teach to the dog to sleep in his crate, outside the door or on the floor, whichever is most comfortable for the dog.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1238" LastEditorUserId="1238" LastEditDate="2014-04-28T03:39:48.987" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T03:39:48.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3039" CreationDate="2014-04-28T14:43:32.430" Score="9" ViewCount="1266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats. We feed them wet food daily (in the kitchen far from the litter-box,) and we provide them free access to dry kibble all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter-box and the feeding zone are located in the &quot;no-dog&quot; part of the house and are in the same room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've never had any (apparent) problem with that setup: both cats are using the litter-box with no issue, and both cats are eating a few times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is not the ideal situation, but we've never had any problem, and I'm trying to find a balance between the theoretical ideal setup (2+1 litter-boxes, feeding in another room, etc.). Should I worry about that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also planning to change their bowl with a feeding maze (see picture). Would it be acceptable for them to &quot;play&quot; close to their litterbox? Should I just try and, if they use it, conclude that it is OK with them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nchTa.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T14:20:17.147" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T14:20:17.147" Title="Can I locate my cats' feeding maze close to their litter-box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2479" CreationDate="2014-04-28T14:51:17.377" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears as though flea and tick treatment is effective on dogs with all hair types, despite the differences in oil production, as long as the product is applied correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bioactivation-in-fleas.co.uk/pages/faq/faq.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bioactivation in Fleas&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Flea and Tick removal] products move through the oily coating of the dog or cat’s hair and skin in exactly the same way in long and short-haired breeds. To provide the best care for your pet, just ensure that you select the correct product size for your dog or cat based on its weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it is applied directly to the skin instead of the fur itself (which has no effect on the overall effectiveness on the treatment), spot treatment should work on dogs with all hair types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.1800petmeds.com/education/flea-medicine-not-working-7.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMeds.com&lt;/a&gt; on product application:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Touch the skin with the applicator tip. Don't put the applicator tip in the hair because hair cannot absorb product. Put the tip on the skin, which is able to absorb the medication. You can slide the applicator under the hair (rather than parting the hair with your fingers) if you are sure the applicator touches the skin. Apply along the back where your pet cannot reach. You can apply to one spot or several spots, however, the more often you lift the applicator tip and move to another location, the more likely you are to get product in the hair or on yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jrg45.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a helpful article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Apply-Advantage-to-Dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WikiHow&lt;/a&gt; that explains the treatment process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Locate the middle of the dog's back at the base of its neck between the shoulder blades. Use one hand to part the fur and expose the skin.  Use a disposable hair clip or hair elastic to hold the fur out of the way if your dog is long-haired or has a thick coat. This will help you get the product on the dog's skin, not the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T14:51:17.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3037" CreationDate="2014-04-28T15:43:36.150" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many cats are very fussy about their litter box and food proximity, bearing in mind that their sense of smell is substantially better than ours, but not all cats are that particularly bothered by it. So, short answer is &quot;yes&quot; you can do that if the cat(s) tolerate it. Some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the boxes clean, scooped daily (or more frequent) and washed weekly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the boxes in good shape, scratched/old boxes are more likely to hold odors in them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep an eye on the feeding habits. If they start to show signs of food avoidance, look to separate the food from the litter boxes. Mind you, if it's just one cat, then this may be an indication of something else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep an eye on litter usage. If they start going outside of the boxes, away from the food, then this a sign that they don't like this arrangement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I had a cat many years ago where the food and litter box were side by side and he never fussed about it, always ate his food, always used the box. On the other hand, our current cats won't tolerate that, at all, so we have the boxes and food in different rooms. It's going to depend on the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-28T15:43:36.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3040" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3043" CreationDate="2014-04-28T21:35:06.487" Score="14" ViewCount="5553" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ten years old cat that I used to fed twice a day but now it asks for food every time she sees me. I started to feed her three times a day and she has grown considerably fat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this good for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1262" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-04-29T10:23:55.893" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T23:34:17.347" Title="My cat is gaining too much weight, how often should I be feeding her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3028" CreationDate="2014-04-29T00:08:31.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dog's trust consistent masters. Always follow a routine, and always reward good behavior even if it's not what you asked for i.e. You say &quot;come here&quot;, and he sits down and smiles... You should say &quot;good boy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you're observant (does it have an injury?). For example, my dog is scared of hats. It sounds odd, but it is something I figured out and now I know not to allow people wearing hats to rush up on him. My dog and I are a team. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1153" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T00:08:31.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3040" CreationDate="2014-04-29T00:47:15.887" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the term you're using is &lt;em&gt;considerably fat&lt;/em&gt; then the short answer your question is: no, it's the opposite of good. In fact, it's very bad for her. Here's the essential risks of obesity in cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Osteoarthritis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diabetes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dermatosis (skin diseases)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver disease (feline fatty liver syndrome)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower urinary tract diseases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased lifespan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if your cat is obese, that requires some measurements that a vet can perform for you, but if you're &lt;em&gt;seeing&lt;/em&gt; the change, chances are good that it will get worse. So, what can you do? Well, food choices and your resistance to her demands are going to matter. Some things to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure the protein content in her food is high and the fat content is low.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fiber in her diet can improve her metabolism, increase her feeling of being full, but not add the calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the food intake gradually. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce any treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now, you should still take her to the vet for a consultation and check-up&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can determine her proper target weight for her breed, size, and age. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can recommend some appropriate food volumes and a reduction strategy to bring her weight down in a controlled an healthy manner. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The check-up can determine a baseline for future comparisons which, if she is obese, should happen monthly with the vet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the target weight is hit, they can help provide guidance on how to maintain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T00:47:15.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3040" CreationDate="2014-04-29T00:48:30.720" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smaller meals more frequently are better for your cat than fewer larger meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't feed it &quot;as much as it wants&quot; unless it is keeping a good stable weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to feed it so that it maintains a stable weight and is not too skinny or too fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is too fat (as you suggest) trim her down, you can still feed her multiple times a day, just cut the portions down.  Don't do a crash diet, feed her so she slowly looses the weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could probably consult your vet by phone for free in regards to what an ideal weight is for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T00:48:30.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3040" CreationDate="2014-04-29T07:21:55.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Becoming too fat is rather unhealthy for cats, especially if they have little exercise. But now that your cat is used to getting fed three times per day, she might become a little bit annoying if you switch back to two meals. However, you can feed smaller portions, i.e. not give her the whole pack at once. Cat food can be stored in the fridge for several hours, and if you let it warm up a little bit before feeding, your cat may not notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1235" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T23:34:17.347" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T23:34:17.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3040" CreationDate="2014-04-29T10:23:08.993" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answers provided so far are quite good already: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3042/469&quot;&gt;overweight is dangerous for the cat's health&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3043/469&quot;&gt;frequent, smaller meals are better than one/two big meals&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your solution is to reduce the quantity of each meal, possibly keeping two or three meals a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stimulate your cat's hunting and chasing instinct&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to add is that it is normal for cats to be &lt;em&gt;on the hunt&lt;/em&gt; all day long. The innate instinct of cats is to hunt their preys, which are usually rather small. The way we feed our cats usually goes against their predatory instinct and cats can become bored about food or feel uncomfortable not having a possibility to access food (&lt;a href=&quot;https://hsldigital.osu.edu/sitetool/sites/indoorpetpublic/documents/Herron10_EE_for_Indoor_Cats.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally hunting or &quot;playing for food&quot; is an excellent mental stimulation that will benefit the cat mentally and physically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would recommend giving the cat access to some kind of &lt;em&gt;food puzzle&lt;/em&gt;. A few well known options are (see links and pictures):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pipolino.eu/en/12-for-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pipolino&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kongcompany.com/fr/products/pour-les-chats/treat-dispensers/treat-dispensers/cat-wobbler/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong for cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ca-en.hagen.com/Cat/Feeding/Accessories/50745&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catit feeding maze&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0035H60DQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SmartCat Tiger Diner Portion Control Cat Bowl&lt;/a&gt;, cf. @dmckee's comment&#xA;The cat will have to work for his food and that will provide mental and physical exercice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are now feeding your cat &quot;the usual way&quot;, you could proceed step by step: give your cat half of his meal in a bowl, when he's done put the other half in one of the toy and given him access to the toy. If he likes it, you can then just fill the toy twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed that you feed your cat dry food, the question &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2506/should-my-cat-be-allowed-some-wet-food-every-day&quot;&gt;Should my cat be allowed some wet food every day?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; has excellent answers about wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One good solution would be to give your cat wet food once a day, and free access to a toy with dry food during the day. If you control the quality of the food and its quantity this is not incompatible with preventing the cat to gain weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;References&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also have a look at this paper: &lt;a href=&quot;https://hsldigital.osu.edu/sitetool/sites/indoorpetpublic/documents/Herron10_EE_for_Indoor_Cats.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Environmental enrichment for indoor cats&lt;/a&gt; which is a detailed discussion (problems and possible solutions) in reference to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catvets.com/public/PDFs/PositionStatements/EnviromentalEnhancement-.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFP (American Association of Feline Practitioners) position statement on Environmental enrichment for indoor cats&lt;/a&gt;. Both cover cats' feeding issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pipolino&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ASvoD.png&quot; alt=&quot;Pipolino&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Kong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N7SZG.png&quot; alt=&quot;Kong&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Catit feeding maze&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/skOXq.png&quot; alt=&quot;Catit&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tiger bowl&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zOk8o.png&quot; alt=&quot;Tiger bowl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T10:29:11.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3040" CreationDate="2014-04-29T14:49:19.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I remember from the cats I had, they like the canned (wet) food, not so much the hard dry food. Give them limited wet food. I don't know what a normal cat would need, but that won't be too difficult to find out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always had a tray with dry food in the kitchen and they could eat as much as they wanted. So they always had sufficient food available, and if they were really hungry, they could eat as much as they needed. Most of the time the tray was filled and they didn't eat much of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read the book &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1860542387&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Don't shoot the dog&lt;/a&gt; by Karen Pryor&lt;/strong&gt;. It's a fun book about behavior, and how you can change it by using positive and negative reinforcement. Spoiler: negative reinforcement doesn't work - especially with cats, but... positive reinforcement does work really good. This book is mostly about dogs, but you will find some really nice insights in your own behavior, and it might inspire you to handle your cat differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1271" LastEditorUserId="1271" LastEditDate="2014-04-29T19:57:38.287" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T19:57:38.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3052" CreationDate="2014-04-29T17:52:14.667" Score="6" ViewCount="11100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Havanese-Maltese mixed puppy that is 14 weeks old and weighs 3.5 pounds.  I have been feeding her 1/4 of Blue a day.  Every time I fill her bowl up, she devours the food.  Should I increase the amount of food I give her to a 1/2 cup?  Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1274" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T15:53:28.820" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T12:06:09.940" Title="How much should I feed my puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3053" CreationDate="2014-04-29T18:00:53.950" Score="3" ViewCount="1305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 14 week old Havanese-Maltese puppy that I am trying to potty train.  I work 8 hours a day and keep her in a crate when I am at work or sleeping.  As soon as I come home/wake up I take her outside to use the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She uses the bathroom just fine, the problem is I don't know when to take her out again. I read that I should take her out as soon as she is done eating, but I don't know when after that. Should I take her out every couple of hours?  Last night, for example, I took her outside, she peed, and 15 minutes later, she peed in the house without any indication she needed to use the bathroom.  I tried using puppy pads, but that didn't work either.  When she does use the bathroom in the house, I make sure to take her out directly after (I don't know if that is a good practice or not).  Any help will be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1274" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T02:15:57.950" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T02:15:57.950" Title="When should I take my puppy out to use the bathroom?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3031" CreationDate="2014-04-29T18:12:20.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to John's excellent advice, I'd add something that will help with very young kittens like this one (after you stop punishing him when he doesn't understand what's happening - chances are you're finding the poop long after he's done it so there's nothing to connect you being mad at him and him pooping in the wrong place)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you see him getting ready to go, in the squat with the tail up, &lt;strong&gt;gently&lt;/strong&gt; pick him up and move him to the litter box, then stay with him and encourage him to stay in the box until he does his business. Once he's done, praise and pet him even if he didn't get the burying part. You want him to associate the litter box with doing his business and - after the horrible advice you got - good things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a kitten this young, I'd keep multiple boxes so there's always one close by because he's not always going to be able to find his way to it when he needs it. As he gets older, he'll pick out a favorite place, and you can remove the other boxes. This is how I handled the kitten I got at the age of 5 weeks: there were litter boxes in multiple places, and any time she showed signs of wanting to go, I took her to the nearest box and encouraged her until she was done. After the first few weeks accidents stopped and I was able to ease back to a single box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all, no matter how unpleasant any accidents get, &lt;strong&gt;do not punish the kitten&lt;/strong&gt;. He's too young to be away from his mother, possibly too young to remember &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt; he should be doing his business, and trying to figure out a whole new environment that's both exciting and scary. You want him to trust you, not fear you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T18:12:20.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2014-04-29T18:27:41.607" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of generalized guidelines for what to feed your dog, and how often.   It is best to look at the directions of the food you are feeding for their recommendations, and overall to make sure you are feeding them a healthy brand of food, without any unhealthy fillers like corn or wheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/feeding.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Breed Info&lt;/a&gt; (for &lt;em&gt;adult&lt;/em&gt; dogs):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7lx1j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it differs by weight and age of the puppy, feeding patterns are important as well (feeding at different times of the day, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/dog-nutrition/Puppy-Feeding-Guidelines&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;instead of all at once&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Puppies should be fed three to four times a day therefore if you are currently feeding ¾ a cup of puppy food twice a day you should consider spacing it out by feeding ½ cup three times a day. Smaller meals are easier to digest for the puppy and energy levels don’t peak and fall so much with frequent meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends on your dog's body condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is important to be able to judge your dog’s body condition score in order to determine how much food you should give.  The recommendations on the labels are guidelines only and will not apply to every dog. You may need to feed a little more or less depending on your dog’s condition score. Ideally you should be able to feel but not see the ribs and by looking straight down at your dog while she is standing there should be a recognizable waist. Ask your veterinarian if your dog is at a healthy weight during your next visit and ask for example of body condition scores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HcOT1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although these resources are helpful, they are also generalized, and the best way to see exactly what you should be feeding your dog is to discuss this with your veterinarian during your next check-up, as they will be able to correctly assess your puppy's condition and subsequent nutritional needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T18:27:41.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3050" CreationDate="2014-04-29T18:44:44.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to know when to take a puppy out to use the bathroom, as they don't have a lot of control over their bladder when they are very young.  At one point, my two-month  old puppy was going to the bathroom about every half hour, so we let him out frequently when we were home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getting-a-dog-or-puppy/general-advice-about-caring-for-your-new-puppy-or-dog/toilet-training-for-puppies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Kennel Club:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Puppies have very poor bladder control, and need to urinate at least every hour or two. They can urinate spontaneously when they get excited, so take your puppy out frequently if it has been active, playing or exploring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is really important that you are taking out the puppy from its crate as soon as you get home, and as soon as you wake up in the morning, as you are doing now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually as they get older a pattern will develop, and they will also learn to warn you when they do need to go outside (from my personal experience - whining, automatically going to the door, or a combination of the two) to go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tEEj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a good Wiki-How article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/House-Train-Your-Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to house train your dog&lt;/a&gt;, as well as how to properly deal with it when they have accidents inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-04-29T18:53:10.053" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T18:53:10.053" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3040" CreationDate="2014-04-29T19:19:33.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As supplementary information to the other answers, a veterinarian will be able to give you advice specifically for your cats needs, whether it needs exercise, healthier food, or different feeding times, similar to my answer for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3049/how-much-should-i-feed-my-puppy&quot;&gt;How much should I feed my puppy?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet will also use a &lt;strong&gt;weight chart&lt;/strong&gt; to determine the condition of your cat, as shown below, which can help find a course of action specific to your animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7uFHA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petobesityprevention.org/ideal-weight-ranges/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetObesityPrevention.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T19:19:33.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2014-04-29T20:55:50.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an anecdotal answer: don't react too quickly to your puppy willingness to eat quickly or lack of interest in eating his food quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My little boy has been eating extremely quickly from 2 to 3.5 months then was much slower and he's now back to the fast food drive-through mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to adapt too quickly you're likely to create more weight problem. It is normal for the puppy to change his eating style over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow your vet and food brand guidelines and the good rules from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3052/469&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 14 weeks your puppy should be fed at least twice a day and preferably three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-04-29T20:55:50.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3057" CreationDate="2014-04-29T21:08:11.027" Score="13" ViewCount="4195" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt; My cat panics when I try to put him in a harness and I'm not sure if he's just afraid of his harness or if I'm doing something wrong. Are there any tips on buying cat harnesses? Is there something I can do to make him more comfortable with the harness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aunt has a dog and a cat and, when she leaves on business trips, she brings them to my place and I look after them. I have a hedgehog and the dog is (rightfully) skeptical about bugging her after he got too close to her. The cat is curious, but knows not to bug her. So I'd say they all get along, essentially. I have to walk the dog every day, and the cat always tries to get out around the time that I go to take the dog out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can get the cat to come back (he's pretty obedient, despite being a troublemaker), but he seems to get lonely if the dog isn't around with him. He tends to misbehave when I leave to take the dog on walks (scratches furniture, meows a lot so the neighbors complain, disturbs my hedgehog to the n-th degree) whereas if I go to work and come back, he's usually pretty good (plays with toys, sleeps, leaves my hedgehog alone). My aunt is going away for a little longer than usual, and my apartment neighbors are normally lenient about the cat when my aunt leaves for a week or so, but I can't subject them to constant meowing for a month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, my hedgehog is used to quiet and dislikes when a shadow lurks overhead, like most hedgehogs do. The cat makes a lot of noise and jumps on her enclosure very often when left alone. If this were to happen continuously for a month, I think my hedgehog would get sick from stress. I do usually move her out of the living room and into the bedroom when the cat is around, but she still gets pretty stressed from the cat meowing more (and louder) than usual. Also the door doesn't lock, so the cat can still get into the bedroom. In my eyes, leaving the cat at home is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This summer, my aunt is leaving her cat and dog with me for a few months (she says it could extend into next year) and is going to be living out of the country, although not permanently. I'm pretty sure I should be dealing with this problem now, so I figured the best thing to do is learn to walk the cat. I'm looking after them now while my aunt is out of the state, and I've bought everything I need to start walking the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having difficulty, though, since I can't get him on a leash/harness. He does want to go outside, and if we're just in my yard he's pretty much safe, but he tends to get fussy when I use a leash/harness. Usually I can get him to do pretty much anything, but he &lt;em&gt;hates&lt;/em&gt; this for some reason. He only put it on once without complaining and since then he's been a nightmare. I thought it might be too tight and brought him to the pet store to have them check, but they determined it was a good size and let me swap out for a set made of a different material after the ordeal we went through trying to get the harness on him. (They thought the material was itching him.) It isn't working. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to be too upset with me even though I'm usually the one subjecting him to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, I take the cat in a cat carrier while I walk the dog and I've been going to a park with fewer dogs in preparation for when the cat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; ready to walk on a leash. I could probably keep that up, but he's miserable whenever he's in the cat carrier. How can I make him less frightened of his harness? Is there something I should be considering when looking for one outside of just the size and material?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1275" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T20:52:43.190" Title="How can I help a cat who seems afraid of his harness?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3056" CreationDate="2014-04-29T21:40:54.690" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a &quot;pure&quot; training problem. I'll divide the answer in two parts: the choice of a training method and then implementation of the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to train the cat: physiological and behavioural modifications?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reaction of the cat is not that surprising. There are many training strategies available the ones I would use in this case are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Desensitisation&lt;/em&gt;: you habituate the cat to the harness/leash, starting at a level he feels comfortable with, then you move on very slowly, always staying behind his &quot;threshold&quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter-conditioning&lt;/em&gt;: related to the first point. The idea is to change the underlying response of the cat to the harness. You want to change an avoidance behaviour with a &quot;hey let's go for a walk&quot; state of mind;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Positive reinforcement&lt;/em&gt;: you reinforce the cat for any tiny step taken in the direction of wearing the harness. It is also a mean to achieve the first two points. This can be combined with &quot;clicker training&quot; or &quot;marker training&quot; (references to be added).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two points are about &lt;em&gt;physiological&lt;/em&gt; modifications while the third one is more focused on the &lt;em&gt;behavioural&lt;/em&gt; modification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you're not doing anything wrong and the model/size of the harness is probably not the cause of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Desensitisation is about making the cat feel comfortable with something new and that he considers undesirable. Counter-conditioning addresses a possible negative reaction he might have learned, possibly after just a few exposures to the harness. Positive reinforcement training is particularly suited in this case and with a cat (compared to punishment based training or other useless ideas).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any proceed much more slowly and stop immediately to try to force the harness on the cat (you don't seem to be in a hurry anyway). In those situations we usually make the mistake to proceed at the pace we want things to go, not at the pace the pet is comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So think about the whole thing as if you would like to teach a gorilla to jump through a hoop: no frustration, no yelling, no intimidation, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to implement training sessions?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing is &lt;em&gt;desensitisation&lt;/em&gt; and/or &lt;em&gt;counter-conditioning&lt;/em&gt;: habituate the cat to the harness. At the beginning that means without wearing the harness. Take the harness with you anytime you interact with the cat or anytime you groom him, pet him, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how you feed the cat, you might want to start just before feeding time. If he's crazy about his food, try to have him interact with the harness for a while, then feed him. Progress slowly and after some time you could try to put the harness on the cat and then giving him access to his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; to try to fit the harness on the cat while he's eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also invent games with the harness, or bring it with you in any other positive activity you do with the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of this first part is mainly to obtain the correct &lt;strong&gt;physiological response&lt;/strong&gt; to the harness, i.e. a good state of mind, not a particular behaviour. Of course some behaviour is associated with everything, but here you just want the cat to feel good with the harness close to him or on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the next part is to obtain the correct &lt;strong&gt;behavioural response&lt;/strong&gt;, that's more in line with what we usually mean with training (e.g. teaching a cat or dog to sit, no real &quot;emotion&quot; to overcome). That's only possible if the first part is attained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're able to fit the harness on the cat without provoking excessive reaction, start to positively reinforcement any good behaviour with the harness on: not moving for 1 second: reinforce him (treat or praise or play, all of the that, etc), coming to you, etc. You get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will decide what's a reinforcer: maybe he'll like a particular food treat, his favorite toy, etc. With cats it is in my experience a bit harder than with dogs. My cats get either overexcited or just not interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of all of these you could also apply the same principles without harness, just with a collar, and gradually manipulating the collar more and more (more or less tight, attaching a leash, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T15:14:06.680" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T15:14:06.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3066" CreationDate="2014-04-30T00:01:36.300" Score="7" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;After seeing &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/H2Qxvnc.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this gif&lt;/a&gt; I am curious to if cats can see optical illusions in the same way humans can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--fXNOj6wQ--/c_fit,fl_progressive,w_636/18dn0kik4y440jpg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;image on the paper&lt;/a&gt; the cat is pouncing on appears as though it is moving to us. And things that move seem to attract cats' attention. So this makes me wonder if the cat also views the image as moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do cats perceive things like optical illusions the same as we do?&lt;/strong&gt;  If so, do other animals, like dogs, see things the same as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:32:38.250" Title="Can cats see optical illusions the same way we can?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2014-04-30T00:09:47.340" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to say, but probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat's eyes (and the brain &quot;software&quot; for them) are very different from human ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have much narrower color vision, but much higher sensitivity to motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in general show little interest in 2D images...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T00:09:47.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2461" CreationDate="2014-04-30T01:37:03.450" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Teaching a retrieve is a great example of when you can use &lt;code&gt;backchaining&lt;/code&gt; to get your desired effect. Essentially, when backchaining a sequence (in this case, go get something and bring it back), you start with the last thing in the sequence and add a ton of value into that, then slowly add in the steps backwards. Because you've built so much value into the last steps, the dog is always looking forward to them and so the earlier steps are reinforced by the later steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a plan that we've been going though lately to teach our dog, Nova, to bring things back. We had a lot of work to do because she'd always run away with toys and wasn't into tugging much, but she's improved immensely and is finally starting to retrieve automatically and with enthusiasm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prequisites&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dog that loves to tug, you have a huge advantage. If you don't, you may want to spend some time building value into playing tug (here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2012/04/improve-your-dog-training-by-playing-like-a-dog/&quot;&gt;some reasons&lt;/a&gt; to play tug), but you can use food as a reward too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sample Steps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step is to get your dog to bring the toy to you from almost no distance. Just drop the toy, back up a bit (start off with one step or less), and encourage your dog to come to you. If he does, reinforce that decision (click and treat, just treat, play tug, etc). If that's too much right now and your dog runs off, start in a small space (bathroom, closet, corner) where the dog can't run off and self-reinforce. You can even do this sitting and simply ask for a hand-touch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your dog gets more confident, slowly increase the distance after you drop the toy. Allow the dog more freedom to make bad choices, while reinforcing the good ones. Eventually, you can play games such as running all around the yard or house with your dog chasing you with a toy. If he drops the toy, end the game and try again. When he catches up to you, have a party and play tug / give treats. Try doing this with different toys and things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you'll have a dog who loves bringing you things. Now it's time to continue backchaining. Start with dropping the toy on the ground and letting your dog pick it up to play the chase game. As you progress, increase the distance you're throwing the toy and pretty soon you'll have a dog who runs out with enthusiasm, and immediately runs back with the toy. Remember to only reward average or better responses and not to compare your dog's &quot;average&quot; to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Further Reading&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://denisefenzi.com/2014/04/02/behavior-chains-part-1/&quot;&gt;Denise Fenzi Series&lt;/a&gt; series on behavior chains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T01:37:03.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2014-04-30T05:17:22.133" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to really tell is by feeling your dog. Until you have some experience with it you can ask a dog trainer, groomer, breeder or your vet for some help... just let them know you want an honest answer and don't take it personally if they say your dog is a little on the heavy or light side. I have had a lot of people ask but then be a little hurt when I have to tell them. I have also had groomers and vets tell me they wont tell someone when their dog is overweight because the risk that they will loose that person's business is to high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good thing is that with a little practice it is fairly easy to tell if your dog is within a good weight range. When you feel your dog you should be able to easily find their ribs but not their hip bones as easily. This will greatly depend on the dogs breed, with some breeds like Italian greyhounds and Vizsla you should be able to see their ribs but with a pug you shouldn't. What I typically ask people to try is feeling their own ribs and paying attention to if they can easily find them to count them. Think about your physical health and then compare how that feels to how their dogs ribs feel. Another good rule of thumb is to feel the back of your hand, that is about what your dog's rib cage should feel like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be helpful to look at images of dogs. You should see a well defined waist but you should not see hip bones. Like I said earlier for some breeds you should also see ribs. It sounds like you have a breed that will be easier to judge by feel than looks though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For puppies it can be a little harder because when they are very young they have less muscle tone so at times they will feel a little more ribby than an adult or a little more &quot;plush&quot; if they are just about to go through a growth spirt. Their needs change as they go through periods of growth. The directions on the bag are just a VERY rough guideline. For example, I have three dogs that are between 38 and 44 LBS and one eats half of what the other two eat... she has a different energy level and just processes the food differently just like people do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many puppies also go through periods where they don't really want to eat as much as they used to. This can mean that they are teething and it isn't comfortable to eat dry kibble or it can mean they just need less food because their growing at a different rate.  If this happens, add a little water to the food and let it get just a little soft to see if they eat better. If they do then it's probably just sore gums from teething. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, most pet dogs are overweight but that may or may not hold true outside of the US. So, even though your question didn't specifically ask about the risks...Overweight puppies can grow faster than they are really supposed to and this can cause structure issues and injuries in adulthood. Overweight adult dogs will have shorter life spans because they are prone to issues like hip dysplasia and diabetes. If you have an overweight dog you also have to be careful not to suddenly take them on long hikes or other activities that they are not physically fit enough to do or you will risk injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-04-30T05:24:09.610" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T05:24:09.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3065" CreationDate="2014-04-30T12:49:59.790" Score="6" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was worried  when my puppy started to have these strange shaky movements, as shown in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/33r78NZ6zL8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to have stopped at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he just have the hiccups? Is this usual for dogs or puppies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:52:12.053" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:52:12.053" Title="Does my puppy have the hiccups?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3064" CreationDate="2014-04-30T14:22:15.173" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to start this out by saying I am not a vet, and if you are worried you should consult an expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience that does seem to just be a case of the hiccups.  It is common in puppies to experience hiccups, and they usually stop getting them around 6 months of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like some more info check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsadviser.com/pet-health/why-do-puppies-get-hiccups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, it has additional videos of puppies that have the hiccups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="780" LastEditorUserId="780" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T12:50:05.033" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T12:50:05.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2014-04-30T16:51:54.380" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say, because not many studies are done with cats. The folks over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://mentalfloss.com/article/49702/can-cats-see-optical-illusions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mental Floss&lt;/a&gt; mentioned doing a test of their own and finding that only some cats would acknowledge the optical illusions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One problem is that some cats (like mine) just like the sound that paper makes when it crinkles and tears. If I put a blank piece of paper down, they'll act similarly. At least up until the point where they start shredding the paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to note how cats' eyes are different from ours, so they will perceive the illusions differently. Notice how their eyes aren't quite placed on their faces as human eyes are. That gives them 10% wider peripheral vision compared to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wired.com/2013/10/cats-eye-view/#slideid-594023&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wired.com&lt;/a&gt; has a pretty neat explanation on how cats' eyes work. Basically they have more rod cells in their eyes, which makes them more receptive to light, which is what allows them to see in the dark better. They also refresh faster, which gives them better movement detection. The downside is that they have a more &quot;washed out&quot; sense of color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs and cats were previously thought to be colorblind, but really it's more of an almost red/green colorblindness. I say almost because they can still kind of see red/green colors, it's just that blue/yellow colors are stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, your guess is probably as good as anyone's. Until a proper study is done on it, it's going to be just a bunch of guesswork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:32:38.250" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:32:38.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3070" CreationDate="2014-04-30T19:32:59.447" Score="4" ViewCount="2476" Body="&lt;p&gt;My (8 month old) puppy is currently on antibiotics (amoxicillin), specifically &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.norbrook.com/products/noroclav-250mg-tablets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;250mg Noroclav&lt;/a&gt; twice daily.  I've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;putting it in her food (she just eats around it);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;crushing it into powder and sprinkling it over her food (she refuses to eat altogether); and&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;popping it in her mouth and holding her muzzle until she swallows (she always manages to keep it from going down and then spits it out once released).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having had to take amoxicillin in the past myself, I recall that it made even some of my most favourite food taste absolutely &lt;em&gt;vile&lt;/em&gt;: so it's hardly any wonder that she's not keen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get her to take her medication?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1281" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T17:37:01.257" Title="How to feed oral medication?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2014-04-30T19:45:03.990" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are notable for spitting up pills. To pill her, take your hand and circle the top of her snout, and press at the gum line behind the large canine teeth. This will cause her to open her jaws. Put the pill at the back of her tongue, using your other hand, after the peak of the curve. Close her jaws and gently massage her throat to encourage swallowing. Give her a treat to finish the task of getting it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(sorry, doing this from my phone, so I can clean it up later if you need)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-04-30T19:45:03.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3236" CreationDate="2014-04-30T21:59:02.827" Score="2" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;The veterinary pharmaceutical industry appears to be very keen that I expose my dog to toxins on a regular basis in order to prevent parasites taking hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that there are more natural alternatives, such as both feeding and dusting her coat with diatomaceous earth and/or garlic&amp;mdash;especially when combined with periodic stool analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any basis to these claims?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have the effectiveness of these (or any other) &quot;natural&quot; solutions been researched scientifically?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have the methods of action been identified?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have any harmful side-effects been noted?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1281" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T19:24:57.610" Title="Are there any effective non-toxic methods of controlling parasites in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2014-05-01T01:19:21.350" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are few ways you can get your dog to take pills. We started with the first method and one day tried the second and have been using it ever since. Both are a lot more fun and potentially faster than forcing your dog to take a pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Envelope Method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming your dog isn't allergic to peanut butter, most dogs find this to be a super tasty treat. If you put a bunch of peanut butter around the pill, the dog will often eat both the peanut butter and pill without even realizing it. Then you let them lick your fingers for extra reinforcement!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also make special &quot;pill pocket&quot; treats you can get if you want something different and are made specifically to hold pills, but peanut butter is cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure they do actually eat the pill though. Even though it's harder to eat just the peanut butter than just food, some dogs are able to manage it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chasing Method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method uses a dog's natural prey drive and patterning skills to get them to be excited about eating a pill. Get a bunch of treats about the same size as the pill and toss them along the floor giving your dog her release cue or &quot;get it&quot; command. After she's done this a few times, toss the pill and tell her to get it. By the time she realizes it wasn't actually another treat, she may have already swallowed it. Keep playing the game afterwards so she doesn't think the game ends when a non-treat appears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T01:19:21.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2014-05-01T01:28:12.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So called &quot;natural&quot; remedies are not necessarily: more effective; or with less side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous earth and garlic, to whatever degree they do work, would have much worse effects on your dog than on the parasites in it.  Dogs do not have cytochromes in their guts like we do, so garlic is not good for them (as it is for us) but actually bad for them.  Diatomaceous earth is just tiny silica skeletons it will hurt your dogs cells just as readily as those of the parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost anything that will kill parasites will have some unpleasant side effects on the host animal. I'd actually expect much less side effects, and more effectiveness, from those pharmaceuticals (which have been developed using science).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="774" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T11:02:06.643" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T11:02:06.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-01T03:57:56.123" Score="2" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), what are some other complications that might occur if one changes a dog's insulin dose everyday?  Will this help to find a better dose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T16:14:35.823" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T16:14:35.823" Title="What are some problems associated with changing my dog's daily insulin dose?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2014-05-01T06:03:51.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For new dog owners, it is often very confusing to decide how much should they feed their pet. Here are some guidelines that will help you decide:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- As you are currently feeding Blue 1/4 a day. I suppose it's one time in a day. You may increase it to 2 times in a day. See the reaction of the puppy and slowly and gradually make it 3-4 times a day. It would be best if you can consult a vet in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- Take a note on the amount of calories you feed your pup. If you are feeding it 100 calories per portion, 3 times a day then it makes it 300 calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- A proper mix of dry and wet food should be given. I prefer feeding dry food throughout the day in small portions. But, as said before, make a note of calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4- How much to feed your dog depends on the weight and size of your dog. Also, the activity level of your dog plays a key role in deciding the amount of calorie intake. Hyper active dog will need more calories as compared to non active dog. (Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsworld.in/blog/puppy-feeding-tips-for-new-dog-owners.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petsworld.in/blog/puppy-feeding-tips-for-new-dog-owners.html&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5- Dog food advisor offers an useful dog food calculator - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/&lt;/a&gt;, you might try that too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1284" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T06:03:51.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3078" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:43:25.403" Score="10" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat usually sleeps most of the day (I'm not exactly sure about the night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many hours a day (approximately) is it normal for a cat to sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T13:56:30.800" Title="How many hours a day is it normal for a cat to sleep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3076" CreationDate="2014-05-01T08:47:03.487" Score="31" ViewCount="175846" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long do cats remember places and people? I will leave the house in the next months for half a year or so. Will my cat remember me when I get back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:52:24.717" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T20:54:30.407" Title="How long is a cat's memory?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2014-05-01T13:26:29.770" Score="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do remember places and people, although where/who they remember, and for how long, is variable (just like humans).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's been some research on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/1819-feline-memories-fleeting.html&quot;&gt;feline short-term memory&lt;/a&gt;, but I could find less information on long-term memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.critters360.com/index.php/feline-memory-retention-cats-remembering-cats-memories-short-term-memory-long-term-memory-21774/&quot;&gt;This article is rather poorly referenced&lt;/a&gt;, but does make some statements about long-term memory that it claims are research-based:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers have discovered that there is not much difference between how a cat, a human, or another animal's brain utilizes certain cues to assist in the creation of short and long-term memories. A cat's brain functioning has been compared to that of a two to three year old child and, when compared to a dog, a cat's memory is almost 200 times more retentive. Without repeated and reinforced training, a dog's memory span is about 5 minutes. Cats, on the other hand, averaged about 16 hours, only IF the activity benefited THEM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cat's long-term memories are directly related to experiencing pleasure (benefit) or displeasure (pain, fear or threat). For example, it takes a long time and a lot of patience to gain the trust of an abused or neglected cat. If they suffered physical or mental abuse from a man or child, then they will associate that memory with all men and all children. The same holds true for positive experiences. Every time a cat receives affection, praise, or a treat for doing a specific activity, it is logged into their memory as &quot;a good thing&quot; and they will continue to use it to their benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The inevitable anecdotes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that I've experienced cats remembering me years after we have had prolonged interactions.  One example is a roommate of mine that I lived with about 10 years ago.  His cat is not generally friendly, but we got along very well, and I was one of the few people the cat would actively seek out (i.e. he would climb in my lap and sit there while I pet him).  After my friend moved out, there were periods of 1-2 years in between my visits to his new home, and when I would come over, his cat would still come and climb in my lap for petting.   Over times, my visits have unfortunately become less frequent (I moved out of the area), and while the cat still seems to remember me, he is not as friendly to me as he used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a video of someone who claims to have been reunited with their cat over a year after her cat left home and roamed the neighborhood as a feral cat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTtc4OCu-E&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTtc4OCu-E&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The internet is littered with similar claims.  There is also a host of unreferenced claims about feline memory that I won't include here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is pretty certain that your cat will remember you after 6 months if you interact with the cat on a regular basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the cat is happy to see you (at first) will be another story... ours tend to seem mad at us when we come back after leaving for a few days, and we get the &quot;cold shoulder&quot; for the first day or so :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T13:26:29.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3072" CreationDate="2014-05-01T13:48:07.993" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dogs with diabetes, it is all about regulation.  It will always take time to regulate a diabetic dog, and get in sync with their blood glucose levels.  It is important to work with your veterinarian to find the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetsulin.com/dog-owner/Diagnosis.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;right dosage for your dog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Daily insulin injections are essential to control the blood glucose level in your dog. Your veterinarian will work with you to determine the right dose of [insulin]. This process may take a few weeks, but the end result is very manageable. Some diabetic dogs may require only one injection per day, while others may require twice-daily injections.&#xA;   Once you and your dog have established a routine, things will be easier and your dog will be healthier. The key to success is patience with the learning process. The payoff will be a noticeable improvement of your dog’s condition and quality of life over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kIwNq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetsulin.com/dog-owner/faq.aspx#td5&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;VetSulin.com&lt;/a&gt; on how long it takes to regulate a diabetic animal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each dog's case is different. There is no way to put a specific time on it. Sometimes the regulation process will require you to try different dosages, diets, and one to multiple injections a day. Regulation can be achieved sometimes within a month, and in some cases, over a year from the time therapy first started. It is very important to work closely with your veterinarian during this process to avoid further complications. Even after your dog is regulated, you will still need to maintain this relationship with your dog's veterinarian. Frequent check-ups will be necessary to maintain good health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not regulated properly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetsulin.com/dog-owner/Complications.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;complications may occur&lt;/a&gt;, which includes hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, as you mentioned.  Other complications include &lt;em&gt;diabetic ketoacidosis&lt;/em&gt; (DKA), which occurs when cells do not get the amount of glucose they need to produce energy, and the body starts to break down muscle and fat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure that if you work with your veterinarian to find the right range of insulin for your dog, and your dog is within its acceptable blood glucose level, then there should be no harmful effects to your dog.  However, it would be ideal to discuss this with your veterinarian on your next visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a good article on maintaining your dog's blood glucose levels at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.k9diabetes.com/regulated.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;K9Diabetes.com&lt;/a&gt;, all with referenced material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T13:48:07.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3074" CreationDate="2014-05-01T13:56:30.800" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can, and will, sleep for 15 to 20 hours a day, but it's important to realize that it's usually a light doze and not the full-blown deep sleep. They're quite able to spring into action from this dozing state with very little hesitation. They do have deep sleep, which only lasts minutes, but that will happen a various times during periods of dozing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats also sleep during the daylight hours, becoming more active in the evening. As they're predators, even after so many centuries of domestication, cats follow that same pattern you see with their larger cousins: spending a lot of time in a light doze conserving their energy for hunting and then using that energy in the evening hours to hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm entirely sure your cat is normal. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T13:56:30.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3081" CreationDate="2014-05-01T16:51:14.943" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;We increased the amount of food we gave our puppy, and she was doing okay, but now we have noticed it has been harder for her to make a bowel movement, and she just vomited three times 5 minutes after she ate two tablespoons of food.  The vomit was whole chunks of food, so I am not sure she was even chewing her food up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the reason why this would happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1274" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T17:01:08.547" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T17:25:07.040" Title="My puppy vomited her food" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3080" CreationDate="2014-05-01T17:25:07.040" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The list of reasons why a dog may vomit is &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; and many are related to various diseases and illnesses. However, the most common reason is something they ate, as a result of physical composition or drug/poison based. Dogs are often indiscriminate in what they'll eat, and swallow, and the result of this can be vomiting or more serious problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, at this point, I would strongly recommend that you bring her to the vet for an examination. The fact that she's both vomiting and struggling to defecate signals, to me at least, a serious problem which could be an injury or worse. There's really no way to tell without the examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be something she ate or she may have developed a food intolerance (very real possibility), and so easy to resolve, but that's still going to need veterinary confirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-01T17:25:07.040" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2014-05-01T21:24:08.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know cats have memory.  I've known many cats in my life and often have observed that they &quot;remember&quot; me.  I've seen this by cats acting a particular way to me versus other people.  I knew this one cat in particular (&quot;Maggie&quot;), for most of her 22 year life (though I only had her for the last 7-8 years).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She would enjoy going into this ritual game/battle with me (and no one would see her do it with other people).  She would get up on a surface that had cloth on it (like a bed, but sometimes a couch) and would furiously paw at it with her front paws.  This would be my queue to pet her very fast on her sides, then she would flop over on her side and the game would begin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My objective was to touch her whiskers or tummy and her objective was to bite me before I did this (she pulled her punches so she never broke the skin).  She did this after one of the early times I met her and always did it with me, even though sometimes it was months or a year before I saw her again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd agree with the statement that just like people their memories are variable.  They tend to remember people and how the people treated them rather well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="612" LastEditDate="2014-05-03T10:20:49.307" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T10:20:49.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3084" CreationDate="2014-05-01T22:46:56.710" Score="4" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;My doberman puppy (10 weeks) hurt his leg playing on the stairs a couple weeks ago. The vet said no hurry for bringing him in, since large dog breeds pull muscles all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got him in, the vet took an x-ray and showed us what looked like a fracture, but with some weird swirling patterns around it that she has never seen before, and didn't know what to make of. We let her take another x-ray. She still has no clue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibilities she has thrown at us go all the way from bone cyst that would require removal of the leg-bone to an old fracture (perhaps right around birth?) with the swirling indicating remodeling of the fracture, which my pup subsequently aggravated. It's been about a week since the visit, and he has a supportive wrap on his leg that lets him put pressure on it and walk around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I swear I can't let him out to pee or eat without him doing his best to tear around the house. He doesn't appear to be sick or in any pain, and I think he is actually bouncier and more energetic than our great dane pup (1 year now) ever was. Nothing but nap-time is keeping him from playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he had never gotten the xray, I wouldn't be concerned about him right now AT ALL, assuming he could use his leg without the cast. (He was starting to walk on it, gently, right before he went to the vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the vet wants to take a couple more xrays($$) send them off to a specialty service($$) test for valley fever($$), test for a bone infection($$) and some other stuff, too. We have spent close to $700 on this pup in the last month, a couple hundred more on the dane, had to put down a cat with an incurable virus infection, and we are raising 4 children. The money just isn't there for all of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are things we should focus on, since I can't afford to focus on everything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1290" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-01T23:13:02.240" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T02:21:14.360" Title="Leg injury confusing the vet" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3083" CreationDate="2014-05-02T02:41:28.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with dogs, or bone diseases in particular, but I've had a long series of sick cats, so this is my advice in the general case of &lt;strong&gt;&quot;my vet just gave me a long list of possible tests that we can do, what should I do with it?&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each test, you should ask the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What will we learn from this test?&lt;/strong&gt; What illnesses/diseases/injuries are we trying to confirm with this test.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How likely is that particular problem in my pet?&lt;/strong&gt; Consider age, sex, breed, general health, history, etc. What causes the particular problem the test is looking for and does that make sense for my pet? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If that is the problem, what will the treatment be?&lt;/strong&gt; Some illnesses just require palliative care (take care of the symptoms like pain, but otherwise will resolve on their own). If the most likely outcomes won't change your treatment plan, then there may not be any reason to test to see exactly what it is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If that is the problem, what will happen if we wait to treat?&lt;/strong&gt; If you decide to take a stepwise approach (let's do the test for the problem that's the most likely), what is the risk in possibly not treating for the other conditions. Is your dog in pain/discomfort? Will the problem be made worse if you wait (like a bone fracture healing incorrectly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things to keep in mind during this (long) discussion with your vet are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the most likely problem(s)? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How will the possible diagnosis affect treatment? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which potential problems are time sensitive?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once noticed a problem in my cats' litter box, but I didn't know which cat it was (or what the problem was), so I took both cats to the vet (I had 2 at the time). The vet I was seeing at the time gave me a long list of pretty much every urinary test imaginable for both cats, it was super expensive! I went through the list of tests with them, looking for one that might at least identify WHICH cat was ill. The $15 &quot;look at the urine under the microscope&quot; test was fast, inexpensive, and should at least tell us which cat was sick. So I saved a ton of money by not doing any further tests on the cat that was well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside to this method is that things can drag out a lot longer. Our cats have had some kind of skin issue for several months, and rather than doing expensive tests to figure out what it was, we decided that it looked like ringworm, that's very common, and if it's not ringworm the medication won't hurt them, so we'll go ahead and treat for it. After several months of treatment (shampoo and oral liquid), my regular vet gave up and sent us to the specialist. If we had tried to do tests immediately, we would have skipped 6 months of treatments that didn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your specific case, I would suggest reading on the specifics of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vfce.arizona.edu/ValleyFeverInPets/Default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Valley Fever&lt;/a&gt; and bone infections to see how likely they seem for your dog. Valley Fever in particular is a very localized disease, and it only makes sense to test for it if you live or have visited there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T02:41:28.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2417" CreationDate="2014-05-02T03:44:46.563" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For USDAA, the jumps are meant to be at equal or greater height than the dog's shoulders. The goal of the new classes is to try and even the playing field for the many dogs at the low end of the 16&quot; and 22&quot; jump classes. By adding a 14&quot; and 18&quot; jump class, they hope to keep the dogs better matched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detailed information about the change can be found in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usdaa.com/article.cfm?newsID=2394&quot;&gt;Jump Heights Revealed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-02T03:44:46.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3116" CreationDate="2014-05-02T21:14:22.213" Score="3" ViewCount="3507" Body="&lt;p&gt;We proudly own a 3 year-old mix of Labrador and golden retriever. We care about her, and regularly wash her using the appropriate shampoo for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog itself never has any kind of unpleasant smell on her fur. She loses a lot of fur, but not more than average for her breed(s). Still though, we've noticed that some of the clothes hanging bit longer in the wardrobe will start accumulating a dog odor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes this odor and how can I remove it? It's not somehow connected with her health, is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1299" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:29:14.037" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:29:14.037" Title="Why do my clothes acquire a bad &quot;dog smell&quot; after laying in the wardrobe for a long time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3088" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-02T22:56:39.230" Score="18" ViewCount="25001" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is normally the sweetest and is super-friendly, but a few months ago he started occasionally doing this thing where his eyes go wide and he attacks. Even if you stop playing he'll bite or swipe at you, and you can't walk away. He's not vicious, so I think he's trying to play, but it's very annoying and he can break skin with his claws or bruise with his bites while in this &quot;mode&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes he does it when I'm playing with him, or sometimes when I'm trying to get him to go away (like when I put him off my desk several times in a row).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far what I've been doing is pick him up (and usually getting a light-medium bite in the process) and stick him in the bathroom and close the door (it's the only room I can close him into). After a few minutes I open the door and he's calm again (usually) but I'd really prefer if he didn't do this at ll. He went a year or do without ever getting in this &quot;mode&quot;. He's a neutered male ~3 year old longhair mutt, possibly Maine Coon or Norwegian Forrest cat blood in him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:40:54.483" Title="What to do when a cat is in &quot;attack mode&quot;" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-05-03T00:20:44.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try blowing on his whiskers.  That often breaks the concentration.  Otherwise you seem to have a good solution, except you might want to keep a towel handy so you can wrap him without losing blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think it is playful, you might want to go buy a wand toy so that you can let him play with it and not your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T00:20:44.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2562" CreationDate="2014-05-03T03:15:38.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number of terms used will vary from supplier to supplier, as could what each one means, so there will be no single authoritative answer to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, one of the UK's popular suppliers of frozen food for reptiles, &lt;a href=&quot;http://frozenreptile.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://frozenreptile.co.uk/&lt;/a&gt;, lists the sizes of mice as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pinky (broken down on some of their pages as small and large)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fuzzy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hopper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medium&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X-Large&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but another supplier may well use a different breakdown. Also, the cut-off from one &quot;size&quot; to another could vary, either by weight or by girth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T03:15:38.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-03T12:00:19.600" Score="4" ViewCount="4239" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pet shop owner has a litter of tiny bunnies (maybe mini lop/lion head crosses) and she is claiming that they will remain that size into adulthood. She says that they were imported from Holland. Can this be possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a pet bunny from her shop and it died suddenly a few weeks later. I'm being told that it's because it was too young and was taken from its mother too soon, but the pet shop owner claims that they are 3 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1301" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:52:55.707" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:52:55.707" Title="Is there a breed of rabbit that doesn't grow more than the size of a hand?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3091" CreationDate="2014-05-03T13:03:41.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dwarf Rabbit Breeds&lt;/a&gt; the smallest seem to be Netherland Dwarfs at 2 - 2.5 pounds (0.907 - 1.134 kg). Though one Wikipedia article claims &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherland_Dwarfs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weights as low as 500 g (1.1 lbs)&lt;/a&gt; are possible, not sure I believe this is likely for an adult rabbit.  With &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitmatters.com/netherlanddwarf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1.5lb to 2.6lb (700 to 1.2 kilos)&lt;/a&gt; being more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not finding any quality reliable references at the moment, but small rabbits usually get to full size in 5 - 7 months, with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_Giant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;large rabbits&lt;/a&gt; taking up to 18 months.  Rabbits are old enough to breed at in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://florida4h.org/projects/rabbits/MarketRabbits/Activity8_Maturity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 - 8 month old range&lt;/a&gt;, and have generally reached 80% - 90% of the full size at this time. Obviously it is important to separate by gender around 4 months, lucky the boys tend (&lt;strong&gt;tendency not a rule&lt;/strong&gt;) to mature a bit slower than their sisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Summary it is possible to find a &quot;rabbit that doesn't grow more than the size of a hand&quot;. But it is unlikely to be a crossbreed, it would likely be from a dedicated show breeder. The smallest rabbits that come into the organizations that I volunteer with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/13/james-jenkins&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(see my profile)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; are around 3 - 4 pounds full grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T10:43:56.653" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3093" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3102" CreationDate="2014-05-03T14:04:38.927" Score="7" ViewCount="60368" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we have head lice, can we transmit them to our dogs, or can they get them and transfer them to us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T18:32:00.813" Title="Can dogs get head lice and transfer them to humans (or vice versa)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-03T17:22:37.947" Score="1" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do miniature cows exist which can be taken as a pet in home? Ideally they should be genetically improvised to have the agility and enthusiasm of a cat. It may sound impossible but I imagine it to be realistic,So does such a miniature pet cow exist or can it be bred?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1302" LastEditorUserId="1302" LastEditDate="2014-05-05T07:53:36.077" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T22:14:02.203" Title="Do miniature cows with cat like agility exist?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3095" CreationDate="2014-05-03T18:06:23.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Miniature cows do exist, they were bred to fit smaller acreage farms. They typically grow to be about 3-4 feet tall (measured from the ground to their shoulder I believe). They're usually kept as pets, or for milk - Due to their small stature there's not much use to keep them for their meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly have no idea what you expect with &quot;cat-like agility&quot;. No matter what size it is, it's still going to be a cow. The muscles and skeletal structure is exactly the same as a normal sized cow. In order to make the animal I think you're imagining, you would have to make it yourself. Which isn't something we'll be doing anytime soon. Really, if it sounds impossible, it is. Otherwise you'd be hearing about it in the news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-05-03T18:06:23.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3099" CreationDate="2014-05-04T11:35:26.403" Score="6" ViewCount="13110" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a little while now I have noticed that my (8 month old) puppy often doesn't breathe entirely cleanly.  It's most noticeable when she's relaxed and being petted (but not so much when she's asleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't congested to the point that she's unable to breathe through her nose, but one can hear mucous being sucked down as she inhales.  Occasionally one can also see a small amount of nasal discharge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I raised this with my vet, but predictably the puppy wasn't exhibiting any signs at the time: he listened to her lungs with a stethoscope and couldn't hear anything wrong, so was fairly unconcerned and dismissed my report as likely to be attributable to a canine cold or heyfever (reminding me in the process that puppies, like babies, are still acquiring immunity against common infections).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That all sounds plausible enough, but the fact that it has persevered for so long without any improvement is beginning to make me wonder whether something else could be to blame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for dogs to breathe like this when they're relaxed (and I've simply never before noticed it in other people's pets)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If not normal, how long should it take for a viral infection to clear in a young, but otherwise healthy, puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If not normal and &quot;chronic&quot; (by virtue of not having cleared by the time that it should), does it warrant further investigation given that it doesn't appear to be causing her any particular harm?  I suppose it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; indicate a problem with her immune system, or even be a sign of some more serious ENT issue: but I'm not inclined to put her through a whole load of unnecessary tests.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1281" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T14:35:08.740" Title="Is it normal for dogs to have slightly congested breathing?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3098" CreationDate="2014-05-04T14:35:08.740" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, it's not normal for dogs to have labored breathing, though the fact that it's not always happening is a good thing. If it was happening all the time, including during sleep, then it would be more cause for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's entirely possible that your puppy just has a mild allergy. Just like humans, dogs can have allergic reactions to their environment and those reactions can be mild or extreme. If it is an allergy, then it's clearly a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; mild one, however some possibilities on allergens would be things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pollens (good time of year for it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dust &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dander &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;smoke (if you smoke, do you pet her while smoking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food (did you recently change diet?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to watch for a bit more of a pattern. If shows up more frequently after she eats or comes from outside, that kind of thing. If it is an allergy, then it's probably not going to go away, but the frequency of the episodes will vary with the presence of the allergen(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, this &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;is not a diagnosis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; as I'm not a vet, nor do I play one on TV. If your vet isn't strongly concerned and the breathing issues don't get worse, then I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Like I said, watch for patterns. You may discover something with respect to her activities that you can discuss with the vet as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T14:35:08.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-04T16:17:32.550" Score="7" ViewCount="389" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live together with a cat in a flat in the second floor (one above the ground). She has been an indoor cat all the time so far. When she was at my girlfriend's parent's house she could have gone outside, but did not want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now in the flat, she tries to get onto the balcony when I am doing laundry or so. Once I am back in, she will sit in front of the glass balcony door and meow. I have the impression that she wants to go out. A couple of weeks ago, she started to go onto the balcony, and we watched her. She just sat under the dryer and looked around. A couple of days ago she slipped through the railing onto the neighbor's balcony and went a bit into their flat. Today, I was putting up clothes and she darted from the flat onto the balcony and through the railing. Luckily, the other door was closed, but it took a while until she came back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend is very worried that she might harm herself somewhere, and we are not really sure how the cat would get outside and inside from the second floor anyway. The ground is just some 2.50 meters down, so I guess she could get up with some sort of rope or ladder if she really wanted. We live rather close to the city, so there are some larger roads in reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She often wakes up from dozing in another room and meows continuously until she is in the other room and I pet her a bit. Often, she will come close to me and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2573/what-does-this-cat-want-from-me-when-meowing-accusingly&quot;&gt;meow in a demanding tone, then behave like “pet me, but don't touch me!”&lt;/a&gt;. I do think that she might feel a little bored since there are no other cats around and she does not care for any toys, except a laser pointer which I do not want to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you think that it would be good for her to go outside on her own or on a leash? Or would that confuse her in a way that would be negative overall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T15:48:34.443" Title="Would our indoor cat be less demanding if we could let her outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3100" CreationDate="2014-05-04T19:01:03.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you're going to get a &quot;yes, if you do X, then Y will happen&quot; kind of answer to this question. The real answer to this is, well, &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; and so I'll give you my anecdotal experience bearing in mind that your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a house in the country, so a slightly different circumstance, but nevertheless I have a cat that likes to go outside with us, or so he often indicates. Sometimes when we bring him out, he immediately turns to run back into the house. Other times, he will stay out for quite a bit and eat grass and bugs. In either case, we have him hooked up with a harness and 30 foot light dog lead primarily to avoid risk of him running onto the nearby road (there have been far too many animals killed on our road for my comfort).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a balcony, you have a few options you can experiment with depending on what you're allowed to do. In some places, you can effectively fence it in with sun screening and that would allow you to let her out onto the balcony without a risk of her taking off and being unable to get back in. If you can't do that, then you can try a harness and lead, but then the really critical thing is that it has to be short enough so that she can't go over the closest railing and hurt herself (less of an issue if you're with her). That probably doesn't give her a lot of roaming capability, but may be enough for her to enjoy that odd &quot;room&quot; that she's never allowed into to. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, the only way she's going to know if she likes it is to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T19:01:03.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3093" CreationDate="2014-05-04T19:02:02.967" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is no, although dogs and humans can get lice, there are many different kinds that are specialized for different species; even within species there can be specific lice that are not transferable between areas (for example, there are several different types of lice that specifically inhabit different parts of the human body - the head OR pubic area, not both).  This has to do with the actual &lt;em&gt;width&lt;/em&gt; of the hair and the morphology of the lice species, which in this case is not related to the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/f/lice.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Veterinary Medicine&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lice are &lt;em&gt;species-specific&lt;/em&gt;, meaning that there is a different species of lice for each animal species that they depend on.&#xA;  Human lice need human blood to survive, dog lice need dog blood, and so on. Therefore, if your child comes home from school with a diagnosis of head lice, your dog, cat, or other pets in the household are not at risk from catching the lice or hatching eggs. Conversely, while not as common in dogs and cats, the species of lice that live on dogs and cats are not able to live on humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While not an immediate threat to health, human head lice is very contagious and is not an indicator of poor personal hygiene. Lice are not as common in healthy dogs and cats as they are in humans. Poor nutrition, poor overall health, and very old or young dogs and cats are most at risk for lice infestation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEqHS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, lice are &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesandconditions/a/CW-Lice.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;not one of the more common parasites&lt;/a&gt; found in dogs and other household pets, such as cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, dogs and cats do sometimes get lice, although lice are not one of the more common parasites diagnosed. They are most common in animals that live in poor conditions without proper sanitation.  Dogs can get two different types of lice: &lt;em&gt;Trichodectes canis&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Linognathus setosus&lt;/em&gt;. Cats get only one type: &lt;em&gt;Felicola subrostrata&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-04T19:02:02.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3104" CreationDate="2014-05-05T12:46:49.963" Score="8" ViewCount="8718" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I stop by Shiba puppy from screaming at the top of his lungs everyday at 6am, both in the short term and in the long term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is currently being crated at night and for a few hours during the day.  He screams for 10 minutes or so whenever we put him in the crate as well, or when he hears us come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try our best to completely ignore him until he stops, which we know will / should help in the long run.  However, we live in a townhouse so we also just can't let him wail all morning, out of respect for our neighbors. Also, it would be nice if my wife and I could keep our own sanity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1307" LastEditorUserId="1307" LastEditDate="2014-05-05T13:51:58.870" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T13:51:58.870" Title="How do I stop my Shiba puppy from screaming at the top of his lungs everyday at 6am?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3103" CreationDate="2014-05-05T13:25:54.050" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;First it is important to know that this kind of screaming is normal for the dog. Very young puppies will scream continuously when separated from the litter. That behaviour evolves but it makes sense for the dog: being reunited with his social group. So don't get angry or too nervous and don't resent the dog, he is not doing that to challenge your sanity (writing this also helps trying to convince myself...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next thing is about elimination: depending on the dog (I don't know if Shiba's have special need in this case) 11 weeks can be too young to have complete control. In the morning he might actually need to pee / poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's about &lt;strong&gt;prevention&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then comes &lt;strong&gt;training&lt;/strong&gt;. Training should &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; take place at 6am when you're half asleep, concerned about the noise, etc. You should train him when you're calm and relaxed and when all his needs are met (eg. elimination).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is good to &lt;em&gt;ignore&lt;/em&gt; him. Cesar's &quot;no touch no talk no eye contact&quot; is quite valid in this case. Just ignore him. &lt;em&gt;Do not reward bad behaviour&lt;/em&gt;, referring to my first two points, do not punish them either (technically the removal of your attention is a &lt;em&gt;negative punishment&lt;/em&gt;: you punish him by removing something he wants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However that's only one part. You need to also teach him what is the &lt;strong&gt;good thing&lt;/strong&gt;. You need to &lt;em&gt;positively reinforce&lt;/em&gt; his good behaviours. Basically you could crate him anytime in the day and reward his calmness and the absence of barking. Do not hesitate to reward a lot at the beginning, rewards every tiny steps. You can also add distractions, invent situations that are more likely to make him bark (ask another person to get out of the house, ring the bell, come in, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can reward him in the crate (food reward is maybe the most practical solution in this case), or the reward can be to be let out of the crate and play with you (I would do a few repetitions of the first and end with the second option).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the dog will understand what's expected from him, increase the time between the rewards, and start rewarding only when the dog is actually calm! The dog can be overexcited but sitting and not barking. That's not what you want to reward, however sitting is a first step (and can be rewarded at first) and it helps the dog to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.elsevier.com/books/manual-of-clinical-behavioral-medicine-for-dogs-and-cats/overall/978-0-323-00890-7&quot;&gt;Karen Overall &quot;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats&quot; book&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The single most important step in the treatment of any of these dogs is also the most commonly skipped step: reward the dog whenever the dog is calm, even if this calmness is spontaneous and not requested by you. The more relaxed behaviours you can encourage the dog to incorporate into daily life, the better off everyone will be. &lt;strong&gt;This means that you should even reward the dog when he is sleeping or napping as these are variants of calm behaviours&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(emphasis and typos are mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in the context of treating dogs with separation anxiety. This is not exactly your case here, but that part certainly applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is then to actively reward the dog. Not to setup situations where he could fail. To rule out the possibility that 7 hours is too long for him (second paragraph), try (once or twice during a week-end) to wake up after only 5 hours, when he's not barking, let him pee and go back to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T13:25:54.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3107" CreationDate="2014-05-05T14:07:25.093" Score="5" ViewCount="7737" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that I have to clip my cat's nails every now and again, and that got me wondering about my sister's rabbit - does its nails have to be clipped as well? Can we use the same style of nail clippers on the rabbit as she has for her cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, the cat's nail clippers look like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6GMkW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:18:47.277" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T16:18:47.277" Title="Do I need to trim a rabbit's nails?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3106" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-05T14:11:56.570" Score="9" ViewCount="509" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister's rabbit is given a variety of vegetables (carrots, peppers, lettuce (not iceberg), and so on). Basically, my sister gets whatever is available, and gives the rabbit bits of whatever we have for fresh vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any vegetables we should avoid giving the rabbit? Or is anything fair game?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T23:40:40.000" Title="Are there specific vegetables I should not be feeding a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2014-05-05T14:28:22.607" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rabbits nails will wear down if there are appropriate surfaces and activities available, such as digging holes, to enable that. Without that, which is generally pretty much the case for all house rabbits, you do need to maintain them yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, the easiest way to do this is the bunny burrito (wrap them in a nice towel to hold them) and clip using the cat clippers you show, these are perfectly fine. Press gently on the foot pads to expose the nail and be very careful to avoid clipping the quick. It's probably a wise idea to have some styptic handy such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/6112/Kwik-Stop-Styptic-Powder.aspx&quot;&gt;Kwik Stop&lt;/a&gt;, just in case you do, that will stop any bleeding fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your time with this. The bunny isn't going to like it, but if you do it regularly and get it used to it, then it gets easier. Ours hated it, but it's necessary, so don't give up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T14:28:22.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6639" CreationDate="2014-05-05T16:12:33.187" Score="11" ViewCount="66952" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that rabbit gestation is 28 - 31 days, and that the mother can get pregnant immediately after birth. Does that mean baby rabbits can be weaned when they are 4 weeks old?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the mother is not having another litter at the 4 week point, when is the best (&lt;em&gt;mean/median&lt;/em&gt;) time to wean the kits?  What is the longest that kits should be left with their mom? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:30:57.310" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T05:47:20.980" Title="At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3105" CreationDate="2014-05-05T17:46:57.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is necessary for house rabbits. Not trimming a rabbit's toenails can cause sore hocks, where the fur on the hocks gets raw and sore and in an extreme case infected. If your rabbit does have sore hocks, make sure it doesn't sit on cage wire all day. I've used drywall but &lt;a href=&quot;https://diy.stackexchange.com/q/44308&quot;&gt;some experienced caretakers caution against materials present&lt;/a&gt;, per comment kiln-dried pine wood or white wood is good. Cardboard will not hold up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re. clippers, yes, the same will probably work. But just some &quot;common sense&quot;-type advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the clippers should be comfortable for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;. Even if cat clippers work fine, you may find them too big, for instance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any clippers can become dull. If the cut is not clean - i.e. the blade goes past the nail, then it tears forming something like a hangnail - that's bad. You'll need to replace the blades or clippers (or sharpen the blades if you can figure that out.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for clipping nails in general, for light-furred rabbits it's usually easy, as much like human finger nails you'll be able to see very clearly where the blood starts. Clip above that, try not to get any fur, you're done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For darker furred rabbits there's a good chance you'll be able to see anyway. Good light will help. Otherwise, in the &lt;em&gt;worst&lt;/em&gt; case you may have to use some estimation and guess work. Rabbit nails shouldn't really curve (if they look like talons they are &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; too long), so you can cut off the curve or sharp point. You'll try to get an intuition for the thickness of the real part of the nail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this bit about guesswork if you can't fully see where to cut is uncomfortable. Yes, bleeding may occur. This is obviously undesirable but straightforward to deal with - you should have a clotter, such as cornstarch or a commercial formula, on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, front feet have 5 nails each (4 + a thumb), back feet have 4 nails each. Cavies are 4 front, 3 back, for reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1313" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:22:17.670" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T17:15:49.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3108" CreationDate="2014-05-05T17:59:28.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They'll eat solid foods on their own without needing to be weaned by the owner. IIRC this happens around 4-6 weeks. They should be removed then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1313" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T17:59:28.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3168" CreationDate="2014-05-05T19:07:27.213" Score="10" ViewCount="2868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got an odd issue with my dog that I've never had with any other dog I've had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's time to take my dog for a walk, he's fairly calm.  He walks with me to the front door (where I keep his leash).  I tell him to sit, and he does.  I pick up the leash, but as I go to slip the collar over his head, he turns his head away.  If I try to 'chase' his head, he'll stand up and back away.  This gets frustrating as it will often lead me to telling him to sit and trying to put it on over and over.  Once he's got the collar on, he's perfectly fine and happy for the entirety of the walk.  Once we return, when I go to take off the leash, he gets excitable though and will try to pull back once I try to slip the collar off.  This makes the process more difficult, but not nearly as much a problem as trying to get the collar &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The collar being used is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martingale_%28collar%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Martingale collar&lt;/a&gt;, which slips on (it can't be unbuckled or whatever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried holding the leash up as a loop, and offering a treat on the other side and, while this works to get him to stick his head through the leash fairly easily, if I don't offer the treat he wont go through with it despite much repetition.  I would think the issue is him not liking your hands near his neck, but he's quite content to let you pet him around the neck at any other time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions or advice on how to get him to be more comfortable with putting his collar on for a walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1314" LastEditorUserId="1314" LastEditDate="2018-03-22T05:33:51.543" LastActivityDate="2018-03-22T05:33:51.543" Title="Putting leash on dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="871" CreationDate="2014-05-05T19:50:31.637" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used the Bug Barrier a few years now and it works great. Kills almost every single bug. After I applied the very first time to a newly moved into house, There was large scale bug death in the areas I sprayed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now one thing I did notice is the spiders in and around the house were unaffected. I do not share your love for spiders and, when I came across on in the basement as I was spraying, I shot it directly. The little guy scampered away. I followed and got him again. He ran somewhere else. Did not seem to effect him at all. Other bugs (box elder) I sprayed fell and seemed to die on contact. I also still notice the webs in the basement and around the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1319" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T19:50:31.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3257" CreationDate="2014-05-05T20:56:42.400" Score="4" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if aquatic plants would fall into the Pets category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought some moss balls but they kept getting sucked into the filter's pipe. How can I avoid this and will this lead to any problems for the ball?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="464" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:53:11.930" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:53:11.930" Title="Keeping moss balls from sticking to aquarium filter" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3106" CreationDate="2014-05-05T23:40:40.000" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from everything else, the main part of your rabbit's diet should always be &lt;strong&gt;hay&lt;/strong&gt;, usually timothy hay (or alfalfa for young rabbits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most trusted sites (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society&lt;/a&gt;, as previously mentioned; as well as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myhouserabbit.com/tip_food.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;My House Rabbit&lt;/a&gt;) will tell you similar information about what you should be feeding your rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myhouserabbit.com/tip_food.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;vegetables&lt;/a&gt; specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A varied assortment of vegetables should be a part of your rabbit's daily diet. When choosing vegetables look for something fresh and free of pesticides. Always wash your vegetables thoroughly before feeding them to your rabbit. Feed new vegetables in small quantities until you can judge if your rabbit reacts well to them. Do not feed rabbits the leaves from houseplants as many are poisonous to rabbits.  Your rabbit may enjoy some of the following vegetables:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Basil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bok choy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Broccoli leaves (stems or tops can make rabbits gassy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Carrot tops (carrots are high in calcium and should be given sparingly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Celery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cilantro&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Clover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Collard greens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dandelion leaves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Kale (sparingly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lettuce - romaine or dark leaf (no iceburg lettuce and no cabbage)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mustard greens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Parsley&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although that list is specific to that site, I would steer clear of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruciferous_vegetables&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cruciferous vegetables&lt;/a&gt; altogether, which includes broccoli and cauliflower, as rabbits will get bloated and are not able to pass built-up gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High-oxalate vegetables such as kale should also be given sparingly, as they can cause complications in a rabbit such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebrc.org/diet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bladder stones&lt;/a&gt; which can only be corrected through expensive surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pellets and treats should also be give &lt;em&gt;in moderation&lt;/em&gt;, and infrequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9k7Oq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be beneficial to research what foods are okay for your rabbit to eat, by looking at some of the resources.  It is not suggested practice to just give your rabbit whatever you can find in your fridge, as many vegetables and other foods can be harmful to their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-05T23:40:40.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3087" CreationDate="2014-05-06T00:06:00.613" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some areas where pets can be found often may have odor associated with them, even if your pets are well groomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different ways to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Clothes-Smell-Good&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;make your clothes smell good&lt;/a&gt; without washing them, and to keep your closet smelling fresh.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/care/evr_dg_how_to_remove_the_smell_of_dog_without_removing_the_dog&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt; also has a good article on how to rid your whole house of dog smell, which will help with your clothes as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Start off by taking all of the furniture apart – pillows, blankets and the like – and vacuuming everything thoroughly. If the sofa and chairs have removable slipcovers or cushion covers, take those off for washing (details later). Get into the crevices of the furniture as deep as possible to remove all the hair, and flip the bed mattress to get both sides. On the floors, make sure to get under all of the furniture and in the corners, where “hair bunnies” tend to gather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Next, gather your deodorizing supplies. It’s simple; all you need is a big box or two of baking soda and a bottle of apple cider vinegar. Wash all of your linens, blankets and cushion covers in a mix of oxy powered laundry detergent and a ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar. There are also pet odor removers available at pet supply stores, but generally speaking, they are not much more effective than the home remedies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the carpets, bed and furniture, sprinkle baking soda liberally, using a cleaning brush to spread it around and into the fabric. Let it all sit overnight so that the baking soda has a chance to absorb the odors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0jC7l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience with my two labs, it helps to have a small air filter running.  Periodically washing articles around the house that may have accumulated smell such as carpets will help as well.  There are many &lt;a href=&quot;http://everydayroots.com/pet-stain-and-odor-removal&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;natural remedies&lt;/a&gt; to remove pet odor that may also be of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T00:06:00.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3083" CreationDate="2014-05-06T02:21:14.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like nothing that is likely will progress very quickly, so we are going to keep his leg wrapped for a few more weeks in case it was a new fracture and let the vet take another xray. I don't think there would be much change over the course of last week to now, so not much to learn here. &#xA;all the tests seem to be aimed at ruling things out because of the abnormal image, not because of my dogs symptoms.  For now, it seems that the things the vet are worried about require either huge treatment(removal of a bone) or courses of antibiotics.  Since the larger treatments don't seem to be related to whether we catch it now or in a month, and our dog is happy, we are going to wait a few weeks and xray again.  If he starts to act sick or abnormal, we'll head back to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1290" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T02:21:14.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3120" CreationDate="2014-05-06T08:08:03.283" Score="13" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;My young &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany_%28dog%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Brittany&lt;/a&gt; has the inner part of his ears getting dirty quite easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not smelling badly and there is no pus. So I think they just need routine care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I decide that they need to be cleaned? What is the correct way to clean them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fear that if done incorrectly it could &amp;quot;push stuff further inside&amp;quot; and that could lead to infection...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-29T01:04:32.397" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T01:04:32.397" Title="How to correctly clean my dog's ears?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3118" CreationDate="2014-05-06T14:48:28.130" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are (&lt;em&gt;in the US anyway&lt;/em&gt;) several ear cleaning solutions available at most (&lt;em&gt;all?&lt;/em&gt;) pet supply stores.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a liquid in a bottle, the label directions generally include putting some amount of the fluid in the dogs ear, rubbing the base of the ear, and allowing the dog to shake out any residue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always keep this in my &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit/1815#1815&quot;&gt;rabbit grooming/first aid kit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in comments &quot;&lt;strong&gt;you should never, ever, put a swab or other cleaning tool into the ear canal of&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; any pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-05-06T14:48:28.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1853" CreationDate="2014-05-06T21:43:21.293" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We also had to bathe our bunny from time to time. He had gotten quite old and wasn't able to clean himself anymore. His bunny wife had died already so she also couldn't help him out. So it was definitely necessary as otherwise all his fur at the back would just become one big matted clump. Apart from that we knew our bunnies quite well and they were very capable of showing if they didn't like something.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the more interesting question would be what is going on in the brains of all those people discussing about that topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway here is our bunny in the bath: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/xYdYV7Ce-I4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://youtu.be/xYdYV7Ce-I4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T10:18:25.413" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T10:18:25.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3161" CreationDate="2014-05-07T18:58:54.873" Score="6" ViewCount="5148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have two dogs, one is a 13-year-old male and a 1-year-old female. The female puppy has a very distinctive attitude towards everyone she's surrounded by, either someone she just met or someone new, she starts licking everything she can (shoes, clothes, hands, face, etc.), even objects someone is interacting with, a good example happened the other day while I was bathing the 13-year-old, she climbed some of the furniture to reach me and started licking the soap bar I was using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's usually more inclined to lick people's skin, but she does lick anything else she can reach when she's denied &quot;access&quot; to the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she licking everything all the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; I've observed her while they are alone in the yard and she doesn't seem to be licking anything unless someone (human) is there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1327" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:53:49.287" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T17:05:32.213" Title="Why is my dog licking everything all the time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3108" CreationDate="2014-05-07T21:46:53.117" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits should not be having another litter immediately while nursing a litter.  It diverts nutrients from the breast milk to the fetal rabbits in the womb.  This denies that nutrition to the kits before they physically are able to get it elsewhere.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separating kits from their mothers before 6 weeks of age has been documented to increase the death rate. If you remove a kit from its mother before they are 6 weeks old they are more likely to die in the period between weening and 16 weeks of maturity. While the rabbits may not be nursing after 4 weeks they are still learning skills they need to survive on their own.  Many of these they learn through interaction with their litter mates and their mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the event the mother is unable to perform her motherly duties a surrogate can be used.   It is best if the kits of the surrogate litter are one week (or less) older/younger.  The mothers milk changes over time as the kits needs change.  Rabbits show a remarkable willingness to adopt kits even if they are different breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1328" LastEditorUserId="774" LastEditDate="2014-05-20T01:51:47.277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T01:51:47.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-08T16:24:20.203" Score="7" ViewCount="509" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've only had black cats and our past and present cats seem to like to hang out on dark-colored objects (e.g. navy blankets, gray sweatshirts, etc.). They are often difficult to see there and we always assumed that was their intent. But we're wondering how true that is. Do cats seek out spots that make them harder to see? In particular, do they choose areas that match their coats, indicating knowledge of their own coloring? For example, do white cats prefer to hang out on light-colored objects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1330" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T19:14:46.223" Title="Do white cats prefer to hang out on light-colored objects?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3139" CreationDate="2014-05-08T23:12:03.623" Score="10" ViewCount="52509" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats who are litter trained, but one of them occasionally pees on rugs or linens instead. According to my fiancée, the cat was accidentally toilet trained on a towel as a kitten, and now she likes to pee on towels and similar things like rugs and blankets. While she did manage to re-train the cat to use litter, the cat will revert to peeing on linens occasionally, especially in times of stress. &lt;strong&gt;How can we reinforce the cat’s litter training and discourage peeing on rugs and linens?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that we have already removed most of the rugs from the house, so the cat doesn’t have many opportunities to pee on them. However, the bathroom is becoming a problem, as we need towels or rugs on the floor while bathing, and the cat has peed on them twice this week. Strangely, the cat seems to leave the kitchen floor mats alone – I don’t know what’s different about those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, we keep the bedroom door shut when we’re not in it, so that the cat can’t pee on the bed. Unfortunately, that’s getting to be a problem too, as the cats will sometimes hide in the bedroom so that we can’t shut them out of it. This all would be much easier if we could just trust the cats not to pee on fabric – especially because the whole house has hard floors, and it’s more comfortable with rugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know whether this is relevant, but the cat has done this right in front of me several times. Unfortunately, I know just enough to recognize when the cat is about to pee but now how to stop it. I grew up with dogs and know how to shoo them before they pee, but it doesn’t seem to faze this cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1009/how-can-stop-my-adult-cat-from-urinating-in-inappropriate-places&quot;&gt;“How can stop my adult cat from urinating in inappropriate places?”&lt;/a&gt; but in this case, the behavior is not new, and the cat was accidentally trained to pee in the inappropriate place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="770" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T17:53:44.707" Title="How do I stop my cat from peeing on rugs and linens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-09T00:36:37.490" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that mosquitoes are the primary vectors of heartworms. Can a dog be infected in other ways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T13:56:14.590" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T13:56:14.590" Title="What are all the possible ways for a dog to be contamined with heartworms?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3127" CreationDate="2014-05-09T01:15:14.557" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be a huge problem and I suspect you can only diminish the frequency of the occurrences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eliminate the smell on the items that have been peed on, on carpet you might be out of luck but on towels, linens, things you can throw in the washer... detergent and &amp;quot;percarbonate&amp;quot; might remove the odor.  Remember that cats have a much keener sense of smell than we do and they will be attracted to pee on a surface they've done that before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give a loud warning if you see &amp;quot;precursor&amp;quot; behavior, stopping to sniff an area especially if you see the &amp;quot;flehmen&amp;quot; (where the mouth is slightly open, they look like they are sneering and they are actually drawing scent into their nose and the VO organ at the top of the mouth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce opportunities.  Closing doors (which you indicate you try to do) is a good way to cut them off at the pass.  With the bathmat can you hang it up on the shower rod between uses?  If you can't close the bedroom door you could put a sheet of impermeable plastic over the bed (they probably won't want to pee on such a surface but if they do it won't get on the sheets)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduce the stress... moving is very difficult for cats, probably giving them more attention (provided they aren't telling you guys to go away), more food and drink, a bunch of cardboard boxes, extra play time, extra treats... anything to reduce their stress level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitchen mats probably aren't as interesting if they aren't as soft or absorbent.  If a cat feels the need to puke or pee out of the litter box they don't want the stuff splashing up at them, so they like a good soft surface that will take it right in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had issues with cats peeing out of place for several reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;territory squabbles / marking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;UI infections&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;senility / old age&#xA;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I'd suggest checking for a UI tract infection, but if this is a moving it is most likely stress from the moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T17:53:44.707" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T17:53:44.707" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3126" CreationDate="2014-05-09T01:44:57.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might have your cats on dark objects because dark objects absorb more light and convert it to heat... thus being slightly warmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never noticed my cats trying to &quot;blend in&quot;.  Sometimes they like to hide, or find places that are cozy, but when they are in the open they never act like &quot;you can't see me&quot; (I have seen that behavior from an octopus which did try to blend in, but never from cats)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T01:44:57.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-05-09T01:57:40.237" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same kind of cat with the same &quot;fight mode&quot;. Often it seems that this happens when he's hungry, but hasn't realized that he's hungry. Giving him a treat might calm him down, but it also might encourage this behavior &lt;em&gt;in order to get a treat&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my usual tactic is to &lt;em&gt;shower him with love&lt;/em&gt;. I pick him up with a firm hold on the scruff of his neck, and just hold and nuzzle him, rubbing my nose on his forehead. Now, he usually doesn't enjoy this at first; but he either starts to enjoy it after a minute and will sit and cuddle, or when I put him down, he's in a different mood and eats a little and takes a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's on your lap, the easiest thing to do is to stand up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I've learned from the show &quot;My Cat from Hell&quot; is use a wand toy or laser pointer. If you can burn up the hunting energy without rewarding him for biting hands and fingers (and wrists! ouch!), that would be ideal. Reward him with a treat (or a few: my cat has negotiated his way up to 4 or 5 treats and will demand more if fewer are given), and let him take a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T01:57:40.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-05-09T02:24:30.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try giving him more interactive toys to &quot;hunt.&quot; I think he may be just hyper and needs to fulfill his instinct to hunt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps try a laser pointer or a wand toy. Or if you want to keep him entertained while you're busy and can't interact with him, try one of those weasel ball things. My sister had a toy for her cat that was like a wand toy, but it was attached to a stand that had a motor that would wave the toy around automatically. The cat loved it so much it destroyed it after a few months! Something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000N9W7HW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After he's finished with his &quot;hunt&quot;, try rewarding him with a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="781" LastEditorUserId="781" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T16:31:45.183" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T16:31:45.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3148" CreationDate="2014-05-09T10:18:32.623" Score="4" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm still trying to find my way about dogs' food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering to start with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Home cooked food treats for training (bite sized, easy to carry with me, eg. pieces of boiled chicken without bones)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Home cooked meals for Kongs (easy to be put in the Kong, would replace a few meals a week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not planning to cook for the dog (nor for me...) everyday, so the question is: &lt;strong&gt;can these be cooked once a week and then frozen?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T12:01:36.467" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T02:33:50.917" Title="Home cooked diets for dogs: is it fine to freeze it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3128" CreationDate="2014-05-09T12:21:59.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There do not appear to be any natural non-mosquito vectors of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirofilaria_immitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis)&lt;/a&gt;.  In fact it appears there are only about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/5/1/245&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;60 species of mosquito&lt;/a&gt; that can be a vector for the parasitic roundworm, this is out of about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3,500 known species of mosquito grouped into 41 genera&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article was mostly used as reference for the scientific name, it does not clearly state one way or the other on additional vectors. On researching further, the article at parasitesandvectors.com, which taken together with others I found imply &quot;we looked for other vectors and have not found one yet&quot;.  A person with medical training and equipment could transfer an infection from one dog to another, but that seems outside of the question. If there are host vectors other then the 60/3500 of mosquito species, they either have not yet been found, or they are poorly document and I did not find reference of them. While you are unlikely to find any reliable reference that clearly states &quot;Mosquitoes are the only possible vector&quot;, This quote says it as clearly as can be expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dirofilaria immitis (Di) is a filarial worm transmitted by mosquitoes (Culicidae) to carnivores and other hosts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/6/1/117&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source - parasitesandvectors.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-05-11T11:22:05.053" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T11:22:05.053" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3138" CreationDate="2014-05-09T12:57:33.057" Score="9" ViewCount="4452" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any specific signs my cat will show if he has worms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that horses can get diarrhea, loose weight or don't gain weight and that you can detect some of the worms in their fecal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as my cat always goes out to poop, it's difficult to test his fecal for worms or see if he has diarrhea or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any other way to find out if I have to deworm him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastEditorUserId="1091" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T12:23:28.540" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T12:23:28.540" Title="How do I know if my cat has worms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2014-05-09T13:24:02.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best method to know if your horses need supplementing food is to let a vet analyse their blood. Then you know what substances they need and you can look for a mineral feed that contains those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal diet for a horse is hay ad libitum and the occasional mineral feed to compensate the missing mineral in the hay. &#xA;You can also give them seasonal herbs and seeds, but be sure to check what they do and if you want that (for example dandelion is great for detoxing the liver)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they don't work very hard they usually don't need grain or any other &quot;horse feed&quot; on the market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course make sure that the hay is of good quality, that their teeth are okay and they don't have digesting issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:24:02.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="191" CreationDate="2014-05-09T13:37:55.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What did your farrier say? &#xA;You said your horse is not shoed, that's basically good. However, be sure that the hooves are trimmed regularly and in the right way.&#xA;Sometimes irregularities in the hoof can lever or pinch and then abscesses occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T13:37:55.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3135" CreationDate="2014-05-09T14:14:39.653" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are general signs related to their stool as you noted, including diarrhea, blood, or constipation. For other signs, you should be looking for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unexplained weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coughing and other breathing difficulties&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, though, being able to see them poop (or the outcome of it) is the most effective way to detect the presence of certain worms as not all symptoms may apply to varieties of worms. For example, the stool is important for detecting roundworms and hookworms. The weight loss and vomiting would more likely signal a tapeworm and coughing/breathing issues for lungworm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really concerned, take him into the vet for an examination. The risk is higher for outdoor cats who are more likely to be exposed to fleas and other parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T14:14:39.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3127" CreationDate="2014-05-09T15:44:21.577" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though you have good reason to suspect that the problem here is behavioral, the &lt;strong&gt;first step should always be a through checkup with your vet.&lt;/strong&gt; Inappropriate elimination can have several medical causes. Feline interstitial cystitis, in particular, is an inflammation of the bladder walls that is thought to be caused by stress (which can be caused by moving).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, if you believe that the inappropriate elimination is caused by stress (especially a big stress like moving), your vet may be able to give you some medications that will help.  Many of these medications can be made into a dermal gel that will get rubbed into their ears, so there's no additional stress to medicate the cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is realizing that your cat is behaving this way for some purpose.  Towels and linens are more acceptable than the litter box for some reason. &lt;strong&gt;The goal is to make the litter box the most appealing option.&lt;/strong&gt; Look at the difference between each elimination site and the litter box and see if you can make the litter box more like the elimination site. The series of questions I would consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location&lt;/strong&gt; of the litter boxes versus frequent elimination problem. Does it seem like your cat wants to go in a particular room or rooms? Perhaps you should put a litter box there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cleanliness&lt;/strong&gt;. If there's waste in the litter box, that's a deterrant to some cats (one of ours refused to use the box if anyone else had used it until we totally washed the box and put in fresh litter).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Comfort&lt;/strong&gt; of the litter substrate. Linens/towels are much softer than most clay based litters, and may be uncomfortable on the paws (especially if the cat was declawed). Switching to pine or newsprint may help. (As a note, if you are using a litter liner, stop, they are disruptive to the digging process)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety&lt;/strong&gt;. If the litter boxes are tucked away in some corner with no sight lines where it's easy to get cornered, your cat may feel unsafe going there. Try adding more boxes in an open area. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Odor&lt;/strong&gt;. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Litter Box&lt;/em&gt; - This can be related to cleanliness, but can also be affected by perfumed litters or cleaners. In short - don't use any scents around your cat's litter box. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Towels&lt;/em&gt; - Many cats find citrus repellant, so you could try a citrus detergent or fabric softener for your towels to see if that helps. I wouldn't suggest it on your rugs or bed because you don't want to make them uncomfortable in your house totally.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Previous accident sites&lt;/em&gt; - make sure that you throughly clean any previous accident site with an enzyme cleaner and check with a blacklight afterwards to make sure that any trace of the scent is gone. If your cat smells urine there, it will just encourage him to urinate there again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shape&lt;/strong&gt; of litter box. This is related to safety/odor. A closed litter box is easier to get trapped in, and holds the odor, so generally open litter boxes are better. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you believe stress is a factor, I would suggest working to reduce stress in your household. Moving is a VERY stressful time, and cats need consistency! Here are some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try providing different sleeping places. A cat's ideal sleeping place is &lt;strong&gt;warm&lt;/strong&gt; (sunbeam, covered house, thick bedding), with a &lt;strong&gt;good view&lt;/strong&gt; (think elevated - a wall shelf, a cat tree, or a wide window ledge perch), and often &lt;strong&gt;partially secluded&lt;/strong&gt; (again, a covered bag/house, or thick bedding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your cat has &lt;strong&gt;pathways through the house&lt;/strong&gt; so that he can travel through the house without confronting anyone (human, cat, or any other pets you may have). Usually these paths are &lt;strong&gt;elevated&lt;/strong&gt; to promote a sense of safety in the cat. A good resource is Jackson Galaxy's Catification pages, but the main idea is to make sure there are pathways and no deadends). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce the competition for resources&lt;/strong&gt; among your cats. Start feeding your cats separately to reduce the feeling of competition among them for food. Also add more water bowls/fountains to different locations in your house. Make sure you have at least one more litter box than you have cats (so, 2 cats = 3 litter boxes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you spend enough time in &lt;strong&gt;interactive play&lt;/strong&gt; (with each cat). This utilizes their hunting skills and helps keep their minds sharp. If one cat is bored and attacking the other cat, this will help reduce the number of attacks/harassment. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a &lt;strong&gt;consistent schedule&lt;/strong&gt; as much as possible. Try to feed them at the same time each day, play at the same time each day, and snuggle on the couch at the same time each day. If they can count on these interactions, their stress level should decrease.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, some folks have seen good results with pheromone treatments like feliway, or herbal treatments like rescue remedy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you'll have to remove opportunities for inappropriate elimination as much as possible. Make sure you pick up after yourselves. If getting the cats out of the bedroom is a problem, train them (to voice or clicker) to leave the room (it takes us about a year to train a cat to respond to a vocal &quot;out&quot;, but we don't use special training sessions, just tell them &quot;out&quot; and pick them up when they don't walk out themselves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our girls will urinate on towels/bath mats if left in the bathroom near her litter box, so we used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90234226/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ikea Runnen&lt;/a&gt; to make a bathmat (ran out of tiles on the right and haven't gotten back to the store). As an added benefit, the litter falls through the gaps so it's neater than a traditional mat, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/txtN1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T15:44:21.577" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3135" CreationDate="2014-05-09T16:31:13.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether this is the case for all species of worm infection and I rather doubt that it is, but at least some worms can be seen by examining the cat's anus. Don't worry, nothing invasive, just lift the tail out of the way and have a look. You can sometimes see small white worms there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Check-Cats-for-Worms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jp7hHm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen this in a few of my cats over the years and promptly took them to the vet, fed them a pill for a few days and everything was fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1309" LastEditorUserId="1309" LastEditDate="2014-05-10T03:37:43.037" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T03:37:43.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3143" CreationDate="2014-05-09T18:24:22.333" Score="7" ViewCount="13413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 year old rabbit that seems to be in discomfort from arthritis and age related issues.  He lives with a younger rabbit, and to keep the old rabbit in the area that is appropriate for a geriatric bladder a we use an 8 inch (20 cm) board as a fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet agreed that he may be in some pain, and suggested a dosage of 25mg per 2 kilograms up to twice a day.  This is similar to the recommendations found else where  &lt;a href=&quot;http://pearandberry.com/aspirin-for-dogs/&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;5-10 mg per pound of dog’s weight for 12 hours&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  I am &lt;strong&gt;NOT suggesting this correct dosage for your pet, talk your vet first&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also offered a method which included dissolving an aspirin in water, and providing that as his only water source. Because we are medicating a single bunny in a two bunny group, that was not an option for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we immediately set out to figure out how to get less than a baby aspirin into one bunny in a two bunny family group. FYI - Google does not show any viable results for purchasing aspirin in solution.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:25:51.317" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T20:23:02.763" Title="How to give aspirin to a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3142" CreationDate="2014-05-09T18:40:08.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the solution we used, we had previously trained the older rabbit to go into a carrier at meal time, while the younger rabbit eats in another location (&lt;em&gt;separate diets required for everything other than hay and lettuce&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After identifying a pill that could be  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide-to-pill-splitting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;split safely&lt;/a&gt; we purchased some fresh pineapple. Cut the pineapple into bit size bits, put an extra slice in one, and poke the piece of baby aspirin (&lt;em&gt;1/3 of an 81mg baby aspirin in our case&lt;/em&gt;) inside the pineapple.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been doing this once daily in the morning, and he has been eating it fine. Within hours of his first dose looked like he felt much better.  He had an increased appetite, his ears are up and perky almost constantly, lucky he still not able to get over the 8 inch fence :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We choose pineapple because it has been identified as &lt;strong&gt;possibly&lt;/strong&gt; beneficial for digestive issues (&lt;em&gt;which he also has&lt;/em&gt;), is easy to work with and is readily available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pineapple should be feed in moderation as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sugar can harmful&lt;/a&gt; to the good bacteria in the rabbits gut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two weeks later&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The daily aspirin continues to seem like a good idea.  We have re-evaluated using pineapple as the delivery vehicle. No objections to using it for initial or occasional aspirin dosing, but for daily dosing we have changed to blue berries.  We purchase fresh and freeze them in a ziplock bag, defrost a few days worth at a time.  Poke a hole with a fork and insert aspirin piece.  Holds up well, rabbit likes it, smaller bit size so less additional sugar is added to the diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-05-17T10:28:02.927" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T10:28:02.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3142" CreationDate="2014-05-09T18:40:53.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest finding a compounding pharmacy and talking to someone there. I've used compounding pharmacies for getting medications made into transdermal gels (applied to the inside of the ears of my cats) and liquid forms of medications that are normally only available in human dosages as pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a compounding pharmacy locally, you can find a bunch online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking for a compounding pharmacy, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Compounding-FAQs.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q: Are pharmacists trained to compound for animals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: Many pharmacy&#xA;schools do not include any veterinary pharmacotherapy in their&#xA;curricula so most veterinary-specific pharmacy training (including&#xA;compounding) is obtained through independent continuing education on&#xA;the part of the pharmacist. Since drugs and compounds may behave&#xA;differently in animals than in humans, veterinarians should ask&#xA;compounding pharmacists if they have specialized training or&#xA;credentials in veterinary compounding, and veterinarians should&#xA;specifically seek the compounding services of pharmacists who have&#xA;specialized knowledge of veterinary compounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a warning, using a compounding pharmacy will generally make the cost of your medication increase. Amitriptyline usually costs about $15 for 30 pills (and Juliet takes a half pill each day), but the dermal gel is about $60 for a 90 day supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T19:29:17.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3023" CreationDate="2014-05-09T18:44:41.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No you should not feed papaya enzyme tablets designed for humans to rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Papaya tablets are little more than a sugary treat: they contain very little active enzyme&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference - Rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally as there is no rabbit specific dosage listed on the instructions, you should not use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recommended dosages of proteolytic enzymes vary with the form used. Because of the wide variation, we suggest following label instructions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?ChunkIID=21671&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference - NYU Langone medical center&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strung together poops are not necessarily indicative of a GI issue, particularly during a spring or fall shed. I usually consider it a good sign if the hair is moving through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-05-09T19:14:39.137" LastActivityDate="2014-05-09T19:14:39.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3147" CreationDate="2014-05-10T00:13:11.790" Score="7" ViewCount="1872" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3127/how-do-i-stop-my-cat-from-peeing-on-rugs-and-linens&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt;, my cat has been peeing on things outside of her litter box. So far she’s done it three times right in front of me, so either she doesn’t realize that she’s in the wrong place, or she’s challenging my authority. The cat isn’t peeing outside the box very often (about 2–3 times per month) or in the same spot (every room in the house except the kitchen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I caught her, I tried to pick her up and direct her toward the litter box, like I would do with a puppy, but unfortunately I was too late and she just kept peeing on the general area (including herself). The other two times, I couldn’t reach her but I tried to shoo her away with a firm “no,” but again I was too slow and it didn’t help at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fiancée raised the cat, and she says the technique that usually works for her is to startle and herd the cat toward the litter box by yelling and shuffling her feet. I’ve seen other people recommend yelling or picking up the cat. The cat is already stressed out by moving, so I would like a technique that is both reliable and less likely to cause the poor cat further stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the cat is specifically challenging me, methods to establish dominance might also be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="770" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:07:37.817" Title="How can I redirect a cat about to pee outside the litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3146" CreationDate="2014-05-10T01:11:31.293" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a cat pees in a particular spot, it is trying to mark territory through the release of scent, not challenge your authority through the action of peeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to discipline the cat in any way, you are likely to confuse the cat (who will think you are disciplining her for peeing, not for peeing in an unapproved location).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is startle the cat in a way that cannot be connected to you (clap your hands from a hidden location, toss something in the cat's direction, etc). If you prevented her from peeing, you can quickly lock her in a small room with her litter box and no other candidate materials. If not, then get out the enzyme cleaner and black light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She is NOT challenging you.&lt;/strong&gt; She is likely confused and scared and (if you haven't had the vet look at her) possibly in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T01:11:31.293" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3133" CreationDate="2014-05-10T02:33:50.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes absolutely. I tend to save left over meats from my meals and freeze those for later use too. Here are a few that work well: chicken breast, steak/roast, liver, chicken hearts. And cutting up string cheese works really well and doesn't need to be frozen. You can also cut up turkey or all beef hotdogs and use those but use that sparingly as they are high in sodium and low in things that are &quot;good for you&quot; where the other things listed here have good nutritional value. For lower level treats like what you would want to mix in and leave in a Kong you can use frozen veggies like carrots and peas. Avoid anything with onion... if it is left overs cooked with them is ok but don't include the actual onion in what you give your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T02:33:50.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3150" CreationDate="2014-05-10T03:23:09.560" Score="2" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got 2 female (same litter) kittens (7 weeks old) about 6 months ago. They were both healthy and showed no signs of problems. I also have 2 male cats (about 6 years old, both castrated and friendly towards the kittens). All 4 cats are house cats and rarely leave the house. If they do then they sit in the yard and never wander away. As I said, both male cats have been castrated but the female kittens have yet to be spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 2 months ago I noticed fleas so I bought some Frontline flea control and have been using it for the past 2 months (2 treatments so far). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then I have noticed one of the kittens has deteriorated in health. She has scabs on the back of her neck (probably due to scratching). This isn't a major concern as I have read that this can happen. To be clear, I am not sure if this deterioration is due to the fleas or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last month we had to take one of the kittens (Kimi for clarification) to the vets. She was very dehydrated and weak. She was also vomiting a lot. Since we couldn't afford the bill for further checks, the vet gave her a some fluids under the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was fine for a while after that but now seems to be back to the same. She hasn't vomited at all but is very weak. She has always been a cat who likes her cuddles, but recently has done nothing but that. She rarely gets up and sometimes I have to bring her food to her. She will seek out places which she can go under, such as the bed covers or my wife's dressing gown. The only way she will move is if she is coerced or she smells food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She appears to be very nervous and shaky. Her breathing is faster than usual and her head appears to dart around whenever she hears or feels something near her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is also very unstable on her legs. It seems to affect her back legs. Sometimes she will walk sideways due to it. She sometimes loses bladder control too. Several times she has squatted in the living room and done her business and several times she has done this on our bed (it appears as if she doesn't realise it at the time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had something similar happen or know why this is happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All 4 cats are being treated with Frontline pipettes for their fleas. The other 3 cats are fine with this. I am not suggesting this is due to the flea treatment, just mentioning in case it is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1336" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:49.030" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:49.030" Title="Kitten very nervous and lack of energy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3149" CreationDate="2014-05-10T03:31:46.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your kitten is very sick.&lt;/strong&gt; There are a variety of problems that can cause these symptoms, from a tick bite to a spinal injury, but we cannot diagnose these problems over the internet. The only way for your kitten to get help is to go see a veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T03:31:46.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3146" CreationDate="2014-05-10T05:04:42.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After you clean the spot, you could feed your cat near that area. Cats are not going to pee in a place where they eat. &lt;em&gt;That's probably why she is not using the kitchen as her litter-box.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speak to your cat.. when you notice her peeing outside the litter-box. Never shout but speak and sound disappointed, and gesture towards the litter-box (point and tap the box). I noticed that cats are very intuitive and can sense our intention by the tone of our voice. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also many a times I have used a paper to clean the spot, then place it in the litter-box and then place the cat near smelling distance of the paper. I guess that helps them register that they should be peeping in the litter-box and not anywhere else..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two pet cats, had one prior to these two and briefly looked after 5 kittens so picked up a thing or two along the way.. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="190" LastEditorUserId="190" LastEditDate="2014-05-11T01:14:54.827" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T01:14:54.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3146" CreationDate="2014-05-10T09:22:53.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a scent marking action. Is there another cat getting in (a tom). Has your cat been neutered, if not, could she be in season, and is leaving calling cards - for toms? Once cleaned up, try sprinkling pepper powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also maybe take a visit to the vets, you don't state how old the cat is, but there may be a urinary tract problem, you are unaware of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1338" LastActivityDate="2014-05-10T09:22:53.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5696" CreationDate="2014-05-10T21:17:56.643" Score="7" ViewCount="2196" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a nine year old mixed lab that was gotten from the local Humane Society equivalent. She currently weighs about 25 kilograms and is in perfect health. She looks skinny, but she has always looked that way and the vets say that this is normal for her mixed breed. For the first six years she was terrific: very obedient, never harmed a child or another animal, never ruined a thing, never ate scraps outside the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she was about five years old we moved house and about a year after that she began eating scraps outside and then chewing things in the house, mostly bags (both plastic and cloth), and had even chewed furniture once. Today I came home to find that she ate a plastic DVD case that had fallen (or more likely been knocked off) a table. She also cries terribly when left at home alone, and we often come home to find her food bowl (but not her water bowl) upside down and the food thrown about. Thinking that she is not satisfied with her food, I've tried changing the brand of her food several times but this has no effect. I've tried all the major brands and most of the smaller, less expensive brands as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog was at the Humane Society she was given an antibiotic that stained her teeth, so they look rotted but they are not. I have pressed and pulled at her teeth to see if there is any pain, but there is none. Also, her gums and tongue look fine. Her poop does not have any unusual properties, and her coat is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could be the cause of her tantrums and destroying bags and cloths?&lt;/strong&gt; She refuses to play with dog toys (always has) so I don't think that it is boredom. Likewise, I think that I've ruled out dissatisfaction with her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some pictures of the dog if it helps to better identify the breed and thus the behaviour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a puppy:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/gili_enjoying_wedding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/gili_enjoying_wedding.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/laurie_holding_happy_gili.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/laurie_holding_happy_gili.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not as a puppy:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/good_rest_shade.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/good_rest_shade.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/looks_tasty.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/looks_tasty.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/three_good_reasons_like_family_trips.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dotancohen.com/eng/pictures/photo/three_good_reasons_like_family_trips.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastEditorUserId="1340" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T10:23:29.350" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T16:36:29.340" Title="Why is my dog suddenly ruining bags and other items?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2891" CreationDate="2014-05-11T19:09:19.360" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to brushing, my vet has suggested I mix in a little cod-liver oil (or any available kind of edible oil) with her (dry) food once in a while. It's supposed to help the cat pass the hair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T19:09:19.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-11T19:44:25.587" Score="3" ViewCount="1125" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog can't move and if gets excited, it starts to shiver and tremble, also the dog has heart problems. Could this be the reason why my dog is not recovering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took the dog to a vet clinic and they said that they can't do anything because the dog can die at any moment, so my mom is taking care of the dog in these last 3 - 4 days and the dog is not recovering. even a dog veterinarian has came to my home and he gave to the dog: serum, antibiotics and vitamin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom is giving to the dog: soup and coconut water to hydrate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the recovering can take long or we can't do anything to make recover my dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just posting here if there is a hope&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to John Cavan for the reply, here more info about the exam:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leukocytosis marked by neutrophilia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High values in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;lymphocytes: 21100/mm&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;neutrophils: 90%, 18990&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the exam it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;screening of hemoparasites:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Woo: negative&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont know how to read the result, it's in Spanish, my mom says that they did not mention a parasite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1342" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:12:45.937" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:12:45.937" Title="Dog with leukocytosis neutrophilia, treatments?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-11T20:57:23.880" Score="4" ViewCount="7974" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat A will lick cat B while cat B is sleeping and then bite cat B's neck. It doesn't seem to hurt cat B, but why might cat A bite cat B? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat A is a male about full size and almost a year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat B is a male, a little bigger than the television remote and around 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T08:44:22.960" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:29:20.540" Title="Cat biting other cat's neck" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-11T21:17:55.227" Score="8" ViewCount="3633" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to get rid of fleas on a kitten that is too young to use store bought flea medicine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T13:49:50.160" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T10:42:09.083" Title="What is an acceptable flea treatment for kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2014-05-11T21:22:06.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neutrophilia is one of 5 forms of leukocytosis and it is basically a very high white blood cell count caused by parasitic infection, so treatments would normally be to deal with that. That presumes, of course, that this is a result of parasitic infection. Are you certain about this? Other forms of leukocytosis can have different causes, some far more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems surprising that the vet would make that diagnosis and not look to treat your dog for the cause of this condition. There would seem to me that there should be more to this as the neutrophilia is more a symptom of something rather than the something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-05-11T22:42:35.587" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T22:42:35.587" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2014-05-11T21:31:29.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be several different reasons why your dog seems to lick everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/Medicine/Help-My-dog-licks-everything/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/506866&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Veterinary Medicine&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog's constant, repetitive licking of objects or surfaces is a problem whose frequency is difficult to determine. This licking may occur often, but because it seems harmless and may only be somewhat annoying, many owners accept this unusual behavior or simply ignore it. However, some owners will inquire about it during a routine checkup and ask for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such owners often describe a dog that licks floors, carpets, walls, furniture, its own lips, and even the owner's legs, hands, or arms constantly. When not a result of an underlying medical problem, the behavior is unlikely to cause harm. However, if hair and fibers are ingested, constant licking can potentially result in life-threatening intestinal blockage that requires surgical intervention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article linked above helps identify different reasons that a dog might lick things excessively.  There is also an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/compulsive-behavior-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; article on compulsive licking in dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs display many different kinds of compulsions, such as spinning, pacing, tail chasing, fly snapping, barking, shadow or light chasing, excessive licking and toy fixation. It’s important to note that normal dogs also engage in behaviors like barking and licking, but they usually do so in response to specific triggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are varying opinions of why dogs might excessively lick things, which can be an indicator of medical or behavioral issues.  Personally, my chocolate lab licks people all the time when they first come into the house, and if he walks by you - it is just his way of saying hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QWs3K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still worried about his licking, you can always &lt;strong&gt;talk to your vet&lt;/strong&gt; on your next routine appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-05-11T21:31:29.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3159" CreationDate="2014-05-11T21:38:23.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth#Pest_control&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Diatomaceous earth&lt;/a&gt; is a non-toxic parasite control application.  It can be used for kittens if it is food grade. There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3199&quot;&gt;some health concerns&lt;/a&gt; which should be considered before using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T10:42:09.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3180" CreationDate="2014-05-11T23:10:59.737" Score="1" ViewCount="9678" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that shedding is different across breeds, but taking an average, which pet sheds more hair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1345" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T23:06:16.173" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T23:06:16.173" Title="What animal sheds more hair, a cat or dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-05-14T20:30:08.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3165" CreationDate="2014-05-12T08:28:29.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you said, it really depends on the breed how much hair an animal sheds.&#xA;It also depends on the size of the animal (bigger animals have more hair so the average amount they shed is higher, obviously)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can imagine it can also depend on how you feed your animal and how healthy it is. I know it is like that with horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least it also depends on the animal itself. You could have two equally sized cats from the same breed and one could shed, say, twice as much hair as the other one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all in all I think you cannot say that one species sheds more or less hair than another one. You also have to consider if the animal can go outside, because then it will shed hair outside too and you have less of it in your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, long haired breeds shed more hair than short hair breeds, but I think that's obvious ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-05-12T10:28:22.033" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T10:28:22.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3158" CreationDate="2014-05-12T08:46:22.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When grooming themselves my cats sometimes seem to be biting their legs or tails. I think that's just to get rid of some hair or to help them lick the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My older cat was doing that to my kitten too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is apparently normal behaviour if you say that cat B doesn't seem to worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T08:46:22.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3111" CreationDate="2014-05-12T10:52:29.337" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Pre-walk ritual&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is already good that you have him sit before going out. Sitting is a &lt;em&gt;deferential&lt;/em&gt; behaviour helping him to gather information about what's going on. In addition sitting helps the dog relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before going out for a walk you don't want to train for an &quot;excited&quot; or &quot;obedience like&quot; sit (I mean that the goal is not the &quot;sit&quot; in itself, like a trick). You want him to sit and look at you (&quot;hey what's next?&quot;) while staying calm and relaxed. This last part prevents the brain from going in &quot;crazy&quot; mode (not very scientific...) which in turn prevents him from thinking and then learning (harness or collar fitting, loose leash walking, ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be doing quite well there, you can really enforce that in other situations (doors that you open, picking up a toy, etc.). Eventually you won't even have to ask him to sit, just wait until he does. If you do that consistently you also reduce his anxiety: he knows what will happen and he's in control of the situation (from his point of view) and understands that doing nothing is a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Collar fitting and 'manipulations'&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is to be trained &lt;strong&gt;separately&lt;/strong&gt;: don't do that when &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; want to go for a walk. Do that when you're calm and relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to train the dog to have your hands close to his face, neck, etc. This is also valid for other 'manipulations' (you could practice with his paws, tail, eyes, ears, etc.). That can be very useful if you have to give him medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take some treats, call the dog, ask him to sit. Approach your hands from his face, say &quot;good boy&quot; and give him a treat. Progress &lt;em&gt;very slowly&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;The goal is to reinforce the &quot;good&quot; behaviour (not moving), so you need to create a situation in which that good behaviour happens&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's confortable with your hands then you can start doing the same with the collar. Progress slowly: that may means 3 sessions (1 session of 5 minutes a day?) without the collar with some dogs, or 10 sessions with other dogs. The progression is usually non linear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can give him a treat through the loop for the first few tries. However that's &lt;em&gt;bribing&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;rewarding&lt;/em&gt;. Quickly fade out the treat and only reward after the good behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's moving too much or trying to snap your hands: don't say anything, stand up, turn away from him and/or move to another room. Wait 15 seconds and start again. In these situations you don't have to talk much: don't &quot;command&quot; anything (apart from the initial sit), don't yell at the dog, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As he'll make progress you can also touch his neck in other circumstances, before feeding him, before petting him, etc. That will help him generalise and proof the behaviour (no reaction when your hands approach his face) with distractions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fitting the collar to go for a walk&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the last step: the dog is calm and relaxed (part 1) and had some training about the collar, he's confortable with your hands being close to his face (part 2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't talk and breathe calmly. You both know what to do. If he's getting nervous when you try to fit the collar, stand up, turn away from him and wait 10 seconds. He should sit down again by himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer but that's not rocket science. The main point is the &lt;em&gt;desensitisation&lt;/em&gt; and/using &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; of being manipulated near his head. The usual error is to try to progress too quickly. That's a problem I'm having now as I have to apply an ophthalmic ointment to my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm talking about &quot;saying good boy and treat&quot;, that can be adapted to clicker training (click and treat - see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is3CVqvfOn8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video about clicks and calm markers&lt;/a&gt;) or any other positive reinforcement training method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T10:52:29.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3146" CreationDate="2014-05-12T11:37:34.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you've said you recently moved, if there are no other medical issues involved, you've probably got a mix of stress and confusion causing the problem. As others have said, cats really don't like change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest starting with a collection of small, disposable litter boxes around the house (this is temporary, to get the cat used to peeing where she should again). That way, there's always one close by. When I had a 5-week-old kitten, I used old cardboard boxes (with liners where needed) and tossed everything when the litter needed changing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as you see the cat go into the squat with her tail up, gently pick her up and set her in the nearest litter box, then stay with her and talk to her - again, gently and praising her - while she goes. Once she's done, give her lots of attention for being such a good cat and going where she's supposed to. She should quickly get (or re-get) the idea that the box is where she's meant to do her business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You definitely need to clean everything she's hit with odor neutralizer (if possible, clean the whole house with it, several times, because even black light isn't going to find everything in my experience). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she's reliably using litter boxes, you can start gradually moving the small ones towards the main box. Any boxes she doesn't use can go away altogether, but the ones she is using need to move maybe a foot a day at most so that they're close to the main location. The idea here is to gradually ease her to the main litter area (because no matter what you're going to be cleaning stray kitty litter and potentially other stuff from around the temporary boxes - how much other stuff depends on how vigorously she scratches, whether you use clumping litter or not, and the quality of the litter). Keep the odor neutralizer handy and use it on the area the box used to be each time you move it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever else you do, don't punish her for peeing where she shouldn't. As Zaralynda says, she's not challenging you: she's confused and scared and she wants you to reassure her. Having you take her to where she should be going and make a fuss of her will help reassure her (even if you don't catch it in time and she ends up going all over you... You'll figure out the signals quicker next time!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T11:37:34.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3159" CreationDate="2014-05-12T12:29:39.173" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As well as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3162/469&quot;&gt;James' suggestion&lt;/a&gt; for Diatomaceous earth, I'd recommend using a flea comb to get fleas off the kitten. It's a nasty job (I've done it for cats who were too old to safely use commercial treatments) but it does help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You sit yourself and the kitten on a plain light-colored cloth so you can easily see any fleas. Comb the kitten and use your fingernails to kill any fleas the comb picks up. You'll need fingernails because fleas are tough (it's rather gross - when you kill them you'll hear a distinct pop and there'll be white ooze. If the flea has been feeding, there'll also be blood). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're done - usually when the kitten is too restless to keep going (with a kitten, you want to do this when its sleepy), put the kitten inside and shake the cloth out outside. That gets the worst of the flea dirt and flea larvae off. Then wash the cloth in the hottest water you can use, and use a dryer to dry it. The heat might kill any remaining fleas (this isn't a guarantee). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use tissues instead of cloth to catch the flea dirt and so forth, put them in a trash can &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how badly the kitten is infested, you may want to do this several times a day - kittens and elderly cats can suffer from flea-infestation anemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T12:36:44.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2014-05-12T13:17:27.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you specifically asked for possible medications, a possible solution is to use &lt;strong&gt;alprazolam&lt;/strong&gt;, aka. &lt;strong&gt;Xanax&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a whole appendix dedicated to its use in cases like storm phobias in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0323008909&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Karen Overall's book &quot;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats&quot;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A (partial) quote of interest, from &quot;&lt;em&gt;Generalized Guidelines for Using Alprazolam for Noise and Storm Phobias, Panic and Severe Distress&lt;/em&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three ways to use this: [...] &lt;strong&gt;preventive&lt;/strong&gt; for dogs with known triggers for profound distress (eg., &lt;strong&gt;storms&lt;/strong&gt;) [...] situational and interventional medication [...] in a truly &lt;strong&gt;panicolytic context (e.g., the storm crept up on you and now your dog is curled in a ball, drooling)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anxiolytic drugs are meant to be used in combination with behavioural treatments. Anyway, always consult your vet first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T13:17:27.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T13:32:01.897" Score="6" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who just lost her kitten.  The kitten was about 10 months old, and had gotten into the habit of &quot;escaping&quot; out the door whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time someone went towards the door, the cat would try to position himself to sneak out the moment the door opened.  They also have a dog, and the cat would try to sneak out whenever the dog went outside (the dog can and does open the screen door if it isn't latched properly, if he wants to go outside).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The escaping behavior went on for months, but for the most part, he would only stay out for short periods of time (a few hours at most).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two weeks ago, he got out, and stayed outside all day before finally coming in again.  That night, he got out again, and never came back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It turned out that he had gotten hit by a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately (in my personal opinion, a cat was a poor choice for her, and I'm very upset that the escaping behavior was allowed to go on unchecked), my friend decided to get a new kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no real confidence that she'll be able to strictly avoid the cat escaping again, if he proves to be as persistent in his attempts as the previous cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any advice I can give her to help discourage the new kitten from having any interest in even &lt;em&gt;trying&lt;/em&gt; to escape outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T16:10:17.840" Title="What advice can I offer a friend on how to teach their cat not to try and sneak outside?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3173" CreationDate="2014-05-12T13:46:59.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's very sad. For such risky &quot;behaviours&quot; prevention is very important and whatever training you might do the risk will always be present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, it might be very interesting to try simple &lt;em&gt;classical conditioning&lt;/em&gt;, aka. &lt;em&gt;Pavlov conditioning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You start training the kitten as soon as possible, once or a few times a day. Depending on the house, you would have one person at the door and another one in the next room, with some very tasty food. The person at the door &quot;loudly&quot; opens the door (and makes sure the cat can't escape) while the other person gives the food to the kitten. To create a strong association the food should appear within 2-3 seconds of the noise, but not before or during.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soon enough the cat will associate the noise and other visual cues of the door opening with the apparition of the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Classical conditioning can be extremely strong! They are usually even stronger than &quot;negative conditioning&quot; (you hit the cat in the face every time he tries to get out). Additionally there is no risk that the cat habituates to the aversive or that you damage your relationship with him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be very consistent at the beginning (to create the association), but once learned the conditioning will become &quot;resistant to extinction&quot; if you keep rewarding from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't provide reference but I heard about an experiment with a rat: two cages connected by a tunnel. The rat is in cage 1. A red light is switched on and food appears in cage 2. The rat quickly learns to run to cage 2 every time he's in cage 1 and the red light is switched on. Now the food appears, but he gets and electric shock when jumping in cage 2. It was found that the classical conditioning &quot;red light == food&quot; was stronger than the aversive. The rat habituated, even with a shock becoming stronger and stronger. Believe my words or help me find the reference, do not reproduce!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's surely a good way to have the cat away from the door. If you try I'd be interested in hearing the story!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T13:46:59.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3179" CreationDate="2014-05-12T13:54:49.177" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some research on dogs nutrition I'm considering changing his diet from commercial dry kibble to home cooked food. I would do it progressively: kibble in the morning and home cooked chef's surprise in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are obvious signs I would watch for: food avoidance, vomiting, serious change in behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else should I check/log? Should I monitor his weight regularly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is a 7 months-old Brittany.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T18:01:10.343" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T18:01:10.343" Title="What should I monitor while changing my dog's diet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3159" CreationDate="2014-05-12T15:15:33.420" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bath with dawn dish soap is the safest and most effective method in my opinion. The lather from the soap drowns the fleas, and contains no medicines that can have side effects. In fact, I would say it's the most effective treatment aside from preventative medicines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with normal baths, just make sure to be careful not to get water in your kitten's ears, and just lather up the soap for a few minutes. You should start to see the fleas start to wash away. Follow up with a flea comb every day, and another bath when you notice any more fleas showing up after eggs have hatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous earth is best for killing insects in carpet and upholstery I think. Applying it directly to skin can cause irritation and dry it out if you apply too much. If you use it, I would suggest a light sprinkling while avoiding the face (to avoid irritation in the eyes and nose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T15:15:33.420" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-12T15:21:37.190" Score="5" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local shelter accepts volunteers to walk the dogs. However they limit each walk to a maximum of 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit puzzled by this limitation. Considering that shelter dogs generally live in a very stressful environment I think that this policy is quite bad for the dog: the dog experiences even more stress when getting ready for a walk as he knows it's going to be short. Even with no prior experience, imagine this: the dog is already under stress. He meets new people. He goes for a walk. After 10 minutes he has to turn back and go back to the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People walking a dog in view of adopting him will have no chance to see the dog in a &quot;normal&quot; state of excitement or stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their argument is that this gives more chances to the dogs to be adopted: the dog can't be adopted if he's not in the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there studies about shelter dog adoption considering this problem? Or other sources suggesting that this could be beneficial/detrimental to the dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T04:25:13.553" Title="Restricting the duration of volunteers walking dog at a local shelter" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3023" CreationDate="2014-05-12T15:39:57.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/gi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Susan Brown, DVM&lt;/a&gt;, believes that enzyme tablets are not necessary to restore GI motility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do we treat a stomach impaction due to reduced GIT motility once&#xA;  it happens? It is important to make sure that all the conditions that&#xA;  may be affecting the rabbit are detected. Your veterinarian may&#xA;  suggest x-rays or other lab work. Since this is an impaction problem,&#xA;  the goal is to rehydrate the rabbit both through the circulatory&#xA;  system and through the GIT. Fluids are administered either under the&#xA;  skin or in a vein along with high fiber and moisture feedings by&#xA;  syringe or tube. Syringe feedings can be made from ground rabbit&#xA;  pellets or powdered alfalfa mixed with blenderized green leafy&#xA;  vegetables and an oral electrolyte solution. In addition, medications&#xA;  to stimulate the GIT to start moving again and analgesics are used. It&#xA;  is rarely necessary to use antibiotics, and in fact these might cause&#xA;  further disturbance to an already compromised GIT. Some people like to&#xA;  use laxatives, and enzymes. I too, have used these products in the&#xA;  past, but have found that they really aren't necessary. &lt;strong&gt;I have equal&#xA;  success in treating this condition with or without enzymes.&lt;/strong&gt; It is&#xA;  important to remember that enzymes of any kind (pineapple, papaya or&#xA;  pancreatic) do not dissolve hair. &lt;strong&gt;But the real keys are hydration of&#xA;  the stomach/cecal contents and getting the GIT moving again.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I find that over 50% of the rabbits presented with this condition will&#xA;  take care of it themselves when they are given a big pile of leafy&#xA;  greens to eat.&lt;/strong&gt; Most of the cases of stomach impaction we see have been&#xA;  on a primary pellet diet and have had little or no access to greens or&#xA;  hay. They are craving fiber and fluids and the leafy greens can be&#xA;  just the ticket. In addition we give all these patients good quality&#xA;  grass hay. We completely remove pellets from the diet (rabbits usually&#xA;  won't eat pellets when they are ill anyway). Whatever treatment is&#xA;  used, one can expect stools to be produced within three days. It is&#xA;  rarely necessary to perform surgery for this condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other causes of GIT disease in the rabbit include partial or complete&#xA;  blockages of the intestine with foreign material (often carpet&#xA;  fibers), post-surgical adhesions, intestinal parasites, toxins (such&#xA;  as lead) and other systemic disease. It is important to have your&#xA;  rabbit thoroughly examined by your veterinarian to determine all the&#xA;  problems prior to instituting the treatment that I have described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cost of enzyme tablets is a concern, you may be better off investing in more leafy greens rather than the tablets which may or may not be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T15:39:57.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3175" CreationDate="2014-05-12T22:20:28.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right to gradually change your dog's food as he makes the diet transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with the signs you previously mentioned, there are also several other characteristics that are directly linked to a dog's diet that you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.about.com/od/dogandpuppyhealth/a/healthydog.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;watch for&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet directly affects your dog’s skin and coat, weight, energy level, and gastrointestinal function. If a problem occurs in one of these areas, it may be linked to improper diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch your dog’s response to the diet over 4-8 weeks. How does her coat look? It should be shiny and free of flakes, but not greasy. Have you noticed a change in her energy level? A decrease in energy could indicate a problem. Has she lost or gained weight? Obesity in dogs is a very common problem which can often be reversed with proper diet and exercise. Excess weight loss may occur if your dog does not find the food palatable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If her response to the diet is poor, it may be time to look into other foods. A sudden change in dog foods can cause diarrhea or even vomiting, so switch over gradually unless otherwise directed by your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, it is also important to note what ingredients you are planning to use for these home-cooked foods.  Although many commercial dog foods can be unhealthy for your dog, not using the right ingredients when making home-cooked food can be unhealthy as well.  It would be helpful to &lt;strong&gt;research healthy recipes&lt;/strong&gt; for home-cooked dog food from reputable sources, such as this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canadianliving.com/life/pets/making_your_own_pet_food.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Making Your Own Pet Food&lt;/a&gt; article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L9lxv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also worth mentioning, as with any health-related questions regarding your animal, if you have any questions/concerns you could &lt;strong&gt;bring them up with your vet&lt;/strong&gt; on your next scheduled appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T22:20:28.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3165" CreationDate="2014-05-12T22:54:55.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As already stated, it really depends on the breed of the cat or dog.  Different breeds have different characteristics (for example, longer hair or a double coat) that will &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pets.ca/dogs/articles/shedding-in-cats-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;make their shedding amounts differ&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs do shed a lot more than others, especially those that have a double coat. Imagine wearing two of your winter coats in the summer! Your dog cannot just take off its coat(s) like we can, so it sheds them. Dogs lose their topcoat in larger quantities and more often then the coat underneath (the undercoat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a great article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.furminator.com/why-do-dogs-cats-and-rabbits-shed.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the science of why cats, dogs and rabbits shed&lt;/a&gt;.  It discusses the &lt;strong&gt;skin composition&lt;/strong&gt; including layers (epidermis, ceramides, dermis, basal cell, hypodermis) and function; the &lt;strong&gt;hair itself&lt;/strong&gt; including composition, structure, layers, follicle pattern, and different hair growth phases, and hair types (including guard hairs, under-hairs and tactile hairs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coat types&lt;/strong&gt; for dogs, cats and rabbits are also discussed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on hair length, dog breeds can be divided into three types: hairless, short-haired and long-haired breeds. Short hair is dominant to long hair. The length of the hair is variable within individuals and across the breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on hair length, cat breeds can be divided into three groups: hairless, short-haired and long-haired. Just like in dogs, hair length in cats is managed by the FGF5 gene. Variation of coat texture is often determined by color of the individual cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it discusses &lt;strong&gt;factors influencing shedding&lt;/strong&gt;, which includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperature (seasonal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifestyle (indoor vs. outdoor animals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrition (hair loss due to poor nutrition)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender (spayed/neutered dogs can have more pronounced undercoats, so shedding can be more noticeable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hormonal status (determine hair growth phases)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Owner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cattime.com/top-12-cats-that-shed-the-most-fur.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Topic 21 Dogs that shed the most&lt;/a&gt;: Akita, Alaskan Malamute, American Eskimo, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Bernese Mountain Dog, Boston Terrier, Chow Chow, Finnish Lapphund, Goldador, Great Pyrenees, Keeshond, Lakeland Terrier, Leonberger, Maltese Shih Tzu, Newfoundland, Pekingese, Pomeranian, Samoyed, Shetland Sheepdog, and the Sussex Spaniel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xBBLQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cattime.com/top-12-cats-that-shed-the-most-fur.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Top 12 Cats that shed the most fur&lt;/a&gt;: American Bobtail, American Curl, Chartreux, Cymric, Maine Coon, Nebelung, Norwegian Forest, Ragamuffin, Ragdoll, Russian Blue, Selkirk Rex, and Siberian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T22:54:55.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3159" CreationDate="2014-05-12T23:00:59.663" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really don't suggest diatomaceous earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gut feeling is that it is more damaging to larger more complicated animals (like cats, humans,...) than it is to small ones like insects.  Insects have hard exoskeletons that are more difficult to penetrate / damage than skin.  Likewise, mammals have lungs (true insects don't) that are also easy to damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous earth is a very 19th century way of treating things, much like using borax for everything.  My main objection is that they are probably less damaging to the insect than the host animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how effective soap is on fleas, but I have an easier time believing it could do some good.  Most insects get air through pores in their exoskeleton.  Soap can clog those pores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-12T23:00:59.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3184" CreationDate="2014-05-13T13:09:25.660" Score="9" ViewCount="698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7-year-old female cat, adopted from the Humane Society last September. About a month ago we moved from a two-story house into a smaller one-bedroom condo. Perhaps because I brought a lot of familiar furniture, she seems not to be very anxious in this new place, but she's become rather inactive. She has perches to look out the windows, but there's not as interesting of a view as there was at the last place. She doesn't play with toys unless I'm controlling them, and even then she loses interest pretty quickly, and I'm not always home. She has also become pickier about her food and water - she won't eat dry food any more, and she doesn't drink water any more. I'm afraid that she's understimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason and others, I'm considering, in the near future, adopting a second cat. I understand that a young male cat would be the best choice in this situation. But I don't know whether my cat would actually get along with another cat. At the house we lived at previously, she and the neighbour's cat would sometimes fight at the window, and those are the only interactions between her and another cat that I've witnessed - but they were never properly introduced or anything like that, so I don't know that I can predict how she would interact with a new roommate based on that. I don't want to go and adopt another cat and have her hating me and the intruder forever... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: are there any behavioural signs, that I can observe without having another cat around, that might indicate whether she could coexist with or even enjoy the company of another cat? Am I misguided in thinking in the first place that adopting a second cat could be a way to bring some life into her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1351" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T17:16:17.450" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T17:16:17.450" Title="How can I tell whether adopting a second cat is a good idea?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3183" CreationDate="2014-05-13T14:23:16.590" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you should do is &lt;strong&gt;take her to your vet and describe the changes&lt;/strong&gt; you've seen in her behavior. Any behavioral change, especially a change in eating/drinking habits and general depression, can be a sign of illness. Cats are very good at hiding illness!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are sure that your cat is healthy, then you can consider another cat. Many cats prefer to be the only cat in their territory, especially in smaller homes and apartments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to find out how your cat does is to contact your local rescue organization and &lt;strong&gt;offer to foster a cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Fostering is a short term arrangement where you allow another cat to live in your home, interact with you and your family members, and let the rescue organization know more about the cat's personality (is the foster a lap cat, talkative, etc) and interactions with other pets in your home (does the foster get along with your resident cat, for example).  This information allows potential adopters to know how well the foster cat will fit in their home before they bring the cat home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit for you is that you can observe your cat's attitude towards the new cat. Also, if they get along really well, you can adopt the foster yourself. If they tolerate each other, you can continue to foster until you find a really good match. If your cat HATES the foster cat, then once the foster cat is adopted, you can let the rescue agency know that you can't foster any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to be upfront with the rescue agency about your goals in this type of arrangement! Fostering is really important work and there are never enough people willing and able to foster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T14:23:16.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-13T15:18:25.763" Score="3" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've 2 male aquatic red-eared slider turtles and they've lived together in a 50 gallon tank for 6 months. One of the turtles bit the other and hurt his front leg (There is wound on his leg now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help except going to the vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1352" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T17:06:55.283" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T17:08:35.143" Title="Aquatic turtles bit each other" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3185" CreationDate="2014-05-13T16:11:13.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I help except going Vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's more than a scratch you'll still want to go to the vet to make sure that it doesn't need stitches. The best you can do at home is try to keep it from getting infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bath in Nolvasan solution (50% Nolvasan 50% water) should help keep the bacteria from taking over the cut, gently work it around the area with a clean gauze pad. Then rinse with clean warm water and apply a bandage with an antibiotic with another clean gauze pad. Neosporin will work, and so will Mycatracin or Bacitracin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that while the cut is healing, the area remains dry, so you'll need to keep him in a dry terrarium until it's healed. That way the antibiotics are able to work and the cut doesn't get infected with bacteria from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving him some vitamin A supplements and a bit of honey should help ease the healing process as well. Then just make sure to clean and dress the wound daily until it heals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally for the future, since there has been aggression shown towards each other, I'd suggest considering splitting the two up between two tanks as it's pretty common to see the same behaviour show up again later. If you do put them back together you'll want to keep a close eye on them during feeding times, as that's when they can get the most aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to give them more space as well. The rule of thumb is about 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle, so generally 2 sliders are kept in a 125 gallon tank. Not having enough space makes them more likely to be aggressive towards each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T17:08:35.143" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T17:08:35.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3187" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-05-13T18:26:20.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treats are items or actions desired by and given to pets in order to reward them with a positive experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treats, when used for positive reinforcement training, are generally small edible items, such as a pet-specific snack, a small amount of extra food, or even human meat; something the pet would prefer to have, over and above their usual food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less common definitions of treat include providing a toy or excessive consumable (a &quot;loaded&quot; bone or bag of catnip) desired by the pet, or simply attention in the form of petting or active playtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T18:26:20.887" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T18:26:20.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3188" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-05-13T18:26:20.887" Score="0" Body="A reward, generally a snack, given to a pet; used to train positive reinforcement of preferred behavior." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-05-13T18:26:20.887" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T18:26:20.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3192" CreationDate="2014-05-13T19:24:30.107" Score="9" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to train my dog to go to a specific place when I drive back to my home at the end of the day. I've already trained him to stay in this place, but I need to go with him, what I would like him to do is to go to this place by himself, when I tell him &quot;Go to your place&quot; &lt;em&gt;(&quot;va à ta place&quot; in french)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know what would be the best way to train him to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-14T15:26:13.980" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T15:26:13.980" Title="How to I make my dog understand that I want him to go to a certain spot?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3193" CreationDate="2014-05-13T21:23:10.507" Score="7" ViewCount="2743" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Long haired cat sheds a lot. It's insane how much fur he loses, and yet there always seems to be more of it. It doesn't seem like it's tied to the season because he sheds during the winter too, but he's also inside all the time, so I can kind of understand that he wouldn't need more fur since he's not out in the cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I had a labrador as a kid who would shed tons in the spring. It seemed pretty clear that there was a winter coat of fur, and a summer coat. Which makes sense since she spent most of her time outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what makes dogs and cats shed their fur? Is it defined by seasons, or are there other reasons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T01:26:38.337" Title="What causes a dog or a cat to shed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3190" CreationDate="2014-05-13T22:08:03.823" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;These animals tend to have two distinct coats... if they are in an environment that doesn't vary much in temperature it is possible they could have one more continuous coat.  However, all the cats I've had have had the two distinct coats (despite being indoors and thus not having the variation in temperature they would outside).  My one longhaired cat (a Maine Coon) seems to shed more than all my other cats combined (even back when I had three others).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't notice the two coats as much but I do know that my one cat who gets constipated from time to time has more problems with this in the spring and fall, precisely the times when one coat is being jettisoned for another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T22:08:03.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3189" CreationDate="2014-05-13T22:33:09.980" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure the place is clearly defined, such as a bathroom mat.  Start with your dog on a leash (you won't need a leash later on).  Put a treat on the mat and make sure that he sees you doing it, but don't let him actually get the treat yet.  From about 5 feet away, point at the mat, give your cue, and then run with him to the mat.  Now he gets the treat he knows is there.  Then give the cue for a &quot;down-stay,&quot; and give a second treat for him complying with that.  Repeat this exercise several times.  Ideally he'll be running to the mat ahead of you and you'll be trailing at the end of the leash.  If he's not eager to get there then you need to upgrade to tastier treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will take several training sessions.  Training sessions are most effective if they are short (5 minutes or so), peppy, and end on a high note.  He may spend several sessions on some of the exercises.  It's up to him.  Go at his pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you think he may have the hang of the first exercise, test by setting up as usual except don't put the treat on the mat.  Fake it so that he thinks you have, but don't actually do it.  When you get to the mat, be casual and see if he lies down to get the second treat for the down-stay.  If he does, give him several treats in a row (called a &quot;jackpot&quot;) and repeat this exercise several more times.  If he just stares at you blankly or loses interest that's okay.  It just means he isn't ready for stage two yet, so go back and repeat stage one again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he doesn't hesitate to lie down on reaching the mat, he's ready for stage 3.  Test for this by starting off 10 feet away from  the mat instead of 5 feet.  For some dogs this entirely changes the game and you may have to repeat stage 1 but doing it from 10 feet away.  Some dogs will be able to go right to stage 2 from 10 feet away.  Let your dog decide what makes sense to him.  Try different distances as you practice and run to the mat from different directions.  You don't want to always have to go to the kitchen to tell him to go to his place in the living room, so practice starting toward the mat from different locations in the room.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's eagerly running for the mat and lying down no matter where you are in the room or how far from the mat, you can chuck the leash and continue practicing greater distances and starting from different directions in different rooms of the house.  Also vary the amount of time you ask him to stay on the mat before releasing him to try the exercise again or go do something else.  The rest of the training is all about building up distance and duration gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2014-05-13T22:33:09.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3190" CreationDate="2014-05-14T11:48:59.563" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of this is what I remember from my old biology classes, so the usual caveats apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals shed their fur for the same reason we shed hair: older, less healthy hair falls away and gets replaced by new growth. The more hair there is, the more of it gets shed - which is the same for us as it is for our pets (I have long hair, and I &quot;shed&quot; a LOT more than my husband). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals that evolved in colder climates and don't hibernate typically get a summer and winter coat - they'll have a thick undercoat that sheds and thins out in spring, and a coarser overcoat that is often more or less waterproof (so that cold rain and snow doesn't get to their skin, allowing them to stay warm). They shed heavily in spring for two reasons - to clear out the older fur and to reduce the amount of fur they're carrying for the warmer weather. The pattern isn't as obvious when these animals are in climate-controlled areas all the time but it does still happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a side note - the old breeds of sheep shed their wool in clumps in spring. Breeding to get more wool had a side effect of losing this adaptation, which is why we need to shear modern breeds. My mind is a swamp of odd trivia). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T11:48:59.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2014-05-14T20:15:07.107" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd agree with Tijesunimi... your cat is -REALLY- getting into the spirit of the hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A true growl is always aggressive.  In this case your cat is saying &quot;THIS IS MINE, EVERYONE BACK OFF FROM IT!&quot;  That doesn't necessarily mean that the cat actually thinks you or someone / something else is trying to take it away (it can, but it doesn't have to).  In this case I think the cat is preemptively telling anything within earshot that only it has the right to the toy and no one should interfere.  Thus anyone or anything trying to take the toy away should expect that they've been warned and a fight might happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My grrrls almost never growl at me.  When Pounce de Leon was young she'd sometimes get the tossed aluminum foil (that my wife wrapped the fish she put in the oven with) and would growl out me when I would take it from her (fish is not good for a cat to begin with, let alone eating foil with baked on fish residue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-14T20:15:07.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="299" CreationDate="2014-05-15T19:49:41.013" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;how is it going?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your description makes me think of a dog that might have been a nice, even beloved homebody dog who developed into an unmanageable training drop-out so that his owners despaired of being able to keep him - and hoped to give him a chance with somebody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supposedly he knows some training 'helpers', starting with stopping when he pulls and trying to get the leash out of his mouth by pulling - so he was given every chance and time enough to find his antidote for any of those methods - probably without ever understanding what kind of behaviour they wanted from him - and that it might bring him some kind of success he finds attractive in his situation, if would only he choose another option than pulling/holding/shaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later on I would think they probably tried to correct him by some rather more desperate kind of punishment - seemingly not connected (by him) with his owners actions but with the leash situation/strangers (you possibly know, what's in the market)-for me that could explain his fearful body signals when on leash with anybody else, his shaking and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not Dominance, but bad outcome of some training experiments during his impressionable younger years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do? Would first try to teach him to heel at home without collar and leash (not to trigger the 'old' behaviour again by them and not get him fixated on grabbing the leash again (which keeps his neck safe from most kinds of leash punishments at least he might have learned).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of possible earlier trainings issues I would never use 'normal' signals for any training with him - not to remind him of earlier errors but use foreign language ones or/and unusual body signs, use praise and high value treats/play for any nearness to heel position (no command, not even a 'signal' or lure, just waiting what happens with a friendly dog when You walk around the home without any distractions and talk to him some friendly nonsense... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just 'golden' the position near your leg (might choose the right instead of the usual left - reason the same as above: completely unrelated new training usually much easier to introduce than any changing of old habits/expectations). If he gets the idea, You might slowly add the first distractions and later on a new collar (still no leash) and then look for an qualified APDT-Trainer to help you get it 'on the street'...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who am I? A dog trainer from another country with university degree - noticeable not in English - and decades of experience with normal and correction work in a soft way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-15T21:13:28.390" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T21:13:28.390" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2014-05-15T20:11:30.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you ever see baby kittens grab their first mouse, this kind of growl starts in seconds while the take their 'kill' into hiding... with a litter of them and mummy cat bringing them a litter of baby mice it sound like a serial form of Jekyll - Hide change. Happens, even if they are first afraid of the dead mouse, as soon as each of them first takes this furry thing into it's mouth. Seemingly instinctive behaviour, related to carrying furry things - and yes, might be closely related to call it their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T20:11:30.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5529" CreationDate="2014-05-15T22:28:24.897" Score="9" ViewCount="518" Body="&lt;p&gt;What sorts of things should I look for in a cattery when I visit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an old(er) cat who needs to go to a cattery for a week and I'm unsure as to what I should look for to tell me a place is good or bad. Are there decent review sites out there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps I am in the UK (Buckinghamshire).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T19:35:46.140" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T19:35:46.140" Title="What do I look for in a good cattery?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3197" CreationDate="2014-05-15T23:36:54.980" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you're asking about boarding a cat but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to start out by saying cats (by nature) associate territory with well being.  So boarding a cat is much more stressful on it than boarding a dog.  I'd encourage you to only board a cat if you can't find a cat sitter to come over to your place to feed it, change the litter box...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no experience with picking a boarding place but I think some common sense measures might do well.  Visit the boarding place, see what it is like.  Is it clean, does it have a bad smell, does it seem organized or are people zipping about?  How do the animals seem there, what are the boarding areas like? Are they clean, easy to clean (think disease transmission)...  How do the animals seem at the place they are boarded at?  How much attention do they claim to give your pet (if anything they will give less time than they claim).  Is there a local town business bureau, if so are there any complaints against the place?  Likewise you can check the internet for information (reviews, complaints) about prospective places.  Do you know anyone who uses a boarding facility for a pet?  If so which ones have they used, which do they like and dislike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, if possible get a cat sitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-15T23:36:54.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5776" CreationDate="2014-05-16T14:20:32.173" Score="10" ViewCount="15576" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of answers (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3159/what-is-an-acceptable-flea-treatment-for-kittens/3162#3162&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1366/why-all-the-safety-concerns-regarding-topical-flea-products/1374#1374&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;) on flea treatments have suggested the user of diatomaceous earth (DE) for flea control.  I have heard there are possible health concerns for my pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence supporting health concerns in humans or pets with the use of DE for treating fleas? What dosage/application rate is documented as safe or unsafe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T22:28:00.460" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T22:28:00.460" Title="What are the pet health concerns with using diatomaceous earth as an insecticide?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="473" CreationDate="2014-05-16T14:45:08.307" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nope... He most likely has Cushing's disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic symptoms include: excessive thirst, excessive urination, and constant wandering around and around and around and around. I mean NON STOP WANDERING! Which, by the way increases caloric output.. and you know that means a subsequent need to increase the caloric intake (i.e. eating like a pig!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other symptoms are: drinking their own urine, and one very bizarre symptom which I refer to as the 'Stop n Stare'. While wandering they just stop... and stare! I liken it to myself running out the door to work and stopping in my tracks to think &quot;Uh oh... I'm forgetting something, I just know it&quot;. This is constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the stop and stare, and the urine drinking, are never listed under Cushing's symptoms but I have now had 4 dogs with the disease and I'd swear under oath it is an ominous sign!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google it; I can almost guarantee he has it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, lock the dog door during the day and watch how often he 'asks' to go outside. If he has it you'll be stunned at how often he's asking to go potty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dachshunds &amp;amp; Beagles are notorious for developing Cushing's. My 21 year old beagle has Cushing's, both his mom, dad, and sister had it. As well as a 17 yr old dachshund I cared for last year. I'm VERY well versed in the disease!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can ask your vet to run an 'Alkaline Phosphate' (referred to in medical field as an 'Alk Photos' (pronounced Alk Fos), just tell em that you suspect Cushing's. It's a cheap lab test which will give you an idea as to whether or not you're on the right track. I asked my vet, he ran it 'against his better judgement' and the test results were so high they wouldn't even register. The vet said &quot;you're absolutely right&quot; and we did more testing to determine which kind of Cushing's he had. I'd been convinced of my dogs diagnosis for months, he literally had every single symptom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 41 days of medication it was like we'd gone back in time 5 years!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep us posted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1358" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-16T15:36:02.327" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T15:36:02.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3201" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-16T15:56:38.453" Score="6" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selamectin&quot;&gt;Selamectin&lt;/a&gt; is a topical flea and other parasite treatment for pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence supporting health concerns in humans or pets with the use of selamectin for treating fleas? What dosage/application rate is documented as safe or unsafe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:14:30.547" Title="What are the pet health considerations for selamectin for treating parasites?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3204" CreationDate="2014-05-16T16:19:13.693" Score="12" ViewCount="1576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so bit of an odd question, but this happens every year like clockwork, so I want to be prepared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, who likes to eat ribbon and tinsel and the like. Normally, I just try to keep it the heck away from him (and thus generally not in my house at all), but he keeps finding ribbon like things (like the strings from my bag of onions) and trying to eat them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stop him when I can, but the odd time, I find him running about the house with a nice bit of string or ribbon poking out of his butt. As hilarious as this sounds, I worry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I help him with the extraction by pulling on it (gently, oh so gently) to help it out, or should I just leave it and hope he passes it safely? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T16:36:08.520" Title="What is the safest way to remove tinsel/ribbon from a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-16T16:21:14.527" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fipronil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fipronil&lt;/a&gt; is a topical flea and other parasite treatment for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence supporting health concerns in humans or pets with the use of Fipronil for treating fleas? What dosage/application rate is documented as safe or unsafe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T16:21:14.527" Title="What are the pet health considerations in using fipronil for treating parasites?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3202" CreationDate="2014-05-16T16:41:39.767" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; Pull on it!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that the string/ribbon is very long. A cat's intestines can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felineconstipation.org/gut102condensed.html&quot;&gt;several feet long&lt;/a&gt; the short piece sticking out could be attached to a 5+ foot (2 meter) long items stretched thorough out the gut.  In extreme cases it can cause blockage and actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/Content/ArticleList/Article/0/-1/149/Intestinal-Obstruction-in-Cats.aspx&quot;&gt;cut the gut open&lt;/a&gt; from the inside.   Pulling on it will only make the situation worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this occurs, the prudent course of action is to schedule a vet visit.  If the cat is vomiting, has diarrhea, appears to be in pain, or otherwise appears unwell, an emergency trip to the vet is your best course of action. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you recognize the piece sticking out as short piece of known origin, it is possible that a second longer piece (&lt;em&gt;that you don't know about&lt;/em&gt;) is in there also.  It is very possible that the two pieces have become intertwined (&lt;em&gt;tied together&lt;/em&gt;) in the gut so what you really have is 9 foot (3 meter) string with a big knot in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The safest way to remove tinsel/ribbon from a cat is to take it to the vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-05-16T16:41:39.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-16T22:24:03.697" Score="7" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone mentioned in an comment about my cat and his love of string that I should give him something else to chew on. They suggested oat grass, but are there other types of things I can let him eat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, I'd like to make a &quot;cat garden&quot; in my window, a sort of salad buffet of sorts I can offer to my cat. What sorts of plants are safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T15:06:12.997" Title="What are safe plants to let my cat chew on?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2014-05-16T23:26:17.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grass, grass, grass, grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They tend to chew it to help vomiting hairballs. It is because the rough surface of the blades of grass irritates their stomach, which causes them to vomit. They have a natural instinct to eat grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T15:04:34.253" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T15:04:34.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2763" CreationDate="2014-05-17T00:52:44.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consistant and immediate correction is the only way you're going to change behavior, especially if the cat has figured out that doing this gets your attention and is doing it for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest answer is going to be to declare that certain surfaces are Not For Cat. My cats aren't allowed on &quot;food surfaces&quot;, those being kitchen counters and the dining room table. If I put objects I don't want them to tamper with on a surface that is officially &quot;theirs&quot; (including the living room coffee table), I accept that I may have to guard them. You will have to tell the cat &quot;no&quot; every time they go on the forbidden surface, and you will have to accept that -- being cats -- even after they understand the rule they may test periodically to find out whether it still applies. But if you actively enforce, you can carve out an agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also have to be very careful not to reinforce the undesired behavior. Saying &quot;no&quot; and then immediately picking the cat up to cuddle because you feel bad about doing so doesn't work. You don't need to punish (which doesn't actually work well), but you do need to avoid rewarding for long enough to make the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And even with all that, you may occasionally find the fuzzy ones make trouble for reasons that make sense only to them. They're cats. They can be persuaded to cooperate, but they need to understand why it's to their advantage to do so... and like kids, even when they know the rules they may try to cheat or push the boundaries. Be consistent, be firm, and if you can't explain a specific item to them try setting a more general rule which has the same desired effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2014-05-19T13:25:45.643" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T13:25:45.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3190" CreationDate="2014-05-17T01:26:38.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right to suggest that shedding in cats, dogs and other animals (both domestic and wild) are closely linked to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.furminator.com/why-do-dogs-cats-and-rabbits-shed.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;seasonal variations&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shedding in animals is intimately related to seasonal cycles. In most cases, the cycle of shedding is cued by changes in the amount of daylight. Hair growth and shedding are regulated by fluctuations in the amount of melatonin, the &quot;hormone of darkness&quot;, secreted by the pineal gland in response to seasonal sunlight variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increasing day length stimulates hair growth in the Spring.&#xA;  Spring shedding is typically heavier because the winter coat is progressively replaced for a lighter, Summer coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although seasonal variations seem to be the main cause, the article continues to discuss &lt;strong&gt;other factors influencing shedding&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Temperature (seasonal, governed by day length)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lifestyle (indoor vs. outdoor animals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Nutrition (hair loss due to poor nutrition)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Breed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Gender (spayed/neutered dogs can have more pronounced undercoats, so shedding can be more noticeable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Hormonal status (determine hair growth phases)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Owner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already stated, it greatly depends on the breed of the cat or dog.  Different breeds have different characteristics (for example, longer hair or a double coat) that will make their shedding amounts differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Factors such as &lt;strong&gt;skin composition&lt;/strong&gt; including layers (epidermis, ceramides, dermis, basal cell, hypodermis) and function; the &lt;strong&gt;hair itself&lt;/strong&gt; including composition, structure, layers, follicle pattern, and different hair growth phases, and hair types (including guard hairs, under-hairs and tactile hairs) all influence the hair type and therefore the shedding patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4A8Tb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shedding patterns&lt;/strong&gt; for dogs and cats are also discussed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Double-coated dogs generally drop their soft undercoats twice a year and lose their topcoat once a year. If they shed all at once, the fur will come out in tufts and is often called &quot;blowing a coat&quot;. Other dogs might shed continuously throughout the year or only every 10-12 months. Shedding can take anywhere from three weeks to two months.&#xA;  Dogs that live outside usually shed heavily as days lengthen in the Spring, but those that live mostly indoors, often seem to shed at least a little all year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In cats, there is no single period of hair shedding. Neighboring follicles are in different phases of the hair cycle at any one time. Domestic cats tend to shed continuously throughout the year, with peaks of activity occurring during Spring and Fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T01:26:38.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-17T06:38:26.287" Score="6" ViewCount="1313" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do fully automated fish tanks exists or are possible DIY with Automated Water Change from running tap water, like a toilet flush such that I can replenish half the water on one button push?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will surely help in maintaining fresh water for the fish in residential places, where the exposed surface area of fish tank is less and more fishes are crammed in a small aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, the wasted water could go for a toilet flush to conserve water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1302" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-06T20:38:51.667" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T20:38:51.667" Title="How do I continuously change fish tank water?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-17T06:52:20.017" Score="11" ViewCount="37846" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally to maximize oxygenation, the fish tank should have a large exposed surface area, but I find that in the commercial ones the roof is closed. Also is it OK if we keep the roof exposed ? I tried it but it smells awful near the surface of the fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1302" LastEditorUserId="1302" LastEditDate="2014-05-17T18:50:11.593" LastActivityDate="2019-12-26T06:11:26.637" Title="Why do fish tanks have closed roofs?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3232" CreationDate="2014-05-17T10:08:11.960" Score="6" ViewCount="584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm transitioning the dry kibble diet of my 7-month-old Brittany puppy towards a mix of dry kibble and home-cooked wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adapted one of these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.moneycrashers.com/homemade-dog-food-treat-recipes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recipes&lt;/a&gt; and I would like to have expert opinion on the nutritional value of it for a proper dog's diet. Of course I won't ask a single question for every single recipe, but probably this one allows to draw conclusions and mention general principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;chicken breasts, around 700 grams&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;3 cups of minced carrots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;2 cups of broccoli&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;1.5 cups of rolled oats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;2 cubes of dried chicken broth &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;1 egg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I cooked the chicken alone until it was white in the center. Then in another pot I mixed the vegetables the chicken broth and a lot of water. When the vegetables were tender I added the chicken and the egg. I waited until the consistency wasn't too liquid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That final result filled a whole big cooking pot and the dog ate that over 7 days (evenings), in addition to half the recommended amount of dry kibble (mornings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way it is super delicious and I'd be happy to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are many opinions about the amount of meat dogs should eat and the usefulness of vegetables and/or grain. What about this mix?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T18:37:45.787" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T01:23:20.800" Title="Is this home-cooked dog-food recipe nutritionally good and balanced?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3219" CreationDate="2014-05-17T10:20:23.737" Score="4" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Effective flea control on mammalian pets in current society is mostly about applying toxic substances to the pet that will keep killing fleas (and other parasites) over a period of time.  Reapply regularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously fleas bites are annoying, and if my pet has them, the fleas can bother me as well. Are we applying poison to our pets, to decrease an annoyance, or are there health concerns if fleas are allowed to feast on our flesh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T02:13:20.557" Title="What are the health risks if my pet has fleas?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3233" CreationDate="2014-05-17T13:57:52.343" Score="12" ViewCount="11582" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I play guitar (acoustic and electric), my cat gets really scared. And it's not just guitar, he gets scared when I'm playing violin, mandolin and other instruments too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He kind of shrinks and sulks away like he's afraid of the noise but I'm not sure what's going on.  However, he is not scared when I play my keyboards or when I have the electric guitars plugged in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's normally very gregarious and playful and happy. My other cat doesn't mind it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="498" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-19T03:29:23.133" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:35:55.773" Title="Why is my cat afraid of me when I play guitar?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3214" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-17T18:46:46.083" Score="5" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few weeks while walking my dog, after he urinates and puts his leg down, pee continues to come out of him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had his urine test done and everything was fine. I'm wondering what is wrong with him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1365" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-05-17T19:16:47.210" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T07:35:36.707" Title="Why does my dog continues to urinate even after he puts his leg down" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3213" CreationDate="2014-05-17T19:13:31.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat ears are a lot more sensitive to sound than people's ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And cats, like people have their own individual likes and dislikes.  I assume your cat hates the sound of the guitar and feels bothered by your playing it.  If you want to be sensitive to his preferences I suggest you not play acoustic guitar (or other stringed instruments) around him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T19:13:31.253" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2014-05-17T20:41:43.147" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as it's not completely sealed air will get in. Oxygen getting into the water this way isn't so fast that it can benefit from being fully exposed to the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other reasons for roofs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaporation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heat loss (if the tank is heated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish physically escaping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1366" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T20:41:43.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3212" CreationDate="2014-05-17T20:49:30.937" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bites can get infected, and too many bites will really weaken an animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm allergic to them (not in a life-threatening way) but I don't think that's very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1366" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T20:49:30.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2014-05-17T20:49:50.167" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nearly any cover you buy or build will allow enough air to circulate. If you're concerned, you can just leave a bit more space between the water surface and the cover, but this really isn't a big deal in practice. And there are some good reasons to keep a tank covered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cover reduces evaporation, which means you don't lose water as quickly. This can be pretty noticeable in warm water systems. Evaporation also leaves mineral deposits behind. In saltwater tanks this quickly leads to 'salt creep', where a thick salt crust forms over everything nearby; even freshwater tanks will start to look a bit gross if you don't keep that clean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many fish can and will jump out of the tank. Nearly any fish the swims near the surface could do this when they're startled. Some, like hatchetfish, actually prey on low-flying insects and are notoriously good at finding small gaps in a hood to jump through: in their case a hood or cover is mandatory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on your tank's light, the cover might be necessary to actually support it. If the light doesn't rest on the rim of the tank, you need something to hold it up.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On a similar note, a cover will keep foreign objects from falling into the tank. If there are young children or pets in your household, this could be a very important consideration. Same thing if you keep any supplies above the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a cover isn't mandatory in every tank. There are some very attractive open-tank setups, though the ones I've seen tend to have few top-swimming fish in them. It's just a question of knowing the tradeoffs and deciding if it's worth it to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2014-05-17T20:49:50.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3212" CreationDate="2014-05-18T00:28:27.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fleas are probably the most common carriers of tapeworm eggs. It's beneficial for the tapeworms because dogs and cats will pick at the fleas with their mouths, inevitably ingesting some (cats even more so as they also will catch some while grooming themselves). So then the ingested fleas that contain the tapeworm eggs are carried to the intestines, where they will hatch and live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas get infected with the tapeworm eggs as larvae. The larvae will swallow the tapeworm eggs (which are deposited by broken segments of tapeworm passed through the host's body) because they don't have developed mouths to feed properly yet. Note: That's why most flea treatments for furniture and carpets will target the larvae, keeping them from turning into adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits, and occasionally some small rodents, will eat the eggs as they are laid on grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from tapeworms, flea bites can also carry the risk of causing a blood infection, which will either be expensive to treat (the only treatment I know of is a blood transfusion), or lethal. So in the long run, it's cheaper/safer to simply keep the fleas away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another, less lethal, reaction to fleas is Flea Allergy Dermatitis. It's when the animal is especially allergic to the flea's saliva and the body reacts harshly to it. It can cause itchiness will after the bite occurs. I've heard that it lasts for months, but I'm not sure how much of that is exaggeration. A couple weeks after the bite sounds more reasonable to me, but you could ask a veterinarian for a real number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what damage would come from long-term scratching, but I can't imagine that it would be any good. If it scratches enough to break the skin you'd have to worry about infections and hair not growing back. All in all, I think it's cheaper and less risky to apply a poison to your pet than to subject them to the risks that come with having fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas generally don't go after people (probably just because of the general lack of hair, but maybe we just taste bad), but once developed from the larvae to adult fleas will bite the nearest warm-blooded creature they can find. From personal experience, I can say they will leave just as many bite marks as bedbugs at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, it's important to note that there are some risks of side-effects with the cheaper flea treatments. It's really important that you don't cheap out when buying medicine for pets. The reason the more expensive treatments cost so much is because they go through tests to make sure it's not harmful to the pets themselves. I personally think it's better to get flea treatments from vets rather than from stores for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T02:13:20.557" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T02:13:20.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-18T01:33:59.017" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is mostly caged.  When let free with some family member around him he behaves properly, but my problem is when he is let free with no one around he does all kinds of mischief by rattling everything outside the house and dirtying the sofa and floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is 6 months old.  How do I train him to behave properly when let free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1367" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T10:03:04.167" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T10:03:04.167" Title="How do I prevent my dog from behaving poorly when let free with no one around him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3209" CreationDate="2014-05-18T01:47:50.383" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't find anything that does this off the shelf at your local pet shop. It's possible to build it if you're an experienced plumber, but the short version is don't bother, just get a big canister filter instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, bear in mind that no amount of water changes will compensate for all the problems of overstocking: it won't increase the amount of swimming room or available territory in the tank, for example. If the water's surface area is too small to efficiently oxygenate the full tank, add an air stone or power head to increase the top-to-bottom mixing. So plumbing your tank into your water line to deal with water quality would be getting ahead of yourself if you have too many animals in the tank and no real water movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how you'd do that though, you don't want to go straight from tap to tank. Tap water is generally disinfected with chlorine or chloramine, and without chemical treatment this is toxic to fish.  On top of that, the temperature of the water also needs to be matched to the temperature in the tank unless you can guarantee that it'll always be within a few degrees of your tank water, even after sitting in the pipes for hours on an extremely hot or cold day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you'd need an external reservoir with more than enough capacity to do your entire water change at once; temperature control and some other life support equipment in the reservoir to keep it tank-ready; a way to pump or drain the reservoir into the main tank; and a way to either drain or collect overflow from the tank as it fills. If you literally want buttons to push, you're bringing in electrical components which makes things even more complicated. All of this would need to be custom-installed in place by someone with plumbing experience, and would basically be as permanent a fixture as a toilet or a hot water heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the risk and cost are not worth the benefit. DIYing this kind of project takes significant effort and expense to build: for a small tank like you describe, the parts alone would easily run double or triple the cost of the bare system. It would not reduce the amount of maintenance you need to do by nearly as much as you might hope, because the reservoir and all the additional plumbing will have their own maintenance needs. And most importantly it adds a frightening number of components that can fail, most of which would cause a large flood and/or or total loss of everything in the system when it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to add more biological filtration, a more reasonable option would be an oversized canister filter or a sump. These are cost-effective, reliable solutions that improve water quality and simplify maintenance. They're also solved problems: canister filters are off-the-shelf purchases, and while most sump designs are a little more advanced, there's no shortage of plans available on the internet and none of them are as high-risk as modifying your house's main water line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T13:56:11.840" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T13:56:11.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2014-05-18T03:01:17.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar experience as Esa...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only one of my cats came to me not already declawed, and that one likes to kneady-paw a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I gently lift up her paw when she's doing it she tends to tone down the claw extension.  It's not perfect but it allows for cuddling which is nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T03:01:17.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-18T07:53:17.043" Score="4" ViewCount="39221" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 5 years old schnauzer that weights approx 23lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually give him 1.5-2 cups of dry dog food per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to switch him to real food. I understand that the majority should be meat protein. How much oz of meat should I give him? And what should I mix in with the meat?&#xA;(my dog is slightly allergic to chicken)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1368" LastEditorUserId="1368" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T10:53:57.013" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T10:06:52.783" Title="How much meat is enough for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3220" CreationDate="2014-05-18T08:02:05.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how long you've been out of the house, your puppy could be experiencing separation anxiety. It is best to let him out of his cage whenever someone's home. And crate him when no one is home (not for too long, I would say 2 hours max per time). While crated, it ensure he is not soiling or chewing your walls and furniture. If you let him out and he does these things, he might learn that it is appropriate to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your puppy is still young and needs to be trained. If you have taught him what &quot;No&quot; means, it'll be easier. Encourage him to roam around the house when someone is around. Whenever he does something inappropriate or close to inappropriate, (ie: sniff your shoe or sniff the power outlet), enforce by saying a firm no. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't taught him &quot;no&quot;, please try to asap. I taught my dog &quot;No&quot; when he does something inappropriate and I say the word &quot;No&quot;, then I would isolate him for 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most puppies and dogs like to be around people, so by isolating him would let him think about what he did wrong, and as well as linking his previous action to punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1368" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T08:02:05.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3228" CreationDate="2014-05-18T17:52:17.893" Score="13" ViewCount="1769" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine told me that cats show their emotions through their tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have cats that are angry 'shake' their tails, but is it true for all their emotions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T04:11:13.993" Title="Is it true that cats show their emotions through their tail?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2014-05-18T18:05:24.880" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Covers are also there to prevent things from getting &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;.  My cats will drink out of an open fish tank.  Also, it prevents dirt and other debris (like my cats hair) from getting in the water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="444" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T18:39:30.827" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T18:39:30.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3227" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-18T18:11:35.060" Score="12" ViewCount="13176" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats will eat anything that is soft plastic.  He will eat shopping bags, cellophane wrappers, &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt;.  Fortunately, he hasn't had any issues.  I've seen plastic in his poop, so when he eats it, at least it passes.  Once I heard him gagging somewhat in the middle of the night.  I got up and saw him with a couple inch strip of plastic hanging out of his mouth.  He was happily munching it down.  I grabbed it and started pulling it out of his mouth.  It was 3-4 feet long.  He had gotten into the trash and ate the cellophane wrapper from a large box.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gotten in the habit of making sure there is never any plastic around, but every once in a while he finds some.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I teach him not to eat plastic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I want to know, what is causing my cat to eat plastic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-07T15:07:15.523" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T15:14:32.060" Title="How can I stop my cat from eating plastic?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3225" CreationDate="2014-05-18T18:20:58.027" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; show their emotions through their tails.  However, the tail isnt enough to read their emotions perfectly.  You really have to observe an individual cat over time to link their emotions to their behaviors.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one of my cats, an angry tail shake could mean she is annoyed or content.  It can also mean she is really interested in something.  While my other cat doesnt shake his tail in the same way at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T18:20:58.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3225" CreationDate="2014-05-18T18:37:19.110" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Keltari.  There are basic gestures and each individual might do some of them slightly differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail up:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm happy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail flicking:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm annoyed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail twitching:&lt;/strong&gt; excited, agitated, about to spray...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail bushy:&lt;/strong&gt; alarmed, afraid, battle ready&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail down:&lt;/strong&gt; depressed, submissive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But an old or arthritic cat can hold its tail down because it is difficult to lift...&#xA;So these are rough guidelines, again each cat does some of these things somewhat differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="612" LastEditDate="2014-05-18T20:33:03.887" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T20:33:03.887" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3223" CreationDate="2014-05-18T18:38:40.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although other members might have some useful information to provide, questions like this are best answered by your pet's veterinarian.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already know your dog is slightly allergic to chicken, but what about other meats?  You wouldn't want to feed your dog something he or she is highly allergic to.  Your vet will be able to tell you what meats your dog &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; eat as well as what amount should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="444" LastEditDate="2014-05-19T04:14:52.627" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T04:14:52.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3227" CreationDate="2014-05-18T20:43:30.427" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;That can be very dangerous....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing any items of plastic that could be of interest is your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that smearing other ones with obnoxious stuff might help but takes more effort and may not work as well.  Most cats find citrus oils to be &quot;obnoxious&quot; so rubbing an item with a citrus peel can make it seem &quot;disgusting&quot; to at least most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it will be very difficult to &quot;teach&quot; him not to eat plastic.  I think he smells it as some fatty substance (which cats love).  You may be able to get him to associate the sheets and whatnot with something not to deal with.  You can scold him when he goes after an item (has to be immediate or he won't know what this is about).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-18T20:43:30.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3211" CreationDate="2014-05-19T01:23:20.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several sites that discuss healthy diets in relation to home-cooked food for dogs.  Several general rules apply, such as those discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.knowbetterpetfood.com/homemade_dog_food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tips for making homemade dog food&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Balancing the diet&lt;/strong&gt; is the most important factor.  If the diet is not balanced, it goes from the best food to feed, to not so good at all.  If there are no vitamins or minerals (especially calcium) in the diet, dogs run into deficiencies quite quickly.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meat selection&lt;/strong&gt;:  Meat, raw or cooked is the base ingredient for homemade dog food.  Dogs are obligate carnivores and thrive on a meat based diet.  Meat options include:  beef, lamb, pork, turkey, chicken, venison, ostrich, buffalo, etc.  Be sure the meat is fresh and fit for human consumption.  The fat content should be no greater than 15-20%. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vegetables&lt;/strong&gt;:  Vegetables make up about 1/4 of the meal and provide vitamins, minerals and fiber.  Dogs get more nutrients from the vegetables if they are lightly steamed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vegetables to include:  squash, pumpkin, zucchini, carrots, peas, beets, yams, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and sweet potato.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vegetables to avoid:  onion, potato, tomato, bell peppers, spinach, raw beans, garlic, leek, chard and beet greens.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid feeding carbohydrates&lt;/strong&gt; (corn, wheat, rice, brown rice &amp;amp; potatoes):  Dogs lack the digestive enzymes to break down and metabolize carbohydrates.  They contain no nutritional value for dogs and basically just go right through the digestive tract.  Carbohydrates are the main cause of many canine diseases, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease and allergies. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monitor the results&lt;/strong&gt;: Play around with different meat/vegetable combinations.  See which meat and vegetables are your dogs favorite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lS4gm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very thorough article can also be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_7/features/Home-Prepared-Dog-Food-Nutritional-Information_20568-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Whole Dog Journal&lt;/a&gt; which discusses in-depth ingredient guidelines and potential vitamin supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Meat and Other Animal Products&lt;/em&gt;: Should always make up at least half of the diet. Many raw diets are excessively high in fat, which can lead to obesity. Another potential hazard of diets containing too much fat: If an owner restricts the amount fed (in order to control the dog’s weight) too much, the dog may suffer deficiencies of other required nutrients.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eggs&lt;/em&gt;: Highly nutritious addition to any diet. Dogs weighing about 20 pounds can have a whole egg every day, but give less to smaller dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fruits and Vegetables&lt;/em&gt;: While not a significant part of the evolutionary diet of the dog and wolf, fruits and vegetables provide fiber that supports digestive health, as well as antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients that contribute to health and longevity. Deeply colored vegetables and fruits are the most nutritious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on these principles, your recipe seems to incorporate these factors.  There are other recipes available if your dog does not take to the current one, although meats and vegetables can be used in different combinations to suit your pet's needs and preferences.  Just made sure you are in fact cooking your broccoli:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leafy Green and Other Non-Starchy Vegetables&lt;/em&gt;: These are low in calories and can be fed in any quantity desired. Too much can cause gas, and raw, cruciferous veggies such as broccoli and cauliflower can suppress thyroid function (cook them if you feed large amounts). Raw vegetables must be pureed in a food processor, blender, or juicer in order to be digested properly by dogs, though whole raw veggies are not harmful and can be used as treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, of course, if you have any concerns about your pet's diet, you can always &lt;strong&gt;talk to your veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt; during your next scheduled visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T01:23:20.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3213" CreationDate="2014-05-19T02:56:35.427" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can also be because the cat doesn't understand what is going on.  It might think you are torturing some poor animal with the hums and sings that come from the instrument.  No insult to your playing, I think animals in general don't get music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can share a story of how I got my cat to calm down and accept the vacuum cleaner. She was deathly afraid / hated of it, no surprise really, but the hate went on after I stopped vacuuming.  She would go over and pick a fight with the thing, swatting it for a reaction.  Kind of entertaining really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go over and calm the cat, touching the hose while petting her, moving the hose a little bit.  It kind of worked, but then the next cleaning session brought the fear back.  I tried the same petting while touching the cleaner while it was on, over time it worked.  I could eventually put the machine on low speed and could even get to the point of vacuuming her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She never fully made peace with the machine, but learned that the massaging suction feeling was actually quite nice.  And as long as I was at the same side of the machine as her, she allowed it.  I hope nobody misunderstands and thinks I tortured my cat, this was all done using affection as encouragement.  No force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point I want to make is that you can reassure your cat that nothing bad is going on.  Try playing a few notes and let her curiosity come over, hopefully the cat will investigate, smell around and find that there's really nothing crazy going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1371" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T02:56:35.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3225" CreationDate="2014-05-19T04:11:13.993" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tail is one indicator, as part of the cat's overall posture and motion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course there's the question of whether we're seeing all the important details. For example, there are at least two distinct cases of bushy tail. There's the fear/anger tail, with the classic &quot;bottle brush&quot; shape, which starts fluffing from the tip of the tail inward. But There's also a version which starts fluffing from the base of the tail and progresses outward. I've heard some cat owners refer to this as &quot;happy tail&quot;, but in my experience it seems to be associated with dominance-play. One of my cats does this when we're &quot;wrestling&quot;; he also sometimes does it when he's about to paw my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T04:11:13.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3069" CreationDate="2014-05-19T19:24:57.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous Earth claims say that it works on fleas/mites by microscopically abrading (cutting) their exoskeleton, essentially drying them out. Currently, there is no data on the amount of time is necessary for an organism to be exposed to DE before it has effectively &quot;killed&quot; the organism. However, your dog shouldn't be exposed to DE for more than 12 hours and there are some risks involved with using DE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DE is very drying, and should be washed out within 12 hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In handling of DE, precautions state to use a mask. Keeping it away&#xA;from your pet's mouth, eyes, ears, etc. are very important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use only food grade DE (much finer powder) as other forms of DE are poisonous. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sites say that ingesting DE also works to deworm a pet. My issue with this is that DE is effective in a dry state; your pet's stomach and intestinal tract are full of water rendering the DE useless. Additionally, ingesting DE may be increasing the risk of intestinal related issues in your pet (i.e. constipation, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/a/Diatomaceous-Earth-For-Flea-Control.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/a/Diatomaceous-Earth-For-Flea-Control.htm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/05/diatomaceous-earth-de-benefitrisk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/05/diatomaceous-earth-de-benefitrisk.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastActivityDate="2014-05-19T19:24:57.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2281" CreationDate="2014-05-20T02:01:19.853" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often do the slow blink to my &quot;grrrls&quot; but they don't seem to register the gesture.  They blink at me, but seem to feel that since I'm not a cat it doesn't mean anything coming from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other cat gestures I can mirror back at them and get a response, such as the trill, or the flop over onto one's side with a goofy playful look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I view the blink as &quot;I trust you / I love you&quot; basically the cat is saying &quot;I'm taking my visual targeting system off line right now because I trust you&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T02:01:19.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9325" CreationDate="2014-05-20T03:10:53.667" Score="8" ViewCount="1355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently heard about the mix/designer breed known as the Italian Greagle, an Italian Greyhound and Beagle mix.  They are very beautiful dogs, with the elegance of the Italian greyhound but with a slightly more filled out build.  My question is how much the Italian greyhound genes minimize the beagle's persistent vocalization?  In other words, are they quiet enough for apartment living or do they retain too much of the beagle genes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1373" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-05-20T03:27:03.477" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T11:34:19.007" Title="Is an Italian Greagle a quiet enough dog to have in an apartment?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3242" CreationDate="2014-05-20T03:27:55.080" Score="5" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment and am reluctant to obtain a Beagle mix due to the reputation for excessive vocalization.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether Beagles can learn not to bark with extended professional training.  I'm more than willing to invest the time and money if it will help me to have a well-behaved companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1373" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-21T20:27:59.853" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T20:27:59.853" Title="How often do Beagles vocalize?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-20T03:31:38.070" Score="12" ViewCount="3439" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a neighbor outside trying to get her parrot to come down out of a tree. She's apparently been out there for a while trying to coax the bird down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any proven methods for re-capturing an escaped pet bird without harming the bird?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:54:16.457" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:54:16.457" Title="How to get a pet bird out of a tree?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3240" CreationDate="2014-05-20T04:32:27.033" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the bird's cage outside, as close as possible to the tree where the bird is, and put some food and water in it, preferably the kind of food that the bird enjoys the most. Leave the cage door open, and wait. The bird will probably be hungry after some time outside, especially if it doesn't know how to forage for itself, and it may also be scared from being out of its usual environment, and see the cage as safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling the bird's name might also work, but it sounds like your neighbor has already been doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T04:32:27.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3239" CreationDate="2014-05-20T09:43:09.603" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it even requires &quot;extended professional training&quot;. A healthy dog, not bored and in a proper environment has no reason to bark all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can be trained not to bark in (inappropriate) response to stimuli that are new to them, stressful and building up their anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're away from your home you're not able to reward &quot;not barking&quot;. So punishment based methods could work (electric collars or the like), as they are able to punish the dog right at the moment of the inappropriate behaviour. &lt;strong&gt;I am NOT promoting the use of these devices&lt;/strong&gt;, just using it as an example: there is no device that &quot;electrically&quot; rewards not barking. Punishment based training is detrimental to the relationship you'll have with your dog and is not a recommended training method (ref. to be added), so if you're thinking about that even before having the dog, I'd think twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that means you need to build calmness into your dog, prevent separation anxiety, and provide him with enough stimulation (toys, food toys, music?) when you're away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;calmness&quot; training is done beforehand (I'll try to link to another question/answer about that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a summary of the situation, based on my dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inappropriate barking to specific stimuli&lt;/strong&gt;: this is a &lt;em&gt;training&lt;/em&gt; problem, he still have to learn what is an appropriate reaction to certain stimuli. You have to train an alternative, appropriate response (the dog sees a bike, he sits instead of barking) and also build calmness&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inappropriate barking (over-excitement&lt;/strong&gt;: when he wants to play with other dogs (he doesn't always bark but still...), excitement when going to the vet, etc. That's about building calmness. The sooner you start the better&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Appropriate barking&lt;/strong&gt;: he sometimes starts barking if, when left alone, he sees a bug, fly, etc. I wouldn't call that inappropriate, he is trying to deal with the situation, thank him for his intervention and that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That might not seem like a real answer to your question but it tries to give you some perspective; my point is &lt;strong&gt;don't think of it with a &quot;beagle barks&quot; =&gt; &quot;training&quot; =&gt; &quot;problem solved&quot; approach&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-05-20T20:14:24.163" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T20:14:24.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2014-05-20T13:30:23.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It also keeps the air temperature above the water close to the temperature of the water. &#xA;This is comfortable for labyrinth fish. Which can get air from the surface of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="834" LastActivityDate="2014-05-20T13:30:23.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-05-20T16:03:00.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have cat like this. Every day one of us puts on a long, length-padded oven glove and lets him get this part of the hunting cycle out of his system. We don't attack him with the glove, as that will not simulate prey behaviour - we just rustle the glove under something crackly, like tissue paper, and let him go for it. You can see him use the kill bite and then rake his prey with his back legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He loves the exercise and gets a lot of aggression out of his system. We pull the glove away from him gently as if the prey was struggling to escape, and simulate it's death throes. You can even buy elbow-length fake leopard paw gloves, but the arm part doesn't seem padded enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful to keep your other hand well away, in case your cat attacks it when he's in this very excited state. He should be relaxed and calmer later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1376" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T19:40:54.483" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:40:54.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-20T17:12:29.730" Score="6" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 year old Yorkie who &quot;guards&quot; (for lack of a better word) his food or just wants you to watch him eat. You don't need to be anywhere near his food, he will seek you out and start barking at you. If you start walking, he will bite at your feet. Basically, he attempts to get you to come to his dish so you can watch him eat. Once you are by his dish, you can touch him or his food... he no longer seems to care. If you try to walk away, he barks and bites at you to come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1377" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:58:54.247" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T20:50:04.133" Title="How do I stop my Yorkie from guarding his food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3291" CreationDate="2014-05-20T20:45:44.453" Score="9" ViewCount="7476" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 2-year-old Purebred Basset, with a mild, friendly temperament.  About 2 weeks ago we came off of holiday, and our dog stayed in a boarding kennel when we went away. He has never suffered from separation anxiety before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we tried to leave on our first day back to work, he flipped out, scratching the door after we left and scratching the window furiously as we drove off. No one has been in the house during his time at home, so he hasn't been spooked in his own environment by an intruder. Could an experience at kennels create such behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-26T00:19:15.700" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T15:04:08.580" Title="Why has my 2-year-old dog developed separation anxiety?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5505" CreationDate="2014-05-21T12:38:06.197" Score="14" ViewCount="7027" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1009/how-can-stop-my-adult-cat-from-urinating-in-inappropriate-places&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, but no answer seems to help here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is an eight-year-old neutered male, and I have had it for five years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has always used the litter box, but sometimes defecated outside of it (always just in front). I figured that he didn't like the box (too small), and fixed it years ago. Also, I did some tests with different types of litter to see which he was comfortable with (the one I currently have is really efficient at neutralizing the smell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until then, when he did defecate in front of his litter-box, it was always related to one of two causes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He was not happy (we sometimes lock him up inside the bathroom when we clean up the flat; it is his way to say that he disapproved of it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because the litter is dirty and/or smelled bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the last month or so he refuses to use the box to defecate at all, even if the box is clean and the litter is new. He always defecates just in front of the box. Thankfully, urination has never been a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't changed the litter brand, the &quot;cleaning stuff&quot; brand, location of the box,  or anything that could have disrupted him. I know cats can easily be stressed by small environment changes, but I can't see anything that could have stressed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think my cat is doing this out of anger, but what my cat does really look like a &quot;I show you I am not happy&quot; behavior. Maybe he is stressed when we lock him up and stress leads to this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will bring my cat to a veterinarian next week if the problem isn't solved by then. I didn't do it yet, because &quot;health problem&quot; seems like an unlikely cause (apart from that, his behavior didn't change at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for unforeseen health problems, do you know of anything else that could bring a cat to change this kind of behavior? Can a cat suddenly not like a litter brand anymore, for example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1354" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-10-04T15:59:01.597" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:19:46.233" Title="My cat suddenly stopped using the litter-box to defecate" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-21T15:28:18.757" Score="8" ViewCount="2575" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a nursing mother cat with 4 kittens, and I now I been brought an unrelated kitten that needs to nurse.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get the nursing mother to accept the orphan, and nurse it?  Is the age difference of the orphan and natural kittens important for a successful adoption?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T21:54:41.090" Title="How do I introduce an orphaned kitten to a nursing mother cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3253" CreationDate="2014-05-21T15:31:57.237" Score="10" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an orphaned baby kitten and it is to young for solid food, how do I nurse them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1715/&quot;&gt;Kitten Food in an Emergency&lt;/a&gt; talks about what foods to use, but how do I get them to drink it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:33:57.513" Title="Can you bottle feed a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3258" CreationDate="2014-05-21T18:01:05.107" Score="9" ViewCount="886" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the safest way to find missing snakes if they are loose in your house? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:52:59.257" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:52:59.257" Title="What is the safest way to find a missing snake?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3248" CreationDate="2014-05-21T18:56:15.960" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen cats not like using the litterbox for a variety of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not want to share with another cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They do not like the litter - smell, touch, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They do not like the location of the litterbox&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litterbox is not clean enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They dont like the litterbox cover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not big enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too hard to get in to - either they are too small to get in, or arthritic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;various others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is talk to your vet and see what he/she says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T18:56:15.960" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3250" CreationDate="2014-05-21T20:37:47.357" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can bottle-feed a kitten. There are kits designed for this purpose, available at many pet stores, but you don't necessarily need them if you have baby bottles at home. Basically, the key is to have the liquid be able to drip from the opening of the bottle slowly, without needing to squeeze it, so that the kitten can easily get the fluid without the need for significant suction. If you have a bottle that isn't doing that, you can widen the hole of the nipple using a heated needle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for milk, it's not cow's milk that you should be looking at. There are kitten milk replacements that you should get from the pet store or your vet. Warm this according to directions (about 100&amp;nbsp;°F&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;37&amp;nbsp;°C) to avoid upset tummies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:33:57.513" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:33:57.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3248" CreationDate="2014-05-21T21:19:17.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Keltari has some good ideas....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat can change its &quot;taste&quot; in litter material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also arthritis can make a cat not want to step into the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Straining can make a cat not want to use a box (but in that case the poop would seldom be near the box... more likely on some soft comfy surface).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dementia can make a cat poop outside, again typically not near the box...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-05-21T21:19:17.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2784" CreationDate="2014-05-22T00:38:47.463" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most ornamental fish live only several years; however depending on the species can live for up to 30 according to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.aquariuminfo.nl/lifespan-of-aquarium-fishes/#.U31BBPldWSo&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lifespan of freshwater aquarium species&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, it appears that most Killifish species only live for a maximum of 5 years; whereas some Cypriniformes (which include carp, the common goldfish, and other minnow species) can live for 20-30 years, as shown below from the above-mentioned article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5uV03.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are of course some cases where ornamental fish can live longer; for example, the Koi, as mentioned in the question, typically live for 40-50 years.  In the case of the Koi named Hanako, lived &lt;a href=&quot;http://fishlaboratory.com/news/koi-hanako-longest-living-fish-ever&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;226 years&lt;/a&gt; and was found to be the longest living fish ever recorded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 226 years old, koi Hanako was the longest living fish ever recorded. Koi Hanako was a beautiful scarlet coloured female fish in Japan. Her name, Hanako, is translated “flower girl” in Japanese. Hanako died in July 7, 1977 at a grand old age of 226. Born in 1751, Hanako was born in the first year of Horeki, in the middle of the Tokugawa Era.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, as also mentioned above, the exact age of fish can be determined by their otoliths (shown below); &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783609002264&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;growth rings on scales&lt;/a&gt; are also a common ageing technique and it really depends on the characteristics of the species of fish you are trying to age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zcMMt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the Koi Hanako, it appears that scale growth rings were used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hanako’s actual age was verified by analyzing the rings on her scales. Much like how dendrologists determine the age of trees by counting the number of rings of growth on wood, the rings of growth on the scale of Hanako was counted using a light microscope. The growth rings on the scale shows a pattern of wide growth followed by a narrower growth. The differences in the width of the rings reflect the seasonal change of summer and winter. During the summer, fish eat more and grow more resulting in a wider growth ring pattern. The narrower growth represents the slower metabolism during the cold icy weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The individual annual ring on the scale was painstakingly analyzed over a period of two months in Laboratory of Animal Science, Nagoya Women’s College by professor Masayoshi Hiro. Both Dr. Koshihara and Professor Hiro were delightfully surprised when Hanako was discovered to be 215 years old at the time. Following this discovery, the remaining five koi carp in the same pond was examined as well. After a yearlong analysis, the results showed that they were all over 100 years old as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Species is a huge indicator of how long the fish will live; however the care given by the owner or the environmental conditions can have an effect on the age of fish as well (Koi are said to live in pristine waters in their native Japan).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of Longevity is not just seen in ornamental fish; species such as the Lake Sturgeon (&lt;em&gt;Acipenser fulvescens&lt;/em&gt;), native to the Great Lakes, can live to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/lake-sturgeon/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;over 150 years old&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T00:38:47.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3114" CreationDate="2014-05-22T13:52:02.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the ball is not too small, you can force small pebbles inside it to weigh it down. As long as the pebbles are not big compared to the moss ball, the moss ball will grow around the pebbles with time.&#xA;You could also sprinkle the ball with fine sand, for a gentler approach, but the sand might fall off after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T13:52:02.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3251" CreationDate="2014-05-22T15:29:06.990" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first part of recovering a lost pet snake is a manual hunt. Get a hand mirror and a really powerful flashlight, and start looking. The most common places you'll find them is hidden behind things or wound up in the works of things like your couch. Look under and behind everything &amp;mdash; book cases, books, shelving, walls, doors, appliances, couches, under cushions/mattresses/pillows/blankets &amp;mdash; snakes like gaps, crevices, and dark places. Behind warm TVs and appliances are a favorite. Get down on the floor and start looking up under the stove, refrigerator, and cabinets. If you find any unfortunate holes they can crawl into (cabinets often have them up under their base), explore the interior carefully and (assuming you can eliminate the possibility of entry) close off that opening for the duration of the search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a quick search doesn't turn up any results, it's time to set some traps and &quot;alarms&quot;. Snakes (both nocturnal and diurnal) like to travel at night. They also tend to travel along edges of things like furniture and baseboards. &lt;strong&gt;Before you retire for the night, you can lay out some thin strips of flour or corn starch at strategic places by baseboards and across doorway openings.&lt;/strong&gt; Not only will a disturbed path of corn starch alert you to their movement, but the drag pattern will help you narrow down which room they may have entered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also set out sheets of foil or that noisy cellophane wrap along their most likely routes and listen at night. Those crinkly ultra-thin grocery store bags are great. Think about all the places you checked earlier and find things that will make noise if they crawl over or under them. Nothing will wake you faster than the sound of something crawling around in your bedroom in the dark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try setting out some dark enclosures of your own. Try placing some tissue boxes, square waste baskets, boxes, bags, and blankets &amp;hellip; anything you can snug up tightly into the corner of the wall so they have more chance of encountering it. You may get lucky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and check the toilet, behind it and &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; it. It's not very likely they would go down the hole, but it's fun to wallow around in the dark cool water&amp;hellip; if you're a snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T14:26:01.747" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T14:26:01.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3261" CreationDate="2014-05-22T18:17:24.410" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;What common house/garden plants, if any, are dangerous to dogs and why are they? Are some potentially fatal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-05-22T18:46:39.077" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T21:17:22.977" Title="What common house/garden plants are dangerous to dogs and why?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3248" CreationDate="2014-05-22T18:29:42.970" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;An anal gland infection/impaction may cause him to associate pain with the litter box.  In the early stages, there will be no evidence of a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/analglands.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/analglands.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the issues noted already, this is the only thing I can think of that would cause your cat to avoid the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T18:29:42.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3259" CreationDate="2014-05-22T21:17:22.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many plants that can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/learn/10-household-plants-that-are-dangerous-to-dogs-and-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;harmful to your dog&lt;/a&gt;, as well as other pets, if ingested; with negative side effects that can even cause death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More than 700 plants contain toxic substances that may harm dogs or cats if ingested. Signs of poisoning can be mild to severe and in some cases, pets can even die. Most houseplants have multiple names, so it's important to confirm that the plants you own or plan to purchase are not toxic to your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common house plants that are known to be poisonous include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The asparagus fern (also called emerald feather, emerald fern, sprengeri fern, plumosa fern or lace fern) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Corn plant (also known as cornstalk plant, dracaena, dragon tree or ribbon plant)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dieffenbachia (commonly known as dumb cane, tropic snow or exotica)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Elephant ear (also known as caladium, taro, pai, ape, cape, via, via sori or malanga)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Many plants of the lily family are toxic to cats, and some are toxic to dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cyclamen (also known as sowbread) &lt;strong&gt;If an animal ingests a large amount of the plant’s tubers — which are found at the root, generally below the soil — heart rhythm abnormalities, seizures and even death can occur&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y3s1r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Heartleaf philodendron (also known as horsehead philodendron, cordatum, fiddle leaf, panda plant, split-leaf philodendron, fruit salad plant, red emerald, red princess or saddle leaf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jade plant (also known as baby jade, dwarf rubber plant, jade tree, Chinese rubber plant, Japanese rubber plant or friendship tree)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Aloe plant (also known as medicine plant or Barbados aloe)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Satin pothos (also known as silk pothos)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the side effects of these plants are irritation and vomiting, but can get more serious the more the dog ingests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a large list on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants?field_toxicity_value%5B%5D=01&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA website&lt;/a&gt; that includes &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; plants listed, including wild species, that are known to be poisonous to dogs, cats and horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, there are many plants that are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/nontoxic-house-plantskeeping-y-137830&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;non-toxic to animals&lt;/a&gt; that look just as nice as any plant.  The main thing is to &lt;strong&gt;make sure to research a plant&lt;/strong&gt; by species before bringing it into the house, so that your dog does not get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-22T21:17:22.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-05-23T01:55:46.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Jack is just like this (and I have the scars to show for it), and we even hired a behavioralist to help. What he said for Jack is probably just like your cat. Your cat has over active hunting instincts and you need to tire him out. Lasers don't really work since he needs to satisfy his bite instincts. There is a really good toy to tire him out similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinefisher.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 20-30 minutes a day of play should do it. Be sure to hide the toy when not using and when playing flick the end away from him to make him really hunt for it. You want to get the hunting instinct satisfied and your cat exhausted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="394" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T01:55:46.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3238" CreationDate="2014-05-23T02:35:30.347" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know anything about this breed, but being around many different breeds of dogs, it mostly depends on the dogs personality, your training activities (this includes socializing and exposing the dog to new things and environments), and how much exercise/play time the dog gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a few Rottweilers and they were all different with their vocalization levels. My mom has had a few Mini Schnauzers; some barked excessively and others that did not make a peep. My dad has had a few Scottish terriers and a few Standard Schnauzers where some barked at every noise they could not see and some who cared less and never barked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bark collars do work in some cases. We have used them on all our dogs that barked excessively once we left the house. For example one dog had found a way around the bark collar activation by whining instead of barking which now the neighbors think the dog wants to play with their dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T02:35:30.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3245" CreationDate="2014-05-23T02:44:37.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is no other pet in the house that would steal from his food bowl, I would ignore him and leave the food there for him to eat it when he finally gets that you are not going to watch him eat every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the biting at your feet either ignore him the best you can or swipe him off with a firm hand (not to confuse with hitting or any other type of abuse) either by picking him up and placing him a small distance away from your legs or using the back of you hand to firmly move him away from your legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to continually do this for a while and be very consistent with your actions. If he knows he can get you to watch him eat every time by being really annoying to you, he will continue to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastEditorUserId="1401" LastEditDate="2014-05-26T19:37:35.687" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T19:37:35.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3323" CreationDate="2014-05-23T03:54:21.843" Score="8" ViewCount="56731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to get my favorite breed of dog: Mastiff. But I can't spend much on dog food. How much should I expect a mastiff to eat per day once it's full grown?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1391" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T18:59:31.497" Title="How much will a full grown English mastiff eat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2014-05-23T04:36:33.727" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this dog food calculator&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A full grown mastiff will grow to be about 150-200 pounds&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which means a 180 pound mastiff&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; with what the site considers a &quot;typical&quot; activity level, and food with a kcal amount of 320 per cup&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;. You're looking at roughly 10-11 cups of food twice a day. Alternatively, that would be about 2 pounds of food each meal. Multiply 4 pounds of food with 7 days in a week and that means you're looking at 28 pounds of food each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that's a pretty rough estimate since you don't have the dog (or at least not yet), but you can play around with the calculator to figure out if those numbers are anything that you think you should be worried about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if your dog happens to be larger, or even just more active, than the average it could very well need more food. And, depending on the type of food you purchase, it might need to eat more in order to receive the calories it needs in a day. The quality of food makes a difference, and the prices of food is related to the quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, if you have any concerns about being able to afford a 30 pound bag of dog food each week, then you should avoid large breed dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that you should be prepared to be able to afford to take your pet to a veterinarian if need be. That is an expense on top of the others. You should never have to skip feeding your pet in order to afford a vet bill. Also, if it turns out it's allergic to certain ingredients you should be prepared to buy more expensive brands of food that exclude those ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/mastiff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/mastiff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;My estimated average weight based on the breed's weight range.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;Based on the contents of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purinaone.com/dogs/products/smartblend-healthy-weight-dog-food/feeding-instructions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Purina One healthy weight adult dog food&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-10T21:39:28.037" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T21:39:28.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3276" CreationDate="2014-05-23T05:40:16.663" Score="10" ViewCount="17907" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid my mother's brother had a cat with rather odd body. It was strong and muscular in the front and had a very lean and longlegged rear. He told us kids that the cat can run down a wild rabbit, kill it and even eat it. Then again, he loved to tell imaginative stories, so I always thought it was one of those wild stories. To the child that I was, a cat is a cute furry pet, not a hare-hunting predator. I had my ideals :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all these years his story stays alive in my memory because of how that cat looked like. It was clearly a special cat. And now, just recently, I read another story in Facebook about a cat who can run down a wild rabbit and kill it. This time there's no mention about the cat eating the rabbit. We don't have those cute and slow bunnies living in the wild here in Finland, but these stories are about hunting the wild real rabbits running in the fields and forests. Is it possible for a cat to catch such a rabbit and kill it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T03:29:15.910" LastActivityDate="2019-01-10T12:19:29.460" Title="Is it possible for a cat to run down a wild rabbit and kill it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5440" CreationDate="2014-05-23T11:40:16.430" Score="9" ViewCount="2346" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't quite the same situation as the question asked here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1718/how-can-i-introduce-a-cat-into-a-household-with-dogs&quot;&gt;How can I introduce a cat into a household with dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also not something that's happened to me. And - fair warning - this did not end well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People I know found an abandoned kitten that was just barely old enough to be away from its mother. They have two large dogs. One of the dogs is very playful and does not understand &quot;small and fragile&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They were keeping the kitten separated from the dogs to prevent accidents, but the kitten got out of the room when the dogs were around, and the playful dog accidentally killed the kitten (they had to supervise this dog closely when their child was a baby - the dog despite training has never managed to understand that it can break something small and delicate). They're devastated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could this tragedy have been prevented? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T18:50:59.707" Title="How to introduce a large playful dog to a kitten" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3269" CreationDate="2014-05-23T14:04:27.920" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The average housecat can run at speeds roughly 30mph (48kph) though when looking for the fastest housecat I found the Egyptian Mau, which seems to be a part wildcat similar to Bengals and Ocicats. It's said to run at speeds around 36mph (57kph).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The range of rabbit speeds seems to be a lot broader at 30-45mph (48-72kph), but that's because the different species of rabbit vary so greatly I think. If you've ever seen a jackrabbit (hare) compared to a common rabbit, then you'll know why jackrabbits are tipping the scales to 45mph while other rabbits are more likely to run at 30mph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zf2QH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hare compared to rabbit&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merseysidebiobank.org.uk/brownhare/default.aspx?content=identification.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that, I think it's quite possible for a cat to catch a rabbit. Especially since cats will try to stalk their prey before going into a chase, so that gives them an advantage. Rabbits are also sprinters, whereas cats will be able 'marathon' run to tire them out as long as they don't make it into a burrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A jackrabbit might be a harder prey to catch, but I still wouldn't discount the cat from being able to stalk it in order to get close enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-01-10T12:19:29.460" LastActivityDate="2019-01-10T12:19:29.460" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3278" CreationDate="2014-05-23T16:14:25.420" Score="6" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are there laws regulating the ownership of pitbulls but not, at least obviously, for other dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: Some places will ban the ownership of pitbulls entirely, while others require them to wear muzzles while outside of their owner's property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-23T23:29:19.370" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:34:24.887" Title="Why are there specific prejudices or laws against pitbulls?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3246" CreationDate="2014-05-23T19:21:56.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't experienced this myself, but I recently read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/store/I-ll-Be-Home-Soon.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;I'll Be Home Soon! How to Prevent and Treat Separation Anxiety&quot; by Patricial B. McConnell&lt;/a&gt; and in it, the author talks about this sort of thing. Basically, any one thing can cause your dog to become stressed and fearful when she wasn't before. Maybe someone or another dog at the kennel scared her during your vacation :(. The road to recovery may take a little effort: you'll need to counter condition the dog to help her to feel safe again when you leave. I definitely don't recommend just letting her work it out on her own because you might come home to find your house trashed! I'd recommend the book -- it's a quick read -- and will give you some ideas and comfort in your reconditioning work. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1383" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T19:21:56.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3301" CreationDate="2014-05-23T19:56:57.363" Score="6" ViewCount="2888" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a charming once-feral puppy. We've had him for two months and only just got him going on regular walks in the last week. (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2966/how-do-i-convince-my-dog-that-a-collar-or-harness-is-not-the-end-of-the-world&quot;&gt;How do I convince my dog that a collar or harness is not the end of the world?&lt;/a&gt; for more on that).  The thing is, he's absolutely terrified of our elevator. He sits in the corner shivering. I'd take the stairs but... well &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3275/why-wont-my-dog-take-the-stairs&quot;&gt;that's another issue&lt;/a&gt;. He hates them. Given the choice, he'll run to the elevator and then shake the whole ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to say soothing things like &quot;you're a good dog.&quot; and &quot;it's okay&quot; but I've read that I'm just reinforcing his fear. How should I handle his fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has to go downstairs a few times a day, and I hate traumatizing him. Should I just ignore his fear and figure he'll get desensitized eventually? Or can I do something to make it easier on him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:16:40.520" Title="How can I make my dog comfortable with riding in the elevator?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3312" CreationDate="2014-05-23T20:14:51.663" Score="7" ViewCount="5474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gotten some good reassurance here about our feral rescue shepherd. (See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2966/how-do-i-convince-my-dog-that-a-collar-or-harness-is-not-the-end-of-the-world&quot;&gt;How do I convince my dog that a collar or harness is not the end of the world?&lt;/a&gt; for back story). We've finally worked out our slip lead technique and started taking him for regular walks. He's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3274/my-dog-is-terrified-am-i-doing-this-all-wrong&quot;&gt;absolutely terrified of the elevator&lt;/a&gt;, but definitely prefers it to the stairs. After taking him up and down some staircases in the park, I decided the problem isn't the very concept of stairs -- he does just fine on them -- but something about ours in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I basically drag him to the stairs (+1 for polished tile hallways) and then he walks down them. He's slowly getting better about going down -- I don't have to drag him again around each bend (we're on the 5th floor) anymore, but he is having no part of going up the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going down, I think self-preservation kicks in. He can either walk down like a normal mammal, or he's just going to fall. So he walks. But going up he just fights and fights. I don't want to push him too hard so I usually give up and take the elevator, but I don't like it. He hasn't shown any aggression in the elevator but I'm still not comfortable with other people getting on and off while he's shaking in the corner because I'm not confident he won't lash out. And plenty of people are scared of dogs. I don't want to ask someone with fear of dogs to share a confined space like that. So I'd really like to get him taking the stairs up and down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T16:01:46.077" Title="Why won't my dog take the stairs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3269" CreationDate="2014-05-23T21:46:26.523" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had pet cats kill rabbits and eat them many times over the years.  It isn't rare at all as rabbits thrive in modern subdivisions on the ornamental plants and grasses while mice and rats are less frequent.  So in the morning or evenings you will see rabbits hanging out all over the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These rabbits are not all young and small, although some were.  One cat dragged home a rabbit that was so long she had to waddle her back feet to give room for his body when she had it by the neck.  She had no craft in hunting that I ever saw...she would just sprint at prey like a mini cheetah.  Yet she got her share of rabbits and even some birds.  She was a smallish cat, about 10 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't often seen any signs of a long fight. Most prey doesn't have many, or any visible wounds.  In fact, often enough my cat will bring home a rabbit totally unharmed, over a 5.5 foot wall (or several such walls).  The animal is either stunned or shocked, and even when released will stay still for quite some time.  Mice recover quicker, which is a problem when an unharmed one is let go and it runs and hides under the furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recall seeing any wounds on a cat I could say for sure were from prey fighting back.  Other cats, maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also sometimes takes only a short time to catch something. I have let the cat out to look around only to have a catch just a few minutes later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T21:46:26.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3249" CreationDate="2014-05-23T21:54:41.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of blogs by cat fosterers that have more experience, but from what I understand you don't have to do much more than plonk new kitten X down with the other kittens at feeding time.  Mother mammals have most of their stranger danger flags down at this time, hence the stories of them feeding most anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a slightly better chance, you could rub a cloth on the mother and the other kittens to pick up smells, then apply the scent to the new kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-05-23T21:54:41.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3272" CreationDate="2014-05-23T22:00:42.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a combination of pitbulls being large, powerful dogs and being the fashionable choice of owners that are more interested in having a fierce animal under their control than having a balanced and happy dog.  So the normal risks of a big dog are increased by neglect and poor owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while there are plenty of well raised pitbulls, of the dogs on the edge of attacking people more are pitbulls because their owners raise them that way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was younger, German Shepherds and Dobermans were the fashion for the same reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="312" LastEditDate="2014-05-27T17:34:24.887" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T17:34:24.887" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="746" CreationDate="2014-05-24T04:29:58.597" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use a biosoap with a soft nail brush. Skatter absolutely loves having his shell scrubbed. We put a couple drops of soap in the sink, then dip the brush. Sure to always rinse him off after. It is part of our tank cleaning process. Everything is clean and fresh when he goes back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1393" LastActivityDate="2014-05-24T04:29:58.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20190" CreationDate="2014-05-25T01:16:17.883" Score="25" ViewCount="13715" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clearly, the snake's brain is far more primitive than our own so will not include &quot;emotion&quot; as we understand it, but there will still be identifiable reactions to different situations, which can be associated with differing states of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the &quot;essing up&quot; which my boa constrictor will sometimes do is a defensive/offensive stance, and suggests that it might strike, and arboreals will react differently from ground dwellers to being placed around someone's neck, whereas a snake feeling &quot;at ease&quot; will be much more relaxed, perhaps rubbing against a person simply for warmth. &lt;em&gt;(Speculation as to how the snake perceives people under different conditions is beyond the scope of what I'm asking but would, I'm sure, be a fruitful area for research)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other identified behaviours are there, which can serve to convey a snake's likely next actions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T09:30:21.240" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T04:16:28.167" Title="What forms of &quot;body language&quot; can be identified in snake behaviour?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-25T16:22:18.407" Score="6" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm feeding my river turtle some carrots and in time it stopped eating them. Are there any reasons why, or things I should look out for? Will it affect my turtle's growth rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-25T23:12:00.087" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T23:35:30.557" Title="Why has my turtle stopped eating carrots?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-25T17:35:29.857" Score="6" ViewCount="819" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 3 year old pit bull mix recently passed away. We waited a few weeks and noticed our 5 year old was missing her friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted a 3 year old female lab mix and initially all was well. Now 2 weeks into our new family the 5 year old has become aggressive twice towards the 3 year old, and is withdrawing from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I make it a point to spend equal time with them, and none of our 5 year old dog's routines have been changed. What Can I do to make this easier on them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1397" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-05-25T18:08:05.743" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T09:45:25.990" Title="Why is my older dog becoming withdrawn from me and aggressive towards my younger dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-25T18:15:53.067" Score="4" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pet-sitting my father's 13-year-old American Eskimo for a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is diabetic and has been for a number of years after contracting erlichiosis and Lyme disease years ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My father mentioned that she was not feeling great a few days before he left her with me, but that she seemed to be better as of the day before he dropped her off with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the first few days of her being here, she's vomiting within about an hour after she eats. She doesn't eat a lot, but around getting her insulin shots, she has her rituals that my father has created, which involve various sequences of &quot;treats&quot;. For example, we have to put two small pieces of &quot;Snaw-somes&quot; beef and cheese on the floor. She will sniff them, then roll over for her shot in the morning. In the evening, repeat, but after the shot, she gets two of my father's home-made liver treats: liver, corn-meal, egg, and I don't know what else, baked in the oven. Now she runs the show. If you don't follow these and other rituals, she will pester you and bark until she gets what she knows she is supposed to get, which drives me crazy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her food is a dry kibble (not sure what brand, but I'm guessing some form of Beneful with orange, red, and green kibble). But we will give her some table food such as cut up left over meat, but not a lot of fat at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from all said above, she seems to be behaving normally, is alert, likes to go for rides in the car. No apparent signs of distress or pain, or abnormal behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: she seems to be doing a bit better. Eliminated giving her some of those Snawsome treats and changed her diet over to mostly real food with some rice. Wondering if it's those nasty treats that are soft and maybe contain something that bothers her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I saw her outside fishing around the yard for long grass and she ate a bunch and then made her self throw it up. Since then, she has been doing relatively well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also wondering if her insulin needs to be adjusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:47.687" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:33:20.467" Title="What could cause a 13 year old diabetic American Eskimo to vomit about an hour after she eats?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-25T22:30:00.467" Score="7" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an old cat (16+ yr) who has figured out how to tailgate the dogs out the dog-door (the door is self-locking door which to dogs can open via a dongle on their collar). This does not bother us too much, since our back yard is fenced and he does not jump it. However, he has gotten into the habit of peeing on BBQ cover on our deck -- just outside the kitchen door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deck is a tile floor deck with plastic drainage, so the urine drips off the cover and can soak into the tile or it just falls through and sits in the plastic trough -- stinking up the deck, the kitchen and not making using the BBQ (or just sitting around the deck) particularly enjoyable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've used several pet cleaning products to eliminate the smells, but have not found one that discourages him from going back. We'd stop him from going out it possible, but have not figured out how to do this without hindering the dogs' ability to use their door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might better discourage the cat from urinating on the BBQ cover, when he has snuck outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1398" LastEditorUserId="3708" LastEditDate="2015-03-02T05:10:46.837" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T05:10:46.837" Title="Indoor Cat Sneaking Outside, Urinating on Deck BBQ Cover" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3288" CreationDate="2014-05-25T23:01:35.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given his age, your three basic options are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop the cat from going outside, or at least stop him from tailgating after the dogs unless he has used the indoor litter tray, which I am assuming you have. Probably easier said than done in your instance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop the cat from going on the BBQ cover. You say you have already tried this, so this can be discounted in your instance as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adapt to the cat's new pattern, and move things such that there is a more appropriate item in that location, one which the cat can learn to use and be happy with. I don't know whether moving the barbecue is a practicable option in your case, but it should give you a different angle from which to view the problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T23:01:35.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3283" CreationDate="2014-05-25T23:35:30.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;River turtles, in the family Emydidae, are omnivorous, meaning they eat both meat and plant materials. There is nothing wrong with giving your turtle carrots as they are similar to what river turtles would &lt;a href=&quot;http://a-z-animals.com/animals/river-turtle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;normally eat in the wild&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally, most species of river turtle have an omnivorous diet that is primarily made up of aquatic plants, grasses and leaves. Many river turtle species also hunt fish and molluscs in the water along with small reptiles and amphibians.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, turtles have different dietary needs throughout their life.  Being a captive turtle, you also have to take into consideration that they will not be able to get all the nutrients they would normally obtain in the wild. Therefore, you may want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chadwellanimalhospital.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=62%3acare-of-water-turtles&amp;amp;catid=34%3areptiles&amp;amp;Itemid=57&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vitamin supplements&lt;/a&gt; if you think that your turtle is not getting enough nutrients from its current diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though adult water turtles are considered carnivorous (meat eating), many juveniles are, in fact, omnivorous (vegetable-eating and meat-eating). Water turtles usually change from a mixed vegetable-meat diet to an all-meat diet after the first year of life. Consequently, about 25% of the diet of young water turtles should consist of vegetable matter (seaweed, spinach, broccoli tops and leaves, mustard greens, grated carrot and carrot tops, celery leaves). Addition of carrots (high in vitamin A) to the diet helps prevent &lt;em&gt;swollen eye syndrome&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the same article, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chadwellanimalhospital.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=62%3acare-of-water-turtles&amp;amp;catid=34%3areptiles&amp;amp;Itemid=57&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Care of Water Turtles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, it also depends on the age of your turtle as to how much he should be eating, and the expected growth rate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Water turtles can be fed daily or 2-3 times weekly, depending upon their age and size. Rapidly growing juveniles should be offered high-quality food daily, whereas adult water turtles do very well when fed 2-3 times weekly. Under no circumstances should water turtles be overfed. In the wild, the only opportunity for water turtles to overindulge is when they feed on the submerged carcass of a dead animal. Overfeeding captive water turtles causes them to become overweight and fouls the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any animal, sometimes it just takes a change in diet or a rotation of different vegetables to get them interested in certain types of food again.  Some &lt;strong&gt;things to watch out for&lt;/strong&gt; if you feel that your turtle is unhealthy includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sick water turtles may exhibit a wide variety of signs. The signs noted by the turtle owner depend on the specific organs affected. Listlissness, lethargy and inappetence are common in sick water turtles. Weakness is often manifested by reluctance to enter the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A runny nose, swollen eyes, coughing, gasping, and open mouth breathing are common with respiratory disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Swollen eyes may also be noted with vitamin A deficiency &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Water turtles that tend to tilt or tip to one side may have pneumonia or air sac disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A soft shell is most often the result of a serious mineral imbalance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Defects involving the shell constitute &lt;em&gt;shell rot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Excessive straining may indicate bowel obstruction or egg-binding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Redness of the skin, often accompanied by bleeding, is usually the result of overwhelming internal infection; and represents an ominous sign&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Except in the case of slow-moving or easily frightened or defensive species, healthy water turtles usually make strong swimming motions when held out of water. Healthy water turtles have bright, wide open eyes, clear, dry nostrils, and no abnormalities of the skin and shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles are relatively slow to develop and grow, as their shells grow with them.  If a turtle is getting all of its regular dietary needs, its growth rate &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be normal.  The important thing is that your turtle does not exhibit any deficiencies or illnesses, which would certainly effect its regular growth rate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2014-05-25T23:35:30.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3246" CreationDate="2014-05-26T00:14:03.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety is something that is common in dogs and could be caused from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/separation-anxiety-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;variety of reasons&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety is triggered when dogs become upset because of separation from their guardians, the people they’re attached to. Escape attempts by dogs with separation anxiety are often extreme and can result in self-injury and household destruction, especially around exit points like windows and doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When treating a dog with separation anxiety, the goal is to resolve the dog’s underlying anxiety by teaching him to enjoy, or at least tolerate, being left alone. This is accomplished by setting things up so that the dog experiences the situation that provokes his anxiety, namely being alone, without experiencing fear or anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like your dog was used to shorter periods of time alone, however being alone for a longer period of time while you were on vacation may have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/dogtraining/Dealing-with-Separation-Anxiety-by-Martin-Deeley&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;triggered the separation anxiety&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With some dogs, a change in their routines can create the symptoms of separation anxiety. After being neutered or spayed we spoil them because they have been to the vet and had an operation. We feel sorry for them and reinforce their “neediness.” A new baby arrives in the family and the dog suddenly gets demoted, even ignored, with no preparation for this change. Moving houses or leaving the house for long periods such as a vacation, after you have been at home most of the time (even just the change from the weekend to the work week) can bring on the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4iMuG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has never shown these behaviors previously, it is possible that you can decrease his separation anxiety by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/problembehaviors/5-tips-for-separation-anxiety#ixzz32m7zD4OM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;re-training him&lt;/a&gt; and making small changes in order to get him more comfortable by himself: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before you leave the house, take your dog for a walk&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  Start your day by taking your dog for a brisk walk. To make the walk even more rigorous, use a dog backpack with extra weight in it. Then reward your dog's calm-submissive energy with food and water. Some dogs may need to rest before eating, but all dogs can benefit from hydration. The idea is to leave your dog in quiet, resting mode while you are away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No touch, no talk, no eye contact&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  Don't make a big deal when you leave for the day or when you return. This way, you are communicating to your dog that the time apart is no big deal. It's just business as usual! Depending on the severity of the dog anxiety, you may need to practice the rule for five minutes or up to an hour before you leave and when you get back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Say goodbye to your dog long before you leave&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  Having trouble practicing &quot;no touch, no talk, no eye contact&quot;? Take a moment to share affection and tell your dog that you will miss him way before you actually leave. Keep in mind that this display is for you, not your dog! Your dog won't have his feelings hurt if you didn't say goodbye.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stay calm and assertive!&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  When you are ready to go to work, leave those guilty, nervous, and concerned feelings behind. Instead, let your dog know that everything is going to be okay by projecting the confident energy of a pack leader. A calm and assertive leader can ease separation anxiety in dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start out small by leaving your dog alone for just five minutes&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  Leave your dog alone for five minutes, then extend the time to twenty minutes, then an hour. Continue to increase the time you spend away until you can leave for a full eight hours without any more dog problems!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find none of this works, there are many well-written articles online, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/dogtraining/Dealing-with-Separation-Anxiety-by-Martin-Deeley&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dealing with Dog Separation Anxiety&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that discuss more in-depth training and behavioral issues surrounding SA in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-05-26T00:21:39.077" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T00:21:39.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3293" CreationDate="2014-05-26T00:59:47.303" Score="4" ViewCount="2894" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Naunh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;His gums are very red and inflamed, especially in front.&lt;/a&gt;. The pic doesn't do it justice.  He hasn't had any diet changes lately (we changed his food about 2 weeks ago) and TO MY KNOWLEDGE he didn't get into anything. 11 month male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does lick the grass where other dogs pee and being that it is summer, I'm worried he may have lapped up some fertilizer or pesticide. He has rubbed his face with his front paw a few times in the last hour or so like his mouth itches and tried to scratch with his back but his back legs he can't get to his mouth becaue of his hip dysplasia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I, or should I treat the inflammation with Benadryl or Atarax?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1400" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:47:26.683" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T02:47:26.683" Title="Should I treat inflamed gums with benadryl?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3292" CreationDate="2014-05-26T01:25:42.480" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either of those can be used to treat dogs and they're often for issues that are symptomatic of allergies, such as itching and I sense this is why you're considering them as a treatment. However, it's not established that the gums are itchy, they could be sore and your dogs is trying to rub them for relief rather than scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have Solarcaine on hand? Putting some on a cotton/gauze pad and applying that to the gums (just dab on) may help deaden feeling. Solarcaine contains lidocaine and the can provide some temporary relief for both itching and pain for your dog. Don't use a lot, just apply to a couple of sores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, you need to contact your vet as soon as you can as there are a fair amount of oral illnesses that are initially signalled by mouth sores like reddened gums. Never hurts to be careful there and any home solution you have to his gum problem is likely to be temporary at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-26T01:25:42.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-26T06:44:38.743" Score="6" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of treatments do you know to get the tail of a horse white again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wash it only with (horse) shampoo it just gets lighter but never really white as it should be. There is always a yellowish color there, expecially at the hair-ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also tried lemon juice, but that won't work either...&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just so you know, I don't wash the tail of my horse every day, but rather when it is warm outside and I would wash him anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:27:39.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T18:14:43.340" Title="How to get the tail of my horse white again?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2988" CreationDate="2014-05-27T18:52:52.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are descended from desert dwelling animals and have their kidneys concentrate the urine very strongly to recover water.  This is why they tend to have kidney issues in old age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-05-27T18:52:52.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3313" CreationDate="2014-05-28T01:39:20.847" Score="9" ViewCount="4007" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister has a Siberian Husky, and just moved into a rental home. Her previous home had a fenced backyard (6 foot privacy), but this home does not. How can she easily keep her dog in her yard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've used an overhead trolley on him before, and he didn't care for it. At the time, they had another dog and they would get tangled together, so that may have been part of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're considering installing an invisible fence (the landlord will deduct improvements from the rent) but they aren't sure if it will be effective through his thick fur. What other options are available?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was on a regular walking schedule for the 6 months they lived in my parents' basement, and once he settles down in the new home he should return to that fairly easily. In their previous home he enjoyed just hanging out outside sometimes, and they'd like to be able to allow him to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-05-28T14:58:42.610" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T14:37:28.103" Title="How can I keep my dog in my back yard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3297" CreationDate="2014-05-28T14:54:18.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one that I'm most aware of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.invisiblefence.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;invisible fence&lt;/a&gt; concept (there are a few variants, this is just an example). This works basically as a buried cable that triggers an audible tone and small static charge if the dog tries to cross the fence line. Since the active part is in the collar and not the fence itself, it's less impacted by the dog's fur. The collars should also be tailored to the individual pet and so are more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside, of course, is that there's no fence... which means that others can get in, including people. Mind you, when we had a Siberian Husky/Alaskan Malmute cross as a kid, people actually crossed the street to avoid him when I walked him because he looked so much like a wolf, so maybe not a big risk. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, when you mentioned electric fence, I assumed you meant that the fence had a charge in it as opposed to a buried fence system like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T14:54:18.933" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3306" CreationDate="2014-05-28T18:40:23.960" Score="8" ViewCount="68957" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, this comes out of me being a bit of a terrible cat parent. I forgot to pick up more wet cat food, and we are now out. Due to various constraints, it will likely be Friday afternoon before I can easily go get more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I'd really hate to deprive my cat of his morning breakfast for that long, because I know it is good for him and he loves it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can prepare at home that would be similar to what he gets, assuming just an average can of wet can food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T18:00:12.577" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T04:30:15.280" Title="What can I use (temporarily) instead of commercially prepared wet cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3274" CreationDate="2014-05-28T19:16:40.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't coo at a dog who is nervous, but you can reassure him with calm, confident, ordinary talking.  Show him by example that you are not worried.  If you allow yourself to become worried because of his anxiety, you'll be confirming his suspicion that there is something to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally this is an elevator you can divert for desensitization training for five minutes several times a day.  If so arrange to hold the elevator on your floor while you do the exercises and don't allow it to move at least until he is confident in it when it is still.  Exercises include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going in, getting a delicious (high value) treat, and then coming back out again without going to another floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going in, letting the door close, getting a delicious treat, and then opening the door and coming back out again without going to another floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating all meals inside the elevator, without going to another floor.  This is the part that will hold the elevator up for 5-15 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going in and playing with a toy with your dog for a minute or two, then back out with no ride.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to assess what specifically about the elevator it is that makes him uncomfortable.  If you think it is primarily the texture of the floor (slippery) or that the floor moves, then choose a bath mat with a rubber backing to be his elevator &quot;magic carpet.&quot;  If you think it is the vibration, or a combination of the vibration and floor texture, then choose a piece of 4&quot; thick high density furniture foam (available at craft stores by the yard), or just rip the cover off an old sofa cushion and cut to size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend time in your home teaching your dog to lie on his personal magic carpet.  Make it the most wonderful place in the world to be.  Feed him his meals on the carpet.  Give him treats every time he lies on the carpet.  Ask him to lie on it and load him with praise and attention when he does.  Good things happen when he is on that carpet.  You can grab a spray bottle of DAP (dog appeasing pheromones) and spritz the magic carpet with that or just cover it with a dirty tee-shirt that smells like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's okay going into the elevator and coming back out and he thinks his magic carpet is super fantastic, then it's time to combine the two exercises for a ride.  Up until this point, I'd try to carry him down the stairs, even if the thinks the stairs are worse.  Any unpleasant experiences with the elevator will undo counter conditioning progress until he's ready for this part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now during the ride you can praise the snot out of him and give him loads of positive attention for lying on his magic carpet.  He's already used to that.  Being on the carpet is good and it's something you've consistently highly approved of in the past.  So lay it on thick and say whatever word you've given to the carpet over and over so he knows that's what you're making the fuss about.  &quot;Look at Joey on his carpet!  He's such a clever boy and it's such a wonderful carpet.&quot;  And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later you can wean him off of the carpet, but for a while it's going to be his security blanket.  The nifty thing is that because it is portable you'll be able to use it for more than elevator rides.  You can use it for anything he finds stressful, such as a trip to the vet or a car ride.  Get him over the initial hump and then gradually wean him off so that he builds confidence in himself and trust in you even when the carpet is not present.  Remember to always keep that carpet charged with loads of good things like dinner, treats and loads of affection at home so he can carry those positive associations with him when he needs to go someplace stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:16:40.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3294" CreationDate="2014-05-28T19:30:25.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually this is staining.  You can prevent staining by using a silicone hair treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once it's there you can try whitening shampoos or adding a few drops of laundry bluing to the rinse water.  Note:  if you add too much, yes, you will turn your horse blue.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mrsstewart.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/All-About-Bluing.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mrsstewart.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/All-About-Bluing.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used Bon Ami (don't substitute another brand, this one is non-irritating) to get grass and manure stains off of white stockings with good results and it should work on tail hair as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:30:25.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3006" CreationDate="2014-05-28T19:37:20.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The surest indication of a pup's eventual size is the size of his same sex parent, if he is purebred.  It's a big guess if he is a mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can say definitively that paw size is not always an indicator of the finished size of the dog.  I have one purebred German shepherd with huge feet, twice as big as the next dog (also purebred German shepherd), and the bigger one is the one with the smaller feet.  People are always asking me if he's going to grow into his feet.  No, he is full grown.  He just comes from a variety of German shepherd that are large boned and therefore have large feet.  He also has a comparitavely big head, just like his parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T19:37:20.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2014-05-28T20:46:28.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used human tuna fish cans when I have forgotten cat food for a day or so.  Boiled chicken is also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;True cat food has additives that a cat needs for health, so you don't want to make this a permanent change but a few days won't hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T20:46:28.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2014-05-28T21:51:53.033" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are really two concerns here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the replacement meal should not harm the cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the replacement meal should be palatable so that the cat will eat it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The danger in meal replacements is the loss of taurine that is added to commercial cat food that cats need to survive. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/taurine-in-cats/3857&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VCA Animal Hospitals&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Taurine is exclusively found in animal-based proteins. It is critical&#xA;  for normal vision, normal digestion, normal heart muscle function, to&#xA;  maintain normal pregnancy and fetal development, and to maintain a&#xA;  healthy immune system. Most mammals are able to manufacture enough&#xA;  taurine from other amino acids to meet their needs. However, cats have&#xA;  a limited ability to manufacture taurine; therefore taurine is&#xA;  classified as an essential nutrient in the cat. Fortunately for the&#xA;  cat, taurine is readily obtained from the diet, as long as the diet&#xA;  contains animal-based proteins. Unfortunately, it is not stored in&#xA;  large quantities in the body and so must be consumed on a regular&#xA;  basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Clinical signs of taurine deficiency are slow to develop. It can take&#xA;  between five months and two years before symptoms become apparent,&#xA;  depending on the cat's life stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If taurine levels are deficient, the retinal cells of the eyes will&#xA;  eventually degenerate, impairing the vision. This condition is&#xA;  referred to as feline central retinal degeneration (CRD). Deficiency&#xA;  of taurine will also lead to a weakening of the muscle cells in the&#xA;  heart, causing a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. Taurine is a&#xA;  component of bile salts, and its deficiency may cause digestive&#xA;  disturbances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(VCA owns/runs many of the emergency and specialist veterinarian hospitals in my area. I've been to 2 of their facilities and found them extremely competent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a few days a reduced supplement concentration (you're still feeding dry, just one meal is supplement-free) should be fine. If you were doing shift work or something and couldn't get to a pet store for longer than that, I would suggest looking into Amazon or other delivery options in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After considering the safety from missing Taurine, I would also consider the potential dangers of the candidate materials. The most important ingredient is a meat source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, &lt;strong&gt;boiled chicken&lt;/strong&gt; (no spices) and rice is often recommended by veterinarians for cats who have stomach upset. I would consider that safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people will give their cats cans of &lt;strong&gt;tuna&lt;/strong&gt;, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2595/224&quot;&gt;that may not safe&lt;/a&gt; depending on your level of risk tolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beef&lt;/strong&gt; (perhaps as of hamburger) is also common in US households, but if your cat does not already eat beef foods I would not recommend it (I've seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anaphylaxis&lt;/a&gt; in cats unaccustomed to beef before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Palatability&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that this will be the real problem in suddenly changing your cat's food. I have never been able to get a cat to eat chicken and rice (even when they're feeling good, as an experiment to see if they didn't eat it before because they felt bad, or because they didn't like it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are pages and pages of strategies written on the web for how to switch your cat to raw/homemade food just because most cats (especially dry food fed cats) don't recognize it as food initially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can prepare the most healthy replacement, but if he doesn't think it's food, he won't eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suspect the best strategy will be to think about any time he's shown interest in something that you've eaten (climbed in your lap, licked a dirty bowl, etc) and if that's something that's reasonable, make something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I had a cat who once showed interest in chicken wings. Boiled chicken with just a &lt;em&gt;TINY&lt;/em&gt; dab of BBQ sauce (for smell/interest) might have worked on him. I had another cat who wanted string cheese. That's not a reasonable food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has never shown interest in human food (or only inappropriate foods), just give him dry food for a few days and get to the store as quickly as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a recurrent problem, many pet food suppliers let you set up delivery subscriptions for pet foods so you won't forget (I do this! I recommend it!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-05-28T21:51:53.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-28T22:14:27.970" Score="6" ViewCount="12464" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom swears by a water additive that claims to help with dental care (similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthymouth.com/Default.asp&quot;&gt;Healthy Mouth&lt;/a&gt;, just a different brand). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're not something I know a lot about, but I do know that my cat has some issues with tartar in his mouth and the like. I have tried brushing his teeth, but that is a very difficult process, and I was wondering if something like this would work instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a viable alternative? Does it have actual benefits? Is it something I should be giving to my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T20:16:08.503" Title="How effective are cat/dog dental water additives?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2014-05-29T01:29:06.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a reminder: There are many cats who have lived long and happy lives on dry food. Missing a few days of his wet food treat may disappoint him, but nothing worse than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kids are currently getting as much dry food as they want, and about 1.5 oz (half a small can) of wet food roughly every other day, with some deliberate randomization of which days and at what time so they understand it as a treat and don't pester me for it. Even as a treat, and with this small amount, they often don't finish it. (They're most interested in the &quot;with gravy&quot; versions, and will try to get all the gravy before they consider whether they'd rather eat the chunks or go back to their dry food.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth knowing what else is safe for them to eat for a few days, but I really don't think you're being &quot;a bad parent&quot; if they have to settle briefly for dried. Stop beating yourself up about it; it's no worse than telling a picky human kid that you're out of green beans and they're going to have to settle for other veggies for a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It's sometimes surprising what cats will nibble on. One of mine used to like broccoli; certainly not a complete diet, but cats will eat some veggies so it isn't totally surprising. Another decided that graham crackers and cheerios were interesting; I guess the texture isn't that different from kitty kibble. Then there's the one who insists on eating bits of fluff and string if allowed to do so (bootlaces seem to be thick enough not to provoke that reaction), the one who insisted on licking plastic bags (we accused him of having a &quot;long-chain hydrocarbon deficiency&quot;), and the amazing self-propelled automatic paper punch (&quot;I'm not kidding, the cat DID eat my homework -- or at least shredded it.&quot;) Weird little critters. It's one of the things we love about them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T01:29:06.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3311" CreationDate="2014-05-29T02:01:01.707" Score="4" ViewCount="4431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know snakes can unhinge their jaws when they eat food that is large (rats, large mice, etc.), but I don't know how much that helps them to open their mouth. How wide can adult corn snakes open their mouths when they eat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I noticed my pet corn snake's mouth was really wide when he was eating a huge rat and I was concerned that it may have been too large for him to consume safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-05-30T00:31:31.233" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T11:17:13.673" Title="How wide can a corn snake open it's mouth?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3307" CreationDate="2014-05-29T02:37:24.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://vohc.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Veterinary Oral Health Council&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;exists to recognize products that meet pre-set standards of plaque and&#xA;  calculus (tartar) retardation in dogs and cats. Products are awarded&#xA;  the VOHC Seal of Acceptance following review of data from trials&#xA;  conducted according to VOHC protocols. The VOHC does not test products&#xA;  itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their &lt;a href=&quot;http://vohc.org/protocol.htm#protocols&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;protocols&lt;/a&gt; seem reasonably strict (a large part of my job is experimental design), and their list of approved products is relatively small (whether that's because they turn down some applications or because the industry doesn't pay attention is not really clear). I would estimate that any product that they've approved would be at least &quot;best in class&quot; for promoting oral health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is only one company with water additive &lt;a href=&quot;http://vohc.org/accepted_products.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;products approved&lt;/a&gt; by the VOHC, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthymouth.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HealthyMouth&lt;/a&gt; and their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthymouth.com/Articles.asp?ID=253&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cat:essential&lt;/a&gt;. This product is approved for plaque removal, but not tartar. &lt;a href=&quot;http://vohc.org/protocol.htm#claims&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VOHC defines&lt;/a&gt; the difference as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plaque: The soft, bacteria-rich layer that rapidly forms on the&#xA;  surface of the teeth if the teeth are not frequently chewed or brushed&#xA;  clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tartar: Calcium salts secreted in saliva that are deposited on&#xA;  the surface of the teeth as a hard substance that is resistant to&#xA;  removal by chewing or brushing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2011/01/healthymouth-water-additive-does-it-help-prevent-dental-disease/comment-page-1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;criticisms of the studies&lt;/a&gt; used for VOHC approval of this product noted that the experiments have not been peer reviewed, randomized, and or conducted blind (a term that means the people running the test knew which set of animals was getting each treatment, so may have (even accidentally) affected the results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toothvet.ca/PDFfiles/HealthyMouth.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Fraser Hale&lt;/a&gt;, DVM, FAVD, DiplAVDC Board-Certified Veterinary Dental Specialist, remarks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My assessment (and that of the VOHC) is that, while there are no&#xA;  miracle products out there, healthymouth™ water additives and topical&#xA;  gels may be a valuable tool in the ongoing effort to maintain good&#xA;  oral hygiene and periodontal health when used as part of a&#xA;  comprehensive oral care program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T02:37:24.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3309" CreationDate="2014-05-29T03:43:19.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, snakes can open their mouths at about a 150 degree angle. That's pretty amazing when you consider 180 degrees is a straight line!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that snakes can open their mouths so wide is that their jawbone is connected by ligaments, rather than hooking into the skull like other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see from the human jawbone below, the connecting points make a 'U' shape. That allows the jaw to rock back and forth (open and closed), but the movement is extremely restricted to the connection to the skull and facial muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jh8iM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Human Jawbone&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/skull.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare this to a snake jawbone. The snake's jawbone really isn't connected to the skull in nearly the same way. Rather than a (for lack of a better term) physical connection, the jaw is connected through ligaments and tendons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;small bone&quot; is connected to the back of the skull, and the mandibles are connected to that. This allows for the snake to drop its jaw further than if the jawbone was hooked into the side of the skull. It also doesn't really &quot;break&quot; it's jaw. Rather, the tendons and ligaments that hold it all together are fairly stretchy, allowing even more movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6zTuF.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Snake Jawbone&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.howstuffworks.com/snakes/snake4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fun fact about snake jawbones is that the mandibles aren't fused together like human jawbones are. Human jawbones actually start as separate mandibles, with cartilage in the chin, but the cartilage fuses into bone as the person grows older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snake mandibles are (like the connection between the jaws) connected by tendons and ligaments, so that their bottom jaw can stretch wider if needed. Though that is used more for wider prey, or even eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2018-12-31T11:17:13.673" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T11:17:13.673" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3275" CreationDate="2014-05-29T04:08:30.837" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good place to start with any fear a dog has is to try and manage how often they have to encounter that fear and then slowly show them that it's really nothing to be afraid of by giving them lots of positive reinforcement around it. Unfortunately, you have to get your dog downstairs some way or another, and I agree the stairs are better than the elevator; confined spaces are never good for a dog with his history. Perhaps while you work on it you can try just carrying him up and down until he gains confidence? It sounds like he's likely too afraid to learn anything on the stairs right now and it might be easier on you both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for getting him to tolerate the stairs, I would start playing as many games as possible around the stairs. You don't need to start on the stairs either. Start as far away as possible that makes him comfortable and then slowly work your way closer. You can just teach tricks, play tug, fetch, or whatever gets him excited. Recall games, tugs, and fetch can be especially good because you can bring your dog closer for a short time. If he's excited enough and focused on tugging for example, he's likely to not even notice he was by the stairs for 5 seconds. And chasing a ball or toy up the stairs is great exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also work at shaping him up and down the stairs. Use a clicker to click and treat any time he gives attention to the stairs, and eventually for putting feet on different stairs. As an aside, shaping him to put his rear legs on one step is great for rear-end awareness and a start to 2-on-2-off position for agility. Other proprioception games would include putting two side legs on a stair and backing up the stairs. I wouldn't recommend backing down the stairs; that could be dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned you thought it might be something about your specific stairs. If you're able to isolate the different aspects of the stairs (too narrow, too deep, too slippery, etc), introducing him to other things that have those characteristics but in different environments may help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like he may have been mistreated in the past, and so he may have very low confidence. Playing games and teaching lots of tricks will help to improve his confidence and help reduce fear in general. It will probably take a while but by keeping your rate of reinforcement high, he'll eventually get better. Depending on what happened in his past, he may never truly enjoy stairs, but he can learn to recognize them as a way to get fun things like walks, chasing, and games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T04:08:30.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3297" CreationDate="2014-05-29T04:44:59.427" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'd be wary of leaving a dog outside alone without a physical fenced boundary. Even if the dog knows to stay inside, others (dogs and humans) don't. That said you have several options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long Line&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get what is essentially a 50 ft (around 15 m) leash and he can go where he pleases within the radius. It may be different enough from the trolley system that the dog could learn to like it, although I'm not familiar with overhead systems. Note that this doesn't address incoming undesirables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Boundary Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to train a dog to stay within a boundary, but it's a long process and requires lots of proofing to make sure your dog understands it should never cross the boundary even if a rabbit runs through his yard. You'll want to start with something the dog can see like a yellow line and start with work on leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Visible Fence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is by far the best option, although it's not always available and certainly the most expensive. But you will need minimal training (or just make sure your dog is physically unable to dig under) and let your dog run around happily off leash without others getting in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-Collar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Invisible fences are not recommended as they are a form of positive punishment which can increase aggression and e-collars in particular increase stress levels in a dog. Here's some more information: I'd be wary of any e-collar system (such as an e-fence) as they've been shown to increase stress in dogs [ source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2013/06/the-end-for-shock-collars.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;companionanimalpsychology.com&lt;/a&gt; ] and are generally bad training. E-Collars are even banned in some localities. Like boundary training, you still need to proof your dog, but instead of giving it lots of treats, an e-collar means shocking your dog. This method is not recommended and included only for information and awareness purposes. [ Further reading: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2003.10.004&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dx.doi.org&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T14:37:28.103" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T14:37:28.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-05-29T11:58:51.730" Score="4" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male dog who is urinating in some places where I don't want him to. On my terrace especially, and sometimes when he is stressed (by the presence of another dog for example) he even enters in the house (which he isn't allowed to do) and urinates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I keep him from doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1225" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-18T14:27:35.087" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T14:27:35.087" Title="How to keep my dog from urinating in specific places?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5432" CreationDate="2014-05-29T15:06:20.040" Score="6" ViewCount="8041" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do corn snakes rub their mouths on the tank? Snakes love to travel but rubbing their mouths on the tank is a different thing. I thought corn snakes do that to shed but for some reason they actually rub and squirm around with their mouth against the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="1381" LastEditDate="2014-06-10T18:31:16.927" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T19:39:06.603" Title="Why do corn snakes rub their mouths on the tank?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2014-05-29T17:13:48.497" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Below is my list of emergency meals for cats made from people-food in order of preference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boiled chicken and rice is great for a meal or two.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scrambled or hard-boiled eggs with no seasoning, cooking oil or sprays.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other cooked meats like fish, turkey, lean beef or pork.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Low-fat deli meats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Canned tuna will work in an emergency as well, but the mercury&#xA;present in tuna is best avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;..and lastly it should be mentioned cats will eat some veggies. While a cat can't live on vegetables, in an emergency situation feeding a cat some veggies is better than letting it starve. Peas, carrots, spinach, cabbage, kale, squash, sweet potatoes, corn, broccoli and asparagus are all cat-digestible. One of my cats will go to great lengths to steal and eat some spinach or broccoli. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to make it clear, even the best of the above, chicken and rice, is not a balanced meal for long-term feeding. Cats also require the B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, taurine, fiber, omega 3's, calcium (bone meal), phosphorus, other minerals, and a bit of the vegetables mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T17:13:48.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3307" CreationDate="2014-05-29T20:04:54.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just speaking from personal experience. I used the TropiClean brand water additive and it worked to help get rid of my cat's tartar build-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say it helped, because I also had the gel toothpaste that I tried to brush his teeth with every once in a while. So I can't really say it was effective by itself, but, considering that the tartar went away and I wasn't really that successful with brushing his teeth that often, I think it was worth getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a bonus, I still use it fairly often to keep both of their teeth clean. Since they both like to get up in my face, it's nice having their breath not smell so much like cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-05-29T20:16:08.503" LastActivityDate="2014-05-29T20:16:08.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3319" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3322" CreationDate="2014-05-29T21:12:09.320" Score="9" ViewCount="26979" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a six year old diabetic Devon Rex cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday she was sleeping on the chair next to me. Suddenly she lifted her head and started making a strange huffing noise, almost like she was hyperventilating at an extremely fast pace. At times, she included a small noise that sounded a bit like a quack. She did it three times in a row, and each spell lasted about 15 seconds. Her eyes weren't showing signs of panic, and she looked calm throughout the entire thing and after, but it really freaked me out. Afterwards, she continues laying and looking serene, but continually licks her lips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's done this a few times now, but it scares us. She's always healthy other than the diabetes when we take her to the vet. She's never shown signs of allergies, and there's no pattern as to when it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she doing this? What is it? Should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:54:29.037" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:54:29.037" Title="Should I be worried that my cat is making a huffing noise?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9362" CreationDate="2014-05-30T01:01:44.023" Score="6" ViewCount="3696" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 year old redfoot tortoise that seems to want to get away.  This is not a new problem, but I'm wondering if anyone has any insights as to what causes her to want to do this.  Of course, there are the obvious needs of &quot;I'm in an enclosed area, I need to run wild&quot;, but I think that's not the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have high plexiglass walls around the perimeter of her enclose, as before I had those (around 5 years ago), she was constantly using her front limbs to hoist herself up over the edge.  Now she tries to climb the walls very persistently, rubbing up against them, and she flips herself over at times.  She does this about once or twice a week, and it seems to pick up around the spring, but doesn't seem to be related to temperature (see below).  She is monitored very well, so I don't worry as much about her lying there and getting too warm, but I'm more curious about why she's doing it than anything.  It would be nice to break her of the habit, but she's not very trainable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has acceptable levels of heat (90s in the hot spot, high 70s around the periphery of the enclosure), she is well fed, has plenty of water (and a &quot;pool&quot; to soak in).  She is not egg-bound, according to the vet, and has never laid eggs, so I think that rules out that she has an urge to mate.  As I have mentioned in other questions, I have had plans for building her a larger enclosure in the works, so it's possible that she's feeling cramped, but the fact that her climbing is intermittent leads me to believe that there is some other issue that I'm missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is prompting her to climb and is there any way for me to curb her urges to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2017-12-31T02:27:15.550" Title="What spurs a tortoise to try to climb out of its enclosure?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3319" CreationDate="2014-05-30T02:11:35.793" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to get an asthma diagnosis is to take a video of your cat into the vet. Otherwise, you're depending on the cat having an asthma attack while at the vet's office, and that can take several visits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important that you go to the vet for a diagnosis and treatment. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/Asthma.cfm&quot;&gt;Richard Goldstein&lt;/a&gt;, DVM, associate professor of small animal medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;veterinary counsel should be sought at the earliest stage. “If the&#xA;  initial signs of dyspnea [breathing difficulty] are ignored,” he points out, “the condition&#xA;  can rapidly progress to the more severe stage. Then the cat may die&#xA;  unless emergency treatment is immediately obtained.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two types of treatment that I'm aware of, your vet may choose one or both depending on the severity of asthma. Mild cases may just require the use of an inhaler (with a bronchodiliator) for every attack. More severe cases will use a combination of regular inhaler use and systematic steroids (pills).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal with the medications is to reduce the swelling in the airways to allow the cat to breathe easier. Inhalers (if tolerated) are generally preferred over pills as steroids can cause a number of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/steroid-treatment-long-term-effects-in-cats/71&quot;&gt;side effects in cats when used long term&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When administering an inhaler to a cat, you'll be given a chamber with a mask. The mask fits over the cat's nose and mouth, and the inhaler is seated on the opposite end of the chamber. There's a little flap on the chamber so you can tell that the cat is breathing, and you'll count the number of breaths to ensure that your cat has breathed enough of the drug (either your vet or chamber manufacturer will give you instructions on the number of breaths). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two main types of masks that I've seen used with cats: a small children's mask and a special veterinary mask &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trudellmed.com/animal-health/aerokat&quot;&gt;(Aerokat)&lt;/a&gt;. For our cat, the veterinary mask provided a much better fit (so we were sure he was breathing the medication), but you have to order it online. Children's masks/chambers are available by prescription at any pharmacy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen folks take a couple of weeks to get their cat used to the inhaler, but my cats are used to me poking them, trimming their nails, etc, and don't protest too much, so we just plunked it on him. If you have a cat who does not tolerate being restrained or messed with, then you will want to take a few weeks to gradually accustom him to it (with lots of treats and praise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T02:11:35.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2014-05-30T03:54:09.737" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really all depends on what you feed the dog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A mastiff is going to eat a lot, no matter what you feed him, but the better the dog food, the less he is going to need to eat.  People look at cheap dog food as less expensive, but that is only true at the register.  If you are buying really good dog food, you are spending more, but buying it less, so it really equals out.  They will not only eat less, but they will poop less and have healthier skin and coat, which will ultimately lead to less shedding and that's a definitely plus, with a Mastiff.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything with corn, wheat and soy is not considered to be real good dog food.  Feeding dog food with corn is like giving your dog a bowl of Fruit Loops, twice a day; it's pure sugar.  Also, think about the last time you ate corn and how it came back out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Matt was saying, there are special needs dogs that do need things like grain free dog food, or something other than chicken, for the main protein source (lamb, beef, venison, fish, etc) and that's where it really starts getting expensive.  A dog owner should be prepared to spend a little more to keep the dog healthy. It's worth it, in the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1361" LastActivityDate="2014-05-30T03:54:09.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3331" CreationDate="2014-05-30T18:07:02.573" Score="6" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet (rabbit) who has geriatric bowel and bladder issues.  To help keep him clean, it has been recommended that we keep his belly and parts of his legs and tail clipped very short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The electric clippers the vet uses cost more than $200 (US dollars).  There are inexpensive clippers available new in the people grooming section of most stores for less than $30.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if the $200 clippers are just better made so they will live longer in daily use, or if they have some magic quality that makes them safer for use on a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits, in particular, have very tender skin (&lt;em&gt;light and fast prey animal&lt;/em&gt;). If it is only a matter of longevity and heat build-up, cheap clippers might be a better choice.  But, if the more expensive clippers offer some added measure of safety that prevents accidental skin injuries, the cost would be incidental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When choosing electric clippers, what do I need to consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T16:42:22.773" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T16:42:22.773" Title="How important is the quality of the clippers used for occasional pet grooming?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="3325" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-05-30T18:49:27.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions about places where pets live, including housing, designing and maintenance, keeping pets in the place, restricting access, or keep other animals from these locations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions specifically about the structures used to provide containment should be asked on the appropriate tag, including &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cage&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'cage'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cage&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/enclosure&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'enclosure'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;enclosure&lt;/a&gt; (fencing, walled-structures, hutches), &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/crate&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'crate'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;crate&lt;/a&gt; (generally dogs), and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/terrariums&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'terrariums'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;terrariums&lt;/a&gt; (reptiles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:37:14.833" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T21:37:14.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3326" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-05-30T18:49:27.003" Score="0" Body="Questions about places where pets live, including housing, designing and maintenance, keeping pets in the place, restricting access, or keep other animals from these locations." OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:37:14.833" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T21:37:14.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2014-05-31T02:33:43.767" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried giving him a space of his own on or near your desk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband had the same problem. He works from home once/week and our cat would constantly lay on him, on the keyboard, steal his chair, etc. Soon enough, our other cat would join in on the fun and his productivity for the day would tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ended up putting a square box, slightly bigger then a shoe box, right next to our window and tucked into the corner of the desk. To guide them to it, I put an old washcloth at the bottom, dumped a bunch of catnip in it and rubbed it all over the box. Worked like a charm - they were fighting over it within a few hours so I had to make a second one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1415" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-05-31T03:00:12.827" LastActivityDate="2014-05-31T03:00:12.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3330" CreationDate="2014-05-31T05:05:59.473" Score="4" ViewCount="8744" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I got a rabbit a couple months ago, he's been eating mainly &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangkong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kangkong&lt;/a&gt;, a vegetable popular in Southeast Asia in the morning glory family. (It's also called &quot;water spinach,&quot; but it is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a Brassica.) Some research (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/publication/252244391_Water_spinach_%28Ipomoea_aquatica%29_as_a_feed_resource_for_growing_rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd16/5/hong16034.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;) suggests that this food is alone suitable for raising healthy rabbits, but mine is a pet, not livestock. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has never eaten any hay. When we go for walks, he likes to nibble on grass and random plants, but it's not a significant part of his diet. He seems healthy and active. There was some tooth decay, but it's gone away since I stopped feeding carrots and tomatoes. He eats his poop and then leaves hard pellets, which is supposed to signify good digestive health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I finally found some hay. He sniffed it with curiosity, then turned it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned? Is there a longer-term risk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1417" LastActivityDate="2019-08-27T12:52:43.790" Title="Kangkong (morning glories) as rabbit diet" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3333" CreationDate="2014-05-31T05:26:38.503" Score="7" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is virtually fearless. He does not run from cats or running cars, showing curiosity instead. (The one time he got up close and sniffed a cat, he did become startled and put a couple meters of distance from it. And he does hop away from moving cars, but not as fast as he could.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Issues of outdoor protection aside, my question is about the physiology of trancing. (I've only done this to check his teeth, by the way.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's upside-down, he'll kick for a couple seconds before he rolls his eyes and passes out. After I put him back, he seems none the worse for wear. He goes right back to his usual friendly self. I thought this was normal until I saw &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2911/1417&quot;&gt;Can trancing a rabbit have cumulative negative effects?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The immediate side-effects of coming out of TI include things like increased respiration, heart rate, and plasma corticosterone (a steroid found in many animals). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the response after release is to escape and hide which, after all, is the purpose of TI in the first place&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bunny is certainly uncomfortable with being upside-down, but seemingly no more than if he's picked up awkwardly. As for the rest, he just gets really sluggish. Is this unusual? It seems to conflict with the common explanation of tonic immobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1417" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-02T10:41:23.490" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T10:41:23.490" Title="Is trancing due to fear, or vice versa?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;trancing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3328" CreationDate="2014-05-31T09:28:18.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very good question, I have parts of the answer, but this answer will not be conclusive. The dietary requirements of livestock rabbits has been the subject of much research, but as you correctly point out, the requirements of pet rabbit are different and not as much research exists for the pet population. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have made a good choice in limiting carrots and tomatoes which are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1816&quot;&gt;not a healthy choice&lt;/a&gt; think of them more like candy, occasionally OK in moderation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary question here is the appropriateness of kangkong for long term diet.  The first place I looked was the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Suggested Vegetables list at rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt; which does not provide an answer but does indicate the difference between leafy greens in the suggested diet is the amount of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;oxalic acid&lt;/a&gt; high levels can be problematic in for long term use, with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidney_stone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kidney stones&lt;/a&gt; being the concern. Spinach is notably high in Oxalic acid, but &quot;water spinach&quot; is not a member of the spinach family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is the 'Oxalic acid' content of 'Ipomoea aquatica' (kangkong)? There are lots of answers to that question &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leafforlife.org/PAGES/HONORABL.HTM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://afortressoffur.blogspot.com/2014/02/water-spinach-for-your-pets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=vpYMAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=kangkong+oxalic&amp;amp;dq=kangkong+oxalic&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=J5CJU43BPLPjsAS_h4KwBA&amp;amp;ved=0CEcQ6AEwBg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.indianjmedsci.org/article.asp?issn=0019-5359;year=2013;volume=67;issue=3;spage=49;epage=60;aulast=Manvar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;4&lt;/a&gt;, and I don't find a reliable reference that clearly defines it.  Some sources say high, some say low, some don't say.  So pending a clear reliable reference the 'Oxalic acid' content of 'Ipomoea aquatica' should be considered potentially high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is 'Ipomoea aquatica' (kangkong) an acceptable substitute for hay? Hay is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;critical part of a rabbits diet&lt;/a&gt; the two primary reasons being to keep the ever growing teeth worn down, and to assist in moving hair through the digestive tract to prevent &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;hairballs from being problematic&lt;/a&gt;. While both of these issues are potentially life threatening they are not acute, they develop slowly over time, so regular visits to a qualified rabbit vet should be sufficient for monitoring for these symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;While not definitive there are potential risks, you should be concerned. There are potential long term impacts, with kidney stones being the highest risk of sudden onset. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441/&quot;&gt;Sudden diet changes can be fatal&lt;/a&gt; and would be of much greater concern than the risks of the current diet.  Hay should be available 24 hours a day, with leafy greens feed 1 to 3 times daily. You can begin transitioning over a couple of weeks to a cost effective choice from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Suggested Vegetables list at rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt; in our family, romaine lettuce is the primary leafy green choice.  With hay always available your bunny should begin to eat it between meals, and it should become a staple part of both keeping their belly full and an enjoyable daily activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-05-31T09:28:18.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3324" CreationDate="2014-05-31T10:01:09.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two primary concerns which you should consider when making your choice between them, and deciding whether your vet's choice should be the same as yours:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often will they get used?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By this I mean will they be used several times a day, as the vet's ones might well, so the lifetime (as measured in running hours) will pass more quickly (as measured in elapsed years), or is it more likely you'd use them just once a week?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How will they age?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By this I mean will the motor burn out and the whole unit need replacing? Will the blades become blunt but be serviceable or replaced cheaply? Will something minor (such as the switch) give way? The last would be particularly irritating if the rest of the unit was still functioning well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sharpness of the blades, and whether, over time, they would tend to snag the fur and pull it out rather than cut it cleanly, should also be a major consideration (consider facial hair grooming in men if you doubt that!), but if replacing blades before they get blunt is not going to be prohibitively difficult or expensive then that becomes a secondary issue, just leaving the two concerns above to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-05-31T10:01:09.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3297" CreationDate="2014-05-31T10:19:33.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two primary consideration here are the dogs safety and the ease (or budget) of improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several options, but the surest and safest are physical restraints either a fence or an &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2527&quot;&gt;overhead cable run&lt;/a&gt;. Fences are more expensive require more time and energy to create.  Fences are also not an effective restraint for an unsupervised dog.  A dog left in a fenced yard will dig under, or chew through the fence after sometime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs dislike of the overhead cable run will be significantly less than the dogs dislike of the getting hit by a car, if he escapes.  There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2489/preventing-dog-from-going-to-highway/2502#2502&quot;&gt;safety concerns&lt;/a&gt; with a cable run that should be fully considered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some solutions where a post is sunk into the ground, and a chain is allowed to circle around it.  The screw in the ground type sold at most pet stores are not appropriate for a big dog, as they can pull them out, and are also not appropriate for long term unsupervised stays as they can and do get tangled.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For unsupervised outside stays of an hour or so, a fence will provide reasonable safety.  Assuming that it is checked regularly.  For unsupervised stays exceeding an hour a cable run can be the safest choice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;strong&gt;supervised&lt;/strong&gt; outside visits a post and circling chain can be used.  In my childhood we tried the store bought screw in post on a big dog (with mixed results).  Later we used a modified version, the rear axle (internal part of a solid rear end) was driven into the ground about 2 feet.  The chain was attached so it would spin around the axle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a temporary heavy duty solution available from feed stores.  16 foot long fence panels that are 4 feet high.  They have small openings at the bottom and larger at the top.  Different stores have different options, but here is an example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/feedlot-panel-cattle-16-ft-l-x-50-in-h&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; I like the kind with the 2 inch opening at the bottom, and 6 inch at the top.  Have used them for everything from dogs, to pigs, to goats and cows. Anchor them with steel posts, or tie them to trees or each other.  Very portable and long lived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T12:27:09.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3329" CreationDate="2014-05-31T13:28:57.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tonic immobility is the ability of many prey animals to go into what appears to be a near-death state with the intention of encouraging the predator to release them from any escape preventing grip. The idea being that if they're released, they have another chance to escape from the predator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the basis of the function is to increase their survival rate in a life/death situation, it would arguably suggest that the rabbit needs to be in a heightened state of fear to trigger the response. However, there a some studies that suggest that there a several factors involved in TI:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pain response. Rabbits that were treated with a beta-endorphin (released by pain) blocker had &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7545819&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduced TI duration&lt;/a&gt;. This suggests the pain levels effect the duration which makes a lot of sense. Basically, if the goal is to get released by a predator, one of the ways that the body will determine success is a reduction in pain. It also implies that a certain level of pain is associated with triggering the response in the first place, but not necessarily.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Body temperature. There is some research to indicate that reduced body temperature, causing shivering, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/510799&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduces the effect&lt;/a&gt; of TI and higher body temperature increases it. From a speculative point of view, a severely injured rabbit with significant blood loss may be past survivability and thus there is little likelihood that TI would save them. The blood loss would reduced their body temperature, potentially to the point that they can't enter TI.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fear. There have &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/555/art%253A10.3758%252FBF03336016.pdf?auth66=1401714989_25e42099c6eccd85573d3f974d714c2e&amp;amp;ext=.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;been studies&lt;/a&gt; using fear stimuli to test the impact of these on the ability to engage in TI. The one I just linked to involves chickens, but the TI behaviour is seen across a number of species &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0073564&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;including frogs&lt;/a&gt; with similar results. Basically, the presence of a fear inducing situation, such as a predator, is likely to lead to TI as a means of escape or to encourage the predator to believe that they're not live prey. Many predators prefer live and so the effect can potential prevent an attack in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, there several factors involved in this, but fear does appear to play a very large role in this. Bear in mind that placing a rabbit on its back puts it in a very vulnerable position and removes many of their defensive and pretty much all of their offensive weapons, that has to be a bit fear inducing if nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-05-31T13:28:57.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="3334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4334" CreationDate="2014-05-31T15:56:32.450" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are all Traditional Yorkies black and gold colored?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can a &quot;Traditional Yorkie&quot; (Yorkshire Terrier), be any color but Black and Gold? When ones says &quot;traditional&quot; are they always referring to Black and Gold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:55:46.787" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:55:46.787" Title="Are all Traditional Yorkies black and gold?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3334" CreationDate="2014-05-31T21:23:23.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yorkshire Terriers are born black and tan and their coat changes colors to a dark steel blue and tan gradually as they mature. The tan in the headfall should be a rich golden tan. The tan color should not extend down the back of the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, you can read the full breed standards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/Breeds/CompanionDog/YorkshireTerrier03012008&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UKC Breed Standard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/breeds/yorkshire_terrier/breed_standard.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AKC Breed Standard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/breed/standard.aspx?id=6165&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Kennel Club Breed Standard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-05-31T21:23:23.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4335" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-06-01T10:14:53.093" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-01T10:14:53.093" LastActivityDate="2014-06-01T10:14:53.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4336" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-06-01T10:14:53.093" Score="0" Body="Trancing is the use of the natural fear state of prey animals to go into a near death-like state in order to convince predators that they are dead and should stop being attacked. This is called tonic immobility or TI for short. " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-01T10:14:53.093" LastActivityDate="2014-06-01T10:14:53.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-01T20:16:39.713" Score="12" ViewCount="12652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just moved in to a new place with my girlfriend, and we moved our cats in together. They both like to occasionally play, whether with us or with toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger, older cat really likes to play with other cats, but when he pounces on or chases the younger, smaller cat, she hisses, yowls, and gets very aggressive body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've never seriously hurt each other, and are completely comfortable around each other when the order cat is not excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything besides time that may make the younger cat realize that the older cat is just trying to play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1026" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-10T13:37:53.973" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T13:37:53.973" Title="How do I get one cat to realize the other is trying to play, and not fight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4345" CreationDate="2014-06-01T21:10:56.170" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a small multi for my royal python, as part of a bundle of &quot;let's try her on various things to see which ones she prefers&quot;. So far so good, the small mice and rat pups have all gone down a treat over the past few weeks, and she's just eaten the multi nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went over to my &lt;a href=&quot;http://iherp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iHerp&lt;/a&gt; profile to log it, and the options available included&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ASF - Adult&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ASF - Fuzzie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ASF - Hopper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ASF - Jumbo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ASF - Pinks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google tells me that ASF is an abbreviation for African Soft Furred rodent, which &lt;em&gt;describes&lt;/em&gt; what a multimammate is, but are they the same thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if so, then which size on iHerp will correspond to what I bought as a &quot;small&quot; one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="1295" LastEditDate="2014-06-01T21:33:25.713" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T18:44:14.953" Title="ASF = Multimammate?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-02T08:56:31.150" Score="4" ViewCount="2636" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two female guinea-pigs. They are just over a year old and aren't de-sexed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cages for them. One is an outside hutch and the other (the one where they have the issue) is an inside cage 1m long, 50cm wide and 35cm tall. The base of it is solid plastic and the top is a wire frame. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use small cardboard boxes to make places for them to hide in and have done the whole time I've had them. Recently they've been chewing on the cardboard &quot;homes&quot; and ripping tape off (I don't think they are eating the tape as I've only seen them rip it off but not chew on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I do take away their house they seem stressed and unhappy about it so I believe they still like their homes. I'm not sure why their behavior has changed so radically. Can anyone help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1423" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-06-02T09:18:32.723" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T16:10:25.310" Title="My Guinea Pigs are eating themselves out of house and home" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-02T11:46:31.600" Score="4" ViewCount="5539" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is pertaining to the Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie). I am specifically referring to Champion line show breed. Apparently, Yorkies have two different types of snout. Some of them have Short Snout (which is Babyface), while others have Long Snout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Via phone I have spoken with a breeder, who said that some breeders say the &quot;Short Snout&quot; has health problems. She also said that other breeders argue this point, and say they do not. Specifically that the ones with the smaller snouts have bite issues, and chewing, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good reference to a similar debate can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/general-yorkshire-terrier-discussion/105744-snouts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/general-yorkshire-terrier-discussion/105744-snouts.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides conversations like this, actually resource material is hard to find. There is very little information about this online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence my question, are there any health (or bite) issues related to a Short Snout, as opposed to a Long Snout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other Pro's/Con's to one, as opposed to the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:55:59.250" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T20:27:59.803" Title="Yorkshire Terrier, Long snout versus short snout?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-02T13:00:21.177" Score="6" ViewCount="560" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is normally very well behaved - he is used to going outside and always uses his litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However he has recently had surgery on his foot and must stay indoors and wear a cone on his head for another 10 days. This is understandably stressing him out and making him very unhappy! This has resulted in him spraying and urinating around the house, especially in the mornings and evenings when there is a lot of activity in the house with people leaving/arriving home and opening the doors - which is the time he is normally allowed in or out of the back door. During the day time he has been much more relaxed and sleeps, and does not urinate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am keeping his litter box fresh and clean, with easy access to it and praising him when he uses it. I have also bought some Feliway hormone spray which I am using, and making sure to thoroughly clean where he has peed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I can do to stop him urinating indoors, or alleviate his stress (which I think is causing his urination) until he can go outdoors again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1424" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:58:08.780" LastActivityDate="2020-11-28T13:46:36.880" Title="What can I do to stop my cat urinating indoors?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4338" CreationDate="2014-06-02T18:05:25.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give the female safe places to watch the other cat (usually from above) and keep the other cat interested in other toys than her by scheduled play times to tire him out.  Once he stops initiating contact she may relax with him and accept some playtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T18:05:25.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4339" CreationDate="2014-06-02T18:44:14.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my local reptile shop:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yep. ASF is a multimammate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He went on to describe the sizes which he stocks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pinkies - a little bigger than a normal pinkie mouse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small - about the size of a medium to large mouse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large - similar to a small weaner rat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A fully grown and pregnant female would equate to a large weaner rat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T18:44:14.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4389" CreationDate="2014-06-02T18:56:28.367" Score="3" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just bought a 45 liter 50x30x30 aquarium. I was wondering would 2-3 colisa lalia (Dwarf gourami), 1-2 ancistrus and 6 ember tetras (Hyphessobrycon amandae) fit and be happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1427" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:56:41.157" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:56:41.157" Title="Advice for stocking an Aquarium (45L)" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4349" CreationDate="2014-06-02T19:15:28.500" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats were recently diagnosed with an infestation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyletiella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cheyletiella mites&lt;/a&gt;.  As part of the treatment, the veternarian dermatologist (who diagnosed them) gave them each a shot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylprednisolone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;methylprednisolone&lt;/a&gt; to reduce the discomfort from itching while the mites died and the sores healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats are all convinced that they are starving, which seems to be a side effect of prednisolone. About a half hour after a meal, they start pestering us for food again. Should we give them extra food? Two of the three are already overweight (they're on a diet, normally). From their behavior this seems more intense than normal &quot;it's dinnertime&quot; begging, and more like if we've been out late and missed dinner time by 6-8 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T19:44:26.537" Title="Should I feed my cats extra (while they're on a medication that increases their appetite)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1419" CreationDate="2014-06-02T19:33:30.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The skin problems that cropped up at about the same time eventually led our general vet to recommend us to a dermatologist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The veterinarian dermatologist told us that when a cat bites at their front legs while you're touching them, it's an itch response. They nicknamed it &quot;corn cobbing&quot; because it looks like the cat is eating a cob of corn (except instead of corn it's their leg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can't verbally tell us where they're itching, but signs like &quot;corn cobbing&quot; and hair loss helped the veterinarian dermatologist to find the culprit in our case - the 0.38 mm &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyletiella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cheyletiella mite&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T19:33:30.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4347" CreationDate="2014-06-02T19:44:26.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, usual disclaimer. :) Based on what I read, here's my take on it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common side effects of this steroid do include increased appetite, thirst, and urination from what I've read on this (a half dozen pharmacy sites for pets and humans). Of the three, the appetite side of this is little less of a concern as while their desire for food may have increased, their physical need for it has not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what I would do here is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that they have a lot of extra fluids available. Dehydration would be a bigger concern so you may want to spread a few water dishes around the areas they like to hang out. Water is also a reasonable appetite suppressant if they drink enough of it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have them, add a few more litter boxes around and be prepared to clean a little more frequently. They are likely to use them more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch for vomiting, a less common side effect, but would be where the nutrition factor kicks in. If there are signs that they are vomiting, then you may want to increase their food availability presuming that it's light and not constant.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, if the side effects don't start to taper off after a week, then I would re-check with the vet. I'm assuming this is a one-shot dosage, though if the condition persists more than a week, then I suppose another dosage might be warranted. In any event, you could give them some small snacks if it's short term just to keep them quiet(er), but that'll probably set-back the diet for the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T19:44:26.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4338" CreationDate="2014-06-02T21:57:28.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, you can't communicate to the female &quot;hey its only play... he actually likes you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Oldcat's suggestion is one of the better ones (enable the one who is not comfortable to be around the other one but be able to &quot;withdraw&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the same dynamics with my 'grrrls'.  The main other thing I do is to break up play gone wrong and do some finger wagging at the one who is too rambunctious (it is always the same cat, playing too rough with the cat who takes her too seriously).  The other thing is I try to be around to be with both of them and hope that the one who takes it too seriously will start to realize &quot;Hey, if she were trying to kill me I'd already be dead... it must just be play&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-02T21:57:28.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10875" CreationDate="2014-06-03T00:51:37.970" Score="8" ViewCount="1141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taking care of my snake as if it was a corn snake, but today I was looking at some images and my mom suggested it might be a California king snake, then I started doubting what the vendor said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a California king snake and not a corn snake. What are the differences in taking care of it (like terrarium, food, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xVg37.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xVg37.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1428" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:22:49.120" Title="Differences between taking care of a California king snake and a corn snake" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4353" CreationDate="2014-06-03T07:50:33.880" Score="16" ViewCount="16284" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to only feed a cat dry food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should cats have a more complete diet or not? My cat rarely eats anything else apart from dry food, and I do not know why&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastActivityDate="2019-02-16T09:35:08.040" Title="Can cats survive solely on dry food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4352" CreationDate="2014-06-03T11:32:54.447" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is &quot;yes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer answer is yes, a cat can be fine on a diet of only dry food. Most of the dry food brands are formulated to contain all the nutrients a cat needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing to be careful of is that cats tend not to drink enough (since in the wild they get most of the liquid they need from their prey) so you do need to make sure the cat always has access to fresh water and learn the signs of dehydration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat could simply prefer the dry food. Cats have definite preferences - with our three we have one fussy eater who turns up her nose at the wrong kind of wet food, one who'll eat anything that resembles food, and one somewhere in between. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T11:32:54.447" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-03T16:37:11.857" Score="6" ViewCount="7752" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat will never eat if I'm not with him, keeping him company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I put food in his bowl and then leave, he will eat a couple bites and then leave. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: I don't mind keeping him company, it's just that sometimes I don't have time to. I have to leave in a hurry and I will just fill the bowl and hope he eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T21:35:16.870" Title="Why doesn't my cat eat if I don't keep him company?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4367" CreationDate="2014-06-03T17:53:40.550" Score="4" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that some dogs have a tendency to always turn their heads to look up at their owners, i.e. even when walking. I assume this is instinctive behavior, looking to the alpha of the pack for instructions/approval. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this genetic or trained, and if genetic, what breeds tend to do this? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is this behavior, and what does it mean about the dog? Are such breeds particularly friendly, eager to please, and trainable? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-06-03T17:59:45.640" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T11:50:09.810" Title="Why do some dogs turn their heads to look up at their owner?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2014-06-03T18:40:42.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tetras would be fine. But I really think for the others you'll want at least twice that tank size.  My concern is that the load from 3 gourami and 2 bristlenose plecos would be too much for a 45l tank when they start to reach adult size.  Plecos in particular generate a lot of waste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely not add them in all at once.  That will overload the tank immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T18:40:42.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-03T20:12:16.433" Score="10" ViewCount="606" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today we will be picking up two senior cats (11 and 13 years) that had to be given up by their previous owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two cats are being fed a different brand of dry food than what we give our other cats, and the food is a &quot;senior&quot; formula.  Our other cats receive &quot;Light&quot; dry food (only one of them needs &quot;light&quot; food, but since she steals food from the other cats, they all get it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will be doing the normal &quot;quarantine&quot; with the new cats, isolating the pair of them in the basement until we can gradually acclimate them to the new environment, and our other cats to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am uncertain how we will approach feeding once the cats start mingling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm reluctant to let our younger cats have access to senior food, and changing from one brand of food to another suddenly worries me (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/423/57&quot;&gt;see this answer&lt;/a&gt;), but I'm not sure how this can be avoided.  At the same time, I'm worried that a change in environment (two, really, since they transitioned from their home, to a pet food store, to our home) coupled with a change of diet will be unnecessarily stressful, particularly for senior cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the best feeding solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: my apologies, but I left out an important consideration&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Our cat who needs the light food needs it because she has food issues.  Specifically, she was malnourished as a baby, and, as a result, gets very stressed if she does not have food available at all times. Even a nearly-empty food dish will cause her to pace, cry, and beg.  So dry food being available 24/7 will likely be a necessity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T11:11:00.910" Title="How should we handle our two new senior cats having different food than what our other cats eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4357" CreationDate="2014-06-03T20:34:17.680" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may need to split the cats up to feed them. Try putting the senior cats in a different room with their food dish there, and leave them in there until they finish. They'll already be used to the basement, so that's probably a good place. When our cat was sick, we needed to feed her downstairs and our other cat in an upstairs bedroom so the non-sick cat didn't accidentally get medicine, and so the sick cat wouldn't eat more than she was supposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed the cats by putting food in their bowl and letting them pick at it, you will have an easier time feeding them by giving them all food at a certain time and leaving none behind. It's also better for the cats because it restricts overeating and you can see exactly how much each is getting. It will make this situation much, much easier for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the light food, I would consider putting a door in somewhere that opens with her collar. We have a door cut into a wall that leads to the basement for my cat's litter boxes, something similar would be extremely beneficial for your light food needing cat. If she doesn't already, she'll need to learn to wear a collar for this, but it would likely be better in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these aren't an option, I agree with the other answer that suggests talking to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastEditorUserId="1412" LastEditDate="2014-06-03T22:07:44.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T22:07:44.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4357" CreationDate="2014-06-03T21:16:07.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be able to have light food available all day, for all of them. Then separate them for actual meals. You would feed them less at mealtimes based on your estimate of how much they eat at other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the senior cats have health problems, I'd discuss the plan with your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to put some food in a toy. That will give them some exercise, and it may provide enough reassurance to the cat who frets if her bowl doesn't have food. You could try gradually reducing the amount of food left out all day, and increasing the amount in the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T21:16:07.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4357" CreationDate="2014-06-03T22:49:38.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the last few years I have had similar issues with introducing cats and moving from common bowls to separate ones at varying levels of stress.  What could be done here is leave the anxious cat's bowl of dry food in the safe room while giving more in the kitchen or common area as you introduce the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may keep the other cats from eating it that much and give some ease to the anxious cat, as he or she can always amble off to the safe room for a bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T22:49:38.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4357" CreationDate="2014-06-03T23:23:35.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check with your vet about just how important it is to maintain the specialized diet they're currently on, or conversely how unreasonable it would be to feed them all the senior diet. It would certainly be simpler if you don't have to do differential feeding... and unless there's something specific that you're trying to treat, I'm skeptical about just how much difference senior diet makes. My previous cat lived to 19 years eating standard cat chow, and what finally took her out had very little to do with diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or give the older cats treats which act as supplements. One of mine gets a bit of extra glycosamine, as a powder sprinkled over canned food. The other gets an equal share of wet food for &quot;fairness&quot;, but doesn't need the addition. Luckily these kids don't seem to over-eat badly if given free access to dry food as well; they're each a pound or so heavier than the vet would prefer but they've been stable at that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-06-03T23:23:35.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4363" CreationDate="2014-06-03T23:32:41.850" Score="24" ViewCount="246058" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never had a long-hair cat before.  We just picked up two that we rescued, and brought them home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them pooped in the carrier during the drive home.  There is now poop in her fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to get as much of it out with toilet paper, then a wet rag, but I couldn't get it all, and she was getting pretty upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to clean up this mess?  Do I need to give her a full bath?  She doesn't know us, and she's in a new environment, so the transition has been traumatizing enough; I'd rather avoid a full bath if at all possible, at least for the time being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-07T04:08:38.897" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T15:55:23.450" Title="How do you clean poop out of a long hair cat's fur?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2014-06-04T02:11:10.033" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, if you get most of the chunks out and blot the dampness up as much as you can, I'd let her clean the rest of it herself. Grooming is a self soothing activity, and since she doesn't know you, you cleaning her will stress her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exception would be if you know (or suspect) that she has a poop borne illness, and want to prevent the other cat from potential contamination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the room you confine her in is warm, and change her bedding every few hours until she gets it cleaned up. It's usually recommended to confine new cats to a small room (like a bathroom) for the first couple of days anyway, so in this case I would doubly recommend bathroom confinement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T02:11:10.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4370" CreationDate="2014-06-04T03:23:21.817" Score="7" ViewCount="356" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are expecting twins in the fall.  We have two cats (5 years and 8 years). One is friendly (if a little shy) around strangers while the other will hiss and growl at people he doesn't know (but is generally not otherwise aggressive and is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; affectionate with my wife and I).    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to prepare our cats for the small new humans that will be entering their lives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1434" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T12:43:24.250" Title="What is the best way to introduce cats to newborns?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2014-06-04T09:46:28.237" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often with cats you have to adopt a &quot;do a little at a time strategy&quot; as many cats do not like being restrained or roughly held down. Whichever cleaning method you use start by petting and praising them to get them relaxed, then only wipe them a few times. Afterwards pet, praise them more and give them a cat treat. You want them to associate your handling and cleaning them as a positive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this a few times and your cat should be clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm water on a paper towel is one method. Use warm water so it is not a big shock to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They sell pre-moistened cat wipes as well. People use baby wipes too which are less expensive. Don't use &quot;sanitizing wipes&quot; since they have harsh chemicals and anti-microbials that are not tested on cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats will tolerate baths. Just make sure the water is nice and warm (but not too hot) as if bathing a a baby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T09:46:28.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4357" CreationDate="2014-06-04T11:11:00.910" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of cats on special diets. Try to fit feeding them into your daily routines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my wife goes into the bathroom in the morning she takes the two cats that need special food with her, shuts the door, and feeds them there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cats follow me downstairs and get fed in their normal feeding spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then during the day normal food (in your case lite) is left out for all the cats to munch on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way your senior cats will get a good dose of senior food (which presumably has extra vitamins and is easier to digest) but can also much on the lite food (which shouldn't hurt them) during the day. If the seniors get diarrhea or throw up a lot from the lite food you may have to adjust the plan. I would be surprised if they did though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T11:11:00.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4355" CreationDate="2014-06-04T11:50:09.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Really it is impossible to say for sure since we can't ask the dog. Healthy and astute dogs and cats that are well bonded to their humans are aware of and respond to your emotional state and behavior.  When they look you in the face or the eye they are observing you, just like you might watch another person to see how they are feeling or reacting to something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eye contact in the animal world (including humans) can be viewed as aggressive in some contexts and animals often approach this with caution. You may notice some dogs make eye contact by giving a quick, humble-seeming glance then look away. This is a normal sign of respect / subservience. Other times you may see a small dog that is frightened of you and it stares at you and barks incessantly, exhibiting very aggressive behavior. Then just as with people there are the odd ones that just don't follow the norm and may stare at you in an adoring-seeming manner for hours like the breeds thought to be more people-pleasing like labs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs and cats will look you in eye more than others. Staring can be aggressive or a sign of strong bonding so it is hard to answer question #2. If you are wondering about a particular dog you should be able to get an impression of their personality just by watching them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like most behaviors is is probably influenced by both learned and genetic factors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be studied by observing sibling pets that were raised together, the same way. Differences in behavior suggest genetic factors at play (while similar, siblings have different genes and can behave and look differently). The learned behavior side of things can be explored by training a dog to look at you more or less by rewarding them following the desired behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T11:50:09.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4354" CreationDate="2014-06-04T12:06:51.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some researchers believe domestic cats never really mentally grow up completely and they always look at you like their mom. Kittens like to follow mom around and do what she does when she does it. (They go off and do there own thing too though). If mom is eating the kittens may follow and get something to eat too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are a lot more communal than people think. While not considered pack animals like dogs they still spend a lot of time socializing with each other and hanging out with the clowder (pack of cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats mostly follow me from room to room, and are attached to the point two of them like to go to the bathroom when I do even. A couple of the cats are more independent and are usually off doing their own thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your cat follow your around the house and is usually close by? If so your cat is probably strongly attached to you and may view you as &quot;mom&quot; and likes to eat when you are by the food, presumably eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T12:06:51.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3319" CreationDate="2014-06-04T12:14:48.463" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could also be the cat coughing up a hairball, or the cat just coughing from dust or a minor kitty respiratory infection. Cat coughs are odd and don't sound like people coughs and are often hard for people to identify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it persists and you don't think it is a hairball your cat may have a upper respiratory infection and you can take them to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T12:14:48.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4364" CreationDate="2014-06-04T12:43:24.250" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The approach we took was to start as early as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the day after our son was born, we sent my sister-in-law home with one of the swaddling cloths we had used.  She put the cloth on our bed, so that our cats could get used to the smell (the cats normally sleep on the bed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we brought him home, we kept him apart from the cats for the first week or so, and then started letting the cats in to see him while he was sleeping.  Since our cats are generally pretty affectionate, they wanted to be where we were, which made it easier to get them used to being around my son (at least while he was asleep or feeding).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quiet creature that isn't moving very much is much easier for a cat to adjust to than a screaming toddler that is constantly moving and trying to grab tails, so start early! :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important that the cats always feel like they have a way out if they start to feel uncomfortable.  Don't pick them up and hold them near the baby.  Don't block the way to the exit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within a month, one of our cats took to napping in his crib with him.  Our oldest started avoiding him when he started running around the house, but now, 3 years later, lets him pet her.  Our most skittish cat, who is only rarely seen by visitors, is comfortable enough with my son to not run away when he walks by, but this is a fairly recent change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It did help quite a bit that as soon as my son was old enough, we assigned him the task of feeding the cats (we'd fill their bowls in the morning with a small amount of canned food mixed with dry, and he'd hand them out to each cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T12:43:24.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-04T15:53:33.743" Score="10" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/83/57&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt; covers a lot of good information about introducing new kittens to a cat household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we've just adopted 2 older cats (11 and 13) into our household of cats ranging from 2 to 8 years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything different that should be done for new adult cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/4363/57&quot;&gt;This answer on a different question&lt;/a&gt; mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's usually recommended to confine new cats to a small room (like a bathroom) for the first couple of days anyway&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to admit I'd never heard that before; we'd done it in the past when introducing kittens, but that was almost incidental, since the small rooms were the most convenient (and a single kitten fit fairly well in there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've given the new cats free access to the whole basement (the bathroom seemed too small, particularly if we were going to put in two sets of bedding, food, water, and a litter pan).  Was this a mistake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem to be adjusting very well so far, and have explored the basement thoroughly, as well as the door at the top of the stairs (sniffing at our other cats through the crack).  Both of the new cats seem comfortable in the new environment, with one of them seeming 100% at home, and the other showing some minor skittishness (but he still can easily be coaxed into a lap for some petting and purring).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does their age allow us to do the transition more quickly?  Or is it more likely to cause territoriality/dominance issues with the other cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T18:16:11.647" Title="Recommendations for introducing adult cats to newly adopted adult cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-04T16:01:41.877" Score="5" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been feeding my turtle some dried prawns, corn, carrots, peas, as well as other vegetables and some fruits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently the turtle had developed an inclination towards prawns, it would not eat the vegetables. I tried mixing the food, but it would just smell the vegetables and go by seeking prawns. I also tried not putting prawns it ended up not eating. I also occasionally feed it boiled chicken and it would eat them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note: can cooked chicken like escalope or just the normal chicken served with rice be fed to the turtle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you recommend I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T17:29:41.513" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T17:29:41.513" Title="Why is my turtle refusing to eat anything but dried prawns?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4371" CreationDate="2014-06-04T18:07:54.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can easily use the same rules as with a kitten, although a bathroom might be fairly small for an adult cat for too long.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a spare room that doesn't have a bed.  While being under things is comforting, I would rather be able to get access to a nervous cat.  There is a closet where the cat can 'hide' but I can pet him.  I put food and water in one corner, litter box in another and let them decompress for a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you start splitting time, staying with the new cat some until they seem comfortable in the room, and reassuring the old cats in the other times.  After a while (hours to days) you can start the process of introductions, but the new cat at least has a base station to return to and his own private litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem with a bigger space like a basement is that you might end up with the new cats just staying down there all the time rather than blending in and eventually merging with the others.  As for the kitten versus adult, it often is a wash.  A kitten is given more slack and is less 'dominant' than an adult, but on the other hand is often a pest because of the high energy.  Adults might hiss at each other more at first, but usually divide up the house spaces fairly well in the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T18:07:54.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4371" CreationDate="2014-06-04T19:52:12.167" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you confine cats to a small room initially is to not overwhelm them with new (new objects, new scents, new movement, etc). A smaller room has less new and so is less overwhelming.  Ultimately, the choice of where to confine a new cat will depend on  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;number of new cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if there are multiple cats, how well bonded they are&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any potential health issues (a cat who is ill may be easier to care for on a hard surface floor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;previous behavior problems (a cat who has previously had litter problems should probably be started in the room you want to have a litter box in)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;layout of home (the room should be in a quiet area, but there should still be some traffic so the cat(s) get used to the sound of your steps and existing pets)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contents of the room (a skittish cat should have a place to hide, my basement would be unsafe because of tools/sharp objects, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Territorial/dominance issues are most likely when cats are whole (i.e. not desexed), and about the same age. Integration is usually relatively easy when cats are at least 5-7 years apart.  That said, your new cats have just experienced a lot of upheaval in their lives, so I would be cautious and slow with introductions, and let your cats tell you how well it's going. If there's hissing/fighting, then continue isolation for another week or so. If everyone just kinda sniffs each other and ignores the other, then you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T19:52:12.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4354" CreationDate="2014-06-04T21:35:16.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that means your cat only marginally likes the food you're feeding him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of my cats are gluttonous eaters who would inhale all the food they could get.  The third used to be that way but does not care for the food I give her.  I have found she eats better if I'm nearby encouraging her.  Sometimes I'll have her in my lap and give her a great petting, then I put her down by the food to say &quot;please eat&quot;... it seems to get her to eat more of the food (which she finds dull) than she otherwise would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once recently I gave her another type of food (not necessarily healthier) and found she loved it and needed no encouragement with that one... but that one is &gt;6x the price and is not necessarily better for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep accompanying your cat at mealtimes unless it is overweight...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-04T21:35:16.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4382" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:05:47.277" Score="6" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small hobby flock of sheep that I use for training my herding dogs. These sheep are pets and are pretty used to dogs. I recently added a guard Llama because the lambs were being prayed on by Coyotes and the occasional loose/stray dog was harassing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Llama is a male who is very friendly and is great with the lambs and Ewes. He's calm and comfortable with people and in general has been a joy to be around. So far when he is on the big open field with lots of lush food he isn't interested enough in the grain bucket to come over when I'm trying to collect him and keep him separate while I can work the sheep. So I've been using an experienced dog to bring him in with the whole flock then separate him while I work the flock. He seems to have figured out that this dog doesn't mean harm and he isn't acting stressed or trying to protect the flock from the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I keep doing this will he get to used to dogs and not be as protective of the sheep? Will he know the difference between my dog and a dog that means harm? I'm assuming he'll know the difference between my dog and a Coyote but I'm not sure. Since he has been on the field I have only had one Coyote incident, a bite on a sheep's neck, but normally that would have meant the loss of a sheep. So I know he's being protective and since that incident the sheep seem to make sure they stay with him whenever they are worried. How else can I get him in if I shouldn't use my dog? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:48:22.860" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:48:22.860" Title="How do you make sure a guard Llama stays protective but is also used to your own dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;herding&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;&lt;llamas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4377" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:25:43.447" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T05:25:43.447" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T05:25:43.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4378" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:25:43.447" Score="0" Body="Pet Llamas are a pack animal that can participate in activities such as hiking and 4-H and make great therapy animals. They can also be useful on hobby farms for helping to keep brush down and guarding sheep." OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T09:01:26.460" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T09:01:26.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4379" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:27:49.830" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T05:27:49.830" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T05:27:49.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4380" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-06-05T05:27:49.830" Score="0" Body="Pet Sheep are kept on small hobby farms. Some people use their wool or keep them as herding animals for dog training." OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T09:01:35.997" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T09:01:35.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2014-06-05T09:01:07.810" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it is no problem at all. Just have a good filter and a oxygenrock in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tetras are shoalfish so put in at least 10 of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1438" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T09:01:07.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4376" CreationDate="2014-06-05T09:23:22.777" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to keep alpacas, which are closely related to llamas. Alpacas are highly intelligent, and will respond appropriately to a threat. For example, my alpacas were quite relaxed with my own sheepdog. A neighbour's dog who tried to steal food from their treat dish would get a warning &quot;kick&quot; that did not connect, but would scare him off. (To emphasise, they did not kick the dog, merely kicked in the dog's direction.) A helper of mine who handled them too roughly got an actual kick, but it was mild. In other words, they adjusted their response to the seriousness of the threat. I don't think your llamas would be any less vigilant in protecting the flock simply because they get used to one dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training your llama to come on command will probably be easier once the grass isn't quite so lush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T09:23:22.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4384" CreationDate="2014-06-05T10:33:44.947" Score="4" ViewCount="2663" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4346/aquarium-stock-45l/4381#4381&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; suggests that some aquarium fish are 'shoal fish' and that there is a minimum number that should be included in a group when adding to your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are shoal-fish? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I should not add just one, how many should I add?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T12:56:28.100" Title="What are shoal-fish and how many should be in a group?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4383" CreationDate="2014-06-05T11:40:32.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term 'shoaling' just means that the fish is normally found in very large groups. These species are most comfortable when kept with others of the same kind. Keeping them alone or in very small groups is a source of stress for them, and often causes them to become more aggressive or timid than they normally are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the most common fish in pet stores are shoaling fish: most tetras, corydoras catfish, danios, mollies, guppies, etc. But bear in mind that many anti-social fish are kept in large numbers in pet store tanks, but should be kept alone or in very small groups at home -- common plecos are an example of that. So &quot;how many should I keep?&quot; is one of the questions you want to have an answer to before you bring a new fish home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no magic minimum number; for some of these species, you'd find thousands in a relatively small area, and you'll never be able to keep that many. Personally, my own preference is to keep at least a half-dozen or so: I feel like this is enough that they'll see lots of others, and any hierarchy that needs to form can be as complicated as it needs to be. More is always better: the social dynamics get more complicated so you see more interesting behavior, and it's really neat to watch a tight shoal dart from one side of the tank to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bare minimum is three, since I figure each fish can see &quot;that guy&quot; and &quot;that other guy&quot;. I wouldn't be comfortable keeping this few long-term, but it's what I'd encourage someone to consider if they already have one shoaling fish but not much tank space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, a &lt;em&gt;shoal&lt;/em&gt; is a large social group of fish, though not quite what we'd call a &lt;em&gt;school&lt;/em&gt;. The difference is that a school of fish &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sju.edu/int/academics/cas/biology/resources/biodiversity/fishcam/shoaling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;acts more or less in unison&lt;/a&gt;, while a shoal is not quite so organized. In the aquarium hobby, you'll often hear the two terms used interchangeably despite the distinction; offhand I'd say most freshwater species in the trade tend to shoal rather than school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all social fish are shoaling fish, and in these cases more is not always better. Some species do best in mated pairs or harems (one male, several females), and any others that stray into their territory are not tolerated. Many dwarf cichlids are a good example of this. Other aquarists will often have rules of thumb that guide the exact numbers you should keep together, like &quot;each group should be 2-3 females per male, with a territory about a foot in radius&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, some species will form large aggregations, groups that don't really have much social interaction going on. The distinction here is sort of like going to the mall: you're surrounded by a thousand people, but you don't actually know any of them; you're just all there for the same reason. I'd still try to keep a group of these if you come across any, but it's probably not as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T12:56:28.100" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T12:56:28.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="229" CreationDate="2014-06-05T12:31:11.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a similar problem with our cats destroying a pretty expensive couch. After checking with the vet, he recommended we spray the favourite scratching parts of the couch with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/us/Potential-issues-with-your-cat/My-cat-is-scratching-the-new-furniture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt;, which is a synthetic reproduction of the feline pheromone cats use for territory marking and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We combined spraying the couch daily with the Feliway with spraying a scratcher with catnip.It worked great! The cats are no longer scratching the couch, and they happily use the scratcher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="302" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T12:31:11.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4352" CreationDate="2014-06-05T13:39:34.087" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can survive on a dry food only diet, but there are health concerns so that I wouldn't consider it to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water Content&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first concern is water content. Cats evolved to get water from their prey, they only drink a small amount. When cats are fed dry food, they do not drink enough water to make up for the deficiency and become chronically dehydrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WALTHAM® Centre for Pet Nutrition (the science centre supporting Mars Petcare brands such as WHISKAS® and ROYAL CANIN) performed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/docs/WalthamDietaryWater.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a study that showed&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When cats were fed the 73.3% moisture diet they produced larger&#xA;  volumes of more dilute urine with a lower risk of stone formation than&#xA;  when they were fed the lower moisture diets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats do not consume enough water, they can be subject to the following health risks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interstitial Cystitis (inflammation of the bladder walls)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urethral Obstruction (blockage so the cat is unable to pee, this is an EMERGENCY as it can progress to bladder rupture if not treated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinary Tract Infection &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chronic Renal Failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these conditions are extremely painful, and can cause &lt;strong&gt;litter box aversion&lt;/strong&gt; since your cat only understands that it hurts when they are in the litter box. Even once the medical condition is fixed, a cat who has developed litter box aversion may not return to the litter box without significant training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carbohydrate Content&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second major concern is that dry foods have a high level of carbohydrates, which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/#We_Are_Feeding_Cats_Too_Many_Carbohydrates&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;inappropriate for a cat's digestive system&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats have a physiological decrease in the ability to utilize&#xA;  carbohydrates due to the lack of specific enzymatic pathways that are&#xA;  present in other mammals, and they lack a salivary enzyme called&#xA;  amylase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats consume too much carbohydrates, they can be subject to the following health risks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diabetes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Obesity &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies (many cats develop allergies to substances they cannot digest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Concerns&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food is coated in animal digest to make it smell appetizing for cats (this is why many cats prefer dry food over wet food), but it can cause them to overeat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food has been found to have mold, fungus, mycotoxins, storage mites from improper grain storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evalutation of storage mites in commercial dry dog food. Vet Dermatol. 2008 Aug;19(4):209-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3164.2008.00676.x &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18494758?ordinalpos=1&amp;amp;itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;(link)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Estimated 100 dogs die from aflatoxin poisioning. It takes 2-3 months to link the deaths to the food source and issue the recall. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2006/01/dogs-keep-dying-many-owners-remain-unaware-toxic-dog-food&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;(link)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another recall of food with high levels of aflatoxin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/12/more-aflatoxin-related-dog-food-recalls-revealed/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;(link)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T13:39:34.087" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4404" CreationDate="2014-06-05T14:48:39.717" Score="8" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;Petco advertises on their website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/12351/Aqueon-Aquarium-Mini-Bow-25-Gallon-Acrylic-Aquarium-Kit.aspx?CoreCat=certona-_-ProductDetail_2-_-Aqueon%20Aquarium%20Mini-Bow%202.5%20Gallon%20Acrylic%20Aquarium%20Kit-12351&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a 2.5 gallon (around 10 L) aquarium with a divider&lt;/a&gt; that, it claims, can house two betta fish. However, the divider is not opaque. Would that be stressful or harmful to the fish, having a rival right there with no way to reach him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Apparently 2.5 gallons is too small for one fish, let alone two. But what if I got a larger tank and did the same kind of divider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-30T16:13:49.730" LastActivityDate="2021-03-30T16:17:39.580" Title="Would this setup stress the fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5428" CreationDate="2014-06-05T15:17:33.987" Score="12" ViewCount="4749" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 10 months old, very active Boston Terrier. He exercises everyday at least 30 minutes and it's not a problem to get him to sleep at night. &#xA;The only issue we are having with him is that he snores a LOT and of course he sleeps in our bedroom. I can barely hear him snore (I'm a sound sleeper), but is keeping my husband awake and last night he had to sleep on the couch because of it. &#xA;We also have three cats that sleep in the bedroom, the dog obviously wants to sleep with the rest of the family, so making him sleep outside would be our last resource.&#xA;Anyone has any experience with reducing the loudness of snoring on dogs or training a human to sleep with a snoring dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-12-28T11:32:26.783" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T04:33:02.173" Title="How To Reduce Dog Snoring" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;snoring&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2014-06-05T15:45:45.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible to keep those fish in that tank, although I would go with only 1 bristlenose pleco since they can get 6 inches long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worry I have with a slightly overstocked tank like this is that there isn't much room for error if the water parameters fluctuate. If there is waste buildup from the fish, or leftover food, it will decompose into the water, causing an ammonia spike that could be just enough to stress your fish and kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep that from happening you're going to want to invest a good filter, perhaps one that's slightly overpowered, and perform more frequent water changes to keep the water parameters stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make the tank require less maintenance, I would suggest not getting the pleco. The tank is small enough that a snail should be able to take care of algae if that's your concern. It also won't hurt to use an algae brush to clean the algae off the glass yourself. Since bristlenose plecos get to be about 6 inches, it will be the largest fish in the tank, and plecos in general produce quite a bit of waste that you're probably better of not dealing with in that size of tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T15:45:45.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4372" CreationDate="2014-06-05T16:19:23.193" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the turtle has become addicted to the prawns. The prawns are essentially candy for the turtle, which is why I had suggested them as treats and not a staple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really the only solution now is to treat the turtle like a child and refuse to give him any prawns until he eats his vegetables. He might go a day or two without eating before giving in and eating what's healthy for him, but given the choice between healthy food and nothing, he'll eventually give in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want some other source of protein as turtles aren't vegetarians. Chicken is good, generally it's boiled chicken that's used, but I don't see any reason why escalope wouldn't work provided you don't cook it with anything (no grease or spices).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else to consider is that he might have taste preferences for certain vegetables as well. If there are certain vegetables that he's avoiding, he might simply not like them. So if it's possible to replace the vegetables that he hates with some that he doesn't mind, that would make it easier than trying to out-stubborn him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T16:19:23.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4392" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-06-05T17:40:13.940" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T17:40:13.940" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T17:40:13.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4393" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-06-05T17:40:13.940" Score="0" Body="An organization dedicated to rehoming pets." OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-05T17:40:13.940" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T17:40:13.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3275" CreationDate="2014-06-05T20:32:42.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you only can, find another dog who is easy going stairs up and down, and who is friendly with your dog and willing to be lead by you. Borrow the dog so that its owner is not needed to come with you. (I presume this one dog is your only dog)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the base of the stairs you climb up as far as your dog's leash lets you go. Allow the other dog to climb up ahead of you. At this point your own dog is sitting at the base of the stairs and refusing to climb. Now, tell the other dog to climb down to your dog, then up again. Repeat, if your dog still won't move. You can nudge gently with the leash, but don't pull him onto the stairs. Be careful with the loose leash once he gets going, so that he won't step on and trip over the leash. He'll be coming up with speed when he decides to climb after all. Be ready for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that the other dog encourages your dog to climb the stairs. This worked with my dog, who at the age of six years climbed first time in his life the stairs to our apartment. We have two dogs, and the younger one is great with stairs. The younger one did the &quot;encouraging&quot; on its own, I had not thought about it until I saw him do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the stairs in your building of &quot;open&quot; design? Meaning, is there open space between the steps, where you can peek down the stairwell? That's like the stairs in our buiding, and I believe it is the scary thing for the dog that it can see the empty space under the stairs. Do not switch the lights on, instead use a flashlight to light only the stairs. Go at night, if there's windows giving natural light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of our six years old dog it was a combination of these two things. There was a power-out that happened while I was out walking our dogs, so we could not use the elevator to get back home. A completely dark stairwell, a flashlight (lucky that I had one in my pocket) and encouragement from our other dog finally made the dog climb the stairs that he had so much feared all his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-06-05T20:32:42.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2014-06-06T02:10:20.163" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Beo and Zaralynda... both are good advice.  I'd like to add some other tips and perspective here too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, in general, hate bathing.  However, if a cat is seriously soiled, especially with long fur that can get matted, I would try bathing the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method that seems least painful (for the human at least) is the following- get into a close-able shower area (one with doors rather than a curtain works much better) with the cat (you should be stripped for this too, or in something you don't mind getting wet &amp;amp; or dirty). Make the water warm before you put some on the cat, splash water on the cat very gently to get it wet.  You can use a pet shampoo if you want to help get things out but if you do so make sure to rinse it out completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped doing this with my &quot;baby&quot;, who has problems like you describe for other reasons, because she gets hysterical during bathing.  It doesn't hurt her but she just always freaks out about it.  That being said I think it is worth trying if there is lots of nasty stuff in the fur (as you describe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If bathing doesn't work (as in, not tolerated) a fallback would be to cut the masses out with scissors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring those two you let your cat do it herself... but that will take longer, she might get some mats....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T02:10:20.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4397" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5439" CreationDate="2014-06-06T14:53:45.577" Score="6" ViewCount="8185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought some turbo snails.  Shortly after, I was gifted with a ton of little snails that come out after dark.  Unfortunately, they seem to just be food for everyone else.  Maybe I should try to put them in the sump?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How fast should the snails grow / how long until they reach their full size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T15:14:09.603" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T11:55:06.007" Title="How long does it take for a snail to mature into an adult?" Tags="&lt;snails&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4399" CreationDate="2014-06-06T15:40:02.320" Score="12" ViewCount="40058" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought a cat and live on the 14th floor of my building, and I realized that he doesn't have any fear of heights like dogs do. I am really afraid that he might jump from a window. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some research, but could only find things like &quot;If a cat jumps from the third floor he might survive, even with some injures&quot; and I was like &quot;don't cats have any sense of height?! Why would he jump from so high?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should I be worried about my cat jumping out of a window and hurting himself? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1448" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T15:52:21.013" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T13:27:35.833" Title="Should I worry about my cat jumping out the window?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4398" CreationDate="2014-06-06T17:24:00.197" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you should worry, lots of bad things could happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat may get frightened or be chasing an insect and bolt for the&#xA;window then fail to stop in time, slip and fall.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat may sleep in the windowsill in the sun, roll over, and fall.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat may run out on a ledge outside or jump down to someone's air&#xA;conditioner sticking out below or otherwise trap themselves someplace&#xA;that would require trained rescue specialists to retrieve them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are thought of as extremely coordinated and agile but they slip, trip, fall and fail in estimating jump distances all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T18:45:08.050" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T18:45:08.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4398" CreationDate="2014-06-06T18:56:26.263" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't purposefully fall from heights, but it can happen accidentally in the ways that Beo's answer states. You can see dozens of videos of cats falling short distances on youtube by searching &quot;cat fall&quot;, so it's not difficult to imagine the same mistakes being made even when the stakes are much higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats falling from apartment buildings has been called &lt;strong&gt;&quot;high rise syndrome&quot;,&lt;/strong&gt; since veternarians have noticed a tendancy for cats to be less injured when falling from 6-8 stories than from 1-2 stories.  The thought is that a longer fall time gives the cat more time to flip its body to land on its feet. However, it may be that the cats who die from the longer falls are not taken to the veternarian, so it's difficult to know the truth from observational studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we do know is that injuries are common no matter what the fall height. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3692980&quot;&gt;one observational study&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;Ninety percent of the cats had some form of thoracic [heart/lung] trauma&quot;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15363762&quot;&gt;in another&lt;/a&gt; &quot;Falls from the seventh or higher stories, are associated with more severe injuries and with a higher incidence of thoracic trauma.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, you should take some types of precautions to protect your cat. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/high-rise-syndrome&quot;&gt;ASPCA recommends the following steps:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To fully protect your pets, you’ll need to install snug and sturdy screens in all your windows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If you have adjustable screens, please make sure that they are tightly wedged into window frames.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Note that cats can slip through childproof window guards—these don’t provide adequate protection!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T18:56:26.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4405" CreationDate="2014-06-06T18:58:43.050" Score="8" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought that sumps were a part of the basement where water that seeps into the basement collects. We would have to use a &quot;sump pump&quot; to make sure that the basement didn't flood during/after rainstorms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard it reference parts of the house that takes the water away from the house so that it drains into the ground and not back into the basement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do sumps have to do with aquariums?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T18:36:34.590" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T18:36:34.590" Title="What is a &quot;sump&quot; when talking about aquariums?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="105" CreationDate="2014-06-06T19:26:30.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any advice I can give my mother on making the feral cat&#xA;  accustomed to being in the presence of people, or even comfortable&#xA;  enough to allow them to pet her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed the cat close to where you normally are. Start by putting the food far enough away where the cat will still eat around you. This is easiest if you have an activity where you are still like lounging in a chair, reading, or watching TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the course of several weeks slowly move the food closer and closer to you, until it is right at your feet. Don't make any sudden movement or loud noises. If the cat does not like the television you will have to turn it off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After they are comfortable eating at your feet and trust you enough to eat facing away from you, you can try to touch them, but be aware that trying to touch them is dangerous. When touching a feral cat it is best to assume that they will viciously attack you. Wear appropriate protective equipment. I wore eye protection and a thick stiff leather welder's glove that came up to my elbow. Really you run the risk of injury unless you wear something like a bomb-disposal outfit made of Kevlar with a full face shield. Touch them with one finger on their back very lightly while they are eating. Eventually over time try touching them more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents did this on the back patio with some feral cats that had zero human contact. Eventually the cats would eat at our feet and you could touch them briefly without them freaking out. That is as far as we took the experiment so I don't know how much more is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T20:43:58.003" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T20:43:58.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4371" CreationDate="2014-06-06T20:07:10.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One interesting thing I noticed in my cat rescue days is how well two strange cats will get along is based on how much of a threat the new cat is perceived as.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This follows a fairly intuitive model that often applies to introducing humans as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Older cats are threatened by new younger cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats are more threatened by same sex cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kittens, sickly, small, and injured cats are less threatening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aggressive or meaner cats are more threatening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of the existing cats, the one newest to the household is often the one most&#xA;threatened by a new cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rescued a really badly mauled cat that had to have its leg amputated. After the cat healed and the normal &quot;keep them in separate rooms and let them get used to each other's scent&quot; procedure I introduced the new cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was very little fuss made over the 6 pound three-legged cat, presumably because she wasn't perceived as a threat at all.  What was really remarkable was my very aggressive and grumpy 16 year old queen, who hates all other cats, immediately took a liking to her and would clean her head and curl up and sleep with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some authors say cats can be cliquish and prefer certain cats to other cats for no discernible reason. I have noticed this as well. Even in litters that grow up together you will notice that a cat may have a &quot;buddy&quot; or two then there may be a sibling they don't care for much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2014-06-06T21:08:59.983" LastActivityDate="2014-06-06T21:08:59.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4387" CreationDate="2014-06-06T21:15:30.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept my betta for 5 years now. However, one thing that I observed is that they should not be kept in any container smaller than 5 gallons (around 19 L).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of stores use excuse that bettas live in puddles and other excuses like that to try to sell merchandise. However, I know from experience that bettas can't live in anything less than 5 gallons properly. They won't have enough space to swim, so they might start suffering from fat liver. The water quality very quickly becomes bad and starts to burn their gills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, such small setup requires 100% water change at least every week, and that is extremely stressful for the fish. So please, no matter what you do, make sure your betta has at least 5 gallons and it will thank you. You will notice that they are very intelligent and each one has an unique personality. Some bettas will have too much space anxiety, so I would suggest size of anything from 5 to 10 gallons. My longest living betta is currently living in 15 gallon aquarium. Hope this helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: encountering an opponent is actually good for bettas and will not stress them out (as long as they are the same age). Think of it as exercise that they need. I found my bettas to live longer and be much more interactive when they had small fish (like neon tetras) that they could chase. So if they have someone they can flare their gills at, all the better. So I say yes, definitely go for it. Your fish will thank you for it. Just make sure that the size of the tank is good and that you keep up with water changes.&#xA;The only problem would be if the age difference is big. If bettas are of same age, then they will flare and try to threaten each other. However, I noticed that when I put my 3 year old with a youngster, then the youngster actually hid all the way in the corner of the tank and was stressed. Same, however, is true if you put your bettas with big goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-30T16:17:39.580" LastActivityDate="2021-03-30T16:17:39.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4401" CreationDate="2014-06-06T23:00:12.053" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;code&gt;sump&lt;/code&gt; is basically just a low reservoir that collects water as it drains from something above it. When you hear the term used in an aquarium, it's referring to a reservoir that sits below the main display tank. Water is pumped up from the sump into the tank, and then drains via an overflow back into the sump. In a way, you can think of a sump as a something like a huge, flexible, and accessible canister filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many advantages to this kind of setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can put your heater, filtration, and other life-support equipment in the sump, rather than having them in the tank. This makes it easier to service them, and hides them from view. It's also a convenient place to dose any additives you use, or take water for water quality testing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's often effective to build the mechanical and biological filtration into the sump, because you have so much volume to work with. Sumps are typically much, much larger than any canister filter you can buy at a pet store, so even using a portion of one this way gives you a relatively huge amount of filtration. This is often why people use a sump in the first place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It increases the total volume of water in the system, which helps keep your water quality stable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because the sump is actively pumping the water in it up into the tank, any water that leaves the system is effectively draining the sump instead of the tank. This means that your tank's water level won't drop from evaporation, and it allows you to do water changes without disturbing your tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can set aside some space in the sump for animals. (You might hear people refer to this space as a &lt;code&gt;refugium&lt;/code&gt;, though people don't always mean this as a part of a sump.)  This can be a grow-out space, isolation, acclimation, etc. Bear in mind, though, that a sump is not usable as a hospital or quarantine tank, since it's part of the main system. Likewise, you can grow plants or algae in the sump. This can be done to keep nitrates down, or just as more grow-out space.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can actually have a sump supplying more than one tank, assuming you don't mind them sharing the same water parameters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sumps do have some potential risks you have to think about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the overflow is just an open drain, you'll want a screen of some kind to keep fish out of the sump...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... but you also need to keep the overflow clear of obstruction at all times. Otherwise, you'll be pumping water into the tank faster than it can drain out the overflow, and that can quickly turn into a flood if you don't catch it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to keep a minimum volume of water in the sump for the life support to operate, particularly the pump and the heaters or anything else that can't safely operate when dry. So you have to be careful when you're doing a gravel vacuum -- it's easy to lose track of how much water you've taken out, since the tank's water line doesn't drop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The sump shouldn't be filled 100% though, in case the pump stops pumping for whatever reason. It has to be able to hold the extra water that will drain out of the tank when that happens -- which probably won't be a whole lot, but remember that water will need to go &lt;em&gt;somewhere&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And generally speaking, any point in your system where two things meant to hold water come together is potentially a point that can leak. Sumps add a whole lot of these points: the overflow from the tank, any plumbing on the drain or supply, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The complexity and cost of a sump doesn't make a lot of sense with smaller tanks. I wouldn't bother with one unless I were setting up a tank so large I'd need multiple canister filters to provide adequate filtration. But in those cases, they really can be worth the effort. I've seen pre-built sumps for sale, but they're not cheap; I haven't actually done the math but I suspect most people who are at least a little handy would save money DIY'ing it -- there are designs all over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no reason you can't use a sump on a freshwater, but you'll most often see them in large saltwater setups -- salt water systems often have more life support equipment than freshwater, like protein skimmers and UV sterilizers, and it gets complicated trying to work all of that without a sump. And most home aquariums are small freshwater tanks that do fine without one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="258" LastEditDate="2014-06-08T00:46:13.870" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T00:46:13.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4398" CreationDate="2014-06-07T01:34:30.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, absolutely you should worry about your cat falling from the window.  Even if the cat is able to twist around and land on its feet, a fall from that height would cause serious injury including damage to the internal organs.  You must insure that your cat cannot accidentally fall or jump from the window, perhaps not realizing how far down the ground is.  Cats have been known to fall to their death by jumping at a bird that lands on the windowsill.  Make sure that if the window is open it has a sturdy screen that cannot be pushed out even if the cat jumps against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1451" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T01:34:30.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5902" CreationDate="2014-06-07T11:03:53.167" Score="7" ViewCount="6988" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thursday started normally:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:00 AM each of 5 upstairs bunnies getting personal grooming.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9:00 AM everyone in for nap time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10:00 AM Lyra (3 years old) is very sick, can not lift her head, call to find which rabbit vet is available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10:30 AM everyone is at a conference but one, who is out for the morning.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Videos: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKrZ9xIsdnI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyra 1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H5xX9D7hRo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyra 2&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional symptoms include head tilts to either side when she lays stretched out. Around 10:30 AM I have moved her to carrier with towels supporting her.  One pupil is dilated, her anxiety is high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10:45 AM Lyra passes away.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2:30 PM speaking to the only rabbit vet still in town.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3:30 PM in his office for a post-mortem examination. Rapid onset leaves two options: stroke or trauma.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4:00 PM X-ray is clear. Combined with video I took of the symptoms the diagnosis is a stroke. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4:45 PM at the crematorium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6:00 PM leaving the crematorium with the ashes in the urn we picked out 3 weeks ago for our geriatric bunny Baxter (11 years old) while pre-shopping.  He is still doing OK. Harmony (7 years old) is Lyra's bond mate, a bit sad but OK. As are all the other rabbits in the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday morning:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4:00 AM Ruby (3 years old) is not sleeping in her normal place on the floor at the foot of my bed. I find her hiding under the bed in her 'comfort' corner. She refuses to come when called. I get her out and up on the bed. She is moving fine, but when she lays still for several minutes her head tilts to the right side.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sdmfq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby 4:30 AM&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5:30 AM Ruby is getting worse, pronounced head tilt to the right, when laying in her 'room' next to her water bowl.  She did manage to eat some pumpkin. I put up an exercise pen to keep her from going under the bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RK18s.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby 5:30 AM&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;6:00 AM Ruby can not lift her head, very similar to Lyra, and I think &quot;not again, please&quot;. Lucille begins calling to find an available emergency rabbit vet. I begin searching the internet and on MediRabbit we find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Differentials/Head_down.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;“head-down syndrome” in a rabbit&lt;/a&gt; Nothing else similar is found. Good news are that &lt;strong&gt;all affected rabbit recovered within a week.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;8:50 AM yesterday's rabbit vet is not available for several more hours. Found another one who is available for an emergency visit. This vet has never seen a rabbit with these symptoms present. He searches the exotic veterinary forum (I can't remember the name of it). Ruby lifts her head a couple times. Seems like she might be getting better already, it must be the head down syndrome. Just to be proactive he gives her a shot of long acting &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzylpenicillin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Penicillin G&lt;/a&gt; one of the few types that is safe for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Videos: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKLTesvloiM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby 1&lt;/a&gt;, &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyWgUyTg3j4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby 2&lt;/a&gt;, &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxXBAG_6d4c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby 3&lt;/a&gt;, &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSTnyhcLH4o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby tries to eat a pellet of food&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We head home feeling much better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Noon - we are back home. We stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple more bales of hay and and some bags of wood pellet liter. One of the three downstairs bunnies is dead. Everything was fine this morning. His bond mate is fine. Something significant is going on, I post the videos online and we start calling, the primary rabbit vet in the area is contacted at the conference. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1:00 PM we are back at the office of the vet from Thursday, with the dead rabbit for a full autopsy, and Ruby for a second opinion, as &quot;&lt;em&gt;Head-down syndrome - all affected rabbits recovered within a week&lt;/em&gt;&quot; seems unlikely. He also has never seen a bunny present like this. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitozoon_cuniculi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;E. cuniculi&lt;/em&gt; (EC)&lt;/a&gt; and ear infections are ruled out. Progress is too fast for either of them. He reaches out to several nationally recognized rabbit vets, but response is not immediate. After some time, he recalls similar symptoms in geese, does some research and we have a new probable diagnosis: &lt;strong&gt;botulism&lt;/strong&gt; from the hay. This is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/info_botulism.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recognized issue with horses&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;3:30 PM we are back home, everyone else is still ok. We empty all the hay racks and put that hay aside, it will be going off to be tested. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10:00 PM everything seems stable. We are dosing everyone with Vitamin B 0.25ml per the vet from the conference. Ruby will be seeing him on Monday, for a follow up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday morning:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ruby is about the same as last night; 90% paralyzed from the middle of her back forward. She is maintaining her good bowel and bladder habits. I slept on the floor with her all night, she woke me up every hour or two to take to the litter box. If someone is not laying with her she gets scared and tries to move to much and seems like she could hurt herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday morning:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ruby was stable most of yesterday, with a veracious appetite (eating moistened critical care and pellets out a bowl), with her appetite dropping off at bed time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She woke me up just before 2 AM this morning to take her to the litter box. I left her for a while so she could poop. When I brought her back to bed her paralysis had increased significantly. Her rear legs have gone from 100% function to maybe 10-20%. She snuggled with me throughout the night giving lots of teeth chatters (bun purs), other than her mouth she has lost most of the remaining head and upper body control. Continuing Sub-Q fluids, she took a couple of bites of breakfast, unsure if this is lack of appetite, or if trying to eat is to much work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monday morning&lt;/strong&gt; (this should be the final update describing the symptoms, we seem to be stable and entering the recovery phase of the illness):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stable for 24 hours now, no new deterioration last night. Yesterday I gave 1 ml of Reglan (metoclopramide) and her appetite returned. She continues to enjoy snuggling, body paralysis seems be equal, with about 10% function at all limbs and head. Maintaining super litter box habits. We both slept much better last night, but up every couple of hours for potty breaks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her breakfast is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 tablespoon of critical care;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 tablespoon of Oxbow adult rabbit food (basic T);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 tablespoons of water;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mixed and allowed to sit for a couple minutes to form a mushy paste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats sitting in my lap (cross legged on floor) with her head draped over my thigh. I hold the bowl so she can stretch just a bit to eat and relax to get her nose out of the food or water. Wash her face with a damp wash cloth for clean up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/JnvuPldK1X4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby Breakfast Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Communicable disease possibilities:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We started with 8 rabbits living inside in a two story house. 5 upstairs as three groups (2, 2, 1) with baby gates keeping them separated by several feet, from each other. Lyra is part of one bonded pair, Ruby is the single.  Downstairs 3 rabbits in two groups (2,1). The third bunny was part of a bonded pair. For each dead rabbit there is a partner without symptoms. Items coming from the same source for all rabbits; Lettuce (purchased in grocery store), litter and hay. There are no new products in the home. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Test results:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exotic panel on Ruby June 6, 2014&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ALKP = 16 (12-16)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ALT = 92 (48-70) HIGH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AST = 132 (33-99) HIGH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CGT = 15 (50-140) LOW&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ALBUMIN = 4.8 (2.7-3.6) HIGH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;TOTAL PROTEIN = 7.2 (4.9-7.1) HIGH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GLOBULIN = 2.4 (2.4-3.3)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BLOOD UREA NITROGEN = 20 (17-24)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CREATININE = 1.0 (0.8-1.8)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CHOLESTEROL = 42 (24-65)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GLUCOSE = 56 (108-160) LOW&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CALCIUM = 14.3 (8.7-18.4)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PHOSPHATES = 2.5 (4.0-6.2) LOW&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;POTASSIUM = 4.5 (3.8-5.5)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SODIUM = 143 (132-156)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ALBUMIN/GLOBULIN RATIO = 2.0 (0.7-1.9)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;COMPLETE BLOOD COUNT not done due to clot in capillary turse (TW)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hay testing - results pending&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Necroscopy - on dead rabbit, nothing significant during exam &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pathology results:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver: No significant findings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gallbladder: Tissue Autolysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lungs: Moderate edema&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lymph nodes: Mild lymphoid hyperplasia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small intestine: Tissue Autolysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large intestine: Tissue Autolysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kindneys, heart, stomach and brain: No significant findings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Summary: the cause of death is unclear. There are no significant changes evident in many of the tissues, although the intestinal tract, gallbladder and pancreas exhibit tissue autolysis. There remains the possibility of botulism as there is no histopathologic or gross lesion in this intoxication.  No splenic tissue was evident in the sections.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;EC (&lt;em&gt;Encephalitozoon cuniculi&lt;/em&gt;) titer test on surviving rabbit were negative.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T12:23:38.837" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T12:23:38.837" Title="Why can't my rabbit lift it's head?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="4408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-07T15:16:30.263" Score="6" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407&quot;&gt;Why can&amp;#39;t my rabbit lift it&amp;#39;s head?&lt;/a&gt; suggested that botulism in hay could be problematic for some pets.  When I think of Botulism I think of poorly canned food, how could it occur in hay? What are the risks for my pet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T16:50:02.573" Title="How can botulism occur in hay and is it hazardous to my pet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4408" CreationDate="2014-06-07T16:33:31.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Botulism is an illness induced by toxins produced by the bacteria &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_botulinum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clostridium botulinum&lt;/a&gt;. The bacterial spores are present in soil and water.  When enclosed in a warm, moist, oxygen free environment the spores grow creating &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Botulinum toxin&lt;/a&gt;, this toxin can be fatal to humans and animals. The toxin works by blocking nerve impulses leading to paralysis.  When death occurs it is generally related to paralysis of breathing muscles or thrombus (stroke). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the botulism spores are present in the soil, any grown product including hay can be infected.  While the the spores are not toxic, if the spores have a good place to grow they can create the toxin.  With hay this can occur when the hay is baled at to high of a moisture content, then placed in plastic bags &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/info_botulism.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;. Additional causes of botulism in hay include; dead animals accidentally baled in the hay &lt;a href=&quot;http://animalscience.ag.utk.edu/horse/pdf/botulism_1-21-03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; or hay contaminated with bird or other feces containing the toxin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/botulism.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The toxin is a protein that can be killed (denatured) through exposure to sunlight (1-3 hours) or heat {80°C (176°F) for 20 minutes}&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/botulism.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;, even 12 hours of exposure to air can be sufficient (&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;) to destroy the toxin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Horses are the pets most sensitive to the toxin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/info_botulism.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs, cats, and pigs are comparatively resistant &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/generalized_conditions/clostridial_diseases/botulism.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mice, Guinea pigs, and monkeys are very sensitive to the the toxin, with rabbits less susceptible &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=DlfZAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA84&amp;amp;dq=botulism+rabbit&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=qDyTU4qoIISwyASnt4CgAg&amp;amp;ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbits&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Botulism: A Clinical and Experimental Study, By Ernest Charles Dickson&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-07T16:50:02.573" LastActivityDate="2014-06-07T16:50:02.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4411" CreationDate="2014-06-08T00:41:53.460" Score="8" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a geriatric bunny (11 years) who is having difficulties getting to in and out of the litter box, sometimes when he is not feeling well he will pee in his bed and it gets him all wet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabledrabbits.com/urine-scald.html&quot;&gt;Urine Scald&lt;/a&gt; can be a significant issue for disabled rabbits.  Wire bottom cages simply trade one negative scenario for another, so wire floors are not a viable option. As vegetarians rabbit poop from all but a very sick bunny consists of dry pellets so is not a significant concern if moisture in the environment is controlled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for solution(s) for house rabbits, but solutions that are not species specific are welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:23:53.513" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:23:53.513" Title="How can I keep my pet dry if they wet the bed?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4410" CreationDate="2014-06-08T01:27:18.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This solution came from Alyssa at Rabbit Wranglers.  It is extremely effective for rabbits; a microfiber/chenille bath mat.  These mats are effective at providing a soft barrier between the pet and any moisture.  An absorbent material is placed under the mat, with an moisture barrier as the lower most layer.  Alyssa uses an adult (humnan) incontinence pad.  Moisture is wicked away from the pet and absorbed by the towel or pad.  The texture of the mat is sufficient to support the weight of the average rabbit, keeping the bunny elevated above any moisture.  Rabbit dropping can be picked up from the mat throughout the day, they also shake off easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything is washed and changed once or twice a day.  The mats pictured below come in two brands, and several sizes, available at Marshals department store in our area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/svwI5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Packaging&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oTr8q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;In use&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T01:27:18.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2800" CreationDate="2014-06-08T03:31:49.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although my rabbit doesn't seem particularly troubled by heat, sometimes I place a freezer pack atop his cage. It provides a cool downdraft and dripping cool water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not like to sit or snuggle a cold object. Anything that's cold enough to stay cool to the touch on a hot day, will be either freezing after a minute's snuggle, or doesn't have enough heat capacity to last long. Once a bunny's butt has been frozen once, he won't be very inclined to sit on the same device again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1417" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T03:31:49.320" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6808" CreationDate="2014-06-08T10:23:04.680" Score="8" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are a childless couple who have pets, as with many pet parents, the pets are a primary focus of our lives. When illness or death strikes it can be emotionally devastating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emotions are somewhat subjective, and bonds between the lives of any animals (&lt;em&gt;including humans&lt;/em&gt;) very across the spectrum.  This question is specifically looking for published, peer reviewed, science; comparing the emotional bond of pet parents (no human children) to that of bonds in human to human parentage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T14:29:59.197" Title="How does the emotional bond to a pet compare to the emotional bond to a child?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="4416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5427" CreationDate="2014-06-08T15:51:33.500" Score="11" ViewCount="18022" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since moving house 8 weeks ago I've inherited a fish pond, containing around 20 fish, which is 270cm in length, 130cm wide, and 35cm deep in the middle. It uses a Hozelock Cyprio Ecopower Plus 5000 Filter, which has a maximum flow rate of 2250 L per hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kIeS7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never owned fish before, so reading the instructions on the back of the fish food the previous owners left behind it said to feed them 3 times a day, as much as they can eat in a few minutes.  I felt this was a lot, because they only manage one cup in a few minutes and talking to others it would seem to be.  So I have been feeding them once a day, usually around 6pm.  They have one cup full of this (the cup is in the picture):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3oNHw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning 5 of the fish are dead and I am concerned that there is something wrong with the pond water, pond itself, or the feeding pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least one of the fish in this picture looks swollen, or is that normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k9pvF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked in the filter and can see lots of insects that look like black maggots inside moving around (those black things on the foam):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/70vq9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could there be a problem with the filter? Should there be insects/life forms inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish that are alive don't appear to be interested in the food today (you can see it floating on top of the water in the first picture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is the pond too busy? there are quite a lot of lilly pads, and the plant towards the bottom end on the right has grown significantly recently.  Could the fish be getting trapped or stuck in one area of the pond?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behaviour wise, they seem to congregate by the water inlet, gulping at it.  And often come to the surface and just gulp, ignoring the food.  One of them is constantly swimming on its side in a shallow area, which is unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I am concerned that more will die if there is a problem with environment they are living in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize the key concerns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do one or more of the dead fish look swollen?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind of fish are they?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should the filter have life/insects in it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the filter dirty looking?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the pond overstocked?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should they be gulping at the surface?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the feeding pattern OK?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1458" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T19:25:19.133" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T19:31:03.887" Title="Why are my fish dying?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5415" CreationDate="2014-06-08T17:39:59.343" Score="6" ViewCount="3860" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for any dog to eat poisonous bugs such as scorpions, centipedes, black widows, etc? My dog eats poisonous bugs that are in our house (mainly black widows and scorpions) but I thought it might be dangerous and may be harmful but I am not really sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:57:33.993" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T19:56:55.253" Title="Is it safe for a dog to eat poisonous bugs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5414" CreationDate="2014-06-08T18:39:03.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key aspect of the answer to this question is the distinction between the words &lt;strong&gt;poisonous&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;venomous&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;poisonous&lt;/strong&gt; creature (or plant, for that matter) delivers its toxin when &lt;em&gt;ingested&lt;/em&gt;, that is, when you eat it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;venomous&lt;/strong&gt; creature delivers the toxin by &lt;em&gt;injecting&lt;/em&gt; it, usually through the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite conceivable that a venomous creature would not be poisonous due to the effect of stomach acids, as long as there were no opportunities for injection while it was being swallowed.  A scorpion's tail would remain a threat at this time, for example, but it would have to be alive still as scorpions have to choose to envenomate their prey, so if it's dead then that would not be the threat to worry about. The same is true with black widows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether they are poisonous to your dog is a separate question, but my belief is that the toxin in each case will be broken down in the dog's stomach and pose no risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-06-08T18:39:03.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5418" CreationDate="2014-06-08T21:44:54.483" Score="7" ViewCount="701" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407/why-cant-my-rabbit-lift-its-head&quot;&gt;my pet rabbit survives botulism poisoning&lt;/a&gt;, what should the recovery process look like?  I have researched a lot and either am not finding, or am not understanding the details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pet ingests the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;botulinum toxin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In 6 - 36 hours the pet starts showing signs but can be as late as 10 - 30 days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Symptoms in the pet are generally a descending paralysis, first the head or neck, then fore limbs, etc.  Nerves are damaged by the toxin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treatment involves antitoxins (&lt;em&gt;problematic&lt;/em&gt;) and/or palliative care, as the nerves will regenerate given time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recovery...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weeks to months later the pet has full or nearly full recover.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not finding anything solid about step 5, &lt;em&gt;&quot;Recovery...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the recovery descending (&lt;em&gt;head gets better first&lt;/em&gt;), reversed, or general? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there milestones in the recovery process (&lt;em&gt;i.e. when 'this' happens things only get better&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are common difficulties that must be overcome?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A peer-reviewed case study of multiple recoveries in humans and other animals would be great, but I cannot locate one and don't think one exists. The best answer will be from experience, preferable with more than one case.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:57:48.267" Title="What is the recovery profile for botulism?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5416" CreationDate="2014-06-09T03:24:33.917" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult&lt;/em&gt; for small mammals doesn't cover botulism, but it does for the canine/feline version. Being a neurotoxin, I would expect mammals would generally respond to recovery procedures largely in a similar manner, based on the effects also being similar, so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neurological recovery will generally be in reverse order of appearance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Several weeks for complete recovery as nerve damage is regenerated, however I would expect rabbits to take longer as they do not have the natural protections that dogs do that help to weaken the effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backing up the Blackwell info, which is a little thin, from &lt;em&gt;Small Animal Neurological Emergencies&lt;/em&gt; (Platt &amp;amp; Garosi, 2013):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full recovery for animals is possible if supported through the flaccid paralysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle weakness can remain for as much as year or more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Duration of the disease is usually 2-3 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effects are usually in order of muscle areas most susceptible first and recover in reverse order&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Respiratory, neck, and forelimbs tend to recover first &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your own observations of the progression of the toxin, you should be looking for the signs of the various symptoms letting up and going away, those are your milestones. From what I can tell, botulism poisoning in house pets is &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; rare in general and almost always canine. According to Blackwell, there is only one known case of feline botulism poisoning that wasn't laboratory induced. That means that there's going to be little really good information on the common difficulties as, given the potential recovery period and the possible expense associated with that, I suspect a lot of people choose to euthanize, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, there is risk around botulism from green grass that has been affecting horses and other hay/grass eating animals. It's usually soil borne, so something to be cautious of with respect to feeding rabbits (and guinea pigs for that matter) when the source is unknown or untrusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T03:24:33.917" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3223" CreationDate="2014-06-09T10:06:52.783" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I understand that the majority should be meat protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please&lt;/em&gt; don't feed just meat to your dog. Doing so will throw off the necessary calcium/phosphorous ratio, and will be missing a number of other macronutrients that dogs require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw diets can be tricky, and there's a lot of contradictory science (and plenty of bad advice) out there. However, the majority of raw feeders will tell you that the diet should approximate the contents and ratios present in a whole lean carcass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Much to Feed&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Requirements vary based on exercise levels, caloric content of the foods, and the quality of bio-available nutrients in whatever you're feeding. In general, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An approximate food consumption guide, based on raw meaty bones,&#xA;  for the average pet cat or dog is 15 to 20 percent of body weight in one&#xA;  week or 2 to 3 percent per day....Table scraps should be fed as an extra component of the diet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;mdash; &lt;em&gt;Dr. Tom Londsdale's Guide to Raw Feeding&lt;/em&gt;. Londsdale, 2006.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your 23-pound dog, that means feeding around 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound of raw food per day. You'll have to experiment a little to find out what's optimum for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Macronutrients&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;Unlocking the Ancestral Diet&lt;/em&gt; (Steve Brown, 2010) a raw diet should look something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein: 49%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat: 44%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbohydrate: 6%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sources recommend up to 30% carbohydrates, but all the raw feeders I know personally tend to fall into the low-carb camp. Your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Calcium/Phosphorous Ratios&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs require a &lt;a href=&quot;http://stevesrealfood.com/phosphorus-and-calcuim-in-your-dogs-diet/&quot;&gt;calcium/phosphorous ratio of around 1.3:1&lt;/a&gt;. In practice, unless you're feeding whole carcasses, that means you should be feeding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/bone-food-values-for-raw-feeding-dogs/&quot;&gt;around 10-25% bone matter&lt;/a&gt; on average, in addition to recreational bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I achieve this ratio by feeding items with high bone content like chicken wings (close to 50/50 bone and meat) and supplementing with offal and a small amount of pureed vegetables, but there are other ways to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Switching Diets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs need help transitioning to a raw diet if they've been living on enzymatically worthless processed foods. A good probiotic and enzyme supplement can help; I think highly of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wysong.net/products/addlife-dog-cat-supplement.php&quot;&gt;Wysong AddLife&lt;/a&gt; as a one-stop supplement. I've also used NWC Total-Zymes to boost digestion with older dogs, and make sure to feed plenty of kefir or yogurt whenever a dog's diet is changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw diets are great for many dogs. I've been feeding both pets and working dogs on a raw diet for more than 10 years with great success. However, there's no substitute for doing your own research. There are a number of great books on raw diets; searching for &quot;raw meaty bones,&quot; or &quot;barf diet&quot; on Amazon will turn up quite a few good ones. The classics include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Barf Diet (Raw Feeding for Dogs and Cats Using Evolutionary Principles)&lt;/em&gt;. Ian Billinghurst, 2001.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health&lt;/em&gt;. Tom Lonsdale, 2001.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are a useful places to start, and will at least give you a baseline for evaluating other books on the subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T10:06:52.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4371" CreationDate="2014-06-09T18:16:11.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used desensitization to introduce a 9 month old to my 5 year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats rely heavily on their sense of smell and so this takes the form of progressive introduction through &quot;site swapping&quot; allowing them both to get used to the other's smell while not letting them directly interact. After the new cat got used to being in the smaller room, I would open and close different parts of the home to allow  the new cat to explore and the older cat to smell the new cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another recommendation is to feed them on opposite sides of a door so that they get positive reinforcement. You want to gradually move the plates closer together over time, they can hear and smell each other so they know the other is there. Another key is to make sure all the animals are getting attention and played with. The play is important to get any aggression out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next stage was to put in a screen door so that they could see and smell each other but not fight. Then they were introduced without the door for progressively longer periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not always a smooth process and the amount of time used for each stage depends on the age and sex of the cat. The general recommendation is to go about a week through a solid door, a week site swapping, a week with a screen. It depends on what you notice in your particular cats. If things start to get heated, go a step back and start again (for example, I originally skipped the screen door, but I had to go back and install it and it made a world of difference).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2461" LastActivityDate="2014-06-09T18:16:11.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4407" CreationDate="2014-06-09T20:48:15.037" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your rabbits are infected with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/tilt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Encephalitozoon cuniculi or Baylisascaris procyonis.&lt;/a&gt;  Generally, once a rabbit shows signs, it's too late to save them from it, though I am not saying you should not try.  Anecdotally from talking with other breeders, the most common culprit seems to be hay that has either been rained on or been exposed to other moldy hay.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess, based on the fact that 3 of your rabbits got it at the same time, they have the fungal form.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hoppinherdofhares.com/wryneck.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site has a treatment regimen&lt;/a&gt; that I use when my rabbits are exposed to a rabbit with wry neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the course of Ivomec is complete, your rabbit's gut is going to be weak and they will be more susceptible to other problems.  For this reason you need to give them the rabbit equivalent of bed rest.  Put them in their cage and close it up.  Once the Ivomec is done, probiotics should be introduced for the next 3 or 4 days.  There are some vendors who sell probiotic pastes you can give, but I have found that plain yogurt &lt;strong&gt;with active cultures&lt;/strong&gt; works just as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can not stress this enough: if 3 of your rabbits were infected, chances are the rest of your rabbits have been too.  You should treat them proactively just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-06-12T15:58:51.330" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T15:58:51.330" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2014-06-10T02:06:09.217" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Norwegian Forest Cat who often gets mats and into plenty of messes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I second the answers above for the most mild methods for helping your cat gently get cleaned.  If you have an issue where the poop is not coming out by hand, however, you may want to consider a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do the following to clean it up when it's too much for us to &quot;wait out&quot; the self-cleaning process.  (NOTE: I am not a professional!  The following steps are what I do and may not be best for your cat!  Adopt or change these steps as needed for your situation!)*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prepare yourself with the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baby shampoo (we use Johnson's tear-free)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large plastic cup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large bathroom towel (we have one dedicated for cat bath use - they will poke holes/etc. so I recommend a large, cheap towel you are not attached to)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: hand towel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: blow drier with cool setting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: Two people - a helper can make this process much easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: Hair brush (depends on cat hair type/cat grooming preference)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: Thick leather gloves (if you have an exceptionally difficult cat/require protection... but in that case, it may be better to seek out a groomer or vet for assistance rather than getting clawed up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Steps for a Hopefully Successful Bath&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the tub filled with room temperature warm, up to about 1-2 inches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add baby shampoo to the water and gets some bubbles going.  I also make sure to have a large plastic cup nearby and a spare hand towel depending on the nature of the mess.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We then get the cat, bring him into the bathroom, and ensure the door is closed after us to communicate that escape is not an option - for us, making it clear that there are no escape options helps him accept that it's bath time and calm down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly lower the cat into the tub, holding firmly by the scruff if he is still attempting an escape, and use the large plastic cup to cover the cat with soapy water.  It helps to do this as slowly and calmly as possible.  You'll learn what makes sense for your cat the more you do it.  Also, use the hand towel to get any particularly funky areas.  I try to talk to the cat as calming as possible throughout - it seems to be more helpful the more you know each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, run the water a tiny bit more to fill the cup with non-soapy water for a rinse.  If the running water is an issue/causes a freak out, grab a pitcher and fill it with room temperature water from another room (kitchen, other bathroom) and bring it back in for the rinse.  Our cats occasionally freak out about this but it's not an issue now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the cat is thoroughly rinsed, pick up the cat and place it on the large towel.  We usually have the towel on our lap while sitting on the toilet with the seat down.  Once the cat is placed (we have to grab by the scruff of the neck usually) from the bath to the lap with towel, immediately take the towel and &quot;burrito&quot; the cat.  Take up both sides of the towel and wrap loosely around the sides of the cat.  This helps the cat wiggle less as you massage the towel around to help with the drying process.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: We use a blow dryer on the lowest, coolest setting to also help with drying the cat's hair.  We make sure to cover the cat's ears as much as possible so the sound is not upsetting/damaging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the cat is fairly dry (not soaking wet, still moist is fine), we let the cat down in the bathroom to shake off more excess water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optional: At this point, you could brush your cat's hair if needed.  We never do as our cat prefers to pick up the rest of the grooming process from here, but your situation may be different.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, we typically release the cat from the bathroom so he can chill out in another part of the house without us.  He usually goes off to a spot to further dry off/complete the grooming process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope your rescues kitties calm down and get into some healthy self cleaning habits.  Hopefully, time and patience will yield happy, clean cats before you know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="891" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T02:06:09.217" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5430" CreationDate="2014-06-10T03:46:28.427" Score="8" ViewCount="8676" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is filtered water (Brita filters, etc.) healthy for dogs? If so, what are the risks? I know that some owners give their dogs unfiltered water, e.g. from the sink. I was also going to give my dog some filtered water but wasn't sure if it was safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-06-23T02:03:52.920" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T23:34:29.127" Title="Is filtered water healthy for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2014-06-10T11:25:25.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that you want to avoid a bath and that this is a rescue cat who doesn't know or trust you yet, I'd suggest the &quot;little at a time&quot; method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how nasty the poop is, you might want gloves for this (or simply prepare ample soap and water for yourself and your grooming tools afterwards), some brushes and sharp clippers. Your main goal is to get the poop out as quickly as you can, so it's not so much of an issue if the cat's fur looks a bit odd for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by petting the cat, then move to brushing. She'll probably be fine with the petting, and may enjoy the brushing. When the brush hits the parts of her fur that are matted with poop, you may be able to gently brush the worst of it out. If she's still fine with you, use the snips to cut out anything you can't brush out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing here is that as soon as she starts to show discomfort with the treatment, let her go - it's more work for you, but she'll come to trust you more quickly this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she doesn't know you well yet, you probably want multiple sessions with her, first to get the poop out, and also to get to know her and help her to trust you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answers to this question may also help: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/875/how-can-i-safely-trim-matted-cat-fur&quot;&gt;How can I safely trim matted cat fur?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T11:25:25.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4416" CreationDate="2014-06-10T11:58:24.880" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like a form of Dropsy. Dropsy is a generic term for edema in fish often caused by bacterial infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish get sick for all kinds of reasons, stress, oxygen level, water quality, infection and more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this case it sounds like you have bad water with some bug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to use Potassium Permanganate in tanks where fish are showing signs of illness. It has disinfectant properties. (See link)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Potassium_permanganate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Potassium_permanganate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do is move an ill-looking fish into a quarantine tank (with the same pond water) and treat it with Potassium Permanganate, slowly (a small pinch at a time). Too much will also harm it. Check for any improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also check the pH of the water. Certain pH levels are and temperatures make for favourable environments for bacteria to flourish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do find that the Potassium Permanganate does help- drain about half the pond's water, treat it, and then introduce fresh water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On feeding the fish too much: I was taught that fish will eat themselves to death. So the measure that I was taught as a kid was as much the fish can eat in 1 minute. Or, if you feed regularly- give as much as the fish's eye at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2463" LastEditorUserId="2463" LastEditDate="2015-08-26T13:47:58.043" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T13:47:58.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4416" CreationDate="2014-06-10T12:51:07.840" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;After seeking advice I performed an ammonia test on the pond water and it came back at 8 ppm, which is the highest reading on the chart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the water is poisonous to the fish. It turns out that I have been feeding them WAY too much - 1 cup per day, when they should have around a tablespoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I performed a 60% water change yesterday, and the ammonia level is at 6 ppm this morning. I will do a 75% water change tonight as well and see how things settle down after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also been advised to not feed them for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:  Did another water change (75%) and also removed the lily plant, which turned out to be nearly 7ft (210 cm) long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish now have a lot more room and the ammonia level has dropped to somewhere between 4 and 6 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I shall repeat this process every other day until I see acceptable ammonia levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: Did a full water change, and put the fish in a large kids pool temporarily.  I used the pond water in the temporary pool, and they didn't seem too stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a lot of sediment in the bottom of the pond, and stones too.  Removed all these but did not scrub the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also carefully cleaned the filter foam in the pond water (old); this removed the dirt and sediment, but didn't destroy the good bacteria (which need to be retained).  I also cleaned out the bottom of the filter box, and removed the thick brown smelly gloop that was in there.  The final job was to dismantle the 'in pond' filter, clean it, and put it back together again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This took around 3 hours, and I added 10 buckets (130 litres) of the old pond water back in, so the shock of the new water wasn't too much.  The pond holds around 1000 litres in all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 days later the water is very clear, the filter works well and ammonia levels are down to 1 ppm, which is a lot better than 8 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1458" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T19:31:03.887" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T19:31:03.887" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4388" CreationDate="2014-06-10T12:55:37.187" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had experience with snoring dogs. When I exercise my dogs all day, especially right before bed, they tend to be so outrageously tired that they snore all night (but not too loudly that it keeps me up). My advice is to not exercise him extensively before bed, give him like an hour or so of rest. This way, when he sleeps, he isn't as tired when it is bed time. Then, hopefully, when he rests, he won't snore.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is on the heavier side, it could be due to excess tissue in their airway. One piece of advice given is to exercise them regularly, which will reduce weight and snoring. Check out this website: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/ways-stop-dog-snoring.html#b&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;6 ways to stop dog snoring&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snoring could also be caused by a cold or allergens. If it is allergens, make sure the bedding he sleeps on is clean and dust free. It may also just be the breed. Some breeds are more susceptible to snoring (like pugs or Boston terriers). In which case, it may be difficult to stop them from snoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PART 2 (ADDED):&#xA;Ok, so I researched more on Boston Terriers and their snoring habits. It is due to their breed and you can't do much about it. Check out this website: &lt;a href=&quot;http://bostonterrierville.com/reduce-snoring-in-boston-terriers/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reduce Snoring&lt;/a&gt;. My advice after looking through this and other websites, is to change the position of how the dog sleeps. If the dog is laying on their back, then their snoring will be more noticeable. A recommendation is to get a round dog bed so they sleep in a ball -- which reduces snoring as there is less pressure on their throat in the night. However, I know you want the dog to sleep in the room with you, so I would make the dog move positions if the snoring is bothering you and attempt to train him to sleep on his side or stomach, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2464" LastEditorUserId="2464" LastEditDate="2014-06-11T14:24:15.817" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T14:24:15.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5424" CreationDate="2014-06-10T15:25:53.797" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live, I don't know that I would consider it necessary to filter water for pets, however people have expressed concerns with respect to many municipal water supplies and their chemical treatment. The reason I mention this is that there have been concerns expressed about normal tap water for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with respect to filtering, there's no reason for this to pose any risk to your dog (or cat for that matter) and there's some opinion that it's better. We use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfountain.com/&quot;&gt;Drinkwell Fountains&lt;/a&gt; for our cats (we're on a well system) and these are designed for both cats and dogs, by a Veterinarian, and would see no reason that they would need to be different in this respect. They use a charcoal based filter system very similar to what you'd find in a Brita system and there's no evidence I've seen that this poses a risk to either animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T15:25:53.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3316" CreationDate="2014-06-10T19:39:06.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons why a snake such as a corn snake might exhibit this sort of behaviour. Without more specific information about your particular case&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; it's impossible to say which could apply to your snake, but they're all worth checking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It could have a respiratory infection (RI). You say it doesn't show signs of being ill, but look closely for signs of bubbles coming out of its nose. If this is the case then it needs medical attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It could have mites. These can be really hard to see, but the main behaviour I would expect would be for it to sit in its water bowl for hours on end. In the UK, Callingtons is possibly the most widely-available good quality brand for dealing with them if that's the case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It could be the start of a shedding process, and it's trying to loosen the skin around its face to start unpeeling. This should resolve itself in the normal way within a week or possibly two, though you should monitor the humidity levels and keep them higher than normal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might be because it's hungry so is hunting. Again, you've not said enough for us to know whether this might apply in your case, but it's a possibility. Or perhaps it's not hungry as such but wants variety in its diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might not be hungry but it might still be able to smell something &quot;interesting&quot; (perhaps you) and want to get closer to investigate. Corns are particularly good with their sense of smell, so that's a possibility to work on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might be trying to escape. This would be more likely if it was unhappy in its enclosure, either because the heat was too high or too low, or the humidity was wrong, or it didn't have anywhere to feel secure such as a hide, or the water bowl is dirty, or in the wrong place, or it doesn't like the substrate ... the list just goes on. Look closely at the snake's environment&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;from the snake's perspective&lt;/em&gt; and see if any could be changed safely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or it could be that it's just an inquisitive snake, and wants to know what's outside. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Basic husbandry checklist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;enough space to roam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;secure place/places to hide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;light/dark at appropriate times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;temperature range (cool -&gt; warm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;humidity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;substrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cleanliness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;water supply&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;appropriate, regular handling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T19:39:06.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="625" CreationDate="2014-06-10T23:54:36.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The book I prefer is the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.elsevier.com/books/manual-of-clinical-behavioral-medicine-for-dogs-and-cats/overall/978-0-323-00890-7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine For Dogs and Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Karen L. Overall. It covers a large range of behavioral issues for both species, describes what is normal both for interacting with other animals and humans, documents abnormal/undesirable behavior and provides information and advice on correcting, and finally, provides worksheets to help narrow down issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I find it reliable and clear with pictures, charts, and decent structure. It could probably do with a slightly better layout, but it's not too bad and there is plenty of references and citations to studies and further sources of reading. So, generally, I like it. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-10T23:54:36.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2346" CreationDate="2014-06-11T00:33:06.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your specific case is no. The longer answer is that there are board certified veterinary specialists, covering a rather wide swath of specialties, but not the specific one you mentioned (unless you're counting zoo and wildlife animals as a reasonable proximity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetcontact.com/en/vet.php?k=91&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of recognized veterinary specialties&lt;/a&gt; and their designations for Europe and the United States on VetContact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T00:33:06.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2800" CreationDate="2014-06-11T02:59:07.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is sensitive to heat, and sometimes I will wrap an ice pack up in a thin towel, and hold it against her ears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since a rabbit's ears are used to cool them off, this helps the process speed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="2467" LastEditDate="2014-06-11T03:05:22.667" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T03:05:22.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4397" CreationDate="2014-06-11T12:50:32.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growth rate and how large they get depends on they environment and the genus. Many can grow to about 1&quot; in six months or so, then continue growing from there. It is common for a lot of the baby snails to not last the long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T12:50:32.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3270" CreationDate="2014-06-11T17:31:13.667" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, as a side note, I'm really sorry this happened. That's really sad. The dog needs to be trained to settle down and socialize with other animals that may not be as strong or big as them. I'm sure the big dog was just trying to play with the kitten, and played too roughly for the kitten. It may be the same process as like training a dog not to chase prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, a labrador and terrier. I also have chickens and I had to train the dogs not to eat the chickens. Also around the same time that I got the chickens, I got a cat. So the process of training my dogs to learn the boundaries of playing, was long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For future reference, whenever the dogs are around an animal that it smaller than them, keep them on a leash. I know that keeping dogs on a leash while socializing is not recommended or helpful for them, but you need to be able to control them around an animal that is not as strong as them, such as a kitten. When the dog goes to make a big jolt or is thinking about it, tug on the leash and pull him back. This is a repetitive process and can be frustrating, but continue to pull him back saying &quot;gentle&quot; until they calm down around these small animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2464" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-11T18:50:59.707" LastActivityDate="2014-06-11T18:50:59.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2014-06-11T22:57:59.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always leave Bear (7 months old, now)  with a Kong when I leave for the day. I use either cream cheese or peanut butter to plug the small end, then I put a hunk of something really delicious (chicken or liver) in through the wide end, followed by as much kibble as it will hold. And then I fill the wider hole with cream cheese or peanut butter, too. I fill a few at once and keep them in the freezer. I give it to him frozen and he seems to eat it before it gets goober-y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I make him sit in his crate to receive it, but then we don't close the crate. He's loose in the apartment while we're out and I usually find the kong somewhere in the living room, so I know he plays with it, but he doesn't leave a mess. I think the hard-to-reach chicken keeps him focused on eating until it is empty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2014-06-13T13:42:28.277" LastActivityDate="2014-06-13T13:42:28.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5444" CreationDate="2014-06-12T10:04:41.373" Score="9" ViewCount="1028" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent answer included feeding dairy products to a dog, in the answer is was Cream Cheese, but it does bring up the whole question of if dairy products are appropriate for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally am 'lactose intolerant' so I know not all adult mammals are able to take dairy products as a regular part of their diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to feed dogs dairy products? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-06-13T21:48:26.457" Title="Is it OK to feed dogs dairy products?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5450" CreationDate="2014-06-12T12:05:56.950" Score="10" ViewCount="20730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had two clownfish for 6 - 8 months, one orange/white and one black/white.  Now I'm trying to add more, but meeting heavy resistance.  I realize that you can't mix species but I always thought mine were Ocellaris (the least aggressive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought two ocellaris and put them in and the original two were super aggressive towards them.  So I thought maybe I was mistaken about what I had (Can a black/white clownfish even be a Percula?) Here are some pics if you could correct me:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VAJQp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Both clownfish&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wqr3Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black/white clownfish&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, so I removed the two Ocellaris and tried a (smaller) Percula.  In both cases I added them overnight and over the past two days I've had it hang out in a breeder box right where in the spot they &quot;host&quot;; trying to force them to get acquainted.  The perculas fared better but they still haven't let up.  Do I need to get a pair of smaller clowns?  A pair of larger clowns that aren't as vulnerable or even a few more clownfish all at once?  Maybe be patient for a &lt;strong&gt;week&lt;/strong&gt; or two with the breeder net?  Or do I have to give up and get rid of these clowns and start over??  I'm running out of ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2014-11-10T17:32:36.727" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T19:04:38.563" Title="How To Introduce Additional Clownfish" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5442" CreationDate="2014-06-12T13:26:11.360" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It probably comes as a surprise to most people, but many adult dogs and cats are actually lactose intolerant as well. While they may enjoy the taste of dairy, it's not a normal part of either diet and can lead to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flatulence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't take much either, according to Blackwell, 1.5 grams per kilogram of lactose per day can cause these symptoms and, for reference, 1 cup of milk has about 11 grams of lactose in it. So, unless there's a specific need to feed them dairy (e.g. illness recovery on recommendation of a vet), I would probably avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T13:26:11.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5445" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-06-12T16:45:11.817" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-12T16:45:11.817" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T16:45:11.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5446" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-06-12T16:45:11.817" Score="0" Body="Bonding is the about the relationship between two or more lives.  Often referring to a tight bond as in &quot;A Bonded Pair&quot;.   " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-12T16:45:11.817" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T16:45:11.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5455" CreationDate="2014-06-12T16:55:14.753" Score="7" ViewCount="2558" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to go away on holiday for a couple of weeks. Should I look at putting my cat (10 year old regular moggie) into a cattery for the period, or should I look at getting a neighbour to come in each day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying (and so far failing) to weigh up the pros and cons in terms of stress for the cat, and try to decide whether it'll be more stressful being in the normal house but with a stranger feeding her and also not being allowed out at all, or being away in an unfamiliar environment with strange smells and other cats around but safe in the knowledge that she'll get good care more than just once or twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2015-03-22T18:41:52.977" Title="Should I put my cat into a cattery while I go away on holiday?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5451" CreationDate="2014-06-12T18:33:20.393" Score="14" ViewCount="20385" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just received notice that my apartment is getting &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bug-bombed&lt;/a&gt; this weekend. I'll have to move all my animals out of the apartment for the day while the gas dissipates, but my fish are in a 55 gallon (around 210 L) tank that won't fit in my car, and is really just too big to move just for a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to move the fish into a smaller tank, hopefully they'll be fine overstocked for a day. What I don't want to happen is for me to move them back into the bigger tank, only to die from the chemicals from the bug-bombing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make sure that the tank is safe for my fish after the bug-bomb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on putting plastic over the top, that should help keep chemicals from going into the tank, and then doing a heavy water change before I put the fish back into the big tank. Is it too risky to assume that the tank is safe/should take the tank apart and thoroughly clean it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T23:04:01.120" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T22:05:17.727" Title="How do I make sure my fish tank is safe after my apartment has been fumigated?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5511" CreationDate="2014-06-12T18:39:22.860" Score="10" ViewCount="2096" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just received notice that my apartment is getting &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogger&quot;&gt;bug-bombed&lt;/a&gt; this weekend. I'm planning on moving my bearded dragon to a smaller terrarium so that it's easier to move him out for the day, but I don't want to bring him back at the end of the day and place him in his old terrarium that's been in the apartment while it was being bug-bombed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on putting some plastic over it. Is that enough to know that the tank is safe for me to put him in again? He licks things in his tank quite often, so I don't want him ingesting any of the poison. Would scrubbing the tank with soap and water be enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I make sure the tank is safe after the bug-bomb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-12T18:57:13.430" LastActivityDate="2020-03-01T08:23:01.323" Title="How can I make sure my Bearded Dragon's terrarium is safe after my apartment has been fumigated?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5443" CreationDate="2014-06-12T20:30:24.507" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The black one is an Ocellaris and is typically referred to as a Darwin as they're originally from a specific area in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely you will not be able to keep more than a pair in the tank unless it's a huge tank. Clownfish are typically very aggressive towards conspecifics, they are a type of damsel, to the point where they will pester them to death, unless they are all juveniles or you just have a pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure how large your tank is, but even if you start with juveniles, they will get aggressive once they mature. You could conceivable get away with 2 pairs or a pair and a 3rd clownfish if the tank is large, and the pair establishes their territory on one end of the tank and not in the middle of it. A pair will likely claim 3 - 4 ft of territory in all directions, so you're typically looking at 120 gallon (6 ft tanks) or larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T20:30:24.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5448" CreationDate="2014-06-12T20:35:52.427" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tough one, because you haven't been given a lot of time. Most likely, the bug bombs will be using some combination of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/reevaluation/pyrethroids-pyrethrins.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pyrethrins or pyrhethroids&lt;/a&gt;, which are some of the most common insecticides around. Unfortunately, these are also toxic to fish, so you're right to take action to protect them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, your landlord would have given you a bit more warning about this. If nothing else, you have a right to know what's being sprayed around your apartment, in case you have any allergies, asthma, or other conditions that might be sensitive to the insecticides. Also, if this fogger is their only plan of attack against cockroaches, don't expect it to solve the problem for very long. But this is a digression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plus side is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/PHS/PHS.asp?id=785&amp;amp;tid=153#bookmark02&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these do break down in the environment&lt;/a&gt; after a day or two, primarily I believe from exposure to ultraviolet light. So if I were in your shoes, I think I would do something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the fish, the food, and any supplies that come in contact with the tank water (nets, buckets, etc.) out of the apartment. Keep them there for at least two days, preferably three or four. Really, I'd move anything fish-related that time and space allows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On a 55, I assume you have a pretty hefty biofilter, probably a canister? Move that out of the apartment as well, and hook it up to the temporary tank where you're housing your fish. This will help keep their water quality in check, since it's a smaller system, but it'll also keep your biofilter healthy and free from contamination. (I don't think the pesticide would hurt the bacteria, but it's one less thing to worry about.) Do this even if the holding tank already has an established biofilter -- nitrifying bacteria need to eat too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd turn off any internal pumps or airstones you might still have in the tank, and fill it as high as possible. I think the fogger works by small aerosolized droplets of insecticide that come in contact with the infesting bugs, but I'd still try to minimize gas exchange while the chemicals and fumes are in the air. I don't think it makes sense to drain the tank first, since you'd increase the surface area potentially exposed to pesticides.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cover the tank tightly with saran wrap, so there are no air gaps. That clingy stuff would probably be good to use. Then cover the whole tank with a water-tight tarp -- plastic, not waterproof canvas or anything porous -- that's long enough to reach the floor with a decent 'skirt' around the base. Flatten the skirt and weigh it down all around if you can. I'm picturing sandbags, but whatever's practical on such short notice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unplug the heater, lights, etc. The only thing I'd leave running would be the biofilter, if you had to leave it on the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, remember your fish are in a very crowded holding tank. Feed them very lightly every other day, and if you weren't able to move the biofilter with them, pay very close attention to the water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, anything else that might ever go in the tank should be either under the tarp, or ideally, out of the apartment with your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once it's safe for you to return to your apartment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave the tank covered until the apartment has completely aired out. I honestly have no idea how much of the insecticide will stay in the air after a treatment. If possible, try to get a fan blowing air from outside the building directly onto the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After removing the tarp, do a massive water change -- 100% if possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;According to Wikipedia, pyrethrins are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;broken down by strong acids&lt;/a&gt;, so you I would wipe down the tank glass and lid with white vinegar, and then with clean water. Some mild dish soap would probably work as well, but be extremely careful not to get any in the tank. If you have any fish tools you think may have been exposed, I'd soak them in white vinegar as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have another filter available, load it up with activated carbon, which should be pretty effective at removing trace organic pesticides from the water. I recently saw some small relatively cheap internal filters at my local pet chain that would work well for this, if you don't have anything else on hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let it run like this for a day or two is possible. It wouldn't hurt to do another 50% water change after a day or two, but it might not be necessary either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, I think you're ready to move the fish and biofilter back in. I hate to say it, but if you have one or two fish you're not quite as emotionally attached to, I'd move that one back in first and see how it does. If it still looks healthy after a day, move the the rest in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never gone through this process before, so these steps are just what sounds good to me. It might be overkill, it might not be nearly enough -- I really don't know from experience. It sounds like a lot of hassle and risk, but I think it's doable. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T22:05:17.727" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T22:05:17.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2778" CreationDate="2014-06-12T23:00:27.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The type of dog and coat depends on the type of brush that you should use. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=248&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dog grooming site&lt;/a&gt; has good information on the types of brushes to use for the type of dogs. From my own experience, when my lab was between the ages of 2 months to 18 months, I was told by his vet to use a rubber brush or a soft brush, like so:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UA1Im.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, when he is older than 18 months I have been using a brush similar to an undercoat shedding rake. Honestly, the type of dog and type of fur dictates what type of brush you use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2464" LastActivityDate="2014-06-12T23:00:27.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5462" CreationDate="2014-06-13T03:46:25.297" Score="2" ViewCount="8587" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can a corn snake see everything? It seems that my corn snake acts like he can actually see me. If I move somewhere in the room he will look right at the direction I am at. I mean snakes like to do things in the night but if corn snakes or any snake can't see then how are they able to kill their prey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T03:57:29.453" Title="Can corn snakes see everything?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2014-06-13T06:49:04.400" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't tell you what to do, I've done both and what I do depends on a lot on what is currently going on in the home as well as my cats' personalities. This is a list of the questions I go through when considering the best situation for my pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the Health of My Cat?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Generally, any cat who is ill (with either an acute or chronic condition) should be housed where they will be observed 24 hours/day (a cattery). Even a chronic condition that is well controlled while you are home can quickly deteriorate (especially if the cat is stressed over your absence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Well Does My Cat Accept New Situations?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If your cat is upset by any travel or new situations (for example, Hunter HATES going outside with a harness because outside is unfamiliar), then they are probably better off staying at home with a caretaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Well Does My Cat Know the Caretaker (and Vice Versa)&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If your potential caretaker (neighbor, family member, paid sitter) knows your cat well, then you may feel more comfortable leaving your cat at home (especially if the caretaker is familiar with cats). The caretaker will be more likely (than a stranger) to notice a change in personality of your cat that could be indicative of a problem. A cat who is comfortable with the caretaker will be more likely to socialize with the caretaker, so the caretaker can ensure that the cat is okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These aren't hard and fast guidelines. For example, I had a cat who was finishing an antibiotic for a respiratory infection but decided to hire a professional pet sitter since everyone would be more comfortable at home. We had hired her for several previous trips, so she knew everyone, and she was a veterinarian technician (and had 6 cats of her own) so I felt confident that if something happened, she would see the problem and know the best thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On another trip, one of the cats was sick so I felt she needed to be boarded. She HATES new situations (they terrify her), so we boarded her with her best friend to ease the stress (and her buddy was super easy and didn't mind anything).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main question to ask yourself is &lt;strong&gt;If there is a problem, will my cat be cared for?&lt;/strong&gt; and make sure that you leave your cat in the best situation to get the care they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-13T06:49:04.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5442" CreationDate="2014-06-13T13:57:47.307" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your dog. Some dogs are lactose intolerant, but loads of trainers suggest cheeses as high value training treats: The folks at &lt;a href=&quot;http://fearfuldogs.com/how-to-train-a-fearful-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fearfuldogs.com&lt;/a&gt; suggest a few cheese options. A local trainer who we hired -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://brooklynpup.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Brooklyn Pup&lt;/a&gt; -- gave him bits of cheese as rewards. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_7/features/Home-Prepared-Dog-Food-Nutritional-Information_20568-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whole dog journal&lt;/a&gt; suggests cottage and ricotta cheese in their recipes (they caution against high fat cheeses but suggest adding fats further down in the recipe so ...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a dog as a kid who we definitely had to keep away from any cheeses. If he got his hands on basically anything, he'd eat it, cheese included, and his lactose intolerance ranged from flatulence (really bad flatulence) with small amounts (a stolen sandwich) to outright diarrhea with larger amounts (he got a hold of a block of cheese once). Our current dog, 7mos old shepherd-husky-whatever mix (a rescue of unknown provenance), is bonkers for cheese. He loves it. I don't give him a ton, but he gets up to 2T /day between his kong and occasional rewards and he doesn't have gas problems. I don't see any difference between days when he gets cream cheese in his kong and days when he gets peanut butter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And my mother-in-law uses string cheese as a training reward with her golden retriever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2014-06-13T21:48:26.457" LastActivityDate="2014-06-13T21:48:26.457" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-13T14:12:19.347" Score="9" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a puppy (10 months old at the time, now 6 months) and he is showing survival instincts toward my other dog (3 and a half years).  They play well together and he's full of great energy, but when it comes to eating or interaction with me and my wife, things are a bit different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He eats food quickly and doesn't leave his bowl until he's done.  I'd like to try and break him of this quick eating habit.  He eats 3 times a day, about a cup and a quarter each time.  I tried hand feeding, but he can't eat it fast enough.  I assume he's just being a puppy, but I figured I'd get some opinions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another part of my question is trying to get him to approach people without nipping and mouthing them.  He has all of his teeth, so the teething stage is pretty much over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2475" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T20:12:51.187" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T20:12:51.187" Title="How can I break a recently stray puppy of eating habits and defense mechanisms?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5457" CreationDate="2014-06-13T16:10:16.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some dogs will never really get over the scarfing down food thing ... which is fine IMO, and doesn't cause anybody any harm. Feeding large meaty bones in my experience teach dogs to chew a bit more.  When all they eat is kibble, they often eat as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mouthing can be handled with normal corrective behaviors, such as a firm &quot;NO&quot; when he nips, or holding the mouth closed when he nips. Sometimes this is playful, other times the dog is trying to assert dominance. Judging by the age of the dog, and the fact that you already have an adult dog, he is probably being playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you could describe the survival instincts a bit more, we might be able to offer some insight on that problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T03:16:45.027" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T03:16:45.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5447" CreationDate="2014-06-14T01:55:38.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that cats much prefer pet sitting (all other things being equal).  Cats are territory based and assume their food and well being are derived from their environment (much like you might associate the income from your job with your well being).  If the neighbor is as caring as those at the &quot;cattery&quot; your cat will be much happier being visited at home.  I have no idea the quality of your neighbor (how responsible, how much that person likes cats...) or the cattery.  Catteries are also excellent places for cats to pick up some illness....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never boarded any of my cats, but it depends on the quality of the two situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T01:55:38.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-14T02:51:30.667" Score="6" ViewCount="4972" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five gallon tank with a heater/bubbler/filter/light, normally with rainbow gravel in the bottom. (I am not sure how much that matters, but I figure more information is always better!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to put some Neon Tetras in it, because I think they are awesome. Is that something I can do, or would they be super sad in a tank that small? If I can do it, how many could I put in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T20:14:09.767" Title="How much room do Neon Tetras need?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5454" CreationDate="2014-06-14T03:57:29.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eyesight in corns, in common with that of many snakes, is considerably less acute than in humans. There are two primary aspects to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The snake's eyes do not have lids like ours, so do not get cleaned other than when the snake sheds its skin (the shed skin will include eye caps). This means that they have to be hardier and less prone to damage from abrasion in order to remain useful for several weeks, even when subjected to potentially harsh treatment when burrowing. This contrasts with our eyes, which are soft, and which get cleaned several times a minute, and which have therefore been able to evolve to give sharper, clearer sight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The light sensitivity in humans comes from the combination of rods and cones, which gives us the ability to discern the range we call &quot;visible light&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's article on colour vision&lt;/a&gt; gives greater detail on this, but it is essentially the cones which give us colour vision, rods being more useful in low light. Snakes, on the other hand, have sensitivity to a different range: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/23/7519.long&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article on Serpent Sight, published in the Journal of Neuroscience&lt;/a&gt; shows how they are sensitive to ultraviolet light as well as to &quot;mid-range&quot; visible light. They do not have sensitivity across the whole spectrum of visible (to human) light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some snakes, particularly vipers and boids/pythons, have heat pits which are sensitive to infra-red, but corns do not have this.  Corn snakes are, however, particularly sensitive to scent, so you might be observing behaviour in your snake which is a combination of initial interest on account of your scent and then &quot;tracking&quot; you by watching where the movement is occurring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T03:57:29.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-14T09:08:14.567" Score="10" ViewCount="5473" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was just attacked by two pit bulls, and it's badly injured as you might suspect from such an  attack, but there is one wound in particular that I do not know how to handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the top of the head, near the neck, there's a bone-deep gash 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide (I'm pretty sure I see the bone clearly through the wound &lt;strong&gt;-- After consulting a veterinarian I found that this is not actually the bone, but the thin tissue /membrane that covers it. --&lt;/strong&gt; ). It's such a wide open cut, I'm not sure how to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've treated the injuries with veterinarian-supplied spray for wounds, but there is no after-hours clinic anywhere near here, so I'll have to wait until 8 AM to bring the dog to be stitched up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's miserable but eating and drinking and she's near a heater, with food and water close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there anything I should do for this severe wound that I have not already done?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2477" LastEditorDisplayName="user2477" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T19:06:21.507" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T19:06:21.507" Title="How should I treat an open head wound on my dog until veterinary care is available?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5463" CreationDate="2014-06-14T09:40:00.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;: I know little about dogs in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First aid for cats and dogs is not dissimilar to first aid for humans. There will be differences in the specifics such as bandages and medicines, but in the immediate term you need to do the same things. In your instance the primary risks are of bleeding and shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of what your animal needs is therefore:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;safety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the feeling of security&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds as though you've addressed the first by removing your dog from the danger, ensuring that any bleeding has been managed, the risk of infection has been addressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second is covered by the facts that you have her somewhere quiet, safe and warm, you're with her, and food and water are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick google for &quot;first aid for a dog&quot; led me to these two sites as the top results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&amp;amp;S=1&amp;amp;SourceID=20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&amp;amp;S=1&amp;amp;SourceID=20&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/public/EmergencyCare/Pages/Basic-Pet-First-Aid-Procedures.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.avma.org/public/EmergencyCare/Pages/Basic-Pet-First-Aid-Procedures.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and they would hopefully alleviate &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; own concerns about whether there is anything else that you can do until you manage to get professional veterinary care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and look after yourself, too - she needs you now more than ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="1295" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T12:43:38.177" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T12:43:38.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5424" CreationDate="2014-06-14T11:29:05.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, this question can be answered logically, without knowing anything about pets, or if the water is for dogs, horses or rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about it! If the filtering is just this: &lt;strong&gt;filtering&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e. &lt;em&gt;removing&lt;/em&gt; stuff, chemicals or particles from water so as to make it more pure, how could this possibly pose a risk? This would mean that pure water poses a risk (which one?) and additives, like calcium compounds, chlorine compunds, dirt or bacteria reduce that risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="480" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T11:29:05.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5467" CreationDate="2014-06-14T12:28:25.120" Score="16" ViewCount="1947" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt; I document the events that lead up to the quadriplegia in my rabbit. There are several potential causes with classifications like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Differentials/Head_down.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Head-down syndrome&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstream.com/lapis/Content/Freeform/fre00306&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Floppy rabbit syndrome&lt;/a&gt; regardless of the cause, most information offers 'support treatments&quot; as the care.  Currently even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabledrabbits.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DisabledRabbits.com&lt;/a&gt; has little to offer on the specifics of care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are the specific treatments and care to see a rabbit through this generally temporary illness? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:24:04.827" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:28:15.973" Title="How do I care for a quadriplegic rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5466" CreationDate="2014-06-14T14:04:49.197" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;For descending paralysis, that is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism#Signs_and_symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;indicative of botulism&lt;/a&gt;, you can expect paralysis to continue to develop over several days (&lt;em&gt;3 days in our case&lt;/em&gt;) and then &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5416/&quot;&gt;progressively clear&lt;/a&gt; over several more days so the treatment will need to be readjusted as the paralysis changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the following is intended to replace consultation with a qualified veterinary practitioner.  Always discuss treatment and seek prescriptions as needed from your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Onset to stabilization&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinary assistance is critical, some causes can be readily identified and treated.  Rapid treatment by an experienced rabbit vet can make a profound difference. There are several potentially fatal complications, with paralysis of breathing muscles the most difficult (&lt;em&gt;impossible/impractical&lt;/em&gt;) to treat.  Other complications include infection and digestive issues, they develop over time and if watched for can be treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first few hours are stressful for you and your rabbit.  With descending paralysis the strong rear leg muscles will have lots of strength. In Ruby's case for a while she was nearly fully paralyzed from the middle of her back up, but her back legs had full function. Half rag doll and half jumping machine; without supervision she would jump around tossing the limp top of her body around, major physical injury seemed a real risk. Sometimes she would land in her water bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; We provided soft flooring &amp;amp; area, removed her water bowl, and provided near 24 hour snuggling until she calmed down. Over a couple of days she adjusted to the new reality and was much calmer. Water is offered every 2 hours and if sufficient fluids are not drunk, subcutaneous fluids are given (as prescribed by your vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With loss of the neck muscles Ruby is unable to keep her head upright, when resting her face would usually have the right side on the floor.  Rabbits have a somewhat protruding eye ball, that can be easily damaged.  Paralysis may include loss of control of the eyelid and/or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;nictitating membrane&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; As well as keeping her as calm as possible and keeping the area clean and soft, we found that a towel folded to a height of about &lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; inch (2 cm) thick helped to stabilize her head, keeping it better aligned and seemed to provide her increased comfort. She maintained some ability to move (flop) around during the entire event, and would generally reposition herself to continue use of the &amp;quot;pillow&amp;quot;.  We monitored her eyes to make sure they stayed moist, and for presence of the ability to blink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabbits need to keep food moving through their digestive track. To complicate matters, we now have a rabbit who has paralysis everywhere, in humans with botulism swallowing issues are common. With rabbits who are not feeling well we will often force feed them to keep the digestive track moving.  In this case we have the potential for many complications, if you force feed and the swallowing muscles are paralyzed you can force food into your bunnies lungs and cause &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspiration_pneumonia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;aspiration pneumonia&lt;/a&gt; this can be fatal. If your bun survives the first few hours of botulism, feeding is the next critical point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; Talk to your vet! Do it soon, a few hours without food is probably OK, but after 12 hours it is getting critical and 24 hours... well, just don't go there.  In our case Ruby had acceptable jaw movement, swallowing and appetite.  The first 24 hours she had small meals every couple of hours. She had difficulty with hard food like pellets and hay, We mixed critical care with some of her normal pellets and water to make a mush.  Sitting cross legged on the floor, with her head draped over my thigh I could raise the bowl to her mouth and she could eat &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnvuPldK1X4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;(video)&lt;/a&gt;. By the third day she was eating 4 or 5 fairly large meals per day, she preferred thicker mush as time progressed. By about the 7th day she refused mushy critical care and pellets.  We transitioned her to dry pellets, lettuce and a couple days later added hay back to her diet.  I can not stress strongly enough how important every decision here can be, seek the best assistance you can find. Rabbits die from digestive upset, and they die if you fill their lungs with mush. Eating mushy food with a paralyzed head/neck can be messy.  Use a towel to protect your lap, and the surrounding area.  A warm moist wash cloth can be used to wipe your bunnies head and neck when she is done eating. We found that the area under the chin was most problematic to keep clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going to the bathroom: Rabbits as a rule have great litter box habits. For anyone who is paralyzed (person of bun) keeping urine and feces from causing harm to the skin is important.  Also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_ulcer&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bed sores&lt;/a&gt; are a risk if one position is maintained for too long.  While neither is fatal in the short term, they can make life unpleasant and be extremely difficult to treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; Up to the litter box every two hours. We used several methods to help protect in case of an accident &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4410&quot;&gt;(example)&lt;/a&gt; but our primary approach is get to the litter box regularly.  The first few nights I slept on the floor with her, and we got up to pee every 2 hours.  After the first few days we purchased incontinence pads used by bed bound humans, and moved ruby into our bed (&lt;em&gt;after putting the mattress on the floor,so she would not get hurt if she fell off&lt;/em&gt;), continuing the every two hour potty break.  She has not wet the be yet.  This keeps her clean, dry and keeps her moving to prevent bed sores.   Because she has had much less fiber in her diet her her poops are much smaller, they occasionally stick to her fur but have been easy to remove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mzllX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby In Bed Morning of June 15, 2014&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Life Goes On&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the first 3 days or so, things stopped getting worse.  Now we are on the road to recovery; we have feeding, sleeping, drinking &amp;amp; bathroom covered.  In activity is not a natural state for a rabbit (or person) to be in, a body expects to move around to keep.  Inactivity leads to it's own complications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of appetite, decreased activity, appears to just not be feeling well. You may notice any of these things. Ruby maintained her personality throughout the paralysis.  When she seemed to be less than well, we always found something going on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; Monitor health closely, feed specific amounts of food and track your bunnies intake. You are already monitoring fluids, do the same for food in and poop out. If your bun seems unwell get a temperature (&lt;em&gt;work with your vet to get a rectal temperature&lt;/em&gt;) a rabbit normally has a temperature of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/appendixes/reference_guides/normal_rectal_temperature_ranges.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;101-104 °F (38.6–40.1 °C)&lt;/a&gt;. Antibiotics may be required if there is a fever.  Following antibiotics you will want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1961/&quot;&gt;recolonizing your rabbits gut bacteria&lt;/a&gt;. Any number of things can cause your bunny to feel a little off. If it not medical it could be her perception of the world, restoring a diet favorite, or modifying her environment to increase the feeling of comfort and/or security may help.  Use care in the feeding of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/48/&quot;&gt;treat foods&lt;/a&gt; as they can cause problems with gut bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inactivity can cause decreased muscle mass, and decreased &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_of_motion&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;range of motion&lt;/a&gt; in joints. In the very long term it can also lead to decreased bone density.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; When your rabbit is paralyzed to the point that it can not move around it's enviorment well, is not able to stand, walk or hop; it is time for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Therapy&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;physical therapy&lt;/a&gt;. Provide sufficient area for your rabbit to get as much exercise as possible on her own.  Once or twice a day provide passive range of motion through each limbs full ability.  Your vet can provide more information, but basically spend a few minutes on each limb moving it through all the positions it would see in a normal day for a non-paralyzed rabbit. Using a towel or scarf (&lt;em&gt;maybe with holes for the legs&lt;/em&gt;) support your rabbit in a near normal position so her legs just touch the floor. Encourage her to move naturally.  Additionally &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabledrabbits.com/wheelchairs.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wheel chairs&lt;/a&gt; are available, the majority found on the internet are for rabbits with rear leg paralysis, a quadriplegic is going to need a different solution.  Each rabbit will be different so working to customize a solution will be important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am not a baby anymore I want to eat real food by myself! About a week after the onset of symptoms, Ruby is recovering, she has adjusted well to the situation.  But she wants to eat real food and she wants her independence. The days of sitting in a lap and eating mush are over!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; while monitoring for her ability to chew and swallow solid foods. Re-introduce the regular diet, pellets, lettuce, greens.  You may have also included canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling) to her diet to maintain fiber in her diet when she was not eating hay. You can continue the pumpkin in her diet. Hopefully at this point your rabbit has good control over head and neck, but may still lack the ability to get her body off the ground.  We use a towel rolled up and placed under her chest to elevate her so she can reach her food. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrtzskv2dDI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video 1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mcpckijfOg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video 2&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHMyY9f6aXk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cecotropes are moving again! About 11 days into the event she is passing cecotropes. She has been passing normal poops (but much smaller then normal) all the time.  This is the first sign of cecotropes, they are stickier than normal, but look much the same.  The first 24 hours or so we don't see her eating them.  She can not get into the normal cecotrope eating position yet. They can be messy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; To help make up for the lack of cecotropes in her diet, we have been feeding as much pellets and oat meal (dry rolled oats) as we could get her to eat. For the first 24 hours or so she would not eat the cecotropes even if presented to her.  We were not overly concerned as they are aged beyond normal, and she has been on several meds that probably had a negative impact on them.  Frequent checking to keep the area free and clear of these uneaten cecotropes and keeping her clean if any stick to her.  She is moving around better (&lt;em&gt;but still has significant issues&lt;/em&gt;) it seems safe to start letting her sleep alone now (&lt;em&gt;and potentially very yucky if she starts passing cecotropes in bed with us&lt;/em&gt;).  She still comes to bed for a while in the evening and morning, but back to her own room with, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4410&quot;&gt;a soft, moisture resistant bed&lt;/a&gt; hay and water available all the time.  We are still getting up to help her to the litter box every 2 hours, and checking for cecotropes to keep the area clean.  She is occasionally turning around and eating the dropped cecotropes, but not consistently.  We encourage her to eat them as practical but are not fretting if she does not.  She has lost a bit of weight (3.35 kg - 2.80 kg = about 1 pound or 0.5 kg) so we are still encouraging a high food value diet.  Continuing Reglan (Metoclopramide) 1 cc, twice daily, every time we skip a dose she slows down on her eating considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16 days into the event, and recovery seems to have slowed down over the last few day. Her left rear leg is only working about 10%, it tends to lay straight out beside her. Her right rear seems to the most normal of all her limbs.  Her front limbs seem to work ok, except they keep sliding out to the side, so she does not stand up well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solution&lt;/strong&gt; Continuing physical therapy 2 or 3 times per day. Full range of motion to keep joints flexible, muscles &amp;amp; tendons from contracting.  Start using an anti slip mat (&lt;em&gt;like to keep throw rugs from sliding&lt;/em&gt;) to give her better traction. Instant improvement, with her footing more secure she is able to hold better posture and keep her limbs under herself better.  In the picture here the antislip mat is on a towel so any water spills will be contained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j9yEL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby on Antislip Mat&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The antislip mat was nearly magical solution, within hours she was moving around much better, we had to remove the exercise mat, and transitioned to just an incontinence pad with the anitslip mat over it. With in 24 hours she was hopping around, nearly normal, still a bit wobbly but a huge improvement. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVoRQwJle4I&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby hopping around video 1&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGB9Yu1fzvU&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ruby hopping around video 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At day 20 Ruby is nearly fully recovered. She has lost a lot of weight, and has been finicky about what she will eat.  Getting her back to her optimal weight and stabilizing there are on the task list now.  She lost a lot of muscle and does not have the strength or endurance she had 3 weeks ago before the event. She is able to get in and out of her room (&lt;em&gt;small cage&lt;/em&gt;) and use the litter box on her own. She has full 24 hour access to her normal space (&lt;em&gt;master bedroom&lt;/em&gt;) now, the mattress and box spring remain on the floor, and she is not quite able to jump up on the bed, herself yet. Physical therapy is now encouraging her to run around the room.  Her left rear leg is returned to near normal positioning and usage, but still has a ways to go before reaching 100%.  On day 21 she will be taking her last antibiotic (prescribed for elevated temp and listlessness), we will continue the Reglan for at least a few days after that, as we work to regain normal appetite and weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a month Ruby is 99.90% recovered, her left rear leg has been slow to recover fully. It has a tendency to be a bit more forward than it should be as if the ligament were stretched a bit, and have not returned to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 6 weeks Ruby is 99.95% recovered, Unless you know what to look for, the left rear seems OK. She is back to her pre-event weight and behaving normally.  Just a normal happy snuggle bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ends the journey of recovery for a quadriplegic rabbit.  Botulism remains the primary probable cause, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407/why-cant-my-rabbit-lift-its-head/5902#5902&quot;&gt;Why can't my rabbit lift it's head?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;5 Year update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ruby is still doing fine. There are no signs of injury or loss of function related to the above. She is about 9 years old now and starting to show some slowness as she ages. Last year she stopped jumping up on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related Questions that may be helpful&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783&quot;&gt;What should be in a rabbit first aid kit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4410&quot;&gt;How can I keep my pet dry if they wet the bed?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1423&quot;&gt;Is there anything that I can do to treat bloat in young rabbits?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/522&quot;&gt;How can I help my adult rabbit gain weight?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1961&quot;&gt;How fresh should cecotropes be when used to recolonize a different rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:28:15.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5461" CreationDate="2014-06-14T20:07:34.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say so. Neon tetras only get to be about an inch long (maybe up to an inch and a half) when fully grown. Along with their counterparts, cardinal tetras, they're probably one of the smallest species of fish you can get as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the tank isn't oddly shaped to where it's tall and skinny, which would limit the swimming space inside, I would say you could fit anywhere between 4-6 neons in there. I wouldn't keep less than three because they're a schooling fish and it would stress them out to be alone or in a pair,and any more than six you're better off buying a larger tank to save the trouble of keeping the water clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having less fish in the tank gives you more of a buffer zone in the small tank, to keep the risk of the waste causing an ammonia spike from happening and killing the fish. The downside is that neons are a schooling fish, so the more there are the more comfortable they will be with swimming about in the open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, having more fish in the tank gives you more to look at, and gives the fish comfort with being in a larger group, but you have a smaller buffer in case something changes with the water. It mostly means you'll have to be more proactive in keeping the water clean, performing more frequent water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming the neons are the only fish in the tank. Even with only 3-4 neons I wouldn't add any other fish to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would make sure any decorations don't take up a lot of space. Keep in mind that it's a 5 gallon tank before adding the substrate and decorations, adding a large castle or volcano will displace water from the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-14T20:14:09.767" LastActivityDate="2014-06-14T20:14:09.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5476" CreationDate="2014-06-15T04:01:30.697" Score="9" ViewCount="8115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen many questions asking how often one should do a water change for different circumstances in a freshwater aquarium, and so on, which got me wondering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never knew, until I was on this site, that you were supposed to do water changes in a fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a specific protocol/set of steps I should follow when doing a water change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T23:18:43.023" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T23:33:46.260" Title="How do I do a water change in my fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3142" CreationDate="2014-06-15T10:47:37.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another alternative for feeding pills is to just put the pill in the rabbits mouth.  One of our rabbits is receiving baytril pills.  They are fairly large (&lt;em&gt;almost as big as her eye&lt;/em&gt;).  I put one in her mouth while she was sitting on the floor, she just chewed it up and swallowed.  By the second day she was taking them from me like candy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also been giving her the pill just before feeding her, her favorite food.  Maybe she thinks that eating the pill is something that leads to getting her favorite food, or maybe she just likes them, or maybe rabbits are obligated to chew anything in their mouth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T10:47:37.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4407" CreationDate="2014-06-15T12:15:37.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As suggested in an answer on &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/11007/what-plants-or-gardening-additives-might-cause-the-specific-neurotoxin-symptom/11027#11027&quot;&gt;Gardening&lt;/a&gt; damp hay can grow molds, some of which can be toxic to animals and humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichothecene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trichothecene mycotoxin&lt;/a&gt; can have descending paralysis as a symptom, but it looks like it also includes digestive track hemorrhages, which was not evident in any of the 3 individuals described in this event. While probably not the solution to this issue it may be involved in similar events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:42:27.750" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T12:15:37.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4407" CreationDate="2014-06-15T12:23:15.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthunit.org/professionals/rd_toolkit/Paralytic_Shellfish_Poisoning_%28PSP%29.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(reference small PDF)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; can have symptoms that look very much like those seen in botulism and described above.  Rapid on set descending paralysis could be a key indicator of either toxin.  When death occurs it is usually via respiratory failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lethal dose of PSP in rabbits is &lt;a href=&quot;http://cot.food.gov.uk/pdfs/cotstatementpsp200608.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LD50 in μg/kg 181-200&lt;/a&gt; symptom on set begins in 1 - 3 hours with recovery beginning in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/redtide/illness/psp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;12 (&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;http://wildernessmedicinenewsletter.wordpress.com/category/shellfish-poisoning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;24 (&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; hours.  Complete recover is expected in a few days (&lt;em&gt;references varied, but faster then botulism&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case house rabbits living in Pennsylvanian are unlikely to encounter PSP.  Additionally symptom development above continued into what would be the recovery period for PSP.  While probably not the cause here, it may be a consideration in other similar cases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-15T14:04:23.943" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T14:04:23.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2014-06-15T17:40:24.497" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cover the entrance to the doorway with a old carpet and use a staple guns to secure it. I had the same problem and it is solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-15T17:40:24.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7163" CreationDate="2014-06-15T19:11:57.593" Score="4" ViewCount="9843" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took my snake out of his cage to hold him for a bit but I noticed a light yellow on his belly. He has checker like scales with some black and some white (those colored scales were on him when I bought him). I don't know how he got this but I have a feeling he has ammonia on his scales from liquid. I couldn't find anything on the web that cures ammonia for snakes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zMjs6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Corn snake with ammonia&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image above shows yellow on the top of the corn snakes body. My corn snake has the same colored yellow but on his belly (bottom of his body). His tank size is about 34 inches long, 26 inches wide, and 41 inches tall. His everyday temps range from 74 degrees to 85 degrees. I don't use substrate for him because he may swallow some by accident so I use those flat tank mats. He eats small rats every Wednesday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v6zcz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Snake mat for snake tanks&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image above is what his mat looks like except that his mat is green and fits the length and width on bottom floor of his tank. The heating pad is located to the far left end side of the tank. He will go over there if he feels like it. My day lamp sit on the top far right of the lid and my night lamp goes to the same spot. I switch between the two lamps and the heating pad normally don't get turned on that often unless needed. I don't turn on day lamp in daytime unless too cool in tank. I don't turn turn on night lamp until night time and the night lamp has concentrated heat that focuses on a particular area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:23:18.393" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T22:51:29.183" Title="Why are my snake's belly scales turning yellow?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5470" CreationDate="2014-06-15T19:37:30.427" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water changes are almost what they sound like, you're changing the water in the tank. But, with very few exceptions, you never want to change more than 50% of the water in the tank. Water changes that replace a substantial percentage of tank's volume can cause the fish stress, and should really only be done in emergencies. Even if there is a problem with the water parameters, I've found that only doing a 30-40% water change once a week can resolve the problem quickly with less stress than a sudden 60-70% water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, a normal water change is replacing about 15-20% of the water in the tank about once a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do is I first take the water I'm going to put into the tank, set it aside in a 5 gallon bucket, and treat it with water conditioner. I'll let it sit for a couple hours before I'm ready to perform the water change, to give the conditioner time to work. If I'm doing a water change for my 55 gallon tank, and I usually replace 10 gallons at a time, I'll get water ready the night before, do the water change, then prepare another 5 gallons to change at the end of the day. For my 10 gallon tank I use a large mason jar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I use to take water out of the tank is plastic tubing you can find at any hardware store. I stick one end into the tank, and the other end in the bathtub or sink, and siphon water out that way. If you have a faucet that you can screw attachments to, you could use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/25-Foot-Python-Aquarium-Maintenance/dp/B000255NXC/ref=sr_1_7?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1402860324&amp;amp;sr=1-7&amp;amp;keywords=gravel%20vacuum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gravel vacuum&lt;/a&gt;, which creates suction as you run the faucet, sucking out water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are really nice because you can clean all the gunk and waste out of the gravel, and take away some of the water at the same time. There's also one that works with a hand pump if you don't have a faucet that allows attachments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've taken the water out, all that's left is putting the new water in. It's a little bit of a chore, but it does help keep the fish happier and more active, which is why we keep fish in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I know some people who put water straight into the tank then treat the whole tank with water conditioner, or treat it outside the tank but put it in immediately. I don't agree with those methods because it's introducing chlorine to the tank for no reason. Even though it will disappear when the conditioner finishes it's work, it will still cause the fish some unnecessary stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For saltwater tanks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything is going to be the same except that it's incredibly important that the water be treated with water conditioner beforehand so as not to stress the fish, but also not to kill the coral and live rock, as they're extremely susceptible to hazardous chemicals. It's also incredibly important that not only the salinity, but also the temperature of the water matches the tank's as a sudden rise or drop in either will harm the fish and kill the coral/live rocks. Note: If you're aiming to rise or lower the salinity levels you can do a water change with water that has a &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; higher or lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final Note: An alternative to treating the water with water conditioner, you can install an RO/DI water filter in your house and use that directly, as it filters out the chemicals that are harmful to fish. The reason why most people don't do this is because it's expensive. Most pet stores have RO systems installed, and will most likely let you fill a container and take some home provided you're polite and don't get in the way of employees and customers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T23:33:46.260" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T23:33:46.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5499" CreationDate="2014-06-15T20:56:41.390" Score="4" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the new pet turkey that followed my wife home, seems to have a lower beak that's a little misaligned with the upper beak. She (the turkey) does not seem to be in pain, and is eating normally.The beak does close and open. Should I worry about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm adding a (poor quality) picture of the left side of the turkeys beak.  I kept says &quot;pose!&quot; but....  In the image you can see that the beak is just slightly open - the lower beak seems shifted to this side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LuLky.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2482" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:58:43.510" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:58:43.510" Title="Why is my Turkey's jaws out of alignment?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2014-06-16T17:33:35.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats generally prefer to go in a litterbox. There's a few things you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Get a larger litter box. Maybe he doesn't think the size is big enough and is finding it difficult to use because of the cone. A larger one may make it easier for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Get several litter boxes and put them around the house. It'll make it easier for him to see it and he hopefully won't have as much trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) If there's a general time that he goes, pick him up at that time and set him in it. He might feel a bit better about the location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you think about getting a black light and walking around to see if you can find parts that either you missed or weren't cleaned well. Cats get stressed about urine around the house, and it's likely that he went when you weren't watching him. Look in corners and under furniture, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-06-16T17:33:35.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2014-06-17T01:18:35.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suggestions by littlekellilee are all very good ones and should reduce most problem urination.  That said it sounds like he is &quot;pissed off&quot; and this is how he is relieving himself.  Suggestions 1 &amp;amp; 2 are great for most problem urination ones but maybe not this situation (though they can only make the situation better- not worse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 Can help let him know &quot;please don't do this, it upsets me&quot; which he probably doesn't know.  Of course, catching a cat just before is difficult and they don't like being disturbed doing that.  I have done this myself though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleaning is important too because once he's marked something it seems more reasonable to pee there again.  Percarbonate is a good way of destroying urea &amp;amp; other smelly urine components- it may bleach surfaces and I recommend rinsing off well afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is upset, stressed out, and possibly in pain. Maybe work with the vet on reducing pain.  The other thing you can do is lots of extra play time (and whatever other things he really likes) this might distract him so he has less time to brood, and let it out by urinating- good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T01:18:35.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-17T10:37:38.663" Score="3" ViewCount="5790" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of reasons that a rabbit may not be able to eat hay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Occasionally for a dental misalignment issue a rabbit will have it's teeth removed. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When a rabbit is sick it may be unable to eat hay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that lack of fiber can lead to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;digestive issues&lt;/a&gt; so maintaining fiber in the diet would seem to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;be important&lt;/a&gt;. What are healthy alternatives to hay to supply fiber in a rabbit's diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T19:05:30.180" Title="What are good fiber substitutes for hay in a rabbit's diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5481" CreationDate="2014-06-17T20:55:31.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course the staple of &lt;a href=&quot;http://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-care/hay-for-rabbits-the-basis-for-a-healthy-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;any rabbit's diet&lt;/a&gt; should be hay, but there are some instances, as mentioned, where eating coarse hay may not be an option for a rabbit to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hay is essential to a rabbit’s good health, providing roughage which reduces the danger of hairballs and other blockages.  Rabbits have digestive tracts that are specially adapted to break down fibrous vegetation. Hay provides the fiber necessary to keep their digestive systems healthy and motile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A disruption to a rabbit’s digestive cycle can cause gastrointestinal (GI) stasis, a condition in which the contents of the digestive tract become compact, and the rabbit has difficulty passing the mass through. Providing unlimited, fresh hay helps deter this serious, potentially deadly condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mypetsdentist.com/rabbit-rodent-dental-care.pml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbits and Rodent Dental Care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, is very thorough and discusses many issues with rabbit teeth, as well as allowing your pet rabbit who has had dental work done to obtain the nutrients it needs and to eventually get back to its original diet composed mostly of hay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in all aspects of veterinary dentistry, the diagnosis is the first step to understanding the prognosis.  Treatment plans must be established based on the needs of the rabbit and the owner.  We must address pain and the nutritional needs of these animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of these animals need help with eating initially, however it is very important to get tham back to eating a diet composed of long stem hay with fresh vegetables.  Balanced nutrition with normal chewing can promote tooth wear needed to offset the continual dental growth.  For rabbits unwilling or unable to eat hay, Herbivore Critical Care Formula (Oxbow Pet Products) can be very helpful during the transition back to an optimal diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits with dental disease should be periodically evaluated by the family veterinarian.  The frequency required for professional care is based on the rabbit's oral and dental health.  Some rabbits will require very frequent occlusal adjustments when they are unwilling or unable to eat an optimal diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i6eMi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Post-surgical&lt;/a&gt; diets can also be used for rabbits that have undergone any type of surgery (such as teeth removal, as mentioned above) where he may not be able to eat hay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your bunny does suffer complications from surgery that cause him to stop eating, you may need to hand-feed for a few days afterwards to help get the GI tract back to normal. Ask your veterinarian for advice about whether this is necessary. Products made specifically for recovery feeding include Critical Care (Oxbow Hay Company) and Critter be Better (American Pet Diner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit cannot eat hay for a longer period of time, it is important to &lt;strong&gt;consult your veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt; to see if any &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/feeding/supplements.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vitamin/fiber supplements&lt;/a&gt; should be given to your rabbit during the recovery process to maintain good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-06-17T20:55:31.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5489" CreationDate="2014-06-18T04:16:48.233" Score="5" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a thread about avoiding giving pets to questionable people, not necessarily people who will mistreat the animals but turn them around and re-sell them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a pet that you need to put up for adoption for any reason, and don't want to put them in a shelter, how do you make sure that the pet is going to a good home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T15:37:11.027" Title="How do you make sure that you're adopting to a good home?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5675" CreationDate="2014-06-18T04:26:40.097" Score="7" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;My long-haired cat sheds a lot, so I was wondering if there was any way to reduce how much he sheds. I brush him almost daily, and that seems to help keep the shed hair from getting everywhere, but is there any way to slow the shedding process in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: They have Canidae dry food available to eat during the day, and I give them a can of Canidae wet food for supper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T19:18:16.713" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T02:59:26.277" Title="Is there any way to reduce a cat's shedding?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-18T05:09:17.977" Score="8" ViewCount="14341" Body="&lt;p&gt;A year ago, my cat had broken her leg (two compound fractures) after she fell off the balcony (7 stories). Miraculously she survived and lived two months with a bandage. Me and my girlfriend were thrilled. We found out that most likely she fell off the balcony because of crow birds who always try to tease her and fly just near her to make her jump and then fall. This behaviour of these smart birds is known among people who I asked. Now my cat is three times as big as she was and relatively heavy and I do not think she is going to survive if she falls again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've observed several times those crow birds flying around her and she is trying to catch them. I tried several things to stop her from going to the balcony edge (1 meter wall, and she climbs on the top of it). I tried to put some plants (e.g. mint) that might keep her away. I tried &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2174/is-corporal-punishment-an-effective-training-method-for-dogs&quot;&gt;corporal punishment&lt;/a&gt;. I tried to make sounds that does not like. Mistakenly, I thought I stopped her from going there, until I discovered that she just stopped in front of me and she goes there every night when I go to bed. Last time I locked her up in one room with all her stuff all the night. I felt so guilty about it and I do not know what to do. I cannot close the balcony doors, it too warm year-round here. She loves to stay in the balcony, it's quite spacious (area of 4 x 6 m) and it's the only outdoor place she gets to. I just do not want her to climb the balcony screen, and I cannot keep watching her 24/7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T07:50:57.817" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T07:50:57.817" Title="How to stop cat from going to a risky area" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-18T12:53:38.180" Score="8" ViewCount="1802" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our puppy (8 months old, Husky/Shepherd mix) is getting to be good enough on the leash that I can take him for a nice run. I live near a park with a 5K loop road, which I used to run regularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first started taking him out around the loop road, he'd jump at me and bite and try to get me to play right away, or at least at fairly arbitrary intervals. I got a good lesson in dominant walking, and a better slip lead that actually loosens again after I tug it so I can keep it high on his neck, give it a quick tug and re-orient him to following me and we can keep going. That had a huge impact--he's way, way more manageable. My pace is pretty slow, he seems to handle it very comfortably, and we stop for water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But since the walking lesson I've noticed that about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through, he still gets really unmanageable. He tries to jump on me and bite playfully, but he forgets his bite inhibition entirely. The other day he did this really manic digging for a few minutes. Just scraping at the soil with dirt flying and shaking his head and jumping around. In general, it seems like he just gets manic and bonkers, jumping around and barking at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It occurred to me (this might be obvious to everyone else?) that 5K might just be too long for him to run. Do I need to find a shorter route, or is there something else going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. There's a mention of overtiredness at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/141/what-can-i-do-if-my-puppy-is-hyperactive?lq=1&quot;&gt;What can I do if my puppy is hyperactive?&lt;/a&gt; which seems to suggest that's exactly what is going on. But I'd love to know more about how to tell when a young dog is getting overtired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T22:08:30.177" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:08:30.177" Title="Why does my dog become unmanageable midway through a long walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5485" CreationDate="2014-06-18T14:45:10.297" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick google search turned up this quiz: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/quiz/am-i-ready-for-a-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/quiz/am-i-ready-for-a-dog&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I think the quiz is appropriate list of questions to ask your prospective adopters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other things that come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For pre-screening the people:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the adopters have prior experience with dogs (perhaps specifically&#xA;with this breed)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they have realistic expectations of the dog :  ie. expect chewing,&#xA;attention required, potty training can take up to 6 months of age,&#xA;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are they prepared for the financial obligation of a dog?  Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2%202106&amp;amp;aid=1543&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sources&lt;/a&gt; suggest owning a dog can cost anywhere from $800 - $2000 per year.  Food, flea/tick treatments, vet care + shots, treatments for things like UTIs, toys + treats, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The environment is dependent on the dog:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A dog with a high prey drive (like a jack russel, for instance) will&#xA;benefit much more from a fenced yard than dogs with little/no&#xA;interest in chasing squirrels or cats.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs with high energy levels&#xA;will not thrive in apartment environments.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other animals in the home can be&#xA;considered&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastEditorUserId="274" LastEditDate="2014-06-18T14:52:04.903" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T14:52:04.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5485" CreationDate="2014-06-18T15:37:11.027" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the previous answer that includes the screening but a better way that you can avoid pet re-sellers is through the use of an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aforeverhome.org/forms/sample-adoption-contract/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adoption Contract or agreement&lt;/a&gt;.  Pet re-sellers know to avoid signing these types of documents because of the potential penalties that they can incur.  A real pet adopter should not have a problem with an agreement like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linked document can be modified for what ever other provisions you would like to include, though you should make sure that any provisions are enforceable in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the adopter is local, one good way is to do a walk through of the living environment that the pet will be living in.  You should be able to tell if the area is suited for the animal as well as maybe helping out the new owners to avoid some lessons that can be painful or expensive.  If the place is uncared for then chances are the pet will be similarly uncared for, if not immediately then probably with in a few months.  It is your discretion who you allow to adopt your animals, but you have to be strong enough to say no when your instincts tell you to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T15:37:11.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5492" CreationDate="2014-06-18T18:04:58.170" Score="10" ViewCount="5121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a lot of conflicting advice online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 2-year-old, 66 lb. boxer-ridgeback (probably, we're not sure), that, at some point was given an ice cube and loved it. Whenever I make a smoothie, she hears the sound of the freezer door opening and comes running for an ice cube. This is several times a week, but never more than one ice cube each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any compelling evidence that I should stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2487" LastEditorUserId="2487" LastEditDate="2019-04-04T06:53:39.833" LastActivityDate="2019-04-07T03:02:51.240" Title="Can I give my dog an ice cube from time to time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5491" CreationDate="2014-06-18T18:33:56.700" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard this before and can't find any reliable information to back it up, nor does it make any sense.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I could find no vet on record as saying that it could cause a problem.&lt;/strong&gt;  Multiple sites dedicated to investigating such kinds of claims found it to also be false (notably &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/icewater.asp&quot;&gt;Snopes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ice-water-harmful-dogs-myth.shtml&quot;&gt;Hoax Slayer&lt;/a&gt;.)  There is simply no verifiable or reliable evidence that ice water causes bloat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloat is a real condition and drinking too fast is a possible cause, so the closest it could come would be if your dog drank faster because the water was colder, it could potentially be problematic, but not directly due to being ice water or ice cubes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="538" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T18:33:56.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2014-06-18T19:02:36.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clean the urinated zone with vinegar (I used to do that when my feline daughter was a baby kitten). Never, never use bleach, its smell attracts cats. Bleach is a great option for cleaning the litter box! ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: my own experience. Vinegar has a nasty odour, cats don't like it. And I've always used bleach to clean the litter box because cats are attracted to its odour. Anyways, there are some links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ehow.com/facts_6016449_vinegar-cat-repellent.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://ehow.com/facts_6016449_vinegar-cat-repellent.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_cats_kittens_like_the_smell_of_bleach&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_cats_kittens_like_the_smell_of_bleach&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And... a lot of cats are picky about the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2488" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-28T13:41:05.057" LastActivityDate="2020-11-28T13:41:05.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-18T20:11:03.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any kind of yelling or punishment generally doesn't work on cats. They aren't able to understand &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; they're being punished and are more likely to think you're just being mean. Generally, any kind of intervention that requires your presence teaches the cat to just avoid it when you're around. Not to avoid it completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your specific situation, something like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SSSCat&lt;/a&gt; would be more effective. It's a motion sensitive air can that releases a puff of air any time your cat goes to an area she shouldn't be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's completely harmless, but it scares the cat well enough to teach her it's not a place she should be going. And since you don't need to be around for it to work, she more easily learns to associate the behavior (going onto the balcony) with the consequences (a puff of air). You could put it in the doorway so it goes off any time she tries to step onto the balcony. Depending on how wide your door opens you may need one for either side of the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more temporary risky areas (like cleaning chemicals, paints, etc) I've also had success with keeping my cat away by slicing up a lemon, but that is only a temporary solution (stops working once the lemons dry out and lose their scent) and not likely to be effective if she's too focused on hunting down birds. I keep a bag of the cheapest lemons I can find in my fridge for any time I need to keep my cat away from something temporarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditDate="2014-06-19T03:10:31.680" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T03:10:31.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5491" CreationDate="2014-06-18T20:41:52.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In winter or spring (and in some places, all year), there is very little difference between the temperature of an ice cube and the temperature of water flowing in a stream or river or standing in a puddle, both of which water sources dogs and people presumably evolved to use.  Humans and dogs generate a lot of heat internally that soon melts the ice and warms the resulting water to the animal's body temperature.  Dogs have very sensitive mouths, perhaps the dog likes the feel of the ice in its mouth.  It may be crunching the ice it enjoys; I had a dog that loved to crunch up plastic bottles - it did not eat them, it just loved the sounds and the feel in its mouth.&#xA;In short, I cannot say 100% that eating the ice causes no harm, but for the reasons I state, I think it is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T20:41:52.160" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-18T21:05:55.623" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things that will work for cats, though you'll have to try them to see what works on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tinfoil - the look of the light reflections when they step on it scare them. Try putting it around the area she goes when she starts to jump. Putting it on top might cause her to jump up, then launch off in fear, and you can't dictate which direction that will be.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chicken wire - they refuse to step on it, likely because it not only feels strange on their paws but also for the same reason as the tinfoil.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An owl or other fake bird - clearly not for the cat. The intent is to keep the teasing birds away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Citrus scents - as Dan Herbert said, cut up a lemon, or even put lemon or lime juice on your balcony before bed. They dislike the scent of citrus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Coffee grinds - same reason as number 4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I put a large board up so the cat couldn't see where it was jumping too. This is extremely annoying for you, however, and likely won't definitively stop your cat from trying.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Predator urine or cat pheromones - for obvious reasons. This will require respraying as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read up on this before, many people have many ideas, but I had the best luck with tinfoil covered in chicken wire. It was so effective, in fact, that a neighbourhood cat no longer comes on the top of the fence that we put it on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you see your cat go near whatever you put down, then change their mind and not go on it, praise your cat. Positive reinforcement is much better than negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:32:12.703" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:32:12.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5501" CreationDate="2014-06-18T21:14:07.700" Score="12" ViewCount="9781" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I get in bed, my cat will do anything she can to sleep with me. I don't just mean on the bed, I mean on my chest, my back, the backs of my legs, my side, or across my arms. A few times she's even gone to sleep with her forehead pressed against mine with her paws laying on my face. I don't mind too much, except for when she lays down on my face and I have a hard time breathing, but I'm starting to wonder if there's a reason for it that I should be looking into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play with her quite a bit, and she's more interested in playing and running than I've ever seen a cat of her age (6 years old). She seems to get a bit of separation anxiety when I leave for work each day as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she so cuddly with with me during the night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:59:01.473" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:59:01.473" Title="Why is my cat getting so cozy with me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5477" CreationDate="2014-06-18T21:42:14.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may have gotten that way because of a fight in the past. So long as it's not in pain and not hindering its eating, it should be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet has a cat that roams around the office. One day a dog attacked it and bit its face. They did emergency surgery and the cat lived (thankfully) but they couldn't save the entire jaw. Half its jaw is missing. It's not in pain and eats wet food fine. The same thing may have happened to your turkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-06-18T21:42:14.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5508" CreationDate="2014-06-18T22:04:26.337" Score="3" ViewCount="16682" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there huge differences between the three major types of albinism in leopard geckos? What are the key signs to look out for to determine the differences? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know albino is a recessive trait; is there anything at all that can give a hint in, say, a Normal HET Bell that would indicate that they carry the trait for one of the types?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="489" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-11-20T13:21:14.643" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T12:24:23.630" Title="What is the difference between Rainwater Albino, Tremper Albino and Bell Albino leopard geckos?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5498" CreationDate="2014-06-19T02:04:58.353" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) the cat loves you and is cuddling with you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) you produce heat and the cat likes your warmth (they have a warmer inner body temperature, so things feel &quot;cooler&quot; to them than they would to us)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) the cat feels more secure with a large ally right nearby&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have just one cat and no other pets or people are around that could make your cat more &quot;needy&quot; to you which would create insecurity that is alleviated by #1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love cuddling with my cats at night or even during the day.  Enjoy it, it's great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The separation anxiety is not so great.  I notice some of my cats seem more emotionally secure than others.  I wish they all felt completely emotionally secure.  It is quite possible the cat feels abandoned or unloved when you go out to work, it is hard to let them know you still love them even when you are away...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T02:04:58.353" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-19T02:16:56.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing they hate in citrus is the oil (which has the smell).  You don't need to cut up the citrus, all you need to do is use the peel.  The peel has lots of oil, the pulp relatively little.  Unfortunately the dislike of citrus is very individual, some cats REALLY hate it, others aren't bothered by it nearly as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smash the peel against surfaces you wish your cat to stay away from (like around the door...).  However, I think that will mean your cat will simply not pause at the doorway but quickly move to the balcony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you put a screen on the door so you can open it but keep the cat in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T02:16:56.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5674" CreationDate="2014-06-19T07:32:44.673" Score="10" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dachshund that is about a year old now.  We found out at about 2 or 3 months that he was deaf stemming from him being double dapple.  We have tried to socialize him as much as possible and he does really well with larger dogs.  However, he has a lot of trouble picking up on social cues from other dogs.  He wants to play, but the growling barking dog that he can't hear, doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some best practices for helping a deaf puppy understand when another dog just isn't interested in playing?  He's also rather cross-eyed so I'm wondering if he has trouble with reading body language too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2495" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:29:50.763" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:29:50.763" Title="How can I teach my deaf puppy social graces?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-19T10:23:03.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try making a bunch of small loops of cellotape (some people call this &quot;scotch tape&quot; or just &quot;tape&quot;) and scattering them on top of the unsafe places. Cats &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; getting anything stuck in their fur, and will be wary of any place they think this might happen. However, you should be there for the first time or two that they get stuck, so that you can remove the cellotape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cellotape can really upset the cat, and may be uncomfortable for them to have it removed, I don't recommend this as a general &quot;cat-proofing&quot; strategy. However, in this case the alternative (falling off the balcony) is far worse, so I think this technique is justified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-06-19T10:28:47.010" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T10:28:47.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3248" CreationDate="2014-06-19T12:58:55.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I finally succeeded in changing this behavior by breaking the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had seen a vet that said my cat is perfectly fine, and just after that I went on vacation and for 10 days a friend looked after him in his own place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got home and took my cat back, he was back defecating in his box normally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why he began to defecate out of the box on the first place, but it seems he continues just for the sake of routine...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you everyone for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1354" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T08:19:46.233" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:19:46.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5507" CreationDate="2014-06-19T14:32:45.533" Score="11" ViewCount="35251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the term used when talking about reptile morphs, and there's sometimes a percentage combined with it. What are people talking about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T04:51:59.657" Title="What does &quot;Het&quot; mean when talking about reptiles?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5506" CreationDate="2014-06-19T14:59:07.277" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing to know is that &quot;Het&quot; is short for Heterozygous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in terms of pets, in this case reptile breeding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to remember is that it doesn't take a geneticist to become a breeder. Terms are commonly borrowed, but sometimes/usually misused. In this term here, referring to an animal as a &quot;Het&quot; is saying that it has an inherited trait from it's parents, but doesn't display it itself. So if a ball python was born from an albino parent, it would be and albino &quot;Het&quot; ball python, because even though it looks normal, it has the strain of albinism from it's parent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is important with breeding because in order to produce albino offspring, the trait has to exist in the parent, so with an albino &quot;Het&quot; there's still a chance of producing a child that displays the trait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The numbers are meant to be the percentages of the trait estimated to be inherited by the animal from it's parents. It's used as sort of a guesstimate about how likely the children are going to receive those traits as the dominant ones. So basically if you're looking to breed for albinism, you want the highest possible chance of having the trait passed on. Likewise if you don't want to display a trait, you try to breed with the lowest chances for that trait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you take any numbers with a grain of salt, as people and numbers don't really mix. Even if a breeder happens to be a biologist, that doesn't mean they've taken the time to crunch the numbers correctly, or even studied genetics properly. The best solution is to buy from a breeder who has been established for a while, and keeps track of their lineage. That way you can see who the parents are, what traits they display, and possibly what traits their parents display. Then you will be able to create your own guesstimate on what your animal has inherited but doesn't display.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A basic guideline that I follow, and seems fairly commonly used, is that 100% &quot;Het&quot; means that at least one of the parents displayed the trait visually. If it's said to be 50% Het, then one of the parents is &quot;100% Het&quot;. Anywhere between &quot;50% Het&quot; and &quot;100% Het&quot; means that both parents were &quot;Het&quot; to some percentage. Any less than &quot;50% Het&quot; means that it's a generation or two being bred with others who don't display the trait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, these are all loose numbers, people dedicate their lives to studying genetics, we're only interested in increasing chances of breeding here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Now, in terms of biology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a geneticist, so this will still be rather simplified. I would suggest heading over to &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;biology.se&lt;/a&gt; for greater detail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zygosity is the degree of similarity of the alleles for a trait in an organism. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygosity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;) An Allele is a form of gene, it's basically the part of the genetic structure that decides how everything is placed together. When a person has a certain color of hair, or eyes, that is decided by the Allele. More importantly, by the dominant Allele.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, Zygosity is the measure of the Alleles that have been inherited by the organism's parent to form a certain trait. Now, some things to take into consideration, which are not necessarily relevant, but might help get an idea of how this works is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Humans, along with most mammals are diploids. Meaning they take two copies of chromosomes, one from each parent. So pairing an 'X' chromosome with a 'Y' chromosome produces a male offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some of the earlier species such as fish and amphibians are polyploids. This is where it gets complicated and they can take three or more sets from the same, or closely related species. Ask &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;biology.se&lt;/a&gt; about this one if you're interested.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to Zygotes, there are a couple different kinds we need to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Homozygous:&lt;/strong&gt; This is pair of identical Alleles that create a constant trait that will always be displayed. A purple flower will always produce more purple flowers (unless it's bred with a non-purple flower, and then it's not Homozygous anymore). There are two &quot;sub-types&quot; of Homozygous organisms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Homozygous Dominant: Meaning that it is a pair of Alleles with a dominant trait (this would be the purple flowers).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Homozygous Recessive: Meaning that it is a pair of Alleles with a recessive trait. This would be if you bred an animal for the albinism trait to where the albinism trait was the dominant Allele.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heterozygous:&lt;/strong&gt; This is a pair of differing Alleles, of which only the more dominant Allele will be displayed. For example, if it is a pair of Alleles that determine hair color, and one would determine blonde, the other red, the hair color will be blonde because that is the dominant Allele. But, the Allele for the trait of red hair still exists, and can be passed on to the next child to possible be matched up with the same allele, or one that's more recessive (less dominant?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with pairing up Heterozygous Alleles, is that they can be infinitely complex (which is why people devote their lifetimes to studying them), I've simplified it to where one Allele is dominant over the other, and that's basically how it works, but determining how they are dominant, and which ones are dominant, is a complicated study that's out of my area of expertise. People devote lifetimes of effort into this area of study alone, just mapping out how Alleles are paired together and how they choose which one &quot;wins&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hemizygous:&lt;/strong&gt; This one's a bit more than I can explain. From what I understand, it's when one of the Alleles gets removed, and there becomes a single trait leftover. It has something to do with the reason why men only have on 'X' and one 'Y' chromosome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nullizygous:&lt;/strong&gt; When two mutations that cause a loss of function pair up. This is another one that I haven't studied specifically, I believe it's what causes defects, and/or kills the organism. Don't quote me on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phenotypes:&lt;/strong&gt; This was mentioned in a comment, so I wanted to touch on it as best I could. It's a combination of the Genotype, which are the instructions that have been inherited from the Alleles, and how it's all been influenced by the environment. Beware though, these two terms are pretty loose, and have been used interchangeably I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give a gross oversimplification for an example. A phenotype would be when a moth is colored brown, because it lives in the woods and the Alleles received were for that color, and also because all the moths with different colors got eaten so the only color that was left was brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T20:03:01.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5500" CreationDate="2014-06-19T17:09:06.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Overview&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos have three types of pigmentation, contained in three different types of cells: &lt;strong&gt;melanophores&lt;/strong&gt;, which contain black pigment (melanin); &lt;strong&gt;xanthophores&lt;/strong&gt;, which contain red, yellow or orange pigment; and &lt;strong&gt;iridophores&lt;/strong&gt;, which contain crystalline materals that reflect and refract light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Albinism is usually when animals cannot produce melanin because they lack the essential enzyme tyrosinase. Albinism in leopard geckos is apparently slightly different, because they are not true albinos but rather extreme amelanistics, which roughly means that they produce virtually no melanin, but still have the potential capability to do so (because all strains do in fact have tyrosinase). Since it only affects the melanin pigmentation, albino leos can still show orange, yellow and brown colouring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Tremper, Rainwater and Bell&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three strains of albinism in leopard geckos, which are each recessive. The &amp;quot;defective&amp;quot; gene occurs at a different allele for each strain. That means that crossing, say, tremper with tremper lines will get you albino offspring, whereas crossing between lines - say, tremper with rainwater - will get you normal offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for distinguising between the strains, it's not so easy as you might think. Looking at each strain as a whole and comparing it to other strains shows some differences, but since there is a lot of variation in pigmentation and patterning within each strain, looking at a single leopard gecko of unknown lineage may not tell you which strain it comes from. Having said that, there are certain traits you can look for in order to make a good guess - the most distinctive of which seems to be the eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trempers&lt;/strong&gt; are the most common type of albino in leos, and also the first discovered. They have pale or silver eyes, often with red veins showing in the eyes. Sometimes the eyes start off pink but turn silver as the gecko matures. Trempers are more likely to have brownish markings on them than the other two strains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rainwater&lt;/strong&gt; albinos (also known as Las Vegas albinos) are smaller than the other two types, and they have darker eyes. They are usually paler in general, with more pink colouring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bell&lt;/strong&gt; albinos are the most recently discovered. Their light pink eyes are their most distinctive feature. They also often have lavender colouring, and small brown spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;False albinos&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other morphs which are not genetically albinos, but might be confused with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patternless&lt;/strong&gt; (leucistic) geckos have no dark pigmentation but normal-coloured eyes. As babies they have a unique spotted appearance around the head and shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blizzards&lt;/strong&gt; are similar to patternless geckos; typically greyish but could have a background colour of anything between white and yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hypomelanistic&lt;/strong&gt; (&amp;quot;Hypos&amp;quot;) have a gene which reduces the distribution of the black markings making them have very small number of black markings on the body, but they still have markings on the head and tail. (&amp;quot;Super-hypos&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;baldies&amp;quot; have no markings on the head either.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snows&lt;/strong&gt; are axanthic (lacking the yellow pigment) which means they have a high contrast black on white pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also combinations of the above with the various albino strains, creating morphs such as &lt;strong&gt;blazing blizzards&lt;/strong&gt; (albino trait and blizzard trait, making them pure white) or &lt;strong&gt;patternless albinos&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Detecting recessive genes&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The genes for albinism in all three strains is recessive, meaning that you cannot detect any traits in a &amp;quot;het&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;carrier&amp;quot; gecko. The only way to determine if a normal-looking gecko carries the recessive gene is to breed it with an albino or a known het (making sure that the other albino or het is of the same albino strain as the one you are testing for, of course). If you produce albino offspring, the parent was a het.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Caring for Albinos&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos are crepuscular, so are somewhat sensitive to light anyway. However, albinos are particularly sensitive to light and care should be taken, even more so with hatchlings. Turn off room lights when feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Sources&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leopard Geckos&lt;/em&gt;, by Lance Jepson&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paulsagereptiles.com/LeopardGenetics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guide to Leopard Gecko Genetics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;The Leopard Gecko Manual&lt;/em&gt;, assorted experts at Advanced Vivarium Systems&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=Tremper_Albino&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tremper Albino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=Rainwater_Albino&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rainwater Albino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=Bell_Albino&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bell Albino&lt;/a&gt; at the Leopard Gecko Wiki&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vmsherp.com/LCLeopardNames.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leopard gecko names&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T22:08:38.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5517" CreationDate="2014-06-19T21:08:36.653" Score="9" ViewCount="3391" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I already have a cat (or a kitten), and I want to get another to keep it company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say the cat I have already is a couple years old, is it okay for me to get a new kitten? Or the other way around? it matter what age the new cat is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T19:07:08.397" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:39:50.143" Title="Does age matter when adopting a cat (if you already own a cat)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5509" CreationDate="2014-06-19T22:17:08.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have integrated new cats with cats from all ages from a few years to 15 years.  All went without serious incident.  When adding a kitten to a really old cat there can be a bit of friction if the kitten does too much roughhousing, but this is fairly easily dealt with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the difference is only a few years, then the older can probably handle kitten energy and will feel less threatened by a small newcomer.  The pecking order settles in fairly naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T22:17:08.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5449" CreationDate="2014-06-19T23:11:07.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I ended up doing was covering the terrarium in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowes.com/pd_16903-18632-RSBH210-100C_0__?productId=3224897&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plastic I found at Lowes&lt;/a&gt;. It seemed to be thick enough that it would block out the chemicals I thought. Once I wrapped it around the terrarium, I taped it all shut so that it was sealed off from anything getting inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could tell it worked because the exterminator used too much spray, and there was a film of slime over everything. When I took the plastic off, the tank didn't have any of the slime, or smell even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, to be safe, I cleaned the whole thing with Cold Life (I think it's only found in the Midwest US) which is a cleaning spray made for terrariums. It worked really well. I let the smell of the cleaning solution air out and put my bearded dragon back in and there have been no ill effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T18:13:54.287" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T18:13:54.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5448" CreationDate="2014-06-19T23:50:52.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To follow up what I did, I fasted them for two days before the move, so that they didn't produce any waste in the smaller tank if possible. I also took the net and some water conditioner with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I moved them, I cover the tank in some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowes.com/pd_16903-18632-RSBH210-100C_0__?productId=3224897&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plastic sheeting I found at Lowes.&lt;/a&gt; and taped it sealed so that nothing could get inside. I could tell it worked because the exterminator used too much spray, and there was a film of slime over everything. When I took the plastic off, the tank didn't have any of the slime, or smell even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got back, I decided to take a bit of a risk and put the fish back in. I did a water change after I moved them. Luckily, the plastic and the water change seems to have been enough, as they haven't shown any side-effects over the past few days since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-19T23:50:52.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5514" CreationDate="2014-06-20T00:13:15.180" Score="2" ViewCount="1928" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we know that it's bad to get dogs and cats when they're younger than 8 weeks old, but what about bearded dragons? Is there a certain age that you should wait for your bearded dragon to be before getting it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T00:21:15.823" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T01:12:08.973" Title="How old should bearded dragons be when you adopt them?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5513" CreationDate="2014-06-20T01:12:08.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not really a set age to adopt a bearded dragon at, because like most reptiles they don't care for their young after they hatch. What you're going to want to consider is how much time you have to care for it, and your experience with reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Juvenile bearded dragons need more care than adult bearded dragons, because they're more fragile being so small. You will have to take special care as they grow and shed their old skin, making sure that it all goes well and none of it stays behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also will need to be fed more than adults, and more insects. While adults are mostly herbivorous, juveniles will be mostly carnivorous and need to be fed three times a day to adult's two times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have experience with reptiles already, and have the time to devote to them, by all means get a baby bearded dragon, they are quite adorable when they're tiny. But if it's the first reptile you're getting, or you aren't sure you have the time to care for them as much, then I would suggest purchasing one that's closer to 10 inches in length, as that will be young adult and slightly easier to care for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T01:12:08.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5509" CreationDate="2014-06-20T01:47:55.117" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm unsure if age deltas make a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel a young cat is more likely to accept another cat than an old cat (but am not sure on this), but the biggest factor is how the personalities an insecurities work with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had at most 4 cats at one time.  The first two cats adjusted relatively easily I think because of their temperaments and they were relatively young (less than 3 yrs old).  The next two cats I got when everyone was older and the adjustment wasn't as good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat #3 wanted to frighten cats 1 &amp;amp; 2 into leaving the house.  Cat 1 figured out 3 was a paper tiger and would call bluffs, cat 2 was always scarred of 3.  Cat 4 is loopy and fun loving, but as a result of 3, 2 takes 4 too seriously, 1 is just kind of leery of 4 but not really bothered.  So I think the biggest factor was the personalities involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T01:47:55.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-20T07:05:06.517" Score="7" ViewCount="7307" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem appears that I can't find any sort of proper bedding for my mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried using ripped newspaper. It was fine until smells began coming out. I knew she was hiding her excrement down there, so I cleaned it and put dirt instead. She dislikes it extremely because she is unable to hide from us or from loud noises around her. She's forced to use the house I have for her or the toilet paper roll, but neither hide her well enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, using dirt allows me to focus more on her and see what's she's doing which is very useful for me as I panic when I see nothing in the cage and hear nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I have to wake her up just so I know she's fine. Now I cleaned out the dirt, because I found out she was taking it outside of the cage in protest or in an attempt to make a hole. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need a recommendation on what sort of cage floor and bedding to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2503" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-21T03:15:06.170" LastActivityDate="2018-07-07T07:17:16.363" Title="What kind of bedding should I use for a mouse's home?" Tags="&lt;cage&gt;&lt;mice&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5509" CreationDate="2014-06-20T11:41:15.677" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few general observations from my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kittens will usually adapt to entering a new household or having a new cat join them faster than older cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats from multi-cat households will adapt to a new multi-cat household faster than cats who were the only cat in the household. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In general, adding a cat to a single-cat household works better if the cat that's added is of the opposite sex than the original cat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extremely elderly cats may not tolerate a newcomer. I had this situation with a 19 year old cat who refused to accept the newest cat in the household. After 18 months, the two have settled into a routine of mostly ignoring each other (the new cat - 5 years old - plays quite happily with the 7 year old cat).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The personality of the cats matters a lot. Easygoing cats will accept newcomers more easily and be integrated into a new household more easily. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jealousy will happen. I've found it helps to take turns petting the cats, especially when they're still working out their standing. This helps to reassure the original cat(s) that the newcomer isn't going to replace them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separate the food bowls. This isn't so important for kibble on demand, but I've found it necessary to make sure the bowls with the canned food get placed at least one cat body-length apart, especially at first. Once your cats settle down, you may be able to bring the bowls closer together depending on the way your cats interact. I still have to keep the bowls separate to make sure the 19-year-old cat gets enough. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T11:41:15.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5518" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5520" CreationDate="2014-06-20T12:26:10.270" Score="16" ViewCount="41402" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time my cat eats, he gets food all over the floor, making it a really disgusting and unappealing corner in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRGJe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What solutions could I use to avoid this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2504" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-10-05T17:33:44.980" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T11:00:01.457" Title="How can I prevent my cat from making a mess when he eats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5518" CreationDate="2014-06-20T13:41:44.567" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution we use, given that we have a similar problem, is a rubber boot mat. Basically, it has slightly raised sides that help contain the spillage and is very, very, easy to rinse and wipe to clean up. If you look around a bit, you can probably find one that doesn't look out of place or odd (ours is a gray color and blends reasonably well with the kitchen floors and walls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T13:41:44.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5518" CreationDate="2014-06-20T13:46:43.387" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of two possible solutions, having experienced this problem myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first would be to use a dish with higher sides as long as feeding is still physically possible. You may also purchase a dish that has sides that curve inward so that the cat cannot push the food over the sides (see picture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Chphd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bowl&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now this may not be the exact style of bowl that will work, it is just an example. Plus you should probably use a safer material than glass. The edges could curve inward more drastically and even curve downward after inward. The base should probably also be more solid and larger so that it won't be easy knocked over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second solution would be to place a mat under the dishes. I have used placemats but you could use something with edges, such as a rubber shoe mat. This makes for easy cleanup. You remove the dishes, shake the mat off into the garbage, and put it back. If you have a vacuum cleaner, they are pretty easy to clean off as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I have found a commercial solution if you desire to try this instead. I have never tried it yet it seems to have good reviews on amazon. I will provide the link and you can peruse the reviews and decide if you are interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002A2JZAC&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Link: The Neater Feeder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T14:08:11.640" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T14:08:11.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2014-06-20T13:50:03.663" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most small rodents, such as rats or mice, I would look to use hardwood wood shavings (aspen is usually easily found, depends on where you are). Avoid softwood shavings, such as pine or cedar as they're known to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;very problematic&lt;/a&gt; and not just for rats and mice. There is also other bedding options, commercially available, made from recycled papers that can work. The trick with any of these options, however, is a regular cleaning of the cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that you're keen to keep an eye on her, but you should probably consider the natural desire of a mouse to have some hiding places and make that available. I think I would be a little concerned with adding stress to her by not having that option around. Consider something like a cardboard box or PVC pipe. The former is easily replaced and the latter is easily cleaned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-06-21T12:51:54.060" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T12:51:54.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2014-06-20T14:02:46.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on what you are using the lab rat for, this should be a very careful decision. They are many studies analyzing different types of cage beddings and many have advantages and disadvantages. As I do not know what you are using your rat for,  I will provide you with a very useful document and allow you to decide. This document is from &lt;em&gt;animalethics.org&lt;/em&gt; and is about rat housing in scientific institutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some general guidelines though:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a solid floor cage, not wire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a bedding of larger particle size (wood shavings over saw dust for example)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wood chips seem to be one of the better bets and many types can be treated by autoclaving, however note that some cannot be autoclaved and that some may produce unwanted side effects in your rat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Again depending on your needs, you will have to pick what is best for you.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalethics.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/222512/housing-rats-scientific-institutions.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The article can be found here&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and relevant information can be found in section 2.7 (page 22). You may wish to read the preceding section on caging; only for extra information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T14:02:46.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5524" CreationDate="2014-06-20T14:43:28.733" Score="6" ViewCount="25330" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to give my reptile a bowl of tap water to drink from and bathe/swim in? Or is there something wrong with tap water that I should avoid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-06-21T10:59:33.503" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T14:44:04.013" Title="Is tap water safe for reptiles?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2014-06-20T14:43:28.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The subject of tap water and it's safety for reptiles is still pretty much all based on opinions. I don't think that there have been any effective studies done on the subject that show either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it really depends on your town's water treatment plant, and how much it cleans the water. If you're happy with how your water tastes from the tap, I'd consider that okay to give your reptile, otherwise I'd consider treating/filtering the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concern is that so many chemicals are added to the water. Fluoride, chlorine, chloramines, along with the metals that leech into it from the holding tanks and pipes. We've grown used to it, and studies and tests are done constantly to make sure that it's safe for our consumption, but the safety of animals isn't a part of the consideration during those tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biggest concerns are not what's put into the water, so much as what isn't taken out of it. There are legal limits as to what can be found in tap water, based on it's harm to humans. While these contaminants aren't going to have any effects on humans at these limit, reptiles having a much smaller body mass, could be affected. See the EPA's list of legal limits on water contaminants &lt;a href=&quot;http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it might not be safe for reptiles, where it is for dogs and cats is that dogs and cats have been exposed to the water practically as long as humans have, it is their water source just as much as it is ours. Well, except for cats so much as they also get water from their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles on the other hand, have a different physiological makeup than mammals. While they don't &quot;drink&quot; water through their skin like amphibians do, a lot of reptiles will absorb some water through their skin to stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being relatively new and uncommon in the pet industry, reptiles have not been exposed to tap water for as long as us and the more common animals. Even more, if you have a more uncommon reptile and you didn't buy it from a breeder then it most likely came from the wild and hasn't been exposed to tap water at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use water conditioner for the water I give my reptiles because I don't like the taste of the tap water myself, and treating the water isn't that much of a hassle in my opinion. I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSafe-Water-Conditioner/dp/B0002568SG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1403273518&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=reptisafe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reptisafe&lt;/a&gt; which I can can find for about $5, and it uses 2 drops per cup of water. You can also use the same water conditioner you would use for a fish tank, as long as it doesn't have any additives (like for their slime coating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option I know people use, are brita water filters. They work by running the water through a carbon filter, which takes out most of the chemicals and harsh metals that can be found in the water. They might not clean it out entirely, as they're only concerned with making the water taste better really, but that should be enough to make the water safe for anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you would avoid using is distilled water, because reptiles rely on some of the minerals found in water, and distilled water removes those minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T20:02:55.537" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T20:02:55.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5518" CreationDate="2014-06-20T15:59:35.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah, yes, the &quot;eat some now and save some for later&quot; technique. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried deeper bowls, but had two cats that would literally pick the food up out of the bowl, drop it on the floor, and then eat it. I finally gave in to reality, put down a mat, put another one along the wall like a backsplash, and called it good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T15:59:35.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:05:55.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your cat on any prescriptions? Should they be? Your cat may need medication either for general anxiety or for the surgery/recovery. This is something you should discuss with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may feel uncomfortable because of the litter/shape of the box. There are softer and harder litters out there and different types of boxes. I would recommend a box with as low sides as possible and a nature based litter (like ground up vegetation or something) that's soft and dust free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2506" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-28T13:46:36.880" LastActivityDate="2020-11-28T13:46:36.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:07:15.063" Score="3" ViewCount="16843" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I recently adopted a dog with some issues. We know that she was exposed to domestic violence in her previous home. One side note before I explain the issues: We are scheduled to see a highly regarded trainer who specifically works with difficult dogs, and most likely will see her for several sessions. I came across this site after searching for this particular issue and couldn't find an answer so I figured I'd ask. My point by saying this is that I am not looking for some magical answer to &quot;fix&quot; my dog on this forum. Just looking for more info on what might be happening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the dog is extremely sweet with most people. She gets upset and barks/snarls/lunges when someone unexpectedly comes to our house, but as soon as we greet them and let her sniff their hand, she stops barking and does the tail/body wag. If she is unable to sniff them, she will continue to get more and more aggravated, barking and snarling at them. The other day we went to a full-service gas station and she acted like she wanted to tear the attendant apart because he was standing right next to the car and talking to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other issue she has is with other dogs. So far we haven't purposefully introduced her to any dogs because we know she is reactive and wanted to wait for the training session to find out how to properly train her. However, we had an unexpected run-in with a family member's dog. We were at someone else's house and this family member came over with their dog, without us knowing. The dog came running in and saw our dog, and came over to meet her. Our dog at first was friendly, they sniffed each other's faces for a second, then sniffed each other's back sides. But after a few seconds of this, our dog suddenly became very still and rigid, growled for a second, and then started attacking. She didn't actually bite the other dog, but they were going around in circles until the other dog had a chance to run away and we grabbed our dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common thing? I've only been finding stories about dogs who are aggressive towards other dogs immediately upon seeing them. In this case, our dog is not aggressive at first, she seems very interested and friendly. It's only after the initial introduction that she seems to freak out and snap at them. What might be going on? I can try to provide any other info that might be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2508" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T09:22:04.917" Title="Dog suddenly lunges at other dogs after brief introduction" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5518" CreationDate="2014-06-20T17:13:14.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem with my cat. If anything, deeper bowls made the problem worse. Eventually I realised that she prefers to eat on a flatter surface, so now I feed her on a &lt;em&gt;plate&lt;/em&gt;. The food is no longer scattered all over the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T17:13:14.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3197" CreationDate="2014-06-20T18:40:05.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that a cat sitter may be the best option in many cases, but looking into the details of catteries can still be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This site has a list of review as well as different things to do in order to see if a cattery is right for you. Just looking at one of these parts, visiting the cattery, may help you learn what you might be looking for when you visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visit the Cattery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's essential you visit the cattery your cat will be staying in before you drop your cat off for its holiday... You don't want to turn up hours before you are due to jet off on holiday, find the facilities are not what you were expecting and have nowhere to board your cat while you are away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any good cattery will be happy to have you visit and view the cattery. Check with the cattery whether they have open hours you can visit unannounced during or need an appointment, but don't let needing an appointment put you off. In most cases it's not because they want to whip around and clean first, just they want to avoid visitors at times when they would interrupt routines like feeding or settling in new arrivals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accommodation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general the cattery should be clean, tidy, light and well ventilated. The pens should be secure, well built and well maintained.&#xA;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick Cattery Check List&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good cattery will answer yes to the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are the staff friendly, caring and experienced?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the accommodation secure and in good repair?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there adequate ventilation, light and heating?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they insist cats are vaccinated?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you asked for written details about your cat and its needs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they have a vet on call 24/7?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can they cope with any special diet, medical or grooming requirements?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If relevant, are other types of pets kept out of sight/hearing (to minimise stress)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they have a license?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.findpetboarding.com/advice/choosing-boarding-cattery.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You basically have to make sure that the place that you visit &amp;quot;feels right&amp;quot; to you. If it has everything it should but the staff makes you uncomfortable, that's okay. A quick internet search showed a lot of catteries in your area. Just keep looking until you find one. You may think that an indoor one is best, but after touring a cattery that offers both in and outdoor enclosures, you may change your mind. You should also make sure to look at the cats that are there. If they seem relaxed, that's a very good sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From another article about choosing a cattery:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you visit a cattery (any you must always visit to see for yourself) ask questions...&#xA;See if it is clean and the cats in the cattery look relaxed and happy. If the proprietor won’t let you see where the cats are kept then go elsewhere – a good proprietor will have nothing to hide and will be proud to show you their cattery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.icatcare.org/advice/keeping-your-cat-safe/choosing-boarding-cattery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the final option is with you. Since your cat is older, perhaps they would not enjoy being out of the house with you gone. Perhaps they would like the adventure, every cat is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T02:56:46.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5527" CreationDate="2014-06-20T19:09:26.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog has a different personality. My grandmother has a dog that is only dog aggressive towards large dogs, ignoring any dog that is cat sized. That being said, the best advice you will likely get is from a trainer. You already have the proper additude in not expecting an instant &quot;fix&quot; and the training will probably work well. In the specific instance that you mentioned, I think it may be a good idea to redirect your dog when another dog appears. Perhaps your dog has a low threshold for other dogs. It may be saying. &quot;oh hello...you are too close to me... please go away... GETAWAYFROMMENOW!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with some ASPCA advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To say that a dog is “aggressive” can mean a whole host of things. Aggression encompasses a range of behaviors that usually begins with warnings and can culminate in an attack. Dogs may abort their efforts at any point during an aggressive encounter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/aggression-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to learn the warning signs in your dog. For my grandmother's dog, his warning sign was a silent growl. Once you know when your dog may be getting agitated, you may be able to remove it from the situation before it turns ugly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what specific type of aggression your dog has, but here is a summary of fear aggression (also from the ASPCA)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fearful dogs sometimes run away from a person or animal who frightens them, but if the person or animal turns to leave, they come up from behind and nip. This is why it’s a good idea to avoid turning your back on a fearful dog. Fear aggression is characterized by rapid nips or bites because a fearful dog is motivated to bite and then run away. Sometimes the aggression doesn’t begin with clear threats. A fearful dog might not show her teeth or growl to warn the victim off. In this kind of situation, the only warning is the dog’s fearful posture and her attempts to retreat. Male and female dogs are equally prone to fear aggression, and this type of aggression is common in both puppies and adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/aggression-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important to note who the aggression is focused on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Determining whom your dog is aggressive toward is essential to understanding her behavior. It’s common for dogs to behave aggressively toward unfamiliar people. Some studies report that as many as 60 to 70% of all pet dogs bark threateningly at strangers and act unfriendly when around them. Aggression toward unfamiliar dogs is also widespread. It’s less common for dogs to direct aggression toward family members or other pets in the home. Most problematic are dogs who are aggressive toward children, especially children in the family. Not only is aggression toward children exceedingly difficult to treat because of safety concerns, the likelihood that a dog with this problem will ever become trustworthy is slim.&#xA;  Some dogs are aggressive only to a certain category of people. A dog might be aggressive only with the veterinarian or groomer, or with the postal carrier, or with people in wheelchairs or individuals using canes and walkers. In some cases, it’s easy to limit a dog’s access to the people that upset her. For instance, if your short-haired dog dislikes the groomer, you can just groom her yourself at home. But in other cases, the targeted people are impossible to avoid. For example, if you have a dog who dislikes children and you live in a densely populated urban apartment building next to a preschool, it will be difficult to avoid exposing your dog to children.&#xA;  Aggression toward people, aggression toward dogs and aggression toward other animals are relatively independent patterns of behavior. If your dog is aggressive toward other dogs, for example, that doesn’t mean she’s any more or less likely to be aggressive toward people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/aggression-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once had a dog that was only aggressive towards tall men, men in hats, and black men. He was abused as a puppy and we guess that his abusers fit that profile. This was a big problem because my boyfriend was also tall and it took a lot of work for the dog to trust him. (He had to lay on the floor with the other dog before he was considered okay).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that you should work with the trainer and take careful notes of your dogs behavior. It will not be easy and there may be some people or dogs that your dog will never trust. (My dog still could not stand hats until the day he died)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/aggression-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;story&lt;/a&gt; of someone who had a dog that became aggressive when excited. Perhaps you  can learn from their experience as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this article has pictures that help to learn dog &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/canine-body-language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body language&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1043" LastEditorUserId="1043" LastEditDate="2014-06-20T19:15:56.420" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T19:15:56.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4342" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:10:56.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Others have made some good suggestions about how to neutralize the odors in the area. (If any got on walls, you may want to paint over those walls eventually with an oil-based paint, or something to block the smell completely.) And by now - June 20 - the cat has probably gotten his Cone of Shame off. But, other people will benefit from this answer, possibly, so here goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help destress your cat in the mornings, is someone available to sit with him in one room of the house (litterbox in one corner, a food and water dish in another corner, with a toy or - if he likes it - a brush), while the majority of people go about their routines of leaving? He will eventually get to go out again, so this won't have to be a permanent solution. In the evenings...hm. I don't know if most people arrive close to the same time, but doing the same thing (the first person to get home, sits with the cat in his special room for a while, to let most other ppl come home) is possibly a little more cumbersome, but giving him positive focussed attention may help reduce his need to urinate outside the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:10:56.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5518" CreationDate="2014-06-20T21:32:32.420" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might also check your cat for dental problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_odontoclastic_resorptive_lesion&quot;&gt;Feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions&lt;/a&gt;, aka FORL. She will gradually but eventually need all of her teeth removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She recently was making more and more of a mess while eating, perhaps because of pain while chewing. Then she had six teeth removed. Despite having fewer teeth to &quot;hold in the food&quot;, she isn't messy while feeding now. (And her general mood has much improved.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2509" LastActivityDate="2014-06-20T21:32:32.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5540" CreationDate="2014-06-21T02:53:01.360" Score="3" ViewCount="6016" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my Bearded Dragon attack my hand when putting food in his cage? I feed my bearded dragon Greens and live worms and give him distilled water. Lately I have been noticing that my Bearded Dragon has been trying to puff up and attack at my hand when I put his food in. I wash my hands with soap to eliminate some of the food smell if the food gets onto my hand to keep him from thinking my hand is food. Is there a safe way to stop him from attacking my hands when putting his food in his cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T22:00:09.563" Title="Why does my Bearded Dragon attack my hand when putting food in his cage?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-21T11:24:36.907" Score="3" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am I worrying too much? I noticed the past day that he keeps biting at this one spot, and I noticed it was balding. I took a picture of it. Can anyone give me any ideas on if this looks normal or not? I tried to compare it to the rest of his skin on the tail but couldn't get past all the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture of the spot he keeps biting: &lt;a href=&quot;http://puu.sh/9DA69/217d1da5da.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://puu.sh/9DA69/217d1da5da.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2513" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-21T11:35:37.273" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T07:20:39.830" Title="Dog keeps biting at this spot on his tail" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5527" CreationDate="2014-06-21T13:05:54.150" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've pretty much, at least in my view, seemed to have described a classic case of &lt;em&gt;territorial and/or protective aggression&lt;/em&gt;. Basically, the aggression is linked to relative distance (e.g. the proximity to you) with the aggression getting stronger as the perceived threat draws near to what they are defending. Karen Overall describes these in quite a bit of detail in the &lt;em&gt;Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats&lt;/em&gt; and it is fairly common in that many dogs will demonstrate some amount of one or the other from time to time. It's also not limited, necessarily, to any species as they can react to humans or other dogs as perceived threats in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sense is that much of the aggression is centred around protecting you, rather than a location (though there's some minor territory aggression with your home). The problem is, under these circumstances is that the aggression isn't warranted and persists, especially with other dogs, despite your cues that it's not necessary. While we expect dogs to be protective, that expectation is with the understanding that the dog can determine threat correctly. You should observe if her change in reaction to other dogs is heightened by the other dog getting closer to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to be seeing a specialist, clearly, so it would be interesting to learn if they come to the same conclusion. I suspect that they'll work through a course of behavioral modification, but in the meanwhile what you can do is minimize/avoid situations where the dog thinks she has to protect you and keep her from people that are already dog afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T13:05:54.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5535" CreationDate="2014-06-21T14:30:37.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it could be as harmless as a really bad skin itch either from some allergen or fleas. Seems awfully localized, however, and one of the clinical signs of canine &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/evr_dog_behavior_compulsive_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obsessive compulsive disorder&lt;/a&gt; is compulsive chewing a particular part of the body. While some of the OCD behaviors are relatively harmless, this one is much less so because it's effectively self-mutilation that could result in injury. However, not being a vet or specialist you can't take this as a diagnosis so you probably should have him taken in for a look-see. A vet is going to be able to confirm or rule out fleas, rash, OCD, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, what's happening is not normal and he needs to be examined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T14:30:37.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5518" CreationDate="2014-06-21T14:47:59.227" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's seldom a simple one size fits all problem (as the various posts are indicating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tooth / gum / mouth issues can result in some cats annoyingly mincing food into lots of small pieces and scattering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats that like to lick up food (rather than bite / chew it) will need deep dishes and/or ones with vertical walls to keep the food in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cats are more comfortable eating and make less of a mess with flat plates where they can get to all the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to try several things since your cat's issue isn't necessarily the same as another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It always helps if you have some glutton cat who likes to clean up the mess though :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T14:47:59.227" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3227" CreationDate="2014-06-21T18:46:14.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a medical order disorder called &quot;pica&quot; (humans can have it as well). You will find plenty of advice Googling for pica in cats. I have a pica cat myself and unfortunately I don't think you can get rid of this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it may possibly be connected to malnutrition and if not doing so already, feeding high quality cat food may help, and wont hurt your cat in any case. What high quality cat food is, is an entirely different topic though but, for starters, avoid any food with sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2515" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-07T15:14:32.060" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T15:14:32.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5533" CreationDate="2014-06-21T18:58:04.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say attack, but it doesn't really sound like aggression to me. Typically aggression will come with a warning first. With bearded dragons that will be them puffing out their neck, showing what looks like a scaly beard (which is where their name comes from), which will usually also turn black. So unless that's happening, I would say he's just overly excited that it's feeding time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearded dragons have pretty bad eyesight, so they like to explore by tasting things (That's why sand and other particle substrate is considered bad for them). It's also possible that he smells the soap on your hands and isn't sure what to make of it, so he's checking it out to see what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to make sure you regularly interact and handle your bearded dragon outside of feeding times, to help him distinguish your hand from food. That way, even if he does still associate you with food, which I bet he will, he'll be better about getting the food from your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It might help to feed him in a separate container, that way your hand is the transporter to the food, and not the container of the food. Which shouldn't illicit excited nips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you feed him in a separate container, you might want to try putting the food in first, then transitioning to adding the food in later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you want to feed him in his terrarium, you could pick him up with one hand, put his food in, then put him back down at his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the very least, it might be worth trying to put the food in at the opposite side of the container your bearded dragon is located. I usually put mine opposite of the basking lamp anyways, that way the greens don't dry out too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, the end goal is to make it so that he doesn't associate hitting your hand with making food appear, otherwise that's what he's going to start doing when he's hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you think it is more aggression than excitement, I think the best thing that's going to fix it is simply more handling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you've had him for quite some time, but for people with new dragons, handling becomes easier if they're first used to your scent. Placing a worn t-shirt on top of the tank for a night or two is a simple way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick him up and just hang out with him for a couple minutes each day if possible. A good time to do this is before feeding, that way he associates your hand with getting picked up, and it's when he gets put down that food appears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearded dragons like moving colors, so they make fairly good companions when you're on your computer or watching a movie, as they'll be content to sit and watch the colors for the most part. Mine will run up and try to catch anything that makes a sudden movement on my computer screen every so often, so be prepared for that possibly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't take too long with frequent handling, where he should start recognizing that your hand isn't food and/or doesn't mean him harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T22:00:09.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-21T20:19:59.673" Score="11" ViewCount="2867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working for a while to train my cat to use the human toilet, and the process is taking much longer than I'd hoped.  There is already a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/971/how-can-i-train-my-cat-to-use-the-toilet&quot;&gt;general question&lt;/a&gt; on the topic, but I have a specific problem with the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat took fine to going &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the toilet (which currently has a dish in it to hold litter).  It only took him a few days to get into the habit.  In particular he has no trouble peeing in the toilet--even when I take away the bowl he doesn't have a problem peeing right into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But poop is another matter--he really seems determined to poop only if there's litter there.  I've tried to slowly reduce the amount of litter in the bowl until there's none.  And even when we reach &quot;none&quot; he'll go once or twice without litter before deciding it's not worth it anymore, and opts to go on the floor next to the toilet (while still peeing in the right place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really understand the behavior--after all, the floor doesn't have litter either so I don't really know why he cares.  He's never had this issue when using the normal litterbox either.  Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2516" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T14:03:08.120" Title="Human toilet training: Weaning cat off litter for pooping?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5541" CreationDate="2014-06-21T20:47:45.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like it &quot;doesn't feel right&quot; to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps if you really want this you need to cycle it several times.  Go gradually to no litter, then have him poop without litter once or twice, then a little litter, then no litter once or twice....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are picky in their bathroom habits, I can understand I am too.  What your cat does may not always be rational or well thought out, but it feels right to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T20:47:45.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5424" CreationDate="2014-06-21T23:30:25.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about filtered water, but Smartwater and its derivatives should be a great viable alternative. The electrolytes in it will help to hydrate your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2009/july/magic-waters-why-i-love-smart%C2%9D-water-therapy-pets-6860&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2009/july/magic-waters-why-i-love-smart%C2%9D-water-therapy-pets-6860&lt;/a&gt; for some awesome advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2518" LastActivityDate="2014-06-21T23:30:25.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5553" CreationDate="2014-06-22T00:18:14.313" Score="8" ViewCount="3180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that the average life expectancy of a domestic cat in the United states is 6.1 years. I've also heard that there have been cats that have lived for over thirty years. Is there a way to put an educated guess on how much longer my 13 year old cat will live?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a small (7 1/2 lb.) domestic shorthair. She showed up at our door as a kitten of less than 6 months. She had 5 litters of kittens, and then was spayed at three years of age. She has never been allowed indoors, but has free access to our large barn. She has never had any health issues, and her eyes and teeth are in very good condition. She eats whatever cat food is on sale, plus meat scraps from the kitchen and a variety of rodents. She is a very easygoing patient cat and very good with small children. She is not (has never been) extremely active, but likes to hunt, follow people around the yard, and play with toys and string.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing out of the ordinary happens, I feel like she should be with us a good many years yet. Is there a way to make this more than just a feeling? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1391" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T23:39:53.137" Title="How long can a cat live?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5545" CreationDate="2014-06-22T02:09:21.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm honestly not sure how much longer she has. It depends on her health, how long her parents lived (probably impossible to tell, at this point, unless you could somehow find out who her parents were...) A veterinarian -=might=- be able to make a better guess, based on her heart and overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to make her life last longer...um. I would just stick with &quot;take her to a vet every few years if she'll tolerate it, take their recommendations&quot; - and I'd go with a vet who understands cats that live outdoors and can address those concerns, instead of a vet that deals with suburban dwellers like me who keep their cats indoors for fear of them being hit by cars (ie - very very controlled environment). Not only may they be able to alert you to any other potential out-of-door dangers, they won't keep suggesting that you make her an indoor kitty - which, at this point in her life, would probably just aggravate the heck out of her. I would be very surprised if she lived past 18, though, just because that's the point when her bones and muscles and other organs are...well, that's the human equivalent of your 80s. 18 years is a not-indecent lifespan for a cat, and a fairly good one for an outdoor-only cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope she does live at least a handful of years more! She sounds like she's doing well, it's hard to tell in detail but it sounds like she's happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T02:09:21.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-22T04:35:20.830" Score="8" ViewCount="10667" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mouse found a way to get out by using her head and body to force the bars further apart and then escape through the gap. She has been doing this for the past two days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I make her stop or not let her get out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She can get out fairly easily now and she does it at night, forcing me to wake up at 6 a.m. and ask questions like these on Stack Exchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2503" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T02:27:27.130" LastActivityDate="2018-10-07T20:26:10.963" Title="How can I prevent my mouse from escaping the cage?" Tags="&lt;cage&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5545" CreationDate="2014-06-22T06:13:42.330" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;The statistic you cite affects outdoor and feral cats. If you'd like to maximize your cat's life, bring it—and keep it—indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Indoor cats now live an average of 15 years, and it is not uncommon to see cats 18 to 20 years of age. The domestic cat in the wild (sometimes called a feral cat) has a short life expectancy-about 6 years.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/understanding-your-old-aging-cat&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/understanding-your-old-aging-cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do your cats live outside? Or come in and out of the house? If your cat does spend a lot of time exploring the great outdoors, there are some concerns and dangers you should be aware of. A sad statistic is that the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is half as long as an indoor cat's. In fact, according to PetPlace.com, it may be more like one-third: 5 years.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/how-to-care-for-an-outdoor-cat&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/how-to-care-for-an-outdoor-cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, these are just statistics. I once had an indoor–outdoor cat live over 25 years; she would've hated being kept inside. My current cat is too afraid to ever go outside at all unless I take him out on a harness!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do seriously consider allowing the cat into your home, assuming she's game. The more time she spends inside, the longer she'll likely live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2519" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T06:13:42.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5550" CreationDate="2014-06-22T11:39:46.883" Score="6" ViewCount="1752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get a pet snake. What aspects should I consider when choosing one and preparing to keep it and care for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T22:43:24.450" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T15:57:23.203" Title="What are the minimum requirements for keeping a snake?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5549" CreationDate="2014-06-22T11:39:46.883" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exact details of the environment and requirements will vary from species to species,&#xA;reflecting the different sizes, natures and natural habitats of the different kinds of snakes,&#xA;but the principles of keeping any snake are very similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The underlying principle, as with keeping any animal, is of course to put its health and welfare first, so that you and it may enjoy the maximum time together and derive the maximum enjoyment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Space&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any animal needs space to roam and to exercise in order to exhibit its natural behaviour.&#xA;As a &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt;, for a ground-dwelling snake, is that the perimeter of the enclosure should be double the length of the animal.&#xA;An arboreal snake should have that, plus at least half their length available in height, but even a ground-dweller such as a Royal (Ball) Python will appreciate the chance to stretch upwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Temperature&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snake's home should have a warm side and a cool side.&#xA;The exact temperature range required varies according to the species,&#xA;and (to a lesser extent) even according to the individual snake,&#xA;but a range of, for example, 75°F-90°F (24°C-32°C) would be typical for a Royal Python.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always have an accurate thermometer to keep track of the temperature. Typically, digital thermometers are better calibrated than analogue (dial) ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Individual animals might have different preferences, of course, so watch where your snake goes and adjust the temperature from time to time. If it's always in the warmer side, then perhaps the temperatures need to be raised by a degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hides&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether it hides in rodent burrows, or hangs in trees, every snake values its safety, &#xA;to the extent that it will favour a safe location over warmth if that's the choice.&#xA;A pet snake's home should be large enough to be able to provide more than one hide,&#xA;such that it can feel safe in either the warm side or the cool side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, watching where your individual pet spends its time will give you an indication as to whether you have a habitat which suits it. A happy snake will move between the hides from time to time, though rarely when you are watching, so looks for trails in the substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Light/dark&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow a normal Circadian rhythm by turning the lights on in the morning and off at night to follow the sunrise and sunset. Also, keep in mind that some snakes prefer to be active at different times of the day (whether they are nocturnal, diurnal, or crepuscular).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your snake's light range sensitivity when purchasing lights, some can detect infrared light (IR), some ultraviolet (UV).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Humidity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actual values vary from species to species, but this should be measured (using a hygrometer) and managed as appropriate.&#xA;In general, the humidity will need to be higher (50%-70%) for rain forest dwellers,&#xA;and lower (30%-50%) for desert dwellers.&#xA;Humidity can generally be raised by misting the tank with water and providing live plants, and lowered by desiccating the substrate and providing more ventilation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humidity should generally be a little higher when your snake is shedding, in order to ease the removal of the old skin. Creating a &quot;moss box&quot; by filling a hide with damp moss (sphagnum moss for example) can be used to give a concentrated humidity and avoid increasing the humidity of the entire tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Substrate&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure that the chosen substrate is appropriate to the specific species, as some snakes will be intolerant to certain substrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Common substrates include: sand, wood chips/bark (commonly aspen), coconut husk (eco-earth), newspaper, or absorbent paper towels/kitchen rolls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some substrates will hold moisture better than others, which can help keep a higher humidity, but they can also encourage mold and bacteria growth, which should be avoided by choosing a different substrate or replacing the substrate frequently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some animals will ingest substrate when eating.&#xA;Sand is particularly nasty if this happens as it will become impacted inside the animal's digestive tract, potentially blocking it. This can be avoided by using a different substrate, and/or feeding in a separate container that has no substrate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substrate will need to be regularly cleaned (usually daily) to take out the waste left by the snake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cleanliness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every so often the substrate will have to be replaced entirely, and the tank &quot;deep-cleaned&quot; with anti-bacterial, pet-safe, cleaning solution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Water supply&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes need water to drink and to bathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that some snakes will choose to defecate in their water bowl,&#xA;so it should be checked at various times throughout the day.&#xA;Other conditions might cause the snake to spend more time in the water bowl than normal. During shedding times, and if your animal should be unfortunate enough to suffer an infestation of mites. More care should be kept towards keeping the water clean during these times (and of course treatments for parasites if that's the case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appropriate to the specific species&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Typically mice, rats, or multimammates (also known as African Soft Furred rats, sometimes simply called &lt;em&gt;multis&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also eggs, frogs, birds, or lizards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appropriate size&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Typically the same width as the snake at its widest point&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Furniture/Décor&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The choice of how to furnish a vivarium is mostly down to personal taste,&#xA;and is more for the benefit of humans looking at it than the snake,&#xA;but a varied environment will more closely match what the animal would have had in the wild,&#xA;and so can give it more opportunity to express natural behaviour.&#xA;Some species like to burrow more, while others will climb, so check on the specific needs for your species,&#xA;for example by providing an arboreal with objects to climb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Handling&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appropriate to the specific species. Snakes that have been in the pet industry, and bred in captivity will be more receptive to handling, while snakes new to the pet industry, and wild caught, will be harder (sometimes impossible) to handle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handle the snake with the size and space in mind, providing proper support to it's body. Also avoid handling a snake while it's shedding, or after feeding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Handle snakes safely, if the snake is not used to handling the use of hook, or &quot;tap training&quot;, might be necessary. Hooks should always be used with venomous snakes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure to follow proper hygiene, washing your hands both before and after, using anti-bacterial soap.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Emergency care&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should know, preferably before you acquire the animal, where you can obtain specialist veterinary care. If you have a venomous snake, you should get in contact with your local hospital to check whether they keep suitable antidote in stock, and make sure that you follow your local laws regarding keeping poisonous species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other considerations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to check with your local authorities for any regulations on owning snakes.&#xA;- Some areas have regulations regarding venomous snakes, where a license is required to own them, in some select areas anti-venom must be kept on-site, other areas might ban the ownership of venomous snakes entirely.&#xA;- Some areas have regulations regarding the size of snakes, where snakes that grow to a certain length are prohibited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;other animals might feature on a list of &quot;endangered species&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most places, there will be a distinction between &quot;captive bred&quot; snakes, (CB) and &quot;wild captured&quot; snakes (WC): ensure that you understand the distinction between them and the implications behind them, and know where your animal has come from. Wild captured snakes should be avoided if you have no previous experience with reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detailed information can be found by searching through the other &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/snakes&quot;&gt;questions regarding snakes&lt;/a&gt;, as well as searching for a &quot;care sheet&quot; of the specific snake that are usually provided by snake breeders and reptile magazines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T15:05:57.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5551" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-22T13:38:03.930" Score="6" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 110 gallon reef tank being lit by metal-hallides (2x250w) and blue 4 actinic T5s.  My light schedule is T5's starting at sunrise for two hours, then MHs for 8 hours, then T5s for two.  Obviously the lights get very hot and I'm trying to reduce the water heat as much as possible; they're currently 10.5&quot; away.  I know LEDs would be better, but they're not in the cards right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is:  How high can I raise the lights while still being effective for photosynthesis (penetrating 31&quot; of water)?  Is there maybe a 4'x2' hood that could possibly focus the light straight down, allowing me to lift the lights higher?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you have a recommendation for an alternate light schedule, I'm open for suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2014-06-22T14:41:38.027" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T20:56:11.843" Title="How High Can I Raise My Lights?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5506" CreationDate="2014-06-22T16:11:38.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Matt's explanation pretty much covers the science of it. As a more simplistic view, though, consider two snakes, a male and a female, both of which look &quot;normal&quot;. When they mate, a number of eggs will be laid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else is known about the heritage of the two parents, then the eggs will be considered &quot;normal&quot;, and no-one will suspect that anything other than &quot;normal&quot; babies will emerge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible, of course, that the two parents were both carrying the genes for an albino but no-one would have known because those genes are recessive so neither snake shows any external characteristics to give it away. In this instance, the eggs have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the albino genes from the father and a 50/50 chance of inheriting the albino genes from the mother.  Statistically, we might then expect 1/4 of the babies to be normal by getting the albino gene from neither parent, and another 1/4 to be albino by inheriting the albino genes from both parents. The remaining (statistical) half of the babies will then be like their parents were - &lt;em&gt;heterozygous&lt;/em&gt; for albino.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The babies which look normal are then known as &quot;66% het albino&quot;, as 2/3 of them (statistically) will carry the albino gene and 1/3 will not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is to say, there is a 66% probability that each of them is heterozygous for albino. You'll not know, of course, until you bred them, and even then you're at the mercies of statistics so you'd never know for certain if one did not carry it, you'd only ever know for sure if it mated and produced albino offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-22T16:40:21.363" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T16:40:21.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5545" CreationDate="2014-06-22T20:17:58.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the current worlds record is something like 36-37 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I HAD a 22 year old, who died on me last summer when I was away on a trip.  I currently have three cats ages 16, ?? (I hope 16 because if anything she is older), and 18.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the record is 36-37 years or so, one might think a cat could make it to 40, but I wouldn't bet on any specific cat for that feat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The factors that reduce a cats lifespan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being hit by a car&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;getting a serious disease or injury outside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hypothyroid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kidney problems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cancer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;problems from food...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat that &quot;seems&quot; healthy can always develop some serious condition, it is very hard to say &quot;how much longer will my cat live&quot;.  Enjoy your time with your cat while you have it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="774" LastEditDate="2014-06-22T23:39:53.137" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T23:39:53.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2014-06-22T23:31:29.007" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what you say, particularly about her knowing that it's &quot;bad&quot; behaviour, it sounds as though it's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/attention-seeking-behavior-in-cats/&quot;&gt;attention-seeking behaviour&lt;/a&gt;. As noted on that page, the key to correcting attention-seeking behaviour is very similar to correcting attention-seeking behaviour in children, and involves essentially three steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignore the behaviour you don’t want&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide other outlets for the cat’s energy and attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give attention to the cat when she’s quiet or acting appropriately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-06-22T23:31:29.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-23T12:51:35.773" Score="0" ViewCount="26233" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats been getting some kind of black stuff around its eyes, is it normal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2470" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-19T10:25:46.480" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:31:11.083" Title="My cat buddi gets some kind of black stuff in its eyes, is that a problem?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-25T23:02:45.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-23T14:28:54.343" Score="4" ViewCount="4829" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past few weeks I've noticed that whenever I come home together with my parents, our dog starts growling at me--and only at me. Tonight he actually tried to bite me, fortunately he was stopped by my father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really confused by his behavior because inside the house I can play with him and whenever I come home &quot;alone&quot; from work, he doesn't get angry and I can even pet him. It is only when I come home together with my parents after going out that he gets aggressive towards me. Is it because my parents stay with him at home all the time and I don't see him for almost 15 hours a day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate any advice on how to stop this behavior before he ends up biting me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2526" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T13:50:08.767" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T13:50:08.767" Title="My dog gets aggressive to me when I come home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5555" CreationDate="2014-06-23T16:27:29.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this black (or dark brown) gunky stuff around his eyes? It -=may=- be that your cat just has a cold. It may be that your cat has feline herpes (viral rhinotracheitis, or FVR), or a fungal infection. Take the cat to a vet and ask them about it. (Hard to guess at what it might be without either a photo or a clearer description; but...going just on your description, there could be many causes. A vet will track down the problem and be able to suggest diagnoses, if they are necessary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T16:27:29.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-23T18:47:58.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best solution is to enclose the entire balcony in pet safe wire so that the cat will not be able to fall out.  This 'catio' can be a pleasant place for everyone rather than a cause of strife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many web sites with ideas of how to make one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T18:47:58.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5555" CreationDate="2014-06-23T18:51:05.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small amount of 'crust' around the eye is fairly common in cats and you can use a tissue to help them get rid of it.  Cats like Persians have a slightly worse issue than normal.  It is similar to the 'sand' that the Sandman is supposed to sprinkle in kids eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a large amount, or the eye looks red, then a vet visit is in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-23T18:51:05.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5555" CreationDate="2014-06-24T00:00:55.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hate to be wishy-washy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be perfectly normal, or it could be a problem requiring vet care.  Most likely it is the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cats age, some start to accumulate some black gunk below the lowest part of the eye (I think the tear duct is there).  Some people assign the highly technical term &quot;eye booger&quot; to this stuff.  It's not a big problem, but removing it is probably a good idea for hygiene's sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my cats have gone past age 15, some of them have had this issue.  I notice it is worse in winter when it is dry.  I simply clean the area (very gently) with my finger.  Note your cat will probably not be terribly keen about you doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now my &quot;baby&quot; (a 16 yr old Manx) is not doing this, I think, because the air is warmer and more humid.  Another cat I have who is 18 never seems to have the problem (maybe she cleans her own eyes, maybe she has less buildup).  Another cat who is, I think, 16 has the problem less, and it is pretty much just during winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:31:11.083" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:31:11.083" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-24T02:08:24.973" Score="2" ViewCount="17304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I left my room to go talk to my mom and left my little brothers food on the table. When I came back Lola, my dog, was eating the food so I spanked her, then out of frustration I kicked her in the middle of her back and she yelped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She then ran away with her back feet not being normal they were skittering outwards like a frog. I kicked her because she's done this at least 5 times leaving him hungry. She's been my dog since '07 and I love her and now I'm scared she paralyzed. Please help me. What's wrong with her? Will she die? And I don't have enough money for the vet. What should I look for/feel for on her back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2529" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T02:13:27.677" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T14:14:19.077" Title="I kicked my dog in the back and now she's walking funny, what do I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5562" CreationDate="2014-06-24T05:00:38.190" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your only option at this point is to make sure she is taken to a vet. There has been some damage done, the real question is how much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not taking her to see a vet would be a bad decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you said you don't have the money, but sometimes it's possible to work out repayment plans to pay for visits. There is also pet owner's insurance that you can get that would pay for emergencies such as this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a purely monetary standpoint, saving money by not taking her to a vet is a short term investment, and it only works if the expenses that occur from that investment are less than what is saved. I think you'll find that with the time and money you will spend afterwards, you would have saved more in the long run by making a long-term investment and taking her to the vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even spinal injuries that have been treated can have complications in the future. Untreated spinal injuries can come with those and more. Being paralyzed is one, inability to control bowels is another. With the nervous system running through the spine it's actually a huge risk for neurological conditions to develop from the damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the damage is minimal, and there is a possibility that it will heal on it's own, there's no telling what the lasting effects will be. Think about it this way, when people break a bone they don't go to the doctor because it won't heal on it's own, but because it will heal incorrectly. Bones are not meant to be moved out of place, and once out of place they will not move back on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/crkfP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat x-ray with broken spine&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/javajive/22593549/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source with incredibly sad story&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an x-ray of a cat with a broken spine. If you ran your hand along the back you would probably feel the bump where the spine is misplaced (along with noticing the animal scream in pain no doubt). Even a single slipped disc is enough to pinch a nerve and cause constant pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From an ethical standpoint, you can not choose to let your dog live the rest of her life in pain for the sake of monetary gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not because you're a bad owner but because it is what she needs, if you can not afford to have her injuries cared for by a professional you should consider giving her up to a foster home or shelter where someone with the financial ability can. She can not take care of herself and it is your responsibility to make sure she is cared for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, never attempt to treat any injuries such as this. Attempting to fix this could pinch a nerve, or even internal organs (punctured organs can result in death). Even taking her to the vet you will want to be extremely careful. Don't pick her up if you can help it as that will bend the spine. Try to have her walk into the car if she can still move. Place a ramp so she doesn't have to jump in or out. Otherwise, lay her down on a board, or in a carrier, to act as a stretcher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck in your decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T13:55:11.523" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T13:55:11.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2174" CreationDate="2014-06-24T12:25:06.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though the general consensus is against corporal punishment, I must say that it has its place. Corporal punishment may not be the preferred method, but it is certainly useful. Dogs, like all intelligent mammals, learn simple concepts quickly by pain or fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A two-finger slap on the nose while rubbing a puppy's nose in his droppings is considered acceptable. Be sure to follow this up with taking the droppings outside &lt;em&gt;with the puppy&lt;/em&gt; and petting him with the droppings outside. Additionally, when the puppy leaves droppings outside pet him as well. Thus, droppings in the house are associated with the negative corporal punishment and droppings outside are associated with pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more extreme example is any dog who has been hit by a car and is now afraid of the road. The dog learns to associate the road with pain, and thus avoid it. This may be corporal consequences as opposed to strictly corporal punishment, but I argue that any effective punishment (for dogs, children, or even employees) should be construed and presented as a consequence if at all possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T12:25:06.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-24T12:49:44.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found that &quot;acts of God&quot; can discourage and even teach cats from doing certain things (e.g. play with the curtains, climb on the kitchen counter etc.) An &quot;act of God&quot; is something that will frighten/annoy your cat without coming obviously from you but rather as a result of his own actions. Examples include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stacking empty soda cans to a place your cat wants to jump. When they noisily collapse he will designate that area as &quot;dangerous&quot; on his own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stay hidden and use a water pistol in the &quot;critical moment&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;again staying hidden, noisily, throw a magazine near but NOT ON the cat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the motion sensitive air can mentioned by @Dan Herbert&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning the smells that can discourage your cat, you can also try eucalyptus oils (easily available in cold balms.) I put some balm on cables to discourage my cat from biting them, haven't tested this on big surfaces though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T12:49:44.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5562" CreationDate="2014-06-24T14:11:35.823" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Disclaimer. The following information is for general guidance on your responsibilities towards an animal and is not legal advice. Local laws may vary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the dog to a vet. If you can't afford a vet, you shouldn't have a dog. You talk about your little brother, so maybe you are still a minor yourself, which nets you fractionally more than zero sympathy. Is the reason that you cannot afford a vet because you are trying to keep this from your parents? Or is the dog owner unable to afford a vet? In either case, your number one priority now should be to ensure that your dog gets immediate and appropriate care. &lt;strong&gt;Failing to do so would be considered neglect in some jurisdictions&lt;/strong&gt; (relevant UK legislation):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;strong&gt;A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are&#xA;  reasonable&lt;/strong&gt; in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an&#xA;  animal for which he is responsible are met to the extent required by&#xA;  good practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(2) For the purposes of this Act, an animal's needs shall be taken to&#xA;  include— &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(a) its need for a suitable environment,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(b) its need for a suitable diet,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(c) its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(d) any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(e) its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that what you have done &lt;em&gt;may already&lt;/em&gt; constitute animal cruelty, a criminal offense in most jurisdictions. The good news for &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; is that vets will typically (though not everywhere) have an obligation of confidentiality towards a client, but this can be breached if the vet suspects sufficiently serious or ongoing abuse. Failing to seek appropriate care &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;promptly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; will likely impact on a vet's decision whether or not to report the matter further. If you are worried about getting into trouble, you are less likely to face action if you act fast, &lt;strong&gt;now&lt;/strong&gt;, to get the animal appropriate care. If you have to take your dog to the vet as an emergency admission later then the likelihood of them making a report will increase significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;strong&gt;A person commits an offence if—&lt;/strong&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(a) &lt;strong&gt;an act of his, or a failure of his to act, causes an animal to suffer,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(b) &lt;strong&gt;he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the act, or failure&#xA;  to act, would have that effect or be likely to do so,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(c) the animal is a protected animal, and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(d) the suffering is unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case a dog would be considered a &quot;protected animal&quot; as defined in the legislation. Very similar laws exist in other countries, so don't just shrug this off if you don't live in the UK. Understand that what you have done is very serious and can never happen again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, your first priority now should be that your dog, which you claim to love, gets the best possible care. &lt;strong&gt;GO TO A VET&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2533" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T14:11:35.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5487" CreationDate="2014-06-24T15:02:23.210" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are few answer here suggesting scents, oils, or other additives that you can apply to discourage your cat from an area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to attempt to use an additive to discourage any animal from a behavior, &lt;strong&gt;test it in a small area first&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;True Life Example Scenario&lt;/strong&gt;: Generally rabbits can be trained not to chew on things through training (&lt;em&gt;clap your hands and say no when the behavior occurs&lt;/em&gt;).  A person in our local rabbit community, decided to use an additive (&lt;em&gt;bitter apple spray&lt;/em&gt;) to discourage her bunny from chewing on baseboards, says right there on the package that it works great!  She went around and spayed all the baseboards with bitter apple and then gave the rabbit run of the house.  Turns out her rabbit LOVES bitter apple spray, so now her rabbit had candy coated baseboards... So after scrubbing all the baseboards it was time for a new plan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T15:02:23.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5934" CreationDate="2014-06-24T16:15:54.530" Score="4" ViewCount="1019" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tank that has two sunfish in it. The older one that I've had for a few years won't eat anything but frozen bloodworms and insects. I've tried being more stubborn than him a few times with no avail, I'm almost certain he'd starve himself before he goes on flakes &quot;cold-turkey&quot;. The younger one that I've had for almost a year will eat anything including flakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really have a problem feeding the older one bloodworms, but it would be kind of convenient if I could feed them all flakes and/or pellets. Is there a way I can transition the older fish into eating flakes or pellets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-24T17:09:02.550" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T19:24:08.717" Title="Is it possible to transition a fish from eating only bloodworms to eating flakes and/or pellets?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2014-06-24T18:09:41.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing I want to address is size. I don't want anyone having any misconceptions about snapping turtles, they get to be around two feet from head to tail when fully grown. Alligator snapping turtles can get to be around three feet in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answer that states they only grow to eight inches was based on the article that was talking about their sexual maturity. Snapping turtles will start mating once they reach that length, it doesn't mean they will stop growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snapping turtles are not pets for people with limited space.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is only a couple inches in length, you can get by with housing it in a 10-20 gallon aquarium, but once it surpasses eight inches, you should be keeping it in a 55 gallon. For an adult snapping turtle, the &lt;strong&gt;minimum&lt;/strong&gt; size of an enclosure should be about 2 feet deep and 4 feet long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The depth of the water should be the same as the turtle is long, so the height of the tank should reflect that. Also note, since you will probably need to build the enclosure yourself, you will want to account for water pressure being applied to the tank as you build it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snapping turtles don't normally rest above the water as other turtles do, but it's still a good idea for you to place a rock or something large on one part of the tank, that way the turtle can rest with it's head above the water if it's feeling ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important note: Snapping turtles are great climbers, and have been known to easily scale fences that people foolishly place in their way. Be prepared to find the turtle wherever it wants to be in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lighting is the same as other turtles. You should provide some UV lighting and a heat lamp to one side of the tank for basking in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can feed them commercial pellets, but I would suggest also offering them a variety of other things, such as live shrimp and fish (such as goldfish or guppies), cooked chicken or turkey, and nightcrawlers. Also make sure to feed them some vegetation like mustard greens or water hyacinths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, be prepared to never touch the turtle. Snapping turtles have the one of the strongest bites in the entire animal kingdom, do not get any body part near their mouths. Snapping turtles are well known for taking fingers and toes of people who fish for them. Or of people who just happen to have been near them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snapping turtles are not pets for people who want to touch their pets.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to move the turtle for any reason, you should pick it up by the tail, and provide some support with you other hand at the bottom of the shell. Be especially careful, as alligator snapping turtles might have some difficulty turning their heads around to bite you, but common snapping turtles have no problems with reaching nearly all the way back to their tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-24T18:09:41.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5582" CreationDate="2014-06-24T23:32:41.577" Score="10" ViewCount="2088" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am brought here by the fact that I have recently lost a dog to an eighteen wheeler in front of my house. She was an English Golden Retriever puppy, named Ellie, with champion bloodlines, going on a year old. She was very well trained-knew all the basic commands very well, knew many tricks, had a very good attitude, and was basically the ideal case. She knew not to go onto the road (to her that was only for when I had her on a leash). I had been giving her at least 2 hours of intensive training every day, even on vacation, since she was eight weeks old. She was worth (money wise) about $15,000 dollars. To me she was priceless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It happened when she was doing counting exercises in the front lawn. I was having her bring the tennis balls back in the order I asked (like &quot;3, 1, 5, 4, 2.&quot;). She looked up, saw the truck going down the road, and got a little crazy. She ran right into the side of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had always been frightened of large trucks, and I had been training her to keep steady, but she had never even came close to moving toward one on purpose. Does anyone know what her train of thought was doing here, and how I can make absolutely certain this will never happen again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1391" LastEditorUserId="1391" LastEditDate="2014-06-27T00:30:42.833" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T00:30:42.833" Title="How can I train a dog to reliably stay off the road?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1771" CreationDate="2014-06-25T00:53:17.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have lizards.&#xA;I do have cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your cats &quot;get along well with lizards&quot; that's really only a heuristic about what they will do with the next one.  Cats are not hierarchical animals like dogs.  Every cat negotiates with every other animal on its own (not based on an established pecking order).  My point is simply that your cats are more likely to tolerate nicely the presence of a new lizard (lizard smell, appearance,... will all cue the cat into &quot;this is one of those&quot;) but at the same time the individual dynamic will be different.  A faster / slower / larger / smaller / more aggressive / more shy animal of any type will get a &quot;new&quot; response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T00:53:17.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-25T12:33:39.417" Score="8" ViewCount="30290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two turtles (male and female) and five goldfish in one 2.5 x 1.5 ft (around 46 x 61 cm) aquarium, which was filled with water up to 1 ft (around 30 cm) height. I fed all of them once a day, everyday in morning with protein Toya food (fishes also like it). But one evening one of my turtles ate one of the goldfish and left its corpse behind (few months ago even corpse wasn't found in water, when fish was small).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are they attacking the fish when I am feeding them daily? How can I stop it? I don't have a place to fit another aquarium for either the turtle or for the fish. Should I bring another bigger species like a frog or bigger fish that can guard the goldfish? The turtle who ate the fish also attacks the other turtle's feet and neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:04:20.913" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:04:20.913" Title="How can I stop my turtle from eating my pet goldfish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5578" CreationDate="2014-06-25T14:10:04.733" Score="8" ViewCount="4912" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that both are quite often called the other (turtles being called tortoises and tortoises being called turtles). Just in case there is some confusion, could someone clarify what makes a tortoise a tortoise, and what makes a turtle a turtle? What makes them different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T02:42:26.097" Title="What is the difference between a tortoise and a turtle?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5577" CreationDate="2014-06-25T14:28:44.910" Score="8" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Simple Answer&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles are an aquatic, or semi-aquatic, species, while tortoises reside only on land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gYosC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Difference between turtles and tortoises&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image sources: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/dpk-salmonella.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stlucianewsonline.com/notice-closed-season-for-sea-turtle-fishery/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petinfoclub.com/Exotics/Profiles/TortoisesTurtles/Mediterranean_spur-thighed_tortoise.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;In-Depth Answer&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically, tortoises are a kind of turtle. Turtles reside in the order of testudines, while tortoises reside in their order of testudinidae. To make it even more confusing, the word terrapin is often used to reference all types of turtles, though technically it should only reference turtles living in brackish waters. The proper term for all types of turtles is &lt;em&gt;chelonian&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The differences&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terrestrial and aquatic chelonians have differing diets. Aquatic chelonians have evolved to be omnivorous, taking advantage of their swimming speed to capture live prey, while also eating vegetation. Meanwhile terrestrial chelonians have evolved to survive solely on vegetation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can tell the difference in the diets, by the shape of the chelonian's beak. Omnivorous chelonians will have a straight-edged beak, to slice through meat. Herbivorous chelonians will have a more serrated beak, in order to tear off pieces of vegetation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eyes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terrestrial chelonians have evolved to look down at objects in front of them. As such, their eyes will be facing forward and downward. Meanwhile, aquatic chelonians have evolved to lay submerged in water, and will have eyes facing more outwards. Some species of turtles, mainly soft-shelled, will have their eyes more prominently on the top of their heads, to allow themselves to breath and view above the water without leaving it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Eye placement is not a sole indicator of a turtle or a reptile, as box turtles are primarily terrestrial and have similar eye placement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xe4ZJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;Difference between turtle eyes.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image sources: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.flickr.com/photos/28480852@N04/3690108347/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://naturetime.wordpress.com/category/florida/outdoors-florida/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.redbubble.com/people/imagetj/works/6342438-turtle-face&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shell&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, terrestrial chelonians will have more domed shells to prevent predator's jawws from being able to bite down on them, while aquatic chelonians will have more flat, streamlined, shells for swimming. There are a couple exceptions to this for both sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Limbs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The limbs are probably the key point, if you're trying to identify whether or not the chelonian you're looking at is a tortoise. First, you're going to want to see if the feet are webbed. As you can imagine, webbed feet will mean that it is an aquatic chelonian. Terrestrial chelonians will have shorter, stockier limbs, in order to hold their bodies off the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, what you'll notice, is that tortoise limbs have larger, more prominent scales. Several species of tortoises will also have scales on the back of their legs referred to as spurs. This is mainly because tortoises aren't quite able to bring their entire legs into their shells as the other chelonians can. So they need to be tougher in order to keep safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n5Bul3F7B8Y/T0_huA6JNqI/AAAAAAAAARs/rMHkqkpLXEg/s1600/asf+tortoise+face+close+a+20+Feb+12.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tortoise legs&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://photography-vlm.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lifespan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tortoises have a much longer lifespan than other chelonians. Living as long as, if not longer, than humans. They will generally live for about 120-200 years in captivity, while turtles will only live for about 20-30 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.380" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T02:42:26.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5575" CreationDate="2014-06-25T14:44:51.737" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, the turtles are eating the fish because fish are food, not friends. Turtles are omnivores and fish make up part of their natural diet. There's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it other than separating them from each other. You cannot train turtles to treat food as anything but food. You may get lucky, and have a turtle that's content with the food you provide rather than the fish, but that's no guarantee. The turtle could get bored and hunting alleviates boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, that tank is way too small for even the fish. The reason the turtles are lashing out at everything in the tank, is that they want more space, and the easiest way they can make more space is to kill the other occupant that are taking up that space. That will include each other, as you're already noticing with the one attacking the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't get a larger aquarium for the turtles, you will end up only having one turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rough guide, to tell what size of tank you need, measure your turtles from head to tail. For each inch you measure, you should have about 10 gallons of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as adding more animals to 'protect' the fish. Even if there was room in the tank, turtles will eat amphibians too. If you got a frog large enough that the turtles didn't eat it, it would happily join the turtles in eating the fish. The same goes for larger fish really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T14:44:51.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-25T15:52:22.417" Score="2" ViewCount="690" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just discovered that my tortoise's right front leg is swollen. I don't see any redness, and no problems with movement except for its right leg, which it can't extend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It eats well. Its diet consists of vegetables, mostly fruits (like berries, banana, etc.; it doesn't eat fruit that is a bit sour) and sometimes plain bread and whole grain cereal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what type of tortoise it is but it's just a regular one. I've had it for about 10 years already, if I'm not mistaken. I keep it indoors in a large tank. This is the first time that something like this has happened to my tortoise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2550" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-06-25T16:35:15.657" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T16:35:15.657" Title="Swollen right leg on tortoise" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-05-16T00:25:49.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5585" CreationDate="2014-06-25T16:38:03.717" Score="8" ViewCount="11430" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a stray (cat) I took in a few days ago; a ~2 month old female with a clean bill of health and no unusual behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She immediately used the litter box correctly and has not had any accidents (yet), but I am trying to reinforce her litter habits anyways. I've been giving her a lot of praise when she's in the box, and sometimes a treat when she's done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now sometimes when I'm near the litter box, she'll jump in it and roll around or hang out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have two little questions, actually:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I even need to be doing this? She already seems to have the box down pretty well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, what action should I take when she goes in the box but then seems to be in there for non-bathroom reasons? Should I just do nothing in general then wait until she's finished before praising? Or does it not matter at all (should I even care about this)? I don't really want to take her &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt; of the box, especially if she's actually going to end up using it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to make sure she's well-trained so I can begin the process of letting her out of the room unattended, but I also don't want to encourage her to play in the litter box and make a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a while since I had a kitten. My other cat is very well-behaved, but I can't remember how he was trained; it was about 14 years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2014-06-25T17:24:48.607" LastActivityDate="2020-03-18T19:22:37.973" Title="Should I keep my cat from playing in her litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5573" CreationDate="2014-06-25T16:55:40.983" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't completely train that out of them.  If a dog has the desire and urge to go after vehicles on a road, there is a chance that they will give in to that urge if they have the opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option that might help is an invisible fence.  We use the Pet-safe wireless fence for our dogs.  We have a border collie that likes to run with and go after fast-moving cars (not slow ones for some reason).  He is a good boy and well trained but he likes to chase down cars.  It scares me but we have the wireless fence set up so that if he goes into the road at all the collar activates, so he stays out of the road.  It should be noted that he is trained and will not chase a car if I am out with him.  He will sit by my side and watch, and sometimes give a low growl, but he is trained not to chase around me without a command. He also knows that if his ball goes into the road he is not allowed to chase after it.  But if I am not around (so far as he can tell) he knows he can get away with not following the rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, we have a smaller dog that is nowhere near as smart as our border collie.  She will mimic the border collie and occasionally keep running despite the warnings from the collar.  I honestly worry because she will receive the correction and yip, but keep chasing for a few seconds and then takes quite corrective reminder from the collar.  I only share this to show that nothing is perfect or 100%. Fortunately for me she prefers to play out the back more than out the front, and is usually inside unless we are out with them to keep an eye out.  We also live in a very rural area, so the opportunities are rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-06-27T00:27:15.400" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T00:27:15.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5547" CreationDate="2014-06-25T16:59:41.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mice are known to be capable of getting through 1/4 inch wide gaps.  You will have to change your cage to something more escape-proof.  Without knowing what your cage looks like, I must assume your cage only has vertical bars.  You have 2 options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the mouse in a cage with vertical AND horizontal bars (crossbars).  The problem here is that the mouse may still escape if the resulting gaps are not small enough, and you &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; need to buy a new cage; retro-fitting your existing cage will be too much effort, and mice are excellent at circumventing repairs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do what I did when I had mice: I kept them in a glass-walled aquarium.  It works for the pet stores, and it should work fine for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-06-25T17:08:08.217" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T17:08:08.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-25T17:55:20.930" Score="7" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the opportunity to get a siren or two, but like always, I want to make sure that I'm prepared to care for them before I get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know they're very closely related to axolotls, with the difference being that sirens don't have hind legs, but I don't know if that means that their care is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What requirements do I need to meet before adopting a siren?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:18:04.213" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T16:18:04.213" Title="What is the basic care needed for a siren?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;salamanders&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5581" CreationDate="2014-06-25T18:05:23.990" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stressed cat will sometimes cower it its litter box, as the remaining smell of her body from earlier uses will make her feel safe.  This doesn't seem to be what is going on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens will sometimes dig for 'practice' when young or because they like the feel of digging. This may be what you have, in which case you can just ignore it. If you want her out, bringing out a toy elsewhere might distract the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might have even reinforced this, as the kitten now is intentionally heading for the box to cadge a treat from you only when you are around!  If this is what is going on, you could find some other way for the mite to get you to give her a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T18:05:23.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-25T20:09:05.600" Score="7" ViewCount="12024" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had Tiny for four years. She is a pretty typical cat, except possibly for her pouch that swings from her belly when she walks. Pretty sure that's not related to this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever since we got her, she has insisted on dragging whatever she can find to her food and litter box. Whether it's a sock, a plastic bag, sometimes as big as a shirt. She will go all around the house to do this too. I have found shirts that were two or three rooms away and up on a cat food bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to keep the house clean, but we have two young daughters who tend to give Tiny plenty of targets for this. (And yes, we're sure it's Tiny. Diesel is 10, and none of this behavior occured before we got Tiny, and the behavior predates the children.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's in the food, it isn't so bad. Just toss it in the laundry. But when she drags it to the litter box, it's kind of gross. I have to wear those socks and shirts. Her litter box is relatively close to the laundry room (there's really no other good place for it, and it's pretty out of the way) and when combined with the kids, there's no way to reliably cut off her supply of targets to drag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what can I do to stop her? Is this caused by something I can control? Or do I just have a weird cat and have to deal with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T10:11:04.043" Title="How can I stop my cat from dragging things into her litter box and food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5587" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-06-25T21:34:13.957" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-06-25T21:34:13.957" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T21:34:13.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5588" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-06-25T21:34:13.957" Score="0" Body="Boarding is the act of placing your pet in the care of someone else, usually a professional, and always outside your home. Not to be confused with pet-sitting. Often done for vacations, and home renovations." OwnerUserId="2489" LastEditorUserId="2489" LastEditDate="2014-06-25T22:57:10.653" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T22:57:10.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5586" CreationDate="2014-06-25T21:36:58.453" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a cat that seems to want to drag its &quot;kills&quot; or &quot;kittens&quot; to its den for safety.  Natural enough. So it seems that the food bowl and litter box are the main places the cat is feeling safe enough to bring its stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not a huge problem in itself.  The easiest way to reduce the targets dragged to the litterbox might be to try and make a new 'den' elsewhere and encourage this to be the primary safe spot, so she will drag stuff there instead of the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T21:36:58.453" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="269" CreationDate="2014-06-25T23:41:04.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had 3-4 indoor cats. Two of them I've had for around 14 years.  One of those, is/was a jailbreak artist who has managed to leave the house for her own adventures typically lasting 6-12 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have NEVER ever had flea problems.  The only time I used flea / parasite treatment was when we adopted the second cat (who we literally found on the street).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard of indoor only cats that never go out getting fleas (the exact mechanism is unknown, perhaps fleas go through some opening in the wall, perhaps squirrels, raccoons, mice, whatever bring the fleas in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I wouldn't treat for fleas unless you have fleas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-25T23:41:04.187" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-26T05:55:08.623" Score="3" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two turtles, one male and another female, (I've identified the female by her more sloping back). There are 4 golden fish too in the tank with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been around 5 years since I brought them home, they were 3 inches in length from tail at that time and didn't have full grown nails (which were dirty white in color). Now their nails are fully grown and black, and they are both about 6 inches in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering that why there are no eggs yet? Did I wash them out during a water change when I was replacing the dirty water with new water? Could the water cleaner pump have sucked them out, or could the fish have eaten them? Is it not the right time, or could they have an improper diet? Please let me know how can I help them to conceive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T13:58:13.640" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T13:58:13.640" Title="Why aren't my turtles producing eggs?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2014-06-27T17:34:12.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5597" CreationDate="2014-06-26T19:03:16.613" Score="0" ViewCount="565" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering breeding some of my pet reptiles. Is there anything I should do beforehand in order to be properly prepared? I'm not concerned so much with how to breed them, more of just what I need to have ready before I start breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-26T20:50:11.213" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T04:03:04.363" Title="What do I need to consider before breeding reptiles?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6366" CreationDate="2014-06-26T19:32:53.147" Score="24" ViewCount="46852" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to change the kind of food my cat is getting, and he is refusing to eat it.  He is completely healthy, he passed his last annual physical without issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I give him some of the old food, he eats it no problem.  But he turns up his nose at the new food.  I have heard some different schools of thought on what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say, just give him the new food when he gets hungry enough he will eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But someone else told me, if the cat goes without eating for to long it can be harmful to their health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a normal healthy cat, is there sometime in a battle of wills that the owner should give up and feed the cat what it wants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="15983" LastEditDate="2019-07-10T12:16:23.267" LastActivityDate="2019-07-10T12:16:23.267" Title="How long can a healthy cat go without food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5593" CreationDate="2014-06-26T20:15:11.787" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I've had to change my cats' food and they resist, I mix the old and new foods, slowly adding more of the new food, until after a few weeks, all I'm serving is the new food. In the beginning, the cat will pick-and-choose the OldFoodBits and leave the NuFoodBits behind; but gradually he'll start eating more and more of the NuFood. And the transition will be less traumatic, less chance of damaging his health. And you can also see if the new food is really really something he Absolutlely Won't Eat, or just something he needs to slowly get used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this doesn't answer the question in the heading - how long can a healthy cat go without food - but this might help you with the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Kind of like how Ebay changed their page background from its original yellow, to white. First people shrieked, so Ebay turned it back. Then they made it a shade lighter every other day until it was white...and almost no one noticed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T20:15:11.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-26T22:17:57.240" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is quite a bizarre situation, it is a not poisonous, not dangerous for human/children 1,5 m rat snake. We have two snakes in a terrarium in the living room. and now one of then managed to escape...&#xA;We already turn the house completely upside down, but we can't find him. We realize it will, most likely, look for a dark, warm spot, so we tried to checked all of these we could imagine in the house..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We fed the snakes dead mice and/or chicken, the last time we fed them was 1,5 week ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to get the best suggestions/tips/tricks about how to attract/lure/trap a snakes as described.  (if ours it is still in the house. :-) )  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2555" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T22:17:57.240" Title="How to lure a escaped snake" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-06-26T22:57:52.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5593" CreationDate="2014-06-26T23:28:13.273" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a cat starves, body fat is moved to the liver for processing. But the cat's liver can't handle it, and basically destroys itself.  This is &quot;Fatty Liver Disease&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you don't want to starve a cat, as the results might be serious.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest Leigh's solution to ease in the change gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-06-26T23:28:13.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5592" CreationDate="2014-06-27T01:23:02.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would ask myself, is what am I going to do with the offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How many children can your species have? Note that the high number doesn't always mean the maximum, and that they could have more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're planning on selling the offspring, what is going to happen if you can't sell all, or any, of them? Are you prepared to care for them otherwise? For many reptiles, this will mean separate terrariums for each individual.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would then ask myself, How I'm going to care for the offspring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What happens if there is a medical emergency during birth? Not only do you have to worry about having a veterinarian nearby who can care for reptiles, but you'll need one who is nearby in case of an emergency during egg laying, or otherwise. Even more, if the emergency happens to be during the veterinarian's off-hours, will you be able to pay the emergency rates?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will the offspring need to be separated from their parents? Few reptiles will care for their young. Nearly all reptiles will be ready to live on their own as soon as they've hatched. Because of this lack of maternal instinct, you'll have to consider how the parent will react to the hatchlings. Some milder species such as chameleons and geckos might be more tolerant of the hatchlings for some time, assuming their enclosure is large enough to house everyone. But more aggressive species, and especially those that are carnivorous, will view hatchlings as nothing more than competition and even food. You should always plan on having separate enclosures for the hatchlings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will the offspring need to be separated from each other? Even some solitary reptiles such as bearded dragons will be more tolerant of each other while they're still young. What you'll want to be aware of is that the behaviour will change with time. It won't be at any set age, so you will have to keep an eye out for signs of aggression and be prepared to provide them with their own living enclosure when needed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I would ask myself, am I willing to risk the health of my pet for the sake of breeding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Breeding reptiles causes an incredible strain on the female. Not only from the intercourse, but from the egg laying. Creating and laying eggs takes a lot of nutrients and energy from the mother. Reptiles that are bred live shorter lives compared to those that aren't, and the more you breed them, the shorter their lifespan will be. Many reputable breeders will only breed their females a few times before retiring them, simply for the sake of the reptile's health.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles that come from areas with winters will only breed after coming out of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2567/481&quot;&gt;brumation&lt;/a&gt;. Which means that unless you own a tropical species, you will need to force your reptile to brumate. This is an extremely delicate practice, as it involves lowering the reptile's temperature which will cause them to stop eating. If something were to go wrong during this process, you will have to take extreme care to ensure that your reptile doesn't become &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; ill.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If after all of this, you are confident that you are up for the responsibility of breeding your reptiles, the only things you have left to do are purchase any required licenses for breeding exotic animals, and research the breeding habits of your specific species. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-06-27T04:03:04.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-28T08:17:00.757" Score="9" ViewCount="5095" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted my cat from my sister. She initially got it for her kids but hates cats, so she would just lock it in the basement. The cat would escape every now and then, sometimes for up to a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't stand watching this any longer so I told her that I would take the cat. I took her to get fixed and to get her shots; everything she needed. I found out she has FIV, so I can't let her outside. She doesn't eat treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has definitely warmed up but I'm way more used to lovey-dovey cats. She's two years old and I've had her for about a year. I just want to know how I can earn her love? Is this just something that takes time or is there anything I can do to help? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2565" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:59:44.283" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T18:59:44.283" Title="How to earn a rescue cat's love" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-28T10:51:07.163" Score="2" ViewCount="1447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know from the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/105&quot;&gt;Can an adult feral cat be socialized/domesticated?&lt;/a&gt; and the somewhat related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1699&quot;&gt;Why are cats released as part of “spay and release” programs?&lt;/a&gt; that socializing a cat that has gone feral can be challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a domestic rabbit is released and later recaptured, can it be re-socialized?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T12:51:15.623" Title="Can a neglected/abandoned domestic house rabbit be re-socialized?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5602" CreationDate="2014-06-28T12:51:15.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes; they can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a volunteer with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA323.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Wranglers&lt;/a&gt; which is a local rabbit rescue.  We are often presented with domestic rabbits who have been released as well as rabbits that have been kept in small cages without socialization for years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestic rabbits released into the wild &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1578&quot;&gt;do not do well&lt;/a&gt; in fact most &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/articles/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2003NotFreeFlyer.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;do not survive&lt;/a&gt;.  Everybunny has a different personality so you can expect everybunny to have different social interactions regardless of their care (or lack of).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the rabbits with the most difficult social issues tend to be the ones kept in small cages.  They are also the most common rescues, so caged vs released may not be indicative of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not uncommon for a released rabbit to be very cuddly and social immediately (or very shortly) after recapture. This is possibly due to a short time between release and re-homing. In any case the re-socialization is solely dependent on the rabbit's current social presentation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestic rabbits are social animals that enjoy receiving grooming, and petting. In rabbit to rabbit interactions, the dominate rabbit will present it's head for the submissive rabbit to groom. In a rabbit to human interaction, the same applies, the rabbit will be dominate, and the person the submissive giver of pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are prey animals, so they will run away if they feel threatened. Rabbits are also very territorial and will protect &quot;their space&quot; from creatures who they believe are trying enter &quot;their space&quot;, and are not recognized as part of the pecking order (&lt;em&gt;dominate/submissive&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The challenges in re-socialization are two fold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the bunny from running away, so you can convince them you are not a threat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Convince the bunny, that you are the submissive giver of pets (&lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt;) and treats (&lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The least helpful thing you can do during re-socialization is reach into &quot;their space&quot; (i.e. cage) and try to pet them.  They may even get upset if you try to clean their litter box.  Both of these are privileges that you have not earned yet!  If you give them a large place as their space (i.e. a whole bedroom) they may run from you when you try to approach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many variables but the following is probably the most practical approach for most families (rabbit/human). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your rabbit a private place that is &quot;their space&quot; it should be about 2 feet by 4 feet, but not less than &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;described here&lt;/a&gt;. Optimally it should be at floor level, with a door at floor level so the can get in and out themselves when allowed. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A larger exercise area that is next to the smaller &quot;their space&quot;.  Generally this an exercise pen (sold by pet stores), in some cases the pen is made small to provide &quot;their space&quot; and opened during exercise and personal interactions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible when it is time to clean the rabbit's &quot;their space&quot; allow them to freely make their way to the exercise area, then close off their space so you can clean without them being in it. If this is not possible, pick them up and place them in the exercise area, then clean.  Your goal is to clean while they are not trying defend &quot;their space&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the rabbit sufficient time alone in the exercise area to get the exercise they need. Hopefully a couple of hours per day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spend time in the exercise area with them. If you sit quietly they will come up to you. Offering pets and treats will encourage more visits, a steady progression to full socialization should be expected.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In some cases making the exercise area just big enough so you both fit can be helpful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is the path to socializing the majority of rabbits, once completed you can expect the rabbit to be indistinguishable from one that did not have previous social issues, allowing for differences in personality. Your rabbit may or may not be a natural cuddle bunny, when you have completed socialization process, your rabbit will freely come to you and &lt;strong&gt;Demand&lt;/strong&gt; to be petted/groomed, they will come when you call to offer them a treat, they will lay next to you on the floor and watch TV. Everything else is dependent on personality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cases of extreme difficult socialization process do occur. Even rabbits displaying &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_of_Caerbannog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit of Caerbannog&lt;/a&gt; tendencies have been successfully re-socialized in our rescue.  In fact I am not aware of any rabbit that has not been or is not on it's way to a full social recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For difficulties beyond this answer, reach out to your local rabbit rescue or post a new question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/ask&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T12:51:15.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5601" CreationDate="2014-06-28T16:03:05.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat who was very scared of just about everyone, even though she did relax a bit around me. It took her a few years for her to slowly warm up to the point where she would come sit with me while I was watching TV, or while I was reading, and either sit beside me or ask for cuddles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How long&quot; can vary. It depends on what the cat has been through, their personality, and the environment they're in now. She may never be what you are used to, in terms of &quot;lovey-dovey.&quot; On the other hand, after ten years with me and after we'd lived in the same place for more than four years (I finally bought a house) my previously-mentioned skittish cat would actually not run from the room when my family (all cat-lovers) visited, and would even get up on the sofa with my brother and let him pet her. But even now, when the other cats greet me at the door when I come back home, she sits at the top of the stairs or only comes halfway down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are less demonstrative than others, even if they haven't been poorly socialized. She may be one of these cats. It may take years before she's as demonstrative as you're used to, if she ever is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T16:03:05.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5601" CreationDate="2014-06-28T19:48:29.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you know you haven't earned her love already?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had 4 cats, 3 are still with me and not all of them are equally outwardly affectionate, and they all have different manners.  I know all of them love me quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you think your cat doesn't love you already?  Does she show signs she doesn't trust you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't earned her love I'd say there are two key things with cats: demeanor and patience.   If you act calm/reassuring (demeanor), and you don't push the cat or force things on your own timetable (patience) you can win most cats love... but it does take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She may already love you and you just might be expecting something that isn't her style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please post some reply saying the good things (stuff that shows affection / trust) and what you think is missing or disturbing (things that show the opposite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-28T19:48:29.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5601" CreationDate="2014-06-29T03:36:30.230" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats grew up in a hoarding situation, so she wasn't well socialized with people when she was young (she's excellently socialized with other cats, however!). Next month will be her 6 year anniversary with us, and just this past year she's started letting people other than myself and my husband pet her. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://va.siameserescue.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Siamese Cat Rescue&lt;/a&gt; gave us a lot of advice with her, and other info I've pulled from a few behavioral books (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0715315897&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Understanding Cat Behavior, by Roger Tabor&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000Y8EPSQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starting from Scratch by Pam Johnson-Bennett&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first got Juliet, I was frustrated by the lack of information (the Johnson-Bennett reference is about acclimating your cat to strangers, and Tabor is general &quot;how your cat thinks&quot; stuff that then has to be applied), so I'm writing this to be complete, as if you just brought her into your home. Some things your cat may not need since she's lived in your house for a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Build Her Confidence in the Environment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic idea in this section is to create a home where she feels comfortable, happy, and relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build cat highways through your home. Your cat should be able to move around most of your home without walking on the floor if she wants to. You can use wall shelves, cat trees, bookcases, and other sturdy furniture to accomplish this. The goal is to prevent her from becoming accidentally cornered (a source of stress) by you, other household members, or guests. &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/category/catification/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's Catification&lt;/a&gt; pages are a good source of ideas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build a few perches in rooms you frequent with a good views. Try a couple of different things until you figure out what she likes, since some cats like to hide (in a box, behind an artificial plant, etc) and some like to be in the open. Other cats want to hang out up high, while some prefer to be close to the ground.  There should be somewhere that she wants to be in rooms where you are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her a quiet place away from the household noise. If you have a busy family, make sure there's a quiet room (closet, etc) where she can easily escape to get away if she gets overwhelmed.  She grew up alone without much interaction from anyone, and that may be &quot;comfortable&quot; for her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Address any conflicts with other pets in the house. If you have other pets (or small children) who may be harassing her, those conflicts MUST be addressed so that she can relax.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Build Her Confidence in You&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic idea in this section is to make her become accustomed to you, and (eventually) associate you with good things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk to your cat. It seems funny at first to talk to your cats (there's a stigma against the &quot;crazy cat lady/gent&quot;), but getting&#xA;your cat used to you making noise without harming her is a huge first&#xA;step. The rescue often suggests simply sitting in the same room as a&#xA;new cat and reading aloud (anything) to get her used to the sound of&#xA;your voice.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Learn how to read/respond to her body language. If&#xA;you're petting her and she gets overstimulated, she'll start to lash&#xA;her tail. That's cat language for &quot;I've had enough, please stop&quot;. If&#xA;you respect her signals, she'll feel better in the future because she&#xA;won't associate petting with being overstimulated and uncomfortable. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Establish a consistent daily routine. If she knows when to expect food and play time, she won't be anxious wondering if she'll have the&#xA;things she needs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not punish bad behaviors. There's a high&#xA;chance that she'll associate those punishments with you and not with&#xA;the bad behavior.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Establish regular play times with interactive&#xA;toys. Wand toys like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.go-cat.com/da_bird_da_bird.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Da Bird&lt;/a&gt; are an excellent way to get&#xA;exercise (endorphins!), use the hunting instincts/aggression on an&#xA;appropriate object (so fewer bad behaviors to frustrate you).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you free feed, switch to meal feeding. Meal feeding reinforces the connection that you are the source of food (the good stuff!), and can help start a positive bond. We also had a rule that once we put the food down, our cat had to touch our hand before she could eat (she was REALLY SKITTISH). We didn't chase her down and force ourselves on her, though. We would just sit there with our hand hovering over the food bowl until she gave it a touch. For a long time it was just a darting touch, but now she jumps on the bed to yell at us and headbutt us like everyone else when it's meal time and we're trying to sleep in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, don't force her to accept your affection. Cats are territorial, and if you're in her space insisting on touching her, that's very threatening! You should always offer your hand to be clear that you'll pet her, but let her take the last 6 inches or so toward you herself. If she just stares at you and doesn't want affection, then try again later. One good sign that she would be receptive to attention at the moment is if she looks at you and raises her tail (or has it raised). That's a friendly welcome signal among cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get down on her level. You're HUGE compared to her, and that can be very scary! If you lay down on the floor (or give her perches at your eye level), that can build her confidence since you're less scary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T03:36:30.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5761" CreationDate="2014-06-29T15:09:05.123" Score="7" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm setting up an aquarium for a turtle and have a few inquiries about how to prepare it properly. I want to have not only the proper setup, but also have precautions to avoid the turtle flipping over on its back, or getting itself stuck somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also looking to put rocks in the aquarium, and use them for a basking area, but need to know what the basking area should be like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I need to have a filter, but don't know if it matters how it's placed, and if I should add an air pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know how deep the water should be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone share how an aquarium for a turtle should be set up? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T21:50:25.423" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:21:32.947" Title="What is the basic proper aquarium setup for a turtle?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5615" CreationDate="2014-06-29T15:15:15.550" Score="10" ViewCount="19510" Body="&lt;p&gt;We own a 6-month old Chow-Chow. We'd like to take him to a professional groomer now that summer is here. Are there any special precautions we should pay attention to? I've heard that some dogs have a two-layer coat and that it can be dangerous to shave both layers, is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2568" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T16:31:14.537" LastActivityDate="2015-08-04T22:29:20.027" Title="Is it safe to shave a Chow-Chow for the summer?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-29T18:19:29.403" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small turtle, and I feed it a variety of food including boiled chicken, slugs, earthworms, and vegetables. I've recently upgraded its aquarium and added substrate and made it deeper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if the turtle will still find it easy to locate or eat its food, and there may be a risk of it swallowing some substrate in the process (I'm not sure I just fear that). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a problem? If yes then do I have to feed it in a separate bowl or what? &#xA;Also, I think my turtle would be reluctant to eat in a separate bowl; I know many are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T12:45:34.403" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T18:57:36.697" Title="How do I feed a turtle foods that don't float?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5612" CreationDate="2014-06-29T19:39:43.143" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Double coated dogs (such as the Chow Chow and many others) should never be shaved unless it's for medical reasons such as a skin disease or other vet recommended procedure. A dog's double coat actually helps insulate a dog to keep him cool in the summer and warm in the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shaving a double coated dog will not only prevent a dog from keeping cool, it can actually make them overheat and more likely to get sunburn. Besides that, the fur rarely grows in the same and you end up with fur that doesn't look right and is not as soft as it was previously. Here is a diagram explaining the purpose of the double coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a7sNq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Double Coated Dog Airflow&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to groom a dog with a double coat is to use a combination of an &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B007N3C7TY/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;undercoat rake&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B004UTDHP2/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wire comb&lt;/a&gt;. For our dog, Nova (an American Eskimo), the wire comb is usually good enough, but the undercoat rake can come in handy to get rid of any mats or extra dense spots. Grooming regularly (we groom Nova about once a week) makes the job very easy and only takes a little while. It also helps keep the dog cool in the summer and prevents mats from building up that prevent airflow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-06-29T19:39:43.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5664" CreationDate="2014-06-30T03:02:16.947" Score="7" ViewCount="7285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know for an Angora rabbit you have to keep up with their grooming, and one of the things you can do is keep their fur short. My sister has tried to trim her two rabbits, but finds that she can never do so very neatly. Is there any tried and true method of trimming their fur that makes it easier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:41:09.517" Title="How do you groom an Angora Rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5617" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-30T03:42:10.783" Score="9" ViewCount="48550" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just bought a female kitten (8.5 weeks old) and although she is litter trained (apart from a couple of accidents), whenever she is using her litter tray she chews on the litter. I presume she swallows some, although I think it is small amounts. I have tried to discourage this by carefully removing the litter from her mouth, as I can imagine she doesn't find this very comfortable, but this doesn't seem to work and I'm becoming more worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be taking her to the vet within a week or so for a check up, and will bring this up then, but until that point if anyone else has had this with a kitten before any advice would be appreciated as I don't want to discourage her from the litter box for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked this up online and it says that she is just curious and should stop soon but in the 6 days I've had her she has done this everyday and doesn't seem to be showing any signs of stopping .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter tray is kept clean with a scoop and is changed every 5 days, and the litter I'm using is non-toxic catsan with a chalky white gravel texture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2569" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T20:00:44.780" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T14:10:52.210" Title="Should I worry about my kitten eating litter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-06-30T03:52:13.000" Score="10" ViewCount="5778" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question pertaining to the protection of my pet in a dangerous situation and also about how to deal with another pet owner. Hopefully I'm not asking something outside the scope of this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have had two large dogs nearly killed (ripped to shreds) by my neighbor's two aggressive pitbulls.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one wandered off of my property when attacked, being young he was probably trying to go make some friends. Since it was off of my property, it was my responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to eventually give that dog away to some great people because I refused to keep him tied/pinned up and he didn't respond quickly enough to my training attempts, and kept leaving the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have adopted a puppy which responded very well to training. He and another dog in my care both stay on the property at all times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second attack, last week, was in front of my house. I came out to whimpering and had to chase the 2 pits away from the older dog in my care and it was badly injured. The neighbor paid for the bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have called the police over and the officer suggested that I might need to shoot the dogs if they're posing a threat to my property. I do not want to do that though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I live on a large fenced-in property outside of the city limits. The main entrance gate is the only open entrance to the property.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I do not wish to tie my pets up or keep them in a pen. We have large fenced in property with ponds that the dogs enjoy playing in freely, and they have been trained to stay away from the front gate. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the dogs inside is prohibited.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've informed the neighbor on each occasion, and on the most recent attack he payed for the vet bills, but last night I had to run one of the bulldogs away from my house again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The neighbor refuses to train or keep the dogs tied / pinned up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please give advice on how I might solve this problem &lt;em&gt;peacefully&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2477" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditorDisplayName="user2477" LastEditDate="2015-08-15T00:53:32.740" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T00:53:32.740" Title="How can I protect my dogs from my neighbor's two pitbulls without shooting them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5617" CreationDate="2014-06-30T03:54:33.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be one of several things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) a kooky kitten phase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) a sign of some lack of nutrients (trying to get them from clay)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd discuss it with your vet as different things could be going on.&#xA;You can try changing the litter to something slightly better to eat (wheat, note wheat isn't actually &quot;good&quot; for cats but it is definitely better than clay)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect it is the first condition.  Young animals often eat weird stuff (this even happens with humans, supposedly when I was an infant I ate moss and dirt...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T03:54:33.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5645" CreationDate="2014-06-30T06:42:06.697" Score="8" ViewCount="31136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use hollow cylinder type container for water for my German shepherd. Every time the container gets dirty with green algae, making my dog not to drink the water. Sometimes even some insects get inside the container. To avoid unhygienic water for my pet, I use the same type of containers always, and clean the dirty container to use it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to keep the water clean and/or is there a better water container which help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="847" LastEditorUserId="847" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T04:13:16.853" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T20:30:56.223" Title="How do I keep my dog's water clean?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5618" CreationDate="2014-06-30T09:23:15.063" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it there are two similar issues here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) Stopping your dogs going next door is &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; problem. If your dogs get torn to pieces next door, that should be on your conscience, not your neighbours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) Likewise, your neighbour has responsibility to stop his dogs coming into your yard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you can stop your dog(s) going over the road, I doubt there's much the police can reasonably do, as the neighbour will undoubtebly state that your dog was initially in his yard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i) It seems as though your neighbour isn't going to do anything without the law being on your side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ii) Until you can control &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; dogs, the law probably won't be on your side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;iii) By putting up a fence to keep your dog(s) in, it will hopefully also keeps his out. Isn't that what you want?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;iv) To me shooting a neighbours dog is an idea completely alien to where I come from. If this is deemed as a sensible and normal option, then.. well....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: I am not a lawyer, and do not know your laws, know yours before you act. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. after reading this and Matts answer, it seems a though we are of the same mind...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2573" LastEditorUserId="2573" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T15:29:26.657" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T15:29:26.657" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5616" CreationDate="2014-06-30T12:45:28.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally grooming for any pet should be done daily, but life happens and things don't always go as planned. We have had several long haired rabbits in our home, and they do take a bit more attention than short haired rabbits.  The care is not significantly different, and our most difficult case is a short hair &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Dutch&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; who has difficulty keeping himself clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first step is prevention&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping a clean &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2230&quot;&gt;litter box&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4410&quot;&gt;environment&lt;/a&gt; will eliminate many potential issues.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brush daily, at the outside possibly every three days.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the bunny is shedding heavily, daily brushing is required for both cleanliness and health (&lt;em&gt;see related&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;What is wool block in rabbits?&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you have to clean, do no harm&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabbits are generally self cleaning like a cat, BUT angora hair is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not natural&lt;/a&gt; and indoor housing adds other complexities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are videos online of rabbits getting a full bath, but this can potentially be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;fatal&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do need to physically wash your rabbit, use a damp wash cloth to spot clean the area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When a wash cloth is not enough, use warm water on the smallest area required. Soap is generally not required.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you get your rabbit wet, make sure you dry them well (if you must use a hair dryer, use low temp and caution).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have to remove fur/hair&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabbits have very thin, easily harmed skin.  Use extreme caution when cutting their fur&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there are mats of fur do not pull up on the fur to trim, the skin will raise as well and you are very likely to injury them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mats can often be broken up by working at them with your fingers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do need to use scissors on a mat, use a fine toothed comb to slide under the mat and protect the skin &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit/1815#1815&quot;&gt;see image on answer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mats and electric trimmers do not do well together&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once an area is clean and free of mats, if there is going to be an ongoing issue, you can keep the fur trimmed with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3324&quot;&gt;electric clippers&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are considering shearing your angora rabbit, and keeping it short haired, seriously consider having the first time done by a professional groomer.  Keeping it short is much easier than cutting it short the first time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T12:45:28.950" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5618" CreationDate="2014-06-30T12:56:35.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stating like the others, that I am not a lawyer and not even a US citizen: For solid legal advice see a lawyer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I still wish to outline something:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If your neighbour's dogs are attacking yours that is property damage. Animals are things and even if not they're clearly not persons, so specific laws about trespassing might be hard to apply.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Speaking for my country) His dogs are considered his responsibility, their actions are his to control and their infractions are his to prevent and if occured, pay for.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He seems to be aware of that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Furthering that concept your dog is part of your property, so when it is &lt;strong&gt;currently being attacked&lt;/strong&gt; by his dogs, that is a crime in progress which would allow you to act in self defense.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even if you make a consideration to not excessively damage your neighbour in relation to the damage you fended off yourself (shooting someone dead because they're scratching your car would be excessive eg.) you'd find that you damage his property to protect yours, in which case you're totally fine to act, as the attacker bares the risk of excessive damage. He is the one who started the unjustified quarrel after all.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From what I know in most states of the US the regulations for self-defense are even looser than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short if his dogs are in the act of attacking yours, whilst yours has not trespassed their territory or something like that, you're &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; right to shoot them, possibly legally, but again that is for a lawyer to determine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I can understand your reluctance about shooting your neighbour's dogs. Especially as they are a product of their raising and training (or lack thereof) it can hardly be considered their 'fault', then again neither it is your dogs fault.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you have done all you peacefully can, that is hard to say.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You possibly should consider suing your neighbour for damages as well as for a restraining order in regards to his dogs, so that he has to put them on a chain or something. After that I don't see a lot more peaceful that wouldn't do yourself and your dog great injustice, such as keeping your dog on a rope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2574" LastEditorUserId="2575" LastEditDate="2014-06-30T15:31:02.047" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T15:31:02.047" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5634" CreationDate="2014-06-30T15:07:24.413" Score="3" ViewCount="473" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 week old pure-bred Dachshund puppy. When taking him for walks (actually one long sniff session, but that's another thing), I notice that she has a habit of picking up objects in her mouth and carrying them. Leaves, berries, sticks, bark, other animals waste, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we walk, she will kind of chuff her mouth, not really chewing, but it sort of sounds like she's sucking on the object. Eventually, after a short bit (usually depending on finding the next thing) she'll just drop whatever it is and keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must admit I don't recall the Lab puppy we had 25 years ago doing the same thing. Is this a Dachshund 'thing', or do I have faulty memory and it's done by all dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T19:45:47.563" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T19:45:47.563" Title="Why does my puppy pick up and suck on, or carries, objects?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5628" CreationDate="2014-06-30T15:10:19.473" Score="8" ViewCount="13052" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I bought my cat a balloon thinking that she would be very pleased to play with it. But, as expected, my cat broke the balloon and when I checked up on her, a piece of it had disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked my vet if I should be concerned that she may have ate it and what I should do, and he told me that I should wait and observe if her behavior changed. So far I haven't noticed any strange behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very worried and I want to know if the material of a balloon can be digested by a cat, and  if she can digest it easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1092" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T18:59:56.810" LastActivityDate="2016-01-08T00:15:36.527" Title="My cat ate a (part of a) balloon. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5627" CreationDate="2014-06-30T15:21:14.707" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Balloon material cannot be digested by cats. It may be able to pass through her digestive system, but it may also cause a blockage. A blockage is a VERY SERIOUS problem that requires IMMEDIATE vet attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of a blockage can include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anorexia (not eating)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weakness/lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat exhibits any of these signs, you should take her to the vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the future, do not allow your cat to play with balloons (or if you do, clip her claws beforehand and supervise her closely while she has access to the balloon).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T15:21:14.707" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5541" CreationDate="2014-06-30T17:32:25.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have an instinctual need to bury their feces (pee does not need to be buried). When there's a small amount of litter available does he try to cover it, or leave it uncovered? Sometimes a cat will dig nearby on a flat surface even when there is no substrate available, so this may be why the floor is okay but the toliet isn't (my cats will sometimes &quot;dig&quot; on the tile floor to bury unwanted food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can also be disturbed when using the box if something uncomfortable happens while they are using it. He may be splashed by water, or have a balancing problem (pooping requires more muscles than peeing) that upsets him after the first time, so he goes on the floor in the future. It may be instructive to observe him pooping with the litter pan in place to see if he uses it for balance or positioning at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T17:32:25.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5617" CreationDate="2014-06-30T17:40:49.360" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens are like small human children and will put everything in their mouths to learn more about the world. Unfortunately (much to our distaste), this includes litter. Your house should be kitten-proofed for her safety, to ensure that she does not eat anything harmful, especially string items (hair ribbons, electrical wires, window blind pulls), harmful chemicals (cleaners, fertilizers). In addition, any litter used during this phase should be non-clumping so it will pass through her digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens can also eat litter because of anemia or other vitamin/mineral deficiencies. A kitten who is exhibiting this behavior should be examined by your vet to ensure that it is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T17:40:49.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5614" CreationDate="2014-06-30T18:57:36.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating the substrate is certainly a risk as turtles are notoriously messy eaters. Though really, a lot of reptiles are in my experience. Since the substrate cannot be digested, it has the risk of causing impaction. Impaction is where the intestines are blocked by a foreign object, and nothing can be digested anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid it is to use a separate container for feeding. One without substrate. It doesn't have to be a whole new tank just for feeding, it could be a moderate sized plastic bin. As long as it holds enough water to hold the turtle and let it move around a bit to gather the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it might seem like a bit more work at first, it is actually easier to handle, as you can simply empty out the food tank and rinse it out. If you feed the turtle in the tank it lives in, you're going to have to take extra care to clean all the missed food out of the substrate. A gravel vacuum would help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other option I really know of is to feed the turtle slowly, so that it catches all the food before it hits the gravel. It's not foolproof, and it's more time consuming than using a separate container for feeding I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T18:57:36.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5618" CreationDate="2014-06-30T19:57:44.727" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand things, by paying for your vet bills, your neighbor has admitted that his dogs are dangerous - you should be able to take all the documentary evidence you have (you did keep it all, didn't you?) to your local animal control and/or law enforcement (depending on jurisdiction) and request that your neighbor be required to keep his dogs controlled or have them put down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The requirements for that in a rural area as you've mentioned you're in could be a bit looser than they would be in a more urban location, so you probably want to check with the authorities and ask them if there's a cooperative solution you could work with (since having the authorities put the dogs down for being dangerous would irretrievably damage and decent relationships you have with that neighbor - probably about as much as having to shoot one of the dogs would do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T19:57:44.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5626" CreationDate="2014-06-30T20:37:13.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dog will naturally use their mouth like we use our hands and so will pick up interesting things, like sticks, from time to time with their mouth. That's normal behavior in any dog and hard to correct for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She may also be teething, though it seems a tad early. Nevertheless, a teething puppy will chew and chew a lot. Much for the same reason we did the same, the process of the teeth coming in is uncomfortable. If you have some good chew toys available for her, then that may distract her from some alternatives. In any event, if she is teething then be careful not to grab her mouth and try to avoid getting into the habit of letting her mouth people if she starts. Just disengage her from the undesirable chew subject and give her a toy for that purpose. After a while, she'll gravitate to the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with respect to some of things she's picking up, there may be some cause  for concern (I don't intend this to be alarmist though):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feces carry some risk of parasites. While, it's also normal for dogs to eat the feces of other animals (Karen Overall - &lt;em&gt;Manual of Clinical Behaviour Medicine for Dogs and Cats&lt;/em&gt;) you should get her checked about every 6 months or so to make sure she hasn't picked up something.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More pronounced behavior of this sort is commonly seen in dogs raised in a puppy mill or in pet stores where they haven't been fed well. Not uncommon, sadly, when the goal is to keep the dog smaller for sale purposes. If you know for sure this isn't the case, then just keep an eye on her health as I mentioned. If you don't know, it's probably a good idea to speak with your vet about other possible issues for a mill-raised puppy. Carefully handled with early and they shouldn't remain a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last two points are long-term items to consider. Like I said, I posted them to make you aware, not to be an alarmist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T20:37:13.407" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5621" CreationDate="2014-06-30T22:56:09.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you should use a small container you have at home for your dog to drink out of. This would force you to change or refill the water bowl daily to keep it clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2014-06-30T22:56:09.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3158" CreationDate="2014-07-01T01:20:13.693" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;scruff&quot; of the neck on a cat has no feeling, that's why all felines carry their young by the &quot;scruff of the neck&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research:  experience, I've owned a lot of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2582" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:29:20.540" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:29:20.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-07-01T01:40:17.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are solitary animals with an inherent desire to hunt (except the most domesticated of cats)..  as the other comments have said, play with him.. let him hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2582" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T01:40:17.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2014-07-01T01:44:59.877" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cat Mint&quot;, as they call it in the UK. Standard lawn grass is poisonous to cats (which is why they eat it, to make themselves vomit for various reasons). Cat Mint is a grass with a mild psychedelic property for felines, meaning they don't vomit and they only eat a little. They love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2582" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T15:06:12.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T15:06:12.997" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2014-07-01T01:47:44.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you feed them tuna, which lots of people do, it's fine in moderation. But make sure it's tuna in &lt;strong&gt;water&lt;/strong&gt; and not &lt;strong&gt;brine&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;oil&lt;/strong&gt;.  Brine will be way too salty and cause &lt;em&gt;damage&lt;/em&gt; and oil, well, it's oil.  Tinned tuna in water is OK if you want to give your cat a treat; it's far better than giving them a processed treat.  Just remember moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2582" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T19:42:47.817" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:42:47.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5649" CreationDate="2014-07-01T11:19:06.940" Score="9" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are currently arranging for our pet cat to join us in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've gone through the process of organising the trip and fulfilled (or will do) all the requirements to have the cat in the UK (she is travelling within the EU).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I'm worried about the flight itself. She's doesn't like being transported in containers, though we've taken steps to accustom her to her container by leaving treats there and occasionally keeping her in it. We also get her to travel with us by car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm particularly worried about psychological trauma as the poor thing will be kept in her container for no less than 5 hours (albeit the flight is direct, the transport company have asked us to bring her several hours prior to it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think it could be too much? There's a possibility she could stay with family. Shall we not risk it and go for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: We received the cat on Friday, 2014/08/22 in good health and I'm very happy to say that everything went smooth and she is adjusting fine to her new environment. Many thanks again for the helpful answers posted here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2585" LastEditorUserId="2585" LastEditDate="2014-08-26T11:34:47.183" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T11:34:47.183" Title="Travelling with cat by plane" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2014-07-01T12:54:41.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember cats are &lt;strong&gt;obligate carnivores&lt;/strong&gt; and they shouldn't be eating anything that's not meat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/787/what-treats-are-dangerous-for-me-to-feed-my-cat/791#791&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for reference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is vomiting things back up, he shouldn't be eating it and that is a sign you should stop immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat needs treats, freeze dried meat treats are great in moderation. Otherwise, don't give them anything to eat that isn't food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T12:54:41.643" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2014-07-01T13:23:51.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunter finds our ponytail palm fascinating (the leaves are bouncy). He hasn't been able to harm it (he doesn't have teeth) and it's nontoxic (I checked), but I'm not sure what a cat with teeth would do to one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we had Kendall, he loved to bat at it, but he didn't chew it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trim the frayed edges once a month or so, but my mom has one and she has to do the same thing, so I'm not sure how much of that is natural and how much is due to the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T13:23:51.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5658" CreationDate="2014-07-01T13:32:47.010" Score="7" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been seeing a veternarian dermatologist who is about an hour drive away (on the beltway, where it's common to reach speeds of 65 mph). Two of the three cats are fine, but Ginger keeps getting carsick. We have a third (and hopefully final) appointment in a week. What can we do to help her not get carsick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sedative medication is not okay for this trip, because she needs to be relatively normally behaved for the vet to determine if she's still itchy (does she chew her paws when she's petted, and where does that happen if it happens).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T23:14:46.757" Title="How can I help my cat not get carsick?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5621" CreationDate="2014-07-01T14:28:57.080" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not much to do to keep the water clean outside of changing it regularly. I generally change the water for my cats every morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With algae though, if it's growing back within the day, you'll have to take some steps to combat it and try and kill it off as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It might be as simple as a good hard scrub. You have to get all traces of algae out so it doesn't have anything to grow back with. Unfortunately it really doesn't take much for algae to grow back, and if your water dish is plastic, the plastic is porous enough to keep tiny bits of algae protected&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dry it out. If you use another container for a few days, and let the one with algae sit in the sun dry. The dryness and heat should help kill off the algae. This isn't always the case though, as  algae quite often goes into a dormant stage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bleach the container. Bleach should help kill off the algae pretty effectively, but you have to be extra sure that you clean all of the bleach out afterwards. Since it's a container that your dog is drinking out of, the last thing you want is for them to inadvertently drink some bleach water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent algae growth in the future, making sure the water isn't in any sunlight will be the biggest help. Direct sunlight not only promotes algae growth, but speeds it up. Keeping the water in shade will slow down the growth drastically, and will also help keep the water cooler throughout the day, so it's a win-win there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to consider getting a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_10?url=search-alias%3Dpets&amp;amp;field-keywords=pet%20water%20fountain&amp;amp;sprefix=pet%20water%20%2Caps%2C194&quot;&gt;water fountain&lt;/a&gt;. You can get some pretty large ones for dogs. What they do is run the water through a carbon filter with a small pump, so not only will the algae have difficulty growing due to the moving water, but that should also discourage most insects that would be attracted to still water. Any insects that would happen to fall in would get caught in the filter, which you would just change every couple of days. I would just make sure to spend the little extra money on a metal fountain, as I had gotten a plastic fountain first, and it was really difficult to keep clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T14:28:57.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5641" CreationDate="2014-07-01T14:54:51.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never flown with a cat before, but I have volunteered with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://va.siameserescue.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Siamese Cat Rescue&lt;/a&gt; and helped with some of their cat transportations (driving), so my advice on preparing your cat will be based on that experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For longer journeys, such as you are expecting, your cat needs to have access to food, water, and litter. The rescue uses a larger container, so there is room for a small litter tray, and the cat can still move around without being in the tray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter tray I've seen used (the carrier is set up by the foster) is usually about 6&quot; x 4&quot; and taped to the bottom of the carrier with sturdy tape (like duct tape) so it won't slide around as the carrier is moved. Not much litter is needed, just enough so that if they poop they can cover it (and aren't subjected to the smell for the rest of the trip because that will stress them out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a five hour trip I wouldn't worry about providing food, unless you think your cat would find a food puzzle distracting. You should provide water, but I'm not sure the best way to do that if you aren't there to manage a bowl (we offer water in a bowl at rest stops as needed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are really a couple of ways I've seen cats exhibit stress in carriers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cowering. This can include literally shaking in fear. Often these cats will sit in the litter box area during longer trips, so that should be taken into account when preparing the carrier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical illness. In my experience a cat who does this will tend to be vocal about their stress, but I have siamese (who are naturally vocal) so that may not be common with other cat types. The carrier should be prepared in a way that will minimize stress to your pet (a blanket that can be dug to cover the mess may work).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Panic. This cat will fight the cage to attempt to break out. This type of reaction is serious and may cause injury to the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend taking your cat out for a long drive to get an idea what type of stress your cat will exhibit (if you don't already know). If your cat gets sick or panics, you should discuss options for sedation with your vet. You don't want your cat to get injured while in transit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't really advise you from here how badly your pet will take the stress from the flight, the only way to know is to take some trial runs in your vehicle and see how she does, then discuss those experiences with your vet to determine if she will be safe, what types of steps you should take to keep her safe, and if those steps require her to remain with family in her current location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T17:14:42.280" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T17:14:42.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5488" CreationDate="2014-07-01T15:27:19.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Siberian Husky that is not much older than your dog. As I take him for a jog/walk, he will do the same thing sometimes such as bite the leash or jump around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could very well be the case that your dog is bored of walking and wants to run or at least go faster. This makes sense for a Husky Shepherd. They have lots of energy and your goal should be to help them exert it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T15:27:19.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5556" CreationDate="2014-07-01T16:07:59.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you know that dogs react based on sense of smell. You need to think where you are coming from when you come home with your parent versus coming home along from work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems there are two scenarios here and coming home with your parent is what you need to analyze. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider how your mood is in both scenarios. Dogs can smell fear and other feelings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T16:07:59.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5641" CreationDate="2014-07-01T16:59:13.747" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience (I shipped a cat from Brisbane, Australia to Houston, Texas - which was a LOT more than a 5 hour journey), I can offer some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water is essential. Most of the places that handle shipping will ensure water is available. If there are any delays or long layovers, you'll need to arrange for someone to be with the pet in the airport (I had to do this - I ended up with a relative of a friend going to the airport in question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sedation depends entirely on the pet. My cat had to be sedated because she was a single-person animal, I wasn't there (I'd left to move to the US a few days earlier), and she panicked so much the transit company staff decided the risk of her injuring herself was greater than the risk of sedation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend you include an old (something you're willing to lose) unwashed piece of clothing in the carrier - it will smell of you, which will help to reassure your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can have her do her business before the trip, that would help, although part of the reason the transit company is having you bring her in some time before the flight is so they can prepare everything and give her a final health check. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you collect her at the other end of the journey, you'll want to make a big fuss of her and reassure her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention her age: the cat I shipped was 7 at the time (she's 19 now, and going strong). The older the cat, the more stressful the experience is likely to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've experienced, pets being shipped are usually treated with care by the shipping and airline staff, and there are relatively few issues (of course, the ones that do happen will make the news). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to be in the UK for a long time and your cat is strongly attached to you, a day of stress for her is probably better than being without you for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T16:59:13.747" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2014-07-01T17:33:17.590" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should feed your cat twice a day but in summer they won´t eat as much as they do normally.&#xA;Nevertheless your cat won´t gain weight if there is something wrong with it´s thyroid.&#xA;For example if she eats a lot but don´t gain any weight that may be the problem ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T17:33:17.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5644" CreationDate="2014-07-01T18:07:32.807" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats may also get ill due to stress, so I would try to make sure she's as unstressed as you can possibly make her.  Some tips I've found are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.Try to make the pre-vet routine less stressful.  If you're running around chasing the cat to get them in the carrier right before going to the vet, they'll be more stressed out than if you manage to calmly entice them in.  That sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Get them used to the carrier and the car when you're not going to the vet.  This is more of a long term sort of solution, and I know not really applicable to your immediate problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.Make sure her  carrier is comfortable.  Give her an old blanket that you don't care about, and make sure it's big enough, that sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid feeding her for as long as possible before the trip too.  I imagine cats, like people, are more likely to get carsick after a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T18:07:32.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3197" CreationDate="2014-07-01T18:43:30.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to add one thing to really look out for is the food that's given to the animals. They should be able and willing to accommodate special diets (that's why you're paying them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the less humane shelters will feed their animals cheap food because it gives them diarrhea, which is easier for them to clean many cages at one time because they can simply hose the cages out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the shelters in my area was caught doing this and because they weren't sanitizing the cages, all the spread bacteria from the feces cause some of the animals they were boarding to get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's uncommon with places that board pets because they are getting paid to care for people's pets, but I know plenty of shelters in my area that don't want to spend more money on food for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In light of that. I think the most important thing to look at when visiting a boarding place is to see what food they're giving their animals, and make sure they can accommodate special diets. If they're unwilling to accommodate special diets, I would say that there's something wrong with how they're staffed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-01T18:52:22.087" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T18:52:22.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="421" CreationDate="2014-07-01T18:52:11.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changing a cat's food randomly (or based on whatever's on sale) is not a good tactic, but having a regular food rotation of 3-5 foods can prevent your cat from becoming so attached to a particular food that he will not eat anything else (which can become a problem if the manufacturer changes the formula to something unpalatable suddenly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, a food rotation also can protect against accidental nutritional deficiencies due to manufacturing error. An article found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawnation.com/2013/12/18/diet-related-thiamine-deficiency-in-cats-more-common-than-though/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pawnation&lt;/a&gt; reviewed a study that found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Since 2009 [article published September 2013], there have been 5 major voluntary pet food recalls&#xA;  involving thiamine-deficient pet foods in the United States that&#xA;  ultimately involved 9 brands of cat foods and at least 23 clinically&#xA;  affected cats. Most of these recalls were instituted in response to a&#xA;  report from a consumer or veterinarian after treating a cat that had&#xA;  clinical signs consistent with thiamine deficiency.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(the study is not available on the web, but it is:&#xA;Thiamine deficiency in dogs and cats. Markovich JE, Heinze CR, Freeman LM. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2013 Sep 1;243(5):649-56. )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T18:52:11.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5660" CreationDate="2014-07-01T19:35:04.030" Score="6" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;My main question is how to unlink actions from words.  Years ago, my dog picked up a, I suppose, common trait. When there was a dog walking outside when we were driving him around, if we mentioned the word &quot;Doggy&quot;, his ears would perk up, he would run to the direction we were pointing in, and bark wildly, until we had driven far past the other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if we make mention of the word &quot;Doggy&quot;, his ears will perk up, he will run wildly to where we are pointing, and start barking maniacally. Often times though, there will be no dogs, and it is as if he is barking at a hallucination.  In fact, we try to keep the word &quot;Doggy&quot; outside of conversations because any resemblance of the word causes him to run to  a window, and bark wildly, even if there are NO dogs anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to unlink the action &quot;look there's a dog&quot; from the word &quot;Doggy&quot;, because often times, it is a hassle to bring him down once he has started barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any easy way to accomplish this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2588" LastEditorUserId="2588" LastEditDate="2014-07-02T04:30:42.103" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T18:51:50.497" Title="How do I make my dog forget a command?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-01T19:50:19.173" Score="6" ViewCount="1956" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've set up an aquarium for my turtle, added the basics I know of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I move my turtle like 4 times a day, 2 times to place it under direct sunlight since I'm yet to find UV-B and UV-A lights. And another two times to feed it in a separate bowl. Does this movement affect the turtle's mood and cause stress? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also notice my turtle trying to climb out sometimes, mostly only when it sees me or when it is outside it's aquarium. But it does do so sometimes in the aquarium, is that a sign that it didn't settle yet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd simply like to know when my turtle would start to consider this home or if it already has. Any advice on avoiding stuff that discontent the turtle and/or scare it, as well as advice about things the turtle might like is welcome. &#xA; Thank you for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-11T13:47:57.347" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T21:32:55.337" Title="How long will it take for a turtle to get used to a new aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5657" CreationDate="2014-07-01T22:03:31.733" Score="4" ViewCount="2322" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5549/what-are-the-minimum-requirements-for-keeping-a-snake/5550#5550&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; I saw reference to &quot;tap training&quot; when handling snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it, and do I need to learn it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T22:03:31.733" Title="What is &quot;tap training&quot; in snakes?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5656" CreationDate="2014-07-01T22:03:31.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tap training is a technique for condition training a snake,&#xA;designed and shown to improve your safety when handling it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The precise method can vary, but in essence it always consists of giving the snake a particular signal&#xA;to indicate that you are about to handle it.&#xA;Some people recommend using a hook to lift it, some recommend stroking the snake gently with a hook,&#xA;while others simply tap the snake's home in a particular way before opening the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whichever you do, the principle is the same: &#xA;to train the animal such that it learns that the next thing which happens is neither food nor a threat. It creates a variation of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;conditioned response&lt;/a&gt; which &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ivan Pavlov&lt;/a&gt; famously showed in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1295" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T22:03:31.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5644" CreationDate="2014-07-01T23:14:46.757" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure it is &quot;car sick&quot; rather than &quot;I'm unhappy because I'm in my carrier, not at home, able to do what I want&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my &quot;baby&quot; I'm sure it is the second and not the first... but to a human they both look similar as they involve crying and vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in general hate to be taken out of their element and some get a lot more bothered by it than others.  Talking in a soothing fashion to the cat seems to help but only a tiny amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the tips from Kai I'd add if the items are favorite things and have an odor on them that could help.  At the same time keep in mind that it is likely the cat will pukes and/or pees on the item (so it should be easy to clean).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T23:14:46.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5641" CreationDate="2014-07-01T23:20:06.853" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some creepy words of caution.  Airlines may or may not regard your pet as little more than baggage.  There have been lots of incidents of pet deaths due to negligence of airline workers in handling the animals (not making sure they are in a temperature controlled place, or not giving them enough food or water, or accidentally crushing the animal....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would feel very leery about flying a cat for this reason and also the psychological stress (keep in mind cats also tend to be more noise sensitive than us and jets are usually nosier than vacuum cleaners (their arch enemy in the home)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you and your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-01T23:20:06.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5654" CreationDate="2014-07-02T10:37:02.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Teach him that the word &quot;Doggy&quot; means come sit quitely next to me and get petted and maybe a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning#Extinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;theory&lt;/a&gt; you can make a learned behavior disappear, but in your case I don't think is likely.  Redirecting the command and behavior in a different direction, is probably your best choice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some good training techniques in these answers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3189&quot;&gt;How to I make my dog understand that I want him to go to a certain spot?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3103&quot;&gt;How do I stop my Shiba puppy from screaming at the top of his lungs everyday at 6am?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2834&quot;&gt;Sit/down/stand training: do dogs associate the movement or the final position?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe you will also find a few more in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/training+dogs&quot;&gt;this group&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T18:51:50.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3088" CreationDate="2014-07-02T11:56:15.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I adopted two kittens (3 months old) a couple of months ago, and we teached them not to bite or use their claws when playing with our hands. They still can do this when playing with their toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve this, you must make them understand that what they do is bad. Anytime they tried to bite or use their claws, we blowed gently onto their noses. Our vet told us cats don't like that at all, and it is true ! We did this during a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now they retract their claws as soon as they hit our hands, but continue to use them with their toys. They are adorable !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T11:56:15.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T14:27:03.103" Score="3" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kind of the opposite of this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3205/481&quot;&gt;What are safe plants to let my cat chew on?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some cat grass and plants for my cats, but now that I'm in a larger house, I want to keep some indoor houseplants for myself. Are there plants that I should avoid getting due to them being poisonous to cats or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:22:46.697" Title="What plants should I not have around cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="376" CreationDate="2014-07-02T15:10:38.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I've noticed with the cats is that if they have proper scratching surfaces, they'll remove the outer (older) nail surfaces more efficiently, which makes the shape of the claw easier to see (and easier to figure out where to cut).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Gj5h.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the top picture, the cat still has the older, outer cuticle surfaces attached (hasn't scratched them off, or the claw hasn't matured enough yet). In the bottom picture, the outer surfaces have come off, and the shape of the claw is more &quot;moon&quot; shaped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, I don't really need to find the quick, because I know it's not in the really skinny part of the claw and I can just tip it off. This makes claw cutting faster (which is easier on the cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't worry about removing as much claw as I possibly can, instead I try to do quick trims to remove the nail tips every week. Quick trims are less stressful for the cats and also ensure that I get to do a regular &quot;health and wellness&quot; check on our shy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T15:10:38.403" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5616" CreationDate="2014-07-02T15:51:09.853" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The truth is, having an Angora rabbit and keeping it groomed is a lot of work.  Their wool grows thick and fast.  The best solution for grooming an Angora Rabbit is regular combing.  Angora fur is pretty resistant to staining, and most dirt and stains will comb out of their fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most Angora breeders I have talked with prefer to use a wire-toothed comb with rounded ends.  The rounded ends are important to keep from damaging the skin.  This will both comb the hair and thin out the wool.  After a few strokes you will notice that you are accumulating wool in the comb.  I recommend keeping a paper bag handy to keep the wool in.  The wool routinely sells for US$5-10 per ounce and is prized by crafty spinners.  You can thin out the wool dramatically just by regularly combing.  You can comb the rabbit daily but once you have the fur to a manageable density you will probably find you only really need to comb it every few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you have thinned out the rabbits wool you can give it that nice fluffy look. Take a hair dryer with a &lt;strong&gt;no heat&lt;/strong&gt; setting or a clean wand vacuum with an exhaust setting and blow through the rabbit's fur.  If your Angora is well handled then it will probably really enjoy this.  Simply put the rabbit on a pedestal or table and comb up while blowing into the hair.  This separates the hair and fluffs the whole thing up.  You want to try for an even fluff.  Many rabbits seem to glow or strut after this treatment. I do not know if this is actual pride in its appearance or just the result of the euphoria it experienced during the groom but I have witnessed the apparent change in demeanor quite regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time you should have to cut the rabbit's fur is if your rabbit gets badly matted.  Most normal mats will comb out.  The wool separates from the skin pretty easily (without harm) so the normal mats are not often a great issue.  If your rabbit manages to get badly matted to where you can not comb them out, carefully trim the fur as close to the matting and as far from the skin as possible.  This can be done with scissors or a wool shear.  Only shear the areas you really need to.  Most of the time the patches will be barely noticeable (if at all) on inspection and will fill back in quickly(a few days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why not just shear my Angora rabbit?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, because the breed has developed a body that is used to having fur to keep it warm and protect it from the heat.  That's right, the fur both insulates the rabbit when it is cold out and insulates the body from external temperature changes when it gets hot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, the Angora is not well suited for sustained 90+(30C) Degree temperatures, but few rabbits are.  Angora rabbits are particularly susceptible to heat, but their fur can help them survive relatively short (a few hours a day for a few weeks) temperature spikes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when it gets cool, the Angora body is not particularly adept at generating extra body heat.  It normally has a thick wool coat to help keep the elements away, so there is no need for the rabbit's body to get used to adapting to temperature changes.  So an Angora rabbit is more likely to suffer from exposure to cold.  Rabbits are fragile creatures, and any stress has the potential to be fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue is that they have 2 different types of hair, wool and guard hair.  The wool grows fairly fast and thick.  In contrast, their guard hairs grow at a rate comparable to regular rabbit fur and are spread out.  The guard hairs give the wool protection from dirt and moisture and helps to keep it from matting as badly.  You can tell a guard hair because it is slightly stiffer and may have a slightly different color from the wool.  If you shear an Angora rabbit short then it will be harder to avoid matting until the guard hair catches up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit's skin is thin, and especially so on Angoras.  It is surprising how easily the skin can tear and cause a nagging sore on the rabbit.  The more often you shear, the more chances you have to accidentally tear or damage the rabbit's skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:41:02.010" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:41:02.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5662" CreationDate="2014-07-02T17:19:37.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA website has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exhaustive list&lt;/a&gt; of toxic and non-toxic plants for dogs, cats, and horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site identifies 399 different plant species that are toxic to cats. Most fruit trees appear to be on the list, along with pretty much every variety of lily and a number of other common flowers like iris, chrysanthemum, and hyacinth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As written, the question is quite broad in scope, so I'm not sure what you're looking for in terms of an answer. All I can suggest is to go through the list and compare to the plants you are thinking about bringing into your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastEditorUserId="715" LastEditDate="2014-07-02T19:10:52.770" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T19:10:52.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T21:00:04.830" Score="8" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog was younger she had no visible reaction to fireworks or thunder. At about 5 years old it started to be an issue, and now (at 7) she panics and hides under the table, shaking, when some little popping fireworks go off down the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; have this reaction to other things that sound similar to me; cars backfiring, garbage trucks dumping, construction crews using power tools, and neighborhood parties with loud subwoofers do not provoke her at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it about fireworks and thunder that make dogs react so strongly? Is this reaction common to every dog or more individual in nature? Are there factors such as breed, age, etc. that make dogs more or less sensitive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T02:10:48.687" Title="Why are dogs afraid of fireworks and thunder?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-02T21:03:15.223" Score="16" ViewCount="43129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat bites my electronic cords and chews on them. The cat has chewed through a couple cords already. What is a safe and effective way to get the cat to stop biting the cords?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:57:51.073" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T18:33:04.030" Title="How do I stop my cat from biting cords?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2014-07-02T21:22:29.040" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've made sure to have more cardboard boxes around for my youngest cat to shred and bite. Yeah, they're messy; but each trip to Costco gets me another box, and when he has other sacrificial victims, he spares my cords. (And my books.) Whenever he looked like he was about ready to puncture another cord, I'd distract him with a box or piece of cardboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things I've seen people do include wiping the cords' surfaces with lemon juice so that the cords taste nasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T21:22:29.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5669" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5676" CreationDate="2014-07-02T21:41:17.337" Score="6" ViewCount="6944" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased a juvenile male veiled chameleon. He has small swellings on the back of his hind legs which I fear could be symptoms of metabolic bone disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fL5uf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Source&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help? I've seen a lot of chameleons which look just like this but otherwise exhibit zero symptoms of MBD. Also, if it is MBD, if I begin treating it now, is there any possibility that he could &quot;outgrow&quot; the symptoms when he gets older, or should I take him back to where I purchased him?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3EdPI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Source&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LRih3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9NXsY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T21:36:56.217" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T21:36:56.217" Title="Chameleon has swelling on hind legs, what could be the cause of this? Metabolic bone disease or something else?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;chameleons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2014-07-02T22:01:16.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah yes, I had that problem with some of my cats, years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a sewing machine, you can create fabric &quot;sleeves&quot; for the cords. They should be loose-fitting tubes, wide enough to fit the plug through. You might think you should use thick fabric to protect the cord, but I actually recommend you use thin fabric, perhaps something fuzzy like flannel. The idea is to make it less satisfying to chew on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to make sure the cords don't dangle loosely, tempting the cat to bat at them and then bite them. Tucking them behind tables, sofas, etc. can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:01:16.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2014-07-02T22:18:23.647" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats find citrus oils offensive.  Rub the outer part of citrus peels against the wires.  Or if you want more bang you can get the essence (peel oil) of bitter orange and put that on it.  That should ward the cat off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:18:23.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5662" CreationDate="2014-07-02T22:22:46.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say, unless you know it is safe for cats assume it to be poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the plants we can eat and are good for us are actually poisonous to cats.   Moreover, cats have no defenses to plant born toxins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have LOTS of plants and I keep them all behind closed doors so as not to poison my &quot;grrrls&quot;.  It is not uncommon for indoor cats to want to chew on plant leaves and then get fatal poisoned by them, outdoor cats tend to go for grass (which helps them puke up hairballs and is not toxic) and typically avoid chewing on random stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and plants don't mix well- avoid it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-02T22:22:46.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5666" CreationDate="2014-07-03T02:10:48.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good evening! No, not all dogs have this reaction. I believe some individual dogs are more sensitive to these and other stressors, for a variety of reasons. For dogs that are sensitive to sounds/scents/concussive force of pyrotechnics, I think it’s a very threatening experience to be exposed to the sound of fireworks. Because we have know way to tell what parts of the experience an individual dog may or may not register as threatening, we have to consider that the sound, scents, the visuals - any component of the experience - may trigger the fearful reaction, even at low levels (below our ability to detect with our senses) or at a distance with low intensity fireworks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During storms, we aren’t really clear on what triggers some dogs. It may be barometric pressure changes, it could be thunder - again, at a distance or a volume that we may not notice. I do believe that the more sensitive types of dogs (without specifically identifying individuals of specific breeds, for instance) are more likely to experience noticeable problems around thunderstorms and/or fireworks. There are plenty of dogs that are oblivious to thunder, fireworks, etc. It’s unusual for dogs with really solid temperaments, with a solid history of socialization to a variety of stimuli like these to suddenly become reactive. Unfortunately, many people unintentionally and unknowingly choose pets that are inclined to display fearful or needy behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we select dogs as potential service animal candidates (for instance) or pets, we try to avoid dogs that are at all timid, nervous, and overly needy. Confident dogs are more easily and safely integrated into a variety of environments without a lot of the adjustment problems related to sound sensitivities, weather, etc. These issues detract from the pleasure of the pet parenting experience and, depending upon how severe and frequent sound sensitivities are an issue, they may really negatively impact the dog’s quality of life, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a great night...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DPO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T02:10:48.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5503" CreationDate="2014-07-03T02:52:37.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’d be curious to know where you got your dachshund (to learn about it’s early rearing), and how long you’ve had him at home with you. If your doxie is successfully socializing with larger dogs - fantastic. Just be sure that none are playing too roughly and putting him at risk of (back) injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn’t mention how well trained this dog is, but if you have trained your dachshund to respond to your visual or touch cues, reliably - you can probably teach him to recall from dog-dog interactions, fairly easily. With repetition, and significant reinforcement, he can learn that being called away from another dog is great fun! A lot will depend upon the working relationship you have with your dog - and an awareness of what is particularly motivating for him. With regard to your question about being cross-eyed and his visual acuity, please consider speaking with a veterinary opthamologist. it’s possible that a non-specialist can conduct some sort of testing, but I am not sure. Whatever visual ability he has is what he’s used to, so assume that he’s probably doing pretty well, since he seems to navigate social interactions with the larger dogs, as you said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dachshund will probably do well with a select, core group of dogs with which he is familiar. He may never be a dog that can be thrust into a rowdy, more variable group that one might find at the average dog park. if he has one or two buddies, that may just fit the bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T02:52:37.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5486" CreationDate="2014-07-03T02:59:26.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that your longhaired cat is healthy - and is having no dietary issues, I’d say that you are doing just fine. Few people with longhaired cats are happy aout the quantities of hair that they shed, but it’s just part of the package that comes with being a cat’s parent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the time spent grooming your cat, it’s likely that you are more likely to discover unusual physical symptoms, like lumps, weight los, and possibly dehydration before other less conscientious cat owners. Good for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T02:59:26.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5669" CreationDate="2014-07-03T03:27:28.950" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think what you have is Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD), but another serious illness called Chameleon Gout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty easy to keep any reptile safe from MBD, as long as you provide UV light and occasional calcium supplements. MBD comes from months of without the proper lighting or supplements. Note: Be sure to change your UV lighting about every 6 months, as they will continue to give off light even though they aren't producing UV light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an X-Ray of two chameleons with MBD and one healthy chameleon. The first chameleon is still somewhat young, and his bones are still growing. But you notice you can't really see the bones as you can with the other two. That's because of the extremely low density of the bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kUL0Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Metabolic Bone Disease in chameleons&quot;&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chameleonforums.com/what-metabolic-bone-disease-mbd-looks-like-how-happens-how-fix-95071/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chameleon in the middle is older, and while it's recovered from the low density part of the 'disease' you can still see the bones are bent horribly out of shape. Compare it to the healthy chameleon on the far right, you can see what the skeletal structure is supposed to look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow the source of the picture to the forum, you can see more images of what MBD looks like on the outside. Generally you see more of a curve in the limb than swelling (although you will see some).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IiAGD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Chameleon with MBD&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I believe your chameleon has is Chameleon Gout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chameleon Gout is when there's a high level of uric acid in the chameleon's blood. Most often it's caused by a problem with the kidneys, where the crystal urates that are normally passed with the feces finds it's way into the chameleon's organs and around the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms are pretty much the same as if they had arthritis, because of this, it's commonly misdiagnosed until the differing symptoms become clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice they have difficulty climbing, and won't like you touching their joints. Their behaviour will change due to the pain, commonly more aggressive to avoid handling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms that set it apart from arthritis is a refusal to eat, excessive drinking along with dehydration which can be indicated by a low veil and/or shallow eyes, and swollen areas, usually the joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an X-Ray of a chameleon with gout, the owner caught it pretty early on, so it's not so well defined in the X-Rays, but it give's you an idea of what you're looking at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zoc1S.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Chameleon Gout X-Ray&quot;&gt; &lt;br /&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chameleonforums.com/oscars-gout-119871/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will need to see a vet&lt;/strong&gt; to get medicine that will dissolve the built up crystals and address the issues with the kidney's. Chameleon Gout is a complicated illness to treat and you can not do it on your own. However, there are some things you can do to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with encouraging them to drink in order to combat the dehydration and flush out their system and keep the problem from spreading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on their diet, you might want to lower their protein intake. Everything I've heard about Chameleon Gout mentioned that high protein diets increased the risk. I believe protein increases uric acid production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're managing your own feeder insects, what I would do is feed them protein, and then switch them to vegetables a day before using them. That way there is still enough nutrients from the protein, but it is more balanced with the vegetables. If you're feeding your chameleon vertebrates like pinky mice or anoles, I would stop with those even just for the sake of their bones being difficult for chameleons to digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, taking them to a vet to get X-Rays done can decide for certain what it is, and the proper medicines to use to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T03:27:28.950" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5556" CreationDate="2014-07-03T05:47:19.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Developing a healthier relationship with this dog will involve play, but it will need to be structured in a way so that you are reinforcing appropriate pet behavior, and not inadvertently exacerbating the problem or quite frankly, placing yourself in danger. I don’t know if this dog has learned to accept clear leadership from either of your parents, but if no one at home has the ability to EASILY direct this dog, without the use of physical restraint, it may not be safe for you to take a stab at this without professional support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At all costs, safety has to be established, so do not hesitate to ask your veterinarian, or other local pet professionals for a referral to a knowledgeable dog trainer or animal behaviorist. In your description, it wasn’t clear (to me), if the attempted bite occurred when you entered your home, and you directly approached your growling dog (this is one way that dogs communicate a warning), which you ignored and encroached on the dog, or if you entered your home and the dog approached you (only to be restrained by your father). Pet owners often approach their own dogs, even when they are growling, due to a certain amount of denial - it’s understandably challenging to accept that one’s dog might bite them. I urge you to take warning behavior very seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are too many questions that I would want to discuss before advising you to do anything other than finding skilled, professional behavioral support, immediately. Start of with a complete veterinary exam - please describe the behavior you’ve experienced to your vet. If you can bring your parents to also discuss their observations, it may be helpful. Expect the vet to want to do a complete workup. Many animal behavioral issues have easily addressed physical health-related beginnings. May this be so in your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, call ahead of your return to your home and make sure that the dog is secure before you enter. There’s no reason to risk anyone’s safety. There’s nothing positive to be gained by permitting your dog to repeatedly practice threatening behavior towards you, so take an active role in diffusing the conflict by being proactive. I advise against attempting to punish the dog's behavior. It could exacerbate the current problem or lead to other issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T05:47:19.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3314" CreationDate="2014-07-03T06:10:18.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Housetraining a dog is largely about reinforcing elimination in a location that’s desirable to you, and denying your dog opportunities to practice elimination in undesirable locations. Your dog doesn’t care, one way or the other about these areas you wish to protect from urine soiling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as you wouldn’t allow a naked newborn with a full bladder to sit on expensive furnishings without protecting them, you can control your dog’s access to areas you wish to protect from his urine. If you believe that your dog is somehow stressed or otherwise triggered to urinate in the presence of other dogs, consider managing that in a way that prevents the problem - no other dog contact until your dog is empty? Lead him to approved areas (on a leash) and stay with him, to effectively reinforce urination where you’d like it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are excellent clicker training resources available online. clickertraining.com is one. Karen Pryor and others have written scads of books about the process, but it is simply a clear means to communicate to your dog what he has to do to earn something (treat) he wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T06:10:18.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3214" CreationDate="2014-07-03T06:25:05.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than this being a urinary tract issue, it is possible that the issue may be orthopedic - maybe he’s experiencing pain or discomfort when he lifts his leg and he puts it down, sooner than he used to. Your veterinarian can palpate and manipulate your dog’s back, hips and knees - in an attempt to determine if there’s any discomfort, and advise you, accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T06:25:05.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-03T06:53:25.773" Score="2" ViewCount="3311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always took him out by putting a leash on him and he never listened to me when we were out. Recently, I am taking him out without any leash and he goes here and there and makes himself dirty and doesn't even listen to me no matter how many times I call him. If I hit him slowly or force him towards our house, he becomes aggressive and tries to bite me. I shout strongly and throw him few times and then he enters the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I train him to follow me in the road? He always used to be inside our house so we never bothered to train him in his early days so I am having a hard time teaching him this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: He is a cocker spaniel and almost 3 years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2593" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T11:58:05.250" Title="How to make my dog follow me when I take him out of the house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;cocker-spaniel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2014-07-03T07:31:01.810" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of good answers already. Additionally, Try using some useless wires for your cat as a thing of play. it will be busy playing with those while missing the useful and Live wires! I think a distraction might substantially reduce, the number of useful wires from being bitten!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2594" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T07:31:01.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2198" CreationDate="2014-07-03T11:41:08.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen male and female guinea pigs doing the &quot;dominance dance&quot; to both male and female guinea pigs. I called it &quot;dominance dance&quot; because that's essentially what the guinea pig is doing, establishing dominance for mounting a female, claim space, etc.&#xA;It's perfectly normal for cavies to do it, don't worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T11:41:08.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5680" CreationDate="2014-07-03T11:58:05.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forcing your dog to do something doesn't teach him anything. Instead, think about what motivates your dog and use that to teach him to do what you want. If your dog isn't behaving on leash, you certainly don't want to try working off leash, even if you're in a secured area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're not asking about a precise heeling behavior, but instead a very loose leash walking, I'll try to keep my suggestions specific to that, although any reward-based heeling lessons will also work to help keep your dog close to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Relationship Building&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The absolute best way to keep a dog close to you is to build value for being near you. Play games with him, give him treats for coming to you, teach him new tricks. Anything from playing tug to teaching weaves is fine. What you do is dependent on what the dog likes, and once you figure that out, you can begin to transfer that value into what you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reinforcement Zone&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Reinforcement Zone (RZ) is a great place to start with keeping your dog close. RZ is simply the area directly to the left or to the right of you. When your dog comes into that spot, he gets a treat. Eventually, he'll start coming into that spot more frequently and you can begin moving around and rewarding him for staying in that spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Random Movements&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;When you're walking, be unpredictable and make sudden directional changes to keep your dog's attention. If he follows you correctly, reward him for a good decision. Don't be worried if he fails, that's when he's learning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward ONLY Desired Behavior&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If your dog runs off on his own without you releasing him and he comes back, don't reward him. Even though you might think you're rewarding his recall, you're actually rewarding the chain of him running off and then coming back. Instead, wait a few seconds or move a few steps before rewarding him. Make sure the decision you're rewarding is your dog staying near you, not running off and coming back. That said, teaching a &quot;go play&quot; cue can be a great reward and stress reducer for the dog. If you've given the dog permission to go run around away from you, definitely reward when he comes when called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Manage Distractions&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Don't expect your dog to follow you if there's a squirrel 50 ft away right away. That's a HUGE distraction. Start in a quiet environment and slowly build up the amount of distractions, giving your dog the choice to fail but not the ability to be rewarded for failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just a few suggestions. For now, I would focus on relationship building games. Don't even consider having your dog off leash in an uncontrolled environment until you are 100% sure you can recall your dog off of ANYTHING (yes even if he's charging full speed at a rabbit or squirrel). This is for the dog's safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Further reading:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Classical Conditioning [wiki]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premack%27s_principle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Premack's Principle [wiki]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T11:58:05.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-03T12:40:03.533" Score="4" ViewCount="13046" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is normally a very active pet, however for the past few days she will avoid carpet at all costs. For example, she will sit at our two kitchen stools  and if we try to move her, she will quickly run back there. In fact, she only gets on the carpet to eat/drink and go to the litter box. If you move her off of those stools, she will go on another hard platform such as a counter-top. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coincidentally(?) we've also had a flea problem in the past few days. We've been trying to get rid of them and also giving her flea baths (which she loves), a collar, etc. I don't know if cats are smart enough to connect the dots, but I hate seeing her like this. Is there something else wrong with her? How do I help her out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2596" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:27:32.023" LastActivityDate="2019-07-27T16:25:21.903" Title="I think my cat is afraid of our carpet, how do I help her recover?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5684" CreationDate="2014-07-03T13:30:31.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that's coincidence... Carpets can harbor fleas quite readily and make the area unattractive to any furry pet, so I don't find it far-fetched that your cat is reacting to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of carpet cleaners that can be effective in flea control, so you'll want to be doing something with that in conjunction with any flea treatment applied to your cat. As it is, they could be abandoning your cat for the carpet and you don't want that to continue if it's the case. Her preference for hard surfaces is a sign that this has happened, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, one option is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.raidkillsbugs.com/en-us/products/raid-flea-killer-plus-carpet-and-room-spray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Raid flea killer for carpets and upholstery&lt;/a&gt; and you should consider treating carpets and furniture. Google will help you find others if you want something else. Once eliminated, your cat should be more likely to go back on the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T13:30:31.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5684" CreationDate="2014-07-03T13:32:54.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what you have described - eating, drinking, and elimination habits have not been disrupted by the carpeting. If there were a significant problem, we typically notice it through changes in these behaviors. My advice is to carry on as though there is no problem. If you have a playful cat, it’s possible that the interaction with you around the stools is play. When you handle your cat, check her paws… she may need a nail trimming. if she is snagging on the carpet, that might cause her to avoid the carpet, but she sounds otherwise normal from what is written, here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T13:32:54.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5488" CreationDate="2014-07-03T14:04:53.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good morning! Your puppy is probably sizable and physically immature, so his joints are not really ready for a lot of intense road work. Your veterinarian can probably guide you on this, as your dogs’ conditioning needs to be done carefully. For instance, an overweight dog would probably do well to lose some of the weight prior to pounding the pavement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The duration on these walks may need to be shorter, initially. Intermittently rewarding your pup for calmly walking in a loose lead position will probably enable you to minimize tugging on the lead - the tugging could spark off some of the “manic” behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep it light and easy, with a lot of positive reinforcement, and I suspect you’ll see rapid improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T14:04:53.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5692" CreationDate="2014-07-03T14:49:05.640" Score="5" ViewCount="10653" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat ate a balloon a few days ago. Sadly, she didn't manage to digest it, so tomorrow the vet will perform an intestinal surgery to remove it from her intestines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much will this surgery affect her? I imagine she will have to eat only diet food for the days following. Will the recovery be long and painful for her? Will she recover totally after this surgery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1092" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-03T15:58:21.390" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T07:08:33.907" Title="How much will intestinal surgery affect my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5689" CreationDate="2014-07-03T15:32:58.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please remember to ask  your vet your health related questions when you take her in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how to prevent your cat from eating strange objects, the most effective method is to simply keep things you know she's particularly attracted to, and things that would be particularly dangerous to her stored away and out of reach.  You could even establish a room that cat is not allowed into, to keep things that cannot easily be stored away, but the cat may like eating.  Plants, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try spraying objects with sprays designed to keep cats away, but be careful that you make sure it is also non-toxic, so if they don't work to keep your cat from eating things, it doesn't harm the cat.  I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of these sprays, since I have not used them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:32:58.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5488" CreationDate="2014-07-03T15:44:56.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely ask his vet how much he thinks is too much for the dog's age and physical state. &#xA;Then I suggest you see how long does he sleep after he arrives home (if you are not running just before going to bed). Dogs can easily get overexcited and push themselves too hard just to please their owners. What gives me the best idea of how much exercise my dog needs is not how he behaves while outside (he's a Boston Terrier 10 months old, could stay out running, jumping and playing with other dogs forever) but how he behaves once he has arrived. If he sleeps for two hours straight it was a good workout, if he sleeps for four it was definitely too much, anything less than two hours of straight sleep and we have to go out again later in the day if we want a calm dog at night. Of course those numbers might not apply to your dog, but I think you'll find this method to give you a good idea of how much exercise he needs to be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:44:56.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5689" CreationDate="2014-07-03T15:57:30.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your vet will be able to give you specific instructions for your situation, so please make sure you sit down with them and discuss any and all concerns you have about this surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had a cat who needed intestinal surgery, but we did have a cat who had a hiatal hernia repaired (his stomach was moving into his esophagus), and later he had a gastric feeding tube (the end was placed in his stomach, bypassing the esophagus, where most feline feeding tubes are placed), so I'm familiar with some types of gastric surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to remember about this surgery is that it is &lt;strong&gt;MAJOR SURGERY.&lt;/strong&gt; Your cat will take time to recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is on pain medications, she will likely start to feel better before she is better, so she must be confined and not allowed to jump until the sutures heal. We kept our cat in a small bathroom, but he was not naturally a climber. If your cat would normally climb on the toilet, sink, etc, you should instead confine her in a large dog crate, room, or large closet without any furniture. Your vet will instruct you on how long the confinement should last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not remember giving our cat special food after the surgery, but he had so many allergies that his food choices were already pretty limited. Your vet will give you a large number of medications to ensure that the GI system is working properly again, so make sure you administer them according to their schedule (we had to keep a calendar because it seemed like everything was on a different time table).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that if everything goes well, your cat should be back to normal in a few weeks. There is a risk of complications (as with any surgery, even something routine as a teeth cleaning), and your vet should discuss these risks with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T15:57:30.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5693" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-07-03T16:49:20.430" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-03T16:49:20.430" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T16:49:20.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5694" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-07-03T16:49:20.430" Score="0" Body="Questions about the process of surgery, preparation, aftercare, and complications. If your pet is having a medical emergency, please take them to their veterinarian." OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-03T16:49:20.430" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T16:49:20.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5697" CreationDate="2014-07-03T18:09:27.253" Score="4" ViewCount="16465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a healthy kitten ~9 weeks old, long-haired, seems to have good cleaning habits (I found her at 8 weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She likes to jump up on my lap and clean herself, which is fine. Sometimes when she's cleaning herself she'll clean my hand or arm too (if my hand or arm are near where she's cleaning herself sometimes she'll just switch over to me for a while), which is also not causing any harm. Sometimes I'll pet her while she's cleaning herself if she's on my lap; because I want to reinforce good cleaning behavior (I don't want her to end up being Stinky McCrustybutt some day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a few questions related to the risk of interfering with her normal cleaning habits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How does a cat know when to stop cleaning herself? Do they stop when they are clean? Or when they have covered a certain amount of their body? Or do they just clean as much as they can in a certain amount of time?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When does a cat's cleaning behavior fully &quot;set in&quot;? That is, at 8-10 weeks, for example, can her cleaning behavior still change or is it pretty much done (and therefore nothing I do can make it better or worse)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that sometimes cats interpret humans petting them as humans cleaning them. Is it bad to pet my cat while she is cleaning herself -- will she think I am cleaning her and so not clean herself completely because she assumes I'm doing some of the work? If she interprets it as praise is this also bad because she might end up never cleaning herself &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; I am also petting her? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it bad to let her lick me while she is cleaning herself? Will this somehow use up her... &quot;cleaning points&quot; so that she spends time cleaning my hand when she &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be cleaning herself instead? If I shouldn't let her do this, how can I stop her without discouraging her from being affectionate to humans in general? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actually, 4b. She only really cleans the parts of me that happen to be near her, and only when she's cleaning herself. Does she actually &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; she's licking my hand (and not licking herself) or is she just sort of in robot-self-cleaning mode licking everything in range?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T18:05:21.277" Title="Is it OK to pet cat / let her lick me while she is cleaning herself? (and general cleaning behavior)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3154" CreationDate="2014-07-03T18:17:51.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are notoriously bad at generalizing behaviors. Your dog could have a perfect sit and someone walks in the room and they act like they've never heard the word before. Perhaps something has changed recently? You mentioned you moved, but since that was a year ago he should have had plenty of time to adjust. Since the behavior is new, there could be something that's changed either externally or internally. You might want to have a vet check him out just to make sure he's healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've ruled out another illness, it sounds like separation anxiety as mentioned above. Signs are anything from whining to licking to more destructive behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it's just started, I'd go back to figuring out what's changed in his schedule or environment. Until he's learned to behave outside of the crate, I would also keep him in his crate while you're away. He may whine and complain, but at least he's not eating your furniture, or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comments above recommended using a webcam, which can help you see if something's triggering it and is a great idea. If you see something specific happen that triggers his behavior, you can work on making him comfortable with that separately. You can also look into a remote rewarding tool to reward your dog when he's calm, although they aren't cheap. Here are a few other ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mental and Physical Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; This is a big one. A dog not playing with toys doesn't necessarily mean he's not bored or tired. Some dogs just don't like toys, but they still need mental exercise in addition to physical exercise. Teaching him new tricks, making him work for his dinner, and getting him thinking will help a lot with both the separation anxiety and the destructive behavior. You can also combine the two using chase games, fetch, and other fun activities. A fun game to play to get him thinking is &quot;Show me something new&quot; where you reward any behavior, but only once. Chew toys are also a great outlet of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crate Training&lt;/strong&gt; Make sure you put a lot of positive reinforcement into being in the crate. Use super exciting treats like chicken, hot dogs, etc. when he's in the crate to help him relax. For a great video on crate training, self-control, and motivation, I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;amp;Product_ID=1363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crate Games&lt;/a&gt; by Susan Garrett.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important not to re-enter the room when he's whining, since this reinforces the behavior. At first, you may be only looking for 1/2 second between whining. You can grow the time you want him to be quiet as he progresses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T18:17:51.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5695" CreationDate="2014-07-03T18:32:36.723" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;1)  Most cats stop cleaning themselves at a reasonable time.  An overanxious cat might overgroom to the point of stripping their hair and harming their skin.  An elderly cat might not be able to clean themselves enough due to flexibility issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)  Adults are often better cleaners than kittens are, but I don't think you need to worry about upsetting the process by interrupting it yourself or anything trivial like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)  I have never thought that a cat sees petting as cleaning, but of the other kinds of closeness a cat allows - rubbing another cat, that sort of thing.  Pet all you like or the cat will let you, it won't hurt grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)  It might be scratchy, but that's the only issue.  Grooming another cat is just a way to show closeness and love, it won't eat into the self grooming time.  Enjoy it.  If you don't like it, move the hand away, or pet her with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5)  Cats know what they are doing, she knows she's licking you and not herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T18:32:36.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2014-07-03T19:02:31.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats grow out of this stage fairly rapidly when they finish teething at about 6-8 months and can be trusted more with strings and cords.  I tended to cover the cords with a barrier or pillow until my latest kittens were big enough to stop gnawing on things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T19:02:31.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5701" CreationDate="2014-07-03T19:37:26.127" Score="4" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of this year, I had four cats (3yrs m, 9yrs f, 15yrs m, 18yrs f.) I adopted the youngest cat when he was 7 months old, the others had been with me since their respective infancies. The youngest was adjusting to the household, he was learning that the older cats did not always (...okay, EVER) want to wrassle and play with him, everyone had their place in the hierarchy, all four cats would sleep on my bed at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In February 2014, the middle two cats got very ill and had to be put down. I was left with the eldest and the youngest. There was a bit of depressed behavior over the sudden losses, but nothing destructive. The eldest didn't eat as much for a few days, and now she prefers to be fed 3-4 times a day, smaller meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The youngest sleeps on my bed every night, but the eldest won't ever go up there any more except briefly during the day. (She is able to get up there on her own - there are boxes that she and the other cat used for stairs, in the last three years.) When I pick her up and sit on the bed and give her a treat, she eats the treat...and jumps right down off the bed. Is there anything that I can do, to let her know that she's most definitely still welcome? I don't think she has too many years left in her, and I miss seeing her in the mornings. (She does come and sit right beside me when I'm working at the computer, so she's not avoiding me completely.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastEditorDisplayName="user2505" LastEditDate="2014-07-03T21:52:30.010" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T21:52:30.010" Title="Possible cat depression: how to deal with territory changes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5700" CreationDate="2014-07-03T21:07:02.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be that the oldest cat is feeling the years a bit and doesn't feel able to jump up there.  Do you have some platform or steps you can use as an aid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is because of the presence of the young cat without the other two that causes the difference, maybe if you made a separate area on the bed that is easier to claim than the whole surface.  You might put a low box or high sided cat bed and see if this 'barrier' makes her feel safer on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-03T21:07:02.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5710" CreationDate="2014-07-04T02:59:04.787" Score="4" ViewCount="12358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize that a dog can never be too old to adopt, my parents just adopted a fairly senior citizen schnauzer.  However, how young is &lt;strong&gt;too&lt;/strong&gt; young to adopt a puppy?  It's been a while, but I think we adopted our dachshund whenever he was about 8 to 10 weeks (maybe earlier).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there is a suggested age, what are some of the ramifications or reasons behind it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the answer to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1924/2495&quot;&gt;How can I find out if a dog I am considering is from a puppy mill?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; which mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you're selling a puppy in less than 8 weeks you're damaging the&#xA;  overall health of the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2495" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T15:54:04.733" Title="How old should a puppy be whenever you adopt them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5702" CreationDate="2014-07-04T06:30:42.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary concern about adopting a puppy that is too young is more of a training issue.  You'd need to keep a younger puppy in an area with &amp;quot;pee pads&amp;quot; or newspapers since they are not physiologically able to retain urine or bowel movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why Puppies You Thought Were Housetrained Might Have Accidents&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too Young to Be Fully House Trained&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some puppies, especially those under 12 weeks of age, haven’t developed bladder or bowel control yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/house-training-your-puppy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; (bullets added)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried looking in the primary research to find out if this was at the level of the internal sphincter muscles (which are under the control of the autonomic nervous system), the external ones (which are under volitional control and what humans use to &amp;quot;hold&amp;quot;), or a combination of the two.  I did not find anything conclusive, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T06:39:03.477" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-04T10:42:54.387" Score="7" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying a new way of feeding my turtle by mixing a variety of vegetables with chicken and/or prawns. I do so by mincing everything then combining them and crushing them together. I then form them into balls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that they dissociate once placed in water. I know dehydration might be a solution but I do not have a dehydrator and I think placing them in the sun will get unwanted organisms eating them and probably contaminating them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other ways to prevent dissociation? And if no then what is the best way of dehydration that minimises nutrient loss and avoids contamination?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T18:51:43.723" Title="How can I stop food mixture from dissociating in water?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5725" CreationDate="2014-07-04T10:54:52.583" Score="6" ViewCount="1688" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question comes from a discussion related to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5616/&quot;&gt;How do you groom an Angora Rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; it has been suggested that the Angora is not directly descended from the European rabbit, but rather a Turkish species. It was also suggested that as many as three wild species have been combined to create the domestic rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article on domestic rabbits&lt;/a&gt; implies they all come from the European rabbit or common rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).  Several countries in Europe and Africa surrounding the Mediterranean Sea are listed in the article as native territory for the European rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Angora is thought to come from Turkey (also on the Mediterranean Sea) but possibly from a different native source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Angora rabbit is thought to have originated from Ankara (formerly known as Angora) in Turkey... The characteristics of the Angora coat are caused by an autosomal recessive gene. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ufaw.org.uk/longhairangora.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ufaw.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are multiple references clearly stating that &amp;quot;wild and domestic rabbits can not interbreed&amp;quot;, nor can any of the rabbit species interbreed with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domesticated rabbits ... cannot breed with cottontail rabbits or hares. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hopperhome.com/feral_rabbit_colonies.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hopperhome.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits and hares are not the same. They differ genetically and do not interbreed in nature. Cottontails and domestic rabbits cannot interbreed. Nor can hares or jackrabbits interbreed with cottontails or domestic rabbits. &lt;a href=&quot;http://bunnyworld.com.au/rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bunnyworld.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The various species of rabbits do not interbreed&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=7Z9o_vGPP4cC&amp;amp;pg=PA873&amp;amp;dq=wild+and+domestic+rabbits+can+not+interbreed%27&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=aIC2U8LgBomRqAaw2YHYBg&amp;amp;ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=wild%20and%20domestic%20rabbits%20can%20not%20interbreed%27&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Modern Livestock &amp;amp; Poultry Production By James Gillespie, Frank Flanders (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To confuse the issue there are other references suggesting several species of rabbits have been domesticated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although species within Lagomorpha are derived from a common ancestor... Several species have been selected as domestic animals &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0059668&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plosone.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following was offered of the wide spread heritage of the domestic rabbit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another link: bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/general/history-rabbits.html It claims the french started domestication but there is evidence in many roman empire era ruins of rabbit pens including Pompeii. I remember seeing a picture one in National Geographic from the Pompeii excavations. –  Critters &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5616/how-do-you-groom-an-angora-rabbit/5624#comment8362_5624&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But earlier in the same article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are currently more than 60 recognised breeds of domestic rabbit in Europe and America, all of them descended from the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), the only species of rabbit to have been widely domesticated. It is a seperate species from other native rabbits such as the North American jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits and all species of hares. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/general/history-rabbits.html#sthash.Tjz2HKpS.dpuf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.bunnyhugga.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is room for confusion, in tracing the heritage of the domestic rabbit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for answers with high quality reliable reference clearing indicating, that (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is the only wild rabbit in domestic rabbit heritage or identifying other wild rabbits that are included in domestic rabbit heritage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:08:33.393" Title="What species of wild rabbit is the domestic house rabbit descended from?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5706" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-04T12:29:39.470" Score="11" ViewCount="870" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doubt there's an answer for this but I really hope so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I've always thought it strange (but convenient) how when a dog sits on a carpet or furniture or something, he doesn't leave any fecal remnants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, today my dog sat in the passenger seat, and for whatever reason left some slight (very slight, only noticeable if you were looking) smears on the seat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love it when my dog jumps up onto my bed and paws me awake (he doesn't run riot around the house, but he his allowed to do this) but now I'm just really paranoid he's going to leave fecal marks behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I say, I doubt there's an answer other than keeping him completely off the furniture, but is there a way, diet wise or whatever to ensure he's clean? &lt;strong&gt;I mean, cats never seem to have this problem.&lt;/strong&gt; He's a Border Collie, so he can be trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess this is why pets aren't often allowed on the furniture...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2601" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditDate="2014-07-04T16:52:11.247" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T19:21:55.263" Title="Ensure dog always has a clean backside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5695" CreationDate="2014-07-04T17:19:26.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Petting as cleaning: that's a big mixed bag.  On one level they see it as friendly social grooming, but I'm pretty sure they don't count it in place of their own cleaning activities.  If anything it can help to stimulate them to clean themselves more (a good thing in older cats who might not clean themselves enough) for a few reasons: it is pleasurable (like self grooming), it makes them feel better about themselves, it stimulates thinking about cleaning (because it is viewed as a grooming type activity), and finally if you put &quot;too much&quot; of your odor on them (via the skin oils) they feel they have to wash themselves to smell like themselves (that is it is ok to have some group scent from you but too much is a bit weird to them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The activities and behaviors you describe are perfectly normal and I do not think you are in any way causing this cats behaviors to develop in the wrong direction.  You are just establishing a loving bond between you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she cleans you she is &quot;returning the favor&quot;.  It is a love gesture back to you for your grooming of her.  Also she is putting her odor on you (as she would by rubbing up against you).  The group odor (where one individual has odor components from others in the group) is one way of establishing a friendly clan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T17:19:26.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5689" CreationDate="2014-07-04T17:33:19.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is major surgery and there's always a chance that the cat won't wake up from anesthesia.  That being said I have a cat who has had even more major surgery.  She has pooping problems so 2/3's of her colon was removed (that is worse than cutting open the intestines, removing an object, then sewing them back up) and she recovered fully from the operation with no problems from it (sadly it did not fix her pooping issue but its great that she recovered so well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was much younger at the time and recovered quite well.  Complications can arise from an operation, but barring those your cat should recover quickly, mine did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck to you and your cat, and I agree that you should keep objects (that your cat seems to play in an unhealthy way with) away from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T17:33:19.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5702" CreationDate="2014-07-04T23:21:09.347" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I commented, I think this is more of a developmental milestone issue as opposed to specific ages but there is a reasonable rule of thumb. As with all of us, maturation may happen at different rates and it's really more important for you to know when a given puppy is &lt;em&gt;ready&lt;/em&gt; for adoption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, some milestones periods to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separation of a puppy from litter mates and mother before or at 6 weeks of age can lead to recidivism in behaviour (&lt;em&gt;Elliot and Scott, 1961&lt;/em&gt;) and tend to show negative effects on health and weight (&lt;em&gt;Slabbert and Rasa, 1993&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separation from mother at time of weaning can lead to significantly increased vocalization behaviours (&lt;em&gt;Elliot and Scott, 1961&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress during the house training phase can lead to poor learning behavior. Puppies start forming preferences for elimination by 8.5 weeks (&lt;em&gt;Fuller, 1967&lt;/em&gt;) and up until they do, they tend to just go anywhere as they need to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leash training is best between 5 - 9 weeks (&lt;em&gt;Scott and Fuller, 1965&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General source: &lt;em&gt;Manual of Clinical and Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats&lt;/em&gt; by Karen L. Overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What that means, and the book goes into a lot more detail, is that there is some variation by dog, but that 8 weeks is really a minimum for a puppy and a bit longer is probably better. A good breeder should take the proper time to socialize, house train, and accustom the puppy to leashes and other restraint objects and if done for at least 8-9 weeks (or longer, which is better) the dog will be much better suited for adoption and have far less issues for their human companions in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-04T23:21:09.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-05T18:10:01.087" Score="6" ViewCount="6727" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any pets, but people in my neighborhood walk their dogs in my street. In doing so, the dogs urinate on the wall just outside our front door. This is very annoying because it stains the (white!) porous wall in a very obvious and ugly way, and there's plenty of grass and wall literally one meter away. I'm trying not to get mad at the perpetrators but it's beyond me how dog owners can be so inconsiderate. I mean, it's &lt;em&gt;right next to my front door!&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't &quot;caught anyone in the act&quot; but it's probably futile (or even counterproductive!) to put up a sign. So I have to find a solution that will repel the dogs, not the owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I prevent dogs from peeing on that spot?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google results suggest things like &lt;strong&gt;vinegar, bleach, citronella,&lt;/strong&gt; as well as some special sprays that probably aren't available in my country. &lt;strong&gt;Do those methods work?&lt;/strong&gt; I'd rather not try out stuff that might cause more damage than what's already there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2604" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:00:36.930" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:00:36.930" Title="How to stop dogs from urinating on my entrance?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5711" CreationDate="2014-07-05T22:24:28.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of what's causing the repeat visits (and marking behavior) is the lingering scent of other dogs' 'calling cards'. You'll have to block that, first; then put counter-scents in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a wall that can be painted? If so, look for something called Kills (or Kilz, I think the spelling changes from country to country) to cover the wall and lock the urine-scent behind it. I've seen it in white and clear. First, thoroughly clean the wall as thoroughly as possible with bleach (or something similar that will not damage the wall), prepare it for painting (let it dry thoroughly), apply Kills/Kilz according to the directions, and wait for the sealant to cure. Then repaint the wall with its normal color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you've gotten rid of as much old scent as you can, and locked the rest behind an impermeable barrier, you can add something around the area (say, just in front of the wall) that discourages the dogs from visiting that wall. Check with a veterinarian to see what locally-available products/methods they would recommend, for olfactory discouragement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T22:24:28.660" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5714" CreationDate="2014-07-05T22:29:12.897" Score="11" ViewCount="83368" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave my dogs a few leftover bones from grilled ribs, thinking they'd chew on them for a few days. No. They ate them whole, right then and there. Is this safe / healthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2477" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T16:15:12.457" Title="Can dogs eat the leftover bones from grilled ribs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2014-07-05T22:58:25.597" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, I would avoid giving cooked bones to a dog. Cooking makes the bones very brittle and much more likely to shard and cause injury. It's also because they're cooked that they crunched through them so quickly, they just won't stand up to any real pressure from the jaws of a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give them bones, you might want to look around for a dog-friendly butcher who is experienced in saving bones for dogs. They would have nice big bones and then they'll get days of enjoyment as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-05T22:58:25.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1581" CreationDate="2014-07-06T05:13:36.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do You scold him, if you discover poop in his crate? As a good boy he might have generalized that you don't like him to poop/don't like poop. That might be the reason behind his shy behavior outside: he might be trying to reach a 'safe' distance from you in every situation when poop is around and especially when he himself is about to produce this 'thing, that makes mommy so angry'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible solution: just stop scolding at home, better look completely relaxed and happy when you come back and take him out of the room in a friendly way, before you start cleaning. Difficult, I know!&#xA;Talk to your vet what to fed and try different times/different food for their meals - to lessen their need to eliminate during the time while they have to be crated.&#xA;Surely you give them a good possibility to eliminate before you leave them? That, combined with the right kind of food and the right time to give it and no scolding at all connected with poop should help over some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to walk a dog that has this kind of problem? &#xA;Arrange the food and feeding time according to the walkies-schedule.&#xA;Bring him out for long poo and pee - stops in a quiet environment&#xA;Praise and give treats for eliminating there, &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt; start to walk  to somewhere interesting for your dog &#xA;- turning back as soon as they have relieved themselves will act as a punishment for that - they would rather stay outside longer so by turning back as soon as they did it you teach them to hold it longer)... if the interesting walk starts, as soon as they did 'it', the learn to hurry up - which helps, if sometimes you are in a hurry.&#xA;All quite difficult with 3 dogs with the same kind of problem... probably best done seperately, first with the former 'good boy', even if that will take up some time every day, until it starts to get better. Better to spend time walking than cleaning dogs and crates...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastEditorUserId="1357" LastEditDate="2014-07-06T05:19:34.583" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T05:19:34.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3287" CreationDate="2014-07-06T05:23:25.250" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If her food - or the amount she consumes - is changed in any way, surely her insulin must be adjusted, clever question! Call her vet for advise!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T05:23:25.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5704" CreationDate="2014-07-06T05:29:59.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A way to keep the food together is to turn it into gelatin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariadise.com/gel-fish-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://aquariadise.com/gel-fish-food/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find or make a recipe that contains the food you want to give your&#xA;turtle, and collect the ingredients you need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toss it in the blender.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add gelatin so the food won't fall apart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pour the resulting mixture in ziplock bags and flatten them so you&#xA;can break off pieces easily or into ice-cube trays.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give a bit to see if your turtle likes or not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: Gel food can be kept in the freezer for long periods of time – just thaw before feeding and you’re ready to go!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="464" LastEditorUserId="464" LastEditDate="2014-07-06T18:40:02.393" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T18:40:02.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2408" CreationDate="2014-07-06T05:46:16.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't see a need to differentiate the behavior - why teach different signals?&#xA;Some of the leading trainers in the field will do seminars - they might be able to give an answer to the why and at the same time start to give you a solution to the 'how' for the teaching of the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T05:46:16.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2430" CreationDate="2014-07-06T06:00:05.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about 'just teach her a &quot;wait&quot;' to be taught and used in any kind of situation as a stopp signal (you will need to train another signal for running on) and if ready, when she is doing fine already with it without leash from any kind of speed and emotional state, transfer it to the obstacles? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a stop you might want to ask for in competition is probably very short, you might need to train these two signal over obstacles together with very varied duration in between, so that she will not anticipate the 'run again' signal during competition and run on, before you want it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T06:00:05.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3285" CreationDate="2014-07-06T06:27:31.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly the younger one now feels safe enough in her new home to establish her own rules and will now reach for a new position in the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the older one is scolded for/stopped while trying to supress that, she will withdraw - and will have more difficulties to keep her position as the original home owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To bring two adult females together is not creating the same scenario as when a puppy is introduced to an older dog, that might sort of 'adopt' it and teach it 'manners' for months which the young one will then remember for a long time, even if it is getting stronger and more selfassured over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Equal treatment' is something that is valued by humans, not by dogs. &#xA;Especially with female-female or male-male partnering there will be dominance issues over any kind of ressource (food, toys, your attention in any given moment, places to rest, places to watch from, whatever). You might be able to supress any kind of aggression while you are in the room, but only then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home partnering of female-male offer a better chance for developement of a friendly cooperation - drawback: outside there usually are other issues: most males will get reactive, showing other males, that they don't want anybody to come into contact with their female, so that this combination is not the one I would prefer for a walk/free play together in the dog park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for expert advise (APDT-Trainer for example) for how to handle the situation in detail or even start to think of rehoming the new one. Best wishes and Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T06:27:31.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5726" CreationDate="2014-07-06T09:34:15.980" Score="5" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2-year-old &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovawart&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hovawart&lt;/a&gt; currently has feeding times at 9 in the morning and again at 6 in the afternoon. In a month I will be starting evening classes so I have to change the feeding schedule to noon and 9 in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to gradually shift the feeding times towards the new schedule during the month, or just start with the new schedule abruptly? Is constant small change in the routine better or worse than one big change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not the kind of dog that gets easily stressed over a change in routine, but I figure why not do it the &quot;right&quot; way anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-07-06T13:46:59.700" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:46:59.700" Title="Should a change in feeding schedule be gradual or abrupt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5705" CreationDate="2014-07-06T13:27:47.120" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks to that Meta question, I got curious... One way to pin down the origin question is to look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/28/6/1801.full&quot;&gt;genetic structure of domesticated rabbits&lt;/a&gt; in comparison to wild rabbits. From the linked study are some interesting tidbits of information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are two subspecies of &lt;em&gt;Oryctolagus cuniculus&lt;/em&gt;: algirus and cuniculus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O.c. algirus is native to the southern Iberian Peninsula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O.c. cuniculus is native to the nothern Iberian Peninsula and France&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two sources with respect to the history of rabbit domestication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From &lt;em&gt;A natural history of domesticated mammals&lt;/em&gt; (Clutton-Brock, 1999) there is evidence of Roman domestication in the Iberian Peninsula for the purpose of meat production. However, there was no selective breeding in place, so not considered true domestication. There's also another study, on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.legs.cnrs-gif.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/casane_jeb_1994.pdf&quot;&gt;rabbit populations present in Mediterranean islands&lt;/a&gt; that backs up the Roman claim.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evidence exists that true domestication began in French monasteries in AD 600 after Pope Gregory declared that newborn Rabbits were not meat and so could be eaten during Lent (several sources from the linked article).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, the study went on to examine the genetic information amongst a wide spread of rabbit populations and arrived at the conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our results further indicate that the subspecies &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;O. c. cuniculus&lt;/em&gt; appears to be the only direct source of all&lt;/strong&gt; (emphasis mine) domestic rabbits (i.e., there is no evidence that domestic rabbits were derived directly from OCA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the interesting thing is that the Romans probably were the first domesticators of the rabbit in the sense that they effectively farmed them for some period. However, the modern domestic rabbit appears to be specifically borne of the efforts first initiated by French monks as a part of pretending meat isn't meat to skirt the restrictions of Lent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:27:47.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5724" CreationDate="2014-07-06T13:38:38.607" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience with various pets over the years, I find that a gradual shift in routine is more effective than an abrupt shift. An animal can't really be reasoned with and will not likely understand why things suddenly changed and that may increase the stress levels. So, ideally, you do the shift a bit more gradually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have say 30 days and a 3 hour shift to accomplish, then try to get an hour shift for each ten days in. I would do something like a 5 to 10 minute shift each day. It's still a pretty big jump to do in one month, but this should make it a little less stressing. Make sure that he has plenty of water available at all times, this will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-06T13:38:38.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5754" CreationDate="2014-07-06T20:42:08.167" Score="6" ViewCount="52447" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle (Red Eared Slider) is showing signs that it is time for her to lay eggs. She has been running around the tank for a few days and this morning she had dug herself a small hole in the upper portion of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is tomorrow I am supposed to leave for a 10 day trip and I was planning on leaving the turtles in the tank with an automated feeder. The tank only has about 3 inch deep sand in the basking area and I believe this is not enough for her to lay eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have her in a large plastic container filled with 6 inches of soil. If she doesn't lay the eggs before tomorrow morning I'm not sure what I can do. I can't postpone this trip, and taking her with me would be a procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I leave her in the tank for 10 days in this state and let her lay eggs when I return?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-07-06T20:53:27.857" LastActivityDate="2016-01-27T04:48:27.677" Title="How long will it take a Red Eared Slider to lay eggs once she is gravid?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5729" CreationDate="2014-07-06T23:33:08.787" Score="11" ViewCount="2551" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got 2 cats at home at the moment, both neutered. Our cat is a male ~9-10 months old and my brother brought his for the summer, which is a female ~11-12 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've met before and during those encounters our male was arching his back and hissing, but she is generally relaxed, not paying him much mind from the looks of things (or she could be distracted by her surroundings). He has displayed territorial behavior since she is placed in my brother's room, with him, which is normally open and vacant when my brother isn't staying here and the male likes to sleep in that room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the question though: When they notice each other from under the door, they'll both be glued there trying to poke at each other under it. There is no hissing, no aggression (our male gets aggravated if he's disturbed but it isn't hard to distract him, unless the female is meowing). We can't tell if this is playing or hunting and we can't tell if they understand who's on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is it reasonable to assume they know there's a cat on the other side?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is it reasonable to assume they know &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; cat is on the other side, since they do sniff under the door occasionally?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is it reasonable to assume they haven't yet associated each other's scent and identity to their appearances?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and of course&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is it possible to get them to identify each other if they can get close enough to get a scent? (they have been close but only once and the male was aggressive while the female was in her cage)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and sorry for the wall of questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit - followup question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5742/using-the-room-door-as-a-means-of-introducing-cats-to-each-other-slowly&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2615" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T17:32:26.103" Title="Can't tell if cats are playing with or hunting each other" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5728" CreationDate="2014-07-07T00:18:15.163" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;They know not only that there is a cat on the other side, but if there is a gap under the door, they can smell who it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually a suggested way of getting cats to know each other (have them separated by a barrier) the preferred thing is a screen door but as they can tell who is who by smell a gap under a door is fine.  Gradually they will hopefully not feel threatened by each other (sounds like the male felt threatened by the female).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, not weird questions at all&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T00:18:15.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5728" CreationDate="2014-07-07T03:26:40.487" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To create a 'pack smell' might speed up a possible behavior change towards acceptance: stroke the face of the male with a tissue, then let the female smell it while you feed her something nice and then stroke her face with this tissue too, bring it back to him - feeding him and stroking her smell on his face at the same time (connecting the smell of the other cat with nice experiences). Stroke the parts they use to mark something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As male and female cats have quite different ways of play, it is always risky to bring them together for a longer time - and 'playing' mostly is nothing but chasing which will stress both. &#xA;As she lives (and gets to know as her territory) now a room he likes too, she will probably not be too welcome there if you open the door. Would try to get her to know other rooms too (that enables her to feels safe to go there quite quietly later, to avoid confrontations. It is important to give her the chance to avoid him, if she wants to, when both are free to share his territory). While she explores, bring him to 'her' room and close him in there for a change (that helps with the 'sameness smell' too, but bring his own 'bathroom' with him and do it only for a few minutes first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they seem calmer/less interested at the door and you want to have a try of letting them meet for a short time (start with minutes) during some days, choose 'cuddle time' rather than 'play time', start with the one not living in the meeting room (sometimes in her room, but better start/do it more often in his) in a cage (as you already did - well done), feed both of them some  tasty treats during that time and stroke them both, then bring the 'visitor' immediately back to his/her own territory, close the door, free him/her and ignore both for some time (so that they realise: nice things happen in connection with the nearness of the other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all goes well (when they seem eager to interact in a friendly way - rubbing faces to the cage with the other, both of them) and you want to let them meet 'free' for a short time every now and then (might slowly get longer, if all stays well), watch out that each has its own toilett (not an open one preferably, as fear of attacks while doing his/her thing might challenge the user, force him/her to develope the habit to urinate rather in some better hidden places (in the closet, behind the TV...).&#xA;They also need their own sleeping places(!) and food in the usual place AND at some neutral places to be reached easily (toilets well hidden, places to sit and watch elevated). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats will share a territory (after some hissing discussions) but will use the different places there each in his/her own time. The 'loser' or the more diplomatic one goes there, when the other rests or is busy with something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one of them starts to urinate 'displaced' - that usually is one of the first signs of social stress: then go a few steps back in the building of acceptance and take more time.&#xA;Sorry if this has gotten a bit long, but getting cats to accept another cat in their environment is a bit complicated and really doesn't smell nice if something goes wrong... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastEditorUserId="1357" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T03:46:17.510" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T03:46:17.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2014-07-07T04:09:32.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ignore any meow as best you can. Hiss if it gets to much - they understand that.&#xA;Meow but not to much will not work - as no reaction from you will trigger an extinction burst every time - that is: the behavior will get stronger and its duration before she resigns will get longer.&#xA;Instead teach the cat an 'asking behavior' you like and are able to notice frequently (for example sitting quietly in a certain spot when asking to be let out).&#xA;Teaching a new behavior to ask for something will work, if you are able to fullfill her wish very often very fast till the behavior is established in her thinking as much more successfull than the old behavior (the one you want to get rid off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it gets boring: you might even combine it with trick training - my cat quietly sits in the steps near the door, will then sit up or wave or lick his nose on command to be let out. If he falls back to meowing instead, my hand that was just reaching for the door handle will be removed in the same second and if he tries that again, I will walk away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very similar to the advise you already got, might bring a few ideas how to handle such a behavior change at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1357" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T04:09:32.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T06:50:08.783" Score="4" ViewCount="2078" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium housing moors and an oranda. What is a safe temperature range for these fish? There seems to be conflicting information on this online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aquarium is in a conservatory and in the middle of winter the water temperature can get as low as 8 °C (45 °F) and in the middle of summer (currently) it can get as high as 30 °C (86 °F).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last winter I only had moors and noticed no ill effects of the lower temperature. Some online sources seem to suggest orandas are more sensitive to temperature than other types of fancy goldfish, is this correct? Next winter I will most likely heat the water, but to what temperature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the increased water temperature in summer the only difference in behaviour I have noticed is that the fish will occasionally go to the top of the tank to get air, presumably due to the hotter water having lower oxygen levels. The use of an air stone seems to stop this behaviour. Are there any other risks at this temperature? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2618" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:38:34.600" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:41:07.267" Title="Temperature Range for Fancy Goldfish" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5733" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T09:01:19.327" Score="2" ViewCount="909" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet gave me an antibiotic for my rabbit to take over the next 14 days. I know it tastes horrible especially with the nasty cherry flavoring they add to it and decided to dilute each dose 1:1 with water. He's now taking the medicine with significant lesser amount of fuss but is the dilution OK or will it somehow negate the antibiotics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The antibiotics he was prescribed is Trimethoprim sulfate. I spoke to a &quot;tech vet&quot; who said it was OK, but only after an odd hesitation. Still trying to get a hold of the actual doctor via phone for confirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="345" LastEditorUserId="345" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T13:06:35.033" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T13:06:35.033" Title="Can you dilute antibiotics with water just prior to administering?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T10:46:40.497" Score="3" ViewCount="2300" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet mentioned that not all antibiotics are safe for rabbits.  What antibiotics are safe to give to rabbits? Does the route (oral vs injectable) make a differences? Is there a frequency or duration limit that is different from other animals that can use the same medicine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-07-02T21:10:41.453" Title="What antibiotics are generally safe for rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5899" CreationDate="2014-07-07T10:53:30.310" Score="1" ViewCount="1277" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet mentioned that not all antibiotics are safe for rabbits. Which antibiotics should not be given to a rabbit?  What are the adverse effects?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; I would like to also ask if there is antidote or treatment if one the 'don't give rabbit antibiotics' is accidentally given.  If this does not make the question overly broad, please include this information in your answer. If too complex I will ask separately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-07-09T14:22:03.743" LastActivityDate="2017-05-13T11:15:19.830" Title="What antibiotics should not be given to a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5734" CreationDate="2014-07-07T14:01:21.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as a safe antibiotic.  This is true for humans as well as rabbits.  But in humans we have a robust immune system that can usually handle the foreign substance and filter it out before it poses a significant threat to us, but after it has had a chance to affect the infection.  Rabbits on the other hand are fragile creatures that have evolved a short and high quantity reproduction system to compensate for their relatively weak immune system, and high incidence of mortality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In nature the adult rabbit's immune and digestive system is a bit more robust because it is exposed to more pathogens and it is forced to deal with a wider variety of food.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.georgiawildlife.com/node/897&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;But in nature annual mortality rates average about 80% per year.&lt;/a&gt;   So only the most robust rabbits live long enough to breed and the more robust the rabbit the more often they have a chance to breed.  This naturally selects for better rabbits in the wild.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In domestic rabbits the selection is most often for appearance.  Breeders will go to great lengths to preserve a rabbit that nature would have claimed.  Also domestic rabbits are not exposed to the natural pathogens or the diverse diet.  Domestic rabbits thrive on a stable diet of hay and pellets, with as little change to the substances in that diet as possible.  This makes for a healthy domestic rabbit when all is well but it presents challenges when the rabbit does get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antibiotics do not just affect the infection, they attack the good bacteria that helps the body digest, keep itself clean, produce oils that protect the fur, and many other functions.  The rabbits gut is sensitive and throwing it off can lead to GI Stasis which is often fatal.  For this reason the Vet that I talked with recommended never giving antibiotics orally.  She recommended using subcutaneous or intravenous injection(depending on the medicine and what it was treating).  The only antibiotic she said she regularly prescribes is &lt;a href=&quot;http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/lookup.cfm?setid=51ad4c7e-7fee-452e-8cb8-c50384a9250d#nlm34067-9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pen-G&lt;/a&gt;.  Any antibiotics besides Pen-G she requires an office visit for the dispensation because of the increased risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also stated that unless it is a serious infection the best medicine is usually a natural solution.  For minor eye infections, Vitamin E drops work much better in the long run.  Pro-biotics are a more effective treatment for problems with the GI tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-07-07T14:16:38.513" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T14:16:38.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5750" CreationDate="2014-07-07T16:29:26.983" Score="7" ViewCount="2754" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got my turtle some dog food to use as an occasional treat for it. I've only gave it once and it didn't even eat from it then. I then covered and left it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some time I noticed some white worms inside, even though I've covered it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know they're maggots, I'm just left wondering if I can feed my turtle these worms as I know that turtles love worms. I do know the turtle would eat them, I've just read on the Web contradictory statements, as some people feed them and some people don't. Any idea if they are healthy for my turtle to eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-04T14:56:41.657" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T00:39:21.450" Title="Are maggots appropriate food for a turtle?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4338" CreationDate="2014-07-07T17:15:34.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I think you're asking the wrong question. The solution isn't to get the younger cat to accept the older cat's play drive. The older cat needs more play than the younger cat is willing to participate in, and that won't change through time or anything that you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is play with the older cat yourself so that he is less likely to have the energy to harass the younger cat. I recommend interactive toys like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.go-cat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Da Bird&lt;/a&gt; and DAILY play time until the older cat is tired out (usually 15-45 minutes, depending on your cat's energy levels). This is a good bonding time between you and your cat as well as fulfilling your cat's hunting instincts (so he doesn't hunt the younger cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have this playtime, then immediately go into dinnertime, then you will activate his hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle, which will also help ensure that he doesn't harass the younger cat (he'll be too busy eating/grooming/sleeping to want to play again).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T17:15:34.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T17:31:37.970" Score="8" ViewCount="1090" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr: is a slightly ajar door a good way to introduce cats that have been playing with each other under it without showing aggression?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have two cats, neutered - the male is the resident house cat and the female is my brother's, who came home for the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They play a lot under the door and don't show signs of aggression when doing so, although the male has shown signs of feeling threatened by the female in the past (single encounter a week ago and a couple months ago). I already asked a question trying to discern if they're playful with each other or just toying with the door &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5728/cant-tell-if-cats-are-playing-with-or-hunting-each-other/5729&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and I feel confident they can get along, if they meet properly and slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been thinking of using the door, by opening it just enough so they can see each other and get close enough without being able to paw at each other (the door being &lt;strong&gt;slightly ajar&lt;/strong&gt; enough for looks but not claws) as a means of taking their introduction to the next step, safely. I'm thinking that's a good idea as we can just shut the door if they get too agitated, they'll both have escape routes, they won't be so afraid of each other and any interference by us (namely, shutting the door) won't get us directly involved, thus making them feel we're getting in the way. In fact, I thought of doing it &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; they're playing under the door, so that it'll be easier for them to identify what cat they're looking at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we're also worried it might agitate the male because he won't be able to enter. I think it won't be a bigger factor than his fear of the female, but we're unsure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good way to further the introduction or is it more detrimental to them getting along than helpful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2615" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T23:09:48.893" Title="Using the room door as a means of introducing cats to each other slowly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-07T18:41:24.080" Score="6" ViewCount="5493" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've mixed nutritional yeast or brewer's yeast with my cat's dry food for 3 years and he is almost always completely free of fleas etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When pet sitting my friends' dog, she had ticks and I suggested this to them. In researching it now I see the difference between brewer's and nutritional yeast seems to be chromium, which one site mentions is good for skin. Another site mentioned some toxicity with chromium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have true data. on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may have unknowingly switched between both over years but the effects were still good on my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="kare" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-02-15T12:20:01.140" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T14:16:11.647" Title="Should I use nutritional and or brewer's yeast for fleas and ticks on pets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5742" CreationDate="2014-07-07T23:09:48.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure how practical it is for you... can you have a barrier like a wire screen on the open portion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is an interior door having a panel near the base that can come off, revealing a meshed square, would work nicely.  If the encounter via the screen is not pleasant enough the panel could go back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-07T23:09:48.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6434" CreationDate="2014-07-08T12:27:44.903" Score="9" ViewCount="4180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats; one is 14 years and I've had him since birth, the other is 9-10 weeks and I found her outside two weeks ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recall with the adult cat at around 6 weeks old he had noticed the shelf that we stored the food on, and very noticeably plotted a path to get up there by jumping on other objects (you could see him observing the path) even though he physically couldn't follow the path. He also never forgot it was there and continued to try very frequently a few days in a row. He was sometimes clumsy with balance but nothing that struck me as unusual. Today, he has good navigation and spatial awareness, he has no problem remembering where toys are while playing, plotting complex paths, you can fake him out by pretending to throw things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten, on the other hand, at 9-10 weeks doesn't have nearly the same object and navigation skills that my other cat had at 6. She's very sweet and extremely active, and unusually fearless. She's a good learner as far as training goes, and she has no problem remembering where things are in the house (like food, litter boxes, water, play areas). But e.g. she forgets where toys are immediately when they are behind her; when she jumps over a toy she will look for it and sometimes mew and sniff around until I put it in front of her, similar to when I take the toy away completely. This morning she was hunting a moth; but lost track of it every time she trapped it under her paw, and had great trouble following it after she grounded it. She also simply cannot follow objects moving above a certain speed; for example if I move my hand quickly in front of her, she looks to where it &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; then is startled when she discovers where it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, even though I stayed in her field of view. I have a fort-type thing that I built for her out of milk crates, which she loves, but if I hold a toy inside one rather than attempt to find a path around she will pace and become frustrated trying to get at it from the outside despite having spent significant time playing in and around the structure. Also, when she is sitting on my lap / chest, it is very difficult for her to stay there; she will somehow manage to slide or fall off of me within about a minute even though she is clearly trying to relax or sleep or clean. 100% of the time that she cleans herself, she falls over, even on flat ground. When she sleeps, her head and limbs drift in such mysterious ways that I'm convinced there's a special sideways pointing gravity that only affects her, and she often falls off of things while sleeping or sitting. She seems to have generally good balance when walking on narrow things. She can't jump very high although I don't remember how high my other cat could jump at that age and don't have other kittens to compare her to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to block her from falling off of me with my arm but I've stopped in the hopes that the feedback will encourage her to work on balance and awareness of her surroundings. I've been shaking toys around in places that are complicated to get to and giving her a treat when she gets there (but I almost always have to lead her through the path), and setting up boxes, crates, and platforms in all sorts of complex and interesting ways for her to explore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Is she at a normal level of development -- should I be concerned about her &quot;drifting&quot;, not being able to find ways around things, and losing things the instant she can't see them? If so, what can I do to help her along and build up these skills? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only have my other cat to compare her to, and I'm not sure if he was ahead, she is behind, or they're both in pretty normal range. I am not sure if my expectations are too high; I may be wrong in comparing my two cats. The out-of-sight out-of-mind thing I can understand (although she seems a bit old for that?) because people are the same, but the strange falling off of things (almost &quot;melting&quot; off, which I can't really explain well) and navigation problems seem off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to do some research, and I know cat behavior is well studied, but for some reason I can't seem to find any good information about motor skill and neurological development in cats; all the info I find is about behavior and physical appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2014-07-08T14:37:07.873" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T21:20:53.510" Title="Kitten development / spatial awareness" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5821" CreationDate="2014-07-08T14:36:00.577" Score="4" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have 3 neon tetras and from what i've read that's not enough. I saw some diamond head neon tetras and I was thinking of getting them but they are a bit smaller than my existing tetras, would there be an issue getting them together in a tank? and would they shoal together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2628" LastEditorUserId="2628" LastEditDate="2014-07-08T23:42:21.763" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T09:41:59.007" Title="Will neon tetras of different sizes shoal together?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5706" CreationDate="2014-07-08T21:27:14.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not believe there is a specific diet which will ensure that no feces remains on a dog's backside. Having a poor diet might make this problem worse for the dog (due to loose stools or diarrhea), but diet alone will not prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative that we use is to check our dog's behind after she eliminates and wipe off anything that &quot;hangs out&quot; afterwards. Our dog also expects a treat after using the restroom (we have her trained to use a litterbox in the house), so she will come and find us  to show off her work and we will wipe her up before giving her the treat.&#xA;While on walks or outside, we are already keeping a close eye on her to pick up any droppings, so we will inspect and wipe her behind clean at that point if anything remains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if this applies to border collies specifically, but some breeds of dogs and cats will periodically secrete a dark brown, smelly substance from anal glands right next to the main anal opening. The smears might be from this &quot;butt juice&quot; rather than fecal remains, but unfortunately I have not found an effective way to stop those secretions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2606" LastActivityDate="2014-07-08T21:27:14.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5749" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-08T22:43:29.440" Score="4" ViewCount="6769" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has an over-active, swollen thyroid, causing him to constantly be hungry, and frequent vomiting. So, out of four options - radiation treatment, surgery, daily tablets, or a changed diet - we chose to give him a changed diet, with no iodine which the thyroid needs to function apparently. However, the batch of non-iodine foods were usually not eaten by our cat, so instead a family member decided to give him 100% natural (packaged) meat food instead (which predictably were met with favour from our cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, however, am concerned having read that meat may contain iodine (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7216884&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7216884&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthboards.com/boards/thyroid-disorders/423636-iodine-meats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.healthboards.com/boards/thyroid-disorders/423636-iodine-meats.html&lt;/a&gt;), that it is not a suitable replacement and in fact may be contributing to the functioning of the thyroid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, can I safely be using natural meat food instead of prescribed non-iodine food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2631" LastActivityDate="2017-12-02T13:10:18.223" Title="Natural meat foods as a replacement for explicit non-iodine foods?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5740" CreationDate="2014-07-08T22:53:00.350" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maggots are the larvae of a fly, generally the maggots we deal with are housefly maggots. Though houseflies are considered pests, most of the 250,000+ fly species are not pests but rather innocuous or even helpful. Even more, maggots play a very important role in the ecosystem as decomposers of dead matter (mostly they absorb nutrients from dead or rotten flesh).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, enough with the goodies. Maggots can be found in the most abominable places and are generally exposed to very dirty and unhygienic environments. Which is a reason many carry a lot of parasites and/or diseases. In this case though, the maggots in the dog food were limited to a space of a small can and are unlikely to carry diseases and/or parasites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maggots can actually invade a turtle's body. Signs of maggot infestment are holes in a turtle's skin or shell with black fluid oozing out. This happens if a turtle has wounds: flies will land on it and lay eggs. Maggots should be removed by tweezers, but can take a long time to be removed completely. When maggots are removed an antibiotic ointment should be applied daily. If you cannot see the maggots then you need to deprive them of air so they would come out to breath. You can do so by placing a gauze above the hole, then sealing it with a duct tape. After a little time, remove the duct tape and a maggot should appear trying to breath, you should then pierce the maggot with a needle and remove it. Repeat this procedure until all maggots have been removed. Cleanse the area daily with a Betadine (povidone-iodine) solution or mildly salty water until the hole is healed. You might want to consult a vet before doing any of these and perhaps let them do it for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the maggots are left for enough time, they can eat through the insides of the turtle and kill it. So just in case, keep an eye on the turtle while feeding it maggots in case the maggots find a wound you didn't notice and invade it. Maggots can be real evil! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, salamanders, frogs, lizards, and turtles will readily eat maggots. Maggots are a good source of protein, but they also contain lipids. The proteins and fats are mostly high in amount but are actually extremely variable. Since these maggots were mainly feeding on dog food, which is relatively high in fats, then these maggots will probably have a very high fat content, which isn't good for the turtle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, turtles can eat maggots and yours probably will. However there are many better alternatives like crickets, meal worms, or superworms. Also, feeding maggots to your turtle poses unnecessary risks to the turtle's well-being. I'd advise you feed maggots to your turtle only if they've been kept in a closed environment and were feeding on dead or rotten flesh that are low in fat. And if your turtle has been rejecting other food to a point were you know it's starving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T00:39:21.450" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T00:39:21.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5749" CreationDate="2014-07-08T23:57:27.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Natural meat&quot; probably has enough iodine in it that you can't use it.  Most mammals need good amounts of iodine and their body tissues (not just the thyroid) will have that... you would need to feed your cat something good which has had the iodine removed from it (not a cheap process and not foolproof either I'm sure some iodine still is present)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd advise you to think about radiation treatment again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My opinion is that it is the safest and easiest option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Titrating the thyroid (medicine) typically means a vastly shorter lifespan as the titration is seldom right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surgery has possible complications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Iodine free diet is possible but hard to do (you have to always make sure they don't get iodine and that isn't easy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The places that do radiation treatment, sure they rip you off but it is cheaper than surgery or (in the long run medicine), and it seems the safest and most surefire way of treating them problem.  I've had two cats who were treated with radiation.  I've known other cats treated in other ways and was not happy about those outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-07-09T10:50:29.167" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T10:50:29.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1147" CreationDate="2014-07-09T00:04:57.883" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slightly different situation, but when I met my (eventual) wife, she came with a pug. As I grew up in a house with large dogs, I wasn't used to a small dog getting underfoot. I can't tell you the number of times that I've accidentally kicked, stepped on, and bumped the dog while he was under my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he yelp when it happens? &lt;strong&gt;Absolutely.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he &quot;care&quot;? &lt;strong&gt;Not that I can tell&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I usually react like any human, with sympathy, but I don't dwell on it, and he &quot;forgets&quot; quickly. Before long, he is back trying to sit on my lap and looking for attention. As others have suggested, don't keep fawning over the dog. While it is contrary to human nature, just go on like nothing happened and the dog will reciprocate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="29" LastEditDate="2015-08-08T00:39:59.430" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T00:39:59.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5749" CreationDate="2014-07-09T12:53:43.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diet management of iodine intake for your cat is going to be very difficult with food intended for human consumption. For one, much of that food has iodine in it either naturally or via addition. For example much of the salt we get is iodized precisely to help with thyroid issues in humans and it also occurs naturally in a number of meat products we consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet is comfortable with the diet management being viable, then I think I would stick with the prescribed diet, but then you might want to gradually transition him to it rather than applying an abrupt change and while doing that transition use medication to control the thyroid until the diet transition is complete. I think you may find that model much more successful in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, there are surgical options as well as the radiation treatment Dan mentions. According to Merck, a thyroidectomy is effective in treatment and felines do not usually require a thyroxine supplement. You may want to raise that option (and get a cost) from your vet as well. Not all cats can be operated on, sedation can be a problem, but worth checking on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T12:53:43.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5727" CreationDate="2014-07-09T13:15:24.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though I suppose it's too late now, answering the question won't hurt. To answer your question directly before going into detail, the average gestation period for female RES is two months, and no its preferable you don't leave your turtle in that state, though she may be at the beginning of her gestation period. A way you could know when your female is ready to lay her eggs is when you notice she is spending more time on land, sniffing and digging constantly to find a place to lay the eggs. This happens during the last two weeks. At this stage you need to transfer her very carefully to the nesting site which you should have prepared by now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if she is at the beginning of the gestation period, she is still at a time where her eating habits would change and extra care is required for her. At this stage she will probably start spending more time basking and extra calcium and UVB rays should be provided for her. Also, she might start wanting a specific kind of food and will start rejecting a lot of other food. Close attention should be payed to her diet and to what she is preferring so it is constantly available for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do is make sure your nesting site is appropriate, which currently it isn't. Just keep in mind that the eggs maybe infertile as the female may be gravid even if the intercourse was unsuccessful. Though some websites say you can make a nesting area of about 4 inches, it's preferable you make it much deeper, of about 12 inches, though I think this number is a bit exaggerated, it's just for being on the safe side. The nesting site should be made of sand and organic substratum. It is imperative you remove all obstacles from the way as the female may stop digging if she feels there is something blocking the way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hatching occurs between 60-80 days from laying the eggs but may be several days earlier with controlled conditions. Watch the turtle in order to know where she left the eggs. If the nesting area is appropriately set in a good basking area then their is no need to remove the eggs. Still, Incubating them makes it easy to monitor them and avoids any fungus spreading from one egg through the nesting site. The container for incubation has to have holes for aeration and the temperature should be maintained at 81-87 degrees Fahrenheit. Removing the eggs from the nesting site should be done very carefully and you should mark how the eggs where placed in order to place them identically in the incubation box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that if these eggs are fertile then you are adopting a very big responsibility and a ton of research and preparation for the juveniles should be done. A main precaution I'd point is to leave the hatchlings in a separate container with shallow water and an easily accessible area of land for basking. I hope this info helped, but I still advise you do a lot more research as the wrong actions may damage your RES very heavily, a common consequence would be egg binding. The eggs will eventually rot or calcify in the female, and can cause serious diseases and bacterial infections. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I'd say you don't leave her in this state. If you have someone relatively informed of turtles leave her there and inform them of what to do. Or you can contact a vet and let them care for her during those days. If you leave her like that she might lay eggs and retain them, and eventually her eggs might bind. You should prioritize this turtle's needs as her health now depends on it, especially if she's near her laying stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2014-07-27T06:10:54.277" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T06:10:54.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5706" CreationDate="2014-07-09T17:24:01.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could increase the fiber in the diet just like a human would with this issue. A fiber supplement (food or pills) may reduce the chance of this happening by helping the stools stay firm and not runny. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also have a vet check to see if the dog is leaking at all, maybe a more significant health issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="217" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T17:24:01.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5621" CreationDate="2014-07-09T17:35:19.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a &quot;Lixit Outside Faucet Dog Waterer&quot;. It attaches to the outside faucet and they can get clean fresh water anytime. There are other similar products on the market that attach to the faucet as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to teach to dog how to use it. Some dogs are easy and others take a little more time to understand what it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For indoor use there are also various &quot;indoor dog water fountain&quot; (search google) that you can use inside to keep the water in good shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="217" LastActivityDate="2014-07-09T17:35:19.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2014-07-09T19:59:03.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to use some apple or grape vinegar. Take a cleaning cloth and moisten it with the vinegar. Clean all your cables with it and observe your cats. It should work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats never like the smell of the vinegar, and they won't get close to objects which smells like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1195" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T14:02:46.170" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T14:02:46.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5759" CreationDate="2014-07-09T23:54:02.853" Score="10" ViewCount="1118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten; about 10-11 weeks old, who I rescued at around 8 weeks. I also have an adult cat, about 14 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two unavoidable trips coming up. Next week I will be away for 6 days. In 6 weeks I will be away for nearly 3 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not worried about the adult cat. The kitten, however; I am extremely anxious about these trips; the long one more than the short. For both I have a cat-sitter who I trust and who has great experience with kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also concerned because she'll be about 12 weeks for the first trip, and 16-19 weeks for the second. That's a lot of time to miss, and she's in some pretty critical development stages (and I'm putting a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of care into raising her as best as I can).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: What kind of effect will these trips have on the kitten? How can I minimize any damage to her development and to her relationship with me? Am I worrying too much? They're basically my kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I socialize her with other humans but I am the only human living in this house. The cat sitter will be at my house, but will only be able to be here 2-3 hours/day (another thing I'm very concerned about). The kitten gets along well enough with the adult (the adult is a particularly patient and tolerant cat, although he does not enjoy play with the kitten so much, and the kitten is very active and unfortunately does not have a cat playmate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find ways to take the cats with me on the longer trip; but it's a significant expense (both money and time; basically it would involve an RV and a road trip instead of hotels and planes - yes... I am a crazy cat person) to set up a comfortable and constant environment for them if I take them with me. And besides, it may be best for the kitten if she stays in her home territory (I think?) -- I don't know if this would do more damage than harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:00:48.793" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:00:48.793" Title="How long can a kitten be cat-sit before it affects her development / my relationship with her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2014-07-10T01:11:16.343" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about the development of the kitten or your bond with the kitten then don't worry.  Your trip will be a blip.  I'm sure when you get back she will act a bit differently at first but it won't make the bonds weak or stunt the development in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand worrying about the cats welfare when you are away.  I feel the same way when I take trips.  Even though I am a guy emotionally I have a very maternal bond with my cats (especially the ones I've had for 14 years) and I do always fret about them when I am away.  If you have a good cat sitter your cats should be happy and healthy when you get back.  When I get back I always find mine are more interested than usual in cuddling with me...  I can actually tell how good the cat sitter was (in terms of paying attention to them) if they act more &quot;normal&quot; (not extra affectionate) when I get back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your older cat isn't used to taking trips, doing so with you would be a big strain on it because cats tend to equate territory with well being.  A young cat can potentially be taught otherwise but then that would mean the old cat is at home and the young cat is off with you.  I'd suggest both stay at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T01:11:16.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5768" CreationDate="2014-07-10T02:38:19.667" Score="7" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're currently bringing our 9 year old white schnauzer cross to the vet for treatment for arthritis. It primarily affects his rear left leg at the moment, but we're told it may affect his other joints- we're working on reducing his weight, he's on medication that supposedly lubricates his joints, and some painkillers at the moment. He's improving slowly, and we're making progress this bout but this is a recurring issue that seems to be getting worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also re-arranged his sleeping arrangements so he's out of the draft from the air conditioner, and he has plenty of soft surfaces to lie on (though, he generally has his front end on pillows, and rear end on the floor). I generally don't need to worry about the cold except in wet weather since I live in the tropics, but I've been discouraging him gently from lying in colder places, and he avoids drafts anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to medical care, and weight control, what can I do to make my dog's life easier, especially when he's actively having issues with the leg? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:26:04.347" LastActivityDate="2017-12-11T07:19:17.107" Title="Making life easier for an arthritic dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5611" CreationDate="2014-07-10T10:34:10.117" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing to consider first before having an outline of a turtle's enclosure is its natural habitat. Some turtles, like softshell turtles, have evolved to be burrowers and should be supplied with a fine substrate that encourages their natural behaviour. Others may live in muddy environments, and make use of that, but do not need it to thrive (like red ear sliders in some habitats.) One thing to point out is the use of small gravel, many turtles swallow them, and though they'll probably be pooped out, many can cause impaction (a blockage in the intestines). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most turtle hatchlings will prefer shallower habitats, that can be provided, but it's advisable to never let the depth lower that the turtle's shell width. With time baby turtles will develop stronger limbs with a larger surface area of webbing, making them far better swimmers (and harder to handle). As long as the tank is wide and spacious, the depth of the water can be kept near maximum for most species (ofcourse while making sure the turtle can't escape.) Also be sure to provide supports near the water's surface so the turtle doesn't fatigue trying to break it for a breath. A general rule of thumb is 10 gallons per inch (around 15 liters per cm) of turtle shell, but since depth isn't direly important to turtles (as long as it's enough), a surface area rule of thumb is probably more suitable: 8-10 times the length of the shell in length, and 4-7 times that in width. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being cold blooded, turtles require a heat lamp to thermoregulate on a dry portion of the enclosure, as well as an appropriate water temperature. They also require a UV-B lamp to aid them in the absorption of calcium by causing vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; synthesis in their bodies. The UV rays will be blocked out by a plastic or glass cover, so be sure to get a screen cover, or clamp the lamps, but be sure that they are safely clamped as they are a fire hazard. Your dry land can be a typical commercial ramp or dock, driftwood, rocks that aren't sharp (make sure they won't topple if you're stacking them), or a custom made acrylic dock. You will need a thermostat to keep the water between 74-80 °F (23-27 °C) for most species, and the basking temp should be between 88-95 °F (31-35 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there is filtration. Sponge filters typically are ineffective biological filters and don't do well with turtles. Your best choice would be a canister filter, but any filter with good mechanical filtration (multiple filter pads), and appropriate bio media (bio balls, ceramic rings, porous objects, etc.), should do. You want to aim at cycling the tank three times an hour, so if you have 10 gallons (37.8 liters) of water, you need a filter that cycles 30 gallons in one hour. You should make sure your water is free of chlorine and chloramines, and if it isn't use a conditioner like reptisafe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, you can add some plastic plants, especially ones at the surface to provide support and make hatchlings feel safer. Some turtles have been known to bite at fake plants so be sure to watch your turtle for this habit. You can also add live ones, but turtles can make a real mess out of them so it's preferable to grow them separately then add a few at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:21:32.947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:21:32.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5764" CreationDate="2014-07-10T11:48:34.127" Score="12" ViewCount="10374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just found a shivering little stray kitten on the inside of air conditioned building and thought it must be feeling cold so I took out in the sun and then ended up just bringing it home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its eyes are weird and seem to be covered up with something. Please take a look at the image below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MUnXZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat with covered eyes&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SMnCA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat with covered eyes (close-up)&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it blind, or infected? I don't have easy access to a vet's place for now! So any cat-expert opinions? If it's an infection, is there any way to help it cure at its own pace, using honey maybe? (The way that honey helps cure cough/cold-type infections with humans too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do with this kitten? And it's really dirty but I'm afraid to give it a bath because it was shivering back in the building and if it has a cold I don't want it to die of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't able to get to any vet immediately so I tried to heal her at home. And then she started improving. It turned out it really was a lot of dirt and a bad infection. I carefully patted it with a wet cloth and gently rubbed it off. But her eyes kept forming strands of pus and kept filling up quickly with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched online and found the following to be very effective: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Warm compress&lt;/em&gt;. Hold a warm washcloth against the eyes for 2-3 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Honey-water saline solution&lt;/em&gt;. Mix a teaspoon of honey with a tablespoon of water. Then add a pinch of salt. Apparently if honey isn't available, milk can be used as a substitute, although not nearly as good. Anyway I used honey and the kitten's eyes got much better, she had longer periods of time without pus forming in her eyes. Then we found antibacterial eye drops and her eyes really cleaned up after that. Here's a close-up of her eyes after 5-6 days:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L1vMY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the bad picture, it was clearer in real life but I'm not much good at taking photos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you can see, she seemed fine! With her eyes alright, and her general physical health seeming to be improved (because she had started eating more and was taking calculated leaps around the house), I was planning to drop her back around the area where I found her, basically a few blocks down from my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then tragedy struck... I don't know what went wrong. She didn't eat much one day, and when we checked on her the next morning, she was so exhausted and panting she couldn't hold her head up straight. We tried to get emergency contacts to the nearest vet. There was one, but office hours hadn't started yet. And she died before we could get there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was really sad. I don't know what went wrong. Someone in my family (not knowing that kittens are sensitive) put her in the shower for a couple of minutes the day before she died. But we dried her immediately after that and she seemed alright too, all fluffy and fine and sitting around with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she was already ill and suffering from something... Or can a kitten really die from a shower?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2636" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:26:20.157" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T12:08:31.040" Title="What's wrong with this kitten's eyes and how do I take care of them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5765" CreationDate="2014-07-10T12:45:13.563" Score="9" ViewCount="2674" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a puppy (50% Anatolian Shepherd, 50% unknown) a couple of months ago and have just started taking her out to socialize her with other people since she got her final shots.  She absolutely loves meeting new people, and does so with a combination of sniffing, minor licking, and running in circles around them.  However, my partner and I have differing views on how these interactions should occur and I'd like to know the commonly accepted way to avoid making any unnecessary social faux pas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My partner feels that when strangers approach the dog we should allow them to pet her, but that we should keep tight control.  If she attempts to go onto her hind legs and put her front paws on someone we should pull the leash tightly so that she is essentially standing on her back two legs with the front of her body supported by us in mid air.  She sees it as our responsibility to closely oversee the situation and prevent unapproved interactions.  In short, I guess she views others sort of as 'outsiders' who may want to just glimpse the outer bounds of human/dog interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, on the other hand, feel that when others interact with our puppy (and seem comfortable) they are taking on a sort of stewardship for her control at that point.  I'm still holding the leash and ready to immediately respond in case anything gets out of hand, of course, but do not want to interfere.  Restricting her in those situations feels to me like picking up one of our kids and holding their hands and feet together so that a stranger can poke them on the nose; that's no fun for anyone, as the interaction will be more genuine and meaningful if the two of them are allowed to interact in their own preferred paradigm.  If the other people want to let the pup sniff their chest, or they want to dance with her or rub her belly, I don't want to restrict that enriched interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of us is, I think, assuming others want to interact with our dog the way we've always wanted to interact with other peoples' dogs.  I tend to have strangers' dogs on their backs getting belly rubs, smothered in good old-fashioned baby talking, within minutes of meeting.  But I'm wandering now if I'm not the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We both agree that we should not allow our pup to interact with others unless those people initiate the interaction themselves.  And we try to make sure she has a harness on instead of just her collar when we're in busy places, so as to distribute any pull across her entire frame instead of just her neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is expected of us, as dog owners, by the average person.  This question is specific to American culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2638" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T07:34:53.247" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T06:08:53.547" Title="What is the socially accepted approach to letting people interact with your dog/puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2014-07-10T13:05:12.827" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Still hard to tell from the pictures and I wouldn't be able to just diagnose in any event (I'm not a vet), but it does look a bit like encrusted dirt and dust (I don't think that's what it is, just looks like it) from the photo. However, there are a few things I think you should do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the kitten access to water, a shallow bowl would be ideal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go out and pick up some wet cat food if you haven't already and make some available to her/him. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put down some blankets or towels on the floor for her to lie on and maybe snuggle into.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as you can contact a vet, make arrangements to see them. Many vets will treat strays for free and, failing that, the humane society or similar (I'm not sure where you are) can often help if you don't have the funds to treat her yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, you can check on the eyesight by moving your finger in front of the cat and seeing if her eyes follow you. They look pretty bad, but not being able to tell what's going on, I can only really suggest a vet needs to look. If she does lose her eyesight, she can still have a good life, you'd just need to be very careful with furniture moving on her going forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T12:52:29.260" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T12:52:29.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5763" CreationDate="2014-07-10T13:36:19.083" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are thinking about this the wrong way.  If it was your child and someone wanted to shake their hand or give them a hug you would not say it is ok for your child to pull their hair, spit on them, pull on their clothing, kick them, or anything else that is generally considered anti-social.  So why would the same thing be acceptable for dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to children, they learn to not do those things through correction and attention from their parent or guardians.  As a parent it would be your job to make sure that your children learn good behavior; as a pet parent it is your job to make sure that your pet learns good behavior.  And just like you would not let someone poke your child in the nose it is your responsibility to make sure that strangers are not doing anything that you or your dog are uncomfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being that your dog is part Anatolian Shepard it is probably very smart.  But it is also very strong with a strong protective instinct.  There is a risk with letting your dog be too free with strangers that it could decide what was intended as play was a threat and your dog could respond in an aggressive manner.  For that reason alone I would probably err on the side of not letting him play with strangers too much.  It is unlikely, but the reality is if you are wrong just one time you lose your beloved pet, and someone else gets a nasty bite.  Your dog can be very happy with petting and praise, and save the rough housing for you and your friends that you and the dog are comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your behavior around strange dogs, it is not terribly abnormal but it is a bit improper.  Not everyone wants their dogs trained to roughhouse with people.  Many dogs do not know their own strength or do not realize that the size difference between an adult male and a child translate to being more fragile.  And they do not realize that an elderly person may not be able to tolerate the fall if a dog jumps up on them.  So before you roll around on the ground with the dog, or get it to jump up on you, make sure that you have the owner's OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a stranger when I encounter you and your dog I expect that you will maintain control of your dog.  If your dog seems friendly and interested I normally ask if I can pet him.  Even here I expect that should your dog lunge for me or start to jump up that you are going to stop it.  If you know that your dog likes to jump up then this is a good time to give a friendly warning to the stranger that he likes to jump up.  In the end you are responsible for whatever your pet does.  So do not let your pet get you into trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T03:10:23.473" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T03:10:23.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2014-07-10T15:09:02.767" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dude, don't try to treat that cat yourself, no matter what the advice you get on here. Get it to a vet as soon as you can, or find someone else who can. It looks pretty bad (a lot worse than &quot;encrusted dirt and dust&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize you are trying to help the poor guy - and I applaud you for that - but please be careful to be sure you are doing more good than harm (and really, only a vet can tell you that). A little sustenance (water and a small amount of wet cat food) I'm sure is good, but beyond that, get him to a pro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, shivering/tremors can be caused by things other than being cold, so take caution overheat him if he feels warm. Also, don't listen to me - I'm not a vet! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2640" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-09T12:08:31.040" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T12:08:31.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3199" CreationDate="2014-07-10T16:17:42.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use DE around our kennel all the time. It does a great job of controlling all sorts of bugs including fleas and ticks. When a flea problem arises we dust the dogs with it (being careful to not let them breathe it in) and keep it on their bedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also put it around the perimeter of the kennel. It will kill just about any bug. The crystals are sharp and it cuts them, they then dehydrate. You must keep it dry, it is not as effective when it is wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding it to them will not do anything about fleas, it will however take care of most worms. We generally use about a tablespoon a day for a 50 lb dog until the worms are gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use it to control ants too... works great... sprinkle it on an ant hill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are careful about breathing it in and it hasn't proven to be harmful. Make sure you have the food grade stuff. It has been many years and I have seen not ill effect, no skin issues either. There are many places on the internet with info about DE although the Wikipedia article doesn't say much about human/pet applications. These are just my experiences, we use it all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="217" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T16:17:42.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5760" CreationDate="2014-07-10T16:24:27.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog is used to hanging out in higher places (such as on the couch/chairs/elevated bed), but the arthritis is preventing him from being able to safely jump to/from such places, there are special &quot;dog stairs&quot; and &quot;dog ramps&quot; that you can purchase and set up to allow him access to those type of spots without jumping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used this when our puppy could jump up onto the couch (which we were fine with), but was too scared to jump down... the stairs allowed her to get back to ground level safely. Though I don't remember the name of the product itself, it was marketed for older dogs with joint problems and leg pain, so it should fit your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2606" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T16:24:27.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-10T18:28:04.070" Score="7" ViewCount="3577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm building my gecko a new moist hide, since I didn't like the shop-bought ones very much. Without going into all the details, the lid consists of two thin, flat pieces of wood I have shaped and now need to fix together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have wood glue any more so I was thinking of using PVA glue to stick them. I would leave it for 24-48 hours to dry fully before putting it in the terrarium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's a relatively safe type of glue as it's the main type of children's glue. But I want to be sure before putting the glued wood in the terrarium. Are there any kind of fumes that could be given off (even after the glue has dried) in a warm terrarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other alternatives are there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-07-10T23:42:13.757" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T19:04:18.203" Title="Is PVA glue safe to use in my leopard gecko's enclosure?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5769" CreationDate="2014-07-10T18:51:22.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done some reading and PVA glue is generally recommended as a safe non-toxic glue for children to use. &lt;a href=&quot;http://orionrobots.co.uk/Choosing+A+Glue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; says it has little fumes whereas &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thistothat.com/glue/pva.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; says it does not emit any harmful fumes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple pages say it's only toxic when ingested. So I'll be careful not to let any spills get on any of the rest of the hide in case the gecko manages to find a flaky bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I could find something that specifically said that it is safe for reptiles, but I've seen a few references to people using it as a sealant on wooden vivariums (to seal the wood itself if you didn't buy pre-sealed pieces - not to seal the joints, which would be done with aquarium sealant) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/habitat/708074-pva-glue-safe-not.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this forum thread&lt;/a&gt; where someone says they knew someone who'd been doing it for a couple of years with no ill effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally it &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; go back to liquid when immersed in water, but I think that should be okay between the two layers of the lid, even though it's for the moist hide not the dry one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do post your own answer if you know more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T18:51:22.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2014-07-10T19:18:38.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Sorry for my bad english, I'm just learning it). Poor little boy! Please take him to a vet as soon as possible. But until then... Its eyes seem to be infected (something really common in kittens, that greyish green mucus is bacteria). You can clean its eyes with a bit of warm chamomile tea (WITHOUT sugar or honey, of course). Just soak a clinical cotton ball in the tea and gently and carefully rub its eyes, from inside to outside, so you can clean them. You can rub its hair with a sightly (very sightly) wet towel to clean its hair, but avoid giving it a bath for now. Once it's clean, keep it into a warm and soft lightened place and (as someone earlier suggested) give it access to water, kitten food, and a blanket or something it could use as a bed. It can be sick, so handle it with care, and wash your hands before and after touching it.  And congratulations, you have a very kind heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2642" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T19:18:38.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2014-07-10T20:58:07.580" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I concur with all the answers that say &quot;take this cat to the vet, do not try to treat this on your own&quot;.  The pictures are poor quality -but- to me it looks like some kind of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also say: quarantine this cat, do not let it near other cats until this medical problem is taken care of, and have a vet give it a general exam (in addition to finding out and treating this problem) this cat could have any number of diseases that could prove detrimental or fatal to another cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you touch any other cat make sure you've washed your hands really well... and probably just avoid other cats for the time being (you could carry germs on your clothing or if you don't wash your hands well enough on your skin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your looking after this cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-10T20:58:07.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5779" CreationDate="2014-07-11T08:55:46.930" Score="4" ViewCount="2088" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long haired white cat that sheds (much more than my black short-haired cat). Every time you hug him, you end up covered with fur. It seems natural for him though; he doesn't get bald and all and has been seen by the vet.  The main issue for me is the amount of fur I get on my favorite black shirt or pants every time I carry him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it difficult to even carry him because I wear dark clothing most of the time. Every time I put him on my lap, his fur is all over my clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing this and/or how do I minimize the shedding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="925" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T02:33:43.170" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T02:33:43.170" Title="What can I do about my cat shedding too much fur on my clothing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3199" CreationDate="2014-07-11T15:41:05.143" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous Earth is generally safe. The concerns with DE are that it can cause skin and lung irritation if the animal (or human) experiences prolonged exposure (for example, if you dust your house in DE and don't clean it up, or leave it in the pet bed for a month). The lung irritation from DE is generally not persistant, but I would be sure to protect my pet from long term exposure, especially if they had an existing lung condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diatomaceous Earth can be safely eaten&lt;/strong&gt; (there are a ton of these studies, so here is one). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology&#xA;Volume 6, Issue 3, May 1964, Pages 284–291&#xA;&quot;The effect of ingestion of diatomaceous earth in white rats: A subacute toxicity test&quot;&#xA;Eldridge M. Bertke&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0041008X64900699&quot;&gt;Science Direct Abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The effects of 5% diatomaceous earth in the diet fed to white rats&#xA;  over a 90-day period indicated no mechanical or chemical damage to the&#xA;  tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was no significant increase in the percentage of residual silica&#xA;  in liver, kidneys, and spleens of the test animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diatomaceous Earth can reside in the lungs and cause irritation, but this is recoverable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many of these studies, Diatomaceous Earth is referred to as Amorphous Silica and is compared to Crystalline Silica. CS is a known carcinogen, while AS is safe. However, most AS is contaiminated with small amounts of CS. In food grade DE, the amount of CS allowed is controlled to ensure that it doesn't become too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arch Toxicol. 2002 Jan;75(11-12):625-34.&#xA;Health hazards due to the inhalation of amorphous silica.&#xA;Merget R1, Bauer T, Küpper HU, Philippou S, Bauer HD, Breitstadt R, Bruening T.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11876495&quot;&gt;NIH Abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The major problem in the assessment of health effects of amorphous&#xA;  silica is its contamination with crystalline silica. This applies&#xA;  particularly to well-documented pneumoconiosis among diatomaceous&#xA;  earth workers. Intentionally manufactured synthetic amorphous silicas&#xA;  are without contamination of crystalline silica.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Animal inhalation studies with intentionally manufactured synthetic&#xA;  amorphous silica showed at least partially reversible inflammation,&#xA;  granuloma formation and emphysema, but no progressive fibrosis of the&#xA;  lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next study, Synthetic Amorphous Silica was used (so, no Crystalline Silica contaimination, this is not what the effects of DE would look like). Even the CS exposures showed no clinical signs to an acute exposure (and we know that CS is carcinogenic). In addition, even the &quot;safe&quot; SAS (again, no CS contaimination) produced some lung changes that were viewable by necroscopy. I would be cautious using DE around an animal with already compromised lung function after reviewing this study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food Chem Toxicol. 2007 Oct;45(10):1856-67. Epub 2007 Apr 14.&#xA;Five-day inhalation toxicity study of three types of synthetic amorphous silicas in Wistar rats and post-exposure evaluations for up to 3 months.&#xA;Arts JH1, Muijser H, Duistermaat E, Junker K, Kuper CF.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17524541&quot;&gt;NIH Abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rats were exposed nose-only to concentrations of 1, 5 or 25mg/m(3) of&#xA;  one of the SAS 6h a day for five consecutive days. Positive controls&#xA;  were exposed to 25mg/m(3) crystalline silica (quartz dust), negative&#xA;  controls to clean air. Animals were necropsied the day after the last&#xA;  exposure or 1 or 3 months later. All exposures were tolerated without&#xA;  serious clinical effects, changes in body weight or food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exposure to all three SAS at 25mg/m(3) induced elevations in&#xA;  biomarkers of cytotoxicity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALf),&#xA;  increases in lung and tracheobronchial lymph node weight and&#xA;  histopathological lung changes 1-day post-exposure. Exposure to all&#xA;  three SAS at 5mg/m(3) induced histopathological changes and changes in&#xA;  BALf only. With all three SAS these effects were transient and, with&#xA;  the exception of slight histopathological lung changes at the higher&#xA;  exposure levels, were reversible during the 3-month recovery period.&#xA;  No adverse changes were observed in animals exposed to any of the SAS&#xA;  at 1mg/m(3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html&quot;&gt;National Pesticide Information Center&lt;/a&gt; asserts the following, but I have been unable to find the study supporting this assertion in their references (I have not read all of the long ones). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When mice were forced to breathe diatomaceous earth for one hour each&#xA;  day for a year, there was an increase in lung cancers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T15:41:05.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27607" CreationDate="2014-07-11T17:47:31.810" Score="2" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad owns a pet wholesale, and received in a shipment a one-eyed baby uromastyx. He decided to bring it home as he figured he wouldn't be able to sell it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the time, we had a female who had just had just lost a clutch of eggs. She had become overly aggressive and territorial after that, and began beating up her tank mate at the time, an &quot;ancient&quot; 14 year old female named Puffy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puffy eventually died in her sleep a year later, which left Fatty (the one who had laid eggs; I'm not very creative with my names) alone for a few months until we brought home Pascal (the one eyed Uro). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In retrospect we should have realized that this was a bad idea. Fatty began immediately picking on Pascal; doing things like chasing her around the tank and nipping at her neck. She got pretty aggressive sometimes, although we never saw any blood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, out of nowhere, Fatty got sick and died within a day (We have no clue what happened. She was perfectly healthy prior). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was about a year ago, and Pascal is still very defensive and skittish. She will barely let you touch her, and freaks out if you move quickly around her. She also hates being picked up, which from my experience is abnormal for Uros (Puffy used to try and run up your arm if you put it in the tank). I've never had a Uro that acts like this (although I don't blame her). She's never tried biting me when I try to touch her, she just first slowly leans away from my hand, then runs away if I continue. She's otherwise healthy. She eats a ton, sheds normally, and poops fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had any experiences like this? My first thought was to try and handle her more, but the seems to be making it worse. She spends the entire time trying to wiggle out of my hand, and isn't fooled by me &quot;treadmilling&quot; my hands; she turns and tries to run off the side instead of continuing straight ahead. I'm hoping she grows out of it, but I know at least in humans being traumatized young can scar you later into life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-07-13T19:44:46.027" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T14:18:08.380" Title="How can I help my Uromastyx who won't adjust to safer conditions and handling?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5798" CreationDate="2014-07-11T17:56:40.693" Score="6" ViewCount="2883" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question for my friend who has a (female) Chihuahua (8 years old) named Maple. She has a tendency to bark at pretty much every person who enters the house, even if it's family and friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm pretty sure I remember from my AP Psychology class in high school that reinforcing &lt;em&gt;negative behavior&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; will simply increase the likelihood of the negative behavior [severe lack of source] (and this is, of course, not desirable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Backstory&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're about to move into a house together with 4 other people (6 total), and we have both agreed that we should try and train her (if possible) to only bark at strangers instead of every person that walks in the door. We don't know if she's barking out of fear of the person, anger that someone disturbed the atmosphere, or just generally because she wants to let us know that someone entered the house (friendly or not). We thought that maybe &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; would be a good idea, even going against basic psychological principles [still no source].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Maple is usually right next to the front door when she is barking, usually (but not always) accompanied by my friend (the owner). To get her to stop barking, he usually calls her into his room. She is never aggressive; she simply barks, hops back, barks again, hops back, etc. Sometimes she barks while dancing (not happy dancing) in circles around you. That said, she &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; barks, whether or not the owner is around (I have gone to his house while he is/isn't home and she always barks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Goal&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train Maple not to bark at friends and family.&#xA; - This is technically a &lt;em&gt;punishment&lt;/em&gt;, because we want the behavior to disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Method&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A friend or family member walks in the door;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maple starts to bark;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We grab a small treat from a treat bowl near the door and give it to Maple (with lots of affection);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maple runs off happily to eat her treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; want to do is punish her for barking. We don't want to use a spray bottle, we don't want to yell at her, etc. We believe that &lt;em&gt;reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Theory&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By giving Maple positive reinforcement (a treat), she will learn to like the friends/family and not feel the need to bark because she knows the person, and knows that she gets a treat when she sees them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fears&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a sneaking suspicion that Maple will take the positive reinforcement as &quot;&lt;em&gt;If I bark a lot when someone comes in, I get a treat!&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, which would of course &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; be the desired behavior. Because we would be giving her a treat during a negative behavior that we want to correct, the &lt;em&gt;reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; (treat) may increase the &lt;em&gt;negative&lt;/em&gt; (barking) behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Potential Problems&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We all go broke from buying so many treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too many(?) treats may negatively affect Maple's health.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We could regulate this, of course. There are 6 people in the house, so treats may not be the best method if there are health repercussions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there &lt;strong&gt;risks&lt;/strong&gt; to this method of behavior training?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will Maple's &lt;strong&gt;age&lt;/strong&gt; affect her ability to be behaviorally-trained?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a &lt;em&gt;better&lt;/em&gt; way to go about correcting her barking behavior?&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;None of us know much about psychology nor animal training, so any help from either perspective would be much appreciated!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2650" LastEditorUserId="2650" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T19:45:29.470" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T20:49:06.690" Title="Positive reinforcement to diminish barking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2014-07-11T18:44:45.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that the amount of shedding is normal, I don't think there's anything you can do to lessen it. However, you can somewhat reduce the amount that ends up on &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, by grooming him frequently. Most cats love being groomed, so it will be a bonding experience for both of you. Start slowly, a little bit at a time, so he can get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To remove the maximum amount of loose hair, try a slicker brush. That's a flat, metal brush with small, fine wire bristles. The bristles are bent backward to help remove loose hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is one of those small rubber brushes that fit in your palm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-07-11T18:59:29.823" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T18:59:29.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5732" CreationDate="2014-07-11T18:58:10.070" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're correct about the oxygen. Warmer water dispels oxygen faster than cooler water. Sometimes the water returning from the filters is enough to add enough oxygen for fish, but sometimes it does help to add an air stone. Like you've discovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard of people keeping goldfish in the same temperature range as tropical fish, but in my opinion they really shouldn't be. Goldfish come from colder northern waters. By my standards their temperature range is just under what I put tropical fish at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put most tropical fish between 75 - 85° F (roughly 23 - 29.5° C), whereas I put both goldfish and koi at 65 - 72° F (roughly 18 - 22° C). Goldfish are generally quite hardy fish, which is why they're usually used as first fish for most people, so you can probably get away with different temperatures, but that's where I've kept mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:41:07.267" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:41:07.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5760" CreationDate="2014-07-11T19:22:24.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can give him a choice of pillows to lie on, then he can choose the one he finds most comfortable. I find that the pillows and pads sold in pet stores are very thin, and overpriced. The best thing I found for my arthritic dog was one of my old pillows. Once the pillow had gone too flat for my taste, it was just right for my dog. You don't even have to sew a cover for it, just put two old pillowcases on it. Put them on in different directions (i.e., if you're facing the pillow, put one case on left-to-right, and the second one on right-to-left).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're putting the pillows directly on the floor, rather than in some sort of basket/bed. That's good. He would probably find the sides of a basket difficult to negotiate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observe him while he eats and drinks. You might want to put the bowls on top of something so that he doesn't have to stoop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T19:22:24.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5778" CreationDate="2014-07-11T20:04:10.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Psychology Terms&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about positive/negative punishment/reinforcement from a psychological perspective, it can be easy to get tripped up by the emotions around the words themselves.&#xA;(You have punishment and reinforcement laid out properly in your question, I'm just adding extra details for future visitors)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to look at it is that the positive/negative and punishment/reinforcement are two completely separate categories. Positive/negative indicates &lt;strong&gt;how&lt;/strong&gt; you are trying to change the behavior. Adding something is &lt;em&gt;positive&lt;/em&gt; and removing something is &lt;em&gt;negative&lt;/em&gt;. Punishment/reinforcement indicates the &lt;strong&gt;end goal&lt;/strong&gt; of the behavior change. Stopping or reducing the behavior would use &lt;em&gt;punishment&lt;/em&gt;. Increasing or encouraging the behavior would use &lt;em&gt;reinforcement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive/Negative and punishment/reinforcement are not necessarily good or bad or mean or fair, they just describe how you are trying to adjust the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Examples:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you turn on a car, the car makes annoying beeping sounds until you put on your seat belt. The car is trying to &lt;em&gt;encourage&lt;/em&gt; you to wear a seat belt and &lt;em&gt;removes&lt;/em&gt; the annoying beep once you do the desired behavior. This is &lt;strong&gt;negative&lt;/strong&gt; (removed beeping) &lt;strong&gt;reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt; (want more seat belt wearing in future).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a team of employees successfully completes a challenging project, the company throws a party for them. The company is trying to &lt;em&gt;encourage&lt;/em&gt; the employees to complete challenging projects and &lt;em&gt;adds&lt;/em&gt; the party after the project is successfully completed. This is &lt;strong&gt;positive&lt;/strong&gt; (added party) &lt;strong&gt;reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt; (want more challenging projects completed in future).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a child throws a tantrum at the playground, the parent takes them home immediately. The parent is trying to &lt;em&gt;discourage&lt;/em&gt; the tantrum and &lt;em&gt;removes&lt;/em&gt; the child's access to the playground when the tantrum occurs. This is &lt;strong&gt;negative&lt;/strong&gt; (removed playground) &lt;strong&gt;punishment&lt;/strong&gt; (want fewer tantrums in future).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a driver drives faster than the speed limit, they are given a traffic ticket by a police officer. The officer is trying to &lt;em&gt;discourage&lt;/em&gt; breaking the speed rules and &lt;em&gt;adds&lt;/em&gt; the traffic ticket when the driver breaks the rules. This is &lt;strong&gt;positive&lt;/strong&gt; (added ticket) &lt;strong&gt;punishment&lt;/strong&gt; (want fewer occurrences of breaking the speed limit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Applying to your situation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the various forms of behavior change will work, provided that you are consistent when you enforce them. You also do not need to stick to just one, you can use more than one punishment/reinforcement to affect the same behavior. (In fact, you'll find that most of the time you are naturally doing both a punishment and a reinforcement.) With that said, let's dive into the specific challenge presented here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to discourage Maple from barking at friends and family. Because we want to reduce the barking, this will be a either a positive punishment or negative punishment. It does not need to be mean or vindictive, but it is a punishment nonetheless. Simultaneously, we want to encourage Maple to be calm when friends and family arrive. This will be a reinforcement of the calm behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The effectiveness of the punishment and reinforcement system will depend on what motivates Maple. We have a pug that loves both treats and attention and hates being ignored, but other dogs will vary based on their own personalities, so feel free to substitute the rewards and punishments for whatever works with your own dog. &lt;strong&gt;With that said, DO NOT use any sort of physical or verbal abuse as a punishment, it does much more harm than good and teaches your dog to be afraid of you more than anything else.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Maple is excited to see your visitors and wants to interact or play with them, pick Maple up and take her to another room and don't let her come out until she stops barking. This is &lt;strong&gt;negative&lt;/strong&gt; (removing Maple from the exciting visitors) &lt;strong&gt;punishment&lt;/strong&gt; (want to reduce the barking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After Maple stops barking, bring her back into the room and allow her to play with the visitors as long as she doesn't bark. This is &lt;strong&gt;positive&lt;/strong&gt; (adding Maple back to the exciting visitors) &lt;strong&gt;reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt; (want to encourage interacting with the visitors calmly, without any barking). If Maple starts to bark again, repeat the punishment until she stops, then bring her back and try again. It may take several cycles for her to understand and break out of old habits, especially if she has been barking before without any consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, when friends and family arrive and Maple does not bark at all, go all out with the reinforcement. Give treats, praise, petting, ear rubs, tummy rubs, whatever she appreciates the most. (If you don't want to give her too many treats due to her small size, break up a treat into little pieces and give them to her one by one. It makes the single treat seem like more treats, even though the end result is the same total volume of treats eaten.) You want to make it clear as night and day when Maple is doing what you want, and lots of reinforcement the first time she does this correctly will help her link the positive outcome to the behavior. After she is consistently behaving as expected, you can start to lower the reinforcement, and eventually switch to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jasonshen.com/2013/using-variable-rewards-to-drive-behavior-change/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;variable rewards&lt;/a&gt;, where you give the higher value rewards only periodically. It is still important to provide at least some reinforcement (such as verbal praise or a quick pat) so that Maple keeps up the behavior and doesn't revert to her old ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;tl;dr&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fears are correct. You should not give her a treat when she barks at visitors, because that will encourage her to repeat the behavior. You should instead give a treat when she does not bark at friends and family at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use fewer treats, break the treats into smaller pieces. As long as Maple understands that she is getting a reward when she behaves properly, the size of the reward is not as important. (Caveat being that the first few times she behaves properly, you want to lavish her with rewards to really drive the point home). As Maple gets better at understanding what she needs to do, you can decrease and/or randomize the reward and still have her behave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are not physically or emotionally harming her (and you seem to be a caring pet parent, so I don't see that as being a problem), the only risk is that you accidentally encourage the wrong behavior. You can always adjust how you set up your rewards and punishments to correct that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maple's age does not affect how well this will work. If she has developed a habit of barking at friends and family, it will take longer to break that habit than if she was a new puppy, but she will still get there eventually. Being consistent in applying your rewards and punishments is key. If you only punish her every three times, she will learn that she can bark 2/3rds of the time without consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatives: If Maple is not barking, you can have your friends and family be the ones to give her a treat (replacing the treat you would give her), helping her associate friends and family with good things. &lt;strong&gt;It is very important to not give any treats if she barks, you want her to associate the treats with being calm and not barking.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2606" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-07-11T20:04:10.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5831" CreationDate="2014-07-11T23:57:50.897" Score="3" ViewCount="713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four tiger barbs in my new aquarium and was wondering about a tiger barbs diet requirements. Can tiger barbs eat insects like small black ants or red ants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2656" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-07-13T19:45:08.613" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T17:02:12.233" Title="Can tiger barb eat insects like ants etc" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5788" CreationDate="2014-07-12T01:35:53.260" Score="4" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &quot;redirect instead of correct&quot; because I find it agreeable. But I have a 15 week old kitten whom I have had for 7 weeks and I have not had any success with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases where I attempt to redirect (gently without scolding), the behavior ends up being repeated sooner or later. In the one case where I attempted to correct (with scolding) the behavior has never been repeated again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example there is a certain shelf my kitten cannot go on and is difficult to make safe for a kitten. It is in an odd place that she has to go out of her way to get to, and it took her a while to even discover it existed. Once she discovered it, she keeps trying to go there. Every time I see her about to go back there I either a) distract her with a toy on the ground or b) pick her up and put here somewhere else. When I do &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, once she is done with the toy she goes back. When I do &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; she immediately heads back to the spot. The more times this happens, the faster she tries to run into the spot, as if it is a game. This happens every day, multiple times, for about 4 weeks with zero progress. It has been a complete failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The counterexample is when she tries to jump on my laptop keyboard while I am using it. The first few times this happened, I picked her up and moved her elsewhere. Then she kept doing it with more &quot;passion&quot; so I raised my voice at her. Finally I just hissed at her and shoved her away with some force. She has never once repeated the action since and that was 3 weeks ago. It didn't change her behavior towards me otherwise, she didn't begin to fear me or anything. She's as sweet as ever and when she sits on my chest while I'm lying on the couch with my laptop she is very good, seems happy, and will even resist going after the mouse pointer. It has been a complete success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example above with the shelf it doesn't appear as though she &lt;em&gt;likes&lt;/em&gt; the attention; she usually meows in frustration when I pick her up when shes doing this, and if she happens to be on the shelf already when I pick her up, she resists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With redirect it's as if &lt;strong&gt;the more I redirect the action, the more passion she puts in to trying to do it, as if I'm somehow enforcing the bad behavior despite giving her no praise after redirecting&lt;/strong&gt;. It's as if redirecting only delays the inevitable bad behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All advice I read recommends redirect instead of correct. My own judgment tells me that is the best way to train a pet as well. And it feels better than harsh scolding. I continue to try it, but I have 0% success with redirect and 100% success with scold / correct (although I have only done that once). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this training method actually work or is it a result of people not wanting to yell at their pets? How does a cat actually associate being redirected with &quot;don't do this any more&quot;? What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:26:42.623" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:42.623" Title="Does &quot;redirect instead of correct&quot; really work for cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5900" CreationDate="2014-07-12T02:37:14.677" Score="4" ViewCount="12876" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've made a few attempts to get our cat to co-exist with my brother's cat, which is home for the summer. Both are neutered, ours is male, his is female. They're both rescued off the street and approximately the same age (male is ~9 months old, female ~11 months old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after some attempts and recent behavior, where he reacted with extreme aggression and panic at a cat he saw a couple of buildings away, we're starting to think that his behavior is specific to cats. Around people, he practically never becomes this agitated. He might hide if we bring the cage out and he likes to play rough, but he never seems to feel panic around people, getting comfortable with them relatively quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he sees my brother's cat however he panics. There's hissing and after a while attempts at aggression. My brother's cat is very calm, she never hisses at him or paws with her claws at him. In fact, last time they met through an opening in the door, enough for paws but no more, she lied down close enough for him to almost be able to claw at her, but when he did she didn't panic, just avoided the clawing. Besides being in a room that he normally can use, she's done nothing to provoke him (and he's friendly with my brother who is in the same room anyway). In the past she barely paid him any mind. They still play under the door though and he isn't aggresive when they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other instances, such as hissing when he sees cats across the street, far away, make us think he might have been chased or attacked as a kitten by older cats, probably ones he felt he could trust and thus built a deep fear and distrust for other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We feel my brother's cat is probably ideal for him to get over this, in time, but I'm not confident this isn't just some sort of male dominance behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for cats to be universally aggressive and apprehensive around other cats, even when they are far away and/or non-threatening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2615" LastActivityDate="2018-11-06T23:22:03.650" Title="Cat seems to be scared of other cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5786" CreationDate="2014-07-12T03:12:46.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal experiences have not been like yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one tool works perfectly with cats all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said I try to use scolding, tap on the nose, raising the voice sparingly.  Aside from not liking those methods my personal feeling is using it frequently is very counterproductive.  Cats do not like having pressure applied to them and at some point are likely to rebel against coercion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do use those negative tactics for safety / well being issues such as: jumping onto a forbidden space like the stove, stealing food from another cat, sneaking outside, playing too roughly with another cat, eating human food (much of what I eat is probably quite bad for cats).  Not long ago I was eating corn and my &quot;kitten&quot; was (when I was dealing with something else) licking the canola oil off my plate.  That probably wouldn't harm her, but since I often eat things that do I want to emphasize NEVER EAT OFF MY PLATES OR DRINK FROM MY GLASSES so I did raise my voice at her.  As she already knows the rule she quickly trotted off.  Not long after my &quot;baby&quot; smelled the oil and tried to nudge her way closer and closer to my plate.  I got my head down to her level and gently but firmly nudged her away to convey &quot;this is my food, don't try to steal it&quot; (I think they can understand that but probably can't get &quot;much of what I eat is poisonous to you so I don't want you in the habit of eating my food&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that (and say catching them in the act of peeing somewhere they shouldn't) I do not use negative tactics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of psychological tools can work on cats, such as reverse psychology.  Once I wanted to get some cats from one room to another where they didn't want to go, so I closed them in the room they wanted to be in and then when I opened the door they instinctively wanted to go to the other room they'd been restricted from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gentle tactics often seem to get a response.  One of my cats is not declawed (I don't declaw cats myself but have inherited several who were already declawed).  Dealing with her is a new experience for me.  I like to have her walk on my chest and cuddle with me but I don't like her to extend her claws into me (during kneedy pawing, happy stretch, etc.).  To train her not to I either gently lift her paw off of me, or, gently touch the top of her paw with my finger.  More and more she seems to avoid using her claws when she is on me, or extend them just into my clothes but not actually to the point of clawing my skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing works all the time, and nothing is a perfect &quot;training&quot; tool.  Cats are not dogs and not easy to train.  The flip side is that (for the most part) you really don't need to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different cats have different personalities and respond to stimulus differently, but you're going to need to have a big bag of tricks to use to deal with your cat, a few quick tactics will not really cut it.  Basically you'll be &quot;negotiating&quot; with your cat and doing a kind of dance with it.  It is not like being the master of a creature which tends to live in a strict hierarchy (such as a dog).  It can be more difficult but also more rewarding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T03:12:46.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5787" CreationDate="2014-07-12T03:25:23.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not &quot;normal&quot; behavior especially for a young cat (which should be more &quot;plastic&quot; than an old cat) but it not unheard of either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't necessarily him trying to express dominance either.  My gut feeling is that he is irrationally afraid of other cats.  You know the other cats aren't threatening but he doesn't.  Your cat could be traumatized by some incident, or just be very skittish about other cats (maybe he has a depression / anxiety issue that causes him to be that way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &quot;kitten&quot;, who is actually at least 16 years old, seems to feel threatened by cats she isn't used to.  This could be a result of the third cat we got who regularly tried to intimidate her and my &quot;baby&quot; into leaving.  My &quot;baby&quot; (who is very skittish with people but not other cats) eventually figured out that the third cat was a &quot;paper tiger&quot;, but my &quot;kitten&quot; was so irrationally afraid she never did.  A fourth cat we got was greeted with much fear by my &quot;kitten&quot; (who interprets her play over seriously).  Gradually I am teaching the fourth cat not to play with my &quot;kitten&quot; and likewise I'm getting my &quot;kitten&quot; to feel less threatened by her... it is a slow process though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what is going on with your male cat, I am only making guesses. Maybe your vet can give anti-anxiety medicines that could help him.  Maybe it just requires time and supervised visits (reward the female cat for her good demeanor, and try to soothe the male cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T03:25:23.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5763" CreationDate="2014-07-12T06:08:53.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your dog is a puppy, socialization is essential. However, at the same time, so is training. I don't agree with you, but I don't agree with your partner either. First I'll explain which aspects I wholly disagree with in both of your propositions, then I'll give some advice on how I'd go about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing I have an issue with in your partner's philosophy is the attitude in which she corrects. You should absolutely &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; pull so hard on your dog's leash that he is in the air by a collar (I'm making the assumption that the walking tool you're using is just a normal neck collar, and not a harness). I also disagree with you in the sense that it seems you don't see it necessary to correct minor behavioral issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing I'd say is to go out and buy a harness if you haven't already. Since you're having pulling and jumping issues, I'd specifically suggest a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0013K2HEI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SENSE-ation&lt;/a&gt; or an &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0009ZBKG4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Easy Walk harness&lt;/a&gt;. I prefer the SENSE-ation, but it's harder to find. Go into a local pet shop and have one of their trainers help you size &amp;amp; fit your dog. The main difference between these two harnesses and other harnesses is that they're correctional. Instead of the leash attaching on the back, it attaches in the front, and is framed in a way that when you tug (or the dog pulls) on the leash, his entire body is turned around. In a situation where he may be pulling to greet another person on the sidewalk and you give a little tug, his whole body turns. Instead of his head facing where he wants it to be (the person), it's facing the opposite way. Eventually this conditions the dog to get used to &quot;if I want to greet, I can't pull.&quot; Another benefit of a harness is that you can pull without damaging/hurting your dog nearly as much as a neck collar does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, go and get your dog and leash. Attach the leash to the harness and let it drop. Wrap a piece of tape around the spot where the leash touches the ground (make sure the leash is tight). What this does is allow you to control your dogs jumping habits. If someone wants to pet your dog while you're walking or you're having company around at home, before letting the dog greet, step on the leash where the tape is wrapped. When the dog tries to jump, the weight of your foot shouldn't allow him to jump more than about an inch (if it does, reposition the tape). Again, eventually, he'll realize jumping is futile and you won't need to step on the leash anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To further train your dog, you can grab some of your friends that are willing to help and do a few of the following exercises:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plan to meet your friend at a park/on a sidewalk. When your dog first greets them, if he jumps and/or acts obnoxiously, your friend should ignore the dog 100%. Whether that entails turning around so the dog is to their back or just looking up at you, hands to their side, your friend simply needs to ignore. The second the dog jumps down, your friend should immediately give the dog attention. If he jumps up again, begins mouthing, or does anything else obnoxious, the ignoring starts right back up again. Repeat this several times till the dog understands it, then plan to meet another time. Make sure that you don't try to correct your dog, let your friend do it. Don't step on the leash or pull at your dog unless he isn't understanding it and his behavior persists for several minutes. If it does, give a slight tug (if he's in the harness), step on the leash, and your friend should be able to reward him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do the same as above, except in your home. You may find it useful to have the leash attached to your dog so you can step on it if he begins jumping too often.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do the same as above, except use treats. This adds another dimension where your dog may find it hard to remain calm. If your friend is holding treats in hand, but completely ignoring your dog, the dog should eventually learn that when he calms down he gets a treat. I don't recommend doing this until he's able to remain calm in exercises 1 &amp;amp; 2.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that socialization is something that the dog needs. If you're constantly guarding your dog, making sure that every little interaction is controlled, he won't know how to be social in an environment where everything &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; controlled. I'd also suggest getting the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1593375980&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Dog Whisperer&lt;/a&gt; by Paul Owens, &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; to be confused with anything by Cesar Millan who I generally disagree with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T06:08:53.547" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-12T11:08:03.317" Score="6" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/info_botulism.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; an inactivated toxoid is used to vaccinate horses against botulism. Though it does call for an annual re-vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbit has survived botulism poisoning.  Should I assume she is now immune to botulism? Presumably a near fatal encounter with the poison would generate a stronger immune response than an inactive toxoid, possibly resulting in a life long immunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-11T02:13:57.133" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T03:24:56.880" Title="My rabbit survived botulism poisoning; is she now immune to it?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5974" CreationDate="2014-07-12T13:17:16.127" Score="4" ViewCount="3443" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading a lot about impaction in reptiles. Various articles have suggested alternatives that prevent impaction in reptiles, but they've all been about land reptiles. So far all substrate I know of for turtles carry with them the possibility of impaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not feed my turtle in the aquarium, however I do sometime drop a carrot peel, which eventually sinks after being soaked. Sometimes I see my turtle scavenging for the carrot near the substrate and I fear that one day it swallows some. Even if their is no food in the tank, my turtle will still search for food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is their any specific kind of substrate that is fool proof against impaction? If not then what is the most appropriate substrate for a turtle? And if the risks of impaction are unavoidable then how much is the substrate actually important for turtles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I removed the substrate completely and put some rocks, as I saw my turtle eating one of the small rocks then spitting it out , I still suspect it might have ate some. I kind of feel it's having a harder time floating, I just hope it didn't and if it did it won't affect it and it'll just be excreted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T10:12:28.283" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T10:12:28.283" Title="Is there any substrate for turtles that avoids the risks of impaction?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5796" CreationDate="2014-07-12T22:24:24.557" Score="10" ViewCount="6559" Body="&lt;p&gt;For purely selfish reasons I like to pet my ~10 wk old kitten while she's eating. I mean, she's really soft, and she just lets me give her the attention while she purrs and eats. How could I not??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, in all seriousness, is this OK or could she develop some sort of eating disorder or bad eating behavior from it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting about a week and a half ago I feed her twice a day at specific times (rather than leaving the food out) and she is fine with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; always run to start eating when I'm standing next to the food bowl, even if she was previously uninterested in the food, which I'm assuming is a result of me petting her but it seems harmless... I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an adult cat in the house as well who likes to eat her food, which could contribute to why she is excited to eat when I'm nearby (since I always stop him from stealing her food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2014-07-13T04:08:41.263" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T13:20:45.543" Title="Is it a problem to pet my kitten while she is eating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-12T23:28:27.690" Score="2" ViewCount="13486" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a new aquarium along with four small tiger barbs. I'm currently learning how to cycle the water so I was wondering how long can the fish live in the unchanged water before it needs to be cycled again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2656" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T06:22:07.280" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T06:22:07.280" Title="How many days does it take an ammonia spike to occur?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5794" CreationDate="2014-07-12T23:40:47.217" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does she eat when you aren't standing near the food bowl? Or if you walk away, will she continue eating? I would worry only slightly if she won't eat without you there, because she will at some point have to learn to define her boundaries so that the older cat doesn't eat all of her food...but I think they'll work that out. (I think.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem, to me, like you're doing anything wrong or causing any problems. But you might want to make sure to step away and stop petting her at least half of the time, just so that it doesn't become a thing that she has to have, to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-07-12T23:40:47.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5794" CreationDate="2014-07-13T00:20:04.557" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It entirely depends on what happens. If she enjoys it and continues to eat I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one of my cats is not eating normally (for instance, the cat is sick and not feeling great) sometimes I find that gently petting it can help. At other times it can &quot;distract&quot; the cat from eating (which is only good if you want to stop it from eating, say it's stealing another cat's food, eating too fast, or already had its share...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &quot;kitten&quot; sometimes prefers being a lap cat and being hugged and petted to eating - so I've worked out a deal with her. I hug and pet her for a while and then put her near her food. She eats some and then she can get back into my lap and get more attention. I keep the cycle going until the food is gone (then if she wants she can stay in my lap).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd agree with Leigh that if she &quot;depends&quot; on you petting her to eat that's not such a great thing, but you can be the judge of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-07-13T13:20:45.543" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T13:20:45.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5778" CreationDate="2014-07-13T00:43:57.427" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, I want to applaud you for looking for a better way to fix a behavior that so many people would fix with positive punishment. I also agree with most of mattgiltaji's answer, but there are a few extra points I wanted to add or clarify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Operant Conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;               Reinforcement            Punishment&#xA;            (increases behavior)   (suppresses behavior)&#xA;         +-----------------------+-----------------------+&#xA;         |                       |                       |&#xA;Positive |  Add something good   |   Add something bad   |&#xA;         |                       |                       |&#xA;         +-----------------------+-----------------------+&#xA;         |                       |                       |&#xA;Negative | Remove something bad  | Remove something good |&#xA;         |                       |                       |&#xA;         +-----------------------+-----------------------+&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that you don't necessarily know which behavior your dog will associate with the reinforcement / punishment. Having very clear criteria will help show the dog what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why stopping barking is so hard&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs bark for a variety of reasons, but it's a very difficult behavior to stop, and depending on breed can go against their entire being. Don't expect to get new behavior overnight and don't expect to get new behavior unless you're very consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barking is inherently self-reinforcing for many dogs. This means that &lt;em&gt;doing nothing is the same as rewarding&lt;/em&gt;. To add to this, consider the following scenario:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fido looks out the window and sees someone begin to walk by. He barks&#xA;  to alert his owner and tell the stranger to back off. The stranger&#xA;  continues walking until he's out of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What just happened in this scenario? Not only did Fido enjoy barking, but the stranger left when he was barking! It must have worked. So he continues barking when strangers appear. Because strangers move at different speeds, he learns to be persistent in his barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When moving from positive punishment to reinforcement, we sometimes need a change in mindset of what we want. By asking &lt;em&gt;how can I stop this behavior,&lt;/em&gt; you've already put yourself in a punishment mindset. Instead think about &lt;em&gt;what you want your dog to do&lt;/em&gt; when someone visits. Now that you have something to encourage, you can use positive reinforcement to accomplish this. I'll use the following desired behavior and then explain some options to help accomplish it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doorbell rings / Knock at door&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog goes to a special place (mat, bed, kennel, anything with clear boundaries)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog assumes control position (stay - down / sit / stand / pretty / tall)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You open door and allow guest in and greet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You release dog to greet the person and sit awaiting pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Separating Events&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice the items above, you can work on almost all the things separately. You can use a doorbell as a cue to go to bed. You can work on staying in the bed with other high-value distractions so he's used to staying when excited. You can teach your dog how to greet people nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creating a Pattern&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you can create a pattern using backchaining or some other method to teach your dog that when the doorbell rings (or somebody arrives) he should rush to his special spot and wait to be released. This gives your dog something to do when guests arrive, but you might find your dog has discovered he can do just about all those things &lt;em&gt;while barking&lt;/em&gt;. Be sure that not barking is always part of your criteria to prevent this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Encouraging Silence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's definitely better to go and get your dog instead of calling him to you. A recall should be extremely reinforcing for your dog and so you could actually be reinforcing your dog's barking by calling him to you. But this still gives your dog opportunity for reinforcement and ideally we only want them to have the opportunity to fail without getting reinforced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I recommend setting up a physical barrier (such as a gate) where your dog stays in place until he's quiet. Make it very clear that any movement or noises before you release causes the gate to close and stillness and silence allow the gate to open. This prevents any unwanted reinforcement the dog gets before you can pick him up and opposition reflex caused by using a leash. Don't forget to reward your dog when he's quiet behind the barrier too. The barrier shouldn't be a punishment, but a way to show the dog clear boundaries so he can be successful. He sees clearly that he only gets to greet people when he's quiet. If he starts barking after you've released him, make sure your guests completely ignore him and then put him back behind the gate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can definitely add additional reinforcement when your dog greets quietly, although meeting new people may be very reinforcing already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fear Barking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where I'm going to disagree partially with mattgiltaji. If your dog is fearful of people or too aroused then dropping treats the minute people arrive (ideally &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; he begins barking or at least at the same time) can be very effective and does not reinforce barking. This is because the dog is not in a proper mental state to learn behaviors. In fact, spreading a variety of treats on the floor can distract the dog enough that he stops barking and returns to a state where you can teach him proper behavior. You're also not reinforcing barking because you're rewarding whenever people arrive regardless if he is barking or not. He may even start looking for food when people arrive on his own instead of barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Putting Barking on Cue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option to help reduce barking is to put barking on cue, and then don't give the cue. This is probably the least effective option, but teaching a dog a new trick is fun so why not? The theory behind this is that by adding reinforcement every time you cue a bark, but not when he barks on his own, he will only want to bark when cued. Of course, if barking is already reinforcing, he may not care much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further information about why dogs might bark: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/new-thoughts-about-barking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New Thoughts about Barking - Particia McConnell, PhD, CAAB&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="1277" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T20:49:06.690" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T20:49:06.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5799" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-07-13T19:02:11.707" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-07-13T19:02:11.707" LastActivityDate="2014-07-13T19:02:11.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5800" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-07-13T19:02:11.707" Score="0" Body="Questions about cleaning your pet or the environment he/she lives in. Use this tag when your question addresses cleaning methods, requirements, and other aspects that pertain to keeping a clean atmosphere for your pet." OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T00:06:41.970" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T00:06:41.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5803" CreationDate="2014-07-13T21:47:23.247" Score="5" ViewCount="4980" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 15-week-old puppy. My baby is a purebred dachshund. She sleeps an awful lot. We'll take her for a walk (20-40 minutes), she will play for about 10 minutes, and then she is out like a light for 3 to 4 hours. Is this normal or is my baby a narcoleptic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T15:52:50.697" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T15:52:50.697" Title="Why does my puppy sleep so much?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5575" CreationDate="2014-07-13T22:03:03.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles love eating goldfish and lots of things that fit into their mouths. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem: I had 3 newborn koi and 4 goldfish that were less than an inch long in the same tank, and one day I saw my turtle trying to eat my koi. What I did was to divide the tank so that the goldfish would be on one side and the turtle on the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do the same, but not with the tank you have. That tank is way too small for those turtles. Alternatively, you could make a pond and put either your fish in there or put your turtle in there. And if you divide to put your goldfish in there they will grow three times bigger than they would in that small tank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2662" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T10:15:09.370" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T10:15:09.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5801" CreationDate="2014-07-14T02:42:45.310" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is absolutely normal; no, your baby isn't narcoleptic. Puppies sleep &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; -- just like babies and toddlers. If you take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/dogs/what-to-expect-from-your-16-week-old-puppy/page1.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;, the estimated amount of sleep that a 16-week-old puppy should get is 18-20 hours/day. Gathering from my own personal experience and various sources across the web, I'd say the number is closer to 15-19 hours/day, but regardless, if your dog is up and about for a few hours, she's doing just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, dogs are considered to be &quot;crepuscular&quot; mammals, which means they're naturally most active during twilight hours (see the diagram below). So if it's been a few hours since she's woken up in the morning, it's 100% natural for her to take a long nap. Again, the naps will be exaggerated because she's still got growing to do. If your dog were narcoleptic, you'd see more obvious signs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O0CEC.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still truly worried about your dogs sleeping habits, a trip to the vet may be the best way to deal with it. However, from what you've said, your dog's behavior seems to be consistent with that of a 15-week-old puppy and you have nothing to worry about. For now, take advantage of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-07-15T01:04:16.143" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T01:04:16.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5827" CreationDate="2014-07-14T10:32:46.867" Score="8" ViewCount="17156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that's almost six months old and she really needs a bath. She's allowed to go outside so she sometimes comes back inside dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any problems relating to bathing her that I should know about? Do I need to use a special kind of shampoo when I bath her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2664" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-27T00:44:50.317" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T14:13:47.780" Title="Can I bathe my cat with shampoo?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5807" CreationDate="2014-07-14T11:03:12.480" Score="12" ViewCount="132295" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5801/why-does-my-puppy-sleep-so-much/5803#5803&quot;&gt;recent answer&lt;/a&gt; listed all of these and said the group a pet falls in could impact how they behave: diurnal, crepuscular, nocturnal, matutinal, vespertine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do all of these mean and how do they impact my pets life and behavior?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2018-08-03T17:44:55.230" Title="Diurnal, crepuscular, nocturnal, matutinal, vespertine; what do these mean and how do they impact my pet's life?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5806" CreationDate="2014-07-14T13:15:31.593" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diurnal&lt;/strong&gt; by definition means of or during the day. Animals that are diurnal are active during the day. Though times of activity of an animal are in relevance to the animal, as in it is to its advantage, it can act against it when this animal is a pet. Pets are usually diurnal, which is generally great for them since mostly humans are also diurnal, so their carers will have time for them, at least partially during the day. However, in the wild, diurnal animals have the advantage of, sometimes, direct sun exposure( for example turtles which use it for vitamin D3 synthesis) , and more importantly, a very good visibility. Animals that mainly rely on vision to hunt for food are usually diurnal. Diurnal prey have the advantage of easily spotting predators from a distance. Diurnal animals predominantly have colored and vivid vision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crepuscular&lt;/strong&gt; means of Twilight. Crepuscular animals are active during twilight. Twilight is the illumination of the earth's lower atmosphere when the sun itself is not directly visible. Usually  Crepuscular predators  are active during twilight because their prey is active during that time, and they still have a decent amount of light to hunt and forage(guinea pigs). On the other hand, crepuscular prey can use this light to easily spot and avoid predators(rabbits). In addition to the that, in the wild, predators are generally least occurring during those times.  This creates a state of a self regulating oscillating equilibrium. When a prey population increases due to their crepuscular habit, predators will have more food thus increasing their population , which in turn decreases the prey, then the predators decrease,  increasing the prey, and so on. Being crepuscular serves them well as pets when their owners are rather busy during the day; the owners are unavailable when the pet itself is inactive. Below is a diagram to show the times and duration of a twilight. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y7zEn.png&quot; alt=&quot;Below is a diagram to show the times and duration of a twilight&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nocturnal&lt;/strong&gt; means done or active during the night.  Nocturnal animals are usually more vulnerable to predation, so keeping active only during the night makes them somewhat &quot;invisible&quot;(mice). Nocturnal predators usually have a sensitive sight and/or do not rely on visible light to see(infrared vision). They can also have very well developed senses of smell and hearing.These animals are usually appropriate for pet owners who stay up late, and are ready to provide for them then. Usually you could only stay up late if you wake up late, which is quite a common trend. So a small number of these animals may prove to be surprisingly appropriate pets for some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Matutinal&lt;/strong&gt; means of or occurring in the morning. Matutinal organisms wake up before diurnal organisms so they have the advantage of consuming resources without competition. Matutinal animals are mostly bees, though lets just suppose a dog is Matutinal, then it'd be suitable for early wakers, who do not just wake up and rush to their job, but actually have time to care for them, at least briefly. Matutinal organisms become active during dawn, thus, they share active states with crepuscular animals at dawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vespertine&lt;/strong&gt; means relating or occurring in the evening. Vespertine organisms are similar to Nocturnal organisms. Both are awake at similar times so some share very close relations, as some nocturnal species are active in the evening but continue throughout the night. Vespertine organisms get to be active before most Nocturnal organisms so they can consume some  resources before competition from the latter. Vespertine animals as pets are suitable for people who are unavailable during the day and return at early night. Vespertine organisms become active at dusk, thus, they share the active states with crepuscular animals at dusk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;vespertine and matutinal species are commonly considered as special cases of being crepuscular&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:  the existence of pets of these activity times were assumed, some maybe void of pets or at least a very minute amount of them are considered pets.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that us humans have the capability of being either of those, and based on what we are (what are lifestyles are) we choose our pets accordingly. Though this may seem like a cluster of vectors that cancel out, it's actually a very intricate and accurate cycle that keeps this planet going, but then humans come in... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T16:25:46.223" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T16:25:46.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5812" CreationDate="2014-07-14T14:24:41.007" Score="8" ViewCount="1193" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is taking a manners class which I hope will end with him becoming a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/dogowner/training/canine_good_citizen/&quot;&gt;canine good citizen&lt;/a&gt;. What does this designation enable me to do with my dog?  Are there public places that don't allow dogs, but will allow dogs that are canine good citizens?  Are there places where leash laws don't apply to canine good citizens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastEditorUserId="385" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T14:34:29.127" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T15:49:21.187" Title="What does becoming a canine good citizen allow me to do with my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5810" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-07-14T14:39:39.213" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T14:39:39.213" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T14:39:39.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5811" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-07-14T14:39:39.213" Score="0" Body="For questions related to laws, ordinances, rules, or regulations governing the behavior of pets and their handlers in public places." OwnerUserId="385" LastEditorUserId="385" LastEditDate="2014-07-14T17:26:35.867" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T17:26:35.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5809" CreationDate="2014-07-14T15:49:21.187" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem to have any real benefit unless you are a breeder or want to use your dog for special purposes.  While many states have passed &quot;resolutions&quot; about it, this basically just means that the American Kennel Club has spent enough money on politicians to be able to buy a &quot;resolution&quot; which is just the state legislature saying &quot;we like this&quot;.  I couldn't find anything about any special privileges.  It is just a basic level of dog training that may be used by some organizations as a precursor to additional training or participating in some programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anything, the program places additional constraints on you as an owner since your responsibilities for the certification are higher than what would otherwise be required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="538" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T15:49:21.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5818" CreationDate="2014-07-14T16:30:36.107" Score="12" ViewCount="48009" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten about 10-11 wks old. She's very human-friendly, as sweet as can be and very active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning as I was sitting at my desk she was doing the usual routine of running around and jumping on random objects. She tried to jump up on an area she's not allowed on and I did the usual gently block her from going there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She then, in almost one motion, jumped on my lap, and made the face of a hissing cat (mouth open, teeth exposed, ears down and back, &quot;angry&quot; eyes) and a spitting noise (much like a hiss, but very short, about 1/4 second, with a slight &quot;k&quot; sound at the start) with eye contact, then jumped down and continued running around happily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen a cat do this before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What was that and what was she trying to say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T00:08:17.597" LastActivityDate="2020-03-06T09:03:00.487" Title="Did my cat just spit at/on me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5806" CreationDate="2014-07-14T16:33:28.507" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;These terms all fall under various sleep clocks that animals may follow. Sleep patterns for almost all species are monitored by the light given off the by the sun. If you've ever woken up early in the winter and noticed you get tired much earlier than you do when waking up the same time in the summer, you've experienced the sun's effects on daily life. Since humans are &lt;em&gt;generally&lt;/em&gt; diurnal, the sun sets our body clock. When the sun is out, we feel less groggy then we do when it goes down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all of these terms are general and many animals are hard to classify. Various animals illustrate multiple behaviors and there's numerous conflicts as to whether some animals are either &lt;strong&gt;x&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;y.&lt;/strong&gt; Humans, for example, aren't always diurnal. Behavioral adaptation allows us to change our body clock when needed. The health detriments of changing your natural clock, though, are probably not so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onto animals and pets. Like in the answer you reference in the question, the image below sets a general guideline of the various sleeping clocks, where the x-axis is time, defined by light in the environment. The location of the word defines during which time of day that the animal is most active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O0CEC.png&quot; alt=&quot;Various types of animal sleep patterns&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Species most active during &lt;strong&gt;dawn&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;em&gt;matutinal.&lt;/em&gt; Not many pets exclusively follow this clock. In fact, mostly insects and plants are observed to follow this pattern&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Species most active during &lt;strong&gt;dusk&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;em&gt;vespertine.&lt;/em&gt; As with matutinal species, mostly insects and plants follow this pattern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Species most active during both &lt;strong&gt;dawn&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;dusk&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;twilight&lt;/strong&gt;), are &lt;em&gt;crepuscular.&lt;/em&gt; You could call crepuscular species both matutinal and vespertine. Some examples of crepuscular animals are skunks, fireflies, and deer. Pets generally considered crepuscular are dogs, cats, rabbits, and hamsters. As @Critters notes in the comments, sometimes hamsters are considered nocturnal. I again stress the difficulty in classifying some animals such as crepuscular versus nocturnal animals at some points. See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; for more examples.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Species most active during &lt;strong&gt;daytime&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;em&gt;diurnal.&lt;/em&gt; Humans, for example, are diurnal. There's a bit of controversy over whether house cats/dogs are diurnal or crepuscular, as some are most active all day, and some only twilight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Species most active during &lt;strong&gt;nighttime&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;em&gt;nocturnal.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Though not in the diagram above, species whose activity is &lt;strong&gt;uniformly spread across the day&lt;/strong&gt; are &lt;em&gt;cathemeral.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, these sleep patterns are defined for each individual animal at an early age. This explains why a feral dog may have a hard time adjusting sleeping patterns such as a crepuscular and diurnal one, rather than a dog's natural pattern which is nocturnal. However, all animals can adjust due to adaptation. It's just important to recognize which type of sleep cycle your dog is naturally on and to provide your pet with enough sleep. People have various lifestyles, and as such, some have nocturnal dogs, some have diurnal dogs, and some have crepuscular dogs. It's also worthy to note that &quot;nocturnal dogs&quot; aren't different than &quot;diurnal dogs&quot; in any way except for their sleeping pattern (i.e., one breed &lt;strong&gt;isn't&lt;/strong&gt; considered more nocturnal than another).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of animal behavior, these sleep cycles affect each animal as you'd expect they would. Animals like dogs and cats are more adaptable than others, but most likely still require the same amount of sleep as other dogs and cats not on the same cycle as theirs. At this point it's worthwhile to point out the difference in behaviorism and ethology. Ethology is considered to be an animal's behavior in an observed setting, where behaviorism is changed. So (and I'm not 100% I'm using these terms correctly), dogs are ethologically nocturnal but they've adjusted to be generally crepuscular and diurnal animals. In nature, most animals adjust to what suits them best (i.e., there's an evolutionary reason owls and wolves are nocturnal compared to skunks which are crepuscular. It mainly has to do with diet, predators, prey, etc...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-12-05T09:03:38.853" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T09:03:38.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5786" CreationDate="2014-07-14T18:44:52.440" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of redirecting is to provide an &lt;em&gt;acceptable equivalent&lt;/em&gt;.  If the cat wants to get up high to a shelf, redirect them to a safe spot on a cat tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are just refusing rather than redirecting, leaving the cat no place to acceptably work off the instinct to climb high.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T18:44:52.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2014-07-14T18:48:12.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In hot weather months, you can reduce shedding and help the cat handle the heat by cutting the hair short - to the skin (lion cut) or about the length of a short haired cat (teddy bear cut).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular brushing helps. A way to keep hair off your clothes is to keep a towel handy and put the cat on the towel on your lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T18:48:12.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2014-07-14T18:53:17.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats can &quot;spit&quot; as well as hiss, though it isn't that common.  If it looked like this video...then it is a spit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yswOxvb_Qy4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jitterbug Does It Again&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that it is just a kind of defense for a little kitten to make surprising sounds to make a potential foe move back in surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T18:53:17.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2014-07-14T22:05:38.927" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to say.  You're relaying what you noticed which could be a partial picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't give it too much credence though, from the sound of it the behavior was just a spur of the moment thing.  Kittens will often play in an exaggerated manner and try to test out boundaries / roles.  She could have been saying &quot;How dare you tell me what to do!?!&quot; but the subsequent behavior makes it sound like she was putting on a little act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Running in circles (the next behavior she displayed) can also be a behavior of a cat who is nervous for some reason (but I don't think that is the case here)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-14T22:05:38.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-15T05:41:54.933" Score="5" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog comes back in the house after relieving herself outside, she often heads directly to her water bowl to drink like a fiend. It seems logical to me if she does it on a hot day, or if she's been outside for a while. It is not limited to those cases though - it's almost as if she thinks 'Ok I'm empty, must refill as quickly as possible!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's going on in that crazy little head of hers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2668" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T11:34:10.583" Title="Why does my dog drink so much right after relieving herself?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5747" CreationDate="2014-07-15T09:41:59.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a big tank than you can have both the species because they could fight over space. Do remember that introduce new species in a group of minimum 4 (Personal experience) so that they are not bullied by other fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2656" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T09:41:59.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2014-07-15T09:47:35.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To reduce the amount of fur a cat malts over your furniture and clothes you could try a deshedder brush. I have four cats and use one of these; two love it and the other two hate it. As this is my first post I'm not sure if I can share the brand here but you can search online shops for this tool. They're not usually cheap for a decent one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T09:47:35.987" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6255" CreationDate="2014-07-15T10:11:57.197" Score="2" ViewCount="923" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 tiger barbs and I introduced 2 new rosie barbs to the tank with them. I think one of the tiger barbs is either playing with one of the rosie barbs or hurting it. I am not so sure of it as I am new to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I keep tiger barbs and rosie barbs together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2656" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-15T17:22:19.987" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T08:11:43.970" Title="Can I keep tiger barbs and rosie barbs together in the same tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5825" CreationDate="2014-07-15T11:11:31.387" Score="10" ViewCount="472" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my pet is outside do I need to be concerned about sunburn? Does their fur protect them, if so what about exposed areas, like nose and inside ears.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T22:10:11.363" Title="Can furry pets get sunburn?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5824" CreationDate="2014-07-15T12:22:20.030" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes as a matter of fact, almost all animals can get a sunburn. As a response to that, of course, they have provided themselves with the necessary adaptations to protect their skin. Hippos and pigs for example, moisturize their skin and prevent sunburns by soaking themselves in mud. Elephants protect their youngsters from the sun by covering them, and also apply sand and water on their back. Here is a pdf file about various animal adaptations: &lt;a href=&quot;http://epa.gov/sunwise/doc/animals_zoo.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://epa.gov/sunwise/doc/animals_zoo.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in Reptiles, it is almost impossible to get a sunburn. Reptiles have scales to protect them from the ill effects of UV light. If they were exposed to too much sun, they are probably going to overheat and die even before the sun gets to burn their skin, you can read more with this &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/can-bearded-dragon-sunburned-8904.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;. Birds, on the other hand, have a very low probability of getting a sunburn due to their feathers, and because they do not sunbathe as much as your more common pets like cats or dogs. It's worth noting that it seems like many birds either do not get sunburned, or do not change their skin color the way we do when we get sunburned. Read more &lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110907000920AAQ3lbh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110907000920AAQ3lbh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, furry animals can get a sunburn, but usually the fur is enough to protect them for the most. Let's say you have a dog you want to protect from a sunburn, what you can do is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your dog plays outside mostly when the sun is not strongest; the sun is usually strongest between 10am - 4pm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apply &lt;strong&gt;dog sunscreen&lt;/strong&gt; to your dog, focus on the most vulnerable areas like the nose and ear insides since they aren't covered in fur. And if you have another pet like a cat then you should apply cat sunscreen. Never apply human sunscreen as most are toxic to pets, especially the ones &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5832/481&quot;&gt;containing zinc oxide&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should also protect the dogs eyes, you can find some goggles for dogs in many pet stores, usually called doggles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are clothes that can protect your pet from uv rays, also sold in pet stores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You can read more with these links provided below&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogster.com/dog-health-care/7-sun-safety-suggestions-for-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;7 Sun Safety Suggestions for Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exceptionalcanine.com/blog/dog_sunburn/index.html#.U8W3F5SSybM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is Your Dog at Risk for Sunburn?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.purelife4pets.com/pet-owner-information/protect-pet-against-sunburn/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How To: Protect Your Pet Against Sunburn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog does get sunburned, it should heal by itself in time. You can apply some cold water on it, but your dog can really do by itself. Sunburns on animals are very similar to that in humans, you would notice redness of the skin, and perhaps peeling. If you notice broken skin &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; that your pet is in pain then take him to a vet for a check up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protecting your pet against sunburn should definitely be a concern, especially since usually pets don't know that they're getting too much sun, and many like sunbathing. Tony Barthel, curator of the Elephant House and the Cheetah Conservation Station at Smithsonian’s National Zoo says that though protection from sunburns is a concern, it isn't too common and severe cases have not taken place in ten years(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ask-an-expert-do-animals-get-sunburned-28218217/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;). It's just one of the many precautions you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; take in order to keep your pet healthy and happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T22:10:11.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2014-07-15T12:34:32.070" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used the get-rid-of-cat-urine-smell technique found at the following website with great success on both fresh and old stains on a mattress.  All you need is vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and water :)  Good luck!!&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catsofaustralia.com/clean-cat-urine-mattress.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.catsofaustralia.com/clean-cat-urine-mattress.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;As requested (and rightfully so), here is the method that I found (and directly quote from the above website) - I have used it successfully twice on a number of stains each time.  Darn cat...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ingredients for the Cat Urine Recipe To Remove Odors &amp;amp; Stains from Mattress&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;* Baking Soda&#xA;* White Vinegar&#xA;* Dishwashing Detergent (Dish Soap)&#xA;* 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (10Vol)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1&lt;/strong&gt; - If the urine is recent, blot up as much of it as you can using paper towels or a sponge. Apply plenty of pressure to reach the dampness deep down. Stand on the paper towels for more pressure if necessary. If you own a wet/dry vacuum cleaner extract as much of the moisture as you can. If the urine has dried proceed to step two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2&lt;/strong&gt; - Mix a solution of 50% vinegar and 50% water in a jug or other container. Pour a small amount of this solution over the area of cat urine. I used about 50mls. Then begin blotting (as described above to soak up this solution). Or use a wet/dry vacuum cleaner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3&lt;/strong&gt; - Sprinkle a good handful of baking soda over the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 4&lt;/strong&gt; - Mix a quarter of a cup of 3% (10 Vol) hydrogen peroxide with a teaspoon of dishwashing detergent and drizzle it over the area where you have sprinkled the baking powder and work it in using your fingers or use a brush. Allow fifteen minutes for the solution to work and then begin blotting again. (Don't use wet/dry vacuum at this stage, just blot)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 5&lt;/strong&gt; - The mattress must now be left to dry thoroughly. A good indication is when the baking soda feels completely dry. Next vacuum up the dry baking soda thoroughly. The baking soda absorbs the odor and urine. (Use a hard bristled brush to loosen up the baking soda if necessary)&#xA;If you live in a sunny climate you may be able to put the mattress out in the sun to dry. You can also assist the drying process by using a fan or heater. Another idea from one of our readers is to use a hair dryer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all there is to it. It's as easy as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2670" LastEditorUserId="2670" LastEditDate="2014-07-18T03:37:44.260" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T03:37:44.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5805" CreationDate="2014-07-15T12:52:28.887" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, in general I would avoid bathing a cat unless there's a real strong need to do so. The only time I've ever really needed to do that was for fleas, the cat was unable to groom, or the cat got into something that it can't clean off itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, should there be a real need, I would normally avoid shampoos intended for human use. These are formulated to deal with human hair and skin conditions, not feline, and so I would strongly recommend that you use ones formulated for cats since they will be safer. As mentioned in the comments, there are shampoos available for this purpose if needed and you'd be best to find them in pet stores or grooming centres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/bathing-your-cat&quot;&gt;good article&lt;/a&gt; on bathing your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T12:52:28.887" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5749" CreationDate="2014-07-15T15:32:46.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Science Hills now do a dry and wet food diet that is iodine-free, it's called y/d.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My oldest cat is 17 and has had thyroid problems for almost two years. How old is your cat?&#xA;Just recently, the vet advised that my cat be transferred from the vidalta tablets on to the Science Hills diet, but after some research I decided that I'd rather stick with what I know and what he knows. He has lost lots of weight recently. He eats lots of chicken and fish, which apparently are loaded with iodine (especially fish). If you attempt treating it by just an iodine-free diet, you will need to be ever so careful (advice from my vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you considered daily tablets? I have a prescription from the vet and buy them cheaper online. Hope you find something that suits your cat soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2646" LastEditorUserId="2646" LastEditDate="2014-07-15T15:40:23.187" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T15:40:23.187" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5834" CreationDate="2014-07-15T15:42:29.450" Score="7" ViewCount="7858" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always seem to have this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten has her second doctor's appointment coming up (second round of shots), and I still need to get them a stool sample for a checkup, preferably no older than 3 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Murphy's law states that when a stool sample is required, a cat will not poop the morning of a doctor's appointment; except, of course, the one time the cat poops 10 minutes prior, in which case it states you will forget to grab it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to encourage kitty to poop? Is there a type of food I can feed her ahead of time? Is there something I can do to encourage her to do her business in the hours before the appointment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's particularly important that I get a stool sample because her stool has not been tested yet (I adopted her a few weeks ago), and we do need to make sure she's off to a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:17:42.437" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:17:42.437" Title="How can I encourage a kitten to poop for a stool sample?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;sample-collection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5795" CreationDate="2014-07-15T16:29:15.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't want to wait to see a significant spike before you start dealing with the ammonia that builds up. Ammonia is toxic to fish, and and even relatively low amounts can be harmful to them over time. So you want to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates regularly at first so you know what your tank needs and when.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cycling a tank is not the same thing as changing the water. The term &lt;code&gt;cycle&lt;/code&gt; is a shorthand for your tank's &lt;code&gt;nitrogen cycle&lt;/code&gt;, the process where toxic nitrogen-based wastes are broken down into safer ones. Your tank is 'cycled' when the biological filter is capable of breaking down all the ammonia -- the primary nitrogenous waste product -- into nitrites, and then the nitrites into nitrates. There's a great breakdown of the cycle &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/nitrogen-cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on the Skeptical Aquarist website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your ammonia levels won't be a matter of &quot;safe today, spike tomorrow.&quot; Once you add animals to a tank, they're basically producing ammonia constantly. If the tank isn't cycled and doesn't have tons of live plants (which also consume nitrogen wastes), then that ammonia has nowhere to go. How fast it builds up depends on several factors, in particular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much water is in your tank,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many animals you have in the tank,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind they are,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How large the animals are,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much they're being fed,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much leftover food, fish poop, and other organic waste (including dead fish) is in the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when people talk about an ammonia spike, what they mean is that their ammonia levels unexpectedly built up faster than their biofilter could break it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tricky point in time for your tank: the biofilter needs ammonia and nitrites in order for the denitrifying bacteria to grow, but the fish that produce the waste can't tolerate them. (Many people, myself included, seed a new biofilter with ammonia before actually adding any fish to the tank, but that's a different point.) And unfortunately, it can take quite some time for the biofilter to establish itself -- it took my tank about a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately there are products that will bind the ammonia into a less-toxic form that's still available for the biofilter. I think the best route here is to keep the ammonia and nitrites detoxified this way until the filter establishes itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best one I know of is Seachem's Prime water conditioner: it's nominally a dechlorinator but will bind ammonia and nitrites as well. You'll need to dose daily, but it treats about 10 gallons per mL, so it's fortunately very cost-effective. I don't normally recommend specific products, but Prime is one of a handful of products that are almost universally recommended in the hobby. There are certainly great alternatives that will work as well: the Skeptical Aquarist link above recommends Kordon's AmQuel and Marineland Lab's Bio-Safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T16:29:15.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5785" CreationDate="2014-07-15T17:02:12.233" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishbase.org/Ecology/FishEcologySummary.php?StockCode=4990&amp;amp;GenusName=Puntigrus&amp;amp;SpeciesName=tetrazona&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;FishBase&lt;/a&gt;, tiger barbs (&lt;em&gt;Puntigrus tetrazona&lt;/em&gt;) are omnivores that eat &quot;worms, small crustaceans and plant matter.&quot; It doesn't look like FishBase has a whole ton of food item data for them yet, but a quick Google search mostly gives results that describe them as omnivores as well. So in the wild they probably wouldn't turn down the random ant that falls into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I would not recommend collecting wild ants and feeding them to your fish. For one, you might not be putting down ant traps, but you have no idea where else the ant colony has been foraging -- a large colony will have a pretty wide range, and they could easily find something that's toxic to fish. Ants greet each other by sharing food, by the way, so slow-acting toxins or ones that are not directly toxic to ants will spread across the whole colony eventually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant#Defence&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ants themselves are often toxic&lt;/a&gt;: many species defend themselves with formic acid, alkaloids, and other substances that are, at best, extremely foul tasting to predators. So although the barbs may instinctively grab for one, they might not actually eat them. And depending on the species, the barbs might even be harmed by this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a great idea to vary their diet though. I'd recommend supplementing their daily staple food with something like freeze-dried brine shrimp, which are safe and not too unlike the freshwater crustaceans the barbs would hunt in the wild. And I'd also look into some plant matter -- many fish will actually eat fresh or steamed vegetables, like peas or spinach. I'd do some web searching to see what other people's tiger barbs enjoy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T17:02:12.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5833" CreationDate="2014-07-15T17:16:35.477" Score="5" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/5825/481&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; to applying sunscreen to dogs says that you shouldn't apply human sunscreen to them because it contains zinc oxide and that's bad for dogs. What about it is bad, and what would happen if a dog did come in contact with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T01:55:53.067" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T03:24:00.110" Title="Why is zinc oxide bad for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5832" CreationDate="2014-07-15T17:26:08.693" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary reason for concern would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/toxicology/zinc_toxicosis/overview_of_zinc_toxicosis.html&quot;&gt;zinc toxicosis&lt;/a&gt;. This is basically the formation of zinc salts in the stomach acid which are toxic and can lead to diarrhea, lethargy, seizures, and more. It's quite dangerous and can require surgical intervention to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common sources of zinc poisoning in dogs and cats include the Lincoln penny(!) and zinc-oxide creams. Dogs are more likely to get this problem because they more freely eat whats around them, but using human sunscreen on a dog or cat is very likely to result in them attempting to lick it off and, well, poison themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T17:26:08.693" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5829" CreationDate="2014-07-15T20:23:07.213" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything that you give to actively induce a bowel movement is likely going to be adverse for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better approach would be to monitor the cat's schedule.  Likely the cat will have a bowel movement a few hours after eating, and this can be encouraged with being well hydrated.  So feed your cat say 5 hours before the appointment (correct for any previous patterns you have noticed) and keep water available in a multitude of locations (don't force the water, the cat might become suspicious).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution would be to bring in the stool sample at a later date, when it happens naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1371" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T20:23:07.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5829" CreationDate="2014-07-15T21:57:12.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try chanting &quot;poop poop poop move your bowels&quot; over and over again and telepathically suggesting that your cat empty its colon.  However, I've never found this to help, it may entertain you to watch the facial expressions of others in your household as you do it though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the serious side, if your cat drinks and/or eats more the probability of it pooping increases, water helps lubricate the passage and food obviously pushes things along... that being said I've never been able to time pooping or peeing in my cats and generally (much to their chagrin) take them in to have the &quot;experts&quot; collect stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-15T21:57:12.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5838" CreationDate="2014-07-16T02:17:07.367" Score="7" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an older cat with a &quot;bad mouth&quot;.  She has two fangs and no other real teeth.  Her gums are somewhat inflamed (the vet showed me that when he opened her mouth).  At the time he suggested removing tooth remnants that may be inflaming her gums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt very leery because she is an older cat (say 18-20 years old or so).  She has had a horrible mouth for most of her life (her previous owner remarked on that).  So I'm not sure this procedure is essential.  It would be nice to give her some relief and help her gums but then I'm not sure it would work at that and I feel frightened about having her put under sedation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm about 95% decided not to do the dental procedure (given her age and the fact that she's gone this long without it).  I want her to feel her best but at the same time don't want to risk loosing her on something that isn't dire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T03:47:48.387" Title="Cat dental proceedure" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5836" CreationDate="2014-07-16T03:00:29.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your question and the additional information you provided (thanks for that - it helps me get some context and give you a perhaps more useful answer) I would:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make another appointment to deal with some of these other issues, if the vet's office has a groomer's attached that can deal with the mats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ask specifically about the dental procedure, bring up your reservations about her age vs current health vs safety under anesthesia, and listen to what they have to say&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking further questions is never a bad thing. I do the same thing at my vets' office, for my cats...and at my doctors' office for me, for what it's worth. If I don't understand something, I ask questions; and if it's a decision about yes or no on treatment/medication levels/what have you, I take my time and think it over. I don't know if I'm their dream patient or their nightmare scenario for doing so, but it's my family's health, dang it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a dental gel - &quot;kitty toothpaste,&quot; I've forgotten its name now - that I started giving to all of my cats after one of my boys had to have near-TME (all but four of his teeth removed.) It wasn't the cheapest thing in the world, but to them it was another form of &quot;treat&quot; and it let the boy keep his remaining four teeth and not have any further mouth problems until his death. Ask about that - that might be a nonsurgical way to help with your lady's gum inflamation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T03:00:29.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5836" CreationDate="2014-07-16T03:47:48.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be worried, as you are, about anesthesia for a cat this elderly. Consider that such an activity for humans at a comparable age is considered significantly risky, it's not going to be any different here. The question then is: do you think it will succeed &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; make her life better in the process. If you're iffy on either, then I would suggest it's a no-go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you might want to consider pain management instead. We opted for that with a 15 year old cat with very bad teeth who nearly died under anesthesia. Now we give her a topical pain medication via, of all places, her ear (it's a gel) and she seems to be in good spirits and is eating well since we started this. It's also really, really, easy to administer meds this way, pills are a real pain, and so I can highly recommend it. Oddly enough, at this age, this route will probably cost us more in the long run but it's not risking her dying on the operating table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest broaching that with your vet as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T03:47:48.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17666" CreationDate="2014-07-16T13:05:38.180" Score="6" ViewCount="55869" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our charming &lt;a href=&quot;http://rockawaywolf.tumblr.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rockaway wolf&lt;/a&gt; is about 9 months old and is turning out to be a great alarm clock. He is up at 5:55 am every morning trying to nose us out of bed. If nudging and blanket yanking and elbow nibbling and face licking don't work, he starts barking. It doesn't matter how late his last walk was, he is up and he wants us to get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I do take him out he doesn't seem to have to pee urgently -- he waits until we get three blocks away to the park and then sometimes longer yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like the same bark that he uses with dogs in the park that won't play with him. It's his &quot;hey guys! Guys! Get up and play with me!&quot; bark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can tell him to get down, which lasts a few minutes, but he will not just let us go back to sleep. I really need him not to wake the neighbors up. I know they rise much later than us and I'd be pretty annoyed if I was hearing him hours before I had to wake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions for reigning this in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:57:03.420" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T22:15:39.977" Title="How do I get my dog to stop barking in the morning?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5864" CreationDate="2014-07-16T13:40:21.540" Score="10" ViewCount="2605" Body="&lt;p&gt;We noticed our 4 year old Lab/Rottweiler mix limping on her right hind leg recently, and we took her to the vet to check her out. Our vet diagnosed the problem as a partially torn cranial cruciate ligament, and recommended a $2,500 surgery to fix it. She also mentioned there was a 50% chance our dog would injure her other knee due to the extra stress she's placing on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love my dog, but I'm not willing to shell out $2,500 for surgery that may not even be completely effective. (Our vet made no mention of effectiveness rates, but some Googling seemed to cast doubt on a 100% chance of recovery for the particular type of surgery recommended.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found several websites selling leg braces for dog ACL/CCL injuries that claimed rehabilitation was possible. They had anecdotal evidence that their methods were effective, but I couldn't find any documented research. Is using a leg brace a legitimate alternative to surgery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="342" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T16:09:16.713" Title="Are dog leg braces an acceptable alternative to prohibitively expensive knee surgery?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5840" CreationDate="2014-07-16T14:23:46.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been through the doggy alarm clock (barking and screaming) so we know how frustrating it is. Here are a few things that have helped us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crate Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend some time training your dog to love the crate and then have him sleep there. I highly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;amp;product_id=1363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crate Games&lt;/a&gt; by Susan Garrett to help with this. Since you already have your dog in the room with you, it's likely that he'll be fine in his crate next to you, but if not continue to build value for the crate until he is. You can also try feeding meals in his crate. Of course, this will only help prevent him from jumping up on you, not stop him from barking in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Early Riser&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be very hard for a dog to break a habit, and your dog has settled into a routine. At 5:55 AM he gets up, barks, and jumps on your bed. It's time to play! You want to stop this routine from happening by beating him to the punch. Wake up at 5:45 AM when he's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; barking or jumping and have a good time. This not only stops his pattern but shows that he doesn't need to loud or boisterous to get your attention in the morning. You can then slowly move the wake-up time later and later by a couple minutes until you've got a pup who will happily wait until you wake up on your own. If he does start barking or jumping on you, wait until he's quiet to engage to help him understand he only gets what he wants if he's quiet and calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T14:23:46.030" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2590" CreationDate="2014-07-16T15:23:28.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tuna in &lt;strong&gt;oil&lt;/strong&gt; is the only thing my sick cat can digest at the moment. He has lung inflammation and is on medication; the coughing is making him swallow air, which in turn is making him &quot;gak&quot; a lot. That fake kitty tuna is plastic or something; after 6 hours after digestion, it comes up whole, whereas tuna for humans is giving him moisture and is getting digested. The water pack is &lt;strong&gt;way&lt;/strong&gt; too salty, and I've never seen &quot;unsalted&quot; tuna. Finding it without soy for humans is a mission in itself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He normally refuses to eat any wet or moist cat food, preferring his dry, but the dry and water combination is not digesting fast enough for him while he is sick.  Also, knowing he gets a tablespoon of shredded &quot;real&quot; tuna after his medicine, which he hates, keeps him from clawing me too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this is a treat for a sick cat but the amount of condemnation and fear mongering everywhere is disgusting.  My mom had a cat that &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; ate tuna for humans and it lived to be 35 and died following her upstairs, so it was active (and healthy) until the end. Of course the old adage 'no people food for pets' is sound advice, and obviously for the same reason, a repetitive diet of the same thing is going to cause a deficiency every time (for both people and animals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet food is supplemented, so you &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; serve it to them every day. That should be their mainstay diet as it is balanced for them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2677" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T19:41:37.587" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:41:37.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2791" CreationDate="2014-07-16T15:27:36.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog does the exact same thing. He would only eat food from the floor or from my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm about to try another method. Keep the food in the bowl. If he doesn't eat it - it's OKAY. Make sure you're in a confined space such as an exercise pen and keep nothing but the food in front of him. Wait for about 15-20 minutes, encouraging him to eat as you go. If he doesn't eat much of it through this time period, it's totally okay. Pick up the bowl and give it to him later when his next feeding period starts. He will show more interest to the food when he's hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't work, try giving him small pieces of treats inside the bowl gradually. Give the puppy time and he's sure to learn!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:40:23.630" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:40:23.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6054" CreationDate="2014-07-16T17:38:46.540" Score="4" ViewCount="1080" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my puppy (a ~5.5 month old Pembroke Welsh Corgi) has started to drink a ton of water from his bowl (sometimes as much as half the bowl), and then a few minutes later, he will spit up some of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usually a pretty small amount that comes back up (and it rarely has any solids in it, mostly just water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if this is an issue that I should take him to the vet for, or if there's something I can do to make him stop drinking so much at once. Or possibly that he just needs to drink more often, in smaller amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="973" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T12:54:29.923" Title="Dog drinks a lot of water and spits it back up" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2014-07-16T19:25:15.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get rubber back carpet runners to place around the house. It is safer then having your dog slip and get hurt.  They are cheap, come in all colors and if they get dirty, easy to wash in the tub or outside with a hose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2680" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:25:15.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2014-07-16T19:31:58.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the puppy or dog play bites your flesh, command NO BITE, and gently hold the mouth shut so the puppy/dog understands,  if he/she bites flesh right away again, put on a soft mesh muzzle for only 5 minutes, then must remove. Within a few days, the puppy dog quickly learns that biting flesh, when told NO BITE, will have a muzzle put on for 5 minutes. They learn not to bite your flesh because a muzzle is put on. This is easy and humane. For the first week or longer as needed, keep the mesh muzzle in your pocket or clipped on your pants so you can instantly put it on if your dog bites you again. After a few weeks, just put the mesh muzzle where you can find it quickly, hang it with your leash. If your dog starts the flesh biting again. Occasionally they forget or accidentally bite your flesh, put the muzzle on again for 5 minutes as a reminder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2680" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:31:58.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5849" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-16T19:40:53.620" Score="5" ViewCount="27331" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 6 weeks ago, we adopted 2 senior cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While bringing them home, one of the cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/4362/57&quot;&gt;defecated in her carrier&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night, I took them both to our vet for a checkup.  Each cat has their own carrier, and both rode in the front of the car with me.  I drove back roads as much as possible, and did my best to avoid sudden stops and acceleration.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ride to the veterinarian's office is much shorter than the ride from the pet food store we rescued them from, and I was pleased to see that we made it without another incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, on the way home after the appointment, she defecated again (I suspect shortly before we arrived at home, as I did not smell it until I went to pick her up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly both cats were very stressed by the car ride, but so far 2 out of 3 short trips have resulted in the 13 year old female making a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any strategies for minimizing this?  The obvious solution would be to only take her right after she uses the litter, but since we have to schedule our appointments weeks ahead of time, and the time of the appointments largely depends on the doctor's availability and my work schedule, I'm not sure how practical that would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other strategies that might help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:04:21.307" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T05:33:18.733" Title="Can I keep my cat from defecating in the carrier during transport?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2461" CreationDate="2014-07-16T19:41:08.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try different items. Your dog may be bored with the same old ball. Try different toys or balls for fetch. Give better treats. My dog refused to do anything for cheap milk bones or any other wheat, corn or soy based treats. I then got a snack plastic bags to put in my training pouch I clip on my pants, and filled it with real tiny cut up meat, and my dog came to attention, and was willing to learn in order to earn a valuable great tasting treat. I cut up tiny bits of meat, put in tiny snack size ziploc bags and freeze. Then when training time, take out a frozen bag, and the treats are cold. My dog also loved apple slices, baby fresh carrots, cooked sweet potato slices, etc too. The cheap big commercial dog treats don't taste very good, so dogs don't really like them compared to real food. When you have great tasting treats your dog will be more attentive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2680" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T19:41:08.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-16T20:03:58.847" Score="5" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard some people say that a cat's coat color says a lot about its personality. I think it's fairly common to think that tortoiseshell cats have attitudes (&amp;quot;tortietudes&amp;quot;). Is this urban legend, or is there any truth to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/berg/anthroz/2012/00000025/00000004/art00003&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;found a study&lt;/a&gt; that seems to suggest that it's people's perceptions of the colors that leads them to believe that they're related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what makes people say that a cat's coat color is an indicator of it's personality? Is it there some truth to it, just people's perceptions, or maybe even just an urban legend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T01:19:09.657" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T01:19:09.657" Title="Do the colors of a cat's coat correlate with its personality?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5852" CreationDate="2014-07-16T20:58:48.283" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a cat's personality is too subtle a thing to be rigidly controlled the few genes that the theories ascribe.  Orange color, and Tortie color is controlled by a single sex linked gene.  This supposedly makes friendly Orange males AND stubborn Torties.  White cats are often made by a second single gene, and these cats can also have the same gene as an Orange cat.  Yet the white gene makes them reserved and aloof?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a few torties and neither had &quot;tortietude&quot;.  I've had tabbies and solids and they have had varied personalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't buy it any more than I do the legend that red haired men are &quot;fiery&quot; in temperament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T20:58:48.283" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2014-07-16T21:14:27.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long-haired cat who is generally tidy, although once or twice in his 14 years he's been stricken with diarrhea for various reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I clean his butt (and this only really applies to butts but I suppose it could be used elsewhere) is basically this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the kitchen sink running low pressure (not too noisy) and warm water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrap him gently but snuggly in a towel except for his bum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lift him up, put him in the sink, hold his tail forward while using the towel to keep him still, and use the running water and your hand or a paper towel to get most of the feces out of his fur back there. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Possibly dab him dry with the towel if he is dripping wet in the back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put him back on the ground and unwrap the towel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't like it of course. But it's quick. No soap, nothing like that, just quickly and painlessly get the most out with water, short and to the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't prepare him for this, don't do any kind of coaxing; just grab him gently with the towel, to the sink, release. &lt;strong&gt;Don't be rough with him either.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't praise or talk to him or anything afterwards either, just walk away (any praise risks being taken as praise for being anxious towards you when you're near the sink, anyways). Generally after this he cleans himself and finishes the job. He'll finish his cleaning, mentally recover and be back to normal soon after and approach you when he's ready. You will be quickly forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also help keep the cat calm throughout this whole process by doing the standard set of non-aggressive signs; slow blink, no eye contact, calm voice, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is its like pulling off a band-aid. Do it quick, it won't be pleasant, but it will be done and will be forgotten quickly. The other idea is to not do anything that makes him associate this with you or any specific behaviors in any way, just take him gently by surprise and finish before he knows what hit him - i.e. don't make a big deal out of the event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't do this unless the mess is beyond what the cat can reasonably take care of on their own. Remember, cats are self cleaning. You're just trying to give them a bit of a head start for a tough job here. Do only what is necessary and they will take care of the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2014-07-16T21:36:09.110" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T21:36:09.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5849" CreationDate="2014-07-16T23:43:34.047" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cats are pooping in the carrier because they are nervous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several strategies for dealing with this (none foolproof)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you indicate take the cat in after it poops (but the bowels still might have some stuff in them and when your cat gets really afraid...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change the feeding schedule before the visit, for instance 6-8 hours before the visit try giving no food, give food when you come home from the visit (again this only reduces the likelyhood)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your cat in a soothing manner during the drive (of course that's like if someone is threatening to kill you and a friend is saying nice things to you at the same time...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Someone else mentioned not having the cat in a carrier but on a harness in the back seat with another person holding the lead. Note if the cat gets loose in the car this can be dangerous. At the same time a cat on a harness/lead tends to be more calm than one in a carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-17T05:32:19.850" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T05:32:19.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5852" CreationDate="2014-07-16T23:47:56.610" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there might be an extremely weak correlation with some patterns but by in large it is an urban myth.  What I mean is maybe if a cat has coat type X it is maybe 5% more likely to have some personality trait, at the same time a cat of any coat type can have any personality....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me tabbies seem a tiny bit more wild in temperament than solids, tuxedos, tortoiseshells, calico...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tortiseshells seem a tiny bit more &quot;neurotic&quot; than other coat types&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-16T23:47:56.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5861" CreationDate="2014-07-17T00:14:22.250" Score="9" ViewCount="5032" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a dog almost three years ago from our local shelter.  He is an amazing dog with tons of energy.  We've been thinking about getting a companion dog for him for some time.  Today, we finally made the decision to adopt a second dog.  We adopted a 2 year old female dog of the same breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether it's OK to keep the new dog in a crate at night, while our other dog stays out in our house as he has always done.  The female was just spayed yesterday, and our male dog is frequently attempting to hump the female (this was to be expected).  We do not leave the two of them alone without supervision while they get used to each other.  We're concerned about nighttime when we are all asleep.  We have a crate that we used to train our first dog, but I was wondering if it is OK to crate the new female dog and leave our other dog out during the night (we never crated our old dog after helping him to get over his separation anxiety; he currently sleeps where ever he wants at night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-07-18T21:41:43.840" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T21:42:14.407" Title="Is it OK to crate my new dog at night while my old dog roams the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5860" CreationDate="2014-07-17T02:58:17.487" Score="8" ViewCount="1899" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's an 8-year-old beagle. I am his secondary owner of 6 months - his primary owner has owned him since puppyhood. Apparently there have been failed attempts to give him some basic training in the past, most notably enrollment in doggy discipline school. (They gave a refund and expressed that he was not welcome back after the first day of training.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have started to read up on books and resources for training dogs as I feel he does need some basic training and I have come to understand that he has been unwittingly trained to lunge at garbage, put it in his mouth and swallow it as quickly as possible. He eats other animals' poop, any and all food he finds on the ground, sticks his snout into garbage and plastic bags at the slightest opportunity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has had very little training and little if any understanding of command words. I want to get started right away on correcting the garbage eating behavior as I am concerned he will eventually eat something that does something horrible to him. It is difficult to avoid garbage on the ground as we live in a city area that is extremely littered. (Even the parks have food garbage lying around from picnics.) I don't want to stop taking him on walks while I study basic training principles and canine communication - we are currently living in an apartment building and he has the run of the veranda, but that's not enough space for him is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to start training him to stop eating everything he can reach in these circumstances? How might I go about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2681" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T23:17:31.357" Title="How can I train a full-grown untrained dog to stop eating garbage?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5981" CreationDate="2014-07-17T04:28:06.277" Score="6" ViewCount="978" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mammoth donkey that has developed a bad habit of kicking at Farriers. Unlike horses they can kick sideways making this very dangerous for the farrier and they pretty much universally are refusing to come out and clip his feet. His feet are starting to get bad and I feel like I am running out of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard a suggestion from someone to just have him sedated mildly each time, but that means I have to pay for a vet visit with a farrier each time, which could get prohibitively expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that this is a common problem with donkeys, but am not hearing any practical solution for foot/hoof care. Anyone have any advice for dealing with this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditDate="2014-07-17T04:49:00.997" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T16:35:43.523" Title="Farrier Options for a stubborn donkey that kicks" Tags="&lt;donkeys&gt;&lt;farriers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5858" CreationDate="2014-07-17T12:45:39.413" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a perfect application of the &quot;It's Yer Choice&quot; game, coined by Susan Garrett. Since the garbage is a really big reward, I recommend starting with something less exciting (like a handful of food) so he can understand the game first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a YouTube video I found demonstrating the game being taught including a dog walking past multiple treat containers: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phase 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your dog is in a low-distraction environment and on lead, take a handful of treats or food and show them to your dog so he knows you have them. Then close your fist around them and wait for him to sit. Do not move your hand away, don't say anything, just wait. Naturally, we will try to get at the treats. He may lick, bite, paw, whatever, and that's OK! If he gets aggressive or bites really hard, you may want to use something other than your hand to hold the treats, but it needs to be something solid you can open and close quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;instant&lt;/em&gt; he backs off, open your hand. This is reinforcing to him (because now he sees how to get to the food) and he will probably come to get it. Close your hand to prevent access. Wait him out again until he backs up and open your hand again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point the leash is to prevent him from just wandering off. When he sits calmly, begin to give him a treat, but only give it to him if he stays sitting. If he moves to help get the treat, put it back in your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the dog, it may take a while, but eventually you'll be able to feed treats to a calm sitting dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can apply the game to any situation and there are too many details to list them here, but the basic mechanics are always the same. Allow the dog the opportunity to get something inappropriately, restrict access to that thing if he tries, and give it to him when he's patient. Do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; restrict access by pulling them back with the leash. Pulling on the leash creates what's called opposition reflex and actually makes him want the thing more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Application&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how does not stealing treats out of your hand apply to not stealing garbage on the street? Set up the game in the same way using a garbage in a controlled environment inside the house. Use your foot and step on the garbage to prevent him from getting to it. You might want to start with something less exciting first. Once he's mastered it inside, try outside on your driveway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep working at this with different environments. Use different kinds of trash in different environments. Dogs are bad at generalizing to try all kinds of goofy stuff. You &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; him to fail sometimes so he understands there are consequences. For now though, try to stay away from the trash as much as you can. You can even pick him up to pass it, but you don't want him pulling on the leash. This just creates opposition reflex and will make the problem worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="1277" LastEditDate="2014-07-19T23:17:31.357" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T23:17:31.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5857" CreationDate="2014-07-17T15:12:48.897" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is fine to constrain one dog while keeping the other dog free to roam; this is common in many households where one dog is more comfortable being crated, or needs to be quarantined for any reason.  Consider if the dog was injured and needed to be kept from the other dogs; this is the same sort of situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have an elderly dog who will roam at night and a younger dog who will not.  We have to crate the elderly dog so that he will not mark the rugs at night; when crated, he's fine and does his business in the morning.  The younger dog could care less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crating to keep dogs from each other is a safety concern, and as you currently do not leave them unsupervised when free to roam, there is nothing wrong with keeping one constrained.  You haven't changed the unconstrained dog's situation other than introducing a new crate into the area; you aren't changing his night lifestyle of roaming; you are simply introducing a (temporary) night lifestyle to your new dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the roaming dog interacting with the crate, see how they act at night; if he leaves her alone in her crate, then that is fine.  If he bothers her, you might have to crate her in a room that he cannot access, either by closing the door or erecting a barrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-07-18T21:42:14.407" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T21:42:14.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5862" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-07-17T17:49:58.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;farrier&lt;/a&gt; is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with some veterinarian's skills (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to care for horses' feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2606" LastEditorUserId="2606" LastEditDate="2014-07-17T18:34:20.080" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T18:34:20.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5863" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-07-17T17:49:58.027" Score="0" Body="Specialist in equine hoof care." OwnerUserId="2606" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-07-17T18:34:34.133" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T18:34:34.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5841" CreationDate="2014-07-17T20:09:23.270" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital has a handout on &lt;a href=&quot;http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/orthopaedics-cruciate-ligament.pdf&quot;&gt;Treatment options for cranial cruciate ligament injury/disease of the dog knee&lt;/a&gt; which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is ample evidence that perioperative rehabilitation therapy by a&#xA;  trained rehabilitation practitioner can advance and hasten the&#xA;  recovery from surgery. There is little/no evidence to suggest that&#xA;  this is a consistent and predictable alternative to surgical&#xA;  management for most dogs, but occasionally the combination of&#xA;  concurrent injuries or diseases, advanced age, patient size and&#xA;  financial limitations lead pet owners to pursue this option. Custom&#xA;  knee bracing is relatively new to canine orthopedics and there is&#xA;  little/no scientific evidence on the topic applied to cruciate&#xA;  ligament injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been some studies on the effectiveness of movement restriction and pain medication, however. In the following study, smaller dogs improved at a higher rate than large dogs. Of dogs over 15kg (such as a Lab/Rott mix), only 19.3% were classified as normal after the study period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clinical Results Following Nonoperative Management for Rupture of the Cranial Cruciate Ligament in Dogs&#xA;P. B. VASSEUR DVM, Veterinary Surgery Volume 13, Issue 4, pages 243–246, October 1984&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-950X.1984.tb00801.x/abstract&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following study does include a control group of rest and pain medication, but it's not clear from the abstract how well they did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaluation of fibular head transposition, lateral fabellar suture, and conservative treatment of cranial cruciate ligament rupture in large dogs: a retrospective study &#xA;AE Chauvet, AL Johnson, GJ Pijanowski, L Homco and RD Smith&#xA;Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association May 1, 1996 vol. 32 no. 3 247-255 &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jaaha.org/content/32/3/247.short&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to have the surgery done, your dog will likely not be back to &quot;new&quot;, but will likely have an improved quality of life with less pain (as evidenced by a decrease in lameness). A retrospective study in an Australian journal determined:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regardless of surgical technique, 85.7 to 91.0% of dogs showed&#xA;  clinical improvement after surgery. However, less than 50% of dogs&#xA;  became clinically sound on the operated leg and 9.0 to 14.3% of dogs&#xA;  remained persistently lame on the operated leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Twenty-two percent of dogs ruptured their [opposite leg] CCL at an&#xA;  average of 14 months after the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cranial cruciate ligament rupture in the dog—a retrospective study comparing surgical techniques&#xA;KW MOORE and RA READ Australian Veterinary Journal Volume 72, Issue 8, pages 281–285, August 1995 &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-0813.1995.tb03555.x/abstract&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-17T20:37:09.693" LastActivityDate="2014-07-17T20:37:09.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-18T06:06:26.823" Score="8" ViewCount="117530" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kids saw the &quot;My Fun Fish Tank&quot; on TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VAtb9.png&quot; alt=&quot;My Fun Fish Tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Not mine, but an example of what the tank looks like)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got it for them and after I put it together I went to the pet store and got a male betta. I change the water every 2 days with distilled water, and we feed him like the instructions that came with the tank told us to, but I'm worried that the fish doesn't have enough oxygen because he doesn't move very much, he stays at the bottom like he's gotten stuck under the rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is my betta acting like this, and what can I do to make him better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2687" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T21:50:15.993" LastActivityDate="2019-01-22T00:23:33.707" Title="How can I help my betta who is laying at the bottom of his tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-18T07:17:22.417" Score="7" ViewCount="4866" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just adopted a second dog who is a female. We have a male dog which we adopted 3 years ago.  He's used to having free access to all of his toys (he's a spoiled brat). I read that when you introduce a second dog, you should remove all toys and slowly introduce new toys to each dog. So far, we have taken away all toys except today we just introduced each dog to a toy. Each dog is very possessive about their new toy. If one dog shows interest in the other dogs toy, the other other dog will be aggressive.  They both do this to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now, because the recently adopted dog has only been in our house for a few days, we take all toys away unless we are supervising the dogs. I'm wondering if it's possible for the dogs to learn to share their toys in the future, or is this a behavior that needs to be trained? If so, how should we go about training them to share their toys? We would ultimately like to leave their toys out again as we did with our first dog, so they can have things to chew on when ever they get the urge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:34:51.597" Title="Is it possible to train dogs to share their toys?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5868" CreationDate="2014-07-18T10:29:21.830" Score="12" ViewCount="1008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that seems to get upset every time I joke about giving him away. He won't even get near me and he won't let me carry him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they, like, read our body languages or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="925" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:02:33.510" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:02:33.510" Title="Do pets &quot;get&quot; what we're talking about?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5867" CreationDate="2014-07-18T11:48:43.537" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caveat: this is all based on my experience with cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can learn to associate certain sounds (words) with particular concepts. My cats know what the words &quot;feed the cats&quot; mean. It's hard to say what their effective vocabulary is, but they do understand some words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are also very sensitive to tone of voice and body language - given how much of a cat's communication occurs via body language this is hardly surprising. Every cat I've lived with knew when it was being teased or laughed at, and all of them hated it (I think this is why people say cats are &quot;proud&quot; - they really do not like being teased or laughed at).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess, I'd say that your cat recognizes from your body language and tone that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're speaking to/about him; and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're teasing him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Oh, all the cats I've had figured out fairly quickly that &quot;I'm sorry&quot; means I'm trying to make up with them. I don't know how that translates to communications and mental states, but actually saying &quot;I'm sorry&quot; will get me forgiven (they stop avoiding me or shunning me) by the cat I offended faster than not saying it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T11:48:43.537" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5867" CreationDate="2014-07-18T16:15:32.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is all based on my personal experiences with pets as well...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm off at college now but I have a couple of cats at my parents house that are &quot;mine.&quot; They've shown to at least know when we are talking about them, and whether it's positive or negative. There was an incident when one of the cats had some, well, distressed anal glands, and he still gets visibly upset when we joke about that and call him &quot;big pus butt&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the note of dogs, Mine also show some indication that they know a bit of what we are talking about. I have a shepardy-mutt thing that doesn't like to be called &quot;fat&quot; (even in a loving voice) and a boarder collie that got embarrassed recently when I was recounting a story about her having poop stuck in her fur over the phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's not hard evidence, it is probably safe to say some pets have an idea when we are talking about them, and can probably deduce the tone. It'd be an interesting thing to study!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting note, just as Kate Paulk said, &quot;I'm sorry&quot; gets me forgiven with my cats too, whether I stepped on them or offended them some other way. I think this may be based on body language primarily (and perhaps the words after they learn them?) as I either pick them up/pet them (if I stepped on them) or act guilty/put my head next to them where they're sitting (in the case I offended them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T16:15:32.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5805" CreationDate="2014-07-18T16:26:34.913" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't use regular shampoo -- cats have very sensitive skin and regular shampoo will dry it out and irritate it. Most big pet stores will have special cat shampoo available. As an alternative, I have personally had good luck with cat &quot;shampoo wipes.&quot; They're basically a wet wipe for washing your cat. They're much easier to use, since you don't have to worry about getting your cat to accept the fact that it's being put in water. I've seen these wipes at big pet stores, and I've bought them before at petsmart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a pinch, I've heard baby shampoo is gentle enough for sensitive cat skin, but I wouldn't recommend using it regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T16:26:34.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5867" CreationDate="2014-07-18T23:09:54.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No... they have not even the vaguest clue what you're talking about.  They do not understand words and don't even want to try to understand words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do get sounds, tone of voice, body language.  If you make consistent sounds and signals for some things they will learn those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you could say horrible things about them in a nice tone of voice and they would take it in a happy way.  Likewise you could say nice things in a bad tone of voice and they would take it negatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't mean they can't learn or don't get concepts... just they have no interest in our language.  One of my cats just made a territorial incursion (the basement is exclusively for my first two cats, the rest of the house is shared but the basement is &quot;theirs&quot;) without too much signaling on my part I got her to leave quickly (without yelling, harsh tones, or any of that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-18T23:09:54.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2014-07-19T08:39:33.043" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When a carrier is not a thing to be afraid of, things get a lot easier.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zEqfl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the carrier out, not hidden in a closet. Take the door away. Leave it and forget it. And do the same with vacuum cleaner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allright, I admit that one of our five cats does not like a carrier. Probably because she gets easily sick during car drives. Too many times she crapped and vomited in a carrier, she has decided she no longer loves going inside. Once she is in, she is okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the rest of our cats like being inside a carrier. We have one or two carriers always at home for them to freely go in. I have carriers up in the attick storage, and sometimes I switch the one that is down in our apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="278" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T08:39:33.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5706" CreationDate="2014-07-19T19:21:55.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband was telling me how a dogs rectum comes out some when they poop so that the outside stays cleaner. I can't even figure out how to google for this so I don't have a reference :( One of the few animals that do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T19:21:55.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-19T20:24:34.387" Score="7" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told that if you catch a dog drinking their urine it's a sign that they might have Cushing's disease. What is Cushing's disease and why would it cause dogs to drink their urine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2693" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-19T22:39:17.867" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T22:39:17.867" Title="What is Cushing's disease?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5875" CreationDate="2014-07-19T22:18:35.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cushing's Disease (or Syndrome, which is the symptoms) is also known as &lt;em&gt;Hyperadrenocorticism&lt;/em&gt; which, according to Merck is a illness that is either a result of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enlargement of the pituitary gland as a result of a benign tumor and this results in excessive production of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenocorticotropic_hormone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adrenocorticotropic hormone&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cancer of the adrenal glands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms, in either case, commonly include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive thirst&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive urine output&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased hunger or appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heat intolerance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enlarged belly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Panting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeated urinary tract infections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why might it be a sign of Cushing's Disease when a dog drinks it's own urine? That would be a consequence of the first symptom I mentioned: extreme thirst. A dog that is extremely thirsty and has insufficient water resources may resort to drinking its own urine to help rehydrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatments are available, though they're not something you would administer at home. The actual treatment really depends on the source of the syndrome, but may include surgical intervention or radiation therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-19T22:18:35.170" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5894" CreationDate="2014-07-20T18:19:50.063" Score="14" ViewCount="102702" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone recently mentioned &quot;breeding like rabbits&quot;. So my question is how fast do rabbits breed?  If I accidentally bring home a pregnant female rabbit, or a male and female pair from the local fair, and she has babies, and I keep everyone together, without having any spayed or neutered, how fast will they reproduce?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will of course keep feeding them, and making sure they have good care.  Really how bad could it be?  So maybe I have 6 or eight bunnies to find homes for by the fair next year. right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T23:51:40.277" Title="How fast do rabbits really breed?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-20T18:23:41.500" Score="3" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone wants to give us two rabbits about 4 months old, the say they are both girls; but I am not sure.  How do I tell the difference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-04-12T11:28:04.670" LastActivityDate="2015-04-12T11:28:04.670" Title="How do you tell the gender of a young rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-05-21T12:22:18.203" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-20T18:27:19.190" Score="7" ViewCount="6472" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking at a litter of kittens, and it looks like they are all girls.  Is that possible? How can I tell for sure what gender the kittens are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T07:13:28.707" Title="How do you determine the gender of a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-20T18:33:31.883" Score="13" ViewCount="11115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any pet which I can hold indoors in Central European household and which eats flies (and any other insects) flying around my house? I got plenty of them because my neighbor has a pig farm next door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2695" LastEditorUserId="2695" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T07:53:31.103" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T11:14:10.963" Title="Is there a pet which eats flies" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5879" CreationDate="2014-07-20T20:42:23.970" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the testes develop it is easy to tell but this isn't the case at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female has two openings back there and it is a distinctive pattern.  So in the beginning it is best to look for the female pattern- if you don't see it the cat is a male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;google &quot;determining the sex of a kitten&quot; and you'll see pictures and videos that can guide you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T20:42:23.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5877" CreationDate="2014-07-20T21:36:34.957" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/scary.html&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; the gestation period for rabbits is 28-31 days, a rabbit can be impregnated within hours of giving birth, litters contain 1-14 babies, and rabbits are fertile from about six months of age.  So, that's a lot of rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That article doesn't cite any sources.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/fun/answer3.html&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society&lt;/a&gt; also says the gestation period for rabbits is 31 days, but I couldn't find sources (or conflicting claims) for the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By comparison, cats (left unchecked) have 2-3 litters a year with a gestation period of 58-65 days and a litter of 4-6 kittens (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2139&amp;amp;aid=922&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Which, from its title/URL, is presumed to be written with an agenda, but I can't find counter-claims for the information I'm repeating in this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-07-20T21:36:34.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5884" CreationDate="2014-07-20T22:24:47.687" Score="12" ViewCount="154485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female spayed cat in my flat for the last eight months.&#xA;She used to be stray, I took her in when she was about six months old. So she's about 1,5 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This past month I have noticed that her urine smells very strongly of ammonia - a much, much stronger smell than it used to be. I have NOT changed the type or brand of her litter (I use Ever Clean Multi Crystal), I have NOT changed her eating habits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that lately she likes to drink more water than she used to, but I consider that normal, since it's been getting very hot around here. I also take care to always have water out for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing this smell? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, today she has -for the very first time ever- defecated and urinated outside her litter box (in another corner of the bathroom, where her box is). I know this may be due to the fact that her litter box smells much stronger than it used to now, just mentioning it in case there's another connection. Any feedback on this also appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T06:44:05.097" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:02:51.763" Title="Why has my cat's pee started to smell very strongly of ammonia?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2014-07-20T22:43:12.227" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drinking more water, urine smelling strongly, defecating outside the litter box - all of those signs sound like she's sick. Could be something smallish and easily fixed with a few antibiotics, could be something bigger. Maybe it's something with her kidneys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice: take her to the vet to find out what it is and how it can be treated. I think this is something that can be easily corrected if you act on it now, but I'm just another cat-mom, not a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if you can determine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is she urinating more, less, or about the same?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is she eating more, less, or about the same?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T00:42:32.000" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T00:42:32.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2014-07-21T00:05:38.500" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ammonia is present in urine as a by-product of meat consumption, so its presence is entirely natural. The usual reason for an increase in the smell of ammonia in urine is hydration related. The more concentrated the urine, as a result of lack of water in the system, the stronger the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the heat situation could be the reason for this, but cats are not big drinkers and I would be suspicious of this as the root cause. Right now this smacks of dehydration and that may be a sign of another problem, potentially serious. I would arrange a visit to the vet as soon as possible just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T00:05:38.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5891" CreationDate="2014-07-21T00:30:50.930" Score="2" ViewCount="8469" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a new aquarium, along with four tiger barbs. I have already introduced two new Rosie barbs into the tank with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm now wondering if I can introduce tetra fish into tank. And if yes, then which type of tetra should I introduce? How many of them minimum should be kept together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2656" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-21T01:16:21.763" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:18:23.597" Title="Can I put tetras in a tank with barbs in it?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2014-07-21T00:44:19.190" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Urea, present in the urine of mammals, naturally degrades into ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In solid form it is shelf stable, but in solution it is hard to keep from degrading.  There are also bacteria and enzymes that are fairly widespread that hasten this decomposition.  Even if it is just damp the decomposition can take place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strong ammonia smell would suggest an increased load of urea in her urine, increased drinking and peeing could indicate some problem with the kidneys, or metabolism...  I'd suggest a vet visit too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T00:44:19.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18416" CreationDate="2014-07-21T03:17:05.637" Score="6" ViewCount="1771" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for information on moving from the US to a different country with two cockatiels.  (We are two people travelling, in case each is allowed to bring only one bird.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What airlines allow travelling with caged birds in the cabin?  Are there any that are generally recommended for travelling with pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, what are important things to think about when planning such a trip?  My primary concern is the safety of the birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of the information I can find is about cats and dogs, and travelling with birds seems to be more difficult.  I am also very worried about transporting the birds in the cargo hold.  Cockatiels freak out easily and can seriously injure themselves by flapping in a cage.  I'd strongly prefer taking them to the cabin, but it is not clear how this is going to be possible (though it seems that depending on the destination country it may be allowed by certain airlines).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are services for international pet transport.  In this case is it better to try to use them than taking the birds myself?  (I don't think so as someone should be there to calm them down if they freak out.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="470" LastEditorUserId="470" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T02:45:52.720" LastActivityDate="2019-04-26T18:37:43.353" Title="International travel with cockatiels (moving from the US)" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5877" CreationDate="2014-07-21T04:03:06.537" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://nzes-nzje.grdev.co.nz/free_issues/ProNZES24_79.pdf&quot;&gt;proceedings of the New Zealand Ecological Society&lt;/a&gt; from 1977, a field study of wild rabbits showed an average of 29.4 babies per female rabbit during one breeding season (they are generally fertile for ~243 days per year, basically the non-cold months).  They are having litters of around 5.3 babies per litter and a bit over 5 litters per season (8-9 month season, so they  have ~60% of the litters they could have).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, domesticated rabbits may well breed more frequently, given the more stable food supply, lower stresses from predators (and food needs), and closer contact with males (assuming they are in a cage together).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T04:03:06.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5805" CreationDate="2014-07-21T08:16:58.543" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that cats are licking themselves a lot. You wouldn't want to put anything on their fur that you don't want them to consume in small quantities.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am using a hypoallergenic, liquid PH 5.5 skin care soap in the rare cases where I want to properly clean our cats. (I rarely need to, they are indoor cats, but sometimes I enjoy the super soft fur to be honest) I even tested the product beforehand in my mouth (whether it would burn for example).&lt;br&gt;There are special shampoos for animals available at every pet shop. I wouldn't use human hair shampoo or conditioners on cats: Those kind of products are often deliberately made to stay in your hair even after intensively flushing them.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have trained our cats from the get go to accept and enjoy the bathtub. As soon as the kittens started bonding with me and weren't fearful of the environment anymore I put them in the tub at least every second day. It's mandatory to make sure the environmental temperature is very high: The evaporating water in their fur would freeze them: Imagine running around in completely soaked clothes. Now, they sometimes stay in the empty tub and scream for me to start the water.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You should be aware that cats might start to urinate in warm water!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2698" LastEditorUserId="2698" LastEditDate="2014-07-29T11:53:07.380" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T11:53:07.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5886" CreationDate="2014-07-21T13:49:40.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Definitely not at the moment, but possibly later on down the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume this is the same tank you ask about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5820/my-tiger-barbs-are-getting-pale-in-color&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5795/how-many-days-does-it-take-an-ammonia-spike-to-occur&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. This is a new tank that does not have an established biofilter yet: this means the more fish you put in now, the more unhealthy the water will get. Until you know for a fact that your biofilter is working -- your ammonia and nitrite levels stay at 0ppm and do not fluctuate -- there is no point in adding any more fish. If you do, the most likely result is that they'll die, or suffer permanent damage to their gills that greatly shortens their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But can you add tetras once the biofilter is working? The answer to that is 'maybe'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are dozens of species of tetra out there. I don't know what's available to you or what kind of fish you're looking for, so I'm not going to make a specific recommendation. But basically, you need to ask two questions to decide whether you can keep fish together: how will they interact with each other? And, can I provide environmental conditions that are healthy for both species?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of behavioral compatibility, tiger barbs are active, somewhat aggressive fish. I've even heard some people say they don't believe they're suited for a community tank at all. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/puntius-tetrazona/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Seriously Fish&lt;/a&gt; notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;'P.' tetrazona&lt;/em&gt; is notorious as an aggressive community inhabitant with a reputation for nipping the fins of tankmates though this&#xA;  behaviour only tends to be pronounced when insufficient numbers are&#xA;  purchased or space is limited... That said it is relatively boisterous&#xA;  and doesn’t make an ideal companion for very shy, slow-moving, or&#xA;  long-finned fishes such as many livebearers, cichlids, and&#xA;  anabantoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tetras are often relatively shy, so in your research you'll want to make sure a species can handle being pushed around a bit. The flip side is that there are very few tetra species that will cause problems for the barbs. And as the SF article mentions, you'd want an active, short-finned species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of environmental compatibility, it looks like tiger barbs and most tetras prefer slightly acidic, soft water, so that's a plus. The SF article mentions the barbs come from clearwater streams and rivers with a sandy bottom and thick vegetation, with temperatures in the mid-20s (°C)/mid-70s (°F). I would rule out the tetras native to blackwater conditions, where the water is still and warm, dark with tannins, with little live vegetation, but there are still plenty of species to choose from. So that's what would help you pick out a tetra that's compatible in terms of water conditions and behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's another aspect to environmental compatibility: once you know what the fish need, can you provide it? The biggest limiting factor here is your tank size. Tiger barbs and most tetras are highly social and are best kept in large groups, which means you would need a good amount of tank space and filtration capacity. I don't think I've seen you mention anywhere how large your tank is. The four barbs you have will get pretty large -- 3&quot; (7.5 cm) or so. If you have a small tank, like a 10 gallon (38 liters), you probably don't have room for any more fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, consider alternatives as well. The barbs will spend most of their time in the middle of the water column. You can avoid a lot of aggression problems by choosing tankmates that stay towards the bottom -- I think loaches are common tankmate, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T17:18:23.597" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:18:23.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5880" CreationDate="2014-07-21T16:04:18.460" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer's going to be the same as one I've &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1796/481&quot;&gt;previously given&lt;/a&gt;. I would avoid getting an animal and expect it to take care of any insect problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the flies can get in, the animal that's going to eat the flies can get out. Then you're not only back where you started, but possibly responsible for introducing an invasive species into your area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you let an animal loose around your house to eat the flies, you're also letting them loose to defecate in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wild insects can come into contact with pesticides and parasites. Which could in turn, infect, make ill, or even kill the animal eating them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also going to want to consider the needs of the animals you're considering. The first animals that come to mind are amphibians and reptiles, but amphibians need constant moisture otherwise you're going to find some nasty surprises around your house. Reptiles need certain temperatures and UV light in order to digest their food, so you'd be living in a tanning bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats have been effective at chasing down and killing flies, but they also have been effective at &quot;killing&quot; everything else that's been in their way. Fly on the good china? Not anymore. Of course you have'll want to consider the responsibilities of taking care of a cat if you go that route (they're not going to survive off of bugs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's just a matter of not wanting to put fly traps around the house (I get it, they're gross), I'd suggest a plant that eats insects. The only downside to a plant is the amount of sunlight it needs, and making sure that it gets enough water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's the classic venus fly trap, the sundew plant, and various types of pitcher plants. I would ask &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;gardening.se&lt;/a&gt; about the specific care for the plants though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise if it's just about getting rid of the flies, I'd suggest one of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004TBKM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p86_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;amp;pf_rd_s=center-2&amp;amp;pf_rd_r=1VH874SKVGHATEZY30CR&amp;amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;amp;pf_rd_p=1688200382&amp;amp;pf_rd_i=507846&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bag fly traps&lt;/a&gt;. They work in the same way that the pitcher plants do, in that the flies go in, get stuck, and drown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T16:45:31.700" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-21T17:07:58.697" Score="12" ViewCount="12169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently picked up a Skinny cavy boar.  The person that originally rescued the guinea pig did not know anything about them or how to care for them and turned to me since I raise guinea pigs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has been with me now for about 3 months and seems to be doing well.  But I noticed he seems to have a few patches of dry skin.  I feed my cavies a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heinoldfeeds.com/Rabbit%20Products.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;high quality feed from Heinhold&lt;/a&gt;(scroll to the bottom) that all of my cavies enjoy and have thrived on.  None of my other pigs seem to be having a dander problem or dry skin issues but they all have fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have pine shavings bedding and grass hay provided in addition to their foot with occasional Red Pepper and corn husk treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any thing I can safely put on my skinny cavy's skin to help with the dry skin?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QXmeN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Here is a picture of a skinny cavy for those wondering what they look like.  The hair on the nose is the difference between a skinny and a naked (naked cavies have no hair at all)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T21:49:57.690" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T18:35:15.790" Title="Is there anything safe to put on a Naked or Skinny guinea pigs skin" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;skinny-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5877" CreationDate="2014-07-21T17:38:49.587" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/5882/2462&quot;&gt;Monicas answer&lt;/a&gt; Gestation period is generally 28-31 days.  It varies greatly by breed.  My English lops usually go on day 29 but I have had a few that went on 30 and a few instances where they went over 31 days with the latest being 36 days(no that did not go well).  Netherland dwarfs on the other hand go day 30-31.  I have never had one go earlier or later.  Some of the commercial breeds like M70 (a New Zealand cross for commercial production) have been selected for short cycle times to maximise their production value.  A breeder friend of mine reports periods of as short as 24 days in his M70 herd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of rabbits varies by several factors.  First is breed.  Smaller breeds tend to have smaller litters.  For my netherlands my average has been 3-4 per litter with the largest being 7, though only one survived the first day and all were very small.  My english lops tend to be 8-12 depending on the lines.  There are definitely lines that I have noticed greater numbers from than others.  My friends M70's typically have 12-16 per litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a domestic setting most breeders will wait at least 60 days between breedings.  This gives the doe time to recover from the stress of having the babies as well as to care for the litter.  I personally give at least 90 days to allow the rabbit to fully recover.  Most quality breeders will recommend no more than 3 litters in a year.  Rabbits that are bred right back seem to have less healthy and lower quality litters than those that are given an opportunity to recover fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild rabbits are not constrained like a domestic herd and breed pretty much right back so long as there is an alpha buck near by.  Cottontails typically have litters of 6-10 about 6-7 times a year.  Given a 50% mortality rate a breeding pair of rabbits can easily grow to to 50 in just one year.  Repeat that for just 2 years and you have over 30000 rabbits provided there is food and shelter enough to support them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase arose because sailors would seed islands as they explored with rabbits.  In just few years, with few predators, a half a dozen rabbits could fill a good size an island with a source of food to hunt, and this is the origin of the phrase breeding like rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T17:38:49.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2361" CreationDate="2014-07-21T19:02:12.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the things I have found is that hay quality varies greatly.  Even if it is from the same field the quality varies greatly throughout the year.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider the first cutting of hay goat quality.  It is usually stiff and thick and with the consistency of straw more than hay.  My pickier rabbits just wont eat this type of hay.  Even some of my big chewers will waste more of this hay than they eat.  Goats on the other hand will chew on pretty much anything.  They do great with this type of hay so that is why I consider the first cut, all goat hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the first cut the grass will be softer and fresher.  Depending on where you are the fields could get as many as 8-10 cuttings.  In the midwest US we tend to get 6 or 7.  But toward the end of the season the hay starts to get stiff and not as green.  My rabbits do not like the late cut either, though horses, cattle and sheep seem to do just fine with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just have one rabbit you are probably getting your hay from a pet or feed store.  Be careful to make sure that the hay is fresh.  In a bag hay can &quot;look good&quot; for years but really after 6 months or so the hay starts to lose its freshness.  After a year in the bag it is probably stale.  Just like you do not like to eat stale food neither does your rabbit.  When you first open the bag it should basically smell like fresh cut grass.  If it smells off then it is and your rabbit will probably not like it either.  If you buy it by the bale you need to check the interior of the bale.  The outside will oxidise but the interior of a tightly packed bale can stay fresh for years.  I personally try to stay away from anything more than 6 months old in the summer and fall.  Though in the spring and winter as long as it is from a good cutting from the most recent year beggars cant be choosers and some hay is better than none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only provide a day or 2 of hay in the feeder.  When you take the hay out of the pack it starts to get stale faster.  So do not give the rabbit too much hay.  And after a few days if the hay is not mostly eaten remove it and replace it with fresh.  There could be something in that batch that your rabbit is sensing that is turning it off of that hay.  Hay is pretty cheap don't torture your rabbit over a quarters worth of grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2363/2462&quot;&gt;James&lt;/a&gt; said stop feeding your rabbit treat foods as a regular meal.  Fresh greens(including carrot tops) are fine.  If your rabbit is eating any pellets then it is not starving.  Let it hold out as long as it keeps eating some of its food even if its quite a bit less than what it ate before.  If it eats nothing at all give it a very small treat food around dusk.  If it eats that then it is more likely to eat more of its pellets, doing it around dusk is important because that is one of the rabbits most active feeding times.  Early in the morning(at or just before dawn) is another if that fits your schedule better.  If it eats something it is more likely to continue eating with what is available to it.  If hay and pellets are available then that is what it will eat.  But the best thing you can do once you have it eating pellets and hay is not treat it for a week or so.  Let your rabbit get used to a regular diet of hay and pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More important than food is water.  If your rabbit is drinking water then its belly is still moving.  A rabbit can go off food for several days(on rare occasions) but as long as there is water and they drink it they will be fine.  If your rabbit stops eating and drinking that is when it is time to get to the vet.  So do not worry about starving it unless it gets to 3 or 4 days with no food consumption.  Your rabbit is used to getting a diet of junk food, and it is holding out for more.  Once it learns that the candy store is closed it will be back on pellets and hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-21T19:02:12.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-22T04:07:53.797" Score="5" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pygmy goat gave birth about 2 to 3 hours ago. She has passed her afterbirth but she is still having contractions and discharge again and she won't let us touch her because she has always been scared of people since we got her! I'm very worried about her. Could she still have a baby inside? What else could be causing this? This is our first time with a delivery and I don't want anything to happen to her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2703" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T04:15:56.153" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T04:15:56.153" Title="Goat just gave birth and I'm worried" Tags="&lt;goats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-08-01T17:27:06.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1003" CreationDate="2014-07-22T07:49:59.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We scruff our cat once a night to place her in her holding crate since we would be up all night by our very active cat; she has a litter box, cuddle bed, water bowl and a small amount of food in her large dog size crate. She was adopted less then a week ago and uses the litter box all day long in this crate with door open all day long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our girl seems comfortable with being scruffed and is always carried to the crate with her hind end supported in our arms (&lt;em&gt;never with her 10 lbs unsupported&lt;/em&gt;). She seems totally unruffled at this method of transport. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We praise her and give her treats once she is in the crate. She seems comfortable once in and settles down to sleep soon after. Her name is Missty, she was housed in the shelter in a crate of the same size with similar bed and litter box. Missty also has a another litter box in another room that she has not yet used. She has the run of the house all day and a window perch as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2014-07-22T11:33:58.330" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T11:33:58.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5736" CreationDate="2014-07-22T11:26:20.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbit health and digestion is dependent on bacteria in the gut, disruption of these bacteria from antibiotics can lead to diarrhea and ultimately &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/health/antibiotics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;death of the rabbit&lt;/a&gt;.  Others can lead to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/Unsafe_medication/dangerous_antibiotics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nephrotoxicity&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/exotic_and_laboratory_animals/rabbits/management_of_rabbits.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;enterotoxemia&lt;/a&gt;. Different routes (oral vs injection) can have different impacts.  If possible/practical a &lt;a href=&quot;https://myhealth.alberta.ca/health/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=stc123799&amp;amp;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Culture and Sensitivity&lt;/a&gt; is recommenced in conjunction with antibiotic administration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following antibiotics have been identified as having higher than average potential for adversely effecting the health of rabbits specifically &lt;strong&gt;regardless of route&lt;/strong&gt; and should be avoided if possible. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1961&quot;&gt;Cecotrope recolonize&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irishwildlifematters.ie/animals/hare-drugs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pro-biotic treatment&lt;/a&gt; is indicated in conjunction with any antibiotic treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ampicillin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cephalosporins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clindamycin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Erythromycin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lincomycin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Minocycline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Penicillin (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irishwildlifematters.ie/animals/hare-drugs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in general avoid&lt;/a&gt;, but indicated in some cases)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Streptomycin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tilmicosin (some risk of Cardiac issue, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8836371&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;known positive impact&lt;/a&gt; in some cases).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vancomycin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some infections like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRSA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MRSA&lt;/a&gt; are resistant to multiple antibiotics and it may be that using one of the above antibiotics is the only possible treatment. Or there may be other complicating issues requiring the use of one of these; a veterinarian rabbit specialist can address the pro and cons of these with you prior to deciding on a specific course of treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list above is compiled from the several sources linked in the text of this answer, not all sources mark all as contra-indicated, but each is marked as contra-indicated by at least one source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-05-13T11:15:19.830" LastActivityDate="2017-05-13T11:15:19.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5787" CreationDate="2014-07-22T13:10:59.130" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are not like dogs, who will generally want to hang out together after a short intro (especially when they are as young as these cats are). They are more territorial and wary of stranger cats. If they are together from a very young age they can bond very well and quickly, but after that it takes a lot more introduction time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to go slowly with limited access to each other. They will eventually get used to the other cat being around, but will probably never be buds. My cats (15 y.o. and 7 y.o.) coexist, but you'l never see them snuggling together. There was a lot of hissing and some mild fighting in the beginning, but they got used to each other after a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T13:10:59.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4407" CreationDate="2014-07-22T21:11:17.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is most likely &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;botulism&lt;/a&gt;.  All three rabbits are showing similar signs and symptoms, with rapid onset.  There is no genetic relation, and limited potential for contagion by virus.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The progression and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5416/&quot;&gt;recovery profile&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5466&quot;&gt;Ruby&lt;/a&gt; is perfect match for botulism.  In light of current information, botulism seems most likely; though given the tissue autolysis in the pathology of the dead rabbit &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407/why-cant-my-rabbit-lift-its-head/5472#5472&quot;&gt;trichothecene mycotoxin &lt;/a&gt; can not be completely ruled out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T21:11:17.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5829" CreationDate="2014-07-22T22:03:15.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surely she must poo the day before? Assuming that the vet doesn't necessarily need today's poo (just the most recent poo), start saving scoops the day before, and replace the previous scoop with the most recent scoop, as the poos arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1107" LastActivityDate="2014-07-22T22:03:15.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5904" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-23T01:49:28.650" Score="6" ViewCount="26078" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have a 10 gallon (38 L) tank with the following fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 male dwarf gourami;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 glowlight tetras (4 female and 2 male).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my current setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Aqueon 10&quot; filter (labeled as being appropriate for 10 and 20 gallon tanks);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; inch (0.63 cm) of gravel;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a medium-sized rock (4-5 inches / 10-13 cm thick and high);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a small piece of driftwood (8&amp;nbsp;inches&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;20&amp;nbsp;cm long, a few inches&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;some centimeters thick);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 small fake plants of varying heights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd like to move the fish, along with all the water, gravel, rock, driftwood, plants and the filter into an empty and clean 20&amp;nbsp;gallon&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;76&amp;nbsp;liters tank (it's a &quot;20-high&quot;). Because the intake tube extends 8 inches into the tank, I figure that it would probably only take an additional bucket of water (1.5&amp;nbsp;gallons&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;5.7&amp;nbsp;liters) to bring the water level high enough for the filter to work correctly. Then I will add more water over the next few days/weeks until the tank is at full 20-gallon (76&amp;nbsp;liters) capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping that keeping the same water, filter, and substrate will make the transition easy and as gentle as possible on the fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Does this sound like a good plan?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, I've been doing 20% water changes on a weekly basis and I replace the filter cartridge every 2-3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="696" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T19:34:07.360" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T19:34:07.360" Title="Is it safe to move fish and all equipment to a new tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5908" CreationDate="2014-07-23T12:44:09.647" Score="5" ViewCount="3240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a Siberian Husky, and I'm interested in knowing if they all have blue eyes or if they have different eye colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T08:51:35.400" LastActivityDate="2018-10-13T19:39:19.913" Title="Do all Siberian Huskies have blue eyes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2014-07-23T13:20:43.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this will be perfectly fine. Reusing the filter and substrate means you're effectively transferring the biofilter, so this is a very different scenario than moving them to a brand new setup. In fact, all you're doing here is replacing a single piece of equipment on the existing system; it just happens to be the piece that holds all the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming, by the way, that the tank is in the same house. If they're going from one location to another, there are more things to consider that I'll leave aside for now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moves are always stressful on fish, but you can minimize a lot of that if you have someplace to hold them while you're breaking down the old tank and setting up the new one. I'd recommend stopping by the hardware store and picking up a cheap 5-gallon bucket: you can fill it with about 3 or 4 gallons of tank water, put an airstone in and cover it loosely (to prevent jumpers), and then your fish can hang out there while you work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you move the substrate, you're probably going to kick up a shocking amount of crud if the tank has been running for any length of time. You don't want to move this grossness over -- it's just rotting food, feces, etc. I'd vacuum it before taking it out or rinse it (with tank water) in a strainer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to note about the gravel is that you're going from a tank with 1/4&quot; gravel over a 20&quot; x 10&quot; footprint, which comes out to 50 cubic inches. The new tank has a 24&quot; x 12&quot; footprint, so the 50 cubic inches will only cover the bottom to about 0.17&quot; deep. So you may want to add some more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you move the new fish in, there's no need to bring it up to the full 20 gallons so slowly. You may want to take a few hours to fill it completely, but except for the stress of the move, this is not much different than doing a big water change in the 10 gallon. The important thing with acclimating fish to new water is not the volume &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt; but how quickly the water parameters change; if the new water matches the old water closely (which it should here, since it has the same source), acclimation is less of a concern. If you want to be cautious, you could add about 20% of the volume each hour, but I don't think you'll gain much by going slower than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, the move should be pretty straightforward. Watch the fish carefully for the next few weeks after the move, since the stress will weaken their immune system a bit. And monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels daily for the first week, just in case the move disrupts the biofilter (which would be surprising, unless it dries out). But once everything is settled in, the 20 will be a better environment for them than the 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="258" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T13:20:43.093" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2014-07-23T13:57:14.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good on you for moving them to a new tank. That should give them more room. I did a similar move quite early in my fishkeeping days, and the following is a combination of what I did and things I would do differently now I have more knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have exactly the right idea in keeping the water and components the same. That should minimise the impact of the change. Keeping the same water should minimise the stress to the fish and keeping the same filter should keep the bacterial consistency of the filter medium the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem I see with your plan is the substrate: there's usually a lot of decomposing matter on the tank floor, and it might introduce more problems than it would solve to try to migrate the gravel without the decomposing matter. As soon as you start to try and shovel it up, all that decomposing matter will start floating around in the water. If it were me, I'd probably use the opportunity to buy new gravel. Rinse it thoroughly before adding it to the new tank to remove dust, soak it for 24 hours in dechlorinated water (or tank water if you have any to spare), discard the soaking water and then add the gravel to the new tank. In the old tank, suck the water up until about an inch off the floor (point the tube at the edge rather than the bottom of the tank, to avoid sucking up the decomposing matter) to go into the new tank, then ditch the last inch's worth of water and the old gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, to keep the gravel, I'd say suck the water up as above, leaving the gravel undisturbed for as long as possible, then take the gravel out, put it in the sink and rinse it thoroughly to get rid of all the debris and dirt. Ideally you'd rinse it with tank water, but it'll probably need quite a bit of a rinse, and the water you use to rinse won't be useable for the new tank since it will be full of decomposing matter. On balance I think it's better to rinse with tap water and have more water to put in the new tank. Then add it to the new tank and continue from there. This might be a better option than replacing the gravel entirely, since you'll lose the decomposing matter but still have any algae etc. that are on the old gravel, and don't risk altering the pH or introducing new solutes into the water with the new gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've got the right idea with the water changes as well. Too much of a change will stress the fish, and fresh water from the tap is completely different from water they've been living in for a while. Starting off with the minimum you need to allow the filter to work is a good idea - they're going to be stressed enough from the move anyway without a huge water change. I'd leave it at least a week before adding more, but also test the nitrate/nitrite and pH before and after moving, to see if anything's changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the tests are okay, I'd consider adding 20% more at a time, as if it's just a normal water change. So after the move you'll have 11.5 gallons. You could add 2.3 gallons in the first water addition, then 2.8, then 3.4, which would take you up to 20 gallons. If you want to stay on the safe side, you could reduce those a bit so it would take you one more change to get up to 20. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you get an ammonia or nitrite spike, you'll probably want to change some water as well as adding some. So you could take out 10% and put in 20%. You'll get to 20 gallons more slowly that way but it will enable you to remove some water as well as just adding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I'd recommend leaving the filter cartridge in there for a bit longer so as not to disrupt the filtration system (in terms of bacteria and so on) too much. Alternatively, or additionally, rinse it at your next &quot;change&quot; instead of discarding it entirely. When I kept fish I had a filter which had two spaces to put the medium, which allowed me to change only half at a time, which was great for keeping the bacteria consistent. I'm not sure from your description that you have one like that but rinsing it would have a less dramatic effect than binning it and starting afresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:51.460" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T07:44:51.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5905" CreationDate="2014-07-23T14:26:56.397" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Siberian Huskies may have any of several different eye colors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pale blue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dark blue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;amber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;green&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some individual dogs, one eye may be brown and the other blue (complete heterochromia), or one or both eyes may be &quot;parti-colored,&quot; that is, half brown and half blue (partial heterochromia). All of these eye-color combinations are considered acceptable by the American Kennel Club&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Husky#Eyes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Husky#Eyes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-07-27T09:52:24.980" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T09:52:24.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5905" CreationDate="2014-07-23T14:30:32.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/breeds/siberian_husky/breed_standard.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;breed standard for the Siberian Husky&lt;/a&gt; (english spelling of Husky Siberano) from the American Kennel Club states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eyes: almond shaped, moderately spaced and set a trifle obliquely.&#xA;  Eyes may be brown or blue in color; one of each or parti-colored are&#xA;  acceptable. Faults - Eyes set too obliquely; set too close together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are several eye colors allowed in this breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T14:30:32.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5912" CreationDate="2014-07-23T14:44:21.730" Score="5" ViewCount="774" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2361/how-do-i-motivate-my-rabbit-to-eat-more-hay&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; that claims that alfalfa hay is a &quot;treat&quot; and should not make up a large part of rabbit's diet. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T14:28:08.087" Title="Is it true that alfalfa hay is a treat and should not make up the majority of an adult rabbit's diet?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5910" CreationDate="2014-07-23T15:55:42.407" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any grass hay will work. Timothy hay is difficult to come by in large qualities where I live. However mixes of Orchard, Brome, and other grass hays are more common. Timothy is a great hay because it contains a great balance of nutrition without calcium and it is low in fat and calories. Alfalfa is high in calcium and calories in comparison. Some other grass hays to avoid for regular feeding is Clover. Clover is high in calories and is not good for a domestic rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a comparison of common grass hays from the San Diego House Rabbit Society:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XqoPL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Timothy Hay&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timothy Hay&lt;/strong&gt; is the most-recommended hay for rabbits. It looks like a dried blade of grass, fairly wide and its color is a soft green to&#xA;  grey/brown green. Timothy hay also has &quot;solid cattails&quot; which&#xA;  distinguishes it from Orchard grass which has &quot;broken cattails.&quot; Much&#xA;  of the Timothy is imported from Northern states (Oregon or&#xA;  Washington).  Timothy hay is included in all of our mixed boxed hay.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RaoXg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Orchard Grass&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Orchard Grass&lt;/strong&gt; is very similar in appearance to Timothy but the &quot;cattails&quot; have small segments missing from them every 1/32 of an&#xA;  inch. Also the cattails tend to be pale brown, whereas Timothy&#xA;  cattails are green to light yellow. Orchard Grass makes a large part&#xA;  of the hay boxes we pack for the community. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BSzXb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Oat Hay&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oat Hay&lt;/strong&gt; consists of large hollow cylindrical stalks and flat blades that are golden yellow to light green with oats on the end. The&#xA;  coloration and the presence of oats distinguishes this hay from&#xA;  others. Oat hay can vary widely in appearance and oat count, depending&#xA;  on the harvest season. New harvests are generally oat laden, whereas&#xA;  later harvest such as Dec-Feb can be very light, with minimal oats.&#xA;  Many people confuse Oat hay with Straw. The similarity is in the&#xA;  coloration. Straw is not a food source, but is typically used for&#xA;  bedding, mostly in the horse and farming communities. Oat hay is an&#xA;  excellent source of fiber. Bunnies tend to enjoy mostly the oats, but&#xA;  will sporadically munch on the hay stalks.If bun's diet is high in oat&#xA;  hay, the pellets she produces will be larger, lighter in color, and&#xA;  will look like sawdust if crushed. Many bunnies would benefit from&#xA;  eating more oat hay, an excellent preventative for GI Stasis. HRS&#xA;  boxed hay may contain oat hay or other fiber rich types to provide&#xA;  variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vuLZ3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bermuda Grass&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bermuda Grass&lt;/strong&gt; is a good all around food source with a moderate amount of calories.  Bermuda grass contains the same nutritional&#xA;  content as Timothy or Orchard grass, so these can be fed&#xA;  interchangeably.  The thing about Bermuda grass is that rabbits don't&#xA;  care for it very much.  They don't find it as appealing as Orchard or&#xA;  Timothy hays.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4IeZE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Alfalfa&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alfalfa&lt;/strong&gt; is distinguished by stalks, usually brittle and flat green to brown leaves. Very high in calcium, can cause &quot;sludge&quot; in bunny's&#xA;  urine. High calories. Watch for gummy droppings, weight gain, sludge,&#xA;  and cecal pellets not being eaten. These are usually problems of the&#xA;  older (2+ yr. bunny). Hay can vary from dark lime green to&#xA;  yellow/green/brown depending on the season. There is almost always&#xA;  some alfalfa in HRS boxed hay. Alfalfa is easy to come by in San Diego&#xA;  County. Many horse people feed alfalfa, but a strict alfalfa diet for&#xA;  bunnies can lead to some of the problems listed above. HRS recommends&#xA;  a mixture of hay varieties and &quot;not&quot; a diet high in alfalfa hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/diet/types-hays-grasses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Original Article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I do know breeders who feed their rabbits a mixed alfalfa and clover hay regularly and do not have issues with their rabbits but it could be because they raise high energy running breeds. The type of rabbit you have and its needs are what needs to be considered. But in general you are not going to go wrong with Timothy hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T14:28:08.087" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T14:28:08.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5910" CreationDate="2014-07-23T21:25:52.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Expanding a bit on Critters great answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alfalfa has about 3 times as much calcium as timothy hay &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guinealynx.info/hay_calcium.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; with clover about the same or higher in calcium.  Both alfalfa and timothy have about the same amount of energy and nutrients, with alfalfa being slightly higher.  Alfalfa has about twice as much protein as timothy. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/pubs/id146.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ref(pdf)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are dependent on having a relatively high fiber, low food value diet &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  If the diet is too high in protein they will tend to not &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings/629#629&quot;&gt;eat their cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; which also meet other health requirements. So for a normal healthy domestic rabbit, who is not breeding and living in your home for the next 8 - 12 years, you should consider alfalfa and alfalfa products as treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young rabbits who are less the 8 weeks old, should get alfalfa hay and/or pellets &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to help with the development of strong bones. At 8 weeks they should be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441/&quot;&gt;transitioned&lt;/a&gt; to timothy hay and pellets.  Breeding mothers also require the higher calcium content of alfalfa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are one of the few mammals that excrete excess calcium through the urine. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/calcium.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Diets high in excess calcium, like a pet rabbit getting lot of alfalfa, are more likely to suffer urine sludge, stones in the bladder and/or kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that if you are feeding pellets, the pellets should be timothy hay based. There are products with alfalfa base, the same considerations that apply of alfalfa hay apply to alfalfa based pellets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-07-23T21:25:52.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-23T22:56:32.493" Score="4" ViewCount="1422" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, at least 16 years old, who is not interested in food.&#xA;On Sunday when I noticed it she had some food in the morning and none for the rest of the day.  In the morning she puked everything up and tried to go to the bathroom in inappropriate places.&#xA;She was also extremely sluggish, sleeping a lot.&#xA;She also had discharge from both her eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet on Monday and since she hadn't eaten anything I asked they do bloodwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet looked her over and the bloodwork came back normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I took her home she was slightly perkier and ate some.  Tuesday she started out perkier and ate a little but then refused to eat later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today she is basically eating nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet suggested maybe IBS (but that doesn't explain the sluggishness...) and recommended an X-ray.  I don't want to put her through tests that seem pointless (if this actually makes sense sure).  She seems sick to me.  On monday he checked her temperature but I guess found nothing.  One time I was cuddling her and her ears seemed warm (odd they usually seem cold).  Also she seems to really want warmth much more than usual (another sign of a fever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had hyperthyroid and was treated with radiation.  She has become increasingly disinterested in food, but the sudden change recently is a dramatic shift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm calling another vet at the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T01:18:00.320" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:54:11.190" Title="Cat not interested in food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2014-07-23T23:23:00.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of food is she fed now? If it's wet food, maybe it's a bad can. Or maybe she's just decided that no, she doesn't like that kind of food any longer, she wants something different. Try small cans of a few different types of food, see if she'll gravitate toward anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the super-short term, try giving her a few of her favorite treats and see if she'll eat those. It's &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a long-term healthy solution, but it is food. Just make sure you don't exceed any daily recommended doses on the packaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this is going to sound weird - but go find some baby food and see if she'll eat that. It generally has a garlic base, and cats respond to food they can smell. Maybe she's got an incipient cold, and so she can't smell her food and thus it's not at all appetizing? The lack of interest in food and discharge from eyes makes me think it could be 'kitty cold'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this keeps up and you can't somehow get her to eat in 24 hours, ask your vet for appetite stimulants and help force-feeding her a little bit of food, just for that one day. I think those only come in pill form, though - so you may need to either figure out how to give her a pill, or find a pill pocket that she'll actually eat. Yes, it will be traumatic - but cats can't go too long without food, without it really negatively affecting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And keep asking for alternative opinions - she sounds like she's somehow unhappy, and maybe another vet has seen similar behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T19:54:11.190" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:54:11.190" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2014-07-24T01:02:08.120" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diagnosis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion. In other words, there is no bloodwork or test (other than a surgical biopsy) that can be run to confirm IBS, so what the vet will try to exclude other possible problems before finally determining that they've ruled out everything else, so it must be IBS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat has gastrointestinal problems, an X-ray can show several possible conditions that may explain why your cat is not feeling well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GI system filled with gas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GI blockage (hair, fecal mass, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Structural GI abnormalitiy (mesoesophagus, some tumors/cancers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Presence of a foreign body (needle, string, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Armed with this information, your vet can proceed to make a diagnosis with more information than they previously had. An X ray is a perfectly reasonable thing to do with a cat who has been sick for multiple days with normal bloodwork. If your vet has modern X ray equipment, it should be a relatively fast procedure (they can adjust contrast digitally on a poor film instead of retaking it), and it is not an invasive procedure (no sedation, or cutting, or anything risky). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, it's probably also reasonable at this point to redo the bloodwork since whatever is causing her illness may have progressed to detectable levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supportive Care&lt;/strong&gt; (i.e. Getting Her to Eat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm reading this correctly, your cat ate on Sunday (vomited it) and Tuesday. It's now Wednesday. Whatever is causing your cat to not eat, she is in danger of developing &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2541/224&quot;&gt;Feline Hepatic Lipidosis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat at the beginning stages of hepatic lipidosis will feel nauseous and will not want to eat (even if the initial problem was a cold and has resolved on its own). Your goal is to just get enough calories into her to prevent hepatic lipidosis and reverse the nausea of the early stages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've given her malt based hairball remedies previously with good results, then I recommend getting a tube of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tomlyn.com/pr_n_Nutri_Cal_cats.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrical&lt;/a&gt; and giving it to her. Nutrical is a high density caloric supplement that should help prevent hepatic lipidosis. It can be given the same ways that you would give a malt based hairball remedy. Some cats will eat it directly out of the tube, or you can smear it on their paws and have them lick it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not familiar with this type of treat, or did not take to it favorably, some rescue organizations will mix it with kitten milk (KMR) or baby food (withOUT garlic or onions) to create a slurry and then syringe feed that to the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this stage your vet should be able to help with medications to stimulate her appetite and decrease her nausea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T20:55:59.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5819" CreationDate="2014-07-24T10:02:32.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog used to do this also. We took her to the vet and they had to run test on her. We found out she was diabetic. They told us that's the one thing to look for in pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our vet told us when the animal drinks a lot, almost like they can't get enough water, diabetes is the first thing they suspect.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They ran blood work and found this out.  I would take her to the vet. Good luck, hopefully it's just nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2014-07-24T11:34:10.583" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T11:34:10.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11948" CreationDate="2014-07-24T10:56:58.067" Score="8" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question flows from a couple of previous questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1788&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5880&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; about pet(s) to control insect pests in the home.  One &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5880/is-there-a-pet-which-eats-flies#comment8756_5880&quot;&gt;comment in particular&lt;/a&gt; caught my attention, and lead to me asking this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there web building spider native to North America (&lt;em&gt;or at least not considered an invasive pest&lt;/em&gt;) that can be encouraged to live in a person's home? How can I identify it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once in the home, what should I do to support it and let it know it is a welcomed and valued member of the household (i.e. a pet)? What nutritional needs do I need to address in times when natural prey are unavailable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, what is the optimal small spider pet and how do I care for it?  Where optimal = pet to control flying pests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T01:13:17.143" Title="Are there native web building spiders in North America that can be domesticated?" Tags="&lt;domestication&gt;&lt;arachnids&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5921" CreationDate="2014-07-24T17:11:06.827" Score="12" ViewCount="6264" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner is set on getting a kitten. We live in a terraced house, and I've heard horror stories of cats getting trapped in walls, behind large appliances, etc. by finding their way into places they've no business being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any guidance as to what is the minimum &quot;safe&quot; width of any gap, so as to prevent such accidents. I've already identified two places in our house that I'm going to have to cover, but there's smaller gaps (between a freezer and fridge, for example) that I'm wondering if I need to find solutions for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found comments like the following on other Q&amp;amp;A sites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They can fit through a hole that is a big as their head, nothing smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, then can someone give a rough indication of how large I can expect an average kitten (10-12 weeks old) head to be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2716" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:03:37.370" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T22:44:40.773" Title="What size gaps need to be kitten-proofed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2014-07-24T18:21:08.423" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;For kittens that young, any gap or opening the size of a tennis ball or slightly smaller...should probably be blocked. (Approximately 2.5 inches.) That's at the smaller end. I would not leave gaps larger than 3 inches, unless you are prepared for the cat to get into those places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind: cats are contortionists, kittens doubly so. Even blocking all gaps wider than two inches MAY still leave an opening for a fuzzy adventurer to get into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: it's been a few weeks since I answered this question, and a few days ago I adopted two 14-week-old kittens. And...yep, 2 inches wide is about the largest opening they can get into easily. Their teeny little skulls are about the size of a golfball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastEditorDisplayName="user2505" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T18:39:08.277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T18:39:08.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2014-07-24T20:06:34.380" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good way of doing it would be having a room set up where there aren't any places the kitten could get stuck. Say, the bedroom with the bottoms of dressers blocked off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way, as you introduce your new kitten, you'll be able to accurately judge what places you need to cover,  because you know the exact size of your kitten's head. You'll also be able to gauge what kind of trouble the kitten is likely to get into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some kittens don't like tight spaces, but some kittens also like climbing into high places. It's really just a matter of what your kitten happens to like, and you won't know until you spend some time with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of keeping the kitten in a single room while you work on kitten-proofing the rest of the house, is that it lets your kitten get used to all the new sounds and smells, and not become overwhelmed with all the new sights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-07-24T20:06:34.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5924" CreationDate="2014-07-25T03:17:30.040" Score="13" ViewCount="380457" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bearded dragon and I want to know whether it's a boy or a girl. I don't see any parts down there, so how can I tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2018-08-11T05:49:13.227" Title="How do I tell the sex of a bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5923" CreationDate="2014-07-25T03:17:30.040" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people will say that there are ways to tell the sex of a bearded dragon based on it's behaviour. Males in general might be more likely to show their beard, females in general might be more likely to wave their arms in greeting. I've even heard people saying that female bearded dragons are smaller than males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these may be true sometimes, it's important to remember that these are all anecdotal, and isn't a definitive way of determining the sex of your bearded dragon. The only sure way is to look at what are called hemipenal bulges. While I wouldn't say that determining the sex by looking at the hemipenal bulges is 100% accurate, they are the most accurate method of sexing your dragon (Right after finding it laying eggs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &lt;em&gt;The male hemipenal bulges might be bulges might not be developed enough to see until the bearded dragon is grown 6-7 inches in length. Until then, it will probably look very similar to a female's.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hemipenal bulges on a male bearded dragon will be two bulges, one on each side of the tail following the vent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c9w8g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Male Bearded Dragon&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hemipenal bulges on a female bearded dragon will be one single bulge in the center of the tail following the vent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vwbc2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Female Bearded Dragon&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are having trouble determining which sex you have, it can actually help a lot to take a small flashlight and shine some light through the tail. You should see the shadows of the testes if it's a male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ojr3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sexing Bearded Dragons with the aid of a flashlight&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/Beardiebugs/photos/a.534212820009178.1073741829.527893560641104/560777447352715/?type=1&amp;amp;theater&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearded dragons are one of the lizards who have Femoral Pores. Commonly referred to as preanal pores. These are used to secrete pheromones, especially during mating season. These pores are located on the underside of the hind legs, running from knee to knee, and are generally more prominent on males. Though anecdotal, if you're unsure of the hemipenal bulge it might be the best you can use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room. It's called probing. Probing is the practice of forcing open the vent, and pulling the sex organs out, either with a pair of tweezers or what is essentially a pair chopsticks, in order to view them. If anyone suggests that probing your bearded dragon is an acceptable way of sexing your dragon, the proper response is to repeatedly smack them over the head with a rolled up newspaper until they leave in shame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probing bearded dragons, or any lizard really, carries a huge risk for causing damage. It is one thing to force open the vent and pull the organs out, and another to put everything back in and close the vent without causing any damage. If anyone were to be able to successfully probe your bearded dragon, it would be a veterinarian that has a long history of treating reptiles. While I normally place a pretty high value to breeders, I cannot condone anyone performing this method of sexing lizards who has not dedicated their lives to the &lt;strong&gt;medical&lt;/strong&gt; care of reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common issues that arise from probing bearded dragons include but are not limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Internal bleeding from pinched sex organs and/or intestines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bruising of the sex organs and/or intestines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prolapse, and increased risk of prolapsing in the future, from damage to the vent and/or intestines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Infection(s) from exposing the tissue that's normally protected by the vent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Probing snakes poses less risk than lizards, though I still disagree with it as a method personally. But because of it, probing kits are sold. I have seen people buy these kits thinking they can use them for lizards, and people selling them to people to use on their lizards. This should never be done for any reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-27T15:21:37.253" LastActivityDate="2014-07-27T15:21:37.253" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2014-07-25T15:09:03.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say, you clean the water every two days, do you mean you pour the water in so that the dirty water goes into the cup? Or are you changing the fishes tank, giving new water? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually think you might be changing his water too often. Plus you're using distilled water. Remember, fish come from dirty water usually. You of course want it clean, but by using distilled water you're going above and beyond what's right for him, unintentionally making him sick.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you bought him did you give him time to adapt to the water? Was the tank and accessories cleaned with warm water, no soap, before dropping in the tank? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't care for the fish tank because he has no oxygen, except for when you pour the water in. They have great little starter fish tanks there small and perfect for bettas, I would invest in one of those. They come with a filter and a plastic ornate tree too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had two bettas for over two years never sick, they moved from California to Kansas with us. Bettas are tough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing they did like us to have, was a mirror by their tank, or another betta to look at. They flare up looking at each other or into a mirror. It gives them something they enjoy. So yours could be depressed also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2713" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T15:18:14.800" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T15:18:14.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-25T20:08:23.893" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every day we tie our dog up outside because we live in the country, and he likes to get into a lot of mud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But whenever we bring him outside, he always starts barking like crazy to go back inside. How do I get him to stop barking when I bring him outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2723" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-25T20:42:35.877" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T20:42:35.877" Title="How do I stop my dog from barking when I bring him outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-25T20:50:28.647" Score="3" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my strictly-indoor cats was recently diagnosed with allergies (via a blood test, which reported a whole list of food and environmental allergies). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The veternarian dermatologist is recommending &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergen_immunotherapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;allergen immunotherapy&lt;/a&gt; (a series of shots), but since that can take up to a year to be effective wants us to also treat her with at least 6 months of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunosuppressive_drug&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;immunosuppressive drug therapy&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylprednisolone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;methylprednisolone&lt;/a&gt; is what they've been using).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concerns with this proposed treatment are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increased risk of diabetes and weight gain in cats with long term&#xA;prednisolone use, and this cat is already overweight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interaction between prednisolone and her arthritis medication (metacam), we've been advised not to give the two simultaneously, but the behavioral improvements when we treat her arthritis are significant enough that I don't want to not treat it for 6 months. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two previous shots of prednisolone have not eliminated her itching (it's hard to tell if they've reduced it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other options for managing her allergies do we have? The list of environmental allergens is so extensive that elimination is not a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her allergy results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The food panel revealed large number of reactions with foods that&#xA;  should definitely be avoided being:  chicken, turkey, pork, sweet&#xA;  potato, beef, wheat, and potato.  Additionally, there were numerous&#xA;  environmental reactions which include numerous grasses, fescue,&#xA;  orchard, johnson, bermuda, sweet vernal grass, and timothy grass,&#xA;  numerous trees including:  oak, maple, mulberry, hickory, and birch,&#xA;  numerous weeds including:  lamb's quarters, ragweed, marsh elder,&#xA;  english plantain and russian thistle, several dust mites and storage&#xA;  mites, feathers, flea, mosquitos, cockroach and numerous molds&#xA;  including &lt;em&gt;Malassezia&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Fusiarium&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Aspergillus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Alternaria&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T15:41:21.780" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T15:41:21.780" Title="How can allergies in cats be managed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5928" CreationDate="2014-07-25T21:38:29.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In humans there are two standard methods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;antihistamines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;shots&quot; (typically injections of the allergen into the bloodstream, the immune system then recognizes the things (proteins&#xA;of external origin) are not actually indicating a massive infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the feeling that increase allergies among humans in the developed world is a result of living in too clean an environment.  More exposure to stuff can result in allergies calming down, some even advocate &quot;benign&quot; parasites (since someone with allergies is also at risk of getting auto immune conditions).  The benign parasites are either ones that don't cause hideous problems or ones that are actually adapted for a different animal and can't do the full lifecycle in the one getting the treatment.  That type of treatment is largely used as an experimental way of combating auto-immune disorders in people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised the shots take 6 mo for full effect on the cats I thought it was quicker with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be concerned about immunosuppressive therapy and would lean to the shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T21:16:01.187" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T21:16:01.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5935" CreationDate="2014-07-25T22:18:14.743" Score="7" ViewCount="5335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard a local veterinarian to say that Whiskas can cause kidney disease. I tried to research that claim, but so far I haven't been able to find academic articles  dealing with this issue, even though there is a vast amount of anecdotal evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone knows for certain if this is true or false. Apparently, older cats have propensity to suffer from kidney disease. However, some people say veterinarians have told them that Whiskas was responsible for the death of their cats. I suppose that veterinarians know about the incidence of kidney disease in cats, so it is surprising to read that kind of blanket statements being made by professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people say that taurine is to blame. However, taurine is classified as an essential nutrient by the VCA Animal Hospitals. Others say that dry food or fiber is what makes cats sick, but again no evidence is offered to support this view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;In response to @DanS: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] Do some more research, are the salt levels [in Whiskas] high (magnesium etc.) are the protein levels high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to answer precisely your question. As far as I know, there are not guidelines on daily recommended intake for cats. I even found some opinions saying that nobody knows (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askthecatdoctor.com/howmuchtofeedcat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). However, when it comes to protein there seems to be a magic number: 36%. It almost seems that food companies strive to reach that number. Of course, the question should be: 36% of what? In the package I bought, it says that the recommended amount  is between 45g and 90g depending on age. This is equivalent to 16g and  32g of protein, respectively. Keep in mind that the product I bought is intended for kittens. Now, the only table of values I found was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fediaf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/PetNutrition/FEDIAF_Nutritional_Guidelines_-_final_version_6-09-11.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;published&lt;/a&gt; (pdf) by FEDIAF (page 17.) It says the recommended amount of protein is 25.0g for adults and 28-30g when cats are still growing per 100g of dry food. As you can see, if my package contained 100g, it would have 35.5g of protein, an increase of 15% with respect to the highest recommended daily intake given by FEDIAF. Is this a significant increase? I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for salts, I only know that Whiskas contains iodized salt but the product I bought doesn't say the amount. Other ingredients are specified in another paragraph but without percentages or amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2724" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-07T09:29:19.353" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T09:29:19.353" Title="Can Whiskas cause kidney disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5936" CreationDate="2014-07-25T23:12:41.057" Score="4" ViewCount="787" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in cats suffering from kidney disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a fair amount of research about nutritional management. Some people talk about reducing protein intake, others suggest increasing high-quality protein intake, so there is some confusion there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what is the current science-based recommendation about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2724" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-07-26T01:42:56.907" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T17:13:57.593" Title="How much protein should be fed to cats with kidney disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5570" CreationDate="2014-07-25T23:57:02.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a fish expert, but with a mammal we would feed the old and the new foods together, placing them in the same food bowl.  This is done starting with a small amount of the new food, as the transition continues we give less of the old food and more of the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see how this might be a problem with fish though, I have it on good authority that the flakes float on top and the blood worms tend to float to the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need something to keep the flakes and worms from separating in the tank, my authoritative source mentioned there is a &quot;kinds of pastes used to make bait for catfish&quot; that you may be able to use to combine the flakes and the worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What ever method you use you will need to include some of the new food with the old food, and make a slow and steady progression to using just the new food.  Rapid diet changes are generally discouraged, as it can lead to digestive and health issues.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-07-25T23:57:02.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5930" CreationDate="2014-07-26T00:58:32.360" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whiskas generally contains the same ingredients (sourced from the same locations) as many other commercially available cat foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This fact was made very clear during the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/RecallsWithdrawals/ucm129575.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2007 Melamine Pet Food Recall&lt;/a&gt; as pet owners feeding nearly every brand scrambled to find something safe to feed their pets as we learned that &quot;two Chinese nationals and the businesses they operate, along with a U.S. company and its president and chief executive officer&quot; contaminated wheat gluten with Melamine to make the protein content appear larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there were any scientific studies to specifically point at Whiskas made public, I'm sure they would reformulate their product (to sell a product known to make cats sick would loose money). The vet may be suffering from a type of confirmation bias, where cats in that area tend to be fed cheap food, and so the vet sees a lot of elderly cats fed cheap food develop kidney disease and thinks that it must be caused by the cheap food. It's hard to prove a negative and cats who eat Whiskas do develop kidney disease. Cats who eat everything develop kidney disease if they live long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some Relevant Studies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A literature review from 2011 stated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are many documented causes of kidney disease in cats, but few of&#xA;  the identified aetiologies [causes] seem likely to explain the vast majority of&#xA;  cats with CKD. No risk factors (other than increasing age) have been&#xA;  consistently identified and CKD has been described in different&#xA;  continents with presumably different infectious, nutritional,&#xA;  husbandry, genetic and environmental influences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feline chronic kidney disease: Can we move from treatment to prevention?&#xA;Joanna D. White, Richard Malik, Jacqueline M. Norri&#xA;The Veterinary Journal 190 (2011) 317-322&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023310004430&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most complete study that I can find discussing risk factors used questionnaires to review owner's recollections of the past 3 years of a large amount of diet and lifestyle variables to develop models to predict (retrospectively, they already knew who had it) kidney disease.  Only 38 cats with kidney disease and 56 control cats were studied. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;None of the lifestyle variables were significant in this small,&#xA;  exploratory study. Several diet variables were significant predictors&#xA;  of CRF, alone and in specific combinations. Increasing fiber in the&#xA;  diet appears to decrease the odds of CRF. Factor-2 was significant,&#xA;  with increased odds for lower levels of protein, fiber, magnesium, and&#xA;  sodium, and higher levels of ash. This demonstrates that patterns of&#xA;  usual dietary intake — and not just individual nutrients — might be&#xA;  important when considering the etiology of CRF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(One way to analyze a large number of highly correlated data, such as the nutrition profile of several different commercially prepared cat foods, is to project the data onto an eignvector and use that as a variable, so that's why Factor-2 appears here. The effects of lower protein, fiber, magnesium, sodium, and higher levels of ash all happened together and could not be separated. The effect of Factor-2 on the model may be the result of some or all of these variables, or them occurring together. It's not known). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the evidence for fiber and Factor-2 is pretty weak. The table for the 3 models developed during this study is below, and the 95% confidence interval (CI) for the odds ratio (OR) includes 1, which means that the odds of having kidney disease aren't affected by the variable (in this case, fiber or Factor-2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CRYgE.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that this study has some flaws (small sample size, retrospective, selection bias, not randomized/blind/etc, based on human recollection), and it has not identified cause, but likelihoods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet and lifestyle variables as risk factors for chronic renal failure in pet cats&#xA;K.L Hughesa, M.R Slatera, S Gellera, W.J Burkholderb, C Fitzgeralda, &#xA;Preventive Veterinary Medicine&#xA;Volume 55, Issue 1, 10 September 2002, Pages 1–15&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167587702000880&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T00:58:32.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5931" CreationDate="2014-07-26T02:16:23.173" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current veterinary recommendations are to reduce &lt;strong&gt;phosphorus&lt;/strong&gt; in cats with kidney disease. Foods high in protein tend to also be high in phosphorus, so that's why foods developed for cats with kidney disease also have lower protein levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, cats with kidney disease also tend to have nausea/upset stomach that makes eating difficult, and low protein foods tend to be less palatable than &quot;normal&quot; cat foods. It is more important that a cat with kidney disease EATS FOOD (preferably wet food) than doesn't eat food and starts to break down its own body tissues for fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related Studies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two studies that support reduced phosphorus/protein levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strong evidence supports the provision of renal diets, which are&#xA;  protein and phosphorus restricted; compliance is improved by gradual&#xA;  dietary transition. Additional phosphorus restriction is achieved by&#xA;  the use of phosphate binding agents, although it is unknown if these&#xA;  yield similar survival benefits to those provided by renal diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feline CKD Current therapies – what is achievable?&#xA;Rachel M Korman, Joanna D White.&#xA;Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery September 2013 vol. 15 no. 1 suppl 29-44 &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/15/1_suppl/29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following table/chart are taken from a study where a group of cats was fed a Reduced Phosphate Diet (RPD) and a Normal Phosphate Diet (NPD). The cats in the RPD group lived longer and tended to die of non-kidney related reasons (though the sample size is small).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cco2u.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Survival of cats with naturally occurring chronic renal failure: effect of dietary management&#xA;J. Elliott, J. M. Rawlings, P. J. Markwell and P. J. Barber&#xA;Journal of Small Animal Practice&#xA;Volume 41, Issue 6, pages 235–242, June 2000&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2000.tb03932.x/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-07T17:13:57.593" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T17:13:57.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5880" CreationDate="2014-07-26T02:37:41.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a pet, I would probably suggest guinea fowl. They eat insects and rodents and don't really require much to take care of other than making sure they have water. The downside though is that they make a lot of noise when they discover something new, but it sounds like that wouldn't matter much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2725" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-07-26T09:29:39.757" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T09:29:39.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-26T07:30:48.680" Score="7" ViewCount="6405" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been living in Japan for the past year and a half, and I've noticed that cats here generally seem to behave differently from the cats in England, where I'm from. People from other European countries and the USA say the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In England, most cats are shy and will run away from an unfamiliar human, while a few others are gregarious and will approach strangers and seek affection from them. In Japan one often sees cats just sitting there and more-or-less ignoring people who pass by or approach them, which isn't something I ever really saw before coming here. (The exception would be a few cats I've known that live in a bar or a shop and have learnt to mostly ignore the customers, but in Japan one sees this behaviour all the time, just in the street.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, in Britain, cats are very territorial and will generally fight other cats. You wouldn't expect to see two or three cats calmly sitting next to each other unless they were in an enclosed space such as a house. But it's a common sight outdoors in Japan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of these behaviours can be found on YouTube. For example, the cats in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B9h94NcjK8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; are probably trained, but the behaviour of average cats found in public places is often not so different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know the reason for this? I can think of a few possibilities. It might be genetic, or it might be because of the very high population density (of both humans and cats), or it might be because Japanese people behave differently towards cats than western people. (Cats are considered lucky in Japanese culture.) I'm interested in which if any of these explanations is correct. Have the reasons for the behavioural differences between Japanese and European cats been studied, and is the answer known?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2727" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T10:33:23.653" Title="Why do cats behave differently in Japan?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5944" CreationDate="2014-07-26T14:40:47.843" Score="0" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;Homemade cat toys ideas? I have made many but now my cat wont play with them anymore:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;String and stick&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cardboard with holes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ball of paper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ring of paper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2729" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T18:44:49.047" Title="Homemade cat toys" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-07-27T01:28:13.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5760" CreationDate="2014-07-26T15:55:20.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently massaging our dog helps &lt;em&gt;loads&lt;/em&gt; - we've seen a huge improvement as a compliment to the treatment he's getting from the vet. I've &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z25lEB9mZdI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;basically adapted this method&lt;/a&gt; though for a much smaller dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've placed carpets on some hard flooring which helps with warmth, better traction and cushioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're also intentionally keeping him walking on all 4s rather than running on threes where possible. He had a short period pre-massages where things seemed to be getting worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do find that we have trouble with outside stairs - dog wants to do them, but I'm worried about the impact - I'm taking advantage of disabled ramps where I can &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bit of an update - 3 years on... he's actually doing better than he did before. We've been working on weight reduction on and off though he's been stably slightly overweight for the past few years. I suspect a few factors helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Its just that leg. His other legs have been fine so far. This kind of ties into our old theory that its cause of a fall as a puppy &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We're doing a better job at pacing. Human-dog communication is so important. I can tell him to slow down if he's pushing too hard and bouncing tripodially, and he can request to get carried if he &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; cant. Takes advantage of it too, the little knave. At some point, he kinda knows what routes are 'long enough' and I just trust him to it &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2017-12-11T07:19:17.107" LastActivityDate="2017-12-11T07:19:17.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-26T17:38:43.930" Score="9" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching a television commercial about a cat food that touts it's lack of meat byproducts and it's inclusion of &quot;real chicken meat&quot; presumably this is mostly lean muscle tissue. A related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1885&quot;&gt;Is there benefit to feeding my cats cat food that incorporates fruits and vegetables?&lt;/a&gt; addresses other ingredients in the product.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the the wild a cat would eat the feathers, internal organs, etc; presumably these meet some of the cats nutritional needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the value of meat byproducts in cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T11:25:11.943" Title="What is the value of meat byproducts in cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5939" CreationDate="2014-07-26T18:39:51.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't have fixed social structures or fixed ways of dealing with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavioral differences you see are &gt;90% likely due to the environment.  That is they behave differently than what you expect because the environment in Japan is probably very different than that in Britain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In England and the US some cats will be feral/stray and unapproachable / weary, others will be friendly as they are owned and used to nice people.  Likewise, population densities are probably such that wild ones can fight for their own space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Japanese cats you see might try to avoid people if they could but are so used to having people around (but not necessarily used to people being friendly) that they regard them as nonthreatening.  Likewise, cat crowding might make it too much of a chore to continually fight over turf.  In some areas with high stray populations in the US the same thing occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike dogs (which have a predisposition to a hierarchical social grouping) the way cats behave socially is very dynamic and highly dependent on environmental conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T18:39:51.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5940" CreationDate="2014-07-26T18:44:49.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Boxes, crates, really heavy duty twine (that cannot be chewed off, as that is a VERY bad situation), things that make crinkly sounds (balls of paper).  All get some interest from my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is older, and ESPECIALLY if your cat can go outside, it may loose interest in &quot;fake&quot; toys.  Cats that spend some time outside are highly likely to loose interest in toys as they have more fun stuff to play with (live prey, which toys are usually some simulation of).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat spends time outside I'd give up trying to interest it with toys.  It's kind of like having imaginary friends if you have real ones... why bother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T18:44:49.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5942" CreationDate="2014-07-26T18:58:25.793" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly this is a giant grey area in any place like the US where labeling laws are abysmal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meat by-products may be ok, good, great, bad, or even terrible because the term catches anything that isn't a standard cut of meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offal (organs etc) from a given animal are probably actually beneficial to a cat (provided they don't get too much of one kind, for instance, liver is good in the right amount but too much can actually cause vitamin poisoning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavily reprocessed cuts (especially if it has been chemically processed like &quot;pink slime&quot; often is) are probably inherently bad for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is pure meat better than by-products?  That's a good question with no &quot;right answer&quot; because &quot;by-products&quot; is a catch all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the beneficial vegetables and fruits, sure those things are good for primates like us... but frankly I'd take great pains to avoid them for cats.  Sadly all kinds of pet food companies are putting whacky junk in cat food (corn, oats, wheat, rice, sweet potatoes, cranberries.....).  I wish I could say &quot;don't give me any of that crazy stuff, and I don't mind offal but lets drop 'pink-slime' and the like&quot; but pet food companies largely don't seem to care one tiny bit.  They just want to convince you their product is good even if it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-26T18:58:25.793" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-27T11:21:19.110" Score="9" ViewCount="71481" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hamster absolutely loves to bite the metal bars in her Rotastak enclosure. I know that this is to wear her teeth down but it's so annoying. How can I stop her from doing it? I have already tried giving her gnawing sticks, but she always goes back to the bars. :/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop her from gnawing on the bars?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="489" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-27T13:41:56.780" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:12:52.120" Title="How can I stop my hamster biting the bars of her cage?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6331" CreationDate="2014-07-27T15:33:08.620" Score="6" ViewCount="1455" Body="&lt;p&gt;When feeding insects to lizards, it's a common practice to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1691/481&quot;&gt;gut-load&lt;/a&gt; them in order to deliver nutrients to the lizard. The diet of the insects can be altered to give them the highest possible nutritional value for the lizard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to do the same thing with a mouse? If I want to make sure a snake gets a good dose of calcium with it's food, could I feed the mouse calcium supplements a day or two before feeding it to the snake? Or will it not make any difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to feed a mouse a special diet to give it the highest possible nutritional value for a snake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not assuming that the mice aren't sufficient by themselves, but a juvenile snake would benefits from vitamin and calcium supplements while it grows. Especially since juvenile mice have almost half of the calcium content that adult mice do (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;See page 12&lt;/a&gt;). Frozen mice purchased at the store are commonly injected with vitamins and supplements, so if I'm managing my snakes diet I could be missing out on those added supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would prefer not to have to try and feed the snake the supplements directly, coax it into eating a dusted mouse, or manage the dosages for supplement injections into the mouse myself. So I was wondering whether or not those supplements could be passed through the mouse's diet, similar to how it's done with insects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T21:39:22.917" Title="Is it possible to gut-load a mouse?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5950" CreationDate="2014-07-28T01:20:03.000" Score="8" ViewCount="6595" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just adopted a 6-month old female spayed cat and she has stitches on her belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous owner did not mention anything about having to remove the stitches but they don't look like they're meant to be there forever for me. Should I take her to a vet or there is no need for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture of her belly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/egdBk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;stiches&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/egdBk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;picture of the suture&quot; title=&quot;stiches&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-02-21T09:26:00.430" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T09:26:00.430" Title="Do I need to remove the stitches of my adopted spayed cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5949" CreationDate="2014-07-28T01:41:38.127" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're able to contact the previous owner, they would probably be the best person to tell you when and if they need removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are stitches that dissolve over time, so they might not need to come out and that's why the previous owner forgot to mention it. But, I don't know of any way to tell whether or not they're the kind that dissolves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the vet records that say when she was spayed, the stitches will need to be taken out a week after that date. If they're left in too long, you could start to see the body react negatively since the wound is healed and now there's a foreign substance in the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would take her to the vet to have them take out the stitches, just because I'm not sure I could take them out in a way that wouldn't be painful. I've also never had a vet charge me for taking stitches out. Especially if you can't be sure what time that the stitches were put in, I'd be nervous about taking the stitches out too early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T01:41:38.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5963" CreationDate="2014-07-28T03:22:52.033" Score="15" ViewCount="136001" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two dogs.  One is a 4 year old male and the other is a new dog we adopted over a week ago who is a 2 year old female.  They are both the same breed (Alaskan husky) and roughly the same size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, the dogs are getting along fairly well.  They've had a few fights but it's usually over bones and we're training them now to share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main concern now is about when they play.  They both enjoy playing, and when we watch them play, I do not see any signs in the female that she's not having fun (she doesn't look at us, she reengages when he lets up, no raised hair, etc.) but my male dog likes to bite her throat and push her around in circles on the ground.  Sometimes it looks like he is actually biting her throat very hard. On one occasion where the dogs were on a hard floor, I could actually feel my male dog's teeth grinding against the female dog's throat.  I read that if dogs are playing nicely, you should not break it up, but I am worried that my male dog is biting too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell if he bites her neck too hard?  Should I break up their play when ever he bites her neck or should I continue to only look for the signs and let them play otherwise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T10:13:19.103" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T02:17:23.373" Title="How can you tell if neck biting between dogs is too rough?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5952" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5956" CreationDate="2014-07-28T16:23:50.037" Score="13" ViewCount="143117" Body="&lt;p&gt;This weekend I visited a friend who had a new kitten (about 8 weeks old). The kitten has a fuzzy coat, but most kittens seem to have a fuzzy coat from what I can tell through internet searches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were trying to guess if the kitten would have a long or short haired coat as an adult. Is there a way to tell (not knowing what the parents looked like), or will we just have to wait until the kitten grows up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:03:47.917" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T21:16:32.663" Title="How can you tell if a kitten will have long or short hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5949" CreationDate="2014-07-28T16:43:40.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is generally a good idea to take a new cat to your veterinarian for a general health and wellness exam within a week or two of getting them.  This ensures that if you later have a sudden illness, your vet is already familiar with your cat and has a baseline for what she looks like when she is well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this initial exam, you should bring any records you have from the previous owner (like date/certificate of rabies vaccinations, feline leukemia/FIV tests, microchip information, and spay date/certificate). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This intial exam is a good time to ask any questions you may have about your new family member, such as if the stitches should be removed. Removal of stitches is usually a quick procedure that should not induce any additional charges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T16:43:40.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-28T18:36:46.403" Score="2" ViewCount="3487" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just saw the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/20015&quot;&gt;Facultative Cannibalism?&lt;/a&gt; on the biology web site, and I recalled hearing the tom cats, will kill house cat kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will neutering a male cat stop it from killing kittens it did not father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:20:48.090" Title="Will neutering a male cat stop it from killing kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5952" CreationDate="2014-07-28T20:45:22.887" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check if it has tufts of fur between the toes. That's a sign that most long and medium-long haired cats share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long-haired cat's paw:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Rla8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Long-haired cat paw&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jack-frost.co.uk/spot_deaf_white_kitten_cat.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short-haired cat's paw:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AlKIj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Short-haired cat paw&quot;&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/whats-in-my-cat-paws/7699&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see in the long-haired cat's paw, there's that sudden sprout of long hair sticking out. You'll also be able to see that with the front paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-28T20:57:35.823" LastActivityDate="2014-07-28T20:57:35.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5954" CreationDate="2014-07-29T00:23:06.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only reason male felids do that is related to sex.  Killing the kittens forces the female to go into heat again, plus there might be some programmed instinctual drive to kill kittens that are not partly yours (beyond bringing the female into heat- to ensure your genes are passed on).  That happens with large cats, I do not know if it happens with house cats or not.  Once the male is neutered there is no more testosterone being produced (granted whatever was already in the bloodstream takes some time to go away) and I would be surprised if this behavior wasn't tied to the presence of sex hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T00:23:06.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-29T11:32:11.087" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat which is litter trained for 9 months (and also has outside access) has now suddenly gone to the toilet a couple of times in in our living room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat has been spayed and the first time it happened is when we went on holiday and we had a friend come to stay for the week to look after the cats (brother and sister). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has triggered this behavior and how can we stop it from happening again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2739" LastEditorUserId="2739" LastEditDate="2014-07-29T12:10:26.410" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T12:10:26.410" Title="Cat has started to occasionally gone to toilet in the living room" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-07-29T17:07:34.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5962" CreationDate="2014-07-29T19:12:30.603" Score="15" ViewCount="133580" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background:&#xA;We left 2 half finished corn cobs on our kitchen work surface yesterday - our dog has never been a counter surfer so were pretty sure he couldn't reach them on his hind legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much to our dismay yesterday afternoon we returned from work to find them completely missing with bits of corn around the living room. He had clearly eaten them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We called the vet and they assured us as long as he was 'passing' then it should be fine given he is a big dog, being the worrier I cant help but feel a little concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately he passed a lot of it this morning, but we still remain cautious....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there are recipes or remedies to help aid this along quicker to minimise risk of any blockages or problems later on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-20T20:36:08.563" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T20:36:08.563" Title="Big hound has eaten corn cobs what can I do to help him pass them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-29T19:57:59.627" Score="1" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;While riding my bicycle I encountered cats and dogs who were hit by cars, were barely alive, and were obviously beyond saving. They were just laying at the side of the road, and visibly suffering. I have no training or experience in dealing with such a situation. If I can see that the animal is beyond saving, the only thing which keeps me from doing what I believe would be the right thing, is the lack of knowledge. My physical condition is not a problem, I just don't want to cause even more suffering by doing it the wrong way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can one save such an animal from suffering in a quick and sure way, without causing extra suffering to it? I'm interested in both the case where I can prepare and have some equipment on me, and the case where I am completely unprepared and empty-handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2740" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-29T21:02:58.437" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T21:32:01.373" Title="What should I do if I encounter a mortally wounded cat or dog on the side of the road?" Tags="&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-07-30T10:20:29.463" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5960" CreationDate="2014-07-29T21:32:01.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not trained for such diagnosis and the pet is not your property then it is not your place to make the decision or to take action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, the best course of action is to contact your local animal control and alert them to the suffering creature.  If you do not have that information then you can call 911 and they will send out the appropriate responder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are near a home there is a good chance that the animal belongs to one of the nearby homes.  If it is not the person who you first contact there is a good chance they will know who do own the pet.  Either they or you can then alert the owner and they can make the appropriate calls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-07-29T21:32:01.373" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2014-07-29T21:35:18.820" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Corn Cobs are fairly absorbent.  The best option here is to provide plenty of water and encourage your dog to drink up.  The liquid will help soften the cob making it easier to pass.  The hydration effect will also help the chemicals in your dog's digestive tract permeate the cob potentially helping to break it down, also making it easier to pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing in a normal corn cob that is going to be toxic to your dog so there should be no worries there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also note that this does not guarantee that the cob will not become a blockage it just reduces the chance of it because the cob will be softer and easier to pass.  If your dog does become blocked, or experiences bloody stool after(or before) passing the cob you should take it to a vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-07-30T15:05:08.797" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T15:05:08.797" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5951" CreationDate="2014-07-30T02:01:20.387" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an FYI before reading, I've cited a source towards the end of this post for most of the information you'll find in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically when two dogs are playing rough, it's better to let them figure things out. If your male dog seems to be biting down pretty hard on the female dog's scruff/neck area, and she doesn't seem to mind or still exhibits classic play signs (I'll talk about those below), then you probably shouldn't separate the fight. I also wouldn't physically break up the fight, even if the female dog doesn't like it. When dogs are playing with each other and something out-of-line or undesirable is done, the dogs will let the other know with a preemptive growl or bite (not usually harmful, but just as a warning). So essentially if you have two social dogs who know how to play, they also know how to let the other know to stop playing when something has gone too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I talked about indicative behavior above, so I'll cover a few signs of playful and aggressive behavior. Because &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of dog play looks like it's aggressive and can be misinterpreted by other dogs playing, most social canines have specific signs to signal that their behavior has playful intentions. These signs are forms of &quot;metacommunication,&quot; meaning a secondary behavior accompanying the primary action which is &lt;strong&gt;essential&lt;/strong&gt; in interpreting its meaning. In other words, behavior without these metacommunications are ambiguous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play bow before and after aggressive-seeming actions.&lt;/strong&gt; A lot of times, when dogs do something like bite another dog, jump on them, whack them with their paw, lunge in, or something else, they'll do a play bow before or after to signal that there were no aggressive intentions and that the other dogs shouldn't take it as aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bear hugging.&lt;/strong&gt; So it's not exactly hugging, but in addition to play bowing, dogs will often bear hug. It looks pretty mean and aggressive, but it's typically 100% friendly behavior and it's a good indicator that your dogs are playing just fine. I'll put in a picture to illustrate how aggressive it looks compared to how aggressive it really is. You'll notice that the dog on the right looks pretty mean -- it's all play. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/agY0H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dogs &amp;quot;bear hugging.&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trading, sharing, or temporarily stopping roles.&lt;/strong&gt; A lot of times when dogs are playing, they'll give each other opportunities to trade roles. If one dog is on top of the other, the top dog should eventually give the one on the ground a small escape period where he should be able to stand up and continue playing. If two dogs are chasing each other, the universal &quot;this is just play&quot; metacommunication is for the head dog to slow down and let the other catch up, jump on him, try to get a toy in his mouth, etc... They may, again, switch roles. The faster dog might slow down and let his playmate run ahead for a few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many more, but those are some of the more common ones. Others include wagging &lt;em&gt;bodies&lt;/em&gt; (not tails), face biting/teeth locking, and stopping for a few seconds to take a breather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above I mention that wagging or having a loose body is a sign of play, but not wagging the tail. Many people think that if a dog is wagging their tail, everything is okay because it's a generally accepted sign of happiness. However, even distressed dogs will wag their tails. When watching dog play, you want to be careful of stiff-bodied dogs, hair standing in a line down the dogs back (raised hackles), and body language, regardless of their tail movements. You can find tons of diagrams that illustrate various body language clues on Google Images just by searching something like &quot;dog body language.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in reading more about canid behavior and don't want to read up on those sketchy &quot;how to&quot; links, I highly recommend &lt;em&gt;Canine Behavior: Insights and Answers&lt;/em&gt; by Bonnie Beaver which you can buy or view in PDF form &lt;a href=&quot;http://sardog.org/index.php/downloads/search-and-rescue-books/3-canine-behavior-insights-and-answers-2nd-ed2/file&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Beaver has done a lot of great research and a lot of what I've mentioned in my post I've learned from the resources she's written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my original comment I also talked about letting out a &quot;yelp.&quot; If you're really worried about your male dog's biting of the females neck, you can let out a real high-pitched yelp. This should immediately get both dogs attentions, they'll give you a surprised face, and then should continue playing, but it lets them know that you're not entirely comfortable with what they're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt; Dogs will know when it gets too rough and typically let each other know. They also have behaviors to qualify aggressive-seeming actions and make sure that if an action that seems aggressive is playful, it's interpreted properly. So don't stop the playing unless you're &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; worried and see obviously aggressive signs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-01-04T19:44:57.597" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T19:44:57.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2014-07-30T14:36:01.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is a true anecdote of an actual event, that happened to have a happy ending.  It should not be taken as rational for not visiting a vet should you encounter this situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many years ago, when money was very tight, I had a rescued &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullmastiff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bullmastiff&lt;/a&gt;, living with me way out in the country.  She had a habit of swallowing whole any bits of food that might accidentally come her way.  She was well feed, with 'free choice' (&lt;em&gt;all you can eat when ever you want&lt;/em&gt;) dry dog food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were eating full ears of corn on the cob (&lt;em&gt;6-8 inches long as I recall&lt;/em&gt;) while one of the cobs was it's way to the compost pile she grabbed one and swallowed it whole without chewing.  It was not in her throat long enough to be a chocking hazard. Lips to belly transit time was like 1 second. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first day or so she was seemed healthy and fine, the second day she seemed to have a bit of a belly ache, the morning of the third day she seem to be feeling a bit worse. Later on the third day she passed the corn cob undigested and still whole.  The morning of the forth day, she appeared fully recovered.  As far as I could tell there were no adverse side effects from this event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was a 100 pound (50kg) plus dog. Again I am not recommending you do not visit a vet should you encounter this scenario.  At the time veterinary intervention for this event was financially impossible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; My in-laws recently a very different experience, with a 50 pound (25kg) lab. Their experience was very similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5959/big-hound-has-eaten-corn-cobs-what-can-i-do-to-help-him-pass-them/10622#10622&quot;&gt;Suzie's answer here&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T10:07:49.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5966" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-30T15:47:53.037" Score="7" ViewCount="1792" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to take my pet rabbit to the vet to get her spayed, but my main method of transportation is biking. How can I bring my rabbit on the bicycle without scaring her to death? Would she be okay in a bike carrier like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://sleepypod.com/sleepypod&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SleepyPod&lt;/a&gt; or should I seek alternate means of transport? She has been in a car before, but was in a cage rather than any sort of carrier. In the car she was afraid but after a while got used to it and didn't get a heart attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastEditorUserId="603" LastEditDate="2014-07-30T17:45:51.897" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T19:22:44.460" Title="How can I transport my rabbit using a bicycle?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5966" CreationDate="2014-07-30T18:22:16.920" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I travel often with my rabbits,  a normal trip to the vet tends to be an hour by car, and a several hour trip to go camping is not usual. The SleepyPod you indicate in your question or a hard sided carrier would be fine for travelling. But 4km on a bumpy road by bicycle would be a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1862/can-a-rabbit-be-scared-to-death&quot;&gt;Scarred to Death&lt;/a&gt;.  In Rabbit speak &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbitresource.org/care-and-health/behavior/how-to-speak-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Thumping can be a danger signal&lt;/a&gt; this means all the bumps in the road with a rabbit strapped to a bicycle are like someone yelling &quot;FIRE&quot; to you while you are trapped in small space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should seek alternate transportation, as you need to travel 4km over bumpy road.  A couple of minutes in car over this distance would be smoother and quicker than a bike ride. An hour walk, with your rabbit in a carrier and an occasional break to let her know everything is OK would be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a travel/event time of under 4 hours I would not be worried about water unless there is something special or significant to worry about.  On trips longer than four hours we stop and set up an x-pen so the can get out, stretch their legs and get a bite to eat and drink. But if you are going to let your rabbit(s) out for a break they need to be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925&quot;&gt;protected against fleas and parasites&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the temperature will be hot while you are are transporting your rabbit you may want to look to the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2800/how-can-i-keep-a-rabbit-cool&quot;&gt;How can I keep a rabbit cool?&lt;/a&gt; for ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T18:47:35.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5966" CreationDate="2014-07-30T19:22:44.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have a short distance I would stuff a backpack with a few soft towels and make a pocket perfect sized for your rabbit in them.  Rabbits like to hide in little nests like this and for short distances this is often the safest and most comfortable way for a rabbit to travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will still need to be careful not to squish the rabbit and want to minimise the jostling that your rabbit will have to endure.  I would probably walk the trip instead of biking if the road is too bumpy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you reach your destination you will want to remove the rabbit from the back pack.  If you can not safely do that then at least open the pack up and allow the rabbit some fresh air.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the trip home you will want to be extra careful with the jostling.  Your rabbit will have to endure a significant surgery, and will be extra fragile as she will not have completely recovered.  I would walk her home stopping to check every 10 minutes, or any time she seems a bit restless to make sure that she is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-07-30T19:22:44.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5947" CreationDate="2014-07-31T00:26:29.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would give bitter apple spray a try, or some other type of spray meant for the same purpose. Make sure that when you spray it on the bars, you do it away from the rest of the cage so only the bars of the cage taste like bitter apple, and it doesn't get onto the floor of the cage, in food, water, etc... Typically all pet shops, local or corporate, will hold these sprays and they should be easy to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to spend the money, some people online have claimed to use vinegar or lemon juice, but I'd do a bit of research on my own to make sure those are plausible solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As James Jenkins mentioned in the comments above, look at his answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5487/how-to-stop-cat-from-going-to-a-risky-area/5569#5569&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; before using additives on the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T00:26:29.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-07-31T10:04:55.623" Score="6" ViewCount="1302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is heartworm common among dogs in India, and is it necessary to get dogs vaccinated against it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2746" LastEditorUserId="2749" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T18:11:52.327" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T18:11:52.327" Title="How important is it to get your dog vaccinated for heartworm in India?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5947" CreationDate="2014-07-31T10:19:12.727" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You indicate in your comments that your hamster does not have any hay, but it does have an 'absolutely massive rotastak system'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters are much like rabbits in that their teeth grow constantly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Unlike for rabbits there are not a lot of quality references available on the internet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/hamsters/a/Hamster-Teeth.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is the best reference I found&lt;/a&gt;. &#xA;Let's just say that hamsters need hay for much the same reason that &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;adding hay to a rabbit's diet is important&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overgrown teeth can be painful and even fatal, and for some reason your hamster has chosen the bars of the cage to wear her teeth down. If the chew sticks are not filling the need, then adding hay is the best thing you can do.  Hay by itself may not completely stop the bar chewing, but it should provide a new direction that will both wear teeth and improve the diet. Additional things to chew on will also help. For rabbits we often give toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes.  Any type of clean cardboard without a lot of glossy or colored print will also make great chew toys, as it is fine if they eat them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your hamster has developed the habit of chewing on the bars, and like any other habit it will be hard to break.  If they chew the bars after they have hay and lots of other chew toys, you should gently redirect them to a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T01:05:05.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5971" CreationDate="2014-07-31T10:29:31.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way dogs get heartworm is through an infected mosquito and India has a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of mosquitos and you cannot tell if a mosquito is an infected carrier, same problem with mosquitos and dengue fever. So, as a general statement, the risk of heartworm would be quite high and the best way to deal with heartworm is to stop it before it happens, so vaccination would be a very good idea because curing after the fact is quite hard (and much more expensive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T10:29:31.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5792" CreationDate="2014-07-31T15:34:01.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Realistically, there is always a risk for impaction when a substrate is present. The risk is highest when the substrate is small rocks that can fit in the turtle's mouth, however,  there is an exception when the rocks are large and cannot fit in the turtle's mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly, the smaller rocks are more pleasing to the eye; the bigger rocks are just... clumsy. So a more pleasing alternative that carries with it a very small risk of impaction should be pursued. You can use sand, as long as it's hygienic, since it does also have a low chance of resulting in impaction. But there is an even better alternative: fine crushed coral, or fine calcium carbonate, and aragonite sand, are great choices. Not only do they have a very low probability of causing impaction, but they also provide calcium for your turtle if swallowed. The particles are so fine that the turtle's digestive system should be able to deal with them, and they shouldn't be able to block the intestines, unless swallowed in very large amounts, which typically doesn't happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also arguments about the veracity of impaction itself. Many owners report using small gravel for years without any noted effects, and the cases of impaction are very minute. Some say impaction is anecdotal. Many owners report noticing some gravel in the turtle's intestines when taken to a vet and x-rayed, but they still insisted that the turtle's habits did not change, and that most of the gravel swallowed were removed (pooped out). You can read more on this forum: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/?showtopic=142631&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/?showtopic=142631&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the cases of impaction are very rare, but the risks are definitely there and should be avoided. Substrate will make the turtle feel like it's at home, and this should be the aim of any turtle habitat setup. You can still avoid a substrate completely, unless the turtle is a substrate dependent turtle like the  softshell turtle. However, I'd recommend to stick to crushed coral or aragonite sand, as they minimise the risks of impaction while keeping the looks and providing a discernable amount of calcium. Aragonite sand is thought to be safer, since the particles are smaller, for more info follow this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1551529&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1551529&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T15:34:01.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1222" CreationDate="2014-07-31T16:07:58.927" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German shepherd would do this, and if I kept him inside he would do this girly high pitched bark and run from the back door to the window constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what I did to fix this, was I told him to lie down and stay in a place, outside where he's not in the way, while I'm watering the plants or hosing down his kennel. Then after I'm done using the hose I will spray him as his reward for staying where I left him. Waiting quietly out of the way, even if it's with a very intense look on his face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This made it clear to him that playtime came after I was done using the hose, and he would get it if he just waited patiently enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2750" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-07-31T21:02:58.710" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T21:02:58.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2911" CreationDate="2014-07-31T16:49:02.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So since I first read this question and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2912/2462&quot;&gt;the answer by John&lt;/a&gt; I have been trying to find some good research on this.  A veterinarian friend of mine did have quite a bit of research on rabbit stress hormones and mortality, but there is not a great deal of research on this.  It is assumed by some (as noted in the answer by John) that trancing is the same process that causes TI.  And others disagree.  You can count me in the disagree camp but I had no hard evidence just observation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I approached some of my friends, a veterinarian, a graduate student in endocrinology, and several breeders about the possibility of doing a study to answer this question.  So we(Ok the Vet and the Student mostly) put together a plan on how to do a preliminary analysis to see if we could come up with a procedure that would be reproducible and testable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we came up with was testing several different rabbits and measuring levels of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cortisol&lt;/a&gt;. The details are a bit monotonous so I will summarize it here. We checked each rabbit about 30 minutes before trancing for control, then compared the levels with those immediately after trancing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our first test involved 24 rabbits in 4 different breeds&#xA;The results showed that 12%(3) of the rabbits showed a significant increase in cortisol levels after trancing while 30%(8) showed slightly lower levels.  With the remaining rabbits showing levels that were not substantially different from their control levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second test involved 24 different rabbits but the same 4 breeds&#xA;The results showed that 16%(4) of the rabbits showed a significant increase in cortisol levels after trancing while 38%(9) showed lower levels.  With the remaining rabbits showing levels that were not substantially different from their control levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end over 200 different rabbits in 12 breeds were tested&#xA;The the aggregate results showed that 13% of the rabbits showed a significant increase in cortisol levels after trancing while 34% showed lower levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However none of the rabbits approached the level of increase seen in necropsies that had been performed of rabbits that had suffered traumatic deaths, or that were believed to have been scared to death.  The working theory right now is that the increases seen are comparable with just the stress shown by the rabbits from being picked up.  And that the trancing did not add stress to the rabbits and may have even lowered it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These results by themselves do not prove anything though.  However it was enough information that is currently being used in an application for a grant to perform a full study which would explore more controls.  She is hoping that the grant will be approved in time to start the study in the summer of 2015.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The indications of what we see here is that there can be no cumulative negative effects if there are no negative effects from the the act in the first place.  It also indicates that while being similar to TI it may be a different process that is invoking a similar physical response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-07-31T16:49:02.117" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5905" CreationDate="2014-08-01T09:52:01.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what has already been mentioned, color can change in the first few weeks of growth. So by 8 weeks old the puppy might have changed color from a blue color to something darker such as a shade of brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T09:52:01.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5986" CreationDate="2014-08-01T15:41:51.940" Score="2" ViewCount="2293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen old movies where there was a 'flea circus' I believe in modern times, most 'flea circus's use magnets or other mechanical means to move props, but I seem to recall seeing real fleas connected with hair to small wagons and such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can a flea actually be trained to perform in a 'flea circus'? If so what can they really do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:04:04.653" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:04:04.653" Title="Can you train a flea?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5979" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-08-01T15:44:01.860" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T15:44:01.860" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T15:44:01.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5980" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-08-01T15:44:01.860" Score="0" Body="Perform training to be in front of an audience or camera." OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T15:44:01.860" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T15:44:01.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5859" CreationDate="2014-08-01T16:35:43.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an donkey expert, this answer is a basic animal husbandry response, pending a better answer by an expert on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any question like this, visiting a vet to rule out, an existing injury or infection is causing pain on treatment, is indicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have ruled out ongoing sedation as financially impractical, and I am going to assume none of the farriers in your area have mobile device like the one in the image below for restraining the donkey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JHIR6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image from &lt;a href=&quot;http://threegablesfarm.com/2013/02/mobile-hoof-trimmers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Three Gables Farm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next immobilization device is any several types of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobble_%28device%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hobble&lt;/a&gt; which can be used to physically restrain the donkey from kicking by limiting the amount of free travel each hoof has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as your donkey can live &lt;a href=&quot;http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex598&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;30-50 years&lt;/a&gt; a better long term solution might be training. Work with your animal in a manner that is safe for both of you, too accept having their feet worked on. As with any pet training, start with activities well inside of their comfort zone and provide positive reinforcement. You might touch, rub and or slightly lift the animals foot, then provide pets or a treat. You want to create a positive experience, then expand that until the pet is ready accept the previously unpleasant activity as something it knows will not harm them, and will lead to the positive experience (i.e. treat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T16:35:43.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5743" CreationDate="2014-08-01T17:10:24.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched extensively for a reliable reference on yeast as an effective flea treatment. I found multiple mentions of the treatment.  Some mention it 'might' be an effect treatment.  All mention studies that say there was not evidence to support the treatment, some casually mention studies supporting the treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found no indicators that yeast might be harmful to a cat or dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was not able to locate any actual published studies that were not behind firewalls. The few Google snip-its I got, did not hint at any studies that showed benefit for flea control using any yeast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, you can give either yeast.  Neither is likely to cause harm to your dog or cat, but there is little to no solid evidence supporting it as an effective flea treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17370&quot;&gt;Can dish soap really be used to kill ticks and fleas?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/86774/pdf_1026.pdf?sequence=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Controlling Fleas, Texas A&amp;amp;M (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=xUn38_nJiVAC&amp;amp;pg=PA134&amp;amp;dq=yeast+flea+treatment&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=KcTbU9bRDpONyATT44GwDA&amp;amp;ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=yeast%20flea%20treatment&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The New Animal Doctor's Answer Book, By Michael W. Fox&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=tEsoP6-T1tAC&amp;amp;pg=PA129&amp;amp;dq=yeast+flea+treatment&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=KcTbU9bRDpONyATT44GwDA&amp;amp;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=yeast%20flea%20treatment&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, By Richard H. Pitcairn, Susan Hubble Pitcairn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=gWHMki60uK0C&amp;amp;pg=PA289&amp;amp;dq=yeast+flea+treatment+study&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=t8TbU6i-N5KayASCvICgAw&amp;amp;ved=0CEYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=yeast%20flea%20treatment%20study&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Natural Health Bible for Dogs &amp;amp; Cats: Your A-Z Guide to Over 200 Conditions, By Shawn Messonnier, D.V.M.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T17:10:24.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5978" CreationDate="2014-08-01T20:37:17.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/8/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-a-flea-circus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Straight Dope&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Training the fleas consisted in the main of rigging them up with wire&#xA;  harnesses so they could only move in a particular way. If necessary —&#xA;  say, in a flea orchestra — the fleas might also be glued to their&#xA;  seats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems there wasn't any real training involved. And the &quot;fleas&quot; were sometimes dead, or even fake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-08-01T20:42:52.410" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T20:42:52.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5928" CreationDate="2014-08-01T21:03:40.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some thing that should help. I don't know if they will be sufficient on their own, or in combination with the shots. Most of my experience is based on being an allergic human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are special cat foods that should avoid problems with the food allergies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keeping your cat indoors should dramatically lessen the problems with grass, weed, and tree allergies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the dust mite and storage mite allergies, use a non-allergenic pillowcase liner over her bedding. You can get these in most places where (human) sheets and pillowcases are sold. Also, vacuum regularly. It's best if you have a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. Years ago, that type of vacuum cleaner used to be very costly, now not so much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have problems with dampness and mold in your house... consult an expert, I guess?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T21:03:40.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5978" CreationDate="2014-08-01T22:01:50.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea_circus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; on flea circuses has a pretty good summary of what went down with flea circuses. The entire culture behind creating flea circuses was in creating a challenge. Whether that challenge was in creating all the details and excitement of a circus in a miniscule size, or in tricking people into thinking that they're seeing something they aren't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was common for watchmakers to create flea circuses as a way of challenging their ability to work with miniscule objects. It served as a sort of exhibition to show your work and compete with other watchmakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flea circuses were also a ripe market for con artists. Their goal was to see who could trick the viewers into thinking that they were seeing fleas performing, despite the fleas not being real, or even non-existent. Generally, these were the type of flea circuses you'd come across in traveling circuses or freak-shows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When real fleas were used in the circus, there were several ways to get them to appear to be performing tricks. One of the easiest ways, was to set up a couple of dead fleas in positions, and have a group of live fleas jumping around freely. The live fleas would usually be enough of a distraction that it would be hard to tell that the fleas that were meant to be performing weren't moving. Add in a smooth talking salesman directing your attention, it would be hard not to walk away thinking you saw something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases the performing fleas were tiny metal figurines, and magnets underneath would be causing them to &quot;perform&quot; while the live fleas hopping around freely would hide the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common method was to use glue control the fleas' movements. Commonly fleas were glued to miniature bleachers so as they struggled to escape, they'd look like a cheering crowd of spectators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To create the band, miniature instruments would be glued to the fleas, and they back legs glued to the floor. As they struggled to get away, it would look like they were playing a lively tune. A match or other heat source would be placed underneath if they needed some encouragement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other common method was to use a harness made of gold string. The harnesses could then be used to attach the fleas to miniature carts and chariots that they could pull around, or even miniature ferris wheels they could turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, fleas don't have that long of a lifespan, and as insects, a limited level of awareness. I think that by the time you could get close to training a flea to perform a trick on its own, the flea would be at the end of its lifespan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-08-01T22:01:50.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5989" CreationDate="2014-08-02T04:05:23.607" Score="5" ViewCount="1020" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bunny is about 6 months old and he's getting much more bold and playful lately. Previously he mostly ate, slept, and eliminated, saving his energy for the daily walk outdoors. He's very mild-mannered, even obedient, so he's had free run for 2-3 months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before he got free run, he was trained not to chew wires by pushing him away from them. It's seemed to stick pretty well, because some of his favorite spots are near wires but they're not damaged and we never see him doing anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just now, he picked up a wire while I was watching. I made noise, so he dropped it. But then he playfully hopped backward and just touched it again, apparently to test my reaction. I didn't say anything because it wasn't in his mouth. After a second he lost interest and merrily ran off. (It was undamaged.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are only a few wires he can usually access. Is there perhaps something unpalatable or nasty to the touch that they can be covered with, so he won't see this as a game?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1417" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-25T20:53:32.583" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T20:53:32.583" Title="Make wires unpalatable?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2014-08-02T05:00:03.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently fostering a rescue dog. She was basically a puppy mill puppy, who was not given any socialization before being adopted out at 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She became extremely attached to the dogs in my house when she arrived, and would literally be stuck to their side (or underside, because she would hide underneath them when walking). She would poop if someone came near her. She only comes to me, and nobody else in the family, and will only be comfortable going outside with another dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed she would tap my hand on occasion with her nose, so I started target therapy. It is helping a little, but she definitely needs professional training. &#xA;I strongly urge your parents to take her to fearful fido training and be evaluated. It is not something that is just going to go away - its like teaching someone to ride a bike; they won't spontaneously learn just because they've had a bicycle in the garage for 2 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like your parent's puppy was weaned too early or not socialized. They feel comfortable around other dogs, and will respond by freaking out if you touch their bodies. I can't say for sure, but it doesn't sound like it was abused. I've dealt with those and the behavior is different. Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2756" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-02T13:31:30.823" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T13:31:30.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2014-08-02T11:31:18.347" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I would not &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5487/how-to-stop-cat-from-going-to-a-risky-area/5569#5569&quot;&gt;trying to make wires (&lt;em&gt;or anything&lt;/em&gt;) unpalatable&lt;/a&gt;.  I am not sure anyone knows for sure &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/358/&quot;&gt;why rabbits chew electrical wires&lt;/a&gt;, but they do.  I have had first person accounts of electrified wires killing house rabbits (&lt;em&gt;so that makes this a second hand report&lt;/em&gt;).  Physical separation of the rabbits and the wires is required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wires laying on the ground are an invitation to sample... &quot;What kind of hay is that?&quot; My wife has had more than one headset wire snipped in two, by a bunny while she was using it on the floor while petting a bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting the wires off the floor is generally sufficient, for most situations where rabbits have full run of the house.  Some of my fellow house rabbit parents will wrap excess lamp cord around the table lamp so it does not droop to the floor, essentially going up from the outlet to the table.  Rabbits can stretch a couple of feet up a wall to explore, but generally do this in new areas, once acclimatized to an area, they tend to stay on the ground, occasionally getting up on couches or beds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't always go straight up, some times wires need to travel along a wall.  You can use plastic staples to quickly and easily attach wires to a wall above bunny stretch height.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oLqur.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Plastic Staples&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3EVzo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Raise Wires&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have desks separated by a printer, with wires running in all directions.  In the image above, I have attached the surge protector to the side of her desk cabinet, and used plastic staples to mount the wires to the wall.  This keeps them off the ground and away from the rabbits.  It is not pretty but it works.  Home office was designed pre-rabbit, so this is an adaptive solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1998&quot;&gt;How do you bunny proof behind the couch?&lt;/a&gt; I use more a visually pleasing solution. In the picture there you can see the outlet cover, but you can't really see the wire cover, so here is a picture of what the wire cover looks like.  You can purchase these at the DIY store, there are two pieces that snap together to cover the wires. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GnrJ9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Wire Cover&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where possible try to place appliances or furniture in front of the outlet, close enough that your rabbit can not get behind.  Make sure that all of the cord stays behind the item.  In some cases like with a TV, VCR, and all the other junk that connects to it there simply is not room to hold all the wires behind the item.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the image below we use a cabinet under a television which is mounted to the wall. I used wood to create a box type enclosure that fits between the cabinet and the wall.  There is about 3 1/2 inches of space enclosed, all the wires and the surge protector are in this space.  The cabinet has doors on the front, so the VCR, DVD player and WII are inclosed except when we are actively using them (&lt;em&gt;and supervising bunnies&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VejMK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;TV&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T11:31:18.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-02T16:37:21.727" Score="3" ViewCount="5978" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found some questions about this but it's usually about the mess cats make when they are digging inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat will be outside of the litter, not when she's doing her business and she will start digging the litter out of the box, with her front paws. She will get as much litter as she can get. Sometimes, she drags out things other than her poo (very rarely)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's an only cat and I think she's happy and very stable other than this one behaviour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2759" LastActivityDate="2019-05-15T13:56:00.757" Title="Cat digging the litter out of the box on purpose as she's outside of the litter (not a mess as she's using the box)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5991" CreationDate="2014-08-02T17:13:37.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your description, I suspect you're using one of those litter trays with sides that are only a couple of inches high. (Otherwise it would be difficult for her drag litter out while being &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; the box.) I would use those only for kittens, or for a cat that is injured or ill. If that's what you're using, I recommend you get a litter box where the sides are more like 6-9&quot; tall. It doesn't have to be one of those fancy covered litter boxes -- in fact I prefer not to have it covered so that I'll see immediately if it needs scooping. But it should have enough room so that your cat can use one end for peeing and the other end for pooping, while the middle part that she stands on stays clean. I often use rectangular tubs from the hardware store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the litter box is in a low-traffic place. Your cat may decide to use both ends of the box for peeing and pooping, but many of my cats have preferred to &quot;specialise&quot;. The high sides of the box will make it difficult for her to stand outside the box and scoop litter, and it will also add to her feeling of privacy. She may stand outside the box and scrape at the sides. This is common in cats. I think it's sort of an &quot;I need to cover my waste&quot; instinct on overdrive, but it doesn't do any harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, litter box behaviour problems generally occur because the box isn't big enough, private enough, clean enough, or the cat finds the litter uncomfortable to stand on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; OK, I see from your picture that my first theory was wrong, and that your cat is very determined. I have a couple more suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the cover temporarily, and see if she still does it. I don't expect this to help, but it's easy to do and worth a try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try a bigger box (the width is fine, but try something much longer). I hate to suggest this because that looks like a very brand-new nice box that most cats would be quite happy with, but if you get desperate enough, this is worth a try. I don't think you'll be able to find a covered litter box as big as I'm suggesting, but you can find a suitable plastic tub at the hardware store. I suspect that she is peeing or pooping right inside the door, and doesn't feel like she has enough room to stretch her paws forward to scoop the litter behind her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps someone else will have a another suggestion that you can try first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-08-02T18:29:14.903" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T18:29:14.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6010" CreationDate="2014-08-02T17:36:47.987" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've concocted a food recipe for my turtle, and I want to make sure I have not missed or over added anything, below is a list of the constituents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;raw chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;turtle sticks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some paprika&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 long slices of carrot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 corn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 small bean pod&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 egg yolk as a binder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't find gelatin or agar so I stuck to egg yolk as a binder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put them in a blender and mixed them well, then put them in a zip lock bag and into the freezer. Are there any important factors I've missed? And did I add anything I typically shouldn't? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:14:12.587" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:41:16.663" Title="How can I improve my DIY turtle food?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="5995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5996" CreationDate="2014-08-02T19:50:27.187" Score="5" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live on the third floor of an apartment building, and have a cat that goes to the garden to do its business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know from its mewing when it wants to go, and open the main door accordingly. But very soon, I'll be away from home for almost ten hours during weekdays, and can't leave the door open. My cat won't be able to use the window as there is nothing for it to jump on to and head to the garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will I be able to train the cat to go during fixed periods of time in the morning and evening, when I am there at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T23:49:04.860" Title="Can I make my cat answer nature's call at specific times?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5995" CreationDate="2014-08-02T23:49:04.860" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could probably train you cat to go in the morning before you leave, and in the evening after your return. It might take some encouragement and simple repetition to get that schedule down. But...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to remember that cats have extremely smaller bladders that humans do, and humans are barely able to hold it for ten hour periods. When they are, it's because of dehydration, which is something you don't want to do to your cat as it causes serious health issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, humans have the willpower to hold it in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe#Death&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;to the point where it kills them&lt;/a&gt;. Cats, along with other animals, might put forth some effort to hold it in until you return, but ultimately don't care what you think. You'll then have a new problem of having a new spot designated as the place to go instead of the garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can make it home every four hours to take your cat out to go, then I would say it's possible. Otherwise, the best option is to have a litterbox. That way your cat can go when it needs to, then you can simply clean it when you get back from work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other option would be to either hire someone to let your cat out at certain intervals, or build a ladder outside the window so that your cat can come and go as it pleases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S2BHp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat Ladder&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://petprojectblog.com/archives/cats/we-like-cat-ladders/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would of course require your landlord's approval, and some hefty engineering to make it reach your window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-08-02T23:49:04.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6446" CreationDate="2014-08-03T05:44:58.520" Score="15" ViewCount="2057" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can a dog contract the Ebola virus? I heard that monkeys and/or rodents can give you Ebola if they have it, but I am just curious as if a dog can contract it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-10-02T15:11:17.977" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T15:11:17.977" Title="Can a dog contract the Ebola virus?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7610" CreationDate="2014-08-03T09:28:49.857" Score="6" ViewCount="30624" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have all heard that first impressions are important. Presumably they are just as important the first time you meet a dog, as the first time you meet a person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I approach a dog for the first time?  What body language is the dog looking for and what does it mean to them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T18:31:18.487" Title="How to approach a dog for the first time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="5999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5998" CreationDate="2014-08-03T10:09:38.293" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I was taught is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Approach at a moderately slow pace, a bit slower than a walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No loud sounds, no teeth, just approach 'naturally'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place your hand out in a loose fist or fingers pointing down, so the back of the palm is facing the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the hand towards the dog's mouth/nose so he/she can sniff you out. Fingers down or curled will protect them from being nipped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog seems to get nasty you can walk back and away&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Otherwise let the dog sniff/lick/muzzle further and give a few scratches under the chin or behind the ears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasoning behind this method is you assume the dog is slightly afraid and you want to approach in a non-aggressive, non-combative manner, building enough trust for touch to occur and trust to be established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T10:09:38.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6033" CreationDate="2014-08-03T20:37:35.950" Score="7" ViewCount="1770" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am debating when to neuter my male cat and I wonder if waiting until after he's mated with my female cat would be best for both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/06/26/early-neutering-effects.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;I found this study&lt;/a&gt; that suggests that because the hormones play such an important role in a cat's development, spaying/neutering can be detrimental, and even increase the risks of some illnesses (such as cancer in female cats that were spayed without being bred first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The UC Davis study was undertaken, according to the researchers,&#xA;  because “Given the importance of gonadal hormones in growth and&#xA;  development, this cultural contrast invites an analysis of the&#xA;  multiple organ systems that may be adversely affected by neutering.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true, and should I wait until my cats have mated once before having them spayed/neutered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uBkJy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2765" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:20:36.983" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:49:30.027" Title="Is it healthier for a cat to breed before being spayed or neutered?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1848" CreationDate="2014-08-03T20:47:56.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I researched and found out that neutering while they are too young may deprive them of important hormones and affect health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/06/26/early-neutering-effects.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/06/26/early-neutering-effects.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The UC Davis study was undertaken, according to the researchers, because “Given the importance of gonadal hormones in growth and development, this cultural contrast invites an analysis of the multiple organ systems that may be adversely affected by neutering.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/jintile/2013/aug/what-causes-cancer-in-cats-and-dogs-30787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/jintile/2013/aug/what-causes-cancer-in-cats-and-dogs-30787&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2765" LastActivityDate="2014-08-03T20:47:56.870" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T20:48:57.083" Score="8" ViewCount="616" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching my rabbit eating her greens today, and I began to wonder when she swallows her food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats the whole leaf, but does she swallow her food while she is still chewing on the leaf, or does she keep everything in her mouth until she finishes chewing on the leaf, and then swallow it all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:04:20.207" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T17:59:26.793" Title="When Do Rabbits Swallow Food" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6006" CreationDate="2014-08-03T21:01:15.870" Score="4" ViewCount="528" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the mounting behavior solely hormonal, or will her scent be enough to drive him to it? Would getting a cat neutered have any effect on the behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7tRWr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2765" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-03T21:41:32.467" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T11:09:27.163" Title="Will a neutered cat continue to mount a female in heat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-03T21:07:43.693" Score="10" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I talk to my dog a fair amount more than the other people I live with, and my dog seems to listen and trust me/do what I say more than for the others and their dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering, if talking to your pets builds some sort of relationship, whether it's trust, or the whole 'leader' thing, or something else entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone else have any ideas from their experiences, or proof of one way or another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2766" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-04T00:11:58.410" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T18:01:50.363" Title="Does talking to your pet help build trust?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6007" CreationDate="2014-08-04T05:57:10.937" Score="6" ViewCount="779" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to bring my cat to the vet because he has some spots in his eyes (he had this since a long time, actually) and to do a general check-up but my cat is really really aggressive when it comes to go to the vet making the visit difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some techniques I can use to make the whole experience a lot smoother (for the cat but mostly for the vet)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2767" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T18:35:02.643" Title="How can I bring an unwilling cat to the vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6003" CreationDate="2014-08-04T11:09:27.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, no, neutering a male cat will not eliminate mounting or territorial behavior (spraying). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will, as Jeremy said in his comment, greatly reduce the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some males will not mount or spray after being neutered, others will. I've seen the whole spectrum. It seems to depend at least partially on how experienced the cat is with these behaviors - males neutered before they fully mature seem to be less likely to spray or mount than those who are neutered after maturity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T11:09:27.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6005" CreationDate="2014-08-04T11:30:06.980" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is almost certainly a fear reaction, not &quot;aggression&quot;. Cats tend to find vet surgeries extremely stressful, frightening places. I had one who was so bad my husband and I simply didn't take her unless it was an emergency: she had to be sedated to be examined. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things you can do that will help: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;notify the vet in advance&lt;/strong&gt; that your cat tends to lash out when frightened. Most vets have procedures and equipment in place to handle frightened cats.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to schedule the first appointment of the day or at a time &lt;strong&gt;when there are no other animals there&lt;/strong&gt;. This won't always be possible, but if you can do that, it will help (and may be enough that your cat can be handled safely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have something that smells of you in the cat carrier. The familiar scent will help to reassure him (this is a relatively minor factor, but with a cat that lashes out when frightened, anything helps)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you have a carrier with extremely limited line of sight that will also help, particularly if you can't get an appointment when there are no other animals in the vet surgery (again, a relatively minor factor).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;talk to your cat the whole time. This is another minor thing, but tends to help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it also helps if you are the one holding the cat and reassuring him. This isn't always possible, but it does help. Be prepared to take some damage when you do this: a terrified cat may not distinguish between you and a stranger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T11:30:06.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6012" CreationDate="2014-08-04T12:11:29.593" Score="6" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took my cat to the vet because he seemed to be having some discomfort with using the litter box. The doctor discovered some blood in his urine and wants to do an x-ray to see what's going on. He said it is likely to be a bladder stone. The other less common problem is a bladder disease that I cannot remember the name of. The x-ray is scheduled for the end of this week (8/8/2014). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between now and then, the doctor advised me to provide him with an extra water bowl and change it more frequently. He's an indoor cat in a 2 bedroom apartment. He doesn't have far to go for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a bladder stone, what sorts of changes will I need to make for my cat (diet, exercise, etc). He is approximately 5 years old and we got him at a shelter. Should I expect surgery of any kind? Does anyone know the approximate costs associated with this condition? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T12:58:43.487" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T12:58:43.487" Title="My cat might have a bladder stone. What can I expect?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6016" CreationDate="2014-08-04T12:34:14.220" Score="12" ViewCount="23112" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 3 month old puppy who is 50% Anatolian Shepherd and 50% unknown (though we suspect some bloodhound).  She is very gentle at playing, loves meeting and playing with new people, and has never had any sort of aggression problem.  We had a new person over our house just the other day and she wanted nothing more than to sniff around them and get pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take her out each morning before work to 'go'.  However, our neighborhood can be somewhat busy.  When a jogger is running by, or a neighbor is getting into their car, she begins to 'ruff' at them, and it sometimes turns into a full bark.  I take her out relatively early, and am already on shaky ground with the neighbors for unrelated reasons, so I'd rather not have my dog waking them up every morning.  This also sometimes causes her to forget about going potty making accidents more likely.  And, of course, I want her to be happy and comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on her personality, I assume that she just wants to meet and play with these people.  Her body language is alert, but doesn't seem scared.  And this makes me sad as its working contrary to her desires (the barking makes people not want to come meet her).  However, this is my first dog and I know when to admit my own ignorance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read one website that suggested she may be trying to warn me, and to praise her and then give her the command 'stop barking', then if she barks again yell at her to startle her and use negative association to teach the command.  However, this doesn't 'feel right' to me, and yelling at her is not necessarily realistic either outside (where it will wake neighbors) or in (where the rest of the family is sleeping).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is likely causing her barking, and how can I get her to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2638" LastEditorUserId="2606" LastEditDate="2014-08-04T16:06:12.810" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T14:00:17.320" Title="How do I stop my dog from barking at random strangers" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5993" CreationDate="2014-08-04T17:26:49.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably boil the chicken for a couple reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the off-chance there are parasites, cooking it should kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Raw chicken can carry &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;. I'm honestly not sure how much of a risk &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning is to turtles, but since they can carry &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; as well, you could increase the number of bacteria on your turtle and in the tank. Which also might not be too much of a problem provided you regularly wash your hand after you handle your turtle or touch the tank water. Here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellachicken/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC article on chicken and &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning&lt;/a&gt;) for reference.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You would be able to boil off most of the fat, meaning less fat that your turtle eats. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, if you're finding that the food clouds up your water a bit, that might be the egg yolk breaking up. In that case you could possible try using the egg white as the binding material instead. The egg white doesn't have as much protein as the yolk, but I don't think it will matter since you're also including chicken. There's  also an alternative to gelatin that's made from seaweed called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-agaragar-136767&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;agar&lt;/a&gt; that might be worth looking out for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also use the egg shells, ground up to a powder, to give a bit of a calcium boost to the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I'd say it looks like you have a pretty good balance going of fresh and commercial food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:41:16.663" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:41:16.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2014-08-04T18:53:01.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had really good results using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00D00MXZ2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;carPET Scratch Stoppers&lt;/a&gt; in doorways and under doors. My cats still scratch at other places on occasion (which I hope to stop), but it at least prevents the bald spots by my doors from getting any worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ODjf2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;carPET Scratch Stopper&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2768" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-04T21:36:13.443" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T21:36:13.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6008" CreationDate="2014-08-04T21:56:02.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this point, without knowing what stone(s) have formed, it's pretty hard to answer and cost, well, is entirely regional to be honest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, a lot of people don't realize this, but there 10 different kinds of stones that can form in the urinary tract and the type is based on the chemical composition. Since this is about cats, I'll comment on the two types common to felines because expectations and resolutions differ a little:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Calcium Oxalate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the most common types in cats and, unfortunately, the cause of formation is unknown. As a consequence, non-surgical treatment isn't really an option. So, expect surgical intervention as likely if the circumstances warrant it. Afterwards, there are diets that can be constructed to help reduce incidences of this type of stone and you'll want to do this because recurrence is not uncommon. Increased water intake is also desirable and often a problem doing with cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Struvite&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not as common as magnesium (one of the molecules in the composition) is often already reduced in feline diets thus lowering incidences. At any rate, the management of this is about getting the acidity level of the urine increased and further reducing the amount of magnesium in the diet so that the body starts to dissolve the stones. So, aside from the food change, you're also looking at frequent check-ups with the vet to ensure the stones are dissolving and that the diagnosis of the stone type was correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Others...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are pretty uncommon in cats and the treatment is basically surgical. They sufficiently rare that there hasn't really been much research into treatment options for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-08-04T21:56:02.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6013" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T00:49:10.457" Score="8" ViewCount="4580" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my bunny runs around the house, I sometimes see her twitch her tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she trying to perhaps wag her tail like a dog, or does this happen for some other reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T21:32:45.660" Title="Why Does My Bunny Twitch Her Tail" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T00:56:19.210" Score="4" ViewCount="4035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently own a year old cat, Mickey. He is a Siamese Tabby mix and he has always been a very high strung, hyper type of cat (even after we had him fixed). But every time I try to play with him with a feathered or fluffy toy he goes straight into attack mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a normal thing for all cats because it is their hunting instinct. But when I try to approach him when he is playing with a life-like toy he will hiss at me, and he will not stop growling. Does anyone know why he does this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2769" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T15:24:40.133" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T20:05:43.257" Title="Why is my cat growling/hissing at me when I try to play with him or take his toy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11243" CreationDate="2014-08-05T02:33:45.150" Score="4" ViewCount="13328" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two dogs - a four year old male and a 2 year old female, same breed and roughly same size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had the 2 year old for a few weeks now.  So far the two dogs are getting along well.  They play a lot and they've only been in a few fights that were mostly our fault for not paying enough attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, the male dog started grabbing the female's tail, while they are running chasing each other.  He uses her tail to bring her to the ground.  When the female goes down, she still does not show signs that he doesn't want to play, but we are wondering if this should be acceptable behavior.  I have never heard of dogs biting another dog's tail while running/chasing and using it to bring the other dog down. I recorded a video of that &lt;a href=&quot;https://vimeo.com/102687098&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; in the first few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not good to allow a dog to do this, how can we train the male to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-08-06T04:28:36.183" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T04:09:41.223" Title="Is it normal for a dog to grab another dog's tail while playing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6009" CreationDate="2014-08-05T04:36:57.393" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I disagree with the training method that the website you found provided. I have barking issues with my current dog, and when talking to the trainer about it, the following was suggested (I have an article, maybe I can try and find it later). For now I'll write a little pseudo-article below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Positively Correcting &amp;quot;Random Barking&amp;quot; in Dogs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correcting a dog's barking tendencies is often hard. A lot of times,&#xA;people try to yell, talk, or comfort their dog when he barks.&#xA;Typically, all three of these are surprisingly &lt;em&gt;counterproductive&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;Dogs feed on attention; it doesn't matter what kind. If they learn&#xA;that barking gets them any kind of attention, they might as well not&#xA;stop. Follow the steps below to learn how to positively correct your&#xA;dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, choose a silent command. A lot of people start off by yelling &amp;quot;hush&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;no bark&amp;quot; at their dog, and now their dog is used to&#xA;this command, making it useless. &lt;strong&gt;Choose a different command&lt;/strong&gt; in&#xA;this case. You may choose &amp;quot;silence&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;attention.&amp;quot; If neither of&#xA;those resonate, go with a second language -- just don't use something&#xA;you've already used over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Teach this command to your dog randomly throughout the day by saying the command and giving them a treat. Nothing more. Simply say&#xA;the command, feed the treat. Do this numerous times in one hour, take&#xA;a break, do it again, etc... When your dog gets to the point where you&#xA;can say the command from one room and he perks his ears up and looks&#xA;at you, waiting for the treat from the room next door, do it &lt;em&gt;at&#xA;least&lt;/em&gt; for a few more hours. This gets him really, really used to it.&#xA;Then move onto the next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Begin saying the command when he barks. However, &lt;strong&gt;do this only in minor situations&lt;/strong&gt;. If you're in the house and he randomly lets out&#xA;one bark, immediately say the command and give him a treat when he&#xA;looks at you. Repeat this over the course of a few days. Once he gets&#xA;it, move onto the next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now say the commands in more heavy situations. Try it when he sees a squirrel or if somebody is at the door. If it's working, you may&#xA;begin trying to use it on a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a long, long, long time of doing this, he shouldn't be barking as much and all should be calm again in the neighborhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important part of this method is to &lt;strong&gt;always give him the&#xA;treats&lt;/strong&gt;. Never use the command if you don't have treats until after&#xA;step 5. You can't expect him to listen if you don't have treats. Once&#xA;he's well-rounded, knows not to bark, and knows the command, you can&#xA;say it without treats. But this won't be for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, I suggest getting her acquainted with a few neighbors. On a weekend maybe, take her on a walk and introduce her to neighbors you normally see in the morning. Explain that she's extremely happy and excited to see everybody, but sometimes she replaces the excitement with barking, which is obnoxious. You can suggest that in order to help you out, since she's met the neighbors and knows that they're cool, &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; she begins barking at them, they do a little wave and say hi (not necessarily coming over, but greeting her from a distance, letting her know they're friends). It's important to do this before she barks, as once she starts barking, she may associate barking with getting greeted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, tell me how this sounds and leave questions; some of it may sound confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T18:18:12.520" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-05T13:26:17.170" Score="3" ViewCount="641" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently moved into a new house with our 2 cats. On the day of the move, as we know it was traumatic for them, we lock them in a room for the day. Once it all had settled down we locked all the windows and doors on the house and allowed them to explore their new environment. For the next month we had our 2 cats locked in the house so that they could get used to all the new smells (and as I was scared they would run away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 1 cat however never became accustomed to her new surroundings at all. She was always hiding under the bed or in the cupboard, until we eventually took the risk and decided to open the windows and doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now runs and hides in the stormwater drain across the street from the house, and refuses to come out during the day. She will only come out at night (6pm to 6am).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want to correct her behavior as she never was like this at the previous house, always loving and always around, be it inside or outside. But When we do lock her in the house she cries non stop wanting to go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to keep her from running and hiding across the street all day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2771" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T15:21:15.523" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T16:22:42.967" Title="What can I do to keep my cat from running away during the day?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6014" CreationDate="2014-08-05T18:30:45.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has he always done this? Do you know Mickey's past history - did he live with other cats who perhaps kept stealing his prey? Does he do this with non-lifelike toys (socks, strings)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a young cat who did the growling thing whenever he &quot;caught&quot; a lifelike toy, up until he was nearly three years old. He would growl, but not hiss, and I never tried to physically take his &quot;prey&quot; away. Eventually he stopped the growling (but I never did try to take his prey away, when he had it in his mouth or had his paw on it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mickey's behavior sounds like he may have a history of someone (or another animal) repeatedly infringing on his territory and taking his prey/toy. I remember a neighbor's dog acting that way when the son would get too close when the poor dog was trying to eat, because the son had a history of taking the dog's food away and playing &quot;keepaway.&quot; (This was not a nice-to-pets kid.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my guess - only my guess, based on conjecture from seeing other animals who act this way - that Mickey may take years to outgrow this behavior, or to learn that you (or someone else) isn't going to take his prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever Mickey grabs one of his toys and starts growling, lower your hands and tell him what a good hunter he is. Just keep that up until he stops growling - then pet him and praise him again. Do not try to take the toy away. See if he's still in the mood to play by getting another toy and lightly tossing it from hand to hand. If he drops Toy A and looks ready to play, throw Toy B. Repeat until he's done playing, always praising him but never making a move to take whatever toy(s) he has in his mouth or under his body. (This may require buying a few multi-packs of toys.) Eventually, he'll realize that you are truly playing with him, and aren't going to take his toy. He may get to the point of bringing one of his toys to you and dropping it so that you'll throw it again (all of my cats have done this, including the feral-returned-two-times-before-I-adopted-her rescue kitty.) But he has to learn to trust you, and that can take some time for any cat, let alone a higher-strung cat like Mickey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastEditorDisplayName="user2505" LastEditDate="2014-08-05T20:05:43.257" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T20:05:43.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6005" CreationDate="2014-08-05T18:35:02.643" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live, there are mobile-vet services who can and will come to your home / the animal's environment, and do basic vet things like basic checkups/diagnostics and some vaccinations. This service may cost more, but if going into the carrier stresses your cat far too much, this may be a way to get those spots identified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try calling your regular vet and ask them if there are such services in your area that they'd recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-08-05T18:35:02.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T15:45:11.727" Score="7" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;While feeding a mother and her newborn litter of piglets this morning, I noticed that most of the piglets seemed to have persistent muscle spasms, specifically on their backends. They were pretty much vibrating to different degrees. I did not have time to watch for an extended period of time, but I was there long enough that is definitely seemed like some serious condition and not them just acting weird while stretching their legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice for what this might be, and cures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2778" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-06T21:38:34.780" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T09:21:30.413" Title="What could cause muscle spasms in a litter of piglets?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T21:10:41.210" Score="6" ViewCount="1028" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I take my 2 dogs in the car, they travel in the same kennel in the backseat. My Boston Terrier is fine, but my Peke cries the whole way wherever we're going, but he's quiet on the way back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a rescue, so has had many experiences being abandoned after a car ride, which is why I think he's crying, but I'd like to know how to get him to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your responses.  Just so you know, Peke's name is 'Bao' (to honor his Chinese ancestry) and terrier's name is Lexi.  They both 'kennel up' on their own for treats in their kennels each work day and all night, so they're not only in them for a 'ride in the car,' which they get very excited about.  Lexi's kennel is a little smaller so they ride in  Bao's, and Bao's fine on the way home, which is why I don't think it's the 'random bounce' thing he's crying about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a long car trip coming up, so will probably need my friend to help out.  Usually I'm driving by myself to someone else's place so can't reward with treats, just verbally try ignoring, reassuring, opening their window, playing music, whatever, but he's more persistent and loud than I am patient, which I expect is a problem with most pet owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been crying in the car for the 2 1/2 years that I've had him so I was thinking maybe this time we'd stop periodically and take them out to shake it off and then reduce the times between stops.  I have a hard time ignoring him for 20 minutes, not sure how 8 hours would go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastEditorUserId="2780" LastEditDate="2014-08-08T06:44:54.633" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T04:29:26.527" Title="How can I keep my dog from crying when he's kenneled in the car?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T21:26:14.230" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some Selenium Yeast to feed to my pigs and help solve deficiencies. But it doesn't come with instructions on how much I should give them. How can I tell the proper dosage for the pigs and how should I administer it to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2778" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-06T21:36:02.253" LastActivityDate="2014-08-06T21:36:02.253" Title="How can I tell the proper dosage of Selenium Yeast for a young pig?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6052" CreationDate="2014-08-06T21:35:28.550" Score="2" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a miniature Schnauzer, who is 4 years old and in good health, but a couple days ago I noticed that his right eye is bluish and the left eye is normal (dark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took two pictures to compare them with each other: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O2HmV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://imgur.com/IvNN2H0&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q9VZO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://imgur.com/3ziWe2w&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set up an appointment with a veterinarian, but in my city I was only able to get an appointment for Saturday, and I'm worried about his situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something I worry about? Does it look like a cataracts disease, or maybe an eye injury?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could cause his eye to be blue, and what can I do before his appointment with the veterinarian this weekend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2781" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:27:30.613" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T15:04:32.620" Title="What could be the reason for my Schnauzer having a bluish eye?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-06T23:47:00.973" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1490/how-do-i-get-my-dachshund-to-be-interested-in-toys&quot;&gt;a dog&lt;/a&gt; who wants to chase bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can take a bone and wave it in front of her and state, &quot;Who's got the bone?&quot; and she will yip and run after it if I throw it.  A bone is the ONLY thing she ever goes after.  She will pick it up, move it to somewhere near me, but not within reach, and chew on it for a minute.  Then she will leave it where it is and come to my side for another round of &quot;Who's got the bone?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to teach her to fetch the bone and bring it back and I plan to reward her when she does.  Unfortunately, she smells the treats so she won't leave me alone when &quot;Who's got the bone&quot; is played.  She gets excited, but doesn't run.  I've tried walking over to the thrown bone with her and leaving a piece of treat, but she doesn't seem to &quot;get it&quot;.  What am I doing wrong?  The dog plays nothing else and has shown no interest in any other toys or activities (beyond sleeping in the direct sun and rolling onto her back for tummy rubs) ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T10:36:14.877" Title="How can I teach my dog to play fetch if she won't leave my side because she smells the reward treats?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6036" CreationDate="2014-08-07T01:37:22.283" Score="4" ViewCount="3891" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I start playing with my rabbit (or other rabbits) I always see them twitch their nose. Mine usually does this whenever I start talking to her. Is this their way of communicating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T21:17:07.563" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T23:17:09.660" Title="Why do rabbits wiggle their noses?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6024" CreationDate="2014-08-07T01:40:19.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Car rides can be scary for dogs because all the &quot;random&quot; bumps, turns can make them feel very out of control. How is he in the crate outside of the car? I would start working on building value and love for being in a steady crate. Remember for value to transfer you need to give the reward AFTER he does the good behavior. Throwing a treat into a crate will get him to go in, but it won't make going in inherently exciting as throwing a treat into the crate after he goes in on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he's excited about the crate, you can try make the crate move a little bit. Tilt it up and down or left and right while he's in it, or put the crate on some pillows or other uneven surface and reward him for being in the crate. This will help him get used to the crate not always being perfectly still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fun game that focuses on getting him used to random movement is teaching him to get in a wheelbarrow and then pushing him around. Reward for calm behavior with treats, tugging, or letting him jump out and run around. Start off slow by just rewarding getting in, and gradually build up &quot;ride&quot; duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also work on building value for being in the crate in the car without the car moving. Once you start driving, it helps to have someone else in the car to reward any calm behavior. Don't be afraid to reward your other dog too! If Peke sees that the other dog is getting treats for being calm, he might try doing the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help him get over fear of abandonment, you can try taking lots of very short trips around the block, or simply putting him in the car, sitting there for a moment and then going back in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T01:40:19.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17625" CreationDate="2014-08-07T12:21:19.357" Score="6" ViewCount="827" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our puppy  is now 9 months old and doing sooooo much better than he was previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then just to test him, we have two young kids, 6 and 8 who are staying with us for an indeterminate period. Long story, and kind of beside the point. The point is, suddenly there's a six year old who really wants to love the dog. And the dog wants to be left alone. The kids are good about boundaries and following directions. They make him love letters (&quot;I love you dog!&quot;) and leave them in the dogs area so he will know they love him even if he doesn't want to be touched. But they really want contact with him and Bear won't even take a treat from them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The really challenging thing is that he's so nervous around them that he won't pee on walks. I have to bring the kids on walks because I can't leave them alone in the house (too young!) but then he doesn't urinate and then he winds up having accidents inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there good ways to help my dog get comfortable with these fast moving little people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T23:24:39.617" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T15:55:49.513" Title="Can I make my dog comfortable around children?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-07T13:36:58.653" Score="12" ViewCount="15999" Body="&lt;p&gt;A neighbourhood dog that's gotten friendly comes over to visit us occasionally. He really loves playing fetch, and gets really excited if he sees me playing with a tennis ball. There's only one problem - he refuses to drop the ball, and won't release it even when I try to pull it from his mouth. He'll bring it to me, sit when I tell him to, but won't let go no matter what I say. He's an intelligent dog but doesn't seem to understand what I want him to do here. The only way I've found to get him to give up the ball is to throw a 2nd ball for him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2783" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-08-25T15:54:44.563" LastActivityDate="2020-02-15T07:04:10.353" Title="How do I train a dog to drop the ball after fetching?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-07T16:08:24.657" Score="6" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have there ever been conducted tests on how fast dogs digest various foods? That is, to determine the glycemic load of various foods with respect to dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T19:36:52.507" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T19:36:52.507" Title="Glycemic load for foods with respect to dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6000" CreationDate="2014-08-07T17:12:32.700" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it says on that site,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Golden Retriever findings can’t be generalized to other breeds, or&#xA;  dogs in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each dog breed has its own set of health risks, so I wouldn't try to extrapolate to cats. Second, that site only suggests delaying the age at which Golden Retrievers are neutered/spayed. I don't think they're suggesting that the dogs be mated once first, just that neutering/spaying should be delayed. Furthermore, this is just one study. The site mentions a &quot;growing body of evidence&quot;, but doesn't reference any other studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if it is true that early spaying/neutering involves some health risks, you need to balance that against the health risks of pregnancy, or being hit by a car because they stray too far from home to answer a &quot;booty call&quot;, or injured in a fight between toms. Maybe you'll keep your cats indoors to prevent pregnancy, but they only need to escape once! Plus, I seem to recall there are some health risks associated with a female cat going into heat several times without being serviced. And don't overlook the practical side of things -- do you want to live with a yowling cat for days on end, or the urine sprayed everywhere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I adore cats, but the last thing the world needs is more of them. Even if you find good homes for all of the kittens that your cats might produce, that just means fewer homes for all of the other unwanted cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still concerned about this, ask your vet's advice about the best age to neuter/spay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: More info, from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/top-10-reasons-spay-or-neuter-your-pet&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, which is&#xA;  fatal in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Spaying your&#xA;  pet before her first heat offers the best protection from these&#xA;  diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neutering provides major health benefits for your male. Besides&#xA;  preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents&#xA;  testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/general/neutering&quot;&gt;RSPCA&lt;/a&gt; has similar advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T18:51:27.173" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T18:51:27.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6000" CreationDate="2014-08-07T21:41:58.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite the reverse.  Some cancers are increased if you let the female breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Citation: From mhwombat's answer citing the ASPCA&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, &#xA;  which is fatal in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Spaying&#xA;  your pet before her first heat offers the best protection from these&#xA;  diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neutering provides major health benefits for your male. &#xA;  Besides preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents&#xA;  testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="312" LastEditDate="2014-08-07T23:28:42.350" LastActivityDate="2014-08-07T23:28:42.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6024" CreationDate="2014-08-08T00:06:31.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ignore him... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most peoples first reaction is to go &quot;poor Peke, he's probably scared. Poor puppy. Stop crying baby. Etc... Etc...&quot; It might work with kids to get them to sleep, but this is the exact opposite of what you want to be doing with a dog. It rewards bad behavior. (In other words, don't listen to @mhwombat's comment on your original post).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet is to, like @jeffaudio said, get him used to the crate (it never really worked for me... Some people swear by it), then to ignore him once he begins making noise. It's important, though, to reward the silence in the event he stops whining. Remember to make your rewards short and obvious. Go &quot;good boy, Peke, good boy.&quot; Make sure he knows what these words mean (during another event, you can teach him by giving a treat, petting him, and giving him a toy every time you say good boy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention that you're going on an 8 hour car ride, but in the past you've only gone on 20 minute car rides. Most of the time, 20 minutes isn't enough for the ignore trick to work. But it you're really worried, and as I can see it's been 2 and 1/2 years and he still hasn't stopped, you might ask your vet for a drug to calm him down or make him rest during that period (talk this through with your vet, I'm not an expert).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per your comment on your original post where you mention that you ignore, reassure, play music, and open the windows: stop &quot;reassuring...&quot; It seems evil, but you need to ignore 100%, play music at a reasonable volume, and coast. Just pay no attention. When he stops, reward. If you could have someone treat him when he stops that'd be ideal, but make sure that there is no attention paid or given to the dog when he's being obnoxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-08-09T22:33:06.560" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T22:33:06.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6028" CreationDate="2014-08-08T01:14:18.360" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://bunniez.hubpages.com/hub/Why-Do-Rabbits-Noses-Twitch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://bunniez.hubpages.com/hub/Why-Do-Rabbits-Noses-Twitch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Experts believe that rabbits twitch their noses because twitching moves about the sensitive smelling organs in their noses and exposes them to more air. This means that they are more likely to smell a scent, even if there is very little of it in the air.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the amount of twitching seems to correlate with the amount of focus (are they afraid of something and trying to get more info? is there food coming?) the rabbit has.  As your rabbit gets use to you, it should become more relaxed around you and thus nose twitches should happen with less frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T23:17:09.660" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T23:17:09.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6037" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-08T02:59:33.187" Score="4" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;So feeding wild insects to reptiles is bad because they could carry nasty things like parasites or pesticides. But would it be safe if I caught some of them, bred them, and kept the offspring separate from the wild caught crickets? I would imagine that would be enough to get rid of the risk of pesticides, but would it get rid of parasites? Are there other risks  that can be passed on from the crickets to their eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T17:01:34.143" Title="Would it be safe to use the offspring of wild crickets as food?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-08T08:17:36.787" Score="6" ViewCount="15544" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My dog:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sex: Female &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breed: Chihuahua/French Poodle &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age: 9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Had surgery for a breast tumor a year and a half ago. No further sign of tumors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previous Location:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mother's home&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 bedrooms (3 residents)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Well water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large yard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current Location:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rental House&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 bedroom (6 residents)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;City Water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Backyard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have lived with my dog for her entire life  with the exception of the past two years, when I went across state to attend college, during this time, my mother and sister had been watching her.  I am the person she has always preferred to  come to for food, to play or to go walking with, even during the time that I was visiting and not living there. I have recently moved to a location near my college that allows dogs.  However I've noticed my dog has had issues adjusting&#xA;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Issue:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first day (about two weeks ago) she was scared, as I expected she&#xA;might be moving to a new home, and since we've moved in I have done&#xA;everything I can to help her adjust.  She always has food and water&#xA;available to her in my room, I take her for a walk once a day in the&#xA;nearby park, and I take her to the backyard whenever she needs to do&#xA;her business or wants to play.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am currently not employed and in between semesters so I don't leave the house much or for very long, but when I do she begins to&#xA;howl while I'm away. I've tried leaving her in my room with food,&#xA;water and toys, and I've also tried letting her roam the house while&#xA;I'm away but she insists on howling. My roommates say she goes&#xA;around the house as though she is looking for me even though she saw&#xA;me walk out the front door. I figure that she thinks I've left for a&#xA;long period of time since the most she's seen of me the past two&#xA;years is when I would visit once every month or two for a week. I am&#xA;not sure how to handle her separation anxiety. Suggestions or&#xA;insight would be appreciated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just this week I have noticed that my dog has begun to lose weight, it hasn't become apparent visually but I've noticed when I pet her&#xA;and I'm becoming concerned. I want to stop it before it becomes a&#xA;problem. I have read that weight loss in dogs can be linked to&#xA;stress, right now that is what I believe it is, but I know I could&#xA;be wrong and I'm wondering what other things weight loss is a&#xA;symptom of. Either way, I do not know what to do about this. I am&#xA;planning on taking her to a vet this week, but for now I plan on&#xA;feeding her some pasta without butter or sauce. Again, suggestions&#xA;or insight are welcome.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My dog is becoming less interested in playing. She has not been playing with the toys that she had always used to play (stuffed&#xA;animal dog toy, fake bone, chasing the laser pointer).  She still&#xA;loves going for walks though.  Not sure what to think of this. Not&#xA;sure if it is stress related. Suggestions or insight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Current Plan:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, I plan on taking her to the vet this week with these questions.  I plan on getting her on worm medication, just in case. And I plan on taking her on two walks a day instead of one since she doesn't want to play with toys anymore.  If anymore information is needed or might help, I will gladly provide it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2789" LastEditorUserId="523" LastEditDate="2014-08-08T22:56:00.190" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T07:47:34.450" Title="How do I help my dog adjust after moving?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6039" CreationDate="2014-08-08T18:35:57.993" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this same issue with our dog.  It sounds like separation anxiety.  We solved the issue by using counter conditioning.  Basically, you want to make the thing she fears (your leaving) associated with something she loves.  For our dog, it was a treat in a Kong.  It takes our dog about 20 minutes to get the treat out of a Kong.  When we left, we gave her the Kong with a treat in it.  After a while, she associated our leaving with getting the treat in a Kong.  She still doesn't prefer that we go, but now when we do, she gets excited for her treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not an overnight fix.  You may want to take a few smaller trips as well so that she learns that you will come back and it will help get the association with the thing she loves established as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2791" LastActivityDate="2014-08-08T18:35:57.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6039" CreationDate="2014-08-09T07:47:34.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer about using a Kong is good. Since you have the time to do this now it is best if you follow a specific routine when leaving and always leave her in the same area. Using a crate is best because it provides her with a clear answer of where to be and what to do while you are away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put her the crate with the Kong full of goodies or a fresh butcher bone and leave the room for a couple minutes. As soon as you hear her settle down and start chewing give her a minute then go back in the room, let her out of the crate and put the chew toy/bone away for next time. Repeat this several times a day gradually leaving her for longer periods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this does is gives her the answer for how this new home works. She doesn't have to worry that you are gone because you always come back to let her out of the crate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure that you do NOT make a big deal about leaving or coming back. Making a bunch of excited noises just gets her riled up and anxious. When you come back in yo let her out just open the crate and go about your business. When she settles down then give her a nice calm cuddle so she understands that you want her to be calm and comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extra exercise will really help too. A tired dog is a happy healthy dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-08-09T07:47:34.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-09T11:43:22.827" Score="9" ViewCount="1567" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent answer stated that egg shell can be crushed and used as a calcium supplement in Do-it-yourself food. This got me relating it to crushed coral, which is commonly used as a substrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've crushed one egg shell and I noticed they get very fine, and have a nice bright white color, they also are denser than water and so they sink down, as a substrate should. Not that I'd go through the elaborate trouble of crushing a big number of egg shells to make a substrate from them, perhaps industrially it'd be a good idea, since they're cheap and perhaps non-toxic paint can be applied for decoration. This is all basically theoretical, though it might be already applied without my knowledge. This also is a solution for pets that are known to swallow substrate and can be used as a mean of avoiding impaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to use egg shell as a substrate for aquariums and terrariums?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:42:45.243" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T14:48:41.003" Title="Can crushed egg shell be used as a substrate for aquariums and terrariums?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6043" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6055" CreationDate="2014-08-09T18:38:51.750" Score="4" ViewCount="2334" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is really used to people, and doesn't like other rabbits, so she is the only one I have. Before I went on vacation I made sure that she was brushed really well. We took her to my friend's house where she was getting all the care that was needed, as well as the communication with people. We figured that if we left her alone, she would just get depressed. However, when we came back she was shedding like crazy, even though she wasn't at all before we left. Can rabbits lose fur when they are stressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:04:33.097" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T09:28:57.360" Title="Can rabbits lose fur when stressed?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6024" CreationDate="2014-08-10T04:29:26.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since no one else has mentioned it: Cover the kennel with a sheet or towel.  The reduced sensory input helps to calm most dogs (and other animals as well).  Don't wrap it too tight - make sure there's some gaps for airflow. Most dogs will lie right down and hardly make a sound until the cover is off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also find that less space is better.  For example, if I let my dog roam in the car, she gets more agitated than if confined in a kennel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I agree with the other answers.  Don't nurture a whining dog. That only reinforces the behavior and teaches them to whine more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2770" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T04:29:26.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6047" CreationDate="2014-08-10T08:54:23.450" Score="12" ViewCount="49397" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a cat from a shelter who does not seem to want to be picked up.  She loves being petted on the head and scratched at the base of the tail but dislikes contact with the rest of her body.  Even maneuvering my hands into position for picking her up will cause her to dodge out of the way.  I don't want to be too aggressive in my attempts because she would probably not be above giving a warning bite if mishandled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on how I can accustom her to being picked up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T12:08:37.720" Title="How can I get my cat used to being picked up?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-10T10:20:27.183" Score="4" ViewCount="1070" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Backstory:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complete pet newbie here, so bear with me please. A good friend of mine has a bearded dragon and asked me to look after it for a couple days while he was out of town. I'm the type of person that likes to approach any situation armed with as much knowledge as possible, so naturally I did some reading on bearded dragons. I've never owned any pets before and had never had much desire to, but I found that I enjoyed just watching his bearded dragon eat and ... glare at everything. A bit more research later and I discovered that lizards and other reptiles are relatively low maintenance, compared to say, a dog or cat. Which brings me to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Plan:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm seriously considering getting a small- to medium-sized lizard, and building a habitat for it (I'm a semi-pro craftsman). I have a limited amount of wall space in my house to put a vivarium up against, so I was considering a floor-to-ceiling design, with live plants inside. The dimensions of the enclosure I'm envisioning would be about 36&quot; wide, 26&quot; deep, and 72&quot; tall, with some amount of soil at the bottom. The 72&quot; height would probably be from the &quot;ground&quot;, so the overall height might be closer to 84-86&quot;. By keeping the depth to 26&quot; overall it should fit through any doorway. In terms of reptile species, I had looked at the Emerald Swift and I like it, and preliminary reading suggests they like to climb things, but I'm open to other possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a formula for calculating how many gallons the enclosure should be based on the length/size of the reptile?  Or, is this different for each species?  How does being vertically-oriented affect the &quot;usable&quot; space?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2794" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:33:15.077" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:33:15.077" Title="How do you calculate the terrarium size needed for a lizard?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2014-08-10T16:39:10.690" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats do not like being picked up and will not allow it ever. It may be that they had a bad experience early in their lives (someone picked them up and did not support them or did something bad to them), or it may be that they are just uncomfortable not having solid ground under their paws. So, first, accept that you may never be able to pick up your cat at will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep in mind that if you just recently adopted her, she may not know you well enough to trust you yet, and she may naturally allow it once she trusts you more. In my experience, it generally takes 6-18 months for an adult cat to settle into a new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, sometimes you can ease into it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, find some kind of suitable reward that your cat loves. For some cats that's a specific treat, for other cats petting and affection will work. Sometimes, it's worthwhile to establish a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clickertraining.com/cat-training&quot;&gt;clicker training program&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a good reward system established, then just take it slowly step by step and reward your cat at every step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If putting your hands in position to pick her up spooks her, try putting one hand in position. If she allows that, then give her the reward. Switch hands until she's comfortable with either hand, then try both hands (again, rewarding her each time). Once she's comfortable with both hands, don't pick her up, just lift a small amount of weight off her paws and reward her for that. The goal is to take tiny, incremental steps that she's comfortable with and give her lots of praise and rewards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each training session should be short (10-15 minutes). This is a marathon, not a sprint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're able to pick her up, keep your hands soft and don't restrain her. If she wants to leave, let her. You don't want to wrestle with a cat to hold onto her, you want her to trust you enough to want to hang out with you. If she knows she can leave at any time, she will gradually learn to trust you more and not want to leave immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-10T16:39:10.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6057" CreationDate="2014-08-11T00:52:43.957" Score="12" ViewCount="146041" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had ants last summer. They came in through the kitchen and a wall near the kitchen. We caulked it up so they couldn't get in, and the problem was solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This summer, we've had ants again. They primarily come in between the areas we caulked last summer (can't get to it with the caulk gun because of the radiator), and go after the cats' food. We've taken to only putting their bowls on the floor while we feed them, and then taking them away. This generally reduces the ants, but if we go away for a weekend and have to leave some food out, we get a lot of ants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've read/been told that poison (especially poison the ants will take back to their nest) is really effective, but we're concerned about using such a solution in our apartment because our cats like to cause trouble and get into things, and we don't want them playing with any poison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is an effective, cat-safe way to get rid of ants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="326" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-11T13:57:08.667" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T11:52:10.937" Title="Is there a way of getting rid of ants that's safe for my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2014-08-11T02:07:42.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very old house and ants have thousands of ways to get in, so I've tried many different poisons. The most effective poison I've discovered is Indoxacarb (active ingredient name). It's in a gel-type poison made by DuPont under the trade name Advion Ant Gel. I use a lima-bean sized dollop on a piece of cardboard, and place several of these in the path where ants are already traveling. It destroys the infestation in about 1.5-2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if linking is allowed but this is the product: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004NS0HT4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Argentine-Carpenter-Cornfield-Harvester-Pavement/dp/B004NS0HT4/ref=pd_sim_lg_5?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;refRID=1EKWCGNY5EDRSNGNSH05&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2794" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T02:07:42.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6026" CreationDate="2014-08-11T03:16:18.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a veterinarian ophthalmologist at an emergency clinic. And the news is not so good. My baby has an hereditary cataracts, and apparently sees only shadows in the right eye. And the prognostic is attacking the left eye also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet advised a surgery to remove the cataracts as soon as possible, and after put a lens to see properly again. In the next days I will do an evaluation for surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a little afraid. But I believe everything will be alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2781" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T03:16:18.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6241" CreationDate="2014-08-11T11:39:45.783" Score="9" ViewCount="6725" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm outside and my dog poops, I'm obliged to clean it up. My dog sees me do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the effect of this. Will the dog think this is a dominant act or a submissive act, or just ignore it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an alternative to this? (as in: cleaning up the poo in a dominant way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="923" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:17:33.030" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:17:33.030" Title="What's the effect of a dog watching you clean up his poo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5845" CreationDate="2014-08-11T12:54:29.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;During my last visit, I brought this up with my vet. He said that dogs have a natural &quot;gag reflex&quot;, so that when their stomachs get too full, they can gag back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said that the best way to combat this &quot;problem&quot; was to control the amount of water the dog gets at one time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="973" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T12:54:29.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6043" CreationDate="2014-08-11T13:35:51.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits molt.  Usually with seasonal change, but if you took your rabbit out of a climate controlled area (like your home) and into the warm or cool air outside, even for just a short time, that can trigger a molt.  This is a mechanism your rabbit uses to help keep warm or cool depending on the need.  I would not worry too much about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your question, my answer is almost assuredly yes.  It is County and State Fair time in the midwestern United States.  That means we are showing our rabbits quite a bit.  And this weekend when I picked up a rabbit, that has won Best of Breed several times in the last few months, to put her on the table, her hair literally poofed up.  Her beautiful shiny black coat was gone in an instant, replaced by patchy and dieing fur.  It is not uncommon for this to happen, rabbits can get stressed easy and even the most show hardy rabbit can have a bad day.  Usually the molt will clear up in a week or two.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can do to help is provide a supply of black oil sunflower seeds.  A tea spoon a day for week is plenty.  This is a trick that show breeders use to help a molting rabbit get back into condition quicker.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T13:35:51.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2014-08-11T13:41:55.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Much of the advice given is very similar to what I would already recommend, but I'd like to reiterate a few things and add some others that may also be helpful to you and others with dogs that have separation anxiety (which is what this is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dog that will go for walks or play with a ball / tug / etc., this can be a very good way of helping to eliminate destructive behavior. That old saying about a tired dog is completely true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preparation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you leave, make sure you've picked up all things you don't want destroyed that you can and put them out of reach. You can move toy bins, food containers, or anything to a room with a closed door. Note that this is not a replacement for training him, but it simply prevents him from destroying your stuff and creating bad habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to leave several chew toys out for him so he has something appropriate to chew. Elk Antlers, Filled Kongs, Bully Sticks are all great things to chew. You may want to observe him with these things first though to ensure he doesn't have any bad reactions and won't hurt himself on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medication&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may seriously want to look into getting him on some sort of medication such as Prozac. If he gets this worked up mentally when you leave, it won't matter if you're the best trainer in the world if he's unable to learn. You should take your dog to a vet or even better a trained behaviorist to assess his situation and come up with a plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medication is not meant to be permanent in most cases, but simply a means to get the dog into a mental state where all the work you put in is effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crating / Freedom&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be different for each dog. If you can, crating is a great option. For your dog though it sounds like he also has severe containment anxiety so crating at this time is not recommended. You can try leaving him with differing amounts of freedom and see what works best for him. Our current foster was destructive when left in a room, but not if he had access to the entire house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean you can't work on building value for making the crate a &quot;safe place.&quot; I recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;amp;product_id=1363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crate Games&lt;/a&gt; DVD to help build value into the crate. Work slowly with this leaving him in the crate alone for only a few seconds and then come back. It may be several months before you can leave him in the crate for extended amounts of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Routines and Behavior&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't make a big deal of leaving and coming back. No &quot;goodbyes&quot; or &quot;hurray I'm home!&quot; These just add to the anxiety. Some dogs prefer a routine before you leave so they can get ready, others prefer not to know. You can try both and see what works better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also work on shorter periods of alone time. Going to get the mail, take a walk without the dog, or even just going into another room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separation (and containment) anxiety are some of the hardest things to work with in a dog, but with patience and a plan, you will make progress. A certified animal behaviorist will help a lot in creating a plan specific to your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Further Reading&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/store/I-ll-Be-Home-Soon.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'll be Home Soon&lt;/em&gt; by Patricia McConnell&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T13:41:55.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2014-08-11T13:43:54.813" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you need to leave food out for longer periods of time, you can put the food bowl in a pan of water so that the ants can't reach it. Of course the pan should be small enough that the cats can eat without getting their paws wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to get rid of the ants is to remove their food source, which you have done. In addition, you could inject some sort of ant killer behind the baseboards and in other crevices. Borax is probably a good choice; it is not safe for cats in quantity (e.g. to use in a litter box), but minute amounts should not cause problems. Some people report success using soapy water, vinegar, or even catnip!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also products that contain ant bait/poison inside a plastic case, with openings big enough for an ant to get through but not a cat's paw. As I recall, these look rather like those round stick-on air freshener thingies. Assuming your cats are not in the habit of eating ants, these should work well and be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T13:43:54.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6063" CreationDate="2014-08-11T15:47:03.730" Score="4" ViewCount="1186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually use this little treats to teach my dog when he's behaving properly or when learning some trick and they work really well, he loves them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I take him outside to play (I usually take him on weekends to throw a frisbee) I want to reward him for catching the disc on the air or if he obeys when I tell him to stay. But in these cases he completely looses interest on the treats and won't eat them. The only thing in his mind is the frisbee and nothing else (it was difficult to teach him to stay and not run right away every time the disc is flying).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He obviously gets overexcited about the disc (we only let him play with it outside), but why would that make him reject the treats? I have tried to use the throwing of the disc instead as a reward, but it is much simpler to use the treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2753" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T10:30:43.340" Title="Why does my dog ignore the treats I try to give him when playing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2014-08-11T16:20:27.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's nothing too complicated, he probably just doesn't want to miss a chance to chase the frisbee.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest getting some treats that have a stronger smell, and don't require chewing (the size of your fingernail, sort of thing)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way he'll be more interested in taking the treat and swallowing it quickly, and he can keep his eye on the frisbee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="274" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T16:20:27.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2014-08-11T17:34:08.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the dog is sufficiently rewarded by the activity itself you do not need treats, which will only distract from what you're trying to train. He doesn't want it, that's a good sign that he's been rewarded enough. The idea behind training is to eventually make the dog happy with nothing more than your approval. You're getting there, don't hinder progress toward that by insisting on treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, your offering of the treat may be rewarding a behavior you don't want. No treats should ever be given to dogs jumping up and down. If your dog is so excited he's ignoring treats, he probably shouldn't be rewarded for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/dog-nutrition/How-and-When-to-Give-Healthy-Dog-Treats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/dog-nutrition/How-and-When-to-Give-Healthy-Dog-Treats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2599" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T17:34:08.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2014-08-11T21:24:28.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that ants do not like to cross cinnamon.  I have used it to keep them from getting into the house and away from food.  Then putting baits outside is a lot safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T21:24:28.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2014-08-11T21:29:31.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ant-baits I have used come in a plastic or metal container with small holes for the ants.  If a cat played with one the poison doesn't come out freely.  They would just move it around like a cat toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they chewed it up, there might be a problem.  You would have to think if your cat gnaws on random objects.  Most don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The container could be made less of a potential toy by securing it to the sideboard or floor with tape so that it won't move like prey when poked with a paw.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T21:29:31.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2014-08-11T22:52:39.350" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a dog is too excited by something (either positive or negative) he may refuse a treat that he would normally accept. You can think about it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You're walking down the street and see a quarter. You might bend down&#xA;  and pick it up. But what if you also see a $100 bill a few feet down the road? You're much&#xA;  less likely to pick that quarter up. At this point for you&#xA;  it's essentially lost its value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same thing is happening with your dog and the frisbee. He is so excited to see the frisbee that he simply doesn't care about the treat anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are you to do? First, remember that you already have a frisbee which you can use to reward his actions and has a very high value for him. You can use it by asking for the behavior and rewarding by giving him permission to play a game of frisbee. Sometimes though that may not be feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can do is increase the value of the treat and show your dog he can't get the frisbee &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; he gets the treat first. Let him cool off a bit until he's mentally willing to get the treat. As soon as he does, let him go get the frisbee. Eventually you'll have a dog willing to work for both treats AND frisbees!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-11T22:52:39.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6071" CreationDate="2014-08-12T02:27:51.853" Score="5" ViewCount="13038" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seriously, the dog is incapable of rolling on his back without sneezing. He's typically laying on his back to try and get his tummy rubbed, at which point he will usually sneeze in the face of the innocent person who tried to help him out. Even if no one is around he'll sneeze though. Doesn't matter if he's been playing/breathing hard, or is completely relaxed. He sneezes and then won't stop until he turns his head the right-side up. He doesn't appear to enjoy the sneezing, but he'll still lay there on his back for four or five sneezes, typically until he sneezes so hard he falls over and stands up on his own. He hasn't put together the back=sneezing connection yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone know what causes this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:04:50.223" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T21:16:01.127" Title="Why does my dog sneeze when he lies on his back for more than a few seconds" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2014-08-12T10:30:43.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that it is the dog who decides what's a reward, what's not or what's a punishment. So in your case he chose that the best reward is catching the frisbee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about it and use it to teach him new tricks: sit and stay until I release you and you go catch the frisbee, heel, or any other trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T10:30:43.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6074" CreationDate="2014-08-12T17:36:46.913" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that rabbits are supposed to get a variety of greens in their diet, however, my rabbit only eats dandelions. We have tried to give her parsley, and no matter what, she just lets them sit there. Is there anything I can do to get her to eat different greens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T13:58:24.357" Title="How can I get my rabbit to eat different greens?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-12T21:25:26.533" Score="2" ViewCount="15712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to get a standard sized rabbit. It's going to be in an exercise pen most of the time; how large should the pen be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2802" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-12T21:42:46.093" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T01:39:52.293" Title="What size should an exercise pen be for a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1518" CreationDate="2014-08-12T21:31:18.663" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most communities have at least one &quot;open door&quot; or open admission shelter. This usually means they accept all lost and stray animals, regardless of breed, age or health. Many communities also have limited admission shelters which usually describe themselves as &quot;no kill&quot; because it sounds better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most no kill shelters can be no kill because they limit admission. They pick and choose which animals they allow in. They only accept easily adoptable, healthy animals of desirable breeds. They only take in as many as they have space for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Open door shelters must accept all lost and stray animals, no matter how full they are. No kill does not necessarily mean no kill. A 90% save rate is considered no kill. Some open door shelters have save rates almost this high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The save rate of community shelters depend largely on how responsible the citizens are with regard to spaying/neutering, breeding, and animal care. Most people who work in shelters do so because they care about animals. They would like to see all animals have loving homes. But someone has to be the bad guy in every community, to clean up the mess made by irresponsible pet owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2803" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-12T21:38:59.407" LastActivityDate="2014-08-12T21:38:59.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6067" CreationDate="2014-08-13T01:13:14.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a little unsure of what you mean by a standard sized rabbit. I have a dwarf rabbit, but the excercise pen that I have is meant for small dogs. I believe that if she wanted to she could easily jump over it, but she chooses not to because she has so much free room . I am not exactly sure of the size. However, there are also some excercise pens that are really small, and I don't believe it is fair to leave an animal in them. If you plan on keeping your rabbit in there most of the time, I would reccommend one that is for dogs, because they will give your rabbit plenty of free roaming space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T01:13:14.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6067" CreationDate="2014-08-13T12:49:55.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits vary in size, so actual breed would probably be helpful. However, I think you should consider a few factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can jump, some of them as much as a meter. So any fencing should consider this as a factor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You didn't say if this pen is inside or outside, but if I assume outside, consider that rabbits can dig. In that event, you want the pen fence to go into the ground a ways.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Still assuming outside, bear in mind that there are rabbit predators that strike from the air. If you cannot entirely cover the pen, you should shelter it and should have a place for the rabbit to escape to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits need some running space and are known for engaging in bursts of manic running known as the &lt;em&gt;Bunny 500&lt;/em&gt;. You want to give them some decent space to pull this off, so I would be looking at least 10 x 10 foot, but that's hard to find pre-built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bun is intended to be indoors, then consider &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; penning them. Do some room proofing, and provide a litterbox for them (they can be litter trained easily). You just need to take some precautions with chewable things like wires and cords. Doing this will allow much more interaction with a very social animal and your relationship will be more rewarding as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T12:49:55.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6064" CreationDate="2014-08-13T13:08:21.140" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs can sneeze for a number of reasons, most commonly for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Infections in the nasal passages. Seems unlikely for your pooch given that head position seems to be a factor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allergies, again seems unlikely, except that the nose up may be allowing for dust or other allergens to more readily enter. Far fetched in this respect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gum and tooth issues. This may be possible, there could draining that triggers the sneezing and sitting upright stops that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nasal blockage, some foreign object. Also a bit possible, head tilt could cause that to move back and irritate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, I think it would be a good idea to get a vet to have a look-see. It may all just be a harmless oddity, but it doesn't hurt to get it checked just in case it's an early sign. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T13:08:21.140" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6064" CreationDate="2014-08-13T13:53:02.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When he's on his back, is he looking up into a light, the bright sky, or the sun? If so, it might be a harmless &lt;a href=&quot;https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&amp;amp;uddg=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPhotic_sneeze_reflex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;photic reflex&lt;/a&gt;. This happens to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0013469496950853&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other animals&lt;/a&gt; besides humans. I don't know how common it is in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-08-13T13:53:02.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6067" CreationDate="2014-08-14T01:01:30.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By an exercise pen, I assume you mean the portable style generally sold for use with dogs.  I also assume that mean to use it inside, as John points out in his answer, using an exercise pen outside for a rabbit (&lt;em&gt;unsupervised&lt;/em&gt;) is essentially a death sentence for the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases it is not practical to bunny proof all of your house, or if you need to keep the bunny separated from other animals or any number other reasons, a X-Pen (exerciser pen) is a common solution. The standard pen is made of 8 panels 2 feet long.  As a square this gives a space of 4 x 4 feet, which is too small for long term, but ok if the bun gets out to have run of the house for at least an hour everyday (two hours twice a day is better).  One X-pen used in conjunction with a wall or corner will give you a much larger space, optimally a space of 8 X 8 feet can be used for long term housing.  If the bunny is NOT able to run and jump in the space it is NOT big enough. See related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;How much space does a rabbit need to live comfortably?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for height, in most cases a 2 foot high X-pen is tall enough, but I have known rabbits to jump over a 4 foot high pen.  Leave at least a couple feet of space between the x-pen and anything about the same height (like furniture) on either side of the pen.  Though many people I know, feel more comfortable using a 3 foot high pen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is 2 feet tall enough? A rabbit will stretch up and look at something like a couch and see &quot;Hey that looks comfy&quot; and then jump up on it, but if there is not a good place to land on a place that can not see, they tend not to jump there.  If there is nothing to land on at the top, they don't go.  EXCEPT for the rare bunny that been trained to jump over something, where they can see a good landing place on the other side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit will see an X-pen as an obstacle and they will pull and tug, and move it around trying to get past it.  If using a X-pen with a wall fasten it to the wall, we use small round eye hooks fastened to the wall and clip the pen to the hooks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T01:01:30.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6066" CreationDate="2014-08-14T01:18:34.290" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dandelions are a number one favorite of most everybunny I have met. When changing diet, it is important not to make rapid changes &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having tossed out those two bits of wisdom...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When introducing a new vegetable in the diet we tend to replace about 10 - 25% of the green being served with the new item.  Roman lettuce is the foundation of the fresh greens we feed, in our grocery stores it is available year round, for reasonable price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation is mix some Romain lettuce in with the dandelions, and leave them for your bunny to explore and taste.  If delivered as part of the regular meal, the rabbit should taste and probably eat them all within a couple hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybunny is an individual with different tastes. We have had several bunnies in the house turn up their nose at one green or another, but never had one refuse Romain.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T01:18:34.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5997" CreationDate="2014-08-14T03:19:20.747" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to researchers, dogs, pigs, many other mammals, and birds are susceptible to ebola.  The current epidemic is believed to have originated in bats and jumped to people hunting bats for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In dogs, the virus is often asymptomatic; Meaning they won't show symptoms of the virus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: Weingartl HM, Nfon C, Kobinger G (2013). &quot;Review of Ebola virus infections in domestic animals&quot;. Dev Biol (Basel) 135: 211–8.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23689899&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2770" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-08-14T19:19:27.693" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T19:19:27.693" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2014-08-14T05:41:11.313" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your main priority is safety, one of the safest insecticides is a laundry detergent called Borax.  It's carried by most grocery stores.  It's often used as a wood treatment in crawlspaces, because it kills and repels both insects and  mold [for example, see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/CH10132.htm]&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/CH10132.htm]&lt;/a&gt;. (The &quot;secret&quot; wood treatment used by termite and mold companies is often just Borax.) You can also add it to water and use it as a household cleaning agent, although there might be some slight discoloration due to the salt residue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Borax is just a boron salt, which can be metabolized by mammals, so it's almost perfectly safe for both humans and pets, although I wouldn't add it to food.  Material Safety Data Sheet lists it as health hazard 1 and moderate skin irritant, about the same as baking soda [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924967]&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924967]&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zmf6p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else I do is buy a pack of these and toss them under the refrigerator, dishwater, and any other tiny nooks in the kitchen. That seems to work, because my kitchen is never spotless but I've never had trouble with ant infestations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fYYLv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2770" LastEditorUserId="2770" LastEditDate="2014-08-14T20:36:49.973" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T20:36:49.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6030" CreationDate="2014-08-14T08:12:39.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you can teach your children how to attract the dog towards them. The child can feed him everyday, give him some treat if he behaves properly. You can make the dog feel better in company with children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T08:12:39.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-14T16:53:38.403" Score="3" ViewCount="945" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I lost a 8-month old cat. I had brought him at the age of 1.5 months. Within few days he was able to recognize his name. Now I have bought 2 kittens. They always stick and play together, like they are made for each other. They are attached to us but they don't yet recognize their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do in order to make them respond on calling their names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-14T17:41:11.730" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T18:09:32.880" Title="How can I get my two cats to recognize when I'm saying their names?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-14T17:39:10.303" Score="4" ViewCount="719" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was raised with cats although my parents were always home so my cats adored them and there was always somebody around to pet them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I go into the world, I'll be single.  I mean, I'm young so it's okay, but I still want a cat, or two, since I'll be living alone.  Working an an electrical engineer, I'll most likely be at my job for 40+ hours a week, normal job stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I  need to make sure that my cats are entertained while I'm away?  Is there anything I can do to ensure my cat will still sit next to me on the couch when I come home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2806" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:26:34.117" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:35:44.063" Title="How can I ensure my cat won't resent me after being alone for an 8-hour work day?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6080" CreationDate="2014-08-14T18:09:32.880" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;With two or more cats, here is something that has worked for me. Two people stand far apart, with treats in hand. They agree who will call which cat, discussing this without using their names (e.g. I'll call the black cat, you call the white one). Then, on the count of three, they call the cats. Each person only rewards the cat they called. Pretty quickly the cats should learn to respond to their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T18:09:32.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6081" CreationDate="2014-08-14T18:14:18.790" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats tend to sleep more during the day, so they aren't likely to pine for you. Just be sure to give them lots of attention when you get home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats tend to adjust to the amount of attention they get (assuming they were properly socialised as kittens). When you give them a lot of attention, they want a lot of attention. Ignore them for too long, and they tend to be a bit aloof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T18:14:18.790" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6087" CreationDate="2014-08-14T19:37:31.893" Score="8" ViewCount="4930" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I'm petting my cat, she'll start biting me. She grabs a little chunk of my arm (not hard at all, doesn't hurt), then moves her head from side to side, as if she was trying to rip part of my flesh off (even though its a very soft bite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard this is an affectionate response, but I've also read that it could be a sign that the cat no longer wants to be pet. The biting happens real early, so I really don't think she wants me to stop petting her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other reasons this may be happening? I've gotten &amp;quot;love bites&amp;quot; from cats before, they usually bite my fingers, but I've never had a cat be so aggressively loving like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats that do this. They are from the same litter, and they're about 9 months old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Both cats are fixed, and the biting has been occurring for a few months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T01:08:08.867" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T03:50:56.877" Title="Why does my cat bite me while I'm petting it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2014-08-14T21:25:42.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used this on roaches with success - boric acid powder.  It is a weak acid, and was used in eye washes I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/facts_6027701_boric-acid-powder_.html?ref=Track2&amp;amp;utm_source=ask&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a relevant article&lt;/a&gt; at eHow.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chemistry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boric acid is a white, crystalline solid of chemical formula H&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;BO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, which is sometimes written B(OH)&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;. It is only sparingly soluble&#xA;in water. It melts at 170 degrees Celsius, at which temperature it&#xA;will decompose into water and metaboric acid (HBO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Production&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boric acid is manufactured by the combination of borax (sodium tetraborate decahydrate, Na&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;B&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;7&lt;/sub&gt;·10H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O) with muriatic acid&#xA;(hydrochloric acid, HCl).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applications&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boric acid is commonly found in insecticides. It purportedly works through an unusual mode of action by penetrating the exoskeleton and&#xA;killing insects by dehydration, although the exact mechanism is not&#xA;well understood.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toxicity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The acute toxicity of boric acid is reportedly about the same as that of sodium chloride (table salt). In large doses, however, it is&#xA;known to cause sterility in male test animals.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fun Fact&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1943, the original Silly Putty was synthesized from boric acid and silicone oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T11:17:37.363" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T11:17:37.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6081" CreationDate="2014-08-14T21:31:00.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that cats don't react in that way - they don't mind being left to go to work.  An additional help is if you adopt a matched pair when you do get cats, as they can hang out with each other during the day and react to each other rather than get into trouble on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T21:31:00.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6084" CreationDate="2014-08-14T21:36:02.837" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like she's just doing the steps of grooming another cat - the licks to clean and the bites to pull out knots and debris in the fur.  It would work so much better if you had a pelt of fur instead of just some stray hairs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;I'm Done!&quot; type of bite, often called &quot;overstimulation&quot; is something like a short circuit in the little cat brain where the good feelings jump straight to alarm when a cat feels like it isn't in control anymore.  This usually happens when you pet them on the back near the tail and they stand up and quiver and love it....then the reaction click and they turn and snap at the hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-14T21:36:02.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6088" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-15T02:15:52.420" Score="2" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some information, we have 3 animals (all sterilized):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mia, a 1 year old Female cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bentley, a 2 year old Male cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stella, a 1 ½ year old Female dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats never go outside except for the balcony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 2 weeks ago, Mia began urinating on Stella's pillow every now and then (every few days). We washed it every time on sanitary cycle (a 3 hour cycle!!). After a few times, we decided to just trash the pillow thinking the washing machine couldn't get the smell off. But then today Mia urinated on our bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering why she suddenly started doing this. We have 2 litter boxes and clean them every day. Bentley has never urinated anywhere else but in the litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to solve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2809" LastEditorUserId="3708" LastEditDate="2015-03-03T11:22:40.010" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T11:22:40.010" Title="Why has my cat started urinating outside of her litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2014-08-15T17:09:27.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2014-08-15T07:22:24.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had such problem. My cats started urinating on my bean bag. So whenever they woke up from sleep, I used to keep them in the liter. Also I kept the bean bag away from their reach for few days. So if possible change the bedding and make them urinate in the liter every now and then like a baby. This took me about 4 days to make them a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T07:22:24.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6081" CreationDate="2014-08-15T08:18:37.350" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat which I lost few months ago. He felt really alone when we were out for a long time. This time, we have brought two cats which always stick together. They need us, but up to a certain limit. When we are away, they care and groom each other. It was even advantageous when one of them was ill; the other had taken care of him. So try to bring a pair if you can afford.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T19:35:44.063" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:35:44.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6081" CreationDate="2014-08-15T10:59:57.443" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience cats are pretty self-sufficient. As long as they have food, water, and a litterbox they can be fine on their own for a work day - although a selection of toys helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens are more demanding - if you're looking at getting a kitten, I'd recommend getting two. Littermates will already know each other, but kittens rarely have issues adjusting to new feline company, where older cats can be quite challenging if they're not used to having other cats around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether kittens or cats, once they've adjusted to their new surroundings they will keep each other company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main problem isn't likely to be your cat or cats resenting you being away. It's more likely to be boredom-induced damage or the demands for attention the cat makes when you get home (this one's been the case for me with every cat I've had).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-08-15T10:59:57.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6092" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-15T13:31:22.177" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who just got some new fish from somewhere that she had gotten fish from many times before without any issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after introducing them to her tank, it turns out they had VHS, and it started to infect her other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was something I'd never heard of before. I am planning to get fish of my own in the near future, and was wondering what to do if my fish ever caught VHS. Is it possible to cure them, or prevent it from spreading?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T12:34:30.220" Title="What can I do if my fish catch viral hemorrhagic septicemia (aka Fish Ebola)?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-15T13:34:10.387" Score="5" ViewCount="6251" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I discover I have fish in my tank that are sick or diseased, is there a generally accepted way to keep them from spreading whatever they have to my other fish? Can I separate them into another tank, for example? Or will that stress them because they are already ill, and kill them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I keep my fish safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:05:05.327" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:05:05.327" Title="How can I keep disease from spreading in my fish tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6112" CreationDate="2014-08-15T18:36:56.037" Score="7" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mutt that has begun to exhibit strong herding instincts.  I would like to be comfortable walking him off-leash. However he is very aggressive towards skateboarders that roll by.  He is less aggressive towards bikers, but occasionally wants to chase and nip at them.  Finally, some joggers seem to pull his trigger and he wants to chase, bark, and nip at them too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to train him to stop going after these things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T18:16:26.060" Title="How can I get my herding dog to not bark and chase after skateboarders, bikers, and runners?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6098" CreationDate="2014-08-16T01:55:52.537" Score="4" ViewCount="100482" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard humans stop growing around age 18-24. What about cats? When do they stop growing in height?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T14:08:20.217" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T20:03:14.143" Title="What age do cats stop growing on average?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6095" CreationDate="2014-08-16T02:24:44.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, around their first birthday is the tallest/longest they will get. Some breeds, their skeleton keeps growing a little bit longer, some stop growing a little bit earlier. But &quot;one year&quot; is the average time for complete skeletal growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2505" LastActivityDate="2014-08-16T02:24:44.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6095" CreationDate="2014-08-16T14:08:40.553" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of growth periods for cats. The first takes about 4 months and takes them into the kitten stage. The second growth period of a kitten takes them from about 4 months to somewhere between 8 and 12 months to adult size depending on the size of the breed. Larger breeds will take longer to reach their adult size versus smaller breeds, but despite having adult size, they're still junior cats, they don't really become adult cats until their 3rd year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only mention the two growth stages (which are effectively continuous) because the dietary requirements change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-08-16T14:08:40.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-16T15:18:23.433" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just watched &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwazb0ds3a0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rabbit Jumping: How to Get Started&lt;/a&gt; I have a couple of rabbits that are very trainable, but I take them a lot of places where I expect them to stay in 2 foot high exercise pens.  If I teach them to jump fences, will they start jumping out of the pen on their own? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T10:46:21.057" Title="If I train my rabbit to jump fences will she STILL stay in a two foot exercise pen?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-16T21:28:14.403" Score="3" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sand sifters are animals that move the sand bed, and the latter eat remaining food matter that fell down to the substrate,  keeping in mind an animal can be both. Since I'm intending to add some substrate for my turtle, I need a way that keeps it clean without forcing me to clean it manually, which, of course, is quite a chore. I need sand sifters that cannot damage my turtle(even unintentionally), and also that my turtle won't eat. I need them to be efficient and effective, as well as low maintenance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some good inexpensive and independent sand sifters that can help clean my substrate? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if they were relatively expensive and/or inappropriate for this cause, a list of different sifters with some info will definitely be a plus to the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2014-08-17T10:59:41.290" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T21:07:12.503" Title="What are some safe sand sifters and residue eaters for my turtle?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6110" CreationDate="2014-08-17T01:41:11.017" Score="4" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit loves being around people, and her favorite thing to do is surprisingly be held. Whenever I hold her though, I notice that she opens and closes her mouth frequently. I sometimes feel like she believes that she is a human. Is she trying to communicate, and talk like a human whenever she does this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T11:31:34.857" Title="Is she trying to talk?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-17T03:54:04.727" Score="8" ViewCount="14578" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 month old dog started peeing in the house again after being house trained.  He would &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; do it at night (when I was asleep) or when I would go out.  At first it seemed just like an accident, but when it started happening more consistently (even when walked immediately before bed or right before I left) I switched to crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been mostly fine with the crate, though he does sometimes get stressed in there.  After a month, I decided to try seeing if the habit was broken.  I left him alone in the house (not in the crate) for about 20 minutes to run an errand, and when I got back he had peed 3 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's only peeing in the house when I'm not there to catch him, how do I correct the behavior?  Or should I just continue to leave him in his crate?  He doesn't have this problem  when I'm home (and awake), even if he's unsupervised or if it's been a while since his last walk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have access to comment, so to answer your question, Jeremy, I don't know if he has peed in the house while left alone with others.  I live alone, so if he's home with someone it's usually me.  My sister dogsat for him one weekend, and he definitely peed while I was gone, though she said she didn't see him do it (it might have been overnight or when she was out as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2818" LastEditorUserId="2818" LastEditDate="2014-08-18T14:23:13.290" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T05:05:37.560" Title="My dog only pees in the house when I'm not home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-08-28T00:46:40.923" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-17T05:06:38.780" Score="8" ViewCount="13060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that just got home from getting her tail amputated. She is about 10 years old, she's typically an outside cat, but since the incident we are going to keep her inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how does a cat first react to losing its tail, and how will this affect the future behavior of the cat? (lack of balance? possible depression?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="2808" LastEditDate="2016-09-25T18:42:13.223" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T14:43:24.247" Title="How does losing a tail affect a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10408" CreationDate="2014-08-17T06:56:27.097" Score="8" ViewCount="4300" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whilst typing on the computer just now (late night), I sneezed a few times. My cat comes running in from the other room and bites me on the arm. I shouted at him loudly enough to wake the upstairs neighbors who are still walking around above me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he attack me when I sneeze? Is there any way to train him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="486" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T20:31:46.637" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T20:31:46.637" Title="Why does my cat bite me when I sneeze?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6126" CreationDate="2014-08-17T08:42:11.593" Score="6" ViewCount="77345" Body="&lt;p&gt;He knows where the cat food is, and he mostly eats cat food, but there are times he'll eat some of the dogs food, even when there is cat food available for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this happening? The cat food we currently get doesn't seem to be a problem; it's as if he wants variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanna put on record that my dogs and cats actually share the same water bowl (&lt;em&gt;related question&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6107&quot;&gt;Is it harmful to allow animals of different species to share the same water bowl?&lt;/a&gt; ). Does this play a role as to why he might also be eating the dog food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T15:48:24.470" Title="Why does my cat eat dog food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6109" CreationDate="2014-08-17T08:45:56.123" Score="8" ViewCount="14258" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question can apply to any kind of animal, but I'm mostly targetting the aspect of cats and dogs sharing the same water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this affect the relationship between animals? Would it be preferred to have separate water bowls due to dominance issues, or is sharing the water bowl actually allowing the animals to bond?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My animals don't seem to mind it, although there have only been a few occasions where I've seen a dog and cat drink from the same bowl at the same time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T23:01:20.380" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T23:01:20.380" Title="Is it harmful to allow animals of different species to share the same water bowl?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6099" CreationDate="2014-08-17T10:46:21.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked the same question in the comments of the video on YouTube and recieved an answer from Barbara Heidenreich that a rabbit will most likely not generalize jumping hurdles to jumping fences. As long as keep the pen a fun place to be and only teach the rabbit to jump hurdles she should not jump the pen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar behavior is seen in horses that are trained to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_jumping_obstacles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jump obstacles&lt;/a&gt; the jumping of obstacles is not associated to the ability to jump the fence that marks the boundary of their pasture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T10:46:21.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2014-08-17T11:08:19.133" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't pose a problem for cats and dogs living together to share the same water bowl(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they live together they have in any case a lot of opportunities to share potential diseases in many ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important point is that they should be able to chose not to share the same bowl. My two cats and my dog share 2 different water bowls, the cats have one more in the &quot;cat zone&quot; and th e dog gets another one in the &quot;dog zone&quot;. It is not unfrequent to see them drinking at the same time from the same bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dominance&lt;/em&gt; is a loose concept, even more when applied to the relationships between different species. What can happen is resource guarding, the remark of the previous paragraph would solve that issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T11:08:19.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2014-08-17T11:31:34.857" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that your rabbit is mimicking you, but doubtful she is trying to communicate by talking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do learn by watching others, and mimic that behavior.  In the photo below the black rabbit (Harmony) spent about 2 months learning to climb to the top of the rabbit condo, one success at time, starting with stretching from the arm of the couch to grab a loose piece of hay.  Harmony did this on her own, in an effort to get to the hay from the top, rather than pulling it through the wire. The white rabbit (Lyra) joined the family a few months after Harmony had mastered the skill of condo climbing.  Lyra watched Harmony a couple of times, and when she was ready, she accent to the top easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt;: Getting up is one thing, get down another, in the end we had to rearrange things so they could not climb up.  I would not recommend any configuration that does not allow for large (18 inches or 1/2 a meter) landing for every 12 to 18 inch raise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qKvSO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do communicate vocally but &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbitresource.org/care-and-health/behavior/how-to-speak-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;most communication is non verbal&lt;/a&gt; for instance when your rabbit is mad at you, she thumps, and runs off.  Some rabbits will also growl or grunt, for moderate displeasure.  On the happy side you may hear teeth chattering or clicking to express great pleasure (&lt;em&gt;similar to a cats purr&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other then the extremes noted above, most of the middle range daily communications are non-verbal, nose nudging (pet me), nipping (I SAID PET ME NOW!), bunny hops (I am so happy), etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you speak to your rabbit while petting her, she may associate your mouth moving with getting pets, and may be reflecting that.  For the most part rabbits expect you to learn their language. After all they are the boss of you.  In multiple species households (cats, dogs &amp;amp; rabbits) the rabbit tends to be the dominate creature. The same applies to rabbits and people, the happiest rabbits live in households where they are boss of the relationship, though they do very well at learning boundaries (i.e. don't chew that, but this is ok). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T11:31:34.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6113" CreationDate="2014-08-17T17:03:11.563" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do i stop my cat from being aggressive towards me and others? I just bought my cat three-days ago and had no problem but this morning I woke up to check on my cat but when I tried to touch her she has been very aggressive. She tries to bite my hand aggressively and now I cant even touch my own cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got her from overstock.com because I seen that they were now selling animals online. I am going to get her to the vet tomorrow to see what the veterinarian says. I also noticed that she has not eaten her food nor drank her water. She also seems to not use the bathroom so I tried to look around and see what she gotten into and so far there was nothing she had gotten into. Is there any way I can check to see if she is alright without her trying to hurt me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:55:35.123" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:55:35.123" Title="How to stop a cat from being aggressive towards me and others?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6094" CreationDate="2014-08-17T18:16:26.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start off by saying, I know exactly how you feel.  I have an Aussie pup who loves bikes just a little too much.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, start on leash.  When you see a skateboarder coming, have HIGH VALUE treats (not the regular old treats, something amazing and unique to what they normally get).  Give constant treats for quiet to begin with.  Then, when your dog is staying quiet while the skateboarder, you can start expecting more.  When you see the skateboarder passes, ask your dog to sit.  Give constant reward as your dog is staying in a sit while the skateboarder is passing.  When you have mastered that, ask for eye contact as the skateboarder passes.  Once your dog is able to give solid eye contact while the skateboarder is passing, then start to walk past while asking for eye contact.  Everything you do, you need to go slowly.  Take it at the pace that your dog is ready for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only once your dog is PERFECT on leash, should you attempt off leash.  Apply the same exact plan to off leash as on leash.  Ensure that you have 110% control over your dog, because even if he is just herding those nips can hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2815" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T18:16:26.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6111" CreationDate="2014-08-17T19:08:04.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely need to provide attention towards a cat until gets a habit littering, food and drink. It may take up to a week at most. As it is new to you it may take 4 or 5 days to become familiarized with you and your family. How old is your cat? It would be an easy task if it's ages is below 2 months. Kittens usually try to bite or scratch you, the way they behave with siblings or mother. But soon they learn not to use nails and not to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastActivityDate="2014-08-17T19:08:04.443" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-17T19:48:29.467" Score="8" ViewCount="2560" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a really old tetra fish, around 7 years old, who was getting weak. The other fish were helping him get food and were supporting him whenever he was swimming around. A few days later, the fish died. Is there some way that fish are able to figure out that one is weak and will be dying soon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-31T11:48:08.567" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T11:48:08.567" Title="Are fish able to understand when one will be dying soon?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T03:17:13.477" Score="15" ViewCount="3455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my cat for several years now, and up until a couple weeks ago, I've been free-feeding her dry food. My vet has just told me that she's a little overweight (the cat, not the vet), and instructed me to stop both the free-feeding and the dry food. Instead, the vet wants me to use a meal-feeding plan with wet food, to try to get the cat's weight down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, the cat does not seem to be on board with this plan. When I open a can of food, she's always interested enough to run over and sniff it, but never enough to eat it. She will always eat it eventually, but only a bit at a time, which seems to defeat the purpose of meal feeding. Also, while the food sits out, it dries out, which can't be good for it, and attracts fruit flies, which is annoying for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brand of the food doesn't seem to affect her behavior. I thought she might pick up on the fact that the feeding schedule was changing after a few days, but it's been two weeks and this is still going on. How can I get her to eat when it's mealtime? My only thought is removing the food a certain amount of time after I set it out, but that would surely lead to her going hungry for at least a few meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditDate="2014-08-18T14:55:02.640" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T18:49:53.247" Title="How do I switch from free-feeding my cat dry food to meal-feeding her wet food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6116" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T05:37:16.473" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats doesn't drink enough water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both fart usually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to make them drink water usually but it didn't help totally. They both eat dry cat food and milk. What should be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-08-18T09:50:55.333" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T09:50:55.333" Title="Cats not drinking enough water" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-08-18T12:45:21.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6114" CreationDate="2014-08-18T09:54:47.337" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The majority of the animal kingdom, including fish but not dolphins, do not have a sense of identity or self-recognition [1].  So they likely do not experience an abstract awareness of their eminent demise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they may not be abstractly aware of their demise, all vertebrates have a nervous system and experience pain and stress.  Even animals that do not have self-recognition have been known to go to great lengths to attempt to survive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC33317/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC33317/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2770" LastEditorUserId="2770" LastEditDate="2014-08-18T10:42:12.780" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T10:42:12.780" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2014-08-18T10:00:01.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is just a matter of going gradually enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could remove the dry food 1-2 hours before meal time to make sure she didn't eat too much already. As she's interested enough to come when you open the can, give her 1/4 of the can only, &quot;lock&quot; her in the room for a limited time (10-15 minutes top). Increase the amount slowly (over one month: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full can?), she should get the idea progressively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also arrange the dry food in a way that the bowl is empty by the time you'll give her her wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a year now that I'm feeding my two cats wet food in the evening, plus free access to dry food all day. We can really see that around mealtime they stop going for the dry food and they come in the kitchen by themselves, they eat their meal and then they sleep for a few hours. It took some time to have a clear schedule like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T10:00:01.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6136" CreationDate="2014-08-18T10:37:01.783" Score="12" ViewCount="5192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diabetes is a terrible disease that affects people and pets. If both I, and my pet, have diabetes, can I use my meter to check my pets blood sugar?  On a quick check of the internet, I found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alphatrakmeter.com/alphatrak2-species-specific.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;commercial reference&lt;/a&gt; suggesting that I need to purchase a special meter for a cat or a dog.  Is this just commercial hype, or do I really need a species specific meter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T15:31:44.973" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T15:31:44.973" Title="Can a human glucose meter be used to check the blood sugar of a pet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T13:40:12.860" Score="9" ViewCount="703" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog that will refuse to go number two in the backyard when being walked; it will go immediately when taken out of the yard though. Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, this is not specifically training; more like curiousity on this behavior and reasoning. I mean, it will urinate in the yard and will defecate if unleashed but while being walked, even for long durations and coming back from a walk outside of the yard, it will not defecate in the backyard while on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This problem is bad because my dog will always go in its cage the following day, after refusing to go while being walked around the yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my dog not comfortable going in the yard while being walked? Then why will it urinate? It will go if let loose, but it can't be let loose anymore because it escape the yard, and sometimes it have to be walked just in the backyard due to weather-related concerns or such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why would my dog refuse to defecate while on a leash and how could I change this behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastEditorUserId="2819" LastEditDate="2014-08-18T22:22:03.033" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T19:35:27.077" Title="Why won't my dog defecate in the yard while on a leash?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7345" CreationDate="2014-08-18T14:25:05.887" Score="8" ViewCount="14324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a domesticated rabbit on the side of a bike trail in a park. I've had it 12 hours and contacted local rescue / police in case someone reports it missing. While I take care of it, I have a few questions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I tell the sex of the rabbit? The advice here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5878/how-do-you-tell-the-gender-of-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;How do you tell the gender of a young rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; does not seem applicable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I tell if it is spayed or neutered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2821" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T20:52:48.440" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T20:52:48.440" Title="How to tell sex of a rabbit and tell whether it is spayed/neutered?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2014-08-18T14:26:49.233" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have a natural hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle that you can take advantage of in this sort of situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hunt:&lt;/strong&gt; About a 10-30 minutes (depending on your cat's energy level) before meal time, start playing with your cat with an interactive wand toy such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.go-cat.com/&quot;&gt;Da Bird&lt;/a&gt;. You want to simulate prey movements with the toy. Try out moving along the ground (like a snake or mouse) as well as in the air (like a bird) until you know what most interests your cat. Hunting will stimulate your cat's appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat:&lt;/strong&gt; Once your cat shows signs of getting tired (loosing interest), then feed your cat its wet food meal. Leave the food out for 30 minutes and then pick it up (discard). Your cat will eventually learn that it needs to eat during meal time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Groom/Sleep:&lt;/strong&gt; You should then observe the groom and sleep phases of the cycle. We do a feeding right before bed so they let us sleep :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weigh your cat frequently&lt;/strong&gt; Anytime you are changing your cat's meal structure you should weigh your cat every few days to make sure that she doesn't loose more than &quot;1%-2% of their current body weight per week.&quot; (per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity&quot;&gt;Lisa A. Pierson, DVM&lt;/a&gt;). If your cat starts to loose weight faster than that because she's still not eating a full meal, try a food that has more calories per ounce (there are some cat food composition charts like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; available on the web).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T14:26:49.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-18T14:37:52.010" Score="9" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a rabbit on the side of a trail in the woods. Clearly domesticated. Possibly &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1578/can-i-release-my-pet-rabbit-in-the-wild&quot;&gt;released&lt;/a&gt;. While I wait for replies to rescue organizations and Craigslist replies from the owner (and if no reply, decide if I'll keep or give away), what should I be doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I bought some hay and food and a &quot;chew stick&quot; and gave it a cushioned cat bed in a corner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I placed cardboard on the floor around that area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've petted it. While petting, I found two tiny ticks and removed them. I also saw two fleas. I did not see any other critters. Is this indicative of an infestation, or is it likely just a few that were picked up while it was outside?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I placed an unplugged cord nearby and it sniffed but did not chew it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm now letting it run around and explore the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything above I shouldn't be doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything else I should be doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DJVxL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2821" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T21:24:48.927" Title="Essential care for rescue rabbit" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2014-08-18T14:50:33.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything you are doing seems fine to me, but you might want to make sure that he/she doesn't get near any cords because just because he/she didn't touch the cord at first doesn't really mean much. As the rabbit gets used to your house, and the space it has, it will begin to get curious, and start chewing on things. You still want to make sure that it has plenty of space to run around. Also, make sure there is always hay out for it to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T14:50:33.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6106" CreationDate="2014-08-18T16:39:37.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Differences between Dog and Cat Food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major difference between dogs and cats is that dogs are scavanging carnivores (they do best when eating animals, but can digest plant material as well) and cats are obligate carnivores (they can only digest animals). Cats can eat plants, but lack the digestive enzymes to break down the nutrients into a usable form. Because of this difference, cat food has more supplimentation (or supplimentation of a different form) to ensure that the cats get enough of the nutrients that they need. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taurine. Taurine is a essential nutrient for cats, and &quot;Dog food does not contain enough taurine to meet the normal requirements for a cat.&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/taurine-in-cats/3857&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cheryl Yuill, DVM, MSc, CVH, VCA Hospitals&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin A. &quot;Dogs have the ability to convert beta-kerotene to vitamin A. Cats on the other hand need pre-formed vitamin A in their diet, which can only be found in animal tissues. &quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmed.illinois.edu/petcolumns/petcols_article_page.php?OLDPETCOLID=189&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Joseph Hahn, College of Veterinary Medicine - University of Illinois&lt;/a&gt;). Beta-kerotene is easily/cheaply found in carrots and other vegetables, so it is likely that is how dog food is formulated to include Vitamin A. Since cats cannot use beta-kerotene, they will become deficient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Arachidonic acid, a necessary fatty acid, can be synthesized by a dog using linoleic acid. The cat is unable to do this and needs to ingest arachidonic acid in their diet. This, too, can only be found in animal tissues.&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmed.illinois.edu/petcolumns/petcols_article_page.php?OLDPETCOLID=189&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Joseph Hahn, College of Veterinary Medicine - University of Illinois&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher protein content. Cats need more protein than dogs. While less protein won't cause any illness, it may make them lethargic and loose muscle mass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is Your Cat Eating Enough Dog Food to Be a Problem?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One recommendation is that treats should not exceed 10% of a pet's caloric intake (&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cat-treats-and-snacks-whats-healthy&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pets.webmd&lt;/a&gt;). You can look up the calorie counts of your foods, then figure out how much dog food (and other treats you may be feeding) is 10% of your cat's cat food intake to determine if it's just a harmless habit or something you should seriously be worried about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to stop your cat's dog food intake, I would recommend switching both animals to meal feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is the cat eating dog food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can speculate, but honestly, only the cat really knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guess is that if you're feeding dry food, cat food manufacturer's coat it with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_digest&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;animal digest&lt;/a&gt; to make it smell more palatable, and I suspect that dog food manufacturers do the same. Animal digest is irresistable like an open bag of potato chips to a human, so since it smells like food, he eats it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-08-18T16:50:21.893" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T16:50:21.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6128" CreationDate="2014-08-18T17:50:41.250" Score="6" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, I know this one is sort of weird but here it is: Is there any sort of vocal exercises for my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backstory: I had a few cat's and I enjoyed hearing them purr, mew and etc. The problem is that my current cat sounds... weak?!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When me and my wife adopted him, he was about 2 months old, with pink eye and a flu. We nursed him back to health and he looks pretty healthy now (he has 6 months already) but in comparison with the previous cats I had, his mews seem miserable. My worry is that he got his lungs underdeveloped due to sickness when he was a little kitten (he is like 2 kg now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I make him 'beg' every time I prepare wet food for him, and award him with a full bowl every time he starts mewing loud enough. But it doesn't seem enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is there anything else I can do and should I be worried about his weak voice?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2665" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T14:22:29.970" Title="Cat Vocal Exercises for a cat with a quiet voice?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6127" CreationDate="2014-08-18T18:14:00.667" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concern about lung development&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about your cat's health, you should take your cat to the veternarian. The vet will listen to your cat's breathing and may take pictures (x-rays or other types of scans) to determine if your cat's lungs are healthy and functioning well. This type of investigative work we cannot do over the internet and must be done by your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vocal volume&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have mostly cats of Siamese descent (visually noticable by the pointed coat and blue eyes, but the relevant characteristic here is that they Talk All Of The Time). We have one cat who is not Siamese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a kitten, he made cute little &lt;em&gt;chirrup&lt;/em&gt; sounds when jumping onto and off of things, but no meows.  Later, as our Siamese population grew (and he aged), the &lt;em&gt;chirrups&lt;/em&gt; disappeared and he started meowing like everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually they are the somewhat misleadingly named &quot;silent meow&quot;. The cat looks like he is meowing, but we can't hear anything. The meow sound is too high for us to hear (the cat hears it fine). When we can hear him meow, they are more softer, higher pitched, and threadier sounding than the Siamese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suspect is happening with my cat (and perhaps with your cat) is that some/all of the meow sound is in the range where we can't hear it. Your cat's meow volume may be perfectly fine, you just can't hear all of the sound!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, there isn't any way to train your cat to meow &quot;lower&quot;. It's just the type of voice he has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-18T18:14:00.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2014-08-18T19:54:36.407" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, first, kudos to you for doing a very good thing! So many people think they can release rabbits to the wild and these rabbits have no natural defenses, so it's a death sentence. Thank you for the rescue!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, you're doing pretty much all the right things. In terms of immediate food/care:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timothy hay (any pet store)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some fresh veggies like carrot tops, dandelion, and romaine lettuce. You can get pellets, but I generally kept the amount of those low in favor of veggies because they're fattening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fresh water &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are litter trainable. If you have the will, pick up a low slung litter box and line it with something like care fresh (avoid pine or cedar shavings) and put some hay at one end. This will encourage the rabbit to use the box rather than your floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @IHeartBunnies noted, move your chewables out of the way or they &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; get chewed. Electrical is particularly worrisome in this respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, flea/tick issued should be handled in consultation with a vet. Over the counter remedies can be very dangerous because they're usually designed for cats and dogs and dosages are not appropriate for rabbits. How you want to handle that, I guess, will depend on whether or not you decide to keep it. Don't be surprised if you decide to do that, rabbits are great pets and easy to care for if you pay reasonable attention, and it already sounds like you might have started to bond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-08-19T21:24:48.927" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T21:24:48.927" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2014-08-19T03:25:22.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my vet advised me to make diet changes, she told me to do it gradually.  Switching cats over to a new food, let alone a new type of food or a new schedule, &quot;cold turkey&quot; doesn't work.  For example, when changing a type of food (like when I changed to an allergenic diet) she had me mix the old and new foods together, first mixing a little new into a lot of old and then shifting the proportions over several days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that you'll need to take a similar approach; start &lt;em&gt;reducing&lt;/em&gt; the amount of dry food available but don't take it away entirely, and at the same time start increasing the amount of canned food (at set feeding times).  This might take a week or two.  If you jumped straight to the canned food and that's not working out, I suggest backing off: put out &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; dry (but not as much as they're used to having), and then proceed as above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, despite their lengthy and loud protestations, healthy cats can manage missing a meal (or part of one, if they picked at the food).  So long as they're eating (and especially drinking) &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;, and they are otherwise healthy (no kidney disease, diabetes, etc), they'll be fine and they'll eat when they get hungry enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T03:25:22.280" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6133" CreationDate="2014-08-19T05:09:01.340" Score="4" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats hold their infants behind their heads with their mouth. We can also hold kittens easily in that way. But as they grow and gain weight, I don't think it remains proper way to lift. I usually hold the cats by their shoulder and lift like we lift a baby or child. Is it a proper way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:05:42.180" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:05:42.180" Title="How to hold a cat properly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6131" CreationDate="2014-08-19T09:08:00.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the best way is to either carry them 'Lion King' style over short distances, or to gently grab them by the feet, and while enclosing your arms, to let the lay down on one of your hands, while you secure/pet them with the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats usually enjoy the lion king lift and offer little, to no resistance, which means they like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other way is good but they sometimes resist. Probably due to heat issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try carrying them around like babies. They also like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the &quot;Don't&quot;s that are more important than the &quot;Do&quot;s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not lift a cat by the head, for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not lift them by the tummy since they tend to overeat. Will you like someone to push you on the stomach after a visit to grandma? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the tail, since it's a sensitive part, connected to the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hand around their neck, since you strange them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By their feet, since they feel powerless and it's also painful, sometimes, for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you avoid the &quot;Don't&quot;s you'll be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2665" LastActivityDate="2014-08-19T09:08:00.160" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6152" CreationDate="2014-08-19T18:23:04.597" Score="4" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last summer, we had our air conditioner on, and there was a big robin outside that was constantly making noise. Before the bird showed up, my rabbit was always very calm, but after he showed up, she was very nervous and restless. Even though rabbits have great hearing, I'm not sure if she was capable of hearing the bird because all the windows were closed. How did she know that the bird was outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:05:52.167" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:05:52.167" Title="Is my rabbit able to know when someone or something is outside?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6119" CreationDate="2014-08-19T21:43:27.027" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;No you don't need a species specific meter; you can use a human meter for this purpose, but regular engagement with a vet, and having a discussion with a vet on this, is very important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, I got curious about your question and so did a little research on feline diabetes. This led me to a nicely &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/brochure_diabetes.cfm&quot;&gt;written article&lt;/a&gt; from the Veterinary school at Cornell. Importantly, there was a link to a very &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm&quot;&gt;thorough article&lt;/a&gt; on blood glucose testing at home with a solid discussion on how to pick a meter, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that a vet school linked me there, I'll take that as a good sign and suggest that the commercial reference is hype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-08-27T10:19:44.543" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T10:19:44.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6120" CreationDate="2014-08-20T10:21:50.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For humans, generalization is very simple, but for dogs it is quite difficult. For example, &quot;sit&quot; in the kitchen is not the same thing as &quot;sit&quot; in the backyard or &quot;sit&quot; in the dog park. The same thing applies for going to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason, your dog thinks that the backyard is an OK place to do its business when she's off leash, but she's not OK when the leash is on. There are a number of things that might have triggered this behavior (e.g., she expects to go outside, she had a bad experience when having the leash on and doing #2 and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should try to teach her the right behavior in smaller steps and set up the right environment so the dog will learn quickly what you want her to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, for one, would crate the dog overnight and take some extra time in the morning before getting her out, in order to be sure that the dog needs to do her business. Then, if she doesn't normally wear a collar, put the collar on and let her roam around the backyard. After 15 minutes or so, I'd play a bit with the dog then pick her up and create her again. After an hour or so, I'd repeat until she does #2 in the backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she does wear a collar, simply attach a piece of rope to the collar and repeat the process above. When she's OK with the piece of string, start grabbing the piece of string when you initially take her out as if it's a leash. After a couple of days, swap it with the normal leash and that should make things easier for her to understand that it's OK to do #2 in the backyard when the leash is on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, after she does #2 you should praise her lavishly, throw in a treat and then start a game of tug or something she really enjoys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1211" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T10:21:50.227" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6175" CreationDate="2014-08-20T14:57:00.710" Score="6" ViewCount="4857" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Dachshund puppy, Peanut. As she is a breed originating as a small creature hunter, she displays some characteristics of that breed. Where my Labrador would point out dead animals, and might sniff around them, he would mostly leave them be. Peanut, however, will stalk small varmints/birds, and if I let her, chase them down, including down their holes/up trees. I understand this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm walking Peanut, if she happens across a carcase, she'll pick it up and either attempt to eat it, or carry it back to our yard &quot;for later&quot; snacking. :) I discourage this behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, however, when we are walking, she'll stop, sniff once or twice (and I usually can't even see what she is sniffing, beyond maybe a spot on the sidewalk), and then &lt;em&gt;kneel down and lay her chin and throat on the spot&lt;/em&gt; and kind of rub. (No jokes about a Dachshund not needing to kneel, please). This behavior has me absolutly baffled.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, a cat has some (sweat?) glands in their chins that they use to &lt;em&gt;leave&lt;/em&gt; a scent, but I didn't think dogs have that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it's not the &quot;roll around in trash&quot; behavior. She doesn't actually lay down on either her stomach or back, she just... &quot;lays her throat and chin&quot; in the, I guess smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add that we got Peanut from a litter my father's dog sired with a friend's Dachshund, so she's purebred. We got her at around 7 weeks, and she's done this behavior since then. She doesn't do it all the time (every walk), but only when she finds a whatever-it-is.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never owned a hound breed before. Is this a Dachshund thing? A hound thing? or a Peanut thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/3G4zivExLQg?t=50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Peanut's odd behavior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a video of the behavior, although this is the most she has done it. She's never twisted like this before, just set her chin straight down. In this video I guess it is the equivalent of &quot;rolling around in trash.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2014-08-23T21:55:06.027" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T01:59:50.270" Title="Why does my dog rub her chin on stuff?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-20T16:42:48.693" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking at some of the automated aquarium lighting systems that turn on and off automatically at certain times of the day (and even mimicking the gradual change of sunrise/sunset).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But these systems always seem to be based on a timer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a system that follows the seasonal changes (the changing times of sunrise/sunset throughout the year)? Either an algorithm that mimics the approximate progression of sunrise/sunset throughout the year, or a sensor that actually detects the ambient light levels would be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from any beneficial effects for the fish, it would be nice &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; to have the lights turning on before the crack of dawn or turning off at 5:50pm (in the middle of the day) because I haven't reset the timer since last December.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T21:32:32.287" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T21:32:32.287" Title="Aquarium lighting systems that follow seasonal changes?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2014-08-20T17:01:34.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not safe: Parasites can infect the offspring of the host they live in. The chemicals from pesticides (or anything, really) can also travel to the reproductive organs of whoever ingested them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the question clearly states crickets -&gt; eggs, but you can apply this to any living creature. The blood and nutrients are passed down from the mother. Anything affecting the mother will always affect the child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2828" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T17:01:34.143" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6222" CreationDate="2014-08-20T20:13:38.093" Score="4" ViewCount="2158" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it better to have an under gravel filter than the traditional out of water filter that sits on top of the aquarium?  I keep an air hose on during the day that blows bubbles and have live plants.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Currently, I have the lots of plants and cipher the gravel every 1 to 2 weeks.  My fish seem healthy and happy.   I just don't want nitrate to build up or toxins to be release in the water.  So which method is best for keeping that perfect balance in the aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2830" LastEditorUserId="2830" LastEditDate="2014-08-22T16:07:45.483" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T07:11:00.710" Title="Under gravel or sand filter for aquarium" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6143" CreationDate="2014-08-20T21:05:21.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually have both types of filters on my aquarium, but between the two, I think I would recommend an under gravel filter. The under gravel filter I believe is better because it picks up all the food that aren't confused by the fish, which causes the tank to get really messy. The other filter from what I have experienced doesn't seem to pick up as much. Like I said, I have both filters which I believe is a good thing to have for an aquarium, but if you can't do that, under gravel filter I believe would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T21:05:21.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6100" CreationDate="2014-08-20T21:07:12.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing that's going to keep a turtle tank clean except water changes. Even if you introduce another animal to clean up after the turtle, that animal will subsequently produce waste which will end up in the water and the substrate. Fish such as cory catfish or some types of plecostomus might clean up uneaten food, but very few will do anything with turtle waste which will make up a large portion of whatever falls to the sandbed. The turtles will also likely consider any fish a food source if it is able to catch it. These fish also need tropical water temperatures which most turtles can survive without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a good quality fish tank filter which will provide a mechanism to convert the turtle waste from ammonia into nitrate, but the nitrate will only be removed via water change, unless the tank is extremely large such as a pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like a python gravel vacuum might be a good alternative to remove the waste from the sandbed a few times a week without having to empty the entire tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T21:07:12.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6143" CreationDate="2014-08-20T21:20:00.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest a canister or hang on back filter. The UGF's are extremely efficient at filtering because they basically turn the entire substrate volume into a filter. However over time they trap large amounts of waste in the substrate and in the void underneath. If power is lost or flow through the filter is lost even just by their natural ability to suck waste downward, they can create anoxic zones and poison the entire tank when disturbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, they aren't good with plants. The plants that can survive them often grow their roots into the holes on the plate which clogs it and makes the plants difficult to remove. Many plants do not do well with the much different oxygen and chemistry compared to a normal substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T21:20:00.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6141" CreationDate="2014-08-20T22:32:03.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know something about this subject because I've tried to find a lightswitch (for my home office) that does the same thing. I have tried two different timer wall switches that say they turn on at dusk (you have to enter your approximate latitude).  We end up resetting them every few months anyway because the clocks they apparently put into such things aren't very good and drift over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was serious about setting up such a thing, I would use a Raspberry Pi to ask my router what time it is (or an internet timeserver, or something else disciplined to a good clock), then program in sunrise/sunset times at my latitude (or find a site for the Pi to ask), and attach that to a switch.  But then, the way I program a Raspberry Pi is &quot;Honey, can you make me a Rasberry Pi to do XYZ?&quot; so your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T22:32:03.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6031" CreationDate="2014-08-20T22:36:53.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you train the dog to come when called (there are many resources on the web that can teach you how to do that). Train that to the point where the dog will come very reliably. Next I would go with the &quot;2nd ball&quot; approach mentioned above. If the dog doesn't bring the ball to you, then call him to come and immediately throw the second ball when s/he comes to you. The dog will likely drop the ball right away as soon as you throw the ball. Once that is established the dog will likely start dropping the first ball at your feet in anticipation of the second ball being thrown. If not, then delay throwing the second ball until the first is dropped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2831" LastActivityDate="2014-08-20T22:36:53.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-21T01:26:19.663" Score="2" ViewCount="3347" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my fish tank I had three danios, but one of them died. They're schooling fish, so will that effect anything? If I need to get more to make them happy, how long would they be able to go with only the two of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also 3 guppies, 2 snails, and 5 ghost shrimp in the tank with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:06:08.413" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:06:08.413" Title="One of my danios died, will the other two be okay by themselves?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6153" CreationDate="2014-08-21T02:58:37.220" Score="12" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a truism that all hounds are dogs, but that not all dogs are hounds. What makes a hound, well, a hound? Is it genetic, ability, purpose, or all three? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T18:38:32.613" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T18:38:32.613" Title="What is a hound?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6135" CreationDate="2014-08-21T03:56:14.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I know precious little about rabbits. &#xA;There's a couple explanations here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bird was emitting something supersonic that your rabbit could hear, and it was either irritating them, or making them nervous for some reason. Rabbits can hear sounds up to 42,000hz, which is significantly higher then what you can hear (the average person can only hear up to 18,000hz).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could make the case that every living entity has some kind of detectable energy around them, and your rabbit was picking up on it. I doubt this is the case though, as I doubt a Robin is a typical enemy of the rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My money's on the bird just singing really high and irritating him. You could try buying a dog whistle and see if they react similarly to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="2651" LastEditDate="2014-08-21T04:11:53.653" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T04:11:53.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6151" CreationDate="2014-08-21T07:01:35.457" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;A hound is a type of dog breed that was originally used for hunting due to its scenting (Beagle, Basset or Bloodhound) or sighting (Afghan Hound, Greyhound or Whippet) abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be more precise, here's the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/breeds/hound_group.cfm&quot;&gt;definition of the hound group from the AKC&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most hounds share the common ancestral trait of being used for hunting. Some use acute scenting powers to follow a trail. Others demonstrate a phenomenal gift of stamina as they relentlessly run down quarry. Beyond this, however, generalizations about hounds are hard to come by, since the Group encompasses quite a diverse lot. There are Pharaoh Hounds, Norwegian Elkhounds, Afghans and Beagles, among others. Some hounds share the distinct ability to produce a unique sound known as baying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other national kennel clubs have a similar definition, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hound_Group&quot;&gt;according to Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1211" LastEditorUserId="1211" LastEditDate="2014-08-21T15:54:43.493" LastActivityDate="2014-08-21T15:54:43.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2461" CreationDate="2014-08-22T12:33:23.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer on backward chaining was very good and I would like to suggest an augmentation to that approach. The OP stated that the dog is very interested in picking up sticks. Thus I would clear the yard of stray sticks and then take one stick and use that rather than the ball as the toy that the dog is to fetch (falling the gradual backward chaining approach). I would carry this on through eventually throwing the stick. At that point you could start again at the beginning of the process using a ball or some other too; don't worry the second time through will go MUCH faster than the first and the transfer to ball play will be almost immediate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2831" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T12:33:23.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6158" CreationDate="2014-08-22T16:43:36.183" Score="4" ViewCount="798" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that the cats can see in the dark, but I have been wondering: can cats see as well in the dark as they do in the light?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do they see better in the light?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-07T11:52:46.850" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T15:16:39.853" Title="Can cats see equally well in both light and dark?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6157" CreationDate="2014-08-22T18:14:26.210" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can't literally &quot;see in the dark&quot;, although they can see better in dim light than people can, because their pupils can expand to let more light in. So like us, they need some light, the more the better up to a point. (Glaring lights can make it as difficult to see as no light at all.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's vision is different than ours in other ways. Their colour vision is limited, and they are nearsighted. However, they are very quick to spot movement!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-vision-what-cats-see.html&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/how-cats-see-in-the-dark.html?_r=0&quot;&gt;another&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T18:14:26.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9329" CreationDate="2014-08-22T21:16:50.853" Score="9" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two yellow-bellied sliders (&lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta scripta&lt;/em&gt;). The water is more than 6cm tall, the aquarium is 50cm x 30cm and the turtles are like 7cm long. The aquarium is indoor. They have semi-direct sunlight (there's the window in the middle), a heater, and two gadgets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one bridge, which grants them shadow and also they can walk over to have dry ground;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a rocky mountain - actually I think it should be bigger - in which a turtle fits perfectly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that turtles need a dry space and sunlight, but most of the time I see them under the bridge. They don't struggle for the space at all. If I move them manually to the dry mountain or above the bridge, they immediately fall back below the bridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under what conditions is it normal that they want to reject staying on the illuminated and dry grounds the whole time? Is it somehow a sign of sickness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2840" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T10:21:11.600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T10:21:11.600" Title="Why would my yellow-bellied sliders completely reject light and dryness?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6031" CreationDate="2014-08-22T23:51:21.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried treats? When he brings the ball back, just sit there and hold a treat out until he drops it. Then as soon as he does, pass him the treat and pick the ball up. He'll soon suss it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you don't want to feed someone else's dog, just apply the same principle with the other ball. Hold it out as if to throw it, but don't do anything until he drops it. It may take 5 minutes, but after 2 or 3 goes where he gets it, it'll start to get easier as he actually understands that to get the other ball he must drop that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you end up standing there for 20 min and he still hasn't dropped the ball, no biggie, it's game over. Try again next time. Like any game, if the rules are one sided, it's no fun. Except here, it's just harder to explain the rules to the other player :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should he wander off in boredom, just entice him with the ball if you're still up for playing. It's a matter of persistence I guess, like most things in dog training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to add a bit more, the very first time he drops it, make a MASSIVE fuss, make the game super exciting and the best throw ever. Make sure to associate a word with it from the start too, as soon as he drops it clearly say DROP, or something, but remember to make sure it's AS he drops it, not before. For now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2672" LastActivityDate="2014-08-22T23:51:21.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2014-08-23T02:00:40.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible, but it will have to be a docile female betta and a bigish tank. Add the female 30 minutes before the other so she can find her territory then add the others and watch for the next week or two to see if there are problems. If there are don't kill the betta instead return it if there's a warranty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my fish tank the betta starved the other fish by eating their food, attacked them and completely killed one of my shrimps. Basically in my experience don't even try, but it's your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastEditorUserId="112" LastEditDate="2014-08-23T14:14:24.720" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T14:14:24.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1409" CreationDate="2014-08-23T02:16:53.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer ghost shrimp. You can get a load of them (depending on tank size) and they're pretty much clear so it's cool to watch food and stuff go throughtheir system. They are cheap (49c a shrimp at Petsmart) and can get pretty big and eat all extra food, algae and dead fish.plus I never see them get near my other fish(keep far away from predator fish)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastEditorUserId="2833" LastEditDate="2014-08-25T01:41:50.180" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T01:41:50.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1375" CreationDate="2014-08-23T02:21:13.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not actually think putting a 2 betta fish with tiny tetras is a good idea and there's the fact the male will harass the female&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to reconsider having bettas together or with other fish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But hey sometimes you might hit a lucky betta&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastActivityDate="2014-08-23T02:21:13.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-23T10:58:55.453" Score="11" ViewCount="3195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there is a special ball for hamsters, which they get in start to moving in; it's called a &lt;em&gt;Hamster Ball&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to buy one for my hamster, but I have two questions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At what age can a hamster start to play in the ball?  My hamster is about 40 days old: can he play in the ball? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much time should he be allowed to play in the ball?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2842" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-09T21:17:06.410" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T05:29:33.147" Title="When and for how long can my hamster safely play in a hamster ball?" Tags="&lt;toys&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-23T21:29:17.400" Score="7" ViewCount="4873" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of my five ghost shrimp are really bloated. They have no trouble staying at the bottom of the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they pregnant? What is up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/89j4b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:07:36.190" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:28:46.247" Title="How can I tell if my shrimp is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6139" CreationDate="2014-08-24T01:59:50.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior isn't uniquely odd and looks like she just enjoys the smell of whatever she's sniffing at and rubbing in. Dogs do this for a multitude of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be because she doesn't like the smell of something already on her (do you spray her with something or bathe her? do you use cleaning products in your home that may get into her fur and make her smell in a specific way?). It could also just be instinctual for her to cover up her scent with something that smells obnoxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally discourage my dog from doing things like this because I don't appreciate the smell of dead bird whenever I kneel down to pet him, but it's your call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T01:59:50.270" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6103" CreationDate="2014-08-24T05:05:37.560" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m a 62 year old male, reflecting on a dog I owned in the 1970’s who had a similar issue, I understand your question, and have an answer that will make your dog completely happy. In looking back, I was a bad dog owner because I didn’t understand what my dog needed, from a psychological perspective. Listening to an animal behavior expert explain that a dog is a pack animal and is totally dependant on the group dynamic for social well being, leaving your dog alone is the dog equivalent of complete despair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my version of what your dog is thinking [“Can you believe it, she left me alone, again! I would never leave her alone so why does she keep doing this to me? OK, I’m pissed now, and will start doing things that communicate how upset I truly am over being left alone!]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is your answer: your dog needs a companion when you are not there.  Another dog is your best answer, your dog will also eventually accept a cat as a companion, but will never accept being left alone without psychological damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2845" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T05:05:37.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6027" CreationDate="2014-08-24T10:36:14.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just persist with what you want and show her incrementally what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throw the bone just a foot a way or so, whilst you have a treat out, and then reward her for just looking at the bone at first. If you have a clicker, click when she looks at it, if not use a word, I use YES when I don't have a clicker to hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll of had to of taught her what a clicker/keyword means first, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clickertraining.com/what_is_clicker_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you can find that on Google&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then once she's associated that the only way to get the treat is to look at the bone, sometimes you can do this about 5 times, others it may take 20 goes. But once you're there, increase the difficulty. She has to take a step to the bone, then go to the bone, then throw the bone further and repeat. Soon she'll realise that the bone and treat are connected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With persistence and gradually increasing what she has to do to get the treat, you should be able to throw it ten foot and she'll go to the bone and then come running back for the treat. Then you'll probably have to start from a foot away again for her to pick up the bone, and eventually bring it to  you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just stand your ground and don't give the treat until she figures it out. If she gets frustrated because she doesn't understand, you probably jumped too far ahead, make it easier. Or she may get bored, so try again later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you'll be able to substitute the treats for throwing the bone again. And further still, you'll be able to use other toys - She has to get the tennis ball to get the bone. The fact that she's obsessed with the bone is a good thing, that makes it a powerful reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2672" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T10:36:14.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9999" CreationDate="2014-08-24T11:39:48.723" Score="5" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am about to get a new Yorkie puppy from a breeder. She currently feeds her dogs Blue Diamond dog food. From what I have read online, been told by breeders, and pet shops, that isn't recommended food. It's not very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the dogs I have had were a Siberian Huskies and I have always given them &quot;Taste of the Wild&quot;. There are some kinds of dog food that are advertised as being made specifically for Yorkies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be better if I fed my yorkie dog food that was made specifically for Yorkies? Or would it be fine if I fed it the same food as I have the huskies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-25T13:32:01.203" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T11:59:21.133" Title="Is dog food made specifically for Yorkie better than dog food made for all dogs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2014-08-24T18:49:53.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my case, this worked itself out on its own. Two days after I asked this question, my cat started eating on the meal schedule without any additional changes or intervention on my part. I guess it just took her a little longer than normal to adjust to the change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Copying in the info from my earlier comment:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My vet didn't have a strong opinion on changing foods &quot;cold turkey&quot; vs. changing gradually by blending the dry and wet together at first, particularly because it was a change from dry to wet. They said it might be worth mixing in a little dry food for the first week, but not longer than that. Had it been a switch from one dry food to another, they would've advised more of a gradual changeover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2014-08-24T18:49:53.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6197" CreationDate="2014-08-24T22:30:57.303" Score="13" ViewCount="13376" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I am petting my 3-year-old cat she will roll over on her back and stretch out.  At this point, if I bring my hand near she will try to grab it with her claws or mouth.  I think she is just being playful, but my hand is not the ideal playmate for a ten-pound predatory animal.  However, I don't want to just leave her hanging if she wants to play.  Is there some kind of toy I can substitute for my cat to play with, or should I just leave her alone when she does this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-08-25T15:50:22.893" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T16:41:27.537" Title="How should I respond when my cat wants to wrestle?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6202" CreationDate="2014-08-25T01:55:39.540" Score="3" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ginger has recently started chewing on scissor handles. It is a recent habit because the scissors used to be scattered about in random places and I recently collected them into a holding container (so the change is that now the scissor handles are available). She apparently has no interest in scissors that lay flat on a table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4DrVP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I look at a cat's mouth when they chew on random objects, and her gums are slightly inflamed around the gum line, but not more than normal for her. She had a dental in June because of a plaque build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't chew on any other weird things that I've noticed, but she does like to lick tape and cloth covered speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned about this habit? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T13:57:32.627" Title="Should I worry about my cat chewing scissor handles?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-25T03:21:57.360" Score="3" ViewCount="1350" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a belief prevalent that cats can land on their paws harmlessly irrespective of the height. Assuming that the land below is plain soil, what can maximum if cat is drooped, it lands safely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T00:03:38.697" Title="From what height a cat can fall safely?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2014-08-27T19:52:39.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6196" CreationDate="2014-08-25T15:00:41.067" Score="6" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a miniature Schnauzer, who is 4 years old. I was married for 5 years, and my wife,  my dog, and I lived together for 2 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But 2 years ago I got divorced, and the dog is now living with me only. Our divorce was too troubled so I decided to deny my wife the ability to see the dog. In these 2 years, I've never seen my ex-wife and I never let her see or stay with our dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week my ex-wife talked with me about seeing our dog. Since too much time has passed, I thought maybe it was time to let them meet again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to my surprise my dog didn't like to see her. He growled and barked at her, and didn't let her cuddle him, and fled near me. It was too strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we were married, he was very close to her. He slept in her arms. But why does he behave like this now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can my dog ​​understand the heartache I feel about my ex-wife? Or is it only that he doesn't recognize her any more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2781" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:55:03.823" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:55:03.823" Title="Are dogs good at remembering people?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6181" CreationDate="2014-08-25T15:49:42.193" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Playtime is an important bonding experience between you and your cat so you should take the opportunity to play!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you let her play with your hand, you will teach her that hands are acceptable playtoys, and it will become difficult to later teach her not to bite or claw at your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend staying away from any toys that are hand shaped, such as padded gloves (some people will play with their cats using oven mitts or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001B4H7YQ&quot;&gt;specially designed cat toy gloves&lt;/a&gt;). These items will also teach the cat that your hand is a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better idea is to use a toy that will establish a clear distance between your hand and her. Interactive wand toys such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.go-cat.com/&quot;&gt;Da Bird&lt;/a&gt; are usually a good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T15:49:42.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6184" CreationDate="2014-08-25T16:21:21.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a great term called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-rise_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline high-rise syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roughly speaking, 90% of cats survive falls from 2-32 stories (approx 5-160 meters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1143/do-cats-always-land-unharmed-on-their-feet-no-matter-how-far-they-fall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A Straight Dope article from 1996&lt;/a&gt; conjectured that higher falls give the cat time to rotate (feet-down) and then relax, which causes their excess of skin to act somewhat like a parachute. Specifically, the article says that falls over seven stories are more survivable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1098612X03001219&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The 2004 Vnuk article specifically disputes this&lt;/a&gt;, stating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Falls from the seventh or higher stories, are associated with more severe injuries and with a higher incidence of thoracic trauma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also indicates a 96.5% survival rate, though half of those sustained limb fractures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, a &lt;a href=&quot;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/109467/small-animal-terminal-velocity&quot;&gt;physics.stackoverflow article says a &quot;righted and relaxed&quot; cat has a terminal velocity around 100kph&lt;/a&gt;, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1193gy/if_the_terminal_velocity_for_humans_is_around_125/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reddit estimates a human's TV is about 160kph at the slowest (flat, stretched out)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:40:18.277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T16:21:21.910" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-25T17:08:27.133" Score="12" ViewCount="10362" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my son a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea-Monkeys&quot;&gt;Sea-Monkey&lt;/a&gt; set several months ago.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just a very basic set, which had the eggs, the plastic tank, some food, and a feeding spoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been doing very well, and we've had multiple generations of sea-monkeys, but the instructions suggested that we should get a special aerator:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sea-Monkey Million-Bubble Air Pump&lt;/strong&gt; . . . $4.00 &#xA;  A MUST to oxygenate their water!!! No electricity or batteries needed! In fact, IT CANNOT WEAR OUT OR BREAK! Just pump the bellows with your thumb, just once a day, to FILL the Sea-Monkey water with MILLIONS of bubbles that carry life-supporting oxygen. Perfect for REALLY SERIOUS Sea-Monkey owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any actual benefit to this?  Will using one have a noticeable impact on either the individual lifespan of the shrimp, or the long-term survival of the ecosystem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T11:45:53.290" Title="Is the &quot;Million Bubble Air Pump&quot; necessary for the long-term health of sea-monkeys?" Tags="&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;sea-monkeys&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6192" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-08-25T17:11:38.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sea-monkeys&quot; are the brand name given to brine shrimp marketed as a household pet.  The brine shrimp eggs are typically packaged in sets that include food, a plastic tank, instructions, and sometimes additional accessories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2014-08-25T17:11:38.037" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T17:11:38.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6193" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-08-25T17:11:38.037" Score="0" Body="&quot;Sea-monkeys&quot; are the brand name given to brine shrimp marketed as a household pet.  The brine shrimp eggs are typically packaged in sets that include food, a plastic tank, instructions, and sometimes additional accessories." OwnerUserId="57" LastEditorUserId="57" LastEditDate="2014-08-25T17:11:38.037" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T17:11:38.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6191" CreationDate="2014-08-25T17:23:02.923" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;We opted for the Million-Bubble air pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before we had it, we occasionally just used a dropper to blow some bubbles in the tank.  The advantage that the Million-Bubble air pump has is that it is bigger than the dropper we were using (pushing more air into the water with each pump), and it has an aerator at the end which creates lots of tiny air bubbles instead of the fewer, larger bubbles that came out of our dropper.  This oxygenates the water better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether it is worth it or not is up to you.  If your sea monkeys are doing fine, you probably don't need it.  However, if you are placing an order for more food or some of the other sea monkey accessories at some point, you might want to add the air pump for an extra $4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T17:23:02.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6191" CreationDate="2014-08-25T18:27:19.123" Score="10" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any actual benefit to this? Will using one have a noticeable impact on either the individual lifespan of the shrimp, or the long-term survival of the ecosystem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Short Answer&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends entirely on your current method of aerating your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't adding oxygen to the water (usually by bubbling air through it) then the answer to both questions is yes - any aeration is better than none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are already aerating your tank enough to meet their needs, then there's no additional benefit to using this method, other than ease of use if that compares more favorably to your current method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Long Answer&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brine shrimp (Sea Monkeys&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt;) survive in low level oxygen environments.  They can live long lives with low oxygen levels, so if your only concern is making sure they live a long time, then as long as they aren't dying, it's very likely that you are putting enough oxygen into their environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It only takes a few seconds a day with a straw for a human to blow enough bubbles in their water to sufficiently oxygenate the water for survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reproduce, though, they will require more oxygen than mere survival requirements dictate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...with a good oxygen supply, the brine shrimp are a pale pink or yellow, or if they are heavily feeding on microalgae they will look green in color. In this ideal condition, growth and reproduction is rapid, and a self-sustaining supply is possible. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/brine-shrimp-2-brine-shrimp-survival/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So by observing the color of the shrimp, you should be able to deduce whether you are oxygenating enough for reproduction or not.  Note, however, that reproduction requires several other good tank conditions, so even if you don't plan on having them reproduce, color is a decent indicator of oxygenation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically you don't want too much oxygen - not because it'll hurt the shrimp, but to prevent algae and other undesirable life in the tank.  One of the reasons brine shrimp are so popular is because they are easy to take care of, and one of the reasons this is the case is because they do well in low oxygen level environments which acts as a deterrent to other life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T19:18:27.577" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6186" CreationDate="2014-08-25T18:43:48.213" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been believed for a long time that dogs seem to have a way to sense their owner's emotions and react accordingly. If you have a strong dislike for your ex-wife, then the dog can pick up on that and express the same emotion. He may not actively dislike her, but he can recognize that you as the alpha are bothered, and therefore that this person represents a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doctors at the University of Portugal &lt;a href=&quot;http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/15/rsbl.2011.0083&quot;&gt;published an observational study&lt;/a&gt; in 2011 that showed, among other things, how dogs could exhibit &quot;contagious yawning&quot; -- yawning when their owners yawned. In humans, contagious yawning has been linked to an empathy response, and so the study writers posited that dogs are capable of empathy toward their owners, which would be a strong indication that they can read human emotions and mirror that response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, earlier this year, a research group in Budapest &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(14)00123-7&quot;&gt;used fMRI technology&lt;/a&gt; to map the way canine brains responded to vocal cues both from other dogs as well as humans, and were able to show a particular section of the brain that responded to differences in emotional tone, and that those reactions were similar across both dog sounds and human sounds. And as that particular brain region is in an analogous place to the area in a human brain responsible for interpreting emotional tone, there is strong conjecture that dogs are attuned to react to the tone of human voices in a similar way that we react to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not knowing how amiable (or not, as the case may be) your current relationship with your ex is, I can't say for certain that this is what's happening. But it is definitely possible that if there is still some strain on your interactions, that your dog is picking up on it and becoming more protective of you as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastActivityDate="2014-08-25T18:43:48.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6181" CreationDate="2014-08-26T03:31:36.607" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found that when my cats want that kind of play, I get the best results by substituting a decent-sized stuffed toy (catnip is optional).  I don't mean one of the tiny mice designed for batting around, but, rather, a toy that's at least 3-4&quot; around, something that the cat can reasonably hold onto with both front paws and/or its mouth while rolling around on its back.  (I don't know where to buy toys of this sort commercially; mine are hand-made.  If you want to make your own, a rectangular stuffed toy is pretty easy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried offering a thing on a string, but when my cats want to wrestle they &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; seem to want to chase an airborne object.  They want to grab something and hold on; the key is for that thing that they grab to not be a body part or anything else that is Not A Toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dogs (when we had dogs) used to like &quot;tug of war&quot; with a cloth knotted on both ends.  I've never tried this with a cat, but that might work too -- it gives the cat something to grab onto (unlike the thing on a string) and allows you to put a little more distance between your hands and the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T03:31:36.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6191" CreationDate="2014-08-26T07:43:11.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just remember that most of the time, the size of the bubbles that the pump produces are too large to be integrated into the water column, therefore most oxygen exchange is done via diffusion (see this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5439508_dissolved-oxygen-water.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;webpage&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bubbles help as they increase the area of the water surface as they break through the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the cheapest pump/air stone you can buy would be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2856" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-08-26T09:41:48.537" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T09:41:48.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-26T11:58:09.393" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a black and white cat who likes to occasionally come and sit on my lap. Unfortunately when she gets very comfortable she flexes her claws in and out (kneading) which is not exactly comfortable for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With other cats (including other people's) when they do this I just put them off my lap until they figure it out. The problem here is that while these other cats really wanted to be held Molly will just wander off and do something else and does not try to get back up. Thus the cycle of figuring out the trigger that had her removed is not present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of clipping her claws (which I'd rather not) is there some other way that I can I train her to keep her claws to herself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2857" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T11:58:09.393" Title="How can I train my cat to keep her claws retracted while on my lap" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-08-27T10:21:20.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6206" CreationDate="2014-08-26T12:03:21.717" Score="6" ViewCount="868" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat is almost full sized and likes to climb the net curtains, which are ripped to shreds because she is so large. I want to replace the curtains, but not before I put a stop to this behaviour, which seems to happen when I am not in the room (unless &quot;they just ripped themselves&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of my cats have been strays that have just shown up, but this one is a definite house cat. She came from another family just as she was maturing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2857" LastEditorUserId="2808" LastEditDate="2014-08-31T20:15:55.290" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T20:15:55.290" Title="How can I train my cat to not climb the net curtains?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6208" CreationDate="2014-08-26T13:04:02.237" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is getting widespread that early socialisation is a crucial step in puppy development. Exposure to a variety of dogs, humans and situations happening during the socialisation window () is key for the dog to grow as a top canine citizen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience breed clubs and training clubs propose a large variety of &lt;em&gt;puppy classes&lt;/em&gt;, I suppose to fulfil that goal. However it seems that the vision they have of these classes, the activities they implement and the way they deal with all that vary quite a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I judge the quality of such &lt;em&gt;puppy classes&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T02:37:52.983" Title="How can one judge the quality of puppy classes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6183" CreationDate="2014-08-26T13:20:50.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't mention if they're usually the same pair she goes for, but the shape of the handles and the upright position may be a factor in relief. In any event, I think some small amount concern is warranted since many tooth and gum issues are not directly visible and so it may be that she is experiencing discomfort that is alleviated by the activity (similar to baby teething relief).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to check on this is try rubbing her jaw a bit and see if she leans into it much more directly than you would expect. One of our cats definitely has issues below the gum line and responds with clear relief when we rub her jaw area. She leans into this very hard, much more so than other types of petting. Unfortunately, because of a heart condition, they can't put her under to fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be nothing, though, just a odd behavior, but only a vet can really confirm that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-08-26T13:57:32.627" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T13:57:32.627" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6953" CreationDate="2014-08-26T14:49:20.217" Score="10" ViewCount="3620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to deter my dog from eating his own feces. I've heard that adding spinach or pineapple or pumpkin to his diet can help contain the problem, preventing this act by making the poop unappealing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is this true, and is there scientific evidence to back it up, or is it only anecdotal?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If this is true, how much of any should be used?  I'm assuming the amount varies based on dog weight, but I want a guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Does canned or fresh work better?  I assume canned for pumpkin, but I don't know about pineapple.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For pineapple, should I just add juice, chunks, or both?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For spinach (suggested from the comments below), should I use fresh spinach or frozen (obviously not creamed)?  Should I cook it first?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-08-29T21:46:32.910" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T17:54:58.157" Title="Can adding spinach / pineapple / pumpkin to a dog's diet prevent coprophagia?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7220" CreationDate="2014-08-26T16:44:39.397" Score="8" ViewCount="8421" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had some kittens a while ago, one of which I have given to a friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been about a year since then, and I was wondering: If my cat (the mother) were to come in contact with her offspring after not seeing it for a while, will the mother still know the other cat is its offspring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats usually sniff each other's behinds to catch their scent, which in the animal world, is basically their handshake (for certain categories of animals, such as dogs. Please correct me if I'm wrong). Even after a long period of separation, will the scent of the offspring set off a motherly instinct, or any kind of trigger, that'll allow the mother to know if the cat she's interacting with is in fact her offspring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they can or can't recognize them by scent, is there another way she would be able to recognize them? (E.g. if the father spent time with the offspring and also with the mother cat at different times, and the mother and offspring haven't seen each other since birth. When they first meet, will the mother know it's her offspring?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:13:00.357" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T07:48:40.363" Title="Does a cat recognize her offspring after a long period of separation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-26T16:47:41.000" Score="9" ViewCount="8760" Body="&lt;p&gt;I current have a 75 gallon, unplanted aquarium in which I have NO gravel at all. I removed the gravel years ago because I liked the clean look&amp;hellip; and &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; having to vacuuming the gravel to remove debris. I really liked that look for awhile, but now I'm looking for a change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to cover the bottom of the aquarium with a thin layer of gravel, but I am trying to avoid the chore of having to vacuum it again. The gravel would be for aesthetic purposes only (I am not using it to anchor plants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a water pump (or the output of my canister filter?) &lt;strong&gt;circulating water &lt;em&gt;UPWARD&lt;/em&gt; through an underground filter&lt;/strong&gt; likely negate the need to vacuum a very thin layer of gravel at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gravel would only need to be a fraction of an inch thick (just enough to cover the undergravel plates). I am not planning on using it to anchor plants. Is this something people do? Does the equipment for this type of setup/configuration already exist, or am I going to have to jury rid something to give it a shot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T10:05:20.950" LastActivityDate="2017-01-16T00:22:25.900" Title="Can I run Undergravel Filter in Reverse to Keep the Gravel Clean?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6200" CreationDate="2014-08-26T16:58:01.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest way is to redirect the behavior. Why does you cat climb the curtains as opposed to the other walls?  If it is to get to the window sill too look outside, or to chase bugs attracted by the light you could put a cat tree in the area to provide a more acceptable way to get up high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the damage come from playing with other cats like an ambush site, then using boxes or other spots to do the same thing.  If they are being used as a scratching post, provide a better one nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats usually have reasons for what they do that are not &quot;just to annoy their owner&quot;.  Finding and giving them a better way to do what they need often works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was in an apartment years back I had a cat that liked to get past the metal blinds to sit on the sill. She chewed the edges until she had a cat sized opening to get in and never touched them again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-26T16:58:01.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6201" CreationDate="2014-08-27T02:37:52.983" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few things you can look for when determining when class (puppy or otherwise) is good for you and your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do the trainer(s) use modern positive methods when training?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether it's clicker training, luring, shaping, etc. isn't very important. But they shouldn't be using prong / choke / shock collars or any harsh punishments, and &lt;strong&gt;especially&lt;/strong&gt; not in a puppy class.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do the instructors' dog(s) act?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great way to tell how good an instructor / class is by observing it. Many local classes will let you drop-in (without dog) to watch a class and see if it's right for you. Specifically pay attention to how the instructor interacts with his or her dog. Are they happy, enjoying the training?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What titles do the instructors' dogs have?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easy way to tell if an instructor is successful is to find out if any of his or her dogs have titled in what they are teaching. For a puppy class, the closest thing is going to be obedience titles such as OTCH (Obedience Trial Champion) or UOCH (United Obedience Champion). Of course, this doesn't necessarily translate to a good teacher, but it at least lets you know they know what they're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What education or certificates do the instructors have?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog training is a completely unregulated field, but that doesn't mean there aren't certificates or education that is relevant. Unfortunately, there's no way except through research to tell if a certificate from training school x is worth anything. Degrees in relevant fields such as animal behavior are rarer to find, but give you a better idea of what the instructor has done to acquire them. While not necessary, it can be a good differentiator between similar classes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do you feel about the class?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure that you find a class that you like, are willing to put in the effort required, and will enjoy. Most puppy classes will cover the basics like sit, down, recall, and loose-leash walking, but maybe there's one where you really liked how the instructor taught, or one that's more game oriented than another, or even one that's just a little cheaper than the rest. If you don't enjoy the class, it's going to be more difficult to practice at home, and you won't get nearly as much out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-08-27T02:37:52.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-27T12:57:45.430" Score="4" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is about 18 months old now. And he's still chewing things he shouldn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's two problems really:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Picking up things to run off and chew, anything out of the ordinary, like tissue on the side or a pen that fell on the floor. He took a scalpel once and cut himself...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chewing things when we're not there. He took a chunk out of the kitchen top, the fire place, skirting, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used to be kept in the kitchen but as he got older and didn't chew as much, I gave him access to the lounge and was hoping to give him more but he hasn't managed to get there yet. Following the advice of Dr. Dunbar, if he doesn't chew, give him more freedom - if he chews again, put him back at Square one for a week, etc. The most he has managed is about 4 days in a couple of months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to always give him a kong/wobbler when we left but he's either not interested in his wobbler now or he is far too good at kongs and finishes them in minutes. Unless we freeze them, but he's discovered that if he waits for it to defrost, it's much easier, and so it just takes a few mins after he's waited. He won't touch his wobbler at all really any more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have bitter Apple spray but he just targets something else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried showing him what he's done, and he understands I don't approve. But will carry on when I'm not around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to picking up random things like tissue, I've no idea what to try. I was told it would fade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's on his own whilst we're at work, my partner returns for an hour at lunch. So he's on his own for four hours at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We leave his toys in the lounge when we leave, which he grabs as soon as we get home. And he dies play with them because they've moved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just looking for any tips on what else I can try really. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I should add: since he's lost interest in kongs (which we filled with all sorts) he's more anxious when we leave, Barking at the windows, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2672" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:54:53.717" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T17:36:38.160" Title="How to stop dog chewing things" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6214" CreationDate="2014-08-28T01:07:14.297" Score="6" ViewCount="6537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently began caring for a red-eared slider. It is still young and small, approximately 4 inches in length from the head to tail. I typically feed him dried meal worms daily. I am leaving town from Friday night until Monday afternoon. Is it okay for me to leave him in his tank? Can I just leave more food than normal? Or should I transport him in a smaller container and continue caring for him while I am gone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2863" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T14:05:05.273" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T14:05:05.273" Title="Leaving red-eared sliders for the weekend" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1331" CreationDate="2014-08-28T02:03:53.290" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;An additional thing to consider: Cats like warmth. Curling up vs stretching is the ideal sleeping position to maintain body temperature, or keep warm when the temperature is cold for all animals, as well as humans. Taking that into account, tucking one's head is an additional way to keep warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T02:03:53.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-28T02:21:03.150" Score="10" ViewCount="17329" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there any scientific or anecdotal evidence that cats recognize other cats who closely share their DNA? As in, new kittens from the same mother and the such?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm suspecting that there might be such a thing, and what follows is my reasoning for doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted my (once feral) cat when she was about 6 months old, from the area around my summer home. Ever since she has lived with me in a city flat. About a month ago, I moved back to the summer home for a while, taking her along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, she seemed to instantly recognize her surroundings, from which she was taken almost a year ago: Once she was allowed to go outside the house, she went out as if she already owned the entire garden. She didn't take her time to explore gradually, as she seems to have done with pretty much every other new area she's been.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a number of feral cats in the area. One of them, about 5-6 months old, looks extremely alike my own cat, both in terms of fur length (she has medium-lengthed fur, which is unusual for feral cats in my country), color, markings and so on. It's not unlikely at all that they're sisters from another birth, or that the kitten is my cat's niece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kitten is the ONLY cat or kitten I've seen in the area that my cat doesn't feel threatened by or attack at all. Over the last few weeks, I've seen her get defensive or aggressive, or at least meow at every single other cat around. With her kitten double, she just stares with apparent curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard stories of cats seemingly recognizing their owners' close family as soon as they meet them; my logic tells me it must be hormonal, or otherwise related to smell - naturally, siblings and the such smell alike. But can it happen the other way round?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly doubt my cat understands that this kitten looks like her, but do you think there's a chance she recognizes it through scent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-09T13:08:37.840" LastActivityDate="2020-08-09T13:08:37.840" Title="Do cats recognize their family? Perhaps by scent?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6211" CreationDate="2014-08-28T07:31:11.417" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days of fasting for a healthy turtle should be no problem. You should still place more food than normal, you're turtle doesn't really have to fast. I'd suggest a bigger variety to what your feeding your turtle though. Red ear sliders are initially carnivorous turtles but they eventually turn mostly herbivorous. Even if you turtle is still young it might accept a carrot or some romaine lettuce here and there. As a young turtle prone to diseases, your turtle needs some vitamins as well as a calcium supplement, which the mealworms do not offer, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtletimes.com/forums/topic/80061-making-your-own-pellets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is a recipe that provides mostly everything your turtle needs. You can also buy other pelleted food, depending on where you are. ZooMed is a very reputable brand and the zoomed aquatic turtle food is a great choice. Typically, you don't want to use something with more than 35 percent protein unless you're using it along with &#xA;other food. Some staple pellets cross the line a bit and that is okay just make sure you check the ingredients to ensure variety. You can read more about a turtle's diet from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3015/whats-an-appropriate-diet-for-a-small-river-turtle&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; answer, also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Austin's Turtle Page&lt;/a&gt;  is a very good and trusted page. &#xA;Based on this article( www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html ), mealworms have a bad calcium to phosphorus ratio, and as you know, calcium is incredibly important for turtles. You can still feed it meal worms, but I wouldn't recommend them as a staple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd definitely vote &lt;em&gt;against&lt;/em&gt; taking him with you as that'd be too stressful for the turtle and it'll probably end up not eating at all throughout the weekend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you're gone you need to keep in mind that there is no one to continuously take a look at the turtle in case something happens. Constant appropriate water depth and temperature are essential, you should keep a thermostat set at 78F or around, and if your tank is suspect to evaporation, i.e it has a big surface area, then add extra water. The water should &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; drop below the width of your turtles shell since if it does and your turtle flips on its back then that is a death sentence to your turtle if no one is around. If you're adding extra water and you have a powerful filter it's preferable you turn off the filter when you're not around so that the intake doesn't drown your turtle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're gone dropping some feeder fish is a great idea, they won't rot away like most food would and it'd give your turtle a nice exercise. Avoid goldfish since theyre too high in fats and prevent vitamin B12 intake. If you can manage to attain some aquatic insects also then that'd be great, turtles absolutely adore them and that is mainly what many feed on when they're juveniles. Drop in a carrot peel, zucchini peel, etc.. Just don't overdo it so as not to dirty the water too quickly. You can also leave a few of your meal worms of course, and you can add some pelleted food, note the decreasing priority further down the list. If you have an automated feeder then you can add whatever you can fit there that your turtle eats and set it appropriately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will probably return to dirty water, which is why you need to clean up the minute you arrive. Have a lot of resting spots near the surface of the water so as your turtles never fatigues. Frankly, your turtle might even enjoy your absence since generally they're not big fans of being disturbed(unless it's for food). Your turtle will be able to take the dirty water provided you return at the time you provided, that's if your water dirties up(it depends on what you feed it when you're gone, and whether the filter is on or off). Have a great time when you're gone and try not to worry much about your turtle, take the appropriate measures and it'll do just fine. If you're still too worried you can have someone take care of it, feed it, or maybe just take a look at it to make sure all is going well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any other concerns or questions then please ask away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T17:01:30.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6149" CreationDate="2014-08-28T16:13:16.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have owned and worked with aquariums for well over 40 years, since I was around 12 or so.  I have had all sorts of configurations and a large number of Danios and at given time.  In fact, one of my current 55gal tanks has about 15 danios currently, mixed with various other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Danios are a schooling fish, and I have always had better success with them in groups not less than 3.  They will survive singly as well, but are always happier (subjective but viewable by their activity) in larger groups.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any NEW Danios that you add to your tank will immediately join up with the others, thus protecting them from any other fish in the tank.  That is the idea behind &quot;schooling&quot; in the first place. It defeats attackers by distracting them from any single fish as they all swirl around and the attacker gets lost as to which particular fish it was going to attack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here though is to match, the TYPE of danio that you purchase to add to the tank, and if possible find ones that are very similar in size.  No more than 1/4 inch less in length and no more than 1/4 inch longer in length.  As I said though, the key is to match the type of Danio.  Each fish store you visit may call different fish a Danio, and they are possibly sourced from different locations.  Some are grown in huge ponds down in Florida, others are wild caught from various rivers in South America.  The ones that are sourced from Florida are more likely what you currently have as they are generally cheaper in price.  They are also already used to the various foods and/or chemicals that they will be exposed to in a local aquarium.  Wild caught fish, may be brighter in color, their stripes may be more visible (if they are happy that is) but they also may not survive as long as they are used to the water that they were born in.  Which is a wild river.  Where the tank raised from Florida is raised in treated water, so they are more used to that sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Danios by trade name, are live bearing, others are egg layers, as I mentioned, the term Danio is used for a variety of fish.  The live bearers are typically 3 to 4 inches in length, while the egg layers, when full grown seldom reach 3 inches and are more typically less than 2.5 inches in total length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, my advice, add 2 or 3 more... likely no more than that depending on your tank size.  Also be aware that Ghost Shrimp love, just absolutely love, baby fish as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2864" LastActivityDate="2014-08-28T16:13:16.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6225" CreationDate="2014-08-28T17:00:54.897" Score="4" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen my cats bite each other, and after some research, I found that it was the cat claiming dominance (letting the other cat know &quot;I'm the Alpha&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What surprised me was that one of my cats (named Fearless) started doing it to his mom, and the mother (named Booboo) didn't like it at all. It hasn't broken out into huge fights (yet), but the two seem eager to show who's the Alpha. Fearless is about 9 months old now, if that makes a difference. The mother cat is around 6 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I prevent the offspring from claiming dominance in this situation? Is it a bad thing for the offspring to be the dominant one? In our world, the offspring showing dominance would be frowned upon, but the cat world seems to have some exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other details about home-life for my cats (which relate to this situation):&#xA;The mother cat has another offspring (named Fatty (not actually fat though)) that doesn't do this, although it seems as if Fatty is starting to hop on the bandwagon by giving the mother difficulties during bath time (which hasn't happened since Fearless decided to start showing dominance towards Booboo). Fatty and Fearless are from the same litter. If both were to show dominance over the mother, would this trigger some emotional effect and make the mother depressed? (This is more of a bonus question; would be nice to get the answer, but answering the main question alone is good enough for best answer.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:01:51.570" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T20:01:51.570" Title="If a cat tries claiming dominance over its mother, should I stop it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-28T20:09:24.240" Score="8" ViewCount="731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could swear that this appeared almost overnight, as I would have noticed it had it been around sooner. The dog is a chihuahua/terrier mix, called a rat terrier and he's about a year old. Any idea what this could be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/stF8x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastEditorUserId="1381" LastEditDate="2014-08-28T20:44:49.680" LastActivityDate="2020-02-07T08:40:17.883" Title="What is this hairless patch on my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6224" CreationDate="2014-08-29T00:49:08.080" Score="8" ViewCount="1089" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've taken care of two diabetic cats (for different friends).  One told me to inject the insulin in the fleshy part of a rear leg; the other told me to inject in or near the scruff of the neck (the same place I was taught by my vet to give subcutaneous fluids).  Both friends were doing what their vets told them to do.  In both cases, they gave the injections while the cat was eating.  (I noticed that both cats stand to eat.)  Both also said to vary the site slightly each time (don't keep hitting the same exact spot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there important differences that would affect the choice of injection site, or does pretty much any place where there's enough room work and the two vets were just imparting personal preferences?  The first cat had a very low dose (1.5 units) and the second a higher dose (5 units), but both of those seem pretty insignificant in terms of pushing liquid into the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:53:02.440" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T13:53:02.440" Title="Where on a cat should one inject insulin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6218" CreationDate="2014-08-29T01:00:02.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have a diabetic cat, and they tend to prefer the scruff of the neck - they have used other sites but the scruff seems to be the easiest to access. From what they were told, you just need to make sure there is enough room for the fluid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scruff just tends to be an easy site, as if the cat is eating or holding still and sitting (my parents cat will just come and sit when the alarm goes off for his injection and the epileptic cat's daily pill), its really easy to reach, and also gives you more space to needle without risking injury (if you go too deep/hard, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T01:00:02.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6223" CreationDate="2014-08-29T01:00:54.990" Score="8" ViewCount="16217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat with kidney disease who I treated with subcutaneous fluids (latated ringers) for the last few years of his life.  I had bought a new case of one-liter bags not long before he died.  I hope my current cats don't also develop kidney disease, but I one never knows so I kept the bags.  (Alternatively, I could offer them to a shelter.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bags are a heavy plastic and each is sealed in a second layer of plastic.  Nothing is leaking; I have every reason to believe that the bags remain undisturbed.  But I don't know if the solution eventually leaches anything out of the plastic and, if so, it matters.  There's no &quot;use by&quot; date on the packaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long will these keep without losing any medical utility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T12:18:23.700" Title="How long do subcutaneous fluids (lactated ringers) keep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6135" CreationDate="2014-08-29T04:47:28.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some non-supernatural explanations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit may have been hearing the robin even though you couldn't.  Rabbits have better hearing than humans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit might have been restless for some unrelated reason.  Just because two events happen around the same time does not mean that one caused the other.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second explanation is more likely in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T04:47:28.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6143" CreationDate="2014-08-29T07:11:00.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;An under-gravel filter provides a fair to midling range of filtration.  Depending on the amount of water flow and depth of the gravel above the grid, changes how much true filtration you get with an UGF.  They can also be a bit of an issue with live plants, depending on the gravel/sand mix (and other things as well) and water flow.  The higher the flow rate, the better the filtration, but the more damage you may have with the plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A HOT (hang on tank) type of filter typically offers multiple filtration chambers allowing you to modify how it runs, meaning you can run different types of media inside, say lava rock for allowing growth of the beneficial bacteria, or that fibrous material that looks like cotton balls to allow for solid filtration, meaning it helps to remove the floating solids.  With the ability to mix and match the media AND the ability to only change a part of the media each month, meaning you might replace the fibrous stuff but leave the lava rock alone, you gain the ability to keep the good, living bacteria growing on the lava rock, while still removing the nasty solid wastes when you change the fiber media out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are multiple variations on HOT filters, offering just about any style of filtration you want.  In my case, for all 3 of my tanks, I always have at least 2 different filters running at all times.  I always have an undergravel (two run on air, the 3rd tank uses a power head) and then one of two different types of HOT style filters or canister style.  Canister filters are the same as the HOT style, just much larger, giving me the ability to have many more media types in the same filter housing, thus allowing for more fish in a tank, and/or multiple ways to treat fish if they run into issues etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to having just plain air bubbles... that is a complete waste of power and time UNLESS you are using those bubbles as the lifting power in the uplift tubes of the under-gravel filter.  The amount of oxygen dissolved into the water of the aquarium is much greater just on the surface of the tank, and the air bubbles truly don't make enough difference to even be measurable.  The only advantage they offer is that they make the surface of the water at the top of the tank, move a bit, which does increase oxygen content but that is also gained by almost any type of filtration... if the surface of the water moves at all, then it almost doubles how much air actually gets absorbed into the water.  Your under-gravel or hot filter will move the water enough to make the air pump completely unnecessary unless you are using it to 'power' the movement in the under-gravel filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2864" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T07:11:00.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6220" CreationDate="2014-08-29T12:09:25.247" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to consider is that &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactated_Ringer%27s_solution&quot;&gt;Lactated Ringer's solution&lt;/a&gt; contains sugar so if any impurities like bacteria finding their way into to the solution they are more likely to grow/survive.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saline_%28medicine%29&quot;&gt;Normal Saline&lt;/a&gt; does not contain sugar so if one was use an IV solution where there was any question, the Lactated Ringers would be a riskier choice.  Also keep in mind that &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intravenous_therapy&quot;&gt;Intravenous therapy&lt;/a&gt; is delivered straight into body bypassing the normal protective barriers of the body, even if using &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcutaneous_injection&quot;&gt;as subcutaneous fluids&lt;/a&gt; you are bypassing the bodies protective layers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with the best supplies and care &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intravenous_therapy#Infection&quot;&gt;IV related infections (Sepsis)&lt;/a&gt; does occur; in fact &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/sepsis-septicemia-blood-infection&quot;&gt;&quot;Sepsis occurs in 1% to 2% of all hospitalizations in the U.S.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what Kind of shelf life does a bag of Lactated Ringer's have? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It varies widely by manufacture and packaging I find examples ranging from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbraunusa.com/products.html?prid=L7502&quot;&gt;18 months&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lavoisier.com/fic_bdd/pdf_en_fichier/12133485550_Ringer_Lactate_En.pdf&quot;&gt;5 Years&lt;/a&gt;.  There has been some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ismp.org/newsletters/acutecare/showarticle.aspx?id=69&quot;&gt;discussion about use past expiration&lt;/a&gt; during times of difficulty but I don't find FDA approval. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no posted expiration date, you should be able to contact the manufacturer with the lot number and get an expiration date.  In any case I would recommend donating to shelter or rescue, if it is usable they &lt;strong&gt;WILL&lt;/strong&gt; use, while you &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; use it. There are several rescues in your area, I would contact them each to ask specifically about donating IV solutions, as some may be more in need of the donation then other.  I would not recommend donating by anonymous drop off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-08-29T12:15:39.570" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T12:15:39.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6218" CreationDate="2014-08-29T13:02:37.047" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that the recommendation to inject in the leg was made out of an abundance of caution to avoid injection site sarcoma (ISS), while the recommendation to inject in the scruff was made from a combination of factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's the easiest site for an owner to give an injection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's no proof that insulin can cause ISS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets still aren't aware of ISS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What Is Injection Site Sarcoma?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ISS, previously called Vaccine Associated Sarcoma (VAS) is a particularly invasive form of cancer that is believed to form at any injection site that may have some inflammation (Woodward 2011). However, the only proven causes of ISS are prior administration of killed, adjuvanted rabies or leukemia vaccine (Wilcock 2012). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjuvanted vaccines have an ingredient that increases the inflammation (to force an immune response to the disease ingredients in the vaccine), and it is believed that that inflammation plays a key role in the development of sarcomas. Adjuvanted vaccines should be avoided for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second recommendation can be applied to all injections, and that is that injection sites should be located in an area where if a sarcoma develops, it can easily be removed. That is generally recommended to be the leg (which can be amputated if a sarcoma develops), but I spoke to a vet tech earlier this year who works with an oncologist who recommends the stomach because the chest wall is easy to remove the sarcoma from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any injection, I generally weigh the risk of developing an ISS against whatever illness I'm treating. When my cats got a steroid shot for itch relief while the flea medication killed the cheyletiella mites, I requested it in their legs just to be safe. If I was giving fluids to a cat in renal failure, I would not worry about the chance of developing cancer in a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kevin N. Woodward&#xA;ISRN Veterinary ScienceVolume 2011 (2011), Article ID 210982,&#xA;Origins of Injection-Site Sarcomas in Cats: The Possible Role of Chronic Inflammation—A Review&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/210982/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brian Wilcock, Anne Wilcock, and Katherine Bottoms&#xA;Can Vet J. Apr 2012; 53(4): 430–434. &#xA;Feline postvaccinal sarcoma: 20 years later&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299519/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T13:02:37.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6216" CreationDate="2014-08-29T13:34:22.800" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do have a social pecking order when living in a group, but it's not anything you need to enforce. If Fearless starts picking fights with Booboo, make sure that there are escape routes through the house so that Booboo doesn't get cornered (this would start a huge fight since Booboo wouldn't have escape as an option).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are any locations in your house where the fights tend to happen, then try adding vertical escape routes (such as wall shelving) to make sure that Booboo can escape if she wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T13:34:22.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6173" CreationDate="2014-08-29T14:09:23.520" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's pregnant, she will normally hold a clutch of eggs and later the hatched babies below her hind swimmerets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C4P6i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pregnant Ghost Shrimp&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-08-29T14:15:20.670" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T14:15:20.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2014-08-29T17:55:21.280" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the vet assumed it was some kind of infection, though she seemed a bit clueless. In any case, she gave me two kinds of antibiotics. Will post updates when/if he gets better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2866" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T17:55:21.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6233" CreationDate="2014-08-29T18:40:38.490" Score="11" ViewCount="90992" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 9 months old, and she still likes to nurse from her mother. I've been stopping her (also punishing her by removing her from the room we are currently in. Is this a bad way to react?) when I see her do it, but no results come of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats regular catfood as well. I don't think the mother cat is still producing milk (it's been a few months since she had kittens). I have a feeling it's a bonding thing, because the mother doesn't mind at all (cleans offspring while offspring is feeding).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this brings up many other questions (each deserving their own post), &lt;strong&gt;my main question is&lt;/strong&gt;: How can I get my 9 month old cat to stop nursing off its mother? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="2808" LastEditDate="2017-06-28T00:05:56.537" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T12:52:26.333" Title="How can I get my cat to stop nursing from its mother?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6234" CreationDate="2014-08-29T18:44:11.123" Score="3" ViewCount="3002" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in my other question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6228/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-nursing-on-its-mother&quot;&gt;How can I get my cat to stop nursing on its mother&lt;/a&gt;, I mentioned that I was not sure if the mother cat was producing milk, which could be causing my 9 month old cat to feed off her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After giving birth, how long does it take for a mother cat to stop producing milk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:08:34.537" Title="On average, when do cats stop producing milk after giving birth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-29T18:54:17.183" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat thats 9 months old. The mother ended up getting pregnant again shortly after (fixed now, so no more worries), which lead to one of my cats to continue nursing after being introduced to regular dry cat food. Only one of the two kittens from that litter chose to continue nursing AND eat regular kitten food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the birth, we litter trained the kittens and had to give them to some family friends (sadly, I can't have an army of cats at my house). After the fact, we noticed that one of the kittens from the litter before is STILL nursing on her mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than not being as big as her brother (same age, but male. I'm guessing it's a gender thing), she seems perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can nursing affect a 9 month old cat who also eats regular cat food? How could it affect a cat that &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; eat regular cat food, and chooses to only nurse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T18:54:17.183" Title="What effects could long-term nursing have on a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6209" CreationDate="2014-08-29T18:59:02.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry if I have bad English writing, that's not my native language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An adult dog might be chewing for many reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anxiety/loneliness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To call your attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A natural need for chewing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he lost interest in kong and toys, your case seems to be the first two.&#xA;His behavior when you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We leave his toys in the lounge when we leave, which he grabs as soon as we get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be calling for attention. From his point of view, the toy is only cool when you are at home.&#xA;Dogs observe our behavior very well. In his mind, when he chews the toy, he doesn't get the attention he wants, when he chews a pen or a remote he will have your attention, even if you disapprove, it is attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I learned on a dog behavior course is: For each &quot;NO&quot; you say, there should be a &quot;YES&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, can't chew this but can chew that.&#xA;It's hard to teach that, here are some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are at home and catches him chewing something he shouldn't, don't get angry, get a toy to call his attention and play with the toy, build a positive association with that toy. In his mind it's like this: &quot;chewing a pen is cool, but the toy is cooler!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most important sense for dogs is the smell, he likes being close to your smell, and when he is home alone he wants that to feel safe, so chewing things that have your smell makes a lot of sense for him. So by a new toy, sleep with this new toy for a night and when leaving home let this toy with him, he will love it because it has you smell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead of doing negative associations with bad behavior, do positive associations only. It's known that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencealert.com/dogs-may-look-ashamed-but-they-don-t-feel-guilt-experts-say&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dogs don't feel guilty&lt;/a&gt; (even if it looks that they feel).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do regular exercise, walk daily, they love a routine of activities. If possible do activities before leaving home. When returning to home wait for him to calm down first before you give attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need more help, just leave a comment, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2862" LastEditorUserId="2862" LastEditDate="2018-03-16T17:36:38.160" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T17:36:38.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2014-08-29T21:00:59.787" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon for dogs to scratch (or chew) off hair if they have something bothering their skin that won't go away with a single scratch. They don't have the self-restraint we do in knowing that they need to ignore the itch in order for it to heal better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possibly that it started as a bug bite, or he came into contact with something he's allergic to, and he scratched it to the point where you see it now. The important thing you'll need to do now, is make sure that he doesn't keep scratching it, otherwise it won't heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he can bite it, which it looks like he can, I'd suggest looking into a cone of shame. I think they're pretty inexpensive and you can find them at your local pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The antibiotics should hopefully help keep the itching down, so that he won't scratch at it. There are some anti-itch sprays that you could use, but I'm not sure how well they would work in use with the antibiotics. If after you use the antibiotics you still catch him itching, it might be worth asking your vet if you can use an anti-itch treatment with the antibiotics they prescribed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T21:00:59.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6228" CreationDate="2014-08-29T23:36:42.900" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens nursing on each other can irritate or injure each other, especially if they nurse on the wrong spots.  Since this isn't the case here, the only down side would be a similar sore spot on the momma, who is well equipped to beat up the kitten making her hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see why you have to be the enforcer outside of that.  Mom will cut off the milk bar when she wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T23:36:42.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6229" CreationDate="2014-08-29T23:41:41.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In mammals, milk can be produced when young need milk regardless of pregnancy although it isn't common.  In theory, a mom could lactate for as long as she liked as long as someone was nursing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually in cats the mother starts to discourage nursing, which then stops lactation, not the reverse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-08-29T23:41:41.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-08-30T02:08:15.060" Score="5" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are adopting a new (rescue) cat next weekend. The rescue that we are getting him from recommends a 7-10 day isolation period before we introduce him to our current cats to make sure that he isn't ill and doesn't transmit any illnesses to our other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What illnesses and/or illness symptoms should I be on the lookout for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the recommended integration period also recommends taking bedding that smells like him and putting it where our other cats can smell it and vice versa (so they can smell each other before meeting). Should I wait to do this until after the isolation period, or a certain number of days through the isolation period to make sure that he doesn't have a skin disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally (out of curiosity), I have medical records on our new cat for the past month (his second worming is tomorrow, he's had FeL/FIV testing, etc). If this was a stray cat off the street, would the isolation period be longer/different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:48:53.450" Title="What illnesses/symptoms should I look for with a new cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6294" CreationDate="2014-08-30T10:44:30.813" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to introduce me and my dog to the sport of agility some time ago. Helped with the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Agility-Right-Start-ultimate-fastest-growing-ebook/dp/B008913BIA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1409395133&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=agility%20right%20from%20the%20start&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Agility Right From the start&lt;/a&gt; I clicked trained him to the tunnel, high jumps and we're progressing with the weave poles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I must admit that I'm still a total beginner and I'm afraid that my training technique would drag us in a direction where my dog will know how to perform the obstacles but where we'd have only slow/not that fast responses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some rules that would ensure that we won't do that mistake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T16:55:43.857" Title="Dog agility training: what mistakes should be avoided to obtain only fast responses" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6243" CreationDate="2014-08-30T12:22:40.267" Score="2" ViewCount="752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 5 stray cats that have been visiting my house over the last 2-3 months sporadically (1-2 times a week). Of late, I have started setting out &lt;a href=&quot;http://ultimacat.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adult cat food&lt;/a&gt; for them and I see that their frequency of visits has increased. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now they follow a set time-table. Cat 1 visits between 9-9.30am and eats all the food! I set more food out at 9.30am and Cat 2 visits at around 11.00am and eats about half of it. Cat 1 and Cat 3 visit between noon-3pm and feed on the leftovers. Then I put food out again at around 6pm again and Cat 1 visits at around 6.30-7pm. Cat 4 and Cat 5 are only sporadic visiters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that background, my questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do I ensure that Cat 2 doesn't go hungry since from next week I start work and will be in my office between 9am-7pm. I'm on vacation right now and hence it isn't difficult for me to put food out in the middle of the day since I am home. I would rather not resort to some fancy battery operated, timing gadget since I cannot quite afford anything beyond $10-15.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, do cats &quot;learn&quot; if I time my feeding and restrict it to setting out food at 8am (before I head to work) and 7pm (after I return from work)? Will I be losing some of my frequent visiters if they perceive that I don't put food out any more in the middle of the day?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I plan on traveling out of the country for a month - is there some feeding strategy I can use to ensure they have food when I am gone? I can't quite ask my neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked with my the building syndicat. They have no problem with me feeding stray cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2871" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-08-31T12:28:41.777" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:32:14.640" Title="Training stray cats for Feeding time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6239" CreationDate="2014-08-30T17:41:56.483" Score="6" ViewCount="13977" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a (supposedly) Maine Coon and Persian mix. I have put some herbs (parsley and chives) onto our balcony. On the right side, there is also some flower, I forgot which kind it it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chives were on the rightmost side, and the cat would jump onto that railing and chew off the chives. Since chives seem to be bad for cats, I moved them into the middle. Now she climbs over the parsley to get to the chives. She does not care for the plant, nor for the parsley. It seems she wants to eat the poisonous stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KRlDI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Our cat eating chives&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do we have to worry, or will the small amounts that she occasionally eats not harm her? I could move the chives away, the balcony is the only spot with a lot of sun in our flat :-/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="972" LastEditDate="2016-07-29T06:44:14.147" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T21:02:13.637" Title="Cat always tries to eat chives" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6238" CreationDate="2014-08-30T18:48:14.980" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/c-vetm0805_562-566.pdf&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;, chives are toxic to cats. Perhaps you can put them in a hanging basket to keep them out of reach of your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/cats-plant-list&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; also has a list of toxic and non-toxic plants that you may find helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-08-30T20:25:35.217" LastActivityDate="2014-08-30T20:25:35.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2067" CreationDate="2014-08-31T08:28:32.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ball is kept in a space between furniture to keep it still and my kitten was obsessed with trying to climb on it. I went to use it recently and noticed it looked a bit low on air. On sitting on it I could hear a hissing noise and have found where the kitten's claw has punctured the ball. It only seems to be deflating very slowly so I don't think a puncture would startle your cat however it may be worth storing the ball out of your cats way to avoid damage to it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2874" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T08:28:32.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6053" CreationDate="2014-08-31T15:21:37.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, dogs don't normally dwell on any one thing for very long. After they use the bathroom, they move onto something else. That is why, a lot of times, when people are referencing Dog training they say they have to be &quot;caught in the act&quot; otherwise it isn't effective. Once they have finished, they are finished and their mind goes elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they do happen to look at you cleaning it, it's hard to say whether they would really have any mental association with what your actually doing. Dogs are very smart, but there are a lot of conflicting opinions, and thoughts on dogs, their thought patterns, and their level of intelligence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things can be found online, but again the majority of these are opinions with no real scientific backings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.city-data.com/forum/dogs/2040162-what-might-your-dog-think-about.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.city-data.com/forum/dogs/2040162-what-might-your-dog-think-about.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess, is that if the dog see's you, they are intelligent, so he associated the fact that your cleaning up after him. It also depends on his level of understanding. If he goes in the house, and is already trained enough to realize it's wrong they probably feel a hint of guilt that they did something wrong. Especially if you are scolding them for it at the same time. If he does it outside, and he knows that is where to go, then he probably thinks nothing of it when it's picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He already knows your his owner and takes care of him, so perhaps he relates that back in some way to you &quot;taking care of him&quot;, just in a different way. I doubt they really consider the &quot;why&quot; of you doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:21:37.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6213" CreationDate="2014-08-31T15:30:08.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very hard question to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically speaking, the assumed answer would always be yes. It is proven they are very intelligent, each have different personalities, and definitely have a memory. It's been proving they can remember things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as far as scientifically being able to prove they can, I am finding a hard time finding any hard evidence either way (doesn't mean it's not out there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I read, they would identify each other on smell, but years later they would have forgotten the &quot;visuals&quot; of a litter mate, as well as the smells. It's still hard to believe from a human perspective that they would not be able to identify their mother, or father, or siblings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, on the flip side it's almost like humans.  If a cat is with their parents and litter mates the typical time period of a breeder (6-8 weeks) they are still a &quot;kitten&quot; with the mental development of a small child, at least comparison speaking. Removed at 6-8 weeks i doubt, a year later, they would be able to identify each other. If  child, under the age of 3, was removed from their parents and siblings, I doubt they could identify them several years later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if a cat is raised around litter mates for a year for example, then I can see them having a longer term period of being able to remember that, as well visually. The scent would change, and the environments would change, but I feel the &quot;visuals' would be the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally believe cats are more intuitive than humans, so I feel that somewhere deep down they have a way to identify their littermates. Their whiskers and eyes pick up a lot more information than initially expected, and I still personally feel that cats communicate with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in my opinion, yes, for the most part I feel they could identify each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, on the flip side, from my research in forums most peoples research points to the opposite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catforum.com/forum/37-behavior/181561-reuniting-litter-mates.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catforum.com/forum/37-behavior/181561-reuniting-litter-mates.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/cats-remember-littermates-8644.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pets.thenest.com/cats-remember-littermates-8644.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070604185426AAUcE2r&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070604185426AAUcE2r&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:30:08.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6237" CreationDate="2014-08-31T15:32:14.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, a cat, even strays, will certainly learn and adapt to the time you give them food. To do so, you will have to follow a strict policy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, they all know they will be fed, so each one comes and goes as it pleases. Resist the urge to give each one food as soon as it comes, and stick to the schedule. If they realize food is only available at a set time, they will all start coming together. &#xA;It's ok if one of them misses feeding time once or twice, they'll survive. Leave out the empty food bowl so it will realize it came late, and it will start coming earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twice a day is fine for feeding - most household cats get fed three times a day, but twice is fine as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, strays tend to be OK with being fed altogether, and a hungry stray will tolerate others during feeding even if it's a loner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I can't think of a feeding strategy if you're going to be away for a whole month, since you mentioned the neighbors are uncooperative. Even if you left out a big quantity of food, it's likely that just more cats or other stray animals will come once, eat it and leave. Just leave 2-3 days' worth of food, then hope for the best. Don't be too worried, either, most strays tend to survive without people giving them food directly (there could also already be other people in your area feeding them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:32:14.640" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5866" CreationDate="2014-08-31T15:34:51.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question, &quot;Is it possible&quot; is a 100% yes. Almost anything is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How likely (better yet how long it would take), will depend on too many variables than could be listed here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, based off the fact that you have had her for 3 years, that is deeply ingrained behavior. From my understanding there are two types of general behavior in dogs. Short term behavior (behavior they just recently learned, and can unlearn pretty quickly), ingrained behavior (behavior that they have learned a long time ago, and have it deeply ingrained into their psyche at this point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her behavior would be ingrained. Meaning it isn't impossible, but it would be very, very hard to do so. The old adage &quot;You can't teach an old dog new tricks&quot; has been proven incorrect a thousand times. However, after 3 years you would have a little bit of work to do. I would start correcting the behavior right away, and slowly start working with her to get her into a &quot;Sharing&quot; mood. I am under the opinion that you &quot;share&quot; the toys with her yourself, to play with her and so forth..so I feel that is a good start and build off of that. I would recommend doing your normal play sessions with her, but slowly incorporate the other dog into the play sessions. Within a few months, it should become easy for you to start training her to &quot;share&quot; directly just with the other dog, and if she enjoys playing together with you both, there is a chance she will just start adopting that behavior automatically without any need for real &quot;training&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T15:34:51.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6245" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6251" CreationDate="2014-08-31T16:11:05.520" Score="12" ViewCount="21127" Body="&lt;p&gt;We were moving house so we dismantled the turtles aquarium and went to the new location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when we placed the turtle out on the balcony to bask in the sun while we cleaned up the house and set up the aquarium, the turtle found its way out of its comfort zone and escaped off the roof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had anticipated that, and placed barriers where we thought was a deadly opening but somehow it climbed. So it fell down three floors and cracked its shell. There is some weird stuff sticking out of its shell (see bottom picture). I don't know how I can help it right now. It's Sunday here and all vets are closed as far as I know. I also really can't afford a vet treatment right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The turtle can still move around (so spinal cord is okay) but I think it's in a very bad shape. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Turtle on roof top&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4duHJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Turtle on roof top&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B6mkc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Injured Turtle (Not for the squeamish!)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PdtOw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Injured turtle&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2875" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T11:28:01.670" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T13:14:50.637" Title="What can I do for my turtle that fell down three floors?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6245" CreationDate="2014-08-31T16:33:24.700" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take this animal to a vet right away.  Repairing the shell will require surgical skills to clean the wound and create a suitable patch.  Otherwise the turtle will likely die of infection (if it survives the shock and possible internal injuries).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T16:33:24.700" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6245" CreationDate="2014-08-31T17:12:53.780" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This animal really MUST see a vet to assess the damage (if the tissue leaking out is vital organs or just muscle tissue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try calling some if the voicemails of local vets. In my area vets put ways to contact an emergency vet in their voicemails for things that happen when they are closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find a vet today, gently rinse the area with clean (potable) water and keep him in a dry area without any loose substrate to get into the wound. Make sure he has access to drinking water and food if he shows interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT attempt to repair the shell yourself, as you may seal an infection into your repair. Allow the wound to drain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-08-31T17:12:53.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6300" CreationDate="2014-08-31T17:37:36.877" Score="4" ViewCount="13900" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be it dry food, moist food, or a piece of chicken I throw to them. They do it for about 30 to 60 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Rw0i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2765" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:54:36.337" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T01:49:38.943" Title="Why do cats lick their front paws thorougly after eating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6286" CreationDate="2014-08-31T18:11:50.257" Score="8" ViewCount="3719" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some automatic cat toy for proper entertainment. I bumped into automatic laser toys and I'm a but surprised they exist since you're not supposed to hit the cat's eyes with the laser. If it's automatic this might very easily happen. Are the lasers of these toys way below 5 mW? And even then, is it safe enough if the laser somehow points directly at a cat's eyes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find much relevant information on Google and I don't want to rely on the information provided by the producers of such toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is very related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/47/what-level-of-output-laser-pointer-is-safe-for-a-cat&quot;&gt;What level of output laser pointer is safe for a cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2876" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T20:56:52.783" Title="Are automatic cat laser toys safe?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6250" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-01T12:32:12.583" Score="6" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently feeding my dog a mix of dry food (morning) and various kinds of homecook stews (evening).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there is some natural ingredient that would be beneficial for the dog, like added vitamins. I'm thinking about adding some orange juice for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they need vitamins the same way as we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T14:04:27.127" Title="Homecook diet for dogs: should I add vitamins?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6245" CreationDate="2014-09-01T17:46:41.893" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;As covered in the other answers, your only option is to see a vet in order to have surgery done. Or in the worst case, have it humanely put to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to stress how important it is that a professional veterinarian/surgeon takes care of this injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A turtle's shell is not only its spine, but its ribs as well. Below is a diagram of how turtles came to develop their shells that we see today. In the diagram of the modern turtle's skeleton, you can see how the ribs are spread out through the carapace (upper half of the shell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g3yOc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Turtle shell with ribs&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/09/how-the-turtle-got-its-shell-through-skeletal-shifts-and-mus/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles are slow growers, so unless it's a small crack, it's unlikely that it will heal naturally. A crack as large as yours will have to be rebuilt and sealed in order to prevent water and air from entering the inside of the shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what's sticking out of the carapace, I'm not very good with identifying internal organs, but based on its location I would say it's either the liver, or some intestines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can reference the diagram below to see for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tLn5D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Anatomy of a turtle&amp;#39;s insides&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.infoturtle.com/turtle-anatomy/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as you can see, the crack in your turtle's shell is extremely close to where the lungs should be. You should not try simply press the intestines back inside as you could risk pressing against the lungs, collapsing them, or interrupting the heartbeat, causing a stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine your turtle is pretty stressed out from the injury, so the shock of moving his insides, even if you managed to avoid the lungs and heart, could very well kill him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is the intestines sticking out, you have the risks I've mentioned, but also the risk of placing them back inside in a way that would encourage impaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully you've been able to get him to a vet. Otherwise be sure to keep the wound clean with pure water, keep the turtle out of the tank, but rinse him twice a day to keep him hydrated until the vet appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-09-01T22:48:13.757" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T22:48:13.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5928" CreationDate="2014-09-01T22:01:27.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats has allergies too -- in this case primarily food allergies, but my vet believes there are environmental factors too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, there are vets who specialize in dermatology; if you haven't seen a specialist yet, you might inquire about that.  My regular vet (who is not a slacker :-) ) was not aware of some of the options the specialist offered me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specialist is treating my cat with a combination of two factors: a topical flea treatment (yes, really -- some apparently help with allergy symptoms too) and a non-steroid oral medication (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.us.atopica.com/atopica-for-cats/atopica-for-cats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Atopica&lt;/a&gt;; I do not profit from mentioning them).  As an alternative to the latter she had also offered what she described as a &quot;conventional&quot; allergy medicine (injections), one that would be tuned to my cat's specific allergies (after we did the blood panel to identify them).  I do not know the name or specific type of this medicine, but she said it would take about six months to start working.  Atopica is newer and she said it has had mixed results, but that I would see results (if I were going to see them) within a month.  She also felt that it had fewer harmful side-effects; she specifically mentioned that it is not a steroid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has responded well to this and, over the course of the last nine months or so, we have been able to gradually reduce the dose without his symptoms getting worse.  One warning, though -- the stuff apparently tastes foul.  (It's a liquid.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's on the treatment side.  The other half of the problem is reducing exposure to allergens.  Because food allergies were involved, I switched to a prescription diet recommended by my vet for combating allergies, but in the end I was able to go back to regular, commercial food after we identified the specific allergens.  (The prescription diet is very expensive, comparatively speaking.)  The one protein source I don't see listed among your cat's allergies is fish, so perhaps if you stick to the fish/seafood flavors you'll be ok there.  (Note: I don't know how much wheat there is in commercial canned food; I presume you wouldn't be able to use dry with those allergies.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the environmental factors, it's largely a matter of limiting exposure.  Keep your cat indoors (if you don't already) to avoid many of the plants on that list.  For dust, mites, and other indoor hazards, I know people with allergies who've mitigated that with air-filter systems and/or more-frequent cleaning.  You can't &lt;em&gt;eliminate&lt;/em&gt; allergens, but if you &lt;em&gt;reduce&lt;/em&gt; them, in combination with treatment, you should be able to make your cat more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-09-01T22:01:27.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-01T22:16:51.293" Score="4" ViewCount="2097" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am allergic to dogs and want a puppy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years ago I did fine with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puli&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Puli&lt;/a&gt;, which is a long-haired &quot;hypo-allergenic&quot; breed. Now after four days fostering a 3-month old mutt, my allergy symptoms are present, but very mild. If the symptoms get much worse, he'll need a new home. The mutt is definitely part pit bull, probably part Dalmatian. I live in a warm climate with screened porches and tile floors. There is a fair amount of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/111/2887&quot;&gt;uncertainty&lt;/a&gt; around allergies, and I've heard they sometimes get better and sometimes get &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2892&quot;&gt;worse&lt;/a&gt; with time and exposure. I know it would be more sensible to get a hypo-allergenic breed, but I'm willing to risk keeping this puppy, if there is a reasonable chance my allergies will improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What typically happens to allergy symptoms over time? I've read the good advice &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1925&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and would be grateful for any additional or dog-specific information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2887" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T15:41:06.987" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T15:41:06.987" Title="Do dog allergies usually improve over time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-06-09T21:09:54.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-01T22:46:19.580" Score="4" ViewCount="705" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listening to dog breeders talk about dogs, I sometimes hear them mentioning that a breed has a &quot;hair coat&quot; or a &quot;fur coat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between the two types of coat? Do they have different bathing or grooming requirements? How can I tell if my dog has hair or fur? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-29T04:00:01.067" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T04:00:01.067" Title="What is the difference between a hair coat and a fur coat in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5823" CreationDate="2014-09-02T07:40:05.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always known them to be aggressive by nature, but the truth is that they will often display aggressive behaviour when they're feeling stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In their natural environment, Tiger Barbs are school fish and prefer to live in larger groups, so you're on the right track with having 4 together.&#xA;Your school may be just not big enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that a school of 6 and more is what they prefer, but remember they will probably still display some mild snapping behaviour amongst themselves.&#xA;Check out the Wikipedia site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_barb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_barb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Read the &quot;In Aquarium&quot; section. It actually gives a good, brief, overview of their behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally feel that you are on the right track, matching barbs. Rosie barbs are a lot more chilled out, but even they, when stressed, will become aggressive.&#xA;I would try, if your tank size allows it, to try adding a few more Tiger barbs.&#xA;(Or replacing the Rosie Barbs with some bottom feeders.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh yes- Barbs like to nip on long flowy fins. Avoid that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2463" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T07:40:05.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6093" CreationDate="2014-09-02T07:49:31.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quarantine is a great way of solving illnesses in fish tanks, especially if your fish keep getting sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's useful when troubleshooting fish health problems and water quality issues. If you are careful, you can do this in a way that avoids stress - like using the same water and taking your time with making changes to the fish's environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to info on quarantine tanks which might be usefull:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=20&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2463" LastEditorUserId="2463" LastEditDate="2014-09-05T11:31:51.910" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T11:31:51.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6355" CreationDate="2014-09-02T12:15:18.213" Score="3" ViewCount="1182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Boston Terrier. He's reasonably well socialised and play's well with most dogs. One of my friends dogs though recently came to visit and Fester (dog) went banana's for hours and would not stop trying to have sex with him (they're both boys). It went on for hours. In the end I had to separate them (festers bit's were looking sore).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why would he only do this with one other dog?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is un-neutered. The other dog didn't seem overly concerned, though I think he appreciated it when we seperated them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the other dog had left he spent the entire evening &quot;snuffling&quot; around the carpet. He still seemed quite excited/agitated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2801" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T16:37:55.753" Title="My dog is obsessed with &quot;humping&quot; another dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6259" CreationDate="2014-09-02T16:00:42.273" Score="8" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;The air conditioning in my home broke last night and it may be several days before we can get it repaired. The weather is forecasted to be 95F this week in my area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell if my cats are overheated? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T21:22:01.053" Title="How can I tell if my cats are overheated?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6258" CreationDate="2014-09-02T16:21:01.163" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat will excessively bathe when it is overheated. Cats lack the ability to regulate body temperature through sweating on their body, so they lick themselves excessively so that their saliva will simulate sweat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, cats DO sweat - just through the pads on their paws. If you see wet paw prints, but no spilled water, it means the cat is sweating through its paws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, cats will pant if they become extremely overheated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your cat has plenty of ice water, and feed it wet food for a while. Cats often don't know they're becoming dehydrated, and so they won't drink water when they need it. Feeding them wet food helps avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give your cat a shaded, non-carpeted surface (tile, laminate, wood) to lay on during the day. The hard surface won't insulate heat, and will provide a cool area for the cat to lay on (reducing its body temperature). It will prefer to be in the shade as opposed to 'tanning' in direct sunlight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2888" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-09-02T21:22:01.053" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T21:22:01.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2014-09-02T23:58:23.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When cleaning the face and head, the cat dampens the paw and rubs it on the head and face to transfer dirt to the paw, where it can be licked off easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-09-02T23:58:23.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6249" CreationDate="2014-09-03T00:02:40.960" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All lasers for home use are very low energy, like a few milliwatts.  A 100 watt lightbulb is more than a thousand times stronger.  Red light is less damaging than white as well, as the photons are less energetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The automatic toys also move the light, and beam it downwards to make a direct hit to an eye even less likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think the psychological issue of stress without relief is a far more likely issue than the chance of eye damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some research done by a Cat Breeder, &lt;a href=&quot;http://mythicbells.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/are-laser-toys-dangerous/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mythicbells&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By law, lasers are classified and labeled by wavelength and maximum output power.  There are four classes with sub-classes ranging from the harmless to the most harmful.  The labeling system accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on laser products imported into the U.S. is based on accessible emission limits (AEL) that are defined for each laser class.  This is usually a maximum power or energy that can be emitted in a specific wavelength range and exposure time.  It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide the correct classification of a laser, and to equip the laser with appropriate warning labels and safety measures as prescribed by the regulations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The laser pointers sold as toys are among the weakest.   The label on&#xA;my handheld laser toy states that it is rated at 2 mw (milliwatts).&#xA;The new automated laser toy states that it’s less than 5 mw.  Laser&#xA;toys and laser pointers are generally in the 1 – 5 mw range and are&#xA;classified as Class IIa lasers.  Class IIa lasers emit light in the&#xA;visible wavelengths (0.4 to 0.7 mm), and are not intended for&#xA;prolonged viewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will not produce a hazard if viewed directly&#xA;for periods not exceeding 1000 seconds (apprx. 16 minutes.  I don’t&#xA;have an attention span THAT long, let alone my cats). The exposure&#xA;will not exceed MPE’s  (max permissible exposure) if viewed for less&#xA;than this amount of time. (Ref:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asu.edu/radiationsafety/laser/appn_C.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.asu.edu/radiationsafety/laser/appn_C.html&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T20:56:52.783" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6265" CreationDate="2014-09-03T01:22:40.580" Score="12" ViewCount="11096" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that rabbits quickly reproduce, but when a litter is born, is there a possibility that a male and a female from the same litter will reproduce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:08:52.243" LastActivityDate="2018-05-30T04:09:12.087" Title="Do Rabbits Inbreed?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6266" CreationDate="2014-09-03T04:44:07.410" Score="3" ViewCount="903" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently gotten a bunny, less than a week, and I researched a lot before getting it. I bought a large cage, timothy hay, Zupreme rabbit food...&#xA;As soon as I brought him from the shelter, I filled his water bottle, his food bowl, and the hay disposal. On the first day he was really scared, so he spent most of the day on his hiding spot. But on the second day, I noticed he ate quite a bit of hay and drank the water. However, I feel like he isn't eating much of the pellet. As soon as I put cabbage or carrots, he eats them straight away, but I feel like he is barely touching his food. How much are they supposed to eat? Am I over reacting?&#xA;He is 5 months old and 3.7 pounds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2890" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-09-03T14:15:47.150" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T10:46:13.173" Title="Food Pellet - Is my rabbit eating enough?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6268" CreationDate="2014-09-03T05:42:19.153" Score="1" ViewCount="717" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wanted to know what you think of my Siberian husky. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;He is 3 months old: Weighs 15Kg&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is this normal?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eSju5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Frost&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QGctD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Frost and Rusty&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2735" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2014-09-03T11:02:18.353" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T10:45:26.337" Title="Is my Siberian Husky's size normal" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6262" CreationDate="2014-09-03T14:06:02.870" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;All rabbits in a family can and will interbreed, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, grandparents, etc. When two unaltered (not spayed or neutered) rabbits of complimentary gender (boy and girl) are put together for even a few seconds, expect baby bunnies 28 days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many variables but expect rabbits to reach sexual maturity in 3 to 8 months &lt;a href=&quot;http://florida4h.org/projects/rabbits/MarketRabbits/Activity8_Maturity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference 1,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/spay.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reference 2&lt;/a&gt;.  Unless you are intentionally breeding rabbits, &lt;strong&gt;consider 3 month old rabbits, old enough to make babies&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Babies can be weened at around &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;6 weeks&lt;/a&gt; if they are not separated or altered you can have a lot of rabbits in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877&quot;&gt;a short time&lt;/a&gt; If your are not able to &lt;strong&gt;reliably&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5878&quot;&gt;tell the gender of your rabbits&lt;/a&gt; they should be separated at 3 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking from experience, I can confirm that baby bunnies &lt;strong&gt;are born&lt;/strong&gt; when two siblings of the &lt;strong&gt;SAME GENDER&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;believed to be&lt;/em&gt;) are left together. It is difficult to identify the gender of baby rabbits, and mistakes are often made. I volunteer with a couple of local organizations that take domestic rabbits, the majority of the babies that come in, come from just this scenario. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T14:06:02.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6263" CreationDate="2014-09-03T18:38:41.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very good chance that the pellets your rabbit was being fed prior to your adopting it was different.  As long as he is eating hay and drinking water you are fine.  I would try to make sure he has as much hay as he will eat.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1451/2462&quot;&gt;this answer on another question&lt;/a&gt; for more information on how to best transition your rabbit to the new feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you stop giving him treat foods eventually he will start eating pellets more regularly.  Right now the pellets are not something his gut is used to so it may take some time for his belly to adjust.  Keep free feeding him hay, and make sure hay and pellets are the only foods he has to eat.  Once he starts eating the pellets regularly I would start treating with Dandelion greens and/or parsley.  Those are nice easy foods for the rabbit and ones he will love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-09-03T20:47:39.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6296" CreationDate="2014-09-03T20:50:35.403" Score="5" ViewCount="3960" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know the generic answer for reptiles, but I'm particularly concerned about tortoises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine is largely an indoor tortoise, and the mosquitoes are already pretty much gone from our area, but I was curious about it.  The occasional bug does get into the house, and since I can't always pick up waste right away, they do find their way to the tortoise's enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do mosquitoes actually bite reptiles?  I know that their skin is much tougher than a human's, and I would suspect that they wouldn't have the same immunological response to the bite that we would, but I don't know for sure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they do bite reptiles, is there any danger of communicating something like West Nile or EEE (Eastern equine encephalitis)?  I know these diseases can affect mammalian pets but I don't have any further information on reptiles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="95" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:15:22.850" Title="Do mosquitoes bite reptiles? Is there any danger of communicating pathogens?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6264" CreationDate="2014-09-04T10:45:26.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;15kg at 3 months and looking at your photos this seems fine for a male Husky. Male Huskies will typically grow to 20-27kg (45-60 pounds). At around 12 weeks/3 months they will be half of their adult weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned that the Husky is a bit chubby, the telltale sign is that their waist is wider than their chest (when looking down from above). You could slowly and easily trim up the puppy a little by feeding less human food and giving a little more exercise. Remember as the dog grows it will have more muscle mass, greater stamina, and be able and willing to exercise for longer periods before fatigue sets in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2754" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T10:45:26.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6263" CreationDate="2014-09-04T10:46:13.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your bunny is from your local shelter (great choice!) and 5 months old, he is just becoming an adult.  As a healthy adult rabbit &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/pellet-free-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pellets are not required in his diet&lt;/a&gt; as long as Timothy &lt;strong&gt;hay is always available&lt;/strong&gt; and sufficient &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3106&quot;&gt;leafy greens&lt;/a&gt; are given daily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If feeding pellets a 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight is recommended, so your bunny would be getting about a two table spoons a day.  This guideline is a starting point, you will want to monitor your bunnies weight and if they are getting skinny or fat adjust the pellets accordingly. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; for pictures and details of an extreme case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our house we feed pellets twice a day, half in the morning and half in the evening. Hopefully your rabbit as access to run in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320&quot;&gt;house a couple times a day or more&lt;/a&gt; if you let your bunny run in the morning and/or evening, and feed them their pellets when it is time for them to go back to their room &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962/how-much-space-does-a-rabbit-need-to-live-comfortably/1967#1967&quot;&gt;(if caged during the day)&lt;/a&gt;, simply put the pellets in a bowl, call them, and they come running, the pellets and the bunny go into the cage.  Even if you leave the cage door open this is great training, as you will always be able to get your bunny to go in his cage when needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention feeding carrots and cabbage, neither of this are recommended as significant part of a rabbits diet. There is some controversy around feeding any cabbage to rabbits but, but a little in moderation (like a leaf a day or less) &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is probably ok&lt;/a&gt;. Carrots are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1816/are-carrots-a-healthy-part-of-a-rabbit-diet&quot;&gt;high in sugar&lt;/a&gt;, any sugary food should be treated like candy, given as treats in moderation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T10:46:13.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6272" CreationDate="2014-09-04T11:44:49.240" Score="12" ViewCount="606" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are about to be first time pet owners, and I am wondering, what should I do as &quot;due dilligence&quot;?  So far, I can think of the following items, but I am sure I am probably missing some things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure their shots are up to date&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure they are spayed / neutered&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask if they are house broken (e.g. don't go bathroom in the house, and won't tear up furniture, don't bark excessively at night, etc...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask about their health (should we even have them checked out by a vet?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look for the health danger signs as described in: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/888/what-danger-signs-indicate-health-issues-when-aquiring-a-new-dog&quot;&gt;What danger signs indicate health issues when aquiring a new dog?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put them on a pet health care plan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask about what food they are on, and get this food (e.g. don't switch food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything else we should consider?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T21:34:57.057" Title="What &quot;due dilligence&quot; measures should I follow when adopting / buying a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6276" CreationDate="2014-09-04T11:53:50.090" Score="4" ViewCount="670" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are planning to adopt a couple of older dogs, and are concerned that they may have dental problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering, what types of dental procedures are generally done on dogs, and are they generally very costly (e.g. like they are for humans)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have thousands of dollars to shell out for dental procedures if that is what it will take. Does anyone know how much dental procedures typically run for dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-09-04T13:15:19.253" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T18:56:49.290" Title="How costly are dental procedures on dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2014-09-04T14:43:03.827" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying here to give a summary answer to get started with the various points you mentioned. Of course more detailed answers can be found for these specific topics elsewhere on pets.SE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What about the breeder?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't apply if you're getting a rescue dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good breeder should give you full access to his installations before you adopt the puppy. You should also be able to see the mother (unless specific cases where you adopt an older puppy and the mother is no more around) and should be able to &quot;test&quot; the mother: can you approach her (not a straight ahead approach especially if she's with the litter, the breeder should show you how to proceed), can you pet her, etc. Usually you'll get much less information for the father but the breeder should at least able to tell you his story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you adopt a pedigree dog, you should check carefully the documents of the mother and the father (at least, usually you can easily go up one more generation). This depends from country to country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet will probably have seen the puppies once or twice. Again depending on the country you should receive a wellness certificate. A few days after adopting the puppy you should go see your vet, show him the report from the other vet and make sure that everyone agrees with the well being of the pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Links:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1899/481&quot;&gt;How can I find out if a dog I am considering is from a puppy mill?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What about the puppy?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female or male will probably not be spayed/neutered at that age. See other questions on this site about the best age to neuter a male dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young puppies won't be completely house trained and will not bark in any case. House training is not rocked science and starts with the mother. After 3 weeks the mother doesn't trigger elimination by licking the belly/genital area, so the pup will go in the litter. He will be &quot;pushed&quot; by his mother and he will learn not to soil his sleeping area. That a very good start for you as you will complete the house training by &quot;locking&quot; him in a crate or very small area of the house at the beginning. With a lot of prevention you'll avoid accidents and you will also praise him a lot for going outside. Then by yourself a tablet of Xanax and wait calmly until his house training is perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the breed you'll focus the veterinary information on genetic diseases, hip displasya is a major problem, read more about that in other questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Links:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5702/481&quot;&gt;How old should a puppy be whenever you adopt them?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/898/481&quot;&gt;How do I spot potential problem behavior when adopting a dog?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5998/481&quot;&gt;How to approach a dog for the first time?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;...&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=puppy%2Bpuppies&quot;&gt;All questions referencing puppies.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What about food?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obtaining a clear and scientific vision of what dogs should eat is starting point of many heated debates. Concerning your puppy I would focus on a few points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you adopt the puppy, at 8 weeks of age, he should be eating (almost) exclusively solid food. If the breeder tells you otherwise, see with your vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have time to decide what your puppy will eat as an adult. Usual commercial kibble might not be your final choice, but there is no reason to panic: many dogs live perfectly well and in good health on that food. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diets that you should consider for your adult dog are: entirely raw meat diet, entirely raw bones diet, home cooked diet (with varying percentage of meat), dry kibble and wet kibble. You can mix them all: my dog has dry kibble in the morning, home cooked stew in the evening and bones when left alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you change from the breeder's food to your own brand, do it progressively. Puppies' digestive tracks are sensitive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Links:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3049/481&quot;&gt;How much should I feed my puppy?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3175/481&quot;&gt;What should I monitor while changing my dog&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;....&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dogs+diet&quot;&gt;All questions relating to dog food and dog's diets.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What about general training?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to choose a training method. This leads to even more heated debates than the choice of food. The problem is that some methods can physically and quickly hurt the dog, much faster than eating a crappy kibble for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is now established scientifically, by various and independent group of people, that any training can be done using &lt;strong&gt;positive reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;negative punishment&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Links:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6201/481&quot;&gt;How can one judge the quality of puppy classes?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6209/481&quot;&gt;How to stop dog chewing things&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6009/481&quot;&gt;How do I stop my dog from barking at random strangers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;...&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dogs+training&quot;&gt;All questions related to training dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T11:44:47.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-04T16:14:09.907" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1.5 year old pointer, which will not play with toys. My intention is to go hunting with him, and therefore he needs to learn how to fetch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried back chain teaching, which were very unsuccessful. I have tried positive feedback training, but it is hard to give him any positive feedback, because he let go of everything as soon as he hears anything that just sounds like a command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid of using force fetch, due to his tender/fragile temperament. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biggest problem with this, is that it is not disciple that he lacks. He is extremely well in &quot;dressur&quot; and enjoys to be trained in all discipline style training. (Sit, stay, heel and etc.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this problem might be the two smaller dogs living in the house. It seems that he does not think he &quot;owns&quot; anything, and will drown whatever he has, as soon as he he makes contact with person or other dogs. He never plays with them, maybe also because the other dogs is sometimes rough on him. (Must be added that the big dog is trained separately from the other dogs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get him to play with toys, not barking at the toys, or run over to it, but take it up, and at least run away with it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get him to gain confidence when he lives with the other dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2896" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-09-08T08:32:02.370" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T08:32:02.370" Title="How to get the dog to be confident enough to play?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6093" CreationDate="2014-09-04T16:50:27.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a commenter stated, prevention is the best way to protect your current livestock. There are some illnesses that are easy to treat such as ich and some that can wipe out an entire tank. I'll use ich as an example because it's by far the most common illness freshwater aquariums will encounter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best defence is using a cycled quarantine tank with all new arrivals and do not introduce them into the display tank until they have been quarantined at least a month, ideally 6 weeks. This time-frame is important because fish can carry certain pathogens such as ich, but not show any symptoms for days to weeks. If they do need treatment for an illness, the month to 6 week time-frame applies from when the treatment period ends. If you don't have a pre-cycled filter or tank, then quarantine usually isn't an option as you will end up cycling the tank with the fish in it, and the ammonia and nitrite created during the cycle will harm or kill most tropical fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If pre-quarantining isn't an option, always make sure to buy the best stock possible. Make sure that no fish in the tank has visible signs of illness. If the store has all the tanks plumbed together, this would technically include all of the tanks using the same water. Try not to purchase fish close to when the store receives shipments as the fish store is going to be dealing with the same possibility of sick fish with no symptoms. The stress of shipping increases the chances for opportunistic infections as well. Obviously this still isn't full proof and is still more or less rolling the dice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a sick fish in the tank it gets more complicated, especially if you don't have a cycled tank that can be used for treating the sick fish. First step is to try and identify the illness. For many illnesses, you can assume that if 1 fish has it, the rest have been exposed to it. Identification is important though because the treatment options are often very different and shotgun medicating is normally ineffective and can often do more harm than good to the livestock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are dealing with ich or another pathogen that is going to infect everything in the tank, you will want to begin treating the whole tank. The treatment depends on what is infecting the tank and could be anything from simply elevating the temperature, or adding antibiotics, copper, or another aggressive chemical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do have another cycled tank, and the illness isn't something that is going to affect the entire tank, such as a fungus or bacterial infection, or you have no idea what it is, it's best to remove the fish and observe and treat separately. If it ends up being something that is going to affect the whole display tank, return the fish and treat the whole tank. As far as whether it's going to stress them out to move, it definitely is, but for many illnesses the chance of survival without treatment is zero, so moving them is necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a cycled tank to use as a hospital the options are limited. You can treat the whole tank if you know what the fish has and the treatment isn't going to harm the other fish. If unknown you can take some basic steps to help the fish recover. Add kosher or other non-iodized salt at a rate of 1 Tbsp per 5 gallons, or 1 Tbsp per 10 gallons if there are live plants in the tank. If it looks like an internal infection use plain Epsom salt at the same rate instead of normal salt (Don't use both). Increase the temperature to the mid 80's assuming all the fish are tropical (not for goldfish) and add additional aeration if the fish begin gasping at the surface. Feed a good quality food, frozen is usually the best, with the addition of garlic. Beyond that without knowing exactly what to treat for, it's wait and hope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T16:50:27.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6253" CreationDate="2014-09-04T17:04:30.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can become immune to allergies. An allergy is just your immune system thinking that something that shouldn't affect you, is affecting you (like dog hair), so it starts attacking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can build up an immunity to it by 'exposing' your self to it, or through &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy#Immunotherapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;immunotherapy&lt;/a&gt;. I got a Labrador as a puppy and am usually very sensitive to hair, I can't even get my hair cut because I'm allergic to my own hair. But I'm fine with my dog sleeping in my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2897" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T14:05:13.890" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:05:13.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6271" CreationDate="2014-09-04T18:56:49.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cost for veterniarian proceedures varies greatly depending on many factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Locality (roughly, services provided in cities are more expensive than rural services)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Veterniarian speciality/experience (if a general vet can perform the services it'll be cheaper than an extensive procedure that requires a dental specialist)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Surcharges for special situations. Some breeds require extra care during anethesia due to sensitivity or size. Medications may need to be adjusted if your pet is currently on other medications. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Types of procedures. Most veternians have standard charges for regular teeth cleaning and extraction, but extra services will cost more if they're necessary. For example, one of my cats had a growth on his gum line that we sent off for biposy to be sure it wasn't cancer, and that cost extra.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problems that you are concerned about are that the dogs will need cleaning and minimal tooth extraction, I would suggest calling your veternarian (or the vet you're considering, if you do not currently have any pets) and asking directly for their standard charges for dental cleanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dogs have considerably more complicated dental problems, you can count on a cost that is several times the standard cleaning. The shelter/rescue may be able to get (or may already have) an estimate (or at least a ballpark), depending on their agreements with the veternarians that they work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that many of the proceedures performed with human teeth (such as filling cavities, root canals, etc) are not normally performed on pets, instead the tooth would be pulled. I don't know how a dog experiences loss of more than an occassional tooth, but I have a cat who had such severe dental problems that we had to pull all of his teeth, and he's fine (is mouth is healthier and less painful now). He's even able to eat dry food (a bit messier now, but fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-04T18:56:49.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6273" CreationDate="2014-09-05T02:26:28.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Teaching a dog to fetch and teaching a dog to love playing with toys are two separate, but related things. Since your question title is specifically about toys, I'll answer that one. If you're curious about teaching a retrieve, you can check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2461/teaching-a-dog-to-play-fetch&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend doing sessions with the other dogs in another room so as not to disturb him at first. You can add them later as a distraction when he gets better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does your dog love to put his teeth on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're first starting to teach a dog to love playing with toys, start with something that he already loves putting his teeth on. It could be &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; including things that may not normally be considered &quot;appropriate.&quot; Right now we're just focused on fun with things in the mouth. Here are some starter ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Braided fleece &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Old sock with paper inside &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Twisted up paper bag &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bungee tug toy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chew toy &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chew bone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Big ball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the things that are longer are going to be easier for you, but if your dog doesn't like those then use what works for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Encourage play with erratic movements.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you've found something he loves, encourage him to play tug with you. Move the toy in erratic shapes so it acts like prey. Rabbits don't move towards dogs so neither should your toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to stop the game if he ever gets you instead of the toy. At this stage he probably doesn't mean it so he should pick up pretty quickly that the goal is the toy. You can also run away from him with the toy, keeping the toy in a straight line so it's easier for him to target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue to work on this in multiple environments until he'll tug on his favorite thing anywhere. Keep the tugs very short (under 5 seconds) so he is always wanting more. If he doesn't have an &quot;out / drop&quot; command, hold the toy very still in a way that doesn't allow him to play with it. As soon as he lets go and offers a control (sit / down / etc.) release him to get the toy again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Similar toys, same games&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that he's playing with you and the toy, start introducing new toys with a similar feel. Does he like hard dumbbell type toys? Maybe he likes soft squishy things or things that make funny noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch up toys and require that he always play with the toy that you have. You don't want him running off with toys (trust me, it's very hard to overcome once they start). Throw a big pile of toys on the ground and ask him to play with the one in your hand. Then drop it and pick up a new one and ask him to play with it instead. Go through a variety of toys. Not only will he learn to love different toys, he'll learn that you always have the most fun ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Refusals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to help the dog learn to love toys is to ask them to tug before they do something else. Ask for a quick (5 seconds or less) game of tug, and then run over and do some of the obedience stuff he loves doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important reminder is that once you've started to ask for a tug, don't give up. If you give in, he'll learn he doesn't really have to tug if he doesn't want to. If it takes a really long time, take note that you probably shouldn't have asked for a tug in that situation yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toys and Food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs just really don't like toys to start. In that case, I recommend trying a very hard jerky type treat or looking into something like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;amp;product_id=3836&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TugIt&lt;/a&gt; toy. They are specifically designed for dogs who just want to get at the food by only rewarding for good tugs. The better they tug, the more food they get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Retrieve&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the early retrieve work (under 1 ft in distance) can be done regardless of his love for toys, but once you start adding distance, you'll want to be sure you're using something that he loves enough to get, but not enough to keep. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T02:26:28.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-05T07:21:45.517" Score="10" ViewCount="4975" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued a female 9 year old RES from a highschool 2 years ago. I just started working in the school and found her living in a science room in a small tank with no working filter or any lights! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, fast forward 2 years. She has since lived with me in a 70 gallon (265 liters) tank, but loves to spend time wandering around the house. This summer in July she beelined for the back door (first time she's ever even seen the backdoor), found her spot outside and started digging with her hind legs. About 5 hours later she laid 3 eggs. Three weeks later she once was again desperate to go out, dug her deep hole and laid 7 more eggs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 days after the last egg laying, she wants to go out again and for 4 days in a row was finding different places in the yard to dig in, each time digging for approximately 5-7 hours per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was surprised that, after all the work, she didn't lay a single egg in the 4 days. When I hold her and touch the sides of her little rump, I can definitely feel something very hard and round on both sides. She hasn't wanted out of her tank since and it's been about 1 week since her 4 day digging episode. She has a good appetite and is basking a lot, but I'm worried she may still have eggs in her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nearest reptile vet is 1 hour away from where we live. What are your thoughts and concerns if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2898" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T16:11:20.080" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T16:15:08.900" Title="Could my RES be egg bound?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6273" CreationDate="2014-09-05T08:12:51.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6277/469&quot;&gt;@jeffaudio's answer&lt;/a&gt; covers your question in details but I'd like to add a few points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Playing fetch and retrieving when hunting are two separate things. You should focus on playing with him, that will eventually make him retrieve. Then hunting is another matter that will come easily for a hunting well balanced dog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You seem to separate &quot;back chaining&quot; from &quot;positive reinforcement&quot;. Both are used at the same time: back chaining is just a technique you use to positively reinforce something that you are unable to reinforce in its globally at the beginning. Hence the term &quot;training&quot; in &quot;positive reinforcement training&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;using force fetch&quot;: many sources and trainers recommend against the use of force in training, in any training. Using force to train your dog to play just doesn't sound right. With some additional knowledge about reinforcement training you should be able to reach your goals (while respecting your dog's need). It seems that you know already some aspects of positive reinforcement, as you mentioned back chaining.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is good that you say that your dog don't lack discipline: indeed he just lack enough training; period. No need to find other explanations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Define your agenda keeping in mind your dog's age and needs. See also next paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Your dog defines the learning curve&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A classical error with training is that we start with our own agenda while the dog just have one line in its agenda: have fun and enjoy random doggie behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching with positive reinforcement means that the dog has to set the pace and that you have to adapt your sessions accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first you have to reward even the smallest efforts: he puts the toy in his month for 3 seconds? Perfect, you're in business and you can start reinforcing. Does it sound absurd to you? Maybe, but that's the way to proceed with positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to make the problem easy enough for your dog to succeed. You need to reinforce every successful attempts until you can start variable reinforcement ratio. A rule of thumb would be that the dog succeeds (and gets reinforced) 80% of the time, at least. If the rate is too low, make the exercice easier. If you're confortable around 90% makes it harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope these more general advices can be mixed with @jeffaudio more specific answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chapter 2 of the book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/116526977/Culture-Clash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The culture clash&lt;/a&gt; from Jean Donaldson provides advices on how to teach games to your dog, including retrieving, tugging, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T08:31:24.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2014-09-05T10:01:01.103" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Red ear sliders usually lay between 2-4 clutches of eggs, since your turtle laid two clutches, and you can still feel eggs, it is very probable it has more to lay, a simple x-ray will reveal whether it still has some eggs to lay. Sometimes turtles stop digging and do not lay their eggs because they feel something is wrong with the current nesting site, they then move on to different sites and dig until they the nest feels good enough. Your turtle may not be  satisfied with any of the nests and so has been rescheduling her egg laying. Turtles will stop digging if they feel there are too many obstacles in their way, which may be possible in your garden.  You may want to try making your own nesting area for the turtle, then you can control the conditions in order to ease the digging and make it feel like a good nesting area for your turtle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your turtle has somewhat settled down, it may have laid the eggs without your knowledge, reportedly, some turtles are aware that the eggs are infertile and so they may just drop them anywhere, including in water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible reason is, of course, the eggs have binded. Turtles may show signs of egg binding, there may be swelling at the cloaca, your turtle may become depressed, and as is currently happening, she may dig but not lay her eggs. If this continues then you do want to consult a vet, since the eggs can calcify and rot, and cause bacterial build up and eventually disease(and maybe kill) your turtle. If your res is still frantic and continues digging but fails to lay eggs, then it's quite likely the eggs are bound. Eggs can bind for a bevy of reasons: stress, wrong diet, eggs are too large.. If so then they may have to be removed surgically, and of course, a vet is needed for that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind clutches aren't identical, a turtle might experience a difficulty laying a particular clutch it didn't experience with other clutches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel for eggs in your turtle, they may as well be gone, since it seems it might have settled. If they're still there then offer a nesting site you made, or if you can't place it in the garden. If failure during laying continues, then it's recommended you consult a vet to remove them surgically or to give your turtle oxytocin in order to induce laying the eggs. Though many people simply give their turtle time to lay them and eventually the turtle do manage, their is still a definite risk that ought not be undertaken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great job rescuing your turtle, below I'll list a few sites you may find helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/?showtopic=144645&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;turtleforum.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.redearslider.com/reproduction.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;redearslider.com&lt;/a&gt; (about reproduction)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Nestsites.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tortoisetrust.org&lt;/a&gt; (about nest sites)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtletimes.com/forums/topic/75133-female-gravid-turtle-wont-lay-eggs-and-is-not-eating-please-help/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;turtletimes.com&lt;/a&gt; (forum topic about similar problem)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T16:15:08.900" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T16:15:08.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6281" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-05T11:18:12.603" Score="4" ViewCount="16822" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently in chat Matt s. posted a link to this short gif&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/98DlknV.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://i.imgur.com/98DlknV.gif&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Descritpion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A black and white dutch rabbit goes up to a hurdle with 4 bars, removes the second cross bar up with her mouth and walks through the hurdle, carrying the cross bar.  She does not knock any of the other cross bars off.  She carries the cross bar to the end of the runway and places it to the side, next to another spare bar laying on the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem solving concepts implied here are huge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want to jump over the hurdle, but I have to go straight ahead (there is a person behind the bunny) can I move one of those bars?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ok now I have a bar in my mouth, can I get through here without getting bonked on the head by the rest?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know the person is going to make me run down this runway, again, where can I put this so it is out of the way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how much of this is happenstance and how much is reasoning? How smart are rabbits? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:54:22.253" LastActivityDate="2019-05-09T09:02:35.873" Title="How smart are rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5998" CreationDate="2014-09-05T11:44:08.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a complement to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/5999/469&quot;&gt;other answer&lt;/a&gt;, for a very fearful dog or a dog that is intimidated by your kind of person (tall, bearded, etc.) you can apply the same techniques, but &lt;strong&gt;letting the dog come to you and back up if he wants&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way the dog might feel more confortable and/or not feel trapped or cornered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an excellent article &lt;a href=&quot;http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/preventing-dog-bites-by-learning-to-greet-dogs-properly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preventing Dog Bites by Learning to Greet Dogs Properly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Dr. Sophia Yin, a veterinary behaviorist. The explanations are well illustrated with some cartoons (I reproduce one here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r2yIV.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T11:44:08.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6249" CreationDate="2014-09-05T20:12:03.563" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A categorical answer doesn't really fit, as there are several different types of these toys and more may be created at any time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.frolicat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Frolicat&lt;/a&gt; has two automatic laser toys, the BOLT and the DART. I could not find the power settings for these toys on their website, so I contacted Petsafe (the owner of Frolicat) and recieved the following response via email on Sept 5, 2014.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The FroliCat BOLT, Dart, and Dart Duo contain a Class II or IIIa laser, which is considered a low-power  laser safe for animals &amp;amp; people when used in accordance with the instructions included with the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The email then cites definitions for different &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;laser safety classes&lt;/a&gt;, which can be found on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tells us the FDA does not regard class II as an acute skin hazard&#xA;(class IIIb and class IV may have skin  damage potential), merely a&#xA;viewing hazard, against which the product has an appropriate warning&#xA;label. To the point whether&#xA;there is any radiation from mere proximity to the unit, we can&#xA;reassure you that  per the FDA information above, the only radiation&#xA;emitted is through the beam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found another similar toy on Amazon, &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/Ethical-Contempo-Bella-Laser-Colors/dp/B0058OEC9I&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Ethical Contempo Bella Laser&lt;/a&gt;, and was able to zoom in on the packaging to see the warning label for a Class IIIa laser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;laser safety&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Class II: The blink reflex of the human eye (aversion response) will prevent eye damage, unless the person deliberately stares into the beam for an extended period. Output power may be up to 1 mW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Class IIIa: Lasers in this class are mostly dangerous in combination with optical instruments which change the beam diameter or power density, though even without optical instrument enhancement direct contact with the eye for over two minutes may cause serious damage to the retina. Output power does not exceed 5 mW. Beam power density may not exceed 2.5 mW/cm2 if the device is not labeled with a &amp;quot;caution&amp;quot; warning label, otherwise a &amp;quot;danger&amp;quot; warning label is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The Bella Laser has the &amp;quot;danger&amp;quot; warning label, I'm unable to find a picture close enough of the Frolicat products to see the warning label).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these definitions, we can see that laser toys can be harmful if a cat looks into the beam for a long period of time. These laser toys incorporate movement so that the likelihood of your cat staring into the beam for over two minutes is low. However, when I used to play with laser toys with my cats, one cat was smart enough to stop chasing the dot and would just stare at my hand. I do not know how he would react with a toy controlling the laser, or if the beam was pointed directly at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do not use laser toys because I believe that structured play time is a bonding experience between me and my cats. I also believe that play should be structured around meal times to enforce the hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle that cats naturally fall into. While occassional hunts may fail, I believe a cat should not be constantly frustrated by hunting sessions that never give the cat the satisfaction of a &amp;quot;kill&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T20:12:03.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="47" CreationDate="2014-09-05T20:23:59.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most laser pointers are either Class II or Class IIIa lasers in the US. In many other parts of the world, home laser pointers are restricted to Class II lasers, which are safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;laser safety&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Class II: The blink reflex of the human eye (aversion response) will prevent eye damage, unless the person deliberately stares into the beam for an extended period. Output power may be up to 1 mW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Class IIIa: Lasers in this class are mostly dangerous in combination with optical instruments which change the beam diameter or power density, though even without optical instrument enhancement direct contact with the eye for over two minutes may cause serious damage to the retina. Output power does not exceed 5 mW. Beam power density may not exceed 2.5 mW/cm2 if the device is not labeled with a &amp;quot;caution&amp;quot; warning label, otherwise a &amp;quot;danger&amp;quot; warning label is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these definitions, we can see that laser toys can be harmful if a cat looks into the beam for a long period of time. Laser toy play typically involves a lot of movement so that the likelihood of your cat staring into the beam for over two minutes is low (you would notice and move the beam). However, when I used to play with laser toys with my cats, one cat was smart enough to stop chasing the dot and would just stare at my hand. I do not know how he would react if the beam was pointed directly at him (if perhaps I wasn't paying attention, or was watching another cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are instructions online to make items such as CD players into stronger laser pointers than you can buy. Since these lasers are of an unknown power, I would not recommend using these for play. Only use commercially available laser pointers so that you can be sure that they are not too dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do not use laser toys because I believe that structured play time is a bonding experience between me and my cats. I also believe that play should be structured around meal times to enforce the hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle that cats naturally fall into. While occassional hunts may fail, I believe a cat should not be constantly frustrated by hunting sessions that never give the cat the satisfaction of a &amp;quot;kill&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-05T20:23:59.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-06T02:15:33.883" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten (born May 7 2014) now for almost 3 months. Usually, during the evening, he has a good appetite and runs around. &#xA;Today, afternoon he has been sleepy all the time, very calm, folds his paws and lies looking around, and doesn't react to food. He also feels very warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be symptoms of rabies? He is a deaf kitty so he's always inside the house. Also, there's a chance he got hit on his head today when he was playing under the bed and the board accidentally fell on him :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2905" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:09:19.280" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:09:19.280" Title="Kitten being weird, could it be rabies?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6288" CreationDate="2014-09-06T04:03:17.583" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, this doesn't look like rabies to be honest. Rabies symptoms typically include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attitude changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Erratic behaviour - weird biting, odd wandering, tends to be excitable and/or irritable, or shows signs of viciousness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disoriented&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of coordination, paralysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive salivation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, there's clearly some reason for you to be concerned (head injury) and so I would get him to the vet for a check up. Also consider other environmental factors such as heat and so forth. Cats are generally not that active (in fact they sleep about two thirds of their lives) and heat can make them less so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T04:03:17.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-06T05:24:10.117" Score="4" ViewCount="1191" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I currently do not live together, but we will in the near future, and we are considering getting guinea pigs. Seeing as guinea pigs are social creatures we decided we would want to get two in order to support healthy and happy piggies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't want to shuffle their cage from house to house during the week so we decided that we would possibly want to hold them separately at our homes and bring them together whenever we see each other. Which is just about every day. When we move in together in the next 2 years they will be joined together in one cage. Both will be same gender and have already been together for some time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this work? Would they remember each other and get along as two females? I am worried that if they do not constantly live, eat and sleep together in the same cage they will forget about on another and need to constantly reintroduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a valid concern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2907" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:09:36.570" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:09:36.570" Title="Can guinea pigs live separately but see each other often and still be happy?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6291" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-06T05:55:16.697" Score="2" ViewCount="2012" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female dog that's in heat right now. Last night her and my male dog got stuck and she started popping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2908" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:28:09.797" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T23:57:29.297" Title="Female dog pooping while stuck" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1856" CreationDate="2014-09-06T06:18:26.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dosed my tank with &quot;flourish&quot; at 3X rated dosage 20 hours ago in an attempt to knock the black algae back on my amazon swords (This method has worked in the past at 2X normal dosage so I thought I would up the ante a little). For some reason my mollies and muppies (deliberate x breeds) are now all over the black algae and vigorously eating it. This has never happened before, the fish normally ignore the black algae in favor of their regular food. At the rate they are going the algae will be gone in a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIbO3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Mollies eating the black algae(sorry about photo quality)&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2909" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T06:18:26.983" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6273" CreationDate="2014-09-06T16:21:11.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6277/469&quot;&gt;@jeffaudio's answer&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good but with a dog with a soft personality you are going to have to modify the plan a bit. I have trained 3 dogs now with similar personalities to do it and here is what helped me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning reward just about anything. The point is to get the dog to want to try so you will get it going faster if you reward even a sniff or paw on the toy. If he actually puts his mouth on the toy give a &quot;jackpot&quot; where you give him three or more treats in a row. This should create desire for him to figure out what made the jackpot happen. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the beginning, only do this when your dog is full of energy and in a low distraction environment. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Quit when your dog is the most into and excited about the game. This can be the hardest part for us humans. But if you quit when your dog is asking for more he will leave the game remembering that he loves it! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let your dog win easy. If your dog has a hard time when your hand is on the toy you have to find a way to explain that it is allowed. You will not be successful forcing this. I recommend sitting down on the ground and getting him used to taking things off your leg first. Once he is comfortable with that then just rest the thing on your arm or hand in such a way that if he basically touches it then it will fall. When it does reward with a jackpot and put it back on your hand exactly the same way. If he makes it fall or takes it again jackpot again and stop the game for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would let this kind of dog take the toy away from me and run/play with it on their own if they want to at first. You are trying to show your dog that he is allowed to play with things. ..so let him and celebrate it. It sounds like he is very obedient so doing this is really unlikely to cause problems with your fetch down the road. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus to be EXTREMELY careful with... you won't do this very many times but it will help your dog learn to break the rules that he thinks exist about toys. And it will help you learn what excites your dog.  Put something like peanut butter or meat (liverworst works great) in an old sock and tie a short rope to the sock or just use a long sock. Squish it to really get the smell going. Bring it into a small room with only that dog (so that if he somehow gets it away from you that you can get a hold of it again quickly). Hold on tight to the rope and just let the sock lay still on the ground. If you have done a good job putting something smelly in the sock your dog will start investigating. Once he does this is your moment to learn what movements you can make that make it more exciting. Does your dog feel more confident when it just slowly moves or does a sudden fast jerk get him to pounce? Can you get him confident enough to even try to tug it away from you? Like I said. ..be very careful not to let your dog swallow the sock! When you are done be careful to dispose of the sock somewhere that animals can't get to it! Remember that this is not a game you want to play to much with your retriever because it will not help him to maintain a soft mouth. The point of doing this with your dog is just to get your dog thinking out of the box and getting him interested in playing with you.  It may also help you to better understand what is going to turn this dog on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T08:31:15.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6236" CreationDate="2014-09-06T16:42:21.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short,  you probably don't need to worry about it. But to explain why: We use a acronym called DASH for training that means Desire Accuracy Speed Habitat. First you build the desire for doing the job. Once you have strong desire you start building accuracy. Once you have about 80% accuracy only then do you worry about speed. The last one, Habitat, means that once you are getting the desire, speed, and accuracy you want then you want to start proofing it in other environments so that it becomes second nature regardless of what is going on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start working on speed you will loose some accuracy. This is ok and normal. You have to realize that at that point speed has become an additional criteria that needs to be rewarded just like accuracy is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example when you are working on your weaves, if your dog tries going through faster than they normally do but because they are going fast there footing is different and they miss a pole you must reward that big anyway. If you don't you are telling your dog that it is only important to you that they get it perfect and you don't care that they were trying to be fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One common mistake is that people think everything should be fast from the start. When you do this you miss out of training good foundation. When you look at the dogwalk the human thinks &quot;go across it&quot;. The dog has to think &quot;load squarely, balance weight to stay on that thin board, run up ramp, stay balanced transitioning to flat top surface, deal with the obstacle wiggling underneath me, transition to the down ramp, exit squarely at the bottom. And that doesn't even take into account things like dealing with you rear crossing or being ahead of or behind the dog. So you can see that there is a lot of what we call foundation work to put work into before you add... oh and run as fast as you can across that thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other common mistake is only rewarding perfection. You must reward your dog for trying sometimes even if it wasn't quite perfect. If you don't you will create a perfectly slow performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-09-06T16:55:43.857" LastActivityDate="2014-09-06T16:55:43.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6298" CreationDate="2014-09-06T16:48:49.613" Score="6" ViewCount="17537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my rabbit from the animal shelter a long time ago, and whenever we went there, we went to go look at the dogs also, and they all stare at you, and begin to cry. Whenever we went to look at the rabbits, they all look up at you, but I am wondering if rabbits can also cry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T00:28:32.327" Title="Can rabbits cry?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6267" CreationDate="2014-09-07T16:12:59.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mosquitos sure do bite reptiles,  but generally, they do prefer to go after mammals. Mosquitos will probably opt for you and leave your tortoise or reptile . Also, mosquitos can transfer disease to tortoises, in fact, this has gotten researchers worried about the risks mosquitos have on rare tortoises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Galapagos Islands researchers are increasingly worried about this&#xA;  phenomenon due to a rise in mosquito populations: a mosquito who bites&#xA;  a tourist with an infectious disease could transfer it to the local&#xA;  reptile population &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/mosquitoes-drink-blood-reptiles-6384.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/06/02/a-new-threat-to-the-galapagos-tortoise-mosquito-bites/#.VAxTlmOf7IU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A New Threat to the Galapagos Tortoise: Mosquito Bites&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your tortoise is an indoor tortoise, it's less susceptible to mosquito bites. The only thing I know of that can attract mosquitos to your tortoise would be the still water from the water dish, especially if the water isn't changed frequently. Obviously, the only solution or partial solution to this is frequent water changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many reptiles will gladly make a meal out of mosquitos, so even though mosquitos can bite them,the reptile will probably eat them as they arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The West Nile or EEE can be transferred to reptiles, though not as commonly as mammals. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/easter_wester_venezuelan_equine_encephalomyelitis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a detailed pdf about the EEE including the species affected by the disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't really have much to worry about for your tortoise when it comes to mosquitos, and as shelled animals, there really is less skin for a mosquito to bite on; mosquitos would rather target &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;. Some other reptiles would eat the mosquitos. The only real risk here is the one in the Galapagos, since the species is endangered. You can expect some solutions for mosquito problems with outdoor tortoises when effort is put into protecting the endangered reptiles of the Galapagos.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some forums and sitesfor supplementary reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/mosquitoes.55710/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mosquitoes on TortoiseForum.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mombu.com/reptiles/tortoises/t-do-mosquitos-bite-torts-417071.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Do Mosquitos Bite Torts?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130613075835AA7ZrLg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How Harmful are Mosquitos to tortoises?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2014-09-07T16:12:59.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6295" CreationDate="2014-09-08T00:28:48.413" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do have tear ducts that keep their eyes lubricated, but any excess tears would be an indication of a medical problem. Infection, allergy, trauma to the eye, or a blocked duct can lead to excessive tears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The references below, attest to this, but a better example in this case may be first person event.  When &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407/&quot;&gt;Ruby was sick with botulism&lt;/a&gt; she never shed a tear. She was voicing anger (thumping) she was also presumably very scared and sad.  Over the course of a few hours, she went from perfect to full body paralysis (quadriplegic). During this she was closely attended to, and watched for any possible sign or symptom.  There was no sign of crying.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ruby is a cuddle bunny, she enjoys getting petted, snuggling and she chatters her teeth (bunny purrs) in appreciation. During her illness she was more vocal in her chattering, the assumption I make her is that it was an emotionally difficult time for her, and she was extra appreciative of positive attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lyra who died from the botulism, spent her last minutes with me and also had no sign of tears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When rabbits are in extreme distress (fear or pain) they will scream. This is a not a sound you ever want to hear, I heard it once twenty plus years ago and it still bothers me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in answer to your question, a rabbit will only shed tears when they are sad and/or suffering if there is something medically wrong with their eye at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-8/eye-problems.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-8/eye-problems.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netvet.co.uk/rabbits/eyes.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.netvet.co.uk/rabbits/eyes.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/trivia.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/trivia.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T00:28:48.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-08T00:40:53.127" Score="7" ViewCount="15565" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does a female dog neglect one of the litter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She moved all the others and left one. I took it to her and she will not have anything to do with it. It seems healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to get her to re-accept it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2913" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:54:08.763" LastActivityDate="2018-10-08T02:18:33.263" Title="Why is one puppy of the litter left behind by its mother?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2014-09-08T08:43:08.113" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats basically live repeating the usual sequence: hunting (identify the prey, follow, chase, kill bite, dissect, ingest), grooming, sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is normal behaviour for a cat to clean himself after eating and before sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when they don't have obvious leftover food on their paws or face they clean their face by first licking their paws and then cleaning their face with their paws (and then cleaning their paws again - having wet paws helps to clean the face).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also worth noting that the absence of grooming or excessive grooming can be pathological and you should consult your vet if you notice drastic change in your cat's grooming behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T08:43:08.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2463" CreationDate="2014-09-08T23:07:24.390" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this question is a little old but I wanted to comment for other people who come across this post looking for answers too. I always use bleach to clean my tanks and decorations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also just had a tank get fungus all through it. So I set up a tank to transfer the fish into, took everything out of the tank, and scrubbed the whole tank out with hot water and bleach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I siphoned the bleach water out and put a couple buckets of water back in. I used a cup to help me rinse everything. I did this a couple of times until I knew it was rinsed good. I then put in a couple of buckets of water again but this time I add water conditioner so it will get rid of any bleach that may be left in the tank. I use my cup and a rag to rinse the tank out and siphon out this water too. I do this two times. Then I do the decorations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two buckets I use, one is for only aquarium water. I use this bucket for the water changes. The second bucket is used to only clean the decorations. &#xA;I put all the decorations into the bucket and fill up with hot water and a touch of bleach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I let it sit for a bit and then I start cleaning everything. I have a scrub brush I use and a tooth brush for the tight spots. After I am done scrubbing everything, I dump the bleach water out in the tub. Then I fill up the bucket and swish everything around and then dump the water out again. I do this maybe three times. I fill the bucket back up and add some water conditioner this time, then swish everything around again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the decorations I did the rocks. I put the rocks in the bucket and put some hot water and bleach and did the same thing, mix the rocks around to clean them and then I use a fine mesh strainer to rinse the rocks off and put them into another bucket of water that has the water conditioner in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are now ready to set everything up again. It is a big pain but it is the best thing to do. Once fungus spreads all through the tank, no treatment will totally get rid of that much fungus. Bleach is the only sure bet I know of to get everything clean again. I have done this for years with no problem ever. As long as you rinse everything out good, you are good to go. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2914" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-08T23:55:49.260" LastActivityDate="2014-09-08T23:55:49.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6281" CreationDate="2014-09-09T03:53:40.887" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can observe the rabbit's actions, but not its intent.  Your interpretation of what happens assumes a lot more intelligence than necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We can observe the rabbit removed the bar, but there is not enough evidence to conclude that it did so &lt;em&gt;in order to avoid jumping over the hurdle&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Moving through an opening is something that many animals (even insects) can do instinctively and does not imply intelligence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We see the rabbit dropped the bar, but we cannot conclude that it did so &lt;em&gt;with any thought of the future&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastEditorUserId="2793" LastEditDate="2014-09-09T04:07:24.140" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T04:07:24.140" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6303" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-09T10:32:18.867" Score="6" ViewCount="27705" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just discovered that my cat has a huge patch of missing hair on her neck. Is this something serious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wezKR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image 1&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TLnpi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2915" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T12:49:49.267" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T16:13:34.290" Title="My Cat is missing hair on her neck" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6303" CreationDate="2014-09-09T12:56:53.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had similar hair loss too. Often, this is a sign that fungus may be present on her skin. It can be something very serious; I think you should go to the vet for some advanced tests, find out what kind of fungus are there and get the appropriate treatment. Keep in mind that fungus is easily contagious to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this could be a sign of a bad diet, if no fungus will be found then maybe you should control her diet better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1092" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T12:56:53.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6290" CreationDate="2014-09-09T16:08:13.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general no. I am willing to concede that there are some anecdotes where this has worked but for the majority it will not. Guinea pigs are social but they are also terratorial. They are willing to share(to a point) thier habitat with other guinea's they have bonded with but will chase off(or attempt to) any intruders. I notice even my bonded pairs have a dominant one and some spots that the dominant cavy does not like to share with it partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time they are reaqqainted one of them will be stressed out from being transported, then reintroduced to the others habitat. Its not good for the health of either cavy. However what you can do if you have an need for this anyway is to put them both into a transport together and take them for a walk or ride. This puts a bit of stress on them both and most cavies I have had tend to bond quickly in shared stress situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For context I have been raising show cavies for several years and currently have 5 Teddy sows and 2 boars. I have had to rebond pairs several times over the past few years.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-09-09T16:35:55.180" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T16:35:55.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6303" CreationDate="2014-09-09T16:09:29.333" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loss of hair is called &quot;alopecia&quot;, and in cats it can have many causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Obsessive grooming (a mental disorder)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fungal/bacterial skin infections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hormonal imbalances &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to know what is causing your cat's hair loss is to have her examined by a veternarian. They will do tests on a sample of her blood to make sure that she's normal, and look at some skin cells under a microscope to see if they can find any parasites or evidence of disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the cause of the hair loss is determined, your vet will give you instructions on how to treat it. For allergies, this can mean a change in diet to eliminate the allergens. Treatment may also include medication and/or bathing your cat in medicated shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like the edges of the spot are &quot;wet&quot;, so either some fluid is leaking from somewhere or your cat is grooming the area severely from discomfort. A vet visit is important to diagnose the problem!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-09T16:09:29.333" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2014-09-09T21:47:43.523" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cages &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; need to be rather large. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buying typical pet store cages is generally a bad idea. Most of them (at least at my pet store) are far too small and even unsafe for our hamsters. Many pet companies are only in it for the money, not the safety and welfare of our pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people recommend cages as small as 24x12 inch cages, but many experienced owners would suggest much higher than that. Also, in the respect of dwarf hamsters, they may be small, but they tend to be extremely active (especially robos) so the size difference in cages between Syrian, dwarf, and Chinese hamsters should not be much different. &#xA;Also, please watch &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n3lOSTMDE4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Youtube video&lt;/a&gt; for better information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2916" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-09-10T09:19:19.193" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T09:19:19.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T05:27:25.437" Score="4" ViewCount="1158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat which was at my place since its birth and we looked after him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently a neighbour had problems with him, so we had to leave him at a fish market around 2 kms from our home. But now I'm missing him and want him back, so I went to the fish market to search for him but couldn't find him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the any chance that he will come back on his own? We had left him before, but to a place very close to our home, and he came back in 4 days. Are there any chances that the same thing will happen again? I just want him back. Do cats come back on their own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2918" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:52:20.363" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:52:20.363" Title="Are cats able to find their way back home if lost?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T13:13:11.177" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a continuation to this question, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/471/why-does-my-dog-roll-in-gross-stuff&quot;&gt;Why does my dog roll in gross stuff?&lt;/a&gt;, I was wondering if there was a way to actually &lt;em&gt;stop&lt;/em&gt; my dog from rolling in everything and anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is about 9 months old, a golden retriever/lab mix.  He rolls in anything, all the time - rotten, dead animals, poop, and onto some animals when they are still alive - the other day he rolled onto a snake and got its musk all over him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to &lt;strong&gt;curb his rolling tendencies&lt;/strong&gt;?  It is difficult to stop him since we live in a large forested area and take him for frequent walks down forest trails - plenty of opportunity to roll in whatever is around at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k8Ewd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T19:27:07.000" Title="How can I curb my dog's tendencies to roll in everything?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6299" CreationDate="2014-09-10T14:09:55.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behaviour has to do with its nature, and the fact that in the wild, a mother (or parents) will pool all their resources to the offspring that they feel will have &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/female-dog-care-her-litter-2259.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the best chance of survival&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if most female dogs have a natural mothering instinct, why would they reject a puppy? You can blame Mother Nature for this. In the wild, only the strong survive. Although dogs have been domesticated for a long time, that knowledge remains alive within them. So if a mama dog is rejecting just one puppy out of a litter, chances are there's something wrong with that puppy — maybe a deformity or a serious illness that makes it unlikely he'll survive into adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since Mom has other puppies to care for, she will reject the runt who has little chance of survival so she can concentrate on taking care of the rest. When this happens, only human intervention—including bottle-feeding and a &lt;strong&gt;visit to the vet&lt;/strong&gt;—can save the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said there seemed to be nothing wrong with the dog - it could just be that he is smaller than the rest, or the runt of the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that it may be difficult to get the mother to re-accept the puppy, if this is at all possible - in her mind she does not want to 'waste' her energy on a puppy that she does not think will survive - therefore, as stated above, it is best to look after this yourself, and &lt;strong&gt;get information from your veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt; on how to bottle-feed the puppy and make sure it gets the nutrients it needs to develop properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KOm6F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T14:09:55.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T14:17:48.730" Score="3" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that Ohio has different laws (or maybe no laws) governing the making of pets of wild, exotic and/or non-native species.  I have also heard that occasionally people will purchase a &quot;pet&quot; in Ohio and bring it home to Pennsylvania.  Sometime later the Pennsylvanian authorities are involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone has purchased a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fox_%28animal%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Silver Fox&lt;/a&gt; in Ohio and brought to their home in Pennsylvania, they look out in the drive way and see official looking vehicles pulling in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what happens now?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T16:51:54.630" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T16:51:54.630" Title="What happens if I buy an exotic pet in Ohio and it take to my home in Pennsylvania?" Tags="&lt;legal&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;fox&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-10T17:04:57.290" Score="4" ViewCount="408" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a white bull-dog (we once thought it was a boxer) that is pretty deaf. He can hear some high pitched things it seems, but when asleep he does not respond to yelling or other noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to help him hear things better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2920" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:30:00.150" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:30:00.150" Title="How can I help my hard of hearing dog hear better?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6312" CreationDate="2014-09-10T17:12:55.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you know that this is against the laws of Ohio or Pennsylvania or both. If it is, I would expect the animal to be confiscated and you may be charged with a criminal offense. If you are unsure of the laws, you should investigate them before hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also urge you to consider the welfare of the animal. How likely is this wild animal to become domesticated? What kind of life will you offer it? Being cooped up in an outside pen or confined to a cage within a house sounds like a miserable existence to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T17:12:55.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6308" CreationDate="2014-09-10T17:54:29.970" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abandoning a pet is illegal in many jurisdictions, and it is a betrayal of the trust your pet places in you. Apparently you've done this twice now. Pets usually do not have the skills they need to survive, and they will likely suffer from hunger or thirst, be hit by a car, die in a fight when he strays into another cat's territory, or endure some other tragedy. If your cat is lucky, perhaps someone else has adopted him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if your cat will be able to find his way home. I don't have any good suggestions about how to find him, except that I once read that pets tend to wander in ever-increasing spirals as they look for home. I wish you the best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pet has behavioural problems; these can usually be sorted. Talk to your vet for advice, and ask for help on a site like this one. A pet is a responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If in the future, you find yourself with a pet you can't keep, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/cant-keep-my-pet-anymore&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; has some advice on how to handle the situation humanely. Specifically, you should do your utmost to find a new home for your pet (talk to your veterinarian, dog walker, pet sitter, friends, family, co-workers, etc.). If all else fails should you place your pet in a shelter. Under no circumstances should you abandon your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T17:54:29.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6312" CreationDate="2014-09-10T18:46:13.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What happens when the authorities pull up?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no definitive answer as each state has its own laws and methods.  Many states require permits for different classifications of exotic pets, and those rules may change on a periodic basis.  It really depends on the pet and the laws regarding that pet.  Some animals get locked up, some get euthanized, some get deported to rehabilitation centers / farms / adoption agencies in other states where keeping the animal is legal.  Depending on the severity of the offense and possibly the situation, the owner can have any penalty, from none to being fined, to being incarcerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2014-09-10T18:46:13.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2014-09-10T20:48:44.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a cat behaviorist and have been for more than 25 years. I am amazed to see myths still circulating on the web about using vinegar and hydrogen peroxide to clean urine. Those two substances, along with ammonia, are chemicals you should NEVER use. Why? An incomplete cleaning can encourage cats to return to the area and re-mark! Ammonia can degrade into what smells like urea. Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide only clean partially because they are unable to remove uric acid. You might not be able to smell it, but we're talking about a cat's sense of smell, not just yours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please stick to an enzyme cleaner especially formulated for cat urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article explaining the benefit of enzymatic cleaners and the problems with common household non-biotic cleaners such as vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://catcentric.org/care-and-health/removing-cat-urine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://catcentric.org/care-and-health/removing-cat-urine/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Note that this article also heavily emphasizes a heavy soak with cleaner, not just a spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastEditorUserId="3375" LastEditDate="2014-12-27T10:51:58.763" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T10:51:58.763" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6332" CreationDate="2014-09-10T21:29:57.207" Score="3" ViewCount="2902" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know superworms are the larval stage of a darkwing beetle. So if I were to purchase a container of superworms from the pet store. How would I go about starting a colony of my own superworms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T20:34:57.290" Title="What would I need in order to breed superworms?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6319" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6324" CreationDate="2014-09-11T13:36:58.007" Score="9" ViewCount="1264" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is pregnant and has a dog/cat kennel. Is it really true that pregnant women should not be around cat litter because it's harmful for the baby?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is true, how close can she be around it? Is it safe to be in the same building since the scent could get in the air condition vents?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2830" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T22:16:49.130" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T22:16:49.130" Title="What kind of danger does cat litter pose to my pregnant wife?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6313" CreationDate="2014-09-11T16:40:02.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you probably can't actually help him hear better you can use alternative ways to communicate. I would recommend getting a collar that vibrates and to teach your dog that the vibration is the signal to come find you. That way you can get his attention even if he can't see you. Also work on hand signals so that once you have his visual attention you can communicate the rest of the command. Dogs tend to learn visual and motion queues faster than verbal only queues so once he is looking at you the rest should not be more difficult than normal training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also highly reward him for voluntarily &quot;checking in&quot;. Because you have to rely on visual queues you want your dog to prefer to keep you in his line of sight or frequently come to you to. So anytime he voluntarily does this without you giving a queue you should reward it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T16:40:02.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6308" CreationDate="2014-09-11T18:18:44.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have been known to travel long distances to get home, &lt;a href=&quot;http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/one-cats-incredible-journey/?_php=true&amp;amp;_type=blogs&amp;amp;_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sometimes hundreds of miles&lt;/a&gt;.  On the other hand, cats also can revert to a kind of survival mode and not try and return home when frightened and only a few houses or blocks away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to try a more sustained search near where he was left, in case he has gone to ground there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="962" LastEditDate="2014-09-16T23:14:34.443" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T23:14:34.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6319" CreationDate="2014-09-11T18:22:08.853" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, and I am not a doctor, the issue is possible infections from the waste, and really just solid waste since urine is sterile.  A pregnant woman is more susceptible and the risks are higher.  It isn't airborne, just touch, so having someone else clean the box and toss the waste is all that is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-09-11T18:22:08.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6319" CreationDate="2014-09-12T01:25:08.677" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue isn't the litter itself; it's the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Centers for Disease Control &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pregnant.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;report&lt;/a&gt; that there is a risk of exposure to toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by a parasite.  This parasite can be found in cat feces, though the CDC reports that exposure is more likely from undercooked meat or gardening.  (They don't say, but I assume the gardening risk is through animal droppings in general, not just cats.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CDC gives the following advice to mitigate the risk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you own a cat, have a non-pregnant person change the litter box every day. If there is no one else to change the litter box, wear gloves and wash hands with soap and running water after changing the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Risk may be reduced if the litter box is changed every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep cats indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid adopting or handling stray cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed cats only canned or dried commercial cat food, never undercooked or raw meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not bring a new cat into your house that might have been an outdoor cat or might have been fed raw meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what the CDC says, I think avoiding being in the same building as a litterbox would be an over-reaction.  Continue to enjoy your cats, but to reduce the risk as much as possible, have somebody else do the box maintenance or wear gloves and wash up afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information and citations, see the linked article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T01:25:08.677" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6326" CreationDate="2014-09-12T13:23:08.223" Score="3" ViewCount="613" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 and a half year old flat coated retriever boy, who has started to develop black spots on his tongue slowly over the last six months or so. He has a larger one about the size of a pound coin far back, and two smaller ones about pea-sized near the tip, and they are completely flat on his tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that black-spot birthmarks on the tongue are quite common in retrievers and are usually just extra pigment, and my dog's spots look identical to images of these birthmarks I have seen online. However my dog's spots have not been here since birth, can these birthmarks appear this late, or is this something I should get checked out by a vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hasn't changed any behaviour with his tongue or general life at all, is showing no signs of pain in the slightest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks for any help you can give me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2924" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T15:49:55.723" Title="Black spots developing on flat-coated retriever tongue" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6325" CreationDate="2014-09-12T15:49:55.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't seem to find a good reference for you right this minute but I can speak from experience. I've had dogs pigment continue to change up to six years old. It happens more dramatically and faster when they are young. If it really is a pigment change from pink to black and there isn't any raised area there is nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T15:49:55.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6656" CreationDate="2014-09-12T15:59:59.847" Score="5" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I just built a small aviary and we want to get our Cockatoo a friend. He is 2 years old and loves people. He's not aggressive at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would like to get some finches and start breeding (finches with finches :). The finches would be in a cage inside the aviary. Would this be safe?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2830" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-12T21:28:32.617" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T17:38:37.237" Title="Can I keep a Cockatoo and finches in the same aviary?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6334" CreationDate="2014-09-12T18:05:56.273" Score="6" ViewCount="658" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some months working with my dog I've managed to more or less get my 8-year-old beagle to behave enough to live indoors with near full access to all areas of the house. This is something that seems to make him very happy, as we don't have a yard and he used to be kept on the small balcony. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's even better behaved on walks now. I still haven't managed to break him of his obsession with garbage, however. My understanding of training methods is extremely limited, as I've only been studying about pet ownership and training since becoming his co-owner less than a year ago. I've been trying my best at applying principles of positive reinforcement, which is how I've gotten him to behave well within certain contexts, but I'm really very unfamiliar with animals in general as of yet and have very little clue what sorts of incentives to offer - or more accurately, I don't know how to connect refraining from bad behavior with rewards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've experimented with &quot;NO&quot; which only works temporarily. I've tried lightly slapping him whenever he shoves his head into the garbage at home, then when that didn't work I tried chasing him out to the balcony and giving him 30 minute time outs. I've gotten him to behave when he knows I'm watching. But when my back is turned, he's sometimes getting into the garbage or the cereal box or something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've carried out the training presented in the &quot;It's Yer Choice&quot; video, and that worked wonderfully - when I'm watching him. When I'm out of sight, the training seems to break down. It doesn't happen every time I'm not watching him, but it happens often enough to be a bit of a headache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just wait for him to get used to living indoors? Am I doing anything that's reinforcing the garbage obsession? Is there a better way for me to get him to behave when I'm not watching as much as when I am watching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2681" LastEditorUserId="1200" LastEditDate="2014-09-12T18:44:57.413" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T15:57:38.240" Title="How do I stop my Indoor dog from riffling through and knocking over the trashcan?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5948" CreationDate="2014-09-12T20:11:49.210" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mice are one of the most nutritious food that can be fed to a snake. Gut loading mice is definitely a thing, though not as simple as gut loading insects. Insects can be gut loaded within 24 hours, while, to achieve a discernible increase in the nutritional content of a mouse, relatively long term care is needed, 2 days before feeding will probably not be enough. This isn't too much of a problem though, since snakes don't require as frequent feedings as most other animals, and so a longer duration of care is somewhat manageable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a very nutritious food, supplementation isn't really required for a mouse. A juvenile snake can definitely benefit from the added nutrients,but can also do normally. The question here is whether the supplementation is worth it, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.repticzone.com/forums/*Snakes-General/messages/2251684.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; forum, the user &lt;em&gt;Reflex&lt;/em&gt; refers to a snakebytestv episode where rodents with vitamins where given to some snakes, while others were just given rodents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was a snakebytestv episode once that showed the results of&#xA;  feeding all different things to same-sized corn snake babies, and if I&#xA;  remember correctly, the results were that the ones given vitamins on&#xA;  their rodents grew slightly bigger, but not enough to make a&#xA;  difference in the snake’s health. It was pretty interesting, if I can&#xA;  find the episode it was I’ll post it here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some research, I found the video to most probably be these two: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4D6KgHSFwM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;preliminary&lt;/a&gt;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyXZN25XOZo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;followup&lt;/a&gt; (result).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that gut loading mice is a bit of a chore, and at least in this example, it gave discernible but not tremendous results. There is also the concern that the mouse can fight back and damage the snake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We highly recommend that you only feed pre-killed mice to your herp.&#xA;  Live mice can fight back while being eaten, gnaw on your snake if left&#xA;  in the cage with them, or be too hard for some younger herps to catch.&#xA;  Attacks by live prey can disfigure herps, and they have been known to&#xA;  scare a herp off of his natural diet of prey animals. If the mouse&#xA;  fights back while your herp is eating it, it can bite through the&#xA;  herp's mouth area, puncture his eyes, and cut through his tongue.&#xA;  Feeding pre-killed mice can alleviate all of these concerns. (&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2375#answer_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2375#answer_3&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course there is also the added advantage of the vitamin supplementation to some frozen mice. I personally have no experience with snakes, all info here is based on the information I've accumulated through watching and reading. If it was up to me I would stick to the frozen ones and make a live mouse an occasional feeding to mentally stimulate the snake and encourage a more natural behavior. Before feeding the mouse live gut loading it is definitely an advantage if you consider it worth the relative effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-12T21:39:22.917" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T21:39:22.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6318" CreationDate="2014-09-12T21:03:47.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breeding superworms is relatively easy but nevertheless takes time and patience. Superworms have 4 stages of life: eggs, larva, pupa, then beetle. The insect will only reproduce when it's a beetle. It's recommended you start with at least 100 superworms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pupating&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superworms need to be stressed in order to pupate. Light is not important for this process, so you might as well store them anywhere. The temperatures are optimal when between 70-85F. Each larvae needs to be stored alone, you can use practically any container as long as it has smooth sides that are hard to climb and allow appropriate air  circulation. If the larva are big enough then they need not be stored with food, otherwise, if they're small many will die before pupating. Storing them with food prolongs the time taken to pupate. Black or still individuals are most probably dead, the larva will begin to curl up as shown below and will eventually turn into a white alien like creature. You can expect this process to take a few weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/14YCm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;*Curling up*&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R6imQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;*Life stages of a superworm*&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Becoming a beetle&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After one or two weeks, the pupae should be becoming darker and thus turn into a beetle. You should remove your beetles and place them in a separate container with a food source such as oats and any moisture source they can't drown in. The bottom of the container should be screened so that the hatched larvae can go down before getting eaten by the beetles. The beetles should be given a place to gather at other than the oats so that they don't start eating the eggs. Another container with more more oats( between 1-3 inches) should be placed under the beetle container, the hatched larva will fall there. The larvae will then get gut loaded and some fed to your insectivores, while some will live to continue the breeding process. A female darkwing beetle can live up to four months and lay up to 500 eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that the only thing left to do really is maintenance, the moisture source and oats should be replaced when needed, and dead insects and worms should be looked for and thrown away. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as always, here are a few sites for extra reading: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.capitaldragons.com/upload/How%20to%20Breed%20Superworms.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Breed Superworms&lt;/a&gt; - Capital Dragons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.geckotime.com/how-to-breed-superworms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Breed Superworms&lt;/a&gt; - Gecko Time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.progeckos.com/caresheets/superworm.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Superworms&lt;/a&gt; - Professional Reptiles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T21:03:47.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2014-09-12T21:04:23.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't answer every question, but I can tell you that in order to play in the ball the ball has to be at least six inches in diameter for dwarf hamsters and at least eight inches for Syrians to help prevent back arches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't leave your hamster in there for too long. For starters, he might leave droppings in the ball or around the floor and even wee on the carpet. Make sure before putting your hammie in his ball that he actually &lt;em&gt;wants&lt;/em&gt; to go. If he resists too much, this may mean he is hungry or has business to take care of. Forcing him may stress him out, as well. Keep in mind that your hamster can be in his ball for a while, but it is a good idea to take him out regularly for a drink or some food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2916" LastActivityDate="2014-09-12T21:04:23.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6330" CreationDate="2014-09-12T22:58:01.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're on the right track with some things, but first I wanted to get some things out of the way that are just going to hinder your work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While timeouts can be helpful, 30 min. is WAY too long and this isn't really the right place for them. Plus, chasing your dog may actually be fun for him as he might see it as a game. For things that can be helped with a timeout, 30 sec. is a more appropriate time frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't hit your dog unless you want them to hate you and potentially become aggressive towards people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for things that you're doing well. It's Yer Choice is the perfect game to teach your dog to stay out of the trash can, and you've run into a very common problem. How to get your dog to understand not to get into things while you're not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving something alone while you're not there can be very difficult for your dog to understand. It can even be difficult for human kids &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(see Stanford Marshmallow Experiment)&lt;/a&gt;. You can build up to it, but you must do it slowly. You can build up in a couple of ways that can be done concurrently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Play IYC with higher-value objects (treats, toys, etc). Show your dog that no matter what the object is that he leaves, he'll be allowed access if he waits for your cue, and not allowed access if he tries for it himself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Work your way up to leaving the dog alone slowly starting with just turning around and turning your back on him. Eventually, you can start leaving the room for very short amounts of time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, I would recommend either putting the trash cans out of sight / reach or ensuring they are secured well enough that he can't get into it. Every time he gets into the trash can is a huge reward that teaches him he can get into the trash whenever you're not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: Additional Tips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Controlling the environment is definitely the hardest part. Here are two ideas to help continue to control reinforcement even if your back is turned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place the treat / trash can between you and your dog, but closer to you. Use a mirror or listen to find out if your dog tries for the reward. If he does, you should be able to turn around and cover the reward before he gets to it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another game involves showing your dog a treat going into a bowl (you could use a trash can) and setting it down, but secretly taking the treat out. Your dog still thinks there's a treat in there, but if he fails, he doesn't get rewarded. Be sure to release your dog and discreetly toss the treat back in the bowl so he gets rewarded for good choices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="1277" LastEditDate="2014-09-15T15:57:38.240" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T15:57:38.240" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-13T14:26:54.380" Score="1" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked at so many videos but I'm still unsure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a picture of the kitten's back end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EARuQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2931" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-01-15T16:34:25.197" LastActivityDate="2019-01-15T16:34:25.197" Title="What is the gender of my kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-09-15T03:48:59.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-13T21:48:01.913" Score="6" ViewCount="7237" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my fish just died of swimbladder disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did this happen, and is it contagious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-30T02:04:48.737" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T15:20:46.310" Title="What is swimbladder disease in fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5879" CreationDate="2014-09-13T22:26:40.143" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bit tricky to tell male from female when kittens are young. It's very easy to tell when they're born, but they quickly grow more fur and it gets trickier. As they get older, the testes get larger and it gets easier to tell. At 6 weeks old it's very subtle but possibly visible. At 12 weeks old it's a small, but reasonably obvious, bulge. At 8 months old (nearly fully adult) it's blatantly obvious. Between 1 day and 10-12 weeks old it's tricky)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it's possible for a litter to be all females, but it's pretty unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they get their first vet visit, the vet will typically identify the gender as part of the routine examination. That's the surest way to know, since vets are very experienced with kitten gender identification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a litter, it's going to be a bit easier, since you'll most likely have both genders to look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Coloration&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of the kittens are calico (have both orange and black coloring; with or without any white), you can safely assume they are female. Calico requires two X chromosomes, so it's extremely rare for a male to be calico and when it does happen they're usually sterile (and often have other problems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a kitten is orange it's somewhat more likely to be a male; for a female cat to be orange (or orange and white), its father must be orange. This isn't as reliable unless you're totally certain who the father is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Handling&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always wait until the mother cat is comfortable with you handling her kittens before you handle them. Be gentle and patient. Give the kitten back to the mother if the kitten starts acting distressed and try again later. It might be easier with two people, since one can pet and distract the kitten while the other examines it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put the kitten in a position that will allow you to took at its rear. Lift up the tail and look at the rear end. You might try giving the kitten a gentle scratch just above its tail to encourage it to lift its tail on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Identification&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will be two openings: rectal and genital. The rectal opening is right under the tail and the genital opening is the one further from the tail. You may need to move the fur out of the way to be sure you're looking at the openings and not just a line in the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a girl kitten the two openings will be close together and the genital opening will be a small slit. The distance is likely not much greater than the width of the fur-less area around the rectal opening. There's usually only a thin band of fur in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a boy kitten the distance will be a greater (maybe 1cm or half an inch, depending on kitten age/size), the opening will be a small dot or circle. The furry area in between will be twice the distance (or more) than the width of the fur-less area around the rectal opening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a boy kitten, the region between the rectal and genital openings, closer to the genital opening is where the scrotum and testicles are located. On a kitten that's at least 2-3 weeks old, if you gently squeeze from the sides above the genital opening, you may be able to feel sort of small pea-shaped bits under the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bZCtl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bZCtl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-06-14T04:59:18.820" LastActivityDate="2019-06-14T04:59:18.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6335" CreationDate="2014-09-13T22:33:50.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty sure that's a girl kitten. The distance between the upper and lower openings is fairly close (smaller than the width of the fur-less anal area), and the lower (genital) opening is a &quot;slit&quot; instead of a simple round opening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet will certainly be able to tell. They're very experienced with that kind of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2014-09-13T22:33:50.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-14T18:34:01.797" Score="4" ViewCount="4165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my rabbit from the animal shelter around four years ago. Today I was playing with her, and she seems so happy that I began to wonder if she remembers her time that she spent at the animal shelter. Is there a possibility that she remembers things that have happened so long ago?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:28:03.607" LastActivityDate="2019-04-23T15:31:52.610" Title="How well do rabbits remember things?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-14T18:34:45.583" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6237/2871&quot;&gt;one of the five stray cats&lt;/a&gt; that visit my verandah has taken a liking to me and she hung around for a really long time (45+ minutes) staring at me through my large glass windows AFTER she had been fed. She looked playful and was pouncing around and meowing a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like this cat a lot but my apartment contract doesn't allow pets on the premises. My landlord is however sympathetic to stray cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, I would eventually like to take this cat in as the time progresses and bring it back to the United States with me in 2015 (I am in France right now for a year). I understand the paperwork necessary for this. My question focusses on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1064/2871&quot;&gt;&quot;integration&quot; part of a separate answer here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the time being, how should I &quot;adopt&quot; this cat without necessarily letting her into my house? If I don't let her into my house, would this cat see this as &quot;being shut out of my life&quot; and leave for good? Or would she continue to come back to me as we have a &quot;feeding cadence&quot; of twice a day now. Also, I have always considered cats to be rather intelligent creatures (this one is a tuxedo cat). Would my forced indifference towards her translate into rudeness in cat language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid that if I do leave on a mandatory 1 month trip next month, she will think I am gone for good and leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2871" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T19:36:27.247" Title="Managing the gradual induction of stray cat into my life" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6338" CreationDate="2014-09-14T19:46:26.110" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swim bladder disease, or disorder, isn't necessarily any one thing, it's basically the result of some other condition adversely affecting the swimbladder of the fish. The swimbladder is an internal organ in fish which is used to increase or decrease buoyancy of the fish enabling it to maintain itself at a depth in the water without specific effort. Failure there can cause the fish to basically belly-up on the surface of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common causes include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parasites - intestinal parasites in the fish infecting the bladder. This &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be potentially contagious in the sense that one fish infected by parasites is likely not unique in the water conditions. However, it's not fish-to-fish contagious.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Constipation which causes some bloat that applies pressure to the bladder that renders them unable to control it. Constipation isn't, of course, contagious, but the &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; for the constipation should be determined to avoid causing it in others. Probably means a reduction in food amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would hazard #2 is most likely the cause. It would not surprise me that overfeeding would be an issue for most, it's relatively easy to do by mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T19:46:26.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6338" CreationDate="2014-09-14T20:00:05.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swimbladder disease is a bit of a catch-all term that can be applied to assorted problems with the swim bladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can tell when your fish has a swim bladder problem because it will struggle to keep its balance in the water, showing signs like falling to the bottom of the tank and failing to rise, floating near the top, or swimming on its side or with its tail higher than its head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause of a swim bladder disorder is the swim bladder either getting swollen or compressed. Compressing or relaxing the swim bladder is what enables the fish to maintain and change its buoyancy in the water, so if the swim bladder is inflamed or squashed from other sources, naturally this will limit the fish's ability to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be compressed from the swelling of other organs - stomach, intestines, or even liver or kidneys. Most common is swelling of the intestines due to constipation, or swollen stomach from eating too quickly or gulping air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The swim bladder itself can also become swollen due to infection or parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Determining whether it is contagious or not depends on the root cause of the swim bladder problem. If it is a single fish with constipation or swollen stomach from gulping air, it's unlikely to affect the other fish. However, if it is an environmental factor, chances are the other fish in the tank have also been exposed to it and you should look into remedying that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-09-14T20:00:05.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6342" CreationDate="2014-09-15T19:36:05.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can't say how often rabbits review memories I can say that rabbits can and do form memories of unpleasant situations and respond to them.  Before posting this answer, I looked for scientific references (memory lagomorph) but did not find anything significant.  The following answer is based on personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted Harmony (black and white dutch) from our local shelter, there is a large room that bunny's are taken to for the &lt;a href=&quot;https://wpahumane.org/bunny-romps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;bunny romp&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and this is where we first met Harmony.  She was extremely cuddly; climb in your lap and snuggle in for a nap, cuddly. We took her home that day. We got home and she was distinctly less cuddly, still very friendly but there was a clear difference in her behavior.  About 16 months later there was a reunion for rabbits who had been adopted at the shelter, in the same big room where they have the bunny romp. Harmony was suddenly miss snuggles all over again.  In the past 5 years we have had her at several 'bring your bunny' parties, taken her to pet stores, and taken her camping in seven eastern US states. She is always a bit more reserved when out, but on the now several occasions when she is at an event at the shelter, she is that same supper snugly bunny when we are there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no doubt in my mind that she can tell when we are at the shelter, and that she remembers it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-09-15T19:36:05.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-15T20:20:37.607" Score="7" ViewCount="2180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a question third hand, (friend &gt; wife &gt; me) and a quick search leaves me wondering where to look for the answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The friend has an 11 year old female rabbit that has not been spayed. She wants to know if rabbits experience menopause, and what if any similarities it has with human menopause &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menopause&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;transition to a non-reproductive state, with associated symptoms&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick glance at &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit#Breeding&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; teaches us that rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_ovulation_%28animals%29&quot;&gt;induced ovulators&lt;/a&gt; which means they don't have normal cycles, they ovulate in response to sex. So obviously there are going to be some differences from humans.  The closest scientific study I find is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18973881&quot;&gt;Efficacy of red clover isoflavones in the menopausal rabbit model.&lt;/a&gt; which uses &quot;experimentally induced menopause&quot; to test a drug. So while not really addressing this question does provide for the probability of a rabbit/human similarity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do rabbits experience menopause? At what age, and what kind of symptoms? Are they able to reproduce until they die of old age (16+ years old)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T16:37:58.270" Title="Do rabbits experience menopause?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6368" CreationDate="2014-09-16T16:34:19.367" Score="6" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats that we would love to take to a summer house with us for weekends during at least half of the year. The idea is that we'll be heading there on Friday and returning on either Sunday night or Monday morning. Both cats are very close to us and one of them would really miss us if we left him for two nights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The house is not fully fenced and in my experience taking my more curious cat around, there's no fence that would stop him. The land around the house is around 600&amp;nbsp;m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (6500&amp;nbsp;ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) of grass and trees for them to play, and even though there's no fence there are plants that mark its limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming from the city that is a lot of land for them, however, last weekend, we took the more curious one over there (he's also the more adaptable) and he was already trespassing to neighbour's houses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to keep them in our property? How can we teach them not to go far from us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:09:00.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T05:21:42.137" Title="Teach cats to stay close in unfenced area" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6347" CreationDate="2014-09-16T16:37:58.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do not have menstral cycles like humans.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The female rabbit, however, does not have an oestrus cycle with&#xA;  regular periods of heat during which ovulation will occur&#xA;  spontaneously. Does are considered to be in oestrus more or less&#xA;  permanently. Ovulation occurs only after mating. A female rabbit is&#xA;  therefore considered to be in heat when she accepts service and in&#xA;  dioestrus when she refuses.  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690e/t1690e05.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a rabbit is not going to have menopause in the way that a human does since they do not have regular menstral cycles anyway. Anecdotally I have talked with breeders who  have had rabbits survive litters after 5 years old(many dont) but they just never recover from the experience and generally do not make great mothers.  Most breeders will tell you to stop breeding around 4 though they also admit when you have a favorite that produces consistantly great rabbits and consistently raises healthy litters they may be able to produce longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T16:37:58.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6030" CreationDate="2014-09-16T18:48:29.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a first time dog owner, so my experience is limited, but I find that everything is easier when the dog is a little bit on the tired side. I suggest you do the following to help him get accustomed to the kids: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the dog out for a really long walk or a run, may be play fetch, or whatever you can do to get him tired. If you can't get someone to take care of the kids may be you can hire a dog walker and explain to him that you need the dog to really exercise? &#xA;Then after he comes back home he will be thirsty, give him time to drink some water and let him go to his favourite place to rest. As long as he's not possessive of his sleeping place this is a great time to take the kids over and let them pet the dog. If he exercised enough I'm pretty sure he won't mind and he will soon learn that the kids only want to be friendly. As the kids sound very well behaved I think this approach will definitely work, or at least will give them some time to enjoy the dog :) After doing this for a few days they can start trying to approach him whenever he's calmed and bring him treats. Most dogs love kids even though they might be afraid of them if they are not used to being around them, so I think he just needs some time and patience and it will work out fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T18:48:29.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6254" CreationDate="2014-09-16T18:57:08.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently there's a formal distinction between a double and single coat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A dog's coat may be a double coat, made up of a soft undercoat and a coarser topcoat, or a single coat, which lacks an undercoat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The terms fur and hair are often used interchangeably when describing a dog's coat, however in general, a double coat, e.g., like that of the Newfoundland and most mountain dogs, is referred to as a fur coat, while a single coat, like that of the Poodle, is referred to as a hair coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_(dog)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_(dog)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2014-09-16T18:57:08.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6257" CreationDate="2014-09-16T19:07:29.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all let me say I feel your pain, I have a Boston myself and he's more than a handful. He also has a tendency to humping other dogs, male or female, not all of them but enough of them that is annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't found a way to stop him doing that, but today, on the doggie park, he was playing with another Boston that started humping him. The owner of this dog just called his name and said &quot;stop it&quot; and he stopped (at least for a few minutes). After talking to her what I learned is that she had taught her dog the &quot;stop it&quot; command, not to stop humping another dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that's the answer to a lot of behavioural problems, they have to reliably learn to stop whatever they are doing on command. I know this is easier said than done, but you can start teaching him with simple things and reward with a clicker or treats once they stop what they are doing on your command. After the dog learns that good things happens when he listens to you hopefully he will apply that principle to more and more areas of his life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T16:37:55.753" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T16:37:55.753" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-16T19:52:34.800" Score="4" ViewCount="1161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been getting prepared before attaining a new tortoise, and I thought I'd have everything figured out and set up before I get it. A while ago when I was cleaning my turtle's pool I left it to wander through the balcony, I turn to look back at it shortly only to realize it was being swarmed by a lot of ants. I quickly took the turtle rinsed it off and placed it in a bucket with water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, my turtle is safe from the ants, but I was thinking when I get a tortoise there is no water to protect it. The tortoise probably won't be a juvenile, but I still think the ants can overwhelm it (these little things can probably get anything down with their huge number). The only idea I've gotten so far that doesn't involve getting rid of the ants is to place the tortoise enclosure in a large kiddie pool which I'd fill with water. I still don't find this really efficient and it's frankly rather clumsy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't want to get rid of these ants but if it was the only way then I might sadly resort to that. I know about putting natural &quot;repellents&quot; like lime on my tortoise's shell but these are temporary and unreliable solutions. If getting rid of the ants is the only sure way then I'd like some methods which don't rely on any chemicals or insecticides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T20:12:51.803" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T20:12:51.803" Title="How can I protect my tortoise from ant attacks?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6592" CreationDate="2014-09-16T22:35:52.170" Score="11" ViewCount="165675" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 US gallon tank that has been up and running for about 6 days. I purchased 2 female and 1 male platys and they have been in it for about 4 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe both females are pregnant (they both have dark abdomens and are getting bigger), although one has gotten significantly fatter over the past few days. She obviously came pregnant from the fish store, pregnant with another male fish's sperm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning for a breeder box birth in the tank but I need to know when to put her in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are the signs that she is going to give birth? When should I put her in the breeder box?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Additional information:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I noticed the very pregnant platy chasing the male around aggressively. I believe this is one of the signs but I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditDate="2014-09-17T14:51:48.540" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T08:14:36.620" Title="What are the signs that a female platy fish is about to give birth?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6367" CreationDate="2014-09-17T04:25:10.737" Score="13" ViewCount="8424" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every grain-free cat food I've seen is filled with vegetables like sweet potatoes and peas. Why is this? Why don't they just put more meat? Are there 100% meat product cat foods, wet or dry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="2932" LastEditDate="2014-09-18T05:12:25.690" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T17:06:42.147" Title="Why are grain-free cat foods filled with vegetables instead of more meat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5593" CreationDate="2014-09-18T01:12:39.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also make sure that there isn't another brand that he will like.  Many cats just can't eat certain brands or kinds.  My healthy cat can only eat one kind of food which i found out after months of research and worry.  If he's rejecting it there could be a good reason for it and there are cases of people feeding their cats a food that's made them deathly ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would shop around for something he likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2946" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T01:12:39.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-18T05:26:06.297" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got this small 4 years old chihuahua dog, she weighs less than 2 pounds, we moved her from a really warm environment in south of Mexico to a colder place, actually a smaller place in another city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we have flat neighbors, we need to make sure she won't stress that much when strange people gets around, and what's worse when we left her alone in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time she's left alone in the room she starts shivering and even gets cold, it's like she just can't feel safe and secure at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to be stressed more than usual, like getting more likely to bite new people and even us, and rejects and complains to wear clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately she never got so much discipline and it's like she's only used to coddles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/shH93.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T18:12:54.423" Title="How can I get my dog get used to a new small environment?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8096" CreationDate="2014-09-18T13:38:38.637" Score="2" ViewCount="794" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 13 year old Collie/Labrador cross who is blind with diabetes. She get's her insulin as instructed by the vet, but in the past few weeks she has been eating less and less, and now barely eats at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to sleep most of the time, and has lost interest in walks/treats etc, and generally seems miserable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she does eat, half of the time she throws the food back up. We have been to the vet and they say that medically, apart from the diabetes, she is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we be thinking about facing the inevitable or are there maybe other things we could try first that may work? We have tried different types of dog food to no avail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="407" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-21T17:24:51.730" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T18:02:25.273" Title="13 year old dog not eating, blind with diabetes, vets can find nothing else wrong medically" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-18T13:41:33.327" Score="3" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rats are rather clever little creatures. I have potty-trained my two male rats within a single week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until recently, they have found a new favorite spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method I used to teach them was &lt;em&gt;association of smell&lt;/em&gt;. Simply move their litter to the litter-box in the corner, and soon they picked up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, they now started urinating in the &lt;strong&gt;other&lt;/strong&gt; corner. I assume this was due to one of the two accidentally doing so, and the other then assumed by association of smell that this is an OK place to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I teach them not to do that anymore?&lt;/strong&gt; I tried cleaning it profusely, but it doesn't help all that much. And I am not really sure how I can move urine, or the smell of it, to the litter box..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2950" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:10:19.400" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T14:57:07.667" Title="How to teach a rat to not litter in a different spot" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5593" CreationDate="2014-09-18T14:31:05.637" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can stop eating for a variety of reasons. They ate a bug, they have a hairball making them feel weird, they're stressed, they have a cold, there are a ton of reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feline Hepatic Lipidosis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main danger when a cat stops eating is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acvim.org/PetOwners/AnimalEducation/FactSheets/SmallAnimalInternalMedicine/HepaticLipidosisinCats.aspx&quot;&gt;feline hepatic lipidosis&lt;/a&gt;, commonly called fatty liver disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The exact mechanism by which fasting in a previously healthy cat&#xA;  causes hepatic lipidosis is not clear. The process is unique to cats&#xA;  in both severity and rate of occurrence. It is understood as the&#xA;  anorexia continues more and more fat is broken down throughout the&#xA;  body and that this fat is then transported to the liver. The liver&#xA;  should then process this fat and export it back to the rest of the&#xA;  body in a new form. In cats developing hepatic lipidosis this process&#xA;  is impaired and fat accumulates in the liver. Damage to the liver&#xA;  occurs as a result of liver cells being too swollen with fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also not really well understood how long it takes for a cat to develop fatty liver disease, but it's believed that overweight cats will develop it faster than normal/underweight cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat with recurring anorexia (as a result of sinus problems) and the general timeline we followed was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day One: Offer Food, no pressure &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Days 2-4: Initiate Force Feeding (high caloric density soft food with a syringe every 2 hours) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day 5+: Hospital stay for regular liver monitoring (hospital staff continued&#xA;force feeding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately he never developed fatty liver (he was pretty underweight from these recurrent episodes). It's very difficult to get enough calories into a cat with a syringe, and if I knew how often we'd be doing it I would have had a feeding tube placed in his neck to aid in the feedings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dehydration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another concern when a cat stops eating is dehydration, because cats get most of their water through their food (especially on a wet food diet). There are two ways to check your cat for dehydration at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scruff test. Pull the skin of the scruff (the back of the neck) away from their body a short distance and observe how quickly it returns to place (a healthy cat should snap back immediately, a dehydrated cat will sort of slide back into place).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gum test. Press your finger on the cat's gums. When you release your finger, there should be a white spot where your finger was. In a healthy cat, it'll take 1-2 seconds for that spot to return to pink. In a dehydrated cat it will take longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration can be easily treated, but a vet needs to examine the cat to be sure that there is not an underlying problem causing the dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When to See Your Vet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is dehydrated, you should see your vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has not eaten for 2 days, you should see your vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a Friday and your cat just stopped eating and your vet isn't available on the weekend, call you vet and ask for advice specific to your cat's health and any existing conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to Expect&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common treatment for anorexia is appetite stimulants. This medication is often used in addition to treating whatever the underlying cause for the anorexia may be. For example, in the cat with sinus problems, we would often give him antibiotics for the sinus infections and appetite stimulants to get him started eating again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=feedingtubes&quot;&gt;Feeding tubes&lt;/a&gt; are a treatment method for chronic anorexia, or anorexia that has progressed into hepatic lipidosis. It can sometimes be used as a treatment method in other cases of anorexia as well. For example, after a surgery, Juliet stopped eating due to stress. She hates being handled by people (medications, syringe feeding, etc), so I had the vet put in a feeding tube immediately and she was fine a week later. I believe that if we had tried to syringe feed her, it would have continued to stress her out (continuing the anorexia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is also dehydrated, the vet may &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/cat_fluids.aspx&quot;&gt;administer subcutaneous fluids&lt;/a&gt; to your cat, or use an IV for more intensive therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may need to stay overnight or at the vet's for several days if she is very ill (from anorexia, dehydration, or from the underlying cause).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoiding Feline Hepatic Lipidosis when Changing Foods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This problem is most often seen when trying to change a cat from eating only dry food to eating wet food. To avoid the risk of hepatic lipidosis, you want the cat to be hungry but not literally starving. Feed roughly 1/4 of the cat's calories as the familiar food until the cat starts eating the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T14:31:05.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2014-09-18T14:56:56.993" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why are vegetables put into commercial cat food?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's two reasons: cost and perceived health benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, plant proteins are cheaper than animal proteins. When the food costs less to produce, the profit margin can be higher for the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, people are accustomed to believing that vegetables are healthy (because for us, they are). Cats, on the other hand, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1897/224&quot;&gt;cannot digest plants&lt;/a&gt;. Plants are not healthy for cats, they are filler. Since people buy the food, it's marketed to us and not to our cats directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does any cat food contain 100% meat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not quite. Cat food is required to contain a number of vitamins/minerals to make up for nutrients that are lost in the processing (cooking) of animal proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, dry foods cannot contain a large percentage of meat because they do not hold together into kibbles. Kibble is a cereal (I believe it's often &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_drying&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;spray-dried&lt;/a&gt;) and so requires some amount of plant material to act as glue. The highest meat content I've ever seen in a dry food is 87% (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.evopet.com/products/1441&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Evo Cat and Kitten&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canned foods, on the other hand, can be almost entirely made of meat. I'm familiar with Evo's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.evopet.com/products/1421&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;venison&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.evopet.com/products/1411&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;duck&lt;/a&gt; varieties, which are 95% meat and are particularly good for cats with allergies since they have a very limited ingredient list (though my cat who has allergies doesn't like them and we have to put something else on top). There are several smaller companies that make 90%+ meat canned foods (I suspect the manufacturing is easier than high meat dry foods), I'm just not very familiar with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also smaller companies that make frozen 90%+ meat frozen foods. I'm able to find them in my local organic market's freezer section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T14:56:56.993" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6351" CreationDate="2014-09-18T22:39:13.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone told me they'd trained their cat not to roam when outside unrestrained, I'd have one thing to say to them: &quot;I'll believe it when I see it&quot;. It's very unlikely to train a cat not to roam, hunt, and hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be possible, with a cat of a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; specific temperament. The kind of temperament that makes it want to sun itself on the warm patio for hours instead of exploring, or the kind of temperament that makes it skittish and scared of butterflies and quiet noises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words: you can train a cat not to roam outside... if the cat already doesn't want to roam outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got a cat that &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; like to explore, I doubt very much that you could prevent it from doing so through training. Cats are just too strong-willed and independent and they don't really need our approval or care what we think, unlike most dogs. Cats will always opt for what seems to them to be the better deal. If the deal is &quot;be cooped up and bored inside&quot; vs. &quot;go exploring while the human is calling for me to come back&quot;, an adventurous cat will choose the latter. A lazy cat will choose the former simply because it doesn't feel like exploring - not because it wants to follow instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to take your cats outside, but you fear (or you know) that they'll want to roam, your best bet is a leash. Many cats hate them, but some will get used to them over time. That's the only way to keep your cat where you want it in the yard - even a fence won't stop many cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastActivityDate="2014-09-18T22:39:13.423" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6381" CreationDate="2014-09-19T00:10:42.373" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is an Australian Labradoodle (small breed labradoodle/cocker spaniel hybrid) that is 14 months old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is already somewhat picky about food, but regularly suffers from diarrhea and becomes even more picky (eating less, won't eat her usual food). This happens every 4-8 weeks, s starting sometime when she was about 8 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one occasion, there was blood in her stool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time it's happened, I've called/taken her to the vet and she's tested negative for parasites, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twice, her vet has given her a medication (I can't remember the name) to assist with the digestion issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, she also sometimes suffers from a cough (goose like) that sometimes occurs after drinking water. I realize this can be caused by a collapsed trachea in small dogs, but I don't think that would be related to the diarrhea issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight/help would be appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:10:41.523" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:10:41.523" Title="Dog suffers from diarrhea, lack of appetite cyclically" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6369" CreationDate="2014-09-19T00:58:17.283" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If its a recurrent problem and your vet isn't able to diagnose it, ask for a referral to a specialist. Specialists (probably internal medicine in this case) have access to a wider array of diagnostic tools and more specialized knowledge than general vets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that specialist veterinarians tend to cost a good deal more, so if you've expressed concerns about the cost of tests at your general vet, they might not suggest seeing a specialist unless you ask for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be aware that most specialists practice in larger cities or university towns, so you may have a long drive with your pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-19T00:58:17.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-19T10:57:26.840" Score="8" ViewCount="2592" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be familiar with the rabbit from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland_%281866%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alice's Adventures in Wonderland&lt;/a&gt; as illustrated by John Tenniel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ytF5D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The White Rabbit (Tenniel) - The Nursery Alice (1890) - BL&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my rabbit does not have a pocket watch, yet she often manages to get up on the bed minutes before the alarm goes off.  The only clock in the room is a digital alarm, that it is not possible to see unless you are on the bed, so I can't see her checking it through the night without waking me up.  I have heard from a few others who share a bedroom with a rabbit that it is not unusual for them to be up on the bed shortly before the alarm goes off, for some snuggles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike cats and dogs, rabbits seem to prefer something solid under them when sleeping, so they generally move to the floor for the night. Maybe once a month or so she will wake up in the middle of the night and get up on the bed, grabs a quick snuggle and back to the floor, but usually she waits until 5 to 15 minutes before the alarm goes off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the alarm clock was a wind up, you could make the argument that there is a sound made by the clock before the alarm goes off.  But the only non-digital clock in the house is a battery clock in the kitchen (&lt;em&gt;she does not have physical access to the kitchen&lt;/em&gt;) and it does not have an alarm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can Rabbits tell time? Or maybe the better question is; How do Rabbits tell time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:53:53.077" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:23:57.413" Title="Can Rabbits tell time?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6638" CreationDate="2014-09-19T13:16:07.927" Score="3" ViewCount="857" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10 month old male British Shorthair, neutered since 6 months old, looks more and more like an adult cat. I believe however that he still hasn't reached the peak of his body development and certainly doesn't look like it. More or less I keep feeding him liberaly, like I used when he was a small kitten. Even though he is quite active I have started to worry about the obesity dangers of his breed (a previous British Shorthair I lived with had since a very early age developed a &quot;hanging belly&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while making sure he gets enough exercise, are there any cat diets available that will help him develop fully and in the same time avoid obesity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T15:04:43.407" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T11:52:51.237" Title="How should I transition my adolescent cat from a kitten diet to an adult diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6743" CreationDate="2014-09-20T20:12:37.043" Score="6" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the potential side-effects of spaying or neutering a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2014-09-21T11:27:17.043" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T13:41:52.057" Title="Side-effects of spaying or neutering a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-21T04:21:54.033" Score="4" ViewCount="540" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to the pet store to get some advice regarding the water quality in my 100L freshwater aquarium (which is stocked with fish). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since taking over this aquarium, I've notice that the pH tests no more than 6.0. The colour of the test solution corresponds to the most acidic level covered  by the chemical test, so the real pH could indeed be less than 6.0. The chemical test also shows ammonia and nitrite levels consistent with 0 ppm, but nitrate levels always test high, at about 40 - 80 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've suffered a number of deaths in the aquarium recently and so any problems with the water quality is suspect number one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice I received to sort out the pH level in the aquarium was to add Stability, treating the aquarium according to the instructions for Stability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, stability sets up the bacterial cycle in an aquarium, and has nothing to do with sorting out pH or providing a pH buffer. Am I wrong?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="443" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-22T15:05:38.897" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:22:52.917" Title="Does stability comprise a pH buffer?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6377" CreationDate="2014-09-21T20:14:48.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stability&lt;/em&gt; establishes bacterial colonies, meant to aid in the breakdown of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12021&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(source)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Tanks that have a problem in them or are neglected will gain a lot of nitrates. This also causes the pH to go down. The point of &lt;em&gt;Stability&lt;/em&gt; is to lower your nitrates and allow your pH to come back up. This is part of the solution, but there are others as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For now I would do a few things:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't put any new fish in your tank until this is sorted out. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find out what the pH of your tank really is. This means getting your hands on a test that goes below 6. Common guppies can die at a pH as low as 4.75 &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.1402010202/abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(source)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. You want to know your actual pH because if you don't, then you won't know how to properly adjust it. Try the pet store or Amazon.com. You will want something that can read lower than 6.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find out what the ideal pH for your fish should be.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Purchase the Stability or another cycling agent and also a 'pH Up' adjustment chemical. This can be bought at the pet store usually. This will only mask the problem for now, but it can be useful in an emergency. When you do a water change, add the recommended dose to the new water. Do not change the pH by more than 0.5 per day. This will stress out the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Test your kH. This is how stable your pH will be. You can also purchase buffer solutions that will stabilize your pH. You don't need to do this until you get a more desirable pH.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy dead coral from the pet shop. This will naturally raise the pH over time. Keep in mind you may not need this once you have a stable pH. Rinse it thoroughly and soak it as well to remove any salt left behind.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Test the pH of the water you are adding to the aquarium during water changes. This is useful to know.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perform a 20 percent water change today and every second day, adding the &lt;em&gt;Stability&lt;/em&gt; regularly, as directed. Keep changing the water until your nitrates at least go under 20 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find some plants, preferably, ones with good roots. Plant them firmly once your pH is at 6. This will help bring down the nitrates slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once your pH is ideal, make sure you add the appropriate amount of buffer solution. This is, again a short term fix, but still longer than adding ph Up every day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Promote that bacterial growth. Make sure you never change out the biological part of the filter so that you keep those bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, your pH will be buffered mainly by your coral (or driftwood if it goes too high), the bacteria colonies, and your kH hardness buffer.  This could take up to 2 - 8 weeks depending on how bad the problem is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another person with a similar problem: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myaquariumclub.com/high-nitrates-low-ph-189854.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;link&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T20:14:48.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6398" CreationDate="2014-09-21T21:03:38.437" Score="5" ViewCount="9590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two fish, but one got really aggressive, and bit the other one's tail off. The second fish died because it wasn't able to compete against the first, but if it had been living alone, could its tail have grown back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:16:52.747" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T22:21:13.990" Title="Can The Tail Of A Fish Grow Back?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-21T21:28:41.230" Score="2" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 18 years old.  When I went outside to the backyard (where she prefers to be)to check on her I noticed that her eye was closed shut and the same side of her face is swollen.  She won't eat or drink anything.  What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2960" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:27:16.967" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:27:16.967" Title="Elderly cat has eye closed shut and she won't eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6369" CreationDate="2014-09-21T21:55:09.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem with one of my dogs (a mongrel).&#xA;The vet suggested it could be food-related so I started an elimination process. It turned out that she was unable to process red meat very well.&#xA;Once I changed her diet to lamb (the best for dogs with allergies and digestive problems) and chicken, both blood in her stool and diarrhea ceased.&#xA;Try switching your dog's diet for a while. If that doesn't help, an ultrasound could be the next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is a puller, maybe that could explain the cough. Another one of mine injured herself while using a collar and had a similar cough; things got better when I used a harness instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2961" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T21:55:09.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6431" CreationDate="2014-09-21T22:14:49.237" Score="3" ViewCount="6368" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend has a lawn that has been treated with Spectracide® Weed Stop® for Lawns, and she has rabbits that she would like to allow graze on the lawn.  Following the links from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spectracide.com/Products-and-Solutions/Lawn-Weed-Killers/Spectracide-Weed-Stop-for-Lawns-Concentrate.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Manufactures site&lt;/a&gt; it looks like the active ingredients are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2,4-d, dimethylamine salt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quinclorac&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dicamba, dimethlyamine salt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sulfentranzone &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The information sheet says:&#xA;&quot;Do not apply this product to food crops,(&lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;) forage crops..&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a lawn has been treated, how long is it before rabbits (or herbivores in general) can be allowed to play on and eat from the lawn?           &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="1391" LastEditDate="2014-09-30T09:41:58.690" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T09:41:58.690" Title="After using Spectracide® Weed Stop® for Lawns how long before the grass is safe to eat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;herbivore&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6383" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-09-21T22:16:18.207" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-09-21T22:16:18.207" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T22:16:18.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6384" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-09-21T22:16:18.207" Score="0" Body="An animal who primarily eats plants. " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-09-21T22:16:18.207" LastActivityDate="2014-09-21T22:16:18.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-22T01:45:24.543" Score="4" ViewCount="467" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard some kittens meowing yesterday and I went to investigate the source and found a litter of 4 kittens in a bush. I figured that their mom would come back so I let them be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked on them several times between that time and this morning and still no mom in sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning, we decided to take them in, so we put them into a little box lined with a towel and put them in a bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to bottle-feed them with KMR but they just aren't suckling. I watched videos on YouTube and they make it seem so effortless, but it's not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried dipping my finger in KMR and letting them take it from my finger, but they're not taking it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried sticking the nipple into their mouth and squeezing the bottle gently (so as to drop the liquid) but the kitten moves away from the nipple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really have no idea what to do. I know that the SPCA/pet shelter will euthanize the kittens if I surrender them there, and that's not what I want. I put an ad on CL but I'm not sure if I can get the kittens to them fast enough to be worthwhile. I guess here are my options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put them back in the bush in hopes that the mom will come back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue trying to feed them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;surrender them to SPCA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2962" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T02:16:57.520" Title="Found 4 kittens in a bush in my side yard, don't know what to do" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6380" CreationDate="2014-09-22T02:09:07.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take her to the vet. She likely has some type of wound (insect sting, infected laceration) and a vet will be able to tell what type of wound it is and how to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, if she hasn't been eating or drinking for longer than a day, she may be suffering from some of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6366/224&quot;&gt;complications of anorexia&lt;/a&gt;, such as dehydration or even hepatic lipidosis. These complications are &lt;em&gt;serious&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;life-threatening&lt;/em&gt;, especially in an older cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T02:09:07.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6386" CreationDate="2014-09-22T02:16:57.520" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rescues/shelters have folks experienced in bottle-feeding kittens. However, if you are willing to &lt;em&gt;learn&lt;/em&gt; to bottle-feed, they may be willing to teach you, since they are always in need of fosters to take care of cats until homes can be found for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are willing to foster these cats and just need help with the bottle feeding, I would suggest looking for some local rescues (a shelter will not likely be staffed at this day/time if you're in the western hemisphere, and the kittens cannot wait until Monday morning). Call them and explain your situation and that you're willing to foster them, but that you're having problems feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never bottle fed kittens, but hopefully someone who has will check the site tonight and can give some more advice on how to feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-22T02:16:57.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6425" CreationDate="2014-09-22T14:44:03.197" Score="12" ViewCount="54276" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta is 5 and a half years old. And I am deeply saddened and distressed at his state. I know he is old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a slew of health problems. As of late however I noticed that his bladder has failed too. So I was wondering how to make his death less painful. Due to bladder he can't swim up properly to his food. Due to cataracts(cloudy eyes), he can't even see the food properly. And I keep him in a spacious 25 gallon. When feeding him, I will stick my hand in the aquarium, he will hobble over on my palm, then I will lift him up and using other hand almost directly deposit food pellets into his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I can do the following. Transfer him to a more shallow 5 gallon where he can swim up somehow and try to get food without my help. That will keep him alive slightly longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry I can't write properly. I just feel very saddened. Can someone please tell me what to do? I want him alive longer, but he is clearly in a lot of pain. He is my favorite Betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T15:26:35.650" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T12:51:19.313" Title="How do I ease the passing of my betta?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-23T11:07:19.847" Score="1" ViewCount="898" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost my cocker spaniel almost a year ago who I'd had for over 14 years. He was my best friend and I still miss him every day. I've always known that one day this would happen, but now that it has I know it's harder than I thought it would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is there anyone out there trying to breed dogs to live longer? If not so, why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People breed dogs for all kinds of purposes. Fighting dogs, hunting dogs, racing dogs, but will they ever admit that companion dogs give to you just as much as you give to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="5313" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T14:30:04.517" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T14:30:04.517" Title="Increasing dog life span" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2014-09-23T17:43:29.547" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pets die from illnesses and injuries as well as just &quot;wearing out&quot;. For example, hyperthyroidism and kidney disease are &lt;em&gt;VERY&lt;/em&gt; common illnesses in older cats. While we could try to breed these diseases out, veterniary schools study them to determine why our companion animals get these illnesses and how they can be treated to extend life (comfortably).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This research is complementary to research on similar human illnesses, as the drugs developed for human diseases are often used for our companions, and disease models developed in companion animals are often used as a starting point for human models. Breeding animals specifically to live longer wouldn't help &lt;em&gt;US&lt;/em&gt; learn these things with research. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, breeding a set of long-lived companion animals would require that you breed all candidate animals (and their offspring) for 10-20 years before knowing which lines were worth keeping. That's a LOT of additional animals for the overcrowded pet/shelter/rescue system to absorb, considering that each puppy/kitten you place in a home is one less that is rehomed from a shelter or rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loosing a pet is a terrible feeling, and I'm sorry for your loss. I've lost 3 of my cats. One (that we rescued at 17 years old) died of old age, the other two of weird exotic illnesses that stumped even the specialist vets.  In order to extend the lives of our pets we have to conquer disease and injury. It's not just a matter of breeding &quot;longer lived&quot; animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-23T17:43:29.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-23T18:05:14.960" Score="5" ViewCount="14556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed the gum of my dog, and it doesn't look healthy to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't exactly know what is a healthy gum so I have no idea if it's normal or if there is an infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gum is not pink, it's gray. And the part where the teeth starts, its outline is color black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal or healthy? I'm really worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Information about my dog :&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breed - Korean Jindo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age - 2 years and 5 months old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Color - Brown&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gender - male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7oxz4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kIAfr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2968" LastEditorUserId="2968" LastEditDate="2014-09-24T15:02:05.620" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T16:30:58.080" Title="My dog's gum, is it normal or not?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-24T09:07:48.477" Score="6" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat turned 20 recently. He's been quite healthy for most of his life but had been diagnosed with chronic renal disease. He does not take any medication and gets no treatment for this condition, however I do pay special attention to his diet and make food for him every week. He eats a combination of white fish, quinoa, canned pumpkin, a little turmeric, coconut oil and sometimes some added multivitamin for elderly cats which has taurine among other things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently he broke his rear leg but I'm not sure how. This was around 1 week ago. I am extremely financially challenged so have no extra money to take him to the vet. Because of this, I rigged a homemade brace/splint which he wore for a few days, but he seemed so miserable that I ended up taking it off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't even sure his leg was in the best position to heal and recognized that it may not even heal properly (which I feel horrible about) and considered that his age and lack of veterinary care could certainly play a role in how quickly he heals or whether he heals at all. It wasn't a full &quot;snap&quot; for lack of a better term, as it seems that one joint now has a &quot;missing&quot; or broken ligament or something of this likeness that would normally keep his leg in a natural position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When comparing his rear legs, the unbroken one is held in place rather naturally and the affected one moves quite freely from side to side with a total variance of appx 90 degrees.. This makes it difficult for him to walk because the leg will turn sideways constantly as he walks making for a pretty odd gait. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it hurts him still sometimes because he will lift it up on occasion while he eats. He seems to be adjusting and getting better despite the injury, but has recently been sleeping in the litterbox very frequently. Sometimes he will lay down right on his poo and I have to clean it off of him which is disgusting. I wake him up a lot and move him to a cozy corner next to my bed with a nice blanket - but he keeps going back to the litterbox. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also seems to be retaining gas in his abdominal area but it fluctuates. My mother's elderly cat had the same litterbox affinity soon before passing away so I'm pretty worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to lose my cat but I know that his time will come and I will need to accept it. I can't bear the thought of euthanizing him but I also don't want him to live in pain. Is there anything I can do to make this better for him aside from veterinary care? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions are sincerely appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2973" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2014-09-24T11:02:21.287" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T18:48:52.193" Title="20 yr old cat litterbox issue" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6392" CreationDate="2014-09-24T11:22:09.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to take a slightly different perspective than Zaralynda - in breeding out many of the issues that cause pets/working animals to die younger, and in providing animals with better care, we've effectively run into the same &quot;wall&quot; that is happening with human longevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like there is a built-in genetic &quot;fuse&quot; that determines the maximum lifespan of a given animal. That hasn't changed - in humans, the limit appears to be in the range of 110 - 120  years, but the &lt;em&gt;average&lt;/em&gt; lifespan is shorter because of disease, accidents and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think is happening is that as we improve the level of care we give our pets and companion animals, their lifespan gets closer to their genetic maximum - which is something research doesn't understand yet, but it's being worked on (Google longevity research... There's some very interesting things going on there, and some that I think is pretty crackpot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my lifetime, the &quot;typical&quot; age when a pet cat would die has gone from 12-14 range to the 16-18 range, and 19-20 isn't rare anymore (and I'm not that old). Large dogs have gone from when a 10 year old big dog was rare and amazing to 10 for a big dog being commonplace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T11:22:09.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6379" CreationDate="2014-09-24T13:53:55.283" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your guppy's tail &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;most likely&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; may have grown back depending on how damaged it was. Usually if there are nips, tears, or small pieces missing then with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;pristine water&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (correct ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, hardness, pH) and the fish is healthy and not too stressed, it will grow back. If it is completely bitten off, then this may not be a survivable injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It all really depends on two things:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extent of damage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Living conditions (water, environment, stress levels, disease, diet).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have recommended a tank divider in this situation, as moving the guppy to another tank would have stressed it out. The diet would be better if it is a varied one and there are many medicines out there that promote healing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAUTION:&lt;/strong&gt; Using medications on fish is best to do in a hospital tank (a separate tank, dedicated to healing) because they can destroy beneficial bacteria colonies. Some medications are also not effective so beware when buying (similar to cure-all remedies from the 1900s...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T13:53:55.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-24T15:34:41.450" Score="2" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Information about my dog&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Name - Kairo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breed - Korean Jindo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Color - Brown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age - 2 years and 5 months old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gender - Male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight - 15 kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/klICR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;He looks thin, is this normal for korean jindos?&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Weight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He looks thin, is this normal for Korean Jindos?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Elimination Habits&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When Kairo was a puppy, he use to pee and poop in the corner of the house. But after he turned like 5 months old, I started to walk him once a day. When I started to walk him everyday, he stopped peeing or pooping in the house. But sometimes I could not walk him every single day, and when I don't walk him, he will hold up and does not pee nor poop. Once I didn't walk him for 2 to 3 days, and he still held on to it. I try to let him do it but he won't. He will just wait for me to walk him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got really worried about his urinary and excretory system, so after that experience, I walk him twice a day, morning and evening. Is this enough? I'm still not sure. He drinks about 3 to 3 1/2 cups of water a day. Is this routine healthy for him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Meals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, he doesn't finish his meals. I give him one cup in the morning and another cup in the evening, but he will only eat the half of it each time. So all in all he is eating just one cup in a day, which I'm really worried about. He doesn't eat the food all at once; he will eat like few bites, then after an hour, he'll take another few bites, and so on (but still eats only half of it). I'm really worried seeing him getting thinner. :( I walk him like 1 hour to 2 hours in the morning but still no changes. Is this routine okay for his health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2968" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T10:25:29.533" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T10:25:29.533" Title="Is my dog getting enough walks and eating enough food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6394" CreationDate="2014-09-24T17:55:22.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most dogs, the gums are pink and you can test for issues with their gums using pressure (briefly turns white, quickly becomes pink if healthy), but some dogs can have black pigmentation that makes it hard to test. The American Kennel Club &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/public_education/healthy_dog.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has some information on this&lt;/a&gt; that you might find useful, but black gums are not necessarily a point of concern. Inflamed, and reddish, gums usually indicate dental issues that need to be taken care of by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are still a bit concerned around this, having your dog into a vet for a checkup is just a good idea in any case. Having their teeth checked, since some issues can't be seen easily anyways, is really just good practice for having a healthy dog and maximizing their life span with you. From the looks of the picture I don't see any evidence of inflammation, so I unless he's not eating much or showing signs of discomfort, I don't think I'd worry about it and I would just have the vet take a quick look as a part of getting any shots or other regular treatment rather than making a special trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-09-24T17:55:22.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6377" CreationDate="2014-09-24T20:48:32.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct about stability, has nothing to do with pH whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of, you need to figure out what the actual pH of the tank is. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate. Even a cheap API test kit should be much better than a strip. If you have a good local fish shop, take a sample of water to them and see what they test it as. You also need to get an accurate measurement of the pH of your tap water. Test it straight out of the tap and let it sit overnight and test it again. The main concern here is if your tap water is significantly different than your tank water. If this happens to be the case it would be a good idea to try and figure out why there is such a large difference and make plans accordingly from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless your pH is extremely acidic or basic, it's best to just ignore it unless you are trying to breed a specific species. pH in a tank is variable mainly because of its correlation with CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. Algae and plants will consume CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; when they are illuminated which is why pH goes up during the day time. Have multiple people in a room and you can measure the pH drop in a tank. Opposite thing can be said if you open a window or turn fans on in the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example, this is from my main reef tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2rxr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the ph swing throughout the day, but on the 21st, we turned the AC back on which reduced the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration in the house and the overall pH went up with it. It's just such a moving target that it's better to not mess with it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to buffer it and don't add buffering agents unless you know exactly what you are doing. At best these are a temporary solution as they aren't permanent and will greatly increase the maintenance on the tank as well as having to pre-buffer the water during a water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most fish can thrive just fine in lower or higher pH than what is their ideal. I keep discus in pH 9 tap water and have never had a problem with it. The main thing that all fish need is stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You nitrates are fairly high. Based on the specs you listed, this is what I would assume is the problem. Also, if these fish were newly added or this is a new tank, it wouldn't be uncommon to have losses even if you properly cycled the tank. This is subjective, but I would start doing 50% water changes per week, always make sure to treat the water for chlorine or chloramines, and see where your nitrates and fish health are in a month or two. Reduce water changes once you get the nitrates in control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T01:22:52.917" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:22:52.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2014-09-25T06:21:23.913" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had plenty of bettas and have always housed them separately. They are not the type of fish you would want to tank with other fish. Now if you are wanting to house them with other fish, make sure they are not the same species or colorful at all. Also a good way to test how your betta would react to being put in a tank with other fish is to get two separate tanks or a tank with split bowls. It makes the two fish feel as if they are in the same tank, but also prevents from them hurting each other. Observe them, if either fish try attacking from behind the glass or showing any alarming territorial or aggressive signals, then its not a good idea. Personally I've done this plenty of times and all of the bettas have gotten aggressive, but its possible I just haven't found the species they are willing to tolerate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2977" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T06:21:23.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6406" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-25T16:26:29.257" Score="4" ViewCount="770" Body="&lt;p&gt;Through my research on turtles, I have stumbled upon a few videos and articles that encourage you to &quot;tame&quot; your turtle or even tell you how to do so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, reptiles are not the most tame pets to have, and they aren't big fans of being handled, and often become stressed out from that. The general guideline to taming a turtle is said to be accustoming the turtle to your presence or making a specific sound or movement before feeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the ways I've seen when taming a turtle is to put it in a small tupperware next to you while watching a 30 minute show or so. Other ways include just visiting or even handling it more until it gets used to your presence. Provided these methods work, it seems that stress through this process is inevitable. Personally, I'd rather not try this on my turtle since it's originally a wild turtle (I am now aware of the risks posed on the wild populations by having wild turtles, as well as the increased difficulty when it comes to caring for them. I definitely realize this so this'll be the last wild turtle I keep.) and its species is mostly known as timid and &quot;would disappear at the slightest disturbance&quot;. I would point out though that some populations of this species have been known to hand feed from tourists or residents. My turtle itself is mostly timid and also spends a good amount of time hiding (I've set up multiple hiding spots for it). Let's suppose I &quot;tame&quot; my turtle, that'll be especially helpful for it when I visit to feed it, since then it wouldn't instinctively hide away, and wouldn't get stressed from my visits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main objective with my turtle really is to provide it with a naturalistic environment and diet. I care for no more than to see it thriving happily, and personally moved on from aesthetics since I know I can't afford to give it the best home and simultaneously make it especially appealing to the human eye. What I'm trying to say is I don't really care about taming this turtle, I'm just particularly interested in whether these methods are effective and whether the stress caused through the process is really worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-09-29T06:28:51.297" LastActivityDate="2018-03-18T22:33:02.520" Title="Is it advisable to &quot;tame&quot; a turtle?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6407" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-25T17:33:43.797" Score="9" ViewCount="833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just been donated a mature marine tank. I've had a fair few years experience with tropical freshwater fish, but no real experience with marine tanks. What are the major differences, and what new things will I need to look out for, now I have a marine set up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2981" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T15:48:05.927" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T15:48:05.927" Title="How is the care of a saltwater tank different than the care of a freshwater tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6407" CreationDate="2014-09-25T19:19:14.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is with the assumption that you are referring to a fish only marine tank, normally called a FOWLR (Fish only with live rock) tank. A coral reef tank requires considerably more skill and husbandry than a FOWLR tank, but biologically speaking, fish tanks all work the same way regardless of the salinity of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Filtration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biological differences between the 2 tanks are very little. Both types of aquarium filtration relies on nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonia (from fish waste) into nitrite, then to less toxic nitrate. Freshwater tanks usually use a hang on back, canister, or undergravel filter for the nitrifying bacteria. Marine tanks normally rely on the bacteria colonizing the rock and sand instead of a stand alone filter.  In freshwater tanks, nitrate is typically only removed via water change. Marine aquariums do have the benefit of it being reasonably possible to achieve true denitrification which completes the nitrogen cycle. It's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get denitrification in most freshwater tanks. In marine, denitrification is accomplished through deep sand beds or other anaerobic environments where denitrifying bacteria can establish, even in live rock. It should be noted that this isn't always desired for a number of reasons and isn't always efficient enough for the stocking of a tank, but it's often possible. As with fresh water, any excess nitrate that the tank can't process on its own, must be removed via water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Equipment and Maintenance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Husbandry is going to be pretty much the same with the obvious exception being the requirement of saltwater instead of fresh water. Evaporation should be made up with freshwater. Normally reverse osmosis or distilled water is used to prevent adding additional elements and nutrients to the tank which promotes unwanted algae growth. RO or distilled water should be used to mix the saltwater for the same reasons. Some people are able to successfully use treated tap water, but it's significantly more difficult and usually only works with certain setups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saltwater equipment often builds up calcium which slows down water movement and can stop pumps completely. Usually a yearly or bi-yearly soak in white vinegar takes care of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saltwater tanks often use a protein skimmer which needs to be regularly emptied when the cup is full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a tank uses foam or a filter sock, these should be replaced every few weeks or as needed for them to keep the water clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stocking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as stocking, marine fish are much more expensive than freshwater fish. Some are extremely sensitive and difficult to care for. Marine tanks cannot be stocked to such a high level as fresh water tanks. There are multiple reasons for this, the main being fish aggression is much more of a problem with marine species. In nature, most marine fish establish a territory and will defend it. When this behavior is applied to a small closed environment like a fish tank, even seemingly peaceful or very small fish can become menacing to the point where they kill the other inhabitants in the tank. Overstocking a marine tank will also almost guarantee a high-maintenance mess of algae and lost fish. Lastly, many marine fish are very active and travel many miles per day in the wild. In an overstocked or undersized tank they live a short and stressed life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Risks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marine tank do pose several risks to fish and to fish keepers that you won't see in most freshwater tanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike freshwater tanks where they rarely exist, denitrifying environments like a deep sand bed can pose a serious risk to the tank and even to humans if kept improperly or if disturbed. They can kill everything in a tank or release hydrogen sulfide into the air which is extremely toxic. Luckily it smells very strongly of sulphur so it's normally obvious if it happens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working in a marine tank also poses risks such as infection, allergic reactions, and being exposed to poisonous tank inhabitants. Many coral and anemones which can hitchhike into a tank can sting and some are extremely poisonous. Many marine fish are poisonous and not just obvious ones like lionfish. The fish aggression can also extend on fish protecting their territory from people which in the case of some fish or eels can result in some nasty bites. There are a number of invertebrates that can sting someone working in the tank. Always best to use gloves when moving rockwork or generally any time working in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2014-09-25T20:24:15.097" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T20:24:15.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-25T21:27:17.817" Score="3" ViewCount="686" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that snail shells do not grow with the snail. I haven't tried anything yet because I don't want to hurt my snail, but how do I know when it needs a new shell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2833" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:22:21.447" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T16:22:21.447" Title="When do I need to get a new shell for my snail?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6407" CreationDate="2014-09-25T22:26:36.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Money&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main difference between a saltwater tank and a freshwater fish tank that keeps people from getting into keeping saltwater tanks is cost. There's a big difference between losing a $3 freshwater fish and a $30 saltwater fish. The cost of setting up a new saltwater tank can get insanely expensive. Once it's started though, it's not so bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really though, it's all the same dance, there's just a couple more steps you'll want to take with a saltwater tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Salinity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salinity is the term used for how much salt is in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, there's nothing special about this, if you've ever performed a test for you pH levels in a freshwater tank, it's the same sort of deal. You're just going to want to be testing it at the end of each day, as sudden changes in salinity can be extremely damaging to fish and corals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you test for salinity you can get as specific as you're willing to spend money on. At the higher end of the price range, you're looking at refractometers and similar tools that can measure the amount of salt in the water based on parts-per-million. At the lower end of the price range, you're looking at hydrometers, which will measure the gravity of salt in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What gravity the salt needs to be is dependant on what you're looking at keeping in your tank. My general rule of thumb is about 1.02 for fish, and 1.026 for reef tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Water Changes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water changes are going to be the same as freshwater tanks, except that it's going to be extremely important to have the water prepared beforehand. You have to replace the water with water of the same salinity and temperature as the water you're taking out, otherwise the sudden changes could cause your fish and corals too much stress. Think of it like an ammonia spike in a freshwater tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Temperatures&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperatures work the same way as with freshwater tanks, but there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some fish and corals might not have the same preferences for temperatures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corals are extremely sensitive to temperature changes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The metabolic rate of corals is dependent on the temperatures of the water. Meaning that if the water isn't at their needed temperature, they can't digest their food. This could simply mean that they don't grow, but the worst case scenario is that it kills them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As I mentioned with the water changes, any new water you're adding into the tank has to be the same temperature, otherwise you risk stressing the fish and corals too much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General temperatures are going to be about 78-80 degrees fahrenheit. Always keep an eye on the temperatures to make sure they're stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Equipment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only new piece of equipment you'll really see with saltwater tanks are protein skimmers and powerheads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein skimmers&lt;/strong&gt; are just another form of filtration that's used to take out the dying microorganisms in the water, since there are millions that live and day in the span of a day in the live rock/sand and corals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Powerheads&lt;/strong&gt; are just underwater fans that are used to create a current in the tank, and provide circulation. I consider them extremely useful in reef tanks to make sure that all the corals and anemones receive food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of the equipment is going to be the same, but more expensive than if it was going to be for a freshwater setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tanks Size&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are very few saltwater fish that will be happy in a tank smaller than 30 gallons. Don't be fooled by the size of the fish either, even a 3-inch long wrasse will need a 55 gallon tank to swim around in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible to keep a 10-20 gallon saltwater tank, but I personally wouldn't recommend it unless you're familiar with them first. Generally, tanks those sizes are used for nano-reefs with one or two clownfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to freshwater tanks, the larger the tank, the more stable your water parameters are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Filtration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't really use the cheap filters you would use with freshwater tanks. For filters, it works best to use either a canister filter, or a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/4401/481&quot;&gt;sump&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Substrate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than the gravel, or plain sand you would use in a freshwater tank, you're going to use what's referred to as 'live' sand. It's 'live' because there are microorganisms living in it that will help filter and cycle the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally you'll want to keep your live-sand at a 2-3 inch depth, unless you have animals that dig into the sand like gobies, then you'll want another inch for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Salt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the salt in saltwater isn't the same as table salt. The only way to make the saltwater is either buy the salt, and mix it in with water, or buy concentrated saltwater, that you would dilute to your needed salinity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Quarantine Tanks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most saltwater fish are wild-caught, though some of the more popular fish such as clownfish, cardinals, and damsels are starting to be farmed more widely now. Because of this, it's going to be necessary to put any new additions to your tank into a quarantine tank first, where you can observe them for any signs of illnesses and/or parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even live-rocks and plants should go into the quarantine tank. It's common to get some bristle worms hitchhiking over, and they're okay for your tank, but the last thing you'll want is to find a brittle sea star popping up in a reef tank, or while fairly rare, a bobbit worm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easier to kill a hitchhiker in a quarantine tank, then to try and fish it out of&#xA;live-rock where there are so many places to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also necessary to treat fish outside of the tank, as treatments will also kill the microorganisms that make up live-rock and coral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anemones and some fish will require brine shrimp for their diet. Fish like tangs will require seaweed. Not complicated, but more pricey than simple fish flakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Notes:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes without saying, don't touch poisonous fish. But, it's not like they're going to chase you down and try to kill you (And in most cases poisonous means an injury similar to a spider bite). I've had my hands in several tanks of poisonous fish and never had a problem. Just use common sense and don't touch them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest not putting your hand in the tank if you have cuts on it, though I recommend the same for freshwater tanks. It's likely to make the cut infected which is annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T16:15:18.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6409" CreationDate="2014-09-25T22:30:58.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shell of snails do infact grow along with the snail. The link below might help answer this question in more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mentalfloss.com/article/48796/are-snails-born-shells&quot;&gt;http://mentalfloss.com/article/48796/are-snails-born-shells&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T22:30:58.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-25T23:08:05.193" Score="12" ViewCount="161973" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got my cat back from being spayed.  She's got the stitches, and she's supposed to wear the cone for a week to stop her from licking them.  Problem is, we've gotten the cone on her four times now, and she's managed to pull it off all four times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't want to hurt her, and I know she doesn't like the cone at all.  I have to go to work, so I can't supervise her 24/7 to stop her from licking.  But how can I make sure she can't take the cone off at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="205" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T02:18:40.220" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T23:12:48.130" Title="How can I stop my cat from removing her cone?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6394" CreationDate="2014-09-25T23:17:35.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a qualified vet nurse. If you are really as concerned as you say you are, take your dog to the vet. Some dog breeds do not have pink gums. Some breeds have blue gums or grey gum like you dog. How long has your dog's gums been this colour? How long has your dog been eating in the way you have described? He could be eating in this way due to dental problems. As I am vet nurse and not a vet I cannot legally diagnosed anything, but if he has any form of teeth or gum disease, it could be painful for him to eat. Dogs are made to survive in the wild and as such, will continue to eat, even if it hurts to do so, but if it is very painful, they can give up eating all together, although, their first priority (like any species), is to survive and that means eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, please take your dog to the vet and bring alone a fresh sample of his poo and urine (take the sample of the urine mid stream-not at the very beginning and not at the end but in the middle of when he does a pee). This will help the vet to see if anything is going on in his tummy or bladder that is causing his way of eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2982" LastActivityDate="2014-09-25T23:17:35.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6412" CreationDate="2014-09-26T16:48:05.070" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few options. Usually when the veternarian supplies cones, they are hard plastic and annoying to the cat because they interrupt peripheral vision and hearing, as well as eating and drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are soft cones available that some pets find more tolerable, &lt;a href=&quot;http://trimlineinc.com/&quot;&gt;Trimline&lt;/a&gt; is one manufacturer. These cones can be worn in the traditional &quot;up around the head&quot; fashion, or turned down to form a bell around the body. Some cats find the turned down position tolerable because it doesn't interfere with vision/hearing.  If you get one of these collars and try the turned down position, I recommend using it while you can observe your cat to make sure that she cannot reach the stitches with the cone in this position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is a protective shirt. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicalpetshirts.com/&quot;&gt;commercially available options&lt;/a&gt;, but you probably don't want to wait for shipping since your cat has already had the surgery. You can make a similar shirt at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, take an old T-shirt and cut four holes in it for the cats legs. Then wrap the shirt around the cat and pin/sew it closed at/near the cat's spine. You don't want any seams near the wound/suture (belly), that should be a smooth flat piece of fabric. The shirt should be snug so your cat cannot wiggle out of it, but not so tight that it cuts off circulation. You should check the wound every 8 hours or so while it's covered, and monitor your cat when you first put on the shirt to make sure she doesn't get tangled in it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she licks the shirt it should be alright, but if she bites it you'll want to reinforce it with thicker fabric (like denim) over the area with the stitches.  The fabric will likely stretch and wiggle, that's normal. Just repin it as necessary to keep the shirt on and covering the sutures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T16:48:05.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3275" CreationDate="2014-09-26T19:28:36.680" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are great, but I'd like to add what worked for my dog. My apartment is on the second floor, up a steep and narrow staircase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had no problem running up the stairs, but refused to go down them, even when I would walk halfway down first. I placed a small treat on each of the first few steps, and held another treat to his nose and led him to the first step. When he got to the first step, he got the first treat, then I drew his attention to the treat on the next step. It was just far enough outside his reach that he had to put both his paws on the step to get at it. When he reached it, I quickly drew his attention to the next step (and the next treat). When he ate that one, his entire body was on the steps, and momentum took over from there.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm sure it also helps if there is a fun reward at the bottom of the stairs (in my dog's case, the outside!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he has no problems on the steps. I was actually quite surprised how quickly he got over his fear of the stairs once he had used them once. I read somewhere that for a dog that is low to the ground, they can't see the steps, they just see a cliff (especially for steep staircases). Once my dog learned that he wasn't going to plummet off the edge, the fear was gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastActivityDate="2014-09-26T19:28:36.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7003" CreationDate="2014-09-27T06:53:10.840" Score="6" ViewCount="647" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a lab/spaniel mix (from what I can tell, anyways)-two very highly energetic breeds; while I don't think I can speak for the breeds as a whole, my personal experience with both labs and spaniels is that they can exhibit some anxiety issues and nervous behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also say &quot;my dog&quot; rather than &quot;puppy&quot; (even though she still acts like it whenever there are distractions around, jumping around in circles like the tilt-a-whirl at a carnival); she is seven years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has always been a challenge getting her to walk without pulling on a leash-over the course of the past few years, however, she has gradually gotten better, as both her energy has declined and-I can only assume, despite the inherent anthropomorphization-she has become more comfortable with the routine of walking beside me rather than in front of me. This last has been a result of a long time effort wherein I refuse to continue the walk if she proceeds to walk in front of me, simply waiting until she returns to my side before the walk continues...which can sometimes take a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the leash work, during the course of the last year or so I have started to clicker train her to learn some tricks. While the use of a clicker has not been a cure-all, I believe that it greatly enhanced her understanding and ability to interpret commands. Before starting to train her with the clicker, she understood the basics-sit, stay, come, fetch, down, and drop it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In just a year, she's learned shake (both paws, independently), lay on your side, heel, spin (for the other direction, the command is &quot;nips&quot;...ha), roll over, to touch objects which are pointed to, crawl, curtsy/bow, and-what I think is utterly amazing-has started to learn object recognition from words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a very smart girl and I'm realizing it more and more; however, there are still situations in which I need to learn how to better manage her and control her stress/anxiety. Most of these situations concern other dogs; some concern rabbits, and others, perhaps, just the wind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When walking, if she sees/smells/hears another dog, she instantly adopts that facial expression and body posture every dog owner knows means business. All words I utter from that point cease to have any effect on her. She's waiting to take off at the four-legged intruder who has alerted her senses-so much so that even if she hears keys or chains jingling from a distance she may start barking. And then there's the encounter where you try to hold the dog back as the two cross paths...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we are sitting in a park, she barks at dogs crossing by as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her energy seems to know no bounds-at seven years of age, we can spend hours at the beach or dog park and she still won't stop running around. Typically, this is in the form of fetch (she's the dog at the dog park who pays attention ONLY to the ball).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, the real issue is that I'm trying to get her to be more comfortable in situations where we might encounter other dogs-whether we are on our walks or sitting in a park. In the absence of dogs and birds and squirrels and rabbits, she usually looks around for something with which she can get me to throw in order to play fetch-if I don't, I suffer the consequences of her incessant whining and barking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anybody have any experience with old, anxious dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T21:50:49.400" Title="How can I help my dog be more comfortable in public?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="299" CreationDate="2014-09-27T18:58:31.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your theory could very well be right-and it sounds like you are doing the best you can to try to help him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not dominant (in fact, the idea of dogs exhibiting &quot;dominance&quot; is an outdated one whose only scientific support comes from a naturalist's paper in the the late 1930s who observed wolves held in captivity-somehow as a culture we have decided that his findings about an unnatural situation perfectly apply to dogs...), he sounds terrified. He's so nervous he's unwilling to let go of his leash for even a moment-so maybe that would be the place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he is on his leash, simply do not move unless the leash is not in his mouth. Correct him (using whatever negative reinforcement you use, whether it is a sharp &quot;No!&quot; or &quot;out!&quot;), then wait for him to obey. This is easier said than done-especially with a dog who sounds this anxious in these situations. However, it is possible; Patrick is still a relatively young dog whose attention span can only be growing, and the more he realizes how calm you are in a particular situation, the more he will try to emulate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he knows &quot;drop/give it&quot; this would be a good command to use in this situation as well. &quot;Leave it&quot; is also tremendously helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like the idea of changing directions when the dog wants to walk ahead of you-it lets Patrick realize that he's not doing what you him to and causes him to shift his focus to you again, and gives him a great opportunity to be rewarded for remedying his behavior (the reward being a &quot;good boy&quot;, &quot;yes&quot;, or even just getting to continue the walk). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to try spraying &quot;bitter apple&quot; or some other type of scent/taste-deterrent on the leash before you go out for walks; that can be a hit or miss situation however, as my dog has learned to like the taste of the stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T18:58:31.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-27T22:35:50.677" Score="3" ViewCount="1286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just moved to a new place, which has all wooden floors and counters (in the kitchen). My plan was to slowly introduce the cat to the new place, keeping him in my room mostly, fearing that he might scratch the fabric furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, The one time I let him out, one of the wooden counters got a scratch mark. Not a typical scratch mark. It looks almost accidental. There are also two deeper ones. My fear is to reprimand him or negatively reinforce him when he isn't doing anything wrong, or seemingly on purpose, won't have the desired outcome. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2987" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-27T22:46:04.207" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T03:37:13.180" Title="How can I make sure that my cat doesn't scratch my wooden floors and counters?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6419" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-09-27T22:49:25.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scratching is the act of a pet using its claws to injure, or damage, something. This tag should be used for questions about scratching behaviour in pets, and also for questions about the prevention of pets from scratching. For better answers, use the appropriate pet tag (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-27T22:49:25.983" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T22:49:25.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6420" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-09-27T22:49:25.983" Score="0" Body="Refers to the act of a pet using its claws to injure, or damage something." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-09-27T22:49:25.983" LastActivityDate="2014-09-27T22:49:25.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6424" CreationDate="2014-09-27T23:15:00.227" Score="6" ViewCount="28620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my rabbit 4 years ago over the summer, and when we just got her, I was always the one cleaning her litterbox. After school started however, my mom would sometimes clean it. We still now take turns cleaning it, and I noticed that whenever I clean it, she never kicks out any of the litter (&lt;em&gt;recycled paper pellets&lt;/em&gt;), but when my mom does it, she kicks out a lot of it. This can't be just by chance because its been happening for four years. I am guessing she is able to smell who cleaned the litterbox, but why does she kick out the litter whenever my mom cleans it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-09-28T09:51:10.983" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T01:02:35.793" Title="Why does my rabbit kick litter?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6418" CreationDate="2014-09-28T03:37:13.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend watching him next time he is let out to determine if any scratches are on purpose or accidental. Some cats will use wood to scratch, but I've never seen cats use wood that's finished and sealed (as I assume your floors and countertops are). So, it COULD be on purpose, but I suspect it's accidental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is on purpose, the same type of advice applies whenever you want your cat to stop purposefully scratching anything. Give your cat a surface of similar texture/shape/weight/etc and treat it with catnip to act as an initial attractant. These considerations are covered in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/229/how-can-we-prevent-our-cats-from-scratching-on-our-chair&quot;&gt;&quot;How can we prevent our cats from scratching on our chair?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is accidental, there are a few ways that you can to reduce the damage to your surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you can dull his claws by trimming or applying nail caps. This will ensure that if he tries to grab the surfaces, his claws are not able to damage the wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you can observe him to see if there are certain spots where he tends to have these accidents, and put rugs with rubber gripping bottoms in those spots to give him more traction.  For example, when our cat Hunter was younger he liked to jump on top of a tall wardrobe we had, but to get up there he had so much momentum that we were worried that he would fall off the other side! We bought a cheap bathmat to put there to give him a safe &quot;landing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if the finish on the wood surfaces is old and worn, you can resurface them. Then the protective layer will be thicker, and your cat will be less likely to damage the wood through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T03:37:13.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6421" CreationDate="2014-09-28T10:47:30.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely your rabbit is seeing your mom as a potential revival for dominance of the space that your rabbit considers her's.  Presumably your rabbit has trained you to groom her on demand, making you a non-rival, but if your mom is not spending as much time with the bunny, she may be considered a rival and your rabbit is attempting to make it clear that THIS LITTER BOX IS MY TERRITORY! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits digging out their litter box is not an unusual occurrence, we see it most with female rabbits.  We often see it when the rabbit has decided that the litter needs to be cleaned before the person does. It is also seems more prevalent in the spring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestic rabbits come from a heritage of living in underground warrens, most of the competition is between females to have a space of their own to have babies.  They are naturally clean animals that use one area as a litter box and clean it out as needed.  They have strong territory ownership and dominance traits.  The dominate bunny is groomed on demand and visitors are allowed in Her territory only by permission.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible solutions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In some case (&lt;em&gt;but not as described in this question&lt;/em&gt;) the rabbit just decides to clean the litter box before you do. Ensuring that litter box is changed regularly with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2230&quot;&gt;rabbit appropriate litter&lt;/a&gt; can help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spaying your rabbit will have some impact on lowering hormones, but will not completely eliminate digging behavior. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more time your mom spends petting and grooming the bunny the less the she will be seen as a rival. Focus on nose, ears, face and cheeks; stay away from hips and rear legs for maximum &quot;you are the boss bunny&quot; impact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When emptying the litter box, grab a few poops and put on top of the new litter.  Rabbits use poops for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514&quot;&gt;territory marking&lt;/a&gt; If your rabbit finds her own poops in the litter box after you mom cleans it, she will be less likely to feel like there is a territory dispute.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the most difficult cases even with the above if the behavior continues, a high sided digging box can be used as litter box as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1817/my-rabbit-is-digging-at-the-carpet-in-the-corner-of-the-living-room-what-should/1821#1821&quot;&gt;seen in the last pictures in this answer&lt;/a&gt;.  Your rabbit can move litter from one side to other to her hearts content, and it all stays in the box. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dominate bunny Harmony (spayed female) is the uncontested boss of her people, the two boy bunnies (neutered) she is bonded to, and her space.  Currently she is using a high side digging box as her only litter box.  Sometimes she just has to dig and move litter about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the situation you describe it would seem to be a struggle for dominance between your mom and your bunny, but that is not the only cause of litter digging behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T10:52:47.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6391" CreationDate="2014-09-28T15:28:38.330" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Making a decision:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not you want to keep your fish alive longer is a very personal question. Only you can decide this. On &lt;em&gt;a personal note&lt;/em&gt;, whenever a pet of mine gets to the point when it cannot function properly, and it's quality of life is extremely low, I believe it is time to euthanize. You may wish to consult a veterinarian on this before you make your decision, as it is not an easy one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Euthanization methods:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several methods for this, which I will provide if you end up making this decision. There are two main categories... So called &lt;em&gt;old school&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; techniques. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;old school&lt;/em&gt; techniques involve things that you can find around your home. These methods are considered old school and they may not exactly be the most humane but they can be the most affordable and easy. I will list them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Old school:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Freezing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can put water in a bag and put it in the freezer until it gets slushy. You then put your fish in the bag and continue freezing. This is not a method approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). If you decide to use this method, perhaps the better thing to do is to put the betta in slightly cooler water (approximately 70&amp;nbsp;°F&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;21&amp;nbsp;°C) and then begin the freezing process. This will slow the bettas heart rate slowly and would most likely be more humane than putting it in slushy water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Decapitation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the quickest method. It simply involves cutting your fishes head off with a knife very quickly. It is not painless but it is very fast. The pain is momentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fracturing neck or spine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is less quick but may be less painful. You take your fish and break its neck. The fish may live for a moment or two after this but will feel less pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove oxygen&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method involves putting Alka Seltzer tablets in the water. You may wish to do this in a bag full of water for a betta, if you choose this option, as they can gulp oxygen from the surface. This has been reported to seem slightly cruel due to the fact that it is slow and it is suffocation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;New methods:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These usually involve an overdose of anesthetic or a barbiturate and are more humane, yet complicated and expensive. Overdose of anesthetic is used by universities that conduct research on fish. You could try to find a university of research centre near you that may carry a suitable anesthetic. There are also some household items like clove oil and vodka (not advocated by the AVMA) which will also work. Some of the anesthetics are available from pet stores or other sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a list of anesthetics, barbituates, and all methods described here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/81&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to humanely euthanize your fish.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T12:51:19.313" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T12:51:19.313" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6428" CreationDate="2014-09-28T15:33:43.257" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am setting up an improvised tank in a plastic bin (about 20 L), and the suction cups of the sponge filter, heater, and airline clips are not holding. They come off on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is for raising brine shrimp to adulthood, not for birthing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I want to know if there is a good way to attach these suction cups in the water.&lt;/strong&gt; I have heard that using packing tape works well, however I am concerned that the glue may be toxic. &lt;strong&gt;Are there other methods?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oXZge.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditDate="2014-09-28T15:54:57.367" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T18:21:44.237" Title="Suction cups will not stick in brine shrimp bin" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6550" CreationDate="2014-09-28T16:55:11.980" Score="8" ViewCount="2202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/aloe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;read&lt;/a&gt; that the ASPCA has listed Aloe Vera as mildly toxic to cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) Does that only mean toxic to ingest, or even live in a house with such a plant? If I'm sure my cat does not chew on the plant, is it safe to keep around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) How can some &lt;a href=&quot;http://petfoodwarehouse.co.uk/browse_996&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;high-end pet foods&lt;/a&gt; contain aloe, if eating it is toxic? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm not trying to cause controversy, I'm just wondering what's the case and what's safe for my cat. I've also seen &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3259/what-common-house-garden-plants-are-dangerous-to-dogs-and-why/3261#3261&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, which agrees with the ASPCA rating.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T10:40:59.270" Title="Aloe Vera and Cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6426" CreationDate="2014-09-28T17:26:00.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suction cups do tend to just stop suctioning over time, so a simple solution may be just buying new ones. In my experience with them, I've found that sometimes they'll only stick to the surface if it's dry, especially when I'm dealing with a plastic surface. I suggest you try drying the bucket, and then attempting to stick the suctions then. If that doesn't work you may try to buy new ones, they're pretty cheap, and serve lots of purposes, so if they don't work it won't really be a waste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you only have brine shrimp in there, you can just place the heater on the surface like you've already done, the weight of the heater will be enough to hold it in place provided the filter's output isn't strong and/or directed at it, and of course, the brine shrimp can't agitate it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to suction cups. Suction cups work differently on different types of surfaces. You can try placing a flat rock (which can also serve as a decoration), and then suctioning the filter/heater in place there. An alternative can be placing a heavy (but not too heavy) sinking object (anything really) over or next to the filter or heater. This will serve to keep them in place and may also be used as a decoration, or a way of concealing the filter/heater, and making the setup look better(depending on what you're using to keep them in place). The only real disadvantage here is the space consumption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not planning to to use this container for anything else, you may as well go to more &lt;em&gt;permanent&lt;/em&gt; measures. You can drill holes in the wall, then screw a stand or support into it, and secure all that with lock nuts. Top it off with siliconing the screws completely from both sides to stop any potential leaks and the metal from reacting with the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that you can look at any equipment you previously had and isn't functional or needed anymore. I can't provide you with any ideas here since I don't quite know what you have, but look for previous equipment which serve similar or complementary purposes: parts from them will probably be the most helpful. Of course, through the whole process make sure everything is aquarium safe. As for packing tape, it's not really toxic, but it's still not water resistant and will loosen quickly, so it's not a viable option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2014-09-28T18:21:44.237" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T18:21:44.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6363" CreationDate="2014-09-28T18:12:54.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When she is left alone, are you sure she is shivering because of the cold? It sounds like she may be shaking due to her nerves and anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dealing with an anxious dog is hard-you have to figure out what is making them uncomfortable (which is tough when they can't explicitly tell you), then figure out how to make them less averse to that thing that made them uncomfortable in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she is alone, does she whine and bark? If so, this is her crying for help-and her training you to realize that if she is uncomfortable, you need to do something for her. To get her to stop whining/barking, you have to let her cry herself out, then reward her when she has calmed down by visiting her or giving her a &quot;good girl&quot; from the other room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think your dog is uncomfortable when she is alone because she doesn't know what to do with herself, sometimes dog toys can help-I'm a fan of &quot;cow hooves&quot; as chew toys, as they last a long for my dog and chewing helps her relieve anxiety. Those might be a bit big for your pup, but something that can be chewed on for a while (a rubber kong toy filled with peanut butter, a squeaker toy, etc) may help her alleviate boredom when she is alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you guys are just hanging out at home together-is she usually perched on someones lap? There isn't necessarily anything wrong with letting your dog sit on your lap-but make sure she has to ask permission first (either by giving her owner or the person whose lap she's wants to jump into a look and waiting for an affirmative response). If she assumes that she can jump into anyone's lap she so chooses without asking, this may indicate that she thinks she is in control of the situation. That is not ideal, as dogs who set their own rules are less likely to follow the rules we want them too (like not barking when left alone or when strangers are around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a husky mix once upon a time who started off as a great dog-and then as he became more comfortable with us, he became less and less well behaved in &quot;anxiety-inducing&quot; situations (i.e., meeting new people and dogs, which eventually turned into just seeing strangers or other dogs); he would bark and raise the hair on his back, and it got too be a scary problem, as his anxiety made him harder to control and communicate with. After consulting with a dog trainer, we stopped giving him attention when he asked for it and only gave him attention as a reward for when he obeyed a command we gave him. Upon coming home from work, we would wait to greet him until we had put all of our things away and only once he calmed down would we say &quot;hi.&quot; Within a week we were able to let him meet new people and dogs without any negative or anxious reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving can be a scary experience for a dog-and it may very well be natural for her to exhibit this type of behavior if this is what she believes is expected of her. However, it's never to late to recondition your dog to act how you would like. She is a very smart and very cute girl and I wish you the best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2014-09-28T18:12:54.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6382" CreationDate="2014-09-29T15:26:41.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also answered &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/14206/what-are-the-uptake-and-decay-rates-for-spectracide%C2%AE-weed-stop%C2%AE-for-lawns/14208#14208&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2,4-D&lt;/a&gt;: 10 days, up to 333 in wet areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2,4-D degrades fairly quickly in soils (half-life about 10 days for acid, salt and ester forms), with microbial degradation considered to be the major route in the breakdown of the chemical in soil.It is, however, relatively persistent in anaerobic (low oxygen) aquatic environments (half-life ranges from 41 to 333 days). This has implications for fragile wetland areas, especially those under conservation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/2-4-D.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinclorac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Quinclorac&lt;/a&gt;: from 18 to over 500 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quinclorac is not expected to dissipate into the air or breakdown with interaction with water (hydrolysis). In sterile water it is resistent to breakdown by &#xA;  sunlight but in muddy water it degrades much faster (5-10 days). In soil, quinclorac has dissipation values that range from 18 days to over 500 days. Because quinclorac does not bind well to soil, some dissipation noted in field testing could be due to chemical leaching. The &#xA;  persistence hazard of quinclorac is rated high (likely to take over 60 days to degrade to half of the applied concentration)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/Health/ehipm/pdf_terr/terrestrial%20actives/quinclorac.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicamba&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dicamba&lt;/a&gt;: 7 to 42 days, depending on soil texture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Under aerobic conditions in soil dicamba degrades with half-lives&#xA;  ranging from 1-6 weeks, depending on soil texture. Degradation&#xA;  rates are slowed by decreasing temperatures (&amp;lt;20 degrees C) and&#xA;  decreasing soil moisture below field capacity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/herb-growthreg/dalapon-ethephon/dicamba/herb-prof-dicamba.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfentrazone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sulfentrazone&lt;/a&gt;:  24 to 113 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sulfentrazone dissipation in soil was examined in field experiments in 1995, 1996, and 1997 at Knoxville, TN, on a Sequatchie loam soil. Sulfentrazone 50% disappearance time (DT50) varied from 24 to 113 d.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wssajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1614/0890-037X%282000%29014%5B0100%3ASDIATS%5D2.0.CO%3B2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; These numbers show the half-life. Parts of  the chemicals may be present in the soils years later. I would recommend a waiting period of at least two years, just to stay on the safe side, before letting rabbits regularly graze the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1391" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:42:27.750" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T15:26:41.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-09-29T16:31:19.727" Score="7" ViewCount="1744" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently attained a culture of about 20-50 red earthworms, and I'm planning to use them to feed my turtle. I'm currently leaving them in a 14 inch * 5 inch * 5 inch deep planting pot, with soil of about an inch deep. The soil I'm using is some soil we had previously from a plant in a pot we're no longer using. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know the basic directions to raising this culture. I want to know what I can add for the soil to make it more &quot;nutritious&quot; for the worms as well as gut loading them for the turtle. Moreover, I'd want to know if the size enclosure I'm using is appropriate, and how often I need to water the soil and whether I need to add more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;optional&lt;/em&gt;:&#xA; How long should I expect them to take until they reproduce? And should I avoid feeding them to my turtle till then? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T23:25:49.533" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:38:43.257" Title="How can I raise some red earthworms for my turtle?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6437" CreationDate="2014-09-29T19:48:31.043" Score="12" ViewCount="63184" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (a German Shepherd mix) has a severe ear infection and needs ear drops twice a day and an ear flush once a day. He absolutely hates this, and as a result I have not been very successful in cleaning his ears. I'm concerned that if I can't flush his ears properly, the ear drops won't have much of an effect. He weighs over 50 pounds and has plenty of energy, so it's difficult keeping him still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that you should place your dog on a table at about chest level, but I live in a small apartment and the closest thing I have that is that height would either be my stove or my computer desk, two things I definitely don't want him jumping up on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live alone and cannot rely on having a friend help me every time. So far I've been leading my dog into the bathroom and giving him treats, then getting ahold of his collar and leading him into a corner. I then wrap my arm around his head to get to his ear, and attempt to apply the ear drops. If I had an extra couple hands at this point, I would also hold his body so I don't feel like I have him in a headlock, and use the other hand to give him treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He generally stays quiet (with the occasional yelp), so I don't think I'm hurting him. He just fights very hard to escape my grasp. How can I hold him still long enough to properly clean and treat his ear infection? A friend recommended some kind of large treat/chew toy, but what could I get him that would keep him in place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T15:47:05.583" LastActivityDate="2018-02-19T00:31:38.553" Title="How to hold my dog in place to clean his ears?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5746" CreationDate="2014-09-29T21:20:53.510" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens are kind of like children. Some of them can really excel at things, and some can have a lot of trouble for ages. That doesn't mean that they'll continue having issues. It's said that Einstein didn't talk until he was four! My cat is six, and she'll still sit down on me in the wrong spot, thinking my stomach is wider than it is, and will go careening off me and the edge of the bed. She doesn't always do it, and usually when she does (after I'm done laughing), she'll climb right back up and sit in a safer spot. These are learning experiences, and your kitten is still young, so she still has ample time to figure these things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents have two cats that are a bit slower, and so they still tend to do things at 8 and 9 like jumping to the counter and missing completely, or falling off chairs while cleaning themselves. It's getting more and more rare, but they always learn from it. We had a time once that one of our cats jumped to the counter when a plate was over the edge. They hit the plate and three separate dishes went flying, along with the cat. She hasn't done that since, and they both learned to not land on things that aren't normally there. Your cat may just need time to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On that note, however, if you're concerned, you should definitely take your kitten to the vet. Better safe than sorry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-09-29T21:20:53.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6447" CreationDate="2014-09-30T17:08:58.893" Score="8" ViewCount="1360" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago, my cat gave birth to 3 kittens, one of which had deformed legs. At first, the mother dragged the other 2 kittens away and stared at the kitten with the defect in a strange manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got lucky, and the mother decided to care for the kitten, but I've heard there are situations where the mother cat will abandon/reject the helpless kitten due to the defects. I'm a huge cat person, so I'm sure in the future, I'll be tending to a litter again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do if the mother is rejecting one of her kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T02:21:37.133" Title="Kitten born with defects. How do I get the mother to care for it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2014-09-30T17:40:32.177" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise him first to start with less energy and in a more relaxed state.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do it in a place that the dog is used to and relaxed in... the room he sleeps in might be good. (sometimes the slippery floors in bathrooms can make dogs more anxious and therefore prone to fighting the situation)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A new bone or kong type toy filled with yummy stuff he has to lick out may help distract him but if this gets him to excited/wiggly then it may not work for him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have time start with a massage... this can get them in a relaxed state and more willing to let you manipulate their body&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put the solution/medicine on a cotton ball, put the cotton ball in his ear then lightly rub his ear like you are massaging it... he may not even realize you are cleaning it out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't obsess too much, most of the time the medication they give you for helping ear infections works really well so as long as you are getting it in there you don't need to worry about cleaning out everything you see. The medication should help to dry it out and it will naturally come out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has very hairy ears it can be helpful to try to remove some of the hair, but be very careful and just focus on the hair on the outside so that the ear can drain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-09-30T17:40:32.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6439" CreationDate="2014-10-01T02:12:10.717" Score="6" ViewCount="2975" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our puppy Dachshund had an Ovarihysterectomy performed on Monday (she was spayed). She has a small (approximately 2 inch) sutured scar on her belly. She was given a cone to wear and we were asked to keep it on for two weeks(!).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the cone (technically) fits, it's actually too heavy for her. She has trouble walking, because in order to do so, she has to keep her head up high and it's stressing her neck. Also, being a hound, she is used to walking with her nose to the ground, which is now impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it really be necessary to keep it on her for a full two weeks? I don't dare let her bite at her belly, not yet anyway, because she'd probably open the wound, but how long should it take for the major portion of the scar to close?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T02:18:51.553" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T02:18:51.553" Title="What can I do when the cone of shame is too heavy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6438" CreationDate="2014-10-01T03:54:07.187" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two weeks seems like a long time, but that's actually how long it takes to heal. Actually, it's technically a bit longer, because they take the stitches out before it's fully healed so that the body doesn't begin to react to the stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By my estimate, you will probably notice after the first week that it looks healed. But I would still caution you to be careful about letter your dog loose one it, as it will only be (for the lack of a better term) thinly healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative to the hard plastic cone I'm assuming that you have right now. There are also cones made of nylon that should be just as effective, and more importantly, much lighter and less irritating. If you can't find them in the dog section at your local pet store, you might want to check the cat section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also make collars, which are pretty much the same things as those neck pillows you get for plane rides. They work by restricting the mobility of the neck, so they shouldn't be able to reach much. I wouldn't count on them if the spot you're trying to avoid is on the hind legs though. I would also assume that they're going to be too heavy for your dog, though you would be able to judge that if you found one and held it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/82TQA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture of dog and cat cones.&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004GEAQ46&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T03:54:07.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-01T08:52:18.280" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creepy warning, this question is not for the light-hearted &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning I was making breakfast while I spotted our cat eating something in the garden. A better look showed he caught a rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is now very happy and satisfied, leaving me concerned about a half eaten rabbit in the garden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any chances that he will return and finish the meal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? I'd prefer my partner not to see the horror scene in our garden when she gets back from work this evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I remove the half animal? how can I dispose of it?&#xA;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3000" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T19:44:58.417" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T19:44:58.417" Title="Creepy: The cat left a half eaten rabbit in the garden" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-10-01T13:07:19.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6438" CreationDate="2014-10-01T10:39:28.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When our dog was spayed, our vet recommended using a baby / toddler onsie. We picked one up from a used clothing store for maybe $3 and it worked great. Just make sure to take it off before they go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T10:39:28.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-01T10:53:01.907" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother says that she has an allergy to cats. After being over to friends that have cats houses, I questioned her and she said the allergies only start after being exposed to the cats for a long time. Is this a real allergy or does she just not want to get a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3001" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:10:57.730" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T13:45:15.017" Title="Long time cat allergy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6442" CreationDate="2014-10-01T11:22:26.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it's possible to have a mild allergy that doesn't manifest until after a period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, &quot;allergy to cats&quot; is actually an allergy to cat dander, saliva, etc. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/cat-allergies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/cat-allergies&lt;/a&gt;). Allergies can have a large range of severity to the very mild through to severe enough that being in the same house as a cat compromises someone's breathing (I've known people like that). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm mildly allergic - I have three cats, and I have to remember to wash my hands after petting them or if I rub my eyes afterwards I'll have sore, itchy eyes for quite a long time. I'll also wind up sneezing a lot more if a cat gets in my face too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds from your description like your mother is mildly allergic, and the allergy symptoms don't manifest until there's a high enough concentration of the allergens in her system. If she doesn't want to deal with allergy symptoms caused by having a cat in the house, that's her decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T11:22:26.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6399" CreationDate="2014-10-01T16:05:27.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to be asking a few questions here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, since your dog will not eliminate except when outside, you need to make sure he gets access to the outside regularly. It doesn't have to be a long walk each time as long as he urinates and defecates. When I take my dog outside I watch him as he pees to judge how much he's going to see if he is urinating because he has to or just to mark his turf.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've also found it helpful to keep to a schedule; take the same route and spend the same amount of time outside each time so your dog learns to not &quot;save&quot; any urine (on longer walks, male dogs especially use their urine to mark their territory so they may not expel it all at the first pit stop).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the amount of food and water your dog is eating, I cannot say for sure but if he's not eating all the food you give him (and he's not filling up on treats or things he shouldn't be eating) then it may just be too much food for him. If he continues to lose weight, definitely take him to a vet as decreased appetite and weight loss can be symptoms of serious health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T16:05:27.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5997" CreationDate="2014-10-01T18:28:58.763" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201409/can-dogs-get-infected-the-ebola-virus&quot;&gt;Canine Corner: Can Dogs Get Infected by the Ebola Virus?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link, I think, provides the best answer with scientific evidence and provided myself with the answer I was looking for. Unfortunately, we have more to worry about now since Ebola is actually in the US. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a piece of the article that directly answers that question by Dr. Coren: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Although dogs are susceptible to Ebola, the CDC concluded that &quot;infected dogs are asymptomatic&quot;, meaning that they do not develop symptoms. During the early phase of their infection, however, they can spread the disease to humans and other animals through licking, biting, urine, and feces. However, the good news is that once the virus is cleared from the dog it is no longer contagious. Dogs do not die from Ebola infections.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3004" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-01T19:00:12.020" LastActivityDate="2014-10-01T19:00:12.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6436" CreationDate="2014-10-02T02:06:10.637" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen this happen several times and have housed kittens that had been rejected. There are several reasons for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Illness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the feline advisory bureau this is when she rejects them because she thinks they won't survive anyhow. These congenital birth defects include deformities of the limbs, spine and other body parts. You need to consult a vet if the animal has these problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mom Problems&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mother might not have proper nutrition herself and will reject any excess babies because she can't properly care for her babies, plus a mother cat can only nurse eight kittens at a time any excess will be rejected. If you neglect the mother and show her little attention she may also reject the kittens. Showing a new mother how to nurse her kittens by laying her on her side and guiding the kittens to nipples will also prevent rejection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;VERY IMPORTANT&lt;/strong&gt; that a kitten receive the colostrum from the mother. If the kitten is rejected contact local shelters and rescue groups to find a surrogate mother so the kitten may receive the colostrum. In the event of rejection you will have to also hand feed the kitten a substitute for the mother's milk which you can likely ask about at the nearest vet. I may have added problems you may never have to deal(Hopefully) with but I just wanted to make sure you know various reasons for rejection so you can be prepared.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/reasons-mother-cats-rejecting-kittens-7859.html&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="3006" LastEditDate="2014-10-02T02:21:37.133" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T02:21:37.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6455" CreationDate="2014-10-02T03:33:48.450" Score="4" ViewCount="36309" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to tell a female corn snake and a male corn snake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about mating my male corn snake with a female corn snake. My problem isn't the mating. My problem is how to tell the difference between a female corn snake and a male corn snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no way I can tell between the two corn snakes directly, is there a way to tell by behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:53:07.367" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:53:07.367" Title="How to tell a female corn snake and a male corn snake?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6448" CreationDate="2014-10-02T06:51:53.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I have gathered the only way to be &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; certain is by probing which should only be done by a herpetologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that may not always be possible, so you can also determine based on the tail. Males have thicker and longer tails, while the females have short and thin tails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other details can be the size of the snake altogether since males are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;normally&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; larger, however some exceptions may be out there. Also, male corn snakes that are on the bigger side often have subtle dark streaks that travel down the length of their bodies -- four in total. These streaks do not generally appear in the smaller males of the species, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-02T14:17:48.320" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T14:17:48.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-02T17:58:15.380" Score="11" ViewCount="134691" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I would take flash photos, or when my dog's face is shone in light, his right eye would reflect greenish light. The other eye has no reflection of light at all. I hadn't really thought about it until yesterday night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I turned off all the lights, so that it was really dark. I turned on the flashlight on my cell phone, and flashed it in his eyes to check if it's only one eye that reflects. This time I'm sure it's only his right eye that reflects the greenish light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason I should be concerned about it only being his right eye reflecting greenish light?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to go to the vet for check-up but I heard it's expensive so... I want to know if it's okay or not... then I'll decide to go to the vet :) Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2968" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:26:31.300" LastActivityDate="2017-09-17T04:36:06.563" Title="Should I be concerned that my dog's right eye is reflecting green in the dark when his left eye doesn't?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6450" CreationDate="2014-10-02T18:57:13.233" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The green shine is caused by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum&quot;&gt;tapetum lucidum&lt;/a&gt;. My Dachshund has it as well, although in both eyes, and the shine is actually very dim. As to your dog's differing appearance of her eyes,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found on a forum called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=15699.0&quot;&gt;Naked Scientists&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll have a go at it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's what we know. The tapetum lucidum, formed by the choroid at the back of the eye, is wedged between layers of blood vessels on either side but itself is avascular. It is responsible for reflecting light of various colours, producing the characteristic iridescence seen in flash photography of animals and in front of car headlights, and is believed to be a nocturnal adaptation by increasing stimulation of the photosensitive cells of the retina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In dogs and cats, the tapetum is made up of cells. These cells contain crystalline rods that are arranged in such a way that they split the light that hits them into its various colour components. A similar effect is seen in herbivores, but the structure of the tapetum varies in that it is fibrous (collagenous) rather than cellular, and it is the arrangement of the collagen fibres within the structure that is responsible for splitting light. The tapetum is absent in humans and pigs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So here's what I think might be happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) The eye that appears red lacks a tapetum lucidum and the result is the typical 'red-eye' seen in humans due to the appearance of the blood vessels of choroid and the underlying the cornea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) The dog has different crystalline or cellular arrangements in its eyes causing the reflected light to correspond to the different wavelengths. Interestingly, tapetum appears a blue-green colour in the Dutch sheep dog but an orangy colour in the Old English sheepdog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3) The dog is slightly bung eyed and light is hitting the structure at a slightly different angle in one eye than in the other, affecting the way the light is reflected (but being an appauling physicist, I have no idea whether or not that is valid.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my guess would be that your dog has tapetum lucidum in one eye and not the other, or he has it in both eyes, but one of them is a &quot;lazy eye&quot; or angled slightly differently, so the shine does not occur at the same angle when viewed by you. (More probably the first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I now realize that I never really answered your question. No, there is no worry due to the single eye shine. Your dog will be able to see a minor bit better in very low light in the eye with the shine, but it should not affect his overall health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2014-10-02T19:12:47.003" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T19:12:47.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6450" CreationDate="2014-10-02T19:11:04.020" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The greenish light you're seeing is a reflective layer of tissue found in most animals that have evolved to see in the dark called Tapetum lucidum. The way it allows animals to see better in the dark, is by increasing the amount of light the eyes can use through reflection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tapetum lucidum /təˈpiːtəm/ (Latin: &amp;quot;bright tapestry&amp;quot;, plural&#xA;tapeta lucida) is a layer of tissue in the eye of many&#xA;vertebrates. Lying immediately behind the retina it reflects&#xA;visible light back through the retina, increasing the light available&#xA;to the photoreceptors, though blurring the initial image of the light&#xA;on focus. The tapetum lucidum contributes to the superior night vision&#xA;of some animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nMY8Q.png&quot; alt=&quot;Diagram of a cat's eye&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://exclusivelycats.blogspot.com/2014/09/feline-sense-and-scents-ability-part-4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when you shine a light in the eyes of an animal, if they have the Tapetum lucidum in their eye, their eyes can appear to shine in different colors depending on the way the light reflects against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the common colors you can see from eyes are green, yellow, and blue, except for animals that don't have the Tapetum lucidum, their eyes appear red. That's how you happen to get the red-eye effect when photographing humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your question about why one eye might have this effect, while the other one doesn't. My best guess is that it's genetic, and the the Tapetum lucidum in the left eye is smaller, or a different shape to where it doesn't refract light in the way that you would be able to see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say that it's an emergency that you have to take your dog to the vet immediately for, but I would definitely bring it up the next time you take him in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T15:07:37.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6372" CreationDate="2014-10-02T22:23:24.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a really good question, but I don't really think that rabbits can tell time. Rabbits get used to a routine, and they follow that routine. I get up at 5:00 a.m. Monday-Friday, and my rabbit is up banging her dish around. When I first got my rabbit, even over the weekends when I slept in she was up at 5:00 banging her dish. I believe she eventually got used to the fact that there are two days where I sleep in at least until 9. Now, Monday- Friday, she bangs her dish at 5, and Saturday and Sunday she bangs her dish at 9. I think its all just a routine for them, that they get used to, and want to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-10-02T22:23:24.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-02T23:32:47.193" Score="9" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted two older rescue cats (11 and 13 years old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, one or both of them do not cover their feces when using the litter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our other cats has rather strong feelings about litter etiquette, particularly when it comes to properly covering waste.  We've seen her chase one of our other cats for not sufficiently covering up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mention this, because lately I've been finding significant amounts of feces just outside the entrance to our litter boxes.  At this point, I strongly suspect that what is happening is that one or more of our cats are flicking the uncovered feces from one of our newer adoptees outside of the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to teach an old cat new tricks, and get them to cover their droppings?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T21:48:49.957" Title="How can I get my cat to cover their litter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6448" CreationDate="2014-10-03T01:02:57.430" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A nice way to tell the sex of a corn snake is by the shape of the tail. Reptiles have what's referred to as a hemipenis, and because of the way it's positioned in their tail, the male's tail will be thicker after the cloacal opening when compared with a female, who's tail will taper immediately after the cloacal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kRUpS.png&quot; alt=&quot;Corn Snake Tails&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cornsnake.co.uk/sexing-corn-snakes.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another, potentially more reliable method, is by counting the scales after the cloacal. Simply count the rows from the cloacal to the tip of the tail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;130 or less is a good sign that you have a female.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;140 or more is a good sign that you have a male.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you count somewhere in between 130 and 140 then it's not going to be definitive to say. In this case I would suggest also looking at the shape of the tail for that thicker section.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Unless you have an extremely well behaved snake, it's going to be hard to count the scales on it. So I would suggest taking a picture, or even using one if it's shed skin.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course these are all going to be reliable to a fault, and aside from putting two snakes together and waiting to see if they mate, the only way to know for sure is by probing or popping the cloacal opening to see the sex organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/5924/481&quot;&gt;one of my other answers&lt;/a&gt; I'm against these practices because I believe it's an unnecessary risk considering the damages that can be caused by it. While it's debatable about whether or not snakes are less at risk to the damage than lizards, I would insist that anyone wanting to perform the procedure themselves have hands-on training from someone with experience (and that you can trust) first. Only someone with training should probe a snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to try the non-invasive methods first, then if you're not convinced after that, you can take it to a reptile vet to have it sexed. As a new pet, it's a good idea to have a check-up from a vet anyways, so you can have it checked for parasites at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T01:02:57.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6623" CreationDate="2014-10-03T06:18:35.557" Score="8" ViewCount="10279" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people suggest that a male cat grows larger if he is not castrated until the age of one year. Is that true? I'm hoping that maybe some studies have been undertaken on the subject to either prove or disprove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3013" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:20:27.893" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T23:58:45.487" Title="Do cats grow larger if they are not neutered?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-03T15:18:46.473" Score="5" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk my dog early in the morning when it's still dark. Being half awake and the darkness I can't see all that's going on, or has gone on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a blue tick hound. He was a rescue dog, and he has been to doggie day camp and I have seen him with little dogs before and he will just let them be. The people at the doggie day camp all love him and say he is a very positive influence for all the dogs, big or little. He loves almost everyone except the newspaper guy and mailman, but I think it's the smell of the paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When people lurk at me he is also very protective. There is a woman who walks her little dog also in the morning. My dog goes wild over this little thing.  By wild I mean you would think he wanted to kill this little dog.  Other little dogs have yapped at him and come very close to him but he never loses control.  When he was in foster care the woman had her own little dogs.  Maybe he has the same resentments he had then toward that breed of dog.  I have had him close to four years and he had several quirks then.  The woman is not walking by our house.  Do you have any idea why he would do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3015" LastEditorUserId="2992" LastEditDate="2014-10-04T12:32:16.403" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T08:48:34.813" Title="Why is my dog going after another dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6454" CreationDate="2014-10-03T15:28:43.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats will also eliminate right outside the box because they don't think the box is clean enough.  I can't think of a way to get the other one to be more fastidious.  I think the only answer is to either clean the box more often, or to get an additional box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T15:28:43.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6462" CreationDate="2014-10-03T16:27:01.610" Score="1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;h1&gt;History of the problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of problems getting rid of the fleas which torture my dog (A year and a half Yorkie :) ). First a brief history + info on what we have tried and what ware the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first for the first time our dog got fleas after we groomed him (mid summer) before that he didn't had any. Once we groomed him in a few days he started scratching more than usual, after we checked him we saw a few on his back(following the length of the spine), not more than 10 ware spotted and that was it. We showered him with regular dog shampoo, used a &quot;spot on&quot; drops as a prevention measures and the problem seemed to be solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days(not more than a week) we noticed that the little guy started scratching again and from time to time to bite his legs, when we examined we saw more than the previous time and we got &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/dog/dog-healthcare/dog-flea-treatment/herbal-dog-flea-shampoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flee repellent shampoo&lt;/a&gt; and spot on drops from a different brand, showered him thoroughly with the shampoo and used the drops again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the very next day he was scratching again and had the fleas again. This time we ware in for more serious measures, we got a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/dog/dog-healthcare/dog-flea-treatment/dog-flea-spray-150ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spray&lt;/a&gt; and the &quot;protective night lamp thingy&quot; so he couldn't lick himself (advised by the instructions and by a staff member from pets at home). It worked for the night and the next day, that was it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We sprayed him again, but after the result was the same we stopped (the spray is kind of dangerous and we don't want to cause the little fella more trouble)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After we got to the store again and this time we got these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/johnsons-4fleas-for-puppies-and-small-dogs-6-pack-tablets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tablets&lt;/a&gt; and these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/bob-martin-flea-clear-spot-on-solution-1-x-67mg-for-small-dogs-2---10kg?pageSize=83#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;drops&lt;/a&gt;. We gave him a bath with the same shampoo, gave hime the tablets and they took effect in about 20 minutes and we started seeing the evil creatures on the floor (which was expected result), used the drops and that was it, the effect was for about 10 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 days ago we gave him a bath with the same shampoo and today when I got home I started petting him in his bed, and when he rolled on his back, I saw a very large group of the fleas running on his belly, when I started examining him, I saw that there are large fleas, like they ware there from a long time as well as smaller ones, around his nipples(?) I saw signs of wounds from either scratching or biting by those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Now the question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How should we approach the problem now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you recommend any other products, which helped you before?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Side info&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in East London, UK. A large number of cats are passing trough the back yard(which is our first assumption for the cause of the problem), we treated the garden with animal repellent (to keep all kind of animals away) as well with some garden pest controlling product (It was supposed to kill the fleas(it was written on the label), don't remember any name, got it from the local pet store). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is living in the house with us, no other pets. He goes in the garden when he wants, but mainly for 5-10 minutes and always sleeps inside. We walk him in the area (we avoid dog parks, ever since we spotted fleas on him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Note:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/107/how-can-i-get-rid-of-fleas&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2479/effectiveness-of-flea-tick-spot-treatment-on-dogs-with-hair&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; questions, but they don't seem to cover our situation. (I am considering the idea in the first question: mixing powder with warm water and spray him) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do apologize, I know that the question is little too localized and might end up closed, but I am kind of desperate right now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="170" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T18:34:50.680" Title="Serious flea problems with my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-10-05T18:31:42.830" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6459" CreationDate="2014-10-03T17:47:48.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's time to consult a vet. I think that the flea treatments that you can get from your vet are stronger than the ones you buy from a store. Be sure to apply them as often as the vet recommends. And talk to the vet about other treatments that you have used (shampoo, yard, etc.) to make sure that there are no contraindications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T17:47:48.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6459" CreationDate="2014-10-03T18:34:50.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably need to de-flea your house as well and not just your garden area. Going to the vet is a good idea too, especially since the fleas you have might've built up a resistance to the over the counter stuff you've been using. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T18:34:50.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6457" CreationDate="2014-10-03T19:14:28.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If by going wild you mean that your dog simply wants to get as close as possible to the little dog, without showing signs of aggression, then your dog is most likely sexually attracted by the little dog. To confirm this, you should ask the owner to tell you whether or not the little dog is a female in oestrus. If not, it may also be the case of your dog making some &quot;hormonal&quot;(in case of being neutered) mistakes when deciding to persuade the little dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your seeing aggression, then it may be the case that your dog competes with the little dog in their game of marking their territories(possible over the urine of a female that is in oestrus). That is, the little dog is very keen(happens very often) on urinating over your dog's urine and it may be the case that your dog gets angry while sniffing his urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A less probable situation might be, in which, you're seeing, one of the symptoms of hypothyrodism(possible outset of the symptoms), which is unjustified aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T19:14:28.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6310" CreationDate="2014-10-03T19:27:07.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've once spoken with a veterinarian about this and she said that it might be the case that the dog which is coprophagic or rolls in smelly material might do this due to trying to acquire the smell onto him/her. In your dog's eyes the smell would make the other dogs fear him since dogs tend to offer respect(in the first place) based on analyzing the scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other animals in the wild, specifically jungles, cover themselves in faeces to deter mosquitoes and other parasites. So your dog might be very worrisome about the parasites around him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking from my experience with my dog, he used to do that when he use young(&amp;lt;= 4 years old) and afterwards he completely stopped. It may be the case that at one point the dog will be too happy and proud of his scent to ruin it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if your dog's doing this excessively it may be wise to read a little about canine obsessive compulsive disorder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T19:27:07.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6120" CreationDate="2014-10-03T19:35:27.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is waiting for the opportunity to empty his/her annal glands while defecating. She/He will only do this in strategic locations where he/she thinks most dogs or certain dogs(she/he felt) pass by. The liquid in these glands act as mail for other dogs who pass by your dog's stools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T19:35:27.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6343" CreationDate="2014-10-03T20:39:42.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She does at the moment look to you as a friendly food source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 1 month hiatus will definitely disrupt her routine and she will likely look elsewhere. That doesn't necessarily mean she won't ever come back, but it wouldn't be on a daily basis if there is no one home and no food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rudeness wouldn't be a factor but she may have a bout of panic as her routine would then require readjustment and she would have to look elsewhere for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a stable horse is definitely in your best interest here. Perhaps you can reach an understanding with your landlord regarding this issue and he may allow you to keep the cat indoors until you depart for good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2014-10-03T20:39:42.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="107" CreationDate="2014-10-03T21:40:46.227" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Dawn Dish Soap&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the non-ultra blue dawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use dawn regularly for my dogs AND cats however I never used it for ferrets so I had to do some research on the matter and have found that it is also used and safe for ferrets. It seems to be safe for a lot of animals considering it was used to clean off animals during that oil spill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However be very cautious when washing around the eyes. If contact with eyes occurs, rinse with cool water and dry with a towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is referred to as a &quot;home remedy&quot; I may need to elaborate a little to why this works. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://groomingsmarter.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-custom.cgi?d=grooming-smarter&amp;amp;page=6045&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a link to a grooming site, so I feel it is quite credible. What it goes on to say is as follows &quot;Fleas have this ability to survive underwater. I have been told they emit a greasy barrier around their bodies forming a bubble to protect them from water and it holds oxygen in. By dissolving the grease bubble you allow water to get to the flea and they drown... They DO have an exoskeleton that allows them protection, but soaps dissolve this and then they cannot breathe.&quot; they later go on to explain how to use the soap correctly and efficiently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I have said I personally use it with both cats dogs, although never with ferrets but it should still work if you follow correct steps. I have heard that if used too often it can strip dogs of essential oils on their skins. If you dilute it like the article tells you and use in moderation you won't run into this problem, but if you find this to be a problem you can also apply oil to avoid it from drying out(I've heard olive oil works).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Fleas-With-Dawn-Dishsoap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are steps to washing dogs and cats with it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="3006" LastEditDate="2014-10-04T12:10:19.203" LastActivityDate="2014-10-04T12:10:19.203" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6469" CreationDate="2014-10-04T03:16:45.773" Score="7" ViewCount="34311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know cats are nocturnal, but cats seem to sleep during the day and at night, so I'm really not sure ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3019" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T19:43:38.833" Title="Do Cats Sleep Better With The Light On Or Off At Night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6468" CreationDate="2014-10-04T04:35:10.447" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does matter if you have the light on or off for cats, or any animal that sleeps. Inside cats' brains along with mammals and some reptiles' brains, they have what is called the pineal gland. This gland has been shown to be very sensitive in its reaction to light and production of melatonin which supports animals in hibernation as well as normal sleep. The pineal gland's reaction to a light source is that it stops melatonin production. This is the reason why we get sleepier at night as well as during the winter time because the absence of light increases the production of melatonin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sensitivity to light is not limited to just humans but also cats. It depends on the location of the pineal gland in different animals, as well as the degree of reaction in production of melatonin, but still there is a degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lights off is good but also try to make the period of time for sleeping habitual. That means try to keep it where the cat knows it's supposed to go to bed. If you have no set time, the cat might find it harder to sleep, especially with extra energy it might have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T19:43:38.833" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T19:43:38.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-04T19:34:15.637" Score="12" ViewCount="36538" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I would like to get a dog for our family, specifically, a Labrador-type dog, but we don't want to leave it inside for extended periods. It's not as bad as us both being gone 8AM - 5PM each day, but there are times when it would be several hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, of course, are equipped with built-in fur coats. I wonder, if I built a very nice dog house that was dry, shaded, protected from wind and the elements (pretty much everything except for heated) and had plenty of fresh water, whether it would be comfortable in a wide range of temperatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please cite a reference, actual real-life examples or experiences, or a comparison to similar dogs who live in the wild (versus saying &quot;I think X degrees Celsius/Fahrenheit is too cold&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3024" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T13:51:58.843" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T13:51:58.843" Title="In what temperature ranges are Labrador-type dogs comfortable outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6472" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-05T04:37:44.527" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you use human shampoo for washing your dog?&#xA;I don't have pet shampoo and was wondering is it safe to use human shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2014-10-05T04:37:44.527" Title="Washing your Dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-05T09:53:48.460" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6476" CreationDate="2014-10-05T19:55:48.803" Score="7" ViewCount="5760" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dehumidifier in my basement that runs almost constantly. I must empty about 2 gallons of water every day. I had the thought that if it was just distilled water, then I should be able to use it for water changes in my aquarium, or for misting my terrarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be safe to use the water I take from my dehumidifier and give it to my pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:36:49.283" LastActivityDate="2017-07-12T16:10:26.937" Title="Can I use the water from my dehumidifier for my pets?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3238" CreationDate="2014-10-05T23:42:44.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as Italian Greagles being quiet, it really depends on training. Mine was trained to bark to let me know someone is around, she was also trained to actually put herself between me and someone if they are hitting me. I love her and worry about her anytime she gets sick or doesn't act her normal self. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3028" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T03:08:10.347" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T03:08:10.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6474" CreationDate="2014-10-06T08:10:15.280" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be safe to use the water I take from my dehumidifier and give it to my pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. The typical collection tank from a residential dehumidifier is not a safe source of potable water, and certainly isn't up to the quality of commercially-distilled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Examine Your Options&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water from a typical dehumidifier is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; &quot;distilled.&quot; It is extracted through either condensation or dessication of ambient humidity. In the latter case, the extraction process itself will generally make the water non-potable; in the former, bacteria and mildew can build up in the collection tank. Every residential unit I've personally owned has carried warnings that the water is not potable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even without the warnings, I wouldn't use dehumidifier water directly. If you want to re-use the water for some reason, I'd pass it through a solar still, solar water purifier (e.g. a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007T4IC8W&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Puralytics SolarBag&lt;/a&gt;), or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00FM9OBQS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LifeStraw&lt;/a&gt; first, and make sure you scrub out your dehumidifier tank regularly with soap and water to limit the build-up of mildew and sludge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cheaper and safer option might be to install an on-tap or in-home water filter that removes chlorine and flouride from the water supply, and can provide whatever additional level of purity you need. However, if you truly need the purity provided by distillation and/or reverse osmosis, then you'll have to do some price shopping to see if doing your own filtration will be cost-effective for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T10:54:21.740" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T10:54:21.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6457" CreationDate="2014-10-06T08:48:34.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog shows high levels of arousal when the other dog is present during your walks. This is really the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; conclusion you can draw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the reason for the arousal, the simplest solution is to increase distance from the source of the arousal until the reactivity diminishes. You may have to experiment a bit to find the right distance, but in my own experience a half-block to a full city block is generally sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Analysis&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of possible causes for the behavior you describe. These include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leash aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prey drive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barrier frustration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inhibited social cues caused by frontal approaches or social deficits in either dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Territorial aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog does fine at daycare, and only has problems on walks, the differences are primarily the location, the leash, and you. It is also possible that there is something about this one particular dog that triggers a reaction from your dog; from the limited information that can't be discounted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attributing &quot;resentments&quot; to a dog is anthropomorphic, and clinically unsound. The only accurate thing one can really say is that your dog shows high levels of arousal when the other dog is present during your walks. Whether or not you need to &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; anything about this, other than ensure a safe distance for all parties, has a lot more to do with your level of distress with the situation than it does with your dog's state of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T08:48:34.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3285" CreationDate="2014-10-06T09:17:03.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Withdrawn&quot; is a conclusion without supporting evidence. &quot;Aggressive&quot; is also a term that isn't sufficiently detailed in your post to allow for clinical interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, when you introduce a new dog into the household, you are upsetting the status quo. You can make the transition easier and safer by keeping the dogs separated when unsupervised, and avoiding situations where resources like food, water, toys, or attention can be competed for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joint activities like long walks together outside the house can often help dogs to form bonds in neutral territory. So can trips to the dog park, or time together at doggy daycare. I highly recommend all of these things, although they won't necessarily solve all your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unable to distinguish between social jockeying and serious threat displays, especially with bully breeds, then you need to engage the services of a trained behavioral consultant to ensure that both dogs have sufficient social skills and bite inhibition to (eventually) come to a working arrangement. Most dogs will eventually sort themselves out, but it is always the owner's responsibility to ensure they do so with minimal risk, and to redirect and separate the dogs if distance-increasing social signals aren't being respected by either dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T09:17:03.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6399" CreationDate="2014-10-06T09:42:05.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I walk him twice a day, morning and evening. Is this enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most dogs, two or three walks a day is usually fine unless they have diarrhea or other health issues that require more-frequent elimination. Physically and emotionally healthy dogs will go to great lengths to avoid eliminating in whatever space they consider &quot;home,&quot; so please don't put your dog in a situation where he's forced to go against his strong instincts to eliminate outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And also, he doesn't finishes his meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be multiple reasons for this, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of interest in what you're feeding. You might try different dog foods, or supplement with table scraps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Self-regulation. Not all dogs will eat until they pop; many will, but some dogs eat until they're full and then stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Health issues such as gingivitis, gastric distress, or other conditions can lead to reduced appetite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, if your dog is lean but not bony, and has a reasonable level of energy, then I wouldn't treat it as an urgent matter. However, if your dog seems lethargic, is rapidly losing weight, or if you can count his ribs visually then a trip to the vet is definitely in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He doesn't eat the food all at once; he will eat like few bites, then after an hour, he'll take another few bites, and so on[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not uncommon in dogs that are free-feeding, especially if they aren't food-focused or dislike the offered food. Offering a higher-quality food at scheduled times may help, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong with allowing a self-regulating dog to free-feed. Just make sure that the food isn't left out long enough to go bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try offering something more palatable, or try foods with a different texture, like white rice mixed with cottage cheese. While it won't provide a balanced diet, is certainly contains calories and can help to put on a little weight, and will also help you determine whether your dog is simply not hungry or if you need to find a diet he likes more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T09:57:07.993" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T09:57:07.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6372" CreationDate="2014-10-06T10:08:52.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do Rabbits tell time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the science is conclusive on this, although there are certainly studies being done. As one example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/32161-can-animals-tell-time.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some scientists claim that rats can tell how much time has passed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, there are two main schools of thought on this subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An animal's circadian rhythm (or other biological process) functions as an internal clock.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animals are extremely good at picking up subtle cues like the changes in breathing, body temperature, and movement that precede a human being waking up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's probably some truth to both, although I personally tend to lean towards the &quot;environmental cues&quot; camp as a practical matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T10:08:52.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6626" CreationDate="2014-10-06T10:16:20.347" Score="3" ViewCount="21332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Norwegian forest cat. He is three years old; will be four in June. He just went for a vaccination/checkup and weighed in at 7.3 kg. The vet said he should be 6kg but they don't see a lot of Norwegian forest cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is 7.3kg too heavy? He doesn't look fat under all that fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, should we be feeding him according to his activity? Some days he sleeps/rests most of the day and other days he wakes us up to play in the early morning/night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T13:21:22.840" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:08.197" Title="Is my Norwegian forest cat too heavy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6481" CreationDate="2014-10-06T13:30:02.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Norwegian forest cats do tend to be bigger than average. If your vet didn't mention any weight problems at the last visit, then the cat is probably fine. Definitely ask about the cat's weight at the next vet visit. You can also ask your vet to show you how to check the weight yourself (e.g., where to feel for the ribs). Different cats have different shapes, so it isn't that easy to tell if they are overweight just by looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't adjust your cat's diet based on each day's activity. I would only adjust it based on the cat's weight (per the vet's advice) and age/average level of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T13:30:02.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6499" CreationDate="2014-10-06T14:45:43.860" Score="8" ViewCount="1909" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I want to get fish again at some point, and I have loads of gravel from the last time. Problem is, it's probably not clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are likely things I can't do to clean it because that will then harm any new fish, but how can I ensure it is clean and free of any dirt or decayed plant/fish matter? In the past I have just rinsed it multiple times with warm water using a sieve or the like to keep the gravel from going down the drain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T21:25:50.050" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T15:27:27.703" Title="What is the safest way to clean fish gravel?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6454" CreationDate="2014-10-06T15:50:58.237" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parent's cats have two litter boxes. One cat is diabetic and the other is grumpy about the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the first cat became diabetic, there would be no issue with either of them using the boxes. If it got too dirty, they would both refuse to use it. After she became diabetic, their tolerance for the box being clean lowered drastically and they normally go on the floor if there was anything in the box. We've also found that if the cats are upset about something (eg. my parents going away for a few days), they would aim to use the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've combated this in several ways. We got larger boxes, put something under them to make the area generally more clean, and got more boxes as well. We found that they were much happier with this. Another idea is to have another box further away. They might get a preference of which box they want to use, and will end up having their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last piece of advice I can give is getting a little mat to put in front of the litter box. I put this little mat, intended to get pieces of litter off the paws, in front of my own cat's litter box and she's much more comfortable. She used to get overly stressed about the box and this has helped her astronomically.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get larger boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get more boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep boxes as clean as you possibly can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a mat to go outside of and around the box to ensure cleanliness of area and mental help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T21:48:49.957" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T21:48:49.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6487" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6488" CreationDate="2014-10-06T16:12:24.573" Score="16" ViewCount="6757" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats will avoid any central parts of the house or run through them very quickly. He also runs in fear any time someone walks into the room he's in or if he hears voices at the front door. His favorite spots are secluded dark corners or under blankets (He climbs up into them on his own).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've speculated a few unique causes (vision and memory) though I don't think either are the issue in this case as the issue is only temporary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's kind of sad because he actually loves to be pet more than any cat I've seen (more than my other two). In the midst of comfortable slumbers he sheds his fear impulses and actually welcomes people to come and pet him (rolling around showing his belly, stretching, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is about 2 years old now and was a highly sociable rambunctious kitten but even at his young age he did exhibit some odd flight patterns. We initially kept him in a bedroom alone while we introduced smells and presence to our other cats who were full grown at the time though still young. When we entered the bedroom we often had to search for him and it wasn't unless he was nearly sound asleep that he was ever out in a visible space. He always came around very quickly so I didn't think much of it at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even now if I peruse him from his fear-flight he almost always gives in and in fact wants to be snuggled/pet (nudging with his head/purring/rubbing against legs) but it is always his initial reaction to run in fear as fast as he can. He often ends up back in the bedroom usually on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically whenever anyone else comes over (not all that frequently) he won't budge from the corners and is even more terrified of the new people (so not all people are equally terrifying at least). He often won't let them pet him and stares unblinkingly thinking the worst is about to happen until he eventually bolts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there ways to improve his anxiety reflex so he can feel safe/unafraid while walking around and more importantly while seeing people? We (my girlfriend and I) treat him with nothing but love and try to bring him out into the more open spaces when possible but he never stays for very long unless we make him a blanket tent or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used to actually come to us sometimes but nowadays he will only ever interact with us when he wants food or sometimes to play but never for snuggling/sleep/company. Our other two cats will come for attention, will sleep near us or in our laps, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also often runs under the couches to hide. Neither of our other two cats do this at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also quite tall so I think that may have something to do with it but I'm not about to start crawling around everywhere. Shoes are more terrifying than socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-08T15:53:41.713" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:51:46.663" Title="How can I keep my cat from being scared any time he sees or hears a person?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6487" CreationDate="2014-10-06T16:46:29.713" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions that may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he runs, don't pursue him. Your pursuit reinforces his behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't disturb him when he's hiding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a cardboard box or something else he can hide in near your sofa (or wherever you relax). This can help him get more comfortable with being near you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he does make an appearance, don't make a big fuss. You can greet him, but then go back to whatever you were doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try lying on the floor and coaxing him to come to you (perhaps with treats). You don't have to do this a lot, but it will help in the beginning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he does come near you, don't reach out and pet him without warning. Instead, extend your hand as a request to pet him. If he walks away, that's a &quot;no&quot;, so respect that. If he stays close, that's &quot;yes&quot;. Reach out slowly and pet him. Early on, he may flinch even if he stays put. I'd treat that as a &quot;yes&quot;, but approach extra gently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you pet him, try not to bring your hand down from above. Put your hand down at his level, and then move it toward him. Imagine if you had a friend that was 10 times your height. Even if you trusted this friend completely, you'd flinch if he brought his hand quickly down toward you!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't &quot;pat&quot;. Stroke him, scratch the chin and around the ears, and if he lets you, rub his tummy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he allows you to pick him up, do so as gently as if he were the most fragile, precious thing in the world. Cats really appreciate exaggerated gentleness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When people come over, ask them not to try to pet this particular cat. It will interfere with your training him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The blanket tent is a great idea!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T16:46:29.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6046" CreationDate="2014-10-06T17:11:47.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt; Not really, because it all depends on the reptile and how active the species is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, there are going to be two options for the type of terrarium you would use. Long or tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;long terrarium&lt;/strong&gt; is one that's going to be wider than it is tall. Those are the ones that look like fish aquariums (although the glass is thinner than an aquarium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These terrariums are used for ground dwelling reptiles such as bearded dragons, various skinks, and leopard geckos. Since these reptiles spend their lives running on the ground, to forage for food and shelter, they benefit more from having the ground area to run around on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;tall terrarium&lt;/strong&gt; is one that's simply going to be taller than it is wide. Tall terrariums typically differ from the long terrariums in that they also have doors in the front for easier access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These terrariums are used for arboreal reptiles such as swifts, iguanas, most frogs, and most geckos. Since these reptiles spend their lives climbing up and down trees, not often travelling in-between trees, they benefit more from the vertical area to climb around in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you know what shape of terrarium your lizard will benefit from most, you have to figure out what size will work best. This depends partly on the size of the reptile, but also on how active the reptile is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the larger the reptile is the bigger the terrarium it will need, but don't be fooled by some of the smaller reptiles. Both skinks and swifts for example, will require a 30-gallon terrarium, where some similar sized reptiles, such as leopard geckos, will be fine in a 15-20 gallon terrarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest choosing a reptile first, and then asking for the recommended terrarium size. Otherwise, err on the side of caution and get a larger terrarium than you might think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T17:11:47.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6493" CreationDate="2014-10-06T17:31:30.757" Score="7" ViewCount="12244" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats has always been very good about not using claws when playing when hands are involved but another one seems to make little to no effort in that regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't trim any of their claws and I don't think I should necessarily have to mediate that  if it can be done another way. Personally I'd rather just take the hits as I've been doing as I like letting them have their claws and any associated pride/cat mojo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That aside, it would be great if I could somehow let him know that those claws hurt fleshy humans. He is about 2 years old now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2019-05-26T03:03:50.030" Title="Can a grown cat be taught to play without using claws?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6487" CreationDate="2014-10-06T17:37:37.573" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the answer above. But part of it is missing the point which is the cat's fear of strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to begin making strangers a positive association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do this by having the stranger offer a small treat- the cat's favorite cannot refuse treat. Do not have the stranger get too close but close enough that the cat can see the stranger offering the treat. The cat will be weary of course. Just have the stranger offer the treat then put it down and back off. A few kind, gentle, and softly spoken words are in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If and when the cat approaches the stranger later, then follow the answer above. Be sure not to make it too much of a big deal. The cat may run away again. But do have the stranger say hello to the cat gingerly. If you have a phrase you have used in the past like -it's okay- that reassures the cat, use that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1160" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T17:37:37.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6588" CreationDate="2014-10-06T18:13:01.963" Score="2" ViewCount="17255" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting a new aquarium from scratch, and I'm looking to use sand as the substrate. The other tanks I've had I purchased used, so they came with gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium sand comes in 5-20lb bags. I'm trying to figure out how much sand I would need for a 40-gallon tank. Is there a general rule for how many pounds of sand per gallon is needed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T07:10:41.677" Title="How can you tell how much sand you need for an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6490" CreationDate="2014-10-06T19:01:40.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do trim my cats claws as part of a weekly (or thereabouts) physical exam/checkover to make sure there are no hidden injuries (cats will hide illness/injury so that they do not appear to be prey).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I do still train them not to use their claws on me.  The most basic method is to yell &quot;owie&quot; (some people will try to make an approximation of a cat pain noise, but just be consistent with whatever you pick) and then immediately stop play and leave the room.  If the cat follows you, keep walking away from the cat (sometimes I have to shut myself in the bathroom) for 10-15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are consistent with this, he will eventually realize that using his claws on you deprives him of your attention, and he'll stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You DO need to give him outlets to use his claws and hunting reflex. You should play with him using toys that distance your hands from his claws (so you do not get injured) and do not approximate hands (padded gloves with teasers on the fingertips are a bad idea). Cats are natural hunters and if you do not give a young cat an outlet for that energy, he will hunt your hands/feet/body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to adopt cats at about 2 years old, and they have terrible manners (which is probably why they were dumped at the shelter). At that age, we try to do a 20-30 minute play session each evening with lots of high jumps (Romeo, our current youngster, has jumped to my eye level!). Once they're worn out, we feed the gang dinner, and then they go right to sleep for the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take a few months for your cat to stop using his claws on you. I recommend trimming his claws or using nail caps in the meantime if you're worried about injuries, but your &quot;owie&quot; yell will be more authentic if you don't ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T19:01:40.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6496" CreationDate="2014-10-06T19:25:10.630" Score="9" ViewCount="1355" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say a cat was freaked out by something. It could be a dream, a scary window critter, an unpleasant sound, or something unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that the cat is now freaked out but the cause itself is gone or negligible, is there any way to let the cat know it need not be afraid anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just speculation but might it be possible through behavior, sounds, or actions to facilitate a quicker recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one cat who, when freaked out by who knows what, will come to whatever room I'm in, sit up in a compact manner (tail wrapped, legs close) and watch the door. My initial reaction would be to pet him but I feel that isn't actually going to help since he desires the high alert state for the time being (affection doesn't make you safer). What I then usually do is simply walk out of the room with him in tow trying to locate the source of the freakout. Often I am led from the rear to wherever he initially came from and I sort of just touch things and look around while talking to him quietly. After that he usually starts to poke around himself and moves on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This got me thinking about other ways that this could be done or other things I could do. I think I'm doing a pretty good job with the above approach but any other information would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2014-10-06T20:49:29.347" LastActivityDate="2019-02-03T00:28:48.697" Title="What are some dos/don'ts for soothing a freaked out cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6497" CreationDate="2014-10-06T19:34:48.147" Score="6" ViewCount="1377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got one cat that could use a little extra cardio but won't necessarily run around. What else can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T21:24:59.743" Title="What are the most effective cat exercises?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6494" CreationDate="2014-10-06T19:48:10.787" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that cats normally have sharper senses than humans. Your cat could be hearing something outside, like a dog barking or a car going by, and be upset by it. Then he might watch the door, making sure it's not coming for him or for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the cat coming up to you and looking at the door, he's either looking to you for safety, or attempting to ensure that you're safe. This is a natural thing for a cat to do, and it makes it so that if something does happen that could be dangerous, it's doing the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few things that you &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, make sure you don't make the cat more panicked. If you start making loud noises and getting anxious as well, he will just feel the need to keep watch more. This includes initiating playing with it in a way that gets him riled up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, by giving him treats and pets, you're telling him that he's doing a good job by keeping watch. I would probably talk to him in a calm way, but not move. Your calmness will calm him down more. By going to the source, the cat is making you figure out what it was upset about, and now knows that when he's scared, you will fix it. Always. I would only check on the noise if I felt there was a need to worry, like you heard a door close or a glass shatter unexpectedly (and check only if you know you're going to be safe). If you know it's just the house settling or a normal noise, you have no need to worry and figure out what the noise was, so you shouldn't investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, and this sounds funny, but consider just ignoring him when he does it. If he's upset and you aren't, he'll think that you're probably right. After all, if the larger animal of the pack isn't worried about something, then he shouldn't be either. It might take him a while to calm down, but that's okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that nothing is going to happen overnight, so make sure you're consistent and loving and eventually he should calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've done nothing wrong so far! These are just a few suggestions on what I've done with my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T19:48:10.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6495" CreationDate="2014-10-06T21:24:59.743" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of things you can do to get a cat to exercise a bit more than it usually does! Here's some suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catnip or honeysuckle toys: The cat could get hyper from them and will play with them more than normal toys. Make sure you supervise and don't leave the toys out while you're gone. Make sure that you change out the toys frequently as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A wide array of toys: Not every cat likes every toy. I know my cat will sometimes give me the &quot;you're kidding me, right?&quot; look if I give her a toy that she hates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with her: You can tie a string to a doorknob and she'll enjoy it for a few minutes, or you can hide behind a wall wiggling a string around the corner and she'll be entertained for ages.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A wide array of TYPES of toys: She doesn't like strings? Maybe she'll like laser pointers! Doesn't like chasing mice when you throw them? Maybe she'll like mice when they're wind up!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use her loves to your advantage: My cat is diabetic and a food lover. She a bit on the porky side, so I got a treat puzzle for her and put a few in. She'll chase it around the living room for ages until all the treats are out. We also got her a feeder that has little stick like objects in it, so she has to figure out how to move the treat or food piece to the edge of the feeder to actually get it. (warning: she might get discouraged the first few times she tries it. Daphne slammed her face into the sticks several times before we had to show her. She loves it now).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chase her!: Our other cat is a bit lazy, and so we'll chase her around corners, and let her chase us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips on this though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you respect your cat's boundaries. If she gets tired out, don't force her to continue playing. She'll just get upset, frustrated, and discouraged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you stay in tune with your cat's likes. She might really enjoy climbing, so get her a tree. If she likes chasing things, get things for her to chase. If she likes jumping, throw toys in the air over her and have her jump for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remember that you'll need to work with her and give her plenty of pets and massage when she does exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to limit the amount of treats you give her when she does something you like. There are many things that cats like for positive reinforcement, such as pets, massage, &quot;what a good kitty&quot;'s, holding her, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-10-06T21:24:59.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6484" CreationDate="2014-10-06T23:42:11.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Didn't read the OP thoroughly enough. I would agree with boiling the gravel because it is the safest way to ensure any harmful bacteria have been killed. Unfortunately this kills anything left behind that is good as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could rinse the gravel with warm water in a colander if you desire and then try the following to keep it clean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best option once your tank is setup is a gravel vacuum. You can get the right one depending on the size of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.ca/Aqueon-6232-Aquarium-Cleaner-10-Inch/dp/B004RK405A/ref=sr_1_2?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1412638750&amp;amp;sr=1-2&amp;amp;keywords=gravel%20vacuum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a link on Amazon&lt;/a&gt; for a good gravel vac for 10 gallons and under however there are good options for bigger tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These will suck up particulate like waste food and feces that you don't want. They are also pretty safe for fish if you use them right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PvF5z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditDate="2014-10-07T15:27:27.703" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T15:27:27.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6484" CreationDate="2014-10-07T04:47:35.913" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to be re-introducing gravel that has been in 'dry dock' for quite a while, your best option is to simply give it a few minutes in boiling water, and then rinse thoroughly. This kills any:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Organics (from insects, rodents, spores, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything and everything else&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll also help to loosen up any dirt or debris that you wouldn't want slowly released in the tank after being submerged again. It basically brings the gravel back to the condition that it was in when you first took it out of the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use any detergents or chemicals, if your tap water is high on the chlorinated side then consider boiling and rinsing with distilled instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure that you rinse it &lt;em&gt;thoroughly&lt;/em&gt; after boiling, and allow it to return completely to room temperature prior to using it again. Once back in the tank, it can begin accumulating the beneficial stuff, at which point you'd use a gravel vac to remove the unwanted particles that tend to accumulate at the bottom of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T04:47:35.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-07T10:29:31.297" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, 2 days back my cat got sick and stopped eating. It only drinks water. So today i took him to vet and they gave some injections and also wrote multivitamin named Verol as prescription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my cat is not at all trying to eat how can i make him eat the food with Verol drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually we cook chicken with salt and water everyday and fish once every month. The cooked chicken/Fish is then mixed with rice and given to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But he doesnt even eat the food. We even gave him only cooked chicken alone and yet he doesnt eat. What can i do so that he can get those multivitamins and get healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3037" LastEditorUserId="3037" LastEditDate="2014-10-07T12:51:02.287" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T12:51:02.287" Title="How to feed the medicine(Verol Drops) to a cat which didnt eat anything from 2 days?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-10-27T23:32:15.553" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6487" CreationDate="2014-10-07T13:49:21.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat's fear could be caused by a number of factors.  mhwombat has some reasonable advice on interacting in a calm way with your cat.  He could have bad learnt associations with people, and since you can't get him to talk to a psychiatrist about his kittenhood the best you can do to fix that is to be safe and calm people - unfortunately this means letting him come to you, rather than you (ever?) going to him first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like he doesn't feel safe.  Retreating to particular favourite dark corners could be a sign that he doesn't consider much of the house to be his territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always talk about significant behaviour problems like this to your vet.  Otherwise if it gets worse you might end up dealing with scratching, urine in the wrong places, or a cat that runs away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is stressed, and it sounds like he is, then Felliway may help.  Its a sort of pheromone (imperceptible to humans) that diffuses like a plug in air freshener and makes the cat feel safer - just as if the cat had marked the house as his own super safe territory.  Ask your vet for their opinion - they may recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3040" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T13:49:21.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6506" CreationDate="2014-10-07T15:28:52.690" Score="14" ViewCount="5747" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog sleeps with us in our 3rd floor bedroom, and though we have an escape ladder for people in case of fire downstairs, what is the best way to get a 60 pound dog to the ground safely? There's no way we could carry the dog down a rope escape ladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've thought about using a rope through her harness to lower her to the ground, but I don't feel confident that her walking harness would stay on if she struggles while being lowered (and I'm certain she's going to struggle when we try to push her out an open window while the fire alarms are blaring and the room is filling with smoke). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although she usually does sleep in her crate, I don't think it would fit through the window without folding it, or that it would stand up to being lowered by rope, so lowering her in her crate is probably not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a harness that would be secure, but is also quick and easy to put on in an emergency? Is there some better way to safely get a dog out a 3rd floor window and safely to the ground in an emergency? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="975" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-07T18:08:02.797" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T16:01:34.550" Title="How would I get my dog down from our 3rd floor bedroom if there was a fire?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6507" CreationDate="2014-10-07T19:20:03.247" Score="9" ViewCount="24835" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat eats moths: is this normal or should it be discouraged?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect it is not harmful but is there a formal answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3041" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:53:29.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:01:15.727" Title="Is it normal for a cat to eat moths?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6504" CreationDate="2014-10-07T19:24:04.257" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of harnesses and even an escape bag, commercially available and designed for lowering a pet (or a child) to the ground. Your budget, the dog's temperament and your physical ability will affect your purchase decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several things to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The anxiety of your family and your pets is likely to be elevated during a fire emergency. The more you practice, the less stressful it will be. Practicing with the fire alarm ringing as well as in peace and quiet will both be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Using a pulley system to lower a larger pet will be a good choice.  You probably do not want to expose the pet to actually being lowered from the window until an actual emergency, as it may cause undue anxiety (use your judgement). But you will want to practice lowering a weight equal to your pet.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If possible two rescuers should be used: one on the ground to lower the pet (pulley system) and one upstairs and going down the people escape to guide the pet. If your practice time is more than a minute, from bed to everyone on the ground, consider that smoke inhalation is a big risk. Have a plan so everyone does not die trying to save one. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A pet who is scared is going to be more likely to accidentally harm their rescuer with claws or teeth, so devices that enclose the pet may be more appropriate than a simple harness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there are lower floor windows below your escape window, anticipate there may be flames coming out of them.  Fire alarms that communicate with each other provide an earlier warning, decreasing risks occurring during escape.  If the escape path must cross a lower flow window, consider shutters capable of providing a fire block and/or fire appropriate clothing (like firefighters wear).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For small pets, like cats, rabbits and small dogs: use a pillow case as an emergency pet carrier. Take the pillow out of the case and gently slide the pet into the pillow case. Large pillow cases, you can tie a knot in the open end. For small pillow cases, tie the top with rope or clothes line.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can also be used to lower pets from heights (with the rope) or transporting to the vet.  Most cloth pillow cases allow sufficient air circulation for the pet to breathe. Don't use plastic bags or heavy waterproof bags without air circulation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used (long ago) a pillow case for rescuing cats from trees as well as for short transports to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T16:01:34.550" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T16:01:34.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6505" CreationDate="2014-10-07T20:57:38.127" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Completely normal - not harmful. Flying fast moving things make great toys and often good snacks. One my cats goes crazy over flying insects often bordering on self-destructive tendencies (thinking she can also fly over my kitchen to catch it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be some oddball moth(s) out there that aren't good for cats to eat but I wouldn't be too worried about that slight possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2014-10-07T20:57:38.127" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6622" CreationDate="2014-10-07T21:24:02.030" Score="11" ViewCount="1637" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often two or even all three of my cats will want to play at the same time but they usually come to me for the fun and games. I try to start them off getting them excited but ultimately it boils down to only one ever really getting the attention at a time while the others watch and I'm the one getting all the exercise running around getting toys and the like (still fun and I still plan to do it but..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know they like to play together and while it's usually just one on one (I've never seen all three chasing/wrestling at once) and they have lots of fun and get good exercise running all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have observed an interactive dynamic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat 1 will play with cat 3 and will want to play with cat 2 but cat 2 almost never plays back (ends poorly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat 2 will play with cat 3 but not cat 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat 3 will play with cat 1 and cat 2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cat 1 and 3 are males, 2 a female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now with a dog, encouraging play is laughably simple in most cases. With cats, I'm at a loss as to how to nudge them into wanting to run around and let some steam off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any methods to increase the occurrences of cat on cat bonding/play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-08T15:51:51.010" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T16:18:42.793" Title="How can I encourage multiple cats to bond and play together?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6556" CreationDate="2014-10-07T23:14:32.777" Score="11" ViewCount="19894" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few days, my hedgehog has been almost completely immobile. She was able to slowly wobble around a cage for a day, but now is only able to curl slightly (but not fully), and wiggle her nose. She's been just lying on her side for around 2 days now, and doesn't seem at all interested in food (although she still drinks water if I put her head in her water dish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't make any noises indicating that she's in pain or anything, she just lies there. The only odd thing I've noticed (besides her not moving) is that her eyes seem to have a blue tinge to them, and keep twitching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't able to take her to the vet when it first started, and now, she's looking rough enough that I'm not sure that they can do anything. I don't have enough money currently to take her in just so they can look at her (I've heard that can be upwards of $100).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these symptoms match anything treatable, or should I start looking into more unfortunate options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3WuJW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3WuJW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hedgehog laying on its side&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(Her lying on her side)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kaMaU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Closeup of hedgehog's eye&quot; /&gt;&#xA;(Close-up of her eye. I couldn't get a good picture of the blue, as it's around the outside of her eye, and only shows when they're bulged a bit. They've always seemed slightly blue, but it seems to be more pronounced now)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing she's around 5 years old. She was quite small when I got her, and I've had her for around 2 years. She eats organic cat food (high protein and fiber, low fat), a &amp;quot;superfood&amp;quot; mix from safeway (kale, broccoli, cabbage), and freeze-dried super worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That has been her consistent diet for the past year and a half (she was on wet cat food before). She's never had any other problems, other then being very reclusive; although that seems to be a fairly common trait for hedgehogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:35:25.730" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:35:25.730" Title="My hedgehog is almost completely immobile and won't eat, what can I do?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6487" CreationDate="2014-10-08T03:11:43.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My redheaded step child won't sleep with me either, for fear of  unceremoniously being &lt;em&gt;asked to leave&lt;/em&gt; by the other one. Be sure there isn't an underlying &lt;strong&gt;domestic dispute&lt;/strong&gt; going on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.yoexpert.com/cats-for-beginners/what-is-the-correct-way-to-pick-up-a-cat-32105.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How should you pick up a cat&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best way is to put one hand under the cat’s body behind its front legs, then support the back legs and hindquarters with the other hand. That way the cat is fully supported and comfortable. Many cats held in this way will enjoy putting their paws on their owner’s shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To see if mine &lt;em&gt;want to be&lt;/em&gt; picked-up, I lift their front legs about 4 inches (10 cm) up off the ground, palm under the breast plate, thumb nocked on a leg. Proceeding slowly, I always allow them to deny me scooping them up by jumping over if they really want to. After a while of doing this, they learn to lift a hind leg into your awaiting other hand. It is a lot of bending, but I absolutely detest when I see cats being manhandled (as do they). To prevent unnecessary bending, I do Frankenstein-grabby-hands above them. They either run away or give me the go-ahead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Every time you pick them up this way is an exercise in trust.&lt;/strong&gt; In that they learn escape is always possible and that nothing bad happened last time because you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never contain them to yourself&lt;/strong&gt;, no: &quot;Hey I'm petting you now. Where do you think you're going?&quot; Also, cats over-stimulate easily (some times in seconds) and even light petting &lt;em&gt;is enough of that&lt;/em&gt; after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend's dominant cat hides every time from me, while the other couldn't care less either way. People don't come over much so it's kind of an event. So long as yours is getting a healthy amount of interaction from both of you, and he plays well with the others, this is &lt;strike&gt;perfectly acceptable&lt;/strike&gt; normal (adult) cat behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Changes&lt;/em&gt; in behavior are to be watched carefully&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm a little unclear as to when and how this began, and its suddenness. Never having met him and not being a vet myself, I hesitate to merely suggest that he &lt;em&gt;grew up&lt;/em&gt;. It seems he was always a little skittish, now he's just less submissive and more independent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:51:46.663" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:51:46.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6535" CreationDate="2014-10-08T13:52:32.917" Score="4" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to adopt a puppy in the next year or so, and am starting to do a little research.  I intend to make full use of the resources available in my community to ensure my new friend has the right start, training, socialization, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Down the road, I would like to take my new friend on some adventures, and this will involve tent camping in somewhat remote locations.  I have this vision in my head of sleeping soundly in my bag, when some innocent woodland creature wanders by.  Suddenly the dog has gone beside itself, ripped through the tent fabric with its claws, only to subsequently be scratched, bitten, sprayed, invenomated, or otherwise messed up by the critter who was only making its rounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sort of experiences and training should I expose the puppy to early on, in order to acclimate it to these situations and ensure at most a warning bark to whatever lies outside the canvas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2014-10-10T13:02:22.397" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T00:45:38.493" Title="How can I train my puppy to ignore wildlife at night while camping?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6632" CreationDate="2014-10-08T14:27:06.997" Score="7" ViewCount="7382" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently while giving my turtle some shell scratching I noticed I could press the plastron (bottom part of shell) and carapace (top part of shell) down closer to each other. This mostly only happens at the extremities of the shell near the head and tail, but it got me worried about whether my turtle's shell is healthy and whether this should be happening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My turtle has about 6 hours of partial Sunlight exposure through the day with accessible basking spots. I feed it daily, a diet of mixed pellets, worms, chicken, shrimp, and the veggies I have though it doesn't eat much of that. The pellets I use all have calcium, and I do leave cuttlebone floating around in the water, though I'm not sure the turtle shows interest. I also made it some food which is basically mixed pellets with chicken and some veggies, as well as crushed cuttlebone. The turtle is about 3-3.2 inches in shell length and has no signs of pyramiding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the mobility of the plastron and carapace at the extremities something adverse for the shell? What are some ways I could know whether my turtle's shell is healthy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2019-10-30T16:37:42.370" Title="How can I know how healthy my turtle's shell is?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6516" CreationDate="2014-10-08T17:49:12.380" Score="10" ViewCount="10384" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our ~9 month old cat recently started bringing dead (or barely alive) mice into the house, and now we seem to find a mouse every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't seem to be interested in playing with, or eating them, she just places them on the floor somewhere. We don't mind that she's hunting mice, but we are concerned about our health when she brings them into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She can come in and out of the house through a cat door, and we would like to continue allowing her to come and go as she pleases, so is there any way we can discourage her from bringing mice inside without locking her in or out of the house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3046" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-08T17:59:22.633" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T12:42:43.343" Title="How can I keep my cat from bringing mice into the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6515" CreationDate="2014-10-08T20:23:52.637" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason that she does this is she considers you to be part of her pack and is bringing you food as a gift. I read somewhere that it's because she thinks you need help feeding yourself, so she's trying to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it's a valid concern, it's actually your cat showing you that she loves you. She clearly did play with them before because she hunts them, and now she's gifting her kill to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure when she does this, you don't yell at her or get upset because she's only doing what she's supposed to do and what she finds natural. Otherwise you'll be telling her that you don't accept her love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously you don't want the mice in your house. I would try taking the dead mouse and putting it on the step directly outside the cat door. If she sees you doing this, she might decide that this is where you plan on having dinner, and she might start leaving them there as well. Make sure she sees you putting them there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if a smaller cat door, or one that she has to push with her head a bit harder might dissuade her a bit. That's more a guess than anything though, and really depends on your cat. The idea is that it's more work to get inside than she feels necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other option that I can think of is having her not go outside, or at least closing the door and only letting her in and out when you're around. There are so many worries with letting your cat out, and I'm sure you'll find arguments with both sides, but if you want to let her out at her own will, you might have to accept that these things can happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just hope that she hasn't let some live mice in without you noticing yet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/34471-cats-dead-animals.html&quot;&gt;Here's an article&lt;/a&gt; that gives support to my point about why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-10-08T20:23:52.637" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5488" CreationDate="2014-10-08T22:33:45.460" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not enough information in your post to provide a valid clinical picture. All of the behaviors you mentioned are &lt;em&gt;natural dog behaviors&lt;/em&gt; that can occur in many situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Context Matters&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that digging can be self-rewarding play or prey drive, or it may be stress-displacement behavior. &quot;Jumping around&quot; in a bouncy way is generally a play behavior, but would generally be paired with play bows and other cues if it were all in fun. &quot;Barking&quot; has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201103/what-are-dogs-trying-say-when-they-bark&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a whole range of meanings&lt;/a&gt;, but rapid bursts of barking with bouncy body language is most likely excitement or attention-seeking behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Just the Facts, Ma'am&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focus on the facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your dog loses interest in the walk (or gains an interest in something else) after a given distance or time interval.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment. Try shorter distances or time intervals. Try avoiding specific areas that trigger arousal. Learn more about dog body language, and respect your dog's signals that he's tired, bored, or over-stimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your dog loses bite inhibition when aroused.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid situations that cause excessive arousal. Learn to read the signals that your dog is becoming aroused before he hits DefCon 1. You might also train an alternate behavior (like a down-stay) that is designed to reduce arousal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By focusing on observable behavior, rather than trying to guess about your dog's internal processes, you can avoid or manage almost any behavior. Your dog is clearly trying to communicate with you; however, learning &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; he's trying to communicate will require time, effort, and research on your part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T19:20:24.520" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T19:20:24.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="107" CreationDate="2014-10-09T00:37:53.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs and cats have a wide variety of flea management options available, but most flea treatments for ferrets are off-label. In additional to vacuuming and treating the environment, you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/a/Diatomaceous-Earth-For-Flea-Control.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Food-grade diatomaceous earth&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enzymatic products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturalginesis.com/fleas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kleen Green&lt;/a&gt;, which are labeled as non-toxic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serious flea problems generally require stronger measures, though. Unfortunately, commericial products like Frontline, Advantage, Comfortis, and NexGard are not currently labeled for use in ferrets. Some web sites advocate the use of Frontline or Advantage in cat-sized or smaller doses, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=11%202074&amp;amp;aid=541&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fleas in Ferrets&lt;/a&gt;. Judith A. Bell, DVM, PhD.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&amp;amp;A=3355&amp;amp;S=5&amp;amp;SourceID=43&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Small Mammal Health Series: Flea Control for Ferrets&lt;/a&gt;. Susan Brown, DVM.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://303animalclinic.com/tag/fleas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flea Control for Ferrets&lt;/a&gt;. 303 Animal Clinic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but you'd be wise to consult your veterinarian before using any medications off-label or when determining appropriate dosages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T00:37:53.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6520" CreationDate="2014-10-09T03:05:09.267" Score="3" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine has a kitten and thinks she found what may be a tooth by his food bowl. Do kittens have baby teeth that fall out like human baby teeth, and at what age does this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T21:50:54.833" Title="At what age do kittens lose baby teeth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6519" CreationDate="2014-10-09T05:09:37.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats have &quot;baby teeth&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/retained-deciduous-teeth-baby-teeth-in-cats/2247&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this veterinary site&lt;/a&gt;, teething occurs between 3-7 months of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon for a cat to sport two sets of upper canines (&quot;fangs&quot;) for a while. Provided it isn't causing pain (they will be careful eating, gums will be red/swollen, and/or if you touch the tooth they'll react strongly), it's rather endearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T21:50:54.833" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T21:50:54.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6522" CreationDate="2014-10-09T09:42:34.450" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a college student in India. I own a four month old labrador dog. I just want to know about the importance of exercise for that breed. Can anyone help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3052" LastEditorUserId="3052" LastEditDate="2014-10-11T10:10:48.170" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T15:13:21.243" Title="What will happen if a young labrador is not given proper exercise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2014-12-24T14:00:29.213" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6521" CreationDate="2014-10-09T10:39:09.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training or exercice? What do you mean? In any case it is not really breed specific: any dog needs both mental and physical exercice. Mental exercice can be achieved by training games, food puzzles, etc. Physical exercice is equally important and for a large dog the more the better. I think 2 times 30 minutes walk is the absolute minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T10:39:09.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6523" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-09T21:44:42.170" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just told today to NEVER feed my Corn snake tap water. But I can't really afford to supply bottled/filtered water for him and it's slightly inconvenient. I know that it can cause a build up of bacteria in a young corn snakes intestine, possibly leading to digestive problems later in life and a pre-mature death, but how likely is that? If the fluoride, chlorine and chemicals are not concentrated enough that it doesn't make human's drop dead, then how bad can it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3055" LastActivityDate="2014-10-09T21:44:42.170" Title="What are the Pros and Cons to feeding my Corn Snake filtered/bottled water rather than tap water?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-10-10T10:18:30.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="783" CreationDate="2014-10-10T15:19:02.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/which-types-of-collars-and-harnesses-are-safe-for-your-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Which Types of Collars and Harnesses are Safe for Your Dog?&lt;/a&gt; by Dr. Sophia Yin is a fairly thorough look at your options. However, it addresses safety more than effectiveness; this is an issue where you will find more opinions than facts outside of the behavioral-research literature, so I think your best bet is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weigh the pros and cons of each method,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be honest about your own skills and experience, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;consult a vet or professional trainer before embarking on a corrections-based training program.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reasons to Avoid Choke Chains&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of reasons to avoid choke chains, but &lt;em&gt;from a tooling perspective&lt;/em&gt; the main reason to avoid them is that they are difficult to use properly. Issues include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improper fit, where the collar remains too tight at all times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improper placement, resulting in a failure to release after a correction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor trainer timing, resulting in positive or negative punishment that reinforces the wrong behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An unlimited choke diameter, potentially resulting in nerve or tracheal damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used correctly by a professional trainer, the P-shape of a choke is used to deliver a well-timed &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ohbehave-dogtraining.com/the-trouble-with-leash-pops&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;leash pop&lt;/a&gt;&quot; that should be &lt;em&gt;informational&lt;/em&gt; rather than punitive. This is extremely hard to do, is almost never what happens with at-home training, and doesn't provide &quot;control.&quot; There are simply better tools for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Limited-Choke Alternatives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you accept the need for aversive collars (not everyone does), then you might consider using a limited-choke collar that avoids the possibility of actual choking as a hazard. Options in this category include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prong collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As one example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.original-herm-sprenger-dog-collars.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;amp;cPath=12&amp;amp;products_id=268&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Herm Sprenger Quick Release&lt;/a&gt; can't over-tighten if &lt;strong&gt;properly sized&lt;/strong&gt;. While the collar certainly &lt;em&gt;looks&lt;/em&gt; medieval, it is actually more humane than a choke collar. However, one can still use it improperly in a variety of ways, so please do additional research before choosing a prong collar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Martingale or slip collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are very similar to flat-buckle collars, but have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ruffwear.com/Chain-Reaction-Dog-Collar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a short chain section&lt;/a&gt; (or other material) that can provide a limited tightening when the live ring is pulled. This is most often used with dogs who can back out of a collar, or who might benefit from an extremely-limited tightening as a well-timed correction. In general, these collars don't provide &quot;power steering,&quot; but are best used as safety tools for racing breeds or mild training tools for very soft dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Head Guides and Harnesses&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other alternatives that provide feedback and control include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Halti or Gentle Leader head collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like any tool, improper use can cause damage. A good fit and gentle use will prevent eye damage, nasal damage, and neck damage, but should still be used with &lt;a href=&quot;http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/are-head-collars-on-dogs-dangerous-or-safe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;skill, care, and proper preparation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Harnesses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is another broad category, and includes harnesses that provide no control but a great deal of safety by distributing pressure across the chest, as well as other harnesses that are designed to give dogs tactile feedback through chest-mounted rings (e.g. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://har-vest.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Har-Vest&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Personal Recommendations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For optimal results I currently recommend clicker training, with or without &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clickertraining.com/node/179&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;no-reward markers&lt;/a&gt;. However, when &lt;em&gt;safety&lt;/em&gt; is the primary consideration, head harnesses or prong collars might give you the extra control needed to keep you and your dog safe during walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-10T15:19:02.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1616" CreationDate="2014-10-10T22:13:23.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one else has mentioned this, but dissection is often cited as part of a carnivore's prey drive. This is most often discussed in dogs, e.g. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/predatory-behavior-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Predatory Behavior in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;, but is likely to be relevant to other predatory species likes cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that your cat's observable behavior is a form of play, which often contains components of the predatory sequence. It could also be boredom, a type of marking, a self-reinforcing tactile experience, a thwarted chewing/dissection instinct, or any number of other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Prey Drive&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavior &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be prey-drive related. In particular, it may be related to the dissect step of the sequence. The predatory sequence steps vary by source, but are often defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;orient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stalk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grab-bite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kill-bite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dissect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;consume&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canismajor.com/dog/instinct.html#Steps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One web site&lt;/a&gt; references &lt;em&gt;Dogs, A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution&lt;/em&gt; by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger, University of Chicago Press, 2001; page 116 as the source of one variation of this sequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible Options&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this behavior bothers you, and once you've ruled out medical issues, you can try a number of things to see if they reduce or redirect the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offer more suitable objects with a similar taste or tactile feel, which may satisfy the oral component of the behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch to a raw diet that includes raw meaty bones, which may satisfy the chewing or dissection instinct.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treat the area with a pheromone like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/us/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt; to see if scent-marking is a component of the behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your cat through treat balls (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00CTLGQHO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kong Active Treat Ball for Cats&lt;/a&gt;, feeding puzzles, or other boredom-fighting objects to see if this satisfies your cat's play or prey instincts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep lots of spare boxes on hand, as chewing boxes (as long as it doesn't result in a medical issue like intestinal blockage) seems like a relatively harmless pastime.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; your cat why he's chewing the boxes. Empirical evidence and the process of elimination are your friends in cases like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-11T22:13:12.863" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T22:13:12.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-11T11:22:23.147" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;What laws are in place in the state of Pennsylvania around the release of animals considered to be domestic pets; Cats, Dogs, Rabbits, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References related to enforcement (&lt;em&gt;penalties and/or lack of enforcement&lt;/em&gt;) are encouraged in answers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T12:28:30.417" Title="What laws in the state of Pennsylvania relate to the release of domestic animals?" Tags="&lt;feral&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6528" CreationDate="2014-10-11T12:11:13.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Domestic Animals are addressed under &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&amp;amp;ttl=03&amp;amp;div=0&amp;amp;chpt=23&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Title 3,  CHAPTER 23, DOMESTIC ANIMALS&lt;/a&gt; where they are defined&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Domestic animal.&quot;  An animal maintained in captivity. The term also includes the germ plasm, embryos and fertile ova of such animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no mention of abandonment in this chapter. The only mention of release is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it shall be unlawful to release onto a swine hunting preserve a male swine that has not been sterilized.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pennsylvania does have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animallaw.info/statute/pa-dog-law-chapter-8-dogs-consolidated-dog-laws#s101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dog law (Act) § 459-101.&lt;/a&gt; which only makes it unlawful to abandon dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to abandon or attempt to abandon any dog within the Commonwealth. Anyone convicted of abandoning or attempting to abandon any dog within the Commonwealth shall pay a fine of not less than $300 and not more than $1,000, plus costs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a local news article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/pa-among-states-with-pet-abandoment-neglect/nQFHP/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pennsylvania among states with highest pet abandonment, neglect cases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-11T12:28:30.417" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T12:28:30.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6534" CreationDate="2014-10-11T12:37:44.117" Score="3" ViewCount="3777" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought Nuvet vitamins for my dog, but she won't eat them. She is a Yorkie, about 4 months old. She has had her first round of boosters, almost due for the second. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Putting it in her bowl - Ignored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Putting it on my hand - Ignored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mixing it with Nutrical - Ignored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mixing it with Peanut Butter - She eats it, but very slowly..and it's very messy and she misses a lot of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can't force it down, because it's too big, and she's too small. I don't want to hurt her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can get her to eat the entire vitamin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1401" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-12T09:41:38.267" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T09:41:38.267" Title="How can I get my dog to eat vitamins when she doesn't want to?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3275" CreationDate="2014-10-11T20:57:36.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be many reasons a dog would avoid stairs, including vision or joint issues, tactile sensations, or traction issues. In addition, many dogs lack the back-end awareness that makes stairs and ramps seem passable, especially if the stair depth is shallow or the pitch is steep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is generally okay with &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; stairs, then there may also be other environmental cues (e.g. sounds, smells, or lighting issues) that you are not aware of. Depending on the severity, you may find counter-conditioning helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stairs in General&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your post doesn't include any concrete information about the stairwell that your dog has problems with. Even if your dog is fine on other stairs, such as those in the park, that doesn't mean that there aren't legitimate problems with the ones in your apartment complex. Especially with German Shepherd Dogs, who are prone to joint problems like hip dysplasia, the depth and pitch of the stairs can matter a great deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The surfacing of the stairs (e.g. uncarpeted, metal, wood, or tiled) can also have a big impact. Sometimes it's a traction issue, and sometimes dogs just dislike the feeling of certain materials under their feet. It's up to you to identify what's different about your stairwell that might have an impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Improve Back-End Awareness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, once you've ruled out joint and stair-surface issues as causes, the most common reason dogs avoid stairs and inclined surfaces is a lack of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/forum/threads/what-is-rear-end-awareness.3484/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;back-leg awareness&lt;/a&gt;. You may be able to improve your dog's response to stair-climbing by working on exercises that make him more conscious of his back legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When going down stairs, the rest of the dog just follows his nose and front feet. Going &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; a set of stairs, however, often requires a different gait and a lot more confidence and experience with maneuvering the back legs. Teaching your dog to stand on a lower step, or going up one step at a time, could possibly help if this is the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Positive Reinforcement and Counter-Conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So I basically drag him to the stairs (+1 for polished tile hallways) and then he walks down them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While dragging your dog anywhere might be pragmatic in the short term, it neither builds a bond of trust nor does it reduce the aversiveness of associated experiences and locations. You would be much better served by helping your dog associate positive experiences with the problematic stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A solid foundation with clicker-training would enable you to shape the desired behaviors of approaching, standing on, and eventually climbing the stairs without the need for force. In addition, some basic counter-conditioning such as giving the dog a treat anytime he &lt;em&gt;sees&lt;/em&gt; the stairwell might solve the problem on its own, or at least facilitate the use of additional operant conditioning techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As yet another alternative, if your dog is food- or scent-motivated, you might consider leading him up the stairs with a particularly savory something held just out of reach. If the lure is stronger than your dog's aversion to the stairs, then he is likely to follow you at least partway, at which time you can reward him with some of the lure to reinforce the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T20:57:36.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="387" CreationDate="2014-10-11T21:41:40.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Assessment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walks with almost his entire weight over his front paws; he has his ears up and tail stiff (actually it's hard to tell because his tail is broken); and he will lunge at basically any moving object we come across[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are signs of arousal (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://centerforshelterdogs.org/Home/DogBehavior/DogCommunicationandBodyLanguage.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arousal Communication&lt;/a&gt;). The exact triggers for this arousal can't be determined solely from your post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He completely ignores me, so badly that even if I grab him by the snout and point his face at me, he keeps his eyes glancing sideways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look-aways are generally a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.turid-rugaas.no/calming-signals---the-art-of-survival.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calming signal&lt;/a&gt; intended to de-escalate a situation. Grabbing your dog's muzzle and staring into his eyes are (from a dog's point of view) extremely aggressive behaviors. If your dog &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; offer a stress response or calming signal to this inappropriate action on your part, I'd suggest immediate professional intervention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Options&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/dogs-who-are-reactive-leash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reactive dog&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;What&lt;/em&gt; he's reacting to is unknown, although a good general bet is the scent of other dogs or prey animals in the neighborhood. When taken together the marking, weight shifting, and stiff tail likely indicate that his fight-or-flight instincts lean towards &quot;fight.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have some basic options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desensitization and counter-conditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build trust between you and your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train a &quot;look&quot; or &quot;focus&quot; command.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shape a bomb-proof loose-lead walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shape a good &quot;heel&quot; in a controlled and hopefully less arousal-inducing environment, then extend it to other locations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide positive reinforcement for calm behaviors like a &quot;macaroni down&quot; or relaxed sit at the outskirts of the dog's threshold distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Environmental management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid situations or areas that might lead to red-line behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a dog run or zipline rather than walks through the neighborhood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a treadmill rather than walks for exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my own experience, severely reactive dogs will generally become worse with aversive training techniques. In particular, muzzle grabs and leash pops may lead to redirected aggression towards the handler, and damage the bond between you and your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he's so great at home, building off his in-home foundational behaviors would seem to be a viable option for you. However, I strongly recommend getting a certified behaviorist involved (not just a pet dog trainer) if you're unable to reduce Rex's reactivity through positive measures, or are unable to avoid or manage the triggers in his environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T21:41:40.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6530" CreationDate="2014-10-11T21:56:24.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can't force it down, because it's too big, and she's too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the key. It sounds like the vitamins are simply too big, and your dog finds chewing them to be unpalatable. You don't say whether or not they're chewables, but even if they are some dogs simply don't like the taste or texture of certain items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some Solutions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have three basic options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a different brand, preferably in a smaller size and in a flavor your dog likes better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a pill crusher, and mix the crushed pill in with something strong enough to overcome the gritty texture and unpalatable flavor of the vitamin. I've had good success with canned green tripe, but your mileage may vary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a pill splitter and some small &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.greenies.com/dogs/pill-pockets.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pill Pockets&lt;/a&gt; to give her pill portions that she can swallow whole. If you don't want to use commercial pill pockets, wrapping a split pill in cheese or meat might work, too, but the pieces have to be small enough to avoid chewing and releasing the taste of the pill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative to vitamins, you might also consider a palatable nutritional supplement like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wysong.net/products/addlife-dog-cat-supplement.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wysong Add-Life&lt;/a&gt;. I've certainly met dogs that don't like the powdered texture of the Add-Life, but most have found it delicious, especially when mixed with a little water or chicken broth. Your mileage may vary, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T21:56:24.010" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6513" CreationDate="2014-10-11T22:32:21.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question can't really be answered canonically, but there are a few things you might do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train respect for barriers like crates, baby gates, and especially tent fabric.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train a reliable recall that's strong enough that you can count on it in an emergency situation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring a soft-sided dog crate with you into your tent, and ensure the dog sleeps there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your dog on a hands-free leash outside the tent while you're camping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has a very strong prey drive, safety management is simply more pragmatic than desensitization training, especially when you don't have all the required stimuli handy to train with. Your mileage will of course vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T00:45:38.493" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T00:45:38.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="967" CreationDate="2014-10-11T23:05:32.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zeolites and enzymatic treatments can be used separately or together to reduce urine odors in your yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Zeolite&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't mind putting down something that looks like sand or gravel, you can put a layer of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeolite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;zeolite&lt;/a&gt; in your yard over your dog's favorite spot. A zeolite like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bearriverzeolite.com/brz_msds.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;clinoptilolite&lt;/a&gt; is regarded as non-toxic and absorbs ammonia well. It can also be used as a soil amendment for your garden once it's fully saturated and stops absorbing odors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Enzymatic Treatments&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is applying enzymatic treatments to your yard. For example, products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000EHZFK4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NaturVet Yard Odor Eliminator&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0092TPTSI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Simple Green Outdoor Odor Eliminator&lt;/a&gt; can be sprayed on your yard with a hose, and the enzymes in the product will break down the odor-causing material. Many of these products are non-toxic and non-irritating at dilution, but please read the labels carefully for safety and usage instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-11T23:05:32.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5618" CreationDate="2014-10-12T03:24:22.450" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a conflict where your neighbor's self-interest and yours don't seem to align. You also have a moral responsibility to take preventive action &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; your dogs are hurt, rather than punitive action after the fact. You have options; they're just not the ones you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Analysis and Recommendations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The neighbor refuses to train or keep the dogs tied / pinned up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions about how to &lt;em&gt;make&lt;/em&gt; some other person do what you want are never productive, since you can't actually control anyone but yourself. If animal control or the local police aren't able to influence the situation, and you can't find a mutually-beneficial solution that you and your neighbor both agree on out of enlightened self-interest, then it's up to &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; to decide how important it is to manage the situation to maximize your dogs' safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not wish to tie my pets up or keep them in a pen. We have large fenced in property with ponds that the dogs enjoy playing in freely, and they have been trained to stay away from the front gate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Life is full of sub-optimal choices. You can't control your neighbor or his dogs, but you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; control the fact that your gate is left open and your dogs aren't kept safely in a fenced-in portion of your yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smart money here would be on fencing in a portion of your back yard where your dogs can do what they like in safety. Since you say most of your yard is already fenced, the cost of adding a little additional fencing to fully-enclose the back should be quite modest. Six-foot privacy fencing is the best solution if your dogs' safety is paramount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The main entrance gate is the only open entrance to the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you could simply put a gate that closes at the entrance to your property. You can make the choice to trade the mild inconvenience of having to open and close the gate when needed for the dual benefits of not having to add additional fencing or to further restrict your dogs for their safety and your own peace of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; choices. They may not be the choices you want, and they may not be &quot;fair&quot; (whatever that really means) to you or your dogs, but they are safety-conscious and non-violent solutions to a problem that you say you care about. If you choose to stand on principle, even knowing that your dogs are likely to be hurt or killed unless you take the necessary steps...well, I can't really see how that's anyone's choice but yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T03:24:22.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1273" CreationDate="2014-10-12T03:53:40.523" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Consider Doggy Daycare&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are already a number of other answers to this question, and many great suggestions. One that has &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; yet been mentioned is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/daycare-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;doggy daycare&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are social creatures. Even dogs that don't have clinical separation anxiety generally benefit from higher levels of companionship and supervision. Dog-walkers or dog-sitters will come to your house to walk your dog and spend a little time with him. That's fine for potty breaks and to break up a long day alone, but some dogs need a lot more than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the ASPCA link above (bold emphasis is mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dog daycare providers can help you meet your dog’s needs for attention, activity and supervision. They provide a great antidote for bored, lonely or high-energy dogs with busy guardians who work away from home all day and don’t want to leave their dogs alone...The main benefits daycares can provide are:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Relief from boredom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Relief from loneliness and the anxiety that loneliness can cause in dogs (including separation anxiety)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Socialization with people&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Much-needed exercise and socialization with other dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevention of destructive behavior in the house when unsupervised&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Relief from guilt for pet parents who feel badly about leaving their dogs home alone all day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Costs vary by location, but in my personal experience the costs of daycare are generally on par with in-home dog walking services, less than all-day dog-sitting, and a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; less than ongoing repair costs for rugs, drapes, furniture, and so on. The quality-of-life improvements for you and your dog are harder to quantify but are no less real, and should be factored in as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T03:53:40.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1001" CreationDate="2014-10-12T04:28:17.203" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Tug as Play vs. Tug-Toy as Resource&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are dealing with a dog with resource-guarding or bite-inhibition issues, healthy play between dogs is reciprocal. When playing with humans, the play should also be reciprocal, but the human should maintain some control over when the game starts and stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA has &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/teaching-your-dog-play-tug-war&quot;&gt;a fairly thorough overview of tug&lt;/a&gt;, but you have to read between the lines a bit to see the twin goals of operant conditioning and resource management at work. According to the article, even when the dog &quot;wins&quot; the tug during play, the human clearly controls the resource:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you’re ready to end the game, follow the same steps you’ve been using to get your dog to release the toy. When she does, ask her to sit and offer her a treat. While she’s eating the treat, put the tug toy away. Do not give your dog free access to the tug toy. She only gets to enjoy it when you two are playing together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is good generic advice, but isn't universally applicable. I play tug with my own dogs all the time, and let them &quot;win&quot; and keep the toy whenever I get tired of playing the game. My dogs aren't resource-guarders, and quickly lose interest in the tug toy when no one is contesting for it, and so the toys get ignored until the next time&amp;mdash;or until someone trips over them and decides to put them away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs come in many shapes and sizes, and each has his own personality and set of drives. Therefore, your mileage will vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T04:28:17.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1253" CreationDate="2014-10-12T05:23:42.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not enough information in your post for a proper clinical assessment. However, there are some general things you should consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Nipping&quot; can be caused by excessive arousal or attention-seeking. Unless you're under-playing it, nipping shouldn't be classified as &quot;attacking you.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scolding your dog may sound like barking and amp up the puppy, or it may make him fearful of you. Either way, this is likely to lead to more, not less, aggression or guarding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog may be resource-guarding your wife. If so, this is a serious behavioral issue that requires professional intervention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the general case, rewarding your dog for low-energy behavior is probably your best bet. Spend some time in the evenings rewarding him with treats for sits or downs, give him a chew toy or raw meaty bone to keep him occupied, or anything else that is acceptable to your family and a relatively sedate activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog behaves inappropriately, a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbehaviorblog.com/2007/08/the-look-away-c.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;look-away&lt;/a&gt; will signal your displeasure better than a verbal scolding. While it may increase attention-seeking behavior in the short term due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_%28psychology%29#Extinction_burst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;extinction burst&lt;/a&gt;, this kind of signal should be instinctively interpreted as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.turid-rugaas.no/calming-signals---the-art-of-survival.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calming signal&lt;/a&gt; and may stop the unwanted behaviors more quickly than you expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T05:23:42.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="315" CreationDate="2014-10-12T06:04:40.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of reasons why dogs hump, and most of them have nothing to do with sex. As a result, neutering has limited impact on this behavior. The ASPCA gives a fairly thorough list of reasons why dogs hump in an article entitled &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/mounting-and-masturbation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mounting and Masturbation&lt;/a&gt;. Most frequently, especially in a spayed or neutered dog, mounting and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalsforadoption.org/etho/node/150&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;penis crowning&lt;/a&gt; are simply signs of over-excitement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some dogs respond to stressful or exciting situations by mounting or masturbating. For instance, after meeting a new dog or person, an aroused and excited dog may mount another dog, his owner or a nearby object, like a dog bed or a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T06:04:40.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="582" CreationDate="2014-10-12T17:06:58.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not your concern is warranted depends on the general level of socialization among all three dogs. You should also try to determine whether the level of threat from the Chessie or the distance-increasing behaviors from the Boxer are increasing or decreasing as a result of the social signaling passing between the three dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Analysis&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your post contains several clues about the social signals being offered. While all interpretations are subjective, the following seem to fit the profile you've outlined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Splitting&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When all 3 dogs are together, the Boxer always seems to make a point to keep himself between the Chessie and the Pug&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior is generally called &quot;splitting.&quot; From &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://puppies.about.com/od/BehaviorProblems/a/Calming-Signals.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Calming Signals: 14 Ways Dogs Keep The Peace&lt;/a&gt;, splitting is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[C]oming between you and your spouse when you hug, or between two posturing dogs, to diffuse perceived aggression[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Look-Aways&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Boxer mirrors the pugs indifference and just let's the Chessie go[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lack of eye contact or engagement is a typical social defusion technique among dogs. The most obvious expression is a clear &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbehaviorblog.com/2007/08/the-look-away-c.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;look-away&lt;/a&gt;, but a general show of disinterest is also generally effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Herding Behavior&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His head is lowered but stating right at the Chessie and he is always 2-3 steps right behind him. This will go on for several minutes and then the Boxer will go off and do something else[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless this is accompanied by piloerection, hard eyes, or a stiff gait, it is more likely that this is a variation of herding behavior rather than an aggressive display. It really isn't possible to determine solely from your description, but since the communication appears effective (e.g. it serves the social function of preventing an actual fight) I would lean towards interpreting it as socially-appropriate on the part of your Boxer rather than stalking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recommendations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Identify and prevent potential resource-guarding issues, including place-guarding, especially by the Chessie.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look for signs of persistent bullying and non-reciprocal behavior among the dogs, especially from your Chessie.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a fight-intervention plan handy &quot;just in case.&quot; An air horn, squirt bottle, or similar might be all you need to keep a tiff from turning into a serious injury.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a professional trainer or certified behaviorist see the behavior in action to gauge the level of risk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As long as the situation stays status quo, and even if they escalate, please don't overreact. Try to stay calm and clinical, since your reactions (especially fear or tension) will feed into the situation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastEditorUserId="2459" LastEditDate="2014-10-12T22:16:15.313" LastActivityDate="2014-10-12T22:16:15.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-12T23:35:07.680" Score="18" ViewCount="5699" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now my neighbor has a feral cat and her litter of kittens. They are around 7-8 weeks old and she is planning to give them away. However she insists on keeping them locked in her garage of late because kittens can &quot;suddenly become feral&quot; if allowed outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any truth to this claim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3069" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-13T00:29:39.363" LastActivityDate="2020-02-25T19:55:53.143" Title="Will kittens of a feral mom &quot;suddenly become feral&quot; if they are allowed outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2014-10-13T00:47:33.787" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have almost no kitten experience, but Alley Cat Allies is the leading advocacy group in feral care. They say in the beginning of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alleycat.org/page.aspx?pid=292&quot;&gt;Socialized Cat Guide&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kittens who do not have any contact with humans after they are born&#xA;  will be feral, regardless of whether their mother is a lost house cat&#xA;  or a feral cat living in a colony. They will be frightened of people&#xA;  and demonstrate all of the signs of fear and anxiety that an adult cat&#xA;  would, like spitting, hissing, and running from human contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To become pets, they will need to be socialized, or taught to be&#xA;  comfortable around people. If the kittens are eight weeks or younger,&#xA;  usually just about anyone can socialize them by following some simple&#xA;  steps. Kittens between two months (eight weeks) and fourth months of&#xA;  age often take more time and skill to socialize. Learn how to&#xA;  determine kitten age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, if your neighbor has not been regularly handling these kittens they are &lt;strong&gt;currently feral&lt;/strong&gt;. They are still young enough to be socialized into pets if they are given to people who understand what a commitment this is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T00:47:33.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T01:11:20.733" Score="10" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is well-known that some human contact including petting and touching is necessary to socialize kittens to be comfortable around humans. I have no experience with this and work a day job, what is the typical amount of time I need to spend with them together or one-on-one from birth until 8 weeks+ to help prepare them for living with people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3069" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T07:17:08.793" Title="What is a recommended amount of human contact necessary to socialize kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6548" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T02:24:10.227" Score="9" ViewCount="31048" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know if it's dangerous for kittens to be playing on tables that are about waist height, or on someone's shoulder or head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3069" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T11:27:23.943" Title="What is a safe height for a 8 week old kitten to fall from?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6547" CreationDate="2014-10-13T07:17:08.793" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;E.B. Karsh did a study on the effects of human contact on kitten behaviour published in 1983. Some essential, and interesting, learnings from that include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kittens handled only 15 minutes a day from birth through to 12 to 15 weeks would accept human affection, but would tend to wander and return rather than staying in place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kittens handled for an hour or two for the same period would be sufficiently relaxed to curl up on people and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;R.R. Collard, in 1967, noted that more handlers tended to make kittens more comfortable around humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of additional studies that show very early and regular handling have a positive effect on kitten development, so the upshot of it all is handle them frequently and for long durations right from the start all they way through their development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T07:17:08.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6427" CreationDate="2014-10-13T10:40:59.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;a) All the sources I've read talk about cats ingesting or nibbling on aloe vera, so there is likely no danger to them touching or inhaling its odor. As for the safety factor, you'd probably have to consult a professional veterinarian. In my own limited experience some cats really like chewing on plants and others rarely or not at all. If your cat starts to show signs of chewing on plants there are methods ASPCA recommends to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/cats-who-eat-plants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;remove or limit access to the plants or make them unappealing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) Somewhat related to the first point, the toxic part of the plant according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pilchuckvet.com/articles/follow-up-on-toxins-aloe-vera&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this emergency-care vet&lt;/a&gt; is the latex surrounding the inner leaf and not the gooey gel part you spread on cuts and bruises. It causes &quot;diarrhea and occasionally vomiting&quot; if ingested and may lead to dehydration and fluid loss in cats. There were a couple sites where aloe vera was claimed to relieve severe constipation in pets, but I would definitely ask a professional veterinarian before attempting to use aloe as a treatment for acute constipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3069" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T10:40:59.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2987" CreationDate="2014-10-13T16:44:11.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Attention-Seeking Behavior as Communication&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I often find my dog putting his head between my bed and the nightstand, or between the chair arm and my lap...Often the rest of his body just 'relaxes'[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is most likely an &lt;strong&gt;attention-seeking behavior&lt;/strong&gt;. According to &lt;em&gt;The Social Dog: Behavior and Cognition&lt;/em&gt; (Kaminski and Marshall-Pescini. Academic Press, 2014: pp. 234-236.) attention-seeking is a poorly-researched behavior, and there are few canonical studies. However, most of the other body signals are consistent with a dog soliciting attention, tactile reinforcement, or food, so attention-seeking would seem to be a reasonable label pending other indicators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attention-seeking isn't &quot;dominance&quot; in the sense of outmoded pack-theory. It also isn't inherently good or bad; it's simply the dog expressing &quot;I want.&quot; Think of it as communication, and take it at face value for best results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a useful analogy to consider. From a communications point of view, canine attention-seeking behavior is really no different than a human child saying &quot;I want a cookie&quot;. There's nothing wrong with &lt;em&gt;wanting&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;asking&lt;/em&gt;; the problem is only when the wanting turns into incessant or unwelcome demands, or devolves into tantrums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same way, polite attention-seeking is generally an appropriate form of communication from your dog, as long as the dog is responsive to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; communications that you've had enough, or that no attention will be forthcoming right now. Good human-dog communication is bidirectional, and requires effort on both sides to be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T16:44:11.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2014-10-13T17:11:47.287" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[S]he insists on keeping them locked in her garage of late because kittens can &quot;suddenly become feral&quot; if allowed outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your neighbor is technically wrong, but possibly doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. However, without proper socialization of the litter she is likely to end up with a colony of feral cats living in her garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Human Socialization as Key Differentiator&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the ASCPA, a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/adopt/feral-cats-faq#1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feral cat&lt;/a&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[A] cat born and raised in the wild, or who has been abandoned or lost and turned to wild ways in order to survive, is considered a free—roaming or feral cat. While some feral cats tolerate a bit of human contact, most are too fearful and wild to be handled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aferal&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feral&lt;/a&gt; also means &quot;undomesticated.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, the key differentiator in whether a cat will be feral or domesticated is the appropriate amount of human socialization at the right life stage. Access to the great outdoors won't &lt;em&gt;intrinsically&lt;/em&gt; make a cat feral, nor will keeping them locked in the house (or garage) inherently domesticate them. However, any reduction in socialization caused by free-roaming away from human contact is likely to be sub-optimal for the domestication process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T17:11:47.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5488" CreationDate="2014-10-13T17:49:55.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young dog is very curious about the world surrounding him and if you take him for a walk and force him to walk besides you like a walking robot and not having a chance to examine the world around him - he won't be very happy with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should allow him to sniff around, to take a better look into various details he finds interesting, wait patiently while he examines smells and markings from other dogs and animals etc... This is very important to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not allowing the dog to do his &quot;doggy things&quot; is like taking a child into a kid's playground and expecting him to sit quietly on the bench.&#xA;Be aware that the smell is the dominant sense in dogs, way more important then the sight, and the dog that doesn't get his chance to sniff around is like a man who goes for a walk with his eyes covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, when you're spending time with your dog try to do things that pleases him too, not only you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why your dog starts doing &quot;weird&quot; things near the end of your walk is probably that - as the walk approaches it's end - he realizes the time is almost up and  he won't get any of that he hoped for, and then he tries to do something about that at the very last moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let him go for the first half of walk his way, and end up the rest of the walk your way.&#xA;He'll be very grateful to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes - huskies like to dig.&#xA;Leave him a few days in your backyard and he'll make you a beautiful large scale model of Moon's surface on your lawn yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3075" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T17:49:55.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2014-10-13T21:06:38.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA gives a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/giving-your-dog-pill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reasonable roundup of pilling techniques&lt;/a&gt;, but misses a few such as compounded medications and pill guns. I outline a few of these alternatives below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Compounding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your vet about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Compounding.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compounding&lt;/a&gt;. While some medications are only available as pills or capsules, other medications can be provided as a liquid, paste, or suspension that is often mixed with a pet-friendly flavoring. These compounded medications can then be mixed with food or given with an oral syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pill Splitting or Grinding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some pills shouldn't be split or ground, such as enteric-coated caplets. However, many pills can be split to make them easier to swallow without chewing. The trick is to get the enveloped pills small enough (including the envelope, such as a Pill Pocket) that the whole thing can be swallowed &lt;em&gt;without chewing&lt;/em&gt;, since it's the chewing that is most likely to release the unpleasant taste or texture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to make sure that the envelope is small enough to be easily swallowed, and that it fully covers any rough edges that might catch in the throat or cause irritation on the way down. I occasionally break pills up into 2-3 Pill Pockets to accomplish this with large pills or smaller dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pill Guns&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00076HUB4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pill gun&lt;/a&gt; is really just a variation on manual pilling, and can help when a pill must be taken whole. Assuming the pill is small enough to be safely swallowed without chewing, you use the pill gun (rather than your fingers) to place the pill at the back of the throat before stimulating the swallowing reflex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally recommend the soft-tipped pill guns, rather than the hard plastic ones. In addition, avoid cheaply-made pill guns that have rough or sharp plastic edges, as you don't want to scratch or cut the tongue or throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T21:06:38.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6438" CreationDate="2014-10-13T21:50:04.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We ended up shopping at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Petsmart&lt;/a&gt; and bought a &lt;a href=&quot;http://cardinalpet.com/remedy/products/e_collar.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Remedy+Recovery brand E-Collar&lt;/a&gt;, medium, pink. My wife bought it, so I don't know how much it cost. It was way better for Peanut than the large hard plastic white cone that was both too large and too heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The E-Collar fit just right, and came to the end of her snout. After a couple days with it, she was actually happier with it on than when we took it off for a thorough scratching. She was able to lick her hind paws but not get to her stomach where the wound was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peanut is now healed enough for no cone, though, so she's free to sniff about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T21:50:04.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6510" CreationDate="2014-10-13T21:58:25.780" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet. It ended up being &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wobbly_hedgehog_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WHS&lt;/a&gt;; a disease comparable to MS in humans. It's incurable, and she was euthanized :(.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this is the case for anyone else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="2651" LastEditDate="2019-02-22T23:45:38.260" LastActivityDate="2019-02-22T23:45:38.260" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2014-10-13T22:26:35.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once had to help &quot;house-train&quot; feral kittens and their mother before they would be given away for adoption by the local RSPCA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially all the kittens would hiss and spit at anyone who would try to go near them or run away and hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to play with them using a kitten-enchanter (a fishing rod with some elastic cord and furry toy for them to chase). Then they distracted by the furry toy and don't get bothered about being handled or climbing onto humans.&#xA;Feeding time is the best way to socialize them to humans. Once they are busy drinking milk or eating cat chow, you can pet them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3076" LastActivityDate="2014-10-13T22:26:35.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-13T23:41:25.783" Score="6" ViewCount="2732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2.5 year old Boxer/Doberman, and quite frequently while walking on-leash she will just stop walking, especially if there is a smell she really wants to check out.  Sometimes, when I say her name, or tell her &quot;leave it&quot;, she won't budge.  I don't think it's a good idea to tug on her leash, so I will often have to physically intervene to get her moving.  I don't mean I'm violent or mean, but I might have to give a gentle nudge to her side or even pick her up and set her back on the path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, she is good, playful, very energetic, and listens to basic commands fairly well (sit/down/stay/here/leave it).  We have never tried or planned on teaching &quot;heel&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get her to start walking once she's stopped to investigate something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3077" LastEditorUserId="3077" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T15:28:26.023" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T21:18:52.073" Title="How to get my dog to follow me on leash?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6548" CreationDate="2014-10-14T01:11:14.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know that there is a safe height. Falling wrong from a very low height can have fatal consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, kittens are fairly low mass and their bones are actually pretty flexible. It would not surprise me to hear people tell stories of seeing a kitten fall from 10 feet (3.048 m) or more without any ill effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However that is not the same as saying it is safe for a kitten to fall from 10 feet (3.048 m). If a kitten fell from height but seemed to walk away with no lasting effects, I would not worry about it. But I also would not go encouraging a kitten to jump off a balcony or dropping one, except in case of an emergency where the alternative is certain death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T11:27:23.943" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T11:27:23.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6545" CreationDate="2014-10-14T01:37:24.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although &quot;feral&quot; is supposed to differ from &quot;stray&quot; in that the stray used to have an owner, feral cats have varying degrees of comfort around humans depending mostly on the type of place they grew up in (urban/suburban/village/etc). There are feral cats that like being around humans more, mainly because someone has been leaving out food for them, even playing with them, although they've never lived indoors. There also are house cats that haven't been properly socialized and handled, that will act more feral than cats classified as &quot;feral&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens, like all babies, are taught how to behave by their mothers. That includes trusting/not trusting humans. If your neighbor believes that feral status has to do with access or lack of access to outdoors areas, they're mistaken. It's contact with humans that &quot;tames&quot; cats, more easily so when they're very young, not indoor/outdoor status. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They would have a better chance of becoming friendlier/more used to humans even if they were outside (say, in a garden), but ideally in a safe place where they can observe and interact with people, see people giving them their food, and perhaps more importantly, smell humans and see they are no threat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your neighbor insists on keeping them in the garage, they should at least take time to introduce themselves to the cat and kittens, so as to get them used to humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastEditorUserId="1341" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T01:43:17.307" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T01:43:17.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6519" CreationDate="2014-10-14T01:45:07.273" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They do have baby teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're also used as a method to tell a young cat's age: A cat that has all her adult teeth is always at least six months old.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T01:45:07.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6412" CreationDate="2014-10-14T02:02:52.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I visited 4 vets when I was about to neuter my cat. Only one of them recommended a cone after the procedure. The rest said it's very unlikely she will lick or nibble on the stitches, and in the rare case she does, we will deal with it then, as it is also unlikely she will be able to do irreversible damage before I notice it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know that most vets do some plastic surgery on top of the stitches, so they are less obvious and less accessible. Do ask the vet if he includes that in the operation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ended up not using a cone (and sticking with one of the vets who were against it, for other reasons), and she never even tried to access the stitched area before it healed. Of my dozen or so cat-owner friends, none of them has used a cone and none of their cats licked or touched the stitches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just letting you know that the cone is an &lt;em&gt;option&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a good thing to discuss with your vet is whether it's possible for the cat to do considerable damage to the stitches within the time you are away. If not, and you decide against the cone, you will always be able to check on her when you're back home, and call the vet in the unlikely chance something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T02:02:52.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2014-10-14T05:28:20.630" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of things to look at are tank size, temperature, and location.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's actually the size of tank, its too small.  While they do 'rest' a lot, bettas are actually fairly active fish.  Watch them sometime in a big planted tank.  They are very curious creatures, and like to explore and peck around for something to eat and/or chase.  In a small tank like that movement is restricted - especially laterally.  There's just &lt;em&gt;no place for him to go&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a cold betta is less active.  If the temperature of the water is below 76-78-ish, bettas will slow down and become less active.  So you may need a heater.  But, that bowl may be too small for even the smallest paddle heater.  Pet shops sell small thermometers that can attach to the side of the bowl to help you monitor that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to consider is boredom.  Bettas are, by fish standards, pretty intelligent.  If the betta is stuck over in a corner or in another room away from the action... he's going to get bored.  They like stimulus.  Move them someplace where's there's some activity.  This way there's some big splotches of colors moving around them to stir them up occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, last issue - do not use distilled water.  That is very different from the water they are used to.  You might use bottled &lt;em&gt;spring&lt;/em&gt; water (not purified water).  But I've seen little difference in how bettas react to spring water and plain (dechlorinated) tap water.  But, every area is different so it really depends on what your local water is like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal recommendation for a happy betta... I would not keep a Betta in anything less than 1 full gallon.  Generally the bigger the better, but I have had some that had trouble adapting to bigger tanks after living in a cup for their entire life.  I keep mine in 5 gal tanks with small in-tank filters &amp;amp; heaters, plants, and in the center of the house so that there's always a lot of movement for them to watch.  Partial water change every week (I just scoop some water out and replace it).  They are very active fish...  sometimes a bit too active (mine will sometimes jump at me as I walk by, so I never fill the water to the top.  Many a betta has found their end by jumping out of their own bowl).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="240" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T15:17:20.400" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T15:17:20.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6565" CreationDate="2014-10-14T11:01:45.563" Score="14" ViewCount="244613" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent answer suggested that if your home water supply was not used for filling a fish tank, that 'spring water (not purified water)' was preferred over distilled water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What advantages would one offer over the other? What should I consider when choosing bottled water for my fish tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T16:51:05.207" Title="Is distilled or spring water better for fish tanks?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6564" CreationDate="2014-10-14T12:50:30.853" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Distilled or reverse osmosis water does not have the minerals necessary to buffer pH. If used exclusively you will have a very unstable pH which is dangerous for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spring water can vary in composition, in terms of minerals and pH, again creating an unstable environment. Bottled water can even be chlorinated. Combine this with the instability and you're better off using dechlorinated tap water in most cases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to go down that route distilled/RO is preferred, but this must be remineralised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following page lists pH of various bottled waters, ranging from 3.37 to 11, highlighting the varying composition.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://phconnection.com/Bottled_Water_pH_List.html&quot;&gt;http://phconnection.com/Bottled_Water_pH_List.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following article from fishkeeping.co.uk, a popular online community, talks about the use of RO water, remineralising and buffers.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_109/ro-freshwater.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_109/ro-freshwater.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Article from a manufacturer of RO systems stating 'RO water has little or no buffering capacity. That means that the addition of even a small amount of acid will have a large effect on pH.' &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puretap.com/ph.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.puretap.com/ph.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Article on water chemistry for fish keepers which states 'changing the pH by more than .3 units per day is known to stress fish.'&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cs.duke.edu/~narten/faq/chemistry.html&quot;&gt;https://www.cs.duke.edu/~narten/faq/chemistry.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastEditorUserId="2617" LastEditDate="2014-11-03T07:39:02.987" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T07:39:02.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2014-10-14T13:04:43.530" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are remineralising your distilled water, you will have a very unstable pH, which may well be the cause of the problems you are seeing. Distilled water does not have the minerals necessary to buffer pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much water are you changing? You should do regular partial water changes, complete water changes can be stressful for fish. Because of the tank size, I would recommend doing regular and large water changes (but not full), perhaps 50% daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is too small, a betta should really be in a 20L or bigger tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to test your water parameters, test kits can be picked up from most pet stores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T13:04:43.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6391" CreationDate="2014-10-14T14:13:48.900" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Matt has asked me to post my results, so here they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had poor execution. If one is easily saddened or depressed then stop reading now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set up a 5 gallon tank outside. Attached filter to ensure water circulation so the heat would drop evenly throughout and used a separator to divide the tank in half. Additionally I put a dripper that would drip alcohol in at a very slow rate. I also had slushed water ready just in case, and a tub of ice cubes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I went to my old tank. The Betta was lying on the side just breathing, old and blind. As I made my resolve to go on with it, I reached out for the Betta. I do not know what it was but he would shy away from my hand. He would try hobbling away from my hand with whatever strength he had left. Still I ended up grabbing him and transferred him to the outside tank on one half of the divider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water temperature was 27 degrees. I would drop water cubes on the other half of the tank and let the filter distribute it. Temperature would drop one degree every ten minutes. When it reached 23 degrees I noticed that my Betta started moving sideways. At 20 degrees the Betta was actively swimming around. At 19 it got frantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's when it hit me. This is going to be too long and painful for my Betta. I prepared ziplock bag, reached in, Betta instantly darted for my hand(still swimming sideways, almost upside down). I grabbed my Betta and dropped him into ziplock bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was the most gruesome part for me and I broke into tears. For roughly 20 seconds or so (felt like an eternity to me), the Betta was darting very frantically everywhere in pure shock, and maybe even pain. Afterwards for the next 5 seconds seems like Betta realized what happened, slowed down, gills opened up and Betta sank. Not upside down, just sank... No more breathing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I buried the Betta with the ziplock bag (it is cold, so Betta would not wake up again), said a prayed and spent the rest of the day in pure silence and sadness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone ever plans to use alcohol and ice method, be warned. Fish will be in hell for roughly 30 seconds before falling asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps someone someday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T14:13:48.900" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6564" CreationDate="2014-10-14T15:29:47.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reverse Osmosis with 0 TDS (using a DI filter) is the best choice. Bottled water generally has a pretty high TDS number from my experience (low 100s). High TDS in the water you choose will provide food for algae growth, especially once you throw fish poo into the mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for PH buffering, there are additives for that if that becomes a problem. You did not state if you have a salt or fresh water tank. For saltwater, you just need alkalinity &amp;amp; calcium, which a solution can be made from baking soda (&lt;a href=&quot;http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have RO at home, most fish stores sell it for around $.50/gallon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3081" LastActivityDate="2014-10-14T15:29:47.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-14T17:34:15.063" Score="7" ViewCount="9467" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have six Serpae tetras, five rainbowfish, and one Cory cat in a 25 gallon community tank. It is heavily planted. The rainbowfish are a new addition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tetras have been fin nipping and killing other fish. So far they have killed 4 fish, one of which was even there before it was. Three dwarf neon rainbowfish and one Cory cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I reduce this aggression and fin-nipping from the serpae tetras, and provide a safer home for my remaining Cory cat and new (regular size) rainbowfish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-14T17:44:42.663" LastActivityDate="2019-11-23T20:36:35.410" Title="How can I reduce aggressive fin-nipping from serpae tetras?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6571" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-14T23:00:45.067" Score="4" ViewCount="1663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old Shih Tzu and I feel like I am following all of the standard advice about house training him to not pee inside. I live in NYC on the 8th floor, but with a balcony. We have a crate, but don't use it often as I work from home and can stay with him all day. We only use the crate when we will both be out for a long time (a few hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take him out first thing in the morning and he goes, he does not pee in his containment (not crate) at night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever I see him sniffing or moving in a circle, I take him out to the same spot and he pees, every time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take him to the dog park almost every day at 5-6pm and come home and feed him then take him out about 30 min after eating and drinking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason he still randomly goes in the house. Today, for instance, I had a conference call in the afternoon at about 3:30 and afterwards I saw that he went on the floor. Other times he will be playing and stop and go in the middle of playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting frustrated but try to not let it show around him. I don't really know where to go now. I can't take him out every 30 - 60 minutes even though I work from home, and putting him in the crate while he can hear and see me all day feels cruel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any tips you can give me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3083" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T08:24:02.087" Title="My puppy pees inside even though I think I'm doing everything right" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6583" CreationDate="2014-10-15T03:58:10.977" Score="6" ViewCount="26958" Body="&lt;p&gt;To give you some perspective, my dog and I go for a walk, every morning (~ 45 min) and evening (~ 30 min).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't have any grounds nearby (only fields &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;) which means I have to walk him on streets with shrubs and small plans along the sides. There are a number of stray dogs and many people walk their dogs along the same route too. What this means is that there's fresh urine on almost every other plant &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(2)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; and mine inevitably ends up with urine all over his body &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(3)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you may know many dangerous diseases, e.g. Ebola, are introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. This means that not only my dog, but also my entire family, especially me &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(4)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;, could be in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how to clean him up after everyday walks without damaging/harming his coat and skin. Shampooing is not an option as it results in dry skin. (Bathing him with just water doesn't disinfect him. Will a towel bath with Dettol be good enough? Will it introduce any side effects? I don't know.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what should I do? How do you do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Footnotes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And I don't walk him in fields due to fear of snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Intact males and females which means they spray urine everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My dog wants to pee on the same spot, and doesn't get it over with by simply raising his leg. He first puts his head into the plant for inspection, and them moves around, inside and out, before he finishes the job he so diligently performs every single time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's his only play time and he loves it the most. So I simply cannot be too restrictive, and even though I watch out for pee on plans, I inevitably miss one or he's too quick.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I kiss him, pet him and play with him; and I want to be able to without fear of contracting a disease.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastEditorUserId="2699" LastEditDate="2014-10-15T15:16:04.363" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T04:17:34.857" Title="How to clean (disinfect) my dog everyday after walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6391" CreationDate="2014-10-15T06:48:25.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add some further information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea with freezing is to slowly reduce temperature to reduce the heart rate. The best approach for this is to put the fish in to a small container and place this in the freezer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By putting the fish straight into slushy ice water you may instead induce shock and kill the fish that way, I suspect this may be what happened with your betta. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T06:48:25.163" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-15T13:38:12.670" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to raise brine shrimp to adulthood, I have heard that it is better to use marine salt instead of aquarium salt in the grow-out tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) is widely used to hatch the shrimp and I have had nearly a dozen successful hatches with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will aquarium salt also work to raise the shrimp to adulthood in the grow-out tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T13:38:12.670" Title="Is it possible to use aquarium salt instead of marine salt to raise brine shrimp to adulthood?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;growing&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-15T13:45:28.723" Score="4" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am raising brine shrimp in a grow out tank and I normally use 1.018 specific gravity of salt in the hatchery. I have read online that the the ideal specific gravity can range from 1.018 to 1.045.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the ideal specific gravity of salt for raising brine shrimp to adulthood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T13:45:28.723" Title="What should the ideal salt content of a brine shrimp grow-out tank be?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;growing&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6759" CreationDate="2014-10-15T13:50:58.980" Score="6" ViewCount="2087" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to raise brine shrimp to adulthood, what sorts of food can I feed to the brine shrimp in the grow-out tank? What is the best way to administer them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that yeast and egg yolks are both good sources of food but I wonder if there are others. I would also like to know the best way to administer these foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T18:56:41.563" Title="What are good foods for brine shrimp and how to administer them?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6564" CreationDate="2014-10-15T14:27:28.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The source is sort of irrelevant, the process should still be the same to ensure the safe well being of your tank life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The full process should be ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take water from almost any common source.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push through RO filter to get as close to pure water as you can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add salt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add air to water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Align temperature with that of tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add to tank (preferrably slowly to avoid shocking life in tank)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 2 is particularly important as it gets the water in a known default state allowing you to be absolutely sure exactly what you are putting in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be clear here ... &lt;strong&gt;you should ALWAYS know exactly what you are about to add to your tank and never take a wild risky guess.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you go swimming in water that you weren't absolutely sure didn't contain harmful elements to you? ... no ... then please don't ask that of your tank inhabitants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say this because every day we see news stories about various companies making risky or just plain dumb decisions to provide ever cheaper food in our supermarkets, and water is one of those products so how far do you think a water company would go to ensure that water got to us for the cheapest possible price?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legal guidelines on water are not about &quot;quality&quot; but more about &quot;taste&quot; (at least that's how it is in the UK).&#xA;When I was doing my research on tank water years ago setting up my first tank I found laws stating things like &quot;TDS of 300 is excellent&quot; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.safewater.org/PDFS/resourcesknowthefacts/TDS_AND%20_pH.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.safewater.org/PDFS/resourcesknowthefacts/TDS_AND%20_pH.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What works for / won't kill a human is most definitely not good for a fish or coral.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please for the sake of those poor fish, do the right thing and always start with RO water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-15T16:51:05.207" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T16:51:05.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-15T17:11:31.857" Score="1" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 8-month old lab that injured his front leg after hopping down from the back of a truck before I could let him down. Since then, he has had an off-and-on limp, and I have stopped all exercise. He is now almost at the 6 week mark of being injured and still no improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had the vet check him out, and ended up doing xrays on his elbow with no luck. We put him on anti-inflammatories for 10 days at about 3weeks into the injury, and that seemed to help him a lot for normal roaming in the house and going outside to the restroom, but only to an extent. He has been off of the anti-inflammatories for 4 days now and the limp is just as bad as it was before i put him on them. will be picking up another prescription of them today to help ease the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have been closely watching on my dogs movements and actions and have seemed to see that since the injury when laying down he always folds his paw on the injured leg so that it is facing upwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me like it relieves the pain somehow and I'm thinking that this could be a sign that he has some sort of ligament damage to his carpal ligaments or maybe a chipped bone. Also, the way he limps to keep his weight off his leg is when his wrist is almost fully extended when it has the most pressure on that joint area. I checked the range of motion which seems normal but when extending the wrist forward you can tell he doesnt like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An orthopedic seems to be the only option now and will probably be too expensive for me to afford so I'll have to figure out finances next depending on the severity of the surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone's pets had any similar injury or know what possible things could be wrong with that specific joint or ligaments?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3086" LastEditorUserId="3086" LastEditDate="2014-10-16T20:11:21.213" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T20:11:21.213" Title="7-month old labrador has a leg injury" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6597" CreationDate="2014-10-15T17:38:05.907" Score="2" ViewCount="6115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strangely, I keep reading radically different answers for when it is best to breed NZW Does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before breeding our does, they must be at least 5 to 6 months old and a minimum of 6 to 7 pounds. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossroadsrabbitry.com/breeding-new-zealand-white-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.crossroadsrabbitry.com/breeding-new-zealand-white-rabbits/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can begin breeding your rabbits when they are 4 to 4.5 months old (AZ Rabbits discourages [waiting any longer] as it can cause breeding problems). - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azrabbits.com/useful-information/breeding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.azrabbits.com/useful-information/breeding.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I have seen others that specifically said even longer than 6 months and others that said shorter than 4 months for NWZ/standard meat breeds. So when is it safe (age/weight) and generally recommended to breed a young doe? What are the potential risks/drawbacks of an early (4-4.5 month) pregnancy? What are the risk/drawbacks of a latter pregnancy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2778" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:09:56.137" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:09:56.137" Title="At What Age/Weight Should NZW Rabbits be bred?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6586" CreationDate="2014-10-15T18:42:19.750" Score="4" ViewCount="13636" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my limited experience thus far, I have found that my rabbits get along well together and show every sign of enjoying each other's company. So I would very much like to keep my buck in with the pregnant doe until her time approaches. But I have just read about some issue that this can cause called double pregnancy. Apparently, rabbits can get pregnant twise and carry both to term at the same time, and this can cause serious issues for both batches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How likely I this to happen and cause serious issues? Is their some alternative to bucks living mostly solitary lives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2778" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:16:07.840" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T15:41:41.270" Title="Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6595" CreationDate="2014-10-15T18:47:00.123" Score="6" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tank is extremely stable and has been running solidly with no problems for about 2 years now but I noticed that my pH has always seemed to be consistently high:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/05Brk.png&quot; alt=&quot;pH Stats&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other readings are as the community would expect, virtually no ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, calcium is good, salinity good, regular water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just seems odd ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if this is the reason that in the past I haven't been able to put certain forms of life in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had issues with anemones mostly (3 died in the past causing serious havoc when they did).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T02:04:08.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:13:20.723" Title="Should I be concerned about my pH being slightly high?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6572" CreationDate="2014-10-15T20:54:19.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy wet wipes for dogs (and cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C8mAK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dog Deodorizer&quot;&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/dog/grooming-supplies/top-paw-super-deodorizing-dog-wipes-zid36-12657/cat-36-catid-100016;pgid=cBhgEzDhVABSRp06d1RxA1NF0000sPQ_jZVx;sid=08UTEHT3KdtAECDJCpdRFET9lrlEApf8j2NnhDl4?var_id=36-12657&amp;amp;_t=pfm%3Dcategory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WIth these you could spot-clean your dog rather than giving him an entire bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it should have the same kind of problem as shampoo where it dries out the skin, because you're basically using a paper towel with some water and disinfectant, but I've only ever used them occasionally. So you might have to keep an eye on it if you're using it in the same spot day after day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also make wipes that are specifically for cleaning around the eyes and in the ears, so if your concern is with cleaning around his face I would suggest those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But honestly though, the solution I would go with, is a simple washcloth with some soapy water. Use whatever dog approved soap/shampoo you would normally use, and however much you think you need to get his fur clean. That should be just as effective as any of the wipes, and more importantly cheaper. You can easily grab one as soon as you return, or have a small bucket and washcloth ready by the door for when you get back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T16:07:34.670" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T16:07:34.670" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-15T21:40:52.413" Score="2" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dog breed : Korean Jindo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age : 2 years 6 months&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gender : Male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Status : Not neutered.&#xA;             Never been mated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personality : Shy, very sensitive, timid, very soft-hearted &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk : Twice a day for 1~2 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not neutered. We are not sure about the neutering, but our concern is...is this okay for him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our circumstances it is hard to find a mate for him. We are afraid that mating him once can make him want even more...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet says as long as he is not in contact of female dogs, it's fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this affect his psychological and physical health? &#xA;&lt;em&gt;(he'll not be in contact with other female dogs)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2968" LastEditorUserId="2968" LastEditDate="2017-06-30T09:37:04.613" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T09:37:04.613" Title="Neutering my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5877" CreationDate="2014-10-15T22:42:43.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Opposite sex pairs will begin reproducing as soon as they mature. Left unchecked, an unspayed rabbit and her intact female descendants can produce more than 1300 offspring in a year. Over the course of five years this number balloons exponentially to more than 94 million! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/spay.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spay or Neuter my Rabbit? by Dana Krempels, Ph.D.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is unlikely you will have 1300 live healthy rabbits after a year, you are likely to have a few hundred dead ones, and a couple hundred lives ones from the an unchecked breading program.  The logistics of keeping them feed and clean become unmanageable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is at the extreme end of the possibilities, the release of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_Australia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbits in Australia&lt;/a&gt; was near this level of reproduction. But of course the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6581/pet-rabbits-double-pregnacies-and-keeping-the-buck-in-with-the-doe/6586#6586&quot;&gt;negative impacts to the health of quick breeding population&lt;/a&gt; means many of the 1300 do not survive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-10-15T22:58:54.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6581" CreationDate="2014-10-15T22:52:57.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend you separate your buck and doe immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick glance at &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit#Breeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; teaches us that rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_ovulation_%28animals%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;induced ovulators&lt;/a&gt; That don't have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6347&quot;&gt;regular cycles&lt;/a&gt; like many mammals do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are fertile with in hours after giving birth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If males are not removed at or prior to birth of the young, postpartum breeding is possible.  Does that become pregnant on a postpartum breeding will not be able to nurse their previous litter until normal weaning age, and this can lead to decreased survival rates in both litters of Kids &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=x_G2CRgAVtoC&amp;amp;pg=PA218&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+pregnant+after+giving+birth&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=6PQ-VLHZH8nIsAS1loCgDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20pregnant%20after%20giving%20birth&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Management of Pregnant and Neonatal Dogs, Cats, and Exotic Pets; Cheryl Lopate; John Wiley &amp;amp; Sons, May 22, 2012&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you leave the babies in with the parents, you could in theory have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877/how-fast-do-rabbits-really-breed/6585#6585&quot;&gt;1300 rabbits in one year,&lt;/a&gt; of course your initial mother will be be physically wasted from spending 12 months pregnant and nursing at the same time, if she survives 12 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Agressive breeders will breed as often as every 60 days, but a healthier recommendation is not more more than &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877/how-fast-do-rabbits-really-breed/5894#5894&quot;&gt;every 90 days&lt;/a&gt;.  Once mature your rabbits can breed with only a few seconds of contact.  The buck should only be placed with the doe when sufficient time has passed for the mother to recover, and you are attempting to breed her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other point to consider is the rabbit bond. Rabbits form very strong bonds, that are difficult to create and to break.  When rabbits break their existing bond due to death or forced separation care must be take to keep the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coloradohrs.org/articles/care_rabbit_friend_dies.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;rabbit from sinking into deep depression which can threaten his or her life as well, especially if they were very devoted&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally once the rabbits are separated, putting them together for short times are problematic.  It can take days to months to get rabbits to live together happily &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/bonding-when-the-going-gets-rough/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;without fighting&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have left young rabbits together until they are old enough to result in pregnancy that you have probably allowed the mother to get pregnant before she is physically mature enough for a healthy pregnancy.  If you have placed intact (not spayed or neutered) rabbits together who are mature enough have a healthy pregnancy and allowed them to bond you have set them up for forced depression when the bond is broken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double Pregnancy &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfetation#In_animals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Superfetation) has been reported in rabbits&lt;/a&gt; but is not well documented in domestic rabbits.  Additionally partial re-absorption and delayed delivery have been reported on some blogs.  I did not find strong scientific studies on Superfetation for domestic rabbits, the possibility can not be ruled out, providing yet another reason for buck and doe separation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T13:55:26.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6591" CreationDate="2014-10-16T01:36:15.670" Score="2" ViewCount="458" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty certain my cat has had fhv-1 most his life, every few months he gets eye and nose boogers. It's generally mild and it will subside. I've had it recommended to me giving probiotics can help a little for the flare ups, via increasing immune function etc. Has anyone any experience with this or recommendations? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roche makes a veterinary probiotic (live culture) for dogs and cats. It's expensive. Is there any home remedy versions of probiotic cultures safe to give? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3088" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T03:33:27.987" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T03:33:27.987" Title="Probiotics to attenuate FHV-1 flare ups" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6492" CreationDate="2014-10-16T07:28:24.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on what you have or want to put in the tank, whether you are wanting to use this as a form of filtration, and what you think looks good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to plant in the substrate you will need at least 1&quot; of substrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have burrowing species, you want this to be 4&quot; or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally with depths of over 2&quot; you need to be careful of anaerobic bacteria building up in pockets where anaerobic breakdown can occur, the end products of this are methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, which can be harmful to fish. With some types of sand with particularly small particles, this may occur at lower depths. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people actually use deep sand beds (at least 4-6&quot;) as a form of filtration, populated with bacteria, algae, and burrowing marine organisms. These are designed to cultivate anaerobic bacteria which converts nitrate to nitrogen gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a fancy goldfish tank with around 1&quot; of sand, I find this works well for my plants and is not deep enough for toxic gas to form. Just to be safe I stir up the substrate once a week whilst vacuuming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For calculating what weight of sand is required to achieve a specific depth for a given tank there are a number of calculators online. One is available at ultimatereef.net:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ultimatereef.net/info/calculators/sandcalc.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ultimatereef.net/info/calculators/sandcalc.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount needed will be specific to your tank. Two tanks with the same water capacity will not necessarily have the same dimensions, so the surface area of the bottom (which you wish to cover with sand) will vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastEditorUserId="2617" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T07:10:41.677" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T07:10:41.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6600" CreationDate="2014-10-16T09:59:31.507" Score="9" ViewCount="43075" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; This is a follow-up of and related to my previous question — &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6572/2699&quot;&gt;How to clean (disinfect) my dog everyday after walk?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baby wipes are used to dry bathe babies, a good way to bathe them without getting wet too often. In a way, it's an easy solution to cleaning babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, we have pet wipes for dogs &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. But can baby wipes be used to disinfect dogs? &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(2)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; i.e. as an alternative to pet wipes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A baby gets dirty inside the house hence the risk is lower, where as a dog gets dirty outside, be it a park or streets, and it may involve other dogs' urine and other secretions—a common way for diseases to spread (sometimes even to us).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the case, the question is, will baby wipes work just as well in disinfecting my dog? If not, what are my alternatives, other than pet wipes &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(3)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Footnotes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Good pet wipes are hard to find in my place (even online), and hence this question. I am from India.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Baby wipes can be harmful to dogs if they consume the solution from the wipes (through licking), esp. if one of the ingredients is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.keepthetailwagging.com/baby-wipes-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Propylene Glycol&lt;/a&gt;. I can take care of this by getting unscented (free of fragrance) baby wipes and making sure that my dog gets dry before I let him out of my sight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;E.g. Towel bathing with a 1 in 40 solution of Dettol and water (i.e. 1 tablespoon of Dettol in 500 ml of water). The thing is I am not sure if it'd cause any skin irritation in dogs, or if it'd be effective at all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:29:47.543" Title="Can unscented baby wipes be used instead of pet wipes to disinfect my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6952" CreationDate="2014-10-15T22:26:20.930" Score="6" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our border collie is getting old. Her eyes are beginning to fail and there are clear signs of cataracts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to sometimes feel stressed when she encounters stripes of contrasting colours. Crossing a bridge in bright sunlight when the sun is shining through the side of the bridge casting sharp shadows causing clear stripes on the bridge surface seems to freak her out. She will not walk across the bridge without pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed this too on the house stairs recently - she was standing on the landing clearly stressed and scared to venture further down the stairs. Our stairs are painted white at the sides but have bare wood in the middle so again dramatic contrast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been planning to repaint the stairs - is there a colour scheme that may help her? Are there colours that will help her discern the steps as her vision fades?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3264" OwnerDisplayName="OldCurmudgeon" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:25:28.327" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T22:32:31.683" Title="How can we help dog with failing vision?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6587" CreationDate="2014-10-16T14:06:21.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anecdotal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The probiotic that I'm most familiar with is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/Product/FortiFloraFelineProbioticNutritionalSupplement.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fortiflora&lt;/a&gt;. Fortiflora is popular not only for it's probiotic properties, but also as a readily available source of animal digest (which can make unpalatable food smell REALLY GOOD). I have used it for this reason when getting cats to switch to wet food from a dry food diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one cat with FHV-1, and have not notice any symptom changes whenever he had access to Fortiflora. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Review of Scientific Literature&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There appears to be one study on the subject (and they also used Fortiflora).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lappin MR, Veir JK, Satyaraj E, Czarnecki-Maulden G. J Feline Med Surg. 2009 Aug;11(8):650-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jfms.2008.12.006. Epub 2009 Feb 6. Pilot study to evaluate the effect of oral supplementation of Enterococcus faecium SF68 on cats with latent feline herpesvirus &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19201238&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/probiotics-for-herpesvirus-rhinitis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This study was reviewed&lt;/a&gt; in detail by the SkepVet (Dr. Brennen McKenzie):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So overall, the study provides little support for the thesis that&#xA;  Fortiflora boosts general immune function in a way that would be&#xA;  clinically useful for cats with FHV-1 rhinitis. ... This paper is&#xA;  interesting, and the line of inquiry may lead somewhere eventually,&#xA;  but it does not justify the widespread use of Fortiflora for FHV-1&#xA;  rhintis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the reason this study is inconclusive is that there were so few animals used (12) and the results were very inconsistent (leading to no statistical differences between treatment groups).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not find any further studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probiotics are not harmful, and can be helpful if your cat has other illnesses such as diarrhea. If you want to try it, there's no harm in it, but there's also no scientific evidence that it will help either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T14:06:21.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6357" CreationDate="2014-10-16T15:15:29.700" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found the following after observing several births from my fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dark gravid spot will become even darker and move closer to the cloaca. This is not always a sure sign though because some fish do not have light enough scales to view this. Also if the fry are white for example, then there won't be much of a gravid spot. If there is, when it is close to the cloaca, the birth will be soon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The female may chase the male around aggressively.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The female may hide in a secluded area from the rest of the fish in the days leading up to the birth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The female'a vent will transform from circular and rounded to square. This is because the fry are moving closer to the cloaca for the birth. The back fin will also become level with the front of the fish, dropping down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cloaca will become dialated or pea shaped in preparation for the birth. This means it is very close. Do not confuse this with constipation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for when to pinpoint the birth, I have found using a combination of watching for hiding behaviour, looking for the squared vent, and finally confirming with a dialated cloaca, all lead me to believe that the fish will definitely give birth. I usually only use the gravid spot to determine pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to put the fish in the breeder box, which I do not recommend unless you are absolutely sure it is time for the fish to give birth as it may cause stress and cause a premature birth, I would wait even a day after you think she will give birth. If you are truly afraid of the other fry being eaten, then it is better to put her in the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birth will usually occur overnight, in the dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T15:15:29.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2014-10-16T16:01:49.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know about using unscented baby wipes on dogs, but I do remember seeing this article about making your own wipes. That would allow you complete control over the ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/5893511/diy-wet-cleaning-wipes-are-easy-to-make-cost-less-than-store-bought-wipes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://lifehacker.com/5893511/diy-wet-cleaning-wipes-are-easy-to-make-cost-less-than-store-bought-wipes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T16:01:49.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6582" CreationDate="2014-10-16T19:35:44.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No need to worry. pH is affected by an almost immeasurable amount of factors. Something as benign as turning on a ceiling fan can measurably alter the pH on a tank due to CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration in the air or degassing in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just an example on my main reef tank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BCe2w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the 21st, we turned the air conditioner back on and you can see the average pH go up just from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely re-calibrate the probe if it hasn't been in a year or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But realistically, pH is more of a long distance measurement and isn't extremely important in day to day care. The exception is if you were directly dosing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; for a planted tank or a calcium reactor in which you would want to keep close track of ph so you don't mess up the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:13:20.723" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:13:20.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6570" CreationDate="2014-10-16T19:42:43.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Serpae tetras are notorious fin nippers. There's really no way to prevent a fish from doing what it does unless you separate it. See if you can return them to where you purchased them or possibly sell or give them to someone who has a tank that can handle their temperament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2014-10-16T19:42:43.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6580" CreationDate="2014-10-16T21:15:37.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most breeding recommendations seem to refer back eventually to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/t1690e/t1690e.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Rabbit: Husbandry, health, and production&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first follicles appear on the 13th day after birth, and the first&#xA;antrum follicles at about 65 to 70 days. Does are able to mate first&#xA;at 10 to 12 weeks, but as a rule this will not produce ovulation. The&#xA;onset of puberty varies greatly with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the breed: sexual precocity is&#xA;more de-veloped in small or medium breeds (four to six months) than in&#xA;large breeds (five to eight months). In Europe does are now mated at&#xA;120 to 130 days and fertility performance is good;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body development:&#xA;precocity goes hand in hand with rapid growth. Does fed ad lib reach&#xA;puberty three weeks earlier than other does of the same strain&#xA;receiving only 75 percent of the same daily feed. The body development&#xA;of the latter is also delayed by three weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does generally reach&#xA;puberty when they have grown to 70 to 75 percent of their mature&#xA;weight. &lt;strong&gt;However, it is usually preferable to wait until they reach 80&#xA;percent of their mature weight before breeding them.&lt;/strong&gt; These relative&#xA;weights should not be considered absolute thresholds for all rabbits,&#xA;but rather limits applicable to the population as a whole. Sexual&#xA;behaviour (acceptance of mating) appears long before the ability to&#xA;ovulate and bear a litter. Such behaviour should not be regarded by&#xA;the breeder as a sign of puberty, but as prepuberty play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis is mine. I'm not sure what research this number comes from (there is a bibliography, but no indication of what statements are sourced from which references, and many of them aren't in English so I can't even guess).  This book appears to have been in wide circulation for at least 30 years in different forms, because I keep finding it in references with different dates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did find one study that looked at age and body weight at first insemination (and the interaction of those two factors). The ages they looked at were 14.5 and 17.4 weeks, so it doesn't explain why some sources are preferring as many as 6 months. This study found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does fed restrictively and inseminated at&#xA;14.5 weeks of age were too immature for reproduction. In these does, body weight was low (3.2 kg), protein development was not completed,&#xA;and puberty characteristics were poor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 14.5 weeks of age and ad libitum feeding during rearing, over 70%&#xA;of the does did not reach optimum body weight of 4 kg. Litter size of&#xA;these does was reduced by 1.4 kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(ad libitum feeding means they were given as much food as they wanted, literally it means &amp;quot;at will&amp;quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The does inseminated at 17.4 weeks faired better than those at 14.5 weeks because they were more mature and did not have to split their energies between their own growth and the growth of their babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ad libitum fed does inseminated at 14.5 week of age, gained weight in&#xA;the first gestation and first lactation period. Competition for&#xA;nutrients between body growth and production must have occurred, and&#xA;resulted in smaller litters and lower milk production than restrictive&#xA;fed does inseminated at 17.5 week of age. It was concluded that young&#xA;does should have a body weight around 4 kg at first insemination to&#xA;optimize litter size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long term applicability of this study is stated as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rearing strategies only affected body weight development, feed intake&#xA;in the first parity. Long  term effects over three parities were&#xA;absent and culling rate of does was not affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The authors suggest that the reason they did not see an effect on the second and third parities could be because they didn't have a large enough sample size, or because there is no affect on the later parities. There is a small increase in culling rate with does bred younger, but it is not enough to be statistically significant with the sample sizes that they used (it was a small enough variation that could have been due to random chance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This research is available online as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proceedings - 8th World Rabbit Congress –September 7-10, 2004 – Puebla, Mexico&#xA;Invited Paper. BREEDING OF YOUNG FEMALES DOES. ROMMERS J. M. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.world-rabbit-science.com/WRSA-Proceedings/Congress-2004-Puebla/Papers/Reproduction/R0-Rommers.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;web link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not found any research discussing waiting longer than 17.4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T01:53:49.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-17T00:39:46.330" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;My calico cat sneezes multiple times a day, releasing mucus. This began about three months ago. She is also audibly congested. Does she have an allergy? A cold that won't go away? Perhaps this seems obvious, but do I need to take her to a vet? She's very skittish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3093" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T02:30:53.883" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T02:30:53.883" Title="Cat sneezes constantly, and noticeably congested, for 3 months" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6598" CreationDate="2014-10-17T00:52:26.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, she needs to see a vet to be properly diagnosed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to make vet visits easier on shy cats is to use a mobile vet who will come to your home. Then you only have to deal with stranger and handling stress, and not the added stresses of a carrier, travel, and a strange place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to ease the stress of a vet visit is to look for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catvets.com/cfp/cat-owners/cat-owners-benefits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat Friendly Vet&lt;/a&gt;. This designation indicates that the vet has additional training in easing cat stress at appointments. This can include things like &quot;incorporated a waiting room/area that reduces stress associated with noise, other pets or unfamiliar smells (methods can include feline-only area, cat-only appointment times, going directly into the exam room, etc.).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T02:02:32.973" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T02:02:32.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2014-10-17T10:18:12.647" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I wouldn't do it. First of all, I don't think that baby wipes contain a disinfectant. Yes, they'll clean the baby, but that's not the same as disinfecting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then: Babies don't usually lick themselves and I can't imagine that it would be healthy to consume large quantities of the residue of baby wipes, including the oil that most wipes include to re-moisten the baby's skin. It won't help if you prevent your dog from licking himself before everything has dried - the water (or whatever moisture they contain) will have evaporated, but most of the residue will be there no matter what. Also, I've never heard of baby wipes replacing a shower - they're usually used to clean the baby during a diaper change, but they won't replace the bath the baby gets every so many days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more in general, I question the whole idea of using wipes to clean your dog. Skin is not the same thing as hair/fur - surely you wouldn't think that you could wash your hair by using a baby wipe? Hair has a infinitely larger surface than skin, meaning that if you wipe it down with a wipe, you will only reach the part of the hair that is on the surface of the body, but not the part that facing the body. I really can't imagine wipes being that effective, not even the ones made for animals (meaning that I think they're made to pull money out of your pockets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're confounding two things here, one is your dog carrying dirt/bacteria/viruses on his fur, and the other is your dog being infected by a disease, thus becoming the carrier of this disease and then transmitting it to you, by means of bodily liquid. The first you needn't worry about that much, as most bacteria/viruses won't survive for very long in a fur, those aren't the life conditions they are made for. In the second case, disinfecting your dog's fur will do nothing at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're really worried about infectious diseases transmitted from dog to humans, stop kissing your dog, and wash your hands before you eat or use the loo, and whenever your dog drools on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastEditorUserId="2554" LastEditDate="2014-10-17T11:32:20.043" LastActivityDate="2014-10-17T11:32:20.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6611" CreationDate="2014-10-17T21:20:14.030" Score="9" ViewCount="1699" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those of us with Rabbits, Horses and other vegetarian mammals, hay is a dietary requirement. When purchased in bales, the terms 'first cut' and 'second cut' are often used.  What do they mean and what difference are notable between first and second cut hay? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T02:28:49.550" Title="What is the difference between first and second cut hay?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6105" CreationDate="2014-10-18T09:10:13.263" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have twin 9-year-old boy cats. One of them has always attacked me when I sneeze. I just Googled this because I sneezed and he came tearing across the apartment, all set to attack me -- scratch and bite. I usually brandish a pillow to keep him away from me. It can be terrifying though. If I absent-mindedly sneeze and am not on guard I get mauled. This has not happened in years though, because I can no longer enjoy a good unselfconscious sneeze. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat is a bit of a control freak, in general. He seems to think he owns the house and everything in it. He has started trying to sleep on my pillow at night. I feel it is a dominance thing---reacting to the sneeze. He doesn't like it, does not see it as at all necessary, and wants it to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His brother never acted this way re: sneezing until a few months ago. He doesn't attack, but if he is in the same room as I am when I sneeze, he will chirrup a little in the way he would if a bird were outside the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3094" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T20:31:08.173" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T20:31:08.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6584" CreationDate="2014-10-19T06:34:45.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really think that neutering really is the issue here. It sounds like he is completely alone for the largest part of the day, which is a huge red flag to me. Additionally, if he's gone through a significant change in character within a very distinct time frame, it might be something that physical (other than neutering) - this is something you should discuss with your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid, we usually had two dogs, a male one (German Shepherd) and a neutered female (other breeds). I believe the male wasn't neutered, as our elderly female dog died when he was about six or so, and when we got a new female dog and that dog matured, he became interested in her, and we ushered her to the vet immediately. So, he at least attempted to mate, but afterwards never got the chance again, and it didn't seem to affect him negatively (only that ever since then our female dog, who was about half his size, attempted to jump on him, usually sideways - we wondered if she thought that it had been just play :) ). Neutering a dog can have some effect on a dog's character and also on it's health (though the latter doesn't seem to be 100% clear - see the links provided above) - but I doubt that neutering will have a large effect on his wellbeing if the rest is left unchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is were being alone comes into play. I'd be gloomy as well if I'd be locked up all alone all day long (if I'm reading you correctly). Dogs are social animals, they need company. If you cannot arrange for anyone to stay a home with the dog (and interact with him!), you might want to consider getting another dog (male, possibly neutered, or a neutered female). Yes, your dog won't like it in the beginning and will be aggressive towards the other dog, but he'll get used to the other dog and gradually learn to accept him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, phone your vet (if you haven't done so already) and ask them if they think you should bring him in. Also watch out for other signals: does he eat and drink as much and as happily as before? How does he react when out for a walk? What happens when you spend the whole day with him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And with regards to what the vet said over contact with female dogs: clarify with him if he meant that it would be better for your dog's wellbeing not to mate, or if he was thinking of the amount of dogs in this world and wants to prevent unneccessary litters. Obviously, for this reason alone allowing your dog to mate regularly to insure his mental wellbeing should be out of the question, except if you manage to equip him with a condom every time :) But as I said above, I doubt that this is actually the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastActivityDate="2014-10-19T06:34:45.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-19T11:50:32.643" Score="7" ViewCount="664" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently became aware of an issue that was discovered when several rabbits were rescued from a hoarding situation. I don't have all the details and many of them would be unpleasant to include here, but the relative facts are;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mouse over the below to read relevant details, not for the squeamish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; When faced with an over population of unaltered rabbits, male baby rabbits were housed in the same cage as their father.  In more than one case the father mutilated the kits, in once case nibbling off most of the front toes of one, in another case a father removed a rear foot from his son. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know from experience that neutered male rabbits tend to be more accepting of sharing space than female rabbits. So I was somewhat surprised to learn of this occurring. I am looking for reliable references documenting the occurrence and contributing factors.  First hand experience that can shed light on the issue, may also prove to be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: Rabbit cannibalism is observed occasionally in female rabbits, generally attributed to environmental conditions, occurring with very young kits (live or stillborn) where the mother can reasonably be assumed to believe that existing or future young will be benefitted by action. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/care/newborn.html&quot;&gt;Ref1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://msucares.com/livestock/small_animal/cann.html&quot;&gt;Ref2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-19T12:03:22.510" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T14:46:52.337" Title="What is the factor(s) that will cause a buck rabbit to disfigure his children?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-19T17:17:36.760" Score="14" ViewCount="30035" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got our cat as a kitten; she's now 12.  When we got her, she had a bad upper respiratory virus.  She was so congested at one point, we had to hold her upside-down to get the mucus to drain out of her so she could breathe.  She survived the virus, but ever since then she's had a bad problem with congestion.  I think the infection left scarring that blocked her tear duct on one side.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her life is a constant cycle of: 1) Increasing &quot;sinusy&quot; congestion with runny eye and weak, nonproductive sneezing that doesn't clear anything.  2) Heavier congestion where we can see mucus in the nostril and she struggles hard to clear the blockage. 3) Eventual sneezing out of a very thick and greenish (sometimes hard, sometimes bloody) mucus plug. 4) About one day of amazing energy and playfulness; before back to 1) Increasing congestion.   Amazingly, this cat has developed some kind of muscle control over her upper lip, whereby she can pull it up to block the unaffected nostril and increase her sneeze pressure to expel the plug.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets over the years have said there's nothing that can be done for her.  The only thing that gives her any relief at stages 1 and 2 is if I rub a little Vicks onto my finger and hold it about 6 inches from her nose.  She seems to like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any new treatment for this problem?  We hate to see her suffer this way, day after day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2823" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T15:41:45.847" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T23:30:00.000" Title="How can I help my cat with chronic congestion and sneezing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6663" CreationDate="2014-10-20T04:09:01.353" Score="7" ViewCount="1147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our house has become the temporary home for my daughters two cats. They have been with us for about 2 1/2 months and everything seemed to going along fine. During this initial time our daughter and her partner were traveling around our region and returning back to our place every couple weeks or so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things have taken a bad turn to the worse this last week after our daughter and her partner left to go off traveling for the next 10 months or so. The two female cats have developed some animosity towards each other and will end up howling and hissing at each other with it quickly escalating to a &quot;cats in a rolling ball&quot; fight with fur flying unless we are right there to intervene and break it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far the only solution seems to have been to try to isolate the two cats from each other by keeping them shut into a bathroom or smaller room. Unfortunately this has it's downsides because both of the cats are very social creatures and want to be by people all the time. Thus when they are shut behind the door they meow and cry in the most forlorn way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for good ideas of how to get rid of the aggression between the two cats so they can go back to being their peaceful friendly selves in the same room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3100" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T10:27:21.323" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:30:21.140" Title="How to Reduce Hissing, Fighting and Aggression Between Two Cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-20T04:25:05.757" Score="11" ViewCount="3479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I messed up and introduced a new female 7 yr old cat to my male 8 yr old cat.. They were  doing  fairly well, a few  hisses but tolerating each other for the first few days, then my husband was sitting on the  chair and the new female  jumped up into  his lap, and  our male came into the  room. He is very attached to  my  husband, often  not  leaving  his side when he is in bed on days  when he is not well.. &#xA;After seeing the female with my husband my male cat aggressively  tried to  attack the female. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have them  separated now. but I am afraid of what will  happen  to the   little  female, if we were  to  leave them alone and accessible to each other.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I re-introduce them    very  slowly and maybe have this work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3101" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:38:54.493" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T13:59:58.047" Title="If cats were introduced too quickly, can the process be started over?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6601" CreationDate="2014-10-20T04:36:34.437" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hay starts growing in the field in the spring. It becomes time to mow (cut) the hay down as the hot weather of summer arrives. The green cut hay dries in the swaths in the field and is then baled for transport out of the field. This is first cut hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As summer bares on the cut field will grow up another stand of hay. This second stand is cut, dried and baled in the waning part of the summer. It is typical that this second cutting is a lighter harvest with less bales per acre transported off the field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First cut hay will have courser texture than second cut hay because the spring growth leads to thicker stems and stalks and heaver leaves. Second cut hay is noted for being a much finer texture, has more tender leaves and is often times more nutritious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3100" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T04:36:34.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6621" CreationDate="2014-10-20T05:17:33.177" Score="13" ViewCount="39952" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a quite energetic, 1.5 year old female cat, who used to live outside until 6 months old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We get along nicely, and I try to have play sessions with her 2-3 times a day for at least 5 minutes - it's usually two 5-minute and two 10-minute sessions every day. I have to note that these are not on a fixed schedule; the cat does not know when to expect playtime at all, and a couple of times per month there might be a day with no play sessions at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The thing is - no matter how much she plays, it never seems to be enough for her&lt;/em&gt;! This makes me a little skeptical: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is she getting the fun, exercise and stimulation she needs?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Can there be other reasons why a cat would like to play much more than usual?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There already is quality and variety in her playtime, so I doubt that new toys are the answer here. Is it possible at all that a new kitten in the household would help her? Could she just be lonely and looking for ways to spend more time with me? Any other ideas what this behaviour could indicate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some more info on her playing and asking-for-play behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I often alternate between toys from session to session, give her challenges, encourage her to run around chasing the toy and the such. She also likes to play hide-and-seek and peek-a-boo, although string toys are her favorite. She loves it all (sometimes she even purrs while playing). Most of the play sessions are very energetic. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen the slightest indication that she gets tired when playing. Sometimes she hides and waits for the moment the toy is not moving before attacking, but I believe that's just good hunting technique she learned while outside, not an indication of tiredness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The more often I play with her, the more playtime she's going to ask for. If I don't play with her for a couple of days, she might not ask at all, although she'll still engage joyfully as soon as I grab a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How she asks for playtime: Trying to lure me to the living room when I'm not there by meowing expectantly, coming to my door then running away, showing/bringing me a toy, rubbing on my legs to get my attention before making play gestures with her paws, lying on her back while playing with an imaginary toy hanging above her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She does not get aggressive when not played with, and is not&#xA;aggressive in general. She never breaks things or attacks clothes/furniture or other items.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She always respects my privacy; won't wake me up at all, won't bother me again if she's tried and I'm busy. Will only try to call out for me a couple of times and stop if she fails.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Playing is the activity we spend the most time together on: she does like to be petted, but less frequently than your average house-cat, and does not usually like to be held.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastEditorUserId="1341" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T05:23:40.160" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T17:48:19.603" Title="Why would a cat ask to play all the time and how to satisfy her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6615" CreationDate="2014-10-20T14:44:29.227" Score="3" ViewCount="10652" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of &quot;Blue&quot; as a classic name for a bloodhound or big farm/country dog, but I can't think of why that might be. A quick search didn't turn up much for me, and I am curious how this name would have originated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that some dogs can have blue eyes (e.g. huskies) but I don't think that is the case for the types of dogs that would (traditionally at least) be called Blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3103" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T19:08:11.690" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T23:00:34.687" Title="Why is &quot;Blue&quot; a traditional dog's name?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6613" CreationDate="2014-10-20T16:47:10.240" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you're thinking the name is popular from the movies and/or books you were exposed to when you were younger. After reading Shilo, and Where the Red Fern Grows as a kid, I went on a spree of reading any book I could find with a similar premise, and I noticed the same thing you did, that there was only a small number of names that get used for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's a common theme in books and movies to name the dogs something simple, so that it's not only easy to remember, but it's also easier to distinguish between human and non-human characters when the non-human characters don't have human names. In music, I think dogs gett named whatever is easiest to rhyme with, or just something that sounds good. I think the name Blue is a good name for a country song because of how the word sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of the stories that I was exposed to took place in the American countryside, so it makes sense that the dogs were dogs that you would typically find in the country. The typical dog you're going to have in the country is going to be one of the most common hounds in America, the Coonhound. Coonhounds come in two &quot;colors&quot;, red and blue, so when you hear a name like &quot;Blue&quot; it's most likely referring to the color of the hound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It might be worth mentioning that there are other breeds of dogs that are &quot;blue&quot;, and that they also commonly get named Blue as well. There are Blue Heelers, Blue Bulldogs, and Blue Terriers to name a few.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Click on the images for more information&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The American English Coonhound aka the Redtick Coonhound:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogzonenyc.com/dog-facts/redtick-coonhound-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/la9OP.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These hounds were brought to the Americas in the 17th century and are pretty common in the south I think. One of their nicknames is the Virginia Hound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can tell how they get their name, as they have a distinct red and &quot;white&quot; pattern, with red ticks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Redbone Coonhound:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbone_Coonhound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j2zk0.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imported into America not long after the Redtick Hound. The Redbone hound comes from a selective breeding of Foxhounds and Bloodhounds in order to be able to hunt tree-climbing prey, such as raccoons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the hound referred to in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where The Red Fern Grows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;VR Troopers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Hound That Thought He Was a Raccoon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Fox and the Hound (Novel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bluetick Coonhound:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetick_coonhound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bdlo7.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bluetick used to be classified under the foxhound, but was recognized as it's own breed in 1946. You'll notice that the markings are very similar to the redtick hound, but the markings are a dark black, and the tick marks are a dark blue. The blue color is quite often only noticeable as a sheen in the sunlight, so pictures here won't do it justice, but it's that blue color that gives them their name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the hound that is referred to in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where the Red Fern Grows (Though they weren't the main hounds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The song &lt;em&gt;Old King&lt;/em&gt; by Neil Young is about his Bluetick hound he had&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The song &lt;em&gt;Red Dirt Girl&lt;/em&gt; by Emmylou Harris&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The song &lt;em&gt;These Old Bones&lt;/em&gt; by Dolly Parton&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The movie &lt;em&gt;Wild River&lt;/em&gt; which he was actually called &quot;Old Blue&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Savage Sam (The sequel to Old Yeller)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Summer of Monkeys(Novel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, there are a lot of references to blueticks, and I don't know how many of them are actually named Blue, but it's probably safe to bet that there are enough of them to leave an impression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you also mentioned the bloodhound. There is also a common inference with naming animals based on the sounds they make. In this case, nearly every hound will howl, and in some hounds like bloodhounds, it will be a howl similar to &quot;balooo&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option, which I think is less-likely, bloodhounds used to sometimes referred to as blue-blooded, which stems from older references to the breed as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound#Derivation_of_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blooded hound&lt;/a&gt;, meaning they're of pure breeding stock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only bloodhound I can think of called Blue, was in the Andy Griffith Show when Barney Fife thought that a sheriff's office needed a tracking dog and hilarity ensued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-21T16:31:54.980" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T16:31:54.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22" CreationDate="2014-10-20T19:56:04.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased insurance for my cats from VPI.  The thing to understand with insurance is that on average, you will lose money on the deal.  I worked in insurance for the first 6 years of my software development career at both a carrier and an agent.  Pet insurance isn't particularly organized, so you won't generally get discounts at the vet like you do with medical insurance.  It is simply risk mitigation insurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you saved money over the life of your pet equivalent to what you would pay for insurance, it should average out over time to being less than your insurance premiums.  Ok, so if it is such a bad deal, why did I get it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two reasons, first, there is no guarantee that my pet will only have medical issues later in life.  One of my pets has had medical issues with his eye and the coverage has helped with paying for that and has covered more than we paid for that cat (though not more than we've paid for both).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second, bigger reason is one of having to place a value on my pet's life.  Say I save my money in a fund to take care of my pet.  My cat gets to be 18 years old, is getting near the end of his life and needs a $2000 procedure.  If I've been saving all that time, I have a pile of cash that I have to spend a bunch to take care of him for what may not be much more time.  I have other expenses and am in a hard spot of choosing if I really want to use that savings on my pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, instead, I've been paying for insurance all along, I don't have any great amount of money I'm outlaying at 19 years old, but rather have been paying for having whatever issues come up all along.  It is easy to decide to do the procedure because I don't have anything to lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pet insurance makes it so that I don't have to worry about the unlikely event of major medical expenses now and means that I don't have to worry about hard decisions about spending for major medical expenses later in life.  It lets me focus on doing what is best for my pet without having to worry about unpredictable costs and I give the insurance company some extra on the top for taking care of assuming that risk for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="538" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T19:56:04.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6617" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-10-20T20:13:16.203" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:13:16.203" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T20:13:16.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6618" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-10-20T20:13:16.203" Score="0" Body="For questions about the biology of a pet. It's physical attributes." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-20T20:13:16.203" LastActivityDate="2014-10-20T20:13:16.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6647" CreationDate="2014-10-20T20:39:36.703" Score="4" ViewCount="792" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're about to get our first ever puppy and we have one 3 cubic foot crate and a travel crate that is maybe two thirds the size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to use both or will this confuse the puppy? He'll probably be in the smaller crate more often to begin with and then the larger crate as we leave him alone downstairs overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We obviously don't intend to leave the dog in the crate for long periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3105" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-10-21T03:28:02.287" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T03:19:24.510" Title="Is it OK to use two different sized crates for crate training?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6610" CreationDate="2014-10-21T13:59:58.047" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can reintroduce them!&#xA;It can be a very lengthy process though, but I'm sure you know that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Begin by keeping them separated as you have. Idealy so that they&#xA;cannot see eachother. Have them eat their favourite food on&#xA;different sides of the door as close to the door as possible without&#xA;haveing them react negatively. Sideswapping can also be good (that is switch the sides of the cats every now and then so they both own the entire home).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When they are comfortable with eachothers smells, exchange the door for something &#xA;seethrouch. Like a net-door or something similar. Go&#xA;through the same process as in 1. Add some playtime while both cats can see eachother. Continue till the cats are comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When they are comfortable with eachother on different sides of a seethrough barriere let them have supervised visits with eachother. When you feel they are comfortable with eachother without showing any kind of agression you can let them live together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the geist of it but a bit simplified. Positive pheromones can help. I don't know what is available to you, but something like feliway can help &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.feliway.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details I can reccomend reading something by Jackson Galaxy or watch his show My Cat From Hell&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T13:59:58.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6612" CreationDate="2014-10-21T16:18:16.190" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think she needs some more stimulation. Keep in mind that she is still a young cat with a lot of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say a good place to start is to make the playsessions longer and atleast one or two of them very high speed. Try to make her pant. I have a 2 years old bengal cat and she can easily run at top speed and do crazy jumps for 15 minutes without being tired at all, and keep up for 15 more minutes of less intense play. And she could do with several of these playsessions a day! There's no set rule that a playsession should only be 5-10min long. For some cats it's enough. For others it is much too little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that might benefit your situation is to have set playtimes. Cats love routine and if she knows when playtime is the chance is greater that she won't ask so much. But for this to work you need to be very consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she eats some kibble and is food-motivated a puzzle-toy or two can help keep her occupied for a while and it lets her think. Klicker training is also a fun way to make her think. Cats get tired from activities where they have to think and solve problems too! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kitten could go both ways. It could help with in the sense that they play together, but if you are unlucky they will not tolerate eachother. She will still want to play with you though. My cats play a lot together, but wants to play with me more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's really any other reason for her play drive than her being a very active cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T16:18:16.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6508" CreationDate="2014-10-21T16:32:31.270" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat on cat play cannot be forced. Some cats live together their entire lives but never play with each other. That your cats do play together is great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to encourage their relationship is to play with them together. String toys on a stick, like the Bird or similar toys are easy to use with one or more cats and lets you direct the toy very precisely so that you can focus on the cat that you want to focus on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So really, there's no clear cut way to make cats play more with each other. They don't work like dogs and the only thing you can do is continue to try and play with them together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastEditorUserId="5332" LastEditDate="2015-07-08T12:41:22.997" LastActivityDate="2015-07-08T12:41:22.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6456" CreationDate="2014-10-21T16:50:09.670" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only study I have seen on size of cats related to castration says the opposite. If a cat is castrated in early age their bones actually get a tiny bit larger as it delays the closure of the growth-cycle of their bones. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.se/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=5&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=0CEkQFjAE&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.felinova.be%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F09%2FRoot-M.V.-et-al-0000-Effect-of-prepuberal-and-postpuberal-gonadectomy-on-radial-physeal-closure-in-male-and-female-domestic-cats.pdf&amp;amp;ei=8qdGVMCgGYjmyQO16oHgAw&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNHXe3LWupl8UOeKlDOAaMBCOTYFnQ&amp;amp;sig2=CNCyhZ5bw9mpOQ6NRpnYVA&amp;amp;bvm=bv.77880786,d.bGQ&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;THE EFFECT OF PREPUBERAL AND POSTPUBERAL GONADECTOMY ON&#xA;RADIAL PHYSEAL CLOSURE IN MALE AND FEMALE DOMESTIC CATS&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If neutered before puberty the jowls will not grow as large though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastEditorUserId="3106" LastEditDate="2014-10-21T18:47:46.647" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T18:47:46.647" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-21T21:54:39.290" Score="4" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm entering an ASCA agility trial for the first time, how do I know if I should enter Novice A or B? I am assuming that it is like AKC Novice A vs. Novice B, in that if the handler has ever titled a dog that they should enter Novice B. The dog I am entering has never trialed in ASCA before and I have never trialed in ASCA before. I do have several titles with this dog and others in other venues (USDAA and AKC) though so not sure which to enter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T21:58:04.767" Title="When entering an ASCA agility trial how do I know if I should enter Novice A or B?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6624" CreationDate="2014-10-21T21:58:04.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to page 25 of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asca.org/Portals/0/AgilityRules.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.asca.org/Portals/0/AgilityRules.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the dog or handler has previously earned a Regular Agility Standard – Novice (RS-N) title, a Gamblers &#xA;  Agility Standard – Novice (GS-N) title, or a Jumpers Agility Standard – Novice (JS-N) title or any of the &#xA;  equivalents from any international style agility association, then they must enter in the Novice B category for that &#xA;  particular class. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, because I have titles in USDAA and AKC then I enter him in Novice B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-10-21T21:58:04.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6481" CreationDate="2014-10-22T07:37:55.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to check if your cat is overweight is to compare to something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q2FPH.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q2FPH.png&quot; alt=&quot;Cat weight chart from the Las Vegas Pet Weight Loss website&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://lasvegaspetweightloss.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and talk to a veterinarian specializing in cats, preferably cats with weight problems. If you are uncertain about the knowledge of your regular veterinarian, seek out a second opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he does have a weight problem, you will have to put him on a diet. Now, I don't have anything backing this up, but a diet based on activity seems uncertain. How do you know what he is doing all day? Now, it could probably work, but an easier solution is just to reduce the amount of energy he gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;very important&lt;/em&gt; that a cat doesn't get starved while dieting. You cannot just calculate the required energy intake for the goal weight and go from there. A cat must lose weigh slowly. A cat that isn't fed properly can develop &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=1455&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fatty liver which is &lt;em&gt;very dangerous&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;So if you are unsure about the dieting process, contact your veterinarian! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:06:08.197" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:08.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-22T09:03:53.777" Score="6" ViewCount="2359" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I gave a very nice bone (apparently) to my dog, but also it was a very big one and since it's a young dog I didn't want her to eat all of it, or she'd get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've tried to do as I usually do, I put a treat below her nose and tried to take the bone back. That usually works but not this time, she just started chewing it even faster. I insisted and eventually she growled a bit so she wasn't going to let it go. In the end, I clapped my hands to startle her and took the bone back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering, assuming I really can't find any nice treat to give her in exchange for the bone, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3107" LastEditorUserId="3107" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T09:20:04.157" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T14:05:36.323" Title="How to get dog to give back a bone when you have nothing better to give?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6628" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-10-22T19:22:46.540" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-22T19:22:46.540" LastActivityDate="2014-10-22T19:22:46.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6629" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-10-22T19:22:46.540" Score="0" Body="Any medical condition with specific symptoms which causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, or death." OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T14:00:23.880" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T14:00:23.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6630" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-10-22T19:24:05.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions tagged &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/psychology&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;psychology&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;psychology&lt;/a&gt; ask about particular behaviors, motivations, and attitudes.  Some may go further and request explanations of the cause of the behavior (background), as well as means of behavior adjustment and/or prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:51:51.470" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:51:51.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6631" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-10-22T19:24:05.103" Score="0" Body="Regarding a pet's mental status, or motivation for behaviors or attitudes." OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:51:51.470" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T04:51:51.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6514" CreationDate="2014-10-23T19:32:14.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Younger turtles do tend to have softer shells, and it may take years for a turtle to fully develop a strong shell. This mobility does show that the shell is soft, but softness at a young age is normal. However, a turtle's shell can get too soft; this happens when the turtle has metabolic bone disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to avoid getting metabolic bone disease, the turtle has to get sun exposure and should be fed a good source of protein, with a calcium to phosphorus ratio greater than 1.3. Supplementation of calcium is an option; just keep in mind too much of anything is bad. If the turtle has not been basking, supplement its food with some vitamin D. This should only be done when you are entirely sure that the turtle is not basking, as supplementing a basking turtle can be deleterious. Signs of metabolic bone disease include an unusually soft shell, and weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the turtle has an appropriate combination of enough calcium and vitamin D in its diet, then even with a soft shell the turtle should be healthy. If the turtle's mass has dropped and the shell has become softer, then measures should be taken to strengthen the shell, through the diet and if possible through placing the turtle for 10-30 min under the sun daily. However, if the temperatures are extremely high, then the turtle should be placed for only a few minutes. Other problems in turtles' shells include shell rot and many others, you can see these by following this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medshell.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medshell.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-11-20T13:19:45.670" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T13:19:45.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6627" CreationDate="2014-10-23T20:44:13.460" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try distracting her with something else. My dog gets this way with balls and she's an expert guarder. Squeek a toy that she can't see, or try acting like you're about to go out (jingling keys, putting on shoes, etc.). If she's super into either of those things she'll likely drop the bone to see what's up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally though, to train her to drop the bone you'll have to start with training her to drop lower value things and slowly build up to something as high value as that bone. I've been trying to teach my dog a more reliable 'drop it' command. I do it by playing tug/fetch with her. We play a regular tug for a while, then i say drop it and hold the toy tightly by my legs (for leverage). If i don't move the toy she gets bored and lets go. Then i say &quot;yes!&quot; (if you use a clicker that's when you'd click) and either throw it for her to chase or give it back to her very enthusiastically so it's rewarding. At first she wouldn't drop it for quite a bit, now she never tugs for more than a couple of seconds before dropping it. Progress :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2014-10-23T20:44:13.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6640" CreationDate="2014-10-24T04:49:30.833" Score="1" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to convert my soft water aquarium into marin aquarium, but before I do that I want to make sure I have all the required equipments and few critical equipments in spare as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already have the following equipment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The aquarium I've is a glass aquarium of 220 US gallons (Which is right now a soft water aquarium)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a very good skills of maintaining all types of soft water fish and now I want to make a nice marin aquarium with reef.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As of now I have 2 SUNSUN External Canister Filter (Model HW-304A) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;300W automatic Heaters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a bear tank (No gravells or stones at all)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wave maker sunsun JVP-101A quantity 1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Filtration media in sunsun filter is below:&#xA; 1) Mechanical spange&#xA; 2) Active Carbon bag of 1 KG&#xA; 3) Ceramic Bio Rings 2 KG&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 Air pumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13W UV filter of sunsun again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;LED lighting which is normal LED lighting which is used for home use and not for aquariums :P&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I missing any essential equipment? Is there anything recommended that I don't already have? Should I have spares of anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One very important thing that I know I am missing is Skimmer and the water testing kit. I use water provided by the government here. I want to ensure that I don't have to do the maintenance now and then I would prefer to do it once in 5 weeks. Right now I do it once in 6 months and I do not have cloudy water or dirty water at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Budget is not a constraint for me I am ready to spend around a 1 to 2 thousand USDs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2706" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:40:26.693" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T20:31:08.053" Title="What remaining equipment do I need for a marine aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-10-29T01:32:05.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6627" CreationDate="2014-10-24T11:38:33.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not natural to take food away once you gave it to her. &#xA;When a higher placed dog leaves the rest of the food to a lower placed, it's permitted to end the meal. That is totally different than asking her to give back a ball or other play-stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in case of emergency, don't get angry. Don't force her to give a bone back. In case of emergency she will understand. Dogs feel the difference in your attitude and will let it go when you stay calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: never let her give back food, train her to give back toys if you ask her to do so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3110" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T14:32:23.227" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T14:32:23.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6373" CreationDate="2014-10-24T15:28:49.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hooray for British Shorthairs! I've got two of them, a brother and sister pair, since they were 5 months old. Like yours, they were neutered at 6 months old, and they're 3.5 years old now. On recommendation of the breeder, we always fed them BARF-food - fresh meat frozen into a sausage-like shape, which we had to thaw before feeding it to them (BARF stands for either 'Bones and Raw Food' or 'Biologically Appropriate Raw Food' - the idea is that cats naturally eat fresh meat plus a few bones, and that this diet provides all they really need). Additionally, they always had a supply of dry food. We never gave them kitten food, nor did their breeder, since BARF is very close to what a cat would eat naturally. So I guess it really depends more on what type of food you're feeding than whether you're feeding kitten or adult food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, though, about 1.5 years ago our tomcat developed urinary tract problems a short while after we had switched to a new brand of dry food (and I'm pretty sure it was the dry food). Ever since then, he's on a vet-prescribed special diet, and he gained loads of weight (he's 7 kg right now, even though he only gets tiny portions). We kept his sister on BARF, but gave her more wet food and less dry food (of another brand), and she is doing absolutely fine, she's not fat at all. My point is that the food prescribed by the vet is chock full of grains, and while it guarantees that he won't have any urinary problems anymore, it doesn't seem to be very healthy on a very different level (I'm just too scared to take him off the diet food and switch him back to BARF because I'm afraid I might notice too late). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So whichever food you choose for your cat, make sure it's as natural as possible, contains very little or preferably no grains at all, nor any sugar, and lots of water. That should go a long way in providing him with all the nutrients he needs, while it will at the same time prevent him from consuming calories that he can't process (grains and sugars) and that will make him fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This page gives a lot of good information on feeding cats: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.catinfo.org/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T11:52:51.237" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T11:52:51.237" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3108" CreationDate="2014-10-24T16:29:50.177" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the available research focuses on reducing the amount of time the kits nurse on the doe (so there is less stress on the doe) without an increase in mortality or decrease in body weight of the kits. So, with that in mind...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was able to find a &lt;a href=&quot;http://wrs.webs.upv.es/files/journals/vol9_4_pascual.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;review of weaning strategies&lt;/a&gt;. Here are a summary of the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In experiments that compared different weaning ages, 14 days is definitely too young. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were mixed results with weaning at 18-21 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Xiccato et al (2000) and Trocino et al (2001) observed that early weaned kits (21 and 25 days) showed a lower weight at 32 days than those wened at 28 and 32 days, but the 4 groups presented a similar weight at 56 days with no difference in mortality. Similar results have been recently obtained by Gidenne and Fortun-Lamothe (2001) although a higher mortality during the late weaning period (32-45 days) was registered for early weaning kits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author suggests exploring weaning between 21-25 days, but this may not be desirable in a pet breeding environment since we are not trying to maximize production and there may be some risk to the kits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author does suggest that kits perform better if fed special weaning diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;formulation has to be considered that: a) the kits do not have a great capacity for carbohydrate digestion b) the type of protein and fat used could affect their following performance, and c) a high solid food intake should be promoted to improve the maturity of their digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/t1690e/t1690e.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Rabbit: Husbandry, health, and production&lt;/a&gt; is an often quoted source of standards in rabbit breeding and managment. The guidelines on weaning give ranges from 28-42 days, and depend on the reproductive rate you want out of the doe.  In particular, the authors state:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Later weaning is in no way advantageous except for fryer production - very young animals which can be sold at eight weeks and have not undergone weaning shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, they also recommend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where the quality or quantity of the feed is not up to standard, it is preferable to&#xA;  wean rabbits at about 40 days &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can kits be weaned at 4 weeks old? Yes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the best time to wean kits? Weaning ages seem to vary from 21-42 days (and perhaps more). It depends on your goals/strategies. A pet or fancy/show breeder will wean at a different time from a breeder selling fryers and they will both wean at a different time from a breeder selling roasters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weaning strategy review: Pascual, J.J. Early Weaning of Young Rabbits: A Review. World Rabbit Science 2001. Vol 9 (4) 165-170.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References cited in quotes from the Weaning Strategy Review:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Xiccato, , Trocino A, Sartori A, Quaque PI, 2000. Early weaning of rabbits: effect of age and diet on weaning and post-weaning performance. Proc. 7th World Rabbit Congress Valencia Vol C 483-490.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trocino A, Xiccato G, Sartori A, Queaque PI. 2001 Effect of starter diet and weaning age on growth, caecal fermentation and body composition of young rabbits. 2nd meeting of workgroup 3 and 4. COST Action 848, Godollo, Hungary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gidenne T, Fortun-Lamothe L 2001. Early weaning effect on performance and health. 2nd meeting of workgroup 3 and 4. COST Action 848 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-24T17:13:32.237" LastActivityDate="2014-10-24T17:13:32.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6634" CreationDate="2014-10-24T22:15:13.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are an infinite number of ways to setup a reef so I won't point to any specific products.  I'm also making the assumption that by reef you mean a marine tank with rock, coral displays, inverts, fish, etc.  Before I even begin, you need to realize that $1000-$2000 may not get you where you are expecting with a 220 gallon reef tank build.  You may be able to get started with that, but in my experience you will likely need 3x that amount to start a tank that will be stable and successful.  This figure does not include any fish, inverts, or corals and assumes you have some of the equipment already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things I don't see listed that I would consider a must have for a 220 gallon reef:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RO/DI system&lt;/strong&gt; with a mixing station setup.  If you are going to do&#xA;it properly, you need to get your total dissolved solids as close to&#xA;0ppm as possible during the initial fillup, when topping off and when&#xA;doing water changes.  An RO/DI system will do that for you and is more economical than buying RO/DI water every time you need it.  RO/DI systems produce water relatively slowly so you will need large storage containers, pumps, and basic plumbing to set this up so the water is available when you need it.  I wouldn't even consider a 220 gallon reef without this in place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Test kits&lt;/strong&gt; of various sorts.  I would look at master test kits made specifically for marine tanks as well as master test kits made specifically for reefs.  They will test different things.  There are also other test kits you will need that may not come in the master kits.  Get the best kits/testers you can afford as some of the cheaper ones are much more difficult to read in my opinion.  You should also have a hydrometer or even better a refractometer to test the water salinity when mixing for water changes or top offs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rock&lt;/strong&gt;, and probably a combination of base dry rock and some live rock.  Rock in a reef does a lot of the maintenance work for you.  You can have marine tanks with no rock, but I certainly wouldn't call those &amp;quot;reefs&amp;quot;.  Even a lot of fish only tanks have live rock (FOWLR).  A lot of reef forums will recommend a pound of rock for every gallon of water, not all of which needs to be in your display tank.  In your case, that would be 220lbs of rock.  If you went with all live rock to meet this recommendation, which some people do, your budgeted funds would probably be gone, completely.  Of course, you could go with much cheaper base rock but half your budget would still be gone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reef lighting&lt;/strong&gt; that will support coral life.  This is probably one of the most important pieces of equipment for your coral.  You need to get lights specifically made to support reef life.  Your options are basically T5's, Metal Halides, LED's or a combination made specifically for reefs.  For proper lighting of a 220 gallon, you will easily need almost your entire budget for this item alone and you will almost certainly need multiple fixtures.  See some of the recommendations on this forum: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/lighting-recomendations-for-a-220-gallon-202119.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;thereeftank.com&quot;&gt;220 gallon lighting recommendations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A sump&lt;/strong&gt; to house all your equipment and probably a rather large one (55 gallon+)  I've never had a reef tank that large, but all the successful ones (and most reef tanks in general) I have seen are using sumps rather than canister filters.  There is just too many other pieces of equipment and media you may need a place to house.  Protein skimmers, dedicated refugium, chillers, controllers, UV sterilizers, calcium reactors, carbon reactors, kalkwasser drips, additional rock, chaeto, other macroalgae, the list goes on.  I'm not saying you can't use a canister, but I believe you may still need a sump for other things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let any of this discourage you though because I am not an expert, just a hobbyist.  I have also seen some impressive tanks put together for a fraction of the normal costs.  I would however not rush into this as you could lose some serious money doing it wrong.  I would keep doing research and join some of the excellent forums out there related to reef keeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3112" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T20:31:08.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6684" CreationDate="2014-10-25T07:32:34.877" Score="5" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is thinking of working in a breeder but we have a cat at home. They have lost cats to sickness. They have alcohol gels for hands and shoes but is there information from a reputable organisation about the standards that you should keep? They don't much of clue here in Japan- the owner only started hygiene after the deaths.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-25T14:20:43.980" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T16:48:58.367" Title="Hygiene practices for working in a cat breeder" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6724" CreationDate="2014-10-26T02:19:06.660" Score="7" ViewCount="2145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mussels are referred to as nature's filters, because of how they siphon water to eat, and take the particles out of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a native tank set up, and I was thinking that maybe I could do away with the mechanical filters, and put in a couple mussels in there instead. Supposedly one adult mussel can filter 10 gallons of water in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be possible to replace my mechanical filters with mussels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T02:12:46.840" Title="Could I use mussels to filter a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6662" CreationDate="2014-10-26T09:53:21.437" Score="9" ViewCount="1430" Body="&lt;p&gt;I discovered that my cat was pregnant only a week before she give birth to kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What behaviors or signs could have indicated to me sooner that she was pregnant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3115" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T00:22:55.263" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:08:34.397" Title="How can I tell if my cat is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-26T23:22:40.883" Score="4" ViewCount="720" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to give myself a buffer for water changes. Right now ammonia and nitrites are stable, and nitrates rise as expected. I'd like to know what other steps I can take to reduce the rise inn my nitrate levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen these star things which are supposed to drop into the filter, but I'm pretty sure those are for the ammonia and nitrites, as bacteria that eat nitrates don't grow in oxygen rich waters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 20 gallon long planted community aquarium with a log, a few porous rocks, and an emperor 400 filter (big sale). I'd like to know aside from the plants, what else can I do to reduce nitrogen levels? I'm not trying to eliminate water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T14:38:26.930" Title="What will keep my nitrates low?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6645" CreationDate="2014-10-27T01:51:27.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You basically have 2 options to control nitrates in any fish tank, fresh, salt, or brackish: reduce nitrate introduction (stocking and feeding), or increase nitrogen removal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only realistic way to reduce nitrates without water changes in any fresh or saltwater aquarium is through anaerobic breakdown which occurs in anoxic (oxygen free) environments. The problem in a tank this size is that there is virtually nothing that will remove nitrates that is anywhere near cost effective as water changes as it's almost impossible to create the environment that anaerobic bacteria can exist. Even in a 100 gallon freshwater tank it's almost impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking there are a few non-water change ways to reduce nitrates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deep sand beds &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large low flowing ceramic or other filtration blocks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sulfur denitrator filters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coil denitrator filters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae turf scrubbers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae or plant refugiums&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar,&#xA;biopellets, or other), but this method is arguably ineffective in&#xA;freshwater as it normally requires a protein skimmer to work&#xA;effectively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistically in a 20 gallon tank, none of these would be remotely worth the cost compared to figuring out an aggressive water change schedule. It would likely take years of operation of another method to break even compared to even daily 100% water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2016-09-27T14:38:26.930" LastActivityDate="2016-09-27T14:38:26.930" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6619" CreationDate="2014-10-27T03:19:24.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start with 1 crate when first teaching him to love the crate, but once he's gotten that down, you can easily transfer the value into a new crate. We've taught our dog that &quot;go to bed&quot; just means run to the nearest empty crate. It might help to first start with similar style crates before transitioning to a different style so she gets the idea that your &quot;crate&quot; command means any crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't forget that the puppy's first crate should just be big enough for him to stand up and turn around. This will make potty training much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An added bonus is that once your dog loves running to crates, you can use them in all kinds of training where you want to practice with your dog at a distance such as recalls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommended viewing: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;amp;Product_ID=1363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crate Games&lt;/a&gt; (There is a section on how to specifically use two crates to build value for something else.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T03:19:24.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6649" CreationDate="2014-10-27T10:32:27.337" Score="8" ViewCount="1676" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several posts here about the right ways and wrong ways to change water in your fish tank, and all the ways it can go wrong.  Why do you need to change it?  It would seem unlikely that water would wear-out, you need to manage the pH and actively filter to keep it clean, if you are managing it effectively why would you need to change it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T16:52:50.010" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T16:56:12.957" Title="Why do you need to change the water in your fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6648" CreationDate="2014-10-27T13:48:40.403" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the primary reasons for water changes is to remove harmful waste and chemical compounds from your tank that tend to build up over time.  This is especially important in new aquariums where there aren't bacteria and an ecosystem in place to handle any of these compounds organically.  There are two compounds in particular that most people target for reduction by doing water changes: nitrates and phosphates.  In established aquariums, these two things build up naturally and will cause algae blooms, stunted growth and stress your fish.  In newer aquariums that haven't fully cycled, water changes may be used to reduce more harmful compounds like ammonia and nitrites if they get dangerously high and there are live animals in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important reason for water changes is that it can replace trace elements and minerals that are depleted from an aquarium's water over time.  The fresh water or fresh salt water added during a water change will replenish some of these elements and minerals.  Without water changes, an aquarium will require much more monitoring and dosing of supplements to maintain a balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] you need to manage the pH and actively filter to keep it clean, if you&#xA;are managing it effectively why would you need to change it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's true that pH and cleanliness is important, but it's not necessarily the most important.  You can easily keep a tank that looks clean and maintains a stable pH but the water is toxic to your fish or other critters.  A lot of other levels need to be monitored that could be more crucial for your fish/invertebrates/corals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ammonia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phosphate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alkalinity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calcium, magnesium, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3112" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T16:56:12.957" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T16:56:12.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="193" CreationDate="2014-10-27T13:55:03.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly if she picks the dog up or lets it sit on her lap every time it comes asking for attention she needs to stop doing so.  She must give attention when it suits her, not the dog.  This will show it that she is the leader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly she must start baby steps, but the dog in another room for a second and then let it out and treat it...slowly increase the time she leaves it in another room with the door closed, treat it every time.  Never let it out while it is yelping, as soon as there is silence open and treat the dog.  If the dog destroys anything don't reprimand it, the dog forgets what it done wrong and associates the hiding or scolding with being left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patience is key and dogs that suffer from anxiety require positive reinforcement.  Training helps a lot, teach the dog new tricks and reward it for doing them, this boosts his/her self esteem which makes a big difference to the behaviour, also try walking the dog before it is left alone, it will have less energy and might respond better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T13:55:03.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6627" CreationDate="2014-10-27T14:05:36.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training, you need to assert yourself as the pack leader.  You do not ask for something back, you take it back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train your dog to drop whatever it has in its mouth when you say a command.  To get started do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put a treat on the floor, each time your dog tries to take it block it with your hand and say &quot;leave it&quot;.  When the dog listens and stops trying to take the treat give the treat to the dog to eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;once the dog does this without issues you can start using it with toys, the dog must &quot;leave it&quot; on command then you treat him/her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lets the dog know that you are the master and also that obeying you comes with a reward.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dogs must do the following before they eat their meals that are on the floor already:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They must be on their beds while I place their food down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They must be lying down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I place a treat on their paw with the command &quot;leave it&quot;...after a few seconds I say &quot;good dogs&quot; and they eat the treat.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I then ask them one by one to sit, heel, &quot;touch&quot; (they must tap their snouts on my open hand), &quot;look at me&quot; (they must make eye contact with me) and finally I say &quot;eat&quot; which lets them know I am happy with them and they may eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They love it, their tails wag a million miles and hour after the training and it keeps them disciplined and in the order they need to be in our 'pack', with me at the top as alpha.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:  I don't agree at all with not taking things back, that once she has it its hers.  In Nature if the alpha comes back he/she takes back what they want without any resistance.  Your dog should NEVER growl at you, that is a direct challenge against your authority as a leader, it will result in a dog that is aggressive as an adult and challenging to other humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T14:05:36.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3245" CreationDate="2014-10-27T14:13:28.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that he lets you take his food without resistance shows that he is seeking reassurance, you follow him each time so he has learnt that this is a good way to get your attention.  I was going to say this is a alpha thing and that leaders dont follow but this doesnt sound like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignore him trying to make you follow him, the power should not lie with him.  Instead, try teach him tricks, he will get that rewarding feeling that way and after he can be allowed to eat as a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T14:13:28.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6209" CreationDate="2014-10-27T14:17:41.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exercise, before you leave give him a solid run, make him exhausted.  Do not scold him when you come home and he chewed some stuff, this only tells him &quot;hey I get attention if I chew things&quot;, if it is you he misses then put a tshirt you sleep in on his bed with him.  Don't make a fuss when you come home, avoid eye contact and ignore him for 5mins, that way he wont grow anxiety about &quot;OMW WHEN IS HE BACK? I WANT THAT INSTANT RELIEF&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pitbull and she did the same, lots of exercise was needed, we got a second dog as a companion and as she is a powerful breed we gave her access to something she was allowed to chew, a tyre we hung in the garden, everything else was off limits and we reprimanded her the second we see her try chew something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We now leave our dogs some times for up to 6 hours alone in the house without a single issue.  We confine them to the same area, so don't confuse your dog by opening him up to certain areas then reducing him again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T14:17:41.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6669" CreationDate="2014-10-27T16:33:52.297" Score="3" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different kinds of substrates available for fish tanks (i.e. sand, gravel). I've even heard some people say they don't use any substrate for some of their tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the substrate in a fish tank purely aesthetic, or is there some purpose to having it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-27T16:55:37.770" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T05:59:44.943" Title="What is the point of substrate in a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6667" CreationDate="2014-10-27T16:53:10.190" Score="7" ViewCount="10028" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I go to the pet store, I see fish tanks that are not only different sizes, but different shapes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, there are tanks that hold the same amount of water, but one could be taller than the other, or one has a bowed front, and there are even some octagon-shaped fish tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the shape of a fish tank have any impact on keeping fish inside of it, or is it just for looks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:18:09.273" LastActivityDate="2019-01-20T21:32:03.950" Title="Does the shape of a fish tank make any difference?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6327" CreationDate="2014-10-27T17:38:37.237" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the large size difference between a cockatoo and a finch, your cockatoo could easily hurt the finches without meaning to, no matter how sweet or friendly he is, so first things first, you should never let them out with the cockatoo. Now, if you're going to have them in a cage inside the aviary, that &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; work, but the main problem I'm seeing is in the size of the cage bars. Most finch cages are going to be designed with thin bars and small bar spacing, no more than &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=2852&quot;&gt;5/8 of an inch&lt;/a&gt;. Any bigger than that, and the finches run a chance of getting stuck in between the bars. Now, for a cockatoo, the bars to a normal cage are going to be far thicker, with the spacing likely around 3/4 of an inch. This is because, as a much larger and stronger bird, he could easily bend and/or break the bars of a cage meant for finches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, if you want to keep the finches inside the same enclosure as the cockatoo, you are not going to be able to simply buy a cage, you will have to make one. It will have to be both strong enough to keep the cockatoo from being able to break or bend it, and small enough to keep the finches from being injured. You'll also want a double layer, so if the cockatoo starts climbing on the outside, his feet will not be able to reach inside the finch cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you have to make sure that there is no possible way that the cockatoo can get to the finches or break any part of their cage. In the long run, it would likely be easier to just keep the finches outside of the aviary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3120" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T17:38:37.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6644" CreationDate="2014-10-27T23:08:34.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Heat Cycles Cease&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An intact female cat will experience heats every 1-3 weeks during breeding season. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/estrus-cycles-in-cats/5635&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VCA Animal Hospitals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The breeding season for cats will vary according to geographic and environmental factors such as temperature and the number of daylight hours. In the Northern Hemisphere, female cats usually cycle from January until the late fall. Cats that live in more tropical regions or that mainly live indoors may cycle all year round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs that your cat is in heat are mostly behavioral. They become much more attention seeking than normal, and will raise their rear end up while walking or being stroked. They also have a unique (LOUD) vocal cry during this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any intact female cat of kitten bearing age will have regular heats&lt;/strong&gt; (during breeding season), and &lt;strong&gt;if it does not your cat could be pregnant&lt;/strong&gt; or have a pseudo-pregnancy (false pregnancy). The cat should see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pinking&lt;/em&gt; (Change in Nipples)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nipples of a pregnant cat become swollen and rosier in color about three weeks after mating. This can be difficult for inexperienced owners to determine, and some cats will experience this just from the heat cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Appetite Increases&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pregnant cat will eat much more than normal (she needs enough calories to make new cats). This may be difficult to determine if the cat has been stray/feral for some time before you start caring for her, because cats in those situations tend to be undernourished anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Abdominal Changes/Weight Gain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pregnant cat will gain weight rapidly, but it will not be spread evenly around her body, instead it will be mostly in her belly. In later stages of pregnancy it's easier to see because when she lays on her side she will have a bulgy belly (the extra mass is solid and doesn't slide around like fat will).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Palpitation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinarians and experienced breeders are able to feel the fetuses at a very young age, but attempting this unsupervised is not recommended as you can injure the babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:08:34.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6609" CreationDate="2014-10-27T23:30:21.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you are doing the right thing by separating them. If they are a danger to each other when they are in the same room, then the responsible thing is to separate them until they can learn to be together again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you don't say what happened around the time that they started fighting. The most common reason that two cats who previously got along with each other will start fighting is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2484/how-to-stop-two-male-cats-from-fighting&quot;&gt;Non-Recognition Aggression&lt;/a&gt;. This often happen after one cat returns from the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common problem is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/redirected-aggression-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Redirected/Displaced Aggression&lt;/a&gt;. This type of aggression will happen when a cat sees something threatening through a window or somewhere else that the cat cannot react to. The cat lashes out at the nearest family member (the other cat in this case) and forgets the initial trigger, just remembering being upset at the family member. This type of aggression is harder to determine because if you didn't see the initial trigger, it appears that the aggression just came out of nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For both of these types of aggression, the solution is to keep them separated for a period of 2-3 weeks (so that they forget whatever the cause of the aggression was), then gradually introduce them as if they had never met before.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before letting them see each other, start scent swapping. Take a cat bed or blanket that each cat has been laying on and put it in the other cat's room for a day. Lock CatA in an extra room and let CatB explore the room that CatA has been living in (and vice versa). Let them interact under a closed door (they can smell and hear each other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, after another 1-2 weeks of scent swapping, start feeding them within sight of each other. First, they should be fairly far away from each other while still able to see each other. Gradually (over the course of several weeks) move the food bowls closer to each other so they come to associate the other cat with food (good stuff!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can take multiple months to get two cats to be friends again, but if they previously tolerated each other, you should be able to get them to that state again. Go slow and have patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:30:21.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6487" CreationDate="2014-10-27T23:42:08.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other (very good) suggestions, you can talk to your vet about anti-anxiety medications. We put our shy girl on Amitriptyline for urinary cystitis, and it had the unexpected side effect of making her a lot less anxious about our day-to-day moving around the house. She even let a stranger pet her (for the first time in 6 years).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amitriptyline can be made into a dermal gel by a compounding pharmacy, so you won't have to stress your cat out additionally by forcing a pill or nasty liquid into his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-27T23:42:08.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6668" CreationDate="2014-10-28T03:13:54.513" Score="9" ViewCount="3743" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just adopted a six month old ginger cat. I have never had any pets before.&#xA;The rescue from which I adopted the cat, made its cats eat a lot of dry food and about a can of wet food per day (half in morning and rest at night). It doesn't drink any water from the water bowl. I have read the answers to the question below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1881/how-do-i-motivate-a-cat-to-drink-more-water&quot;&gt;How do I motivate a cat to drink more water?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The accepted answer mentions to feed my cat wet food instead of dry food. The lady at the rescue told not to feed a lot of wet food as it might cause gingivitis. Is it true? Can wet food cause gingivitis to cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3124" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2019-10-11T16:27:03.767" Title="Can wet food cause gingivitis to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6655" CreationDate="2014-10-28T04:15:34.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shape of a fish tank may influence how you can decorate it. For example a round tank probably doesn't go well with straight edged rocks. As for the varying heights, a tank may be too high to deal with comfortably. On the other hand, between two tanks with the same surface area but one which is deeper, you may want to choose the deeper one as it helps dilute the wastes in the water, provided the fish or other inhabitants can handle deeper water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, height isn't the most important aspect, as long as it's enough then what really matters is the surface area. A fish probably won't mind being in a round or hexagon tank as long as their is enough space and it is set up appropriately. What you need to consider before buying the tank is how you are going to place the decorations, filters, heaters, and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T04:15:34.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6655" CreationDate="2014-10-28T10:33:44.447" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite apart from the looks and size, which is how many people select an aquarium, different fish have different requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some species need a lot of vertical space, others are happy to sit near the bottom or surface all the time. You'll need a higher water column for the first group, for the second you want a larger surface area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you're going for a simulation of a shallow jungle stream, with some bottom dwellers as the main occupants. A large, shallow, tank would be the tank of choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going for a steep drop rock slope you want a tall tank but the surface area might be less of a factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you're going to need to have proper filtration and aeration in both scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3125" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T10:55:35.697" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T10:55:35.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6665" CreationDate="2014-10-28T11:10:50.797" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience a cat fed solely on wet food is more likely to have gingivitis issues than one fed a mix of dry and wet food, or solely dry food (which brings increased risks of dehydration). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild, cats eat most of their prey and the chewing on bones helps to scrape tartar from their teeth (as does the fur/feathers/skin). Wet food doesn't provide that scraping, so if the cat doesn't have something it likes to chew on (or someone willing to brush its teeth), a cat fed entirely on wet food is likely to have problems with gingivitis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally feed my cats a mixture - they have kibble available at all times, and get one small can of wet food each in the evenings. This seems to be working fairly well at keeping gingivitis at bay (there is a genetic component: although I've done this will all the cats I've had, some have had more tooth and gum issues than others). Raw bones (not cooked - cooking makes them brittle and likely to splinter) can also help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/preventing-gingivitis-in-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.vetinfo.com/preventing-gingivitis-in-cats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T11:10:50.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6654" CreationDate="2014-10-28T15:11:07.910" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essentially, for beginners, substrate is purely esthetic. The filtration purposes attained from a deep sand bed or whatever rocks used as a substrate isn't something imperative for the well being of most aquariums. Even more, usually beginners will not be dealing with animals or plants that are dependent on a specific kind of substrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for more advanced keepers, or keepers with organisms that are substrate dependent, then missing a substrate can lead to the downfall of an aquatic ecosystem. Some animals are especially dependent on sand burrowing and their well being may depend on this habit. The number one thing that tells you whether the organism is dependent on the substrate is if it has evolved in some way in order to sustain itself with the substrate in a propitious way. Some organisms may simply take advantage of a substrate in it's environment, but that does not mean all of this species needs the substrate, as it may vary in different geographic locations this species has spread to. Substrate can alter the water chemistry, softening, or hardening the water, and affecting the pH. Though the substrate can have a discernable contribution to the biological filtration, this can be made up for in the filter itself. Also, substrate may be important for hibernation, many animals such as frogs and turtles wil dig in the substrate underwater and hibernate if temperatures are very cold. Owners of outdoor ponds in countries with cold winters should provide their pond inhabitants with a substrate appropriate for their hibernation needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you'll only need to be specific when it comes to the substrate when your tank inhabitants are reliant on it. It is worth noting though that even organisms not reliant on a substrate may prefer a substrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T15:11:07.910" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9947" CreationDate="2014-10-28T18:15:21.400" Score="8" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbors have a cat that comes into our backyard at night to sleep (so cute) but my meanie Red Nose always goes over to bark at the cat. I understand my dog is trying to protect us but this cat hasn't done &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; to cause my Red Nose to bark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard Pitbulls of any kind can easily get very aggressive when people or something bothers them. I've been looking over the internet for someone who had this happen to them like me, but I see only those who talk about how their kids got bitten and things. My dog is beginning to become more and more aggressive every time the cat comes around to sleep in my yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop my Red Nose Pitbull from barking at my next door neighbors cat? Is there a safe way or solution to introducing my dog to my neighbors cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-28T20:32:33.210" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T18:58:40.477" Title="How do I stop my Red Nose Pitbull from barking at my neighbors cat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="527" CreationDate="2014-10-28T18:54:54.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog is howling at night, that probably means he isn't sleeping. Is he a breed more prone to being nocturnal like a great pyrenees? Either way... Have you tried exercising him more or giving him more play time? A tired dog is much less likely to howl at night because he'll be sleeping. Puzzle toys are great for working your dog's brain and tiring him out that way. You can also try hiding your dog's dinner in small caches around the house and having him find it. This is a really fun engaging game that's tiring and rewarding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2014-10-28T18:54:54.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6902" CreationDate="2014-10-28T21:52:10.967" Score="6" ViewCount="17528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1-year-old female Siberian Husky (~50 lbs) who has just recently became finicky about eating her food. We feed her 1.5 cups of food twice a day, which is the recommended amount from what I have read. A couple months ago she just stopped eating when we put her food down, and has to be coaxed into it and rarely finishes it all. We've taken the fact that she doesn't finish it all to simply mean she doesn't need as much, which is fine, but the behavior toward her food in general is what concerns us. She will simply ignore it until coaxed to eat, and while eating she acts as if it is unpleasant. When she does eat she will pick a couple bits up at a time and carry them to another corner, then nose them around for a minute before eventually maybe eating them. We have switched flavors twice, and both times she gobbled up the new flavor for the first few days but then returned to this state of disinterest. She shows no other outward signs of pain or discomfort, so I tend to discount that there is something wrong with her teeth or that she is sick, but we can't figure out exactly what brought on this change in behavior or if we should be concerned about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next few weeks she will have a couple kennel stays and I am concerned that she will end up going without food there because I don't expect the kennel workers to coax her into eating. We are also growing tired of having to do it every day and don't know if she needs a trip to the vet to evaluate the situation. Since there are no other signs of illness I feel that it's likely just a phase and she will eventually grow out of it, or perhaps we are just misunderstanding the behavior, but I'd like some other input on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3129" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:26:58.937" Title="Husky not eating regularly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6682" CreationDate="2014-10-29T01:23:01.810" Score="4" ViewCount="738" Body="&lt;p&gt;After carving a jack-o-lantern, one of my cats decided that he liked the texture of pumpkin.  Is it okay for him to be chewing on the pumpkin, or do I need to find a place for it out of his reach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I don't think he's eating any of it, just chewing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T15:45:44.067" Title="Is pumpkin harmful to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6675" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-10-29T01:25:55.897" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T01:25:55.897" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T01:25:55.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6676" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-10-29T01:25:55.897" Score="0" Body="The act of biting and working an object in one's mouth with teeth." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T01:25:55.897" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T01:25:55.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-29T05:01:56.417" Score="1" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an eight year old female cat named Twinkie. My cat has been with us since she was a baby and she pees on everything. I mean everything!!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she is confined to my one bedroom and is doing great. She is finally using a litter box but will pee on towels. How do I stop this behavior and how do I reintroduce her to carpet, or dogs and another cat?? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3130" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-29T15:55:27.120" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T23:58:03.567" Title="Help! My cat pees on everything!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2014-10-29T16:01:23.553" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6678" CreationDate="2014-10-29T11:28:19.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start with &lt;strong&gt;do not punish the cat&lt;/strong&gt;. She's doing this for what is - to her - a good reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see her about to go, gently pick her up and put her in the litter box (for this, you're going to want to have litter boxes in easy reach for a while), then praise her for going where she should go. I'd recommend taking a look at the answers for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3146/how-can-i-redirect-a-cat-about-to-pee-outside-the-litter-box&quot;&gt;How can I redirect a cat about to pee outside the litter box?&lt;/a&gt; for some practical advice. It's important to get the smell of urine out of anything she's hit because otherwise it will be an invitation to her to use that place again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd start by taking her to the vet and ruling out any health issues. There are a number of health problems that can cause cats to become incontinent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've made any major changes lately, you could have a stressed out cat (which will also cause cats to go where they shouldn't). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other suggestions are to make sure she has clean litter (some cats are more fastidious about this than others), make sure the type of litter doesn't bother her (some cats can be very fussy about this and refuse to use litter they don't like), make sure there's nothing around that she can use as a substitute box when you're not there to redirect her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, you're going to want to reassure her that she is still wanted and welcome no matter how frustrating her urination is to you. This is particularly important if she's doing this because she's stressed: the safer she feels the less likely she'll go where she shouldn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, use a black light/uv light to find where she's urinated, and clean everything with the best quality urine odor killers you can get (I'm not  going to point to products here because what's available varies depending on where you are - ask your vet or the local pet supply store what's best for cleaning hard floors, carpet, and fabrics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T11:28:19.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6674" CreationDate="2014-10-29T15:45:44.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/catsafety/a/SafeHalloween.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://cats.about.com/od/catsafety/a/SafeHalloween.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pumpkin itself isn't toxic, but if the pumpkin's been sitting out, it could harbor germs that will make your animal sick.  Also, if the cat does eat the pumpkin, pumpkin contains fiber that could act as a laxative (though this is a possible benefit if your cat is constipated).  In conclusion, I wouldn't worry too much if your cat does get at it, but I would still make some effort to try to keep your jack-o-lanterns away from the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T15:45:44.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6673" CreationDate="2014-10-29T16:11:38.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a dog person, but my vet usually tells me that if you feel that your pet is behaving oddly and you are concerned, that's a sign you should go to the vet. You know your pet best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T16:11:38.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6642" CreationDate="2014-10-29T16:48:58.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found recommendations for shelter hygiene that would represent best practices in a breeder. At the least, I would expect that a breeder would have some kind of plan and training for new staff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koret Shelter Medicine Program has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sheltermedicine.com/shelter-health-portal/information-sheets/sanitation-in-animal-shelters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an informational sheet&lt;/a&gt; that talks about sanitation plans.  A sanitation plan provides&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a comprehensive picture of all the areas and objects in a facility&#xA;that require periodic sanitation. For each of these, a plan needs to&#xA;address removal of organic matter (cleaning); application of a&#xA;chemical product to inactivate pathogens (disinfection) if necessary;&#xA;and drying of the surface afterwards.  When choosing a disinfectant,&#xA;we must consider the spectrum of effect; constraints against efficacy&#xA;(such as presence of organic matter); method of delivery; and time to&#xA;effect. Cleaning and disinfecting agents must be safe, cost effective,&#xA;and practical given a particular organizations strengths or&#xA;limitations in staff training or facility design. Finally, we need get&#xA;everything in writing, make sure staff are trained, and periodically&#xA;check to make sure the whole process is working properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;each written protocol needs to include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often the area/object is to be cleaned (after each use, daily,&#xA;weekly, annually, during or after an outbreak?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What cleaning and&#xA;disinfection products are to be used and how should they be applied?&#xA;(Including, in detail, the correct process for dilution and contact&#xA;time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who is responsible for sanitation? How, and how often, will you&#xA;check to make sure the process is being done correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would ask the breeder &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;Do you have a sanitation plan?&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Association of Shelter Veterinarians writes in their &lt;a href=&quot;http://oacu.od.nih.gov/disaster/ShelterGuide.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters (2010)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adequate training is required to ensure humane animal care, as well as&#xA;staff and public safety (ILAR 1996). This includes allocating time and&#xA;resources for employees and volunteers to complete training prior to&#xA;undertaking responsibility for tasks. The skills, knowledge and&#xA;training to accomplish each task must be successfully demonstrated&#xA;before proficiency is assumed. Continuing education should be provided&#xA;in order to maintain and improve skills. Documentation of training&#xA;should be maintained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be some type of training program that covers sanitation (as well as other aspects of the breeder's operation, like record keeping). I would ask the breeder &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;Do you have a staff training program that discusses sanitation?&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these organizations provide material detailed about how to select cleaning products and considerations when writing procedures that will help you review the sanitation plan and staff training to decide if it reduces the risk enough for you to feel secure about working there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since a breeder will have fewer incoming animals of questionable health than a shelter, I suspect that spot cleaning will be used more frequently than in the listed guidelines.  The breeder's sanitary plan should detail when spot cleanings are appropriate, and at least that a full disinfection should be performed any time an animal is ill. In addition, all common surfaces should always be disinfected regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T16:48:58.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6665" CreationDate="2014-10-29T17:21:12.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If dry food cleaned cats teeth, we could stop brushing our own teeth and just eat pretzels (yum). The best food to feed your cat is wet food (for the hydration issues mentioned in the linked post) and then care for your pet's teeth separately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bacterial cause of gingivitis and periodontitis in humans and in all other animals in which it has been studied is firmly established, and specific species of predominantly gram-negative anaerobes have been implicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gingivitis/stomatitis in cats, Williams CA, Aller MS. Blue Cross Animal Hospital, Fairfax, Virginia. The Veterinary Clinics of North America. Small Animal Practice [1992, 22(6):1361-1383]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because gingivitis is caused by anaerobic bacteria, keeping your pet's teeth clean of plaque/tartar make it more difficult for the anaerobes to find an oxygen free location to latch onto and start multiplying. In addition, bacteria feeds on sugars, so if you feed your cat a low carb food (nearly impossible with commercial dry foods), there are significantly less carbohydrates to feed the bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most cats, regular dental care (brushing at home, dental cleanings under anesthesia as necessary) is the only preventative for gingivitis (the exception are cats with an immune response to the bacteria, but that's still not caused by wet food). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried a variety of dental treats, raw chicken necks, and other foods to try to affect the plaque/tarter in my cats' mouths, but nothing works better than brushing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-10-29T17:21:12.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-29T22:13:26.797" Score="6" ViewCount="1172" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has had a heart murmur since birth. He is now nine years old and is a Chihuahua. He has the beginnings of congestive heart failure since he is getting some fluid in his lungs. He is currently on Lasix 20 mg two times a day. He still gets the cough/choking after being at rest for a period of time. I am assuming this is somewhat typical as I'm sure the the lasix will not completely get rid of this. My question is how bad is it for the dog to be coughing like this? It is somewhat worrisome as it almost seems like he is choking. He seems fine afterwards. It's just so frustrating that there is nothing I can really do for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3134" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T15:31:58.980" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T15:31:58.980" Title="Should I be worried about dog coughing (with heart murmur and congestive heart failure)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-30T08:33:43.317" Score="0" ViewCount="1762" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, I've been thinking of buying myself a small pet to put in my room. The problem is, i have an very tiny room, and the only real place i can put it is in a corner next to my wardrobe and the wall, which is a gap of about 60cm or 23 inches (so less than that to move the cage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought of buying a dwarf hamster, since there small and should fit that space. The problem being there nocturnal and I'm worried they'll keep me up at night (although i can be a very sound sleeper.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other small pets would be good for that space? Reptiles are mostly out of the questions since i dont want crickets and insects in my room, and fish seem a bit too boring for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3136" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-19T21:29:39.283" LastActivityDate="2015-03-19T21:29:39.283" Title="Best small pet for a fairly small space in a bedroom" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-10-30T14:02:09.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6688" CreationDate="2014-10-30T11:24:55.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;in a space that small, you will probably not want any pets at all. Yes, we all love pets, but if you do you also have to realise when you can't provide them with a suitable environment to live in.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;And being crammed between a cabinet and a wall isn't the right place for a pet, it's too claustrophobic.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;If you insist, the small rodents are probably your best bet indeed. But yes, many are nocturnal which means they're not that great company during the day. But (from when my sister had hamsters years and years ago) they're not really noisy (unless you give them a hamsterwheel that squeaks).&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I'd myself be more concerned about smell, dust, and other things that you just don't notice as much in a larger space. A rodent cage can smell rather strongly close up, even if you clean it thoroughly several times a week, and in a room that small the smell may be overpowering.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3125" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T11:24:55.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6692" CreationDate="2014-10-30T17:12:45.840" Score="6" ViewCount="1685" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog's &lt;sup&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(1)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; vet diary shows a regular vaccination schedule for 3 things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Distemper / Hepatitis Parvo / Corona / Leptosspirosis / Parainfluenza (9 in one; injection) — &lt;strong&gt;Once every year.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anti-Rabies (injection) — &lt;strong&gt;Once every year.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deworming (tablets or injection) — &lt;strong&gt;Once in 3 months.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've added some scans below—just to give you a better idea.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read in many places that adult dogs only need to be vaccinated once in 3 years or so, and am worried that I could be over-vaccinating my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's only one good vet in/around my place (and he has never brought this topic up), which is why I am asking here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PS:&lt;/strong&gt; Some scans of the labels pasted in my pet's diary...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BPIbi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Vaccination schedule for Distemper / Hepatitis Parvo / Corona / Leptosspirosis / Parainfluenza&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BPIbi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Vaccination schedule for Distemper / Hepatitis Parvo / Corona / Leptosspirosis / Parainfluenza&quot; title=&quot;Vaccination schedule for Distemper / Hepatitis Parvo / Corona / Leptosspirosis / Parainfluenza&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WECvc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Vaccination schedule for Anti-Rabies&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WECvc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Vaccination schedule for Anti-Rabies&quot; title=&quot;Vaccination schedule for Anti-Rabies&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Footnotes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's a Golden Retriever and is 4 years old (born Sept. 12, 2010).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastEditorUserId="2699" LastEditDate="2014-10-30T17:27:19.040" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T00:44:36.430" Title="How is the vaccination schedule for dogs determined?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6686" CreationDate="2014-10-30T18:06:11.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you say that your dog has the beginnings of congestive heart failure, I assume you've been to a vet recently to get this diagnosis, it's ultimately a terminal condition, and that coughing/choking is a known symptom of his condition. I know nothing about congestive heart failure specifically, but I suggest you call the vet, discuss the frequency of the coughing, and ask if you should bring the dog in. The vet may be able to suggest something over the phone (e.g. a change in the dosage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't been to a vet recently, or if the coughing has become more frequent or sounds different than it used to, then I would take the dog in to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also ask the vet for advice on what to expect as the condition progresses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I suggest you take note of what activities your dog still enjoys, and what makes him happy. This will help you decide if and when it's time for euthanasia. Best of luck to you and your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-10-30T18:06:11.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6690" CreationDate="2014-10-31T00:37:32.407" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Canine Vaccination Task Force reviewed recent research on vaccines and how long they remain effective. In 2011 they made &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/CanineVaccineGuidelines.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommendations based on this research&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This table summarizes their recommendations. To make it easier to read, I added a blue star under each core vaccine, and also spelled out some of the abbreviations used for the names and recommendations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Core vaccines are recommended for all healthy dogs, while non-core vaccines are usually only given if your dog is in a high risk category. You should discuss the pros and cons of non-core vaccines with your vet before administering them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a short summary of the vaccines that your dog is getting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Distemper - Core, immune response lasts for &gt;5 years in healthy dogs,&#xA;dogs should be revaccinated every 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hepatitis Parvo (adenovirus in the chart) - Core, immune response&#xA;lasts for &gt;7 years in healthy dogs, dogs should be revaccinated every&#xA;3 years. There's an option for annual IN if your dog is at risk for&#xA;respiratory infection.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Corona - not recommended because (in 2011) not believed to be&#xA;effective&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leptosspirosis - non core. Discuss with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parainfluenza - non core. Discuss with your vet, intranasal may be&#xA;preferable if your dog tolerates it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabies - Core. There are 1 year and 3 year vaccines available, follow the label on the vaccine your vet uses as to the revaccination interval. In addition, some municipalities do not allow 3 years between rabies vaccination and dogs/cats must be revaccinated annually, no matter which vaccine is used. Check your local laws. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2sV1n.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2sV1n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-10-31T00:44:36.430" LastActivityDate="2014-10-31T00:44:36.430" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6693" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-31T10:03:33.170" Score="6" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, a 75-ish pounds 1.5YO male Lab/Boxer/whoknowswhatmix, apparently liked his foster mom's dog, but no other, to the point of seriously injuring her friend's dog apparently. Given that he liked her dog, that seems to indicate to me that maybe it's not a dog issue as much as situational and/or person-reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she first brought him over here, on leash and gentle leader, he and this particular neighbor dog who's up for a play date barked at each through the fence. Neighbor dog was trying to eat his way through the fence as well. Within about 48 hours, they had transitioned to non-obsessive fence running, casual sniffing, etc. No barks nor growls since that day, no aggression at all, same with the other big dog at another neighbor's place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His old foster mom is highly concerned, is asking me to rethink this weekend playdate, given her past experiences. Given six weeks of observation of the two dogs, I'm pretty comfortable making the face-to--face introduction. That said, I intend to have them meet on-leash at a neutral spot down the block, see how they do with some walking, before bringing them back to our yard (more room) and considering off-leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I respect his foster mom, so her concerns concern me. I'd be interested in the thoughts of others. I've had big, often male, sometimes aggressive, dogs, my entire life. I've dealt with various behavior issues, including aggression, in the past. I'm not naive walking into this, but I don't have her experience either, so again, her concerns do concern me a bit. That said, I think these dogs have been great at the fence, and it would be excellent to let them run around together in a way that doesn't burn paths into the grass so much, and maybe tires them out even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there additional precautions that I should take before introduction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3137" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-10-31T14:58:23.353" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T17:50:13.327" Title="Dog had a dog-reactive issue with foster mom. Been with me six weeks now, want to introduce to neighbor's dog face-to-face" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6703" CreationDate="2014-11-01T12:39:08.967" Score="3" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no other pets or children in the house, this child will be keeping the pet in their room and be responsible for it's care and feeding.  The parents will be supervising the care-giving, but the child will be responsible for providing the care or the pet will be re-homed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog &amp;amp; cats are excluded from consideration as they can not reasonably be contained to the child's room. Reptiles are excluded for other reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The space available to be designated &quot;pet space&quot; is 24 inches or 60 cm wide and about 16 inches or 40 cm deep.  The pet can be allowed supervised access to the child's room, but not to the rest of the house.  The child is expected to be entering college in 5 to 8 years and the status of an existing pet at that point is problematic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of pets generally available from rescues or pet stores what should be considered? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preteen&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preteen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;a boy or girl not yet 13 years old&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;but thinks they are old enough to handle responsibility&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T04:47:22.653" Title="What small pets should I consider for a preteen with limited space?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-11-03T15:28:10.257" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-02T01:05:54.593" Score="2" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 month old pitbull. He's peeing all the time. He pees in his sleep, and every time he walks even if he just came back inside. What do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3142" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T04:20:43.690" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T17:14:08.273" Title="What do I do with my 7-month old pitbull who won't stop urinating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2014-11-04T13:59:28.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-02T04:21:54.810" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got root wood from a long dead tree in my backyard it's been dead for about three years and the wood hasn't rotted but would it be possible for me to make it safe to put in my fish tank &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3144" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T04:21:54.810" Title="Help with drift wood for fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2014-11-03T14:27:40.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6655" CreationDate="2014-11-02T04:24:50.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it matters if I use a bowl for example the surface area of water touching air is poor leading to horrible gas extange and poor aeration also the size matters too depending on the fish I wouldn't put any fish in a tank smaller then 5 gallons   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3144" LastActivityDate="2014-11-02T04:24:50.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6695" CreationDate="2014-11-02T23:23:28.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to the vet. It is not normal for a dog to pee in their sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T17:14:08.273" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T17:14:08.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6694" CreationDate="2014-11-02T23:32:35.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small rodent (like a gerbil, mouse, or hamster) sounds reasonable because you can provide exercise, care, and feeding in that small of a space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fish tank with a couple guppies, an aquatic frog, something similar that doesn't need more tank size than that would also work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, dogs, guinea pigs, and rabbit's all need to much space to work for this situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T04:47:22.653" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T04:47:22.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6705" CreationDate="2014-11-03T07:04:32.443" Score="3" ViewCount="2441" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00176GKM8/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom's Internal Filter&lt;/a&gt; which is an internal multistage filter, but I'm not sure if I'll get any oxygenation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I now have a three gallon tank and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Plants, shrimp, a snail and maybe a betta. I'll be cycling the tank with just gravel and plants for a month before I add anything other than a couple red cherry shrimp. I'm trying to avoid having too many stuff/wires in/around the tank. Will already need the wires for the filter, thermometer, heater, and lights, I don't want to add bubbler to the list if I can help it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="16" LastEditDate="2014-11-03T07:12:25.067" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T07:59:28.793" Title="How well does an internal filter keep water oxygenated?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6704" CreationDate="2014-11-03T07:59:28.793" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oxygen is introduced into the aquarium through surface agitation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Filters which feed water back into the aquarium through some kind of waterfall like the one you linked to will agitate the water, though not as much as a decent pump and airstone (think of all those little bubbles making their way to the top of the water to pop). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without using a dissolved oxygen meter it is pretty much impossible to know how much oxygen you have in the water but what we do know is that there is less dissolved oxygen in water at higher temperatures, so the higher the temperature the more you need air pumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The filter you linked to may provide enough surface agitation, especially for lower temperatures, but it is difficult to say for sure. When there is not enough oxygen you will observe fish going to the surface for air. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T07:59:28.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7848" CreationDate="2014-11-03T08:55:01.710" Score="4" ViewCount="2907" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kinds of adverse effects would I see if I have an LED lamp always on for red cherry shrimp aquarium? The aquarium has dark hideouts (under wood, plants) for them if they need darkness. I also turn the lamp to night mode at the moment. This question is not for my aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T20:34:59.473" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T20:34:59.473" Title="Adverse effects of always on 24/7 lighting on red cherry shrimp" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6708" CreationDate="2014-11-03T15:35:21.710" Score="10" ViewCount="2336" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is sad, and horrible, but I found my dog dead on the shoulder of the highway last night, and I don't know whether I should just leave him there and let nature dispose of what's left, or try to.. I guess scrape him up and bury the remains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about respect for him, and perhaps the ethics of leaving it out on the side of the road for neighbors to see. Has anyone else dealt with this before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's right next to my driveway, we live on a highway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: The dog was buried, for those curious. I recommend burying the dog to anyone else who finds themselves in this situation. There's closure in it, and the images start to go away with your pet off the street and respectfully buried. It's a hard thing, and I needed some help with it, but it's worth doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T14:14:16.680" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T04:05:13.433" Title="I found my dog on the side of the road, should I leave him there, or take him and bury him?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6707" CreationDate="2014-11-03T15:55:29.213" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large or smelly animal is usually picked up by your state highway administration, someone in the county/city government and/or the hunting/wildlife officials, depending on your local laws (this is in the US, I'm not sure about possibilities in other countries).  You can call the proper officials for your location to let them know, which may speed pick up. The disposal of these bodies varies from agency to agency, but they may be &lt;a href=&quot;http://chicagoist.com/2012/02/24/state_transportation_agency_apologi.php&quot;&gt;incinerated, buried&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.post-gazette.com/news/portfolio/2007/07/15/Question-Time-What-happens-to-road-kill-Can-I-have-it/stories/200707150093&quot;&gt;taken to a local landfill&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wtop.com/41/2395353/A-dead-deers-journey-from-roadkill-to-compost&quot;&gt;made into compost&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small animals are usually left to decompose (or be eaten) in place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You certainly CAN bury the body yourself, and if it's too small for an official to pick it up, it would probably be easier for you emotionally than watching it decay over time.  If you had a large dog and are uncomfortable with the official disposal method in your area, I would also recommend that you bury the body yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some locations require you to make sure the body has been disposed of within a certain amount of time of learning of its death (example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.in.gov/boah/2363.htm&quot;&gt;Indiana&lt;/a&gt;). If you plan to leave it on the side of the road, check your local laws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T15:55:29.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6695" CreationDate="2014-11-03T17:38:42.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check with your vet. It could be a UTI, or could also be incontinence. My dog did this too as a puppy (leaking in her sleep), and we determined that she was incontinent. I give her an inexpensive drug to stop it. She is now 10 years old, and the problem has been solved all these years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T17:38:42.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6693" CreationDate="2014-11-03T17:50:13.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your approach sounds good: take it slowly. Start with no more than 3 seconds of nose-to-nose and separate them. Watch body language for both dogs as they meet. Walk them past each other at first, then you can try going in the same direction if things go well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that if you get to the point where you want them to meet off-leash, that you leave the leashes on and let them drag them. That will make it easier to catch and separate them if things start to go badly. But the main point is to progress slowly and cautiously, being prepared to separate them at all times. I would spread this over a number of days if either dogs is showing any signs of stiffness or hesitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T17:50:13.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6712" CreationDate="2014-11-03T19:22:53.683" Score="11" ViewCount="563" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now autumn is here, the seasonal proliferation of fungi is upon us.  This weekend, walking my dog in the local woods, there was an unusually large overnight growth of mushrooms of various types.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There were at least a dozen different species of fungus, a far greater variety than I usually see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My four-year old miniature schnauzer was very interested in trying to eat some types but visibly shied away from others.  This was repeatable between locations where the fungi were found on different parts of the walk.  This different reaction to the different types is not something I have seen in her before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know dogs can be trained to hunt truffles, but you don't find them in my part of the world.  Can a dog distinguish edible from poisonous through smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert and I'd never let my dog eat unidentified fungi any more than I would eat it myself.  I know that there are varieties that are poisonous to dogs but not to humans and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1095" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T19:56:26.560" Title="Can dogs differentiate edible fungi?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6711" CreationDate="2014-11-03T19:40:53.570" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as you noted, dogs can eat a lot of things that would kill a human and, given that they're scavengers by nature, will find them to eat. However, mushroom poisoning in dogs is a very frequent event and &lt;a href=&quot;http://namyco.org/toxicology/pet_poisonings.html&quot;&gt;many dogs die&lt;/a&gt; from it every year as a result of consuming dangerous mushrooms in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, the evidence would suggest that dogs cannot necessarily tell. It would appear that your dogs apparent aversion is more a case of general dislike about a scent than any assurance that the mushroom might be poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, signs of mushroom poisoning has phases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After about 6 hours from ingestion, lasting about 24 hours, you may see severe vomiting, bloody diarrhea, stomach pain, fever, and dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follows on to an apparent remission phase that lasts between 12-24 hours where the dog will look like they've recovered.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Final phase, 3-4 days after ingestion, results in liver or kidney failure, depression, and a host of other conditions that can lead to a coma. The mortality rate is very high.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you even have a sense that your dog has ingested mushrooms in the wild, then keep a very strong eye on them and get them to the vet with any sign that something may be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2014-11-03T19:56:26.560" LastActivityDate="2014-11-03T19:56:26.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6717" CreationDate="2014-11-03T20:19:36.213" Score="6" ViewCount="2187" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to play fetch. We'll play for about 15 minutes before I end up doing something else. The moment I stop playing fetch my cat will continue to meow until I either play again, or until I hide the headband somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to keep having to hide the headband. Is there anyway I can train my cat to know when it's no longer play time, so it won't meow after I stop playing fetch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cat tree which he likes to play on, as well as other toys I don't need to get involved with, but he seems more interested in playing fetch. I just want the meowing to stop; I cant play fetch forever :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T03:09:28.110" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T18:00:48.593" Title="How can I get a cat to not meow after I stop playing with it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7533" CreationDate="2014-11-04T06:56:18.037" Score="4" ViewCount="4577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 20&amp;nbsp;gallon (76&amp;nbsp;liters) long tank with a lid to keep my african dwarf frogs in. I'd like to eventually move them to a bigger tank without a lid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the maximum water height for the frogs are about 12&amp;nbsp;inches (30&amp;nbsp;cm), and I'd like 2&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;3&amp;nbsp;inches (5&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;7.5&amp;nbsp;cm) of substrate for plants, that would require a minimum of 15&amp;nbsp;inches (38&amp;nbsp;cm) of height, plus however high they can jump, plus a few inches for good measure. The problem is I haven't been able to find any data on how high they can jump from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T19:37:12.217" LastActivityDate="2020-11-12T03:26:53.127" Title="How much vertical space to keep african dwarf frogs from jumping out?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6713" CreationDate="2014-11-04T18:00:48.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For your play sessions, use a toy that really tires your cat out. For example, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/104943/Da-Bird-Feather-Teaser.aspx&quot;&gt;da bird&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the play session, introduce a toy that the cat can play with on its own. (For example, one of those balls with holes that you hide food inside.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that your cat is young. As cats get older, they tend to want shorter play sessions. So this is probably a self-correcting problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T18:00:48.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6718" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-04T19:45:52.813" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is almost 7 months old now, and she destroys everything. The second I look away she rips something apart. She eats the carpet, clothes, her toys, pumpkins, shoes, any kind of cord, boxes, her metal cage, even the wall. I can't get her to stop - the second I look away she'll be gnawing on something. I don't want to just always have a muzzle on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to keep her from chewing on things and destroying them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3151" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-11-04T19:52:22.783" LastActivityDate="2014-11-04T19:52:22.783" Title="How can I keep my dog from chewing on and destroying things?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-11-06T01:41:40.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-05T01:08:17.887" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 3 year old Chihuahua/Rat Terrier dog, he is so sensitive to noise, us pushing him not to do a movement. He is also sensitive about seeing other people or dogs on the street when taking him for a walk. He will bark like crazy inside at people or dogs, but get him out there with those people or dogs, he runs for the house. He is a very lovable dog and minds rather well. But don't know what to do about his sensitivity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3153" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T16:31:58.333" LastActivityDate="2014-11-05T16:31:58.333" Title="How do you cure sensitivity in a dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6766" CreationDate="2014-11-05T15:18:40.670" Score="6" ViewCount="1599" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I have a chinchilla that I have to transport with me on a 16 hour car ride. And because things are never that simple, I have my two cats with me as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm probably going to break it up into one 5 hour ride, and one 10 hour drive. But other than that, I usually only stop once or twice to refill on gas (which only takes a couple minutes). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know chinchillas are pretty sensitive to stress, so I want to make this a easy on it as I can. What do I do to transport a chinchilla over a 15 hour car ride?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T20:37:47.543" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T16:50:20.330" Title="How can I safely transport a chinchilla on a 15 hour car ride?" Tags="&lt;travel&gt;&lt;chinchillas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-05T17:59:33.900" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat urinates, the odor permeates the house, and hangs around.  I have switched cat litters, trying all different kinds, but it does not help.  I suspect it is due to the cat food fed to my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I fed him a cheaper cat food a week or so ago, the odor was gone.  I fed him a more expensive brand now, and the odor is back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is causing the urine odor to be strong with the more expensive cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3155" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-11-05T22:59:06.713" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T15:42:19.273" Title="What is causing my cat's urine smell to be so overwhelming?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6643" CreationDate="2014-11-06T07:56:22.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be the case that certain types of clam &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=1075%201642&amp;amp;pcatid=1642&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduce nitrates&lt;/a&gt; though there does not appear to be much information on this. Forum discussions from hobbyists suggest that there are people using clams for this reason in aquariums but most seem to be of the opinion it does not make a massive difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in trying you could acquire a test kit if you do not already have one and monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels with the introduction of clam(s) and see what effect this has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not rely on this as your only form of filtration as it may not be reliable and you also run the risk of a nitrate crash if your clam dies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also clams are known to bury themselves away in substrate and without careful monitoring it is possible for them to pass away without you noticing, being left to pollute your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastActivityDate="2014-11-06T07:56:22.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-06T13:57:08.380" Score="5" ViewCount="7470" Body="&lt;p&gt;A praying mantis laid an egg sack a week ago. It was 60 degrees. The temp here will soon be falling to below 30. I'm in New York. I don't want to store egg sack in house and would like to keep it until spring so it can hatch properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3161" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T16:04:52.667" Title="Where can I safely store a mantis egg sack until spring outside?" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6727" CreationDate="2014-11-07T15:55:00.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several different species of Mantis, many do not survive the winter cold. Laid eggs that need to survive the winter should be kept from freezing. It may take several months for the eggs to hatch and they will only hatch if it is warm enough.  If kept in a warm house they may hatch prior to food being available, they babies will then starve to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several suggestions found for overwintering the eggs. Most references I looked at agreed on these two points&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't let the eggs freeze&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't keep them in the house (if they hatch in winter the babies may starve)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation is to put the eggs in a container (some references suggested air holes) and store them in your refrigerator (NOT Freezer) or in an unheated garage or shed.  When you are ready to let them begin hatching; the ootheca (&lt;em&gt;egg case&lt;/em&gt;) should be suspended a bit more than 5cm or 2 1/2 inches above the floor of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/caresheets/praying-mantids.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Praying Mantid caresheet (&lt;em&gt;The Amateur Entomologists' Society&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/node/178&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Praying Mantis (&lt;em&gt;Iowa State University of Science and Technology&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef418.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PRAYING MANTIDS (&lt;em&gt;University of Kentucky Entomology&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mantis (&lt;em&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-11-07T16:04:52.667" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T16:04:52.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-10-29T08:46:36.323" Score="11" ViewCount="9890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've really been getting into gardening over the past year and have just started looking at aquaponics. I hope to one day build my own homestead, and want a big greenhouse with a central aquaponics &quot;pond&quot; for raising fish and shellfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After looking at lots of setups online, I see it's possible to grow lobsters, clams, oysters, tilapia and many many other critters using aquaponics. But I haven't stumbled across any that combine different species in the same water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: Is it possible to have all four of those in the same tank? Or would they need to be separated? Any special considerations here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm probably going to build a practice setup in my current house, just to get used to everything. So if they are compatible, in which order should they be introduced to each other? Maybe the tilapia first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="AndrewG" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T20:30:08.240" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:32:34.027" Title="Aquaponics: lobsters, clams, oysters and tilapia all in the same tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6731" CreationDate="2014-11-07T19:37:16.043" Score="10" ViewCount="42757" Body="&lt;p&gt;The filter and the heating of my aquarium do not work anymore. After trying to solve the problem, I've concluded that the only way to solve the problem is to buy a new filter and a new heating. Can my fish (&lt;em&gt;Xiphophorus maculatus&lt;/em&gt;) stay alive during about 12 hours (the time I have to wait until the stores can re-open in my city) without any filter or heating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My house temperature is 23° C, tank has a volume of 100 liters, I have about 10 fish (without the babies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3164" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T00:10:47.413" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T21:14:11.463" Title="How long can an aquarium remain without any filter and heating?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6730" CreationDate="2014-11-07T22:18:53.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending upon the type of fish, it may be possible. Some fish are able to survive in a bit cooler water. However, there are some fish that are extremely sensitive to temperature, for example angelfish are very sensitive, and I don't think they would survive. I have had fish such as guppies and neon tetras that were able to survive for a couple days without a heater. It really depends on the fish. As for the filter, I think they should be capable of surviving for 12 hours without one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-11-07T22:18:53.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2791" CreationDate="2014-11-08T01:54:03.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Yorkshire Terrier.  ALL Yorkshire Terriers eat their food away from the bowl, as far as I'm aware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can quote from a notable Yorkshire Terrier named Bobby-O:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Now I must tell you that we Yorkshire Terriers are not like other dogs.  I think I speak for us as a group when I say we don’t like to stand at a bowl to eat the kibbles.  It just seems a little undignified.  What I do is take one of the delicious bites, go to the living room, and get comfortable to eat it.  Then I go back and get another bite, and back to the living room.  That seems such a more leisurely and sophisticated way to eat your meal.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is from the story, Bobby-O, on Kindle.  Check it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3165" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:42:28.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:42:28.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6714" CreationDate="2014-11-08T03:54:52.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two African dwarf frogs in my tank, and I don't really think that you have to keep a lid on. I do have a lid on mine, but I have never seen them try to jump out. Sorry, however I couldn't find the answer to how high they can jump. Overall, I don't think that them jumping out would really be a big problem since they like to hide or just stay at the bottom most of the time. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T03:54:52.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-08T15:37:07.957" Score="4" ViewCount="9838" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten, aged 6 months, that loves to claw. I try to get the cat to provide its claws for clipping, i.e. pressing on the paw, but it does not get the claws to show. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do young cats simply do not do this, or do I have a weird cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="fubar50" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-11-08T21:06:46.220" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T12:28:08.683" Title="At what age can you start clipping a cat's nails?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-08T17:55:50.760" Score="2" ViewCount="761" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 month old husky puppy refuses to go potty outside. When we first got her she went potty outside just fine and a week after we got her she got parvo and when she got over it the vet told us that she couldn't go outside for a week so we had her go on puppy pads. When we take her outside she refuses to go and once we get in the house she goes to the bathroom in the spot were the pad used to be. I have already tried moving the pad close to the door, I have tried taking her out every 30 minutes, I wait 30 minutes after she eats and then take her outside, I even have sat outside for half an hour and she still holds it and when we put her in her kennel for an hour or so she pees in her kennel. What do I do to get her to go potty outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3168" LastEditorUserId="1277" LastEditDate="2014-11-08T19:32:03.253" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T19:32:03.253" Title="how can I get my puppy to transition from potty pad to outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6736" CreationDate="2014-11-08T19:31:32.840" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs go where they are used to so this behavior is not surprising. The good thing is that she's very young so it will be easier than with an older dog and that he's gotten the all clear to go outside! Transitioning from one spot to another is generally very similar to potty training the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving the pads closer to the door is a good idea. You could try moving the &quot;spot&quot; where she goes over time. Here are some other tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a soiled pad outside and put it on the ground. The smell may encourage her to go in a new spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only spend about 5 minutes outside. If she doesn't go then, put her back in her crate. This isn't a reward or a punishment, but simply to make it less likely she goes inside. Take her out again about 10 min. later and then praise her when she goes. This works best when you know for sure she needs to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timing for rewarding successes can vary for each dog. Generally relieving oneself is reward in itself and excess emotions my frighten the puppy so that they stop. Some dogs need a little more encouragement during or directly after. Remember rewards can be events so running back to the house to play a game is perfectly acceptable here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make the crate as small as possible to prevent her to soiling her crate. Then make it even smaller. At this time, it should be just big enough for them to walk in a lie down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she's learned on pads, don't worry if it takes a little while for her to get the transition. She's still young and will figure it out soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T19:31:32.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-08T20:12:23.637" Score="2" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our female cockatiel died today. They have 2 babies which are around a week old. Will the male feed and take care of the babies by itself? What should we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3169" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-11-08T21:06:37.390" LastActivityDate="2014-11-08T21:06:37.390" Title="Will a male cockatiel take care of 5 day old babies on its own?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6741" CreationDate="2014-11-08T20:33:43.560" Score="4" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four neon tetras, but I bought one that has a broken fin. None of the others seem to be attacking/harming him. The only difference between him and the others is that he sometimes swims on his side. Will this fin possibly grow back eventually as long as nothing bites him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-11-18T20:08:31.217" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T20:08:31.217" Title="Neon Tetra with Broken Fin" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-09T01:41:59.220" Score="10" ViewCount="779" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a tiger tail cucumber getting along quite well in my tank for about six months. One unfortunate night, my wife decided to [quite amateurishly] rearrange the tank and drastically spiked the parameters. If that wasn't bad enough, it stressed out the cucumber and he released the toxin they're notorious for and killed just about everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would now like to remove this risk, but I'm afraid of stressing him out in the process. I would like to keep it alive (so I can resell it), but they're nocturnal. I can catch him quite easily at night but I need somewhere to put him. I suppose I'm open to setting up a quarantine tank to be safe, but I'd rather throw the him in my sump until morning. Either way, I don't want it going crazy on the way out. The best I can figure is to scoop him up with a cup and not expose him to air in transit. What can I do to ensure this thing doesn't foul my water again in removing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T14:14:22.277" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T14:14:22.277" Title="How To Safely Remove a Sea Cucumber?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6739" CreationDate="2014-11-09T02:03:15.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will preface this answer with &lt;strong&gt;I know nothing about this particular fish&lt;/strong&gt;.  However, quick research reveals that they're extremely peaceful towards one another but easily bullied by aggressive tank-mates.  So, it should recover if &lt;em&gt;no one&lt;/em&gt; in your tank bothers it; assuming it doesn't appear to be diseased and your tank parameters are optimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be wise to quarantine the fish for a short while, as it recovers, especially if you have any strong currents in the tank or if it seems to have difficulty getting food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T02:03:15.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6730" CreationDate="2014-11-09T02:05:17.170" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The filter shouldn't matter. A proper setup shouldn't build up anything harmful that quickly.  I realize that's a loaded assumption, but with a crazily out of whack bio-load, I doubt even a good filter would keep everyone safe.  However, most types of filters do have the added benefit of increasing oxygen exchange.  Again, that's something that under most conditions won't rapidly fluctuate if everything else is in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, tropical fish are pretty sensitive to rapid temperature swings. The larger your volume of water (and less surface area), the slower your tank's heat will change. Obviously the closer the surrounding atmosphere's heat to your tank's ideal temperature will reduce risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T02:05:17.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6376" CreationDate="2014-11-09T03:56:11.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have three cats (one male, two female), the male and the younger female are sibblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The younger female was not spayed until half a year ago (all the others were spayed/neutered when we got them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I noticed is that she got a lot more food-centric and thus gained a few half-kilos (which is a good thing in her case, as she was quite thin before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She didn't change at all in any other aspect (not less energy or more agression, nothing), so it was definitely a good change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3171" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T03:56:11.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-09T16:53:53.603" Score="8" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hope you'll forgive the beginner nature of this question.  I am not a dog person, so I have very little knowledge or experience with dogs, and most of the information on the web seems (quite reasonably) to be tailored to owners and/or enthusiasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be looking after my housemate's dog for several weeks, and I know he is concerned that the dog will get lonely.  Apart from taking him on walks, are there any things I can do to help him feel cared for and attended to?  Are there signs I should look out for that he's not getting enough attention?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally while I'm around the house I'll be reading, watching TV or working on the laptop; will doing these things in the same room as him be enough to make him feel like he has company, or do I need to be engaging him more actively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3173" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T15:46:48.833" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T15:46:48.833" Title="What is a good way to spend quality time with my housemate's dog while looking after it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6753" CreationDate="2014-11-09T19:00:43.380" Score="7" ViewCount="5301" Body="&lt;p&gt;My chihuahua licked some chocolate from a 41g dark chocolate bar. She licked/ate a really small amount and though I can't tell how many grams it was, it seems that it should have been less than 5 grams?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's really small, weighs less than 2 kilos and it was about an hour ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I worried or take her to vet?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T18:58:41.833" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T18:58:41.833" Title="What should I do if my chihuahua licked some chocolate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6745" CreationDate="2014-11-09T20:29:41.647" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the dog. For a corgi the best thing you can do is run around back and forth like an idiot with it. Labrador retrievers like to retrieve stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For active breeds like those two, I would definitely be concerned about activity level. As for what the dog likes to do, well, just play with it. You'll agree on a game and the rules just like kids do. You'll notice the corgi will just want to run around a lot while the lab will want to take stuff from you and have you catch it. Just find something you both like doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dogs like attention via touch, and also just like being around someone even if not actively socializing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, besides being &quot;lonely&quot;, ask your friend how they usually spend time with the dog, what sorts of games and toys they like. In particular learn how much active time the dog needs. Bring gym shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pro tip: cool the dog down after play. Make it sit and stay a while so it doesn't immediately start tearing stuff up back in. Learned that one... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And P.S. everyone is a dog person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1313" LastActivityDate="2014-11-09T20:29:41.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-09T20:51:01.703" Score="8" ViewCount="1014" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to buy fish that have been treated properly before being sold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing that jumps out at me is that obviously a bigger tank is better. One online resource I found essentially recommended a 10 gallon minimum for any fish. The pet store obviously does not follow this rule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally, this seems like an uphill battle since I live in New York, where space of any kind is at such a premium that it's hard to imagine more space than is physically necessary being invested in selling a fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think overcrowded fish for sale speaks well to their health or background or the care or concern of whatever breeder or corporation or farm happened to produce them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I tell if a particular seller treats his fish well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1313" LastEditorUserId="1313" LastEditDate="2014-11-11T13:20:51.983" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T13:20:51.983" Title="How do I choose a supplier where the fish are treated humanely and are likely to be healthy?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6750" CreationDate="2014-11-09T20:58:19.690" Score="7" ViewCount="1514" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed just now that when I feel my cats back legs there's not a lot of flesh and I can easily distinguish both bones and the gap between them. Is this normal or something I should be concerned about? If it's not normal what might be causing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats well and has plenty of meat on the rest of her body, including the front legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3174" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T02:09:41.100" Title="Is it normal to feel the bones in a cats back legs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6749" CreationDate="2014-11-10T02:09:41.100" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happen to have a cat skeleton model nearby (and two now-very-annoyed cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.infovisual.info/02/067_en.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The tibia/fibula of a cat&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skeleton_diagram_of_a_cat.svg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another pic&lt;/a&gt;, items 13 and 16) have separation, much like humans. The difference is the muscle distribution. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pictures-of-kittens-and-cats.com/images/feline-anatomy-muscles.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a pic&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Superficial_muscles_of_a_cat.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;and another&lt;/a&gt;) showing the rabbit/chicken-like muscle shape of the rear leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rear leg of cats is hard to describe since the joints are off by one (they walk on toes, not heels). But once you locate the 'hock', your cat should be increasingly muscular above there. That's where the tib/fib are located. They have enough separation that you may be able to feel it near the hock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are feeling below the hock, keep in mind you are feeling individual bones (tarsals), just like a human palm and foot have. You can see that on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pictures-of-kittens-and-cats.com/images/cat-skeleton.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this cat skeleton diagram&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T02:09:41.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6748" CreationDate="2014-11-10T07:54:03.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right that tanks at most pet/aquatic retailers are crowded and would be considered massively overstocked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main risks of overcrowding are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increased bioload - more difficult to maintain water quality and keep parameters at an acceptable level&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Growth problems - overcrowding may stunt growth - this can eventually kill fish as their internal organs continue to grow&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aggression - if fish do not have enough space they may become aggressive&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How pet stores get around these issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Powerful filtration systems to keep up with the high bioload&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Quick turnaround time - fish are only kept in these conditions for a short period&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chemicals in the water to prevent stress and disease&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you buy a fish, regardless of where you get it from, it is recommended to quarantine the fish for 2+ weeks to ensure it shows no signs of disease. This helps to minimise the risk to your current tankmates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also avoid adding the water fish come in to an established aquarium due to the unknown contents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2617" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T07:54:03.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6748" CreationDate="2014-11-10T14:01:48.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is, yes pet stores have over crowded aquariums, but consider that the fish's lifespan in the aquarium is short as they are continuously being sold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is, selling these fish is the pet store's job, so they takes care of them everyday and provide the best filtration systems to keep there job running, unlike us at homes where we do that every week. Unless the pet shop is small and doesn't do that. I have seen some local pet stores having over crowded aquariums with really poor conditions, i would never buy my fish from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing, i always put my new fish in a 10gal hospital aquarium for some time before i move them into my 55gal to make sure they are fine and don't have any disease or anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T14:01:48.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6746" CreationDate="2014-11-10T15:47:30.893" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a website that calculates the risk: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/chocolate-toxicity&quot;&gt;PetMD Chocolate Toxicity Meter&lt;/a&gt; According to this, a 4 lb. dog that ingested 0.2 oz of dark chocolate will have very mild symptoms, and you should keep an eye on him/her for GI upset, vomiting, or shaking. More serious indications would be tremors, seizures, hyperactivity, or racing heartbeat. (Note that I rounded down on weight and up on amount ingested when converting to U.S. units to see worst case). So you are probably OK, and I would guess that any symptoms would have shown up by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T15:47:30.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6748" CreationDate="2014-11-10T17:14:47.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They most certainly are a thing, but typically a general pet store (or any large corporation IMO) will treat the fish just as another product on the shelf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reputable store will&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Know a lot about the specific fish and the hobby in general.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Know where the fish come from (ie wild caught or captive bred).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The tanks will appear in good shape and the fish will appear active/healthy.  New arrivals will be stressed out from shipment, but any fish that has been in for a few days should be adjusting. Also, some fish just get sick.  This should be addressed and not silently dying in the corner.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;However, if I see saltwater tanks with cyano, excessive algae, gasping or sickly fish, etc; I won't buy even the healthiest looking one of the lot.  They should also be willing to feed it in front of you to prove this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The store will try not to just sell you a fish that you can't handle or isn't compatible with your setup.  Everyone I deal with actually cares if the fish lives when you take it home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is by no means an exhaustive list.  To address your overcrowding concern:  Yes everyone said about large filters but something missing was most fish stores have a large communal body of water shared amongst the tanks.  Think about having a large tank as apposed to several smaller ones (adding up to the same volume) and piping them together. There are of course other factors to consider in what constitutes a proper setup, but that would turn this answer into a book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger difference in the latter case is ensuring the fish have enough room to be happy/healthy.  But then again, this is hopefully a short term home for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2014-11-10T17:20:37.847" LastActivityDate="2014-11-10T17:20:37.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6756" CreationDate="2014-11-10T18:38:25.023" Score="2" ViewCount="1328" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I saw an answer about keeping clownfish together that mentioned they were aggressive towards conspecifics. I haven't heard this term before so I don't know what it means. What is a conspecific?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T14:52:33.717" Title="What does conspecific mean?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6755" CreationDate="2014-11-10T19:03:39.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Conspecific is a description of the biological specificity of a species (Biological specificity is a term for studying the interactions between species and the tendencies for behaviours to arise). The two main descriptions for biological specificity are: Interspecific and intraspecific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know what &lt;em&gt;inter&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;intra&lt;/em&gt; mean, then you should be able to guess that interspecificity measures the interactions between one species and another, different, species. On the other hand, intraspecificity measures the interactions between different groups of the same species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to describe the  interactions between individuals, rather than the larger groups, than you can further describe them with the terms heterospecific, or conspecific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So heterospecificity describes the interactions between two (possibly more) individuals of different species. While conspecificity describes the interactions between two (or more) individuals of the same species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking what we now know about biological specificity, saying that clownfish are aggressive towards conspecifics means that clownfish will be aggressive towards other clownfish, but not necessarily towards other species of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note: In the fish trade, these terms are used a bit more loosely. In most cases a fish that is aggressive towards conspecifics will also be aggressive towards fish that look similar to their species. Some fish will become more aggressive based on certain traits their species has. It all depends on the fish for which characteristics bring out the aggressive behaviour (i.e. body shape or color).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-11T14:52:33.717" LastActivityDate="2014-11-11T14:52:33.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6778" CreationDate="2014-11-11T19:42:57.017" Score="9" ViewCount="5096" Body="&lt;p&gt;We own a 10-month-old pug, which up until now didn't show any fear, be it loud noises, other dogs or simply darkness. One brave pup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, while out for a walk late at night, he started to jump and even run away. After a while we realized he is actually afraid of his own shadow. For the rest of the day out, we had to carry him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An hour later, he was still anxious and carefully observing shadows, jumping and trying to hide from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not aware of anything bad that has happened to him at all. Just yesterday he was perfectly fine. How we could help him to regain his lost confidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The extreme fear lasted for about a day. One rough night with him jumping from sleep because something had moved. :) It proved to be impossible for us to do anything. We were ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following week, however, brought a better experience.  Rewards for examining shadows and distracting with toys... well, it kind of worked. He mostly got through it on his own, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We realised the biggest issue was, he was not trusting us enough. Working on it. Thanks for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3177" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T21:34:45.857" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T21:34:45.857" Title="Dog has started to fear its own shadow" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6757" CreationDate="2014-11-12T05:43:40.733" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dog will figure out how shadows work eventually. I can't think of any way you can accelerate or dampen this process, although I will say trying to protect the dog from shadows as soon as he sees them sounds like a really bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1313" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T05:43:40.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2014-11-12T12:02:24.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brine shrimps are non-selective filter feeders and can be fed a wide range of foods, including but not limited to Liquidfry brand or similar fry food, yeast, whey, wheat flour, soybean powder, fish meal and egg yolk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For maximum results, your Brine Shrimp should have food available 24/7. At the same time, you don't want to flood the container with so much food that the shrimp can't consume it all, allowing it to settle to the bottom of the container and starting to decompose. Overfeeding will only add to your container maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good &quot;rule of thumb&quot; is to feed just enough of the mixture to make the container water slightly cloudy. Keep an eye on the water and, when it appears to be clear (most or almost all of the food having been consumed), add some more food. Over time, you will know how much and how often to add food to the container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you add more and more shrimp to your Grow Out Container (from the daily hatchings) you will need to feed more, more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding too much will add to your maintenance woes, while feeding too little will not allow the Brine Shrimp to grow at their optimum rate. It is sort of a &quot;feel&quot; thing, which you will figure out in a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T12:02:24.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6757" CreationDate="2014-11-12T12:05:22.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fear of shadows is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciophobia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sciophobia&lt;/a&gt; it is a phobia which &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia#Treatments&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;types of treatments&lt;/a&gt; available for humans with the condition, but most are problematic for use on a being without high level language skills.  The most effective treatment likely to work on a dog is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cognitive behavioral therapy&lt;/a&gt;.  There are drugs available that may be of help, you would need to speak to your veterinarian about those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behavior modification can take many forms, and would need to be adapted as the treatment progresses. In short the idea is to create positive influences while approaching the fear causing thing.  There are a few detailed solutions available on the web, here area couple of examples &lt;a href=&quot;http://lindabrodzik.com/articles/understanding-fear-in-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/behavioral/c_dg_fears_phobia_anxiety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; but you may also want to look for others, as each approach needs to specific to the provider (&lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;) and the client (&lt;em&gt;your dog&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T12:05:22.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6762" CreationDate="2014-11-12T17:07:00.823" Score="8" ViewCount="101233" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat hasn't pooped in 2 days. How long do cats typically go between pooping? How long should I wait before I take him to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a neutered male domestic short hair, about three years old and otherwise in good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:58:19.393" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T14:10:21.540" Title="My cat hasn't pooped in 2 days, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6761" CreationDate="2014-11-12T20:52:35.627" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, for the short answer on this, I would get him into the vet to check his hydration and to, possibly, clean him out. Not so much because he's in immediate danger, but because there are long term risks with this situation in the formation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1%202122&amp;amp;aid=3471&quot;&gt;megacolon&lt;/a&gt;. As you know, cats are not necessarily avid drinkers and this becomes more risky if a cat is prone to constipation and he may well be. The food he eats and the amount of water he drinks will play a real role here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be nothing to it, but if he's not getting the moisture in his diet, then a change in diet may help. In addition to wet cat food, I would recommend adding water to it to increase the moisture content. We do that with our cat that suffers from megacolon and it makes a big difference, in conjunction with some medications, in keeping him regular. The goal is to make the stool soft enough so that a cat with weak muscles can still move the stool through the system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-11-12T20:52:35.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6803" CreationDate="2014-11-13T02:29:03.450" Score="9" ViewCount="2936" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two African Dwarf frogs, and four neon tetras which are extremely calm fish. Then around 9:30 at night, one of my frogs just started banging his head against the side of the fish tank. My fish weren't bothering him, and the frog was on the opposite side of the fish tank. I was watching them for awhile, and out of nowhere he started doing that. He did die, but I am wondering why he would have done that, if nothing was even bothering him. I bought another one the next day, and he is doing very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-11-13T15:06:28.327" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T20:46:47.167" Title="Why did my African Dwarf Frog repeatedly bang his head against the wall?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-13T06:07:40.793" Score="3" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;My American Bulldog spends the night indoors (not heated) but then is outside for 12 hours every day.  Will my dog be okay during winter? If not, what precautions should I take?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3180" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T20:54:17.210" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T20:54:17.210" Title="Can an American Bulldog tolerate Wisconsin temperatures?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6721" CreationDate="2014-11-13T15:29:18.677" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It turned out that I was more worried than I should have been. While she didn't like the bumpier roads, she wasn't too upset at spending a day in the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I ended up doing was I put her in a small cat-carrier with an old pillow in the bottom, and I put a blanket over the top of it to try and cut out any outside stimulation. I had her water attached to the door of the carrier with a bit of water (not much in case it fell and spilled).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats didn't bother her like I thought they would. I put boxes on and around the carrier so that they wouldn't jump on it when they were free in the car. But the blanket on it's own seemed to be enough to keep them from noticing that there was something inside. I think they were more focused on all the movement outside the car than anything that could be happening inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-13T16:50:20.330" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T16:50:20.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6757" CreationDate="2014-11-13T20:21:48.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies go through phases just like human children.  Since this is new as of today, it will probably pass.  If he seems otherwise healthy, maybe give him a couple of days or a week, and if it's still a problem take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3181" LastActivityDate="2014-11-13T20:21:48.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6775" CreationDate="2014-11-13T20:32:11.167" Score="8" ViewCount="3805" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a couple young pond sliders (carapaces are 12 and 9 cm long). They live in an open area which is quite accessible: a flat water container in our terrace with a basking area. When we are at home we also provide them with a ramp to get in and out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we are considering adopting a small cat (1 month old), and I wonder if either species may be dangerous to the other, now or in the future when all of them grow up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastEditorUserId="2639" LastEditDate="2014-11-14T14:41:24.583" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T18:12:15.970" Title="Will it be okay for me to get a kitten when I already have two turtles?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6768" CreationDate="2014-11-14T11:05:34.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty sure that Raccoons, birds, opossums, rats,dogs and cats can be a threat to your sliders. I wouldn't advice you to mix them unless the pond is secured.&#xA;At the age of 1 month the sliders might be a threat to the cat if it bit him. Nothing is guaranteed, i can only tell you that they don't mix and thats well known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T11:05:34.413" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6789" CreationDate="2014-11-14T16:17:12.160" Score="7" ViewCount="47148" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 months ago, we brought a new cat home. She is just over a year old now, and took a couple of weeks before she was comfortable roaming our apartment. During that time, we had the litter box tucked away besides the couch because under the couch is her &quot;safe zone&quot;. Since then we've moved the litter box to an area where it is still out of sight, but the odor doesn't get to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the litter box, we keep it filled up about 2-3 inches of Arm and Hammer litter. We clean the litter box twice a week on wednesdays and saturdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Approximately every week or two, we'll come home to find poop on our bed. Sometimes she'll do it when we're in the living room. I've noticed that occasionally she'll sit on the half-wall shelf near our bedroom door and constantly meow at us. This seems to coincide with when she's left the gift. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily we have plenty of sheets available, but it is getting agitating either way. When we check the litter box afterwards, we find that there is some poop and some chunks of solidified litter from the urine. However it is not much and usually requires a bit of digging before we find anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am confused as how to get her to stop. She is obviously aware that it is a bad thing. She typically hides under the couch until the next day, and she'll actively avoid us if she tries to go out for food and water. The first few times she did it, I brought her over to show her that pooping on the bed was wrong, but I don't know if it left the right impression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to get her to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2579" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-11-14T16:32:27.223" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:42:59.243" Title="How can I get my cat to stop pooping on the bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6779" CreationDate="2014-11-14T16:50:10.167" Score="4" ViewCount="1854" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have adopted two older dogs, and eventually one will probably pass away before the other.  If / when this happens (unless they pass away at the same), should we get a new &quot;companion&quot; dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple thoughts I have on this are (why not to):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The surviving dog might associate the death of the other dog with the new dog, and not like the new dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why to do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It would provide the surviving dog with a companion, so he / she won't be lonely. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T04:52:26.147" Title="Is it best to get another &quot;companion&quot; dog after one passes away?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6768" CreationDate="2014-11-14T18:12:15.970" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no definite answer to your question. The two species can be maintained simultaneously but a variety of factors will determine that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The personality of your cat or turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, even turtles have personalities. Some are shy, some enjoy bullying cats, some don't seem to mind cats whatsoever. As for cats, some may be inclined to attack the turtles, some may be fearful of them. Generally for the cats, pond sliders don't do much physical damage, it's the stress their partnership may form. Also, even if the cats don't mind the turtles, some turtles may be stressed from their presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The age and size of the turtles and cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger turtles don't have much to worry about cats. You didn't mention what specific species of sliders you have, but generally females reach between 9-12 inches with males being a few inches smaller. The large males and most females have little to worry from a cat, and the cat probably won't approach them. Since turtles grow slowly, and yours are young, you need to keep and eye out for the turtles because the cat will quickly grow and can become very dangerous to the younger ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How you deal with the partnership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should notice at least some signs of curiosity, especially from the kitten. If the kitten ever decides to approach the turtles and doesn't get rebuked for it then it's likely to go for them again until they get hurt. At the first few months you get the cat you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; have to look out for the cat, with positive and negative feedback the cat can know that you will not be glad if the turtles get hurt. I've seen numerous photos and stories of cats and smaller lizards like bearded dragons getting along, as a matter of fact they would often sleep next to each other!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This relationship can be maintained but there are various factors that come to play here, some of which you have no control over. The only real way to know is to try it out. If you're willing to do so, and the two species don't get along after a period of acclimation, then it's preferable you protect the turtles' enclosure with some sort of fencing the cat can't unlock. I'd also point out that your turtles may be in danger from wild predators as the pool you have for them is on the balcony and is not fenced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-11-14T18:12:15.970" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2014-11-15T01:29:22.107" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always the cliché approach of negative reinforcement.&#xA;The problem is, unless you catch them in the act, and &quot;punish&quot; them immediately, they'll never be able to associate their behaviour with you being mean to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try lightly spritzing them with a spray bottle when you catch them, but only if you actually catch them doing it.&#xA;If your cat knows it's wrong (as you think), but does it regardless, then unfortunately, they're a dick (unless they have another reason). At least in humans, &quot;dickish&quot; behaviour is never easy to iron out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I just had an idea. You could try putting a blanket in the litter box (not a longterm solution). They might have found the litter box material to be uncomfortable, and found your bed as a cosy alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="2651" LastEditDate="2014-11-15T01:34:46.507" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T01:34:46.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6757" CreationDate="2014-11-15T04:33:51.087" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young dogs very typically experience &quot;fear periods&quot;. It happens to the most confident of puppies even although I think the more confident they start out the easier time they have working through it. I think most dogs are done having fear periods by the time they are two. The periods only last for a month or two but they can go through it more than once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give your pup time to work through any fear issues that come up. Try to allow it to experience the thing that is scary from a distance that doesn't overwhelm them then move closer. Once you have helped your dog work through an issue you will get better at it and your dog will start to trust you. .. and therefore is more likely to believe you that the thing isn't scary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great place to start if you want to learn more about fear in dogs and how to help them get over it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/fear&quot;&gt;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/fear&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For shadows specifically I would find an edge of a shady building if you can where your dog can stand in the shade but observe shadows that are beyond the shade first.  That way she may not feel like it is chasing her as much. After that if she is still having problems I would try counter conditioning by rewarding her for looking at the shadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T04:33:51.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6774" CreationDate="2014-11-15T04:52:26.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it really depends on the surviving dogs personality and your wishes. Some dogs really do well as an only dog and even seem to enjoy being the center of attention. Some really enjoy interacting with other dogs are better off in a multi dog home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a couple good questions to ask yourself are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Does your dog's play well with other dogs that do not live in your home? This will give you an idea of what the introductory period would be like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Does your dog do ok around puppies and are you ready to raise a puppy?  This will help you figure out if you would be better off adopting an adult dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Do YOU want another dog?  This is the most important question. You should not get a dog for your other older dog you should get another dog because you want one and have the time and energy it takes to introduce a new dog into your household. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide that you are good to get another dog spend time now thinking about what personality would work best. It generally works best to get a dog that matches the existing dogs energy level and play style. Size matters too... having dogs of drastically different sizes can cause problems as the big dog may be to rough or accidentally hurt a much smaller dog. Once you get to the point of actually selecting a dog, if you are getting an adult dog have them meet before you fall in love with the new dog. This meeting can tell you a lot about if their personalities will work together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-11-15T04:52:26.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6782" CreationDate="2014-11-15T19:05:50.413" Score="4" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are looking at buying a new house and would like a large yard for our dog to play in.  I've never cared for most fences aesthetically, and they are extremely expensive/difficult to install.  This morning I began wandering about a different possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a series of trellises were setup in a line around the yard (where the fence would go), and climbing roses planted all along, would the thorns act as sufficient deterrent for our dog?  I understand this relies heavily on our dogs personality, and I believe she'd be susceptible to this sort of barrier, but I'm curious if it's ever been tried before or if studies have been done on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2638" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-11-16T20:55:03.307" LastActivityDate="2014-11-16T23:07:45.900" Title="Could roses be used to fence a dog in?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6780" CreationDate="2014-11-16T11:59:12.780" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First hedges grow much denser than rose bushes, and thorns are not an effective deterrent for a dog. Even a fence is not always a good means of containing a dog, who is determined to leave.  I have new neighbors who moved into house with a 40 year old hedge as a fence, it was about a week before the first dog went through the hedge, and their dogs are always supervised when they are outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These related questions discuss alternatives to fences &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2489/&quot;&gt;Preventing dog from going to highway&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2527/&quot;&gt;Is overhead cable running leash suitable for all dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3297/&quot;&gt;How can I keep my dog in my back yard?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several options for using plants to disguise a fence, but these will require first a fence appropriate for containing your dog, and then years for the plants to grow sufficiently to cover the fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked for studies about containing dogs with plant growth and came up empty. I did find a 1845 work in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=B_dFAAAAcAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA306&amp;amp;dq=hedge+as+a+dog+fence&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=5I5oVJbSFIWvyATbvIKoCQ&amp;amp;ved=0CEkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=hedge%20as%20a%20dog%20fence&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Volume 57&lt;/a&gt;, that talks about dogs and hedges as fences, while it does not give much information about keeping a dog in, it does speak abut the years required to make a hedge to contain livestock (which is easier than containing a dog).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/41Jbf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Digging dog&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AIDyj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Climbing Dog&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dog who is too timid to test boundaries.  Who might possibly be contained by a minimalist boundary divider, and if that dog is &lt;strong&gt;EVER&lt;/strong&gt; going to be unsupervised in the yard, than you need a fences capable of keeping out all of the neighborhood dogs and wild life that can harm your dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For small dogs see the related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6785&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6785&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-11-16T23:07:45.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-16T18:13:47.957" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with my 3-year-old mix of labrador and golden in big city and we started jogging together. For now we run 5km or maximum 10km long routes, about two times per week. If it matters, temperatures now in my city will be about 0 °C (32 °F)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what are best strategies for feeding and watering dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is amount of fodder given on package for active dog just enough?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How many hours before or after such run the dog should get its food? (Note: for now she is eating twice a day, at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.) I try to give it at least 2 hours break after feeding before run and, if feeding, after at least 40 minutes after run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What about maintaining hydration while running? Should I take some water for 10km run to provide it in halfway?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1299" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:03:47.803" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:03:47.803" Title="How should I time feeding and watering while running amateur canicross?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7122" CreationDate="2014-11-16T22:10:15.553" Score="6" ViewCount="27338" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard dogs have ticklish spots where they react when you tickle them there. I couldn't find any information on ticklish cats and their possible ticklish spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat tends to flick his ears if I touched the hair on the edge of his inner ear, but I'm not sure if that's a ticklish reaction or not. Do cats have ticklish spots?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-17T00:14:11.340" LastActivityDate="2017-06-10T18:40:58.843" Title="Can cats be ticklish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6790" CreationDate="2014-11-17T15:37:46.780" Score="6" ViewCount="1445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've taken in a stray cat who is an intact male. I'm estimating his age at less than 2 years, but I don't have experience with young cats. He is at the vet today and will hopefully be neutered (it depends on their schedule). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since intact tomcats are notorious for territorial marking, how long will that behavior last after he's been neutered?  We've been keeping him in the garage, but it would be easier to keep him in a spare bedroom. I just don't want him to spray inside my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T16:55:34.507" Title="How long after neutering will a male cat continue to mark/spray territory?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2014-11-17T16:22:23.080" Score="11" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is obviously aware that it is a bad thing. She typically hides under the couch until the next day, and she'll actively avoid us if she tries to go out for food and water. The first few times she did it, I brought her over to show her that pooping on the bed was wrong, but I don't know if it left the right impression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can almost guarantee that this left the wrong impression. The fact that she's trying to avoid you and hide from you means that she's scared of what's going to happen if you catch her. She knows that after going on the bed, something is going to happen that she doesn't like, not that going on the bed itself is bad. There's a common misconception that dogs and cats can know when they're doing something bad or good, when they can't really, but they can associate the events that come after their actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the idea behind positive re-enforcement, is that it builds the connections between an action, and receiving a positive reward afterwards. Again, this doesn't mean that they know what they're doing is good, they just know that good things happen if they do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are awfully eager to please when they know they're going to get a rewards for obeying, but unfortunately cats haven't been selectively bred for obedience as dogs have. People want cats to be independant. But all that just means that it takes more work and patience to train them, not that it's impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, I think that there are two things going on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is using the same spot because it smells like her urine. Cat urine is very high in ammonia so it's extremely difficult to clean out completely. Also consider that even though you might not be able to smell it, your cat still could. Cat's are hardwired to detect cat urine, since they use it to send messages for things like territory borders and when they're in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stressed cats typically avoid litter boxes. There are many reasons why that is, and I'm not well versed enough in cat behaviour to say why, but for whatever reason, cats tend to go outside the litter box when they're under stress. Considering how she's acting scared for a few days after, I think it's safe to say there's some stress being cause of her fearing whatever punishment she receives for going on the bed. But, it's important to note that it could also be stress from a medical issue, like say a urinary tract infection, and you would want to take her to a vet to make sure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to you is to make sure that the cat urine is cleaned out of the sheets and mattress completely. Use a strong pet cleaner like nature's miracle to attack the mattress. Luckily we have another question that's been asked about removing urine from a mattress: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2603/481&quot;&gt;How can I get old cat urine smell out of a mattress?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also be a good idea, if it's a possibility, to restrict your cat's access to the bedroom. Keep the door closed for a week or two and see if she can't get back into the habit of using the litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The absolutely most difficult part of it (believe me, I've been through it too) is when you find a mess, you have to completely ignore her. You're going to have to act like nothing happened so that she realizes that whatever she's afraid of happening after she goes isn't anything she needs to be stressed about. It's going to try your patience, because it will take quite a bit of time for this to happen, but after she stops being stressed she should be more comfortable using her litterbox again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you've had her for a while, so she should know where her litterbox is located, but it might not hurt to re-acquaint her with it. If your bedroom is closer to where she normally spends her time than her litterbox, than maybe she's having trouble getting to the litterbox in time. This could be a sign of a medical issue, and again you'll want to have her looked at by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not a medical issue, you can treat it the same as you would with a kitten. You want her to relearn how long it takes for her to get to the litterbox from different areas of the house. So say the litterbox is in the basement, you would want her to stay in the basement for a week or two, and once she learns how long it takes to get to the litterbox from a room or two away, then you can let her go a bit farther until she knows how soon she needs to make her way to the litterbox from the farthest point in the house to make it on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not be a bad idea to have a second litterbox at the other side of the house that the other litterbox is at though. Depending on how much space you're dealing with of course. It might not be necessary in a small apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to consider trying out some different types of cat litter. Cats are pretty picky and like kids and vegetables their preferences can change. Perhaps the litter doesn't mask the smell of their urine/feces enough, or even the opposite where the scent of the litter is too strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, something that might help in the training, and calming down stress department. There are a variety of cat calming aids available. Something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/10533/Comfort-Zone-Diffuser-with-Feliway-for-Cats.aspx?CoreCat=firstinresult_ComfortZoneCatNovDec2014&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ComfortZone&lt;/a&gt; diffuser, assuming it works in helping control the stress and anxiety your cat might be having, would be useful to use if you can identify when your cat is acting most stressed. Separation anxiety for an example, you could turn it on as you leave, and slowly dial it back as you work on training to combat the anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T17:26:29.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6788" CreationDate="2014-11-17T16:55:34.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/why-cat-spraying-after-neutering.html#b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.vetinfo.com/why-cat-spraying-after-neutering.html#b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat spraying is a common problem and in most cases may be stopped by&#xA;  neutering the cat. Typically, over 90% of cats stop spraying within 6&#xA;  months after the neutering procedure. However, even neutered cats may&#xA;  spray; typically this is due to a medical condition or stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note though that there is a small chance the cat will continue to spray out of habit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In rare cases, cats may continue to spray and this behavior is not&#xA;  linked to any medical condition. Typically, these cats are neutered at&#xA;  a more advanced age, when the cat has already developed a habit out of&#xA;  spraying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T16:55:34.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-17T17:45:08.520" Score="7" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 year old female outdoor rabbit is free to roam for up to 8 hours a day in our large garden, but has stopped eating the grass and hay. At one point she stopped eating altogether, and the vet said her teeth were in bad condition and recommended we have her put down. That was about 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We initially put her on a course of antibiotics, and put some water on her pellets to soften just to get her to eat, which helped as she now munches them dry again. We also noticed that she started eating the crusts of the wholemeal bread we fling out for the birds. Thinking she was hungry, we gave her small amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed over the last few days now, there are less and less droppings around so I'm really worried. The vet is only going to suggest we put her down, so is there anything else we can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if her teeth hurt when she chews hay, grass, or the odd bit of lettuce or pear, but we don't want to stop giving her food. Apart from this she seems really happy so we don't want to get her put to sleep. What reason could there be for her to stop defecating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3194" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:59:29.830" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:59:29.830" Title="What reasons could there be for my rabbit not defecating?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-17T19:22:27.293" Score="3" ViewCount="742" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog has been completely fine and content on a night, when he's just had the one walk and sleeps through the night almost always. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However as of late, he has been getting up and wandering around at 3am in the morning until we let him outside, and then again at 6am - after a few days this gets incredibly tiring! We have hardwood flooring so the tapping of his feet is enough to keep us awake..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real change we have made in the last few weeks is a change of food: from Kirkland Chicken to a Kirkland Duck with beans. Could changing his food cause  behavior like this? or could it just be a coincidence, the only other change that is apparent is the weather had turned to snow and -10 most nights, so the heating has been coming on intermittently through the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He usually sleeps on the foot of the bed, and he is a 2 year old purebred Basset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing this restlessness and what can be done to stop it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-17T19:41:58.920" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T22:16:56.427" Title="What could be causing my Basset Hound to stop sleeping through the entire night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6792" CreationDate="2014-11-17T23:03:46.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not pooping is an unhealthy sign, it is usually related to tooth and/or digestive issues. This is a medical emergency, your vet may recommend a laxative to help, if so be sure not to get tuna, chicken or other meat flavored variates as your rabbit will not eat it. There some non-meat flavors available. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits teeth grow continually so it is difficult to image &quot;rotten teeth&quot; as described in your comment.  Rabbit teeth issue are generally related to malocclusion (not being lined up correctly so they don't wear down) and require that the teeth be trimmed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several oral issues, most of them revolving around infections in the gums.  Treatment may involve pulling the teeth and rounds of antibiotics. Because antibiotics tend to disrubt the rabbits gut, special attention should be given to monitoring their health and diet. If possible &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1961&quot;&gt;recolonizing with borrowed cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; may be considered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a rabbit has teeth pulled they can grow back, but not always, there are lots of variables here, you will need an ongoing consult with your vet until the situation stabilizes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been several mostly or fully toothless bunnies in my circle of friends. A rabbit with no teeth can live a long happy, healthy life.  The largest hurdle is keeping fiber content high enough to prevent &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;Wool Block or a Hairball&lt;/a&gt; while keeping sugar content low enough to prevent &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1816/are-carrots-a-healthy-part-of-a-rabbit-diet/1833#1833&quot;&gt;other issues.&lt;/a&gt; Canned pumpkin or one of the other options described at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/522&quot;&gt;How can I help my adult rabbit gain weight?&lt;/a&gt; will help.  I know of rabbits who have lived years, primarly on canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a rabbit is not eating and/or not pooping is important to keep solids moving through the gut, a few hours can lead to GI Stasis and death.  You should have some Critical Care in your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783&quot;&gt;First Aid Kit&lt;/a&gt; this can be force fed to your rabbit by mixing with water and using a syringe to put it in their mouth.  Generally once you get the mixture in their mouth they will swallow it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is no means exhaustive, but does hit on some of the top causes and solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-9/oral-health.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Oral Health in Rabbits (&lt;em&gt;Rabbit.org&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dental Disease in Rabbits: A Simple Overview (&lt;em&gt;bio.miami.edu&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gastrointestinal Stasis: The Silent Killer (&lt;em&gt;Rabbit.org&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-11-17T23:03:46.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16507" CreationDate="2014-11-18T17:50:05.383" Score="9" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to start a terrestrial frog terrarium that, ideally, wouldn't be higher than 1 - 1.5 feet (2.5 feet wide, 1 foot deep are hard limits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/frogsandtoads/a/amertreefrogs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American green tree frogs&lt;/a&gt; seem like a good candidate, but is that enough height for them to be happy and not feel claustrophobic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T00:39:42.090" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T07:07:58.297" Title="How much height is required for an American green tree frog habitat?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6793" CreationDate="2014-11-18T22:16:56.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you open to crate training? For sleeping sometimes as dogs age they just want their own sleeping space. Providing a crate for sleeping gives your dog a designated sleeping spot. There are many other benefits of crate training as well such as safety for young dogs (especially chewers), the dogs tend to have more restful sleeps (they wake up less), and you will sleep better. It is also helpful if you're dog has to ever stay somewhere else, their crate gives them a familiar place to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-11-18T22:16:56.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-18T23:37:54.083" Score="3" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean, I've had dogs before, it's not like I'm trying to get a dog for the first time in my life. The thing is, I am an immigrant, I had to leave my previous dog back home; A caucasian shepherd - a pretty serious breed &lt;em&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=caucasian%20shepherd&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1680&amp;amp;bih=955&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=e9hrVJ-sAsXkoATM2YHwDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;dpr=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a google for image search if you don't know what I'm talking about&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past few years, for various reasons, I couldn't have any dogs and frankly my life felt somewhat insufficient. Finally I think I'm ready to get one. Considering all possible choices I decided to get a zwergschnauzer, and that would be my first ever dog since moving to USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get a purebred male, either a young adult or a puppy. However it seems to be quite a difficult task to find a good puppy in my area (San Francisco Bay Area). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all the price. According to ads I found on the Internet, it varies from $350 to $3000 for a puppy. I mean I understand you get what you pay for, but really $3000 for a puppy? And we're talking about one of the most popular breeds in US, not some exotic one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not trying to get a show dog, but a family pet, yet I want to get a good and healthy puppy and if it really makes huge difference, maybe I should prepare myself to pay reasonably higher than average price? But I won't pay $3000. It would probably be cheaper to fly to Germany and bring one here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it seems finding a puppy is difficult. I've been emailing in response to all ads I've found on Craigslist, eBay Classifieds, and PetFinder. Most of the puppies are either already sold out or of a mixed breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found web page of Miniature Schnauzer Club of Northern California and wrote them an email asking for recommendations - no answer yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you tell me the process of adopting a purebred dog in the United States? I'm especially interested in knowing the parts like how the registration process works, and the normal procedure for bargaining for price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3201" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T15:43:04.870" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T18:58:45.317" Title="What is the procedure for adopting a purebred dog in the United States?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;purebred&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6801" CreationDate="2014-11-19T02:00:45.500" Score="4" ViewCount="6712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told by a friend that whenever neon tetras are resting their colors fade away. This morning I took a look at my tetras before they started moving around and the colors did in fact seem to have faded away. Is there a reason for this happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="3175" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T12:11:08.023" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T12:11:08.023" Title="Why does the colour of Neon Tetras fade when they are resting?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6800" CreationDate="2014-11-19T09:42:19.247" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish have cells called chromatophores that produce the pigments that give coloration or reflect light. The colour of a fish is determined in part by which pigments are in the cells (there are several colours), how many pigment molecules there are, and whether the pigment is clustered inside the cell or is distributed throughout the cytoplasm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is, when fish lose their colour, the chromatophores space out pigment granules farther apart, and their colours appear more dull. Drawn closer together, the colours appear more bright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, your fish when resting is conserving its energy, there is no need to maintain their colour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT BEWARE, there are many reasons for the fish's colour to fade out in other cases such as stress, bad water quality, when introduced to new fish or when diseased. So if this only happens when there is absence of light or when resting, it is perfectly normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T09:42:19.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-19T14:23:05.137" Score="2" ViewCount="547" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Two blood parrots among other kinds of fish as well, one of them hits on the other however, the aquarium is big enough (50gal) and decorated so each can have their own hiding place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I was doing some maintaining so I removed them into a 5gal aquarium for a couple of days with only one plastic tree decoration in it. Now that the aquarium is small it gets hit on all them time so it started sticking it self upside down into the tree as if it was part of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later on when i put them back into the aquarium it kept the same habit even when no one is around it. I tried putting it back into the 5gal to see if its the effect of other fish but my blood parrot would still stick it self int the tree and literarily doesn't move at all. Now I am keeping it alone, with no decorations at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: water condition was always good, and the only times it was bothered by the other blood parrot was when they were left alone in the small tank for couple of days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what could be the reason to such behaviour and what can I do to get it back to the larger aquarium? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T18:04:55.400" Title="Blood Parrot Cichlid Behaviour" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6763" CreationDate="2014-11-19T14:54:44.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have several (4) and I often see them sort of obliviously swimming into the wall or objects or each other. It does not appear to be with aggressive intent but they make quick snappy movements and don't necessarily account for bumping things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty much any time they need air they shoot up almost as fast as they can and then back down again usually hitting into the ground at the same speed. After hitting the ground or a object they will continue to try to move forward for another 2-3 kicks sort of ram-sliding themselves along the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that their small weight makes this slamming relatively harmless much like a person bumping into a wall while walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;One other thing that could cause odd behavior would be some kind of disease but I highly doubt that is the case here.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Did not see that he died - it was probably erratic behavior as a result of being ill and or in unsuitable conditions, and or system shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2014-11-20T20:46:47.167" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T20:46:47.167" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6798" CreationDate="2014-11-19T18:58:45.317" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three main categories of sources to purchase or adopt a dog in the USA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Directly from a breeder&lt;/strong&gt;. If you are intent on a very young puppy, this is your best source. However, not all breeders are created equal: &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;reputable breeders&lt;/strong&gt; that carefully select the dogs/bitches they are breeding based on health and temperament. They breed limited numbers of litters per year, and have the parents tested for genetic defects before breeding them. They typically show their dogs at confirmation shows, and limit the dogs selected for testing to champions of the breed. Many breeds have national clubs that are a good source for finding reputable breeders. Here is a link to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amsc.us/list-of-breeders.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Miniature Schnauzer club list&lt;/a&gt;. This is the best chance of getting a healthy puppy that exhibits the characteristics of the breed. It will also be the most expensive. Another advantage of these breeders is that you can get on their waiting list for a future litter if no puppies are available immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next category of breeder is the &quot;&lt;strong&gt;backyard breeder&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. These are people who breed their dogs as a hobby, perhaps to allow their children to &quot;experience the miracle of life&quot;, or because they think they can earn some extra money. They often only produce one or two litters. They may provide good care of the dogs and puppies, but may not have done the testing to minimize potential health problems -- they just used the bitch they had available and got a stud from another source. The health outlook for these puppies is more uncertain, but could be fine -- it is more due to the luck of the draw. These are generally less expensive than from a dedicated breeders, and the price might drop quickly as the puppies age and the people are faced with finding homes for them. You will usually find them through local classified ads, Craigslist, etc. Availability is unpredictable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there are also breeders whose primary motivation is profit, also known as &lt;strong&gt;puppy mills&lt;/strong&gt;. They will produce as many litters as possible each year to maximize profit with little regard to the health of the animals they produce. The dogs are often kept in unsanitary conditions, receiving the minimum of attention and care required to keep them alive and producing offspring. The puppies may have health issues and genetic defects. These breeders will be reluctant to allow you to see the parents, and will bring them to a neutral place outside of their living area if they do allow it. Please stay away from these: They provide a life of misery for their breeding stock and heartache for the purchaser who discovers that the puppy they are now attached to has major health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pet store&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Beware of pet stores that are selling puppies&lt;/em&gt;. They are almost always provided by puppy mills. I know a person who purchased a bargain Labrador Retriever from a pet store for $300 when the breeders were asking $1,000. Six months later they found that the puppy needed a $2,000 surgery to correct hip dysplasia. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a growing trend for pet stores to focus on selling supplies and to allow non-profit rescues to display pets that may be adopted on their premises. You will see that it is a separate organization (usually) in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Non-profit Rescue/Shelter&lt;/strong&gt; These are organizations that take unwanted or lost animals and try to find homes for them. Reputable shelters will do health and temperament evaluations on pets before they make them available for adoption. They will vaccinate and usually neuter pets before adopting them out. They normally have adoption fees to help cover their costs in caring for the animals, and the amounts often differ based on the desirability of the animal. Purebred puppies are usually the most expensive, and senior mixed-breed dogs are the least. While you can be reasonably assured that there are no short-term health issues, problems may not be apparent in puppies until they mature. The majority of dogs in shelters are mixed-breed. Puppies and pure-bred dogs tend to be adopted more quickly. Some shelters will accept waiting lists for breeds, with no guarantees of when a dog may be available. There are also breed-specific rescues that focus on a particular breed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://schnauzer.rescueme.org/California&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;California Miniature Schnauzer rescues&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are intent on a pure-bred puppy, a reputable breeder is your most reliable source, but you will pay the most money for it. That money could be cheaper in the long run than an inferior dog produced by a puppy mill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would urge you to visit some local shelters, such as an SPCA. You will see what you are getting there when you pick an adult dog. If you are more flexible on your breed requirements, you will probably find a great companion for much less money that will live for many more years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-11-19T18:58:45.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-19T19:36:04.043" Score="7" ViewCount="12342" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just bought an ultrasonic humidifier. While researching if I needed to use demineralised water, I came across a website (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allergieinfo.de/news/2006_luftbefeuchter.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, in German) saying that ultrasonic humidifiers are harmful/annoying for pets, as it emits a sound humans cannot hear but animals can. I just turned it on a few minutes ago, to see what their reaction is. They have been very curious, but it's hard to tell if they find it annoying (or will do so if they hear it for a longer time). I haven't been able to find any other sources regarding ultrasonic humidifiers and pets. Does anyone know if I can safely use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edited to add:&lt;/em&gt; I had the brilliant idea to do another search, this time in English and not in German. I found a few websites saying that it depends on the frequency - cats can hear frequencies from 55 Hz up to 79 kHz, any ultrasonic device should use a higher frequency than that. This prompted me to email the producer of the humidifier with the question which frequency this specific humidifier uses. Nonetheless I would be curious if there's anyone with experience regarding this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastEditorUserId="2554" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T20:28:29.450" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:51:56.700" Title="Are ultrasonic humidifiers harmful for pets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7091" CreationDate="2014-11-19T21:13:18.667" Score="6" ViewCount="2576" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua/Corgi mix that is extremely hyper active. Whenever I do or say something that he likes and that gets him excited, he begins turning in circles (even while he's walking). Why does he do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3157" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-19T21:30:06.500" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T16:58:25.170" Title="Why does my dog turn in circles when he's excited?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-20T08:31:27.963" Score="3" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two year old female cat. I'm used to bathe her once a week with a special shampoo for cats. Sadly, the cat never liked the bath. Instead, few times when I start preparing the bath for her (e.g. bring her towel) she hides under the bed. When I carry her to the bathroom she start crying and trying to push me off her and run away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try my best to make it as easy as possible for her. I do not retstrict her (too much) while rubbing her. I leave her in around 1X1m area while I splash her or rub her leaving her paws on the floor. I heard from friends that it takes few baths before they start enjoying it. Unfortunately, she never enjoyed it or at least accepted it as a normal thing. Few hours after the bath though, once she is all dry, she comes running around me and wants to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to make her like bathing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastEditorUserId="1132" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T10:39:49.457" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T10:39:49.457" Title="How can I help my cat to enjoy, or at least accept, bathing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4413" CreationDate="2014-11-20T09:22:20.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some research says that at least women may react to dogs in the same way they do with children:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;It has become common for people who have pets to refer to themselves as &amp;quot;pet parents,&amp;quot; but how closely does the relationship between people and their non-human companions mirror the parent-child relationship? A small study from a group of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers makes a contribution to answering this complex question by investigating differences in how important brain structures are activated when women view images of their children and of their own dogs. Their report is being published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. &amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;the study enrolled a group of women with at least one child aged 2 to 10 years old and one pet dog that had been in the household for two years or longer. &amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The second session took place at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at MGH, where functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – which indicates levels of activation in specific brain structures by detecting changes in blood flow and oxygen levels – was performed as participants lay in a scanner and viewed a series of photographs. The photos included images of each participant's own child and own dog alternating with those of an unfamiliar child and dog belonging to another study participant. After the scanning session, each participant completed additional assessments, including an image recognition test to confirm she had paid close attention to photos presented during scanning, and rated several images from each category shown during the session on factors relating to pleasantness and excitement. &amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The imaging studies revealed both similarities and differences in the way important brain regions reacted to images of a woman's own child and own dog. Areas previously reported as important for functions such as emotion, reward, affiliation, visual processing and social interaction all showed increased activity when participants viewed either their own child or their own dog. A region known to be important to bond formation – the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SNi/VTA) – was activated only in response to images of a participant's own child. The fusiform gyrus, which is involved in facial recognition and other visual processing functions, actually showed greater response to own-dog images than own-child images.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/mgh-mgs100114.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/mgh-mgs100114.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T14:29:59.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6757" CreationDate="2014-11-20T10:51:59.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above puppies go through several development stages that often cause fear of new, previously unnoticed 'bogies'.  Overly protecting your puppy could exacerbate the issue.  Conversely, every time a new fear is overcome a puppy builds resilience and self confidence that is more secure.&#xA;I would also recommend reading what Patricia McConnell writes about dealing with fear. She is a renowned expert in dog behaviour and training whose writing is very accessible. &#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2837" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T10:51:59.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-20T11:19:32.683" Score="3" ViewCount="549" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Introduction&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a female german shepherd that is eleven years old, she has been neutered last year due to pyometra. She has exostosis on her hind legs that sometimes cause her minor pain and discomfort.  To those wondering, it wasn't common in my country to neuter dogs back when she was young, now it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months after the operation, she started having issues with holding her bladder. The tricky part is that she is &lt;strong&gt;fully able to hold it as long as she is in the apartment&lt;/strong&gt;, but as soon as we go out for a walk, she usually pees on the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided that we live in an apartment complex with other families that means cleaning pretty much every time we go out for a walk, as she doesn't hold to the park that is two minutes away and just pees in front of people's apartments as we descend the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not about the frequency either, she have done it a few hours after a main walk when I walk her out again, minimum quantities of urine but still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the good days she will not pee the stairs but rather in the middle of the road after a few steps outside which is still not pleasant because it's an urban area and people frown upon the sight of my dog peeing in the middle of the small streets - which I completely understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Then she stopped out of the sudden for half a year.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now she started again, we ruled out bladder infections but we found out some minor signs of calcium oxalate and &lt;strong&gt;very minimal&lt;/strong&gt; traces of blood which our veterinary doctor wasn't worried about that much. He guessed that some crystal sand in the urine might have irritated the walls of the urinary tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Solution&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Currently, none.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have discussed hormonal therapy, because it is often than neutered old dogs have similar issues related to hormones. However, we ruled that out because she doesn't accidentally pees in the house or randomly leaks small quantities which is common for that cause of problems. She simply pees in the building stairs and she knows she doesn't have to because she is very guilty after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My doctor suggested that her exostosis problems might be the primary cause, because it's causing her pain and it is irritating the nerves in the whole hind legs area, especially when she is descending the stairs which requires some physical load.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are trying a short course of some non-steroid pain killers to see if that will help but I would really like to hear more opinions or people that have had similar issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3205" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T16:54:56.850" Title="My dog urinates as soon as she leaves the apartment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7934" CreationDate="2014-11-20T21:47:38.807" Score="6" ViewCount="2358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an incredibly active 8 year old &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia_Duck_Tolling_Retriever&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever&lt;/a&gt;. It's always a challenge to tire her out (she's more active than any 8 puppies I've ever met put together)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night while we were playing fetch she wore her nails down to the quick and started bleeding. She didn't seem bothered by the blood and didn't even notice until we were in the dog store buying supplies to fix her up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of her nails are peeling on the outside and though only one bled last night, the tip of the quick is very visible on most of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to strengthen her nails or make them grow back faster? She eats a fish based dog food, so she has plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Omega-3 fatty acids&lt;/a&gt; in her diet. Her coat is always shiny and super soft, so I don't think she's lacking in that department. I want to continue to exercise her a lot, but I also don't want her messing up her feet all the time. Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T04:32:28.340" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T19:31:12.700" Title="How can I prevent my dog's nails from wearing down while providing her enough exercise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6807" CreationDate="2014-11-20T23:12:57.093" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats naturally clean themselves, unless they have a condition where they are unable to. If your cat cleans itself, I would recommend not washing it. Even though there are shampoos that are &quot;safe&quot; for cats, they still are putting unecessary chemicals onto the cats fur. Also, it is completely normal for cats to dislike being bathed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-11-20T23:12:57.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6817" CreationDate="2014-11-21T00:50:59.017" Score="5" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I can't grow dandelions for my guinea pigs, I will pick them from where ever they are growing, making sure that the areas I pick them from are isolated and not close to any obvious pollution sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: Can plants in general, and dandelions in particular, absorb pollution, or can I just wash them in water to make them safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T17:22:46.330" Title="Can roadside plants absorb pollution that makes them unsafe for small animals?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6816" CreationDate="2014-11-21T06:34:24.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely, yes they can.  Lead could a problem roadside (soil could be contaminated from the the days when leaded gas was available).  Not sure how much you should be concerned as there appear to be a large number of variables.  Here is a link to a publication discussing lead in the context of gardening. &lt;a href=&quot;http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8424.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8424.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weed killing spray roadside is toxic and common in some areas for controlling roadside vegetation.  You may have seen from time to time roadside signage saying &quot;no spray&quot;...  That's an indication the property owner doesn't want the spray since it is toxic, and agrees to maintain the road side.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3182" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T17:22:46.330" LastActivityDate="2014-11-21T17:22:46.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11256" CreationDate="2014-11-21T16:34:27.873" Score="12" ViewCount="1683" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was playing air drums next to my 2-year old Uromastyx's tank, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she kept glancing up and my face, despite my hands going crazy 2 feet down (almost giving me a &quot;what are you doing?&quot; look, but that might be giving her too much credit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that was interesting, so I stood up, but extended my arms to keep my hands at the same place (increasing the distance between my hands and face), and she actually readjusted, and kept looking at my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This struck me as odd because she's very skidish, and tends to run from anything moving. This would seem to suggest that she's giving special attention to the face, but as far as I know, they don't have the mental machinery to make such a recognition (Fusiform Face Area?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know anything on this topic, or has anyone noticed that their reptiles seem to be able to recognize faces (not distinguish between people, because that could involve a ton of different things, and I'm almost certain that they are capable of that already).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-21T17:24:44.597" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T13:36:01.647" Title="Is there any evidence to suggest that lizards can recognize a human face?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1003" CreationDate="2014-11-22T04:03:10.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work at a cat shelter and some of the cats actually prefer to be picked up by the scruff than normally. Granted it's usually with &lt;strong&gt;kittens or small adult cats&lt;/strong&gt;, but it's less about the age and more about the &lt;strong&gt;size/weight&lt;/strong&gt; of the cat. If you can't easily lift the cat by the scruff with one hand, you shouldn't pick them up like that, but it's okay to hold them that way if they aren't completely off the ground. I've also heard that it &lt;strong&gt;releases endorphins and relaxes the cat&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm sure if one was to do it &lt;strong&gt;incorrectly, it could hurt the cat&lt;/strong&gt;, but in general, as long as you do it correctly, it is an effective way to &lt;strong&gt;keep the cat still while medicating&lt;/strong&gt; or to relax an agitated cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:02:30.507" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:02:30.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6841" CreationDate="2014-11-23T18:42:19.377" Score="9" ViewCount="19809" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a small carpeted cat tree with a sisal/hemp covered scratching post support. The cats seem to love this scratching post more than any other, as they have torn up the sisal to where it is falling off the post in several places. I would like to repair this by replacing the sisal cord in its entirety. The post was commercially made and cost around $40 new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/2JSwgrr6sY4?t=20s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; that does make it look very possible to do this repair myself. The video (and several other sources) suggest using either white (Elmer's) glue or hot glue as a means of securing the sisal to the post. This would certainly be low cost, but I'm concerned about the toxicity. So far as I've noticed, none of the other scratching posts we've bought have used an adhesive of any kind. Instead, it seems they've used an out-of-sight metal fastener (staple, nail etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats has a habit of eating everything he can get his teeth around. Is glue a safe material for repairing the cat tree, or would be risk of poisoning? Or should I just do the repairs the hard way and get a staple gun or break out the hammer and nails?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I was all set to repair the post with solid materials only (new sisal and metal staples). I started disassembling the torn and shredded sisal and it became clear that the original manufacturer had used at least 2 types of glue. One is a hot-glue look alike used near the ends, which were also secured with numerous staples. The other was more of a contact cement applied to the whole cardboard tube, around which the sisal was wrapped. I'm going to look into the glue safety some more and see if I can't get something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3220" LastEditorUserId="3220" LastEditDate="2014-12-14T19:35:53.723" LastActivityDate="2019-01-25T17:32:39.893" Title="What are safe materials for repairing a scratching post?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-24T00:04:49.997" Score="10" ViewCount="1738" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think my female betta is egg bound. We don't have a male, and aren't looking to breed. Do I need to be concerned or will this pass naturally? Is there anything I need to do to make sure she'll be okay and &quot;pass&quot; the eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; There were no eggs and the fish died. I'm still not sure why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3221" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:33:58.193" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T02:03:18.020" Title="Should I be concerned about my egg bound betta?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6832" CreationDate="2014-11-24T06:05:52.007" Score="7" ViewCount="14405" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is getting old, and none of my pets are going to be around for the rest of my life. When they pass on, I think I will be too emotional to think about the logistics, so I'd like to figure out what to do ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the city, burial is not an easy option. What is the proper (and ideally respectful, although that aspect may be way too opinion-based) way to dispose of a larger dead pet, e.g. a cat, a dog, or anything else, especially in an area where outdoor land is not easily accessible or appropriate to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2014-11-24T16:48:51.647" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T16:50:43.963" Title="How do I dispose of a dead pet?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5840" CreationDate="2014-11-24T12:28:38.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my black lab puppy at 8 weeks old. I immediately created a routine with him for bedtime or for when I leave the house and also immediately crate trained him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to do this is to feed him his meals in his crate. This makes him go into the crate on his own. I put the bowl in said 'go to your crate' and when he was inside I closed and locked the crate while he ate.&#xA;Once he was done I would wait for him to turn around and patiently sit to be let out and I would immediately unlock the crate and let him out with praise. We did this for two weeks every meal time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He sleeps in the living room away from me, in his crate. This creates a space for him to sleep (and I) peacefully. I know that sleeping time is a bonding experience but he's going to get much bigger and there's simply no room. I am also a light sleeper and he gets up and repositions himself 300 times a night so... He's crated. I did not miss out on my 'bonding' experience my dog loves me and is very loyal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our routine is that when it's time for bed I grab three small treats out of the cubbord and point to the crate. I turn off the TV and day 'okay babe time for bed' he knows to go in and he gets the treat. He knows that going in is a positive experience. I give him treats and lock up the house and we go to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately for me he wakes me up everyday at 7am. By this time his bladder is full and I walk him and out him back in his crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I'm saying is create a routine at night. My dog is fed twice a day on a routine, walked on a routine and sleeps on a routine and he is very happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3223" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T12:28:38.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-24T15:11:18.590" Score="7" ViewCount="668" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in a pure breed pet, but I also want to help save a life by getting a rescue pet.  Is it possible to get a pure breed pet from a rescue?  If so what are the considerations? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T12:28:05.477" Title="Is getting pure breed pets from a rescue an option?" Tags="&lt;purebred&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6835" CreationDate="2014-11-24T17:07:13.010" Score="7" ViewCount="4137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had my cats updated on their rabies vaccinations, and one of them started puking in the morning afterwards. I've caught that it happens after I feed him, so it's almost as if the vaccination is giving him an upset stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it's been 4 days since the vaccinations, my wife called the vet to ask about it, and they gave the generic response to bring him in if it keeps happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm used to doctors saying what the adverse reactions to vaccinations are going to be before giving the vaccination (or at least while giving them). Now I'm realizing the vet never said anything about any adverse reactions to the rabies vaccine as she gave it to my cats. So I guess I only expected that the area where the vaccine was injected would be sore for the day after, since that's usually the only side effect I'm warned about from my vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the side-effects that rabies vaccine can have, and how long are they generally supposed to last?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-24T19:58:17.797" LastActivityDate="2019-07-28T16:08:12.367" Title="What are the side effects of a rabies vaccination?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2014-11-24T17:35:30.637" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I volunteer at an SPCA, and they have a pet &quot;wish list&quot; that accepts applications for a specific breed. Of course, there is no guarantee of a time frame when that breed will be available; it all depends on what comes through the intake door. Check with shelters in your area to see if they offer this service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also many breed-specific rescue groups that will pull purebreds (and mixed) of their breed from kill shelters and foster them, trying to find homes for them. This is probably your best bet for finding a specific breed. Do an internet search for them, for example &quot;Golden Retriever Rescue&quot;, and you should find the ones closest to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also search the internet pet sites, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com&quot;&gt;Petfinder&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petango.com&quot;&gt;Petango&lt;/a&gt;. You will need to do this on a regular basis because dogs can be adopted fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will most likely find an adult or adolescent dog. There is a greater overall demand for puppies in shelters, and it is fairly rare that a litter of purebreds will come in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-11-25T12:28:05.477" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T12:28:05.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6828" CreationDate="2014-11-24T17:39:12.247" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible, if you are patient, and are willing to take on a purebred that does not have papers.  Because of the nature of rescues it is basically impossible to document the actual origins of the dogs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In October our rescue organization &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allherdingbreeddogrescue.com/&quot;&gt;All Herding Breed Dog Rescue of Illinois&lt;/a&gt; (Shameless plug sorry) rescued 8 pure bred pointer puppies that had been abandoned by the breeder in the woods to die.  We know they were pure bred but we dont have any paper work to prove that or any documentation from before they were found and rescued.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the mixed breeds that we rescue also are probably at least pure bred from one side.  The only real advantage of a pure breed dog is that you could potentially breed that pure bred dog to another pure bred dog and get pure bred puppies.  But with rescue dogs, Most if not all rescues spay or neuter the dogs before they adopt them out.  So consider if you really need a &quot;Pure&quot; bred dog or if what you really want is a dog that has the qualities of that breed.  Because many mixed breed dogs have those qualities and make great companion pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you really feel the need to get a &quot;pure&quot; bred dog, contact the rescue organizations and ask them if they have any or if they can let you know when they get one available.  It may take time depending on what type of dog you are looking for but many times you can find them, especially if you are willing to accept an adult rescue rather than insisting on a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-11-25T00:55:35.483" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T00:55:35.483" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6825" CreationDate="2014-11-24T17:54:15.670" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most crematoriums either have a pet service that they will provide or can refer you to a crematorium that will provide you with the service.  To me this is the way I take handle my pets who are too dear to consider buring in an unmarked grave, or just disposing of otherwise.  There are places online that have containers designed to hold the ashes of your pets, and some crematoriums have packages that include a nice container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is a pet cemetary.  These tend to be a more expensive option but, you can get a marker and dedicated place for your beloved pet to rest eternally.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a back yard and it is not prohibited by your local and state laws(it is by some so you will want to check) you can choose to bury your pet in your yard, or that of a friend(with their permission).  I personally have a friend who has a pasture that he has buried several of our friends dogs.  If you choose this make sure you bury your animal at least 3 feet deep to deter scavengers from digging your pets remains up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another option is to dispose of the remains in the trash.  The pet's body is biodegradible and unless your disposal company prohibits this, it makes an easy disposal option.  I would recommend putting the body into a plastic trash bag to avoid odor from the docomposition and to respect your animal and those people who will collect your trash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T17:54:15.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-24T18:05:30.933" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are a foster for rescue dogs, and this weekend we were blessed to be able to save a momma dog and her litter of 9, 6 day old puppies.  The momma is a great dog, loves people, super attentive to her babies, and seems like a really great dog.  However she is not willing to interact with other dogs, and does not want them around her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time being we have seperated her and the puppies in a bedroom downstairs where the other dogs are not allowed to go.  This is not my favorite solution because the momma is a bigger dog and I would really like her to be able to move about more freely.  This is also going to become more of a problem in a few weeks when the puppies start being able to move around and play more.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to change this behavior?  I think correcting this will make her a more adoptable pet after the babies are grown, and will make our lives much easier when the puppies get bigger, and I think it will improve her life as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T17:58:02.617" Title="What can I do to get a dog to socialize with other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-24T18:24:46.267" Score="9" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen several rescue organizations that have said they are looking for fosters. I know that there may be specifics for some organizations but I am really just wanting to know what in general are the expectations of a person fostering pets, and what is required of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to make sure that I know what I'm getting into before I offer to foster dog; if there's a certain time commitment I'll have to make, if there will be certain expenses I'll be expected to cover, or if I'll be able to choose what breed or age that will be assigned to me or if it's randomly assigned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the expectations and requirements of a person who is fostering pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-11-24T18:52:13.470" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:28:08.150" Title="What are the expectations of pet fosters?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6829" CreationDate="2014-11-24T20:04:41.933" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/What-to-expect-after-your-pets-vaccination.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinarian Medical Association&lt;/a&gt;, the following side effects are common after a rabies vaccine. If they persist longer than 2 days or cause significant discomfort then go see your vet, otherwise don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Discomfort and local swelling at the vaccination site&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mild fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Decreased appetite and activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sneezing, mild coughing, &quot;snotty nose&quot; or other respiratory signs may occur 2-5 days after your pet receives an intranasal vaccine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also note that a firm lump may develop at an injection site. If it does not disappear after 3 weeks you should visit your veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following symptoms are rare, and the AVMA states that these&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;reactions can be life-threatening and are medical emergencies. Seek veterinary care immediately if any of these signs develop:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Persistent vomiting or diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Itchy skin that may seem bumpy (&quot;hives&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Swelling of the muzzle and around the face, neck, or eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Severe coughing or difficulty breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Collapse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The AVMA's information also matches the guidelines given by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/Vaccines.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cornell's Veterinary College&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your particular case, puking after a meal doesn't really qualify as &quot;persistent vomiting&quot;, but if the behavior has been going on for 4 days (and wasn't present before the vaccination) I would take your cat to the vet. It may not be related to the vaccination, but that's a long time to be puking every meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-24T20:04:41.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-24T20:10:24.500" Score="7" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;When browsing pets online through many websites like Petfinder, rescue groups will list some personality characteristics (snuggler, good with kids, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do they determine these personality characteristics and how accurate are these methods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If methods vary between organizations, how can I tell what basis a particular organization is using so I know how much to trust their characterization?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T10:32:45.337" Title="How accurate are personality descriptions given by a rescue organization?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6834" CreationDate="2014-11-24T21:17:34.697" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to realise is that any pet you rescue has likely been neglected and possibly abused.  This can lead to some short and long term behavior issues.  It is the foster's job to help the pet recover.  We may have been lucky, but it has taken us a few weeks of extra work and attention to get them on the road to becoming a good pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also usually your job to get the pet to and from vet visits, adoption events, and meetings with potential adopters.  You do not necessarily need to do this yourself, but if not, then you need to coordinate and arrange for someone else to take care of the transport.  For us this is the part that causes the most problems.  Everything else can be worked in on our time but these appointments are often some one else's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Costs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will vary by rescue organization but for the most part the expenses, especially the vet bills will be covered by the rescue organization.  That said, most rescue organization's funds are limited, so the more you use of those funds, the less that are available to help rescue other dogs.  This means if you can provide for most of the needs of the pets you foster (food, bedding, crates, etc) without needing to rely on the rescue, then you will have more opportunities to rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However there are many people who are very generous and appreciate the work that we do and like to be able to do what they can to help.  That can range from donations of toys, beds, and food to cash gifts.  We see quite a few more of those when we do adoption events than otherwise.  We also have a wish list set up for items that we go through a lot, so that people who want to help can.  I suspect with some effort and a little bit of Facebook begging we could make it so that our cash output was minimized.  But I suspect that would take some time to get there, and then quite a bit of effort to maintain that.  It is probably far better to just rescue as you can afford without any subsidy and look at any gifts as a blessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other benefit is that many rescue organizations are registered nonprofits, and any costs associated with your rescues are tax deductible, so save your receipts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do rescue animals get assigned?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most rescues work by pulling animals from kill shelters that are scheduled to be destroyed, or that are asking for rescue help.  Occasionally the rescue will contact us to ask if we can help with a specific animal, but mostly our animals come from people contacting us on Facebook, or us seeing Facebook posts of some shelters that we have a great relationship with.  Relationships play a huge part in the ability to rescue and to get the animals transported from distant shelters to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies are much easier to get adopted out than older dogs.  So if you save an older dog, prepare to have them around for a year or more.  It is also harder to correct behavior issue with older dogs than puppies.  But mostly, once you develop some relationships with shelters you can get heads up on which dogs are the best candidates for rehabilitation.  Also, shelters know that there are limited rescue resources, and the last thing they want to do is burn out one or more of those resources by pushing out animals that have little to no hope of ever being a good pet. Most of the pleadings are for dogs that most of what they need is food, shelter, and love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other things you should know&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The greatest expectation of a rescuer is that when you choose to rescue an animal you are committing to help rehabilitate and provide a home for that animal until it can be placed elsewhere.  Not all animals have the same needs.  Some will be easier to get ready to adopt than others, and some will get adopted quicker than others.  Getting them adopted also means keeping them visible to potential adopters.  This means attending adoption events, updating their profile on sites like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petfinder&lt;/a&gt;, and marketing them around to other online sites and Facebook groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a potential pet parent it is often your responsibility to make sure that the person adopting is someone who will be able to meet the needs of your foster pet and are going to be the type of pet parent that will be a good match with the pet.  Someone who wants a wallflower dog is not a good match for a highly active puppy, and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the hardest things to realize is there are far more dogs needing rescue than there are rescuers.  However, you are not the only rescuer.  So if you submit a request to rescue an animal but another rescue gets it, remember that the important thing is that the animal gets to live and be loved.  There will be plenty of others and times where your heart breaks as you have to let one go by because you are at your limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second hardest thing is to let go.  On average we spend 5-6 weeks getting puppies from the point where they were rescued to being adopted. It can be really hard to let them go.  But in the end you just have to remind yourself that this was the goal and that now you can save another life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:28:08.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6836" CreationDate="2014-11-24T21:40:08.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't tell you about all organizations but I can tell you about my experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no advantage to lying about a dog's characteristics.  You are going to bring the animal home and learn the truth.  If the animal is not as advertised there is a greater than average chance that you are going to bring it back.  This creates more of a problem than the original rescue because we planned the original rescue, we did not plan on you returning it after two weeks.  People adopt a dog wanting it to work out and most people realise it could take a week or so to settle in.  So it is very rare to have one returned right away.  They come back weeks or months later, often with new behavior issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that reason we do our best to be accurate.  We are also sharing our experience; your own experience may be different.  Perhaps the dog was great around the kids at the adoption events - that doesn't mean your little &lt;s&gt;monsters&lt;/s&gt; darlings will gel with the dog the same way.  The dog may have snuggled with me because I encouraged it and is not snuggling with you because you do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as working with shelters they are hit or miss.  Some shelters focus just on getting the animal out of the shelter, and others focus on saving the ones that have the best chance of being a great pet for someone.   Without experience it's hard to say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T10:32:45.337" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T10:32:45.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-25T09:57:10.963" Score="6" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Circumstances beyond my control require that I move, and it is just not possible to take my pet with me.  I have a hard move date coming up, I have contacted the no kill shelter in my area and they will not take my pet.  I have posted advertisements locally and have not found a new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an open door shelter in the area, but they are not a no kill shelter.  I love my pet and I want them to find a new home, but I am running out of time, and don't know where to go from here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T09:15:12.627" Title="What are my options for re-homing my pet?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6823" CreationDate="2014-11-25T16:52:37.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glues made diphenylmethane diisocyanate can greatly expand in your pet's stomach, causing dangerous blockages.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://tsawwassenanimalhospital.com/learning-centre/pet-poison-alert-accidental-wood-glue-toxicity/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://tsawwassenanimalhospital.com/learning-centre/pet-poison-alert-accidental-wood-glue-toxicity/&lt;/a&gt; Apparently this is common in wood glues, Gorilla Glue, and Elmer's ProBond.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even regular glue though could cause a blockage if the animal injested enough of it, though this piece is probably not of a concern to you, as I doubt your cat could eat that much from whatever you use to repair the scratching post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it's common to not list the ingredients in glues, so it would be very difficult to figure out a particular glue's toxicity.  I've found resources (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/dogs/tips-on-non-toxic-items-dogs-can-eat/page1.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petplace.com/dogs/tips-on-non-toxic-items-dogs-can-eat/page1.aspx&lt;/a&gt;) that say regular Elmer's glue is okay for dogs, so I suspect it's okay for cats as well, however, as said by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/jlee/2012/mar/pet_proofing_your_house-13475&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/jlee/2012/mar/pet_proofing_your_house-13475&lt;/a&gt; when in doubt, keep glues away from your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T16:52:37.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6833" CreationDate="2014-11-25T17:58:02.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a mother with a large litter of very young puppies that she will naturally be very protective of. She is probably a bit stressed just by nursing that number and trying to keep the nest clean. Now is not the time to bring other dogs into the mix. After the puppies are weaned, you can slowly introduce her to other dogs at a distance during walks, away from the puppies. If that goes well, you can bring them closer together for very short amounts of time, and gradually increase the exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T17:58:02.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6846" CreationDate="2014-11-25T18:33:40.437" Score="7" ViewCount="3628" Body="&lt;p&gt;In filling out the application to take a new animal, the rescue group asks for information for my current veterinarian. Why do they want that information and what will they ask/tell my veterinarian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T20:29:07.177" Title="Why does this rescue group want to talk to my vet?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6849" CreationDate="2014-11-25T18:37:41.433" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to help my local rescue group. I don't have any extra money but I have lots of extra time. What are some of the ways I can volunteer to help my rescue group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T18:19:19.200" Title="What types of volunteer activites are often associated with animal rescues?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2014-11-25T20:13:25.950" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;First we want to know that you have thought about your pets medical needs.  And your vet probably has a pretty good idea of how you treat your pets.  Do you bring them in for regular check ups, get them vaccinated, and provide heartworm prevention treatment regularly?  When they come it are they clean well groomed, and not showing signs of neglect?  Your vet is probably not going to tell us all of that but the vet may be able, based on that information, judge if you treat your pet decently or not.  When we call we hope that the vet will let us know that he sees your pets regularly and be comfortable with your adopting another pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never had a vet tell me that someone would not be a good choice to adopt, but I have had one say that he did not have an opinion.  That was not necessarily a problem but it did lead us to investigate deeper.  But a good vet reference goes a long way towards comforting us that you will be a good pet parent for this animal that we have invested time in rehabing and saving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T20:13:25.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2014-11-25T20:29:07.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are adopting from a breed specific or species specific rescue the goal may be to see if your current vet specializes in the pet you are considering adopting. A breed or species specific rescue is going to know who the best vets in the area for addressing the special needs of your new pet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your current vet is not one of the local vets who specialize appropriately, they will likely suggest an alternative. This is particularly true if you are adopting a special needs pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T20:29:07.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6735" CreationDate="2014-11-25T20:32:56.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to gently press on the top and bottom of each individual claw and just clip the smallest amount off. This usually prevents the hook on the claw being so sharp but will not stop claw &amp;quot;stropping&amp;quot; on furniture, carpets, etc. This would require a much more in-depth reply about modifying cat behaviour. Probably best asked as a seperate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2837" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-01T12:28:08.683" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T12:28:08.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6844" CreationDate="2014-11-25T21:04:11.193" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At the Shelter&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many rescue organizations have a shelter where they can keep rescued animals that are either difficult placements, need extra attention and training, and sometimes just because they do not have a home yet.  These shelters are alot of work and are often primarily run by a very skeleton crew (often just a very few people).  There are lots of things you may be able to do at the shelters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise and Socialization&lt;/strong&gt;.  One of the most important things for a rescue pet to improve their chances of adoption is to be socialized and get proper exercise.  For dogs this can be walking and play, for cats maybe just spending time, for rabbits and small animals just petting and playing, for Horses it may be riding or walking on a lead.  For every animal there is a rescue somewhere and those animals can really benefit from this attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cleaning&lt;/strong&gt;.  When you have a large number of animals there is no end to the messes they make.  This is alot of work and because of the thankless and dirtiness of the work it tends to fall on just the few people willing to help(often the leader of the rescue).  Most rescues I have worked with (this is my 4th) have a schedule of cleaning activities so if you can help here that is a great assistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maintenance and upkeep&lt;/strong&gt;.  The larger the animal the more likely they are to damage the pens and equipment.  Helping keep things safe for the animals and volenteers is another never ending battle.  If you have handyman skills this can be an invaluable service.  Many rescues are in a continual process of trying to provide more room to rescue more animals.  As resources become available there is also the need to create more enclosures and potentially structures to accomodate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grooming&lt;/strong&gt;. Keeping the animals well groomed is a very important part of getting them adopted.  It seems like a dog in a shelter will need at least some grooming almost daily and need a bath at least once a week.  Other animals may need more or less grooming attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overnight and short term fostering&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many times when an animal is pulled from a kill shelter it will take some time to get transport lined up to their destined foster facility or the rescue shelter.  Short term fosters could be needed for a few weeks but usually just a few nights to a week.  Also when animals are transported many times they will need an overnight stop or two before they make it to their destination.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The need for this type of fostering is sporatic and often short notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adoption events&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to getting the animals adopted is having them visible to potential adopters.  For this we have events at local stores (usually on weekends) where the animals are there to be interacted with and potentially be exposed to their new pet parents.  Aside from this exposure adoption events are an important part of getting the name of the rescue out, and to getting donations to help keep the rescue going.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of what is needed here is just someone to help mind both the animals and the people wanting to see and pet them.  If you are someone who enjoys both people and animals this can be a really fun day, and fosters and rescue organisers really appreciate the help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Transporter&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The animals need to be moved occasionally.  Sometimes this will be part of a relay that will move an animal from one part of the country to another.  Others it may just be taking them to or from the vet or an adoption event.  Relays are generally ~100 mile legs but local transports are rarely more than 20 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer Term Foster&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best opportunity a rescue animal has is if it can be placed with a foster.  This requires a much more dedicated commitment(&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6834/what-are-the-expectations-of-pet-fosters&quot;&gt;see this question&lt;/a&gt;) but it can also be very personally rewarding.  This gives the animal a chance to be socialized on a regular basis and to have some help correcting behavior issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a great option for someone with little or no disposable income, but for the sake of completeness I have included it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T18:19:19.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6840" CreationDate="2014-11-25T23:21:15.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try posting on Craigslist, it has a wider reach than paper advertisements and is usually free. Do you have friends in the area who might be able to take care of your pet for a short period of time while you look for another home for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2014-11-25T23:21:15.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6854" CreationDate="2014-11-26T01:00:08.683" Score="7" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not everyone can afford to give money to rescue organizations, but many might have supplies and equipment from prior pets that could be of use. Are there items that are often in short supply and might be very useful and valuable to rescue organizations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-09T21:19:40.967" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T21:19:40.967" Title="Other than cash (always welcome), what donations might be of the greatest use for rescue organizations?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6852" CreationDate="2014-11-26T03:05:21.497" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local animal shelter maintains a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org/site/c.elKWIeOUIhJ6H/b.8601603/k.9024/Shelter_Resident_Wish_List.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of wanted items&lt;/a&gt; on its web site.  (Perhaps yours does too!)  Some themes from that list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; toys, collars, and litter pans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;durable equipment (not required to be new): leashes, beds, heating pads, nail clippers, pens, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;towels, blankets, and small rugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food (check with your shelter for any specific requests about flavor, brand, or form)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pet-safe cleaning supplies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;newspapers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;electronics: cameras, printers, scanners, etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given a choice between donating money and using that money to buy something else to donate, I always donate the money -- I assume that they can get better bulk discounts on things like food than I can so the money will go farther.  But if I &lt;em&gt;already had&lt;/em&gt; something that I couldn't use, I would check whether the shelter would take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T16:41:35.687" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T16:41:35.687" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-26T03:38:57.887" Score="6" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was once part of a group that volunteered at a shelter for an afternoon (as part of a community-service project).  But that wasn't very useful to the shelter; they have mandatory training programs for volunteers and none of us had gone through that, so we ended up spending the afternoon at a bunny romp.  That was fun, but I didn't feel like I was helping them -- more like staying out of their way.  (I'd been expecting to spend the afternoon cleaning cages or walking dogs or doing data-entry.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to volunteer &lt;em&gt;usefully&lt;/em&gt; at a shelter, how is that time best structured?  I work full-time and have other obligations; would a few hours once or twice a month be at all useful, or is that below the &quot;thanks for the thought, but...&quot; line?  What are the typical time commitments that shelters look for from volunteers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I realize that I can ask my local shelter about their needs, but that could be an awkward conversation if it turns out they need more than I can offer.  So I'm asking here to get a sense of what's typical.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T22:03:56.740" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T22:03:56.740" Title="How much time should I expect to volunteer at a shelter in order to be useful?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6864" CreationDate="2014-11-26T13:04:06.193" Score="9" ViewCount="7427" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you get a dog or cat from an animal shelter, will it have the necessary vaccinations taken by the shelter, or is there a chance you will have to pay for and organise these yourself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, I know that animal shelters are often strapped for cash; on the other, I imagine that keeping a large number of animals in close proximity makes it more pressing to get a vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:42:45.393" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T01:25:41.930" Title="Do rescue animals get vaccinated?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6860" CreationDate="2014-11-26T13:08:33.310" Score="6" ViewCount="4867" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I get a dog or cat from an animal shelter, is it good practice to take it to the vet for a general-purpose checkup? Or will this have been taken care of by the shelter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm imagining things like parasites or other communicable diseases which might be more of a problem for animals living in close proximity to a large number of other animals. Not to mention general health issues that you would have to take care of normally if you had been owning the pet instead of the shelter owning it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T15:07:18.957" Title="After getting a pet from an animal shelter, should I take it to the vet for a checkup?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6863" CreationDate="2014-11-26T13:12:06.243" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the reptile groups I'm active in, I see a number of people trying to rehome their pets or other people's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the transactions I see are direct from person to person - sometimes direct from ex-owner to new owner, and other times through an intermediary like another owner or breeder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any actual organisations that rehome unwanted reptiles? Or do all the animal shelters only deal in dogs, cats and small mammals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T16:39:26.093" Title="Are there rescue organisations for reptiles?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6855" CreationDate="2014-11-26T14:57:10.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I volunteer at my local SPCA, and their requirements are fairly low: they ask for a commitment of at least two hours a month for six months. I think that most shelters are always looking for volunteers and realize that most people have to work full time, and so they are willing to accept whatever time you can offer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't be an awkward conversation: it is best to have both of your expectations set before they invest time in training you. If they require more than you are able to provide, simply tell them that your schedule cannot accommodate that. I know that the volunteer coordinator and other volunteers are most frustrated when they spend time training someone, and that person never shows up again. People often comes in with an idealistic view of what they will be doing, and when the reality of cleaning up after the dog you are walking, or the struggle of walking an ill-mannered dog sets in, they don't come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T14:57:10.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2014-11-26T15:07:18.957" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take your new pet to your vet for a healthy pet check up, regardless of where you got it.  Many shelters (&lt;em&gt;all that I work with&lt;/em&gt;) will have vet checked your pet as part of the intake and maintenance of the animal as part of their program.  All the shelters in my area have vets on staff as full time positions, in my opinion shelter pets are more likely to have seen a vet more recently than those purchased at a store, or found online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important that you take any new pet to see your veterinarian for a well pet check-up as soon as practical.  A quick Google search found many veterinary practices in my area offer free new pet checks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this important?  There are two key points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the vet sees your pet in a healthy state, they will have a base line to compare to if anything develops in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have a medical emergency during off hours, many neighborhood vets will not see animals they have not worked with before.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there is always some chance that the new pet vet check will find something, and allow it to be addressed in a timely manor.  The most important thing is establishing a relationship between your pet and your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T15:07:18.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11491" CreationDate="2014-11-26T15:09:52.273" Score="6" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe my dog has an allergy related to food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's 1.5 yrs old, and is an Australian Labradoodle (lab, poodle, cocker &amp;amp; english spaniel mix)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backstory: she sometimes vomits bile; she will have episodes of rapid snorting and occasional coughing. This has been going on for at least 6 months in cycle. Parasites, kennel cough, etc. all ruled out. The vet thought it might be an overproduction of stomach acid - indigestion. We treated for that (pepcid), which helped some, but did not remove all symptoms. Multiple days in a row, she vomited after consuming a dental treat bone. This leads me to believe that she is actually having an allergic reaction to a food ingredient, which is leading to the above symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a potential food allergy, how do I narrow down what it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll look at the ingredients in the dental treat, but from there how do I determine further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, she is a picky eater, refusing to eat some foods (sounds like a cat) and has had these bouts of vomiting etc for the last 6 months or so. Originally, I thought it was due to food, so we tested different foods with her. She would do fine, and then it would start back up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions or insight would be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T20:22:28.280" Title="How to determine a dog's food allergy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6855" CreationDate="2014-11-26T15:49:17.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shelters and rescues can not function without volunteer assistance.  Any time you can give will be appreciated.  Each organization is a separate entity with different expectations, training and responsibilities for volunteers. Volunteers are generally asked to commit from a couple hours a month to 4 hours a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality; a large percentage of the volunteers who attend initial training never return to follow up.  Some end up giving less time per month, for many months, others give many more hours than you would expect from paid employees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also many different &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6844&quot;&gt;types of activities at a shelter/rescu&lt;/a&gt; tasks associated with direct animal care and cleaning will require volunteers with steady dependable availability at the facility. Event support (&lt;em&gt;fundraising, educational, etc&lt;/em&gt;) are more suitable for volunteers who can respond on an ad-hock bases.  Pet socialization and grooming type activities make a perfect fit for volunteers who have sporadic availability.  For volunteers who have more time to give, but need to do it from home, foster is a great choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a desire to help, contact the organization, attend the intro training, and discuss honestly what time you have available and what tasks you want to help with.  They want your help, and you want to give it. Large organizations will have one or more paid staff dedicated to matching volunteer availability to needs. Small organizations may have volunteers matching other volunteers to needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly I work with training and inducting new volunteers in local organizations.  The orientation training, is just that an orientation.  It is unrealistic to expect that everyone who attends will find that the reality of volunteering is what they expected.  Those that don't stay to volunteer their time, often find other ways to extend support. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give what time you can, do what tasks are appropriate for your training and comfort, if the time comes that volunteering stops enriching your life then move on.&lt;/strong&gt;  That is really all any group can hope for from their volunteers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T15:49:17.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6858" CreationDate="2014-11-26T16:16:31.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons why you won't find reptiles in a standard rescue organization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason is that pet rescue organizations are not equipped to handle handle reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feeding reptiles means that you have to have a supply of either live insects (which will require care as well), frozen rodents, and or fresh vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles require specific temperatures and lights. This can make for a large electric bill for a company on a tight budget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most adult reptiles need to be housed separately. The only reason why pet stores can get away with housing reptiles together like they do, is that the reptiles are young and less prone towards aggressive/territorial behaviour. Rescue organizations are typically limited to how much space they have available, and don't have the space for terrariums (or even the money to buy them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles require special medical care. Most rescue organizations have vets that will volunteer, or give discounted services, in order to provide the incoming animals with vaccinations, and desexing operations. In order to care for reptiles, there would need to be a specialized vet on hand. Not only are specialized vets more expensive, they're also in higher demand as there are less of them. The exotic vet I go to travels between towns, so I can only make appointments on certain days of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider ailments that reptiles can get from lack of care, such as metabolic bone disease, and rescuing reptiles becomes very expensive and time-consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A secondary reason is that it's easier to market the organization and get volunteers to work at the shelter, if all they're dealing with are fluffy dogs and cats. Even though there are a lot of people who wouldn't be put off by there being reptiles in the shelter, you would have a hard time finding someone who wouldn't be put off by feeding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of all this, most people will tend to circumvent the process, and handle the adoptions on their own. It also helps if you're rehoming your reptile through a group of people who care about them, you know that you're rehoming your pet to someone who is capable of caring for them properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course that's not to say that no one abandons reptiles. Snakes, turtles, and iguanas have an unfortunate reputation for being collected by people who want an accessory, and then realize how much work it takes to care for them. Which is why Florida has such a large problem with them, since they're capable of surviving in that climate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll be able to find some specialized rescues in larger cities, where there is a demand for such organizations. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/reptile-rescues.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You can see a good list of the larger reptiles rescues at the bearded dragon org website&lt;/a&gt;. You'll also be able to find some smaller organizations if you're looking around a specific area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great many reptiles also get turned into sanctuaries, where there usually isn't any intention of adopting them into a new home. These are typically reptiles that are suffering from an original lack of care such as metabolic bone disease, or are too aggressive to be handled. These are typically the same sanctuaries that wild animals will be taken to that can't be released into the wild. Although I have heard of some sanctuaries that are specifically for burmese pythons and iguanas, because of the numbers that are abandoned in their area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T16:39:26.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6856" CreationDate="2014-11-26T16:20:57.877" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;At least in the US it is normal practice for pets to leave with all relevant vaccines (as well as neutering and routine medical care like deworming).  All of the shelters in my area do this, and two are part of national organizations.  @mhwombat notes in a comment that this is also true in Ireland and the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, your new pet will have received all vaccines &lt;em&gt;that are due&lt;/em&gt;.  If you adopt a young animal there may be vaccines that can't be given yet; for example, one of the vaccines that kittens get has to be given in three doses spread over several weeks.  If you were to adopt a kitten before that course is complete (and I don't know if a shelter would release the kitten in that case, but maybe), you would have to complete the cycle.  I've been told that puppies have vaccines due around 5-6 months.  Other animals may also have post-adoption first-year vaccine needs, and you would be responsible for those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shelter will go over all known medical history at the time of adoption, including what vaccines the shelter administered and when.  You'll need to pass those records on to your vet so that future vaccines are given on schedule.  If there were to be anything that will be due soon, that the shelter didn't administer, I would expect them to tell you that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you asked if there is a chance you will have to pay for these yourself.  Having a pet involves a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1556/31&quot;&gt;financial commitment&lt;/a&gt;; if the cost of a vaccine makes the difference for you, please think carefully about whether you'll be able to care for the pet if it gets sick or is in an accident.  Pets are wonderful additions to a household, but please make sure you can afford them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T19:14:43.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6866" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-11-26T17:06:24.837" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T17:06:24.837" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T17:06:24.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6867" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-11-26T17:06:24.837" Score="0" Body="For questions related to laws, ordinances, rules, or regulations governing the behavior of pets and their handlers in public places." OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T17:06:24.837" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T17:06:24.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2067" CreationDate="2014-11-26T20:21:46.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had 3 balls punctured by cats stretching out and unwittingly flexing claws while I was sitting on them! The last ball even had a &quot;heavy-duty&quot; skin. The leaks are slow, but unrepairable. I finally got smart and now drape a blanket over the ball even while in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3235" LastEditorUserId="3235" LastEditDate="2014-11-26T20:28:28.577" LastActivityDate="2014-11-26T20:28:28.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7516" CreationDate="2014-11-27T00:19:54.683" Score="4" ViewCount="20490" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wake up every morning to find that my 9 month old Dachshund has pee'd somewhere in the house, lately just next to the back door &lt;em&gt;just in front of his dog door that he very well knows how to use&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we are out for the day, he goes outside to toilet 9 days out of 10. When we are home, he seems sometimes reluctant to go out on his own to do his business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to get him to understand that it is good to go outside even when it is night time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1326" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T20:42:12.947" Title="Dog won't go outside at night to pee" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-27T09:28:13.913" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;My doggy, Twitter, is fond of eating plastic.  Because of that, most of the time his stomach is upset.  How can we prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3238" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T22:12:23.680" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T22:12:23.680" Title="How do I stop my dog (a dachshund) from eating plastic?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2014-11-28T14:57:07.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6869" CreationDate="2014-11-27T11:17:25.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As he does not seem to have a problem going outside during the day, but is hesitant to go out at night.  It reasonable to assume he does not want to go out at night, he may be afraid and his fear is not unfounded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dachshund are repetitively &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachshund#Size&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;small dogs weighting between 8 lb (3.6 kg) &amp;amp; 32 lb (15 kg)&lt;/a&gt;.  There are a several &lt;a href=&quot;http://beautyofbirds.com/australianbirdsofprey.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;birds of prey in Australia&lt;/a&gt;, there may also be other predators who are about in the night time.  Some authorities recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://hawksaloft.org/hawks-aloft-inc-2/frequently-asked-questions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;never letting a pet under 15 lb (7 kg) outside alone.&lt;/a&gt; we have a related post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6785&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6785&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it is NOT &quot;good to go outside even when it is night time&quot;, and he knows it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-11-27T11:17:25.740" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6834" CreationDate="2014-11-27T12:52:45.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Critters has some very good information in their answer.  But their answer is coming from the perspective of &quot;&lt;em&gt;The first thing to realise is that any pet you rescue has likely been neglected and possibly abused.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, and for those animals the answer is spot on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a large population of pets that need fostering, that have not been abused or neglected. One of the organizations I work with is an open door shelter (&lt;em&gt;related&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1518&quot;&gt;What is the difference between &amp;quot;Open Door&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Limited Access&amp;quot; shelter policies?&lt;/a&gt; ) The majority of the pets that I see come in are brought by people who love them, and life events force a separation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Critters points out in their answer, cost's associated with being a foster parent to a pet are generally covered by the organization. But those dollars come from donations, so personally we cover all expenses except vet bills out of our pocket when fostering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Baby Care&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets often come in pregnant, just having given birth, occasionally newborns without a mother come in. A shelter facility is not the place to raise a baby anything.  Foster parents are always needed to provide care for babies or babies and moms. Volunteers fostering babies should expect to get called on short notice to care for a litter.  Duties vary by species but focus around loving care, and hygiene.  Volunteers willing to do hourly bottle feeding, should make this desire known to the volunteer coordinator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Illness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone gets sick occasionally, and the nature of Shelter &amp;amp; Rescues mean they see a lot of sick animals.  Pets with injuries may require dressing changes.  Any sick or injured pet may require medication administration. If you have a desire to learn, the organization will often teach you how to perform these tasks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some pets will have communicable illness like &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/kennel-cough-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kennel Cough (&lt;em&gt;most of the time it is not a serious condition, and most dogs will recover without treatment.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; but they need to be separated from other dogs while recovering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most organizations (and common sense) will require you keep foster pets separated from your personal pet family. In some cases you may need an other wise pet free home and/or a home that does not have pets of the same species. Being a health foster parent, may involve calls at night or on the weekend to take in or care for the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Socialization&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some otherwise perfectly adoptable pets may not have acquired all the social skills they need to be adoptable.  The range of behavior changes needed is wide, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/tags?tab=popular&quot;&gt;behavior is the number one, non-species specific tag on Pets.SE&lt;/a&gt;.  Tell the foster coordinator what socialization issues you would like to work with and they will find you a pet to work with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cage break&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to some negative propaganda, being an open door shelter does not mean there is an adopt or die deadline. When there are lot of potential pets to adopt sometimes one pet does not find it's new home as quickly as others. The best chance of adoption occurs while the pet is onsite and available to be found, but living for months in a shelter cage is difficult.  This is particularly true for pets with less demand that cats or dogs.  Duties are similar to socialization, but there is generally scheduled take them home and bring them back dates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Space Issues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Open Door shelters and rescues by their nature are willing to take pets regardless of how many cages they have available. Different species of pets have different times when more pets are coming in then are being adopted. Often a short term solution can be found in the shelter but there is a need to for the pets to be in foster for some time, duties are similar to socialization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-11-27T12:52:45.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6888" CreationDate="2014-11-27T18:34:33.653" Score="4" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Restricted access or no kill shelters, limit the number of pets they allow in, and often have strict admission policies that limit intakes to only the most adoptable pets, even with these restrictions there can be waiting lists of weeks or months to place a pet in a restricted access shelter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are hold-ups or issues in placing my pet, is it possible that offering a higher than standard donation will help get my pet in?  How should I go about making the suggest for best impact and how much should I offer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T14:24:36.383" Title="Can you buy your way to the head of the list to get a pet into a restricted access shelter?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6840" CreationDate="2014-11-27T19:23:02.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone who loves their pet and has run out of options for re-homing would love to be able to place them in a restricted access shelter, where they can be confident the pet will have a home until it's new forever home can be found.  Unfortunately this is not always possible. A restricted access shelter in our area reports it has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org/site/c.elKWIeOUIhJ6H/b.8580163/k.1E25/Admissions.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;space for 250 animals and gets 300 requests for placement per week&lt;/a&gt;.  Any number of factor can prevent your pet from being accepted at the shelter, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6874&quot;&gt;it may or may not be possible to influence placement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Local advertisement placed so you can re-home your pet directly, may not bring results.  Even if people do respond, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5485&quot;&gt;they may not be acceptable.&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pet is older, finding a good home may be extremely problematic. Two options to consider are long term boarding, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/euthanasia&quot;&gt;euthanasia&lt;/a&gt; both of these options have significant implications and would be your very last options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pet is a papered pure breed, or on looks like they are a pure breed, contacting organizations that specialize in that breed/species may lead you to list of people interested in your pet, but don't have the funds to purchase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use your personal and professional contacts to search for people considering a pet. A large percentage of re-homes are friend to friend, of friend of a friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly don't rule out open door shelters, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1518/what-is-the-difference-between-open-door-and-limited-access-shelter-policies/6068#6068&quot;&gt;open door may not mean what you think it does&lt;/a&gt;.  If you do take your pet to an open door shelter you can improve your pets adopt-ability by include a bio sheet that talks about their good qualities, and states why you had to be separated from them. If there are several open door shelters in your area, visit them, see what they look like, the ones with lots of volunteers are going to be the safest.  Ask specifically about whatever concerns you have. Some shelters will include the intake date on the pets description (I know ours does).  If you see intake dates that are week and months ago, and you see volunteers taking dogs for walks, cuddling cats, and taking &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wpahumane.org/bunny-romps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bunnies for romps&lt;/a&gt; you can sure that everything possible is being done to ensure positive re-homing occurs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T09:15:12.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-27T20:08:39.717" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard some people imply that pets at shelters are less than perfect.  Does the fact that an animal is at a shelter mean there is something wrong with it?  Why would an animal be in shelter if there was nothing wrong with it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:00:36.163" Title="Are shelter pets rejects?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6877" CreationDate="2014-11-27T20:54:52.020" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do perfect animals exist ?…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, there are many reasons an animal may end in a shelter without necessarily having &quot;issues&quot;.  Here are the top ten reason from some statistics gathered by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpopulation.org/about.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy&lt;/a&gt;¹, in the US:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dogs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving (7 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Euthanasia, illness (7 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Landlord not allowing pets (6 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cost (5 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Euthanasia, old age (5 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No time for pets (4 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inadequate facilities (4 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too many in house (4 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ill (4 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Personal problems (4 %).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too many in house (11 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies (8 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving (8 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cost (6 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Landlord not allowing pets (6 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No homes for litter (6 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;House soiling (5 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Euthanasia, illness (5 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Personal problems (4 %);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Found animal (4 %).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually if you sum up reasons based on the pet itself, beside age and illness, you get about 20 % for dogs and less than 15 % for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;¹ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpopulation.org/research_human.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human and Animal Factors Related to the Relinquishment of Dogs and Cats in 12 Selected Animal Shelters in the United States. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 1(3), 207-226. 1998. Mo D. Salman&lt;/a&gt; [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpopulation.org/RELINQ207-223.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T20:57:54.643" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:57:54.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-27T22:23:33.673" Score="4" ViewCount="899" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to travel internationally with cockatiels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For travel it is often required to have some sort of identification attached to the animal, such as microchips or leg bands.  For birds of this size the only option is leg bands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Where can I get &lt;em&gt;traceable&lt;/em&gt; leg bands for adult parrots in the US?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There doesn't seem to be a standardized system for leg band (codes), nor any centralized database.  I believe USDA only issues leg bands when birds are imported, but not for domestic birds (not 100% sure).  The point is that the leg band I get should be &lt;em&gt;traceable&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. whatever USA or foreign authority that looks at it should be able to retrieve information about the bird based on the code.  What are my options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acstiels.com/#!bands/c1m0a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ACS&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://cockatiels.org/membership-information/registered-leg-bands/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NCS&lt;/a&gt; sells traceable bands for members (breeders), but my understanding is that these are closed bands only suitable for baby birds.  Once the bird grows up, the band doesn't come off and it's not possible to put on a closed band, so this is not what I need.  (I might have misunderstood something though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Based on further research, this question boils down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Which reputable organizations in the USA offer &lt;em&gt;open&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;traceable&lt;/em&gt; leg bands?  I found one so far: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.afabirds.org/leg_bands_open.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AFA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It would be useful to know what requirements EU countries typically put on leg bands, if any.  While this question is more vague, from experience the USA is notorious for not adopting international standards (e.g. for USA-obtained microchips one usually needs to get a compatible microchip reader when travelling abroad...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="470" LastEditorUserId="470" LastEditDate="2014-12-01T21:08:12.053" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T17:14:23.610" Title="Where to get leg band for parrot in USA?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-28T07:04:04.290" Score="9" ViewCount="942" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 year old pit bull that I have had since he was a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has very bad allergies to something.  And I mean very bad.  He is losing fur everywhere, his paws are swollen and red, his stomach has red spots where it looks irritated, and one side of his face and chin are extremely swollen and red.  He scratches so much that his neck skin has stretched to look like a chicken giblet and is scabbed over.  His paws are losing fur, his eyes are red; he is miserable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love him and would do anything to fix this.  Unfortunately I have taken him to the vet 3 times trying to solve this.  I got him an allergy test, paid 500 bucks for it and they told me he had some minor allergies but nothing major.  I isolated him from his minor allergies and things are still getting worse.  So that means its something uncommon that people don't normally test for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After talking to my sister we are starting to think it may be something in the carpet, like polypropylene, because its primarily present on the parts of him that might come into contact with the floor.  I just don't know what to do.  When I take him to the vet now, I basically am paying money because they have no idea what to do either, &amp;quot;Oh let's see if it's bacterial&amp;quot;... it's obviously not an infection and the antibiotics did nothing... thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I constantly worry about this and like to inspect him for new marks or swollen spots to try and to gain understanding. Now it appears he is afraid of me.  He shakes when I lay down with him to snuggle, is reluctant to play with me, and is reluctant to take treats from me (I imagine this is all because my constant inspections make him nervous).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on how to treat him and how to gain his trust back?  I am desperate at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3241" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T00:22:30.763" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T00:22:30.763" Title="My dog is very allergic to something and is starting to become scared of me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-28T09:26:35.493" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of people are allergic to different kinds of pets, like dogs, rabbits or cats.  Can a pet be allergic to people? If so is there a treatment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T00:58:13.983" Title="Can pets be allergic to people?" Tags="&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6882" CreationDate="2014-11-28T21:33:58.990" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you feeding an allergen free food? Start there and give him nothing else. Also cut out use of perfumes in laundry detergent and use around the house until you get this figured out. The vet should be able to give you a steroid that will GREATLY reduce the itching and irritation. It's not a forever solution but should help you get it under control. You can give a daily oral allergy pill that will help produce less histamine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long has this been going on?  Go back to when it started. .. did anything change? Did you change where the dog sleeps or eats? Did you start walking at a new place? Did you start using something different on your lawn or carpet?  Did you get new carpet? Did you get a new car that he rides in? Did you change your laundry detergent, purfume, shampoo? Does someone new live in the house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-11-28T21:33:58.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6882" CreationDate="2014-11-29T09:13:23.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poor puppy! I am not a vet, but if this were a human, the first thing I'd do is to put your poor dog on a tapering dose of prednisone (dirt cheap and will help). I would also start a limited course of a topical steroid in the worst places - if he licks, probably a gel (though they tend to be expensive). Benadryl is helpful. If you want to decrease his drowsiness (but why at the moment? He'll just scratch and suffer.) you can use a second generation antihistamine (more costly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a dog owner, I would have the dog treated for mange/scabies regardless of if the vet thought the dog had it or not. A dog with mange is constantly scratching, losing hair, and is miserable. If you've ever had scabies (I have), you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. It's not a cleanliness issue, it's a thing a dog can contract from any place another dog with mange has recently been. And it does not go away unless treated specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some allergies in dogs are due to food. An elimination diet isn't pleasant, but it would help a lot if this is food related. An elimination diet usually starts with just rice (no proteins, no preservatives, no additives), then you add things one at a time (especially careful when introducing protein) and you might as well try to avoid gluten, though allergies to this aren't common. Your vet should be able to give you an elimination diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Washing laundry with a low allergy detergent and double-rinsing might help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for infection. Have his nails short and rounded off. It won't help the itching, but it will decrease the damage he can do with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry skin is the leading cause of itching in humans and in dogs. In his furry areas, look for dandruff. It it's there, running a humidifier, washing him with a hypoallergenic, mild soap or shampoo (I would use handmade soap, which is easy to buy on the Internet), that is all or mostly olive-oil, &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; coconut oil - also called sodium cocoate on soap labels - and following it up with a hypoallergenic moisturizer can help a lot. Pat dry, don't rub, with a clean towel each time. So can giving him omega-3-fatty acids and a good-quality probiotic. If he's nervous when you handle him, do it after a dose of benadryl, or even a short-acting benzodiazepam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally (and here I leave dogs behind) the vet should be looking for disease. Bloodwork at a minimum. I would think about a punch biopsy, but that might be going too far. Also, when a doctor can't figure out what's going on in a patient, they refer them to specialists. If you're going to throw money at a vet, see a different one! A veterinary dermatologist sounds like a decent choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your pup. (Oh, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_dg_itch_and_scratch_bite_and_lick&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's a pretty good article&lt;/a&gt; from PetMD.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T00:18:29.963" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T00:18:29.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6735" CreationDate="2014-11-29T10:22:49.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can clip a cat's nail as early 1 month old. So for your cat the age is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is calm about this but your problem is not being able to get to the claw, try to press from to the upper part till its end, just like you do with a toothpaste, this will expand the claw out so you can see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat is not accepting it when you try to do so, you have to get it used to it first, get her used to you holding and pushing its claws, pressing its pad(consider it like foot massage) then get it used to the clipper (as suggested by ASPCA you can get an uncooked spaghetti and use the clipper on it while the cat is in your lap)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't cut to the Quick(the pink part of the claw) this is a sensitive area that contains nerve and vessels, only do the sharp part&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;give your cat a treat after clipping each paw, make it comfortable with the operation.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T10:22:49.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6874" CreationDate="2014-11-29T14:24:36.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of these type of shelters keep a few spaces open for emergency cases.  These are the things like owners dying/being forced homeless unexpectedly(like a fire or tornado or other disaster).  If the shelter you want to surrender to emergency space available then it may be possible to do what you have suggested, even though if asked outright most of these shelters would deny that such accommodations are possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things that will influence whether or not your pet is a candidate will depend on the age and breed of the animal you are surrendering.  Younger and smaller animals are much easier to adopt out than older and larger animals.  Also breeds that have a bad reputation are unlikely candidates.  That said pretty much everything has a price.  So if your pockets are deep enough you may be able to get a discriminating shelter to take a viscous animal of a notorious breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said chances are it would probably be cheaper to board the animal with a quality boarding facility.  For such an accommodation to make sense it would need to be generous enough to cover the cost of taking care of the animal you are surrendering indefinitely, or at least for far longer than your animal is likely to need to get adopted.  So a cute little puppy of a small breed is going to be much cheaper to buy in than an older pit bull mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shelter is highly unlikely to give you a number, you are going to have to make an offer that is seen as quite generous.  While a large donation can be stretched quite far there can be side effects when inevitable the trustees and other large donors find out about the accommodation.  Most shelters run primarily on the donations of just a few or even just one large donor.  The other donations help certainly but and are also critical to keeping the shelter going but the reality is the heavy lifting is done quietly by a few, usually anonymous, individuals.  Your donation will be large enough that it will not upset these large donors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How should I go about making the suggest for best impact and how much&#xA;  should I offer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your shelter does great work and if you are able to make a one time accommodation for my surrender I would be prepared to offer a donation of $X to help defer the costs and offset the problems caused by your making the exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will get one shot at this offer and if it is not enough any increases are likely to be seen as an insult.  The first offer is an offer to provide great assistance the second increased offer is a bribe to someone you do not truly respect.  If you are willing to go higher then go higher the first offer.  If the offer is rejected accept this rejection humbly.  Remember you are asking a huge favor  not attempting to purchase a luxury item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-11-29T14:24:36.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6877" CreationDate="2014-11-30T04:49:16.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is an issue for one person/family is common sense for others. For example, some people buy dogs on looks without any intention to exercise them as breeders recommend for the breed. Thus, they get a bored, unhappy dog: a problem dog. Not knowing the breed's temperament is one of the biggest reasons for calling an animal a problem dog. If a breed is known to be a barker, and you live in an apartment, it isn't the best choice for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, many of the dogs you'll get at a pound are good, loving dogs who just want to be true to their natures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do perfect animals exist? Absolutely. The definition varies though by person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:00:36.163" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:00:36.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6892" CreationDate="2014-11-30T04:58:41.160" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old Black Lab. I taught him to speak, and somewhere along the line he picked up this strange behavior. It's like the speak command is a heated seat button in a car, where you press it once for high, twice for low, and three times for off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the desired reaction, he needs to be given the speak command three times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Attempt 1: The dog responds with an exaggerated jaw movement, and low volume (call it 10%) bark, as if to say, &quot;I acknowledge your command, and will respond accordingly, using my inside voice&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Attempt 2: Same as before, but with a medium volume (say 40%) bark&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Attempt 3: The desired reaction, his full blown, guttural Lab bark&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's proven hard to correct because I don't know why he does it in the first place, and I don't want to reward him for getting it right after three attempts. How should I go about correcting this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3247" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T15:52:59.507" Title="How can I correct my dog's reaction to the speak command?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6891" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-30T14:28:45.047" Score="8" ViewCount="17442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1-year-old female husky and live in a house with my girlfriend. She works from home and I'm in the office most of the week, so she does most of the dog duties while I am gone (feeding breakfast and dinner, walking, potty, etc.) On the weekends I take over as much as possible, but over the past several months the dog has stopped pooping for me. She will pee just fine, but then will wander around (leashed) sniffing things and trying to eat leaves and grass and will not poop no matter how much I try to encourage it. I've even tried walking her around the yard a few times to work it out but still have no luck. My frustrated girlfriend will then take the leash from me, do nothing different than what I did, and within a minute or less the dog has pooped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing we can think of is that she doesn't respect me for some reason, but I don't know how to fix that because I feed her 2-3 days out of the week when I'm home and I play with her daily. What is causing this behavior and how can I fix it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3129" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T10:06:21.410" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T05:13:49.907" Title="Why would my dog poop for one owner but not the other?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6890" CreationDate="2014-11-30T15:52:59.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do reward him when he gets it right, no matter how many times it takes. Otherwise, he won't know  &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; you want him to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's probably reluctant to bark at you, which is understandable. Keep asking him to speak. If he is unenthusiastic and does a small sound, name it (&quot;That's a whisper,&quot; you can say, then say loudly and with exagerrated excitement, &quot;SPEAK!&quot; If he does the 40% bark, name it, too. Say, no, that's a (whatever). (Then, with exagerrated excitement) SPEAK! When he does, Say Good boy! and reward him immediately. Repeat several times at this new level, rewarding him each time he does it, correcting him each time he doesn't. Eventually, you won't need to use exaggerated commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always use a hand signal with my commands. By varying the amount that I open my hand on the bark command, I can get my dogs to barely whisper, bark loudly, or anything in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T15:52:59.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6891" CreationDate="2014-11-30T16:06:27.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably just a matter of a different routine with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a command to poop? Maybe your girlfriend tells her to poop in not so many words, which your dog has learned as a command. Go out with her and listen for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't, start using one. (Mine is &quot;go now&quot;.) When your girlfriend expects her to poop, she can watch her and say &quot;Go now&quot; (if she doesn't already have a phrase your dog picks up on) when the dogs starts getting in position, every time. Soon the dog will relate the command to the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you take her out, don't use the command unless you've just fed her or it's time for her to go. If you see her start to get into position, use the command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she doesn't poop, bring her in, and take her out again later. It will be easier when you both use the same command for the activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you can get them to poop on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T16:06:27.827" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6869" CreationDate="2014-11-30T16:29:16.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried taking him outside with you to do his business? Do you have a command for going?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't got a command, he will learn one quickly - just give him the command just before he goes, every time he goes when you're with him. At night before you retire, take him out to his usual spot (if he has one; if he doesn't, take him to the same spot each time, so he'll want to cover the scent again) and give him the command. Placing him in a crate for the night will discourage him from urinating in his space - he'll hold it till morning. When he's been accident-free for a few weeks, you can let him out again at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2014-11-30T16:29:16.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7160" CreationDate="2014-11-30T17:38:06.617" Score="2" ViewCount="10962" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a male dog who is neutered. He has always been well socialized and has spent a lot of time with other dogs and gotten along great (both male and female).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted an intact male dog and after a week, things have taken a turn for the worse. My neutered dog starting walking around and posturing with his ears pinned back and his hair standing straight up on his back. Eventually the un neutered male has enough of this and they start fighting. I separate them and then things go back to normal for a period of time. The intact male is always the one to finally strike first but I know it is in reaction to the neutered dogs behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that the behavior I'm seeing in my neutered dog is his reaction to the fact that the other male is intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have scheduled for the intact male to be neutered this week but my question is, how likely is it that this will improve the situation? Has anyone ever had a neutered dog who is perfectly fine around other neutered dogs but acts up around intact dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to have to give the new dog back but I fear for my safety as well as both animals safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3248" LastActivityDate="2019-05-25T15:36:16.690" Title="neutered male dog fights with intact male dog. Will neutering help?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-11-30T21:19:16.037" Score="1" ViewCount="1477" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog whine while we go on walks?  We walk almost everyday. As soon as we get the leash she starts whining and whines almost the whole walk.  She will walk by my side and it's like she's looking up at me whining like she wants something from me.  It seems very anxious.  She is kind of a fraidy cat dog.  She LOVES the walks and doesn't whine like this at any other time. We walk about four miles a day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3249" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-12-25T11:51:19.277" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T11:51:19.277" Title="Why does my dog whine on walks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2014-12-01T02:20:31.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got my first bunny on &quot;Black Friday&quot; and appropriately named her...&quot;Friday&quot;.  She's a 7 1/2 week old Lion-Head mix (Not sure what the other breed she's mixed with).  I'm not sure about others, but she's remarkably calm when handled, not skittish in the least bit, and seems to have no problem with new people.  Within hours I had her hopping, under my watchful eye, around my bedroom (with the door shut).  She did drop lots of &quot;happy trails&quot; at first...LOTS.  Then she peed in the corner, I quickly returned her to her cage.  Later, she would pee in 2 other places before I decided to read this article!  Lol.  Here's what I did:  Starting off with a confined area does make litter training more &quot;do-able&quot; for the bunny.  I actually made a make-shift litter box out of a coffee-maker box.  I reinforced it with tape (inside and out)covering all the corners/edges and interior floor of the box with tape as a means to seal the box from &quot;pee-pee&quot; leaks.  I then put some fresh litter in - then the IMPORTANT part - I put a little SOILED litter and FRESH &quot;bunny poops&quot; right in the back CORNER of the litter box.  I also placed some fresh greens in the OPPOSITE corner.  I opened her cage, directed her to the litter box - she jumped right in, turned around, did her business in the corner where I placed the soiled litter while happily nibbling away at the greens which faced her from the opposite corner.  I praised her with lots of petting and &quot;Good Girl!&quot;s.  To reinforce this positive experience, I let her hop around only for another minute or two before returning her to her cage for the night to avoid any more accidents.  We will repeat in the morning.  First attempt, successful!  Good luck!  -Taron &amp;amp; &quot;Friday&quot;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f2FMf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3251" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T02:20:31.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-01T04:25:52.463" Score="9" ViewCount="31745" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats. They live permanently indoors and have 24 hour access to their kitty litter except when I go to the toilet as it is a walk-through toilet and their room is only accessed through there. When I go to the toilet I close both doors because I don't particularly want cats in there with me! One of them either uses the kitty litter or pees in the bath, depending on which side she is on. If she really needs to go to the toilet why does she wait? If she doesn't need to go why does she when I'm in the toilet? When she goes in the bath I can see that it's only a small amount of urine so it doesn't seem that she really needs to go at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note to Americans: &quot;go to the toilet&quot; means &quot;use the bathroom&quot; to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastEditorUserId="3252" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T06:32:50.690" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T05:32:03.780" Title="Why does my cat go to the toilet at the same time as I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7738" CreationDate="2014-12-01T05:45:27.093" Score="9" ViewCount="30019" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 3 months old, he's been with us for a month but lately I've observed that sometimes when he's trying to sleep or falling asleep he starts shaking like he's got cold, like shivers. I thought he might have got fever or something like that, we took him to the vet but he said it wasn't nothing, that it was probably normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not doubt of his professionalism (or maybe I do) but this behaviour just seems weird to me (it's the first time I've had a pet). He only shakes when he's trying to sleep. Is this normal? As I said, it shakes like if he's got some chills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's normal for him to shake ONCE he is completely asleep. This happens before he gets into REM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3253" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-01T17:52:38.493" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T02:00:57.233" Title="My cat shakes its legs when trying to sleep, why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-01T09:24:51.007" Score="3" ViewCount="11370" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do adult dogs kill puppies? Is it because the puppy comes into the adult dog's territory so they kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many years I've handling my street dogs, one dog is my pet, it is always in my home, other 2 dogs are outsiders. These 2 outsider dogs always kill puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever my own pet's puppy or any other street dog puppy is near or around most of the dogs kill them. Similarly other dogs also kill other dog puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why don't adult dogs understand that the puppy is a child?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just last week my puppy was killed by 2 street dogs. I was just going towards it but they killed in just 5 seconds. There was not any injuries on my puppy's body, Doctor told me that they both drilled it's lung, so it died in only 5 seconds. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As guided by &lt;kbd&gt;Zaralynda &lt;/kbd&gt;, I have asked another question of &quot;how to save them.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6913/with-which-treatment-we-can-save-puppies-beaten-by-adult-dogs&quot;&gt;With which treatment we can save puppies beaten by adult dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2020-06-12T18:09:35.547" Title="Why do adult dogs kill puppies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-01T10:00:55.917" Score="3" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just had one experiment with some puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to play a flute and what I found was that the first time puppy barked at me. They probably think &quot;what is this guy doing? Let's bark and let's make him leave our peaceful environment...&quot; :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then at times, after the 3rd day, they run towards me and recognize me, that this is the guy who always comes with flute... They wag their tales and play around me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it that like dogs like music? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering about exactly what happens when they hear my music. My street dogs becomes excited hearing my tune and runs like mad to come to me. I am actually very happy seeing them loving me like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it that music makes a pet more careful and peaceful? Because they start sleeping near me. Some times they try to sleep on my feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does A Dog like or enjoy music like us? or they are just feeling &quot;ok, it is you, I know&quot; kind of thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="3254" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T06:04:54.747" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T11:34:29.033" Title="What effect does music have on dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6673" CreationDate="2014-12-01T13:25:12.610" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;After switching foods a few times and talking to the vet about it what we've settled on is a rigidly-timed feeding schedule. Food goes down at the exact same times every day and it only stays down for 30 minutes. Once that time is up it goes away until the next meal. It seems to have done the trick for the most part, but we've also learned something from the experience, she simply doesn't have an appetite all the time and it seems to be related to level of activity and possibly the season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strict schedule got her to realize food isn't available whenever she wants it, so now she is more apt to eat right when it is put down, but there are still some meals she just has no interest in and others where she only eats a portion of it. This has not negatively impacted her health in any way we can see, and her appetite is definite higher on days where she plays with other dogs or goes on longer walks, so it just seems to be that the times she doesn't eat much or at all she simply doesn't need it. We did one overnight kennel stay and she didn't eat for them at all, but that's not surprising because any time one of us is gone on a trip she doesn't eat either, apparently due to anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall it's not the best resolution in the world but we at least know there's nothing wrong with her beyond some normal anxiety. Hopefully this will help out someone else in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3129" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T13:25:12.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2014-12-01T16:20:16.977" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be observing your cat having hypnic jerks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A hypnic jerk, hypnagogic jerk, sleep start, sleep twitch or night&#xA;  start, is an involuntary twitch which occurs just as a person is&#xA;  beginning to fall asleep, often causing them to awaken suddenly for a&#xA;  moment. Physically, hypnic jerks resemble the &quot;jump&quot; experienced by a&#xA;  person when startled, often accompanied by a falling sensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T16:20:16.977" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6877" CreationDate="2014-12-01T18:12:42.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I volunteer at a shelter, and I see that animals come into the shelter for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the reasons that have nothing to do with the pet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are lost. Roughly 60% of the pets that came into our shelter this year were brought in because they were lost and do not have identification tags or registered microchips. After a 72-hour hold, they are eligible to be adopted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The owner cannot care for them any longer because the owner is deceased, seriously ill, moving, homeless, or out of work and cannot afford the expenses any more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All pets that come into the shelter are evaluated for temperament: Aggressive or dangerous animals will not be offered for adoption. There are many dogs that come in that lack training. We begin to teach basic obedience while they are in the shelter and find that the vast majority respond to it and begin to improve. You can be guaranteed that any puppy you get from a breeder or other source is going to be untrained, and so you should be prepared to &quot;teach the rules&quot; to any dog you acquire. Sometimes you may be pleasantly surprised that a shelter dog already understands quite a few of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T18:12:42.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6877" CreationDate="2014-12-01T18:21:43.777" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, animals in shelter are rejects. If someone wanted the animal, then they wouldn't be in a shelter. Once an animal is adopted, it is no longer unwanted (aka a reject).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although animals could be unwanted because they have an ailment, that's not necessarily the case, but the shelter should be able to tell you the medical history of the animal in case that's something you want to take into consideration when adopting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-01T18:33:24.707" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T18:33:24.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6912" CreationDate="2014-12-01T19:53:18.863" Score="4" ViewCount="2936" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats, and one of them is too lean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male cat is neutered, but female isn't (yet). Because of the male, we're using lower-calorie dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would like to start feeding the female normal rich food, but right now they're being free-fed and if possible we would like it to stay that way. With free-feeding we can only guarantee the female eats special when we're at home, but nothing would prevent her from eating low-calorie food when we're away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it fine for her to eat both kinds of dry foods or would that cause digestion problems? We are positive she's good with both kinds when fed solely one or another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats are around 1 year old, Maine Coons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="557" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T05:47:32.043" Title="Is it fine to feed a cat a mix of two dry foods for a long period of time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6907" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-12-01T20:34:54.763" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2014-12-01T20:34:54.763" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T20:34:54.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6908" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-12-01T20:34:54.763" Score="0" Body="for questions about pet identification such as microchip, leg band, tag, pet passport, etc." OwnerUserId="470" LastEditorUserId="470" LastEditDate="2014-12-01T20:49:47.177" LastActivityDate="2014-12-01T20:49:47.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-01T20:51:47.697" Score="2" ViewCount="2500" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I have had pets in the past I currently do not have any and as such do not really have a vet to be a reference for me.  I notice that most rescue organizations include a request for a vet reference in their adoption application.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how should I address the question of what vet I use?  Is there any thing I can do to demonstrate that I have considered my pets health needs even though I do not have this reference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T22:18:40.010" Title="How should I respond to questions about current vet when filling out an application for a rescue if I do not currently have any pets?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6906" CreationDate="2014-12-02T05:47:32.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly cats in the wild aren't eating the same thing every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since one of my cats has tendonitis, my vet suggested giving them kibble with extra glycosamine. This is alternated/mixed with another kibble that helps reduce plaque buildup on the teeth, and they also get wet foods since the vet feels that cats do better when they get more of their water from food rather than drinking it from a bowl (and watching how inefficient it is for cats to lap up water, I think she's got a point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it really shouldn't be a problem. But if you're &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; nervous, the simple answer is &quot;ask your vet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main risk is that your girl may decide she likes one of the foods more than the other, and you may have trouble getting her to actually eat the mix you'd prefer she got. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T05:47:32.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-02T05:49:02.123" Score="7" ViewCount="4568" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a puppy has a punctured lung, is there anything I can do to keep it alive until we reach the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because external injuries can be treated by taking the puppy to doctor, but when adult dogs make a hole with teeth into puppy' lung, I have found that they just die in short time (5-50 seconds) and I do not have even time to take it to the hospital, So in such serious cases how can I save them? :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help will be appreciated. Thank You in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOD just saved one more street dog today by me by pumping it, fortunately it's lung was not holed, but it was forced from height and force towards one marble stone. It tried to get up but could not, it left control of body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It started dying and its tongue came out of its mouth, I had seen people forcing chest of humans. So I did the same with the dog with chanting of holy name of GOD. The dog vomited and came back to life. It was so happy moment for me. I fed it little water, it is alive. Yes it is scared and was lucky that its case was different from lung hole. But immediate treatment of chest pushing helped me this time. I thank GOD especially for his compassion. &lt;strong&gt;I took it to hospital even after 15 minutes...&lt;/strong&gt; But yes he is alive today. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if I would have done the same with my puppy, it would be alive. :( &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;f we put our fingers on lung hole will it work? Does pumping work in punctured lung case? What emergency treatment should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I shared this one because this treatment worked for me today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="3254" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T05:41:22.680" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T10:18:19.780" Title="Emergency treatment for puppy with a punctured lung" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7012" CreationDate="2014-12-02T06:25:48.727" Score="6" ViewCount="15809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am living in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Indian culture has accepted cows as mother, because it feeds milk to us. Hindu culture says whoever feeds you is mother to us. Cows are a precious animal and there are many tales and stories behind cows in Hindu culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Hindu culture, especially in villages, there are people called &amp;quot;Bharavad&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Gvala&amp;quot; whose main pet is a cow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one friend who is from this community and is living near my house only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've learned from him about what food is bad for cows. According to my conversation with him, I found that following food are banned to feed to a cow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aaata or &amp;quot;Lot&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make Indian Chapatis / Indian breads we make &amp;quot;aata&amp;quot;, this food if a cow eats it, it sticks in the cow's neck, so it is banned. So this food is banned to feed to cows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Polyethylene / Plastic bags&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, no description needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plain wheat or Plain Rice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever we cook rice, the rice size increases, So if a cow eats rice, the cow's stomach size increases and the cow dies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've found only these 3 foods, which also was not taken from any doctor or professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am interested in knowing which food should not be given to cow as per a doctor or professional. This is very important because cows are very important for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated, Thank You in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-04T17:23:48.437" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T17:23:48.437" Title="Which food should not be given to a cow?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6913" CreationDate="2014-12-02T14:31:22.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some injuries are just too much for a puppy to survive.  A punctured lung is going to be one of those.  Even if the vet was immediately available and ready to perform what ever procedures are required when it happens, there is good chance you are still going to lose the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your situation is tragic and very sad, unfortunately there is not always a happy ending even when we do everything right.  For this reason it is recommended any time you are outside of your home environment, that you keep your dog on a leash so that you can prevent the animal from charging recklessly toward unfamiliar dogs, out in front of traffic, or even other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am so sorry you had to endure this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T14:31:22.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-02T18:20:36.150" Score="3" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see ads on Facebook and Craigslist for mixed breed puppies in the $50-100 range but it seems most rescues have fees that are 200+.  I would think that a rescue organization would want to save more animals, but when they charge more isnt that self defeating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why do they charge so much more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T23:09:58.960" Title="Why is it that many rescues charge more for adoptions than I could get a puppy for from a breeder?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6917" CreationDate="2014-12-02T18:31:50.283" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually the rescue organisation's fees include the cost of spaying or neutering, vaccinations, microchip, and perhaps more. For example, here's what the adoption costs for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/adoptionsteps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ASPCA adoption centre in Manhattan&lt;/a&gt; include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ASPCA Adoption Center offers you and your new animal companion the&#xA;  following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Benefits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A leash and collar or cardboard pet carrier to help you bring your new&#xA;companion animal home.&#xA;Spay/neuter surgery, up-to-date vaccinations, registered microchip, &#xA;heartworm testing, FeLV/FIV testing for cats and an&#xA;overview of your pet's medical care.&#xA;A certificate for free follow-up veterinary care and medical support at&#xA;the ASPCA Animal Hospital (valid for 14 days after adoption).&#xA;Literature and information about animal behavior and what to expect&#xA;from your new pet.&#xA;A collar with personalized identification tag.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the cost will include pet insurance for a few weeks or months. And if you want to use your own vet for spaying, neutering, or vaccinations, some shelters might rebate that part of the cost when you present a receipt from your vet. Check around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are adopting a kitten or puppy, be sure to factor in the cost of spaying or neutering, vaccinations, microchipping, etc. before you compare prices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider: In my experience, rescue organisations are very good at matching you with the pet that's best for you (in terms of temperament, behaviour, activity level, etc.). They have a variety of animals, and they have an incentive to make sure that you're happy with the pet that you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider that part of the adoption cost that you pay a shelter helps to keep that shelter running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T23:09:58.960" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T23:09:58.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6909" CreationDate="2014-12-02T19:48:14.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are planning to adopt a pet, then you'll need to pick out a vet anyway.  So instead of waiting until your new pet is in your home, choose a vet and make an initial appointment now.  (The shelter will probably expect you to have your new pet seen by a vet within a few weeks of the adoption anyway.)  Or, if timing is too uncertain to schedule an appointment, at least call and ask what you need to do to register a new patient.  You can then tell the shelter &quot;I don't have a pet yet, but I will be seeing so-and-so&quot; (with contact info).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shelter I adopted from asked for the name of the vet I would be seeing, not for a reference.  They don't expect people without pets to produce a reference, but they do expect you to have already made arrangements.  I suspect your shelter doesn't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; expect you to produce a veterinary reference; that seems unrealistic for first-time adopters, and shelters are constantly trying to reach more potential adopters.  (Face it, there's a limit to the number of pets any one person can adopt, so while repeat clients are nice too, they have to broaden their search.  And I note that mine offers classes for first-time pet owners.)  If they do in fact require a veterinary reference, ask them what would satisfy them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2014-12-02T22:18:40.010" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T22:18:40.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6922" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6926" CreationDate="2014-12-02T21:52:17.133" Score="8" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;When adopting a pet I obviously want to make sure I'm making the right decision. Taking an animal that I would have to return later would cause unnecessary stress to the animal, as well as being unhappy for me and for the shelter staff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in order to make the right decision, I would like to really get to know the potential pet, learn their personality, and make sure we get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I don't want to be a bother to the shelter staff or take up too much of their time that they need to spend on taking care of other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much time can I spend getting to know the animal without inconveniencing the shelter too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T22:54:29.523" Title="How long can I spend with an animal to get to know it before adopting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6938" CreationDate="2014-12-02T21:55:26.700" Score="3" ViewCount="714" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that animal shelters go to a lot of trouble to rehome their animals and make sure the new owners understand the responsibility they are taking on. After all, they don't want to see the animal back at their doors in a few months' time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what sort of questions do they ask?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T19:04:39.350" Title="What sort of questions will the rescue centre ask me to ensure I am ready to adopt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6927" CreationDate="2014-12-02T22:08:12.277" Score="8" ViewCount="1753" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am I allowed to take my existing pets to the shelter to meet my potential new pet to check they get on before adopting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I ask the shelter first, and if so what do I say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T19:59:50.807" Title="Am I allowed to take existing pets to the shelter to meet potential pets?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6924" CreationDate="2014-12-02T23:16:03.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can ask the shelter, but the answer may be &quot;no&quot;. They may require proof of vaccinations, lest you expose other animals to illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, reputable shelters will let you return a pet if things don't work out. And there's often an adjustment period, so just because two animals don't get along that well when first introduced doesn't mean they won't be great friends in a week. The shelter will advise you about the best way to handle the introduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T19:59:50.807" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T19:59:50.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6922" CreationDate="2014-12-02T23:29:53.163" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This probably depends on the type of facilities that the shelter has, but in my experience you can take as much time as you need to get to know your potential pet, and visiting the pet a few times before you make up your mind is quite normal. There's probably a play room where you can get acquainted. If you're adopting a dog, you may be able to take it for a walk, which is a good way to get to know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably won't be any inconvenience to the staff; in fact they'll be glad that you're not rushing into a decision. But you may want to try to visit at less busy times (e.g. Saturdays may be a bit more rushed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I suggest you tell the staff about the type of personality you'd like your pet to have. They can help match you with the right animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-12-02T23:29:53.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6924" CreationDate="2014-12-03T03:39:02.410" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; ask before just showing up with a pet in tow.  The answer will probably depend on the type of pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My local shelter arranges &quot;meet and greet&quot;s for dogs, so it's probably possible for your dog to meet a potential adoptee dog.  Cats really don't do well out of their homes (and I notice that they &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; have &lt;em&gt;feline&lt;/em&gt; &quot;meet and greet&quot;s).  For bunnies, I'm pretty sure they actually &lt;em&gt;require&lt;/em&gt; a supervised introduction if you already have a bunny.  This is, of course, just anecdotal evidence from one (US) shelter, but it's meant to illustrate the range of possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6925/31&quot;&gt;notes&lt;/a&gt;, reputable shelters will allow you to return a pet who doesn't integrate well into the household.  But that's a sad and frustrating situation for all involved, so if they can allow you to find out earlier about inter-pet issues, within the limits of health and their facilities, it's in their interest to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T03:39:02.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6923" CreationDate="2014-12-03T03:53:55.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my (limited) experience, typical areas of questioning include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;About the home environment: Do you own or rent? How long have you lived there? How many people live there and what are their ages (particularly children)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Past and current pets: Do you have any pets now? Tell us about them. (Oh, and are they neutered?) Have you had pets in the past? What happened to them? Is this your first pet of this type?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your new pet: Do you plan to let your cat outdoors? Do you have a yard for your dog to run in? Who's your vet? Do you understand the financial commitment you're making? Are you familiar with introducing new pets to a household (if not we'll teach)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contingency: What plans have you made for your pet if something happens to you?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do you want to adopt a {dog, cat, bunny, etc}?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are you looking for in your new pet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org/site/c.elKWIeOUIhJ6H/b.8586731/k.39E0/Start_Your_Adoption_Application.htm&quot;&gt;Sample application forms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T03:53:55.470" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2899" CreationDate="2014-12-03T04:20:04.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several possible reasons. All cats are innately curious and some really love to explore. One of my mum's cats can't be trusted to come home after being fed. She lets him out in the morning, he comes back quickly to eat and is not let outside again until the next morning. He asks/demands to be let outside again and tries to sneak out but usually fails. However, his behaviour is better than if he's not allowed outside at all because he is used to it. Another one of my mum's cats can be let out at any time because she always wants back in again quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reproductive urge is very strong and your cat might be old enough to start wanting to mate. Since your cat is intact he might be attempting to father multiple lots of kittens around the neighbourhood. This is bad because it either increases the number of feral cats or unwanted pregnancies in other people's domestic cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of my own cats have grown up inside so don't miss going outside. The third one only occasionally escapes as she is used to being outside. However, she never asks to go outside, she just does it opportunistically. Depending on your cat's personality it might be too difficult to keep him inside permanently since he's used to going outside now but I would never keep an unsterilised cat unless I was a breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend getting him neutered and only letting him outside when he's hungry so he has an incentive to come home apart from warmth and affection which may only occasionally be strong enough to bring him home. Some cats are much more independent than others and yours may be one of those. He's still young so the greater the bond you build with him the more he will want to hang around. Give him as much affection as he can stand. It's possible to give too much, if he's had enough let him wander around the house away from you for a bit. Always be pleased to see him. You always love him even if you don't love all of his behaviour. Reward the behaviour you want (e.g. him coming home, being affectionate, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T04:20:04.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-03T09:05:01.240" Score="3" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware that this is possible to travel with smaller dogs in pet cage on board, but mostly, as far I googled topic for now, for bigger dogs like e.g. labrador retriever it is impossible to take dog on board, so they must travel in the Luggage Compartment, what must be an extremely traumatic experience for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question: Are there airlines offering possibility of flight on board with bigger dog like labrador on intercontinental flights like USA-Europe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1299" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T11:51:39.600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T11:51:39.600" Title="Are there airlines offering possibility of flight on board with bigger dog like labrador? (Europe-USA flights)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6931" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-03T15:14:41.433" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are lots of animial shelters in the US and other places in the world.  Are they not all run by rescue organizations?  If not, what is the difference between a shelter run by a rescue organization and one run by a government entity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-03T15:35:06.167" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T18:38:53.110" Title="Are all animal shelters run by rescue organizations?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6939" CreationDate="2014-12-03T15:28:33.630" Score="6" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to a local rescue shelter and fell in love with this great dog I met there.  I filled out the application and was ready to take him home when they told me there would be a waiting period before my application could be approved and I could adopt Rover.  I have a stable home life, have the ablitiy to care for and provide for his needs.  When I looked on the internet I notice many rescues have a similar policy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why is this?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T21:34:16.303" Title="I noticed many rescues do not offer same day adoptions, Why not?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-03T15:29:58.410" Score="8" ViewCount="1346" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 4 cats (all desexed):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hunter, male, 10 years, adopted 2005&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ginger, female, 11 years, adopted 2008&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juliet, female, 8 years, adopted 2007&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Romeo, male, 2 years, adopted 2014&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently added Romeo to the household (a few months ago, we had another cat, Kendall, who passed in March), and since then Hunter has become increasingly aggressive with the other cats right before meal time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before we adopted Romeo, I had only heard Hunter hiss once or twice in his life (and that was when he was startled). I had never heard him growl. Now, both things are a regular occurrence at mealtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first we thought perhaps Romeo was instigating fights or something (he loves to wrestle), but after closer observation we noticed that Romeo would just be sitting in Hunter's sight line and Hunter would charge him, hissing and growling. Additionally, Hunter's behavior is no longer focused solely on Romeo but he also hisses and growls at Ginger and Juliet (who he's never had problems with before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to start getting cranky 20-30 minutes before meal time, and does not settle down until I've pulled out the cans of wet food (he doesn't seem to be hissy while I'm fixing meals, just stares at me VERY INTENTLY). He's fine while they eat, and often purrs (contentment or anxiety it's hard to tell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way we've been able to calm Hunter down is to feed him earlier, but we don't want to gradually move meals earlier and earlier and end up with breakfast at 3 am! We've tried separating him from the other cats during the pre-meal period, but he hisses at playful paws (Romeo is made of them) and shadows under the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's not meal time, he's calm and will groom everyone and cuddle like normal. When Romeo or Juliet try to wrestle with him he'll run off, but not hiss/growl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For meals, we feed wet food twice a day. We give it to all four cats on a single platter that's washed after every meal (Ginger is prone to acne, but we're too lazy to wash 4 plates). We give them dry food before bed in a puzzle toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunter has been to the vet since this behavior started. He has a chronic sinus infection (he's had it since he was a kitten) and otherwise he's slightly overweight, but healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we keep Hunter calm/non-aggressive in the 20-30 minutes before mealtime?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; We've been feeding Hunter separately for about 2 months. He's now aggressive with all of the cats. He's never had a problem with Ginger (they've lived together peacefully for 5 years) and the other day he looked at her, and she flinched away from him, anticipating an attack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding Romeo additional food separately seemed to help for about a week, but then it stopped making a difference. Romeo is super thin and Hunter is chubby. Hunter does not need additional food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we put Hunter into another room and close the door during meal time, he won't eat, he just cries at the door. We've just been feeding him on the other side of the kitchen from the other cats, and keeping everyone else away from him if they wander over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-12T21:59:09.540" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T21:59:09.540" Title="How can I reduce my cat's crankiness at mealtime?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-03T16:38:08.783" Score="4" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love cows, but I do not know if there are there is any need for cows to have vaccines, whether they're compulsory vaccines or optional vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, which are the schedules for the vaccines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love if someone could give me information for the following table. I ask so I can follow it for my friend's cow and its children. I promise that I will make a printout will give it to all cow-holders of my town. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;div class=&quot;s-table-container&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;table class=&quot;s-table&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;No&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Category&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Name of vaccine&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Duration Once/Repeat&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;Compulsory&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;somename xyz&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;Every Year&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;Optional&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;somename abc&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;Once&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;/table&gt;&#xA;&lt;/div&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any vaccines that are needed for cows living in the Gujarat area in India?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T19:47:15.707" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T19:47:15.707" Title="Are there any vaccines that are needed for cows in Gujarat, India?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6924" CreationDate="2014-12-03T18:15:18.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have concerns about introducing your existing pet(s) to the potential pet(s), you should definitely talk to your rescue group/shelter. For some pet species, an introduction on neutral territory is helpful and can be a good indicator of how well they will get along. For other species, removal from the home environment can be so stressful that you will get no useful information (and may harm the beginning relationship).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if you have an existing pet who is difficult to get along with, I recommend looking for a rescue organization that does extensive home fostering and personality matching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many pets don't behave like themselves in a shelter environment with lots of other animals, noises, strangers, and other general stressors. An animal like that does best in a home (foster) environment where it can relax and show its personality. Then, when you contact the rescue and describe your existing pet, they can look through notes kept by the current fosters and find someone who is a likely personality fit. It's a longer process (especially if you want a specific color/sex/other attribute), but it tends to work out better in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rescue group I've worked with will occasionally do &quot;test runs&quot; where they will let you take the cat home for a period of time since they aren't sure how it will react under certain circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the rescue should instruct you on how to integrate your new pet and be available for advice during the process. The rescue group I've worked with suggests allowing at least 6 months for integration of cats. Sometimes it takes longer (we kept Ginger locked alone in the bedroom when we weren't home for a few years before she learned to get along with everyone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T18:15:18.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6931" CreationDate="2014-12-03T18:38:53.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some animal shelters are run by local government. These shelters are supported by tax dollars (though some also have non-profit arms to raise additional funds if the government funding is not enough for their operating costs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, government shelters are operated as open access (an animal can be dropped off regardless of the number of animals currently at the shelter), since they traditionally operate as community lost and found stations for lost pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Private shelters (run by rescue organizations) can be open access or limited, depending on the organization. They may function as a community lost and found station if there is no government shelter, but in my experience (and in some reading I did when I found Agent Orange a few weeks ago) if there is a local government shelter they generally prefer you to take found animals there to have a central location for owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other community shelter functions (educational seminars, low cost spay/neuter/vaccination events, etc) are offered by both government and private shelters, depending on their resources. Both types of shelters need volunteers to do basic functions like clean cages and socialize the animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For reference, I've volunteered at my local government shelter. I've visited my local private shelter and the private shelter associated with the rescue group I work with (most of their cats are home fostered, but they have a small facility in central VA)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T18:38:53.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6923" CreationDate="2014-12-03T19:04:39.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've filled out a couple of applications for cats, and some of the questions I've been asked include: (in addition to the questions in Monica's answer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Family Involvement/History: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How does everyone else in the house feel about adding a new pet? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who will be primarily responsible for this cat (if a child, who will check that it's done; if you're alone, is there someone to step in due to illness/travel)? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do any members of your family have asthma or allergies?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Describe your household activity/noise level (High/Medium/Low)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long will the cat be alone each day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you ever lost, sold, given away or surrendered a pet? If so, why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you ever had an animal die as the result of being hit by a car, being poisoned or from unknown causes? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you ever had a cat that gave birth?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Breed/Species Specific Questions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Siamese cats are very people oriented. They require more time than the average cats, and may choose one person in the household to bond with. They can also be vocal, curious, persistent, and highly intelligent. How would you feel if your cat chooses just one person to bond with? What if the person chosen is not whom you were adopting the cat for and how would you deal with those problems? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All cats make messes. They shed, kick litter out of the box, may throw up food or cough up hairballs, and may, if stressed or unhappy enough, even have litterbox accidents. How do you feel about your cat having accidents or being messy? What are some possible solutions you might try to curb some of the messes created by your cat? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will your cat be (outdoor, indoor/outdoor, indoor only)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will your cat be declawed (most rescues do not permit declawing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Understanding Rescued Animals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upon arrival at your home, how do you think your new cat might be feeling after what they've been through? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are some things you can do to increase your new cat's comfort level? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are three of the most important signs of adjustment you would expect to see within the first 36 hours of arriving at your house, and if you don't see them, what should you do? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are some of the behaviors that may present themselves as your new cat adjusts to it's new environment? What specifically would you do to address those issues? How long would you be willing to work to resolve any negative behaviors before returning the cat?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T19:04:39.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6932" CreationDate="2014-12-03T21:34:16.303" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You&lt;/em&gt; know you have a stable home life and are ready to adopt, but &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; don't know that.  With same-day adoptions at least some people would adopt on a lark (&quot;hey honey, I got us a puppy!&quot;), which usually does not go well for the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, the shelter might be using that time to check with your landlord (if you rent) and/or your vet to make sure that you're not just confidently saying &quot;oh sure, it'll be fine&quot; as people are wont to do when excited by a new possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, especially if this is your first pet, there may be some things you need to do to ready your home that only come up in discussion with the adoption counselor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if there are family members who are not with you when you visit the shelter, they might want to hold the pet while you arrange for them to visit.  My shelter required all members of the household to be present; I think this is in part to verify that everybody agrees to adopting a pet and in part to observe everybody interact with the pet in the play room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you and Rover are meant for each other, the shelter wants to help you have a happy life together.  In the grand scheme of things, if that happy life together has to wait until tomorrow or the next day to start, is that really a problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, some shelters allow you to fill out the application online, so they can do all these checks in advance.  That's what I did with my two cats; once they reviewed the application we scheduled an appointment, my husband and I went there, and we brought them home the same day.  If making two trips to the shelter is a problem, check to see if you can apply in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T21:34:16.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6933" CreationDate="2014-12-03T22:51:01.713" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most likely reason is that Hunter is not as comfortable sharing the plate so intimately with Romeo.  It takes a lot of trust for a cat to go nose to nose with another!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This upcoming tension is expressing itself before the next meal, and is displaced onto all the other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have a pair of cats that shared a single plate, eating as one off the same cake. When one died and I got a new cat, they no longer ate as one, but the new kitten would wait while the older cat ate exactly half, then eat.  So it became time sharing rather than communal feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest thing to try is to give Hunter a plate with his share, and place it away from the other, preferably facing away so he can't see the others.  The more relaxed meal might then reduce the tension and make the 20 minutes before the next meal tolerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T22:51:01.713" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6922" CreationDate="2014-12-03T22:54:29.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask your shelter if they are looking for foster care for any of their pets. They often need homes to care for a pet that's not ready for adoption due to healing from an illness/injury, behavioral problems, being over stressed in the shelter, being too young or underweight for adoption and sometimes because they just don't have room in their adoption center for all of their adoptable pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shelter pays for medical care for fostered pets and sometimes food, and the foster period can last from days to months (depending on why the animal is a foster), giving you plenty of experience with the animal. Talk to the staff about what you're looking for and they may be able to help you find a foster animal that you may ultimately end up adopting.  Some of their foster pets may have special needs that you're not ready to deal with, but others have no special needs and make wonderful pets even if they aren't quite ready for adoption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally the shelter will be looking for a foster home that has some experience with pets, so if you're a new pet owner, this may not be an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the foster period, if it's not working out, you can return the animal to the shelter in good conscience knowing that you gave him a good place to live while waiting to become adoptable. And maybe you'll have learned more about what you're looking for in a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be hard to get a good sense of an animal's true personality after a few visits at the shelter, my last dog was a fostered shelter dog recovering from an injury - at the shelter he was shy and reserved, not friendly at all and shied away from any contact (possibly due to his injury). When we saw him at the shelter, they said that they were looking for a foster for him until his injuries healed, so we decided to foster him while continuing to look for a pet. Even when we took him home he was very shy at first and stayed in his crate nearly all the time...it took a few weeks at home before he opened up to become a playful, loving pet. 3 weeks into the foster program, we told the shelter that we wanted to adopt him, they kept him in the foster program until the 6 week point so they could handle his followup medical care, then processed the adoption (with the adoption fee waived since we fostered him). A year later he needed one of the pins removed from his leg, the vet knew he was a foster, called the shelter and they arranged the procedure at a very low cost, basically we just paid for consumables and paid nothing for the vet's time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="975" LastActivityDate="2014-12-03T22:54:29.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7076" CreationDate="2014-12-04T04:30:23.357" Score="11" ViewCount="3546" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 12 yo male /neut Jack R T with no current notable health problems. He has a history of IBS but it's been recently well managed with diet and acid blockers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a wonderful dog: cute, loyal, funny, gentle and trustworthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this dog &lt;strong&gt;constantly, loudly, whines&lt;/strong&gt;. It's completely behavioral and to myself it's very debilitating. My wife and I have two babies on the way. We're in a small place, I need to get the loud high pitched whining noises to stop. At a point of desperation I'm willing to even try a bark collar (shock collar) and Im looking for some experience here with them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do bark collars work for older animals to modify behavior (specifically whining)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they considered humane?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's more history about our JRT, should it help your answer here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife found him about eight years ago, he was neglected by owner in apt complex, she suspects there was abuse as well. The whining and whimpering has always gone on. My wife is able to be a lot more tolerant of it (I'm ashamed to say)than myself and others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I moved in about two years ago and brought two cats with me. All the animals get along seemingly well and my wife maintains that there's been no major change in his behavior since I moved in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note he seems to wine more often under the following various circumstances: in the evening, when she and I are together awake in the house, when food is present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pitch of the whine is enough to drive most insane. The real concern here is the wife and I are about to have twins (babies) in ~ 6 months. A legitimate concern comes out, I think l, as we live in a small place and if the babies to come will be able to sleep with the whining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never given up on a pet and i'm not about to start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've only had two effective treatments: Benadryl worked for a few days. The only other thing that gets him to stop whining is my wife going to bed. He goes up there with her, gets into bed with her, and sleeps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried some tactics with no success: positive and negative reinforcement taking him out and giving him attention when he's not whining. When he does wine, as consistently as possible we will spray his feet with water from a squirt bottle.&#xA;We have been doing this fairly consistently for a bout 6 months. He's an old guy though and I don't suspect change in behavior with him will be easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never used a bark (shock) collar before. They come off as a little much. He's an old guy I don't think it's fair to put him through that.But we're at a tough spot, as it needs to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3088" LastEditorUserId="3088" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T09:28:43.010" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T07:18:00.693" Title="Are shock collars an effective and humane way of modifying behavior in senior animals?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6943" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-04T05:47:01.957" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is more important for dogs, territory or blood relation. Will dogs still be territorial towards members of their family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T17:20:18.857" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T11:27:17.127" Title="Will dogs still be territorial towards members of their family?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-04T06:30:33.007" Score="1" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually feed milk to newly born stray puppies as soon as I come to know about their existence in my area. However, when the puppies grow enough, they start fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;14 days ago&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, among a litter of puppies, I found that one puppy was being beaten by the other puppies. That puppy became sad and for two days it did not drink milk or anything, so I moved it to a different area with a different bowl. But the problem was it was not eating anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After 3 days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took it to the vet hospital and the vet gave it injections and provided a bottle with glucose solution. After the puppy drank from the bottle, it had some energy and started to drink water. For two days I gave it the syrup given by the vet and fed it separately from the other puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After 4 days&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 4 days, it started drinking milk, but it still wasn't eating anything. Unfortunately though it also seemed that &lt;strong&gt;it was now strongly interested in making a group&lt;/strong&gt; with those other puppies again. It started not drinking milk which was given separately in its personal bowl and started going to the bowl provided for the other puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other puppies, on seeing it, started barking and attacking it again, and it again became distressed. It again started not eating anything and drinking anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the syrup medicine, it was starving strongly, and still not drinking the milk that was in its bowl and instead trying to drink from the other puppys' bowl. So all of them were jumping on it and barking. One of them injured it and injured the area near its ear and eye, drawing blood. This happened in my absence but my friend told me what happened. All the puppies are vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now feel that even though I do any medicines it will not work. The glucose bottle never works. I spent a lot of time with the puppy to make it feel safe - it sleeps on my legs, it plays with me, but when it comes for food, it still goes to the other puppies to be bullied. It feels very sad and hungry but still not eating separately and it is still interested in being bullied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is more important? Letting the puppy bond with the other puppies, or making sure it eats?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Today, I saw that the puppy was again attacked by the other puppies and was again forced to leave the territory. I made it its separate area, a safe place nearby. It finally ate food separately today, but now it is scared. It still visits the other puppies when we are away. The other puppies do not bark at it unless it tries to eat from their bowl. So the fight is for the bowl, not for food. Today I put too much food in both the bowls - both bowls were full and the food was mostly wasted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we help this puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3254" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T12:44:48.893" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T12:44:48.893" Title="Stray puppy wants to eat with its littermates but gets attacked whenever it does" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6930" CreationDate="2014-12-04T09:08:59.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;intresting quote from lufthansa:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If you have booked a flight to/from the USA, there is also the option&#xA;  of transporting an ESAN dog (emotional support animal) in the aircraft&#xA;  cabin free of charge. You will require confirmation from your doctor&#xA;  that you require an assistance dog. Please note that the dog’s&#xA;  suitability for transport in the aircraft cabin may be checked.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/Travel-preparations-for-passengers-with-special-needs#ancAbT6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/Travel-preparations-for-passengers-with-special-needs#ancAbT6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ESAN defintion: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_support_animal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_support_animal&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I am afraid ESAN as something legaly defined functions only in the USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1299" LastEditorUserId="1299" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T09:20:29.053" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T09:20:29.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6942" CreationDate="2014-12-04T14:50:16.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people find shock collars to be cruel. I have several dogs, and have only used one in one circumstance for one dog, and it worked so well, I only used it several times. I don't like the idea, but I don't think it's inhumane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no doubt that old dogs can learn new tricks. One of my dogs is 9 years old, and learns a new trick in a few tries to a few days, depending on complexity. So I'd say that age shouldn't necessarily be a consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shock collar I used had settings on it (like 1-10) and I always used a setting on myself first to see how uncomfortable it was. The lower settings were not painful, but more surprising (lowest) and tingling to mildly uncomfortable. The higher settings hurt, and were not used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a command for &lt;em&gt;no whining?&lt;/em&gt; If you don't, I wouldn't use a collar. They need to understand what they're doing wrong, even with the shock collar, the command has to be disobeyed before the shock is delivered. (I'm not addressing a shock/bark situation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you squirt his feet. Why his feet? Why not his face? If you're using negative consequences for whining, they have to be negative enough to actually make him stop for a second. If the bottle is washed and clean and the water is replaced daily, it certainly won't hurt him to get a mist to the face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T14:50:16.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6942" CreationDate="2014-12-04T14:52:33.947" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to tackle the more subjective question first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is It Humane?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is going to be a great differing of an opinion here.  My personal opinion is that a bonded dog is better off staying with the people they are bonded too even if it means some sacrifice that is not abusive.  Here, so long as the conditioning is short term, the dog will quickly learn that there are consequences to continual barking that can be avoided by not continually barking.  So long as you follow the instructions, only set the collar on a setting high enough to be effective, and remove the collar once your dog has adjusted the behavior, it is not an inhumane option.  Especially if the barking is to the point where the option is surrender or euthanasia versus the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is it Effective?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bark collars I have experience with do not suppress all barking.  That would actually be a dangerous thing as your dogs bark is one of the mechanisms it has to alert others to its state of mind.  A dog conditioned never to bark is liable to lash out and injure someone without warning because it has been conditioned not to give that warning.  Instead most collars activate after the second or third consecutive bark. This allows the dog to give a few alert barks but suppresses the urge to just continually bark for what seems like hours on end.  Instead what you end up with is a staccato bark, a bark followed by a pause, followed by a bark, repeat.  However I have noticed that the staccato bark does not last any where near as long as when a dog is allowed to continually bark.  Though our rescue and fostering efforts we have had the need to correct several animals that have had continual barking problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to note if the collar is not effective you should not leave it on the dog anyway.  Some dogs are predisposed to bark and this method may not be effective for conditioning them to suppress that.  One of our rescue friends had that problem with a beagle mix they rescued.  Leaving the collar on them when it is not effective is cruel and inhumane as you are just inflicting punishment with no hope of correction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Will it be effective for you?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really doubt it.  Bark collars are for correcting continual barking.  It does not activate to whining, begging, panting, or growling.  So even if you had a bark whine bark whine bark problem it is probably not going to cause the collar to active, thus it is not&#xA;going to be effective in conditioning your dog to stop the high pitched whining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T14:52:33.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-04T19:32:45.833" Score="12" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kind of &quot;prevention rather than cure&quot; - are there any charitable organisations that work to educate people, supply resources, or whatever else might be needed to stop pets from needing to be rehomed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, how do they go about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I know that if you got the animal from the shelter in the first place, they will educate you and support you so you don't need to bring it back to be rehomed &lt;em&gt;again&lt;/em&gt;, but I was thinking more of the general pet-owning public, not that small section of it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-04T19:47:46.083" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T22:49:34.933" Title="Are there any animal charities that focus on preventing pets from being rehomed in the first place?" Tags="&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-04T20:24:57.283" Score="10" ViewCount="904" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a 2 year old american staffy / boxer mix 5 days ago. He's been an absolute angel so far!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm out of the house for 9 hours on week days since I have to work. He cries for about 5 minutes after I leave, then he's quiet. He hasn't caused any trouble yet. We walk 2 miles in 1 hour 2x a day. I plan to set up a laptop tomorrow so I can video chat him mid-day and check on him as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am home, we'll do our walk and play a bit inside afterwards, then he's content to just sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he going to be ok? I know he's well behaved when I'm gone (no destruction / barking), which is a good sign. I just worry that over time it will have a negative affect on him, that despite the good behaviour he's actually really upset that I'm not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3262" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T12:00:55.700" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T17:11:45.973" Title="My pit bull cries for 5 minutes when I leave for work. Is he ok?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2014-12-04T22:56:50.380" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on where you live and on the dog (breed/coat, age, health, personality). Each dog is different and has different needs. Some dogs can withstand the cold, but really hate it and should not be forced to endure it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies should never be exposed to the cold for extended periods. Adult labs will be fine, just make sure to give them extra food during the colder seasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An adult lab will be fine outdoors year round, if provided an adequate dog house:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insulated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large enough for him to stand, turn around, lie down and stretch in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not oversized (since it needs to hold your Labrador's body heat to help keep him warm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heavy wind flap on the entrance door&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nonporous bedding inside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://allaboutlabradors.blogspot.ca/2008/02/cold-weather-and-your-labrador.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Labs and Cold Weather&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/cold-weather-safety-for-dogsinsights-from-a-sled-dog-veterinarian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;General Dogs and Cold Weather&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding keeping your dog indoors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of dogs are fine in the house all day. Any behaviour trouble (destruction of property, potty accidents, etc) is usually the owner's fault and not done out of spite. E.g. dogs don't think &quot;you were away all day, so I'll punish you by peeing on the bed or destroying your shoes&quot;. As long as the dog has things to entertain him during the day and gets enough exercise (especially in the morning), he'll be fine. Perhaps consider crate training or restricting him to a space within the house or getting a dog door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3262" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:41:40.590" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:41:40.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6590" CreationDate="2014-12-04T23:00:31.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a website that I will quote one section from it. I don't know if a colour scheme would help but this section might help for the rest of your question. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/blindness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How Can I Create a Safe, Fulfilling Environment for My Blind Dog?&lt;/a&gt; FROM: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/blindness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/blindness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can help your dog feel secure in his surroundings by providing a&#xA;  stable, accident-free environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give extra attention and TLC, especially for elderly pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Avoid moving the furniture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don’t leave boxes, toys or other objects in walking paths.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cover sharp corners and objects with soft insulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Speak to your dog when you enter the room and before petting or touching him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Let him smell visitors’ hands before they touch him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mark different rooms with different scents so that your dog can use his sense of smell to recognize where he is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mark the tops and bottoms of staircases with a bit of perfume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Use rugs to texture rooms, allowing your dog to use his sense of touch to get his bearings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Carry or lead your dog up and down stairs and block access to them when you’re not using them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Place barriers around hot tubs, pools and other dangerous and off-limits areas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Make sure she has her own safe place she can get to easily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Buy toys with sound and scent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Keep food and water bowls in the same place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Be very vocal and be aware of your different tones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don’t baby or pity your dog—simply help him adjust.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T22:32:31.683" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T22:32:31.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6203" CreationDate="2014-12-04T23:49:32.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dogs eat poop for a number of reasons.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutrient deficiency (cheap/bad food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To get attention (negative attention still counts as attention)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parental instincts (see below)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Digestive enzymes deficiency&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GI parasites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anxiety/stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When mother dogs and cats have litters, they deliberately consume the feces of their puppies or kittens to hide their scent while the litter is vulnerable and sheltered in the den.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't just discourage eating poop: it's most likely the symptom of a bigger problem. Solve the problem and the symptom (eating poop) will go away.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions: make sure your dog is eating a high quality food, get him checked for parasites, give him plenty of exercise/attention, stick to a schedule, and give him toys/training to prevent boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, then make poop less accessible (clean up poop right away and if you have a cat, keep the litter box out of each).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/12/06/coprophagia-repulsive-pet-habits.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why Do Dogs (and Cats) Eat Poop?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3262" LastActivityDate="2014-12-04T23:49:32.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5893" CreationDate="2014-12-05T00:20:20.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an article from petco about caring for the Hairless Guinea Pig (should be the same for your guinea pig. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Guinea pigs stay clean and rarely need baths; if skin becomes flaky and dry, wipe with baby wipes containing Aloe or a damp washcloth&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/caresheets/small%20animals/GuineaPig_Hairless.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petco.com/caresheets/small%20animals/GuineaPig_Hairless.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-02-05T22:49:46.810" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T22:49:46.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-05T04:10:54.930" Score="10" ViewCount="13073" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three adult cats, all found as strays. The first two I found as kittens so they now behave just like regular domestic cats. The third one I found a year later as an adult. I have integrated her with the other two and there are almost no personality clashes, certainly nothing to cause any behavioural problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I found her she was very malnourished and had two kittens of her own. I gave the kittens away but kept her. Over time she filled out but became overweight. I now monitor her food carefully and she is an appropriate weight for her size. The problem is that due to her background she thinks that food is always scarce and she thinks she's always hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally I'd like to be able to feed all three cats at the same time in one room without her weight increasing. If I do that at the moment she eats as much as she can and stops the other two from eating until she's finished. The other two will eat out of one bowl at the same time. If I feed them in separate bowls at the same time she wolfs down her food and then eats the other cats' food before they've finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to reduce her food anxiety while keeping her weight under control?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T14:32:10.057" LastActivityDate="2017-10-28T18:31:04.100" Title="How can I combat food anxiety in an ex-stray cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-05T04:53:14.213" Score="2" ViewCount="626" Body="&lt;p&gt;In AAFCO's nutritional guidelines the minimum quantities for iron(adult minimum), for instance is expressed as 40 mg/kg. Does that mean that a dog should eat at least 40 mg of iron for every 1 kilogram of dry matter food? Or, does it mean that a dog should eat at least the quantity of iron of 40 mg times his/her weight in kilograms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it is the latter, do those values indicate quantities that should be eaten per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.petfoodinstitute.org/resource/collection/3257670C-41DB-4680-81FD-2F1FC78AB5A4/Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles_051513_Final.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&#xA;the guidelines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T12:49:57.890" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T12:49:57.890" Title="What does mg/kg in AAFCO's nutritional guidelines mean?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6957" CreationDate="2014-12-05T04:53:49.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20531&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slow-feed bowl&lt;/a&gt;? It could slow her down enough to give the other cats time to finish their food. If that slows her down enough that there's never any food left in the other bowl by the time she's finished, it should begin to break the cycle given enough time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you could try is pheromone therapy. There are a few companies (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/us/Feliway-Where-to-buy/What-is-Feliway&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petcomfortzone.com/cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comfort Zone&lt;/a&gt;) that make sprays and diffusers with cat facial pheromones that can help make a cat more calm and reduce the risk of unwanted behavior like compulsive eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T04:53:49.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2014-12-05T05:20:36.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some more information could help to figure out exactly what is going on. But there are a few general things that could make a difference...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many litter boxes do you have in your home? The general rule is to have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/preventing_litter_box_problems.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1 box for each cat, plus 1 extra&lt;/a&gt;, distributed throughout your home rather than all in the same place, which would be 4 litter boxes in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too few litter boxes could cause unnoticed territorial conflicts among your cats. If that's the case, they're waiting until you're around for security. If that's the case, additional litter boxes could make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind of litter box could also be an issue. If it's a covered litter box, it gives your cat fewer exits in case of ambush. If the cat was a former stray, or suffers from general anxiety, it can lead to the cat wanting to avoid the box. That could explain why she's using the bath sometimes, as well as why she waits for you to be around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is litter box placement. Contrary to what some people may think, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzliLSt7myE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cats really don't care about privacy&lt;/a&gt; when using a litter box. Some cats prefer using a litter box in a place that is socially important because it can be used as a territorial marker. By waiting until you're in the bathroom she could be trying to say &quot;This is my space, too. See?&quot; Which could be the case, since you mentioned she doesn't always go very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T05:20:36.130" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-05T06:00:45.403" Score="2" ViewCount="991" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta has been in a 6 gallon (23 litres) planted tank with 5 ember tetras and a couple of dwarf shrimp for about 2 weeks now. He and the tetras seem to get along fine (no aggressive signs from any of them) but the shrimp live in fear of the betta so we decided to give him his own tank. Also we have sand substrate and the betta seemed to like to chew and spit out grains so we thought gravel would be better for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new tank set up is as follows:&#xA;5 gallon heated to about 75 degrees (24 deg C) with amazon sword, tropical ferns, mopani wood and gravel. Only tank mate is a nerite snail. We used Prime to dechlorinate the water and added API quick start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After setting up the tank and waiting about 9 hours, we introduced the betta. Less than 24 hours later the betta was laying on the floor of the tank most of the time. The water parameters seem fine, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, 7.6 pH (same pH as previous tank). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing, the water in the new tank did look a little murky but I don't know why... we cleaned the gravel, boiled the wood and did not feed him in the new tank. (maybe it was due to some tannins leaking from the wood)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We reintroduced him into the old tank today and although he is a bit more active, he still lays long periods of time at the bottom of the tank. We've checked him and doesn't show any physical damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no signs of illness why might he be acting this way? Also any suggestions on treatment? Or should we just give him some time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really appreciate any insight into my problem with my betta. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3266" LastEditorUserId="207" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T10:25:47.627" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:36:04.880" Title="Betta laying on bottom of floor with no outward signs of illness... why?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:35:50.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6958" CreationDate="2014-12-05T11:09:18.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;THE trick with understanding the tables and knowing what is available in a raw diet (from global nutrient tables is that many of the minerals in the aafco tables are expressed as mg/kg. While meat and offal nutrient tables are just expressed as mg, micro grams etc per 100g or food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Minimum recommended daily amount of a tabled nutrient in mg/kg &lt;strong&gt;of DRY food consumed&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; Ref 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;% Affco conversions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Affco has minimum requirement (adult maintenance of) 0.6% Calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100g Beef has 6 mg Calcium per 100g, Beef is 70.5% water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means the Calcium % in Dry beef is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(6/ 100,000) x 100 x (100/(100-70.5))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;=  0.006 x 3.38 = 0.02% well below the 0.6% minimum requirement. That is of course why we add raw bone to their diet, and make sure that the Ca:P ratio is correct. More on that later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This aafco value (mg/kg) Calculation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Affco has minimum requirement (adult maintenance of) 80mg/kg Iron.  (NCA is 32 mg/kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100g Beef has 2.4 mg Iron per 100g, Beef is 70.5% water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means the Iron mg/Kg in Dry beef is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2.4 x 10) x (100/(100-70.5))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;=  24 x 3.38 = 81.12 mg/kg Close to the AAFCO minimum requirement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;check&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthydogtreats.com.au/dog-treats-articles/131-dog-food-vitamin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.healthydogtreats.com.au/dog-treats-articles/131-dog-food-vitamin.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  for whole article and references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2014-12-05T11:09:18.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6973" CreationDate="2014-12-05T12:21:47.083" Score="3" ViewCount="5778" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seem to have a recurring issue with cyanobacteria in one of my tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have treated it in the past, but it keeps coming back. Perhaps I'm not treating it for long enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering using one of these products from Amazon that claim to be effective against bacterial infections:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;API 'algae destroyer'  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Melafix'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they the right product to use? Is there a better way to treat the cyanobacteria? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3132" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-07T14:29:36.660" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T20:37:51.607" Title="What can I do about the recurring cyanobacteria in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6933" CreationDate="2014-12-05T15:14:28.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use different plates is the obvious answer, keep their bowls in separate parts of the room. This will ensure they don't need to get cranky as they will know they always have their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep feeding the same cat in the same place, don't mix them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would place a large bet that this will work once they get used to it. One month or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I just read your update.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also giving your cats a shared plate increases the risk of spreading infections&lt;/strong&gt; - Your vet should advise against this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3268" LastEditorUserId="3268" LastEditDate="2014-12-12T10:28:15.327" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T10:28:15.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6964" CreationDate="2014-12-07T22:58:58.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maintaining a healthy tank/preventing cyano has many considerations. If you have a small/simple setup, just do regular tests/water changes and just skip to TL;DR for the immediate cure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H1&gt;What causes Cyano(bacteria)?&lt;/H1&gt;&#xA;Cyano growth is driven by many of the same factors that promote algae growth.  The most common is overfeeding. Fish food and waste introduces phosphates (PO4) and organic nitrogen compounds (henceforth referred to as ONC), which are initially broken down to ammonium compounds (ammonification) into your tank. If &lt;a href=&quot;http://textbookofbacteriology.net/metabolism_5.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nitrifying bacteria&lt;/a&gt; are present -- most often introduced on live rock, but now comes in a bottle with mixed success -- they'll perform a process called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_metabolism#Nitrification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;*nitrification&lt;/a&gt;; which is roughly converting &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ammonia/Ammonium (NH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;/NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) → Nitrite (NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) and Hydroxylamine (NH&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;OH) → Nitrate (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;. Denitrifying bacteria must then convert the nitrates into free nitrogen (N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), which is dissipated through surface agitation. This and other processes are referred to the all inclusive term, the  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordsinmocean.com/2012/02/21/the-marine-nitrogen-cycle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DF1IA.png&quot; alt=&quot;Nitrogen Cycle Illustration&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H1&gt;Prevention&lt;/H1&gt;&#xA;&lt;H2&gt;Natural Method 1: Plants&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;Plants and algae uptake these same compounds (as well as phosphates) and process them in reverse order (assimilation), but instead of releasing free nitrogen they store ammonia and phosphate for growth; as well as turning carbon dioxide into oxygen (CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; -&gt; O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Noticed the compounds in the above nitrification process. Each contain more oxygen than their predecessor. Couple that to the fact that you have your fish also breathing the dissolved oxygen. Anything wishing to utilize the ONC will have to compete for these resources and cyano thrives in low oxygen water. Therefore, higher oxygen content will increase competition and hinder cyano growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Surface agitation is the most efficient way of increasing dissolved oxygen.  Some such ways of accomplishing this are mechanical filters, the gravity drain into a sump, or a bubbler.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;Natural Method 2: Macro Algae&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;Macro algae is my favorite method of Nitrate control.  It not only works well, but the right type is the favorite food of many fish.  Since they do accumulate phosphates and ammonia, it's recommended you cull the macro every so often to manually remove these elements from the tank. Additionally, you macro has no room to grow, it will no longer be using up the ONC you're trying to get rid of.  If you do opt for the type of macroalgae that your fish like to eat, you may need to grow it elsewhere, like a sump or you won't have it long.  But realize that some macros drawbacks:  Some aren't as good at exporting nutrients, some are invasive, fish won't eat all algaes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;Filtration&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;&lt;H3&gt;Protein Skimmer&lt;/H3&gt;&#xA;A protein skimmer is one of the best methods of controlling organic nitrogen. It helps remove fish waste and excess food before it has a chance to ammonificate. Other chemical and mechanical filters also exist, but I don't use them much so I won't speak on their behalf. If I get a media reactor or ozonator I'll update. Protein skimmers also have the added benefit of surface agitation, aiding in dissipating free nitrogen as well as dissolving oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H3&gt;Carbon Filter&lt;/H3&gt;&#xA;Work great for removing all sorts elements from your tank.  They work a little too well and are bad for anything requiring trace elements.  I avoid carbon like the plague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H3&gt;Bio Pellets&lt;/H3&gt;&#xA;There are many organic mediums that do the same job as nitrifying bacteria, helping the process along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;Equipment: Power Heads&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;Large tanks with poor circulation can suffer from pockets of built-up ONC called dead spots. Power heads are pumps that circulate your water to allow efficient removal of ONC, with the added benefit of fish exercise, feeding filter feeders, and regulating consistency of temperature/pH/salinity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;Maintenance: Proper Lighting&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;Old/poor lighting also promotes algae and cyano growth. Grow bulbs have a spectrum that extends beyond the visible to where most plants photosynthesise (UV).  After 6-12 months (depending on the type of lighting -- LEDs will can last much longer), the bulbs should be replaced as their spectrum will likely have fallen below what your plants require; anything needing this spectrum of light to photosynthesise won't be nearly as efficient at processing the nitrogen and of course algae and cyano have no problem using this spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;Maintenance: Proper Water Conditions&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;Improperly filtered water is full of all sorts of compounds that detrimental to your tank.  Tap water usually contains phosphates, nitrates, copper, and many other things you don't want -- &lt;strong&gt;especially&lt;/strong&gt; saltwater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;Maintenance: Critters&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;A few people claim certain animals will eat cyano.  I have never had success with this, but I can't say I've tried too hard.  The thing to remember that even though cyano is often called blue/green algae, brown algae, [whatever ugly algae], it is actually bacteria.  It is thought to be toxic for many that try to eat it, but I'll stop the conjecture at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H2&gt;What You Should Be Doing&lt;/H2&gt;&#xA;&lt;H3&gt;Self Control&lt;/H3&gt;&#xA;The biggest culprit is over-feeding. Only throw a little food in at a time. The extra that falls to the bottom is often not eaten and just pollutes the tank. Avoid the temptation to over feed.  Smaller feedings 2 or 3 times a day is preferred over a large feeding once and never more than they can consume in a few minutes.  Also, more nutrient-dense food will pollute the water faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H3&gt;Get Yourself Tested&lt;/H3&gt;&#xA;Test often, especially if your tank is young.  A routine water change is often the preferred method of removing nitrates. If you have nitrifying bacteria, you're limited on how often you can do a water change.  Otherwise you run the risk of reducing your bacteria to critical levels (see tank cycling). Many mature tanks only need 10-15% change every 2 weeks; I do %20 once a month and that's only as an alternative to dosing my corals. If you have certain parameters really out of whack, you should be able to get away with 10% every 3 days for a few changes. This is only a general rule of thumb and will vary widely by the efficiency of your filtration, the type of animals in your tank, and your experience in dosing.  Just be careful to do match the parameters of the water coming in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pH plays an important role in your bacteria's ability to function&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrifying Bacteria: Generally &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosomonas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;6.0 - 9.0&lt;/a&gt;. This will vary greatly by species, but too far out of range and they'll stop doing their job.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Note that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Pic/article.cfm?c=3578&amp;amp;aid=843&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many fish prefer 8.1 - 8.4&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H3&gt;See the Warning Signs&lt;/H3&gt;&#xA;For most people algae is inevitable and to a degree even somewhat beneficial by providing oxygen, food, and denitrification. It's a strong competitor (most of the time out competing cyano and everything else). Keep an eye on this one, it's a great early warning of excess ONC.  In my opinion, the best thing about algae is that it's an excellent early indicator of your parameters getting out of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surface agitation, while helpful and completely necessary, also introduces CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from the atmosphere into your tank - encouraging algae growth and lower dissolved oxygen. The air in your house (depending on where you live) will have higher CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; than outside. For this reason, some people opt to pull their tank's air intake from outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;H1&gt;The Cure (TL;DR)&lt;/H1&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now that I've covered the basics of avoiding cyano, what to do now that it's a problem?  If you don't have anything photosynthetic (I know you have plants but I just want to cover it), you can &quot;black out&quot; your tank.  That's when you completely cover the tank and allow NO light in.  It doesn't bother the fish much and will kill the cyano.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antibiotics are quite effective at killing cyano as well. I'd recommend you remove as much of it manually as possible first. Turn off your pumps and start scraping with a siphon right behind. The antibiotic is going to leech oxygen from your water, so increase your surface agitation (ie add a bubbler). The antibiotic usually takes 24hrs to work, so be ready to do a large water change immediately after (I go for 20%).  If you have a protein skimmer, it's going to go crazy for the first few hours.  This is normal, just stay on top of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2015-11-29T20:37:51.607" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T20:37:51.607" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-08T02:32:09.260" Score="6" ViewCount="2422" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a &quot;princess type&quot; shih tzu (the small type, but not teacup type, which are the smallest), and she's about 4+ months old by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To cut the story short, we think we've gotten ill advice on how to feed our puppy and we think we've been giving her way too little food since we got her. (Something like 2 tablespoons of kibbles per meal 2 x day) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do give her multi vitamins 2x / day as well, and treats every now and then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only this week (at 4 months) did we start to increase it to about a small cup /meal x2 day  since she seems bigger now (thinking that the bigger she is the more food she'll be needing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are receiving feedback from friends that our puppy seems skinny (underneath that fluffy hair of hers) and they could feel her ribs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I researched on Google and I was horrified to read that growing puppies need a lot of food to &quot;properly develop&quot;, up to about 4 months, and even some articles saying to let puppy eat till she is full!! (watching out for those overfeeding of course.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this has got me worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried? She seems healthy and happy and playful and has a strong appetite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now I'm thinking about increasing her food a bit more than required to kind of make up for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's about 5 lbs now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we be feeding her more? Are there other things we should be doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3279" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T03:18:55.317" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T08:38:17.430" Title="Is my Shih Tzu puppy underfed? How can I help her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-08T08:59:07.690" Score="5" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading this article about using &lt;code&gt;moisture&lt;/code&gt; to convert other percentages into their dry matter basis. The article is here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/dry-matter-basis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/dry-matter-basis/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it doesn't go into how to convert ones that don't end in a percentage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, take &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1LqTv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;analysis for dog food&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I convert &lt;code&gt;Vitamin A 19000 IU/kg&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;150,000,000 CFU/lb&lt;/code&gt; into their dry matter basis? Is it simply &lt;code&gt;(100%-10%) * 19000 iu/kg&lt;/code&gt; for &lt;code&gt;Vitamin A&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would &lt;code&gt;Calcium&lt;/code&gt; be &lt;code&gt;(1.25/90) * 100&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3281" LastEditorUserId="3281" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T17:18:27.950" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T06:03:19.987" Title="Calculating nutritional analysis with dry weight?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6978" CreationDate="2014-12-08T14:24:48.803" Score="13" ViewCount="11828" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some excess feeder crickets that I no longer have a use for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most humane way to get rid of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-08T14:33:13.193" LastActivityDate="2019-01-27T07:39:21.680" Title="How do I euthanise crickets?" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2014-12-08T14:24:48.803" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;don't release them into the environment&lt;/strong&gt; without checking with your local authorities whether it's okay to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are that the captive crickets you have bought are not local to your area. The introduction of non-native animals to an environment unused to them can disrupt the local wildlife by introducing new predators, spreading disease and introducing competition for food sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Freezing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most humane and efficient way of disposing of them, especially if you have large numbers, is to tip them into a bag, seal it closed and place the bag in the freezer for 24 hours. (You can double-bag it if you're worried about contaminating your food.) After 24 hours all the insects will be dead* and you can dispose of them with your normal household waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insects are ectothermic, which means that in cold temperatures their metabolism just slows down until they die. The insects go into a cold-induced coma from which they do not recover. In fact freezing - albeit a more slow reduction in temperature - is the preferred humane method of culling for some insect farms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/04/03/297853835/the-joys-and-ethics-of-insect-eating&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Little Herds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when they're culled we lower the temperature so that there's no violent death or change in state (because insects are exothermic their metabolism slows until they go into a coma-like sleep without any pain). I can't think of a more humane way to raise our meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bigcricketfarms.com/faq.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Big Cricket Farms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our crickets are harvested by freezing. As with many insects, crickets will slow down in low temperatures, and reach a state called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diapause&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diapause&lt;/a&gt;. Once they've gone dormant, we freeze them in a deeper freeze. Not only does this humanely kill the crickets, it also ensures that the bugs remain as fresh as possible until they're ready to be prepared as food or dehydrated and processed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could attempt to emulate the more gentle freezing method, perhaps by use of a water bath or by repeatedly taking them in and out of the freezer. Or you could accept that freezing, even the quick kind, is probably as humane a death as the death they would have got from being eaten ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crushing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard the suggestion that you can crush their heads with feeding tongs or tweezers as a humane way of killing them. However, it's not very practical if you have hundreds of them. There is also some debate as to how humane this method is, because the insects remain alive for a while after having their heads crushed. I found a method for killing cockroaches &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?s=a52e4885eeee629957b05a3efff056b0&amp;amp;showtopic=3692&amp;amp;#entry17713&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;on a forum&lt;/a&gt; which suggests a more humane adaptation of the &quot;crushing method&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you need to swiftly kill them [...] crush the head and make two quick incisions on their ventral side (between the last two pairs of legs and in the middle off the abdomen) you will humanely euthanize the roach. The roach's nervous system runs ventrally and making those two incisions after crushing the head will [e]nsure that the body does not go through excessive pain, since it will still be (by many definitions) alive after the head has been dealt with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggestion was for a single insect at a time and is even less practical than simple head-crushing if you have large quantities. However, if you need to kill only a few insects it sounds like a humane option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;* Note that you may see &lt;a href=&quot;http://cricket-breeding.com/how-frozen-crickets-stay-alive/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reports&lt;/a&gt; of frozen crickets reviving, but these crickets have typically been frozen under carefully-controlled conditions. For example, the ones in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pnas.org/content/109/50/20750.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; (the one referenced by the report I linked to) slowly cooled the crickets from 25°C to 0°C over 1 hr 40 minutes, then held then at 0°C. In contrast, a typical home freezer is -18°C and the crickets will reach that temperature within minutes due to their low body mass:surface area ratio, subjecting them to cold shocks, unrecoverable tissue damage and death. &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;For more information see @WYSIWYG's answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/24693/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-cricket-to-die-at-subzero-temperatures/24696#24696&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T11:06:31.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-09T00:36:38.723" Score="9" ViewCount="107871" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title pretty much says it - my dog, Chewy, has been biting and pulling the hair out on her front arms. Her name was given before this problem started. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not every day, and I cannot find a pattern but about every week or so I'll come home from work to chunks of hair pulled out around the house (normally all in the same area where she was laying), or wake up to what sounds like carpet being ripped out, which is an awful sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been happening for probably a year and a half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About my dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is about 2.5 years old and is a Chow/Lab mix. She is honestly the nicest dog I have ever been around and NEVER gets aggressive (I only mention that because I know it is common for Chows to be aggressive/protective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was fixed as soon as she was old enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What we've done/tried so far&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep her hair trimmed (especially around her arms/paws) because we thought that the length might be bothering her (and if it were shorter she might not be able to bite it as much). This had little to no effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Taken her to the vet, several times. The vet thinks Chewy has anxiety issues, which I agree with completely. We've tried a couple of different medications, the latest being Amitriptyline HCL, but haven't had any luck.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her anxiety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've moved 3 times since we've had Chewy, which I think has contributed to her anxiety of being in a new place. However, we've been at our new house since July 2014 so I would hope that wouldn't be an issue now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also has a fascination with being under things. Coffee tables, end tables, chairs, our bed, anything she can fit under, she'd rather be under it. She sleeps under our bed every night, and is under our coffee table in front of me as I type this. I've read this could have something to do with feeling protected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also mention that she isn't shy at all. She has no issues with people or people coming over, etc.; she greets anyone and everyone pretty much immediately. That is why I am unsure about her feeling &quot;unprotected&quot; when she is always under something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Allergies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not 100% sure that Chewy has allergies, but she might. When she was a puppy, our vet told us that she &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; have allergies and suggested we switch to a grain-free food. She's been on grain-free food ever since, although we aren't too particular when it comes to treats, etc., not having grains. She doesn't appear to have allergies to me (but I am not a vet and she hasn't been tested for allergies to my knowledge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bathing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also considered the fact that she might have dry skin, which could cause itching and thus her biting her arms. She honestly isn't bathed very often. She's an indoor dog but we really only bathe her when she absolutely needs it (i.e. gets muddy outside). I'm wondering if she needs to be bathed more often, possibly with a shampoo that can moisturize her skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what her arm looks like right now, you can see the baldness (this is her left arm), although it doesn't look &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; bad right now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v1KEv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone ever seen or heard of a dog doing this before or have any ideas/suggestions that we could try to get her to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T11:46:55.017" LastActivityDate="2018-02-18T08:58:55.650" Title="What could cause my dog to bite/pull her own hair out?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2014-12-09T01:57:08.183" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inert gas asphyxiation may be effectively painless, and certainly more humane than death by extreme temperature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1789805/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; describing a study done on the effects of nitrogen gas on kittens and puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrogen can be purchased in canisters, and any airtight container with a relief valve will work; simply cycle the air out of the container until the crickets go completely dormant, and leave it sealed for a day or so. This is best done outdoors, or with proper ventilation otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T10:31:10.080" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T10:31:10.080" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6987" CreationDate="2014-12-09T02:42:44.917" Score="7" ViewCount="45553" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit just lost a claw and it's been bleeding for 5 minutes. Is it normal for rabbits to lose claws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T14:29:03.470" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T11:34:56.983" Title="My rabbit just lost a claw. Should I be concerned or not?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6993" CreationDate="2014-12-09T07:42:21.943" Score="6" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short Story&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my dog doing ok? He destroys toys, but not other stuff (yet). He gets 2 walks a day, each is 2 miles and 1 hour in duration. He is alone and sleeps during the day (9 hours) He's 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly it's the toy destruction that has me wondering: is he getting enough exercise or is it just his personality? He LOVES chewing his toys. I'm fine with getting more expensive/durable toys, but I don't want to mask an underlying exercise need that isn't being met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long Story&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a 2 year old American Staffordshire Terrier / Boxer mix a week ago. I take him for a 2 mile / hour long walk morning and evening before meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's alone for 9-10 hours per day while I'm at work. I leave the radio on, have a video chat  with him at lunch, and give him a Kong with wet food for entertainment. I do not have a backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He cries for 2-5 minutes after I leave, then he sleeps all day. He usually grabs 1 or 2 things he's not supposed to during the day. He doesn't destroy them or heavily chew them, just leaves them strewn about my apartment. He does destroy his toys however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping to eventually play fetch with him in the morning for 30 minutes, but I'm waiting until I have a better idea how he is around other dogs. He'll always have a muzzle if there are other dogs and I'll try long line training first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3262" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T05:49:08.483" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T05:49:08.483" Title="Is toy destruction a sign that my dog needs more exercise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7000" CreationDate="2014-12-09T11:24:18.380" Score="7" ViewCount="2844" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got two female gerbils a few months ago, and I'm having trouble getting them used to being petted. They occasionally sit still while I stroke their backs, and if my hand is in the cage, they'll tend to sniff and nibble my fingers, but if I try to pick them up they run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What methods can I use to get them more used to being stroked/held?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3292" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T13:25:27.750" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T13:25:27.750" Title="How do I get my gerbils to enjoy being held?" Tags="&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6983" CreationDate="2014-12-09T12:04:39.260" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits lose toe nails when they are torn off.  It is not normal, but neither is it rare. The two biggest contributors to this painful occurrence are untrimmed nails and places for the nails to get stuck (wire bottom cages, gaps in ramps, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, check the rabbit to find the extent of the injury. If most of the nail is still there and it is just broken, immediate treatment should be the use of 'septic powder', which should be in your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783&quot;&gt;first aid kit&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On examination you may also find that the nail is completely gone and/or that the toe is broken or other substantial injury.  In this case 'septic powder' alone is not sufficient. A trip to the vet is required, and it is just as important to do so as if you just ripped off the tip of your finger and/or broke and mangled it. Treating for potential infection and pain management may be indicated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, prevention of further injury is critical.  Rabbits can and do get broken legs from the same things that lead to broken toes. As prey animals their instinct is to try to escape when they feel injured and/or caught. Where you or I might realize a finger is stuck and work to loosen it, they will often bolt causing further injury.  They will also try to mask any injury so as to appear healthy and decrease their chance of becoming someone's dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3105&quot;&gt;Do I need to trim a rabbit&amp;#39;s nails?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with trimmed nails you need to ensure that there are no places for toes to get caught.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2677/&quot;&gt;Wire bottom cages are particularly problematic for long term housing&lt;/a&gt;.  If you can identify specific areas where a toe or foot can get caught repair them. If you have an area that you are not sure how to fix, post a picture (as a new question) and ask for help correcting it. We want to help you make your pet safe and happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T14:28:21.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-09T15:17:06.313" Score="8" ViewCount="1976" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have posted this question as advice for others.  I used to have my guinea pigs' claws trimmed at the vets some years ago, but I have since found an easier way, and my youngest 'pig who is at least four years old has never needed his claws trimmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T22:43:31.577" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T14:03:56.173" Title="Do I have to trim my guinea pigs' claws?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6988" CreationDate="2014-12-09T15:17:06.313" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;My solution to this problem was to put a sandstone tile in the cage.  every time the guinea pigs go to their food bowl they shorten their nails just a little, here is the layout:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mzHKn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and here are their feet, as you can see they are quite healthy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6xtzv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EcbJj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guinea pigs' pads prevent the claws from getting too short, and the constant wearing down stops them getting too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No trimming claws.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Less stress for your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stone is heavy to move when cleaning the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Animal claws are naturally sharp.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Because you don't need to groom their claws, 'pigs can become less social.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T15:40:14.457" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T15:40:14.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7008" CreationDate="2014-12-09T16:18:30.900" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we are getting further into winter, the temperature gradient in my house (at night) has increased: the conservatory is cold, the kitchen is room-temperature, and the living room is warm (there are lots of radiators in there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I have three dogs: a small Cavachon with thin fur, a medium-sized Labernese with quite thick fur, and a huge Bernese mountain dog with very thick fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good idea to make these dogs sleep in different rooms (the Cavachon in the living room, the Labernese in the kitchen, and the Bernese in the conservatory), so that they are at their most comfortable temperature, or is it better to make them all sleep in the same room (making at least two of them uncomfortable)? Will making them sleep in different rooms &quot;separate the pack&quot; and create tension between them, or will they understand that they are being separated because they have different physical needs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3299" LastEditorUserId="3299" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T19:12:07.620" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T23:56:58.723" Title="Is it a bad idea to make different-sized dogs sleep in different rooms?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6880" CreationDate="2014-12-09T17:14:23.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say in your edit that you're travelling to the EU. It may exist slight differences between countries but to my knowledge :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cockatiels (&lt;em&gt;Nymphicus hollandicus&lt;/em&gt;) belong to the Appendice III of the so called Washington Convention or CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). This means that you have virtually no legal obligation to import them to Europe (no CITES import certificate), or at least no more than to import a cat or a dog. Official source here (for France): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-158/protocol/privileges/article/at-customs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-158/protocol/privileges/article/at-customs&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;. I &lt;strong&gt;think&lt;/strong&gt; you don't even need to band birds of these two species.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As far as I know, open bands (as opposed to closed bands put at birth) have no legal value since captured wild birds could also be banded that way. At least, I know that birds with open bands are denied participation to contests.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3300" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T17:14:23.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6994" CreationDate="2014-12-09T18:02:52.550" Score="6" ViewCount="2281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an indoor rabbit and wanted to build a nice digging-box for it. Is this soil safe to use? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowes.com/pd_92432-76450-TS40H_0+1z0vjiu__?productId=3516520&amp;amp;Ntt=soil&amp;amp;pl=1&amp;amp;currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dsoil%26page%3D1&amp;amp;facetInfo=In%20Store&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Candidate soil&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3301" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-09T22:02:35.977" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T22:58:10.853" Title="Is this soil safe for a rabbit digging box?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6984" CreationDate="2014-12-09T21:40:11.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think your dog destroying his toys means that he doesn't get enough exercise. I think it's just something he enjoys doing that helps satisfy his need for mental stimulation. My dog is also super high energy and even when I tire her out mentally and physically (11 mile hike after 3 days in a row of multi-hour dog park visits, having to get her dinner out of puzzle toys, 30 minutes or so of rough tug of war), she will still be happy to destroy any new toy I throw her way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you give him plenty of physical exercise, but you can try other things for his mental stimulation. Kong, and a few others make a bobble toys that dispenses kibble or small treats when your dog knocks them over (my dog LOVES hers and will even play with it for kibble she won't touch in her food bowl). You can also try hiding treats around your house, so your dog can go hunting during the day (a few times a week I hide caches of food at dinner time for my dog to find around the house... as she's gotten better I've had to increase the difficulty now - I hide the food in shoe boxes and under cups and her blankets). Interactive toys and training are also great for burning off that mental energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, sounds like your pup is a normal happy guy. It's so cute that you video chat him at lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T05:46:37.900" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T05:46:37.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="6994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6992" CreationDate="2014-12-09T22:58:10.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the review for that particular product I find that the product varies by location, there is little if any quality control.  It is not possible to say if it is safe or not, even if you purchase a bag and it is good, the next time it may not be.  It does not appear to have any additives in it, which is good.  Many potting soil products have additives that are unsafe. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-realist7-2009nov07-story.html#page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In the end unless you test each lot, you can't know what is in the bag&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are 100% correct that a digging box will improve the quality of life for your pet rabbit. The question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1817&quot;&gt;My rabbit is digging at the carpet in the corner of the living room, what should I do?&lt;/a&gt; includes some other benefits and includes an answer with some pictures of different digging box designs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit is going to use the digging box as a litter box, and dirt is not an optimal substrate for indoor litter boxes.  I recommend using the same litter in the digging box that you use in the litter box, or failing that use one of the pellet types, see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2230&quot;&gt;What do I need to consider when buying litter for a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Store bought soils are not going to be a good choice, for a digging box.  I recommend using about 5 quarts of litter in the bottom.  I change ours every other day, with 2-3 rabbits using it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T22:58:10.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7005" CreationDate="2014-12-09T23:18:27.713" Score="4" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit has drunk less and less as the days have progressed and I'm wondering what's going  on. She used to drink a whole bottle in a day but now she's down to 4 days per quart of water. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T22:11:06.813" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T22:11:06.813" Title="Why would my rabbit be drinking less each day?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6957" CreationDate="2014-12-09T23:25:53.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is to get a treat ball or treat puzzle toy for your cat like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=16170&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt; one. Then you feed her a bit less at dinner and she can slowly trickle out food when she needs it.  Since she needs to work at it, this might even mitigate weight gain, but the main idea is to get her used to feeling that she can always &quot;hunt&quot; for some kibble when she needs it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-12-09T23:25:53.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-10T00:30:25.323" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shortly after we realized our second &quot;buck&quot; was pregnant we had to separate her from her hubby.  Now every time we check on them the buck's on the floor outside her cage trying to groom her through the bars.  He refuses us when we try to comfort him and makes unhappy little grunts that sound like a child fighting to hold in tears.  What can we do to keep him happy until his mate has had her litter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3302" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-15T22:43:52.157" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T22:43:52.157" Title="How to appease a rabbit separated from his pregnant companion?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7002" CreationDate="2014-12-10T01:18:37.580" Score="8" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two very young cats (siblings) moved into my yard and the surrounding properties. They first appeared when they were about 3-4 months old(?) and they're probably 5-6 months old now. I would like to take them in. They appear healthy and active; unfortunately, they do not appear to be socialized &amp;mdash; at least they will not let me near them (yet). I don't know if their parents were feral, but I know kittens born to feral cats can be socialized at an early age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started feeding them about a week ago. They still run off when I go outside, but they're returning within minutes now that I leave them food on a regular basis. I put their bowls near a large sliding glass door leading into our living room, so they're becoming more accustomed to seeing me moving about the house. They're starting to sit near the door in the evening waiting for dinner, but when I approach the door, they run off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I proceed? Are there any techniques to help them get used to me and (hopefully) more socialized? Is there anything else I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've become quite fond of them, and I want to give them every chance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update, one of the cats cautiously approached me as I was setting out their food today. I held my hand out and she rubbed on it and eventually let me pet her a bit. She was a bit apprehensive but I sat calm and quiet and she started to purr and vocalize a bit. The other cat is still much more skittish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T17:50:23.920" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T20:33:15.687" Title="Strategy for taking in two very young, non-socialized stray cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="6999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2014-12-10T10:45:02.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits bond very strongly, you are correct that the separation is very stressful for them both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have him neutered, and they can live happily together for the rest of their lives. There are significant concerns about keeping rabbits together that are not spayed or neutered for any length of time.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877&quot;&gt;How fast do rabbits really breed?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also some concern about keeping &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6606&quot;&gt;rabbits together in difficult environments&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T10:45:02.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6986" CreationDate="2014-12-10T14:39:49.597" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just gently keep working at it on a daily basis and be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 3 Degus (like a domesticated squirrel), and when we got them, they weren't very keen on even being touched. I offered my hand for them to sniff and nibble on everyday, and I can safely pick them up now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're small enough, you can also lay your hand flat on their cage's floor, palm up, and let them climb on your hand. If they won't climb on, you can do a couple things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just keep working up to it, and be patient. First start letting them come to you, then lightly pet them. I've found that most rodents don't like their head or surrounding areas touched until they trust you, so focus around their front legs and surrounding area so they can see what is touching them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try putting a treat in the middle of your palm, and lift them up gently when they climb onto your hand to grab it. Note, this might scare them, and may erode trust. It's a necessary step though, so just be careful when/if you do it. If you're going to forcibly pick them up, don't do it too quickly, and if you do get them up, hold them over the tank for safety, and don't hold them for too long in the beginning. Your goal here should be to show them that you can support them without problem and build their trust. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all about trust, so just do what you can to get them to trust and know you. If one day they're abnormally irritable, back off a bit and let them be. You don't want to lose any trust you've gained by forcing the matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="2651" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T03:05:58.530" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T03:05:58.530" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7021" CreationDate="2014-12-10T15:53:38.000" Score="2" ViewCount="6556" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that rabbits molt and shed, what is the difference?  Is there any special care required in either case? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:43:43.077" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T16:43:43.077" Title="What is the difference between shedding and molting in Rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6998" CreationDate="2014-12-10T20:33:15.687" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best to get them to the vet for spay/neuter, FIV/FeLV testing, shots, and general health checkup first thing (this will run $200-500 per cat depending on your local area).  You will probably need to buy/rent/borrow a trap to do this. The cats already don't trust you, so you won't be hurting your relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the vet visit, set them up in a small, quiet room with 2-3 litter boxes and a fresh supply of water. You may want to give them a day or two after the visit to let them settle down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with just spending time with them in the room. Read aloud to them (whatever you happen to be reading, blog articles or the newspaper or anything, just get them used to the sound of your voice.). Don't ever reach out to touch them, put your hand out and let them make the last 2 inches or so of movement towards you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of your initial work will be focused during meal times. Do not free feed, make sure that you meal feed and stay in the room while they eat (as close as they will let you). You may have to sit on the opposite side of the room from the food bowl at first, but gradually you should be able to sit closer and closer to the bowls while they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step that we took was putting my hand over the bowl until the cat touched my hand. Once that touch was made, I removed my hand and let the cat eat normally (with me sitting near the food bowl). Our feral (Juliet) learned what we wanted very quickly, but the first few touches were just a barest brush. Over time that bare brush turned into more of a headbump, and now at breakfast she will jump on the bed and headbump my face to tell me to wake up. Gradually, trusting you at meal time will also extend to trusting you at other times. Just be consistent and always let the cat make the last inch or so of contact. Juliet still sometimes looks for our hands at mealtime because she got used to &quot;pettings before food&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At their age, you may be able to teach your kittens to allow themselves to be picked up. Once they are solidly into the petting is okay phase, push them around a little while they are eating so they get used to being moved. Then, delay food for an hour or two so they are hungry. Take a small bit of food in your hands and have them climb around in your lap a bit (giving them small bits of food, and after about 5 minutes, feed them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After awhile of both of these activities, you can start lifting them gradually, but go slow because it's very scary! My feral (who was tamed at 2 years old) was never able to learn this, and is still skittish around the house sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T20:33:15.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6416" CreationDate="2014-12-10T21:50:49.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My elderly puppy (approaching 8 yrs old) sounds very similar to your dog. I've tried a number of things to work on her reactivity to other dogs and to get her comfortable in public in general, most have worked pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reactivity to other dogs, the trainer I'm working with has me playing a game with my dog. When another dog appears on the scene and Tolly (my dog) notices him/her i say &quot;Who's that?&quot;, (you can use 'look' or any other cue, but the trainer pointed out that phrasing it as a question automatically softens your voice) lure her to look at me and then give her a treat for looking at me. This teaches her that seeing another dog is an indicator of good things to come and that the correct behavior is to look at the dog, then look at me. Once she gets the hang of it you can just say &quot;Who's that&quot; without the lure. Eventually you can wean her off the rewards. Distance is a key factor here too. You might have to start this from quite far away (really as close as your dog can be to a dog without the undesired behavior happening), I know I sure did. Once your dog gets more comfortable you can decrease the distance between your dog and the distracting dog. It helps if you have a friends with dogs so you can more easily control the distance and timing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For behaving in public in general the biggest thing that's helped my dog is exposure and experience (essentially desensitization). Take your dog into the kinds of public spaces that you want to enjoy with her and bring some of her favorite treats. Expect to stay for only a short while and don't be surprised if the first few times are a little rough. Check in with your dog often (at least every 30 seconds) and if she's being good and calm, reward her. Leave as soon as or if possible right before she starts to get prohibitively anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first place i took my dog was to a food truck gathering (lots of people, smells and a few dogs). She was embarrassing...pulling and tugging at the leash, barking at other dogs etc. I left after a few minutes without any food. Next time i brought her to a street fair and she was still anxious and lunging, but significantly less than at the food truck event. After a few of these kinds of events my dog was able to handle them with almost no barking and minimal lunging. We've only been working on this skill for a few months and now she's almost perfect in large crowds and pretty well behaved in medium/smaller crowd. If the places you want to take her to involve being stationary for longer periods of time bring something like a bully stick that she can busy herself with happily, that helps too. Good luck :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T21:50:49.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7007" CreationDate="2014-12-10T23:05:49.663" Score="5" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit just peed all over me and I chased her around with a tube and hit the ground right next to her and scolded her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a better way to tell my rabbit not to do that again (if there is a better way)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-11T01:20:14.283" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T01:20:14.283" Title="How should I discipline my rabbit for inappropriate toileting?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6995" CreationDate="2014-12-10T23:24:12.147" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First the disclaimer, this is a potential health issue that you should discuss with your vet during your annual checkup.  As the change has occurred slowly over 3 years it is probably not worthy of immediate attention, but if you notice in sudden changes, or water intake decreases beyond current levels, contact your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We often see rescued rabbits having high water intake when they are first rescued.  A quart of water is a lot for a rabbit. Often they were not well cared for and will drink to excess, this usually slows down overtime, much as you have described.  A quart of water lasting a rabbit 4 days is on the low end of water intake but not inherently bad. In particular if your rabbit is getting good quantities of high fluid vegetables like lettuce or fresh grass, there is little cause of concern with this level of fluid intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A larger concern is high fluid intake, rabbits are more susceptible to polyuria/polydipsia which is a symptom of several kidney diseases. I have been told by more than one rabbit specialist that excessive drinking in rabbits can damage the kidney, in some cases rabbits need to have the water intake restricted.  I am not remember the word for this currently and a good reference about it is not jumping out at me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume your are actually changing the water daily or every other day, and cleaning the bottle and nipple regularly, to help prevent water borne diseases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wire bottom cages, can give false impressions of increased water usage, if the water nipple leaks it may not leave a trace.  Rabbits do drink from bowls, these tend not to leak and are easier to clean then nipples on water bottles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, keep on eye on her water consumption, her high water intake when you got her is more worrisome then her low intake now. Changes in temperature and diet can also impact water intake, take those it to consideration as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-12-10T23:29:22.713" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T23:29:22.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2014-12-10T23:33:57.173" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wire mesh cages are almost always a bad choice for rabbits.  They may get an infection on their feet called sorax from having wire bottom cages. Rabbits, Chinchillas, and Ferrets can all get sore hocks. Also Guinea Pigs, Hamsters, and gerbils may get their feet stuck in between the wire which good result in a broken limb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pros:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much easier to clean and access poo and waste.&#xA;Don't need a litter box.&#xA;Rabbits do not ingest poo, waste, or bedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cons: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can give some small animals infections in feet.&#xA;Most small animals are burrowing animals. So they like to snuggle or dig under things. Not available with wire mesh cages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are things to consider before buying a wire cage. I don't consider a wire mesh cage. This is from a 12 year old boy with a lot of experience, but make sure to research the topics with great consideration before buying one of these cages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3308" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T10:45:28.323" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T10:45:28.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7004" CreationDate="2014-12-10T23:47:33.427" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chasing a rabbit is not a good training technique, it just causes fear responses.  Loud noises, thumping the ground and a stern voice are all good training techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits occasionally pee on people when they are snuggling in your lap.  It does not happen often but does happen.  I don't think anyone has a good explanation for it, some say that means they love you.  But it could just as well be like a child wetting the bed, comfy warm and dreaming they are in the right place for the job. I handle a lot of rabbits and probably get peed on once a year like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit has a full bladder and you put to much pressure on the bladder it will empty, I have caused this to happen when handling a rabbit for too long without giving them a potty break.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several other reasons, that apply to any animal, fear, anger, territory issues.  But those are seldom the issues with a pet rabbit that is well handled and use to their person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, rabbits prefer to urinate in specific area (litter box).  Other than ensuring that their place to pee has a litter box, little urine training is actually needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side Note: If you have been handling strange rabbits, and come home with the strange rabbit smell, you or what ever you sit on may get marked, to clear away the scent of the competitor.  When I have been at the shelter handling lot of other rabbits I always change clothes before sitting down, or interacting with our rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T23:47:33.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6990" CreationDate="2014-12-10T23:56:58.723" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what your &quot;cold&quot; temperature would be, but keep in mind dogs do have a higher body temperature than humans. I don't think keeping them in separate rooms is 'bad' for the pack, but you may end up with unwanted behavior like barking, whining, destruction of furniture or doors depending on how comfortable they are being alone/separated from you or the other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dogs have been crate trained, I would suggest putting them in cates at night if you wanted to keep them in the separate rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not keep them in your bedroom at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2014-12-10T23:56:58.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6976" CreationDate="2014-12-11T01:56:40.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't state the moisture content of the food in your question, so I'll use X as a stand-in. When you find the moisture content of the food, just replace that where I have X.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, first understand that IU is a measurement of biological activity (how much affect a substance has), and kg is a measurement of mass (roughly equivalent to weight on Earth). For materials such as vitamins that are measured in IU, 1 IU of substance A will have a different mass than 1 IU of substance B. IU is not a mass measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When calculating a percentage, the mass of the substance is divided by the mass of the entire food. When mass is divided by mass, the result is a unitless measurement (percent) because the masses cancel out. Because IU is not a mass measurement, the percentage content cannot be calculated. However, we can do the calculation with IU/kg instead of kg/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry Matter Vitamin A Content = 19000/(100%-X%)= Result measured in IU/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2014-12-11T01:56:40.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6915" CreationDate="2014-12-11T13:34:07.167" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a veterinarian, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/php/plants.php?action=display&amp;amp;ispecies=cattle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20140725130156/http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/php/plants.php?action=display&amp;amp;ispecies=cattle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;alternative link&lt;/a&gt;) by the Cornell University lists plants poisonous to livestock — including cows (cattle) — along with pictures to aid identification; some of the entries will not be relevant to India as it was compiled in the United States, but others are worldwide. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3288" LastEditorUserId="3288" LastEditDate="2014-12-12T06:50:11.010" LastActivityDate="2014-12-12T06:50:11.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7069" CreationDate="2014-12-12T22:54:36.407" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been thinking of adopting a Mini Australian (or North American) Shepherd. I am gone at work most of the day, but work in a dog-friendly office, so I was thinking that I could take her to work so she doesn't get lonely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, these dogs are smart and non-aggressive, but would spending all day in an office be stimulating enough for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3315" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-15T22:22:40.160" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T15:12:37.343" Title="Mini Aussie as an office dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7016" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7024" CreationDate="2014-12-14T11:25:13.777" Score="4" ViewCount="2339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/10964?m=19042607#19042607&quot;&gt;recently&lt;/a&gt; that some floor heating duct covers can injury some pets.  What should I look for to know which ones can be harmful and how do I make them pet safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-01-19T00:39:07.413" Title="How can I make in floor heating duct covers pet safe?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7018" CreationDate="2014-12-14T17:20:15.567" Score="14" ViewCount="2771" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been a year now since this happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I returned home from work (I go outstation for work) after a few months.&#xA;I found him  so scared that he always tends to stay away from me. He shivers when I go to touch him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover I find his attention is always fixed on me  - what I am doing and alert to stay away from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find the same attitude with my other family members.&#xA;I never beat him to train / tried to force him to do anything. He is 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked my vet who thinks that it may be hardwired into him.&#xA;Can I do something to help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3318" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2014-12-15T12:02:43.673" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T23:32:04.707" Title="Why is my dog so afraid of me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2014-12-14T23:57:53.597" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this might be a hard one to solve without seeing the behavior and interaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However there are a few things you might be able to do to try to narrow down the cause and help him work through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the dog eventually warm up to you when you have been home a while?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you first come in do not acknowledge the dog. A big greeting may intimidate the dog. Instead go about you business like he doesn't exist and let him choose when to approach you. It is likely that he'll choose to do this at a time the house is settled.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take a shower and change clothes into something that has been in the house. Dogs first sense is smell, it could be a sent you carry home from your workplace that he is weary of. For example dogs can become conditioned to think of the smell of alcohol as associated with the vets office.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you are at home you should be the one to feed the dog his regular meals. It helps to establish a relationship and dependence on you as a caregiver.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-12-14T23:57:53.597" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7001" CreationDate="2014-12-15T15:49:19.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shedding#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Shedding&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moult&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Molting&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;or moulting&lt;/em&gt;) are very similar, both mean to lose all or part of a covering of hair or skin. For rabbits (and other mammals) shedding is generally considered less pronounced than molting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking from experience I can tell you that a pet rabbit will be shedding a small amount of hair on pretty much constant bases, just like you see some hair in the bottom of the drain every morning as strand of hair or two falls off your head, the same applies to rabbits (&lt;em&gt;and cats and dogs&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Molting on the other hand is more definitive loss of fur, it can leave strange hair patterns and/or bald spots&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SdlfY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VPfcg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be combing/brushing your rabbit &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-grooming/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at least weekly&lt;/a&gt; you may need to do it daily during a molt.  Rabbits clean themselves like a cat, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/fun/answer11.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;are physically incapable of vomiting&lt;/a&gt; limiting the amount of fur available for them to ingest as well as keeping hay always available, are the two primary ways of preventing &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;wool block&lt;/a&gt;.  There are several variables and you may &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=WAr9sRH0ctgC&amp;amp;pg=PA99&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+moulting&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=K_iOVJ6PEMqdNu35gLAP&amp;amp;ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20moulting&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;notice 2&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=vjDCWH04NgIC&amp;amp;pg=PA38&amp;amp;dq=rabbit+moulting&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=K_iOVJ6PEMqdNu35gLAP&amp;amp;ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rabbit%20moulting&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;4 cycles&lt;/a&gt; per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience fall and spring tend to be the most significant times for a heavy molt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spring starts the time of year that we anticipate taking our rabbits outdoors and begin &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925&quot;&gt;flea treatmenst&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Revolution by prescription for puppies and kittens&lt;/em&gt;) Going outside to brush your bunny can be a good choice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will often notice that the fur that is ready to come out is white in color, lightly grasping this fur and pulling softly, will help remove it. You don't want to grasp to hard, or pull to much you just want the fur that is ready to come out to to come loose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajOHpOAnONc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that shows the general technique, a rubber brush like those made by 'Kong' is also a good tool. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T15:49:19.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6901" CreationDate="2014-12-15T16:13:01.617" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have an uncanny ability to recognize specific sounds - in fact, I would bet they are recognizing your flute being played by you and associating that with you. Try playing a different flute and see if they can tell the difference! My dog knows the sound of my van, and it sounds exactly like all the other vans on this street, to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a professional but I think they associate the sounds with you and your presence. I don't think they 'enjoy' music like we do, and I don't think they are interested in it, other than what individuals associate with the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They would want to sleep with you regardless of the music. We don't have a control group, almost all dogs like to sleep with their owners, it's a primal instinct for them. So, we can't test your last idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2599" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T20:10:01.453" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T20:10:01.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7025" CreationDate="2014-12-15T16:22:17.827" Score="9" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend's pet snake is starting to molt and since this is (the owner's) first experience through a molting, he is concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know to apply some humidity to help, but are there other techniques that would aid the process, or other things we should be concerned with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I see utility in &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2715/my-leopard-gecko-sometimes-has-trouble-shedding-how-can-i-help&quot;&gt;My leopard gecko sometimes has trouble shedding. How can I help?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, geckos and snakes are dissimilar enough (snakes don't have limbs to help themselves shed; geckos and snakes have different diets - what's going on with my molting snake not eating, does he need food?) that the gecko answer is not necessarily sufficient for a snake molting question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T16:43:25.650" Title="Can I help a pet snake through the molting process?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7016" CreationDate="2014-12-15T20:26:33.897" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of what to look for, a lot will depend on the pets in question, but if we talk about pets such as cats, dogs, and rabbits as being the more likely to roam, it's about the size of the opening. Standard vent covers for your floor are typically the slatted kind with very thin openings and these are safe, but kind of boring, so many of us replace them with more intricate and interesting designs since, well, they have to be visible and nice looking is a bonus. So, if you go this route:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at the shape and size of the openings in the designs. Some may seem quite small, but if they have curved patterns they can be larger than they look at a casual glance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give yourself a measuring tool of some sort, it could even be your thumb if your hands are big enough, but something that you can insert and test with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may be possible to find some that have a mesh or filter that's there to prevent small objects from falling in, this would also help with small paws.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, if I was to DIY it now, I would probably use the mesh for screen doors. In that situation: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cut the screen mesh to size&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Open the underside of the vent and apply a bead of glue around the interior edges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Guide the mesh inside the vent cover and position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Press firmly into the glue and wipe excess from the visible side&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allow to dry before replacing onto the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be additional ways to make the mesh screen more firmly attached, perhaps with bracing pieced along the edges inside or something along that line. You want it to be firm enough to hold some weight briefly, but you should inspect on a regular basis to ensure that it's still in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For myself, I replaced the vents since I wanted an updated look anyways. Fortunately, I managed to find a good set at Home Depot that had a nice pattern of small squares. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-12-15T20:26:33.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7023" CreationDate="2014-12-15T21:19:19.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the snake skin doesn't come off in one piece, it probably has a problem shedding it's skin and it's a trip to the Vet. Of course there could be other reason's too. There is also something to help it with but not handling it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Take care of your pet snake. Once you have recognized the shedding&#xA;signs, it’s time to look at caring for your pet. Due to the snake will&#xA;be more defensive, it might be wise to avoid handling it until the&#xA;shedding process is complete. To hurry the process along, providing&#xA;the snake with rough surfaces can help such as rocks and driftwood&#xA;which should, of course, be cleaned. Your snake will also need&#xA;humidity so make sure that the snake has a shallow dish of water in&#xA;order to soak itself and the skin, allowing it to come off easily.&amp;quot;&#xA;From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Shedding-Snake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Shedding-Snake&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shedding Problems: If your snake does not completely shed its skin (an incomplete shed, also called dysecdysis ), it can signal health problems or problems with husbandry (e.g. humidity levels). Retained eye caps (where the eye caps are not shed along with the skin) may occur with an incomplete shed, but may also occur even if the rest of the skin was shed intact. For help with either of these problems, see the following links:&#xA;Shedding Problems in Reptiles: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/reptilehealth/qt/sheddingproblem.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/reptilehealth/qt/sheddingproblem.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Retained Eye Caps in Snakes: &lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/snakes/qt/snakessheyecaps.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/snakes/qt/snakessheyecaps.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T21:23:32.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7050" CreationDate="2014-12-16T00:52:42.633" Score="9" ViewCount="36845" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was recently diagnosed with diabetes, so I have been giving her twice-daily insulin injections for the past 10 days. I've watched my vet do it, I've watched dozens of YouTube videos, and I've read everything I can find about the proper technique, but somehow, I can't seem to get it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I inject my dog, she fidgets when I insert the needle, but not overly much, but as soon as I begin to inject the insulin itself, she yelps and either jerks away, or tries to bite me. More than once I've ended up with bent syringes and insulin on her fur because of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following the procedure as shown, for example, in this video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jOEKUTU-Ac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jOEKUTU-Ac&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take the insulin out of the fridge and roll it around to mix it up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Draw out slightly more than the needed dose into a new fresh syringe, tap out the air bubbles, then return the excess.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allow the syringe to warm up in my hand for several minutes as I prepare and put out the dogs' food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After my dog is finished her meal, I pull her onto my lap and find a place where the skin is loose. I have been rotating between left and right shoulder and left and right rump so far.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pull up a fold of skin (&quot;tent&quot; it) between my fingers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push the needle into the middle of the folder at ~45 degree angle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly inject the contents of the syringe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From everything I've read, this is supposed to be so painless that the dog may not even acknowledge that anything happened, but my dog is getting progressively more anxious each time I do it. I thought I would have gotten the hang of it by now, but I seem to be getting worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main concern is that I'm doing something wrong and injecting the insulin incorrectly; my vet said something about making sure I was doing a subdural and not an intradermal injection, but how would I know? As far as I can tell I'm getting the needle beneath the skin correctly: it's hard to tell with my dog's long hair, but I'm not feeling any resistance to either the needle or the fluid, and the needle's not coming back out of the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've done the practicing on the orange bit, and I think I have it right, but oranges don't yelp when you mess up :( )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something else I can do to make sure I do this injection properly, or at least reassure myself that I'm not hurting my dog and that her insulin is going where it should?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3325" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:52:25.380" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:14:20.810" Title="Canine insulin injection -- what am I doing wrong?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-16T02:25:55.733" Score="1" ViewCount="1693" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a saying that &quot;The dog that barks doesn't bite&quot;, what does that mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T15:01:40.200" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T12:32:58.070" Title="What is the meaning of this proverb?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7029" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-16T15:34:58.013" Score="5" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know that a cat has atopic dermatits (diagnosed by veterinarian), how can you know what triggers it?&#xA;How can you know if the trigger is inside or outside, in the food or something else, maybe it's just part of the diet, how do you tell?&#xA;As far as I can tell, it can take days or weeks before the symptoms are noticable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T14:32:52.707" Title="How to locate trigger of atopic dermatitis" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-16T15:42:51.060" Score="5" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our kitten caught us out by coming on heat before we had a chance to spay her. We are awaiting for her to come out of heat to get her spayed. In the meantime she is defecating anywhere but the cat trays. (Yes we keep them clean, away from noise and in areas where she can't be cornered). She uses the cat trays to urinate, but is leaving piles of poo elsewhere for us (bed, sofa's, bedroom floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will spaying get her back to using the trays?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3327" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-16T17:16:39.787" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T06:16:49.893" Title="Will our middening kitten get better at using the tray after spaying?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7601" CreationDate="2014-12-16T15:53:02.657" Score="5" ViewCount="848" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bought a number of feeder crickets, several of which are in stages of molting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it safe to feed a cricket mid-molting to a pet lizard?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I discard the molted husk left behind, or is it safe to try and feed it to my lizard as well?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:43:35.017" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T18:54:27.960" Title="Is it safe to feed my pet lizard a molting cricket?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7032" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-12-16T18:30:28.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shedding tag is used to describe the natural loss of hair and fur from animals as part of their general lifecycle.  Questions tagged shedding may include asking why and when this occurs, and how to cope with situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shedding skin and feathers for reptiles and birds is more commonly referred to as &quot;molting&quot; (of which the act of shedding is one stage of the overall process) and are handled under the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/molt&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'molt'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;molt&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-16T18:30:28.807" LastActivityDate="2014-12-16T18:30:28.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7033" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-12-16T18:30:28.807" Score="0" Body="The natural hair loss process of many animals and the means to cope with it." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-19T20:17:30.860" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T20:17:30.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7034" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-12-16T18:34:04.400" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:44:50.643" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T16:44:50.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7035" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-12-16T18:34:04.400" Score="0" Body="see molting tag synonym" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:44:50.643" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T16:44:50.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-16T21:27:44.280" Score="6" ViewCount="4880" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6933/how-can-i-reduce-my-cats-crankiness-at-mealtime&quot;&gt;comments and answers in a previous question of mine&lt;/a&gt; mention that I shouldn't allow my cats to eat out of a single dish because of disease risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I find it difficult to believe that cats who share water fountains and spend all day grooming, wrestling, and snuggling have an increased risk of disease from sharing a food dish, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there health and/or additional behavior problems that can arise from sharing a food dish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T06:23:32.630" Title="Is there a problem with feeding multiple cats from one dish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7029" CreationDate="2014-12-17T02:37:17.897" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats has this, and my vet suggested (a) trial and error and (b) if that didn't work, allergy testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often the problem is food.  In this case, you move the cat to an exclusive diet of a &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; protein (like rabbit or duck -- there are prescription diets for this) for several weeks.  If the symptoms get better then there's a food allergy involved; at this point you can re-introduce &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; prior food type (chicken, beef, etc) and see what happens.  If the symptoms don't return you can just stick with that food type; if they do return, you have to iterate.  (You &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; just stick with the prescription food, but it's usually a lot more expensive than regular food so you probably don't want to.)  According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/466/31&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, the most common food allergies in cats are chicken, fish, corn, wheat, and soy.  If it does turn out to be a food reaction, you have to be careful with food mixes, treats, and anything your cat might find outdoors if you let it outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it doesn't seem to be a food reaction, or if you just don't want to go through all that, vets can do an allergy test.  I don't know if this test actually tells you what the cat is allergic to; in my case it was recommended as a prelude to formulating an allergy medication.  We used a different medicine instead, one that doesn't have to be customized for the cat, so I don't have experience with this test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T14:32:52.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-17T05:46:35.120" Score="8" ViewCount="667" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dogs and cat share an almost three gallon watering system bowl. Until recently it hasn't been a problem but, Vinny, the one eared cat, has taken to splashing water out of the bowl and creating a river in our kitchen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't do this during the day, while we're away and he is basically free to roam with one of the other dogs, the other stays in a crate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also doesn't do it all the time, but it is becoming more frequent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do have toys, but the younger, more aggressive dog, the one that stays in her crate, likes to take them and hide them, usually in her crate, which she is very territorial over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we try to solve this problem? Please note that a puzzle feeder is completely out of the question, as we feed them all at the same time, and when this occurs it's not because he's hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's sadly become fun and a game for him and we don't know what to try to stop this behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion will be tried and feedback given&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="25" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T11:33:29.647" Title="Cat splashing water out of water feeder" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7434" CreationDate="2014-12-17T12:06:00.687" Score="9" ViewCount="9922" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I explained in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7026/canine-insulin-injection-what-am-i-doing-wrong&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, my dog is newly diagnosed with diabetes, and I'm having problems giving her the daily insulin injections without causing her pain and stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially gave the shots on her leg and shoulders on alternate days, alternating left and right in the morning and evening, to avoid building up sensitivity on any one place. In an attempt to make sure I was injecting properly, I tried the scruff of her neck, where the skin is looser, and that worked better (but not perfectly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had read that the scruff of the neck was not a good place for insulin injections, but I've also seen lots of people claiming that's the place they use, and I also noticed that's where my vet injects her vaccine shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how big of a deal is the location of the shots? I have a very small dog (10lbs) and it's not very much insulin (3 units 2x/day), if that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3325" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:51:50.970" LastActivityDate="2020-02-09T14:47:09.160" Title="How important is the insulin injection spot on a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-17T14:18:31.067" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray dog used to bark at the locals in the street. However each time whenever the person who is barked at approached the dog, it would run away cowardly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would the dog bark when it's actually afraid of the person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T14:59:28.170" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T10:25:14.043" Title="Why would a dog bark when it's afraid?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-17T14:29:44.993" Score="4" ViewCount="1054" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want know do stray dogs ever bite people or only trained “security” dogs bite? Because i'm scared of dogs and in my place there are many stray dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T18:53:58.070" Title="Do stray dogs ever bite people or only trained “security” dogs bite?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7043" CreationDate="2014-12-17T14:44:51.920" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Place the watering unit inside a low walled cooking tray. At least this will help to contain the water that gets splashed out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the watering unit is one that bubbles inside as the water is used up on the outside it could be that the cat has realized that by splashing out the water that he/she can cause the watering unit to gurgle. Cats can get totally enamored with things like that and become almost obsessive. If this is the case then another type of water unit may be in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reminds me of a story a friend told me about years ago where he taught his cat to use the toilet stool instead of a litter box. Then he got the idea to teach the cat how to flush the toilet. It turns out the cat loved watching the water swirl down the toilet. Seems as the friend got an unexpected huge water bill one month only to later discover that the cat was spending the whole day flushing the toilet while he was away at work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3100" LastEditorUserId="3100" LastEditDate="2014-12-17T14:57:44.060" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T14:57:44.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2014-12-17T15:21:24.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there's really a good way to stop it completely, especially if your cat really likes to kick the litter around like my cat. But I have found some ways to minimize it so that it's not really an issue for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the Tidy Cat's Breeze system, which has been a massive improvement over traditional litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001411SK0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kHeUQm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tidy Cats Breeze&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest improvement I think comes from the use of pellets instead of the powdery clay of traditional pellets. While still susceptible to being kicked out, it's been less than the clay litter because there isn't dust getting kicked into the air, it's easier to clean with just a broom, and doesn't stick to their fur and get tracked further than the litter box. As an added bonus, it also doesn't smell like cat litter the way the clay stuff does, and since it doesn't have dust that would get in my cat's hair he also doesn't smell like the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine that the same would apply if you simply used the pellets in a normal litter box. I've seen pellet litter before in types like &quot;Yesterday's News&quot;, which is compressed newspaper, and some types of compressed wood/walnut shells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, when using clay litter, I had a litter box that had a sort of &quot;lid&quot; that adds a curved lip to the pan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/126581/So-Phresh-Liner-Locking-Litter-Box.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QUj6U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Litter box&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It never solved the problem entirely for me, my one cat still managed to kick out some litter. But it was a significant amount less than it was before. The lip caught the litter that he kicked around, and anything else was such a small amount that it stayed just by the litter box rather than getting tracked outside the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-02-13T22:47:05.937" LastActivityDate="2018-02-13T22:47:05.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7026" CreationDate="2014-12-17T15:56:40.607" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question does a great job of addressing many key points about giving insulin to your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing in the following answer is intended to replace direction by your veterinarian. These are just considerations not addressed in your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the first things that comes to mind, is your comfort level. Consider if you are transmitting your anxiety to your pet.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rotating sites is important your Vet should have given you direction &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&amp;amp;id=7282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Try not hit the same &lt;strong&gt;spot&lt;/strong&gt; regularly, but try to hit the same &lt;strong&gt;area&lt;/strong&gt; regularly.&lt;/a&gt; Maybe alternate shoulders morning and night, but get slightly different spots. See related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7044/&quot;&gt;How important is the insulin injection spot on a dog?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are using an 8mm needle it is about a 1/3 of inch long when you grasp the dogs skin and pinch to lift the hide, you should be able to tell that the hide is less thick than the needle is long. The reason you are lifting the skin is to create a space between the hide and the muscle, in your mind target the end of the needle entering the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcutaneous_injection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Subcutaneous space&lt;/a&gt;. You don't want the tip of the needle in the muscle or in the skin. With people they will often plunge the needle straight in to the skin in an area that has fat underneath, so the insulin is delivered in the fat between the skin and the muscle. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be alert &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&amp;amp;id=7265&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;for bruising,&lt;/a&gt; If you can see a bruise under the fur don't use that area until the bruise has healed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You may or may not have been taught to check for flash back, once the needle is inserted if you pull up on the plunger and blood enters the syringe you are in a blood vessel, this is called flash back. There are differing lines of thought on this, if you have questions/concerns discuss them with your vet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://f1000research.com/articles/3-157/v1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RE:Aspiration in injections: should we continue or abandon the practice?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T15:56:40.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7047" CreationDate="2014-12-17T16:17:11.903" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to this question is yes, but the longer one is fairly logical if you think about it a bit. Basically, just about any animal may attack or bite a human based on one or more conditions such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is afraid and backed into a corner thus leaving it no real option but to attack rather than flee.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is extremely hungry and has now become more reckless in attempting to get food. Alternately, they have food and are concerned that you may try to take it from them. Hunger is a powerful motivator.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is sick or injured and you get too close. Vets learn handling techniques for dealing with animals in this condition, but even very tame ones can react with teeth and claws when you attempt to help them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You react with more extreme fear. Running with your back to the animal is leaving you vulnerable and so they may chase.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You enter their territory (e.g. den or hiding spot) and they're now defending it from intrusion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's probably even more conditions, but those are some I can think of. At the heart of it all, it's best to avoid strays and unknown animals regardless of your anxiety over it. Most animals will avoid direct interactions with humans given a choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T16:17:11.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7028" CreationDate="2014-12-17T16:24:56.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The proverb is based on the idea that a dog that is barking loudly is really just threatening and trying to scare you away rather than actually fight. It's usually used for people to indicate that they're all bluster and without real threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to actual dogs, don't assume that a barking dog won't bite, it's not really a good rule of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T16:24:56.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6933" CreationDate="2014-12-17T19:05:30.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple things about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) He likely trusted and liked the cat that passed. He's probably feeling anxious and grieving. This doesn't mean that he hates the new one, just that he's upset Romeo isn't Kendall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) He might be feeling that the Romeo will take all his food. This is especially true if Romeo walks over and eats some of his food. Try putting them in different rooms and closing the door to his when they eat. A bathroom will work fine. When he's eating, do you notice that he tends to hound the food down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents have two cats. One is overweight and diabetic, and the other is just kinda cranky in general. They know they have places to eat and sit by them until the food is in the dish. You have to feed the fat one first or she'll go over and munch of the cranky one's food, who then walks away and doesn't eat at all. She used to hound her food down and then would watch the cranky one eat for a few seconds before charging her. The cranky one would hiss and the fat one would eat. Eventually we had to start watching like a hawk and blocking her from charging. Now, after some time, they're calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you I would feed Hunter first, the close the door and feed the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T19:05:30.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7045" CreationDate="2014-12-17T19:39:02.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's more or less what @Huangism says in his/her comment - the dog is acting tough, saying &quot;Stay away from me! I'll hurt you if you come close!&quot; Trying to keep people away from him/her.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So the barking is a fear response... just like the running away when people &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; come close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog may also feel (s)he is defending his/her territory, but actually be afraid of a real fight. With a stray dog, you never know what they've been through, they may have very bad experiences with humans :-( ... that only a lot of tender loving care can heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way it's a pro-active threat that (s)he is too afraid to execute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T19:39:02.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6607" CreationDate="2014-12-17T19:43:43.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of my animals have had that problem, so the following ideas are based on my experience as a human with chronic nasal congestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shut her in the bathroom with you when you take a shower. Make it a nice, hot, steamy shower. This should help loosen some of the mucus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get her to drink extra water. Pet stores sell water fountains designed for pets to drink from; cats tend to drink more when the water is fresh/running/aerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the Vicks seems to help, try putting a little on a (low-wattage) bulb in a table lamp. It should slowly release the vapour. Also, there are plug-in vapourisers for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They make nasal aspirators for babies -- ask your vet if it would be safe to try one on your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it gets to the point where your cat's quality of life is threatened, you could ask your vet again if there's anything that would be worth trying, if only to give her another six months or a year. There might be a medication that your vet is reluctant to try because there are long-term risks associated with it (e.g. kidney disease), but at some point the short-term benefits may outweigh the long-term risks. There are so many different medications for humans with this problem; I'm surprised there isn't something available for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if different foods affect how much mucus she produces. Maybe a different food will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T19:43:43.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7028" CreationDate="2014-12-17T20:21:01.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The concept is that threatening posture is very different from an outright attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog who barks is warning you but is prepared to back down without a fight if it's not escalated and might, depending on the dog, back down even in that case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A truly angered or threatened dog would attack without barking, so if it's running at you silently then it may be much more dangerous than someone who is barking threateningly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1172" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T20:21:01.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7047" CreationDate="2014-12-17T21:42:17.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no. Dogs do bite. All dogs, given the right provocation. Much like how if you push a person hard enough, they'll punch you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well trained dogs are like well behaved people - they'll take a lot more provoking before they lash out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any random dog &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; bite you, but very few will for no reason - attacking puts them at risk too, so they're not going to pick a fight unless there's a reason for it. This goes for strays just as much as dogs you don't know. But on the flip side - you'll rarely know if a stray has been abused for some reason, and therefore what they'll perceive as a threat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the saddest things I saw when I was last at a dog sanctuary - an older gentleman walking around on a stick, clearly looking for a new companion. The dogs there were getting worked up, and it wasn't until I saw one or two cringing that I worked out the problem - they had been taught to be afraid of walking sticks, and they were reacting by acting aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, almost invariably - because that's their nature - dogs 'threaten' first. They'll bark or growl to warn you off. This is how they'd 'do things' in the wild - they don't kill each other over food, they'll challenge and only fight if desperate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in short - you do have to be careful with strays. But don't be overly fearful, because it's actively counterproductive for them to be randomly violent. The caution is because you're never going to be entirely sure what they've learned is 'dangerous'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T21:42:17.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7045" CreationDate="2014-12-17T21:45:59.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When competing in the wild, animals will challenge before they fight. That's because fighting is inherently risky - even if they 'win' they might be damaged, and be less effective as a result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what'll normally happen is when there's a point of contention, they'll start by trying to convince the opposition that it isn't worth it. Exerting dominance by barking or growling, in the hopes that that'll avoid a fight, and they'll still get to keep whatever it was they were about to fight over. The more you're afraid of something, the more you need to convince it not to mess with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-17T21:45:59.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6205" CreationDate="2014-12-17T22:41:08.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does provide some great ways to get rid of ammonia and nitrite. Also, the upwards flow of water through the gravel pushes solid waste into the water column so it's easier for the canister filter to remove the solid waste. You shouldn't get cloudy water or grubby gravel, assuming of course you clean the mechanical filter media. You can clean the canister filter as often as you want without worrying about killing bacteria, because there will always be lots of good bacteria in the gravel. Some Con's to reverse underwater filtering.  Two of note. Firstly, they're essentially incompatible with plants, or at least plants with roots (they're fine with floating plants and epiphytes such as Java fern and Anubias).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, they only work properly if the gravel bed is more or less flat and open. You can't cover much more than, say, 15% of the substrate with rocks, and if the gravel bed is particularly thin anywhere, the water will mostly go through that area of least resistance, by-passing most of the filter bed.&#xA;all of the are from: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwugfiltfaqs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwugfiltfaqs.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to avoid the biggest problem of UGs, their excellent mechanical filtration potential, by reversing the flow. That is, instead of pulling the water down through the gravel, you push it up through the gravel. You also use a sponge pre-filter on the powerhead, so it is pushing pre-filtered water down the riser tube, out under the plate, and up through the gravel. This is reverse-flow undergravel (RFUG) filtration. Several brands of powerheads can be adapted to this, but I only have personal experience with one, Penguin, which offers an accessory kit to convert their conventional pump to reverse flow. The kit has an elbow attachment to mate the pump output tube to the riser tube and a sponge assembly for the intake side of the pump. This is not expensive, and being a lazy man, I haven’t tested any other technique since these came on the market. The sponges are easily removed for rinsing under the tap. There is no concern with preserving any nitrifying bacteria in residence in the sponge, as the gravel bed is to perform that service. The sponge can function purely as a mechanical filter, and be rinsed weekly, biweekly, or whatever your water change interval may be. I like biweekly at least, weekly is better, to get waste out of the tank before it is completely digested in the system. The gravel is still hydrovacuumed, but you will be astonished at how little material comes out of the gravel compared to conventional flow UG, or to conventional substrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article64.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article64.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T21:16:29.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7066" CreationDate="2014-12-17T23:23:45.167" Score="9" ViewCount="9568" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a dog in my house and I let it outside and it all of the sudden went for my rabbit and almost killed it. This has never happened before when I put my dog outside with my rabbit. What should I do to help my dog to never do this again? I also let my dog out everyday for the day and I feed him enough so there can't be any sign of him being hungry. Also he has access to the house from the outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T23:00:31.843" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T20:05:17.647" Title="How can I prevent my dog from injuring/killing my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7030" CreationDate="2014-12-18T00:57:04.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you use a covered litter box? Covered litter boxes are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzliLSt7myE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;generally disliked by cats&lt;/a&gt; and can lead to litter box avoidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spaying usually helps with middening and spraying outside the litter box. However, if it has become a habit the chances that spaying will help can go down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your kitten declawed? Declawing can make the paws extra sensitive to some types of litter, resulting in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paws.org/index.php/library/cats/behavior/problems-with-declawing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pain when using the box&lt;/a&gt;. This can cause box avoidance as well. If your kitten is declawed, you could try using a different type of litter. Most &quot;natural&quot; (corn, wheat, walnut, etc) litters are easier on a declawed cat's paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the kitten is not declawed, and has an uncovered box, you could try &quot;retraining&quot; your kitten to use the box. Basically, this involves confining the spaces the cat is allowed to a small room (such as a bathroom) with access to the litter box and everything else the kitten needs. Eventually she should re-learn to use the box. As the box becomes more frequently used you can expand the area she has access to gradually as you see she's using the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try using loose soil or sand in the litter box, as some kittens are naturally more inclined to prefer those kinds of textures. As the kitten gets into a habit of using the box, you can gradually replace the soil or sand with regular litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T04:40:14.093" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T04:40:14.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7071" CreationDate="2014-12-18T07:39:57.217" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my current cat for about 2 years now. She is a lovely Manx. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three months ago we moved to my parents' house where there was a small foxy, whom she was fine with but never came closer than an arm's length away from. Sometimes she would hiss at him and try to claw him. But this was very rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the time I have had her I have only been scratched once, and that was surely by accident. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is very playful but loves to sleep all day as cats do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have just moved into a new larger home than we have had before, and she seems to have been fitting in nicely with no other animals around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we have adopted a new cat who is about a year + older then her, and is a male. He seems nice and friendly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is how they might get along, and do you have any tips on introducing them to each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will they use the same cat litter?&#xA;Will they eat the same dry food? - I am getting them two wet food bowls. But Marshmallow (current cat) tends to take a day or two to finish one bowl of food. She isn't really a big eater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3339" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T18:52:32.967" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T18:52:32.967" Title="New older cat coming into the house" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7070" CreationDate="2014-12-18T11:47:15.453" Score="4" ViewCount="3235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep my leopard gecko on unfinished slate tile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clean the tile I use the below reptile-safe disinfectant (image source and more info &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/deep-cleaning-disinfectant-for-reptiles-500ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7K7p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;reptile safe disinfectant&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and a scourer or scrubbing brush:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcsmJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;scourer&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MeFvR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;scrubbing brush&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(image sources &lt;a href=&quot;http://dev.stephensons.com/1178-large/green-nylon-scourer.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdmcenter.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Long-handled-Scrubbing-Brush.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this leaves me with scratch marks on the slate, which doesn't look very nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong? Is the disinfectant too powerful? Should I be using something softer than the scourer/brush? Should I not be scrubbing when the slate is wet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to risk not cleaning the terrarium properly, but I also don't want to keep damaging the slate. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T16:02:31.237" Title="How can I clean the slate tile in my terrarium without damaging it?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7062" CreationDate="2014-12-18T12:28:55.797" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really have enough detail to be precise, but generally speaking - dogs have a chase instinct built in. By any chance was your rabbit running when the dog went after it? It's not uncommon for dogs to ignore an animal until it runs, and then be quite excited afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is - when they 'catch' it, they do so by grabbing it with their mouth - and that potentially means they'll kill a small fluffy animal when they do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had our dog chase a chicken, catch it, but then be unsure what to &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; with it, and proceed to lick it's head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid chasing things is a difficult habit to break in dogs - because they enjoy it, it self reinforces every time they do it. The way to train it out is introduce an incompatible behaviour, and reinforce that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example - training your dog to sit instead of chase. You will need to watch for, or encourage the 'trigger' to the chase instinct, and when they do... make them sit, reward with a high value* treat and encourage them to pay attention to you instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to do this repeatedly, and be very careful whilst you do - your dog as learned that rabbit chasing is fun, and will do it again. And if they have fun next time, they will do it &lt;em&gt;again&lt;/em&gt; and that will become increasingly hard a habit to break. I would suggest you don't let your dog off lead near your rabbit until you're happy that the retraining has properly sunk in. (And even then, you need to accept that there's a degree of 'natural predators' going on here - some dogs will &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; be entirely safe around things like rabbits). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* Dogs have certain things they like more than others. When training, particularly with things that are also demanding their attention, you need a treat that they'll be particularly obsessed about getting. Ours really likes tripe sticks, bits of liver, small pieces of cheese. As far as we can tell, the stinkier and messier the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T12:28:55.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7028" CreationDate="2014-12-18T12:32:58.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For much the same reasons that lions don't roar until they've eaten dinner. If a dog is intent on hunting/killing something, they don't warn it that it's coming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog is seriously trying to threaten and warn something off, they'll growl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bark maybe done for a variety of reasons, but most of them are related to warning or attention seeking, rather than actual aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But they will bark to intimidate potential competitors, to say 'hey, I'm a big dog, and any food is mine, right?'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is the point of the saying - people who don't speak dog, might not realise that a dog barking at them isn't actually a prelude to being attacked at all, and if they just ignore it... that's probably actually the best way to stop the dog doing it again anyway. (Where if they react defensively, the dog picks up on that very quickly, and assumes they're someone who &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be intimidated). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T12:32:58.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7014" CreationDate="2014-12-18T15:12:37.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there's a degree of 'it depends' - I can't comment on this specific breed generally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However - &lt;em&gt;in general&lt;/em&gt; a tired dog is a happy dog. A dog that is bored/has surplus energy will cause trouble. If they're a clever dog, that might mean a LOT of trouble. (e.g. escaping and going and chasing sheep). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time in an office is likely to be boring for a dog, but they're &lt;em&gt;likely&lt;/em&gt; to be content if they've had enough exercise recently. I own quite an energetic dog, who's happiest with 2+ hours of walkies per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she's fine with a half hour in the morning, followed by a longer walk in the evening, and spends most of the day at home snoozing. She'll ring the bell on the back of the door if she needs to 'go', but otherwise... &lt;em&gt;mostly&lt;/em&gt; is just fine. (Not that she'd object to being taken out for another hour in the middle of the day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it matters too much which dog, but the amount of walkies needed will vary by breed... as will the amount of mischief when they're bored!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T15:12:37.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7065" CreationDate="2014-12-18T15:13:51.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just wouldn't use the scouring brush, it's meant to be abrasive in order to scrub baked on food off pots and pans so it's a bit overkill in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my cleaning routine for my bearded dragon's tank, I can't imagine that it wouldn't work for you, since the temperatures in my tank will be about the same as yours if not a little bit hotter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1:&lt;/strong&gt; I fill a plastic storage tote with hot water (So hot I can't put my hand in it) and dish soap (I always use Dawn), then take the tiles out of the tank and put them into the water to soak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2:&lt;/strong&gt; I clean inside the tank with paper towels and disinfectant. There'll inevitably be stuff that gets in between the tiles and underneath them, so it's good to clean under there and get rid of/prevent anything from smelling bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3:&lt;/strong&gt; I wipe down the tiles with some paper towels. Usually by the time I'm done cleaning the tank the water will have cooled down enough so that I can put my hands in to grab the tiles, if I had to guess, I'd say it takes about 5-10 minutes. Because they've been soaking in the hot water, usually all I have to do is wipe the tiles with a paper towel and any residue will come right off. If for some reason you need to have something that is stronger than a paper towel, or just don't want to kill so many trees, you could have a normal sponge set aside for cleaning the tiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 4:&lt;/strong&gt; At this point, all I'll do is rinse the tiles off to get rid of the soap, then dry them and put them back into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 5:&lt;/strong&gt; Clean the plastic tote. I have a lot of the same plastic totes since I got them on sale one time. So just in case I forget which one I used to hold the gross cleaning water, I'll take them after I use them and rinse them out with bleach water. Marking one to use each time would probably be smarter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Optional:&lt;/strong&gt; I'll usually wipe down the tiles with the disinfectant after I put them into the tank, just because near the end of scrubbing them the soapy water can get kind of gross, so I just want to be safe and make sure there's no bacteria that makes it through the cleaning process. This isn't necessary since I washed them with soap, but I like redundancy in these types of processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T16:02:31.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T16:02:31.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7064" CreationDate="2014-12-18T16:01:22.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things you can try to get the coexisting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Put one in a carrier and let the other walk around it and sniff it, then switch who is in the carrier and who is walking around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Take a blanket from each of them and put it in the same space as the opposing cat. This will get them a bit used to the smell of the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) There's sprays that eliminate the territorial scents from the house. Use this in the area that you plan on having them meet, as well as their own areas. When they meet, they'll be on more even ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest having multiple litter boxes and multiple plates. Though after some time they may share anyways, they shouldn't feel forced. With litter, it's important to have a couple places or a larger box anyways, as you'll now have twice the amount using them and will need to have more clean litter as to not stress them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents and I each have a cat, and one of theirs tries to attack mine whenever she sees her (they're separated otherwise). To get them more used to each other, we held my parent's cat (to make sure she can't attack, but she still has her feet on the ground) and opened the door to my cat. She likes her space, so she wandered around us and my parents cat for a bit, while their cat hissed and tried to break free, then eventually laid down and just watched. It worked well, but that's dependent on one of the cats not having a problem with the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T16:01:22.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6949" CreationDate="2014-12-18T17:11:45.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are prone to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluecross.org.uk/1958-2791/alone-at-home.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;separation anxiety&lt;/a&gt; - they 'bond' with their owner, and feel distressed when there's something missing. To some degree, this is present in all dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog misses you and may have learned that if they 'cry' when you leave, you'll come back. This can build a pattern of behaviour cry-&gt;reward and you can inadvertently reinforce this if you're not careful, and that can make it worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 minutes of crying doesn't sound much, so I daresay your dog is not &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; bothered by it. Signs of destructive behaviour are big warning signs of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from the above link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;practice 'leaving' for very short periods, and coming back again. You may well be able to desensitise your dog to 'you going away'. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't make a fuss of leaving - just go, don't come back. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Offer positive things for them to do when you go, so they don't notice you leaving. We had a lot of success initially with a kong, which we filled with pate/biscuits and then froze. It takes a fair bit of time and licking to dismantle, by which time they've forgotten your departure. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;feed and exercise your dog before departure, so they're tired and content, and more likely to just sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T17:11:45.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7043" CreationDate="2014-12-18T19:56:45.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats also like clean, running water over stagnant water.  If a cat sees a pool with still water, there is an instinct to brush the surface to expose clean water to drink.  This might be what he is up to with the refilling bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative might be to get him (or all your pets) a fountain that continuously flows the water in the reservoir, simulating running water.  If the fountain is just for him, he might leave the dog's alone.  If the fountain is for all, then there will be no need to splash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T19:56:45.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7075" CreationDate="2014-12-18T20:48:15.253" Score="3" ViewCount="3732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two african dwarf frogs, and one of them has pink spots under both of its arms. I have been trying to figure out what they are, and I just can't figure it out. Does anyone possibly know what they could be, and could they harm my frogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T22:59:10.453" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T19:41:30.363" Title="What are the pink spots on my African dwarf frogs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7074" CreationDate="2014-12-18T22:09:39.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would do is put the frog into a quarantine tank so that it doesn't affect your other frog or fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first thought was that it was possibly a reaction to an ammonia spike, sometimes called an ammonia burn it can be caused by something as simple as changing the filter, but if you've recently tested your water and it's fine then that might not be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard for me to say what exactly it could be without seeing it, but hopefully with descriptions of the most probable causes you can decide for yourself based on the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parasites:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you want to look for to see if it's a parasite infection is if the frog is acting as if it's being drained of energy. Since parasites will deprive the host of nutrients, the frog will become more lethargic over time as it's not getting the nutrients it needs. Eventually it will stop eating when it doesn't have enough energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With external parasites you should be able to see them if you look closely enough, you'll see what looks like a tiny leech or mite attached. Internal parasites are harder to spot, but sometimes they do show as lumps in the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Avoid keeping snails and frogs together, as snails can carry parasites that can infect frogs.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bacterial Infection:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bacterial infections can be just as tricky to spot as internal parasites. The symptoms you're going to have to look out for are signs of stress, skin lesions (red skin), and cloudy eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fungal Infection:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fungal infections are typically fuzzy white spots on the skin. As they grow, you'll notice rings of the fungus with raw skin in the center.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treatment:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still unsure what it is, I would treat for a bacterial infection first. The treatment for a bacterial infection should clear it up in about 3 days, unless it's a very severe infection (which this doesn't sound like since you're not seeing any abscesses). A good treatment for this would be Mardel Maracyn Two, as it's safe to use with fish in the tank if you can't quarantine the frog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I would treat for a fungus infection, in the off-chance that it's an uncommon fungus that isn't white. The treatment would be similar to the bacterial infection but with Mardel Maroxy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the spots are still there after those treatments, I would move to a treatment for parasites. Specifically, the treatment for mites, which is half of a Tetracycline pill diluted in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably want to have a quarantine tank for this treatment, as it will create a film at the top of the water. Or you could perform &quot;dip&quot; treatments by filling a small container with water and the medicine, and putting the frog in that container for an 30-60 minutes and then placing it back into the normal tank. Of course that's not ideal as it can be stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of these treatments work, I would recommend seeing a vet. It's possible that it's a parasite that can't be treated easily, or an infection that needs to be treated with an injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-18T22:37:23.470" LastActivityDate="2014-12-18T22:37:23.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6942" CreationDate="2014-12-18T22:14:51.667" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to disagree with the other two answers.&#xA;I do not think it's even remotely humane. Your dog has the reasoning capability of a toddler, and for all the reasons you wouldn't put a shock collar on a toddler, you shouldn't put one on a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog trusts you and thinks of you as part of it's family. If you hurt your dog, you betray that trust. It's not about the pain level, as much as the systematic abuse of your dog's trust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More fundamentally though - negative reinforcement is very unreliable, for the very simple reason that you cannot control what you're dog is associating that negative reinforcement with. That doesn't matter if it's a shock collar or taking a stick to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog is barking or whining, they're not doing so just randomly, any more than a baby cries just to piss you off. It's doing so in response to something. If you punish a dog for reacting to something, then it's just as likely to associate the punishment with the thing they're reacting to. Or you. Or some environmental factor. You've simply no control over what they think they've been punished for. &#xA;Or worse yet - they may not realise at all, they'll perceive it as just random pain, and start to become very anxious and stressed (and maybe do the think you don't like even more as a result). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider if you will - a dog barks at the postman. You electrocute your dog to make it stop. Have you just taught it not to bark, or have you convinced it that it was right all along, and the postman is a threat? You can end up in a very rapid spiral of defensiveness and aggression very easily, to the point where you'll do such a lot of psychological damage to your dog that it can no longer be trusted, because it'll have learned with some very strong stimulus that there's a threat they don't properly understand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, I don't think this is a good idea - it &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; work short term, but it's a massive betrayal of trust and will significantly and permanently damage your dog's mental health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is doing something you want it to stop, the most effective approach is gentle positive reinforcement of incompatible behaviours. If your dog is prone to chasing, teach it to sit. It can't do both, and so it'll do the thing that is 'most positive'. You can train a dog into 'quiet' - it's not easy, because it's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; doing something - first you need to train 'make a noise' (often 'speak') because then you can predict the stopping - and cuing/reinforcing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The humane society has some suggestions for this sort of thing: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/how_to_stop_barking.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/how_to_stop_barking.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201107/what-are-the-limits-canine-learning&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canine mental capacity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I came to the conclusion that dogs had the mental ability roughly equivalent to a human two-year-old. Further work led me to believe that the most intelligent dogs might have the mental abilities similar to a human two-and-a-half-year-old child&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://4pawsu.com/negativereinforcementexplained.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effectiveness of negative reinforcement&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anyone who applies aversives when training a dog should have a very clear understanding of what they are doing and how/why it works.  Aversives applied without knowledge and skill lead to all kinds of problems, from poor training outcomes to aggressive behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/whats-happening/news/dogstrust2015dogmanifesto.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dogs trust manifesto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are against the use of any negative training method&#xA;  or device and believe that their use is both irresponsible&#xA;  and ineffective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/press-releases/2014/january/dogs-trust-and-kennel-club-join-forces-to-support-shock-bill-in-parliament/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kennel Club opinion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;As a dog will have no idea what has caused the pain, it is far more likely to associate it with something in its immediate environment than to connect it with its own behaviour at the time.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=11167_AW1402SID5FinalReport.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;DEFRA report on the subject&lt;/a&gt;   (&lt;a href=&quot;http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Module=More&amp;amp;Location=None&amp;amp;ProjectID=15332&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Study outline&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst a bit 'sciencey' concludes - Overall conclusions P31: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The combination of differences in individual dog‟s perception of stimuli, different stimulus strength and&#xA;  characteristics from collars of different brands, differences between momentary and continuous stimuli,&#xA;  differences between training advice in manuals, differences in owner understanding of training approaches and&#xA;  how owners use the devices in a range of different circumstances are likely to lead to a wide range of training&#xA;  experiences for pet dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was no difference in owner reported perceived success or ease of training between e-collars and other&#xA;  training methods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These findings suggest that the experience of a stimulus is sufficiently&#xA;  aversive in at least a proportion of dogs for them to experience negative emotions when trained in the situation&#xA;  which may predict collar use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - no more effective, and distressing to your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend reading: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Defence-Dogs-Need-Understanding-ebook/dp/B005AGIV7S&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;In Defence of Dogs&quot;&lt;/a&gt; - this also contains citations, however I have quoted directly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems very likely that these dogs were associating the shocks with their handlers, as well as with the mistakes the dogs had made that triggered the shocks. When the shock is not timed properly, the dog’s fear and anxiety may become even worse than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ref: Matthijs Schilder and Joanne van der Borg, ‘Training dogs with help of the shock collar: short and long term behavioural effects’, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 85 (2004), pp. 319– 34.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bradshaw, John (2011-07-11). In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding (Kindle Locations 5060-5062). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a growing body of evidence indicates that in inexpert hands physical punishment is not only likely to harm the dog but is ineffective as well. Two separate surveys of dog owners have revealed that dogs trained with punishment tend to be less obedient and more fearful than those trained with reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Ref: Elly Hiby, Nicola Rooney and John Bradshaw, ‘Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare’, Animal Welfare, 13 (2004), pp. 63– 9.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bradshaw, John (2011-07-11). In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding (Kindle Locations 2090-2092). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And perhaps slightly frivolously, but because I think it's rather fun (and a little more light hearted reading than the rest of the above:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html?ex=1169438400&amp;amp;en=3edcee0d461222fa&amp;amp;ei=5087&amp;amp;excamp=mkt_shamu&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;What Shamu taught me about a happy marriage&quot;&lt;/a&gt; - on 'least reinforcing stimulus'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T16:54:05.333" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T16:54:05.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-18T22:40:49.547" Score="6" ViewCount="1610" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to wonder if my vision on my rabbit is failing. We've had her for 3 years and she seems startled when I come over to her. I'm probably guessing that she doesn't see me at first but when I'm like right in front of her she can see me and she backs up like she's startled. Can we tell if a rabbit's vision is failing? If so, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2014-12-28T19:59:52.940" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T15:57:35.960" Title="How can I test a rabbit's vision?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7047" CreationDate="2014-12-19T10:20:05.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between animals that have been abandoned or escaped from previous owners and those that are born without contact with humans and are feral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many stray animals are born and raised without habituation with humans can be feral and might be dangerous if instigated. You should never approach a stray animal that you are not familiar with, especially one that appears angry or fearful, and you shouldn't allow any children or other pets to approach them in that situation too. If you're not familiar with the animal, you can't guarantee they don't have transmittable parasites or diseases, even if this is rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the safety of the animal or those around it, contact a shelter for information on what to do. If you're remotely unsure about the animal's behavior, then for both your and the animal's safety, it's a job for professionals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do not approach or try to take home animals that aren't domesticated; there is a big difference between a 'tame' animal and a 'domesticated' animal. And keeping them as pets might be illegal in your area, anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3344" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T10:20:05.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7045" CreationDate="2014-12-19T10:25:14.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be aware that even if the dog's barking isn't backed up instantly by action, if you continue to approach a fearful stray animal, it might consider you a big enough threat to attack even if its normal reaction is to flee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals that are afraid don't always think straight, too. Try not to constantly call the dog's 'bluff', or it'll become afraid that you're not respecting its safety and might react violently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3344" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T10:25:14.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2014-12-19T10:42:03.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You answered your own question,, you can't afford a lot, I have 5 dogs all different breeds my biggest boy is 47kg, Rottweiler cross ridgeback he eats a lot, I have a bullmastador puppy shes 15 weeks she eats a lot, she's weighing 20kg already the vet guesses she will be over 50kg when adult, they eat a lot, vets bills are expensive, so I would carefully think about it before taking one giant breed dog on &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3345" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T10:42:03.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T13:02:15.967" Score="4" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet house rabbit, rabbit eyes are pretty much on the side of their head. They also have great big ears.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KNm8V.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can a rabbit really see? How well can they see? Can they see 360 degrees? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2014-12-21T09:29:55.250" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T23:17:21.527" Title="What is a rabbit's field of vision, range and visual acuity?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7084" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-19T17:53:50.813" Score="3" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 year old male cat who has been neutered. He's name is Meow Meow and I had since he was about 3 or 4 weeks old. We've been very close and bonded really well. I have never been away from him for longer than the usual 8 hour work day.. maybe a night or two as well when I would sleep over somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I left on the 6th December to go to Port Elizabeth for my sister's wedding. It's a 10 hour drive from where I live and I returned on the 14th December (8 days). Upon returning I found that Meow has just dissapeared. My other 3 cats are still here though. I had a family friend who came over each morning to let the cats out the house and feed them. She would return late afternoon to feed them again and let them back into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She told me Meow was there on Sunday morning but when I got back home Sunday afternoon he was gone. He would never be gone for more than a few hours but it's been a whole 5 days now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to think that he left because he thought I wasn't coming back. Is this possible? Do cats behave and think in such terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3347" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-19T17:55:12.397" LastActivityDate="2014-12-19T17:55:12.397" Title="What's the reason for my cat going missing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2015-03-30T19:32:00.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7086" CreationDate="2014-12-19T18:29:03.457" Score="9" ViewCount="3875" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 month old cat / kitten that comes from a shelter.&#xA;She is afraid of both my girlfriend and me and still hides in corners after 2 weeks of being here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She needs eyedrops and medications, which we need to drip in her eyes and put in her mouth.&#xA;At the moment we try to pick up the cat and force the eyedrops (have not yet done the medications), but this makes her even more scared of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we give her her drops (up to 6 times a day) and her medications, while at the same time making her get used to us and getting picked up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;After 2 days of doing the medication /eyedrops first, and then the bribery, our cat-relation has improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of Piep enjoying a toy for the first time&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n0fS0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3348" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T02:30:22.597" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:27:02.440" Title="How do I give my cat her medication without scaring her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7085" CreationDate="2014-12-19T23:24:14.697" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the exact situation with a newly adopted cat, and the first rule is that you need to get the medication in, scared or not scared.  Part of the cat's fear might well be that she knows that she is made helpless by her eye condition, is in pain, or just feels bad.  If this cat is out in a large room, consider moving her into a smaller, more isolated area with beds and toys to make her more secure during the treatment. A new house, rooms and other pets are scary enough without being sick too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the best thing is to start by matter-of-factly getting the medication done.  Then, you can start the bribery.  Use petting and/or treats or food right afterward to put a positive spin on this encounter.  If she is so scared she refuses, leave a treat there and leave her in her safe room to eat it in peace. That way the scary encounter has a definite ending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then go back in about an hour and have some interactions where nothing bad happens. Bribe lavishly--nothing bad can happen with a cat if you spoil them. This should help reduce the fear when you walk in next time to give medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if none of that helps a lot, well, there's time to recover your ground when the kitten is healthy.  A healthy kitten bounces back fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:27:02.440" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:27:02.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7085" CreationDate="2014-12-20T11:45:05.830" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it really helps to always be upfront to the cat. If you reach for her for cuddling, let her know that - and don’t switch to giving medicine. If you need to give her her medicine, say so, and matter-of-factly just do it, in a professional manner. Get it over with quickly, give her no chance to fight, and give a clear indication (again, including talking to the cat) when you are done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s no reason for prolonged hunting or hurting the cat in any way really: You are that much stronger and in control of the surroundings, just use that to get the thing neither of you likes done quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big advantage of this approach: The cat always knows what’s coming. If you just pick her up for caressing, she doesn’t need to worry what might be coming. She knows it’s something good. Carrying the cat to her food goes a long way towards making her feel safe on your arms in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="404" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T11:45:05.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6891" CreationDate="2014-12-20T16:50:20.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I notice about your question is that you're actively encouraging the dog to poop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this encouragement is taking the form of praise (&quot;Good boy! Nice job! Keep going!&quot;) then the dog is probably hearing that praise and assuming you want him to continue doing whatever he's doing at the moment, which is not pooping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the encouragement is happening in the form of a command (&quot;Go now! Poop here! Get it done!&quot;) that the dog hasn't learned yet, then he's probably either completely baffled about what you're trying to communicate or he just assumes you're talking gibberish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest not giving &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; praise unless and until the dog does what you want (to prevent a situation where the dog sees no reason to do what you want), and I also suggest not repeating a command unless you're at least mostly certain that the dog will comply with it (to prevent a situation where the dog unlearns the command by dissociating it with the desired action).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3352" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T16:50:20.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6812" CreationDate="2014-12-20T16:54:56.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;More of a comment (but I don't have enough reputation to comment): I can't explain what's causing your dog to do that, but I suggest you clean up the urine on the stairs with vinegar. This will neutralize the odor, which will prevent your dog from realizing that she previously urinated in that spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3352" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T16:54:56.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6806" CreationDate="2014-12-20T16:58:25.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some medical issues that dogs get that can cause them to run in circles all the time, so you should consider taking him to the vet to have those ruled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, though, that's somewhat common behavior for dogs, especially breeds like JRTs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try exercising him a lot more for a few days, until he's entirely wiped, and see if that gets him to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3352" LastActivityDate="2014-12-20T16:58:25.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7093" CreationDate="2014-12-20T23:25:59.757" Score="6" ViewCount="1741" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog loves walks and with winter upon us, salt is everywhere.  Salt seriously dries out skin, so what is a good moisturizer for both her and me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have all natural coconut oil based lotion and cream and Aveeno Oatmeal lotion, are either of them OK to use on Maggy, the border collie?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1205" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-29T19:38:15.600" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T19:38:15.600" Title="What is a good moisturizer for a dog's pads?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7092" CreationDate="2014-12-21T01:51:25.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vaseline works just fine. A dab on the paws before bed and a dab before walks. If you want I'd shop for one but you can make homemade moisturizers for your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shea butter&#xA;  Lavender oil (Lavendula augustifolia)  (I chose this because of its calming healing properties)&#xA;  Vitamin E oil&#xA;  Beeswax&#xA;  Olive oil. Pure. Organic. Extra Virgin&#xA;  Little metal containers&#xA;  All the products that I got were all natural, human grade.&#xA;  The actual making was super easy:&#xA;  I used a double boiler over low heat and combined&#xA;  4 tsp. of beeswax&#xA;  2 TBSP of shea butter&#xA;  2 TBSP olive oil&#xA;  about 1 tsp of vitamin E oil&#xA;  a few drops of lavender oil&#xA;  I stirred all the ingredients together until the beeswax melted and then poured it into the round metal tins and let it set.&#xA;   I only use this as needed. For instance, I won’t use this every single time the dogs go out in the snow in the backyard, but I will use it when we are going for long walks. You don’t want the pads to become too soft, as this may cause more injury. Also, remember that keeping the hair between your dog’s pads can make the balm easier to apply and help minimize snowballs. From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mybrownnewfies.com/2013/12/12/homemade-paw-balm/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mybrownnewfies.com/2013/12/12/homemade-paw-balm/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Moisturize, moisturize, and then moisturize. Your dog’s pads can easily get dry and cracked so ask your vet about good pad moisturizers designed especially for dogs. Do not apply hand moisturizers for humans as it could soften the dog’s pads; thereby, possibly lead to unwarranted injury. From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogingtonpost.com/paw-care-taking-care-of-your-dogs-feet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dogingtonpost.com/paw-care-taking-care-of-your-dogs-feet/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastActivityDate="2014-12-21T01:51:25.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T09:35:04.977" Score="4" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7082&quot;&gt;What is a rabbit&amp;#39;s field of vision, range and visual acuity?&lt;/a&gt; we learn about a rabbits vision.  This question is asking about what is the primary sense a house rabbit uses for danger warning eyes or ears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have eyes on the side of their head, and those great big ears. Which sense are they more dependent on for warning signs?  Does being a lop (floppy ear bunny) have an impact on the answer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T14:29:44.873" Title="Do house rabbits depend more on sound or vision for warning?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T12:26:13.020" Score="4" ViewCount="9565" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the people seem to know that dogs love the clicking tongue sound - &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you want to get a dog's attention, all you need to do is make this tongue clicking sound and they will come running over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the deal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do dogs &lt;strong&gt;love&lt;/strong&gt; this sound so much?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:37:54.553" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:37:54.553" Title="Why do dogs like tongue clicking noises so much?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T17:25:42.647" Score="8" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear people talking about &quot;candling&quot; eggs to check if the animal inside is still alive or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this and how does it work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T02:46:49.663" Title="I have heard people talk about &quot;candling&quot; eggs. What is this?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-21T17:49:26.143" Score="11" ViewCount="5426" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently told a trick about how to get your cat used to a new house, after moving. The trick is to put butter on the cat's paws. The cats will lick the butter off their paws, and as they associate cleaning with places they like, they'll start associating the new house with a safe place. It's NLP anchoring for cats, apparently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? Can this really be used to make a cat feel comfortable in a new house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T06:54:32.387" Title="Can you get a cat used to a new house by putting butter on their paws?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7103" CreationDate="2014-12-22T14:59:48.027" Score="4" ViewCount="861" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to transport a Betta on a few hours road trip for the holiday. That will mean a few hours in a jar. I know that's not ideal, but it's better than going a long period without food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My son was worried, asking me to poke air holes in the lid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I said that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, and the fish will breathe with gills the way we get oxygen from the air with lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A coworker said that (some) fish need their water oxygenated, but I'm not sure how that works when water is H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the questions, as I promised my son I'd ask: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would the Betta require air holes in the lid of the jar?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How does water become &quot;oxygenated&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: If water is H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O, how does it become further oxygenated, especially if it isn't under pressure? H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O would mean that water itself is composed of oxygen and hydrogen. I don't think fish would like to breath H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="119" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:40.193" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T01:38:25.567" Title="Bettas and Air (&quot;oxygenating water&quot;)" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7095" CreationDate="2014-12-22T15:04:19.590" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my dog's trainer, a tongue click is the next best thing to an actual clicker. The similarity to a training clicker could be why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it's just a strange, funny sound and the dog wants to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T15:04:19.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7100" CreationDate="2014-12-22T15:29:31.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically there are three ways to oxygenate water in an aquarium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aeration:&lt;/strong&gt; this is the process in which air and water are brought into intimate contact. usually this is done by the aquarium filter and air pumps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;/O&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; exchange by plants:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;with proper lighting plants exchange CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; for O&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diffusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;this is when adding two solutions each with different concentration - this would be your water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case you are transferring the Betta, so what you need is mostly aeration. So yes, you have to let air pass through, the best thing to do is to allow it's way into the jar with an opening because few hours are not really few for the oxygen the jar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:38:22.130" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:38:22.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7105" CreationDate="2014-12-22T15:57:13.797" Score="3" ViewCount="36147" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Hunter (10 year old neutered male with chronic sinus infections and no teeth due to stomatitis) grows these calluses on his paw pads. He's grown these calluses since I've had him (5 months old). None of our other cats have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they show up and is there any harm in removing them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/emxeH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T16:03:13.303" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T20:12:39.083" Title="Why does my cat get calluses on his paw pads?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7104" CreationDate="2014-12-22T16:48:30.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There a few possibilities. As he's been getting them for 10 years, I think we can probably rule out Squamous Cell Carcinoma in his paws, amongst other cancer options, but non-cancerous possibles include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutaneous_horn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cutaneous horn&lt;/a&gt; - Which may be linked to some serious issues, but can be benign. They can be removed surgically and should be looked at by a vet for underlying causes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibroma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fibroma&lt;/a&gt; - Which is benign, but you can remove it surgically if it's causing discomfort. A biopsy would be needed to confirm, though I don't think it's common to get on the pad.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperkeratosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hyperkeratosis&lt;/a&gt; - In cats, this could be caused by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemphigus_foliaceus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pemphigus foliaceus&lt;/a&gt; resulting in increased keratin at the foot pad, but there could well be other reasons for it (people are calling it &quot;horned paw&quot;). Also should have vet intercession to deal with, if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some more dangerous causes as well though, as I noted, the history would suggest extremely unlikely. It may also be none of the above as well, it's really hard to say, but increased keratin from one reason or another seems pretty likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the long story short front... You shouldn't remove it yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T16:48:30.407" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7106" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-22T17:17:30.030" Score="-2" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;We were running low on money for food...for the rabbits..&#xA;My little Snow and Flake.&#xA;My mom kepts complaining their smell.&#xA;Me and my dad tried soo hard to get enought money for any kind of vegetation for them to eat but we didn't succeed. &#xA;Im trying not to cry after it happened.&#xA;We released them into a protected area in the forest.&#xA;I just...cant...stop thinking about them.&#xA;They might get hunted or anything!&#xA;I just can't. &#xA;I mean...it is protected and all but..I just feel wrong and guilty for doing this.&#xA;I never get a chance to say goodbye or getting close to them.&#xA;Is it a right thing to do? Or is it not?&#xA;It's really hard for me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3358" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T21:52:37.603" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T21:52:37.603" Title="Is it right or wrong to release domestic rabbits in the forest?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2014-12-22T18:21:47.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7106" CreationDate="2014-12-22T17:39:15.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the wrong thing to do, if possible go and recapture the rabbits.  Take them to a shelter.  If you can't go recapture them, look for a rescue organization in your area, tell them you are aware of domestic rabbits running loose in an area (you need not say how you know) and ask them to go rescue them.  If you are in the Pittsburgh area, leave me a note and I will connect you with the right people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T17:39:15.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-22T17:41:30.257" Score="4" ViewCount="9949" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that rats like yoghurt, I don't have any though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is cows milk from a saucer safe for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB:  They are &lt;code&gt;Rattus norvegicus&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;code&gt;Fancy Rats&lt;/code&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2014-12-22T20:58:16.213" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T14:47:27.290" Title="Is cow's milk safe for young rats?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7095" CreationDate="2014-12-22T19:28:03.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love this question. I read a study on noises that animal trainers make. They had gone around and recorded the noises that animal trainers used for comparison. If I am remembering right they did this in several countries and languages as well as different kinds of animal trainers. They found that the type, tone, and volume of the noises used were incredibly similar for similar meanings. I will try to find the study again and post it here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I read that I started paying attention to the noises more and our gut feelings or defaults sometimes just make so much sense. The tone you use to tell a dog to lie down verses release or come to you should be different. The noise you use for a down should encourage calmness or obedience. Where as a recall or release should be more up beat to encourage faster movement because it is exciting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if that exactly answers your question but I will try to find links to add to make this better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T19:28:03.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7097" CreationDate="2014-12-22T21:55:24.157" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an old wives tale, but has a germ of truth in it.  Cats do find grooming relaxing and stress relieving, as you can see whenever a cat makes a big mistake jumping or falling and instantly starts licking a paw...quickly at first, then slower as they calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't know that it is any better than just putting the cats in a room in the back of the house, away from the noise of moving and leave them their until the commotion has settled down.  That's what I always did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2014-12-22T21:55:24.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-23T00:36:13.600" Score="3" ViewCount="1561" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rats have rat food and raw veg. etc, however, are there any foods that I would throw away that would be good for rats?  Waste-not-want-not, as my Nan used to say!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Citrus peel or seeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meat bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stale bread&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meat fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or organic, non-food stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plant leaves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bark &amp;amp; Twig&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Berries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T14:58:52.340" Title="What waste foods are safe for a pet rat?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6391" CreationDate="2014-12-23T01:17:23.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it fair that the quickest method for small creatures might be the most violent?  Quickly, firmly and confidently holding by a tail and hitting their head on a hard surface, maybe several times if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might seem brutal, however it works and if done confidently then it'll be over before the animal has a chance to realise what's happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T01:58:56.743" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T01:58:56.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-23T03:44:29.567" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bunny that has a tilted head. I have been to the vet and he has an ear infection. He can't really move right now without help so if he pees before i get home he is laying in it. This had only happened twice but his fur is yellow and it smells awful. Any suggestions on how to tend to This problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3363" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T03:44:29.567" Title="Bunny has tilted head" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-01-12T10:04:19.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2014-12-23T05:34:46.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some cats (Siamese among them), crossed eyes can actually be the cat's way of compensating for a neurological abnormality in which the optic nerves split so part of each eye's vision is reaching both hemispheres of the brain rather than one each. Some cats with this condition may also, or instead,  continuously move their gaze back and forth a bit (integrating over time?) It's genetic/congenital, and mostly harmless in pet cats whose survival doesn't require peak health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My half-siamese had the moving-gaze symptom, sometimes. &quot;Cat, you're woggling again...&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Citation: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optic_chiasm#Optic_chiasm_in_cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optic_chiasm#Optic_chiasm_in_cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also note that in the worst case, the special care needed -- assuming this is &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; an indication of current/recent injury or bad health -- would be akin to that needed for a cat whose vision was impaired for other reasons. Try to avoid moving furniture/litterbox/food bowls unnecessarily, try to keep &quot;landing surfaces&quot; clear of objects the cat might either fall over or knock over (a good idea anyway), that sort of thing. But you'll quickly learn just how much the cat can or can't see and how much assistance it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T17:50:05.003" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T17:50:05.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6607" CreationDate="2014-12-23T11:17:30.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My older cat (a year older than yours) had an infection not long ago, and my vet suggested to instill a watered down injectable antibiotic (Lincomycin in our case, but it's individual) into her nose. I'm almost sure it can't be used long-term, but it should be fine if it's used in courses. Try talking to your vet about it? It can't be just mechanical blockage, otherwise there shouldn't be any pus (which makes the mucus green).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T11:17:30.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7043" CreationDate="2014-12-23T11:33:29.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a feeling it might be connected to the younger dog hiding the toys. The cat is bored, so he finds a way to amuse himself. Try getting him toys that dog won't be interested in, or train the dog so she doesn't steal the toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T11:33:29.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7119" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2014-12-23T16:45:07.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Molting (or moulting) tag is used to describe the natural loss of skin, scales, feathers, or shells from reptiles, birds, and insects as part of their general life-cycle.  Questions tagged molting may include asking why and when this occurs, and how to cope with situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing fur and hair for most mammals is more commonly referred to as &quot;shedding&quot; (somewhat synonymous with molting) and are handled under the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/shedding&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'shedding'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;shedding&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:45:07.163" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T16:45:07.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7120" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2014-12-23T16:45:07.163" Score="0" Body="The natural skin or feather loss process of many animals and the means to cope with it. " OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T16:45:07.163" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T16:45:07.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6807" CreationDate="2014-12-23T18:22:48.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few -- VERY few -- cats that enjoy getting wet. A friend reports once having a kitten that liked to join her in the tub, which was fine until the time the kitten decided to get out of the tub by climbing her. With claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a slightly larger number that are willing to tolerate it when absolutely necessary. I had to deal with a flea infestation once, and was lucky in that my cat at the time was a Siamese (a breed which is unusually patient with humans to begin with) whom I'd already socialized to accept being turned upside down, having her paws handled, and so on. Even then, I didn't immerse her -- I used a hand-shower nozzle, with the water carefully set to a temperature she would find comfortable, and then promptly rewarded her by giving her a &lt;em&gt;VERY&lt;/em&gt; extended cuddle while and after toweling her off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt my current cats would be as cooperative, even if they do seem to be perfectly content with lying in a damp tub after I've vacated it. One of them &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;; he's willing to put his head under a stream of water voluntarily when he's playing with splashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general, I have to agree with others: DON'T unless there's a health requirement. If the &quot;snow-white fur and pinky paws&quot; are getting and staying noticeably dirty, start by improving your housekeeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T18:22:48.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6784" CreationDate="2014-12-23T18:27:33.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest I've seen to ticklishness is the reaction many cats have to having their paws handled -- and they seem to find it more annoying than entertaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen cats that like &quot;mock-threat&quot; play with humans -- that will struggle when turned upside down or tossed and caught, for example, yet come right back for more. That isn't ticklishness as most humans would define it, but it's a similar interrupted-defense reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But cats, like people, have their own quirks and opinions. All you can do is ask them whether they like something or not and pay attention to the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T18:27:33.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7128" CreationDate="2014-12-23T19:40:19.353" Score="6" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do dogs really see in black and white only, or can they see certain colors?  Have any &quot;color blindness tests&quot; been done on dogs?  One possible test I see is to train a dog to point to a pattern, and then embed that pattern in different colors (equal brightness) and see if they &quot;point to the pattern&quot; among other solidly colored cards to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-23T20:43:45.347" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T01:41:55.710" Title="Do dogs really only see in black and white?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7158" CreationDate="2014-12-23T19:55:29.880" Score="3" ViewCount="6743" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do dogs see television and other &quot;screens&quot; the same way we do?  For example, if they see a dog on TV, would it look to them like a dog on TV without any &quot;distortion&quot;?  The reason I think there may be distortion to them is because TV is designed for our eyes (e.g. red, green, and blue &quot;dots&quot; that match the receptors in our eyes).  This is somewhat related to this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7123/do-dogs-really-only-see-in-black-and-white&quot;&gt;Do dogs really only see in black and white?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T10:25:10.343" Title="Do dogs see television and computers the way we do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7125" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-23T20:06:33.310" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5806/&quot;&gt;crepuscular&lt;/a&gt; so it seems like they are either eating, sleeping or spending time with me.  Do they need toys to play with?  If so what kind of toys should I get? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T11:37:16.930" Title="What kind of toys are appropriate for a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7125" CreationDate="2014-12-23T20:53:20.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do have toys for my rabbit. I give her usually paper bags or cardboard boxes or rolls to play with. My rabbit loves spending lots of time with me, however, I still would give them possibly a few toys because they could get bored, or just want something harmless to chew on. I have seen people give plastic toys to rabbits, but I wouldn't recommend it. If your rabbit likes to chew on things, then it could possibly eat plastic which is bad for rabbits's health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2467" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T20:53:20.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-23T21:11:30.073" Score="4" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of my four cats (the two elder) have recently developed TERRIBLE horrific dandruff. Since it developed at about the same time as the cold weather and increased use of home heating, I believe their skin is dry because it's winter and the air is drier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I treat this at home? On my own skin I would apply lotion, but that doesn't work on cat skin. How can I increase the moisture on their skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T21:49:18.013" Title="Can I treat cat dandruff at home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7123" CreationDate="2014-12-23T21:17:23.310" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs in general are not color blind, but they see fewer colors than we humans. Dogs see can shades of blue and yellow. Here's a study that talks about it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-study-shows-that-dogs-use-color-vision-after-all-13168563/?no-ist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-study-shows-that-dogs-use-color-vision-after-all-13168563/?no-ist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="3012" LastEditDate="2014-12-24T18:34:12.403" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T18:34:12.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7127" CreationDate="2014-12-23T22:16:52.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Medicated shampoos (usually have tar in them) designed to treat the symptoms of seborrhea, which includes dandruff, in cats may be used to deal with the dandruff. Though I would vet check before doing it just to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to determine if your cats actually have seborrhea as there are dietary options to help bring it under control including hypoallergenic foods and supplements. If there is an underlying cause, having it addressed or managed may keep your cats from experiencing the joys of the bath tub...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2014-12-23T22:16:52.493" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7132" CreationDate="2014-12-23T23:30:23.173" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any authoritative resource for what foods are toxic for what animals? I'm getting conflicting information from around the web.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I'm specifically interested in rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T21:00:17.603" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T21:00:17.603" Title="Authoritative resource for toxic foods for rats" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7130" CreationDate="2014-12-24T05:24:10.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA has a useful &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of foods to avoid&lt;/a&gt; on their website, and as far as I can tell the information is consistent with what I've learned from vets and other reputable sources. Also see their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/17-poisonous-plants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of poisonous plants&lt;/a&gt;. If there's a specific food that you've received conflicting information about, you might want to ask about that specifically so we can give more detailed information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2014-12-24T05:24:10.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7127" CreationDate="2014-12-24T07:18:03.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding or increasing the amount of fish oil in their diet can be extremely helpful. Brushing is also important to make sure that there isn't a lot of loose hair that is reducing air flow next to the skin. You can use a humidifier or even just let water steam on the stove to help increase the humidity in the room. Instead of attempting a bath just use a wet cloth to wipe them down... they may even enjoy that a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T21:49:18.013" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T21:49:18.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7136" CreationDate="2014-12-24T16:39:03.827" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's always hard to tell whether a pet actually notices music as something different from less-organized noises, outside of the occasional dog which demonstrates that it can howl in harmony or the parrots which seem to spontaneously (?) dance in rhythm to a tune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find myself wondering whether anyone has tried doing brain-activity scans to see whether the same general brain centers light up in other animals as in humans when they hear music, and how that varies depending on species, musical style, and individuals. Music is a mental game of making/breaking predictions, and brains are marvelous pattern-detectors; the question would be how many minds are tuned how well for this kind of pattern and whether they enjoy it in the same way we do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Some cats I've known will come into the room when I turn the stereo on, but that may just be because this signals that I'm likely to be sitting still for an extended period and am probably willing to cuddle. I know turning on the living room lamp, which produces a bit of a hum, has the latter effect. Hence the desire to find out what those fuzzy little minds are actually &lt;em&gt;doing&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here know whether such a study has been attempted, and if so where results were posted or what the results were?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T19:10:59.800" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:21:07.107" Title="Any serious studies of pets and music?" Tags="&lt;communication&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25581" CreationDate="2014-12-24T21:58:48.387" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard a lot about head tilt in rabbits.  What causes head tilt? What are the treatments and/or prognosis? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T12:52:35.590" Title="What are the possible causes of head tilt in rabbits?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7134" CreationDate="2014-12-25T11:09:42.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are studies about it. If you search the web you can find many of them. I will leave you with this research so you can check it and of course you can look for many others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.news.colostate.edu/content/documents/Behavioral%20effects%20of%20auditory%20stimulation%20on%20kenneled%20dogs%20published.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:21:07.107" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:21:07.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-25T16:37:07.703" Score="4" ViewCount="16958" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a Facebook comments thread about this. Some people said sprouts aren't that healthy for them because there are too many vitamins. Other people said it was dangerous to feed them sprouts at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the actual situation? Are Brussels sprouts safe to feed to bearded dragons, or not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T21:45:35.970" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T21:45:35.970" Title="Is it okay to feed Brussels sprouts to a bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-25T18:33:47.103" Score="1" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might be a little bit paranoid about this, but I can't forget the time when my dog once ate a chicken bone. It happened 2 years ago, and I didn't know that it was dangerous so I gave it to him. There were no symptoms of chocking or discomfort in him. He was normal as usual. Already 2 years have passed, but I am still worried. Is it sure that he is totally fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm still not sure if 'that' incident has affected him or not. And because of it, I am not sure if he is okay or if he has stomach pains until now. He seems normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another concern is that he only consumes 1.5 cups to 2 cups of dry dog food and drinks about 2 cups of water a day. Is this normal? If it's not, is it because of that past incident? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What if he is still bleeding internally or having pains and I don't know it? I don't see any abnormalities in his daily life, but we never know....they can't tell us :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just really worried....the memory of 2years ago haunts me :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some info about my dog: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breed : Korean Jindo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age : 2 years and 7 months old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gender: Male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight : 15 kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3366" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2014-12-27T10:50:51.200" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T10:50:51.200" Title="My dog ate a chicken bone 2 years ago" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7047" CreationDate="2014-12-25T18:53:58.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more you act scared and fearful, the more chances you are going to be beaten. Usually, dogs won't bite without a reason. But if you show intense fear that will trigger the dog. I know this because I have a friend who is extremely afraid of dogs...One day my two friends came home - one who is extremely scared and the other who is not. My dog is usually friendly to people (unless they touch my dog immediately). The way my dog treated my two friends was so different - which surprised me. He licked my other friend who was not scared, and to my intensely terrified friend, he kept on barking angrily. He didn't mind my unafraid friend to touch him and play with him, but to my extremely scared friend, it was impossible for my friend to go near my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really depends on how you act....I also know that when you are fearful, there is a certain scent that comes from humans. The dogs will easily smell that. So you should act confident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3366" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T18:53:58.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7124" CreationDate="2014-12-25T22:08:14.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I don't have any scientific evidence to back it up or generalize further, but while our pug does recognize animals on a screen, it does not seem to be in the same way a human would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She reacts to most images of animal-like movement, with or without sound (as evidenced by a television on mute). This can be as small as a dog or fox moving in the distance or a bear lumbering through the middle of the frame. She reacts to both live action shots as well as cartoon or computer animated images. Movement seems to be easier to spot, as she reacts much more strongly to a moving animal than a still image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our pug recognizes sounds as well as images, and she will bark as a response to the noises of another dog or animal on the screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if there is something particularly interesting happening on the screen, our pug will run around and look behind the screen to try to find it. As a puppy, she would also howl and complain to us that this interesting thing was missing, as if we  needed to fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, the primary sense of a dog is smell, not sight. The image or video on the screen may look and sound realistic, but unless it has the appropriate smell, your dog will be able to easily tell that it is not a real animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2606" LastActivityDate="2014-12-25T22:08:14.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-26T00:54:56.060" Score="7" ViewCount="15238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it normal that when my dog lies down on its stomach it keeps legs wide open? I mean is this a good behavior? I've seen this behavior in a couple of dogs but not sure about is good or bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Does this behavior have any meaning? (is something my dog trying to express?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3206" LastEditorUserId="3206" LastEditDate="2014-12-27T22:22:42.200" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T19:55:43.243" Title="My dog lies down on its stomach with legs wide open" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-26T01:30:12.260" Score="2" ViewCount="1261" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was chased up a tree by a dog. We finally got her down and she came into house but now she will not go outside anymore. She was an indoor/outdoor cat. Now she is pooping &amp;amp; peeing in the house. Before the dog incident no problem, when she had to go she went outside. Please, how can I get her to go outside again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank You&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sandra  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3367" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2014-12-26T05:38:18.613" LastActivityDate="2015-01-25T12:04:21.230" Title="How can I get my indoor/outdoor cat to resume going outdoors for toileting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7092" CreationDate="2014-12-26T05:17:15.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dryness might just be a symptom and salt might be the problem to address. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When living in a Northeast city with my dog, I vaguely remember vets telling me  that salt was very corrosive for a dogs paws and that the dog should wear booties or the salt should be rinsed off after walks. We had a small Tupperware container of water near the door and would briefly swish the 4 paws in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3368" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T05:17:15.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7138" CreationDate="2014-12-26T09:39:24.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If nothing has happened in the 2 years since he's eaten that bone, it's certainly fine by now. If there had been internal haemorrhage, it would've shown itself long ago. And the bone itself, or a fragment of it, wouldn't have stayed in your dog's system for that long -- even if it had stuck somewhere, it would've dissolved by now. It's organic matter, and it doesn't 'live' that long. So, worst case scenario, it could have left a wound on your dog's intestines, and those scarred which could result in something, possible irritation or worsening vermicular movement or I don't know, anything. But that's worst case scenario. If your dog was fine initially after eating that bone (no discomfort, no black stools [intestinal haemorrhage], nothing else to indicate anything wrong), he's fine. Sure, bones &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be dangerous, but there's no 100% guarantee that they'll hurt your dog (or cat, or any other pet). I don't encourage anyone to feed their pets bones, but it's not a tragedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to the second part of your question, no, it can't be because of that incident. I'm not sure about the norms for dogs (I have cats) and the exact dog food you're using (norms differ for different brands), but generally if he eats at least 2/3 of the amount proposed by the food manufacturer and doesn't lose weight/muscle, and generally feels fine, it's within norm. But if you're really worried, talk to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, dogs are much worse at hiding pain/discomfort than cats, so if you know your dog well enough, and you're observant enough, generally you should notice when something's wrong. It's not &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; the case, but when something's seriously wrong, usually there are signs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T09:39:24.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7143" CreationDate="2014-12-26T10:01:20.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor/outdoor debate is a slippery one, so I won't go there now (although I'm strongly opposed to letting a domestic cat roam outside freely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the dog incident your cat associates outdoors with danger, so you have to reassure her that it's safe. (And, please, insure that it's really safe for her, I assume you don't want your cat to be torn to shreds by dogs) Put a trail treats on threshold leading outside, and be there to reassure and praise your cat. Try walking your cat outside on a leash, as far as she's comfortable to go at a time (don't force her!). Don't lock your cat out, be close and available so that she feels safer (if she associates you with safety that is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T10:01:20.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7125" CreationDate="2014-12-26T11:37:16.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine love tunnels. Google &quot;cat tunnels&quot; and you will find a world of rabbit joy. They also love cardboard boxes, to jump on top of, to hide behind, and to chew. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="539" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T11:37:16.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7143" CreationDate="2014-12-26T12:02:43.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start with, get her a litter tray if you haven't already - as the other answer has said, she's afraid to go outside. It's going to take time for her to be comfortable going outside again after a major scare like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you want to do is provide her with a safe (dog-free) space outside. If you can't keep the neighborhood dogs out of your yard, I'd suggest you build her some kind of cat habitat - it doesn't need to be fancy, just something where she can come and go at her own rate where dogs can't touch her. Chicken wire secured with stakes is ugly, but works. So does a kitty tunnel to a greenhouse or screened in pavilion (or anything else that's fenced/screened so dogs can't get in)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have the safe space, I'd suggest you start by enticing her out with treats, and being there when she's outside, so she associates outside with good things. Once she's going outside on her own again, if she doesn't start doing her business outdoors, the next stage is to progressively move the litter box closer to the kitty door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once it's at the door, wait a few days before moving it outside the door (cats are notoriously change-averse), and make sure she knows that's where it is. I &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; recommend picking a time when it's forecast to be fine for a few days when you take this step, because you could end up spending quite a while enticing her to her litter or need to leave the box outside for a while. If you don't have a sheltered spot outside the kitty door, you want to make sure you've got a covered box because rained on kitty litter is nasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2014-12-26T12:02:43.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7170" CreationDate="2014-12-26T13:05:36.833" Score="4" ViewCount="3172" Body="&lt;p&gt;About two months back I bought my cat a wand toy, with a cloth heart filled with crinkling plastic and catnip at the end. He doesn't care much for his other toys unless I spray them with catnip, then he will roll about with them and drool all over. Great, but that won't get him running about, hence I figured the wand toy would be great as he won't figure out (and still hasn't) that it is me dragging it about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The toy is a great success, but sadly a bit too much. In the morning when I get up I feed him his wet food, then I sit down to work. I'll have maybe an hour or so before he jumps on my desk and demands attention. He will run all over and press his head against me to rub his scent. This has never been a problem until around when I got the toy. He'd normally get petted a bit and be content and lay down to let me work. Now instead he puts his ears back, meows loudly at me in an upset manner, and starts biting or clawing at my hands and face. When I get up to raise my height above his, he will run off to the kitchen where the toy is kept. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I gave in and played with him, but I've come to realize I may be reinforcing the behaviour and would like to try and correct it. At present when he claws or bites I pick him up and put him on the floor. He will however defiantly jump back up and get more hostile. So then I pick him up and put him in the hallway and close the door. He will loudly protest and hit at the door (running his paws over it, but without claws thank goodness). I leave him until he is calm again, then I open the door. Sometimes he will behave then, but other times he will come and start the whole thing up again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note also that since he got the new toy, he no longer wants his other toys sprayed with catnip. He will actively ignore them but indicate he wants to play. I have a laser pointer also but he has also figured that out, and seems frustrated he can't really catch the dot. The only other toy he likes is a ball with a hole that drops treats when knocked about. He only gets that every few days though as I don't want him to gain too much weight. Also, I live in an apartment, so I need to help him be active. His other favourite activities are watching birds or people from his cat trees, he has one at the front that overlooks the street, and one in the back that overlooks the gardens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what could I do to fix this situation? Should I keep putting him in the hallway if he is mean and only play with him when he is nice? Or would it be better if I pro-actively played with him as soon as he's gotten his breakfast, or even before?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Forgot to say that I've gotten Feliway about a week and a half ago, but so far I've not seen any behaviour changes. Not sure if it needs more time to work or it simply doesn't affect my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3369" LastEditorDisplayName="user3369" LastEditDate="2014-12-26T13:12:37.530" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T08:54:00.713" Title="Is my cat's new toy making him agressive towards me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7164" CreationDate="2014-12-26T16:36:29.763" Score="7" ViewCount="683" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our family adopted an 11 month old Coonhound 2 weeks ago and have decided to use the Nothing In Life Is Free training approach.  For basic things (such as making him sit before we let him out or ignoring his barking before giving him food)  this program seems to be both intuitive and effective.  For more complicated things, like when punishment is required for play biting or chewing, things in general that do demand our immediate attention, this program is not so intuitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the core tenets of this program, as I understand it, seems to be that you never allow your dog to demand attention from you.  (For instance - this seems to be a common trend: &quot;Attention seeking behaviors don’t work.  Some dogs become quite pushy about attention, demanding that you pet him by pawing, nudging and/or barking.  Ignore attention seeking behavior rather then pushing your dog away or scolding him. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aplaceforpaws.com/reference-articles/dog-training/nothing-in-life-is-free-rules-to-live-by.html&quot;&gt;http://www.aplaceforpaws.com/reference-articles/dog-training/nothing-in-life-is-free-rules-to-live-by.html&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  There's also specific mention that negative attention is still attention. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm&quot;&gt;http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm&lt;/a&gt; - &quot;Telling him &quot;no&quot; or pushing him away is not the kind of attention he's after, but it's still attention&quot;).  If our dog jumps up as soon as we let him out of the crate or gets up on the counter, is the correct thing really just to ignore him and let him do what he wants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a recent situation, we took him on an hour long walk, and as soon as we got home he started attacking the Christmas Tree.  If we're not supposed to allow our dog to demand attention from us, what is the appropriate way to curb this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another recent situation, he jumped on the couch without us inviting him up and tried to walk all over us.  It seems like the NILIF program says that he can't be up on the couch unless he's invited, but it also says that we should ignore attention seeking behavior.  It seems to me that there's a direct conflict here and I'm not entirely sure how to proceed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically what I'm wondering is, it seems like there are inconsistencies in the guidelines for the NILIF program.  What is the correct way to handle punishment for bad behavior, or is simply ignoring the bad behavior the actual solution?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, for things such as biting or chewing, I have been following the advice I grew up with and either holding his mouth open or holding his mouth shut. I'm not entirely sure what the correct response is for other bad behaviors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*On a side note, this dog is 11 months old and was crated for almost the first 9 months of his life.  He understands Sit and Down - he will follow a verbal Sit command but not a verbal Down command (we have to use the hand motion).  I believe this is a good program to follow, if it is not please let me know.  From everything we've been told by the Vet and have read online, the positive-reinforcement only training is not good for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3371" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T13:30:10.037" Title="Dog Training - Nothing in Life is Free Punishment Confusion" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2014-12-27T05:43:30.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some dogs do. Nothing wrong with it that i'm aware of. If you're really worried, you could ask your vet to check next time you have an appointment,  but I think it's just how that particular dog is most comfortable .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2014-12-28T06:53:30.563" LastActivityDate="2014-12-28T06:53:30.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-27T11:19:58.960" Score="2" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is this mommy cat and a young one wandering around our neighborhood. Today I just shredded some beef, cut the remaining in to small chunks and gave it to the kitten. I heated it in the microwave and made it warm enough so that he could digest it properly. He ate about three quarters of it and immediately started shivering (around the tummy area) and made burping-like noises. He kept on eating, but I removed the food and he was so very sad...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, after about two hours, the fella looks relaxed. I kept checking up on him every 30 minutes. I don't know his age, but his mom is still with him. Does it mean he is still being breastfed? Can I continue feeding him? I am completely inexperienced when it comes to pets. He is about 15-20 cms long excluding the tail. I did it thinking it would be good for him, but now I feel terrible! There are some unhealthy source of food for both of them all around the area - trash cans, kitchen wastes and so on. Some other neighbors might be feeding them too. If it would help your answer, I could post a picture of the kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3376" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-02T04:48:20.980" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T14:36:47.233" Title="Feeding raw meat to kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7237" CreationDate="2014-12-27T20:35:18.970" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;A family member of mine has a yellowfoot tortoise that has been kept in very inadequate conditions.  Its limbs seem to be feeble and it walks with a sluggish motion primarily using its front legs with its plastron and hind legs dragging on the ground.  Its shell is also somewhat humped in the front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure these are indications of metabolic bone disease, probably due to inadequate UV lighting and humidity.  Its living conditions have been somewhat improved, but I was wondering whether there is anything that can be done to improve its condition, or whether the deformities are likely to be permanent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T10:36:21.823" Title="Tortoise with probable metabolic bone disease" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7124" CreationDate="2014-12-27T21:11:48.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several factors that affect your dog's perception of a TV or other screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perception of motion:&lt;/strong&gt; Display devices rely on displaying a rapid sequence of still images to produce the illusion of motion (the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_phenomenon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phi phenomenon&lt;/a&gt;).  Dogs have a higher &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_fusion_threshold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flicker fusion threshold&lt;/a&gt; than humans, so a screen that appears to show continuous motion to humans might appear to &quot;flicker&quot; to a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Color:&lt;/strong&gt; Dogs have two color receptors in their retinas, whereas humans have three.  This means that they can distinguish fewer &quot;hues&quot; or types of color than humans.  They can still tell whether light is coming from the low (red/green) or high (blue) frequency ends of the spectrum.  So what a dog sees may be somewhat similar to a human with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-green_colorblindness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;red-green colorblindness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other senses:&lt;/strong&gt; Scent is a major factor in how dogs perceive the world, so a dog may not react to TV images the same as they would to real-world objects.  Similarly, dogs have more acute hearing than humans which can affect their reaction to real versus recorded sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Psychological factors:&lt;/strong&gt; Even if a dog can &quot;see&quot; what is on the screen, it might not be able to actually recognize and identify objects.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.retrieverpro.com/dog-health-eyes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What do dogs see? - Retriever Pro&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/qotw/question/2668/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Can Dogs Watch Television? - The Naked Scientists&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/resources/advice/dogs/336-dogs-watch-tv.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Can Dogs Watch TV? - Pet Peoples Place&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T21:11:48.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6935" CreationDate="2014-12-27T23:10:28.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;India Development Gateway has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.indg.in/agriculture/animalhusbandary/vaccination-schedule-for-dairy-cattle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vaccination schedule for dairy cattle&lt;/a&gt; on their website, although I cannot personally verify its accuracy.  It is a good idea to ask a local livestock/large animal veterinarian about this, as they will likely know about diseases and conditions specific to your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T23:10:28.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6895" CreationDate="2014-12-27T23:53:11.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/how-will-neutering-change-my-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;, some studies have shown a correlation between neutering and decreased aggression, while other studies have shown no effect.  They also note that other dogs may detect the high testosterone level of an intact male dog and respond with aggression.  If this is what is happening in your case, neutering may help alleviate the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it is not uncommon for dogs to show aggression toward unfamiliar dogs, so perhaps the dogs simply have not had enough time to become used to one another.  Issues of territory and dominance could also be contributing to the conflict.  The Humane Society has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/introducing_new_dog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tips&lt;/a&gt; for introducing a new dog to your home, which might be applicable to your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you adopted from a shelter, consider contacting them for advice on the problem before taking the new dog back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/aggression-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aggression in dogs - ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/aggression.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dog aggression - The Humane Society of the United States&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2014-12-27T23:53:11.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2014-12-28T18:12:07.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I breed mastiffs so I will try to help you with this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;div class=&quot;s-table-container&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;table class=&quot;s-table&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Age&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Amount&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;4-8 weeks&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;3-4 cups per day spread between 3-4 meals&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;8-12 weeks&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;4-6 cups per day spread between 3-4 meals&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;12-16 weeks&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6-8 cups per day spread between 3-4 meals&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;4 to 6 months&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;8-10 cups per day spread between 2-3 meals&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6-18 months&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;8-12 cups per day spread between 2-3 meals&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;/table&gt;&#xA;&lt;/div&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These measurements are in another web site but I have been following this rule for years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK my point is, as a breeder if you have not even got the puppy yet and you are already saying that you cannot afford to spend too much in dog food do yourself a favor and don't get the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? English mastiffs need high quality food; their growth and life quality depends on it. Lets say you buy cheap dog food filled with byproduct stuff; now that dog is going to grow so fast and fat that, trust me, you are going to have an unhealthy dog for life. You already damaged the dog's joints etc. Now we are not talking about $5 or $15 dollars more on food. Now it's about thousands of dollars on surgeries, therapies, and a life full of pain for your dog, you see is like a chain reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good example:  Blue Buffalo the biggest bag they sell is 30 pounds for $55 plus tax, so about $60. Each of my English mastiffs eat that in a 2 week period, so each mastiff will cost you just on food $120 a month. Now throw the vet bills etc. I am not saying that you have to feed them Blue Buffalo; there are other good quality dog foods out there, but this is the one I use and the one I recommend as the owner of 6 baby giants. I hope this has helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3382" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T18:59:31.497" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T18:59:31.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5475" CreationDate="2014-12-28T22:01:20.720" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;K so I looked at some research and I found out that you're housing your pet incorrectly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Blister Disease&#xA;  Blister disease occurs when a corn snake is housed incorrectly. It is caused by bacteria on the skin and scales, brought on by dirty living conditions and high humidity levels in a terrarium. If a snake has developed blister disease, the scales on his belly will turn yellow or brown, and he will develop a series of tiny white or yellow bumps. If left untreated, these bumps can quickly turn into lesions, open sores, and pustules, and recovery is unlikely at this point.&#xA;  If your snake develops signs of blister disease, a thorough terrarium cleaning is necessary. Remove all substrate, sterilize the entire terrarium, and move your corn snake into a hospital tank. You should also bathe him in warm water and put hydrogen peroxide on the infected areas. If this treatment is unsuccessful and his symptoms worsen, a trip to the vet is pertinent.&#xA;  From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petuniversity.com/reptiles/snakes/species/corn-snakes/health-care.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petuniversity.com/reptiles/snakes/species/corn-snakes/health-care.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Blister Disease&#xA;  Blister Disease can be avoided with proper husbandry, so make sure that you are providing the proper environment for your pet snake. Fluid-filled blisters will usually form on the underside of the snake when housed in dirty, moldy, and/or overly moist substrate. Don't mistake these blisters with burn blisters; these blisters may form a few at first but will quickly grow in number and become life threatening especially if they spread near the mouth, nose, or cloaca.&#xA;  The best treatment is to prevent it from developing. Keep the substrate clean and dray. Make sure to remove feces and urates. Frequently change the bedding. You can treat a one or two blisters at home by sterilizing a needle and piercing the blister; use a clean cotton swab or a bandage to absorb the fluid. Make sure to fluid the blisters twice a day with betadine or hydrogen peroxide and apply an antibiotic ointment. House the snake in a quarantine tank with paper towels until the blisters have healed.&#xA;  If there are multiple blisters and/or blisters that are in sensitive areas, consult a reputable vet asap.&#xA;  From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://whitney05.hubpages.com/hub/Common-Health-Problems-Snakes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://whitney05.hubpages.com/hub/Common-Health-Problems-Snakes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastActivityDate="2014-12-28T22:01:20.720" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7151" CreationDate="2014-12-28T22:51:53.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Negative reinforcement it a bit of a contentious issue. The key problem with it, is you can't always tell what a dog will associate the negative reinforcement with. For example - if you punish a dog for barking, are you convincing it to stop barking, or are you convincing it that the thing it's barking at actually was a threat all along. Or maybe you're convincing the dog that &lt;em&gt;you're&lt;/em&gt; the threat in this particular context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've got very little control, and that's why it's quite difficult. Positive reinforcement is much less of a problem, because you don't get the same kind of 'downward spiral'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why some trainers adopt Least Reinforcing Scenario instead. An LRS is a passive acknowledgement that you've seen whatever it is they're doing, with no approval. Seaworld discusses doing this here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-infobooks/animal-training/animal-training-philosophy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-infobooks/animal-training/animal-training-philosophy/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this is about killer whales, but similar principles apply to any animal training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The LRS has two parts. The first part is a consequence for incorrect behavior. This occurs when the trainer does not reinforce the animal for the incorrect behavior. The second part is a stimulus providing an opportunity for reward - for two to three seconds the trainer is relaxed and attempts no change in environment. (Changes in the environment may accidentally reinforce the behavior.) This brief time period is a stimulus to the animal to remain calm and attentive. This stimulus provides a new opportunity for reward. Following an LRS, the animal is reinforced for calm, attentive behavior. The animal may also receive an opportunity to perform another behavior that will result in reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like it might be what's being referred to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or slightly more entertainingly:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newsweek.com/how-train-husband-93617&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.newsweek.com/how-train-husband-93617&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2014-12-28T22:51:53.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7205" CreationDate="2014-12-28T23:53:24.043" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do I need to clip my dog's nails? What happens if I never clip my dogs nails, will they naturally stay short?  It is a large breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3383" LastEditorUserId="3383" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T23:57:17.137" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T23:57:17.137" Title="Why do I need to clip my dog's nails" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-29T00:06:45.873" Score="4" ViewCount="6649" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I adopted 3 fish. I adopted 1 danio fish and 2 danio GloFish for my 3 gallon (11 litres) tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 2 GloFish are as happy as can be in their new home, but I'm concerned about my normal danio. To make things easy, his name is Streek. He likes to hide behind my filter and sometimes next to the airstone in my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, he was laying on the gravel and we thought he might be sick. But this morning he was fine and he is fine now as well. He was playing out in the open earlier, but it seems in the evening he hides and what I'm guessing sleeps. During the day, like I said, he acts like he did before the people at the store took him out of his tank along with the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The GloFish are not aggressive. They come around Streek and try to get him to play with some luck, depending on his mood. Each fish is tiny and young. And they have tons of space to play and swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my danio supposed to act like this? Should I get him a buddy like him? Is he still getting used to his home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. There are plants for him to hide in, as well as an illuminated LED AirStone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3384" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T23:14:32.617" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T23:14:32.617" Title="My danio fish is hiding" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;danio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1240" CreationDate="2014-12-29T03:17:05.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot to user9 for taking time on his/her answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add some points as this theme worries me much.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Please, have in mind I'm not a native speaker so I may seem rude, condescending, etc. I'm sorry.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Some basic and important things to have in mind when considering whether to adopt a pet rabbit&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would advise not to have a rabbit as a pet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, as they can be very fragile (I've suffered it, in stress, sorrow and some hundreds of dollars, though we saved him and he's still with us). This is just my opinion, but moreover, they usually don't like to be cuddled, etc. as they are prey animals. They can be intelligent and know you, but are not as rich as a pet as a cat or a dog. Before having one, &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;one should consider if will really be able to do all of this (money spending included) for the next 8 to 12 years the rabbit can live&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pet rabbits can be extremely sensitive to any change in their environment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Just the fact of some workers making noise, or just painting in his area (be careful with intoxication too!), or leaving him in the care of a friend or family, &lt;strong&gt;can make them stop eating and die&lt;/strong&gt; (that's what happened to me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabbits usually chew every cable or similar thing they find&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, so one should either hide or protect them ALL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn how to grab and hold a rabbit so he doesn't break his neck trying to flee&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Drawings/photos on websites, YouTube, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One must know that &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;their digestive system is extremely fragile&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;it needs to be &amp;quot;constantly&amp;quot; working&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;If they stop eating for 24 hours or so for any reason and a vet doesn't treat them immediately&lt;/strong&gt; (and correctly), &lt;strong&gt;they will die because their digestive system won't work again&lt;/strong&gt;, and the hay inside the different cavities of his stomach will ferment and give way to gases that will inflate his stomach, which moreover is painful. So &lt;strong&gt;it's better not to wait too long if one notices something is wrong;&lt;/strong&gt; better to call the vet and explain what happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is very important to trim their nails&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (they can hurt, deform their paws' &amp;quot;fingers,&amp;quot; and what is said in another post about dangerous and painful sores: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3107/3385&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3107/3385&lt;/a&gt;) It's better to cut just a little bit than too much; &lt;strong&gt;not to approach too much the pink area (flesh inside the nail)&lt;/strong&gt;. If the rabbit is hurt by cutting the nerve, next time he will be terrified. Unless there's no choice, it's better to do it with the help of someone who holds him still and to transmit calmness to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is also very important to control the length of their teeth&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. About &lt;strong&gt;80-90% of their diet should be hay&lt;/strong&gt; (they must always have access to fresh hay they like). Hay erodes their teeth, which is what happens in nature. &lt;strong&gt;If they don't eat that much hay&lt;/strong&gt; (and many rabbits eat very little hay because they prefer to eat their pellets, etc.) &lt;strong&gt;their teeth can grow too much, hurt their mouth until they can't eat,&lt;/strong&gt; and as said if they spend a day without eating &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;their stomach stops moving and they'll die unless immediately treated by vets&lt;/strong&gt; (and many times they can't be saved).&lt;/em&gt; In extreme cases, if they keep eating somehow but the owner doesn't take them to the vet, &lt;em&gt;their teeth can even cut their tongue&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is why &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;their teeth should be controlled by the vet once a year until they are around 3 year old, and from then on they should be controlled each 6 months&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; to be sure this (and other problems) do not happen. If needed, the vet will reduce the length of their teeth by filing them down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if their teeth length is OK, &lt;strong&gt;little growths in some tooth sides may hurt their cheeks&lt;/strong&gt;, leading to a similar situation. &lt;em&gt;The vet will file down them.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not have a rabbit&lt;/strong&gt; (in fact, no mammal) &lt;strong&gt;on a cage with wire floor under their paws&lt;/strong&gt;. It would soon be painful and cause sores, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some fast reads:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit#Rabbits_as_pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit#Rabbits_as_pets&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/what-do-rabbits-eat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/what-do-rabbits-eat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3385" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:03:20.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7149" CreationDate="2014-12-29T08:54:00.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try playing with him before breakfast. Quoting Jackson Galaxy, cat instincts are &quot;hunt-catch-kill-eat&quot;, so play with him before breakfast, let him &quot;catch&quot; and &quot;kill&quot; his fave toy, then feed him. Then he'll be satisfied for a while, might go to sleep, and let you work for a couple of hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't give in when he wants to play but you're busy. If he remembers that he can distract you if he tries hard enough, he'll try even harder next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But generally, his obsession with his new toy seems unnatural. Either there's something extra in the toy besides catnip that's making him crazy, or you don't play with him enough and he's bursting from leftover energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T08:54:00.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7173" CreationDate="2014-12-29T10:15:20.760" Score="4" ViewCount="1144" Body="&lt;p&gt;this is my first time to have a pet rabbit. I bought them before christmas day. This past few days, the weather is very bad because of typhoon. I forgot to bring them inside our house so they are very wet and so their housing. My male rabbit now, is not eating and I found brown and watery substance in his butt. What should I do to this? There's no veterinary clinic here. I already wipe him, but he still giving off those brown substance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3387" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T11:45:46.043" Title="My rabbit is wet and not moving" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7171" CreationDate="2014-12-29T11:45:46.043" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to hear about your rabbit. A wet rabbit that is not eating is in a medical emergency.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the rabbit warm and dry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get food into the rabbit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After the rabbit is warm and fed, clean it's bottom with a little warm water (just on the dirty area, and dry them again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits&quot;&gt;posts here&lt;/a&gt; and learn more about keeping rabbits as pets. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make dry hay available, if your rabbit does not start eating some with in a few minutes, try offering a carrot, piece of fruit, or pureed vegetables like squash.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits that go 24 hours without eating tend to die, keeping food moving through them is critical during any illness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brown stuff on his butt is probably diarrhea, getting enough fiber in their diet is important as an important part of their diet is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; and having diarrhea disrupts that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783&quot;&gt;What should be in a rabbit first aid kit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2014-12-29T11:45:46.043" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-29T22:18:35.573" Score="2" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other day I was sitting in my lounge alone and my dog got up and started growling and barking at the air. She wouldn't stop whining and wouldn't take her eyes of this spot for ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can dogs see things that humans can't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3391" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:57:07.587" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T08:11:32.477" Title="Can dogs see things that humans can't?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2014-12-30T01:09:00.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine does that to cool down her body when it's a hot day or when she exercised too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specially because we trim down the belly fur during hot weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just likes the contact of her skin directly with the cold floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3311" LastActivityDate="2014-12-30T01:09:00.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2014-12-31T07:12:24.013" Score="3" ViewCount="8280" Body="&lt;p&gt;There aren't any large dogs in/around my place, except mine, and I wanted to know if it's common for a large/giant breed dog's butt to move (shake?) sideways when they are walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yEeQgon--Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Click to watch video on YouTube&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0TwPQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My Golden Retriever Walking&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(Click on the image to watch the video or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yEeQgon--Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yEeQgon--Y&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the video is my 4-year old male Golden Retriever. He's very healthy and fine otherwise. It's just me being concerned for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastEditorUserId="2699" LastEditDate="2015-01-01T18:39:19.177" LastActivityDate="2015-01-01T18:39:19.177" Title="Dog's behind moves sideways when walking; Is this common in large breeds?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7187" CreationDate="2014-12-31T13:14:16.300" Score="2" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ivy(?) bush in the garden has some black berries on it, are they safe for Guinea Pigs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j56wo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ivy plant&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2014-12-31T15:10:00.597" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T15:10:00.597" Title="Are these ivy berries poisonous to my guinea pig?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2014-12-31T15:05:06.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/hehe.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;English Ivy (&lt;em&gt;Hedera helix L.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.namethatplant.net/gallery/gallery_glossary.shtml?term=berry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MR3ZO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;English Ivy Berries&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nps.gov/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Park Service&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The leaves and berries of English ivy contain the glycoside hederin&#xA;  which may cause toxicosis if ingested. Symptoms include&#xA;  gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, hyperactivity, breathing difficulty,&#xA;  coma, fever, polydipsia, dilated pupils, muscular weakness, and lack&#xA;  of coordination. This feature also helps ensure effective seed&#xA;  dispersal by birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that description I think it's safe to assume that the plant is bad to feed to a guinea pig. I looked for a reference to it on a list of foods that are dangerous to guinea pigs and found it on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.happycavy.com/guinea-pig-dangerous-unsafe-foods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blog called Happy Cavy&lt;/a&gt; and on &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.petco.com/Content/Article.aspx?id=770&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the petco website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T15:05:06.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7184" CreationDate="2014-12-31T19:45:26.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is exhibiting some classic signs of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_dysplasia_(canine)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip Displasia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hip dysplasia is an abnormal formation of the hip socket that, in its&#xA;  more severe form, can eventually cause crippling lameness and painful&#xA;  arthritis of the joints. It is a genetic (polygenic) trait that is&#xA;  affected by environmental factors. It can be found in many animals and&#xA;  in humans, but is most commonly associated with dogs, and is common in&#xA;  many dog breeds, particularly the larger breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In dogs, the problem almost always appears by the time the dog is 18&#xA;  months old. The defect can be anywhere from mild to severely&#xA;  crippling, and can eventually cause severe osteoarthritis.[6]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is most common in medium-large pure bred dogs, such as&#xA;  Newfoundlands, German Shepherd Dogs, Retrievers (such as Labradors,&#xA;  Tollers, or Goldens), rottweilers and mastiffs, but also occurs in&#xA;  some smaller breeds such as spaniels and pugs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had 2 Pekingese that dealt with hip displasia their entire lives and other than occasionally needing to adjust themselves there was not problem they needed fixed.  But in the larger breeds it almost always leads to arthritis which can reduce your dogs quality of life.  You should begin talking with your dogs Vet about preventative things you can do to help delay the onset of any debilitating conditions.  It could be that your dogs hips are so bad that they may need reconstruction.  But that is something you will need to consult with your vet.  That said you probably have several years before you need to consider and major options.  But for now you should talk with your vet about ways you can help prevent the problems and maybe your dog will be able to avoid these effects altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2014-12-31T19:45:26.623" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7190" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-01T19:46:45.243" Score="4" ViewCount="13512" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eversince my dog was a puppy, my&#xA;parents did not allow him to sleep on the bed..and not even inside the bedroom (because of health issues). So every night he slept in the living room all by himself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay? I really want to sleep with him in my bed....I'm just worried that he is lonely and what if he feels he is not part of the family? He is already 3years old. He seems already used to it, but I don't want him to be lonely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this okay for my dog? Do you think he is lonely? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And usually, where do dogs sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3366" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T16:50:28.947" Title="Where should dogs sleep" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7190" CreationDate="2015-01-01T22:30:25.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think he's fine where he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Humans are pack animals too. But we all learn to sleep alone in our beds, rather than with our parents or siblings, without feeling very lonely or worrying that they don't like us. We know we'll see our family and friends when we wake up the next day. The dog has drawn the same conclusions, and may even feel that his preferred sleeping spot puts him &quot;on guard&quot; to protect the family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The health risks of having the dog in the bedroom are probably overstated -- if you're taking good care of the dog, living with it may actually be less likely to make you sick than living with your human family, since many diseases have trouble crossing from one species to another. There &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; some risk of fleas or other parasites crossing over, depending on what your dog is exposed to, but I'm not convinced that's much greater if the dog is sleeping with you than if he isn't. &lt;strong&gt;However,&lt;/strong&gt; the simple fact is that many adults really aren't comfortable with having animals sleep with their kids, and as long as it's their house they get to make the rules. When you're living on your own, you'll be able to make your own decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) This is speculation, but there may actually be some minor psychological benefit to the dog in &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; sleeping with you. Dogs are much happier when they know exactly what their status in the pack is -- who they are and aren't dominant over. Where they get to sleep shouldn't confuse that, but each rule that they have to follow and you don't helps them realize that you're allowed to boss them around, not the reverse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Answering the last question is difficult, since the answer can be different for every dog. Dogs sleep where they're allowed to sleep, just like you don't usually get to sleep in the living room or on the kitchen table even if you want to. Some people do let the dog sleep in the same room with them, though usually not in their bed. Some people believe that &quot;animals belong outside&quot; and insist that dogs should sleep in a doghouse even if they can come into the house during the day. Some dogs have dog beds (a cushion on the floor), others sleep in their travel crates (this is becoming more common), others curl up in a spot that's warm and not drafty, others (as I suggested above) pick a place where they can watch out for unexpected visitors. There really is no single answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-01-02T08:10:00.460" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T08:10:00.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7221" CreationDate="2015-01-02T04:48:34.447" Score="6" ViewCount="4047" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat which was a stray cat 10 years ago. No pee tray or litter tray was provided as she knows how to do her business in the toilet without any training from the 1st day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the problem is in the recent years my cat started peeing on the rug/carpet outside the toilet even the toilet is dry. The urine will seep through the carpet and wet the floor, eventually flowing all around the area which makes the whole kitchen very smelly. Occasionally she will even spray urine onto the refrigerator or on the carpet beside the refrigerator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that these post are quite similar for my problem in some way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7206/what-are-scents-which-cats-do-not-like&quot;&gt;What are scents which cats do not like?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6898/why-does-my-cat-go-to-the-toilet-at-the-same-time-as-i-do&quot;&gt;Why does my cat go to the toilet at the same time as I do?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three things that I could not figure out why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She loves to pee on the carpet outside the toilet when there is nobody around, even though the toilet is dry (my cat seems to be a good actor; she will always pee in the toilet when she knows that I am home, but ignores my mother or grandmother even when they caught her in the act; she seems to only care when I am around.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She loves to seek my attention when I am home, and &amp;quot;bring&amp;quot; me to the toilet to &amp;quot;over-see&amp;quot; to prove to me that she did go to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why does she only pee on the carpet but will 100% poop in the toilet even when the floor of the toilet is dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I could think of is that my cat loves me more than other family members as I am the one who took her in, takes care of most of her stuff, and hug her like a child every night before I go to bed. I will praise her everytime she goes to the toilet. Therefore she &amp;quot;respects&amp;quot; me and wants to prove to me that she a good cat doing her business in the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could possibly be the actual reasons?&#xA;Is there any ways that I could correct her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-06-06T22:09:36.930" Title="Why does my cat pee on the rug outside the toilet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19683" CreationDate="2015-01-02T06:34:07.847" Score="6" ViewCount="442" Body="&lt;p&gt;A freshwater dip is common practice to treat many parasites as well as a precaution before introducing new fish (especially wild caught).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's a freshwater dip?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Most marine fish prefer a salinity in the neighborhood of 1.024 ppm.  Smaller organisms are more sensitive to this requirement, especially sudden fluctuations; so we take freshwater that has similar parameters in every other regard (namely temperature and pH) and submerse the fish in it for a few minutes.  It's harmless to the fish but the other organisms cannot tolerate the hyposalinity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If this parameter shock is a viable method for treating marine fish, why is this not the case for freshwater?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T15:33:28.570" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T19:38:35.053" Title="Why is there no such thing as a &quot;Saltwater Dip&quot;?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7192" CreationDate="2015-01-02T06:51:42.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be a few reasons. She may have a urinary tract infection that makes urination painful and she associates the pain with the toilet. So she looks for another spot to pee. &#xA;There may be something that upsets her in the bathroom. Maybe she can here the sound of a strange cat from the bathroom window. So she doesn't want to pee in there. &#xA;Despite her never using a litter tray before, you might try putting one on the carpet where she likes to pee. Perhaps she'll use it. Then you can move it to a more convenient spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3402" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T06:51:42.187" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7224" CreationDate="2015-01-02T07:42:20.560" Score="4" ViewCount="1368" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves freeze-dry salmons. There's a particular brand of freeze-dry salmon for cats that my dad buys for her and she loves it. The pet shop that sells this treat ran out of stock of the cat's freeze-dry salmon, however they sell the exact same brand of freeze-dry salmon for dogs, in a package that looks exactly the same as the one for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before purchase, we asked the pet shop's assistant, who told us there's not much difference, as they are the same product from the same brand, and the difference is that the freeze-dry salmon that is meant for cats might be more salty than the freeze-dry salmon meant for dogs. After hearing this, we bought one packet for my cat, thinking less salt should be better for her instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We opened the new packet of freeze-dry salmon for dogs, and the only difference we spotted was the bite size of the treats; the smell, texture and crisp were the SAME. However, after one or two weeks of eating the treat meant for dogs, I noticed patches of fur had shed from both my cat's hind legs. Therefore, I bought freeze-dry chicken from another store, but she didn't like it as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I stop giving her the freeze-dried salmon that is meant for dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hB2ym.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;freeze-dry_01&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YN1zt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;freeze-dry_02&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-01-18T09:39:47.160" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T09:39:47.160" Title="Is there any impact if I give freeze-dry fish for dogs to my cat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7190" CreationDate="2015-01-02T08:44:24.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog is lonely, (s)he will give signs. Asking for attention, or even howling. If you receive these signs, one thing you can do is to put an old piece of your old clothing in the place where (s)he sleeps. Your dog will be comforted by the familiar smell.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also make sure the water bowl can be reached easily from where (s)he sleeps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where dogs sleeps depends on the owner; I've known several dogs who slept in the same room as their masters, although none of them were allowed on the bed. These cases never caused health issues. You should, however, consider health issues if there are allergies involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T08:44:24.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7190" CreationDate="2015-01-02T08:52:01.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;keshlam&lt;/em&gt; mentioned pretty much everything. However, I'd like to add a few more notes, also from personal experience with both cats and dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this okay for my dog? DO you think he is lonely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you've written I think it's fine for him. He isn't lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most dogs it's pretty obvious once they feel lonely, since they'll try to end this state either by starting to whine (e.g. getting attention) or simply trying to get to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got our dog as a puppy, he didn't allow me to go further than 2-3 meters from him, yet alone leaving the room and leaving him back. He'd immediately start to follow and start whining if he wasn't able to do so (e.g. closed door). If that didn't help, he started to howl (he's a Husky after all). Over time this became less of an issue for him. Now he's sleeping on his own next to the stairs or on the balcony. Knowing that I'm inside is enough for him to feel comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he'd still feel lonely, he wouldn't just sit it out. Dogs aren't like that. You can train dogs to stay alone for a while, but even then they do this because they know you'll be back. If they're unsure about this, they won't allow you to go silently (or leave you on their own) in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, since we don't know &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; you keep him where he's supposed to sleep: If you're able to sleep with an open door without your dog coming to you, he's perfectly fine with it. But even if he'd try to get to you it could have other reasons (like wanting to play, wanting some food, or just getting attention).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And usually, where do dogs sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's really hard to answer, since it depends on the individual dog and also his &quot;pack&quot;. Some dogs like to be on their own, others want to cuddle. In our case, the dog prefers to sleep alone, but sometimes, especially when it's very cold, he won't say no to some body contact. As long as your dog has freedom to move around (i.e. not inside a kennel), he'll pick a place that's comfortable for him. Don't worry too much about him being unhappy where he's sleeping. If he'd like to sleep somewhere else, he'd most likely do so (if able to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T08:52:01.243" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7193" CreationDate="2015-01-02T15:21:22.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with treating saltwater fish is that the medicines that will kill the microorganisms that are harming the fish will also kill the microorganisms that are helpful to the tank (e.g. the ones living in the sand and corals). So to counteract that, people have resorted to taking the fish out of the tank, and treating it in a quarantine tank, or &quot;dipping&quot; it in treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real concern with freshwater tanks, since there isn't a concern for microorganisms, is whether the medicine will harm any invertebrates, or possibly live plants, in the tank. Even if some types of treatments will harm them, the supply and demand for freshwater tank treatments is so high that there are plenty of different treatment methods to choose from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest thing to freshwater &quot;dipping&quot; I think would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0010P0ZJK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aquarium salt&lt;/a&gt;. But rather than dipping the fish into it, most people will add it directly into the tank since the average freshwater tank doesn't have anything that would be harmed by a small dose of the salt. So in a sense, there is a &quot;saltwater dip&quot; but there's no point in doing any actually dipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-01-02T15:21:22.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-02T15:44:34.457" Score="6" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a young male Husky/German Shepherd mixed breed. About a year old, pretty good size. Let's call him Tobias. He has a friend, an older male Alaskan Malamute, named Titan, who is about 5 years old. They stay in the home a good part of the day, and go out together about 3 times a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often when they are outside, Tobias will begin barking for long periods of time and for no apparent reason, which of course often ends up enticing Titan to bark as well. We moved into a pretty large neighborhood a few months ago and we are afraid we will start getting complaints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried to narrow it down to what causes Tobias to bark, but have not been very successful. Sometimes it is a passing pedestrian or bicycle, but even something so trivial as a newspaper page or plastic bag in the yard blowing in the wind will trigger the barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tobias gets excited very easily, although he is not mean. He won't even hurt cats in the house. Outside, he is on a zip line spanning about 30 yards. Titan is on a fixed line tied to a nearby tree. They are long enough for them to meet to play, or spread out of each other's reach. I drew a quick illustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AnC55.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tobias-titan&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous residence was on a farm, and they were staying outside pretty much all the time, in a large fenced area with a dog house big enough for both. I remember him barking at deer and other animals fairly frequently, which is behavior I would expect, as Titan did that as well before we got Tobias in there. The area was not close to the road and did not see much foot traffic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are not sure if it has to do with Tobias' breed, if he is just twitchy or if we need to change their positioning. Any suggestion as to how to change this behavior is highly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3403" LastEditorUserId="3403" LastEditDate="2015-01-02T22:11:18.820" LastActivityDate="2015-04-11T22:16:52.940" Title="How can I keep my dog from barking when I don't know what he's barking at?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7203" CreationDate="2015-01-02T20:35:42.777" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Domesticated dogs are considered the ancestors of a now-extinct species of wolf that had been domesticated years ago for the purpose of hunting. I found out from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5705/what-species-of-wild-rabbit-is-the-domestic-house-rabbit-descended-from&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; that domesticated rabbits come from a species in the Mediterranean raised for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what kind of domestication process cats followed; if it was something similar to how dogs became pets, or if it was something different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did the domestic cats we have today come about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T11:00:32.840" Title="Where do domesticated cats come from?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7200" CreationDate="2015-01-03T03:28:54.077" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The domestication of cats was a multi-step process like that of the dog coming from wolves. It seems to have taken place in the Fertile Crescent region of ancient Egypt. The friendliest of the wild cats would make a living by hanging out near human dwellings and killing the rats and mice that they found there. The humans offered additional food as a reward for their service. And so it went. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although domestication was evident about 10,000 years ago, genetic studies show that the &quot;wild cats&quot; that gave rise to domestic cats branched off from their even wilder brethren about 130,000 years ago. Here is an article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theguardian.com/science/2007/jun/29/genetics.sciencenews&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DNA research identifies homeland of the domestic cat&lt;/a&gt; published in The Guardian in March of 2014 as a reference that will take you through the whole deal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3402" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-01-03T11:00:32.840" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T11:00:32.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2015-01-03T11:13:58.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I immediately had to think of our Siberian Husky, who loves doing that, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, during summer he loves lieing down in some water or on marble surfaces. The increased surface contact clearly helps cooling off:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/i0NmZKJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rocky taking a cooling bath.&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;(He has his fourth leg below his belly since he's lacking space in there.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware there's no special meaning attached, unless his behind is still in the air (= &lt;em&gt;&quot;Play with me!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/SqfmRH3.png&quot; alt=&quot;Rocky wanting to play.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as he's not showing any other behavior (like being nervous, doesn't let you close, etc.) I wouldn't worry about it and it's mostly just comfortable in some way or another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you also mentioned trimming the fur: This might help, but it might actually hurt the dog as well. This heavily depends on the actual race as well as his environment (like temperatures).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2015-01-03T15:36:44.763" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T15:36:44.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7165" CreationDate="2015-01-03T11:39:52.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This heavily depends on the dog's breed and activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most dogs, it's enough to trim the dewclaw (i.e. the thumb nails on the front legs) in case they get too long. This is mainly to avoid the dog hurting itself by getting stuck with it for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people opt for a minor surgical operation to get them removed, but I wouldn't recommend it. Clipping them once every few months takes literally minutes and just some practice (special pliers for this are rather cheap and available at most pet stores). If you take your dog to a groomer and are unsure about this, just let them look after these as well. It should hardly make any difference regarding prices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The remaining nails usually shouldn't need any special attention and will wear naturally just by having the dog walk and run around on harder surfaces such as rock, dirt, wood or concrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can clip their tips in case the dog stays inside most of the day and/or doesn't have opportunities to wear them just by playing or running around (and they're getting too sharp/long).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T11:39:52.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26752" CreationDate="2015-01-03T13:48:36.833" Score="2" ViewCount="4322" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family has had a cat (a stray one) for about a year and a half, and there have never been any problems until now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently she decided to make some changes in her life and started to pee on a rug next to her litter box. She does use the litter box (which is clean) to pee and poop and just pees a little bit on the rug which is a meter away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were no changes in our lifestyle. She just made up her mind one day out of the blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not do that anywhere else in the house and just waits for us to put a clean rug to hop on it (usually when not supervised) and &quot;mark&quot; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not particularly interested in her philosophical reasons for this behavior but rather in a way to repel her from the rug. &lt;strong&gt;Are there any specific scents a cat does not like (bonus points if it is bearable for humans)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the great luck I have that she has chosen the bathroom rug as her secondary peeing target (and not a bed for instance) and that if I manage to move her away from the rug there might be a chance that she goes elsewhere, but I will try anyway (and divorce if this does not work; you guessed right, I am the one who lost the family vote when the cat was found :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T13:55:13.080" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T23:51:24.867" Title="What are scents which cats do not like?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7206" CreationDate="2015-01-03T15:42:08.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I wouldn't start trying to use any industrial or natural repellants for now. You might irritate it to a point where the cat no longer likes the whole bathroom (or wherever the litterbox stands).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a start, I'd try to see what happens if you just remove the rug without an replacement. I could imagine the rug just smelling &quot;right&quot; for the cat to leave a mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't work or it's looking for another mark, you could try to get some puppy training pads, which are usually used to get animals clean. Put it in place of the rug (or maybe even above it), and then start moving it closer to the litterbox day by day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some luck you might get the cat to no longer differentiate between the rug and the litterbox. Once that happens, you might start to reintroduce the rug, but start it further away (not where it's been) and also move it day by day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T15:42:08.947" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7231" CreationDate="2015-01-03T17:16:45.123" Score="3" ViewCount="3024" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello turtles masters :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;em&gt;20cm (shield) turtle&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;70L of water in aquarium&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFdel.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a filter I use &lt;em&gt;Repti Clear F350&lt;/em&gt; (276L/hour 6W).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also use &lt;em&gt;ReptoFresh&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ReptoSafe&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Even I clean the filter almost every day (it get dirty fast) water can be pretty dirty in a week. I don't wanna change water every week. I have read some articles in which people  change water every second week, but some of them change it only once a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Is there something I can do in order to keep from doing water changes every week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if I should be using a different filter or caring for it differently?&#xA;Would adding any natural &quot;filters&quot; like plants or even fish (which could not be eaten by my turtle) help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastEditorUserId="3407" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T16:38:59.430" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:03:03.007" Title="How can I reduce my need to do a water change on my turtle's habitat?" Tags="&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7206" CreationDate="2015-01-03T21:13:00.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Standard smells for this situation would include citrus and lavender. But note that any smell needs to be applied with care in order not to taint the whole room. You really do not want to make the litter box undesirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else you might try (although it sounds like it might be a bit late for that): If the cat approaches the mat/gets ready to pee there, make loud noises and/or spray the cat with some water. Every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="404" LastActivityDate="2015-01-03T21:13:00.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7233" CreationDate="2015-01-04T12:37:02.253" Score="2" ViewCount="4969" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my turtle I use two bulbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IR to make nice warm place for my turtle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;UV to get vitamin D and kill some bacteria.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What time should the bulbs be ON (from - to)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:13:00.553" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T23:56:57.847" Title="How many hours should lights be on for a turtle?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7214" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-04T23:22:28.597" Score="3" ViewCount="819" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1-year old female fennec fox which I brought home from the wild when she was only a few days old. I was not around for most of this time so she was kept isolated from people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm in the situation where she hides from me, and will bite at me if I try to touch her. She'll take food from my hand, but will then run away with it to eat it in hiding. Normally I feed her at night, not by hand, and not special food (mostly chicken meat, dates, and similar home cooked food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She isn't raised in a cage and has been fed well. I haven't taken her to a vet or training specialist yet, I was hoping this would be something that I could improve on my own without the need for one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that I can do myself to get her to be more friendly towards me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2995" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T16:45:15.003" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T16:45:15.003" Title="How can I make my Fennec Fox more tame?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;fox&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T01:29:31.497" Score="2" ViewCount="2397" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am using this BioGance cat shampoo for my cat. However since I did not need to bathe my cat that frequently (usually once every 2-3 months depending if she needs a bath), I found that the shampoo to be expired on Sept 2014. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I continue using it? Will there be any side effects (harmful)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the shampoo I am using:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JXKAp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;BioGance Cat Shampoo&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="3401" LastEditDate="2015-01-29T02:55:40.253" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T02:55:40.253" Title="Can expired cat shampoo still be use?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7206" CreationDate="2015-01-05T01:43:30.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that I had a similar experience as you. My cat knows how to pee in the toilets since the first day she stayed in my house. However, she started peeing on the rug just outside of the toilets and keeps doing this whenever no one is looking; she will run away and hide if caught &quot;red-handed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure why cats love to mark their scent near the area they used to pee. The solution we implement is to apply Dettol spray to the area and she will avoid that rug till the scent of the Dettol wears off. You can also try lemon-grass spray, which has a very strong smell that cat dislikes and is bearable for humans. There are also rug deodorant sprays that can be purchase from pet stores to remove the scent of the pets' urine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-03T23:51:24.867" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T23:51:24.867" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2015-01-05T01:43:30.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7239" CreationDate="2015-01-05T02:10:35.433" Score="4" ViewCount="3785" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I clean the gravel at the bottom?  Stirring the bottom with gravel vac raises clouds of gunk, so I wonder if its better to remove fish while cleaning or leave them in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a newbie, have a 3 week-old fish tank (5gal Fluval Edge) with four neon tetras.  They only eat food as its falling -- not from the surface, not once it touches the bottom.  Plus it took a while for them to start eating.  So some food particles have accumulated within blue gravel at bottom, as well as other gunk.  I think cleaning the gravel is called for (now? later?)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question below is about cleaning gravel out of a tank. Videos I see show much larger tanks.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6484/what-is-the-safest-way-to-clean-fish-gravel/6498#6498&quot;&gt;What is the safest way to clean fish gravel?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3409" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T14:34:05.987" Title="Remove fish when cleaning gravel?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6761" CreationDate="2015-01-05T03:54:24.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does your cat vomit, or has it tried vomiting recently? If he/she does, it might be a result of excessive hairballs, as constipation for cats might also be caused by excessive hairballs. In my case, I have tried giving my cat some Hairball &amp;amp; Laxatives and Hairball remedies, and it works well. For a safer and cheap remedy, try giving your cat some cat grass or wheat grass to clear the hairballs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As what the previous answer suggests, it is good to constantly supply your cat with clean water and not too many dry treats if he/she is getting older. Veterinarians suggest that it's more efficient for cats to absorb water from wet food rather than just water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T14:10:21.540" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T14:10:21.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6238" CreationDate="2015-01-05T07:05:31.260" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of keeping the chives away from the balcony, I do think that you should confine your cat from the balcony. From the photo in the post, the cat was sitting on the balcony which is very dangerous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Animal abusers may give it a push&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Cats do commit suicide when stressed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, the risk of putting your cat beside the balcony is higher then getting poisoned by eating the chives. Hope this helps. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T07:05:31.260" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6204" CreationDate="2015-01-05T07:45:43.313" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Oldcat is correct. In the wild, wild cats like the leopard take care and teach their cubs to hunt; once the cubs reach a certain age, the mother will force the cubs to leave. When the mother is pregnant again with a second batch of cubs, she will attack her offspring (any of her cubs from her previous litters) and treat them as a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike humans, where we recognize all from our families, cats do not, and it is their natural instinct to protect only their current litter, as the cub/kitten has the smell of their mother. Kittens/cubs who have left their mother for a period of time and return will not have the scent that their mother would recognize and thus will not be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:14.140" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:02:14.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7192" CreationDate="2015-01-05T09:28:36.930" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding options to the previous answer, which is absolutely correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat was a stray 10 years ago, she's obviously over 10 y.o. Which means she's not exactly young anymore. Many mature and ageing cats (and not only cats) develop joint problems and other conditions that make it harder to move. In cats' case, it means that with age it becomes harder to jump (among other things), and at some point it might become too hard/painful to jump onto the toilet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, get her a litter box, like the previous answer suggested. Actually, get her one anyway, because she's not getting any younger, and even if she doesn't develop joint problems at all, it won't hurt to be prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might be separation anxiety. She thinks she doesn't get enough attention from you, so she's acting up. I had this problem with my first cat, she even peed on my bed regularly (urgh).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case either spend more time with her (but cats can be very demanding), or make sure that she's properly entertained when you're away. Ask your mother and grandmother to play with her, leave toys for her, leave her some of your worn clothes to lie on (the last one helped in my case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I would get her to a vet first. UTI (urinary tract infection) and bladder crystals can be very serious problems (my older cat has both, and both chronic, so I'm speaking from experience), so first of all make sure she doesn't have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T09:28:36.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T13:36:39.847" Score="2" ViewCount="2359" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two existing questions and answers &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2373/&quot;&gt;What are the &amp;quot;points&amp;quot; in my rabbit&amp;#39;s mouth that my vet is referring to?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt; talk a little bit about rabbits teeth growing.  We know from experience the people get dental cavities, and it seems that most pets can as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How fast do a rabbits teeth grow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to be concerned about dental cavities, or do their teeth grow faster than a cavity can form? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T02:36:47.507" Title="How fast do rabbits teeth grow, is it faster the cavities?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7195" CreationDate="2015-01-05T15:15:09.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the manufacturer has a website you may be able to find the ingredients list for both versions there, or ask them this question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that there's some difference in ingredients which she's allergic to; sometimes cats who are itchy will over-groom an area. And some cats do have allergies to some fish. It would be easy to stop giving this treat for a while and seeing if that makes a difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also note that over-grooming can be an indication that the animal is stressed for other reasons -- a &quot;nervous habit&quot; -- so you may want to think about whether anything else in her environment has changed recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as other recommendations goes: I have no idea what brands are available in Singapore, so I'd suggest you ask your vet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T15:15:09.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T15:37:17.487" Score="2" ViewCount="13701" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is unable to eat for the last 1 week.  I don't know what the problem is, but her mouth is drooling a lot.  She is also unable to clean herself.  I guess there is some problem in her mouth, but I do not understand what it is.  I am planning to take her to the vet, but it's difficult to take her, so if I can get a home remedy, then that would be easier, or at least can someone suggest what the problem is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3419" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-01-05T21:50:49.677" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T03:53:13.400" Title="Why is my cat drooling and unable to eat food and clean itself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T17:34:58.297" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my cat a combination of dry and canned cat food.  The brand of canned food I use comes in several varieties, including an &quot;indoor&quot; formula which is supposed to contain higher fiber and lower fat than the regular.  I have been using this as the default variety, interspersed with the other flavors.  However, my cat has recently started refusing to eat the indoor variety, though she still eats the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why might this change have occurred?  Is there any way I can convince her to accept the indoor variety again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I noticed that she had thrown up one morning a couple of weeks ago. Could she be associating this negative experience with the particular flavor of cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T15:14:41.670" Title="How can I get my cat to resume eating her regular food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7238" CreationDate="2015-01-05T19:44:00.827" Score="4" ViewCount="1330" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to give my rats branches cut off disposed Christmas trees?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a huge pile outside my apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T13:10:26.693" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T13:10:26.693" Title="Can I give my rats bits of Christmas tree to chew?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7225" CreationDate="2015-01-05T19:48:12.327" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not enough information provided to get a diagnosis.  &lt;strong&gt;This appears to be an animal in direct distress.  You need to take the cat to the veterinarian immediately&lt;/strong&gt; for diagnosis and treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no home remedy we can supply on this forum that would resolve your issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take your cat to the vet immediately&lt;/strong&gt;, especially if the cat has not eaten for this long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-01-05T21:49:43.757" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T21:49:43.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-05T19:56:22.973" Score="7" ViewCount="3476" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're building a tunnel to allow our cat to enter / exit a master suit (bedroom + bathroom) when the door's closed. How should I think about the right size to allow the cat to go through the tunnel comfortably? The tunnel isn't very long but it's long enough that the cat will have to walk several steps through the tunnel (it's not a step through), and navigate a 90 degree turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's very small for an adult cat - but we might get bigger cats later, so this should be sized for any average cat (maybe not the largest of Maine Coons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3423" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-15T11:12:14.737" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T11:12:14.737" Title="What is the right height &amp; width for a cat's tunnel?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7208" CreationDate="2015-01-05T20:43:31.803" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to &lt;em&gt;reduce&lt;/em&gt; the frequency of water changes for your turtle. Just keep in mind there is no running away from water changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have an efficient biological filter:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This very obvious way is probably the most important. I'm not particularly sure about the filter you have, but essentially in turtle tanks you want to cycle the water at &lt;em&gt;least&lt;/em&gt; three times an hour, so since you're keeping the turtle in a 70L aquarium, you need a pump that cycles 210L per hour. Keep in mind many pumps just claim to cycle that much, so as long as the intake doesn't disrupt your turtle, the stronger the better. Also make sure your filter has efficient bio media like ceramic rings and bio balls. Sponge only filters usually don't do too much biological filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase your water volume:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;This is something I personally really want to point out because it won't only help you with your water changes but it'll be of greater service to your turtle. Get a bigger tank; the bigger the tank, the more diluted the wastes are, and the less the need for water changes. The rule of thumb is 10 gallons of water for every inch of turtle shell. I like to further specify to surface area, since the depth of the water isn't direly important to turtles: at least 600cm squared per inch of turtle shell. I understand that larger tanks are pricy, but the turtle doesn't really care if it's an aquarium; it may as well be any water holding container like a kiddie pool or a stock tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not overfeed:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Turtles will beg for food all day; they are very opportunistic and will eat everything you offer them. Instinct tells them to snatch every chance because, at least in the wild, they never know when the next meal is coming. Not only will overfeeding dirty up your tank quickly, but it is also unhealthy for  the turtle, leading to hygienic issues and organ failure.&#xA;Just a note here, adult turtles should not be fed daily, you can feed the turtle 3-4 times a week. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have some aquatic plants:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Aquatic plants consume chemicals toxic to turtles, unfortunately for you, it is going to be very hard to grow them in a small tank with a potentially ravenous turtle. Getting a bigger enclosure, again, will not only dilute wastes and give room to your turtle, but it will also potentially enable you to grow some aquatic plants and have other organisms in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do partial water changes:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;You can Instead of changing the water completely every two weeks or so, change, 20% of the water every few days. And about the once a year change, that isn't  an option, whoever said he does so, is either wrong, or has a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; large enclosure with a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; efficient filter. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feed the turtle in a separate container:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;You can just have a relatively small bowl or container to feed the turtle in. You can just fill it with some water and offer your turtle some food. And in order to change some water in the process, you can take the water from the tank and replace it. That way you'll be doing gradual water changing too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for adding fish, the turtle will probably eat them all, especially if it sees you dropping it in the tank, it's likely to directly consider it food. And if it doesn't, it might hunt it down when it's bored or hungry. Not to forget that fish produce their own wastes too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As a side note, make sure the lamp you have for the turtle is a UV lamp as it is essential for the turtles health, also, don't clean the filter media too often or vigorously as I hear it may remove some nitrifying bacterial cultures from there.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2015-01-09T14:51:33.580" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T14:51:33.580" CommentCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7230" CreationDate="2015-01-05T21:00:04.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A determined cat can get through just about any space they can get their head through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest wandering out to a large pet store and seeing what size they make the openings/tubes on various kitty condos, or websearching that. Or websearching videos of cats getting through/into small things, though you can lose a week to that once you start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why tunnel? Why not the standard cat-flap approaches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-05T21:00:04.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7211" CreationDate="2015-01-05T21:16:51.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first, let's briefly discuss the UV spectrum. The UV spectrum is split into three parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;UV-A, which is basically heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;UV-B, necessary for vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; synthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;UV-C, the harmful part of the spectrum mostly filtered out by the ozone layer. This spectrum is sometimes used to kill harmful bacteria and microorganisms in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before specifying the times, I'd like to suggest a plan of the lighting you could have for your turtle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A UV-B mercury vapor bulb at the basking spot, the UV-B will enable your turtle to synthesize vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, essential for its health, but &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;won't kill any bacteria&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, UV-C is used to kill the bacteria in water. And in case you didn't know, not all bacteria in the water are harmful, some are necessary for the biological filtration in the tank. You can also have a fluorescent over the whole enclosure so the turtle gets some UV-B while swimming near the top. You should have these &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A UV-A at the basking spot, this will provide heat for the thermoregulation of the turtle. I actually don't know why you can't use a heat producing infrared fixture instead, but turtles naturally generate heat from the UV-A part of the spectrum. This also has to be off during nighttime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some lamps produce both UV-A and UV-B&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And finally an infrared ceramic heat lamp. This is the only lamp you can turn  on at night. Even though it's not necessary, it's good to have in case the turtle wanted to warm up during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of how long you should keep them on or off, you should seek to pursue the natural cycles, so naturally, when the sun rises, the UV lamps should be on. You can turn the UV lamps longer in the summer since then days are longer, and vice versa in the winter months. You can keep the UV lamps on for 14 hours during the summer and 10 hours in the winter, though twelve by twelve shouldn't be detrimental. And since we're on the topic of temperature, make sure you have an aquarium thermostat that keeps the water at an appropriate temperature.  There are also some commercially available electrical plugs which you can set up to automatically turn on and off in a constant cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T23:56:57.847" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T23:56:57.847" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7250" CreationDate="2015-01-05T23:12:56.410" Score="7" ViewCount="18402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Bamboo in my backyard with lots of good growth all year round. I want to know if the leaves and shoots can be eaten by rabbits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have any rabbits yet, but I am trying to scope out the concept on whether I can make it feasible to purchase a hutch and raise a few in a more cost efficient manner using the growth I currently have in my yard. And of course using the rabbit manure to fertilize my plants also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-01-08T00:19:29.013" LastActivityDate="2017-10-16T02:18:35.300" Title="Are bamboo leaves nutritious or poisonous to rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-06T04:01:59.900" Score="4" ViewCount="768" Body="&lt;p&gt;I met my cat 11 years ago near my flat, where she was with a kitten which had yet open eyes. I am curious about the age of my cat as my mother told me that it is common for cats to give birth to only one or two kittens from her 1st litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am guessing if that is her 1st litter of kitten (only one), and I had adopt her for 11 years, what will be her current age. So what would be the approximate age when a cat can get pregnant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-07T01:21:53.007" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T01:21:53.007" Title="At what age can a Cat get pregnant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7235" CreationDate="2015-01-06T05:08:42.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Humane Society website says &quot;Cats can become pregnant as young as five months of age.&quot; I presume that's a general lower limit, with most cats either maturing or not becoming pregnant during their first heat or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-01-06T16:12:03.077" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T16:12:03.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7157" CreationDate="2015-01-06T09:10:38.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shell will always look deformed, but it can in time and with proper care look better. You need to increase the tortoises calcium intake. You should take the tortoise to a vet if you can, as they can inject it with enough calcium, and point out other problems too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some ways you can administer calcium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed the tortoise a variety of calcium rich greens. &lt;em&gt;Never&lt;/em&gt; feed the tortoise any meat, the only treats should be fruit. Grape leaves, dandelion greens, collard greens and other calcium rich, oxalic acid low greens should be the main part of the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Offer commercial calcium blocks. Such as cuttlebone or a mixture of cacti and cuttlebone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dust the food with a reptile calcium supplement. You can also dust it with some crushed cuttlebone or egg shells. But you can expect the reptile calcium supplement to be the most effective, especially if it has added vitamin D3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the tortoise is getting enough UV-B. uv-b is essential to the health of most reptiles (and other animals for that matter), make sure you have a working and &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;powerful&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; UV lamp at this stage. And you should consider taking the tortoise out for some time when the weather is warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Provide a spacious enclosure with an &amp;quot;exercise area&amp;quot;. Make sure the tortoise has a naturalistic and capacious enclosure. And make an area inside where the ground isn't level all around and the tortoise will put more effort into walking. Tortoises (especially the larger ones) need strong legs to hold their weight up and protect them from predators. The limbs need to be exercised and calcium should be provided. Also make sure you have a hiding spot, and ample humidity in the enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reconsider the diet. Tortoises need a high calcium and fibre, low protein diet. Make sure you sparingly use greens high in oxalic acid, and preferably not use them at all at this stage. Spineless cactus, globe mallow, dandelion greens, hibiscus, collard greens and such fibre and calcium rich greens should form the main part of the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope your tortoise does well, people usually think the relatively low price tag that comes along with a tortoise means it's cheap to maintain, and the advice they get doesn't help. Please tell me how the tortoise does in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T09:46:19.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7228" CreationDate="2015-01-06T11:30:50.757" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pine and Cedar are generally considered toxic to Rats (&lt;em&gt;and many small mammals&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pine should not be used as bedding&lt;/a&gt; by extension they should not be offered as chew toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several home remedies &lt;a href=&quot;http://mythbustersresults.com/special10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;most don't work&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; for keeping needles on trees, and you have no idea what methods may have been used on the trees that have been disposed of.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/woods-bad-rats-chew-6223.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many woods can be harmful for a rat to chew on&lt;/a&gt;, so making healthy choices on behalf of your rat is important. (&lt;em&gt;still looking for a really good reliable reference, on best rat wood chews&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T11:30:50.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7217" CreationDate="2015-01-06T13:17:20.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cleaning gravel can be tricky, so this is actually a good question.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In short- you can leave the fish in the tank- just watch what you put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as far as way to clean gravel goes, here are some of my answers: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This best approach is, as mentioned before, to look at your tank as &#xA;an ecosystem. In the natural environment there would be loads of&lt;br&gt;&#xA;other decomposers and bugs to take care of the gunk piling up.&#xA;Snails and bottom feeders are great for this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stirring up the gravel could help your filter do the work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could then also ultimately remove the gravel from the tank and clean it, but take caution: Any chemical can obviously be harmful to your&#xA;animals. Clean the gravel in fresh water with as little chemicals as&#xA;you can  (I've heard of people who took out gravel, bleached their&#xA;gravel and then put it back and killed off all their fish). I really&#xA;recommend just doing this mechanically, scrubbing them in a cloth&#xA;can work. Then leave to dry out in the sun (The sun will also help&#xA;bleach the stones and kills algae). Then rinse off in fresh water&#xA;again. Then, like with new water, introduce the clean gravel little&#xA;bit by little bit. It's a pain and there are probably better ways, but it's safe.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2463" LastEditorUserId="2463" LastEditDate="2016-01-20T04:55:20.330" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T04:55:20.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-06T15:53:14.800" Score="2" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone from extreme heat regions like the Phoenix AZ area have suggestions or thoughts on keeping and raising rabbits here?  I read through the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2802/3424&quot;&gt;&quot;how I can keep a rabbit cool&quot;&lt;/a&gt; thread wanted to know if there were more insight for those of us who live in climate zones that can get up to 112F during the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was looking to purchase some 'Californian' species of rabbits, are they more adapted to these dry &amp;amp; heat conditions of my area?  They would end up being in outdoor hutches and so any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.  Maybe this idea is a No-Go for my climate...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T15:53:14.800" Title="Keeping rabbits cool in extreme heat regions" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2015-01-08T11:22:33.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2800" CreationDate="2015-01-06T18:33:25.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to point out some other options I came across for cooling off rabbits in extreme heat, while the webpage does not refer to rabbits as Pets directly it does discuss solutions to cooling off rabbits that I do not see mentioned here including using Misters (a very common practice for cooliing animals and humans here in Phoenix).  Also setup your hutches so they are under trees, this way there is no direct sunlight on the the hutch roofs radiating a high temperature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azrabbits.com/useful-information/dealing-with-heat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is the web page with other thoughts on dealing with heat when raising rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastActivityDate="2015-01-06T18:33:25.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-06T20:02:01.843" Score="4" ViewCount="4187" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's a ~12 week old rescue, and his ears look a bit mangy. He's going to the vet in about a week, but I'm wondering if it's necessary to take him sooner, especially since we've adopted another rescue kitten who might be vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's important, he's got an upper respiratory infection and is on antibiotics and L-Lysine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/11Z8f.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/11Z8f.jpg&quot; width=&quot;325&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6373.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6373.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6372.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6372.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6374.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6374.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Click on images for full size)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these signs that my kitten has ear mites?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update, a year later: It was ringworm, not ear mites. Successfully treated with a (terrible, stinking, staining, but effective) lime sulfur dip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3426" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T06:44:38.803" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T06:44:38.803" Title="Do my kitten's ears look like they have mites?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7246" CreationDate="2015-01-07T07:22:21.517" Score="9" ViewCount="1221" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thepetbeastro.com/2012/07/15-foods-to-avoid-feeding-your-dog-or-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;15 Foods to avoid&lt;/a&gt;, it states that diary products should not be allow for cats and dogs. However, has an exception for plain yogurt and cottage cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BfJBw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to give my cat the leftover yogurt on the surface of the cup (not plain, eg. Aloe Vera yogurt), and she enjoyed it. This is to give her some probiotic for digestion as she's getting old. Sometimes she will get soft stool the next day, but did not vomit. I thought this will be good since she tend to have very  hard stool. Does this mean that it is safe for cats to digest minimial amount of such yogurt? Is it &lt;strong&gt;harmful&lt;/strong&gt; to them in any way??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:40.897" Title="Can my cat have yogurt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2015-01-07T07:38:45.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had fostered 1 rescue cat with 4 of her kittens (around 8 weeks old) before. As they were from factories areas, there were a lot of mites and ticks on their body and inside their ears. In order to prevent my own house cat to get infected as well, we isolate this family from my cat. The ear of the kittens looks exactly the same as the ear of the kitten shown in the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the vet is close for the weekend, and we need a temporary solution (seems the same as yours, as your kitten will only be visting the vet after a week)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The temporary solution before visting the vet:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My mother used some tick comb to remove the ticks on their body, and&#xA;  used cotton wool dipped with a bit of &lt;strong&gt;Sesame Oil&lt;/strong&gt; to wipe off the&#xA;  mites inside their ears (Noted: Just use a little of seasme oil will do, else your cat's ear will be very oily; No worries, the smell will wear off after few days). Using of sesame oil is not an old myth as it&#xA;  really works perfectly! Though I am not quite sure of the real reason&#xA;  behind, but my mother explained that the reason of using Sesame Oil is&#xA;  because bugs such as mites and ticks &quot;dislike&quot; the smell and will&#xA;  &quot;flee&quot; away from the area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We brought this family to the vet for health checks and vaccination&#xA;  before bringing them to the shelter; and the veterianarian give them&#xA;  some ticks removal spray to fully remove the ticks and the eggs of the&#xA;  ticks from their body. &lt;strong&gt;However I am not sure if the tick removal&#xA;  spray is applicable to your kitten&lt;/strong&gt; as it has  upper respiratory&#xA;  infection. It is still the best for you to consult your veterianarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="3401" LastEditDate="2015-01-08T02:18:30.660" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T02:18:30.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-07T08:06:51.907" Score="2" ViewCount="2181" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looked like the largest one was keen for a while, because he gave them love bites. I read online that was normal but today I noticed the whole foot was gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're Murray river turtles, and there is 1 male and 2 female in a 6ft long tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to take care of the turtle missing the foot and prevent this from happening again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3430" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-07T15:05:53.450" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T18:55:25.077" Title="I came home from work and one of my turtles was missing a foot. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7243" CreationDate="2015-01-07T09:42:47.187" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure it can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, dogs and cats react similarly to humans on dairy products: Some can eat them just fine, others will get diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So they're essentially lactose intolerant or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoghurt and cottage cheese are an exception, since they contain very low amounts of lactose (since it's destroyed by the bacteria during production).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you may feed your dog or cat some milk, cheese or yoghurt. If it starts getting (significant) diarrhea from it, stop it, if not, then everything is fine. It's basically one of those &quot;stay away and you're on the safe side&quot; things to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as the article mentions (and it's the same for humans): Don't buy that yoghurt just because it says it's got valuable bacteria in there or whatever special effects. It's really minimal, especially considering that stuff has to survive being digested as well. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if your cat (or dog) has a very hard stool, you might want to try adding a teaspoon of oil to their food (e.g. canola oil for dogs; not sure about cats). If you're unsure, ask your vet, as not all kinds of oil are similarly healthy for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-18T05:40:40.897" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:40.897" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-07T16:56:56.893" Score="4" ViewCount="2530" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a black colour Labrador dog, 2 years old. In the past 2 weeks, my dog has been suffering from furuncles in his paws (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/integumentary_system/interdigital_furunculosis/overview_of_interdigital_furunculosis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interdigital furunculosis&lt;/a&gt;). This starts with a redness of skin and becomes a big ulcer full of puss which burst after some days. What should I do for the cure of the furuncles? Please tell about the antiseptics and precautions which I should keep in my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3434" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-07T17:09:45.820" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T17:24:16.567" Title="How can I help my dog's furuncles?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7247" CreationDate="2015-01-07T17:24:16.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interdigital furunculosis can have many causes, and the treatment will vary depending on what the cause of the cysts is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only your vet can diagnose the cause of the cysts and prescribe the correct treatment. I recommend calling your vet to schedule an appointment. The correct treatment will likely involve &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caring for the wounds in your dog's paws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Systemic antibiotic/antifungal therapy (i.e. medications given orally)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Extreme cases, or when a foreign body is present) surgery  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First Aid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet cannot see you immediately, it appears that you can use wet compresses (boil a cloth in a pot of water, pull it out, and &lt;strong&gt;once it is cool&lt;/strong&gt; place it on the affected area for 10-15 minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to use triple antibiotic ointment (often called Neosporin in the US), but if any of the bacteria are resistant (becoming more common) then the ointment will make the infection worse. Mupircin is recommended in those cases, but it's only available through prescription in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T17:24:16.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7245" CreationDate="2015-01-07T18:55:25.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aggression from males towards prospective mates is normal amongst more reptiles. The problem is that in captivity, a female unwilling to mate can be bullied endlessly and has practically nowhere to go but in the tank. So I suppose your female really did not want to mate but your male was persistent enough to bite her leg of. You really need to keep the turtles separated at this point, and you need to schedule a visit to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, you need to make sure there is no bleeding. Your turtle may be in shock too. To slow down bleeding, cool the turtle down. If you are unable to visit a vet for now, keep the turtle on a cool dry towel for the first 24-48 hours. You need to clean the wound once the turtle calms down and the bleeding stops. Clean the wound with some betadine and clean water. From then you can place the turtle in clean shallow water and give it the opportunity to bask. Or you can dry dock the turtle, but be sure to place the turtle in water for some time and offer food daily. The turtle may reject to eat and that's OK just keep trying until she eats. If there is an infection, oozing, or puss, contact a veterinarian. Not doing so will cause septicemia, or blood poisoning. If not treated quickly this can kill your turtle. Aggressive antibiotic treatment is required to cure septicemia, and only your vet can offer that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep cleaning the wound frequently and leaving the turtle in its state until you're sure the wound is healed. It is way more preferable to visit a vet, but if you are entirely unable to do so then these procedures can help you save your turtle. I recommend keeping the male alone, and if you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; need to put them together, provide a hiding place the male can't access, and monitor very closely. If you notice persistent aggression again then you need to separate them for good. The recommended male to female ratio is at least 1:3. The more females per male the better. If both females don't want to mate with your male he will resort to hurtful aggression, so more females will ensure your male won't exhaust a particular female, and hurt her like he did now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope your turtle heals, please tell me how it goes in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2015-01-07T18:55:25.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7234" CreationDate="2015-01-08T00:06:44.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Foods to avoid feeding your rabbit:&#xA;  Beets (sugary), Breakfast cereals, Chocolate (NEVER give this to any pet - it is poisonous to most), Corn (rabbits can't digest the hulls of the corn kernels), Diatomaceous Earth - this is made from finely ground shells, and even the highest quality can have edges which act like razor blades against the thin lining of a rabbits stomach lining. Do not use for food or litter,Fresh peas, Grains, Green beans (can cause gas),&#xA;  Iceberg lettuce (and any light green lettuce leaves - they are high in water content but low in nutrients and may cause diahrrea) - can be gven in small amounts or when you have no other greens to offer, but watch the output for soft stools, Legumes, Nuts, Onions, Pelleted food with seeds mixed in (it's a treat to the bunnies but the seeds cause stomach problems), Potatoes (white or red), Seeds of any kind, Starches of any kind,&#xA;  Sugar, in any form (small quantities of treats are allowed, but no more than a tablespoon of fruit or raisins or anything containing any types of sugar)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Foods that are toxic to rabbits: &#xA;  Note: do not allow your rabbit to eat dried leaves from any trees - too many types are very toxic and some can cause cyanide poisoning (this includes specifically apple tree leaves, oak leaves, maple leaves, etc). If you allow your rabbit an outdoor run, please clear the area of leaves as the rabbit may find them very tasty, but they are very dangerous!!&#xA;  Foods that contain compounds that destroy nutrients:&#xA;  Sweet potato, Cassava, Bamboo shoots, Maize, Lima beans, Millet, Bracken fern, Tea leaves, Coffee plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally toxic:&#xA;  Rhubarb leaves, Raw lima, kidney or soy beans, Onions, Citrus peels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oxalates (causes pain and swelling of mouth and throat, swollen tissue can restrict breathing or cause suffocation.)&#xA;  Begonia, Caladium, Calla lily, Diffenbachia, Dumbcane, Jack in the pulpit, Philodendron, Schefflera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Minor Toxicities (causes vomiting, diarrhea, nausea)&#xA;  Aloe vera, Amaryllis, Bird of paradise, Birch, Boxwood Cedar, Chrysanthemum, Daffodil, Daisy, Eucalyptus, Galiola, Hydrangea, Haycinth, Iris, Juniper, Redwood tree, Rananculus, Sweet pea, Sweet william, Violas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Extremely Toxic (one leaf can kill)&#xA;  Angels Trumpet, Azalea, Black Acacia and Locast, Bleeding Heart, Carmellia, Carnation, Carolinia Jasmine, Castor Beans, Christmas Beans, China Berry, Clementis, Coffee Tree Plant, Cyclamen, Daphne, Delphinium, Easter Lily, Elderberry, Flax, Four-o-clocks, Geranium, Heavenly Bamboo, Hemlock, Holly Berries, Ivy, Jerusalem cherry, Lantana, Larkspur, Licorice plant, Lily of the valley, Lobelia, Milkvetch, Monkshood, Morning glory, Mountain laurel, Narcissus, Nightshade Loeander, Pea family, Pig weed, Potato plant, Pivet, Rhododendron, String of pearls, Thorn apple, Toyon, Vinca, Wintergreen, Wisteria, Tew. From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://board.smallanimalchannel.com/Topic9319.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://board.smallanimalchannel.com/Topic9319.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bamboo shoots when raw have cyanide. Cyanide is highly toxic and results in rapid breathing, pale extremities, coma, and possibly death. The toxins can depend from plant to plant but I would not risk it.&#xA;  The ones sold for human consumption need to be cooked/treated to release the toxins.&#xA;  It is not listed as a safe food for bunnies.&#xA;  From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=66688&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=66688&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. Did extensive research and I found the best articles/websites that would hopefully help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-01-09T22:52:29.937" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T22:52:29.937" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6729" CreationDate="2015-01-08T00:36:09.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking towards the tilapia, there species is chyclids. These fish generally have a strong pecking order, and any fish in with them that is not used to a pecking order tends to get pecked, a lot!  I had some tilapia in my aquaponics system and as they grew they even pecked and ate each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot talk towards clams or oysters, and I thought lobsters were also territorial and they expect a much colder water temperature than tilapia like.  It might be costly to keep your tank cold enough for the lobster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest going with the cheapest pet store goldfish first, in the beginning you are going to be a mass fish murderer, it's just the way things work out with beginner auqauponics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set up a small 5 by 5 foot (1.5 x 1.5 m) Hydroton bed with a 100 gallon (378 liters) tank over a year and a half ago and tried out aquaponics just to see if I could.  It was quite fun and a great learning experience, but the clean up becomes annoying, the whole flow of the system does not catch all refuse and convert it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your experiment, and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:29:14.730" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:29:14.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-08T05:40:12.153" Score="4" ViewCount="565" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 pet bunnies. One male mini rex and two female black Dutch. One of the females jumped out of the hutch two weeks ago and we have all tried to catch her with no success. I see her every night out at the hutch with the other two, but when I go out,... She runs away. What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3437" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T12:45:17.933" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T12:45:17.933" Title="One of my three pet bunnies jumped out of the hutch and we can't catch her" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7094" CreationDate="2015-01-08T06:27:38.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 pet bunnies. I have spent a lot of time watching them and have also done some reading. I have learned that rabbits depend on their sense of hearing and smell primarily. Their eyes are located on either side of their head, limiting their visual field, but rabbits have extremely keen hearing and move their ears accordingly in order to hear even better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3437" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T06:27:38.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7252" CreationDate="2015-01-08T08:34:34.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe take the other two in doors tonight and put some food inside the hutch with the door open, once she goes in close the door. Add the other two bunnies and you're all done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user3431" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T08:34:34.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7252" CreationDate="2015-01-08T10:40:41.463" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The three primary methods for recapturing a domestic rabbit, who is loose.  These options are over simplified.  If you have specific questions about a specific method please post a new question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Call them, this takes some pre-training, but many rabbits have learned it without the pet-parent realizing it. Proper &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6263/food-pellet-is-my-rabbit-eating-enough/6269#6269&quot;&gt;feeding of a pet rabbit limits pellets&lt;/a&gt; so when you take them their daily serving of pellets they will come running to you and jump in the cage.  They can also very easily be trained to come for treats. With more handling they will come just for snuggles, not as dependably as a dog, but much more than a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Corral; using sides of a building, and portable fencing (black 2 foot exercise pen shown in photo) place feed in the pen area, leaving one side open so they can easily walk in.  When they go in and are eating, close the pen.  Make the area smaller by folding the panels, place a pet carrier on the ground with the door open and gently herd the rabbit into the carrier. &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8JTkM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Live trap cage, we often use this for bunnies that have been released, and the other two methods don't work.  Put food in the cage, and when they come it they get trapped.  Though often it is not as simple as that, but that is a whole another Q&amp;amp;A.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PVww8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T10:40:41.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7234" CreationDate="2015-01-08T11:23:19.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, your rabbits shouldn't be allowed to eat bamboo shoots, they are toxic to rabbits. There is a site which lists what a rabbit's diet should consist of, including what they shouldn't be allowed to eat. I give the site address below, but have no clue how to turn it into a proper link, so not sure how much help it'll be if someone else doesn't make it a proper link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.actionforrabbits.co.uk/diet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.actionforrabbits.co.uk/diet.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case this attempt to provide the web link is unsuccessful, the following are toxic to rabbits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;potatoes or potato skins;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;potato plant leaves;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tomato plant (and probably aubergine and peppers, since they're all solanum varieties);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apple seeds;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iceberg lettuce (bit confused about this, I thought it was all lettuce that shouldn't be given);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rhubarb and rhubarb leaves;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fresh catnip (Nepeta);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apple pips/seeds;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;onion;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avocado;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;boxwood (Buxus varieties);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;maize;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;buttercup;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;peas;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;beans;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ragwort;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leek;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chocolate;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any bulb (tulips, daffodils, etc);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bread;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bindweed (not sure which species they mean by this, probably convulvulus);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bamboo shoots.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3438" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-01-08T12:02:24.943" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T12:02:24.943" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-08T13:51:40.500" Score="4" ViewCount="6671" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 1 year old puppy, part Anatolian Shepherd and the rest unknown, who has been with us since she was 5 weeks old.  We went to adopt a 2 year old Basenji from a rescue but it didn't work out, and the kids fell in love with this little girl while we were there.  This is our first dog and we're still learning as we go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My partner was not comfortable with crate training as the puppy whimpered horribly even at being in a box or crate for the night, and it felt cruel to leave her there (in retrospect this was probably a mistake).  She was allowed in the linoleum hallway and kitchen and the carpeted family room, including on the couch, gated off from the rest of the home.  We took her hour every 30 minutes for the first 6 months, every hour for the next 3, and every 1-2 hours since then.  We also take her out any time we see sniffing or agitation, though we can't watch her 24/7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She both urinated and defecated on the family room floor and hallway floor at first.  This was easy to clean from the latter.  The former we soaked all we could then treated with Nature's Miracle to eliminate the odor.  When we did so we scolded her when we caught her in the act and then led her outside.  When she goes outside, even now, she is verbally praised and receives attention, which makes her happy.  Over time she has tended to go outside more and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems better about urination outside than about defecation.  Our morning routine was to wake up, let her out, feed her while having breakfast, and often by 20 minutes later she had defecated on the floor.  We've begun letting her out a second time after breakfast, but she still sometimes comes in and goes on the floor instead.  It seems like she may not be able to control it, but by this age I had thought she should be able to.  My only remaining thought is that the scent from past 'accidents' may be making her want to go, though I shampooed the carpet last month with Nature's Miracle mixed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night we returned home from a 2 hour shopping trip.  She had managed to undo our gate, go up the stairs where she is only allowed to be on the way to bed at night, and urinate in the hallway.  There has never been an accident upstairs and should be no scent, so I was very confused at why she would do this.  All of my hypothesis seem to have been invalidated now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this likely a training issue, and age issue, or a medical issue?  How do I address it?  The longer it goes on the worse the smell gets inside, which I fear will eventually make it impossible to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to add that she is a very good girl otherwise, though very stubborn at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2638" LastActivityDate="2018-12-15T12:20:25.643" Title="How do I stop my 10 month old puppy from eliminating on the carpet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7257" CreationDate="2015-01-08T16:33:22.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a very similar issue with my puppy around 10 months.  What I did was keep her outside longer until she defecates.  I don't believe it is a training, age, or medical issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you train her to let you know when she needs to go out?  I have tried the bell trick (wrapping a bell on the door and showing her how to ring it before we go out.) I don't believe it is too late to teach that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she got used to you taking her out every time, she never learned how to tell you when she needs to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 1 - When you go outside, make sure to stay out for a while until she defecates.&#xA;Step 2 - Train her to let you know when she needs to go out (Bell method like I mentioned above, or even scratch at the door).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also try to feed her at the same time every day.  This will help regulate when she goes. (I feed my puppy at 7am and 7pm.) She defecates at 6:45am and 5pm like clockwork.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1274" LastActivityDate="2015-01-08T16:33:22.130" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-09T03:09:15.023" Score="6" ViewCount="2838" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thundershirt for cats and dogs&lt;/a&gt; and wanted to know how and why it works, if it actually works. And is it actually safe for my cat to wear one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in people's experiences with the shirt. I've seen a few (hilarious) YouTube videos of cats wearing them and just falling over repeatedly. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Is it causing those cats to experience more anxiety?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat gets anxious on car rides where he's locked up in a carrier for an hour at a time. Something to keep him calm would be good. Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T23:47:33.277" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T23:47:33.277" Title="What is a Thundershirt and is it safe for my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7260" CreationDate="2015-01-09T08:03:41.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes they have found that pressure helps calm the nervous system. Dr. Temple Grandin has written about this type of treatment for many animal species in several of her books including &quot;Animals in translation&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a dog trainer and know many people who have used products like a thundershirt for their dogs and the results have been great. I don't personally know anyone who has used them for cats but the research bind why they work was done on multiple species so I would guess that cats would benefit as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T08:03:41.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7257" CreationDate="2015-01-09T08:36:18.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we got our puppy, the breeder already warned us: He's a fast guy. He'd signal us that he wants to get outside and 5 seconds later it would be too late. That's been true, often without any signaling or anything. Dog looking at me and there's a small pond. Ew!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we did was grabbing some puppy training pads. Those are a bit like big diapers you can put on a special plate or glue to the ground using some crepe tape. They shouldn't be too expensive, like 5 to 10 for around 10$.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put one of those down close to where your dog goes. Rather then pointing the dog's nose into any mishaps (never ever do that, it's counterproductive), tap some paper towel into it and then tap/rub it around the training mat a bit (you don't have to get excessive, even if you can't see it, it should be enough). It should suck it up rather quick and be dry within seconds. While this might be a bit disgusting to some, it's still better than having the dog do their business literally everywhere. If you still don't want to do it, there are ready to use scents you can buy for this as well. Put some drips on the mat and you're good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the dog, it should accept that new &quot;toilet&quot; rather quickly. If it does, keep the mat there for now. If it doesn't, try to raise the interest. Throw some treat close, get the dog to walk over it, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that works, you can use the pad as an indicator. See the dog going there and sniffing? Get it outside. If you're too slow or don't notice it in time...  be faster next time. You usually don't have to replace the pads immediately. Depending on the brand they might be good for two or three uses (also depends a bit on the amount put on there) and you should remove any stool of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have to replace the pad, pick a new position that is a bit closer to the door. It doesn't have to be far, even one or two feet help already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some patience you should be able to get your dog to go to the door when it's time. Just keep moving the pads, finally having them right outside the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And always have some treats ready. If you can, get something special. Within a week or so we had our puppy far enough (didn't even have to go all the way to the door) to always want to do its business outside on a small patch of grass, just due to getting treats alone. Heck, even while taking a walk he sometimes started to just run home (while on the leash!) just to get on that patch of grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's never too late to crate train or potty train a dog. Some aspects might actually be easier for an older dog, since you know its habits, favorite treats, etc. Also try to get the box more interesting, put some treat in a toy for example (there are all kind of rubber balls and similar where you can put treats inside; just make sure to pick one suitable for the dog's age and size). Put it in the kennel, get the dog inside and let it play a bit. Once done let him out. Rince repeat daily and slowly increase the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't give in and let the dog out early. You can stay close or even sit nearby, which sometimes is even enough for them. Just reduce that over time as well. Get the dog in the box, leave the room, return 5 minutes later. Training session complete. Don't expect immediate results, but over time it will get better and better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T08:36:18.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7414" CreationDate="2015-01-09T11:03:37.423" Score="4" ViewCount="1298" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Labrador of 15 months and we are looking for a Cane Corso puppy. Our Labrador is quite big for a Labrador. Both dogs will be male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do wonder, is if this the best combination, since Labrador's have a complete different character as Cane Corso's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone that has experience with this 2 dogs combined? I know a Labrador needs a lot of exercise, so we take 3 walks a day, with 2 walks of minimal 1 hour. Can we take the Cane Corso (when full grown) on these long walks too, or would it be bad for their joints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should we be aware of when these two type of dogs get together? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some advice on how to care for these two breeds together would be totally welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3440" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-09T16:15:30.087" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:12:32.243" Title="How does care differ between a Labrador and Cane Corso?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7265" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-09T14:29:22.270" Score="2" ViewCount="1453" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had my 6 months old pup castrated earlier today and everything seems to have gone fine. He seems like himself and has a lot of energy and doesn't seem in any pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried about the stitching though: it looks very messy. The two sides of the wound isn't aligned well, causing about a 4mm section of the one side to protrude past the other. Perhaps it can be best explained via the photo below. The photo is taken at a slight angle. The red portion is where the flesh, or whatever that is considered biologically, protrudes past the other side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing at the very least this will result in an ugly scar, but do I have to worry about infections and/or the wound not healing properly? If possible I'd like to avoid the trauma of having to redo the stitches, but not if there are any health concerns with leaving it as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rlxkZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stitching&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3441" LastActivityDate="2015-01-10T09:10:09.900" Title="Concern on the stitching after dog castration" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-09T18:37:27.523" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for alternative natural filters for my tank to combat algae. I've read that a mussel can filter up to 100 gallons/day, consuming algae and detritus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concerns are:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I grow copepods and other microorganisms.  Will this filter feeder wipe out the population (eg Consume the zooplankton that is the next generation)?  We already dose the tank with phytoplankton, which I suspect is the main source of my algae.  I'm hoping this will be a two-birds situation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My tank volume is about 135gal.  Filtering that much volume, will I have to eventually start supplementing their diet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other requirements do they have?  Can they survive in fine substrate, such as aragonite? They would probably be more efficient in the main tank, but with my starfish and crabs it'd probably be happier in the sump.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would clams, oysters, etc be better suited for this task?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many would be appropriate for this size tank to be both efficient but not starving them?  Do they quickly proliferate?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2015-01-09T19:20:48.123" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T19:20:48.123" Title="Considerations before getting mussels (or other bivalve)" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5443" CreationDate="2015-01-09T19:00:39.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have gained a bit of experience since then as well as had an unfortunate Act of Poseidon that has granted me a mulligan on clownfish.  I'll share my insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many factors come in to play when determining the aggression of a fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Their Natural Temperament&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is typically rated as non-aggressive, semi-aggressive, or aggressive (some use the word &lt;em&gt;bold&lt;/em&gt;).  Often the non-aggressive is given the subtext of &lt;em&gt;except with conspecifics&lt;/em&gt;.  This by definition is a fish of the same species, but often colloquially extends to fish that just look similar (often congenitals).  Clownfish are most definitely in the non-aggressive except with conspecific category.  But there's more to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where did they come from?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wild caught fish are much  more predisposed to being aggressive.  They were born into a life of competition, and see similar fish as having the same diet and consequently taking food right out of their mouths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How long has the fish been here and how old/big is it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The longer a fish is in a habitat, the more dominate it will feel over it. Among other species, this is often a problem (keyword, often).  Same thing for with a fish becoming older/larger. When mixing fish that have potential to be aggressive toward one another, it's best to mix them when they're young and small.  Some species will get along great until they mature and develop problems later on. Clowns are however one that is known stay friends as long as they had a good start. That's not to say you can't maintain ordered chaos. Large tanks (generally considered 100gal or larger) with a plethora of rockwork, can sometimes support &quot;multiple territories&quot;.  This is difficult to maintain and especially complicates feeding.  In the case of clownfish though, the presence anemone(s) can increase the chance of success. You can also mix these factors to increase your chance of success. This is a gamble and takes experience to get right, but it's in the realm of possibility.  A perfect example is when mixing tangs, you always want to introduce the least aggressive fish first, let them get established, and move down the list; keeping within bounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How big is their school?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Clownfish are recommended to be kept singly or in pairs; it's just that simple.  Other, more aggressive fish, such as tangs, are often best left solo.  However, especially in the case of the yellow tang, they are known to thrive in a group if introduced as a ground at a young age.  This has actually been shown to reduce overall aggressiveness down the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Introduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can minimize harassment by introducing the fish at night. Another method that has been really helpful for me with potentially aggressive species is to house the new few fish in a breeder net for a few days. This keeps the fish in close proximity without the possibility of them hurting one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2015-01-09T22:04:32.450" LastActivityDate="2015-01-09T22:04:32.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7280" CreationDate="2015-01-09T21:31:11.237" Score="4" ViewCount="29580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm simply curious, I have read that pigs make very good house pets and are delighted to eat just about anything&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, would a pig eat pork? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, is it safe to feed a pig its own kind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3444" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-01-10T12:06:37.447" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T18:23:55.017" Title="Is it safe to feed bacon to a pet pig?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-09T21:55:53.687" Score="1" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question for a friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have a cat that uses the liter box normally for #2, but chooses to urinate in one specific area of the carpet. The issue has gotten bad enough that the area has browned. They have tried several cleaning solutions to remove the odor, but the cat still appears to target the same area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read several other posts involving urinating around the house, and we will try the solutions listed &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1009/how-can-stop-my-adult-cat-from-urinating-in-inappropriate-places&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, notably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying a different box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying different litter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bringing the cat to a vet if necessary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason &lt;strong&gt;for this specific behavior&lt;/strong&gt; (notably different than the question linked), and is there any way we can properly clean the carpet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2579" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-01-10T11:59:16.567" Title="My cat won't stop urinating in one area" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-10T06:43:53.753" Score="4" ViewCount="9955" Body="&lt;p&gt;A month ago my sister gave birth to a baby boy and our dog, Toffee, has been acting very strange ever since. He's growled at different members of the family multiple times, usually for moving him off of my sister or for punishing him. I can't figure out why he's being so mean to everyone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also two days ago he growled at me for trying to move him off my sister. I've always been very gentle and easy going with him, but I was much firmer than I usually am with him telling him that was bad and not calling him like 5 seconds later (I took about a minute instead) to show love. But when I called him this time, he was shaking in my lap like he was scared, and growled at me again. Now he runs and hides every time he sees me, and he growls whenever I try to pet him. I don't know what I did wrong but I'm so scared; I love this dog deeply and I really want things to be okay again. He also has a history of being abused before we got him, and I don't know if that factors into this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastEditorUserId="3457" LastEditDate="2015-01-13T08:27:51.910" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T08:27:51.910" Title="My dog is acting strange after a new baby came, also will my dog forgive me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7265" CreationDate="2015-01-10T09:10:09.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't worry too much about it. The stitches should keep the wound closed and the tiny open part on the outside is merely like a cut finger: It might look ugly, there might even be some tissue fluid or pus on the surface, but it should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep an eye on the wound and keep it clean, e.g. don't let your dog sit in dirty water or mud for the next few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case anything else happens, like the thread going loose, the wound opening, or some inflammation happening, talk to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-10T09:10:09.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7269" CreationDate="2015-01-10T11:06:28.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One option is to put some food on a paper plate, on the spot of carpet that the cat has been peeing on. Then leave the paper plate there for a couple of weeks. This will cause the cat to associate that spot with eating, rather than urination. Cats do not like to urinate near where they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read this tip a long time ago; I have not personally tried it but it seems logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-01-10T11:06:28.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7269" CreationDate="2015-01-10T11:59:16.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question identifies that the cat will &quot;urinate in one specific area of the carpet&quot;.  This is a an issue that we see sometimes in rabbits, they decide &quot;this is the place!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution with rabbits is to put the litter box where &quot;they want it to be&quot;.  Occasionally people are able to slowly (over days or weeks) to move the litter box to where they person prefers it to be, and the pet adapts.  But first put the litter box where they want it, and leave it there for a few days. It is also possible that the litter box will need to stay where &quot;they want it to be&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the area is a bit bigger than the litter box you can use the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1185/cats-making-a-mess-with-litter/1187#1187&quot;&gt;solution here&lt;/a&gt; to cover a wider area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-01-10T11:59:16.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-11T10:00:18.577" Score="3" ViewCount="13861" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm not mistaken, a dog doesn't know when to stop eating (I've never had one, so I can't be sure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about cats? If I take a large bowl with delicious looking fish and leave it in front of a cat, will the cat eat until it's full or until the food is gone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T13:30:49.697" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T19:10:42.527" Title="Does a cat know when to stop eating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7271" CreationDate="2015-01-11T13:05:28.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off - don't worry too much. Dogs like routine. They find things changing stressful, which is part of the reason that they're good as guard dogs. Part of this though, is the pack mentality*. Dogs like to know their place and what's expected of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that perspective, an new baby in the family is pretty much a worst case scenario - not only is everyone's priorities shifted, the dog no longer understands it's place in 'the pack' and so will be stressed as a result. It may show signs of aggression as a result - these aren't (necessarily!) picking a fight, as much as trying to figure out if it's in charge now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like when you first get a dog (especially from a rescue) there's a period of adjustment and settling in - the dog's doing that all over. This might be exacerbated by it's history - it's not uncommon for a dog to be in a rescue as a result of a new child arriving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what I would suggest is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mostly ignore the problem. Focus a little more on the 'normal routine' and resist the urge to bend. (If you sometimes give into temptation and let the dog up on the bed occasionally, don't do that). Reinforce the rules and be firm about expectations about what is - and isn't - acceptable. You don't have to be harsh about it, any more than you would normally. Just don't let 'unacceptable' pass. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful with the child. Dogs might 'challenge' for dominance, and something that's negligible on an adult can do a lot of damage. I don't mean to spread paranoia - many dogs are perfectly lovely with children - but none the less, the two don't really understand each other, and that can lead to tragedies. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider some sedative or similar for your dog. DAP (Dog Assistance Pheremone) or perhaps some valerian biscuits. It may not be necessary, but it might help relax through the transition. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* With a caveat - a lot of the 'pack dynamics' studies are VERY flawed and don't hold much water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T13:05:28.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7355" CreationDate="2015-01-11T18:03:40.037" Score="8" ViewCount="23809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently got a pair of goldfish and put them in a bowl. I'm trying to keep them happy by feeding them all the natural thing they eat in the wild (and they are loving it too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been 4 ~ 5 days and things were going fine, until I got them a little bulb to keep them warm and light up the bowl a bit. But, after around 2 hours from the moment I switched the bulb ON, the fish would come to the top, pop their mouth out of the water surface a bit, and gulp air, then they would go down and release bubbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, I thought, that due to low oxygen and high impurity rate in the bowl, they are gulping air from the top and immediately changed the water. But, again when I put the bulb back on, they started coming to the top releasing bubbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if they are doing this to get more heat (as it's a bit cold these days here) or they are just feeling good doing this... Please help me as soon as possible... :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both of my fish are 2.5 inch (7.5 cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I change their water every 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the bulb is removed they discontinue this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-24T18:44:19.060" LastActivityDate="2020-10-24T18:44:19.060" Title="Goldfish coming to the top of bowl and releasing bubbles" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7268" CreationDate="2015-01-11T19:04:39.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans and swine/pigs share very similar anatomy and physiology.  Dietary requirements and restrictions are similar between pigs and people. Feeding uncooked pork products to a pig (&lt;em&gt;or a person&lt;/em&gt;) can lead to cholera or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trichinosis&lt;/a&gt;, but cooked pork is fine in moderation. There are of moral considerations for the consumption pork by pigs and people (&lt;a href=&quot;http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/14-8.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deuteronomy 14:8&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;), but also like us they are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;omnivores&lt;/a&gt; and need a significant percentage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/management_and_nutrition/nutrition_pigs/nutritional_requirements_of_pigs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;protein in their diet&lt;/a&gt; in commercial production it is not unusual to feed pork &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;offal&lt;/a&gt; to pigs that will go to market, chances are if you eat pork, you have eaten pork that has eaten pork.  In fact the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074717.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FDA has guidelines on preparing it.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moral/ethical questions about having a pet pig and preparing cooked pork products for either of you, is beyond the scope of this site.  Health wise, the health/diet impacts for either of you are essentially the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=NWSo6OdeCoAC&amp;amp;pg=PA7&amp;amp;dq=swine+and+humans&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=Kb-yVIu8NMykgwSX5IPQDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=swine%20and%20humans&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Swine Nutrition, Second Edition, Austin J. Lewis, L. Lee Southern; CRC Press, 2014&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=Uzmrq7LO7loC&amp;amp;pg=PA386&amp;amp;dq=swine+and+humans&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=Kb-yVIu8NMykgwSX5IPQDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=swine%20and%20humans&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Biomaterials Science: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine, Buddy D. Ratner&#xA;Academic Press, 2004&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=PdTEmbxE5iUC&amp;amp;pg=PA10&amp;amp;dq=Hog+feed+pork&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=iL6yVM3fOYWZNuWChLAE&amp;amp;ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Hog%20feed%20pork&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hog cholera, By C. G. Cole, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1953&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/147867/ldpm20901.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Where’s the (Not) Meat? (USDA, PDF)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T19:04:39.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7286" CreationDate="2015-01-11T20:25:19.243" Score="7" ViewCount="523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to give my cat ear medicine because he previously had ear mites (before adoption, he was a stray), and his eye medicine because he has herpes induced conjunctivitis, which isn't serious yet, but once in a while you can make out he closes one a little more than the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a look at the videos I was able to find through google, and understand the basic &quot;scarf technique&quot; for restraining a cat using a towel. The issues I am having:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My cat is not even a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; interested in sitting still on a towel -- I pick him up, and place him in the middle of a laid out towel, and he's already struggling to leap away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I tried giving him treats whenever he plops down on a towel, but as soon as I begin wrapping, he's well on his way to running away&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Y&quot; finger hold around his neck doesn't get him to be still as I try to wrap him up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My take on the issue is that my relationship with him is still new: I only adopted him about 10 days ago. He has been a total blast so far: got used to the new house within a couple of days (he started playing with me in his safe room in the first hour he was home!), uses the litter box like a champ, absolutely loves cuddles and playing, eats food, drinks water, leaves people alone when they are sleeping -- basically, does everything without any of the difficulties I was warned about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he still doesn't trust me much, it seems, given his behaviour with the towel...so, maybe that's a hint we are still &quot;new&quot;? What am I supposed to do though, if he really needs his medicine? How do I get him to understand that I promise I would not hurt him? I can't. He doesn't understand words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my theory about being in a new relationship with a cat correct? I don't think it is, because vets are able to do what they need to with new animals all the time, but I simply do not have the training of a vet. What are my options? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T23:47:23.437" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T22:57:01.200" Title="Can a new cat owner, with no experience handling animals, be expected to successfully restrain a cat using a towel?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7199" CreationDate="2015-01-11T21:03:51.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're perhaps looking at the wrong thing - it's actually quite hard to train a dog to not do something, because they don't really understand how to 'not do it' or indeed what you mean when you say 'stop it'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you get a dog to not do something is train incompatible behaviour. But to do that, you need to know the cue, and train them to do something incompatible on that cue. It sounds like with this case, you don't know what the cue is. Frankly it could be anything - dog's sense of smell and hearing is generally better than people, and so some sound that you can't hear could quite easily be the cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, barking is one thing that you have a chance - the Humane Society suggests:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/how_to_stop_barking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/how_to_stop_barking.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one of the interesting ones is - perhaps counter intuitively - train your dog to bark on command. Once you have done this, it becomes a lot easier to teach your dog 'stop barking now'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.about.com/od/basiccommands/ht/speakquiet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dogs.about.com/od/basiccommands/ht/speakquiet.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is perhaps one of the most reliable ways of doing it. One downside though - with any training regime, there's no instant answer I'm afraid. You may need to spend a while being a bit more proactive about distracting your dog when the barking starts, with high value treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-11T21:03:51.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7277" CreationDate="2015-01-11T21:28:15.507" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends entirely on the individual cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always been able to leave dry food out and not have them become more than slightly  overweight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've known cats who just liked to eat, or who had dog-like attitudes of &quot;eat everything you can now in case it isn't there later.&quot; In those cases diet foods exist, but you may just have to limit access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch their weight and adjust accordingly. Your vet can tell you what the weight range should be for that particular cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T02:19:37.687" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T02:19:37.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7290" CreationDate="2015-01-11T23:12:17.790" Score="1" ViewCount="947" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will it hurt our rabbit if we calm her down and then hold her up by the scruff of her neck? We've done it before; she seemed squirmy at first, but then she calmed down when we held her up by the scruff of her neck. Does it affect our rabbit in any way if we do it? How will it affect her in future life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T20:25:17.623" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T20:25:17.623" Title="Holding rabbit by the scruff of her neck" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7281" CreationDate="2015-01-12T07:13:22.930" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;As keshlam mentioned, you shouldn't need towel approach for such basic things as ear or eye drops. At least if your cat is not very aggressive and/or very scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'd suggest instead is the 'peg trick'. It comes down to imitating the mother-cat holding a kitten by the scruff which puts the kitten in a calm/meditative state while being transported. It doesn't harm or stress the cat if done properly because it's based on natural instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a few (2 or three should be enough) clothes pegs, not too tight but not too loose either (they shouldn't hurt but should be tight enough to imitate mother-cat's closed jaws), and keep them nearby. Keep the meds nearby, too, but out of the cat's sight. Then take your cat and pet him until he's calm and content. It won't work if he's agitated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your cat's calm enough, gently pinch the skin on his scruff and put the pegs on it, as much skin as naturally fits into the pegs. That should put your cat into a 'meditative' state when he's still aware but not fully so. Then quickly apply the meds, and try to keep petting your cat throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A warning though, don't use this trick if you ever have to give him oral meds. I'm not sure cats can swallow safely in this state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for everything else, don't be too hard on yourself. Even if you don't have any experience with pets, you'll learn with time, and you'll build a relationship with your cat if you care for him. It might take time (sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes -- months), but it'll work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for giving meds, you have to believe that you're doing it for your cat's good, because you really are. If you don't give him his meds, he'll feel worse. That's your justification. And don't worry that he won't forgive you, because he will -- cats are surprisingly adaptable, and don't have the concept of 'forgiving/not forgiving' anyway. They have a concept of trust, and breaking that takes a lot more than just giving them meds. If my elderly lady with trust issues (she has reasons) could tolerate 3 injections + SubQs + 2 oral meds + 4 forced meals a day for a week and still comes to sleep in my bed at night, yours can take ear/eye drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you have to feel confident. Cats are sensitive to emotions, so if you're trembling inside, he'll feel it and take a complimentary role -- either &quot;there's threat! run away!&quot; or &quot;that one is scared = that one is prey = hunt it!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, just do your best ^_^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T07:13:22.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7226" CreationDate="2015-01-12T08:23:43.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;She might. She might've felt bad after eating that particular food, and now associates the food with that experience. It happens. If you're sure that food hasn't gone bad, you can either stop giving it to your cat for a couple weeks and then 'reintroduce' it carefully (add a bit to her bowl with other food, then gradually heighten the percentage), or take the radical route and not give her anything else before she starts eating that food again. No healthy cat would starve him/herself to death, so it'll take 2 days at most. Or you might let your cat eat what she wants, that's also an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the reason, it might have nothing to do with the food, it might've been a coincidence that your cat got sick after a meal. Or the food could've gone bad. Or the formula might've changed, or your supplier switched to the same brand from another factory... Or it might not have anything to do with her throwing up, she might've got tired of that particular food, it also happens sometimes. My younger cat, an absolutely healthy girl, stopped eating one of the flavours of her regular food for a few weeks, then just as suddenly started eating it again as if nothing happened. Cats are like that, they have moods and preferences as well as instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T08:23:43.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7264" CreationDate="2015-01-12T14:37:58.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like from my research is that the Cane Corso needs lots of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This working breed needs plenty of physical activity to stay in shape. Plan on taking him for a brisk walk or jog of at least a mile, morning and evening, every day. If you like to bicycle, get an attachment that will allow him to run alongside you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go easy on puppies. Their musculoskeletal system isn’t fully developed until they are about 18 months old, so while they need more walks to help burn off their puppy energy, those walks should be shorter and slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For mental stimulation, provide this dog with a job. Good employment for a Corso includes herding livestock (your own or a trainer’s), learning tricks, practicing obedience skills, or being involved in a dog sport. Spend at least 20 minutes a day on these types of activities. It’s okay to break it up: for instance, 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never allow a Corso to run loose. A solid, secure fence is a must. An electronic fence will not prevent him from leaving your property if he chooses to, and it won’t protect your neighbor’s dog or cat if he wanders into your yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, be prepared for the amount of care and large bills that can go along with owning a large dog. There’s more poop to scoop, and essentials such as spay/neuter surgery are more expensive for big dogs than for small ones. If your Corso needs surgery for any other reason, the cost of anesthesia will be high because he needs more of it than a small dog, as well as larger amounts of pain medication after surgery. Finally, there are the costs of training class, entry fees for dog sports, and pet-sitting or boarding when you are away from home. Take all of these expenses into consideration before acquiring a Corso because you will be facing them for 10 to 12 years.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/cane-corso#care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/cane-corso#care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Daily walks, romps in a fenced yard, and games of fetch keep his mind and body in shape. Unless these needs are satisfied, the Lab may become a wanderer, a digger, or a chewer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lovable Lab needs to be around his family, and is definitely not a backyard dog. If he's left alone for too long, he'll probably tarnish his saintly reputation: A lonely, bored Lab is apt to dig, chew, or find other destructive outlets for his energy.&#xA;Labs show some variation in their activity levels, but all of them need activity, both physical and mental. Daily 30-minute walks, a romp at the dog park, or a game of fetch, are a few ways to help your Lab burn off energy. However, a puppy should not be taken for too long walks and should play for a few minutes at a time. Labrador Retrievers are considered &amp;quot;workaholics,&amp;quot; and will exhaust themselves. It is up to you to end play and training sessions.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/labrador-retriever#care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/labrador-retriever#care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T14:37:58.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="380" CreationDate="2015-01-12T14:40:28.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A really simple answer for me: a cup cake tin with 12 small 'containers'. Saxo can no longer gulp down large batches of food and seems to be chewing each bit more. At £3.50 this seems a very good solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3454" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T14:40:28.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7284" CreationDate="2015-01-12T19:53:49.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rabbit should not picked up by the scruff of the neck.  Occasionally you will see people grasp the scruff and support the body, this is usually to keep them from jumping out of your arms and hurting themselves.  In no case should the rabbit be supported by only the scruff of the neck, they are not cats and can be permanently injured.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For safer methods of hypnotizing a holding a rabbit for care see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1857&quot;&gt;How do I trance my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1861&quot;&gt;What is a &amp;quot;bunny burrito&amp;quot; and when would I use it?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/5-2/scruffing.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Friends Don't Scruff Friends: How Not to Handle Your Rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Surgery/Restraint/Handling.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Safe carrying of a rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T19:53:49.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7291" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-01-12T21:43:54.723" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-01-12T21:43:54.723" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T21:43:54.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7292" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-01-12T21:43:54.723" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-01-12T21:43:54.723" LastActivityDate="2015-01-12T21:43:54.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7096" CreationDate="2015-01-13T02:19:57.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Basically candling a egg is when you use a candle or a light to see through the egg shell and see the creature inside. By viewing the inside of the egg you can see if it is still alive, what animal it is and other details about the animal.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Candling is a method used in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;embryology&lt;/a&gt; to study the growth and&#xA;  development of an embryo inside an egg. The method uses a bright light&#xA;  source behind the egg to show details through the shell, and is so&#xA;  called because the original sources of light used were candles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Candling can be used to determine details about other eggs, such as Chicken eggs and not just reptile eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Candle-an-Egg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiHow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a bright like and a dark room for the candling. A flashlight will work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the larger end of the egg (where the air sac is) directly&#xA;  against the light. Hold the egg near the top, between your thumb and&#xA;  forefinger. Tilt the egg slightly to one side and rotate until you get&#xA;  the best view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can just point the light at it and move the light around until you see something. This is what I do and I find that by not following a schedule you learn more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can candle most eggs immediately to see what's going on, but in some you have to wait. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Breeding-Lizards/Candling-Eggs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Candling Reptile Eggs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastEditorUserId="3457" LastEditDate="2015-01-13T02:46:49.663" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T02:46:49.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7223" CreationDate="2015-01-13T02:36:47.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/rabbits-teeth-never-stop-growing-10459.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WHY DO RABBITS' TEETH NEVER STOP GROWING?&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit's teeth grow 3-5 inches annually. From the below quotes we can see that a rabbit's teeth grow very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The extensive chewing and gnawing that rabbits regularly engage in&#xA;  balances the perpetual tooth growth. If a rabbit’s teeth were not&#xA;  open-rooted, they would wear down very quickly, eventually rendering&#xA;  chewing such dietary requirements extremely difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the wild, rabbits have unlimited access to the vegetation that&#xA;  keeps their growing teeth under control. Pet rabbits are much more&#xA;  limited and require continuous supply of timothy hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because their teeth grow so fast and their teeth engage with fibrous vegetation that normally cleans teeth, concerns for Dental Caries are very low. But that does not mean impossible, I have heard nothing indicating Rabbit rates of cavities, but because their teeth grow out and the damaged teeth would be gone the risk would be low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/Rabbit-Cavities.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; supports my thoughts that Rabbit Cavities are basically impossible.&#xA;Like the post says Cavities are unlikely because of teeth growth rate, but damage and abscesses to the jaw are more likely, as are ingrown teeth that don't erupt properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T02:36:47.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-13T04:31:00.540" Score="2" ViewCount="2884" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past I had a pair of littermates who I'd adopted at the age of 10 weeks.  When they were around 12 years old I asked my vet how old would be &quot;too old&quot; to adopt an additional cat -- that is, at what age would they not be able to tolerate an addition -- and she said &quot;pretty soon&quot;.  I had the impression that she was making this judgement based on their age and not an evaluation of their individual personalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current cats are middle-aged (about 6 and 8), and while my spouse has informed me that we have no plans to adopt more cats, it got me wondering about my vet's past advice.  &lt;em&gt;Is&lt;/em&gt; there such a thing as &quot;too old for new additions&quot;?  If so, when is it in general and how can I tell if my cats have reached it?  How relevant is the age of the newcomer?  (I can imagine arguments for getting another older cat and arguments for getting a non-threatening kitten.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For purposes of this question, assume that all cats involved are basically healthy and well-adjusted indoor-only neutered cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T01:53:51.040" Title="Can an elderly cat adjust to a new cat in the household?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8037" CreationDate="2015-01-13T04:41:11.417" Score="6" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first three cats I adopted all developed hyperthyroidism in their senior years, starting between 13 (earliest onset) and 16 (latest).  My vet told me that this is pretty common; I think she used the word &quot;most&quot;.  For two of them we were able to treat with daily medicine (Tapazole); the third required radiation treatment and was completely cured after that single treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now have two middle-aged cats and am wondering (a) if I should pretty much assume we'll be doing this again and (b) if there's anything I can do &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;, while they're younger, to reduce the likelihood of them developing this condition later.  Granted, as diseases of older cats go, hyperthyroidism is pretty easy to handle -- but it still puts strain on the cat (heart rate, appetite, general activity level), so if there's something I can do to keep it from developing I'd like to know that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T00:57:49.663" Title="How common is hyperthyroidism in older cats, and is there anything that can be done to reduce the odds?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7299" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7315" CreationDate="2015-01-13T10:30:24.643" Score="4" ViewCount="2037" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet dog, a 4-year old Golden Retriever, gets vaccinated against rabies &lt;strong&gt;once every year&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I found out that most of the core vaccines for dogs provide immunity for 3 years, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drugs.com/vet/rabvac-3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;so I checked and found out&lt;/a&gt; that the anti-rabies vaccine the vet is administering my dog actually meets the three year duration of immunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I called and asked him why he's been administering it to my dog every year instead of once in 3 years. He replied along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's true that these vaccines provide immunity for 3 years &lt;strong&gt;but for dogs in North American and European countries&lt;/strong&gt; because there the weather is pleasant and cooler than in India. In India dogs get stressed and it often gets very very hot. So, we need to do it once a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't quite find the explanation relevant or promising, but I didn't study veterinary medicine. So here I ask—is it true? or can I safely go with once in 3 years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;PS:&lt;/strong&gt; I am from a small city in India and unfortunately my vet isn't knowledgeable/competent enough, and he's the only one around.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T18:01:45.280" Title="Anti-rabies vaccination once in 3 years for pets in countries like India?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7295" CreationDate="2015-01-13T11:58:54.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it depends a lot on the cats. My senior (geriatric - she's 20.5) cat has adjusted to a 5 month old kitten who joined the family when she was 15, and a 5 year old cat we got a couple of years ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I married, she was 8 and my husband's cat was 10. The two of them adjusted in a kind of &quot;we'll ignore each other and everything will be fine&quot; kind of way - but when my husband's cat passed on some years ago mine got very demanding - which lead to the introduction of the 5 month old kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, I've found that the more easygoing the cat, the more likely that cat will adjust well to other cats regardless of age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T11:58:54.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7311" CreationDate="2015-01-13T12:09:12.167" Score="6" ViewCount="936" Body="&lt;p&gt;My senior cat is 20.5 years old and has cancer. She's getting depo shots every 2 weeks to slow the cancer growth and on a prescription diet to help her gain weight. She's become unsteady on her feet and has arthritis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, she's never been willing to get  &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the litterbox to do her business: she's always perched on the edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, she's started defecating just beside the box (she's still using the box to urinate, thankfully). I think it's because she's no longer able to balance on the edge of the box for defecation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any litterbox styles she's more likely to use? I'm willing to clean up after the defecation (although it gets nasty when she's due for the next shot, because she's likely to have a bout of diarrhea then), but I'd really prefer not to have to clean up if her balance/strength deteriorates to where she's urinating beside the box as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I want to keep her comfortable and happy for as long as we can, so we're looking for options that will allow her to use a litterbox comfortably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE (per Monica Cellio's request): When she's perched on the edge of the box, she has front paws between the back paws, tail up. When she's defecating, she usually takes a while and has to strain a bit even when she has diarrhea) where when she's urinating it's a quick, no-strain thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She usually has to rebalance herself a few times when she's defecating and her front and back paws are further apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T11:53:41.753" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T19:52:18.067" Title="Elderly cat with cancer no longer using litterbox to defecate - options" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7308" CreationDate="2015-01-13T14:09:51.873" Score="2" ViewCount="3852" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 10+ year old brown dutch rabbit Baxter had front legs that he placed to the side.  In the picture below you can see his white feet are placed out from his body at about the shoulder while the other two younger rabbits have their front feet firmly under them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It developed over about 12 to 18 months, subtle at first, as slight position change when resting, but they would be under him when running/hopping.  At the end his legs where splayed out from his body, and nearly useless. Near the end he would sometimes step on a front foot with a back foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baxter (now passed) was a rescue rabbit who spent 6+ years in class room. Symptom on set was around 8 years of age, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;he has a history&lt;/a&gt; of morbid obesity and poor alignment of his back teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the name and cause of this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gnP8y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Baxter and the girls Camping&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2018-05-30T21:20:35.620" Title="What is the cause of splayed/spread front legs in an older rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7296" CreationDate="2015-01-13T15:55:19.670" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blackwell's medical consult for felines and canines notes a couple of points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is the most common endocrine disease in cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the most common diseases, period, in late-middle age and elderly cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;True numbers unknown, but increasingly diagnosed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rarely caused by cancer, though it happens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They document some risk factors so, presumably, reducing exposure to these can reduce the chance of your younger cats having the condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some canned food diets. Specifics not provided, unfortunately, but I would suggest that better grades of food that nutritionally balance better are going to be less risky.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toxins with impacts to endocrine systems such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybrominated_diphenyl_ethers&quot;&gt;PDBEs&lt;/a&gt; (they note that this is unproven)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other risk is simply age which, as of now, we can do nothing about from a positive angle...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it's common and so some expectation that it could happen is worth being aware of. You can try to mitigate a bit but, as you noted, it's not hard to manage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-01-13T15:55:19.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-13T16:17:20.897" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7299&quot;&gt;Anti-rabies vaccination once in 3 years for pets in countries like India?&lt;/a&gt; in addition to the proper schedule in their area, the OP is concerned that their dog is getting vaccinated to often and it may cause harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Documents/Rabies%20state%20law%20chart.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;review(PDF)&lt;/a&gt; of Rabies Vaccine laws by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Pages/rabies-vaccination.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/a&gt; finds that while most US states have laws like &quot;&lt;em&gt;in accordance with the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;in accordance with the label of the vaccine used&lt;/em&gt;&quot; there are some laws that give specifics instructions.  Also as the OP mentions sometimes the Vet just decides to give it more often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are without doubt some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm#rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;minor risks&lt;/a&gt; with any vaccine, but those are usually considered insufficient to cause to withhold vaccination. In essence &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;all a vaccine does is stimulate your immune system to respond.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if more often vaccines may cause less side effects because the immune system will be better able to respond. Or if there is some additional danger in recieving more frequent vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T18:33:59.100" Title="What are the risks and/or benefits of receiving more frequent vaccines?" Tags="&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7299" CreationDate="2015-01-13T16:21:25.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are environmental factors to consider in any vaccination routine. Merck's veterinary manual (mobile edition) states that rabies vaccinations should start at 3-4 months followed by an additional 1 year later, then every 3 years thereafter. It needs to be noted that this reflects North American conditions and studies and that is not necessarily reflective of other locales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: edited to reflect updated info from Merck)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basis of the vaccination is similar to other vaccines, it's a deactivate version of the real virus and so relies on the body's immune system to attack and then maintain that capability for some time. That ability to maintain will vary species over species, but the other aspect to consider is viral adaptation over time. The more prevalent rabies is in a region may result in increased risk of mutation over time, though that would be uncommon/rare in any event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, unless you have a strong reason to be concerned, the annual frequency is probably not unreasonable all things considered and can allow for other important checkups to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-01-15T18:01:45.280" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T18:01:45.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-13T23:53:00.493" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_tetra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Green Neon Tetra&lt;/a&gt; has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/freshwater-conditions/neon-tetra-disease.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neon Tetra disease&lt;/a&gt; and I am wondering if I can euthanize him because he doesn't eat and he is swimming at a strange angle. If you can find any ways that I can humanely euthanize him that would be extremely appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3462" LastEditorUserId="3457" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T01:20:41.360" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T01:20:41.360" Title="How do you euthanize a fish?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-01-14T01:20:57.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7302" CreationDate="2015-01-14T01:54:01.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The condition is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petcarevb.com/wordpress/rabbits/splay-leg-in-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Splay Leg:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Splay leg, a developmental musculoskeletal condition, may be seen in&#xA;  young rabbits ranging in age from a few days to a few months or in&#xA;  sedentary senior rabbits. The condition may be related to housing on&#xA;  smooth, slippery flooring that results in the inability to pull the&#xA;  legs in under the body and the subsequent inability to walk&#xA;  effectively. With time the joint conformation changes and the legs&#xA;  stick out from the body, a condition known as splay leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit may have had less exercise(because of his weight) as of late and that may have prompted this condition or he may be housed in area that has a slick surface. Splay Leg is also seen mostly in the front legs in older rabbits and can be caused by weakening of the muscles because of something genetic or otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The hind limb anatomy is more commonly affected in juvenile rabbits,&#xA;  and the front limbs more commonly in our senior rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article goes on to say that the problem may occur due to inactivity and muscle wasting. Prevention or stopping progression is mostly trying to increase exercise and removing the rabbit from slick environments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other things that agree with my Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/splayleg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bio.miami.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=490&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;veterinarypartner.com&lt;/a&gt;- This explains how there are other more unlikely diseases that could have caused the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T01:54:01.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1365" CreationDate="2015-01-14T02:52:36.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree that it is for the entertainment of the human, not the dog. Dog booties are sometimes necessary. I've found that they are very handy when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dogs pads are cut or irritated. Walking outdoors with booties can prevent infection, especially if walking in dirt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you, like I, live in an area which snows frequently, and rock salt is used outdoors for ice prevention. This can do damage to a dogs pad and booties prevent that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, although booties are not meant for indoors, if you have a hazard that is unavoidable, such as cleaning a floor with strong cleaning material, and unable to prevent your dog from walking in the area, these booties cone in handy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are other uses, but those are the to three reasons I use them. Although the funny walk is amusing sometimes, the purpose behind using them is primarily for your pets safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T03:21:21.650" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T03:21:21.650" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-14T10:18:00.757" Score="4" ViewCount="1371" Body="&lt;p&gt;When Rocky, my leopard gecko, sheds it seems like the last thing to come off is the skin on his face, head, and eyes. It looks like he can't see at all! Is this okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3464" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T14:19:10.220" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T19:43:11.787" Title="When my leopard gecko sheds he can't see, is that okay?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7301" CreationDate="2015-01-14T12:41:56.317" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;With rabbits when they can't get into the litter box we generally cut out one side (round the edges) so they can get in and out without trying to climb over the edge.  We have had good results even with paraplegic (broken back) rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT, I don't think that option will work with your cat.  It sounds like she has a 'need' to not get her feet in the litter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than make her try and balance on the thin edge of the litter box, build her a shelf to stand on when using the litter box. If you want to post a picture in chat of your litter box I can help with a specific solution.  The basic approach would be to put a board across one end of the box and fasten it with screws so it can't move.  Add non-slip stair treads if needed. There is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1817/my-rabbit-is-digging-at-the-carpet-in-the-corner-of-the-living-room-what-should/1821#1821&quot;&gt;a picture on this answer about digging boxes&lt;/a&gt; that shows one approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have standard litter box that looks like a dishpan; cut a board a bit longer then the box is wide, turn the box upside down with the board near the end of the box, use screws through the lip of the box to attach it. Turn the box back over (&lt;em&gt;make sure the screws don't come through the wood!&lt;/em&gt;), fill it with litter, and she can balance on the big shelf to do her business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T12:41:56.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1365" CreationDate="2015-01-14T15:15:28.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because it is unnatural for dogs to wear anything on their paws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In nature this never happens, so of course when we put something on their paws they will feel weird about it. The good thing is that they get use to it quite fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is good that you put these protective gears on your dog as it protects them from the ground. For example, I live in Canada and when it snows the roads and sidewalks are full of salt. Wearing protective gear will keep the salt off the dog's paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3307" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-14T15:42:37.333" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T15:42:37.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7301" CreationDate="2015-01-14T19:52:18.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She may not be willing to get in the litterbox if she feels that the box is not large enough for her to avoid getting poo (or the results of a previous litter box usage) on her paws, and this causes her to perch on the edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try getting a larger box (an underbed plastic storage box should be a cheap way to get a large shallow box) and see if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you troubleshoot, I'd recommend using puppy pads around the edges of the litter box to make cleanup of diarrhea easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T19:52:18.067" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7260" CreationDate="2015-01-14T21:17:15.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Others have already explained the theory behind why it generally works so I just wanted to add some additional info about what your expectations should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Thundershirt requires at least a week or two of gradual training (if not more) to really get your cat comfortable with the idea of it. It's possible your cat will absolutely hate it at first so you should be ready with lots of patience when trying to train your cat to appreciate it. Also, some cats will just completely refuse wearing any kind of vest or harness so that is something you should be prepared for as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be easier is to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1550/why-do-cats-hate-riding-in-cars&quot;&gt;train the cat not to fear car rides&lt;/a&gt;. This takes time as well, but could be more effective in helping your cat's anxiety. This will be easier if he's a kitten, but older cats can still be trained as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T21:17:15.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7299" CreationDate="2015-01-14T21:56:04.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Effects of climate on Rabies Risk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some evidence that hot temperatures can increase the risk of rabies transmission from wildlife to pets and/or humans. As temperatures heat up, wildlife will seek shelter in human structures. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060815-bats-rabies.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2006 article in National Geographic&lt;/a&gt; notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The so-called dog days of summer—a muggy stretch from early July to early September—might also be called the season's bat days in the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the period when the flitting critters most frequently turn up&#xA;  in attics, bedrooms, and camp cabins across the country, sometimes&#xA;  carrying rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&#xA;  (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, says that 46 percent of U.S. rabies cases&#xA;  in humans are caused by bites or scratches from infected bats—more&#xA;  than the 31 percent attributed to dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five of every six infections from bats occur between July and&#xA;  September, and the frequency peaks in August.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this doesn't mean that the vaccine is less effective in warmer temperatures, just that there's more risk from (unvaccinated) wildlife in warmer climates/seasons. I cannot find any evidence about the effectiveness of the vaccine changing with the climate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Testing for Effectiveness - serumology&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way that the vaccine's potential effectiveness is tested with with a test called Rapid Fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test (RFFIT). This test measures the body's ability to neutralize the rabies virus. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control (in the US) have different standards for the minimum protective level measured by this test, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/doctors/serology.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no &quot;protective&quot; titer against rabies virus. In animal studies, survival against rabies virus infection is often more likely to occur the higher an animal's titer at time of infection, but not a definite indicator of survival. For example in one study of orally vaccinated raccoons 39% of animals with no detectable titer at infection (&amp;lt;0.05 IU/mL) survived, compared to 90% of animals with a titer between 0.05-0.49 and 100% of animals with a titer &gt;0.5 IU/mL. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since the WHO's standard for adequate protection in humans is 0.5 IU/mL (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ksvdl.org/rabies-laboratory/rffit-tests/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) and the CDC's standard is 0.1 IU/mL (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/doctors/serology.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;), that may be one reason that an international vet would error on the side of increased vaccination than risk inadequate protection. It should be noted that these are standards for HUMAN protection and mean &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At this level, an immune competent individual would be expected to&#xA;  mount a rapid response to a booster dose of rabies vaccine in the&#xA;  event of an exposure, precluding the need of rabies immune globulin&#xA;  during postexposure prophylaxis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25554936&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Recent related research&lt;/a&gt; on animals with out-of-date rabies vaccines (the abstract does not state how long) confirms that previously vaccinated animals will mount an adequate immune response to a booster (and thus if exposed should be immediately vaccinated and monitored, not destroyed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Testing for Effectiveness - Challenge tests&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serum testing does not tell the entire story. An individual may be able to survive rabies even without any detectable rabies antibodies because their bodies remember how to fight the virus. In these cases the only way to determine if the vaccine is still effective is to perform a challenge test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a challenge test, an individual is infected with the virus (rabies, in this case) to see how their immune system reacts. Obviously, this is not a test you want to perform on your pet, but it is performed on research subjects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Challenge testing is how the 3 year rabies vaccine effectiveness was determined (I can't find a source, and the manufacturer's site just says that they have the data on hand). There is currently challenge testing planned for 5 years after the vaccine, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabieschallengefund.org/latest/summary-of-the-rabies-challenge-fund-duration-of-immunity-study&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;approximately 70% of these dogs no longer have adequate protection&lt;/a&gt; as measured by their serum antibodies. Progress can be monitored on the Facebook page for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rabies-Challenge-Fund/119106981159?v=wall&amp;amp;ref=ts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Rabies Challenge Fund&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, research as to the length of protection given by rabies vaccines is still ongoing and many aspects are not well understood. If you want to extend the interval between your dog's vaccinations over concern of potential side affects (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7304/&quot;&gt;What are the risks/benefits to receiving more frequent vaccinations?&lt;/a&gt;) you can request an antibody test, but even if it's negative it doesn't mean that your dog is not protected, just that we don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, insisting on an annual vaccination schedule ensures for the vet that you will bring your dog in for an annual exam (which it does need).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harder, Ben. &quot;Bat Rabies Threat Rises With Summer Temperatures&quot;. National Geographic News&#xA;August 15, 2006. &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060815-bats-rabies.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moore MC, Davis RD, Kang Q, Vahl CI, Wallace RM, Hanlon CA, Mosier DA. Comparison of anamnestic responses to rabies vaccination in dogs and cats with current and out-of-date vaccination status. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2015 Jan 15;246(2):205-11. doi: 10.2460/javma.246.2.205. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25554936&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T21:56:04.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7260" CreationDate="2015-01-14T22:05:35.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Thundershirt Experience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat Juliet has severe anxiety such that it gives her interstitial cystitis (it's a bladder condition that they think is caused by stress). She's pretty much afraid of everything that moves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a Thundershirt and tried it on her several times, but the process of getting her in it upset her so much that I immediately removed it each time. We eventually put her on amitryptaline for her anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing with Car Anxiety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cat, Ginger, got really upset when we had to take her to the dermatologist (she puked in the carrier each time). We normally don't have a problem because it's normally 1 minute to the vet, but the dermatologist was over an hour away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't try the Thundershirt on Ginger (she's probably too big for the one I bought for Juliet anyway), but we put Ginger in a harness with a leash and I sat in the backseat with her in the car and she did great on her next trip to the dermatologist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-01-14T22:05:35.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7304" CreationDate="2015-01-14T22:09:51.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The World Small Animal Veterinary Association issued a report (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/VGG%20Asian%20Document%20Revised%20July%202014.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Recommendations on Vaccination for Asian Small Animal Practitioners: A Report of the WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group&lt;/a&gt;) and on page 15 states that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Increasing  the  frequency  of  vaccination  does  not  provide  greater  protection  to  an&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  individual  animal  and  may  increase  the  risk  of&#xA;  an&#xA;  adverse  reaction.    In  areas  of  high&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  infectious  disease  pressure,  it  is  much  more  important  to  ensure  that  as  many  of  the  target&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  population  as  possible  are  vaccinated  (i.e.  increase  herd  immunity)  than  to  increase  the&#xA;  frequency  of&#xA;  vaccinations  given  to  individual  animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've outlined some of the possible side effects. There are some additional possible side effects not covered here, but I haven't had time to sort through them yet. I'll add them when I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short Term Side Affects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/What-to-expect-after-your-pets-vaccination.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Veterinarian Medical Association&lt;/a&gt;, the following side effects are common after a rabies vaccine. If they persist longer than 2 days or cause significant discomfort then go see your vet, otherwise don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Discomfort and local swelling at the vaccination site&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mild fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Decreased appetite and activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sneezing, mild coughing, &quot;snotty nose&quot; or other respiratory signs may occur 2-5 days after your pet receives an intranasal vaccine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following symptoms are rare, and the AVMA states that these&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;reactions can be life-threatening and are medical emergencies. Seek veterinary care immediately if any of these signs develop:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Persistent vomiting or diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Itchy skin that may seem bumpy (&quot;hives&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Swelling of the muzzle and around the face, neck, or eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Severe coughing or difficulty breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Collapse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The AVMA's information also matches the guidelines given by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/Vaccines.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cornell's Veterinary College&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long Term Side Affects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injection Site Sarcoma (ISS), previously called Vaccine Associated Sarcoma (VAS) is a particularly invasive form of cancer that is believed to form at any injection site that may have some inflammation (Woodward 2011). However, the only proven causes of ISS are prior administration of killed, adjuvanted rabies or leukemia vaccine (Wilcock 2012). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjuvanted vaccines have an ingredient that increases the inflammation (to force an immune response to the disease ingredients in the vaccine), and it is believed that that inflammation plays a key role in the development of sarcomas. Adjuvanted vaccines should be avoided for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second recommendation can be applied to all injections, and that is that injection sites should be located in an area where if a sarcoma develops, it can easily be removed. That is generally recommended to be the leg (which can be amputated if a sarcoma develops), but I spoke to a vet tech earlier this year who works with an oncologist who recommends the stomach because the chest wall is easy to remove the sarcoma from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any injection, I generally weigh the risk of developing an ISS against whatever illness I'm treating. When my cats got a steroid shot for itch relief while the flea medication killed the cheyletiella mites, I requested it in their legs just to be safe. If I was giving fluids to a cat in renal failure, I would not worry about the chance of developing cancer in a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kevin N. Woodward&#xA;ISRN Veterinary ScienceVolume 2011 (2011), Article ID 210982,&#xA;Origins of Injection-Site Sarcomas in Cats: The Possible Role of Chronic Inflammation—A Review&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/210982/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brian Wilcock, Anne Wilcock, and Katherine Bottoms&#xA;Can Vet J. Apr 2012; 53(4): 430–434. &#xA;Feline postvaccinal sarcoma: 20 years later&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299519/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-15T18:33:59.100" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T18:33:59.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7338" CreationDate="2015-01-14T22:13:38.890" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ginger is an 11 year old spayed female cat who is slightly overweight (and has been more severely overweight previously so still carries the extra skin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's recently been walking stiffly around the house (especially up and down the stairs), and the vet confirmed that she has arthritis in her hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do around the house to make her more comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T15:10:45.000" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T15:10:45.000" Title="How can I help an older cat with arthritis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-14T22:17:01.443" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Ginger was &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7318/how-can-i-help-an-older-cat-with-arthritis&quot;&gt;recently diagnosed with arthritis&lt;/a&gt;. The vet gave us metacam for her, but I read on the web that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm231254.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the FDA has a black box warning&lt;/a&gt; to not give it to cats. What are the risks and/or benefits to this drug?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T16:42:47.323" Title="What are the risks to metacam with a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-14T23:12:41.140" Score="1" ViewCount="2063" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat developed ringworm after receiving shots at a Feline Rescue Facility.  The treated area has turned black, and is raised and very crusty ~ is this part of the normal healing process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3466" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T16:43:48.953" Title="Does Feline Ringworm turn black and crusty when healing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26784" CreationDate="2015-01-15T02:38:58.867" Score="10" ViewCount="11329" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, my cat paws me while playing, with his nails out, and it hurts. Sometimes, he's a jerk and doesn't let me brush off litter dust from his paws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I say ow, and make a sad face, he probably won't understand much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to say &quot;ow, stop&quot; in cat language? What about &quot;I am sad that you did what you just did&quot;? What about &quot;please stop being mean&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T18:18:30.877" Title="How can I show a cat that I am unhappy with one of their actions?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7310" CreationDate="2015-01-15T04:26:14.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he is eating and drinking he should be ok. If the skin on his eyes seem to take a long time compared to the rest of his shedding body parts, you can try using saline solution by dropping little drops on the shedding skin that is stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T04:26:14.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2015-01-15T05:15:42.087" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you flinch and say &quot;ow', that's a pretty universal mammalian signal...&#xA;If it isn't &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; bad, I've had pretty good success in persuading my cats by reaching around and lifting the tips of their toes whenever they do this. If they persist after that warning the get evicted from the lap. I don't know whether they actually understand, but they find this annoying enough that they eventually associate it with their kneeding and learn to kneed more gently. As with any cat training,  it takes a while for them to figure out what you're asking for , and then a bit longer for them to decide to cooperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T05:15:42.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2015-01-15T05:37:28.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, cats are very sensitive to emotions, especially towards the human that the cat had decided to be his/her &quot;leader&quot; of the pack (known as owner, cat do not acknowledge us as their &quot;owner&quot;, rather they see us as their &quot;leader&quot;). My cat took me as her &quot;leader of the pack&quot; and will follow me around the house when she's not sleeping. With the normal cats' instinct built-in, she does sometimes do things that &quot;hurt&quot; us, like the example you had mentioned : &quot;nails/claws out while playing with us&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be trained, and it depends how you're going to &quot;communicate&quot; with your cat. For me, I treat my cat like a kid who needs to be taught on things that are correct or wrong. Which means I teach her like we teach a human baby, For example, when a baby is drinking milk, we repeatedly tell them &quot;milk milk&quot;, or while defecating we repeatedly tell them you &quot;poo poo&quot;. Babies and cats/dogs can learn simple sound (repeated sound) and are able to associate the sound with the thing they are doing at the moment after several times of repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of what my cat had learnt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When she plays with us and unintentionally pulls out her claws, &quot;Ouch!&quot; does not always helps, as she don't understand. I repeat the word &quot;pain pain&quot;, whenever she dug her claws on me, after a while she understood that &quot;pain pain&quot; means she's hurting me; and automatically she'll pull back her claws.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When seeing her jumping onto a chair or table, I'll repeat the word &quot;jump jump&quot;&#xA;The next time I saw her below a chair or table, I say the magic word again, she will understand and followed my &quot;instructions&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I made her do some trick to get her favorite treat, I'll say &quot;hand hand&quot;; which means I want her to raise her paws for me to get the treat. It does work! (but only for her FAV treats, Haha).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different breeds of cats does have different level of intelligence which I watched from &quot;Cats 101&quot; though. You may wish to try it out for a few times, and hope that your cat could finally understand and be able to &quot;communication&quot; with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T00:42:29.107" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T00:42:29.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7319" CreationDate="2015-01-15T17:56:01.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;METACAM (meloxicam) is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) with the primary purpose of reducing the hormones that cause inflammation and pain in arthritic patients. So thats the obvious benefit of it, basically pain management and reduced joint swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The FDA warning aside, which is massively alarming all on it's own, a risk associated with NSAIDs in animals is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptic_ulcer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gastric ulceration&lt;/a&gt; (Source: Blackwell's 5 Minute Veterinary Consult). Blackwell's (5th edition, which is after the FDA warning) still lists it as a drug of choice for felines, but Merck notes that it should only be a single SC (subcutaneous) injection in felines of 0.3 mg/kg and that the margin of safety with cats is very narrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are alternatives for cats and dogs that are not NSAIDs that may be worth asking about. There are also some non-medical options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weight reduction (if necessary) can reduce stress on the joints. If your cat isn't obese, then this is less relevant, but something to be aware of as they become more sedentary.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diets rich in Omega-3 fatty acids can help control inflammation and reduce pain. You can usually find these in diets where fish is prevalent. There are also vet brands that offer food formulated for this purpose. In Canada, Royal Canin has a mobility support food for cats with Omega-3 supplemented in to help with arthritic cats that can be purchased from vets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-01-15T19:42:19.983" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T19:42:19.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T20:03:53.383" Score="4" ViewCount="1688" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our rabbits live indoors, but during the nice months we take them camping and to other outdoor activities.  To protect them we give Revolution Flea &amp;amp; Tick during the 6 months of outdoor weather.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally when we have a nice covering of snow, I wonder if anybunny might like to go play in it (for short time, it is cold out there).  But I don't want to dose them for what might only be a couple of minutes, and at the same time I don't want them to get fleas.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are no absolutes, but is it safe to assume that a fresh trackless covering of snow is flea free? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T23:13:50.473" Title="Does snow kill fleas?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-15T22:16:13.427" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any dangers that a user of retractable leashes should know about that don't involve misuse by the owner and/or can't be prevented by responsible owner use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard plenty of horror stories about accidents that can happen from the use of retractable leashes, but many of them could also happen while using a regular leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I'm missing about the dangers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:42:37.117" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T13:42:37.117" Title="Are retractable leashes hazardous enough to prohibit use if used responsibly by the pet owner?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7281" CreationDate="2015-01-15T22:57:01.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might not need all that for a simple eyedrop/eardrop medication application.  Sit back with your kees a bit apart and hold the cat between them. This is so if he backs up he is trapped against your body.  With him wedged in and sitting still, bend his head back and drop the drops into the eye. Use a little distance so if he jerks, you don't poke him.  With practice you can squeeze the eye open with one hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ear would be similar, but tilt the head to the side and drop it in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An advantage is that you can practice this position without the medicine, giving treats or pets when he is in between your legs. So you can gain confidence in your handling of him without the medicine in that position and imagine doing the application. Once you think you can do it, try it out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T22:57:01.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7328" CreationDate="2015-01-15T23:00:53.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO their save use depends a lot on the dog's actual strength, weight and behavior. Never use such retractable leashes for strong or big dogs (Shepherds, Huskies, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is mostly due to the strength of those leashes (or it's absence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normal leashes are typically sold in two or three variations for various dog weights, e.g. for those under or above 20 kg. But even the thinner leashes will typically be more robust and thicker than many retractable ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may simply tear and/or their bearing could break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best case you'd be stuck with a leash that won't retract anymore. Worst case the leash might fly around and hurt you and/or the dog. Also not to forget the dog possibly escaping or running into a car (or whatever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in short I wouldn't use retractable leashes for any dog, unless it's really just something small such as a poodle or dachshund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got a strong and/or big dog and want to give it more freedom, look into buying a &lt;strong&gt;towrope/setline&lt;/strong&gt;. You can use them for smaller breeds as well, just keep in mind that they've got some weight as well and the dog will have to pull it. Make sure to get a quality one though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are typically 5-20 meters long (start with 10 meters if you're unsure) and they'll allow you to give your dog more or less freedom almost as easy as with a retractable line. They need some time to getting used to and they might not be as comfortable to use, but they're more flexible and without the downsides. Just make sure your dog doesn't surprise you just because he sees something interesting somewhere (but that's similar with other leashes as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T23:00:53.137" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7327" CreationDate="2015-01-15T23:13:50.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fleas will be far less active once temperatures drop below 5 or 10 °C, but they can be still active and don't really hybernate (ticks as well). However, they won't procreate if temperatures are that low and they'll more or less be idle waiting for the temperatures to climb again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to this I'd consider snow or even grass below the snow pretty much &quot;clean&quot;, especially if it's just for short periods of time and there aren't any other animals around (squirrels, straying cats, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-15T23:13:50.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7318" CreationDate="2015-01-16T01:36:55.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A vet told me to try glucosomine powder that is sold at pet stores to help with joint pain.  Sprinkle it on the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat didn't seem to eagerly eat the stuff, but it might work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T01:36:55.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7295" CreationDate="2015-01-16T01:53:51.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my life I have integrated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A 5 year old cat with a kitten&#xA;A 16 year old cat with a kitten&#xA;A 5 year old cat with a kitten&#xA;These same cats 7 years later with a 5-7 year old cat&#xA;A 16 year old and 11 year old cat with 2 kittens&#xA;2 one year old cats with an 8 year old cat.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last integration is still ongoing, with the new cat hissing some at the kittens and staying in her room, but the kittens are willing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason a young cat might be too much for an old cat is energy. You can help by getting 2 young cats to work on each other, and the old fellows can watch or join in as desired.  This worked &lt;strong&gt;very well&lt;/strong&gt; in the second to last instance. Counteracting the age difference is that most kittens learn some respect for the veteran and don't hound them too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was very touching to have the kittens and the older fellow all playing with a robot toy in his last months of life - especially since he could never lift his tail up and look friendly to a cat when he was younger, so had difficult relations all his life until then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T01:53:51.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7700" CreationDate="2015-01-16T07:59:10.067" Score="6" ViewCount="2920" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just read (in Polish) a 1985 crime novel, by Norwegian author &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gert_Nyg%C3%A5rdshaug&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gert Nygårdshaug&lt;/a&gt;. It seems, that it wasn't translated to English. Its original title is &lt;em&gt;Honningkrukken&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a tiny end-story note that main character took a bottle of liquid star anise (&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illicium_verum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Illicium verum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;) and, when running away from dogs hunting him, he spread this spice around his path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The narrator explained, that &lt;strong&gt;every dog is extremely sensitive to the smell of star anise&lt;/strong&gt;. The desire to sniff any item, that smells like star anise, is so strong, according to book author, that every dog, even hunting one, will drop their hunting or prey and immediately stop at that place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an extreme newbie to this area, but that sounds like an absurd to me. Mentioned book is filled with similar mistakes and strange theories, so I'd like to verify this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The novel was generally very poorly written and is full of obvious mistakes or obviously incorrect assumptions, so above may be a complete mistake that I'd like to clarify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3471" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T20:56:22.340" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T20:56:22.340" Title="Are dogs sensitive to star anise's smell?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-16T17:54:14.963" Score="1" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently added two banjo catfish to my tank, and just out of curiosity, I was wondering how I would determine the sex of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T22:20:53.877" Title="How can you tell the difference between a male or female banjo catfish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7318" CreationDate="2015-01-16T20:34:01.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure there's an upstairs and downstairs litterbox, so she can easily get to one without navigating stairs. She will probably benefit from a litterbox with shorter sides, so it's easier to get in and out of. Better to do this &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; she starts &quot;forgetting&quot; to use the litter box because it's too much effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might like it if you carry her downstairs in the morning, and back upstairs at night so she can be near you without having to climb stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crouching to eat may not be as comfortable as it used to be, so you might want to try a raised food dish like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/ceramic/365638&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she likes to sleep in a cat basket or bed, check to see if the sides are too high for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, look around at at her favourite places -- are they easy for her to access? Jumping up to that warm sunny windowsill may be more difficult now. But if you put a chair, footstool, or something like that next to the window, she can jump onto that, and then onto the windowsill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a boisterous dog or other animal that might make her nervous, it could be more difficult for her to escape them by jumping up out of their reach. You may want to make sure there are safe spots at ground level around the house. This could be as simple as a box with a cat-sized hole cut into the side for entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-01-16T20:34:01.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7361" CreationDate="2015-01-17T00:17:59.550" Score="7" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I have been having some troubles lately, and I'm pretty sure we're going to break up in the next month. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to best help my dog through the separation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is 8, but I've only had her for about 8 months. My dog is used to my girlfriend staying most nights a week at my place and usually seems to be in a worse mood for at least day after my gf leaves to stay at her place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has basically been her second parent since the beginning and is definitely her favorite of the 2 of us. I'm really worried about how she'll adjust to having just me around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on easing the transition? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T18:28:52.247" Title="Helping my dog through a breakup" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7496" CreationDate="2015-01-17T04:57:57.457" Score="11" ViewCount="2228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that while my cat eats, he has trouble getting his food pellets into his mouth, perhaps because of the shape of the food bowl? The food bowl I use is a small, circular, flat bottomed dish with 2 inch side rims -- pretty standard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone done research on the most comfortable food bowl shape for cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T13:33:24.400" Title="What is the best shape for a cat's food bowl?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7348" CreationDate="2015-01-17T14:34:17.760" Score="1" ViewCount="2097" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I give my rats stuff from the butchers. like marrowbone, pigs ears etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, without added salt, flavourings etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about meal worms or live foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2015-01-23T00:45:46.060" LastActivityDate="2015-01-23T00:45:46.060" Title="Is it safe to give my rats pig ears and marrow bone?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7343" CreationDate="2015-01-18T05:37:07.727" Score="1" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;Observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat has only played once, half-heartedly, each day, for the last two days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat still is quite social&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat was neutered a little more than a month ago&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat has spent much of its &quot;free time&quot; sleeping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat has been eating well, and defecating well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cat has been found to be lactose tolerant, and thus gets a bit of milk each day as a treat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any cause for concern? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T07:49:37.037" Title="If a cat hasn't played much for the last couple of days, and has spent of most of his time sleeping -- should one be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7342" CreationDate="2015-01-18T07:49:37.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do spend less time actively playing as they get older. You could try encouraging them with some new and/or interactive toys. Different cats respond to different things - one of mine still loves chasing the laser pointer dot, especially when I run it across the couch so she can dive at ti full speed and just bounce when it escapes, the other has no interest in the &quot;red bug&quot; but really likes wrestling with length of thick string. One of them will bring me a small  ball to throw for her. They both like hunting the feather wand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do spend less time actively playing as they become adults. Play is partly about learning what they can do, and once they get that figured out they don't need to spend as much time practicing or exploring.  Again, giving them something new to investigate, or getting involved in playing with them, may be more interesting for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general, adult cats are very efficient creatures.  When nothing needs to be done, they sleep... or find someplace to sit and watch birds or humans or other oddities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-18T07:49:37.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-18T12:09:50.380" Score="2" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;We already have a seven-month old kitten, and we're thinking of adopting a new kitten around the same age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that for some adult cats, even if you take all the right precautions in introducing them, they may never really get along, and actually end up being less happy in their lives than they would be if they lived alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if this is a realistic concern for kittens this age, or if they always tend to accept each other. If there's a significant chance they won't get along, we may just forget about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten we have is very energetic and playful. He's neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see that there's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5509/does-age-matter-when-adopting-a-cat-if-you-already-own-a-cat&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt; on a similar topic, but what's there doesn't really answer my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the chance of two kittens being introduced and housed together without improving their lives? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean that overall, in terms of the cats' happiness, they would be better off apart. That is, the stress of sharing the house with another cat outweighs any companionship. I think snuggling and playing is a good indicator of this, because if they're not friends, I only see a downside for them. The downside could range from a certain low-level stress (being wary of each other) to something more extreme (fighting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to adopt a kitten, that ultimately decreases the quality of life for either or both of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:27:53.553" Title="What is the chance of two kittens being introduced and housed together without improving their lives?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6122" CreationDate="2015-01-18T15:55:19.123" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't tell, but a vet or shelter can (&lt;em&gt;kind of&lt;/em&gt;). If the rabbit has a microchip, a phone call will likely identify the gender, and history of the rabbit.  Without a microchip, if you can't find testicles assume it is a young rabbit (of either gender) or an unaltered adult female. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long Answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are much like cats when trying to tell their gender.  As you point out the existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5878&quot;&gt;How do you tell the gender of a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; is not a lot of help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit is a mature unaltered male he should have testicles much like a cat. You should be able to feel or see them fairly easily.  Occasionally one or both testicles will not descend, but this is fairly rare in my experience, so I will ignore that possibility for remainder of this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't see/feel testicles the rabbit could be a:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Young unaltered male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neutered male (5-6+ months to 10+ years)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Young unaltered female&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spayed female&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adult unaltered female&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young rabbits are much harder to tell the gender of than adults.  Their genitalia are under developed so a skilled person may be able identify they are young and unaltered but not be positive about their sex.  Even if an experienced person gives a gender, there is a 50% chance they are wrong.  Nearly all the baby bunnies that come to our local rescues are from siblings that &quot;were both the same gender&quot; when young. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can tell pretty well if a rabbit is in group 1 or 3, but any definitive answer would be advisory; until they develop testicles, have babies or get spayed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An adult male who has been neutered, can usually be determined. But at our local shelter if there is any doubt they assume that it is an unaltered female. It is not unusual for a an adult rabbit to enter surgery to be spayed, and once the surgery is underway they discover it is actually a neutered male.  Other than medical records you can't dependably tell an unaltered female from a spayed female on visual exam.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for groups 2, 4 &amp;amp; 5 sometimes you can reliably identify the neutered male, but there is some room for error, so all are generally assumed to be intact females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time you can reliably tell that a rabbit is a neutered male or spayed female is if they have been microchiped and you get their medical records. All the shelters and rescues in my area, microchip and alter rabbits before they leave, in some cases baby bunnies are too young to spay and may leave with just a microchip, but the spay/neuter is covered, the person brings the pet back and it is altered for no additional cost (actually they get a refund). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit does not have a microchip it probably came from a breeder, and is unlikely to have been spayed.  If it has a microchip you should be able to assign gender and spay/neuter status with a phone call. The only reliable definitive proofs are procreation (&lt;em&gt;making babies&lt;/em&gt;) and surgery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2019-01-14T17:14:17.937" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T17:14:17.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-18T20:04:43.333" Score="0" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone can give any advice about one of my danios. It is a little bloated and keeps hiding in the plants. At one point I noticed it was breathing rapidly. In my tank I also have 3 cardinal tetra and 2 shrimps. &#xA;Thank you &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3481" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-31T19:06:07.270" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T19:07:00.527" Title="Bloated, hiding and rapid breathing danio" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7230" CreationDate="2015-01-19T00:26:22.487" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B008U1DBFM&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The most popular cat tunnel on amazon&lt;/a&gt; has a 9.5 inch diameter. Cat doors on amazon seem to all be in the 7-9 inch range as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 15 pound cat, and got her an 11 inch diameter tunnel. She can navigate that just fine, so you probably won't have to go over 11 inches, even for a very large cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1107" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T00:26:22.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7341" CreationDate="2015-01-19T01:35:56.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You absolutely can. They're tasty and great for keeping their teeth trimmed. Pig's ears are very, very fatty for them though, so bear that in mind. Meal worms are great too, as a tasty source of protein, alive or dried. They can also have other live foods such as crickets etc, though I prefer to only feed these dried as rats tend to stash food and you may discover a bunch of mealworms living in your cage. It can get messy. I'd recommend only feeding live in small doses and at times when you can make sure the rats aren't stashing! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bones are a particular favourite of mine, I gave them a chicken carcass today actually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T01:35:56.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7112" CreationDate="2015-01-19T01:44:49.690" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rats can eat most things. Read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratfanclub.org/diet.html&quot;&gt;Rat diet&lt;/a&gt;, especially the forbidden foods section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Citrus peel or seeds - Peel never. Seeds definitely not for male rats, can cause cancer. As a side note, never feed apple pips, they contain small amounts of cyanide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meat bones - a big fat yes, they'll love you for it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stale bread - yes, but not mouldy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tea - mine steal tea all the time, though make sure it isn't too sugary or milky.&#xA;Meat fat - waaay too fatty for them, though they will gladly eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plant leaves - I wouldn't recommend it, they'd be more likely to build a nest from them. &#xA;Bark &amp;amp; Twig - yes, but only if properly cleaned and driedas these can bring in microscopic parasites.&#xA;Berries - nope, not unless they're human-safe ie blackberries etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T01:44:49.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7109" CreationDate="2015-01-19T01:48:04.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but it's very fatty for them, so I'd recommend in very small amounts ie a couple of licks each. I let mine clean off the lid to a yoghurt pot when I have them. Some probiotic yoghurts are very good for them, but again in small amounts as too much can lead to diarrhoea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="3483" LastEditDate="2015-01-19T02:05:11.717" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T02:05:11.717" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7357" CreationDate="2015-01-19T06:36:37.327" Score="4" ViewCount="3646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering buying a Birman kitten (not in the near future, but in prospect), and I can't find any info on genetic diseases and other health issues connected with this breed. Sites and breeders alike say that Birmans are generally perfectly healthy, and although I'd like to believe it, I'm not sure if I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of what I mean is Siberian breed. Same as with Birmans, sites and breeders alike state that Siberians are a healthy and sturdy breed, but being a breeder myself and talking with other breeders, I know that some bloodlines are prone to umbilical hernia (not mine thankfully). So I'm wondering if there are similar pitfalls with Birmans, and if there are specific 'right' questions I should ask the 2 local breeders when I do decide it's time to introduce a Birman into my household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T18:38:19.223" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T18:49:19.410" Title="Are there any health concerns for Birman cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7328" CreationDate="2015-01-19T14:08:45.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not really. They're not much more dangerous than any long leash. They may be a little more prone to breaking, because the retraction mechanism is a bit more delicate than a bit of rope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're also usually thinner than a 'normal' lead, which means they're 'sharper' if something runs into them/gets clotheslined. I have very nearly come a cropper when cycling down a (cycle) path, when the owner is on one side, and the dog is sniffing something on the other side - the retractable leash was harder to see, and I have no doubt would have hurt quite a bit if I'd got it across my neck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major reason I don't use them though, is because of training - I don't want my dog to be bimbling around the road if she's on a leash, I want a clear distinction between 'walk beside me now' and 'go run free' off leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to have helped with some anxiety issues she was suffering - one of the factors in anxiety is 'who is in charge' - a dog who feels she's in charge can get worked up and distressed when 'her pack' has wandered off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T14:08:45.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7279" CreationDate="2015-01-19T16:02:54.150" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just went to the pet store and got an air pump and an air stone and installed them to my fish bowl. I observed that this solved 3 things :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Air bubbles trap some of the dissolved impurities and release them at the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replenishing oxygen level in water by increasing the surface area of water in contact with air.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Generating disturbance at water surface, generating little waves, and continuously moving the inside water which most fishes are fond of.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also observed that my fishes are not struggling to breathe anymore. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastEditorUserId="3451" LastEditDate="2015-03-28T18:30:13.973" LastActivityDate="2015-03-28T18:30:13.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="272" CreationDate="2015-01-19T20:01:43.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamsters need at least 360 square inches of floor space and a 10 gallon is just too small! Imagine if you were stuck in a small room for your whole life! A 20 gallon works but I prefer the 20 gallon long tank and you have to keep in mind I would not go any bigger than a 20 gallon long because of the air ventilation it can become hard to breathe and cause respiratory problems (according to a vet). A 20 gallon long should be your best bet for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3486" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:08:01.280" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:08:01.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7353" CreationDate="2015-01-19T23:33:59.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some information out that suggests that the breed is particularly subject to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophic_cardiomyopathy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)&lt;/a&gt;. This is a disease of the heart that basically thickens the heart muscles and can lead to a number of health related issues and early death. There is some research going on, notably in the UK, with respect to this illness specifically in Birman cats and the evidence suggests that it is a genetically passed on in the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, don't necessarily let this deter you, but if you want more information on the subject (including information on the research being performed), then &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birman-health-foundation.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Birman Health Foundation&lt;/a&gt; in the UK has some good information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-01-19T23:33:59.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-19T23:59:52.377" Score="3" ViewCount="371" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my eight month old Corgi/Toy Australian Shepherd puppy for about three months already. He's doing well with the &quot;sit&quot; command. However, I have a problem with teaching him not to pull the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried two strategies: short leash and &quot;pull, then stop&quot; or &quot;pull, then change direction&quot;. As I understand, the root of the problem is lack of attention. He's always looking around, sniffing everything he finds, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I capture his attention when we start a training session? Should my puppy be hungry enough before we go for a walk? Will treats work in this case (he seems to be food motivated)? Will I have a problem of him trying to eat everything he finds? I already observe something very similar even if he's fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another potential problem is that I have a lack of authority for him. How do I build it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3487" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T15:33:24.170" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:33:24.170" Title="How to get dog's attention?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7230" CreationDate="2015-01-20T01:11:22.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of variables when choosing a tunnel.  Concrete forms in 8,10 &amp;amp; 12 inches sizes can be found at your local DIY store for around $5. Buy one of each and bring it home for a trial.  We use them &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1998/how-do-you-bunny-proof-behind-the-couch/2001#2001&quot;&gt;a lot with Rabbits&lt;/a&gt; but they work good for cats also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are easy to get, returns are easy, and if you like them they are inexpensive to own and replace. They last well and even with heavy usage they last years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T01:11:22.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7358" CreationDate="2015-01-20T12:22:15.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a copy paste but i have also tried it,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whenever your dog pulls, stop and stand still (be a tree)&lt;/strong&gt;. No matter how hard your dog pulls, don't let it go in the direction it&#xA;  wants to go. The reason for this is that if the dog pulls, and you&#xA;  follow it, the dog is learning that pulling is a very effective way to&#xA;  get somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wait until the dog does anything that loosens the leash.&lt;/strong&gt; The dog might stop pulling by leaning back, sit, or change direction. As soon&#xA;  as the leash loosens, start walking again. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Repeat for the duration of the walk. This method requires a LOT of patience!&lt;/strong&gt; You're teaching the dog that pulling gets it nowhere. You&#xA;  have to be consistent and timely. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-a-Dog-from-Pulling-on-His-Leash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you tried &quot;&quot;pull-&gt;stop&quot; or &quot;pull-&gt;change direction&quot;.&quot; but changing direction is not much helpful better don't allow him to pull you and when he loosen the grip allow him to walk but remember not  to make strain in his neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is other method also mentioned on the page but this worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even my Labrador catches the leash in his mount too but that also stopped when i tried this trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other method is treat method but over treats make the dog greedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T12:22:15.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7339" CreationDate="2015-01-20T12:40:11.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Distraction&lt;/strong&gt; : I live with my sister and brother-in-law and our two dogs. Both of them are attached more to them. Whenever they go out-station for longer time i have similar problem but the option i choose is distraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make them busy, making their walk longer, spend more time with them, make their iteration with neighbouring dogs and human more. Playing with them, for the rest time, i sit with them with-outing even playing too (even presence also works) and help me in my laptop etc work too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Company:&lt;/strong&gt; If its not possible to give company by your own self, then you can seek help from other friend and helful neighbour too. Else have a &lt;strong&gt;second pet&lt;/strong&gt; but it will bring more responsibility too during initial stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T12:40:11.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-20T13:44:40.930" Score="2" ViewCount="697" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has a skin condition or allergy that is causing him to scratch and nibble at himself quite often. I know it's normal for a dog to occasionally scratch himself or lick certain areas, but his skin around the areas he favors is bright red and I'm worried he could be causing more damage to himself. He's on a daily treatment for his allergy (nothing specific), but the only thing that has alleviated his scratching was when he was prescribed steroids. Neither the vet nor I want to keep him on steroids for any extended period of time, but his daily treatment doesn't seem to be helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this purely a medical issue or is there a way I can get him to scratch himself less? I am hoping that if he scratches himself less it'll allow his skin to heal and bother him less. &#xA;I try to call his name or give him a command like sit when I see him start to scratch, but it doesn't seem to be working and of course isn't going to help when I'm not home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T19:30:33.613" Title="How do I get my dog to stop scratching himself raw?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-20T14:34:03.280" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; most mammals stop producing or decrease production of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lactase&lt;/a&gt; after weaning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lactase is essential to the complete digestion of whole milk. Lactase breaks down lactose, a simple sugar which gives milk its sweetness. Lacking lactase, a person consuming dairy products may experience the symptoms of flatulence, diarrhea &amp;amp; nausea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, how concerned do I need to be?  If my pet is lactose intolerant, does that mean they can't have any dairy products?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T21:11:07.923" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T21:11:07.923" Title="If my pet is lactose intolerant does that mean they can't have any dairy products?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-20T15:27:30.273" Score="1" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fantail fish which has a small red spot on his/her bum, and I have noticed one of the other fish has been chasing it. I have had the fish together for many years now &amp;amp; do regular 10% water changes. What could this be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two goldfish, one fantail and three very small minos in a tank size 15 inches High - 22 inches L (Across the front) - 11 inches Wide (Side). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank You.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3488" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T17:25:42.277" Title="What is wrong with my fantail goldfish - Red Spot on Bum" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7368" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:06:38.373" Score="6" ViewCount="15117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night our dog pinched 1&amp;nbsp;lb (450&amp;nbsp;g) frozen beef off the HIGH counter while we were out shopping, and did not leave a crumb. I know dogs are fine eating the raw beef, but will this have any lasting effects or require any further attention? 18 hours after the incident he seems fine and completely normal in behavior and nature, and even ate some of his dry food this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a 3 year old Basset Hound purebred, weighing around 80&amp;nbsp;lbs (36&amp;nbsp;kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T15:57:17.547" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T15:57:17.547" Title="Basset Hound ate 1lb of frozen beef from counter" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7344" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:27:53.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The chance of another kitten not improving your current's kitten life is very very close to 0. In my experience (cat owner for 9 years, multiple cat household) unless you live in a very small place, even if they don't really like each other, the company will always improve both kittens lives. I mention the size of your home because each cat should have one room/room sized area that they consider their own until they have time to adjust and hopefully become good friends. The time the adjustment will take depends mostly on their personalities. In my experience outgoing playful cats adjust easily to changes independently of their age. Stubborn more reclusive cats take longer, even years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if they're not friends, I only see a downside for them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with that, even if they are not friends, just keeping an eye on each other and slapping the other cat when he gets too close is a fun activity for most cats and will keep them more alert and active. I only wouldn't recommend getting a second cat if the current one is aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:27:53.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7363" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:51:10.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, if your pet is lactose intolerant, don't give them dairy products with lactose.  While it is discouraged to give pets human food, there are lactose-free or low in lactose dairy products, such as lactose free milk, which a lactose intolerant animal could consume without getting symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals with lactose intolerance tend to have similar symptoms to humans with lactose intolerance -- as you said, flatulence, diarrhea, nausea.  So, nothing to take them to the vet for, unless the symptoms don't clear up in 24 hours or are particularly severe, but I think you and your pet will be much happier to avoid experiencing those symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:51:10.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7365" CreationDate="2015-01-20T16:55:52.013" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer is that he'll be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/wellness/evr_dg_eating_grass&quot;&gt;primarily scavengers&lt;/a&gt; and not quite the hunters we used to think they were, though they're still predators and have some of those instincts. What that means, though, is that the dogs are capable of eating much more riskier foods as much of what they will eat will not be fresh kill (carrion). The acidity level of a dog's stomach is quite high, as they are scavengers, and is there to kill off many micro-organisms that would otherwise make them, or us, quite sick or prove deadly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would see no reason to be alarmed at his beef eating adventure. I'm sure he quite enjoyed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T16:55:52.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7346" CreationDate="2015-01-20T17:45:31.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have not provided enough details about your tank and situation, I can only think of possible causes:-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fish may not be getting enough dissolved oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fish may be stressed out due to over-crowding.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T17:45:31.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7339" CreationDate="2015-01-20T18:28:52.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reminder: the dog doesn't know the difference between a breakup and one of you going on a long business trip. They're going to react more to the humans' moods than to anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T18:28:52.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7362" CreationDate="2015-01-20T19:30:33.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a dog with a similar condition. A couple of things come to mind:&#xA;1) food allergies.  What are you feeding him?  You should be feeding a high quality (expensive) dog food -- the cheap stuff at walmart is cheap for a reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Switch to a grain-free product like NutriSource (what I feed).  Try that and see if it gets better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I had a dog that was red on his chest and losing hair.  My vet diagnosed a bacterial infection.  We bathed him every other day in a special shampoo from the vet, and gave antibiotics for 3 weeks, and that cleared him up -- stopped itching, no more red skin, and hair started to come back.  Talk to your vet about this possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Could be skin mites; too small to see without a magnifying glass.  Your vet should be able to spot these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Could be internal parasites.  Worms esp. can rob essential nutrients, which can make the dog ill.  This could present as skin irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3490" LastActivityDate="2015-01-20T19:30:33.613" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7166" CreationDate="2015-01-21T04:20:44.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many fish like to hide while they sleep because that's when they're most vulnerable.  There's nothing wrong with this and you want to do everything to mitigate your fish's stress. Maybe put something in there for them to hide in. I use cheap PVC fittings in my quarantine tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second one may help it feel more secure while they're active but I doubt it'll do anything for the night time routine. They do &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danio#In_the_aquarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prefer to be in schools of 6 or more&lt;/a&gt;, but your 3 gal is a bit small for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, some fish will lay at the bottom on their sides if they can't find a suitable hiding place. This one I don't think applies to you but substrate dwelling fish would also lay on the bottom if they couldn't get under coarse substrate/gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T04:20:44.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7365" CreationDate="2015-01-21T15:25:18.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog is normally on kibble then there is a slight chance and I do mean very small chance it will get sick because kibble passes through very slowly compared to raw meat. If the meat stays in her stomach for too long, it can cause problems which is why no one should be feeding kibble and raw at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the meat was frozen then it shouldn't be an issue since freezing the meat will kill a lot of bacterias. You can ignore the first comment, a pound of meat is not a lot for a 80 pound dog. My almost 70 pound German Shepherd eats 2 pounds of raw per day (about 3% of her weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might see the result of raw meat in her stool. Raw diet stool is a lot different than kibble. Don't be alarmed, but monitor her stool when it comes out. If her stool is fine then you are good to go&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3307" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T15:25:18.790" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7378" CreationDate="2015-01-21T17:47:07.797" Score="1" ViewCount="965" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I recently rescued an 8-week old puppy (may be slightly younger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She and her kids have all come down with a nasty virus of some sort -- they have fevers and other gross symptoms (I'll leave it to your imagination).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm concerned that the puppy could catch their virus&lt;/strong&gt; from frequent and sharing the same house, especially since she's so young and is no longer getting antibodies from her mother's milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have my own house and am well, so I suggested moving the puppy to my house for a few days so that she won't get sick. &lt;strong&gt;My girlfriend assures me that this is &quot;insane&quot; and that animals cannot catch human illnesses or visa versa, except rabies and extremely rare diseases.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the puppy at risk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T01:22:37.513" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T01:22:37.513" Title="Can my Puppy Catch a Human Virus?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-04-08T01:16:32.873" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7095" CreationDate="2015-01-21T21:11:49.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dogs that respond (run to you and expecting something good) to the tongue click are most likely trained with a clicker. Since the sound is quite similar so the dog thought you clicked and is expecting something good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously not all dogs are like this because dogs that are not trained with a clicker might come over to investigate what the sound is or just ignore it altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't naturally recognize the clicker sound, it's trained into them. If you raise a dog without using the clicker and start making tongue clicks, it might come over the first few times to investigate, but if no positive results, it won't come over every time. It might look at you since you made a loud noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all people know about the tongue click, I am not sure what you are using to quantify that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3307" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T21:11:49.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7376" CreationDate="2015-01-21T22:11:29.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, yes, it's possible for a virus to transmit from a human to an animal, this is known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroponotic_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse zoonosis (anthroponotic)&lt;/a&gt; and influenza, for example, is one of them as this &lt;a href=&quot;http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/oct/onset-flu-season-raises-concerns-about-human-pet-transmission&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oregon State article&lt;/a&gt; describes. This shouldn't really surprise us, because if something can go from animal to us then the reverse, for some, is almost inevitably true as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to whether or not your girlfriend or her kids are specifically carrying something that can be transmitted to the puppy, I don't know. That's probably a combination of a diagnosis from a medical doctor and check with a veterinarian to confirm risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, tl;dr: if you can get a doctor's diagnosis, then check with a vet after. If you're really worried, and can't get a diagnosis but think it's the flu (not unreasonable given it's flu season), then keeping them apart is probably a wise precaution for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-01-21T22:11:29.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7380" CreationDate="2015-01-22T02:29:02.323" Score="5" ViewCount="9529" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should it be washed every time they empty the food bowl? Every few days? Does it depend on the species? Are there any dangers to not washing the food bowl at a more regular time than the recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2015-01-23T22:53:02.257" Title="How often should one wash a pet's (dog or cat) food bowl?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7379" CreationDate="2015-01-22T02:41:52.383" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No matter what the species is, this applies to all the food bowls for every single dog and cat. There is no danger to washing the bowl every 12 hrs. The only danger of doing that is leaving soap in the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No matter how thoroughly your cat or dog licks the food dish, it's not clean enough to use again without washing. That goes for water dishes, too. In some homes I've seen water dishes with the beginnings of algae colonies forming on the sides and the bottom. Who'd want to drink from that?&#xA;  Pick up your pet's food dish after every meal, then wash and scrub with hot water and soap. The water dish should get the same treatment on a daily basis.&#xA;  Better still, run them through the hottest cycle of the dishwasher to get them really clean and sterilized. &#xA;  From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/spot-check-you-probably-arent-washing-your-cat-and-dogs-food-and-water-dishes-enough&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/spot-check-you-probably-arent-washing-your-cat-and-dogs-food-and-water-dishes-enough&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Optimally, cleaning water and food bowls every day is the best – and if you’re feeding them wet food, you definitely should clean the bowls every day. If you are giving your pets dry food, PLEASE at least do a warm water rinse every day and clean the bowls with soap and water at least every few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are several ways you can keep up with the cleaning. Most people will find using the dishwasher the easiest way to clean the bowls, but remember if the bowls are plastic to put them on the top part of the dishwasher to prevent melting. If you’re washing them by hand, use a mild detergent and warm/hot water. Rinse the bores thoroughly to make sure there is no soap residue left behind when you fill the bowls with water again because that could upset your pet’s stomach.&#xA;  From: &lt;a href=&quot;https://petfriendsmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/keeping-your-pets-water-and-food-bowls-cleaned-should-be-part-of-your-daily-routine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://petfriendsmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/keeping-your-pets-water-and-food-bowls-cleaned-should-be-part-of-your-daily-routine/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've seen here in my research, my own experiences go along with this. I've done labs for instance I left the bowl out no cleaning and my dog got sick within 2 weeks. Another one I've done is when I wash it but leave soap in it. My dog didn't trust the bowl for 1 week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-01-23T22:53:02.257" LastActivityDate="2015-01-23T22:53:02.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7379" CreationDate="2015-01-22T03:28:25.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although there is no specific harm for washing dogs/cats bowls frequently, but there is definitely a reason why should we wash them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest washing their bowls &lt;strong&gt;every single night&lt;/strong&gt;. As I found that the smell of any leftover crumbs/layering on the bowls do attract crockroaches or flies; depending on what was contained in the bowl previously (dry or wet foods). These pests do carry germs/diseases that could infect our pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about the chemical used in dishwasher, you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drkarenslee.com/citrus-enzyme-cleaner-recipe/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;homemade dishwashing liquid&lt;/a&gt; which can be make from natural enzymes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastEditorUserId="3401" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T04:27:18.157" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T04:27:18.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2941" CreationDate="2015-01-22T08:55:25.427" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is yes, because I put my hamster in my tortoises cage and they got along fine. In fact they love each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3499" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:52:57.467" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:52:57.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7379" CreationDate="2015-01-22T10:23:52.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water goes stale if you leave it out. I've noticed that if I forget to clean the water bowl for a day, the amount of water the dog drinks from it (and subsequently 'makes up' from puddles when out) decreases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food bowl I've not noticed as much, but that I think is because we feed dry food topped with some wet. (Varies a bit what goes on top - some of what we're eating if it's suitable, sometimes a piece of fish, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here too - it won't do any harm to clean regularly. If you use detergent, you'll need to make sure you properly rinse away the detergent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;em&gt;suggestion&lt;/em&gt; would be: fit a daily 'light' clean into the routine. Empty out the water bowl, quick scrub/rinse and same with food bowl. General aim is to alleviate 'staleness' in the water, and accumulation manky food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And weekly do a 'deep' clean, e.g. dishwasher, soak in detergent, etc. Ensure as part of it you &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; do an extra rinse after, to ensure there's no lingering smells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T10:23:52.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7406" CreationDate="2015-01-22T12:35:03.947" Score="4" ViewCount="1319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment and my dog is able to pee on the potty pad almost consistently. However, when it comes to pooping, he only does it when I'm not watching. I think this is a byproduct of me scolding him a couple of times long time ago when he was pooping on the sofa. How can I correct this behavior to get him poop on the potty pad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3500" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-31T19:06:38.503" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T19:06:38.503" Title="How to correct my dog's behavior: he only poops when I'm not watching" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2015-01-22T12:35:56.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Important point: like most animals, cats need &lt;em&gt;immediate&lt;/em&gt; feedback to understand what you're responding to. Effectively,  they don't remember what they did a few minutes ago, or at least don't consider it important or why you'd be objecting now. So you need to anticipate their actions and look for the &quot;teachable moment&quot;, or create those moments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is why the &quot;rub their nose in it&quot; idea is abusive rather than useful.  They really don't understand the message. )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T12:35:56.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-22T15:04:42.890" Score="7" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 1.5 year old dog who is getting restless when we're at work which is leading to some destructive chewing. She gets through dog puzzles in no time and frozen kongs within a half hour after her walker leaves them. Any thoughts on ways to challenge and occupy her when we're not around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's in a room with an area of 10&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;12 feet (3&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;3.7 m) while we're not home. We take her out for a half an hour walk in the morning, when gets a half an hour with the walker at lunch and then an hour when we get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just loves chewing things, maybe we haven't been good about telling her not to destroy her toys but I'm not sure how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to leave her with an antler but now I worry she'll crack her teeth so need something she can gnaw unattended for a while (thanks for the suggestions @ThomasH).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-31T11:56:56.103" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T11:56:56.103" Title="How to occupy a bored dog when we're not around?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7386" CreationDate="2015-01-22T18:43:19.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried the find it game? For my dog I often hide food caches (a small collection of kibble, or a medium sized treat) around the apartment for her to find. It's a fun 'puzzle' and since you decide where to hide the rewards, the difficulty level is adjustable. As my dog has gotten better at finding the hidden treats I've had to come up with more advanced places to hide them (inside old shoe boxes, underneath her dog bed...etc.) If you try this technique and your dog is already a bit destructive you might want to be extra mindful of where you hide the treats (so you're not encouraging your dog to destroy or mess up anything else)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more high tech solution there are weird robot toys that play with your dog while you're away...something like this:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://goifetch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://goifetch.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add that one of the best ways to make your dog less restless while your away is to tire your dog out while you are around. A tired dog is more likely to want to lie around the house while you're away.&#xA;Good luck :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="3012" LastEditDate="2015-01-22T21:33:05.130" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T21:33:05.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7386" CreationDate="2015-01-22T20:36:31.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A scheduled robot vacuum can provide some interesting stimulus unless they are terrified of vacuums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly use a gate to contain some of the damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a variety of automated and or remotely controlled laser toys you can use to occupy attention as well as burn off excess energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also second the &lt;a href=&quot;http://goifetch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goifetch&lt;/a&gt; that Veg mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2015-01-22T20:36:31.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-22T22:30:38.283" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that pine shavings are generally considered safe for animals, but not as safe for chinchillas.&lt;br&gt; This &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/kind-wood-shavings-chinchillas-2440.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; says that aspen also isn't good for some chinchillas - &quot;Spruce is an another acceptable wood shaving if you want to stick with wood but aren't using aspen for some reason, such as an allergic response to it in your chinchilla.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can I give my chinchilla some foods or treats that are labeled for rabbits? I have discovered some foods he likes, but I'm worried about allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, generally what are chinchillas allergic to? Is giving him rabbit foods going to cause a reaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3496" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-12T09:37:14.090" LastActivityDate="2017-10-12T09:37:14.090" Title="Concerned about allergies: can I give my chinchilla rabbit foods or treats?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;chinchillas&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-22T23:51:46.577" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 year old Staffordshire Terrier is losing hair around his mouth. This has happened before except he lost all the hair around his right eye. The vet took a scraping and there were no increased mites or abnormalities. I love him dearly but my budget is tight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the same thing? Can I prevent it somehow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3503" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-01-23T00:38:27.880" LastActivityDate="2015-01-23T00:38:27.880" Title="Why is my Staffordshire Terrier losing hair around his mouth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-23T05:14:33.900" Score="7" ViewCount="5688" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4-month old kitten vomited 2 times today, approximately 8-9 hours ago. The first time, nothing except a clearish fluid came up, but the second time (about an hour later), an elongated (stretched out) plastic twist-tie about 5.5 inches (13.5 centimeters) came up with the fluid as well. The tie had teeth marks on it so I suspect that she had been playing with it and tried and succeeded in eating it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the second time she vomited, she had a brief period of about average energy, but she has slept for most of the time. This doesn't seem out of the norm because she is a pretty calm cat if nobody in the house is doing anything exciting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, I've seen her stalk a ladybug that got in the house and I just gave her a toy and some wet food and she seemed to regain some of her energy. She's eaten both her wet and dry food since then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do now? Obviously the safest thing to do is to bring her to the vet, but if this is something that can be treated or alleviated by a home remedy then I'd rather not pay the fees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3505" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T17:50:19.913" Title="My cat vomited an object a few hours ago, what should I do now?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7393" CreationDate="2015-01-23T08:31:00.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you can't look inside, the savest bet would be asking a vet. There's probably nothing left (Do you have the suspicion that it ate a second twist tie?) and I don't think the cat has any other injuries due to that. If it doesn't try to vomit again, there's probably nothing to worry about. More rigid stuff is far more dangers (like needles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, what you describe is pretty much natural behavior. E.g. if cats got some hairballs in their stomach, they'll try to eat grass (which will stick to the hair and grab it) and then try to vomit all that at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it thought the twist-tie would be some kind of grass stalk. Does your cat have any opportunity to chew on grass (garden or some grass in a pot)? If not, get it some cat grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-23T08:31:00.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7393" CreationDate="2015-01-23T13:52:33.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to me a couple of times and I did take my cat to the vet the first time, here's what she said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A string or a plastic twist-tie won't show up in an echography, so there's no point in doing one.&#xA;Unless you've seen exactly what they've eaten, which is not the case here as most of the times, there is a risk that some of it is still inside, and it might twist and get tangled in their intestines on its way out. This may end up badly, having to perform surgery on the cat to remove it. To try to prevent it you should give them a cat safe laxative based on petroleum that will lubricate their digestive tract (&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.lovetoknow.com/cat-health-health-problems/safe-laxatives-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://cats.lovetoknow.com/cat-health-health-problems/safe-laxatives-cats&lt;/a&gt;, the first three are petroleum based) and wet food, you can add some pumpkin to the wet food to add more fiber to it. You also have to monitor her litter box, she should poop within less than 24 hours. Check the poop for left over pieces of the plastic or string eaten and the kitten for any sign of distress when using the litter box. If there's a pice of string dangling from your cat anus do not pull since that can seriously harm your kitten, just cut what's dangling, the rest will come out the next time. If she doesn't poop within one day or shows any sign of distress or lethargy please take her to the vet. Also make sure she drinks plenty of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The listed above are very cheap and easy precautions that you can take at home and will help solve the issue on its own most to the times, but please do keep a close eye on your kitten until you are sure she's fine, and if in doubt always call your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="583" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T17:50:19.913" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T17:50:19.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-23T17:21:45.983" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet female bunny had 3 kits in her hutch that she has been taking good care of. They are 10 days old. However, she accidently jumped out while I was feeding her and I can't catch her. Will she return late tonight to nurse them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3437" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T08:13:09.390" Title="will my rabbit return to her 3 kits, she jumped out of her hutch while feeding her" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-06-22T14:52:09.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7398" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-23T22:46:27.157" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will it confuse my puppy if I first say &quot;NO!&quot; when he's doing something bad and after that cheer him? Should positive motivation be used in such cases at all? What should be the delay between &quot;NO!&quot; and &quot;Good boy!&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3487" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T09:14:39.413" Title="Should I cheer my puppy when he stops doing a bad thing after I command him &quot;NO!&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-24T04:12:40.787" Score="5" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, who is about 2.5 years old, is awake most of the night, when none of the family is, and asleep -- seemingly resigned -- during most of the day. I feel sorry for him. Wouldn't he be lonely at night? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used to like playing with toys, but not so much anymore. Now, he mostly just likes to lie down underneath the coffee table. I don't know what he thinks about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used to be a social cat. He loves being around people. He's still social, but I feel like I don't have any chances to interact with him, apart from when I pull out the treat bag, or when it's time for food. Apart from that, we just sit and stare at each other, and occasionally touch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could he be depressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-31T11:46:08.757" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T11:46:08.757" Title="How can I tell if a cat is depressed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7398" CreationDate="2015-01-24T09:14:39.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important thing is that your puppy understands what he's being punished or rewarded for. The &quot;Good boy!&quot; should come after the puppy has clearly stopped whatever bad behaviour he was exhibiting, and before he starts doing something new - or he'll think the new thing is what he's being encouraged to do. With puppies, that can be a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; short timespan!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to praise them after they stop doing something bad, but you'll want your young and impressionable puppy to know that you still love him. Consider talking to him gently (&quot;that's better, now&quot;) rather than outright praise in these cases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T09:14:39.413" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7384" CreationDate="2015-01-24T11:43:11.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Limit the available area to him when you are not directly supervising him.  You can purchase exercise pens &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7252/one-of-my-three-pet-bunnies-jumped-out-of-the-hutch-and-we-cant-catch-her-this/7255#7255&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;image in this answer&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; in heights from 2 feet to 4 feet get a pen high enough that he won't jump out. One pen will make an area 4 feet by 4 feet, which if you have a small dog should be fine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put his bed on onside and potty pads on the other.  His only options will be to poop on the pads or on his bed.  &quot;Hopefully&quot; he will choose the potty pads.  Reward him with praise when you get home and find he did his business in the correct place.  After a few days (3-7) when you feel he has gotten the idea, expand the space so there is empty floor, a bed and potty pads. If he has understood the lesson he will continue to use the potty pads.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the lesson is learned, you should be able to allow him access to the whole house again.  If he starts pooping off the pads again, put him back in the small area and teach the lesson again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T11:43:11.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7409" CreationDate="2015-01-24T12:36:04.657" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think answers to this question can be agnostic of pet species. So I am asking the general question, if my pet who is member of my family has a litter should I avoid touching them and getting my scent on them? If so for how long should I avoid touching them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that if you touch a wild baby animal it's mother may reject it, and your touch may lead to the babies death.  Does the same apply to baby pets?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T14:34:03.310" Title="If my pet has a litter, should I avoid getting my scent on the babies?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7407" CreationDate="2015-01-24T14:23:32.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the species. I know for some you are encouraged to touch from birth, some you must leave it for a few days, birds for example. In my experience, if your pet feels safe, then you may touch the babies. Generally you should follow your pet's lead - &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/touch-newborn-puppy-its-mom-reject-them-4322.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I left my cat's babies 3 or so days before properly handling, because she was nervous, although I did quickly touch the babies as they were being born, keeping them near her etc. For the record, this cat was semi-wild and had not lived with us very long, and she was fine. With my rat, the babies were born at 9am and I handled them at 10, as soon as I was sure she was finished - it was fine because my rat 100% trusted me, and with rats it's necessary to handle ASAP to ensure they are used to humans and are as friendly as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to at least touch the new babies to check them over for birth defects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When wild animals abandon babies, it's usually because the nest has been disturbed, not solely because the baby has been touched. The rule about touching doesn't apply if your pet trusts you, because your scent isn't a threat, although it absolutely depends on the individual animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="3483" LastEditDate="2015-01-24T14:34:03.310" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T14:34:03.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7412" CreationDate="2015-01-24T16:29:11.790" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife loves her bird feeders. The problem with this is that we either store bird seed outside and the birds get to it, making a big paper mess, or we store it inside. Storing it inside, we have to worry about kicking around a big bag of bird seed (Storage space is at a premium at our house, so it has to sit by the back door). I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to store the seed in trash bags inside one of those big yellow plastic cat litter tubs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question here is it safe for the birds? I'm vaguely aware that some plastics are not food safe and will seep toxins, and neither trash bags nor kitty litter boxes seem like good candidates for manufacturers to test against for food safety. If regular trash bags are an issue, is there any sort of material that is safe for this type of storage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3517" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T20:02:31.287" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T20:02:31.287" Title="Is it safe to store bird seed in plastic trash bags? (Inside those big yellow cat litter bins)" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7439" CreationDate="2015-01-24T18:01:53.503" Score="2" ViewCount="1311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this tortoise &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.br/search?q=jabuti&amp;amp;es_sm=122&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=gd3DVNflAaeasQTE0oKwDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1360&amp;amp;bih=639&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Jabuti&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (Red-footed tortoise), for like 20 years, his shell was never cleaned because he always lived in the garden with mud. I have read about tortoise care suggesting to clean their shell, but why? Do people tend to be hygienic about their pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3508" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:12:16.523" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T16:12:16.523" Title="Why is it important to clean a tortoise's shell?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7410" CreationDate="2015-01-24T18:48:06.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/birdseedstorage.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; guide recommends storing it inside plastic zip bags, and also suggests galvanised metal cans for storing the seed outside. We actually keep ours in plastic tubs, the kind you get ice cream in, though for something bigger you could use cereal tubs, or anything else that has been deemed safe for storage of human foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="3483" LastEditDate="2015-01-24T21:09:37.027" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T21:09:37.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7411" CreationDate="2015-01-24T21:07:13.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/bath.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; website should be of interest, especially:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both the carapace and the plastron of a tortoise or turtle is comprised of living tissue. It needs oxygen and exposure to sunlight to keep healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The build-up of soils, waxes, oils, or other preparations, is actually harmful to a tortoise's shell. The keratin and bony layers contain millions of microscopic pores, and things such as the products mentioned actually clog the pores, causing problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-01-24T21:07:13.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7264" CreationDate="2015-01-25T04:12:06.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lab and a cane corso. They are both 4. We got the lab first when it was 8 weeks old. She is a typical, happy, go-lucky lab - full of energy! We came across a male corso (a few months younger) that needed a home. At this time the lab was about 7 months old and the corso was about 3 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have been a perfect match! The lab is almost the perfect partner for him as he had trust issues and the Lab helps him put down his guard. The lab is also extremely friendly and would NEVER get over-aggressive with him but is feisty enough to hold her own when they play fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only recommendation I would give is, you may want to consider a female if you have a male already. Not to say that two males won't work but it may be tougher - it's just my opinion. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate based on my own personal experience. Good luck to you and your pups!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3519" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T22:12:32.243" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:12:32.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7425" CreationDate="2015-01-25T18:48:05.013" Score="3" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to thank you all for answering the &quot;food thief&quot; question.  So now I own 2 cats; my older cat, Beaudie (medium maine coon with 3 legs), very sweet and very docile, and Lily-Rose, a 4 year old Tuxxie (I did still want a slightly older cat). She came from a home with 4 other cats, male and female and apparently was bullied by one of the boys, so now she fights back. Lily is a very sweet and smart little girl, and I plan to keep her as she is sweet to me, but again, aggressive to my boy. I  hope this will pass, but I see the same problems with her that I saw with other girls I tried to adopt: she eats his food, jumps in his place on the bed, on the couch and is just generally bitchy to him.  She is a good girl in manys ways and very independent. Again, my boy just wants to cuddle and be friends; but he is showing signs of aggression back at her, which is not his character at all. I'm afraid they'll hurt each other in a cat spat. Lily's been been with us for about a week now, and I know she probably needs more time. But is there anything I can do to help the situation along? I've used calming sprays, collars, hand clapping, stern commands, etc. They seem to work - sometime. Again, any help, suggestions etc., will be GREATLY appreciated!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good thing, they both LOVE Celtic, classical and melodious music; that's when they're both calm and settled,so it's on all the time now - however, it's hard to get stuff done around the house when you're in a constant zone - LOL!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3521" LastEditorUserId="3521" LastEditDate="2015-02-02T23:04:52.177" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T15:52:49.543" Title="How can I stop my new rescue cat from being unduly aggressive to my older cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-25T19:25:49.620" Score="3" ViewCount="2170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a rescue dog from Spain in Aug.. he's great and is toilet trained but he likes to beg and watch us whilst we're eating so I started putting him out in the hall. Problem is he pees in 3/4 different spots in the hall or kitchen. I've even allowed him to stay in the room whilst we eat but he won't go and lie down and stares. I'm not winning either way. Can anyone suggest why he's doing this and what I can do to stop him peeing whilst we're eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3522" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T02:34:26.087" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T09:41:34.583" Title="My dog pees whilst we eat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7444" CreationDate="2015-01-25T20:09:07.957" Score="2" ViewCount="7051" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what I am doing wrong. The mother, who is two years old, was in the great condition for giving babies. But, the babies started dying when they were 1 week old. The litter was 3 kits, and so far none have died yet, but it is coming close to one dying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: This is only the second litter she's had.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The place where she gave her babies was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, in a barn, and the place where she gave her babies was clean. Should we turn up the heat in the place or do something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are feeding her rabbit food pellets that look like a brown tube which was recommended food by the store we bought it from. She went to the vet 2 days before she was going to have her kits and everything was good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:12:03.123" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T21:21:07.733" Title="My rabbit just had babies and they are dying. What can I do?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7609" CreationDate="2015-01-25T20:25:04.473" Score="1" ViewCount="8751" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we just added 3 more rabbits (birth) to the place but our rabbit isn't feeding them. I've had to give them milk for the past week and a half. I've monitored the place with camera's but she's not feeding them at all. What can I do so that our rabbits can be fed so that I don't have to feed them or should I just keep feeding them until the mother rabbit decides to do something about it? (Different rabbit than the rabbits dying.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:11:51.917" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T13:07:12.990" Title="My rabbit just had babies and isn’t feeding them" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-25T23:28:33.050" Score="6" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog understands that when he pulls we stop, and he comes and sits by my side. But then he pulls right after that and then will come to me. So he knows what to respond with when I stop him from pulling, but he still pulls. Again. He stops and will redirect himself the second I stop, but the second we start moving again he is pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried and tried to train him. He is smart so he really understands commands and understand when I stop him he needs to come to my side but that this will happen every time the leash is tight is a foreign concept to him. I am very consistent, hence the reason he knows what to do the second I stop, but it isn't helping, we just stop about every 1-2 ft (30-60 cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also try to take him on many short walks, so that we can really focus on training. Also he is great at playing fetch, so I often play fetch with him before walks to tire him out, but he still really wants to pull. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3523" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T13:25:48.190" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T13:25:48.190" Title="Dog knows to stop on leash, but still pulls" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-26T03:30:25.953" Score="4" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Hunter apparently had a nosebleed tonight. He was sneezing fine droplets of blood, and had long strands of bloody boogers hanging from his nose. The blood was fresh (bright red, not the deeper red of old/dried blood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has chronic sinus infections that we occasionally treat with antibiotics when they seem particularly bad (his breathing becomes louder because of the congestion), but we've been unable to cure the sinus problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is 10 years old, and neutered. He's currently being treated for an unknown parasite (he was gassy and his eosinophil count was high, but we were unable to identify the specific parasite, so he had two doses of a dewormer, 1 month apart. The second dose was 3 days ago).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dripped some saline into his nose to try to stop the bleeding (until he sneezed out non-bloody boogers), but I'm not sure if this was the best treatment. If it happens again, should I do anything, and if so, what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T20:20:39.830" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T20:20:39.830" Title="What is the appropriate first aid for a cat nosebleed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-01-26T06:40:06.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats were away from me for 8 months. The first day they were nervous about the new surroundings (one more than the other) but they didn't seem frightened of me. Within one day they were playing together and doing familiar happy things like rolling on their backs. Purring and tails high as a kite bumping heads with everything. They even gave kisses on day two. They slept most of the day but enjoyed the Florida breeze from the patio. By 10pm on day two they were play chasing each other and interacting with me in familiar individual ways. They slept next to us and laid in our laps all day long. They will remember you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3525" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T06:40:06.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-26T10:38:39.477" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a divorced guy and I always talk to my dog. I praise him when he does something good and he likes it. When he does something bad, I talk to him in a strict voice. Also I tell him some stories time to time when I return from the office. Recently I caught myself on asking him a simple question and expecting an answer. Twice. This was not very polite, I'm trying to avoid that now. However, when I was talking about my private life and problems my pup looked very bored. So, now I have a question. Can my dog be stressed/depressed because he has to listen all the things I'm telling him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3487" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:18:52.987" Title="Is it okay to talk to a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7415" CreationDate="2015-01-26T12:53:05.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the food issue, if you have the budget for it, you could get a bowl with a magnetic lock - I can verify from experience that it will only open for the cat who has the correct key. You will have to teach your boy that his food is in that bowl, but once he gets it, he should be fine (it will help to position his food further away from hers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two bowls are essential. Even if you free-feed, I suggest also feeding a special treat at a set time, and giving the more aggressive cat her bowl first. While she's eating, you give your docile boy his food. You'll want to place the bowls more than a cat's body-length apart, or the aggressive one could try to block the second bowl with her body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a guess, your new cat is quite insecure. She's not sure of your affection and sees your other cat as a rival who could push her out. Some tactics I've used with success here include sitting somewhere that has room for both cats, and petting both at the same time (one on either side of me). If the new cat tries to push the other cat away, remove her and continue to pet the other cat for a short time. She should quickly realize she gets more - and better - attention if she's not trying to push the other cat out of the way (be prepared for some &quot;interesting&quot; times until she gets the idea). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also taken turns with cats, petting one for a while, then changing to the other cat - and if the cat I'm not petting tries to butt in, ignoring it. They do eventually get the message that they're &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; wanted and loved, but it can take a while, particularly if one is insecure. Our last rescue needed a year or so before it really sank in that he wasn't going to be taken back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, see if you can get the cat's ownership history. If she's been abandoned or had a few failed adoption attempts, she's going to take longer to adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T12:53:05.223" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7415" CreationDate="2015-01-26T15:03:44.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically you need to monitor the cats feeding, so not leaving food down all the time. introduce set feeding times, they usually recommend twice a day as a minimum, but more is recommended as they like to graze. (water always available)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are there you can monitor what food the cat eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3268" LastEditorUserId="3268" LastEditDate="2020-02-04T15:52:49.543" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T15:52:49.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7426" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-01-26T21:33:25.087" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-01-26T21:33:25.087" LastActivityDate="2015-01-26T21:33:25.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7427" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-01-26T21:33:25.087" Score="0" Body="Chinchillas are crepuscular (most active around dawn and dusk) rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels." OwnerUserId="3496" LastEditorUserId="3496" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T16:08:29.107" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T16:08:29.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7419" CreationDate="2015-01-27T01:06:56.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bring treats along with you during your walk. When you start walking again after a stop, if your dog is still by your side say 'yes' (or whatever positive encouragement thing he knows) and give him a treat. At first you'll have to check after only a couple steps, but soon you'll be able to check in less frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he starts to walk too far ahead try something to get his attention... I usually click my tongue or say 'closer' to my dog (really anything to get her attention to she'll slow down to see what i want). If your dog continues forward and pulls, just keep doing what you guys have been doing with and ask him to come beside. If your dog slows up or looks back at you, then praise the dog again and give him a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually the dog sees that staying close to you is when he gets treats, and you can taper off how often you give them as the dog gets used to it. (I've been working this process with my dog for about 3 weeks, and now I only reward her every half block or so). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that's sped up my process is rewarding my dog for looking at me while we're walking because that's the skill the dog ultimately needs to maintain a slack leash at variable walking speeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T22:20:37.620" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T22:20:37.620" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-27T05:00:44.383" Score="3" ViewCount="1802" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it better to leave the bowl always with food, or to put it when it's &quot;time to eat&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has her bowl available 24/7 and I'm starting to worry that she might become obese. She seems to eat very often, though not in large amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T12:50:40.873" Title="How often should cats eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7429" CreationDate="2015-01-27T05:37:09.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is good that you can give your cat food at a fixed timing daily. Example Morning (one bowl of pallets), afternoon (one can food), night/evening (one bowl of pallets). If you continue to give your cat free-flow of food, it will become a habit for her; and after she get used to it, its very hard to control (just like what happened to my cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat gets to have one can of wet food each day at 5pm, and free-flow of dry food throughout the day. This is because for my case its very hard to control as my family members will &quot;give-in&quot; to her whenever she make a lot of noise (meowing non-stop) when she found that her bowl is empty. It had became a habit for her and she will make a lot of noise if there's no food in her bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I had just started to control her food intake after 11pm at night as she's getting old. I feed her some dry food to make sure she will not be hungry throughout the night, and washed up the bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI, my cat is obese after years of free-flow of dry food and it had became her habit which its very hard for us to control (as she will spray her urine anywhere if we do not give in to her and when she gets unhappy). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion, &lt;b&gt;DO NOT&lt;/b&gt; make it a habit for her and try to control the amount of food she eats if you do not want her to get obese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T05:37:09.140" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2015-01-27T12:19:29.653" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a strong consensus among vets on this topic; however, based on my research (largely including information about humans with type 1 diabetes), it seems the answer is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insulin injection site has an impact on the effectiveness, but it is far more important to pick a site and be consistent&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason that the injection site makes a difference is because different sites have different insulin absorption rates. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&amp;amp;id=7282&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;,&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joslin.org/info/how_to_improve_the_insulin_injection_experience.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The absorption rate is determined by a number of factors, including capillary density, type of tissue at the site, amount of blood flow, etc. In humans, for example, injections in the stomach are absorbed faster that injections in the buttocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dogs, the three primary injection sites people use are the shoulder, the thigh, and the neck. Of these, the neck has a slower absorption rate than the other two, which are generally the same. This means that the same dose injected into the neck will take longer to have an effect, but will also last longer (a slow absorption rate has an &quot;extended release&quot; effect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(NOTE: It is strongly recommend that you do not inject into your dog's abdomen unless you check with your vet! That site is generally used by people that are prescribed rapid-onset insulin, while dogs are almost alwaye prescribed NPH insulin, like Novalin-N, which would go into the arms, legs, or buttocks.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&amp;amp;id=7542&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Humans also tend to have large fatty deposits in the abdomen, which your dog may or may not have.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary impact of this for pet owners is that changing injection site changes how quickly the glucose level goes up and down. In my case, my vet does a weekly glucose check at the same time every week, so changing the injection site means the same dose at the same time in the morning would result in different readings. And, in fact, when I switched from thigh to neck, my dose did increase slightly, but the glucose also seemed to stabilize better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In humans, it is common to pick different injection sites for the morning and evening dose -- a fast-acting injection site after breakfast, where you will be awake to monitor your glucose during the day, and a slow-acting site after dinner so it works all night. For pets, you will want to be more consistent, since your pet cannot readily warn you if something &quot;feels wrong&quot; until the problem gets bad enough to show physical symptoms. It will depend on your specific situation, how often you can check your pets levels, how well monitored they are, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, as with everything else, you should talk to your vet if you are concerned. Just be prepared to explain your concerns, as this is apparently not the kind of detail many vets are aware of. (It helped for me to show my vet the information for human diabetics.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other factors that go into picking an injection site, so you should factor all of these in when making your decision:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should always rotate your injection sites, or you risk conditions like lipodystrophy (changes in the subcutaneous fat), which will make the injection less effective.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0012/ea0012p40.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;,&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipodystrophy&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;sup&gt;5&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Choose different sites in the same area, e.g. opposite shoulders, or opposite sides of the neck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your pet may take better to certain sites than others. For example, the neck seems to be a preferred injection site for other subcutaneous injections (it's where your vet probably puts their vaccines) because it's the least discomfort. Picking a good injection site will not help if your pet's struggles make you miss the injection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3325" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T12:19:29.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7429" CreationDate="2015-01-27T12:50:40.873" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start with, consider the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1144/how-many-times-a-day-should-i-feed-a-cat?rq=1&quot;&gt;How many times a day should I feed a cat?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found it depends on the cat: most cats I've had would stop eating when they'd had enough. It's common for a cat to eat a little often: as long as the cat is not obese this is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The method I've had vets recommend and that I've used with all my cats is to have dry food available at all times and a set mealtime with wet food. I've only had one cat where this method didn't work and it was necessary to feed her at specific times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd only recommend not having dry food always available if the cat doesn't control her own food intake and is rapidly gaining weight or is already obese and needs to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T12:50:40.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-27T13:49:56.200" Score="4" ViewCount="21168" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans can become dizzy by spinning around quickly. Small children will occasionally do this on purpose, for the thrill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, intentional dizziness inducing behavior is (as far as I am aware) never observed in cats or kittens. (Although I did see a particularly spectacular quadruple spin after one of my kittens collided with another in midair.) It would also be harder to observe the effects of dizziness as cats are quadrupedal and so are more stable than bipedal humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to some not-always-reliable sources on the internet (such as Yahoo Answers or YouTube), cats can become dizzy, but recover from it much more rapidly than humans; but these accounts appear to be merely anecdotal, with others reporting the opposite, that despite their attempts they have been unable to induce observable dizziness in their cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a known fact that cats can become dizzy due to things like ear infections or medication side-effects, and that motion can aggravate it (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/causes-of-dizziness-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;), so it would seem plausable that a cat could become dizzy by spinning fast enough for long enough even in absence of those factors. However, I can't find any non-sketchy sites that give a clear answer about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can cats become dizzy due to spinning, in absence of disease or other special circumstance? How quickly do they recover from dizziness compared to humans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1216" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-28T02:25:29.080" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T10:37:59.780" Title="Motion-induced dizziness in cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7419" CreationDate="2015-01-27T16:03:50.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I walk difficult dogs (untrained and usually why they are there!) at the local shelter and I use an easy walk harness. They become completely different dogs using this harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I think the old leash and collar around the neck method of walking is not the best way or safest way of walking our dogs since it can cause injury to the trachea and dogs that pull, tend to pull even more if they feel the pressure on the neck is harmful to them. it is a fear response to get away from the pressure on their neck. There are also dogs that like to be in control and more alpha than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an Australian Shepherd that thinks she is the boss and many times she does decide where we go with behavior only because I trust her judgement and we have a very strong bond BUT she is NOT allowed to control a walk. She really does not LIKE the harness but it is necessary to keep us both safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. I have also tried the gentle leader but I think this is reserved for very difficult dogs. Try the Easy Walk harness first.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3528" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T22:19:32.637" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T22:19:32.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7401" CreationDate="2015-01-27T16:32:15.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats aren't pack animals like dogs.  While domestic cats are one of the few cats that are non-solitary, they still naturally spend long periods of time off on their own, like while they are hunting.  Of course, how much social time an individual cat requires can vary, (siamese cats for instance, tend to be quite needy), but I find that most cats that need more will demand it.  I recommend for the night, make sure the cat has plenty of toys and such to keep entertained while you're asleep.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T16:32:15.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7411" CreationDate="2015-01-27T16:53:21.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In time lots of stuff can build up on a tortoise's shell. These can be anything from the environment including sand, debris, dust particles and so on. Some may even harbour unwanted organisms like fungi. Another problem is that these lessen the UV exposure from the sun, and the less frequent the cleanings, the harder it'll be to clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to do all the cleaning manually, in the wild tortoises scrape their shells on some fallen tree branch or rock. You can have these for your tortoise around in the enclosure and if he ever feels the need to then he will use them to scratch himself. On another note whatever fills up in the microscopic pores in your tortoise's shell actually itch the tortoise, so like cats and dogs they do enjoy being &quot;petted&quot;. It's something your tortoise can like you for so I still suggest you frequently clean the shell, just be sure to use something soft like a toothbrush and do not press to hard while brushing around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T16:53:21.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7440" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-01-27T16:53:22.057" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T16:53:22.057" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T16:53:22.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7441" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-01-27T16:53:22.057" Score="0" Body="The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.), America, and sometimes the States, is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal district." OwnerUserId="3496" LastEditorUserId="3496" LastEditDate="2015-01-27T19:59:11.237" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T19:59:11.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7436" CreationDate="2015-01-27T23:12:42.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dizziness is probably an artifact of how the nervous system processes input. As animals, we're adapted to pay attention mostly to changes in the environment,  and to do that we tend to compensate for constant input... and it can take a while to readjust afterward. That's why we see after-images after staring fixedly at something for a while and then looking away, and why those are &quot;negatives&quot; of the original stimulus. More directly related, if you look out the window of a moving vehicle for a while, and it then stops, you may see the world outside seem to shift in the other direction for a moment -- you had adapted to seeing the motion as &quot;normal&quot;, and shen it stopped you over-compensated as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apply that principle to many senses at once -- sight, the inner ear's sense of orientation and acceleration and balance ,  proprioception (our sense of our body's position), possibly others such as hearing -- and you get dizziness; you had started to adapt to the spin, and stopping it briefly feels like spinning the other way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would expect that cats can get dizzy. Whether an of them enjoy it is a different question and probably depends on the specific cat and how much it's willing to trust its humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-27T23:12:42.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7416" CreationDate="2015-01-28T09:38:20.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Kai might be right on track here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do you feed your dog? Before you're eating? After you're done eating? Or a completely different time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to let the dog stay with you (it should be fine as long as it's not trying to take something on its own). Or is there anything bad about it staring at you? Begging when there might be food is completely normal behavior, you just shouldn't encourage it by giving in too easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, once you've eaten for a while, get the dog its food as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that works, you can try to make the timespan longer between you eating and him eating (if you really want to, e.g. to not be disturbed) day after day (don't do it too fast, just 1-2 minutes a day can be enough).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T09:38:20.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7417" CreationDate="2015-01-28T15:53:38.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In any case of severer life threatening illness your vet should be your first choice for medical assistance in this case though you have indicated you are feeding timothy hay based dark colored food pellets. These three related questions can assist you in balancing the diet of rabbit as it relates to alfalfa consumption and weaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5910&quot;&gt;Is it true that alfalfa hay is a treat and should not make up the majority of an adult rabbit&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1460&quot;&gt;What are the basic requirements of a healthy adult rabbit&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the high food value of alfalfa is a concern, it &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; be a requirement for breeding rabbits &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; it should be pointed out that there are many different lines of thought here, so discuss nutrition with your vet to make the best choices for your rabbits.  Rabbits are dependent on a high volume low value food supply, but in captivity and in breeding programs there can be issues.  In particular nutritional care for rabbits living in wire bottom cages can be problematic as it can interfere with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617&quot;&gt;cecotrope consumption&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with the other critical information you refuse to provide to assist in answering this question, you have neglected to include the breed.  A litter size of 3 is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877/how-fast-do-rabbits-really-breed&quot;&gt;small for most breeds of rabbits&lt;/a&gt;, which can also be an indicator of poor nutrition. Based on the available information and your second question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7417&quot;&gt;My rabbit just had babies and they are dying. What can I do?&lt;/a&gt;, it is likely that you are failing to meet the nutritional requirements of your rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly there are several variables in kit survival rates, not all are well understood. &lt;a href=&quot;http://riunet.upv.es/bitstream/handle/10251/10222/427-783-1-SM.pdf?...1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(ref)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9110203&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(ref)&lt;/a&gt; Mortality rates of 10% to 100% can occur, even if you are doing everything correctly, expecting all kits to survive is not realistic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T15:53:38.847" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7420" CreationDate="2015-01-28T18:12:19.223" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One of my animals had severe nosebleeds and I did the following:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep the pet as calm as possible. In any animal, including humans, nosebleeding can be somewhat controlled by blood pressure and hormones produced by the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place ice on the nose and keep the room cool. Heat can cause vasodilation, which allows more blood to flow; if the cat gets excited when the ice is placed try placing the ice in a towel or just keeping the room cool. The more excited the cat, the more the blood will flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In some cases applying pressure and clamping the nose shut helps the bleeding stop. But this may agitate your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the blood is a lot, you should consult an Emergency Animal Hospital or your vet. If the blood is not a lot, you can probably wait until morning. Always consult your vet about bleeding in your cat, because this could be a sign of something more serious. In my pet it was the sign of a fatal illness that later killed my pet. You should be careful about what you put up your cat's nose, as this may cause sneezing and aggravate more bleeding to start. Even saline can irritate the nose. Talk to your vet because bleeding may be a side effect or it may not be.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always know what has anticoagulants inside of it, because this can make bleeding worse. If not sure, consult your doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/nose-bleeds-or-epistaxis-in-cats/94&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vcahospitals.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&amp;amp;A=369&amp;amp;S=1&amp;amp;SourceID=20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;veterinarypartner.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T20:19:36.323" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T20:19:36.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7386" CreationDate="2015-01-28T22:00:08.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll suggest a slightly different tangent - that trying to address boredom through distractions is at best a finite-span solution. There's no toy that'll occupy a dog for several hours. The best you will accomplish is distraction for that initial span when separation anxiety is most likely to manifest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real solution to dogs who cause trouble is exercise. A tired dog is a happy dog. Unfortunately with some breeds that can mean quite a lot of walkies. But that really is the root of the problem. If you can manage it, try extending morning walks, or otherwise increase amount of activity. More playing, more running, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've found a local area doggie daycare once or twice a week works wonders. I've also been investigating cycling with the dog (there are ways of doing this safely, but that's out of scope). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But we definitely notice that less than about 90 minute of walking per day (and ideally 120), and she starts causing trouble. (Can have the odd 'day off' when the weather is bad, but the weekly average is about that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-28T22:00:08.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7448" CreationDate="2015-01-29T01:36:37.480" Score="3" ViewCount="20227" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rat is behaving oddly, opening her mouth and pulling back her ears. There is a thick, mucus-like liquid coming from her mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this be, and how can I help her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2019-03-21T23:39:35.703" Title="Why is my rat drooling and opening its mouth? Is it choking?" Tags="&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7447" CreationDate="2015-01-29T01:36:37.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases, these symptoms mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://rathelp.org/raisinrats/medical/choking.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;choking&lt;/a&gt;. Rats are known for stuffing their mouths and eating as fast as they can, and occasionally food gets stuck, or a sticky food such as peanut butter or doughy bread causes a blockage. You should avoid feeding your rat sticky foods. Sometimes, rarely, these symptoms happen because of poisoning - you should make sure the rat hasn't eaten anything toxic such as household chemicals or any medicines they might have found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of poisoning, call a vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the more likely case of choking, it is important to &lt;strong&gt;remain calm, and do not disturb the rat&lt;/strong&gt;. True choking is rare because of the way their mouths function - they will often work it out quite quickly, though it can take up to 4 hours. Ears being drawn back with the mouth open are a sign of gagging, and mucus/drooling are symptoms of the rat producing bile in order to push the obstruction back up. They do not have a natural gag/vomit reflex so while it looks serious, they are usually perfectly fine. Leave the rat to get on with it, but keep monitoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, after several minutes, this is still ongoing and your rat appears to be growing lethargic, you may need to intervene. Give the rat a small piece of food (i.e. a cracker) to see if this will help push the obstruction down. If your rat refuses the food, or this doesn't work, check his/her lips, hands and feet. If they are blue, the rat is suffering oxygen deprivation. Check its breathing  - are its ribs still moving like normal? Or is the breathing labored and slow? If the latter, there are several things you can do to help your rat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, there is the Heimlich - pressing up underneath your rat's ribcage. Secondly, there is a method known as the Rat Fling, which uses centrifugal force to dislodge the object. This is only to be used if your rat is severely struggling to breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Hold your rat firmly around the neck with one hand, and by the base of the tail with the other to hold her securely. Make sure there are no objects within an arm's length. Lift the rat overhead and bring her down in a rapid arc, so that at the end of the path she's tail up and head down. This can be repeated three to four times, then give the rat a rest, check her breathing, and see if anything is visible in the mouth. This is extremely effective in dislodging objects in the throat. However, do NOT use this procedure if your rat can breathe, or you might make it worse.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rmca.org/Articles/choking.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rat is breathing fine on its own, then you can leave it to get on with it. If, after several hours, your rat is still struggling, then a vet visit may be in order, where they can anaesthetise and remove the blockage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rmca.org/Articles/choking.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rmca.org/Articles/choking.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T01:36:37.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-29T03:34:28.447" Score="8" ViewCount="23211" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to play with fake mice on strings. &#xA;Sometimes, when she catches one of them, instead of biting or &quot;killing&quot; (attacking with her back feet) it, she holds it in her front legs and starts licking it, in a manner that's similar to grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that she does this when she's calmer and has already played for a while, and usually does it to mice who have fake feathers attached - usually goes for the feathers too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if anyone knows why she does that - just curious. Do cats lick their prey? Does she consider it a 'friend' and wants to groom it? What else can it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-29T15:11:42.053" LastActivityDate="2018-09-11T23:51:09.817" Title="Why would a cat lick (groom?) her toy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7450" CreationDate="2015-01-29T13:18:37.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats is weird little aliens; understanding &quot;why&quot; they do things can be difficult. (Heck, I don't understand some of the habits of this ape body I'm riding around in...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She may be getting more of her own scent onto it to mark it as hers. She may be removing some other scent. She may be thinking that things she plays with need grooming.  She may think it's vaguely like a kitten. She may be thinking &quot;good toy!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or she may just be confused.  One of mine will lick the air in front of her for up to a minute before realizing the tongue would do more good if applied to something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes sense to her. It's harmless. It's cute -- which may be reason enough; entertaining the humans is a survival skill Unless you can figure out a way to ask her this question, you'll never know for sure. Cats are individuals,  like us, and no one answer completely covers all cases just as it wouldn't for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats is weird. Wonderful,  but weird.  Then again, so are we.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T13:18:37.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7386" CreationDate="2015-01-29T15:20:13.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really sounds like you need to implement a structured schedule with exercise early in the morning then settling down time while you get ready for work. Crate time or a small room while you are away so the dog knows that is a resting period. You should have only chew appropriate things available in that space so crating is really ideal.  Then a long training time that includes both physical and mental activities when you get home. When you have a regular schedule like that your dog will learn to rest while you are away instead of being destructive. For chewing while you are gone butcher bones work well because they last, they clean teeth,  and provide calcium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding additional automated things while you are not home can be problematic. You don't want to get your dog more excited and worked up you want to encourage a calm attitude while you are away.  Chewing is a calming activity,  running around chasing things is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2015-01-29T15:26:42.610" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T15:26:42.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7450" CreationDate="2015-01-29T16:48:59.357" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've observed, many cats are naturally attracted to inanimate objects that resemble fur, licking them, and chewing on the &quot;hair&quot; regardless of what the object is.  This is not necessarily just for things they like to play with.  I think they are naturally drawn to licking at hair.  But furthermore, cats are known to have a behavior similar to grooming where they lick and bite at fur or feathers on their prey in order to pull out the fur or feathers, rather than eat all that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T16:48:59.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7463" CreationDate="2015-01-29T18:59:15.120" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an answer to another question, it was mentioned that Germany has a law forbidding people from keeping their neighbor's cats from entering their yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that's true, are there any similar laws in the US that would restrict me from taking measures against having cats wandering about my yard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, my concern would be that there are could be plants that are poisonous to cats in my yard, and if I don't take measures to keep them away, then they might eat some and die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T08:42:43.050" Title="Are there laws in the US that would prevent a person from keeping neighborhood cats out of their yard?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7457" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7464" CreationDate="2015-01-29T19:06:59.857" Score="6" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a thought. If I were to catch on of my cats eating a plant that I know is poisonous to cats (e.g. travelling over christmas and they found a poinsettia). Is there something that I should do to immediately to try and mitigate the problem before going to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T11:45:09.860" Title="What should I do if I catch my cat eating a poisonous plant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7423" CreationDate="2015-01-29T20:18:32.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does not harm, but your dog has no clue what you're saying. They are, however, very adept at reading body language cues, so it can sometimes &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt; like they 'understand'. (They do, but they understand that you're sad, not your verbal explanation of why). Likewise, they can pick out your tone, and some words they will recognise and have formed an association with. (My dog knows 'walk' and 'bath' even when used discretely...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you should avoid really, is mixing up 'nattering' with 'commands'. You want your dog to know that when you command 'SIT!' that means they need to pay attention and do what they're told. Hopefully though, you are already ensuring you use a proper commanding tone, and so that's not a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T20:18:32.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7358" CreationDate="2015-01-29T20:23:28.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the earliest exercises we learned with our dog was autofocus. Specifically - to get them in the general habit of 'paying attention'. It's quite simple really - using a sufficiently high value treat, hold it under your chin. When the dog looks at your face, reward them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do it fairly frequently, and slowly build up the amount of time. What you need to do is make the association that paying attention to you is good, and will get rewarded. This leads directly into a lot of the other training techniques - you want then listening to an order when you give it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a more detailed article on the approximate technique. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Teach-Your-Dog-to-Focus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Teach-Your-Dog-to-Focus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-01-29T20:23:28.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7456" CreationDate="2015-01-30T00:48:53.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the measures are passive and don't harm the cat, then no, there are no laws. Using deadly force to harm or kill cats remains a crime, even if it is on your property.  It is cruelty to animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T00:48:53.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7457" CreationDate="2015-01-30T01:23:18.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The are veterinary poison control centers. Keep the number for one handy, and call them before either panicking or doing anything that might make matters worse. Or call your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T01:23:18.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7456" CreationDate="2015-01-30T08:33:02.540" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that cat repellent products such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000NR8Q1U&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; (not a recommendation, just knew they existed and this is the first one I found to link to) are available in the US and marketed as such, one must conclude that they are legal to sell for this use. Same goes for other types of products such as sprays. Note that you will &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; find an air rifle marketed as a cat repellent (on any remotely reputable site).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even American animal welfare charities offer &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/keeping-cats-out-your-yard&quot;&gt;advice on how to achieve this&lt;/a&gt;, and again one would assume that they have checked out the advice they are offering is both legal and in the animals' best interests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://aldf.org/resources/advocating-for-animals/animal-protection-laws-of-the-united-states-of-america-and-canada/&quot;&gt;Animal Legal Defence Fund&lt;/a&gt; offers what looks like a detailed description of animal protection laws and how they vary by state. I don't think it is feasible to summarise into this answer, but for instance (and of course, I Am Not A Lawyer, etc), it seems that in &lt;a href=&quot;http://aldf.org/wp-content/themes/aldf/compendium-map/us/2013/NEW-YORK.pdf#15&quot;&gt;New York if you knowingly used something poisonous to cats&lt;/a&gt;, you would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Not likely, given your aim is to keep that cats &lt;em&gt;away&lt;/em&gt; from something poisonous to them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="962" LastEditorUserId="962" LastEditDate="2015-01-30T08:42:43.050" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T08:42:43.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7457" CreationDate="2015-01-30T11:45:09.860" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first-aid manual&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; has a few tips for immediate aid:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Immediately call your vet or an emergency veterinary hospital depending on time of day. This is a medical emergency and needs swift resolution.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inducing vomiting only if the cat is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;fully awake and in control&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of their body and you know what they ate. If there's any doubt that they are not then don't do it as it they may inhale it coming up. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Also, do not do this if they ate a caustic poison!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (see below) In any event, 3% hydrogen peroxide solution with a dosage of 1 teaspoon (real measure don't wing it from your cutlery) per 10 pounds of pet. Cats are not as susceptible to it as dogs are, but the foaming action will tend to induce vomiting. Keep any vomit for analysis by the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dilute it. If you can get them to eat something, even treats, then the food can dilute and delay the absorption of the poisonous material. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be prepared to give artificial respiration and/or CPR. This can be tricky when it comes to animals, so I'd really suggest getting your vet to show you how to do this so you can respond in an emergency. A bit of training ahead of time may help save the life of your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When going to the vet, take any samples of the poisonous material and any vomit that your pet has produced.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For caustic poisons like ammonia or bleach and with petroleum products like kerosene and the like, you can try and feed them bread that has been soaked in mineral or vegetable oil. The oil will help protect the stomach lining and intestines. As noted above, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;never induce vomiting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the poison is caustic, it's unlikely they have swallowed it, unless it was in something that prevented tasting, and so may have only burned their mouths on it. Treat that with milk and/or water to help cool the burns, but you'll still need to get to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;The First Aid Companion for Dogs and Cats.&lt;/em&gt; - Amy D. Shojai&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T11:45:09.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-30T12:18:55.260" Score="2" ViewCount="1559" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in December my cat came in and was acting strangely, his back legs were low to the ground and his tail was curled right over like a spring onto his back. He then started walking round in a circle backwards.. As it was late at night there was nothing I could do. In the morning he had a limp and it seemed like his back legs were giving way and his tail kept curling over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I took him to the vets they couldn't find any problems with his bones, they gave him Metacan which he took for a week but it didn't do anything. I then took him back again and they said it might be a trapped nerve and didn't give any medication. I took him back AGAIN and they said to leave it for 2/3 months but I'm not happy to leave him like it! What do you think it could be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also had Ted microchipped and discovered it wasn't working after he couldn't enter the cat flap.. The vet couldn't locate it anywhere in his body so they gave him another one. Any chance the one that is 'lost' could be causing the trouble? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3540" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-01-30T15:24:07.347" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T03:55:00.290" Title="Tightly curled over tail and strange gait" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7465" CreationDate="2015-01-30T18:43:44.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's impossible for us to diagnose your cat over the internet, only a fully trained veterinarian can diagnose your cat after a physical examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet isn't taking your concerns seriously, I would recommend seeking a second opinion from another vet or requesting referral a specialist (probably neurology, but your vet would know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your vet does not know what is causing the problem, they should be able to answer questions such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is my pet in any pain/discomfort? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we let this situation continue, what signs should I look for to determine if pain/discomfort develops?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we let this situation continue, what signs should I look for to determine if my pet's condition is deteriorating?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does my pet have any special needs as a result of this condition? Does he understand his current condition, or will he try to jump to a high spot and fall, potentially worsening his condition?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-01-30T18:43:44.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7474" CreationDate="2015-01-30T20:05:13.963" Score="4" ViewCount="1979" Body="&lt;p&gt;My main question is: if my dog wants to eat grass, should I prevent him?  I have heard that dogs do this to throw up, and seen this reason alluded to here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/316/why-do-dogs-eat-grass&quot;&gt;Why do dogs eat grass?&lt;/a&gt;, but am not 100% sure if this is correct.  He usually does throw up if he eats a lot of grass.  Here are the thoughts that are going through my mind, and why I am not completely decided on which path to take:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reasons for preventing eating grass&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He could eat a poisonous plant, which brings up another question:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7468/do-dogs-avoid-eating-poisonous-plants&quot;&gt;Do dogs avoid eating poisonous plants?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He might just think it is &quot;free extra food&quot; and not realize it will make him sick (this assumes he is not sick to start with, which I am not sure if this is what is going on)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to have to clean up the vomit afterward&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reasons for allowing eating grass&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It might be that he is already sick, and needs to throw up for some reason (e.g. he might feel better after throwing up, and could be eating it on purpose to throw up)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maybe there is some nutrient in the grass that he does not get from dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T08:21:14.983" Title="Should I prevent my dog from eating grass?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7493" CreationDate="2015-01-30T20:12:51.087" Score="1" ViewCount="4713" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog eats grass, do I need to be worried that he will eat something poisonous, or do dogs generally know what is / isn't poisonous and stay away from poisonous plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1166" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T09:36:42.417" Title="Do dogs avoid eating poisonous plants?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7471" CreationDate="2015-01-30T20:37:20.150" Score="3" ViewCount="1587" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it mean any number of things when my new kitten looks at me and meows a few times, or is there anything specific? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious to know what it wants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has got food and water and toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that mean that it's bored? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-01-31T19:01:42.180" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T19:01:42.180" Title="What does a kitten want when it looks at you and meows a lot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7480" CreationDate="2015-01-30T20:43:47.620" Score="4" ViewCount="947" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a new kitten and bought a food dispenser that seems to simply let the food out infinitely as the kitten eats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the kitten stop eating when it has had a healthy amount? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastActivityDate="2016-09-30T01:43:04.703" Title="Can I overfeed my kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7469" CreationDate="2015-01-30T21:58:36.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is bored and looking for stimulation from you. My cats do this all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it didn't have food, that would be a likely cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it has toys, but the toys are more fun when you're involved, that is a likely cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If neither of those, then maybe it wants to be chased, play hide-and-seek, have food thrown, etc. - whatever your cat's personality prefers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-01-31T19:01:30.823" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T19:01:30.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7472" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-31T03:22:56.727" Score="6" ViewCount="2580" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is about a year and a half old and is neutered. He lives with his brother. For a while now he has been losing fur and he is rather thin. When I bought the rabbits the woman said they were both neutered but I have a feeling only the skinny one is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Fur and fleas:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is missing fur on the sides of his legs, neck and his fur is thinning on his back and face. They live outside and I occasionally bring them inside for a few hours. I haven't done any flee treatments on them before but I have only had them for less than a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Diet:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed them rabbit mix which has a lot of seed, grains and hay in it. I let them out of the hutch occasionally so they can have grass, I also occasionally give them treats like apples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what's wrong with him. I want to take him to the vet but my parents won't let me. &lt;strong&gt;Is there a way I could get him to gain weight and regrow his fur?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-09T10:23:20.913" LastActivityDate="2021-03-07T06:10:52.540" Title="My rabbit is losing fur and weight, what's wrong with him?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-01-31T04:18:50.257" Score="6" ViewCount="3169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe my fish, a white neon tetra, has swim bladder disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He swims looking upward 95% of the time. I don't believe he can sleep due to this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's been in this state for three days now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the other fish in my tank, which are my minnows and cories and other tetras, appear just fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I euthanize my fish? I've had them for a year and a third now and only one cory has died from 24 fish (two other minnows mysteriously disappeared). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a pic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iTbyK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iTbyK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="11301" LastEditDate="2018-02-03T12:12:27.437" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T22:12:21.067" Title="Should I euthanize my fish or wait it out?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7467" CreationDate="2015-01-31T08:21:14.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, don't keep it from doing that. Just watch what plants the dog picks (should be tall grass only) and try to determine the reason for this. Consider the eating and throwing up a symptom, not a reason. Try to fight the actual reason (if it's something harmful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So picking up JoshDM's answer here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/vet-s-take-why-dogs-eat-grass/297&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;A Vet's Take On Why Dogs Eat Grass&amp;quot; (Modern Dog Magazine)&lt;/a&gt;, the following possibilities exist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs cannot digest grass, so there is no nutritional value&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs consume grass to aid them in vomiting (see article for details)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs chew out of a developed obsessive-compulsive habit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some just snack when they find a particularly succulent blade of grass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for reasons of past evolution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;out of hunger or unbalanced nutrition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This pretty much sums it up and there's very little to add. Eating grass alone is not a problem and not harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your dog allowed to chew on bones, antlers, dried skin or similar? If so, it's possible that it's just got some bigger parts in his stomach and it wants them out, which the grass will help with (don't worry if that doesn't seem to work, gastric acid is usually aggressive enough to solve all such &amp;quot;issues&amp;quot;). In a similar way, it might have too much hair in there, just like a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this happens early morning and the dog is throwing up just some white/yellow slime or foam, this might either indicate some acid reflux issue. This is not necessarily a health problem, you might just want to try to keep its stomach busy during the night (even just a few treats late on the evening might be enough).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding cleaning up: Simply let it throw up outside or on the grass? Depending on the size of the dog, you might end up with just a simple ball of grass, which is easy to remove (if you have to, e.g. due to it being a park).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T08:21:14.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7484" CreationDate="2015-01-31T19:19:21.377" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep a single sheet document on each cat that gets printed out whenever they are left in someone else's care (a cat sitter, a family member, taken to be boarded, etc). What information should be provided on this sheet that may be relevant in case of an emergency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've attached an example of my current form, with the personal information redacted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/utKV3.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T11:42:49.367" Title="What information should we leave for a cat sitter/cattery?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7470" CreationDate="2015-01-31T20:50:47.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of a &lt;em&gt;kitten&lt;/em&gt; with a weight problem. They tend to get plenty of exercise through play, and don't eat more than they need. So I wouldn't worry about the kitten eating too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight problems typically occur when the cat grows older and becomes less active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-01-31T20:50:47.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-01T17:42:57.477" Score="2" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 11 year old female Schnauzer has recently been walking into the walls at home.  Sometimes it appears she can see and others not at all.  Each day seems to get a little worse.  Her pupils are very large even in bright light.  I took her into the vet and they ran multiple tests on her eyes and can't explain why she is acting this way. She does have the starting signs of cataracts, but the vet said it should not be enough to cause her to act this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else ever experienced this and have any ideas of what could be the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3551" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T06:28:05.400" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T20:20:14.053" Title="What could be causing my 11 year old Miniature Schnauzer's vision problems?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7478" CreationDate="2015-02-01T22:14:18.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone is going to be a little different, but with respect to your current form (which I quite like), I would consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the &quot;Rescued From&quot; information, unless it's relevant to the care in which case the relevancy should be indicated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a &quot;willing to spend&quot; line by the vets to indicate how much cost you would be willing to bear in an medical situation. Our vets had this on their boarding form and I think it's wise, even if you intend no limit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add an &quot;in the event of death&quot; line for to do the event that your pet dies. Not a pleasant thing to think about, I know, but consider how the person caring would react if something does happen. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a feeding schedule along with any instructions (for ours we need to add water to the wet cat food to deal with a megacolon issue).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a treat schedule or some basic instructions on how much treats can be given.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a medication schedule and instructions. For example, our boy gets 3 ml of lactulose daily orally before evening feeding. Even if you don't have any medication to give, saying so is a good thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add an alternative contact (if necessary). When we boarded ours at the vets, we had my mother as a contact for any decision making. Now, that depends on how much decision making you want to leave up to the sitter. As an aside, if you do have a sitter, notifying the vets that this is the case and whether or not they can make certain decisions isn't a bad idea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a general &quot;notes&quot; section for basic behavioral information and what not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all that I've managed to come up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-02-02T11:42:49.367" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T11:42:49.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-01T22:51:25.493" Score="1" ViewCount="946" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a little bag of some cat &quot;treats&quot; (which look like plain food) and filled my new kitten's (2.5 months) food dispenser with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to eat the food ok, but leaves broken pieces of it all over the carpet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is hard/crunchy food good for a kitten? Would a kitten maybe prefer soft food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T09:10:40.500" Title="Is crunchy food good for a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7490" CreationDate="2015-02-01T23:01:48.947" Score="7" ViewCount="72052" Body="&lt;p&gt;My new kitten tries to eat my food. (And quite often succeeds, since I take my time to eat, usually while working) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has her own food dispenser with lots of food in it that she eats regularly, but when I have food she wants it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a dog, I could just say &quot;no&quot; and spank it when it won't listen, but this kitten seems to ignore all rebukes, maintaining the singular focus to have the food, no matter how many times I push it away, put it on the ground, or pull the food away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to teach my kitten that it's my food and not hers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dogs, I know a small spanking does the trick - not causing serious pain, but the offensive action seems to send the correct message to a dog. Cats on the other hand, don't seem to have the same mechanic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-02T18:41:02.680" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T19:53:15.033" Title="How can I train my kitten not to eat my food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7482" CreationDate="2015-02-02T03:46:16.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some possible causes for your dog's loss of vision are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diabetic Retinopathy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is where the eyes are damaged by high blood sugar levels. Warning signs of diabetes in dogs are drinking excessive amounts of water, incontinence, lethargy and weight loss. &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dog-diabetes-symptoms-treatment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD's section on diabetes in dogs&lt;/a&gt; suggests that Miniature Schnauzers are prone to diabetes in old age. Your vet will be able to do a blood test to determine if your dog has it, and will help you with treatment. The vision damage is irreversible, but treatment is possible and can prevent further degeneration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is a genetic disease that causes the light-detecting cells in the dog's eyes to die. Different breeds have different forms of the disease, broadly classified into early-onset (which affects puppies), and late-onset (which affects adults). However, late-onset PRA usually manifests much earlier than 11 years, so it's unlikely to be this. There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.optigen.com/opt9_test_a_pra.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;genetic test&lt;/a&gt; for Miniature Schnauzers that could tell you for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glaucoma&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dog-glaucoma-symptoms-treatments&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Glaucoma&lt;/a&gt; is caused by a build-up of pressure of the fluids in the eye, which eventually damages the retina and optic nerve. The damage is irreversible, but medication can slow or stop progression of the disease. Surgery may be necessary (either to relieve the pressure or remove the eye) if the disease has progressed sufficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cataracts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Cataracts are caused by damage to the surface of the eye over time. There are many causes, including injury, diabetes and infection. They can be visible as a cloudy patch in the eye and can be treated surgically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet doesn't have the specialized ophthalmology equipment needed to diagnose the above conditions, they should be able to refer to one that does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you have dog shows near where you live, you may find that they have a vet doing CERF (Canine Eye Registration Foundation) tests during the show: you may not be able to make an appointment if you're not actually showing your dog, but you should be able to make contact with them at the very least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T20:20:14.053" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T20:20:14.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7485" CreationDate="2015-02-02T05:09:41.870" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think cats prefer crunchy food. There are two reasons that lead me to feel so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I will buy 2kg of ProNature for my cat and pour some in a container. We will feed her through the container and refill from the bag when its finished. Whenever I am refilling the container, my cat loves to come over and sit in front of me to ask for some &quot;new&quot; pallets as it smells fresher and crunchier; and she will finish all. When given the &quot;old&quot; one instead, she refused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I treats my cat freeze dry fish. Some of the brands for these freeze dry fish I bought can only last 3 weeks after opening, some can last 3 months; I believe they difference in the amount of presavative used. My cat loves the treats most when its newly opened, and if the freeze dry fish gets soft and oily after a long time; my cat will &quot;consider&quot; before deciding if she wants to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T05:09:41.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-02T05:51:42.247" Score="1" ViewCount="1957" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other day I went to my neighbors get together and took my 9 month old chow lab puppy with me. Towards the end I heard he had eaten a corn cob offered to him as a chew thing whole. Just scarfed it down. He's a 40.6 lbs medium size dog by now and all day after and all day today he was fine and bouncing around as normal. Per caution I've been palpating his belly to make sure it won't hard or anything that might be a blockage. His bellys soft and gives normally and he don't whine nor snap or anything I'd usually expect a dog to do in pain. He even ate both a chicken and rice bowl I threw out and a meat patty I gave him as a treat plus his own kibble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it went to check on him before bed and he acts off, hunched on the back and sits when I bring him out of his pen to take a good look at him. Same thing, soft belly no hard spots and no signs of pain. I gave him plenty of water and his food and he acted happy to get them as usual and both drank and ate with no throwing up. I'm really nervous as he was a gift from my boyfriend and I love him to death. I don't want anything to happen to my baby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do for him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3557" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T21:45:43.230" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T21:45:43.230" Title="My chow-lab mix ate a corn cob. Anything I can do to avoid surgery?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-03T19:17:42.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2015-02-02T08:44:37.293" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right, cats really don't have the same ideas of discipline as dogs. Dogs are pack animals, and the leader's reaction means a lot to them, while cats are solitary predators, so your disapproval doesn't mean much to them. They might choose to cooperate if you consistently forbid them to do something, or they might not. Most cats I know chose to cooperate in the end, because things get old even for them. But it usually takes a lot of time and patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the food, aside from the answers in the question recommended by Ashley Nunn, the best way to keep your cat away from your food is not to leave your food unattended. Also, I used to use a simple trick with my first cats (didn't need it after the first 2, I don't know why) : make sure you have something on your plate that your cat won't eat for sure, like a pickle or a slice of lemon, and when your cat tries to get into your plate, give her that to sniff. After some time the cat associates your plate with yucky staff and doesn't bother with it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T19:53:15.033" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T19:53:15.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7485" CreationDate="2015-02-02T09:10:40.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, don't feed your cat just treats. They are treats and not food for a reason, namely they're not balanced, so even if your cat likes them, it's like feeding a child only sweets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for crunchy staff, some cats like it, some don't. There's a not-quite-myth that dry food keeps your cat's teeth in a better condition than wet food. In theory, when a cat crunches on kibble, it scratches the plaque off the teeth, and chewing helps to work the jaws. In reality, it's not quite so. I don't share the mass hysteria that dry food is bad on principle, but it generally has more carbs and less proteins than wet food. Although it depends on particular brands. And then there's the issue with water intake. Cats are originally used to getting most of their water from their food, so they don't feel thirsty as much as we do. So when they eat dry food exclusively, they might not feel the need to drink enough even when their bodies need water, and in the long run it might lead to health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any way, dry food is easier to manage for us, humans, because it doesn't get spoiled as fast as wet or natural food, and it's generally cheaper than wet/natural (at least where I live). If your kitten likes it, good for you. Just make sure that there's always fresh water available. Personally, I feed my cats wet food twice a day and leave some dry for them when I go to work (12 hours, too long for a cat to go without food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T09:10:40.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7489" CreationDate="2015-02-02T09:16:02.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably always the best advice in such situations: If you're unsure, ask your vet. Just call them. The dog ate that thing already, the call won't change this situation. Your dog isn't Schroedinger's Cat after all. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your actual problem, it's hard to judge just from reading your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really depends a lot on the size of your dog and also the size of the corn cob we're talking about. Dogs' gastric acid is really strong and made to disolve hard things like bones. I could imagine it having no issue with bits of the corn cob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite your dog being rather big already, I wouldn't expect it to swallow the cob just in one piece. Add to this that the cob was most likely not raw (boiled? grilled?), I could imagine that the dog will be just fine, digesting it partially and/or puking it out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, if dogs eat something they can't digest, it should come out of either end, depending on its size. There can be issues, especially if the foreign bodies are acid resistent (some plastics, metal, glass(!), etc.) or if they might get stuck (huge pieces of wood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep an eye on your dog. If it continues eating, poops as usual, etc. then I wouldn't worry too much about it. But again, if you want to be 100% sure, ask your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T09:16:02.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7468" CreationDate="2015-02-02T09:36:42.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wild canine are able to smell and taste poisonous plants (or more specific some toxic components) and as such will simply avoid them as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestic dogs often don't possess that ability (or it's hindered/not fully &quot;functional&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy will often just try to chew on everything and every plant (also for a learning experience), so best advice is to train your dog and don't let it unattended or off-leash until you know this is a non-issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to note that there are obviously different levels of toxity in different types of plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the worst offenders out of the dog's reach (probably give them away rather than trying to determine &quot;reach&quot; here). For less poisonous plants (like those that might just cause some diarrhea), just some training should be good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for actual grass (when going for a walk for example), there shouldn't be too much to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let your dog chew on just any plant. Common grass is perfectly safe and even healthy for their digestion (assuming there's no fertilizer or insecticides on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm often on pastures where there are many different plants in the grass and so far I've never seen our dog touching anything that wasn't a classic blade of grass (except one or two dandelions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But besides that, I think there are bigger dangers of your dog picking up something else that's no grass or plant rather than grabbing some poisonous plant. So best advice is probably to keep your eyes open. Also don't forget about mushrooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T09:36:42.417" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-02T09:45:22.733" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a female pug, who is one year and ten months old. She is acting too naughty recently: she digs into our blankets and jeans, bites sleeves--but only those of my 14 years old sister--and pulls them, and makes growling noises when she's chewing her favorite toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does specific things with specific people. She fights with my sister (biting sleeves, digging) and loves my dad whenever he comes home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter is quite a regular thing. She grabs her toy in her mouth and makes funny growls while looking at my dad. Whenever he holds her she goes away but then comes back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a reason for both the cases above or is it something to be worried about?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S She's intact but not currently in heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3558" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T15:35:21.963" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:35:21.963" Title="Female pug getting too excited" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-02T12:09:55.580" Score="4" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;This comes from a discussion on the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7478&quot;&gt;What information should we leave for a cat sitter/cattery?&lt;/a&gt; The chip company has a record of who the &quot;pet owner&quot; contact is, this can be updated when the pet is transferred to a new owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Question is what percentage of new owners transfer contact information when a chip was originally registered to a previous owner/organization?  I am particularly interested in the break out of shelter/rescue pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know in our family all of our pets are rescued.  The shelters we adopt from have generally installed the chip and they are listed as the owner.  The shelter keeps a record of adopting the specific pet to us.  We have chosen not to update contact information for the chip.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the pet is lost and we know it, we are actively searching in the local area, so there is little chance that contact through chip information would be required. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If we don't know the pet is lost or if we don't know what area the pet is in, there is little chance that our home contact information provides any benefit to whomever is reading the chip. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So worst case, our pet ends up back at the shelter we rescued them from.  Because we know this, our local rescues acts as an always available intermediary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I have a specific motivation for not updating, I doubt that motivation for updating or not is available.  But I am curious to learn what percentage of chips are updated on pet transfer.  Preferable with breakdown by original chip installer; rescue/shelter, breeder, personal vet, other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T12:09:55.580" Title="What percentage of pet identification chips (i.e. Avid) are reassigned by new owners?" Tags="&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7340" CreationDate="2015-02-02T19:53:28.173" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The best bowl to use is a bowl that is wide and shallow. So maybe a plate with high sides or something similar. I use a platter with high sides that is metal. The cat will have trouble getting the last pieces into its mouth because the large bowl will make the food slip away from it as it tries to lick them up, this can be stopped by getting a bowl with more traction on it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=0oERcJYaEREC&amp;amp;pg=PT93&amp;amp;lpg=PT93&amp;amp;dq=most%20comfortable%20food%20bowl%20shape%20for%20cats&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=oejO1FMUcH&amp;amp;sig=nuw75mjZl8mq6EYqsuBeW6zJZBg&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=jMzPVO_hOKj7ywOygYHwBA&amp;amp;ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=most%20comfortable%20food%20bowl%20shape%20for%20cats&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know&lt;/a&gt; By Tracie Hotchner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shape of the bowl is important because a deep narrow bowl is&#xA;  really uncomfortable for a cat. A bowl of this shape can crowd a cat's&#xA;  whiskers, soil the hair on a long haired cat's face, and cause&#xA;  problems for flat-nosed breeds such as Persians or Himalayans. Cats&#xA;  generally do best with food and water bowls that are wide and shallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book goes on to say that plastic is good, but can cause medical issues in some cats and scratches that can accumulate easy can harbour bacteria. Some other things to make sure of are to make sure the bowl does not move as the cat goes inside it to eat stabilizing the bowl in a cat bowl holder or having a heavy bowl should work. Some cats are also allergic to metals, so you should know what your cat is allergic to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/cat/jcoates/2013/sept/type-of-food-bowl-can-affect-your-cats-health-30906&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;petmd.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lifewithchcats.com/2012/08/09/basic-food-water-bowl-tips-for-ch-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;lifewithchcats.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;While these may not be considered research some of these resources are written by Veternarians.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-02-02T19:53:28.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6104" CreationDate="2015-02-03T01:55:44.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Balance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, this does not mean that cats who lose their tails or are born without them cannot balance themselves. According to VetInfo, cats who suffer tail injuries that require amputation learn to balance without them. In Cat Health 101, Animal Planet states that Manx cats, who are born without tails, also learn to balance without them. They are thought to have an especially sensitive vestibular apparatus inside their ears to compensate. &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/cat-need-its-tail-balance-10716.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pets.thenest.com/cat-need-its-tail-balance-10716.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically balance is all that it affects from what I've seen and in my research. It does take them a while to get used to it. Their tail is an extension of their spine. Other words their tail has part of their spine in it. So they use their spine for balance landing etc. When they lose their tail they lose part of their spine. When that happens they lose some balance. So they have to get used to it to the point where the cat acts as if he always had a tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T01:55:44.033" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-03T06:08:43.300" Score="2" ViewCount="27905" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a cute little 1 year old and one of the first things I noticed when I brought her home is that she liked to knock over her water dish. What she would do is paw at the dish until some water spilt and then she would drink the spilt water. Sometimes it would just be a little and sometimes the whole contents of the bowl would spill. I have a pretty heavy glass bowl and the water is changed constantly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, what causes this behaviour and how do I correct it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T07:09:30.347" Title="Why does my cat knock over her water dish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2015-02-03T06:27:41.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is cute, I never heard of this before though I have some suggestion to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Your cat is bored and some cats do like to play wtih water. Try getting some toys for her and spend some time every day to play with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The bowl you're using is too steep for her drinking. My cat prefers drinking water from flat and broad surface with a suitable height for her. It might also be the shape of the glass bowl use that makes her behave this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like this container's height will be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fkn19.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T06:27:41.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7512" CreationDate="2015-02-03T13:51:19.677" Score="7" ViewCount="4505" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend's dog hates me and I don't know why. He is fine when others are around, but when I'm alone he gets really aggressive towards me. Here is an example of his behaviour towards me this afternoon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He started scratching at my room door, so I went to check if he wanted water or to go outside; I let him out and waited for him at the door. He charged back in and ran past me and started acting strange by making weird defensive poses and barking; he then comes back to me and starts viciously barking at me, growling at me and coming towards me as if he is going to attack me. Sometimes he is foaming at the mouth with rage. If course, I am terrified by this point and shut myself outside and he keeps barking at the door until he is bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It usually happens in this pattern, and sometimes I am shut out for hours before he stops (or someone comes home). I have been living here for about 6 months and these situations happen almost every day. It mostly happens after I let him out, but there are a few times he has done it randomly, and a few situations in which I have no escape. But he has never bitten me, but I think it is only because other people stopped him barking at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very stressful and emotional problem, I hate having to sneak around the house past him and well just being scared all the time of dying is not nice. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit for more information:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He is a 10 year old Shar-Pei called Diesel, a family pet of my bf since he was a puppy, and he does not behave this way to others, even those who are newer to the house than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T08:21:31.470" LastActivityDate="2017-09-15T01:13:08.010" Title="Why does my boyfriend's dog hate me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-03T16:14:47.710" Score="6" ViewCount="2705" Body="&lt;p&gt;From this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7396/taking-care-correctly-tortoise-jabuti&quot;&gt;topic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 20-year old Red-footed tortoise (&quot;jabuti&quot; type), and I would like to know if it would be a problem to let my tortoise outside in the rain, and what consequences might happen if it is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3508" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T19:00:42.357" Title="Can I let my tortoise play outside while it's raining?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-03T18:01:50.377" Score="6" ViewCount="35957" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a food dispenser for my new kitten that allows it to eat as much as it wants. It seems to be getting what seems to me as an abnormally large belly, after just a few days. But I haven't had a kitten before so this might be normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it normal for a kitten to have a big belly?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken pictures to demonstrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kJjWd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aQcuI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="3541" LastEditDate="2015-02-06T18:04:34.287" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T02:13:43.877" Title="Is it normal for a kitten to have a big belly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7510" CreationDate="2015-02-03T18:20:25.850" Score="7" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat which was born with two bad back legs. Because of this, I'm not allowed to have the cat food high up without some kind of handicap system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother has a small chihuahua about the same size as my cat. The chihuahua tends to eat my cat's food, resulting in her puking it up later. I must find an easy way to allow my cat to eat, without worrying about not being able to access it while preventing the chihuahua from getting to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any obstacle courses a cat with 2 bad back legs could traverse but a small chihuahua couldn't? Or maybe something I could put by the food to make sure the dogs can't get to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, putting the food in another room is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T11:57:13.027" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T14:27:10.190" Title="Prevent small dog from eating crippled cat's food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2015-02-03T18:31:51.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats in the wild prefer running water.  Still water can have leaves and scum on it, so cats learn to clear the surface with a paw. Those where this instinct is strong can make a big mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way is to replace a water dish with a recirculating fountain to create a permanent stream.  This will also encourage your cat to drink, which can help fight kidney disease in later life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-02-03T18:31:51.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1102" CreationDate="2015-02-03T23:03:56.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed you said 1 or several make sure you get at least 2. In all I have seven shells but only because one's molting I have 2 tanks each ten-gallon. I say not to get painted ones but I've never had any problems with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start out I would get 2 or 3 hermit crabs and shells come in packs of normally 2 or 3 get a pack or two of those and you should be good  also do your research and do not buy a starter kit! I use these bricks of dirt looking things they come in groups of 3 and put a block in a rubber tub or something like it and add boiled water and dump all of it in a tank not a kritter keeper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have 3 bowls (the reptile ones are cheaper for your water and like a powerade bottle cap you can use for food) you need salt water you can buy the salt in little things that look like milk cartons or you can buy it bottled just feed them your leftovers or trail mix (not food that you buy for a horse). Just get something in the fish aisle and something for them to climb if possible. Buy a mister and mist every night if possible( I know things come up )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3560" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-02-04T13:28:47.363" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T13:28:47.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2015-02-04T05:32:54.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simplest answer I've found is to set a &quot;no cats on food surfaces, whether there is food on them or not&quot;  rule. That's something cats can learn fairly easily, and it solves the problem by removing the opportunity for temptation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm eating elsewhere, they're allowed to expess interest,  and if it would be bad for them or I don't fedl like sharing I just push them away gently with a firm &quot;no.&quot;... which is a word they understand,  more or less... sometimes combiined with &quot;mine&quot; or &quot;not for kitty&quot; which they probably don't understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of mine wants to at least sample anything I'm eating, if allowed. Cat nibbling on the corner of a graham cracker is amusing, though I generally don't share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T05:32:54.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7503" CreationDate="2015-02-04T09:41:08.197" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not the cheapest solution, but I've heard of different systems that will lock/unlock the food bowl utilizing a collar similar to some pet doors (some even use such doors to begin with).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling around, I've found the &lt;a href=&quot;http://meowspace.biz/about/&quot;&gt;MeowSpace Cat Feeder&lt;/a&gt;, which to be honest looks a bit like some home made solution. I'm not sure that's something for your cat though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another system called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catfooddispensersreviews.com/wireless-whiskers/&quot;&gt;Wireless Whiskers&lt;/a&gt; sounds interesting as well. The open access (not having to crawl through a door) might be better suited for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't necessarily take these two examples as a recommendation. I haven't used either solutions, I've just picked two good examples of both approaches I could find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T09:41:08.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7513" CreationDate="2015-02-04T14:42:17.640" Score="2" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female pug almost 2 year old fights with any individual in the house except my father. She scratches the arms and bites the sleeves. If ignored, she makes crying sound and barks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes she smells legs constantly and then stands on two legs with her front paws getting supported on our leg, and then she jerks her lower abdomen up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, I am extremely new to dogs. I adopted her 5 months ago and we got happy along, but now she is being like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. She was recently hurt by a German Shepherd, we got her injected with necessary injections and recently she was also given CCV vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3558" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:46:15.610" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:46:15.610" Title="Female pug getting aggressive and jerking lower abdomen" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7500" CreationDate="2015-02-04T17:33:13.943" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Expanding on my comment --&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like at least part of your problem is that you have not asserted yourself as being higher ranked in its &quot;pack&quot; than the dog.  When you have nervous body posture, or flee from the dog, these look to it like signs of submission.  The natural response for a more dominant dog to acts of submission is to start acting more dominant.  And so due to this cycle of aggressive behavior, and your appearing submissive, it now thinks it's higher ranked than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said in my comment, a sharpei is a fairly large dog, certainly big enough to cause harm if this were to escalate further, and so these patterns of aggression are definitely not a good thing.  I recommend you get a trainer, especially one that can come to your home and observe the problem first hand.  The trainer I think would be especially good for you, as they can help teach you how to interact in general with the dog to establish your dominance, and get over your fear of the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T17:33:13.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7511" CreationDate="2015-02-04T17:48:16.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you describe is actually dominance behavior.  Yes, even female dogs will sometimes mount other dogs or human legs in order to show their dominance.  You need to completely and consistently ignore her undesirable behavior like scratching and biting, barking.  Establish a habit of shutting her in another room for say ten minutes when she does one of these undesirable behaviors.  The other room should be made to be comfortable for her, with toys and such.  The point is not punishment, it is to establish if she does one of these inappropriate things to get attention, she will get the opposite of attention.  If you stop responding to her desires whenever she has them, she may stop with the other dominance displays as well.  Also, if all else fails, get a professional trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T17:48:16.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2015-02-04T20:55:26.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't really care about pleasing their owners, but they can be trained. As with any animal, you have to find what motivates them, what discourages them and what the most effective way to apply these is. Most of the time I find that it's a matter of persistence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example is my Jack Russell. She has a crate she sleeps in at night. I let her in early, but I have to take her out before bed. She's warm and knows that it'll be cold out, so she pretends not to hear me, takes her time getting up, or even hangs back and tries to sneak back to bed. This frustrates me and makes me want to snap, but I look at it from her point of view and realize that every time she obeys, something negative happens (E.g. going out in the cold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along these lines there are several options. You cannot have food in a reachable spot, but almost any spot is available to a cat. You could do like one poster suggested and try to trick her into thinking it's nasty, but she already knows it's been good before. Another option is to deter her from getting up there in the first place. Two good methods of doing this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting one of those plastic car mats with the little plastic cleats to keep  it from sliding on the carpet and turning it upside down on the counter. They don't hurt the cat, but it's uncomfortable on their feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using double sided sticky tape. Supposedly, it only takes a few times with either of these before they don't want to get on the surface. The mat works on couches, beds, or anything else and always works, where the tape may lose its stickiness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing in any training is to be consistent. You'll lose weeks or months of effort if you let the cat win once, because it bolsters the idea to keep trying in the face of not getting a treat, because you might get one every once in a while. You see people do this on purpose when weaning trained dogs off treats. One way to be continually consistent is to get a device off Amazon that attaches to the top of a can of compressed air. It has a motion sensor on it, and when it senses motion, it sends out a jet of air, poofing the cat off the surface. It works whether you're paying attention or not, or even in the room. I also saw something like that is good from the Cat Daddy. He said that cats don't make the association the way dogs do and that if you punish a dog for trying to get your food, he understands that trying to get the food caused the correction. If you, for instance, spray a cat with a water bottle for getting on the counter, he doesn't think that getting on the counter caused the spray, he just thinks you're a butt hole. I hope this helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:39:43.340" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:39:43.340" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2015-02-04T21:11:57.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is probably too late as you've probably fixed it or given up by now, but I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I've trained horses and it's given me a different perspective. I see a lot of people who, for lack of a better term, force something onto a dog, because they can do it and out fight the dog. You can't out fight a horse, so it takes different techniques that I believe will work with a dog like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing used heavily with horses is approach and retreat. This is a technique where you take something scary for the horse, like wearing a halter for the first time and approach it in baby steps. You get to where you can pet the horse with the halter in hand, then rub the horse with it, then put the string around their neck, then scoop their nose, and finally tie it. However, you don't do these things in one go. You may rub the horse with the halter and then walk away 20 times. It may take a couple of days if you're taking your time before you move onto the next step. You also don't focus too intently on just that. You rub them with the halter, then pick up their feet, then toss a rope around, then rub them with the halter again. It's short light sessions that leave them with a positive impression of the halter. You can do the same thing with the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to pet him with the collar, the play with a toy. Use a clicker to teach him to fetch the collar and lead like a toy. Sit in your chair while he's in the room, watch tv, and click the buckle a lot. It's a slow desensitization process. Once the collar is on, let him drag the lead around all day. You do this with older stronger horses. He's not fighting you, he's fighting the leash. He'll step on it, get it wrapped around table legs, etc... Just keep an eye on him and don't interfere unless you need to untangle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he's okay with it being on and you want to teach him to lead, don't ask him to come to you, stand off to the side and put slight pressure on the lead. When he come off the pressure, give him a treat. For horses, the treat is the release of pressure. The dog will come to associate the pull of the leash with good things. Just remember you're only looking for a step at first, or even a shifting of the weight. You pull to the side, because they can brace forward and backward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figure it's too late, but I hope this helps you or someone else improve on their relationship with their dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS- I meant to add that I don't think a harness is a good idea, except as a backup if you think the dog will slip the lead. Harness' were designed for tracking dogs to be able to follow a scent without having the collar pull their neck up away from it. People have been going to these as well as the extendable leashes in recent years, but it gives them a solid surface to pull against, like a sled dog, and encourages bad behavior. The same with the extendable leash. You have less control and your dog can get into a lot of mischief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T21:11:57.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6869" CreationDate="2015-02-04T21:25:44.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start limiting his space at night to a small easily cleanable area. Use a cleaner designed to eliminate pet waste as the smell can encourage them to go there again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a crate that I put my dog in at night while I'm asleep, because as well housebroken as she is, she'll still try to go in the house sometimes. This is especially likely if it's cold out and she doesn't want to go out. However, I make it a point to go out with her at night and walk her around. I want to see her go potty even before putting her to bed. I'll also drag her out of bed in the morning whether she wants to go or not. She usually does. I sometimes have to walk her around the yard for 10-15 minutes before she goes. She'll try to sit and stare at me, but if I walk off and call her to me she'll walk over. Eventually, she'll veer off and pee, then I give her a 'Good Girl' and we go straight in. I also made it a point to say, 'Go Potty' while she's peeing. Then if she doesn't want to go, I say it and hope it's formed an association in her head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things that make it more likely for a dog to want to go to he bathroom are: just waking up, playing, eating, going for a walk. If you try to do these things before taking her to potty, she'll be much more likely to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-04T21:25:44.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7518" CreationDate="2015-02-05T00:05:35.707" Score="4" ViewCount="20141" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rats were fighting and one of them got bitten. It looks quite bad. What can I do for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T23:31:36.303" Title="My rats had a fight and one of them is injured - what can I do for him?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7517" CreationDate="2015-02-05T00:05:35.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With rats, wounds generally look worse than they really are. They very rarely require intervention - though their teeth are impressive, they also have thick fur and skin. Occasional fighting is normal for rats; if it gets more frequent, or it's a case of one rat picking on another, then you may have to investigate further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, you can leave a rat to deal with his own wounds, they are exceptionally fast healers. If he has an open wound, he needs to be kept away from others in a spotless cage until he heals (a day or two). Some rats, especially the more submissive ones, can get psychologically traumatized by a fight, so be sure to offer him comfort if he wants it, and be careful when putting him back with the other rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is an open wound, but not bleeding, you actually don't need to do anything, beyond check he is keeping it clean. If you think he's in pain (fur puffy, teeth chattering) you can give him some ibuprofen, as instructed &lt;a href=&quot;http://ratguide.com/meds/nsaids/ibuprofen.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;here&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;quot;The dose is 15-60 mg/lb 2-4 times a day. Lower doses are for analgesia, higher for inflammation.&amp;quot; &lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; give ibuprofen if your rat is elderly, as it can interfere with kidney function, or if your rat is bleeding. More on this later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from the &lt;em&gt;ratfanclub.org&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The feet, ears, tail and mouth all have a considerable blood supply, and injuries to these areas can cause profuse bleeding.  The first step to stop the bleeding is to apply direct pressure for two minutes.  If the bleeding continues, put some flour in a small container and press the bleeding area into the flour, or press some flour onto the wound. The flour will help the blood to clot.  Cornstarch can also be used, as well as a commercial product to stop bleeding.  Another thing to try is holding ice against the injury.  The cold will reduce the blood flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the injury is a severed toe or tail tip, you may have to apply a tourniquet.  Tie string as close to the end of the extremity as possible.  Tighten the tourniquet until the bleeding slows to an ooze.  Do not tighten the tourniquet too much, or you could cause additional damage.  Remove the tourniquet after 20 minutes to see if the bleeding has stopped, or can now be stopped using the other methods.  If not, replace the tourniquet and take your rat to the vet. If a toenail is bleeding, the best way to stop it is to use styptic powder or a silver nitrate stick.  Flour or cornstarch can also be used like styptic powder.  Press some into the end of the nail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a wound to a toe, it’s common for the toe to swell quite a bit and turn red.  It’s not usually necessary to treat this condition and after a week or two, the toe will heal.  If you like, you can give the rat an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen to help bring down the swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ibuprofen interferes with blood clotting, so if your rat has a severe injury with profuse bleeding, you do not want to use ibuprofen that day.  For pain you can use acetaminophen (Tylenol) at 90-140 mg/lb every 4-12 hours.  Choose the dose according to the severity of the pain and possible length of use, with lower doses for repeated use.  Overdoses can damage the liver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;here&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; under the 'Wounds and Bleeding' section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bleeding does not stop, contact a vet for more treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T01:45:00.947" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7522" CreationDate="2015-02-05T05:17:07.953" Score="9" ViewCount="701" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Some Background&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment at the 12th story of a high-rise residential apartment building in a typical Chinese city. The building has elevators and stairwells. In every story of the building, there are tens of apartments along the long hallway.&#xA;About 2 months ago, I encountered a cat when I was about to go out from home and waiting for the elevator. When the elevator arrived and door opened, this cat just popped out of the elevator. He followed me and just sit at my doorstep, seemingly wanting to go inside, so I let him. I then adopted this cat whom I think was abandoned by others (which is not uncommon) in the same residential area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;First Time Letting Go&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As time goes by, he became increasingly eager to going out. Several days ago, I let him go. He knows where the stairwells are and where it leads to (i.e., &amp;quot;the outside world&amp;quot;). (The experience was gained by his former &amp;quot;failed&amp;quot; attempts to &amp;quot;escape&amp;quot;.) So he went by himself, like the same voluntary way he came to me at the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another day I saw him outside and &amp;quot;miao&amp;quot;-ed at him. Then he just came back with me. (He went in and out elevator swiftly with me, and sit at my doorstep waiting for me to open the door.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Second Time Letting Go&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He came back, ate, drank, and sleep.&#xA;After less than 48 hours, he seems to want to go out again. As before, I let him go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Unexpected and The Question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday afternoon, less than 2 days after his second leaving, my girlfriend opened the door as we were about to go out. The cat was just lying there waiting for us to open the door so that he could go in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are really shocked at this. Therefore I wish to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a cat to manage to go back &amp;quot;home&amp;quot; in a situation where s/he has to climb an exact number of stories to get the correct floor and find the correct door among tens of other doors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does he know which story to go for and which door to stop at? Is it by scent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any information is appreciated. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3310" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T16:17:12.240" Title="Is it normal for a cat to go out and go back home voluntarily?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7549" CreationDate="2015-02-05T05:29:59.063" Score="2" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume that other dogs identify the three-legged dog as being impaired in some way, but do they specifically realize that the dog has three legs when it should have four?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3568" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-05T14:44:59.690" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T03:47:30.340" Title="Do dogs comprehend that a three-legged dog is missing a leg?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7520" CreationDate="2015-02-05T08:16:18.263" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats always return &quot;voluntarily&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs return home (or, more usually stay home), because they want to belong to a pack and they stay with their pack (e.g. owners, potentially other dogs and pets, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, on the other hand, are typically just attached to convenience. Got some good food there? Someone to ruffle their fur? Feeling safe? The cat will return for that. As such I wouldn't even be surprised if the cat has more than one &quot;home&quot; in your building, given its size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for orientation it's less about visuals as far as I'm aware (so not really counting the floors or anything like that). I once read that cats heavily rely on their nose for orientation, to follow known scents. Even if you just go along some hallway, you will leave a trail of hair, scurf, etc. - any clues for the cat to find you again. Combined with the cat's excellent sense of time (of the day), it's not unlikely for the cat to wait for you in the future as well, especially if you keep opening the door/returning at a common time of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We once had a cat who'd always wait for me at our doorsteps everyday when I returned from work, and the cat would not wait longer than 15 minutes. It would go there a few minutes before I arrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:01:06.080" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:01:06.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2015-02-05T21:01:57.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the disease risk is any higher with an animal sharing a food bowl, but I think it can cause behavioral problems. A cat thinks of his bowl as a 'kill' site. So, to your cat, he's having to share his kill with another cat and he's going to resent it. Even if he doesn't you have to deal with one cat being edged out and the other cat possibly preventing him from eating. You also have to keep that bowl full all the time to insure they're both able to eat. This can lead to an overweight cat, or a more over weight cat in most peoples cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that whether you do scheduled feedings or free feed, that you need to have one food container for each animal. I don't feel that the water dish has the same taboo for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as a reference I was looking into cats considering their food bowl as their kill site, because I noticed that while my cat has a water dish in the same stand as his food bowl, he'd go outside to drink out of he dogs water bowl or to the bowl we brought inside for them when they come in in the winter. I read that cats feel like any food they eat, no matter how dead a kibble is, they consider it a 'kill' and feel it contaminates their drinking source. So that's why he goes to a different water source and also why I think it could cause potential aggression issues for you that are easily avoided with a second, cheap dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T21:01:57.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6558" CreationDate="2015-02-05T21:18:52.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways to go about it. To fix the immediate problem, don't stop walking. I'm not sure of your set-up, but I recommend a collar that can't slip off or pop open, possibly one that tightens when tension is applied to prevent this. You should also have an approximately 6' lead that is at least a couple of inches wide. The reason I recommend these is because they are the best tools for communicating with your dog. He can easily pull against you with a harness on, which were designed for tracking dogs. It'll burn your hands to try and hold him if he tries to pull against you and you have one of the thin retractable leashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My theory here is similar to what Ceasar Milan teaches. I feel that it's natural for a dog to follow it's leader and that the pack would never get anywhere in the wild if each pack member stopped to sniff what they wanted to sniff. Under that principle, I don't let my dog wander when I go on a walk. I want his shoulder at my knee, so that I'm directing where we're going and he can move out of my way if I make a turn into him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he starts to stop and sniff something I just keep walking. The slack is removed from the leash and he gets a little tug. He then trots to catch up. It's not going to be perfect at first, because nothing is. He'll try to stop and sniff a lot and he'll also try to run ahead. It's fine. Work on it a little every day. I wouldn't worry about tugging on the leash. It isn't going to cause a behavior problem. I think of it like tapping someone on the shoulder. I ask the dog to look at me or come on with my voice and if I'm ignored, I give a few little bump on the lead to get their attention. It's what it's there for, to be an extension of your arm when they don't listen to your voice. Eventually, if you always give a verbal cue first, you don't have to enforce with the lead, because they know you will and don't bother balking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't worry about your dog not getting to smell, either. Watch any of the documentaries on tv and you'll see how amazing their noses are. They can walk beside you and still get to smell everything they wont to. They just won't be able to stop and investigate. It's similar to a little kid wanting to stop at every candy and toy store they see, so the parent tells them if they stop asking they'll take them to get ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other option is to teach your dog to heel. This is a whole other thing that I don't think is appropriate to type out here, but there are probably multiple sources to look up how best to do it. I don't know if there is an IM on this site, but I can give you advice on that this way if you need it. It's the same principle, though. You don't expect perfection at first, work in baby steps, make it easy, such as using a wall to block their avenues of movement, and reward often. Your verbal and physical cues come first and helpful physical corrections come second. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-05T21:18:52.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T13:14:18.447" Score="6" ViewCount="1037" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to have materials on hand to be prepared if anything goes wrong with my pets. I have heard people suggest a first aid box so that you are prepared, but I don't have much idea what to put in this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things that I already have or have access to so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;emergency heating (disposable hand warmers) in case the power goes out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prescription food we got given by the vet when one of them wasn't eating &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;small syringes, for the above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;equipment to bathe the geckos, in case of shedding problems or prolapse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;usual household stuff like cotton wool balls, cotton buds, kitchen roll, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ability to make stuff from usual household ingredients, e.g. saline solution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lots of human first aid stuff - bandages, steri-strips, plasters, antiseptic cream/wipes/liquid (no idea if any of this is safe/useful for reptiles)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not much of this really covers what I would call &quot;first aid&quot; - in particular, I don't think I'm covered for cuts or bites, and I'm sure there are other accidents that might happen that I haven't thought of because I simply haven't kept reptiles for long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if anything serious happened, we would rush to the vet, so I am looking to be prepared for the following situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to be able to treat things which are not serious enough to require a trip to the vet, but that require prompt treatment (if it doesn't require prompt treatment, it's not really first aid, and I can buy required materials as and when it happens).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If something happens which requires a trip to the vet, I want to be able to do what I can to minimise the damage/danger at once, before we make it to the vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T02:05:49.177" Title="What should be in a leopard gecko first aid kit?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-06T13:17:51.800" Score="8" ViewCount="90737" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thankfully, this has never happened to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if it does, how should I treat it - both immediately, and in the longer term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:32:35.607" Title="My leopard gecko's tail fell off! What should I do?" Tags="&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;autotomy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7530" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-02-06T13:26:58.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Autotomy, or self amputation, is when an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape. Species that do this include some geckos and lizards (tails), salamanders (tails), some spiders (legs) and bees (stinger). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-02-06T16:20:56.587" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T16:20:56.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7531" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-02-06T13:26:58.847" Score="0" Body="Autotomy, or self amputation, is when an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape. Species that do this include some geckos and lizards (tails), salamanders (tails), some spiders (legs) and bees (stinger)." OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-02-06T16:20:46.570" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T16:20:46.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7502" CreationDate="2015-02-06T14:54:27.303" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and No. It depends what you mean by &quot;big.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally a well fed kitten will have what I refer to as &quot;a fat belly,&quot; reflecting their stomach being full of food. One of their main jobs at this stage in life is to store food and grow as fast as possible. The more they can gorge themselves the longer they can survive when mom is away hunting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A skinny kitten is reason for concern, and should be taken to the vet. To judge skinny and fat you really have to have seen a fair amount kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kai's advice is perfect IMO: It is good to take your new animals to the vet and you can work out when to immunize them and get them fixed etc. If the kitten is active, playful, eating and eliminating and you have no reason to believe something is wrong with it, it is probably healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think the kitten's belly is too big or the kitten has other symptoms take it too the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T14:54:27.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6714" CreationDate="2015-02-06T15:57:40.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of anyone keeping them in a tank without a cover before, simply because it's better to be safe than sorry, however on my research journey I did find this interesting tidbit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water level must be dropped 2.5-5.1cm (1-2&amp;quot;) from the top for two reasons; one, to allow for proper gas exchange and respiration of the frogs, and two, to prevent escape and therefore death. Otherwise ensure there are no escape holes for the frogs to explore. A DAF can easily jump 7.6-10.2cm (3-4&amp;quot;) into the air from a solid base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Hymenochirus_boettgeri&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;very interesting source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T15:57:40.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6000" CreationDate="2015-02-06T17:33:45.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A study on how the age of gonadectomy in cats may affect their future behavior found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The occurrence of inappropriate elimination, fearful behavior,&#xA;  non-play-related aggression, and destruction was associated with other&#xA;  social and environmental variables (e.g., the use of punishment by the&#xA;  owner and friendliness toward a stranger). This study found no&#xA;  evidence that age at the time of gonadectomy in cats has an effect on&#xA;  the mean number of (potentially) undesirable behaviors or on the&#xA;  occurrence of commonly reported behaviors (inappropriate elimination,&#xA;  non-play-related aggression, fearful behavior, or destruction) in&#xA;  literature during 24 months after adoption from a shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study is summarized on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.winnfelinefoundation.org/education/cat-health-news-blog/details/cat-health-news-from-the-winn-feline-foundation/2014/12/26/behavior-development-in-shelter-kittens-after-neutering-at-different-ages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Winn Foundation blog.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Study information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Development of behavior in adopted shelter kittens after gonadectomy performed at an early age or at a traditional age&#xA;Nathalie Portersa, Hilde de Roostera, Katrien Verschuerenb, Ingeborgh Polisa, Christel P.H. Moonsc, ,  Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research Volume 9, Issue 5, September–October 2014, Pages 196–206. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787814000653&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Web abstract&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the results of this study indicate that the effect of the cat's environment is much stronger on the cat's future behavior than if it is gonadectomized before or after puberty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T17:33:45.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1550" CreationDate="2015-02-06T20:31:29.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are some great answers here, but I wanted to suggest one more thing. I believe it's simply because you expose your dog to much more than you do your cat. You take your dogs outside on walks, you take him on car rides to go fun places like the river, you introduce him to people in a positive way, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With cats, they're usually kept inside, they're rarely ever taken outside in the company of people (excluding people who walk their cat on a leash), and they get to run off and hide whenever they come across a situation they don't like. Coupled with the fact that cats don't have nearly as strong a desire to be in a group and you can see where they're react very differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think if any cat is exposed young and/or worked up to a situation slowly, they'd over come their fear. I think it's perfectly understandable that they get upset when they're stuffed in a crate, put in a loud moving vehicle, then put in a loud, smelly vets office, where they're only dragged out to get poked and prodded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you'd do like you would with a dog. Get them used to a carrier in the house, by putting treats in it. If they go in, shut the door for a few seconds and increase duration over time. Pick it up and move it a few feet. Either leash your cat or if it's an indoor/outdoor cat leave your car doors open and put some treats on the seat. See if you can work up to getting him to stay inside if you turn it on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you can see where I'm going with this. I believe it's mainly an issue of exposure, training, and expectations. My own cat, in his formative years, was living in a house that didn't allow cats, so when the landlord came over, all his stuff got put in a closet and he was shut in a back bedroom, now at 11yrs old, he hides when anyone comes over unless he's seen them half a dozen times. On the other hand. I was at a party once that was obnoxiously loud, with people smoking, drinking, and yelling and a cat came out rubbing on peoples legs and hopping in their laps. Other people have cats that ride across the country with them in their RVs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T20:31:29.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7358" CreationDate="2015-02-06T21:27:59.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Sobrique's idea is the place to start. One of the first things you should teach any dog is to look at you on command. Clicker training is a really good technique and their are a lot of sites out there. Karen Pryor is one of the originals to teach it in modern times, but it goes back at least as far as Pavlov. You may have heard of Pavlov's Dogs. He would ring a bell before feeding his dogs and after a time, he would ring the bell and they would start salivating. It's also called operant conditioning and its about linking two things, a signal and a behavior with a bridge. A gesture or word can be the signal, the behavior is whatever you're trying to achieve, be it the whole action or a partial action building to the main action, and the clicking noise of the clicker is the bridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people use the clicker because it's easier, but others mark with their voice, because it's always with them. You can say, &quot;yes&quot; and achieve the same results as long as you say it the same way every time. The key is to mark the exact behavior, the second it happens. The traditional way to teach the sit is to hold a treat over the dogs head, wait till he starts to sit, say &quot;sit&quot; as he's sitting, and when he does, say &quot;good boy&quot; and treat him. The problem is that animals, not understanding human speech, associate the reward with what they were doing the exact second they were rewarded. Even in this instance, where you're standing right over them, they could be doing any number of things before the treat enters their mouth. They could be starting to get up out of the sit and think you're rewarding that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the clicker marks the exact instant they do the action you want and makes it much easier for them to understand. Think if you're in a foreign country and don't speak the language. If someone asked you to sit in a chair, which seems stupidly simple to them, you wouldn't understand. If they sit you in the chair and make positive noises, you'll understand what they were asking even if you don't understand the praise, and you'll know what cues to look out for next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first exercise usually taught with the clicker is called &quot;charging the clicker&quot;. You click and hand your dog the treat. You repeat this over and over until the dog understands that the click equals getting a treat. This is often observed when they start looking at or pawing the clicking hand instead of the one that holds the treat. You can get them looking at you instead of the clicker by simply waiting. They'll eventually get frustrated that the treats aren't coming and glance at your face. Click and treat. They may think it's a fluke, but with repetition, they'll understand looking at your face gets the click and hence forth the treat. They'll start staring at you. You don't have to wait for them to look away. If they keep looking at you, click and treat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When any behavior is down solidly, you can begin adding a verbal cue as the behavior is performed. Like saying, &quot;sit&quot; as you click. Then back it off, so you're saying it slightly before they sit. If they ever get confused, back off and work on the basics. Take baby steps. A 1% gain every day is a 100% gain in 100 days. Also, always start with no distractions and work them in gradually. You can't teach him to focus on you for one day and expect him to do it when you take him outside where there are squirrels. You also can't expect him to want a piece of kibble over a squirrel, so offer hot dogs in those situations. The reward you have has to be better than the one he thinks he's going to get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use these same methods to teach him to yield to the leash. Put slight pressure on the leash asking him to move in any direction. When he moves to create slack in that pressure, even a half step, click and treat. repeat till he moves away from the pressure, then when you walk him and he moves ahead, just apply pressure till he falls back where he's supposed to be. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-06T21:27:59.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7543" CreationDate="2015-02-07T06:02:39.447" Score="3" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently rescued a chiwawa who's, the vet says, about 1.5 years old and has clearly been pregnant before. When we first got her she would act worried and cry often; pretty normal for a dog in her situation. That faded as we trained her not to and she began to get comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while we noticed her playing with rolled up socks and a few of our other dog's (Boston Terrier) furry toys. So we bought all the dogs their own toys. Immediately, our other dogs began the ceremonious destruction of their's; while Bean, the chiwawa, looked as if she was living a horror movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since, she has become burdened by the toy; she seems to worry about it constantly. She acts strangely around it seeming to hurdle over it and lay on it oddly. She's also started making her kennel bed with her mouth crazily at night when they go to bed. Earlier tonight we took it away on the DL. She's looking around for it and crying too. Is it possible she could be confusing this store bought toy as an offspring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been around bread dogs and have seen where a mother will try to continue to care for a dead pup; is it possible she's remembering her motherhood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3576" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T16:02:58.707" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T16:02:58.707" Title="Can a young dog who's been previously pregnant confuse a toy as an offspring?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7541" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7547" CreationDate="2015-02-07T15:54:57.743" Score="3" ViewCount="6872" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around an hour ago I came down stairs to find my Male and Female(Siblin's) Lhasa Apso (aged around 7 months old) &quot;locked&quot; / &quot;Tied&quot; together, My female is currently in heat and although we are ensuring they are supervised as much as possible on this occasion they were not being watched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself and my partner ensured they remained calm as we allowed them to become unlocked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are now in a situation which I am unfamiliar with and I was hoping for some feedback/advice on the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I have read that pregnancy in young dogs carries increased complications and raises the risk of fatality considerably, this obviously is something we want to prevent, I presume our decision to not continue the pregnancy is the only option in preventing these risks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I am unsure how long they were locked, although we suspect only 3-4 mins before we found them and then an additional 10 mins while we were holding them waiting for him to unlock, are the chances of pregnancy decreased by this lower duration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I have looked into an injection branded(in the UK) MisMate (Alizin) does anyone have any experience with this? I heard its success rate is close to 100% if administered early(22 days)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) I have also read that it is possible to get Her spayed during pregnancy causing it to be ended, However I heard it also carries increased risk? I Presume she can't be spayed while still in season, won't she be close to due date by the time she is able to be spayed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone else have any other advice? We consider ourself good dog owners, The male dog is in fact booked in to be neutered on Monday! We wish to protect both the dogs from as much risk to health as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3578" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T16:02:20.377" LastActivityDate="2017-01-08T14:29:34.333" Title="Sibling dogs accidental mating, Assistance regarding available options" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7539" CreationDate="2015-02-07T16:41:01.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Websearch &quot;false pregnancy&quot;,  or read some of the James Herriot life-of-a-vet books, or ask your own vet. I believe that if it is a real false pregnancy,  rather than just play, a hormone shot can break the fixation, which is another reason to ask the vet. (Some animals go as far as starting to lactate, which would be pretty solidly diagnostic.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-07T16:41:01.543" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7560" CreationDate="2015-02-07T23:22:19.120" Score="8" ViewCount="15227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a snake owner (though I'm considering becoming one), however I've handled snakes belonging to friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told you should always wash your hands after handling snakes because of a salmonella risk. However, I've also seen or heard about owners letting snakes go through their clothes (sleeves, for example), on furniture, including their own beds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is letting your snake slither about the place ever a problem in terms of salmonella? Or are hands simply the main/biggest problem because of eg. food handling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3580" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:15:11.903" Title="Handling snakes and salmonella" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7541" CreationDate="2015-02-08T03:31:28.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated on the website someone else referred you to, &quot;There is no home care for undesired matings.&quot; There are &quot;morning after&quot; treatments, but they need to be administered by vet. So talking to your vet really is the place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T03:31:28.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2015-02-08T03:40:14.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine do just fine with a single dry-food dispenser -- in fact, I've seen them explicitly negotiate taking turns. But they're siblings,  and they trust that there's no shortage of food; other cats may feel differently about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do use two bowls for wet food, but that's partly for differential feeding (one gets a supplement) and partly because they both love the &quot;gravy&quot; and would argue over it if not shared out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do what works for your clowder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T03:40:14.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7521" CreationDate="2015-02-08T03:47:30.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen any sign that the find this particularly odd. Then again, they have no trouble recognizing that everything from Chihuahua  to St. Bernard is a dog, so maybe a missing leg just isn't any odder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it takes more time-binding than dogs can do to formulate the question &quot;how did that happen&quot;, and without that different shape is just different. Might affect mate choice, but I'm not sure of that either if the injured dog is getting around well and in good health otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T03:47:30.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7544" CreationDate="2015-02-08T08:10:47.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snakes can give you Salmonella bacteria in your blood through cuts and open wounds. They can also get in through your food and cause the food poisoning. Everywhere they touch should be disinfected and you should limit where they touch, as it may cost you or your family their life. You will touch everywhere so if they touch everywhere it is impossible for you to avoid it, at all times. If you keep them in large cages, then you should be able to control where they touch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CDC said in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellafrogturtle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reptiles, Amphibians, and Salmonella&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you know that reptiles and amphibians like turtles, lizards, and&#xA;  frogs can carry a harmful germ called Salmonella? If there are young&#xA;  children in your home, reptiles and amphibians might not be safe pets&#xA;  for your family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And they say in the same article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although many people think that Salmonella infections are caused only&#xA;  by contaminated food, these germs can also be caught by handling&#xA;  animals, including reptiles or amphibians.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said having the snakes slither everywhere is not safe. Because if they slither across your blanket, textbook, pants, table, etc you can't be sure everyone will clean every surface before eating and if they don't and they accidentally read the textbook(or touch something) your snake touched before eating, they are at risk for being infected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reptiles and amphibians might have Salmonella germs on their bodies&#xA;  even when they appear healthy and clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That same article says to wash hands and limit the area where a snake touches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional Info&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/AnimalHealthLiteracy/ucm344319.htm#How_do_I_become_infected_with_Salmonella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fda.gov&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/list_6062445_signs-symptoms-salmonella-open-wound.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Signs &amp;amp; Symptoms of Salmonella in an Open Wound&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T08:10:47.157" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7529" CreationDate="2015-02-08T10:10:25.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the bleeding is nothing excessive. It should not be, but make sure. The gecko's blood vessels constrict before the tails falls off so you should be OK. Make sure to bandage the tail, calm the gecko down and stop anything that promotes infection and agitation. Also, remove the gecko from the cage with other pets, as now that its tail is removed it may be picked on. Make sure the cage is warm enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/geckos/qt/geckolosttail.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about.com:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evaluate your temperatures and humidity to make sure the environment&#xA;  is ideal. Tail loss and regrowth is stressful and you want to make&#xA;  sure conditions are ideal for your gecko. Additionally, improper&#xA;  environment can be a source of stress that could contribute to tail&#xA;  loss in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed the gecko properly and make sure that it does not miss a meal. The gecko's fatty tail is a good resource if it ever misses a meal, since it is gone make sure to feed the pet properly. Observe the tail for infection, redness, oozing of pus or other, swollen, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/geckos/qt/geckolosttail.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;exoticpets.about.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Make sure the gecko is eating well; you can ramp up the amount you&#xA;  normally feed a bit since tail loss is stressful and also means loss&#xA;  of the gecko's fat stores. However, make sure crickets (or other prey)&#xA;  not eaten within about 15 minutes are removed from the tank, or the&#xA;  crickets may try to nibble on the gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilecare.com/LeopardFAQ.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reptilecare.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once the tail is lost they can no longer store fat (until it grows&#xA;  back) and thus are more prone to starvation. If the gecko lives alone&#xA;  the only thing you need to do is make sure that he/she is fed well and&#xA;  kept warm enough. If the gecko has cagemates it is best to separate&#xA;  him/her from the others so you can be sure he/she is eating enough and&#xA;  is not getting picked on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never let the tail fall off again and realize what the tail will look like. The tail will grow back and look differently. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;reptilecare.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It will be more bulbous and more of a solid color. Once it has grown&#xA;  back all the way the lizard is as good as new and may rejoin its&#xA;  cagemates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tail can be kept on by not bothering the pet or agitating it unnecessarily. If you have questions ask your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;These reasons can make the tail fall off again:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its tail being grabbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being bullied by other geckos sharing its tank, or by other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress/fear. This can occur in many areas so watch your pet. If you're really worried about your pet, opt for relaxed environments, house it by itself and watch who you let around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Illness and Infections. This can be controlled by monitoring your pet and vet visits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3457" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T14:32:35.607" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:32:35.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7501" CreationDate="2015-02-08T14:25:52.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as the weather doesn't get too cold, and sunshine is not continously absent, then your tortoise should be okay outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember from the last question your tortoise was a red foot tortoise, which naturally lives in rainforests. The high humidity level caused by the rain shouldn't be a problem for a rainforest tortoise. On the other hand, in summers if the weather is really hot then be sure to provide shaded cooler areas in the enclosure. You also want to provide a constant opportunity to soak, especially if it gets dry in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never&lt;/strong&gt; expose a tropical animal to a weather where other animals would hibernate. Tropical animals do not hibernate but they do become less active in colder weathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind different tortoises have different needs mostly determined by their original homes. For example savannah tortoises like Leopard tortoises have been known to not do well in South Florida due to the humidity, though some keepers maintain them successfully, they say it's because they have been captive hatched in Florida and have acclimated. Nevertheless, be sure to provide similar temperature and humidity to what your tortoise naturally gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T14:25:52.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-08T15:48:26.183" Score="5" ViewCount="15209" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is losing the hair around her nose, and the skin there is also looking crusty. &#xA;I took my rabbit to a vet but they don't know what's wrong with her. The outline of her mouth is also very dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not sneezing. She is almost 2 months old and staying with me in my room although she has her cage. There are no other pets inside the house but we have chickens and dogs outside, she never goes outside though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just recently got her from the pet store she has been with me for a week already and I started to notice she is losing hair on her nose on the fourth day. I saw one rabbit losing hair also in its nose area, but my rabbits looked completely fine when i got her. Her nose is getting tiny multiple scabs now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave her a warm bath and felt her nose is hard to touch. and also the side of her mouth is quiet dirty i tried to wipe it off with a wet tissue but it's as if stuck on her skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats water spinach (kangkong) as I have yet to get hay and proper pellets because it is not that accessible here in the philippines but I will be getting her hay soon after reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3328/kangkong-morning-glories-as-rabbit-diet&quot;&gt;Kangkong (morning glories) as rabbit diet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing this and how do I cure it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pRVJD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nweDw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DALMu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the photo of her bald spot, sorryy for the low quality picture but when I looked closely it has some white small dandruff like flakes on the skin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ycUDv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T00:25:50.880" Title="Rabbit is losing hair on the nose and skin is getting crusty" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-08T20:36:34.170" Score="6" ViewCount="4042" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Must have been something else. Vet gave an oral medicine and everything was back to normal in 2 days. I still feed him vegan food 6 days a week.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, I decided to feed my dog vegetables (&amp;amp; some fruits) more often than animal sources like meat, eggs, milk, etc. (He is a 4-year old golden retriever.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I fed him for a few days: &lt;strong&gt;[Whole rice, soybeans, red lentils, sweet potatoes, carrots, tomato, beans, cabbage, spinach, coriander]&lt;/strong&gt; in the morning and &lt;strong&gt;[1/2 apple, banana, 1/4 pomegranate, 1/4 beetroot, oatmeal (with water)]&lt;/strong&gt; in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RzIn4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Vegan dog food&quot; title=&quot;Vegan dog food&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1st day on which I fed him the diet went fine. I checked his stools in the evening as a precautionary measure and It seemed fine, I think I saw some undigested soybeans in there, otherwise it was fine, but he sh*t a ton.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked his stools in the morning on the second day, and I could still see more soybeans (which I fed the previous morning). I fed him the same diet on the 2nd day as well and checked his stools in the evening. Same story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the 3rd day, early in the morning, he &lt;strong&gt;vomited what looked like yellowish foam&lt;/strong&gt;; not a lot, more like 3-4 tablespoons. And from the stools it was clear that he's unable to digest soybeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He vomited on the 4th day (early morning like before) as well. Bad stools and vomiting got me worried. So I had the soy and lentils ground and cooked instead of cooking whole. This following evening, his stools are fine and it's no longer a ton. Then he slept as usual and all of a sudden woke up only to &lt;strong&gt;vomit some white foam/liquid&lt;/strong&gt; (could be oats, could be bad stuff happening inside, I don't know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same happened on the 5th day. Today he vomited (yellow again) while we were out for the morning walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could be causing this?&lt;/strong&gt; Could it be because of indigestion (soybeans)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's hopping and running around as usual, and I couldn't find indigestion causing yellow foamy vomiting. As of now I've removed soybeans and lentils from his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I initially thought, my dog is doing great since removing soy and lentils from his diet. So, it's most probably due to indigestion caused by soybeans. I'll add back lentils soon; so this is what I plan to feed him now (5 days a week):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morning:&lt;/strong&gt; whole rice/ground quinoa, red lentils, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, cabbage, spinach, olive/sunflower oil, coriander/turmeric&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Evening:&lt;/strong&gt; 1/2 apple, banana, 1/4 pomegranate, 1/4 beetroot, oatmeal (with water), honey&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Answers to your questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before you ask:&lt;/strong&gt; Feeding him veggies and fruits only isn't very healthy. Give him meat; dogs thrive on it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed him meat, eggs and milk 2 days a week. The rest of the days he gets cooked veggies, and in small amounts, raw fruits, and some grains (whole rice, oats, quinoa)—to provide all the nutrients he needs to have a perfectly healthy body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for formulating my dog's diet, we all have our understanding. Just to state what I think——I don't believe that diet is rocket science; except that you should know what you are feeding is nutritious and not harmful in any manner. Then if you vary the diet enough, the dog would be healthy and fine. Meat, poultry, eggs, and milk aren't as nutritious as they once were, and can even be less nutritious or outright harmful in the long-term (due to steroids or bad diet given to source animals, among other reasons). There's no one right way. And I am not arguing. I am sure you all have your opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll of course be monitoring my dog's health closely. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm also concerned about other elements of the diet, raw egg can lead to skin and coat issues as well as running a salmonella risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should have been more clear earlier. None of the ingredients in my dog's diet, except fruits, are served uncooked. Hopefully explained well in the question now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] Nevertheless, I'm not convinced that this diet is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] What's the source of this diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've made a list of the most essential nutrients for dogs, and their sources. Then I made sure that all bases are covered in the diet I feed my dog. The 'diet' on the whole is healthy. If you have more questions, as to whether a dog can be fed mostly-vegan diet at all, you may want to google 'vegan food for dogs'. There IS some credible information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;READ: &lt;a href=&quot;http://aahan.me/homemade-dog-food-essentials/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Homemade dog food: Essential nutrients &amp;amp; their sources&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have cross-checked the ingredients of some of the top pet-food brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you give the dog the core of the apple to eat? Apple pips contain cyanide, not dangerous in small doeses but if he's having them regularly...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. The core is removed. I have done my research. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastEditorUserId="2699" LastEditDate="2015-09-09T11:46:14.860" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T17:19:25.010" Title="Dog vomiting yellow/white foam since being fed vegan food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2015-02-08T21:17:57.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seven cats that are rescues over time. We have lots of issues with the carpets. We replaced the carpet in front of the doors with hardwood because the cats want out. Which you don't allow. And anytime my husband lays down to take a nap we noticed the cats digging at them in an attempt to get into the room with him. So now we leave every door open, including the basement, and they no longer try to scratch or bite at the carpet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taught them a sound when they are doing something wrong and it makes them stop right away. I make a &quot;psst&quot; type sound. The first few times I had to sort of run at them but now I make that sound loudly and all seven will leave the room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do agree that adding a friend is a good option. Your older cat will be a little mean at first, and the kitten will too. But give them a few weeks and they will start sleeping and playing together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3586" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T11:41:34.877" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T11:41:34.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-08T22:52:21.127" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog have many ticks, and I don´t know how I can help him. He took gardenal bath and didn´t worke, and also led injection!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3587" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T23:08:05.933" Title="How to remove a ticks on my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-09T00:19:17.947" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7557" CreationDate="2015-02-08T23:08:05.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tweezers, and patience. Pluck the little buggers off by the head as detailed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/how-to-identify-and-remove-ticks-from-your-pet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. I'd recommend reading the whole thing; it's got a lot of useful do's and don't's for dealing with ticks. Just make sure it's the head you grab and not the body, otherwise the head with stay in your dog and release toxins when it dies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-02-08T23:08:05.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7564" CreationDate="2015-02-08T23:32:35.427" Score="6" ViewCount="14041" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday night I was foolish and kept trying to coax my dog to drink water because he hadn't drunk any water for hours even after his walk. I got frustrated and picked him up to put him in the room he stays in (he got excited at first because he thought I was going to put him on my bed but started whimpering on the way to his room). I didn't yell at him, hit him, or put him down violently on his bed, but it was probably the irritated manner in which I carried him there.. After I took him out this morning (7AM) he was whimpering when I petted him and then he walked away and sat a distance from me and continued to whimper. He also would not eat his food, so I had to hand feed him. Afterwards, I went back to bed and allowed him to sleep with me this time and he was fine but when I picked him up to put him on the floor when I woke again (the bed is high) he was shrieking and yelping although I was definitely not hurting him and I'm sure he has no injuries as he was perfectly fine before I acted so terribly. He has always been a timid dog ever since I've had him because he was abused at his previous home.&#xA;He usually eats again at about 5PM but now he won't even eat from my hand, let alone his bowl. He puts it in his mouth and spits it back out and has not drunk any water so far today. I left the room where he usually stays but now he also has not moved from his bed whereas this morning he still followed me to my room even if he did not sit by me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apologize for rambling I just wanted to give some background. I have never EVER hit him, I have never hurt him (until now I guess) I love this dog more than anything in this world, more than myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if I tell him to come to me he will come but whimpers when I pet him and then leaves to sit a distance from me again. I feel terrible even though I did not physically harm him. I just want him to eat and return to his former happy self, even his trot seems so slow and depressed now and I know I'm to blame. I know I should not have acted this way knowing how sensitive he is.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main question is how do I make him eat and drink again? And how do I let him know that I'm sorry for acting how I did and that I would never hurt him? Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3588" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T01:34:56.607" LastActivityDate="2020-03-12T13:15:42.547" Title="Dog won't eat or drink or come to me on his own? How do I regain his trust?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7544" CreationDate="2015-02-09T00:53:58.130" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's nothing to worry about unless you're under the age of 5 and your immune system is still developing, or you're sick and/or elderly with a compromised immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;About &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/general/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to the numbers from the CDC&lt;/a&gt;, if you're hospitalized with a case of &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning, you have barely less than a 1% chance of it being lethal. But, that's only accounting for the 42,000 cases that require medical attention. According to their estimates of cases that go unreported. There are about 1,218,000 cases of &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning each year. That makes a whopping 3% of cases that require treatment from a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's not like you can't prevent &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/salmonella/salmonella.aspx#three&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning can only happen if you ingest the bacteria.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second, &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/salmonella/salmonella.aspx#four&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; bacteria found in animals is transmitted through uncooked meat, and the animal's feces.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, if you've gotten &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning from your pet, it means you've ingested their feces. If the idea of eating your pet's feces sounds absolutely appalling to you, then congratulations, you've taken the biggest step into avoiding getting &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning from your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; and reptiles:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;strong&gt;terrestrial (and arboreal) reptiles&lt;/strong&gt;, like most snakes and lizards, it's pretty easy to avoid getting &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning from. Simply ensure that they live in a sanitary environment by inspecting their cage daily for feces that need to be removed. This should be easy, as you should enjoy looking at your pet at least once a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you notice feces in their enclosure, simply dispose of it in a sanitary fashion. You can grab it with gloves or paper towels if you're comfortable doing something like that, or you can purchase &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B001F9CVDO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reptile scoops&lt;/a&gt; (which look like cat litter scoops but smaller). The faster you can dispose of the feces the better, as it will keep the bacteria from spreading from the feces into the bedding of the enclosure. I will also throw away a handful of the substrate surrounding the feces as an extra measure to keeping it clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also purchase &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B001B4VO5E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;terrarium cleaning agents&lt;/a&gt; to help you keep your pet's enclosure minty fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;strong&gt;aquatic reptiles&lt;/strong&gt;, like turtles, you will have a higher risk of coming into contact with the &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; bacteria because the animals will defecate in the water, which will then spread the bacteria throughout the water in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that you will have to wash your hands every time you come into contact with the water in their tank. Regular water changes, and a good filter on the tank, will help keep the water clean and reduce any bacteria growth. Both are important for the health of the reptile anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note: This also applies to the water in fish aquariums, and there's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16350877&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;interesting article that suggests that 60% of &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning cases might come from contact with water in fish tanks&lt;/a&gt;.* &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you take care of your reptile, and keep its enclosure clean, the chance of you getting &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning from it is extremely low. &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning isn't even something healthy adults should worry about as the vast majority of people who become ill only notice minor effects for a few days, attributing it to other factors like food poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning comes from ingesting the bacteria, it's easy to prevent infection by washing your hands regularly, whether it's after you handle your reptile, or before you eat, and by sanitizing areas where you prepare food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning is only a real concern for people with immune systems that are still developing (children under 5), and people with compromised immune systems (the sick and the elderly), so it would probably be best for them not to handle reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning is so over-hyped with reptiles, is from misunderstanding that not all reptiles are the same. Aquatic reptiles pose a higher risk because of their feces spreading the bacteria in the water, but terrestrial reptiles pose no more risk than other terrestrial pets. Likewise, aquatic reptiles will pose the same risk as other aquatic pets, which also defecate in their water, such as fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Anecdotal Data:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don't allow any of my pets onto the kitchen table or counters where I would be preparing food. This includes my cats &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/Zoonotic.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;who could also be considered carriers of the bacteria&lt;/a&gt;. But if I let my bearded dragon outside his terrarium, I don't bother cleaning everything he touches, just whatever he defecates on (if he does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I not only own reptiles and fish, but have worked in a pet store and spent several hours a day having my hands in both fish and reptile tanks without ever contracting &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:15:11.903" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:15:11.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7555" CreationDate="2015-02-09T08:55:58.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vomitting some yellow/whiteish foam on the morning isn't necessarily bad. The reason might be some acid reflux: The natural way for the dog to deal with that is vomitting the excess acid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different food will take different time to be digested, so I'd assume your dog's stomach simply isn't busy enough during the night/on the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;When do you feed your dog on the evening and is that the last time of the day he gets something?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you could try is just giving the dog a few treats right before you go to bed. This could be pretty much anything, like some dried meat (e.g. chicken).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, even if you think the overall nutrition values are perfect, I'd try to mix everything, so there's not a &quot;meat day&quot; and a &quot;veggie day&quot;. Get everything of both every day. There are also some nutrients the dog has to get at the same time (like calcium and phosphor) to be able to properly handle them. Just having the correct ratio stretched over a week won't necessarily work (or be healthy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're feeding your dog (at least a bit) late on the evening or possibly even during the night, and the vomitting doesn't stop, you should consult a vet, as there might be some other reasons as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T08:55:58.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-09T13:11:25.123" Score="6" ViewCount="14231" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my geckos get cuts or scrapes, what is safe to use to clean the wounds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TCP? Iodine? Antiseptic? Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a reptile-safe disinfectant that I use to clean the tank with, but there's a world of difference between sterilising an environment and applying something to an open wound. I doubt very much that it would be suitable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livefoods.co.uk/product_info.php/vetark-tamodine-wound-cleanser-small-50ml-p-2089&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; advertised as wound cleaner for reptiles. That's the only such product that that website sells, so I don't know what my options are. I also don't know if I can use antiseptics or TCP intended for human use on my geckos, or if it will be toxic to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please bear in mind that I'm from the UK, so if you use American (or elsewhere-ian) brand names, a translation of what they actually are would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T20:21:28.953" Title="What antiseptic is safe to use on reptiles?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7529" CreationDate="2015-02-09T15:25:44.750" Score="9" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Autotomy in leopard geckos&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos drop their tails only under extreme stress (life or death situations - as judged by the gecko). It's a move designed to distract predators so the gecko can escape. They lose a substantial amount of fat reserve doing so, which is why it's only under extreme circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tail is dropped by means of a sphinctre muscle in the tail contracting and severing the connection between two vertebrae. After the tail has dropped, rapid vasoconstriction happens throughout the leo's entire system to limit blood loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;First aid&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Let the gecko calm down.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since gecko tails are designed to autotomise, there is unlikely to be significant damage caused by leaving the gecko for 30 minutes or so to calm down before handling it. Remember that tails are only dropped under extreme stress, so the gecko is likely to be really flighty and panicky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exception I'd make to this is if you keep your gecko on loose substrate, like sand - in which case, it's probably better to move the gecko somewhere that the wound can't get dirty first. Even if your gecko shares a viv, it will probably be okay for 30 minutes (but stay nearby so you can keep an eye on them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Treat the wound&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove any substrate or dirt that has stuck to the wound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apply disinfectant (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7562/what-antiseptic-is-safe-to-use-on-reptiles&quot;&gt;What antiseptic is safe to use on reptiles?&lt;/a&gt;) to the stump using a cotton bud.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Keep it clean&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Move the gecko to a new, clean vivarium (or clean out everything in the old one) to prevent infection. Use kitchen roll (paper towels) for substrate whilst it heals, and replace/replenish them frequently. Don't use loose substrate of any kind - you don't want to risk it getting in the wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That includes the moist hide - use paper towels in there too in place of sphagnum moss or coco fibre, just until it heals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Secondary care&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. House the gecko alone.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep multiple geckos, you really should have a spare viv in case of emergencies like these. Either use it or get one - the injured gecko is too vulnerable to be kept with other geckos at present. (See the final section for whether you want to put them back together at all, as well.) Keeping the gecko alone also ensures you can keep a closer eye on what it's eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the new tank is somewhere safe and quiet, too, to help the gecko feel safe and recover quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to consider rearranging the vivarium if necessary. Contrary to popular belief, leos can be great climbers. But without a tail the gecko will have a reduced sense of balance and will be less able to climb and jump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Feed it up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your gecko just lost significant fat reserves and it will be crucial for it to get regular meals, because it has nothing to fall back on. Not to mention that it needs a load of &lt;em&gt;extra&lt;/em&gt; energy to replenish its reserves (i.e. grow a new tail).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wax worms are great for weight gain, but they are not very healthy due to the high fat content, so do mix it up with other food sources as well. I've heard tales of leos getting addicted to them as well, so mind that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general I would say just keep a really close eye (weigh your gecko and make notes on what he or she eats, if you're not doing so already).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you're providing enough calcium - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2485&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; suggests that hypocalcaemia can delay the healing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Feed safe food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crickets are known to nibble on exposed gecko parts like toes, eyelids and wounds. I would recommend not feeding crickets at all until the wound is healed (there are plenty of other foods you can try, like Dubia roaches, locusts (hoppers) or mealworms), but if you must do so then do it under supervision and be sure to remove any that don't get eaten - and make sure they don't hide in the tank; we had a load that crawled into the gap between the foam backdrop and the glass...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Keep an eye on the wound.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for signs of infection (swelling, oozing, redness) and if you see anything and you are already applying disinfectants or antiseptics (or applying them doesn't help), take the gecko to a vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Prevention&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest part of this is understanding why your gecko was so stressed it had to drop its tail, and making sure it doesn't get that stressed again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were there at the time, you probably know why it got that stressed - did you handle it really roughly? Did it fall? Did it get picked up too roughly, or grabbed by the tail? If a child was too rough with it, you need to impress the seriousness of careful handling on your child (and explain it's distressing to the gecko, lest they are fascinated by the autotomy response...) and/or limit handling time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you weren't there, there are a number of things that might have happened. Is the gecko housed with other geckos? Perhaps they fought, especially if one is a lot smaller, or if both are male (pet shops are notoriously bad at sexing geckos, so have a look, even if you were told they were both female). Check the geckos for other wounds that might indicate fighting. Do you have other pets? Perhaps a cat or dog got too close and/or put a paw into the vivarium, and frightened the gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were there but you didn't see anything out of the ordinary, it's possible that the gecko is either very stressed in general, or that you are missing stress signals from the gecko. Does the gecko inhale/exhale rapidly (watch its chest) when your hand approaches? Does it wriggle &lt;em&gt;violently&lt;/em&gt; when you pick it up? Does it try to attack your hand? These are all signals that you should be backing off and attempting handling at a later point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at your temperatures (at both ends), humidity levels, level of ground cover and lighting, to make sure that the vivarium environment is suitable for your gecko and it isn't being stressed out due to poor living conditions. Google some leopard gecko care sheets and check that you've not got any misconceptions about how to keep them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://whitney05.hubpages.com/hub/Leopard-Gecko-Dropped-Tail&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; suggests that another reason a gecko might drop its tail is that it has an already-lowered immune system, or an infection of some kind. So consider taking your gecko to the vet for a general checkup if you don't know the reason for the tail drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Finally&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dropped tail is a warning sign that something went wrong, but it's also entirely natural. As long as you work out and treat the root cause, and make sure the wound stays clean and the gecko has enough to eat, it should regenerate a healthy new tail. It won't look quite the same as the old one, but should function just as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T15:25:44.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7559" CreationDate="2015-02-09T15:51:49.793" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not eating/drinking and indicating distress is quite a big alarm bell. With reference to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawfriendly.com/community/sick-dog-symptoms&quot;&gt;http://www.pawfriendly.com/community/sick-dog-symptoms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be a sign that your dog is unwell - that it's in pain for some reason, and is reluctant to eat/drink, and your picking it up is causing pain. (Any chance your dog could have swallowed something like a piece of bone?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be right, and it &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be psychological, but I would really suggest it's time to consult a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Following from comments: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behaviourally - a dog that's been abused may never completely recover. It takes gentle care and compassion to 'fix' them - there's no fast answer. &#xA;The key thing to remember is that dogs form associations, but they don't have the same notion of cause and effect as people do. They will remember situations in which 'bad things' happened and situations in which 'good things' happen. It's possible that your handling of the dog triggered one of these associations - if it's a rescue, you may never entirely know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should avoid though, is 'rewarding' behaviour you don't want repeated. Hand feeding for example - your dog may think of that as a reward, and repeat the action that got them the reward. Much like a toddler - dogs can do attention seeking negative behaviours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are generally fairly smart about ensuring they eat though - if you simply ensure food and water are available (clean and fresh) then your dog will eat once it's hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise - you can't force trust. Bribery is a reasonable approximation though :). Find some 'high value' treats, and encourage your dog to interact with you and get the reward. Quite how demanding depends how much training you've done already, but ... getting the dog used to doing things for you, and getting rewarded for it goes quite a long way to overcoming it's fear and distrust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T22:11:09.197" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T22:11:09.197" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-09T16:02:03.680" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just curious, for the interest of mixing homemade dog food and getting the correct ratios of nutrients in the food. How much protein do dogs need in their diet in order to be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found two sources for the amounts of protein needed in a human's diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/protein.html#How%20much%20protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to the CDC&lt;/a&gt;, 10-35% of your daily calories should from from protein.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Complete_protein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The wikipedia page for Complete Protein&lt;/a&gt; shows a table from the World Health Organization that explains the recommended amounts of each amino acid for a grown human. What are the amounts for a dog?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the guidelines for dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T18:43:05.870" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T17:09:16.367" Title="How much protein do dogs need in their diet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7555" CreationDate="2015-02-09T19:33:15.640" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;The yellowish foam is typically acid reflux. My dog does this about once a month, and it's gross but he seems to have no ill effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I took him to a vet and while there I was told that he'd vomited the yellowish foam. They explained it was acid reflux, and they asked whether he'd skipped a meal in the previous 24 hours. According to the vet tech, it's much more common when the dog is underfed. I came home and realized that I'd accidentally forgotten to give him his 2nd cup of food that morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd stop with the vegan diet for your dog because it doesn't look like he's handling it well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T19:33:15.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1853" CreationDate="2015-02-09T19:38:19.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bunny is 6 years old, and for the last year he's needed periodic baths because he has extreme poopy butt.  Until then, Bunnie never got baths.  I hate bathing him because I know it upsets him, but if I don't he'll have a very large, matted, stinking ball of poop stuck to his butt.  I've taken him to two vets and neither could figure out his problem.  He eats only timothy hay, green leaf or romaine lettuce and carrots.  Sometimes he gets a snack with his younger sister (only a year old).  We've tried giving him pain killers because we thought maybe he has back issues, but he's just not eating his cecotropes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I use a mild small animal shampoo I bought at the pet store in lukewarm water.  I hold him in the bathroom sink and gently try to massage the poop off his butt &amp;amp; tail.  Once that's off, I clean the area of debris and rinse with cooler water.  Then I wrap him in microfiber towels and hold him in my lap next to the space heater as long as he'll let me.  He'd rather dry himself so I let him go when I no longer see water dripping from him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T19:38:19.293" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7570" CreationDate="2015-02-09T21:21:36.890" Score="15" ViewCount="5275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up having dogs as pets, and feeding them always seemed to be pretty simple: put food in the bowl, and when it was gone, put more food in the bowl.  This usually wound up being roughly every day, although not always.  My memory as a child was pretty much this: just make sure they always have food in their bowl and they'll be fine.  I remember that my dogs always seemed lean and healthy and energetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: for context, this was out on a 100+ acre farm where both I and the dogs spent a lot of time playing outside and exploring and running around.   My childhood dogs spent very little time in their pens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as an adult, I'm trying to make sure I do the right thing for a dog, and I'm wondering if that's the right approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will a dog tend to eat the right amount on its own, or do I have to regulate the amount of food more carefully than that to make sure it doesn't overeat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="12" LastEditDate="2015-02-09T23:13:32.860" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T11:41:52.027" Title="Will dogs overeat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2015-02-09T21:26:23.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the cat is just trying to exhibit natural behaviors. When a cat kills a bird, for instance, he hunts it down, kills it, then begins to lick at the feathers and pull them off with his teeth. It kind of sounds like that's what you're cat is doing. Just like you provide him something to scratch on, he may need this kind of stimulation as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering he may swallow a small portion of what he's tearing up, not many things are safe. You'll have to look around and maybe find something that he can do this with. I imagine that the cat toys that have feathers on them are safe-ish, since the manufacturer has to know they'll come off. Maybe you can make him a toy. Possibly a tennis ball that you've attached Velcro to and 1&quot;&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;4&quot; (30&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;120&amp;nbsp;cm) canvas strips with a small patch of Velcro. He could rip these off and they'd be too tough for him to chew up and too large to swallow. I say a tennis ball, but for all it matters, you could take a square of wood, sand the corners and edges over and just put straight strips of Velcro on it to attach the strips to. You could drill a hole in the top and use a string to drag it along and entice him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you decide, I think it's a good idea to provide a substitute, just like with a dog. When a dog chews something bad, you say, &quot;no&quot; and then provide something suitable to chew. If you catch him chewing the carpet, grab a toy and try to entice him to put that effort into it instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:04:04.000" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:04:04.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7568" CreationDate="2015-02-09T21:38:26.570" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is the same as it is with people. It depends on the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I grew up doing the same thing you did. We'd simply refill the bowl when it got empty. It was fine with our first lab. She was leaning more toward heavy than skinny, but was a decent weight. My second lab turned into a butter ball. I had a knock down drag out with my parents at the time, because she'd been hit by a car and as she got older, the arthritis took a toll. It was made much worse by the extra weight. She should have been about 73&amp;nbsp;lbs (33&amp;nbsp;kg) according to the vet, but she was more like 93&amp;nbsp;lbs (42&amp;nbsp;kg). My parents still wanted to feed her all kinds of table scraps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd come home from college for the summer and put her on a vet recommended feeding schedule and walk her a mile or so several times a week, as well as regular weekend trips to the river. I'd get her down to 75&amp;nbsp;lbs (34&amp;nbsp;kg) or so and she'd be running around and playing like her legs didn't bother her. Then I'd go to school and they'd fatten her back up the 90s lbs. She'd limp around and not do much. I finally convinced them to quite and she did much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have a Jack Russell and a Keeshound I inheirited. I feed them a measured amount twice a day, but they often leave some in the bowl till the next feeding. I could leave it in the bowl for them 24/7 and they'd eat the same amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you need to monitor your dog. If he's getting fat, then you either need to exercise him more, cut back on his feed, or both. Either way, I'd recommend doing it gradually. Consult your vet to see what a proper amount of food is for a healthy dog of his size and breed. Then buy a higher quality dog food. You don't have to break the bank, but you'll see a noticeable difference in coat condition and other areas if you feed a higher quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T11:41:52.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T11:41:52.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7328" CreationDate="2015-02-09T21:58:31.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are many downsides to retractable leashes and not many upsides. The first thing that comes to mind is that you're not promoting good behavior in your dog. I want my dog to be right by my side when I have her on a leash. There is nothing I want her doing away from me, and that includes sniffing around. I've said in other posts that a dog has a wonderful sense of smell and they can smell most of the things from beside your leg as they can by walking over and sniffing them. If I don't care that my dog runs around and sniffs, I wait till I have good voice command and let them off leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also creating a two fold tripping hazard. I can't tell you how many people I've seen, go to step over one of these for whatever reason, only to have the dog run around and trip them onto their face. If you ever have to cross a line like this, use the sled dog method and step on the line with one foot. The other side is that your dog often gets yanked on at the same time, very roughly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more mechanisms that any object has, the more prone to failure it is, if you have a leash on, you don't want failure. The cord is also very thin and if it doesn't break or fray, then you run a very good risk of getting rope burn from a dog that pulls. The less surface area there is to a leash, the more pressure it puts on one point on your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a couple of real world examples, I was in the vets office a few months ago, getting my yearly shots for my two dogs. I had both of my dogs right at my feet. Something that never fails is that people want to let their dogs sniff my dogs at the vet. These dogs will never play with one another or socialize in any other way. Best case scenario is they're friendly. You're also running the risk of a dog fight for no good reason. I'd just finished asking a lady who was trying to do this to please pull her dog away, when I looked across the room and saw an elderly couple with a terrier mutt on a retractable leash. They sat and looked right at their dog as he ran across the isle, under a set of seats and attacked a dog that was lying there behaving. They laughed like he was playing. What upset me almost as much was that a nurse saw it and didn't say anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more instance where having a retractable leash fail would be terrible is a situation with my aunt and her Pomeranian. She has him at the beach and she was lying out on the beach with her eyes closed and his regular leash wrapped around her wrist. She felt a pulling and looked up to see a german shepard with her dog in it's mouth, trying to pull him away. Luckily the owner tackled him and they got him out. He was fine after some stitches. He also had an owl try to carry him off once as well and dropped him when it hit the end of his tie out. Basically, he needs to quite giving off a snack vibe, but that's another problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So these are a few of the reasons I prefer a 1-2&quot; wide and 6' long leash. For a little dog, you can go to the local supply store and buy a good bit of colored paracord, that's light weight and has a 550' test to it. You can make a nice light weight, but strong lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T21:58:31.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7568" CreationDate="2015-02-09T22:42:44.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another consideration is that, if you are training the dog, giving him unrestricted access to food may make training harder by lowering the value of food rewards.  A dog who always has food available will have no incentive to perform tasks in order to get food.  You will have to use either tastier and probably more fattening treats, or alternative rewards (praise, petting, playing).  These other rewards may be effective in some cases, but food rewards are one of the most effective overall (across a variety of dogs and training goals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastActivityDate="2015-02-09T22:42:44.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-10T01:36:42.053" Score="12" ViewCount="30686" Body="&lt;p&gt;My roommate has an approximately 2 year old, 17-pound mixed breed rescue dog.  We have trained the dog to ring a bell to go outside; this part of the training only took a day (the dog was already trained to touch, which made this part easy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now, the dog rings the bell too much.  If we don't stop him, he may ring the bell 20 to 30 times a day; that's too much taking him out.  It is clear to me that he rings the bell for attention, or because simply going outside is its own reward.  There are lots of smells and sounds out there and he might even spot another dog or neighbor passing by.  Sometimes, he horses around out there, like digging, nipping at my pants/shoes or trying to play tug-of-war with the leash.  Often we'll take him out, and he rings again right after coming back inside.  We've been dealing with this problem for over a month and it isn't getting any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this would indicate that perhaps the dog is not getting enough exercise or stimulation, but I feel like he should be getting enough.  He gets 30-60 minutes a day of vigorous exercise, either outside playtime with me or a walk through the neighborhood, sometimes both, plus he is also enrolled in a weekly training class and practices that 4 or so times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a few occasions, he's rung the bell for other needs, for instance, to ask for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally I tried simply ignoring the bell ring when I was sure the dog did not need to go (for instance if he just did), but my roommate said this would confuse the dog, so instead we take the bell away if he rings it too much and put it back out later.  This tends to deteriorate into &quot;keep an eye on the dog and take him out when he looks like he needs it.&quot;  Which basically is defeating the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have suggestions for how to teach the dog that ringing the bell is only for going to the doggy bathroom and not for keeping himself entertained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastEditorUserId="3593" LastEditDate="2015-02-10T01:43:17.977" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T13:14:32.570" Title="Trained dog to ring bell to go out, now he rings it all the time" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7568" CreationDate="2015-02-10T04:07:39.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is affected by breed, individual temperament, rearing and environment. Cocker spaniels will eat until they explode (breed). Dogs that are bored will eat for something to do, just like people. Dogs that have had to compete for food will eat at every opportunity (environment). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a German Shepherd who joined our family with compete-to-eat habits (rearing) who learnt very quickly from our other dogs that food would be provided daily and on demand, and she lost her fear of hunger and stopped gobbling food on sight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister's dog, a musclebound moron aptly named Hercules who never wanted for anything in his entire life, would clean out all four food bowls within ten minutes of his arrival (temperament).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3595" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T04:07:39.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7577" CreationDate="2015-02-10T10:51:21.003" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found something, but this really depends on making the dog bored of leaving the house...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Playtime vs. Potty Time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they discover that bell ringing makes the door open, many clever dogs ring the bells whenever they’d like go outside—even when they don’t need to relieve themselves. If this sounds like your dog, you need to teach him that bell ringing is only about potty time. When he rings the bell to go out, praise him, clip on his leash and take him directly to the place where you’d like him to eliminate. Don’t play with him. Just give him three to five minutes to urinate or defecate. If he does, great! Praise him again and give him a treat before taking him back in. If he doesn’t do his business, just take him back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/teaching-your-house-trained-dog-ask-go-out&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how this is supposed to work if your dog is enthusiastic about just spotting another dog and/or sniffing the outside air, though. Is there an outside-spot the dog is plain not interested in you could use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T10:51:21.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7584" CreationDate="2015-02-10T16:47:05.257" Score="4" ViewCount="825" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems it's not common to see monkeys as pets. I'm not sure of the reason, despite they're supposed to be smarter than any other pets (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091016120727AABjB5X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to have a monkey as a pet (in the US/UK/EU countries)? Or there are some difficulties with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3092" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T16:01:08.890" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T20:12:25.847" Title="Can I keep a monkey as a pet?" Tags="&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6357" CreationDate="2015-02-10T18:26:40.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been breeding guppies for a while and the breeder box usually stresses them to stop giving birth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend instead keeping an eye on the tank, once you see little eyes swimming around usually hiding in the gravel or thick plants, net them out and then put them on the breeder box for safety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the bigger fish are feed well and make as many hiding places as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3600" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T10:40:14.803" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T10:40:14.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2015-02-10T21:33:04.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's certainly possible to have almost any animal as a pet. It varies from situation to situation as to how hard it is to make it happen. First, it depends on the area you live in and the local laws. There are some places that ban you even having a Pitbull, so the chances of them banning you from having a giraffe are pretty good. You'll have to contact your local government official to ask what the laws are concerning obtaining an animal of that nature. I'd advise calling the local police (not 911), animal control, fish and game, etc... and find out who could best answer that question. You're much more likely to get a good answer if you give the impression that you not only want to obtain the animal legally, but want to care for it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming it's legal for you to have it as a pet, you next need to look at availability. You can find dogs and cats everywhere, many pet stores have exotic birds, it's a little harder to find hedgehogs, sugar gliders, etc... It's going to be very hard to find a monkey, zebra, or anything else that's that exotic. You can do online research and find out who to contact, but you need to find out a couple of things. You may have to travel across the country or even have the animal imported to get it. You also need to verify with the authorities what legal paperwork you need to obtain from a seller to prove that they've obtained the animal legally. Something you need to ask this person as well as the authorities is what type of enclosure is required for this animal. You need to put any information you obtain on diet, enclosure, health issues, etc... in a binder for reference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do obtain the animal, you'll need to not only know what it requires, but how you can supply a steady stream of that. You'll need to consult with a vet on the required nutrition and make sure that you're able to find it at all in your area and that you're financially capable of supporting that for the life span of the animal. Even with a monkey, who would be able to eat most of the food at the supermarket, you have to make sure it's a balanced diet. You'll need to provide for the physical and mental needs of the animal by providing it proper shelter, food, and interactive time for it's mind and body. You'll need to know where the closest vet that's willing to treat your animal is at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all of that, from what I've heard, monkeys are awful to have. I've hear they're like bad toddlers their entire lives. You have to change diapers, they throw things, they dig around in your pantries and other things, hide things, etc... These are all acceptable monkey behaviors, but not something most people want inside their homes. That's just a small monkey, like a capuchin. If you got something larger, like a chimpanzee, it'd be exponentially worse. They are also stronger than most people, so you could get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T21:33:04.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2571" CreationDate="2015-02-10T21:35:29.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case of accidents, we've used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vinegar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biological washing powder (dilute, 1:4)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vanish stain remover. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, the thing you need to deal with - aside from hiding the smell from &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; nose, is hiding the smell from the dog's nose. Some detergents react, and will hide it from you but the dog will still know it's there, and may use that spot again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steam will kill bacteria, but not necessarily lift smells. Vinegar works well as a 'quick' fix to dilute it prior to mopping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the enzymes in biological powder are quite good at breaking down urine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogstrust.ie/az/h/housetraining/accidentshappen.aspx#.VNp48easVX8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.dogstrust.ie/az/h/housetraining/accidentshappen.aspx#.VNp48easVX8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T21:35:29.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7577" CreationDate="2015-02-10T21:44:40.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Layna. Just like you form an association with ringing the bell opening the door, you have to make sure it's understood, it's just for potty time. You need to leash the dog, so he's not able to go anywhere and play while out there. You shouldn't talk to him or acknowledge him. Just straight to the place where you want him to do his business, you can give a &quot;go potty&quot; command if you like, wait 3-5 minutes, and then straight back inside. I would give a verbal &quot;good dog&quot; if they went to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about taking him to the same area you play with him in. He'll learn to disassociate potty time with play time. The leash being on is a good indicator. Also, if he shows much interest in anything besides using the bathroom or gets too worked up, I'd go back inside. I don't mind my dog looking around or walking around sniffing as that's what they do before going to the bathroom. If he's just trying to sniff stuff or look at other dogs, I'll either take him back inside or say &quot;no&quot; and try to direct his attention away from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side of this, I think that until you get it established and worked out, you need to take him out every time he rings the bell, crate train him and put him in there at night so he can't ring it, take the bell away when you're away from home, so he can't ring it and get no response, and finally, take him out much more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key things that make a dog want to use the bathroom are play, waking up, eating, etc... So make sure to take him out after all of these events to the bathroom without him ringing the bell. Also, take him out to play and for walks as many times a day as you can without him ringing the bell. This should help stimulate him to where he doesn't need to go out as much. I think if you try these things, you should see a reduction in bell ringing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-10T21:44:40.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-11T03:54:48.360" Score="1" ViewCount="1472" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love cuddling with my cat. Lately we have had our nightly cuddle and pet, and I have noticed that he is very staticky, creating lots of bright static sparks every time I pet his fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to stop him being a static electricity machine? I know my apartment is somewhat dry because of the heaters I have going, would that be part of the problem? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop my cat from being so shocking when I pet him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T16:00:43.287" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T06:15:05.743" Title="How can I keep my pet from being full of static?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7612" CreationDate="2015-02-11T09:52:43.120" Score="3" ViewCount="854" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted my dog, 8 year old (Nova Scotia duck tolling) Retriever about 8 months ago. She's super smart and learns new tricks really quickly, but I haven't been able to figure out how to teach her to fetch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently when I throw the ball for her she runs after it, grabs it and then drops it on the ground and barks until I throw it. She will happily bark for hours, non stop (not a second between barks) until I throw it. Ever so often, the first time I throw it for her, she'll bring it back to me (about a foot away). When this happens I praise her like crazy and then throw it for her. The next time she'll bring it 3 feet away, then 5 feet away and then she won't bring it close at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things I've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waiting her out. this doesn't work because eventually the dog park closes and she's still barking... then we go home and she hasn't exercised anything except her voice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going to get the ball from her, but walking back very slowly, so that she realizes that it's way faster and more fun to bring it back to me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a citronella bark collar to discourage the barking. This doesn't work because it doesn't spray her every bark, and even when it does she doesn't care.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Luring her with other balls. This doesn't work because once she finds a ball that she's into she only wants to play with that ball. She also values this particular ball over all other things..such as entire blocks of cheese and fresh meat, her booty (she hates being humped or jumped on but would rather guard the ball than risk losing it to another dog to tell off the humping dog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Luring her with treats. see #4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calling her over using her recall command. I'm still working on this skill, so I don't want to ruin it by calling her when I know she won't come. The few times I've tried this any she has come, she leaves the ball before approaching me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any Suggestions on how I can get her to bring the ball back and/or not bark until I throw it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several people have suggested that I just not play ball with her. However, the only fenced dog park nearby is right behind a tennis court, so there are always balls, and she always wants to play. Also, playing fetch is the only serious exercise she gets. I've been working on her recall since I got her but its not good enough to take her anywhere off leash. I'm also teaching her to walk slack leash, because I have to stop when she pulls, her daily walks don't provide her much exercise either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-09-01T16:34:25.750" LastActivityDate="2018-09-01T16:34:25.750" Title="How can I train my dog to fetch (or at least not bark for me to throw the ball)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;fetch&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7587" CreationDate="2015-02-11T10:24:43.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;for my dog we use a moisturizing anti-static spray for the dry winter months. It worked pretty well. Here's an example product that is recommended for dogs and cats. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002PNITHQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Coat-Handler-Anti-Static-Detangler-Spray/dp/B002PNITHQ&lt;/a&gt;. I didn't use that one but i'm sure any pet store clerk would be able to help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T10:24:43.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7588" CreationDate="2015-02-11T15:05:29.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;h1&gt;6-inch Fetch&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried just working on having her put things in your hand separately from fetching? For example, start in a &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; small room or area and ask her to sit / down / etc. and then put the ball (or anything else) between you and her and release her. When she gets the ball and puts it near your hand, you and reward with treats / tug / etc. Keep doing this until she's regularly putting the item back into your hand. Accuracy is up to you. For our dog, I require that she put it in my hand even if I'm the one who accidentally dropped it. You can eventually put this on cue (get it, bring me, fetch). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then start slowly increasing the distance to 1 ft, 3 ft, until she's bringing things back to you. Don't forget to use different objects and to use a cue or she might just start bringing things to you for fun. Work different distances in different areas too. Just because she can fetch at 6 ft in your living room doesn't mean she'll be able to do the same at the park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Two-Ball Game&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another game you can play is the &quot;two-ball&quot; game. You can find videos online, but it's really just throwing a ball, and then throwing another one in a different direction when she comes back. By randomizing the direction, you can motivate her to come back to and wait since she won't know which direction the next ball is going to happen. It also shows her that bringing the ball back doesn't end the fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Barking&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for barking, tollers are known for barking and if she already is barking, it's going to be an uphill battle. Don't expect changes over night. The best advice I have for know is just to make sure you never give in to her barking. You can wait until she's quiet and then start a game. You might wind up with a dog that sits and begs quietly, but that's an improvement over barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-02-11T15:05:29.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7554" CreationDate="2015-02-11T16:01:35.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing in your home care as you have described it, sounds likely to have caused what you are seeing. You have been to the vet who did not find a cause, and there was another rabbit at the pet store with similar symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely cause is a virus like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Herpes simplex&lt;/a&gt; people get these outbreaks often called a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_labialis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cold sore&lt;/a&gt;.  Rabbits can get these &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/Herp/Herpes_en.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Herpes viruses&lt;/a&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the pictures the red areas, and your description of small scabs are consistent with what you would expect in a rabbit with Herpes on the nose, you are unlikely to see the small blisters as they are itchy and your rabbit will wash her face much like a cat and probably break the blisters before you see them.  Herpes is fairly contagious and rabbits groom each other, so it would be expected that all the kits in the same family would likely get them.  There is a 5 to 10 day incubation period so you would expect to see outbreaks occurring with different kits at different times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider putting a cone on her, &lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt; your vet agrees.  There are some light weight cones in this related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6438/what-can-i-do-when-the-cone-of-shame-is-too-heavy&quot;&gt;What can I do when the cone of shame is too heavy?&lt;/a&gt; If it is a Herpes virus, your bunny can spread it to other areas of her body, if she gets it in her eyes she could be blinded. &lt;strong&gt;BE AWARE&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617&quot;&gt;bunnies are dependent on cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; and a cone could negatively impact their diet and digestive health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are reports of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/Herp/Herpes_en.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Herpes simplex (human version) being transmitted between rabbits and people&lt;/a&gt; it is difficult to guess which type your bunny has (there are several) so you should use care not to infect yourself when handling her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I am guessing, it may not be Herpes or a similar virus. But pending a diagnosis by your vet, I would be cautious.  If this is the Herpes virus I would expect the area to clear up on it's own in 1 to 3 weeks, it may reoccur occasionally.  Be alert for fresh outbreaks in the same or other areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing particularly unusual or unhealthy I can see in the bald spot in the last photo.  The skin appears healthy, she just does not have any fur there. If she is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7001/what-is-the-difference-between-shedding-and-molting-in-rabbits&quot;&gt;molting&lt;/a&gt; it could be from that, or it could be from interactions with her litter mates. You may want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;flea treatement&lt;/a&gt;. We use Revolution which requires a prescription in the US and is relatively expensive, but is the safest product I know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T18:03:32.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-11T16:28:11.497" Score="1" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's winter here, pretty cold. There's a pigeon outside my apartment building that just sits near the building and doesn't do much. It can see. It can move, but does so rarely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave him bread and now I'll give him sugar water (suger/water = 1/5).&#xA;What else can I do to help it? I'll probably buy some bird seeds as well.&#xA;Can I take him at home? I have cats, but can leave the pigeon in a separate room where the cat's can't catch him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr what to give to/ do for a pigeon that just sits outside on the ground in the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider him an important part of the community and my life - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;he's exactly like a pet to me. An outdoors pet, but still pet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3605" LastEditorUserId="3606" LastEditDate="2015-02-11T17:54:21.087" LastActivityDate="2016-02-05T02:07:01.327" Title="Helping a lethargic pigeon in the winter" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7592" CreationDate="2015-02-11T20:18:51.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have limited experience with birds, but it's my understanding that they rarely show any signs of illness until they are very ill. So this poor pigeon may be at death's door already. Trapping it will cause stress, which may kill it. However, putting it in a warm place could be beneficial. Vets will sometimes put ill birds into a very warm room as a first step in treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a difficult choice. The middle-ground is to keep doing what you are doing, providing food and water and hoping for the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you try to find someone who keeps pigeons (google &quot;racing pigeons&quot;, &quot;pigeon fancier&quot;, etc.), and ask their advice about whether or not to try to trap this pigeon to bring it inside, and the best way to trap it if you decide to do so. I think a pigeon keeper might be more help than a vet for this step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2015-02-13T21:04:48.810" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T21:04:48.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7596" CreationDate="2015-02-12T04:03:56.947" Score="6" ViewCount="7989" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only recently, my 1½ year old females cat have been playing &quot;soccer&quot; with a dry food morsel across the kitchen and then returns to the bowl to eat. Why do they play with their food? Are they bored of the particular type of dry food I'm giving them? Do they need me to play with them more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-12T15:52:09.897" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T15:16:17.627" Title="Why do my cats play &quot;soccer&quot; with their dry food on the floor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2015-02-12T08:25:12.980" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just their play/hunt instinct kicking in. The piece of food might have dropped outside the bowl, cat uses a paw to get it free (to take it), then notices &quot;omgosh! it's moving!&quot; and starts to &quot;hunt&quot; the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing abnormal here and I wouldn't expect this to be just due to the cat being bored. Especially if the other cat sees the hunt, it will join in, no matter what the original cat is after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always try to play more with cats, but I honestly think that this is just coincidence due to the food ball moving the right moment (for whatever reason and unless this really happens consistently).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2015-02-15T08:48:55.940" LastActivityDate="2015-02-15T08:48:55.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7599" CreationDate="2015-02-12T13:39:29.437" Score="12" ViewCount="19034" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a female orange tabby and I knew going into the adoption that they are very rare. Why is it so special for female cats to be the orange tabby colour? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-12T15:12:13.523" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T23:46:20.367" Title="Why is a female orange tabby rare?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2015-02-12T14:54:28.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 17 y/o had a colon resection and goes in her sleep so her butt, tail, and hips are soiled with feces daily. I wipe her after each elimination if I see it, with a dry, then damp, then dry cloth but usually she needs a butt bath once a week. Today I noticed she had dried feces in her feet...not there yesterday when I clipped her toes. I'll butt bathe her in a small shallow cat litter pan lined with a towel. On hand I'll have a two quart pitcher of warm water and a small scoop. I'll use a small cloth, my hand and a curry comb to dislodge the dried feces. I'll dry her in a towel warmed in the drier and trim any remaining debris. I use a little coconut oil as a detangler and baby shampoo to wash her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3610" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T14:54:28.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2015-02-12T15:39:21.013" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The color orange has to be present on all X-chromosomes that the cat has. A male cat has 1 X-chromosome, while a female cat has 2 X-chromosomes. Therefore, a male cat has to inherit the color orange only from his mother (his father's color does not matter). A female cat must inherit the orange color from both her mother and father, and so that is statistically more rare (but not exceptionally so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's explained in more detail, with approximate percentages for the UK, in &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=IId7Xyp7UnYC&amp;amp;pg=PA141&amp;amp;dq=female%20orange%20cat&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=FMbcVPj6LYzLsATAyoKoBQ&amp;amp;ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=female%20orange%20cat&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;David Greene's book Light and Dark: An Exploration in Science, Nature, Art and Technology.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The presence of orange fur arose from a mutation of the non-orange gene on the X-chromosome into the orange gene. The effect of the orange gene is to replace dark colours with orange and to suppress the action of any non-agouti gene. Consequently, the orange colour is never uniformly dark but is always associated with some kind of pattern, although the contrast between the two shades of orange may be slight. Because male cats have only one X-chromosome, the occurrence of the orange gene in a large population equals the faction of male cats that have orange fur. This is commonly around 30% in Britain. On female cats the equivalent orange coat occurs only when the non-orange gene is absent, which requires both X-chromosomes to carry the orange gene. The fraction of such females is 30% of 30% which equals 9%.... Female cats with no orange gene on either X-chromosome form 70% of 70%, i.e. 49% of the female population. The remaining 42% of the female population have the orange gene on one X-chromosome and the non-orange gene on the other. Instead of one gene being dominant and the other recessive, both genes contribute to the colour. Patches of orange fur and of dark fur occur side by side, and the cat is described as a tortoiseshell or 'tortie'. The combination of these two colours, with our without additional white patches, is found on female cats only. The very rare male tortie has two X chromosomes and one Y, and is invariably sterile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another book, &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=XqAVBQAAQBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA41&amp;amp;dq=female%20orange%20cat&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=FMbcVPj6LYzLsATAyoKoBQ&amp;amp;ved=0CD4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=female%20orange%20cat&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;John Bradshaw's Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet&lt;/a&gt;, is also in agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note from this logic, for a cat to inherit the color orange from its father, the father must be orange. However, if the cat inherits the color orange from its mother, the mother can be orange OR tortoiseshell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-13T14:48:16.327" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T14:48:16.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2015-02-12T18:12:31.433" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is an addenda to Zaralynda's answer.  The reason why also depends on the special way the X chromosome is handled in the body.  The other chromosomes are always both 'in effect' in the body.  Since the male only has one X, the body has developed so that only one X is 'on' in any particular cell.  The other is turned off, called X-inactivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't happen on the first cell division, but later, and that cell and all its children will use one X.  The neighbor might well choose the other X, as the choice is random. So a female with a mixed gene set has patches of orange fur where the orange gene was selected and patches where the non-orange gene was selected.  This produces the tortie and calico color pattern.  There is a similar genetic disorder in humans on the X, which affects sweating, so that women with this have dry patches and sweaty patches..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="1180" LastEditDate="2015-02-13T02:13:56.160" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T02:13:56.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7031" CreationDate="2015-02-12T18:54:27.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cricket sheds the husk prior to feeding just throw it out. If you think about it, when they eat them in the wild they don't have any humans around to shed the husks for them. They surely eat them regardless. It won't hurt your lizard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3611" LastActivityDate="2015-02-12T18:54:27.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7587" CreationDate="2015-02-13T06:15:05.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;An anti-static pet spray, and you can hang moist rags on or near the heaters, that'll moisten the air. Or moisten the air in any other way, for example, with commercial air humidifiers, or you can put a pot of water to boil and let it boil for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T06:15:05.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-13T06:29:53.140" Score="6" ViewCount="3992" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious. When I meet cats, I slow blink at them (a sign of trust that, as a side-effect, tells them I'm not threatening), and I noticed that I automatically do the same with dogs, which probably doesn't make any sense to them. So, is there a way to tell a dog I'm not threatening/am approachable/can be trusted? Wagging a tail is out of the question ^_^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Seems like I worded the question wrong. It's not about actively approaching a dog. What I meant is, is there a way to let the dog know that it can approach me if it wants to? What I'm interested in is the casual show of intent, certainly &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-02-15T03:50:54.403" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T06:12:24.627" Title="A way to say 'hello' to a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7604" CreationDate="2015-02-13T09:01:35.983" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tail wagging really just tells &quot;I'm excited&quot;. Dogs might even bark and try to drive someone away while still wagging. It's just one sign that can show you a dog doesn't fear you or feels suppressed in any way (which would be a reason to push the tail down between its legs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering dogs can be far more aggressive and dangerous compared to cats (especially homeless/roaming ones), I wouldn't trust on any simple stance or behavior. Also dogs might interpret signals differently based on how they've learned them (if at all!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general, what I know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid staring at the dog. Similar to cats, they might play the &quot;blink and you lose&quot; game.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs will try to read your general pose and behavior, e.g. when walking calm and slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They'll also listen to your voice and the general tune. Are you sounding aggressive or not? So actually saying &quot;Hello&quot; in a higher, happy voice, might do more than any other thing you can think of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many dogs show others that they're no danger and want to meet them by lieing down and waiting. This most likely is out of question, so just standing still, bending and/or crouching might be enough. Keep in mind that more aggressive dogs might consider this a sign of submission.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T09:01:35.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7604" CreationDate="2015-02-13T09:23:39.673" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/7605&quot;&gt;Mario's answer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that dogs on a lead may be more nervous, since they know they can't back away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask the owner. Not only is this polite of course, but they know their dogs temperament and current mood. They may also have rules they are training him to follow, like &quot;please don't let him jump up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get low. Don't lean over or tower above their head, think how imposing this would be to you. Squat down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold out your hands slowly and open, let them come to you and sniff. Of course they can smell you coming, but this gives them time to properly check you out - it's about body language not just scent. Notice how human greetings in many different cultures involve showing your hands. Dogs also know that we use our hands to do things like pet them, feed them treats, but also grab or hit them. If they are likely to bite your hand off, you'll know about it before you even get to this point.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They may be timid and make sudden movements, but try to stay still; don't make sudden jerky movements forward or backward. Even when they move in to sniff you they may still not be entirely comfortable, so give them a few more seconds even when you think they are happy. Let them control the meeting. If they really don't seem happy, don't try to force it, just back off.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once they seem to be happy, don't go immediately for touching the top of their head. Start with stroking their chest or chin. They can better see what you are doing and don't feel so vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://4pawsu.com/pet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, and for a somewhat differing opinion to some of what I say, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.malinoisrescue.org/meeting-new-dogs.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="962" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T00:09:42.990" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-13T14:50:24.173" Score="3" ViewCount="1738" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I saw this behavior in a funny cat youtube video where the cat arches its back and runs sideways in a weird way, and in the youtube comments it was explained that this wasn't funny - it was a disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, maybe this is nothing, but I have a 2-3 month old kitten that did what looked like the same thing. It was very weird and didn't look calculated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It arched its back and ran sideways into the wall and furniture a few times, for no reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a symptom of some disease? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be taking the kitten to the vet today, was just asking for perhaps a quick answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-13T14:57:37.023" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T22:01:54.213" Title="Is there a disease where cats arch their backs and run weird, sideways?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6365" CreationDate="2015-02-13T14:57:07.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't move the urine to the litter box, move the box to the urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add a second litter box in the new corner. Then basically keep doing what you are doing, cleaning it very frequently to persuade the rats that the other one is a better place to go. Using a second separate litter container makes a thorough cleaning easier, rather than just trying to clean part of the cage every time they use it. And if it isn’t effective in retraining them to the original litter box, at least the rats are still going in a litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3617" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T14:57:07.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7418" CreationDate="2015-02-13T17:02:47.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had two groups of babies back in 2003 and as with your case the mother never wanted to feed them, we had to hold her and then get the kittens around, i suppose its natural behaviour, but be careful because the mother will get angry &amp;amp; upset after some minutes and  can hurt the kittens with kicks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T17:02:47.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5998" CreationDate="2015-02-13T20:44:39.573" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is an old question, but I feel I needed to correct some things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd add that you shouldn't look directly at the dog either, as that&#xA;  can sometimes be interpreted as a challenge. –  Cucamonga Aug 3 '14 at&#xA;  17:39&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals. In that sense, they're very much like humans. Just like you wouldn't stare at a stranger, you wouldn't want to stare at a random dog. However, the reverse is also true. If you're interacting with a person and that person doesn't look you in the eyes (at least for some moments), that other person may creep you out. The same goes for dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a child who stares at dogs in amazement and who can not regulate his staring, that advice of not looking at all may be appropriate, but that advice is not appropriate especially if the child starts interacting with the dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you're about to touch a dog, you want to be looking into their eyes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When touching something, we only look at our hand when we're afraid of the thing we're about to touch. Imagine how a child would try to touch a potentially burning stove, he would be looking at his hand the entire time ready to flinch away as soon he felt any kind of heat on his fingers. Now imagine that same child trying to touch a random dog, he would be looking at his hand ready to flinch away precisely because he's afraid of getting that hand nipped or bitten by the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just like you wouldn't want to pet a dog who is afraid of you. A dog doesn't want to get petted by people who are afraid of it. Fear in one only provokes fear in the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now building on Danny Bainbridge's already excellent list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Approach at a moderately slow pace, a bit slower than a walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the dog sees you, sees any of your friends around it, and sees your hand before you approach it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not surprise the dog. Do not approach the dog from behind. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not think that you can get away by petting the dog quickly and by surprise to let the dog know that you're friendly. It doesn't work that way. Anything that dog doesn't see could potentially scare him, even if it's just one of your friends approaching it from the other side, while you're trying to pet him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog's body language implies that it's afraid of you, pull back slowly (do not flinch away). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pulling back may actually change the dog's mind, so be sure to monitor the dogs body language and act accordingly. Do not wait for the dog to bark at you. Body language can be very subtle. This advice is also just as valid for human interactions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;No loud sounds, no teeth, just approach 'naturally'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog doesn't see you, or hears you approaching. Announce yourself softly, or make a small noise before you come near it.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Place your hand out in a loose fist or fingers pointing down, so the back of the palm is facing the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Move the hand towards the dog's mouth/nose so he/she can sniff you out. Fingers down or curled will protect them from being nipped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If the dog seems to get nasty you can walk back and away&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Otherwise let the dog sniff/lick/muzzle further &lt;strong&gt;and give a few scratches under the chin or behind the ears&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can let the dog smell your hand, but &lt;strong&gt;be sure to get permission each time from the owner before you scratch it under the chin or behind the ears&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog may bite you, or yelp in pain, if you're unintentionally touching a fresh scar or an ear infection. I know the odds are low for that kind of thing to happen, but if you consider a child who loves dogs. An incident like this is likely to happen if that child tries to touch dogs every time there is one near him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, children can be needy creatures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if they can read the subtle negative body language of a dog (after you've taught them all the signs), they may still move to pet a dog that shows those warning signs anyway. The main cure for that is to have more than one dog for the child to choose from (and not puppies obviously, a protective mother dog is another thing human children need to be warned about). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there are other dynamics that could go wrong with more than one dog. For instance, one dog may attack another dog because it thinks it's getting all the attention, and a child could get caught in the middle, but I think that option is still a less dangerous one for the child than having that needy child only having access to one dog to meet/touch/pet/stalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3621" LastEditorUserId="3621" LastEditDate="2015-02-14T08:09:35.297" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T08:09:35.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7604" CreationDate="2015-02-13T20:49:32.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to point out that both Mario's and BobTFish's answers include actions you should absolutely not do when meeting a dog for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do NOT reach your hand out toward the dog. You can see this information in both articles linked by BobTFish.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF. I know that somewhere along the line the advice was given to present your hand to a dog so they can sniff it. For shy or fearful dogs, that outstretched hand can look like you are reaching for them, causing them to distrust you. Considering dogs have 250 million scent receptors compared to our 5 million, they can smell you just fine with your hand at your side. &lt;a href=&quot;http://4pawsu.com/pet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://4pawsu.com/pet.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NEVER extend a hand to a dog as you approach it. The notion that a dog needs to sniff your hand is not only ridiculous given that the dog knows your scent way before you have approached, but also dangerous as you can get bitten in the hand. Note: Children need to be taught NOT to extend their hand as they approach a dog. I have personally stopped many children from approaching my own dogs this way even though I know my dogs would tolerate it. The point being that proper etiquette needs to be taught. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.malinoisrescue.org/meeting-new-dogs.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.malinoisrescue.org/meeting-new-dogs.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should not use a high voice when greeting a dog. &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always use a calm, low tone voice – NEVER ‘baby-talk’ to a dog regardless how cute she is; dogs regard this type of energy as weak and are more likely to “pounce” or jump up on a human that uses it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.malinoisrescue.org/meeting-new-dogs.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.malinoisrescue.org/meeting-new-dogs.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those two articles are great references on how to greet a dog. I think the most important take-away is to &lt;strong&gt;let the dog control the situation&lt;/strong&gt; and determine how the interaction goes rather than trying to force any kind interaction that the dog may not like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3468" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T20:49:32.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7588" CreationDate="2015-02-13T22:00:20.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I can give you some help here. You need to teach her how to fetch from the ground up. I had a dog growing up who would do this, minus the barking. She might bring it to within 12' of me when she fetched it, but then she'd either run off with it or not even go fetch it. I now have a Jack Russell who will fetch till she passes out. It's something she does naturally and it took very little effort from me to get her to do it. The good news is that whatever your dogs level of motivation to fetch, they can be taught to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be talking about clicker training in the rest of my post. You can find articles and videos all over the internet. Karen Pryor is one of the first people in modern times to organize a system, so you could start on her website for a basic understanding. You should get a basic idea, so you know what I'm talking about from here on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do here is break it down into baby steps for her. Firstly, I'd charge the clicker with her and get her used to the idea of the clicker being a bridge. Once she knows that a click equals a treat, she'll look out for the click and not the treat. Hold any object, including your hand, out for her to touch. The ball in question would be fine. As soon as she sniffs it, click and treat (hence forth know as CT). Do this repetitively. You'll want several things to work on at any one time. Do 2-3 reps of one behavior and move on. Keep your sessions to 10-15 minutes. Once she's started hammering the ball to get you to CT, then hold back till you get a better version. Maybe she touches it with her nose and you don't CT, so she does it again. You still don't CT, so she rolls it with her nose in frustration. You CT. Build on this till you can get her to pick it up in her mouth, then call her over to you. You can eventually, get her to drop it in your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now fetches. This is the principle of a fetch, whether it's 6&quot; or 600'. I hope this helps. Things to keep in mind are that you always do baby steps, always keep the sessions short and variable, if she struggles move back to something easier and quite her on it, and have fun. Eventually, you phase out the CT and there are articles on this as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you can teach the &quot;quite&quot; command the same way. Let her bark and the second she stops, CT. When she's doing it reliably, then add in the verbal cue. Eventually, she'll stop offering that behavior, though with a naturally vocal dog, it may never end. My Jack Russell is full of whines, grunts, and other sound effects that never go away. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T22:00:20.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3173" CreationDate="2015-02-13T23:53:27.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a Jackson Galaxy 'Cat from Hell' episode they had a fix for a cat that ran outside when people entered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They put a cat shelf about shoulder high by the door and when the door was opened put the cat on it.  The cat could peer out but the urge to run was lessened.  The cat even would go up on their own when the owner tried to go in, as seeing out was all he really wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-02-13T23:53:27.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-14T16:00:55.807" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's been an increasing focus on animal translators the last years, at least in my country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some believe it works wonderfully, others trust nothing of it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some translators claim to speak on behalf of dead pets, some on behalf of absent pets, while others translate while interacting with present pets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course people are more skeptical to the &quot;psychic&quot; translations for dead or absent pets. Has there been any real scientific research on the validity of translations for dead or absent pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-17T18:22:07.550" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T18:22:07.550" Title="Is there any scientific research on the validity of animal translators?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7657" CreationDate="2015-02-14T16:04:31.290" Score="4" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have experienced that people have different views on whether strangers should ask before petting an animal in lead. &#xA;What is the norm on this? Is there any unspoken rule among dog owners?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T00:23:22.533" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T00:23:22.533" Title="Do most dog owners want strangers to ask before petting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3173" CreationDate="2015-02-14T16:10:17.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best answer depends on the cat and why/how much they want out. For some cats sneaking past the human is a game,  for others it's a serious business of patrolling and defending their territory.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easier if you start setting the rule when they are young,  so they think their territory is just the house. Once that's established they will be interested in what's happening outside but often won't be especially interested in pushing that boundary.  A friend's cats will actually resist if she tries to carry them out of the house except in their carriers ... obviously very convenient for her to know they can be trusted to distrust an open door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a cat has decided that outside isn't inherently scary,  though,  you're into &quot;I'm the alpha and I said so, that's why&quot;. As with training them to stay off the stove and not to chew electric cords, you just have to stay alert, anticipate their actions. and tell them no firmly when they've about to do something undesirable ... and be very consistent about the rule. Eventually they will figure out what you're trying to tell them,  and since you're sorta their adopted parent they will mostly behave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My compromise with my kids is that they are allowed onto the screened-in porch when I say so, and they are allowed to try to sneak onto it as a game but then (a) must come back if I say &quot;IN!&quot;, and (b) run the risk of being locked out onto the porch for a few hours and missing whatever cuddles and treats their sibling might be given. So far this has worked for us; they are clearly interested in what's beyond the next door but accept that they can't go there. I do try not to test that too often,  though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T16:10:17.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7604" CreationDate="2015-02-14T18:35:03.937" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My approach is to hold out a relaxed hand, palm down, at the dog's level (which may require squatting down),and give them a chance to decide and to get my scent. Let them come to you, move slowly and smoothly, and proceed from there based on their reactions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-14T18:35:03.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7615" CreationDate="2015-02-15T23:20:13.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've learned to ask when in any doubt, since I've known folks with assistance animals, who should never be distracted while they're on duty, and I know someone who fosters pups until they're ready for that training and needs cooperation in setting that on/off duty idea. You can usually tell by how the animal is being handed as you approach, if you're paying attention ... but it never hurts to ask. And it's polite in dog terms to let them approach you rather than vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-02-15T23:48:52.300" LastActivityDate="2015-02-15T23:48:52.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2015-02-16T08:14:48.100" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're bored!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have any other cat toys around? If not, then they're playing with stuff because they don't have anything else to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they get bored enough, they will start to bring you little gifts - just to show that they love you - and to ask you to play!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3630" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T08:14:48.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7956" CreationDate="2015-02-16T11:29:00.253" Score="6" ViewCount="6216" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was forming crystals in his bladder so for the rest of his life I'm to feed him urinary health cat food. My vet had me feed him Royal Canin® Urinary SO Cat Food but after a few bags of it I recently decided to go with Purina Focus Adult Urinary Tract Health Formula dry cat food. Hopefully it will do just as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, my two cats CRAAAAVE wet cat food, I was giving it to them as a daily treat, until I realized that mixing it in their diet completely eliminates the benefits of the urinary tract health formula food I've been giving them. So I decided to feed them the treat twice a week--Wednesday evenings and Sunday evenings. Because of this change I give them some of the best stuff I can find (Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys), and not a lot, just half a can for each cat, so one can on &quot;treat night&quot; for the two of them. So now every day they just sit around moaning at me begging me to give them the treat that is typically days out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know how I can &quot;tune&quot; for their happiness better, without compromising their health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3631" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T19:05:21.157" Title="How often can I mix regular wet food with urinary health dry food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6412" CreationDate="2015-02-16T14:47:19.487" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a large (strong) grown up cat, who've had a major operation on his hind quarters, and needed a hard plastic cone to keep him from biting the stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep him from pulling the cone off, I tied a long ribbon (actually a bandage) through the loops in the cone, once around his neck, crossing down on his chest - behind the front legs - and crossing once more on his back, before connecting to the loops in the cone again. Then it is neatly tied with a bow on his back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't super important exactly how you tie it - just keep it &lt;em&gt;behind the front legs&lt;/em&gt; and cross onto the back. That way, when the cat tries to pull it off, it will pull against his front legs, and the cat will stop pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a sketch of how the ribbon could run:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LF8GY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sketch of ribbon to hold cone in place&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The red and blue are both ends of the same string - they start at the middle, just behind the head of the cat - and run across the breast and under the front legs. Then somehow they are tied together on the back of the cat. It doesn't matter exactly how they connect at the back, but I like to run them once more through one of the loops on the cone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically it would still be possible to pull the legs out of the loops, and pull of the cone, but so far my cat hasn't figured that out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3632" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T23:12:48.130" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T23:12:48.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7627" CreationDate="2015-02-16T18:12:57.180" Score="4" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently adopted a deaf kitten (two days ago). She doesn't respond to any sounds, but she does respond to my senior non-deaf cat hissing and growling (I'm slowly introducing them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that our deaf kitten can sense the growl/hissing? They don't even need to be in eye-shot of each other. The senior cat hears the kitten's bell and growls, and the kitten can pick up the growls/hissing and responds with her own growls. Could someone maybe explain this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3633" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-16T18:33:59.253" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T18:37:57.477" Title="Is it possible for a deaf kitten to sense growling/hissing from another cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7626" CreationDate="2015-02-16T18:37:57.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She may not be able to necessarily hear the growling and hissing, but she may be responding to the non-verbal body language the older cat is using to indicate her displeasure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the older cat's face is not going to look happy - so she could  be responding to the way the cat's face looks angry, or how her body is positioned - there is so much more to communication than just the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the same as human communication - even if you can't hear my voice, the my facial expressions or my body language can often indicate my mood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suspect that your kitten is picking up on the other, non-verbal communication exhibited by the other cat, such as the motion of her tail (lashing, bristled, etc), her face (she may recognize the hissing/growling face), the &quot;puffing&quot; of the older cat's body/fur, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2015-02-16T18:37:57.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7633" CreationDate="2015-02-17T00:41:13.497" Score="8" ViewCount="766" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been thinking about driving from Massachusetts to Florida, but was not sure how feasible it is to do so with a cat. The cat is a vaccinated (to MA standards) inside cat, little less than 2 years old and knows to use her sandbox. My car, on another hand, is a mini SUV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am prepared to stop for breaks and even stay overnight in a hotel on my way down, I just am not sure if the trip is practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I pack the sandbox and some clean sand, and make sure I can find a hotel where I can take the cat into the room? I would be staying in a hotel or some long term apartment in Florida, and the cat would definitely be inside there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any health considerations for the kitty from this kind of change of climate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do other people do this sort of trips, or is it not recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T22:03:56.673" Title="Is it feasible to take cat on a 1400 mile, 21+ hour road trip?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7629" CreationDate="2015-02-17T15:33:58.903" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on the personality of your cat I think, but for the most part, I consider it do-able.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've made a similar trip several times for visiting family on holidays. Though my drive is only 12 hours, I've never had any problems. On the other hand, my sister's cats seem to always put up a fuss even though their drives are significantly shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference I think, is how the cats were introduced to the car. I knew as soon as I had my cats that they would need to be okay with being in a moving car, so I took time to take them on short drives around town, to help them get used to the feeling. After the drives were over, they immediately got fed treats and their favorite soft food to help show that car rides were a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays I don't make so many trips aside from the yearly holiday visits, so they do squawk a bit for the first hour, but they quickly get settled down and become used to the feeling again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the ride itself, I personally don't stop on my trip, I just let the cats free in the backseat of my car where they have a litter box, food, and water available. If you don't want to let your cats out of their carrier, then I would recommend stopping every 4 hours or so to make sure they drink and use the litter box if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how your cats do in the car, you might want to get them some calming treats, or similar anti-anxiety aids. I used some treats on the first trip I made and they seems to work pretty well. Unfortunately there is always the risk of one of the cats getting carsick, so I would also pack a roll of paper towels and some small plastic bags to clean up if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T15:33:58.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7607" CreationDate="2015-02-17T16:36:11.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely not a disease.  Cats run like this when they are frightened, playing, or just trying to appear bigger than themselves.  There are likely more reasons too.  It's a reflexive action that can give you insight into their mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it's possible a cat can have a 'disease' similar to human Tourettes (a neurological disorder), but remember that cats use their body to communicate, and if they use communication it's more likely that you should listen to your cat and his / her needs than speculative youtube videos.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3639" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-18T22:01:54.213" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T22:01:54.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2015-02-17T16:41:35.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Moving to a new home may re-start any territorial / dominance 'turf wars' between your two cats.  Does your new home have spaces this scaredy cat can feel safe?  That she can go all on her own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of what you'd need if you moved to a new home.  Having a bed is as important as having a toothbrush, or electricity, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things we need that we don't consider when we move.  Think of all the amenities a hotel offers.  It's not just clean sheets, but comfortable air, cleanliness, electricity, soap, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now think if your cat has had certain things that are now absent.  Are there two litter boxes at minimum?  Are there elevated areas with escape paths?  When your home was empty did stray cats enter and spray the walls?  Is your cat fighting with your other cat often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to prevent a cat from running is to provide a reason for staying.  Cats are tricky as hell but if you can have insight into where his / her needs aren't being met, you can progress towards an environment where she / he feels safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3639" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T16:41:35.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6805" CreationDate="2015-02-17T17:07:25.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering the lack of data on ultrasonic cat repellants, I doubt a google search will give you much information regarding ultrasonic humidifiers. Instead let's look at what we can find and try to be deductive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com/article/S0168-1591(05)00138-3/fulltext&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is an abstract (full article behind paywall) detailing the results of a study on one brand of cat repellants.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abstract shows an efficacy rate below 35% for a short trial, and the efficacy rate dropped in the second trial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The data seems to show that ultrasonic noise is irritating, but your question asks if the noise is harmful. While not a totally credible source (non-academic), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/how-effective-are-ultrasonic-cat-repellent-devices.html#b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article leads me to believe that&lt;/a&gt; we can assume these noises are obnoxious, but not dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you look at most ultrasonic cat repellants, there is a 'direct to air' directional component. By this, I mean the sound vibrates air without any medium between the air and your cat's ears. Yikes, I bet that's annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LTxME.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Mechanics of Humidifier&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This animated GIF, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.airwin.net/?seitenID=32&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;from this site&lt;/a&gt;, shows how an ultrasonic humidifier functions. The water is covering the ultrasonic plate entirely. The energy generated by the ultrasonic vibrations is transferred into the liquid (water) and the water then expels this energy by becoming a mist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, a higher frequency will become distorted easier than a lower frequency when traveling through space. This is why long range radio uses lower bands in the radio spectrum, and microwaves and X-Rays use higher frequency but require closer range. The same should apply here. The ultrasonic plate immediately hits water and the energy is either absorbed into the water creating small waves or cavities (see .gif) or if the energy breaks surface tension a mist is output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I doubt a humidifier will 'harm' the cat for two reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ultrasonic noise is obnoxious but not harmful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The 'noise' is not noise at all, it will be transferred into water to generate mist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3639" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-17T18:38:22.280" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T18:38:22.280" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-17T17:18:38.560" Score="3" ViewCount="67625" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a while now when I take my dog, he's almost 2 and is a heeler-pug mix, out to use the restroom ( I live in an apartment complex so everyone shares this courtyard) and I have to carefully watch my dog because when he picks up another dogs urine scent, he starts licking it up. I've tried many different ways to stop him but he still does it and it's gross cause he'll later on lick someone and that's unsanitary. Is it a dominant thing where he wan't to be the only scent any other dogs pick up? I really need this habit to go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3640" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T03:16:27.540" Title="My dog licking up other dogs urine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7614" CreationDate="2015-02-17T18:20:59.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically the position of the scientific community on psychics is that they practice a sort of pseudoscience, and because we know how their tricks are performed there's not really any point in researching their validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are however, some foundations that are set up, to test people who claim to to be psychics, among other things, in the event that a true psychic were to appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;James Randi and the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.randi.org/the-million-dollar-challenge.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There is currently a prize being offered by James Randi&lt;/a&gt;, a famous magician, to any person who claims to possess psychic abilities, provided that they can demonstrate their abilities under scientific observation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prize started in in 1964 with a 1 thousand dollar offering, but has currently grown to a 1 million dollar offering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, out of the hundreds of people wanting to prove that they are indeed psychics, no one has been able to pass even the preliminary tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly suggest watching James Randi's lectures and his appearances on some of the older tv shows, such as &lt;em&gt;The Johnny Carson Show&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;That's My Line&lt;/em&gt;, where he would regularly explain how psychics perform their tricks, and would even put famed psychics at the time to the test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's safe to say that unless a person is able to pass James Randi's tests, then they possess no psychic abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How psychics work:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really know of much for scientific research on the validity of psychic abilities aside from James Randi's work. I've found that knowing how psychics work removes any need to research their validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Psychics that claim to talk with the deceased work on microtransactions between themselves and an audience. Basically they look for things that the other person might take for granted. Not only things like facial expressions, but body posture, eye movements, and finger fidgeting. There's actually a show in the US called &lt;em&gt;The Mentalist&lt;/em&gt; where the main character is a person who studies microexpressions, and does an okay explanation of the idea behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you start with a seemingly casual, vague, statement, and look for a reaction to certain words or terms. You can use these reactions to guide your statements into something that's meaningful to the person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading body language is only one portion of the psychic's ability. The other portion is the real trick. Information about the target is gathered before the reading. Talented psychics will gather the information themselves, through a seemingly casual conversation you had with them before their reading. If you go to for a reading one-on-one, you'll notice there will be a few minutes of conversation before you start, either while they're setting something up, or they're offering you tea or something to get comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For everyone else, the psychic will have a partner to gather information and relay it to them. The partners usually pose as another member in the group, striking conversations with people around them to relay to the psychic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As seen in a television show, &lt;em&gt;Exploring Psychic Powers... Live&lt;/em&gt;, where James Randi tested psychics. Removing the psychic's ability to see the target, or know which of several targets they are talking to, is enough to render the psychic's powers useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some psychics will make the claim the need to see an aura around a person, which is why they can't use their powers when the person is in another room. So to account for this 'ability', the person is instead placed behind a screen that ends just above their head, allowing for their aura to be visible. Humorously, psychics will claim to see a person's aura behind a screen that doesn't even have a person behind it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Translation Collars:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently translation collars have shown up, touting the ability to translate your pet's words to human language. For the most part, they should work well enough. The main problem with them will be that many animals rely more on non-verbal communication (e.g. tail movement, fur standing up, ear position).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How the collars work, is they listen for a sound from your pet, and they'll match the the sound pattern with a pre-programmed phrase. For example, growling is easily matched with phrases to express anger, while whimpering can be easily matched with phrases that express pain or sadness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't expect miracles from them, and they certainly aren't an exact science. Don't be surprised if you're playing tug-of-war and your dog's collar starts saying &quot;I'm so mad right now&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Mediumship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Mediumship&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/James_Randi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/James_Randi&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/British_Psychological_Society&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/British_Psychological_Society&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Committee_for_Skeptical_Inquiry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Committee_for_Skeptical_Inquiry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-02-17T18:20:59.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7697" CreationDate="2015-02-17T22:49:50.207" Score="4" ViewCount="20472" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my bearded dragon was younger, he didn't react to his reflection. Because he didn't react, I figured that he either couldn't see it, or wasn't bothered by it. But now that he's fully grown, he's begun getting territorial and started acting out against this perceived threat that is his reflection in his terrarium glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cute as it is to see him bobbing his head sometimes, I'm worried about the stress that it's causing him to see his reflection all the time. Especially since there are moments when he'll charge at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to either make the glass less reflective, or to make him not notice his reflection? The problem is that I don't want to cover the front of the glass, because then I wouldn't be able to see him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;40 gallon (150 L) breeder tank.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;24&amp;quot; ReptiSun 10.0 UV light.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;150 watt ceramic lamp (keeps the basking area at 100 °F / 38 °C).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Slate tiles for substrate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T02:01:37.660" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T02:01:37.660" Title="How can I diminish my dragon's reflection?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7641" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T00:58:49.053" Score="7" ViewCount="8079" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is now eating bugs such as crickets and those things. She hasn't shown any signs of health problems while she ate them, but I'm not sure if they're healthy at all for her. The crickets are just in our normal backyard, and every time she runs around the yard, she eats bugs - especially crickets. She apparently wants to eat with her normal feeding. They do live in my backyard and she has eaten some of them inside her burrow to &amp;quot;defend&amp;quot; her burrow. Would bugs harm her in any way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:47:23.450" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:47:23.450" Title="Is it harmful that my rabbit eats bugs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7637" CreationDate="2015-02-18T08:33:12.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it a dominant thing where he wan't to be the only scent any other dogs pick up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, it's more or less instinctive behavior. The dog doesn't want to get rid of the scent, he wants to literally get a better taste of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look it up if you're interested in this (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-a-dogs-sense-of-smell.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dummies.com has a short version&lt;/a&gt;), but basically their mouth/nose are made in a special way that allows them to pick up some particles and sniff them several times. You might have seen your dog picking up a scent and then doing something which appeared to be chattering with their teeth (which they don't). They'll allow the air to circulate through their nose several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really need this habit to go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with that. You might be able to do it with constant training (let the dog sniff, but distract once the licking starts), but it will be very hard and I'm not really sure it's really worth the trouble. It's gross, I probably agree, but at the same time it's something you can't avoid even if your dog isn't allowed to sniff outside (which would be bad for it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remember:&lt;/strong&gt; The dog will clean itself, too, which also includes part of the dog body where gross things emerge. There's &lt;strong&gt;no way&lt;/strong&gt; around that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, out of my mind I don't remember any disease you could get from your dog, which would be related to urine. Poo is a completely different thing, but at the same time your dog shouldn't touch that anyway (apart from the occasional sniff).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a kind of alternative approach, when you know your dog licked up some scent, let it drink. Even if there are still small amounts of urine left, they'd be diluted significantly (which also happens through saliva).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T08:33:12.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T10:22:38.937" Score="7" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do all cat owners have it? &#xA;The world prevalence of toxomoplasmosis is 33% so it's extremely common.  Even though it's supposedly asymptomatic and harmless I've read journal articles speculating that the infection can cause personality changes and suicidal behaviour. It literally takes over your brain, and it's permanent. There's no cure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since sanitation levels are generally pretty high in western countries, the most common route of transmission is cat poop.  Since cat owners clean cat poop everyday, are they likely to have the disease? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:26:32.497" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:26:32.497" Title="What is the cat owners risk of toxomoplasmosis from cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T10:28:47.533" Score="4" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray mother cat just had two baby kittens in our apartment complex.  They can't stand or walk or meow yet. They live in the staircase. I've visited them several times to give the mother cat milk. All three are usually snuggled up but when the mother cat sees me, she runs after me.  Why is this? Is she trying to protect the babies by chasing me away? Or does she want food? The cat doesn't hiss, just meows and follows me. And tries to lick my toe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, there is no SPCA here, and the kittens are warm because it's summer and the nights are hot. Also the kittens are drinking breast milk. Anything else I can do to make them more comfortable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-18T16:30:14.327" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T15:20:25.943" Title="Why does the mother cat do this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7646" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T10:36:43.207" Score="3" ViewCount="678" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1.5 year old puppy always looks so depressed in the photos that my parents send  me.  I've been gone 5 months (but visiting next month).  I'm sure I'm not imagining it. I know when he's happy, he looks like he's smiling, open mouth, sparkly eyes, tongue out, huge grin.  In the photos, his mouth is an upside down U.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he miss me? Or am I anthropomorphising? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-03-22T09:46:28.033" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T20:35:00.600" Title="Why does my dog always look sad in photos now that I'm gone?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-18T15:48:06.473" Score="6" ViewCount="33845" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased two small goldfish for my son. We were instructed by the employee at Petsmart that the 2.5 gal (ca. 10 l) tank would be sufficient. I bought gravel, plants and water conditioner (stress coat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, we've only been feeding the fish twice a day, and not excessive amounts of food. Their water looks cloudy, and they keep going to the surface for air. I just changed 50% of the water yesterday afternoon! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm frustrated that I spend $40 on these supplies, and from what I'm reading, I don't have a large enough tank. I don't have room for a 20-30 gal (75-115 l) tank. Should I return the fish or is there any way I could make this smaller tank work? Maybe for one fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3645" LastEditorUserId="207" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T10:26:11.880" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T00:31:58.067" Title="Is it possible to keep two small Goldfish in a 2.5 gallon (10 litres) tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7646" CreationDate="2015-02-18T16:24:17.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are definitely anthropomorphizing... at least some. Probably projecting a bit too (i.e. projecting your missing him onto him as being sad).  Dogs express emotion differently than humans.  We can often misunderstand those signs.  My girl always has a bit of a sad look to her, even when she's eating a major treat, or doing other things I know she enjoys very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at these articles for some more information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thebark.com/content/sometimes-dogs-arent-sad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thebark.com/content/sometimes-dogs-arent-sad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dog-body-language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dog-body-language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2714" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T20:35:00.600" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T20:35:00.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7647" CreationDate="2015-02-18T19:08:18.230" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Return the goldfish and get a beta. That's realistically the only fish that can survive long term in a 2.5 gallon aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your typical comet goldfish will need at least 30 gallons of water each to stay healthy long term. They're very messy fish and even in a small but suitable tank, owners often have major water quality issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you get another fish, read up on how to properly cycle a fish tank. If you take a fish tank, regardless of the size, and just put water and conditioner and fish in it, most fish will be dead in about a week due to ammonia poisoning. An aquarium must cycle before it is ready to house fish. Cycling is the process of building up beneficial bacteria. This bacteria is what actually filters the water in any fish tank, beit freshwater or saltwater. Cycling a tank typically takes around 4 weeks and is complete when ammonia and nitrite can no longer be detected in a tank, while nitrate is detected and stable or rising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Petsmart is notorious for employing untrained people in their aquatics departments, and they routinely sell customers fish and aquarium setups that are impossible to maintain. In our aquarium club it's probably a weekly or bi-weekly event that someone shows up trying to keep their tank alive because petsmart or petco sold them a setup that was impossible to keep going, or even get established, and they've lost all their fish multiple times as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T19:08:18.230" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2015-02-18T19:57:48.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't own one but have known several people with them and had a close friend work at a primate rescue sanctuary which I was able to visit on several occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Primates make horrible pets. There's really no other way to put it. They are highly social animals that are extremely intelligent, extremely active, and being outside of a natural group, you the owner have to fulfil all of their requirements including the social ones without messing them up psychologically. They require almost constant interaction, much more than captive parrots, which I would consider one of the most demanding pets as far as daily interaction goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike a pet such as a dog, training primates is difficult. They view a person as a conspecific and not a master. This introduces a number of problems in the owner pet relationship, simply because they don't consider themselves a pet. A similar mentality is an animal like a raccoon, which also makes a horrible pet, but similarly as when you try to get one to do something that it doesn't want to do, it's simply not going to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, meeting the social requirements of a primate is virtually impossible. Primates have complex societal structures and relationship hierarchies. Since a single human or even a family cannot provide a similar social structure, what most people end up with is a very capable, strong, and agile, but mentally handicapped animal, that's going to live from 25 - 50 years. Like humans these animals have emotional states that can be completely overwhelming. They can also suffer from psychological illnesses such as depression and anxiety. These do not usually manifest pleasantly. As stated in another answer it's like a perpetual toddler, except it's a really fast toddler that can jump, throw things (including bodily fluids and excrement), bite and spit, and scream, but with many degrees more intensity than a human all while having the mental stability of a teenager. If you see how the interactions between same species monkeys is not always pleasant, just remember that you are the other monkey when you own one. Something that many don't consider is also that they can share many diseases with humans and finding suitable veterinary care isn't always possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as selection goes, larger primates are dangerous and completely unsuitable as pets. Chimpanzees especially are very aggressive once mature and many times stronger than even an abnormally fit human. For that matter all apes should be completely outside of consideration as well as large monkeys and anything endangered, which includes a large percentage of all primate species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still legitimately interested in keeping one as a pet, I would strongly advise to first find a sanctuary or institution where you can get more information and some hands on experience with them. By the time you spend a few months with them, you should have a pretty good idea if you actually want anything to do with keeping one in your house, I suspect you will not. But, you'll have enough of a foundation to make a legitimately informed decision on keeping one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2015-02-18T20:12:25.847" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T20:12:25.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7647" CreationDate="2015-02-18T21:43:38.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jestep has a good answer, but sometime it helps to be able to visualize things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the exception of a few show goldfish, which will only grow to about 10 inches in length, an adult goldfish is going to be about 14-18 inches long. You didn't say what species of goldfish you had, so I'm assuming it's the common comet goldfish that all pet stores sell. They will easily be at the upper end of the scale as long as you can keep them alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put this into perspective, a standard 2.5 gallon tank is usually only 13 inches long&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, although they can be shorter if you buy a special kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that for a tank to be big enough for a goldfish, you pretty much need to be able to wave a 2.5 gallon tank around the inside of it. Most tanks, aside from a 40g breeder tank, are only 13 inches deep, meaning the goldfish wouldn't be able to turn around without bending its spine too much. Goldfish are active swimmers so they need to be able to swim back and forth as they feel like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take the fish back to the pet store, they should have no problem with you returning it, although they might only give you a refund if it's been within a certain time frame. You could probably get a betta for the tank, although in my opinion a 2.5 gallon tank is still a bit small for them. I would personally turn it into a nano tank with some plants/moss and some shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's personal preference though. What you'll really want to do is look around at your local pet store, and see what fish they have available. Then be sure to look up how large the fish grows to as an adult, and if it's a schooling fish that will require tankmates. Don't be afraid to visit just to write down names to look up at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;For reference, here is a site with a list of tank dimensions based on their size in gallons/liters: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anapsid.org/resources/tanksize.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.anapsid.org/resources/tanksize.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-02-18T21:43:38.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-19T10:43:12.297" Score="7" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been working with my dog for some months now, with her on lead walking. One of the things we're still having difficulty with is other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically - I don't think she's being &lt;em&gt;aggressive&lt;/em&gt; as much as boisterous and keen to inspect/play with other dogs. However when she can't do this, she'll get frustrated and make an awful racket (such that I expect other dog owners &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; think it's aggression). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know for a fact that she's fine offlead with groups of dogs - we even take her to daycare on a weekly basis for playtimes, and will play just fine offlead in the field with other dogs in the village. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's primarily on the lead. Another dog running around (a long way off) and her not being able to play is a key example. Worst of all is a neighbour who throws a ball for her dog in front of us. (The other dog shows no interest or reaction). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've been trying so far is the 'sit and pay attention to something else' approach - when I spot another dog, move to one side, get her to sit and watch me for treats. &#xA;It's helped, but we're still having problems, and it's been a year later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to mention - that the sit-and-watch approach simply doesn't work everywhere we go, e.g. busy places, because there is too many dogs/not enough space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing the right thing, or is there another approach I should take? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T00:22:19.347" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T00:22:19.347" Title="How should I train my dog to remain calm on lead around other dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7615" CreationDate="2015-02-19T10:48:45.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's polite to ask. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs don't mind. Some do. Some are aggressive in particular circumstances. These circumstances may be unpredictable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rescue dogs have fairly frequently formed negative associations with particular things. As an example - I know a dog who was absolutely terrified of carrier bags and prams*. If someone holding a carrier bag approached, he would 'go nuts' and whilst it never came to it, would probably be aggressive out of fear. (And he wasn't a small dog either - a GSD/Rottie cross).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's a good chance you simply wouldn't consider something innocuous as distressing to a dog, so out of purely good intentions, someone's been attacked by a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one wants that to happen. It distresses the dog, and if a dog ever bites a human they will be the one coming off worse. (As an owner, the best outcome is the other person understands. The worst is being prosecuted and having the dog destroyed). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as a matter of courtesy - it's worth asking for explicit consent, especially if you're not 100% sure you would recognise the dog saying 'no thanks'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* my current dog dislikes beards, hoods and high-vis jackets (and will bark at people). But is generally disgustingly soppy. If someone asks to 'say hello' I'll warn them that she might react if they have these things, and there are no misunderstandings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T11:05:01.817" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T11:05:01.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7656" CreationDate="2015-02-19T15:40:37.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs often do this out of excitement before they have learned how to work through that excitement with self control. You are on the right track by helping her to learn to be calm and have focus on you even when she is excited but it sounds like you are stuck. You are at the stage where she is able to focus on you with another dog present but you want to be able to keep going on your walk without stopping. So we need to start showing her with small steps what that looks like. Here are some things to try to keep progressing in your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;when working on a new skill try to work at a further distance from the distraction so that she can be successful more of the time. This will help her learn the new behavior faster.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;make it fun. Don't always ask for a sit and stay. Sometimes ask for a down ar a little trick like a shake or just a nose touch to your hand. Or walk in little circles treating her for being right at your side. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;be interesting. You can walk at different paces  or walk erraticly to make her have to think in order to stay with you to get the reward. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If she is interested in toys then use them as a reward! When she looks at you squeak the toy and throw it a short distance in the opposite direction from the other dog or throw it to her to catch or better yet let her tug on it with you. The goal is to get her to realize that you are fun and you make the choice about when she gets to play. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vary the amount of time you ask for a behavior. Sometimes make it very short by releasing her the second she sits. Again, this is helping to make the activity with you more interesting and getting her in the practice of using her brain even in exciting situations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information you can read a book called &quot;control unleashed&quot;. It has a lot of good step by step practice games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2015-02-19T20:31:11.360" LastActivityDate="2015-02-19T20:31:11.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-19T21:33:11.823" Score="4" ViewCount="18604" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a new cat and I noticed that when I am petting her head, generally she will stop me (with her paw or turning her head toward my hand), lick my thumb or my index finger and let me continue petting her head. My friend told me that this could be because she expects me to bath her while I am petting her head (or somewhat near it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions is, is this true and why? Or is there another reason why she would randomly lick my finger when I am petting her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T00:22:44.383" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:40:03.030" Title="Why does my cat lick my finger when I am petting her head?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2015-02-20T00:05:35.867" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to guess what a cat is actually thinking. But two possibilities occur to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: Petting her is a grooming behavior, and she's returning the favor. My two will often wash each other simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: The cat essentially thinks of you as &quot;mommy&quot; and at some level is trying to nurse.  Thst might explain the focus specifically on fingertips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other explanations are equally likely. Unless you can find a way to ask the cat you'll never be sure. And even then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T15:59:40.637" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T15:59:40.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7644" CreationDate="2015-02-20T02:27:46.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Initial research seems to indicate that there's no correlation between owning cats and contracting toxomoplasmosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The incidence of brain cancer appears to increase when people are exposed to &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma gondii&lt;/em&gt; (earlier studies linked higher serum antibodies in the population to higher levels of brain cancer), so &lt;a href=&quot;http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/8/6/1040&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a study was performed in the UK&lt;/a&gt; to see if cat owners had a higher rate of brain cancer than non-cat owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In total, 626 454 women aged 64 years on average at baseline were included in the analyses, among whom, 114 614 (18%) owned at least one cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidence of brain cancer was not increased in women living with a cat (RR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.62–1.24), when compared with women living with no pets. Similarly, no association was observed for all CNS tumours, or for specified glioma or meningioma (table 1). In conclusion, cat owners in a cohort of middle-aged UK women do not have an increased risk of brain cancer, when compared with non-cat owners. This, however, does not rule out the possibility that T. gondii infection from another source may be associated with brain cancer incidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's theorized that a significant source of &lt;em&gt;T. gondii&lt;/em&gt; infections may be from a source other than the cats themselves. Improperly cooked meat, unwashed vegetables and fruits, and handling contaminated soil (such as in the garden) are all known risk factors that may play a bigger role in transmitting &lt;em&gt;T. gondii&lt;/em&gt; to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T02:27:46.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-20T05:05:36.897" Score="6" ViewCount="761" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today my kitten noticed my cursor moving around on my screen, and the moment I saw that tail wiggling, face swiveling back and forth following the cursor, I predicted a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figured that by asking for a solution early, before screen-scratching becomes a habit (I have brand new monitors, and the surfaces aren't glass!) I might avoid my expensive computer monitors being injured. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to dissuade my kitten from chasing my cursor arrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T10:30:59.243" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T17:05:52.717" Title="My cat thinks my cursor arrow is a toy but my expensive LED monitor disagrees!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7664" CreationDate="2015-02-20T16:51:27.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a possible solution specific to the cursor issue, consider getting a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/#q=monitor+privacy+screen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;monitor privacy screen&lt;/a&gt; (3M is a major manufacturer of such). This will limit the directions from which the screen, and thus the cursor, can be seen. This will remove the temptation since your cat will only see the cursor if she is looking directly at the monitor... meaning she's in your lap.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think in the long, it'll be a lot easier to train your cat to not jump up on the desk then to specifically not &quot;go after the cursor&quot;. So I would focus training on that. There are plenty of articles, forum posts, and training guides on keeping a pet off of furniture. I personally favor the approach of rewarding for being on the floor rather than punishing for being on the furniture. There are some humane discouragement tools available if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider gating off the desk area so your cat cannot get close to the desk, let alone onto it. Or gate off the den/office if that is a possibility. Keep in mind wires are also very attractive to pets, especially young ones.  Plus, since you can't be there 24/7, it'll keep her (I'm assuming gender here) away from the desk when you are not around. (It only takes a second for a pet to accidentally damage something.) As she gets older (since you refer to her as a kitten) or as you train her as to where she's allowed, you may not need the gated area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2714" LastEditorUserId="2714" LastEditDate="2015-02-20T17:05:52.717" LastActivityDate="2015-02-20T17:05:52.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7751" CreationDate="2015-02-20T23:11:05.153" Score="4" ViewCount="869" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of my small dogs lick the bedspread and the couch excessively. Why and how can I deter this behavior? We haven't really tried anything except shooshing at them and placing them on the floor to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3652" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T21:15:56.800" Title="Dogs Constant Licking." Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-21T11:09:24.773" Score="6" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease it is most commonly spread in feces by household cats.&lt;/a&gt;, the related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7644&quot;&gt;What is the cat owner's risk of toxoplasmosis from cats?&lt;/a&gt; has an answer that indicates &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7644/what-is-the-cat-owners-risk-of-toxomoplasmosis-from-cats/7663#7663&quot;&gt;no correlation between owning cats and contracting toxoplasmosis.&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone with a garden and a neighbor with an outdoor cat knows that the cat is attracted to the garden for its litter box potential.  The cat owner interacts with cat feces mostly in the home litter box, where they expect it and deal with it appropriately. The garden owner interacts with cat feces by accidental discovery or even without being aware that they have come in contact with cat feces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a non-cat owner, gardener, living near outdoor (&lt;em&gt;tame or feral&lt;/em&gt;) cats have an increased risk of toxoplasmosis as compared to a person without accidental exposure to domestic cat feces? If so, what is the increased level of risk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related sister site question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/1275/is-spent-cat-litter-an-appropriate-source-of-nitrogen-for-compost&quot;&gt;Is spent cat litter an appropriate source of nitrogen for compost?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T11:51:19.653" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T11:51:19.653" Title="What is my risk of getting Toxoplasmosis from my neighbor's cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7670" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7672" CreationDate="2015-02-21T15:40:25.623" Score="2" ViewCount="6002" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit has been eating dog food for 2 weeks now. I can't explain why but I'm just wondering if it is ok for her to eat it. I have a dog kennel outside and when I let my dog out she goes in to eat the food. Is there any health concerns about her eating dog food? Should I attempt to stop her from eating dog food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2015-02-22T00:55:06.000" LastActivityDate="2020-10-22T10:12:25.973" Title="Rabbit Eating Dog Food" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7673" CreationDate="2015-02-21T17:50:16.050" Score="14" ViewCount="1968" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading answers to a question on this site about a cat being problematic on a desk, I followed advice there and gave my kitten her own space on my desk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TOPp7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I have gotten the message to her that when air-powered keyboard-duster blows, that means she's gonna get puffed if she doesn't get in that bed. Kitty doesn't like the puff, so she goes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for some reason, as shown above, she likes to lay on the desk instead sometimes. I dont really mind her there - she isn't bothering me. But when she gets up and walks on my keyboard, that does bother me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It's ok for you to lay&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;[here]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;[here]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;but not to ever step on&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;[this]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;too complicated of a message to send a cat? &lt;strong&gt;Will this be too confusing?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I strictly enforce that she stay in her bed when on the desk to avoid confusion? &lt;strong&gt;Or can a cat handle &quot;two places are OK, but the other one is not&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="3541" LastEditDate="2015-02-21T22:07:27.450" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T21:24:00.997" Title="In giving my cat a &quot;space&quot; (bed) on my desk, should I strictly enforce that she stay there only?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7670" CreationDate="2015-02-21T19:49:02.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are herbivores and should not eat food containing meat or dairy. A little is unlikely to have hurt her yet, but allowing her to have regular access to it is not good for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3655" LastEditorUserId="3655" LastEditDate="2015-02-26T02:58:05.063" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T02:58:05.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7671" CreationDate="2015-02-21T20:28:05.293" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important thing is to be as clear and consistent as possible. Keep the rules simple and the cat will learn them more quickly and reliably. When the cat starts to do the wrong thing, immediately but gently correct them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found myself using a combination of &quot;no&quot;, a hand gesture (hand held between them and the forbidden, back of hand toward them), and when necessary lifting them off the desk (if you do that you can't stay there). They picked up on this reasonably quickly ... a month or two, though they periodically check to make sure the rule hasn't changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine are allowed on the desk but may not lie on the mouse and may not cross between me and the keyboard while I'm facing it. They're allowed to ask for attention but not demand it. They spend most of their time in the Kitty condo a few feet away, where they can watch me,  look out the window, and soak up heat from the radiator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's another tip: give them good alternatives to behavior you're trying to discourage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T21:24:00.997" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T21:24:00.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-21T20:44:31.743" Score="5" ViewCount="9343" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dad regularly catches fresh water fish and the meaty slices around the ribs are always left to be thrown away - I can't help but wonder if this specific form of fish could be a healthy treat for my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1312/is-it-safe-for-my-cat-to-eat-fish/1317#1317&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; which asks &quot;Is it safe for my cat to eat fish?&quot; - while similar, this question and its answers aren't specifically about freshly caught, fresh water, raw fish without processing or preservatives, with bones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine fish are something cats would naturally eat before domestication, and I'm wondering if my cat still has the instincts and digestive system to eat raw fish and not choke on the bones.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T18:59:57.500" Title="Is it safe to feed my cat freshly caught raw fish with bones?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-22T13:38:11.977" Score="2" ViewCount="6470" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male 6 month old Siberian Husky puppy. I am in the navy and work from 5-1500 or so.  When I first got him he would pee and poop in his kennel and have no issue frolicking in it. After a few weeks he stopped doing it. I expected it considering his age and how long he was in a crate for, and did not punish him or anything. I would give him a bath and then clean his kennel. After a few weeks he stopped doing that and also stopped wasting in the house (which he was also doing when I first got him. No big I understand I have to teach him). Then we got a new dog. And basically had to start from square one because they are roughly a month apart and the new puppy made him start wasting inside the house again.  After we re-trained them both. We got into a routine. And the routine worked until recently. My husky has issues from time to time but the Australian Shepherd is totally house broken. But basically until recently Link (my husky) might piddle on the carpet and I would correct it. Now he piddles in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of this are as such:&#xA;I leave him alone in my room and he will piddle on the carpet (I believe this to be separation anxiety because he does it not only in my room but if it’s just him and the other dog in the house and I go to grab something from my truck he will do it) so I believe I know this reason. And I will be working with him to correct it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I go into the living room after just letting them inside (because they spend a lot of time outside playing) and I know for a fact he just wasted in both ways quite a bit. I’ll go into another room or turn my back on him for a few minutes and turn around and he's piddled on the hardwood. Or wasted on it. Or he has one area in the living room he constantly is peeing. Now I do clean up where he has peed. I use a combination of oxyclean and natures miracle. Hot water. And let it soak for a minute because of the carpet pad. But he always seems to do it a lot in that area.&#xA;The one I think that angers me the most is when he comes into the kitchen or the living room where I am and then looks at me and then starts peeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don’t know what else to do. I’ve tried rewarding him, I’ve tried aversive training. I just really am at my wits end. I don’t want to get rid of him. But eventually I’m going to live in an apartment not a big house. And I don’t want this to be a problem then. He also has a large tendency to chew on everything even though he has plenty of chew toys and knows what to chew on and not to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His wasting schedule is as such:&#xA;Wake up in the morning, let him out of his kennel, he goes downstairs and waits at the backdoor. I open the door. He goes outside and pee's sometimes wastes. If he doesn’t waste immediately. I call him back in. Feed him, then let him outside again. Usually he wastes then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that point on he gets let out roughly every 1-2 hours throughout the day. If he’s not outside already. When its night time towards the end of the evening. He gets fed again and same routine. Let outside right after and usually wastes and pees. I stop giving him water around this point to prevent kennel accidents. It’s usually 2-3 hours before I go to sleep at this point so I will let him outside just before sleep. He pees and then goes to his kennel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet despite a pretty flexible and yet normal schedule and routine. He will still come in and waste when I’m not looking or pee as he walks or pee after looking at me in one spot. Now if this is some cry for attention I don’t understand because he gets attention galore. We have roughly 5 or so people in my house. And they all pet and play with him. Including myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really am at my wits end. And I hate to say it but unless I find a better route. I have electronic collars on the way from amazon. They have a beep (Very loud) vibrate. And shock function. And I will train him with it if I must. I don’t like having to punish him. But he knows when he does it that it makes me angry. Because he does it right in front of me. And as soon as I say no or go to let him outside he immediately bolts from me to go hide either in his kennel or in a corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please somebody help me. This is the one and only problem I’m having with him. I can train him not to chew on things or to behave about plenty of stuff but he just will not stop wasting inside and I’m at my wits end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3662" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-22T14:34:55.677" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T23:43:41.140" Title="My 6 month old puppy is resistant to house training, how can I correct the situation?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7680" CreationDate="2015-02-22T14:04:06.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering he bolts from you and pees in front of you, it seems to me he may be doing it so you are NOT pissed off anymore!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With the behaviour of hiding from you, and the amount of people around him who pet him all the time, he may just be overwhelmed, and you are seeing submissive urination. Ad there are a lot of strategies in dog-training, I will leave you with this keyword, so you can look up the strategy that fits into your preferred training-method  :). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addition for this special case:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I just remembered your military background! So, some additional hints:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Try being aware of your body posture: standing straight up, shoulders wide, chest directly towards the puppy may intimidate him. If you do that, try standing sideways, bend down a little, in general, make yourself a bit smaller.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Something similar with your tone of voice: I would imagine that you normally use a deep, loud, carrying voice? This will be intimidating to a puppy, even if incredibly useful on a navy ship. When dealing with your puppy, adopt a more quiet, higher-pitched voice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It may be useful to know how you greet the puppy when coming home. Try to be absolutely DELIGHTED  to see him: kneel down, use a high voice. If he has already made a mess while you where away, DON'T react to that. I know that will possibly be the hardest part, but your puppy will not be able to understand that you are angry because he pooped on the floor a while ago, he will just realise &quot;The boss is angry, better appease him!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: make sure everyone on your house is on the same page at treating your puppy as you are: the more consistent and predictable the humans around him are, the easier it will be for the puppy to be calm and NOT afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure you can add any more direct training, but perhaps someone else can chime in on that :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and when you ARE angry at your puppy: try taking a mental step back from that and remind yourself of these things:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is just a puppy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He really really wants to please you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to him, you are very intimidating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and very confusing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that will work or at least help a bit :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2015-02-23T06:53:04.820" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T06:53:04.820" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-22T14:33:32.087" Score="6" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our ocelot gecko had some problem with a dusted cricket when he was very young (he vomited it for some reason) and since then he won't even look at crickets that have been dusted with calcium and vitamins. We are trying to compensate by giving him small amounts of vitamins/calcium with a little water on the tip of his nose, so that he'll lick it, a method he finds very annoying.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pretty hard time looking for something I could feed to the crickets so that they contain enough calcium and vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;. The only things I was able to find in my area are variants of dry calcium vitamins mixes for dusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any alternatives I could use to make sure that my gecko will get all of the nutrients he needs? Such as a way to feed crickets naturally? I try to feed them cheese or curd but that won't solve the vitamin issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does anybody have similar experience with a gecko rejecting dusted insects, and know of some way to make them more appealing so that he'll start eating them again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3663" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:47:20.317" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:47:20.317" Title="How can I provide supplements to an ocelot gecko who won't eat dusted crickets?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7686" CreationDate="2015-02-22T14:44:49.473" Score="2" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;My normal morning routine is to make some eggs and coffee, and browse the internet while eating my eggs and drinking my coffee. After finishing my eggs but before finishing my coffee, I'll put my plate to the side on my desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Romeo has developed a habit of jumping up on the desk immediately to lick my plate for any egg remnants. He loves eggs I guess. I put him back on the floor, but he just jumps back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious solution is to take my plate downstairs but I haven't finished my coffee yet! Is there an aversive (I was thinking hot sauce) that I could put on my plate to get him to stop this behavior? Obviously I don't want it to be HARMFUL but I do want it to be unpleasant. Also it should wash off in the dishwasher for the next time I use the plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T18:44:06.727" Title="Can I use an aversive to keep my cat from licking my plate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-22T15:41:04.277" Score="2" ViewCount="1099" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spray bottles have some downsides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Obviously, they get things wet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They make no sound so &quot;warning&quot; is impossible unless the cat notices you pick up the bottle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They get things wet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a better alternative to the spray bottle?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I ask this question purely to educate, I found a much better and more effective solution) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T16:48:17.977" Title="What's better than a spray bottle for negative reinforcement of a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2015-02-24T23:51:58.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7684" CreationDate="2015-02-22T15:45:51.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;This thing.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/27Z2E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The air spray duster is amazing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warn.&lt;/strong&gt; Puff in the air, say &quot;No.&quot;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Worked?&lt;/strong&gt; If not -&gt; Puff cat, say &quot;NO&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;three times&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; actually puffing the cat and now &quot;No&quot; is an instant &quot;Stop what I'm doing&quot; and when on the desk &quot;Get in my bed&quot; (I placed one on my desk behind the monitors where the cat would feel safe from the air spray) - &lt;strong&gt;Very effective, and no water mess.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; You shouldn't have to go further than a warn many times, but always hold the can right side up when spraying,  and &lt;strong&gt;do not aim at the eyes or face.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very cold liquid can come out if the can is used incorrectly, and the back of the container warns that this &quot;can cause frostbite&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="3541" LastEditDate="2015-02-22T16:48:17.977" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T16:48:17.977" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7683" CreationDate="2015-02-22T17:30:21.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have permission to relay this exchange, and will definitely be trying this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/liopleurodonic/status/569522994063790080&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RdSp0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-22T17:30:21.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T03:18:31.527" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I just got an aquarium a couple months ago, and I put some platys in there, one of them is pregnant, I'm really not sure when she will give birth, and since I have school I can't really be there the whole time to see how she's doing, and I want to know if now is a good time to put her in the breeder box, her abdomen is pretty black, and she's fat, any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3665" LastEditorUserId="3665" LastEditDate="2015-02-23T12:25:14.627" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T12:25:14.627" Title="my platy is pregnant, when will she give birth?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-02-23T19:34:20.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-23T06:36:14.217" Score="8" ViewCount="2459" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat, part Siamese, becomes cross-eyed only after she'd been running, jumping, etc. This lasts about 10 minutes, and then her eyes are back to normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The change between these two states is quite severe, as normally she is not cross-eyed at all, but then when she's tired from heavy running, her face is unrecognizable due to her cross-eyeing. While she's cross-eyed, it does not affect her sight, balance, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious if anyone knows what this is all about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3666" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:37:54.310" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:37:54.310" Title="Cat becomes cross-eyed only after rigorous exercise/play. Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7847" CreationDate="2015-02-23T10:11:41.290" Score="6" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two fire bellied newts. They have both recently left the water. When they had gills and spent most of their time in the water they fed well and daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now they have left the water I find it difficult to get them to feed, I have to dangle their white worms in front of them for minutes, sometimes they don't eat at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this expected behaviour for newts that have just left the water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T23:26:57.870" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T23:26:57.870" Title="Why aren't my newts eagerly eating anymore?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20681" CreationDate="2015-02-23T16:38:50.247" Score="2" ViewCount="1907" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently moved from a condo to a newly built house. Ever since we moved in, our dog (10 months female spanador) wakes up in her cage every morning between 6h30 and 7h00 and cries, and even barks very loudly, until we go down and let her out of her cage. At our condo she always kept quiet until there was some movement, which sometimes meant until 8h30 or 9h00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her cage is located in the basement and our bedroom is on the second floor. At first, I thought it was because we didn't have any curtains on our basement windows, and the early light woke her up, but since then we blocked them all, so there's really no daylight getting in the basement, and it didn't really change anything in her behavior. So I'm assuming she's feeling insecure not to feel us nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're using the same cage we had at the condo, and put in the same blankets she always had with her in the cage. I tried putting in some of her toys too, but to no avail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to make her stop crying and barking? Moving the cage to a different floor is not a solution we'd like to go for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3676" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T13:24:07.097" Title="Dog is crying and barking every morning since we moved in a new house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7674" CreationDate="2015-02-23T18:59:57.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some accounts of people feeding whole fish to their cats and dogs in the raw feeding community (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rawlearning.com/fish.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one example&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rawfedcats.org/practicalguide.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second example&lt;/a&gt;). Also note that they pretty clearly warn never to feed COOKED bones (of any animal) to your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest starting cautiously if you were to try it, aware that there is some risk. Start with smaller fish (that your cat can eat whole or in a few bites). Those bones should be small/soft enough that I would not suspect a problem. Do it at a time when you can observe your cat for several hours or a day (perhaps you're planning to stay at home and watch a movie marathon and kitty likes to snuggle on the couch!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T18:59:57.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7640" CreationDate="2015-02-23T20:32:01.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've personally had this problem with my turtle when I moved him to a tank during a storm, he's been outside alone in his outdoor enclosure with no reflection so he didn't react the best he could to his reflection. He wasn't particularly aggressive, but he did occasionally run into the glass and it probably was stressing him out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you do is give him time, sometimes all it takes is a few days. If this problem persists then you have a few options which are rather partial solutions. First of all, make sure the room he is in is well lit, and his enclosure isn't too bright. This is somewhat hard because he does require basking lights, so what you can do is somewhat surround his basking area with plants or logs that will hinder the light from hitting the glass and cause a reflection. Keeping the glass terrarium near a bright wall will also help. If all this doesn't work, add some ornament bulk around the edges, in a way you can still see him of course. And finally you can go for covering 1-3 of the sides with the paper made for aquariums. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know these are mainly the ways you can minimize his reflection. You may have to take all measures to make him settle, but hopefully you won't. I could see how such a situation could be stressful as whenever he tries to exert dominance the &quot;other dragon&quot; will be equally dominant, and if he backs off, the other will too, which will entice him to exert dominance again, and so on. Fortunately, reptiles, though thought of as unintelligent, are great learners and can recognise a pattern and act accordingly, so there's hope he'll simply settle with time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastActivityDate="2015-02-23T20:32:01.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-24T07:29:31.283" Score="3" ViewCount="4334" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kennel training is driving me crazy. I have read article after article on the subject and I have a few unanswered questions. For example, I see a LOT of people saying that you need to take your puppy outside after playing, eating, napping, etc. so when exactly are they NOT outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like everyone's answers are to have your puppy outside to pee 24/7 so that is really confusing to me. Also, my 8 week old puppy (who I have been trying to kennel train for a little over a week) does go to the bathroom in her kennel. She pees in it. By the way she is a chiweenie pup... very clingy and in my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, I put her in the kennel with a blanket over it and she cried a lot, but eventually fell asleep. So when she woke up whining I figured I should take her to potty, since she had just been sleeping and that's a suggestion for when to take them out, right? It seemed OK, but she was also peeing in her kennel, even though she would go outside too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she seems to have learned that if she cries, I'll take her outside and she cries every hour. How am I supposed to know when to take her out and when she is just trying to get out of her kennel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next thing I'm really frustrated about is that I HAVE to be outside with her. She won't eat, drink, use the bathroom or play if I'm not out there with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When will she (if ever) feel comfortable enough with being outside alone to do these things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when I sit outside with her while she runs around, mostly she just wants to sit on my lap instead of doing her business. She is so insanely clingy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love my puppy and I'm not trying to complain or make anyone think I'm not really trying, but I also believe that a dog is a dog, and not a child; and shouldn't be treated like a helpless baby all the time. Many dogs never get to go in their owners' houses and are still good, loving dogs. I'm just so frustrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain crate training to me better? Not just to take the puppy outside after eating, drinking, playing, chewing, training, sleeping, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3679" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T17:19:30.680" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T17:19:30.680" Title="I don't understand crate training. What am I missing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7334" CreationDate="2015-02-24T09:25:43.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While not an especially scientific test I often cook using generous amounts of star anise and have never noticed our dog taking any particular notice of it. Since reading your question on one occasion I left a small amount of warm broth with quite a large amount of star anise and on other occasion left a small bowl with a whole star anise steeping in warm water near him but just out of reach. On both occasions apart from the initial interest in what I was doing he didn't seem to pay any particular attention to them and certainly wasn't trying to get at the bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read with interest Dalton's comment about using it to train dogs for scent detection for amateur competitions. Something similar I found at &lt;a href=&quot;https://k9detectionsportsassociation.wordpress.com/category/training-for-detection-play/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Training for detection play&lt;/a&gt; which seems to be aimed at being accessible to everyone says the following in recommending a particular scent kit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The kit contains 3 scents.  Birch, Anise, and Clove.  They are very distinctive essential oil scents, and the dogs take to them quickly.  The watertight box also contains scent holders (Q-tips) 3 eye droppers and a single aluminium scent holder.  This is the quickest way to get the proper scents, and the cheapest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While star anise and anise are different they do share a strong and distinctive scent that I find easy to detect with my less sensitive human nose. I'd guess that dogs don't have any natural affinity with star anise; it's simply a cheap and affordable scent to train them with and something likely to be easily distinguished in most environments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T09:25:43.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7699" CreationDate="2015-02-24T09:36:03.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may edit when you have answered the questions in the comment. A start from what I gather from your post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You puppy well may be clingy because she was separated too early. 8 weeks should be minimum, 12 weeks are better.. but that is a whole different matter, I am just mentioning it because you said she is very clingy :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the crate: Restart!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the kennel can be moved, move it somewhere else, at least change the interior if you can, that should make it easier. Then: encourage the puppy to enter by herself. Put in some food, or give her a treat when she is in.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;During this training, be calm. You want her to relax in there, so she should be in a relaxed mood.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At first, do NOT close the door. Once she is comfortable, close the door for a bit, then open it again, &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; she wants out. It is not a place where she has to be, it is her happy, relaxed, napping place.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to take her out for peeing is, at least in my opinion (dog training seems to me a matter where 3 experts have 4 opinions!), a different question. First, you make her happy with her crate, then you move on to &quot;potty-training&quot;. Separating these two in your mind may make things easier and more manageable for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best for you and your puppy, and no matter how frustrating it is: always focus on the positives in training. It will help both you (because you see the improvement) and your dog (positive reinforcement is a great tool).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T09:36:03.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7699" CreationDate="2015-02-24T11:05:53.903" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old Springer Spaniel, so a few months ago, I was in your position, and going a bit nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understood the purpose of crate training as being to only allow the dog to go toilet outside. In my experience, it is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve this at 8 weeks. Dogs at that age can only hold in their bladders for approximately 2 hours. I was up all night with her whimpering and taking her outside and then trying to get her to settle and go back to sleep, and it was REALLY stressful and tiring. As you say: how do you know if she's crying because she needs to go wee, or whether she's just crying because she wants some attention, which you should ignore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution was to split her crate into two: one half a toilet area and the other half a bed. (Obviously you need a crate big enough for this). We used cardboard boxes from the supermarket (which were remarkably exactly half the size of the crate) with a puppy training pad in it for the toilet (you could use newspaper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in place, the whimpering started to stop at night, and she'd do her business in the box. We could feel comfortable ignoring the whimpering now because we knew she could go to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day, we would take her outside at all of the recommended times: after eating/ play session etc etc - (i.e. every couple of hours) and make a HUGE deal when she went to the toilet, giving her a good treat and saying either the words &quot;Wee Wee&quot; or &quot;Poo Poo&quot; so that she makes a connection. This process only took about 1-2 weeks before she would go to the door and bark when she needed the toilet. If we come back home to her and say &quot;Do you want wee wee's?&quot; she'll go to the back door. Admittedly, she is a VERY smart dog, so yours might take longer depending on breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As she got older and her bladder developed (around 4 months/16 weeks old) she no longer used the toilet in her crate at night. So we removed it and made the crate a big bed. This was good timing as she was becoming too big for only half the crate as a bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice: do not try to get your dog to only go outside at this age. Its too much to expect and you'll go mad trying to deal with her at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3680" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T11:05:53.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2015-02-24T14:01:26.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over time, if you do it a little at a time and start out by petting the paws with one finger, rather than hold them, they will end up loving it.  My cat and I &quot;hold paws&quot; all the time now.  They love when I pet their little paw pads, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3682" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T14:01:26.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2179" CreationDate="2015-02-24T14:08:04.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like everything else cat-related, you gotta go gradually, and on their terms.  You can sense when they begin to get uncomfortable after you pick them up.  At that point put them gently down and talk to them in a nice voice they like. Once they know that the can leave whenever they want, they will be more likely to focus on the good things about being held--seeing more from up high, being warm and close and petted, etc.  My shy (formerly feral) cat is letting me hold him for longer and longer periods of time as he grows to trust me and want loveies more than he wants an escape route. He also now gets on my lap when I'm in a chair and lies down on top of me sometimes when I'm lying in bed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cat would like to be held like a baby 24/7 and lets me do &quot;raspberries&quot; on his tummy.  Like us, they are all different. Be patient, and you will be rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3682" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T14:08:04.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1856" CreationDate="2015-02-24T14:32:17.837" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use Seachem Flourish Excel at 1.5X for a week and then at the recommended strength until it's gone.  All up, about 2 weeks. I have had two outcomes from this method.&#xA;1. The algae disappears or is reduced to pin head sized dots on some of the plants.&#xA;2. The algae goes from black to blonde and then molts.&#xA;I don't know what factors have influenced these quite different outcomes.&#xA;Good Luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3683" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T14:32:17.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7713" CreationDate="2015-02-24T16:41:03.870" Score="1" ViewCount="4531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love my cat. Her name is Butti (means short by height).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday she bit my hand and I don't know why. My doctor told me to start course that includes 5 injections and now I'm having second thoughts about keeping my cat. I'm wondering if the best thing for me to do is to abandon my cat. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3684" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-24T18:02:02.000" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T18:27:49.353" Title="My cat bit me, should I abandon her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-24T17:03:33.163" Score="8" ViewCount="7055" Body="&lt;p&gt;When keeping pets that live in terrariums or aquariums, it's common to consider the minimum amount of space they need in their enclosure in order for the animal to be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there was a similar kind of guideline for cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did find it mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cfainc.org/Breeders/Catteries/CatteryStandards.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Cat Fancier's Association website&lt;/a&gt; that their minimum size of a cattery for a single, 4 pound, cat is 30 square feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a guideline for how much space a cat needs to have if keeping them in a house/apartment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-02T05:15:55.370" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T05:15:55.370" Title="How much space do cats need when living indoors?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7708" CreationDate="2015-02-24T17:22:08.590" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't know why she bit you, why do you think you need to do anything? It's a serious point - animals bite for a variety of reasons.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referring to: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-cat-bite-me-when-i-pet-her&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-cat-bite-me-when-i-pet-her&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;status aggression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;neurological stimulus from being petted too long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unhappy about what you're doing, but not communicating it effectively until the 'final stage'. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2ndchance.info/aggressivecat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.2ndchance.info/aggressivecat.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;medical/pain response. Is there any chance your cat is suffering pain, and your interaction caused more? Because that's a good source of 'getting bitten' &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'd suggest that 'getting rid' of your cat is a last resort, not a first one. After you've identified why it's happening, and that it's not possible to remedy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-02-25T12:30:26.970" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T12:30:26.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6564" CreationDate="2015-02-24T21:10:37.107" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a marine biologist and have inadvertently done this experiment with toxicology tests on fish.  Distilled water alone in a very clean container will kill fish quickly.  It's not the lack of minerals directly.  It's the fact that salts in the fish's blood will rapidly diffuse out into the distilled water.  This leads to neurological problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use distilled water I'd make sure to add some solutes before dumping a fish in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect for water changes it's not as big a deal.  I'm lucky in that tap water where I live is fairly high quality so I wouldn't consider DI or RO water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3686" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T21:10:37.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2015-02-24T22:38:41.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You're doing &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; to me?&quot; ... Think of it as being ticklish. The cat doesn't know whether you're offering foot massage, are about to clip its claws, or are just being weird, and nobody likes not knowing what's going on and how they should react. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With patience you can convince many cats to accept this, if you give them clear signals that you're just grooming their feet. Expect it to be a multi-year campaign, unless you're willing to resort to bribery (treat training). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I acclimate my cats to this, to having their ears examined, and to a few other indignities as caresses quite deliberately, so they'll be more tolerant when I need to examine or treat them medically. I &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; put tooth-cleaning and examination on that list too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T22:38:41.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7708" CreationDate="2015-02-24T23:30:19.307" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question doesn't clearly state the reason why your doctor prescribed the injections. I'm aware of two possibilities: one could be a particularly bad infection that you have, and the second could be in case your cat has rabies, since rabies is so common in India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you have an infection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Infections from cat bites are pretty common and if not treated quickly can land you in serious trouble. However, they are generally treatable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you first get the bite, you should cleanse the wound in an antiseptic solution (I don't know what is available to you in India) or soap and hot water. Since cat bites are commonly puncture wounds, you should massage the area to make sure that the antiseptic is able to penetrate deeply into the wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every few hours, repeat this washing and massaging procedure. Since this is a puncture wound, you do not want the skin to the &quot;top&quot; to heal before the &quot;bottom&quot; of the wound (the part in your hand) so keep massaging it. You can also soak the wound in clean (boiled) water if it's at a location that is convenient (I've gotten most of my cat bites in my hands, so it's easy to soak).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your doctor is concerned about rabies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's common practice in India to treat ANY dog or cat bite as a potential rabies source (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabies.org.in/rabies-journal/rabies-07/guidelines.htm&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). The animals cannot be tested for rabies without killing them, but if the animal does have rabies and the person is not treated immediately it can be fatal. The doctors would rather give you injections that you don't need than have you die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FORTUNATELY, there's a simple way to never have to worry about this concern with your cat! You don't have to abandon your cat, you just need to take her to a veterinarian and get a rabies vaccine. As long as you keep the vaccine current (get it redone following your veterinarian's instructions, which can vary from 1-3 years), your cat cannot get rabies and cannot pass it along to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bites Happen&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without more details, we can't really begin to offer suggestions about why your cat bit you or how to prevent it happening again. Most of my bites have happened when I was handling my cat too rough (usually when trying to give her medicine) and I accepted that she was using the language she has to tell me to back off. Learn the to understand the cat's language (ear position, tail position, whisker position) and you'll be able to avoid bites because she will tell you to leave her alone by lashing her tail or laying her ears back BEFORE she bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-24T23:30:19.307" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-24T23:39:52.113" Score="4" ViewCount="1794" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat suddenly bit me! Was my cat giving me any warning signs that I could have looked for? What should I do when I see those warning signs next time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T21:58:21.587" Title="What are the warning signs that my cat is about to bite?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1524" CreationDate="2015-02-25T00:27:09.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for clarifying what betta you want. Last time didn't turn out so well. Anyhow it seems that my research would go along with the 4 rules that I have posted below. I can't tell you if you should have left one betta instead of two because I'd think that you would have had to do more than just one of it. But no you shouldn't have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not colorful or resemble a rival colors (guppies)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not a fin nipper (Tiger barbs are a big NO)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The right size for the size of the tank (No common plecos in a 10 gallon tank since they get to 2 feet in length)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lives roughly in the same water conditions. (no brackish/saltwater fish)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ghost/Red Cherry shrimp Although most ghost shrimp are sold as live&#xA;  food for larger fish such as chiclids, they make great pets and&#xA;  tankmates. Additionally, because their bodies are entirley clear,&#xA;  bettas have a hard time seeing them so they cause any harm. Red cherry&#xA;  shrimp, my favorite invertebrae, is also great tankmate for many&#xA;  reasons. Because they only get up to an inch long, they produce very&#xA;  little to no waste meaning you can have 10 shrimp per gallon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cories (Corydoras Catfish) Cories (panda, dwarf, albino, etc) are&#xA;  another great choice for a betta tank. Because cories are bottom&#xA;  feeders while bettas swim at the top levels of the tank, there will&#xA;  rarely be any confrontations regarding territory. Additionally, cories&#xA;  are a peaceful bottom feeder, unlike chinese algae eaters which don't&#xA;  even eat algae but instead on the slime coat of its tankmates.&#xA;  However, cories do best in groups of 4 more so at least 10 gallons is&#xA;  necessary. But with a group, you can enjoy the interactions of a&#xA;  schooling group of fish. Loaches loaches are bottom feeders and&#xA;  basically look like a bigger version of cories. Thus, a larger tank is&#xA;  necessary. In fact some loaches can get as big as 16&quot; (clown loach).&#xA;  However, all types of loaches are peaceful. Otocinclus Catfish&#xA;  Photobucket Otocinclus Catfish, or otos for short, have similar needs&#xA;  as cories but are much more harder to acclimate since mainly because&#xA;  most of them are caught from the wild and have not been bred in an&#xA;  aquarium environment. This causes them to be sensitive to any change&#xA;  in water conditions. However, once your oto survive the first 1-2&#xA;  weeks, he'll live for a long time provided that the water remains&#xA;  stable and clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;White Cloud Mountain Minnows White clouds are similar to neon tetras&#xA;  in size and coloration but are more peaceful, hardy, and enjoy cooler&#xA;  water. Their temperature range is between 68-78 degrees but can&#xA;  survive in the 50 degree range. Their hardiness makes them an&#xA;  excellent fish for a beginner and their temperment makes them a great&#xA;  tankmate for a betta. However, the temperature of the aquarium would&#xA;  need to be in the upper 70's (78F) to accomodate the bettas needs and&#xA;  the white cloud's needs. Additionally, similar to the red cherry&#xA;  shrimp, white clouds are easy to breed and are believed to not eat&#xA;  their young. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bettacare101.com/tankmates2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-15T12:18:17.920" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T12:18:17.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7709" CreationDate="2015-02-25T04:43:57.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends in large part on the complexity of the environment. If the cat has lots of corners to explore and interesting paths to take between them, most spaces that aren't claustrophobic for humans will be okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned, you can let the cat use more vertical space by setting up shelf systems or furniture to give them climbing paths; there are some systems marketed for the purpose but you could probably look at catalogs for those and figure out a homebrew version. Mine found their own routes to the tops of a bookcase and file cabinet in my office ... This also gives them a bit more opportunity to exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T04:43:57.190" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-25T11:34:44.140" Score="3" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope I am in the right place...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am considering getting two cats, and am planning what changes by apartment would need for them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am living on the third floor, and in summer, while home, my windows are basically open all the time. I have a flyscreen velcroed against the window to keep bugs out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am absolutely sure this will NOT hold a cat if it pushes against it... and the drop BEHIND it it really high. I would actually feel better about a cat if there was no flyscreen at all, because the cat would not be tempted to push or jump against something that looks kind of climbable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any experience if the flyscreen on a window like that would be a problem? Or should I find another bug-protection... or can a cat-protection be added?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The windows open to the inside, awesome for cleaning, but it mean I'd have a hard time blocking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-25T14:50:35.183" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T00:39:55.490" Title="Safety for Cats: fly-screen?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7699" CreationDate="2015-02-25T14:38:49.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of ways you can go about crate training/house training and there is a lot of advice out there. I can understand how it would be confusing. So lets start with the purpose of doing this training. Ideally, you'll want you dog to only use the bathroom outside of your home. You'd also like to be able to close her in her kennel at night, so that she isn't roaming around tearing things up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, how do we go about this and what are our challenges? A major challenge is that your dog is still a puppy and it hasn't developed the musculature to physically hold it's eliminations. Animals don't evacuate before birth. They have a thick waste called meconium. They evacuate this after they are born and from that point on, they have to work the muscles responsible for preventing them from using the bathroom. So think of it as if you started working out and someone who had been doing it for a long time started giving you a hard time. It's not fair to expect them to hold it for long periods of time, especially for several weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving forward under that assumption, we have to determine whether we want to crate training and potting training to be together or separate. I'd opt for separate as there is a lot of frustration involved with potty training and you don't want those feelings to leak over and be associated with the crate. I would advise you to purchase and exercise pen and put the crate inside of it or tie the panels to the edge of the kennel. Put all of that on an easily cleanable surface and put puppy pads in the exercise pen. By doing this, you'll allow her to sleep and have good associations with the kennel and also have a place to go if she absolutely can't hold it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked when the dog wasn't outside and the answer is as rarely as possible. Again, it's building an association. We're going into this with the knowledge that there are absolutely going to be accidents. We just want to limit them. Think of it like a scale. Every time you dog potties in the house, you put a marble on the left scale, every time it goes outside, you put one in the right scale, and when the right scale touches the table, she's potty trained. Something else to keep in mind is that the marbles get lighter as time goes on. By that I mean that whatever she does the most of when she's little is what she'll remember most strongly, so if she goes inside a lot as a puppy, she's more likely going to have accidents as an adult. That's why you want to go out as much as possible, and all the triggers you mentioned are excellent. Those are when the dog is most likely to go to the bathroom, the same as most people need to go when they get up first thing in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how to actually potty train. Basically, you provide as many opportunities to go outside as possible. If you catch her going inside, try to get her outside. Clean all inside messes with a product specifically designed to eliminate the smell, as dogs naturally want to go where they've been before. Don't leave her loose unsupervised in the house. You can put her in the exercise pen when you can't watch her. Most importantly, don't scold her. It does no good and can damage your relationship. At most, if I catch one trying to go inside, I say &quot;no&quot; in a calm voice, and take them outside. If they keep having &quot;accidents&quot; I reduce their roaming space. You may let her have the run of the house and her not have any accidents for a while, then have to reduce her space back to one room, because she starts going in the other room. It's give and take, you can expect a little back sliding from time to time. That's about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for crate training, I think this method benefits it. Everyone says to take crate training slow and shut the door for seconds and build on that, but everyone also says to shut them inside it all night the first night and ignore their whining. This is the best of both worlds. You can slowly build the time the dog is shut in, yet still have a place where she can potty appropriately in an emergency. This will let you completely ignore any whining she does with out it grinding on your nerves or feelings. It's crucial that you don't let your dog out if she's whining and bouncing around, because just like training any other behavior, she'll learn. If she bounces and whines and you let her out, she thinks that's the behavior that gets her out, just the same as she believes sitting gets her a treat. If I go to open the cage and the dog is whining, I'll walk away and come back in 5min. I'll repeat as long as necessary. Giving your dog something calming to do, like chewing a rawhide, versus a squeaky toy, which would wind her up. These kinds of things teach her to want to be in there. A kennel is not a place to lock your dog away, it's a place where she can go that's just hers, like her bedroom. She isn't bothered or harassed there, she can just be in peace. You want to make it the same as you going to bed at night to rest, not like sending a child to time out in their room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, for the clinging, you just have to find a way to not feel like a bad person and put her down off of you and ignore her. It might pull at your heart strings and she may whine and bark, but you need to ignore it the same as with the kennel. It's for a long term benefit. She'll knock it off and start becoming more confident eventually. You should also slowly build her confidence by introducing stimulus and letting her become accustomed to it. Don't take her to petsmart the first week. Bring home some junk from the dollar store that she might not be comfortable with, like balloons and other junk. Remember, that just like with potty training, early development sticks, so if you let her do a lot of bad habits because she's a puppy and will grow out of them, then they'll be the most ingrained behavior. I don't expect anything close to perfection, but I do start behaviors and build on them, like sitting before I put food down, letting me go through a door first, not going inside or outside through a door without an invitation, etc... If you start excellent behaviors and build on them, you'll have a really good dog and the inverse is true as well. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-25T14:38:49.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7714" CreationDate="2015-02-25T15:06:22.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats just tend to be buttholes. The best method I've found for dealing with a cat is to ask permission and wait for a response. Sometimes I ignore the response, but I do so at my own risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an example, when I was living at home we had a scrappy little tuxedo cat that frequently whipped up on the dogs and anything that came in the yard. My brother would always aggravate him. He'd grab his tail and hold it (not pulling on it, just holding), he'd wait till he'd just cleaned himself and then touch him there, and there was more than once where he'd jump in front of the cat when he was walking down the hall and say he couldn't go past without the password. More than once, we'd see him run backwards yelling with the cat dragging along and his claws hooked into his sock or ankle. He now goes out of his way to bite and scratch my brother, even when unprovoked. He would get off my bed and go in my brother's room to throw up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I on the other hand always put an arm and hand down (I later found out that a vertical arm simulates a raised tail, which is a friendly greeting to a cat) and let him come to me. I'd then scratch the parts he liked and when he gave me any sign he was done, I'd quit. I also made my room off limits to my brother. He wasn't allowed to acknowledge the cat existed when he was in my room. As a consequence, when he and my brother were fighting, he'd run through the crack of my door and turn around to glare at my brother, daring him to come in. I had to pound him twice for ignoring the rules. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, it's a process. If you look for clues from your cat as to what he wants and then abide by it, he'll start offering you those signs, the same as he'll meow to get food you're eating, or come running whenever he hears a can open. On the other hand if you don't listen to them, he'll stop showing them and just start attacking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat is different and you may develop your own signs. However, signs my cat gives me are plaintive meows, which are warnings, putting a paw on the hand I'm scratching him with is a more serious warning. Finally, he may pop my hand or nip me. However, it's more like a play bite as it doesn't break the skin. I don't really correct this unless he gets too enthusiastic. If he really bears down, I'll pop his butt or start clapping my hands to chase him off, but because I listen to him, I've only done that once or twice in his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not see any signs at first, but if you keep looking for them, keep asking for permission, and keep waiting for a response. They'll develop or you'll begin to recognize them. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T13:52:31.550" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:52:31.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7714" CreationDate="2015-02-25T15:53:01.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember to distinguish between grab, nip (&quot;stop that&quot;) and bite (&quot;dammit, stop thay &lt;em&gt;NOW&lt;/em&gt;&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply grabbing your hand may not mean anything more than if you grabbed your sibling's hand; it can range from play to a mildly serious rebuke depending on contex. (I've known cats that liked to gently chew on fingertips as a kind of affectionate play-fighting, when they could find a human who understood that game, just as they might gently chew another cat's ear.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nip (putting a moderate amount of pressure behind it, and usually done more suddenly) is a protest. &quot;Cut it out, I mean it this time.&quot; It isn't an attack, but it's a serious objection.  It may mean the cat is overstimulated and wants time to recover.  It may mean the cat just isn't in the mood for that kind of attention,  or doesn't trust you enough. Remember that exposed belly doesn't actually mean &quot;rub belly' unless the cat knows you very well -- it's more a statement of &quot;I trust you won't take advantage of my vulnerable pose&quot;, and the cat may be justifiably annoyed if it thinks you're violating that trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were actually &lt;em&gt;BITTEN&lt;/em&gt;, something is wrong. Either you did something the cat really felt threatened by, or the cat has other reasons for being unhappy (such as illness) and you were just one more thing than it could deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll learn the difference, and how to read the cat's moods, over time if you pay attention...  just as it will learn to read your moods. It's a first-contact situation,  two alien life forms trying to figure each other out, and understanding takes time and will never be perfect.  Practice makes better.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-02-26T04:28:56.447" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T04:28:56.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-25T19:16:00.103" Score="2" ViewCount="1816" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if it is required to purify distilled water when changing the water in my betta fishes tank? or is that only necessary when using tap water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3690" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-02-28T10:44:56.217" LastActivityDate="2015-02-28T10:44:56.217" Title="Does distilled water need to be purified?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7629" CreationDate="2015-02-26T04:14:13.967" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my husband and I moved from Brooklyn back to the Seattle area, we had to arrange for our two hairless cats to be driven across country for 3 days in a small SUV. One of the cats has anxiety, but they are both pretty social and adapt easily to their surroundings. We had the vet prescribe a sedative for the drive and my husband administered it to them regularly. We had a litter box in the back of the SUV and put the seats down so that they could easily roam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time they reached Washington, they seemed to be on edge (as expected) but were fine by the next morning. I would say, as long as you talk to your vet ahead of time and the cats are healthy, that this shouldn't be an issue. Both of my cats were around 2 years old and have only lived indoors with each other. Outside of the occasional trip to the vet, they have lived in the same studio apartment their entire lives. If you're okay with it, I would highly recommend getting a sedative (at least just in case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3692" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T22:00:40.403" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T22:00:40.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7722" CreationDate="2015-02-26T04:56:47.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Distillation is a purification process by definition, so no, you don't need to purify it. What you do need to do is add back into distilled water some of what was removed by distillation if it is the only source of water in your tank. There are supplements for this purpose, a good store with solid fish knowledge can help you there, but I don't think it's really a good idea to go with just distilled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really probably better to look at distilled water for the purpose of tank top-up as a result of evaporation. The evaporated water is pure (this is actually how distillation works) and so the original mineral contents of the water remain behind. What that means is that adding in distilled water will maintain a consistent mineral content because the distilled water is not increasing it. Just give it a few hours exposed to pick up some additional oxygen or aerate it at bit, it will be lacking there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T04:56:47.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7729" CreationDate="2015-02-26T16:58:01.407" Score="3" ViewCount="3657" Body="&lt;p&gt;In October 2014 we adopted a kitten who is now 5 months old.  She keeps jumping onto the table and kitchen counters. There is no food or 'interesting' objects on the surfaces ~ we think she is simply curious. We have provided cat towers for her and plenty of play toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have employed the following training methods:  Water Spray-Bottle while saying 'NO', objects on the edge of the surfaces that have vinyl spikes in them for discomfort when she jumps onto them, tin cans lined up at the edge to make noise.  NOTHING has worked, and she turns right around and repeats her behavior almost immediately. We are aware of noise-making devices that can be purchased, but we have employed methods that make a lot of clatter when she jumps up ~ it only scares her for the moment. (Most of the methods I have used I read about online ~ There are no Cat Behaviorists in our immediate area).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3466" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T19:37:34.483" Title="How can I train my 5 month old cat to not jump onto table and counters?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2015-02-26T18:10:15.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a very similar question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/281/how-can-i-train-my-cat-to-not-jump-on-the-kitchen-counters&quot;&gt;How can I train my cat to not jump on the kitchen counters?&lt;/a&gt;, but as you mention, you've tried common methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are more likely to go on the counters when they are hungry or bored. Make sure those are taken care of- it's more difficult when you put the cat on a diet, but that usually isn't a problem in the kitten/young cat stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've brought up several cats. One was.. problematic. I love him partly because he has a strong personality. With that cat, we tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;double-sided tape on the counters. would jump past several rows of tape (or directly on it) and lick it. He still loves the taste of packing tape.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foil on the counters. Would jump past it or onto it and then saunter past. Covering the entire counter was problematic for us humans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fishing line, in many rows, as a &quot;fence&quot;. Would jump through 1&quot; (20mm) gaps or jump over 5-6 rows (6&quot; / 12cm).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;coins in an aluminum soda can. We shook it until the aluminum was weakening and splitting from the coins. He'd jump down whenever we reached for the can but would jump up, especially if none of us were monitoring him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;motion alarms&quot; on the countertops. These were super-sensitive- they would scream when we were walking near the counter, but he was able to jump onto the counters lightly enough to avoid tripping them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spray bottle. Similar to the above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;throwing things at him. I tried to keep small objects nearby, but it was based on me being in the room to observe him and on the accuracy of my throw. So it was a big fail.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yelling/clapping. I still use this (&quot;HEY!&quot; in a stern voice) and it brings instant shame to a somewhat-trained cat. But it didn't &quot;set&quot; the behavior in this young and headstrong cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;em&gt;last resort&lt;/em&gt; was to use an electric training collar, like the &quot;invisible fence&quot; dog collars. I think we used the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsafe.net/support/pet-proofing/pawz-away-indoor-pet-barrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pawz Away barrier collar&lt;/a&gt;. It had little radios that look like a smoke detector- two, on a low setting, covered our counters without affecting the normal path of the cat. We used the collar on ourselves before on the cat- when you got near, it would beep and then zap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took perhaps a month for the cat to learn. We had to adjust the radio levels and the tightness of the collar, as a too-loose collar wouldn't contact him for the zap. But after a month he quit going on the counter several times during the day and night. We had to do a retraining session perhaps two months later. He is eight now and still behaves that rule (with a few exceptions per year.. we've learned not to leave cream cheese frosting out!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel great about using a training collar on a cat, especially an indoor cat. I'm a little ashamed about it. However, &lt;em&gt;it worked&lt;/em&gt; after trying many different options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(in retrospect, naming him &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_Named_Sue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A Boy Named Sue&lt;/a&gt;&quot; might have been my first mistake)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T18:10:15.427" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7735" CreationDate="2015-02-26T18:28:57.057" Score="7" ViewCount="2101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a kitten who is cross-eyed. She seems to compensate for it pretty well as she is able to jump onto things without problems most of the time, and I think she will get even better over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I was wondering last night, how it might affect her night vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep the litter boxes in the basement, because it's tile and easier to clean the litter that will kick out of the box while the cats are digging. It hasn't been a problem for my other two cats, I have nightlights plugged into the outlets running from the stairs to the litter boxes so that there's always some light along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I've just left the downstairs light on, because I didn't want her to trip and fall down the stairs trying to make it during the middle of the night. But that's not really something I can do all the time, because I have a chinchilla downstairs that will be bothered by having too much light at night (they're nocturnal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there was anything to show that cats with cross-eyes see differently in the dark, in case I need to create a better pathway for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-02-26T18:38:03.283" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T00:20:49.040" Title="How does being cross-eyed affect a cat's night-vision?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2015-02-26T19:37:34.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are natural climbers and looking for taller vantage points is a normal part of their lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want them climbing on certain surfaces, you need to provide alternate surfaces (such as cat trees and/or wall shelves) that offer similar sight lines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, you're going to continue punishing your cat for exhibiting her natural instincts, and that will inevitably harm your relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T19:37:34.483" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7722" CreationDate="2015-02-26T20:32:31.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may have to purify it if was contaminated after distillation. If you believe that it hasn't had a chance to contaminate from particles in the air settling in it, things being dropped in it, animals drinking from it, or anything else you'd consider contamination, then you wouldn't because distillation removes everything that is not water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, distilled water is not good for a fish tank, because when you remove everything from the water, you remove things that people ( and most likely fish) need. I read somewhere (&quot;Savage Garden&quot; by Peter D'Amanto, I believe) that distilled water can actually pull certain nutrients out of you, instead of putting them into you. Certain amount of minerals and the like are good for you and would be for the fish as well. I'd stick to purified or treated water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-26T20:32:31.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7733" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-02-26T22:27:43.997" Score="6" ViewCount="3968" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a short haired mutt who gets cold easily.  How can I figure out the temperature when he needs a coat and when he doesn't need one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3696" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-29T20:53:55.937" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T20:53:55.937" Title="How can I determine the temperature when my dog needs to wear a coat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7739" CreationDate="2015-02-26T23:47:37.133" Score="4" ViewCount="1350" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been getting as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit where I live and we have a few horses on the property, with no barn, but there is a roofed area for them to get under. We feed them hay and horse feed when it gets cold, and that's that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone told me they keep horses in stalls when its cold, even with blankets. Do I need to do anything additional to protect my own horses from the cold? How can I tell if my horses want additional protection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I don't know what kind of horses these are but they don't have long fur or anything&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3541" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-02-27T19:55:44.397" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T19:55:44.397" Title="How can I tell if my horses need additional protection from the cold?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7730" CreationDate="2015-02-27T00:20:49.040" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Harvard study performed in the 1960s on cats (&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1113/jphysiol.1962.sp006837/asset/tjp19621601106.pdf;jsessionid=F0D37AE51F972A35A8C6F655D5C5A172.f03t04?v=1&amp;amp;t=i6mtrvej&amp;amp;s=50fe222eab3e3ddd4f9d493b69827b13a6ff0f22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hubel and Weisel&lt;/a&gt;), which have 3D vision similar to us, included artificially inducing strabismus (cross-eyed). A summary (really, really, basic summary) of the results of the tests indicated a weakening of vision and a loss of depth perception in cats where normal vision was changed in some manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cats can see particularly well in dim light, a reduction in visual acuity and depth perception is only going to get magnified by the absence of stronger light. Having said that, cats can and will compensate for vision issues quite readily, including total blindness, presuming you make it easy for them. If she has a clear path to the litter boxes and knows where they are, she shouldn't have any real issue even when darker. If you left some light, perhaps above and away from the chinchilla (bearing in mind that in the wilderness, light isn't totally absent at night), then it may be sufficient with her own natural skills to keep her in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T00:20:49.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7737" CreationDate="2015-02-27T00:33:15.240" Score="2" ViewCount="1433" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat farts a lot. In addition, his belly seems tight, like he's full of gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned about this flatulence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T00:38:29.843" Title="Why does my cat fart a lot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7736" CreationDate="2015-02-27T00:38:29.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Persistent flatulence is not normal. While an occasional fart is nothing to be concerned about, if it's happening daily then your cat should see a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flatulence can have several different causes and only your vet can determine the cause for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overgrowth of the certain kinds of gut bacteria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intolerance to certain types of foods &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Irritable Bowel Disease (the intestines don't properly absorb food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or other similar Gastrointestinal system problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet may prescribe some over the counter medications to try, may do some bloodwork, and may recommend a biopsy to determine the cause of the flatulence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Untreated GI problems can lead to malnutrition and discomfort for your pet, so it is important to get your cat to a veterinarian for proper care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T00:38:29.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2015-02-27T01:08:00.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;By observation and experimentation I've learnt that this behavior shows in my cat when he hasn't eaten in a long period of time (4 hours for example). I'm trying to keep him fed every 4 hours or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm presuming a lack of sugar or some other enzyme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for all your answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My cat is turning 8 months in two days. He's very healthy aside from a little skin infection he had a few weeks ago, vet gave him some meds and his skin is good now. His leg hasn't shaken in a long while. Perhaps it had something to do with his age? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My cat is turning 1 year old in a few days! He stopped doing these weird twitches a while ago. So I believe it was indeed something about his age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My cat is 1 year 9 months old now and he's healthier than ever (I believe so). I haven't noticed any twitches anymore. He started to chase his tail in the bathroom though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My cat is 4 years old now, he's really healthy, his twitches disappeared and I didn't even notice. We feed him every few hours (we usually leave his food for him to eat on his own). We do not let him out, he's a homebody cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3253" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:21:58.733" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:21:58.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7734" CreationDate="2015-02-27T16:55:32.507" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not cruel. Unfortunately, you aren't going to find a consensus on when it's right to blanket a horse, because it depends so much on your horse's situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have 5 horses in their prime years of life, that have been on the property for years and are allowed to grow a full natural coat. I tend to blanket mine below 40deg Fahrenheit when it's going to rain and below 20deg Fahrenheit if it's going to be dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People from different areas will tell you different things. For instance, my family is from South Carolina, but my uncle was dating a girl that had a place in New Orleans. He flew down to ride horses with her. It was about 70deg and the horse had worked up a little bit of sweat and was dirty, so he went to hose it off and bathe it. He was half way through when the owner showed up and started flipping out about how he was going to kill her horse, bathing it in the freezing cold like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to consider is that a horse is not a human, so when a person is cold, doesn't mean a horse is cold. The have a large body mass designed to help keep them warm in the winter. A horse stands the hair on their body up when they're cold, just like when you get goose bumps. This creates an insulation layer and traps air, so it's like putting on a blanket for them. Their body also has mechanisms for pumping blood to their extremities to keep them from being cold. When you put on a blanket, you flatten the hair on their body, you can also cause their core to think it's warm and stop it from warming the legs like it should. Also, when it's too warm and moist under the blanket, you get rain rot. My mother had a horse that she insisted on blanketing when I thought it was too warm. He ended up getting rain rot over most of his torso, causing his hair to fall out and him to be colder in the long run, not to mention having to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are a few things to keep in mind. One is, has your horse been on the property since last fall? This would allow his body to accept the changes and grow a winter coat. Another is, is your horse clipped? If you remove his winter coat, you have to provide one. Is it going to rain? Rain flattens the hair and removes the insulation quality like a blanket does as well as causing evaporative cooling. I've been told it's colder than snow sitting on them as snow has it's own insulating properties and the hair keeps it off their skin, but I haven't research that at all. Is your horse really old or young? Older horses have it harder than younger horses, but both lack the mechanisms a horse in his prime have to stay warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, I have had two horses since the day they were born. Their first winter, they grew coats so thick I could put my hand on their butts and have them almost disappear. Now they don't grow much of a winter coat at all. So, they have the ability to grow it, but their body doesn't, because it doesn't feel it's necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your horse have some kind of shelter that blocks rain from above and wind from the sides? We have a tight copes of cedars that do that for our. That could cause you to need to blanket more frequently. Also, consider if you're having particularly nasty weather. A horse may become adapted to nasty weather if it's nasty all the time, but we recently had it go from the mid-20's on a consistent basis to dropping down to 4deg for a couple of nights. If the weather goes well outside your normal range, then the horse may need a blanket as he won't spontaneously grow his coat in time to adjust for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it boils down to observing your horse. From the signs that I know, if your horse's ears feel cold or you physically see him shivering, then he needs a blanket. The ears are part of his extremities and also don't have a large blood flow, so they'd get cold before the rest of the body. Keep in mind that hay will play a much larger role in keeping your horse warm than most other things. The act of digestion causes them to produce heat from the inside out. If the weather is supper nasty, I provide hay 24/7, usually in the form of a round bale. Grain doesn't do a lot. People who say grain makes a horse 'hot' are talking about energy, not physical warmth. Grains role is two fold at any time of the year. One, it provides minerals and nutrients (if fed in the proper amounts) that they horse may not be getting in their normal environment) and two, it's providing calories. In the winter, the calories put on fat that is an insulating layer as well as something their body can burn to stay warm. My horse are fat already, so I don't provide that much grain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, putting your horse in the barn and trying to baby them can cause more harm than good. I tend to ere on the side of letting nature handle it, but keep an eye on the situation. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T16:55:32.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3294" CreationDate="2015-02-27T18:14:43.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use 'White-n-Bright', but you can find several products like it. It's a purple liquid the consistency of shampoo. I'm sure it's similar to laundry bluing, but I've never had it turn my horse blue, like was mentioned above. You put a squirt in the wash water, but for stains like you're talking about, I squirt the concentrated liquid on those spots. Get a rubber curry comb to work it in. On the tail, I put a little on the length of the tail, then rub it against itself to work it in. I let it sit, rinse it out, and repeat if necessary. You will eventually get it blindingly white. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-02-27T18:14:43.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7744" CreationDate="2015-02-28T08:28:55.457" Score="1" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;While at my village, a poor puppy was taken away without permission from his mother. I was notified of that and so went to check on the puppy and found that poor thing chained outside alone helplessly crying and terrified. After I've made sure with the owners that the puppy was not sold, I went to take the puppy back, only to find they've released him because they sensed we were onto them. I searched for him and found him in the woods shivering and whimpering from fear, even though during the morning he was such a personality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another bunch of dogs (probably wild)  were barking at him from a distance, and I reckoned he tried to approach them but was scared off. I slowly approached him and he was trembling from fear though I played with him in the morning and fed him. After petting him to calm him, I held him and took him to his mom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sensed how fast his heart was beating when I held him, and it was absolutely heart breaking to see him this way. It got me wondering, are the puppies sold in shops separated from their mothers? I would think that the only way to take them without traumatizing them is basically by being their mother and not taking them after they've developed that bond and dependency on their mom. How can I know if a puppy has been separated from his mother? And if he/she has then should I consider buying or adopting him/her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="1242" LastEditDate="2015-02-28T08:53:02.773" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T15:04:24.897" Title="Should I get a puppy that's been separated from its mother?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10989" CreationDate="2015-02-28T19:04:14.673" Score="4" ViewCount="447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two indoor cats who're sisters. One of them got pregnant and had kittens, and the sister did not go in heat once during the 3 months we had the kittens. Do kittens prevent a cat from going in to heat? If so, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-02T05:11:50.307" LastActivityDate="2016-02-06T20:08:46.823" Title="How do kittens prevent my cats from going into heat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7741" CreationDate="2015-03-01T21:11:44.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest never buying a puppy that's been separated from its mother too young. Whilst it may sound harsh, if you pay a 'breeder' who mistreats their animals, what you're doing is encouraging them to do it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I also know - it's not always that easy. Dogs do need somewhere to live. Even the ones who are 'damaged goods'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll point out this - normally puppies are separated from their mother at 8-12 weeks. The first few months of a puppy's life are called the formative period - it's worth your time looking that up and having a bit of a read, because it's &lt;em&gt;incredibly&lt;/em&gt; important. It's the time during which your puppy forms associations and learns 'the world'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But up to about 8 weeks, their mother is doing all sorts of important teaching on the subject of 'how to be a dog'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's quite good evidence to suggest that dogs removed early have 'problems' for the rest of their lives.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsadviser.com/behaviors/severe-separation-anxiety-in-puppies-at-night/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petsadviser.com/behaviors/severe-separation-anxiety-in-puppies-at-night/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.markvette.com/the-formative-period/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.markvette.com/the-formative-period/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/news/20110825/puppies-litters-behavior-problems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/news/20110825/puppies-litters-behavior-problems&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if &lt;em&gt;AT ALL&lt;/em&gt; possible, you should take that puppy back to its mother, because it's very important for the rest of it's life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't, then you need to accept that by adopting that puppy, you're setting yourself up for a hard time. It may well have behavioural problems and be generally 'hard work'. Kudos to you if you do, but ... well, it'll be hard work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies do graduate from 'being puppies' - about 8-12 weeks, leaving mum is always a little difficult, but not really damaging any more. They're ready to form new bonds and make a new 'pack', and so at &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; point is when you need to socialise your puppy - teach it what the world looks like. It's likely that a puppy introduced to things up to about 4 months won't have a problem with them in future. E.g. take them to meet other dogs, livestock, and most especially humans (adults and children). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would reiterate my initial statement - it is my &lt;em&gt;opinion&lt;/em&gt; that you should never buy a puppy from a shop. You should always make a point of meeting the mother and observing living conditions. A reputable breeder will make some effort that you understand what's involved and how to look after the dog, and they'll also make sure that their dogs are well socialised early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a shop... it's a complete gamble, and more likely ... they've been 'farmed' because it's cheap and the people buying don't care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I'd strongly suggest if you're looking at getting a dog - visit a rescue and adopt one. There's always plenty of dogs there, through no fault of their own (some are 'problem' dogs, but most have a good history and are only there because their owners died, or got divorced, or got thrown out by their landlord). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-02T15:04:24.897" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T15:04:24.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-02T00:48:41.950" Score="4" ViewCount="5233" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday my 12+ year old mixed breed dog was diagnosed with vestibular disease.  Before going so far as to get an expensive cat scan her vet has prescribed Prednisone (steroids) and Primor (antibiotic) in the hopes that it is an inner ear infection, though he fears it may be something more sinister. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is now behaving about as well as can be expected, as she is still eating and drinking, and still enjoys a patting and will wag her tail on my approach, however she is obviously in discomfort and disoriented, especially during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of last night she has begun to refuse to cross the tile floor in my house, which means I have to carry her to take her outside. An act that clearly disorients her even further causing her to squirm and kick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to keep her comfortable, especially during the night beyond leaving lights on for her? Also, what is the best way to transport her outside? Covering the tile floor with rugs and towels seems to have no effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3707" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T14:06:00.853" Title="How to comfort and older dog with vestibular disease" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-02T04:32:21.917" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;She is a one year old rescue affenpinscher. She has a bit of sassy attitude, but we are in training to make us all better. We have taken her on walks since we first got her with no issues what so ever.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She within the last 12 hours has developed a severe anxiety about either the harness or collar having a leash put on. We have given her treats and rewarded the good behavior exactly as our instructor has told us. She is fine when we get the leash on her but to get it on she sounds like we are beating her to death by latching the collar on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know everything fits proper and no signs of rashes on either areas. This is so out of the blue I thought I'd ask you all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had her for five days and just today she started the issue. Thanks for any help or direction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3710" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-03-03T12:33:46.233" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T20:55:59.483" Title="My affenpinscher has severe leash anxiety" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7746" CreationDate="2015-03-02T05:20:07.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I had a cat with vestibular disease my veterinarian prescribed some type of anti-nausea medication that had a small effect. I don't know if there's something similar for dogs, but talk to your vet and make sure the vet knows how uncomfortable your dog is and the trouble you're having getting her outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and I hope it's an ear infection that's easily taken care of! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T05:20:07.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7761" CreationDate="2015-03-02T15:10:50.170" Score="6" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I get my indoor female cats spayed, will they no longer spray? Or will they just spray for territorial reasons only?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T14:14:20.653" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:46:28.140" Title="Do spayed cats still spray?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7667" CreationDate="2015-03-02T21:15:56.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that this is obsessive behavior. I think that they need a combination of more mental stimulation and an alternative to lick, with a correction if it persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step one, would be to exercise your dogs more. They are getting some exercise when they play fetch, but it's probably not enough and it's also mindless. They don't have to do anything but run get the ball, bring the ball back. You need to find something that challenges them mentally. There are several things, but trick training or games would be an excellent challenge for them mentally. For instance, what if you bought some small cones and hid the ball or a treat under them and taught them to knock them over or scent for the item before bringing it back? They'd have to stop and think about it, even it it's what cone to start with. This kind of exercise that requires mental effort will drain them much more than simply throwing a ball. Like Huangism said, Cesar Millan has some good advice and his 'pack walk' is associated with the mental part of the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, I'd offer an alternative. I'd suggest a kong filled with peanut butter (frozen if they empty it too quickly. This can channel better than an hour of licking. Raw hides and other chew toys would also channel the mouthing behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I'd start implementing a correction if these other things don't work. I don't mean spanking your dog, but firstly, breaking his attention. Dogs get focused in on something and just drone on it, like barking. You need to break the cycle. I'd ask them to stop that and come do a command, like sit. I'd then treat them and leave them alone. If they seemed engaged, I'd keep training. The point, though, is to stop the behavior and get their mind on something else. If they ignore me, I'd separate them from the object they're trying to lick. I'd put them down off the bed or out of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you probably have a full day between work and your other responsibilities and you just want to go home and relax. However, you have to make sure you see to your dogs needs as well. Whether you wanted to go or not, you got plenty of mental stimulation at work. He got the equivalent of staring at a wall the entire time you were gone. We as people get all kinds of stimulation, from work, to eating go food, radio, tv, internet, etc... It's very easy for us to lay around and unwind. However, your dog get a lot of that with you gone, so he's ready for his stimulation when you get home and even though you just want to sit down, you'll need to put the time in for him. As of writing this, I'm most of the way through my work day and I'm exhausted, but I think I have a horse with an abscess at home and I'm going to have to go home and deal with that. I don't want this part of the answer to seem like I'm criticizing, because I'm not. You may spend a vast amount of time with your dog. I just want to make sure you're seeing it from his perspective. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T21:15:56.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7647" CreationDate="2015-03-02T21:45:44.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few factors in determining tank size. One of the biggest factors is surface area. The way it works is that fish pull oxygen from the water. The less surface area there is, the longer it takes for the oxygen to exchange from the surrounding air into the water. If you have too many fish breathing, then they use up all the oxygen. As an experiment, put your self completely under a heavy blanket. After a while, you'll notice that it becomes harder to breath. This is because you're burning up the oxygen faster than it can come through the cloth. That's what will happen to your fish. They'll slowly asphyxiate if there isn't a good surface area to fish ratio. You can find many calculators to help you with that. Here is one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howmanyfish.com/#page=page-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fish Calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just the oxygen. The next is water quality. Both can be improved by circulation through a filter. Fish are messy animals. They waste large portions of their food, they pee and poo everywhere, and generally make a mess. Just like a person living in their own filth, it will eventually effect their health. They can't help but come into contact with their own waste, so they aren't going to sicken and die like a person might when exposed to cess. However, it's not as hard as it sounds. In the wild, there are all kinds of things helping to process that waste out of the water, from sun, to other animals, to plants (who not only clean waste, but produce oxygen). To fix this in a closed system, you have filter systems. These suck up the solid waste to a degree, filter the water to remove ammonia and other harmful chemicals, and return the water, which agitates it and helps put oxygen back into it. You can add bubblers and real plants to help deal with these issues as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish will also continue to grow throughout it's life, since fish have something called indeterminate growth. You can look up the adult size of your fish and determine if there is enough room in your tank. I found two good articles here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://injaf.org/articles-guides/do-fish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://injaf.org/articles-guides/do-fish-grow-to-the-size-of-their-tank/&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://injaf.org/articles-guides/understanding-fish-stocking-guides/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://injaf.org/articles-guides/understanding-fish-stocking-guides/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to sum it up, there a various factors that determine the fish that can go in a tank. Factors to keep in mind are adult size, oxygen levels, waste removal, and aggression, though that probably doesn't apply to you. I think that at minimum you'll want a tank with some type of filtration system and not one that's stagnant. You could also get away with a smaller tank if you traded in your fish when it started getting too big for the tank. I can tell you that I've done that many times. A pet store will often give you smaller versions since they can make more money off of selling your larger fish. If not, you have a way to get rid of your larger fish and keep the smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I'd recommend is getting a 5-10 gal tank (many retail stores and pet stores sell a 5gal hex with a built in filter, and buy some naturally smaller fish. I like the small colorful ones anyway. Guppys are great. They're super colorful and are small. They also breed easily, so you can have babies. That's a different can of worms, though. You can also get neon tetras, platys, swordtails, mollies, etc... You can also get a cool pet like a crayfish or fresh water crab. They don't need much space, just a place to hide (they'll create one if you put an object like a hide in their tank), flowing water ( a filter return is fine), and food to eat. Mine ate fish food, fish waste, and the random muscle I would catch at the river. I'd catch them at the creek and keep them for a couple of years. They molt and get bigger every couple of months. Another cool feature is that they turn colors to match their surroundings. Not like a chameleon, but I caught one that was a 1/4&quot; long and it was jet black. I had white gravel in the tank. He got lighter at every molt and by the time he was 2-3&quot; long, he was blue-white. He started killing my fish and had to go, but he was cool and I caught a smaller one to replace him. They clean fish waste and can be kept with fish if there is plenty of room. They are predators and will hunt them eventually. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-03-02T21:45:44.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-03T02:24:41.550" Score="2" ViewCount="10844" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have goldfish in a tank. I added cichlids 3 weeks after. They died over the weekend. I don't know if it was the heater I have in there or I could have overfed. My question is what do I do to next time keep my cichlids alive the next time and should i do something to the tank before I put new ones in? By the way goldfish are still living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3717" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T14:19:34.563" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T01:48:29.200" Title="Mixing African cichlids with goldfish" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7758" CreationDate="2015-03-03T19:34:53.837" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can a cat be walked with a leash?  If so, how can I train a cat to use a leash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-04T17:43:41.590" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T17:46:10.503" Title="Can a cat be trained to use a leash?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7747" CreationDate="2015-03-03T20:05:12.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much - as you mention - she's a new dog, and a rescue. It takes time from a dog from a rescue to 'settle down' and learn to trust a new owner. This process can quite easily take months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So don't worry too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now - we had a similar problem with ours - a dog from a rescue, about a year old - who decided that she really disliked the car harness. Not to the same degree, but definitely and distinctly 'didn't like it' - and would run away and hide whenever we went near it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We still don't know entirely why - but it has settled down given time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I'd suggest there's two likely root causes - either it's because it's uncomfortable, or your dog as formed a negative association as to the wearing of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the former you can address this by checking the tightness, and inspecting the neck area. Also consider how the collar does up. We stopped using the buckle style collar, and instead went for one like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ezydog.co.uk/neo-collar-wide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ezydog.co.uk/neo-collar-wide/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a wider band (so less likely to 'cut') and with a clip to do it up. It's adjustable, so you can set it to exactly the right side for the neck (although, her neck does seem to widen and shrink at times!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A combination of this with using high value treats to bribe (pieces of liver, tripe sticks work very well) helped keep her distracted long enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also bought another harness that didn't go over the head - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ezydog.co.uk/chest-plate-harness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ezydog.co.uk/chest-plate-harness/&lt;/a&gt; - but didn't get as far as using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's anxiety brought on by an association, then the trick there will be desensitisation. Work 'collar drill' into training regime - put it on, take if off again. &#xA;Put it on, do something fun, take it off again. Add treats. Make 'putting collar on' mean 'good things happen'. Usually it being walkies is enough, but you're going to need a bit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry too much though - your dog is still settling in, and chances are it's still learning boundaries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-03-03T20:05:12.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7756" CreationDate="2015-03-04T17:25:18.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can use a leash on a cat; I do it all the time. It's best to start them out at a younger age, but even if they are adult cats, they can still be trained by using a harness and a leash.  Try starting out slow, like walking them around the yard with a harness and leash. For awhile, they may just roll over or lay down; just pick them back up and place them in a standing position.  I t takes a while to get used to the harness and leash.   Cat treats could help to promote a good response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3721" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-04T17:46:10.503" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T17:46:10.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7743" CreationDate="2015-03-04T17:54:05.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In humans, the mother will usually not begin to be fertile until the body fat ratio returns to a region where the new fetus can be amply supplied for growth.  A breast feeding mother will usually remain comfortably below that threshold, so there is a general barring of a new child until the old is out and about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mammals, mother cats probably have a similar mechanism to avoid overlapping litters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T17:54:05.187" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7749" CreationDate="2015-03-04T17:59:36.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any cat can spray if sufficiently motivated to. It is a natural response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spaying does, however, remove a very strong trigger for a female cat. Biology demands that she broadcast to tomcats that she is ready for breeding, so come and get it.  After spaying, that motivation goes away entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But spaying may also be a signal for other cats to stay away, a claiming of ownership. If this is the driving force, then spraying could persist until whatever causes this distress is handled in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-03-04T17:59:36.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7763" CreationDate="2015-03-05T06:28:30.783" Score="2" ViewCount="2673" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female pet rat, almost 3 years old. I think she swallowed something a bit too big last night and is breathing loudly, kinda sounds like when you rub your hands on a leather sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She can breathe fine, isn't turning blue, etc. It's now been about 9 hours and she's still making the noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried? She seems absolutely fine, just, noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3722" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T14:57:22.643" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:56:46.787" Title="Rat breathing noisily" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7762" CreationDate="2015-03-05T14:36:57.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;While waiting for the answers to my questions above I figured I would post this to help in the meantime.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is showing any symptoms described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7447/why-is-my-rat-drooling-and-opening-its-mouth-is-it-choking/7448#7448&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, then she is indeed choking. It sounds to me like this isn't the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, and taking into account her age, she's probably experiencing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;ei=tWf4VOPSPKut7ga3-ICADA&amp;amp;url=http://www.ratfanclub.org/resp.html&amp;amp;ved=0CCEQFjAB&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGWXnrwE934JgPwx5xguOYSUqzO0w&amp;amp;sig2=HzDCG9u3H4Uudq6sI_KxKA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mild respiratory distress&lt;/a&gt;. All rats have a certain degree of mycoplasma, which causes something akin to chest infections in humans. It can happen throughout their lives, or it can happen only as they get older. She will need a vet to assess her further and listen to her lungs to determine whether it is 1) a treatable infection, or 2) sadly a result of very old age. The vet will likely prescribe antibiotics for the former, but there is little to be done for the latter beyond making her comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To alleviate the symptoms in the meantime you can: make sure she is in a well ventilated room, keep her warm, and feed her dark chocolate (mine are partial to Bournville, though you may want something closer to 70% cocoa) which will help open up her bronchioles. Methods detailed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; may also help her out, though these are typically for more severe respiratory distress, but always worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope she improves!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T15:12:45.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7766" CreationDate="2015-03-05T15:59:50.100" Score="6" ViewCount="8702" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally don't use an aerator for my fish tanks, but I also don't usually have my fish tanks anywhere close to being full of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've set up a new aquarium recently, with the plan to have community/schooling fish in it, and so I would actually like to have it stocked as full as I'm comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the water parameters stable is easy, but what I'm worried about is the levels of oxygen in the tank. The water isn't going to be moving like I have in my other tank, so I want to be able to measure the oxygen levels to make sure they don't get too low and if I will need to set up an aeration system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can test the levels of oxygen in my aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T18:50:48.463" Title="Is there a way to test the amount of dissolved oxygen in a tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-05T17:56:42.657" Score="4" ViewCount="1114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a (nearly) 8 year old female Labrador, who has always been extremely sweet around humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In her early days, she played with the other neighbourhood dogs without a problem, but when I moved to London (UK), it became hard to socialize her, as I was in a less nice part of town where most dogs were raised to be aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then I moved to a much nicer part of London, but sadly most of the dogs around were cat-sized, and quite yappy, which she didn't particularly like.&#xA;It was in this part of town that she got bitten by a Bull Mastiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then I've had troubles with her around other dogs. She has no interest in playing or being around them, and has started launching herself at other dogs when they get close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea of how to fix this behaviour, and I thought i'd turn to you for some guidance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some particular training I should do with her? Change some things that will make it easier further down the line?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm conscious that dogs have different personalities, and I don't want to force her to be around other dogs if she doesn't like it, but at the same time, I don't want her pulling me or my girlfriend towards other dogs when we're walking her, or worse yet, launch herself at other dogs when she's off lead in the park playing with the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note that she's never bitten anything or anyone, though she does look like she's trying when she gets aggressive towards other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really, really appreciate any guidance you may be able to give me in this matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3723" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T07:56:33.950" Title="(Normally very) sweet labrador becomes aggressive around other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2015-03-05T18:45:06.387" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy a dissolved oxygen meter, but they'll generally start in the US$200 to US$400 range, and a suitable one I believe runs closer to US$500-600. Not exactly an everyday piece of equipment for a measurement you're going to take once. There are cheaper test kits designed for other applications, but those will only get you in the approximate ball park, so I'd say that's not really going to be much use in this application. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;typical&lt;/em&gt; way to know if your fish are getting enough oxygen is to observe if your fish are continually gulping at the surface of the water. Oxygenation occurs any time oxygen-poor water comes in contact with the air at the surface. But there's no magic to an air stone that is going to &quot;put oxygen&quot; in your tank. Aerators and such are just another way to circulate water and to create surface agitation. Any filtration system (or even a simple circulation pump) that takes in water from below and releases it towards the surface should provide sufficient agitation in your tank to meet your fish's oxygen needs&amp;hellip; unless you are overloading it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, if you're overloading the tanks enough to worry about oxygenation, I think you will run into a lot of &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; problems first.  Usually the number/size of fish an aquarium can support is determined by the nitrogen cycle (the ability to get rid of waste), not oxygen absorption. But if your fish are gulping at the surface for oxygen, you'll either have to increase the water circulation, or reduce the number or size of your fish. But buying an expensive piece of equipment to know the exact mg/L oxygen saturation isn't a typical diagnostic for the home aquarist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-03-05T18:50:48.463" LastActivityDate="2015-03-05T18:50:48.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6740" CreationDate="2015-03-06T03:47:11.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It went pretty much as I expected it to, I was just afraid to take the leap with that little death trap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was incredibly easy to catch at night when he was moving about in the open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exposing them to air briefly is not known to cause an issue (as it does with some echinoderms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving it to a quarantine tank for just one night would likely add unnecessary stress (unless the water is exactly the same).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make special care not to squeeze it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what to do with it til morning, put it in a bowl (to maintain temperature) of tank water and floated that in my sump (in case it sank). He was doing just fine in the morning and I was able to bring him to my LFS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T03:47:11.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7765" CreationDate="2015-03-06T07:56:33.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is is exhibiting a negative reaction to other dogs. What you want is for your dog to be positive or neutral around them. In order to do that you should recondition your dog to see other dogs around as a signifier of positive things to come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to change is your own attitude. After having your dog react negatively to other dogs, it's only natural that you would be nervous in these situations. Your dog will pick up on that and think it's the correct way to feel. Try to be confident of good things to come when another dog enters the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog began to react less and less positively to other dogs shortly before she turned 8. The trainer I worked with has me playing a game with her. When another dog appears on the scene and Tolly (my dog) notices him/her i say &quot;Who's that?&quot;, (you can use 'look' or any other cue, but the trainer pointed out that phrasing it as a question automatically softens your voice) lure her to look at me and then give her a treat for looking at me. This teaches her that seeing another dog is an indicator of good things to come and that the correct behavior is to look at the dog, then look at me. Once she gets the hang of it you can just use your cue without the lure. Eventually you can wean her off the rewards totally. Distance is a key factor here too. You might have to start this from quite far away (really as close as your dog can be to a dog without the undesired behavior happening). Once your dog gets more comfortable you can decrease the distance between your dog and the dogs that upset her. It helps if you have a friends with dogs so you can more easily control the distance and timing. The key is to keep setting her up for success and positive interactions with other dogs. The trainer warned me though, that it is relatively common for older female dogs to not want to engage with other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been 4 months or so since I started doing this with my dog. She hasn't gotten growly or aggressive at another dog in about 3 months and even started playing with other dogs a bit recently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T07:56:33.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2015-03-06T07:56:39.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do NOT give him a Hamster ball.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The Hamster cannot really control the ball, because any ball that has a size the Hamster could properly walk in (without a permanently bent spine) automatically is way too heavy for the Hamster to control.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As Alivia &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6333/3597&quot;&gt;pointed out&lt;/a&gt; it will become dirty.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is highly unnatural &quot;ground&quot; fro a Hamster to walk on.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And it prevent the Hamster from hiding. Hamster need hiding-places, or they will be exposed to heavy stress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make your Hamster happy, make sure he has hiding-places, and some area he can dig in. Try to stick to natural materials (straw and wood are best). Hide food in the hamsters enclosure so it won't be bored. If you make a good place for him to live, and perhaps a good playpen, you do not need a Hamster-ball (and, actually, none of the plastic-toys :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Due to the comment given:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am actually going on German-Language sources, and could not find a matching English source. The German Hamster-community does mostly agree on this, so I will link to a relevant German site which basically gives a long version of what I explained. Run it through a translator for English: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diebrain.de/noball.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;No Hamster Balls - German&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The German Wikipedia-Page gives the same reasons: &lt;a href=&quot;http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joggingball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;German Wiki&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PPS: It seems the English-Speaking countries are fine with Hamster-balls. I have no idea what further countries think, but the points German Animal-Protection makes seems very valid to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T07:19:34.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7733" CreationDate="2015-03-06T20:23:49.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't really. Cold is subjective. I work outside with my horses a lot and after years of going out and doing them in the cold and just pushing through, I've found that I can ignore the cold. I'll be outside working and I can feel the coldness, but I tune it out like you do a noise. On the other hand, I work with people whose teeth literally chatter at 68 degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll be similar with your dog. It'll depend on whether he's been out in the cold and is used to it or whether he's coming from inside a warm house. It'll depend on his personality and what he's okay with. Breed plays a part as well. I know a guy with a yellow lab and his coat isn't particularly long, but he'll go diving in the river in the dead of winter. Labs have a good bit of mass and oils in their coat to keep them warm. Our keeshond has a couple of layers of coats to keep her warm. My Jack Russell, well let's just say that you can see her freckles when she's wet and she doesn't have much body mass. She fakes being cold a lot. I don't know how she learned to do it, but you can peak out the glass door at her and she'll be laying there looking around, but if she sees you, then all of a sudden she's shaking uncontrollably. It stops when she thinks you're gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally use a mixture of common sense and any signs you see. If you have a smaller dog without a lot of hair or other protection and you feel cold outside, chances are they're going to feel pretty cold. Keep in mind that jumping outside in the cold and right back in is no the same thing as being in sustained cold. You may jump out of a hot shower and not feel it much if you go out to crank your car in 8deg weather, but if you're outside all night and it's 60deg, you'll get pretty chilly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look to see if your dog displays signs of being cold, including shivering, trying to curl up in a blanket or somewhere else warm, or anything else you believe is your dog showing a sign of being cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for physical evidence, like with a lot of animals, dogs have large-largish ears. These are thin and have small blood vessels running through them. If you're hands are an ambient temperature and her ears feel cold to you, chances are she's cold. They will get cold before the body will, due to being further from the core and less blood flow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes put a jacket on my JR and she'll wiggle and worm her way out of it when she warms up. So you'll just have to use common sense and observation to determine when your dog might be cold. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-03-06T20:23:49.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2015-03-07T05:43:43.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Socialization? My Boston Terrier was bitten several years ago when I was walking her (leashed) and an unleashed dog ran up to us from behind and bit her. As a result, whenever another dog gets too close she becomes aggressive (which was never a problem before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are leash LAWS everywhere. I expect to be able to walk my dog around my apartment complex without being confronted by an unleashed dog. Period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not going to be a responsible pet owner then don't own one. I'm so sick and tired of people who think their dogs are &quot;special&quot; and the rules don't apply to them and people trying to tell me it's somehow my fault my dog doesn't want to play. I carry pepper spray now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:27:56.023" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:27:56.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7793" CreationDate="2015-03-07T18:59:32.610" Score="7" ViewCount="6441" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet recently put two (of our four) cats on a prescription diet. We're having trouble getting all of the cats to accept it, and it would be easier (now and in the future) if everyone ate off of their own bowls so that we could track food consumption easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another wrinkle is that we're moving in 6 months and I'd like to not have to totally retrain them when we move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband wondered if we could train each cat to their own colored tray? I'm willing to try that, but also open to other suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T05:46:48.500" Title="How can I train my cats to only eat from their own bowls?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7782" CreationDate="2015-03-08T08:07:27.980" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every once or twice a week my dog's stomach is rumbling every morning. she doesn't want to eat unless it's grass. and for a moment she will cram into me like she's in pain then suddenly cries. and after that, she will be ok again. help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3735" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T13:33:01.603" Title="There is something wrong with my dog's stomach" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7777" CreationDate="2015-03-08T10:10:14.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have rabbits which in my opinion are bit more trainable than cats. The are all rescues and have different dietary needs.  They have constant access to hay that they share, but their twice daily feedings of pellets need to be different. The are several other considerations as well, but in short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/324/how-can-i-make-one-of-my-two-cats-eat-less/329#329&quot;&gt;a carrier to separate feeding areas&lt;/a&gt; when it is breakfast or dinner time, they each run to &quot;their&quot; carrier and eat &quot;their&quot; meal. A side effect of this training; it is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/251/putting-a-cat-into-a-carrier/344#344&quot;&gt;very easy to get them in a carrier when needed&lt;/a&gt;. In our case the more dominant bunny (Harmony) finishes eating prior to the more submissive bunny (Tigger), we usually close without latching the door to Tigger's carrier. Tigger can swing the door open to get out, but Harmony can not push it open to get in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T11:36:17.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7777" CreationDate="2015-03-08T11:14:47.153" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do not have a very good color perception. All cats seem to prefer blue if they can choose between colours. They cannot discriminate red from other colours very good. So if you want them to recognise their bowl the best thing is to offer them bowls with a different shape. But from my experience I doubt this will work. What probably works is a specific place for each cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the brother of our cat was still alive, they used to eat at specific places about 1.5 m apart. They ate from their bowl, but only until one of them had finished his part. Then he, of course, went over to his brothers bowl to steal something if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best thing is to put something between the eating cats so they can't see each other. This reduces their thoughts of stealing from each other. This could be a very small folding screen to build up four feeding compartments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastEditorUserId="3732" LastEditDate="2015-03-09T13:04:57.273" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T13:04:57.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7783" CreationDate="2015-03-08T11:34:22.993" Score="7" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of existing questions, answers and comments &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7777&quot;&gt;How can I train my cats to only eat from their own bowls?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3058&quot;&gt;Can cats see optical illusions the same way we can?&lt;/a&gt; involve cats' color perception. Do cats have the same range of color perception as people?  If not, how does it differ? What colors, that I see as different, would a cat see as the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T23:28:30.647" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T23:28:30.647" Title="What is cats' color vision?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7778" CreationDate="2015-03-08T13:33:01.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs will eat grass for a whole variety of reasons, but one of the reasons is for some form of gastric distress, which seems to be the case here. Clearly she feels that eating the grass is helping her and you seem to agree that there is some effect, but the underlying &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of that distress is something that we're not going to be able to diagnose for you, you need to get her into a veterinarian for an examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just reading your question, though, here are some additional tips around observing your dog that I think is wise given the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check her stool, specifically to see if there may be traces of blood. I know it's a bit gross, but a lot of internal problems will show up in the stool. Your vet is very likely to want you to bring a sample in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Observe her stomach area, does it appear bloated? A bloated stomach could be a sign of too much gas or other illness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is she in contact with other dogs? She could have picked up something up eating the faeces of another dog, you need to watch for that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have you more recently changed her diet? What is her diet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be prepared to answer those questions, I'm pretty certain that a vet is going to ask them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T13:33:01.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7781" CreationDate="2015-03-08T14:13:07.843" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I read about colour vision of cats state:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have only two colour receptors (green and blue), where humans have three (green, blue and red).&#xA;So, probably everything which appears red to us, may be a very pale green to a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, cats have much more rods in their retina than we have. This (and their reflecting sheet under their retina) increases the sensitivity to low light by six, which enables them to be night hunters. As for nearly all animals night vision is only grayscale. On the contrary, day vision, which is provided by the cones and rods, enables colour vision. But due to the lower count of cones (in exchange to the higher number of rods) the colour vision of cats is probably rather dim. We could imaging them seeing everything in pastel colours without any vivid colours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.1970.sp009270/pdf&quot;&gt;CAT COLOUR VISION: EVIDENCE FOR MORE&#xA;THAN ONE CONE PROCESS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gerald_Jacobs/publication/227606164_Evolution_of_vertebrate_colour_vision/links/09e4150d4b7f5ebe50000000.pdf&quot;&gt;Evolution of vertebrate colour vision&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However there is no way to explain the way a cat or any animal with different retina perceives their environment correctly, because the matter of vision is a highly subjective one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastEditorUserId="3732" LastEditDate="2015-03-09T11:55:45.297" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T11:55:45.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10817" CreationDate="2015-03-08T19:00:27.243" Score="7" ViewCount="1278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am puzzled by the behavior of certain dogs, each of them living in a yard or a garden across a fence from a somewhat busy road with frequent pedestrian/runner/cycling etc. traffic (for example, a marked hiking trail).  Once a human appears on the road, which is no rare occurrence there, the dog starts running the full length of the fence back and forth or closely following the passer by, constantly barking at the &quot;intruder&quot;, showing his teeth, often bumping into the fence.  The whole scenario looks like it can hardly be very healthy/enjoyable for the passer by or for the dog.  I wonder what the owner typically thinks; I don't know any of them personally.  If this is meant to be &quot;watching&quot;, then it feels to me like a house alarm that goes off fifty times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm torn about what to think about these situations.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_dog&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some resources&lt;/a&gt; indicate that this is desired, specifically trained behavior that is employed for protection of the property.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/76838-what-fence-fighting-barrier.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Other resources&lt;/a&gt; discuss barrier aggression as territorial behavior automatic to dogs, and yet others (usually discussing a scenario with another dog, not a human, on the other side of the fence), are discussing it more as a bad habit to be untrained.  Of course it's quite possible that each of such dogs on my map falls into a different category but I can't tell the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;How much of such dog behavior is under control of its owner/trainer, how much is determined by its breed and the environment?&lt;/strong&gt;  Would a carefully trained &quot;watch dog&quot; (trained to watch the property, not the road) do more of this, or less of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking about unrestrained dogs attacking people in public places, and I am also not asking about a normally calm dog in a one off situation caught by surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not asking this question about my own pet; I don't have a dog although I'm on first name terms with several dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastEditorUserId="3736" LastEditDate="2015-03-10T08:27:24.347" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T11:53:27.683" Title="Fence aggression - guard dog or poorly trained dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1672" CreationDate="2015-03-08T22:57:51.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because humans and dogs have had such a long symbiotic relationship, it started off with wolves that had a slightly 'no flight' response. As we evolved with 'our best friends', they slowly lost their fear of us because of the left overs... we had. Over time and selective breeding we have a choice of different types of breeds. &#xA;Back to the question of whether they can make meaning-full eye contact, I have no doubt.&#xA;I've had dogs all my life. That direct look has a lot of thinking going on. In dog terms, of course. Who is the smarter one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3738" LastActivityDate="2015-03-08T22:57:51.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-09T00:56:13.127" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;My redcap orlanda seems to be in fairly critical condition, he just floats up and torpedoes to the bottom, then floats at the top for a while, his gills are still moving and he is still trying to swim around, but he isn't having much success, is he going to die? Is there some way I can save him? Please help :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3665" LastEditorUserId="3665" LastEditDate="2015-03-09T01:01:15.017" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T01:29:28.653" Title="is my fish going to die?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7786" CreationDate="2015-03-09T01:29:28.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fancy goldfish are prone to swim bladder issues related to several different causes... some minor, some more serious. The wrong foods can cause digestive bloating and/or constipation and this can put pressure on either of the swim bladders or the lines leading to them and this prevents the fish from being able to control their swim bladders. Try feeding green pea (pinch the shells off and discard the shells.. then mash the &lt;em&gt;meat&lt;/em&gt; a little if your fish are really small. This will help cure constipation issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other causes can be internal bacterial or parasitic issues causing inflammation of digestive tract or other organs causing the same pressure on the lines or swim bladders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fancy goldfish are prone to this because of the inbreeding that took place to create the deformities and mutations you can see on the outside also can cause deformities and mutations to internal organs as well. Further, their two swim bladders, which are normally spread out far away from each other in &lt;em&gt;normal&lt;/em&gt; goldfish, are all crammed together in fancy goldfish due to their compacted and round body shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start doing daily 25% PWC's (partial water changes) as dirty water will also cause fish to get sick much faster so giving them clean water will help them get well faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3737" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T01:29:28.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7789" CreationDate="2015-03-09T04:25:39.030" Score="8" ViewCount="71498" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a husky pup between the ages of 8 weeks to 8 months, I would like to know what a suitable distance for a jog would be before the dog will become fatigued.  I understand this will vary, but just some general figures would be great.  Are we talking max 5km, or go for a full marathon?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is purely based on fitness; I'd rather not receive negative feedback like, &quot;your dog won't have the attention span for a full marathon.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3737" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T14:17:33.183" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T21:41:47.967" Title="How long (distance) should I exercise my Husky puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7788" CreationDate="2015-03-09T08:29:23.510" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a significant difference between the dog being fatigued and what's healthy for it. Huskies may get problems with their hips, so you don't want to overexercise while still growing up. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my own experience (got a husky puppy pretty much about one year ago):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Huskies &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; (and will) run long distances if you allow them to, but it's a general misconception that they &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; do it (especially from early age).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use the general rule of thumb of &quot;about 1-2 minutes of walking per week of age&quot; (that's for all dogs). That means, if your puppy is 10 weeks old, limit your walk with the dog to about 10-15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes. With 20 weeks you can extend that to 20-40 minutes, etc. With 8-12 months you should get a hang of it how far your dog wants to go, so you shouldn't need any timing or math anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of course you can walk those 10 minutes to a nearby lake, stay some time there, then return home. Just don't expect your dog to run an hour with you without pause just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't take the dog for a walk more than once or twice a day in the beginning (this also depends a bit where it's able to do its business, the weather conditions, and stuff like that).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Distance covered isn't that important yet. Just get out with the puppy. Even a 5 minute walk will be awesome for the little bugger, bonus points if there are other dogs to meet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice if the dog isn't fatigued enough. On the evening our dog used to start biting/play excessivley or simply try to run around like crazy. If this happens, there's some lack of movement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always keep an eye on your puppy. Not every dog will show you how fatigued they are, some will start to sit down, others will just troll along for whatever distance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T08:29:23.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2015-03-09T13:26:10.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just for the curious, we ended up putting a small amount of water on a small plate and replaced it with the bowl. She didn't try to tip it over anymore and just drank like normal. We make sure we change it regularly and that she always has enough water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T13:26:10.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-09T19:39:58.497" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bitch who is nursing a singleton in a whelping box that I built for her. She only leaves the box to eat; do her business; and oddly, find objects and bring them to the whelping box. The objects are typically small boxes (about the size of a box of macaroni), soda cans, mittens, or anything else of comparable size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's had three litters. She's done this every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, last night she got into the recycling and brought back no less than 20 diet-coke cans, before she got into our winter clothing and absconded with 6 hats and 7 gloves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet-coke cans were rinsed out thoroughly (so I don't think there was any especially appealing residue in them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does she do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1011" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T19:39:58.497" Title="My bitch keeps dragging objects into her whelping box" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7777" CreationDate="2015-03-09T19:42:01.047" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I was asked... I'll change my comment to an answer. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One the easiest ways to train is through repetitive rote behavior. For example, when we feed our cats, they both wait at the same place to get their dishes and always start from the same place. They only move around later when they come back for a second bite and that's because they can. That leads me to consider something like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00C1BYETO&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wonder Bowl Selective Pet Feeder&lt;/a&gt; as a good way to reinforce the concept of whose dish is whose. If the cat can only every get food from one particular dish and not another, then it will reinforce in them the idea that they need to go to that dish and only that dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to the idea that another cat could come along while the first is still feeding it's been my experience that cats aren't very tolerant of it. Not completely impossible, but if the first cat wanders away as a result, the dish closes anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T19:42:01.047" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7717" CreationDate="2015-03-09T23:45:43.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me start by saying that having the window unscreened would actually be way more unsafe than having it screened. Cats won't necessarily not fall out of a high window just because they can see the danger. They may jump or fall regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the real solution here is replacing the screen with something more sturdy, or securing the one you have better than velcro.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about the danger of cats and high open windows here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/high-rise-syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/high-rise-syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3743" LastActivityDate="2015-03-09T23:45:43.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-10T09:24:47.597" Score="4" ViewCount="4451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 gallon small tank and a larger 15 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the smaller tank I have a couple of guppies, a sailfin catfish and a male fighter. I have kept this combination of fish before without any problems, I have also had a fighter, catfish and angel in a similar tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I went away over the weekend and came back to find the tank absolutely fine, the weekend feeder block had done its job and I rewarded them with some blood worms. My fighter was perfectly happy. They have been in the tank for a month prior to today, and were absolutely fine last night. But this morning I couldn't see my betta, and then I found him huddled up against the heater. His fins were almost completely stripped and although he was breathing he wasn't moving much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't noticed any major issues before except that the catfish will chase him away from an ornament he likes to hide in. The betta has plenty of other places to hide and one of the reasons I loved him was that he normally chose a floating jellyfish ornament my GF got him and he would sit in the top and spin around. I have also noticed that one of my guppy's tail is split, though I attributed this to my plastic plant and the fact that guppies can get a bit scruffy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But overnight, my fighter has been mauled, I am tempted to move the catfish into my other tank, at least temporarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, I don't want him to start attacking the fish in that tank who are a bit newer and still settling in. That tank has a couple of dwarf gouramis, black widows and guppies as well as a bulldog pleco (small). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to move the fighter if it is still alive as the shock might kill it outright, and to be honest I'm not convinced he will survive long enough for someone to answer this. Which hurts me deeply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tanks are clean and well cared for, all the levels are bang on. There is plenty of oxygen in the water and the pump pushes the water above the surface to increase the amount of oxygen, but reduce the current for the benefit of the betta. It is due a water change today, I normally do it on saturday but I was on holiday, and I have been doing it weekly while it is new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know a) whether it is likely the catfish which attacked him, b) what I should do to try and keep him (and the guppies) alive and c) what I should do with the catfish if it was him. Can I calm him down by separating him for a while, or will he need to be returned to the shop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incase you worried - The idea was always to move the catfish into the bigger tank eventually. He was in the smaller tank when we got it so don't say its unfair to keep him in a small tank. I was going to replace him with a couple of Sterbas corys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3745" LastEditorUserId="3745" LastEditDate="2015-03-10T09:37:06.977" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T03:40:55.780" Title="Did my catfish kill my betta" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7803" CreationDate="2015-03-10T14:54:05.493" Score="2" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to currently keep my beloved 2 year old Shepherd/Retriever mix in a cage whenever my wife and I leave the house for any period of time over ~20mins. This was not however the case from about the time he was 6 months old to about 12 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of nowhere, he started to destroy random things (leg of brand new dining table, pillow on bed in guest room, etc) when left alone. It upsets me to keep him in the cage and we have done our best to avoid successive days of being in the cage but I really, really want to get back to being able to let him be on the free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is responsive to the word 'NO' (as suggested in a similar question) and I mean this truthfully. He stopped dead while chasing a rabbit this past summer (his favorite) when I said it. There have been some big changes in his life with the introduction of our now 1 y/o daughter (she ADORES the dog) along with some decrease in attention from my wife and I due to the baby and our jobs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am almost certain that it is separation anxiety as he wails when we leave the house and I don't want him to be under that type of stress. I would obviously prefer to take on the task of correcting this behavior by training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily the weather here in the Northeast is taking a turn for the better and I am hoping to be able to get him a walk in the morning. What else can I do to get my dude back on the free when we are away from home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3739" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-01T20:55:23.407" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T20:55:23.407" Title="How to transition dog back to being free when alone?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7788" CreationDate="2015-03-10T21:34:36.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple general thoughts about running with dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The best practices for injury-free training a dog will be similar to those for injury-free training for people: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build up slowly over time in both speed and distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Include rest days in between running days, especially between your harder running days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Learn to read your dog while you run together. In my experience, in the first part of a run, my dog will be full of energy and will want to be out in the lead. In the second part she will want to be next to me. If we keep going, there is a third phase where she will start to lag behind. I am inclined to stop her in the middle of phase two when she still has gas in the tank. It is possible that dogs have some ancestral need to hide weakness or injury from their packs. I don't know. Either way I am happy to stop early or at least stop to rest under a shady tree in the middle of a run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that humans are uniquely well-evolved for endurance running. Dogs are not. They have a harder time regulating their temperature. They cannot sweat and, as with all quadrupeds, their respiration and their gait are linked together. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_running_hypothesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_running_hypothesis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3368" LastActivityDate="2015-03-10T21:34:36.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7798" CreationDate="2015-03-11T04:33:28.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trick is to slowly build him up to being able to be alone for longer and longer periods of time.  It Leave him alone at first for only 30 seconds, then 1 minute, then 2 minutes, 5 minutes, then 10 and so on. Once he's successful at a given interval consistently you can increase the time you leave him alone. This should also help with separation anxiety as he'll learn that you always come back when you leave. If he messes something up while you're gone, then you need to back up a step or 2 and leave him alone for less time before increasing the time he's alone again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can do is provide him with things to exercise his mind while you're away. Some people hide dog biscuits around the house for their dogs to hunt for while they're gone...or you can fill interactive food toys (like kongs, bobbles, puzzles, etc). There's even an auto fetch toy that will throw a tennis ball for your dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T04:33:28.120" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7797" CreationDate="2015-03-11T07:47:30.250" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The catfish we have in home aquariums, are generally docile, and non predatory. They cannot chase non catfish fish as they basically are not great swimmers. What happens is that, the aquarium catfish need meaty, i.e. protein containing diet as they grow older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case they do not get this protein from whatever food they eat, algae, and leftover fish food, they will try to eat the slime coating off the other fish. Bigger fish such as cichlids will then attack the catfish to defend themselves, but smaller fish such as a betta, cannot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had 3-4 pink zebra danios (glo-fish) vanish from my tank, over as many months, which I attributed this to the 2 plecos (of the sailfin variety) who share this tank. I now know that the plecos were a bad decision, but no one buys back a pleco. For obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-03-11T07:47:30.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-11T19:48:23.883" Score="6" ViewCount="10481" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like every time one of my fish dies (the last few being guppies and swordtails), it is missing one, or both eyes. I'm not sure if their eyes are causing them to die, if they are losing them naturally after they die, or if the other fish are eating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How are they losing their eyes and is there some way I can make it stop if it is health related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3665" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T04:59:15.403" LastActivityDate="2019-03-24T00:15:58.550" Title="Why do the eyes fall out of my fish when they die?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-12T13:27:02.127" Score="1" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog is a 13 year old Boykin spaniel-a year ago he started eating dirt non stop- tried muzzles- staying outside with him- you turn your back and he is eating dirt as fast as he can.the coughing is getting to be every hour in the hour- and have tried everything? We need some help please- he is miserable as well as ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3753" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T13:27:02.127" Title="Dog coughs all day and all night because of eating dirt" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7814" CreationDate="2015-03-12T13:50:26.310" Score="11" ViewCount="1078" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought an expensive &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.petco.com/product/100832/ScoopFree-Automatic-Self-Cleaning-Litter-Box.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;self cleaning litterbox&lt;/a&gt; because if the normal one gets even slightly dirty after, say, 1 day, she will use the carpet instead. It's been happening for weeks. I can't keep coming all the way home on my lunch break to clean the litterbox or pick poop up off the floor. So I bought this automatic litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It cleans itself 20 minutes after the cat gets out of it. Unfortunately, she saw me setting it up, and it does a test sweep when plugged in. She seemed freaked out about getting in it after that, and even got startled for no reason when checking it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So she's chosen to use the floor rather than the new litterbox for the 2 days that we've had it, even though we moved it to the corner where she goes if the litterbox isn't clean enough for her liking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further detail:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box is in the same place the previous one was, albeit pushed up against the wall where she went if the other one wasn't clean. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The litter used in the automatic box is different, but this is a requirement for this special litterbox. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box cleans itself by sweeping everything into a compartment slowly with a metal rake. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have got to train this 5 month old kitten to use this litterbox. What can I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T16:22:46.870" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T16:22:46.870" Title="How can I train my kitten to use the self cleaning litterbox?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7810" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-03-12T18:41:13.203" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:41:13.203" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:41:13.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7811" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-03-12T18:41:13.203" Score="0" Body="Refers to heater appliances used by aquariums or terrariums." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-12T18:41:13.203" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:41:13.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2015-03-12T18:44:55.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will probably have to have some period with both boxes present while she forgets about the noise and grows accustomed to the new box.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this is going on some plastic sheeting under both boxes will help protect the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T18:44:55.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2015-03-12T19:54:29.257" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;My approach would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the old litter box back immediately, with something to protect the floor. (You can probably find a cheap shower curtain &lt;em&gt;liner&lt;/em&gt; for this purpose.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the new litter box nearby, but do not plug it in yet. Do not try to coax her into the new litter box. Sooner or later, your cat's curiousity should conquer her fear. Put a small amount of soiled litter in the new litter box so she knows its intended purpose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When she does start using the litter box, clean it as you would an ordinary litter box; i.e., don't plug it in yet. Keep the old litter box there too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once your cat has been using the new litter box consistently for a couple of weeks, move the new litter box to its permanent location. Do not plug it in yet; clean it manually. Do not get rid of the old litter box yet; put it where the new litter box was. (In other words, just swap the locations of the old and new litter boxes.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once your cat has been using the new litter box in its permanent location consistently for a couple of weeks, plug it in when she is not nearby. Do not get rid of the old litter box yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once your cat has been using the using the new litter box, with it plugged in for a month, you can get rid of the old litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may seem like a pretty involved process, but if you want to be sure of success, this is how I would do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when I replace one ordinary litter box with another ordinary litter box, I keep the two side-by-side for a couple of days, to make sure the cat is comfortable with the new one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-03-12T19:54:29.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2015-03-13T02:13:58.657" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to mhwombat's suggestions, I would add the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During the time when you have both boxes out, try leaving the 'old' box a little dirty. You want the new box to be the preferable choice, so it should be sparkling clean and the old box should at least have a poop in it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try switching the litter in the old box over to the same type of litter in the new box (any of the litters recommended by &lt;a href=&quot;http://foreverlittertrays.com/crystal-litter/&quot;&gt;this alternative tray system&lt;/a&gt; should be close enough to what's in the standard trays for your purpose). You should do this switch slowly, maybe 1/4 of the litter box every other week or so. This way she doesn't have to get used to the new box AND the new litter at the same time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T02:13:58.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-13T17:00:08.510" Score="2" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that it is not just dogs and cats that can be litter box trained.  Some other pets like &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3&quot;&gt;rabbits are pretty easy to train&lt;/a&gt; so can you litter box train a hamster? If so how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T17:22:42.167" Title="Can a hamster be litter box trained?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7816" CreationDate="2015-03-13T17:22:42.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Litter training a hamster is possible, though often hit or miss as they are not the most intelligent creatures on the tree of life. Some are receptive to training, others not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should notice that your hamster naturally urinates in a certain area, whether it be a corner of the cage or a box you originally bought as a sleep box, in which case that is where you should set up the litter box/hut/jar/recepticle of your choice. Most hamsters however cannot be trained to poop in their box, they're generally a poop-as-they-go animal. Even if they only urinate in the box, it is still very helpful in reducing odor and cleaning time. There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hamster-club.com/article.asp?ID=84&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a guide here&lt;/a&gt; which explains about choosing a litter tray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also an instructional video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;ei=dhkDVZmNIMXN7QaP_IGQCw&amp;amp;url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dc0h9HQB_ofs&amp;amp;ved=0CB8QtwIwAA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNHE3hRaI9v47rcSyd-J8rlBcM1qnw&amp;amp;sig2=nEC5yp-ptDvWEghsymIAmQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is much discussion about which litter is best for a hamster, but in general as with all rodents it should be dust-free to avoid aggravating their sensitive respiratory systems. Chinchilla sand is preferred by some users, others go for paper based cat litter, others use plain newspaper or toilet tissue. It depends which your hamster prefers, but it must be sufficiently different from his regular bedding that he doesn't get confused between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hamsterhideout.com/forum/topic/31234-litter-training-your-hamster-pics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A final source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T17:22:42.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7818" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-03-13T19:38:55.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not to be confused with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/gerbils&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'gerbils'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;gerbils&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/mice&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'mice'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;mice&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/rats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'rats'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;rats&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/guinea-pigs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'guinea-pigs'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;guinea-pigs&lt;/a&gt;, this tag is for questions specific to hamsters of any variety, including dwarf hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the question is not hamster-specific, consider using &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/rodents&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'rodents'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;rodents&lt;/a&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T19:38:55.470" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T19:38:55.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7819" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-03-13T19:38:55.470" Score="0" Body="A small, furry rodent kept as a pet; this tag works for the hamster and variants including the dwarf hamster." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T19:38:55.470" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T19:38:55.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7820" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-03-13T19:41:50.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/rodents&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'rodents'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;rodents&lt;/a&gt; is a catch-all tag for pet &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/mice&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'mice'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;mice&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/rats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'rats'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;rats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/hamsters&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'hamsters'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;hamsters&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/guinea-pigs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'guinea-pigs'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;guinea-pigs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/skinny-pigs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'skinny-pigs'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;skinny-pigs&lt;/a&gt;, and their rodent cousins.  If the question is specific to a species, consider tagging it with the species as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T19:41:50.293" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T19:41:50.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7821" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-03-13T19:41:50.293" Score="0" Body="Catch-all tag for pet mice, rats, hamsters, guinea-pigs, skinny-pigs, and their rodent cousins.  If the question is specific to a species, consider tagging it with the species." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-13T19:41:50.293" LastActivityDate="2015-03-13T19:41:50.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-14T03:20:10.863" Score="3" ViewCount="1168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a leopard gecko. It just leaped out of my hands from four feet up and it can't move her back legs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I live in a small town, there is nowhere to bring her. What should I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3757" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-03-15T19:29:49.810" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T09:29:59.463" Title="Leopard gecko is wounded, can't move its back legs" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-14T22:15:05.307" Score="4" ViewCount="47240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my dogs in their kennels and when one of my dogs eat he pushes a lot to the food onto the ground, but he won't eat the food he pushes on the ground. The food gets all over the place and I don't understand why he does it when he used to eat all the food in his bowl and now he only eats a fraction of it. Can anyone help me figure out why he does this and how to make him stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3760" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-14T15:13:29.380" LastActivityDate="2019-10-14T13:55:49.800" Title="Why does my dog push his food out of his bowl?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-14T22:55:18.777" Score="6" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Belgian shepherd listens very well. She pays attention to me and she will come when I call her, without hesitation. She will walk right next to me without a leash. I could go on, but to summarise: she's a very good dog and we've both worked hard to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when she spots sheep, cows, horses, pheasants, wild cats (cats she knows are fine), you name it, she totally changes. All she can focus on is the wild animal. If she's on the leash, she will just keep pulling like a 'mad dog' in that direction. Any kind of correction is totally ignored. It's tunnel vision and I am like air to her. Whatever I may do, pull on leash, 'shout', try to get to her with her favourite food, she ignores me like I'm air. I'm simply not there to her; all there is, is the wild animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's off the leash, she will just chase the animal until she's lost it, and then eventually she will come back. Obviously, I'm quite hesitant to let her off the leash now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I start working towards better behaviour around wild animals with her? The main problem that I'm facing is that she ignores me totally when she spots a wild animal, whereas normally she's very attentive. It's hard to do any training, since I can't even get her attention to begin with.  So perhaps I should rephrase my question: how can I get my dog's attention in such a situation? I know what to do once I have her attention, but I simply can't get it in these situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only suggestion I've gotten so far, is to use a remote electric collar, but I'm very hesitant to use these, because they seem rather cruel and I have no experience whatsoever with these. I have always used positive reinforcement training methods, so I simply don't feel comfortable with these devices. She was adopted from an animal shelter, had been through a lot and was a very insecure and even traumatised dog, and now she's a confident, happy, and well-behaved dog (except when around wild animals, of course), thanks to positive reinforcement training, and I simply don't want one of these E-collar to traumatise her again. On the other hand, the E-collars seem like a perfect fit for these kinds of situations and perhaps the only thing that may be able to get her attention when she spots a wild animal, so I would be willing to try this, but only as a last resort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3729" LastEditorUserId="3729" LastEditDate="2015-03-14T23:13:30.140" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T11:05:35.100" Title="How to make dog listen around wild animals" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7822" CreationDate="2015-03-14T23:45:04.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, there's really nothing you can specifically do to treat your lizard since you lack the proper equipment to do any diagnosis and determine what the actual injury is. Given the lack of movement, I doubt it's a simple as a broken leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, other than ensuring proper body temperature and ensuring access to food that doesn't really move (e.g. meal worms), I think your only real option is to figure out how to get her to a vet as soon as possible. Injuries that may involve broken limbs require a re-break to set properly if the bones have started knitting, so not ideal to wait very long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-03-14T23:45:04.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7865" CreationDate="2015-03-15T03:33:39.133" Score="4" ViewCount="1698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of getting a vampire crab or fiddler crab, some other semi aquatic creature for my 20 gallon long planted aquarium. I have a 24oz pickle jar that I plan on running through the dishwasher on hot (no detergent) a few times and sink it like the image below. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example and source - &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/5929789/create-an-underwater-dry-zone-in-your-aquarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Life Hacker&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8huot.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My substrate is eco complete, so small gravel, see sample picture below (not my tank).&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ALzCA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is whether my crab will be okay with the underwater habitat? (dry out okay, burrow)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T13:51:17.470" Title="Underwater dry zone for planted aquarium" Tags="&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7825" CreationDate="2015-03-15T03:42:18.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, Dog mostly does it when he/she is suffering from any ailment (fever or any injury, etc.) and he/she has a bad taste in mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not the case, I think he/she finds the food not pleasing in taste or odour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to change the container you use to serve him food or make sure to clean it properly (odourless). Changing the container/bowl might help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When nothing helped, an odd trick I used to follow was that I would put his food in the dark so as to prevent him from seeing his food, this would trick him to eat his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3763" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T03:42:18.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7831" CreationDate="2015-03-15T04:07:22.787" Score="3" ViewCount="75779" Body="&lt;p&gt;While trying to feed a stray puppy in my neighbourhood, I got a needle point pierce from his tooth on my thumb, with some blood also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Immediately I rushed to the doctor and got myself anti-rabies vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doctor asked me to watch out for the puppy for at least 1 week to see if he dies or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concerning queries are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the connection of getting rabies from a dog and his death?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I be worried if he dies within a week?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does bite from a 2 months old puppy can risk humans being infected from rabies?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this puppy has been ill for past 2 days. (No obvious symptoms and he just seems to be ill because he is neither eating nor drinking anything.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3763" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-09-27T23:15:25.057" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T23:15:25.057" Title="Regarding being bitten by about 2 month old puppy and risk of rabies" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7830" CreationDate="2015-03-15T05:25:16.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Rabies is rapidly, and very unpleasantly, fatal. If the dog has rabies it is unlikely to survive a week and probably, at that age, unlikely to survive more than a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Only if the puppy was itself infected. You probably got bitten just because it was either scared or overenthusiastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T12:30:36.613" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T12:30:36.613" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-15T15:28:30.360" Score="2" ViewCount="708" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hamster runs on her wheel all night long keeping me awake! What can I do to stop the noise so I can get some sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T22:42:53.317" Title="Why is my hamster awake all night?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-15T18:23:23.460" Score="3" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two hatchling Hermann's tortoises, both 34 weeks old. Sherman and Tiffany. Sherman is 5.9 cm and 42 grams (perfect weight on Jackson's ratio) Tiffany (now nicknamed Biffany) is 6.4 cm and 60 grams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I weigh and measure them both every Sunday at the same time, they are fed only home grown weeds, weeds from my garden and some shop brought Florrette salad to supplement. Sherman is a casual eater, he eats a little, then rests, then eats some more. The problem is that Tiffany is like a hoover and will keep munching until everything has gone, heartily eating both tortoises' portions. This week alone she gained 6 grams and I'm worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is can I feed her less often e.g. every other day until her weight stabilises? I don't want to do anything wrong or cruel that's why I'm asking. I know you cant tell for years but I am convinced that Tiffany is a little girl (only a guess but she has a tiny tail where by Sherman's tail is long and fat and clearly visible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both live together in a huge tortoise table with correct lighting and heat. But I do have a smaller tortoise table so could separate them for a little while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3768" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:09:33.737" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:43.613" Title="Can I feed my Hermann's tortoise less often?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7835" CreationDate="2015-03-15T20:49:05.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adult male Hermann's tortoises tend to be smaller than females, so the size difference is not abnormal. As long as your more reclined eater is getting enough food and the other one not getting too much, this shouldn't be a problem. Your male doesn't sound deprived of food, so perhaps the problem would be not giving Tiffany too much food. One thing to look out for is pyramiding, if Tiffany's shell is starting to develop pyramidal bulges on separate scutes then you have a problem and should feed her less often. The diet you're giving sounds great, so if pyramiding is to occur, it's probably from the quantity of food. A smooth hard shell is a sign of a healthy diet fed in appropriate amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding her less often is not cruel, if anything it's &lt;em&gt;appropriate&lt;/em&gt;; she might not want to pass a chance to eat and so she's prone to eating too much. If indeed she's eating too much and/or your male is eating too little, all you should do is to get any small, preferably screened container; place it in the enclosure when it's feeding time and put one tortoise in. Then you can partition the food into the container and out of it to each tortoise. I would still do that on a few days of the week, not all, to keep the tortoises used to each other when feeding and to monitor their behavior for changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it all turns out well for you and your tortoises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:25:43.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:43.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7832" CreationDate="2015-03-15T22:42:53.317" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamster#Chronobiology&quot;&gt;Hamsters are nocturnal&lt;/a&gt; (or crepuscular, according to the linked source). That is why it is awake at night, and therefore there is not much you can do about its activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was a child, I had a hamster, and I recall this behaviour very well. Our solution was to move him to another room, and put a blanket over the cage to muffle the noise. So that would be my recommendation. I do not believe one should remove the wheel, however, as hamsters need that to work off excess energy that could otherwise turn into unwanted behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="734" LastActivityDate="2015-03-15T22:42:53.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7839" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-16T02:14:07.590" Score="2" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tank with 3 guppies, 2 fire belly newts, and one Borneo sucker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guppies, being guppies, have young frequently. I would like to control their population, if possible, by introducing a fish that will eat baby guppies, but not bother the other inhabitants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a cold-water tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best fish to introduce that will &quot;naturally&quot; control the guppy population?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:10:59.580" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T05:19:28.810" Title="What is the best cold-water fish to control a baby guppy population?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7845" CreationDate="2015-03-16T10:52:37.010" Score="6" ViewCount="567" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small tank with an under gravel filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, a guppy fry managed to swim down the circulation tube (while the bubbles were going full blast) and set up house in the cavity between the gravel and the bottom glass of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see him (it's a he) from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although he seems fine, and is even growing normally, I'd like him to rejoin the rest of the fish in the &quot;over world&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't take the circulation tube off without gravel filling the &quot;under world&quot;. I don't want to turn the bubbles off (now a power head) for too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How might I get resurrect him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T16:09:24.807" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T16:09:24.807" Title="How can I get a guppy out from beneath an under gravel filter?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7841" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-03-16T13:40:55.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leashes is for questions about leashes, collars, leads, harnesses, halters, etc.  Usually referring to the item, rather than the behavior of the pet when confronted/using the item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you question pet behavior when leashed, or how to walk properly with your pet, please refer to &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/leash-training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'leash-training'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;leash-training&lt;/a&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:46:00.183" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T13:46:00.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7842" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-03-16T13:40:55.117" Score="0" Body="Regarding leashes, collars, leads, harnesses, halters; the item / tool / equipment, not the pet behavior." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T13:46:00.183" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T13:46:00.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7840" CreationDate="2015-03-16T16:01:27.333" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does your under gravel filter system have two uplift tubes? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dOvhl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Undergravel_filter.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try completely uncovering one of the tubes while reversing the powerhead flow on the other. The ambient current should provide sufficient opportunity for the guppy to swim up the other uplift tube and out into the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to give it a bit of time. You won't likely be able to supply enough back pressure to actually &quot;blow&quot; him clear across the aquarium, but if he finds his way close enough to the other tube, the current should be enough to coax him to find his way out on his own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-03-16T17:56:52.497" LastActivityDate="2015-03-16T17:56:52.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7840" CreationDate="2015-03-16T18:25:33.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now that you're using a powerhead, I'm assuming that is keeping the guppy from getting past the top of the lift tube and out into the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try removing the powerhead and snaking &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; an air hose down the uplift tube and let the circulation resume using just the stream of bubbles from the bare tube. That should provide enough circulation (temporarily) to keep the filtration going, but still provide enough room (and current) to suck that little guy up the tube and out into the tank&amp;hellip; eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T04:11:11.387" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T04:11:11.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7840" CreationDate="2015-03-16T18:31:19.663" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next time you are doing a partial water change, take your discharge hose and siphon your water up through the uplift tube. That should provide enough suction to effectively &quot;vacuum&quot; up that little guy into your waste water. The bigger the hose, the better because the faster water flow will increase your chances of &lt;em&gt;catching&lt;/em&gt; him. It may take a few tries, but you'll get him eventually. But make sure you are collecting the water into a bucket or some other container so you don't accidentally discharge your fish down the drain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T17:08:58.063" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T17:08:58.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7872" CreationDate="2015-03-17T18:28:59.693" Score="3" ViewCount="2066" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our kitten was successfully potty-trained by week 8. &#xA;He is 5 months old now and we always have 2 litter boxes going for him, I change both of them, completely, daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed about a month ago he would get really fussy about using a litter box that he felt was full but did not seem full to me. This would happen at about 4 hrs before it was due for a change. During this time I would have to strictly keep an eye on him because he would try and go in corners, or sometimes super odd places like on top of my laptop bag.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 1.5 weeks ago he was down with diarrhea and that's when it hit the fan, literally. It would come on so sudden and explosive, he would have little time to find anywhere suitable to go. The vet gave us antibiotics and it took us 2 days to realise they weren't working, because the problem was worms. Four hours after the worm tablets and he was perky bright and happy... 24hrs later and his poop had become a healthier colour, but still soft. Three days later his diarrhea was still hanging around, although not explosive, if he went in the litter box once, he would not want to use it again, which meant if he had his way, I would be changing it 5 times a day. I took him off the antibiotics completely 2 days ago and his poop has started firming up, but is nowhere near solid and healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 3 days ago we started letting him have free roam of the garden whenever he wanted,(after several weeks of supervising him in it) in an effort for him to be able to use that as his toilet. I've never actually seen him do it. At the same time, our neighbour (we're in an apartment building with a yard), who owns his mother, has let him visit quite a bit, once for a full day when I was at work, and she has said not once has he tried to go to the toilet in the house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is still pooping and peeing OUTSIDE of the litter box in our house even with his stool situation not being so flatulent! It's really stressing me out and causing tension in the household. Not only am I changing 2 litter boxes sometimes twice a day (it was 3 boxes when he was sick) but I can't relax when he's in the house because I'm trying to stop him before he can go on anything. &#xA;Is the reason he does not toilet in our neighbour's house, but does in his own home, because his home smells of toilet from when he was sick and exploding everywhere? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our neighbour's house, I've noticed, is immaculate, while ours is always on the messy side, as we work full time. Our neighbour is home all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that I've noticed that is ironic, is that if I can tell he needs to go toilet, I place him on the litter box and he feels it is too full and I'll have to find him a fresher solution - but by the same token, if I empty out that litter box and he finds the garbage bag with the soiled sand in it - he will immediately go toilet on that sand or on top of the bag. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T22:09:56.203" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T22:09:56.203" Title="Kitten is regressing with use of litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7693" CreationDate="2015-03-18T09:57:32.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased some vestigial fruit flies, which they happily pursue and consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T09:57:32.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6706" CreationDate="2015-03-18T13:53:48.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shrimp are more active at lower lighting and during complete blackouts (nighttime).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would leave your light on for the entire day, they will go into hiding and become stressed.&#xA;They will start losing color and eventually die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only your shrimp will suffer but you will almost certainly get a lot of algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.redcherryshrimp.net/shrimp-information/beginner-guide-101/starting-out-with-red-cherry-shrimp-rcs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.redcherryshrimp.net/shrimp-information/beginner-guide-101/starting-out-with-red-cherry-shrimp-rcs/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;+ experience breeding and keeping shrimp&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastEditorUserId="3783" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T18:30:14.177" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T18:30:14.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5584" CreationDate="2015-03-18T14:04:45.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as the tank goes, sirens can grow up to 24 inches so get at least 3 times their length as the size of the tank.&#xA;They live in shallow water so you don't need to fill the entire tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperature isn't that important as they are used to living in shallow pools of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the finest gravel you can get because they like to burrow. Ideally you would have mud but that's probably not an option.&#xA;Get enough stones, plants, ... so they can hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food: they eat live food. Bloodworms, tadpoles, ...&#xA;They are active at night so you will have to feed them shortly before your lights go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that males can get very aggressive around spring. They will bite whatever they can get hold of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't keep these with fish and remember that they can live for as long as 14 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T14:04:45.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7855" CreationDate="2015-03-18T16:58:51.110" Score="5" ViewCount="3017" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be building some wooden toys/houses/things for Degus, Rabbits and Guinea Pigs, who will inevitably chew on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Not in the same cage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any kinds of plywood types or brands that I should be avoiding, or which may contain chemicals that could be harmful to the animals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3785" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:47:21.237" Title="Is plywood bad for any small caged pets?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5893" CreationDate="2015-03-18T19:06:17.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;your Guinea Pig shouldn't need any lotion on its skin. He should produce enough on oils on its own to moisturize his body. However, just like with people, sometimes things things a hairless might have dry skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend a bath to soothe his skin plus clean off any external irritant that might be on his skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like his diet is good so it may not be that. &#xA;Have you the checked humidity in the room?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, a soothing oil like Burt's Bee Nourishing Baby Oil, which has apricot oil, can help. Moisturize it in 2x day.  It's good to call your local vet for advice also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, there is a cool video and info on hairless guinea pigs on this site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guineapigheaven.com/learn/guinea-pig-breeds/hairless-guinea-pigs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guineapigheaven.com/learn/guinea-pig-breeds/hairless-guinea-pigs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3786" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T19:06:17.243" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="478" CreationDate="2015-03-18T19:17:53.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;the recommendations above are really good.  I'd add that you can also create a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/alerts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google News Alert&lt;/a&gt; for a phrase like &quot;[pet type] food recall&quot; or &quot;[pet food brand] food recall&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you set the alert so that you receive an email as the news happens, you'll get the latest info asap and, if needed, change your pet's diet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3786" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-18T20:07:48.423" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:07:48.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7851" CreationDate="2015-03-18T20:10:09.377" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plywood is glued layers of wood and, as such, it would be something I would totally avoid for creating toys that they would chew on since you're probably unlikely to find out what's in the glue. So, while more expensive, solid pieces of untreated apple, aspen, poplar or ash are much better choices. May be hard to just find at your local lumber store, but hobby stores that carry small wood crafting tools and kits may have what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, avoid maple, oak, cedar and pine. Pine can be kiln dried to be made safer, but I would just skip right past it regardless (I would also avoid for litter shavings too). Not everyone agrees on maple either, but I tend to err on the side of caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:10:09.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7851" CreationDate="2015-03-18T20:47:21.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan on making a similar cage at some point and I've put some thought into it. What I plant to do is have a descent looking outer material, like you're wood, but then put plexiglass, acrylic, or glass on the inside. You can get small sheets of it and all the cutting tools in your local big box, reasonably priced. Make a frame of whatever you want, then line the inside, at least the areas likely to be chewed, with the glass. You can glue it in the corners and edges with non-toxic aquarium grade silicone, also found at said store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One benefit of doing it this way is that you can make it fancier by carving or painting the wood behind the glass, make dividers where they can see each other, etc... There are a lot of possibilities. I'm currently blocked from youtube at work but there is a video you should find readily, where a girl made a play area for her hamsters with white painted plywood on the bottom and three sides. She left the front as just acrylic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I'd keep in mind is that you should choose which material you use with the expected wear and tear in mind. Glass easily shatters and can hurt you if you fall into it (I don't think a small animal could break it, even a rabbit). On the other hand, acrylic is more flexible, but easily scratches and may need to be replaced. Doing it this way may be a little more expensive up front, but think of the time and cost of disassembling the entire cage, to replace a chew damaged board. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, keep ventilation in mind. You don't want your cage to be stuffy and uncomfortable. It can also be unhealthy if fume, like ammonia from pee, hang near the ground. If I was worried about ventilation, I might rig up a place with wire grating like a regular cage and have a pc fan attached to the other side, set to come on periodically and circulate the air. Good luck with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:47:21.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7839" CreationDate="2015-03-18T20:55:24.133" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I don't know about the sucker, but the guppies are not cold water fish. You really need to get a heater and keep the water in the low-mid 70s. I wouldn't think the newts or the sucker would like it either, but I won't say different, since I don't know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far a controlling babies, you have a couple of options. One is to remove the females. This is easiest, since the males are the pretty ones. Pick out the males you like at the pet store and take your females back to them. Any pet store will usually take unwanted fish if they look healthy. They may want a sample of your water, but I've never had one turn me down. They just resell them. You can do this with your babies as well. If you have them, you can leave them in the tank with plenty of cover. The parents will eat the ones they can catch, usually the weak and deformed, which saves you from culling. You can let the other grow till you can tell their colors and keep the ones you want, taking the others to the pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want something to eat them, I'd suggest African dwarf frogs or crayfish. Either one are cool to keep and predate on things when they can. The crayfish have the added benefit of being a tank janitor and their shells change colors gradually with each molt to match the gravel color as best they can. I once had one go from a jet black 1/4&quot; baby, to a 3.5&quot; long blue/white behemoth on white gravel over a couple years. Then he got big enough to start killing the healthy fish and had to go. You can catch them in creeks easily, but just get one and even in a 35 gal tank, I had two babies fight to the death. They're territorial. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-03-18T20:55:24.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7753" CreationDate="2015-03-19T15:20:12.830" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is better not to put goldfish with cichlids, cichlids are much more aggressive than goldfish. Also, they live in different temperatures, goldfish need temperatures of less than 22&amp;nbsp;°C (72&amp;nbsp;°F) and cichlids of more than 24&amp;nbsp;°C (75&amp;nbsp;°F).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="642" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T13:45:47.900" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T13:45:47.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7867" CreationDate="2015-03-19T16:57:42.483" Score="6" ViewCount="2641" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend that would like to allow their dog to roam a large, unfenced, yard during the day but an &quot;invisible&quot; electric fence would be too prohibitive for the terrain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any alternatives, like GPS trackers for dogs that have an &quot;electric fence&quot; feature, that will train the dog to not stray from a defined area? And how safe would they be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:35:10.473" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T13:35:10.473" Title="Are there alternatives to electric fences that use GPS instead of buried cables?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;gps&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-19T21:16:06.193" Score="4" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard some people say to add some salt to a freshwater aquarium to help keeping my fish healthy. Is there any basis for this claim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background on my tank: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 gallon long freshwater planted aquarium with gravel substrate, a few rocks, a large piece of wood and an Emperor 400 for filtration. My fish include 8 platies (they reproduced), 1 balloon molly (two died, which is sad), 8 tetras, a lot of cherry shrimps, 3 amano shrimps, 4 African dwarf frogs and a few dwarf crayfish. I'm thinking of adding a vampire crab and a small dry zone for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:09:41.800" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:09:41.800" Title="Aquarium salt for a freshwater planted aquarium" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7828" CreationDate="2015-03-19T22:28:08.830" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, as cool of an idea as this is, it won't work for vampire crabs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have experience with fiddler crabs, but according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.pawnation.com/types-freshwater-aquarium-crabs-5761.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PawNation website&lt;/a&gt;, they could possibly work with this setup (along with some other species). Although I would still recommend researching any specific species that you're looking at getting, just to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that semi-aquatic doesn't just mean that the species can live in either the land or water, but that they need certain percentages of both environments to survive (For vampire crabs it's about 2/3 land to water). In fact, semi-aquatic is a good indicator that the animal is terrestrial, but likes water available to swim in occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the case with vampire crabs, the water in their terrarium is only used for drinking, molting, and breeding. Otherwise you will never see them in water (or at all really, they're incredibly skittish). The ideal vampire crab habitat is actually the same as a poison dart frog's, so you can follow a care sheet for them if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately vampire crabs are a pretty exotic species, where not much is known about their care. So when these crabs do make it into a pet store they are typically mislabeled, and placed in aquariums, where they will only survive for an extremely short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because the vampire crab's life-cycle starts out in the water, where they drop of their young. The young crabs will live in and around the water until they mature and their shells darken in color. Once vampire crabs are mature, they lose the ability to gather oxygen from water so easily, and while they still can for short periods of time (they still need to be able to in order to molt), the effort it takes for them to do so will kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some places to find more information about vampire crabs, unfortunately as I mentioned, they aren't documented very well, so information about them is scattered across forums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?227935-Vampire-Crabs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?227935-Vampire-Crabs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/purple-vampire-crabs-148262.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/purple-vampire-crabs-148262.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/lounge/71330-vampire-crabs-me-needz-more-info.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/lounge/71330-vampire-crabs-me-needz-more-info.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.panzerwelten.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=711&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.panzerwelten.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=711&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://caresheet.net/animals/crustaceans/vampire-crab-geosesarma/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://caresheet.net/animals/crustaceans/vampire-crab-geosesarma/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T13:51:17.470" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T13:51:17.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7862" CreationDate="2015-03-20T03:49:36.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;GPS normally has an error radius of 10 feet or so. There are ways to narrow that down much more tightly but that needs additional hardware. Just not the right technology for this application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T03:49:36.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7862" CreationDate="2015-03-20T15:34:28.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A basic search online against &quot;GPS electric fence&quot; using any given search engine reveals several brands of electric fences using GPS technology vs. using wireless technology.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMhT0wBaK4s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a video explaining the technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience with GPS, there is too much delay, variance, false positives, inaccuracy, and unreliability. That being said, I have NO experience with GPS-based electric fences and therefore can only speak from the following GPS-related experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am friends with several parole officer-types who monitor GPS-based ankle-bracelet-wearing convicts.  The convicts check in from certain places at certain hours, to confirm they are at home or at a job, but not anywhere they shouldn't be. I have witnessed several times when my parole officer friends are alerted (by text/phone) that a convict is not where he is supposed to be at a given time, and they have to contact/locate the convict.  Many of these times, it is the GPS mis-alerting where the bracelet is located, or the bracelet isn't sending a signal, and my friends have to call and/or drive to confirm the convict location.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it is the quality of the GPS device being used, but witnessing how potentially inaccurate they can be, I would not rely on GPS for ensuring containment of my dog.  I wouldn't want to allow an accuracy error of 30 feet for my dog near a street, let alone the 10 foot error radius mentioned in keshlam's answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T14:49:54.360" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T14:49:54.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7868" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-20T16:23:07.440" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbour has 2 large Rottweilers. When these dogs jump up &amp;amp; stand on the wall, they stand at the height of the wall. Their property is lower than ours. We have had a previous incident of attack by a Rottweiler on our short dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whose responsibility is it to ensure their safety, and what are the rules/laws with regards to safety of me from dangerous dogs? How are my neighbours to ensure the safety of their neighbours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3797" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T18:05:41.173" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T15:33:52.393" Title="Protection of neighbours from dangerous dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7870" CreationDate="2015-03-20T18:25:09.237" Score="2" ViewCount="10618" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softpaws.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nail caps&lt;/a&gt; on two of our four cats (not always the name brand, just whatever is cheapest usually). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glue that comes with the package seems a lot like super glue (it gets on our fingers &quot;occasionally&quot;), but it doesn't stay in liquid form for very long once the tube has been opened (I suspect because it doesn't have a very tight sealing lid). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats tend to loose 2-4 caps a week, and it would be nice to be able to replace just the handful of caps without the tube of glue drying out before the next time we need to use it. They sell &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softpaws.com/soft-paws-extra-adhesive/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;extra tubes of adhesive&lt;/a&gt;, but it drastically increases the cost of using the nail tips to use a new tube of adhesive every few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the nail cap adhesive seems to have similar properties to super glue, is it safe to use super glue to replace a few caps at a time? Or is the nail cap adhesive a special non-toxic formula that only ACTS like super glue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-20T19:09:24.043" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T19:09:24.043" Title="Is superglue safe for gluing nail caps onto cat claws?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7869" CreationDate="2015-03-20T19:04:35.743" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common superglue that you would find in your corner store is made mostly of ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate or methyl-2-cyanoacrylate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=618703&quot;&gt;Histotoxicity of Cyanoacrylate Tissue Adhesives&lt;/a&gt;, the study authors report:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cyanoacrylate derivatives have been used as surgical adhesives for many years. Shorter-chain derivatives (methyl- and ethyl-cyanoacrylate) have proved to be histotoxic. Longer-chain derivatives (butyl- and isobutyl-cyanoacrylate) are much less histotoxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Histotoxic means &quot;toxic to tissue&quot;. They did a bone grafting experiment comparing Histoacryl (butyl-2-cyanoacrylate) and Krazy Glue (ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate) and determined that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Histoacryl had minimal histotoxic effect and good bone graft—cartilage binding ability, whereas Krazy Glue demonstrated severe histotoxicity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of glue present in nail caps is probably not enough to cause any sort of toxicity (in the experiment they took some bone and glued it in the animal's ear, which is much more extreme than attaching nail caps), but to be safe it may be better to use a less toxic variety of cyanoacrylate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medical Glues are available under the following names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Derma+flex® QS™, SurgiSeal, FloraSeal and Dermabond)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;n-butyl cyanoacrylate (LiquiBand®, Histoacryl, Indermil, GluStitch, GluShield, and Periacryl)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinary Glues are available under the following names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Surgi-Lock and Nexaband) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;n-butyl cyanoacrylate (VetGlu, Vetbond and LiquiVet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The list of brand names may not include everything, and was provided by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realfirstaid.co.uk/superglue/&quot;&gt;Real First Aid.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Histotoxicity of Cyanoacrylate Tissue Adhesives: A Comparative Study.&quot; Dean M. Toriumi, MD; Wasim F. Raslan, MD; Michael Friedman, MD; M. Eugene Tardy, MD Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1990;116(5):546-550. doi:10.1001/archotol.1990.01870050046004&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T19:04:35.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7864" CreationDate="2015-03-20T20:55:46.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any links, however I do have quite a few year's of experience keeping freshwater aquariums. When I first started I didn't know about the salt. And I noticed on odd occasions whenever I introduced new fish, or during season changes (especially spring) my fish would catch ich. And if you had it, you would know how annoying it is. However afterwards I decided to start adding one teaspoon of salt for every three gallons. And since then not a single case of ich outbreak occurred. It might be either salt that kept fish healthy enough to not get ich, or that I had more experience. I don't know, but just thought I would leave my two cents with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastActivityDate="2015-03-20T20:55:46.040" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7846" CreationDate="2015-03-21T00:20:45.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a kitten regress much like that after his spaying and a persistent parasite problem that caused diarrhea.  He started going near doors and in corners.  Sounds a lot like your issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put plastic and puppy pads down near the box to save the floor.  This at least ended much of the tension on my end, which you need to do because the kitten isn't being bad on purpose.  He may just have a bad association with the current litter, or a box, or just be freaked out about his ill health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also added a pair of extra boxes with different litters, an unscented one that is fine and a small one with some &quot;cat attract&quot; litter.  He fairly quickly started to prefer to go in the accepted area if not always in the box.  After a few months, he began to be more good and use one or another box.  He tends to trade off, so I haven't tried reducing the box count to one again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-03-21T00:20:45.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-21T01:50:07.600" Score="6" ViewCount="21922" Body="&lt;p&gt;About three days ago, my dog approaches the water dish like he's thirsty, but dances around it like he's scared of something. He will finally drink, but after annoying the hell out of me with ten to twenty minutes of whining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's weird around other things, like corners on a hard floor, doors that aren't open wide enough ... you know how dogs are. He acts like that around the water dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I figure something happened. Maybe water went up his nose or something and he blames the dish. I emptied the water into another identical dish and he lapped the droplets from the old dish without hesitation, but was wary of the new dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do? Are there any other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3799" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T16:11:52.033" Title="Why is my dog suddenly scared of the water dish?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7875" CreationDate="2015-03-21T10:49:17.067" Score="6" ViewCount="7091" Body="&lt;p&gt;We don't treat our rabbits for fleas in the winter because we don't &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit/1016#1016&quot;&gt;take them out&lt;/a&gt; in the winter.  Sometimes in the winter we will take them to the pet store or other locations where cats and dogs are also present.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What risk, if any, is there of rabbits having a problem with fleas from a cat or dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-03-22T09:45:58.877" Title="Can my rabbit get fleas from a cat or dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7874" CreationDate="2015-03-21T19:31:40.690" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;They absolutely can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two types of flea which are generally found on rabbits. The &lt;strong&gt;more common is the cat flea, known as &lt;em&gt;Ctenocephalides felides&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The other is called the rabbit flea or &lt;em&gt;Spilopsylla cuniculi&lt;/em&gt;. It is less common for rabbits to be affected by &lt;em&gt;Spilopsylla cuniculi&lt;/em&gt;... &lt;em&gt;C. felides&lt;/em&gt; can survive on cats, dogs and rabbits. Therefore, if any of these animals are affected in a multi pet household then there is a high probability of transmission between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netvet.co.uk/rabbits/fleas.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;source&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various species of fleas have been found on rabbits. They include &lt;em&gt;Pulex irritans&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Cediopsylla simples&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Odontopsyllus multispinosus&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Echinnophaga gallinacea&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;Echidnophasis mymecobil&lt;/em&gt;. Domestic rabbits are commonly infested by the cat or dog fleas: &lt;em&gt;Ctenocephalides felis&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Ctenocephalides canis&lt;/em&gt;, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/fleas/Fleas.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most household furries can catch the &lt;em&gt;Ctenocephalides felis&lt;/em&gt;. I once had a problem with a lone rat who caught fleas from my cat every few months, though I believe the potential for disease-spreading is worse for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the best course of action is to keep vigilant and limit your rabbit's contact with these animals if possible, and continue to treat throughout winter if you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-03-21T19:40:01.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7877" CreationDate="2015-03-21T20:32:23.587" Score="4" ViewCount="1287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a 2-year-old Holland lop two months ago from a devoted family who was getting ready to move and couldn't bring the rabbit with them. I've never owned a rabbit before but as I have lots of experience with other pets I didn't think it would be an issue. The previous owners told me that the bunny would let them pet her if they were giving her food, but otherwise didn't really care for being touched and never liked being held. (I read online that this is a little uncommon but not that strange for a rabbit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, I've made wonderful progress with the rabbit. She enjoys the other animals in the house (she especially likes chasing the cats around) and likes to hop up on the couch with us while we watch tv. She's okay with us petting her as long as she sees us coming and she seems to enjoy having her head rubbed. But she is still definitely not okay with us holding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any kind of training I can do to make her less fearful and eventually maybe let us hold her? It's not like we want to cuddle with her all the time -- we would be able to give her free roam of more areas of the house if we had at least the option of picking her up to relocate her out of unsafe areas. Also I made her a harness but because she hates the idea of us picking her up, I can't put it on her so there's no chance of her going in the backyard with us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2015-03-21T23:14:22.227" Title="Will I ever be able to hold my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7876" CreationDate="2015-03-21T23:14:22.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an answer at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/677/how-to-leash-train-a-rabbit/735#735&quot;&gt;How to leash train a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; that addresses putting the harness on, so I won't go in to it here.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for holding your rabbit; holding a rabbit is problematic for two main reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are built light and fast and a fall or jump from chest height (4 feet) on you can and does cause serious injury and or death to rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are prey animals, being held causes them anxiety, they are thinking I have been caught I am about to be eaten! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the other side, with handling most (but not all) rabbits can be trained to accept handling and picking up as an ok thing. Some rabbits are pretty high energy and while you might be able to work through it, it probably a lot more work than you want to invest.  Let's say 90% of rabbits can be trained to accept being held.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The delicate balance&lt;/strong&gt;, if you hold a rabbit too tight bullet 2 &quot;fear&quot; kicks in and they try to get away.  If you don't hold them well, they can suddenly jump from your arms and hurt themselves as in bullet 1.  As you begin training stay low, don't get any higher than on your knees, and sitting on the floor is better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a very hold resistant bunny as you describe I would start by laying on my back on the floor, get a healthy treat like &quot;Vitakraft Nibble Rings&quot; you can break these in pieces and use them as training rewards.  Two or three rings per day is going to be about the max you want to feed. Have your bunny climb up on your chest of her own choice and while she eats the treat get her used to having your hands on her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next get her used to having her feet off the ground, you can slide your hand under her belly and lift her up, just like scooping up a towel, you are not holding just lifting.  Go slow to start and if she starts kicking put her down.   I have heard stories of rabbits breaking their backs by kicking their feet when the feet were not supported. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When all of the above is going well, you can practice holding her while you are sitting or up on your knees. Just a few seconds at first, than you can stretch it out to a couple of minutes, it is OK to feed treats at this time. By this point you probably have her climbing in your lap and up your chest to get the treat anyhow, so it is pretty easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have also been working on getting her in the harness, before you pick her up at standing have her in the harness. hold the leash so if she does jump she will not hit the floor.  If at any time your bunny starts to struggle get low fast, they are quick and strong, if you try to hold her tighter she will just struggle more, get down and put her down, she is on the leash so no worries even if you are outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-03-21T23:14:22.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7880" CreationDate="2015-03-22T16:11:15.420" Score="3" ViewCount="2128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a Chihuahua mixed dog from the shelter. Everything is fine, but his lower body (close to the hip) has very thin hair. I suppose she used to bite in that area due to flea infection. Are there any products that would help in hair regrowth in that particular area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3802" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-28T14:13:08.843" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T14:00:20.863" Title="Are there any products that can help my dog's hair growth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7878" CreationDate="2015-03-22T20:09:17.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Chihuahuas, the dilution gene (bluish/dark gray coat) can cause thin coat or even alopecia in certain parts of body - I have seen that on the side of hind legs. However, both parents must have that gene in the first place. If this is the case, you will not be able to completely treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allergy can be another reason. One of my dogs is allergic to flea bite, and several dog shampoos. The skin gets red, dandruffs appear and there is a specific smell associated with it. Treatment is to first get rid of fleas and then use non-allergic dog shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I'm using salmon oil as a meal supplement. Some instructions also mention direct application on the area (I'm not sure it that works). There are other special products (herbal oils) for skin application, I have used them, but I cannot say if they actually work (no point in naming a brand as it is local product here in Czech Republic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it at least partially helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3804" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditDate="2015-06-15T14:00:20.863" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T14:00:20.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7881" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-23T02:26:57.600" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vet today gave our dog 1 injection of Naxcel and prescribed Metronidazol.&#xA;Can I start giving Metronidazol today or should I wait until tomorrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3806" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-24T00:42:26.157" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T00:42:26.157" Title="Can naxcel and metronidazole be administered simultaneously?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7881" CreationDate="2015-03-23T03:44:18.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a vet and it is always important to ask your vet, but both drugs are antibiotic treatments. Normally Naxcel would be administered over a course of many days with daily injections, but can only be administered by a vet. Based on that, it would seem reasonable to presume that if you're not slated for another visit to your vet tomorrow, that the Metronidazol is the carry-on medication and should be administered starting tomorrow for the duration proscribed by the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to repeat, but this is important, I'm not a vet and I would suggest a call to your vet or an emergency vet clinic to confirm my take on it is wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T03:44:18.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7885" CreationDate="2015-03-23T13:29:11.283" Score="8" ViewCount="25737" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, long story shortish, I recently ended up as the reluctant owner of a slightly used cat.  He's 3 or 4 years old, and did have an owner at some point, but ran away, ended up in a cat shelter, where about a month ago, he charmed his way into my home. After spending the past month or so trying to let him get acclimated to his new environment, he still doesn't like to be petted or touched, and we noticed he basically can't vocalize, so we took him to the vet, and found out he's got a severely inflamed throat and upper respiratory congestion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet gave us a big bill (free cat, my ass) and a couple liquid, oral medications to give him.  I'm apparently supposed to squirt these medications into my cat's mouth - one comes in a handy syringe, the other in an eye-dropper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just did it for the first time this morning, which took an hour, has the cat staring at me like it's trying to figure out how to kill me in my sleep and has me scratched all over from trying to restrain the cat and open his mouth to get any in there.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1438/3807&quot;&gt;Having read this question&lt;/a&gt;, I'm going to try to find something longer and thinner than an eye dropper to give him the one medication, but that still leaves the question of how to best restrain the cat and open its mouth in the first place.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7085/3807&quot;&gt;I've gotten into the habit of giving him treats doing anything he seems to dislike&lt;/a&gt;, including the medicine, as well as the vet visit, and when I had to brush the loose hair off him, but it doesn't seem to be helping much, and of course, since he doesn't seem to like being petted, I can't just shower him with attention to calm him down before trying to medicate him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I'm cradling him in my arm, on his back (kind of like you might do with a baby), and trying to get him to open his mouth long enough to squirt some medicine into his mouth.  (This is a position he barely tolerates for a few seconds, without trying to squirt liquid in his mouth.)  Actually putting the syringe or eye-dropper in his mouth results in him fighting it off with his tongue and or claws... so I end up basically poking at the sides of his mouth until he opens up to hiss at me, at which point, I can squirt a little bit in.  Rinse and repeat several times, reposition him after he squirms free, and that's what I've managed to work out as far as actually getting him medicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I'm missing that might make this easier, or any techniques/positions that might make giving him medication less of an ordeal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3807" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T15:38:08.023" Title="How do I give my cat oral (liquid) medicine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7883" CreationDate="2015-03-23T17:53:57.937" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either use a syringe or mix it into their food if you can get away with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick to this is to work with the cat. When you start out, make sure you are as relaxed as can be. Only ever use as much force as necessary. Make sure you have everything in hand or at hand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by stroking and cuddling the cat and putting it at ease. A good time is 10 minutes or so after they have fed and groomed and starting to settle down for a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the first time, or if your cat is very reluctant and or assertive, it might be best to do the wrapping technique, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Wrap-a-Cat&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Wrap-a-Cat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, two persons is often better than one for giving cats medicine. Just make sure everybody is relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have the cat wrapped or in your power, start by gently opening the cat's mouth by putting the fingers of one hand around its mouth and trying to gently get into the mouth. Watch out for lunges of the cat just before the mouth opens or just after. More info here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Cat%27s-Mouth&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Cat%27s-Mouth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the mouth is open, you need to be quick, delicate, and error free. Mouth open, squirt syringe, get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never push the cats head up, or block their airway to force them to open their mouths. Don't force their mouth closed afterwards as they will have difficulty swallowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the above advice is from personal experience. Each cat is different, your mileage my vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, your cat is still your friend even though it needs medicine. Try very hard to prevent traumatising it, a treat before and after may be good. If the cat gets too upset, back off let her calm down (with a treat, and soothing voice and petting), perhaps for an hour. Then try again (but relax first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really are not managing, I suggest getting in touch with your vet for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2886" LastActivityDate="2015-03-23T17:53:57.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7862" CreationDate="2015-03-24T16:34:20.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked into GPS-based collars about a year ago. These were not specifically for training the dog to stay, but are designed to alert the owner if a dog strays outside of its designated area, and to help the owner locate the straying dog. All of these devices had the same flaw: GPS monitoring is battery-intensive, and so the collars all user a periodic check instead of a continuous one. This was commonly around every 10 minutes. IMHO, these are useless because a dog could be a mile away in those 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some wireless invisible fences available, and these might be an alternative. I do not have any experience with this product: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.havahartwireless.com/compare-fences?gclid=CjwKEAjwlsSoBRDoid2ihqnjjlISJABZoG9-eTN59SXuHa6rhYMS7yitJMu8w3VqWHXqbjnmJmsaoxoCy5Pw_wcB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Havahart fence&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-03-24T16:34:20.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7883" CreationDate="2015-03-25T01:52:25.047" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat who needed regular courses of (liquid) antibiotics, and I'm also the asker of the question you linked to about foul-tasting medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think trying to get the cat onto its back (like a baby) is not the best idea.  First, this is a vulnerable position for the cat (exposed belly) and your cat is already having adjustment problems.  Second, it's kind of hard to swallow like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I administer liquid medicines with the cat either standing or &quot;meatloafing&quot; (lying down but not on its side or back).  Standing works better for me but the cat doesn't always cooperate.  I do this with the cat on a counter or table, so I'm not leaning over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume for this description that the cat is standing on a counter in front of me, facing right.  I take my left hand, reach around the cat, and place my hand under his chin.  If the cat starts to wriggle away, moving my arm toward me (putting the cat between my arm and my body) solves the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once in this position I use the right hand to guide the end of the syringe into the cat's mouth from the side nearer me.  (Approaching from the front never seems to work out for me.)  You want to make this part as quick as you can -- insert, squirt, and then lightly massage the throat to encourage the cat to swallow.  As soon as the medicine is deployed, shower the cat with praise and/or treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never use an eyedropper, and when medicine comes with one I ask for a syringe instead.  Eyedroppers, being basically gravity-driven, are hard to operate; I find it much easier to use something with a plunger action for fast deployment of the medicine.  Eyedroppers for oral meds are a cruel joke or, perhaps, a plot by Big Pharma to sell more medicine because of the amount you waste on the way to healing.  Ditch them; they're bad news.  (Ok, not really about Big Pharma, but I'm serious about ditching eyedroppers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T01:52:25.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7889" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-25T03:04:55.450" Score="4" ViewCount="38813" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I get home from work, I get greeted by my Great Dane. He runs up to me in the doorway and insists on kissing me, but when I walk a little further he sticks his face up my butt and tries to lick (keep in mind that I don't let him do this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand why he smells me there but why does he lick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this happen to anyone else, and how have other people stopped this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:28:34.763" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:28:34.763" Title="Why does my dog constantly try to lick my butt when i get home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7889" CreationDate="2015-03-25T09:03:52.910" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure most dog owners will know this behavior and/or have seen it some time (even if it's just with other dogs or cats) - it's natural and theoretically nothing bad. It's basically part of their communication with each other. There are many sources to be found with more details about this, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://mentalfloss.com/article/60196/why-do-dogs-sniff-each-others-butts&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on mental_floss&lt;/a&gt;, where they also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZlJ8XfwiNg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;show a short video about it&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What they explain in the video in regards to getting to know other dogs or knowing more about them, is basically the same your dog tries with you (since you're part of the pack).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can get awkward with other people around etc. that's true and probably the only reason you should try to get rid of it. Some might associate it with dirty underwear, but that's really just a tip of an iceberg. Dogs don't need dirty underwear to smell their owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our Husky puppy showed a similar behavior, but he preferred to sniff and lick people's frontside... I guess you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different methods to fight this, but most basically involve distracting the dog with something different that's far more interesting. What actually works really depends on the dog. Trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case I've had two distractions and they worked pretty fast (stopped doing it after just one or two weeks):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start fondling the dog in a position it loves. Our dog just loves being tickled between the front legs and will instantly sit or lie down to enjoy it. No time to sniff or lick around.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try a reaction similar to other dogs (not perfect for public for obvious reasons): Make a small jump/turn around, face the dog, and snort for a moment (just a second or so should be enough). This would typically get our dog to start wagging its tail and start playing with me (throwing on the ground, waiting, etc.). Sniffing and licking were no longer on the priority list.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you try, don't do something exclusive the dog loves. Like getting it a special treat or making this the only time of the day you play, etc. Otherwise you might get the direct opposite result: The dog would do the undesired behavior to get &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; to do the desired behavior (playing, treats, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T09:03:52.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7893" CreationDate="2015-03-25T14:02:26.747" Score="26" ViewCount="8089" Body="&lt;p&gt;I left some strips of duct tape on my patio because I was gonna paint it, and a milk snake or king snake from outside got tangled in it. Sorry, but touching it is out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying a little water, then dirt, and agitating the tape; it seems be working, but slowly. Unfortunately, his head is glued to the tape along with about 60% of his body. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zwh5r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;snagged snake&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's about a foot (30 cm) long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post rescue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a couple of things I learned/observed today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Duct tape is really sticky and durable! ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a snake, a snag on duct tape is maybe our equivalent to jumping into frozen water, or a bird getting wrapped up around twine - everything works against you. A snakes serpentine / corkscrew movement only causes him to become further stuck and entangled to the tape. I could honestly see using the stuff as an effective method of capture, like some rat and mouse traps do, but a lot of reading I've done today really has shown me that there are rarely ever needs to kill wild snakes. Just leave them alone, they will do the same if you're not stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For freeing the snake, &lt;strong&gt;dirt helped a lot&lt;/strong&gt;.  I imagine it didn't bother the snake. Dirt immediately adhered to any remaining sticky surface on the tape, preventing the situation from worsening.  When the snake freed a part of himself, the dirt prevents that surface from sticking to something else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quickly cutting off larger pieces of tape also prevented it from getting worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After spraying him lightly with hose water, then gently spritzing the guy with vegetable oil, I put some of the oil in a clean sprayer and misted him a couple times.  I'm not too certain the oil did much, but I know oils will break up sticky substances; with time the snake might have freed himself with those things alone. I guess if it was venomous, probably best to stop at this point if you decided to help it all along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving him from my cool patio concrete floor to the warm sun definitely increased his energy, and that helped him break free about 30% more of his body on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seemed exhausted after that time; I thought I'm probably running out of time.  Got some garden gloves, pinched one end of the tape with two fingers on my left hand, pinched the tip of his tail with two fingers on my right and peeled them apart, slowly but steadily, in about a 3 second sweep, he came off.  When his head freed, I screamed like a girl, threw him about 10 feet (3 meters) away, got a weird look from my very attractive neighbor, and watched him scurry off.  I think if I would have tried head end first, it would have been too traumatic.  I think their skin is a little thinner up there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've no idea if he has survived the day, but he did run off. Unfortunately, there was chunk of tissue remaining on the tape, it looked like from the midsection, not completely sure what caused that, maybe skin plus a few millimeters.  The snake should have saved today for his molting and this would have been easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3088" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:18:35.717" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:18:35.717" Title="How can I free a snake from duct tape?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7892" CreationDate="2015-03-25T14:57:06.853" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last thing you want to do is forcibly remove the snake from the tape. Doing so will harm the snake, by pulling off its scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sorry, but touching it is out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately you're going to have to get close if you want to save the snake. It's a harmless snake, so you have nothing to be afraid of. You can wear gloves if that makes you more comfortable, or have a friend help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you want to do is carefully trim away the tap that isn't stuck to the snake. You'll want to avoid having it get stuck even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick to removing the tape is using &lt;strong&gt;vegetable oil&lt;/strong&gt;. It will be harmless to the snake and will interfere with the glue on the tape more than water will. Use a cotton swab to apply the oil to the edges of the tape, and slowly work it free. This is where you will most likely have to hold the snake, as it will be stressed and try to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure to be extra careful around the snake's mouth, because the oil could potentially block the airways that run along side the mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell from the picture, but if the tape has stuck itself to the snake's eye, it would be best to take it straight to a veterinarian to have the tape removed, just in case it ends up removing the eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T14:57:06.853" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2557" CreationDate="2015-03-25T16:40:38.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fed my baby snake live minnows and he was fine. Your snake might have swallowed the mouse and not killed him/her, depending on size, meaning the mouse could have fought back in the throat killing the snake by breaking its wind-pipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3814" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:18:21.893" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:18:21.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7897" CreationDate="2015-03-25T16:59:02.833" Score="4" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formicarium#Laws_on_keeping_ants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;illegal&lt;/a&gt; to ship live queen ants in US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore how I can recognize if I'm having a queen in my ants colony? Or how authorities would recognize?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3092" LastEditorUserId="3092" LastEditDate="2015-03-25T17:08:56.117" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T19:56:06.610" Title="How I can recognize a queen ant?" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7878" CreationDate="2015-03-25T17:55:56.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog hasn't been to the vet for a checkup yet, I would recommend taking her to the vet for an initial health exam and asking about the thin spot. Dogs can have thin hair from allergies, diseases, parasites, or just genetics (as mentioned in the previous answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet confirms that the thinning fur is due to genetics or a condition that has healed, there has been some research done with using melatonin to stimulate hair growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15500479&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a study&lt;/a&gt; of 29 neutered (so I assume male) dogs with normal hormone levels prior to supplementation, 62% of the dogs regrew hair with oral melatonin supplementation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16412119&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another study&lt;/a&gt; Siberian Husky's were clipped and then treated with topical melatonin (melatonin applied directly to the skin, instead of a pill). This study determined&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;topical melatonin and brushing had no impact on hair regrowth after clipping normal dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if your dog's thin hair is caused by the aftermath of a skin condition that caused her to excessively groom, topical melatonin likely will not help. If your dog's thin hair is caused by something else and you try oral melatonin, it might help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend talking to your vet before starting supplementation with melatonin or any other product, especially since a Chihuahua mixed dog is likely to be small compared to other dogs used for these studies. My guess is that it's well tolerated, my vet recommended melatonin for an old injury on one of my cats' ears that hadn't regrown hair and he wasn't concerned about dosage at all. It is a sleep hormone in humans, so it may make your dog sleepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frank LA, Hnilica KA, Oliver JW. Vet Dermatol. 2004 Oct;15(5):278-84. Adrenal steroid hormone concentrations in dogs with hair cycle arrest (Alopecia X) before and during treatment with melatonin and mitotane.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15500479&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Abstract.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diaz SF1, Torres SM, Nogueira SA, Gilbert S, Jessen CR. Vet Dermatol. 2006 Feb;17(1):45-50. The impact of body site, topical melatonin and brushing on hair regrowth after clipping normal Siberian Husky dogs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16412119&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T17:55:56.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7895" CreationDate="2015-03-25T19:56:06.610" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just so we're clear, it is both illegal to import live queen ants into the United States and illegal to transport live queen ants across state borders.  And more importantly, it is simply a &lt;strong&gt;bad idea&lt;/strong&gt; to transport queen ants, because ants have a knack for becoming invasive, and harming local ecosystems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A queen ant can easily be identified, especially if you have a worker to compare against.  Each species is different, but almost all queens have the following characteristics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Longer and bulkier than their worker counterpart (sometimes only 5-10%, sometimes orders of magnitude).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A large, wide thorax (that's the middle part behind the head).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are collecting in the wild, don't confuse the queen with the male and female alates.  The male alates have wings, small heads, and different proportions from the female alates.  The female alates will look identical to the queen, but they will also have wings.  Once a female alate mates with one or more males, the female will form a dig/find a founding chamber, shed her wings, and become the queen of her own colony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To someone who has spent any time at all around ants, a queen will be easy to identify.  The large thorax, even in isolation, is a dead giveaway that the ant you are looking at is a queen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;colony&quot;, I'm assuming that you are either attempting to order a living, functioning ant colony, or you are attempting to order an &quot;Uncle Milton&quot;-style ant farm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case, the only way the colony is &quot;functioning&quot; is if it has one or more queens (depending on the species).  Very few species of ants will do much of anything else there is a queen around.  It's not that the queen directs them; rather, without the queen, there's no point to what they're doing, so they don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, you'd be getting one of those species that &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; operate without the queen:  harvester ants.  Harvester ants also have the benefit that they are much larger than average, so they are easy to see.  However, the harvester ants will eventually die out (like all worker ants do), and will have to be replaced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more information on ant rearing, the two best sources on the internet are the forums at &lt;a href=&quot;http://antfarm.yuku.com/&quot;&gt;http://antfarm.yuku.com/&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.formiculture.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.formiculture.com/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3494" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T19:56:06.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9267" CreationDate="2015-03-25T20:26:47.170" Score="6" ViewCount="12402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use lactated ringers to deliver fluids subcutaneously on my cat with kidney disease. I noticed today that one of the bags' expiration date has already passed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to use? What are the risks/dangers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-13T07:17:14.427" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T09:25:08.467" Title="Can I use expired subcutaneous fluids (lactated ringers) on my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7911" CreationDate="2015-03-25T21:34:59.867" Score="2" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an amateur siberian laika dog breeder. A year and a half ago, one of my dogs, a female a West Siberian Laika, was abducted while I was away. A dog has been found that may be her, but I need to be able to look at the dog and identify her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will I be able to make a positive identification of a dog after 1.5 years? She has no sign whatsoever how to identify her. She was with a male dog and had pups with him, I still have the male dog and some of her pups, could that help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still need to figure it out a protocol where I could make a decision like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) test1 Y/N&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) test2 Y/N&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;decision Y/N&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be better that I could identify her in 20 minutes or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or hint would be welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I told everybody I could identify her because of some secret mark, this was a lie to be sure they would not try to fool me with an other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have no photo of her expect a bad quality photo where you can't see the motives and colors of the fur. I put no microchips and no tatoos as I never thought she may be abducted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-27T15:47:44.273" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T15:47:44.273" Title="How can I positively identify a dog which was stolen from me 1.5 years ago?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7892" CreationDate="2015-03-25T21:56:33.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You got it done before I could answer, but I heard WD-40 is great.&#xA;See this: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/wd40-the-scourge-of-snakes-beavers-and-cocainetaking-clubbers-6154457.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/wd40-the-scourge-of-snakes-beavers-and-cocainetaking-clubbers-6154457.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3822" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T21:56:33.983" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7862" CreationDate="2015-03-25T22:04:40.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Electric dog fences are really only safe for dogs that don't really need fencing.  An excited dog who sees another dog, a squirrel, a cat, is liable to run right through the electric fence, and will then be stuck outside it unable to get home again.  They can be very dangerous for this reason.  They also don't protect your dog from anything that might come onto your property - so if your dog is out there on his own, another dog might come in and attack him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is capable of learning not to run away from home, you can teach him without shocking him with electricity to do that, as long as you aren't going to leave him out there alone for hours.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give him lots of exercise, lots of social contact, lots of training and in between all that, plenty of company and quiet downtime, and there's a decent chance he will not want to leave your home.  Sit outside with him and practice.  Give him a command to leave your property, and reward him for waiting on the boundary.  Here's a good video showing how to do this : &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuTh47i3hOY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuTh47i3hOY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is young and silly, or an enthusiastic chaser, and there are Way Too Fun things out there for him to run after, do not rely on an electric fence.  It will not be safe.  Use a leash and lots of supervision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no invisible solution that will protect a dog being left outside unsupervised for long periods, and it would really be best to find a different management approach if that is your problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T22:04:40.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7646" CreationDate="2015-03-25T22:11:11.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it be that he's a bit scared of the camera?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have this problem regularly as I foster dogs for a dog rescue.  A lot of dogs really don't care for a big reflective glass THING in their faces, and turn away or look utterly woeful as soon as you get the camera out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is usually fairly easy to train out : if the camera means AMAZING TREATS (eg chopped chicken or fresh liver cake) or SQUEAKY BALL!!!  the dog will soon look much happier.  When you visit, perhaps you could give this training a go with whoever is currently caring for your puppy, so that you will have more happy puppy photos while you are away and don't have to worry so much in future?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T22:11:11.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7899" CreationDate="2015-03-25T22:56:30.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless there is something specific which proves she is the same dog -- specific details of scar or coat which wouldn't be likely to occur in any other dog, an implanted id transponder,  some extremely unusual trick which you taught her and the current owner doesn't know she knows -- and you can prove that, I don't think you stand a chance of convincing a court that she's your dog rather than a similar dog... and even if you do, the court may not agree that it's in everyone's best interest for you to reclaim her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First step is to talk to your vet about whether there are ANY reliable proofs of identity. Note that x-rays would be a last resort, since it would be reasonable for her current human to decline to cooperate. Ditto blood test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't come up with a conclusive, clear, noninvasive test... my advice would be to focus on the fact that she's alive, in good health, and being well cared for. Which is much better than what could have happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never mind the point that, as you've described it, you don't want to get into an argument with these guys. Even if you win you may lose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, but I just don't see a better outcome than that as being very likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T22:56:30.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1905" CreationDate="2015-03-25T23:07:21.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine threaten, every so often, when they know I'm watching, to check whether the rule still holds.. I tell them &quot;no! Mine!&quot;, and reinforce that by reminding them that they have their own string-toys. A good thick shoelace seems to be much more satisfying to chew, chase, and drag around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to use heavy shoelaces; my lad quickly dissects and/or tries to swallow smaller strings.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-03-25T23:07:21.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2015-03-26T13:47:02.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer: lay down strips of Scotch tape, sticky-side up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that the cat knows it only needs to avoid the desk when you're around with the spray bottle. If it learns that bad stuff happens no matter who is around, it will stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just take numerous long strips of Scotch tape, and lay them sticky side up across all the areas the cat might step to approach the target. The cat will step on the tape, shake its foot, then realize the tape didn't come off. Then it will get super uncomfortable and run around the house trying to get the tape off. Since it's only Scotch tape, it's relatively weak and can be pulled off cat fur pretty easily. In my experience, the cat typically removes it themselves after several minutes of running around and shaking their foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used this to protect a plant on a desk that the cat would get into constantly. The cat would only do it when I wasn't around because he learned I would stop him if I was there. The tape finally put an end to his plant attacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3832" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-26T19:37:57.927" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T19:37:57.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7899" CreationDate="2015-03-26T19:56:28.637" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do a DNA test. Get the DNA of the parent and test it against the alleged child and see if it matches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can google DNA test for dogs and there are lot of links. You can probably call your vet to ask and see where you can do this test that's closest to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the other side declines a DNA test, then it's probably a good idea to not pursue this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is the only way to be 100% sure that it is your dog. Make sure no one has the parents' DNA but you or else the test could be faked as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3307" LastActivityDate="2015-03-26T19:56:28.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2222" CreationDate="2015-03-27T21:02:42.783" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an alpha Laika male which was with an alpha Laika female who gave birth to 7 dogs, 4 males and 3 females, among them only one alpha male and no alpha females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I do believe that the concept of alpha is relative, I dont think this is a well-defined concept. Nevertheless on my opinion this even does not make sense to speak about alpha dogs when dogs have been neutered, castrated or spayed and also it makes sense only in the context of a pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I say among the 7 kids which were alpha and which weren't? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the 4 males, which were all superbs and healthy , one was bigger than the others and after a few months he was starting to act as a competitor for the father and they would have probably have killed each others if I had not sold him. That is what I call alpha dogs. The rest of the pack was obedient to the father and the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think that does not make much sense to speak about alpha dogs that are ill, or which live in urban environment and also I think alpha dogs makes sense only for some breeds. Dogs that have no breed cannot behave like alphas and for small breeds like chihuaha for example it even doesn't make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think concept of alpha makes really sense for breeds that are still closed to the wolf like indeed all laika breeds (european laikas, siberian laikas), Huskies, yakoutian dogs , all halves-wolfs breeds etc... In my opinion it doesn't make sense for other breeds, including mastiffs, shepperd dogs etc... and it doesn't make sense especially for castrated dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs from different breeds - also including dogs with no breed at all - that are together I would not really call that a pack. Let me give you an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the place where I live there are a lot of dogs that have been either abandoned by their owners or who were born in the streets... they do form most of the time heterogeneous group of dogs and sometimes there is a leader or a dog that seems to lead that group of dogs. These dogs group themselves because indeed they still have a primitive instinct in some way that they need to group themselves to get food and to survive. Now are they a pack? Is the leader an alpha dog? I don't think so, because they are effectively unable to survive, they don't form a structured organisation with rules and tactics to get food, or if they are , this is a degenerated form of pack and so a degenerated form of alphas. I would rather call them a group of rogue dogs because that's what they are or what they become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would think there can be no alpha dogs among your dogs if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) the dogs are not from the same breed ( or from very similar breeds )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) the dogs are not from a breed closed to wolves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) dogs are castrated, spayed , neutered&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) dogs are not in good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again it is my conception and personal experience of 'alpha dogs'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting different dogs together doesn't create a pack, this just create a group of dogs ( with probably a far, very far remembrance of what is a pack ) and if some dogs show some attitude of dominance or leadership ( again probably a far,very far remembrance of alpha behaviour )  in that group of dogs that doesn't make this dog an alpha-dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="3818" LastEditDate="2015-03-27T21:30:49.460" LastActivityDate="2015-03-27T21:30:49.460" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-28T04:12:23.517" Score="3" ViewCount="13419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to the ownership of a rottweiler and am wondering about how much exercise a young Rottweiler should partake in. I've read a couple of articles saying too much exercise is unhealthy for the joints and muscles of a rottie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;By exercise I mean &lt;strong&gt;running&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; which I do a lot of. I am wondering how far or long makes it unhealthy because there are miles of trails I usually go to, so could I rest for a while and then continue further?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically what I'm asking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How far of running(light jog) is unhealthy for a rottweiler specifically?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could I rest with my rottweiler for 15-20 mins and run more?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is running even an effective way of keeping a rottweiler (physically)healthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[Extra] At around what age should I lessen the amount of exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T16:23:17.837" Title="Exercising a Rottweiler" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-28T21:19:33.070" Score="1" ViewCount="1650" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the recurring following issue: while I walk with my dogs we are often attacked by group of stray dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I want obviously to avoid any fight and any contact with these dogs I am looking for non lethal weapons to scare these dogs away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Electric baton&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;very efficient against dogs but I don't want to carry that with me all the time (and only to be used against dangerous stray dogs). My goal is more to scare them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pepper spray&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not very efficient and not easy to use in case of wind, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Air horns&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't see that scaring the dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sonic guns&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;these guns (like &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B000IBRI2Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;) are supposed to emit infrasounds or ulrasounds into the direction where the gun is pointed and in such a way that dogs are 'extremely' scared. But it turns out it doesn't work at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other non lethal anti-dog weapons that I could use? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I am about to test &lt;strong&gt;bullwhips&lt;/strong&gt;... I think it may work well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T19:19:25.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T19:19:25.280" Title="non-lethal weapons to scare stray dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-28T22:36:19.963" Score="4" ViewCount="1290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hartzvictims.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;documentation&lt;/a&gt; and legal complaints including class actions against Hartz products, namely their anti-fleas and anti-ticks products which are believed to be potentially dangerous to pets, poisoning them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So are Hartz product really dangerous or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T18:42:13.257" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T19:39:29.410" Title="Are complaints of Hartz product being dangerous a cause for concern?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-29T00:32:09.123" Score="-7" ViewCount="694" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVMBdi4dgME&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; a few time ago. It shows the story of Brutus the Grizzly which is living as a pet with his owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take grizzlies as dangerous animals and so I think the grizzly must have been castrated, had his fangs and claws removed ( and so this makes the whole thing quite cruel ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to have a grizzly bear as a pet? Is it legal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3818" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-01-17T16:51:20.797" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T16:14:02.773" Title="Can a grizzly bear be kept as a pet?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7919" CreationDate="2015-03-29T00:54:06.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bears can not be domesticated. They can be &lt;em&gt;TAMED&lt;/em&gt;, but that means continuing to deal with them as wild and dangerous animals. Specialized training and licensing are absolutely required,  plus living far enough from other people and maintaining enough control and site security to not be a danger to anyone but yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're going to make this your profession, and spend the years and money on doing so, forget it. There are very good reasons we keep the pets we do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-03-29T00:54:06.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-29T06:50:51.200" Score="5" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a baby corn snake and unfortunately two days after feeding her a pinky her stomach burst. It turned black and there was a blister over her stomach where it burst. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3839" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-03-29T10:53:41.943" LastActivityDate="2016-09-18T17:28:01.160" Title="My snake's stomache burst two days after eating a pinky" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-29T13:19:44.717" Score="6" ViewCount="12701" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 7 month old male kitten/cat. His mother lives in the same apartment block and she and he have access to eachother's homes. My neighbour who owns the mother watches over our boy while we are at work which helps keep our minds at ease specially as we were easing him into the outside world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mummy cat was pregnant with her second litter (she will be spayed soon) when the neighbours left for an overseas trip a few days ago - we gladly agreed to cat-sit as we have done in the past. I didn't put too much thought into the fact that she would give birth while they were away, as the neighbours seemed to handle the first birth so effortlessly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 3 babies were born today (Sunday), and I just realised when we are away at work all day, our boy will be in the house with her and the babies. What are the chances he does not understand what the kittens are and will try and play with them? Alternatively, he understands what they are and will try and kill them to claim territory? Looking at the new babies colouring I am confident that they have been fathered by the same Tom that hangs around our area that fathered our boy, so our boy is 100% related to this new litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our boy has not been neutered  - I will be organising soon as soon as time and finances permit. His reaction to them so far has just been to slowly/timidly approach the box, peer over the edge, and then just as slowly retreat. He does this about once an hour, the rest of the time going about his usual business in other areas of the house - playing, napping, eating  - without us even having to encourage him to be away from them. Is this a sign that he has no hostility towards them? I had always thought if a male cat were to kill kittens they would attempt to do it at first sight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-29T14:37:58.710" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T11:52:54.697" Title="Will our cat try and hurt the new kittens he is related to?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7918" CreationDate="2015-03-29T14:33:12.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, understand that Hartz sells a variety of different products with several different active ingredients. Searching the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ppis.ceris.purdue.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;National Pesticide Information Retrieval System&lt;/a&gt; for Hartz Mountain Company reveals that the company uses the following pesticides in their products (I sorted them by insecticide class):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Synergists with Pyrethroids&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N-Octyl bicycloheptene dicarboximide (MGK 264)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Piperonyl butoxide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pyrethroids&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pyrethins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phenothrin (sumithrin)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ethofenprox &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Organophosphates&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tetrachlorvinphos &lt;a href=&quot;http://iaspub.epa.gov/sor_internet/registry/substreg/substance/details.do?displayPopup=displayPopup&amp;amp;id=92825&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Gardona cis-isomer)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growth Regulators&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Methoprene and S-Methoprene&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pyriproxyfen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phenylpyrazoles&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fipronil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neonicotinoids&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Imidacloprid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several companies use these same chemicals, for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fipronil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; explains&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fipronil is the main active ingredient of Frontline TopSpot, Fiproguard, Flevox and PetArmor (used along with S-methoprene in the 'Plus' versions of these products)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question to ask is really &quot;Are any of these chemicals harmful?&quot; The answer is &lt;strong&gt;yes, pesticides are harmful in certain circumstances&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/eeffe922a687433c85257359003f5340/76d2b52162bcedaa852576e9005c0d97!OpenDocument&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EPA performed a study&lt;/a&gt; in 2009 and determined &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While most people use the products with no harm to their pets, the&#xA;  agency's analysis determined that smaller dogs tend to be&#xA;  disproportionately affected by some products and that the exposure of&#xA;  cats to some dog products is a concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;EPA recommends that owners consult a veterinarian about the best way&#xA;  to protect their pets from fleas and ticks or whether pesticides are&#xA;  needed, especially before using any product on weak, aged, medicated,&#xA;  sick, pregnant or nursing pets, or on pets that have previously shown&#xA;  signs of sensitivity to pesticide products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition they also determined that they should begin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Restricting the use of certain inert ingredients that EPA finds may&#xA;  contribute to the incidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the &quot;inert&quot; ingredients are the synergists. They have no pesticide properties on their own, but contribute to the affect of pyrethoids. You may choose to avoid products that contain synergists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this information, when &lt;strong&gt;choosing to use a flea/tick medication for your pet, you can take precautions&lt;/strong&gt; based on these findings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read the label carefully for cat/dog use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read the label carefully for the size of pet you have&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow the application instructions precisely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never combine/split dosages, only use the right dosage for your pet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Test a small amount of a new product on your pet to check for sensitivity &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk to your vet to determine if a flea/tick medication is appropriate for your pet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Research the active ingredients to determine if its a type of medication you want to use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last point, The National Resources Defense Council performed a study in 2000 (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/pets/execsum.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poisons on Pets&lt;/a&gt;) that noted the use of organophosphates is particularly toxic to pets, children, and even adults. One example they gave is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dipping or powdering pets with tetrachlorvinphos. EPA determines that&#xA;  powdering or dipping a single pet with tetrachlorvinphos just twice a&#xA;  year would, over the course of a lifetime, pose a risk of cancer to&#xA;  the person dipping the pet nearly six to seven times higher than&#xA;  acceptable EPA levels. Dipping or powdering multiple pets, or doing so&#xA;  more frequently, would raise cancer risks even higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the organophosphates reviewed in this study have been removed from the market by the EPA, but tetraclorvinphos is still in use (as the trade name Gardona). The authors recommend avoiding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The authors also recommended avoiding carbamates (urethanes) because they are chemically similar to organophosphates. None of the chemicals currently in use by Hartz (according to my research at the EPA's site) are carbamates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the authors do give some suggestions on &lt;strong&gt;safer alternatives&lt;/strong&gt; to these pesticides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Easy physical measures alone, like frequent washing and combing of&#xA;  the pet and vacuuming carpets and furniture, can bring mild flea&#xA;  infestations under control. Alternatives include insect growth&#xA;  regulators, or IGRs, which are not pesticides, but rather chemicals&#xA;  that arrest the growth and development of young fleas. These include&#xA;  methoprene, fenoxycarb and pyriproxyfen and the popular lufenuron&#xA;  (Program®). Alternatives also include newer pesticide products sprayed&#xA;  or spotted onto pets, such as fipronil (Frontline®) or imidacloprid&#xA;  (Advantage®)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Noeonicotinoids (like Imidacloprid) are suspected in playing a role in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;colony collapse disorder&lt;/a&gt;. In addition, &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20070616082847/http://www.efsa.europa.eu/etc/medialib/efsa/science/praper/conclusions/1470.Par.0002.File.dat/praper_concl_sr65_fipronil_summary_en_rev12.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fipronil has been linked to bee deaths&lt;/a&gt;. While this isn't a health issue for your pet, you may want to consider it when selecting a pesticide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T19:39:29.410" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T19:39:29.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7928" CreationDate="2015-03-30T00:48:28.640" Score="4" ViewCount="7404" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my neighbors dog jumped the fence and attacked one of my dogs.  Her ear was torn and she had to get stitches.  Originally, the vet said she probably wouldn't need the cone of shame, but when we mentioned we have another dog, they recommended using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog is large (~50 lbs) so the cone is big.  Unfortunately, it engulfs her entire head, extending so far that she can't chew bones or toys.  The injury is on the back of her ear, so my impression was that the cone was meant to prevent her or our other dog from licking or scratching at the injury.  My dog is really depressed and it's only day two.  I was wondering if it would be OK to cut the cone to make it shorter, so that it only protects her ear, and allows her snout to extend past the cone so that she could hold and chew on her chew toys.  I attached some pictures of how large the cone is, as well as the injury (back of right ear) if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WJ2gw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VbsgF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T20:28:21.860" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T23:51:23.147" Title="Should I modify a &quot;cone of shame&quot; to allow my dog to use chew toys, and how?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7927" CreationDate="2015-03-30T04:09:21.483" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that cones come in standard sizes, and I don't believe they are trimmed down because you can accidentally create a sharp edge which the dog can potentially hurt herself (or her tongue) with.  The hurt dog will only be able to get at the ear from behind, so the cone should remain effective if not trimmed down significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cone is on your hurt dog's head to protect it from your second dog's interference (read: licking the wound).  That being said, if you have a second cone to replace it in case you screw up, I don't see anything wrong with trimming down from the standard size, as long as it won't expose the ear to a tasting-assault.  I'm not a veterinarian, but this is what I'd try based on rationalizing the scenario that you've explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, how do you trim safely to not leave an edge?  The cone is plastic, so you need some good shears to cut.  I'd go down 0.5-1 inch at a time around the entire edge, and retry it on your dog each time, seeing if she can get her treats and still be unable to touch herself with her front or rear paws.  You should have some fine grade sandpaper to dull the edge you've clipped and remove any sharpness which might scratch your dog.  Make sure you dull the edge of your final product, and try to keep an even edge.  Try not to trim the strap that keeps the cone together too much, or it might no longer hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only do this if you have a spare cone in the wings to put on in case you go too far.  You can always ask your vet for advice on this as well, as that should be part of the service you've paid them for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T19:08:13.427" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T19:08:13.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-30T05:34:54.633" Score="4" ViewCount="1752" Body="&lt;p&gt;we have a 9 month old puppy. She is great about using her dog door all day and even at night while we are still up. After we go to bed she will do her business right next to the dog door inside. We leave a light on for her inside and outside but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3843" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T12:40:26.930" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T09:16:15.397" Title="Puppy will not use dog door at night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7930" CreationDate="2015-03-30T07:58:24.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's dark outside and there might be scary things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know the breed/size of your dog, but considering there's the possibility to use a dog door, I don't expect this to be any bigger dog. As such predators &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be a problem the dog fears (and this is perfectly fine and a good thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a solution I'd simply suggest not relying on the dog door to do the &quot;work&quot; for you. Get the dog outside right before you go to bed and you should probably be fine. You probably can't convince/force the dog to go outside alone at night and I wouldn't do so either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T07:58:24.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7917" CreationDate="2015-03-30T17:35:51.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need to attack the dogs with the weapon, usually just holding it can scare them away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, I can scare away stray dogs by picking up any big piece of trash from the floor, like a piece of wood, a lose tree branch, or a jacket and waving it around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They might get scared, if not, step strong to the floor and gesticulate for the to go away or get something noisy and hit it to the floor several times. Swimming pool spaghetti (or however you call it :p) is the best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aC0Gm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also make yourself look bigger by breathing in a lot of air and opening your arms while shouting to them. Show authority and they can get scared and respect you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But never really attack them, because they can counter-attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T18:35:55.160" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T18:35:55.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6814" CreationDate="2015-03-30T19:31:12.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use nail caps on my cats (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.softpaws.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Softpaws&lt;/a&gt; is the common name brand, but pet stores sometimes sell off brands that work just fine and are cheaper). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might have to replace the nail caps (or at least a few) before each play session if they get worn out quickly, but it would be better for her to wear out the nail caps than to wear her nails down to the quick again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never used nail caps on a dog, but they do sell them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T19:31:12.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-03-30T21:00:09.367" Score="5" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just saw two dogs with no collar or any form of identification. I called one up to me and lost track of the other. They appear young and I think they might be pit-bulls. They seem friendly as I could pet the one who came up to me with no problem, but there are other dogs all over the neighborhood that they go and bark at which takes their attention off me and means I can't get it to follow me. I don't want to grab or pull on it because I'm not sure if it will bite and I have no collar or leash with me. &#xA;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2015-03-30T21:18:07.933" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:32:23.627" Title="What should I do about two stray dogs I see in my neighbourhood?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7922" CreationDate="2015-03-30T21:18:46.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A more likely issue is that the mother will beat the hell out of the boy for being in the neighborhood of the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, male cats aren't lions and aren't as territorial about little kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T21:18:46.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7889" CreationDate="2015-03-30T21:39:48.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs and cats sniff bums because the anal glands hold a lot of information, such as age, sex, point in reproduction cycle, level in pack dominance, and much more. It makes sense that animals would do this upon meeting each other, and even after knowing each other for a long time. Think of it as an animal's way of saying &quot;How was your day? How are you feeling?&quot; It's also an animal's way of asserting or allowing dominance. (Interesting point: when an animal lifts their bums when they get scratched, they're inviting you to sniff it!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously humans don't sniff each others bums. Our sense of smell is no where near what a dogs sense of smell is, so we don't understand why an animal might do this and an animal doesn't understand why we might find this embarrassing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that when your dog does this, you don't just distract him, unless you plan to have every visitor in your house do this. That will also train him that when he tries to sniff a humans bum, he will be rewarded. If you go that direction and then do something different when he does it to someone else, it will be extremely confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals work by instant association. If I do this, this will happen. You need to teach him that if he tries to sniff a human in an undesirable area, something will happen. You don't need to do anything that will cause pain (and please don't), so think of something a fellow puppy or mother dog would do. If I had a dog that continued this, I would gently push his nose away, then walk away. No loud noises or sharp movements, or he'll start to associate you coming home and taking shoes and coats off with that. Act completely normal otherwise, just gently push his nose away so he's facing away from you, then act normal again. Eventually he'll make the association that doing that will cause his nose to be pushed away, much like how a fellow dog would nudge him away when he's doing something wrong, and he'll stop. Ensure that if he's doing it to company, you do the same thing. If you can tell the person before they come over the process, do. Otherwise, don't waste time telling them or the period of association will be over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2015-03-30T21:39:48.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7998" CreationDate="2015-04-01T13:52:07.753" Score="6" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know similar questions have been asked, so I'm going to be more specific about my problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents have 2 friendly dogs, a beagle and a rottweiler, of 12 and 10 years old respectively. They have lived all their life in a house with a 150 m2 yard, in a city which is fairly dry (350 mm/yr of rainfall). They are used to live outdoors only, and have problems behaving indoors. Out of necessity, my parents are now moving to an apartment and have to give away the dogs, therefore, I am going to take them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I lived with the dogs almost all their life, and I'm still the only one to take them out for a walk whenever I visit, they have a strong feeling for me. The problem is right now I live in a town which has a lot more rain (1910 mm/yr) and a yard which is about 50 m2 with no roof. Plus, my neighbors have 2 female fox-terriers and the yard division is a fence. Me and my wife both work, so the dogs will be alone most of the day and I can't leave them inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what recommendations can you give me to manage this big change? Is this new environment suitable for the dogs or should I find another solution? Is it possible to deal with the rainy environment while keeping them outdoors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My idea was that my father stayed at my house with the dogs to give them company and watch their behavior until they got used to the new environment. I'm also thinking of building a small roof area for them in the yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3856" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T13:55:44.037" Title="How to deal with a big change in a dogs environment?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7943" CreationDate="2015-04-01T14:10:06.087" Score="8" ViewCount="66067" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I walk into the room where my bearded dragons terrarium is located, he waves an arm up and down in my direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he expect me to wave back to him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T21:08:49.020" Title="My bearded dragon waves at me, should I wave back?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2015-04-01T15:27:42.550" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty common thing for beardies, and definitely appears to be some kind of greeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons that a bearded dragon will wave their arm is not entirely explained. However, it does seem to be a form of communication. A common belief is that arm waving is a passive message, to indicate submission when a larger or more dominant beardie is near by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/armWaving/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, he is acknowledging your dominance, which is healthy; you're the one who knows where the food is. In this case, you don't really need to reply; he's essentially being polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they can wave for other reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One meaning is species recognition. If a bearded dragon waves at another bearded dragon, it tells the other dragon that he/she is aware of their presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-behavior.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, the age of your beardie can affect the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young bearded dragons may do a slow &amp;quot;wave&amp;quot; with one of their arms to signal, &amp;quot;I'm just a baby! Don't hurt me!&amp;quot; Your young beardie may even do this when he sees you walking up to him if he is intimidated by you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://exoticpets.about.com/od/beardeddragons/a/Bearded-Dragon-Behaviors.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this is a not-so-nice thought, he may grow out of it. We have to remember that even reptiles are not robots; they have moods and personality quirks too that change over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it can't hurt to wave back. A best, he'll be comforted (you're being submissive too), at worst he'll be confused. They wave back and forth to each other quite frequently, so he may well appreciate a reply, even if he isn't expecting one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T15:27:42.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7946" CreationDate="2015-04-01T16:01:11.053" Score="1" ViewCount="1649" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have kids, so I don't have to set any sort of example when I'm at home. So when I'm talking to my pets I will sometimes use swear words towards them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like if they run into a wall while they're playing with a toy, I'll call them dumb, or if I'm holding out a treat for them and they act like they want me to bring it to them, I'll usually say something like: &quot;come here you little [explicitive]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know non-human animals don't speak our language, so they rely on the tone of our voice to understand what we mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it okay for me to swear at my pets since my tone of voice isn't angry? Or am I demoralizing them in some way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T17:06:38.697" Title="Is it okay to swear at my pet, as long as I do it nicely?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7944" CreationDate="2015-04-01T17:06:38.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say what you like to your pets; they can't understand a word. Probably. We know tt's the tone of voice and body language that they interpret, but they can understand some words. Their brains can differentiate between &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;stay&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.livescience.com/48920-dogs-hear-words-and-emotions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is a very interesting article, about a study of how dogs process voices and sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What the study indicates is that dogs dissociate and process the components of communication in human speech in a broadly similar way to humans.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't to say that they understand swears though. You can say &quot;come here you litter f*er&quot; in the nicest voice ever, and your pet will be happy. You can say &quot;I love you, you beautiful creature&quot; in an angry voice and he/she will think you're angry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, remember that dogs pick up on frequent words. If you call him by a swear too often he may associate this as his name, which is bound to get confusing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T17:06:38.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-01T21:17:21.100" Score="3" ViewCount="2798" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6egVM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;When we adopted our cat from a rescue &amp;amp; re homing centre a few weeks ago she had very watery eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were told it was most likely the shape of her face and that she'd been seen by a vet who confirmed there was no sign of infection in the tears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her eyes are still very watery and the tears tend to have a brown colour to them, however her eyes are otherwise bright and clear. There is no sign of her eyes being blood shot or the third eyelid being visible. She doesn't fuss at them or show any sign of them irritating her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is this normal? Should we be bathing them? (she hates that)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3859" LastEditorUserId="3859" LastEditDate="2015-04-01T21:34:18.883" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T20:53:43.730" Title="Our cats eyes keep watering but she seems fine, should we be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2015-04-01T21:57:57.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I'm not familiar with the term &quot;re homing center&quot; but in my area we have rescues and adoption centers that are probably equivalent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats who have been in group homes are often infected with the &lt;strong&gt;feline herpes virus&lt;/strong&gt;. The ASPCA lists &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/herpes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;symptoms of a feline herpes infection&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sneezing “attacks”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Discharge from the nose and eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Conjunctivitis or pink eye (inflammation of the eyelid)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lesions in and around the eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eye ulcers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Congestion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Depression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Loss of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Drooling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Squinting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no reason to worry, however. First, humans cannot catch feline herpes (it's a different virus than human herpes). Second, most cats recover from the symptoms of herpes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feline herpes is aggravated by stress&lt;/strong&gt;, so if your new friend already had it before the re homing center, the stress of being in the center probably caused a flare up. If your cat caught it while at the center, it may take a few weeks for her immune system to control it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a few cats are never able to fully rid themselves of the symptoms of feline herpes. One of my four has daily sneezing and nasal discharge from it. Otherwise he's fine and lives a normal life, we just sometimes wipe his nose (and our walls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is unable to put the virus into remission, then you'll want to watch his eyes for worsening symptoms (sometimes eye problems from feline herpes can develop into eye ulcers). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/cornealulcers.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cornell University&lt;/a&gt; gives the symptoms of a eye ulcer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The clinical signs of corneal ulceration include inflammation of the tissue surrounding the cornea; seepage of discharge from the eye; clouding of the cornea; and apparent hypersensitivity to bright light. An affected cat may squint, rub its eyes, and behave as if it is having vision problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice these signs in the future, you should take your cat back to the vet to be evaluated for an ulcer. While most ulcers will heal on their own, they can cause severe discomfort and in rare cases can permanently affect the cat's vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also check with my vet regularly (once a year or so) to see if there are any new treatments for feline herpes, so that's another thing you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that you already took your cat to the vet and confirmed that she doesn't have an eye ulcer. You can clean the discharge if it seems to bother her (use a damp, warm washcloth), or just leave it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I'm not a vet, feline herpes is extremely common in rescued cats, so it's a reasonable suspicion. Your vet probably sees this problem daily and didn't take the time to explain it. I don't have a particularly good feeling about a veterinarian that doesn't realize as common as it is to THEM, it's new to YOU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T21:57:57.353" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7746" CreationDate="2015-04-01T21:59:24.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many good articles about the occurrance, symptoms and treatment of IVD online, google &quot;Idiopathic Vestibular Disease&quot;.  I just encountered it for the first time with my 14 yr old Golden, and it was truly frightening.  Fortunately, she is improving. With my vet's approval, I've been giving her Dramamine, 1mg/pound of her weight, twice a day, and that has been very helpful.  My vet also gave her a shot of an anti-nausea at the outset of symptoms, but the Dramamine has been enough to manage any residual nausea, and also has the effect of &quot;turning off&quot; the vestibular system that is having issues with motion and balance.  (see Vetinfo.com).  I plan to keep her on Dramamine until her systems level out.  I also spread yoga mats on any smooth floors for her traction and that's working well and is a low cost solution. This also seems to help with the eye-foot link that has been impacted and it has helped with her reluctance to walk on those surfaces. Lastly, I read that she needs to relearn her balance and they do that through their feet, so I am walking her for several short walks a day on varying surfaces and moderate terrain and that seems to be accelerating her recovery.  Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3860" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T21:59:24.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2015-04-01T23:11:04.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering the lack of swelling and secondary symptoms, and her recent check by an RSPCA vet who ruled out infection, I'll answer this on the assumption that there is something &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; than an infection going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enkicharity.com/cat-watery-eyes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a handy list of reasons why a cat's eyes can run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overproduction of tears is most often a reflex, activated to expel irritating material from the surface of the eye or when significant irritation develops inside the eye. Although uncommon, epiphora may also result from overactive lacrimal (tear) glands and be unassociated with any source of irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normal cats may occasionally have minor tear overflow or minor eye discharge. However, excessive, chronic or recurrent bouts of epiphora suggest a problem may be present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While tears are typically colorless, they can dry to a dark red-brown-black crust, especially in the cat. Chronic tearing can also result in a brown to rust-colored staining of the hair around the eyes and face of animals. This is believed to be due to porphyrins or other pigment-like substances present in the tears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/article/cats/diseases-conditions-of-cats/symptoms/epiphora-excessive-tearing-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; write up on excessive tearing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/464717/Pampered-pets-Why-do-my-Persian-cats-get-discharge-in-their-eyes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is an article by a vet about 'flat-faced' cats and their tendancy towards runny eyes. Note, the vet recommends a vet visit anyway to&#xA;rule out conjunctivitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When rehoming a pet, it's best to visit your vet anyway to establish a baseline, even if the cat has been seen by an RSPCA vet previously. If you are worried, and it's bothering her, you can call up your vet and discuss whether or not she needs to see them, but my bet is they would recommend a visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-04-01T23:11:04.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7624" CreationDate="2015-04-02T17:02:21.253" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have a naturally low thirst drive and it's important for them to be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1886/224&quot;&gt;fed wet food regularly to reduce the specific gravity&lt;/a&gt; (i.e. concentration) of their urine. &lt;strong&gt;It's better that you feed a cat with urinary issues wet food&lt;/strong&gt; (any brand/variety, but preferably high in meat/protein content) &lt;strong&gt;than to continue feeding them prescription dry food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lisa A. Pierson, DVM&lt;/a&gt;, says specifically of cats who have been diagnosed with crystals in their urine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Always keep in mind that water flowing through the urinary tract system is the most important factor in keeping it healthy.  That said, please do not make the mistake that so many people make when they state &quot;but my cat drinks plenty of water!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, many of these people and their veterinarians have&#xA;  missed the point of water...water...water and have continued to put&#xA;  the cat in danger by feeding/prescribing a dry food diet - including&#xA;  any and all of the prescription dry diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is highly counter-intuitive to label any water-depleted (read: DRY)&#xA;  food as a &quot;urinary tract diet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, the basic diet recommendation for the average cat&#xA;  with urinary tract issues is a high protein/low carbohydrate canned&#xA;  food with added water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her web page is highly educational, and I recommend it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prescription diets are high in starch and fiber compared to a quality wet food diet with a high level of protein. This quality can make your cat more susceptible to struvite crystals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Starch and fiber in diets potentially stimulate formation of struvite crystals. Hence, reducing dietary carbohydrate is desirable to prevent struvite urolith formation. In addition, a net loss of body calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium during feeding of the fiber diet suggests that dietary inclusion of insoluble fiber could increase macromineral requirements of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am J Vet Res. 2004 Feb;65(2):138-42.&#xA;Evaluation of effects of dietary carbohydrate on formation of struvite crystals in urine and macromineral balance in clinically normal cats.&#xA;Funaba M1, Uchiyama A, Takahashi K, Kaneko M, Yamamoto H, Namikawa K, Iriki T, Hatano Y, Abe M.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14974568?dopt=abstractplus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Web Abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prescription diets tend to have less protein than a quality wet food diet. This quality can make your cat more susceptible to struvite crystals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our results indicate that compared with dietary supplementation with NH4Cl, the high-protein diet is preferable as a urine acidifier for the prevention of struvite crystal formation in clinically normal cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am J Vet Res. 2003 Aug;64(8):1059-64.&#xA;Effects of a high-protein diet versus dietary supplementation with ammonium chloride on struvite crystal formation in urine of clinically normal cats.&#xA;Funaba M1, Yamate T, Hashida Y, Maki K, Gotoh K, Kaneko M, Yamamoto H, Iriki T, Hatano Y, Abe M.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12926602&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Web Abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Acidification of urine can decrease the risk of struvite crystals, but can increase the risk of oxalate crystals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Manipulation of urine pH through dietary means has proven an effective&#xA;  tool for the management and prevention of struvite urolithiasis;&#xA;  acidification of urine, however, may be a risk factor for calcium&#xA;  oxalate urolithiasis, which now appears to occur with approximately&#xA;  equal frequency in cats. Prediction of urine pH from dietary analysis&#xA;  would thus be a valuable tool, but considerable further research is&#xA;  required before this can be achieved with commercial canned foods.&#xA;  With the growing importance of urolith types other than struvite,&#xA;  alternatives to the measurement of urine pH are required to assess&#xA;  critically the likely beneficial (or detrimental) effects of&#xA;  manipulation of nutrient profile. ...Recent observations suggest that&#xA;  recurrence rates of signs in cats classified as having idiopathic&#xA;  lower urinary tract disease may be more than halved if affected&#xA;  animals are maintained on high, rather than low moisture content diets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J. Nutr. December 1, 1998   vol. 128  no. 12  2753S-2757S The Effect of Diet on Lower Urinary Tract Diseases in Cats. Peter J. Markwell, C. Tony Buffington, and Brigitte H. E. Smith&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jn.nutrition.org/content/128/12/2753S.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Web Abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credit to &lt;a href=&quot;http://catcentric.org/resource-center/scientific-studies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Centric&lt;/a&gt; for finding the scientific studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T19:05:21.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2015-04-02T20:53:43.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat with a similar problem, also verified by a vet to not be an infection.  He is part Persian, and a side effect of the shorter snout is some problems with tears draining into the throat inside the eye.  It is just a side effect of the aggressive body shaping breeders have done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The color is normal for excess tears plus the dust they flush out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try and use a tissue to wipe down the area and clean out the crustyness daily, but otherwise it has not been a problem&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T20:53:43.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-02T21:17:17.633" Score="3" ViewCount="744" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a couple questions about moisture benefits of wet food over dry food.  One example is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7624&quot;&gt;How often can I mix regular wet food with urinary health dry food?&lt;/a&gt; the top answer on that question identifies health benefits of feeding wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On average how much more fluid/water is there in equal (by volume) amounts of wet versus dry pet food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-04-02T21:17:17.633" Title="How much water is in wet food?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-02T22:47:17.010" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;my cat is opening her mouth  and putting her paws to her jaw like she's trying to expell somthing from the back of her throat. Also she is losing patches of hair with scabs and blood attached to them. No vomitting, eating normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3868" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T06:53:16.200" Title="Mouth problem and bloody patches" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7960" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7961" CreationDate="2015-04-03T02:40:06.113" Score="10" ViewCount="54551" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rat was euthanised today and I am unsure what to do to help her cagemates feel better about it. Can they even understand death? Will they grieve? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2019-02-09T21:24:30.413" Title="What to do when my pet rat passes away?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7960" CreationDate="2015-04-03T02:40:06.113" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This information goes for all social rodents and non-rodents including mice, gerbils, and degus.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This matter is briefly talked about &lt;a href=&quot;http://ratfanclub.org/grief.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While no one knows for sure what, if anything, animals understand about death, rodents do understand absence, as in: &lt;em&gt;my friend is missing&lt;/em&gt;. Just as they are happy to see you after a while, they are happy to see cagemates after a vet visit, for example. If one of your rats dies while away from your other rats, they will know that he is missing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rats (and other rodents) do experience grief. I have known a rat to essentially die of grief, and had another rat who lost a significant amount of weight following her sister's death. Symptoms can vary -  they may be a little 'down' for a while then return to normal, they may stop grooming themselves or refuse food they used to love, or they may not react at all. It varies. Rodents can get depressed, and the symptoms are pretty much the same as in humans. If your rat is grieving, be sure to keep an eye out for a mite infestation, which can flare up if a rat stops taking care of itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To alleviate the symptoms, the best thing to do is to show your rats the body. When shown the body of a cagemate rats will repeatedly sniff its mouth and nose, perhaps pulling back the lips to sniff the mouth. While there is no circumstantial proof, I strongly believe they are checking for breath, and comprehend that there is no breath (chimps do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(10)00145-4?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982210001454%3Fshowall%3Dtrue&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the same thing&lt;/a&gt;). They understand that their friend is gone, and not just &quot;away for a while&quot;. They may groom the body, or stand on it to provoke a reaction. They will eventually lose interest, it could be a few minutes or several hours. &lt;strong&gt;You must never&lt;/strong&gt; leave your dead rat with them unattended; it is unfortunately a prey animal's instinct to 'dispose' of a body as it may attract predators. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After being shown the body, your rats will no longer wait for their friend to come back. They may still grieve, and you can help by carrying on as normal -  don't leave them alone to 'give them time to grieve', you are a part of their pack too and they will want to see you, and they need to remain active and stimulated. In fact, give them extra attention, and extra yummy treats. Chocolate helps humans who are sad, and it boosts energy in rats too. Make sure they are eating properly and not losing weight. Remember that &lt;a href=&quot;http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mycoplasma&lt;/a&gt; can flare up during times of stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, after a death, you are left with only one rat, it is strongly recommended that you get another rat as soon as possible. Do not give the rat time to get over it - they naturally live in large groups and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nfrs.org/company.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;need companionship&lt;/a&gt;. They won't want alone time like a human might. Adding loneliness to grief is not a good idea. They process things in groups and take behavioral cues from each other, and they need each other's comfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A final (quite sad) source &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/200910/grief-in-animals-its-arrogant-think-were-the-only-animals-who-mourn&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;on general animal grieving&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="3483" LastEditDate="2015-04-03T18:58:00.687" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T18:58:00.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7963" CreationDate="2015-04-03T03:29:16.347" Score="4" ViewCount="3893" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been bleeding day and night, and was wondering what could be causing this? She seems to be bleeding from her private part of her body. My dog is and red nose pit bull (female). She is very happy and loving dog and didn very energetic too. She's a 2 year old dog which is 14 in dog years. I'm just not sure what to do. The bleeds aren't that bad but just enough to raise aren good bit of concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T21:49:58.507" Title="My dog is bleeding day and night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7962" CreationDate="2015-04-03T05:49:17.337" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;First - if your dog is bleeding when she shouldn't, or if you are in doubt - take her to the vet. If, for whatever reason, you can't take her to the vet, phone your vet. NOW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is a young female. It is possible that she is in heat; first part of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_reproduction#The_reproductive_cycle&quot;&gt;female reproductive cycle in dogs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If this is the case &lt;strong&gt;and you should verify with your vet that it is only that!!!&lt;/strong&gt; then you will want to keep her inside, unless you intend to have a litter of puppies. It may sound great to have puppies but unless you can provide them with a good home, which is hard, you shouldn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;dog years is 7 times human years&quot;, this isn't really correct. It's an oversimplification, dog ages don't really map to human ages linearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T05:49:17.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7962" CreationDate="2015-04-03T07:58:41.217" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, always call a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your female my be in estrus. In larger dogs, the first estrus occurs at 18 - 24 months of age (earlier for small dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In many cases, a bloody vaginal discharge will be the first thing that a pet owner will observe when their dog comes into heat. In some cases, the discharge will not be apparent until several days after estrus has begun. The amount of discharge varies with the individual dog; some dogs have only a tiny amount of discharge while others have heavy bleeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my dogs come into heat, one of them consistently cleans up after herself, so I never see any blood. The second one isn't nearly as conscientious; I will know because I see drops of bright red blood scattered where she's been - not a lot - but definitely noticeable. After a few days, the blood becomes watery and much less noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can become pregnant on their very first estrus cycle; you need to keep her away from other dogs for &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet can easily tell if this is the cause of her bleeding by doing a vaginal swab and looking at the cells under a microscope. It doesn't cost much, and is always the right thing to do when you aren't sure what's going on, if the bleeding is heavier than in previous cycles (it sounds like this might be your dog's first cycle), or if she's bleeding out of cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/estrus-cycles-in-dogs/5778&quot;&gt;Estrus Cycles in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/how-tell-if-dogs-heat&quot;&gt;How to Tell If Your Dog’s In Heat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eastcentralvet.com/canine-estrous-cycle.pml&quot;&gt;Canine Estrous Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T07:58:41.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7930" CreationDate="2015-04-03T09:16:15.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poor puppy! Also, not so much fun for whoever has to clean it up. A dog that age, though, should be able to go 8 hours without urinating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expecting a puppy to go outside alone at night might be asking too much, even if there's a light. It's easier to just have an &quot;accident&quot; in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog can smell any trace of its urine, it will often continue to have &quot;accidents&quot; in the same spot. It's important to decrease the temptation by getting all the smell out of a floor that a dog's urinated on. If it's carpet or wood, an enzyme solution works well. If it's vinyl, it probably isn't necessary, but I still use it on vinyl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to crate her when you go to bed, you could try putting a pad by the door with the doggie door. I used to (very conscientiously) breed border collies&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;, and puppy accidents were common. One product I was amazed with was Simple Solution puppy training pads. Not only did they protect the floor, but the puppies went straight for them (I also used plain Chux; there was no comparison.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that it would be easier if you broke her of the habit entirely. You can do this by crating her after you go out with her the last time (so you know she has urinated.) The crate should be only slightly larger than she can comfortably stand and turn around in. After several weeks of crating her at night without an accident, she should be broken of the habit of urinating during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*I was quite dedicated to breeding to improve the breed, not for financial gain. My dogs were PennHipped at &gt;90%ile and had no genetic abnormalities (Collie Eye Anomaly Clear), and seizure free. They were from herding stock (one from Scotland), and were sold mostly to farmers as working dogs, or people who wanted a dog who excelled at agility. All were ABCA registered. (It's a big deal for Border Collies to be ABCA registered, not AKC.) Looking back on it all, I'm pretty sure I lost a fair amount of money on the whole thing, but I still get calls from people looking for a second dog or from referrals, though I haven't bred in a number of years.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T09:16:15.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2377" CreationDate="2015-04-03T16:44:20.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://catcentric.org/care-and-health/removing-cat-urine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Cat Centric article&lt;/a&gt; on removing feline urine, treating with enzymes is more effective than vinegar alone. Vinegar provides the perception of cleanliness; proper enzymatic cleaning provides the complete removal of waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The intent of saturating with enzymes is to break down the uric acid salts into gases. It is these residual uric acid salts that we cannot smell, but which generate uric acid crystals that create smells enticing pets to re-use the spot.  Unfortunately, the conditions for enzymes to be effective is not necessarily existent in every scenario.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://ntsblog.com/when-do-enzymes-work-for-pet-urine-removal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this NTS Blog article&lt;/a&gt; from a cleaning contractor, most pet owners are told to saturate carpets with the cleaner and blot.  This can create an area that will attract dirt.  The blogger does not typically use enzymes to clean carpets, preferring a more acidic chemical that liquefies the urine, allowing it to be extracted, and then applies a deodorizer to eliminate future smell.  The process involved for enzymatic cleaning is more than a typical carpet cleaning contractor wants to stay in your house for, requiring at least 4 hours of &quot;dwell time&quot; and later extraction, so enzymes are generally reserved for carpet restorations (where the pad will be replaced) or rugs; &quot;not a quick topical treatment&quot;.  Treating rugs includes rolling and heating the rug to active enzymes for several hours, followed with a professional steam cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, enzymes are more effective than general cleaning with vinegar, which could leave a residue that might inhibit future cleaning attempts with enzymes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-05T03:19:17.693" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T03:19:17.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7968" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-04-03T18:55:41.817" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-04-03T18:55:41.817" LastActivityDate="2015-04-03T18:55:41.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7969" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-04-03T18:55:41.817" Score="0" Body="A highly-intelligent species of domesticated rodents. Commonly Rattus Norvegicus (Norway Rat), but the Black Rat (Rattus Rattus) is becoming popular. " OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorUserId="3483" LastEditDate="2015-04-04T05:30:51.510" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T05:30:51.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7972" CreationDate="2015-04-04T05:11:30.047" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something happened to my pet and I know I need to get to the veterinarian as quickly as I can, but my regular veterinarian is closed! What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T12:41:06.720" Title="How can I find an emergency vet?" Tags="&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7971" CreationDate="2015-04-04T07:12:16.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply call your regular one. Most (if not all) should have an alternative/emergency number on their answering machine, which you should be able to call. If that doesn't work call the directory assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-04T12:41:06.720" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T12:41:06.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7973" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-04T08:04:25.890" Score="3" ViewCount="8341" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats: the male is extremely affectionate, while the female from the same litter is more mellow and likes to keep herself to herself most of the time. They are both spayed and neutered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we go to bed, the male will often sleep on the bed with us then wake us up by rubbing up me, patting my face and then purring continuously in the middle of the night. While this sounds funny it is wearing thin! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried putting them in their room with toys, litter, scratch post and scratch pad by the door. However they howl continuously and pull the carpet up and will not just settle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is becoming a problem and is starting to affect my job due to lack of sleep. My cats are my world. What can I try to stop all their separation and night behaviour? I cannot bear to rehome them. They are good during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3871" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T17:07:42.420" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T17:07:42.420" Title="My cat is keeping me awake at night" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7971" CreationDate="2015-04-04T12:27:48.210" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, while some vet surgeries offer emergency consultations and it is always worth calling up to see if they deal with emergencies, there is a service called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vets-now.com/find-an-emergency-vet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vets Now&lt;/a&gt;. They have 53 emergency clinics open across the country, mostly in the Midlands and South of England, open when regular vets are closed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/findavet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RSPCA website&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vetfone is a 24-hour service, which works like an NHS Direct for pets, and anyone can call. It is staffed exclusively by UK-qualified veterinary nurses with years of experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can pay upfront or have the call charged to your bill, and the cost is typically less than an initial consultation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Visit www.vetfone.co.uk for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will help you decide what the best course of action is, especially if you live too far from a Vets Now clinic, or are unsure if your pet needs an emergency vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T12:27:48.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7973" CreationDate="2015-04-04T14:19:50.177" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this problem with one cat. My solution was that whenever the cat tried to wake me, I would put my arm around him and pull him close to sleep next to me while I went back to sleep. Of course, like most cats he didn't really want that, so he would go somewhere else (I would let him go as soon as he pulled away from me). It dramatically cut down on the behaviour. It was something I could do without completely waking up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T14:19:50.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-04T15:11:51.657" Score="1" ViewCount="3446" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ruby is a 3 year old English spot, she lives in our bedroom.  I don't have video but I did find a couple of videos online, they show a little of the behavior. I have talked to others who's bunnies have the same habit, so it seems pretty common.  It is hard to get good video because once I get the camera out she gets distracted.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfdggKMs3pg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rabbit making bed (youtube)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTIyiiPHQuk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Happy Bunny Rabbit Makes a Real Bed - Cute &amp;amp; Funny (youtube)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will often happen just as I climb into bed, which makes wrinkles.  She jumps up on the bed, gives me kiss, then starts pushing the wrinkles out of the bed.  Her hind feet placed firmly and she pushes out with her front feet.  She moves forward and pushes some more.  After a couple of minutes she stops and snuggles in for bed time petting and snuggles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other time it happens is shortly after my wife makes the bed.  Ruby will jump up on the bed and make sure all the wrinkles are pushed out.  She will occasionally dig a bit like you see in the videos, but it is 90% pushing.  Some times she pushes so far ahead that her back feet slip out behind her and she is stretched out in superman position (&lt;em&gt;arms straight ahead, feet straight back, and on her belly&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand the digging behavior, but what is it that causes a rabbit to push wrinkles out of the bed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-04-04T15:11:51.657" Title="Why does my rabbit try and make my bed wrinkle free?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7996" CreationDate="2015-04-05T01:03:08.470" Score="8" ViewCount="3959" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please help and share your ideas/experience! It is hard to keep my cat inside, he is literally begging to let him go. But he is a real hunter... Rabbits, birds, chipmunks - he eats them all. I hate this. He eats well at home, but hunter's instinct prevail. I put 2 ring bells on him, not sure it helps, but at least other animals can be warned somehow. &#xA;Any suggestions are appreciated, even obvious ones.&#xA;Somewhat related: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3269/is-it-possible-for-a-cat-to-run-down-a-wild-rabbit-and-kill-it/3276&quot;&gt;Is it possible for a cat to run down a wild rabbit and kill it?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1002" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T14:23:37.537" Title="How can I prevent my cat from killing animals and birds?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-05T08:39:29.317" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found no information online - what's the average oxygen consumption of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_garden_skink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common garden skink&lt;/a&gt;? It's a small 10cm lizard. Even a very rough estimate would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3563" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-05T21:06:47.643" LastActivityDate="2015-04-05T21:06:47.643" Title="What is the rough oxygen consumption of a common garden skink?" Tags="&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-06T10:22:42.053" Score="11" ViewCount="32289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how long you should keep an adopted rescue cat indoors before allowing it to explore outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told anything from 2 weeks to 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks everyone. At the moment she's happy enough in the house. We've moved the bird feeder so she can watch the birds out of the window too. She hasn't given any indication yet that she wants to go out but we're obviously thinking ahead. With summer being on its way (hopefully).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3859" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T16:30:09.510" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T09:19:24.553" Title="How long should you keep an adopted rescue cat indoors?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7980" CreationDate="2015-04-06T13:53:29.487" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to wait until the cat has accepted that this is its new home. How long that takes depends on the cat; it was a month before my two decided I was an acceptable human, and they're indoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I used to do with outdoor cats after moving was to go out with the cat the first few times -- walk them around the building while they check out the neighborhood and landmarks.  They seem to like knowing I'm there if the run into something which might object to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the cat has a collar with your phone number, so if it does get lost or hurt people know who to call. The collar is also an immediate signal that this is a pet rather than feral, which is sometimes important. Ideally the collar should be elastic or have a break-away link so the cat can escape if it gets snagged on a branch,  but mine always wore traditional collars and never had a problem (outside of the initial argument about &quot;you are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;  going out of the house naked, young lady!&quot;). I've also found the collar a useful signal to the cat about whether it will be allowed out or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T13:53:29.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7980" CreationDate="2015-04-06T22:27:45.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats/environment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RSPCA&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats need time to adjust and settle if you move house. They could get into serious danger trying to return to their previous home. To prevent this, keep cats indoors for at least two weeks after moving. Ensure your cat’s behaviour has settled before letting them outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I would give her at least 6 weeks to learn that your house is &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; house. When you do let her out, supervise her in the garden before letting her go out of sight. My youngest cat had five or so short supervised 'adventures' before she was allowed to climb the fence and go wherever she wanted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T22:27:45.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7988" CreationDate="2015-04-06T22:53:01.567" Score="4" ViewCount="10610" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs and a big back yard, and my neighbor also has two dogs.  For a long time, when ever I've been playing with my dogs in the back yard, one of their dogs whines because it wants to play.  Several months ago, she dug under the fence in various places along the fence line.  My neighbor is lazy and did nothing to prevent it (he does not train her or even take her on walks, so naturally she wants to come over to my yard because she is bored).  To remedy the digging, I put cinder blocks along most of the fence where she was digging under.  It worked for a while, but then last week she managed to jump over the fence while I was playing.  My two dogs were out with me, and she got in a fight with one of mine and injured her.  Since then, the dog is very determined to come over now that she knows she can jump the fence.  My neighbor is in denial that she is jumping, even though I have personally witnessed it two times now.  I told him several times that she needs to be taken out on walks so she is not so bored.  Anyways, it's gotten so bad now that I can not let my dogs out in the yard without their dog coming over.  Just now, I let my male dog out and was playing fetch, and within one minute I saw their dog jump over the fence.  She got in a fight with my dog, but luckily my male is a bigger and he put their dog in its place and I was then able to tie her up.  My other female dog is still recovering from her injury.  I am afraid to let her outside because of their dog, but she is very depressed from sitting inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what kind of legal action I can take (in California) to resolve this?  Talking with him has gotten nowhere - he clearly does not care and won't listen to my suggestion to either put her on a long leash in the backyard or to keep her in the house.  &lt;strong&gt;Am I allowed to take their dog to animal control if she comes into my yard?&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;strong&gt;Can I get their dog taken away from them?&lt;/strong&gt;  I feel sorry for their dog because it's not her fault - she is bored and neglected and her owner is irresponsible.  She also has behavioral issues which will only get worse.  She is young still so with training she could be a great dog, but her owners are setting her up for failure.  What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastEditorUserId="2682" LastEditDate="2015-04-06T23:12:53.923" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T21:06:23.410" Title="How can I stop my neighbor's dog from jumping the fence?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1730" CreationDate="2015-04-06T23:56:14.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had similar symptoms and she is 18 - she has kidney disease and thyroid problems. It's being controlled with medication, bit there is no treatment for kidney disease. My advice, at the cat's age, it will need a vet visit - be prepared for blood tests and a likely medical condition. I can't stress the importance of getting your cat to the vet immediately - not to do so could mean irreversible damage to your pet's health, and with respect, completely irresponsible as a pet owner!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3877" LastActivityDate="2015-04-06T23:56:14.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8003" CreationDate="2015-04-07T04:18:15.107" Score="2" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two tail, royal blue betta fish. When I first had him(him, he is a male), he was always very active, and would move around the cage all crazy like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any way, it technically is my baby sister's fish, and I was caring for it, but sister wanted to feed it. So mom moved it to the baby's room. It got less attention there, but had plenty of ambient light. Anyway, mom moved it to the hallway again, when the baby lost interest, and now she feeds him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently he has been not moving, his fins are clamped, and he lies on his side all day. Tonight I took the lid off and put a few pellets in, and he tried to go get them, but he didn't seem to be able to move away from the side of the cage. I decided the closest thing to his symptoms is swim bladder disease, and here is my evidence for it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the day before we noticed it, mom was doing a full change of his water, when he jumped out and on to the counter, and squiggled around for a second or two. mom quickly put him in small tank, but he did get jiggled.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;he does try to move, but it seems difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;he spends most of the time at the top of the tank on his side.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not be swim bladder disease because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he lies on his side, but not vertically as described online. (sorry, no links for my rep level:P...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my diagnosis is correct, I would like to know what I should do to make him more comfortable. please explain your diagnosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't have enough rep to post a picture.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-09T12:24:42.627" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T12:24:42.627" Title="Does my fish have swim bladder disease?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7984" CreationDate="2015-04-07T07:00:36.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure how your relationship with your neighbor is, but maybe you could even get them to solve this problem together without them having to admit mistakes? After all it would be advantageous to both sides. Just try suggesting something to solve this problem no matter how or why their dog ends up in your garden. If using a leash or containing their dog sounds wrong to them, it might be hard to get them to do so (just think about them telling you to no longer play with your dogs in your garden as an alternate solution).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the dogs' actual behavior other than what you've written, but usually dogs (or animals in general) won't hurt each other unless trained (whether intentional or not) to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description your male dog already dominated over the neighbor's dog at least once. So maybe you'd be able to let them establish this relationship, i.e. the neighbor's dog submitting to your male dog (during controlled meetings, i.e. having your neighbor come over, etc.) and you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave your own female out of the equation for now (since she's essentially competition). Once the neighbor's female knows her place, reintroduce your other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time you should be able to work this out, especially considering the other dog is still very young. Ideally you might even be able to work out some solution where you could put a gate in your fence so the other dog can come over playing. I don't think your dogs would mind her joining in (if the whole &quot;pack&quot; structure is taken care of) and your neighbor would have some time off as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd always consider it as the very last possibility trying to get dogs taken away, based on circumstances. Sometimes people just don't know any better and don't want to admit it. Just try to trick them into improving and avoid them having to admit having made a mistake in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T07:00:36.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-07T15:44:08.920" Score="4" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently adopted a pair of American tree frogs, and have set up a terrarium for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I purchased some plants for the terrarium from a local garden center, and while the species of plants are considered safe, I'm concerned that the potential use of fertilizers (and maybe even pesticides) on the plants while they were at the garden center might be harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make sure that the plants are safe for the tree frogs, before adding them to their terrarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T10:57:36.403" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T16:42:09.440" Title="How do I prepare store-bought plants for use in a terrarium?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="7991" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-04-07T17:51:54.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The opposite of &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/senior-pet&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'senior-pet'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;senior-pet&lt;/a&gt;, the junior-pet tag addresses the specific needs of younger / newborn pet companions (puppies, kittens, chicks, etc.), and ways to improve their overall well-being and health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T17:51:54.477" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T17:51:54.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7992" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-04-07T17:51:54.477" Score="0" Body="Addresses specific needs of younger / newborn pet companions, and ways to improve their overall well-being and health." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-04-07T17:51:54.477" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T17:51:54.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7973" CreationDate="2015-04-07T19:12:59.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this too. Just today I woke up and found everything that previously occupied my nightstand was littered across my floor. At some point I just started sleeping through it. That doesn't help you though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats sleep a lot, sometimes up to 20 hours a day. Normally they're most active during dawn and dusk. Your male is just slightly more active, which means he's probably going to be more active at night. As funny as it sounds, what your cat is doing is telling you how much he loves you. He'll pat your face and rub his face on yours as a way of telling you how much he loves you, because this is what cats do to each other. You don't like this, of course, because it's hard to sleep with a cat's face ramming itself against your nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started having cuddle time right when I got in bed. I'd get in and let my cat lay on my chest, then pet her and rub my nose on her head for a bit. After a while, she gets annoyed and jumps down. Then I retrained myself to become a side sleeper. Just doing this has taught her to sleep by my legs. When she gets hungry (I give her small bits of food throughout the night, more how they eat in the wild), she'll come up and very softly tap me in the nose. Then I feed her three kibbles and she leaves me alone for a while. You don't have to feed your cat (everything is close enough to my bed that I'm not really awake when I feed her), but consider everything else. It'll give your cat enough love that he'll be happy through the night and not feel ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2015-04-07T19:12:59.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-07T20:22:50.257" Score="5" ViewCount="1034" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many reptiles, especially snakes, don't see red light.  However, some see more than humans, such as bearded dragons who have yellow specific color receptors.  What colors do Savannah monitors see?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3881" LastEditorUserId="5778" LastEditDate="2015-09-18T17:50:09.290" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:50:09.290" Title="Can a Savannah monitor see red light?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7973" CreationDate="2015-04-07T21:19:42.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, a friend of mine broke her cat of this habit by having me foster him for a few weeks. Between his not knowing what I'd let him get away with and my being willing to completely ignore his demands, he stopped trying and didn't resume when he returned home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't do that now that I have my own cats again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T18:44:10.187" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T18:44:10.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2015-04-08T13:38:59.620" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat also went through a stage (of about 5 years) where she caught and killed everything in our garden and brought it home.&#xA;The only thing that worked was to tire her out by playing games with toys and a laser pointer during the evening before bed.  Then she was too tired to go out and her passion for hunting was also satisfied with the toys.  It was hard work (because if I didn't do it she'd be out hunting again) but it was better than waking up in the dead of night to pick up tiny carcases.  So, I advise purchasing some toys (the ones with the feather on the end of a string/stick work the best from experience, or a laser pointer) and exercise your cat every day to tire him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3883" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T13:38:59.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7984" CreationDate="2015-04-08T13:41:14.290" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have a local animal control to come get the dog. Plus, report the dig to the police. You should be able to sue and recover vet costs from the injury from your neighbor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3884" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T13:41:14.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7940" CreationDate="2015-04-08T13:55:44.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, the dogs already moved in, so I'm going to post an answer based on the experience I've had so far, and try to improve it as time passes and I observe new behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When left alone in the new yard, the first thing the dogs did was to mark their territory all around the perimeter, both of them using their back legs to spread their scent. The two female fox-terriers approached the fence in a menacing way since they probably felt threatened and also needed to mark their territory and set the limits. My dogs approached them with respect and showed them they were no threat. After a while, the fox-terriers didn't bark anymore, even when the dogs came in close proximity to their fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first night the beagle had a normal behavior, sleeping right away in his new dog house, he adapted quite well. The rottweiler cried a lot, but in the morning I found him already in his house. The second night he cried a lot less and went to sleep earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, the dogs have even lost the bad habits they had when living with my parents: they don't try to enter the house, scratch or jump at the door or windows or bark asking for food. It's all a matter of setting new rules straight away and stick with them, which I couldn't do when living with my parents since everybody responded to the dogs in a different way, creating the bad habits. I don't know if this new behavior will last (I hope).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the rain, we've had some in the last couple of days and it hasn't been a problem. They stay in their house and dry. I'm still building a roof area so they can eat, drink water and stretch without getting wet. I asked a vet and he told me old dogs adapt far better than new ones to a change in environment and that the rain shouldn't be a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up and answer the general question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their ability to adapt to change depends on the breed and age (the older, the better)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adaptation to rain is no problem for older dogs,they already know they don't have to get wet. You should keep a dry area for food, water and stretching.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A change in environment is a good opportunity to correct some bad habits. New house rules should be set firmly and straight away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Explain the situation to your neighbors and introduce the dogs if you have the chance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let them explore their new territory and know the boundaries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Understand the dog, he is going through a big change but he can and will adapt, and so will you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3856" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T13:55:44.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="7999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7916" CreationDate="2015-04-08T16:03:38.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The kennel club rule of thumb is 5 minutes per month of age until the puppy is full grown (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getting-a-dog-or-puppy/general-advice-about-caring-for-your-new-puppy-or-dog/puppy-and-dog-walking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getting-a-dog-or-puppy/general-advice-about-caring-for-your-new-puppy-or-dog/puppy-and-dog-walking/&lt;/a&gt;).  This will obviously depend on breed, starting health/fitness and individual dog’s energy levels.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some large breed bones won't be fully hardened until they are 18 months or even older (12 months for small/medium dogs).  Only after this should they be participating in any sort of endurance sport like distance running.  I would put Rotweilers into the 'medium-to-large' category and so would hold off long distance or high impact running for a while longer especially if your individual dog is a heavier, more muscled build.  Many dog sports also have a minimum age restriction for participation of around 18 months (e.g. flyball, canicross, etc) so this appears to be the age that most experts deem appropriate for ‘real’ sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind the terrain - dogs will feel the impact more than us in our cushioned running shoes so soft ground, nature trails etc are preferable over tarmac where possible, and build up running distance very slowly in between walking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog is fully matured, and you've slowly built up his fitness and stamina for your runs, there is no reason why he couldn't do as much jogging as you, provided he is healthy and injury free.  Jogging is an effective way of keeping your dog fit and in trim shape - try to vary the exercise he is getting with play and other types of training (e.g. cart pulling, nose-work, etc) so that he is well rounded in his fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not believe this question to be a duplicate of the one to do with Huskies.  Although Rotweillers and Huskies are bred as working dogs and should have the stamina to go all day, Rotweillers may not have the speed, agility and excitement levels of a Husky.  They also have more muscle bulk in general and so a slower, steadier pace may be better suited to your Rottie – jogging/walking rather than full out sprinting possibly, again depending on your individual dog.  Both breeds will be susceptible to high heat, Rotties will be more susceptible to cold.  Always carry water (for both of you!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although all the guidelines above are good as a starting point, there is no way to say exactly how far is too far, or how much is too much – this is down to the individual dog.  You know your dog better than anyone, especially as you’ll have invested time in his training and building up his stamina, so pay attention to his body language and enthusiasm.  If he is looking fatigued stop for a rest or turn back.  It’s always a good idea to end with the dog tired but wanting more, rather than exhausted and sore.  Being a Rottie he may not show any weakness or vulnerability in an effort to please you.  Your job is to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.  This way he will anticipate going out next time with enthusiasm rather than dread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article about Rotties (some way down in the ‘Care’ section there is some advice about exercise and energy levels) &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/rottweiler&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/rottweiler&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This Q&amp;amp;A gives a few useful ways of knowing when the exercise may be over or under done &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/getting-enough-exercise-rogers-faq.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/getting-enough-exercise-rogers-faq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EXTRA:  I would suggest that your dog will be a ‘senior’ when he is around 7 or 8 years old – I believe police dogs are retired around this age as well.  Again, watch for any changes in his enthusiasm and energy levels and taper off your exercises as he gets to this point and beyond.  He’ll still need his daily walks for a good while after this though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3883" LastActivityDate="2015-04-08T16:03:38.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7986" CreationDate="2015-04-09T12:20:09.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would defiantly agree that you poor betta has swim bladder disease. Sadly, there is no known cure for this because the cause of it varies so much. With the observation of him floating at the top, it tells you that his swim bladder is  most likely filled with air, this is usually due to gulping air from the surface. If you feed him floating pellets, that's the cause. To eat, he's been going to the surface and eating the food, when he is hungry he gulps for food at the surface that isn't there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't feed him floating pellets, it could've been genetic. Some are just born with it and It comes later on in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The struggling to move is normal with swim bladder disease, sadly when they get to this stage they don't last too long. Although he might just surprise the both of us and go on for a while. The most you can do at this stage is wet your finger and dipping it in the pellet food, then holding your pelleted finger in front of his mouth to try and get him to take it. But this doesn't always work, sometimes they don't take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm so sorry to hear what has happened, he sounds like a much loved pet. I wish you all the best and hope there is a happy outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3890" LastActivityDate="2015-04-09T12:20:09.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7994" CreationDate="2015-04-10T01:37:42.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Professor Sam Sweet, &quot;(savannah) Monitors are also specialized compared to other lizards in having acute long-distance (color) vision, sensitive hearing, and very well-developed senses of smell and tongue-based vomeronasal organ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that savannah's have the entire color spectrum available to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3701" LastEditorUserId="3701" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T01:45:21.410" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T01:45:21.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8009" CreationDate="2015-04-10T02:04:56.740" Score="4" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Background&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 14 year old female mixed breed dog.  Her normal weight in her days of youth and fitness was 40 pounds.  She is hovering around 32 or 33 pounds currently.  She has had what appears to be a stroke and now suffers from an occasional seizure.  Her appetite has diminished but she will enthusiastically consume any fish, poultry or beef that I 'home cook' for her.  She has good days and she has bad days but does not appear to be in any pain.  She has difficulty walking, her hips are in bad shape and motor co-ordination is compromised due to the 'stroke' or 'seizures'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She sits in her spot which gives her a good view out the front window in order to 'guard' the area/home.  She is alert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conundrum&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to her 'state of mind' and continuing to fulfill basic functions I am averse to euthanasia at the moment.  The basic life features I'm looking at are the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating - Regular eating and interest in food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinate/Defecate - Physically able to expel waste as well as have solid bowel movements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alert - Able to recognize surroundings and appear lucid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Habits - Normal interaction with the world and continued engagement in usual habits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attributes - No ongoing pain or suffering, appears happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm of the belief that these 4 foundation components are the basics in order to continue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is old, a bit crotchety and limps.  When she walks her head is turned sideways a bit since the 'stroke' and occasionally falls down if going down a single step as her co-ordination is a bit sloppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is nothing new to me and I don't feel as if I'm 'hanging on' too tightly.  I have had to disconnect loved ones from respirators during my time on the planet and letting go of my beloved dog will be difficult but not impossible.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Question - What is the ethical 'line in the sand' to make the decision to euthanize a pet?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am of the mind that it's when the four items above are not fulfilled any longer or there is an ongoing pain factor then the time has come to act and do the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3701" LastEditorUserId="3701" LastEditDate="2015-04-17T21:47:25.243" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T21:47:25.243" Title="Considering euthanasia for my aging dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2988" CreationDate="2015-04-10T02:39:48.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ammonia is root of the odor in cat urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia as a solid crystallizes into symmetrical cubics.  It's also miscible with water and can be boiled off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In animals it typically binds with an acid and becomes urea and is a key component to reduction of pH levels in organisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vinegar helps to break down urea into its base components for cleaning purposes.  Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) neutralizes any acid.  Bulk sodium bicarbonate can be purchased as soda ash and is relatively inexpensive compared to grocery store baking soda.  Pool supply retailers will carry this as it is used to reduce acidity level in swimming pools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3701" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T16:44:11.620" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T16:44:11.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-10T02:56:40.140" Score="2" ViewCount="2519" Body="&lt;p&gt;She's a 10 year old rescue shih tsu. When I carry her by her armpits with her facing forward (the direction I'm walking) she opens her mouth. When we carry her with her facing behind me, she doesn't open her mouth. She also doesn't open her mouth when she's walking normally or anything. She can jump on her elevated bed fine (1 foot off the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T21:15:21.383" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T04:19:25.247" Title="Why does my dog open her mouth when I carry her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8006" CreationDate="2015-04-10T03:27:50.877" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is going to be an opinion question and/or judgment call, but I'll suggest a basic principle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quality Of Life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the animal can be made reasonably comfortable and content, extending its life may be worthwhile. But if that extension inolves surgery or something else significantly unpleasant, you need to consider whether, from &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; point of view, they're gaining enough enjoyable lifespan to justify the immediate discomfort -- remembering that you can't explain it to them. If not, the kindest thing you can do is to let them go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've known some animals who were pretty decrepit... but who didn't seem to be in pain, and seemed to be with it enough to enjoy being around their humans. I've known some others who were technically more healthy but who had significant discomfort that couldn't be treated.  Others, of course, may fall anywhere along the spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just watch out for the temptation to let your reluctance to lose them dominate over their needs. That's hard, but it's part of our responsibility to them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember: we don't have them long enough, but they have us all their lives. That's not a bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... but it sounds like you already know all this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T03:27:50.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-10T15:45:50.573" Score="3" ViewCount="3489" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog is the best thing we got. He is generally healthy. He turns 10 in May. His teeth, especially his underbite front row (quite common for Shih Tzus), are getting brown.  If you open his mouth there is a lot of brown, caramel color scattered across from front to back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've always been very scared of taking him to a professional cleaning because there's a chance of what I don't want to talk about. And I was told a while ago that the risk of this increases with age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few important facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He generally won't let us co-operate in letting us brush his teeth with his toothbrush and chicken flavor toothpaste. I think this has got worse as he was teased and as he's got older is more prone to bite you if you put it in his mouth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our vet suggested using a third party company which does teeth cleaning without anesthetizing.  They are from California and were travelling across the country and happened to be near our area.  Our dog was not cooperative with them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our vet recommends the anesthesia route but I am not comfortable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our vet also recommends instead giving our dog some anti anxiety medicine and trying to clean after this ourselves with a toothbrush.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How dangerous is poor dental health?  What would you advise if I don't want to go the anesthesia route (as I'm fearful of the risk I mentioned above).  Any toothbrushing tips would be welcome.  There was one vet who once told me that I should use my nails to scrape off the dirt on his teeth and he made it look easy but I haven't tried to replicate this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3899" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T06:48:49.760" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T23:22:32.547" Title="How can I clean my Shih Tzu's teeth if we're fearful of anesthesia?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8011" CreationDate="2015-04-10T17:07:34.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your vet is recommending this, then perhaps you should trust your vet.  If your vet cannot do it, you can try a different vet in your area, though I wouldn't go with a traveling vet like you described.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that if your teeth were so bad that they were rotting away, would you prefer your dog to suffer with this pain through the rest of his life, or would you chance something that can alleviate that pain from a professional administrator?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 14-year-old dachshund, who has had his teeth cleaned several times during his life, the last time when he was 13.  During the last time, they found he had hollowed a tooth out that had to be removed.  Since then, he's been fine.  He has had to get anesthesia each time, and came out perfectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to truly keep your dog's mouth clean and not-smelly is to start with a professional veterinary teeth cleaning, then continue with daily or bi-daily brushing and an anti-plaque rinse spray (I use CET).  I have, as your vet advised, been able to get a nail under some plaque and chip it down and off, but that is tough to do, rough on your nails, and my dog has been less than compliant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated, I've owned three dogs, and each one has had at least one professional teeth cleaning under anesthesia with no issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T17:07:34.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-10T18:31:30.077" Score="3" ViewCount="742" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I bought two goldfish on Wednesday, and the shopkeeper did not tell me to cycle the tank or anything. I bought the gravel and tree on Thursday and my auntie gave me an air pump and filter around Thursday tea time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today (friday), I bought some weekly cleaner to kill ammonia and nitrates. I washed the gravel and tree using fish tank water. This morning they looked okay, swimming around, but I had to move my 10 liter tank as the wires are tripping hazards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before putting them in the tank I left them in a bag to get used to the water, after adding the weekly cleaner and changing some of the water, it still looks cloudy even with the air pump and filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now they are going to the side of the tank and trying to swim to the top but floating back down and swimming backwards so I turned the air pump off, and they are barely moving now, just sitting on the bottom behind the tree. Here is a video to help understand: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWVdCnYuIgU&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWVdCnYuIgU&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are my goldfish acting this way, and how can I remedy it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3900" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T19:21:54.287" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T08:53:07.950" Title="Why are my goldfish acting this way, and how can I remedy it?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2015-04-10T19:23:58.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably don't need a cleaner at all and a weekly cleaner is too frequent unless you are running an over capacity tank. Goldfish are hardy and filters are usually sufficient provided it is rated for equal or greater gallons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that this was a 1 hour old tank, you'll want to get tap water conditioner to remove chlorine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a new hobby for you, a aquarium test kit is highly recommended so you can stay on top of water condition changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Odd behavior in fish is usually an indication of stress of some kind. In this case I'm going to say it's due to inadequate water conditions. Within a few weeks the tank should be sufficiently established and their behavior should normalize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2015-04-10T21:06:36.120" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T21:06:36.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8011" CreationDate="2015-04-10T22:06:02.043" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember that all they need is what human doctors call &quot;twilight&quot; anesthesia; enough that the animal is groggy and doesn't much care that it's being poked at.  That's lower risk than full surgical anesthesia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-10T22:06:02.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1486" CreationDate="2015-04-11T04:44:43.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course you first want to rule out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/nighttime-activity-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;illness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cribbing from &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/2012/07/09/qa-how-to-make-your-cats-let-you-sleep/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jacksongalaxy&lt;/a&gt;... &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Animal life has circadian rhythms. Some expect a strict routine. They want to hunt, catch, eat, sleep. Attentions may encourage bad behavior. Your best tools are the timings of play &amp;amp; food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat too, yowls (and brings a toy mouse to really make her point!) She seems to be parenting me much like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/23chd1/why_does_my_cat_want_me_to_go_to_bed/cgvyzyj&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reddit user's cat&lt;/a&gt; does. Here are a bunch of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.city-data.com/forum/cats/1964984-does-your-cat-tell-you-go.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;funny but random anecdotes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="556" LastActivityDate="2015-04-11T04:44:43.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-12T17:59:23.600" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4398/should-i-worry-about-my-cat-jumping-out-the-window&quot; title=&quot;Should I worry about my cat jumping out the window?&quot;&gt;cat owners should worry about their cats jumping out the window&lt;/a&gt;.  I'm concerned with negligent/irresponsible cat owners.  For example, what if I see my neighbor's cat everyday on an open window of a high rising building, and I warn the owner about the risks, and one day the cat falls.  So my question is: Are you aware of cases in which owners were held legally responsible in those situations? Or do you know of a SPCA chapter lobbying for passing local laws requiring cat owners living in apartments above, say, fourth floor to install screen (safety nets) on windows? I know of apartments where different tenants have had multiple cats injured and die over the years. Unfortunately it seems acceptable for well-meaning though inexperienced cat owners to dismiss such real risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3906" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-04-12T20:06:56.370" Title="Have there been cases of cat owners in high rise apartments being legally required to install screen (safety nets) on windows?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-12T18:51:45.910" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I typically feed my cat a boiled fish fillet, &quot;Hoki&quot; ... (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-hoki.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-hoki.htm&lt;/a&gt; ) we switched him to this after a one-week bout of diarrhea one month ago... it healed it within 2 days. We also have a bowl of dry food going for him at all times but I barely see him eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This week we ran out of the Hoki and it was over a day before I could get back to the store to get some, so was feeding my cat canned tuna in the meantime. When I reached the store I discovered they were out of it, so settled for mackerel pieces instead... I boiled these up last night, removed all the bones, and tested him on a handful of it. He loved it initially, enthusiastically chomping away... and then I was shocked to see him walk away from it leaving 50% of it untouched. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 15minutes he had a burst of diarrhea in his litter-box. I threw the rest of the mackerel away.  Half an hour later he had another burst, after which he was licking/cleaning his genetalia incessantly, and hissing at me if I tried to go near him (he wasn't like this with his previous diarrhea attack a month ago). I went to bed and woke up several times in the night to see him sitting in my bedroom, yet again cleaning his private parts each time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning I inspected the house for any more diarrhea bursts, I could only find what looked like some streaking on the rug, but not sure how that would come about if he was cleaning himself so diligently. Was it a case of 'leakage' that he was trying to deal with, and what happened on the rug was him momentarily giving up on cleaning it away? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was also a small pool of vomit with  large chunk of undigested mackerel in it. This morning he was still cleaning himself, and hissed at me again when I tried to go near him. He also refused to eat any tuna and curled up in the dining room to sleep at a time that he does not usually go to sleep. I noticed he was also working his mouth a lot, licking his chops as if he had just had a large meal. I did manage to pick him up for a while to hold him up to some running water as I was afraid he wasn't being proactive with his water bowl. He drank a lot of the running water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He woke up again when he heard me going outside to put out the trash and came out to play in the garden momentarily... he seemed his old self for a bit, but is back inside curled up asleep again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think it was the mackeral that is causing this, or the 1.5 days of canned tuna? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T02:21:39.030" Title="Why does my cat have an upset stomach?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-12T22:16:22.987" Score="4" ViewCount="73898" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planting a 10 gallon fish tank project with fish. I was considering planting lucky bamboo in a jar in a biube tank. I researched that lucky bamboo in a jar needs low or moderate light for good growth. My fish tank is led's will be on at night only. Will the lighting in the tank affect the lucky bamboo plant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3911" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-13T02:12:11.173" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T09:33:37.340" Title="Can I plant lucky bamboo in an aquarium with fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-13T00:50:23.350" Score="3" ViewCount="33098" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 11 month old female Weimaraner and every time we worm her she gets quite sick. Symptoms are lethargy and vomiting (usually she vomits only once). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are currently using Panoramis Brown (27.1kg-54kg) but she only weighs 26kg, this is what the vet recommended. We had previously used Advocate but we switched because it was making her sick. We also worm her during the day on weekends so we can watch her, and never on an empty stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for dogs to be sick after worming? Should I try a different worming tablet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3912" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T19:45:43.383" Title="Is it normal for my dog to be sick after worming?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8030" CreationDate="2015-04-13T01:53:24.560" Score="6" ViewCount="16390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took my puppy for a walk, and while I was playing with him He fell from my arms and hit himself. I checked him by feeling him little by little and he seemed OK. He did not complain and he even waged his tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I just took a look at him and saw that he had vomited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T09:45:18.733" Title="My puppy fell and hit himself, and now he vomited. Is he ok?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8029" CreationDate="2015-04-13T09:45:18.733" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;More details would help. Did he hit his head? If not, what part of his body did he hit, and on what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The proximity you describe is worrisome. Without more details it's hard to recommend anything except that you call your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Head injury commonly causes vomiting. Without external signs of trauma, eg lacerations or swelling on his head, a single episode of vomiting without &lt;em&gt;any other symptoms&lt;/em&gt; is probably ok, seeing as he didn't lose consciousness at the time. Symptoms of concern would include being dazed, wobbly, or disoriented. Seizure, decreased level of consciousness, bleeding from the ears or nose, and not holding his head correctly are very serious symptoms requiring immediate treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he didn't strike his head, look for trouble concerning what he did hit. Though not likely to be associated with vomiting, he could have bruised some ribs (watch for breathing abnormalities) or hurt some other part of his body. Run your hands over his entire body; if he reacts with pain, limps, or has other symptoms, call your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/types-dog-head-injuries&quot;&gt;Types of Head Injuries in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/article/dogs/diseases-conditions-of-dogs/emergency-trauma-urgent-care/trauma-to-the-chest-in-dogs&quot;&gt;Trauma to the Chest in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T09:45:18.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-13T10:49:31.240" Score="3" ViewCount="927" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday during the rain my dog (Labrador) started barking because it's time for his evening walk, but it was raining and I was not able to take him to walk until the rain decreases. I don't think it's ok to take him out in rain, so I tried to calm him down but didn't have much luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also does his business only during these walks. He is trained not to pee inside the house. He tried everything to grab my attention, from ruining/picking things etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks like a start of rainy season to me and this possibility might come again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should this be handled ideally? I don't want to shout at him to calm him down as that's not helpful to the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-15T21:23:10.857" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T09:23:01.027" Title="How can I calm a dog down when I can't take him outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8031" CreationDate="2015-04-13T12:26:01.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a large umbrella, a good raincoat, some waterproof boots and in the entry to your home have two large thick old towels, one on the floor and one next to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then put on the raincoat and boots, take your Labrador out into the rain (the dog will love the water), raise your umbrella and walk your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog will love you for the break. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you return to your home, train your dog to sit on the towel while you take off your boots and raincoat, drop your umbrella, then dry your dog thoroughly with the second towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place both towels in a bucket to soak. Wash after 12 hours and dry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T12:26:01.627" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8011" CreationDate="2015-04-13T15:26:52.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an elderly cat that we anesthetized for dental work and as a result he started to have GI problems. We had him put to sleep shortly afterwards for quality of life concerns. It is a difficult decision, and if something happens (either way) you will probably never stop kicking yourself for not making the other decision. I try to tell myself that I made the best decision that I could. &lt;strong&gt;These are the questions that I asked my vet:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the possible outcomes if we DO NOT do the cleaning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the possible outcomes if we DO the cleaning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How likely are these outcomes?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can we mitigate the likelihood of these outcomes in any way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How will these outcomes affect his quality of life?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My experience in detail:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of my cat (Chance), there was evidence in his bloodwork that he had systemic infections and we believed his poor mouth condition was the cause of the infections. We could give him antibiotics, but unless we removed the rotting teeth, the infections would not likely be cured. In addition, he had trouble eating and we suspected that mouth pain was part of the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His age was unknown (suspected late teens based on condition, but he had just been picked up off the street). He was missing a bunch of teeth already, and had kidney issues, so we decided to have the remaining teeth removed. This would remove the possibility that we would be considering dental work again in a short period of time (kidney disease and Siamese type cats are both risk factors for periodontal disease).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did preliminary bloodwork and a physical examination to determine if there were any other physical problems that we were unaware of. If he had a heart condition (or probably any additional illness) there would have been too much risk, but we decided to go ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, he did not react well to the anesthesia. Even so, the alternative for Chance (had we not had the dental work done) was to continue to stress his body fighting the systemic infection, while being in pain and having difficulty eating. I believe that we made the right decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T15:26:52.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8034" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8035" CreationDate="2015-04-13T19:01:31.683" Score="15" ViewCount="11442" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is breathing fast (and occasionally panting with an open mouth). It's not associated with exercise (he's just sitting on the couch)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the cause of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T01:33:52.540" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T01:33:52.540" Title="Should I be concerned that my cat is breathing fast?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8034" CreationDate="2015-04-13T19:16:17.780" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watched him for a few minutes (to determine that he hadn't just run across the room or something) and he continued to breathe fast. So I packed him up and drove to the emergency vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The emergency vet told me that &lt;strong&gt;Hunter was seriously ill and it's a good thing I brought him in.&lt;/strong&gt; They put him in an enclosure with increased oxygen to help him breathe more efficiently while they did testing and determined what the problem was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The radiologist determined from a chest x-ray that Hunter was having &lt;strong&gt;congestive heart failure&lt;/strong&gt;. In this disease, the heart is not pumping blood efficiently, and fluid will accumulate in his heart and lungs. Symptoms of congestive heart failure include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficulty Breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fainting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduced Ability to Exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of Appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight Loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behavior Changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rear Limb Weakness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vet.tufts.edu/heartsmart/symptoms/&quot;&gt;Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts University&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we had not taken him to the veterinarian for treatment &lt;strong&gt;he may have died&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vets gave him medication to reduce the fluid in his heart and lungs and were able to wean him off the oxygen the next morning. I will be able to take him home tonight (24 hours after the incident), and will have to &lt;strong&gt;continue to give him these medications&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also need to &lt;strong&gt;make a cardiologist appointment&lt;/strong&gt; so we can determine what the cause of the problem was and determine the best long term treatment for Hunter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-13T19:16:17.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7296" CreationDate="2015-04-13T20:30:47.140" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As John Cavan notes, it's common for elderly cats but we don't currently know what the cause of hyperthyroidism is. I'll outline some of the current research directions here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The research is &lt;strong&gt;not yet conclusive for anything&lt;/strong&gt; (and at times, conflicting!), but these are the paths that medical science is investigating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Food Causes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study is a &lt;strong&gt;broad survey&lt;/strong&gt; (263 cats) to try to determine differences between hyperthyroid and normal cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Sep 15;217(6):853-6. Evaluation of dietary and environmental risk factors for hyperthyroidism in cats. Martin KM1, Rossing MA, Ryland LM, DiGiacomo RF, Freitag WA. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10997155&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Case cats were significantly less likely to have been born recently&#xA;  than control cats. Housing; exposure to fertilizers, herbicides, or&#xA;  plant pesticides; regular use of flea products; and presence of a&#xA;  smoker in the home were not significantly associated with an increased&#xA;  risk of disease, but cats that preferred fish or liver and giblets&#xA;  flavors of canned cat food had an increased risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diagnoses of hyperthyroidism starting becoming a lot more common in the 1970s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J Feline Med Surg. 2010 Sep;12(9):672-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jfms.2010.07.011. Feline hyperthyroidism: potential relationship with iodine supplement requirements of commercial cat foods. Edinboro CH1, Scott-Moncrieff JC, Glickman LT. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20800208&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A review of historical iodine recommendations revealed that the units&#xA;  of iodine supplementation changed in the 1970s. Given this change,&#xA;  foods minimally supplemented since the late 1970s would have been&#xA;  iodine deficient for most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;PRACTICAL RELEVANCE:  Iodine supplementation of commercial cat foods&#xA;  should be evaluated in the light of the iodine recommendations revised&#xA;  in 2006. Foods may remain deficient in iodine if supplemented at the&#xA;  minimum recommended concentration, possibly contributing to the&#xA;  development of FH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study looked at iodine concentration of different commercial food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J Feline Med Surg. 2013 Aug;15(8):717-24. doi: 10.1177/1098612X13477855. Epub 2013 Feb 25. Iodine concentration in commercial cat foods from three regions of the USA, 2008-2009. Edinboro CH1, Pearce EN, Pino S, Braverman LE. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439761&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dramatic variation among canned foods (resulting in ingestion of approximately 49-9639 μg iodine/day) suggests that the disparity in iodine concentrations may lead to development of nodular hyperplasia and, later, clinical hyperthyroidism, if cats consume diets that are at first iodine-deficient and later contain excessive iodine. Manufacturers are encouraged to ensure adequate iodine supplementation across all products and areas of the USA. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Flame Retardants (PBDEs)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2012 Jul;63(1):161-8. doi: 10.1007/s00244-012-9750-y. Epub 2012 Feb 5. Decabromobiphenyl, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and brominated phenolic compounds in serum of cats diagnosed with the endocrine disease feline hyperthyroidism. Norrgran J1, Jones B, Lindquist NG, Bergman A. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22311549&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is notable that BB-209, 6-OH-BDE47, and 2,4,6-tribromophenol all suggested that endocrine-disrupting chemicals were present in high concentrations in cat serum&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2012;75(4):201-12. doi: 10.1080/15287394.2012.652054. The feline thyroid gland: a model for endocrine disruption by polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)? Mensching DA1, Slater M, Scott JW, Ferguson DC, Beasley VR. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22352329&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In dust from homes of hyperthyroid cats, total PBDE concentrations were significantly higher, ranging from 1100 to 95,000 ng/g. Dust PBDE and serum total T4 concentration were also significantly correlated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Environ Toxicol Chem. 2012 Feb;31(2):301-6. doi: 10.1002/etc.1700. Epub 2011 Dec 29. High polybrominated diphenyl ether levels in California house cats: house dust a primary source? Guo W1, Park JS, Wang Y, Gardner S, Baek C, Petreas M, Hooper K. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22105974&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authors found no evidence that linked levels of PBDEs, PCBs, or OCPs with hyperthyroidism. This may be because of the small sample size, competing or confounding risk factors, or complicated causal mechanisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jessica Norrgran, Bernt Jones, Anders Bignert, Ioannis Athanassiadis, and Åke Bergman&#xA;Higher PBDE Serum Concentrations May Be Associated with Feline Hyperthyroidism in Swedish Cats&#xA;Environ. Sci. Technol., 2015, 49 (8), pp 5107–5114, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b00234, Publication Date (Web): March 25, 2015&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b00234&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hyperthyroid compared to euthyroid cats have higher serum concentrations for some of the investigated PBDEs (BDE-99, BDE-153, and BDE-183) and CB-153 on a fat weight basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other Research&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I can't really make heads or tails of this one, but I'm including it for completeness &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J Vet Intern Med. 2011 Sep-Oct;25(5):1057-65. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.00790.x. Epub 2011 Aug 30. Evaluation of predictors for the diagnosis of hyperthyroidism in cats. Wakeling J1, Elliott J, Syme H. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21985139&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This abstract doesn't say much, but I suspect the contents of the article would be very interesting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J Feline Med Surg. 2012 Nov;14(11):804-18. doi: 10.1177/1098612X12464462. Hyperthyroidism in cats: what's causing this epidemic of thyroid disease and can we prevent it? Peterson M. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23087006&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T00:57:49.663" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T00:57:49.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2015-04-14T01:49:38.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking it was some kind of instinct. In the wild they would have killed prey, and would have dirty paws from catching,killing, and eating a dead animal. Other than that idea, I don't know...still researching&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3917" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T01:49:38.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8031" CreationDate="2015-04-14T09:28:39.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you've trained your dog to only relieve himself when he's on these walks. It's good that your dog is trying to get your attention, as it shows he's learned not to pee indoors and is wanting to go do it outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you live somewhere where going for a walk in a downpour is potentially dangerous, you should at least put him on a lead and take him to some bushes or a tree just outside your house to let him pee. Like the other answer said, dogs love routine, so he's probably holding it in on purpose in anticipation of this walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the future, it might be helpful to check the weather earlier in the day and let the dog out (or go for your walk) before it starts to rain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also be helpful to buy a rope or chain or something, secure it somewhere just outside your door, and then attach the other end to your dog's collar. Make sure it's long enough so he can reach some bushes or a tree. This will let him be able to relieve himself even in the rain without having to get yourself wet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3921" LastEditorUserId="3921" LastEditDate="2015-04-16T09:23:01.027" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T09:23:01.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8028" CreationDate="2015-04-14T16:51:35.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.elancocentral.com/PanoramisLabel.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;label information on Panoramis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In some animals, PANORAMIS may be associated with vomiting, commonly within 48 hours of administration of the first dose and decreasing in incidence with repeat doses. If vomiting occurs within an hour of administration, re-dose with another full dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The following adverse events have been recorded following administration of spinosad and milbemycin oxime [the ingredients of Panoramis] together: vomiting, pruritis, lethargy, and diarrhea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The label also indicates that there is a dose for dogs 18.1 - 27 kg (though it doesn't say what color it is). It contains 810 mg spinosad and 13.5 mg milbemycin oxime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely suggest getting the correct dose for your dog's weight, but not to be too concerned about the vomiting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-14T16:51:35.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8049" CreationDate="2015-04-14T22:58:58.757" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard a story about canine flu on the radio. What is canine flu and can humans and dogs catch flu from each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T15:52:29.833" Title="What is canine flu?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8048" CreationDate="2015-04-15T03:14:46.117" Score="11" ViewCount="72620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who licks her lower belly almost bare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T5xdJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;trimmed lower belly&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bare patch extends forward just past her rear nipples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She started this behavior a year or so ago, when she was around ten years old. The height of the fur in this patch varies: sometimes it is almost bare, other times (such as in the picture) it appears she is letting it grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also occasionally bites at the area, so there are a few spots that look like scabs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her sister, from the same litter, does not have any of these habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet told me it was a psychological issue, and he gave her a shot which helped for a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does my cat do this? Would a vet be able to make her stop? Is it worth being concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3927" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T23:00:04.677" Title="Why does my cat lick the fur off her lower belly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8046" CreationDate="2015-04-15T15:30:50.980" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior is called &quot;mowing&quot; informally, but any type of hair loss is referred to as &quot;alopecia&quot;. It can be caused by &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites (fleas, mites, ringworm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies (food, seasonal, environmental)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry Skin (nutrition deficiency or environmental)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Psychological (boredom, anxiety)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cats-and-compulsive-scratching-licking-and-chewing&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely (based on what I've read and my personal experiences with mowing) that the shot was cortisone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For this trial, the patient receives some kind of cortisone-type treatment for 3 to 4 weeks. At the end of that time one can tell if the mowing has improved (and the mowing is said to be “steroid responsive”) or the mowing has not improved at all (and the mowing is said to be “steroid non-responsive.”) Knowing whether or not the mowing is steroid responsive helps classify possible causes. For example, seasonal steroid responsive mowing is most likely to be from fleas (technically allergy to the flea bite) or an airborne allergy. Non-seasonal steroid responsive mowing is most likely going to be from a food allergy. Steroid non-responsive mowing is most likely to be from a parasitic or fungal problem or a food-allergy. Many experts like to do the steroid trial at the beginning of the work up while others wait until more results are in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&amp;amp;A=2565&amp;amp;S=0&amp;amp;EVetID=3001644&quot;&gt;Veterinary Information Network&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, when I've worked with veterinarians on my cats' skin issues, we'll &lt;strong&gt;rule out all of the possible physical causes&lt;/strong&gt; (do a flea treatment, food trial/allergy testing, etc) before deciding that it's psychological. If you felt that your vet skipped a step or would just like to see someone who specializes in skin diseases, you can &lt;strong&gt;ask for a referral to a veterinary dermatologist&lt;/strong&gt;. They are slightly more expensive than a normal vet (the one I saw charged double my vet's normal rate for the initial exam, but follow up exams were about the same amount as my normal vet's exams).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide that it is psychological, the VIN article suggests: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is generally called “psychogenic” mowing. We don’t imply that we know if cats are licking out of obsession or out of anxiety or even boredom. We simply say that there is nothing wrong with the skin. Psychoanalysis is generally unnecessary; the approach is aimed at environmental enrichment. This means the cat gets more toys, more games (feeding in a different location daily to create a hide-and-seek sort of cat entertainment), and more attention. Clomipramine has both anti-anxiety as well as anti-compulsive effects and has been helpful though it does not come in a convenient feline size and may have to be compounded. Amitriptyline has both anti-anxiety properties as well as anti-histamine properties and is sometimes used to cover both the medical and psychogenic causes of mowing simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have put one of our girls on Amitriptyline (she definitely has anxiety, and it was affecting her bladder as well as causing mowing). I definitely recommend getting it compounded into a transdermal gel if you decide to go that route, as an anxious cat doesn't need additional stress of being pilled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T15:30:50.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8045" CreationDate="2015-04-15T15:52:29.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What is Dog Flu?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/flu/news/canine-influenza-update.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Centers for Disease Control&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two canine influenza viruses have been identified worldwide: an influenza A H3N8 virus and an influenza A H3N2 virus. No human infections with either of these canine influenza viruses have ever been reported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They continue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs of dog flu infection in dogs include cough, runny nose and fever, but not all dogs will show signs of illness. The severity of illness associated with dog flu in dogs can range from no signs to severe illness resulting in pneumonia and sometimes death in dogs. Tests are available to determine if a dog has been infected. CDC recommends that people concerned about dog flu in their pets speak to their veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all dogs can be susceptible to infection with canine influenza viruses, and illness tends to spread among dogs housed in kennels and shelters. A vaccine to protect dogs against canine influenza A H3N8 has been available in the United States since 2009. It is not known yet whether the H3N8 dog flu vaccine will offer protection against the H3N2 dog flu virus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;H3N2 dog flu...has been known to infect cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Symptoms&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Control-of-Canine-Influenza-in-Dogs.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/a&gt; gives the symptoms as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mild form — Dogs suffering with the mild form of canine influenza develop a soft, moist cough that persists for 10 to 30 days. They may&#xA;also be lethargic and have a reduced appetite and fever. Sneezing and&#xA;discharge from the eyes and/or nose may also be observed. Some dogs&#xA;have a dry cough similar to the traditional &amp;quot;kennel cough&amp;quot; caused by&#xA;Bordetella bronchiseptica/parainfluenza virus complex. Dogs with the&#xA;mild form of influenza may also have a thick nasal discharge, which is&#xA;usually caused by a secondary bacterial infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;severe form — Dogs with the severe form of canine influenza develop high fevers (104ºF to 106ºF) and have clinical signs of pneumonia,&#xA;such as increased respiratory rates and effort. Pneumonia may be due&#xA;to a secondary bacterial infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Outbreaks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://mediarelations.cornell.edu/2015/04/12/midwest-canine-influenza-outbreak-caused-by-new-strain-of-virus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;April 2015&lt;/a&gt; an outbreak of H3N2 was detected in Chicago and the surrounding Midwest areas. Over 1000 dogs were affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recommendations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/civ-h3n2-info/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the following recommendations&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vaccinate dogs when possible, despite unknown efficacy of current H3N8 commercial vaccines to prevent or diminish clinical disease&#xA;with the new H3N2 virus. To the best of our knowledge, the original&#xA;H3N8 virus has not disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maintain good general infection control principles when exposed to other dogs (e.g., limit direct dog-to-dog oronasal contact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Soap and water is very effective at inactivating virus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The virus will live in the environment for 24-48 hours in the majority of cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wash your hands and change your clothes if you work with or are exposed to sick dogs before handling your own pets at home. This&#xA;also applies to veterinarians in practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T15:52:29.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6943" CreationDate="2015-04-15T20:29:56.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can provide you with my observations of my dog, although you might be looking for a more definitive answer. Hopefully this will still help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cattle kelpie cross named Bill who I've had as my faithful companion for the last fourteen years, since he was eight weeks old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was a gift from good friends. My good friends kept one of the litter too and this brother Vautin survived until late last year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before my dog's brother passed away, I visited my friends at their home where the dogs were born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After not seeing each other for over ten years and despite their age, these brothers still fought for the right to be the boss - the alpha dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite being brothers, and despite that both were born on this property, it was clear who was boss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my dog's brother Vautin was &quot;home&quot; and the stronger animal, he maintained his role as the dominant animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That did not stop my dog Bill's attempts to take that role from Vautin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although harmless and no injuries were sustained, their fight for position was very serious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from my observations, in this case, I would suggest that territory is more important than blood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I note that dogs come in not only a wide variety of shapes and breeds, but a wide variety of &quot;personalities&quot;. So each breed / litter / location could result in different observations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2015-04-15T20:29:56.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8031" CreationDate="2015-04-16T07:01:45.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to understand the question on multiple levels, so please forgive me if I seem to be rambling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yesterday during the rain my dog (Labrador) started barking because it's time for his evening walk, but it was raining and I was not able to take him to walk until the rain decreases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't take a dog long to go to the bathroom (at least, not to urinate.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog did what most dog owners would expect and respect: he told you he had to go to the bathroom and/or he was eager to go out. If he has to go to the bathroom and you're not letting him go, I think you might ask yourself if this is beneficial to anyone/anything. There are options on what you can you teach your dog here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to stop indicating to you he needs to go out (this wouldn't solve anything)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to dissociate going to the bathroom (less fun) from his walk (more fun): this would help &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; pick your time to walk) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to stop barking to go out (this is doable and fine). To do that, he has to learn several things the usual way, with training and rewards: what &quot;bark&quot; means; what &quot;no bark&quot; means; some other way to alert you when he needs to go to the bathroom (some people &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/teaching-dog-ask-go-out?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;put a string of bells on the doorknob&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to tell you when he just wants to have fun, which can happen indoors or out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now your dog can ask directly do go out. If he wants to play, you can play with him, or if he wants to go out, well, you need to take him out. You taught him not to bark, you taught him that playing was ok inside, but you want to respect his telling you he needs to go out. Take him on a leash and let him go to the bathroom. If you don't want him to associate going to the bathroom with a walk as well, bring him inside right after, and go for your walk when it's more convenient to you. If he trusts you to take him out for a walk, he probably won't ask you unnecessarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This looks like a start of rainy season to me and this possibility might come again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, like people, need to go rain or shine. Regarding the rain: he's a &lt;em&gt;retriever&lt;/em&gt;. He doesn't mind getting soaking wet, shaking himself off, and doing it all over again. As far as you enjoying going out in the rain, I'll defer to @ndrewbuilder here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no set schedule (I work days, nights, or middle shift, or not at all), so my dogs need to be very flexible, and they are. But they also need to trust me that I will do what they want and need sometime or another, so we get along really well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T07:01:45.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8153" CreationDate="2015-04-16T07:38:01.880" Score="4" ViewCount="13786" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted an &quot;8-year-old&quot; dog and when we took him to our vet, he said the dog is probably closer to 10 years old and is most likely a border collie/retriever/lab mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were aware of several tumors on the dog's abdomen but the vet also found one on one of the hind legs, as well as arthritis in both front legs. He prescribed some OTC and prescription medications for the arthritis. Interestingly, he also suggested that more activity would keep the dog's joints lubricated and would help with his arthritis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been walking the dog maybe half a mile to one mile a day most weekdays and maybe up to a mile or two on Sundays (a few times around the block throughout the day). Other than that, he just sits around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never personally had a dog before, and a few articles I read mentioned some generic activity levels in terms of minutes, but not distance. Other articles that I read a while back recommended less activity for older dogs with arthritis, but on the other hand the vet suggested trying to raise is activity level to help his joints and to help him shed a little weight. Sometimes he walks fast and other times he walks really slow, so I don't think it makes sense to measure his exercise in minutes. How far should I try to walk my new friend each day, and is there a good way to tell if I'm walking him too much or not enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: sadly he suddenly started limping a couple weeks ago and now tries not to use his left front leg at all. The vet said our dog already had severe arthritis and allowing him to go for the long walks that he so enjoys probably aggravated his condition. The vet recommended cutting back his diet to help him lose weight, and cutting back his activity and putting him on anti-pain and anti-inflammatory medications, as well as glucosamine chondroitin for his joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the vet also said the glucosamine chondroitin in any &quot;joint health&quot; treats and food starts to oxidize as soon as you open the package, and there probably isn't enough of the additive to make a difference in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update 2: more sad news. We asked our vet about water therapy shortly after the last update and he said it couldn't hurt. We took him to a different vet who does aquatherapy with an underwater treadmill, but upon closer examination that vet said he isn't able to use his front left leg because of a neurological condition. She said one of his many tumors is almost certainly pinching off the nerve for that leg. Shortly afterward, we noticed that leg and paw looked really big compared to his other front leg. We took him to our normal vet again and he said the tumor was now pinching the blood vessels to that leg, so it's getting bloodflow in but has inadequate bloodflow out therough the veins, causing the bulging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hearbreaking to think that we have such a wonderful dog but there's no amount of exercise that will heal the poor guy. He's able to get around on his 2-1/2 good legs but he tires quickly so now we push him around in a cart when we go for walks. The vet said at this point, all we can do is try to keep him comfortable and happy, and let him eat whatever he wants for the short time that we will have him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="605" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T21:35:03.847" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T21:35:03.847" Title="How much activity is too much for my older dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-16T08:23:32.933" Score="3" ViewCount="1981" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a 5 gallon fish tank.  I have two guppies and my tank is well fitted with an air filter and heater to control temperature.  I use only gravel for decorating my tank.  Is it good or do I need to change my tank size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for suggestions the type of food I give them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other suggestion for my tank setup will be appreciated.  I am a novice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3932" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T14:27:04.447" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T14:59:47.650" Title="Aquarium size and startup recommendations for two guppies" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8144" CreationDate="2015-04-16T14:27:44.317" Score="3" ViewCount="16010" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small female Dachshund dog. She was born March 31, 2014. How can I tell when she is done with bone growth, as compared to fatty growth from eating everything she can put her teeth to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T15:34:56.937" Title="How can I tell my puppy is done growing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8052" CreationDate="2015-04-16T21:05:31.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Border Collies do well with a lot more exercise than the average dog, and more than the average human wants to do. The idea of &quot;walking&quot; a Border Collie always makes me smile. (I used to raise BCs.) Of course, some of this depends on his temperament and his previous level of activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Border Collies are a working breed, and often run &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; miles/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog likes to chase a tennis ball, an easy solution is to buy a new &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/8801/Chuckit-Tennis-Ball-Launcher.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chuck-it&lt;/a&gt;, and a box of used tennis balls (don't bother with the chuck-it balls) off of eBay or a similar site. Take him to a park that is empty, stand in the middle, and chuck balls to all the extremes of the park. Go easier at first, and always keep a bottle of water and a small bowl he can drink from nearby. As he picks up energy, you can do this until he starts getting tired - he'll lay down between balls and pant. Then make a loop to pick up all the balls (I use a 3 gallon bucket). Always mold exercise depending on temperature and surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my dogs were younger, we did this twice a day every day, and the vet was very happy with the shape my dogs were in. My dogs are older now and we're down to three or four times a week. My 10 year old has mild arthritis, but she would do this three times a day if she could. I also walk then several times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and border collies are happy with other jobs as well. Teaching them tricks is as interesting as exercise to them (good to know on a rainy day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-04-16T21:05:31.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8053" CreationDate="2015-04-17T11:16:20.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to tank size, and water parameters, a larger tank has more buffer towards any and all changes, due to the larger capacity. It will take that much longer for the pH, or temperature, or any other parameter to change dramatically. A tank size of 20+ gallons is ideal. You can stock upwards of 20 guppies in it, if you have a good quality filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that you wish to keep only guppies, proper maintenance such as cleaning, and partial water changes of about 20-30% (never a complete water change), will ensure that the water quality remains good. Please do read up on the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium, to know the importance of the above sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Procure a combination of different foods, such as Hikari Fancy Guppy, Sera Guppy Bits, Hikari Tropical Micro Flakes, Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets, etc.&#xA;Hikari and Sera are good brands. I suggested micro pellets because guppies cannot eat the other medium to large size pellet food on account of their teeny tiny mouths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T11:16:20.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6943" CreationDate="2015-04-17T11:27:17.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my two bits of info:&#xA;Dogs are territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up to a certain age, (about 8-12 months in my experience), the dogs are young, and do not develop territorial and possessive behavior. After this age, its their biological and psychological need to establish their territory. Male dogs will start establishing this rule within their brood by being aggressive in what they claim to be their territory, they also begin marking their territory (if you know what I mean). Female dogs take a little while longer for developing this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, fact of the matter is, whatever be the other dog's relation with your dog, brother, sister, mother or father, the dog WILL be territorial after a certain age, to all of them. No exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T11:27:17.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6570" CreationDate="2015-04-17T11:37:38.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Serpae tetras tend to be less aggressive if kept in a larger group, like more than 6-8. This does not ensure the occasional nip at a peaceful cory.&#xA;Kindly do a bit of research before grouping together fish in a community tank. There are a number of online resources to find out compatibility between different fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A community aquarium needs fish which can tolerate a similar range of water temperature, pH, and gH/kH. Once this particular need is matched, you need to know about aggressive fish species. Corydora catfish need non aggressive tank-mates, and they MUST be kept in groups of 6 or more. Cory cats get very very stressed if kept in a lower number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T11:37:38.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6570" CreationDate="2015-04-17T11:57:14.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add 6 more tetras. This will increase your tank's population and thus reduce the new fish you can add, but unless tetras are in groups of at least dozens this will happen. Additionally try to increase frequency of water changes and when adding new water try to have it one degree colder than your tank water. Tetras are the type of fish that love rain and feel more calm after a rain. As a matter of fact tetras in the wild spawn only after good rain. Your tank is already planted, so you are covered there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T11:57:14.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6372" CreationDate="2015-04-17T12:37:28.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been several months since I noticed this behavior and posted the question.  The following are my observations and assumptions based on those observations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 5 or 10 minute before the alarm behavior continued fairly dependably until there was change in people living next door, there was an earlier riser there who is now gone.  I believe my rabbit (Ruby) was picking up sound cues from the neighbors.  Both houses are 1950's single family, detached with brick exterior, separated by 15+ feet (so if this is the case rabbits can hear very well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been a few months since the earlier riser moved from next door.  Ruby still usually gets up in the morning and on the bed before the alarm goes off, but I have noticed she always eats hay before coming for her snuggles, so I suspect that without outside queues it is hunger that wakes her up in the morning. Times can vary widely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This Tuesday morning, she came for her snuggles about 1 minute before the alarm went off, she seemed rather upset by this.  The next morning she was up on the bed a full hour earlier. On most days she gets up on the bed about 10 - 20 minutes before the alarm.  Sometimes I wake up while she is still eating her morning hay, when she has had her fill, she comes up on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In summary,&lt;/strong&gt; exact time keeping is probably related to outside sounds or events beyond our ability to perceive. Approximate time keeping in rabbits is similar to ours, regular intervals of hunger, bathroom calls, and having slept x number of hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-04-17T12:37:28.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8066" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-18T04:39:17.903" Score="1" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few hours ago Diamond, my pet parrot (Bronze Winged Pionus, nearly 2 years old) bolted out the front door.  I say &quot;ran away&quot; because he wasn't lost or spooked, but appears to have deliberately &lt;em&gt;left&lt;/em&gt; in a very uncharacteristic action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know intelligent pets, of any species, can do that. Cats are nomadic by nature and it's no mystery that one might just feel like moving on. Dogs are territorial and strongly attached to the home and the family. When I was a child my dog sometimes got loose but it's more like she just wanted to stay out or run around more than I did, not ever going &lt;em&gt;away&lt;/em&gt;.  My sister had one dog that would get loose at any opportunity but was interested in roaming the neighborhood and was once caught (by the pound dog catcher) next door.  Hey, the fact that a job called &quot;dog catcher&quot; even exists is suggestive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diamond, a parrot, lives in the house and never goes outside. He tends to keep to a few comfortable areas and doesn't just hang out or explore just anywhere: his habitat in the kitchen, the back of one couch, and a laundry drying rack (also in the kitchen). He'll sit on my shoulder, but doesn't like to join me upstairs in my home office.  He never mooches or grabs food from somewhere even if plainly visible.  But, flying a lap around the connected rooms downstairs is how he indicates that he wants food (or something different from what's already in his dish). I thought maybe it's instinctive in meaning that flying away from a food-depleted area to some fresh ground is a natural meaning to coordinate the flock.  But, he only does that in front of me (or my wife), not whe I'm upstairs. He is getting attention by buzzing us, not getting the urge to go somewhere.  (When we're not downstairs he will &lt;em&gt;call&lt;/em&gt; for attention).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what would posess him to just fly out the door? That is so not like him!  My wife was coming upmthe walk with groceries and I opened it just as she got on the porch. Diamond was in his &quot;castle&quot;, his primary safe place, and he just up and &lt;em&gt;whoosh&lt;/em&gt;.  I thought he must be coming to one of us, but he flew over and past her, not targeting her.  Then I thought he must be &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; outside, scared of a strange situation: but he was nowhere to be found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would a in-house pet just up and leave, against everything in his usual behavioral patterns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-20T13:13:31.043" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T22:40:25.667" Title="Why would a pet run away?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-18T13:27:23.370" Score="7" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 dogs at home: a small 35 lb 6 year-old female hound mix and a 75 lb 4 year-old female pit bull mix. The pit will lash out at the hound so violently that she will force the hound to gasp for air, yelp in pain and often rips away parts of the hound's skin around the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pit was never mistreated as we got her from a loving home when she was about 6 months old. The hound was a shelter rescue, but has always been very friendly and highly social.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;QUESTION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should my wife and I respond to this? I used to just let it go, but there was frequently blood drawn and I began to fear for the safety of the hound. It's gotten to the point where it is obvious that the pit means to inflict damage to the hound and I have to physically separate them. It usually takes putting the pit in a chokehold, wrapping my legs around her body and putting enough of my body weight on top of her to force her flat and prevent her from being able to rip away the hound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she's not being aggressive, she's very playful and sweet. I have noticed that she responds negatively towards the hound upon waking the pit up, the pit being accidentally injured at play - stepping on a foot or tail, if they happen to cross paths near the garbage can, if we pet the pit while she's eating and after she gets verbally scolded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are planning on having children soon and are worried about how the pit will respond to a baby. We don't want to give the pit away, but maybe she needs a different environment to thrive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the wall of text, but thanks for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3944" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T20:41:30.923" Title="How to react to dog on dog violence?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8073" CreationDate="2015-04-18T16:02:37.197" Score="2" ViewCount="2064" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently adopted a little kitten, about 8 weeks old now. She was from a stray litter and abandoned so I received her quite young (± 4 weeks old). While she is healthy and active in every other regard, she has been suffering with Coccidiosis for the last month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 4 days after I got her, I took her to my local vet who diagnosed her after a faecal smear. He gave her a dose of Baycox as well as some other suspension and I received a tube of Pro-Kolin probiotic and Hill's Prescription i/d wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two weeks or so later, I noticed her stool was still runny every 3 days or so (when the Coccidia emits its egg casings) and so took her back to the vet. He gave her another dose of Baycox and I received more probiotic and i/d food, and she had her first shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has since been another two weeks and she is still very gassy (and it is very powerful!) and having the occasional off-colour, runny stool. I've gotten more probiotic and i/d food (both wet and dry to attempt to get her on a mixed diet) but I'm still worried. My vet said it usually clears in around 3 weeks but it's been much longer now. Should I be worried or is this natural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T09:54:23.053" Title="How long should Coccidia be present after treatment?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-18T22:39:21.210" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own two small dogs. One is a pug, female, 3 years old. The other is a pomeranian, male, 6 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I put a shirt, or take a shirt off(and this includes harnesses) on the pug while the pom is around, she becomes agitated and starts to growl. Occasionally, maybe three out of the five times she is dressed, she will lunge at him and violently attack biting at his face. We've learned just not to dress/undress her around him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious to know why this is happening? She tends to be a little shy around other animals, but she is always fine with my pom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3951" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-19T05:20:43.503" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T05:38:41.197" Title="Dressing my dog causes her to attack my other dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8068" CreationDate="2015-04-19T09:54:23.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;around 3 weeks&quot; is a general statement, it will have some variance, but on average 2-3 weeks seems to be normal for adult cats, kittens may require more treatment and time. As an aside, felines often clear the condition without need for medication, but medication can speed it up. In terms of concern, dehydration is a big consideration if it's not clearing up. Cats are not big drinkers and so water loss without replenishing is something to keep an eye on and ensure that she's drinking enough (check that her skin elasticity is good and that she's not lethargic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I would give a bit more time. Stress is a real factor and she was abandoned, then taken in, poked, prodded, etc. That's a lot for anyone to take, much less a very young kitten that was likely weaned early and not correctly, extremely stressful for her. However, it sounds, based on your description, that the symptoms are reducing and that's a good sign. Keep in touch with your vet though and let them know what you're seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T09:54:23.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8075" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-19T13:43:36.937" Score="9" ViewCount="1868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had two indoor cats for years and a few months ago I adopted a Holland lop rabbit. The transition for the cats has been fairly easy because we kept the bunny penned up unless we were around to keep an eye on things. About a week ago, the cats started to misbehave, and I realized that all of the events have been happening around the bunny's pen. They've started peeing in things around the bunny's cage (like their cat bed, my schoolbag, any shoes we keep lying around), and last night when we opened up the bunny's pen I caught one of them trying to use the bunny's litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that change is difficult for cats, but we didn't have any problems until about a week ago. The cats haven't acted aggressive towards the rabbit at all (in fact, one of the cats runs away from the bunny), but I think they feel like the bunny is invading their territory which is why they think they need to mark the house around the bunny cage. How can I get them to stop?? I can't keep the rabbit penned up all day, but I don't want the cats to feel like I'm replacing them. Any advice would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-19T21:53:36.607" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:00:26.980" Title="How do I get my cats to stop being territorial towards my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-19T14:11:51.453" Score="3" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 19-year-old cat Zoë sometimes wails quite loudly; it sounds just as if she were being tortured but there is no indication of any distress -- she might be walking across the room and give a wail as if she were just saying &quot;hullo&quot;. Up to now we have just ignored it, but she has now relocated to my daughter who lives in a town apartment and when Zoë wails at night it wakes everybody (when she lived in our house she was on another floor and behind two doors, so it didn't bother us). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zoë is stone-deaf and suffers from hyperthyroidism (for about two years now; we feed her Hills Y/D and that seems to keep her healthy enough). The wailing dates from before both her deafness and hyperthyroidism but seems to be getting worse. Every indication is that she is content in the apartment, she seldom went outside even when she could. She sleeps a lot (unsurprising given her age) but she is social and affectionate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: My (sleep-deprived ;-) daughter wonders if Zoë could be dementing. Also whether some sort of tranquilizing/calming product would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3953" LastEditorUserId="3953" LastEditDate="2015-04-19T17:19:00.307" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T17:16:09.890" Title="19-year-old cat wails quite loudly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-19T15:01:09.037" Score="4" ViewCount="1263" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have adopted 1 stray  cat that fights with another stray cat. I would like to adopt the other stray cat, would that be possible? the cats are both toms and have not been neutered. Is there any chance of them stopping fighting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3954" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-22T12:40:34.827" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T15:04:34.407" Title="How do I stop 2 stray cats that fight" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8067" CreationDate="2015-04-19T15:51:14.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are correct to be concerned, even more so with the prospect of having children around this dog (my in-laws had a small dog that they had to have euthanized years ago, when my infant daughter crawled across the floor and the dog bit her on the face. I am very grateful it was only a small dog, and only did a relatively small amount of damage...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would seek more information, and be very inclined to place the dog into an environment that would be safer for everyone. Don't just let it go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though this site is primarily for German Shepherds, it may help you find some answers: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;German Shepherds.com forum&quot;&gt;German Shepherd Dog Forum, with great general information and many knowledgeable owners of various breeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck to you.&#xA;Bruce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3955" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T15:51:14.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8076" CreationDate="2015-04-19T16:13:11.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loud meowing is very common in deaf cats. If she seems content, I assume the wailing is caused by her deafness. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any way to stop this behaviour, since the cat is probably unaware of it. Adding a bit of soundproofing to the room she sleeps in may be the only option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T16:13:11.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8077" CreationDate="2015-04-19T16:34:06.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it will probably work out fine. Once they are both neutered, it will be much easier to get them to stop fighting. I recommend you get them neutered at the same time, and as soon as possible. When you are not around to supervise them, keep them separated until you are sure they are getting along. There may be a bit of yowling and posturing at first, but things should settle down quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the fighting will persist, but if it lasts longer than you expect, ask for help again. These problems can usually be sorted without much difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-04-19T16:34:06.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1212" CreationDate="2015-04-20T04:24:43.930" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three ferrets, all of which I would call highly inquisitive animals. They all subscribe to the following practice: Wake up, poop, eat, drink, Walk the Perimeter. Literally every time! And if they find one thing out of place or smelling differently, they will inspect it from every angle until satisfied. So to that I say they have an amazing memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three are very good at tricks; mastering 'roll over', 'play dead', 'beg' 'kiss' (touching their nose on mine) and just tuning around in circles. All in a matter of 2-3 5 minute training sessions. They know what to do to get a treat, and will even start doing tricks without instruction to try and get a treat too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, one ferret of mine (the youngest and most energetic) is incredibly energetic. Despite her small size (half that of the other two) she can get into all sorts of tall places that they cant. She will climb one object on the other side of the room that is easy, see something interesting from that vantage point and then determine a way to the interesting thing. She will often go back to the vantage point if she gets stumped to try and figure out another way! She always gets there in the end!&#xA;I think that's why the job of ferret-proofing a home is never done...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3957" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T04:24:43.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-20T17:13:46.790" Score="4" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has seen the neighbor's dog through the window and started screaming, very nervous and scared. Had already happened other times, and I usually close the shutter interrupting the visual contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But today suddenly she has started screaming VERY loudly, and when I went to close the blinds she started to attack me, snorting and squealing, very angry. Quietly, and drawing that she was following me to keep attacking, I have managed to lock her in the bathroom, but she was scratching the door unabated and still screaming, as if she was suffering a lot of pain. After it had been quiet a bit, I went to look, but when she saw me she started screaming again, and I realized that she was releasing urine, I guess because of fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never acted this way. She is an eight years old spayed female, and never in her life has been aggressive and screaming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best option to deal with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3960" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:35:39.607" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:35:39.607" Title="My cat has seen a dog and started to attack me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7137" CreationDate="2015-04-20T21:53:32.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brussel Sprouts contain high levels of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goitrogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goitrogens&lt;/a&gt;, a chemical substance which interferes with iodine intake and can lead to hyperthyroidism. These are safe for a beardie to consume in moderation - collard greens and turnip greens &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blackninjakitty.com/herps/care/troystuttlegreeniglist.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;among others&lt;/a&gt; contain high goitrogen levels too, and yet these are the staples of a beardie's diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is moderation -  Brussels are full of vitamins but are not suitable as a long-term regular food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.moonvalleyreptiles.com/uromastyx/uromastyx-diet/oxalates-goitrogens-toxins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More info on goitrogens&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-04-20T21:53:32.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7873" CreationDate="2015-04-21T02:11:40.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am seeing the same thing with my dog.  It started this evening when she wanted to go out in a severe rainstorm and she began eating large quantities of grass. She threw up once-grass and undigested dinner- and continued to eat grass.  My hunch is that she found some cat poop in the yard this morning- neighbors feed some wild cats - and it made her sick 12 hours later. But the fear of the water dish is new.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the past I have had to place her dish on a nonskid silicone potholder because the scraping noise is too unpleasant to her.  Now I feel I am encouraging my rescue dog to develop OCD. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3963" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T02:11:40.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8072" CreationDate="2015-04-21T05:38:41.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a bit of a guess, but I think your pug doesn't like the harness and clothes - as you say, she still growls when getting the harness or clothes when the Pomeranian isn't around.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She doesn't want or dare to go against her masters, so she takes it out on the Pomeranian instead.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since she's doing this when dressed and when undressed, it seems to be the event of being clothed/unclothed that she dislikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2015-04-21T05:38:41.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8087" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-21T05:42:24.267" Score="3" ViewCount="1524" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 9 yrs old, and over the past year she has started losing hair around her back legs and tail. Initially, I thought it may have been due to fleas, so I got her on a once a month flea tablet that works very well. However, her hair still hasn't been coming back and now she will not use any of the litter boxes. We have not changed the type of litter we use or any of her food, so I am at a loss. We have other cats and dogs and none of them show any signs of illness or behaviors like she has. Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3964" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-04-21T06:33:17.220" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:26:12.350" Title="Why is my cat losing her hair and not wanting to use the litter boxes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2015-04-21T11:53:03.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not being able to swim properly points towards swim bladder disorder. The ammonia and nitrites are consumed by the bacteria in your filter, which convert it into nitrates. A large partial water change (PWC) is what you need to remove nitrates. Never, NEVER, buy chemicals to remove something, which can be fixed by a PWC. Also, never add chemicals (i.e. medicine, chlorine remover, ammonia remover, etc. more info in P.S.) directly to the tank. Always dissolve them in a tumbler full of tank water (not fresh tap water, but water which has been in the tank for a significant time), and then add this solution slowly to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish is still swimming weirdly, perform a large PWC, of about 60-70%, and add fresh water not treated with any chemicals, i.e. no chemicals added by YOU. Chlorine remover is ok, if it is added to the bucket, a couple of hours before the water goes into the tank. You can do without the chlorine remover, by filling water in a bucket(s) and letting it stand uncovered for the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple lines to keep fish happy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always acclimatize them by changing their environment and their&#xA;surroundings slowly. Thus even PWCs have to be slow enough. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No chemicals to be added to the tank, except when medicating them.&#xA;Chemicals should be added outside, to aged tank water only. Never&#xA;use chemicals to jump start your aquarium. Some beneficial bacteria&#xA;are good, but naturally establishing bacteria in your filter is&#xA;better. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do unto your pets, only what your would do to yourself.&#xA;Meaning, you wouldn't use some chemical to clean your dog's messy&#xA;kennel, or your kid's messy rooms, would you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My points are only to guide you out of this situation, and I really really hope that your fish survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: editing to explain what chemicals mean. Chemicals basically mean any compound or mixture of compounds which you add to the tank water, but which normally do not occur in the tank water. This includes medicines, rock salt, algae removing agents, beneficial bacteria mixture, etc. If any such chemical needs to be added for whatever reason, you should first mix it properly in a container (tumbler, bucket or bowl) of aged tank water, and then, this can be slowly added to the tank water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastEditorUserId="3527" LastEditDate="2015-04-23T08:53:07.950" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T08:53:07.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-21T18:19:32.303" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to walk with my family and dog in the evening around my neighborhood. Unfortunately, I'm surrounded by neighborhood dogs that have not been trained not to bark unnecessarily. It makes what should be a pleasant evening stroll a tedious endeavor to move quickly from the dog's line of sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs are often about 10 to 30 yards away, but they are sometimes even farther. The times I am closer to their fence, I understand why they bark, so I only blame myself those times. It doesn't seem to matter if its just me walking by or the whole entourage; they bark the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also am fortunate enough to take my dog to work everyday out in the country. There is a neighbor who lives about 1/6 to 1/4 mile away. His dogs will bark at us if they can see my dog and apparently never tire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really like to find an effective way to silence the dogs so I can enjoy what should be a peaceful time. I've seen a kind of electronic dog whistle on TV that claims to make dogs go away if they come at you threateningly. Does that kind of thing even work? I've tried standard silence commands, but if they do work it is only for about 10 seconds, and avoiding the other dogs simply isn't feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3799" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-21T18:44:46.793" LastActivityDate="2016-10-28T17:56:00.513" Title="How can I keep neighborhood dogs from barking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-22T02:29:41.030" Score="3" ViewCount="813" Body="&lt;p&gt;We accidentally ran into our cat backing out of our driveway. We took him to the vet and they said he broke many parts of his tail so it will have to be amputated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also said if he didn't go to the bathroom soon, he would have to be put to sleep. When we brought him home though and he tried to go to the bathroom, he couldn't because he can't lift his tail which is paralyzed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't know how he's going to go to the bathroom. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3970" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T19:20:54.557" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T19:20:54.557" Title="How can a cat go to the bathroom if he can't lift his tail?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8094" CreationDate="2015-04-22T04:46:31.613" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you've misunderstood the situation slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's tail is an extension of its spinal column, and the base of the spinal cord runs into it. Some of the nerves run back from the tail into the cat's hindquarters, including (if i'm remembering correctly) to the colon and anus. A tail injury,  like any other spinal injury, risks damaging the central nervous system and causing loss of sensation or loss of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the issue isn't one of whether the cat can lift its tail. It's whether the damage has affected the cat's ability to control some fairly essential muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good point here is that you should have an answer relatively quickly, either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about the cat's comfort and quality of life, and work with your vet to determine the best course of action. A possibly useful question to ask: &quot;If this was your cat, what would you do?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T04:46:31.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6364" CreationDate="2015-04-22T04:58:01.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she isn't enjoying life, and isn't curable, letting her go is the kindest thing you can do for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask the vets what decision they'd make for their own pet and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T04:58:01.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-22T21:33:10.173" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 year old cat has trouble walking sometimes, and she is going blind. Her eyes are always watering, and she's not running around or anything because of her age. She just started to sit and doze off in the litter even if she's not going to the bathroom. Is she going to be ok or should I take her to the vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3974" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:21:23.183" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:21:23.183" Title="My cat is 13 years old and likes to sit and doze off sitting in the litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;sight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8097" CreationDate="2015-04-22T21:42:56.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always take your cat to the vet whenever there is a significant behavior change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We cannot diagnose your cat's health problem over the internet, only a veterinarian can do that with a physical exam. She may be okay, or she may have a significant health problem. Your vet should be able to determine the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-04-22T21:42:56.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7137" CreationDate="2015-04-23T13:21:57.637" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I have seen in my research, it seems like a lot of it has been if you want to feed a Bearded dragon Brussels, you would do it rarely. In addition to feeding a Bearded dragon Brussels rarely, here's a list on what you would rarely feed a Bearded dragon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rarely&#xA;  Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Carrots, Cauliflower, Green peas raw, Rutabaga raw, Tomatoes, Pomegranate, Star fruit, Bananas, Rice brown long grain, Soybeans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lovebeardies.com/information/bearded_dragon_food_and_nutrition.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lovebeardies.com/information/bearded_dragon_food_and_nutrition.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information click the link above for more foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On more research, like stated above Brussels do have high ammounts of goitrogen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can Bearded Dragons eat Brussel Sprouts?&#xA;  Yes, rarely, high in vitamins but also has goitrogen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Goitrogens – Inhibits intake of Iodine that then causes problems with the Thyroid Gland such as swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&amp;amp;t=200150&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&amp;amp;t=200150&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T13:21:57.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8053" CreationDate="2015-04-23T14:59:47.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can keep several guppies in a 5gal. I used to keep guppies extensively. I'm in a situation where I can't have a tank now. I've had large tanks in the past, but in college, I set up 5gal hex tank with a filter/light built into the hood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do regular maintenance, (ie: change 25% of the water once a week, clean the gravel once a month, change the filter at the time designated on the instructions, and condition tap water if that's what you're using) then you'll be just fine. I wouldn't put more than 4-6 guppies in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as food, I always feed a tropical fish flake to enhance color. They can nibble off bits of larger flakes and if you have babies, a distinct possibility with guppies, you can take an old, empty container ( I used an empty beta food container) and crush the flakes to a fine powder with your fingers. It makes a good baby food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cool thing about guppies is that they breed easily. If you get into them, you can get a bigger tank and use the 5gal as a baby tank. I used to pick colors and fin styles I liked and then when they'd breed, I'd keep the babies I liked and give the others back to the pet store. If you keep that up and introduce new blood occasionally, you can design your own guppy. I ended up with USC Gamecocks guppies before I got done with it. They had black bodies and burgundy tails. :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T14:59:47.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7682" CreationDate="2015-04-23T15:52:58.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an Ocelot gecko before who didnt eat dusted crickets. Only way I solved this problem was to go to petsmart and buy some live crickets and some food and vitamins for them and feed it to my lizard (his name was &quot;Allie&quot;). It worked and had no issues then. Lizards tend to be very picky with food and that could lead them to starving themselves and trust me my little brother had a little who was so picky it died. Very sad. Anyway try to see the Exotic vets to. They might be able to give you better info. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T15:52:58.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8097" CreationDate="2015-04-23T17:16:32.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can live much longer than 13, so I wouldn't put any particular behavior on the idea that she is old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, take your cat to the vet. Strange behavior is a pets way of letting you know something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat exhibited similar litter box sleeping, it turned out she had a UTI. A little medicine and she was back in bed and out of the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3977" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T17:16:32.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8087" CreationDate="2015-04-23T17:21:50.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who has similar issues with my own cat, this kind of behavior around the litter box always ends with the same results... my cat has a UTI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is acting strange she is trying to tell you something, &quot;Take me to the vet!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hairless hindquarters in my experience is usually allergy related, not necessarily like a rash, but an internal allergic reaction that usually requires regular treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But only your vet can tell you for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3977" LastActivityDate="2015-04-23T17:21:50.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-24T14:37:54.007" Score="2" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3.5 year old ishigame (Japanese pond turtle). He's always very expressive so it's easy to tell how he feels. He's also always extremely friendly towards me. Tonight I heard a strange squeak sound come from his tank and when I checked on him he looked frightened. Then he slowly opened his mouth and looked a bit angry. He was breathing a bit hard. I thought something had spooked him. He then went into his water dish and occasionally opened his mouth as if he needed to throw up. After a while he settled down and now he's fine. &#xA;He had no other symptoms and he's never been sick. Does anyone have any idea what that was about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3983" LastActivityDate="2015-04-24T14:37:54.007" Title="My ishigame looked like he was about to vomit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9298" CreationDate="2015-04-24T15:17:15.163" Score="4" ViewCount="1400" Body="&lt;p&gt;For travel my cat will be confined to a crate for up to 30 hours. I will be able to give him attention, food, and water throughout but likely not able to take him out. How should I handle his digestive/urinary needs? Do I include litter in the crate (though then he is surrounded by it)? Can he hold it that long? Include &quot;potty pads&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3984" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-04-24T15:37:00.413" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T16:01:06.443" Title="How to handle a cat's &quot;bathroom&quot; needs when confined to a travel crate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8187" CreationDate="2015-04-24T18:52:40.157" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunter was recently diagnosed with restrictive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/heart-disease-cardiomyopathy-in-cats/61&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cardiomyopathy&lt;/a&gt; (a heart condition that led to fluid accumulating in his heart and lungs). Part of the treatment/management of his condition includes switching him to a low sodium diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've decided to feed commercial wet food, but select brand/flavors that are low in sodium. Is there any problem in feeding food with low sodium to our other three cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T15:32:27.087" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T15:32:27.087" Title="Is a low sodium diet okay for healthy cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8112" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8186" CreationDate="2015-04-25T01:07:25.490" Score="7" ViewCount="16260" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunter was recently diagnosed with restrictive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/heart-disease-cardiomyopathy-in-cats/61&quot;&gt;cardiomyopathy&lt;/a&gt; (a heart condition that led to fluid accumulating in his heart and lungs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were instructed to monitor his condition by measuring his breathing rate regularly. To do this, we should count the number of breaths (an inhalation and exhalation) that he takes in a minute. We were instructed to do this when he is relaxed or asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's relaxed he's usually purring. Does purring affect his breathing rate? Should we only measure his breathing rate when he's not purring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T15:32:36.787" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T15:32:36.787" Title="Does purring affect my cat's breathing rate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7214" CreationDate="2015-04-25T01:36:39.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most wild animals can never really be &quot;tamed&quot;, which is one reason they aren't kept as pets and one reason keeping them often requires a special license showing that you have the necessary training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that even animals which have become used to living with people can take a long time to decide a particular person is trustworthy. I've known cats who started out feral and learned to live with people but only on their own terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know enough about fennecs to give you any specific advice. I'd suggest contacting a zoo, unless you can find someone who had worked with them successfully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best I can suggest is lots of patience, lots of time (potentially years) and even then the best you can hope for may be tolerance. I wish I had more encouraging advice, but I don't. If this was easy, we'd see more pet foxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T19:32:58.267" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T19:32:58.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8118" CreationDate="2015-04-25T19:00:47.270" Score="4" ViewCount="601" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I give my dog a chewy bone treat he always protects it and acts like I am going to take it off him. He runs off and chews it alone in private. If I go near him he hypes up and darts off with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like strange behaviour because I've never took it from him before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any insight on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3989" LastEditorUserId="3989" LastEditDate="2015-04-26T14:52:46.220" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T08:11:56.570" Title="Why is my dog very protective with his treats?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-26T00:56:05.860" Score="6" ViewCount="2019" Body="&lt;p&gt;I inadvertently left my  cat home for 4 days without food and water.  She seems okay, but should I take her to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3992" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-26T14:40:18.740" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T14:40:18.740" Title="I inadvertently left my cat home with out food and water for 4 days. Is she hurt? She seems fine" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8114" CreationDate="2015-04-26T06:34:35.683" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Protect his treat with his life&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is probably a bit exaggerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just &quot;just in case he'll take it!&quot; behavior. This might also originate from you taking something else or it could be really just inherent behavior. There's nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what you can try is really trivial and simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get your dog in a place where it has a hard time escaping with the bone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give it the bone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a moment (depends on how fast it'll finish it), take it again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look at it a bit, let your dog see it, then give it back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this over a few days and the dog should become less &quot;protective&quot;, since it will notice that you'll give it back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These steps should also work in other instances of &quot;protective behavior&quot;, e.g. the dog snarling or barking, if you try to take anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2015-04-27T08:11:56.570" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T08:11:56.570" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8117" CreationDate="2015-04-26T12:29:55.827" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you need to take her into the vet for a checkup. That's a long time without knowing the state of her nourishment and hydration. I would advise that for anybody that hasn't had proper nutrition for more than 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? The vet can check to make sure her weight loss isn't too bad and supply specialty food for weight gain if needed. They can also check her hydration level and do some subcutaneous fluids to help bring it back up. A good look-see is a a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a chance that this can happen again, I strongly recommend that you supply a ready supply of dry food and water. Most cats won't eat it all, they'll eat when hungry. This removes the risk if you keep things topped up regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-04-26T12:29:55.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-26T19:39:27.207" Score="4" ViewCount="14711" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've wanted a bunny for ages, and I'm still living at &quot;mum's house&quot; and she has very strict rules on pets. The conclusion is that if I'm to get a bunny, he/she would have to live in my room. Now, I've got all the bunny proofing covered, and I understand that it would take a lot to proof it all (carpet cover, furniture covers, cable covers, etc.) but it all comes down to this, do I have enough space in my room for a bunny to live happily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Room dimensions: about 11' x 11' (3.4 x 3.4 m), with a small double bed in it, which is approximately 6' x 4' (1.8 x 1.2 m) in size. There is also some furniture, but the wardrobe is built into the wall so that frees up a lot of room. There's a little extra room by the entrance, about 4' x 2.5' (120 x 76 cm), but that's about how much room the furniture would take up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would get a double or triple tier cage to maximize the bunny's living space as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3995" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:30:38.663" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T13:55:21.090" Title="Is a bedroom enough space for a bunny to be happy?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-26T19:59:12.997" Score="3" ViewCount="863" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old pomeranian, in a family of 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 of us will be going on vacation for roughly 12 days, and we are concerned about the pomeranian's tolerance to being alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fifth person will be staying, but he due to work he has to be outside for half the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not really keen of leaving my dog with somebody else. Unless that's really necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fifth person says he will take her out every day, at least. Is it reasonable to leave my pomeranian alone for roughly 12 hours every day for 10+ days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="329" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-28T22:43:43.063" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T01:15:33.670" Title="How can my pomeranian tolerate being alone for roughly 12 days?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8125" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-27T00:05:26.487" Score="3" ViewCount="37685" Body="&lt;p&gt;We discovered this bump behind our dog's shoulder.  It's maybe 3&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;4&amp;nbsp;mm (&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&amp;nbsp;inch) or so.  It feels more hard than squishy.  It doesn't seem to be an infection and it doesn't bother the dog when we touch it.  I'm wondering if anyone has a clue what it might be and whether it's something we should worry about or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0pQbW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bump behind dog&amp;#39;s shoulder&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3996" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T21:15:31.557" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T21:15:31.557" Title="Any Idea What This Bump Is?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8129" CreationDate="2015-04-27T02:25:45.490" Score="10" ViewCount="94467" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past week I have noticed an owl hunting in our neighborhood at night. I have seen the owl in some of the trees in our yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen the owl well enough to determine what kind it is, but it looked large while flying and it makes the classic who-whoo-who-whoo sounds when sitting in our trees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have to worry about it hunting my small, 3.6&amp;nbsp;kg (around 8&amp;nbsp;lbs) pomeranian/chihuahua when I let her out at night? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what can I do to deter the owl from coming in our yard and do I need to go out with my dog to protect her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3492" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:34:45.973" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:38:48.543" Title="Will owls attack small dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2015-04-27T06:34:23.167" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In theory yes, in reality no&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Owls can, and have, in very rare cases attacked dogs. Few verified reports of this exist. In those cases, it has been the largest owls such as great horned owls attacking extremely small dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protection Options&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality you don't really need to do anything. The odds of an owl attack are extremely small. In all likelihood the owl you've seen isn't large enough to be a threat to your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to though, you can put up something like &quot;Nite-Guard&quot; or another strobe type deterrent. These produce small flashes of light when triggered by aerial movement. In reality this is probably overkill.  If you are truly concerned then going outside with your dog in the evening is probably the safest and easiest course of action. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3998" LastActivityDate="2015-04-27T06:34:23.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2015-04-27T15:48:44.190" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes birds of prey can be a risk to small pets (&lt;em&gt;and children!&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we have our rabbits out in the yard we are always outside with them.  As &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRQDfMxq8Rg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video shows&lt;/a&gt; even a terrier on a leash surrounded by people is at some risk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other images of dogs and cats being attacked by birds of prey can be found on the internet.  From these images it seems that animals in the 7 pound (3kg) range are at risk from birds of prey.  How big does a pet need to be, in order to be relatively safe from attack by birds of prey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following images may be disturbing to some, mouse over will display them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S5ONS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Small dog being attacked by hawk&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ubOhy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Owl attacks cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The size of pet that can safely be left outside unsupervised depends on the size of predators in your area, as well the amount of protection that you have to keep predators out of your pets area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you leave your small pet outside unsupervised, you presumably have a fence to keep feral/neighborhood dogs out as well as yours in.  You need to be aware of all the predators in your area, some like racoons can climb fences and occasionally attack cats and even dogs (rarely). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some flying birds of prey like Eagles can carry off animals up to half of their body weight.  Some source recommend that pets under 15 pounds (7kg) never be left outside unsupervised.  I did not find good references for birds of prey eating dogs, I did find reliable references of them catching and eating foxes, it is not difficult to image that dogs would also be at risk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Eagles have been known to take prey up to 4 times their own weight.  While they are unable to fly away with prey this size, the will kill and eat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO Pets under 15 pounds (7kg) should never be left out alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Raccoons-rampaging-Olympia-1212402.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Raccoons rampaging Olympia&quot;. seattlepi.com. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. August 23, 2006.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ZQ-cfo4hDzsC&amp;amp;pg=PA52&amp;amp;dq=eagle+prey+fox&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=ZJBrVJKVK4WmgwT1jYGgDg&amp;amp;ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=eagle%20prey%20fox&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Decline and Recovery of the Island Fox: A Case Study for Population Recovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=d9goqpSUCSUC&amp;amp;pg=PT17&amp;amp;dq=eagle+carries+prey&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=M49rVJOoEcqhNrqNg8AH&amp;amp;ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=eagle%20carries%20prey&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;101 Facts about Eagles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/eagle/ExpertAnswer05.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bald Eagle Facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&amp;amp;articles_id=343&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eagle Flight and Other Myths; Eagles Don’t Eat Children or Pets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attacks_on_humans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Coyote attacks on humans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8314000/8314558.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eagles filmed hunting reindeer &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hawksaloft.org/hawks-aloft-inc-2/frequently-asked-questions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hawks Aloft, Frequently Asked Questions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-36771205&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eagle tries to carry off Australian boy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T13:12:57.170" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T13:12:57.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8122" CreationDate="2015-04-27T16:22:45.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes a rabbit can live happily in a bedroom size area. I know several devoted rabbit parents that have bunnies living in bedrooms.  If the room is carpeted they can get traction to run REALLY! fast, they will have room to jump and stretch, they will (usually) jump up on the bed. Your bedroom &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7976/&quot;&gt;bunny may even try to make your bed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jeOjc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby On the Bed&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for special reasons (&lt;em&gt;which I will discuss later in this answer&lt;/em&gt;) your bedroom bunny can have full access to the entire room all the time. A baby gate can be used to keep the bunny in the room while the bedroom door is open. Notice that this gate has opening that a bunny might squeeze through, so we used zip ties and plastic lattice to keep her from trying to squeeze through.  Also this is very tall gate, it is higher than the door handle so in this configuration it is not possible to close the bedroom door all the way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w8iQ1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Baby Gate&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to train your bunny &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5487/how-to-stop-cat-from-going-to-a-risky-area/5569#5569&quot;&gt;not to chew on furniture&lt;/a&gt; before allowing unsupervised access to the bedroom.  Notice that these pictures show a wood bedroom set without chew marks and Ruby has full unsupervised access to the room 24/7. You will want to block off access to anything your rabbit can get under that you can't reach under, this may include some or all of the space under the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case the dresser had an opening at the bottom that Ruby could get under. We pulled out the bottom drawer, cut some cardboard and stapled it on from the inside.  This does not damage the exterior of the dresser and it has been effective (no picture currently of this solution).  Also note that in the first under the bed picture we placed a thin (1/4 inch) sheet of paneling down between the bed support and the box springs.  Some rabbits will burrow up into box springs, others won't.  Ruby did not before we did this, but we added it while building the box. The box under the bed is so she can not get directly in the center of under the bed. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407&quot;&gt;Ruby suddenly got very sick&lt;/a&gt; and she hid under the bed. Getting her out was problematic so we added this box as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5466&quot;&gt;she began to recover&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZIC1r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Under Bed 1&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JVb6C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Under Bed 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320&quot;&gt;Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time?&lt;/a&gt; has many points that transfer to this question so I won't go over them in detail but a safe place for the bunny to rest is important.  Some place that is their own and can be closed as needed. We use a common habitat available at most pet stores, it is placed on the floor so she can get in and out easily.  The door is converted from the standard ramp to hinge at the side (&lt;em&gt;zip ties for hinges&lt;/em&gt;). Some rabbits like to Jump on top of things, to keep her from injuring a foot slipping through the wire top, we added a board (left over from under bed) and a throw rug for comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aOoN2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby in Safe Place&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pYA0p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ruby on Safe Place&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless we are moving furniture or she is very sick the door is always open.  Her litter box, hay rack, salt lick and water bowl are in her safe place and available to her all the time.  She gets two meals of pellets per day and those are placed in her safe place, with very little training (a couple of days) she will go on command to her safe place.  This makes it easy to get her if there should be an emergency (&lt;em&gt;like a fire&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can be messy with hay, we find putting the hay rack on the outside so they can only get hay by standing in the litter box and pulling through a couple pieces at a time a great solution.  It is important that the hay rack have a lid you can close, if you don't want them to access hay from the top of the rack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MDBR3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Safe place from the top&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T23:11:00.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3118" CreationDate="2015-04-28T00:35:20.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone else already said, there are some products you can use in liquid bottles. Although my vet said I shouldn't put the liquid inside my dogs ears and use a cotton to clean it up, instead soak one gauze dressing with the liquid, and with one finger put it inside my dog's ears and clean it up, you will feel how deep you can go. If the gauze dressing becomes black after you've cleaned you should look for a vet, it could be an ear infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4001" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T00:35:20.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2015-04-28T07:07:22.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your betta is lying at the bottom of the tank, are his fins clamped? This indicates some illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is way too small. Keeping any fish in a cramped space is not proper. A small tank has less buffer for water parameter changes.&#xA;Bettas are tropical, so a tropical range of temperatures is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember that in an understocked tank, water changes should not be this frequent.  Fishes like the betta, which generally thrive in paddy and rice fields, are used to water with a higher general hardness a.k.a gH. You can achieve this by not using distilled water, or by dissolving just a single rice grain sized rock salt crystal, in a glass of de-chlorinated water, and then adding it to the tank water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use some substrate, like some small pebbles or some rocks to give a chance for the beneficial bacteria to colonize your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember to never change the water completely. Always perform a PWC, or a partial water change, of up to 20% only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T07:07:22.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8134" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-28T11:12:36.530" Score="2" ViewCount="605" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a ten year old chihuahua-dachshund that is nearly blind and toothless And she lived in a puppy mill until she was rescued (I feel like these are relevant details.  I adopted her in in late September.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She used to love me, and she followed me everywhere and when I came home, she would run up to the door with her tail wagging, I could pick her up with no issue and she would let me hold her, but something changed within her mind and I want to reverse it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know what caused it- I need to reverse the damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My church has a small group that used to meet every other week at someone's house, eat lunch, and read our bible and reflect on it, and with family comes children.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were a couple girls that are there, and they are extremely rude and they wouldn't stop picking up my dog, and they were holding her incorrectly.  Whenever I saw them with her, I would command them (calmly) to give me my dog, because she clearly doesn't like being held by you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I saw her with MY DOG, I would have my dog handed to me,  I would rub her tummy and then I would hold her (properly) and put her inside where the adults were. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, the thing is, when Little One was in her cage or with my mother, the girls would take her from the adult and hold her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One time, I told her to give her to me, and she said no.  I was furious.  I know I'm seventeen, and she is twelve, but I have a mental thing, and when I was told that someone five years to my junior was not going to give my dog to me, or stop picking her up, I started crying, and when she left, I started throwing scrabble pieces.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, she only comes out for me when I co e home, she looks at me and realizes that I'm not my mother, and walks back in her cage.  When I want to hold her, she runs away from me and growls.  If I want to hold her, I have to have my mother pick her up for me, and if she sees mum walking past me, she flails to try and get out of my arms and to her instead. It's been like this for three months and everybody always says to give it time, but it's only gotten worse with time.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I give her food every day.  I'm not allowed to give my dogs walks because we are in between a huskie, and two Australian shepherds, I'm not &quot;big enough&quot; to handle what would happen if they attacked her.  She doesn't play with toys (idk why... Probably something to do with the puppy mill), but she enjoys musicals, and Harrison Ford's Sabrina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want my dog back.  It's not my mothers, she's mine and I need her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4002" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T11:36:01.013" Title="How can I regain the love of my shelter dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8134" CreationDate="2015-04-28T11:36:01.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off - there's no quick fix. 3 months may seem a long time to you, but it's not really. If a dog is upset about something, or formed a negative association, then it might take considerably longer to 'work through'. This is especially true of rescue dogs - they have had hard lives, and so trust doesn't come easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the root of the problem here is that your dog is saying 'no thank you' to being picked up, and you're ignoring that. Think if you will, about someone intruding on you when you don't feel like it - every time they do, you're going to get more resentful about it, not less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I'm afraid it may never be the case that your dog learns to accept being 'handled' again, and you may need to simply accept that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For rebuilding trust with a dog, I would suggest what you need to do is start doing some training. This is teaching both of you how to interact and communicate with each other. Have you done much yet? If you don't know much about it, then going to a training class will help both of you. If you have, then learning a few more tricks. Give your dog some attention and interaction - aim for 30m a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally more walking would be good too - dogs are animals that like to walk or run or play, and your walkies time is actually good for your mutual bonding. I appreciate there's reasons why that's a bit more difficult in your situation - but perhaps consider going somewhere else (a field nearby?) and taking your dog out a bit more. Just bear in mind that as a rescue with eyesight problems - your dog isn't going to be particularly comfortable or relaxed, especially around other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T11:36:01.013" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-28T13:13:33.767" Score="3" ViewCount="512" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a clear sticky mucus coming out of my male gecko's vent. It looks a bit like what you see on eggs in females. What is this? Is it sperm? A sign he's constipated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Question taken from a Facebook group and reposted here to see if anyone can help.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T13:13:33.767" Title="What is this clear sticky mucus coming from my leopard gecko's vent?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;excretions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2015-04-28T13:24:34.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answers are that at a minimum someone needs to clean the litter box and check food and water, and ideally it should be someone who likes cats, whom the cat likes,  and who is willing to take some time to play with/pet the cat. I hire a friend's teenage kid for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer is that it very much depends on the individual cat. I've known cats who panic every time their human opens a suitcase; I've known cats who could be trusted alone for five days (beyond which I have to agree with them that the litterbox gets pretty vile).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest a catsitter visit every other day as a minimum until you know your own cat's tolerances very well. More is better,  especially if the cat might have any medical issues. Hiring a trusted teenager, especially one who likes cats, can be fairly cheap. (I pay $10/day, since I can afford it, it's worth that much to me, and it's partly an excuse to encourage the kid to think about earning and saving money -- but I'm sure I could just ask for it to ne done as a favor, or any price in between .) If you don't know anyone you trust with a key, hiring an adult cat-sitter or boarding the cat are good options though more expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative is to admit that your lifestyle is nor currently suited to being a pet owner.  Or to figure out how the cat could comfortably travel with you; sometimes that can be made to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Yes, I saw the twice a day recommendation. Honestly,  unless you know the cat has health issues I consider that overkill.  Not a bad idea, just hard to justify on a price /benefit level. YMMV.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T13:24:34.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-28T19:40:46.167" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is over weight, a 39 lb spayed female Beagle.  If I have food, she will bark and throw a tantrum, lying on the floor putting her paws over her eyes and basically crying until I say &quot;OK I will give you some if you wait&quot; she then quiets down and waits quietly, I then give her a portion of my food when I'm done. She's not that fat but everyone says she is chunky and it is my fault. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4004" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T22:21:39.043" Title="my dog is over weight" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-04-28T22:41:57.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8138" CreationDate="2015-04-28T22:21:39.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pet stores have many brands of low-calorie dog foods (they typically say they are for older dogs, or less active dogs, rather than having &quot;low-calorie&quot; in the name). You need to stop feeding her people food, or at least cut it &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; down. You also need to ensure that she gets plenty of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing is to go to a vet, who can tell you how much she should weigh, recommend a low-calorie dog food, and tell you exactly how much food to give her each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-04-28T22:21:39.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8146" CreationDate="2015-04-29T09:05:30.013" Score="4" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a wild cat which comes to our house thrice a day to eat food. Somebody tied a rope on her back portion. Now as the cat is growing up there is a wound on her back. Please look at her back in the pictures and suggest me a best solution to cure her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yi6fB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;look at the rope on her back portion&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ARS4S.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;look at the wound increasing day by day due to rope&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4008" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:17:29.377" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T13:42:27.310" Title="How can I catch an outside cat in order to give it medical treatment?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8141" CreationDate="2015-04-29T11:43:09.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really do need to trap her and get her to a vet. Humane traps of several types can be purchased, or you could try building one of the designs used by the organizations which trap and neuter feral cats in various cities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T11:43:09.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8188" CreationDate="2015-04-29T13:47:59.513" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been asked if one of my baby rabbits could be used for a story time.  The babies will be 4 weeks old at that time.  Is it safe to temporarily remove a kit from the litter and return it soon after or will the mother kill it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4010" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-04-30T16:18:16.377" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T14:05:41.907" Title="Show and tell for unlearned rabbits" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8054" CreationDate="2015-04-29T15:34:56.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For all breeds of dog, there are two main stages of puppy growth. The first is the rapid part where the main part of your puppy's skeleton develops. During this time, his bones grow and lengthen – a process made possible by the growth plates at the ends of long limb bones. This is from birth to around 4-5 months old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second phase is slower, where muscles develop and the skeleton continues to develop and the dog gain weight until he has reached full growth. There will be some bone growth in this phase, but not nearly as much. When a puppy reaches about one year of age, the growth plates close. After this point, an injury to the leg is not nearly as serious a problem as in a younger puppy, where it can result in overwhelming damage or deformity. The duration of this second phase varies considerably, depending on the ultimate size of the adult dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nutrition.org/publications/the-journal-of-nutrition/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Journal of Nutrition&lt;/a&gt;, adult body weight (which I think is what you are asking about) is reached when growth rates fall to zero. A small-breed dog that will weigh 20 pounds or less as an adult reaches its mature body weight between 9 and 12 months of age. (In contrast, something like a Great Dane might continue to grow until he is 2 to 3 years old.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General consensus on &lt;a href=&quot;http://longlittledog.com/vbb/showthread.php?32774-Dachshund-Size&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this forum post&lt;/a&gt; seems to be that people have found their dachshunds stop growing around 12 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have realised, dachshunds can have problems with weight gain, and I suspect this might be part of the reason you want to find out when your dog has stopped growing - so you know whether to start keeping an eye on her weight or not. A good way of doing this seems to be to feel their ribcage to see if you can still feel the ribs, and check that you can still see a definite waistline as viewed from above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nonprofitnw.org/drnw/id47.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This website&lt;/a&gt; has some further advice and the below &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nonprofitnw.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/dachshundweightchart.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diagram&lt;/a&gt; to help you judge whether your dachshund is overweight or not: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R268w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dachshund weight diagram&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/pups-stop-growing-7397.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;When do puppies stop growing?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalwellnessmagazine.com/articles/preventing-bone-problems-in-pups/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Preventing bone problems in puppies&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nonprofitnw.org/drnw/id47.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dachshund ideal weight and feeding schedule&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T15:34:56.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8141" CreationDate="2015-04-29T19:06:52.473" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your location, you may have the option of a travelling vet that would be willing to come to you. If so then the tricky part is actually getting the cat into a controlled environment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a garage or are ok with having the cat in your home (assuming you do not have other pets that would complicate matters), then try and win the cat's trust. Go out and simply speak to it, try to give it food, etc. I have a cat that used to be a stray that all I did was go out with food which I put down and sat next to. It would come and eat and I would just talk to it. A couple of day's later he was sitting in my lap. Once you have the cat's trust you can have him follow you to the safe area (again garage, etc.) so that you can coordinate having the vet visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful with trying to rush things and picking up the cat. He could hurt you if just trying to get away, and poor thing may not be exactly healthy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you are able to help it. Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4013" LastActivityDate="2015-04-29T19:06:52.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-30T09:17:14.817" Score="2" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Green-cheeked conure for exactly two years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last year, a large number of feathers lost their green or blue color, and I thought it was because of a bad mistake of not buying new pellets ahead of time, which led to him eating only seeds for five days exactly at the time of motling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some reading I got to the conclusion I'll probably have to wait another year for the feathers to fall off and grow again, but the diet and environment conditions are satisfying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm afraid other things aren't OK. He's diet is actually pellets-only and seeds once or twice a week (he doesn't like fruits &amp;amp; vegetables except apples), he has a very large cage compared to most green-cheeks, and he's always happy and playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I should look for or change in the treatment of him? In the first year his feathers were so colorful and bright and I just can't find any clue to something being inappropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="84" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T15:41:43.533" Title="Dealing with feather discoloration" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-30T10:15:16.900" Score="2" ViewCount="993" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are other questions around this issue, but I'd like to ask about specific circumstances, so it's not a duplicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog hates to stay home alone. My wife thinks this is separation anxiety, but I'm not sure. For example, it seems like it's not the need to be with us her owners, but more like the need to be with anyone. If we leave her at a friends house who also have a dog, she's fine. If I leave her at my parents', she's fine. But if we leave her alone at home, she really hates it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms: we left a camera running and filmed her behavior when left alone. We leave her alone with a Kong treat, so she's ok when we leave, but one or two minutes later (even before she's done with the treat), she starts wandering around the house and whining. She goes from the door to the window whining. After a while she gets back to her treat or goes to sleep, but then every so often again she starts wandering and whining. Recently she defecates in the house a lot but only when we're gone, even if she did it in the morning walk just a few hours earlier. She also tries opening doors in the house and sometimes ruins stuff she can get her paws on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we're home, sometimes she likes being with us in the same room, but not always. She spends quite some time sleeping by herself in another room or on her bed. When we take her out to the park, she doesn't stay too close to us, sometimes she even runs so far that she can't see us and doesn't come right away when we call her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm trying to figure if this is separation anxiety or just boredom, or something in between, and any advice on how to treat this will be appreciated. We really have a hard time when we know she has to stay home alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:31.967" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T07:44:31.967" Title="Dog hates to stay home alone" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-04-30T10:55:08.877" Score="1" ViewCount="2173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8148/&quot;&gt;recent question&lt;/a&gt; by a new bird owner whose bird was very colorful when purchased but has become less colorful.  A quick look online shows bird prices can vary greatly by significant amounts, at least partially based on the bird's color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can a bird's feathers be dyed? Is there a monetary incentive for breeders to dye baby birds? Would there be any harm to the young bird?  How would a potential new parent tell whether the bird they were considering had been dyed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2018-04-07T13:03:48.787" Title="Can a baby bird's feathers be dyed?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8149" CreationDate="2015-04-30T22:44:34.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would consider that separation anxiety.  Separation anxiety is widely used as a general term covering dogs that are stressed when left alone, and messing in the house and destructive behaviour is pretty standard.  It often does come out when the dog is stressed by being left by the primary care-giver, but it's not uncommon for dogs to be OK with a person or dog in the house but stressed if entirely alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A stressed dog may well hide away or run away from her people at the park and not appear very attached - it doesnt' mean she doesn't care about her people, it's just a way of releasing some of the stress she's feeling.  Some more independent breeds of dog will often run a long way from their owner: they will usually be keeping a pretty close eye on you, even from a fair distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First important thing: do not tell your dog off or punish her if she destroys thing or makes a mess in the house when left alone. It will just increase her anxiety.  The key to sorting separation anxiety is making sure your dog is as confident, happy and relaxed as possible.  Telling her off because she panicked and lost control of her bowels is counterproductive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second important thing: you want to get her used to being left gradually, so if you can make arrangements for the time being for her to be left with a neighbour or relative or a dog she knows and likes if you need to leave her during the time while you work on this problem, that would be a good idea. Dogs don't learn well when they are upset and worried.  Ideally you should practice very short absences to start with, so that she gets a chance to learn that you always come back, and then develop that over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third thing: make sure she's been out just before you go out (not several hours before, take her out for a walk shortly before you leave).  Ideally, again, this walk should be a nice relaxing stroll with time for sniffing - not too much very intense hyper ball play or manic running that might leave her feeling hyped up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving her with a stuffed kong is excellent, go on doing that.  If you aren't already clicker training with her, you might like to try a little low-pressure clicker work - dogs often seem to feel more confident when they are doing some more structured activities with their owners.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last time I fostered a dog with separation anxiety, we used to go out just a little way from the house, first for one minute, then two minutes, then three minutes and so on, building up very gradually.   If the dog seems stressed, reduce the interval left, and go on practicing for a bit before increasing again.  I spent a lot of short periods sitting in the car with a book!    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs with severe separation anxiety need to build up to just coping with their owner picking up keys or putting on a coat, but it sounds like yours is not that bad, so with a bit of luck if you work on this now, you will be able to get to a situation where leaving your dog is less stressful for all of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think it's getting worse, consult a qualified behaviourist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a great video (all the kikopup videos are highly recommended :  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGxhcb-itO4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGxhcb-itO4&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a PDF leaflet here which you may find helpful : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/dogs/company/separationrelatedbehaviour/prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/dogs/company/separationrelatedbehaviour/prevention&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T22:44:34.023" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8052" CreationDate="2015-04-30T23:09:45.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dog of that mix is not particularly elderly at ten.  Collie x lab crossbreeds are often fairly longlived and may get to 15 or even older. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would however disagree with the previous answer which recommends high-impact exercise using a chuckit and tennis balls.   That sort of very energetic exercise can be pretty hard on the joints, so not ideal for arthritic dogs. It also puts a lot of strain on the cruciate ligament (I speak from bitter experience here: I was fostering a 9 year old collie cross dog for a rescue: he loved playing fetch, so we played lots of exciting chuckit games with him.  He damaged his cruciate and required expensive surgery followed by hydrotherapy.  We no longer play such energetic games with our foster dogs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would walk a dog like that  morning and evening, building up gently to maybe a couple of miles,  and probably give him some offlead or long-line time where he'd have a choice of running, sniffing, and exploring.  Labradors often enjoy swimming, so if you have a local pond or river that is safe for dogs to swim in, that would offer a form of exercise that's fun but safe for his joints. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the weight down is important for arthritic dogs, so if he's a bit overweight, I'd also start measuring his food and counting his treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T23:09:45.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8011" CreationDate="2015-04-30T23:22:32.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had some success with dogs that came to me with bad teeth, by feeding lots of dried tripe (sometimes three or four sticks a day).  Chewing the dried tripe sticks has a cleaning effect on the teeth and they are a lot more enthusiastic about it than toothbrushes! It's high in protein and low in fat, and also very digestible.  The downside is it's a bit stinky, but most dogs seem to love it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also feed raw bones for chewing, and that cleans teeth very effectively and smells much better than tripe -   but I suggest you research this carefully before you decide to do it, as it's important to select bones that are unlikely to get swallowed whole or fracture and create sharp points.  I usually go for lamb ribs, and freeze them before defrosting and feeding to my dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had a dog come to me and be assessed as urgently needing a dental, but unable to have one due to other medical issues, and by the time the other medical issues are resolved, the dental is no longer needed because the dog has been polishing his teeth on dried tripe sticks and raw bones, so it's certainly worth a try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-04-30T23:22:32.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8167" CreationDate="2015-05-01T02:20:07.933" Score="3" ViewCount="1184" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is as active and happy as he was before but he has been sometimes only eating one meal portion a day. We thought it was that he didn't like the new food for weight loss  but he hasn't been eating much- 2 meals a day. He is a 8 kilo (measured at home) 4 years old Norwegian Forest Cat. He was always a nibbler. He also hasn't been going to toilet as much as he used to a previous drought of 3 days without defecating as far as I know. Not often peeing either. What sort of conditions  should I concerned about? He is also not drinking as much.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:56:26.427" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:56:26.427" Title="My cat has not been eating much how worried should I be?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7418" CreationDate="2015-05-01T21:13:35.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this happen recently, she was really young. Make sure that you have a nest for them to be in, I think this helps trigger her motherly instincts. Also if they are not being fed give them kitty replacement milk in a little bottle. The mother rabbit is really sneaky about feeding them so check their bellies and try not to disturb her if she is doing her motherly duties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4018" LastActivityDate="2015-05-01T21:13:35.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9261" CreationDate="2015-05-01T22:44:38.377" Score="21" ViewCount="2407" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using a laser pointer to play with the cats, I've always been careful to end the session by giving them a physical toy to play with.  I've assumed, without any actual basis, that putting them in a no-win situation where they could never actually catch the bait would lead to frustration or possibly aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've noticed something: my cats are &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; to this trick, and they love it anyway.  When it's time for play, one of them in particular will run to the table where I keep the laser pointer and look at me expectantly.  He watches me pick it up and turn it on, and he switches between watching the dot and watching my hand.  When the session ends he's become less and less interested in a physical toy to replace the red dot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything wrong with pure laser-pointer play?  If I skip the part where I try to transition to a physical toy, am I likely to have behavioral problems later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats are middle-aged indoor-only neutered males.  They also enjoy thing-on-a-string toys but lose interest more quickly than with the laser pointer.  They run away from the battery-powered ball.  All other toys are cat-powered (e.g. batting a toy around the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-12T17:52:10.040" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T11:09:08.830" Title="Laser pointer: does a no-win situation risk psychological harm to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-02T00:17:52.833" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lovely 7 year old mutt (mostly Australian-shepherd from the looks of her).  She's a very loving dog, but not very good with commands.  She's sloppy when we train her, and if her mind is at all preoccupied, we don't get anything out of her (not even a sit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is also a nervous dog.  She will be loving and understanding all the way up to where she shakes with fear, and then some.  She'll nip at other dogs when they sniff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like these are related... I want to train her to have more discipline, so that we can work her through her nervousness.  However, there's a catch.  I know full well the majority of training a dog is training the owner.  As owners we have not held her to any discipline standard, so she has naturally met us right where we asked her to be.  I want to change how I train her so that we can move that mark and start making her work harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our great frustrations is dealing with her not obeying commands.  We'll give her one of our key words, &quot;down,&quot; and she'll just look off into the distance like we aren't even there.  I know at some point she should be punished for not obeying commands, but as of now, it's not her fault.  We're the one who trained her to believe she can ignore commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I be assertive in my training without having to resort to punishment right away.  I'm looking for answers in general, but especially those centered on what to do if the dog does not follow the command properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4019" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T01:50:03.583" Title="Asserting more discipline in training" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2015-05-02T00:25:45.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen no evidence that my girl is anything but delighted when she gets to chase the red dot. Her favorite surface is the sofa so she can hurl herself at it and land comfortably. She knows darned well that I'm controlling it, and is smart enough to indicate when she needs a breather and when she's ready to play again... or when she's not in the mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The boy was interested when he was younger,  bur has decided that if he can't chew on it, it isn't worth trying to catch. He'll take a token swipe or two, then give me an &quot;are you amused enough yet?&quot; look and stalk off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It hasn't affected their interest in physical toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly it's hard to be sure what goes on in that walnut-sized alien brain,  but I haven't seen any cause for concern. They bring me their other toys; I suspect Hazel would bring me the pointer if she could figure out how to grab it effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-05-02T16:18:04.043" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T16:18:04.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2015-05-02T00:58:16.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike humans, pets don't feel the need to be &quot;winners&quot;.  That's a purely human conceit, to expect that failure in and of itself is a Bad Thing.  To them it's just play.  And I doubt animals understand &quot;failure&quot; the way we do.  If you catch the mouse you get to eat it.  Or not.  If you are hungry and you try to catch something and you fail, the bad thing is that you are still hungry, not that you &quot;failed&quot; in your endeavor.  If you try to catch something and fail and somebody gives you something to eat, the important thing is not success of failure, that's just as good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both my cats and dogs have always chased laser pointers and I think they eventually &quot;get&quot; that this is something you are causing to happen, so they beg for it (well, the dogs do, anyway.)  If it wasn't something they enjoy you'd be able to see it in their body language.  For dogs, the joy is in the interaction with their people.  For cats I think it is less that than that they are at the mercy of their instincts.  My younger cat, who is known as &quot;the young prince&quot; for his extremely cat-some attitude, will chase it and then get embarrassed at having been caught in such excesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4020" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T00:58:16.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8159" CreationDate="2015-05-02T06:31:09.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct. She isn't doing what you ask because she either doesn't understand what you're asking, is to nervous to do what you are asking, or you haven't put value to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are also correct that the problem is almost always the trainer and the solution is to fix the trainer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive training methods have been found to be much more effective than punishment so don't even worry about &quot;when she should be punished&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your best path forward is getting into a class or doing some reading. If you look for a class, find one that focuses on positive training methods. There is a good book called control unleashed that I think would work great for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T06:31:09.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8166" CreationDate="2015-05-02T10:42:53.690" Score="3" ViewCount="2334" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a stray dog in my area and he has fleas. He scratches the area behind his ears, neck and lower back a lot and he has open wounds now in those areas. He also sometimes bleeds if he over scratches. I was going spray lemon juice water mixture but I'm afraid that would create a burning sensation in the open wounds. I also have a spray for fleas but I'm concerned it will irritate the wounds too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there anything else that won't irritate his open wounds, perhaps even help to heal the wounds, along with getting rid of the fleas? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3978" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:41:40.410" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T19:41:40.410" Title="A stray dog has fleas. Any way to help remove them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-02T13:10:02.830" Score="1" ViewCount="2990" Body="&lt;p&gt;This morning, I was cutting my guinea pigs nails and I discovered that the bit of nail on the back foot has gone black and strange and I never saw this before. &#xA;Needless to say, I am quite worried about this. Do you have any ideas? What might cause this? How do I stop it from getting worse? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xBfMV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4021" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-03T14:42:58.277" LastActivityDate="2019-03-21T23:54:20.527" Title="What is this funny/strange black thing on the nail of my guinea pig?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8163" CreationDate="2015-05-02T14:51:07.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy flea drops from the pet store and apply them to the skin behind the neck.  See, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Apply-Advantage-to-Dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Apply-Advantage-to-Dogs&lt;/a&gt;.  However, this does not protect the stray dog from more serious conditions, such as rabies.  Rabies would also be a danger to other people and animals.  Therefore, the best solution would be to take the dog to a shelter.  You can call the shelter and ask for assistance with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T14:51:07.507" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8155" CreationDate="2015-05-02T14:58:06.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could determine whether he's showing his unhappiness with the new food by checking whether he eats and drinks better on his old food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is shedding season where I live.  If I don't comb my cat thoroughly once a week at this time of year, he gets hairballs.  Your cat might be constipated.  You can buy some hairball medicine over the counter at the grocery store.  Dab it on his paws so he licks it off.  This acts as a gentle laxative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might have a parasite.  You could collect a stool sample and take it in to the vet's office for them to test.  You would then be able to treat for parasites at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am unsure whether to take my cat to the vet, I call and talk with the technician (veterinary assistant) on the phone.  I describe my observations, they ask a couple of questions, and then they triage us -- advise whether/when to come in, what to be watching for.  I hope your cat has a regular veterinary office you can work with in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T14:58:06.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8123" CreationDate="2015-05-02T15:11:13.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about getting a friend who works from home to come over to just sit on the sofa with a laptop for a few hours a day, and interact with the dog part of that time?  Then the responsibility wouldn't weigh so heavily on the shoulders of the fifth person, and you'd have more peace of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T15:11:13.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8087" CreationDate="2015-05-02T15:24:10.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to try something first before a vet visit, you could try a different brand of litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider also that missing hair could be the result of licking.  Do some careful observing to see if that's happening.  This could be helpful information if you do end up taking your cat to the vet for this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T15:24:10.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8083" CreationDate="2015-05-02T15:31:35.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could talk to the vet about anxiety medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could explain the problem to your neighbor, and ask them to use a door on the other side of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could keep the blinds down on that side of the house at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2015-05-02T15:31:35.523" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8171" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-02T19:32:16.810" Score="5" ViewCount="2283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just sitting in my room and my aunt told me there's a kitty cat right on a small hole in the middle of the alley trying to get out but when i went to get him out a car was just passed and it made him fall in there...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really hurried but the damn car was already passed and the cat was fallen, i looked in the hole with my phone's flashlight and it seems like maybe 6~10meters under ground and i think its dry in there. (but i think its wastewater, i don't know!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the right english word for it but there's a door to the ground (!) like a round circle disk... it looks kind of plumbed and clunged, i don't know if these are the right words i'm just searching them from the dictionary!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should i do? i really feel bad!&#xA;I know my aunt should've get him out herself, but &quot;she's afraid of cats&quot; ! what's there to be afraid of especially when he's life is in danger!?&#xA;And trust me, in a city/country where there's no animal control and there are holes in the middle of ground; the 911/fire departement don't care about a cat! so no hopes from them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I just looked in the hole again with my phone's light and i saw him standing looking at the ground like the how most animal do when they're looking for food i guess! he wasn't that much small but he wasn't an adult cat either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now i'm sure that its dry down there and there was some garbage...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2:&lt;/strong&gt; I called the fire departement and the person who answered said call tommorow morning in daylight we can't come now for such problem and its dark now... (its 12:40 PM here) i just hope he survives it down there and they come tommorow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 3:&lt;/strong&gt; I called them again and they said this kind of problem isn't something we can do something about! and if you're really feeling bad and pity about him you can try sending a cotton rope in there and when he grabed it pull him up... I think i'm gonna try this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 4:&lt;/strong&gt; I just used a Laser and a flashlight again and i saw him again so i rushed back in to home and told people to come and see him but when they came he wasn't there! maybe the laser light scared him away! Are they scared of laser light? should i not use the laser again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read in an article in wikihow that a laser light (dot) can make a cat on a tree to follow the dot and get out of the tree thats why i used the laser... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately even though they didn't see the cat it made them believe me and understand the cat is really down there, so my aunt called a pet doctor she knew and he said if you're really sure the cat is down there alive, I know a group that will risk their life to come and save him. I'll keep this topic updated...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 5:&lt;/strong&gt; So two man came and they really looked in the hole with a better flashlight they had and the other one even tied his phone to a wire and wraped it with a tape... and send his phone down there while it was recording and it's flashlight was on, but the recorded video didn't really had a perfect quality (it wasn't bad though, just not perfect) and we didn't see the cat in the video but we saw that it seems like this hole was connected to another one like this was a stair to another level of ground... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But before they came my cousin said he saw the cat! so thankfully there's lower doubts and we know he's still alive. The man tried talking to the cat i don't know how to say this in english, he was like making kissing sounds and stuff like that to make the cat come to us... He said the cat can't grab this rope and we need fabric so we clew some old clothes and send them down there and he said let this be in there so if he sees it he grabs it and climbs up... i'm not gonna sleep tonight to keep checking... wish/pray us luck guys!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 6: There is a lot of good and bad news, but i'm really tired now, i'll update here later. just wanted to let you know that i didn't give up!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4023" LastEditorUserId="4023" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T14:57:36.730" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T14:57:36.730" Title="A Kitty fell down to a hole in alley, Please help me with your ideas to get him out!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-02T22:32:03.297" Score="4" ViewCount="3958" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is my dog peeing in the house when I am home, but does not pee for 10 hours when he is confined to one room?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He is a 7 lb chihuahua mixed rescue, who lived with 70 other dogs, well, 69, and I have had him for 5 months now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I confine him to one room, with my other dog, he holds it all day. If I am home and I do not confine him, he is peeing, but I don't know when, I just find the old stains that are dried up already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4025" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-05-03T09:56:44.817" LastActivityDate="2017-12-10T02:12:25.817" Title="Why is my dog peeing in the house when I am home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8171" CreationDate="2015-05-03T12:49:07.680" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your idea of putting a rope, down the hole for the cat to climb up is a good start.  It may or may not work.  If it does please post an answer on what you did to make it work, so others can learn by your experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hole as you describe it makes it seem like it might be a rain water drain system so it is very likely that the cat may just follow the underground tunnels and find his own way out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The safest interactive way for everyone is to use a live trap, and lower it down for the cat to go in and be lifted out.  This assumes that the hole is large enough for you to lower the set trap on your rope.  If you can't SAFELY open the lid to the hole, if the hole is too narrow, if the trap will not stay set while being lowered this solution will not work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A live trap is specifically designed to catch animals without harming them so they can be safely captured, handled and transported. Sometimes these work the first time and sometimes you use different food as bait or other changes.  Notice in the picture they put cardboard down to cover the wire bottom and make it more friendly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before lowering the live trap, you will want to experiment with it.  It will be important that you set the trigger so that it does not go off accidentally while lowering it and that it is still loose enough for the cat to set it off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RH3hA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat walking into live trap with food&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Video of trap in action&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ3MjbJYQpU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ3MjbJYQpU&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T12:49:07.680" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8180" CreationDate="2015-05-03T13:47:54.500" Score="9" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I got an Alaskan Husky puppy with my girlfriend, which we were planning to raise in part as a test of our ability to have a child together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, things didn't pan out the way we planned. We broke up, and while the ex-girlfriend initially took the puppy with her, after several weeks she determined that she can't keep up with the puppy's energy and the puppy and I get along together way better than she did with it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love the puppy to death and there'd be no problem, except that: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I work from 8am - 6pm every weekday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My home is small and I do not have a fenced in yard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is only an issue in terms of daycare -- meaning &lt;a href=&quot;https://app.whistle.com/s/boor0e&quot;&gt;I have no problem getting her the exercise she needs&lt;/a&gt; and whenever I'm not at work I greatly enjoy watching her. However, daycare seems to be an impossible-to-solve issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been asking around at the dog park and is seems that the major dog daycare facility in my area (which is Baltimore, MD and Columbia, MD) is called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://staypetresort.com&quot;&gt;Stay Pet Resort&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. They open early enough and close late enough that it work work for me, and I could get over the extra hour a day I'd spend commuting, however the cost of a monthly pass is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://staypetresort.com/daycare/&quot;&gt;$550/mo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The other smaller/closer places I've found charge $25-30/day and some expect tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a well-paying job, but with student loans and credit card debit, I can't possibly afford $6,996 a year ($550 + 6% sales tax * 12 months) out of my post-tax income to go to daycare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Are there more affordable daycare solutions I'm not thinking of, given that I have no family or friends in the area who could help out?&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Is this a normal/reasonable cost of daycare per month?&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T16:12:42.880" Title="Economics of single-parenting a dog (i.e. daycare options)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8179" CreationDate="2015-05-03T16:12:42.880" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you looked into getting a dog walker? You can hire someone to come to your house each day to take her out to the bathroom and spend a little time with her so she's not alone. If she's getting enough exercise with you while your home then this might be a cheaper option but $18 / day doesn't sound too outrageous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T16:12:42.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8182" CreationDate="2015-05-03T18:52:05.757" Score="9" ViewCount="42634" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a cat, and with summer just getting here, what is the best temperature to keep the house at, for the cat's comfort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking because I would like to leave the place at 75 like I was doing last year to save money, but worry that I should do lower for Shiloh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4030" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-04T13:41:59.807" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T22:23:14.670" Title="What temperature should I keep my home at for my cat's comfort?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2015-05-03T19:26:55.827" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat's natural body temperature ranges from 100.5-102.5F, a bit higher than humans. A good general rule is if you're comfortable, the cat will be comfortable. My mom has Sphynx, and like people, they go find a blanket if they're cold. (She keeps her house around 71F.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0GvG4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't already, get it a bed, with a small blanket. Put it somewhere off the beaten path, bonus points if it can be in the sunlight for part of the day. Most cats like to lay in the sun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also bought the Sphynx a heated bed. It's always plugged in and warm, but more often than not they would rather just curl up in a blanket than on the heated bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3247" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-05-03T21:40:40.570" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T21:40:40.570" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7927" CreationDate="2015-05-03T23:51:23.147" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use the Comfy Cone Pet E-Collar ones for our dogs and they allow the dogs to enjoy most of their chew toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2015-05-03T23:51:23.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3108" CreationDate="2015-05-04T02:36:28.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was informed by an exotic animals veterinarian in my town that baby rabbits should, just like kittens and pups, be with their mother for a full eight weeks regardless of whether or not they are eating grown rabbit pellets on their own or not. Or else they might have advanced health issues or shortened lives later on. Further reading and research has also led me to the same conclusion. This is what I would recommend as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4031" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T02:36:28.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-04T11:29:30.837" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence that dogs can detect hypoglycemia in humans? If yes, how is that possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is it possible that we can use that ability to train a dog to alert a diabetic when sugar levels are critical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1134" LastEditorUserId="1134" LastEditDate="2015-05-05T08:26:14.550" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T08:26:14.550" Title="Is it possible to train dogs to detect Hypoglycemia?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8112" CreationDate="2015-05-04T12:20:46.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spoke to my vet this morning. He said that some cats have their breathing rate affected by purring (because they get into a purring rhythm), but other cats do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breathing rate that I should be measuring is really when he's asleep (and he won't purr while he's asleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T12:20:46.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8110" CreationDate="2015-05-04T12:25:55.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spoke to my vet this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said the answer depends on if we're feeding a regular commercial diet or a prescription for low sodium, and on the health problems that we may have with the other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A commercial diet for the other cats should be fine. If we switch Hunter to a prescription (which will lower the sodium even further), then we should consider the effects of low sodium on the other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher levels of sodium encourage cats to drink more water. One of our other cats has bladder issues, so we need to make sure that she has enough water in her system (we feed wet food for this reason). My vet would not recommend feeding a prescription low sodium diet to my cat with bladder problems and a normal heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T12:25:55.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8143" CreationDate="2015-05-04T13:44:53.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience it is safe, at 4 weeks old they are not quite small, and the mother never rejected them even though we pick up the babies almost daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not just me:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-breeding/care-newborn-baby-bunny/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Newborn Baby Rabbit Care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-05-04T14:05:41.907" LastActivityDate="2015-05-04T14:05:41.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8195" CreationDate="2015-05-05T17:00:57.817" Score="3" ViewCount="28186" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Shiloh HATES his collar.  When I adopted him I was told I need to keep a collar on him, even though I will never let him go outside (I was further informed that even though he is an indoor cat and never be outside, I could be fined $500 if he does not have a collar, Baltimore county).  So I am wondering, is there anything I can do for him with his collar? He had a few times while trying to get it off, gotten it caught stuck with it in his mouth and paw stuck in his mouth trapped under the collar.&#xA;So my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there something else I can do to help him be more comfortable with his collar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it true that my county (Baltimore county) has such a law?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask as I don't want my cat to hurt himself, and I also don't see the point of forcing him to wear it if I never let him out (he is microchiped just in case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4030" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T14:02:37.167" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T14:02:37.167" Title="My cat hates his collar. How to handle it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="8194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8196" CreationDate="2015-05-05T18:23:11.977" Score="6" ViewCount="17243" Body="&lt;p&gt;We treat our house rabbits with Revolution flea and tick treatment the  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.revolution.com.au/how-to-use-revolution.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;directions&lt;/a&gt; say to reapply every 30 days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Life happens and sometime exactly 30 days just does not work, If you use &quot;monthly&quot; as your target the duration can vary between 28 and 31 days, plus or minus a couple of days for life events.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt; While Revolution is not labeled for use on Rabbits it is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit/1252#1252&quot;&gt;One of the only products that should be used on them&lt;/a&gt;, answers specific to cats and/or dogs are acceptable on this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T17:32:30.947" Title="How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8193" CreationDate="2015-05-05T18:32:56.683" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not clear in your description if you are using a breakaway collar (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/110844/Petco-Cat-Breakaway-Collar-in-Brown-Leather.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;one example&lt;/a&gt;). If not, definitely switch to that. Instead of getting stuck and waiting for you to free him, a breakaway collar would just fall off and you'd have to put it back on again when you found it (they end up in weird places, we use one to bell our youngest so he can't sneak up on the older cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most breakaway collars are sold with bells, but you can remove the bell with a set of pliers if you don't want it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell, Baltimore County &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/health/animalservices/animallaws.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;requires you to have your pets be licensed&lt;/a&gt; (number 3), but it doesn't say that license must be on a collar at all times. Additionally, neither the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/permits/pdm_miscperm/animallicense.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;information page about licensing&lt;/a&gt;, nor the &lt;a href=&quot;http://resources.baltimorecountymd.gov/Documents/Permits/Miscellaneous%20Permits/dog_cat_info/animalapplication140522.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;pdf form&lt;/a&gt; give any collar requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't take my word for it that there are no collar requirements, just that I couldn't find any documentation of them. I've also never heard of them (I live in southern Maryland, but I am aware of most of MD's unusual animal laws). Please call the animal control office to verify at 410-887-PAWS (7297).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T18:32:56.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8194" CreationDate="2015-05-05T18:51:26.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;monthly&quot; is often used for frequency because it's not entirely precise, it's basically something to be done every 4-5 weeks, especially since fleas can live a very long time away from a host. If you have some sense that you may be a few days late, you could consider doing it a bit earlier (a day or two at most) just to ensure that the coverage is continuous. Having said that, it's not going to be 30 days and bang, no protection, it will fade and quickly become more and more ineffective over the following days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr - I would try to keep around the 30 day mark as much as possible, you will maximize effectiveness, but a day or two late isn't going to be a disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reading on Selamectin (Revolution is the trade name) and it's effects and efficacy can be found in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newmanveterinary.com/SELAMECTIN.PDF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Freedom of Information summary&lt;/a&gt; that summarizes quite a few experiments conducted on the treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T18:51:26.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="8197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6432" CreationDate="2015-05-05T20:38:52.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What J.Musser said is a good idea. You don't have to have anything that complicated, but it's a nice design. Basically a vermicomposter is a worm habitat. It just has the side benefit of making really good soil for plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like to grow and I'm just getting into composting and vermicomposting, having always used miracle grow. So the fresh greens you could grow with it are good for you, but you could also grow fresh greens for your turtle, and unlike store bought greens, you'll know they're packed full of vitamin and nutrients. You'll also know exactly which if any chemicals went into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to set up a good, cheap vermicomposter, based on my internet research, you can simply get a cheap Rubbermaid bin from a store like big lots or the dollar store and drill a bunch of .25&quot; holes for air and drainage. Youtube has a lot of videos on the subject. You also need to get a container to put under it and catch the liquid that comes out. I assume it's a combo of deteriorating food, worm juice, and the water you add to keep it damp. It's basically a very nutrient rich watering liquid and you should water your plants with it. A lot of people I've seen either use another of the same container or something similar with a spacer to keep them main tub off the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to find a recipe for soil, it's not straight worm casting. You'll also have to sift the worms out of the castings and feed them, but you'll have to do that regardless. It's just a matter of what you do with the waste, toss it out or use it. You'll have pretty much an endless supply of worms, get rid of kitchen waste and have good veggies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that regular earth worms don't do well and you need to use red wigglers, but I don't think the turtle will mind. I'd use the worms to make castings, feed the excess worms to the turtle, and use the casting and compost (bought or made) to make soil to grow him some good turtle chow. It might not be as balance, but will probably be much healthier than turtle sticks. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-05T20:38:52.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8193" CreationDate="2015-05-06T00:10:23.980" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as getting comfortable with the collar goes: Every cat initially hates collars. Think how you would feel if someone insisted you wear a necktie and you'd never seen one before ... &quot;This is weird. It feels weird. Off!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try standard training regimen, rewarding the cat every time you put the collar on and gradually lengthening the delay between collar and reward. Or you could take the traditional approach: cat wears collar until it gets used to the idea and stops complaining; get all the annoyance over at once but deal with a grumpy cat for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My previous cat knew that putting the collar on was an essential step in my letting her out of the house. (&quot;You are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; going out naked, young lady!&quot;) She didn't quite bring me the collar to request that she be allowed to explore, but she'd wait at an open door until the collar was on. Of course she was a siamese; meezers are generally easier to train because they care more about approval than most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you don't have to remove the collar indoors; many folks don't. O the other hand you don't need to let the cat roam outdoors; many folks don't. My current kids are allowed onto the screened  porch (with permission) but that's as outdoors as they get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T11:50:37.913" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T11:50:37.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-06T12:26:37.217" Score="1" ViewCount="1349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a bearded dragon (he's still just a baby), he's eaten plenty and he's a healthy boy, but the problem I have is that he thinks my fingers are food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has no problem with my boyfriend petting him, but as soon as I put my hand in the cage he thinks I'm food and runs for my hand :( I just tried to place my hand in his vivarium with a bit of vegetable on my hand, he went no where near the vegetable and bit my finger thinking it was food! And as he thinks I'm food he won't let me pet him I need some advise please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't puff up or get angry he just goes to bite me &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put his food in his vivarium from a tub, and sometimes feed him a worm off my hand, but he follows my hand when I open his cage or he will come for my hand if I just place it in his vivarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he biting me because he thinks my hand is food, and how can I get him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5039" LastEditorUserId="5039" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T18:41:39.113" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T18:41:39.113" Title="Bearded dragon thinks I'm food" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-05-07T20:19:38.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9200" CreationDate="2015-05-06T13:52:55.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do your fingers look like? The rare time that I give my uromastyx &quot;super-worms&quot;, he acts like he's on crack for like 10 minutes after and will go after anything moving that could be remotely mistaken for a worm. If you have long narrow fingers, and you give him insects, he may be confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can try is giving him the back of your hand to &quot;bite&quot;. It isn't possible for him to actually bite the back of your hand, so he'll repeatedly tongue it. I'm guessing he'll eventually realize that you're not food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T13:52:55.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8148" CreationDate="2015-05-06T15:17:30.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct--your conure's current feathers will remain until his next molt. I'm a little concerned that he is on a diet almost entirely of pellets. Conures like and need variety in their diets. My green-cheek get LaFeber's Nutriberries for conures (which are also fun foraging food), Ecotrition Essentials cockatiel food, and he loves red leaf lettuce, shredded carrots, and dark grapes (and he mutters nasty things at me if I give him the green seedless variety). When he molts again, you might also try adding an excellent vitamin supplement called Featherrific by Avitech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of light does he get? Full-spectrum light also helps in the creation and processing of vitamins, which is necessary to produce good feather color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure he gets a nice bath whenever he wants one, too. (We &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; get bath when Jerry, my conure takes a bath--he splashes water everywhere.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good that he's playful and happy. He probably just needs a few adjustments to diet and perhaps lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T15:41:43.533" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T15:41:43.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8173" CreationDate="2015-05-06T15:28:37.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is not properly house-trained. You need to treat him like a puppy and start from the beginning. I am currently house-training a young puppy, and here is what I am doing: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I cannot watch the puppy, she is in her crate. When she is inside the house and not in her crate, I have her tethered to me or to a piece of furniture very close to me with a 6-foot (2 meter) or shorter leash. I keep an eye on her, but I have found that I don't need to watch her every move when she is confined this way. I take her outside immediately after she wakes up or finishes eating, or after an hour has passed. (For an older dog, this time period could be longer). If she eliminates, I give her lots of praise and a treat. I also use a command &quot;Go pee&quot; when I see she is about to do it. If she does not eliminate within 5 minutes, she goes into her crate for 15 minutes, and then we try again. If I catch her starting to squat inside, I say &quot;ah ah ah NO!&quot; loudly as I immediately pick her up and take her outside. This is all aimed at teaching her it is good to go outside, and bad to do it inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is extremely important that you clean up old accidents with an enzymatic cleaner which eliminates odors. Dogs will return to the scent of previous eliminations. Finally, if your dog has a favorite room to sneak off to, make that inaccessible by closing the door or using a baby gate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a lot of work, and it is. But your reward is a lifetime of reliable housetraining for a few months work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T15:28:37.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8159" CreationDate="2015-05-06T16:05:07.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't punish your dog at all in training. I've made that mistake in the past and with dogs and horses and I'll tell you it's counter productive. Wanting to punish a dog, I believe, is typically aggression caused by frustration at the dog not doing what you want. You feel you have control over the dog, which you do, and you feel like you've put a lot of time into telling your dog what you want, which you may have, so you feel like at this point the dog is being bad on purpose. My personal experience is that you should try to find a good stopping place where you can get your animal to do something correctly and walk away when you get frustrated. Think about it and come back to it later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for how to train your dog. I'll be up front in saying that training a dog with mostly rewards is harder, but in the long run you'll be happier with the results. Your dog will do the commands because he wants to, or is at least happy to do them because you asked. You can get a dog to behave with punishments, but you'll see that dog avoid and cringe. I spanked my dog exactly twice in her life when she did something very dangerous and she'll still occasionally cringe at me. It's not something I am proud of and with hind site, I see how I should have handled it better to avoid both situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not using clicker training, or at least some version of marker training, I suggest you search it on the internet. There are literally thousands of video and articles on it. The basic concept is that you have a device that makes a clicking sound. When the dog does a behavior, you mark/click the behavior to let the dog know that it was what they were doing at that exact instant that you want repeated. This is better than just giving a treat, because by the time you finish saying 'Good boy!' or walking to the dog to give them a treat, they could have done 5 different behaviors. It makes what you're asking much clearer. I recommend you find another person and practice on each other. Try to use each others natural inclinations and all non-verbal cues to try and get a particular behavior. Click and hand them an oreo when they get close to what you want and work them in. This will help you understand how your dog sees it, because while you know what sitting is and have a word associated with it, it's like another language for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the basic principle, but there are guidelines that will help you progress much more rapidly. A few things I suggest from personal experience is to think ahead to what you want to your dog to do on command. Make a list of all the words you'll use and make sure they're all as short and dissimilar as possible. So, you don't want to say 'sit down' and 'lay down' because they're too similar. just say 'sit' and 'down' or 'lay'. Also, dogs have short attention spans. You'll make much more progress by doing three 5min sessions a day as opposed to a 1-hour session on the weekend. You literally be able to see your dog shut down and go listless the same as we all did in school after a boring day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should mix it up as well. Pick a few things to work on and rotate through them so it's not the same boring thing every time. Don't be afraid to capture a random behavior or try to shape something out of nowhere. Some behaviors can only be captured this way, such as bark, which is very hard to get most dogs to do. Teaching 'bark' also allows you to teach 'quiet' which many owners would enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lack of distraction is another essential when you start training. Go to a quiet room of your house, not outside, no tv, no other dog or people. You said your dog stares off into the distance. Make sure you're the most interesting thing around. Once he can do a command well in there, then gradually increase the stimulus. If he has trouble doing it with a stimulus, then go back to somewhere quieter till he's better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to reward very frequently and use jackpot rewards when they do particularly well. If they get frustrated, go to something simple and quite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if your dog has a problem with other dogs sniffing him, keep him away from other dogs. It makes him nervous and dog parks, if that's where your going, are not good ideas. Stupid owners with bad dogs go there just as much as people with well behaved dogs. The puppy training or obedience classes are poor choices for the same reason. You want a dog with a short attention span to focus on you when there are a bunch of new dogs, sights and smells to investigate. It would be better to audit a class to get the lessons and apply them in a friendlier environment. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T16:05:07.593" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-06T16:26:49.893" Score="6" ViewCount="1505" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is new. I have a well-established 75 gallon aquarium with six medium-sized blood parrot fish that I've had for years. Suddenly the pH of the water is consistently below what my testing system can even measure (&amp;lt; 6 pH). I've had to step up the water changes doing 30-50% 1-2 times/week because the fish are obviously stressed within days after the water change (clamped fins, sitting on the bottom, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tested the tap water, even after it's been treated with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Prime.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Prime water conditioner&lt;/a&gt;; all normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a 75 gallon aquarium with a 350 gal/hr canister filter layered with 20-30 ppi filtration foam pads, a microfiltration pad, bio balls, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Purigen.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Seachem Purigen&lt;/a&gt;. I use no other chemicals. The tank has minimal ornamentation, no plants, and no gravel. Nothing else has changed recently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas (besides doing way-too-frequent water changes)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:21:25.373" Title="Why is my aquarium pH plummeting despite frequent water changes?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9205" CreationDate="2015-05-06T17:27:40.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would check is the pH of the water you're using to fill the tank with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've said that you tested it already and it was normal, but it could actually be that the water is normal as it's coming out of the faucet and then later reverting to the state it was at before. The water parameters could be affected by your plumbing, or by your local water municipality if they have certain parameters they're expected to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Even if you haven't had problems with your water in the past, it's possible your local water municipality could have changed or upgraded their equipment or methods, or simply changed their parameter requirements. That's why it's always a good idea to perform tests on your aquarium periodically to ensure that everything remains the same.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To test if that's the case, I'd suggest testing the water after it's been sitting in a bowl or a bucket for the amount of time it takes your tank's pH to change after performing a water change. Typically I think it takes a day or so before you start seeing anything noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pH is affected by a couple different things, but what I think is changing it in your case is probably the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know pH will rise if either carbon dioxide is taken out of the water or oxygen is added to it, and lower if carbon dioxide is added or oxygen is removed. So what I'm guessing that's what's happening to your water. Perhaps there are organisms in the water consuming oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some ideas on how to keep a higher pH in your aquarium:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pH will typically lower over time eventually, that's part of the reason why water changes are important, to keep a stable pH level. But as your pH levels are changing more rapidly than what I'd consider normal, I think that it would be safe to consider adding things that will work to keep the pH levels up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common method I think is using either crushed corals, or limestone. You can use them as a substrate, or place a bag filled with it into your filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crushed corals would be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Calcium_carbonate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calcium carbonate&lt;/a&gt;, which when mixed with water form &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Calcium_bicarbonate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calcium bicarbonate&lt;/a&gt;, which will absorb carbon dioxide in the water. Limestone is formed by the minerals calcite and aragonite which are different forms of calcium carbonate&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, so it acts in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: This is different than carbon filters, which use activated charcoal to filter out chemicals and colors in the water.&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise something as simple as gravel substrate can help buffer the pH levels to become higher. Likewise, adding driftwood will help buffer pH levels to become lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding plants will help maintain pH levels as they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the water. Although if I remember correctly, parrotfish like to eat plants like candy, so it might not be viable in your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else, there are chemical additives that help raise, and lower, pH levels. I've used API's &lt;em&gt;pH up&lt;/em&gt; without any ill effects. Of course use it in moderation so that the pH isn't changing drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Limestone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Limestone&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Activated_Carbon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Activated_Carbon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-06T17:42:23.240" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T17:42:23.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9208" CreationDate="2015-05-06T20:10:26.500" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rough-coated collie puppy will be joining our family soon. Our plan for outdoor elimination is to place the puppy (only when elimination is imminent) in an ex-pen to keep the young pup contained while he/she sniffs and circles and to train the puppy to use just a particular section of the yard. I imagine only needing this for 2-3 months (am I too optimistic?). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collies can grow quite big, but I can't find any reference to their size at 8-20 weeks of age and am having a hard time guessing the height of an ex-pen needed to contain a 3-4 month old puppy of that breed just for potty time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to use the shortest ex-pen possible so that my son can move it easily when he mows the lawn (or else he won't, but that's an issue for the parenting SE). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the first puppy/dog my husband and I have had as adults, so feel free to answer and comment with additional advice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T17:02:27.647" Title="What height of ex-pen for grass training a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9207" CreationDate="2015-05-06T20:44:16.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;2-3 months? That's quite a bit exaggerated. It should be more like 1-2 weeks, especially if you've got some very tasty treats you keep exclusively for &quot;potty time&quot;. It took us maybe a week or two to get our puppy so far that he didn't want to go when on a walk. He'd start pulling and running home to do it back home - and to get the treats. He'd actually start to get angry sometimes if he'd go and wouldn't get a treat, e.g. due to us not expecting it. (That behavior fixed itself over the next month or so.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I don't think you'll need any kind of pen to contain the dog. A short leash might be enough, depending on the area you might not even need that. Most puppies won't move too far on their own, especially in the beginning, so just stay there and wait. You shouldn't leave your dog on its own anyway, especially at that age (potential danger of poisonous plants, possibly other animals, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a start, you just have to get your puppy to do it there once. Once that's done, every consequent time will be easier, since the dog will prefer the area it used before. In case some accident happens inside your house, you can use that to your advantage, too. Grab the product and place it in the &quot;target area&quot; on your grass. The dog will recognize the smell and reuse the area. You can remove every again after the next time your puppy went there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-05-06T20:44:16.357" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2202" CreationDate="2015-05-07T03:47:07.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For mine, I think it's just because they know that getting in my way means I have to pay attention to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A friend introduced me to the word &quot;hep&quot;, meaning the kind of assistance you get from cats and toddlers. &quot;I'm hepping!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T03:47:07.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9207" CreationDate="2015-05-07T10:57:08.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mario has a good answer, but if you are still planning to use an ex-pen, a two foot tall pen should be fine.  There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126/will-owls-attack-small-dogs/8129#8129&quot;&gt;very good reasons to not leave your puppy unsupervised in an ex-pen&lt;/a&gt; so 2 feet provides a sufficient barrier if you are there to ensure he learns to respect the barrier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A single ex-pen only makes a square 4 foot by 4 foot, so it is unlikely to provide sufficient space for the job.  If you use the ex-pen against the corner of a fenced yard to make an area, it can be 8 foot by 8 foot which is about the right size if you scoop poop regularly (like every time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use the corner of the fence, about 8 feet out from the corner in both directions screw eye hooks into the fence so you can use the clips that come with the ex-pen to clip the ex-pen to the fence.  When you puppy bumps against the ex-pen it will stay attached to the fence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T10:57:08.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9214" CreationDate="2015-05-07T11:48:21.000" Score="3" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you proceed to obtain a nice &quot;sit pretty&quot; from your dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clicker training is about clicking the right &quot;approximations&quot; at the right moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what would be the sequence of approximations that one should aim at?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine that starting from a sit and using a target (I use a stick with a cat-toy ball) is a good start, then clicking for the two front paws off the ground ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T07:52:14.393" Title="Training a dog to &quot;sit pretty&quot;" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-07T12:37:31.730" Score="4" ViewCount="4754" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does like his wet food but seems to particularly enjoy the liquid part of the food. He'll lick all of the jelly or gravy from the food first before eating any of the meat or fish chunks and sometimes will leave quite a lot of the meat behind but never leaves any liquid or jelly. Has anyone else found this with their cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this is because he gets unlimited amounts of dry food too and needs a fair amount of liquid to compensate. He does have a water fountain with a pump and filter which gets emptied out and refilled every few days which he seems to use regularly too. I don't see any signs that he's overweight or overeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would my cat seem to prefer the liquid from 'wet' cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-07T18:16:59.657" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T18:33:28.753" Title="Why would my cat seem to prefer 'liquid' food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9212" CreationDate="2015-05-07T13:14:34.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sit pretty is a very difficult thing for a dog to do and it's great exercise for them, especially if you ask them to alternate between &quot;pretty&quot; and &quot;down.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to help the dog, I found it easier to start sitting with legs and feet in a &quot;V&quot; so the dog has something to lean against. Then you can ask for a hand touch (if they know it) and get them used to the idea of being in that position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you can start reducing the amount of support and generalize in other areas like a corner and then a flat wall. Once they get the idea you can begin adding a &quot;pretty&quot; cue before they perform the maneuver. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't rush things and let your dog guide you as to when they are strong enough. Some dogs can pick it up quick and others need to build up their core a little more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T13:14:34.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2719" CreationDate="2015-05-07T15:02:09.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Aunt's Pomeranian does something very similar to what you describe. My Aunt always called it his happy dance. Occasionally, usually when he's excited from what I've seen, but sometime when just standing there, he'll stretch one leg straight back. I've seen him do it with both, but usually it's the back left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only got a vague second hand account of what the vet said, but it boiled down to poor breeding and medical problems. It was something like his hip or knee were locking and he was trying to pop them back into place. He also has issues with a collapsing trachea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poms and Papillions are both small dogs and what typically happens is that irresponsible breeders breed the smallest dogs to the smallest dogs to decrease the size and don't breed for genetic health. I would guess that something similar happened with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a vet and even if I were one, I wouldn't be able to diagnose it over the internet. It could just be a personality quirk. However, it is something to mention to the vet. I don't think she said there was anything to do, it's just something he has to live with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T15:02:09.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7645" CreationDate="2015-05-07T16:18:58.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat meows for basic communication. If it was attacking it would probably hiss and arch its back. Sounds like she has learned you mean milk. But if the cat does not seem to have any owners, I would suggest trying to get all 3 of the kittens and take them to a no-kill shelter after they get a bit older. Also you could adopt them yourself - if this was the case, then take them to a vet first to have them examined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4030" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:53:01.910" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:53:01.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9213" CreationDate="2015-05-07T16:58:31.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gelatin is added to canned meat products to absorb juices and help retain structure and definition to the product during sterilization. There's a lot of tasty goodness from a feline perspective, especially with lots of fats in the mix. Being an avid cook, I like to refer to &quot;fat&quot; as being an acronym for &quot;flavor and texture&quot; for a reason: it has them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're unlikely to find a food with increased amounts of it, given the purpose I described, but it is important that your cat also eats the main portions of the food too. There are necessary nutrients there and so I would probably leave well-enough alone and let him enjoy the little treat at the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T16:58:31.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9213" CreationDate="2015-05-07T18:33:28.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wild, cats get most of their moisture from prey -- if you've watched how inefficient drinking is for a cat this'll come as no surprise. The housecat breed is descended from desert cats, which may help explain this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So wet food really is better for them, in some ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &quot;in gravy&quot; catfoods which mine like -- though they'll extract all the gravy and only eat the chunks as an afterthought if they get hungry later. I try to give them this as a treat every other day or so, to supplement the dry kibble. My vet would like wet food to be a bigger part of their diet despite the dental concerns; I'm working on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-05-07T18:33:28.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-07T22:53:42.390" Score="2" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family just got a Shetland Sheepdog. He is seven months old, and has been a little bit trained. (He knows to do his business outside, and will sit on command somewhat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had him a week, and he has warmed up to my wife and five children, but remains very shy with me. I speak very kindly to him, but he seems afraid of me, and will often not come even to take a treat out of my hand. Another example of his shyness is that he is unwilling to go in our out if I am the one holding the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that we have not had this dog long, but I'm worried that I may be teaching him to disobey me. Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5046" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T09:58:00.337" Title="What to do with my shy Sheltie?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9219" CreationDate="2015-05-08T09:50:12.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you describe the situation the dog seems to be quite &quot;normal&quot; (no history of mistreatment) and some shyness can be expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I have two remarks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is not about dominance, or the dog wanting to disobey you, trying to control you or whatever. These kinds of &quot;explanations&quot; lead nowhere, are often counterproductive and sometimes lead people to actually mistreat their dogs (&quot;asserting dominance&quot;, &quot;alpha roll&quot;, etc.). A dog that seems to disobey on purpose can be very frustrating, but keep in mind that he's not doing that to piss you off, even if frustrated it is your role to teach/train him so that he'll succeed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can have a single bad experience and remember it very well. Even if your dog was treated very kindly by the breeder, maybe it had some bad experience and that's why he's afraid of you. E.g. someone with a big beard and a red hat stepped on his tail, and then he's afraid of people with beard and red hats...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the dog is shy, what do we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using positive reinforcement and marker (clicker) training, you can make some good progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the goal is to teach the dog that being around you is a good thing. To do that you have to reinforce every tiny steps he can take to come closer to you, to go out when you're at the door, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you idea of using treats is a good one, but you have to do it differently: if you hold the treat in your hand and he's coming to you, that's a good step you'd like to reinforce, but if you have the treat in your hand, you can only reinforce when he's coming very close to you. So that's like a binary situation: either is very close to you or he's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to reinforce every tiny step: take some treats, as he's approaching &quot;click&quot; and throw a treat. That way you reinforced him to come to you, and at the same time you hit the &quot;reset&quot; button: he's going away to take the treat, so he can come back and get another treat ! That's very powerful in term of reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first you can show him the treat to motive him to come closer to you (lure), but then do it without the treat, it is a reward, not a lure, coming when he's offering the behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As time passes, you'll only reinforce him when getting closer and closer to you. Another thing to keep in mind is: don't just make it harder and harder, sometime you can reinforce an easy step, that makes it fun for him and easier for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T09:58:00.337" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T09:58:00.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-08T11:19:34.157" Score="2" ViewCount="1829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male Japanese spitz who is 5 weeks old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to feed him Doggy Doggy liquid vitamins. The vet says it's fine for him to take. I'm using a dropper to administer them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But every time I try, he closes his mouth. How can I get him to take the vitamins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5049" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T11:27:53.843" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:57:01.213" Title="How can I get my dog to take liquid vitamins from a dropper?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9223" CreationDate="2015-05-08T12:56:14.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say mix the liquid with some soft food - or, if you have to, mix it in his water. You could also try putting some on your finger to see if he will lick it off; that's a start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not force it, but that's just me. Others might say it's all about personal preference. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5048" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T16:52:25.313" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:52:25.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-08T13:18:24.077" Score="3" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Europe vaccination history and pertaining information about your pet are collected in his pet passport. Now we moved away from Europe and are about to get another pet (in addition to the ones we brought with us). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is: The EU only sells passports to veterinary doctors (even though the passports apparently serve no other purpose than the person's convenience). But collecting vaccination information in the form of loose sheets of paper is ridiculous! Let alone the fact that the microchip info etc. is missing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I order pet passports online?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't care if it's made in China and is a fake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=eu+heimtier+ausweis&amp;amp;es_sm=91&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=BLdMVaH8J6GnmAXQqoAw&amp;amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&amp;amp;biw=1367&amp;amp;bih=651&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Click here if you don't know what I'm talking about&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T13:27:10.023" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T15:39:39.890" Title="Are blank pet passports available outside of the EU?" Tags="&lt;travel&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9223" CreationDate="2015-05-08T15:20:36.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that mixing it with food is the best bet. You'll want to try to make it as pleasant as possible for him. On the other hand, some dogs just won't take it. My grandmother's Keeshond is like that with her liquid arthritis medicine. She's a snobby eater and shares a food area with another dog. She also refuses to open her mouth or take treats. Granted, I could probably control her food and make her hungry enough to eat it, but that's a lot of work and the dog won't like you any better for that than for squirting liquid in his mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the keeshond, I simply take the needle-less syringe and put the tip near her back teeth, holding her nose up. I squirt it and it goes between her teeth. She has to swallow. She locks her jaw and won't open her mouth for pills and the like, so this is the best option I have available. If you can get him to take it through trickery, that's best. This is also an option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, your vet said it's okay for him to take vitamins, but did he say they were necessary? The best option you probably have is to buy a high quality dog food. That should do a much better job than giving a lower quality food and trying to balance it with liquid vitamins. On the other hand, if you're already giving a high quality dog food, then he probably doesn't need the additional vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T16:57:01.213" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:57:01.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9225" CreationDate="2015-05-08T15:39:39.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many solutions some are available &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=750&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;commercially for less than a dollar&lt;/a&gt; There is even a least one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freeprintablemedicalforms.com/preview/Pet_Health_Record&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;free version&lt;/a&gt; All you really need is a note book. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As all posts to Pets.SE are licensed &lt;a href=&quot;http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cc by-sa 3.0&lt;/a&gt; maybe someone will post an answer with all the fields that everyone can print and use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T15:39:39.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-08T16:46:21.530" Score="4" ViewCount="1940" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two cats. One is rough and tumble, (Nora) , the other small and sweet, (Luna)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are sisters and have been in our care two years from birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nora will seek out attention from me. And when I pet her, she runs away, calls for me to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pet her again. She rolls her side as I pet her. She rolls over, as I pet her other side. She stands up, nuzzles my hand, then falls on her side, I pet her. She meows occasionally during each sequence of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luna has never done this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food, water, litter, and toy emergencies are not happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand cats share emotions differently. Is this Nora's way of showing affection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5051" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T17:22:33.700" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:19:20.120" Title="Cat meows when being pet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9228" CreationDate="2015-05-08T17:25:12.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fall over is usually &quot;I acknowledge you as the dominant member of our clowder.&quot; Plus &quot;if I do this humans seem to respond favorably.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For pets, 'cute' is a survival skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T17:25:12.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9238" CreationDate="2015-05-08T19:01:13.580" Score="6" ViewCount="1691" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have recently acquired a Boston Terrier. It's our first dog, but we are amazed by her capacity to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been told to keep her isolated until her third shot (she is getting V8, but I'm unsure if the vaccine name is not local only - we live in Brazil).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have read that the reason for the total of 3 shots are that there is no way to know when the protection from the mother will wear off, and until that the vaccine might not be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is the case, is she not protected, either by her mothers mild or by the vaccine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main reason for asking is that it's a great pain to keep her isolated. For us, but mostly for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information on the vaccine:&lt;/strong&gt; It's for cinomosis, canine hepatite, adenovirus, parvovirus, canine parainfluenza, canine Coronavírus, leptospirosis and Leptospira Icterohaemorrhagiae. There are 2 main vaccines in Brazil, V8 and V10... We were told Boston Terriers didn't take the 10 very well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5054" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-08T23:52:43.920" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T14:12:14.817" Title="Keep dog isolated until fully vaccinated" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-08T19:21:59.463" Score="2" ViewCount="3845" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XXboZ9fPpc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; on YouTube of animals drifting off and trying to stay awake (by jerking their heads etc. like humans do). Why do they do this instead of just letting themselves fall asleep? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5055" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-05-09T12:42:32.063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T09:19:44.677" Title="Why do animals try to stay awake when they need sleep?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7562" CreationDate="2015-05-08T20:21:28.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be careful using human products on reptiles, as they have sensitivities to particular chemicals. I'm not familiar with TCP but &quot;phenol&quot; is part of the name and phenols (like in Listerine, Pine-Sol, and other disinfectants) can be toxic to reptiles (Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Disinfectants.html).&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Disinfectants.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most minor cuts might be better left alone unless the animal is delicate or in poor health. Stress from handling to treat the wound might do more harm than good, depending on the animal. Some reptile-safe disinfectants for wound cleaning are Betadine (povidone-iodine) and Novalsan (chlorhexidine diacetate or gluconate), used for wound irrigation and topical disinfectant. Silvadene (silver sulfadiazine) cream is used for burns or bacterial/fungal skin infections. Minor cuts can be treated with Neosporin Original ointment WITHOUT pain killers. Sometimes the wound just needs to be covered and kept moist, in which case plain petroleum jelly or even pure honey can be used. (Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-738-HONEY.aspx?activeIngredientId=738&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=HONEY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-738-HONEY.aspx?activeIngredientId=738&amp;amp;activeIngredientName=HONEY&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2015-05-08T20:21:28.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6432" CreationDate="2015-05-08T21:39:17.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy a vermicomposter or build one. The size of the worm bin will depend on what species or how many worms you are culturing. If you will be raising them outside, your climate and temperatures will impact the productivity of your worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lumbricus terrestris&lt;/em&gt; earthworms require cool temperatures (50-70 °F). European earth worms (&lt;em&gt;Eisenia hortensis&lt;/em&gt;) can tolerate 40 °F. Red wigglers (&lt;em&gt;Eisenia foetida&lt;/em&gt;) are smaller than either and might be a good choice as a whole-prey item as they don't need to be cut into pieces. Below is information on &lt;em&gt;E. foetida&lt;/em&gt; specifically, but you may be able to adapt the guide to other species as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Red wigglers are the most popular for composting, they are small and tolerate a wide range of temperatures (40-100 °F) but do best between 70-80 °F. If your turtle likes to eat them, they are perfect choice. Make sure they are palatable, as some reptiles, especially garter snakes, do not like them and they may even have toxic properties to them. (Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gartersnake.info/articles/2006/feeding-earthworms-red-wigglers-vs-nightcrawlers.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.gartersnake.info/articles/2006/feeding-earthworms-red-wigglers-vs-nightcrawlers.php&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to consider two containers, one for breeding and one for gutloading them to make them more nutritious for your turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For breeding your colony, 2 large (64-72 quarts which is around 64 liters) plastic bins can be used: one will have drainage holes and the other will catch the liquid that is produced by general decomposition via worms and microbes. Use substrate such as shredded paper, coco fiber, or peat moss, submerged in water then placed into the bin. Do not use dirt, clay, sand or other soils: no earth for the earthworms. Keep a damp piece of burlap cloth on top to keep moisture in. Aerate the soil once a week by digging material from the bottom up with a blunt tool or your hands. Add water if it feels dry or just add more moist food to the top and make sure to cover with damp cloth. You can dump the liquid in the bottom bin whenever you wish. Pour out into the garden or lawn, it's good fertilizer but a bit smelly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good guide on starting your homemade worm bin: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worms4earth.com/getstarted.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.worms4earth.com/getstarted.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed your breeding colony a variety of kitchen vegetable scraps. Avoid meat,  dairy and processed salty foods. Worms eat microorganisms growing on the food as well as very tiny bits of the food, so chopped and/or cooked food is best. Do not overload your bin with food, you will get odors and pests. The bedding you use will also be eaten, so you don't have to &quot;feed&quot; too much. Vermicomposters and gardeners have different needs for their worm bins so they can put in a larger variety of plant matter to compost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For worms you are going to feed out to your turtle, you can put them in a smaller bin (16 quarts which is around 15 liters) with no drainage holes and slightly drier bedding. Put a mixture of tropical fish flakes, oatmeal, and a calcium supplement for 1-2 days before feeding to your turtle. In the wild, earthworms are high in calcium due to minerals in the soil but calcium is lacking in most kitchen scraps. You could  also include high-calcium veggies like dandelions or other greens and high-vitamin veggies like squash and sweet potato.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to harvest some worms within a few weeks, but be sure to leave the biggest ones that are breeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:38:43.257" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:38:43.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-09T02:33:32.170" Score="2" ViewCount="689" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pair of budgies were doing fine with their first clutch.&#xA;2 out of 5 eggs hatched so far and I am expecting the next egg to hatch tomorrow. &#xA;However, just this morning I found my hen fighting with her mate, and refuses to let him anywhere near the nest box. I isolated the male, but would want to know why/ how this happened. They seemed to have gotten along just fine until now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, would my hen be able to raise potentially 5 chicks on her own? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5060" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T03:32:46.930" Title="Why are my pair of budgies fighting?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9230" CreationDate="2015-05-09T09:44:59.913" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that some vets recommend that, but that's actually a critically bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I assume she's about 8 weeks old ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Critical period&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 weeks to around 16 week is called the &lt;em&gt;critical period&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;critical period of socialisation&lt;/em&gt;. It is at that time that most of the fear / no-fear behaviours and reactions to noises, people, cars, etc. are learned and taken deep into their memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you should really take her out, let her discover what her future environment will be like. Try to let her have good new experiences everyday. When my Brittany was young I actually made and list and I was checking the items: take the bus, train, car ride, moving stairway, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this should out the risk of not being fully protected by the vaccine yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition you can take measures to reduce that risk: do not meet random dogs and make sure that the dogs she meet are correctly vaccined and not sick (puppy classes usually check that before allowing the dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also carry smaller pups in your jacket or in a bike basket, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless your vet has a very clear and very specific reason to suspect that she would be at risk, I would seriously reconsider the idea of isolating her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Personal experience&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone in my family got a Border Collie and was instructed by the vet to keep him isolated until getting all the primo-vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This turned out to be a disaster, the dog is in a really bad condition. He spends most of his days in the dark in the cellar, often stops dead in the streets and pull like crazy to go back home, etc. I described the problem in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2591/how-to-improve-the-condition-of-a-very-fearful-dog&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very convinced that this related to the absence of experiences during the critical period. Other things might play a role here and I can't conclude &quot;scientifically&quot; with only one case, but for me that was definitely a perfect example of what I've read concerning the socialisation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T14:12:14.817" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2267" CreationDate="2015-05-10T05:22:24.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat training, like with dogs, depends on temperament and motivation. Some breeds are known for being easier to train, like Bengals or Siamese cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food motivation can be promoted by having a strict feeding schedule. It makes it easier to use regular food instead of fattening cat treats as a &quot;treat.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teaching a cat &quot;Sit&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is motivated &quot;sit,&quot; is a pretty easy trick for a cat to learn.  Using a treat, hold the treat over and behind your cats head until he sits. When he does sit, say &quot;sit.&quot; Repeat this process, several times throughout the week, then try getting him to sit, by just using the command while he is aware that you are holding a treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you may be able to have your cat respond to the word &quot;sit&quot; without external motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teaching a cat to fetch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fetch is a one of the more rewarding tricks you can teach your cat. Everyone I showed that my cat could fetch was impressed, and the cat loved the game and would even request a play session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important aspect of being successful with fetch is to use a toy that your cat can actually carry in his mouth. Tiny plush mouse toys may work, but I've had the most success with mouth sized crumbled balls of paper and hair tie rubber bands, but be sure to put these away after play to ensure that these things are not eaten!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Test their interest with the right toys&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need to gauge your cats interest in a play session and have a good stockpile of throw toys (paper balls or hair ties). You will know your cat is interested in playing if your cat chases after the throw toy and bats it around. Paper balls are great, because they make noises. Rubber band hair ties bounce and are easier for a cat to carry in their mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Throw lots of toys and let your cat chase the toys&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your cat loses interest in the throw toy, after batting it around, throw another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is making the game the motivation. You want the cat to learn that they can get more things to chase if they play fetch. You want to give them a steady stream of things to chase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Keep throwing toys and reward your cat when a toy makes it back to you by throwing the toy again&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patience is key here, because you want your cat to bat the throw toy back to you. When the toy gets back to you, you can throw it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually your cat will learn that the toy is much more fun when he brings it back to you, because he gets to chase it when you throw it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is food motivated, a treat each time it brings back the toy may help encourage the process. However, in my experience, a cat that is already motivated to play will be interested in the better play experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="160" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T05:22:24.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-10T05:26:46.610" Score="3" ViewCount="2905" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't had a fish for ten years and two days ago an anonymous person gave me one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right now he doesn't move much and doesn't eat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is in a smaller fish bowl and doesn't come up unless he is moved.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Occasionally when I come in he is at the surface then sinks back down to the bottom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried he is sick and I don't know what to do!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5062" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2015-05-10T15:00:28.597" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T18:19:52.357" Title="What should I do about my betta fish sinking?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-10T09:36:36.663" Score="2" ViewCount="472" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been watching some documentary and these dogs are of course super impressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So these dogs obviously must have some good physical capabilities and are very well trained, over many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time it seems that rescue dogs are often selected, trained and given to emergency response teams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On what basis are they selected? What are the essential qualities they should possess?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T08:29:02.393" Title="What qualities are essential for a Search And Rescue dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9240" CreationDate="2015-05-10T21:28:51.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's a small bowl, bring the entire setup to your local aquarium or pet shop. They will test your water and tell you if you have a water chemistry problems. They'll also be able to tell you how to care for the fish on an on-going basis. If it turns out there is something physically wrong with the fish, they'll also be able to advise you about possible treatments or if a vet visit is warranted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2015-05-10T21:28:51.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-11T03:43:23.520" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;One day I accidentally hurt my cute little dog and she got so scared she thought she had to stay by me 24/7. She had her head down looking scared, literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Than after a while she was always close to me and I didn't notice and accidentally kicked he. She cried a little and she stayed by me even more then. It keeps on going and going. I want my dog to know that she can be a farther distance away from me and we can be buds again and snuggle without crying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how to help this. How do I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5068" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-11T13:41:31.830" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T13:41:31.830" Title="I want to help my dog feel better" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-05-12T00:13:59.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9263" CreationDate="2015-05-11T04:18:53.907" Score="4" ViewCount="470" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I'm currently looking for a dog for my family and I'm not really sure where to start my research. In the past I've always gotten a dog through a friend of a friend but we recently moved and I don't know anyone around me with puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to look online, but I could only really find pure breeds or expensive &quot;designer&quot; dogs. I'm really just looking for a well rounded mutt for my family of two teenage boys and a big yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at the dog shelters but they didn't have very many dogs for adoption and now I think I'm out of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where can I find a puppy (under 6 months old) in rural Michigan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5069" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-13T00:23:52.193" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T00:03:58.010" Title="Where to find/buy a good puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9248" CreationDate="2015-05-11T12:09:44.847" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So many family dogs are abandoned when their previous owners become tired of caring for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So many fighting / racing / breeding dogs are scheduled for euthanasia when their owners deem them to be worthless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please consider adopting a dog from a shelter or organisation dedicated to placing ex breeding / racing / fighting dogs into good homes with loving families. So many beautiful dogs waiting for a home with so much character. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look in the internet some more, you should find, depending on your location, organisations that look to shelter all types of dogs and place them with suitable new owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T12:09:44.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9251" CreationDate="2015-05-11T12:28:23.210" Score="4" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;We took a foster dog 4 days ago and he's been a bit depressed, not eating nearly enough, no matter what food we give him, but all in all he is very calm and quiet. He's trained and does tricks, not violent even to cats. Slowly he's started to play with us and get close to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hes a mixed shepherd, about 40 kilos, 4 years old and was taken to the dog house a few days before we started to foster him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we took him to a coffee hose (no the first time) and people came up to pet him (not the first time either) and suddenly out of nowhere he attacked them in a violent way we've never seen before. No damage was done but he bit the guy's pant's and made a little bit of a scene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any idea why this might happen?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are we to expect more reactions like this out of nowhere?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to react to this behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can we see this coming?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More importantly - we were considering adopting him after the foster&#xA;time is over and we're having second thoughts, is there any way we&#xA;can know if he is dangerous to us?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now we're a bit scared of him, not because of the reaction itself but because it was so sudden and unexpected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T14:25:12.540" Title="Foster dog suddenly violent" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9250" CreationDate="2015-05-11T14:25:12.540" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because this is a foster dog, you should contact the shelter/rescue you are fostering for. They are ultimately liable for the dogs behavior and may want try different solutions, like having him foster with someone else.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell them what is going on, their response could be anything from helping you work through the behavior to trading him for a different dog for you to foster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-05-11T14:25:12.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-11T22:50:29.053" Score="1" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 18 year old Jack Russel will lap up his own urine when he urinates on the floor by accident. Why does he do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5075" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T00:54:16.393" Title="My dog licks up his own urine" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-05-12T11:35:47.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9333" CreationDate="2015-05-12T05:21:19.270" Score="4" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three parrots, I have to move to another state. How can I carry parrots in Indian Railway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, which type of cage or food is required, or else what do I have to do. How can I care for my parrots (physically and mentally) during the journey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I &lt;a href=&quot;https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/47478/how-to-carry-parrots-in-indian-railway&quot;&gt;asked about the procedure&lt;/a&gt;, which documents are required (I heard that I had to get a certificate from the High Court), and things like that at Travel.SE. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5077" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:52:14.490" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T19:35:50.627" Title="How to carry or transport a pet parrot in Indian Railway" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9212" CreationDate="2015-05-12T07:39:29.443" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQUerO0woqw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Youtube video&lt;/a&gt; showing a technique to teach &quot;sit pretty&quot; using clicker positive reinforcement. It appears to be a good complement to the other answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the description of the video:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The trick 'Sit Pretty' is one of my favorite exercises to teach dogs. It is not only an adorable trick, but it has many benefits that make it a must to train. Teaching 'Sit Pretty' increases your dog's balance and body awareness. It also builds your dogs core muscles which protect the spine from injury during dog sports or playing fetch. 'Sit Pretty' is a trick for healthy dogs. If your dog has pre-existing injuries, consult a physical therapist to inquire if this trick is safe for your specific dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-12T07:52:14.393" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T07:52:14.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9269" CreationDate="2015-05-12T16:23:22.673" Score="2" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are expecting a puppy in June and I'm anticipating that chewing stage. We already bought 3 sizes of Kongs for the pup to grow through, but my understanding is that those are for treats, especially good for crate training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed antlers in both our mainstream Petco as well as our local boutique pet stores. They are all &quot;split&quot; antlers. It wasn't until I researched antler questions here that I realized that antlers were even sold whole. We're expecting a rough-coated (Lassie style, not border) collie and I don't know their chew strength yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone fill me in on the chew resistance of split versus whole antlers and whether they have any side effects (digestive/dangerous splitting/teeth cleaning ability/etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-05-12T17:39:44.843" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T18:26:00.193" Title="Are split antlers as good as whole antlers for chewing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-12T17:12:17.707" Score="12" ViewCount="15116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an easy (external) way to tell if a female cat has been spayed? A neighbor is considering adopting an abandoned stray and I'm trying to help them determine if the cat has already been spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-05-13T00:40:59.187" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T01:29:16.107" Title="Determining if a Female Cat Was Spayed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9259" CreationDate="2015-05-12T17:32:24.623" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ear Tips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats are desexed as part of a &amp;quot;catch and release&amp;quot; program (to manage ferals), the medical staff &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt; clip the tip of one ear (use of this practice varies with providers). So, if the cat is missing an ear tip, she is probably spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spay Scars&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look for a scar from a spay. If there is a scar, that's a good indication that she has been spayed. It's not a 100% indicator (she may have had abdominal surgery and not a spay), but it's highly likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lbah.com/word/spay-feline/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Long Beach Animal Hospital&lt;/a&gt;, for a midline spay (common in the US) the incision is usually made near the cat's belly button and located at the &amp;quot;linea alba, and is the area where the abdominal muscles meet&amp;quot;. There are (graphic) pictures of the surgery at the link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some locations (&lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/159/10/309.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;such as the UK&lt;/a&gt;) flank spays are more common than midline (belly) spaying. If you are in one of these locations, you should check her flank instead of her belly for scars. The most common location for a flank spay scar seems to be where the leg meets the belly, but I recommend a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=flank%20spay&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMImpq1t4-gyAIVhFQ-Ch2_NAKf&amp;amp;biw=1280&amp;amp;bih=588&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;google image search for &amp;quot;flank spay&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; to get an idea of how widely the position can vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During surgery, the vet will try to minimize the length of the incision so that healing is not as difficult. The result (in a healed cat) is that the scar will be small and may be difficult to find. To see the skin you may need to shave her (which can be difficult for a stray you are trying to build trust with!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Estrus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she goes into heat (i.e. estrus), she has &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; been spayed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/estrus-cycles-in-cats/5635&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;VCA Hospitals&lt;/a&gt; gives the following information about symptoms of cat estrus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not common to observe vaginal bleeding from a cat in heat. The most notable signs of estrus in cats are behavioral. Most cats become very affectionate, even demanding; they persistently rub against people or objects such as furniture, rubbing against their owners and constantly demanding attention. They roll on the floor. When stroked along the back or spine, they raise their rear quarters into the air and tread with the back legs. They also become very vocal. These behavior changes often become annoying to owners, and sometimes owners think their cat has some unusual illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some female cats will urinate more frequently or may even spray urine on vertical objects (&amp;quot;marking&amp;quot;) when they are in heat. The urine contains both pheromones and hormones, both of which act as signals of her reproductive status to other cats. This is the reason that queens in heat attract intact male cats. In some cases, this may be the first indication that a young cat has reached puberty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomcats that have never been seen before in the yard or neighborhood will appear and may attempt to enter the house to mate with the female, or may spray your house with urine to mark 'their territory'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When in doubt, ask your vet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet is the best source of information about the health status of your new pet, and you should always take a new family member in to the vet within the first 2-3 weeks of ownership for an initial assessment. That allows the vet to see your pet in a normal, healthy state so that if you have to bring her in for an illness later the vet has a baseline to compare. An initial visit is also a good time to test a stray cat for diseases such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/brochure_fiv.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;FIV&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/brochure_felv.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;FeLV&lt;/a&gt;, and get age/area appropriate vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, when considering adopting a stray cat it is good practice to have the cat scanned for a microchip. Some microchip databases track spay/neuter status, and the cat's owners may be looking for it. Most vet offices have a scanner and can perform this check for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T01:29:16.107" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2015-05-12T18:41:42.460" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wasn't able to find any solid research (at all, on playing with cats and laser pointers). What I can find is animal behaviorists who say that laser pointers (without transition to a solid toy/treat) are psychologically harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/about/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pam Johnson-Bennett&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://iaabc.org/join#certified&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Certified Cat Behavior Consultant&lt;/a&gt;, on TV show Psycho Kitty) gives additional reasons why &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/should-you-use-a-laser-light-toy-with-your-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;laser pointers are frustrating&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are tactile creatures and when they pounce on their prey they&#xA;rely on being able to feel their captured treasure underneath their&#xA;paws. Cats have carpal whiskers on the underside of their paws (at the&#xA;wrist) and they use those whiskers to detect movement of prey when&#xA;they have their paw over it. Imagine doing a great job of stalking and&#xA;pouncing and repeatedly NEVER feeling as if you’ve successfully&#xA;captured your intended target. Putting a paw over a laser light is an&#xA;exercise in frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the other certified cat behaviorists that I found online don't seem to have very instructive websites/articles on this particular issue, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fundamentallyfeline.com/About-Us.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ingrid Johnson&lt;/a&gt; (Certified Cat Behavior Consultant) &lt;a href=&quot;http://iaabc.org/cat/eye-stalk-chase-pounce-kill&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;states&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats may seem like pampered indoor housecats, but on the inside they are still fierce predators! The greatest thrill for a cat is what is referred to as the “completion of the sequence of the kill.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important when we are playing with our cats that we remember this sequence and try to mimic it the best we can. Whether playing with an individual toy or engaging in interactive play with you, it is important to allow them to capture their prey. Many people think it is funny to not let the cat catch the toy; this is actually very frustrating and quite frankly, not nice. If you play using a laser light toy, give your cat a tangible object to capture at the end of the play session, feed them a meal or offer treats, something that says you caught it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, Jackson Galaxy (on TV with My Cat From Hell, but who does not appear to have formal training/certification) gives two cases when laser pointers are useful (&lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/2011/11/18/laser-toys-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;to get a cat motivated before transition to a physical toy&lt;/a&gt; and to &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/2011/11/21/laser-toys-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-part-2-2/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;distract during intercat aggression&lt;/a&gt;) but he gives the &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/2011/11/28/laser-toys-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-part-3/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;downside&lt;/a&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they can’t catch “the dot,” and the dot is put away at your convenience, then there will be an “inappropriate victim” down the line: other cats in the house, or your ankles as you walk by.  It’s like winding up a jack-in-the-box and expecting the top not to blow off.  If used as the only toy in the cat’s play life, the laser pointer can actually help promote further play aggression, and undo the benefits of play therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T18:41:42.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9248" CreationDate="2015-05-12T19:24:24.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many rescue organizations work out of volunteer's private homes and can be difficult to find. Additionally, even if an organization lists their available pets on their web site, that list may not be up to date, especially during times when puppies may have a high turnover rate. You may have better luck locating a rescue in your area and calling them instead of just looking at their listings on a web site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if there aren't any puppies in the area, let the rescue groups know that you specifically want a puppy and will wait for it. Ask them if you should call back (and how often) or if they keep a list and will call you if a puppy becomes available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following resources can be used to help you locate a local puppy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look on a national pet search database such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petfinder&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://theshelterpetproject.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Shelter Pet Project&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some stores also hold adoption events. A list/map of these stores can be found on &lt;a href=&quot;http://nopetstorepuppies.com/map-goodstores&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;No Pet Store Puppies&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Call local veterinary offices and/or grooming salons. They may know of puppies looking for new homes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look for local classified advertisements. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In my area there are a large number of &quot;yardsale&quot; Facebook groups and puppies are often advertised there. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Craigslist often also sees a lot of pet postings. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a community forum or mailing list, you can usually find advertisements there (or can make a post yourself asking for references).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some community oriented stores/studios (like my local yoga studio) will have a community message board for advertisements &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you find a puppy you should consider if you are ethically comfortable with how the puppy was produced and raised. Many folks find &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6798/what-is-the-procedure-for-adopting-a-purebred-dog-in-the-united-states/6804#6804&quot;&gt;backyard breeders&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1633/what-is-the-difference-between-a-reputable-breeder-and-a-pet-mill&quot;&gt;puppy mills&lt;/a&gt; distasteful and using these methods to find a puppy may turn up a dog from these origins. Puppies produced from these sources may be &quot;purebred&quot; but often were not screened for health/behavior problems that may surface later in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T19:29:30.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6607" CreationDate="2015-05-12T20:22:36.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The symptoms that you describe seem to describe feline herpes (also known as FHV-1).  The ASPCA lists &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/herpes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;symptoms of a feline herpes infection&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sneezing “attacks”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Discharge from the nose and eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Conjunctivitis or pink eye (inflammation of the eyelid)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lesions in and around the eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eye ulcers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Congestion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Depression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Loss of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Drooling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Squinting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While most cats can suppress the infection once their immune system learns it, a few cats are never able to fully rid themselves of the symptoms of feline herpes. One of my four has daily sneezing and nasal discharge from it. Otherwise he's fine and lives a normal life, we just sometimes wipe his nose (and our walls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I'm not a vet, feline herpes is extremely common in rescued cats, so it's a reasonable suspicion. Your vet probably sees this problem daily and didn't take the time to explain it. I don't have a particularly good feeling about a veterinarian that doesn't realize as common as it is to THEM, it's new to YOU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also check with my vet regularly (once a year or so) to see if there are any new treatments for feline herpes, so that's another thing you can do. There are a few treatments that are being researched, but there is not any evidence that they work yet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Investigational Treatments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6591/224&quot;&gt;Probiotics&lt;/a&gt;. There isn't any evidence either way that this works, but it doesn't hurt and can be helpful if there are also gastrointestinal issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9265/does-l-lysine-supplementation-help-cats-with-feline-herpes&quot;&gt;L-Lysine&lt;/a&gt;. Again, the evidence at this point is conflicting but it is made into treats and palatable pastes so you can try it without any harm to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Managing Symptoms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the current treatments focus on managing symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet recommends saline nasal drops (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.littleremedies.com/natural-remedies/nose-remedies/saline-spray-drops/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;, commonly marketed for children/babies). Any drops you use should NOT contain any medications without the advice of your veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can keep your cat in a steamy area (like the bathroom while you take a shower, or a large carrier near a humidifier) to help break up the mucous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat develops a secondary infection, antibiotics can be helpful (talk to your vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping your cat hydrated is important (the mucous will be thinner and easier to deal with). &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1886/224&quot;&gt;Consider switching to wet food&lt;/a&gt; if you feed dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, make sure that you monitor your cat's food intake. If your cat cannot smell her food, she may not want to eat it. You can heat wet food for a few seconds in the microwave or add smelly tuna juice to it to increase palatability. If she doesn't eat for a few days she can become &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2541/224&quot;&gt;seriously ill&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sidenote: Corneal Ulceration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most damaging affects from feline herpes is the development of eye ulcers. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/cornealulcers.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cornell University&lt;/a&gt; gives the symptoms of a eye ulcer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The clinical signs of corneal ulceration include inflammation of the tissue surrounding the cornea; seepage of discharge from the eye; clouding of the cornea; and apparent hypersensitivity to bright light. An affected cat may squint, rub its eyes, and behave as if it is having vision problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice these signs in the future, you should take your cat back to the vet to be evaluated for an ulcer. While most ulcers will heal on their own, they can cause severe discomfort and in rare cases can permanently affect the cat's vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-05-12T21:02:50.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20303" CreationDate="2015-05-12T21:02:22.067" Score="9" ViewCount="1007" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has chronic congestion and sneezing (aka feline viral rhinopneumonitis (FVR) or feline herpesvirus type 1 (FHV-1)). During a recent flareup (the congestion worsened so that he stopped eating) my vet sold us a bag of L-Lysine treats and instructed us to feed 6 treats a day normally, or 12 during a flareup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, Hunter thinks they are the best food ever so he is eating again, but is there any scientific evidence that L-Lysine can help a cat with chronic sinus congestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-13T00:30:37.927" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T19:09:19.223" Title="Does L-Lysine supplementation help cats with feline herpes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6957" CreationDate="2015-05-13T01:04:03.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adjusting Mealtimes/Amounts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will gradually learn that food will be given to her when she needs it. You can help her learn this faster by making sure that meals are given on a regular schedule (you can use a timed feeder if you need to, I've had good success with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002YHUPC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CatMate C50&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also help to feed small meals more often (again, the timed feeder helps with this!). That way she doesn't get as hungry between meals so that the old starvation response from her days as a stray kicks in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slowing Down Her Eating&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience with puzzle feeders (and slow feed bowls) mentioned in the other answers is dependent on the cat's personality. They're good for Romeo because when he was a stray he got used to digging in everything to scrounge for food, and he still sometimes snuffles around the house &quot;scrounging&quot; (he's teaching us to keep our dirty dishes cleaned up!). On the other hand, Juliet grew up in a hoarder's house and also had food anxiety, but she never learned this &quot;scrounging&quot; habit. She learned to eat out of a puzzle feeder from watching the other cats, but it doesn't affect her behavior at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise/Play&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other key in managing her weight is making sure she gets enough exercise. You can incorporate food into her exercise regime to make it more interesting for her. One easy game to play is to take a small handful of dry kibble and throw them across the room for her to catch (one at a time). Incorporating food and interactive play will reinforce that you are the source of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T01:04:03.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7898" CreationDate="2015-05-13T01:50:41.930" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the lactated ringers have been sealed and kept in controlled conditions (stable temperature, humidity, etc), there is a high probability that they are safe to use. If there is any question about the history of product (it sat in someone's car for a few hours), there is no data on the likely performance and it is probably better to discard the solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has administered the Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP) for the Department of Defense for over 20 years. The goal of SLEP is to reduce government spending by testing medications (and other materiel) that have passed their manufacturer's expiration date to determine if the materiel is still useful (so the DoD does not have to dispose of it and repurchase replacement materiel). In 2006, &lt;a href=&quot;http://ofcaems.org/ds-Stability_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a paper summarized the data&lt;/a&gt; that had been collected so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pharmaceutical drug products sealed in original container closures are stored under controlled conditions by the military services. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the expiration date approaches, a sample (subset) of the lot is sent for testing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For injectable solutions, the attributes [assessed] were potency, impurities, pH, preservatives, and physical appearance (color, particulates). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the 20 years reported in this study, 59 lots of lactated ringers were tested. 95% of these lots (56) had acceptable attributes at the time of this study. The expiration date of these lots had been extended a minimum of 23 months and maximum of 125 months. The lots that failed had improper levels of calcium and sodium (the report doesn't say how far off and in which direction the levels were incorrect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reference&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lyon, R. C., Taylor, J. S., Porter, D. A., Prasanna, H. R. and Hussain, A. S. (2006), Stability profiles of drug products extended beyond labeled expiration dates. J. Pharm. Sci., 95: 1549–1560. doi: 10.1002/jps.20636&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T01:50:41.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-13T01:56:12.870" Score="4" ViewCount="1119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter and son were playing and somehow accidentally threw a piece of gum in my boyfriend's aquarium. Before I could get it out, it had already fallen behind the rocks. I'm afraid to tell him,  but I'm also afraid to not, too!  Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5081" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T13:02:21.637" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T13:02:21.637" Title="Can chewing gum hurt a saltwater aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9258" CreationDate="2015-05-13T06:01:20.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There shouldn't be any significant difference between them except the dog having a far easier time to chew on the split ones, especially if inexperienced (which makes them the better option for now). The puppy might lose interest on the full antler without being able to get to the &quot;sweet filling&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically there shouldn't be any splitting etc. (that's what makes antlers so great compared to bones). But as usual, keep an eye on your dog, especially the first few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for digestion: keep it a rare snack and it should be fine without any side effects (the added nutrients will be a plus then). The dog will most likely chew on it for a while rather than trying to eat it immediately anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2015-05-13T18:26:00.193" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T18:26:00.193" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9271" CreationDate="2015-05-13T12:04:49.377" Score="4" ViewCount="4251" Body="&lt;p&gt;At night when the light is pointed towards dogs and cats, their eyes give a gleaming effect (greenish light). It even happens during a flash of a camera. I've seen this on a cat and the dog and afterward both stared for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't flash lights into my animal's eye on purpose, but while finding my way in darkness I need to watch my step. Even when the light falls on their eye they do not turn away or move their head other way they simply stare on. Is it disturbing for them to have the light shine on their eyes? Does this have any effect on their vision, or is it just a temporary effect which fades (as in humans' vision when exposed to a flash)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3393" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T16:06:17.433" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T16:06:17.433" Title="Why do dogs' and cats' eyes reflect light? Does bright light affect their vision?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9270" CreationDate="2015-05-13T15:28:03.410" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum&quot;&gt;tapetum lucidum&lt;/a&gt; and it works similarly for many (nocturnal) mammals. Humans and most primates don't have it, cats and dogs do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a tissue in front of the retina. It lets the light go through but reflects the light coming back from the retina, sending it back to the retina and thus increasing the amount of light available for (night) vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the second part of your question, although the details of night vision are different between humans and dogs/cats, the pupil dilates/contract in the same way as it does for us, so shining light at their eyes at night will have the same affect as it does for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that staring at the light source is more like a &quot;fear freeze&quot; effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a nice collection of photos on &lt;a href=&quot;http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Eyeshine&quot;&gt;Wikimedia Commons&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T15:28:03.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-13T17:06:50.337" Score="2" ViewCount="1098" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog was a puppy he was eating 3 times a day, always finishing his bowl. Then as he grew up we switched to feeding him 2 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last month he hasn't been eating regularly as before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He's almost never eating in the morning (I'm putting a fresh bowl of dry food when I get up) and finishes it late in the afternoon&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He's eating about 2/3 of what he &quot;should&quot; (I have Royal Canin Medium and I also tried some Eukanuba dry food)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm giving him treats while training but that can't possibly account for a large portion of what he should eat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The vet checked him twice during the last month, found nothing to worry about, his wait is stable, around 16kg (he's a 1.5yo Brittany). We can feel his ribs easily but they are not visible&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He's having plenty of exercice (doggy day care twice a week, that's about 5 hours in the woods with other dogs - 1-2 hours in the woods, at least 3 times out of the house the other days)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm not that worried that he would not be eating enough, but I'm a bit worried this irregular schedule could be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm leaving unfinished food all day long (still renewing it everyday) to be sure that he can eat enough. Should I switch back to a proper schedule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T19:20:17.783" Title="Is it important to keep a strict feeding schedule for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9272" CreationDate="2015-05-13T17:50:40.680" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would feed him based on vet recommended amounts. However, it's not the be all end all. You may have to adjust the amount of feed he's getting if he starts getting fatter or thinner. Right now, he sounds like he's at a very good weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs eat less when they get older, as well. My two dogs are free fed. I feed them twice a day, but they usually have some sitting in at least one of the bowls at the next feeding. If I was a little less lazy, I might put them on a stricter schedule and it's important to watch that kind of thing, more so with two dogs than one, because you want to make sure one isn't eating his food, then chasing the other off their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it bothers you, then you can put the food out for roughly 15min. After that time period, you take the food up. More than likely your dog won't eat much if any of it. The next feeding he'll mostly likely eat it all. If not, he'll definitely be hungry by the 3rd feeding, assuming of course he isn't being fed way too much or snacks in between. Once he's on a schedule, he'll know to eat when it's put in front of him. This is harder on you, but can be better on the dog. It gets him on a regular bathroom cycle, makes him more motivated for treats during training, etc... However, you have to feed him at those exact times and amounts every day, that includes going on vacation and making sure the person caring for him does it the same as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing to keep in mind about recommendation on quantities is that the bag quantity is supposed to be based on the amount of nutrients in an average piece of kibble. If you dog is needs a certain amount of amino acids, fats, protein, etc..., then the bag is supposed to tell you based on his weight/size, how much to feed him to get these amounts in him. The reason people say this can be off and the reason you have to monitor it and consult a vet, is because this doesn't take into account a dogs every day life. For instance, a 90lb lab that lays around the house and goes to the river on weekends doesn't need as much protein as a 60lb GSP that's out working birds in the field every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of that, you can find foods that cater to specific needs. You can find performance foods that have more fat, protein, etc... in a 1lb of kibble than their maintenance food for a house pet. I hope this has helped point you in the right direction on his food issues. Like I said, from your description he seems to be just right. If he's leaving food and you don't want it sitting around, get a cheap scale and weigh his food before and after for a week. Find out roughly how much he's actually eating and then feed that, plus a tad more incase he needs the extra boost, but I wouldn't worry about him not eating as much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T17:50:40.680" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9268" CreationDate="2015-05-13T20:15:08.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish can eat gum (it can be used as a bait, actually), but like us it generally just passes through their system. The real worry here is if it gets into the aquarium filter. Depending on the filter type, it could cause a jam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T20:15:08.790" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1618" CreationDate="2015-05-13T20:51:51.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are pet-body-weight check pages like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/healthyweight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; on Pet MD. The self check descriptions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Too Thin:&lt;/strong&gt; Ribs, spine and bony protrusions are easily seen. Cat has lost muscle mass and there is no observable body fat. Bony and starved in appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Underweight:&lt;/strong&gt; Ribs, spine and other bones are easily felt. Cat has an obvious waist when viewed from above and an abdominal tuck. Thin or skinny appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ideal:&lt;/strong&gt; Ribs and spine are easily felt but not necessarily seen. Cat has a waist when viewed from above and the abdomen is raised, not sagging when viewed from the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overweight:&lt;/strong&gt; Ribs and spine are hard to feel underneath fat. Distended or pear-shaped waist when viewed from above. The abdomen sags when seen from the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Obese:&lt;/strong&gt; Large fat deposits over the chest, back, tail base and hindquarters. The abdomen sags prominently and there is no waist when viewed from above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-05-13T20:51:51.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9277" CreationDate="2015-05-14T00:41:48.887" Score="8" ViewCount="1745" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to fly from USA to Hong Kong and wanted to take my small Chinese hamster with me. My understanding is that a hamster would probably have to ride in the cargo hold with other animals (dogs, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I was told by a friend that very small animals like the Chinese or Roborovski hamsters are unable to deal with the cabin pressure (or lack thereof) in airplanes. What that friend told me made it look like as if the hamster might explode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like an urban myth to me but is it correct? Is it safe to take hamsters on an airplane, or should I instead try to find someone to take care of it here while I am abroad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3398" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T19:09:33.997" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T19:49:20.617" Title="Is it safe to take a small (such as a Robo or Chinese) hamster in airplane, or can they &quot;explode&quot;?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9276" CreationDate="2015-05-14T03:23:13.233" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Airplanes maintain air pressure in both the passenger cabin and the cargo hold. The reason for the passenger cabin is obviously health and safety of the passengers, but in the cargo hold it is for various goods and, possibly, animals that might be in it that also require pressure. Near vacuum isn't really a good thing for pressurized containers often carried in luggage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in general, airplane air pressure is maintained at about the equivalency of about 6000 - 8000 feet above sea level. So, the question you're really asking is whether or not a hamster can survive the lack of pressure at that level. Denver, Colorado, is close to 6000 feet above sea level and you can buy hamsters at pet stores there and they're not apparently suffering. While that is not really a scientific analysis, I think it's safe to say that while they might not enjoy a trip in the hold, the altitude is not going to be the big reason for their lack of fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a bigger concern, really, is that it is often quite cold on airplanes, even more so in the cargo holds, and your hamster may not be acclimated to such temperatures. So, from that angle, unless there's a compelling reason to subject it to the colder temperatures and, in all likelihood, the customs quarantine, then I would leave it at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T00:55:31.117" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T00:55:31.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-14T09:27:30.367" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been watching &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHfJjjTUfOQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video from Cruft 2015&lt;/a&gt;, that's a demo from obedience winners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you fast forward to ~10' there's the scent discrimination exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that the correct cloths have a red mark on them. Is it always the case? Won't the dog just pick that one all the time then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; again in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq1mZSUj1l8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; where the correct cloth is clearly different from the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:06:35.167" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:06:35.167" Title="Dog obedience scent discrimination" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-14T15:02:50.460" Score="2" ViewCount="6767" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my dog at a far too young age. I don't blame her problems on that but I would recommend that anyone getting a puppy should only get him/her from a breeder who only lets them go to their new home at eight weeks and definitely no earlier than 6. Storm is half border collie, half spaniel/staff and she's amazing, but if I hadn't invested the time near the beginning she would have been a nightmare. She's really clever and I've taught her countless tricks. She's great at obedience class and is progressing really well at agility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However she has some problems which I'd be hugely grateful for any advice on. There is a collie at agility who is her absolute best friend, they roll around together, nipping each other and being hugely &amp;quot;aggressive&amp;quot; but in a playful way, my dog is only 10 months and he's only coming up to a year and as they've known each other since puppyhood they always play like that. There are a couple other collies that I've met that do similarly so I'm not sure if it's a breed thing. The problem is when she tries all that on other dogs, particularly small ones. She actually has a very good recall when playing on the beach with other dogs which is a blessing and she loves chasing dogs and being chased. However, some owners see it as aggression and more than anything I wondered the root of that sort of behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to the question I posted above. Storm is a highly confident dog who's afraid of NOTHING, I know that her biting isn't fear based, more &amp;quot;get off me and let me do what I want&amp;quot;, she isn't spoiled, I've always made sure she gets equal discipline and affection, but sometimes (not always) when I take her collar and lead her somewhere with it she whips her head around and snaps at my hand. She does it with other people too and it's really beginning to worry me. I'm not afraid of her and I don't let go if she bites me. I've tried rewarding her the instant she stops but it's not working. I got a harness in the hope that she'd respond better to that, but no. She doesn't do it on lead and she only does it when I'm pulling her away from something she'd rather be doing (e.g. playing with another dog rather than practicing contact points). How can I teach her not to bite when I hold her collar/harness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I wondered if anyone else experienced this - when she was very little she had a perfect stay and I could walk for half a mile and she'd sit stay perfectly but around the time she hit 6 months she refused to do it. She just gets up and wonders around and just won't stay, not in a stand sit or down. This is becoming a problem in agility and I wondered any advice on teaching a dog that has learned stay but won't do it anymore. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks so much, sorry for the long question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5084" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T21:56:11.870" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T21:56:11.870" Title="My dog bites me when I hold her collar" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1743" CreationDate="2015-05-14T17:48:49.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our kitty had violent sneezing fits with bloody discharge and while they stopped after treating him with humidification (having him stay in the bathroom while we showered) and saline to keep his nasal cavity clean and hydrated, he since passed with what ended up being a hernia of his diaphragm.  While we took him in to the vet when he sneezed up blood, our vet wouldn't x-ray him without putting him under, and at his age 14 1/2, we weren't sure he would come out of sedation.  The emergency vet we took him to shortly before he passed away did the x-ray fine without sedation.  If our vet had done the x-ray, we might have caught the hernia early enough to perform surgery and he might still be with us - we won't be going to our old vet any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5086" LastActivityDate="2015-05-14T17:48:49.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9281" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-14T18:45:16.967" Score="4" ViewCount="1308" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two silver sharks in my aquarium. Today, I noticed that one seems to have a couple of bumps on its underbelly (see picture) also is hiding at the back of the tank, but usually swims around in the open area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I confirm if this is pregnancy/carrying eggs (sorry I'm not sure of the biology on this), or something wrong with the fish? Also, if pregnant, what steps should I take next?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shark1 not pregnant:&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uNANe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The &amp;quot;normal one&amp;quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shark2 possibly pregnant:&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tHLE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The &amp;quot;pregnant&amp;quot;? one&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shark2 possibly pregnant:&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ot9td.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5088" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T15:28:58.733" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T15:28:58.733" Title="How can I tell if my silver shark is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9282" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-05-15T09:04:34.003" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T09:04:34.003" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T09:04:34.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9283" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-05-15T09:04:34.003" Score="0" Body="About the obedience competition sport, where the dog is trained to perform a series of obedience exercices (heel work, scent discrimination, long duration downs, etc.)." OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T13:43:34.967" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T13:43:34.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2015-05-15T09:19:09.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm answering the main question: &lt;em&gt;what should I do when my dog bites/snaps when I hold her collar?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing to do is to check with your vet that your dog doesn't have a medical reason to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next thing: if it is a real bite and not a snap, then you have a real bitting problem and it is not only about the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the exact reason why your dog snaps when you hold his collar is of little importance, the thing to do is &lt;strong&gt;counter-conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do that you have to train your dog to enjoy his collar being hold or gently tugged on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a bunch of treats, give one to the dog and at the same time touch his collar, or just move your hand close to the collar. Progress &lt;em&gt;very slowly&lt;/em&gt;, touching the collar for a longer period of time, and progressively move on to touch the collar first and treat after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't make it too difficult too quickly and don't hesitate to go back a step if it isn't successful anymore. The more time you spend on these first steps, the more successful and fast it will be for the more difficult steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole process can possibly take a full week with 2-3 short sessions per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P-Zo4qBD8I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Youtube video&lt;/a&gt; explaining the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T09:19:09.077" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-15T11:36:14.663" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My yorkie was pad trained when I got her at 3 months. She did good for 2 months without poop and peeing around house, then out of no where she starting pooping right in front of us. If she pee on pad, she don't want to poop on there, she will go next to pad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to train her to go outside, but don't know where to start. I tried moving pad to door, but she then started pooping anywhere. When I take her out, she won't go. She will come right in house and poop and pee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5091" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-15T13:43:23.530" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T14:16:55.967" Title="How can I switch my 1 1/2 year yorkie from toileting on a pad to going outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-15T14:57:13.003" Score="5" ViewCount="1599" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think my cat is sleeping (he's snoring and his paws/whiskers are twitching occasionally). I'm not sure if he's asleep because he has one eye open (the other is hidden). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can cats sleep with their eyes open?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T01:42:07.620" Title="Do cats sleep with their eyes open?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7826" CreationDate="2015-05-15T16:36:56.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's what worked for my mom and her dog for the off-leash chasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you need to start training in a calm situation. There's no way you can train your dog not to chase when they are already &quot;zoned out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what you do is, you find some kind of treat your dog really loves (for my dog it's canned cat food). Then you start conditioning them: you find a word you don't usually use a lot (for my dog: &quot;Michi&quot;). That word will become your &quot;superword&quot;. Everytime you say that word, you feed your dog the special treat. They should get that treat only if you say the superword, never as a regular treat. You do that for a while, always in calm situations with nothing to chase around. Once your dog knows that the word means special treat and gets really excited about it, you start using it in situations that are less calm, maybe with other dogs around, something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try to let your dog off the leash when you can be relatively sure there won't be any distraction and call the superword or give him a treat when he's some distance away from you. Once your dog is fully conditioned on the superword, it should be possible to call him back using the word even if he's already &quot;zoned out&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may sound a bit strange, but worked for my mom's dog. Normally there would be no getting through to him when there's something &quot;in his nose&quot;. But with that method you can actually call him back when a group of deer crosses the path a few meters in front of him. Plus it's something you can easily try, so just give it a go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5092" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T11:05:35.100" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T11:05:35.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9278" CreationDate="2015-05-15T16:52:30.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs cannot see red... it would appear as a light to dark shade of gray, depending on the intensity of the red. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a sense of smell is by far a dog's strongest sense, and a dog will rely on that by default more than their sense of sight. My dogs are in Canine Scent training, and it is amazing how they can pick up an odor that is being carried by air currents. Much of our training is for me to learn to pick up on the cues that a dogs gives me when they are in odor. I believe that a dog trained to search for scents would follow the odor long before they notice a marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T16:52:30.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9287" CreationDate="2015-05-15T18:40:48.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have to be asleep to snore, just relaxed and not trying &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to snore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do have a &quot;third eyelid&quot;, and sometimes they don't fully close their actual eyelids when resting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect you're seeing some combination of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-05-16T00:49:23.543" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T00:49:23.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9285" CreationDate="2015-05-15T20:15:41.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the approach for training cats to do tricks, gradually shaping the behavior,  might work...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She already knows the pad. Move the pad &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt; to and out the door, a foot or two every few days, so she is always going go where she found the pad last time and can find it from there. If she seems to be getting the idea you might be able to move faster; if she objects because it isn't where it's supposed to be you may need to slow down or take a step back. Once you get her outside you can start reducing the size of the pad to transition her to grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or go back to the puppy-training approach: feed and water, then take her outside on leash and keep her company until she has to go, then praise/reward her effusively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've trained her to a specific location and cue, and she's trying to obey. Now you need to retrain to tell her that outdoors is ok too... and that's going to require convincing her to break the previous training before you can confirm that, yes, this is ehat you want her to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-05-15T20:15:41.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-16T03:06:40.300" Score="3" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;An adult cottontail rabbit has been staying around my house the past couple weeks. Well, the other day we found her dead, along with 2 babies, one was unfortunately dead but the other still alive.  It ran back to a hole in the ground that we discovered to be a nest with 3 perfectly healthy looking baby bunnies.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are walking have a full coat of fur and they are a little smaller then my hand. However their ears are not 'erect' so I was wondering how old they may be, and if with very careful care we could keep them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are risks but I will put all the effort necessary to keep them healthy! Please respond with tips or past experiences; I am trying to gather all the info I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5096" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-05-16T15:36:34.523" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T15:36:34.523" Title="Can I raise baby cottontail rabbits" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T16:07:35.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2755" CreationDate="2015-05-16T03:56:01.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cutting a cat's claws will affect his or her ability to climb trees.  If there are land predators this could be a problem because it would make it harder for the cat to escape or defend himself (or herself).  Whether cutting their claws makes sense depends, therefore, on the balance between the risk of their getting stuck up a tree compared with the risk of their being more vulnerable to predators. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5097" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T03:56:01.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-16T10:59:09.297" Score="4" ViewCount="4470" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two turtles in one tank. Two days ago, one of these turtles got red flesh coming out of its tail and the other one was pulling it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I removed the hurt turtle from the aquarium and put it in a tub. It's perhaps its penis coming out of its tail, I saw here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcp4dF-mhz0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcp4dF-mhz0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since turtle's penis got injuried, it has stopped eating and penis is also not going back. Also I'm not entirely sure if it is a penis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am so worried, what should I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are few pics, showing how it looks:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SCm0T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x0rip.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T11:27:23.943" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T09:14:55.340" Title="Red flesh coming out my turtle's tail" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9296" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-16T15:11:58.290" Score="2" ViewCount="577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm tired of trying to get the scum marks and slime from the fish tank when doing a weekly clean, it looks gross so does anyone have any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5098" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-16T15:29:20.250" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T20:22:56.380" Title="How can I keep my goldfish tank clean?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9296" CreationDate="2015-05-16T15:18:51.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about a magnetic cleaner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oL7rt.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These work by having a cleaner on the inside, and a magnet on the outside. You move the magnet to move the cleaner and it wipes off the algae and muck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just watch out you don't move it too fast, and it falls off inside. You can also slide it all the way up to the top, to take it above the water line and reach in to clean the brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5099" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T15:18:51.153" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8109" CreationDate="2015-05-16T16:01:06.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have volunteered for a rescue that performs frequent cat transportation (and my youngest, Romeo, traveled to me in Maryland from Florida). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rescue uses a large carrier and adds a small litter pan. The litter pans are usually labelled &quot;kitten size&quot; at the pet supply store and do not take up more than 1/2 of the carrier. The remaining space in the carrier should be large enough for your cat to stand up, turn around, and lay down comfortably without having to sit in the litter pan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter pan is secured in the back of the carrier (usually with duct tape) so it doesn't move around. There is enough litter to soak up at least one pee, but it is not as deep as you would normally fill a box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest making sure you have some resealable plastic bags so that when the cat uses the pan, you can pull over and clean it. Neither of you will be happy for long with a dirty litter pan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clean the pan, first make sure the doors and windows to the car are all closed (and all travel companions know what you're doing so they don't open the door/window). You'll have to open the carrier and you don't want your cat to get lost! Then turn a plastic bag inside out over your hand and pick up the waste. Flip the bag back rightside out over the waste and seal it up. You can add more litter if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats get nervous when traveling and will prefer to sit in the litter pan. If you think your cat is likely to do this, you can add bedding that smells like home to the non-litter side, but otherwise it is a common thing and as long as you are able to promptly clean any waste it is not something to be overly concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T16:01:06.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-16T16:03:51.377" Score="6" ViewCount="45213" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has happened with 3-4 cats I've came to own in the past years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They rub themselves against my feet, and if I'm barefoot/wearing flip flops, they start to lick my toes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do they do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-17T22:28:22.950" LastActivityDate="2019-07-19T21:42:57.997" Title="Why do cats lick my toes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9281" CreationDate="2015-05-16T20:54:40.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer was a no. There was something wrong with it. After doing more research it seems there could have been something stuck. Ultimately it died a couple of days later. Maybe someone else could give a more accurate answer as to what it could be, but pregnancy was defiantly incorrect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5087" LastActivityDate="2015-05-16T20:54:40.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9296" CreationDate="2015-05-17T04:23:27.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy long-handled scrapers or hand-held scrapers with a steel blade. Something like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=26097&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=26097&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband uses the handled type in our 30 gallon tank and the non-handled one in my 4 gallon tank. (He also has a magnetic one hanging around for when he doesn't want to stick his arm in the tank.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can probably find them locally in a specialty fish store and possibly at your mainstream pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to consider is that goldfish produce more &quot;waste&quot; than most other kinds of fish. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Animal_Care/Goldfish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Animal_Care/Goldfish&lt;/a&gt; (See the &quot;Aquarium Conditions&quot; section). Part of your problem may be that your tank is too small for how much fish (even if just one) you've got in it. We definitely had a harder time keeping our 4 gallon clean than the 30 gallon. You could try, in addition to finding the scraper of your choosing, doing partial water changes twice a week instead of just once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T04:23:27.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4416" CreationDate="2015-05-17T06:44:28.827" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add a small amount, say a quarter of a cup of evaporated sea salt. After 50/0 water change twice a year. It stops parasites and the fish love it, it keeps their stress level down. But the plants don't like it so not too much.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have had the same 5 koi for 18 years and 10 gold fish in the same pond, about 5000 liter with no loss or sickness or bugs ..   I feed them 3 sauce caps of food in the morning and 3 in the afternoon in summer, and during winter only one feed in the morning.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Clean the filter when the water starts to slow down on the flow out and make sure the water spout into the pond is air rating the pond. Don't just lay the return in the water. And your fish will love you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't just keep adding salt without some water change as it never goes away and can build up salinity.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5101" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T12:03:57.013" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T12:03:57.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-17T09:26:54.737" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've a Labrador and she is 10 months old. I've has been hand feeding my dog since two months and now she is not eating by herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week, I was out for three days and my mom kept a bowl of chicken for her to eat and she didn't. My mom is a  vegetarian and she doesn't even touches meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog ate nothing for three days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5103" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-17T15:21:20.780" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T09:55:25.743" Title="Dog Food Eating Issues" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-17T13:09:43.633" Score="4" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;12 weeks ago I bought a British short hair cat. I saw her in a cattery at breeders cattery at bottom of garden, well l think I did but the cat she  was cuddling and kissing was a lot bigger. When i got home my friend got her out of the carrier and she ran into my bedroom were she still is spending a lot of time. Since then I have got her to stop hiding all the time and spends time with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had a few cats but always got them neutered. But this time I cannot get close to pick her up to put her in the carrier. I have put food and treats in it but she still does not get into the carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am disabled and walking is a problem so I can't get around well. She won't let me stroke or pick her up. Other people have tried to get her picked up but its impossible so there is no way I can take her to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also vet will only do it out of heat. She had the first heat for just a week then a week and half she is in heat again and is louder and its going to be longer. I talk to her when she is yowling and that shuts her up a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she is in heat, it stops me trying to get close to her and sometimes she is getting her terrified look that she had at first. I don't want her to be like she was, but its getting me down that everything is against her getting her fixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get her to calm down and get her into the carrier so I can get her spayed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5106" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-17T22:26:25.177" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T18:55:29.267" Title="How can I get my unsocialized cat into the carrier to be spayed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9304" CreationDate="2015-05-17T13:52:45.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why were you hand feeding her in the first place? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog in correct medical condition will not starve to death if there's some food around. First thing to do is to check with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can try to motivate her, for example if you're giving dry food, add some real chicken or wet food, to give more smell and taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-17T15:21:31.080" LastActivityDate="2015-05-17T15:21:31.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-17T15:18:34.840" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clicker training and positive reinforcement are my way to go and I think I have a proper understanding of these principles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is very rare to see tutorials, videos or live training with two people, one being the &quot;trainer&quot;, the other one being the &quot;assistant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example, would we benefit from that while training for sit/down/up/etc. at a distance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can imagine letting my dog sniff around while someone keeps him on a loose leash, then I call his name, get his attention and ask him to sit. My dog will most probably come towards me before sitting. Then having someone next to him to prevent him from doing so could be a nice help. I would do that with a dog that already good training with sit/stay at a distance, so that the assistant would just need some gentle leash pressure to stop the dog and wait until he sits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with that? Could it be a real plus or do you have argument why this is a better way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T00:13:51.797" Title="Sit and down at a distance, should I ask someone to be my &quot;assistant&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-18T02:29:11.823" Score="3" ViewCount="14088" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta will swim once he sees us but when I glance at him he usually is laying at the bottom of his tank lately. I have a thee gallon tank with two nirite snails and a moss ball. I use a baister to take the water from the bottom and usually only do a 25% water change one every two weeks. He doesn't have any signs of illness on him other than he is staying on the bottom more than usual. He is eating normal. I usually only give him the most of three pellets a day. What do you think is going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5108" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T17:15:47.133" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:14:34.373" Title="My Betta is laying on the bottom" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-12-22T14:16:26.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-18T05:36:02.107" Score="2" ViewCount="542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got Sunny from a breeder almost 2 years ago. He was approximately 14 weeks old. For the first week or so he continued to soil on the bed, and refused to go in the litter box. After some swapping around with different litters, we finally found one he liked and he stopped soiling...for a little while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not every day, or even every week; but seemingly out of the blue, Sunny will go and soil on my bed (and usually for 2-3 days, if I don't close the bedroom door). He doesn't wee...just poo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been happening on and off for the two years. I've tried loads of different things (as I believe he may be suffering from anxiety). I have 3 litter boxes - all are kept in a clean (but not too clean) condition and are scattered around the house (I even kept one in my room for a time to see if this would deter Sunny from soiling on my bed...to no avail). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from me constantly having to wash my sheets (which takes time and water), it wouldn't bother me TOO much. However, if MY door is closed he will go and soil on my nan's bed. Even though I tell my nan to keep her door closed, she is 86 and is forgetful... then she gets cranky at me because MY cat has &quot;sh**&quot; on her bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried reprimanding Sunny (sometimes not very well I am sorry to say), I've tried ignoring the behaviour and nothing seems to be working. I have got to the point where I just close my door, and if I forget, and leave it open and he poos on my bed, we'll that's my fault. But I can't have him soiling my nan's bed every other day (or the dog's bed, which does happen on occasion). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes this happens in a small time slot where Nan has woken up to go to the toilet, not closed her bedroom door, and while she is in the toilet, Sunny soils on her bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunny is also desexed. He is an indoor cat, but does have access to the backyard when I am present - we also have a cat fence put up to stop him escaping. As I mentioned before...I THINK this is an anxiety reaction, but I don't know what from. He and the dog are besties and get along very well. Sunny is a one-person cat, and will only go to other people if I am not present. &#xA;He gets fed good food (both wet and dry) and keeps a regular schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has recently started soiling again, over the last 2 days, which is what has prompted this post. Firstly on Nan's bed, then on mine yesterday afternoon (which he hasn't done before - he usually soils in the morning). I am at my wit's end. I love my Lil Man and would never get rid of him because of his 'dirtiness', however I am getting increasingly frustrated and a little upset by the whole deal. My mum is about ready to disown him. I feel guilty that I have brought such a 'naughty' cat into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get my cat to poo in his litter box?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5109" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-18T20:19:28.770" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T20:54:27.463" Title="How do I stop my 2 year old Siamese from soiling my bed and my nan's bed (on occasion, the dog's bed)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9310" CreationDate="2015-05-18T20:54:27.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For us, what worked was confining the cat (with the litter box of course), to an area with no access to any beds/bedrooms. For us, this meant the cement-floored portion of our basement. We spent a couple of weeks like this, then tried again for a longer period when it failed (with visits and snuggles throughout both confinements of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that helped with potty compliance was removing the lids from the litter boxes (if you have a lidded box). I notice that without the lids, the cats sort of &quot;hang over&quot; the edges while doing their business or covering their business. A box with a lid (or the box itself) may just be too cramped for his digging/pooping style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re: anxiety, a vet visit is called for. There are anti-anxiety pills for cats. Don't feel bad about a little pharmaceutical help for your furry friend. If your cat is treat oriented, pill pockets work wonders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also couple of experienced ladies from a rescue advised that many cats find dried lavender calming, if you want to try something more natural first. I never tried that personally, as I find the smell overwhelming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T20:54:27.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9295" CreationDate="2015-05-18T21:49:55.120" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a prolapse of some sort. It could be penile, cloacal, or intestinal. Do you know for sure he is a male? Females can also have cloacal prolapse as well as intestinal. If the tissue is not going back in when left alone, you need a qualified vet that treats reptiles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tip of the prolapsed tissue is grey, which is not a good sign as it indicates dead tissue. It could be from the bites inflicted by his tank mate. Everted tissue is often seen as a food item, possibly due to its resemblance to carrion or earthworms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not advised to try to re-insert the tissue yourself, and avoid touching the area at all except for during the below emergency preparations prior to taking to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run a faucet on low with cool water to gently rinse the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep the area moist, you can use KY Jelly. If you speak to a vet prior to coming in, they may suggest a past of sugar and water to reduce swelling, but this can irritate tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to keep the turtle in a clean hospital enclosure, such as a Kritter Keeper if large enough or a plastic tub that he can't escape from, with no sharp edges. You can use this to transport to the vet. Use wet newsprint to cushion the bottom of the tub. You may need to immobilize the turtle to avoid further damage to the tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protect the area with a plastic wrap &quot;diaper&quot; over the prolapse only for the amount of time it takes to get to the vet, as this can cause bacterial growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips on home care of a prolapse prior to seeing a vet are available here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boxturtlefacts.org/When_The_End_Is_In_Sight.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.boxturtlefacts.org/When_The_End_Is_In_Sight.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medinjuries.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medinjuries.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it is important to seek &lt;strong&gt;vet treatment&lt;/strong&gt; for a prolapse that lasts more than a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2015-05-18T21:49:55.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9314" CreationDate="2015-05-18T23:04:32.063" Score="4" ViewCount="1216" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a puppy has yet to be introduced to a crate, is it more stressful to crate the dog (and thus possibly create a bad association with the crate) or should we try some other method of transporting the pup during his/her first ride home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking I could possibly sit in the back of the car and hold the pup on my lap by the collar while petting and soothing the pup, but this seems a recipe for disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we just toss a treat (puppy kong?) in the crate and hope for the best? Or is there a way I haven't thought of? The ride should be a mere hour to ninety minutes, depending on traffic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-19T13:29:48.163" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T13:29:48.163" Title="Should we crate our puppy during their first car ride?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9313" CreationDate="2015-05-19T09:08:07.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you're taking him home from the breeder at around 8 weeks of age, he's still in his &lt;em&gt;critical (socialisation) period&lt;/em&gt;, meaning that they are very open to new experiences and won't have &lt;em&gt;a priori&lt;/em&gt; a fear reaction. Also the pup should already be socialised to humans and be confident being handled by humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what I would recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take something with the smell of his litter, a towel, a toy, everything will be different for him, but a least he has something smelling familiar, that should help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take him with you in the back of the car, that way you can have him on your lap, he'll have a first idea of who you are and you can help him relax (slow, long, gentle petting). Speak to him with a normal voice. Don't overplay it if he's showing signs of anxiety, that would reinforce his fear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have a box or a small open crate with you so that you can take a break, 90 minutes with a pup on your lap is a long time (in some way that can be some initial crate training). As he falls asleep you can put him in the crate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take a bunch of treats with you and create a very positive experience for him being with you. If he's too distressed he'll probably refuse to eat and you'll know that something is wrong&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T09:08:07.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7668" CreationDate="2015-05-19T14:52:53.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cornell's veterinary college &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/toxoplasmosis.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains the life cycle&lt;/a&gt; of T. gondii:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a cat ingests an infected prey (or other infected raw meat) the parasite is released into the cat's digestive tract. The organisms then multiply in the wall of the small intestine and produce oocysts during what is known as the intraintestinal infection cycle. These oocysts are then excreted in great numbers in the cat's feces. Cats previously unexposed to T. gondii will usually begin shedding oocysts between three and 10 days after ingestion of infected tissue, and continue shedding for around 10 to 14 days, during which time many millions of oocysts may be produced. Oocysts are very resistant and may survive in the environment for well over a year.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So any single particular cat will spread T. gondii for 10-14 days, but the areas where that cat defecated during that infectious period should be considered infectious for well over a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How likely a random (i.e. a new feral moving into the neighborhood) cat will be shedding oocysts when it defecates in your garden depends on your worldwide location. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.capcvet.org/capc-recommendations/toxoplasma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Companion Animal Parasite Council states&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prevalence of oocysts (fecal stage) in cats in the United States is&#xA;  quite low. At any point in time, approximately 1% of cats have&#xA;  intestinal infection and will be shedding oocysts. In six surveys from&#xA;  different states in which more than 10 cats were included in all&#xA;  studies, oocyst shedding ranged from 0.0 to 6.6% (mean of 0.7%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Much higher prevalence of oocyst shedding has been cited from other&#xA;  countries, (e.g., 17% in Czechoslovakia, 20% in Brazil, 23% in Costa&#xA;  Rica, 40% in Turkey, 41% in Egypt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/diseases/toxoplasmosis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety&lt;/a&gt; states that people involved in the following activities have a higher risk for toxoplasmosis than people not engaged in such activities, but they do not quantify the risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toxoplasmosis is an occupational risk for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;animal care workers including breeders, keepers, zoo attendants, veterinarians or their associates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;slaughterhouse workers, meat inspectors, line processors, butchers or cooks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;agricultural workers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;landscapers and gardener&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;laboratory workers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;health care workers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This risk can be mitigated for hobby gardeners by taking simple steps such as wearing gloves, always washing your hands after gardening, and not eating/drinking while gardening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be clear, staying away from feline fecal matter (or soil that could potentially be exposed to feline fecal matter) is not a guarantee that you will not contract toxoplasmosis. Many of our meat animals and farm fields are also exposed to this parasite. Proper washing of food/utensils and proper cooking (or extended freezing) of meat is required to kill the parasite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T14:52:53.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6017" CreationDate="2015-05-19T16:22:42.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I don't think your cat is afraid of your other cat, the issue would appear to be that she lacks any places of her own that she deems safe. Cats need places to hide to feel safe enough to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; hide. Try putting out a couple of cardboard boxes, set up a window perch, perhaps get a scratching post tower with at least one cave-like area. Don't put your cat's personal places in corners (there must be multiple routes of escape).  Does your new house have any cat smells in it? If so, give it a clean and deodorize it. Did your old house have darker rooms with natural lighting than your new one? Try dark curtains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend screens for your windows, and not leaving open doors into your house. The screens would allow you to keep open windows without the cat running away (and keep bugs out of your house).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T16:22:42.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9306" CreationDate="2015-05-19T16:26:05.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leave the carrier out with a blanket or towel in it, with the door open. Cats tend to enjoy lounging in them once they stop seeing them solely as vehicles to trips to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for calming her down, food is God when it comes to cats; start by feeding her near you, then leave a trail to you once she is comfortable with that.  Keep moving the food trail closer until eventually she is comfortable with eating near you.  Eventually you'll have her eating from your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also helps to play with your cat in closer quarters; get a feather toy (on a stick) and get her jumping around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="6027" LastEditDate="2015-05-19T16:35:04.787" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T16:35:04.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9319" CreationDate="2015-05-19T18:00:33.633" Score="4" ViewCount="684" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray cat gave birth next to our building a few weeks ago. We check in on her almost every day. She has been taking care of her kittens well, and us, as well as other neighbors have been leaving cat food and bowls of water around where she's nesting with her kittens. Right now, the kittens are about 4 weeks old, are just starting to meow and explore around their nesting area, not yet able to stroll too far. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually, more and more stray cats have been drawn to the area due to the opulence of food and water. Some of them were always around, but more and more of them have been starting to show up. Right now, around the building, there are about a dozen cats, where before there were around 7 or 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some nights, I hear intense cat fights occur outside. I can't tell if the mother or the kittens are involved somehow in the fights because the area isn't well lit at nights, but when I check on them in the morning, they all seem well and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is - could stray cats pose any danger to the mother or the kittens? We are meaning to adopt the kittens, but want to wait for them to ween from their mother, ideally at around 10 weeks. I realize that separating a kitten from its mother earlier than this increases the risk of health or behavioral damage, but if the kittens could be in danger, what would be the right course of action?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5112" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T19:10:02.137" Title="Are stray cats dangerous to newborn kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9318" CreationDate="2015-05-19T19:10:02.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;On balance I would say that feeding the mother decreases the overall risk to the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably, most of the fighting is due to stray cats fighting each other rather than the mother.  The free food, while it might attract a stray cat, feeds him so that the need to hunt a kitten is less.  Plus, the kitten is guarded by the mother, and the food is not.  A smart stray will go for the sure thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major advantage of the free food is that it allows the mother to get plenty of food near the kittens, so kittens are not left unprotected for long periods while she hunts for food.  Therefore since the mother can protect the kittens more of the time, the kittens are safer with the free food than otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T19:10:02.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-19T21:07:30.663" Score="3" ViewCount="1757" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am walking my dog on my own with no one around he will bring the ball back to me occasionally and if so it is not even at my feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I am throwing the ball with other people on the field he will bring the ball back to them 100% of the time dropping at their ankle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home he very obedient and passive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know why he does this and I can't find any reasons for it. Any help that I can get will be excellent!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5115" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-19T21:57:04.467" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T21:57:04.467" Title="My dog brings the ball back to other people" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9320" CreationDate="2015-05-19T21:55:53.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did you consider training him to do it &quot;right&quot; ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do you think he should bring it back to you in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why he does this and I can't find any reason either. But that's not the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bringing something back can be more or less &quot;natural&quot; to some dogs, but in any case dropping on cue at the handler's feet needs to be trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that you have some reasons to be very positive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he's already bringing the ball back to you when you're alone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he's dropping it at others people feet (I doubt he does that 100% of the time, but let's assume he does)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's your starting point and it could be much worse...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now it &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; job to teach/train him what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As alway, focus on the &lt;em&gt;behaviours&lt;/em&gt; you want and then &lt;em&gt;teach&lt;/em&gt; them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit worried when you say &quot;very obedient and passive&quot;, that doesn't really sounds fun... I strongly suggest that you have a look at training methods that are labelled as &quot;positive reinforcement&quot; or &quot;clicker training&quot; or any variations of these four words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-19T21:55:53.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-19T23:14:18.600" Score="4" ViewCount="26099" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that his chest is rising and falling very fast. Is this anything to be concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5116" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T12:48:13.983" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:27.240" Title="Why is my bunny breathing fast? (About 120 Breaths per Minute)" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9335" CreationDate="2015-05-20T01:12:15.127" Score="5" ViewCount="791" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Siberian kitten (13 weeks old) and he has several mats very low in his fur and close to skin folds.  Even if I wanted to trim or cut out the mats, this really is not possible due to the location of the mats and the inability to separate them completely from the folds of skin around his ear and in his armpit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5117" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T10:31:35.247" Title="How do I remove mat from my long haired cats fur?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3238" CreationDate="2015-05-20T08:47:06.730" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem here is - it's next to impossible to say for sure. Breed characteristics are ... to paraphrase a wise man 'more like guidelines'. There is absolutely no guarantee that any dog you get will be barky - or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can improve the odds a little by going for a known quantity - adopting a dog with a history. There are no shortage of dogs in need of re-homing, either via rescues or privately. Although you should be wary of the ones that are looking to turn a profit on the transaction - they're less likely to have the best interest of you and the dog in mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However you need to be prepared to work with your dog and an ongoing commitment to optimising behaviour. That's not a small thing, but it's true of &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; dog. Some dogs are more laid back than others, but they &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; benefit from plenty of attention, training and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would suggest strongly that you don't think in terms of &quot;Is this (breed of) dog quiet enough to have in an apartment&quot; - because &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of them can be. But none of them will be, unless you're prepared to take the time and commitment necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;proactively attend training for both your benefit - your dog has to learn how to speak your variety of 'human' and you have to understand their variety of 'dog'. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take time to train and reinforce positive behaviours, and avoid negative. (Training 'don't bark' is difficult). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look up separation anxiety, and consider it - it's often a factor in dogs annoying neighbours, because they do miss 'their' human. This can lead to whining and barking. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Commit to regular exercise regime for your dog. There is an adage - a tired dog is a happy dog. So be prepared for an hour of walkies morning and evening. (Chances are, you won't need so much, but you need to be prepared for the possiblity - or even more) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am personally of the opinion that negative reinforcement - such as bark collars - aren't a good thing to go for, as they can have some potentially unpredictable consequences. Consider for example - your dog sees a (potential) threat and barks to warn it off. And the collar &quot;punishes&quot; them for doing that. Have you just taught it not to bark, or have you just taught it that that thing definitely is a threat, and so they need to be more aggressive next time? Dogs don't stop pulling on a lead that is choking them, because the stress reinforces their need to 'fight back'. You can quite easily create the same situation accidentally with a 'bark collar'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-05-20T08:59:00.027" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T08:59:00.027" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2241" CreationDate="2015-05-20T09:51:31.760" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HtHZ_DbrAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nice video&lt;/a&gt; showing how to train &lt;em&gt;scent discrimination&lt;/em&gt; with clicker training - shaping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to what is shown in the video, I quickly realised that holding 2 objects in your hands, the clicker, fetching rewards, not to mention adding more objects is quite difficult. So in the first part of the training, holding just one object I progressively started to put the object on the floor, first with my hand next to it and then the object alone on the floor. When the dog is reliably touching with his nose I moved to 2 objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-22T16:50:15.860" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T16:50:15.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9322" CreationDate="2015-05-20T15:46:20.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for help NOW, I once had one rabbit suffering from these because he was not properly protected from rain, it was pneumonia. &#xA;As a general rule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make clean water always available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protect from sun, cold night and rain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide a relaxed environment (e.g. without dogs barking).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:30:27.240" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:27.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10216" CreationDate="2015-05-20T16:30:19.333" Score="6" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two Red-eared turtles (I was wrong in my former question about them being &quot;trachemys scripta scripta&quot;: they are trachemys scripta elegans; don't know whether it makes a significant difference in the question I have now, but just to clarify the readers), in my aquarium (50x30x6cm water, some rocks and dry stuff, and a warmer). I clean my aquarium once a week, replacing the water, and everyday I add two drops of methylene blue to the aquarium (and also feed them, once a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The warmer got broken&lt;/strong&gt; (don't know why, nor how - I just saw the turtles &lt;strong&gt;were less active today&lt;/strong&gt;, and the first thing I checked was the water warmer and temperature: the warmer was like &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;scratched&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in the surrounding glass). I don't know when did it broke, but was between yesterday night (perhaps 10pm, or today after 00hs) and today morning (before 8:30am). I disconnected it when I saw it scratched. At 13:00hs here, I'm planning to buy a new one. Current environmental temperature (11:30hs now) is 21°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it somehow dangerous for the turtles the current situation? Should I take additional* cares/checks on the turtles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(* besides running as fast as I can to buy and install a new warmer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2840" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T09:00:09.010" Title="How dangerous is the current situation for my turtles?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6159" CreationDate="2015-05-20T16:33:39.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Found it (sorry for not posting it before). The turtles were just scared of human presence. When no human was there, turtles even shared the dry surface on the toy bridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2840" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T16:33:39.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9328" CreationDate="2015-05-20T16:42:56.120" Score="-2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If their body temperature falls below a threshold of 21 °C, they are&#xA;  unable to carry out normal functions of digestion and defecation.&#xA;  Wikipedia Entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Red-Eared Slider&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to get this solved quickly. That's 69.8 F.  I recommend a heating lamp as a stopgap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="6027" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T16:56:06.210" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T16:56:06.210" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9323" CreationDate="2015-05-20T16:45:18.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try picking the mats apart, starting from the outside, until they can either be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsadviser.com/grooming/how-remove-mats-long-haired-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;combed out or trimmed out&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T16:45:18.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-20T17:53:55.340" Score="4" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that placing an alligator decoy in a pond will deter herons from visiting stopping by to eat all the expensive koi that live in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This made me curious, because I live in a northern state where alligators don't exist, would a decoy still be effective in deterring herons? Presumably herons migrate south during the winter, and should be aware of the threat that alligators pose, but would they recognize that alligators don't live this far north and ignore the decoy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-23T14:40:28.643" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T13:44:22.923" Title="Would an alligator decoy work to deter herons in a state where alligators don't live?" Tags="&lt;pond&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9255" CreationDate="2015-05-20T19:35:50.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Yes Parrots are Banned in Indian Railways&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On asking to officials they replied that carrying parrots are illegal in Indian trains, So you can't carry parrots in Indian Railways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is good to banned on parrot trade,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7fYSP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5077" LastActivityDate="2015-05-20T19:35:50.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9299" CreationDate="2015-05-21T07:06:51.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could just have that kind of scent that cats like. Just like cat nip. Either that of they feel psychologically secure when you are around them, making them want to lick the closest thing to them (your toes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5115" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T07:06:51.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9323" CreationDate="2015-05-21T11:41:51.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem once with my cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I can groom the fur with a special brush my vet gave me. Some bigger mats I pick apart with my fingers and then run the brush through.&#xA;But if the mats get really thick and/or close to the skin, the only way I can think of (and the thing I did that one time) is to go to the vet and let him shear the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T11:41:51.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9336" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-21T20:38:02.753" Score="4" ViewCount="36488" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a dog and it loves to play fetch with toys. I know that dogs are color blind, but not like they see black and white, just less colors than humans see. I'm pretty sure any color toys will work, but what is the best color toy to get my dog? I need a color that the dog can easily distinguish from the colors around it, especially green (because of grass).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5122" LastActivityDate="2019-01-20T18:44:41.297" Title="What color toy should I get for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9336" CreationDate="2015-05-21T21:23:39.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are not color blind. Instead of perceiving levels (intensity) of 3 colors like us (red, green and blue) they only perceive the intensity of two color: blue and yellow. For example red is perceived as different levels of gray. Dogs have a kind of &quot;red-green color blindness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd say that blue and yellow are the easiest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it makes a big difference but I'm using pure blue and yellow only for my targets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-21T21:23:39.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9336" CreationDate="2015-05-21T21:28:49.830" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't distinguish luminance (brightness) as well as we do, and have trouble telling red from green. The image below is the best comparison I've found of how we see vs. how they see, against different backgrounds. Websearching &quot;dog color vision&quot; found it, and a great deal of additional data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CaBaW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;comparison of how toys appear to us vs. to dogs, against both light carpet and grass&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-01-20T18:44:41.297" LastActivityDate="2019-01-20T18:44:41.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11795" CreationDate="2015-05-22T02:27:25.067" Score="4" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which would be more important, deeper substrate or a pair of caves (one on the hot side and one on the warm)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T21:55:21.807" Title="Which is the better hiding place for a Kenyan Sand Boa?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9344" CreationDate="2015-05-22T02:32:40.883" Score="3" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sand Boas need warm/hot temperatures and very low humidity, generally speaking. During shedding, for snakes having trouble, especially eye caps, I've read that putting a water source (or humidity source) in the boa's environment can help. I'm concerned about the ability to retain the standard humidity levels though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it generally recommended to leave a water dish in the tank, full time? What about only during shedding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2015-05-24T12:57:07.353" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T12:57:07.353" Title="Can I leave a water dish in a Kenyan Sand Boa's tank?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9304" CreationDate="2015-05-22T09:55:25.743" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;for 1st treatment give him warm water with sugar&#xA;then, Raw egg (duck or chicken) mix it with 1 table spoon of honey for the next 1 hour, once every 2 - 3 hour&#xA;and slowly mix the raw egg with his dog food, or just boil the egg and give it to him.&#xA;if he don't want his dogfood, try to give some raw meat first&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if he start to starve and start to limp, bring him to his doctor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5125" LastActivityDate="2015-05-22T09:55:25.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-23T04:46:39.377" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;When ever I try to pick them up they tend to run away. They have never hissed or bitten me, but I would like to be able to hold them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5127" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-05-23T14:32:20.127" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T12:30:18.223" Title="How do I get my baby blue tongue skinks to get used to being held?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9340" CreationDate="2015-05-23T07:11:48.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't worry about it and just try it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering it's still water (no sprinkler or any other movement) it should be fine, especially short term, without causing any significant and global change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you've got some humidity meter? Is so, just try and see how/if conditions change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way it will also depend heavily on your actual terrarium. With low air circulation, you might not want to leave the bowl 24/7. With open/good ventilation you might be able to leave it there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-05-23T07:11:48.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-23T15:09:41.143" Score="3" ViewCount="457" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female red eared slider has been showing signs that she wants to lay eggs for the past week, with a small appetite, wanting to leave her home, and is constantly digging with her legs. Because of this, I've moved her to the kitchen where she has laid a few eggs underneath a rack last year. However, a week has gone by and although she exhibits digging motion, she hasn't laid any eggs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday (this is what worries me) she has completely stopped trying to leave her home, does not exhibit digging motions when she is let out, and has a large appetite. It's like she's given up on trying to lay eggs. On top of that she looks slightly depressed and bites people to try to touch her, which is irregular. I'm worried that she has failed to find a proper nest and has decided to keep them, in other words egg-binding which I've discovered whilst searching the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried and take her to a vet? Or should I wait a while to see if she wants to lay eggs again, and prepare a proper nesting area for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastEditorUserId="5130" LastEditDate="2015-05-24T04:56:01.780" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T23:34:34.203" Title="Is my red eared slider eggbound?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-02-17T01:35:02.557" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9336" CreationDate="2015-05-23T22:22:58.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you just want to be safe, I would get a regular blue colored toy. Any colors like green, yellow (some yellows are fine if vibrant enough), and orange will be slightly more difficult for your dog to find in grass. Blue is very distinct and your dog will find it more easily, especially if they have any eye problems. Cyan (blue-green) and magenta appear more whitish gray so if you would like one of those colors, they're also different from how dogs perceive green, thus easy to identify!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5132" LastActivityDate="2015-05-23T22:22:58.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2452" CreationDate="2015-05-24T04:15:20.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not at all an animal expert, but to flank someone means to go around their side, so I would imagine flanking in the context of herding would involve moving around one side of a herd of animals so that they don't go in that direction; that side would feel &quot;closed off&quot; to them, and they would instinctively move in the other direction (if you flank them on the right, they would move left, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5133" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T04:15:20.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-24T04:29:02.557" Score="3" ViewCount="1141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm house sitting for a family that has several cats and dogs, and today while letting one of the inside/outside cats inside, a feral cat jumped out from where &amp;quot;my&amp;quot; cat was sitting and scratched me on my leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming it is feral because it doesn't have a collar of any kind, and behaves like I would assume a wild/unowned cat would; skittish around humans, defensive/aggressive by default, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scratch is not very deep at all; though some blood was drawn, it dried up almost instantly. This may have been helped by the blue jeans I was wearing. I have cleaned the scratch and rubbed it with antiseptic. However, should I see a vet or doctor about rabies or a more common infection, since the cat was wild?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure I am not in any danger, but I never had pets growing up (or as an adult), so I only know what I've heard from friends/seen on TV/the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm in the United States, if there are regional differences to handling this situation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5133" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T21:31:30.963" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T23:59:47.197" Title="I got scratched by a feral cat. Should I see a doctor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9350" CreationDate="2015-05-24T09:01:51.113" Score="11" ViewCount="17571" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sister's friend left me her two geckos to babysit while she went on a trip with my sister and said that one is sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is very, very thin to the point where you can see her ribcage/lungs, and they perk up over most of her body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has shed stuck to both of her front legs, and they look unrepairable; they just look like tiny nubs, and when she moves, she drags herself. Her front arms look like they're broken but she can still use them to crawl. She puts them at very uncomfortable looking angles and I don't know how to help her out. This morning I had to help her by peeling shed off of her back feet, and she had very loose, bad diarrhea in the warm water. I rinsed it off of her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's also in a tank with another leopard gecko [unsure of the gender] who is completely healthy and eating well. Before she got sick, both geckos eat a diet of mealworms/calcium powder + 2 crickets every other day.The girl refuses to eat anything, and I had to mush up some waxworms, calcium powder, and water [for her to easily swallow] and even then I had to put it on her nose so she could lick it off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had a very hard time swallowing 1/4 of a waxworm, and sat for probably 5 minutes trying to get it down. She looks very sleepy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have three hides; two warm and one moist. She peed in the moist hide, but since this morning, she still hasn't pooped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have the standard humidity/temperatures they need, and a heatlamp. &#xA;I really dont want this gecko to die. :/ Any kind of help would be appreciated. We can't take her to the vet because we're broke so this is the best I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a picture of her: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KFEko.png&quot; alt=&quot;gecko in hide&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5134" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-14T11:41:28.270" LastActivityDate="2019-02-14T11:41:28.270" Title="Leopard gecko sick with shed on arms and very thin" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9349" CreationDate="2015-05-24T23:56:49.013" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please bear in mind that I don't have veterinary qualifications, I'm just giving you the best advice I can based on my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really do feel that &lt;strong&gt;the best thing for this animal would be to take it to a vet asap&lt;/strong&gt;. I understand that this isn't a possibility for you, but I felt like I had to put it at the start of my answer in case anyone else comes to this Q&amp;amp;A at a later date with a similar problem. You have been put in an awful situation here, having neither neglected the animal yourself, nor made any sort of financial commitment to its wellbeing. So I understand that this isn't something you are able to do, and I hope me saying this doesn't make you feel bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading your post, I see three big problem areas: the bendy limbs, the stuck shed and the not eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the bendy limbs. If you get a chance to take any more photos, that would really help, but looking at the picture it does really look like there is something wrong with her front legs. You also said she drags her body along the ground. This sounds highly symptomatic of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/reptile/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_rp_hyperparathyroidism&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;metabolic bone disease&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs and symptoms of metabolic bone disease in herps include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swollen limbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowed legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swollen and softened jaw (rubber jaw) and&#xA;rounded head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lameness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inability to climb, walk, or lift the trunk of&#xA;the body off of the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paralysis (animals may drag their&#xA;hindquarters)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tremors or jerky movements&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Generalized weakness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lumps or hard bumps on the limbs or&#xA;along the spine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constipation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=17+1796&amp;amp;aid=3581&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned calcium powder, but it wasn't clear whether this is just supplemented with food or whether they have any calcium in the terrarium. Mine just have a small dish of it that they can help themselves to (supposedly they self-regulate and will eat it if they need it). If you don't have one in there, you could add one. UV exposure also helps - that means get her into the sun without any glass in between (so take her out of the terrarium, open a window and let the sun shine on her directly. Be careful not to let her escape of course; maybe put her in a plastic or glass box with steep edges but no lid, so the sun can shine on her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stuck shed is the next issue. I have written some detail on how to deal with this already &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2716/628&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;; I suggest you have a read of that. The only things I would add is that if it's multiple layers of stuck shed it won't all come off at once. I've seen several people take in rescue leos on the leopard geckos group I'm in on Facebook, and it usually seems to take them a number of attempts, with a bit more shed coming off each time. She doesn't look too bad in the picture actually (just a bit on her toes; her eyes, tail, head, body and legs all look fine), but you did say you'd already removed some. And the second thing is that if she does have MBD her bones are going to be either brittle or bendy; either way, you should handle her really carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the not eating. There are two parts to this - the loss of appetite and the loss of weight. The loss of appetite (i.e. the fact she doesn't &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to eat) is a longer-term problem and something I doubt you'll be able to fix in just a couple of days. It's possible it's being caused by the MBD, or there's possibly a different underlying cause, like parasites or environmental factors. It can even be self-perpetuating; I've had geckos that stopped eating and then from that got fatty liver disease, one of which's symptoms is decreased appetite :/ If the animal survives, the owner should really get it to a vet to diagnose and treat the underlying cause to treat the problem longer term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, since it's not your animal, you should focus on the loss of weight. If she is as thin as you say (I can't see her body or tail in the picture), emergency feeding may be the best thing for you to do in the short term, just to get some fuel into her. I'll tell you the way we were taught to do this by the vet first, and then my recommendations for how to make do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way we feed ours (we have two not eating at the moment) is using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1609&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;dry supplement food like this&lt;/a&gt; which gets mixed with water to make a runny paste and then squirted into their mouths using a syringe (the kind without a needle on the end). In the UK, that supplement food is only available by vet prescription, I'm afraid, but I don't know if it's different where you are. In the past, we had a seriously underweight one, and we were given a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/hills-prescription-diet-a-d-156g-%28online-only%29&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Prescription Diet A/D food&lt;/a&gt; which comes in a tin like cat food and is designed for malnourished animals rather than a more balanced food like the first one. We were told to mix it with sugar water and feed using the syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get hold of any kind of syringe (the kind without a needle), that would be perfect. There is only so much you can get them to eat by licking off nose, especially with decreased appetite. Failing that, any kind of way you can get the liquid (or solid) into her mouth. In general, sometimes it's best to force it in for the animal's longer-term wellbeing (since she will die if she doesn't eat), but you do have the added complication of possibly weak bones. (Don't force in live insects either, it can cause problems if the gecko's instincts are shot and she doesn't bite down to crush and kill them before swallowing.) You certainly don't want to break her jaw, so you're going to have to use your best judgement here. I've sometimes found that gently stroking the sides of the jaw can make the gecko open her mouth of her own accord.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the mixture itself, if you can get the cat/dog food designed for malnourished animals, that would work. Alternatively, there are numerous recipes online using various combinations of mealworms, cat biscuits, sugar water, the wet pet food I just mentioned, protein powder and vitamin supplements. This answer has got pretty long already (and I need to go to bed!) but if you have a Google around you should be able to find a few different suggestions for different recipes (some of them suggest putting the mealworms in a blender - I understand you may have mixed feelings about sacrificing a blender when it's not your pet; an alternative is to cut the heads off and squeeze the goo out - it's a bit gross, but it does have the added advantage of not using the chitin in the feed, since it's basically nutritionally useless anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you find something useful in all of this, and I wish you all the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-05-24T23:56:49.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-25T04:33:28.343" Score="3" ViewCount="27625" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family and I have a 4 years old German Shorthair Pointer who is all of a sudden refusing to go up the stairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We usually have to put a leash on him and drag him up, but even then he stands by the bedroom door wanting to get out. We cannot leave him downstairs because we just got new furniture and he has a nasty habit of wanting to pee on everything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a bit skittish and gets freaked easily by things such as our vacuum, but it's always with his first encounter with the object. He has climbed these stairs countless times without any problems and we can not figure out why he is afraid of them now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5135" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-05-25T10:30:24.200" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T02:27:37.353" Title="My dog refuses to go up the stairs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9351" CreationDate="2015-05-25T08:14:29.237" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;All of a sudden = go get him checked by a vet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see only two reasons your dog would suddenly refuse to climb the stairs: &lt;em&gt;he got hurt&lt;/em&gt; and it is painful for him to walk up the stairs or he had a &lt;em&gt;negative experience&lt;/em&gt; and learned to be afraid of the stairs (or a combination of both: he got hurt in the stairs, that's the negative experience and now it's painful as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case it is worth checking with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dragging him with a leash = animal abuse&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would you do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's scared you're just reinforcing that fear and you're making the stair and &lt;strong&gt;your presence&lt;/strong&gt; a negative experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's got a physical problem (might be temporary, a sore muscle for example) you're probably hurting him even more, you're creating a very negative experience and that means that even if its physical problem is temporary, he'll learn to avoid the stairs even when he'll get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I can understand that at some point you might need to take him upstairs. Why don't you just carry him up the stairs in your arms? It is definitely possible to do that with a German Shortair Pointer (according to Wikipedia the weight of a male  is around 25 kg). If he doesn't let you do that, train him to like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Away from the stairs, lift him up and give him some treat, slowly increase the duration and treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;As for everything training is the key&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that you had him checked by your vet and that you stopped making things worse, you can start helping him to be confortable with the stairs again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That kind of training is called &lt;strong&gt;counter-conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is simple but it requires a lot of patience. You simply reward every (tiny) steps taken in the correct direction. If you get your dog interested in some treats, attract his attention and move closer to the stairs, reward him for following you and approaching the stairs. When he won't approach closer, throw a treat away from the stairs, and reward him for coming back, do that little game for a while, and then reward only when he takes one more step. You get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also do the same game elsewhere were he'll agree to climb the stairs. That way you reinforce his efforts and you set him up for success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time I would suggest to reinforce him for being upstairs. Make upstairs be his favorite place to stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also reinforce him when you take him up the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With patience and a combination of these exercices you'll start to see improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-25T11:58:24.777" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T11:58:24.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9322" CreationDate="2015-05-25T11:39:27.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted by others respiration of 120 per minute requires an immediate visit to the Vet. Normal Respiratory rate for rabbits is 30 - 60 breaths per minute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/temperature-and-respiration-rates/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Temperature, Heart and Respiration Rates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/emergenc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;When your rabbit needs to see the vet NOW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.vetdepot.com/normal-temperatures-pulse-rates-and-respiration-rates-for-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Normal Temperatures, Pulse Rates and Respiration Rates for Pets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Observation&lt;/strong&gt; I am sitting in my home office with my rabbit &amp;amp; my laptop on my lap.  The Temperature in the room is 77, my feet are up on the desk and I am reaching over the rabbit to type. I looked down and notice she is breathing more than twice per second (i.e. 120+ per minute).  I took her back to her room where it is cooler.  A few minutes later she is resting on the floor and has a normal respiration rate.  It would seem that like many other furry animals rabbits breath faster when they are warm.  If your rabbit may be overly warm take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2800&quot;&gt;How can I keep a rabbit cool?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T19:06:17.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9358" CreationDate="2015-05-25T20:58:25.357" Score="5" ViewCount="893" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;em&gt;Short intro&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 months ago I was walking downtown with my girlfriend and we saw an abandoned dog. It was a rainy day. He was freezing cold alone and also starving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to adopt him and take care of him, and I believe I've been rewarded with one of the most loyal and lovely dogs I've ever had in my life. He must be something around 4 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;em&gt;Real problem&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although he is very respectful, I can't control him and prevent him from fighting &lt;strong&gt;every single dog&lt;/strong&gt; he sees on the streets. This is deadly annoying. He simply pretends he's not listening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take him to walk 2 a 3 times a day (20-30 mins) and it is very calm, &lt;strong&gt;unless&lt;/strong&gt; he sees other dogs and wants to kill them. Big deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now I have an idea where the little scars came from when I adopted him.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure he might hate other dogs because of his time living in the hood, but how can I stop this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5070" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:30:12.927" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:30:12.927" Title="How can I prevent my dog from fighting other dog's on the street?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2402" CreationDate="2015-05-25T21:46:12.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a combination of 2X2 and wires.  After you  get to the dog doing 4 poles 2X2 I try a set of 6 with wires.  We went to a full set of 12 with intermittent wires and he learned very fast and kept up his speed n the weaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5138" LastActivityDate="2015-05-25T21:46:12.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-25T21:56:45.033" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog runs to where the leash runner will put his leash as soon as on the course and is headed in a direction  where he sees it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be only after 5 or 6 obstacles. Most of the time he takes the last jump with the automatic timers and thus ends his run.  We have tried things at practice and in class, but &lt;strong&gt;he only does this at trials&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there anything I can do in the ring to stop this behavior?&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a very fast dog and was doing very well in agility until he started doing this. So far it has cost us 6 Q's.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5138" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-26T07:15:32.900" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T12:58:59.790" Title="Dog running to its leash during agility trials" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9355" CreationDate="2015-05-26T07:47:39.197" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few key points to make sure that the situation and context are well understood:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aggression is not a problem that gets &lt;strong&gt;fixed&lt;/strong&gt;. It is &lt;strong&gt;managed&lt;/strong&gt; and you measure improvement over (long periods of) time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Agression toward other dogs is called &lt;strong&gt;intra-specific aggression&lt;/strong&gt; (dog-dog aggression, different from dog-human aggression)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Such aggression can have basically two origins: (learned) &lt;strong&gt;fear aggression&lt;/strong&gt; (your dog had bad experiences in the past and figured out that aggression was an appropriate response, plus it makes him feel better), (learned) &lt;strong&gt;resource guarding&lt;/strong&gt; aggression (competition over food, available female dogs, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't react aggressively to aggressive behaviors. That will only make things worse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aggressive dogs require more than just &quot;training&quot;. You need advice from a veterinary behaviorist, not just from a regular dog trainer. My advice in this answer is not meant to be a replacement to professional help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You said &quot;&lt;em&gt;he pretends he's not listening&lt;/em&gt;&quot;: he's &lt;strong&gt;truly not listening&lt;/strong&gt;, his brain is off, he's so excited he can't learn anything and it takes time (minutes, hours) to recover from such an event. Remember last time you had a car accident and you were shaking, nothing people could say would make that disappear, it takes time to recover.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Prevention is very important&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggressive dogs are at very high risk of being sent back to a shelter or being euthanised. It is your role to take actions to prevent that from happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As suggested in the comments, keep him on leash all the time, with a muzzle and do your best to prevent aggressive behaviors or aggressive displays to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training has to be done when your dog is not (yet) aggressive! When he goes &quot;out of control&quot; it is way too late to address the problem. His brain will be &quot;flooded&quot; by neuro-chemicals, and that suppresses almost any learning capability. Anything you'll do at that moment will have very little effect, your communication with your dog will be close to zero, everything will be wrongly/poorly understood and the chances are that it will make things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meeting aggression with aggression leads to even more aggressive behaviors. Additionally there's the risk of transforming dog-dog aggression into dog-human aggression which is even more difficult to manage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, take all the necessary steps in advance, have a clear plan of what to do when you meet another dog. Don't get sentimental about restricting his &quot;freedom&quot;: you'll live with him for the next 10 years, keeping him on a leash with a muzzle for 1 year and taking proactive actions will help him a lot, reduce the risk and will most probably allow you to deal with a much easier situation in the next 9 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What solutions do we have?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many elements of this answer come from Karen Overall's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Manual-Clinical-Behavioral-Medicine-Dogs-ebook/dp/B00DJFPOPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1432626301&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=manual%20of%20clinical%20behavioral%20medicine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Manual of clinical behavioral medicine for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt; from which I extracted bits and pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Steps towards counter-conditioning&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The very basic idea is to train alternative &lt;em&gt;behaviors&lt;/em&gt; which will allow the dog to progressively control its reaction while next to other dogs. First these alternative behaviors are trained to make the dog react in a more appropriate way and to set him up for success while rewarding appropriate &lt;em&gt;attitudes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are my words. I like to talk about &lt;em&gt;behaviorial training&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;attitude training&lt;/em&gt;. An example makes it very clear: first you train him to sit when he sees another dog. That doesn't suppress his urge to &quot;attack&quot;, but at least you have a behavior which is incompatible with him moving towards the other, additionally sitting will make it easier for him to relax and with training evolve to non-aggressive attitudes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That training has to be done in a way that you start well below its aggression threshold: you first start 100 meters away from another dog, he sees it, doesn't react, you click and treat (*).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay at that level and progressively train him to sit or lie down automatically as he sees another dog. When you get that, rewarding all the time, make it (very) progressively more difficult by getting closer to other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to do it slowly. You want him to stay relaxed, see my comment above about &quot;brain chemistry&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting or lying down will help him increase its reaction threshold. Keep rewarding him while he sits/lies down. Progressively you'll notice that he &quot;recovers&quot; faster and faster after seeing another dog, reward that. Now you are not just training him to sit, but you're reinforcing its calm behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get closer and closer to other dogs. Always make sure that he's successful. It can take weeks or months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that training is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; about testing the dog: don't practice the above exercise 3 times and then go to central bark to see if he improves! A successful training session is 2 steps in the right direction, a situation where he gets aggressive is 1 step in the wrong direction, if not more than 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives you a rough idea of what a &lt;em&gt;behavioral modification program&lt;/em&gt; can look like. A veterinary behaviorist will guide you more precisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What about drugs?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to cite anything specific as this goes well beyond my actual knowledge. Seek professional help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different classes of drugs in veterinary medicine that can greatly help with anxiety disorder. As said above, aggression can be fear-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very useful to introduce drugs into a behavioral modification program from the beginning. Again, we want the dog to learn, and that requires a correct neuro-chemical state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drugs are a complement and allow you to be more successful. They are not supposed to cure the problem or make it disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Get involved in some training with your dog&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rescuing a dog and addressing an aggressive behavior is like learning a new language and being interviewed on TV. Super difficult and not a great experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is: learn about dog training (see below) and train him at home, start with &quot;trick&quot; behaviors. That will help you better understand training, it will connect you with your dog. It will have fun and even more willing to solve the other problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this will have two key effects in your situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you need to prevent aggressive behavior from happening, you might need to change your walks schedule and/or reduce them. To dogs mental stimulation is as important as physical exercise. Additionally your dog was used to think a lot: looking for food, not being killed by a car, etc. Positive reinforcement training makes him thing. A 15 minute training session is worth a short walk. I'm not suggesting that it replaces physical exercise, but it is a very good complement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is reacting to its environment and in a new situation takes cues from the environment (sniffing around, exploring, etc.) Training and/or play will teach the dog that he also has the possibility to &lt;strong&gt;take cues from you&lt;/strong&gt;. That's very important.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;References&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.clickertraining.com/click-to-calm-ebook.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) That's in the framework of &lt;em&gt;clicker-training&lt;/em&gt;. I suggest that you have a quick look at what it means. That's a powerful and fun way to train dogs. If you don't just consider that &quot;click and treat&quot; means &quot;give him something he likes&quot;, food is great, a toy is good also but most of the time giving food is easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:06:41.050" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:41.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-26T11:39:50.583" Score="6" ViewCount="2560" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a female stray dog in my area who was recently spayed and as being spayed in a poor Indian government hospital she's got ticks all over her body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Manual removal of the ticks is not possible because she won't sit still for long, and I can't give her a bath for a month as she was spayed recently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is any spray which will help to get rid of ticks? And also is there any natural anti-tick stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3978" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T17:34:57.560" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T06:19:43.560" Title="How can I remove multiple ticks from a dog quickly?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9357" CreationDate="2015-05-26T12:58:59.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog has become &quot;ring-wise&quot; and developed a habit based on something that happens &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; while at a trial. The most common form of this is poor 2-on-2-off performance because in a trial handlers are so focused on getting that Q that they let their criteria slide which leads to broken stays, but only in a trial. Dogs are very smart and can figure this stuff out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, you probably want to take a step back from trialing until you can stop this from happening. There's no point in spending the money when you know your dog is going to rush to the leash. Here's some things that I would work on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;During practice, try to emulate the trial atmosphere as much as possible. If you can, try going to some fun runs. They won't count for anything but will be cheaper and more like a real trial. If you can get him to mess up and go to the leash not in a trial, think about what was different about the environment so you can work on it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Work specifically with the leash as a distraction. There's probably a ton of value in it since it's the last place your dog goes in a trial and he probably gets a huge reward, not to mention the leash means walks, agility, and all kinds of fun stuff. Make sure he knows he's only to go to the leash when told. Work with the leash on a leash stand like the ones at trial too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like for your dog the key is going to be emulating the trial environment in a practice setting as much as possible so your dog thinks he's at a trial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can ask the leash attendee to hide the leash somewhere else at trials so it's not a distraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T12:58:59.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-26T13:09:20.493" Score="2" ViewCount="679" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are already a few questions about neutering male dogs, optimal age, negative effects and benefit of chemical castration but here I'd like to know wether or not the &quot;sniffing around&quot; behavior of my dog will be affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a male, Brittany, 18 months, has no aggressive behavior at all (dog-dog or dog-human), I don't know if marking is excessive but in any case it never happens indoor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no big deal but I'm considering neutering him for these reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he's getting the habit of mounting other dogs (male or female) or shows sexual excitation when interacting with people (mounting the leg), as I understand this will be greatly reduced by castration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in case he would meet a female in heat I don't want to risk anything, there are enough dogs around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read that it reduces the risk of prostate cancer (I don't know if it is hormonal and hence reduced also by chemical castration or if it is only the case for true desexing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chemical castration would be a first step in that direction, without being definitive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(if you think I'm wrong with these assumption please advice me)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the main question is: I know he's a gundog, bred in part for its very keen sense of smell, but I don't know if is huge sniffing activity is not actually linked to a sexual behavior (searching for females / checking other males).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a sexual behavior and if it is reduced by castration, I think it would be a very good thing for him: less excitation, so more compatible with its pet life, more attention towards me, which would mean more even more freedom and more fun (for both of us I hope) because its training would be improved and we could do more doggy sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this be improved by castration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T12:48:59.180" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T18:45:47.410" Title="Will there be a behavioral change after chemical castration of a male dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3320" CreationDate="2015-05-26T20:23:05.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize this is an old question, but answer may help someone else searching.  It's the plexiglass.  If she can see outside of her enclosure, her natural tendency is to roam.  She will not give up.  This causes stress.  Try using brick on the next enclosure.  You'll both be happier!  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5140" LastActivityDate="2015-05-26T20:23:05.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9308" CreationDate="2015-05-27T00:13:51.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having an helper during training can be great, especially when training distance. The helper can either dispense treats after a marker or prevent the dog from reinforcing when it does something wrong. Bad Dog Agility has a podcast specifically on different ways you can use a helper: &lt;a href=&quot;http://baddogagility.com/episode-72-three-ways-to-use-a-helper/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://baddogagility.com/episode-72-three-ways-to-use-a-helper/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, if you're going to have an &quot;attention&quot; / &quot;watch-me&quot; cue, I would make it separate from a name or any other command that generally means &quot;come closer to me.&quot; That way you don't need to worry about the dog taking a couple steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you're also going to want to train without a helper so the dog doesn't get used to one and think it only gets rewarded when the helper is there. The best way I've found is to &quot;ping-pong&quot; distances. This is especially helpful for creating fantastic stays. Don't forget to walk back to your dog from the long distances too even if it takes several seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T00:13:51.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9361" CreationDate="2015-05-27T06:50:50.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes chemical castration will reduce hormone levels and therefore reduce the cancer risks, mounting, and some other behaviors associated with the hormone levels. For the sniffing in particular, it would really depend on what the sniffing is about so I can't say if it would change that specific behavior you are seeing. It takes a few weeks to months for the hormone levels to normalize after the procedure as well so it may take a little while for you to see the change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T06:50:50.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17334" CreationDate="2015-05-27T08:22:31.560" Score="8" ViewCount="1155" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been up and down over the past few years. He had Parvo as a pup, he had intestinal issues a couple of years ago, and for most of his life he's been a solo pup, but I've recently moved in with someone who owns another dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all this time, my dog's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_reflex&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;scratch reflex&lt;/a&gt; has moved, disappeared and reappeared. So I was wondering if this &quot;spot&quot; can be affected by a dog's health and/or happiness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5143" LastEditorUserId="5143" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T23:24:55.253" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T11:06:43.750" Title="Does a dog's happiness or health affect their scratch reflex?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9369" CreationDate="2015-05-27T12:22:48.707" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma almost two years ago. He's doing okay but has been going down hill the past few weeks. He will probably have to be euthanized within a month or two due to a decreased inability to have a bowel movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He takes some sort of steroid daily and we keep him on a high protein diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our local animal clinic has recommended he get a single shot worth of 6 months of heartworm prevention medicine. He used to get the chewable preventative heartworm medicine up until a year ago. Since then he has not had any. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a heartworm preventative necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.proheart6.com/PDF/clientinformationsheet.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;client information sheet&lt;/a&gt; for the drug ProHeart 6:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5144" LastEditorUserId="5144" LastEditDate="2015-05-27T16:49:55.747" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T16:40:57.440" Title="My dog had adenocarcinoma. Should he be given heartworm prevention medicine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-27T14:40:15.747" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that it is recommended to give Omega-3 to elderly dogs (especially ones with arthritis) (for example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1081/what-will-help-an-aging-dog-with-arthritis/1084#1084)&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 15 years old female medium sized, mixed breed (probably mostly German Shepherd), weighing approximately 25 kg (55 lbs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What amount of Omega-3 should I give her?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the source of the Omega-3 matter (e.g. fish oil)? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3958" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:43:58.740" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:43:58.740" Title="How do I choose an Omega-3 supplement for an elderly dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9367" CreationDate="2015-05-27T15:34:37.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When considering treatments for elderly animals, I usually go through a risk assessment to pick the best option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the risks/hazards to each action I can take?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the likelihood of each risk/hazard?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this situation, you can either give the heartworm preventative or not give the heartworm preventative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Administering the Preventative&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are considering give your dog the heartworm preventative, you should first test your dog to see if he is already infected. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/AnimalHealthLiteracy/ucm188470.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Federal Drug Administration&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a heartworm-positive dog is not tested before starting a&#xA;  preventive, the dog will remain infected with adult heartworms until&#xA;  it gets sick enough to show symptoms.  Also, giving a heartworm&#xA;  preventive to a dog that has an adult heartworm infection may be&#xA;  harmful or deadly.  If microfilariae [heartworm larvae] are in the dog’s bloodstream, the&#xA;  preventive may cause the microfilariae to suddenly die, triggering a&#xA;  shock-like reaction and possibly death in some dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your dog does not have heartworms, the administration of a preventative can result in side effects. The 6 month heartworm shot is probably ProHeart 6. Their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.proheart6.com/PDF/clientinformationsheet.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;client information sheet&lt;/a&gt; gives the following as possible side effects:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Allergic reaction – The most common side effects of ProHeart 6 are allergic symptoms, including swelling of the face, itching, hives&#xA;  and/or inflamed skin. Allergic reactions have been reported when&#xA;  ProHeart 6 and  vaccines have been given at the same time. Some&#xA;  allergic reactions can be severe, such as difficulty breathing or&#xA;  collapse. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vomiting and/or diarrhea (Either with or without blood)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Change in your dog’s appetite or activity level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These reactions are rare, but when they do happen they typically happen immediately after the shot is administered. For a dog who's health is already compromised they can potentially shorten his life, or decrease his quality of life significantly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Withholding the Preventative&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not administer the heartworm preventative, the risk is that your dog may develop heartworms. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/heartworm-disease-in-dogs/773&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VCA Animal Hospitals&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It usually takes several years before dogs show clinical signs of&#xA;  infection. ...Unfortunately, by the time clinical signs are seen, the&#xA;  disease is usually well advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heartworms cause disease by clogging the heart and major blood vessels&#xA;  leading from the heart. They also interfere with the valve action in&#xA;  the heart. By clogging the main blood vessel, the blood supply to&#xA;  other organs of the body is reduced, particularly blood flow to the&#xA;  lungs, liver and kidneys,causing these organs to malfunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The signs of heartworm disease depend on the number of adult worms&#xA;  present, the location of the worms, the length of time the worms have&#xA;  been in the dog and the degree of damage that has been sustained by&#xA;  the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most obvious clinical signs of heartworm disease are a soft, dry&#xA;  cough, shortness of breath, weakness, nervousness, listlessness and&#xA;  loss of stamina. All of these signs are most noticeable following&#xA;  exercise, when some dogs may even faint or become disoriented. Your&#xA;  veterinarian may notice abnormal lung and heart sounds when listening&#xA;  to the chest with a stethoscope. In advanced cases, congestive heart&#xA;  failure may be apparent and the abdomen and legs will swell from fluid&#xA;  accumulation. There may also be evidence of weight loss, poor&#xA;  condition and anemia. Severely infected dogs may die suddenly during&#xA;  exercise or excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heartworm disease is not a fast disease, and if your dog is in poor health already, he may not live long enough to be affected by the worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T15:34:37.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9359" CreationDate="2015-05-27T17:34:33.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Manual removal is best, because it also allows you to clean/disinfect the wounds with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;isopropyl alcohol&lt;/a&gt; (or other disinfectant). If she doesn't sit still for you to remove all of the ticks at once, you can try just pulling off one or two at a time, then giving her a break (petting her, giving her treats, playing a game, etc) before pulling off another tick or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use some sprays or medications (many of them are found in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=325&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these charts&lt;/a&gt;), but they can be dangerous if the dog is exposed to them multiple times in a single month. For example, if you treat her and then tomorrow your neighbor treats her because your neighbor didn't know that you already sprayed her. She may get an overdose and become very ill. You should read the directions and make sure that the product that you chose can be applied frequently without any danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-05-27T17:34:33.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-28T00:20:36.383" Score="14" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;We took the turtle out of his tank for a second. He ran off the bench so quickly that we couldn't catch him falling. He fell on the floor, cracking his plastron. I'm trying to take him to the vet, but they're not open yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put him back into his tank, I'm not too sure what to do for him until we can get to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4lf9M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Turtles cracked chest&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5146" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T00:42:03.783" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T00:42:03.783" Title="My turtle cracked his plastron" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9374" CreationDate="2015-05-28T07:18:02.653" Score="0" ViewCount="4655" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so I read over... &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/94&quot; title=&quot;this question&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; and there were some really good tips here, however... My 3 month old Shetland Sheepdog just won't go outside in the first place...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is paper trained for inside, and in the day he has someone come see him to look after him, to let him out in the garden etc. Our aim is to give him treats when he toilets outside - at this point I'm not fussed about where in my garden he toilets so long as it IS in my garden, however he has stopped toileting outside and waits to go inside again. He used to toilet outside, and would receive plenty of fuss etc for doing so. He has a daily 20 minute walk - with a good 20 minute break in the middle where we sit and he can sniff around and relax - but he won't toilet on walks either, even when we walk with a friend and her dog goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently we spent 4 hours out with a friend, in her garden, on a walk etc and he held his bladder for the entire time and only went when we got home, which seems an incredible feat for a 3 month old small breed pup... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What we are doing...&lt;/strong&gt; is that when he starts to go to the toilet inside we open the back door and move him to some newspaper outside (this is linked to how my in laws toilet trained their Shelties) however he then just clams up and won't continue... Until he is allowed back inside. Often he will toilet inside and then sit at the back door and ask to go out, which is the wrong order!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can we do&lt;/strong&gt; to improve this situation? Will moving him outside eventually click, if we use treat training, and as he becomes more controling of his ablutions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; taking Cedrics advice we played ball in the garden for a good 10 minutes and got our first outdoor wee wee in three weeks. Duely rewarded too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T18:29:29.380" Title="Getting a puppy to toilet outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9372" CreationDate="2015-05-28T08:12:19.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's the problem of doing some kind of toilet training inside. Now he has to learn to go outside and also unlearn that going on the puppy pads / newspapers inside is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main criterion for dogs is not really the location, inside or outside, etc. but the &lt;em&gt;substrate&lt;/em&gt;: grass, dirt, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before 4 months puppies should not be expected to be toilet train. That means that you should just keep trying, harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting him to go while outside is easier if he was allowed to run a lot. You can also kind of &quot;massage&quot; his belly (young puppies don't defecate by themselves, the mother licks their belly to stimulate urination and defecation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to see if you can see a pattern of when he needs to defecate: just after eating, waking up from a nap, etc. Then you can anticipate and moving him outside quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So maybe a deceptive answer but to sum it up: keep moving him outside as soon as you notice that he'll go inside, treat and praise him a lot when outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T08:12:19.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9377" CreationDate="2015-05-28T17:26:38.287" Score="2" ViewCount="1494" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cocker spaniels. One is 7 and the other is 2.  They have got on with each other from day one.  They play and sleep together and there is no aggression.  The older dog is clearly top dog but very amiable.  In the last 2 weeks he has started to push the younger one off his food.  No growling and no nastiness just shoves him out of the way.  He has never ever done this before and we often look after our daughter's dog and they eat well together.  I wonder why this behaviour has suddenly started.  Nothing has changed in the household or in their routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5151" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-28T21:03:38.587" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T21:03:38.587" Title="Why has my first dog started stealing my second dog's food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2015-05-28T18:11:23.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may just have found out he can. Dogs don't share the same morals humans have so he won't have a problem stealing food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5152" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T18:11:23.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2015-05-28T20:10:43.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your (first) dog is just taking the natural alpha role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alpha dogs (or dogs who have alpha behavior) can be identified by some actions, one of them being 'dominant' on the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While assuming the alpha role yourself (a point many dog owners neglect or are unaware of) might not solve the problem regarding the interaction with other dogs, it could help you understand how it works. Take a look here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/your-dog-dominant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Is your dog dominant&lt;/a&gt;. There is much, much more you can find online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to your specific problem, you could train your dog not to steal from the other. It's my recommendation, and I am by no means a specialist, but here is what I would do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leash the first dog so he can't reach the second one's plate (witch has food in it). Do it without the second dog around at first. Praise the first dog with food when he stops reaching for the plate. Do it until he gets that not going for the food is the way to get it. Require of him increasing time intervals without reaching for the plate before praising him. You can touch the plate or move it a bit to 'tempt' him, still praising when he doesn't reach for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few goes at that, feed the second dog on the same condition. When the first dog stop reaching for the second dog's plate, praise him. Feed him AFTER on his plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this could train away the stealing, and ensure you have a dominant role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5054" LastActivityDate="2015-05-28T20:10:43.617" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9385" CreationDate="2015-05-29T03:21:12.697" Score="4" ViewCount="933" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog is a little breed (boston terrier), 12 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been diagnosed with ear infection, and prescribed an ear medicine, witch has to be applied directly in the ear, twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing we're having trouble with is how hard it is for her when we apply the medicine. We can hold her, but it's almost unbearable how she struggles. We even come close to hurting her while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it must be applied twice a day, it's really hard to take her to the vet. We will do it if necessary. But another problem is that we might be reducing physical (by having the vet do it) risk but increasing emotional distress (trip+vet+stress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you proceed in this situation? We'll do what is necessary, but we want to be dead sure what is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5054" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-29T03:57:57.160" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T14:33:49.297" Title="How do I apply ear medicine to my dog's ears?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9482" CreationDate="2015-05-29T03:47:54.483" Score="4" ViewCount="6662" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live on a pretty big property and we've had all kinds of animals. We got our first cat about 10 years ago, when my dog ran off and brought him home. She hatched him and licked him to his annoyance for the rest of her life. Besides that, he's a little hellion. He beats the other dogs on a regular basis and seems to have a special hate for other cats. He is fixed, but he hisses and attacks other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For whatever reason, a new cat has been coming around and my cat doesn't seem to mind him. He/she isn't exactly feral as I'm pretty sure he used to be the neighbor's and just ran off. He's usually pretty shy, but came up for me to pet him/her tonight. He seemed okay, with just a little scabbing on his body, which I assume is for fighting, as my cat has gotten similar ones in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I was running my hand down to scratch it's chin, I felt it's cheeks. They were very large and round. It was like that on both sides. It felt firm and fatty. The cat wasn't really fat anywhere else, not skinny, but not fat. What I'm worried about is it being a symptom of something wrong with it that could make my cat sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does this sound like the cat could be sick or does it just have fat cheeks? I realize that no one on here is a vet and that you can't see the cat. My cat experience is fairly limited, but I've never run across one with fat cheeks like this one. I just want to know if there are any communicable cat diseases with swollen cheeks are a symptom? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-05-29T03:51:28.220" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T18:48:39.487" Title="Are fatty cheeks on a cat indicative of a communicable disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9378" CreationDate="2015-05-29T10:48:09.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question stresses how important it is to &lt;em&gt;habituate&lt;/em&gt; dogs to be &lt;em&gt;manipulated&lt;/em&gt; in different ways. It is important to start with young puppies and continue playing this &quot;game&quot; as they grow up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &lt;strong&gt;manipulation&lt;/strong&gt; I mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being lifted off the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ears touching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gentle &quot;eye cleaning&quot; (this should be done very cautiously even if your dog is OK with it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;touching, moving his paws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's something that should be done everyday or even multiple times a day, often people realise the importance of it when it is really needed (visit to the vet, injury, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Habituation&lt;/strong&gt; has a specific &quot;scientific&quot; meaning: habituation is the decrease of a response to a given stimulus, or equivalently, a response that stays constant while the stimulus is gradually and slowly increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So habituation is passive and will develop over time. Concerning your dog's ears, that means that if you touch (first with one finger, then after some days with 2 fingers, etc. and finally holding the ear in your hand) his ears while petting him, if you start with something that doesn't provoque a strong reaction (otherwise it means you went to fast) your dog will habituate and you'll be able to progress over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course in your case that would be too slow and you need to take active steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That other process is &lt;strong&gt;counter-conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;: classical conditioning is the association of a given stimulus to a innate rewarding experience (that's a experience that the dog finds rewarding without being trained: food, social contact, etc.). Your dog considers ears touches as a negative experience. You need to (classical) counter-condition him to eventually associate ears touches with a rewarding experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a key points to do that properly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;actively practice that exercice before your dog associates it with a negative experience too strongly (that means everyone should do it before it is really needed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start with something your dog is confortable with, don't rush it: in your case that might mean that you have to start by just petting his head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reward him in the following way: first give him a treat as you're touching him, then treat him after touching, when is confortable being touched in a given way and expects the treat move slowly to harder steps, again treating as you're touching his hears then treating after&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last point is &lt;strong&gt;the most essential ingredient of classical conditioning&lt;/strong&gt;: the stimulus (touching his ears) has to become the predictor of the reward. That means it has to be given first and the reward has to come after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treating as you touch serves to &lt;em&gt;habituate&lt;/em&gt; the dog, then treating after serves to &lt;em&gt;condition&lt;/em&gt; the dog that having his ears touched is a wonderful experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to admit that although it sounds great on paper, it is a slow process, especially if the dog already had a chance to learn non-rewarding / negative experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the short-term your best option is to try to make it has positive as possible: immobilise him &quot;strongly&quot;, so you can be faster, treat him before and after, or during if you can have someone else's help. Vets are usually doing such things with a lot of confidence, calm and rapidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-29T10:57:11.613" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T10:57:11.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-29T11:39:24.777" Score="8" ViewCount="5789" Body="&lt;p&gt;My flatmate left some garlic butter out and I think I just caught my cat licking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He probably had about 3 &amp;quot;licks&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a toxic amount? He is almost a year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T00:06:44.437" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T00:06:44.437" Title="Cat may have consumed some garlic - will he be alright?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9386" CreationDate="2015-05-29T12:52:03.440" Score="3" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to train my dog in a variety of behaviors, both positive (sit, loose-leash walking, etc), and avoiding negative (don't flip out at that dog/person).&#xA;I've got a couple kinds of treats that I use, small ones for repetitive training, and bigger ones for big rewards (the trainer I saw previously called them jackpot treats). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I go to the pet store I'm overwhelmed by the number of choices and in the past I've pretty much stuck to the same kind of treats each time. I have heard that changing up the treats you give to a dog keeps the dog from getting bored with the treat, which would make it less effective in training. Is this a valid idea, should I be getting a different brand/flavor of treat each time, or should I instead just try to stick with a treat that I know my dog likes and is healthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T20:55:49.037" Title="Does variety in treats help training?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9383" CreationDate="2015-05-29T13:33:03.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my opinion from common sense, so feel free to correct me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reinforcement in training works because the doc links &quot;Behavior A&quot; with &quot;Something good happens&quot;. Sticking to the same reward every time really helps the human most: we KNOW that giving the dog a certain treat is something he likes, so we can have an easy go-to-measure we can use as a reward.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rewarding him with words and attention would most likely work just as well, but both are tricky: we are already giving the dog attention while training anyway, and our tone of voice can change subtly just because we have had a crappy day. So, treats it is. (Or, in case of clicker-training, the click!)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For training, I would set aside the more special treats anyway. If your dog gets tired of THOSE, then chances are you are overfeeding or over-rewarding anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the choice, let your dog guide you. If you feel like he is getting tired of what he gets, change. If you try a new treat anyway, and discover the just LOVES them, set them aside for training. If your dog seems totally hapyp with what he gets? Just stick to it, and make life easier for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T13:33:03.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9378" CreationDate="2015-05-29T14:33:49.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Cedric's answer is good for when you have time to train your dog to let you do those things, and you definitely should work with dogs while they aren't sick so when they are, giving them medicine is easy, but sometimes we don't have that luxury. If a dog needs medicine NOW, then here is what worked for us and a dog who was super sweet but in so much pain that he would snap at anything that came close to his ear (i.e. the medicine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The key is to move &lt;strong&gt;as fast as possible&lt;/strong&gt;. Get everything ready (in another room if you have to) so the dog doesn't know what's coming. You want to get that syringe in her ear, medicine dispensed, and a big pile of treats in front of her in less than 1 second.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a muzzle if you have to. We got one of the mesh ones and gave the dog treats every time it went on. Practice putting it on at other times during the day too so she doesn't associate it with the medicine. This will make things easier and safer for both of you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cover the dog's eyes / come in from behind, assuming the dog is ok with this. Again, this is to help make the actual administering of medicine (the part that actually hurts) as quick as possible. The dog will quickly associate the meds with pain and you don't want that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you can, pull the ear back before hand and sit on the dog so she can't move. Yes this is uncomfortable for the dog, but you want to minimize pain and you can get that medicine in a lot quicker if the dog can't move her head.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, give &lt;strong&gt;tons of treats&lt;/strong&gt;. Even better is if you feed them their meal right afterwards, maybe with some yummy extras. This probably won't make the dog happy about getting the medicine, but it will at least help her understand that you're not all bad. Give them during the process to distract and even more afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've ever had an ear infection, you know how ridiculously painful they can be. Now remember that you have no way of telling the dog that this medicine is the only way to help. All the dog knows is when someone brings this syringe looking thing close to my ear it hurts a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog snaps, know that it's most likely only because she's in a lot of pain and it's the only thing she knows how to do. This doesn't mean your dog is aggressive or bad. Once the medicine starts working, the pain will go down and administering it will become easier. You'll probably see a big improvement in your dog's overall temperament within a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T14:33:49.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9383" CreationDate="2015-05-29T15:13:30.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key point is: &lt;em&gt;it is up to the dog to decide if something is an actual reward or not&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you have to know your dog and see if he's working &quot;enthusiastically&quot; or not. If he's distracted, sniffing around, taking the treat without really paying attention to you and going back to its business it means that the value of the treat is not high enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make it worth working with/for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it easier to work with home-made dog treats: pieces of chicken, or other kind of meat, pieces of hot dogs, etc. Even if dogs are not obligatory carnivores, proteins are always a good choice, chicken doesn't have too much fat, and you have total control on the quality. Then you can reduce the amount of dry/wet kibble you feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be more specific regarding your question: that way it is super easy to have some variety, and, from personal experience, I think it always helps because he gets extra motivation discovering what's new today. You &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm buying different sorts of commercial treats just for my own convenience: I don't have anything to prepare, I buy only dry treats, that are easy to carry in my pockets, etc. Looking at the ingredients entering the preparation of these treats I've never been able to conclude that some are really healthier than others, so I just buy randomly, see if he likes it and in any case I really limit my use of these treats: doesn't make sense to feed him excellent quality food and then give him too much commercial treats of &quot;random&quot; composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side note concerning other types of rewards: yes, praise and toys are good rewards but I use that only for informal training sessions (when I often doesn't have treats with me) or to reward a big chain of behaviours (for example: if your dog is heeling correctly, you can do some complex exercice and reward him with a toy at the end). But treats are really the reward of choice because it is convenient, it doesn't distract the dog too much, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a quote for Karen Overall's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0323008909&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Manual of clinical behavioral medicine for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Foods that are high in protein &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; help induce changes in brain chemistry that help the dog to relax, so choose a protein treat over a carbohydrate one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T08:25:00.370" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T08:25:00.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9382" CreationDate="2015-05-29T16:13:02.240" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thepetauthority.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/how-much-onion-or-garlic-is-toxic-to-pets/&quot;&gt;It takes less than 1g of garlic per kg of body weight to harm a cat&lt;/a&gt; (it's about 5 times as potent as onion, which is a problem past 5g per kg).  Your cat's 3 licks shouldn't have been enough -- you didn't say how much your cat weighed, but to be safe, I've set your cat's weight to be 8 lbs (~3.6 kg) for this.  Your cat would have needed to ingest .008 lb of garlic, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.greyduckgarlic.com/Garlic_Cooking_Tips.html&quot;&gt;about 1 supermarket clove's worth&lt;/a&gt;.  While dips are often more concentrated than standard, three licks shouldn't be a problem. If your cat seems lethargic and gets white gums in a few days, however, I'd take it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="6027" LastEditDate="2015-05-29T19:53:50.060" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T19:53:50.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9436" CreationDate="2015-05-29T16:27:44.283" Score="3" ViewCount="352" Body="&lt;p&gt;a few weeks ago I found a baby magpie, that have fallen of its nest, and has lost its parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recovered it and raised it. Now it is strong and healthy, has grown up and it looks to me pretty mature. The last few days it can even fly very well (I believe perfectly...). It is not in a cage, but in a room, it is very energetic and has very good relationship with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first days I fed it in the mouth, like its parents would do. The problem is that now that it has grown up it still asks for food from me, and it does not eat on its own. This is problematic for both of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train it to be independent, feed on its own, and thus eventually free it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T22:30:16.770" Title="Raising a Magpie" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9383" CreationDate="2015-05-29T18:08:40.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to picking a training treat is to &quot;A&quot;, choose something the dog enjoys, and &quot;B&quot;, something smaller than you'd think and soft to boot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choosing something the dog sees as a good reward is essential. Some people use the dogs kibble as a training treat and feed his entire daily meal this way. It's not an effective treat if your dog doesn't want it though. For instance, lets say you're trying to use pieces of carrot as a regular reward and chicken as a jackpot. That sound great as an escalation of reward, but if your dog hates carrots, you'll never get enough try from your dog to give a piece of chicken. You need something that equals when you get the &quot;hypno-stare&quot; from a dog when you're holding a plate of food. If you've got a dog, you know what I mean. It's got to be good, so use high value treats when training and give them frequently and often. Most trainers don't give nearly enough rewards. The other thing to remember about jackpot rewards is that they don't necessarily need to be a better food, but can be a larger quantity of the same food. So if you're training with little bits of hot dog and you're giving him one piece per trick, if he does especially well, you make a big deal over him and give him a whole handful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, make sure it's something small and soft. You aren't trying to feed your dog a meal (unless you're using his supper to train him). So keep in mind that you're giving him small little rewards and you can do fewer repetitions if he's taking forever to chew a hard cracker treat and you can't do any if he gets full before you're done. Coupled with a dogs short attention span, especially when you first start teaching them to learn, you should keep sessions to no more than 15min. Reward frequently and often with a treat that should take more than about 3 seconds to swallow. Think bullion cube for a large dog and pea for a small dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can use what you like. You can even test your dogs preference by laying out different treats spaced apart and seeing which he attacks first, but once you find one he likes, I'd stick with it till they don't seem effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T18:08:40.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9372" CreationDate="2015-05-29T18:29:29.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cedirc H. is right in that you can't expect him to hold his eliminations yet. I'd heard a rule of thumb once that sounded about right. It said that you can expect a puppy to hold it in for about 1 hour per month old they are, not to exceed 9 hours. Granted some dogs can hold it longer sooner and my grandmothers keeshound once pitched a fit on vacation and wouldn't eliminate for 2 days till we got home from the beach. However, it's a good starting place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like Cedric said, you need to get him used to going outside, but there are a few things I though worth mentioning. One is that any dog is more likely to need to go after the following: waking up, eating, going for a walk or other exercise, and playing. So you can try these things to help your dog succeed. Take him out after doing any of these things. When he wakes up, take him for a walk. You don't need to let him sniff around or stop to potty. It's a walk, not a sniff. He can smell everything he needs to while walking along due to a dogs incredible nose and in the wild only the leader can call a halt or the pack would never get anywhere. I do caution watching your dog for exhaustion, because that's a long walk for a 3 month old small dog. I would pick him up when he seems tired and let him walk again when he starts to wiggle. He'll build stamina that way. Bring him in from the walk and feed him, then take him out to potty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he doesn't go to the bathroom, which is likely from what you've said, take him back in and try in another 15min. Once he goes you can trust him for a couple of hours, but until he does, don't let him have the run of the house. People allow puppies to much territory, thinking they're being nice, but until he comes to see the whole house as his domain, he'll see anything not in 'his territory' as new areas to mark. You don't have to crate him all the time and shouldn't, but he should either have an exercise pen, which you can attach to his crate so he can go in and out, or be confined to a smaller, easy to clean area, like the kitchen. Expand his territory as he shows he can handle it. If he won't go potty you need to keep him on a leash while inside or he needs to be in 'his' area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you need to treat the areas he's gone to the bathroom in. Dogs want to naturally remark their scent when it fades and you're setting him up to fail if you don't clean with a special scent removing cleaner where ever he's gone inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep this up and don't get overly upset about accidents a puppy can't help yet, he should be on the right track and be potty trained in no time. Another trick I use is wait till the dog has actually started going to the bathroom and in mid squat and give the command 'go potty'. Repeat this every time he's in mid-potty for a couple of months, then when you take him out, give the command as a pavlovian response and hopefully, he'll immediately feel the need to go, the same way a cat demands food every time they hear a can opener. You don't have to treat an outside potty as food encourages them to go again, but you can praise. Lastly, as an extra precaution, you can start feeding him on a schedule. If you feed him a set amount of food twice a day, at the same time, and take it up after 30min, then he should feel the need to eliminate at the same time. Just like many people get on a schedule. People do it with babies and dogs with some success. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-05-29T18:29:29.380" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7670" CreationDate="2015-05-30T00:36:45.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbits will eat dig food if they have access to it. One would even chase away the dog from his dinner aggressively in order to eat his kibble. They are not attracted to tinned dog food. It is because dog kibble has very high cereal and grain content. That being said, it is NOT good for them as it has animal protein and fat added as well as other derivatives, high fat content, vitamins and minerals that would not normally be a part of rabbit's diet. I would be worried if my rabbits consumed any large or regular amounts of it but a tiny quantity they occasionally managed to steal has not caused any trouble so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5157" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T00:36:45.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1857" CreationDate="2015-05-30T00:41:00.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should never do it. No reputable animal welfare organisation or responsible owner would condone this practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wQtsK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund, one of UK&amp;#39;s leading rabbit welfare organisations had some information on this.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5157" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T00:41:00.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-30T05:35:21.933" Score="4" ViewCount="1133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my cat affectionately paw me on the face every time I sit on the toilet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite cute. Only on the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At other moments in the day, why does he meow as if he is talking to me too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is definitely not asking for the door, or something to eat. His bowl is never empty. He never goes out, unless it is an accident. I make a point of ignoring him just to be sure he doesn't learn a behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often when he meows now, to test him, I pick him up and cuddle him and bounce him in my arms like a baby. He enjoys that, especially the scratches I give him. I think he is just lonely, especially when I come home after a long day - so he vocalises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are both new behaviours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put my question in context, he is two years old. Was castrated at 8 weeks. But was born very wild - a real gutter, rescue cat. The mother was fixed and then permitted to live outdoors. She was not rescueable - a real savage. She was too distressed in captivity. She even looked like a very small mountain lion from her colours, which is hilarious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes me wonder because her son, my tabby can also display quite aggressive, wild behaviour too. He will on other occasions arrive out of nowhere and throw his front paws around my leg, as if - I learned - he was practising taking down prey. My other cats never tried to kill me! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also bites, for no reason, my daughter - out of the blue. I think this might be a pack order thing. He won't do that to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until this cat, my Cesar Millan methods have worked on my former cats - a good bite and take-down made them calm submissive, which is hilarious. Not so much this cat. Although right now he is cuddled next to my leg, very subordinate :) very much a member of my pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the &quot;affectionate&quot; pawing thing I read on the post below is quite the opposite answer I was expecting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the same, I learned from other cats that after you have them shaved for the first time, they spend more time on your legs or lap just to get warmth. I believe the warmth helps tame them and reduce anxiety. Good training - bonding idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm confused. He paws my face to be affectionate. Does he vocalise because he is lonely? Why would he he stalk me like prey and put my daughter in her place at other moments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/120/why-does-my-cat-keep-patting-my-face?newreg=f631b4043af0424f8916dea4295d1698&quot;&gt;Why does my cat keep patting my face?&lt;/a&gt; (I have no idea why this thread was closed, because it had &quot;low-quality&quot; answers? A thread is meant to pose a question where an open-source-minded community can discuss it and offer thoughtful feedback, if they don't have high-quality, professional answers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5158" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:23:41.773" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:23:41.773" Title="Affectionate pawing and meowing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-30T06:54:41.660" Score="4" ViewCount="22332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know why but my dog is backing away from me like she's scared. I've never done anything to hurt her and she was acting normal just hours ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's 12 years old and it's night time, could she just not realise it's me since it is dark? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone has any idea what's happening please tell me. I'm really worried and want to get her medical attention right away if she needs it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5160" LastEditorUserId="95" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T01:29:23.920" LastActivityDate="2019-12-13T21:02:13.493" Title="My dog doesn't seem to recognize me, backing away like she's scared. Is something wrong with her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9398" CreationDate="2015-05-30T10:30:19.020" Score="3" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent comment on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3142&quot;&gt;How to give aspirin to a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; brought up the topic of Metacam (Meloxicam) vs Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic acid) for long-term pain management in rabbits with arthritis or other age-related issues. They are both NSAIDs or Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the known risks and benefits of metacam vs aspirin for long-term pain management therapy in rabbits? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answers that focus on herbivore research are preferable to answers with research based on carnivores or omnivores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T20:04:17.447" Title="What are the considerations for metacam vs aspirin for a rabbit in longterm therapy" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9323" CreationDate="2015-05-30T10:31:35.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My persian cat had the same problem. It had become pretty serious, so we got his hair trimmed &quot;like a very close shave&quot;. Today he is fine and fit. So, just go and get your cat a shave and bath with a shampoo designed to kill the mats. And from there on, everyday, you need to groom him/her until the hair has grown a little and clean ears atleast once in two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2470" LastActivityDate="2015-05-30T10:31:35.247" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9396" CreationDate="2015-05-30T19:18:54.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some good information at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;medirabbit.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aspirin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dosage: 10 - 100 mg/kg (up to 400 mg/kg)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Method and Frequency; By Mouth 1 to 3 times daily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aspirin is a blood thinner and &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; therefore be avoided in case there are internal bleedings or when&#xA;surgery is planned&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metacam (Meloxicam)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dosage: 0.1 - 0.2 mg/kg (up to 1.5 mg/kg if needed)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Method and Frequency; By Mouth or subcutaneously 1 to 2 times daily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very palatable for rabbits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concurrent use with another NSAID, corticosteroid, or nephrotoxic medication must be avoided. If unavoidable, the rabbit should be monitored closely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long-term use appears to cause little adverse effects in rabbits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should not be used in rabbits suffering from liver or kidney failure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know for sure (from several rabbit specialist vets and BSAVA Formulary) that meloxicam is very safe for use in rabbits, even long term (one of mine has been on it for 2+years and it's a life saver for him, you can see immediate deterioration when a dose is missed, so I know it works and works well), at 0.3-0.6 mg/kg daily (0.5 being the minimal recommended) and doses as high as 1.5 mg/kg are well tolerated for several days. PLEASE NOTE this is not the case for carnivores and any overdose will cause blindness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run a rabbit rescue for ill animals so am medicating many of them at any given time. I have never used aspirin and, having seen several rabbit specialist vets with various rabbits, was never prescribed any aspirin for any of my rabbits; is always been meloxicam only. I shall ask my vets why this has been the case and try to follow up later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5157" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-18T09:13:56.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9401" CreationDate="2015-05-31T12:45:59.560" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me again. So my baby, Peanut, now a 14 month old female spayed Dachshund is growing into herself. I figure she's as big as she'll get, which is pretty darned small. (She's a miniature.) I've read that bathing your dog regularly (more than, say, once every couple months) is not recommended. We don't, and she really doesn't need it. She rarely smells 'dog-ish'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knowing that, is it recommended to clean out her ears?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A Dachshund is a 'floppy-eared' type.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is so recommended, how often should we do it?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am currently cleaning them weekly, but they never seem to need it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T13:06:40.840" Title="Is cleaning a dog's floppy ears necessary?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-31T12:53:03.410" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;My baby girl is about 14 or 15 years old. I actually adopted her from an ex-roommate, as she became very attached to me, so I never had the chance to get her accustomed to being brushed by me at a young age. From what I was told she sustained an injury to her tail when she was young so she tends to get very sensitive around that area (lower back, base of her tail, and her sides). Because of her age she has also stopped grooming herself so she now has some naps that I just have to get out. I can't imagine she's comfortable. Now - I've tried holding her different ways, but never roughly and I get nervous when she begins to squirm. I don't want to hurt or force her. I've been using a small comb given to me by her vet (they said it would help best getting the naps out). Which it does but I can't get her to stay still long enough to get all the naps out. I use treats which keeps her still but only for a few minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel as though I'll be able to keep her coat under control if I could just get the suckers out in one sitting so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanking you in advance &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5164" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-05-31T14:19:37.633" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T20:53:17.090" Title="How can I get my older kitty to stay still while I groom her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9399" CreationDate="2015-05-31T13:06:40.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If Peanut (cute name) is an inside dog, which it sounds like she is, cleaning weekly isn't necessary. However - dirt, germs, etc can get in there at any time when she goes outside, and they could get musty and later infected of water gets in there when she's being bathed, and not properly dried (just examples so not at all insinuating that you wouldn't be thorough) so I would recommend at least checking her ears once a week and cleaning them when/if necessary &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps!&#xA;Liana&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5165" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T13:06:40.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-05-31T20:20:14.303" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our basset hound is 16 years old.  Here are his symptoms: vision almost gone, hearing almost gone, back legs very weak and sometimes needs help to stand up, no control over urinary and bowl movements.  He stays outside all day and sleeps in the garage at night.  During the day he is ok, but last 3 nights have been terrible.  He barks all night long constantly and when we get him out of his sitting bed, this process makes him pee, and he walks around and then is fine.  Last night he licked up all his pee from the floor. He does have good appetites and eats well.  But last 3 nights he barks very loudly &amp;amp; constantly until he is helped multiple times at night.  Also his stomach makes a noise. Is there anything to help the dog feel comfortable at night, or is it his time to go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5168" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T20:20:14.303" Title="Is there a solution to improve the quality of life for my basset hound?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9395" CreationDate="2015-05-31T20:48:12.507" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, first rule of the internet - the words aren't worth the paper they're printed on. There is good advice on this site, but if you are concerned, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for going to see a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pet's behaviour has changed suddenly, this means something is wrong. It might be something small, but only a vet can tell you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the example you give though I would &lt;em&gt;guess&lt;/em&gt; (And I'm not a vet, I'm just some guy on the internet who also had a dog he cares for):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is worried about something happening. This is usually based on a 'cue-response'. Such as, for example, having eating something (like grass) and feeling a bit uncomfortable passing it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is having problems with eyesight or sense of smell, and so is having a harder time recognising you. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But basically - you know your dog, and if it's behaviour has changed suddenly, then 'something else' is wrong and if you can't tell what that is - a vet is the person who can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T20:48:12.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9411" CreationDate="2015-05-31T20:50:46.167" Score="2" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats is suffering from a nasty bought of dry skin. He's a new adoptee, and is quite overweight. I am feeding him a healthy amount of wet food, and although he has access to free feeding of dry, does not seem to participate in the munching of the crunches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed the dry skin fairly soon after adopting him, but have tried to give him time to adjust to his new diet. The problem hasn't resolved itself yet, so my next step is to try some salmon oil or fish oil. I have consulted a vet on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only, the oils marketed to pet owners are incredibly overpriced compared to the capsules marketed to humans. I want to buy the cheaper option, because it irks me that the cat version is $10 or more simply because it has &quot;for cats&quot; on the label. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they truly equal? If I buy the human salmon oil, can I just pop it open onto his wet food and be done with it, or is there ingredients (or lack of ingredients) that make the cat salmon oil special?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(picture of his disarrayed lazy self: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/c5lprvp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://i.imgur.com/c5lprvp.jpg&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5169" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T10:41:05.960" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T14:58:13.403" Title="What is the difference between salmon/fish oil for a cat and a human?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9383" CreationDate="2015-05-31T20:55:49.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treats are about positive incentive for your dog. Variety isn't essential as much as finding something your dog likes. Ideally, you'll find a 'high value' treat, that your dog gets properly excited about getting rather than a 'ok' treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example - we usually have a brand of dried small treats that we like, which are great for in the pocket for an ad-hoc recall drill or otherwise reinforcing commands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However for 'proper training' we get the big guns out - from experience this is (and depends on dogs):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bits of liver. (can 'dry' them in the oven). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shredded ham. (Packet of, tear up with your fingers). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tripe sticks. (many pet shops sell these - they're one of the better options for putting in your pocket as they're quite dry). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems to be 'things that are stinky' particularly.  Some dogs (mine included) really like cheese too. I'd suggest avoiding that generally, because dogs aren't so good at processing fat (and some are lactose intolerant). So it's not so bad as an occasional treat, but probably not great for a training session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T20:55:49.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9368" CreationDate="2015-05-31T21:02:28.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't say specifically what an appropriate omega 3 dose is for a dog. But what we've been doing with our dog is just buying cans of oily fish like sardines, and using them to 'top' her normal food. About a third of a tin for each meal (twice daily) for our 25kg mongrel. Definitely makes her food more attractive, and also gives here an assortment of useful fish oils. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do notice the side effects after a few days - her coat becomes noticably a bit more water/mud resistant, and generally a bit more glossy and smooth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I prefer a natural source to a supplement, since it's both cheaper and easier to feed, and has a bit more a mix of nutrients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-05-31T21:02:28.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9379" CreationDate="2015-06-01T13:25:03.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are called &quot;shields&quot; and form on unneutered male cats.  They are normal, not a sign of disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5174" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T13:25:03.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9412" CreationDate="2015-06-01T14:52:06.970" Score="2" ViewCount="623" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a local semi-feral who actively comes over to say hello when she sees me, and has been doing so since well before my own kids moved in. I can't resist giving her a skritch when she does so, and of course she'll rub against my ankles if she gets the chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to remember to wash my hands thoroughly afterward, on the same principle as a doctor washing between patients... but id like to have a better sense of just how transmissable car diseases are via a human vector.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone happen to know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T18:33:50.707" Title="How paranoid do I have to be between petting a stray cat and playing with my own?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9405" CreationDate="2015-06-01T14:58:13.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference except the price, as far as I know, because there should be no added ingredients. I noticed the same thing when I was looking for cod liver oil capsules for my dog - so I have been giving him ones aimed at humans for 2 years now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5175" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T14:58:13.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9410" CreationDate="2015-06-01T16:53:20.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some illnesses, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_feline_panleukopenia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;feline distemper&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/diseases-worry-stray-cat-10488.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ring worm&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/facts-about-feline-leukemia-virus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;feline leukemia&lt;/a&gt; can be passed on via saliva and other contact-specific vectors.  As long as you wash your hands (and anywhere else the feral cat touches) thoroughly and keep your cats vaccinated, you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="6027" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T18:33:50.707" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T18:33:50.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9413" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-06-01T18:42:11.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vocalizations include barking, whining, meowing, and other various noises a pet makes to indicate a concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions tagged &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/vocalizations&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;vocalizations&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;vocalizations&lt;/a&gt; generally request help interpreting, understanding, or managing (usually preventing) a particular vocalization.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to clearly describe the scenario which elicits the vocalization from your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T18:50:37.340" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T18:50:37.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9414" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-06-01T18:42:11.683" Score="0" Body="The sounds a pet makes: barking, meowing, or otherwise, and how to manage or interpret them." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T18:42:11.683" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T18:42:11.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9415" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2015-06-01T18:44:19.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions pertaining to &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/injury&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;injury&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;injury&lt;/a&gt; include how to manage a pet that has been wounded, before and after applying any treatment, how to handle ongoing treatment of injuries, and methods of injury prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any timely question regarding an immediate and life-threatening injury should instead consult a professional veterinarian or local pet hospital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T18:44:19.433" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T18:44:19.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9416" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2015-06-01T18:44:19.433" Score="0" Body="Managing an existing wound or injury either immediately or helping the pet cope over time, and methods of prevention." OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-01T18:44:19.433" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T18:44:19.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9400" CreationDate="2015-06-01T19:42:58.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been Mama to many kitties in my lifetime.  Helping to groom an older cat can be challenging; and I applaud you for giving her this attention and care. Her previous injury may still be tender or she anticipates that she'll feel pain. You may have to accept that several short grooming sessions every week will get her reasonably un-napped and by letting her &quot;escape&quot; on her own terms, she may eventually be calmer with grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T19:42:58.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2015-06-01T21:30:48.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we take showers, we &quot;disappear&quot; behind the shower curtain or doors. For cats that need more attention and reassurance than average, this can be a little upsetting for them. My cat is an Egyptian Mau, so he has to be involved in my bathroom activities, and he knows my routines. So when I carry my bath towel into the bathroom, he sits outside the bathroom door and howls, before I even turn the shower on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think it's a bit of a game for him too. Because when I'm out of the shower and walk across my apartment, he chases me and bites my calves. He'll stop chasing me if I pick up one of his toys and toss it for him, like I've satisfied his wishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5179" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T21:30:48.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-01T21:35:09.023" Score="2" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have nano tank that is down two one clown and one wrasse. I had two clowns for around 3 years but one just died. The two had paired up and were always right on top of eachother since I got them years ago. I want to introduce another fish to the tank now but wanted to ask if it matters if I add a mature or juvenile clown at this point. Or should I just let the old girl live alone with her crazy wrasse roommate? The smaller one died which I was under the impression that that is the male when they pair up. Anyway, any input is appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="662" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T21:35:09.023" Title="Will an older clown fish in a small talk be ok with introducing a new one?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;clownfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-21T18:10:37.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8123" CreationDate="2015-06-01T22:41:43.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way go find out how the dog will handle it is to either try it, or to deliberately take progressively longer absences so the dog has time to get used to the idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-01T22:41:43.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-01T22:54:31.843" Score="3" ViewCount="1534" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunter was recently diagnosed with restrictive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/heart-disease-cardiomyopathy-in-cats/61&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cardiomyopathy&lt;/a&gt; (a heart condition that led to fluid accumulating in his heart and lungs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were instructed to monitor his condition by measuring his breathing rate regularly. To do this, we should count the number of breaths (an inhalation and exhalation) that he takes in a minute. We were instructed to do this when he is relaxed or asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunter is currently receiving 10 mg of furosemide (lasix) every 12 hours to reduce fluid retention in his lungs. We were instructed to administer an additional dose (10 mg) if his breathing rate becomes elevated (normal for him is about 22 breaths per minute). We were further instructed that if his breathing rate continues to be elevated (or is above 40 breaths per minute) we should take him to the nearest emergency vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I have to give him an additional dose of furosemide, how long should I expect it to take to become effective? If his breathing rate is elevated but below 40 bpm, how long should I monitor him before taking him to the emergency vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T03:02:50.480" Title="How long does it take for furosemide/lasix to be effective in a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T00:13:30.587" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want my betta to be the only thing in his bowl. Is there anything I could put in with him that won't hurt him or he won't try and hurt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5181" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T00:13:30.587" Title="Betta companions?" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-02T10:26:52.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T01:57:40.767" Score="5" ViewCount="1154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be travelling with a female &lt;strong&gt;Siberian Husky puppy&lt;/strong&gt; in about a month from now, and by then my pup would've been &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; months old&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm a bit uncertain on how I'm going to do this; I've crawled the Internet to find resources, but they're too general and I believe this is the best place still to ask this specific question to pet owners who have done similar, based on knowledge and experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will try to be as objective as possible and will also accept the most objective answer.  Here goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trip Details:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I live in the Philippines, it's tropical country, but so far most huskies living here have adapted to the kind of climate. (But not direct sunlight of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The road is 330 kilometers (about 205 miles). Partly dirt road, partly asphalt. A little climb from here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trip usually takes about 8-9 hours at an average of 50-60kph with moderate traffic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I ride a Toyota Avanza, a mini SUV (about 7 seats), A little cramped up, but good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I drive alone, no one will be with me (that kind of makes it a problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a little paranoid, but I really want to do this correctly and safely (both for me and the puppy). &lt;strong&gt;So, how do we survive this kind of trip?&lt;/strong&gt; Some questions I would like to ask would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet crate or should I fold the seats and let her roam free inside the car? Or should she be in the front seat, or maybe on top of my lap while I drive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Medications? Do they ever get dizzy? Or something similar, perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food? Should I feed her before the trip? If so, then how long before the trip? Should I feed her along the way or not? At how much time intervals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How often should we go for stops?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other details I might miss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2787" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-11T23:54:31.633" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T02:26:04.807" Title="How to do an 8-hour road trip with a husky puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T06:58:38.060" Score="1" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased four channel catfish at a local pet shop for a trial run stocking my 500 gallon (1900 liter) aquaponics tank. I want to ensure that what I ended up with was a true Channel Catfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pet store had both channel catfish and &quot;bala catfish&quot; mixed in the same tank, however I can't seem to find any real information on Bala Catfish, almost as though it's a nickname for something else. When the employee was netting them out of their tank he wasn't 100% sure of which ones were which. The fish are only 4-5 inches long at this point and so some of the distinctive features of each likely aren't visible yet or aren't pronounced enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the fish are very shy, and given that they now have a 500 gallon home to hide in, which does not have clear walls, it's difficult for me to get a photo to compare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What characteristics would I look for to know which species I ended up with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2794" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T11:25:56.433" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T11:25:56.433" Title="Channel Catfish vs &quot;Bala Catfish&quot; ... how can I identify which was sold to me?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9459" CreationDate="2015-06-02T10:06:44.297" Score="3" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two weeks ago, we got my wife's dog in house after it lived with another dog and slept in a crate with that dog for 9 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously we didn't sleep that well for the first few days. Now our dog is settling down, but he still does wake up and bark at night every now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we tried is having a cuddle in the crate for him and a T-shirt of my wife (he sees her as his boss.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But he still whines and barks at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume he's missing his mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have any tips to get him to sleep/be silent until I take him for a walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5184" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T19:53:34.797" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T19:53:34.797" Title="How can I train my dog to sleep quietly in a crate when he misses his dog friend?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6980" CreationDate="2015-06-02T15:50:52.237" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend taking her to the vet immediately because often times this is a sign of a health condition that may need medical attention.  She may have pain or discomfort from a more serious problem, or it could be something very minor like a skin irritation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be related to anxiety from the moving but since you moved a almost a year ago it may be something else in her environment that is causing this anxiety.  You may want to try giving her something much tastier to chew on besides her leg.  Just make sure that you give it to her before she starts chewing on herself and not as a reward for chewing on herself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that I have used that works is putting a kong toy in the freezer with peanut butter in it.  I find this will distract my dog for hours and may keep yours from resorting to chewing on her own fur.  Anything that you can do to distract her and keep her from doing the negative behavior will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T15:50:52.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9434" CreationDate="2015-06-02T15:59:54.163" Score="12" ViewCount="932" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats (one female and one male) that get along very well and are very personable.  They love being around people especially my boyfriend and I which is not ever a problem besides when we go to bed.  We lock them out of our bedroom at night and have tried very hard to classically condition them to be okay with this but they keep acting out.  The male cat will scratch (putting his nails on the door to make a noise - not ruining the door at all) and the other cat will cry outside the door because they want to have access to the bedroom.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried for months to spray them with a squirt bottle the second they start doing the negative behavior but they still do it.  The female cat will just sit and get sprayed with the water till she is soaking wet and the male cat hears me getting out of bed and runs and hides under the coffee table where I can't spray him as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have now resorted to locking them in the spare bedroom at night but that involves moving the liter box every single night which is a hassle.  I'd like them to have access to the living room and spare bedroom at night (where ever they sleep they always have access to their food, water, and liter box so that is not the problem) but I can't take getting woken up at various hours of the night or 6am because they want in our bedroom.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions as to how I could train them to be okay with not sleeping in the bedroom without locking them in the spare room?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T21:13:48.933" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T02:28:23.847" Title="How can I classically condition my two cats to not scratch on my bedroom door at night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T16:53:19.083" Score="3" ViewCount="1060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a cat at 9 weeks old. He was already used to eating kibbles and also occasionally wet food (more as a supplement or treat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought cat necessities &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; I adopted a cat, so when I brought him home, I had a different brand of kibbles and he would straight up refuse to eat anything. Given that moving is very stressful for a cat, I didn't think too much of it yet. To make sure he at least filled his tummy for the night, I gave him some wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the weekend, he continued to refuse eating kibbles, and I ended up switching to just wet food because I was getting worried. I went to a pet shop right after the weekend to get his original brand of kibbles, because supermarkets don't sell that brand (it's a high-end cats and dogs brand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've mixed his original brand with the brand I want to switch to, starting with mostly &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;, hoping to gradually cross over to &lt;em&gt;mine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not with much success so far. He does eat some kibbles now, but that's probably because he's hungry and I give him less wet food now, hoping he starts 'liking' to eat kibbles again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His meows are becoming more like stretched cries and I'm unsure if he's testing me or if he's &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; hungry. I really want him to eat more kibbles and less wet food, but I'm not sure if refusing to give him wet food as long as possible is the way to go. &lt;strong&gt;How can I make my kitten eat more kibbles without fear of starving him?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5085" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T21:28:44.790" Title="How can I make my kitten eat kibbles without fear of starving him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T17:45:18.390" Score="2" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just got a lovely parrot named Jhon. We want to teach him to yell that he has been turned on into a Parrot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is repetition the only way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any rewarding teaching method's using food like we do with dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5070" LastEditorUserId="5070" LastEditDate="2015-06-02T18:00:52.893" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T18:29:22.793" Title="How can I teach my parrot to say &quot;Help! I've been turned on into a Parrot!&quot;" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6980" CreationDate="2015-06-02T18:03:34.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister-in-law's dog did this. It actually turned out that his paw was broken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to wash your dog once a month or more, you may want to look into the type of shampoo since the pH of their skin is determined typically by breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5177" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T18:03:34.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9430" CreationDate="2015-06-02T18:29:22.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's from a dog training point of view, I've never had (or seen) a talking parrot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to do is called &lt;em&gt;shaping&lt;/em&gt;. The idea is to obtain the final behavior by reinforcing successive approximations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give him the information &quot;great, you're good, keep going&quot; you may want to use a clicker (or any clear, distinct sound) and food treats. The clicker allows you to mark the correct behavior precisely and then to deliver the food treat a few seconds later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First condition your parrot that a click means a treat is coming. Do a few repetitions, click then treat (the treat comes &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the click, not during the click). That way he'll understand that the click predicts that a food treat is coming. For the shaping to be effective you'll need good timing for your click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you're all set to shape any behavior you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he starts repeating what you're saying you don't necessarily have to repeat it all the time: let him figure out what you want. Reward (= click and treat) every tiny step in the correct direction, especially at the beginning to get him interested in your new game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T18:29:22.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9429" CreationDate="2015-06-02T20:32:13.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunger is the best spice, but sudden change isn't usually best with cats. Try mixing the dry and wet and working him to dry food. From personal experience I've found that it's easier to work cats onto new foods by mixing with the old.  Give it a week or two, adding more dry food to the mix each time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T20:32:13.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9428" CreationDate="2015-06-02T21:19:24.693" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first goal should be to make some place (not your bedroom) a much more entertaining place to be than with you. Set up some toys in your living room or some other place like a puzzle feeder, automatic wand toys, or other toys that they like. In the morning these toys should be put away to keep their interest level in them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, make your bedroom door as uninteresting as possible. You can use motion activated air sprayers at the doorway, but most importantly NEVER ANSWER THE DOOR MONSTER. My husband and I have been &quot;trapped&quot; in bed for up to an hour before because we didn't want to reinforce &quot;cry at the door, get attention&quot;. It's super annoying, and you may need a white noise generator for awhile, but don't answer the door!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, take advantage of the cat's hunt, feed, groom, sleep cycle. Use an interactive toy for awhile right before bed, then give them some food. They should settle down pretty quickly after that and hopefully you'll be asleep before they get energy again (it works amazingly well on our youngest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T21:19:24.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9429" CreationDate="2015-06-02T21:28:44.790" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try making kibbles into a game. My youngest will eat anything that I throw across the tile floor, and it exercises his hunting instincts. A kitten of 9 weeks would probably LOVE for you to throw a kibbles across the room for him (one at a time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally I wouldn't consider only eating wet food a problem, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2569/224&quot;&gt;wet food is generally more healthy for cats than dry food&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T21:28:44.790" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2015-06-02T22:30:16.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not to worry--young magpies leave the nest before they are fully independent. (This is a survival mechanism. The longer they stay in a single place, the more likely that a predator will find them in that place.) Parents continue to feed the babies for several weeks after fledging. Your baby magpie will start eating on its own when it is ready. Be sure to leave its favorite treats out where it can find them, and it will start to take them on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You did great work raising the baby! You're almost at the finish line. The baby will tell you when it's ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tom G.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2015-06-02T22:30:16.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-02T23:26:55.423" Score="4" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have two cats, who are great cats, but have learned some slightly annoying habits since I left for college.  My parents don't maintain reinforcement of what I taught the cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will have the cats for 2-3 weeks, and plan to use that time to teach them better habits for my parents.  Unfortunately, I know that whatever I teach the cats will not be consistently enforced once I return them to my parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The habit I'm most interested in addressing now is Silver's tendency to start meowing excessively, and get right underfoot when he thinks someone is about to get out the wet cat food (once a week).  I want to make him less of a nuisance when the food is being prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His trained &quot;good&quot; behavior will be rewarded by only giving him his wet cat food if he behaves.  My parents will not enforce this rule; he will get wet cat food regardless of his behavior.  I plan to convince him that food is a reward for his &quot;good&quot; behavior, so he will maintain the &quot;good&quot; behavior longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can handle the training; my question is, &lt;strong&gt;what exact training is most likely to stick, considering the teachings will not be properly enforced?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example is if I teach him to sit on a vocal command until he is fed, my father won't use the command until Silver has annoyed him, at which point Silver may have already figured out food is incoming and he doesn't need to listen to get his food.  &lt;strong&gt;Should I train Silver by putting the can away when he starts begging for it, to try to teach him that begging means he doesn't get a reward; will that stick with him longer then the idea that sitting gets a reward?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, &lt;strong&gt;how do I get the most idiot-proof training that will stick to the cats without anyone consistently reinforcing the habits?&lt;/strong&gt;  I plan to continue reinforcements on my weekend visits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5186" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T04:26:48.560" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T09:29:40.863" Title="How can I train cats to have consistent behaviors with minimal reinforcement?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9437" CreationDate="2015-06-03T00:44:17.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The approach I've taken with my kids is that treats are not offered every day or at predictable times, so they have no reason to think pestering me for them might work. On the other hand, when I'm offering a treat I give them a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; clear signal (a loud click of the can tab or banging the dishes together, repeated) so they know what to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaking a habit once acquired can be difficult. It may be easier to train positively for a behavior that's incompatible with the one you want to discourage. I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; broken cats of pestering habits, but that required a willingness to deliberately not give them what they were asking for until they stopped that behavior -- see my comment elsewhere about dealing with cats scratching at bedroom door by using getting earplugs for a few weeks rather than giving them anything that might be taken as attention or encouragement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T00:44:17.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-03T02:23:27.907" Score="3" ViewCount="907" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got this platy when I first got my tank. He used to swim around a lot, at the top, in the middle, and low close to the substrate, fins open, chasing the two female platies. He still feeds and if I wave my finger in front of him, he'll open his fins, but otherwise he just kinda hangs there, moving back and forth at the top, looking like the pictures below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original females had given birth to other females, and he would chase those around, also. He started acting like this once the last of the original female was on her last legs. He's been like this for over a month now. I've since removed all the females and they're in my brother's 150 gallon. The tank he is in is a 20 long heavily planted community tank with weekly 2.5 gallon water changes. Water parameters normal. All other fish are healthy and active. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other fish include five Neons, five Harlequin Rasbora, a male betta, a honey dwarf gourami, two kuhli, three false julii coris, a couple dwarf frogs, a 2 inch placo, lots of red cherry and crystal shrimp, and three amano shrimp. Filtration is a 66 gallon EHEIM canister, with purigen and chemipure, eco complete substrate, a log, and a rock. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's any other information needed please comment I'll be glad to add it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AFhnm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;platy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jg1ma.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;close up&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="16" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T02:51:41.290" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T21:16:57.947" Title="My male platy is clamping, is he sick?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-03T04:36:43.513" Score="6" ViewCount="3250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm returning home to my outdoor cats. The problem is that they were not given flea medication during this time. This is what I'll do as soon as I'm back and see them. Between the time it takes for the medication to work and kill the fleas, how should I interact with the cats? Should I wash my clothes after? How? And is washing my hands enough to prevent me from getting them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5187" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T17:13:30.897" Title="How to interact with a cat that has fleas?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9437" CreationDate="2015-06-03T09:29:40.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's an interesting question about &lt;em&gt;reinforcement schedules&lt;/em&gt;. First I'll try to define some important terms of &lt;em&gt;positive reinforcement training&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Positive reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt;: something that the subject is given and that increases the probability that the reinforced behavior will be repeated in the future&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward / reinforcer&lt;/strong&gt;: something that is given &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the subject performed the behavior to reinforce that particular behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Continuous reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt;: you reinforce every time the behavior is performed &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Variable reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt;: you reinforce randomly or following a defined variable schedule. The subject can't really predict if the reinforcer will be given for that repetition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extinction&lt;/strong&gt;: the disappearance over a period of time of a response when the behavior is not reinforced&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your question is: &lt;em&gt;What reinforcement schedule provides the best resistance against extinction?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;variable reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; schedule is what makes behaviors the most resistant to extinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you train a new behavior you first start with continuous reinforcement until you are quite confident that he understands what's going on. Then you start &lt;em&gt;proofing&lt;/em&gt; the behavior in new situations, with distractions, etc. and you switch to a variable reinforcement schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It actually makes the behavior stronger, that's a bit counter-intuitive, as you might expect that less reinforcement leads to a weaker response, but it's the opposite. As the cat/dog doesn't when/if he will receive a treat he's kind of &quot;making every repetition count&quot;, performing in hope that he'll get one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's about the reinforcement. I wanted to add a few points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A reward is supposed to be absent during the time the behavior is performed and appears &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt;. Here you'll be preparing the food while you're asking him to sit. It is not a very clear setup.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A variable reinforcement schedule works well if the cat can't predict when/if he'll get a reward. That means that it shouldn't be &quot;someone = no reward&quot;, &quot;someone else = reward&quot;, that's predictable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What you describe is not really about giving a reinforcer or not. It is about reinforcing one behavior or another one, which is totally confusing for the cat. When your parents will prepare the food, they will actually reward whatever behavior the cat is doing, most likely jumping around and trying to get to the food as quickly as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an alternative setup that you could consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;train a correct &quot;sit&quot; independently: no when you'll give wet food, do a few sessions a day with tiny food treats that are easily accessible. As you are happy with the response, switch to a variable reinforcement schedule. Proof the behavior in many circumstances (in the kitchen, with someone else around, etc.). Ask your parents to participate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eliminating unwanted behavior requires: 1/ a good rule structure that everyone enforces 2/ an alternative behavior to which you can redirect. Note that when I say &quot;rule structure&quot; and &quot;enforce&quot;, I don't mean punishment and &quot;being the leader&quot; or whatever. What I mean is: IF the cat knows another behavior, redirect to that behavior, be very consistent (the whole family should do it). The difference with many trainers is that I emphasise that the &quot;rule structure&quot; should be trained. At the beginning you'll have to be patient, ask for a sit, reward, etc. Then it will eventually become automatic. At the beginning reward him when he sits (with a treat, not with the wet food).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part is that you'll have to do some &lt;em&gt;active&lt;/em&gt; parts of the training, and when it will be done sufficiently you and your parents will go for &lt;em&gt;passive&lt;/em&gt; training: the cat know how to sit, is not always rewarded for that, understands the rule structure, etc. So the only thing your parents have to do is to wait until he sits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T09:29:40.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-03T12:47:57.383" Score="0" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;Romeo is 2 or 3 years old (he was dumped so his exact age/history are unknown), and has lived with us for about 10 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got him, he would bite when he got overstimulated (which happens frequently if you pet him on his back half pretty much at all). We've mostly trained him to not bite anymore, but now if you pet his back end (or if he gets otherwise overstimulated) he'll whip his head around, look at your hand, and bare his teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We sometimes have friends (with kids) at our house, and this can be a scary looking behavior! I'd prefer that he just walk away (the kids are trained to not corner the cats and not bother them if they walk away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train him to move away when overstimulated? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T01:53:35.397" Title="How do I train my cat to stop baring his teeth at me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9445" CreationDate="2015-06-03T14:20:29.200" Score="12" ViewCount="635" Body="&lt;p&gt;For both dry and wet food, what criteria can I use to determine on my own if it is a high quality food for my cats (normal, healthy cats)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past I've had experiences where, when I told the vet what food I was using, they would say &quot;Don't use that, it's not good food, use this other brand instead.&quot; How does the vet know? I would like be able to make those kinds of decisions on my own because the brand my vet explicitly recommends isn't always available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's problematic because price (&quot;it's more expensive, it must be better&quot;), packaging (&quot;that design looks professional, it must be better&quot;), and labeling (&quot;the words 'healthy' and 'recommended' are on the package, it must be better&quot;) are very distracting. I don't &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; know what I'm looking for. The only thing I'm somewhat confident about is choosing the appropriate target cat age based on labeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I look for in a good food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2015-06-03T14:25:29.467" LastActivityDate="2015-06-06T09:08:21.590" Title="How do I choose a good brand of cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2015-06-03T16:44:44.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most reputable brands of cat food are based on the same nutritional studies, so this is really a matter of who you and your vet are most comfortable with, whether there are any special concerns given the cat's age/health/weight, and the cat's preferences or allergies. If you avoid no-name/off-brand suppliers -- and avoid anyone who thinks a cat can be a vegetarian --- you'll probably be fine. Some cats are allergic to fish, so sticking with mammals and birds may be epsilon safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T16:44:44.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2015-06-03T21:56:59.473" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no simple formula for this activity, the dietary needs of cats will vary over time. Nevertheless, there are a couple of things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meat content. Cats are obligate carnivores, so foods overloaded with non-meat fillers is not really a sign. Some non-meat portions are not unexpected and may be added for other purposes, but meat needs to be the majority and it should clearly show that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://petfood.aafco.org/labelinglabelingrequirements.aspx&quot;&gt;AAFCO&lt;/a&gt; &quot;complete and balanced&quot; food. This means that the food has been properly tested to meet the dietary needs of your pet. I know that both Canadian and American foods will be labelled with that, if appropriate, not sure beyond that. However, I would expect similar in many jurisdictions and it is worth checking this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vet's advice on current needs is something to factor in to your choices. They may recommend certain dietary content in the food, or avoidance of some, and so are always good to consult. You should make a habit of having that discussion with them regularly if possible because, as I noted, dietary needs can change over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Price is definitely not an indicator! However, really cheap knock-off brands (or &quot;no name&quot; products) are probably best avoided, but going for the caviar of food isn't a requirement either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps a bit, getting a food that is good for the cat and that they'll enjoy can be an adventure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-06-03T21:56:59.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2015-06-04T01:36:28.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One fairly easy thing you can do to tell if the food is good is to check the list of ingredients.  The ingredients are always list by weight.  Ingredients that have a large amount of moisture (often chicken, fish, beef, etc) will more often be at the top of the list because of the moisture content.  Some of the ingredients even further down the list may offer more nutrients (want to focus on protein) but could be further down the list because they weigh less.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cat food should have some source of animal protein and fat because as mentioned cats are obligate carnivores.  This means they will require certain nutrients such as taurine and arachidonic acid.  These are only going to be present in animal sources.  Animal sources may be in form of beef, poultry, chicken, turkey, fish, or other meats.  It could also be in the form of by-products or by-product meals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you want to ideally look for is grain free cat food.  This is going to make the cost typically go up but if you are solely looking for the healthiest food to feed your cat this is the direction you want to go.  Foods high in protein and very low in carbs.  Some of the grain free foods simply replace the grains with another carb like potatoes so if you are really seeking something as healthy as possible you want to make sure that is not the case.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went from feeding my cats a rather cheap cat food from Target to ordering Blue Buffalo (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chewy.com/cat/blue-buffalo-indoor-health-chicken/dp/32093?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=f&amp;amp;utm_content=Blue%20Buffalo&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=CM7evO3y9MUCFZORHwodr5cApw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.chewy.com/cat/blue-buffalo-indoor-health-chicken/dp/32093?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=f&amp;amp;utm_content=Blue%20Buffalo&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=CM7evO3y9MUCFZORHwodr5cApw&lt;/a&gt;).  The wet food is a bit better but it's more expensive so I feed them the dry food.  I mix in a can of wet food every once in a while.  It does have potatoes in it but you'll notice you can recognize many of the ingredients included.  It's not as processed as many other cat foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T01:36:28.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9449" CreationDate="2015-06-04T01:47:15.340" Score="3" ViewCount="3352" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats and one is very over weight (18 lbs) while the other is a very healthy weight.  The smaller cat never over eats but the larger cat always eats too much.  I keep dry food out for them all the time but that method of feeding is clearly not working for the larger cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've thought about trying to put the smaller cat's food up higher but the large cat is still very agile and can get wherever the smaller cat can.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions as to the best way to helping the larger cat lose weight without completely changing the smaller cat's routine?  Also any thoughts on the best amount of food food to start feeding the larger cat when I put him on a diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-06-04T16:32:28.913" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T16:32:28.913" Title="How do you put one cat on a diet when you have two cats and only one needs to lose weight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-06-05T15:10:52.333" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9442" CreationDate="2015-06-04T01:53:35.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try to classically condition him by spraying him with a squirt bottle any time you see him baring his teeth at you or the kids.  It's really important that you only do this when he is doing the actions because if you squirt him after he's done baring his teeth he won't understand why.  Sometimes you can fill a squirt bottle with vinegar (although you may want to start with water and see how he reacts) which cats typically really hate and he should learn fairly quickly.  It should get to a point where you can just show him the squirt bottle and he'll stop this negative behavior.  Eventually after enough time has passed this behavior should go away all together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time I'd warn the kids prior and make sure that they don't put the cat in an uncomfortable situation that makes him want to display this negative behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T01:53:35.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9447" CreationDate="2015-06-04T02:41:23.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you say, free feeding isn't working for one of your cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can attempt a mechanical solution if you can find or create a place the non-overweight cat can get to but the pudgy one can't. If the latter is not able to jump as high, moving the daytime food up onto a counter or shelf might work; I've seen this succeed, once. Or you might need to go technical, with a cat-identifying cat-door giving access to a container holding that bowl of kibble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But realistically, since you have to put one of them on a defined meal plan, it'll be easier to just do that for both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-04T02:41:23.123" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9440" CreationDate="2015-06-04T08:54:25.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it is possible for a cat flea to bite you, they usually don't do it. Cat fleas don't survive for long feeding on humans, so you don't need to worry about an infestation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just vacuum your home regularly.. the medication on your cats will take care of them eventually.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ct.gov/CAES/cwp/view.asp?a=2815&amp;amp;q=376710&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5193" LastEditorUserId="5193" LastEditDate="2015-06-05T04:59:49.073" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T04:59:49.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9452" CreationDate="2015-06-04T11:54:36.230" Score="7" ViewCount="444" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently trying (and failing miserably) to integrate my two outdoor rabbits.&#xA;My first rabbit (Diego) is a neutered male 1 year old Lionhead, he is very friendly, confident and usually very well behaved and has never bitten anyone (human!) ever.&#xA;My second rabbit (Yoda) is a neutered male 6 months old Netherland dwarf (he was given to me as a surprise gift) he is very timid and can be very shy but is also very friendly and is not a biter either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I know the fact that a large difference in breeds/size and the fact they are both males is a factor here, before any of you jump to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not integrating them is not the end of the world as I will simply have them live separately, however i thought it might be good for my rabbits to be able to be 'friends' and have the company. I have tried quite a few times to slowly introduce them to each other on neutral territory for 10 minutes at a time, the first few times were fine (lots of sniffing and grooming each other) however it has only gotten worse. Yoda is very inquisitive about Diego and will sniff, lick and sometimes he actually nuzzles into Diego's bottom region but Diego now refuses to get along with Yoda and will try to bite and (on one occasion) growls, once this happens they are immediately separated again and Yoda is checked over.&#xA;I have also tried putting Yoda into a large cage each day and putting him in Diego's run for Diego to see that Yoda is there and see how he feels about him, Diego would be inquisitive about Yoda and would sometimes lay, groom himself and eat next to cage with Yoda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main questions are they just too different? Could it ever work despite gender/size issues? Do any of you have any tips or tricks for integration? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(one trick i've heard of and yet to try is to put vanilla essence on their noses to supposedly trick them into thinking they smell the same..?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5194" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-23T12:52:12.980" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T12:52:12.980" Title="Rabbit integration tips &amp; tricks?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9451" CreationDate="2015-06-04T14:29:56.863" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gender and size have little to do with bonding. It is all about personality, everybunny has a different personality and some just won't ever be friends with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your basic approach to bonding has some research behind it.  We also have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=[rabbits]+bond&quot;&gt;few Q&amp;amp;A that address rabbit bonding&lt;/a&gt; so I won't go into details about that. Take a look at what we have or places like &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt; Posting a separate question about what to do about a specific behavior will tend to get a good answer here at Pets.SE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smell has very little to do with the introduction it about behavior. Two bunnies come together, one puts it's nose low, and demands that the other bunny groom them, this is how pecking order is defined in the house/domestic rabbit world. Depending on how demanding the more dominate bunny is anything can happen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two dominate bunnies interacting can and often does lead to a vet visit. Supervision is critical (sounds like you are doing good here), you may be separating them a bit to soon, but use your best judgement. There will be some give and take.  It can takes weeks or even months of supervised visits for everyone to get to the point that they form a bond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most subtle and likely be effective trick is moving litter between litter boxes. Rabbits drop poops to mark their territory, the two questions below highlight some of this. Takes some poops from each litter box and drop in the others everyday for 2 or more weeks, this gets them used to sharing territory.  Then follow all the good bonding practices.  We will often start this during a break in bonding attempts (no visiting with each other) and continue it until success or we decide it is never going to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514&quot;&gt;What means do rabbits use to mark and defend their territory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/978&quot;&gt;Why do rabbits leave droppings at the Romp?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yoda is very inquisitive about Diego and will sniff, lick and sometimes he actually nuzzles into Diego's bottom region but Diego now refuses to get along with Yoda&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the nose under the other rabbits head does not generate the required amount of grooming, the dominate rabbit will go to the &quot;submissive&quot;(&lt;em&gt;subjective&lt;/em&gt;) rabbits hip and nip the hip to be more assertive in demanding they be groomed.  This can lead to fighting or chasing (try not to let fighting or chasing occur).  You can often assist in the process by petting the head of the rabbit that is demanding to be groomed.  The two rabbits are close together, one is head down demanding pets, the other is ignoring the demand.  Pet both rabbit being sure to bet the demanding rabbit around the face and ears, this gives the demanding rabbit the impression that they are being groomed by the other bunny.  It fills a need while the relationship is developing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to always end on a good note, if they tend to fight after 10 minutes (or some action) stop at 9 minutes. The ratio of good endings to bad endings seems to be a key point in bonding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T10:18:12.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-04T20:27:39.937" Score="4" ViewCount="1088" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite new to owning fish, we have a 65 liters (14 gallons) tank with 6 minnows, 2 danios, 2 platies and a Hong Kong pleco which has been running for around 1 month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this month I have learnt a lot about water chemistry and would like to ask some advice on how to move the water chemistry in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parameters for our tank are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH: 8.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia: 0.25ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrite: 0.25ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrate: 40 - 60ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parameters for water directly out of our tap are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH: 7.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia: 0.25ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrite: 0ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrate: 40 - 60ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both tests were acquired using an API Test Kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how if a pH of 8.2 is within a good range for the fish in our tank (if not what could be done to correct this)? What would be the best cause of action for reducing the nitrate levels in our water? I am guessing that regular water changes won't make much difference to the nitrate levels as they are so high straight from the tap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have added the following chemicals with water changes: Tetra AquaSafe, Tetra EasyBallance &amp;amp; API Quick Start. The Tetra chemicals have been used since the tank was acquired, the API Quick Start was used during a 25% water change done yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also started replacing the fake aquarium plants with live plants as I have heard that they can help to reduce the nitrate levels in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my only/best option to buy bottled water or are there other/more effective solutions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:25:33.907" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:33.907" Title="High nitrate level in tap water" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9456" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-05T06:46:29.603" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I stop my Alaskan Malemute's scrape behaviour after peeing? It causes so much damage to our lawn/grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:35:59.950" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T00:35:59.950" Title="How can I stop my Alaskan Malemute's scrape behaviour after peeing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9426" CreationDate="2015-06-05T14:14:22.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this identical problem with my dog. He pined all night long for his mate (who had passed away), and he wouldn't be quiet until I took him outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As harsh as it may sound considering the circumstances, &lt;strong&gt;I simply ignored him after lights-out&lt;/strong&gt;. No matter how much he barked and whined, I didn't give him the attention he wanted (for the seven hours till we woke up). It was difficult for me of course, but it worked. Within a week, the entire household slept well, and he stopped missing his mate at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is, your dog wants attention. It sounds so cruel to deny him that, but unfortunately you cannot sacrifice your life to replace his friend. I would suggest that you cuddle him, say goodnight, turn the lights off, and do your best to fall asleep. With time, he will too. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5205" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T14:14:22.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9426" CreationDate="2015-06-05T15:02:32.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think about get him a new friend, It is lonely being alone. While neither of you may want to get a puppy, there are many mature dogs at local shelters that need a home.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our local shelter will allow you (actually they insist) that the current dog and the potential new dog meet at the shelter to see if it will work out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to consider a different type of pet, both cats and rabbits will enjoy spending time with your dog and both use litter boxes, which may or may not be a benefit to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T15:02:32.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9719" CreationDate="2015-06-05T21:08:46.783" Score="2" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 6 month Golden Retriever really enjoys playing in the back yard that has a pool. She has not been in the pool yet but does not seem interested in it either way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She plays in the back yard but I worry if she accidentally fell in the pool, she may not find the steps out. I will teach her how to swim this summer but the real issue is getting back out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a pool ramp the best strategy here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other ways to keep a dog safe with a pool?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5206" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T10:20:30.377" Title="Is it okay to let dogs play in a backyard with a pool unsupervised?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9461" CreationDate="2015-06-05T23:19:37.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be very cautious has you're saying that she's never been in the pool. That means you have no idea how she would react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why don't you try to see how it would go immediately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if I'm quite sure she wouldn't drown herself she could &quot;panic&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is quite confortable in the water but if he fell in the water he'll try to get out right where he is, without trying to swim a bit to get out elsewhere easily. So a ramp is not of any help in a situation like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-05T23:19:37.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-06T09:27:35.063" Score="1" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is being neutered as I'm writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a Brittany, 21 months old and is quite light weight (15.5kg). He's having quite a lot of exercice, a least 3 hours off leash per day in a dog park or in the woods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I expect in term of weight gain? Should I pay close attention in the coming weeks/months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T06:25:14.380" Title="Do recently neutered male dogs have a tendency to gain weight?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-06T13:11:11.993" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat throws her litter way out of her box. I've used mats, newspaper, and AstroTurf, but she manages to fling it way beyond even that. She won't use a covered box either. It doesn't matter if the litter is fresh or a few days old. She does the same thing, and sometimes she digs and doesn't even use the box. It's like she's digging just to dig! I really have no idea how to break her of this behavior and any input would help! How can I stop this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T08:19:20.667" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:19:20.667" Title="Cat throwing litter out of box!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-08T00:14:29.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9495" CreationDate="2015-06-06T16:36:49.757" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our rough-coated collie pup should be arriving within mere weeks now! We just visited/played with the five week old pups, right as the breeders were actively determining the &quot;frontrunners&quot; for show and agility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've searched the internet and found some pretty specific information (use a combination of a &quot;rake&quot; and a &quot;pin brush&quot;), but wanted to cross reference that with the wealth of knowledge here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My plan is to do 10-15 minute touch up brushings during the week (ah, quiet time for Mom), with a much longer and serious brushing over the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My breeder says they only do the weekend heavy grooming on even their best show/agility dog, and that the proper collie coat is actually easy to take care of. That dog not only looks (and is) AWESOME but is the grandsire of our pup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I did read the suggestion online that ours might be less easy to care for because we are going to spay/neuter as we are a &quot;companion pet&quot; home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T22:22:53.953" Title="How to groom a double coated dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9471" CreationDate="2015-06-07T04:27:36.630" Score="4" ViewCount="675" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spotted this worm on the glass shortly after doing a water change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need aw help identifying it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tank is cold water, mix of Borneo sucker, guppies and two fire belly newts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MiBZN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;worm&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FBlCI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;another worm&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastEditorUserId="3675" LastEditDate="2015-06-07T11:17:21.447" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T08:21:00.247" Title="Strange worm in fish tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9477" CreationDate="2015-06-07T05:13:56.893" Score="3" ViewCount="30517" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a year and a half old - and I have had her almost that long - the last two days I have found huge wet spots on my bed, and noticed the side of my cats face was quite wet a few times, and just confirmed that it is from her drooling in her sleep (checked under her face while sleeping...big wet spot, damp face).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has never happened before, although she is a 'sucker', and has left plenty of wet spots on clothing from sucking, but has never drooled in her sleep before. It is a lot of drool...she'll leave a spot 6 inches across on my bed from napping an hour or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT, she is eating and drinking normally, and doing all the stuff she normally does. She seems happy and is playful, active, and affectionate as normal. Not sleeping any more or less than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastActivityDate="2019-02-12T06:27:04.967" Title="Cat has started drooling while sleeping...sick?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9476" CreationDate="2015-06-07T09:27:57.547" Score="4" ViewCount="553" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our neighbour's cat comes into our garden quite often. Unfortunately she suffered an injury to one eye leaving her blind in that eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no problem with her coming into the garden, but I'd prefer it if she didn't kill the birds that come to feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this got me wondering, does having only one eye significantly reduce a cat's hunting ability, or does it only have a marginal impact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T15:31:42.473" Title="Is a one-eyed cat a less effective hunter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9468" CreationDate="2015-06-07T10:52:48.897" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to tell, so consider taking a better photo. If possible, a camera with a good macro setting may help to take a closer photo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/&quot;&gt;does this&lt;/a&gt; look like what you've got?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Planaria are often found in aquariums with uneaten food. The planaria&#xA;  won't hurt the fish, but they are a symptom of too much gravel&#xA;  containing too much uneaten food, and that is not good for fish. They&#xA;  require a food source, which means there must be excess food wastes in&#xA;  the tank to support them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they've been living on the food/waste in the gravel, it's possible you didn't notice them until you cleaned the tank. You remove the food, they move around more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5211" LastEditorUserId="5211" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T08:21:00.247" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T08:21:00.247" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9468" CreationDate="2015-06-07T12:47:44.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had them in my tanks. It is noting to be worry about. They usually appear when you do not change water regularly in your tank. When they appeared in my tank I have started to change 1/3 of water every 7 days and they disappeared.I have always prepare water for the tank do not use tap water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5212" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T12:47:44.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-07T12:55:27.420" Score="2" ViewCount="2054" Body="&lt;p&gt;My moms elderly aunt came in to town and started feeding my dog table food. For more information my dog was rescued so I do not know what kind of dog she was, we were told she was a cockapoo but she is 5 years old and still a tiny lap dog who's weight varies from 9-11 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the table food has anything to do with it but she started walking funny 2-3 days ago with her back end sideways.. I just thought it was because she got excited but I seen her walking like that just past me in the kitchen or something and that's when I started to worry and realised she's sort of constipated and hasn't been pooping right and now today we noticed she isn't peeing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't get into the vet near me right away. Would this be considered an emergency vet visit? Someone please help, I'm so nervous and sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5213" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:45:45.430" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:45:45.430" Title="My dog isn't peeing or pooping and is walking funny.. What is this?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9242" CreationDate="2015-06-07T12:59:55.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something I've been interested in lately. I haven't found detailed information, but I'll share the basics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/articles.html?s=training-a-sar-search-and-rescue-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I found an article here.&lt;/a&gt; The most important trait, from what I've read, is the ability to focus without becoming distracted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When selecting a dog of any age, selecting one with a HIGH level of&#xA;ball/play drive is necessary.  You want a dog that is focused and&#xA;intense about playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breed doesn't seem too important, so long as it's a fairly intelligent breed. To begin SAR training, a dog needs to already have basic obedience training. It's hard to find more information without getting in contact with a group that offers the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I briefly volunteered with the SES (an Australian emergency service), and at the time they were looking for volunteers who had dogs who would be interested in training their dogs. I get the impression that trainers and handlers are often the same person, and it's an on-going process to maintain the required level of training for both handler and dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Oh, I forgot, a dog that's anxious around people will have a hard time working in search and rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5211" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T08:29:02.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9473" CreationDate="2015-06-07T15:22:02.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time an animal isn't peeing for more than a day, that could be a medical emergency -- starting at severe dehydration and running up thru more serious conditions. Yes I would suggest getting to a vet now rather than waiting for your usual vet to get back. (The table food may be unrelated, but it's worth reporting to the vet; not everything humans eat is dog-safe.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were in the Boston area I'd suggest a visit to one of Angell Memorial's locations. They're the local SPCA's pet hospitals, and they're both very good and available 24x7x365. I've used their walk-in/ER services more than once. Not cheap but not unreasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T15:22:02.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9470" CreationDate="2015-06-07T15:31:42.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not having binocular vision will make judging distance more difficult. But just like humans, cats will try to find ways to work around that limitation, using size cues to estimate distances. There will obviously be loss of vision to one side, which again mar or may not be an issue depending on what/where/how they hunt. How successful they are will probably vary from cat to cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about how much or how little your own life would be affected if you had to wear an eye patch for a while. After a week or two you'd probably have compensated well enough for most purposes. And you don't have feline hearing or sense of smell to assist you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T15:31:42.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9469" CreationDate="2015-06-07T15:36:46.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats, like some humans,  do this.  It may be exacerbated if they have a bit of a cold and hence are breathing through their mouth more.  But unless there are other symptoms I wouldn't worry about it; maybe mention it at the next vet appointment just to make sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T15:36:46.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-07T19:09:54.557" Score="4" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading this &lt;a href=&quot;http://mashable.com/2015/06/04/abused-dog-recovery/?utm_cid=mash-com-G%20-main-link&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;very unpleasant next item&lt;/a&gt; (a dog whose muzzle was shut with electrical tape) I became curious: &lt;em&gt;how would you humanely discourage, prevent or forbid a dog to bark excessively&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-19T00:06:33.787" Title="How to humanely discourage a dog from barking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9478" CreationDate="2015-06-07T21:12:19.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for many unwanted behaviors, a few points are of key importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Prevention&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are learning all the time. That means that everytime they bark they are in some sense becoming better at barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For unwanted behaviors &lt;em&gt;prevention is the key&lt;/em&gt;. If you can list the circumstances in which your dog is barking, do it, and then try to avoid these situations (so long as you're not yet doing well with an alternative behavior, see below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people know that their dog barks at other dogs in the street, barks at strangers, etc. and yet don't take actions. There is no shame crossing the street if you see other dogs approaching. We should remember that these kind of barking are a way for your dog to realise its anxiety, frustration, etc. That means these situation are quite negative for him in the first place, we should do our best to help them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Train an alternative behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is chewing on a bone or playing with a toy in his mouth he'll be unable to bark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That simple fact is actually quite useful in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First teach/train your dog to enjoy taking a toy in his mouth in as many circumstances you can think of. That will take some time. Play with him, or give him a toy and then a food reward, be creative and make sure he enjoys it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's enjoying that, as soon as he starts barking (the more precise timing you have the better) give him his toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sounds simple but that's really a wonderful thing to do (and it generalises for other unwanted behaviors): the dog doesn't start a barking frenzy, you don't get upset, you and dog stay quite calm, as he's playing you can get his attention back to you, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't reward the unwanted behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barking is already self rewarding for the dog, that's why so many dogs go for some kind of compulsive barking (separation anxiety barking is the main example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally barking is sometimes rewarded without us realising it is the case. For example if a dog barks at stranger passing in front of their house, from the dog point of view barking is a good strategy as that person is eventually leaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means we should certainly not unconsciously reward the dog. People yelling &quot;stop it&quot;, or otherwise interacting with the dog are encouraging him to continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, in cases where my first two points don't apply, just &lt;strong&gt;ignore it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a tentative short list of potential reasons your dog might have to bark, along with some tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Barking at other dogs&lt;/em&gt;: that can be a truly fear related behavior or some kind of intimidating behavior (if the dog is uncertain about what will happen or is unsure about what to do). Only in rare cases is it a kind of pre-agression warning. That type of barking is really well covered by my first two paragraphs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Barking when greeting people&lt;/em&gt;: that's very often out of true excitement. These are also learned behaviors. If you let him get excited when meeting one person he'll quickly associate that person presence with excitement to come and he learns to get more excited every time. Again prevention is really important here. If possible don't let that person approach if the dog is too excited. Or sent him back to his place/crate and let him approach when calm. My third paragraph is really important in this case: if you let that person approach/pet the dog, you'll be rewarding him. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Separation anxiety barking&lt;/em&gt;: I think this would be better addressed in a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-07T21:12:19.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9486" CreationDate="2015-06-08T01:03:09.657" Score="4" ViewCount="1388" Body="&lt;p&gt;We saved a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bunny&lt;/a&gt; from certain death and raised him from baby for 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have to leave Morocco, and there are &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; shelters, &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; safe places for him. Basically, the choices are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a home where he will be, eventually, food;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;release him into the wild;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;buy another bunny and release both into the wild to keep him company.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't take him with us, due to import regulations.&#xA;Also, he has accustomed to us ( and we to him!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5215" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T13:49:34.613" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T13:49:34.613" Title="How to release a rescued European Rabbit back into the wild?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9379" CreationDate="2015-06-08T02:06:19.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I looked through my copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/Owners-Veterinary-Handbook-Revised-Updated-ebook/dp/B00DNKY57I/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook&lt;/a&gt; by Carlson and Giffin (I have the first edition, apparently I should update!), and played around with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/cat-symptom-checker?icn=Symptom-Checker&amp;amp;icl=cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PetMD symptom checker&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only possible disease process that I could find reference to (I am not a veterinarian) was some type of infection that would case the lymph nodes to swell. The lymph nodes are &quot;located in the neck area near the angle of the jaw. They lay right next to the salivary glands&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lbah.com/word/lymph-node-diseases/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Long Beach Animal Hospital&lt;/a&gt;). The linked website also includes a picture (but beware if you scroll down too far you will find surgical pictures as well). The lymph nodes are slightly below what I would consider to be his cheeks, but if they are extremely swollen that could distort his face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities included various forms of cancer, but that wouldn't generally be symmetrical in both cheeks. Cancer wouldn't be communicable anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems likely that this cat is an unneutered (or late-neutered) male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cat neutered prior to puberty (most cats are neutered at approximately age 6 months) do not develop secondary sex characteristics. These include a more muscular body, thickenings around the face called “shields,” and spines on the penis. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_neutering_the_male_cat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mar Vista Animal Medical Center&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, a male cat who is unneutered will be more likely to get into fights, which could be the reason the cat has so several wounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems UNLIKELY that the swollen cheeks are a symptom of a communicable disease, but the best way to know would be to take the cat to a veterinarian. I recommend checking with your neighbors first, in case the cat is theirs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T02:06:19.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9426" CreationDate="2015-06-08T06:41:45.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My specific solution was moving the crate too our bedroom and get him a hot water bottle in his crate. The hot water bottle on itself got him to sleep better but he still woke up too early. This morning I actually had to wake him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting this up as an answer because neither of the answers were the solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5184" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T06:41:45.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9465" CreationDate="2015-06-08T09:00:51.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neutering may affect a dog's metabolism and appetite and may cause weight gain. If you notice your dog looks overweight, you should take action and limit food intake and increase exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T09:00:51.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9481" CreationDate="2015-06-08T11:02:55.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are still unable to locate a wild animal rescue in your area that can take the young wild rabbit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your third option &quot;buy another bunny and release both into the wild to keep him company.&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; a viable solution. Domestic rabbits are not compatible with wild rabbits.  The question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5705&quot;&gt;What species of wild rabbit is the domestic house rabbit descended from?&lt;/a&gt; highlights they are not even able to inter breed.  Additionally making two rabbits &quot;be friends&quot; is called 'bonding' and it is not easy. Also the Questions that Zaralynda posted in the comments, expand on why releasing a domestic rabbit is not appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first option &quot;a home where he will be, eventually, food;&quot; is presumably about transferring ownership of the rabbit to a person who will eat him, when he grows up. Depending on the laws in your area this may be unlawfully.  Owning, selling or transferring wildlife is generally unlawful.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your second option &quot;release him into the wild;&quot; is the best of the 3 options you have listed.  Rabbits are vegetarians/herbivores so complex skills are not required to find food.  As unpleasant as it is to think about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877/&quot;&gt;rabbits multiple fast&lt;/a&gt; and most wild rabbits get eaten, that is part of the circle of life. Wild rabbits have different inherent skills then domestic rabbits so there is nothing cruel or unusual about releasing them back to the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fourth option is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/euthanasia&quot;&gt;euthanasia&lt;/a&gt;, which may be a more human choice, if there is not an existing wild rabbit population in your area (but presumably there is as you found him in the wild).  Also the veterinarians in your area capable of performing the task, may be legally prohibited from euthanizing a wild rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the situation you are in, and if you were my neighbor I would suggest releasing him into the wild as close to where you found him as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T11:02:55.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9469" CreationDate="2015-06-08T12:51:15.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excessive drool can indicate dental problems. Can you look into her mouth? You are looking for any swelling of the gums, excessive tartar buildup, or anything that looks unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T12:51:15.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9499" CreationDate="2015-06-08T16:32:00.013" Score="6" ViewCount="6369" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment several floors up, and I have a balcony with vertical&#xA;railings that are large enough for a rabbit to pass through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How well do rabbits deal with heights like this?  Do I need to add chicken wire and/or board of a part of my balcony to prevent the rabbit from falling down? And if so, what's a good way to do it (and how high should this be? 50cm? 200cm? A meter?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A picture of said balcony:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cloud.funda.nl/valentina_media/046/940/070_grotere.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5219" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-03-10T09:42:47.427" LastActivityDate="2019-04-26T12:27:20.977" Title="Do I need to fence of my balcony to prevent my rabbit from falling down?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3202" CreationDate="2015-06-08T16:36:08.520" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're supposed to cut the string as it comes out of their butt. Don't pull on it, only cut the string off at least a half inch from their butt. Don't waste your money on the vet unless your cat is in pain, and trust me, they'll let you know. Dogs on the other hand, hide their pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5220" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T16:36:08.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9440" CreationDate="2015-06-08T17:09:30.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fleas are pests, but they do not infest you or your clothes. What they can do is bite, and that can be a bother.  While not particularly painful, some people will exhibit a minor inflammatory response (slight swelling and reddening at bite site), they can itch, and leave unsightly little bite marks until healed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend the use of a veterinarian-approved neurotoxin usually administered monthly by breaking the seal on a small liquid-filled vial and pushing the liquid onto the cat's skin between hairs on the back of their neck.  Once it reaches the cats skin there, it actually spreads to cover the skin's entire surface on the cat. A good quality neurotoxin will kill fleas in all stages of their life cycle. The other most likely candidate for a flea poison would be those places where the cat usually sleeps. There you would find a spray that you may use safely on furniture or fabric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas are hard-bodied (very difficult to kill manually) and they jump.  They are easy to spot if there are many of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of much more concern are ticks that the cat can carry in from fields and grasses outside - including deer ticks which have been known to carry and infect humans with Lyme's disease.  The same neurotoxin mentioned above kills ticks as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had from one to four cats at any given time throughout my life. They are fine companions and fleas can be managed with regular care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5221" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T17:13:30.897" LastActivityDate="2015-06-08T17:13:30.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-08T19:12:38.307" Score="4" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm restarting my tank. It's been down for a year. I have all the chemicals and such to get it started, but haven't bought new filters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to go ahead and de-chlorinate the water and take other steps before getting my filter going?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5223" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-06-08T19:34:42.233" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T09:51:38.657" Title="Can I put chemicals in before the filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9488" CreationDate="2015-06-09T04:13:28.393" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are probably going to exercise some native caution around that balcony, but accidents can, and do, happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, some things worth considering...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can jump, sometimes as high as a meter. So, any fencing should consider that as a minimum height.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not all predators of rabbits are on the ground. If you're going to let yours on the balcony, consider the possibility of predatory bird species. My Father had a cat that had a narrow escape from a hawk, in the core of Toronto, and the cat forever after avoided the balcony as result.  So, fencing that accounts for that is also probably wise, in some capacity or another.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, given the above, you're looking at a possible floor to ceiling unless your rabbit is only on the balcony when you're present. Chicken wire is sufficient, but you might also be able to get away with anchored sheer curtains if you don't want (or aren't allowed) to use what is, to be honest, a fairly ugly looking solution in the chicken wire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T12:52:11.150" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T12:52:11.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9467" CreationDate="2015-06-09T06:13:16.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rake is likely all you will need. Using a rake with tines that spin is even better. You should get the puppy used to being bushed a little at a time, don't over do it at first or you might teach it to hate being brushed. You won't really need the brushing for a little while anyway as he won't shed much when he is young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use a mat cutter easily get through his &amp;quot;feathering&amp;quot; and collar. I usually start with that around any area that seems a little tangled then use a rake over the full coat. If you are grooming for show this would likely be &amp;quot;not advised&amp;quot; as you would be thinning/cutting the area you use the mat cutter on. So read this as &amp;quot;companion pet&amp;quot; advice not a show groom advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start brushing towards his rear and move up towards his head as you go. You won't have as hard of a time getting through his undercover that way. But if he has a nice coat and you keep up on it then it shouldn't be hard anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real difference in coat between an altered and and intact dog is that the altered dogs tend to shed less but more often and the intact tend to shed a ton but all at once. Intact males can develop more of a collar too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T22:22:53.953" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T22:22:53.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9465" CreationDate="2015-06-09T06:25:14.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neutering effects hormones so it can obviously change metabolism but in my experience very few change much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is just coming up on an age where you should expect to see him fill out a bit. You might also need to adjust how much you are feeding as he is no longer a growing puppy. When I say he should fill out I mean muscle wise, you should notice his chest fill out a little over the next year. But he should not start to feel different/thick in his ribs and hips. If you have a hard time monitoring weight by the feeling then you can do it by actually weighing him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog that size (30 to 45 lbs) shouldn't very his weight by more than a pound or two if you are being consistent with diet and exercise. If he does then you should cut back on food or increase exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T06:25:14.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9456" CreationDate="2015-06-09T06:38:07.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try training him that when he goes he should come to you immediately then he will get a reward. It will only be possible if he is always supervised because it is just a natural behavior. Most dogs do it after going to the bathroom but some do it more than others. I do know people who have mostly trained it out of their dogs but they still put a word to it as their dog is going.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="884" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T20:18:28.793" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T20:18:28.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9506" CreationDate="2015-06-09T10:36:35.003" Score="6" ViewCount="1092" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is on her first estrus cycle and yesterday she started bleeding. We have a garden so she can go outside, but during the morning she usually comes in and stays with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid cleaning the floor every now and then, we bought her some specific underwear, which some recommend. However when we put it on, she stops doing anything: she would just sit and look around, and even if we place a treat in front of her, she wouldn't go and eat it, but she'd start drooling instead without moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know dogs aren't meant to wear underwear, but it's the first time I've seen this situation. What can we do to help her be more comfortable with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5226" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T18:51:20.367" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:31:14.743" Title="How can I help my dog become comfortable with underwear?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9488" CreationDate="2015-06-09T11:06:39.970" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do climb &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=rabbits+climbing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Google Rabbits Climbing&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; and jump to high places. Ours have a 5 foot tall condo in the living room, which they would make their way top of we had a very difficult time arranging things so they could not get there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qXBPc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Harmony an Lyra on condo&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits will jump from heights that can injury them. Rabbits can and do injure themselves from falls &amp;amp; jumping down from as little as four feet. At the same time unless they are motivated to leave they will stay in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6067/what-size-should-an-exercise-pen-be-for-a-rabbit/6073#6073&quot;&gt;2 (.6m) foot pen.&lt;/a&gt; When we are outside (supervised) we use a 2 foot (.6m) pen to define the boundary for the same rabbits that go to the top of 5 foot (1.5m) condo. Johns idea of floor to ceiling coverage is very good, though I would use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=plastic+lattice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plastic lattice&lt;/a&gt; as it holds up better and is more attractive (&lt;em&gt;and more expensive&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the balcony has a roof and you are &lt;strong&gt;ALWAYS&lt;/strong&gt; going to be on the balcony with the bunny any kind of coverage that is to small for them to fit through and is 2 foot high would be the minimum required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We foster rabbits for short periods of time (a couple weeks to a couple of months) that are proven climbers and jumpers of 4 foot enclosures. We find that a 3 foot (.9m) high wall that they can not see through, or over, keeps them in; they tend not to climb or jump over things if they can't see what is on the other side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your rabbit is going to occasionally be on a covered balcony, and you will be away for &lt;strong&gt;SHORT&lt;/strong&gt; periods of time, a 3 foot no see through enclosure would be the minimum required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit is going to be on the balcony for more then a few minutes without supervision, complete bunny proof coverage from floor with a ceiling is required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T09:36:48.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="219" CreationDate="2015-06-09T12:23:28.293" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, a bulldog mix, has done this also. What I've done is if he doesn't eat after an hour of it sitting there, I put it on the counter. I usualy feed him at 7 or 8 AM because I wake up early. In case he doesn't eat, I put up the food and introduce the same food at around lunch time. He then eats because he is very hungry. So basically you could just be feeding your dog too early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5227" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T15:48:38.790" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T15:48:38.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-09T16:53:01.080" Score="4" ViewCount="5754" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three 4 months old stray puppies in my area and I feed every one of them 100gms of kibbles just once a day(10pm-11pm) as I dont get time.&#xA;So do kibbles get digested just like normal food or they simply get converted into poop and get wasted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3978" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T18:53:03.877" Title="Is it ok to feed a puppy just once a day?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9501" CreationDate="2015-06-09T18:53:03.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that you have two different questions here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does kibbles get digested just like normal food or they simply get converted into poop and get wasted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A don't know what is normal food. However millions of dogs, young puppies and older dogs, are fed kibble everyday and that's definitely digested and that's providing them a very decent source of nutrients. It is also true that part of it is &quot;converted into poop&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So feeding puppies kibble is overall a quite good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there is a debate &quot;kibble vs raw meat vs bones vs you-name-it&quot; but that's a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it OK to feed a puppy just once a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As these are stray pups that's in any case better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasoning is that puppies shouldn't ingest the totally of their recommended amount of food in one go. Even if they would possibly eat it all that's quite a lot. So it is recommended that pups under 6 m/o be fed 3 times a day or a least twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristy_Conn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Kristy Conn&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Puppies should be fed three to four times a day [...]&#xA;  Smaller meals are easier to digest for the puppy and energy levels don’t peak and fall so much with frequent meals. At around six months you may start feeding twice a day for convenience but because your dog is a mixed large breed dog I would recommend sticking with a 3-4 times a day feeding schedule if possible to minimize the risk of gastric dilatation volvulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-09T18:53:03.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-09T20:19:39.987" Score="0" ViewCount="36623" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my betta 3 months ago, he was living in a 1/2 hallow tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seemed happy up until a week ago when he stopped eating and began laying on the bottom and only coming up for air. When he swims he drags himself and his fins looked to be getting torn up and short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5230" LastEditorUserId="469" LastEditDate="2015-06-09T20:30:12.940" LastActivityDate="2018-08-20T11:46:21.327" Title="Betta won't get off the bottom of the tank" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:25:57.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10244" CreationDate="2015-06-09T20:47:55.483" Score="2" ViewCount="7887" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog recently had 4 teeth pulled and the dentist instructed me to not let her play with/chew any toys for 2 weeks after the surgery. My dog &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to play though, so she's very frustrated that I've taken away her toys. We usually go to the dog park at least 3 times a week to burn off her energy, but I can't take her there now since there are dozens of tennis balls in all the nearby dog parks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, does anyone have any suggestions for mentally simulating activities? I plan to take her on longer than usual walks, and we play the find it game where I hide treats in the house and she goes looking for them. Now that she can eat kibble again I've been putting it in her food bobble for her to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still seems bored though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-06-10T18:39:42.103" LastActivityDate="2020-10-30T18:43:55.803" Title="Suggestions for activities for dog recovering from dental surgery" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9498" CreationDate="2015-06-10T06:38:55.587" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure that they fit nicely without being too tight first. Once you have done that, it is probably best to try and ignore it and act like everything is normal. If she senses that you think everything is fine, she will be more likely to be comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are just more sensitive or unsure about novel situations, like wearing underwear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To speed things along you can try helping her understand that she can move in them by gently lifting her legs one at a time. May help to give her a good massage too... it will relax her and you can help her start moving around in them once you feel her relax a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T01:31:14.743" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:31:14.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9515" CreationDate="2015-06-10T08:12:06.190" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Sheltie puppy loves his peanut butter Kong treats, which he gets every few days (one a week perhaps less) but because peanut butter is high in fats, sugars etc, we don't want him to get chubby as his breed is prone to easily becoming overweight, however peanut butter keeps him occupied for a good half hour - hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has two Kongs, one is a pink large breed puppy Kong gifted to us by a friend whose dog outgrew it, and the other is a blue small breed puppy Kong. The blue one gets his peanut butter in, the other sometimes gets his regular food in, dinner or breakfast, but he'll often get bored of this. He also refuses to eat his kibble mushy, we've tried this in his Kong too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you can purchase the official Kong fillings (but these are rather expensive) so I was wondering if anyone had had decent sucess with other various Kong fillings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-06-10T08:29:38.463" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T22:28:10.793" Title="What are good fillings for a Kong?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-09-08T23:57:09.623" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9512" CreationDate="2015-06-10T08:50:42.850" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Sheltie, when fully grown, will be joining us more and more in our outdoor life styles. He's already experienced geocaching, but has mountain climbing, hiking and kayaking to come. Also both sides of our family are heavily into sailing / yachting etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are expecting that he will require a life jacket, as Shelties are incredibly long haired and he may possibly struggle even in calm water such as a canal (Grand Union, England).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a small (very small!) Yorkshire terrier in the family who has a life jacket for his trips out on the family boat (at sea) and I know they struggled to find one. However for now we will keep Blaze to calm waters on the canals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is... Should we make him wear a life jacket even if he is perfectly ok swimming in calm water? Would his long hair effect his ability to swim or would it be more of a struggle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T18:34:12.310" Title="Is a life jacket for long haired dogs a requirement?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9505" CreationDate="2015-06-10T09:40:01.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how your dog's boredom could be related to the dental surgery, but I'm sure you're doing what you can to keep her happy :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure she isn't in pain. This should be your Number One priority for the next few weeks. Make sure she doesn't eat any hard food and keep checking for bleeding in her gums. If your surgeon gave you any creams, apply them to where the teeth were pulled from.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you mention in your question, longer walks are a great idea. Add some variation to your regular routine, take her to a new and interesting place. Dogs love exploring and I'm sure she'll love running in (and urinating on ;)) a new park or street.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if she can't run free, there's no reason not to play games with her as you used to. If she's an active dog, take her running, on a leash if need be. Keeping her body active is the first active to keeping her mind active.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and I wish your dog the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5205" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T09:40:01.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4340" CreationDate="2015-06-10T16:21:10.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have things for them to chew on (like wooden blocks, chew sticks, etc?)? Guinea pig teeth grow constantly and if they don't have something to chew on all of the time, they get stressed and their teeth can overgrow. Most pet stores have lots of wooden things for small animals. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5233" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T16:21:10.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9508" CreationDate="2015-06-10T18:34:12.310" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dogs that are shore swimming in a beach like environment, I don't think I would worry too much for a need around a life jacket. They'll generally have easy access to ground, so less likely to get trapped and tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're talking about being on boats or in water settings with no easy way out of the water (or for you to go in and get them), then I would get one regardless of long or short hair. Dogs are usually excellent swimmers, but they can also tire out and a long haired dog is likely to tire faster, so it's just a wise investment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for getting one, there are some online options that may work for you. It may be easier to find them that way then scouring through local pet supply stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T18:34:12.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="60" CreationDate="2015-06-10T22:06:58.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beside what Ashley Nunn said, I think they simply love shoes. My cat never put toys into shoes. But he loved playing with my natural leather slippers! I guess it might have to do with the exciting smell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was a baby, he could stick his whole head inside, and did it all the time so that his whiskers broke off at the points they got bent. Knowing how sensitive cat whiskers are, you can understand how much he loved it, to have them bent so sharply and not even care. So maybe your cat plays with your shoes too, and leaves his toys inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2015-06-10T22:06:58.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9532" CreationDate="2015-06-10T22:21:12.887" Score="3" ViewCount="30079" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Dachshund puppy has started to grow three odd bumps: one on each cheek and a smaller one on the underside of her chin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please examine this photo taken just a moment ago:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5p9b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have circled the bump in red. It has two hair strands growing out of it.  The symmetrical one on her right cheek also has two hair strands growing out of it, and the less pronounced bump under her chin has about 5 hair strands growing out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What problem, if any, do these odd bumps (or moles?) indicate?  Or alternatively, should we approach the vet to have them removed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5234" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-03T21:11:16.987" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T14:35:11.803" Title="What are these odd bumps on my Dachshund's cheeks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9507" CreationDate="2015-06-11T06:01:43.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carrots! They're awesome for your dogs teeth, not high in calories, and a good source of vitamins. Chop them up in different sizes and use a larger one to hold them in. You can even put some pumpkin or sweet potato chunks to add flavor and softer texture, but use sparingly as sweet potatoes have a higher calorie content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5236" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T06:01:43.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9498" CreationDate="2015-06-11T07:51:56.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs, like humans tend to be uncomfortable with new things and getting them in an underwear will be met with resistance. What I did with my dog is I played a game with her at first, getting it on for a while and giving her treats when she keeps it. Eventually, she got used to wearing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T07:51:56.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6824" CreationDate="2015-06-11T08:57:44.817" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have to worry. Although it is not natural behavior for fish to hold on to eggs forever, it will not harm them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have several fish that have held eggs for almost over a year now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's ever better to not have a male in the tank as it can become aggressive and hurt female fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T08:57:44.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-11T09:00:13.150" Score="4" ViewCount="6735" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, my dog keeps pooping and peeing in the flat. He knows it is not right because he has been taught and shown several times that he shouldn't, besides his behavior after it: He goes to a corner and keeps his head down, looking at us with the corner of his eyes and ears backwards, but never directly facing us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is weird is that when he does it in the flat, he makes sure we know it. He stands in front of us, or go to the center of the group and just do it, without any warning. I feel like he wanted to show us something or get attention somehow - but by doing this he gets the wrong kind of attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regular situations, he asks to go out, he knows the drill: come, sit next to me and look straight into my eyes. If I don't get it, he starts to walk around from the main door to the balcony door. He knows I'll take him out if he do like this. I take him out around 3 times per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dog was adopted from a foundation for homeless dogs, the vet says he's around 2, maximum 3 years old. They found him on the street with no signs of mistreating, just like he was lost or has been abandoned. He was adopted before us too, but the previous owner returned him because &lt;em&gt;the house was smelling like dog&lt;/em&gt; (?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a small 1 year old baby living with us. The dog is very attached to her and she likes to play with him too (and this is very nice to watch!), but he is jealous when she get attention from us, usually he's sitting in front of her in a way we can't (or he thinks we can't) see her. I've seen this behavior before with my parent's dogs (they own 4 of them, so I'm very used to dogs), he's also sleeping under her door at night, and he seems very concerned, or even scared, when she cries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, when we try to teach him that something he did was wrong, either by shouting at him, by making some loud noise (like slapping a shoe to the floor), or even just letting him smell the bag with his poop cleaned from the floor inside, he gets so scared that he pees himself &lt;strong&gt;every time&lt;/strong&gt;, and goes to the corner, with the same behavior described earlier. And we are not shouting so hard at him neither making a very loud noise. This makes incredibly hard to teach him that he did something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've grown up having dogs around me all the time, at least 3 of them, sometimes 5, since I remember. I think I had around 20 dogs my whole life, so I think I can say I know how to raise a dog in the right way. This dog is generally happy, likes to play with us and everything, but this behavior in particular is driving us crazy, and it really challenges me. I need some suggestions of how to end this, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T13:13:40.123" LastActivityDate="2018-10-09T14:17:11.587" Title="Why does my dog keeps pooping in the flat when he knows, perfectly, that it is not right?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9454" CreationDate="2015-06-11T09:08:11.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first: your tank is not ready to house fish. When setting up a new tank, you need to cycle the water for a few weeks (typically a month or two) so beneficial bacteria can start to grow.&#xA;These bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite (which is toxic to fish) to nitrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are seeing nitrite in your readings, cycling has not been completed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, when you see measurements like yours, you would immediately do a rather large water change but I wouldn't recommend that because you will not lower your nitrate levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is buy an osmosis device and filter all the water you are going to put in the tank. This will remove all harmful particles and also lower pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also buy reverse osmosis water (RO water) from your local fish store if they have some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While those fish can survive in water with a pH that high, it is absolutely not recommended and it will lower their lifespan. Having a pH that high will also result in the creation of more ammonia and as a result nitrite and nitrate. If your water would be slightly acidic (below pH 7.0), creation of ammonia would be inhibited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to find a solution for your tap water first. Having nitrate and ammonia in your tap water means there is something wrong. Maybe there is a dead animal somewhere in the pipes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottled water isn't that great for fish. If you are going to buy bottled water, get RO water from your local fish store. It will probably even be cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T09:08:11.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6042" CreationDate="2015-06-11T09:15:07.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you want to have in your tank. If you are housing fish that need a very high pH (cichlids), then it might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other fish will probably suffer because the shells are either too sharp or because the pH will become too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people are even trying to lower their pH so adding egg shells will definitely not help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T09:15:07.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9492" CreationDate="2015-06-11T09:17:05.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can although you probably need a filter to house beneficial bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that if you have something like FilterStart or something that claims to get your bacteria started, it won't work if it's more than 3 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T09:17:05.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-11T09:25:12.140" Score="4" ViewCount="2496" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave my dog a cap of fish oil and now he reeks of fish. I don't even have to go anywhere near his mouth to smell it. I can smell it from the end of the leash and while I sit on the couch and him on the floor. Also, I made sure that the bottle of fish oil caps wasn't expired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To those who give their dogs fish oil, does it really make them smell like that? He only had one cap and I didn't follow through anymore. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And ultimately, how do I get rid of this smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5237" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:36:41.500" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T20:01:30.107" Title="How to get rid of fish oil stink on a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9522" CreationDate="2015-06-11T09:47:06.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We give our puppy a special milk^ with fish oil in, but luckily it doesn't smell... Therefore knowing if the caps should smell or not I don't know... So this advice is just from the point of view of bad breath and how to get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try giving him a mint flavoured chew or treat. Again our pup has these on occasion and his breath is always fresher for a few hours afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More promisingly you could clean his teeth, even dog toothpastes are designed to break down bad smells cause by food and bacteria in the mouth. I'd think this would be the best way to clear the smell, think of your mouth after eating garlic and how cleaning your teeth works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume he hasn't got any in his fur, but if he has around his mouth then again a cleaning wipe (I use pups tear stain wipes on his whole face as it's so small...) might remove it from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;^&lt;em&gt;lactose minimalised puppy milk with fish oil and vitamins (from Pets at Home)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T09:26:00.577" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T09:26:00.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9529" CreationDate="2015-06-11T12:08:47.457" Score="8" ViewCount="37271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen my cat charge at me from a distance while running sideways. He simply stops when he reaches me. I've read this is called &quot;sidewinding&quot; and some say it's to look intimidating, others say it's just being playful, and perhaps it's both, which I suspect is the case--do they do that in the wild with real opponents to intimidate them? I think he's just playing, but I'm curious whether it's an instinctual defense mechanism in an untamed setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5239" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:31:24.397" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T13:42:38.887" Title="Why does my cat sometimes run at me sideways?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2293" CreationDate="2015-06-11T12:46:28.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My deceased, much-missed Raphael was notorious for this sudden biting--more than once he'd bite me on the nose and draw blood! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After biting me out of the blue, he'd recoil immediately, bracing himself to be smacked, knowing he had done wrong (or maybe he was just assuming a defense posture), as if he had made a bad split-second decision and knew there was going to be a repercussion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time I had to accept that was just part of his nature (I can't say why, perhaps he was abused before I adopted him at 6 months), and couldn't control himself. Even if we were cuddling, and I went to give him a peck on the nose, he simply just did not like me putting my face too close to his in any circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other signs suggested he loved me very much. So my only recourse was to take the high road, and do what I could to control myself: I made sure never to put my nose too close to his face, it was just too tempting a target for him. I stopped smacking him after he did it (not too hard, of course, just a consequence that indicated he had performed a bad action). I tried to avoid putting him in the situation where he would make the wrong choice. He simply wasn't going to learn or change that behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to accept that he wasn't going to drop that bad habit and had to continue to love and accept him for what he was, unprovoked biting and all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5239" LastEditorUserId="5239" LastEditDate="2015-06-11T21:06:22.130" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T21:06:22.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9518" CreationDate="2015-06-11T13:46:34.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know about your other dogs, but your current one seems incredibly sensitive to your usual punishments, perhaps much more so than your previous dogs?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Have you tried to change your punishment-/reward-behaviour towards him, rewarding ONLY good behaviour and flat-out ignoring the bad? For example, when he poops on the floor, flat-out walk calmly away, most like to get cleaning-utensils. Clean up, ignore the dog. When behaved well again, he gets his attention.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If not, try going this route. If he is as sensitive and and attention-seeking as he seems from your explanation, this may be the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T13:46:34.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9524" CreationDate="2015-06-11T18:44:20.997" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an attempt to look large and threatening and drive you off.  In the wild, a cornered cat might do it, or a mother protecting kittens.  Usually a cat will slink off and hide, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T18:44:20.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9518" CreationDate="2015-06-11T21:08:49.603" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the title says, my dog keeps pooping and peeing in the flat. He knows it is not right because he has been taught and shown several times that he shouldn't, besides his behavior after it: He goes to a corner and keeps his head down, looking at us with the corner of his eyes and ears backwards, but never directly facing us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is hilarious, if that was an example in a training book discussing punishment people would think it's made up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all dogs don't have &quot;moral&quot; concepts about &quot;right&quot;, &quot;wrong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if he had actually been taught he wouldn't do it. Saying &quot;he knows&quot;, &quot;he usually do it right&quot; is moot. We should concentrate and what they actually do and train them to do what we &quot;want&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now about communication: what's his behavior telling you? &lt;strong&gt;I don't understand, my people are lunatic and sometimes when I poop they yell at me or try to &quot;punish&quot; me, let's hide in the corner, if I can't see them they can't see&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(First I didn't know how to interpret &quot;shown several times that he shouldn't&quot;, then I read further &quot;or even just letting him smell the bag with his poop cleaned from the floor inside&quot; - This is insane)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's much &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.fr/Dog-Sense-Science-Behavior-Better-ebook/dp/B007ZDDJYE/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1434056671&amp;amp;sr=8-1-spell&amp;amp;keywords=bradshow%20dogs&quot;&gt;closer to the mental process dogs actually have&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: your dog is not house trained, start from scratch. They are some good questions-answers on the site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="469" LastActivityDate="2015-06-11T21:08:49.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9514" CreationDate="2015-06-12T05:07:52.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, don't worry. Those &quot;bumps&quot; are completely normal. All dogs got them, it just depends a bit on the race how well you can see them. They're very noticeable on our Husky for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've noticed and others mentioned, they are the areas where the whiskers originate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just check those three spots occasionally, as there might sit ticks right next to them, which would be harder to spot compared to other body parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T05:07:52.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6179" CreationDate="2015-06-12T07:49:39.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter what kind of breed you have, dogs are dogs! If the yorkie is fine with the huskies' food, then go for it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one thing the Yorkie has issue with that is specific to this breed is tartar issue. So in general, it's good to feed your yorkie mostly with dry food and give him toys that will help it clean its teeth. That doesn't stop you from serving it some canned food sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Terrier#Teeth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Terrier#Teeth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I noticed about the Blue Diamond food that it contains BHA and when possible, you should try to find another product that doesn't contain this artificial preservative. Same goes for BHT and TBHQ. You can look for food that uses vitamin E/tocopherols instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, when pet shops suggest dog food for small breed, the main benefit for the dog is the size of the bites! So that's one thing you can look for, and also a high protein food that doesn't contain too much corn, preferably rice as it's easier for dogs to digest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably already know how to read the food labels, and the first ingredient is the one that has the biggest quantity in the mix. Ideally, you should avoid the dog food that starts with anything corn or grains, and go for meat instead. You will find labels that say &quot;chicken&quot; and others with &quot;chicken flours&quot; for example; I personally suggest you to go for the chicken first and then the flour as second best choice. At this point when you see these 2 as first ingredients, you're already serving your dog a very good quality food compared to the &quot;grain flour&quot; food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/how-to-read-a-dog-food-label&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/how-to-read-a-dog-food-label&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastEditorUserId="5244" LastEditDate="2015-06-12T20:09:26.347" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T20:09:26.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8028" CreationDate="2015-06-12T08:00:03.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it can happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I may suggest is if your dog doesn't have many intestinal worms every time you use Panoramis, you can wait 2-3 months instead of doing it every month. &lt;strong&gt;EDIT: That is, if you use Panoramis for intestinal worms. Heartworm require monthly treatment.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;After six months all dogs need to be wormed every three months for effective protection&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/caring-for-your-dog-vaccinations-worming-flea-heartworm-feeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/caring-for-your-dog-vaccinations-worming-flea-heartworm-feeding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try another excellent brand, I can suggest you to use Strongid but it won't prevent heartworms. If you want to prevent heartworms, you can ask your veterinarian about Ivomec, and for heartworm you do need to use it every month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastEditorUserId="5244" LastEditDate="2015-06-12T19:45:43.383" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T19:45:43.383" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6974" CreationDate="2015-06-12T08:10:31.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with serving the food based on the weight of the dog is that logically, it will be wrong if the dog is skinny and weights less than it should.(1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For puppies up to 9-12 months, you should always leave them water available at all time and feed them at least feed 3 times a day (2); if the puppy is underweight, try leaving the food available at all time and use real puppy food that has higher content of proteins. It's a bit harder to train them to be clean but once this is done, your dog should simply be able to eat when hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to know if a dog is hungry, they don't talk and might not show obvious signs of hunger! But if you see the dog is too skinny, you should try giving more food; her refusal to eat will give you clues about other health issues that might be the real problem and that need to be taken care of.(2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I let food available at all time even for my adult dogs and they don't get obese with good exercise; but they also have no reasons to develop eating disorders. I've never seen an obese puppy in my entire life, and as for humans, I simply don't agree with the strict &quot;2-3 times a day&quot; feeding schedule; even for humans that kind of diet schedule is controversial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge and from dog psychology I've read, over-eating habits with dogs are similar to humans eating disorders; this is controversial since there's still debates about animals having &quot;emotions&quot; but no one can deny there are behaviors that can easily be observed and analyzed. In fact I think underfeeding a puppy might create these bad habits; I suspect when food is easily available, there's less risk they develop that kind of fixation. Studies have been done showing this happens to humans who grew up in very poor households or the ones little access to basic resources (eg. strict control of food.) (3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&#xA;Supporting references as requested:&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&#xA;(1) Logic&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/nutrition/evr_dg_the_importance_of_proper_nutrition_for_puppies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(2)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/nutrition/evr_dg_the_importance_of_proper_nutrition_for_puppies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/nutrition/evr_dg_the_importance_of_proper_nutrition_for_puppies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.ca/books?id=9magDnBkdZAC&amp;amp;lpg=PA17&amp;amp;ots=vfmVrVDXeG&amp;amp;dq=malnutrition%20kid%20become%20bulimic&amp;amp;lr&amp;amp;pg=PA17#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(3)&lt;/a&gt; &quot;Evidence exists that malnutrition leads to mood disturbances and that binge eating is frequently followed by intense negative emotion. On the other hand, depressive and anxious moods affect the awareness of hunger and fullness, and can interfere with eating. [...]Interestingly, many families of eating-disordered patients appear preoccupied with food and gourmet cooking, weight and dieting, thus drawing attention to food as representing more than nutrition. [...]&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastEditorUserId="5244" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T08:38:17.430" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T08:38:17.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6571" CreationDate="2015-06-12T08:24:02.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might need to wash all the floors, carpet and every place you dog used to pee with some enzyme soap to remove as much trace of odor as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're doing is good and if you don't do it already, you can add to this some positive reinforcement when he goes outside to pee or ask for the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And dogs are like humans on some points... they also have their preferences even for that kind of things. It's possible your dog doesn't like the balcony for some reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your last option could be to use pee-pads but these can still be used to train slowly your dog to go outside; you can start using them inside near the door, and once the dog got the habit of always using it, you can try totally removing it and see if the dog waits next to the door for the pad. At this point, you can let the dog go outside, make sure you reward it and hope it will keep this behavior for good. If the dog pees in many different places, then use many pads and slowly decrease the numbers of pads when you see your dog is always using one of them. If the dog is not interested at all by the pads, you might need to wipe some of the pee with the pad to give your dog some &quot;clue&quot; about it! Dogs are very clean naturally and will go where they went before to do their little business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastActivityDate="2015-06-12T08:24:02.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-12T20:12:54.830" Score="4" ViewCount="9013" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was noticing that my platy's stomach was getting bigger and I thought I was over feeding. Then today her stomach was huge so I looked up what a pregnant platy looks like and she is for sure pregnant! This is my first aquarium (10 gal) and I have no experience of what to do and how to manage this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5246" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:36:12.340" LastActivityDate="2018-10-18T09:02:04.180" Title="How do I care for a pregnant platy?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6974" CreationDate="2015-06-13T03:45:09.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be sure to go with healthy brands.  Don't use supermarket  brands.  And yes as the other person said be sure to leave food at all times.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3899" LastActivityDate="2015-06-13T03:45:09.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-13T07:57:40.057" Score="3" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5yr old cat that has never had toileting issues, no litter boxes ever required as she has always gone to the toilet outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had to unfortunately put our dear old dog down (whom she got along with) &amp;amp; ever since then we are finding pee on the lounge suite etc. I think it is be a territorial problem as our recluse cat has started coming out to the lounge which she has never done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop her from peeing indoors? I would like for her to resume toileting outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5247" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:10:45.433" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T23:30:28.613" Title="How can I train my cat to resume outside toileting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-13T17:12:06.513" Score="3" ViewCount="15545" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsplace.nl/hond/verzorging/adori-borstel-rubber12cm~863181&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brush&lt;/a&gt; a cat too much, trying to remove the loose hairs? Can I overdo it and brush a cat so much that it gets bald or bald spots?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of loose hair is always coming out of the fur of my cats especially with change of seasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the vet my cats are European shorthair and I have no reason to doubt that, but their fur is pretty thick in comparison to the neighbor's European shorthair cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="259" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:30:57.787" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T00:30:57.787" Title="Can I accidentally brush my cat too much?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-13T19:24:18.993" Score="2" ViewCount="2664" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a pond in my backyard, where we have close to 50-60 medium-size goldfish. The goldfish have grown quite a bit since they've been in the pond, the youngest being about 3 inches, the oldest 4 inches. Since a turtle wouldn't be able to fit the goldfish in their mouth, would my goldfish be safe from the turtle if I placed it in our pond? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5249" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:35:41.053" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T18:01:06.553" Title="Will my turtle eat the goldfish in my pond?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9541" CreationDate="2015-06-13T22:50:14.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fur thickness is a separate variable from fur length. I have two shorthair siblings, and one has a slightly longer guard-hair layer than the other -- enough so that I can tell them apart by touch. Similarly, the thickness of the undercoat varies from breed to breed and animal to animal. Between the two, some animals do shed more than others. I've seen some where you could brush out enough fur to make you wonder why the cat hadn't shrunk noticeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the cat isn't standing up and walking away, it's pretty safe to assume that you aren't hurting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-13T22:50:14.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9545" CreationDate="2015-06-13T23:27:26.933" Score="7" ViewCount="32681" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've a 16-year-old cat who loved to play fetch when he was a kitten, and a kitten who presently loves to play fetch with his spring toys--how unusual it for a cat to play fetch? I'd never heard of it before these two--thought it was limited to dogs--and whenever I've told people about it, they've never heard of it too, and even sometimes appear to doubt the verisimilitude of my story. Either I got really lucky or it's more common than most people realize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5239" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-09-01T16:34:08.083" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T01:29:49.167" Title="Is it rare for a cat to play fetch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;fetch&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9544" CreationDate="2015-06-14T14:50:42.360" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uncommon, but not rare. Chase-and-pounce is, of course, a widespread cat game; &quot;retrieving&quot; is the more complicated behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats figure out on their own that humans can be trained to throw a toy repeatedly if it's brought to them. One of mine does this. (Though it only works around a corner, since if she can see me she seems to get distracted and forget why she's carrying the toy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be actively trained to retrieve, but as with all cat training it takes a bit more patience and bribery to convince the cat that it wants to learn what you're trying to explain than it would a dog. That varies by breed and by cat, though; meezers, for example, tend to care more about human approval than most cats, which makes them better students.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-14T14:50:42.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-14T20:25:56.187" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 pound Yorkie with a ton of energy. Our house has hard wood floors and our bed is pretty high up so we have pet stairs by that and the couch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably about 3 out of 4 times he just jumps right over them. I've even tried moving the steps out a little further, but he just jumps further.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's actually made a crying/whimpering sound when hitting the ground a few times and I know that this breed often has hip problems.  He's still young but I want to keep his hips healthy and I don't know how to get him to use the steps.  He's not afraid of them or anything, he just doesn't think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a suggestion for how I could get him to use the steps when he needs to get down off the bed/couch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2922" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T16:19:21.903" Title="Can I get my dog to start using his pet stairs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9549" CreationDate="2015-06-15T03:10:47.950" Score="4" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to a recent event, my dad's life is changing massively. My parents had 4 cats. My dad has decided to move to Florida (the old house has too many memories of my mother for him) and he does not want to take more than 4 cats with him. My sister keep one of the cats. My dad is offering me a pick of one of the other 3 cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How will it affect the other cat? It has just lost one of its owners (my mother), and will (if I take it) lose it other owner and 3 of his/her friends that it has known for a long time.  Could this be bad for the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I already have a cat (Shiloh). How would he react to the new cat, for the last 3 months (only got him in March?) He has been the king of the apartment.  Will introducing a new cat so soon after getting him be OK?  I cannot just take one of them to meet the other, as I am in Baltimore and my dad is currently in Pittsburgh, and I don't think Shiloh would like the 5 hour drive. Heck, he hates 10 minute drives. He cries the whole time when I take him to be groomed).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I know my apartment is big enough for 1 cat at 850 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (79 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;). Would it accommodate 2 cats?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much different is it to keep 2 cats versus 1 cat?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4030" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T00:40:27.070" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T00:40:27.070" Title="Obtaining a new cat, separating it from other cats it has previously lived with" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9548" CreationDate="2015-06-15T06:52:55.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There will be an adjustment period for the cat. But cats do tend to adapt quickly. The same can be said for your existing cat. They probably won't be best buddies from day one, but given a proper introduction period, they should be able to co-exist just fine. And honestly, introducing a new cat now will probably be easier on the existing cat, because he is new to your home. I wouldn't stress out Shiloh with the car ride. Instead, when you bring the new cat home, introduce them slowly over the span of a week or so. The ASPCA has some good advice on introductions &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/introducing-your-cat-new-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your apartment in definitely big enough to house two cats. It's really not much different having two cats instead of one. You will need another litter box, and you'll be buying more food, but if they end up bonding, it can actually be easier to have two cats (they keep each other entertained, lol)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few other notes. Please make sure that both cats are spayed/neutered and up to date on vaccinations before you introduce them. This can decrease the risk of any behavioral/territorial issues cropping up (and if you get a boy and a girl, you don't want kittens). And you should find out what your dad is currently feeding his cats, and slowly switch the one you take to the brand you feed. Switching straight from one food to another can cause upset stomach issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5253" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T06:52:55.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9551" CreationDate="2015-06-15T07:46:21.323" Score="4" ViewCount="9712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping to get an appointment to get my one year old boy done this week... as he has started targeting his little 2 month old sisters that live in the same apartment block... Not nice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm feeling anxious about not being able to feed him the night before the op. I've read online that they need to stop eating by midnight the night before, but my Vet is telling me that we have to stop feeding him by 6pm of the day before! A totally different and very stressful scenario from the midnight one. Who is right? the 500 articles on the internet or my Vet? I can't get a second opinion... I live in a small developing country and it's this centre or nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will my boy be traumatized by the waiting period? I know that even if I make an appointment for 9am, and they take him into the waiting cages, it may be an hour or so before he gets seen to and I may not be allowed to be with him. I know after the op he will either wake up at home... or wake up back in the cages but too groggy to comprehend where he is... regardless I've got it in my head he will be so traumatized that even when I bring him home he may not be able to recognise he is home and safe and will try and flee. It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud but I don't know what to expect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take time off work for his recovery period? If for example I collect him at 4pm of the day he's had the surgery... should I not go in to work the next day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditDate="2015-06-22T18:32:20.790" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:51:46.287" Title="Nervous about my male cats neutering procedure" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9550" CreationDate="2015-06-15T10:01:47.133" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't be anxious about this procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) Your cat should be on an empty stomach. For our cats (male and female), we stopped giving them food the evening before the operation (recommandation of the vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) It depends on your cat. Our male was relatively quiet (also in the waiting cages), but the female was a bit more nervous. The vet told me I could stay a little while with her, which I did, and everything was ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(3) You shouldn't need to take time off work. They will recover quite quickly. Be sure to give them as much love as you can when you are home though :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T10:01:47.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2015-06-15T13:22:30.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being over-protective does not help your dog cope with the situation. You need to get your dog used to being in the presence of other dogs. They need to feel that they are not threatened and that the advances made by other dogs are not borne out of aggression but out of sheer curiosity of having another canine friend walking down the neighborhood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever there are dogs coming your way, observe how your dog reacts. If your dog show an sign of interest to socialize, don't fight it. But be wary that you sense the right signals from your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a human companion, you should not show to the other dogs that you are afraid that they will hurt your dog. You should show that you are in control and in command of the situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T13:22:30.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-15T13:38:58.530" Score="2" ViewCount="1113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem with my cat George. Yesterday night George snuck out of the house. Twice when he was let out he wanders 2 miles south of where I live. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the 2nd time we got him fixed and he stopped wandering. We would let him out and he would stay in the yard or around it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today he ran off again. I don't know if he is just roaming around my house or if he ran off back to that one house 2 miles out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train him to stay in the yard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:05:51.113" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T00:05:51.113" Title="How can I train my cat to stay in the yard when outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2015-06-15T17:09:09.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't pick up a snail by their shell, as I have done with one and she came out way too far and she died so either slide food under them / wait for them to crawl onto it or touch their face and slide them off &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hPxNF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hope this helped!&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5255" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T17:09:09.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-15T19:12:51.387" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Bernese mountain dog yelps incredibly loudly when he sees people he knows. He reacts to cats and other dogs too yelping and crying to try and get what he wants. We don't give in and as soon as he passes the people he is quiet. He doesn't do it with strangers just with people he knows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train my dog to be calmer when greeting friends?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T00:33:36.483" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T00:33:36.483" Title="How can I train my dog to be calm when greeting friends?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9553" CreationDate="2015-06-15T21:50:45.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he keeps running away, lock the door when you leave your home and if ever outside, be sure that he is being supervised, for he may run away again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your cat a barn cat? Because if it is, barn cats do have a risk of running away. Another suggestion is raising him as an indoor cat. If a cat is raised a certain way for a long time, it will eventually act as what it is raised as;either barn cat or indoor/house cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5259" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T21:50:45.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9546" CreationDate="2015-06-15T21:55:52.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For every time he jumps off, pick him up and put him back on the steps until he finally walks down properly. Repeat this as many times as it possibly takes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5259" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T21:55:52.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9539" CreationDate="2015-06-15T22:03:18.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your cat a barn cat or a indoor/house cat? If it went to the bathroom outside, then it would have been a barn cat. If he's just a regular indoor/house cat, I would suggest purchasing a litter box, so that it wouldn't pee in the house all the time. If it's still peeing in the house, try putting the cat in the litter box ever 15-20 minutes. If you are just introducing your cat to the litter box, rub your fingers in the sand to show the cat that the litter box is her territory. Once it is in the litter box, let the cat get used to the smells and feels of the litter. If the cat jumps out, put it back in again. If the cat still doesn't pee, and jumps out after the second try, the cat just probably doesn't have to go. &#xA;Hope this helps! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5259" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T22:03:18.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9504" CreationDate="2015-06-15T22:08:10.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your Beta keeps laying down on the bottom of the tank, I would suggest purchasing a moss ball. A moss ball is a ball of green moss that is made for Beta fish. It gives them a proper place to lay down and sleep. If your Beta is getting a little shabby and it's little fine are torn up, just leave it be. &#xA;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5259" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-08-20T11:46:21.327" LastActivityDate="2018-08-20T11:46:21.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9478" CreationDate="2015-06-15T22:12:33.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it can be very annoying to hear a dog barking all the time but, that's what most dogs do. If muzzle isn't working, try purchasing a shock collar, which shocks the dog every time it barks. Once the dog gets shocked a few times, it will then know what the collar does and how it works. &#xA;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5259" LastActivityDate="2015-06-15T22:12:33.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-15T22:40:10.477" Score="5" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son plays the saxophone and practices every night. The sound of a live instrument playing solo in the house is far different from having the radio on--it has much more resonance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best idea so far would be to have my son give the pup a rawhide (so her mouth is busy and less likely to bark) and keep an eye on her while softly playing scales for a few minutes, then remove the rawhide after he was done playing, so that the playing was associated with the rawhide fun and keeping the mouth busy. Then he could slowly work up the time and volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there better ideas or any direct experience with this kind of situation? Would it be best to start with low scales?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:53:14.530" Title="How should I acclimate a puppy to the playing of a musical instrument" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9541" CreationDate="2015-06-16T00:30:31.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats LOVES to be brushed with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0006346TM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;similar brush&lt;/a&gt;. During the winter (when she gets dandruff) I'll usually brush her every night for 30 minutes or so at a time. Even with this amount of brushing her fur has never seemed to &quot;thin&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other types of brushes (like the popular &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004A9UBUQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Furminator&lt;/a&gt;) actually cut the fur and you can accidentally brush all of your cat's fur off. This type of brush is better when limited to shedding seasons, or a few times a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T00:30:31.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9564" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-16T03:29:24.633" Score="2" ViewCount="750" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a persian kitten, and he has earmites,  I am just about to buy some ear cleaner, but I think it also affected the growth of his fur (it was lesser and shorter), can you recommend me anything to make his fur grow back after I remove those earmites? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5261" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T10:02:19.760" LastActivityDate="2021-04-13T13:02:15.767" Title="Can I help my kitten regrow fur after being affected with ear mites?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-16T08:31:37.067" Score="2" ViewCount="861" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very awesome and active Grey Persian, I've been having some trouble feeding her. She came to me when she was 3 months old and I was told by the her breeder that she prefers boiled chicken over cat food. This proved correct when I gave her some dry pet food as treat. She didn't enjoy it and rejected it outright. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the months I shifted her boiled boneless chicken to boiled wings she accepted the change. However 2 weeks ago my friend bought wet pet food pouches from &quot;Whiskas&quot;. When I fed her with that she ate it heartily. However now when I feed her boiled chicken wings she doesn't eat it at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really quite concerning since the other day she starved herself until I went to the grocery store and got her that cat food. How can I change back her diet to boiled chicken and fish liver which she previously enjoyed. Below is a image of the wet pet food I fed her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CE4ue.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wet food my cat likes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T11:39:34.203" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:26:53.433" Title="My Cat Is Rejecting Food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9568" CreationDate="2015-06-16T14:16:16.923" Score="1" ViewCount="2718" Body="&lt;p&gt;After 4 years of renting, my fiance and I finally bought our own house, yay! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the while we've been renting I've been dying for pet, so now that I can have one I'm over the moon. The trouble is my fiance doesn't see the point of having a cat. He sees them as a poor excuse for a dog, and incapable of love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fiance was never allowed pets growing up so he doesn't understand the point of having them. I'm not sure how explain to him why I want one. I grew up with pets and the house just doesn't feel like a home to me without a furry friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also says he hates cats, but every time the neighbor's cat comes to say hello, or we see a random cat while we're out and about, he gets super excited and loves to pet them. He obviously likes them, even though for some strange reason he wont admit to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone dealt with this before? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5263" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-17T00:48:11.570" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T00:48:11.570" Title="My fiance won't let me get a cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-07-18T02:47:33.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15755" CreationDate="2015-06-16T14:47:52.340" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;When hay is too moist/wet/green and baled or stacked tightly it can heat up and cause fires &lt;a href=&quot;http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/dont_let_your_hay_profits_go_up_in_smoke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Don’t let your hay profits go up in smoke&lt;/em&gt;, Michigan State University)&lt;/a&gt; there are multiple reference to this on the web. I know that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4408&quot;&gt;warm, moist, oxygen free can lead to botulism growth&lt;/a&gt; but I am not sure what the moisture and temp required are leading to this growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking around the web the major concern I see from sweating hay is fire, in fact I really have not found any other documented concerns, but I remain personally concerned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than fire what health concerns are there from sweating hay? If there are concerns, what means of mitigation can/should be taken? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Scenario&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;A couple of weeks ago, purchased 25 bales, 1st cut timothy hay within a day or so of it being baled. placed in my &lt;a href=&quot;http://homesteadertrailer.info/challenger-enclosed-cargo-trailers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;enclosed 5x8 utility trailer&lt;/a&gt; with two 4 inch vents. All bales seemed dry when loaded.  The weather here in Pittsburgh has been hot and humid. Opened the trailer to grab a bale of hay and the outside was moist, there was condensation on the roof of the trailer.  Put my hand in several bales of hay and all were just a bit warmer then the air, and still dry inside. The hay was discarded out of caution and new hay was purchased. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarify&lt;/strong&gt; I am feeding house rabbits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T11:02:07.170" Title="Other than fire what concerns are there from sweating hay?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9566" CreationDate="2015-06-16T15:14:19.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother was the same way. She'd always said she'd kill a cat if one came in the yard, but we had wild barn cat when I was little and she never did anything with them and when my lab brought home a kitten from somewhere, he moved in and she's all about him, though she still likes to talk mean about him, she's always checking on him and making sure he's got what he needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you've said, your fiancé is the same way. I think he'd like one, once he got one. One option you have is to foster. You'll want to pick one that is real laid back and doesn't have any behavioral issues, like spraying or clawing. You don't want to try to sell him on the idea of a cat with a misbehaved one. This would let him see what it's like to have one without the commitment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also have to decide what you're willing to live with and compromise on in your relationship. You've already made a big commitment to be together by buying a house, but having had animals all my life I understand where you are coming from and not having animals around would be a deal breaker for me. You can't count on him to change and you'll have to decided whether it means enough for you to push the issue and what you'll do if he still says no. When it comes down to it, you're equal in the relationship an your &quot;Yes, kitten&quot; is equally as valid as his &quot;No, kitten&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't think it'll really come down to that. Tell him if he wants a &quot;real pet&quot; he can get a dog, but I have both and the cat frequently abuses and beats the &quot;real pets&quot;. He also loves to snuggle, is okay with doing his on thing when you don't want to, is low maintenance, and goes out to use the bathroom, so there isn't even a litter box to clean. I think he'll get attached fairly quickly. Good luck, meow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:14:19.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9565" CreationDate="2015-06-16T15:26:53.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, by &quot;almost starved herself the other day&quot;, I assume you meant she went a day without eating. I could be wrong, but most people over feed their pets anyway and if something like a change in diet causes them not to eat for 24hrs, they break down and give in. My grandmother was a prime example. She kept up to three different brands of dog food in the house and if the dog went a day without finishing entire bowl of food, she said she was tired of it and switched her. However, she was feeding her a loaf of bread and 2 packs of sliced ham a week, the dog didn't need the dry food and to be honest we'd probably eat pizza all week and not eat a balance meal if we had the choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got her, she'd try to snub her bowl of food and treats we gave her, because she was used to being in a single dog household and her treats being there when she deigned to eat them hours later. There were two hover vacs at our house, however, and the food didn't last 20min, much less hours. It took her about 2 days to learn to dive in and eat when I put it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, from wet to dry is a huge dietary change and cats make a change from dry to wet, much better than the other way around. If you don't change the diet gradually, you can expect an upset stomach, for up to a month from what I've heard, but usually less. Boiled chicken is an excellent treat or additive, but not a balanced meal. It takes a lot of work to come up with a properly balanced diet and the pet food companies put a lot of money into testing their products and balancing everything down to the amino acids. As much fuss gets made of gluten and where a product was produced, chances are they will be more balanced in the long run than a food you make at home. Though, with a vets help, you can develop meals you prepare like you would your own that are pretty well balance. She probably doesn't want to go back to the chicken because the taste of the wet food was more complex, and she was probably also getting things she was craving due to possible deficiencies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, but if it was me, I'd do a little research and find an affordable, quality wet food and keep her on that. People like to mix up their pets foods to give them variety, like we crave, but with most animals a change in diet actually upsets their stomach and makes them sick. They'd much prefer a routine of the same diet on a regular basis. Also, I was reading an article recently about how cats don't naturally drink very much from standing water. The definitely will and you should always provide fresh water for your cat, but the article was saying that they typically intake more water than you'd expect from their food and lack of water in dry foods contributes to bladder crystals. Good luck with your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T15:26:53.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9546" CreationDate="2015-06-16T16:19:21.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put treats on every rung and on top destination&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3899" LastActivityDate="2015-06-16T16:19:21.903" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9575" CreationDate="2015-06-16T16:48:33.780" Score="5" ViewCount="21145" Body="&lt;p&gt;A co-worker has been trying to get rid of kittens that she cannot keep. She has not been able to find people to adopt them, which is understandable since there are so many kittens being given away in the area all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume this is a common situation for pet owners and animal lovers that find themselves with a litter of kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that animal shelters are overrun with cats so millions of kittens brought into shelters each year are put down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when this co-worker said that she planned on releasing these kittens into the wild, it didn't sound like a bad idea in her situation, hence my curiosity: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can kittens, under any circumstances, at the proper age, be released into a temperate forest and have a better chance of survival than being dropped off at a shelter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5264" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-16T18:51:59.003" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:00:21.627" Title="Can cats survive in the wilderness?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2015-06-16T19:05:21.493" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a responsible choice from either a pet-owner or ecological point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether any &lt;em&gt;particular&lt;/em&gt; cat survives going feral, and for how long, is a crapshoot. You'd certainly be dumping them into a life of illness, hunger, competition with other cats and the injuries resulting from that, predation by coyotes and hawks and such, and abuse by humans who have no sympathy for feral cats. Life expectancy is nowhere near that of a pet. It's a life, but not a very good one. That is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; an improvement over a shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ecologically: Feral cats are already a serious threat to some native species. There are ongoing efforts to humanely  &lt;em&gt;reduce&lt;/em&gt; their population in many areas; you'd still be dumping your responsibilities on someone else. If you insist on doing this, at least neuter the animals first so you aren't dumping multiple generations into the street and actively making the problem worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, no-kill shelters are overloaded and underfunded. But if you're willing to make a donation to support them, they might be able to make a place for your kids. And frankly, I'm not convinced even a shelter which does euthanize is crueler than abandoning them; shelters generally treat the animals well and if they must be put down it's done painlessly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer to the question is &quot;Maybe the cat will survive, for a while, if it happens to survive the transition and continues to be lucky. It's still significantly worse odds than a shelter, never mind finding them a real home. It's a bad thing to do to an animal you claim to care about. There &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; better alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-06-17T03:44:44.537" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T03:44:44.537" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9577" CreationDate="2015-06-16T20:06:41.070" Score="4" ViewCount="9910" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I adopted a Husky from a family that could no longer take care of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a great dog but is terrible on leash, his nose is #1 he'll follow it anywhere.  I've tried normal techniques such as walking with a treat in my hand and asking for heel, stopping when he pulls, changing directions...  Nothing seems to work, the only way he walks well is if I sprint repeatedly on the grass with him and he starts to get tired.  When he's tired he walks ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how can you train a dog who does not respond to treats?  I've tried numerous brands and types, the only food he's jumped through hoops for is steak and I don't think i'll be taking him for walks with a steak in my hand...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3737" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T17:10:44.677" Title="How to train a dog that's not food driven?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2015-06-16T20:30:17.770" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Kittens in the Shelter&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA states&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the cats entering shelters, approximately 37% are adopted, 41% are euthanized, and less than 5% of cats who came in as strays are returned to their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I couldn't find statistics about the fate of kittens (versus adult cats). Generally, kittens are considered more adoptable. Adult cats who are found in shelters sometimes have behavioral or health problems that makes them more difficult to adopt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expect that kittens would be euthanized at a lower rate than the general cat population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Feral Kittens&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For kittens who were raised by a feral mother, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_225_9_1399.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a study&lt;/a&gt; available on the AMVA website reports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Survival data were available for 169 kittens. Overall, 127 of the 169 (75%) kittens died (n = 87) or disappeared (40) before 6 months of&#xA;age. ...Eighty-one of the 169 (48%) kittens died or disappeared before&#xA;they were 100 days old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Causes of death were determined for 41 of the&#xA;87 (47%) kittens reported to have died. Thirty-seven of the 41 (90%)&#xA;died as a result of trauma, with attacks by stray and owned dogs (n =&#xA;18) and motor vehicle accident (10) being the most common types of&#xA;trauma. Other types of trauma that resulted in &amp;gt; 1 death included&#xA;falls from haylofts (n = 2), being stepped on by horses or people (3),&#xA;and a suspected episode of infanticide (3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cause of death was not&#xA;determined for 46 of the 87 (53%) kittens reported to have died, but&#xA;many reportedly had signs of disease, including upper respiratory&#xA;tract disease and diarrhea, prior to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kittens who disappeared could have moved on to different territory, but it's also likely that they were eaten by predatory animals (so their corpses could not be recovered) and/or they were ill and found a quiet place to hide while they died (which made their corpses difficult to find).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tame Kittens Released&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any data on the fate of tame kittens who are released (often called &amp;quot;dumping&amp;quot;). These kittens may fare better than feral kittens (because they have several weeks of good food/care before having to forage for themselves) but may also lack important skills (such as where to look for food and how to hunt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are likely subject to the same sources of trauma as the feral kittens in the study, but may have different rates of disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that kittens placed at a shelter will be protected from other animals and from car strikes. We know that kittens who become ill at a shelter will be given veterinary treatment. We know that kittens who are placed at a shelter will be given enough food. We don't know any of these things about kittens who are released, and have good evidence to believe that many of these things do happen to released kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to draw conclusions about which situation is more deadly, but it's clear which situation is more humane. Even when a shelter cat is put to sleep, it's done without pain or suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T16:42:26.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9574" CreationDate="2015-06-17T02:37:54.653" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treats aren't the only reward you can use, and some dogs can teach you a lot about motivation (such as huskies). If treats aren't working now, think about what he does love. Depending on the dog it can be anything from balls, tugs, chasing, running around, pets, praise, etc. I'm sure there's something that he loves (even if it's something &quot;bad&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can teach loose leash walking with toys, but it requires very careful reward placement and it helps if he has a good &quot;leave it&quot; / &quot;get it&quot; command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have something, you can begin using the &lt;em&gt;premack&lt;/em&gt; principle to transfer his joy into other things or at least more appropriate things. This states that more probable behaviors increase the likelihood of less probable behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically, this means if he loves to chase squirrels and you give him a treat and then let him chase a squirrel, he'll start to love the treat too. Or giving him a lower value treat and then a piece of steak will eventually increase the value of the lower value treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for other ways of increasing food motivation, I would recommend not free-feeding (if you are) and giving him a limited time to eat. If he comes to realize that food is a limited commodity, it will be become more valuable. You might also double check to see if he's getting the right amount of food. I'm not suggesting you starve him, but if he's full, you'll need to use something else like a toy for rewarding. (At least for a husky. Other breeds may always have room for more.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try using his meal as a reward. If he's hungry and expecting his meal, he may be more willing to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, don't forget about simple boiled chicken, string cheese, or more exotic treats such as alligator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T02:37:54.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9579" CreationDate="2015-06-17T08:02:16.340" Score="2" ViewCount="1105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 8 month old male cat was neutered this morning. Back at home after surgery, still slightly groggy, he immediately attempted to mate with his mother, at least 3 times within an hour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would he do that when he is in pain and drugged? I thought neutering was meant to immediately quell that desire?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T16:38:51.200" Title="Neutered male cat still trying to mate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9578" CreationDate="2015-06-17T16:38:51.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;His body is no longer producing hormones, but those that are already in his body take some time to work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Details&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;North Shore Animal League America's SpayUSA is a nationwide network and referral service for affordable spay/neuter. &lt;a href=&quot;http://spayusa.org/pet-owners-faq.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;They state&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It usually takes about 6 to 8 weeks for the hormones to subside after the neutering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bruce Fogle, D.V.M., M.R.C.V.S &lt;a href=&quot;http://maxshouse.com/effects_of_neutering.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;relates the results&lt;/a&gt; of one study:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ben Hart at the University of California veterinary school at Davis was the first to investigate the value of neutering male cats. He interviewed cat owners twenty-three months after their cats had been castrated. The owners reported that in nine out of ten animals neutering reduced fighting, roaming and spraying. Sometimes the change took longer than in others, and by Hart's definition a 'rapid decline' meant within three weeks of neutering and a 'gradual decline' meant one that took up to four months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results showed that about 50% of the neutered cats had a rapid decline in fighting and aggression, and about 10-15% of the neutered cats had a gradual decline in fighting and aggression. Spraying behavior was reduced faster (about 75% rapid decline, 10% gradual decline).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T16:38:51.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9587" CreationDate="2015-06-17T19:05:39.597" Score="8" ViewCount="8349" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I adopted a wonderful 5 year old female Pitbull about a year ago. Shortly after we got her she started licking her paws, not just normal cleaning of the paws but repetitive licking until the pads are all bloody and she cannot walk on them without limping. I clean and bandage them and she leaves them alone, lets them heal and does it again. To be clear, it isn't just one paw, it's all of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/raPVJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;raw pad&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I contacted the dogs previous owner and asked her if she had ever experienced anything like this, she said no, and of course I just have to take her word for it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog has been to the vet numerous times, even to different vets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first vet said she had food allergies and suggested putting her on a &lt;em&gt;grain free food&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second vet said she had skin and food allergies and suggested adding &lt;em&gt;Claratin&lt;/em&gt;, she also said the dog had a yeast infection in her paws and put her on steroids for 60 days.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've changed her food to a grain free salmon recipe, put her on the claratin, gave her the steroids and she still won't stop licking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are this, what else could be causing the licking? Is there anything I can to stop this destructive behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We live in an apartment, all the grass is watered by a sprinkler system and I do not believe any fertilizers are being used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is up to date on all of her shots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She gets monthly FrontLine flea treatments, bought from the vet not online vendors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've tried deterring her with rawhides and kong bones, she isn't interested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5266" LastEditorUserId="5266" LastEditDate="2015-06-17T21:01:22.850" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T21:34:32.693" Title="Repetitive Paw Licking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-17T22:43:55.330" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get some sort of small hamster (winter white, campbell's dwarf, robo, etc.) but I would like to know which kind is the least likely to be all nippy and such. I am not exactly sure which to get since they are said to be a little less nice compared to Syrian hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5267" LastActivityDate="2015-06-17T22:43:55.330" Title="Which type of hamster besides syrians are the least bitey?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9580" CreationDate="2015-06-18T13:42:40.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question implies that your dog will leave a bandages alone when placed on her injured feet, and the wounds heal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are dog boots/booties that available &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=dog+booties&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=yMeCVaSKPMmmgwTN0IG4DQ&amp;amp;ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&amp;amp;biw=1600&amp;amp;bih=770&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;all over the web&lt;/a&gt; putting these on and leaving them on 24/7 (probably get a few pair and change/wash daily) should eliminate the issue.  When her feet are completely healed, try taking them off in a controlled manor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take them off only at night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take them off only when in the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take them off only when you get to the lawn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take them off only when supervised  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The boots should prevent further cases of the foot problem, taking them off in a controlled way will limit her exposure to environments and allow you to identify if there is a specific irritant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7092&quot;&gt;what is a good moisturizer for a dog&amp;#39;s pads?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T13:42:40.957" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-18T14:26:13.397" Score="8" ViewCount="2830" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a turtle at the pet store for free because she is to large to fit in their tank after someone left her there. (8 inch shell length) A few days later after we had her She layed an egg and a couple hours later accidentally cracked it, so we had to throw it out. She has not layed an egg since and its been a day, should I be worried? And, we placed her in the bathtub with half water and half sand about 2-3 inch and don't have space for more and right now sand is all we have, and I want her to lay her eggs so she wont die from infection or so, what do I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5268" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T15:54:43.087" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T02:04:55.017" Title="My turtle is pregnant what do I do?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-18T22:49:45.790" Score="5" ViewCount="1012" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if it would be safe to chill in the fridge--or even freeze in the freezer before giving it to the dog. My guess is that it would either make it brittle and unsafe, or it would become a nice chilly treat for puppy teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastEditorUserId="5041" LastEditDate="2015-06-19T23:42:52.160" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T13:55:55.313" Title="Is it safe to chill or freeze rawhide?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9580" CreationDate="2015-06-18T23:28:59.813" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is really good that you have taken her to the vet to try to rule out a medical issue. It could be an allergy and unfortunately, skin allergies can have many causes. It could also be a nervous or anxious reaction. Some dogs, when nervous or anxious can self inflict harm onto themselves, such as biting, licking excessively or scratching themselves. There could be many reasons for this behaviour from separation anxiety to you dog being born with anxiety (studies have shown that 1 out of every 5 dogs born will have some form of anxiety). Dogs who self inflict harm may do so as it helps to keep them calm, sort of like when people get nervous rubbing their hands together or tapping their feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good place to start to see if this is a behavioural issue, is to keep track of when and where she is doing it. Is it just after you leave, is it after an encounter with someone or something unfamiliar, is it when she meets another dog she doesn't know? If you do go down the course of obtaining help from a behavioural specialist, please only use one that uses positive reinforcement and no form of punishment. Make sure to check their credentials, not that they simply have grown up around dogs all their life so therefore they know how to train a dog. You wouldn't go to a person, claiming to be a doctor, simply because he grew up around sick people his whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A joint approach with a vet and a behaviourist (not necessarily a dog  trainer as anyone can call themselves a &quot;trainer&quot;), will provide the best outcome for your lovely girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2015-06-18T23:28:59.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9478" CreationDate="2015-06-19T00:06:33.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please do not use a shock collar ever on a dog. Punishment in animals creates a separation in the bond between trainer/owner and their animal. Who's to say the dog will even make the connection between the pain and the bark? The dog may just be barking at another animal, thinking that in doing so, he will scare off a potential threat. When you take that option away from them, they may develop more dangerous behaviours, such as lunging out or biting as barking (sometimes a defense mechanism) has been taken away from them so they feel the need to go to the next level as that option has been taken away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point, dogs bark because they are dogs and it is a natural behaviour. You have not given any evidence of when and what the dog is barking at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2015-06-19T00:06:33.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-19T03:38:39.413" Score="2" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep two baby carts in a twenty gallon task together, they are both female and have always gotten along just fine. I found them in their hide cuddling frequently,etc. I feed them both a pinkie every week at the same time, and they have overhead heat sources. I come home from work today to find the smaller one at the edge of the cage dead. She was crinkled up, her body so fiddling back and forth the whole way down. Her body did not uncurl when I lifted her up. Is indicative of any certain cause of death in snakes? I'd like to know what happened to her to protect the other one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5271" LastEditorUserId="5278" LastEditDate="2015-06-22T10:06:54.363" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T10:06:54.363" Title="Snake died, unsure of the cause" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9574" CreationDate="2015-06-19T07:30:18.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jeffaudios answer is really good, just want to add a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly for walking, we've a tiny 4 month old Sheltie who will never be able to pull either myself or my husband where he wants to go... He's just too small. However the advice from our puppy classes for big dogs was really good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've tried getting him to walk to food which we didn't get to work either, we use a circle / stop technique when he pulls too much. Circling takes them out of focus for what they are pulling for and our pup will slow down after this now, it takes time but it can sink in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point was when we had Blaze on a collar with his lead he pulled a lot more than a harness he often sounded like he was choking - he was instantly better on harness, and the type of harness you use us important. Our instructor has a mastiff, and he uses a harness with a front and rear clip, which essentially allows him to steer his dog in the directions he wants him to go without pulling back on the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For general training, if Blaze won't sit, stay etc for a treat (eg, he's had too many, just eaten, too many puppies around him etc etc) then we'll use a toy or a rawhide to motivate him, like Jeff stated. Our instructor states often that your payment to a dog has to be high enough that he'll want to do what you ask, and that a hungry dog is more willing to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get your dog to sit for his breakfast and dinner. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't give him all his dinner in a bowl, ask him to work for some of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Associate play and treats, if he drops the ball offer him a treat - he may not eat it every time but it's a process and dogs join dots.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-06-19T07:30:18.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9605" CreationDate="2015-06-19T13:04:46.817" Score="3" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog spent the last two months on bad food and he got obese. Our trainer suggested he should start on low fat food to loose weight (Welness reduced fat). The first day I gave it to him in the morning he ate half of the bowl (I always add a bit of milk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now yesterday evening and today he refused to eat (he did drink the milk) (the trainer suggested to take the food away if he doesn't eat it, as he needs to learn not to take it for granted as he used to play with his food rather than eat it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not getting anything on the side. I guess if he's REALLY hungry he will eat. I just want to know when (after how many days) I should start to get worried about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5274" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T21:30:39.813" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T21:30:39.813" Title="After how many days should I worry when my dog will not eat a new diet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9638" CreationDate="2015-06-19T18:12:00.843" Score="3" ViewCount="597" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR;&lt;/strong&gt; I've tried for a year to coexist with my girlfriend's dog, and things have gotten better, but it's still not liveable for me. Is there anything else I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I moved in together a little under a year ago, and alongside her came her Pomeranian and two cats (in addition to my own cat). I've had a lot of difficulty adjusting to this dog over the past year - especially only ever having kept cats in the past - but we've put a lot of elbow grease into making things better, and have made a lot of progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I'm facing now is that, even with remarkable behavior improvements and a year to get acclimated, I'm still having a lot of trouble coexisting with this dog - and I'm worried we're running out of options to make the situation any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First, things that have gotten better:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At first, he was an incorrigible barker (as Pomeranians are), &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; setting off any time he heard a leaf drop outside. Daily chasing of cats, jumping on the table to steal food off plates, barking for attention whenever we leave the room, snapping at anyone that tried to touch his bed while he was laying in it. After some in-home training classes, a few months of positive reinforcement, and the purchase of a remote-controlled citronella collar, most of this behavior has subsided. Mostly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem was my own behavior as well; I learned quickly that you can't admonish a dog like you can a cat. A spritz from the squirt bottle doesn't deter them, it just makes them irritated and bark at you instead of that leaf. Training classes taught me how to get him to respond to me instead of just aggravating him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now, things I'm still having trouble with:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I are sleeping in separate rooms because of the dog. He sets off anytime someone opens the door while he's sleeping and wakes him up, as a fear/alarm response. We've tried training him out of this, but he's overprotective of my girlfriend so we haven't had success - he's being stubborn about this one. We've tried putting him out in the hall, but he just ends up fighting with the cats, so this is the only peaceable solution for now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are times I'm watching TV and idly petting, not paying attention to where my hand is going. This is safe behavior with cats - if you hit a spot they don't like, they just squirm and walk away. With the dog, if you hit a spot he doesn't like, he suddenly nips at your hand. He's never drawn blood, but it's always a rude surprise nonetheless. We admonish him when it happens, and have been giving him positive reinforcement when we pet him and he doesn't nip - but it doesn't seem to be stopping. We've also taken him to the vet to make sure there's no injury or skin irritation - it's just his way of saying &quot;stoppit!&quot;. These are really the only &quot;good moments&quot; we share otherwise, so this one might be getting under my skin the most.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Training commands can only go so far when they're reactive. He still chases the cats and snarls/barks at them, he just doesn't do it as frequently - and we can stop him a lot sooner. There's still the hackle-raising stress when he sets off. There are also still mornings that he barks when my girlfriend gets up to get ready for work - which is a problem because she gets up considerably earlier than me. He responds quickly when she uses his &quot;quiet&quot; command, but still - all it takes is one bark to wake me up. After months of a 6am wake-up call when my alarm is set for 8am, I'm going batty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what else to do. Neither of us are willing to get rid of him - for better or worse, he's a member of the family. We seem to have hit a wall in terms of how much we can fix, and none of the resources we've tried have been able to push us past it. The lack of further solutions over the past few months has me in despair - something has got to give, and as it stands it's going to be our relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I can do, to improve his behavior (or mine)? I'm at the end of my rope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1151" LastEditorUserId="1151" LastEditDate="2015-06-19T18:19:32.737" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T19:19:54.973" Title="As a cat person, how to coexist with a &quot;misbehaving&quot; dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-20T12:31:56.203" Score="12" ViewCount="9581" Body="&lt;p&gt;On Sunday night, my cat Raven gave birth to 4 kittens. They are doing brilliantly, fat, happy, noisy, cuddly. Raven has recovered well and is behaving like her usual super-friendly self. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's only one problem: my dog is terrified of the kittens. He's a two year old Border Terrier, extremely loving and happy. Raven is his best friend; the best day of his life was the day we brought her home. They have always been close and playful. They're not playing as much now because Raven is tired but they are still affectionate towards one another. She came to us at 6 weeks old (!) so he has been around kittens before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just can't understand why he is afraid of them. He has been raised around small animals from 8 weeks old - his best friend as a puppy was my rat Daniel, and even now he loves my rats. He plays with them and understands he has to be gentle, he has never even come close to hurting them. So he is not wary of small animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my rats are ill or dying, I hold them 24/7, and the dog has always shown curiosity, curling around them on the sofa to keep them warm when I leave the room. So he understands when animals need extra care and gentleness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently found an orphaned baby mouse - the dog loved him, gently licked him, looked in my hands when I entered the room. So he understands about babies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has never been wary around any other animal - but this isn't just wariness, it's fear. When we pick a kitten up, he runs to the other side of the room, ears up, eyes wide. He has shown curiosity the day they were born but was not allowed to touch them, but now when we hold one up for him to sniff he runs a mile. He hasn't been told off for being near them, nor has Raven given him any warnings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly can't understand why he is so scared. Will this continue, or end when they start walking and behaving more like cats? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-29T01:19:49.543" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:28:10.560" Title="Why is my dog scared of my kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-20T13:33:31.253" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Persian mixed cat has feline ringworm. It doesn't seem to bother her, but treatment appears to be long &amp;amp; difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand it is caused by the same fungus that causes athletes foot, so I wonder if creams &amp;amp; sprays available for humans could be used safely on a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-22T15:20:28.040" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T07:45:01.713" Title="What is the best way to treat feline ringworm?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-20T19:05:31.187" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two young zebra finches, one female and one male, but the female started getting quite bloated and was staying more and more in a nest like thing we built for them. One day she just died in her nest. The male was still okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After, we bought a new female (from the same store), but now the same thing is happening to the male. Any idea what could be happening to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3404" LastActivityDate="2015-06-20T19:05:31.187" Title="What's happening to my zebra finches?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-21T06:03:15.747" Score="4" ViewCount="20292" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had four cats who have been coexisting in my house with no problems. Then, recently, I adopted a new kitten, Blue, who is now 5 months old. A few weeks later, I adopted a younger one, Zo, who is now 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when I fill their bowls, Zo is the first one to get to the food. He starts eating right away. As soon as he finds out that I am filling another bowl, and of course before even finishing the first bite out of his own bowl, he leaves it and goes to the next one. And so on until I fill the last bowl. The other cats then get to a bowl and start eating. As soon as Zo finishes his bowl, he moves on to another one, pushing away the cat eating from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blue, on the other hand, is the second to get to the food. He starts eating. Then, after a few bites, he leaves his bowl, before finishing it, and goes sniffing another cat's bowl. He might just sniff or, more often, push him/her and digs into his/her bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that kittens usually need more food than adults. That is why I try to make all portions bigger than the portions I used to feed my adult cats (since I cannot seem to control which cat would eat from which bowl).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, Zo is a bit of an eater. I never saw him stop eating unless something much more interesting is happening (or food is out). :D I once watched him finish half a chicken. :D He even has a hernia because of this. (He is being treated for worms, if that is relevant.) But Blue is not; he stops once he is full, even if there is food left. So, I do not understand why he leaves his bowl and goes to another cat's bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really hope there is a solution either to control both kittens or, at least, Blue. It is quite hard to stand guard every time I feed them, especially that some of the adult cats get tense either by the kittens' attempts to steal their food or my attempts to control them and leave before finishing their meals, which makes them hungry, which leads to repeating this whole thing again even before the next meal. Closing doors is not an option because closed doors also get some of the adult cats tense and leads to them not finishing their meals. One of the adult cats goes outdoors and comes back on his own. This whole situation also pushes him to spend more time on the streets than he wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5281" LastEditorUserId="5281" LastEditDate="2015-06-21T06:08:38.020" LastActivityDate="2020-03-09T01:21:47.710" Title="Cat Ditches Own Bowl and Goes to Other Cat's" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-21T18:54:29.657" Score="3" ViewCount="9829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 week old Doberman pup I take him out every 30 minutes we even set a timer. He goes everytime he's outside but he will still pee in the house. I don't let him wonder off alone either and he shows no signs like sniffing or circling. I have no clue what to do about this if I can't even tell he's gonna go. It's like he just wants to pee whenever he pleases. He is crated and will sleep through the whole night with absolutely no problem, not even a peep so I know it's not his bladder. Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T15:53:25.643" LastActivityDate="2019-06-26T22:25:54.453" Title="How can I train my 12 week old puppy to pee less frequently?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-21T21:34:37.487" Score="1" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 5 year old Female cat, Oreo, has suddenly become afraid of us and will run and hide behind the couch when we come into the room. She is normally friendly and wouldn't do this. She isn't aggressive when you try to pet her, she just tries hiding from, and avoiding your hand. I'm unaware of any of us accidentally hurting her or scaring her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also noticed that she has started urinating inside when she would normally go toilet outside in the garden somewhere. She would scratch at the door to let us know she wants to go outside. She doesn't meow to be let in anymore either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's going on? Should we take her to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5287" LastEditorUserId="6955" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T09:51:29.967" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:15:21.943" Title="Cat suddenly peeing inside, usually goes outside somewhere, and is skitterish around us" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-21T23:53:50.287" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I raise a box of about 30 pillbugs. About 2 months ago I found a bug that couldn't seem the moult. Its old skin was still attached to its body, and it was limping around with the skin on. It died after about a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the following weeks, I found another bug like that, sitting out in the open with its old skin stuck on, making no attempt to moult. I tried to scrape off its skin very gently, but I couldn't do much and it died soon after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I found a third bug like this. Am I not giving them the correct habitat to moult?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Photo shows the bug in question, looking sad and helpless (it's a bit wet as I had just watered the box).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Environment&lt;/strong&gt;: It's currently the middle of winter (about 2-15 degrees celsius). I keep the bugs indoors in a room that is sometimes heated. They live in a little box placed in the shade, and I sprinkle a little water on the soil daily. The pillbugs eat a diet of dry and fresh leaves, carrots, and sometimes a piece of cat kibble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2Cuy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pillbug not moulting&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5288" LastActivityDate="2015-06-21T23:53:50.287" Title="My pillbugs are having trouble moulting" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9592" CreationDate="2015-06-22T00:54:46.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, I did not change my dog's diet outright. I tried to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/how-do-i-switch-or-transition-foods-for-my-dog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transition&lt;/a&gt; the change gradually by introducing new food along with the old food to get him to develop a liking for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T00:54:46.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-22T09:17:54.743" Score="3" ViewCount="4426" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10 year old male (over weight) ginger tabby cat has hard matted clumps of fur on his back. I can't cut them out and using the cat rake seems to hurt him because they are so hard. What can I do to get rid of them? I shave him down every summer into a &quot; lion cut&quot; but when the fur grows back it's still matted and hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5290" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-22T15:08:13.907" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T15:08:13.907" Title="How do I remove mats on my cat's back that return after shaving?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9607" CreationDate="2015-06-22T15:06:55.817" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pulling on the mats can damage his skin, so if you aren't able to easily pick the mats out, they should be shaved off by a professional. NEVER use scissors to remove mats, especially if they are close to the skin or you cannot see the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how bad the mats are, you should either take your cat to a professional groomer or to your local veterinarian. Many large mats should be dealt with by your veterinarian, and they may need to sedate your cat so the cat won't experience so much pain while they are removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mats keep returning, he may need to be shaved more often, or you may need to brush him regularly to prevent the mats from returning while the lion cut grows back in. The groomer or vet should be able to advise you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if your male cat has not been neutered, you should consider neutering him. Some cats, but especially intact males, sometimes suffer from a condition called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_stud_tail_supracaudal_gland_hyperplasia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;stud tail&quot;&lt;/a&gt; where their glands secrete too much sebum and it causes the fur at the base of the tail to become matted. Neutering your cat will reduce the hormones that tell his glands to secrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T15:06:55.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9602" CreationDate="2015-06-22T16:35:55.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, to set your expectations, 12 weeks is very young to be housetrained. You are going to need to be very vigilant for at least another month or two or three!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, when a puppy urinates, that doesn't mean his bladder is empty, especially with a male. Are you bringing him back inside immediately? Try staying outside for at least another 5 minutes to see if he will go again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist of housetraining is to teach the dog that it is unacceptable to go inside, but that it is rewarding to go outside. You need to watch him constantly when he is inside and not confined to a crate. If he starts to go without warning, say &quot;Ah-Ah-Ah No!&quot; loudly, which may startle him to stop. Immediately carry him outside and see if he will finish. Give lavish praise and treats if he does outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for signs that he might be thinking of going, and try to get him out before the accident starts. Most dogs have a pattern or rhythm that becomes predictable. It might help to keep a journal of when your dog goes to recognize this pattern over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and I do commiserate with you. I have a 4 month-old Golden Retriever who is still not trustworthy, but has started to whine when she needs to go out. It is a LOT of work now, but it will pay off for many years to come if your dog is reliably housetrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T16:35:55.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9580" CreationDate="2015-06-22T21:10:28.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd also like to add that it's possible the dog is allergic to grass. Mine was. Or he was allergic to something in the apartment sprinklers or stuff they put on the grass. Grain-free food helped, but didn't solve it. The next thing I tried was, after he'd go outside to potty, I'd wash his feet in a warm water with baking soda mixture, then dry them as much as possible. That helped a lot, but he'd still lick his paws until they were dried off. I then started putting booties on him before he'd go outside. Now &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; did the trick for me. After that, no licking feet. Granted, I agree this could be behavioral. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastActivityDate="2015-06-22T21:10:28.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9614" CreationDate="2015-06-23T09:24:10.120" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an issue of hardening of fish food in open jar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you may ask, why you kept the jar open, its because , this jar is a automatic fish feeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See here &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ff2lx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the compartment rotate with top side always open and when the compartment reaches down, food falls from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this food inside compartment geting hardened. Anyway to prevent hardening of food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5295" OwnerDisplayName="SmartestVEGA" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-23T15:53:04.943" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T15:53:04.943" Title="How to prevent hardening of fish food?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9613" CreationDate="2015-06-23T09:38:41.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you mean drying or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;caking&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you meant &lt;strong&gt;drying&lt;/strong&gt;: You would have to change the recipe or use another fish feed or put less feed but more frequent feed into the automatic fish feeder. Regarding changing the recipe: You can add &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humectant#Food_additives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;humectants&lt;/a&gt; but be aware that some are not suitable for the use in tanks (because they are water soluble and would change the water properties) or are directly harmful for the fishs consumption. For human consumption &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;honey and glucose syrup (both have a high nutritial value, very probably not suitable for your fish) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hexametaphosphate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sodium hexametaphosphate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;non-ionic &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyols&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;polyols&lt;/a&gt; (like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sucrose&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycerin&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glycerol&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are used as food additives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concerning the non-ionic polyols Wikipedia says (emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of these humectants are seen in non-ionic polyols like sucrose, glycerin/glycerol and its triester (triacetin). These humectant food additives are used for the purpose of controlling viscosity and texture. Humectants also add bulk, retain moisture, reduce water activity, and perform the important function of improving softness. A main advantage of humectant food additives is that, since they are non-ionic, &lt;strong&gt;they are not expected to influence any variation of the pH Aqueous systems&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you meant &lt;strong&gt;caking&lt;/strong&gt;: You could try to use some &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticaking_agent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anti caking agents&lt;/a&gt;. Same thing like before: Please do research whether the agents are (in which concentrations) harmful for the fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5294" OwnerDisplayName="Ching Chong" LastActivityDate="2015-06-23T09:49:43.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9868" CreationDate="2015-06-24T04:38:17.983" Score="4" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three times in the last week, our dog has vomited unexpectedly (ie. we weren't driving and he hadn't been eating grass) and each time it has been bright (bright) yellow and slightly liquid/foamy. I haven't changed his diet at all, and I'm definitely not embarking on any vegan diet experiments, but the answers to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7555/dog-vomiting-yellow-white-foam-since-being-fed-vegan-food&quot;&gt;Dog vomiting yellow/white foam since being fed vegan food&lt;/a&gt; seem to suggest this is acid reflux. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, he was trying really hard to get my attention and I was trying really hard to work and eventually he deposited some diarrhea on the bathroom rug (not a bad place, cleanup was straightforward, if foul) and then when I realized what was up and took him out he threw up within a block of our house and then dragged me to a grassy median a few blocks away and worked really hard to squeeze out some more dribbles of diarrhea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, he hasn't been eating or drinking. His nose is dry and he looks miserable and he won't play with me. It's been a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what might be going on. The only thing that has changed in his diet is that we have been giving him some chicken hearts sometimes for treats. I think my husband gives him more than I do -- I chop them pretty small. But we've had them for several weeks (they're cooked and frozen, we thaw one or two at a time and chop them up) and he only started throwing up in the last few days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do for him to make him feel better now? I've used pumpkin for soft stools in the past. I don't want to start giving him a bunch of new food that's just going to end up making him sicker, but if there's something I can do to help him feel better I'd like to do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I give him some squash? Or leave him be for now? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: He's fine. He was so energetic on his night time walk that it didn't seem necessary to take him to the vet. I'd still be interested in knowing more about how to tell when vomiting is severe enough to warrant veterinary care, however, and whether there are foods that are better or worse for a dog with an upset digestive tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had another bout of diarrhea on July 8, and again this week, July 22. Two weeks apart to the day. The timing still seems bizarro, but on our vet's advice we took his food away for the night and gave him only rice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still seeing how this plays out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:06:40.010" Title="How can I make my barfy dog feel better? (Gross detail warning)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9617" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-24T06:09:23.987" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 crated dogs who bark (or at least one of them barks early morning). I work shifts so get up at different times. I have tried ignoring the barking, ignoring the dogs for a period of time and it did improve but nothing seems to be working. I don't let them out until they are quite. They used to start when they heard any movement upstairs but now they start whenever. I have a 1 yr old baby who they are waking most mornings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5300" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-06-24T10:05:52.617" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T10:05:52.617" Title="How to stop early morning barking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-06-24T16:16:22.343" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9621" CreationDate="2015-06-24T13:54:53.530" Score="10" ViewCount="5876" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat just got spayed. She has a head cone on. She has fresh sutures on her belly. She is a fighter, and she is clearly mad about this whole thing. I have to give her 1cc of antibiotics (amoxicillin) in a syringe twice a day. Also I live alone, and I can't call somebody to come over to help me twice a day every day for the next two weeks, that's not feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't do it. It's simply not happening. I struggled for an hour this morning and got nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7883/how-do-i-give-my-cat-oral-liquid-medicine&quot;&gt;How do I give my cat oral (liquid) medicine?&lt;/a&gt;. I watched &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFRf9PB17Wo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFRf9PB17Wo&lt;/a&gt;. I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Cats-Liquid-Medicine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Cats-Liquid-Medicine&lt;/a&gt;. I have a towel. I have treats. I have a work surface of comfortable height. Except none of these instructions take into account that &lt;em&gt;it's impossible to grab the head of a cat wearing a cone.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried wrapping her in a towel. Looks easy in pictures, except my body does not contort in the way necessary to keep her from moving. I tried wrapping her in a towel, then using my left hand I guess... I grabbed the front of the towel to keep it tight around her body then leaned in to trap her between my chest and my elbow, but then I can't keep her head still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried tightening the towel then awkwardly leaning on the towel itself to hold it closed, while using one hand to sort of reach into the cone and grab her cheeks, but she backs up and my body isn't constraining enough to keep her from slipping into the towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's the softest cat I have ever met and has zero friction against the towel, which is making this even more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter how tight I have the towel her front paws have a way of... almost squirting (lol) out the front of the towel and directly into my exposed skin. I put on a long sleeve shirt and tried again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't grab her chin because she has a cone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I scruff her and hold her down I still can't keep her head still in the cone, and I can't use any spare fingers on my scruff hand to hold her head still because... the cone. And I don't have a third hand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried holding her between my legs facing me, with one hand holding her down, and the other hand grabbing her head with thumb and index finger while somehow holding the syringe between pinky and ring finger, then using my chin to depress the plunger. That... didn't work. It might of, if I were a contortionist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried sitting on the floor, with her between my legs facing me, my right leg flat on the floor but bent to keep her from going backwards; my left leg over top of her to keep her from jumping out, one hand on her face and the other hand coming over top of that hand with the syringe. I couldn't figure out how to make this work and gave up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried with her facing away from me, on the floor, where I kneeled and tried to hold her between my knees, with my feet touching to keep her from going backwards, and one hand holding her head, but then the head holding hand gets in the way of the syringe because I have to reach in from the front because of the cone. Nothing makes sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also don't want to be too rough with her underside, given that a surgeon yanked her ovaries out then sewed her back up less than 24 hours ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus she was terrified of the syringe right off the bat, and is really, &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; angry at the cone. I'm being gentle. I'm petting her. I'm talking to her softly. I'm doing everything I can to calm her down, and everything seems to go so well until the moment she sees the syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at the cone after reading the suggestions below to take it off. It's got a lot of plastic tabs to undo and after current struggles I'm not confident I could get it back on, so I am not going to attempt to remove it, even though I'm sure this is the way to go. A more easily removable cone would be nice; but it will take a few days for one to arrive unless I can find a vet with a nicer one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also tried giving her canned food (half of a small can) with the liquid mixed in. She can't really eat it well with the cone on, though, and also doesn't seem to be into it (her normal diet is hard food). I can sort of convince her to eat it if I put it on a spoon and hold it out for her, but not enough to get her the full dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This appears to be impossible.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I do this? But like, &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; how do I do this? It's one thing to say &quot;wrap your cat in a towel and hold her still&quot; but keep in mind that I have a fairly typical human body with two legs that bend at the knees, two arms that bend at the elbows, and five normal length fingers on each hand with the standard set of knuckles. Plus the normal laws of physics apply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T10:54:34.500" Title="How do I give a cat *with a cone* liquid medication, by myself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2015-06-24T14:08:21.867" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the cone is to keep her from licking (etc) her stitches. You can take it off to give her medications, as long as you monitor her while it is off to make sure that she leaves the stitches alone. Once she has been medicated, put the cone back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If getting the cone back on looks too difficult, you could consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6412/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-removing-her-cone&quot;&gt;these alternate cone ideas&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T14:35:04.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2015-06-24T14:12:35.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Call your vet and ask if you can use subcutaneous antibiotics in place of oral.  Your vet should be able to teach you how to give the med.  In essence you hold the cat in a towel or whatever, her head can be completely covered, lift her skin to form a little tent, and inject the antibiotics in the 'tent' space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some risk, but in my opinion they are less than the risk of infection or worse incomplete oral dosage leading to an antibiotic resistant infection.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T14:12:35.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2015-06-24T14:24:19.020" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many broad spectrum antibiotics also come as tablets (Clavamox, for example, is available as a pill or a liquid). A tablet can be hidden in a pill pocket, cheese, or peanut butter, or it can be crushed and mixed with food. Contact your vet for alternate medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T14:24:19.020" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2015-06-24T17:20:19.140" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are excellent, but if you want to continue trying with the oral meds, here's what I suggest. The process is similar to giving a pill, but it's easier because you don't need to place the medicine so precisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I recommend you take the cone off for this process, because it will make it easier to open her mouth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's important to &lt;strong&gt;breathe normally&lt;/strong&gt; during the process. This will help your cat stay more relaxed. The easiest way to ensure you're breathing normally is to &lt;strong&gt;talk to your cat&lt;/strong&gt;, which also helps her relax because she's used to the sound of your voice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can hold the cat in a variety of ways, but one way you didn't mention that you tried is to &lt;em&gt;kneel on the floor, with the cat sitting between your knees, facing &lt;strong&gt;away&lt;/strong&gt; from you&lt;/em&gt;. I use this or the &quot;cat burrito&quot; approach for very nervous cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow the rest of the procedure described in your link (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Cats-Liquid-Medicine&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Cats-Liquid-Medicine&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T17:20:19.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9616" CreationDate="2015-06-24T20:22:51.690" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Withhold all food except his regular dog food, and call your vet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog just started having similar symptoms to this recently. On a walk one day she had some diarrhea, then the next morning we found a blob of (fully liquid) poo on the floor (and she'd never gone inside before since we got her), and she had vomited in her bedding. After cleaning it up and taking her out, she seemed to be a little better, so we went to work, but by lunchtime she had had another accident, so we took her to the vet. It's a good thing we did - turns out she has pancreatitis, which is quite serious (potentially fatal)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely, get him into the vet's office right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, avoid giving any food besides his normal dog food. If it is pancreatitis, then his refusal to eat or drink is actually the right instinct - the fast will give his pancreas a break. Don't try to play with him if he's not feeling well; whatever's bothering him, he needs to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, since this has been happening for more than a day, it's not just a reaction to bad food. Your vet will probably need to do a blood test to figure out what's wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T20:22:51.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9635" CreationDate="2015-06-24T22:35:05.347" Score="7" ViewCount="13699" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of behaviors should I be looking for before I let my young dog loose in even part of the house? Right now, she has a 4x6 zone that is pup-safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I want to give her access to right now is the master bedroom (where she sleeps in her crate), the hallway, and the living/dining room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's only been a week and I feel that by giving her a safe zone, we've also raised the barrier to play and snuggling because you have to climb in and out to get to her. Her safe zone is centrally located between the living room and the kitchen, where all the family action happens all day long, but I don't know if it's enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, she is just 9 weeks old now, so I'm not expecting this in the near future, but I'm hoping someone can give me a kind of &quot;light at the end of the tunnel&quot; on when I can take down the pup-zone, leaving just two  crates (one for the bedroom and one for the living room), and have a pup who is free to wander a larger zone and seek out family members for attention as she desires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T15:39:48.397" Title="How do I know when my puppy is ready to be loose in the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2015-06-24T23:32:27.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried giving the cat the medication in a no-fuss manner? Maybe this will work with your cat : &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9TmmF79Rw0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How To Deactivate A Cat&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I do respect a doctor's orders, I feel that sometimes medicine taken slightly different is better than no medicine at all. Is it possible to put the medicine IN a food? For example, tuna is very smelly, mushy, and might mask the medication. It is likely I will be downvoted to hell for even mentioning this, but I just wanted to clarify it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; an option, but it is not the best option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, its worth noting that animals are extremely perceptive. Cats are very perceptive, so your cat may be noticing your stress levels or other non-standard behavior and being warned ahead of time, or possibly stressed out more. It's always a good idea to take a deep breath, chillax, and try when all is calm. I almost wonder if it's possible to poop the cat out by playing with it so much that it has little energy to be combative with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T23:32:27.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9626" CreationDate="2015-06-24T23:41:01.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a cut and dry answer to this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is not perfect and will surely have mishaps, as all dogs do, but I think the safest answer is to let the dog out for longer and longer periods of time until you feel comfortable everything is okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-24T23:41:01.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-25T10:38:28.677" Score="3" ViewCount="4296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 160 l (ca. 42 US gallons, sized 100 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm). This is fresh water aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank was for couple of months left almost without control. I was able to change water only every few weeks. To avoid algae I did not turn on the lights. The heater was broken so the temperature was about 21 °C (ca. 70 °F). The plants are: one large &lt;em&gt;Anubias&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;barteri&lt;/em&gt;, probably) and some minor ones of unknown species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the tank there are only two &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tetra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;black tetras&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Gymnocorymbus ternetzi&lt;/em&gt;) and one &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_tetra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;neon tetra&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Paracheirodon innesi&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand it all was not good and I agree with all criticism from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have more time and wish to repair everything I made wrong as quickly as possible, of course, I don't want the changes cause stress to tank inhabitants and I want to do anything step-by-step, so I will control what I change and what effects it makes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know that there are too few fish of both species and I am going to buy more, but this will be the last step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I started with turning on the lights, it is now 5 hours a day (4 PM to 9 PM). The tank is far from window and there is no possibility of direct sunlight. As I expected, the algae begun to grow, but I am removing them by hand and their increase seem to be slowed down. The plants began to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that all three fish were not moving, they just were &quot;hanging&quot; in one place (this was also the same when I couldn't take care of tank). They were not hiding and they seem to look healthy. After some googling I bought a new heater and increased the temperature to ca. 25 °C (ca. 77 °F). The fish behaviour did not change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I noticed that if the light turns off, the fish start to penetrate the aquarium. This made me think that the fish are in some way afraid of lights (with actual temperature of 25 °C, so this helped), however, they have many hiding places (under the anubias, there is a coco-nut and a quite large root), which they do not use. They are just hanging in one position, about 5-10 centimetres over the bottom, they move their fins. I am thinking maybe they are blinded. About 10 minutes after turning off the lights they start to swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about buying more plants to create some shadow, but I don't know if it is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, maybe the problem has its reason that there are too few fish of each species and they don't feel comfortable. I however think (maybe I'm wrong) that I should ensure that the environment is OK before I start introducing new fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is your opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have measured the water parameters and they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH = 6.4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; = 10 mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; = 0 mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dGH = 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dKH = 6 to 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; ≈ 0.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the lamps is &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0002AQLS8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hagen Aqua-Glo T8&lt;/a&gt; 30 watt, unfortunately I can't tell the other lamp, it is different (similar power, however), but I've lost data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="207" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:13:31.077" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:13:31.077" Title="Does too much light cause stress for fish in fresh water aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9630" CreationDate="2015-06-25T15:08:43.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you turning the lights on and off by hand? If so, I'd strongly recommend a timer, they cost around $10 USD on Amazon, or your favorite pet store. I personally think that inconsistent light times are far more stressful than the grade of light you have. It may take a few days (1-3) for fish to adjust to any lighting schedule you set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, maybe the problem has its reason that there are too few fish of each species and they don't feel comfortable. I however think (maybe I'm wrong) that I should ensure that the environment is ok before I start introducing new fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Tetras are community fish, they like to hang out with others of their same species. Aquarium enthusiasts advocate having a minimum of 2-3 of each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T15:08:43.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9592" CreationDate="2015-06-25T15:23:48.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's kind of silly to go on a salad diet, but also eat gigantic milkshakes, too - this is sort of what your dogs diet is like right now. Milk is likely part of the problem your dog is obese. You also need to cut out human foods, as well, like table snacks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the tricks dog owners use to get their dog to eat food is to make the dry dog food into wet dog food by adding a bit of water. Let it sit and the dog food will turn soft and mushy. In the majority of cases, a dog who wouldn't eat it dry will now eat it wet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When changing to a new food, as @roxie yap mentioned, owners are encouraged to transition gradually by adding a little more of the new food each feeding until the dish is wholly the new food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem with your dog isn't so much the food as it is quantities, and you find your dog still not loosing any weight, it is time to go into portion control. Figure out how much your dog needs by using the guidelines on the back of the bag, and then customize according to your dog. It is a trial and error process with measuring cups until you figure it out (perhaps a week?). Feed that much each day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T15:23:48.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9574" CreationDate="2015-06-25T15:38:06.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have an answer but wanted to dump a bunch of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog can be still be motivated with treats - if the treats are smelly! Dogs have preferences, too. Whatever you're using isn't working, so ditch it. When I train I have different treat bags, like smelly bacon treats, chicken, canned tuna, and smelly cheese. I have to vary the treats up because the dog becomes bored of one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't demand too much. When your dog gets tired, give it a rest (unless its leash training, then stay consistent, finish the walk, but maybe take a shorter walk next time)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;SMILE. BIG PRAISES. When your dog does good, immediately grin at him and praise him a lot. Like he won the lottery. Dogs read human faces, and this helps a ton.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are using your body weight to control the dog on the leash, it's time to invest in a better collar or leash that won't require you to weigh 300 lbs to control him. Something like choker collars, pinch collars, or the other one by Caesar Millan's ex-wife that goes around the head and neck. Remember to be consistent. A walk is about walking, not stopping to smell, and should be a calm, enjoyable thing. Be consistent, consistent, consistent. It might take around a week, but you should be seeing radical improvements day 3 and on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T15:38:06.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9626" CreationDate="2015-06-25T15:39:48.397" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're off to a great start. Basically, you're trying to set the fundamentals in place, right now. Just keep telling yourself that no matter how much work it seems like, you're doing yourself a favor. If you instill good habits in your pup now, you won't have to continuously worry about things for the rest of his life. A few month of work now, saves years of aggravation later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, my Jack Russell was given some basic house training when young, but I made mistakes. Now, at 12 years old, I can expect pretty good behavior, but she'll still wander off into a far corner and pee occasionally if she's been in a long time. If someone is around, she asks to go out, but I can't trust her the way I can the keeshond we inherited from my grandmother. She'll hold it for 3 days if necessary. I've seen her do it when she refused to go to the bathroom on vacation, no matter how many walks I took her on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're doing excellent in restricting her access to the house. Many people want to give the puppy free run, like you'd eventually like to do. However, the space is so big that a puppy doesn't know yet that all of it is the &quot;den&quot;. In the wild a dog, wolf, etc... won't want to dirty it's den, so it'll go outside and mark it's territory out there. That's what you're doing now. Right now, however, the puppy sees it's crate as the den and anywhere else as territory to be marked. Over time, the puppy will come to see the whole house as the &quot;den&quot;, but that takes time and acclimatization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that the puppy be locked in the crate at night, but during the day, be put in an exercise pen. These are light weight wire panels that connect together to form a playpen. You can put the puppy and a bunch of toys in here, rotating the toys periodically to avoid boredom. This pen can be placed wherever you like. You can even separate two panels and connect them to the corners of the wire crate, so that he can go between the two. This is a great place for her to be when you aren't directly controlling her and if she's trained to it as a puppy, she won't try to get out later in life, even if she gets large enough to destroy it or just jump out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't want to let her loose anywhere in the house unsupervised. You'll learn over time when she can be trusted, because she'll have either had mistakes or not. Most likely she will. I'd say a 99% chance. At 9 weeks, she has no bladder or bowel controls. The muscles haven't developed yet, the same way a human baby needs diapers. The rule of thumb I heard is they can hold it for 1hr per month old they are, not to exceed 9 hours. They'll vary though, and she'll probably be able to hold it all night, well before 8 months old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's okay if she goes in the house and you shouldn't say anything negative to her. Simply say, &quot;no&quot; in a calm voice, pick her up, and take her outside if she goes. Then clean the spot with a cleaner designed to remove pet scent to keep her from wanting to go in the same spot again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind that any dog is more liable to go to the bathroom after waking, eating, drinking, or playing. So be more diligent at these times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep up this routine and are diligent about it, I think she'll be roaming the house by the time she's 6 months old, maybe sooner if she learns her lessons well. You get out of it what you put into it. Some dogs are harder than others to house train. Just keep in mind it's a set of scales. The more times she does bad and you aren't there to show her the right way, she get beads in her untrustworthy pile. Every time she goes to the potty outside or even if she has an accident, but you say &quot;no&quot; and carry her outside, she gets on in the awesome dog pile. You can't ever remove beads from a pile, just outweigh them on the other side. So stick with it and I think you'll be happy with the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T15:39:48.397" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-25T16:39:24.393" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;We rescued a dog from the streets (a Yorkshire Terrier/Shih Tzu mix is our vet's best guess) who we've struggled with since taking her in. At first we experienced issues with her being protective of our dog who we've had (a Boston Terrier), but all initial behavioral patterns have ceased except her tendency to pee in the house when we're gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly believe she simply has a small bladder, because at times we've come to realization the bed was wet, but her fur was as well, leading us to think she wet the bed unintentionally. However, there has been instances where we've taken her out and returned an hour later to find pee on the floor, so I'm sensing perhaps a separation anxiety. I will also note that she is especially attached to me and follows me everywhere I go, even if it's from the bedroom to the bathroom and straight back to the bedroom - she even wakes up to follow me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our other pet, the Boston Terrier, is a chewer, so we give her toys to satisfy her but if we forget to take the trash out before we leave she will get into it - and so Piper (the Yorkshire Terrier) has adopted the bad habit. Moreover, I believe Piper to be the one that has been chewing through laptop cords and phone charger cords - a behavior that seems evidently deriving from nervous or anxious behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to know what to do to train her - and Steevie, the Boston, for that matter. I've been told negative reinforcement is not the way to train a pet, and that proved true when I potty trained Steevie. Piper is potty trained as well, but I can't tell if she has a small bladder or acts out (her vet said she's fine but I have yet to specifically ask about her bladder). We are thinking to put a diaper on Piper before bed but we can't go around the house, unplug all electronics and hide the cords every day before we leave for work - that's a bit much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both dogs are around 3 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5307" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:30:24.223" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:24.223" Title="How do I train my dog to pee outside and stop chewing cords?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9636" CreationDate="2015-06-25T18:01:57.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tip is to read about crate training and try to apply/adapt it to your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be a great way to positively reinforce behavior: crate the dog, let him out from time to time (start with snmaller intervals). When you take him out, chances are he'll do his business. In such case, reward and let him free for a while. Repeat. If he doesn't go when taken out, crate him back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side benefits are that your dog will learn to hold it a little more.&#xA;Also, having a dog used to a crate might proove useful if it ever has to spend some time at the vet. Some owners never crate, adding to the stress of a post-emergency situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the other issues, there are tons of info you can find. My best advice is to be consistant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5054" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T18:01:57.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9593" CreationDate="2015-06-25T21:22:49.723" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Context: I have a home with 1 dog (terrier mix) and 2 cats. Dog gets jealous of cats when they try to get human affection and used to chase cats. Cats are scared of almost eveything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see no mention of a crate for the dog. We've crate trained ours since she was a puppy, so I don't how well it will work for an older dog. The crate would help with the sleeping issue, as it gets the dog out of your girlfriend's bed. It also serves as a buffer for the cats. There are sometimes where we'll put the dog in her crate so we can give dedicated playtime to the cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be consistent with commands you give and enforcing them. If you give the dog a command to get off of something or go into their crate, make sure your girlfriend backs it up. My wife got into the habit of saying &quot;oh it's okay&quot; when I tried to get the dog off the couch or go in her crate. Now the dog goes to my wife when I give her one of those commands because she knows that she doesn't have to listen to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know Cesar Milan's methods aren't popular on some online boards, but some of his exercises may help. I'm thinking of one where the dog gets defensive of the gf while sitting on a piece of furniture. You would sit with her on the couch/bed, and she would remove the dog from the couch everytime he starts barking at you. (There's bound to be videos of this on youtube). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck, hope something in my ramblings help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5309" LastActivityDate="2015-06-25T21:22:49.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9602" CreationDate="2015-06-26T07:16:27.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read about these &lt;a href=&quot;https://web.archive.org/web/20160725122204/http://www.howtoteachadog.com/how-to-potty-train-a-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tips&lt;/a&gt; about potty training and it worked for me and my labrador retriever. Try and establish a routine with your puppy and reward him when he does it right. You can also use word association which will give him the cue that it is time to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-06-26T22:25:54.453" LastActivityDate="2019-06-26T22:25:54.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9593" CreationDate="2015-06-26T16:33:34.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stating the obvious, not so nice thing that you don't want to hear&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading through your post, I think the biggest issue here isn't that you're having issues with the dog, but that the dog seems an ill fit for your girlfriend, who is its owner. I really think that this high maintenance dog requires a skillset that's beyond either of you combined. And I think the best way to solve the issue is to give the dog away and hope its next owner does have those skills - and the dog will be happier where it doesn't have to be so viligant. There is a lot to be said for matching personalities/skillsets and this dog seems badly fitted to your girlfriend and evenmore so to you. I'm really focusing on your girlfriend here because she is the dog's owner and master, and if she can't handle him, there's little hope for you. I think that your best option is to do your research on a dog that will suit both of you- something that's not so guarding, barky, ignores cats, and preferentially laid back and low maintenance, and I think the quality of both your lives will be significantly better. Or maybe no dog at all. This is a mean thing to say - but I have found that when people own dogs like this, they really aren't attracted to the dog much at all, but rather, the dogs appearance, and the few cute mannerisms it has - everything else that the dog is, the majority of who the dog is, they are not happy with at all. (people tend to pick dogs that look like them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency and girlfriend&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are supposed to be a team effort and consistency is key. You haven't written much about your girlfriend and that lack of it leads me to believe that she really isn't so much on board at all. It's always you trying this and you trying that as if you're the only one that has an issue - pretty sure the dog acts up when you're not home. If this really is the case, then I'm afraid this is about the best its ever going to get. Either the girlfriend gets entirely on board, or this is your life, now. Half-assed will not do. Your relationship with your girlfriend is out of scope for his question, so I'll stop talking here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Master of the house&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wanted to mention that it sounds an awful lot like the dog is the master of this family, and not either of you humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On addressing problems before they become problems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what training methods you are using, but if it were me, I'd be working on preventing problems from ever happening. It sounds as if you are just addressing symptoms of issues (maybe not, dunno what your training is like) and not the root issues themselves. With jumping on the table, the dog really should never be jumping at all, and it should never be taking food that isn't his. With getting mad at the cats, it should never be paying attention to the cats, period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On Sanity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to understand that your sanity is far, far more important than how comfortable the dog is. I feel like all the measures you take are moderate. Please never be afraid to go to a more extreme solution if it gets rid of an issue. For example, what if you crate the dog at night? Then he cannot get out, and you get to sleep in the same bedroom. It's not a moderate solution, but it gets the job done. Because sleeping in two bedrooms because of the dog sounds as if the dog is completely terrorizing your relationship. Things should never get that bad. Your life sounds like a reality tv episode where a dog trainer comes in and fixes everything - even with the improvements that you've made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog training classes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that you have a personal trainer already, but I would really suggest both of you going to dog training classes with your dog, even if he already knows basic commands. I feel like it will help you to bond better with your dog, help you get the right kind of attitude that the dog can respect, talk with other owners, and help you figure out how to manage and control your dog better. My dog already knew basic commands and had no issues but dog training classes were the best thing I ever did for her - and for me, too. I really recommend looking up your city's local kennel club for class rates deeply discounted from the rates a pet store would charge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Attitude&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On attitude, attitude is huge. It's hard to describe what it is, but it's basically a changing of yourself (in a good way). I realized I was jittery, anxious, and jumpy, and all this my dog reflected and magnified into a very scared, unhappy animal. I learned how to be calm, collected, take charge, etc. Next time you are around dogs, take a look at how an owner acts and how the dog acts. Make some observations, and then think about yourself. Attitude is going to be one of the biggest improvements you can make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(new additions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Schedules and rituals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs almost need schedules to be happiest and spur-of-the-moment / fly-by-the-seat-of-pants families have the hardest times, especially with high maintenance or energetic dogs. Adopting a schedule and keeping it that way can greatly help. I'm not suggesting you change your life all around and make everything up anew, but rather to try to keep doing what you're already - but just keeping it the same way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many times dogs don't have a clue what they're supposed to be doing and do whatever they think is best. So if the dog knows what he is supposed to be doing, there isn't nearly as much issue. Establishing proper protocols comes from those rituals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, doorbell rings? BARKBARKBARAKRAKARKAKARKAARK... it's a crazy house in here! Establish the ritual by telling your dog what he is supposed to do. (Go sit or lay somewhere and be silent). Most times dog owners only tell the dog what he is not supposed to do, and it doesn't work well because it is a process of trial and error for the dog. It's too complicated, and too stressful. (You can always practice rituals, too. Say, you have girlfriend ring the doorbell and you practice with the dog inside). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dinner time? Maybe dinner is around 5 and the dog should be laying on his bed. Or maybe during dinner preparations / cooking the dog should be laying on his bed so he isn't underfoot doesn't get stepped on and isn't begging at the table . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couch time? Perhaps the dog is supposed to be only in one spot, so that he is not around the cats favorite spots and interactions with the cats are limited. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You pick whatever works best, enforce it, be consistent, and often your dog will be &lt;em&gt;happier&lt;/em&gt; because now he knows what he is supposed to do, instead of doing everything all the time randomly and intermittently getting fussed at for things he doesn't understand. The theme here is that you can create rituals that circumvent problematic behaviors before they start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rewarding behavior and not rewarding everything&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On this note, be very particular with rewarding. You never want to reward your dog for doing &quot;everything&quot;. Often, I will tell my dog to sit, and she does all the tricks she knows, including sitting. This is not the desired behavior, so I don't reward. No treat, I walk away, and &quot;punish&quot; her by ignoring her completely (surprisingly effective); I don't reward her with more attention. I try again later, and only when she sits and only sits does she get the treat. There is no &quot;feeling sorry&quot; for her and giving her the treat anyways, this is very detrimental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rituals and moods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also have a mood be a part of a ritual! In fact, it is probably a ritual already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example, you open up the door to come home from work, and there is the dog. Many, many owners greet their dogs with WHOSAGOODBOYYESHEISYESHEIS , and can't understand why the second they open the door the dog goes into a hyperactive looney madness! They have trained the dog to be in high energy mode when the door opens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walks are another great example where dogs are often hyperactive. A walk is supposed to be a relaxing experience, but it's often instead your dog trying its hardest to give you a heart-attack and simultaneously de-socket your arm joint. It shouldn't be that way! Start out with the mood you want and re-inforce it. Dog bouncing around everywhere? &quot;No, sit&quot;. Only when the dog is calm does the leash go on. Dog pulling and going nuts? &quot;No.&quot; Only when the dog is calm and not pulling does the walk continue. You may have to stand there for a while an idiot, but it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with around the house. You can establish a command like &quot;Settle down&quot;, and reward only when settled. &lt;strong&gt;It's entirely possible to create a dog that is mellowed down three notches&lt;/strong&gt;. Settle him down when he should not be riled up and watch your dog become happier, as if he is saying &quot;Whew, all that bouncing around sure was stressful to me, it's so much better now I know how I'm supposed to act&quot;. Petting time doesn't need to be a vigorous commendation for saving little Timmy from the well, it can be a calm, relaxing, methodical rub. In fact, your dog may be happier like this. Homework assignment for you both: See if you can get your dog to nearly fall asleep while being petted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that your stress contributes, so think about what's happening. And get the girlfriend on board, or else it's basically all for nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Homeworks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a ton of content and you're not going to be able to swallow it all at once. Here's a list of homeworks for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - I would really like you and your girlfriend to watch some Caesar Millan's The Dog Whisperer; there are some episodes on youtube. Some people hate him, but I'm recommending him because I want you to see how the behaviors/environment in the house have created the dog. I want you to see even more how radically things can change and get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 - Talk to your girlfriend about consistency and getting on board more. Seeing those videos should help you both feel more empowered and inspired that you do not have to live this way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 - Start thinking about your problems and how you can fix them, talk about what will work for both of you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 - Have a session where you lull the dog into near-sleeping by petting alone. Have a session where she does the same. I want you to see that your dog does not need to be a tazmanian devil (unless you want him that way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 - Investigate dog training classes, which will also be inspiring and empowering, but more hands-on. It is hard to describe the can-do aura and attitude that is lit there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="495" LastEditDate="2015-06-26T20:46:55.757" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T20:46:55.757" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9636" CreationDate="2015-06-26T16:42:13.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the dog may be eating cords because it's teething? Try getting the dog something to chew on, like nylabones, rawhide, etc, and see if that helps any. You don't really know her true age, but around 3, I think it's still worth a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-26T16:42:13.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-27T14:52:09.987" Score="4" ViewCount="987" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Yoda, is pregnant. She started to chew, particularly on boxes where she might think it's a safe place to give birth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I was just wondering, would the chewing affect her kittens in her belly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, I am pretty sure she's not having a PICA (the eating disorder) because she started to do it when she was in pregnant (second time). The first time she was pregnant, she did not chew the boxes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5315" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-06-29T17:45:35.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:13:11.387" Title="Why does my pregnant cat chew boxes and is it harmful for the kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9642" CreationDate="2015-06-28T01:38:06.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats like cardboard boxes for many reasons. They're fun to hide in, they block drafts, they're defensible (sometimes), and cardboard can be good for sharpening claws and cleaning teeth. Some cats just like puncturing cardboard and paper. Maybe sinking fangs into paper is for them what popping bubble wrap is for us...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, I wouldn't worry about it. It isn't likely to be a problem unless she damages something you need. (A friend of mine once had to explain to a professor that the cat had chewed up her homework...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T01:38:06.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9651" CreationDate="2015-06-28T15:01:59.893" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog may have eaten 3 or 4 staples, while playing. Is there any danger for its health? I think it will emit them, but in case it doesn't what are the possible effects in its mood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastActivityDate="2020-04-19T19:15:27.403" Title="Dog may have eaten staples" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9646" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-28T16:14:30.083" Score="2" ViewCount="3337" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog will get into anything. He's a boxer and is 1 year old. He even jumps on the table! All of my family thinks we should get rid of him, but there needs to be a way to train him. We've tried a professional dog trainer but it still didn't work. He gets to ponchos, pillows, blankets, shampoo, basically everything. I've bought him tons of toys and still nothing. He caused me having to replace $5,000 worth of carpet and blinds. What do I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5319" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-06-29T10:29:18.350" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T04:46:55.463" Title="How do I train my boxer to not destroy the house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8027" CreationDate="2015-06-28T17:48:55.357" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; grow lucky bamboo in a tank, it's not advisable. While bamboo roots need to be submerged in water, submerging the leaves and stalk will cause the plant to die in time. One way to get bamboo for your tank is to plant it in the filter. This way the roots will always stay submerged, but the rest of the plant won't rot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5321" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T17:48:55.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-28T19:02:18.207" Score="7" ViewCount="1064" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog in general is well behaved and only pees outdoors... Except in one case where the dog will pee if another dog had once peed there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, about once every two months, when we go out to walk, my dog will pee on my neighbors door inside out appartment complex because long ago a dog came in and peed there. (Turns out the friend of someone else in the building brings another dog in once every two months....)  And yes, my dog is leashed, and I keep the leash as short as possible while going up the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hallway and door are tiled . How can I get rid of the scent or retrain the dog that this spot is not allowed to be peed on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is a picture of the door being peed on. Its on the top right of the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read on one website that if I put food or dog treats on the spot, it will prevent the dog from peeing there because dogs won't mark where their food is? Would that actually work? How could I implement that in this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/W5Jrv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The door that gets peed on&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:10:17.787" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:10:17.787" Title="How can I stop my dog from peeing on our neighbor's door?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9645" CreationDate="2015-06-28T23:41:26.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possible side-effects in mood? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's going to be dependent on each animal, but it can be anything from no effect to slightly more irritable to feeling a little less energetic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right on the money, you just want to watch your dog and take him to the vet if there's anything that concerns you. You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; take him to the vet now, if you want to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-06-28T23:41:26.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-29T00:52:12.833" Score="4" ViewCount="109836" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my dog demonstrated some behaviour last night which I've never witnessed before. At the end of a long hot day when we were settling into our camping trailer, we brought our dog inside for bed, but when I put his food bowl down in our room, he was kinda whimpering, took only one kibble off the top, dropped it on the carpet, then started using his nose to try and &quot;bury&quot; the kibble. I put it back in his bowl, but he merely grabbed another one, and tried doing the same thing, brushing the carpet in the direction of the one kibble with his nose. I eventually moved the bowl and put it on a little rug, but he came out from under the bed, whimpered again (the same sound he usually makes when he's sore on his foot), walked over to his bowl and tried to flip the rug over his bowl with his nose while making the whimpering sound. Finally I took the bowl out of the room, and that seemed to make him happy, and he went to bed. He acted completely normal all day, played in the water, ran through the woods, and he's been normal again today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get that he was probably trying to tell me that he didn't want his food, but why the weird behaviour instead of simply &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; eating it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a 4 year old German Shepherd/Black Lab cross. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5326" LastEditorUserId="5356" LastEditDate="2015-07-04T10:35:35.807" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T00:49:59.803" Title="What does it mean when a dog tries to cover its food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9342" CreationDate="2015-06-29T12:30:18.223" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea about lizards, but I would guess they end up being like any other pet or human in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you like a foreign person to grab you and put you on their lab or carry you somewhere else? No? Then what is with a child that even asks to be held by their parents? That's different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With someone you trust, being held or pet or cuddled is a nice thing. That is not only because you know they won't harm you, but also because you know that they know and acknowledge your boundaries. Which means, if you want them to stop, they will stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your lizards that means you will have to earn their trust. With rabbits you could feed them out of your hands, sit in the room while they run around and let them sniff and discover you at &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; pace. &#xA;I am sure there are some similar options for lizards. Just try to be close, but never intrusive.&#xA;Then you can try petting them, if you think they would be comfortable with it. As soon as they look uncomfortable, stop!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bit by bit, both of you will get to know each other, earn each others trust and learn to read the signs given by each other. You will know that you won't be bitten (unless you don't read the signs and go on after your pet is uncomfortable) and your pet will know there is no reason to run away or bite (unless you behave strangely and carry that box with the veterinarian smell on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5040" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T12:30:18.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9645" CreationDate="2015-06-29T12:40:43.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest being cautious here, and consulting a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few things that would worry me here. Staples tend to have sharp tips, and break off into smaller wires that could get stuck. They might also cause internal damage as a result. I'd rather play it safe cause of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet might also be able to advice you to what to look out for, in terms of stool movement, or general disposition, and know about things like bloating. Ours, thankfully is a seriously picky eater, but we've had a good vet who's adviced us pretty well since we started going to them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T12:40:43.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-29T12:46:48.803" Score="1" ViewCount="569" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a month old puppy that I found abandoned on the street. Yesterday I gave it a plastic mug to play with. It went berserk and started trying to eat it. I tried the same with another coloured mug today, the same thing happened. Why is it behaving this way?&#xA;It first tries to enter the mug and then later becomes angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5328" LastEditorUserId="5328" LastEditDate="2015-06-29T14:30:37.377" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T08:28:04.987" Title="Why does my puppy go berserk when playing with plastic mugs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15807" CreationDate="2015-06-29T12:49:37.533" Score="2" ViewCount="1387" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog's generally pretty good about being pilled. However, with bigger pills, he tends to chew, and in the case of the multivitamin he's getting (sangobion), results in a fair amount of the powder in the capsule bursting and getting all over his beard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its not very efficient, and its too big for him to swallow comfortably anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know generally with medicines, its not a good idea to crush it up - but this is basically an iron suppliment. Is there any better way to give it to him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T18:49:33.537" Title="Giving a dog a bigger capsule -or can I break open and mix a mulitvitamin with food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2015-06-29T14:15:30.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our pup loves to chew plastic containers, as the crackle noise they make is fun! Our friend has a Chocolate Lab who is obsessed with plastic soft drink bottles for the same reason. Also thicker plastics make a fun noise when they scrape against the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a note, dogs love to chew plastics as much as anything else, especially if their teeth are developing... Some grow out of it, some don't. Our old mongrel who passed a few years ago loved the plastics of yoghurt pots. Dogs explore with their mouth, so all different hardness and texture variations in fabrics etc for dogs is enticing, especially in the puppy stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a dog so young the only reason I can see him getting frustrated is because it's so new and ideally, when not abandoned, at one month a puppy should be with its mother in a warm soft environment as he wouldn't normally have even finished weening at this age. So it might be that he's still unsure about what this mug is, how to play with it etc, and mum isn't there to show him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can actually (and we now have) purchase rubber bone toys which make the same crackle as plastic bottles our little guy loves it and it's a safer alternative to any plastics which may splinter when chewed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T14:15:30.980" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-28T18:53:44.330" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many dogs are afraid of the sound of fireworks. They panic, often barking and sometimes becoming aggressive. One could sedate the dog before July 4th, but that's not the best for the dog. What other options do I have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5104" OwnerDisplayName="Mooseman" LastEditorUserId="207" LastEditDate="2015-06-29T17:04:21.990" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T17:04:21.990" Title="How to prevent fear of fireworks in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-07-01T01:26:59.617" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9659" CreationDate="2015-06-28T19:27:58.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should find a quiet room in your house which can be done with the following criteria:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure it has no windows.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If not so then make sure the room has minimal windows with curtains.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A door that closes properly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay now that you have the ideal room you can begin sound proof the area. You can do this by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Having bookcases against the walls to absorb the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hanging up blankets on the room with pillows on the sides to help keep them up and further help stop the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Getting biggest furniture and putting them across the walls.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you leave some water and food out for the dog so that they don't go hungry. In addition to this you should regularly check them just to be sure. If you have a fan you should put that on in the room since with  all the padding on the walls the dog will get very hot. You could put ear muffs on your dog's ears or ear plugs as well, and with all this sound prevention your dog should be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a good independence day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="sasquatch" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T08:30:18.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9659" CreationDate="2015-06-29T09:27:51.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not very trained with dogs, but the internet has several seemingly good guides related to &lt;a href=&quot;//google.com/search?q=dogs+fireworks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dogs fireworks&lt;/a&gt;, of which two caugh my interest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/hyperdog/How-to-Keep-Your-Dog-Safe-and-Calm-During-Fireworks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Keep Your Dog Safe an Calm During Fireworks&lt;/a&gt; By Cesar Millan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/contributors/10-safety-and-calming-tips-for-dogs-during-fireworks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10 Safety and Calming Tips for Dogs During Fireworks&lt;/a&gt; by Lisa Spector&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some key element from these articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, desensitize the dog to the sounds. In advance play sounds of fireworks at an increasing sound volume before the dogs eats, walks, or other comfortable situations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prepare a safe and known place, either at a different location or in your own home. The more sound isolated the better. Make sure that the dog knows and is familiar with place prior to the 4th of July&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As the key point is to help the dog remain calm, make sure that the dog has known company during the fireworks, either by your self or a known sitter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having a good exercise/walk earlier on the day also seems to be a good idea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a good independence day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="holroy" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T09:27:51.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9646" CreationDate="2015-06-29T17:32:03.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first, you need to exercise the ever living crap out of this dog. I'm not sure that a lot of people see a boxer as a high energy dog, like a german shepard or an Australian shepard, but they are. You need to be taking this dog for a walk first thing in the morning and then in the evening before bed. Walks offer mental exercise as well as physical. He shouldn't be pulling on the leash or stopping to sniff things. He needs to be concentrating on where you're going and staying with you. You decide when your pack gets to stop and sniff, which shouldn't be often. You aren't depriving him of anything, because dogs noses are excellent and just because he can't stop, inhale, and mark over another dogs pee, doesn't mean he can't smell it perfectly well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect him to be perfect on the walk. I imagine that he'll pull, bounce around, take the leash in his mouth, etc... You should just gently correct him and keep walking. He'll get better over time. You can also work on leading behaviors at home with a clicker and treats, which is something else I'd suggest. You'll kill two birds with one stone here. You are mental working him out as well as building skills. Just keep in mind that no dog, and especially a hyper one is going to be able to focus for more than 10-15 min at a time at first. The trick is to do multiple sessions in a day. Whether it's dogs or horses, I go in with a plan on multiple things to rapidly work through. If I find a problem area, I make sure it's on the list for a week or so, then start randomizing it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be playing with your dog as much as possible as well. This really helps burn off excess energy, though it's not mentally draining. It's like playing a video game. Yeah, you're concentrating on it, but you're not really draining your energy reserves. The dog may physically wear himself out, but is still mentally looking for something to get into. I love to take my dogs to the river in the summer and wear them out to wear they go lay down by the back of the trunk and just pass out till time to go home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you need to contain him when he is in the house. He needs to be in a confined area when unsupervised. This could be a kennel, an exercise pen, or a room like the kitchen. The point is he needs to be contained to a smaller area, where he can't do a lot of destructive damage. I do encourage you to let him into the rest of the house as much as possible when you're there to supervise him. If need be, you can put a long lead on him and use it to make minor corrections if he doesn't listen to your voice yet. You can also give him toys to keep his mind occupied. I'd probably start with a kong and a treat ball. The kong is a tough toy that you can stuff with peanut butter or other things and let him lick it out. When it gets too easy, you freeze the peanut butter. This can provide a lot of entertainment for him and distract him from things he shouldn't be chewing an licking on. The treat ball is a ball with holes and when it's rolled around, a couple will occasionally fall out. This will teach him to think things through and will make him easier to train in behaviors, because he'll think his way through what you want. It also sets him up for harder puzzle toys. You can look on amazon for these and there are impressive videos of dogs solving some really tough ones on youtube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to summarize, lots of structured exercise, lots of play, training to focus, supervision, and distraction. If you stick to these things, you'll end up with a great dog. It's not too late to have your dog do a 180 on his behavior. Especially if the family helps. They shouldn't complain about the destructive behavior if they're not willing to help. They tacitly agreed to take on the responsibility of dog ownership when they let you bring it in and need to step up to some degree. I don't know of one person who couldn't use a little more exercise. If each person took him on a short walk everyday, it'd really add up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that you have to be patient and consistent. You can't expect perfection after even a month, but it will get steadily better. You also can't have one person training a cue or correction one way, and another person giving the cue another way and getting frustrated at the dog and yelling at it. If you put the work in and gain control, you'll have a great pet. If you get lazy and slack off in it, you'll have an aggravating nightmare. You get out what you put in. If you can be honest with yourself that you will, then keep the dog and keep at it. If you know that you probably won't, then find the dog a good home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you lots of luck either way, and I feel really confident about the path I laid out. I think that if you try it for even a week, you'll see quite a drastic improvement in your dogs behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS - I meant to add something about the dog trainer comment. I know there are lots of good dog trainers out there, but I can tell you from personal experience that my grandmother paid one to come over who had no idea what he was doing. I know now, that what he was doing then was generally correct, but he went about it the wrong way and didn't account for dogs having different personalities and adapting to them. So you may not have had a good trainer. Secondly, she didn't follow up with one thing that the trainer taught the dog. They aren't mechanics, where you can fix your car and it runs smooth for anyone who gets in it. You're always training your dog, good or bad. The benefit of a trainer is that they can communicate more easily with your dog and deal with hurdles like confusion and stubbornness that you might not know how to handle correctly. They teach your dog that the human will keep on trying things till they do as they're asked, so it's better to just go ahead and do it, then when you ask them, they might try you, but if you correct as the trainer does, they figure you're willing to go just as far and don't bother questioning your cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T17:32:03.203" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9648" CreationDate="2015-06-29T17:48:46.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to clean it, they sell cleaners meant to rid a peed on spot of all scent so as not to trigger another occurrence through instinct. You can probably find them in most pet stores and some supermarkets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't bother though. I don't think he can smell the spot from the side walk. I think it's a behavior and he thinks its about time to remark. The solution is pretty simple from my point of view. You dog needs to be on a leash until he comes when called every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you feel like your dog is well trained and that this might be the only exception, but the truth is that if he doesn't come everytime you call him, he's not trained well enough to be off leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not something I'm just throwing out there. I have a jack Russell and it took almost two years before I could fully trust her off leash. Even when she listened well to me, she could still focus in on a squirrel, rabbit, etc... and I just don't think she could hear me in that focused state of mind. It took a long time. I had to run her down several times. I finally got her to where I'd trust her recall in almost any situation, but I still put a leash on if I feel like it's appropriate, like when I go to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just leash your dog, give him the opportunity to misbehave and correct it when it happens. In the mean time, start working on his recall and give him a reason to return. Many people have an emergency recall, where the dogs gets an awesome treat, like a hot dog. I saw a person one time who had a freeze command, which I wish my dog knew. I've been in a situation before where a road was between me and the dog. A car was coming and most peoples safety rope is being able to a call the dog to them. However, doing this would have pulled her out into danger. If I could have told her to &quot;freeze&quot; she would have been much safer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T17:48:46.143" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9593" CreationDate="2015-06-29T19:19:54.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to comment on two things first. One, is I refuse to believe you can effectively admonish a cat. :)) Two, is I'd give my sibling away in a heartbeat. Well, before I'd give a way my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I'd ditch the citronella collar. The dog becomes immune to that the same way they do to incorrect stimulation of an electronic collar. It aggravates their noses well after the correction is applied as well. I think that while it seems harsher, an electric collar is actually more human when utilized properly, because it has different levels you can control and the stimulation stops as soon as the behavior is corrected. I really don't recommend either for a pom, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you need to get rid of the dog, though. I think if you all agree to shift your behavior, then you can have the problem licked. You already seem willing and like you've put a lot into this, so I don't think it'll be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest effect to change of a dogs behavior is consistency. As an example, say you tell your dog that under no circumstance is he to get on the table and eat out of your plate. Then you sit down with a nice charcuterie platter and he looks at you with his evil cuteness beam and you feel guilty, so you slip him a piece. What you've actually done is tell him that no matter how many times you tell him no, you actually mean keep asking and I might eventually give you some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your girlfriend made the common small dog mistake of not installing manners and behaviors in her dog because he's small and it's cute. People try this with larger breeds as well, but what's cute in a pom or a puppy, isn't cute in a 100lb lab and they are forced to correct it the hard way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not too late, though. Consistency can fix his issues. Basically, you need to treat him like a big dog. Just because the living room to him is like a football field to you, doesn't mean he doesn't need walks. He needs them just as much as a larger dog, just not as far. He needs two walks daily to not only burn off excess energy, but to get out and see the world. I don't know about you, but even with all kinds of inside toys, I can only stay inside for so long before I go stir crazy and need to get out and do something physical. It's the same for dogs. He can't be happy just in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step 2 is that he needs training. Get online and look up clicker training. You can do this with your cats as well if you're patient, and a masochist. Training sessions should be multiple and short. You have a small attention span to work with. You can come up with creative tricks, but work on the basics. You always want to end on a good note, something they can do well. So if you get frustrated, go back to something else, to end the session. This has the added benefit of getting him conditioned to look at you and to do what you ask. The more times you repeat this type of behavior, the more he naturally falls into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other issues you have can't really be corrected with training of this nature. For instance, you say he might nip at you when you pet him in the wrong spot. A dog isn't allowed a wrong spot. He can certainly get up and move off if he doesn't like what you're doing and I always let my animals do so if uncomfortable, but I wouldn't let a pom nip my hand for petting him any more than I'd let my horse kick at me because he didn't want his feet touched. I don't get mad, I just find an effective solution to correct it and apply it till it's not an issue anymore. In this case, I'd put the dog off the couch and send him on his way. If he nips at you and you leave him on the couch, he's claimed the area and taken control. Putting him off lets him know that isn't going to work, because it's your area. Your girlfriend needs to reinforce all of this and work on it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I notice when people interact with animals is they expect them to understand English. They'll sit there and tell a dog, horse, etc... not to do something, or explain how they've done wrong. The animal might understand you're upset, but not why. It's important that you make it clear. So I see people that tell their dog not to get on the couch and why they shouldn't, they may even be body blocking them, but the dog is trying to dodge around them the whole time. There is a look you'll recognize when the dog has actually given in. I know Cesar Millan can get this type of submission fairly quickly and dramatically, with the dog laying down. I've never had this happen, but I can easily tell when my dog is saying &quot;Okay, I'll stay off the couch&quot; and when he's whispering under his breath, &quot;until your backs turned&quot;. I don't let my focus off of them till I feel like I've gotten the first. The correction is pretty much useless if he doesn't feel you mean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as far as the sleep issue, the dog needs to be out of the bedroom. The barking thing will hopefully resolve itself with the other issues as you work with the dog, but you need your sleep and there really isn't much of a fix at this point. It's great that he is quiet when told. I think you need to crate train him and either put him in the crate in another room or maybe in a bathroom. Either way, he should be just fine and won't wake you up. You can try having him in the bedroom later and see if he's improved. I honestly think it'll clear up eventually, because right now, he doesn't see leadership and thinks it's his role to guard the house/territory. Once he thinks you're on the job, he'll quite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also help if you had a friend with a mean cat. You could take him to their house and let him get wailed on a little. Our cat broke a 90+lb lab of chasing cats. He'd been chasing city cats for a few months. He was tearing around in our yard and we were on the back deck. We let our cat out to say hey to everyone. The dog saw him and you could see him buckled down and come running at him. The cat bowed up and took half his nose off. The dog started yelping and hid behind his owner's chair. The cat was still huffing and turned and jumped onto the rail. The dog thought this was a tactical retreat and ran to the rail bark, where the cat took off the other half of his nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He came to the house a couple of weeks ago and kept running to the front porch and back barking. We finally figured out the cat was sitting on the top step leading to the water dishes and the dog refused to go up. We walked him over with him hiding to the outside, keeping us between him and the cat and when the cat came down the stairs, he ran up to get water. So that could give your cats a major boost. They also need places they can get up to where he can't climb. It'll make them feel more confident and if you stay on him all the time about focusing on them, they'll either get friendly or they'll get up the confidence to roll the little dandelion puff. Good luck with your dog issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-06-29T19:19:54.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9665" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-29T19:23:13.133" Score="4" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a soft coated wheaten terrier and he is extremely reactive, when in training I was told it is a eye contact issue with dogs (they stare him in the eyes and this starts the problem) but this isn't his only problem, he reacts to barks from outside, gets hyper when he sees children because he wants to &quot;play&quot; (akin to tackling if I'm not careful), previously barked and stared at a hamster he presumably wanted to eat, and does react as expected when he sees a cat running away outside (he wants to chase). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I know he has a strong prey drive, and I know he desperately needs to be socialized, and i do intend to socialize him (when  get him back, he's currently with my parents)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as of right now i have foster dogs and I absolutely love fostering but I'm not entirely comfortable having a foster dog with him because he can turn on a dime with a dog. An example being that he likes my parents dog but because she barks at him when he is riled up he has bitten her (once.. not bad enough for vet but did see some blood) to get her to back off (it never seems like his intent was harm but because she was in his face while he was anxious he bit her). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I'm wondering if i could foster a cat instead of a dog. I think this would help socialize him and be a great benefit to both of our lives. I have my kitchen sectioned off with a cat friendly gate (opens and closes for people and has a cat &quot;door&quot; too small for him) and was theorizing having cat food, and litter box in there along with maybe a bed or something so that in the beginning the cat would stay in that room until we were all comfortable opening the cat door to let it interact with him, and then he would be on a leash and the cat would be able to run back to &quot;safety&quot; if it felt threatened. Honestly, I have no idea if he will even care about a cat, but the worst that he would do is chase it and bark a lot at it but once calm I think he could learn to be &quot;nice&quot;.&#xA;I just want opinions from cat and dog owners on if this is insane, or unfair to a cat. (not looking to do this for approximately 4 months)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5330" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T14:10:21.623" Title="Considering fostering a Cat with a highly reactive dog, do you think he would learn to calm down and would it be fine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9642" CreationDate="2015-06-29T20:20:22.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chewing is fine but excessive eating may be harmful if there are glues/dyes in the cardboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavior could indicate a number of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hunger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tooth irritation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having fun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sensing a pleasant taste.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being bored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pregnancy is going to temporarily change her mood/psyche a little and as a result there may be more or less of the above items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T20:13:11.387" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:13:11.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-30T04:05:35.740" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope the question is valid for this group. Unfortunately, I am not English native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone refers to &quot;tetra&quot; what species do they have in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=tetra&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image search on Google&lt;/a&gt; gives many different results, also the list on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;tetra&quot; article&lt;/a&gt; from Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm asking because in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6114/207&quot;&gt;that question&lt;/a&gt; it is not said (however the species name is not important in the question)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="207" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T04:45:27.280" Title="Language problem: what is tetra?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9668" CreationDate="2015-06-30T04:45:27.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most commonly, The Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) . These are small freshwater fish, very common in aquariums; inexpensive, attractive, and fairly easy to care for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T04:45:27.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9665" CreationDate="2015-06-30T07:32:29.053" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, socialisation is something that &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; to start early, and a dog that's people-socialized may not be dog- or cat-socialized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with lots of dogs, feral cats that generally are fine when left alone (and prefer warning swats to going all claws out) and someone around full time to take care of them. The &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; I'd hope for still is my dog ignores cats and vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider a few things. From what I've read about soft coated wheatens they're generally affectionate, but highly energetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're also &lt;em&gt;hunting&lt;/em&gt; dogs, and while there isn't a citation for it, the Wikipedia article &lt;em&gt;specifically&lt;/em&gt; mentions how &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-coated_Wheaten_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they may have issues with cats and puppies if they aren't properly socialized&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider that a foster cat might be from a less than tranquil background, and you have a highly energetic dog that at best wants to play, and at worst considers the cat to be prey and... it doesn't sound like a great idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our terrier occasionally gets into fights (though, it's rarer as he's gotten older). We ended up training him to run away through positive reinforcement (started with getting him to back off on a leash, now he actually runs away &lt;em&gt;on command&lt;/em&gt; and sits down next to the nearest human). It's pretty uncommon I guess, but it's probably a good idea to work on the reactiveness and aggressiveness before bringing in an unknown quantity to the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2020-06-11T11:38:04.557" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T11:38:04.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9674" CreationDate="2015-06-30T08:36:08.657" Score="1" ViewCount="7822" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the following skin condition look like mange or an allergic skin condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XNkxU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;White spot and bald patch&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the scaly skin and loss of coat, I have recently noticed a few white spots on the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is from a shelter and originally had very bad mange. We can't seem to cure the skin problems that she has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have tried lime dips, use antiseptic shampoo weekly and rub coconut oil into her skin weekly also as a natural remedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also use Advocate pipettes on a monthly basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is difficult to take her to a vet as she has an intense fear of humans, especially males - and her regular vet left for another town a couple of months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5333" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T23:39:28.650" Title="Diagnose Mange in Pitbull Terrier Rescue Dog - Bald Spots and White &quot;pimple&quot;" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9648" CreationDate="2015-06-30T10:30:34.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;100% effective prevention should be obtainable by putting a diaper on your dog before walking past the area.  There are multiple source for 'dog diapers' in pet supply stores and online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This related question may also offer insight &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2571&quot;&gt;How can I eliminate set-in dog urine scent from a carpet?&lt;/a&gt; on cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T10:30:34.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9680" CreationDate="2015-06-30T19:14:22.073" Score="2" ViewCount="523" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is Royal Canin cat food &quot;Urinary SO 33&quot; the same as &quot;Urinary SO&quot;?  I can't find any solid information on what the difference between them might be, or if it's just a re-branding.  Urinary SO 33 is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petflow.com/product/royal-canin-veterinary-diet/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-feline-urinary-so-dry-cat-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;still for sale&lt;/a&gt; in some places (note name on the package in the picture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5336" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T14:18:26.060" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T14:18:26.060" Title="Is Royal Canin Feline Urinary SO 33 the same as Urinary SO?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9671" CreationDate="2015-06-30T23:39:28.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Skin problems can be especially troublesome, believe me, I understand. We had a household skin problem for several months, and the cat who had it the worst just trembles in fear anytime a stranger looks at her. Taking her out of the house and get prodded by veterinarians several times was horrific for her. On the upside, she feels so much better now that she's not licking herself constantly, and the visits didn't affect her behavior long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting a Specialist Opinion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We eventually took the family (all four cats) to a veterinarian dermatologist. A regular vet (perhaps a mobile vet who can come to your house) should be able to give you a reference to one if you live near a big city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't live somewhere that has access to veterinarian specialists, try calling around and finding out if there's a local veterinarian who practices telemedicine. In this practice, a general vet is able to electronically send pictures, xrays, bloodwork, and any other relevant information to a specialist for a diagnosis. Vets often subscribe to these services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my emergency clinic has access to a telemedicine service. When I took a cat in who was short of breath, the emergency veterinarian x-rayed his lungs and thought it was asthma, but wasn't sure. He sent it to a specialist and the specialist said it was congestive heart failure (it was about 45 minutes from when he was x-rayed until we had the specialist diagnosis). The treatments for the two conditions is completely different, and his responses (and later visits to a cardiologist) confirmed that he really had a heart problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making the vet visit easier for your dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wherever you take your dog, make sure that you notify them ahead of time that your dog is terrified of people. A good vet should be able to streamline your visit so that there's less stress on your dog. For example, if you call when you arrive in the parking lot, they can come and get you when they have an exam room available. This allows you to wait in the car (controlling your environment) and go straight into an exam room, bypassing waiting in the waiting room with a bunch of other strange humans and animals. You can also request that the veterinarian does the tasks that the techs/assistants normally do, which will cut down the amount of coming and going of strange humans into the exam room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some of my cats I'll take a blanket with me that smells like home, and let them hide in the blanket whenever they aren't being examined. The vets have been really understanding (including the cardiologist who sat on the floor while I had Hunter on my lap under a blanket) to explain his health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-06-30T23:39:28.650" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-06-30T23:55:16.487" Score="5" ViewCount="7698" Body="&lt;p&gt;Romeo is a Siamese mix (he's a rescue and has a &lt;em&gt;tiny&lt;/em&gt; white dot on his chest, so he's not purebred). The rescue I obtained him from (&lt;a href=&quot;http://va.siameserescue.org/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Siamese Cat Rescue Center&lt;/a&gt;) said he is a chocolate point, but he also had a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pandecats.com/x/pictorial-case-history-of-persian-kitten-with-fever-coat-pe.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fever coat&lt;/a&gt; while he was in rescue (it is almost grown out!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently showed his picture to a friend and she said he looks just like her seal point, which made me wonder what the difference is between a chocolate and seal point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since colorpoints tend to get darker with age, I'll note that Romeo's age is not known, but he had not reached maturity (developed secondary sex characteristics) when he was neutered (August 2014), so he's younger than three years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EOwl6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;sleeping cat with either seal or chocolate colorpoints&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T17:51:34.273" Title="What's the difference between chocolate and seal colorpoints (Siamese)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9675" CreationDate="2015-07-01T02:20:07.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are official show-quality/purebred definitions of each of the &quot;point&quot; colors. You can easily find the whole list and photos of corresponding cats on the web, but to answer your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seal-point: fawn body, dark chocolate colored points, paw pads and nose leather dark brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chocolate-point:  ivory body, milk chocolate points, paw pads and nose leather rosy brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference becomes fuzzy in random-bred 'meezers, and as you know body color shifts with age and environment since it's temperature-sensitive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the photo is accurate, and my screen is accurate, and the lighting isn't misleading, I'd say that's a seal-point coloration.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-07-01T13:30:09.140" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T13:30:09.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9679" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-01T08:51:27.787" Score="5" ViewCount="6401" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's normal that cats like to tear cardboard into pieces, but &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats has been doing this since she was a kitten (now 4 y.o). She never eats the pieces, she just rips any cardboard boxes into pieces all over the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T04:42:00.720" Title="Why do cats love to tear apart cardboards?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9673" CreationDate="2015-07-01T13:51:19.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I reached out to &lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/RoyalCanin/status/616241158033833984&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Royal Canin on Twitter&lt;/a&gt;. While this isn't a verified account, it is the account that Royal Canin lists on their webpage, so it should be trustworthy and written by someone from the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The representative said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is simply just a package change. You will only see it labeled as Urinary SO now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T13:51:19.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9687" CreationDate="2015-07-01T15:53:21.280" Score="9" ViewCount="934" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time, and in what appear to be completely random intervals not apparently connected to any particular events, my dog decides to rub itself in other dogs' feces when I take it for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a particular reason for dogs to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, and aside from just pulling on its leash when I see it's about to happen, is there a way to prevent them from having this behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask this second question because I have no idea what kind of instinct leads a dog to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3847" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T14:44:36.620" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T14:44:36.620" Title="Why do dogs rub themselves in other dogs' feces?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9681" CreationDate="2015-07-01T18:10:57.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Broken instinct. Wild predators roll in herbivore dung to mask their scent. Dogs remember that this is something wolves did, but get the details wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T18:10:57.093" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9675" CreationDate="2015-07-01T20:43:51.397" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a bit of confusion and possibly some exploitation about these names.  The genetic trait that produces black fur on a cat comes in three variants:  Black, Chocolate, and Cinnamon.  Chocolate is notably lighter brownish color than Black.  This variant of the gene is rare, and thus valued in breeder circles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Colorpoint gene that tweaks the dominant color to provide the distinctive dark points does so by a temperature-dependent lessening of color on the animal. Cooler areas are closer to the natural color, warmers are much lighter.  Thus black is reduced to a brownish color at the points that breeders call Seal Point - possibly because it sounds better than black point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat with the Chocolate gene and Colorpoint as well will have the original light color lightened even more and be very pale. This is true Chocolate point, and is also rare.  Probably in most cases Chocolate Point is being used either as a synonym for Seal, which is wrong, or to boost the value of a pointed cat. I have a cat called Chocolate Point which is really Seal Point now that he is grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at your photo, I'd say this is a Seal for sure.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T20:43:51.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9400" CreationDate="2015-07-01T20:53:17.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are in a difficult situation because the normal aversion to being groomed in a cat unused to it is going to be enhanced by the presence of actual mats.  The pulling of the skin is annoying to even the mildest animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A way you can get out of this trap is to get the cat shaved with a Lion cut by a groomer once, then use the time to get her used to you grooming her on a short, mat free coat.  I did this with my cat, and a picture of him is still the first image on Google search for &quot;shaved tuxedo cat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar vein you could just try cutting out some or all of the mat without worrying about how it looks, and then grooming what is left.  I rescued a Persian that had to have about 80 percent of her body shaved and she had a combover of hair along the back covering up her bare belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T20:53:17.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-01T22:01:26.163" Score="11" ViewCount="1912" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently gotten a laser pointer to play with my two cats (mother and son). The son is overweight and I thought the laser pointer would help with giving him a bit of extra exercise to help him lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed though that sometimes when playing he will stop then hiss or growl at the laser dot while sitting/laying still for a few seconds. Can anyone explain this for me please? I would hate to think that this is his way of telling me he's had enough and I have been misunderstanding him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:08:00.830" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:08:00.830" Title="Why is my cat growling at the laser dot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9681" CreationDate="2015-07-01T22:17:51.737" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Keshlam has it &lt;em&gt;mostly&lt;/em&gt; correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog's ancestors, wolves, will do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://nywolf.org/home?p=7580&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scent Roll&lt;/a&gt; in order to show/bring the scent to another wolf &quot;Hey look at this!&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Broken instinct, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for predicting, you're doing the best one can. I might recommend a strong &quot;No&quot; while you tug, also, to help curb the undesired behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you allow your dog to scent roll, sure, he'll roll in poop a couple of times, but he won't be trying to roll in every pile of poop there is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="3847" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T20:11:20.680" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T20:11:20.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9507" CreationDate="2015-07-01T22:28:10.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biscuits to bulk it out it, meat paste (pate) to glue it together, then freeze it. It'll occupy your dog for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-07-01T22:28:10.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9691" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9698" CreationDate="2015-07-02T18:07:13.797" Score="4" ViewCount="2184" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a large koi carp (I would approximate 50cm long) that has an injury to its head — a gash which has left a triangular flap of flesh about 4cm wide. There is no sign of blood, and the inside of the gash is white. This injury occurred within the last 36 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Photos are below, and if necessary, I have a video that I can attempt to upload if it provides a clearer visual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, does an injury of this type require medical attention? If so, how would one go about treating this wound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Consider me a complete newbie in fish care, as somebody else used to care for them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gOPDb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fish Injury - Photo #1&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dSAdF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fish Injury - Photo #2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R01NS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fish Injury - Photo #3&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T11:39:24.020" Title="Does this koi carp injury need attention, and how would I treat it?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9665" CreationDate="2015-07-02T23:21:15.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your question, I can see two main issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You say your dog is highly reactive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to direct eye contact, most dogs will see this as a threatening gesture. Most dogs will not maintain eye contact with other dogs they meet. Some are fine with it, but it sounds like your dog is not. A lot of people with working dogs, such as terriers, border collies, and huskies say their dog is highly reactive and rightly so. These breeds and all other working breeds were bred for a purpose and to be stimulated by doing work most of the day. I would suggest, in addition to slow socialization and desensitization with other dogs, people, and animals, to take your dog to do ratting. This is a fun sport for dogs that requires the dog to search through piles of hay to find a target-not a real rat. This can take anywhere between 30 minutes to and hour and it's beautiful to watch your dog doing what it was bred to do and seeing them so happy in doing their job. Meeting the needs of your breed and researching what the breed was originally bred for will provide so much enrichment and stimulation for your dog and will help with his energy levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You say your dog will chase a cat given the chance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terriers were originally bred to be ratters and to drive out and kill small prey. It is possible that your dog views cats as something to chase and drive away. For this reason above all, I would strongly advise against getting a cat and &quot;hoping for the best.&quot; I do recognize that you want to section off part of your house to allow the cat to have its own space and to retreat to if your dog becomes too reactive. Cats are highly territorial and usually when they are brought into a new house, they are highly stressed as it is and will frequently start marking the house with urine. Add on top of this the stress of having a highly reactive animal or human around the cat and you are asking for behavioral issues from both the cat and your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-11T14:10:21.623" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T14:10:21.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9691" CreationDate="2015-07-03T11:39:24.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. It does need treatment. As with an injury to any living being, this may get infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to quarantine this fish immediately, and begin treatment. First of all, move this fish to a separate tank, such as a spare fish tank, or a tub. Use water from your original fish tank in this (do not use fresh or new tap water). Set up an air-stone in the tank. Take out some of this water in a small bowl, and add some rock salt to it. Rock salt should be added in the ratio of about 1 tea spoon per 10 gallons (of the water in the tub). Salt will prevent some infections. Add this salted water gradually, and if your fish shows signs of stress such as thrashing or gasping, stop adding salt and add some water to dilute. Be advised that Salt stings, and you koi might get stressed out a bit. Any discomfort for more than a minute is when you should stop adding salted water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case any secondary infections are observed, use Merck Methylene blue. You can add 5 ML for each 10 gallons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since adding salt and methylene blue to your original tank will cause unwanted stress to your other fish, and also since Methylene blue kills the beneficial bacteria in your filter, quarantining is a must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-07-03T11:39:24.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-03T22:33:10.880" Score="4" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious if anyone has experience with GPS trackers for pet (cat in my case) location history. We're interested in knowing where she likes to wander, but not in locating her in realtime remotely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What features are useful, and which features sound good on paper but end up not working or being helpful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5354" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:34:43.473" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T08:21:54.983" Title="GPS tracker for pet location history?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;gps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-04T00:41:36.053" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends dog looks like the iris hasn't formed properly. I can see what I think is the very back of the eye or even his brain. I see gray with blood vessels. I watched the dog and tested to see if the affected eye could see and he can, although I have not tried from a distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something I should be worried about? The dog is an 8 month cross bull mastiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5355" LastEditorUserId="236" LastEditDate="2015-07-15T10:22:58.330" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T10:22:58.330" Title="Dog has gray with blood vessels in eye" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9700" CreationDate="2015-07-04T02:35:46.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really, really, REALLY doubt that there's anything wrong here. I think you're just seeing the retina in a normal eye.  If you insist on worrying, ask the vet next time you bring the dog in, but seriously, if the dog has &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; seen a vet they would have noticed anything that drastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A touch of congenital cataract is also possible, but since we don't have a photo we're guessing. If the vet isn't worried stop worrying. You can ask the vet at the pup's next checkup.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-07-04T05:33:11.680" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T05:33:11.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9826" CreationDate="2015-07-04T04:28:07.280" Score="1" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is currently sleeping with her head on my leg, and snoring quite blissfully.  While I am certain that she doesn't have apnea (she only snores occasionally, and, as a 74 pound adult Labrador retriever, she is only 4 pounds overweight), it made me wonder if dogs can even have sleep apnea.  Can they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:  I'm not asking if my dog has apnea (she definitely doesn't), I'm only asking if dogs in general can get sleep apnea.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastEditorUserId="5356" LastEditDate="2015-07-17T22:56:18.920" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T17:35:42.007" Title="Can dogs get sleep apnea?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9646" CreationDate="2015-07-04T04:46:55.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to remember is that it is easier to train a dog to do something, and harder to train him to NOT do something.  Find a decent trainer in your area.  Second, as the previous answer said, you need to exercise the dog until he can't move anymore.  Make him run until he just wants to sleep for hours and hours.  Third, put him in a dog kennel when he is supposed to be in bed/asleep.  Don't give up yet!  He can be helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2015-07-04T04:46:55.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-04T05:07:35.860" Score="3" ViewCount="994" Body="&lt;p&gt;It Looked like a quality fish tank. I bought it new in box from walmart. Worked great for 45 days or so and now I see water coming out at bottom of front panel at seam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is losing about 5 drops of water per hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an emergency or should I just pick up a new one next weekend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5357" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T00:13:51.490" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T04:11:07.727" Title="How urgent is it to replace a leaking fish tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-05T06:12:29.300" Score="1" ViewCount="6358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one and a half year old male Dalmatian cross who manages to remove the collar from my one year old  female staffy cross pug and then destroys it. He undoes it from the link then pulls it off and chews it up. Any chance he gets when we aren't looking he does this. We've been forced to put a chain collar on the staffy when we are at home and a regular collar on for walks but I don't like the idea of chains on dogs. &#xA;Both dogs are from different adoption centres and we've had the male longer. The staffy/pug has only been with us for about a month. Other than this they get along fine and have no issues. &#xA;I'm wondering if its a dominance thing for him to remind her that this is his house or something like that. Has anyone had similar issues when introducing a new dig into a house with one already there? Im confused and buying collars every week is a pain and expensive. I also don't want either dog to develop a complex. &#xA;Thanks, Dane&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5362" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T10:16:20.080" Title="One of my dogs keeps pulling off and destroying my other dogs collar. Why does he do this?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9713" CreationDate="2015-07-05T14:52:59.117" Score="8" ViewCount="892" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 days ago I got a very tiny kitten (1.5 months old). Since then, I'm constantly trying to improve its manners, and I must say that I'm doing great so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, I hear many friends and acquaintances saying how many problems they've got with their cats. They say &amp;quot;I also had no problems when it was little but you will see when it grows up, haha&amp;quot; and give no further advice but &amp;quot;make sure you teach it until it's not too late&amp;quot;. I found the last one quite reasonable and that's why I came here to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to ask you for some basics I need to teach my kitten in order to avoid to most common problems with cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I teach my kitten, and most importantly, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5365" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T22:31:37.107" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T22:31:37.107" Title="List of important habits to teach a young kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-05T17:55:13.573" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband and I had 4 fish and a shrimp, we had to travel for a week and came back to 3 white decomposed bodies of fish and one, I guess, leftovers of a body... Yet, the shrimp was still alive! Now we came back and found the central AC broken and I assumed the heat killed them, but the temperature of the aquarium is 25 degrees Celsius only; tank size is 75L. We've had 2 fish for over a year and the other 2 were like a month old; also, we had an auto feeder working, so they were fed for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what could be the reason they all died together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5367" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-08T23:31:39.853" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T23:31:39.853" Title="All my fish in reef tank died" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9711" CreationDate="2015-07-05T18:41:16.673" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most important lessons -- outside of litterbox, which luckily comes naturally to most cats with just a bit of encouragement -- are practical ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Some surfaces are Not For Kitty. Food prep and serving surfaces are off limits in my house. One of the bookshelves likewise because it usually isn't stable enough. The cats learned this, after being told &quot;NO! Down!&quot; A few times. They tested periodically over the next year or two to make sure the rule was still in force -- there's a nice sunny spot on the dining room table so I can't entirely blame them -- but at this point they know and follow the rule. At least, I haven't caught them in a few years, which is all I can reasonably ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &quot;This is a scratching-allowed surface, that isn't.&quot; Scratching stretches the claw muscles and helps shed worn layers of claw, as well as asserting &quot;This is part of my territory&quot;, so cats do need an acceptable place to scratch -- scratching post or corrugated  cardboard or something similar. But they also have to understand that the good furniture is Yours, and they can't scratch on it. Again, telling them No firmly is often enough; if necessary pick them up and move them to the acceptable surface. Mine will sometimes now pause in mid-stretch and look at me to check that it's ok to finish the scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Electric cords are not cat toys. Give them other toys to play with, and tell them no when they go after something they shouldn't. They'll figure out what you're trying to teach them as long as you're consistent and firm about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) House policies re sleeping people. Mine had to be told not to chase each other across me in their nighttime games, but I'm fine with their cuddling, wandering in and out, and occasionally walking across me or lying on top of me. (We compromised on their kneeding &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; belly -- the bigger one in particular tends to lean hard on sensitive spots, but I find the fact that they want to do so cute and flattering so I usually put up with it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) The human will sometimes handle your toes, examine your teeth and ears, turn you upside down,  toss you in the air and catch you, or otherwise do something odd. He's weird but harmless; don't panic. (I deliberately get them used to some of this under the guise of play so they're easier to handle when I need to trim claws or do something of that sort.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Most humans are harmless. Some give good backrubs and/or give treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) Humans are thin-skinned; try to avoid scratching them. Cats instinctively use their claws the way we use our fingertips. They need to learn when doing so is unnecessary or should be avoided -- when sitting on laps, for example, they should trust us enough not to have to hang on. I've found that gently pulling their paw-tips back is a pretty good &quot;please don't poke&quot; reminder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other details, but they tend to be more specific to particular households. Mine understand &quot;excuse me&quot; as equivalent to&quot;you're in the way; move&quot;. We've reached fairly specific agreements about my desk. And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Re the nipping question in the comments: it depends. I've known adult cats who like to nibble fingertips and do so gently; the only hazard is that an unwarned human may startle, startling them in turn and causing a harder bite than expected. So, like the claws, this &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be negotiated, but you need to give the cat very clear signals about what is an is not acceptable, which means drawing a line with some buffer space around it, and recognizing that some cats need stricter controls than others.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-07-09T18:00:36.643" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T18:00:36.643" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-05T18:57:52.807" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I re-homed an 8 year old cat a couple of weeks ago and he had some problems with over grooming and pulling his hair while he was in the shelter. The vet thought that this was probably due to stress, but once we took the buster/elizabethan collar off, he started grooming one of the previously affected areas for about 5 minutes, occasionally pulling again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not seem stressed now and his skin has healed over, but his hair has not fully grown back in these areas. Is it likely that he is licking and pulling out the hair in these areas due to being itchy as the hair grows back and is there any way we can discourage this behavior without him having to wear the collar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2015-07-05T18:57:52.807" Title="How can I stop my cat over grooming &amp; pulling hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ClosedDate="2015-08-10T20:38:02.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2015-07-06T01:34:00.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this occassionally as well. Either to get my attention when outside the window, so that I may let her out too.  Or,  pawing at the door mirror in the bathroom for she sees the reflection of the sink in it. In which has been found empty. I automatically check the sink when she does this. I often leave it full for her. Perhaps she thinks the reflection is another sink in which she can't get too. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5369" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T01:34:00.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9395" CreationDate="2015-07-06T09:19:41.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that it might be that your dog is having trouble seeing you or recognizing your scent, thus the reaction. Dogs easily get agitated when they are feeling something off so I recommend that you get your dog examined by a vet as soon as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T09:19:41.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9708" CreationDate="2015-07-06T10:53:15.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's doing it for fun. Bitey neck is a normal dog thing to do, chewing leather/fabric is a normal activity for a young active dog.  Leather that smells of his new best friend is even better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT you need to be aware that dogs that do this can and have got caught up with tragic results.  The dog wearing the collar can be strangled.  The dog pulling on the collar can get his jaw caught in it and break his jawbone. This is not a safe way for dogs to behave. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than put the staffie in a chain (definitely a choking risk if the dalmatian gets his jaws caught on it), you could either have the staffie not wear a collar at home for a while (this will probably stop once they get a bit older and more sensible) and reward with toys for not doing this, or if you are worried about her not having id, get a lot of cheap lightweight ribbon to hang the tag on, replace it whenever you need to and just put her 'real' collar on for walks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they play bitey neck on walks, you might want to swap to a body harness for walking just in case.  I know of someone whose dogs got caught playing bitey neck on a walk and only survived because they happened to have a gardening tool in their pocket to cut the collar (once the collar gets twisted and both dogs are fighting to breathe, it becomes difficult to undo buckles)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T10:53:15.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9461" CreationDate="2015-07-06T11:12:57.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend it. I lived in Arizona for a while and we had a pool. We fenced it, but also put the dog into the pool from different sides and made sure he always knew where the exit stairs were. So if you really have to, my recommendation is to only do it if it's a pool where the dog can exit by him/herself, and ideally fence the pool. It is common that dogs die because they drown in pools, so I'd be careful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5371" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T10:20:30.377" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T10:20:30.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9722" CreationDate="2015-07-06T13:21:49.680" Score="3" ViewCount="8736" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my first time to post a question here. Since it is rainy season in our country, the temperature in my fish tank is a bit lower than before. I want to increase the temperature in my fish tank but the problem is my fish tank do not have light apparatus and heating apparatus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can think of is to put a hot water in my fish tank with the fish in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 opaline guoramis, 8 rosy barbs, 6 black tetras and 2 platys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe or dangerous to my fishes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5351" LastEditorUserId="5351" LastEditDate="2015-07-06T15:50:55.720" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T13:49:30.733" Title="Is it possible to put a hot water (boiled using the gas stove) in a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9720" CreationDate="2015-07-06T18:00:33.973" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;More dangerous than it is safe. Certainly very stressful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guoramis are quite difficult to keep and it is most likely that they'll suffer the most (you listed your fish in decreasing order of hardiness). If you put hot water into your tank, the temperature in certain areas will be extremely hot until the heat diffuses - basically, a pH spike, but with temperature. This is a water change that you'd be performing, which has its own connotations for chemicals and pH, but the temperature will only last for a little while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't see how it's worth all the stress to your fish. Aquarium heaters really aren't that expensive and are standard equipment, anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really, really feel you need this, your safest bet might be to put a lamp near the tank, facing so that the light doesn't shine in the tank, but the heat from the lamp can be near the tank. Some bulbs are hotter than others and if you're going to do this, you need to keep a close eye on the temperature so you don't get into a situation where the water has heated to boiling temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T18:00:33.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9712" CreationDate="2015-07-06T18:13:05.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of things can go wrong. Here are some ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pH or ammonia spike : The larger the tank, the less likely spikes are, but all of my catastrophic failures like this were due to spikes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Power outage : If the power went out, all electrical components would stop functioning, like the heater, filter, aerator etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feeder malfunction : Especially if you haven't tested it before, it could easily have malfunctioned, putting way too much feed or way too little. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Domino effect : It's important to realize that decomposing fish bodies cause all sorts of issues and unhealthiness, so a single death could have caused a cascading effect&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T18:13:05.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9704" CreationDate="2015-07-06T18:19:53.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not an emergency, but it's likely the leak will get worse over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick up a new one next weekend. Remember to cycle your tank, and once you have everything transferred, return the defective one. Walmart is quite good about honoring defective returns and all that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="495" LastEditDate="2015-07-06T22:58:34.620" LastActivityDate="2015-07-06T22:58:34.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9704" CreationDate="2015-07-07T04:11:07.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest replacing or repairing as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a danger that the leak will grow. 5 drops per hour sounds quite big speed. This is a positive feedback: the larger leak is, the larger pressure on the tank and the larger leak will be. You risk this can happen when you are not at home or at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pressure of water being above the leak is the pressure causing the defect. You say it is at bottom, so the leak is under pressure of almost all water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the tank is standing on a wooden cabinet, water can make wood wet and deform it, without possibility to repair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As rlb.usa has written, buy a new tank and use the water from the broken one, so you will move all necessary bacteria to the new tank. If possible, take also the filter you already have to the new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T04:11:07.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9712" CreationDate="2015-07-07T04:27:21.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Addition to rib.usa's answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that typical fish could survive a week without eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably there was a power outage, which stopped all electric devices from operating. The time was long enough all the bacteria in the filter died and the filter became a source of poisonous substances. If the power was reconnected automatically by your utility, all these substances have been injected to the tank causing fish to die. Salt-water fish are much more susceptible to bad conditions than fresh water ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there was &quot;central AC broken&quot;, which I understand as there was a short-circuit in your tank. Perhaps the heater is down - maybe current flow killed the fish. I had such an event twice, however, all fish survived and did not even noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is also possible that there was a disease. Maybe some insect dropped to the tank and was eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, if this was nothing with the equipment, you might never learn what had happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="207" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T04:27:21.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-07T04:45:49.303" Score="3" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have pet budgerigar; one white in color(female) and other parrot color. Taken two months back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding Parrot Color budgerigar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When i insert my finger in their cage; the parrot color bird sits on finger and also comes out and allow to touch and fly in room and goes in his cage himself. He sings and dances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding White budgerigar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;White budgerigar always fight with parrot color budgerigar ; throw him down from stick; bite him. If he is eating; she bite him and start eating food and do not allow him to eat. Also, When i take finger to her she runs away. She try to bite finger. She shouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can i change nature of white budgerigar or should i change it with another female?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5377" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T04:45:49.303" Title="Why budgerigar couple fights each other?" Tags="&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-05-17T15:15:31.930" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-07T05:19:31.463" Score="3" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fiancé and I have a 1 year old spayed female Rottweiler/Boxer mix, and she's been experiencing spontaneous clear fluid vaginal discharges. Sometimes it seems to be a slight mix of urine, but it's otherwise clear and odourless, with a slight viscosity (like very thin saliva). The volume ranges from droplets to pancake-sized puddles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been taking her to pee when it happens, and she typically does, however it's never urgent once outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've given her yogurt and cranberry extract, and that seemed to curb it for awhile, but not entirely; the effectiveness seems to have worn off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've yet to take her to the vet due to costs; she's in no pain and is otherwise a very healthy dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas? We'll be planning a vet visit in the near future, but I figured I'd try my luck here first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5378" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T11:03:21.600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T11:03:21.600" Title="Female dog, spontaneous clear discharge" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9720" CreationDate="2015-07-07T06:05:06.547" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, yes, it is &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt;, but I wouldn't advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling water changes water hardness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Temporary hardness is mostly destroyed by mere boiling of water, when bicarbonates are decomposed, will produce insoluble carbonates or hydroxides, which are deposited as a crust at the bottom of vessel. &lt;a href=&quot;http://vlab.amrita.edu/?sub=2&amp;amp;brch=193&amp;amp;sim=1548&amp;amp;cnt=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water#Temporary_hardness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;related Wikipedia link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling water can increase its pH:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;boiling the water would also have removed any dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. Dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will form a small amount of carbonic acid, which can significantly lower the pH of very soft water. The fresh water would then have a lower pH than boiled water. &lt;a href=&quot;http://hotwatermagic.blogspot.com/2013/04/destructive-myths-dissolved-oxygen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about temperature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you pour hot water directly to the tank, you risk that a fish will swim just under the hot water. Maybe some dirt will raise up because of water moving the bottom, which will cause fish to think it is food or something else worth examining. Even if this water is getting cooler relatively fast, it is still hot and can harm the fish, if it will not manage to escape. Maybe consider inserting another tank (made of glass if you are able not to destroy this with temperature differences, or metal) in the aquarium, so there is no risk that any fish touches the hot water, but this take space of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can calculate what amount of waters of what temperature you should mix to have the temperature of the sum, because it would be the weighted mean. So the final temperature T will be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;T = (T&lt;sub&gt;t&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;sub&gt;* &lt;/sub&gt; V&lt;sub&gt;t&lt;/sub&gt; + T&lt;sub&gt;h&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;sub&gt; *&lt;/sub&gt; V&lt;sub&gt;h&lt;/sub&gt;) / (V&lt;sub&gt;t&lt;/sub&gt; + V&lt;sub&gt;h&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where T&lt;sub&gt;t&lt;/sub&gt; is the temperature in the tank of volume V&lt;sub&gt;t&lt;/sub&gt; , and T&lt;sub&gt;h&lt;/sub&gt; is the temperature of hot water of volume V&lt;sub&gt;h&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you have a &lt;code&gt;100 l&lt;/code&gt; of water in your tank of &lt;code&gt;23 °C&lt;/code&gt; and you add &lt;code&gt;1 l&lt;/code&gt; of water of &lt;code&gt;98 °C&lt;/code&gt; this would lead to &lt;code&gt;101 l&lt;/code&gt; of ca. &lt;code&gt;23.7 °C&lt;/code&gt;. This would be true if the waters mix fully, however they will never do. The warmer part will get cooler because of air and glasses. In fact, you will never reach stable temperature of &lt;code&gt;23.7 °C&lt;/code&gt; in the whole aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would agree with rib.usa that it is in fact not worth effort. The water will soon cool down because the air has lower temperature and you will need to repeat the process, probably just after an hour. But your tank does not have an infinite volume, so you need to take some water out. Every time you risk a stress for fish and you change water parameters, as shown above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would invest and buy a heater. They have thermostats and keeping right temperature is no effort from you. I think you can buy one for about 30-50 USD. If you are afraid of cost - I have 100 W heater which works about one third time a day, let's say 8 hours. This makes about 0.8 kWh a day, or 24 kWh a month. I don't know what is the price of energy in your country, in mine it is about 15-20 US cents. So the total monthly cost is about 5 USD. You can calculate yourself how much money would you spend to warm water by other means and how much time you are going to waste for preparing this water (time is money, too, remember).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="207" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T13:49:30.733" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T13:49:30.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="367" CreationDate="2015-07-07T09:16:35.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A harness won't stop him pulling, you'll need to re-train him to do that. Here's a youtube video that might be helpful for that: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueE1S1k74Ao&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueE1S1k74Ao&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a harness will stop him from damaging himself so you can keep him safe while you  retrain him.  Many dogs - particularly energetic types like boxers - will pull on the lead hard enough to damage themselves, even if it does hurt a bit, the excitement of the moment overwhelms them.  A dog pulling on a collar can damage his spine or thyroid gland. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have personal experience of this : one of my lurchers used to be walked on a collar all the time: I didn't think it was a problem because he rarely pulled on the lead, was mostly walked offlead,  and if he did pull it would just be a brief tug because he'd reacted to another dog barking at him, or something like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he started having serious shoulder and back pains, I didn't make the connection.  I rested him, he had pain relief, x-rays, nothing conclusive was found, but the problem kept recurring every so often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was only when I ended up with a spare harness and thought I'd walk him in that just to make use of it that I realised that walking him on a collar and having him very occasionally yank on it when he saw something exciting had been doing a lot of damage. The painful episodes stopped, he was able to walk further, seemed younger and clearly a happier dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now walk all my dogs on harnesses when I'm using a lead.  Now I think about it, I'd never attach a lead to a toddler's neck, that seems obviously risky, and they don't make seatbelts that go around people's necks either - yet some dogs could be going up to 30mph by the time they hit the end of a 6ft lead, so similar level of impact.   My dogs do have collars, but only to hang their tags on, they are never used with leads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastEditorUserId="3820" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T09:22:45.217" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T09:22:45.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-07T09:52:17.163" Score="2" ViewCount="1378" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my parrot's eyes appears partially milky and he is unable to see from that eye. The other eye is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5077" LastEditorUserId="3078" LastEditDate="2015-07-09T10:04:10.147" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T10:04:10.147" Title="My parrot has a milky-type appearance in only one eye, and he can't see out of it" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9732" CreationDate="2015-07-07T10:35:28.940" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks to me like your parrot has a cataract in his eye. Basically, it's a decrease in opacity of the lens in the eye, which appears like a milky white cloud, that can lead to decreased vision or blindness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually this is a sign of age, but that typically means in both eyes. If it's just the one, there &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be additional health concerns. In either case, seeing a vet that has avian experience is simply a good idea here. There's really no treatment for cataracts (though surgical lens removal is a possibility), but if the cause is something other than age, you want to stop it before the other eye is affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, a bird can still lead a good and happy life when blind, it's obviously just a bit more work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-07-07T10:35:28.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-07T13:04:47.480" Score="2" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog of mixed breed (fox terrier/labrador), a domestic cat and recently bought a baby ferret.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how to introduce the ferret most importantly to the dog, so I can eventually let the ferret out of the cage without putting a leash on the dog or closing the dog in another room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I let both of them in the garden and the dog looked inquisitive. Although he did not try to kill or hurt the ferret he was playing roughly with him, and the ferret is fearless so obviously he tried to bite him. I am scared that the dog would someday snap when bitten (dog is usually a wuss and friendly and almost never bites).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5379" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-07-07T14:19:24.157" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T20:30:38.047" Title="How to introduce ferret to other pets?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-08T02:49:37.487" Score="6" ViewCount="6054" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't something that sucks out detritus from the bottom be better than something that can only pull floating stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reasoning:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A wet/dry filter will usually feature an overflow, whereas other types of filters (hang on back, canister, etc..) suck water out of the bottom of the tank via an intake. I'm assuming that the intake will filter out more solids than an overflow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I understand that a wet/dry system would detox the water better, but you'd end up with detoxified water with a lot of particulates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The articles I'm reading indicates that a wet/dry system does a better job of keeping your tank clean/clear, which to me is counter intuitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T09:15:45.500" Title="Aquarium overflow vs bottom of tank intake" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-08T21:17:56.867" Score="10" ViewCount="24592" Body="&lt;p&gt;For over 8 years I have had a pond in the corner of my home. It is of a triangular shape, about 10'&amp;nbsp;x12'&amp;nbsp;x15' (3&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;3.6&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;4.5&amp;nbsp;m) by two feet (60&amp;nbsp;cm) deep. For years I have had two koi, random other pond fish and some carnival won goldfish. The last three years or so, frogs have found a home there, too. I have a waterfall and a couple plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had any problems and I do very minimal maintenance with no issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a week ago, a fish or two died. For the next couple days, I lost two to three a day. On the third day, I had water tested and it was fine. Next day, more dead fish. I drained &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of the water and refilled, also added stress coat/chlorine reducer from pet store. Next day, more dead. One koi was about seven inches (18&amp;nbsp;cm) and he held out long, but finally died, leaving just the one koi left. Two days later, that 12&amp;nbsp;inch (30&amp;nbsp;cm) koi died. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When no fish were left, suddenly the water got extremely clear. I saw nothing wrong with the fish, except they showed signs of a lack of oxygen. They would float like dead till you attempt to net them, then they would swim. No spots or visible redness was to be seen around gills. Water has been pumped into a fountain the same all year, so why would O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; levels suddenly drop within a week enough to kill all the fish? Water was not warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5386" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T07:22:47.047" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T07:22:47.047" Title="Why did my established pond suddenly have a mass death event?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-08T21:54:50.770" Score="4" ViewCount="612" Body="&lt;p&gt;He has done this off and on throughout his life, but it's getting worse. He is crate trained, but will still pee in it when I leave. I take him out before we go, and always tell him bye and that I will be back. But I can even be unloading groceries and be gone for 2 minutes and he will pee. I'm at my wits end. I've been told that he has severe anxiety. Is there anything on the market that I can give him to ease his anxiety when I leave?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5387" LastActivityDate="2019-08-21T21:33:28.167" Title="8 year old boxer pees in his crate every time I leave" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-09T07:58:44.923" Score="2" ViewCount="17368" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2watts led bulb and I am planning to use it as a lighting in my aquarium of volume 20 gal. My question will be can I use it without harming my fishes? And in general can I use any bulb as a lighting for my aquarium? Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5351" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T01:54:23.523" Title="Can I use any bulb in lighting my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-09T19:57:36.197" Score="11" ViewCount="817" Body="&lt;p&gt;A co-worker mentioned they bought a Chameleon but after that weekend said it died. This week she got another one and said that it also died, this time within 4 hours of being brought home. Is this a common occurrence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know why these Chameleons may have died so quickly - specifically whether or not there are known common problems that may lead to a chameleon dying within a day or two of being brought home, assuming at the very least the basic care practices are followed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="3752" LastEditDate="2015-07-09T20:03:23.763" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T08:22:39.370" Title="Why might Chameleons die soon after being brought home?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;&lt;chameleons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2015-07-09T20:42:52.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had the same issue last couple of years. I thought instead of making icecubes and treating etc also adding more water to the tank, I filled three 2ltr water-bottles and froze. No worries for the smell. Also using one at a time in the tank allowed me to have a standby ready anytime I needed. Seemed to do the trick. I lost no fish. I should say though that I have goldfish so are quite hardy to cold not so much to heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5395" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T20:42:52.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9720" CreationDate="2015-07-09T22:12:11.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A way to reduce the stress is to take a cup of the hot water, then several cups out of the tank itself, discarding one, and mix them completely before restoring it to the tank.  You could also pull out water from the tank to heat, thus not having to worry about the water being 'new'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you either add enough tank water, or heat up the water less you can get the energy into the tank without having it shock the fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for example, if you have 1 part water that is 50 degrees warmer, mixing it with 9 more parts from the tank will now just be 5 degrees warmer, and presumably not that risky for the fish.  And you can just repeat as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-07-09T22:12:11.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9749" CreationDate="2015-07-10T16:01:44.730" Score="1" ViewCount="1006" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pug is one year old and for the past year he has been getting itchy ears every once in a while. When I look into his ears they are red and sometimes hurt from all the scratching that he does. Is this normal? What can I do to get rid of this and prevent it from coming back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5394" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T21:04:31.173" Title="What can I do about my Pugs itchy red ears?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-10T19:48:19.567" Score="3" ViewCount="1492" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with three cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From time to time some of them jump on top of my car in the garage. The problem is that the car paint gets scratched (its getting worse everyday) and a lot of cats steps (footprints) goes to the paint, so I have to wash the cars every weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fence is not a possible solution, nor blocking all garage access (it's a open space).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on how deal with this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5401" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T03:08:08.693" Title="How can I stop my cat from jumping on top of my car?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9747" CreationDate="2015-07-10T21:04:31.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog I know periodically has this problem. Typically one goes to the pet store and buys a Dog Ear Cleaning Solution. You squirt the liquid onto the ear, keep it in the ear canal, and massage the liquid as long as the bottle says. You can even hear it if you listen carefully. The redness should start to fade dramatically within 24 hours and after cleaning, the dog tends not to itch nearly as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also lotions that you can buy for allergy relief, but you'd need to check if it's okay for ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is related to allergies, so the long-term solution probably involves a vet trip and investigating your home and considering different types of food. For example, when I don't vacuum regularly, the dog's allergies flare up, and I was able to cut down on allergies by switching to a different type of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T21:04:31.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9740" CreationDate="2015-07-10T21:19:10.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Derrick K has the answer, first. You want to check with the specs on your aquarium. Sometimes the hood will say right inside it, or outside it, or include a sticker. You might also be able to look up the part online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; use any light bulb in any light socket, but it's not a good idea. You want to stick within the parameters of your particular equipment. You have to remember - this is something that's going to be on 8 or so hours a day constantly, and it can get pretty hot and become a fire hazard if not within the parameters. It can also heat the water excessively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T21:19:10.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-10T22:08:02.680" Score="8" ViewCount="5464" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my cat always leave behind food, and refuse to eat it later when combined with new food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm not overfeeding...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not giving my cat more than she can eat, but rather she seems adamant to leave behind her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After several days, she will end up with an oversupply of left-overs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Its not the bowl or comfort issues...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially researched it, and I thought perhaps she did not like her wiskers touching the side of the bowl -- hence she would not eat from the fringes of the bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps she is spoiled...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was not the case. I tried bunching her food together to the middle of the bowl and topping it off with a very small amount of new food, perhaps &quot;tricking&quot; her into thinking the whole pile was new. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to reject anything that was previously a left-over, and there is no tricking her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems likely she is sensing something by smell that I am not fully grasping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She is possibly making health decisions, and her food is not good in her eyes...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food is &quot;Friskies&quot; and I had switched to fish-based ingredients when I was told her poultry-based food was causing a rash that she had (I had been inspecting it's cause for a year or so)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can surmise, based on what I know of my cat, is she is instinctively rejecting portions of her food based on her own sensitivities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But how do I know for sure? Is this common cat behavior?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to stop wasting food as well as get to the bottom of this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An extra note...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have a cute little feud over this. She says I spoil her, whereas I think the cat is probably having a real problem I don't understand. Yet on that &quot;spoiling&quot; level, if I ever cook fish she is extremely interested in our meal and begs a great deal. Of course I feed her the fish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spoiled kitty?&#xA;Malnourished kitty? &#xA;Deranged kitty?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5402" LastActivityDate="2019-02-28T01:49:37.313" Title="Why does my cat reject half her food? Is it stale? How can I fix this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9751" CreationDate="2015-07-10T22:51:54.273" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simplest explanation is that she is not hungry enough to eat all you give her. I don't follow the logic that she &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; eat that amount, therefore she must.  Appetite levels can change, especially as a cat ages and activity drops.  If the fish is less palatable, she might only be eating what she needs to, especially if she can beg tidbits at will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give her somewhat less and save the rest for the next meal.  Only if she starts losing weight is there much real concern.  Refrigerate the part-can until the next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-07-10T22:51:54.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-11T02:10:43.690" Score="4" ViewCount="1245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at building a 15&amp;nbsp;ft&amp;nbsp;wide&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;40&amp;nbsp;ft&amp;nbsp;long (4.5&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;12&amp;nbsp;m) glass solarium / conservatory (same thing, called differently depending on where you live). This will be used about 90% for raising vegetables and about 10% as a place to sit and relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on using zero pesticides / insecticides and I'm looking at alternative methods of preventing damage from insect infestations. What are some animals that I could &quot;release&quot; into the solarium that would control pests but not damage the vegetables too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My roommates have a bearded dragon, and overall I quite like reptiles, so snakes or lizards might be a good fit, but I'd consider other critters as well. There might be hanging rows of plants as well as plants on tables, so something that could climb or fly would probably be good. I can provide additional feed and care to the critters if necessary, but ideally I'm trying to make this like micro-ecosystem and be mostly self-sustaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2794" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:26:23.933" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:26:23.933" Title="Reptiles or other critters for insect control in a greenhouse?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9753" CreationDate="2015-07-11T09:28:57.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The root of the problem here is that if you can't keep insects out of your greenhouse, you can't keep out the insects that have been poisoned by your neighbors and/or the plant supplier, but have not died yet.  As outlined in the answers at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1788&quot;&gt;Can I use a gecko to get rid of a cockroach infestation?&lt;/a&gt; if you feed poisoned insects to your reptile your reptile will be poisoned.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of really good answers to this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/2150&quot;&gt;What is the best way to grow vegetables without using chemical insecticide?&lt;/a&gt; on our sister site on Gardening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a interest in creating a sealed, self contained ecosystem &lt;a href=&quot;https://space.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Space.SE&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Biology.SE&lt;/a&gt; would be good resources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-07-11T09:28:57.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-11T23:19:54.750" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 female (100% female) mice, the one I had first absolutely hates the new one. (Which is weird because they are both definitely females) I went ahead and brought the exact same cage for the new mouse as I did for the original one. The original is fully grown and can not get out of her cage but the new one is smaller and can squeeze her way through the bars. What should I do as my mother just spent $40 on this and I feel bad telling her to buy me a new one. As she grows will she not be able to fit through the bars like my other one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5406" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T14:14:13.770" Title="My baby mice is getting out of her wired cage what shall I do?" Tags="&lt;cage&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9748" CreationDate="2015-07-11T23:25:59.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do this to keep warm. Does she/ he mainly do this when your engine is still warm? It's probably just a type of heat source in there eyes. Try putting a sheet over your car just a plane cotton sheet so even if she does jump on it it wnt get scratched or you could not let them in the garage if they are inside cats. If they live in the garage well just try the sheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5406" LastActivityDate="2015-07-11T23:25:59.750" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9748" CreationDate="2015-07-13T03:08:08.693" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only real way to stop a cat from getting on your car is to put the car in a garage. I know this answer isn't what you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are vindictive, and if they decide to mess with your car in particular, there is no amount of booby-trapping, wrapping, or protecting your car from vindictive kitty-claws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theoretically you could trap/export the loose kitties to the local animal shelter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T03:08:08.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2015-07-13T08:11:54.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For saltwater tanks it's easy: there is a lot of current in the water. If there would be any detritus, in would already be floating and it would be sucked up by the overflow. When you look at saltwater tanks, nothing is floating. So there isn't any real debris to be sucked up by a filter inlet deeper in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A surface skimmer or overflow filter will remove what is one of the things that do need to be removed: proteins. Foam will be produced at the surface and that will get sucked up by the overflow. Anything in the water column itself isn't a real problem and if it's small (nitrate, nitrite, ...) it will be floating in the water and it will also be sucked up by an overflow filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A wet/dry system also filters water just like other filters would (you can put any filter media in) but as an added bonus, it also skims the water surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In freshwater tanks, filter inlets are typically placed deeper in the tank because floating debris is more common due to less current.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also rarely need a surface skimmer in a freshwater tank because they are only used to remove oily film and that's a sign of lack of maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under gravel filters (what is typically called a bottom filter but I know you don't mean this) is a completely different story as they will remove debris but also a lot of nutrients that plants need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3783" LastEditorUserId="3783" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T13:31:11.097" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T13:31:11.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9755" CreationDate="2015-07-13T14:14:13.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a cheap/used aquarium or glass/plastic habitat with a netted top until she grows large enough that she can't fit through the bars on her intended habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't take more than a month or so for her to grow large enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T14:14:13.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7825" CreationDate="2015-07-13T19:28:59.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a money-saving alternative, try sticking some water in the food dish and let it sit. The food will now be very mushy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this might help, it is a trick used when dogs won't eat their food otherwise. I know it sounds gross, but dogs like novelty, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-13T19:28:59.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9770" CreationDate="2015-07-13T20:55:33.533" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently began dating a girl who I plan on being with indefinitely, hopefully. Anyway, her dog had torn something in it's leg before we began dating and it has not healed. He is normally protective of her and now more so due to his leg. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can gain the trust of Sam?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5412" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2015-07-14T18:01:28.363" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T18:01:28.363" Title="Gaining the trust of an injured dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-13T23:39:44.623" Score="6" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is very nice and has never shown aggression away from home. He loves to go to work with me, ride in the car and go anywhere. He is very mild mannered and has never shown any signs of aggression away from home. When we get home, it is completely different. I can't even pet him without him flaring his lip and showing his teeth. We have gates that keep him confined to the family room and kitchen (which is a very large space), and when I step over the gate he usually barks and runs at me growling and barking. Many other things can make him angry at home, such as looking at him too long, picking up something from the floor, asking him if he would like to go outside, and sometimes even feeding him or putting water in his bowl. He is a combination of many breeds, including Rat Terrier, Jack Russell, Chihuahua and Corgi. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5415" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T03:38:23.007" Title="Why is my dog only aggressive and trying to bite when we are at home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1834" CreationDate="2015-07-14T05:18:21.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always had at least one cat. I have never had a problem with them biting.The first time they bite me ,I bite them gently on the yip of their ear.if the first time does not work,  I bite them on the tip of their ear again gently but making sure they feel it . It works every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5416" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T05:18:21.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9762" CreationDate="2015-07-14T12:10:31.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you immediately see the injury and take a treatment from a vet doctor.&#xA;•   Give some nutritious food to dog.&#xA;•   Socialize with him. &#xA;•   Go for a walk with him&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By all these Dog c can trust you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5346" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T12:10:31.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2285" CreationDate="2015-07-14T15:16:24.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found ground up corn cob (dried) that I found at bimart in the bird section to be a great substrate for my bearded dragons cage. ( I have a open cage wood and chicken wire wrap so air is always circulating. ) its easy clean up cause it acts like kitty little absorbs smells well.  When wet it plums up and disolves ( i tried it popped a few in my mouth to test) if the dragon eat it it won't harm him. No flavor to them so my dragon doesn't eat it. Although he did try some at first. After a few month just remove the cobs trash them or composite them and put fresh cob in.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T15:16:24.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9762" CreationDate="2015-07-14T15:23:13.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a study that shows that dogs are more trusting of people who are helpful to their owners. I'm sure that you're not abusive towards your girlfriend, but stating the obvious that being nice/helpful to her will help gain the dog's trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonding activities are also helpful, like a class from your local kennel club, feeding/treating the dog, walks, visiting the park, or how about a nice relaxing doggie massage? Don't forget to smile! Dogs read expressions and smiling is huge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not something that happens overnight, so it may take a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T15:23:13.267" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9762" CreationDate="2015-07-14T16:48:14.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would work on training games with him. Honestly, this is going to sound a lot like the advice I'd give someone who wants a better relationship with his girlfriend's kid, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your hands on some easy to work with treats. Little jerky-type treats are best. Tear them into small pieces. If he already knows commands like touch, sit, down, just walk him through those. He doesn't need a treat everytime, just ever few moves. And then you can invent some fun things to add in -- shake, or jump through a hoop. One thing our first trainer taught us is that training games are a great way to build a relationship with an animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he doesn't know &quot;touch&quot; or &quot;sit&quot; yet, there's no time like the present to start. Touch is the easiest. You want him to practice nudging your hand with his nose when you say &quot;touch&quot;. To get there, you're going to use basic positive reinforcement. Hold a bit of treat between two fingers, show him the back of your hand (so he can see the treat) and say &quot;touch&quot;. When he nudges your hand to get it, &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; say &quot;Yes!&quot; in your worst possible &quot;why do people always use that stupid cheery tone of voice with puppies&quot; tone. Yes!  And then turn your hand over and give him the treat. Do it over and over. Touch. Yes! Treat. Touch. Yes! Treat. Spend five minutes on this every time you go over to her house, or every day, whichever is more frequent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: people do &quot;touch&quot; differently. If your gf already has a system, use hers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's barking at you or growling, remember that eye contact can be very threatening for dogs. So when you aren't playing touch (and even when you are), don't look at him. Look away. And if he's not even ready for &quot;touch&quot; you can play a game that &lt;a href=&quot;http://betternaturedogtraining.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jeff Stallings&lt;/a&gt; calls treat/retreat. Same stash of little bits of treat. Ignore the dog, or pretend you're ignoring him, and alternate between giving him a treat from your hand that he has to come get, and tossing it over his head so he has to walk away from you to get it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T16:48:14.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9259" CreationDate="2015-07-14T20:10:02.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of vets now have done away with the ear clipping, but instead leave a blue/green tattoo on the belly by the hindquarters. Mine has it, but you can't see it due to her long fur. If you take the cat to the vet, they will shave the area and if they see the tattoo, they will not operate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5420" LastActivityDate="2015-07-14T20:10:02.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="60" CreationDate="2015-07-15T12:07:42.547" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the reason toys are in your shoes is purely an accident. Cats tend to move very fast when playing with toys, and in my experience the toys end up in the shoes because of that. I'll often find my cats with their entire arms inside my shoes trying to get a toy out that they lost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5424" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T12:07:42.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-15T12:19:56.347" Score="4" ViewCount="1752" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased a gecko from someone and being a new reptile owner I immediately did research on shedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked at its feet because it seems to be the worst problem: it has balls of skin around its feet and I looked up that you could help it by getting skin off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got some of it off but then he lost a toe. Should I continue to help even though it may lose toes (its toes look messed up) or should I not help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5425" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-06T18:33:29.457" LastActivityDate="2019-03-06T18:33:29.457" Title="My gecko lost a toe - should I help it shed" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9779" CreationDate="2015-07-15T13:52:59.327" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family owns a one year old pet Visla named Rivet. He has always had energy out the wazoo, sometimes it can be fun but other times it is just plain annoying. Does anyone have any ideas on how to control the energy? My goal is not to eradicate the energy at the source but rather train him to calm down on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5412" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T17:49:35.757" Title="How to calm an energetic dog" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9774" CreationDate="2015-07-15T16:35:58.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You ripped off its toe while helping it shed? It's not entirely clear if that's what happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you know that the shedding is problematic, you should never help them. When it starts to bug them, they'll rub themselves up against anything abrasive they can find. That way, you're giving control of shedding to them. If they really need help, soak them ahead of time to loosen everything up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that he lost a toe sucks, but providing you've kept it clean, it shouldn't be life threatening. Take it to a vet if you want to cover all your bases, but I've seen some pretty rough looking geckos that got into fights en-route (my dad sold reptiles wholesale), and they were otherwise perfectly healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll say it again. DO NOT help them shed by pulling at the loose skin. Give him a piece of wood to run against, and a good soak, but don't manually pull the skin off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's been on for awhile (&gt; ~3 weeks), there is solution you can buy from pet stores that helps loosen sheds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried still after that, take him to a vet. Given he's lost a toe, that wouldn't be a terrible idea anyways as a precautionary measure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="2651" LastEditDate="2015-07-16T00:56:38.087" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T00:56:38.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2015-07-15T18:51:54.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of your finer particles that need removed will float in saltwater, with the proper flow will go into the overflow.  Also, said system will have a cleanup crew (crabs, pods, worms) to eat the particles that don't make it to the surface. That's what they are for. If the system contains coral, it should also have a heavy, random flow. That would assist in suspending particles to get to the overflow where they can be filtered out. Overflows also assist in adding oxygen to the water column by the flow itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention if this system has a substrate. That may affect where you draw water from. Especially depending on the size of the substrate particles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have something drawing water from the bottom of the water column only, the surface of the water is not getting cleaned. Also, I would think there should be some sort of filter in front of the intake to prevent fish and what-not from going down the drain, which would create something else to maintain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many tanks built for saltwater have a layer in front of the overflow itself with additional intakes at the bottom to help draw from the entire water column.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Detoxifying the water can be done many ways. Wet/dry, sump with a skimmer and mechanical filters, bio-balls, live rock, GFO, carbon, etc. It all depends on what's in the tank. If the tank has SPS, it's critical PO4 is kept at a lower level than what would be required with fish only. If the tank has a lot of large fish, such as tangs, poop removal is most critical since they are essentially nitrate factories (unless you like algae).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article discusses surface layers and agitation and why it improves the health of your aquarium: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/6/beginner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/6/beginner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3081" LastEditorUserId="3081" LastEditDate="2015-07-16T02:42:17.090" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T02:42:17.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9775" CreationDate="2015-07-15T23:14:23.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finding an outlet for energetic behavior is a great way to achieve a calmer dog. Making a habit of walking/jogging your dog regularly as well as engaging them with a task such as a dog sport or job can channel this energy. This could include dog agility, obedience, hunting, hiking and backpacking and much more. &lt;a href=&quot;http://primalpooch.com/complete-list-recognized-dog-sports/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Primal Pooch&lt;/a&gt; has a thorough list of dog activities by category. Vizslas are active dogs and typically require more than a 30 minute walk daily. Taking an hour or more to exercise a vizsla daily is necessary in order to achieve a calm dog state of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once an activity has been found, it is important to only reward wanted behavior. It may sound obvious, but many owners inadvertently encourage excitable behavior. For instance when a dog is excited to go on a walk as soon as the owner grabs the leash the owner may reinforce excitable behavior if he immediately takes the dog on a walk. It is important to wait for your dog to calm down before rewarding him with something he sees as enjoyable such as a walk. This encourages active behavior not excitable behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://ferndogtraining.com/rewarding-the-wrong-state-of-mind/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FernDog Training&lt;/a&gt;, it is important to be sure your dog is actually calm when he is rewarded. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/canine-body-language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; suggest looking for clues such as when the dog sits, rests with his ears back and relaxed or relaxes his mouth Learning more about dog body language can help assure your dog is in a calm state of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog is acting calm you reinforce the behavior with an enjoyable activity or/and treat. If the dog is still overly excitable and restless it is possible your the dog needs more regular exercise or more vigorous exercise. This will help maintain a healthy active dog that will be athletic as well as calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T23:14:23.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9775" CreationDate="2015-07-15T23:30:36.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My goal is not to eradicate the energy at the source but rather train him to calm down on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you start, decide what you want the &quot;calm&quot; command to be called. I use &quot;settle down&quot;. Also decide if you want this command to have your dog sit or lay down, but one or the other is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is really hard to start training if your dog is super hyper already, so start when he has a medium or low energy level. If he is not up already, call your dog to come to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have your dog sit/down as you preferred. Have him stay there, and just watch him. You have to be careful to watch, because I have found dogs to try to &quot;do ALL the things I know&quot; in hopes of a reward. When your dog is calmer IMMEDIATELY, say the command softly and gently, and praise him softly, gently, smile wide, and pet softly, gently, methodically. Of course, your dog is not going to go from shaking in excitement to silent statue the first time, so just watch for improvements, and build from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep repeating the process and gradually you'll be to the place where you only need to say the command, and only give praise when the dog does so. If the dog does not calm down, it is very important not to give up. Just wait, even if it means standing awkwardly at a street corner for five minutes. Remember to use the command in different situations, so that your dog can perform in the house or if meeting a baby in the park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog knows the command, you can also teach your dog similar commands like &quot;be gentle&quot;, or &quot;be nice&quot; when accepting treats or interacting with others (say, children). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has always had energy out the wazoo, sometimes it can be fun but other times it is just plain annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of times dogs are excited because their owners are excited. (And often it is because the dog is excited). It's a vicious cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It always helps for you to be a more predictable, calmer, more confident person as well. Your dog will notice and be less anxious. Dogs also really like schedules, so if you're more of a spontaneous person, being more ritualistic can help a dog be calmer, because he know what will happen next. This is never an answer anyone expects to hear, but it is very true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it can only do so much. Dogs have pent up energy, too, and walks are what will take your dog from an 11/10 on the energy scale down to a 5. The calmer, more confident, more scheduled/ritualistic can take him down to a 3 or 4. Generally speaking, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T23:30:36.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9504" CreationDate="2015-07-15T23:40:45.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;An easy improvement is to figure out what's tearing up the fins and remove it immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Usually plastic plants (cheap) are the culprit; silk plants (expensive) do not have this issue. I don't know of any live plants that cause this issue. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it's not plants, are there any bullying fish in the tank who could be picking on him? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If neither of those, he probably has Fin Rot, a bacterial infection. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving very little and not eating could be a wide variety of things, but an easy thing to rule out is constipation. Put a single pea in the tank, it will help him poop (if that is the issue). During this time when he is sick, do not overfeed (uneaten food pollutes the water, making all fish health worse), in fact, feed half as much as normal until he starts to eat normally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-15T23:40:45.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-16T00:50:56.670" Score="7" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard to avoid fillers and look for meat as the first ingredient. Which ingredients should I look for and which I should avoid and why when looking for a nutritionally superior dog food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T10:32:15.187" Title="What should I look for in a nutritious dog food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9504" CreationDate="2015-07-16T14:15:15.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what kind of tank you mean by hallow, but I can tell you that the main problem with your fish is improper habitat. Beta fish don't &quot;sleep&quot; on the bottom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with beta fish is one created by the pet industry. They're trying to sell stuff to make money and most don't regard the well being of the fish as primary. Beta's can gulp air, so the pet stores figured that they can put them in a super small container that would kill any normal fish due to lack of oxygen exchange. They'd suffocate to death. Now a beta doesn't cost that much, but it's not just the beta. It's the little tank, it's the food, it's the water test kits and treatment drops for chlorinated water. Because betas are billed as a low maintenance pet that appeals to parents with kids who want pets, but don't want to take care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is that a beta fish can survive in the horrible conditions they are typically kept in, but they'll quickly degrade and die. Yes, they can gulp air, so the low oxygen content won't kill them outright, but the smaller the area of water the quicker toxins build up. Even changing the water frequently will lead to problems, because you're constantly removing good bacteria with the bad and introducing new water that has to reestablish good bacterial colonies. That's not even counting that most people have chlorinated tap water that isn't that good for fish, even when treated. People start having happen, what you've experienced. They get a healthy looking fish in a tiny plastic cup, bring it home and put it in a giant &quot;comparatively&quot; bowl, and it starts sitting on the bottom, loosing color, fins become damaged, and it soon dies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm not lecturing your or saying you've done anything wrong. I just wanted to explain the situation as I see it. That's just explaining why what's happening is happening. The solution is to get the fish a bigger tank with a full lighting set up and a continuously running filter. This will establish good bacterial colonies, filter out the toxins, and oxygenate the water. Your fish will perk up and start looking a lot better. I bought a 5 gallon hex tank from walmart in the past for a baby tank, but I've also used it for a beta, and it did great. It played in the water return and was very active. I found the beta I put in my 35gal tank to be very active as well, constantly swimming the entire tank in all columns of the water. I hope this has helped with your issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T14:15:15.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9775" CreationDate="2015-07-16T17:49:35.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever seen &lt;em&gt;The Dog Whisperer&lt;/em&gt;? Cesar is full of advice on the use of calm energy. Here is a super-distilled summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Begin with exercise to burn off the dog's excess energy. Do this before attempting to train so that he/she won't be too excited to pay attention to you. (Do keep your dog hydrated though!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maintain a state of calm in yourself. Dogs are extremely empathetic, so when they observe your calm state, it will be easier for them to attain it themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not give a reward unless the dog is in a calm state. If he's sitting calmly, but leaps up when he sees the treat, pull it back! He needs to understand that he does not &lt;em&gt;take&lt;/em&gt; the treat from you, you &lt;em&gt;give&lt;/em&gt; the treat to him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2015-07-16T17:49:35.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9792" CreationDate="2015-07-16T19:13:41.077" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the dog is quite easy-going. During food time and when the bowl is full with food, it gets really aggressive, growling, ready to bite even the owner! And this happens every time (twice a day)! It's about a year old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several methods have been tried without any success, e.g. taking away the bowl for a while or even missing a meal. How can this situation be handled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5318" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T21:29:49.913" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T21:29:49.913" Title="How can I cure food agression in my dog when preliminary techniques have failed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9789" CreationDate="2015-07-16T21:57:26.780" Score="8" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;The family Border collie is pushing 14 and her vision has deteriorated quickly. Ever since her vision got bad, she has had the tendency to try to sniff whatever anyone is holding when they come over to pet her. I figure she's trying to figure out what we have, so I always let her sniff whatever I've got, whatever it is. And before you ask, I don't walk up to her with food I don't intend to give her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I letting her sniff stuff she won't be interesting in teasing her, or am I just allowing her to know what's going on around her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5430" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T02:48:39.413" Title="Is letting my mostly blind dog sniff everything I'm holding teasing her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9763" CreationDate="2015-07-17T02:43:21.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've got a mix of a number of high energy, frequently aggressive breeds.  It sounds like the dog is defending territory it has claimed as its own, but the other issues you mention suggest that you seriously need a very good trainer.  Positive reinforcement is key.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the behaviors you have described are more or less common, but they are also absolutely unacceptable.  A decent trainer should be able to help.  I recommend that you find one as quickly as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T02:43:21.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9787" CreationDate="2015-07-17T02:48:39.413" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It isn't teasing at all - it's actually very sweet of you.  She can't see the world around her, so she has to rely on other senses. You're just giving her the opportunity to understand her surroundings in the best way she can.  If anything, it would be mean to withhold this kind of information from her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, she's being curious, and you are making sure that her curiosity pays off.  There is nothing cruel about helping your baby keep track of what's going on around her.  She appreciates your help, I'm sure.  You sound like a great doggy parent.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T02:48:39.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9784" CreationDate="2015-07-17T17:15:14.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called resource guarding. Proceed with caution! You need to own the bowl, and the dog needs to understand that. Put the dog's dinner in another bowl, keeping that in a place that the dog cannot reach. Put a small quantity of food in the dog's normal bowl, ask for a sit or a down, and then give it to the dog. When the dog is finished, pick the bowl up while praising the dog, and repeat: small quantity, ask for a sit or down and feed. Occasionally, put something better, such as a small piece of meat, into the bowl while refilling it. Repeat the cycle until the meal is finished, and then give lots of praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog growls or tries to get at the main bowl, put it out of sight completely and leave the area. Give them another chance after a few minutes the first time it happens. After that, wait for their next meal. I found that it helps to talk to the dog while they are eating to reinforce that your presence is there. Proceed slowly, but after several days or weeks (depending on how aggressively the dog was acting), you can add some light touching while the dog is eating. If that goes well, you can start to toss good things into the bowl while they are eating, eventually getting your hand closer. You are teaching the dog that good things happen when you are reaching for their bowl or taking it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I cannot stress enough that you need to be careful. If the dog has a bite history where he has broken the skin, get a professional behaviorist to help before you try this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-07-17T17:15:14.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1601" CreationDate="2015-07-18T10:49:52.250" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vegan diet is not suitable for cats. It could result in a deficiency of taurine, vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; and arginine. Your cat might have health problems like cardiomyopathy, blindness, feline lower urinary tract disease, urinary obstruction, bladder crystals, etc. If you are still feeding her on vegan diet, then to ensure her good health you are advised to take her to a veterinarian check up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5441" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:40:58.323" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:40:58.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9798" CreationDate="2015-07-18T13:10:52.487" Score="2" ViewCount="891" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I feed a stray dog? Currently he is fed milk twice a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this enough for him or does he need any other nutrients?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-18T21:28:46.530" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T21:29:47.403" Title="Can a stray dog be healthy on a diet of only milk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-18T15:57:22.490" Score="8" ViewCount="4329" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (female) left us 4 days ago and didn't came until today. When she came back she was dirty, didn't want to be touched, didn't want to eat or drink even though it was very warm outside. After like 2 minutes with us, she started consistently meowing and giving us signs she want to go back outside again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Is there something wrong with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5443" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:26:19.360" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T08:10:22.410" Title="Cat comes back after 4 days, meows loud, and wants to go back outside again" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9796" CreationDate="2015-07-18T17:07:08.370" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most adult animals are lactose-intolerant; milk is not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog food would be the obvious recommendation. Is there a reason you can't do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-07-18T17:07:08.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9796" CreationDate="2015-07-20T02:50:38.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Keshlam noted, lactose intolerance is a factor for canines, but it's worth understanding that dogs are omnivorous and require a number of nutrient sources for proper health and survival. These include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water. While there is some in milk, the ability to make use of it depends and it's unlikely enough. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Proteins. Milk actually has pretty good protein levels, but the amino acid profile may not be sufficiently providing all essential amino acids.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fats. Depends on the milk, but it's also not the best kind of fats anyways and the volumes are very low.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates. Very low in milk, not a significant source of carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vitamins and minerals. Milk has some, but not all, so supplements would be critical.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ASPCA has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/nutrients-your-dog-needs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;good information on canine dietary needs&lt;/a&gt;. The short story on that, though, is that dogs need a much more varied diet than milk. Puppies, for a frame of reference, usually start weaning after 4 weeks. There's a point where the dietary needs of the puppy cannot be met from the milk provided by their own mother. Based on that, you can extrapolate that milk from another species is even less likely to be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T21:29:47.403" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T21:29:47.403" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-20T08:44:25.733" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the warmer weather, the 'walkies duty' hasn't lifted. When going out for longer walks on hot days, I've been taking with me a bottle of water and a bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I thought I'd ask - what's your 'rule of thumb' of how far you're going before you'd consider taking a dog drink with you? I've tended to assume up to about an hour walking, and 30m running/playing. Is this too long? (On a warm day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And are there any better solutions to taking a backpack with water and a (fold up) bowl with us? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T14:29:56.973" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:29:56.973" Title="Warm weather walkies and water" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-20T18:45:02.010" Score="4" ViewCount="740" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8-week old cocker spaniel - poodle mix. I'm told she's had her first parvo shot out of three. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a relatively well-to-do neighborhood with very, very few stray dogs. We have a front yard and a back yard, with the backyard completely gated and dog-proof. The gate joins the house where the front and back yard meet, probably about forty feet between the sidewalk/road and that gate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a couple reasons, we really didn't want to let the puppy go to the bathroom in the backyard a few minutes ago (minutes-old tree spray, probably innocuous but playing it safe). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got lucky and the puppy didn't want to go to the bathroom before the spray dried out (really super hot here). But if she &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; (because this will probably come up again): &lt;strong&gt;What is the real chance my puppy gets parvo&lt;/strong&gt; if I had let her relieve on my front lawn? How common is it among dogs, and do more dogs come that far up on my lawn than I think? How much does that first shot do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="756" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T12:57:11.523" Title="What is the real chance my 8-week puppy gets parvo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9801" CreationDate="2015-07-20T18:45:48.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We usually do as you've said a backpack with water and a collapsible bowl, however there are usually plenty of places to get water for nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We take our guy on 30-60 minute walks on occasion as he's still young and he is a long haired breed, however if we know our route will take us to rivers, lakes, streams etc, we won't always take water, but allow him plenty of time to stop and drink by the water. A bonus is many shops and pubs around us have dog water bowls outside, and one lovely house has one as well for passing walkers to allow their dog to drink!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it depends on how much you want to carry, but if you can't guarantee a source on route a bottle would be necessary, as a hiker I don't notice the extra weight much. You could invest in a bottle with the bowl attached that hook via a carabiner, but these are prone to leaking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point to make is if you can't keep your hand on the floor (tarmac, sand, bare earth) for a good few seconds in hot weather, don't force your dog to walk on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it better to take it and not need it, than leave it behind and find yourself wanting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-07-21T06:34:52.653" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T06:34:52.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-20T19:42:33.043" Score="4" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'm going off to college next year and my mom is at work for the majority of the day. Because of this, we got our dog (she's 3 years old) a new friend to keep her company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We brought home this new puppy (she's almost 3 months old) and my older dog seems to be a little bit frightened by her which is understandable since my older dog has hardly been around other dogs so she's also more of a human lover than a dog lover. Our puppy is used being around more dogs compared to humans so she's always trying to play with my older dog. I, myself, haven't been around many dogs and never more than one at once for a long period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they play, they seem to play rough but I looked everything up and they don't seem to be fighting, just playing. Because my puppy is a Jack Russell terrier mix, it does a lot of biting. I've read that breed has a tendency to bite which explains why she does so often. Because she doesn't have the majority of her teeth in yet, I'm not so concerned about her biting hurting my dog, but I'm concerned if it's malicious biting or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My older dog doesn't bite as often, and when she does you can hardly even feel it. But my younger puppy bites my dog's neck, ears and sometimes tail. My dog doesn't seem too distressed about this, but I don't want it to continue in the future in case it is malicious biting because she may actually injure my dog when she has a full set of teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5447" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T15:12:37.703" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T15:12:37.703" Title="Play fighting or real fighting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9804" CreationDate="2015-07-20T21:53:37.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The younger pup will probably initiate play most of the time. They do this by being obnoxious by our standards: they lick or bite the older dog on the cheek (often), neck, body, tail, or whatever is a good target, then jump back to see if the older dog takes the bait, and repeat until bored or successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog playing involves a lot of mouthing, some communicative growling (more barks and low throaty growls), but a lot of &lt;em&gt;bowing&lt;/em&gt; (the dogs will take turns getting down on their elbows) and roughhousing (rolling around, mouths wide open. The older dog, when she's had enough, will usually change her tone and posture, ignoring the pup and might mouth the pup's neck if he doesn't pick up the cue. If this doesn't discourage the puppy, she may threaten to bite it with a growl and an ugly snarl. Let her do this; she has to be the dominant dog here. If the puppy doesn't back down here, call her away her from the scene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first picture, the larger white dog is in the classic position inviting the other to play. The submissive posture the dominant dog is looking for in the puppy when she's fed up looks like the second picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LozKTm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5TuFpm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the dogs aren't socialized the same way, their instincts will usually guide them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-07-20T21:53:37.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T13:21:47.057" Score="20" ViewCount="104119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my roommate's sister went on vacation and I offered to take care of her kitten for her in the 1-2 weeks she is going to be gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The feeding instruction she told me is to leave dry food out at all times for the kitten and give her a can of wet cat food once a day. I typically open a can of wet cat food when I get home from work around 5:30pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, the kitten never finishes the wet cat food in one sitting. She will typically eat half of it and over the next 12+ hours finish it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food safety states that any food stored in the danger zone(room temperature falls in this danger zone) for more than 2 hours will drastically increase chance of food sickness. I know the dry pet food is processed enough that it does not matter. However I am a little worried about the wet cat food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does leaving wet cat food out at room temperature for a long period of time pose a risk for your cats?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon further research, I found that cats are very resistant to pathogens that are commonly found in food that has been sitting out at room temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; - cats are really resistant to Salmonella which are commonly found in raw meat; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;E. Coli&lt;/em&gt; - this is a bacterium commonly found in cat stomach;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/em&gt; - also commonly found in cat stomach;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clostridium perfringens&lt;/em&gt; - these bacteria rarely affect cats, they more often affect dogs;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Staphylococcus aureus&lt;/em&gt; - commonly found bacteria in cat mucus glands;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Norovirus&lt;/em&gt; - this is a virus that affect humans;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma gondii&lt;/em&gt; - cats have very high immunity to this parasite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tcfeline.com/2010/08/12/salmonella/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://tcfeline.com/2010/08/12/salmonella/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5451" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-21T13:25:15.150" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T17:37:20.247" Title="Does leaving wet pet food at room temperature for 12+ hours pose a risk for your cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9876" CreationDate="2015-07-21T13:47:43.373" Score="4" ViewCount="2060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mini micro toy poodle and each and everytime he has to poop he does so on grass that is taller than the rest or against a tree. When he does it against a tree he puts his 2 back legs as high as he possibly can against the tree and then poops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog poop on 'higher ground'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5184" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T14:28:17.807" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:28:17.807" Title="Why does my dog poop on 'higher ground'?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2015-07-21T13:59:20.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not suggest leaving wet cat food out for more than an hour or two tops. Wet cat food at room temperature is a perfect environment for bacteria cultures, which can grow quite quickly and may pose a threat to the animal. If the kitten consistently eats about half a can when you put it out, then I would only put out half a can. The other half can be safely stored in an airtight container or Ziploc bag in the refrigerator and be served later in the day or the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5445" LastActivityDate="2015-07-21T13:59:20.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9824" CreationDate="2015-07-21T21:14:41.470" Score="7" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat hates the car and his travel box (plastic with wire mesh). He claws at the boxes air vents / grill and goes a bit crazy when we drive, which leads to pulled off claw sheaths and a bit of bleeding. How do I stop him from doing this? Is there any solution other than sedating him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5453" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T13:40:28.753" Title="Cat pulls his claws off while being transported" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9818" CreationDate="2015-07-21T22:50:36.947" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to use a harness to walk my dog since she pulls on her leash. I've tried for the past year to break her of pulling on the leash by stopping when she pulls and making her come sit beside me before we move forward again. She doesn't mind doing this and is happy to still pull and then sit next to me before pulling again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog developed a stricture in her throat for which she's had 1 (probably unsuccessful) surgery. The vet told me that she cannot eat any solid foods (including treats, kibble, chewy things, and basically anything with more texture than a smoothie).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to use the harness again since it will put less stress on her throat, but she really dislikes it and runs from it whenever I pull it out. It's been suggested to me that I give her a treat every time she sees the harness so she can form a positive association with it, but since I can't give her any treats I'm kind of at a loss for how to get her to tolerate the harness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: she hates the head collars even more and will happily avoid going out indefinitely to avoid wearing one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T10:52:15.377" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T10:52:15.377" Title="How can I get my dog to accept a harness without treats?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-21T23:45:48.013" Score="4" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not own pets as of now, but I'm interested. I read that dogs should be walked at best twice a day, but I was wondering where the cats get their exercise. Do they need any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5454" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T13:35:06.580" Title="Do you walk cats, or should you?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9814" CreationDate="2015-07-22T00:14:34.153" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats stretch, scratch, run and climb and jump for normal exercise.  Some cats can be taught to enjoy going outside on a lead, but this isn't really for exercise as the cat will be stopping every few feet to sniff at things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T00:14:34.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2015-07-22T00:57:37.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can answer this question on the basis of my experience as a chef with certification in Food Safety, Sanitation, and Hygiene.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The golden rule in food service is &quot;4 between 40 and 140.&quot; That is to say, in most places in the U.S., Food Safety and Sanitation guidelines state that &lt;strong&gt;food which has been between the temperatures of 40° F (4.4° C) and 140° F (60° C) for 4 hours must be disposed of.&lt;/strong&gt;  This is based on the growth rates of various kinds of harmful bacteria and other pathogens in this range of temperatures.  The range is commonly referred to as the &quot;TDZ&quot;, or &quot;Temperature Danger Zone&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cats and dogs are biologically different from us, it stands to reason that they probably shouldn't be exposed to things that are obviously dangerous to us.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fwe.com/files/pdf/brochures/FoodSafety.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.fwe.com/files/pdf/brochures/FoodSafety.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fsafood.com/main/serviceareas/seattle/seattleArticleTemplate.aspx?nid=4a659b5d-f40f-476b-b0b3-40a04d14371a&amp;amp;ref=-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://fsafood.com/main/serviceareas/seattle/seattleArticleTemplate.aspx?nid=4a659b5d-f40f-476b-b0b3-40a04d14371a&amp;amp;ref=-1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;Any time unrefrigerated food stays in the danger zone (41 - 140° F) for four hours, it must be discarded&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.udemy.com/haccp-food-handlers-course/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.udemy.com/haccp-food-handlers-course/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;Potentially hazardous foods must not be exposed to temperatures between 4° C and 60° C (40° F and 140° F) for longer than four hours total accumulated time.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.piperonline.net/Content/Blast_Chillers__Shock_Freezers.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.piperonline.net/Content/Blast_Chillers__Shock_Freezers.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;FDA &amp;amp; HACCP regulations permit a maximum of 6 hours to chill food from 140 to 40° F, while some states now permit only 4 hours.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=Mt7KAgAAQBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA96&amp;amp;lpg=PA96&amp;amp;dq=4+hours+40+140+haccp&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=ZYG2XuJhvN&amp;amp;sig=GMITIa5CQc-tv-7kGMmTxwZn6F0&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CGUQ6AEwGWoVChMInJX2yLfvxgIVBT4-Ch1SlwGS#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=4%20hours%2040%20140%20haccp&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://state.tn.us/youth/dcsguide/manuals/HACCPBasedFoodSafetyPlanforYDCs.doc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://state.tn.us/youth/dcsguide/manuals/HACCPBasedFoodSafetyPlanforYDCs.doc&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;Food Safety Plan For Tennessee Department of Children's Services ... Take corrective action immediately if food is not chilled from 140° F to 40° F within 4 hours.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/training/videos/activity/processthree.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/training/videos/activity/processthree.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;Potentially hazardous food shall be cooled within 4 hours to 5° C (41° F) or less if prepared from ingredients at ambient temperature, such as reconstituted foods and canned tuna.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T17:37:20.247" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T17:37:20.247" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9814" CreationDate="2015-07-22T04:26:17.243" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To exercise cats, play with them. Give them something to pounce and chase like a laser-pointer dot or a string or a light ball or a feather wand. Give them climbing/jumping opportunities -- all the better if the jump is a bit challenging but is rewarded with a good resting/watching spot or a view out a window. My two, siblings, sometimes like to wrestle or chase each other around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that they're taking a pretty good jump for their size every time they leap onto a chair or your lap. Simply living in a human household gives them some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T04:26:17.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9813" CreationDate="2015-07-22T06:23:03.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cannot make a good association by giving food, try giving the &quot;this is good&quot; association by play, cuddle-times, and whatever she enjoys.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just have the harness around when you do things she enjoys; once she no longer runs from it, you can try touching her with it, then eventually put it on without fastening it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you need to walk her until then, have you tried wrapping the leash like &lt;a href=&quot;http://agoosa.com/?p=1745&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;? You can also guide the leash between her legs. Just vary the way that seems to work best for your dog. With the throat-problems, it at least seems vastly preferable to a normal collar even if she STILL tries dragging you along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T06:23:03.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9813" CreationDate="2015-07-22T12:58:33.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try Lickety Stiks &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.petsafe.net/lickety-stik&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(manufacturer web site)&lt;/a&gt;. I had a very treat-focused dog who developed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.caninemegaesophagus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;megaesophagus&lt;/a&gt; when she was 10 years old. She would regurgitate solid treats unless I sat her up in a vertical position for 20 minutes... not practical for quick training. She liked the Lickety Stik as a substitute, and it was very tolerable because it is just a tiny amount of liquid each time they lick it. You can find them in many pet supply stores (brick and mortar and online).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T12:58:33.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9814" CreationDate="2015-07-22T13:35:06.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just give them enough space in the house to run and jump around and they're the happiest pets in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats love to go out sometimes, especially when they want to chase birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="925" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T13:35:06.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-22T13:53:45.997" Score="1" ViewCount="1434" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had snails in a turtle aquarium. To clean the aquarium, I bleached it and then boiled it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterward, I rinsed it 3 more times but it still smelled like bleach. I put in 1 fish but it died. Is there something I can use to get rid of the bleach smell and residue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5455" LastEditorUserId="5451" LastEditDate="2015-07-23T03:03:42.557" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T20:36:23.150" Title="How do I get rid of bleach smell in my turtle aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-22T14:00:26.813" Score="6" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gotten an awesome grey female Persian cat, who is about 8 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that my friend is going out of the city and wouldn't be able to take care of his cat for almost 20 days. I want to know if anything might go wrong if I take care of his cat in my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5457" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:24:20.753" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:52:24.297" Title="Cat meeting new cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9822" CreationDate="2015-07-22T14:56:10.350" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Letting the other cat stay in their own home, and visiting to feed them and clean litterbox, would probably be wiser. Or, if you must foster in your own home, plan on keeping them separated or introducing them to each other very gradually. Sharing territories with another cat is stressful, and 20 days is barely enough time for them to work out basic understandings about dominance and such. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T14:56:10.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9812" CreationDate="2015-07-22T15:33:40.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest cutting the cat's claws immediately before transporting him.  Make sure to use proper clippers designed for use on cats.  Another suggestion is to get a different cat carrier, one that the cat is less likely to get their claws caught on.  They make tote bag type carriers that are constructed from heavy cloth materials like nylon rather than hard plastics, which may work better for him.  You could also try covering particular problem areas with a towel or something, as long as it doesn't block all the carrier's ventilation.  Cloth is of course porous, so air could get through, but it might become too hot if all openings are completely covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T15:33:40.070" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9702" CreationDate="2015-07-22T17:30:40.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sleep Apnea isn't a disorder that is isolated to just humans. Dogs can also be affected by this disorder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cases of Sleep Apnea in dogs will result in drop in blood oxygen levels and interrupted sleep. This in itself isn't life or death but if this persist, it can lead to much more serious health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Noticeable symptoms of Sleep Apnea include&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choking/gasping during sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loud chronic snoring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interrupted breathing with long pauses between breathes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleepiness during day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Irritability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canine Sleep Apnea is also most common in dogs with flatter faces. Such as English bulldogs, pugs and Boston terriers. Overweight dogs also have higher chances of having Sleep Apnea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetinfo.com/sleep-apnea-in-dogs.html#b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Canine Sleep Apnea&quot;&gt;Canine Sleep Apnea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5451" LastEditorUserId="5451" LastEditDate="2015-07-22T17:35:42.007" LastActivityDate="2015-07-22T17:35:42.007" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9933" CreationDate="2015-07-23T01:12:14.970" Score="2" ViewCount="9407" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dachshund, a spayed female, 16 months old, is exhibiting a behavior that I wonder at. Our previous dog, a Labrador/Doberman mix, never did it, as far as we can recall (we had him his whole life, 17years.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, she keeps her mouth shut (barring tasting, biting, eating, etc.) But every once and a while, it's like she gets a dry mouth. She'll start smacking her lips, and licking them. It's not too much saliva, as she doesn't drool at all. We try to put her next to her water dishes, but most of the time she doesn't drink. She did this behavior again last night, and promptly up-chucked a nice pile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We just had her at the vet, for an all day comprehensive check up and vaccination update. They didn't notice anything, so she either didn't do it, or they didn't think it was worth mentioning. (My wife dropped her off and picked her up, and I forgot to ask her to ask them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why she might be doing this? Or know if it is &quot;normal&quot; behavior in a very vertically-challenged dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T16:21:10.910" Title="Medically, what does it mean when a dog smacks her lips repeatedly?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-23T03:40:30.953" Score="3" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we rescued Lenny he was fine with me.  But fairly early on my son, Adam, left him with me 2x for a couple of days.  Then they moved in with me for a couple of months.  Every time Adam left and Lenny stayed with me he became more afraid of me.  He cowers away from me, won't let me pet him, and looks at me with such fearful eyes.&#xA;I hoped that when I got my dog, Licorice, Lenny would see that I am not scary, but, although Lenny and Licorice get on well, Lenny continues to be afraid of me.&#xA;Adam is in New Zealand and I am taking care of Lenny.  He is staying in Adam's apartment because my place is also associated with abandonment, and Licorice and I are coming over 2x a day to feed and walk him, and we stay with him for company, sometimes overnight.  Nothing is helping.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have tried totally ignoring him, establishing myself as the alpha by giving him known commands and expecting he obey, giving him treats etc.  Nothing helps,&#xA;Advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5460" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T18:51:53.737" Title="My son's dog Lenny is afraid of me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-23T04:32:58.587" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year, my dog (a female yellow lab, who is now about 2 1/2 years old) developed a growth on her leg.  I took her to the vet, and the diagnosis was a relief - it was just a wart (I don't remember the actual term the vet used, but it boiled down to &quot;warts&quot;).  He told me to expect more of the same, sooner or later, but she just got another one, in more or less the same place (I don't remember which leg the first one was on, but it was near the knee, and that's where the new one is).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm going to take her back to the vet to make sure it's nothing serious, of course&lt;/strong&gt;, but I was wondering how worried I should be until I actually get her into the vet's office.  If the vet said &quot;There will almost certainly be more to follow&quot;, and the growth is very similar to the first one, it is almost definitely just another wart, right?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastEditorUserId="5356" LastEditDate="2015-07-23T20:09:50.417" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:21:57.253" Title="How worried should I be about my dog having her second wart in a year or so?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-23T11:39:05.897" Score="2" ViewCount="1385" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family and I are the proud owner of our two beautiful angels, Daisy(8 years) and Dalmi(5 years). Both of them are German shepherds. Dalmi is Daisy's daughter. They are friendly with people and especially with kids but they are ferocious to cats and the people who are scared of them. They have not bitten anyone yet though. Now, my mother and sister wants to adopt a pug, but some people are saying not to include a pug into a household with two German shepherds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do German shepherds not like pugs? Am I able to bring a pug into our family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:19:48.953" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T03:34:04.757" Title="Can I adopt a pug into a household with two German shepherds?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9812" CreationDate="2015-07-23T13:40:28.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried using a product called Feliway? It is plugged into the wall and is used for stressful situations. They also have a spray and suggest spraying the carrier a few minutes before you travel. You can read more about it both on the Feliway site and Amazon. It's on cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T13:40:28.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9830" CreationDate="2015-07-23T19:31:23.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't any breed that isn't able to get along with any other breed. For example, there's no rule that says pugs cannot get along with shepherds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real issue is one of temperament, as @James Jenkins suggested, and of trainer skill level, and a question of whether the dog is a good match for its owner and family. For example, a dog with extremely high energy levels is a terrible match for a very laid back family that is lazy and does not want to go on walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With three dogs, it's faster for things to go from calm to chaos, and identifying those signals and knowing the dogs is where trainer skill comes in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to give everyone a trial run (not inside any dog's territory) and carefully observe if the dogs will get along and if they are a good match for one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T19:31:23.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9828" CreationDate="2015-07-23T19:44:46.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you may have better luck being careful not to let Licorice inside Adam's apartment, and then taking them both, or just Lenny, someplace else to hang out. Maybe you guys go for a walk, maybe you guys sit at the park. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you going for walks with Lenny? I wonder if his extra energy from being cooped up is feeling into his fearfulness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you interact with Lenny, imagine that you are your favorite rolemodel - powerful, successful, and a leader. Exude confidence, and when you talk to Lenny, SMILE. Be confident and not afraid. I think your discouragement with the situation is also feeding into how Lenny is unhappy (because you are unhappy!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like that you tried to build Lenny's confidence with commands that he knows, but at this point I think it's more destructive because you aren't Lenny's master and whatever punishment from not following the command (say, a stern disapproving glare) is worse than not trying. If it were me, at this point, I'd just try to hang out with Lenny more and expect little of him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that professional dog trainers exist, and if Adam will be away for much longer, I might consider a basic dog training class, even though Lenny knows his basic commands, for its bonding and teamwork and trust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, check to see if there is a cheap doggie daycare (for socialization) in your area. I was astonished to find one for so little as the cost of fast food in my area, so this might also be an avenue to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T19:44:46.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9827" CreationDate="2015-07-23T19:48:34.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Licking the lips is also an appeasing behavior in dogs, so I wonder if she's doing it more because she notices you are worried and wants you to be happy, instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T19:48:34.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7873" CreationDate="2015-07-23T19:58:51.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where is the water dish sitting? I'm going to guess it's not sitting on carpet! Based on the other things your dog is afraid of, I'm going to guess that your dog skidded on the low-traction surface around the water bowl. You can easily pick up a rug or other piece of plastic or rubber (some are designed for food dishes) to put around or underneath the bowl, so the dog has something secure to stand on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T19:58:51.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8067" CreationDate="2015-07-23T20:18:52.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question was asked in April but is somehow back at the top of the questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seek help from your vet and from professional trainers, you're in a bad spot that requires very specific help - and quickly. Your post sounds like a terrible situation where someone is bound to get hurt soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-23T20:18:52.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2015-07-24T22:30:13.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have the vet check her sugar. Increased drinking could also be diabetes, treated with medicine and often reversed with a low carb diet. My cat has diabetes, and occasionally the urine smells very strong of ammonia.  Definitely worthy of a trip to the vet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5473" LastActivityDate="2015-07-24T22:30:13.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9827" CreationDate="2015-07-25T02:01:44.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds different from what you're describing, but when my dog smacks her lips, it invariably means that she was chewing on something - usually plastic, rubber, or wood - and got a piece wedged between her front teeth.  The smacking is her way of trying to get the object out of her teeth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt that this is what's going on with your dog, but I figured that it was worth a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2015-07-25T02:01:44.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T02:36:20.510" Score="1" ViewCount="1194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of getting a dog, but I read that dogs are social and pack animals so I was wondering if there would be any short and long-term problems with the dog not having fellows around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any short or long-term problems to look out for in the case of having only one dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional details : I will live alone and I'll be working 8-5pm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5454" LastEditorUserId="5454" LastEditDate="2015-07-25T17:43:47.307" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T23:17:33.093" Title="The social aspect of having only one dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T03:51:25.940" Score="6" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1 1/2 year old cat, Penny, has started to run around and bite at her back paws a little while ago. I don't know if she is in pain and I've started to worry a bit. I have noticed that before and after she runs around &amp;amp; bites her back paws, her back kind of twitches and she acts normal again. Does anyone have a slight clue what might be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5475" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T14:29:11.197" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T14:56:30.693" Title="Why does my 1 1/2 year old cat bite at her paws and run around frantically sometimes during the day" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T10:05:58.607" Score="4" ViewCount="669" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well my girlfriend and I have a female border collie named Lacey. She is a rescue dog who was abused for a long time. From what we were told, she was a bait dog whose teeth were extracted so she couldn't harm the fighting dogs. The owner himself abused her and when she tried to attack him, her &quot;bite&quot; did nothing to him and he abused her some more. Well to fast forward she was in a shelter where she would be safe. We spotted her and the guy who saved her told us what I told you. My girlfriend wanted her so I asked him for more info and then I told him we wanted her. Well he said since she tried to attack him and didn't have her weapons (teeth), she is not aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well days passed and after signing the papers for legal ownership, we decided to take her to the vet. I told him the same thing and he said since she doesn't have teeth she doesn't know how to defend herself. Dogs will bite as a warning and since her bite won't cause any harm to you the next thing she will do is run away. So we got home and I tried to call her but all she did was look at me. When I got up to come to her she yelped and she ran behind my girlfriend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For two months she did this but one day our friends came to visit and they brought their son. They tried stepping to her but she would either cry out loud and run in the room under the bed or she would go to the corner. As they petted her she would scream like they were hurting her. So I called the vet to schedule an appointment and my girlfriend took her. They returned back and my girlfriend said they found nothing wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried petting her but she ran away again. We asked for help but everyone we asked say it's new behavior and asked if she attacked me. One day I was alone with her, (gf went to work), and lacey was looking for her and crying when she didn't find her. My friends came (guys) as I went to check on her. She saw me and started crying. I even did a submissive position and she wouldn't budge. My friend went and grabbed her and she started flipping out. She didn't bite but kept crying and when he put her down she just went to the corner and held her head down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I give her food in her bowl, I would have to go where she won't see me for her to eat. I looked on the internet to find out why this is happening and one person said their dog reacted like that to her husband because their dog's previous owner (a guy) abused him. Lacey won't even eat from my hand nor would she attack me or any other guy. I seen the same thing everywhere and people said the same thing. A dog without all of its teeth and an abusive background goes to aggression then if that doesn't work it becomes fearful and will have anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I touched her one day and I was checking her mouth when my finger went into her mouth. I smiled when it happened and she continued to scream but this time she was trying her hardest to get away from me. She was moving her head, and moving wildly to get away. All the doors were closed so she was basically in the room with me whimpering, shaking and staring at me until I look back at her then she looks away. When my gf returned and she heard her voice she was crying and trying to get out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me I don't know what to do. Did the teeth extraction make her less aggressive or did the fact she couldn't attack that monster who abused her make her more fearful? People keep saying she feels vulnerable now that she knows she doesn't have any teeth and can't defend herself. Sorry for writing all this but I need answers and no one is really helping me really understand because I been nothing but nice to her. It feels so unreal to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5479" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T10:39:47.037" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T17:29:28.070" Title="What is wrong with my border collie?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2015-07-25T15:46:00.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, kudos to you for taking on such a challenging situation and trying turn Lacey's life around. It sounds like Lacey is especially afraid of men, which is understandable given her history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd ask for some advice from the shelter you got her from, as they may have a lot of experience working with dogs from difficult backgrounds. Perhaps ask them and the vet for a recommendation for a (preferably female) trainer/behaviourist who can meet with you, Lacey, and your girlfriend a couple of times to observe Lacey's behaviour and make specific suggestions. This might involve, for example, rewarding Lacey for sitting quietly beside you without cowering or whining for a certain period of time. Gradually you extend the period of time that she has to sit quietly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until Lacey's anxiety is under control, I suggest you not let anyone else but your girlfriend, yourself, and of course a vet or trainer approach the dog. Stand between Lacey and any other people or animals so that Lacey can feel that you are &lt;em&gt;protecting&lt;/em&gt; her. This should help her feel more at ease with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on her history, when a human (especially a male) approaches Lacey, she has no idea what will happen next and fears the worst One way to counteract this is to establish some predictable sequences of events. So, for example, Lacey can learn that when you say &quot;Lacey, snuggle&quot; and extend your hand, she's going to get some loving attention. Always use the same words, and do things the same way so that the sequence is established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this may sound a bit counterintuitive, but if you have to do something unpleasant to Lacey (e.g. give her ear drops or a pill), it's best to let her know what's coming. That's because is actually going to happen isn't nearly as bad as what she fears might happen. But how do you let an animal know what's coming? Again, establish a predictable sequence of events. &quot;Lacey, ear drops&quot;, followed by the ear drops, and then a reward (affection or treat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip: when you do pet Lacey, don't bring your hand down from above (that can trigger fear of being hit). Instead, move your hand down below her eye level and then bring it toward her. Imagine if you had a friend twice your height. If he brought his hand down onto your head, wouldn't you flinch, even if you trusted him not to hurt you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never &quot;pat&quot; Lacey (too similar to hitting); stroke her instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, whenever you do approach Lacey, make sure you are relaxed and your breathing is even. The easiest way to do that is to talk to her as you approach her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I just realised that your Lacey is a border collie, same as my Dougal*. Dougal must have had a hard life before I adopted him, as he had a &#xA;broken hip and leg that had healed badly, was very depressed, and was terrified of everyone, especially men. But he settled in nicely, adored me, and even became a little more comfortable with strangers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Border collies are &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; intelligent which can work to your advantage. And that reminded me of something else that may help. You'll probably think I'm silly for suggesting this,  but talk to Lacey about the problem. Yes, yes, I know dogs can't understand language, but they can pick up a lot from your tone of voice, your posture, the context, etc. It will amaze you what an intelligent dog can understand. The more you talk to her, the better. At the very least, your voice will help her relax because your breathing will be even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a story to illustrate my point, and perhaps inspire you. After I had Dougal for a week, he had settled in, but still seemed a little tense, still on his &quot;best behaviour&quot;. So I got down on the floor with him and talked to him softly. I didn't expect him to understand my words; I just hoped that my voice would relax him. I told him that this was his home and he was allowed to make mistakes. As soon as I finished, he ran off, picked up one of my socks and dropped it a few feet away! From then on, on the rare occasion he felt mischievous, he did the sock thing. To the end of his life, that was the only &quot;naughty&quot; thing he ever did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Dougal is no longer with us, but he raised a wonderful cat named&#xA;Porpentine, who is with me still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T17:29:28.070" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T17:29:28.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T18:29:11.033" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a rabbit about two weeks ago.  I've had my kitten for about three months/ The cat/kitten is six months old. They were fine together at first but now they seem to fight.  The cat chases the rabbit but the rabbit also chases the cat and the cat is pouncing on the rabbit. I was wondering what I could do to maybe stop the behavior of the cat trying to attack the rabbit, any suggestions to how to get them to get along? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5481" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-07-25T23:21:30.500" LastActivityDate="2016-07-17T14:51:50.410" Title="Rabbits and cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T19:06:15.157" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 year old female Jack Russel terrier keeps jumping all over my new staff pup.At the beginning I thought that it was some mother instinct , but she just wont leave him alone  and now I think that she just wants to play. Am I right and how do I stop it? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5482" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T14:28:47.603" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T15:06:36.007" Title="My one year old female jack russel keeps following and jumping all overnew staff pup" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T20:22:31.227" Score="4" ViewCount="585" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat about 2 months old who is very aggressive he attacks my feet when I walk and any time I try to pet him he bites (hard) we got a very small kitten today who is very sweet and loving and the older cat is trying to play with it but is getting to aggressive. How can I stop this?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5483" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:21:43.207" Title="My older cat is very aggressive towards my 6 week old kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-25T20:28:20.360" Score="5" ViewCount="889" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my 2 month old female kitten meow when using the bathroom? She succeeds in using it but cries out in pain before she does.. please help &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5483" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:26:58.577" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:26:58.577" Title="Meowing when pooping" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9595" CreationDate="2015-07-26T01:43:57.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  Don't ever use human medication unless advised to do so by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason treatment for cats can be difficult is because cats have so few options.  Cats are susceptible to all sorts of poisons that are perfectly safe for humans and this rules out a lot of options from human medical science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are too many horror stories of cats poisoned by their well-meaning owners.  Even &lt;a href=&quot;http://messybeast.com/teatree.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shampoos&lt;/a&gt; can be fatal to cats due to the plant extracts they contain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5484" LastEditorUserId="5484" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T07:45:01.713" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T07:45:01.713" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9877" CreationDate="2015-07-26T02:09:20.340" Score="6" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten (15 weeks) that has to be isolated while she's being treated for ringworm (for six weeks).  She's from a shelter, and I don't know when she was separated from her mother or littermates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that whenever there's nobody else in the room she makes a fuss and scratches at the door.  Not just for a few minutes after being left there or whenever somebody passes by, but more or less all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to keep her suitably socialised (considering her age and developmental requirements) without spreading the disease around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5484" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:27:57.380" Title="Placating isolated kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9861" CreationDate="2015-07-26T09:20:41.713" Score="7" ViewCount="450" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my SO would like to adopt a cat, however we have some concerns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her parents have a cat (russian blue) and I'm quite allergic to it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My nose starts running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My eyes turn red and become itchy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to own a cat years ago when I lived with my parents, however it was a countryside and cat most of the time, obiviously, was living outdoors. There were no issues back then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only thing I can think of after doodling and googling around would be allergy to their dandruff (apologies if it's not right word).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any species (I was adviced to adopt &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_cat&quot;&gt;siberian cat&lt;/a&gt;) that I could live with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things worth mentioning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We live in a 35m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; flat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've head breathing issues since 7 y/o&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm using &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salbutamol&quot;&gt;Salbutamol&lt;/a&gt; on daily basis. Mostly once a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I should consider before adopting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5381" LastEditorUserId="5381" LastEditDate="2015-07-26T09:41:13.950" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T13:53:33.710" Title="I'd like to adopt a cat, but I have allergies" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-04T17:55:24.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9860" CreationDate="2015-07-26T14:05:29.783" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of breeds suggested for folks who are mildly allergic. The allergy is usually to a specific protein (fel D1), and breeds differ in how strongly they express this. A websearch for &quot;less allergenic cats&quot; turns up essentially the same list from multiple sources differing mostly in how much additional information they give you about the breeds, but the shortlist is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balinese-Javanese.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cornish Rex.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Devon Rex.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Siberian.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sphynx.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-07-26T14:05:29.783" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9847" CreationDate="2015-07-26T19:01:07.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best to start with one dog. You need to develop a strong relationship with one dog first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm more concerned that you work from 8-5 and are presumably out from 7-6 every day. You will need someone to visit the dog at least twice every day, to play with him and take him out to relieve himself. Then you will have to spend a lot of your free time with the dog, not going out for the evening (unless you can take the dog too). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is far from an ideal situation. Can you wait to get a dog till you have more free time to spend with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5485" LastActivityDate="2015-07-26T19:01:07.367" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9866" CreationDate="2015-07-26T22:40:18.493" Score="1" ViewCount="1001" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has an inflamed knee and her veterinarian recommended she undergo surgery to fix the cause of the inflammation. For now the doctor gave me a supply of Buprenex for pain management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While she's on the drug she doesn't eat or do her business. I can't tell if she's drinking either. She is almost always sleeping or half-asleep, with a very stoned look, having sluggish movements and even aborted maneuvers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I ask for her attention she peps up and is her attentive self again, but only for a moment. She is quickly subdued back into her medicated state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a 5 lb chihuahua, orally receiving 0.1 ml of Buprenex every 8-12 hours, with the goal of managing pain during healing or until having surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've decided to do the surgery after understanding what this treatment option is like.  But I won't be able to get advice or schedule the surgery until the animal hospital opens again tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'm asking about Buprenex here because it is now day two where she hasn't taken in or expelled anything, and I'm not sure if this is normal or enough of a concern to stop treating her pain. I have worries such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this normal, considering she is so inactive?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long can she go without eating or using the bathroom?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I haven't seen her drink, what should I be thinking in regards to that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she moves as if in pain (limping or hopping gingerly, walking awkwardly, bottoming out instead of supporting her weight on the bad knee) but has a normal appetite and digestive cycle, is that better than how she is now?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5486" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T16:04:36.053" Title="Is okay for my dog to not eat or excrete waste while receiving Buprenex for pain relief?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9863" CreationDate="2015-07-27T15:40:37.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;An animal changing its behavior is almost never a good thing, especially if it is related to eating or drinking. You should contact your vet immediately. Even with minimal movement a dog should be eating daily and drinking much more regularly than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should go to the store and buy some unflavored pedialyte and try to give it to your dog, either through drinking out of a dish or with a turkey baster or something similar. This will give some nutrients until the animal hospital opens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastEditorUserId="5413" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T16:04:36.053" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T16:04:36.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9859" CreationDate="2015-07-27T18:01:29.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anything to do in that room? We had to do something similar for our kitten but we had a lot of toys and stuffed animals in the room with her. We also left the TV on in that room. A bubble machine, or automated laser device would also be good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens are designed to being nocturnal, so giving the kitten as much attention as possible during the day may help the problem as well by getting her to sleep at night instead of craving attention. Try to spend as much time in the room with her as possible during the day; if you can do your chores in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important that she get interactions at this age. I'd contact the vet that told you to isolate her and ask for advice on top of whatever answers come from this thread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastEditorUserId="5413" LastEditDate="2015-07-27T19:37:21.813" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:37:21.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9616" CreationDate="2015-07-27T19:06:40.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;tried to refine my old answer but it won't let me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had another bout of diarrhea on July 8, and again this week, July 22. Two weeks apart to the day. The timing still seems bizarro, but on our vet's advice we took his food away for the night and gave him only rice, and then started adding in a bit of chicken and a teaspoon of pumpkin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That has calmed his stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet says that causes for concern would be lethargy, or inability to hold down food, or some palpable obstruction, and he has none of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also said that fear and anxiety can give a dog bouts of diarrhea, so long term, working on addressing his anxiety is important. But in the short term, giving him watery rice with some chicken and pumpkin for a few days will help him get through an upset stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:06:40.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2015-07-27T19:19:13.773" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like she's terrified of you. Dogs aren't great at rational processing, so she probably cant really separate the old situation (man comes near, bad things happen) from the new situation (man comes near, she feels terror). In both cases, she's still experiencing terror. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you are going to have to let her get used to you, at her own pace. That might take a while. Weeks or months even. But scaring her (by pushing her past where she feels safe) will slow it down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog was a feral rescue and he has huge amounts of fear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's especially anxious around children, so when we introduce new kids to our home, part of the protocol is that you are not allowed to look at the dog. If you want to give him a treat, you can sit down with the treat in your hand and look away while he takes it.  If he does that a bit you can let him sniff your hand and he might lick your toes or hand. And then you can play &quot;touch&quot; with him. Most weekend guests never get past letting him lick their hands. We had kids staying with us and after two weeks they were able to pet him. But first he had to get very comfortable with them at his own pace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all more or less what we went through when we brought him home, too. Offering treats with no eye contact. Playing touch, still limiting eye contact. Working up to eye contact and then to petting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that she can't defend herself. If a dog is in a scary situation, they'll often retreat first, and then snap at the air (a threat) before they move to biting. They'll do their best to say &quot;Hey! Stop that or I'll hurt you!&quot; so if she can't actually hurt you, she's defenseless. And that is really scary. It doesn't take a dog long to learn to be afraid. Unlearning takes much longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's where I'd start. Stop trying to pet her altogether. Offer her treats from time to time without even looking at her. If she starts offering kisses, try playing games like &quot;touch&quot; but let her adjust to the idea that this new man in her life is not going to terrorize her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. If you don't know &quot;touch&quot; check out this answer to a similar question on bonding with a territorial dog: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/9770/1222&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/9770/1222&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:38:52.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9821" CreationDate="2015-07-27T19:27:17.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot put a fish in any tank that hasn't been cycled and expect it to survive. Cycling an aquarium is the process of building up beneficial bacteria which filters the water of ammonia. This process typically takes about 30 days. When you bleach a tank, it kills all of the bacteria in the tank, so you need to fill it up and wait another 30 days before adding fish to it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bleach itself is very safe to use on equipment and objects that have been in an aquarium or the aquarium itself if it needs to be thoroughly sanitized before being used again. Rinsing it 3 times should get rid of enough bleach to make it safe again. You can also add a tap water treatment such as prime which removes chlorine and chloramines, and would effectively neutralize the bleach. You can also dry it out and let it sit for a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, I would suspect the fish death was due to the aquarium not being cycled, and not to do with the bleach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T19:27:17.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-27T22:34:46.463" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like her mouth is going to one side. I don't know what to do. She has never been injured that we are aware of. She always stays in her cage, and she is able to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5489" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-07-28T10:40:27.780" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T10:40:27.780" Title="Why is my chameleon's mouth staying open on one side?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;chameleons&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9847" CreationDate="2015-07-27T23:17:33.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's what everyone says, yes, but honestly you and your dog might be happier just as you are. It's really important to sit down and consider all the possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if the new dog has a weaker bladder than your current one, you may need someone to let them out&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the more dogs you have, the harder/more expensive it is to travel&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;there is always the possibility that the two dogs will not get along or their contentions require more owner skill than you currently possess, such as jealousy issues, food guarding, etc&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;there is a very big possibility that both dogs tolerate one another just fine - and that's the end of the story, so they never really play with one another or engage socially&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;are you okay with walking two dogs? what if this dog has a significantly higher energy requirement than your current dog?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of these questions can be answered by careful choosing what kind of dog would work best and watching - not idealizing, really watching - how your dog interacts at a dog park. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no same answer for everyone. But &quot;because your dog might be lonely!&quot; is &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; the best answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T23:17:33.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9855" CreationDate="2015-07-27T23:25:53.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So your dog has bad doggie manners. I don't think a puppy is going to be able to teach a teenager manners. : (&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to have a your Russel terrier hang out with trusted older dogs who do have good manners, to slowly teach him how to interact, and how to dog politely. Taking a bad-mannered dog to the dog park full of foreign dogs is a recipe for blood, so don't do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also intervene by constantly being relaxed, setting the tone of the play style you want. When she gets too rough, call her back to you (its cute to watch their apologetic smile), give her a pat for coming when called, and let her go back to playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that both puppies need to learn proper socialization, and that's going to require meeting and hanging out with other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also look into doggie daycare, doggie bootcamp, or optionally dog training courses. Often there are puppy training / socialization courses, as well. If you are poor, look into your local kennel club rather than the big-box pet stores like Petsmart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-27T23:25:53.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9809" CreationDate="2015-07-28T14:26:31.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like an animal behavior problem related to either dominance or insecurity (by the sounds of it). There may be another dog that he is trying to assert dominance over or he is insecure with his height and is trying to trick other dogs into thinking he is taller than what he is or maybe even &quot;trick himself into thinking he is taller&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is causing a problem in any way, I would talk to your vet, or an animal psychologist if one is nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:26:31.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9859" CreationDate="2015-07-28T14:27:57.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;An old rescue trick is to take a book/magazine/newspaper into the room and read to her. Since you're worried about contamination, just take something into the room and leave it there until after isolation is over. She'll get used to your voice and presence, and if she wants attention from you she'll come over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan to spend an hour or so with her each day, and make it at the same time, she should learn that she will get attention at this particular time and hopefully not pine for it at other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:27:57.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2015-07-28T14:41:25.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We rub the cords with a fresh habanero pepper. Not smelly, not toxic and very effective. The cat tried on different cords three or four times, and never showed any interest in cords ever since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5494" LastActivityDate="2015-07-28T14:41:25.783" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-28T19:03:49.700" Score="4" ViewCount="820" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone own or used to own deaf cat? &#xA;If so, what was it like? &#xA;Was it lot of works compared to hearing cat?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What kind of signs/signals you use to communicate deaf cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for answering!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5120" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:26:02.427" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T08:36:51.203" Title="How is owning a deaf cat different from a cat who can hear?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6114" CreationDate="2015-07-29T14:17:30.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A study from Yale indicated that tadpoles would stay away from a sick tadpole because they knew they would become infected if they were around it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v28.n7/story3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yale Study&lt;/a&gt; Although this doesn't apply directly to fish, this is found in the animal kingdom a lot. Runts being kicked out of the litter. Mothers licking the wounds of their children. I wouldn't think that a fish would have the capacity to do this, but if a tadpole can, I wouldn't see why not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: &quot;Is there some way that fish are able to figure out that one is weak and will be dying soon?&quot;. Yes, you could do your own study, by monitoring healthy fish and taking notes; then drop in a fish that is unhealthy and seeing how they react. If you can recreate your situation multiple times you have support for your hypothesis. Although introducing a dying fish may not be the same as a &quot;friend&quot; to to the healthy fish dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck in your findings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T14:17:30.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9881" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9934" CreationDate="2015-07-29T19:30:49.997" Score="12" ViewCount="12887" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother has a dog, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Springer_Spaniel&quot;&gt;English Springer Spaniel&lt;/a&gt; Robbie, 6 years old. He has a habit of chewing and swallowing pieces of wood in the forest when we take our walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chewing wooden sticks is normal for dogs, but actually eating pieces of wood is something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this behavior happening and how can I teach him not to eat wood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it gets really painful for the dog when he relieves himself, he cries out really loudly. And I know he can't make the connection of eating wood resulting in pain when relieving himself. I know there is risk of the dog harming himself if he continues eating wood, I want to change this behavior as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way that works now is to just keep eye on him 100% of time when walking. And when he starts eating wood again, I shout and run at him...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; The dog also has a habit of chewing his back paws. He hurt one of them till bleeding. Not sure if this is connected to the wood eating or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5500" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:26:35.070" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T03:48:42.127" Title="Why do dogs eat wood and how to fix that?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9898" CreationDate="2015-07-29T20:41:46.773" Score="3" ViewCount="24388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was coming home last night and the street light in front of my house was out again so I was driving slowly down the hill. I see this mouse in the middle of the road going around in a counterclockwise circle following it's tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped otherwise I would have ran it over.  Then I park the car and get out and try and shoe the mice away into some bushes but it won't leave so I go around and park my car at the house.  If it stayed there it would get run over for sure. When I looked at this mouse's face it looked really sad. I come back with a foam tray to push it a bit because I don't want to touch it, but it isn't budging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I go get a broom to try and sweep it a bit but it runs around in a much bigger counterclockwise circle with small circles and then goes and sits in the middle of the road again. Then I'm trying to get it to move with the broom and it just sits there without minding being poked by the broom and it makes some sad squeaks and a sad face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was really late almost 1 a.m. but eventually I get it into a box and keep it in my back yard.  I put in a bowl of water, a banana and some walnuts in the box and another box with holes on top so the birds don't get at the mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I went to look and it had escaped the box somehow, eaten a bit of banana and left a few strands of hair in the water bowl so I thought the problem solved itself and the mouse went away.  But then I saw the mouse 5 feet away half under a hedge in the yard and ants were crawling on the poor thing :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a better box and then I got a kitchen mitten and wrapped it in plastic wrap so I could pick up the mouse and put it in the box.  The mouse was really docile and it made these really sad squeaks. I think it started to play dead a little bit when I put it in the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I fix this mouse so it can go back into the wild and do mouse things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr :&#xA;I found a mouse that I think is either depressed, hurt it's foot, or is pregnant. I don't know if the mouse is exhibiting regular mouse behavior or if something is wrong with it. Also I don't know how to tell mouse gender so I can't rule out pregnant. But this mouse seems really unlucky or prone to dying, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. also I did my best to be descriptive but I most likely missed things so please feel free to ask me questions and I will do my best to answer them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5501" LastActivityDate="2018-03-02T20:53:11.437" Title="Mouse is acting strangely, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2015-07-29T21:01:12.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of possible things that could be wrong with the mouse: emotional strain, illness, injury, etc. I would take the mouse to an exotic vet if you plan to keep it as a pet, or to a wildlife rehabilitation specialist if you want to release it back into the wild when it is healthy (be careful with the latter though as mice are the food that they feed healing raptors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastActivityDate="2015-07-29T21:01:12.847" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-29T21:33:29.650" Score="4" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got 2 'female' betta fish for our tank over 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until a few weeks later their fins grew bigger and they are both males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought we were lucky and they seemed to get on ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until the yesterday we came home to find one still just about alive and the other fine. He is being very aggressive now as the other is vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really know what to do..I'm going to try and go back to the fish shop tomorrow and see if they could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until then I have put one in the net in the water still with water flow will this be ok? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to see the other one get eaten help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5502" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-06T18:36:49.353" LastActivityDate="2019-03-06T18:36:49.353" Title="Betta fish fighting" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-29T21:44:00.743" Score="1" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;so my family has had a single Lovebird for plenty of years now, but its cage is about 15&quot; W x 15&quot; L x 18&quot; H. It wasn't until recently that I learned that the cage I bought might be bad for them, so I wanted to ask, should I get a bigger one? If so, what size would be recommended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5503" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-06T14:03:50.140" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T15:16:07.573" Title="Should I get a bigger cage for my Lovebird?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9960" CreationDate="2015-07-29T22:49:15.543" Score="8" ViewCount="118123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked all over for an explanation. Surprisingly, there's not much information about this (most being theories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any cat experts that can explain this? I've heard &quot;the sound is too high pitched for humans to hear&quot;, which would be neat, but seems as if it would be testable and confirmed by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only one of my cats silently meow, most of the time giving no sound at all. Why does her meows give no sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extra Details&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is around (estimated) 10 years old. In her early years, she wasn't very talkative. She was an outside cat until she got injured, which we had to amputate her tail. She has been an inside cat ever since. She has become very affectionate since then, which has brought on the meowing, which most of the time give no sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-07-30T00:36:09.170" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T15:09:55.220" Title="Why does my cat's meow have no sound?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2015-07-29T23:11:18.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is, in fact, a book by that title (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0517556839&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Silent Meow&lt;/a&gt;) purporting to be a manual for training your human, which mentions this as a particularly effective tool -- so it's certainly nothing new. Some cats do this. It amuses the humans, which encourages them to do it more often. I don't think there's any more consistent meaning to it than any other meow -- or indeed than most of my muttering to myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are medical reasons why a cat would stop meowing as well such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/behavior-problems-older-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FCD&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/can-cats-lose-meow-11747.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;illness&lt;/a&gt;. It is never a bad idea to bring this up to your vet during your normal check-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Thanks to whomever added that second paragraph; valid points I wasn't aware of.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T13:36:00.493" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T13:36:00.493" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-30T00:40:15.987" Score="6" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of it's popularity in treating human skin conditions, tea tree oil has started showing up in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001VPEN2O&quot;&gt;pet shampoos&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00WAJQK6W&quot;&gt;other topical products&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told that tea tree oil is toxic to pets. Can I safely use these products?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T13:01:17.040" Title="Is it safe to use topical products containing tea tree oil on my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9888" CreationDate="2015-07-30T00:57:33.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2014/january/tea-tree-oil-safe-pets-31282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one of the petcare websites&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its popularity has resulted in some veterinary skin care products that contain small amounts of tea tree oil. In small concentrations (.1% to 1%), tea tree oil is tolerated and safe for cats and dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the oil's popularity has resulted in larger numbers of households with bottles of 100 percent tree tea oil, and accidental ingestion or improper dilutions of this highly concentrated oil can be harmful to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in other words, as with any pet supply, the reputable brands are probably safe enough and will likely have this info on their label; if you buy some backyard potion beware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T13:01:17.040" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-30T06:56:33.607" Score="8" ViewCount="1004" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats of over a year. They used to play well with each other, up to the age of 8 months, but slowly they became enemies and now they need to be kept separate. I've seen more than a dozen cats live peacefully, but why can't these two be peaceful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2804" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T17:51:32.943" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:20.313" Title="Why are my cats fighting with each other?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9884" CreationDate="2015-07-30T15:24:16.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only female beta fish can be housed together (relatively) peacefully. As soon as male fish come into their juvenile stage they will fight, and usually to the death. This is one of the reasons why they are sold in urine-sample sized cups in mass at pet stores (though it is not recommended for long-term). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see the other comments to your question, they are correct in saying that you should put them in separate tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="5413" LastEditDate="2015-07-30T21:41:20.077" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T21:41:20.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5667" CreationDate="2015-07-30T15:36:26.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat gave up chewing on cables once he started going outside and had access to grass.  When he had to stay indoors for a few months as an adult he took up chewing cables again, so we grew some cat grass in a small pot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wrapped cables in polyethylene spiral cable wrap.  It won't necessarily stop an adult cat, but it slows them down and gives you a fighting chance at rescuing that macbook power supply before it's too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5484" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T15:36:26.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9894" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-30T15:39:21.393" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 12 1/2 yr old dog has started having bowel movements on her crate AND in the house on occasion. In her defense her sibling, who was euthanized due to multiple medical issues (1 month ago), had been doing the same thing for about 1 year before he was put down so I think this behaviour was learned from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's always been a &lt;em&gt;clean&lt;/em&gt; dog. I was hoping that after we let him go that she would stop the behaviour but she hasn't. I've reduced the size of her crate to give just enough room to stand and turn around (it would be cruel if I went any smaller with it). She'll also go in the house if she's not let outside every 3-4 hrs. This part I can deal with since I have someone home during the daytime while I'm at work. It's the pooping in the crate that is trying my patience. She doesn't do it every night, but at least 2-3 times per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how to train a dog. I've had many, but it seems nothing is working. She's going out before bedtime, etc. The only thing I haven't tried (which I just started today) was feeding her in the morning as opposed to suppertime. If this doesn't help I'll be at my wits end. Any other things you could suggest I try to break her of this nasty habit?  She is healthy otherwise. She is on prednisone daily for a cough issue but other than that she has no other issues. Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5508" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T14:04:54.470" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:04:54.470" Title="I'm getting frustrated [older dog breaking housetraining]" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2015-07-30T15:57:45.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, your best bet is either a wildlife vet or rescue, who will either clear it or euthanise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from what the previous answer states, spinning around in a circle like that is usually a symptom of a bad ear infection or a pituitary tumour, which small rodents are quite prone to. For the former, antibiotics will clear it up, though with a wild mouse that is no easy task. For the latter, I am afraid there is nothing you can do to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a wildlife/general rodent rescue in your local area, I would strongly recommend taking it to them. In the meantime, feed it seeds, nuts, and locally-found fruits. Keep it warm and give it somewhere to hide in the dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T15:57:45.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9894" CreationDate="2015-07-30T19:41:44.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too, had a potty trained dog that suddenly started having issues, and lasted for a few years. It died some time later. The accidents were due to a medical issue that I never got checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you need to take your dog to the vet. Dogs are very reluctant to poop in their crate, so it's very likely this isn't a discipline or training issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, you need to take her out more often. You said accidents occur every 3-4 hours? Take her out every 2. Set a timer if you have to. You could also look into installing a doggie door, or even a temporary faux doggie door that sits on sliding glass tracks. I understand that most people are not at home all day, so on work days, look into taking her to a doggie day care (some are extremely affordable), or perhaps having a neighbor come over often, at home pet-sitting, or staying with a friend who is home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T19:41:44.563" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2015-07-30T22:40:56.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I named the mouse Ganesh and he passed away between yesterday and this morning :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of this post is to help others who might stumble across this page with a pet or found animal that has similar signs or symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that the mouse had consumed rat poison.  I found a video of similar circular behavior on youtube where a mouse was poisoned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7O20kQEG9o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7O20kQEG9o&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.attic-rat.com/howtopoison.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.attic-rat.com/howtopoison.html&lt;/a&gt; I know it was 1 of 2 possible types of poison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Anticoagulants: Includes warfarin, brodifacoum, flocoumafen, coumatetraly, difenacoum, and bromadiolone. Anticoagulants damage capillaries (the tiny blood vessels), and cause internal bleeding (hemorrhaging). This process takes a few days. Documented cases of human warfarin poisoning record severe pain from bleeding into muscles and joints. In the final phase, the animal dies of hypovolemic circulatory shock.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cholecalciferol: It produces hypercalcemia, which results in systemic calcification of soft tissue, leading to renal failure, cardiac abnormalities, hypertension, CNS depression, and leads to death in 24-36 hours.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researching online it says there is no antidote for cholecalciferol but I don't think he took that because the mouse didn't urinate for the 2 days that he was with me, unless he already had kidney and bladder failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it was the anticoagulant type of rat poison and if I had known right away when I found him circling in the street the proper protocol would have been to give the animal the antidote of vitamin K which could have possibly saved his life, but I didn't know :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sincerely thank everyone who took the time to read my original post and an extra thank you for everyone who contributed here in giving me their best efforts to help save a life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that this current post and my experiences might help someone else save an animal in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5501" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T22:40:56.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9879" CreationDate="2015-07-30T23:20:28.703" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a deaf cat, sadly passed away only about a month ago, and to be honest we didn't handle her any differently than our other cat. The things to bear in mind are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They're easier to surprise and every cat might react a little differently if startled, particularly from sleep. Ours just kind of jumped up, but others might be a bit more aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They won't react to shouts or loud noises. We used to clap our hands to get the attention of our cats when they were doing things like clawing furniture. That would usually get them to stop, but that was totally useless with her once she went deaf. At that point we'd just pick her up and remove her from the area, which seemed to work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deaf cats still like attention, grooming, and petting. I found that she became even more of a lap cat once she became deaf, possibly because of getting touch feedback from us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, cats are pretty adaptable and deafness will probably be a minor impediment to them and you. I wouldn't be worried about it, barely something we noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-07-30T23:20:28.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1490" CreationDate="2015-07-31T07:16:41.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this while looking for the same thing with my daxie! &#xA;I have tried so many different things and the only success I had was to hide a toy for about 6 weeks and when I pulled it out again she was so excited.&#xA;same with fetch she is very disinterested after a short time. What I have found that drives her mad is using two tennis balls instead of one...she will play that for hours! &#xA;She also prefers real bones to chew toys but I have found that rawhide dipped in peanut butter is a favourite for her now. She will only chew it if she has somewhere soft to sit though. &#xA;It's okay I guess it takes time to find out what your pup likes. At first I was panicked she was sick or depressed but I think she's okay now haha. Just picky! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5511" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T07:16:41.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-07-31T09:16:53.573" Score="4" ViewCount="1807" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs of different ages, the latest addition being a puppy. Two eat in the kitchen within view of each other and the third eats in another room. Everything has been fine u until a few weeks ago when my middle dog started to not eat from his bowl. He eats in the kitchen with the girl puppy. Now they all play together fine and there doesn't appear to be any aggression between any of them but my boy will not eat his dog food unless I take it to him in my hands. He'll try to eat bread and other non dog foods. He is drinking normally, bowel movements as expected. Any idea's before we visit the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5512" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T13:21:49.317" Title="I have to hand feed my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9901" CreationDate="2015-07-31T13:21:49.317" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd stop feeding anything but the dog food. Separate all the dog for feeding, don't let them eat out of each others bowls, and take it up after 30min if it hasn't been eaten. Repeat this twice a day. If your dogs aren't used to a schedule and having their food taken up, they may miss a meal or two, but will eventually learn to eat at meal time. This will help you a lot in the end, with controlling weight and when you have to take them out to the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My grandmother had a similar problem with her dog. She kept several types of dog food in the house and if the dog didn't eat a whole bowl full in a day, she'd say the dog was tired of that food and swap it out for another brand. The thing was, though, that she was feeding the dog a loaf of bread and two packs of sliced ham a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but it's something to watch out for. He may just not be very hungry and may be filling up on snacks. As for only eating out of your hand, that's just a quirk he's being allowed to get away with. If he's hungry he'll eat out of his bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get on this schedule and he hasn't eaten after two days, then you should consult a vet. However, from what you said, he's eating fine, just not out of his bowl, so I'd give this a try first. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T13:21:49.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9888" CreationDate="2015-07-31T17:41:07.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very sensitive to essential oils so please do not use them on your pets, especially directly on them. Their livers can't process the volatile and aromatic compounds the way most animals can because they lack the appropriate enzymes. So as they try to metabolize the compounds in the essential oil, they aren't broken down and eliminated, and can quickly build up to toxic levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can absorb these compounds in essential oils by mouth, contact with the skin or by inhalation if they are being used in a diffuser. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are most susceptible to essential oils that contain terpenes (like tea tree oil) and phenols (thyme, oregano, clove). Treat all essential oils as potentially harmful and consult your veterinarian on what you can safely use on your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/housekeeping/a/aromatherapy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://cats.about.com/od/housekeeping/a/aromatherapy.htm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thelavendercat.com/images/PDF-TheLavenderCat_temp_use.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thelavendercat.com/images/PDF-TheLavenderCat_temp_use.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals: A Comprehensive Guide to the Use of Essential Oils &amp;amp; Hydrosols with Animals&lt;/em&gt; by Kristen Leigh Bell&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T17:41:07.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9821" CreationDate="2015-07-31T17:53:52.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you dechlorinate the water before putting the fish in? Tap water is typically sanitized with chlorine or chloramine gas, which is similar. This can give off a bleach-like smell. If you aren't using a water conditioner to remove these elements, any fish you put in there will die. Aquatic reptiles could also be irritated by the bleach but it isn't immediately toxic to them, unlike fish and amphibians. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T17:53:52.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9906" CreationDate="2015-07-31T18:48:35.617" Score="6" ViewCount="2892" Body="&lt;p&gt;An unexpected event happened, and I have too go spend two nights out of the house, but I want to make sure I do what is best for my two kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both 2 months old and are siblings. They are used to spending every night in my large bathroom where they have their litter, food container, water container and cat tree. I am sure that nothing is dangerous for them in this environment. I planned on leaving them there for the 2 nights. I will be out of town leaving extra food, extra water and a second litter box in case. Do you think they will be fine together in the bathroom, as I would leave on the morning of the first day and come back on the night of the last day.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with bringing them with me is the fact that I have a lot of road to cover, and they really won't like being on the road with me, moving from one new house to another in the next few days, then coming back on the road to finally get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5513" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T17:17:25.880" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T17:17:25.880" Title="Leaving two siblings kittens alone for 2 nights" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9905" CreationDate="2015-07-31T22:26:02.280" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;They should be fine, though they may be grumpy with you about not having had access to the rest of their territory -- or to you -- for that time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly I don't worry about leaving older cats alone for a long weekend if they're healthy, with lots of water (I have a bowl with a tank), dry food, and a recently cleaned litterbox. Longer than that and I'll hire a friend's kid to look in on them, change the litterbox, and give them treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-07-31T22:26:02.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9857" CreationDate="2015-08-01T19:06:50.907" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;She may have a urinary tract infection.  This is curable with antibiotics, possibly (I am not sure) with a shot.    Impacted anal glands are a possibility; the vet can squeeze them clear.  There are other possibilities, but she needs a vet, ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5520" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T19:06:50.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="219" CreationDate="2015-08-01T21:14:59.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other eating only when hand-fed, does your dog behave normally?  Is he active; does he urinate and defecate reasonable amounts; is his weight constant?  If the answer is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; to any &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; of these questions, he needs a vet, ASAP.  If the answer is &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; of the questions, try the advice in the other answers for a few days.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5520" LastActivityDate="2015-08-01T21:14:59.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T01:16:48.760" Score="2" ViewCount="780" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume that no one needs to be told what human belly buttons look like.  But most people probably don't know what dog belly buttons look like.  Here's a photo of one, which should make it easier to understand why we usually don't notice them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7mSRu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7mSRu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that the difference between the two has something to do with the way the knot is tied, but is there a more thorough explanation?  Why are dog belly buttons so different from our own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T14:30:46.257" Title="Why are dog belly buttons so different from our own?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1375" CreationDate="2015-08-02T08:16:55.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel you should experiment with many fish because many say certain fish are aggressive and certain fish can't be with certain fish. I can say that I have betta male with a female in a tank with tiger barbs, tetras( 4 different types ), guppies, Molly's, platys, red fin sharks , cat fish , crawfish, alge eaters, angel fish, kissing fish, and gouramis (3 types) plus a few other fish and all seem to get along just fine. I'm not gunna lie I have lost a few fish in the past but to where I am now where all my fish get along its worth it. All have adapted to each other fish. I have a lively community of fish.  Take the risk because the outcome of it all is awesome to see&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5522" LastActivityDate="2015-08-02T08:16:55.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9917" CreationDate="2015-08-02T16:40:06.147" Score="4" ViewCount="737" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3225/is-it-true-that-cats-show-their-emotions-through-their-tail&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt;, concerning the cats' tails, where people answered me that cats show their emotions through their tails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I have seen the cats move their tails a lot. Are these movements (not only limited to the expression movements) voluntary or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, a friend of mine has a cat, and when she calls her name, she wiggles her tail. Is that voluntary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T07:35:10.463" Title="Are the cats' tail movements voluntary or not?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9916" CreationDate="2015-08-02T20:16:28.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, the answer is somewhere between &quot;both&quot; and &quot;depends the cat.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats seem to have to pin their tails down with a paw when washing. Others don't seem to have that problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of mine used to sit down next to a board game, sweep her tail across it, and then give us a hurt look when we complained: &quot;don't blame me for what the tail does.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tails are certainly used for signaling, for balancing, as nose- and paw-warmers, and as a way to fidget while holding the rest of the body perfectly still... but I don't know how to ask a cat how much of that is deliberate and how much is reflex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit: We don't like to admit how much of our own behavior is involuntary -- or at best something we've trained our ape-selves to do -- and justified afterward with &quot;of course I meant to do that.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T14:49:59.217" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T14:49:59.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-02T20:59:01.223" Score="4" ViewCount="31396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about getting a ten gallon (ca. 38 litres) aquarium so that I can add some Neon Tetras to my tank environment that already includes one Betta fish and nothing more. However, I noticed that the Neon Tetras and the Betta fish eat similar things. I don't want to waste money on an aquarium to hold more fish if it will be too much trouble to restrain my other Betta while the Tetras are eating! Is there a simple solution to feeding tank mates separately? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastEditorUserId="207" LastEditDate="2015-08-03T10:51:50.270" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T23:11:32.557" Title="How can I feed a Betta fish and Neon Tetras that are living in the same tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9918" CreationDate="2015-08-02T23:19:18.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just feed them together. Use a quality flake or pellet food and it will be fine for both types of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, just mentioning this out there because of the common, low-tech / no-tech, betta tank setups: if this tank isn't filtered and heated, do not put tetras in it. Bettas do not have the same water quality and oxygen saturation requirements as tetras do because they have a significantly different respiratory system, called a labyrinth organ, and do not have the same temperature requirements as tetras. Tetras breath oxygen through gills and not a labyrinth organ, they are warmwater tropical fish and need stable water temperature from around the mid 70's °F minimum up to the mid 90's °F (from around 24 to 35 °C). They can actually be in water in the low 100's °F (around 38 °C) for treating certain illnesses for an indefinite period of time if the water is thoroughly oxygenated. But again, stability is fairly important in tetra health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T23:11:32.557" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T23:11:32.557" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9948" CreationDate="2015-08-03T00:18:47.717" Score="6" ViewCount="23542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9918/how-can-i-feed-a-betta-fish-and-neon-tetras-that-are-living-in-the-same-tank&quot;&gt;adding tank mates to my tank environment.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I already have a Betta fish, and am thinking of adding a few more different types of fish like &lt;a href=&quot;http://nippyfish.net/bettas-101/tankmates-for-bettas/neon-tetras-bettas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Neon Tetras&lt;/a&gt;. However, after reading the previously linked article I starting thinking (A rather dangerous pastime). The article states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it’s best to avoid adding neons to a tank with a betta who is known to be overly aggressive. As you probably know, individual male and female betta personalities can range from the timid to the outright belligerent. If your betta has a bad reputation you may want to concede to his desire to go solo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how do you know if your betta is overly aggressive? Is it just a trial and error thing, like &amp;quot;Lets put an apple snail in my tank and see what happens!&amp;quot; And then you come home and the snail is toast. So you say &amp;quot;Oh, I guess my betta is aggressive! better not put any more fish in there!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something about that doesn't seem right. Is there some way to test of your betta fish is overly aggressive? (Without killing anything.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T10:40:08.787" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T10:40:08.787" Title="How can I decipher how aggressive my Betta is?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9652" CreationDate="2015-08-03T12:58:59.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs bury their food for a few different reasons. Personality aside, a natural behavior is for them to bury their food and eat it at a more convenient time. Your dog may not be comfortable eating in a new location (stress or other dogs marking this area can cause this) and wants to get comfortable before eating his food, so he can bury it until a better time. If an animal does not want food they will ignore it completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T12:58:59.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9542" CreationDate="2015-08-03T18:01:06.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that the goldfish would not be safe depending on how big the turtle is. I used to have a turtle, and every once in a while we would get some goldfish to feed him as a treat. He would usually swim around and try to nip at them. He literally would go and eat them bit by bit. It was pretty messed up. but it took him about half an hour to finish 4 or 5 medium sized goldfish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your goldfish sound a lot bigger than the bait fish I was feeding my turtle. I am not sure what type of turtle you have, but it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to say that he could easily start nipping on fins and eventually start making kills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is, if you are thinking of keeping a smaller turtle, like the kind that are the size of someones fist, he might be scared off by the large swarm of goldfish. Goldfish in my experience tend to swim more a less in groups. He may be overwhelmed and just leave the fish alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T18:01:06.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9821" CreationDate="2015-08-03T20:36:23.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glass is non-porous, so there should be no chlorine smell after rinsing it out and letting it dry. If you have filled it up with fresh water and it still smells strongly of chlorine, then there is another issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't say, but tap water often has chlorine and can sometimes have an excessive amount. I grew up on well water and when I went to college, the tap water was so heavily chlorinated that I became sick to my stomach and had to buy bottled water from then on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you didn't say if what was in the tank and if you treated it as well. I assume you did. Was anything porous and could it have absorbed chlorine that it's now releasing, like driftwood? Time spent in the chlorine is also a consideration. I would use bleach to clean the gravel and ornaments in my tank about once a year. The white gravel would get stained and there would be snails and stuff that just didn't want to come off on the ornaments. I'd fill a container with water and add a little bleach. I'd soak the ornaments for no more than 15min. I let them sit a few hours in there once and the color leached out of the plastic plants and the leaves started falling off at the joints. The rock won't decay, so you can leave it in for longer, but I'd then thoroughly rinse everything, let it air dry, rinse again, and dry once more before returning to the tank. I never had any issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd suggest several things. One is to get a Rubbermaid container as a temporary holding tank for your turtles and use fresh and treated water. Making sure to give them a landing to get completely dry and out of the water as water turtles require this, and also a light so they can digest their food. Then completely drain the tank and rinse all items, drying thoroughly. After sitting in the air overnight, sniff each item individually and determine where the strong chlorine smell is coming from. The tank is nothing but glass, and silicone, so no smell should be coming from there. I imagine it's an insert. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you identify the chlorine culprit, try to clean it as best as possible and consider replacing it if you can still smell it. You may also be able to save it by sitting it in a water bucket for a month or so, changing the water every few days. I know that backdrops made out of concrete leach toxins out this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles don't really need the water to cycle, like fish do, but you'll need to cycle it for any feeder fish or fish you keep in with the turtles for show. You need a filter as turtles dirty water extremely quickly and the toxins are good for them and are lethal to the fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this should solve your issue. It's good to treat chlorinated water, but it's would be very beneficial for you to have a Rubbermaid container somewhere, such as your garage, where you can let the water sit and dechlorinate. If you have well water, then this isn't an issue for you. I hope these steps can help you get your tank back on tract.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-03T20:36:23.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-04T10:41:04.550" Score="4" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two Russian female dwarf hamsters and they share a  25 x 30 x 50cm wired cage from pets at home which was highly recommended for two dwarfs. It seemed cramped with all the chews and toys, so I removed most of the toys which made it a bigger spacing things out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rosey, one of my dwarfs, started to bar climb and chew on the cage, because she loves to have lots of toys in the cage. I need to get a larger cage for the two. I want something large and cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The zoo-zone 2 was recommended. Is it a good size or should I look for something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-04T18:51:16.983" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:16:55.700" Title="Should I get a larger cage for my two dwarf hamsters? How large?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9927" CreationDate="2015-08-04T12:14:50.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want something large and cheap: build yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice for easy, cheap AND easy to clean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take waterproof wooden plates, and build a box with 3 sides.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the 4th side, attach wooden sticks, to create a groove to slide in a pane of acrylic glass or something similar. Then, you can see the hamster easily, and you can slide it out to clean the cage!  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build a lid with a hamster-proof grating, and you are set.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way, you can build it just the right shape for the room, and easily add a second level as well (4 sticks, a plate on top, and a way for the hamster to climb up. Put that in the box, and you have a second level).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you should possibly be aware that &quot;recommended&quot; in pet-store-lists usually is the absolute minimum. I saw recommendations for 1m² per hamster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that minimum base size is half of that, so 5 levels of 0,2m² would not count... but 2 levels of 0,5m² would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T23:16:55.700" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:16:55.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-04T21:00:08.307" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;When going in vacation for an extended period of time, meaning 1 or 2 weeks, would you consider leaving your bunny to a pet-boarding place? Knowing that rabbits are vulnerable to stress, would it be safe for them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5527" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T11:05:51.440" Title="Bunny-sitting at home exclusively or not?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2366" CreationDate="2015-08-05T01:09:32.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple options.  She could be window licking special. Her parents could have been siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she just like less the sensation on her paws, seems to be why some cats enjoy a certain blanket or piece of furniture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5534" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T01:09:32.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9827" CreationDate="2015-08-05T01:28:52.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like rlb.usa, I think it might be a appeasing behavior. Better known as calming signals, this array of signs (from licking lips to yawning) are used by dogs to convey concern or try to calm other dogs or humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may notice a dog licking his chops when approaching another dog, or when things are moving quickly (dogs take most things moving fast as a threat). When you notice your dog performing a calming signal, try to see if there is anything nearby that could be threatening or concerning to your dog. Also, you said that he threw up soon after performing this action. This could also be a sign of stress. My dog throws up sometimes when she is stressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try seeing a dog trainer about it. Sometimes it is a behavior that can be corrected if you find what is stressing your fluff ball out. Some dogs go through fear periods, especially puppies. So it may be something that goes away after a few weeks. Keep in mind, I am not saying that this is definitely nervous behavior, but I am saying that it could well be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information about calming signals, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arkofsanjuan.org/Library/Articles/The%20Language%20of%20Peace.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this pdf.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T01:28:52.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9881" CreationDate="2015-08-05T07:19:55.310" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog I have had in the last 12 years (which is 31) has enjoyed gnawing on sticks, especially the younger ones, and since we live in the woods, there is never any shortage of nice ones. I don't know if it's more common in Border Collies (that's all I've had recently) but it sure does happen a lot. Dogs like chew toys. A &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt;. If I let them, they would eat an entire stick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thankfully none of the dogs ever suffered significant problems with that activity. Now, bones have really caused problems. :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't let my dogs outside alone for prolonged periods of time. On walks, I often throw balls for them, especially if they pick up a stick. I try to keep them moving (which stops them from settling down with a stick.) They also know &quot;leave it&quot;. If they are sufficiently entertained on their walks (lots of interesting smells, water to play in, balls, etc.) the stick eating is minimized (the adults won't do it at all.) From watching the younger ones, it seems it feels good, so I replace it with a chew toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping your dog on a leash will lessen the need to run at him to remove sticks. So will a soft basket muzzle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some good tips &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petexpertise.com/dog-eating-sticks-rocks.html&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="3246" LastEditDate="2015-08-05T17:30:53.203" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T17:30:53.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9879" CreationDate="2015-08-05T07:26:39.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cat that was congenitally deaf. She was an indoor cat only. The major difference was that to call her, we would stomp on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, she was a really active, curious, playful, normal kitty. No special attention needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-08-05T07:26:39.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9964" CreationDate="2015-08-05T16:03:40.440" Score="4" ViewCount="1342" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife just found out she has a condition which is worsened by many types of allergens, like bird dander.  We have 5 parakeets, 1 pineapple green cheek conure, and a cockatiel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cockatiel produces the greatest amount of dander when he shakes out, but we've had him for 10 years and he's around 15 years and thus my wife doesn't want to re-home him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can I do to reduce the amount of bird dander?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering an air purification unit, but I've heard from a news report that many are not as effective as they say they are. I'm interested in knowing what people's experience is with air purification units used around birds.  Is there anything else I can do to control the amount of bird dander?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5537" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T17:50:29.273" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T10:32:18.423" Title="How can I reduce and control bird dander?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-06T04:44:31.010" Score="2" ViewCount="983" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta has been acting weird. He just lays on the bottom of his tank. Every Once in awhile he will get an energy spike and go around his bowl really fast then he'll just stop and sink to the bottom again. What can I do to help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5541" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T18:33:13.333" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:25:37.073" Title="How can I help my betta who is laying on the bottom of his tank?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:24:56.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-06T10:38:07.187" Score="0" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any experience taking care of reptiles so obviously I wouldn't want a gator as a pet. But I might have children in the future and what if they find alligators so fascinating and even see baby alligators that are being sold? (I am using an example of 2 children)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 2 main questions that I would need to ask them. One of them is the obvious &quot;Do you really want an alligator as a pet?&quot; The other is the not so obvious &quot;Do you have any experience with reptiles?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many possibilities here. The children could say &quot;No we don't want a gator as a pet but we have handled gators at the zoo after school.&quot; or &quot;Yes we want a gator and we have had experience with gators.&quot; or &quot;No we don't want a gator and we haven't had any experience with reptiles.&quot; or &quot;Yes we want a gator but we haven't had any experience with reptiles.&quot; It gets even more complicated if the children are of different ages and thus 1 has handled reptiles and the other hasn't and/or if 1 wants a gator and the other doesn't. This leads to at least 16 possibilities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other bad thing is that I haven't found anything really comprehensive about raising alligators. I search on google for &quot;How to raise an alligator&quot; and what do I get? I get very few that actually go into how to raise gators. Most talk about raising caimans or reptiles in general(and only go into minor detail about the alligator) and of the ones that do talk about raising gators, most are not comprehensive enough for someone who really wants to raise gators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third bad thing is that I am in Ohio. I don't know of anybody who raises gators in this cold state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should I tell my children if they really do want an alligator and have had experience with reptiles? Should I tell them that I can't get a gator for them since there isn't much I can find about raising gators? Or should I tell them that they can have a gator but they have to be very careful since even young gators can give someone a deadly bite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5434" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T13:44:15.690" Title="Alligator as a pet" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9940" CreationDate="2015-08-06T10:53:58.497" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tell your children that wildlife should be kept in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a2_exotic_animals_summary.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;bornfreeusa.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ohio&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Category: B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary of Law: &lt;strong&gt;It is unlawful to possess a dangerous wild animal&lt;/strong&gt; after Jan. 1, 2014. Persons in possession of dangerous wild animals prior to Oct. 1, 2013, must obtain a permit in order to keep the animal(s) after Jan. 1, 2014. The definition of wild animal includes, but is not limited to: hyenas; gray wolves, excluding hybrids; lions; tigers; jaguars; leopards; cheetahs; cougars; bears; elephants; rhinoceroses; hippopotamuses; African wild dogs; Komodo dragons; &lt;strong&gt;alligators&lt;/strong&gt;; crocodiles; caimans, excluding dwarf caimans; black-handed, white-bellied, brown-headed and black spider monkeys; common woolly monkeys; red, black and mantled howler monkeys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T10:53:58.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9938" CreationDate="2015-08-06T11:03:45.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://velvetdragon.com/bettas/sbd.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; with more than I'm willing to cut and paste, may it suffice to say you should google &lt;code&gt;Swim Bladder Disorder and Constipation&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When SBD is observed with no other symptoms or known causes, it is best to begin treatment for constipation. Most of the time, SBD will clear up immediately when the fish is no longer constipated. –velvetdragon.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That site and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swim_bladder_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wiki&lt;/a&gt; make the suggestion of feeding it a skinned (previously) frozen pea and that the problem &lt;em&gt;&quot;may be caused by intestinal parasites or by &lt;strong&gt;constipation induced by high nitrate levels from over feeding&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VelvetDragon suggests waiting a few days to feed it one (while withholding food), whereas Wiki says a pea can help clear it up in a matter of hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried looking through all the &quot;related&quot; Betta and SBD questions. The best answer I found was a comment on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9598/i-need-help-in-saving-my-betta?rq=1&quot;&gt;this other question&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Its very difficult to diagnose based on the description. It could be anything from bladder disease to constipation. Best thing to do is stop feeding him and make sure the water is 78-80 degrees. If he's sick unfortunately there's not a lot you can do. Sometimes antibiotics help, but not always. If he's constipated it usually works itself out. At that point change the food type and feeding amount. – GrandmasterB&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T17:11:48.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9916" CreationDate="2015-08-06T12:26:15.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When her name is called and her tail wiggles before she gets up, it's involuntary. She is torn between being lazy and Pavlovian desire to see what ya got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going from memory here, so don't take this as absolute gospel. In Desmond Morris's Catwatching, he explains that cats don't lash their tails when they hunt with as much cover as they'd like. The &lt;strong&gt;tail-lashing is a sign of a conflicted cat&lt;/strong&gt;--in this case, the conflict is between their desire to sneak up a little more closely on the target and their desire to pounce in order to minimize the time that they can be seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book is cheap, and an absolutely fantastic read if you're interested in cats. –&lt;a href=&quot;http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-380744.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;straightdope.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T12:26:15.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="726" CreationDate="2015-08-06T13:07:05.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;{obligatory note that neither I nor you are a veterinarian}&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, &lt;a href=&quot;http://drpollen.blogspot.com/2013/11/tramadol-for-cats-whats-dose.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tramadol&lt;/a&gt; is the only pain killer that cats, dogs and humans can all take. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Don’t give human sustained release Tramadol to cats (or dogs).&lt;/code&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T13:07:05.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2015-08-06T13:28:33.993" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a serious choice to make.  Cats who go outside are far more independent than purely indoor cats.  Once you allow a cat to go outside regularly, there are lots of factors to consider.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once a cat goes &quot;outdoors&quot; they expect the freedom to do so and wont be happy unless they can.  I believe this is why your cat is wanting to go back out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outdoor cats have half the lifespan of indoor cats.  They will pick up parasites like fleas, ticks, worms, and other nasty things.  They are far more susceptible to diseases, like rabies.  They will fight with other cats, animals, and have a risk of being hit by cars.  There is a much higher risk of injury and death.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is not uncommon for outdoor domestic cats to adopt another human family and be taken in by them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats are natural predators.  Next to humans, outdoor domestic cats are the biggest threat to wildlife.  Outdoor cats are the leading cause of death among both birds and mammals in the United States, according to a new study, killing 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion birds each year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outdoor female cats that arent spayed are far more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, you have to consider the fact that by letting your cat outside, your cat might not come back.  You should seriously consult your vet to decide what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="444" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T13:36:16.070" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T13:36:16.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9940" CreationDate="2015-08-06T13:44:15.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alligator is inappropriate from many points of view. Consider an iguana or something like that -- herbivorous, maximum size still managable. Or there are smaller lizards which have a more crocodilian look to them but won't become dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kids need to learn how to make real-world choices, including recognizing a bad idea &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; it hurts them or they are forced to hurt it. But that's a topic for the Parenting stack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T13:44:15.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6671" CreationDate="2015-08-06T15:36:21.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leave a light on in the house so the dog can't see outside. I doubt your dog can hear or smell the cat (unless your windows are open and it has a bell on its collar). The problem is likely a visual cue. With a light on inside and none on outside, he won't be able to see out of the windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="3035" LastEditDate="2015-08-06T17:52:11.627" LastActivityDate="2015-08-06T17:52:11.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2015-08-07T00:32:53.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to tell of somethings behavior (Scientifically or Educational Guessing). However fish tend to be one of the hardest animals to know if they are &amp;quot;Happy&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Sad&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Funny&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Angry&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Aggressive&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Passive-Aggressive&amp;quot;, and/or &amp;quot;Peaceful&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Charming&amp;quot; (or what we'd like to call &amp;quot;Emotions or feelings&amp;quot;). There are three major ways to detect if your fish is aggressive or peaceful/calm. One is that most animals and fish have health problems. The health problems can be a number of  things, from deformation/malformation to puberty (yes, animals go through puberty or some at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have put some interesting sources you should look at and even though a few want be about fish it does pertain to other animals to. The sources primarily are health related to animals but not just the one's there talking about however the sources give you great idea's to why some animals can be aggressive. Now to solve your problem; there are few indicators to know if your fish is &amp;quot;aggressive&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;peaceful/calm&amp;quot;. Some fish's jump out of the water (sometimes jump/leap out of the water violently). Now your dealing with a betta fish that are pretty dangerous and violent despite how small some are.&#xA;I will quote this paragraph that you placed/mentioned in your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;it’s best to avoid adding neons to a tank with a betta who is known to be overly aggressive. As you probably know, individual male and female betta personalities can range from the timid to the outright belligerent. If your betta has a bad reputation you may want to concede to his desire to go solo.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what site/book/source that was from so i can't say if that's true except for the fact &amp;quot;If your betta has a bad reputation you may want to concede to his desire to go solo.&amp;quot;. Don't try to put fish that may be eatable or bothersome fish in there or put one kind of fish in there by itself. However, my gut/instinct agrees not to put any fish in that tank with that betta just because they are fairly aggressive. If you do put some kind of fish in the tank with the betta, try to at-least put the fish in the tank in groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources cited:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Africa's Elephants: Can They Survive?&amp;quot; National Geographic. National Geographic Magazine, 2008. Web. 6 Aug. 2015. &amp;lt;http%3A%2F%2Fngm.nationalgeographic.com%2F2008%2F09%2Fafrica-elephant%2Fdouglas-hamilton-text%2F3&amp;gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T10:38:13.367" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T10:38:13.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:15:13.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from apparent diseases of the vocal cords, the most likely reason is psychological; meowing is one of the methods of ascertaining terrain dominance, and a cat which does feel secure and is not in a fighting mood will often meow much quieter, up to silent meows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to observe if your cat feels like a leader or is more docile and subjected to other creatures around. If he's a leader, visit the vet just to make sure. If he's the more docile type, it's most likely psychological and not much to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Past injury and loss of tail might explain psychological reasons, your master feels not at his/her prime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T03:35:42.437" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T03:35:42.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5952" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:19:28.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from the other suggestions, check the thinness of the fur. Thick fur for a kitten typically indicates long hair in later life, and thin hair is usually found in short hairs (you need to have a comparison to see the difference, but it rarely fails).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T03:35:04.987" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T03:35:04.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9879" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:25:36.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As everyone points out, no difference really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To call attention you will have to change sound waves to another type (both clapping and stomping) and cause air pressure waves to which cats have relative sensitivity (stomps in my opinion are better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One precaution though, do not let the cat to go outside unattended, as he is far more likely to fall prey to accidents of all sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another case is panic; if something startles your cat really badly, he will panic with more lasting effect as hearing cannot tell him if he is being chased etc. so a little sensitivity on the subject is required&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As John Cavan wrote, deaf cat will be far more likely to be couch cat, as he will be loving sensory input from petting to replace missing sensory input from hearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T08:36:51.203" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T08:36:51.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:27:43.487" Score="3" ViewCount="1542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 year old Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua mix. He is trained to go on his pee pad which he uses while I am at the house, or he lets me know when he needs to go outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just recently he has started peeing elsewhere in the house when I am at work. Also he poops in the house in my son's room and not on his pee pad (at night). What do I need to do to get him to consistently pee on the pad? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have other pets (birds and guinea pigs) but I don't think he would be marking his territory because he is peeing not close to these animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5551" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T10:17:07.057" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T10:17:07.057" Title="My (previously pad trained) dog pees and poops in the house when I am at work" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9913" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:30:46.257" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;human birth cords are cut, dogs are not, in essence this is the main difference, caused mainly by mortification of cord leftover and the way humans grow in comparison to dogs;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;google some images of children from rural africa/asia and you will find many with belly buttons resembling those of your dog (no exact matches though as we are usually doing something about the cords in one way or another)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T14:30:46.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9890" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:39:53.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't write details, so I will present the most likely options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if the female is not neutered, it may still fight off males; neutered or not (will last until they both grow up fully at around 1,5 year), if the male is not neutered it might be attempting to mate with rgw female, neutered or not (or if you neutered one of them, but one attempted to mate pre-castration, the other will remember and will react negatively to the other for a long time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they ascertain territory (fighting will decrease with time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there is another problem which you did not observe, most often sensory in nature; lost sight or hearing often causes irritability in cats, and the loss might be big enough to cause it to act thus, but not enough that you will notice the issue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case all of it is passing. Try to play with them both using stick-toys, etc. If within two weeks you do not achieve the desired effect of reconciliation, you might want to consider permanent separation as the problem is likely to be in psyche (some cats-rarely though- are psychically scarred, for example, after neutering and will not abide the presence of another cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:52:20.313" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:20.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9860" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:43:31.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;get exact tests, they are ussually done for free or at very low prices, its often something very simple which appears around the cat, but isnt really an issue with actually having a cat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ex. i know few people who though were allergic to cats and were in fact allergic to bentonite (cat toilet sand compund), replacing bentonite with special wood chip or gel stone resolved the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also advice of predecessor is very sound if all else fails&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T14:43:31.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9856" CreationDate="2015-08-07T14:49:00.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a common behavioural problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with them as much as possible in such way that both take part but don't have to interact directly with each other, after some time the antagonism will subside and they will get along without hitch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is caused by cats being territorial: your kitten grows up, starts to become adolescent and attempts to pressure the elder into submission. In essence it always look different, but comes down to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. If the fights are agressive, break them up by using water spray. For this purpose, use clean window cleaner spray bottle and pour full of water, they will break up and run off to lick the fur clean. Just make sure the bottle is cleaned properly so it does not contain any chemical residues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5550" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:21:43.207" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:21:43.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T16:21:18.063" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which breeds are normally chosen for this role, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1244" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T00:03:04.560" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T19:27:16.507" Title="What type of dogs can be trained to be an emotional support dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;service-animal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2015-08-07T17:10:48.220" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what my vet said when discussing my silent meower (who was perfectly healthy and lived to 21), there are several reasons a cat would meow but not make any noticeable sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most common according to my vet is that the cat's vocal cords are deformed so it has no &quot;voice&quot;. My old cat usually made no noise beyond something a bit like heavy breathing, but when she was stressed or in pain there'd be voice. Her purring was also almost silent. If your cat rarely/never had voice as a kitten, this is probably the cause.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Illness or accident can also cause problems, particularly if there's nerve damage. This is more likely if a vocal cat stops making noise when meowing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet says your cat is healthy, there's nothing to worry about (except possibly the cat getting trapped somewhere and you not being able to hear it - although my experience says the cat will develop other ways to let you know there's a problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T17:10:48.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-07T18:51:00.320" Score="3" ViewCount="1596" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pharaoh hound. I have had her for about a year now. During spring this year(I think it was in May or maybe early June) she was shaved. My dad shaved her in such a way that it looked like cubism(which is a style of art that is all about squares and cubes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first it was growing back normally. But at some point some of the hair on her back dramatically slowed down in growth. To compensate for it there was a dramatic increase in the amount of hair on her back legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would hair grow normally and then all of a sudden abnormally? Does she have cancer in her hair follicles of her legs and an early telogen phase on a part of her back or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5434" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:23:53.343" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T20:23:53.343" Title="Why is my dog's fur growing back so unevenly after shaving?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9959" CreationDate="2015-08-07T20:57:33.590" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Keshlam states in the comments, there's no way that Stack Exchange can answer this question definitively. In general, I feel the best answer here might be to begin going through the process and see what becomes of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my particular location, there is not a list of &quot;qualifications&quot;, and one can only find out if their dog is eligible by beginning the process ; the reasoning for this is that there are too many people who want the Working Dog title so their dog can be with them where otherwise not be allowed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T20:57:33.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2015-08-07T21:11:23.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are three different tests that you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allow your beta to see himself. This can be through a mirror, or perhaps certain plastic tanks that are shiny. Watch how he reacts. Most male betas will become distressed and try to 'attack' the mirror-image. What you're watching for is how often and how vigorously he 'attacks' the mirror-image. Sometimes this is used as an indicator of beta health. If this is your first beta fish, it's hard to have something to compare to, so my best advice would be to watch some youtube videos (or watch other betas at the store) to get a general idea of where your fish stands in relation to other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place the beta fish where he can 'see' other fish. Perhaps you put his clear tank next to a different tank, or perhaps you 'float' him in the tank as if he is getting acclimated to the water, like any other new tank-mate. Watch how he reacts, allowing for acceptable behaviors like trying to swim to the new places, or adjusting to new conditions (light, heat, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carefully watching and with fish-net in hand, acclimate the beta into the larger environment and release him. It's worth noting that in general-disputes don't tend to happen right as the fish is released, but some time later, after he is used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Having different tank mates with a beta works best when the tank is large enough to accommodate all the fish (the general rule is 1 gal / 1 inch of fish). Placing a new fish in a 1gal &quot;tetra tank&quot; has never ended well, even with the most docile of beta fish. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Female beta fish can be aggressive, also. It is not only the males. I have had female beta fish more aggressive than average males. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the tank meets the needs of its occupants, everyone inside is calmer and more happy. For example, more than one of a schooling fish, places for fish to hide, acceptable pH and nitrogen levels. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T21:11:23.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9936" CreationDate="2015-08-07T21:22:51.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What can I do to reduce the amount of bird dander?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that your bird is able to bathe himself. Aside from that, the rest comes down to cleaning, like changing newspaper/cage liners, sweeping, vaccuming, etc. Since your wife is the one allergic, it is best if she does not clean the cage at all, or if she does, to wear a face mask. Reducing the number of birds can help, and moving the cage to a place where there is not carpet (say, tile instead) helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife just found out she has a condition which is worsened by many types of allergens, like bird dander.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you pointed out, bird dander is only one part of the equation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Air purification units can help, but certain units work better than others - and they only work well if their filters are cleaned. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replace the air filter in your home (where the Air Conditioning comes in/out) on schedule, and use the highest quality pads. There is a rating that is acceptable for removing allergens.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replace/clean the air filter in your vacuum on schedule, and/or consider a vacuum that has high-grade filters, like HEPA. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If mold is a trigger, you'll want to get rid of any indoor plants, as they are high producers of it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Depending on allergens, you may wish to look into special bedding. There are beddings available now that have initial scientific results pointing to better health for asthmatic patients. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are many other tips, but I wanted to cover the ones that have the highest impact&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-07T21:22:51.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9966" CreationDate="2015-08-07T23:14:40.863" Score="2" ViewCount="1306" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog get excited and go crazy when I touch the leash? My dog is a 2 year old french bull dog mix, however, he is generally lazy (sluggish or sleepy). However, the thing that makes him excited and go crazy is when I get his leash to take him for walks, but I am curious to know why. He'll pee, poop, vomit, hurt himself, or just go outright psycho in the house (3 lap sprints). I like to take him for walks but I never seen a dog go that crazy over a leash (I can't even get it on him most of the time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T03:36:03.517" Title="Why does my dog get excited and go crazy when I touch the leash?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9965" CreationDate="2015-08-08T00:47:04.847" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't provide any insight beyond personal experience, but I have a small dog that goes absolutely nuts when he sees the leash come out from its hiding place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is the dog really, really, really wants to go on a walk with you.  Dogs are social animals, but they are also outdoor animals.  They like to be with their family but at the same time, they like to be outside, so when you put both together.... &quot;outside with my family on a walk&quot;, that is really giving the dog everything they want/need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T00:47:04.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9968" CreationDate="2015-08-08T16:28:02.383" Score="4" ViewCount="1769" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just bought a new feeding toy for our two cats (4 and 5 years old).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Picture below of the product.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jc0Vt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jc0Vt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we thought that our cats could use some entertainment, since they are house cats and never get to go outside.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We figured that this would be something they would instantly enjoy because let's face it, what cat doesn't like to 'steal' food from the table when you aren't looking.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Unfortunately we were wrong.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats don't seem to understand the concept, we removed their regular bowl of &lt;em&gt;cats grains&lt;/em&gt; (I used google translate for that, I don't know if thats correct).&#xA;But they both just sit there and look at the thing and at us, then they ignore it and start their ritual of asking for food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When we show them that the &lt;em&gt;grains&lt;/em&gt; fall down, it's like they don't understand it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We even take their paws and put them in the holes so they can feel the grains, but few cats like being held by their paws and this also isn't a success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest anything that could help stimulate the cats to use this food dispenser?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:01:47.340" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:01:47.340" Title="Teaching cat to use feeding 'toy'" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9967" CreationDate="2015-08-08T17:36:05.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might do better putting a favorite treat in this rather than their regular food, and by starting with the lid off so they get the idea of food inside, and then by loading it at the one-action level and moving upward only after they've figured that out... but this is also going to depend on the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine have two toys that involve reaching inside things. One is a sliding-door-holds-treat puzzle, which they're both interested in but only one has figured out how to operate. (And she does so with a gesture which shows that she doesn't fully understand it, she just knows that rubbing in a particular direction generally works.) The other is a ball-in-a-track toy which has the opposite bias; Harry has figured our roughy how to play with it (though it doesn't hold him for very long, perhaps because there's no built-in bribe) but Hazel gives it only occasional attention. It's hard to predict how much complexity, and what kind, a cat will like until you've lived with it for years and seen what works and what doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it depends on the cat's mood. Mine are fascinated when I'm using a sink, so I got them one of the cat fountains. They showed absolutely no interest in it -- maybe because I wasn't playing with it? -- and I put it aside. Tried it again this year, and while they still don't play with it as they do with a sink it has become their preferred water dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they were easy to predict, or thought the way we do, they wouldn't be cats...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-08T17:36:05.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9979" CreationDate="2015-08-09T10:50:34.073" Score="6" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;My budgie pair is all ready for breeding. But for the last 2 months I've been using WiFi throughout my home. Now I'm worried if WiFi radiation will lead newly hatched babies to death, or if there will be some other troubles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody ever faced such a situation? Is it risky?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5554" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T16:50:56.923" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:54:20.640" Title="Can WiFi be harmful for my budgerigar family?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9965" CreationDate="2015-08-09T15:56:24.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Boxers would act wild too (but no poop, pee or vomit), so I put out several leashes around the house and picked them up often so the dogs could see me, but ignored their antics even on days I took them for walks. I use halters for walks so I make them be calm enough to put the halter on or they didn't walk with me. After about a week they would sit down in front if me and wait for their halter. I cut a leash so it was about 6-8 inches long and the male dog wore the halter and leash around the house. I wouldn't walk a dog that acted that crazy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5555" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T03:36:03.517" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T03:36:03.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5952" CreationDate="2015-08-09T16:37:56.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually a kitten will have tufts of longer hair between the toes (As stated previously), but will often have long tufts around the ears and face as well if it is long haired. Sometimes it's not super obvious either, usually the coats are finer, fluffier and thicker when long haired. But this isn't always true, so you will probably have to wait to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5556" LastActivityDate="2015-08-09T16:37:56.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-09T18:23:31.750" Score="6" ViewCount="2248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two older kittens, about 8 months now. A boy and a girl, both done. They were the only two in the litter and they are very friendly and loving both to me and each other. They are very close and neither seems particularly to be top-cat, they play, sleep and wash together. However, the boy gets very intense when he washes his sister, and nibbles/chews off all her whiskers. She allows him to do this, in fact seems to be enjoying it, but she now has no whiskers! Why does he do this and how can I stop him? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5557" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T20:13:44.543" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T13:37:45.960" Title="How can I get my cat to stop chewing the whiskers off his sibling?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-09T20:46:43.780" Score="0" ViewCount="684" Body="&lt;p&gt;Parrots are smart animals and can learn many tricks.  At least that's my experience with our cockatiels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our problem is not teaching the birds how to do certain things, but teaching them &lt;em&gt;not to do&lt;/em&gt; some bad things, such as not to bite any kind of wires, not to touch keyboards, not to fly to dangerous places, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read several times that unlike with dogs, negative reinforcement or punishment doesn't work well with birds and should be avoided.  What is then an effective way to prevent certain behaviours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="470" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T12:34:09.980" Title="How to teach a parrot NOT to do certain things?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7310" CreationDate="2015-08-10T10:04:59.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated Deirdra Strangio, if the gecko can and does still eat while in shed, it's not much of a real problem. One thing you can do to help speed the shedding process up is include a &quot;damp&quot; hide. This will give a slight boost to the humidity and help the gecko to remove it's shed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A damp hide can be made from a deli cup with lid, place some sphagnum moss or paper towel inside it and spray it down with water. We use this method for our Leopard geckos and it drastically reduces the shed time and alleviates stress for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5564" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T10:04:59.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9981" CreationDate="2015-08-10T16:20:03.127" Score="2" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I neutered my male before the female got her first heat and I am waiting until she is one and a half to spay her (bigger organs, less complications in surgery...).&#xA;I wonder if there is a way to raise his interest and if it would calm her down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2765" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-10T16:47:53.973" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T03:44:44.907" Title="Is there a way to momentarily raise a neutered cat's testoterone level so he can experience mating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9969" CreationDate="2015-08-10T16:47:29.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the research that I can find is inconclusive, and deals with networks that run on different specifications than home WiFi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Basic Technology Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some research on ELF (extremely low frequency, like from power lines or appliances). This is generally below 300 MHz (and much lower)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another area that I can find research on are cell phone networks. These run generally from 900-1800 MHz. A cell phone tower generally has an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fcc.gov/guides/human-exposure-rf-fields-guidelines-cellular-and-pcs-sites&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;effective radiated power of 5-10 W&lt;/a&gt; (right in front of the antenna, it falls away pretty quickly). A cell phone transmits between 0.5 W - 3 W (sources vary, depends on manufacturer, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For comparision, WiFi is generally run at 2.4 GHz (2400 MHz) or 5.6 GHz (5600 MHz). A WiFi basestation's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/channels/lwapp/reference/guide/lw_chp2/1140_chp.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;specifications&lt;/a&gt; say that it can have at most 20 dBm (0.1 Watts) on each of the frequencies that it runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Research&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Balmori and Hallberg are two researchers who studied sparrows in Spain in the mid 00's. They determined that sparrows were in generally poorer condition and had worse breeding outcomes when electronic magnetic environment increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everaert and Bauwens did a similar study in Belgium (with similar results). The problem with these studies is that it is difficult to determine how much of the decrease in health/outcomes is due to the EMF and how much is due to increasing urbanization (loss of habitat, food sources, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reijt et al. (2007) studied breeding tits in nesting boxes around a military radar station compared with a control location. The exposure levels were reported as being from 2.0 to 5.0 W/m2. No change in breeding biology was observed. However there was a shift in the ratio of blue tits to great tits compared with the control location. Thus one interpretation of this study and those on house sparrows is that the electromagnetic fields may discourage some bird species from breeding there or alternatively might encourage other species to build their nests in the areas with higher RF EMF fields.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/opinions_layman/en/electromagnetic-fields/l-3/9-environmental-effects.htm#1p0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to look into this more, I suggest including the term &quot;non-thermal&quot; as a search term. Most of the current safety guidelines discuss the ability of the energy waves to heat flesh. There are no concerns with the thermal safety of any of these forms of radiation, but non-thermal effects are still being studied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T16:47:29.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6671" CreationDate="2015-08-10T18:58:40.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to introduce your dog to a cat, you first have to find a cat that gets along with dogs and then have them meet somewhere that's not on your dogs &quot;turf&quot;. He will likely be less aggressive if he doesn't think the cat is encroaching on his territory. You must always have him on a leash and have him under control in case he decides to attack the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to get your dog to lay down. If he's laying down, he will be less intimidating to the cat, more under control, and less likely to lash out. If you can get him to lay down, that also means that he's at least partially focused on you and not totally fixated on the cat which is already a start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they're together, you should reward your dog for good behavior (being calm, sitting or laying down, even just ignoring the cat) and let him know what is bad behavior (barking, chasing, lunging at the cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to distract him with treats. If he gets used to being around a cat without the cat being the center of his attention, the cat will become less exciting to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T18:58:40.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9978" CreationDate="2015-08-10T19:17:20.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I don't think there is a way to raise his testosterone in a safe way. Once he's neutered, he's neutered. Secondly, this would not be advised as there's no saying that she would pick him as a mate anyway. In fact, she probably wouldn't since he would have lowered testosterone levels and the female cat will only mate with a male that is &quot;desirable&quot; that she thinks would produce good offspring. Lower levels of testosterone would pretty much eliminate him as a contender.So it probably would not calm her down. Lastly, once your female has had her first heat, it is considered safe to get her spayed anyway. In fact, it is considered safe even before that but once she's had her first heat, you know for sure that it's safe to spay her. So if you get her spayed now, you won't have to worry about that anymore anyway. And you definitely should get her spayed now because some cats when they're in heat will do everything they can to get out of the house and find a mate and then you'll end up with a bunch of unplanned kittens!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T19:17:20.463" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9954" CreationDate="2015-08-10T19:34:20.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a dog breaks house training, they have certain spots they will poop or pee in and they'll continue to use the same spot (or very near it) unless you do something to stop them. They make deterrents for peeing such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natures-miracle.com/products/pet-odor-stain-removers/stop-cat-dog-marking.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; but what is probably going to be most useful is to either kennel your dog or shut him in a smaller space with a pee pad such as a bathroom or a bedroom. Since he's older (less energy) and he's such a small dog, closing him in a smaller space shouldn't be much of a problem for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that he's older shouldn't have too much to do with it since he's a smaller dog and smaller dogs usually live longer (the higher end of the life expectancy is 16 years for a Jack Russell and 18 for a chihuahua). And the fact that he's peeing AND pooping makes it less likely that it's a medical issue (if he was only peeing, it might suggest that he had a bladder infection or kidney problems, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T19:34:20.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7310" CreationDate="2015-08-10T19:43:11.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is eventually coming off then yes this is &quot;okay&quot; but it's not ideal. If the shedding process is taking too long, it means that the humidity in his habitat is too low. If this continues to happen and the new skin forms under the old skin over his eyes and the old skin never comes off, this can lead to infection and even eventually blindness in extreme cases (multiple sheddings stuck over the eyes). Once you notice he's about to start shedding, try to increase the humidity in his cage and also provide a humidity box as described by @Elefym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T19:43:11.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-10T21:54:35.187" Score="4" ViewCount="13789" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat's food bag is filled with ants and I'm sure I'm not supposed to give him ant filled food. So is there a method to remove the ants from the original bag or should I throw it away and get a new bag of food? Also are there any methods to keep ants away from their food bag in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5569" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T16:24:17.513" LastActivityDate="2019-09-02T04:07:49.620" Title="My cat's food is filled with ants: should I throw it away or is there a method to remove them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2469" CreationDate="2015-08-10T22:01:41.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat might be going through cat puberty, it makes them become aggressive and start wanting to go outside more. They will also start marking their territory by peeing everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if your cat is running around your house like crazy and is grooming more than usual, he might have fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, check with your vet if you're not sure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5569" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:46:06.717" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:46:06.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="9986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9984" CreationDate="2015-08-10T23:05:11.513" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Throw it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the bigger problem is getting rid of the ants in your house, the ants in the cat's food are only a symptom of this root issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ants are attracted to food smells, so try putting the (new!) food in an airtight container like a freezer-bag or a plastic container. That will also help the food to stay fresher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-10T23:05:11.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2469" CreationDate="2015-08-11T02:17:26.567" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sudden unexplained  behavior change always calls for a vet visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T02:17:26.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T03:42:08.243" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed when we go to the dog park, there are certain dogs that try to hump most of the other dogs, including our much larger male lab mix. Why do those dogs do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T08:36:05.810" Title="Why do some dogs try to hump all the dogs at the dog park?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T03:56:21.507" Score="6" ViewCount="124520" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted a 7-yr-old Chesapeake Bay Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix with a dark coat, and after about 2 weeks, my wife and I swear the fur is getting lighter, especially around his ears and neck. He eats well and seems pretty laid back, and although he sheds a lot and we've been brushing him regularly, he isn't developing any bald spots (e.g., from anxiety issues or malnourishment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a dog's coat to change color, for example, with the seasons? Or is it possible for the coat to get sun bleached from only a few hours outdoors each week? It also occurred to us that maybe he was just a bit dirty before, but we gave him a bath when we first brought him home and his coat only started to seem lighter as of a few days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: we have now had him for more than a year, and his coat has stayed about the same since that first color change a few weeks after we got him. We've fed him everything from the cheap $20 for 50 lbs food, to the fancy $70 for 24 lbs food (but we buy it when it is on a clearance super-sale), and his coat stays the same. I think in those first 2 weeks we had him, we were feeding him the same food that the shelter had been feeding him.  So, strangely, his drastic coat color change doesn't seem to have been related to the seasons, and it seems unlikely it was related to diet or age since it was so fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T20:05:25.830" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T15:17:22.463" Title="Is it normal for a dog's coat to change color?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T04:21:53.127" Score="4" ViewCount="1110" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted a lab mix who is estimated at around 7 years old. He was first found as a stray, then was adopted for about 2 years before he was displaced from his seemingly loving family and put up for adoption again at the same shelter, where we found him. He's very well-behaved, and for the first couple days we didn't hear a single bark out of him, even when other neighborhood dogs would bark as we walked past their yards. Even at the dog park he didn't bark at the other dogs. We went about 2 weeks with pretty much zero barks, except for the time we think the cat was about to steal some of his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on a few occasions in the past few days, he has barked while tied out in the yard. On a couple occasions he has also barked when someone was at the door, including once the other day when I returned home from work and he barked a couple times at me from inside the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did he just realize this is his new home and that it's his duty to guard it? He doesn't seem to bark all the time at people outside or at the door, and he only barks 2 or 3 times, not nonstop like most of the other dogs around the neighborhood. When he barks at the door or when he's tied out in the yard, should we ignore the behavior, praise him, or try to get him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="605" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T17:08:01.223" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T11:33:39.430" Title="Did my recently-adopted adult dog suddenly decide it's his duty to guard the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9988" CreationDate="2015-08-11T05:24:47.570" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dogs just &quot;show them who's the boss&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately many interpret this as being gay or aggressively offensive, which simply isn't true. Of course there could be more behind the whole thing in a male/female combination, but usually it's really just to mark dominance and part of playing/socializing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same is true for dogs trying to hump human legs. If one does, just shove it away (just like other dogs do), unless you want to drop in rank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if other dogs try to hump your lab, just let it solve this &quot;issue&quot; on its own, unless the dog can't or they're not properly socialized (i.e. they don't know when to stop or are somehow hindered).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T05:24:47.570" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-11T05:50:25.507" Score="5" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought my dog from an Amish family when she was only two months old, and a year or so later, I watched a documentary about the Amish.  Whenever someone spoke Pennsylvania Dutch (i.e., Amish German), she would perk up her ears and cock her head to one side, as though it was familiar to her.  She does the same thing when she hears wolves on TV.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed that she had some memory of living with the Amish family and hearing them speak the language.  Is there any possibility that this is the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T15:11:21.613" Title="How well do dogs remember their early lives?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9992" CreationDate="2015-08-11T15:11:21.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A while back, getting a German Shepherd that was trained to respond to German commands was a bit of a fad, even though the dogs would go to non-German speaking homes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dogs cannot 'perceive' television enough to watch it and learn to tune out anything that comes from that direction and ignore it all. It's always humorous to watch a dog who's learned that still get excited when there's a doorbell, dog, or knock on the television.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T15:11:21.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9990" CreationDate="2015-08-11T16:57:16.923" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound to me like he's realised that this is really his home now, not just a temporary situation, and so he naturally wants to defend it. My border collie was the same -- absolutely quiet for the first couple of weeks. Then he realised it was his home, and started to relax more. Even after that he was always a very well-behaved dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he only barks 2 or 3 times, not nonstop, I don't think you need to do anything. I doubt he will become a nonstop barker. And to be fair, he's entitled to express himself now and then. Just make sure you don't unintentionally reward barking (e.g., by rushing over to calm him down, or otherwise creating excitement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My border collie used to bark up to seven times, but I could always count him stopping after seven. When you know the barking will stop pretty quickly, it's not that annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T16:57:16.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9959" CreationDate="2015-08-11T18:38:52.247" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No special training is required beyond basic obedience, and pretty much any breed can be registered as an emotional support animal as long as the dog meets a few basic behavioral criteria. In fact, you can easily &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nsarco.com/emotional-support-animal.html&quot;&gt;register your dog online&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The National Service Animal Registry states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Air Carrier&#xA;  Access Act, and Fair Housing Act, your emotional support animal (ESA)&#xA;  does NOT need any specific training, but only needs to be manageable&#xA;  in public and controlled by you, its disabled handler. This is because&#xA;  the very presence of the animal is what ameliorates the negative&#xA;  symptoms associated with a person's emotional or psychological&#xA;  disability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, emotional support animals are often confused with psychiatric service dogs, who undergo more rigorous certification and are trained to perform specific tasks that their specific disabled human handlers cannot perform. Emotional support animals are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; granted special privileges under federal service animal laws in the US, though some states may offer such privileges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/node/76&quot;&gt;servicedogcentral.org&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The difference between emotional support animals and service animals&#xA;  is threefold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To have a service animal, a person must be so impaired as to have a disability. For example, needing glasses for poor vision is an&#xA;  impairment, but being unable to see with or without glasses is a&#xA;  disability. Having a mental illness is an impairment, but being unable&#xA;  to function on a minimal level because of a mental illness is a&#xA;  disability. Folks may have an emotional support animal due to a mental&#xA;  impairment if they are also otherwise disabled or elderly or they may&#xA;  have an emotional support animal because of a mental illness&#xA;  disability. Only those actually disabled by a psychiatric impairment&#xA;  would qualify to use a psychiatric service dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Service animals are task trained to actually do something which mitigates the person's disability. Their defined function is not to&#xA;  provide emotional support (affection on demand or a security blanket)&#xA;  but to do something the handler cannot do for themselves which allows&#xA;  that handler to overcome or ameliorate an inability to perform major&#xA;  life activities. Emotional support animals don't have to be trained,&#xA;  so long as they do not disturb neighbors or pose a threat to public&#xA;  safety.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A person with a disability has a right to be accompanied by a trained service dog which is assisting them in most public&#xA;  accommodations (places of business). A person with an impairment or a&#xA;  disability does not have a right to be accompanied by an emotional&#xA;  support animal unless individual state laws specifically grant this&#xA;  right, in which case it applies only in that state.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="605" LastEditDate="2015-08-11T18:44:32.620" LastActivityDate="2015-08-11T18:44:32.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T00:19:40.287" Score="14" ViewCount="37032" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cats - well, one more than the other - will whine and meow at me in a certain manner that I have come to recognize as, &quot;There is no food in the bowl.&quot;  When they exhibit this behavior, I automatically check the food bowl.  Sure enough, there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; food in the bowl, but the bottom of the bowl is visible.  Not only that, there is still plenty of food - probably enough for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I am not the only one to notice this behavior.  There are even &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=a+bowl+a+cat+thinks+is+empty&amp;amp;espv=2&amp;amp;biw=1680&amp;amp;bih=925&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIu_XDiaCixwIVQqseCh1dyAAL#imgrc=Lko_KVfJEQZWrM%3A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;memes&lt;/a&gt; about it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z5Era.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z5Era.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is safe to say if multiple, separate cats exhibit this behavior, then it is an instinctual trait carried on from before domestication, not a learned behavior.  This is similar to cats (and other animals) walking in a circle before lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I cant think of what that pre-domesticated behavior would be.  Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-08-12T01:49:56.410" LastActivityDate="2018-01-20T15:07:55.330" Title="Why do cats act like their food bowl is empty when there is still food left?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="9999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6179" CreationDate="2015-08-12T00:49:12.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is you have to distinguish between people who are knowledgeable and people who are truly experts.  Pet store employees have varying degrees of knowledge, as do breeders, but I would never believe they are experts at dog nutrition.  I would trust a trained veterinarian, or a real dog nutritionist (with scientific training) over the advice of knowledgeable people.  Simply put, this question is not truly answerable without a scientific study and empirical data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to food marketed to specific breeds or ages, again I take that information with a grain of salt.  I do believe there are some kernels of truth in the marketing.  Take food marketed for puppies.  They often advertise it has more of the vitamins needed for puppy development.  I have no reason to doubt that more of those vitamins are present, however I question whether the increase actually has quantifiable effect.  Remember, there are plenty of puppies who do not eat puppy formulated food and turn out just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same thing applies to foods marketed to different breeds of dogs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to reiterate, there are some truths behind the marketing.  While a yorkie will most probably be fine eating food for a great dane, the size of the food is tailored towards bigger dogs and a smaller dog can choke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, the only person who can guide you in the right direction is your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T00:49:12.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9978" CreationDate="2015-08-12T01:23:22.560" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the decades, we have spayed 9 females when they were about six months old, with no complications.  There is no need to wait until the cat is 1.5 years old.  Cats who are spayed before first heat are less likely to get breast cancer, and of course, will not have kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for feeling guilty about neutering your male cat before he had &quot;done the deed&quot;, wouldn't he be more likely to miss what he knew rather than what he had never known?  Is your cat happy?  If so, you have nothing to feel guilty about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5520" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T01:23:22.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2015-08-12T01:48:27.173" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess has always been that kibble (dry food) gets stale when exposed to air, and the cats are asking for the fresher stuff from the bag. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you store kibble in an open box, there's less surface area exposed to air than in a half-empty bowl, so any added food would seem &quot;fresher&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't noticed this behavior while meal feeding wet food, even when they sometimes leave leftovers after breakfast until I get home from work. In those cases they'll eat the leftovers before asking me for more food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One difference between wet and dry food is that dry food tends to contain cereals/grains/carbs (it's VERY difficult to manufacture meat only dry food), and those foods are more sensitive to air conditions (going stale) than meat-based (wet) foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T01:48:27.173" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10003" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T06:23:20.040" Score="10" ViewCount="40757" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 6 week old puppy and around 4 o'clock every morning, he starts whining and howling. He normally stops and falls back asleep, but it takes him a while. He sleeps in his own room. I don't know how to get him to stop whining in the middle of the night and to sleep through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5576" LastEditorUserId="5576" LastEditDate="2015-08-12T12:24:24.603" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T00:14:19.327" Title="How can I help my 6 week old puppy sleep through the night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9916" CreationDate="2015-08-12T07:35:10.463" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of it like a child's face &quot;lighting up&quot; when they see something they like.  A cat's tail movements, like human facial expressions, can be voluntarily controlled to some extent, but in this particular case it's likely more of an automatic reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T07:35:10.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2015-08-12T07:59:46.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Humane Society has a page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/bringing_outside_cat_indoors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bringing outdoor cats indoors&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/cat_happy_indoors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;keeping indoor cats happy&lt;/a&gt; which may be applicable to your situation.  Likewise, the ASPCA has a page about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/preventing-your-cat-getting-outside&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;preventing a cat from getting out&lt;/a&gt; as well as a more general article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/enriching-your-cats-life&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cat enrichment&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main idea across all of these articles is to make indoor life interesting and stimulating for your cat by providing opportunities for your cat to exercise its natural behaviors.  By satisfying your cat's needs and desires to run, climb, hide, scratch, and hunt, you can reduce your cat's desire to escape and ensure your cat is contented and healthy without the risks and dangers associated with unrestricted outdoor access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T07:59:46.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2015-08-12T10:37:12.287" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whisker stress is commonly believed to be discomfort caused by the cat's (very sensitive) whiskers brushing against the sides of a food bowl. Ingrid King (an author who previously spent 10+ years working in a veterinary office) &lt;a href=&quot;http://consciouscat.net/2014/10/20/dr-catsby-food-bowl-provides-relief-from-whisker-stress/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;describes it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whiskers are extremely sensitive, and when a food bowl is too narrow and too deep, a cat is forced to put her face all the way into the bowl to reach her food. This causes her whiskers to bump against the side of the bowl, which causes discomfort. In extreme cases, cats may refuse to eat out of deep, narrow bowls altogether. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pictures (not drawings) of the meme mentioned by the question tend to have very steep sides, so the cat will eat out of the center (where it's comfortable and the whiskers have plenty of room), but decline to eat the food on the sides (where the whiskers would rub against one side of the bowl).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm not entirely convinced about this.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to find any research to indicate that whisker stress is a real phenomenon for an &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7340/what-is-the-best-shape-for-a-cats-food-bowl/7496#7496&quot;&gt;earlier question&lt;/a&gt; and could not find any scholarly (peer reviewed) articles about it. I just found multiple instances of cat owners telling other cat owners about it (and selling special bowls!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, we give a bit of dry food in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00FPKNSFE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flower Slo-Bowl&lt;/a&gt; and sometimes the cats ask for fresh even when there is still food in the bowl. They do not eat directly out of the bowl, but have to spend some time &quot;fishing&quot; kibble out of the bowl and onto the floor, where they then eat it (we do this before bed so they are entertained while we sleep). They may just be asking for food that they don't have to work for (wet food meals are fed on platters), so it's hard to tell if this disproves the theory or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T10:37:12.287" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2015-08-12T13:16:20.887" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;A six week old puppy is home sick.  Why is he sleeping in his own room?  They want to be in a room with you where they can hear you and smell you even if they are in a crate.  Even a full grown dog wants to sleep in room with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is kind of late now but something from the litter for the smell of the litter in the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T00:36:55.387" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T00:36:55.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2015-08-12T14:25:10.177" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Additionally to Frisbee's answer, you can also add some plush toys or shape his bed in a way to create a nest for the puppy and make the bed feel less empty. When puppies sleep together, they're all in a pack; if the bed of your puppy is a flat or commercial bed, it's not welcoming for him and often too big. Forget about cute dog beds and make it comfortable for him first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already suggested, if the puppy cannot sleep in the same room as yours for a while, add some old clothes that you wore to add your smell to his environment. It's easier indeed if you could simply let the puppy sleep near your bed or room, and gradually move him in the other room; but in general, dogs still want to be close to their master, no matter their age! Also let the bed get some of the smell of the puppy; the puppy needs to have some ways to recognize his environment to feel &quot;at home&quot; and to lower his anxiety. Unless necessary, don't wash it too often until the puppy feel more comfortable in his new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A good trick:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a heating pad at very low temperature can help too. One trick is to fill small plastic bottles with hot water and put them in the puppy's bed, and add the heating pad next to them. With the heating pad, it keeps these bottle warm enough to make him feel like he's sleeping next to another puppy or his mom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These things will help but there's no miracle; &lt;strong&gt;you'll need to be patient, he feels alone and what he does is totally normal.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://m.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/puppy_behavior_basics.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;6 weeks old for a puppy&lt;/a&gt; is very young to be separated from the litter.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://m.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/puppy_behavior_basics.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://m.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/puppy_behavior_basics.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Precision about heat pad:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's easy ways to cover a heating pad wire either DIY with a rubber tube or by purchasing covers for that purpose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it wasn't clear, it has to be covered; you don't put the heating pad or anything that can be toxic or hazardous easily accessible with the puppy. You don't put the puppy directly on the pad, anyway it's not comfortable and could be too warm actually...! At this age, puppies don't &quot;burrow&quot; much though because they don't even have the strength for it; a thick folded blanket covering the pad or leaving the pad outside of the crate will be safe enough, as long it at least touches the water bottles to warm them slightly. You'll probably need only to use this for a few days, up to 2-3 weeks. &lt;strong&gt;Not only it helps them not feel alone but at young age, puppies or any mammal have hard time keeping themselves warm at young age.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/microwaveable-heat-pad&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cordless ones&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://thehappyhousewife.com/home-management/homemade-heat-pad-in-minutes-with-kids/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;grain ones&lt;/a&gt; and even the &lt;a href=&quot;http://hotsnapz.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;camping heat pad&lt;/a&gt; style that can last for hours. And to prevent chewing any tasteless plastic, the ideal is simply to make tasty chewing toys easily available at all time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hartz.com/Dogs/Hartz_Puppy/lets_get_warm.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.hartz.com/Dogs/Hartz_Puppy/lets_get_warm.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; You can keep your puppy warm using:&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; Heating pad. Manufacturers of heating pads made for people do not recommend them being used on animals. Even set on “low”, temperatures can soar to dangerously hot levels, requiring almost constant monitoring. &lt;strong&gt;Pads made for animals don’t get as hot and usually have a low voltage power supply.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Hot water bottle. Or improvise one out of a shampoo or mouthwash bottle. Wrap a thick towel around the bottle so the puppy can’t come in direct contact with it. As with the heating pads, make sure he can move away from the bottle if he gets too hot.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Heat lamps will warm him up, &lt;strong&gt;but they can be dehydrating and hard to regulate.&lt;/strong&gt; He can easily become overheated with no way to escape.&lt;/sup&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;In an emergency you can fill a heavy sock with ½ cup uncooked rice. Heat in the microwave for 60 seconds. The rice-filled sock should stay warm for three hours. Check it to make sure it’s not too hot. You may need to wrap it in a towel&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2099&amp;amp;aid=863&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2099&amp;amp;aid=863&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;To remain healthy, puppies must be kept at the proper ambient temperature. &lt;strong&gt;Young puppies cannot conserve body heat or shiver to create heat.&lt;/strong&gt; Supplying artificial heat sources such as an incubator, heat lamp, warm water pad or electrical heating pad will help puppies remain at the correct body temperature.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastEditorUserId="5244" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T04:37:10.893" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T04:37:10.893" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-12T15:56:02.300" Score="3" ViewCount="783" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently added two parakeets to our family. I've been doing tons of reading and research, but I still have much more to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my research I've determined that the cage that the pet shop sold me is too small to keep our budgies happy (but perfect for vet visits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love the build quality and size of the cage below, but the site doesn't list budgies in the &quot;built for [insert types of birds here]&quot; information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any experienced parakeet owners that could tell me if this is a good cage for our two new parakeets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pajareras.es/jaulas-y-voladeros/jaulas-para-loros/jaula-amazonas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's the page in the original Spanish (we're living in Spain).&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pajareras.es/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;amp;cPath=674_682&amp;amp;products_id=2796&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;They also have an English version of the page, but it has less information.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiEP-vB7fNU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; that shows some nice close-ups of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5577" LastEditorUserId="1381" LastEditDate="2015-08-12T16:31:19.313" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T04:57:23.020" Title="Cage for Parakeets" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2015-08-12T16:19:49.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes dog's coats do change color for various reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Growing up from young to adult:&lt;/b&gt;Puppies sometimes completely change color as they mature.  For instance, Dalmatians and Australian cattle dogs start off life pale and get their markings as they age&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Old age:&lt;/b&gt;  Many dogs go a little gray, especially around the face, as they age.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sun damage or other environmental factors like shampoo or diet:&lt;/b&gt;  Trace minerals in water cause dogs to have tears that will stain their fur by their eyes dark over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Diseases:&lt;/b&gt; Diseases such as vitiligo or a hormone problem may also be the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have obtained the dog in the last two weeks, I would suggest you to take him to the vet for a checkup and ask about it.  It's generally a good idea to bring new pets to the vet anyways, so the vet can see the animal while it's theoretically healthy as a baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T05:04:43.307" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T05:04:43.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9890" CreationDate="2015-08-12T16:40:13.257" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anything changed in the home? Is there anything that could be making them stressed? Animals can turn on each other when stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't find an environmental cause then they may have just had a falling-out. Cats, like people, can be cliquish. In a clowder (a pack of cats) you see cats that are good friends, cats that get along OK, and cats that don't like each other at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat relationships change over time. If there are too many negative interactions a cat may start to hold a grudge against another cat and they may not tolerate each other at all, which seems to be where you are now. The cat that you see as fighting may be being picked on by the other cat and may just be defending itself. You would have to watch them closely to see what is going on exactly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common cause of cat conflict is jealousy. If one cat is getting more attention than another, or is attention is in short supply they may start resenting each other, and may hiss and fight. Cats can be sneaky and secretive about this so the behavior is difficult to see in its entirety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you/everyone give both cats plenty of affection and praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want them to get a long again you need to repair their relationship. I have repaired a few. The key is for them to have positive memories associated with each other. Ways you can do this is to praise and pet them both a lot while they are around each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also pet their heads and sides of their face then pet the other cat the same way, back and forth a few times. This transfers their scent to each other so they start to associate the other cat's smell with praise and affection. Give them treats when they are behaving around each other. This is positive reinforcement - the most powerful tool in behavior modification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed them in each other's presence and pet them as they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these things will help to build good memories of the other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your role should be parental here: stop any fights before they escalate. If one is picking on the other (prior to any fighting) shoo the aggressor away and scold him. Note: the one making all the noise or swiping may not be the aggressor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T16:40:13.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2015-08-12T18:10:22.723" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed this and wondered about it too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My very vocal cat was crying at me the other day, since I was 30 minutes past the normal feeding time. I looked and they still had some dry food from the morning. I decided to experiment and went over and just shook their food plate making it sound like I dumped food on their plate. It is a flat plate so no whisker contact is involved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This satisfied him and he stopped crying and ate happily. I believe some of it has to do with them noticing that the food adding event did not occur and becoming worried that there is a break in the normal pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken a bit further; the patterns and the routines in which we care for and interact with our cats seems to be comforting to them. They may become a little upset when the routine changes or does not proceed according to schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-08-12T18:10:22.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7825" CreationDate="2015-08-13T01:14:22.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog does this when he just doesn't like something.  He sits next to me on the couch on his little sheepskin pad, and if I put something on there -- most recently a jerky-type treat -- and he doesn't like it, he will push it off the pad with his nose until it's gone.  Your dog might not like the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5579" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T01:14:22.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2015-08-13T01:39:49.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can help your puppy sleep through the night by tolerating your disrupted sleep long enough for the puppy to grow up.  It is a phase of their development, just like chewing things is a phase of their development (and, by the way, this is why you should &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; put a heating pad with the puppy. They love to chew!  Mmmm... tasty electrical cord!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, he will be happier if you let him sleep in your room with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5580" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T11:43:42.307" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T11:43:42.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7825" CreationDate="2015-08-13T07:24:16.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is probably going on:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the level of humidity in your house or the feeding area is high, the food on the surface gets less &quot;crunchy.&quot; Some dogs prefer to have their kibble like humans prefer their chips... crispy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog will dig deeper in the bowl to get the kibbles that haven't been soften by humidity and discard the less tasty parts. In other words, the dog is sorting his food. He could also do this if you use food that has a mix of flavored kibbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this, try giving smaller quantities of food at once but feed the dog more often during the day. Or change the &quot;old food&quot; and add fresh one. If the dog is a very fussy eater, you can always add a bit of new food on top of the bowl and mix it with the rest. Close your food bag properly to keep it fresh or buy smaller bags. You can also trick the dog by alternating with canned food (or real meat) and mixing some kibbles with it; it's a nice extra for the dog anyway and changes the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the humidity level in that area and maybe install a dehumidifier to help this. Usually this isn't necessary, simply feeding smaller quantities and keeping the food fresh helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other factors:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned already, make sure to change the bowl sometimes or use bowls that don't retain odors as much as plastic does (eg. ceramic, stainless steel.) Plastic bowls need to be changed a few times a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs move their food around like little squirrels because the area where their bowl is has too much &quot;activity&quot;, or when there's too much &quot;competition&quot; for the food (eg. other dog) or when they're very stressed; they'll move their food where they can eat in peace and leave some food here and there. That can happen more often with small breeds. Other dogs do the opposite; they want to be seen eating to show dominance (eg.like wolves.) That doesn't seem to be the issue here though and these things happen more often in households with lot of activity, young kids or other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T07:24:16.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-13T09:26:33.577" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;My collie bitch is always desperate to reach water in order to dip her butt, it seems to give her immense relief yet we can see nothing wrong.  She doesnt scoot and Having her anal glands emptied makes no difference.  After her dip she is a different dog but after a little running she  does it again but never swims. I bathe her anus frequently hot/cold compress, Epsom salts but nothing changes. Vet can see nothing wrong but glands often impacted even though stools are hard enough for natural emptying. She is a very smelly dog, worse than normal doggy smell. I can find no reference to this anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5582" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T12:14:27.773" Title="Why dog dips bottom in water" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10018" CreationDate="2015-08-13T10:11:11.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you ask your vet to also make a vaginal swab test? Maybe you could ask for this specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female dogs do have vaginal infections, there's not always any obvious sign but a larger red vulva and/or colored discharges, and it's very smelly! The dog may have some kind of weird &quot;metal&quot; smell because of the bacterial infection, similar to the smell of a (very) badly infected open wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A veterinarian can do a swab test; this test is not stressful for the animal and he can give you a diagnosis in a few minutes usually. He might also choose to do other extra tests, but from experience they usually investigate the issue if the problem persists. If your dog has this kind of infection, the vet might prescribe antibiotics; it's quick, inexpensive and easy to fix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose the veterinarian already investigated the issue of anal gland infection or abscess, and it's not a situation the dog would tolerate a long time. Vaginal infections can go easily unnoticed for a few weeks. Finally, there's also anal micro-fissures that could be a cause, and worms but that's probably one of the first thing the vet checked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's most likely a physical reason why your dog seems to want to get relief from putting her bottom in the water!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Some sources: &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiki-pet.com/health/dog/condition/index.php?condition_id=320&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wiki-pet.com/health/dog/condition/index.php?condition_id=320&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dcavm.org/11novnotes.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dcavm.org/11novnotes.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_dg_anal_sac_problems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_dg_anal_sac_problems&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/dog-anal-fissures.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.vetinfo.com/dog-anal-fissures.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastEditorUserId="5244" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T12:14:27.773" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T12:14:27.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9990" CreationDate="2015-08-13T11:16:54.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, he will end up realizing he's part of the family and start to &quot;own&quot; his new environment. He has to. Why he wasn't barking much in the first weeks is probably for the same reason a new student stays &quot;low profile&quot; in a new school; shyness and not knowing the rules of the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the other answer mentioned, the dog has some rights to also express himself now and then, and indeed, without realizing it you may end up rewarding a behavior you want to prevent. &lt;strong&gt;You can't expect him to live a his own little world of silence.&lt;/strong&gt; You should in fact be happy, the fact he expresses himself after a few weeks shows he probably feels comfortable and safe with you! So you certainly are doing things right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this will not sound patronizing in any way. Truth is I love dogs and have worked with them for years. So what follows is more to put things in context and maybe use the perspective of your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Noticing too much when the dog barks exactly after so little time is already giving some clues about how much you maybe focus too much on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful when stressing too much about this situation that is, quite frankly, very normal! Your attitude could in fact provoke the behaviors you want to avoid; what often happens is, after a while of focusing on every sound that provoke barking, the owner starts being stressed even before the dog has any reason to react and this will make the dog bark. You might start a loop of stress-bark-stress. A relaxed pet owner who goes with the flow has less chances of having a dog who constantly barks. That's where it will get if you try to control too much how and when the dog should bark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understanding why he does it is different but take these analysis in their contexts too. Maybe try to have the same tolerance as parents have with kids, for example; they play, make noise, make the walls tremble, then get tired and when they're bored or stressed, they might react more to some stimuli! Your dog is a dog; he also needs to feel like one. What you may find useless or annoying is to him his way to tell the world &quot;hey look, it's my home, I care about these people!&quot; If it's not an aggressive or persistent bark, it should be seen in this way; a proud dog doing what dogs like to do! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, he's probably realizing he needs to take his place in the family, and by instinct dogs are protectors. They in fact evolved with humans for thousands of years within that kind of relationship and &quot;usefulness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The other thing that is important to point out is:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is 7 years old and has known already a few homes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is like a 50 years old human, he has his personality very well developed, his preferences, experiences, habits and he should be respected in the same way you will respect a human of that maturity and experience. He may be a dog but you can't expect him to be as &quot;malleable&quot; as a teenager. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will end up totally loving him for this, you'll see!&lt;/strong&gt; In fact, if you give him the time and freedom to show you who he is, you will regret in a few years not having known him sooner... Older dogs have a rich personality and with time you will enjoy discovering how unique he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that he had many homes and lived in a shelter is also something that might change a bit the way he will behave, at least until he feels confident you're &quot;the ones.&quot; You need to have empathy for his situation first and understand that this is very scary and may cause a lot of anxiety for him. He might not know exactly how he should behave and it's confusing for a dog to change home, they are animals who have a pack mentality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you fully devote your attention to making him feel like part of the family and 100% accepted as he is first. Give him a break for a few weeks for the barking and really, stop taking notes on when he's barking exactly. You need to stop caring so much. &lt;strong&gt;Instead, react as it happens IF it's not acceptable.&lt;/strong&gt; You don't want to start making the dog feel anxious and insecure because he doesn't know what to expect. &lt;strong&gt;Be consistent&lt;/strong&gt;, smile when the dog does a little innocent wooo-ooooof at a cat and relax. If the dog needs to be shown to not bark, make eye contact and act as a pack leader; dogs read human faces very well and it's your attitude that will get you respected from your dog but also predict a lot of his behaviors if he's a &quot;normal&quot; dog (which he seems to be.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a huge difference between a few bored barks or greetings and persistent barking. I think if he was already inclined to be a persistent barker, you would know; it would have been already noticeable from the first days! Plus, he's not a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this and ask this stack again in a few weeks or months if the situation really changed negatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cesarsway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cesar Millan's&lt;/a&gt; techniques, in general!&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastEditorUserId="5244" LastEditDate="2015-08-13T11:33:39.430" LastActivityDate="2015-08-13T11:33:39.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2469" CreationDate="2015-08-14T09:01:58.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be cat puberty, but also could be rabies. I agree with keshlam on this one, go and see a vet. If you don't have the time, try a video vet consultation with Pawsquad or vetondemand depending on where you're based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5586" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T09:01:58.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10026" CreationDate="2015-08-14T09:12:27.187" Score="14" ViewCount="12547" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 year old cat which we got from a cat shelter and has been with us for almost two weeks now. He's very friendly and enjoys a good stroke and has never used his claws in anger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What frequently happens while he's being stroked is that he'll lie down and start kneading, but if the stroking continues, he'll extend one paw in the direction of the stroker (if you're crouched it'll be on top of the leg for instance) and start extending and retracting his claws rather frequently. It obviously hurts quite a bit. If you move the limb away he'll move his paw again so it doesn't seem accidental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to stress that it doesn't appear to be an aggressive movement or that he's tired of being stroked, he'll continue purring and if you stop stroking him he'll rub against you until you start again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure whether this is a weird variation of kneading, because I've never seen it before and he's not exactly kneading per se (he doesn't move the paw at all), and the 'arm' will be at 90 degrees to the body (not underneath him)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this about, and how can I discourage this sort of behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5587" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:02:05.327" Title="Cat oscillating claws at me whilst being stroked" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10025" CreationDate="2015-08-14T11:21:10.700" Score="7" ViewCount="2187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a domestic long hair that is about 11 years old and used to be almost 24lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 6-7 weeks ago, he stopped eating and losing weight (currently around 12lbs). At first, when I put food, he licks it a little bit but doesn't eat/chew. It's like he wants to eat but doesn't. Gradually, he stopped eating altogether. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought it might be a tooth problem and took him to the dentist. The dentist found a resorption tooth and removed it (did not have to do a root canal). A couple of days after the surgery, he still didn't eat and was losing weight. At this point, I also noticed fluid build up in his abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first vet I took him to did an ultrasound, gave him antibiotics, and said that the ultrasound revealed some kind of inflammation in the intestine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second vet also did an ultrasound and found a mass in the small intestine. They withdrew some of the mass using a needle for analysis. They told me that the analysis will reveal if he had lymphoma or not. Unfortunetly, yesterday the test results came back as &quot;non diagnostic&quot; (I think it means the test was not conclusive). They also added a feeding tube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both vets did extensive blood tests, nothing was found except low levels of albumin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, he became so weak and agitated, I took him to the ER. The doctor there said based on all of the previous history that the other 2 VETs faxed over, there is a 95% chance he has terminal cancer and that it has spreadout throughout the intestine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They said they know it has spreadout because they can tell by the fluid and the because the rest of the intestine was not absorbing vitamins/food properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They said that from the ultrasound the other 2 vets did, they can see that the &quot;mass&quot; has covered all around the small intestine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They scheduled him for surgery today where they will go in and remove the mass from the small intestine and will do exploratory surgery. They will then do analysis on the mast to see what kind of cancer it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They said that even with the surgery, he will not eat and will waste away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any chance that it could just be a non-benign tumor....or even just a foreign object blockage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can they be so sure that it has spread throughout the intestine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my research, it looks like cats can also have fluid build up if they don't eat. I mentioned this to the VET but they said that in this particular case, it is related to cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the likely prognosis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5589" LastEditorUserId="5589" LastEditDate="2015-08-14T11:27:40.647" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T12:13:37.293" Title="Cat is not eating, Fluid build up in abdomen, Ultrasound reveals mass in small intestine" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10024" CreationDate="2015-08-14T12:13:37.293" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, the best way to know what is wrong with your cat is to wait for the vets to do the surgery. I'm sure waiting is heartbreaking and you're upset and anxious for the results, but anything anyone replies at this point is even less of an educated guess than what your vets have advised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did have a cat whose stomach and esophagus stopped working (it was nerve damage). The vet offered to insert a feeding tube into the cat's intestines (called a duodenal feeding tube), but because of the severity of the surgery the cat would have been restricted to a cage for the rest of his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat's intestines aren't working, and exploratory surgery doesn't reveal a reversible reason for that to be happening, then you'll have to consider what you want your cat's remaining days to be like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation, the questions I ask my vet are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my pet in any pain/discomfort?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my pet mentally aware that he is ill? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are the physical side effects of this condition (will he loose control of his bodily functions? which ones?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I look for to determine that my pet's condition is significantly worse?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm deeply sorry that you are experiencing this terrible situation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T12:13:37.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10022" CreationDate="2015-08-14T12:18:45.440" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats have weird habits. I don't think you can discourage this, because you would be sending mixed signals (I'm petting you, which feels good, at the same time as scolding you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats only likes to be petted while standing (if he's sitting or laying down, he'll stand up when being petted), and then he'll stick one of his front paws out at 90 degree angle away from his body (just into the air). It's just a weird variation of kneading, and I suspect that your cat is doing something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it hurts because his claws are digging into you, I would recommend trimming his claws or using nail caps (Softpaws are a popular brand)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T12:18:45.440" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10022" CreationDate="2015-08-14T14:42:44.873" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When mine pulls out her claws while kneading, I &lt;strong&gt;tap on the top of a claw&lt;/strong&gt; which seems to irritate her as much as what she's doing to me. Only takes once or twice and she'll fold her arms under herself. I let her get away with it so long as she's just knead-clawing air; she knows the tap is coming if not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have retractable claws, but I'd imagine it's kinda like cracking your knuckles: You don't have to do it (but it feels good) and it annoys other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T14:42:44.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7112" CreationDate="2015-08-14T14:58:52.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated in the answer above, rats are omnivores and will eat almost anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd personally stay away from foodstuffs that are going off or mouldy.  If I wouldn't eat it, I wouldn't give it to my rat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid giving rats pizza.  The bread in pizza tends to be quite doughy and can get stuck in their throat.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving rats bark and twigs isn't a good idea, especially with pine and cedar wood as they contain phenols which can be bad for your rats health.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Left overs can make a great treat for rats though.   Whenever I make a salad there are always a few bits of veg left over and the rats just gobble them up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember rats need a healthy balanced diet the same as humans do.  So why it might be perfectly acceptable to give them a few leftover french fries, you might not want to give fatty or high calorie scraps to your rats every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5594" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T14:58:52.340" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10022" CreationDate="2015-08-14T15:41:22.280" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All cats have similarities, but also wonderfully! they are their own little cat &quot;people&quot; too, take time to observe and enjoy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably &lt;strong&gt;I'd say this is as little kittens do, the intention of kneading milk - but just mixed up an adult body behavior&lt;/strong&gt;. &#xA;He loves being stroked, held, and petted, and just doesn't quite know what to do with himself - he's just so very happy, &lt;strong&gt;feels so trusting and content just like a little kitten&lt;/strong&gt;, but he is also an adult cat, so out come the claws for ultra kneading action! (It's his version of super sizing hugs!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say congratulations, for giving him the chance to have a family he can trust so fully, he sounds so happy! xox&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't mind the prickly claws (he's an adult feeling all the love and open honesty of a little kitten, and is obviously so happy and grateful for a second chance! Not many experience this again in life, and you've made that possible! (Be happy he is happy, You have done well!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He certainly doesn't mean his prickly paws in any sort of aggressive form.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;So please endure! Enjoy knowing you have made one little cat very happy and relaxed enough to believe you are the ultimate mum :)&#xA;as well as protected enough that he can act like a little kitten. You really have achieved something special! Especially since he is not standing or in any defensive position, just relaxed completely - standing would still mean &quot;Ready to run if I must&quot;, so not completely off guard.&#xA;(Some wild cats never lose this no matter the home, so be happy he is able, after all his adventures, to trust! It says a lot about his character and yours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His feeling of security and love is in fact so strong he feels he can relax and be fully at ease again, not on guard, or afraid, (it's his highest praise) and a few holes are worth it :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe cats are good teachers, &quot;Love is worth a few holes&quot; :P&#xA;I'd say lesson one accomplished. :P (Nanny McPhee eat your heart out)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note (I did have a cat that did this and also stretched her arms out as you describe, I used to hold her paws when she did it and very gently press her paw, to retract the claws while talking gently, as you would a small baby, never hard, or to cause pain - She actually liked her paws being held and would sleep this way too, and wouldn't sleep until you were holding them ;). She eventually learnt that this was not correct behavior and understood how strong she was. But do it in their time not yours (just as you would with children) - Cats are smart they train us eventually :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;keshlam did remind me for indoor cats they will need to have claws trimmed (since I am used to indoor/outdoor cats that had a very big area to explore, we didn't really ever need to worry if they are getting enough exercise outdoor). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely never de-claw. Cats really have no chance without claws. It's their really last resort (called scaredy cat for a good reason, they hate fighting! and won't fight unless they really must, usually they run and are very shy creatures. If confronted please at least give them that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep them in at night, well fed and loved and all should be good :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I have also worked with partially wild cats - that were used for breeding then dumped by owners - so have I a little experience in taming and re-socialising, trust that you have a precious opportunity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your cat is signalling that he accepts you as mum!&lt;/strong&gt; - you will both learn and grow together - and you will have something special to show for it (yes maybe a few holes - but also a complete heart and happiness for both :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5596" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:02:05.327" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:02:05.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2015-08-14T17:42:24.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, most puppies are born with a very soft coat that is replaced with an adult coat as they mature. The adult coat is often a slightly different color. This could explain color change in an adolescent dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many breeds have an undercoat that is not normally visible as it is covered by a top coat. This undercoat is often a different shade than the top coat. During heavy shedding periods, the undercoat is shed and becomes more visibly prominent, and this might appear to change the color. I had a Blue Heeler mix whose coat was normally a bluish gray, but would take on a brownish tint when she was shedding. I found that a Furminator grooming tool was effective in removing the dead fur on a short coated breed. I think this is most likely in OP's seven year old Lab mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, some breeds do change color over their lifetimes. For example, Bearded Collies have a dominant graying gene. My dog was born jet black, and her coat had turned to light silver by her first birthday. It is has gradually gotten darker, and is now a medium-dark gray four years later. Beardie's coats often continue to darken over their entire lifetimes, but rarely get back to their birth color. Old English Sheepdogs also have this gene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T17:42:24.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2015-08-14T18:44:56.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My seemingly perfectly healthy and well-cared for (micro chips, shots, regular vet check-ups, topical flea drops etc etc) 5 month old male kitten has started doing this, but his brother hasn't. I agree, it isn't the same thing as the twitch when they're falling alseep (myoclonic spasm/hypnic jerk), nor is it dreaming kitty twitches as they chase after that mouse in their dreams. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, as the poster says, is different. It's a persistent, on/off shivering seperate from purring, that occurs WHILE he's falling asleep. You can tell when a cat is falling asleep as their purr fades and cuts in and out like an engine running out of gas, then stops as they fall completely asleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shivering is whole body but not all at once, so his shoulders/head will shiver, or his haunches will shiver. They sometimes both shiver, but there's usually a switch. It happens on whichever side is uppermost, so I guess it's going on on the other side too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having read up on it, and being fairly sure that he's a basically very healthy little guy, &lt;strong&gt;I think it's either a touch of low blood sugar&lt;/strong&gt; - he's not too keen on the new food we got - &lt;strong&gt;or he's a bit cold.&lt;/strong&gt; I've made sure he's eaten something and drunk some water, and popped him on a big duvet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the shivering persists, it's vet time&lt;/strong&gt;, as it could be a reaction to something he's nibbled, a fever, or something awry with his kidneys, but I&#xA;doubt that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5600" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-08-17T18:19:03.333" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T18:19:03.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-14T20:03:21.027" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a continuation from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10024/cat-is-not-eating-fluid-build-up-in-abdomen-ultrasound-reveals-mass-in-small-i&quot;&gt;Cat is not eating, Fluid build up in abdomen, Ultrasound reveals mass in small intestine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, my cat went into surgery today to have the small intestine mass removed. He has not been eating/drinking and fluid has been building up in his abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the surgeon went in, he did not find a mass...instead, he found a section of the intestine covered in white plaque and thickened. He also found white plaques in several other areas and all throughout the abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also said the white plaques in the intestine was causing &quot;diffusion&quot; and fluid build up in the abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't have a definitive diagnostic of what it is.....but he thinks it could be either cancer or FIP (indoor cat only). He did take a white colored antibiotic 1 day ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will be taking biopsies of the plaques and sending them to pathology which will take a week for diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what this is? Is it cancer? Can we treat/cure it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5589" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T20:03:21.027" Title="Surgeon says white plaques found everywhere in abdomen, what is it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10022" CreationDate="2015-08-14T20:43:35.563" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, this is just a different form of kneading, and should be be &lt;strong&gt;taken as a sign of affection&lt;/strong&gt;. Discouraging such behaviour by acting disapprovingly will be confusing to the cat in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it still hurts quite badly. I would recommend &lt;strong&gt;lifting the paws at the soft cushion&lt;/strong&gt;, ever so slightly. This will make the cat automatically retreat their claws, without sending a 'disliking' signal. If done consistently, the cat will be quite careful with their claws around you, to the point of tumbling of your lap rather than using their claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5603" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T20:43:35.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7973" CreationDate="2015-08-14T21:40:58.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;mhwombat has good advice. The area of attention is with the male--he is running the show… (he is dominant and because he likes you soooo much has decided you need to belong to him! (senses you as ultimate protector/provider)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rubbing your face is to mark you as his possession. In his mind his world just wouldn't be the same without you! You are his favorite shiny cool human friend!, So you’ve done something right :P! He's trying so hard to impress you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has little scent glands on his chin to prove you belong to him :P in cat world his Chanel No. 5 is lingua franca and a warning to all other cats that you are his favorite. That's why the female isn't doing the same (she already knows you belong to him!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cuddle him tightly but not uncomfortably (cats don’t like this as much--he will soon crave for freedom and give you peace--yes. it seems a little weird but it works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also because he senses you run the house he is eager to be on &quot;your side&quot; and please you, so the over attention will put him at ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He'll learn he doesn't have to work so hard to make everyone happy :P and will relax into normal cat mode being happy to just be himself. Then he'll happy for you to just be you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They like to be clingy but they don’t like it when we are! &#xA;He just needs to learn this to find some balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5596" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:26:48.230" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:48.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2469" CreationDate="2015-08-14T22:23:21.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree with keshlam, watch his diet and water intake, try to determine whether he has any health issues or is suffering from pain, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to be honest, I think maybe he was just having one of those lets be naughty days, which I find hilarious. Give it a few days and watch closely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that if it's a young male, he might be getting ready for breeding, in any case, unless you want to breed, make sure to get them neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for males, it will especially make them much more mellow and content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5596" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:43:39.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:43:39.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2015-08-14T22:33:18.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hes 6 weeks old and just a baby, The solution, its easy hold him, talk to him softly like you would a child at 6 weeks!- he's afraid and misses his brothers and sisters, the usual pack sounds and all time attention - the day and night snuggles with his family. ...He sleeps in his own room (how strange this must seem to him, alone, away from his new pack (which is how he thinks of you all - he cries to be accepted and not to be alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you can slowly introduce him to sleeping in his own basket but in your room (and give him some nice fluffy soft toys he can snuggle up with (hes trying to tell you he's not quite ready yet to be alone) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5596" LastEditorUserId="5596" LastEditDate="2015-08-16T14:25:26.060" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T14:25:26.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1616" CreationDate="2015-08-14T22:45:45.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is he eating it or just destroying? (In other words He might just be having fun with cardboard, bored or seeking attention) looking at the photos - granted they aren't hi res or super focused, but he looks pretty healthy and bright eyed (his fur doesn't look matted or cloudy eyes, etc )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;however check with your vet about his diet just in case but TBH I think he's  just having fun Xxxoo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5596" LastActivityDate="2015-08-14T22:45:45.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10043" CreationDate="2015-08-14T22:50:49.077" Score="4" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) fatal (wet form)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we drain the abdomen regularly (say catheter), and we inject him with a saline/protein solution daily, give antibiotics as necessary... what part of FIP is fatal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5589" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-05T14:13:33.427" LastActivityDate="2020-08-05T14:13:33.427" Title="How is FIP fatal? Why can't we just address the symptoms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10042" CreationDate="2015-08-15T03:37:50.327" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_infectious_peritonitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_infectious_peritonitis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the Wikipedia article says: inflammation in affected tissues (which can lead to organ failure; jaundice is one example), plus the fluid accumulation putting pressure on the lungs and making breathing difficult. A drain could possibly reduce that last effect, but wouldn't help the other organs. Since this is a virus, antibiotics can't do anything but stop secondary infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accepted wisdom is that there is no cure for FIP; treatment is symptomatic and palliative only, i.e. typically the owner is advised to make the cat as comfortable as possible. Prednisone or other immunosuppressive drugs prescribed by a veterinarian may help to prolong the cat's life for a few weeks or months, but may be contraindicated in certain cases due to concomitant infection(s), although this risk can be mitigated somewhat by also treating with antibiotics. Newer approaches using immune modulators are being developed by several companies. In the cited above paper by Legendre and Bartges (2009), three cats who received polyprenyl immunostimulant survived for over a year, and one of those cats whose treatment started in 2006 has been still alive 8 years later as published by Cat Fancy [5]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effusive [&amp;quot;wet&amp;quot;] FIP usually progresses too rapidly for any meaningful therapy to be attempted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wish I had better news for you. Good luck...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T03:37:50.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10049" CreationDate="2015-08-15T04:21:51.720" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently given an aquarium that includes a sump. I managed to get it setup but the pump is rather loud. Should the pump be running at all times or only at certain times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T09:08:42.553" Title="Should pump from sump run continuously" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2277" CreationDate="2015-08-15T12:44:39.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sugar gliders are &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; high maintenance pets.  They require an enormous amount of attention and care, and they are very fickle little things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not get a single glider - they have a huge amount of trouble living alone.  Get two or more, or don't get any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your house will need to be thoroughly prepared for sugar gliders.  They can fit in tiny spaces, climb on everything, and glide to the last places you'd imagine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They chew wires, pee and poop everywhere, and knock stuff over left and right.  Their diet requires live insects and grubs, and you'll probably end up with a bunch of renegade cricket escapees living in your house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their diet must be varied constantly, but any given glider will have its own tastes, and will reject foods it doesn't like.  You need to have a constant supply of fruits, vegetables, and insects at all times, and you'll probably have to hand feed the gliders a significant portion of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are extremely grumpy during the daytime, and extremely active all night long.  Expect to be the landing pad for endless glides.  They will climb the highest object in the room, hop off, glide across the room, and land directly on top of you, while you are sleeping.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most owners will make a sort of nesting bag out of fleece, and keep the gliders inside it while they are sleeping.  With a drawstring, you can wear the bag around your neck.  This is adorable and sweet, but it will quickly drive home the fact that gliders are absolutely unbearable during the daytime.  If you so much as move the wrong way, they will grumble and grouse about it for several minutes.  If you try to wake them, they will make you pay the price.  They &lt;strong&gt;hate&lt;/strong&gt; being woken up or disturbed while they are trying to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to find one of the very few veterinarians who actually know how to treat a sugar glider.  Most vets have no idea how to handle tiny marsupials from Papua New Guinea.  Expect to pay top dollar for medical care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will also have to shell out the bucks for nutritional supplements, because gliders are so finicky and stubborn about their food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If and when a glider dies, you have to buy another one, because they die of loneliness.  A solitary glider is a very unhappy glider, and will probably become a dead glider sooner than later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also moral and ethical concerns regarding the owning of sugar gliders.  They are not a very common species, and it is likely that a large portion of the gliders that end up in a pet shop have been trapped in the wild and shipped overseas.  By purchasing a glider, you are making yourself complicit in the depopulation of wild gliders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, you can't just ask people on this site what you need to consider before buying a glider.  You need to buy some books on the subject and read them in their entirety.  Bringing sugar gliders into your home is not a decision that should be taken lightly.  You are considering making a decision that will require an enormous amount of time, money, effort, education, and lifestyle changes.  An incredibly active nocturnal animal is a challenging pet to own, and gliders are even more demanding than most other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastEditorUserId="5356" LastEditDate="2015-08-15T13:08:11.810" LastActivityDate="2015-08-15T13:08:11.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-16T14:02:14.043" Score="3" ViewCount="70947" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a 6 month puppy in my area and he's been infected with maggots in his right rear leg. He's too scared of humans so i cant go near him and apply any ointment or spray. So is there any internal medicine which can be used to get rid of maggots and can also be mixed in his food?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3978" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T18:25:53.990" Title="Any internal medicine to get rid of maggots in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10047" CreationDate="2015-08-16T14:36:20.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand Maggots only eat dead tissue, but with him so shy it would be difficult to treat him, maybe you can talk to a vet, there are some suggestions from this site. However all of them require hands on treatment, since basically its the wound that needs treating, cleaning and covering, probably no medicine can substitute that... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**from wiki pet, source below:&#xA;Treatment*be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Restrain your pet if necessary. Maggot infested areas of skin can be very painful, and a pet may bite as a reflex. maybe make a makeshift muzzle. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use blunt tip scissors or electric clippers and clip the affected areas to remove soiled and matted hair. Fur traps bacteria and keeps re infecting the wound. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove all maggots with blunt-nosed tweezers, a gauze pad, or tissue. Wear a pair of disposable medical gloves to avoid touching the worms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wash infected areas with Betadine solution and dry the dog. If you are using water to flush the wound, flush the area for at least 15 minutes. As the maggots escape the wound to avoid drowning, you are then able to easily pick them off. Water will rinse away any remaining fly eggs that haven't hatched.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then spray or shampoo the dog using a non-alcohol based product that contains pyrethrins and check closely for remaining maggots.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Topical antibiotic ointments such as Neosporin can be used to assist in fighting infection. Be sure this ointment is out of &quot;licking range&quot; to avoid the oral consumption of the medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs with infected wounds should be treated with oral antibiotics. If the dog is debilitated, her health and nutrition must be improved to bring about a cure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleaning maggots out of a wound is only the first step, and often, the tissue damage is severe. Healing may take a long time, and wound care is important to ensure that more infection doesn't develop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A product designed for horses called Dy's Liquid Bandage is the veterinarians' choice for treating invasive, massive, or slow to heal wounds in cats and dogs. It is a combination of soothing herbs in an olive oil and beeswax formula. Olive oil is easily absorbed into the skin and carries the medicinal herbs along with it, while the beeswax covers the wound with a waterproof barrier that repels flies but allows air to penetrate to heal the wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ointment works well on minor wounds, like a scrape or hot spot so it is a great home remedy to keep on hand.&#xA;Prevention&#xA;If your pet has a history of problems with maggots and had a very thick coat that hides sores, it may be a good idea to have a professional dog groomer give them a trim for the summer months when maggots are most active.&#xA;Support&#xA;Please contact your veterinarian or a professional pet groomer if you have questions about this condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiki-pet.com/health/dog/condition/index.php?condition_id=62&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wiki-pet.com/health/dog/condition/index.php?condition_id=62&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;You need to check with your vet&lt;/strong&gt;...good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5596" LastEditorUserId="5596" LastEditDate="2017-01-10T09:45:55.937" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T09:45:55.937" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10044" CreationDate="2015-08-16T14:53:32.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be running continuously. Normally the sump is where the filtration and heating/cooling is located, so running it only part time would create problems for the main tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the pump itself loud, or is the overflow into the pump what's making the noise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2015-08-16T14:53:32.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10150" CreationDate="2015-08-16T19:39:33.997" Score="4" ViewCount="862" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 55G aquarium that I am setting up for saltwater fish, probably clownfish. It includes a custom built-in overflow to the sump. The water level in the overflow is low. Is this to be expected or should there be a certain level of water in the overflow? If so how can I change this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;image of overflow&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VXjNr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VXjNr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T17:40:47.477" Title="Should aquarium overflow maintain a certain level of water" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2015-08-17T09:54:16.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting a ticking clock near the puppy's sleeping place (for example beneath his blanket) may also help. The rhythmatic ticking of the clock simulates the mother's heartbeat, which calms down the puppy and makes it feel less lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5590" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T09:54:16.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10047" CreationDate="2015-08-17T12:10:18.097" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is not a strictly internal/oral medication that can be used to treat maggots living in a live dog. The condition is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fly strike or Myiasis&lt;/a&gt; it can be &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis#Life_cycle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fatal if untreated&lt;/a&gt;, there has been &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis#Treatment&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;some success&lt;/a&gt; orally with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ivermectin&lt;/a&gt; in treating cattle, but there is some indication that dying larvae excrete toxins that can be fatal so close monitoring of the animal is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most remedies involve physically removing the maggots, followed by treatment for related issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-08-17T12:10:18.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10093" CreationDate="2015-08-17T18:50:52.430" Score="4" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're thinking of installing an &quot;Invisible Fence&quot; like system to contain our poodles – a miniature and standard puppy. I'm inclined to purchase parts and install it ourselves rather than have a contractor do it. Are there important features to look for in selecting a system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the features that I think we'd like are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A small, light collar for the miniature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rechargeable batteries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Battery backup for power outages&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A remote to disable the system when taking the dog(s) across the barrier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Integration with a dog door (collar identifies dog to the door)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastEditorUserId="5614" LastEditDate="2015-08-18T15:02:02.040" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T06:25:52.743" Title="Selecting &amp; Installing &quot;Invisible Fence&quot; Systems" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-17T22:00:29.640" Score="3" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ikb3u.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ikb3u.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Charlie, when we first got him (and the couch, pillows and blanket he has since destroyed&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Charlie is an American Pit Bull Terrier. We found him in Charles town, WV in 2011. He is what some call a West Virginia trunk dog. He was in very poor condition when we found him and needed immediate medical attention. He was about a year old and only 23 pounds, now he is a healthy 45.  It turns out that Charlie was being used for dog fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Charlie has a multitude of behavioral issues; some have been resolved (or resolved enough that we can handle it). When he first came home he was not potty trained or crate trained. He had horrible anxiety relating to food and separation. He would get into anything and everything resulting in several trips to the vet and so much money down the drain I’m afraid to add it all up (shoes, books, tv remotes, coffee table, couch, rugs, door trim ect.). He was also aggressive with people that he did not see on a regular basis. We had him with a trainer for a while to help with the aggression and it has gotten much better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real problem we are left with now is that he still urinates in the house. He has no medical issues and he knows that he should not go in the house; he will even ask to go outside if we are in the room with him. He is walked frequently and does not lack for attention. His separation anxiety has gone way down, so I don’t know if that still plays a factor. Here is what I do know: He will pee anywhere and everywhere in the house: carpet, hardwood, rugs, table legs, playpen, clothes (he even peed on my sisters bed once). He does not favor one area over another. He will pee even if left for a short amount of time and was walked right before we left. Sometimes he will look me dead in the eye and pee right in front of me (not often). He knows that he can go out whenever he asks, but still chooses to pee inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days where we leave him to go to work we tried crating him but he has broken out of every cage we bought. It got to the point where he was hurting himself (he would push the metal with his face and cut himself and even chipped a tooth). Then we tried to confine him to the spacious laundry room (he can pee in there all he wants and I wouldn’t mind cleaning it up), but he would chew at the door and trim, further harming himself and our home. In our old house we would gate him to the basement rooms and he was like Houdini, somehow getting out even if we used a gate that went seven feet high. Finally I have given up and let him stay in our living area, which he loves bc it has a big comfy chair (called Charlie’s chair) and we spend most of our time in there with him. It is carpeted and he pees in there probably at least once a day. I can’t even find where the pee is half of the time. We have gotten the carpet cleaned, but it was a waste of money bc he just continues to pee. The room smells horrible and we can hardly spend 5 minutes in there without wanting to cry.  We reluctantly got him a prescription for a small dose of Prozac about six months ago; it’s helped with the aggression and anxiety, but not with the urination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do? Any sane person would probably have given this dog up years ago, but I love him. He is the smartest (like take over the world smart), most loving dog and I would rather my house smell like piss then give him up, but I’m hoping someone out there has some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you,&#xA;Kate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Charlie is neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5616" LastEditorUserId="5616" LastEditDate="2015-08-18T15:58:46.140" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T18:02:23.463" Title="Horrible Dog that I Love" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-18T02:06:50.803" Score="4" ViewCount="30569" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who is 9 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She claws my computer chair, she claws my leather piano stool and she's putting all kinds of holes in it, she chews on the cords to my PC and my fan and my PC headset and she chewed on the mic to my headset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to kick her out of my room and then she just stands in front of the door crying for 8 hours as loud as possible and claws at the bottom of the door. It's not a battle I can win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting so sick of my stuff being broken and destroyed. I can't even leave a water bottle out without her spilling it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's fixed so it's not like she does it from hormone stress or whatever.&#xA;She has toys. I saw on Google to introduce her to a scratching post. Well my cat has two and she refuses to use either of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that she acted this way because she's needy and wants attention but whenever I give her attention she fights it and runs away and she doesn't want attention she just wants to be in my room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5620" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2015-08-18T10:22:47.243" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T17:52:16.917" Title="How do I stop my cat from destroying everything?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10055" CreationDate="2015-08-18T10:51:13.740" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, with that history, and the problems you have confining him, this will most likely need time. But you sure seem to have the patience!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, confining him to an easily-cleaned area should help. Are you still working on that, or is that still out? The laundry-room you mentioned sounds like a good place to keep him when he is alone, but he has to feel that he is &quot;at home&quot; there, too. If you could get him to accept the laundry-room, and he marks in there, too, you at least have a place you can easily clean. Why is that helpful? Removing the smell will help VASTLY in breaking the dog of that habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's keep him in le living-room: can you imagine temporarily covering the carpet with some white sheets? That will help you see WHERE the dog marked. When you see he marked, clean the carpet, removing the smell (the way to do this really depends on the carpet. Vinegar helps, but the carpets colour may suffer).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you see him marking, yes, correct him. But do it with a clear &quot;no&quot; (which I suspect he knows), no aggression at all. Ideally, you have a week or two where you can watch him permanently, but I know this may just not be feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When outside, praise his peeing where he may do it VASTLY. Peeing outside is absolutely AWESOME to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, in case he is not neutered (you don't mention it, so I suspect he is not?), consider neutering him. This may help both with the marking, and any remaining aggression-issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with him, you did something really great rescuing and helping this dog. (And he looks absolutely adorable on that picture.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expandign from helpful comments:&#xA;From  @rlb.usa Yes, try care trainign or the laundry-room again:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You will need to get your dog to be comfortable with the cage. Put a blanket over the cage so it is more peaceful and quiet, and always leave the door open. Have treats inside to lure the dog in, praise and pet, and in the initial phases, do not obstruct them from leaving. It took my dog a year also to be comfortable with crate. The crate needs to be a positive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: Treat room:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You might also have a lot of success in the 'treat room' technique. It trains the dog that said room has treats in it, and they decide they do not want to relieve themselves in a place where food can be found. Basically, randomly put treats in that room, so when the dog periodically/randomly checks that room, sometimes there are treats! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2015-08-18T18:02:23.463" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T18:02:23.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11074" CreationDate="2015-08-18T12:10:17.890" Score="13" ViewCount="125845" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is very very tame, she socialized well with kittens, as soon as she was old enough I got her and she's a happy cat or so it appears. I've tamed her very thoroughly, so I can hold her upside down, or even tilt her upside down, or toss her up and catch her, she seems totally comfortable with anything I do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when she's in a cuddly mood and I'm giving her a petting fit for royalty, she'll be laid out in my arms in some comfortable looking position purring, looking like the happiest cat on earth, and I stop and I'll be looking at her face, and she really quickly tenses up and bites my face, often running away like she knows she did something wrong. I immediately retaliate, hard, just like another cat would, to make her think twice about doing this. She doesnt bite hard enough to make me bleed, but it's an unnecessary shock at really weird timing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes she'll be licking my face to wake me up, and I guess she thinks my face needs to be cleaned at 6AM, and I wake up, pet her a bit, she'll lick my face more and then randomly lunge and bite my face, before receiving a really good beating in return. Not really, but I make sure to hurt her as much as she did me. That seems like something she'll certainly understand as retaliation for her aggression toward me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I want to know why. Why, at the most intimate moments, right after she rubs her face on mine or licks me, does my cat lunge and bite my face?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is all of her affection juse a ruse to trick me into dropping my guard??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there's a similar question here, but that question doesn't quite cover my situation and doesnt really have a satisfactory answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T14:33:06.370" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T14:06:05.550" Title="Why does my cat bite my face while being affectionate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2015-08-18T14:29:33.183" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I need to say: don't hit your cat.  Even if you aren't harming your cat, you are much bigger than your cat, and your cat does not understand you are trying to discipline it, so you'll probably just make it afraid of you, or you may harm it by accident.  Obviously disciplining it that way hasn't fixed your problem, so stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are prone to bite if they get overstimulated.  They may like the petting at first, but suddenly want you to stop.  The best way to prevent this type of biting is to pay close attention to the cat's body language.  If the cat starts to look a bit tense, it's ears slightly back, then stop petting the cat and move away.  Or keep you petting sessions gentle and brief, so the cat won't have time to get overstimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for biting while licking you, that is a natural and unfortunate cat behavior.  Many cats while cleaning themselves or other cats will bite at the fur as well as lick.  So it's likely your cat is still just trying to groom you without thinking it's hurting you.  If you don't like it, simply move away when the cat tries to lick you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T14:29:33.183" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10077" CreationDate="2015-08-18T14:34:58.450" Score="2" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am setting up my first saltwater aquarium and yesterday once the tank was finally set I added two clown fish and a star fish. How ever I quickly realized that the food reaches the overflow within seconds. I reduced the flow of the tank, not sure if this is ok. The food stays there a little longer but the fish don't seem to want to go to the top. The prefer the food that sinks, which isn't much as I'm using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0043TAUAE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Marine Flakes&lt;/a&gt;. Any ideas how to handle this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T06:18:19.937" Title="Feeding fish in tank with overflow" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;clownfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2015-08-18T14:49:31.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep working on making the things she's destroying unappealing, and looking for appropriate things that she likes better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, there are a variety of different types of scratchers for cats now in many different materials.  Try out different ones, especially ones with different materials.  I've found cheap cardboard scratchers especially appeal to many cats probably because those ones are easily destroyed.  The only downside is having to vacuum bits of cardboard regularly.  Place the scratcher close to objects the cat likes to scratch already, and hopefully they will be redirected towards the scratcher.  If your cat likes catnip, you can extra encourage your cat to scratch the scratcher by laying a bit of catnip on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the cords, try to make them unappealing, and get them out of reach when possible.  Try wrapping the cords in unharmful materials that the cat doesn't like chewing, like cushy fabrics.  Again, you may need to try a variety of things to figure out what the cat doesn't like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard that cans of compressed air are particularly good for disciplining cats.  No water getting everywhere, and you don't need to particularly aim for the cat, as it's the noise they don't like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T14:49:31.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-18T15:00:00.277" Score="3" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;People here say &quot;Dont hit your pet after its aggressive toward you, it doesn't understand why!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think people are being over sensitive and not considering the most basic methods of communication between all animals. Agression and retaliation is a very basic interaction between mammals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One animal attacks, whether it be playfully or aggressively, and the other growls and/or retaliates. Animals understand this behavior. It's basic communication animals naturally understand. Pain. You hurt me I hurt you. Don't mess with me. This isn't something new or confusing to my dog or cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why do people think retaliation after aggression from a pet is an ineffective way of communicating &quot;Don't hurt me. I'll hurt you back.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We shouldn't hit our kids, even though it feels like a natural punishment, because we've evolved into creatures so intelligent that we can verbally communicate effectively. But ai cant explain to my dog or cat that biting is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why would retaliation (non damaging, careful) against a pet that bites agressively without reason not be understood?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This assumes we know our pets history, and the animals has not been abused or mistreated, that would be a different case. I'm only talking about the situation where the animal is simply misbehaving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T01:15:31.690" Title="Isn't retaliation, if done right, an effective way of communicating with many mammal pets?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10065" CreationDate="2015-08-18T16:06:13.177" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find plenty of resources on the internet, including studies, on the effect physical discipline has on pets, such as this study on dogs: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/07/why-you-should-never-hit-your-dog.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/07/why-you-should-never-hit-your-dog.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The summary of that particular study is that researchers found dogs were much more likely to respond aggressively to aggressive forms of discipline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical disciplining is likely to provoke a fear or anger reaction in your pet, and provides no alternative to the undesired behavior.  Positive reinforcement relies also on redirection, that is, encouraging the animal to do an alternative positive behavior in place of the undesired behavior.  It also has no risk of being misinterpreted, which I think results in a much more positive relationship with your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2015-08-18T16:13:01.587" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T16:13:01.587" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10055" CreationDate="2015-08-18T16:41:44.350" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had this problem with the rescue dog we adopted a few years ago -- he was at least 2 and unneutered, so his marking behavior was well estabished.  When we first got him home, he was literally leashed to me at all times -- where I went, he went.  When we left the house, he was in a crate.  Then as he started getting the idea of going outside, he was off-leash but never out of my sight.  Slowly we let him get farther away, but still, if he heads off down the hall by himself (to a place where he used to poop), we're on him right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds easy, but it took over a year.  He peed in two bedrooms, pooped on the dining room and hall rugs, and peed so much in one spot in our bedroom that we finally had to have the carpet pulled up and laminate flooring put in (we were going to do that anyway, but he helped us to get it done sooner :)  ).  The problem is that no matter how much vinegar or Nature's Miracle you use, you can never really, really get rid of the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long is he left alone during the day?  If we have to leave Hugo for more than three hours, he goes to daycare that day (which he loves).  Can you work on the crate training apart from the peeing problem, so that he sees his crate as a good thing?  Where he might want to lie down and have a little nap with the doors open, while you're home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't now if any of this helps -- but I wish you luck.  Oh, and never punish him for going in the house (this is pretty hard sometimes), just praise him to the skies for going outside.  Even with treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5579" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T16:41:44.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10065" CreationDate="2015-08-18T16:54:22.487" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snakes are a good example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is a snake, and a dog gets bit, the dog doesn't think &quot;Oh, I'd better stay away!&quot;. Instead, the dog thinks &quot;I ^&amp;amp;@#$@#$ HATE snakes!&quot;. The next time there is a snake, the dog hates it all the more, and will very likely get bit because of its behavior.(This is why snake avoidance training exists). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that your question is not animal specific. Many cat articles will point that cat discipline is not very effective and positive reinforcement is better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T16:54:22.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2015-08-18T17:05:47.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clawing post&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try taking some catnip and rub it into the kitty scratching post. That should get her attention on the post, at least. No promises on whether she will now use the post properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Claw damage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To curtail destruction, please look into kitty claw caps (like SoftClaws), that let the cat retract its claws but prevent it from doing claw damage. However, the cat can still bite and cause damage that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teeth damage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are sprays that you can spray on wires that taste bad to the cat that can prevent chewing. Wire chewing is common in cats. Before you spray everything, test a small section first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like dogs, cats get pent-up energy. For a week, play with your cat with all different manners of toys until it is utterly exhausted, and see if the destruction levels change. Remember that cats get bored like humans do, so you should be using a variety of toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meowing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are now living in the cat's territory. It does not appreciate you restricting access to parts of its territory by shutting the door. (I don't know what to do about this but wanted to explain from the cat's perspective what was happening). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T17:05:47.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-18T17:24:34.357" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally this isn't an issue since dogs do their business while going on walks. Recently however, my dog seem to need to do her business more often than I take her on walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My normal schedule is to take her on a walk first thing in the morning before I head to work around 6:30-7am. Then I feed her and leave for work. Then I walk her again when I get home from work around 5:30pm and then feed her afterward again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently my dog has been whining and waking me up around midnight to take her out. The closest grassy area that she normally does her business is about 2 blocks away and its quite bothersome to get waken up in the middle of the night to walk two blocks away and back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have there been cases in the past where people have trained dogs to use a litterbox like cats? Is there any sort of detrimental effects from encouraging such behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5451" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T23:03:23.503" Title="Is it possible to train a dog to use a litterbox?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10070" CreationDate="2015-08-18T19:22:17.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been dogs trained to use absorbant pads, usually as puppies.. But dogs don't bury their waste (non-dominant cats do, and in our houses we're the dominant members of the clowder), and dog waste is considerably more odorous than cat waste to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, but this remains an area where cats are better housepets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, dogs won't shed on the tops of your bookcases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T19:22:17.490" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10063" CreationDate="2015-08-18T20:14:09.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is pretty simple:  Turn off the filters/water flowing for a short period of time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T20:14:09.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9296" CreationDate="2015-08-18T20:22:56.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can always get an algae eating fish, like an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otocinclus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;otocinclus&lt;/a&gt; or similar fish.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These algae eating fish come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors to suit your needs.  They often just attach themselves to the walls of the tank and slowly eat away the algae.  They do well solo, or in groups and are very docile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you can get a snail, like the commonly sold &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mystery_snail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mystery snail&lt;/a&gt;.  Just like the otocinclus, snails just travel around eating left over food and algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to those, bottom feeding catfish like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corydoras&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cory cats&lt;/a&gt;, will suck up food and algae from the bottom.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three work great alone or together, I often have all three as cleanup in my tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2015-08-18T20:22:56.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10009" CreationDate="2015-08-19T01:13:35.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;James,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things to keep in mind...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cage bar spacing for standard budgies (parakeets) or English budgies should not be greater than 1/2 inch (12.7 mm), or they can get their heads stuck between the cage bars. Some budgies are quite small, and cage bar spacing of 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) is necessary. The cage you're looking at is lovely, but it is designed for larger birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Length is more important than height. I use 18 inch wide x 18 high x 30 long (46 x 46 x 76 cm). Excess vertical space will go unused--your birds will just use the upper area almost all of the time. As a minimum, they need to be able to stretch their wings fully and to flutter from perch to perch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure that there is a tray on the bottom that is easy to remove for cleaning. It is best if there is a grate on the bottom of the cage so that droppings can fall through onto the substrate where the birds can't step in them. (Newspaper as a substrate works fine--don't waste money on expensive cage liners.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use green fine mesh shade cloth that I get at my local hardware store around the sides and back. It makes the birds feel more secure and less exposed, and it prevents most seed husks from flying out of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy access to food and water trays is helpful. Avoid plastic trays--they harbor bacteria. If necessary, I'd rather use ceramic dishes accessed through the main door than to use plastic trays accessed through small side doors. Keep food and water apart, and don't let either be under perches (poop prevention). Remember that budgies love to bathe, so a wide, shallow dish of water is appreciated. A third dish for greens and veggies (lettuce, shredded carrots, lima beans, etc.--NO avocado or onions, as they are poisonous to birds) is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A variety of perch sizes and shapes will help your budgies keep their leg muscles and tendons in good shape. My budgies love their swing, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. Enjoy your new family members!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T01:13:35.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10065" CreationDate="2015-08-19T01:15:31.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you probably wanted answers more geared towards cat/dog psychology, but the question is open-ended and I think this is an important addition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I certainly wouldn't recommend using this method with small furries. We'll go with rats for the example, since I have the most experience with them, but this should be applicable to most small prey mammals in packs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary form of misbehavior in rats is biting. The logical retaliation then is to 'bite' back, or pinch the rat sharply with your fingers. Depending on why the animal was aggressive in the first place, this could have several outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two primary reasons why a rat will bite. Firstly, dominance aggression; either the result of hormonal imbalance, injury, lack of socialization, or just plain old personality. The animal has to be in a pretty bad mindset to bite you, and when you 'bite' back? You're starting a fight. Small rodents live in a world of shifting social dynamics that oscillate between 'dominant' and 'submissive'. A dominant rat will regularly remind submissive ones of its strength, usually through forceful grooming, but occasionally through biting. Any retaliation is seen as a challenge and the challenger becomes a threat. Continuous retaliation will result in a fight. You absolutely do not want to get in a fight with a rat, the odds are never in your favor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The secondary reason a rat will bite is fear, usually a result of lack of trust and handling, former abuse from humans, or psychological damage from previous fights with other rats. The rat fears you are a threat and will do its utmost to avoid confrontation, but will bite if cornered. And if you retaliate? You're attacking, and validating the animal's fear, making it harder to undo this damage later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, all of this becomes moot if the animal is simply being naughty. Rats, being social animals, accept their human in to their pack, and expect you to behave as such. For example, when I am going through my rat cages to see who has eaten what food, I am often pushed or gently bitten as a way of saying 'hey, that's my food, hands off'. I immediately gently pinch the rat on the butt to remind him that he's out of line and that I can go through his food stash whenever I want. It works: the rat realizes he's in the wrong, and I can keep track of everybody's diet without getting bitten. None of this is aggressive or worrying behavior - the rats do it to each other 24/7, reminding each other who is more dominant, who was sleeping here first, who got hold of this banana chip first, etc. They push and shove and nip, and they aren't shocked or upset if their human reacts the same way - it's very hard to get through to small animals without using their own language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, retaliation is not recommended as a method to discourage aggression. In other cases, you have to consider what message you are sending to the animal in question - what your actions translate to in the animal's language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T01:15:31.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-19T04:20:19.273" Score="6" ViewCount="24511" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 year old male Maine Coon jumps on and scratches my face when I'm sleeping, an awful way to wake up. In the dark he might view my head as prey. Besides closing the bedroom door is there any way to stop this aggressive behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5628" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-12T08:13:50.957" LastActivityDate="2019-04-17T01:19:03.183" Title="Maine Coon attacks my face when I'm sleeping" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10063" CreationDate="2015-08-19T06:18:19.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a practice, and to train your fish to know when food is going to be dropped, you should turn off the filter, skimmer, and all equipment which makes noise or bubbles, or any kind of water activity. Turning off wave makers while feeding fish, is not advised if you have corals (just my opinion). Then feed the fish by dropping the food into the water. After a while, when the fish are no longer interested in the food, start up all the equipment again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself do such a shutdown, and then give 2 soft knocks on the tank hood, and after a while, the fish get used to the signals and come up for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish do not come up for food, and you feed them flakes which float, then the food might be incompatible with your fish type. Buy slow sinking pellets or flakes or wafers which your fish might enjoy more. Also, be sure to feed them a variety of different foods to stop them from being bored of the same food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T06:18:19.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-19T08:17:33.217" Score="-5" ViewCount="3993" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to my love towards tigers, I am actually willing to adopt one in the near future.&#xA;Besides the point, influenced by the vast amount of fantasy stories in which we've all seen warriors riding tigers..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this concept merely probable ?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Properly speaking, this seems to be greatly based on legend(s) and/or relatively-possible ideas.&#xA;The root of all heard and seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confronting the researches, a well-fed, trained male &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_tiger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;siberian tiger&lt;/a&gt; is capable to reach 771.617918 pounds (or 350 kg) in weight. Evident in everything, this is about fourfold as much as an average grow man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vACwn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vACwn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;That one looks severely exhausted though.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5629" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T16:02:13.657" Title="Tiger riding, possible or not" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-08-29T17:25:39.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2015-08-19T08:26:19.793" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course there is a way.&#xA;In fact there is a way for everything, just with different level of complexity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the cats (in that count Maine Coon) love sleeping with the owner.&#xA;Doing that, it is very unlikely that it will &quot;jump and scratch your face&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can simply teach him/her to explicitly not do so.&#xA;However, you must understand that animals base actions on instincts, thus you must somehow influence danger after her doing that to you and/or joy after NOT doing that to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what makes you think it is because of &quot;aggressive behavior&quot; ?&#xA;It looks like a cat's catchy game to me.. besides, everyone know that cats could be very active during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5629" LastEditorUserId="5629" LastEditDate="2015-09-12T06:15:47.273" LastActivityDate="2015-09-12T06:15:47.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10078" CreationDate="2015-08-19T09:15:42.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about the physical stress it puts on the tiger (Common sense tells me the tigers back is not remotely designed for this, which even the monks seem to realise: just see how far back he is sitting!), but the major concern would be: A tiger is NOT a domesticated species, AND a predator. No matter how well-behaved, well trained and used to people he is, he may still fall back on &quot;kill that creature&quot; when feeling cornered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond the actual question: Do you mean &quot;adopt&quot; as in &quot;keep one at your home&quot;? You are aware that tigers are red-listed, internationally protected, and you need to fulfil a LOT of conditions to keep them happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T09:15:42.460" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2015-08-19T10:44:32.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat from kitten age that did this also.  It would walk along the back of the couch and pounce on heads, pounce on heads sleeping in beds, pounce on your back in the middle of the night... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lived in the country and the cat was an indoor/outdoor cat (free access).  I was young at the time and inexperienced in cat training.  The behavior continued through all of the cat's (short) life. I believe the instinct that drove the behavior lead to an untimely demise through miss adventure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer is that it maybe possible to train away this behavior, and it may not.  If it is I can't tell you how.  There are some behaviors that cannot be modified with &lt;strong&gt;casual&lt;/strong&gt; training, and the investment for intensive training may be more than you want to invest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of your cat, I would recommend not allowing it outside. I would expect a negative impact on other animals in the area, until your cat picks on something a bigger, faster and stronger then it's self (&lt;em&gt;besides you&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T10:44:32.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10070" CreationDate="2015-08-19T10:55:14.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick search of for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/#q=dog+using+toilet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dog using toilet&lt;/a&gt; found several hits, maybe a better question is how do I train my dog to use the toilet?  As Kashlam says in his answer, a litter box is not a viable solution for a dog, pads are often used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you going to go to the effort of training, train your dog to use the toilet (and flush).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T10:55:14.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10149" CreationDate="2015-08-19T13:27:31.360" Score="2" ViewCount="629" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been recently acquiring new Leo's for my collection and have several new additions set up in quarantine. I am unsure as to how long I should keep them separated from the main reptile room. Information is spotty at best saying anywhere from 1 week up to one month. I just want to make sure that I am doing the right thing by all my animals, both the older ones in my collection and the newer. Any information is welcomed, as I am relatively new to the husbandry for this species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5564" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T01:27:09.600" Title="Leopard geckos and quarantine" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2015-08-19T15:35:34.090" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think it two possible explanations for your cat's behavior.  One is in your sleep you are doing something the cat doesn't like, and so naturally responds with clawing.  The other is that cats are nocturnal animals, and so your cat may be getting bored, lonely, hungry, or thirsty at night, and clawing you is very effective at waking you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend making extra sure the cat is well provided for during the night.  Water and food (if you feed it at that time) full.  Plenty of toys, scratchers, and entertainment.  Litter box clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it may be that the cat is just seeking attention, or you are annoying it in your sleep.  I can't think of a solution to that beyond shutting the cat out of your room at night.  It's much easier to discipline the cat to stop scratching at the door than it is to discipline it to not claw at you for you to wake up, especially since the cat is automatically rewarded by the clawing while you're asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T15:35:34.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10078" CreationDate="2015-08-19T15:51:31.620" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even ignoring the huge number of problems of trying to treat a tiger as a pet, cats make terrible riding animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure a tiger could hold the weight of at least a small person for a short period of time, though I'm not sure if you would injure it if ridden for longer, or by a heavier person.  However, the gait of a cat makes it very unsuitable for any sort of serious riding anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The animals we typically ride, like horses, oxen,  elephants all have gaits that keep their backs relatively straight and even.  Cats have a gait that involves a lot of flexing of their spine.  It makes for a very uncomfortable ride for both tiger and rider.  The rider, especially in a run, would get bounced up and down, and I can't imagine a 150 pound plus weight bouncing up and down on its back would be at all pleasant for the tiger.  At a sedate walk, though, I suppose the ride is tolerable, but at that point you might as well walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2015-08-19T16:02:13.657" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T16:02:13.657" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9299" CreationDate="2015-08-19T16:08:36.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a couple explanations I can think of.  The first is some cats tend to lick when they rub on you.  So it may be just that they're rubbing on your feet because your feet are easily accessible, then licking naturally.  The other is that some cats are attracted to shoes.  I've had cats that like rubbing on and playing with shoes in particular.  It may be they are particularly attracted to your feet as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T16:08:36.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10070" CreationDate="2015-08-19T22:27:24.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can train a dog to use a litter tray, search doggie litter tray on Amazon and you will find several - easier than them trying to jump up on an actual toilet, however they do have their own problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a garden and a hose it can be difficult to keep them clean. Also unless your dog is very very well trained it's not 100% fool proof. Our puppy used one from the start because we live in a flat, however often would not use it if it was a) too smelly b) too clean, and sometimes would squat over it but not quite on it!! If your dog is male and cocks his leg then they are even less useful because it will merely go up the wall anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another consideration is to change the feeding time and encourage your dog to go before bedtime, but you've probably tried that already. If you refuse to take it out in the middle of the night it will soon learn to go earlier!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5632" LastEditorUserId="5632" LastEditDate="2015-08-19T23:03:23.503" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T23:03:23.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9781" CreationDate="2015-08-19T22:41:54.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for foods that have a higher meat content - 80% in good quality brands such as Aatu and Lily's Kitchen. Cheaper brands are I think more like 30 or 40%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs (and Cats even more so) don't actually need fillers like rice and other carbohydrates, which can also often cause allergies. Meat and veggies are the key, and sweet potato a good option for a dog with dietary issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw food diet is a fantastic option too and often improves health massively as it is closer to their natural diets.Natures Menu, Nature Diet a couple of other brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5632" LastActivityDate="2015-08-19T22:41:54.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10054" CreationDate="2015-08-21T18:20:12.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely do this. I installed my system myself about 20 years ago. I have replaced several components over the years, but it has been functioning all that time. I am now starting to train my sixth dog on it. Here are the things I think you should look for and/or be aware of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, the fences work by training. It takes about a month to reliably train a dog, spending time on the training every day. If you do not do this training, the fence will not work. A dog can get through it with just a second or two of unpleasantness, so they can easily run through it. If you try to shortcut this step, you will have wasted a lot of time and effort. I cannot emphasize this enough. Your dog needs to have basic obedience skills -- enough to understand the concept of &quot;stay&quot;, even if they are not reliable in a sit-stay or down-stay. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You need to bury the wire at least 4 to 5&quot;. If you bury shallower than that, it might be cut by lawn tools (aerator, seeders, etc). Even if you don't use them now, you might in the future. So do it right the first time. You need a small trencher to bury the wire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Normally, you will disable the system for walks by removing the collars. The collars are not intended to be worn 24 x 7, as the probes may cause neck irritations if worn too long. I have had my dogs wear them for full waking days, day after day, without a problem. So a remote to disable the system is not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Battery backup can be added with a standalone unit, so it is not important to be an integral part of the system.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rechargeable collars are now on the market, but they are expensive. I just purchased a pair of them. This expense might pay for itself over time because most non-rechargeable collars use proprietary batteries that are expensive too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, you get what you pay for. I bought a low-cost system at a home improvement store, and I had problem with it within a few months (collars that shocked at the wrong time, or didn't shock at the right time, batteries that died quickly, etc). So don't let price be your main criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look for safety features. My current system (Pet Stop) will stop shocking after a set amount of time if the dog becomes stuck in the trigger zone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look for variability for the range of the field, and for adjustment levels in the shock delivered. Of course, the collar should have an audible warning tone before delivering a shock to give the dog a chance to back off.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look for warranty. Can you get it serviced locally, or do you have to mail it away? If you mail it away, how long is your system out of service?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the system has a wire-break alarm. If you do accidentally cut it while digging, you will want to know about it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;All systems trigger based on distance to the wire. Some also factor in time spent near the field. This can help with the &quot;smart&quot; dogs who are challenging the system to try to beat it. Make sure the collar has an omnidirectional antenna, so it still works if it get twisted around to the back of the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of standard frequencies used, so you might be able to get a dog door that matches the collar. I have not seen an integrated dog door available, but it could be possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T18:20:12.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-21T18:33:13.650" Score="6" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having an hard with my nan's cat: she passed away a couple of weeks ago, so I am taking care of her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, I think she is quite nervous around people: whenever I enter the courtyard she always is in this place or climbing the ladder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rymlN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rymlN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She won't come down unless you bring her food, and sometimes not even then.&#xA;From the roof, she stares down at me and meows incessantly: she litteraly won't stop!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I blink slowly at her she won't blink back, but would sometimes look away instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dad tried to pet her while she was in the courtyard, and got scratched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough she came downstairs by her own and stared, meowed at me as usual, sometimes lowering her ears.&#xA;This time I managed to record it, maybe someone can help me figure out what kind of meowing it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://soundcloud.com/ferduun/cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://soundcloud.com/ferduun/cat&lt;/a&gt; (Raise volume as it is a bit low)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought she maybe was very hungry but left half of the food behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then she sat in the middle of the courtyard, with the tip of her tail raised and still.&#xA;(Can not post pics due to rep req.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I go visit her I also sit down for a few minutes so that I can appear less intimidating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never owned a cat before, can someone help me figure out what should I do? &#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5636" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T17:24:16.337" Title="Need help with behaviour of new cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10128" CreationDate="2015-08-21T19:16:36.990" Score="7" ViewCount="10292" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two British Shorthairs, George and Martha, 4 years old. Last year, George peed himself in the pet carrier on the way to the vet. Looking back, part of the problem probably was timing, as I had the appointment about 2.5 hours after the cats had breakfast, and he usually pees about 3-3.5 hours after meals. I cleaned the carrier, albeit only with water and normal detergent, threw out the old blanket and put in a new one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week I had another appointment for their annual checkup, which I specifically made in the afternoon, but unfortunately, this time both cats peed in their (separate) pet carriers. Also, I think one of the cats (pretty sure it was George) once peed in the carrier when we brought them to my parents-in-law, but I think that was only once out of the 2-4 trips they made to their house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this time I cleaned the pet carriers thoroughly with &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00266V9BA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UrineOff&lt;/a&gt; and put in a pee pad, just in case (we use normal cat litter in their litter boxes). I also arranged that they'll be fed dinner at my parents-in-law's, so I expected their bladders to be fairly empty. But the very first thing Martha did when I put her into the carrier is pee! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read through most of the other questions relating to urinating in inappropiate places, but I feel that most of the suggestions don't apply - I can't shoo them away when I see that they want to pee, travelling is always associated with stress, they're not trained to pee on these pads, or blankets in general, and apart from the pet carriers, they never do; it's highly unlikely that this is related to a health problem, it's quite likely that it's related to George's very first accident a year ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I never marked the pet carriers, so it's possible that at some point we put the Martha into the one that was peed into by George. I do know that I used the same pet carrier for Martha last week and tonight, and I'm quite sure it was the one that hadn't been peed into, because we also used it as a crate and Martha actually used it quite regularly as a bed - so that's why I'm really confused why she peed, and why she peed into &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can I do to stop them from peeing into the pet carriers?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I need to get them new carriers, and will they stop peeing if I do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What else can I do to minimize the risk that they'll pee in a carrier?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I get them new carriers, is it a good idea to use pee pads again, or will they associate that with urinating?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure now that the accidents were indeed fear-related, as several answers suggested. When my husband picked them up again from his parents' place this past weekend, they came home without any accident (surprise, surprise). I think putting them on the toilet in advance is a good idea (though I'll have to find out first which toilet is used by which cat). The cats are actually used to the carriers; as mentioned above, Martha sleeps in one of them quite regularly, so I was very surprised that she, too, peed into it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also wondering if it might help to organize things differently. I usually bring them to the vet, and my husband usually brings them to his parents' place whenever we're going on a vacation but I'll help him pack their things and put the cats in the carriers. Perhaps we should see what happens if he does that on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastEditorUserId="2554" LastEditDate="2015-09-04T13:59:11.137" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T15:49:52.700" Title="How can I stop my cats from urinating in the pet carrier?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2015-08-21T20:17:44.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats will pee if the smell the scent of the pee from a previous accident.  It sounds like you should try to get new carriers that are unfamiliar to your cats.  I'd start them out just keeping the carriers open and available to your cats so they can get familiar with them first.  As previously mentioned, you should try to make them as comfortable as possible.  My cats love a sherpa blanket or nice soft fleece one.  This way they start to associate it more as a bed then a negative experience of going to the vet.  I'd also suggest putting treats in the carriers and maybe even getting a pheromone spray or wipe.  Anything you can do to make them feel like it's not a bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do get new carriers I would not put the pee pads in because they will probably associate those with the last carriers and think that it is okay to urinate in the new carriers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what you have been doing in terms of trying to time the trips accordingly with feeding etc is a good strategy as well.  I believe if you combine that with the new carriers then that should solve the problem  One thing that you need to make sure you do when you get the new carriers is to not switch them up between the cats.  Allow each cat to have their own carrier with their own very soft blanket of some sort that smells as much like your home environment as possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastActivityDate="2015-08-21T20:17:44.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-21T22:28:17.033" Score="7" ViewCount="22188" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 4 months ago I bought two young-ish female rats, Star and Blaze. The store said they were the same litter, but their coloring and size as they grew leads me to believe that may not have been the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blaze has always wanted to crawl rather than just be held, but licks people and I reward her with unsalted sunflower seeds (her favorite) and has never used her teeth on anyone. Star however, while most of her time with me had been sweet despite the lack of kisses, had always been very cuddly; but she bit someone's ear while they were cuddling her against their neck earlier this month. I was shocked because it wasn't an aggressive &amp;quot;I'm scared bite&amp;quot;, but she rather just put her teeth on him and slowly clamped down and wouldn't let go until I pried her mouth open at the jaw. Moments before the incident, she was making a chickering noise often associated with happiness and comfort at her surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blaze and Star had lived in harmony for the past 4 months for the most part, other than wrestling that didn't seem to be violent other than a few squeaks. I never even seen missing fur on her like I've seen on one rat that was a bit &amp;quot;bullied,&amp;quot; when I had five rats at once several years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 7am this morning all seemed fine, both just waking up and being seemingly energetic and healthy... but when I came back from work at 5:30pm, Star was dead and Blaze was eating her! I know disposing of a body by eating it is completely normal for rats and other small mammals as it's the only way they know how to get rid of the body, regardless of how traumatizing for me it was to witness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my concerns is that many times their wrestling was not long after I fed them (a bowl full every other day) and Blaze was definitely bigger in general either because of them being a different litter like I suspect or her dominance over the cage and the food. I'm worried that Blaze may have killed her either over a food scuffle, by accident or if Star passed for some unrelated reason. With knowing now that she can eat her cage sister, while I don't want her to be lonely, I'm concerned of her taking to a new companion AND that new Rat's safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard for me to look at/handle Blaze now, knowing that the insides of her sister are currently in her belly despite how affectionate she's been to me and others in the past... And while I want to leave her be to process the death and for me to get over what I saw, I know rats don't do well alone, especially if they have never been alone before. I don't want to harm Blaze's psyche by leaving her alone in her cage, but I'm scared to witness what I saw earlier again if I get her a new mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How Star may have died suddenly after having no apparent health issues hours earlier?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the wrestling I saw normal, or should I have been concerned at the difference in size and the squeaking?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I should get Blaze a new companion, and how long should I wait if I wait at all?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd really appreciate any help I can get with this because, despite what happened and how hesitant I am with her right now, I love Blaze and I want to do what's right for her as well as myself. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5638" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-10T22:40:42.717" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T22:40:42.717" Title="Pet rat's companion died and was cannibalized, she is now alone" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-22T06:10:44.507" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs(with behavioral issues) who will not stop peeing on the carpet. I have tried vinegar and baking soda, it just seemed to make it worse or not at all. The smell is very strong &amp;amp; unpleasant! What else can help me?!? I don't want to waste $$ on store products that may or may not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5639" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T06:10:44.507" Title="Old&amp;New urine smell &amp;Stains" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-08-25T10:15:24.993" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-08-22T09:55:28.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that is not friendly at all and takes a long time to warm up to anyone. I had a live-in boyfriend and after quite some time we broke up and didn't see each other for over a year. We were then reunited and his first time back in the house, my unfriendly cat was all over him as if he had never left. Your cats will remember you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5641" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T09:55:28.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7418" CreationDate="2015-08-22T09:58:39.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had the same problem. Unfortunately they have died. I don't know what is the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabbit had 2 year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It was her 3rd birth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baby rabbits has died.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit didn't pull off fur before giving birth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit completely stopped doing labor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have more females, plan birth for both at the same time so if one mother abandon babies you can try giving them to other one. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check if she pull off fur. If she's about to give birth and didn't pull off fur to make nest something must be wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have technology like camera for streaming. Use it for non-stop/daily check on nest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If mother moves too much and don't stay/lie near nest something is wrong and probably stopped doing labor. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be difficult for you to save them if she abandon them because they need milk with bioculture (germs) from mother. They also eat mother's excrements for this reason. So TRY TO PLAN pregnancy for 2 or more rabbits at same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastEditorUserId="5640" LastEditDate="2015-08-22T10:08:57.680" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T10:08:57.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10098" CreationDate="2015-08-22T12:49:12.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all - you're right, this is 100% normal behavior. Blaze didn't enjoy it, but she was simply following her instincts. In fact, it would be more surprising to find a deceased rat that hadn't been eaten, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Rats can die suddenly for a myriad of reasons. As prey animals, they are extremely skilled at hiding any injuries or illness, which in the wild would be signs of weakness. She could have had an underlying illness. An internal abcess or cyst  that burst. A fast growing tumor (yes, unfortunately, they can grow that fast). A stroke, seizures, megacolon, heart attack... Don't feel guilty that you missed the signs, it honestly happens so often, they're such secretive creatures. Only a vet autopsy would be able to give you a definite answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Wrestling is completely normal - it's how they show dominance, and how they maintain dominance. The squeaking was Star's way of crying uncle. It's also how they play, like rough toddlers. If there is no blood, no cuts or scratches, then everything was perfectly normal. There was nothing aggressive in their relationship. Blaze didn't kill her sister, especially given the lack of defensive wounds on her. Rats are tough little things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, their shuffles after feeding could be helped by feeding them at least once a day. Every other day is not enough unfortunately. They eat a lot, and even if there is still food left in their bowl, it's likely because those are their least favourite pieces. They need regular feeding, daily fruits and vegetables, occasional treats, and most importantly variety in their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Yes, you should get her a  new companion as soon as possible. Preferably two younger rats; in trios they are less likely to 'pick on' one particular rat, but also because Blaze will inevitably pass away, likely before your new rat, and you don't want your new girl to be left alone. Don't worry about her being aggressive towards the new rat(s), as long as you do introductions correctly (slow, careful, supervised, outside the cage first, etc) they will get along swimmingly. Just watch for bullying behavior, but this is true for all rat introductions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and please don't feel differently towards Blaze now. She was protecting your territory, and she misses Star just as much as you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T12:49:12.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7417" CreationDate="2015-08-22T14:08:26.513" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume that you feed your rabbits with anticoccidiosis. I recommend you to stop using those pellets. Because if you feed your rabbits with other food the resistance for coccidiosis decreases and your rabbits can catch it and die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T14:08:26.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9828" CreationDate="2015-08-22T22:18:05.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a stray you just don't know the history.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I foster and I had a girl Monday - Friday that never warmed up to me.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the clinic when I picked her up she was OK. And she was fine on walks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the house she would not come close to me even after 4 weeks.  I strongly suspect there was man that abused her when the other party left the house.  At first your son was not the primary party.  Once your son was identified as the primary party then you became the mean man.  It will just take time.  Do nothing threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2015-08-22T22:18:05.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10106" CreationDate="2015-08-23T00:21:52.640" Score="3" ViewCount="5815" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 month old puppy is teething and has a natural proclivity for biting things; anything and everything. While I understand that this behavior is natural and might stop after a while, he also bites people and that's becoming a problem as he grows older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried saying a firm, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; and ignoring him for about 10-20 minutes after he starts biting, but he'll still jump and bark and try to bite the flesh. He'll follow me if I distance myself from him and then bite me, so there's really no ignoring him. It's particularly more concerning when he tries to bite people that are sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked through the comments and answers posted &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1976/5644&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1628/5644&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and I like the idea of temporarily confining my puppy (e.g. using baby gates) but I don't have those so I resort to putting a leash on him and tying him to a newel post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That results in him calming down after a while but not before he barks incessantly and tries to break free of the leash. After a few minutes, he'll whine and guilt-trip me into cutting him loose, which I do. However, the biting behavior will still continue albeit after a little while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is this: &quot;Is it okay if I tie him to a post temporarily if I am unable to effectively distance myself from him while he's biting? If not, what's a better alternative?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T08:06:38.573" Title="Is it acceptable to tie a dog to a leash as a timeout to prevent biting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10105" CreationDate="2015-08-23T06:52:57.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overall, I'm not too fond with the post (or seeing people tying up dogs in general). It might help, but it really depends on the individual dog and your actual situation, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always keep this in mind&lt;/strong&gt;: Just because something worked (or didn't work) for someone else, it doesn't mean it's the same in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part in your situation is the fact that the dog understands &quot;biting = getting on the pole&quot; and that's something it won't understand, if overused or in any and all situations. If you tie it up to calm down, you can't do it, if you have to leave the dog alone. Otherwise you'll most likely mess up impressions/understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine tying up the dog and leaving. It might immediately think it did something bad (not necessarily biting). This could be a completely unintentional association. Let's assume the post is outside. The dog peed on the grass. Seconds after, you tie up the dog (because you go to work). Now the dog thinks &quot;peeing on the grass = bad&quot;. What's next? Try to pee on the carpet instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I'd try different things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, try to get the puppy something it's allowed to chew on. There's a huge selection of toys, just make sure it's robust and made for puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy special tied up ropes for pulling and biting. Play together with one of those. If you're bitten, try to make a high pitched noise, stop playing, grab the toy, push the puppy off, and turn away. If the puppy follows, push it away again and try to growl a bit. Leaving the room might be optional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative distraction, try buying some dried lamb ears (or rabbit ears in case of bigger dogs): They're a nice distraction, won't screw up nutrition values (stay reasonable) and will tire the dog out a bit. Bonus, they're fine for dogs of all ages and will help with teeth as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need any baby gate. Just leaving the room might be enough, if you have to. To push a bit further, just close the door for a few minutes. Make sure there's nothing left behind the puppy might destroy or eat. This doesn't have to be long, even half a minute might be enough. Just make sure the dog doesn't get the signal to bite you, if it wants to be alone for a bit (e.g. to sleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try to not give in too easily. Otherwise the dog will learn to just cry if it wants something, every single time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In more extreme cases, let's assume you've been bitten and got a small tiny wound (like a red dot of blood or some scratch), stop playing immediately, turn away repeatedly, play a bit &quot;fearful&quot; (don't exaggerate), you could even try to sob a bit yourself, and while doing so, give your puppy a chance to sniff on the wound. I can't vouch for this, but at least in our case our puppy immediately noticed &quot;whoa, I screwed up, sorry, sorry, sorry&quot;, started to lick me and the biting was over for the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T08:06:38.573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T08:06:38.573" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-23T07:46:13.313" Score="3" ViewCount="2686" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also need to know why our rabbit kittens keep dying… I have read other posts but I am still confused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our doe just had her second litter. Her first litter was 7 kittens and all survived. This litter was also 7 kittens. Since they were born, about 3 weeks ago, we have lost 5 kittens. The first one after a couple of days, the second one after a week  and for the last three days we have had one dying each day. All of the dead kittens have looked strong and healthy. We have checked for worms or other diseases in the intestines but found nothing in the stomach and nothing in the liver and lungs. The stomachs have been full of milk. I found that one of the dead kittens had a transparent, gooey, jelly-like liquid in the anus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't fed the kittens intensionally, but we have fed the doe with oats (both rolled and full grain), pellets and fresh greens (leafs, grass, etc.). The kittens have had access to this food. But I am not sure if they have been eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're based in Denmark so it's summer right now. There is no way the kittens have died from cold. I would be surprised if they haves died from heat as some of the kittens died while the rabbit-house has been placed in shadow. The cage is on wheels and we move it daily in order to give the rabbits access to fresh grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first litter (where all 7 survived) was born in early spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both litters have been from the same buck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doe gets fresh water from a bottle every day. We haven't been serving water to the kittens as we thought they would get sufficient liquid from the milk. We placed a bowl of water in front of the kittens yesterday, but still had one dying this morning. So I don't think that dehydration is the probably (also the stomachs have been full of milk…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might we do wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2015-08-23T07:46:13.313" Title="Why is our rabbit's second litter dying one by one?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-23T10:11:28.713" Score="4" ViewCount="1945" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Siberian cat, 6 months old, and currently we feed him as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dry food: Royal Canin for Kittens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;home-cooked food: soup with beef (or turkey or chicken) and some veggies (no salt/anything else but meat, veggies and water)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if we don't have time to cook, we use Gourmet wed food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we feed him dry food a couple of times a day, and wet food (either home-cooked or Gourmet) a couple of times a day. WRT the home-made food he very much likes the soup itself, and eats the meat/veggies usually after finished with the liquid part - so we try to feed him with the home-cooked option, in addition to the dry food. At the same time, I have read that one should not mix home-cooked and specialized food for cats, since different enzymes are required for the two, and unbalancing them with mixed feed can cause distant issues when cat is older. Not stones, but more that their digestion becomes poorer and they don't get enough from the food due to issues with how they break the food down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course for us it is easier to just feed him with bought food, so my question is mainly: is there any disadvantage of excluding the home-made food from the ration of our cat? We are going to try Orijen now as the dry option, and apparently it is good on nutrition quality, so with Gourmet wet food in addition, nutrition shall be covered well. Yet, maybe there is some good thing from the home-made soups, which he likes so much? I'm hesitant to consult the vet, since I live in Netherlands and after seeing cats around I am not sure whether vets' dietary advice is good here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing: I've read that since many cats are bred from the species that lived in low-moisture regions (deserts) their sources of hydration are mostly from food. At the same time, AFAIK Siberian cats are bred from Russian wild cats that lived in forests/river areas, so perhaps that may cause some differences in how they should be fed, compared to other breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5650" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T04:19:05.397" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T12:43:58.830" Title="Can we feed our cat with a mix of home-cooked and specialized food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-23T13:01:37.743" Score="2" ViewCount="1864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting a 55 gallon (around 210 L) tank and I am planning on getting a red tailed shark and two three-spot gourami. Is this good? I have looked at millions of other websites and they say it's completely fine. Also, any 3 to 4 inch (8 to 10 cm) fish that I could get two or three of them. I am thinking of hatchet fish, but I've heard they are schooling and don't want to get 5 or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5651" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T19:24:17.813" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T19:42:59.830" Title="Can I put a red tailed shark and 2 three-spot gourami in a 55 gallon tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-23T19:57:18.413" Score="2" ViewCount="1340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 dogs, a 6 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Bailey and a 8 month old puppy named Roxy. Roxy is 50% Staffordshire Bull, 25% Labrador and 25% Springer Spaniel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both have their problems, Bailey is aggressive towards other dogs. He's been that way since I rescued him in 2011 from the kennels, I think his previous owners used him for dog fighting. He is not aggressive towards Roxy, although they have just had a little fight over a bone, which has been taken off them. I've had 3 professional trainers come out to see him, but nothing has changed, so I've had to just accept that that is just the way he is, but if anyone has any advice there, feel free to leave a comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the main problem, well, the one that annoys me the most. Roxy is chewing everything she can get hold of whenever I leave the house, even if I'm only out for 15 minutes to go to the local shop. Whenever I leave the house I have to make sure there is nothing she can get. They are both 100% obedient when I'm home, sit, stay, come etc. They do exactly as they are told and stop misbehaving when they're told. I cannot tell them to stop when I'm not there though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it is Roxy that is doing it as I've left Bailey alone many times before I got Roxy and everything was fine. I do believe that he could be joining in with Roxy though. I cannot even leave the house without thinking I need to get back for the dogs after 30 minutes, I live alone and have nobody that can watch them while I'm out. How can I train her to stop this if I'm not there when she is doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I can not be too strict with her, if anyone raises thrir voice at her while she is being told off, she gets nervous and pees on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5653" LastActivityDate="2020-03-14T11:35:09.020" Title="8 month old puppy chewing when left alone" Tags="&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10116" CreationDate="2015-08-24T11:05:08.297" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine got a really young male cat (just 8 weeks old when he got it).&#xA;Now he's around 4 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and when we meet for boardgaming, he continously climbs, walks, sneaks and plays around us. He is not ignored, in fact, he gets maybe too much attention. &#xA;He has some toys that will occupy him for short durations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, he is very prone to start fights with anyone present. Normally i would sit him down to the floor and ignore him, but he instantly get's back to continue the fight (not only with me, that's true for everyone). I don't think that he is playing anymore, i think he is really aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips how we can get his behaviour to be less aggressive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5655" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T14:49:08.507" Title="How do i handle a young aggressive cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10115" CreationDate="2015-08-24T14:49:08.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young male cats are normally fairly rambunctious. It is healthy behavior for them. This behavior serves to build their musculature, coordination and teaches them cat combat arts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience typically If you play a lot of aggressive games with your cat, the cat will grow up to be more aggressive and rambunctious including play-fighting with you and your friends. That cat will see you as his play-buddy. This is fine unless you mind having cuts and scratches all over your hands and arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple solution is to treat him more calmly; pet him and put him in your lap etc. Stay away from chasing/hunting, fighting, and pouncing type play. When he approaches you for some play fighting very gently and calmly pick him up and set him to the side. He will bite and scratch as you move him but he will get bored of this new game quickly.  If you wrestle with him with your hand at all he will see your hand as a plaything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a laser pointer to play with your cat if you like since it is hard for the cat to directly associate you with the red dot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T14:49:08.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10112" CreationDate="2015-08-24T15:51:11.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Yes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Species selection (length, difficulty of care):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830%20888%201172&amp;amp;pcatid=1172&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Red tailed shark&lt;/a&gt; (4&amp;quot;, intermediate) are semi-aggressive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/anabantoids/bluegourami.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blue gourami&lt;/a&gt; (6&amp;quot;, easy) are peaceful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hatchets:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830%20883%201027&amp;amp;pcatid=1027&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;marble&lt;/a&gt; (2&amp;quot;, intermediate) are peaceful;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830%20883%201023&amp;amp;pcatid=1023&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;marthae&lt;/a&gt; (2&amp;quot;, intermediate) are peaceful;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830%20883%201015&amp;amp;pcatid=1015&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;silver&lt;/a&gt; (2&amp;quot;, difficult) are peaceful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aesthetically speaking, getting a school of fish is probably what you want to do. It allows the tank to still have fish, but it really showcases your tank &amp;quot;stars&amp;quot;, the gourami and shark. If you do get schooling fish, you really do want to get a school of them - they do best and are easiest to care for that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might also recommend a catfish (like cory cat or &lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt;) to help a little with the cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Semi-Aggressive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Semi-aggressive means under the right conditions the fish can be very aggressive. Personally, I have found this to be common when the water quality is bad or the tank is overstocked.  With semi-aggressive, no one can say for sure there will be no problems - only that if everything is good, there shouldn't be any issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank size&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you get 6 hatchets and according to the &amp;quot;1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water&amp;quot; rule for tank stocking, that's 4&amp;quot; + 6&amp;quot;∙2 + 2&amp;quot;∙6 = 32&amp;quot; &amp;lt; 55 gallon. You still have plenty of room for more fish and shouldn't have any issues. With a 55 gallon tank, you may even feel your tank looks too empty. :-P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potential problems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really think the bulk of your problems are going to come with being new to aquariums. Since you are getting a 55 gallon, you'll avoid a lot of the issues that beginners face with 10 and 20 gallon tanks where the water quality nosedives very fast because there is so little water in the system. Having live plants is a whole new level of complexity and I had a hard time getting the hang of it - I really had to do my reading to understand what was happening and buying the chemicals was a must for healthy plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that these fish are too challenging for you at first, you can always try less-demanding fish until you get the hang of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T19:42:59.830" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T19:42:59.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10105" CreationDate="2015-08-24T15:59:17.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With puppies, they generally don't realize how much they are being hurtful, they don't know their own strength yet. I've had a lot of success in teaching that simply by over-reacting and acting like I'm really, really hurt. 1-3 times doing this and the dog figured it out and stopped. (Note that the dog might not seem to 'care' or be concerned, but a successful 'teaching' occurs when the dog appears to be watching).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also had a lot of luck in teaching him not to bite. Some owners like to play games with the dogs teeth and their hands and that doesn't translate well when the dog is older. Ignoring works really well, especially when combined in rewarding the right behavior (say, sitting calm when petting is wanted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="495" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T17:39:48.200" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T17:39:48.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10111" CreationDate="2015-08-24T16:59:07.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A nutritionally balanced home-made meal is better for both you and your cat than something that comes from a factory in a bag or a can. It is less processed, fresher, contains fewer additives like preservatives and colorants, and will probably have more nutritional value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the disadvantage of excluding the home-made meals would be: your cat may be subject to a somewhat lower-quality diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally, it is always good to give your pets the best food you can find. Will it ultimately make a substantial difference in their quality of life either way? It is hard to say with complete certainty, as so much of long-term mammalian health is determined by genetic factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I buy the premium cat foods like you. Ironically your and my cats eat better than a lot of people in the world: I think we are doing a good job taking care of our cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend not worrying about it too much: cats can live 15 to 20 years and be healthy on a diet of common inexpensive dry cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the hydration goes, I have always read domestic cats came from warm climates (both the jungle and the desert) but it is certainly possible there was some interbreeding with a local Siberian cat. I don't think we have to worry much about the moisture content of their food: as long as there is some water available they will drink when thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T00:49:54.190" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T00:49:54.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2015-08-24T17:21:14.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meowing did not sound too alarming, she was probably hungry. Leaving half the food is probably not a concern as there may have been more food than she needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an outdoor cat so she is going to have her own way of doing things. Changing her behavior will be tough. It is smart for cats to be cautious of people, as people are often mean to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like feeding that cat and leaving it a bowl of water somewhere if there is not a lot of fresh water around is all you really have to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry about your Nan. Was your Nan close to the cat? Did she pick it up or pet it? If not then the cat may be pretty wild and it will be difficult to pick it up or befriend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat has had some human contact it would be good if you could befriend the cat, that way you could get it medical attention if it gets hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T17:21:14.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2015-08-24T17:29:53.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to deal with cat attacks like this are to cry out loudly in pain. This tells the cat that they hurt you and that you disapprove of the attack. If you and your cat have a good relationship, they won't want to hurt you. Cats don't like loud noises so crying out will also help train the cat not to attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he attack you at all during the day? Is the cat otherwise sweet and affectionate with you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T17:29:53.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10113" CreationDate="2015-08-24T17:41:10.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;8 months old is still a puppy, and puppies need to chew as their teeth and jaws are developing. IMHO, 8 months is too young to leave them alone, unsupervised and unconfined. Make the Kong toy more interesting: fill it with treats and peanut butter, almond butter or yogurt. Freezing it makes it last even longer. Then give that to your puppy in a crate when you leave. This fulfills their need to chew, gives them some puzzle-solving work to get the treats/food out, reinforces that the Kong is appropriate to chew, and prevents them from chewing anything inappropriate. It also prevents your older dog from stealing it from the puppy. Give one to your older dog too to avoid jealousy problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T17:41:10.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2015-08-24T17:42:52.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you lock a cat or an elephant or a person in a cage they may just pee in it. It is just biology. There is nothing humane you can do to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a particular reason you don't want them peeing in the carrier other than you just find it objectionable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use the standard plastic carriers with metal grate doors that are easily cleaned and hold any urine so the urine does not come in contact with any part of my car (which would be a horrible horrible thing). I also have a dedicated &quot;cat towel&quot; that I throw in their carrier to provide some bedding and to help absorb any messes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T17:42:52.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10105" CreationDate="2015-08-24T18:01:18.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers give helpful advice, and I would like to emphasize a couple of points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Retrievers are very mouthy in general -- they were bred to pick up game in their mouths and bring it back to the hunter. So they tend to play biting games more than many other breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bite inhibition is THE most important lesson a puppy must learn. A two-month-old puppy cannot harm you. If they bite as hard as they able, they might inflict a minor wound but nothing serious. A six-month-old Labrador puppy, however, can do serious damage with a hard bite. When puppies play together, and one puppy bites another too hard, the wounded puppy will yelp with a loud cry. Try this with your puppy: when he bites, say &quot;Ouch!&quot; loudly with a high-pitched voice, and turn away. You can gradually decrease the pressure you accept without an &quot;Ouch!&quot;, and the puppy learns that humans cannot tolerate the game at anything other then a gentle level. But it is a big mistake to never tolerate a puppy mouthing you, because they will not understand how to inhibit bite pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a more detailed explanation: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.siriuspup.com/behavior-problems/puppy-biting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Ian Dunbar's puppy bite inhibition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditDate="2015-08-24T19:32:26.527" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T19:32:26.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10105" CreationDate="2015-08-24T20:45:18.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are a lot of good answers here, but I still wanted to add a couple of things. One, I think several of the posters are correct in saying that you should yelp or say &quot;ouch!&quot; loud and sharp and quit playing. That is how puppies socialize with one another. If one plays too hard, the other puppy lets them know this way and quits playing with them. They learn that they don't get what they want by doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good way to help teach a puppy this is if you can find the right older dog. I've had two that were good at this. A puppy would try to play and they'd ignore them. When the puppy got too rambunctious they'd growl, if they didn't desist immediately, they'd snap and knock them down. They didn't hurt them or actually make contact with their teeth, but they shocked the puppy and made their point. Typically, the puppy would look shocked, hunker and come back licking at them, and if the dog growled again, they'd go off and play somewhere else. They didn't act afraid of that dog, but they definitely respected them more from that point on. That's what you're trying to imitate. You warn them, then deal with the issue in an appropriate way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example are two of my horses. I've had them since they were born and they're full brothers. Both of them were with their mother in a pasture beside another mare. The babies both worried their mother to death, jumping on her, biting her, etc... She'd squeal and hump her butt up, but wouldn't every actually correct them. When they got old enough, the next door mare they grew up with would be the first one to get turned in with them. She was sweet and wasn't an aggressive mare, but she did protect her personal space. Both babies, a year apart, did the same thing. As soon as she was let in, she walked to a patch of grass and started grazing. They ran right up and reared up on her back and bit at her neck like they did with their mother and she let loose and kicked them in the chest. They all ran around for a while and settled down. The baby came back, being apologetic to the other mare and kept getting closer. She warned them several times, but when they touched her, she let loose again. They were stunned, but they listened to her signals from then on and also paid attention to other horses when they signaled this way. She wasn't trying to hurt them and they were more shocked than hurt, but they learned a lesson. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm not telling you to hit your dog. The point I'm trying to make is that you have to find a correction that fixes the issue in a way the dog understands. I don't believe tying them or putting them in a kennel solves the issue. I think letting them out when they whine is creating another issue that you won't want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, try to think of how you want your perfect dog to be and work on it a little every day. To fix the biting issue, I'd do a couple of things. One is be consistent with whatever you do. For instance, if a dog begs for food and you say 'no' one time, but slip them a snack anther time, or someone else does, then you've basically taught them that they should keep begging, because sometimes it works. If you always consistently say 'no', then eventually they stop asking. Another thing to do is to make sure the dog is exercised, mentally and physically. Playing in the yard burns off physical energy, but you need to burn that mental energy as well. Structured walks, where they aren't allowed to stop and do stuff at random are good at this. They get physical exercise, but they also have to focus on matching your pace and watch for your turns. Puzzle toys can help as well. A tired dog isn't as liable to jump and bite. Granted, as a puppy, the stamina isn't going to be great, but we have a 1-mile walking path and when I have puppies I take them on it. When they seem tired and lagging, I carry them. When they squirm I let them walk. It doesn't take long before they can keep up the whole mile and are ready to out pace me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is something hard to describe. When you correct your puppy and have something you don't want him to do, such as jumping and biting, many people say 'no', maybe they even yell/scream it. However, you have to wait for the dog to give in. A good example of this is a dog that focuses in on a cat or squirrel or whatever. The dog focuses in and tries to go for it. The owner tugs and pulls on the leash. Then they get in front of their dog to body block it. Then they walk toward it and back it up. They say they stopped their dog and they're doing some of the right things, but the whole time, the dog is focused beyond them on whatever it is they want and they haven't given up on it. You aren't correcting it till they've broken their focus and given up on the bad behavior. Another example would be people who try to put their animals off the furniture. They are lying there and the dog's all over them. They tell the dog to get off and it doesn't, so they push it off. It stands there and stares at them and the make it stay there for a while and then let it back up. They feel like they've accomplished something because they put the dog off and made it stay for a little while, but the whole time the dog was just waiting till it could get back on the couch. I would want to tell the dog to get off, then drive it off more than put it off. Sometime clapping the hands or flapping a blanket will work best, though with some dogs, this can encourage rough play and biting the blanket, which you don't want, so don't do this if you have this type of dog. Keep in mind that they more you claim a space and ask your dog to leave it, the easier it is in other situations, so if you've made a habit of asking your dog to move off, they will easily do so when asked to leave the couch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good alternative is to teach your dog the 'Spot' command. This is where the dog has a 'spot', such as a kennel with an open door, a mat, wherever. When you say 'Spot', the dog goes there. He can't be on the couch or jumping on you and be in his 'spot' too. I also wouldn't want the dog standing there staring at me, because he's still focused on what he wants. I will send him/her off if they do this. With repetition, you'll be able to say 'off' and they'll hop up and go find somewhere else that's comfortable for them. That's ideal for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So keeping all this in mind for your jumping issue. You'll want to make sure he doesn't have an abundance of energy to use to be destructive, you want to let him know that it's not okay to jump on or bite you. If he's persistent, you need to tell him 'no' and back him down. He can't just keep staring at you. He needs to give up on wanting to jump on you. Lastly, offer him an alternative to with a chew toy or puzzle toy to keep him occupied. Good luck and I hope this helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T08:05:24.057" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T08:05:24.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2015-08-24T20:54:52.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a fear reaction. My cat does it as well when I take him to the vet. You have to think about it this way. A dog is given a kennel as a bedroom and while they may be shut in sometimes, you know they know they'll get out. Most people don't do a very good job at training their dog to kennel. Almost no one trains their cats and while we often ask a dog to do things they don't want to, like walk on a leash, get a bath (though I do bathe my cat occasionally, as he rolls in dirt), do tricks, etc... People go out of their way to make their cat's comfortable and baby them. I think your cats just fear the carrier because 1) they're confined when they usually roam where they please, and 2) they associate it with a vet trip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point in MY cat's life, I'm not going to kennel train him. I didn't think about it early on and he doesn't have that many vet trips left in his life. Once a year for shots is it. However, with my next cat, I'll approach it the same way I do with the dogs. I'll take the door off and put a snack in there to encourage him to go in. I'll make it like his bedroom. I won't leave it out forever, but I'll make sure he's comfortable in it. Cats actually like to be in cave-like things high up. I may put it somewhere high where it is secured. Maybe on the back of the couch or something like that, I don't know. Anyway, if he's comfortable in it. I may add the door back, shut it for a couple of seconds, and then open it. I'll randomly shut it and vary the length of time. I won't let him out when he meows, only when he's quiet. Eventually he'll learn that it's no big deal and come to accept it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd advise that you clean the cages with the urine scent remover and leave them around the house with the doors off and maybe a treat inside. You can even take the tops off at first if they're removable and it makes them feel more comfortable. Maybe you can keep one at the foot of your bed during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can try this kind of thing or just clean pee out once a year if you think it's past the point where it would do any good. Either way, good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:53:00.813" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:00.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2015-08-24T21:34:35.560" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have to carry my cats I put them into their toilet in advance. When they feel the litter under their paws they usually feel urged to pee there even if their bladders are only half full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this procedure, the probability that so pees in the carrier is much lower than without. But it does not remove the primary cause of peeing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the peeing is strongly fear related you may check the different possibilites to go against the root cause like pheromones, trypsinated milk protein and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastActivityDate="2015-08-24T21:34:35.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2015-08-25T03:45:40.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats prefer combing to brushing; you might try that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try an intensive string or laser-pointer session beforehand, to get some of the pounce-and-wrestle reactions out of the way. A tired cat is a less squirmy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternating brush and hand strokes sometimes helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a slightly damp hand is as good at gathering the loose fur as anything else, and probably feels more like mama-cat's grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of mine is much more interested in licking the brush than in having it pulled thru his fur. Frustrating since he's also the one inclined to chase down and eat every bit of fluff I brush off him, somewhat defeating the purpose. I keep threatening to go after him with hairspray, but he calls my bluff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T03:45:40.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-25T14:38:33.623" Score="2" ViewCount="483" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is a bearded dragon measured? some say from the tip of the nose to the tip if the tail. Then some say from the tip of the nose to the tail base. Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5659" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T15:41:08.517" Title="Is a bearded dragon measured from nose tip to end of tail tip or nose tip to begining of tail" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2267" CreationDate="2015-08-25T15:02:45.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of great answers here and I think they have it covered. I just wanted to mention something that might help. I think that with a cat, targeting is probably the easiest thing to teach first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that clicker training is a great way to train an animal. We also know that cats can have a pavlovian response as evidenced by every movie, commercial, and personal experience of a person turning on a can opener and the cat comes tearing around corners to get to the sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This technique involves a combination of that and a homemade tool. I made the tool buy buying a very cheap telescoping magnet tool from the auto parts store. They look like a pin when closed. You can tape a plastic spoon to the end of this and use a very small amount of wet food as the reward. When you train, you telescope it out and you can hold this and the clicker in the same hand or whatever is most comfortable for you. If your cat is skittish, you can do like they do when clicker training mice/hamsters and either wrap it in a cloth to muffle the noise or use a Snapple cap, which makes the same sound, but much quieter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat's are naturally curious, so simply hold down the telescoped spoon and he should come to sniff it, especially if you rubbed the spoon across the top of the wet food and got some scent on it. When he touches the spoon with his nose, you can click and scoop a little food onto the spoon for him. Basically, just enough for a taste. You aren't giving a whole spoon full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He'll keep following the spoon for the food and he'll eventually catch on that touching the spoon will get him more food. You can use this to lead him onto stools or chairs, lure him into sits or raises, and anything else you can thing of. Once the behavior is down, you can have him target other objects, such as your hand or toys, which can lead to fetch behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest key in training a cat is your mind set. You can force a dog into a sit or a lay, though that's usually not the best way. However, with a cat, you can't force anything. You need to be prepared to have your cat flip you off and tell you that he doesn't care what reward you're offering, he's not performing. That's just cats for you. Keep sessions short and don't sweat it if they don't want to do something. Work when they will and quite when they don't. The more you get them to do a behavior, the more likely they'll be to repeat it, since it's ingrained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-25T15:02:45.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10137" CreationDate="2015-08-25T17:28:51.803" Score="8" ViewCount="31289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy for dogs to wear clothes like humans can? I am concerned of an animals welfare when they are wearing clothes made for pets. If it is/isn't healthy what are the benefits and disadvantages/problems for dogs wearing these dog clothes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1381" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2015-08-25T17:58:30.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:06:46.910" Title="Is it healthy for dogs to wear clothes like humans can?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10132" CreationDate="2015-08-25T18:02:28.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;proper&lt;/em&gt; measurement of a lizard's size is &quot;snout to vent length&quot; (SVL). The measurement is taken taken from the tip of an animal’s nose to the opening of the cloaca at the tail's base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Measuring the entire length (including the tail) has no biological meaning and can be somewhat deceptive about what it means. The length of a tail varies &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;so greatly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, it has little correlation with age, size, health, or whatever other biological factors you might be trying to determine from a reptile's overall length. Reporting the entire nose-to-tail length is typically reported to &lt;em&gt;exaggerate&lt;/em&gt; the actual size of the animal (as in &quot;a ten-foot alligator was found in the neighbor's pool&quot;)&amp;hellip; but beyond that, such measurements have little biological value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-08-27T15:41:08.517" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T15:41:08.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10135" CreationDate="2015-08-25T19:10:07.813" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the most part, no, it's not a good idea to put clothes on your pet for several reasons. There are a couple of good reasons and I will cover those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clothes aren't good for your pet for several reasons. One reason is that they will chafe your pet. Where a human can scratch an itch under their clothes or adjust them, a dog can't. Imagine if you're underwear were wedgified all day and you couldn't adjust them. Would you be okay? Yes. Would you be comfortable? No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other reason is more about psychology. I'm not going to categorically lump everyone who puts clothing on their dogs in this group, but I think a vast majority of people who dress their dogs up, do it because they see them as a child substitute. Granted they require similar care to a young child as far as not being able to feed themselves or go to the bathroom by themselves, but I think people are mentally substituting them for a baby they didn't or couldn't have, or for kids that have left home. Sometimes it happens when a child is in the house because the dog isn't argumentative. I phrased it that way, instead of saying the dog isn't bad, because a lot of them are. People feel like a talking teenager should know better. The dog should know better as well, but because they can't talk and they're dependent, it's easier to see them as a child and forgive bad behavior. It's also the reason people like cats and dogs like pugs and boston terriers. They have large eyes in proportion to their heads and this makes them seem child like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So even though people objectively know that they're dogs, subconsciously they treat them like babies or dolls. This leads to dressing them up, painting their nails, carrying them around, making excuses for bad behavior, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a good psychological state for the person or the dog. On the persons side, they're transferring feeling onto an inappropriate object and they're harming their dog by not treating it like a dog. On the dog's part, they're not being taught what proper behaviors are when dealing with others. Because typically it's small dogs being dressed up, they're often forgiven for behaviors that you physically can't with a big dogs, such as biting or jumping on you. They are also carried like babies and never allowed a proper amount of exercise. These things all lead to a dog that is aggressive, territorial, and anti-social. It's all lumped in with the mindset that goes along with dressing up a dog like a person. I strongly disagree with this practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few occasions I would find it acceptable to put clothing on a dog for short periods of time. These include a Halloween costume (though I've never put one on my dogs), a diaper when a female dog is in heat, a shirt of some kind if they have a wound you want to keep them from rubbing, a rain jacket if you don't want them to get soaked when you're taking them to the bathroom, snow boots if it gets packed in between their toes, guard vests on labs fetching in frozen lakes, and the only piece of clothing I have, which is a light jacket I put on my jack Russell in the mornings when it's still pretty cold. She has very thin hair and I put her outside when I go to work. I'll put the light hoody on her and it'll help her retain heat till the day warms up. When she heats up, she wiggles out of it and leaves it by the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are good reasons and to put clothing on dogs and bad reasons as well. If you have the correct mindset about it, the clothing serves a purpose, and you aren't projecting maternal/paternal feeling onto your dog, then clothing is fine. Otherwise, lets leave it off. Hope this answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2016-02-17T20:32:21.990" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T20:32:21.990" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10111" CreationDate="2015-08-25T19:45:50.563" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't start feeding your cat homemade food without consulting a vet or pet nutritionist. The fact is, even the cheapest pet food companies pay to have samples of every batch of their food chemically tested and checked to make sure the proper vitamins and nutrients are included that your cat needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now quality and quantity of these ingredients might vary and I think that there is a large difference between low end and high end cat or dog foods. I also don't deny that if you could make your animals' meals at home, they'd probably be very high quality and at a much, much lower cost for the same quality of store bought food. However, you can cause health problems for your animal if you consistently leave out a key nutrient that they require or don't add enough of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's where a vet or pet nutritionist comes in. You can work with them and they can advise you on a list of foods that will allow your animal to meet all requirements needed to keep them healthy as far as proteins, fats, amino acids, micro and macro nutrients, etc... You may learn that a particular food is good, but that if you boil it, it loses most of that nutrient, where if you cooked it on a grill or in a pan it might retain most of it. You'll also learn what you should avoid giving your pet. For instance, everyone knows not to give your dog chocolate, but I didn't hear that garlic and onions were bad for them for years. You could end up causing a reaction in your pet by feeding them something that doesn't agree with them. A good example is milk/cream. Most people want to give this to their cat because they see it in every cartoon and movie they watch. However, while they may enjoy it, most grown felines are lactose intolerant and you'll give them diarrhea and vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also say that while dogs and cats might enjoy a little variety added to their food, such as a little shredded chicken on top of their food, they don't like variety the way people do. If I eat the same meal twice in a row, I almost can't stand to look at it a third time. However, animals do much better on a consistent diet. They get upset stomachs when it radically changes. I would probably pick one type of food and let this be your cat's food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's up to you as to what food you choose. If you choose to make your own, you'll have to deal with making meals for them all the time. You can make a large batch and section it out and put it in the refrigerator, but cats prefer warm food that simulates body temp of a fresh kill. You run into the same issues with wet food. If you buy a can that's over an individual serving's worth, you can keep it in the fridge, but you have to warm it. It's also messier to deal with and smells somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food is much more convenient and you can free feed with it. However, like you noticed, cats get a lot of moisture from their food. They don't drink very much from a bowl. As an interesting side note, I watched a documentary that said cats don't like to have their water near their food bowl, because they feel like their kibble (aka their &quot;kill&quot;) contaminates it. In the wild, they drink away from their kill. When we brought in a water bowl for the dogs during the winter, he started drinking from that and hasn't touched his own water bowl, so we stopped using it. Dry doesn't have much moisture and since they aren't naturally inclined to drink a lot, it can cause issue like crystals to form in their urinary tract. Mine has this issue. While the vet said that switching to a wet food would help, there are other factors that help cause these for mine. I currently do have him on a dry food, but it's also Royal Canin. It's their S/O brand for urinary tract issues and it encourages him to drink more and also provides a mild medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this information can help you with deciding on what to feed your cat. You also mention cats around your area not looking like they're being fed properly, so you don't want to consult your vet. However, there many other variables to consider. A huge one is that they owners either didn't ask the vet what to feed them or they did and just aren't. Other factors include: age, breeding, health, and many other factors that can make a cat look like it's not getting the nutrition it needs. I'd at least talk to your vet and if you feel like their information isn't good, then you can contact a real nutritionist on the internet and ask their advice. I wouldn't presume to tell you myself, because I'm not one. I personally wouldn't feed my pet based on the advice of someone, even on a good site like this, because they aren't trained and their pet isn't your pet. They may be feeding something that works great for their animal, but they might not know something about yours that a nutritionist or vet would know right off. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T04:21:25.677" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T04:21:25.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-25T23:47:52.847" Score="6" ViewCount="32890" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm walking down my hallway my cat follows me as always, but she always attacks my legs with her 2 front paws. It is very gentle, no scratching, hissing or biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious, why is this happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5666" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:07:02.767" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:07:02.767" Title="Why does my cat 'gently' attack my legs when I'm walking?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10143" CreationDate="2015-08-26T01:43:58.610" Score="3" ViewCount="809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that LOVES to play fetch. Most of the time she'll bring me the toy and we'll play for a good 20-40 minutes. However lately she's gotten lazy with bringing the toy all the way, instead dropping it a couple feet away. She doesn't seem to understand that I'm not going to get up every time she does this, but I'm not sure how I can educate her that she needs to bring the toy to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've already clicker trained her for when she can rest on my lap, as well as when she can and cannot have attention. Though whether this helps with further training such as when playing is beyond me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2579" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T16:01:22.730" Title="How can I get my cat to carry the toy all the way when playing fetch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9550" CreationDate="2015-08-26T03:28:35.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat's stomach is not empty when he is anesthetized for the surgery, there is a real danger that he could vomit and he might aspirate the material - that means the material would go down his windpipe - and they might not be able to clear the material before he suffocated. Don't have surgery of any type done on a cat without him or her fasting for at least 10 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any cat can go 10 or 12 hours without food. It will not traumatize him or hurt him in way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about yourself - not eating for 12 hours will not cause you any harm. If you consider the length of time you are asleep at night, you go quite a few hours without eating. Hey, the word breakfast means - break fasting. Breakfast is the meal that breaks your overnight fasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The procedure to neuter a male is quite simple. The vet makes a small incision in the scrotum - that is the pouch which contains the testicles, The then gently pulls the testicles out and cuts the tube attached to them. I don't think they do anything else at that point as to sealing the cut tubes, it should not be needed..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's it - finished - nothing to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have had a total of 26 cat since we got married in 1987 - not all at the same time - so we have a bit of experi3ence with neurting nd spapying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet doesn't even bother to suture or glue the incision closed with surgical adhesive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the testicles are removed, the scrotum shrinks up quite a bit and the incision closes quite tightly. Of the 18 or 19 males we have had neutered, I can't recall one that had the incision sutured or glued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for the stress of the trip to the clinic, and being around strange people and being in a cage - and the stress level will likely be very low. The cat does not suffer during the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You refer to things you've read on the internet -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that anyone with a computer can post &quot;expert&quot; advise on line, There is no way to know just how experienced and knowable they really are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should go with the advise of the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take up all food after about 6:00 PM - you can leave water out. Put the cat in the carrier in the morning and take him to the clinic. Don't worry about the surgery. I've seen it done and I think that if I needed to, I could safely neuter a male cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There simply is not much involved with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some real problems can occurs if you don't get a male cat neutered before about 6 months of age. Among them is the male starting to mark his territory around the house - they mark with urine and with anal gland fluid. Trust me, you don't want a male cat marking his territory inside - it is very foul smelling and it can be difficulty or impossible to get a male to stop marking even if you have him neuter after he has begun marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the number of cats and kitten which are killed each day shelters around the country - hundred of thousands - there is no excuse for not having male cats neutered and females spayed - None!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just do as the vet says and things will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worst thing that can happen is your being stressed out about it. The cat will barely know anything has been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get him home, keep an eye on him until the anesthesia has worn off. They don't give a lot of anesthesia to a male before a neutering. It takes just moments to do the job and they don't need to put the cat under deeply or for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow your vets advise about dealing with your cat at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you simply keep an eye on them until your sure the anesthesia has worn off. About the only thing to watch for is if he takes to climbing or jumping up on things and is still sedated. Our Rusty came from from his neutering still quite sedated. He went to use the litter pan and wound up falling into it. A few minutes latter i caught him winding up to jump on a really high shelf. I grabbed him and advised him that he needed to wait until he wasn't so dizzy. He agreed and proceeded to go to sleep on my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some vets will want you to put an Elizabethan collar on the cat - those cone shaped things used to prevent the cat getting at an jury or such. There is no valid reason to subject a newly neutered cat to wear one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet wants to do it just tell him that people have told you that it is very rare to need to use one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have never had a male or female damage the surgical area and living with one of those collars is not something you want your cat to endure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will likely lick the surgical area but that's fine. He will keep it clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You only need to be concerned if he is actually opening up the incision - but we've never had that happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to Google and search on: male cat neuter procedure video&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just did so and found what looks like hundreds of videos showing the actual surgery. Go and watch some. There is less blood loss from the cat than if you cut your finger. There simply are no any large blood vessels in the surgical area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry, he will be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T03:28:35.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21760" CreationDate="2015-08-26T04:15:41.483" Score="6" ViewCount="639" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Shiloh I believe the amount of food the vet recommended is not enough for him, I picked him up tonight and he is losing weight.  The amount the vet said to use was to maintain, so it is failing to maintain his weight.  What I give him now is 1/4 of dry food in the AM, 1 small can of wet food when I get home from work.  Right now he wakes me up at 1 or 2 in the morning for more food.  So I see 2 options&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) add a third mean at night before I go to bed (1/4 dry)  I am adding 50% as I felt he has lost weight and I think he needs it back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) figure out how to transition him to a free feeding cat (keep the dry food out all the time for him when he wants, then a can of wet food as a treat when I get home from work in the pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am to switch to free feeding, what is the best way, would it be just put a bigger bowl down and fill it up?  Or do I want to build up to the big bowl, and if so how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4030" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-11-09T12:18:41.813" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T12:54:44.537" Title="Switching from set times for feeding to free feeding of a cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10140" CreationDate="2015-08-26T11:54:52.820" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never go get it when she drops it part way.  She has either become tired of the game and does not want you to throw it any more, or she is training you come pick it up.  In either case if she drops it part way back when playing fetch the game is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T11:54:52.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10140" CreationDate="2015-08-26T16:01:22.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to use the clicker to reinforce what you want. Just like with a dog, many people just have an animal that's naturally inclined one way or the other. Either the dog doesn't like to fetch or it does, but either way it isn't trained. My cat fetches as well, but again, it's just something he picked up on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you truly want it trained, then like keshlam said, you need to train her to target, then work on teaching her to pick up the fetch toy. You work at it incrementally by clicking when she's goes to pick it up. You can either click when she goes near it and only click for closer and closer movements, or you can probably more easily just capture the behavior when you naturally provides it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she knows 'target' like come to your hand, then you just get her to pick it up and tell her 'target'. She has to come to your hand to complete the task. You can faze the treat out. I think a good training treat is wet food. Just enough for a single lick. My cat doesn't get wet food regularly and it's a treat he really likes. If you're cat does get wet food, just use his meal as his training aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T16:01:22.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T17:23:22.340" Score="2" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;My juvenile bearded dragon sheds every few weeks. We haven't had any problems so far. I mist several times a day and his eating habits haven't changed. With that being said he is shedding his tail which always goes first and it is still dull and grey underneath. Is this something I should worry about or could he be shedding another layer sooner than normal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5673" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:42:20.270" Title="my juvenile bearded dragon still dull and greyish after shedding tail" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2015-08-26T17:24:16.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are fussy little beggars (which is why we love them so much!). She'll come down and deign to grace you with her presence in her own time and on her own terms :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meanwhile, do you feed her dry (kibble) food? You can leave it out for her so you can be sure she's got enough food if she gets hungry. The wet (meat) food can go off quickly in hot weather and attracts flies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting out in the yard with a book or something can help her to see you're not interested, which is an almost fail-safe cat magnet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5674" LastActivityDate="2015-08-26T17:24:16.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-26T23:26:29.243" Score="1" ViewCount="932" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Labrador is about a year and a half old now and we have had him since he was a puppy. We recently brought a pug puppy who is very small compared to our Labrador. Our puppy often tries to bite our Labrador but when the Labrador play fights back, as he's so much bigger it looks like he might hurt the puppy. The Labrador always wants to play and keeps chasing the puppy and as he is so much bigger he ends up knocking him to the ground and trampling on him. We have to always watch them to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Will this stop as they get used to each other and won't get so exited around each other? Can i do anything to help or will they always be like this, because that would mean I may have to sell the puppy so one doesn't end up getting hurt, plus it's frustrating having to watch them all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5676" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T16:45:26.993" Title="What can I do to stop my dogs play fighting so one doesn't get hurt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10147" CreationDate="2015-08-26T23:59:44.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're being more careful than you give them credit for. If one of them gets a bit too rambunctious the other will tell them so and it'll correct itself. As long as it's play, your only concerns are keeping them from knocking things over, telling them in no uncertain terms when this is not the time for being silly,  and keeping humans who might misunderstand from wading in and confusing a situation that the dogs have well under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-08-27T03:43:13.847" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T03:43:13.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10083" CreationDate="2015-08-27T01:27:09.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, 4-6 weeks is considered a good quarantine time. You can choose how long to quarantine, but what you're really looking for is whether the new animal is presenting any signs of diseases that it could transmit to your other geckos. Some diseases, such as mites or respiratory infections, you should be able to detect quickly, within the first week of observation. Other diseases, such as viral diseases (herpesvirus, iridovirus, etc) and some bacterial diseases, may not present themselves visually for up to a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the animal is in quarantine, it's often best to keep them on simple substrates (paper towels is best, in my opinion, because it's easiest to see mites and feces, which are often indicative of ill health) and observe them periodically throughout the day, particularly at feeding time. It's also helpful to weigh the animal consistently (with my snakes, I weigh before every feeding. With a gecko, I would weigh every 3-4 days or so). Any drops in weight are concerning and the quarantine should be extended until the animal appears to be gaining or maintaining weight again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5677" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T01:27:09.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10050" CreationDate="2015-08-27T01:34:58.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought is that your return pump isn't strong enough. The overflow is draining at a faster rate than water is getting pumped back up into the tank. Simple solution is to get a more power pump or to slow down the drainage pipe from the overflow, though that would be more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5677" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T01:34:58.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9537" CreationDate="2015-08-27T08:07:04.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Platys are very easy, you don't have to help much. Babies are born living and can swim from the first minute. If there's something to hide, they will survive. If not, other platy will eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in having young platys, take care about what you do if the grow up. Your aquarium might be too small. Calculate one inch of fish length per gallon and take care to give them away as soon as they're 3/4 of the full size of a parent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like babies, just remove everything to hide, the others will hunt'em and eat the babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5679" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T08:07:04.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10050" CreationDate="2015-08-27T09:27:25.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as I understand you right, you wonder how much water there should be in the left one on the picture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say zero water, it depends on how high your pipe is from the sump.&#xA;You build it like that so there will be enough big hole so you don´t overfill you aquarium. You will pump water up and it needs to have somewere to go else it will go over your edge and you have water everywere&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1438" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T09:27:25.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9537" CreationDate="2015-08-27T14:00:37.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have several options, depending on how much effort you want to put into it and what you want your end goal to be. If you decided you want to keep the babies, even for a while, you then have to decide if you want to keep them in the main tank, if you want to put them into a separate tank, and if you want to protect them all or let them fend for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets say that you want to have them in a separate tank. I think this is the best option as you can keep all the babies healthy until you decide if you want to keep them or give them away to an individual or a pet store. I use a 5gal hex I got cheaply at Wal-Mart with a piece of cheese cloth or panty hose rubber banded over the built in filters intake. Babies are weak for a couple of weeks and can be sucked against the filter intake and killed. The cloth reduces the flow and prevents this. You'll also need a light, which was built into this and a heater. Looks and effort are up to you, but I don't decorate a baby tank. I just let a bunch of plastic plants free float. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you don't have the time, money, space, inclination, or permission to have a separate tank, you can certainly keep them in the tank you have. If you do that, you have a couple of options. One is to make sure there are a bunch of plants for the babies to hide in. Besides the tall leafy plants, they sell little ones that have small spaces for the babies. As long as they have places to hide and dodge the big fish, they're very agile and the adults don't pursue them too hard, since they're being fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either let your mother just have her babies in the large tank and not do anything else, or you can capture them by using a livebearer birthing trap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002APY90&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Birthing Trap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wait till your fish looks like it's really close to giving birth, like when it's belly seen from directly behind goes from roundish to squarish. Then you net them, put them in here, and let them have the babies. The babies are too weak to swim and fall down the V-trap, through a slot at the bottom, and are caught underneath where neither the mother nor the other fish in the tank can eat them. You can then either transfer them to a separate tank or remove the mother and the V-traps, and keep them in there until they get stronger, larger, can eat adult food, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had success with all methods. Sometimes you just don't get the timing right and the mother births in the main tank. It's surprising how many survive. Also, you don't have to deal with culling. You usually get some fish that are born deformed and it's much easier to have another fish take them out quickly than to have to do it yourself or to have them die slowly from whatever is wrong with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for feeding, it's harder to feed them when they're in with the adults, since they have to expose themselves to get the flakes. Also, the flakes are too big and they have a hard time breaking them off. I typically spend a good amount of time crushing the adult flakes into powder between my fingers and storing it in an old beta food container. It'll last you a long time. I feed this to my babies till they can tear off chunks of the big food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, another option is to add a tank divider to 1/4 of the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0007ZN3KW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tank Divider&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one option and you can get them where the babies can swim back and forth through them or where they're completely segregated with only water exchange allowed. This gives you a little of both worlds, where you don't have to set up a separate tank, but you can separate them and give them a safe place to grow, also being able to feed them separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T14:00:37.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10147" CreationDate="2015-08-27T16:45:26.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Keshlam but wanted to provide an answer for anyone looking to train their dog to play softer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend watching some videos about dogs playing, especially if they are narrated, so you can watch the dog's expressions and hear what they mean, and listen to different scenarios. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch the dogs carefully. Don't interfere, just watch. When you feel that they are being too rough, call them both to you, give them both a pat (to reward them for coming to you), and then let them both go play again. That's all you do, no words or scolding needed. Repeat the process a few times; this also trains your dog to &quot;check in&quot;, which is great for going to the dog park. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T16:45:26.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9580" CreationDate="2015-08-27T20:30:50.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is very unlikely that allergy can cause  paw hair to uproot. My dog currently has some very similar symptoms and its most likely a paw fungus, try washing her paws in vinegar and use some chlorhexidine body wash for the paws when she's not feeling pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5681" LastActivityDate="2015-08-27T20:30:50.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-27T23:31:17.320" Score="2" ViewCount="1182" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female red eared slider' has recently been displaying an awkward and concerning behavior. She has been:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swimming frantically;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being mean (biting anything);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hasn't been basking for 4 days;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to climb tank walls;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tearing apart plastic plant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the reason for this behavior? She has never done this before!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she mad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she bored/lonely? Her fish friend recently died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be from our air conditioner breaking 2 days ago?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5683" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:35:06.553" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T20:15:56.687" Title="My female red eared slider's awkward behavior is concerning me" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-28T02:53:32.860" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I saw &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2811135/And-thought-going-dentist-bad-Hilarious-photos-traumatised-pets-vet-refusing-go.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; showing pictures of pets being taken to the vet. The pictures show animals actually covering up their faces, dropped ears etc.. and are actually showing negative emotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do they really feel &quot;fear&quot; or &quot;anxiety&quot; whenever they get a trip to the vet? Like humans do when we go to the doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2787" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T18:49:06.933" Title="Do animals actually fear veterinarians?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-28T10:54:13.497" Score="2" ViewCount="9941" Body="&lt;p&gt;On occasion we have had a rabbit with clear mucus like poop, some times it is rather well formed other times not so much.  In my experience it has mostly been with a rabbit who has a new or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;preexisting digestive issues&lt;/a&gt;.  I was looking around online and found a few blog posts about similar symptoms in rabbits, but a good reference for a possible cause(s) and potential solution(s) is not showing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for answers with scientific evidence, references and possibly case studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Standing Bounty&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing Offer to grant 100 &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/help/whats-reputation&quot;&gt;Reputation Points&lt;/a&gt; to a new answer that meets this criteria:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The answer lists &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reliable sources&lt;/a&gt; as supporting references.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an existing &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/help/bounty&quot;&gt;bounty system&lt;/a&gt; that allows that allows for the transfer of reputation from one user to another with the &amp;quot;Reward Existing Answer&amp;quot; feature, which I will use to transfer some of my reputation to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:00:45.117" Title="What does it mean when a rabbit has clear mucus like poop?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feces&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10161" CreationDate="2015-08-28T11:51:57.070" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think dogs have an innate fear of going to the vet, but they are very good at picking up on patterns and can easily become fearful given what usually happens at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that an owner might do things a bit differently when taking the dog to the vet. A dog can pick up even the small things such as if you talk a different way or turn the &quot;wrong&quot; way out of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, many dogs probably only get in the car to go to the vet, which is one of the reasons why it's important to have lots of trips in the car to fun places when the dog is young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the vet is almost never a fun place. As @Piper mentioned, you've got all these new smells, sights, and other animals which could also be fearful that the dog will pick up on. And after all that, a strange person pokes and touches them in weird ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, most vets are very gentle and try to help offset the unpleasantness with lots of treats, but pretty soon, a dog will pick up on all the cues that happened before and can be fearful when she smells the vet, if not before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can really help if you touch your dog the same way as a vet does at home with lots of rewards when the dog is young. This will show her that it's ok when their toes are touched, her teeth can be looked at, or her ribs are felt, etc. We also always try to play a couple quick games while we wait in the room so I'll use a couple treats or bring a toy. The vet will still be unpleasant, but because there is a history of good things happening during checkup, the dog will less likely to be completely overwhelmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T11:51:57.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10165" CreationDate="2015-08-28T15:34:46.747" Score="4" ViewCount="864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really curious as to how clicker training works. I mainly care and ask for cats but I'm also generally curious for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I've looked into it for both cats and dogs and it's common to both that you basically tell them that if they do something which is the behavior you want, they get a treat! Yay! let's do it more and get the human to give more treats! (and the clicker is just to help communicating and identifying the exact behavior).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So simply put:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your cat quickly learns that &lt;strong&gt;he can get you to give him a treat&lt;/strong&gt; by performing a certain behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ddfl.org/sites/default/files/Cat-Clicker-Training.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat Clicker Training&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I've seen cats and dogs following their owner's asking (or &quot;commands&quot;) even when they know the owner clearly doesn't have any treat. So why do they do it? do they just do it because they now know their human wants them to? if so how come just petting and showing affection isn't just as effective as treats, or even more for being more direct? and if so, does that mean at some point you can clicker train without any treats, just clicker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="602" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T11:42:54.450" Title="How does clicker training stick when a cat or a dog knows there's no treat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10164" CreationDate="2015-08-28T16:02:21.883" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are literally thousands of resources talking about clicker training and the principles behind it, so I'll just cover some basics you need to look into. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, clicker training was originally designed to use with whistles when teaching dolphins and whales tricks. The method goes back further and you'll run across Pavlov's dogs. We actually learned about him in school before I learned about clicker training. I think it was Karen Pryor who started adapting it to dolphins and whales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's based on a phenomenon know as operant conditioning. Basically, this means that you teach the animal (and it works on people as well) that a sound, action, stance, etc... equals something else. With Pavlov, he would ring a bell and the dogs would start drooling, because he always fed them after the bell was rung. So with no food in site, their mind made the connection. If you want a real life example, think about how a cat will come running if they hear anything like a can of wet food opening. It might not even be food. It could be something inedible that just sounds like the food can opening. Another example would be my dogs getting hyper excited anytime I put my tailgate down on my truck, because 90% of the time I load them up and take them to the river. People do this as well. Do you ever have someone call and you don't want to answer it, because you know they usually call to ask you a favor? You don't really know, but your conditioning is that they'll probably want you to do something for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's what you're doing with clicker training. You're associating an action with a reward. The click, which can also be a whistle or just your voice, marks the behavior and is hence called a 'marker'. It is known as a 'bridge', meaning that in the animals mind, it bridges the gap and connects the sound of the clicker to the reward and also to the action that caused the click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be asking why you can't just say 'good boy'. In reality you can. The benefit of the clicker is that it's consistently the same sound, length, and duration. It's also short and sharp. This allows your pet to know the exact thing he was doing when he was clicked and rewarded. In traditional training, you'd get a behavior, say &quot;good boy&quot;, and walk over and treat them. Even in the time it takes to say &quot;good boy&quot; your dog could have done a multitude of behaviors. You may be trying to get a sit, with a clicker, you mark the instant his butt touches the floor and he'll quickly associate that butt touching floor equals click equals treat. However, with the traditional method, he could have touched his butt to the floor, started to sit up, looked left, opened his mouth in excitement, etc... So it takes much longer this way, though you can probably achieve the same results. The down side of a clicker is you don't always have one on you, though I consider it a minimal downside as training sessions are usually planned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you picked up, some people don't always use treats. This is for a variety of reasons. Some dogs actually prefer affection or toy play to treats and you'll see a lot of schuntzhound (probably mangled that word) and protection dogs that are more motivated by toys than treats. Most of the time though, it's probably because they've started phasing them out. You won't always need the treats of the clicker. They're for establishing the behavior. Once it's ingrained, you can start asking for multiple repetitions or chained behaviors before clicking. This is how you do complicated tricks. You train small behaviors and link them into one big behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, you'll be able to phase out the treats almost entirely and you'll be able to phase out the clicker much sooner. You will need to treat them periodically. They eventually come to see that their effort isn't worth the lack of reward if you don't keep them hoping they'll get one sometime. It eventually becomes ingrained as the thing to do. It's potty training a kid. The parents have to tell them over and over that they need to try to use the big boy potty. They don't understand the words, but eventually get the intent and I imagine that no one reading this still thinks it's a good idea to potty in their pants. But hey, I could be wrong. :D &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's the gist of it. I'll go into a few pointers now. Firstly, sessions should be short. Your animal has almost no attention span. It'll grow after a long time of training, but if you go too long at first, they get frustrated and shut down. Multiple 5min training sessions throughout the day are easier on you and the dog than one 1hr session. Also, don't try for too much at once. If you get some good results, quite there. If they get confused, back up to something easy, quite for the day, and think about how you can help them get there. 1% progress a day is 100% improvement in 100 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ways of getting behaviors you should look into are luring, shaping, and random capture. Random capture is sometimes the only way to get what you want. Also, chaining behaviors is important to advanced trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you're talking about training a cat. While it's definitely possible, prepare to be frustrated. A dog wants to please you, a cat doesn't give a crap. It's strictly reward for action. Kind of like people won't work if they aren't paid. So keep the sessions short and don't worry if they just quite or walk away, they'll get their eventually. The easiest way to start with a cat is a plastic spoon taped to a rod. I like the telescoping rods for storage. Put a dab of wet food on the spoon and the cat will naturally sniff it. When they touch it with their nose, click and treat. When they understand the bridge, try getting them to touch it without food on it, click and then treat. It's important to get the behaviors consistent before adding a verbal cue and you shouldn't use a verbal cue more than once. If you have to, then the behavior isn't good enough for a verbal cue. The behavior I'm describing you train a cat with is the basis of a 'Touch' command and will eventually allow all sorts of behaviors like, 'come', jump up here, fetch, etc... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this info helps you. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T16:02:21.883" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10164" CreationDate="2015-08-28T17:15:28.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll also add: once they figure out that &quot;doing this gets me a treat&quot; they may try the behaviors uncued to see if you can be trained to reward them on demand. Be careful what you train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(According to one pro, may cats who have been trained to &quot;raise their hand&quot; on cue will try it uncued, to the point where it can be hard to get the cat not to do it when it would ruin the take. . It's a natural action for a cat, so it's an easy one for them to make the jump to &quot;I'm being cute, reward me.&quot; One of several reasons he works with several similar cats who have been trained differently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T17:15:28.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2015-08-28T18:06:25.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did catch your meaning with 'going to the toilet'. It sounds like operant conditioning to me. I think the whole routine has just become a cue for her. Lots of people work on this type of thing with their dog. Similar to clicker training, they'll take their dog outside and when it starts to go, they'll say, &quot;Go potty&quot;. Then they'll begin backing it up to where they say the command and the dog has to go to the restroom, because it has associated the command with act. The same as some people feel the need to go when they hear running water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's highly possible that your cat has come to see some combination of your routine as the cue to go to the potty. It could be a combination of bathroom smells and both the doors being shut or something completely different. I think you could break this habit if you wanted to, but as long as she has access to a proper place to go to the toilet, I don't see the problem with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People are creatures of habit, because we get into routines that seem like the easiest and most efficient way to do something and stick with it. If you ask someone why they do something a certain way, they won't know what you mean and they'll tell you it's just the way it's done, even if someone else successfully does it a different or even better way. So it's highly possible it's just your routine that sets it off. If you're a friendly person or live alone, try leaving the doors open while you go, or maybe move the litter box. Maybe try leaving the doors shut for a while when you're not in there. Anything that disrupts the routine would disrupt the reaction. Maybe that's the reason and maybe not, but you can certainly test it out easily enough. Good luck on the toilet. Hope every things comes out alright in the end. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T18:06:25.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10161" CreationDate="2015-08-28T18:28:43.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your pet certainly can feel fear and anxiety about the vet. I'll say that I think a lot of the problem is people. For instance, in the article you mentioned, at least two of the pictures are of people hugging the dog in sympathy and that leads a human to the conclusion that the dog is fearful based on the context. You often see people holding scared children the same way and people are wired to feel comfort from contact like this. However, a dogs point of view is that something scary or stressful happens, they give a reaction to it, such as cowering or snapping, and the person gives them affection. Their pack leader praised them, so it must be the right response. Ignoring that behavior and rewarding good behavior will cut a lot of it out right there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason people cause real anxiety in their pets, not just projected, is by the way they act. They expect their pet to be scared of the vet, so they change their approach to them, acting sympathetic or more quiet. Just like when you train a dog and they use your cues to know to sit, they're very good at picking up on body language and tone and if the only time you pet them and talk to them softly is when you go on a trip to the vet, they'll know where they're going. They'll associate that with the anxiety and stress of the vets office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to issues that aren't caused by people. Dogs have real reasons to feel anxious and stressed at the vet. You have a bunch of strange new faces, smells, and sounds. It's very overwhelming. Their natural instinct is to interact with the other dogs, which you don't and shouldn't allow, so their blocked there. There are other dogs misbehaving and making all kinds of noises they shouldn't be. All of these things, not to mention the physical pain they experience at the hands of the vets with shots, fecal check, and working on injuries, cause all kinds of emotional and physical discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just think of how you get nervous going to the doctor. You worry about how much it's going to cost to fix what's wrong with you, is it terminal, will they find something unexpected, are the sick people around me gonna throw a germ on me, will the exam hurt, are they going to judge me based on my weight or looks, etc.... And you're a human who can rationalize what's going on. I'm sure you've been in a situation at some point where you had a responsibility thrown onto you and you were expected to try to get it done even if you don't think you have enough training or knowledge about it. That kind of anxiety, probably multiplied is what they feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can see how a negative association can be formed. You can probably get around it by having more positive experiences than negative ones. Like how 99% of the time that I load my dogs up, we go somewhere fun, so I never have to fight to get them loaded to go to the vet. You can ride your dog up there several times a year, sit in the waiting room for a bit, then go in a room and have a vet tech hand them a treat when you put them up on the table. You can probably take them to the waiting room for free. You also might not be able to get in a room, depending on the vet and how things are set up and how busy they are. They might also charge you a small fee for their time if they come into the room with you. It's something you'll have to ask your vet and see how much time and energy you want to put into it. With most dogs, they don't have a super long life expectancy and most dogs will only have to deal with the trauma of a vet 10-12 times in their whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do things to reduce their stress even if you don't want to take them up there for training runs. You can go first thing in the morning. If you go, even no a Saturday and you're there when they open up, chances are you'll be in a room within a half hour and that no more than a handful of people will show up. This will allow you to space yourself out from the other people and the noise and stress will be down with the lack of animals and the fact that they clean at night before going home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, just as a related note and a point I'd like to bring up with anyone reading this, I encourage you to say something to your vet if you observe anyone letting their animals leave their immediate vicinity or letting them interact. Earlier this year, I observed some people with a jack Russell like dog on a retractable leash (which I don't like either) and they were letting it run out the line in a crowded room. I saw it run under two rows of seating and bite a dog that was lying down facing the other way, minding it's own business. Even if peoples dogs aren't aggressive, the best outcome is that no one fights or gets hurt. The options only go down from there. The dogs have no reason to interact and won't ever be let off leash together. They need to be kept contained near their owners for everyone's safety. That will really cause your dog to dislike the vet if they feel like they'll be attacked when they go in. It's also been seen many times that getting attacked once can cause dogs to become aggressive as a preemptive retaliation. I hope this has helped answer your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-08-28T18:28:43.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-29T16:50:59.370" Score="2" ViewCount="3299" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like turtles, but I don't know a lot about them. I'd love to have one as a pet, but I want to do my research first, so I can give my pet the best home possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an old fish tank I could repurpose for a turtle, but it is pretty small (I think at most it might be 10 gallons). Is there any sort of turtle that would be happy in that space, or am I going to have to upgrade for maximum turtle happiness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T17:26:30.293" Title="How much space do turtles need?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10177" CreationDate="2015-08-30T15:45:21.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;10 gallons will only be sufficient for baby turtles.  One rule of thumb I see is 15 gallons per inch of turtle length, though I think 10 gallons per inch could be a feasible minimum.  This would mean that a full-grown red-eared slider (using this as a typical turtle) would need about 75-125 gallons, though more would be better.  You could probably get by with a 40 gallon breeder tank for a few years when it's young, but would need to eventually upgrade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are smaller turtles, such as musk turtles, which could actually do well in a 20-30 gallon long tank (they like it shallow).  They also have slightly easier maintenance (don't need as strong a basking spot).  They don't usually have as distinctive of patterns as other turtles, but they still can be pretty neat -- their long necks and small plastrons make them nimble little climbers.  I'd probably recommend one as a starter turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also non-fishtank options, such as turtle tubs (either pre-made, or built yourself) that are just wide tubs with sides just tall enough to keep them from climbing out.  These can sometimes be cheaper to acquire than 90 gallon aquariums, but take a lot more floor space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever way you go, you'll need to invest in a good quality, big filter as well.  They're very messy, and constantly cleaning an underpowered filter will get old really quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Turtles-Tortoises/Turtle-Care/Keeping-a-Turtle-Here-are-Some-Tips-All-New-Turtlekeepers-Need-To-Know/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; seems to have a lot of good stuff too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5598" LastActivityDate="2015-08-30T15:45:21.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10208" CreationDate="2015-08-30T17:10:30.860" Score="4" ViewCount="26782" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 year old slightly obese indoor cat. Recently, I was petting his stomach and thought I found what may have been a scab. I scrapped it gently with my finger nail before I had the hair completely clear from the space (to get a better look) and it fell right off. When I was able to clear the hair aside completely I realized, to my horror, that it was actually one of his nipples. It did not bleed and he was not even remotely phased by this at all (so I'm assuming it did not hurt him). I made an appointment with the vet but am not able to see them until later this week. I was wondering if anyone else has every heard of this or may know what caused it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to do some research and found everything from the obesity not allowing him to groom himself properly, to parasites, to nothing wrong at all. There were not clear answers as to what this could potentially be caused from. If anyone has any ideas they could suggest it would be greatly appreciated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastEditorUserId="1381" LastEditDate="2015-08-31T02:24:17.850" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T00:05:36.117" Title="Why would my male cat's nipple fall off?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2015-08-30T20:25:51.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fresh urine of healthy mammals usually does not contain ammonia. If it does, something's wrong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases ammonia in urine is the product of microorganisms able to produce the enzyme urease. With this enzyme they can metabolize urea.&#xA;So if the freshly dropped urine smells like ammonia, most probably bacteria like &quot;proteus mirabilis&quot; are infesting the urinary tract. The bacteria can thus increase the pH-level of the urine to a level more comfortable to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can smell the ammonia, it is very likely for the pH-level to rise well above 7. This is a problem, because at high pH-levels in the presence of ammonia, struvite crystals can form and cause further problems in the urinary tract. Struvite crystals cause lesions and inflammatory processes, and can even block the bladder from emptying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sudden urinating outside the box is an indication of painful processes in the urinary tract. The cat connects pain during urinating with the place where it happens and tries to change that. Also peeing on cold surfaces happens when urinating is painful. Source of pain are all inflammatory processes, and struvite crystals are a good candidate here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is in any case necessary to stop the source of ammonia. Talk to your vet, soon. There are rare cases of damaged kidneys producing ammonia on their own, but those have to be checked by the vet anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check the pH-level of the urine in advance with common testers available over the counter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:02:51.763" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:02:51.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9930" CreationDate="2015-08-31T11:05:51.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most pet boarding places do not have sufficient experience to board rabbits.  Many will not take them, and some that will do not know how to care for them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct that stress is potentially fatal see the related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1862&quot;&gt;Can a rabbit be scared to death?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my area there is a local rabbit rescue (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitwranglers.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbitwranglers.org/&lt;/a&gt;) that also provides provides boarding services. In the case of this organization, there is no facility, everybunny is in someones house. You take your rabbit that is being boarded to the house of one the volunteers, they care for it while you are gone, watching for diet changes which is one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441&quot;&gt;primary concerns&lt;/a&gt; often overlooked by the inexperienced. In general providing a safe home environment for your bunny. You may be able to find similar services in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two options I would consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a neighbor come to your house daily, to check the food, water, hay and empty the litter box.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take your bunny to friend or family member.  A cool place in garage or basement with daily care is going to be much less stressful then a boarding house with rotating staff.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly take you bunny with you.  We take our rabbits camping on short and long trips, I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5966/how-can-i-transport-my-rabbit-using-a-bicycle/5967#5967&quot;&gt;brief answer on traveling with rabbits here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T11:05:51.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10186" CreationDate="2015-08-31T14:40:19.290" Score="2" ViewCount="2659" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one-and-a-half year-old female cat. When she is playing with her toys, her tail gets fluffy and sometimes it may sway from side to side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean she is happy, or becoming aggressive with her toys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-08-31T17:22:55.650" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T17:22:55.650" Title="Why does my cats' tail get really fluffy during playtime?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10185" CreationDate="2015-08-31T16:41:50.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats fluff their tails in two distinct ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The classic &quot;bottle brush&quot; or &quot;exclamation point&quot; tail, fluffed from the tip inward, is an indication of fight-or-flight reaction -- fear and/or aggression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when fluffed from the base of the tail outward, that's what I know as &quot;play tail&quot;. You'll see it when cats are mock-wrestling with each other, or with trusted humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T16:41:50.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-08-31T17:06:32.950" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male turtle has a very long beak. It is very difficult for him to pick up his food to eat. I don't want to put him through the stress of going to a Vet's office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I use to shave his beak down safely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-08-31T17:06:32.950" Title="I have a box turtle that has a very long beak, how can I shave it down without having to take him to the Vets office?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2015-08-31T22:46:37.637" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has happens a lot with long hair cats, but if you keep their litter bin clean it will happen less. Cats hate the small of their pee and poo, this is why they try to bury it. They don't like dirty litter boxes and will poo outside of it if it gets too dirty. If it gets dirty they will try to poo away from the poo in the bin but sometimes it puts them in an awkward position and causes them to get poo on their hair. Make sure the litter bin is big enough that they have room to poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had cats my whole life. I have a long hair Himalayan with a squishy face. A metal Comb is you best friend for these things. You want a comb like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0auN4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A metal comb&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will pull most harder things out of their hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the poo is softer and messy then you need to cut the hair. Sometimes the poo can get tangled up in their hair and you have to cut it out. Hopefully it wont get this bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can avoid cutting it then you need to get gloves and wash with warm water. Warm water will break it up very quickly and disolve it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5702" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T20:53:19.060" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T20:53:19.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10193" CreationDate="2015-09-01T03:14:00.530" Score="3" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love my plants and I don't want to get rid of them. I've had 10 house plants in my home and now I'm down to 6. My female cat is ruining my plants! What can I do to stop her from ripping/chewing up the foilage? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T13:20:57.563" Title="What can I do to stop my female cat from ripping my plant's foilage?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10189" CreationDate="2015-09-01T03:18:58.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the plant out of reach. Hanging pot may work, if there isn't furniture nearby that can be used as a launch point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or put it on a surface she knows and mostly accepts she's not allowed on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting her a plant she &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; allowed to munch on -- a pot of oat grass or something similar -- may or may not help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T03:18:58.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20136" CreationDate="2015-08-31T22:04:18.690" Score="7" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;All my life I've had one favorite animal: the anaconda. I used to read up quite a lot of documentation on them, but as time went on, I forgot most of it and haven't really found the time lately to read up on them again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's always been a dream for me to have an anaconda as a pet, but due to its size, I assume there are quite a few difficulties to keep one without being involved with snakes constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what my question boils down to is: what variant (not sure I'm using the right word here) - if any - would be the least troublesome to transport and house in Europe (I'm adding the &quot;in Europe&quot; because I don't know if there are any anacondas being bred outside of South-America.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: Bonus points to whoever tells me some less well-known facts about anacondas ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I live in Belgium, Bruges to be exact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5715" OwnerDisplayName="Yorrick" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:36:59.023" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:36:59.023" Title="What anaconda species/variants/whatever (if any) would be plausible to keep as pets in Belgium?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10189" CreationDate="2015-09-01T13:20:57.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're cat is ripping into you plants to get some kind of personal satisfaction. I'll assume she doesn't have access to the outdoors. My cat goes in and out as he pleases and claws up the outside trees and occasionally chews grass, but I have plants all over and he's never shown and interest in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd do a couple of things. I'd not only try to deter her from the ones she doesn't need to mess with, but offer her alternatives. I would think the deterrent would be fairly simple. Just sprinkle some pepper on top of the potting soil or find something safe that she doesn't like the taste of. I haven't had to stop a cat from chewing on something, but I know they make all kinds of sprays. You could probably find something homemade, you just have to make sure that none of it will harm the cat or the plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative to deter her is a motion sensor mounted on a can of compressed air. You'll find one model here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SSCAT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the cat walks in front of it, trips the motion sensor, and it sends out a burst of air. People use them to keep the cats off of counter tops and the like. The trick with these is to position them so that they don't go off unless someone gets really close to the plant. Also, don't startle and hurt yourself when you go to water them. I haven't looked into them too hard, but I'm sure they have ones where you can use the basic office supply cans to refuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is a good alternative. Your cat obviously has needs that need to be fulfilled. You need to make sure they're taken care of. Find toys that simulate what she's doing to the plants. Maybe even get tray or tub of some sort and grow her an indoor patch of grass. Barring that, a pot that's just hers that grows catnip or cat grass would be great. She can tear it up to her hearts desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the ability in your living situation, you could take her on leashed walks or get her an outdoor enclosure. They range from the simple: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002ZAG52&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Simple Enclosure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the complex:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iKevNkhXo8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Complex Enclosure (let me know if link doesn't work, couldn't test at work)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like the first as there isn't room to get away from ants and it's up to you to move it into the shade if the sun moves. Either way, it gets her outside and helps satisfy her urges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T13:20:57.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10139" CreationDate="2015-09-01T18:04:32.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The attack using the front paws to catch something this way can be seen among younger cats when they play very frequently (watch cat videos on YT). It is a technique needed for hunting. You can see this when big cats as lions hunt and nearly always when kittens play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your legs resemble the back of a fellow cat. This is an ideal test prey. Be happy that your cat is playing this gently. Not all cats are so considerate. This means your cat knows about your fur beeing rather thin and delicate and thus keeps her claws withdrawn. With fellow cats this is not necessary the case.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats used to play this way, too, when they were younger. They also liked it, when I turned the table on them and chased them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastActivityDate="2015-09-01T18:04:32.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-02T13:18:55.647" Score="4" ViewCount="5834" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sOz7T.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sOz7T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;We bought two Platy females in July. Also, we think one must be male as he has the exact same fins our lighter colour fish who became pregnant. She gave birth to some one night but the dark spot and square stomach still remains. It's 2 weeks later now and still no change. It's my first fish and I am confused and can't find the answer anywhere to what's happening to her.  Should we buy another female so the other fish will leave her in peace for a while?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5707" LastEditorUserId="5707" LastEditDate="2015-09-02T15:24:26.987" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T11:55:05.410" Title="Platy fish pregnant" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10196" CreationDate="2015-09-02T14:12:54.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture showing the difference in fin shape between a male and female Platy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/obDRW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/obDRW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, when a female is about to give birth, her stomach becomes slightly square as the babies shift position, in preparation for birthing. The female begins to have the babies within 24hrs once you see this, and it's usually a shorter time than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think that she's still pregnant. I just think that Platys are a little boxy anyway, like mollies. It's a subtle difference and with this being your first fish, it may just still look like she's pregnant. The dark spot you are seeing is probably just her intestines seen through thin skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you necessarily need more fish, but can get them if you like. It's more important that you have plenty of plants where fish that want to hide, can hide. We might be able to provide a more accurate answer if you're able to get pictures of the fish. Preferably from the side, dead on. Also, straight and level from the back of the fish, so we can see the shape and condition of the stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: That fish definitely looks pregnant. I still haven't ever had a fish give birth and then stop for days. However, I did a quick bit of research and found a page here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ornamental-fishes.com/2010/05/ornamental-fish-platy-birth-babies-fry.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ornamental-fishes.com/2010/05/ornamental-fish-platy-birth-babies-fry.html&lt;/a&gt;. It says that if a platy becomes stressed, then they can delay the birth. They said there is a chance that the delayed birthing can kill the babies. The mother will either start birthing live babies again, birth the dead ones, or in some cases can die. Either way, there is nothing you can do and it was in no way your fault. More than likely your fish will pull through. If not, don't blame yourself. Just get another fish and you'll know what to look for next time. Most people in any hobby, fish keeping included, learn by observation and making plenty of mistakes. Good luck and I hope your fish pulls through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2015-09-02T19:12:07.997" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T19:12:07.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2015-09-02T19:20:08.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are pros and cons to feeding at any time of the day. The only thing I agree with completely is that dogs don't need to be free fed. Just like people, they can graze when bored and easily overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I feed twice a day, but if someone made me choose, I'd choose morning time. I say this based on the reasoning behind feeding people and the thought that people and dogs are pretty similar. Dogs and people are both designed to eat a large meal and then have our system empty out before the next meal. This is opposed to say, a horse, whose digestive tract is designed to have something flowing through it almost constantly. This leads to the opposite problem as people often feed there horses once to twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I know that eating a large meal right before bed can cause people to gain weight. Also, you need food energy available for building muscle and for other similar reasons. Therefore, to me, it makes more sense to feed in the morning. You have that food energy just sitting there waiting to be used. His stomach should still have a little food in it when he goes to bed, but most likely he'll need to potty well before bed and will be less likely to go during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way you go, though. I don't think you're going to go wrong. If you look at how pack animals hunt in the wild, they go out hunting in the morning and the evening when it's cool. They rest during the middle of the day and sleep at night. They also may not catch a meal for a couple of days. So either way you choose, you're still following natural patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-02T19:20:08.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10209" CreationDate="2015-09-03T03:23:44.270" Score="4" ViewCount="72528" Body="&lt;p&gt;When she's walking around I can see her belly hanging low. She has never gotten pregnant before. Does she just need to lose weight? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is also spayed and is a one-and-a-half year old house cat, if that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-09-04T10:32:49.950" LastActivityDate="2017-09-03T15:26:33.470" Title="Why does my female cat stomach area hang so low?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9648" CreationDate="2015-09-03T05:18:16.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with keeping the dog on a leash. Since you already know what's coming when you reach near your neighbor's door, you should steer your dog away from where he likes to pee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T05:18:16.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2015-09-03T11:43:21.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas are generally aggressive.  Males are generally more aggressive than females.  It is better to keep male bettas separately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Male Bettas can be acclimatized to a community tank.  Buy the male betta when it is young small as compared to the other fish in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ensures that it does not become aggressive.  As the fish grows, it get used to the presence of other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not have aggressive fish such as tiger barbs and aquarium sharks.  Avoid fish with big fins such as angelfish and gourami.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas get distress and angry when they see large fins, which they associate with other male Bettas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas will attack male guppies mistaking them for other male Bettas.  They will also attack angelfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are buying a Betta for a community tank, buy a young one which is small in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some fish will be more fiercer than the others.  This is due to individual temperament.  Such fish should be isolated as soon as possible before they attack other fish or get injured themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ericdockett.hubpages.com/hub/Tankmates-for-Bettas-and-Betta-Fish-in-a-Community-Tank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ericdockett.hubpages.com/hub/Tankmates-for-Bettas-and-Betta-Fish-in-a-Community-Tank&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsnhobbies.com/2015/09/can-betta-live-in-community-aquarium.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petsnhobbies.com/2015/09/can-betta-live-in-community-aquarium.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5711" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T11:43:21.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-03T12:38:20.913" Score="2" ViewCount="2140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an almost 3 years old part choc lab/german shorthair.  Her hair had been a beautiful dark choc brown until the past year where I've noticed there are parts on her back changing to a very light, almost tan color.  She is outside a lot so I'm not sure if the sun is doing this.  The rest of her fur is still choc brown.  She's very healthy, active and eats well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5713" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-09-03T16:40:31.193" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T13:11:23.827" Title="Can sunlight cause my dog's fur to lighten" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9720" CreationDate="2015-09-03T14:58:20.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to increase the water temperature, you can try filling a bottle with hot water and then gently immersing it into the aquarium.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can hold the bottle and control the depth of immersion.  This will cause the heat to gently spread through the aquarium.  Keep monitoring the temperature of the aquarium with a thermometer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative is to have an electric bulb (filament type) near the aquarium.  You can control the temperature of the aquarium by adjusting between the electric bulb and the tank. Keep monitoring the temperature of the aquarium with a thermometer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better alternative is to purchase a heater which enables the maintenance of precise temperature with the help of a thermostat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsnhobbies.com/2015/04/aquarium-heater.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petsnhobbies.com/2015/04/aquarium-heater.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5711" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T14:58:20.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10180" CreationDate="2015-09-03T15:36:54.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet said that what fell off of his stomach was actually not his nipples.  It turned out to be a build up from the nipple area, which looked incredibly similar to his nipple.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His nipples appeared to have fallen off because they have become inverted.  This is apparently something that can happen in male cats.  When this happens, the space where the nipple used to be, becomes very vulnerable to infections.  The vet, honestly, compared this to getting a pimple in a human.  She said it is nothing to be alarmed about but did give me cleansing pads to rub down his stomach with on a daily basis.  She said this will avoid the build up from happening again. She also gave him a shot that contained two weeks of antibiotics (also available in pill form for cheaper) to clean up the slight infection that is there currently.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason this happened was because of his obesity.  He was not able to groom this area as well as he should have been, which caused a slight build up to form over the nipple area.  Needless to say, this big guy, is also going on a diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T15:36:54.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10200" CreationDate="2015-09-03T15:49:21.353" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The loose, hanging skin on a cat's belly is simply a natural part of a cat's anatomy, sometimes called the apron, or as in the following article, the primordial pouch.  This is more prominent on some cats than others, and can become more obvious in cats as they age or gain or lose weight.  Getting spayed or neutered does not cause your cat to gain an apron, but it may make it more obvious due to related changes in weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pawesomecats.com/2013/11/19/why-does-my-cat-have-a-flabby-tummy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pawesomecats.com/2013/11/19/why-does-my-cat-have-a-flabby-tummy/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T15:49:21.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2015-09-03T16:03:05.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's pretty commonly accepted that color changes can happen with age.&#xA;Perhaps not huge color changes, but as an example: One of my dogs came from a litter which were born virtually all white. As the years pass(they are now 4), all of the white dogs have started to get more pronounced black ticking, which was only slightly visible as babies. My &lt;em&gt;vet&lt;/em&gt; says this &lt;em&gt;isn't uncommon&lt;/em&gt; at all, and that it's even seen in brindle's sometimes. One of my dogs is a black brindle and as time passes her coat has appeared to lighten a bit, and now most people would place her in the red brindle category!&#xA;I've talked to a few of my friends who have dogs and several of them have seen color changes in their dogs over time. I guess it is more common than I knew!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-09-03T16:03:05.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6730" CreationDate="2015-09-03T17:28:54.227" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long the fish can stay without filtration would depend on  the size of the tank and the bioload of the fish.  The bioload of the tank depends on the number of fish and the size of the fish.  For instance, a goldfish will create more bioload than a guppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a large tank and a small bioload.  The tank can remain without filtration for many weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for heating, this depends on the ambient temperature of the room which depends on the season and the location.  It is better to monitor the temperature with the help of a thermometer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish, being cold-blooded animals, are very sensitive to temperature.  Any temperature beyond the acceptable range will affect the fish very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsnhobbies.com/2015/04/what-is-bioload-of-aquarium.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petsnhobbies.com/2015/04/what-is-bioload-of-aquarium.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5711" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2020-12-23T10:09:29.417" LastActivityDate="2020-12-23T10:09:29.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10158" CreationDate="2015-09-03T18:44:42.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your Red Ear Slider might be carrying eggs. One of the signs is going from calm to hyper, nonstop like you described. IF you can take her outside and let her roam around she might nest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try feeling for eggs. If you can feel eggs then you know for sure whats going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female turtles can have the need to lay eggs without ever seen a male turtle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Click &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/qY2pRyQgn9o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;this text appears when you mouse over&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to see a video of how to feel for eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T20:15:56.687" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T20:15:56.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-04T13:41:29.007" Score="5" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read several questions here regarding &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/cats&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;cats&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/toilet-training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;toilet-training&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;toilet-training&lt;/a&gt; as well as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/litter-box-problems&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; and others.  I have found that most agree that a cat who is making mistakes in this area should have the box cleaned as frequently and thoroughly as possible, lest the cat think, &quot;I don't want to poop or pee over there, that stinks!&quot;  But there are a few, especially when it regards young kittens who are still learning, who suggest it can help to leave a small amount behind, so as to suggest, &quot;Hmm.  There is some poop and pee here.  That must be what this box is for.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before marking this question as &quot;inviting opinion or debate&quot; please understand that I am hoping to get bona-fide-expert answers, or at least from someone who can point me to hard scientific evidence to support either point of view.  Typical internet searches generally only lead me to magazine-like articles without citations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[  While not needed to answer this question, my personal context is a 3-month old kitten, just one week home from a shelter, who so far is mostly going &lt;em&gt;next to&lt;/em&gt; the box, not &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt; it.  I am using the suggestions I have read, and I think things are improving slowly.  I always quickly clean-up whatever I find, and do my best Oscar winning performances to act disgusted at the horrible messes outside the box, and bubbly with glee at the nice presents inside the box, always directing the acting at the matter, never the kitten.  ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2015-09-04T13:41:29.007" Title="Immaculately clean litter box versus leaving a tiny amount: any rigid science?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7109" CreationDate="2015-09-04T15:07:26.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can give rats a little milk as a treat, but I can see that getting a little messy being delivered in a saucer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking to treat your rat, but you don't have any yoghurt then there are other things rats like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peas.   Rats love eating peas.  Mine will sit there quite happily peeling the skin off and eating the insides.   Frozen peas make a great treat on a hot day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fruit makes for a tasty snack too.  Banana slices either dried or fresh will get gobbled up in a flash.   I like to feed mine the occasional honey coated banana chip as a treat or a reward for good behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rats adore peanuts.  You can buy bags of unshelled nuts and hand them out as treats.  The rats will love cracking open the thin shells and digging the tasty peanuts out.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting reference : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratforum.com/showthread.php?39486-Good-and-Bad-Food-for-Rats-amp-Ratty-Recipes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rat Forums&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5594" LastActivityDate="2015-09-04T15:07:26.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9328" CreationDate="2015-09-06T09:00:09.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is perfectly safe for the turtles, there is no need to rush it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked the same question to my vet a while back, and his answer was that in such cases I should just &quot;look out to mother nature&quot;. Trachemys Scripta can live and thrive in the wild in most of Europe (Definitely in Spain, where it is displacing local turtle species). During the snow melting season, the temperature of most rivers is just above the freezing point, but the turtles survive in that waters for weeks. If they can survive that, they can definitely survive a broken heater for a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I know this is a very old question, but I think it is important to share a different point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2015-09-06T09:00:09.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-06T16:29:35.183" Score="2" ViewCount="3585" Body="&lt;p&gt;We want to adopt two male pups that come from different homes and different litters  would this work? One is spayed not sure about the other one. Please advise! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5720" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-09-10T19:59:31.020" LastActivityDate="2018-12-25T17:33:24.460" Title="2 male pups from different litters" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10217" CreationDate="2015-09-06T16:46:08.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure dogs get a along all the time. They go to the park and play with dogs from other homes.  If one or both are aggressive that is a problem that is not different home or different litter thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a bounty on how to know if two dogs will get along. &#xA;The best way to determine if two dogs will get along is to introduce them. &#xA;If they have issues they will typically let you know right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggressive dogs tends to not get along but with the right trainer they do. &#xA;If the human is the alpha then things work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An aggressive/dominant dog with a submissive can work.  Will the submissive enjoy the relationship?   Since the dog can't talk I don't really know.  From what I can tell a submissive would rather just have an attentive owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not experienced with dogs then one dog may be better. You need to establish yourself as the alpha and train the dog. With two or more dogs they will focus on each other.  For training just isolate the dogs and train one at a time.  A typical training session is 20 minutes so not a big time commitment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said if you can establish as the alpha and train two or more dogs then as a dog owner it becomes easier.  The dogs can entertain each other and you don't have to give the dogs as much time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't really go by breed or even litter as it varies.  There is the story of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Au2cQGaQBc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dog and elephant&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-09-17T12:49:43.953" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T12:49:43.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2015-09-07T02:24:43.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 English mastiffs at 11 months and I feed them Blue Buffalo large breed puppy, and they're very huge,  My monthly bill with Blue Buffalo treats and high protein large breed food is around $325.00.  Heart worm protection is an additional $100.00 a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5723" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T16:53:44.330" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T16:53:44.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10237" CreationDate="2015-09-07T10:03:58.143" Score="10" ViewCount="2335" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my cat about 2 years ago, rescued from the PETA equivalent (SPA in France). He was around 3 at that time, based on his teeth length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was quickly adapted to the apartment and the litterbox. He was very clean from the very beginning, and very nice to everyone, not shy, he seems very happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once after a 1 week holiday, we left him at home with a catsitter feeding him and emptying the litter box every other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back from said holiday, he started to poop once in a while 50cm away from the litter box. He always pees inside the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to clean it extra, added a second one, and after a few weeks/months he stopped. All was good for a year or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago he started again. I'm not sure if it's related to the holidays. I'm not even sure it was really linked to the holidays the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's castrated, healthy, not overweight or anything. He's very happy, hugs us all the time, follows us where we are, purrs on our legs when we get back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a daughter early April. Maybe that's the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This weekend I heard him scratch the litterbox cover (from inside), so I knew he had some business to do. I overlooked him at a distance (5-10 meters). When I heard him scratch the ground I knew he just pooped outside. So I closed the doors, caught him, held him while putting the poop inside the litterbox, pet him and put him inside the litterbox explaining that's where he has to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet the next day he pooped outside again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I really don't understand what's wrong. We clean the box every 10 days or so, throwing away the litter (Catsan litter) and cleaning the box with bleach. We remove the poop every day so that the box only contains litter (and urine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to have him poop inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2015/09/10: update&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, so when we cleaned the litterboxes yesterday, we rotated them and swapped them. That's about the most we can do for now (we'll move to a big house in a year or so). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning everything was inside! We can just hope for the best now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks all for your input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a pic of him looking a what he did. BTW his name if Fripouille, which could be translated in English as Rascal, or Scallywag. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tCWPV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tCWPV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;looking at what he&amp;#39;s done&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2015/09/11: update&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well. Once again outside. The litterbox was empty (only clean litter) and rather clean (cleaned 2 days ago). I heard him scratch the floor at 4am, trying to bury the poop under the parquet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2015/09/13: update&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once inside (13th), once outside (12th). Can't tell why he did either. Couldn't identify the trigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2015/09/17: update&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always inside since last update. I've leveled the litter surface after removing the poop, maybe he likes that. Either that or the break in its routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2016/12/28: update&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved to a house with a garden and open streets (with no traffic). The cat freely goes outside, sometimes spends a whole day or night (or 48h) on his own outside. Goes back the next day. Everything is perfect, didn't change the litter box for 6 months!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T09:07:42.430" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:07:42.430" Title="Cat pooping outside of litterbox, but not always" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-07T13:36:37.533" Score="2" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cockatiel likes to make this short, kind sound: 'Toot'. It sounds a bit like a very short train flute.&#xA;She seems to make this sound whenever I appear from another room or come around a corner. Recently she also started saying this to my two cats whenever they appear (which btw go very well along).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I suspect it means 'Hi' or something close, but I find no information on this on the web. &lt;strong&gt;Is it something my cockatiel has &quot;invented&quot;, or is it a common sound? If it's common, what does it usually mean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I also wonder &lt;strong&gt;if this sound is part of what is called 'chirping'?&lt;/strong&gt; As English is not my mother language I'm not sure of what sounds are considered chirping.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:16:37.280" Title="What does my cockatiel's 'toot' sound mean?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10232" CreationDate="2015-09-07T18:40:56.743" Score="1" ViewCount="3374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking for a new dog, but I want one that looks like a wolf i.e. fur pattern, size. Not necessarily half wolf, and more options other than the Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-09-07T23:41:54.830" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T10:20:50.950" Title="How can I find a dog that looks like a wolf?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-15T18:18:39.420" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10227" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-07T22:32:59.883" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have several cats that never go outside. Only time I take them outdoors is for vet visits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it still necessary for flea and tick treatment? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T23:27:48.867" Title="My pets are always indoors, do they still need treatment for fleas and ticks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-09-08T02:52:39.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10227" CreationDate="2015-09-07T23:27:48.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a judgement call. They may be indoor-only critters, but you aren't, and your guests aren't, and it's not impossible for fleas or ticks to be carried indoors on you or your clothing... just as a mosquito carrying a disease might get through an open door or your screens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, some of the treatments may put some minor stress on the cats' systems. So it's a matter of trading off a known minor risk against a low probability but possibly more serious risk. It's also a matter of how willing you are to deal with the problem should it arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendation: Ask your vet. They should know what the local risks are and be able to trade them off against benefits. My vet, in my part of the world, recommends a yearly heartworm treatment but doesn't think my indoor cats need flea/tick collars or drops. Your vet may have other recommendations based on their understanding of local conditions and the latest studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My cats have been supervising as I type this message, and seem to approve.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-07T23:27:48.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2074" CreationDate="2015-09-08T06:55:25.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1-year-old kitten is obsessed with earplugs. She plays fetch with them, and cries and cries if she can't have one. She freaks out when I throw them for her and brings them back to mewling until I throw it again. But I worry about intestinal blockage too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking that it was the foam material that she liked, I took the earplugs away and replaced them with &lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/FOAM-Soccer-Balls-Cat-Toys/dp/B00797JCJW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1441695224&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=foam%20soccer%20ball%20cat%20toy&amp;amp;pebp=1441695226777&amp;amp;perid=1ZHPHX1P8F3E8XD49HNK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these cat toys&lt;/a&gt;.  She doesn't like the toys as much as the earplugs, but they are the closest replacement I have found. She will play fetch with them and bring them to me out of nowhere if she is ready to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel so guilty for taking her greatest joy away, but replacing them with toys did help some. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5728" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T16:56:35.393" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T16:56:35.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10246" CreationDate="2015-09-08T15:29:21.093" Score="3" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whiskers definitely make the shape of a cat's face. I have always wanted to know why cats have whiskers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-17T19:09:35.667" LastActivityDate="2021-05-17T19:09:35.667" Title="Why do cats have whiskers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10226" CreationDate="2015-09-08T15:50:12.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note that most of these breeds, and the breeds you mentioned, require a lot of owner skill. Most are generally not good dogs for beginner dog-owners, and most are poor choices for a sedentary owners who just want a dog that will sleep on the couch all day. As always, a dog's personality and needs matching are advised to be weighted far more heavily than the dog's appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wolf-Dog Breeds&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A wolf-dog is going to be one of the obvious ways to get a wolf-looking dog. Please be extremely cautious as they are disastrous for beginners and many experienced dog owners have trouble with them. Sanctuaries for wolf-dogs are overflowing with abandonded pets for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ei8go.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ei8go.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Samoyed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gHkbA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gHkbA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tamaskan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tHr4F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tHr4F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Canadian Eskimo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VR5Ql.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VR5Ql.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nothern Intuit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0FYRg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0FYRg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Utonagan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BtcPQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BtcPQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;German Shepard&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sh91p.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sh91p.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finnish Lapphund&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qEhPt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qEhPt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your Local Shelter : Mixbreeds, Mutts, &amp;amp; More!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your local animal shelter has many animals and some of them may be exactly what you're looking for. Why shell out the big bucks for a designer breed when something better may be waiting for you right where you live? Most shelters have pictures of each animal online, so you can even look at them without leaving your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bci7W.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bci7W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Designer Mix Breeds&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many other breeds of dogs, especially in the mixed area. Shown below is a husky-golden retriever mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PAZ0I.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PAZ0I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T10:20:50.950" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T10:20:50.950" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10226" CreationDate="2015-09-08T18:02:53.780" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, as you said, you've always got the Husky and Malamute to fall back on. However, both of these are high energy, cold weather dogs. It's really not fair to get one if you can't exercise them to a degree that most people aren't willing to, or if you live in a hot climate like I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've also got other dogs with a similar body style. There are several, but I think a german shepard that's all white or all black would be fairly close. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bxyf6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bxyf6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black German Shepard&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZEikV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZEikV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black Wolf&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just looking for a similar color or a foxy face, you can get something like a keeshound. My grandmother had one and she's pretty cute. However, it's a massive grooming commitment and she's strictly an indoor dog in the summer time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JkmXu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JkmXu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Adult Keeshond&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iCmnh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iCmnh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Keeshond Puppy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there are a lot of options. I think the GSD is your best bet if you're counting out the two you mentioned&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPDuPIfjWJM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Keeshond Puppy vs Dandelion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the topic, you can actually buy wolf/dog hybrids. These are dogs where a female dog, like a Husky, is bred by a wolf. It can really be any dog, but the dogs used as sled dogs, are outside most of the year, so these have the highest chance of this unintentional breeding. Different states have different regulations. Some states allow them, but only if you buy ones already in the state. Others allow them only by special permit or not at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with a lot of them, and the reason I wouldn't suggest you to get one of these at all is that a) they don't get the looks by percentage, so you could get a 90% wolf that looks like a mongrel dog; and b) you can get the worst of both breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some research into these several years back, because I wanted one and they were legal in my state if bought from an instate breeder. I found out that they can be great and loyal dogs. However, you can get genetically unlucky and get one with a bad mix of traits. The reason for this is because dogs have been domesticated and selectively bred to loose a lot of their wild traits and gain others. Wolves are wild and have wild instincts. A good example is that dogs have been bred to be more aggressive and bark and attack intruders. Most people want their dog to alert them to people coming up to or into the house. On the other hand, I read one owner posting about the loyalty of their wolf hybrid. They were talking about a 'for instance' situation and not something that actually occurred, but they said that while a dog will yap, bark, and possibly attack and intruder breaking into your home, the wolf-dog will sit quietly in the corner and watch them walk out with your tv and any other valuables. However, if they sense the person intends to harm you, you'll wake up to find bodies on the floor. So, I read several people talking about the bad mix you can possibly get where you get one with the aggression of a house dog and the silence and lack of warning of a wolf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not trying to turn anyone off wolf-dogs and you need to study up on your own. I just wanted everyone to be aware of what I read and decide for yourself if it's legitimate. I also read that wolf puppies act like dogs up until they're about 2-3yrs old. At that point, their natural adult instincts come in and they start fearing anything new. You can get this in your wolf-dog as well, and like before, it's not a good thing to have an animal become fearful and have aggressive attitudes toward strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was also indicated in these reading that you can't handle a wolf-dog like a normal dog. You have to form a very strong bond and they recommend keeping the puppy right beside you for the first 3months or so. This is hard for most people who work jobs. Also, they said you can't just negligently correct a dog with a pop on the butt like you might a regular dog. You have to be more respectful and work harder on the training. So while a wolf-dog might make an excellent pet, you really have to know your stuff. I know my uncle had one when he was younger and said it was one of the best pets he ever had, so you can get a great one, but you have to take the other things into consideration as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T18:02:53.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9240" CreationDate="2015-09-08T18:19:52.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most likely cause is stagnant and polluted water. Beta fish are billed as being able to live in these small setups because they are able to gulp fresh air. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However fish, like any other living being, produce wastes and in such a small environment they build up to toxic levels quickly. A lot of people think it's okay to keep them in the small bowls, mostly because pet stores have made it public opinion that it's the best setup for them. You'll see them in the itty bitty plastic cups and think that the 2.5cup container with the pretty rocks is an upgrade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you could do for this fish, for the least money, is to run to Walmart, amazon, or another pet store and buy a 5gal hex with a build in filter and light. I do know Walmart had a 2.5gal with a filter and light. It might work well, but I did a cursory search and a tank like this is just under $40. Barring it being too sick already, I'll guarantee that your new fish will be up and swimming in the return stream fairly quickly. It'll put on color and be much flashier. It'll start eating again as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The filter will filter out the wastes and it won't sit there coated in them anymore, the filter return will provide stimulation and make it swim more, which helps it put on muscle and encourages it to show it's fins. Keep in mind while doing this upgrade, that the tank needs to cycle. You can find lots of info on that online. Taking a little water from it's tank or a pet store tank will greatly reduce the wait time on this. You need to let healthy bacteria establish to help break down the fish waste. I'd immediately change half of the fish's current water and feed him a very small amount till he gets in the new tank. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T18:19:52.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10231" CreationDate="2015-09-08T18:37:17.083" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much all mammals have wiskers.  Many fish have whiskers.  They are feelers around the mouth / nose.  Feeding and navigation in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T18:57:09.437" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T18:57:09.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5547" CreationDate="2015-09-08T19:06:15.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you've got a few options here. One is like JoshDM suggested and get a 10gal glass fish tank. You can get a wire lid if there is anything she can stand on to get out. However, I wouldn't add much to it if it's just a temp cage till you find a better solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another temporary solution that may or may not work, depending on how determined your mouse is, is to buy hardware cloth or metal porch screening at a hardware store. The hardware cloth is metal screening and the gaps come in various sizes. The issues with either of these are that they don't look good and if you just cut a 4-inch strip and ran it around the bottom perimeter of the wire cage, then it would block her, but she might be able to climb above it and squeeze through higher up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An option that would look better and be more functional is if you were to get one of the plastic cages with all the tunnels and towers and stuff. Not only would she have a lot of things to play with, but it looks good too. Downsides with are that a lot of people think the air flow isn't good enough. Also, they do chew and scratch on them, so they do start to look worse over time. I never had an issue with my hamster in one and I even had it rigged so she could get in a wire cage and she spent as much time in one as the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A last option is building one yourself. This will be more expensive, but you could end up liking it much better. Below is one example of many different 'homemade hamster cages', which is what I put in google to find all the pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hegKQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hegKQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose that one because I know there is an instructional video I watched on youtube.com for how to make it. You can have a nice, clear acrylic front and you can have a completely open top. You can also screen any combination of the top and sides to allow breath ability. It's just what's in your imagination. You can make a super artistic cage that looks like professional furniture if you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any idea of when I'll get another hamster/mouse/gerbil, but when I do, I'm going to build my take on a cage I once saw. It was roughly 2'x4'x5'. It had several levels with tubing so the animal can go between each level. I want to make each level easily removable for easy cleaning. I'll also have slots with screen for ventilation and to make sure the ventilation is good, I'll wire up a small computer fan to push air to each level. I will have light on each level and a different set up. For instance, one level is a feeding level, one level has toys, each level has water, etc... I even want to the top level to have dirt and real grass, though I don't know how long I'll want to clip grass with scissors if they don't eat it down. I'll also have a sand pit for them to roll in. It's just some ideas of what you can do. For now, you could get a Rubbermaid container pretty cheap and drill a bunch of 1/4&quot; or slightly smaller holes up near the top. You could even leave the top off, but it needs to be fairly tall, as mice can jump well. You don't want the holes low as they will bore them out and escape through them. It'll be a good temporary home. You can get a clear-ish one, and since you can get a large one cheaply, there should be plenty of air volume to make ammonia a non-issue till you get a solid cage built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:06:15.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2015-09-08T19:15:18.667" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with keshlam that it would be a good idea to see a vet. We have an indoor/outdoor cat who always asks to go out and potty. All of a sudden he started trying to pee in the kitchen sink and the air vent. Needless to say, we couldn't have that. After a vet trip, he was diagnosed with crystals in his urinary tract and the pain was causing him to go in erratic places. So your problems could be solved with a vet trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring that, I'd break his routine. This isn't happening often, so there is probably a trigger. I'd try to prevent that trigger by changing things up. One thing I'd suggest, that I would have if I ever had a strictly indoor cat, would be one of the self cleaning litter boxes. It saves hassle and they feel like it's clean litter, so they go in the middle every time. You could also change the brand of litter. I once watched an episode of 'My Cat from Hell', where a cat was pooping all over the house. It was determined that the cat had been declawed before the current owner had it and they though it walked on rough litter when it's feet still hurt and this created a negative association. They put down shallow trays to eliminate the litter box feel and used a super fine litter. The cat started using it. They eventually started adding walls until they were using the fine litter in a regular cat box. They didn't have issues after that, but they had to change it's routine to change the cats thinking. Moving the box is another way to change that routine. You can put it somewhere else in the house. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:15:18.667" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10224" CreationDate="2015-09-08T19:16:37.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cockatiels will imitate sounds and calls as well as use the repertoire that they have naturally. From your description, it sounds like your cockatiel has picked up a sound from her environment and is using it as an announcement or greeting. She's trying to indicate something, so try responding with the same actions several times in a row until you find the action she's trying to get you to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my male cockatiels makes the sound of the timer on my microwave (at exactly the pitch of the number 3 on the keypad) when he wants me to 'sing' microwave to him (and then he expects to have his cheeks rubbed). It took me a while to figure this out, but he trained me eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T19:16:37.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10231" CreationDate="2015-09-08T20:07:46.570" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat whiskers are actually touch receptors.  They have a sensory organ at the end of their whiskers that is called a propriceptor.  The propriceptor actually sends signals to the cat's brain and nervous system related to the position of their body and limbs.  This helps them make decisions about their next movement and allow them to gauge if they would, or would not, be able to fit into a small space, without seeing it.  Without their whiskers they would not be able to visually measure distance, i.e. jumping on to something very narrow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also use their whiskers when they are chasing prey because the whiskers are sensitive enough to pick up the vibrations in the air.  They also allow the cat to see in the dark and avoid predators.  When a cat rubs their whiskers up against an object, they can detect the exact size, texture, and location of that specific object.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, a cat using their whiskers to receive information about their surroundings, directly into the cat's sensory nerves, which allows them to respond to changes in their surroundings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T20:07:46.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10241" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-08T21:45:30.007" Score="3" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time, bathroom doors inevitably get left open either by myself or guests, and when that happens, my cat likes to scratch the toilet paper roll until it has pulled all of the toilet paper off and ripped it to shreds, neatly covering the entire bathroom floor in fine white toilet paper flakes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do about this, short of leaving tacky little signs reminding bathroom users to close the door and not let the cat slip in? I'm interested in toilet training my cat in the future anyway, so any method that involves keeping the cat out of the bathroom is not really viable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="3752" LastEditDate="2015-09-08T22:03:21.910" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T15:49:19.227" Title="What can I do about my cat pulling down rolls of toilet paper from our bathrooms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10241" CreationDate="2015-09-08T22:39:37.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Google &quot;cat-proof toilet paper holder&quot;. You will find lots of options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang the toilet paper the other way. It won't be nearly as much fun to unroll, and the cat will probably ignore it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T22:39:37.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2015-09-08T22:48:04.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once you've visited the vet and ruled out any physical problems, I would normally suggest that you (temporarily) add a second litter box in the location where he's pooping. Gradually you can move it closer to the main litter box, and eventually reduce it to just one litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it sounds like you've already tried this, and the problem returned. So... some cats prefer to poop and pee in separate places, which is one reason why it's a good idea to have two litter boxes, even for a single cat. Can you have two litter boxes in the long term? If not, an extra-large litter box may work, if the cat can use one area to pee, and one to poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-09-08T22:48:04.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9505" CreationDate="2015-09-09T00:10:57.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets1st.com/articles/00025adoggieiqtest.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doggie intelligence test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doggie agility / &lt;a href=&quot;http://thebark.com/content/agility-training-exercises-your-dog-can-do-indoors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doggie indoor agility&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dognotebook.com/20-unusual-tricks-you-should-start-teaching-your-dog-today/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;teach the dog a new trick&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doggie daycare service in your area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/10-brain-games-to-play-with-your-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;find the treat game&lt;/a&gt; ; &lt;a href=&quot;http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/scent-games-educating-your-dogs-nose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;and other games&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take your dog for a walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take your dog to a dog-friendly restraunt and eat at the patio&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T00:10:57.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10217" CreationDate="2015-09-09T00:13:31.077" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Only if they are both spayed&lt;/strong&gt;. Having two male dogs, one fixed and the other not, is a bad idea and will create aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T00:13:31.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10231" CreationDate="2015-09-09T00:49:36.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whiskers on a cat serves &lt;strong&gt;several functions&lt;/strong&gt;, as noted below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The whiskers will detect even the slightest changes in air currents.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is tremendously important when moving around in the dark.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The air pressure changes as it hits any solid forms such as furniture, walls and so on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat whiskers inform the cat of all possible obstacles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is why the cat can move around in the dark without bumping into things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat whiskers are also used to navigate exactly where to go for the lethal bite when hunting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat will use the whiskers to determine exactly where to bite the mouse with perfect precision for the kill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat needs its whiskers to determine whether or not an opening or hole is large enough to get through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat most certainly does not want to risk getting stuck. That would definitely cause panic and your cat could end up getting seriously hurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lengths of the whiskers are just about the width of the cat’s body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using the whiskers as a kind of ruler will help your cat make an educated decision if it is safe to go through the opening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T00:49:36.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3238" CreationDate="2015-09-09T00:50:44.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a beagle italian greyhound mix we adopted when she was 6 months old. &#xA;She only barks when she hears an unfamiliar noise or when someone comes to the door.  But the first things we taught her was speak and shush so that may have helped.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I heard her bay like a beagle she ended up scaring herself - it was also the first time she met a cow. Also sometimes when I have her out off-leash she will bay at new critters but when I say shush she stops.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was also lucky and achieved full off leash control with her. I am very glad too, because she is fast enough to run down and grab a rabbit.... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her on a hunting trip with my friend and his 3 beagles that he trained to run rabbits and we didn't even get a chance to shoot any that trip. She would take off and catch them and bring them to us! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did eventually get her trained to not do that anymore for fear of her accidentally getting shot. She also likes to track and snatch flies out of the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-09-10T11:34:19.007" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T11:34:19.007" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10250" CreationDate="2015-09-09T02:22:23.193" Score="4" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know cat allergy is quite common in human beings, how about dogs ? Will dogs also suffer from cat allergy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T06:04:54.300" Title="Can dogs have cat allergy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10113" CreationDate="2015-09-09T05:54:41.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;has Roxy always been like that (i.e. chewing everything she likes)? Maybe she thinks it's okay to do so. But that's just me. I've been with many dogs in the past and I always made sure that they do drop the chewing and nipping habit at an early age. Here's a good read about how to deal with this problem: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howtoteachadog.com/how-to-stop-puppy-biting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.howtoteachadog.com/how-to-stop-puppy-biting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T05:54:41.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10248" CreationDate="2015-09-09T06:04:54.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allergies are overreactions of the immune system. They're not necessarily caused by viruses or bacteria. As such it really depends on the kind of allergy as well as the individual pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short: &lt;strong&gt;No, unlikely. Possible, but not necessary.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T06:04:54.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10251" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-09T15:28:11.803" Score="7" ViewCount="2577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've walked my dog through cow fields in my local area pretty routinely for the last couple of years - following proper rights of way. Normally we circle away from the cows, and definitely don't 'pester' them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of times recently, we've gathered a bit of an entourage - several of the cows have followed us across the field. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on a couple of occasions, some of the cows have been frolicsome. They've sort of bounced across towards us - not generally &lt;em&gt;directly at us&lt;/em&gt; - and have been tossing their heads a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not normally bothered by cows, but they're still fairly hefty and getting 'bounced into' I suspect might be almost as painful as being directly attacked. So this was a little intimidating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really not sure if it was playfulness and curiosity or aggression. Nothing really came of it, but we did walk fairly briskly along the edge of the field and out the other side. (Normally - going around the edge to avoid the cows entirely, but that's not always possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is anyone able to enlighten me as to when I &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be worrying about cows? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Several breeds of cow in the local area - some I understand slightly unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UjpEl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UjpEl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cows&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer questions in comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mixed cattle, but I didn't spot a bull - just steers and cows.  (Some fields do include a bull with their herd). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The above I'm pretty sure are beef cattle - they're actually these guys: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.southwestbusiness.co.uk/news/08092014070914-buy-country-s-rarest-beef-direct-from-gloucestershire-farm-business/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Willow Hill Farm&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm aware cattle can get aggressive with dogs - this is why we usually skirt the edge of the field (when we have to cross it at all). In both these cases, they came to investigate. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was following legal rights of way, and not trespassing. (Well, aside from perhaps in the very minor sense of 'going around the edge of the field' rather than following the ROW through the middle of the herd).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-10-08T10:07:43.680" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T09:38:29.013" Title="How can I tell if a cow is being aggressive?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10241" CreationDate="2015-09-09T18:15:19.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put a scrunchy on the roll and when you aren't using the roll, slip it on over the top. This isn't permanent, it's just so you're cats don't get the satisfaction that they crave. Provide them with a toy that gives similar stimulus and use the scrunchies for a few month. Then take them off and see what happens. I'd try this simple solution that costs pennies for the whole house before I try anything more expensive or time consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, unless you have a weirdly designed TP holder, I don't see how reversing the roll will help. Most of the rolls I've ever seen in a private residence are simply suspended out from the wall and would unroll equally well, whichever way they spin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T18:15:19.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6948" CreationDate="2015-09-09T19:04:53.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find one and it might be something you could start if you believe in the cause. However, I don't see it as being a feasible option, in the way you probably mean it. There are currently so many animals without homes that they can't keep them in the shelters they currently have. They have to destroy many, many animals that could have a good home life, otherwise. They simply don't have the space or resources to care for more than they are already caring for. So it's unlikely that most people will help a pet that already has a home. They might not be getting the best home, but they have it better than the ones who are put down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue you have is dishonest benefactees. Just like now, you would have so many people abusing programs designed to help people, like food stamps and medicade. I was once working at a temp job and overheard the supervisor telling someone that her food stamps were coming in and she'd be ready to sell them. That program was meant to help people who couldn't feed their families and there are people who can obviously afford food, because they're selling their food stamps to buy extra unapproved items. That's money that could have gone to someone who really needed it. You'll have the same thing. You'll have people that can afford to take good care of their pets, but will refuse to, because they have a work around they can exploit in the charity. The current system is better, because the dogs that are helped are in the sole custody of the care providers and can then be rehomed to someone who will foot the bill for future care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone were to create a system to help pets before they're rehomed, that would be great, but you'd need to really police it and think about how people could screw over the system. For instance, it wouldn't be hard at all to design a website where you can add all kinds of information. You have lots of people who are moving into areas that don't allow pets. You could have a place where citizens can submit the names of dwellings that would allow them to keep their pets. If people have medical bills for their pet and they can't afford to pay for them, so are looking at putting their pet down, you can potentially find an institution willing to help them until they can pay it back, though most vets will work with you and get you on a payment plan. Providing links to volunteer trainers that have some kind of basic certification and are willing to help people with their behavior problems, which cause many dogs to be rehomed. Several of these ideas can only benefit the pet without the owner being able to scam the charity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I think is very important that such an organization could do is fund groups going into schools to talk to children about proper pet care. Giving children an idea is a powerful thing. I see some groups who realize it and some who don't. Marketers certainly have a grasp on how giving a child and idea can have a huge impact. I can give you examples. Happy Meal toys are an excellent example. This included toys, collectable glasses, etc... The fast food chains can put one commercial on tv and show one of the toys with an exciting commercial and the kids really want it. Even if the adult knows it's a piece of junk and an overpriced, unhealthy meal, they will often get it because they want their child to be happy. Once there, they see there are often a whole set to collect and you can't request one, you just have to keep buying them till you get them all. So where a parent might only buy a single happy meal every few weeks to months, now they get into a loop of buying many in a small period of time, massively driving up sales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example from my own childhood. In kindergarten I was taught to put a line over the capital 'J' in my name. Then in first grade they said some educators had changed their minds and we shouldn't do it anymore. Well, the first way I'd learned to do it was with a line over the top and it was such a strong impulse that I was unwilling to change it. The next year they came back and said they were back to putting lines over the J's. I'd been doing it all along. I was also taught in school that Pluto was a planet. I still consider it to be one and I heard recently that they might be adding it back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point to those stories is that kids get their first impression on many subjects in school and they stick with them. There are plenty of things my parents do one way, but because I was taught in school that they were done another way, I do them that way. If it's something major I might not make a big deal about it with them, but I just do things the way I think they should be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That same concept will work with kids now. If people go into schools they can give kids the first impressions they should have. You can help nip fear of animals in the bud, you can explain why spaying and neutering are important, you can tell them that buying a puppy from a breeder is perfectly fine, but they need to find a responsible breeder, also that their are many great dogs in shelters that need good homes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know at least two adults right now who have un-neutered male dogs. One of them lets his wander. I can ask them both why they don't fix them and they'll both say that it's because they don't want to take away their manhood or make them feel like less of a man. The truth is that they're projecting and that as opposed to making them feel less, you're reducing frustration, testosterone, behavioral issues, and potential medical issues. If you stick it in their heads as kids, they'll lean that way in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those people reading my remark about buying bred puppies and shaking their heads, that's okay. I still think buying a puppy is just fine. I heard the same arguments when the horse market fell through. They'd try to castrate you if you mentioned buying instead of rescuing. While I really support rescue animals and have had many over the years, I've also had good bred dogs, bought from responsible breeders. Dog breeds have been bred for many, many, many years. They were bred for specific purposes and there is nothing wrong with supporting and celebrating those breeds any more than there is in rescuing a shelter animal. The charity could also offer information on good breeder to contact in your area as well. That would be an excellent resource. Also, what to look for in a good breeder. There is lots of information out there, but having it consolidated in one place really makes a difference. This site is a good example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been saying kids all along, but adults will benefit from all the educational resources as well. The more good information that is out there the better. So I know I've gotten kind of long winded with this reply, but I feel like it's all on topic with your question. While I couldn't find any specific charities in my searches that do what you are asking about, I do think that you could start or encourage an organization to develop that could provide a large number of resources to help owners and give them the tools and resources that if they were lacking, could cause an owner to loose their beloved pet. Crowd sourcing is an excellent device and if you can find a forum or a place suggested by this site, where you can find like minded people who think this is a good idea. Once you get a group of people together on something like this, it can really take off. Maybe you find someone that either has some extra storage room on a server or they know a business that would be willing donate money to pay the minor fee to get the site storage space and the domain name(s). Maybe there is a web developer who loves his cat and would be willing to donate his time to develop the site and do the coding. Maybe he or she will help maintain it or other volunteers will, though a good developer will make a  back end that is easy for users to maintain the site. The point is it can easily snowball and before you know it you have an organization and all kinds of people looking to help out. Good luck and I hope I answered your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T19:04:53.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10256" CreationDate="2015-09-09T19:07:04.877" Score="5" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of plants in my bedroom and I don't want my cat to damage the foliage. What can I do to let my cat know that my bedroom is off limits? Rather than just closing my bedroom door all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T20:21:02.670" Title="Any suggestions on keeping my cat out of my bedroom, rather than closing my bedroom door?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10255" CreationDate="2015-09-09T20:21:02.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I did with my cat was that at first anytime the cat would enter my room I would just make the environment annoying to her, like some music or just dont let her nap in the room... I guess that knowing she would be annoyed if she entered my room she stopped trying to get into it, now I can keep my door open with no one inside of it and the cat still won't enter it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-09-09T20:21:02.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10270" CreationDate="2015-09-10T04:14:10.287" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 8 months old Mame Shiba.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He shows very positive behaviour (greeting in the mornings or when getting home, showing his belly for rubs, fetching, etc) but there is one game he seems to love that I want to get confirmation on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally (about once a day), he will come up to me or my partner and either tap or mouth (without teeth) our leg or arm. He will continue to do so until we bow down to him at which point he will dart away at full speed, run one round through the apartment an come back to the same person waiting with the front legs down, the back legs standing and the tail wiggling slightly. &#xA;From a human perspective, it seems like he wants to play some sort of catch and after 5 minutes or so, he always comes back for a belly rub.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this indeed him playing &quot;catch&quot; of sorts, or are we somehow triggering a stress response in him leading to this behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5740" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T05:32:58.147" Title="Is this indeed playful behaviour for a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10251" CreationDate="2015-09-10T12:31:51.930" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been several years since I interacted closely with cattle, so hopefully someone else will come by and give a better answer, but here is some basic info.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any domestic animal how they are handled by their people as well as genetic predisposition and individual personality can all impact how they are likely to interact with a stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture gives a lot of information, first note these are dairy cattle, they are black and white &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; very meaty body parts.  They have been bred to be milked daily, milk production and handling are valued over muscle mass.  &lt;strike&gt;They do not have horns, indicating they are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polled_livestock&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Polled&lt;/a&gt; and the owner expects to be close to them often and handle them regularly.&lt;/strike&gt;  Link in updated question indicates they are beef cattle with horns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most (all?) of these have a tag in the ear, tracking each cow as an individual is important with milk and breeding cattle, not so much with steers who are just hanging out in the pasture and waiting to get to butcher size.  A field full of steers is less likely to be handle regularly, indicating a higher risk of in appropriate behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I don't see in the picture is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DairyBarnOttawa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full udders&lt;/a&gt;, but the cows are all looking at the camera so this is not surprising.  There are automatic milking machines, that don't require that a farmer to ever come in physical contact with the cow, but the image in the question implies a small family farm.  If you see udders that would require milking without young calves running around, then you can assume the cows are handled 2 or 3 times per day at this farm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't see udders, these could all be young steers and heifers who spend a lot of time in the pasture without daily interactions with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of my cattle experience is with small groups that have been handled extensively. Behaviors are similar to a dog or sheep, they are less aggressive then goats.  Any of the aggressive behaviors like blowing or foot stomping as you have probably seen on TV, would be signs for concern. In general I would expect these cattle to be interested in people, they may walk near you and like to be petted, they are likely to step on your foot if you are not careful. They are unlikely to act aggressively if you don't threaten them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly if you went through the fence it was probably a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbed_wire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barbwire&lt;/a&gt; fence, which will not contain cattle if they desire badly to be on the other side.  So don't assume you can escape an animal you have angered by crossing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T09:38:29.013" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T09:38:29.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10260" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10261" CreationDate="2015-09-10T14:49:11.337" Score="4" ViewCount="7899" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I have friends visiting, my cat will hide under my bed for the entire time my friends are over. Once they leave, she comes out of hiding and is being herself again. Why does she only hide at the time I have company over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T08:40:49.677" Title="Why does my cat hide from my friends/company?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2015-09-10T15:22:12.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this all the time, well technically it's my sister's cat but we lived together while I was in college, ONE thing I noticed is that my cat was very dependent on my sister, like she would follow her around all the time and NEEDED to be with her most of the time, plus she never really liked going out, not being exposed to the &quot;outside world&quot; made her shy with other people I believe, the only people the cat would feel comfortable enough to be around was me and my sister, since she saw us on a daily basis, I believe it's just that she wasn't that exposed to other people when she was a kitten. Plus the fact that she became a very nervous cat. &#xA;So I think you just have to slowly and patiently work with your cat, do not just force the cat to be around people/shapes/scents the cat doesn't know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T15:22:12.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2015-09-10T17:09:23.087" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats are happier if allowed to meet people one or two at a time, in quiet /calm surroundings, with a good escape route. I can't blame them; if I was that size I'd be cautious about the big apes too. Mine are slowly getting used to the fact that I host song circles occasionally; that or any other crowded/noisy event is a challenge for most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are happier -- or at least less nervous -- if you explicitly introduce them to the new humans. If your cat is comfortable being carried, you might try holding the cat comfortably, cuddling a bit, then have the other person slowly reach out and let the cat sniff their fingers before offering a skritch or two. The fact that you're there to defend them but are permitting this contact, together with it being respectfully slow so the cat doesn't feel attacked, may work even for fairly shy cats; they may promptly run off when put down but will be more willing to approach that person later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of that introduction, letting the cat feel it has control makes a huge difference. I once moved a bit too suddenly in reaching toward a kitten and got the full arched-back bared-teeth hiss response. I immediately froze, leaving my hand where the kit could claw me if so inclined but not advancing further: &quot;see, I'm not attacking you, and I trust you not to hurt me.&quot; Two seconds later the kit had accepted I was harmless and was enthusiastically scent-marking me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that these techniques work with most small or shy animals, including humans in those categories. Keep it quiet, don't chase, don't rush, don't crowd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also work when adopting a new animal into your household; my cats spent most of their first month here under the guest bed with occasional forays to check out the house and/of me, and that was OK;  I knew I'd win them over eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-09-10T22:07:50.237" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T22:07:50.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10251" CreationDate="2015-09-10T18:19:02.577" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cow is not typically aggressive but it is a large powerful animal.  It is territorial and very protective of its young.  22 deaths a year &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/16/chart-the-animals-that-are-most-likely-to-kill-you-this-summer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;animals-that-are-most-likely-to-kill-you-this-summer&lt;/a&gt;  A cow is also pretty fast so if you do piss it off it can run you down.  Chance of a cow getting aggressive is low but the problem you have there is the power of the animal.  Don't wait to tell if they are aggressive as once they get aggressive it is too late.  I get they are farm animals but they came from the wild defending from wolves and they can defend themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-09-10T19:32:42.190" LastActivityDate="2015-09-10T19:32:42.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10285" CreationDate="2015-09-10T22:42:51.243" Score="2" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had our cat for two years or so, rescued from a local shelter when he was about 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's happy in our apartment and likes to use the balcony a lot. It's very safe, glass-walled and he likes to look at cars and buses in the street two stories below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'll move to a house with garden in a year or so. We're very concerned that he may leave for good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know how we will fence the garden, but I don't think we'll be able to fence it good enough to prevent him from going away. That's fine with me as long as he comes back after wandering where he needs to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we'll have to do to make sure he can enjoy some freedom and maybe some hunting, but yet ensure that he still sticks with us most of the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We currently think we'll prevent him from going outside for a month or so so that he can get used to the new home. Then open the windows / doors and see what happens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried once to leash him but that's out of question. He absolutely hates it and does everything he can to get rid of it. It becomes its absolute first priority to get rid of it. I don't think I'll ever want to try this again. We tried this on the balcony out of fear of him getting over the balcony and falling down in the street. As it turned out he's very cautious and didn't try to jump. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this will be different with a garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:51:11.697" Title="Moving from an apartment to a house" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10265" CreationDate="2015-09-10T23:05:55.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know folks who have fenced outdoor &quot;cat runs&quot; for cats they aren't willing to let run free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current cats are strictly indoor beasts, and at this point don't show any interest in going  outside (though they like being able to look outside, and make hunting noises when they see something that looks like it would be fun to chase).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoors is dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But realistically, most cats allowed outdoors do know where they/their humans live,  won't go very far, and will return home. Collars with contact info are highly recommended, as are ID chip implants, so the beasties can be returned to you if they're unable to do so on their own (lost or injured).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that they will need a flea collar or equivalent protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I did with my previous cat: The first few times outside in a new location, I walked with her -- support/reassurance, protection if she needed it, and I could tell her when it was time to head home and provide guidance. Admittedly as a part-Siamese she was more socially focused than some cats,  but I do think it's worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-09-14T14:51:11.697" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:51:11.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10273" CreationDate="2015-09-11T02:57:44.490" Score="3" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 8 neon tetra, a beta and 8 mystery snails. My tank is a 15 gallon moderately planted (6 java long fern, 4inch square of christmas moss, a bit of java moss, 6 small short hairglass, 2 small anubias and a Cabomba caroliniana). The tank is filtered and heated. I also have some air buble in there too to help with air in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So following the 1 gallon per inch of fish I  get to about 12gallon used (neon about 7gal and beta 5gal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read at several places that gor mystery snail the rule is 1 snail per 2.5 gallon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I add the fish to the snail to count the total of used space or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T15:09:41.563" Title="Is my tank overstocked?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10257" CreationDate="2015-09-11T05:32:58.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typical playing behavior for socialized dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tapping and running away: &quot;Catch me!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowing down with back in the air and front legs flat on the ground: &quot;Play with me!&quot;, possibly with one or two quick, non-aggressive barkers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Side-tapping with the mouth could also mean &quot;Hey, hello!&quot; or could be part of play (try responding by doing the same on your dog's cheeks with your hand forming your &quot;mouth&quot;). The dog might also just ask for scratching around the neck or behind the ears (typical for one of our two Huskies).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chewing on your hand might be a possible response from your dog. This isn't meant in an aggressive way. Respond by chewing back (crawling/scratching) or push it away, if wrong situation or biting too powerful (see other questions/answers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're outside or got enough space inside:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want your dog to follow you while playing, tap it as well (like a slow/light slap on its hip; similar force to what it applies to you), then run away. I'm sure it will understand, this is also how you can respond/play fetch, if the environment is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T05:32:58.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1730" CreationDate="2015-09-11T10:00:21.540" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not normal that your cat sleeps in litter box. Sometimes cats can do so, but if it becomes a habit then you need to do a check. Cats, like other animals, do not prefer to sleep where they eliminate. If your cat is doing this, then there may be two reasons for that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat is scared and not feeling safe, this may be due to the change in surroundings or due to other cats or pets. Cats find their litter box safer and they feel that it’s their spot, because it smells like them due to their urine scent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat is suffering with pain and stress due to health issues, you can take your cat once to a vet; it has been found that, in symptoms like this, cat might have chances of urinary tract problem like dysuria or lower gastrointestinal problems. The health problems can also cause weakness and nausea, due to which your cat might get exhausted and that’s why you find him in the litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3929" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-22T11:19:28.277" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T11:19:28.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-11T13:07:32.687" Score="6" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;So about a month ago our cat managed to fall out of the window onto our balcony, from 2nd floor to 1st floor.  It was at night, so we didn't see exactly what happened, only heard the noise when he landed.  Sounded like he hit our garden chairs, which where standing there folded together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as we opened the door to the balcony, he ran in, up the stairs and was hiding under the bed. I then slowly pulled him towards me and we checked if he was in pain somewhere (touched all feet and everything).  But he seemed alright, except that he lost the fur on his nose. Looked like he hit some sharp edge and his fur literally was shaved off. He was also bleeding a bit, but nothing dramatic.  It wasn't running freely - just a bit of blood on the wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He then calmed down very quickly and was acting quite normal again so we decided not to go to a vet. (It was a Saturday night I believe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the incident I have the impression that he often can't manage to jump up on objects. He tries, but instead of jumping on them he jumps against them. Sometimes he nearly makes it and other times he's not even close to getting up. On the other hand, there are times he jumps up without a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can it be that he is just more 'careful' or just has more fear of jumping over the object?  I believe the day he fell out the window that he tried to jump on the windowsill and was just to fast, so he didn't manage to stop and then fell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the specific question would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just that 'the shock is still in his bones' or are his 'senses' somewhat 'damaged' and in fact of that he can't aim that accurately anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5751" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:23:13.587" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T13:18:34.523" Title="Cat is hitting the object when trying to jump on it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10268" CreationDate="2015-09-11T15:09:41.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stocking rule is very often subjective to other factors beyond just the size and quantity of the fish in the tank. Water changes, type of fish, tank mates, keeper experience, potential adult size are just some of the factors that should be used in determining reasonable stocking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been keeping fish for about 25 years now, and I consider a tank overstocked when the crowding creates aggression or an unhealthy social environment, fish are being stunted due to inadequate water quality (basically the fish grow to the size of the tank myth), the fish are physically or ethically too large for the tank, or the biological filtration of the tank can't keep up with the nutrient supply created by feeding and waste. In your case, I suspect none of these conditions are anywhere close to existing, assuming you have a reasonably sufficient maintenance routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1&quot; per gallon rule is a really broad, and IMO a really bad guideline. In your case, tetras are extremely small bodied fish, so if you are using that guideline, you can safely exceed it by quite a bit. Conversely, if you are stocking a large bodied fish, fish with very high metabolism, or a fish that are very messy, the rule can easily come up short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do not count snails and other inverts into the stocking equation unless they are sizable enough to be a major nutrient contributor to the tank. Snails and small shrimp should be excluded. If you had something like crayfish or other larger inverts, I would factor them in, but something more like a fraction of the 1&quot; per gallon rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T15:09:41.563" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10275" CreationDate="2015-09-11T18:10:40.957" Score="7" ViewCount="614" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our sheltie has a loud bark - as most shelties do.  When someone comes to the front door or when the garage door opens, we get to hear the loud bark.  However, if I say quiet and hold my hand up, she knows all is okay.  She sits and will be quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I cannot find anything to do when the coffee grinder comes out.  As soon as it is touched, she goes crazy - spinning and barking.  When I use the grinder, it is even worse - jumping, spinning and more barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on how to curb this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2791" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T22:10:27.197" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T22:10:27.197" Title="Dog vs. coffee grinder (how to control barking)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10274" CreationDate="2015-09-11T19:39:19.013" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to desensitize her to it. Basically, when you train, you start with broad sweeping gestures to make it very clear for your dog what you want. When they offer something close to the behavior, you reward them. Eventually, you ask for a better and better version, till it tightens up and you can achieve a complex action with a small cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That has happened spontaneously with your dog. It happens to most people with dogs. They train things that they don't consciously try to. Like how picking up a leash can cause a similar reaction to the one you describe. The leash is just a piece of string with a blob of metal on the end. However, they've come to associate that with going out. So your dog, whose breed tends to have high energy anyway, gets excited when something like your grinder, gives off a lot of excitement energy. The grinder makes noise, vibrates, and gives off pungent smells from whatever is being ground. It's natural that this is exciting; and just like training a cue for a behavior, she's come to recognize that just touching the grinder will lead to the excitement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you have to work on training the opposite. The easiest thing to do is to break the habit. Just like you only pick up the leash when you're about to take her out, you only touch the grinder when you're going to grind. Try taking it out, setting it on the counter, doing something else, shuffling it around, then putting it away. Tell her quiet whenever she barks. You're teaching her that it isn't going to be exciting every time you pull it out. You can also treat her for being quiet. If she seems to handle this, you can plug it in and pulse it a couple of times and walk away. Don't give her time to build up her excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a few ways to go from here. You can either reward quietness, punish barking by sending her out of the room, or a combination of the two, which I would do. If she were quiet while I ran it for 10 seconds, I'd quite and treat her. I'd repeat. If she started barking, I'd ask her to be quiet. If she wasn't I'd send her out of the room. Distance from an object of excitement often dramatically reduces that excitement. You can also try giving her a distraction. I feel like it has a lower chance of success, because the grinder is probably more exciting that say, a kong of peanut butter, but it depends on the dog. Give these things a try and if they don't work, post back on this site, telling us what you tried and we can go from there. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-09-11T19:39:19.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-12T22:10:54.787" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5 year old, 85 pound black lab/dane mix that currently has a hard time staying home alone when I'm at work the whole day. I think he's bored. If I leave the couches uncovered, he'll tear up the cushions. If I leave anything on the countertops that close enough for him to reach, he'll pull it down and chew it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is a toy that he can play with and not get bored of during the day. On top of that, it has to be durable enough for him not to destroy. I have a Kong Wobbler treat dispensing toy for him that he likes well enough, but I'm looking for something durable like that, but a different type of stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things I already do for him:&#xA;-Walk him 3-4 miles a night, he sleeps during the night and has energy all day the next day&#xA;-Goes to day care once a week, the day after he's tired enough and sleeps through the day, but it's too expensive to do every week day&#xA;-Bring his bed down to the living area I block him off in so he has a familiar smelling place to sleep &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5752" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T21:04:33.513" Title="Mental Stimulation toy for big dog that chews" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10277" CreationDate="2015-09-13T07:23:06.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you considered to split the walking up into two stints. One in the morning and one in the evening. It might just be possible that it only takes 1.5 to 2 miles each time to help him expend his energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3100" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T07:23:06.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-13T17:21:52.223" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had our reef tank for about a month and a couple of weeks. For the last two weeks we get red algae on our live sand; after we remove them, they reappear after less than two hours. Attached photographs show how does it look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we remove them forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that all our corals do very well and all water tests are OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ldbis.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ldbis.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aWQZC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aWQZC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5717" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-30T09:19:08.543" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T09:19:08.543" Title="How to remove the red algae in reef tank" Tags="&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2015-09-13T20:30:28.860" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds a lot like you may be dealing with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataxia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ataxia&lt;/a&gt;, which is basically loss or reduction of control and coordination of body movements in an animal. There are several sources for ataxia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spinal compression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inner ear damage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;brain injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the description of what has happened, the loss of coordination might seem to be spinal related. Basically compression from the fall, especially if it was unbalanced as a result of objects in the area and forcing uneven pressure on the spinal column. If ataxia is the problem, that's not really confirmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, as a function of the activity, it could be other damage including hairline fractures or deep bruising (bone or tendon) that makes certain angles more painful and difficult than others. Cats hide pain extremely well, so lack of response to your probing is not indicative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As recommended, I think a vet trip is very, very wise. If nothing else, it may be something that just needs time, but having the x-ray check is probably a good confirmation and look-see by a qualified vet (which I'm not) is never a bad idea after a bad incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-09-13T20:30:28.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-14T01:22:13.267" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just moved in with my flatmate who already lived with her dog. I'm very dog friendly and have live with different dogs before, but is the first time that a dog is afraid of me. This only happens when we are alone, my flatmate arrives she is friendly and plays with me. This not only happens with me, but also with other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why could this happen? How can I get her to trust me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5757" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-22T20:46:43.657" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T20:46:43.657" Title="My flatmate's Boston terrier is afraid of me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-14T11:03:10.463" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do Achatinas appreciate communication with human, or is it just a stress to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you take them in your arms, they seem to move more actively then in the terrarium, but do they appreciate that, is it good for their health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they are cold blooded, they should like a source of warmth such as human hand in theory. I know of a pet lizard which likes to stay on one's knees, as it is seemingly warm for him and he needs to warm up his body as it's cold blooded, ignoring communication at the same time. Is it the same with snails?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5758" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T11:03:10.463" Title="Do Achatinas appreciate communication with human?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10282" CreationDate="2015-09-14T11:04:12.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give her time to get used to you.  Don't approach her, and try not to stare at her, particularly face-on.  Instead, just get on with things as normal (trying not to make any loud noises) and let her approach you when she's ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to speed things up a bit, check with her owner what's her favorite treat and have some of that ready to hand.  Don't approach her to give it to her, but try chucking it into the middle of the floor (not right at her!) and let her come and pick it up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T11:04:12.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10265" CreationDate="2015-09-14T13:09:44.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We currently think we'll prevent him from going outside for a month or so so that he can get used to the new home. Then open the windows / doors and see what happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really the best you can do. Make sure he knows the inside of the house first, with the usual food/toilet/sleep/play spots. Once he is confortable in this new environment, let him go out. You should be home when you let him out to begin with, and lock him in for the night and when you're away. When you are sure that he is going to come back, you can give him more freedom :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good trick is to let him go out before giving him his daily food. This way, he can wander outside for a bit, and then you can &quot;trick&quot; him in with food ! Should always work, and he will also associate the fact that he needs to come back to get fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T13:09:44.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2015-09-14T14:15:56.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two cats have been doing the same. They are sisters and have lived with me all their life. I seldom have visitors, so the cats are not used to other people than me.&#xA;It has gotten better as I have had visits slightly more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats are just anxious about people they don't know, nothing worse. It will get better over time, granted they can hide when they want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:15:56.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10241" CreationDate="2015-09-14T14:19:39.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cant ever leave toilet paper open in plain view, as my cats just love to rip it apart. I solve it by 1) keeping it in the plastic wrapping, and 2) having the 'used' paper roll in a drawer right next to the toilet.&#xA;Only problem is that visitors always take a new roll and leave it out :p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T14:19:39.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7784" CreationDate="2015-09-14T16:49:53.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends a lot on how the dog was raised and trained, I have a miniature schnauzer which as far as my knowledge goes they're a pretty calm breed, people come and go in front of our house yet our dog won't make the slightest sign of aggression, I attribute this primarily cause ever since a puppy we taught her to not be afraid of strangers, if she ever got aggressive with someone we immediately make note of it and try to correct the behavior. This is why she can easily &quot;ignore&quot; the passers, I say &quot;ignore&quot; cause we noticed that although she's pretty comfortable laying down in front of our house, she is still alert of who comes and goes, always keeping an eye on things. If someone approaches the door and she doesn't recognize (I want to assume scent wise) the person approaching she would just let a growl out and stand up. I think she's saying &quot;I see you stranger&quot; and she will not attack but she will be incredibly loud for a dog her size. Even the type of bark changes, I think she feels the need to let us know someone she doesn't recognize is about to enter our property. &#xA;What I'm going for here is that I do think it depends on the dog's training(she didn't go to pet school or anything, but we did took our time and effort to make sure she became the incredibly well behaved dog she is now) It's about putting up the time to be with your dog, let the dog know what its wrong and what its right. If you just let the dog run around and bark to the passers cause &quot;the dog's playing&quot; I'm sure that as the dog grows up this behavior will stop being a game and start being a character trait. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-09-14T16:49:53.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10217" CreationDate="2015-09-14T20:47:59.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people would say adopting two puppies at the same time regardless of if they are from the same liter or not is a bad idea.  I'm including a few of the 6 main points from this article that state why it's a bad idea(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_1/features/Problems-Adopting-Two-Puppies-At-Once_16190-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_1/features/Problems-Adopting-Two-Puppies-At-Once_16190-1.html&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two-pup rationale #1: “I want to get two puppies so they will have&#xA;  someone to play with while I’m gone all day at work.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s a good thing to recognize that your pup could use companionship&#xA;  during the day. However, if you think one puppy can get into trouble&#xA;  when you’re not there, just think what kinds of mischief two pups can&#xA;  cook up when left to their own devices. Better solutions might&#xA;  include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• Adopt your new pup at a time when someone in your family can take a&#xA;  week (or several) off work to stay home and help the puppy adjust&#xA;  gradually to being left alone. A couple of weeks vacation time? Kids&#xA;  home for the summer? Just be sure to use the time wisely, so your pup&#xA;  can learn to happily accept being alone when it’s time to go back to&#xA;  work or school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• Find a friend, neighbor, or relative who is home much of the time&#xA;  and who is willing to provide daycare for your pup - and experience&#xA;  the joys of having a puppy to play with during the day, without the&#xA;  long-term responsibilities and costs of having a dog for 15-plus&#xA;  years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• Ask your vet if she has another client with a similar-age puppy, and&#xA;  see if the two of you can mingle your pups at one of your&#xA;  puppy-proofed homes for puppy daycare, and send the second baby dog&#xA;  back home after work. Note the emphasis on “puppy-proofed.” Two pups&#xA;  can still get into a heap of trouble, even if one of them isn’t yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two-pup rationale #2: I have two children and they each want their own&#xA;  puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What a sweet idea. Just say no. Since when do the kids get to make the&#xA;  rules? Seriously, most families have enough trouble getting their kids&#xA;  to fulfill their promise to feed, walk, and clean up after one family&#xA;  dog. Mom ends up doing most of it anyway. So now Mom gets to do&#xA;  double-puppy-duty? If there’s a compelling reason for them each to&#xA;  have a dog, consider adopting one puppy now, and an adult dog from a&#xA;  shelter or rescue group. Even then, I’d adopt one first and give her&#xA;  at least a month to settle in, if not longer, before adopting the&#xA;  second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two-pup rationale #3: We want to have two dogs eventually anyway, so&#xA;  we might as well get them at the same time so they can grow up&#xA;  together as best friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, that’s what you might well get! When you raise two puppies&#xA;  together they usually do grow up to be inseparable best friends, often&#xA;  to the detriment of the dog-human relationship. Inevitably they spend&#xA;  far more time together than they do individually with you, with a&#xA;  likely result that they become very tightly bonded to each other and&#xA;  you are only secondary in their lives. Many owners of&#xA;  adopted-at-the-same-time puppies ultimately find themselves&#xA;  disappointed in their relationships with their dogs, even when they&#xA;  are committed to keeping them for life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This super-bonding also causes tremendous stress (and stress-related&#xA;  behavior problems) on those occasions when the dogs do have to be&#xA;  separated - and sooner or later, something will come up that requires&#xA;  them to be separated: one goes to training class and the other&#xA;  doesn’t, you want to walk one but not both, or a health-related&#xA;  problem requires one to be hospitalized or otherwise kept separate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of course you want your dogs to get along. But you probably don’t want&#xA;  them to get along so well with each other that they hardly take notice&#xA;  of the human members of the family – a common result of raising canine&#xA;  siblings together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two-pup rationale #4: A second puppy will play with the first and keep&#xA;  her occupied when I’m too busy to spend time with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice thought, but here’s a heads-up. If you’re too busy to give one&#xA;  puppy the time she needs, you’re definitely too busy for two puppies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are great interactive dog toys on the market that can help&#xA;  occupy your pup when you can’t play with her - and don’t think that&#xA;  either another puppy or a pen full of toys can substitute for social&#xA;  time with you. Puppies do take time, and it’s important you give that&#xA;  some serious thought before adding a baby dog to the family. It’s fine&#xA;  to give her playmate-time via arranged play dates with a friend’s&#xA;  healthy and compatible puppy, but don’t think adopting a second pup is&#xA;  an acceptable substitute for your own interaction with your puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two-pup rationale #5: If we adopt a second puppy, that’s one fewer&#xA;  that might be euthanized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I won’t argue with this, except to say that in many shelters around&#xA;  the country today, puppies aren’t the problem. Of course there are&#xA;  exceptions, but I’d say the majority of shelters in the United States&#xA;  now have no problems placing most if not all the puppies they get.&#xA;  It’s the adult dogs who are most likely to die because of&#xA;  homelessness. If you really want to save a life, adopt a grown-up dog&#xA;  instead of a puppy, or at least adopt your puppy now, and come back&#xA;  for an adult dog in a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two-pup rationale #6: The breeder we are buying our puppy from thinks&#xA;  it’s best if we take two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you’re buying from a breeder who encourages you to purchase two&#xA;  puppies at once, run away fast. A truly responsible breeder will, in&#xA;  most cases, refuse to sell two puppies to one home, except on the rare&#xA;  occasion that a prospective buyer can prove she has the skill,&#xA;  knowledge, time, ability, and monetary resources to provide an&#xA;  excellent environment for two pups at once. Someone who tries to push&#xA;  two puppies on a buyer isn’t a very responsible breeder, and isn’t&#xA;  doing her puppies, or the new owner, any favors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-09-17T23:34:47.440" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T23:34:47.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2015-09-15T00:51:13.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In nature, a large animal the size of a human entering the territory of a cat is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Something That Can KILL ME&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.  So the cat reacts naturally - it hides to avoid the notice of the new thing.  If that works, it might use cat sneaking powers to get a peek at the new thing without danger - often from a high vantage point.  If things seem alright after that, it will then sometimes with caution come out and meet the new person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You ignoring the cat lets him move through this process - running in and forcing the issue might set things back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't just people this happens with - to a lesser extent a big box being opened leads to a similar chain of events, possibly faster since the box doesn't make noise and move about.  Also a sudden noise can do the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The less high strung and confident a cat is the more it reacts.  I turned on my TV with a football game yesterday for the first time in months.  One cat was under the bed the entire time, one watched from the balcony above, and one could care less and napped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T00:51:13.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10297" CreationDate="2015-09-15T06:18:41.880" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for a pet dog to survive with vegetable as food only? If possible, which types of dogs would be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T20:28:22.577" Title="Can dogs eat vegetables only?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-09-15T23:27:44.140" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-15T07:41:01.317" Score="3" ViewCount="3393" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a female Labrador, we have had her for around 6 years. Today I was walking her and as we were passing another dog, she went to the butt so I thought she was going to smell it - but 3 seconds after, they both started barking. I said &amp;quot;sorry&amp;quot; and walked in a different direction. My dog had that dog's hair in her mouth, now I feel really guilty and was wondering why she might have done that and if I should get my mum to take her to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5762" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T22:37:07.350" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T22:37:07.350" Title="What does it mean if a dog pulls out another dog's hair?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-15T16:19:24.900" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a red ear slider that is less than one year old.  After the last tank cleaning he is less active and staying in corners of the tank nose first. He isn't eating much and isn't that active.  I used bleach like always with the right amount of water.  I am concerned that maybe there is something wrong with the water or I missed something.   Not sure what to do?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5763" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T16:19:24.900" Title="I think my slider turtle is sick" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-05-04T21:11:51.690" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10293" CreationDate="2015-09-15T20:28:22.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Technically it's possible&lt;/a&gt;, but it requires extreme diligence.  That said, the list specifically calls out certain amino acids (I.E. Taurine) that are found only in animal products, so you could probably get by with a vegetarian (fruit, veggies, fungi, vitamin supplements but &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; only vegetables) diet, if you do it extremely carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your latter question, the type of dog doesn't really matter; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2012/feb/nutrition_differences_for_small_toy_large_breeds-12459&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;small tweaks&lt;/a&gt; may be necessary to combat breed-specific issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-09-15T20:28:22.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-16T01:33:18.340" Score="4" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Common Snapping Turtle who has about a 3 inch carapace, housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank. I like to keep live plants in the tank with her, as it helps with water quality. I am wondering if anyone has found a good way to protect the plants. She doesn't eat them but she will walk all over them and sometimes bite at them. She also likes to use them to hide under. Any ideas of good plants or ways of protecting the plants from her would be helpful. (I know she is destructive and most people can not keep plants with Common Snapping Turtles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5765" LastEditorUserId="1381" LastEditDate="2015-09-16T10:12:12.047" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T02:18:22.560" Title="What is the safest way of protecting the plants in my turtles tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10294" CreationDate="2015-09-16T05:39:41.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If everything else is OK/normal, no. There are far too many possible reasons for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely the other dog is changing coat right now and it was just coincidence of having your dog &quot;pull&quot; that hair out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's been some other factor involved, it's likely been the other dog in some way. For example, one of our Huskies really dislikes ticks. So if it smells one on the ground, in its own fur, or in another dog's fur it'll actively try to &quot;hunt&quot; and kill it. Other dogs (and owners!) might misinterpret such behavior as being aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2015-09-17T05:21:36.743" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T05:21:36.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="551" CreationDate="2015-09-16T18:46:36.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;User34 has a very good answer! Here is one other thing I would like to add: Hay is vital because rabbit's can't vomit. This is where I read up on it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://smallpetselect.com/blog/timothy-hay-rabbits-cant-vomit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://smallpetselect.com/blog/timothy-hay-rabbits-cant-vomit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5768" LastActivityDate="2015-09-16T18:46:36.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10302" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-16T19:27:36.733" Score="2" ViewCount="2347" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of a sudden, one of my cats, and I can't be for certain which, just started pooping on our bed. I haven't seen which has done it so I can't discipline. We've had our kitten since June, and he has never pooped anywhere other than the litterbox; he is declawed and neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, last month we adopted an older cat from the shelter, neutered as well. The odd thing is, I've seen the older cat use the box quite frequently, and haven't seen the younger one use it. But the younger one just has never had a problem before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the new cat, nothing has changed, the box is large and clean, they are both routinely checked by the vet, both have clean bills of health. It's happened three times within the last 24 hours and its very frustrating as we use a laundrymat, and don't have our own washer and dryer hookups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5769" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:18:40.493" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T05:51:30.583" Title="Suddenly pooping on the bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10302" CreationDate="2015-09-17T07:54:27.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should get at least one more litter box&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be quite picky when it comes to using the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have two cats (2 years old siblings, male and female), and the female also tends to poop just outside of the litter boxes if they already contain poop (either hers or his). Most vets recommand having N+1 litter boxes, where N is the number of cats you have. Although it is not always possible to have that many, you should really try that. Make sure you clean them every day, and change the litter once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, close the bedroom door for the time being :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2015-09-17T07:54:27.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-17T18:20:37.913" Score="1" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4yr old tabby Lex has these black spots that line his eyelids. He's had them for at least a couple months (since I've noticed), seems otherwise fine and doesn't mind me looking at his eyes. I haven't tried to scrape it off as I don't want to go poking around in his eye. I'm not sure if it's irremovable pigment or gunk. Anyone seen this before? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5772" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T13:56:42.803" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T13:56:42.803" Title="Orange tabby has black around his eyelids" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-17T20:20:31.657" Score="3" ViewCount="2914" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a new Samoyed puppy, and he's a vocal little guy.  I could ignore it if we weren't in an apartment, but he barks.  A lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's at it's worst when he sees us leave the room, the house, or wakes up at night and realizes we're not in the room.  When this happens I usually just go sleep on the floor near his cage for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know we can solve the at-night problem permanently by putting him in our room, but I don't think our resident dog is ready for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching him &quot;hush&quot; is sort of difficult in this case, as he's only really interested in barking when we're leaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what is the best deterrent to keep him from barking whenever we try to leave his sight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1307" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T23:53:13.067" Title="How can I teach my puppy to not bark when we leave the room?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-17T22:00:26.630" Score="3" ViewCount="2319" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I bought my Betta male veil tail fish from petco about 8 months ago and it used to be dark blue and since about 3 months ago it has been turning light red. He now only has like a half inch of blue around his head. And at the tip of his mouth. Does anyone know why this has happened? He is a happy swimmer and loves to jump around and everything. He eats fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5774" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T13:35:10.427" Title="Why did my Betta fish go from dark blue to light red?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10305" CreationDate="2015-09-18T03:24:20.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seconding Oldcat's comment: Freckles, almost certainly. My two orange tabbies both have similar spots where one can see bare skin. Normal skin coloration. Leave it alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still nervous, ask the vet next time he's in for a checkup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And yes, I was startled too when I first saw this. Vet said that was a common reaction.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-09-18T17:32:07.887" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:32:07.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-18T05:39:22.720" Score="3" ViewCount="2996" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting with a short flashback back about one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend, me and our 2 tomcats - Elliot (4 years old) and Fridolin (2 years old) were living in a flat share at an old farmyard, inside a small village, together with 4 other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There had been a catflap and both of them could get in and out as they want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, Fridolin got overrun by a car - needless to mention, an emotional situation. Since we had plans moving together in our own flat (no shared flat anymore), we did not get a new cat and Elliot had been alone for about 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, in March, we moved. Elliot adapted really quick to the new environment. We were able to let him out after 2 weeks, and he came back without any issue. We have one window open almost all the time, and he can get in and out as needed. He has already learned what to do when it's closed, walking to any other window in hope we see him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as the months passed by, we noticed a change in Elliot's behavior we don't like. He became slack, doing nothing but sleep and cuddling a little. Sometimes he got out, like 20-30 minutes, came back with a mouse (he always ate himself, no presents) and sleeps again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We thought, it's the time for a new cat and around August 10th, 2015 the little female cat, Pebbles (12 weeks old at that time), came to us. She is very active, even for her young age. I've seen plenty of young cats - sure, they're active in general, but Pebbles is of her own kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First contact between Elliot and Pebbles had been through the window. He was sitting outside at the windowsill, while she sat inside, right at the place where his bowl stands.  One easily could notice the consternation in Elliot's face. We let him in, and the little rubber ball Pebbles had seemingly annoyed him a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first days, Elliot avoided contact with Pebbles. When she was coming too close, he hissed at her and left. He never attacked her and even if she attacked (play) him, he only pushed her back, without claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next weeks, he came home less and less. Now we know, he spends the whole day sitting at the neighbors' porch, no matter what weather. He feeds himself by catching mice, which he does really well, and is almost unattractable by goodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, he comes home and seemingly is hungry, like he couldn't catch enough mice that day. He eats the whole bowl at once, which usually is enough for a whole day, and leaves again. In the short span he is at home, he growls constantly, even if Pebbles isn't in sight (smell?). He also started hissing at us, if we come to close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this aggression doesn't point to us. When outside, he behaves like nothing happens, enjoying being stroked. Outside, he is happy as before. It seems, as he really hates the environment and want to get out as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This state is ongoing since about 3 weeks. He didn't lose weight. All neighbors decline to feed him. We are at the point where Pebbles has to go. We already have a trustworthy person who would take her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how can we know if Elliot will come home again? We are cat people. Ending up with no cat at all would be the end of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any strategies we could try to solve the problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2999" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:55:16.727" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:55:16.727" Title="Older cat doesn't come home since new cat is here" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10311" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10312" CreationDate="2015-09-18T05:44:39.020" Score="1" ViewCount="1294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 month Sheltie pup who is on the last hurdle for toilet training. After some great advice here he's dry all day, and can if he chooses to hold himself for a very long time (even with the opportunity to go.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However overnight is becoming a bit of an issue, he can hold overnight because for the past few weeks about 50% of the time he'll have a dry night, leaving no mess on the kitchen floor. The rest of the time he'll both poo/pee and if he does he gets no fuss in the morning, gets put outside if it's not raining whilst I clean up, and only after about 15minutes do we fuss him. If he's dry, he gets loads of morning fuss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have noticed the past few nights in a row he's been messy my neighbour has left her house (waking all of us sometimes) at about 4:30am, we usually get up at 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we think that if he's woken up early he'll go to the toilet, but we've no real way to know if hes awake because what wakes him doesn't always wake us. He's not crate trained and his 'bedroom' is the kitchen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He goes out in the morning, the afternoon, for his 8pm walk, then has a chance right before bed at 9:30pm. He will always pee on his evening walk, most of the time poo as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to keep him dry overnight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-09-18T06:30:38.423" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T07:56:36.417" Title="How to stop overnight toileting" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10311" CreationDate="2015-09-18T07:56:36.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is a case of habit/routine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With our new dog she pee'd in the kitchen one night. She now get's put into the Garden every eve before we go to bed and isn't allowed into the house until she's at least pee'd. She get's got the idea pretty quick and now it's just a 5 min run/pee before bed. She hasn't messed in the night since. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rest of the time he'll both poo/pee and if he does he gets no fuss&#xA;  in the morning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Telling your dog off (or withholding as your doing) after the fact isn't very productive. Dog's don't think like Humans. They have no way to relate the withholding to the fact. As far as they are concerned the fact happened ages ago and they won't understand why your doing what your doing. Unless it happens in front of you and you get the opportunity to reprimand the dog immediately your wasting your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2801" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T07:56:36.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10306" CreationDate="2015-09-18T10:15:24.573" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to teach him a positive association with you leaving the room. You could try spending some time training him. So: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simulate the process that makes him bark.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not acknowledge his barking&lt;/strong&gt; ignore him and wait. This is very important. If you go into the room when he barks he will associate this with the barking, so he thinks &lt;em&gt;if I bark, they'll come see me and make a fuss&lt;/em&gt;. So if you enter the room while he's barking you're rewarding the wrong behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as he &lt;strong&gt;stops barking&lt;/strong&gt; enter the room, give him some treats and make a fuss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually he should start to associate you leaving the room with being quiet and if he's quiet he'll eventually get a treat. Slowly increase the time you leave him before entering the room again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, slowly start toning down the reward (just make a fuss and no treat 50% of the time, etc) keep working on this (depending on the dog this could take numerous sessions) and eventually you should be able to leave him without him barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2801" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T10:15:24.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-18T10:17:07.530" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hamster just gave birth 3 weeks ago, and today it gives birth again. I heard that they can't bath using bathing sand for 28 days since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is, I've read through some articles and their conclusion was that if hamsters get smelly, they will get infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5775" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:46:48.103" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:46:48.103" Title="Not bathing a female hamster for 2 months" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10308" CreationDate="2015-09-18T13:35:10.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may have been a young fish when you got him. Bettas usually do have some color changes during youth and adolescence. I've never heard of such a complete color change as this, but if he's swimming and jumping and eating and otherwise seems happy then I wouldn't be worried about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possible factor could be his food. Most betta food includes color enhancers; I know the first flakes I bought only said &quot;enhance color&quot; without getting more specific, but the flakes themselves were red, as was that betta. Later, we got a completely blue betta and managed to find some pellets that specifically mentioned enhancing &lt;strong&gt;blue&lt;/strong&gt; color, so of course we got them. Unfortunately he didn't seem to like them so we had to feed the red ones, and over time his blue color became less vibrant and his face turned a rather unappealing shade of brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T13:35:10.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9884" CreationDate="2015-09-18T15:34:29.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your tank is large enough (10 gallons or more) you could use a divider to split the tank in half. If you go this route you'll want to make sure the divider is opaque too, or put lots of plants/décor by it, so that they don't generally see each other. You'll probably also have to have a filter going on each side of the divider - each rated for tanks half the size of your whole tank (since bettas aren't terribly strong swimmers, they can quickly become exhausted if the water is too turbulent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T15:34:29.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9918" CreationDate="2015-09-18T15:50:19.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tetras are one of the best choices out there to be a betta's tankmates. You shouldn't generally have a problem unless your betta is particularly aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned about him exhibiting territorial behavior, you could put him into a cup and block his view of the tank, rearrange all his furniture (maybe even swapping out one or two pieces), add the tetras to the tank and let them get comfortable for a few hours, then finally put your betta back in. With everything rearranged he won't feel so much like he's returning to his old stomping grounds, so he'll be less likely to perceive the tetras as invaders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T15:50:19.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9918" CreationDate="2015-09-18T17:04:01.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually have a very similar setup since a couple of weeks. I feed my beta small ball and feed the neon flakes (my betta doesn't seems to like the flake so much...). I feed my betta first by giving him one or two balls at the time. Why? Simple! The neon are &lt;strong&gt;way faster&lt;/strong&gt; than the betta and they eat his food before him if I don't do it this way. Sure they eat a couple of his food but that is not my concern, I want to make sure the betta has enough food so he won't chase the neon around (too much) in the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another answer noted it is better to had the neon first and than the betta. I actually did it reverse and it worked but getting the neon first should help minimizing the loss. In my case I lost 3 neon over the first week. It hard to say if it was my betta or they were too much stressed by the trip from the pet shop to my home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give a chance to all your fish, make sure they have plenty of places to hide. And that the water conditions are good at all time (heater, filtration, biweekly water test, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case things seems to have settle down and I haven't lost any fish since 2 weeks. If my betta start chasing the neon hard (not one or two strike but many times) I close the lights of the tank and it seem to calm them down. I never had to do this in the day and only do it at night before going to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with this fun setup and don't worry about your neon for the food but rather about your betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2015-10-15T12:21:03.910" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T12:21:03.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7994" CreationDate="2015-09-18T17:13:14.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, monitor lizards can see red light. So can snakes, and other lizards, and birds, and turtles, and most mammals. However, not all of these animals can distinguish between what we would perceive as red and green light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for a little background. Light is a spectrum, and neither humans nor any other animals can perceive the entire spectrum. Instead we have different receptors in our eyes that respond to different parts of that spectrum. Humans have three color receptors: what we call red, green, and blue. But since these receptors overlap quite a bit, you can't tell the whole spectrum just from what color you see. Something that looks yellow to you could be a mix of 550nm (green) and 600nm (red) light or a true 575nm (yellow) light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that even if you didn't have a red receptor, you would still be able to see red light, but you would have a harder time distinguishing between what we would call red, green, and yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most mammals have two color receptors: blue and yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most reptiles, birds, and amphibians have four distinct color receptors, which vary a bit between species, but more or less correspond to what we would call violet, blue, teal, and yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your monitor lizard can see red light (with their yellow receptor), but would have a hard time distinguishing it from yellow and green.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5778" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:13:14.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10310" CreationDate="2015-09-18T17:29:43.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elliott will probably come home, if you can convince him that indoors is part of he's territory again rather than having been taken over by dome interloper. He may take some persuading, including giving the other cat's scent marks time to fade, letting him explore the whole house to see she really isn't hiding anywhere, and possibly trapping him indoors for a while as if he was a stray you were trying to convert to housecat status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can carry a grudge for a while, but they can also forget/forgive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-18T17:29:43.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-19T02:12:02.333" Score="2" ViewCount="1445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pond, which contains the water volume of 6000 liters (1600 gallons). I am very frustrated: my 45 or so goldfish and several mosquito fish were so happy. Then, literally overnight, they stopped eating and within days died off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The day the trouble started, the outside temperature soared to 35&amp;nbsp;°C (95&amp;nbsp;°F), but the water seemed cool enough. Moreover, the center of the pond is 120 cm (4 feet) deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In happier days whenever I’d feed them they would snap and race around their pond. The pond is an in-ground hot tub covered with a non-toxic triple liner designed for fish that cost me $300. We live in Pasadena, CA in USA where the weather is generally moderate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goldfish were rescue fish destined to be eaten by Pet Smart customers’ carnivores. So they were at least spared whatever terror was in store for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After they started to die off, I changed almost all of the water but not all because there were some fry I was attempting to save. In hindsight I wish I had gone 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I repeatedly tested the water with a kit and also at PetSmart. Then, I put some new goldfish in—all of which died within days. The water was hard, so I added the proper amount of salts. The pH was around 7. &#xA; The nitrite level was borderline stressful, so I added a bottle of stress coat. Still, no luck. All other readings (ammonia, etc. were normal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had made a filter using bio balls and ran a small pump constantly with ok aeration. Admittedly it could have been better, as the balls never really looked that dirty. Moreover, because a raccoon had punctured the liner, only 3 months earlier I had completely drained the pond and did with no lose of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the disaster struck and following the water exchange, I built a massive filter and added a heavy duty pump that made the water crystal-clear—but it was too late. Another batch of new fish died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After draining the pond, I realized too late that some of the fish that died had sunk to the bottom and possibly continued to contaminate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Half the pond’s surface was covered with 2 types of water lettuce. I have now 100% drained the pond and have discarded the lettuce for fear that it is contaminated. Could the lettuce have caused the problem? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raccoons were always trying to get the fish but didn’t seemed to have any success. Could they have introduced a disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe there was a fish-borne disease? But no new fish had been introduced for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5779" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:18:49.470" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:18:49.470" Title="Why did all 45 goldfish (and 2 mosquitos) in my pond suddenly begin an overnight, 4-day die-off?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-19T11:58:31.947" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changes in urination patterns can be an indicator of illness. I was wondering how long should it normally take for my pet to empty their bladder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T12:10:46.767" Title="How long should it take my pet to empty their bladder?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10322" CreationDate="2015-09-19T12:10:46.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your pet is a mammal who weighs more then 3kg (6.6lbs) it should take about 21 seconds (&lt;em&gt;plus or minus 13 seconds&lt;/em&gt;) to empty their bladder.  A team from Georgia Tech just won the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2015&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2015 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics&lt;/a&gt; for their research as announced in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34278595&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BBC news&lt;/a&gt;  the full research is published &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/11932.full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nc6LY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nc6LY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware though, smaller animals like Rats can urinate in a fraction of a second. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-09-19T12:10:46.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10334" CreationDate="2015-09-19T20:03:20.497" Score="3" ViewCount="4849" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am concerned because my dog will not eat her food unless I handfeed one at a time. I left the food in the bowl and she sniffed it and walked away(she did this a few times over a period of 10 minutes). I tried leaving it on the floor and she did the same thing. I sat down, hoping my presence would change something, but she just sat next to me. So I called her over and started feeding her the kibble one at a time, which worked. Halfway through, I put all the kibble in my hand, hoping she would eat, but she immediately stopped eating, so I resumed handfeeding(with my fingertips). When there were only a few kibble left, I tried putting them all in my hand again, but she stopped eating and walked away after sniffing. I put them all down and (walked to her) gave her one, but she actually spit it out. Then I called her over to me instead and fed her the last few. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't noticed any atypical behavior (e.g. lying in a corner, taking no interest in anything). She did this at her 1st and 2nd meals today(havent given her 3rd) and in between she was running around excitedly and playing with her toys. She isn't napping any more than she usually does. She is also still barking at the door when she hears things.&#xA;As for her behavior towards food: she ALWAYS seems to want food and this is the first time I have seen her exhibit nonchalance towards food or any mention of it. However, when I was eating food today, she was still interested in it. I've heard advice from a dog trainer(given to another dog) who said to not be concerned if their dog was not eating because he was a big dog and probably wasn't hungry, but my dog is a small breed. &#xA;I am not sure what to do because this seems very atypical although her other behaviors have not changed.&#xA;What should I do to resolve this? Could it be something to do with the food or bowl? I haven't changed anything in the last few days and she always appreciated her food before. Should I take her to the vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: she is 10 months old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5780" LastEditorUserId="5780" LastEditDate="2015-09-19T20:15:34.103" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T16:18:14.933" Title="My dog will not eat unless handfed, one at a time" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-20T08:27:23.373" Score="11" ViewCount="2856" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 15-year-old black cats. They're the most timid little things ever. My brother plays his acoustic drum set at least once a week, and the loudness is &lt;em&gt;incredible&lt;/em&gt; no matter where I go in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's playing and I'm around my cats, I like to think I can tell there are some adverse effects the loudness has on them and their hearing. They seem jumpy and wide-eyed. Note that acoustic drums in a house that doesn't have a lot of big open spaces (hallways, stairwells, etc.) can create &lt;strong&gt;piercing&lt;/strong&gt; noises that are rough even on &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can any of this hurt or damage my cats' hearing? Are there any other effects this might have on my cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5784" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T03:09:00.877" Title="What effect do loud drums have on cats' hearing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-20T15:22:55.700" Score="2" ViewCount="698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Florida and live out in a wooded area and as I grew up I noticed roaches that pop up out of nowhere when lifting things up outside . I was wondering if I can use those to feed my gecko . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5785" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T14:14:15.807" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T14:14:15.807" Title="Feeding live insects from outside to reptiles?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10330" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-20T16:13:16.287" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in western Washington in the US (winter low temperatures are usually above freezing, rarely in the teens). I'm thinking about putting in a pet door for three animals: a largish cat (about 12 pounds and quite agile), a middle aged toy poodle, and a young standard poodle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd been leaning towards the through wall model of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.endurapetdoor.com/Wall_Mount_Dog_Door.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Patio Pacific Endure Pet Door&lt;/a&gt; in a size 10 (10&quot; x 18&quot; flap) until I read some reviews which said that cats and small dogs have problems with these doors. It sounds like the closure that seals the door well also makes it difficult for small animals to open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I likely to be able to find a door that will accommodate all three animals? Even though we don't have severe winter weather, previous doors have gotten unpleasantly drafty over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastActivityDate="2015-09-20T16:13:16.287" Title="Pet Door For Multiple Animals" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10327" CreationDate="2015-09-20T19:17:00.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same effects as on humans: progressive hearing damage if too loud. Build your brother a drum booth? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-20T19:17:00.410" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10333" CreationDate="2015-09-21T00:54:06.807" Score="2" ViewCount="1427" Body="&lt;p&gt;My one-year-old cat is constantly clawing at my bedroom door. I have many scratching posts' around my home but she still seems to come right back to my bedroom door to claw/scratch my door. The paint on my door is horrible at this point. I've tried adding clear tape to fix the peeling paint that is coming off, but that doesn't work because she will continue to claw that off as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does she think my door is also a scratching post? Isn't there a difference of feeling? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-03T18:46:04.287" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T18:46:04.287" Title="How can I stop my cat from clawing at my door?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10332" CreationDate="2015-09-21T05:26:12.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat has no concept of a scratching post, i.e. for a cat everything is a scratching post if it is not wet, hard as stone or crying when being scratched.  Scratching serves at least three different purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;marking of territory. scratching marks are visible to other cats. Additionally pheromones from the paws are applied at the scratching marks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stress relief&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sharping of the claws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As there are rather instinctive impulses making a cat scratch, it most likely uses the next best place to scratch if in a certain mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you do? You have to make sure, that either there is a much better scratching post to make it take a walk to the better post or to put the scratching posts in vincinity to your door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most scratching posts are vertical things. When observing outdoor cats you'll realize that they prefer inclined posts, because it is more comfortable for them to scrath them. On a inclined post cats can control their scratching much better by using the weight of their own body. I use two small logs or branches leaning agains the wall. All my cats preferred these leaning branches immediately over all other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best if the new ergonomic scratching post is close to the favorite door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't the trick, I suggest to fix an aluminium liner over the damaged area of the door with double faced tape. This will be disliked by most cats. Keep it there until your cat is used to the other scratching posts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using pheromones like Feliway can help bias your cat's preferences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thought. If you close your bedroom door the answer is different. The cat just wants into that room, no matter how. In most cases it is best and simplest to give in and let all doors within the cat's interest open. Many cats can be very obstinate concerning their territory. It makes little sense to resist besides cases where you have to protect an allergic from your cats secretions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastEditorUserId="3732" LastEditDate="2015-09-21T10:56:45.703" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T10:56:45.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10324" CreationDate="2015-09-21T16:18:14.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has she been eating grass today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs have upset stomach days every once in a while and won't eat that day, except for grass, hoping to settle their stomachs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an upset stomach does happen, it's recommended to keep the food away for 24 hours. So your dog not eating for one single day is not concerning. It does not matter that she is a little dog, the trainer was correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you continue to have problems and you feel your dog needs to eat, put water in the kibble bowl so that the food absorbs the water and becomes mushy like wet dog food. That's usually enough to make the dog interested in the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-09-21T16:18:14.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10337" CreationDate="2015-09-22T00:19:48.463" Score="7" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been looking around and I have not seen to why lilies are toxic to cats. I know the whole plant is toxic, but why? Just curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5788" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T02:04:09.460" Title="What makes lilies toxic to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1801" CreationDate="2015-09-22T00:36:22.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thoughtworthy.info/Story/1/All-About-Waffles-my-Maltipoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;maltipoos&lt;/a&gt;, approximately 14 pounds. When apart, they aren't destructive with toys. But together, they love playing tug-of-war with every squeaker toy until they rip or come apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, squeak toys and stuff animals have a very short life when the two dogs are together (Less than a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything with a rope lasts substantially longer than the squeak and stuff animals, but will eventually come apart (Around a month)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any heavy duty puzzle toy, has a much better chance of survival, and can withstand many scratches and bites, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thoughtworthy.info/BlogPost/194/Whats-the-Best-Puzzle-Toy-for-my-Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Starmark Bob-a-Lot&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I avoid toys designed to be chewed and slowly fall apart, like nylabones or other hard snacks that require chewing. These can be potential choking hazards if the pieces break off in the wrong way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5789" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T00:36:22.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10335" CreationDate="2015-09-22T01:25:33.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The webmind says &quot;What makes lilies poisonous is still unknown, but it is known that the toxin is soluble in water and deadly. Cats suffer from kidney failure after ingesting even tiny amounts of this plant and flower.&quot; Other organs may also be damaged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodies are basically lazy. Producing enzymes to detoxify everything they might encounter is metabolically expensive, so carnivores often lack some of the paths that deal with phytotoxins. Exactly which ones get optimized away depends on species. Cats can handle caffeine and thiobromine better than dogs do, pound for pound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T01:25:33.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-22T11:05:22.263" Score="6" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rescue 3 year old English bull terrier who was treated badly, and when out in the garden is very aggressive, barks and tries to jump over our fence at anything or anybody who goes by. I have tried to calm him down when he does this, but he turns, snarls at me and carries on. We have had friends and neighbours round and he has been good with them, but even if a neighbour goes past he goes mad - even though the same neighbour has been round our house and he has been OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the second time a friend called (the 1st time he was good with her) she was inside the gate he aggressively ran to her barked and tried to bite her, also when we walk him, any noise or again anybody / anything passing by, makes him stressed and pulls extremely on his lead. Other than that he is extremely loving and affectionate with me and my partner and follows us round like a shadow, we love him so much, and hope someone can give us some advice and help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:43:32.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:43:32.870" Title="How can i stop my dog being aggressive with people passing by" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-22T12:47:48.673" Score="4" ViewCount="1102" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I already did a post about behaviour change of Elliot, related to our new babycat &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10310/older-cat-doesnt-come-home-since-new-cat-is-here&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our 5 year old neutered male cat, Elliot, is bullying other cats in the street.&#xA;He is a relatively large common housecat of about 6,5 kg (not fat).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As far as I know, there's no other cat in the vicinity which could pit oneself against him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Towards humans, Elliot is very friendly. He has no fear of strangers, likes getting stroked by anyone and also has no problems if little children carry him around. Almost every friendly contact with humans make him purr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has been a dominant cat since he was big enough to mess with grown cats, circa at the age of 10-12 months (he got neutered at the age of 6 or 7 months).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first year after his birth (I was living at my parents house back then), he has lived with 3 other cats in a large house with a large garden. There was plenty of room for them to avoid each other if they weren't in the mood for other cats, but most of the time they hung around together (all 3 males, no female).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elliot could mess around with them at a relatively young age, but he didn't bully them. They played a lot, as neutered male cats do, they trashed each other sometimes but in general, they've been peaceful. I moved out from my parents' and Elliot did not move with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About half a year later (1,5 years old at this time) Elliot begun to attack the oldest tomcat (14 years old, getting weak of old age) several times a day. These attacks haven't been a game then, they where designated to kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day Elliot really almost killed the oldest and my mom asked if I would take him, as Grandpa is too old to adapt to a new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day, Elliot came to me. He adapted fast, Grandpa recovered, everything was fine.&#xA;We got a second tomcat half a year later. They've been friends for a while. 2 years later, the younger tomcat got overrun by a car and Elliot was on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, the story from the linked post at the beginning starts. Short story:&#xA;We got a baby cat (female), result: he didn't came home anymore.&#xA;We gave that baby cat to a trustworthy other person, Elliot came back home again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as he is on his own again, Elliot started to bully other cats. As far as I've seen it or heard from neighbors, he doesn't try to kill, just harass them.&#xA;If they run away, he goes after them for a while, until he loses interest.&#xA;There is one single cat, which is a tomcat as well, which he doesn't bully. This cat is about &lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt;/&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; of his mass and of dominant nature as well. I've never seen them fight, but when I see them together, they don't look like friends as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could I do to stop this bullying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just in case this takes a role in his territorial behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elliot is an very active hunter. Some days, I've seen him 2-3 times with a freshly caught mouse, which he always eat himself directly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an acre about 300 meters from our house, where I've seen him hunting. One of the bullied cats has its favorite spot on the direct way to this acre. This cat had this place, before we moved to that village. He also catches and eat pigeons, if they're careless.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A neighbor told me he found a dead marten in his lawn which has been killed by another animal (bite marks, size of a cat, at his throat).  I don't know if it was Elliot. Martens aren't easy enemies for cats. As far as I know, martens have significant higher chances to win a fight than cats have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2999" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T21:48:39.933" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T21:48:39.933" Title="Our neutered male cat bullies other cats in the street" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10338" CreationDate="2015-09-22T15:50:12.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel that this dog is way beyond your skills as an owner. You haven't mentioned the possibility of a trainer, and that doesn't bode well, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is a ticking time bomb and he will eventually attack another human, child, or animal, and quite possibly kill them. Do not, under any circumstances, ever take this dog to a dog park. Your yard is the only place he can be off-leash. These are not nice things to say, but you need to come to grips with the fact that right now your dog is a liability and you have no control over your animal. I would recommend going through your yard and making sure there is no place he can jump over, dig under, or chew through the fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;i have tried to calm him down when he does this but he turns and snarls at me and carries on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snarling at his owner is not a good sign &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt; and I would not be surprised if you get bitten by this dog the next time you do this. You didn't describe how you're trying to calm him down, but it's not effective, and quite possibly making the situation much worse. Only a professional can help you with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;makes him stressed and pulls extremely on his lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that he cannot pull free of his lead, snap the metal parts, or get loose of his collar/harness/leash. You are using your sheer body weight and force to keep the dog under your control, and this is an accident waiting to happen. If either you or your wife walks him and you are not paying attention, not feeling well, or are ill/weak, it's very likely the dog will get lose and bloodshed will occur. You will want to talk to your dog trainer about prong collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other than that he is extremely loving and affectionate with me and my partner and follows us round like a shadow, we love him so much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not enough reason to keep a dangerous animal that you cannot control. You have a lot of hard decisions to make. Surrender is hard. Training will be long and very hard. You need to be honest with yourselves and determine if you both are capable of getting on board the trainer's program and devote all of the time and energy to participate in its rehabilitation. Special emphasis on both you and your wife, if only one person participates, the non-participant undermines all the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T15:50:12.233" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15112" CreationDate="2015-09-22T16:26:56.160" Score="2" ViewCount="4297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cockatiels, a male and a female. They usually have a good tone, sitting close to eachother and communicating with eachother when apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I see one or both of them bowing head to the other. When bowing, they will keep their head down and slightly push their head into the other.&#xA;I've never seen any of them respond to the other's bowed head. Usually the other gets annoyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like they both want the other to do somethibng specific, and both get annoyed when the other doesnt do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this behavior mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T05:31:01.927" Title="Cockatiels bowing heads to eachother" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10338" CreationDate="2015-09-22T16:41:06.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a problem. An aggressive pug might maim an ankle. An aggressive bull terrier can easily kill a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bull Terrier&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bull Terriers can be both independent and stubborn and for this reason&#xA;  are not considered suitable for an inexperienced dog owner. They are&#xA;  protective of their family, although comprehensive socialization when&#xA;  they are puppies will prevent them from becoming over-protective and&#xA;  neurotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes you see videos of bull terriers sleeping with babies and playing with cats but they were probably in that environment since a pup.  An adult pit that has been treated badly is really hard to rehabilitate even for an experienced dog person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog snarls at you that is very bad sign.  The dog does not accept you as the alpha and does not take instruction from you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow you around the house like a shadow is also not a good thing.  This is a dog with protect instincts in full force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You, your partner, and the dog need to see a professional trainer.  If you cannot get the dog under control you need to consider giving up the dog.  And next time rescue a passive breed.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a guard / protection dog then get one as a pup or pay big dollars for professionally trained dog.  An aggressive rescue is just an aggressive dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-09-23T15:16:09.273" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T15:16:09.273" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10342" CreationDate="2015-09-22T21:47:42.953" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's the gesture I think you're describing... My brother, who speaks parrot,told me that this is a friendly greeting. He's able to do it well enough to reliably get &quot;replies&quot; and interest from zoo birds;I've been able to make that happen occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He advises me that opening your &quot;beak&quot; and waggling your tongue (not sticking it out, just moving it up and down rapidly) is another non-hostility signal that humans can recognize and imitate well enough to be understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I really do not speak parrot, or bird generally, though I'm OK with mammals and reptiles. I really should learn, since I'm currently the designated fosterer should the bird outlive his humans.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-09-22T23:57:33.067" LastActivityDate="2015-09-22T23:57:33.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10340" CreationDate="2015-09-22T23:50:07.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you're willing to keep him under control, I'm afraid you'll just have to let the cats work out who defers to whom. The good news is that most of the noise and posturing is just that; it rarely takes more than a brief tussle to decide who's boss, and it's mostly threat rather than serious fighting. &quot;So's your mama!&quot; &quot;You want some of this? Well?&quot; &quot;I'm not afraid of you! I just have better things to do.&quot; &quot;Sure, punk. Whatever you say.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those tussles can do some damage, admittedly, but it's usually minor and most of it doesn't come to that. And cats can be spitting at each other one minute and then, having settled the matter, sharing a sunny porch the next. They may never be grooming buddies, but as long as they agree on who's in charge things will be relatively peaceful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this may pass quickly, as he gets over the ego-boost of having driven his rival away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative to letting the cats resolve it is to keep him from interacting with them at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-09-24T01:51:08.253" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T01:51:08.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10335" CreationDate="2015-09-23T02:04:09.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Keshlam noted, the effect of some forms of lilies on the kidneys of cats is well known, but the &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; for the toxicity is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are also many plants called lily and the toxicity can be different or non-existent, depending on the plant. This is further made difficult because of hybrids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &lt;em&gt;lily of the valley&lt;/em&gt;, for example, the risk is around the fact that it's a cardiac glycoside which, in more general terms, is a class of drug that modifies the contraction capabilities of the heart muscle (increasing it). Overdosing on this could result in severe poisoning and death and not just in cats, which is why the general drug class is managed quite carefully in medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in general, if there is the word &quot;lily&quot; in the name and you have cats, probably best to get it out of reach or, even better, out of the home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T02:04:09.460" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10329" CreationDate="2015-09-23T17:49:56.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not feed wild insects to a reptile in captivity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of pesticides are very common on residential areas which will be ingested by your gecko, and you have no control over what the &lt;em&gt;insects&lt;/em&gt; are eating, so everything eaten by the insect is also being eaten by your pet. Insects carry disease and parasites of their own, so one bad insect and you could find yourself with an expensive veterinary bill for a captive pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farm-raised insects generally have controlled living conditions and diets, so that provides a level of control and consistency that helps assure you aren't feeding something unexpected to your pet. Just be sure to vary the selection of insects you feed them, and gut load and/or dust them with vitamins and calcium before you feed them to your gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2015-09-23T17:49:56.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10358" CreationDate="2015-09-24T00:49:04.163" Score="4" ViewCount="543" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I run out of dog food my go-to is raw eggs/bananas because they're always in the house. Those are also my Pug's favorite food/treats. If I train her to do something new, or she's showing good discipline, I'll reward her with either. She has raw eggs every couple months and bananas as treats a couple times a month max. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tj2ejDmHOs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Is this hurting her?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5796" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T06:51:41.087" Title="Are eggs (raw or cooked) and bananas acceptable as treats/emergency meals for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7916" CreationDate="2015-09-24T04:34:57.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm lucky to say I've had Rotties by me half my life. They are very affectionate but do require a solid role model. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puppies cant really do anything 5 minutes a month is probably right at first like the other guy mentioned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My rotties have always had stronger minds than their bodies it seems, they do kind of need to be paced. So if you wanna do a long trail its no problem if you just walk the whole thing at first. This is when you get to see how they react in the car or at home when you see them actually relax and pant away for a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With consistency his body will mold to the type of treatment its given on a regular basis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heart rate is probably the main concern with the muscly boys so jogging / walking / jogging / walking is better than running / stopping / running / stopping type deal ideally its a walk / jog / run / jog / walk repeat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5797" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-09-24T08:24:04.067" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T08:24:04.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10353" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-24T16:24:56.063" Score="2" ViewCount="654" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an indoor dog and he's just a small jack russel terrier and  sometimes when we take him outside to do his business, my neighbor's big husky sometimes jumps the fence. He starts barking and that makes all the dogs in the neighborhood bark and he just never leaves. Sometimes while everyone is at work/school my pregnant sister in law is the only one that can take our dog out. And she is just terrified of big dogs, we've talked with the neighbors but they still have not done anything. What exactly can I do? Because our neighbors obviously won't do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5801" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:10:01.043" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T17:37:51.210" Title="What can I do about my neighbor's dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-24T17:43:01.363" Score="4" ViewCount="4936" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two small fish in our tank, they seemed very happy until about a week ago. They both became fairly inactive and had their dorsal fins clamped down against their backs. We thought it might be the filter in need of a change, so we replaced the cartridge and things started to look up for the gold one, but the black one is still looking quite bad. He spends a lot of time either at the very top or the very bottom of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some Info:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They're in a 25 litre tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They're both about 5-6cm long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are two plants in there and one piece of wood for hiding in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A partial water change is done every week (changing 20%-30%). When the water is changed, the glass and wood is cleaned too&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They last had a water change exactly a week ago&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We've had them for about 2 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The water has been tested at the local pet shop (Pets at Home) and everything was good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no water heater in the tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After worrying about the filter (it was just a cheap one that came with the tank) it has been replaced with a new one. I read online that this can result in losing the &amp;quot;good bacteria&amp;quot;, so I left the old one in there too (switched off)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They get fed every other day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pet shop recommended adding some aquarium salt so I added one tablespoon (as recommended on the packet) a few days ago. This seemed to help for a short while&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas what we could do to help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1QdIt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1QdIt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The Fish with its fins clamped down&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5802" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T01:43:13.887" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T01:43:13.887" Title="Black goldfish with its fin clamped down" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10356" CreationDate="2015-09-24T18:03:02.780" Score="9" ViewCount="90206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen this behavior in kittens before who are nursing with the mother. They push and pull on the mother's fur with their paws to get the milk. My cat, however, is a adult and has no mother. She does this while purring loudly and it seems to make her happy. Is this is memory that she is re-enacting? Is it a self-soothing behavior? I know little about her before I found her and her siblings abandoned, seven years ago. She &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; very hungry back then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5803" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:20.977" Title="My adult cat kneads and sucks on my blanket like a kitten. Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2015-09-24T18:42:43.670" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.livescience.com/40548-why-do-cats-knead.html&quot;&gt;http://m.livescience.com/40548-why-do-cats-knead.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In adulthood, a cat supposedly will knead when it's feeling happy or content because it associates the motion with the comforts of nursing and its mother. Adding further weight to the explanation: Some cats even suckle on the surface they're kneading.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes down to it though, no one knows for sure why exactly some adult cats knead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T18:42:43.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10425" CreationDate="2015-09-24T21:59:05.067" Score="4" ViewCount="2859" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a white dwarf hamster about 6 months old. Now I am pedantic about diet, it's environment and I check him daily. Water replaced regularly, bedding regularly. Overall he gets the same treatment I would expect if I could not do it myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I picked him up this evening and noticed under his belly a sort of brownish scab that sort of protrudes out slightly. It's not like a scab that we would get from falling, instead it has sort of &quot;grown&quot; outwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no sign of inflammation and his hair doesn't seem to be falling out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what I should do? I have Aloe Vera gel but it is from the pharmacy and I do not want to apply this if it will make the hamster sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, because I play with him daily, I honestly don't know how I missed this if it was already there yesterday, unless it's possible from hurting himself (which I can't see how) as there is nothing dangerous or sharp in his cage. To me it looks a little too sketchy to be a normal scab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an image of what is happening under his stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gmg50.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gmg50.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think perhaps a vet may not be a bad call if it does not improve. I do want to try home remedies first though if anyone knows what this might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks again!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastEditorUserId="5804" LastEditDate="2015-09-25T18:29:53.833" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T21:11:36.237" Title="Hamster - Skin Infection" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10350" CreationDate="2015-09-24T23:17:48.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs are quite high in fat and not generally recommended to be given frequently. But using them for training purposes only is a great idea. Just remember this rule of thumb: Whatever human food you are giving your Pug, imagine the food amount being 3-4 times bigger and that is what you would be feeding to a human. Ever so often with bananas is OK. Once a week is all good and adult dogs can handle a little variety with small amounts of treats/human food ever now and again. Never feed the following though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Seeds and nuts of any kind&#xA;-Grapes&#xA;-Raisins&#xA;-Onion&#xA;-Garlic&#xA;-Chocolate (you'd be surprise how many people think a little is OK)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the rewarding good &quot;discipline&quot;, I'd try to move away from food if it's a general sitting when asked, unless you are teaching a new behaviour, than high rates of rewards to begin with and then fading to a verbal command and then to a hand gesture, coupled with the verbal command&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2015-09-24T23:17:48.507" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10327" CreationDate="2015-09-25T00:49:21.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You ever see those sound rooms that have cones of foam on the walls and ceiling to deaden sound?  You could make something like that for them - a box with foam walls that would be much quieter.  You might want to make one for yourself if loud drums play all the time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T00:49:21.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10298" CreationDate="2015-09-25T02:18:22.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try fencing the plants away from the turtle. You could try building a fence around the plants with something like chicken wire, or the plastic equivalent thereof or nylon mesh zip tied to some steaks. You could steak these into or bury them in the substrate the plant is growing in and then have them extend well above the water line so the turtle doesn't go over or under them. The turtle won't really be able to hide in the plants any more but at least s/he won't eat them and they can help with water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5806" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T02:18:22.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10350" CreationDate="2015-09-25T06:51:41.087" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A simple Google search shows both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pet360.com/dog/nutrition/can-dogs-eat-bananas/0h4luVaGiECXoAyYm4FmaA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bananas&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/feeding-your-dog-raw-eggs-good-or-bad/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;raw eggs&lt;/a&gt; appear safe for a dog to eat in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, you should check with your vet before feeding your pet something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T06:51:41.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-25T07:25:11.097" Score="4" ViewCount="11450" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked this question on  but haven't received an answer, so I thought I would try here also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog passed away a few days ago. He ran away from home early in the morning, and by the time we found him it was late afternoon and he was very weak, on the brink of death. Soon after we brought him home, he drifted off and stopped breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was feeling very horrible thinking about what might have happened to him in the hours before we found him, and that he might still be alive if we had somehow stopped him from running away. But a few people comforted me, saying that a lot of old dogs run away from home when its time to die. Perhaps they like to die alone? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there's any truth to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notability: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/info_12047757_dogs-run-away-dying.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ehow.com/info_12047757_dogs-run-away-dying.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Yvonne Liew" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T13:37:58.313" Title="Do old dogs run away to die?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10364" CreationDate="2015-09-25T14:56:21.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my research it is &lt;strong&gt;unclear&lt;/strong&gt; whether dogs run away to die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After using the search term &quot;dog death&quot; on Google scholar, there are no pages I found concerning the phenomenon, &amp;amp; none for &quot;wolf death&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular Googling provides speculation only - some people saying it happened with their dog, others saying it's a myth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, no books I've ever read on dog training mention the issue at all, so I'm &lt;em&gt;tempted&lt;/em&gt; to say it is not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5807" LastEditorDisplayName="user5807" LastEditDate="2018-08-28T06:53:45.023" LastActivityDate="2018-08-28T06:53:45.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-25T14:58:21.617" Score="4" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MAiv4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Injured Rabbit (Not for the squeamish!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mouse over shows image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MAiv4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Injured Rabbit&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello, I live in a village, and I found this rabbit outside my door this morning, it does not seem to have much power, I can hold it with minimum resistance. It suffers severe nose lost, the bones are visible. I was told by one of my one villagers that it is old and sick with psoriasis and it is common practice to release these animals to become prey of wild animals of the area.&#xA;I tried to feed it, it does not show interest, gave it water with siringue, it took some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What disease does the animal seem to have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should it be given first aid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no doctor available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;El&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5808" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T04:00:07.210" Title="Rabbit's nose lost from unknown cause" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10353" CreationDate="2015-09-25T18:53:37.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several things that you can do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Talk to your neighbors.&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes they're just unaware of the issue and most responsible pet owners would be happy to work on any issues others are having with their pets. It sounds like you've done this already and your neighbors are apathetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;File a noise complaint.&lt;/strong&gt; Use the internet to look up how to file a noise complaint in your area for the excessive barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the dog is getting loose&lt;/strong&gt; in the neighborhood, you can call animal control - either to report the owners for failure to control/contain their animal, or to have animal control pick up the dog. They can also check that the animal's living conditions are good and proper and no animal abuse is occurring. If the dog is as scary as you describe it, it's very possible he may attack other pets, children, or adults in the area when loose unsupervised. Another option is to  pick up the dog yourself and take it to the nearest shelter area (as lost and found). Most of these options create a paper trail on the owners and force them to pay fines to pick up their dog again. In some cases, having to pay fines is enough for bad owners to chose abandonment over fines. If the owners are actually responsible pet owners but too poor to pay the fines, this can create a similar (but sadder) situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the dog is getting loose in your confined yard&lt;/strong&gt; This is an immediate hazard to you and your pets. If the dog is as aggressive as you described, it is likely a dog fight to the death will ensue in this confined territory space. You must remove your animal immediately when this occurs and put him inside. Call animal control. I would also consider a taller fence, talking to the neighbor about any items against the fence the dog may be using to climb it, and taking pictures and making documentation in case the neighbors decide to sue or countersue if/when a dead pet occurs (having a paperwork trail going from animal control will be extremely helpful in this sort of case). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be prepared for dog fights&lt;/strong&gt; Another thing that you can do is to be prepared. The gel form of pepper spray is excellent for breaking up dog fights (spray both dogs or the victim may  become the opportunistic aggressor). Know which phone numbers to call, have your phone, or even carry around a dog medic kit. You can watch videos of how to break up a fight and what to do and how to react to misbehaving or overzealous dogs. Merely being mentally prepared can help you keep calmer, which in turn, should help your dog to be calmer and more stable, as anxiety is often a precursor in fights. This doesn't solve your problem, but it can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="495" LastEditDate="2015-09-25T19:00:42.980" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T19:00:42.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-25T19:30:54.230" Score="1" ViewCount="461" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1.5 gallon (5.7 liters) acrylic aquarium which I recently made the mistake of cleaning with a blue scotchbrite sponge - not a wise idea, I know, but I didn't realize that the sponges contained harmful chemicals at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm trying to undo what I did and remove all traces of harmful chemicals from the tank. I was told on another forum that acrylic tanks were more likely to retain chemicals because they're more porous than glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Would soaking the tank in vinegar help? If so, how should I do that (what concentration and for how long)? Any other suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've already rinsed my tank pretty thoroughly and am currently soaking it in water and Bettasafe, which is supposed to remove heavy metals. I have no fish in the tank at the moment. Thanks for any help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5809" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T22:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T22:59:16.063" Title="Removing Chemicals from plastic aquarium" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10369" CreationDate="2015-09-25T19:55:54.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless the sponge had chemical residue on it from some prior use, I think it is very unlikely to have left any chemicals behind.  If you had used it for something at some point, there could be residue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is, there is an easy way and cheap way to fix the problem.... As we used to say in my Fish Store days: Dilution is the solution to pollution. ;)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go buy some distilled water from the store.  Distilled water very readily dissolves just about anything (well, anything that is water soluble...  i.e. it won't help dissolve grease).  Most household cleaners and detergents are water soluble. USo, pour a gallon of distilled water in the tank, then just use your hand to agitate the water while rubbing the sides of the tank like you were cleaning.  Pour out the water, and repeat this 2 or 3 more times (distilled water is very cheap).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have done this, there won't be any residue from anything at all and you can go ahead with a fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3182" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T19:55:54.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10321" CreationDate="2015-09-25T20:25:14.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We likely don't have enough information.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there should be &lt;em&gt;NO&lt;/em&gt; nitrite or ammonia in an established pond.  The presence of nitrite means the presence of ammonia.  Ammonia will come from the fish and decaying organic matter (e.g. dead fish, rotting leaves... anything that can decompose basically).  Gross overfeeding could cause that, but it sounds like you've had the fish for at least months.  Overfeeding would have caused a problem a lot sooner than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like until recently that you had no means of circulation and/or oxygenation.  Warm water cannot hold as much oxygen as cold water.  Without circulation and agitation, it wouldn't take much of a film on the surface of the pond to greatly inhibit gas exchange.  So, that could lead to oxygen deprivation.  That would not, in itself, explain your nitrites.  So my best guess is:  the water got so hot, some fish expired from oxygen deprivation.  Those fish rotted which drove up ammonia and nitrite and further exacerbated the lack of oxygen, and you had a chain reaction fish kill.  It's unfortunate but true that some fish dying can greatly worsen the situation for the remaining fish, and things can get out of hand quickly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, could be chemicals/poison too....  just no way to know probably.  Get a good filter system that will aerate the water as well as convert ammonia and nitrite quickly, and try again.  Start with just a handful of fish and only add more only after testing negative for ammonia and nitrite. (it could take a while). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3182" LastActivityDate="2015-09-25T20:25:14.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-26T21:05:38.363" Score="7" ViewCount="866" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay so I built a small aquarium in my snake's terrarium for him to swim in. I added a couple of small fish that can live without water conditioner. I'd like to get different fish for the aquarium, but they require treated water and I'm afraid this will harm my snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know anything about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5815" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:02:36.963" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:03:49.367" Title="Water conditioner for a snake" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2015-09-27T14:39:14.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also had a cat that started peeing in the bathroom sink and the bathtub. A vet visit found crystals in his urinary tract. Common with male cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2015-09-27T14:39:14.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T02:37:25.233" Score="7" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know they are just playing, but my 2 dogs a 18 month male Pit and a 12 month female Pit, play so rough my female looks like she has been in a war! I've only had the male a month (he is Great in every other way) but he likes to nip, pinch and body slam her when they play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I let it go for the first 2 weeks thinking she would get tired of getting hurt. She hasn't... even though she yips sometimes. But she looks terrible! Mostly she is missing hair and scratches, but she does have quite a few scratches that have scabbed over, they are so deep. I have tried making them stop playing when I see it (even sneaking up on them when they go out in the yard). I tried letting one out at a time when I can't go out with them, but they love each other so much one doesn't want to go out with out the other. HELP!! I've been looking for answers online, but nothing really covers my problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5818" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-09-28T11:15:33.990" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T01:07:19.110" Title="I know it's play...but my female is taking a beating!" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T04:57:36.647" Score="6" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use clumping cat litter for our cat toilets. The problem is that that stuff clumps so well that it will also stick to the scoop and the edges of the litter tray, and is really hard to remove. Is there anything I can do to prevent that? Not sure if this is a terrible idea, but I was wondering if I could spray them with a little cooking oil, but I'm afraid that would diminish the quality of the cat litter and/or irritate the cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastEditorUserId="2554" LastEditDate="2015-09-28T12:30:07.960" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T16:49:35.060" Title="Keeping tools clean with clumping cat litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10454" CreationDate="2015-09-28T15:18:20.660" Score="9" ViewCount="35106" Body="&lt;p&gt;When rabbits are bonded they form a very strong relationship.  When that bond is broken through physical separation or death of one the partner I have heard that they can die from loneliness.  The risk is considered so significant at my local shelter that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wpahumane.org/adoption-fees&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a bonded pair has the same adoption fee as a single rabbit&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen rabbits who have survived being separated and I have heard of otherwise healthy bunnies who died within a few days of losing their partner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for answers that include outcomes from multiple broken bonds.  Points to answer are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Death a few days after partner, where it is reasonable to assume there was not a medical or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4407&quot;&gt;poisoning related connection.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the second death was the submissive or dominant bunny in the relationship (does one handle it better than the other?) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any signs or symptoms immediately proceeding the second death, and how they differed from the first death&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treatments attempted to prevent death&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points: Outcome of attempts to find a new partner for the living bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note.  The scenario I have gathered from interacting with multiple house rabbit people, is: The living rabbit on the loss of it's partner will get depressed and stop or decrease eating for a couple of days then they die.  Very experienced rabbit people will recognize this for the emergency it is and force feed if required.  Second deaths are usually with in the first 3 to 10 days after the first.  I have also seen rabbits that were clearly distressed by the loss who survived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T21:58:29.560" Title="Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10378" CreationDate="2015-09-28T16:49:35.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a nonstick cooking utensil for the purpose? Or one of the scoops that, like some toilet brushes, has a stand to hide it in when not in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had this problem, at least not any worse than with non-clumping litter. Stabbing the scoop into clean(ish) litter a few times will shake most accumulations free. I empty and refill the pan every month or so, and it it seems to need cleaning I do it then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But realistically: It's a toilet. It's never going to be perfectly clean, any cleaning won't last long, and I don't really try to do more than keep it reasonably clear and acceptable to the cats. Having cats is like having infants, in terms of learning not to be overly squeamish about ejecta from either end...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-28T16:49:35.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-28T20:58:52.777" Score="3" ViewCount="3194" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently (about 2 months ago) got a kitten. He's about 5 months old now. At the time, we were both spending a lot more time at home, playing with him and being with him in general. Now, we've both got full time jobs, so we're away on weekdays for 8 hours a day. He has tons of toys, a kitty condo to nap/scratch on and we give him access to all the rooms of the apartment (except the bathroom since he gets into the trash).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is is it possible for him to get too lonely and bored when he's home by himself? I wouldn't want him to be too unhappy or upset that he's alone most of the time, because he's very friendly and generally loves attention from us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5824" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-08T18:04:21.383" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T18:04:21.383" Title="Is my kitten too lonely at home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="281" CreationDate="2015-09-28T22:39:25.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never use a spray bottle...all that does is make your cat afraid of you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/the-squirt-bottle-controversy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;behaviorist Pam Johnson Bennett&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The squirt bottle technique only accomplishes three things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It creates frustration in the cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It causes the cat to become afraid of you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The cat learns to wait until you aren’t around before engaging in the behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, behaviorist Jackson Galaxy (of the television show My Cat From Hell) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.littlebigcat.com/behavior/squirt-bottles-punishment-and-cat-behavior/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;states&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the cat actually learning in this scenario? Is he learning&#xA;  that the counter is a bad place to be be? No. What Tigger is learning&#xA;  is that, first, the counter is a bad place to be when you are present&#xA;  and holding the squirt bottle, and second, he is learning to be afraid&#xA;  of you. The bottle appears to him as an extension of your arm, and it&#xA;  is you, not the bottle, that is getting him wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other training techniques can be found in the question: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/67/how-should-i-discipline-my-cat-for-bad-behavior&quot;&gt;How should I discipline my cat for bad behavior?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5825" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T16:12:40.707" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10394" CreationDate="2015-09-28T22:50:43.580" Score="2" ViewCount="1563" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat long time ago, probably got her around '93; she would only have one litter per year which made us think all cats did. The cat sadly passed away a few years ago and I got my mom another one (since I don't live at home anymore) and we thought she was going be an indoor cat. My family moved to another house and the cat was put outside, shortly she started having litters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But she has had so many litters over the last 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Cat gets pregnant, has litter, kittens reach 3 months of age and the cat is already pregnant again. It's not annoying to take care of the kittens, but its hard to get them all new homes. Not that we haven't, but it's still somewhat of a hassle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, could someone explain the differences? I'm really confused.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, we are planning to spay the cat as soon as current kittens reach 10 weeks of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T13:45:04.313" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T13:45:04.313" Title="Why do some outdoor cats have more frequent litters than other outdoor cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10385" CreationDate="2015-09-28T23:35:56.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats, like some people, become pregnant more easily than others.  Some have more opportunity than others. Maybe you just have more unfixed toms in the neighborhood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, you were lucky, or the cat was lucky, or the cat was unlucky, or something like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T14:44:04.620" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T14:44:04.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10397" CreationDate="2015-09-29T02:26:51.993" Score="4" ViewCount="727" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we know, Cats are usually active at night and sleep at noon, but I would like to play with cats at day and sleep with cats at night, is it possible to train cats to sleep at night like human?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T01:37:40.733" Title="Can cats sleep at night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10387" CreationDate="2015-09-29T02:59:47.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats alternate waking and sleeping all day and all night. They don't generally sleep a solid 6 hours or more as we do, but mine certainly spend some time sleeping with and on me. (I need to figure out how to get photos without disturbing them; I'm sure it's very cute.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T02:59:47.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25328" CreationDate="2015-09-29T03:05:18.987" Score="4" ViewCount="1179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 5 gallon tank that is home to a male Betta (mellow personality,) and 2 days ago I added 3 glass catfish.  I got the glass catfish specifically because they are reported to be reasonable tank-mates for less-aggressive Bettas, and so far it has worked fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glass catfish seem to prefer the bottom corner opposite the pump outlet, that the pump outlet is pointed at; they just school within that current.  They rarely move towards the surface of the water, even at feeding time.  If a piece of food sinks and then drifts in their direction, they'll ignore it unless it practically hits them in the face.  Then they'll lunge and swallow it faster than you can blink.  This differs from behavior I've seen in Youtube videos, where they'll swim up for the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently, I'm feeding them fish-derived flakes, because I didn't know any better at the time.  I intend to buy some frozen worms tomorrow, but I've read that flakes are at least OK for an occasional meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what, if anything, I can do to encourage them to get up to the top of the tank before Betty[*] eats all their food.  I could possibly redirect the pump outlet to point closer to the surface of the water, but that will make the Betta's food sink faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[*] Child insisted we name him Betty... can't be helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5826" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T05:40:17.440" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T05:18:39.450" Title="How to get glass catfish to eat?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10383" CreationDate="2015-09-29T06:17:12.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work long shifts as does my housemate, so there can be times when no one is home for 12-15 hrs in a day. We ended up getting two kittens about 7 years ago so they could keep each other company. I don't think cats get very lonely in 12 hours or so, not like dogs. I think having two cats relieves boredom as they play, fight and wrestle with each other, thus getting stimulation. However, after longer stretches of absence like a day or so my cats do appear to have really missed me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5827" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T06:17:12.367" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10406" CreationDate="2015-09-29T11:03:02.767" Score="6" ViewCount="33438" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is pregnant and we want to get her spayed, we don't want her to accidentally get pregnant again nor do we want to put her or the kittens at risk.  How long do we need to wait?  If she is still nursing the kittens does that impact spaying?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI - I see there is question about a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6228&quot;&gt;9 month old kitten/cat that is still nursing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T01:04:19.350" Title="How soon after giving birth can a cat be spayed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-09-29T13:54:42.590" Score="4" ViewCount="498" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new here.  I searched for rehomed dog questions, but didn't come up with much.  So here goes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted a ~15 month old male basset hound from a family a few months ago.  The owner claimed that he was potty trained except for &quot;a few accidents here and there.&quot;  Unfortunately it seems that this was a partial truth, at best.  He's regressed badly in his training in the few months since.  He's now peeing and pooping in the house and in his crate on a regular basis, occasionally even in our presence.  Sometimes he'll even go outside for a potty break and then come right back inside and make a mess within minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anybody had experience with re-potty training a rehomed dog?  Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5830" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T17:14:48.130" Title="Rehomed dog potty training habits keep regressing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10385" CreationDate="2015-09-29T15:23:06.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have a very interesting reproductive system, different from most other mammals.  The reason a female cat gets pregnant so easily is because, unlike humans, she ovulates upon stimulation from the male...um, organ (not sure what we can say on this site).  So, a cat will get pregnant every time she mates.  Humans have to wait for ovulation to occur each month and then try to get the timing right to get pregnant.  Another fascinating fact...after the female cat has weaned the kittens and is back on the prowl, she can mate with several males, and her one litter of kittens can have multiple fathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please, please, please spay your cat.  I work at an animal shelter.  The kittens can be weaned at 2 months.  Yes, it is better for them to have the interaction with their mother for 3 months, but the mother isn't going anywhere.  She will be back to teach them cat ways.  Your problem is severe for a couple reasons.  It is contributing to the overpopulation of cats.  It is also putting the mother at risk of developing ovarian cancer later in life.  Studies show that spaying and neutering your cat before its first heat reduces the chances of ovarian and prostate cancer by 99%.  The longer you let her mate, the lower the percentage drops.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the kitty inside.  Studies show that, on average, an inside cat lives to be 16 years old (and can even live into their 20's now).  On average, an outside cat lives to be 4 year old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2015-09-29T15:30:50.867" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T15:30:50.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10387" CreationDate="2015-09-29T16:01:39.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats only sleep whenever they feel like, they don't follow a schedule like we do, they can be playing one moment and then just lay down to nap the next one. So it's no so much about &quot;training&quot; them to sleep, it's more about how their routine with their owners is. In my case, my cats prefer to nap next to/on top of me rather than playing and jumping around. No matter if its day or night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T16:01:39.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10393" CreationDate="2015-09-29T17:14:48.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to go back to the beginning of house training: Confine him to a crate whenever you cannot be actively watching him, take him out at least every hour when not crated (at first -- he should be able to hold it much longer). Give lots of praise and treats when he goes outside. Watch vigilantly for him starting to go when inside and interrupt him and immediately take him out if he starts to go inside. When he does go outside, don't assume his bladder is empty. Male dogs especially use urine to mark territory, so one little squirt means there is probably more. He should get the idea quickly that urinating outside is rewarding and do more quickly. So wait for more. For now, don't ever just tie him up outside. Wait until you see him go so your can praise and reward him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Housetraining is a lot of work and a pain in the butt, but it will pay off in the long run. I finished training my 7th puppy a few months ago and she had not had an accident in over two months now. The longer you let accidents go on, the harder it will be to teach him that going inside is not acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T17:14:48.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10387" CreationDate="2015-09-29T18:02:00.043" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats aren't actually most active at night, perse; they are &lt;a href=&quot;http://animalquestions.org/mammals/cats/are-cats-crepuscular/&quot;&gt;crepuscular&lt;/a&gt;, which means they are most active in the twilight hours around dawn and dusk.  This, in nature, primarily has to do with their prey; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/rodents/mice/behaviour&quot;&gt;mice are also crepuscular&lt;/a&gt; and birds tend to be active early in the morning (E.G. the early bird, which gets the worm).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first link also gives information on how you can attempt to change your cat's sleep schedule, but it's worth noting that the two key methods of changing your cat's schedule are the same as changing your own: Food and Activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Circadian rhythms are set from light exposure (modifiable via artificial light sources, but irrelevant if you're trying to make your cat sleep during the night), the availability of meals (controllable via your throttling of food bowl access -- put it down in the morning, pick it up at night), and typical activity cycles (play with your cat in the daytime; this also helps to tire your cat out for the hours you're asleep or not at home -- they have a much longer sleep time than we humans do).  (Sources: Wikipedia, personal experience, various websites)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and don't be surprised if you end up with a cat alarm clock; they tend to get pushy when their food is withheld until you're awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-09-29T18:02:00.043" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10400" CreationDate="2015-09-30T10:53:45.357" Score="4" ViewCount="924" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see wild birds bathing in small pools.  I don't recall ever seeing a bird cage with a bath in it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do pet birds need (or want) to have a water bath? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/9566&quot;&gt;How to help (&lt;em&gt;wild&lt;/em&gt;) birds with water?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:01.260" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T15:16:10.190" Title="Do pet birds need to bath in water?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10399" CreationDate="2015-09-30T11:27:09.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That does totally depend on the bird!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;pet bird&quot; covers basically everything from macaw over pigeons  to zebra finches, all of which have vastly different needs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, always check the needs of your kind of bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: For birds that do like to water-bath: Some may like water bowl, some may like to shower. If you have a bird, you should take that preference into consideration, too. And I found this great example of a birdbath...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFVzp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFVzp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Beutiful birdbath&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2015-09-30T14:01:58.127" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T14:01:58.127" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6105" CreationDate="2015-09-30T15:04:48.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine jump up and run off when I sneeze, as if they're scared. I don't understand it but I've gotten used to it.  One of them runs off if I cough unless I put a hand on his back first to reassure him. Best suggestion I have is either to develop some signal like that, or lift your hands when sneezing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Late thought: I wonder whether a human sneeze sounds like a hiss to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-10-01T13:40:48.347" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T13:40:48.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10404" CreationDate="2015-09-30T16:43:33.917" Score="4" ViewCount="449" Body="&lt;p&gt;I missed feeding time and my goldfish were sleeping by the time I got to them.  I thought it would be better to let them be and just feed them the normal amount at feeding time the following day.  Was this the right thing to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5837" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T19:03:53.313" Title="Feed goldfish off-schedule or skip a day?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10399" CreationDate="2015-09-30T16:44:38.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the bird's species, some species prefer water, other prefer to use sand/dirt/dust to keep their skin/feathers clean. The answer is that there's no general answer. You must research for the specific species you own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T16:44:38.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10402" CreationDate="2015-09-30T19:03:53.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you did the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no telling if the fish would have woken up to eat but most likely not, meaning that the food just sits in the bottom and detereorates, fouling the water more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that these are fish, they will not die if you don't feed them for a day. Heck, there's stories out there of fish surviving a month with no food (they died when their owners overfed them after their starving situation). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T19:03:53.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10354" CreationDate="2015-09-30T19:14:53.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you got the fish fairly recently, the most likely answer is that they were in poor health already when you got them from the store. This is a very common issue and not all pet stores treat their merchandise the best. There can also be pre-existing issues from where they were bred/raised before being transported to the store, and the transportation itself can be an issue, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hanging out at the bottom, top, the general lethargy you mention, and fins not being displayed are all the fish's way of saying he doesn't feel very well. With the fins clamped, I almost wonder if there was an issue with Itch (did he seem to scratch himself at all)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're pretty goldfish, but everywhere I've seen fish, the goldfish always have the worst conditions as many fish are sold as &quot;feeder fish&quot; for other creatures. Your high-res photo was great but didn't reveal any clues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-09-30T19:14:53.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10391" CreationDate="2015-10-01T00:44:13.380" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When Should She Be Spayed?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't able to find any definitive information about when a nursing mother should be spayed, but spaying nursing mothers seems common in TNR (trap neuter return) groups (it's better to spay a cat that you have in a trap now, then try to trap her again later). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ally Cat Allies (a leading TNR group) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alleycat.org/page.aspx?pid=977&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;states&lt;/a&gt; (based, presumably, on their 25 years of experience in TNR advocacy):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nursing mother cats continue to produce milk after being spayed, and can continue to nurse their kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best Spaying Technique for Nursing Mother&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get her spayed while she is nursing, you can call the local veterinarians and ask if they are experienced in flank spaying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, cats are normally spayed with an incision along their midline (the belly), but in UK (&lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/159/10/309.abstract&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;at least in 2006&lt;/a&gt;) the incision is more commonly located along the flank (along the side).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of a flank spay for a nursing mother is that the incision is less likely to be affected by any leaking milk, and you will be able to monitor the incision without bothering the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-01T00:51:28.963" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T00:51:28.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10389" CreationDate="2015-10-01T04:57:58.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This problem eventually solved itself, I guess once they got hungry enough to chase down food.  I also did redirect the pump outlet to point closer to the surface of the water, to entice the glass catfish to school nearer to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll refrain from accepting my own answer for now, in case someone shows up with a better (or more insightful) one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5826" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T04:57:58.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6105" CreationDate="2015-10-01T12:44:30.840" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some reason, your kitty has been conditioned to think sneezing is a bad  thing.  Your cat thinks something bad will happen to him when he hears a sneeze. In his past, a sneeze or a sound similar to a sneeze, could have conditioned him in this way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to reconditioned him. To do this, you will need to keep his favorite treats throughout the house.  When you feel like you're going to sneeze, run to one of the treat bags/containers and open it.  Hold the bag out in front of you so the cat smells and sees the treats first. When he calmly responds, give him a few treats. Obviously, reconditioning for your specific issue will take a while, unless you sneeze everyday.  (If you do have allergies and sneeze quite often, be careful not to over-feed on treats.  They can cause a cat to gain unhealthy weight.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After your cat calmly approaches, consistently, over a period of time, give the treats every other time you sneeze...then, every third time you sneeze.  Soon, you will have a calm and happy cat and will no longer need to give the treats.  Stick with it and be consistent.  I wish you the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-01T12:44:30.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10417" CreationDate="2015-10-01T13:08:01.420" Score="3" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, two sisters, that always lived together. When they were kittens, we lived in a big house with a garden in which they could play or hunt. But I moved to a smaller appartment with both of them a few years ago. They are now eleven years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beggining everything was okay, but now they fight each other often. One of them seem to be very stressed out. I tried using attractive scents that the vet gave me, but it doesn't seem to work very well. I can't separate them either : I live in a rather small appartment and it would be plain cruel to limit one of them to a small room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make them relax and accept each other ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5842" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:17:39.540" Title="Cat sisters that don't get along" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10409" CreationDate="2015-10-01T16:11:41.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A suggestion I've heard for this situation is trying to reintroduce your cats.  You separate your cats, and slowly work them back up to being together, as you would if the cats were complete strangers.  An article detailing the technique: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/pams-think-like-a-cat-reintroduction-method/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/pams-think-like-a-cat-reintroduction-method/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you might try is rotating cats, where you separate them, but regularly change which cat is in the smaller space, so they can both enjoy the larger area some of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a territory problem.  It may have been your cats only formally got along because they had their established territories in the house, and in this new place, their established territories are gone.  It may be that your new apartment is simply too small to happily accommodate both cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2015-10-02T14:17:39.540" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T14:17:39.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-02T04:29:42.953" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;This cute tiny guy SCREAMS as I've never heard before from any dog ever, it's frightening! This only occurs if he is scolded or during grooming if he wants you to stop. I truly believe he knows this action is power and uses it, as he is not being hurt or does he seem frightened. I was told by breeder after I purchased him, that he was sold and returned once before for same behavior, frightening the couple. I have tried distraction, walking away, ignoring... Nothing has worked. I love the little loud mouth, how do I stop this behavior as the neighbors must think I'm torquering him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5844" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T20:47:25.753" Title="8 mo/2.5 lb Yorkie SCREAMS when scolded" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10423" CreationDate="2015-10-02T06:17:25.203" Score="8" ViewCount="2857" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it is common for hamsters to run on a wheel, do cats also interested in such running wheels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T06:12:40.903" Title="Do cats play wheels like hamsters?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10414" CreationDate="2015-10-02T13:09:58.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not usually. Although , there are a few videos on YouTube showing cats on treadmills...but this is the exception.  You do need to be sure your inside kitty has plenty to do... Lots of toys, scratchers, tall cat trees, and high places to jump and watch the &quot;goings on&quot; of the home.  This is sufficient.  No wheel needed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T13:09:58.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10409" CreationDate="2015-10-02T13:24:04.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a small apartment, vertical space is the key!  Your two 11 year old kitties simply do not have enough room in your apartment. Try creating as much vertical space as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do this by adding tall cat trees at least 6 to 7 feet tall, with several different levels. Your cats will establish a natural dominance on these levels. Add several window perches, where the cats can look out the window and sleep in the sunbeams.  Be sure to put these on several different windows so both cats can use them at the same time.  You can find window perches at any pet store.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest putting up shelves covered in a material they can get their claws into. Make the shelves like stair-steps, starting mid-way on the wall and going up close to the ceiling.  This is just another way they can get more vertical space in a small apartment. You can dress up the shelves, hanging pictures above or below the shelves - just not on the shelves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to make your apartment fun for them. You have to think like a cat, even if it means changing your apartment a little. In the end, you will have happy cats. Happy cats, happy home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T13:24:04.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-02T13:27:52.317" Score="4" ViewCount="19658" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 6-7 year old pancreatic American Eskimo that had been symptom-free for several months. Several weeks ago we got a Thunder Shirt as a gift and she generally seems to enjoy wearing it (for example, she doesn't move awkwardly while wearing it). But this week, after having worn it continuously for several days in a row, she threw up. She had also been acting a bit out of sorts for the last two days, staying in her crate and dodging most attempts to pet her, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been adhering strictly to her dietary requirements, not feeding her anything unless its Guaranteed Analysis indicates a Crude Fat Max of 9% or less (her regular food is 4% max), so we don't think this could be food related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I took the Thunder Shirt off this morning, she seemed to liven up a bit, sat with me on the couch, and even presented her belly for a while, at which point I noticed digestive-type sounds coming from her abdomen at regular intervals - maybe every five seconds or so. I theorized that wearing the Thunder Shirt for multiple days could have been constricting one of her internal organs, and now that I'd removed it, whatever was constricted suddenly started doing whatever it was supposed to be doing. But my wife said it's just the sound of impending diarrhea and not related to the Thunder Shirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could the Thunder Shirt have caused, or contributed to, my dog getting sick? Or did she just start acting more normal after I took it off because she was already feeling better after throwing up, and the timing was just a coincidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastEditorUserId="5303" LastEditDate="2015-10-02T22:21:48.133" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T18:05:24.667" Title="Is it safe to wear a Thunder Shirt for an extended period of time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10383" CreationDate="2015-10-02T13:59:12.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Your kitten can definitely get lonely when you're gone.  A kitten's sleep is broken up by many short bouts of play. Your kitty is used to playing with you, and now you're not there. I work at an animal shelter, where I always tell people who are adopting a kitten that they need to adopt two. Most who decide against our suggestion are back within a month to get another kitten.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your current living situation is not allowing you to have another cat, then you are doing the right thing by leaving toys and giving the kitten plenty of things to do while you're gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure you have a tall cat tree (6-7' tall), with different levels the kitty can climb on. Even though he's a kitten, he will very quickly grow into a tall cat tree, which will give him climbing exercise to wear him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest that you give the kitten a new toy or a favorite toy each time you leave. When you get home put the toy away.  This associates something good and exciting with you leaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T13:59:12.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10414" CreationDate="2015-10-02T17:51:28.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen any cat-sized wheels, so I don't know. I'd be a bit surprised, but cats are often surprising. I suspect treadmills work better for critters with either smaller brains, or larger ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better alternative may be small lightweight balls that they can chase around the house. Or manipulate a strung, wand, or laser dot for them to pounce upon. Or give them things to climb. (My two will occasionally chase each other, or chase something entirely imaginary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A cat might be fascinated by a gerbil ball, but I don't think that would be good for the gerbil. There are some mechanical equivalents that might be good cat toys, though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-10-03T02:07:42.150" LastActivityDate="2015-10-03T02:07:42.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="728" CreationDate="2015-10-02T18:54:00.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I did was get a street cat to eat the dead fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a few in my area starving.&#xA;It's good to feed a street cat but you having to know it's allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats are not allergic to fish (gold and betta) but others may me something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5849" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T18:54:00.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10412" CreationDate="2015-10-02T20:47:25.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently that is this particular dog's fear reaction.  I don't think it's a good idea to try training it out of the reaction itself, but training it to no longer fear these situations should help.  I recommend focusing on positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement such as scolding to train this dog, since it seems to react really badly to scolding.  As for the groomers, try slowly desensitizing the dog to the kinds of things you expect it to get at the groomers.  For instance, gently restrain the dog, for a short period of time, rewarding behavior with treats.  Slowly work up the amount of time the dog is restrained.  Start working in gently handling legs and head as the groomer would.  Eventually you might start using scissors or clippers near the dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T20:47:25.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10414" CreationDate="2015-10-02T22:59:32.640" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat wheels are fairly well known among &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bengal cat&lt;/a&gt; enthusiasts, as the outcross with the Asian Leopard Cat has given them much more energy than a typical house cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The owners of the Maclaw Wheel (a wheel manufacturer in UK) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maclawwheel.co.uk/faq/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;state&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately we are unable to tell you 100% if your cat will use our&#xA;  wheel, but with that said, ANY cat has the potential, it really just&#xA;  depends on the cat and how much effort you are willing to put in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some breeds of cat no matter what the age will just use the cat wheel&#xA;  with very little training...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The breeds we have much success with are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bengal (inc early gen F1-F4)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Toyger &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Savannah &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Egyptian Mau &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Russian Blue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Abyssinian &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Siamese &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Maine Coon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should still keep in mind, there are no guarantees that your cat&#xA;  will use the wheel, each and every cat is different and you need to&#xA;  consider the personality of your cat when purchasing a wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cat wheel manufacturer, One Fast Cat, &lt;a href=&quot;http://onefastcat.com/index.php/faq&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt; that the following qualities are important to determine before purchasing a cat wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two ways to determine if the wheel will work for your cat.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first one is to determine the energy level of your cat. If they&#xA;  have a moderate to high energy level, then the wheel will be good for&#xA;  them to be able to expend some of that energy. An example of moderate&#xA;  to high energy is if your cat is inclined to race through the house in&#xA;  short spurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The second thing to consider if the wheel will be a good fit is if&#xA;  your cat is trainable. A good way to test this is to see if you can&#xA;  get your cat to jump up and down from a chair with the use of a toy or&#xA;  treat as incentive. Or, if your cat is capable of anticipating needing&#xA;  to do specific things in order to receive a reward they want. For&#xA;  example, if you require them to go to a specific spot to eat at a&#xA;  certain time of day, or act a specific way before they get to receive&#xA;  a treat or new toy. These are indicators of a cat who is capable of&#xA;  learning how to be trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to summarize, cats that are high energy and trainable (easier if they're motivated by food or other rewards) may be interested in a cat wheel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally suspect they aren't common because they are more expensive than many other cat toys (wand toys can vary between $5-20, while the wheels are several hundred dollars). In addition, they can require a large amount of space, and create some noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-10-02T22:59:32.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10357" CreationDate="2015-10-03T10:26:14.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If anyone is interested in an answer here. Took the little guy to the vet and it turns out that this was a is bit gunk inside the umbilical cord cavity which can happen from time to time. The vet cleaned him up with a little cotton swab and dettol (savlon) disinfectant. All came off. Skin looks good... So just a tip to hamster owners out there. Keep an eye on the tummy for build up in the middle. :-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5804" LastEditorUserId="5804" LastEditDate="2015-10-03T11:27:32.757" LastActivityDate="2015-10-03T11:27:32.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11254" CreationDate="2015-10-03T10:34:27.697" Score="4" ViewCount="7014" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100214154957AAbYji9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Yahoo answer&lt;/a&gt;, stating dogs carry specific objects around because of an emotional attachment. I'm curious if they have the ability to form that kind of attachment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pug is obsessed with stuffed animals, but usually only plays with one stuffed shark. I haven't been able to pair a few specific situations where she goes to the stuffed shark, it seems random. Sometimes she goes weeks without playing with it, other times it's every day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her interest seems to have positive feedback for engagement with it in the near future. That makes me wonder if she's interested in the shark because I'm interested in her when she's playing with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I looking at...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her attachment to an object, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A sensation, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or her attachment to me?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it could be useful to know if I am responsible for her habits like this or, if they're intrinsic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ASd60.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ASd60.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9pNga.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9pNga.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XgGtM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XgGtM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/akq9i.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/akq9i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5796" LastEditorUserId="5796" LastEditDate="2015-10-03T10:53:45.027" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T06:36:02.720" Title="Why do dogs hold specific objects in their mouth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-03T15:44:42.073" Score="7" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of stray dogs in my street. I would like to give them something to eat everyday. I don't have a lot of money (as I am a student), so giving them dog food is not possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there some ingredients I should avoid?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a better and cheaper alternative?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5852" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-16T20:31:25.740" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T20:31:25.740" Title="Are store-bought biscuits harmful for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7026" CreationDate="2015-10-04T07:59:20.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you are doing anything wrong, it is an injection and she just isn't  liking it. My Labrador is not liking his injections I am new to this too. I am luckier than you as he does not try to bite but he does lie down and roll on his back and wriggle. Same as he has been doing for years when I clip his claws. I think you need to relax a little and stop feeling it is your fault. Just do the best you can she will pick up your anxiety or lack of and react to it. Try sitting with her and giving her a cuddle while you do it. Good Luck to you anyway, we all need a lot of that!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastActivityDate="2015-10-04T07:59:20.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10456" CreationDate="2015-10-04T16:41:57.980" Score="3" ViewCount="22940" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently pinched my brother's cat to stop him from eating a cashew seed. My cat tried eating a cashew seed I presented him with as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hazelnuts and some other nuts can be highly toxic to cats and it is still unknown whether it is related to some contents of the nuts or occasional contamination with toxic moulds, so I did not let them eat the nuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, besides containing too much fat to be part of a regular diet, are cashews known to be harmful to cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:07:40.247" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:07:40.247" Title="Are cashew nuts harmful to cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2015-10-04T18:14:58.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ragdoll Siamese mix with long fur, and I have found that a simple butt bath, that is, only washing the cats bottom with soap and water on a wash cloth then rinsing the cloth and using it to rinse the soap off while holding her close and speaking softly while you do, then cuddling him or her in a bath towel is very successful in cleaning a mess like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the closeness and comforting tone of voice help calm kitty and give assurance that all will be OK, and help to build a trusting bond with kitty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest using a comb to separate scissors and skin, and trim up the pantaloons or fur in that area. Additionally, try feeding kitty hairball remedy nightly to help with any hairball related issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, since kitty is new that bonding needs to take place in all aspects of care including grooming. Even if kitty gets upset at getting a little wet, he or she will eventually get over it and come to except that sometimes they need to be washed. It would be more stressful to leave that in the kitty's fur since they may not be able to get it all cleaned out themselves, thus resulting in the scooting butt boogie and skid marks on both carpeted and non-carpeted floors and a bigger mess for you to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first weeks in home for a kitty should be about bonding and trust. It is not a good idea to just yank the poop out, as like with humans, that area is very sensitive. You can give your pet a treat when you are done to show kitty how much you love him or her and appreciate being allowed to help him or her clean up. This also encourages kitty to come to you when she needs help with grooming issues as well as other issues instead of hiding. I would suggest using one of your old brushes with your scent on it to brush kitty's fur from the beginning and alternate brushing with gentle strokes of the hand so that kitty associates grooming with love and with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Praise and treats reinforce kitty's cooperation and good behavior during grooming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid trying electric clippers or razors, as they tend to be quite scary and probably irritating to kitty's ears and may cause undue stress and injury for both you and kitty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets are a lot like children in many ways. It is true they are very independent, but nonetheless they still depend on you for the food and water they get, a warm bed, a place to go poop, whether it's walking puppy or keeping kitty's litter clean, and definitely lots of love.  The more love you give them, the closer they will get to you and the more they will show you love in return. They show affection, by the way, by bunting (grooming you and rubbing their head against you), snuggling you, rubbing against you when asking for food, and of course bringing you gifts, such as one of their recent kills if they hunt, or even by helping to keep your home bug free. These are just a few ways kitties show their love for you and thank you for all the love and care you give them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5858" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T14:21:47.217" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:21:47.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10473" CreationDate="2015-10-05T03:19:27.150" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is said that &amp;quot;mackerel tabby&amp;quot; cats (tiger tabbies) always have an M on their foreheads, made of two stripes forming a chevron (^) on each side of the centerline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HWkVi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;top view of Harry's head, showing the mackerel tabby M pattern&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My two, as shown by Harry here, also have an oval &amp;quot;rosette&amp;quot; at the top of the head, lighter fur with a few roughly symmetric fragments of stripe within it, bounded by mostly-solid stripes on either side. The pattern is different on each cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was just wondering whether this unique rosette/shield/blazon has been given a name by cat fanciers, or if it's not a common enough part of the pattern to have gotten that attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-18T15:22:05.847" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T15:22:05.847" Title="Idle mackerel tabby terminology question" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-05T22:11:53.240" Score="4" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium with eight Norman's lampeyes (unfortunately 5 male, 3 female) and some other fish. Last Sunday I discovered that one of the Norman's lampeyes wasn't doing so well. She was nearly moving and floated near the surface of the water, head slightly down and tail slightly up touching the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other fish where fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Observed symptom:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hanging near the surface of the water;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fast breathing, but not gasping for air;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not eating;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not using her tail fin;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swims head down tail up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other observations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does not roll to the left or right while swimming (not swimming slanted);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Still responsive: reacts on fishnet and tries to escape, which goes pretty well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water quality and environment:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All water parameters are fine and did not change in the last weeks. The day before I discovered the sick fish I did a small 20% water change, which I do every 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperature: 24.2 °C;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH: 7.4;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;KH: 6;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GH: 3;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrite: 0.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plants are growing fine, there is not much waste and I use liquid fertilizer. My tanks filtration is about 5 times an hour and lights are on for 9 hours a day. Algae growth is almost none, the algae that do grow are most of the time eaten by 5 shrimps (soon to be expanded by a pregnant one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the water quality and environment did not change in the past weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed two times a day. I try to feed small amounts, but I'm suspecting that I could feed them less. 2 times per week I feed them with frozen food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Actions taken:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I didn't notice any disease that could possibly be cured with medicines I didn't use them. But I did add some salt (0.05 grams of 99.8% NaCl per liter of water) to the water to give the fish a more friendly environment. This helps because the fish spends less energy getting salts out of his body (osmosis etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two days later:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now two days later the fish seems more alive and tries to eat when feeding. Also the breathing is way slower than before (back to normal). But the fish still swims without using the tail fin. Could it be paralyzed for good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What kind of disease could this be?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;What causes a tail fin to suddenly stop working?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should notice that one of my other Norman's lampeyes misses an eye (ironically), I discovered this just after I got them from the pet store. But it seems that it doesn't bother the fish, he is doing fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Could these fish suffer from inbreeding?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5866" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T21:10:58.190" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T21:10:58.190" Title="What causes a Norman's lampeye to lose the ability to move it's tail fin?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6450" CreationDate="2015-10-06T04:36:45.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please have your dog's eyes checked by a veterinarian.  I fostered a dog with dry eye.  She lost her sight in one eye, that eye did not reflect light.  If your dog has one eye that does not reflect light, his sight in his other eye is even more important.  Make sure he does not need an inexpensive medication ($20/month) to save his vision in his other eye from dry eye.  If this is the case, both eyes should be treated, since the condition is painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5869" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T04:36:45.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-06T06:33:45.360" Score="2" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 year old male labrador snorts a lot especially when excited and/or holding a toy in his mouth. A lot of the time he's  facing people when he does this. It's pretty disgusting when you get hit in the face with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this is just a reaction to irritants (such as dust etc) and perhaps a behaviour he's picked up due to being excited rather than a medical condition &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train him not to snort towards people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="684" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T21:06:06.163" Title="How can I train my dog to stop snorting at me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10442" CreationDate="2015-10-06T10:30:20.710" Score="17" ViewCount="99518" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently got an 8 month old cat from a breeder, it had lived its live in a cage with the rest of the litter up to that point. The car journey home was about an hour and the whole time I had my hand in the carrier and was stroking her gently. She didn't seem afraid at all, and made no attempt to leave the carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got to our apartment I made the mistake of not confining her to just one room and I think she got a bit bewildered. For quite a while she just sat in the carrier and didn't move. I was able to pick her up and hold her without any apparent problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That night she peed and pooped on the sofa :-( So we decided to confine her to the kitchen with everything she needed. However, it was now impossible to get close to her to take her to the kitchen. We tried twice to corner her and pick her up but that just ended up with my arms all scratched up and her hiding under the sofa. My wife and I were starting to get a bit desperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end we managed to &quot;herd&quot; her into the kitchen without having to get too close. However, I think the failed attempts to &quot;grab&quot; her have traumatised her and made her really afraid of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She spent the next few days in the kitchen apparently fine. She ate well and did her business in the litter tray, but would always run and hide when any of us entered the kitchen. After a week in the kitchen (and having thoroughly cleaned the sofa!) we let her roam the living / dining room which is pretty large. She seems to be fine with that (and hasn't peed where she shouldn't). We've also managed to play with her with a stick with feathers on the end, but as soon as we get any closer she runs away. Petting her is almost impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do so she stops being afraid of us? She's a gorgeous cat and I just want to have her purring on my lap as I watch TV, and that seems like it will never happen the way things are currently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FOLLOW UP:&lt;/strong&gt; about 3 weeks after posting this question, without any of us doing anything in particular, just mostly ignoring the cat and trying not to get in its way, she gradually became more and more friendly to the point where she now always follows us around the house and will purr away endlessly as we stroke her. She now has no fear of us at all. I guess it really was just a question of time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5867" LastEditorUserId="5867" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T22:20:31.930" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T23:33:16.097" Title="How can I get my cat to not be afraid of me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-06T12:09:15.613" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It will take time.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how for how long you have owned her now, but from my experience, the relationship can take long to establish itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To create this bond you are looking for, don't rush things. Never chase her, never hold her when she doesn't want to, and never make sudden movements when you are near her. This would only make her more afraid of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, sit down next to her, with her daily food, treats or toys, wait until she comes on her own to eat or play. She needs to understand that you are not a threat. Just hold your hand in her direction, without moving. She will, eventually, come rub her head against your hand. This worked with 100% of the cats I have met :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking with her gently also helps. Try to call her by her name when you wait with her food/toys. She should learn that this means no harm for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T12:09:15.613" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-06T12:19:43.247" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The method I've found that works with all cats - even feral ones - takes time and patience on your part (my most recent success is with a 13-week-old kitten who had never been out of her birthing room when I took her home - although she had been socialized fairly well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start by sitting on the floor near her food or with a treat or a toy. Speak softly and gently to her, but don't try to touch at first (unless she gets herself stuck somewhere and cries for rescue, then you rescue her, pet her until she starts wriggling, and gently let her go).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradually get closer to her food/treat/toy until she's right beside you. Petting her then should be associated with good things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you move slowly when you extend a hand to her. We're a lot bigger than they are, and until they realize the giant is safe, they can be quite skittish. It can help if your hand smells of something she likes (be warned - if you have catnip or fish smell on your hand, you might find her trying to eat it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catching her eyes then slowly closing and opening yours also helps - the slow blink is a cat signal of &quot;I'm not your enemy&quot; (I don't recall the reference for this, sorry).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expect her to remain skittish for a while, particularly when you're standing up and walking around. This will gradually settle down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to spend a lot of time on the floor at first - I spent the better part of three days mostly sitting on the floor in the room where I confined the kitten, letting her get used to me being there and talking to her. It helps - trust me on this - if the place you choose isn't close to the kitty litter and hasn't been used by another cat to stash the mouse he caught months ago! (We overcame that little problem - EW).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-10-07T11:20:13.850" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T11:20:13.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-06T17:41:29.653" Score="14" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We recently got an 8 month old cat from a breeder, it had lived its live in a cage with the rest of the litter up to that point.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless the breeder spent the proper effort to socialize the cat with a variety of humans in the first few weeks, you have already &lt;em&gt;lost&lt;/em&gt; the best opportunity to socialize your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect all cats to behave according to your ideal. I've owned a few cats and they are all different. Some are more &quot;aloof&quot; and never sit on laps. I learned to appreciate all the more the times when that sort of cat would sit nearby for a short while and purr quietly while I rubbed its head. (In one case the cat's purr was usually inaudible unless I pressed my ear to his chest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the best approach is to be patient, gentle, unthreatening, persistent and consistent. Don't expect too much. If the cat tolerates being in your presence, that is a win. I would take it a step at a time and be prepared to work on it for months or years if necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cats get older they become less active outdoors (if permitted) and may become more placid. But cats vary a lot and some may never become lap cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cats.org.uk/documents/thecatmagextracts-kittensocialisation&quot;&gt;Kitten Socialisation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The experiences kittens have within their first two months&#xA;  of life are important in influencing their behaviour right&#xA;  into and through adulthood. During this early period, often&#xA;  known as the ‘socialisation period’, kittens learn what&#xA;  aspects of their environment are ‘normal’ and ‘safe’ so that&#xA;  everything that they come across during this period is likely&#xA;  to be accepted as something that is ‘okay’ later in life. This&#xA;  typically happens in the safe core environment of the nest&#xA;  and its immediate vicinity. Equally, anything that they do&#xA;  not come across during this period is much more likely to&#xA;  produce a fear response in adulthood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies have indicated that the socialisation period in cats has&#xA;  been identified as being between two and seven weeks of&#xA;  age. During this time, the kitten’s brain and sensory system&#xA;  are still developing and the stimuli he encounters influence&#xA;  how this development occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As cats do not have an inbuilt ‘need’ to be with people –&#xA;  tolerance of and desire to be around people being a learned&#xA;  behaviour – early handling by a variety of people during this&#xA;  time is essential in order to socialise kittens with humans.&#xA;  The onset of a fear response or hazard avoidance response&#xA;  is six weeks in kittens. It is extremely difficult to socialise&#xA;  those which have had no human contact after weaning and&#xA;  almost impossible after they reach sexual maturity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5873" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T17:41:29.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-06T20:20:24.013" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me it sounds like you are well on that path. She's eating, playing and using the litter box. Other than some snuggles now and then, there's not much more you can ask for from a cat (not that you'd get it even if you did ;p).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you're doing everything right, and sounds like you're making progress. It's slow progress, but it's good and that's what counts. She just needs some time. From her perspective, you guys are these crazy beings that took her from her family, brought her to a big strange place that initially had no obvious/familiar place to use the bathroom and had a few dramatic incidents involving unwarranted contact. That's OK, though. Cats are resilient; fussy assholes, but resilient. You're seeing that now, as she's starting to open up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you just let her be, and continue to interact with her the way you have been, she'll eventually learn you're not 'stranger danger' type people and will warm up to you. Don't come at her from above and always hold your hand under her eye level as you extend it. Make soft/sleepy eyes at her to show that you're not excited and your a friend. This is like a cat kiss or handshake. Just softly closing the eyes. If she does this at you, you're in a good spot in her book. Trying to get her closer to you with treats might also work. If she can get close to you and not have any incidents then she'll learn it's OK to be next to you (and sometimes delicious!) Just don't try to touch or anything. Just get her within a few feet/inches of a body part and call it success. Stay there as long as she'll stay next to you. Eventually getting your hand closer and closer for some pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first contact you can expect is that she'll rub her cheeks on your hand. Then maybe you can move to head pets if she sort of head butts your hand, telling you she wants more. She's just scared that you're going to grab her again, so always let her see your hands and don't look like you're going to grab her. Don't sneak up on her or sneak a peak at her if she's in a different room. She might think you're stalking her. Just do your thing like you don't care about her being there, but you are aware of her. She's your roommate now. You can let her know you're coming by softly announcing yourself. Maybe try meowing at her a little. Cats only meow at humans so it's a way to break the ice in a way she might understand. Eventually you'll learn each other's meows and what they mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a feral cat, probably about 6 mos old, that came into our apartment one night. Her ears were flea-bitten and she was a little mangy, so we gave her a bath which she did not like AT ALL. We towel dried her, but she struggled and we just gave her some tuna and we put her back outside in a box with a bit of a blanket likely never to see her again. We agreed that if she was there the next day, we would bring her in to the family. She was there, so we knew she didn't have a home/place to sleep, but the first few days/weeks were a bit awkward because she was very much a scaredy cat almost exactly as you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, 10 years later, she's still a bit cautious about strangers but she's super comfortable with my wife and me, and even some of our closer friends. She sleeps with us nearly every night and comes running to the door to greet us when we get home. There is hope for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't let her go outside yet. She will run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5251" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T00:55:01.687" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T00:55:01.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-06T21:33:30.263" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think the failed attempts to &quot;grab&quot; her have traumatised her and made her really afraid of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do I. Chasing a cat or trying to grab it, especially before it knows you, starts off on the wrong foot. You now have some work to do to regain trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of 'herding' a cat into the kitchen or anywhere else, you can use its chasing instinct to lure it to where you want it to go.  The difference is huge. A cat that is chasing is focused and has very little concern for anything else, a cat that is being chased associates that fact with all of its current surroundings. It becomes hyper-aware when it encounters the same combination of environmental factors again.  &lt;em&gt;That room! Those people! Those noises! TROUBLE!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slow remedy has already been covered by others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a young cat and the quick way forward is to learn about reward-only operant-conditioning (or rather its offshoot, clicker training).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can influence a young cat's behaviour in minutes provided you understand what you are doing and your timing is good. Example: It's possible to teach a cat to high-five in about half-a-dozen ten-minute sessions (I speak from experience).  By occupying its mind, you stop it worrying about fearful stimuli and you can train it to jump onto a chair or your lap. It's a challenge though. Learning to be a quick and effective clicker-trainer takes patience, thought, insight and patience (oh and patience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you search online for 'cat clicker training' there is plenty of information. Karen Pryor is a pioneer of clicker-training and is excellent. Try looking at Youtube videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do it right, you can rehabilitate an animal in a week or even a day where it might otherwise take months. It is fun and rewarding once you get the knack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that a hand-shy cat can be trained using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEryOE_lhEQ&quot;&gt;laser-pointer&lt;/a&gt; as a chase-toy. If you do it right the cat won't even realise you are training it. You train the cat to come to you instead of the other way around. It will forget you are there until it realises it is already sitting in your lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wgbCmaD8o&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wgbCmaD8o&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2015-10-06T21:39:11.033" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T21:39:11.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10450" CreationDate="2015-10-06T22:37:20.440" Score="4" ViewCount="750" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a rabbit that is about 7 years old and we haven't had another rabbit with her, her entire life. Could this be a potential problem if one could be older than the other considering the girl rabbit be older?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-23T12:51:41.407" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T12:51:41.407" Title="Introducing male rabbit to girl rabbit" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10449" CreationDate="2015-10-06T23:42:54.357" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The age of the rabbits have little bearing on bonding.  Our first bond was a 3 year old female and 7 year old male, it was very easy.  The male very much wanted to have a friend and he wanted to groomer her as much as she wanted to be groomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9451/rabbit-integration-tips-tricks/9452#9452&quot;&gt;answer here about other things that don't impact bonding&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;I STRONGLY Recommend&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't just bring a bunny home and expect they will eventually be friends with your existing rabbit. Bonding rabbits is hard, and often does not work, you end up with two rabbits who can not be left alone unsupervised. Have a date so your bunny can pick her own friend.  Our local rabbit community works with the shelters to provided an experienced rabbit handler to try introducing different potential partners so you can make the best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before attempting to bond rabbits both should be spayed or neutered for at least 4 weeks before any contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say if either is spayed or neutered, the above assumes they both are or will be. If they are not 'fixed', you can't leave them together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are planning to put them together only for breeding, then your female rabbit at 7 years old is to old to be having babies. Imagine your 70 year old grandmother having a baby!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-10-06T23:42:54.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-07T09:09:32.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to accept that she is a living being, not a lap toy, and if she chooses never to become that, you'll need to accept that too. Expecting a cat to conform to your ideals usually doesn't go very well.&#xA;As the other replies mentioned, don't do anything threatening. Blinking frequently (and keeping your eyes closed for a moment in the process), speaking softly with a positive tone, not raising your hands above the cat all contribute to avoiding more damage to your relationship with her. Trying to grab her, yelling at her, sudden loud noises all do the opposite.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When playing with my cats, I make sure to let them regularly catch what they are chasing for a moment (e.g. a cat chases a stick I'm holding, and I'll move the stick around her a few times and then let her catch it, as not 'winning' at games is depressing for cats just like it is for children). I use the moment they're holding on to their pray as a chance to pet/stroke the cat in a way that doesn't interfere with their enjoyment while verbally praising her too.&#xA;Praise, treats, accepted petting all help you bond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving her food 'personally' and talking to her while she eats (again making sure to be unthreatening as cats have to be particularly aware of their surroundings when eating...) also works for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5882" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T09:09:32.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10380" CreationDate="2015-10-07T15:10:53.937" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://smallpetselect.com/rabbit-guide/rabbit-health-problems-why-stress-is-a-killer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stress can kill rabbits&lt;/a&gt;.  When a rabbit is bonded to another rabbit and that rabbit dies or is removed it can cause stress on its bond mate(and itself). (&lt;a href=&quot;http://exeter-bunny-rabbits.weebly.com/rabbit-stress.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)  This stress could be enough to cause several problems that if not treated lead to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many rabbits respond to stress in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unexpected molt:  Generally rabbits molt in early winter and again in early summer.  But sometimes changing foods or too much of a certian food can also trigger molts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-care/accidental-molt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOURCE&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy: An active rabbit suddenly stops playing or interacting.  My only solution for this is to cuddle as much as the rabbit wants to, and try not to do anything to cause more stress in the rabbit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not eating or Drinking:  This is the most dangerous sign of stress.  It only takes a few days for a healthy rabbit to pass when they stop eating and drinking.  When I have a rabbit go off food I start forcing food and fluids by giving them ~ ,5cc/lb of plain yogurt and 1cc/lb of water with a syringe(no needle).  This has not been 100% effective but I do credit it with saving several of my rabbits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastEditorUserId="2462" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T21:58:29.560" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T21:58:29.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10399" CreationDate="2015-10-07T15:14:47.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good question, and a good reminder to those who have pet birds. All birds need to bathe in order to maintain their feathers in good order and to discourage parasites. All passerine (often called 'songbirds', but it includes, among others, ravens) birds will bathe in water and some also bathe in dust. All psittacines (parrots, etc.) bathe in water. Columbiformes (doves, etc.) and galliformes (game birds) bathe in water and bathe in dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Methods of water bathing vary. Hummingbirds and cockatiels, for example, like to bathe in a mist or spray of water. At the other extreme, Estrildid finches (such as Java rice finches) practically need snorkels because they love to get completely submerged in water. (My cockatiels hang from my Java finch cages when the Javas are bathing, so that they can get the spray from the Java baths.) Many rain-forest psittacines rub themselves on wet leaves. (Hence, my green-cheeked conure will do a bee-like waggle dance in a water dish and then rub himself all over my shirt.) For folks who have pete birds (or rescued birds) it's good to consult a reference work for the species involved to find out their preferred bathing methods in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people who keep birds put a bath dish into their cage once a day to let them bath. For those who have forgotten, or who didn't know that this is important to the birds, your question is a good reminder. Keep up the good work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-10-07T15:16:10.190" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T15:16:10.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10430" CreationDate="2015-10-07T16:27:37.643" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last month I bought big bag of cashews that I left on the counter.  When I wasn't watching my Cornish Rex decided to help himself to the bag, eating at least half a dozen of them.  I searched the internet for a while and couldn't uncover any evidence that they are harmful, though I did find several references to people using them as treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He never suffered any ill effects, not even digestive issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5595" LastEditorUserId="5595" LastEditDate="2020-04-16T00:04:29.833" LastActivityDate="2020-04-16T00:04:29.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-07T22:23:27.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't rush it.  I've got a feral mom who I've only been able to touch once in 3+ years, and she was under anesthesia to get spayed at the time.  We've gotten a routine down though, where she will sit across the room and watch when she knows it's feeding time.  Sometimes now she'll even come smell my hand as I'm putting down food.  I make a point of sitting in with her and watching TV or otherwise focusing on something else, so she can watch me NOT focusing all my attention on her.  She's also a big fan of those &quot;feather on a string at the end of a stick&quot; toys, which let her stay far enough away to feel secure, but still allow us to interact (play!) with each other.  Another one that I've found helpful is to sleep in her 'safe' room.  Usually I'll wake up and find her peering over the edge of the bed/couch, only a few inches from my face.  My case is a little extreme (wild-caught in an unfriendly area after at least one litter, and I think she still blames me for finding homes for her last litter once they were old enough) but your case doesn't sound so bad.  It sounds like it's a little too soon to be worried; moving to a new home with new people is a lot to get used to, and it'll take her a while to get comfortable... probably longer if you push her too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and just because I haven't seen anyone else say it:  Please don't support breeders.  There are plenty of cats (and dogs) at local shelters who desperately need loving homes.  I'm not pointing fingers at you, OP, since I don't know if you have special needs (e.g. hypoallergenic) but just wanted to mention it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your new kitty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5887" LastActivityDate="2015-10-07T22:23:27.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-08T01:33:02.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When we got to our apartment I made the mistake of not confining her&#xA;  to just one room and I think she got a bit bewildered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite that, I think you're well on your way to a happy kitten.  One thing you have to remember is that she was with her family for up to eight months, and then suddenly, she's with you and far from home.  She can probably sense that you mean her no harm, but she's just not sure.  Using the sofa as a litterbox that night was most likely her way of making her surroundings smell like her. If you had confined her to a spare bedroom, a bathroom, or a large carrier, she most likely would've done the same there as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did the mistake of &quot;herding&quot; my two feral kittens when they were babies. I had to get them into a carrier to bring them to the vet so they could be spayed and neutered (one is male, the other is female), and I know I scared the bits out of them.  They're five now and fine.  More on that in a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the others have said is great advice and there's not much more I can add to it.  I think it's a great sign that she's using the litter box, eating and drinking fine, and she's starting to play with you, which is huge!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'd do if I were you is this:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ignore her.&lt;/strong&gt;  Fold your laundry in the living room, using gentle motions (no snapping bath towels or bed sheets), sing along with the radio, wash the floors by hand, lay out on the couch, surf the internet. Basically, just do what you do and let her see what you do.  All she knew before you was her family. You're now her family and since you can't talk to her, you have to show that with your actions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let her come to you.&lt;/strong&gt; Sit on the floor to watch tv. Let her come to you by placing the feathers on a stick toy (I'm presuming the feathers are on a string attached to the stick) toy on the ground, with the string laid out so that it's away from you. Gently pull it away until she's playing. Maybe try a laser pointer - take care to not shine it in her eyes, and let the red dot fall on a toy so that she has something to &quot;catch&quot; at the end of the play session.  My female feral kitten loved to play almost right away, but her brother would freeze at the sight of the feather on a stick toy flying over him, and then run away. Now he plays readily and always catches the feather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try a homeopathic solution.&lt;/strong&gt; This is debatable, but there's a product called Rescue Remedy that you can try. Or Jackson Galaxy's line, Spirit Essences, which are flower essences.  Jackson's products are really good. I've used them with good results, and they're created according to the need of the animal.  There's even one for feral cats!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll take time, but I think she'll warm up to you.  I think that you can eventually have that cat purring on your lap as you watch TV.  My female feral cat is sound asleep on my lap as I type this. It's all up to her though. My female cat won't let anyone but me near her, while her brother is cool as a cucumber with almost everyone. Neither will let me pick them up, but they will lay on my lap or stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that she has lots of cat items. Or as Jackson Galaxy says, Catify your home.  Make sure she has cat trees, or even shelves on your walls, so that she can get up high as she desires. Make sure she has a place to retreat to when things are too overwhelming for her. Try having people over, in small numbers, so she gets used to company. Had you thought about a second cat or kitten as a friend?  It might make her more comfortable if she's by herself for long periods. A sibling would be the best idea, as it can be hard to mingle strange cats together. It's not impossible but it can be difficult, or you could luck out completely and get a cat who loves any newcomer and vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's not spayed, you might want to do that as soon as you can. It'll make her less moody, and keep her healthier. When you take her to the vet, you might want to get her microchipped, just in case (Heaven's forbid) she ever gets loose.  Don't declaw her. None of my cats are declawed, and they only have ever used their claws on me if they were upset at me, if play got a little carried away, or accidentally (my male cat jumped onto my shoulders and slipped, clawing my shoulder as he tried to right himself). It's also a safety measure for her, just in case she ever gets out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep this website on hand just in case. www.catsinthebag.org It has wonderful tips on finding lost cats based on their background (indoors only, indoors/outdoors, formerly feral).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitten the best! I think she's got a great home with you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5891" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T01:33:02.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-08T06:40:15.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had cats for about 15 yrs. Two were feral. It took over 6 months and one serious bite to allow them to calm down. Now one of them bumps heads with me when I pass and sleeps with me at night sometimes. He still avoids me in new situations, like when we allowed him into a new room. Took a couple of weeks before he acted normally. He still has quirks and moments when he acts very scared but he is very interesting and surprises me with new ways of showing affection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another of our cats came from a normal upbringing and isn't afraid of me at all but he has never shown any affection, seems to only be interested in eating but he is very affectionate with other cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reason for posting this is that imo, each cat may be different and your kitty may never adapt completely but it is worth the effort and patience if it happens. My vet does not believe he was ever feral. I wish I had video. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm sorry to say that the other cat who was feral and almost identical to our living kitty, died of a respiratory infection) He was tame too after months and I would not hesitate to take in another cat that is feral although he can not be replaced.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5893" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T06:40:15.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-08T09:13:11.487" Score="0" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the process of my divorce recently, I was told by legal workers that I could not claim the part of my salary that I've always used to take care of my dogs in the calculation of the partner alimony that I'd have to pay to my wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I created a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.change.org/p/nederlandse-rechtspraak-dutch-jurisdiction-my-dogs-are-not-objects-or-hobbies-they-re-my-children?recruiter=251008346&amp;amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;amp;utm_medium=copylink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;petition about this here&lt;/a&gt;, with the whole story. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this means that they'll subtract money from my salary and give it to my wife, and my dogs will be totally disregarded when they do that. Like they don't exist. If I have no money left to take care of my dogs, I don't know what will happen to them. The best thing I can think of is giving them to an asylum. And then god only knows what they'll do to my senior dogs there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I contacted the Animal protection organisation from the Netherlands and referred to this as animal abuse. They told me that this doesn't qualify as animal abuse. So when does it qualify as such?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="136" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T14:33:17.057" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T11:50:10.573" Title="What qualifies as animal abuse in the Netherlands?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-08T09:51:58.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is so easy. Go to the pharmacy and buy valerian, let her sniff some. With some cats catnip might work and silver vine branches. Try what works on yours. In time all cats come round, be gentle and when you need to handle her, let her sniff her favorite plant beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check google/youtube for further infomation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: There are many plants that affect felines, from the humble house cat to the mighty lion. They are being used in zoos to calm down the felines. The most accessible herb is probably valerian from your pharmacy, while the most powerful plant is probably the silver vine. The herbs can also be bought on ebay or grown at home. For example, you buy a box of valerian pills, empty one or two of their content and offer the herb to your cat to sniff. After you do this, fear will soon be the last thing on its mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5899" LastEditorDisplayName="user5899" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T14:59:21.507" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T14:59:21.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10251" CreationDate="2015-10-08T09:56:39.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Their target might be your dog. Mostly cows wants to keep &lt;strong&gt;strange&lt;/strong&gt; dog like animals away from them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cows which gave birth to calf recently or the cows which are in delivery period are usually aggressive on dog like animals and also on strangers. This is due to the motive of saving its calf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And sure cows(except calves) will not be playful with a stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior is with Indian breed cows(especially 'kangayam breed'), possibly it exist in all cows but not sure about other country farm cows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5897" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T09:56:39.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10441" CreationDate="2015-10-08T14:40:02.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very important point (not to take away from all of the other great answers): Provide a high place that she can climb up on. Cats love high places, especially if they don't feel completely safe. A &quot;cat tree&quot; is a terrific investment - you can sprinkle catnip on it to increase her initial interest. It's even better if there's a way she can go from one high place to another in a room, like from the top of the cat tree to the top of a nearby bookshelf. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and if you do get a laser pointer, get the weakest one you can find. And even then take care to keep it out of the cat's eyes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5900" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T14:40:02.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10499" CreationDate="2015-10-08T15:15:46.490" Score="3" ViewCount="701" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you remember my last question where I mentioned I still have a litter (and the mom has been spayed now, so that question's issue has been resolved, at least for me) Well we had 3 kittens remaining from the litter, from which we, well, my mother was going to keep 2 of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They suddenly disappeared--all three of them--(around 8 days ago) and we don't know if they got lost together or they were taken. 2 days ago one of the kittens returned, all dirty and skinny(which makes me think maybe they got lost) and for some reason she is really scared when my mom tries to interact with her. She was the most docile of the litter, pure love. But now it seems she's terrified of getting petted. My mom bathed her and put her in one of the restrooms with a litter box and food. She seems to do alright while she's alone but runs and hides at a minimal sign of a human approaching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I advise my mother in handling the situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-- U P D A T E --&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitten is being playful again and loves being with my mom. I don't know if she misses her 2 brothers, but so far she's been doing great! Gained weight and became an even more loving cat. Thank you all for your answers! I really appreciate it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T14:20:40.220" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T14:20:40.220" Title="Kitten traumatized? (STATUS UPDATE)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10465" CreationDate="2015-10-08T16:57:29.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just take it slowly.  A kitten confident when Mom and family are right there is very different from one lost and alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to make a cat more confident is to just spend time in the room reading a book and not paying attention to it, as low down to the ground as you can get.  Then let them come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T16:57:29.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-08T19:32:18.350" Score="16" ViewCount="19095" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding a friendly feral cat for the last 10 months. He began visiting us when he was well into his feline teens, so to speak (so he can forage food for himself). He is not exactly a lap kitty, but loves being stroked and can be lifted for upto 30 seconds at a stretch. In the daytime, I usually leave the window open for him to come and go as he pleases. He spends the day indoors napping after I give him his meal.  Around 11 pm every evening, he wakes up and gets restless, which is when I have to let him outside. He spends the night outside and comes back in the morning to repeat the nap-eat-nap schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I am going to be moving houses in 15 days and I would really like to take him along. I am okay with keeping him indoors and litter-training him -- however is this the humane thing to do for a cat who has lived outdoors for pretty much all his life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: He's not a stray -- I'm fairly sure he was born in the neighbourhood. Also, it took quite a while for him to warm up to me and allow me to pet him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5905" LastEditorUserId="5905" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T05:36:28.323" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T23:55:57.367" Title="How can I move houses with a friendly feral cat I care for?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10468" CreationDate="2015-10-08T22:46:25.557" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes!  It is absolutely humane!  This kitty is very fortunate that he has lived this long.  The average lifespan of an outdoor cat is only 4 years.  After moving him, the first thing you must do is get him neutered.  This will help his urge to go &quot;catting around&quot; at night.  It will be difficult, and likely noisy (do to the howling when wanting outside), but being inside is so much safer for him.  (Inside cats live an average of 16 years.)  He can be just as happy inside.  The idea will be to make your new house very interesting for him - very tall cat trees, with lots of levels; lots of different materials for him to scratch; live catnip plants might be fun for him, too (bring a little of the outside indoors); and lots of shelving for him to climb high on the walls and perch.    Resist his pleading to go outside for &quot;just a little bit.&quot;  This is an all or nothing kind of effort.  For the first couple weeks, you may even have to keep the windows covered so he can't see out. This is only temporary, until he has some time to adjust.  Thank you so much for caring for and about this cat!  Best wishes to you both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-08T22:46:25.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10468" CreationDate="2015-10-08T22:50:29.213" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, my wife and I have experience with 11 feral cats over the past 10 years. I don't intend this as bragging but I know a great deal about feral cats, some of it learned the very hard way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are three types of cats you encounter outside:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats whose owners let them roam - that is very dangerous in urban and suburban areas in the US. Brits - I know that your environment is very different that ours and I accept that it is much safer to allow your cats to go outdoors as they please - just trying to forestall any arguments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats who are the classic &quot;stray&quot; cat. These are cats who once lived with humans but lost the home. Maybe they go lost, they ran away from bad people, or they were dumped but stupid humans that think cats can survive outdoors on their own - maybe lions and such can but, not domestic cats who have lived with humans and might not know what to do with a mouse if they caught one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feral cats - these are cats born and raised with no human contact. They regard us as another possible threat and they will run away as fast as possible. Should get one cornered, plan on being bitten and scratched when he or she fight, in their minds, for their life. My wife and I have learned that the hard way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are not dealing with a feral cat. There is absolutely no way that a feral cat would come close enough to be touched, let alone go into your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to use a trap to catch a feral cat, there simply is no other way to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what should you do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take the cat into your home and begin trying to limit his outdoor times. It will be difficult but we have found most cats can be converted to indoor cats provided enough of the right type of attention is given to them and they showered with love. Do not over shower them, however, cats often get more attention than they want at a particular time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take the cat with you when you move. You have no choice in the matter. The cat has become dependent upon you in many ways and it simply is not right nor acceptable for you to move and leave him behind.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about him learning to use a litter box. Every feral we have trapped and taken to socialize knew instantly what a litter box was and its intended use. Even feral kittens who were born outside and have lived outside their entire lives will instinctively know the use of a litter box - it's actually sort of spooky that the adapt instantly to a litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to end now and hope I can submit this answer. I hope I've addressed most of your questions. If not, either edit your question or post a new question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-30T09:25:19.210" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T09:25:19.210" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2015-10-09T03:00:01.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your description is that of a cat with some type of injury as a result of a fall - well, actually as a result of the sudden stop at the end of the fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat who suddenly becomes clumsy after such an event is showing the effects of an injury. Even if you didn't notice any broken bones or such, it was quite a hit if fur was scraped off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would have taken him in as soon as the behavior began. We would figure out some way to pay the vet bill afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the cat to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T13:18:34.523" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T13:18:34.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10435" CreationDate="2015-10-09T03:14:29.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No special name, it is simply how his fur is colored and how it grows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey, a cat looks the way the cat looks. We have had cats with markings that made then look almost as thought they were wearing glasses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naming attributes has always seemed a tad odd to me, but that's me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T03:14:29.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2015-10-09T03:23:25.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans' domestication of cats has caused them to retain many childhood actions and habits into adulthood and kneading (as in kneading bread) is thought to be one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you know, kittens knead at the mother's teats to cause lactation (the flow of milk). Can you imagine something better than being up close to Mom, all warm and cosy, getting delicious milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an adult kneads, he or she is demonstrating an activity which was pleasurable for them in kittenhood and still gives them pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had kneaders that are so into it that I've often wondered if there is a way to get them help me knead the dough when I make bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:53:20.977" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:20.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9978" CreationDate="2015-10-09T03:38:00.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether or not there is a way to do so, it would serve no purpose whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sex for cats is 100% about reproduction, nothing more. The drive to mate is instinctive it has nothing to do with pleasure. A neutered male does not miss sex or yearn for it. After the removal of their testicles, drastically reducing the amount of testosterone in their system, they pretty lose any tendency to act like an un-neutered male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you know that for the female cat, intercourse is quite painful? A male cat's penis is radically different than a human males and it has backward pointing spikes on it which cause pain for the female when, he withdraws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fairly widely agreed that the pain is what triggers the ovulation in the female - cats do not ovulate and then wait to get pregnant. A female cat will only ovulate after mating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for the record, female cats do not have menstrual cycles like human female. I believe that human females are the only species which has such cycles,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry that your neutered cat is missing out on something special - he isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT - I should have added that waiting for a female to be one and half years old is far too long before spaying her. While it is possible to neuter a male too soon, it is actually rather hard to spay a female to early, but it can be done. The size of the organs have no bearing on the surgery except that the smaller the ovaries and uterus, the small the incision need to remove them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A year and a half is way longer than you should wait. Call a vet office and ask them the age they recommend. It should not cost anything to get such an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to see what the surgery entails, go what the video at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YKC7fQT1zE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YKC7fQT1zE&lt;/a&gt; It isn't a bloody video or such and it is quite interesting to watch just what is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="5906" LastEditDate="2015-10-09T03:44:44.907" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T03:44:44.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10161" CreationDate="2015-10-09T03:57:59.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they don't know who is a vet and who isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to the clinic is a stressful experience for many cats. Just the trip upsets some and then they get poked and prodded when they are there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat only is put in the carrier and then in the car when going to the vet, they are going to associate all of that with the stressful experience at the clinic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always stay as close as possible to our cats at the clinic and I try to maintain eye contact as much as possible, sometimes if the cat needs to be if it gets to be a bit more than they can handle. If I can I try to keep at least one hand on them which I think, and hope, comforts them a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't hesitate to handle and stroke your cat at the clinic, or even pick him or her up, as long as you don't interfere with the vet's work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, a tip - when the vet is trying to listen to the cat's heart or lungs or abdomen, resist the temptation to talk to the vet. It makes if a tad difficult to hear what they want to hear. I almost always have to remind myself to shut up at those times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all of that, there are vets which perhaps the cats don't hate but there have been ones I have hated due to their treatment of one of the cats and I have twice taken a cat, put them in the carrier, and walked out of the treatment room, pay for the visit (if anything has actually been done) and never returned to that clinic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some vets are simply too rough and if one of our cats makes the displeasure felt by the application of one or more of his or her 19 claws, more power to him or her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T03:57:59.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9905" CreationDate="2015-10-09T04:08:08.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they are too young. If you must leave them, have someone come in and check on them - make sure they have food and water, clean the litter box - and spend some time with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older cats will usually do just fine as long as you put out enough food and water to be absolutely sure they won't run out. We have left cats for two days and nights with no problems. Given the number of cats we have, I will always put out at least one extra litter box to keep them from having to deal with a dirty litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though we have left cats on their own from late on a Friday until late on Sunday, it is better to have someone check on them and we often do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T04:08:08.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9679" CreationDate="2015-10-09T04:16:54.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;its fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all the cats we have had (26 in the thirty years we have been married - yes, there are times when there are quite a few around here) loved to tear up cardboard. In fact, I attach pieces of cardboard to the their climbing furniture or just leave a piece flat on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, you may have a mess to cleanup but can't you see how much they love it from how they behave?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get some used corrugated cardboard boxes and cut them into flat pieces and give those to her. You may be able to get her to leave the boxes alone that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T04:16:54.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9618" CreationDate="2015-10-09T04:27:31.000" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple - take the Elizabethan collar off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had at least 11 female cats spayed over the years and not one of them did any damage to the surgery site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are simply stupid vets who tell you that you absolutely have to keep the collar on the cat until they are completely healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you like lugging one of those around everywhere you go, trying to figure out how to eat or sleep with one? I would not like it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously there is no real need for the collar. Take it off and stay with her for a few minutes to see how she behaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't freak out if she licks the surgery site, she is simply cleaning it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to neutered male - there is even less justification for a collar after surgery. As one vet put it, once the testicles are removed, the scrotum just sort of snaps closed all by itself. I've never known a vet to put in even one suture or use surgical adhesive to close the incision, it closes tightly by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ditch the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T04:27:31.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2015-10-09T04:52:52.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;NO! They are domesticated animals who we have made dependent upon us for our pleasure - they are not things you can throw away when you don't want them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She would be guilty of criminal abuse to animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to limit kittens is to get the males neutered and the females spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you let your female cat get pregnant, you are TOTALLY responsible for the lives of the kittens she delivers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a cat is old enough, YOU MUST have them neutered or spayed (though it is technically correct to speak of neutering both males and females even though the surgery is totally different).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is irresponsible to allow a cat to breed unless you can absolutely, positively be certain that there will be good homes for the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female cats do not have to have a litter to feel fulfilled. And a male does not need to impregnate a female to be a true cat. It is nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a pinch, a pregnant female can be spayed and the embryos aborted. Sounds bad but it is far better than the kittens being dumped and meeting one of far too many forms of danger and horrible death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I caught someone dumping a cat or kitten - well, it is not appropriate to describe what I would do to them here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would, of course, make sure the cat or kittens are safe before expressing my displeasure in a clear and simple way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't even try to address some comments in other answers!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are not disposable. They are loving and lovable creatures which we humans have domesticated, making us responsible for their care and safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the crack about tame kittens doing better than feral because they would have had good meals - you don't want to hear my real reaction. It is pure nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually a feral kitten (a true feral kitten, not a stray) will do immeasurably better than a &quot;tamed&quot; dumped kitten. Feral kittens were born and raised with no contact with humans but they will have their mother to provide them with appropriate care, love, milk and then solid food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THERE IS NOTHING THAT JUSTIFIES DUMPING A CAT, REGARDLESS OF AGE! NOTHING!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they were near you I'd take them in them in a heartbeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dumping an unwanted cat or kitten - or any domesticated animal - should be a severely punished crime. I don't think that a sentence of years in prison would be too much punishment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is ludicrous to dump an animal and expect them to survive and live a good life!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:00:21.627" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:00:21.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9550" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:04:24.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First - waiting for a year is far to long to wait to have a male cat neutered - far too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A healthy male cat can be neutered anytime after 6 or 7 months. The vet will decide if you should wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Delaying the neutering does not good and can cause health problems. An one year old un-neutered male cat can begin spraying  to mark territory. I'm not talking about just urine, I'm talking about urine combined with unbelievably foul smelling anal glands secretions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can be very difficult to stop a male spraying even after they are neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the procedure itself - I have seen it done often enough that I would hesitate to do the procedure if it were absolutely necessary to do it then and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet will anesthetize the cat, make a small incision in the cat's scrotum, reach in with forceps and gently pull one testicle out, tie off the tube, and snip the testicle free and then repeat the procedure for the second testicle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A properly neutered male will be back to his normal self when the anesthesia wears off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to put an Elizabethan collar on him, he will not damage the surgery site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I have never known a vet to put in even a single suture or use surgical adhesive. As one vet told me, once the testicles have been removed, the scrotum just sort snaps shut by itself and stays closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have neutered maybe 15 males and have not had any problem with any of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:51:46.287" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:51:46.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9228" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:19:20.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are simply different, just like we humans are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you know that cats only meow at humans? They don't meow at other cats, but they have plenty of ways to communicate with their comrades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meowing is, for some reason, reserved for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first heard this I thought it was nonsense. Then I got to thinking and I could not remember a time one of our cats (we have had A LOT of cats)  meowed at another. And I began watching for it and have never seen - well, that is - heard them do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:19:20.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8087" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:26:12.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changes such as these in both appearance and behavior are very often a sight of a heakth problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best advice is to have a vet check her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like this can be minor but they can also be major. Things can run from allergies to diabetes to renal failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have her checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:26:12.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7959" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:30:19.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sort of things you are describing are due to some sort of health problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you allow you child to have the same problems without taking them to a doctor? Of course you would not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take her to a vet and have here checked over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:30:19.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7898" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:41:00.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have given many cats many doses of subcutaneous fluids and as long as the bags are stored at an even, average room temperature and kept out of the light, the fluid will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you detect even a slight clouding or milkiness in the bag, ditch it right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to expired mediation in general. Most medicat6ions will remain effective far beyond the marked date. In fact, the military has done research and they keep large supplies of some types of expired medications because they know they will be safe and effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When Eli Lilly discontinued Humulin Lente insulin in 2005, we stocked up, kept it in the refrigerator, and used insulin which was over five years past the &quot;expiration&quot; date. I think we accumulated something like twenty vials of that insulin preparation before we could find no more on the market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most, if not all, medications don't turn into poison over time, if they change at all, they simply become less effective or totally ineffective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were confident with the expired insulin because we always do a blood glucose measurement on a diabetic cat before giving insulin and we do other spot checks at various times on various days. If the insulin was declining in effectiveness we would have known right away by the change in the numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, back to IV fluids - store them carefully and throw out any that are even a bit clouding and you and your cat should be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:41:00.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7749" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:46:28.140" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female domestic cats to do not &quot;spray.&quot; Males do, not females. Females don't mark territory in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a female is urinating outside the litter box that is an entirely different issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes inappropriate urination locations can be a sign of a health problem which might need prompt attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We go by the rule that if a cat's condition or behavior changes with no obviously reason, we will get the cat examined by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:46:28.140" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7743" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:49:46.553" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't actually go into &quot;heat.&quot; A mature female cat can be receptive of a male at any time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to fix all of these problems is very simple-- Get The Cats Spayed!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T05:49:46.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7708" CreationDate="2015-10-09T05:59:47.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been bitten and scratched many times through the years and usually it was my fault for how I handled, approached, etc. the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you clean the wound and keep it clean you should be just fine. If becomes quite red or inflamed or painful, have a doctor look at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no reason to get any sort of treatment unless the cat is known to be, or is suspected to be rabid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are bitten and it is a puncture wound- that is a tooth goes straight en and comes straight out and the wound close over - you need to immediately squeeze the area to cause some blood flow. Puncture wounds are dangerous because they often push bacteria down in to the hole which then closes up making it difficult to clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I suffer a puncture wound of any type, I work hard to cause some blood flow to wash out the dirty and bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a puncture wound become tender, quite red, hot, or painful, then you need to have a doctor look at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to abandoning her for this - if you are seriously considering it, you need to find her a good home immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are simply not prepared or cutout to live with a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the doctor's recommendation - either he or she is a very poorly trained doctor or --- could you be perhaps fabricating or exaggerating this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having a tad of trouble believing this is a fully factual situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-10-13T10:30:02.550" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T10:30:02.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7645" CreationDate="2015-10-09T06:03:40.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My only comment is that milk, at least cow's milk, actually is not a good food for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats have lactose problems and can't fully digest it. This can lead to diarrhea or vomitting and, besides, it simply is not a balanced diet. If you are going to feed her, buy some brand dry food for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to making them more comfortable, it sounds like mom is doing a quite satisfactory job with her children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T15:20:25.943" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T15:20:25.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7629" CreationDate="2015-10-09T06:10:09.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First -- Sand, sand box????&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of sand for a litter box was thrown out decades ago. Clumping litter is the best sort of litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you really use actual sand? Switch to a clumping litter and you will not believe the difference odor reduction, and ease of cleaning the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to a road trip of any length. You have to see if you can get the cat used to the car. You can do so by taking the cat on sort, frequent drives of longer and longer distance and observe how the cat reacts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to hotels or motels, there are more and more than have no problem taking in feline or canine guests. Just make sure you are a responsible guest and insure that the cat has a proper litter box which is kept clean and that there are no food or water spills. If the cat throws up - which is simply something all cats do occasionally - clean it up quickly. Don't be afraid to ask them for help or for some cleaning supplies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you really using sand??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="5906" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T20:27:12.220" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T20:27:12.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2015-10-09T06:20:52.893" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've wondered about this and I have decided that the cat wants to be able to tell where the surface of the water is so as to not stick their nose in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think they paw at the bowl to cause vibration and movement in the water to be able to more clearly see where the air stops and the water begins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others speak of fountains and such. Some cats, we've had a few, like to drink from the faucet and like the fountains. Also, I fountain will have movement on the surface of the water which, again, I think helps the cat figure out just where the water starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat's put very little in the water, just a bit of the end of their tongue and I simply think this is all about determining where the water starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's my take based on the observation of a lot of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T06:20:52.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7225" CreationDate="2015-10-09T06:40:03.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take your cat to the vet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is likely serious, as the other answer said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can develop severe liver problems if they go without food for too long and one week is enough to get me very, very worried about your cat. A week without food is a serious matter. The underlying cause is serious in and of itself and not eating will have cause additional problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there is no home remedy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one thing, how can there be a remedy when the issue hasn't been diagnosed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the cat to the vet. Do whatever you need to do to get her to a vet NOW!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one of our cats stopped eating for longer than a day or day and a half, we would take him or her to the vet for evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of us here are vets and even if some of us are quite experienced in matter pertaining to cats, we don't have the training to diagnose your cat remotely and I would not even try if I was there. A vet needs to check your cat out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even a vet could not diagnose your cat based upon what you have said or even if you a gave very detailed description. A competent vet would never dream of diagnosing a cat only on the basis of owner described symptoms. The vet has to see, handle, examine the cat to determine what is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the cat to the vet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not eating for a week is a very dangerous situation. The underlying cause has to be determined and treated absolutely as soon as is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SimonT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T06:40:03.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7097" CreationDate="2015-10-09T06:54:32.387" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That makes absolutely not sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help a cat get used to a new home you can make sure they know where their water and food is and the location of the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can help if you can sort of give the cat a tour of the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a strong bond with your cat, you should be able to simply be there and provide extra attention if they seem stressed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never moved with a cat but we have taken in a lot of cats over the years and had little difficulty getting them use to their new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you just &quot;play it by ear.&quot; Keep a watch on the cat and if it seems to be frightened or confused, give it as much attention as it will allow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long run, that cat will adapt just fine to the new home, even if it takes a while. There really is not actual action you can take to move it along any faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to putting butter on his or her paws, I can tell you what my buddy Simon (I use his name sort of in his honor) would have done. Just what he did when we put the recommended &quot;laxitive&quot; paste on his paw - he would carefully, walk so as to not wipe off the butter, into the dinning room and he would carefully and fully clean his paws on the dining room rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what he did when we tried the laxitone or catalax or whatever the name was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turned out the only sure cure for his constipation was an enema every week or so - yes, we gave him enemas at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never before in my life did I have any clue that my wife and I would get it down so pat that we hardly said a word and simply get the &quot;deed&quot; done in a quick and efficient manner. Once Simon realized how good he felt afterwards, he never resisted or gave us any trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Safe the butter for the toast and just work to make the cat comfortable in his new home - a nice, tall, multilevel cat &quot;tree&quot; would certainly help make the new house more like a home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T06:54:32.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2015-10-09T07:08:04.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nope! There's no reason to try and get cats to eat out of only their bowls. In fact, there is little point in trying to designate bowls for each cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have, well, I can't actually tell you how many cats we currently have - I'll just say it is a &quot;few.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They eat out of whatever bowl is closest and if one takes over someone's bowl, the previous owner just moves on to another bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is absolutely no reason to have any concerns about cats eating out of the same bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot question posted here asking about how to get a cat to eat only out of his or her bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't, there's no point in trying, there is no benefit from it, it is just a waste of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question that gets asked a lot as to separate items for each cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many litter boxes should you have? That's a frequent question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most popular (but not necessarily correct) answers are one litter box for each cat or one litter box for each cat plus one more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct answer - as many as you need in order to be able to keep them clean based upon the load imposed by the number of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a time, long ago and not for very long, we had 15 cats. Had we tried to have one liter box for each cat, we would not have had anyplace to put them all. Instead we had two very large busboy boxes - used to clear off tables at restaurants - about 30 inches by 18 inches and about 6 inches deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats will share things like bowls and litter boxes just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find the cats likes having food and water at more than one place around the house and, if you want to, you can cater to their whims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a large house, maybe an extra litter box would be good - but regardless of how many you have they must be kept clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go ahead and let anyone eat of any bowl they want to. If the other cat disagrees, they will work it out between themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T07:08:04.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10465" CreationDate="2015-10-09T15:07:53.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for caring so much about these kittens!  Often, the mother moves kittens when she thinks they are in danger or when her &quot;kitten nest&quot; has been discovered.  You don't say if the kitten is weaned yet. If not, please try to keep the kitten with the mother until she is at least eight weeks old, minimum -- 3 months is even better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kitten lost from its siblings and mother, at the same time, has a lot to process in that little kitten brain.  Everything is new to a kitten.  You are doing the right thing in confining her to a small space. This way she can have a safe room and not be overwhelmed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TRY THIS:  Get a couple cans of Gerber's chicken baby food.  IMPORTANT:  Read the ingredients.  The baby food must have only chicken, water, and cornstarch as the ingredients.  That's it.  It must NOT have onion or garlic. These are both toxic to cats. Put a little baby food on a saucer, and have your mom sit in the restroom, far enough away from the saucer that the kitten feels comfortable coming to it. Her little nose will sniff it out quickly. Once she figures out that this is the BEST THING EVER, have your mother put a little bit on the end of her finger, extend her arm, and see if the kitten will come to her.  Do not pet the kitten. Just let her lick the baby food from her finger. Your mom may need to get a little closer to the saucer to do this.  Do this in the morning. If it doesn't work, try it again at night. When giving her the baby food in the saucer, only give her a small amount so she is craving more.  If it doesn't work in one day try again the next day.  Eventually, and in a short amount of time, your mom will get the kitten to come to her.  Once the kitten is regularly coming to her, have your mom move slowly and pet the kitten to the side, not over the top of kitten's head.  If she runs away, have her extend her finger again with the baby food. When she comes to her this time, don't try to pet her. This is an iterative process.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing, make sure kitty has a nice soft comfortable, round cat bed. Put a small stuffed animal in her bed.  This simulates (the best we can) a sibling she can curl up and sleep with.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best Wishes to you, your mom, and kitten!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-09T15:07:53.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10754" CreationDate="2015-10-09T17:38:07.037" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female African Fat Tailed gecko who is (15+) years of age. I have a feeling this is too old for breeding. &lt;strong&gt;At what age range is it acceptable to breed terrestrial geckos?&lt;/strong&gt; Males? Females?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5166" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T09:14:07.293" Title="Breeding age range for terrestrial geckos" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9686" CreationDate="2015-10-10T01:51:38.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats love laser pointers because they can see something you can't - the dot never stops moving.  Cats are attracted to movement, it stimulates them.  So, within the dot the light is constantly moving and stimulating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason you have to be careful.  Some cats will chase laser dots to their detriment.  They will exhaust themselves.  In hunting, cats are sprinters, not marathoners and to chase something for a prolonged period is not really in their nature.  When they do, they can exhaust and injure themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is probably happening is that your cat is getting over stimulated. His particular response is to growl and hiss.  HE may not think he's had enough but it would be wise of you to treat it as such and let him calm down.  Give him some positive reinforcement when the game is over.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5916" LastActivityDate="2015-10-10T01:51:38.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10514" CreationDate="2015-10-10T18:40:41.293" Score="4" ViewCount="8038" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to keep a cat outdoors in a new place, by feeding her treats to convince her she's found a new territory?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new home has a compound wall, which I'm thinking would roughly mark her territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will she try to escape back to her earlier home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:47.520" Title="Moving cat to new house, but keeping her outdoors" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10506" CreationDate="2015-10-10T20:34:51.940" Score="9" ViewCount="72688" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is anyone aware of software which could be used to check if an animal is chipped / that could potentially read the chip also?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I have been visited frequently by a cat which may be lost.  We'd like to take it to the vets to check for a chip, but the local vets all seem to be closed at weekends, and our work hours make visiting during the week hard.  Also we're anxious about putting someone else's cat into a basket and wandering around London with her.  I believe the chips communicate via NFC, so would think that it should be possible for an NFC enabled smartphone to detect this. That would at least let us know if she is chipped; and there may even be a way to use this info to get more; e.g. an owner's contact details, or at least an ID which we could report to a vet by phone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5921" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:38:53.270" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T13:45:00.847" Title="Is there an app to tell whether a pet's chipped?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2015-10-11T09:47:25.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does not appear that it is possible to scan micro chips in pets with a smart phone.  I searched and found several blog posts that suggested this would be a great idea, but nothing saying it existed.  The closest thing I found where someone was seriously looking into it and why it would not work is &lt;a href=&quot;https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14963236/rfid-reader-for-mobile-devices/15289056#15289056&quot;&gt;this post on StackExchange&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chip maker I am most familiar with in the US is Avid, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avidplc.com/pet-microchip-registration/mobile-smartphone-apps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they do have an App&lt;/a&gt; but it does not read chips, it will read barcodes and let you interact with the Avid database if you have an account.  But no mention is made of reading the chip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't prove that something does not exist, but everything I am finding suggests that that is not possible at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-05-23T12:41:55.917" LastActivityDate="2015-10-11T09:47:25.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2015-10-11T13:52:17.433" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many phones don't currently have the ability to read passive RFID chips, which is what the microchips in your pets are, but some can. Not on IOS, that I know of, but there are Android-based phones with RFID reading capability (Samsung Galaxy, for example) and there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.anyro.nfc_reader&amp;amp;hl=en&quot;&gt;some apps&lt;/a&gt; for that purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, not all pet microchips are the same and it's possible that none of them are compatible with the reader technology in your phone and that's really the key to it. You need to know what standards and frequency your phone can read and then what chip, with its standards and frequencies, is in your pet. Assuming that the chip follows any of the standards... not all do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, if you really want to, you can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pettravelstore.com/microchip-scanners/&quot;&gt;buy a scanner&lt;/a&gt; to do the check, but typically you can often feel them. The chip, in cats, is usually injected under the skin between the shoulder blades. If your cat is normal body weight (or thinner), you can sometimes feel the small, slim, cylinder there. Unfortunately, not feeling it doesn't mean it's absent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Frisbee noted, might be better taking the cat into a shelter to get scanned. They're usually open on weekends, prime adoption period, and if you call ahead, I would think most would accommodate and they will normally have the ability to check where it's registered if there's one present. If there isn't one, you might be able to pay them to do it, it's a trivial procedure to do, and then have them register you guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-10-11T13:52:17.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19796" CreationDate="2015-10-11T15:53:41.093" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a female bichon frisé. When inside she follow me everywhere, however when I walk with her in the forest she's always very far behind me, smelling this and that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She usually waits till I'm so far away that she can't see anymore, and then she comes. This is quite annoying as I like to move at a good pace and not wait for her to smell stuff forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get her to move a bit faster and follow me more closely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3107" LastActivityDate="2018-02-22T11:18:31.693" Title="How to get my dog to follow me outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-11T16:13:18.167" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 13 year old female Corgi who started barking at 6:00AM but now the time that she barks is getting closer to 5:00AM.  She has to sleep away from us in  my laundry room that I have lined with pee pads because she can not last more than 3-4 hours without having to go to the bathroom.  Does anyone have a solution for the barking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5924" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T10:36:30.640" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T10:36:30.640" Title="What can I do for an older dog (13 years) who starts barking early in the morning /" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-11T17:59:59.763" Score="4" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I are interested in adopting a dog or cat, but unfortunately, both of my parents have various animal allergies, and we want to make sure they would still be able to visit our home. Since cats are covered by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1925/5918&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, this question is specifically about dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reading about &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoallergenic_Dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hypoallergenic dogs&lt;/a&gt;, it seems that this whole idea is a myth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, prominent allergen researchers have claimed that there is no basis to the claims that certain dog breeds are hypoallergenic and, while allergen levels vary among individual dogs, the breed is not a significant factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a small home (two rooms), so permanently isolating the dog to one room isn't feasible. I've seen the usual advice about frequent baths, cleaning, etc. but what should we look for in a dog to minimize the conflict with allergies? Contrary to the link above, are there specific breeds we should look for? Characteristics of the fur/hair, or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Mayo Clinic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pet-allergy/expert-answers/hypoallergenic-dog-breeds/faq-20058425&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommends&lt;/a&gt; smaller dogs instead of larger dogs, since they'll shed less, but they don't have much to say on the dogs themselves, and instead focus on other ways to improve the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5918" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T15:37:59.013" Title="What should I look for in a dog if my family is allergic?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-09T21:21:45.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2015-10-11T18:21:29.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I would like to make clear that &lt;strong&gt;your dog is well...a dog&lt;/strong&gt;. They can smell a lot of smells. Your dog follows you inside because she is not distracted by unfamiliar stimuli, but outside it's a whole different story. &lt;strong&gt;You cannot expect her not to mind all her surroundings,&lt;/strong&gt; it's just how dogs are. As a dog owner you should be aware of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to teach her to come when you call her. Begin with walking her on a leash and teaching her to follow you when you call her. Say things like &quot;-name-, come!&quot;(or other short dog phrases) or whistle in a certain way and just tug her &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; gently. That's how I taught my dog to follow me. Keep in mind that &lt;strong&gt;communication is important.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as Ceasar (hope you know the guy with the TV show about dogs, if not look it up you might learn some useful information) always says &lt;strong&gt;you have to be a good leader&lt;/strong&gt;. Your dog has to see you as someone they want to follow. Your dog has to trust you, respect you and care for you. You can't achieve that without caring for her too. So let her do her dog things a little bit, wait for her and call her only if you think she stays too long. If you don't like doing that and if you really like keeping a &quot;good pace&quot; don't take your dog with you and enjoy a beautiful walk alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5926" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:18:38.420" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:18:38.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6613" CreationDate="2015-10-12T06:50:16.307" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia and other commonwealth nations, white haired dogs where discribed as blue. This was before 1970's. This is where it came from.  So when a person names their dog Blue, it typically was an all white dog.  Don Cherry's dog was all white and named Blue.  Look at it this way...white is a color that has blue in it. In the old days most people just took this as understood. We add bluing to laundry or hair to make it more white..,right?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5928" LastEditorUserId="5928" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T23:00:34.687" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T23:00:34.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10503" CreationDate="2015-10-12T06:59:24.757" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had cats which have been moved to a new home, both at my parents' place and my own. What we do is keep them inside for at least a week to get them used to the new house as their home, and also to get used to the idea that that's where their people are. After a week, if they seem comfortable in their new surroundings, let them out supervised for a small amount of time to explore the garden, etc. that you have outside, then bring them back in. Gradually increase the amount of time they're allowed outside and if all goes well after a week you can let them out unsupervised and they will have adopted their new territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cats are still nervous about the interior of the house after a week, delay letting them out for the first time until they feel comfortable with your new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with them and do everything you would normally do. They should also feel that everything's normal after a while. You don't need to feed them treats or bribe them to hang around, unless that is what they're used to previously. Remember that cats jump, and there will already be cats in your new neighbourhood. Your cats will eventually mark out their own territory, which might not stop at your boundary. Cats see the world differently from us! You will upset the equilibrium of both your cats and the neighbourhood cats, but only for a short time and then they will all be used to the new arrangement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T06:59:24.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10503" CreationDate="2015-10-12T07:02:41.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growing up we always had outdoor cats and moved every 2-3 years - which is a lot for a cat. Our oldest moggy lived until 17 so she saw a fair number of houses with us but was ultimately an outdoor cat. Whilst she had access to the house with a cat flap, she usually only came in for meals or if it was super cold. She had a bed in a covered house outside as well, which she much preferred in summer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever we moved we kept her and the other cats in the house for 2-3 weeks solid. In effect, the new house would become her ground zero for her territory, smelling like her and becoming familiar. With a distinct &quot;This is where I'm fed&quot;. It always worked without issues and all our cats never ran away from home back towards the old houses. After the 2-3 weeks were up they would go outside and explore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not want to do this or are not able to, treats may work, though I've never personally tried it... but it depends on a few factors you haven't mentioned, like how close you are to your old home - if too near, your cat will look towards its old territory. Treats may or may not be enough - it'll depend on how much your cat loves the treat as much as anything. You may find you'll have to pay out the good stuff to help bring your cat back from its wandering. You could also try being in the area with your cat the first few days, so as they explore the compound they'll associate it with you. It would also be worth having a look for other cats in the area, as I remember some neighbours of mine feeding their cats outside and so mine would always try and nab a free meal, which could become a distraction for your treat tactic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:52:47.520" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:47.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-12T07:10:21.437" Score="6" ViewCount="468" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen several questions about cats not covering their litter properly but my question is just about the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three cats, two of which are perfectly toilet trained but the third almost never covers, or covers badly when she goes to the toilet. Sometimes she just jumps out of the tray, and sometimes she will try to cover what she's done but she deliberately aims for the hard plastic of the tray edge, so hardly moves any litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's been to the toilet while I'm out, there is often a nasty smell throughout the whole house when I get home. How can I reduce or eliminate the smell, even if her toilet behaviour is still abnormal? The main issue is the smell, if I can get her to cover that should fix the problem, but that's not the only solution I'll accept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have had a similar experience and have had success with a particular method, I'd like to know although &quot;in theory&quot; guesses are welcome too. I can only try them and see if they work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the answers so far have all been along similar lines I feel that I need to clarify my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat poo is smelly unless it is covered. This should not come as news to cat owners! Very rarely one of the others cats will poo where they shouldn't such as in the bathroom basin or in the bath. Their poo smells just as bad and also makes the whole house smell bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat with the problem digs a hole and poos in it but doesn't cover it because of where she's scratching. So she's trying to do the right thing, she just thinks the best covering litter is the edge of the tray, instead of the unused litter sitting just inside the edge. She tries to scratch the hard plastic edge of the tray onto her fresh poo, instead of using the loose litter. So I either need to train her to bury from where it feels soft instead of hard or somehow deal with the smell of the poo sitting in a shallow hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens if the litter is a day old or if I have just changed it. She's not actually pooing on the side of the box, her aim when squatting is excellent, just like the other two. Only the poo touching the litter is odour neutralised. The poo exposed to the air just makes the house smelly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastEditorUserId="3252" LastEditDate="2015-10-13T02:33:40.950" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T01:30:39.890" Title="How can I reduce litter/waste odor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10161" CreationDate="2015-10-12T07:50:25.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes! Dogs do have fears and it’s not surprising that dog often develop a fear of visits to veterinary clinic. When your dog is showing signs of anxiety when they get to know what is going to happen with them, since they have no idea the veterinarian is looking out for their well being. During puppy veterinarian, they need your help or a consultant to feel relax. To reduce a fear of your dog, you can take a tasty treats and your dog's favorite toys when you visit the veterinarian or you can ask the vet to give your dog plenty of treats as well. You may ask the staff to make a fuss over your dog and give him treats. Lead or lift your dog on and off the weigh scale, giving him treats each time he gets on. If your dog learns that the clinic is a fun place to be most of the time, he’ll be a lot less concerned when it’s time for his annual physical exam.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5929" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T18:49:06.933" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T18:49:06.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10510" CreationDate="2015-10-12T08:22:50.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is and it isn't a myth. Some breeds of dog shed less. Some have less fluff inherently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, you don't know what will trigger allergies. It is unlikely to be as simple as a particular breed is &quot;ok&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be - go visit a rescue. Meet some dogs and check everyone who might &quot;react&quot;. That way you will get a dog who you know will be ok. And for bonus points, you will know something of its personality and what they get along with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worked for us - we both suffered allergies in the past, so we had many of the same concerns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that though - have you considered a pig? We did seriously look into it, for the very simple reason that pigs are hypoallergenic. And actually quite smart, and able to be house trained. There are a few downsides though - they tend to count as livestock rather than pets, so different laws apply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="3335" LastEditDate="2015-10-12T09:15:23.360" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T09:15:23.360" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10509" CreationDate="2015-10-12T09:21:48.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you need to figure out why your dog is barking. This might be a variety of reasons - but given what you say about 'toilet' endurance &quot;I want to go out&quot; might be one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But so might be activity outside, like the milkman, bin lorries, a cat being 'let out', sunrise, etc. You need to figure out that stimulus before you have any hope of stopping the barking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will suggest that lining the whole room with pee pads isn't necessarily doing a lot of good - you're teaching your dog that indoors is 'ok' to toilet. I know it's not so easy to deal with, but perhaps setting aside a sort of 'litter tray' might be a good move. (E.g. as you might with a puppy). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T09:21:48.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10279" CreationDate="2015-10-12T14:30:14.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's not algae, those are diatoms. That is part of the natural cycling process and are usually an indicator of high bacteria if you are dosing carbon (it's feeding on the excess bacteria) or disoolved solids (TDS) in your water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are dosing carbon, cut it back slowly (or if using bio-pellets, you might be using too much). For a tank that's not mature, any carbon doing should be minimal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also take a close look at the water quality you're adding to the tank for water changes and top-off. Anything above 0 TDS will provide food for the diatoms. Make sure your are using RO water that is pure (run through DI) and the DI is not spent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3081" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T14:30:14.213" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10516" CreationDate="2015-10-12T14:40:14.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you mentioned the smelly stool to your veterinarian? There are some medical problems that can cause smelly stool (parasites, malabsorption, allergies). Treating the problem may reduce the smell so it's less potent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T14:40:14.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10516" CreationDate="2015-10-12T17:14:21.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's just one cat out of several, definitely check for medical issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food intolerance is also a possibility; you might want to change their protein source (give them bird or cow if they've mostly been getting fish, for example) and see if that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T17:14:21.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10516" CreationDate="2015-10-12T17:23:07.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's several things around the box itself you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, clean the box more regularly.  This doesn't sound like it applies to your situation, but for the general case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a larger litterbox.  The cat may be going on the sides because the box is too small.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try different litter, such as crystal litter.  Crystal litter is a dessicant, quickly drying out waste, and I've found reduces the smell significantly, at least up to the point of saturation, where it can no longer absorb.  Changing out all the litter pretty regularly helps you avoid that problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More litter boxes.  Litters can only absorb so fast, so if your cat goes in more places, it might give the litter more chance to do its work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try a differently designed box.  There's enclosed boxes, and boxes with filters that can help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place the box in a better ventilated area.  You could even put it in your bathroom and leave your bathroom fan on.  I know some bathrooms even have timers for their fans, so you could use that, if you've got it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As also has been suggested, you can also address the smell itself.  Consult your vet, and if there's nothing wrong, try out different diets to see if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-10-12T17:23:07.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6570" CreationDate="2015-10-12T23:13:54.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 8 serpeas in a 5 gallon tank. At first I had 4 and then they were very aggressive. Then when I added 4 more, it was only one that was aggressive. When I removed him, none of the others where getting hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should remove the aggressive ones then that should stop the nipping. I hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5932" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T16:47:03.000" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T16:47:03.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-13T01:55:23.250" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 month old dog is petrified when outside his home environment.  He walks fearfully along, &amp;amp; as soon as we turn to return home, he pulls ahead trying to get back as quickly as he can.  He is full of confidence at home, with people &amp;amp; other dogs.    He was adopted  from the pound at 5 mths so missed out on socialisation at an important time.   I socialised him a lot, and he did get a lot better, but seems to have become much worse over the last few months.   His sister who has been adopted by someone else is the same, although not as bad.  They are both much more fearful outside than normal dogs.  I have tried taking it very slowly, creating positive experiences when he is out with treats &amp;amp; pats, adaptil collar &amp;amp; thundershirts.  Any suggestions as to what else I can do would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5933" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T23:32:19.683" Title="My dog is petrified outside his home environment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-13T03:29:52.333" Score="3" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my leopard geckos housed together for a couple weeks now and I have not seen or heard any tail wagging. They don't attack each other and the female pays no mind to him. They even sleep in the same hide together except they don't mate. I've been a leopard gecko owner for more than 4 years and it's always been a dream to breed them. Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5935" LastActivityDate="2016-12-25T23:50:15.817" Title="Why won't my male leopard gecko show interest in my female leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7708" CreationDate="2015-10-13T04:22:01.333" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for injections, I have never heard of that. I know a few people who have gotten bitten by cats who then needed to be hospitalized for infection. Average 1 day. Neither got rid of their cat. My cat bit my arm when I was playing with him, he wrapped his paws around me and I quickly pulled my arm away, which scared him, when his hind claws started to dig. He bit me as I pulled away. It got red so my pharmacist gave me a shot. I would never think of giving the cat away, let alone abandoning him. Most pets don't just bite the owners unless they are frightened or in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5934" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T04:22:01.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9905" CreationDate="2015-10-13T04:30:21.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually have someone check in on mine daily when I have to go somewhere for even a day. 1 reason being, no matter how I have the water set up, they always manage to knock it over and play in it, leaving themselves none to drink. 2nd being what keshlam mentioned. you know your cats behavior best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5934" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T04:30:21.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10535" CreationDate="2015-10-13T06:04:31.950" Score="3" ViewCount="1378" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they can, how do they distinguish twins? By their smell? By their dressing difference? Or by other mechanism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T14:14:37.837" Title="Can cats or dogs distinguish twins?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10516" CreationDate="2015-10-13T07:56:51.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides a less radical approach as changing the litter type to one that works better for covering up the smell (while also being something your cats accept and not being too dusty etc), a more marked change would be to change their diets - for example to BARF feeding. BARF feeders regularly report way less smelly cat poop. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5882" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T07:56:51.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10534" CreationDate="2015-10-13T13:45:48.073" Score="4" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ultimate message I want to convey to a 4-5 month old cat is that he is free to run and jump and attack his toys and be as crazy as he pleases in the majority of the house.  However, if he chooses to come on the couch or on the bed, he must remain relatively quiet and still.  When it is play time, he must remain off of the &quot;calm zones.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, my habit is to read in bed for about a half hour before turning off the lamp and going to sleep.  As I was doing so the other night, he came up, wondered around, the began to bite my knee through the blankets.  He quickly got picked up and placed on the floor.  He soon was back, and this time he grabbed on to the corner of the blanket and started to claw and chew at it like a toy.  Again, he was quickly sent to the floor.  Finally, he came back a minute later, and laid down against my arm.  Now, he got some petting and soft talk.  He stayed that way until after I feel asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems he might be starting to learn, but I want to be sure.  I know there are dozens of related questions here, and I will read them, but none seem to cover this exact scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T00:40:26.810" Title="Can I teach the concept of &quot;calm zone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5880" CreationDate="2015-10-13T13:57:26.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely, get a pet 'Venus Flytrap'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SWoDq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SWoDq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Venus Flytraps grow in wild in my state, so I just leave mine outside during the summer and winterize them as they need the cool down period, but from what I understand you can grow them inside well enough. They may need a container of some sort, like the one pictured, to keep the humidity high. You'll also need a good grow light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From recent research I've been doing to provide some good light to tropical that are outside during the summer and in, in the winter, I think you could buy a 4-pack each of 60w-100w equivalent CFL light bulbs (the spirally ones), in both the 6500k and 2700k range. It'll say which it is, somewhere on the pack, like so: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZkZfo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZkZfo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can put them in the little metal shades with the spring clamps. It looks a little gaudy, but you can buy a socket splitter and put one of each bulb in one of the big reflectors. These two ranges do different things. If you pick one, I'd go with the 6500k, but it's easy enough to do both. Look online for how to set it up and the correct distance above the plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These plants have been pretty easy for me to care for, though. I'd tried in the past, with no luck, doing all kinds of complicated care. However, I found a book called, &quot;The Savage Garden&quot; by Peter D'Amato &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1607744104&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Savage Garden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the 'Venus Flytrap', the book told me a ratio to sphagnum peat moss (super cheap for a bale) and sand (super cheap play sand), to plant it in. It then said to just set it in a tray of water and keep water in the tray. The mix wicks up the proper moisture. They like to sit in water. Then you simply wait and it starts feeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now have several carnivorous plants. I have some of the 'Venus Flytraps', so 'Sarracenia', and I bought my first 'Nepenthes' (Lady Luck) recently and it's supposed to do well in a regular indoor environment. Any of these will eat up your local fly population and will actually attract them to themselves so you won't have to move them around much to catch them. It won't run away on you and requires minimal care, but they're very reminiscent of a pet since they move and you can feed them. They grow light will also help attract the flys in the evenings and morning when it's the brightest light around. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T13:57:26.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10532" CreationDate="2015-10-13T14:07:37.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've managed to 'Train' my cat with this kind of thing, to a small extent, over the years. Basically, you've got the right idea. I discourage them from the bad behaviors and encourage the good ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, my cat likes to jump on my bed and walk over my chest when I'm in bed. When my computer is on my lap, and when he was little, he'd stop and sit on my chest blocking the screen. I didn't scold him, but I wouldn't pet him till he stepped off onto the bed. Now he never stops on my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he would do a behavior like you're describing that you can't ignore, such as chewing on your knee or the sheets, I'd do something shocking that wouldn't really hurt him. I might chuck a small pillow at him or better yet, if you have a throw blanket, throw it over the top of him. He'll be so busy try to get out from under it, he'll forget about chewing your knee. You can also flap it at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These have been effective for me. I recently read that cats don't make the same associations that dogs do. With a dog, if it's in the middle of doing and action and you correct it, it knows that the action cause the correction. The article was saying that if, for instance, you cat climbs on your kitchen counter and you shoo him off, he doesn't associate getting on the counter with him being bad, he just thinks you're a butthole. The article suggested making the counter the bad guy by using a motion sensor mounted on top of a can of compressed air. The cat jumps on the counter, walks by the motion sensor, and 'PFFTT!!!', gets a blast of air up his tail. It not only creates the appropriate association, but in consistent 100% of the time where a person only corrects when they see it happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot;&gt;Ssscat on Amazon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the same principle, you can pick up a can of compressed air pretty cheap. Keep it on your night stand. If the cat comes in the room, set it close at hand. If you're reading and he starts to chew on your knee or the blanket, completely ignore him, keep reading, but reach down and give him a puff of air. It won't hurt him, but will startle him. A few repetition should cause him to quite the behavior. He won't think it's you, but the action that causes the response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T14:07:37.993" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10530" CreationDate="2015-10-13T14:14:37.837" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's an easy one. The definitely can. Think about all the training shows and articles, tell you how easily dogs can pick up on human body language, even when the human doesn't mean to project it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Twin's aren't really identical. Anyone who knows a set of twins can tell them apart. Granted if they're being sneaky, they can emulate something about the other, such as their dress or a quirk and fool some people, but it's much easier to fool people than dogs. Not only will their mannerisms be different, but their smell will be as well. I don't think people realize all the different things they do that make them unique to a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lets go with the twin example. You have two identical twins. One likes to eat a pop tart for breakfast every morning and the other like toast. To a dog, those smells stick to you most of the day. Also, if you eat enough of a certain type of food, it begins to ooze out of your pores. Another example would be where the person works. You pick up different smell depending on where you work. If one works at an office, the dog will pick up toner scent, and if the other works at a restaurant, the dog will pick up that smell. Maybe one twin likes to swim and chlorine smell is sticking to them most of the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see my point, that twins are going to move and smell different all the time. And to be honest, I think a dog would probably be able to tell twin babies apart pretty readily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T14:14:37.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10525" CreationDate="2015-10-13T15:26:29.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A dog training class can help you to bond with your dog, better understand him, and also help him build up confidence. Once he knows a command, work with him outside in the yard, and then out on your walk, and then someplace new. Make it fun, be happy, but don't exhaust the dog, because they can become tired of training.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Doggie daycare can be quite affordable and help your dog with socialization. Because you won't be there, this is a good way to weed out if it's actually you or your attitude that's creating the fearfulness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to connect with other dog trainers or dog clubs in your area so that you can get specific tips on how to help your dog&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Structured walks. Keep walking, and try to create a route that includes less new scenery - perhaps a shorter distance with multiple laps, and try to make that a routine, going at the same time every day, stopping at the same places, going the same way. Be calm and unconcerned with your dog's behavior, and consistently hold an attitude that you know exactly where you're doing and where you're going and everything's just fine. This is basically called a &quot;structured walk&quot;. I am not sure how you are walking now, but try these tips to refine what you have already.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are more things that you can do but these are my main thoughts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T15:26:29.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10525" CreationDate="2015-10-13T18:50:46.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of home is he in? House? apartment? Is there a yard? Fence?  Is he OK in the yard?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your space allows for it, just sitting outside the boundaries and extending the boundaries a little each day might also help.  It will give him time to fully explore the new area while having the reassurance of you being there.  This is a step back from the &quot;structured walk&quot; rlb.usa suggested.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what is your demeanor like on these walks?  I know that can be really hard to assess but you want to have a confident, relaxed demeanor all about yourself.  If you are hurried, anxious, worried or even overly concerned for your dog he can pick up on that and misapply your negative energy to being outside his boundaries.  In his mind you are alpha and if the alpha is worried about something then he needs to be worried about something even if he can't tell what that something is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I suggest just sitting outside his boundaries.  You set aside time to sit, be relaxed and confident and he will move back and forth from you as he explores.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5916" LastActivityDate="2015-10-13T18:50:46.807" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6412" CreationDate="2015-10-14T01:36:46.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too had the problem of my cat Fonzie (now nicknamed &quot;Houdini&quot;) pushing the cone off his little head.  What I did works great I used a halter and attached two loops of the cone to the halter on his back and the one front loop to the part where the halter sits on his chest. It is a halter one would use with a leash on to take the cat for a walk. He isn't happy and I wish I could make him understand it is temporary and for his own good. Love my cats so much and one can never say cats aren't smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5937" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T01:36:46.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10560" CreationDate="2015-10-14T02:26:44.697" Score="4" ViewCount="665" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite consistently, when we come home from their yearly checkup, my girl-cat Hazel gives her brother Harry a thorough cursing in cat -- spitting, growling, a few &quot;stay away from me&quot; pounces and swipes. It seems to take a day or so for her to forget she's mad at him. Treats aren't enough; until this wears off she's very defensive about her bowl, when normally they just check to make sure I've divided fairly and clean up after each other without arguments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been assuming that this is because she doesn't want to be mad at &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;, and poor Harry becomes the target for her frustrations. (&quot;This is all your fault!&quot;) But it could also be that Harry still carries smells from the vet's office or something of that sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harry seems as confused by it as I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone actually knows what's going on in that fuzzy little brain, or has tips for how I can could smooth this over more quickly...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T23:17:07.307" Title="How to help cats forget the vet visit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-14T03:18:17.780" Score="4" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's clear that dogs are very good at picking up on the tone and emotion of the people around them, but I'm wondering if this is something that is instinctual or learned based on previous experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an article in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201502/can-dogs-recognize-emotions-just-looking-human-face&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Psychology Today&lt;/a&gt; that touches a bit on this, but it doesn't exactly answer the cause of a dog's knowledge. For example, would a stray dog that hadn't been in contact with humans before be able to tell if a person was happy or angry? Or is this something that pet dogs pick up through classic conditioning while living among humans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T12:00:37.403" Title="Is a dog's understanding of a person's tone instinctual or learned?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10550" CreationDate="2015-10-14T03:29:50.763" Score="3" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I notices a white ball growing on my a liverock in my aquarium. It only appears on the piece that was previously in my sump, should I be concerned?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YSy5H.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YSy5H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ugylM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ugylM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h5tR0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h5tR0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5fKsg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5fKsg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastEditorUserId="5609" LastEditDate="2015-10-15T02:28:34.540" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T02:28:34.540" Title="What is this white ball growing on my liferock?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10548" CreationDate="2015-10-14T04:43:38.243" Score="4" ViewCount="3021" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat comes running into the room whenever I turn on the tv or stereo and sits right next to it. If I turn it off, he meows over and over especially when I turn off the music. He also lays on the DVD player, stereo receiver and tries to get on the tv. Will that harm him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T12:48:23.263" LastActivityDate="2017-11-11T16:24:45.683" Title="Is it harmful for my cat to be near/on my electronics?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10547" CreationDate="2015-10-14T04:54:35.100" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it won't harm him, though it may shorten the life of the electronics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He likes lying on these devices because they're warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risk is that by doing so he may block ventilation that they need to keep their components within their intended operating temperature range, or fur may accumulate inside them with the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to decide whether the risk of breakdowns occurring sooner is an acceptable cost for keeping your cat happy, or whether you want to declare these off limits and let him find a warm spot somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also may come running into the room because these noises indicate that the human will be there for a while and he likes being near you. My cats definitely respond to the noise of my turning on the living room lights that way; it usually means I'm settling in to read for an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Though it's also true that some cats do seem to understand music at least enough to like some kinds. They probably can't play the prediction game which makes music so much fun for us, but maybe they can at least hear basic chords or rhythms. I'm sure someone has tried to do a study on that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re &quot;electronics radiation&quot;: @Rotem, what radiation are you talking about? Most of what most electronics emits as electromagnetic radiation is infrared -- heat -- plus a bit of 60-cycle hum (which we're all immersed in anyway). Electronics equipment is shielded to prevent emitting (or, more importantly, picking up) RF, and the amount it would emit would be less than a toy walkie-talkie even if unshielded... far less than a cell phone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a specific concern, we can address it more precisely. But electronics is not usually a hazard, unless you start talking about microwave ovens or high voltage. Really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-10-17T16:16:24.607" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T16:16:24.607" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10554" CreationDate="2015-10-14T07:29:11.097" Score="2" ViewCount="1439" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one Indian Flap shell turtle in my home. Is it a poisonous pet? I'm concerned if it bites children (or even adults). What is the risk to my family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5939" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T19:06:27.130" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T19:06:27.130" Title="Is Indian Flapshell Poisonous" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10546" CreationDate="2015-10-14T11:50:47.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to tell from the picture, but most likely some sort of sponge or tunicate. They typically grow naturally when there is sufficient food and nutrients and with a few exceptions shouldn't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a quick guide to common hitchhikers: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sponges come in just about any color and shape, the most common are ball and pineapple sponges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T11:50:47.283" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10545" CreationDate="2015-10-14T17:17:25.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible that some of it is instinctual, since man and dog have had such a close relationship for so long a time. There is plenty of other things we've changed about dogs, down to the basest level. So it's possible that we've also bred in an instinct about how to react with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think the vast majority of it is learned behavior. As an example, just think of the people you know. I bet that every person who reads this will know at least one person who is loud, mouthy, and aggressive sounding, but you know that they don't mean it. Conversely, you probably also know a person who is fairly quiet, but when they yell or curse, you really take note and it's almost shocking. Since people are so different from one another, you can't really breed in a reaction to human behavior. It's based on the individual person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you use a stray dog as an example, but I think it would be a very, very small portion of stray dogs that haven't come into contact with people in some form or another. Maybe the dog is getting into their garbage to eat something and the person comes out hollering and chasing them off. Maybe the person sees their hungry and feeds them. These would be completely different experiences that would affect the dogs behavior toward people and how it felt about their interactions with them. Thousands of these interactions make up the dogs (or any animals) reaction to any given situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T17:17:25.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10549" CreationDate="2015-10-14T18:13:14.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In TurtleForum they happen to ask the same question as you did in one of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/?showtopic=112164&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;threads&lt;/a&gt;(search near the bottom):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, softshelled turtles are generally extremely aggressive, have very&#xA;  long necks, and inflict painful wounds. &lt;strong&gt;No turtle in the world is&#xA;  venomous&lt;/strong&gt; (i.e. they do not have venom glands and an apparatus to&#xA;  inject a toxic substance like a cobra would). There are a few species&#xA;  of turtles that are known to eat extremely toxic grasses, mushrooms,&#xA;  etc. without harm to themselves but can store these toxins in their&#xA;  meat/fat. If the turtle is killed and eaten it is possible for the&#xA;  predator (human) to be poisoned. There are a few rare examples of&#xA;  human deaths from circumstances of this nature. An uncleaned wound of&#xA;  any kind has the potential to develop into a bacterial infection which&#xA;  could be extremely dangerous if left untreated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you're okay OP. Just clean your wound in case the turtle happens to bite you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2015-10-14T18:18:23.463" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T18:18:23.463" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-14T18:19:29.700" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had four guinea pigs for a little over a year now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got them, they soon established a clear order amongst themselves.  When I feed them they have always gone to the food and/or my hand in the same sequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last couple of weeks, this has changed.  The leader has been toppled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there is no sign of any illness, lethargy, aggression or loss of appetite, it concerns me that there is this change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it common for the pecking order to change or is there some indication here of illness in the former leader?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1095" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T18:19:29.700" Title="Does a change in pecking order imply illness?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-14T18:58:22.970" Score="1" ViewCount="836" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunter (our 11 year old neutered male with a heart condition diagnosed this summer) has developed a small wound on one of his hind legs. This summer he started spending more time laying on the hard tile floor. He has also lost a lot of weight since being diagnosed with the heart condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that the wound is a pressure sore from his (now bony) legs resting on the hard tile floor for hours at a time. I cleaned and bandaged it. If it begins to worsen or does not improve I will immediately take him to the vet, but stress from the vet worsens his heart condition, and our normal vet is unfamiliar with this heart condition (restrictive cardiomyopathy - our normal vet has only ever seen one other case before). I am currently waiting for a callback from his cardiologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there another surface that I can provide for him that will be cooling (the reason I think he's laying on the tile) but isn't as hard on his body? Or, would it be reasonable to keep both hind legs bandaged to provide some extra padding on the bones? (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003NS3A8U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; is the type of bandage we're using)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-10-14T18:58:22.970" Title="How can I prevent my cat from developing pressure sores on his legs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10564" CreationDate="2015-10-14T21:29:31.430" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I walk from house to work and vice-versa I don't mind petting a couple of stray dogs I happen to bump into every now and then. I know they're stray cause there's no collars, and -sadly- I've seen them digging through the trash to find something to eat, I toss a snack every now and then. What I want to know is how risky is to adopt a stray dog and if it happens, what are the measurements(vaccines obviously, but besides that) I will need to take in order to successfully transform this stray dog into a home dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T13:40:42.240" Title="Adopting Stray Dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3031" CreationDate="2015-10-15T01:23:18.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one of my kitties stopped using the litter box my vet mentioned it could be from changing the type/brand of litter or possibly could have an infection. With an infection they may stop using the box because they associate the box with pain. You can mention it to your vet at the kittens visit. Even they would tell you not to rub noses in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5934" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T01:23:18.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10542" CreationDate="2015-10-15T01:39:59.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your girl cat is responding to the smell of the vet on her brother, not actually the brother himself.  Cats can understand many things just by the scent of another cat, such as male vs female or heat vs not in heat.  All your girl knows is this cat, who may look like her brother, is an imposter.  After a day, the smell of your scent and the scent in your house increases and the vet smell becomes a distant memory.  Next time you go to the vet, take a shirt you wore the day before (but don't take it into the vet's office).  When you all get back in the car, rub your shirt all over the male cat and put it in his carrier so he can lay on it.  This will help dissipate some of that mean vet smell.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T01:39:59.783" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-15T02:35:45.677" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today my wife this red circular think in the tank floating near a snail. Any idea what it is is it some type life or maybe just the snail shedding or whatever they do?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G0P6b.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G0P6b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sKEEX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sKEEX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T02:35:45.677" Title="What is the red platet floating around my tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-15T05:31:01.313" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 y.o. Yorkshire and he was diagnosed with Yorkshire encephalitis ~8 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read very good things about Turmeric and sea weeds for encephalitis, and I wonder if it can be mixed with his current medications (the vets around here don't know much about alternative medicines).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The current medications are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phenobarbitone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cellcept&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potassium Bromide (KBR)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prednisolone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keppra&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Omeprazole&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please mention your background on your answers :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5946" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T05:31:01.313" Title="Yorkshire encephalitis medications and Turmeric" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10557" CreationDate="2015-10-15T15:59:49.230" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Risk is always relative and no two dogs are alike. Determining the risk a dog carries isn't something you can assess clearly by yourself, but taking precautions against diseases an animal might have is a good idea (washing hands, gloves, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet - Going to the vet is the first stop to check for diseases and likely worms. The vet can also check for microchips indicating the dog once belonged to someone. The vet also has good resources to refer you to trainers or classes if there are behavioral issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other Pets, Children - Because you're adopting this dog off the street, there's no one to tell you if it will get along with other pets or any children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behavior - For your initial assessment of whether the dog is a good match for you and if you decide to pick it up, you're really on your own. The vet and professional trainers can help you diagnosis issues and help you decide if the dog is a good fit for you. Remember that a dog off the street is used to being able to come and go as he pleases, so they're going to have a lot more energy than your average couch potato dog. It's also worth noting that you have no idea how the dog got on the street in the first place - perhaps they were dumped there, perhaps they were abandoned for eating the previous owner's shoes, or perhaps the dog is a run-away (and therefore might run away again). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T15:59:49.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10557" CreationDate="2015-10-15T16:51:57.580" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you live an area with a humane society, dog pound, shelter, or whatever it may be called take the dog to them, express your interest in adopting the dog when you take it in.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are experienced in matters related to stray dogs, they can scan for micro chips and handle any lost dog issues, as well doing a vet check and providing shots as need.  Due to their nature I would expect the cost to be significantly less then the same services at your local vet.  The dog may need to stay for 1 to 3 days while they do all of the things that need to be done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the facility rules you may be able to visit the dog daily while it is going through the process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-09-29T13:40:42.240" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T13:40:42.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2734" CreationDate="2015-10-15T18:06:18.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I found this article about the Barn Hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For years, informal barn hunts were held in conjunction with earthdog&#xA;  events and terrier fun days, using various rules, and as something to&#xA;  enjoy with no pressure on handler or dog. But these informal events&#xA;  were never a sanctioned sport. The Barn Hunt Association, LLC has&#xA;  created a sanctioned sport honoring the traditional role of dogs in&#xA;  ridding barns, homes, and properties of vermin. Barn Hunt opens this&#xA;  fun sport up to any dog, of any size, type, breed or mix that can fit&#xA;  through an 18″ wide through approximately 22″ high tunnel. In Barn&#xA;  Hunt, you can earn titles and placements at levels from Instinct&#xA;  through Master, and even Championships and beyond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also for more info Barn Hunt is a fun and exciting new dog sport. In&#xA;  Barn Hunt, dogs hunt for rats hidden in a straw bale maze. It's a&#xA;  timed event, with levels of difficulty from Novice to Master. There&#xA;  will be ribbons, placements, and titles. Fun tests are already being&#xA;  held across the country and there is tremendous interest. You can find&#xA;  out much more about the sport by going to the Barn Hunt Web Page. Barn&#xA;  Hunt is growing rapidly in popularity. Join our facebook page and&#xA;  yahoogroup . Look above at the Events link to find fun tests, trials,&#xA;  training, and judge workshops; and at the club locator map to find&#xA;  clubs in your area. We want to hear from you!&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://gogetfunding.com/project/barn-hunt-dog-sport-startup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gogetfunding.com/project/barn-hunt-dog-sport-startup&lt;/a&gt; On this&#xA;  webpage there is a video that you can look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(this answer is a repost because it was deleted by it's owner... but the info is good so I don't want it to be lost)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="884" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T18:06:18.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10568" CreationDate="2015-10-15T20:03:49.607" Score="4" ViewCount="1974" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Backstory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ex-girlfriend asked me to buy her a Husky puppy back in January. The ex-girlfriend is back to living with her ex-husband and today apparently the dog started digging in the area of their yard where the ex-husband's beloved pet is poorly buried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dilemma is that I love the dog, but am a single person living in a 1 bedroom apartment, working 10+ hours per day away from home, thus I can't adopt the Husky. So I'm trying to keep the ex-girlfriend from taking the dog to the pound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Attempted Solutions&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have suggested that rather than getting rid of the pet, she consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cremating the prior dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having the prior dog reburied in a proper pet cemetary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;putting bricks or something handy over the burial site&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;just getting over it because the dog is very unlikely to dig &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; deep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently none of these were acceptable solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Needed Solution&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are any ideas I'm not thinking of, then I'm all ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, would anyone know of some sort of classy-looking marble type stone they might make for this purpose to effectively seal the burial area in the yard from the Husky's digging? I've been searching on the Internet but with no success....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-10-16T12:58:22.170" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T12:58:22.170" Title="Prevent Husky from digging up prior dog's burial site" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10566" CreationDate="2015-10-15T22:37:01.753" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most cost and actually effective solution  to keep the dog from digging in that area, I would remove the top 2 - 3 inches of sod over the burial site. Lay down a piece of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain-link_fencing&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;chain link fence&lt;/a&gt; replace the sod.  The grass will easily re-root through the fence. The dog will not be able to dig through it.  The buried dog will decompose faster then the chain link fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EeWu2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EeWu2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fence Image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most effective way to protect the Husky pup is to re-home it. Based on your description she does not want the dog.  Even if you have the perfect solution she is going to have another reason to take the dog to the pound a little later.  If the dog is pure breed Husky contact &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huskyhouse.org/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Husky House&lt;/a&gt; or a local Husky Rescue in your area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly contact your local shelter/pound they often have waiting lists for people looking for pure breed or nearly pure breed dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T22:37:01.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10542" CreationDate="2015-10-15T23:17:07.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm confused by your questions. Are you saying that after you take both cats to the vets Hazel acts this way or only when you take Harry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is just Harry, it will be the way he smells differently, plus Vet clinics usually have a distinct smell so Harry could smell like the vet clinic and Hazel would be reacting to this. A lot of cats do not like the vet's as they generally only go once a year and only bad things (in their mind) happen, such as a stranger touching them, being prodded and stuck with needles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is after taking both of them to the Vet, she could be showing &quot;re-directed aggression&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/redirected-aggression-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/redirected-aggression-in-cats/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;This is common in cats can happen up to 48 hours after a less than nice experience in a cat's life, such as the cat was sitting on the window sill on Monday afternoon and got startled by a passing by car. Then, on Wednesday morning, you go to give your cat a pat and they bite you. Cat can stay in a state of high alertness from these experience for up to 48 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest taking both of your cats at the same time to the vet's at least once a month just to get the staff to give them pats and treats so that they start to associate the vet clinic as a not so scary place and hopefully in the long run, a pretty good place to visit because hey, we get pats, cuddles and treats when we come to this place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a product call Feliway can help to calm cats down. It contains the same hormones in it that a queen (mother cat) produces when they give birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps and good luck to you, Harry and Hazel :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furreal Training&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2015-10-15T23:17:07.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10532" CreationDate="2015-10-16T00:40:26.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure.  Basically, I trained my cats in the 80s that my bed is a calm zone when I am asleep. Not only did they learn, but each generation trains the new cats without me doing anything.  I think we are on Gen IV or V now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I wake up, soon a cat or two is climbing on me or sleeping on my shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T00:40:26.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10571" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-16T02:21:47.623" Score="2" ViewCount="655" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a cross of Japanese Spitz and Labrador. She is well behaved but bad in some points as she eats parts of shoes and some times plastic bags. I sometimes  feel to hit her with stick but  she is like my sister. Do you have any ways in which I should not hit her and she will be ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-10-16T09:39:17.197" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T03:41:47.287" Title="my dogs eats sandals and plastics" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2015-10-16T06:44:14.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly you should under no circumstances hit your dog, especially not with a stick - this in most countries will loose you your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly - just treat train her the 'Leave it' command. My own dog is a huge fan of flip flops and socks. However if your dog knows the 'Leave it' command then you can apply this to any object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First take a small treat, in your hand, palm facing upwards. Tell your dog to 'Leave it' - if she tries to eat it then close your hand. If she leaves it for 3 seconds - tell her to 'Take it'. Repeat this until she doesn't even move towards the treat until you tell her to do so. Once you're at that stage, make the gap in time longer and longer. This is a basic 'Leave it'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can then begin applying the logic to your shoes and plastic bags - or any other object of issue (like for our dog: poo, socks, gloves). When your dog goes near an object you don't want them to chew on - say 'Leave it' and if they do, reward them with a treat. If they don't simply take the object away. Again, repetition is the key with dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is chewing when you are not around, then don't leave these kind of items in her vicinity when on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T06:44:14.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10745" CreationDate="2015-10-16T11:29:09.603" Score="4" ViewCount="2437" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave recently found a indian flpashell turtle on road side and hence I have brought it home. So please guide me about how to treat him and food and how Shall I keep him in water or Land&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T01:32:23.807" Title="How to care for Indian Flapshell Turtle" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10516" CreationDate="2015-10-16T12:46:12.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know exactly what you mean. My cat does the exact same thing. It can be for two reasons. &#xA;1. Cats are dominant in certain areas, unlike dogs. Most dogs are either dominant or not dominant in all areas.  Cats are dominant over certain areas, such as the litter box.  Leaving poo uncovered is one way of showing dominance.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. One of your other cats is dominant over the litter box. What you may think is play could be one of your other cats waiting to ambush your cat  (that is not covering) when your cat leaves the litter box.. This is actually my situation.  So my cat hurries and uses the litter box and can't take the time to cover because she wants to get in and out before the other cat notices she's in the box. Also, the smell of her poo comforts her.   Either way, let's deal with that SMELL!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am fortunate because my husband is very ingenious when it comes to these things. We have transformed a small coat closet into the litter box room. He installed a low wattage computer case fan in the wall between the litter box room and the garage. The fan is quiet and is always on.  It continuously sucks the air out of the litter box room and into the garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you can get your cats to accept it, I have the best solution ---two words:  CAT GENIE!   This is the most amazing litter box you've ever seen. It's relatively inexpensive for the incredible things it does. It requires you, however, to relocate your litter box near a water outlet, such as in your bathroom or utility room. (Be careful with this:  If you use your utility room a lot, it may be too noisy for the cats.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter box uses granules that are quite like regular cat litter. After your cat uses the litter box, the sequence will initiate after several minutes of the kitty being out of the box (or at the time you set).  The Cat Genie washes the granules, dissolves any big particles and washes them through the water outlet, puts the granules back in the box, and dries them - clean, smell-free, and ready to use again.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend it. You can have supplies delivered directly to your house when you run low of the granules or cleaner.  It's not much (if any) more expensive than using regular litter.  AND IMAGINE...never clean the litter box again and never come home to cat urine/poo smell again!  Here is a link for you to check out :  www.catgenie.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-16T12:46:12.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2791" CreationDate="2015-10-16T17:51:07.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog takes her food out of her dish one piece at a time and then goes all the way across the house to eats it. Then I have to persuade to to eat again. I did some research and there was some suggestion that she might be lonely and want to be by me and. I think that's what it might be because she's fine when I block her in by her dish. The she eats freely but she still seems a bit scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5951" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-10-17T23:37:50.790" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T23:37:50.790" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-17T04:27:56.130" Score="3" ViewCount="1734" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is: is it possible to leave your dog alone in your studio for 8 hours? Is there any breed that will be ok with that? How do people that have regular jobs have dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5953" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:12:58.643" Title="I work 8 hours per day at the office. Is it possible to have a dog if I live in a studio?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-17T06:10:38.293" Score="2" ViewCount="1729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who likes to play-fight with me - and she clearly knows it's just a game, because she is usually very gentle about it, never uses her claws and only nips my hand or fingers softly - it is actually really cute. At least, at first. Because sometimes, she seems to escalate herself into some kind of frenzy where although she still keeps her claws sheathed she will start biting harder and harder until it is really painful. And I can not even break off the fight easily, because even if I withdraw my hand and put it somewhere else, she keeps trying to get close and bite it - I really have to shoo her off (sometimes repeatedly) to get her to stop.&#xA;I don't suppose there is a way to stop her from becoming so frenzied, but is there at least a way I can unilaterally stop the fight when I notice it is happening that restores the peace without actually having to scare her away? Or should I just stop play-fighting with her altogether?&#xA;For some background, she is the only cat (and pet) in the household, about 5-6 years old, and a 100% indoor cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5954" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T16:44:21.773" Title="How to prevent play-fighting from escalating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-17T11:02:12.923" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been diagnosed with spirocerca lupi. The parasite has reached his stomach as it has been in his system for a long time unfortunately I only found the issue through a general scan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway the vet has said there is no cure for it and it can only be managed. Has anyone had this in their dogs before? Please help urgently.&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5955" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:41:22.817" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T19:41:22.817" Title="spirocerca lupi in dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10580" CreationDate="2015-10-17T14:50:29.280" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;An adult dog, yes. A puppy, no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, you can expect a puppy to be able to &quot;hold it&quot; for about one hour per month (i.e. a 3-month old puppy can go for 3 hours without going outside). Of course, just because it's possible for the dog to hold it, doesn't mean they are potty-trained which will take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to consider what the dog will be doing while you're away. Will he be crate trained and stay in the crate? Will he have free reign of the studio? Either way you want to make sure the dog is getting enough physical and mental exercise while you are home so he doesn't become destructive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for breed restrictions, if you're gone for a long time regularly, you should look for a lower-energy dog. Shelters and rescues are a great place to find older dogs that may already be mostly potty-trained. Also consider hiring a dog-walker to come by and play with the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of people with jobs have dogs and the dogs are happy so it's very possible. Our dog is alone for about 7–8 hours 4 days a week and she's perfectly happy, but we do a lot of training and exercise with her when we are home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T14:50:29.280" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2015-10-17T15:19:18.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a lab and he's now 8 years old. He hasn't come fearful or unable to walk on the wood floors until the last year and a half. He isnt always afraid of the floors but when he doesn't walk on them I use treats and positive reinforcement to let him know it's okay. I also will put his collar on and get his leash so he's excited and thinks he's going for a walk. This helps but still didn't cure his fears completely. I'm not sure if there is but these tips do help for improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5957" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T15:19:18.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10603" CreationDate="2015-10-17T15:24:40.323" Score="10" ViewCount="1456" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 month old DSH spends several minutes, two or three times per day, playing in my bath tub.  He'll be running around playing, then heads to the bathroom, jumps in, rolls around on the floor, paws at the drain and the fixtures, then moves on to something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has never had a bath, though I have cleaned him using moist wipes made for cats.  He has also never attempted this while the shower was in use.  So I can't think of any reason he would have any emotions tied to the tub, positive or negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not seem to be hurting himself or anything, just getting a little moist from the residual water from the prior shower, and he doesn't seem to care.  I'm fairly sure there is minimal chance he could ingest any soap residue from the tub floor, and even if he did it would be trace amounts and very dilute.  (No more than I have accidentally rinsed into my mouth on rare occasions, and I survived.)  So I haven't bothered trying to prevent this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I should note that he has many toys, and multiple sources of fresh drinking water, and uses them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly I just want to know- why does he do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T08:37:08.243" Title="What is the appeal of the bath tub to a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10581" CreationDate="2015-10-17T20:27:36.687" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used a gardening glove for playing with my cat who would usually draw blood from me. Helped a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5958" LastActivityDate="2015-10-17T20:27:36.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2015-10-17T23:41:19.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been some time since this was posted but recently I faced the same issue. After about a week my cat would literally run whenever he thought it was time for the oral atopica. Called my vet and they suggested the atopica capsules. Well, again that lasted about a week until I was basically forcing his mouth open and trying to get him not to spit it out. Every time he spit it out it got sticky to handle and even worse to get it down. But since all our cats love...no are addicted to Temptation seafood meadly treats (I swear they are crack), I decided to crush/grind some up and wet the capsule enough to paste it to the outside of capsule. Sure enough it works! It is still big and he has a difficult time swallowing it but I give him about 4 or 5 treats with it and he eventually swallows it. I use a coffee grinder to crush them. I usually try to pack the powder around the pill and leave it for a while so it dries and stays well coated. I only offer this up out of my considerable frustration trying to administer the atopica. I hope this helps others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-10-18T22:53:58.523" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T22:53:58.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2015-10-18T04:44:07.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run a dog rescue in Delaware.  This question cannot be answered well without knowing where you live and the varying temperatures.  A Lab will generally not do well in more extreme temperatures.  Over 27&amp;nbsp;°C (80&amp;nbsp;°F) and under about 10&amp;nbsp;°C (50&amp;nbsp;°F) for more than a few hours the animal will not be comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most climates you either need to provide air conditioning or heat at some point during the year.  In Delaware we need to provide both in the hotter part of summer and colder part of winter.  For the dogs that spend more time outside we provide kennels in an enclosed building with heating in the winter and shade, fans, and very good ventilation in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do not adopt to people who plan to keep their dogs outside because there is no reason to do so. It probably isn't a good time to own a dog if you are not home for extended periods and cannot have someone walk your dog.  If you have to be out of the house and you have a dog that chews or is learning to be house trained, you can gate off a laundry room or bathroom so he/she has a comfortable space to stay until you come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have other questions you should consult a trainer or rescue in your area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5960" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:54:47.423" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:54:47.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10581" CreationDate="2015-10-18T06:01:42.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop playing the moment she crosses the line, say &quot;hey! No!&quot; or something like that, and walk away or otherwise not let her resume, so she has a clear indication of the limits. (Which is essentially what another cat would do.) &#xA;She is capable of learning that claws and teeth have to be used more carefully on playmates, if you teach this properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or stop wrestling before she becomes over-excited. You're the human; you're supposed to have better ability to predict consequences... &amp;lt;grin&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T06:01:42.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10585" CreationDate="2015-10-18T06:06:04.530" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be because the tub smells like the household's humans, and the rolling is another way to pick up your scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it may be anything from temperature to &quot;Boxes are fun!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T06:06:04.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2015-10-18T06:06:51.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as cold if you have a good dog house that they can get out of the wind and rain they can deal with -18&amp;nbsp;°C (0&amp;nbsp;°F) or even -29&amp;nbsp;°C (-20&amp;nbsp;°F) if they came into the season.  Meaning they had time up build up the coat by being outside.  If they are outdoor dogs the indoors will be too warm for them in the winter.  If they are indoor dogs (no winter coat) then I would not leave them out under 0&amp;nbsp;°C (32&amp;nbsp;°F) for long periods.  Under 0&amp;nbsp;°C (32&amp;nbsp;°F) I pack the dog house with hay.  Two dogs will warm each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far heat if they have shade and water they can deal with 37&amp;nbsp;°C (100&amp;nbsp;°F).  I live in Houston and leave my dogs in a shaded kennel. They have a horse trough they can get in and get wet. Over 32&amp;nbsp;°C (90&amp;nbsp;°F) I have shop fan I blow into the dog run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also a duration thing with heat.  4 straight hot days and they will dehydrate.   Let them in the house to cool off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young and old dogs have more trouble with the heat and cold.  I had a lab that lived to 15 and in the last few years even 32&amp;nbsp;°C (90&amp;nbsp;°F) was uncomfortable for him so I would leave him in all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:48:30.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:48:30.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10581" CreationDate="2015-10-18T16:44:21.773" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop play fighting with your hands.  I work in the Cattery at an animal shelter.  The first thing I tell people adopting a kitten --- &quot;Never play rough with the kitten with your hands.&quot;  It will teach the cat that it's ok to bite hands.  It's cute when they're a kitten, not so much when they're older.  Whether it was you or someone before you got your cat, this is what has happened.   Since your cat is older, this is going to be a difficult behavior to stop.  Thank you for loving your kitty and wanting to help her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to....&#xA;Only play with your cat with toys on the end of poles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Limit your play sessions to only a few minutes at a time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If she starts coming after your arm, give her a toy to redirect her attention and leave the room.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to be consistent and patient.   I wish you the best! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-18T16:44:21.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-18T20:42:38.063" Score="0" ViewCount="1630" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I prevent fungal growth on my pebbles and cave in my betta tank? I just cleaned out the tank because there was black fungus growing on the pebbles and green fungus growing on the cave. I only have one betta fish living in it. The tank is 1 gallon and has a filter and light. Also, whenever I change it's water, I keep the tank in the garage for 1 hour so the water isn't too cold for my betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastEditorUserId="5964" LastEditDate="2015-10-18T20:50:07.620" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T07:15:04.507" Title="How do I prevent fungal growth in my betta tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-18T22:42:33.180" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta girl, Arora,  was sick for about seven days, only laying at the bottom of the tank. I have her in a simple tank, since bettas are soft swimmers, and currents can make them depressed from having to fight to swim all the time. Anyways she just started being active again, her water temp stays between 75-80°F (24-26.5°C) and so I'm now scared to do a partial water change only because she just started eating and swimming again without my help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on handling water changes without causing stress and further illness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5966" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T16:40:53.570" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:34:48.707" Title="Need advice on handling a recently recovered sick betta" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:34:33.817" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-18T23:16:38.897" Score="4" ViewCount="1873" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 months ago I bought a plot of land with a workshop on it, and the seller mentioned that he let his friend keep a dog there. He suggested I might like to have the dog stay on there, for security (he's not much of a guard dog once you get to know him, but at least it shows there's always someone visiting.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is half Irish setter, half some other hunting breed. I have zero experience with dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the start, it seemed to me that the dog was lonely. He always waits at the gate barking when my or any other car comes) and manically chases his tail when I leave. Yet he would not interact with me in a way I could relate to. He would follow me, but as soon as I turned to look at him, he would run off. At first I thought this was some kind of fear, but now I think it's a game. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to get on with this dog, but at the same time I want him to know I am in charge. As a result, for over a month we basically ignored each other. I'm not going to get involved in his running games, it's not what I'm there for. On the other hand I would be happy to interact with the dog by petting him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A female friend visited and the dog immediately went to her to be petted. He also likes to be petted by the owner (and is happy to be petted by me when the owner is there.) On the other hand the first time the dog allowed me to pet him when there were just the two of us, was today, just after the owner left, and before he had had his customary howl about the owner leaving. I expect he will go back to his random, charging around ways tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked the owner why he didn't have the dog at home. He said one of his children was scared of the dog. I asked him if the dog had been abused by a man and that was why he let my female friend pet him but not be, and he said he got the dog from a home but there was no prior abuse. I feel the dog would benefit from more social contact (both human and other dogs) and in particular would benefit from some training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I observe the following behaviour patterns: what can / should I do about them?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Following me, then running away when I pay attention. This one freaks me out a bit sometimes, especially when he snorts right behind me. Sometimes he snorts when he's playing at &quot;hunting&quot; with his rag. (When I walk purposefully toward the dog he always stands his ground then suddenly darts out of the way to let me get where I'm going.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smelling my urine, then urinating on top of it (there is no toilet for miles around this plot of land.) Is this some kind of display of dominance or is it harmless? (I'm sure the dog himself doesn't know why he does it.) Anyway, that in itself is not a problem, but he also likes  urinating on my car (its such an old car I've decided not to make a fuss about this, though I gave him a good shouting for trying to urinate on my generator.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running in front of my car. When I leave the dog runs round and round my car, and frequently runs in circles right in front of it. This behaviour is quite annoying, and the only &quot;solution&quot; I have is to sound my horn. I really would hate to injure him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get the impression the dog likes having me there though he cannot or will not interact in a way which shows we are friends. My way of showing this would be to pet him, but he seems more interested in his &quot;approach then suddenly run away&quot; game which I will not be part of. I would like to have more trust with him, in order to be able to reduce some of his antisocial behaviours, as I feel bad bawling him out for doing things I dislike as it's not really his fault if he's never been told.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*As discussed in the comments, I've only bawled him out for urinating on my generator, as I consider it potentially dangerous to the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5965" LastEditorUserId="5965" LastEditDate="2015-10-20T10:36:54.110" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T19:12:34.173" Title="Getting to know a dog who has had little human contact: what does all this mean?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10598" CreationDate="2015-10-19T07:15:04.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned in the comments, this most likely isn't a case of fungal growth. Especially if the underground isn't living material (i.e. rocks, stones, or sand) and considering the colors you describe, this sounds very much like typical algae found in both new and healthy aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important thing first: Algae aren't bad, generally speaking. While there are algae that can even be poisonous, having some algae in your tank is actually a good thing and the ones you typically encounter won't harm your fish either (if they're not taking over the tank). Instead, they'll provide habitat for useful bacteria and other often overlooked aquarium inhabitants, that will help you keep your water clean and your fish(es) healthy. You could consider patches of algae some kind of natural filter, that will reduce ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the water, although it's typically not effective enough for most tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brown or almost black &quot;fungus&quot; you're describing sounds a lot like brown algae (&lt;em&gt;phaeophyta&lt;/em&gt;), which are very typical for new aquariums. They should disappear over a few weeks. Some leftovers might stay though. But just leave them. If you clean everything and start over, you essentially provide these a fresh start as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RWhPR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RWhPR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Some algae covering a rock.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at the picture above, you'll notice a few dark spots on the right side of the stones. That's pretty much all that is left of the brown algae that once covered like 90% of that stone. Now there are just some small patches of green algae left. Don't consider such pebbles or stones dirty. That's natural growth and nothing you should try to prevent. Personally I prefer stones covered in algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The green algae (&lt;em&gt;chlorophyta&lt;/em&gt;) are a typical sign for direct sunlight and/or too much nutrients in the water. Our aquarium has some of these as well, but I usually just &quot;trim&quot; them. They provide a nice contrast, I consider them looking great when waving with the water current, and they provide cover for small snails, shrimps, etc. As with many things: None is probably as bad as having too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n5dnn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n5dnn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Some green algae growing between and ontop other plants.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry that I can't provide better pictures right now, my mobile phone has quite some trouble focusing on the moving plants and algae parts. It's really hard to see, but these algae grow between some branches of other plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case the algae are covering the glass, just clean it with a soft pad or special rubber pad (sold in stores). As an alternative, buy a &lt;em&gt;nerite snail&lt;/em&gt;/&lt;em&gt;racing snail&lt;/em&gt;. These snails eat algae all day long, but they can't procreate in freshwater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do, don't grab some anti-algae chemicals. They're really not necessary and also usually not healthy for fishes or water quality overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T07:15:04.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10585" CreationDate="2015-10-19T12:06:18.980" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no other answer than, &quot;It's fun!&quot;  Cats need different stimuli to be happy. Your cat has found the bathtub, just like many cats.  My cat does the same thing.  You're absolutely right. There's no reason to stop him. It lets him exercise, and it simulates his mind.  People who like amusement parks like the adrenaline rush.  You can think of your bathtub as a mini amusement park!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T12:06:18.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1910" CreationDate="2015-10-19T21:23:59.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a small/medium mixed breed dog who never ever gets along with bigger dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to indicate that your dog has poor doggie manners. The most obvious and ultimate long term solution is to get some help/behavior training with your dog so that he can get along with others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All big dogs don't just suddenly decide to bark viciously and try to eat all the little dogs. There's something up, here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I usually find myself having to kneel down next to my dog, put one arm around him, and use the other arm to keep the loose dog away from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you do this a lot and that isn't good, either. When there is a loose dog, what you should be doing is keeping your dog close and change course as much as possible, even if it means venturing off the trail or sidewalk. You should retain a calm, relaxed, and casual manner. Your writing here reads to me that this becomes a very anxious, very stressful event where perhaps you instantly stop in place to protect your dog until the big dog is gone - if it's anything like that, then your behavior is perpetuating the bad air. 95% of the time, merely walking away will solve the issue - people who have their dogs loose trust their dogs enough to control them off leash - so you control your dog by walking away, and let them control their dog. Again, when you kneel down to protect your dog, you heighten the situation and make everything a lot worse - it also doesn't help that this is the last thing that another dog owner expects you to do, so you're surprising the other dog owner, which takes some of their control of the situation out of the picture. (Just to be clear, remaining on the sidewalk/trail is an unspoken word &quot;Me and my dog are ok and safe, no issues here.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of anxiety and emotion that's going on here is really out of control and I think both you and your dog need some intervention from a trainer because it's going to be that - much more than the bad doggie manners - that causes a dog fight. Having some positive experiences instead of so many negative ones will also help you immensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't think carrying some kind of spray would be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can carry gel pepper mace but you must spray BOTH dogs. Otherwise the sprayed attacker will become the victim by your dog because dogs are opportunistic. Spraying both dogs also helps it look like you're NOT randomly attacking any dog you come across with pepper mace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also carry a walking stick. Use your best judgement; I'm not advocating beating every dog you come across with a heavy club. : )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a mention of Leash Laws. It's important to understand what your leash laws are, exactly. There's many people who infer that &quot;leash law = illegal to have dog off leash&quot; which is probably very rarely the case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="495" LastEditDate="2015-10-19T21:29:06.807" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T21:29:06.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10582" CreationDate="2015-10-19T21:37:44.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, we can't offer better advice than your vet. However, if you feel unsatisfied with your dog's diagnosis and care plan, you can always get a second opinion elsewhere by trying a different vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, sir.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-19T21:37:44.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-19T23:11:49.017" Score="3" ViewCount="811" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my family own a cat that is 4 years old. We got a 6 month old cat in April and the new cat kept casing the old cat into my room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 4 year old cat got scared of coming out of the room and every time we take her out she hides and/or runs away back into the room. The young cat doesn't care about the older cat anymore and doesn't chase her and now 5 months later she's still scared of her for no reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried Feliway Diffuser and the spray and it didn't work at all. Both cats have been fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5974" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:58:03.717" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:58:03.717" Title="Cat is stressed out from new cat both female" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-19T23:19:57.520" Score="2" ViewCount="4382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to have a small herb garden in my window, with things like basil and chives and oregano, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some plants are toxic to cats, but I don't remember hearing anything about food-plants other than garlic and onions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would I be safe to grow something like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.ca/Reclaimed-Barnwood-Planter-Mini-Garden/dp/B00FP027A6/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1445296700&amp;amp;sr=8-9&amp;amp;keywords=herb+garden+indoor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; which has Basil, Dill, Thyme, Parsley, Oregano, Cilantro in a window my cat could reach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T11:23:12.820" Title="How safe is a small herb garden around a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10610" CreationDate="2015-10-19T23:55:34.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat decides to have a little taste, all of those plants should be safe. But after you pick your herb garden, you can check out specific plants &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two herbs to watch out for are Spring Parsley &amp;amp; Spanish Thyme, but don't confuse them with the more common forms of parsley and thyme, which are okay. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.smartlivingnetwork.com/cat-breeds/b/feline-101-cat-safe-grass-and-herb-gardens-for-spoiled-happy-indoor-felines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While chives are not actually an herb (and would be very unlikely to find in an indoor herb garden, given that you have to uproot them), they should be avoided, as part of the onion family they can be mildly to moderately toxic to dogs and cats. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/chives/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source.&lt;/a&gt;) Also, their blades seem like they might be tempting to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3229" LastEditorUserId="3229" LastEditDate="2015-10-22T06:45:47.663" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T06:45:47.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10599" CreationDate="2015-10-20T10:33:35.037" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly doubt that water change would stress her that much. However here is what you do. Prepare gigantic batch of good water, get two tubes and another empty bucket. And then use dripping method. Let water drip into the tank from the good batch of water, and out of the tank into empty bucket. This will ensure that water is changed at an extremely slow pace. It might take a whole day if not more depending on your tank size and will cause least amount of stress to fish. I used it in emergency cases previously and works perfectly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="340" LastEditorUserId="340" LastEditDate="2015-11-19T14:26:29.830" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T14:26:29.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-20T11:05:19.180" Score="2" ViewCount="2467" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've have had my bunny since last February or March, she is about 4 years old and unspayed.  For the past few weeks, she has smelled absolutely disgusting.  Even a few minutes after I've changed her litter (yesterday's news) I can smell her.  I have never had a problem with smelling her before and I used tomb able to go close to a week before changing her litter and still not smell her.  I changed her food about a month ago that is the only thing that has changed.   Also for the past few weeks she has been digging her litter box.  My apartment is tiny so I have always slept with earplugs so she doesn't keep me up at night but this is so loud nothing can tune it out.  She doesn't knock very much of it out of the litter box but just shovels it around making a lot of noise.  She does it EVERY MORNING AND AND EVERY NIGHT.  I can't sleep.  It only started a few weeks ago and before that had never done it before.  It is not because she thinks her litter needs to be changed because she will do this moments after I've changed it as well as a few days after I've changed it.  It's non stop.  Please help.  I've gotten to the point where I won't have anyone over because she smells so bad and I am exhausted from her making so much noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5978" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-17T22:36:26.183" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T22:36:26.183" Title="Bunny suddenly kicking litter and stinking" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10600" CreationDate="2015-10-20T11:20:29.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was prompted to write this question because the dog (whose name is Chico) first approached me to let pet me him without the owner there that day. It seems I have now broken the ice with Chico, and he comes to be petted quite often, sometimes being a little demanding about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the closer I get to him, the more he wants to interact, which is both good and bad. When I stopped petting him, he immediately got up and ran off at an alarming pace. He's not an agressive dog but he has an enormous amount of energy and the speed at which he runs, turns and STOPS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU is quite alarming. I guess this is why the owner's child was scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He very much wants me to join in his running games, but there's no way I could keep up, even if I wanted to. I tried throwing something for him to fetch but he couldn't find it and became even more excitable, so I won't try it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll have to accept that he is a dog and I am a human, and let him get overexcited about anything and everything. It was very entertaining when two dirtbikes were riding around outside my land. Chico was sprinting up and down the fence and they were as amused by it as I was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll just have to accept that he's going to urinate on everything. He's lived in a field all his life, and he's never been taught not to urinate on man-made objects. Between that and his energy, there's now probably no way he could live in a house like all the other dogs I've ever met. I may get a cage for my generator, per comments from Frisbee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's sad that the closer I get to him, the more he's going to run in front of my car when I leave. If I don't use the horn he can spend quite a while there and all I can see is his tail bobbing up and down. I still need a solution for this and I've no idea what to do about it. Training him to sit and stay is going to be an enormous amount of work, and he's unlikely going to have any discipline given that my arrival and leaving are such exciting events to him. He knows when I'm going to leave because I start putting stuff in the car, and begins to work himself into a frenzy about it. I guess I'll just have to be patient about getting to the gate. I'd like there to be some way of deterring him from approaching the car as I'm leaving, but I really don't want to consider something cruel like an ultrasonic siren. I wonder if there is some way to distract him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding comments about who feeds him: the owner comes every day and spends about 10 minutes with the dog, who usually lets him quietly pet him. He hugs the owner's legs with his forepaws, makes the most of the time the owner is there to interact in the manner that humans like, and does relatively little sprinting around. If I wasn'there that's the only contact he would have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5965" LastEditorUserId="5965" LastEditDate="2015-10-20T11:25:43.850" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T11:25:43.850" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10609" CreationDate="2015-10-20T12:49:26.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that the two cats were not introduced properly. The introduction of two cats is extremely important. It takes a week to two weeks.  You can't rush the process, or they may never get along.  Your four-year-old kitty likely isn't scared. She's upset. She's depressed.  You brought another cat into &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; house.   The kitten is taking &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; attention.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to go through the process of re-introduction.  Be advised, this is a difficult process. It will take a lot of patience from you, and it might not work.  Here's what to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put the kitten in a room, closed off from the other cat.  This will be difficult because the kitten is likely going to cry a lot, now that she's used to being able to roam the house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep spending time with the kitten but behind closed doors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spend the majority of your time with your four-year-old.  If she won't come out of your room, sit on the floor and talk to her. Spend as much time as necessary on the floor next to her until she starts feeling more comfortable.  Feed her treats.  Play with her with her favorite toy.  Help her know that she is your number one cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After your four-year-old begins integrating back into the family life, start feeding her treats next to the closed door of the kitten's room.  You may have to do &quot;treat sessions&quot; far away from the door and then get closer and closer.  Pet your cat or talk to her, whatever she needs to feel comfortable. If the kitten cries during the sessions, ignore her.  Hopefully, your four-year-old will start sniffing under the kitten's door. This is a positive sign, even if she hisses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you feel your four-year-old has gotten comfortable in the house again, start cracking open the kitten's door, only enough for them to see each other.  Your four-year-old cat will likely run into the bedroom again. When she does, close the kitten's door, and go after your cat. Talk to her.  Pet her.  Help her know everything is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat these things until your kitten and your cat are comfortable seeing each other.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you get to this point, the next thing is to have supervised sessions, with the door open.  Your job here is to pay attention to your four-year-old cat before you pay attention to the kitten, always.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't work, I'm very sorry to tell you - but you will need to give back your kitten.  Your first responsibility is to your four-year-old. I wish you the best, and I really hope this helps you and your cat family.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T12:49:26.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6013" CreationDate="2015-10-20T21:32:45.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbitresource.org/care-and-health/behavior/how-to-speak-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RabbitResource&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tail-wagging&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Believe it or not, your rabbit can, and will wag his/her tail. Indicates defiance – “No, I don’t want to go to my cage!” -or-&#xA;“You can’t make me!” -or- “You’re not the boss of me!” Watch closely&#xA;and you’ll see that your rabbit will occasionally “back-talk” – they&#xA;just think you won’t notice!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, from the examples I found, where owners describe what the rabbit was doing when the twitching happened, it seems rabbits also do it when they're excited. It might just be like when dogs wag their tails; &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;While some wags are indeed associated with happiness, others can mean fear, insecurity, a social challenge or even a warning that if you approach, you are apt to be bitten&amp;quot;.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201112/what-dog-s-tail-wags-really-mean-some-new-scientific-data&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Phsycology Today)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-10-20T21:32:45.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2015-10-21T05:35:52.033" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two small dogs were partners in crime and shared an entire corn on the cob. Had no idea the dangers of cob. If your dog has eaten one, no matter the size of the dog, CALL your vet ASAP! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you catch it early, the Vet will induce vomiting. For my Chihuahua all the contents came out but my Schnauzer did not throw up all the cob and had about half left in her stomach as shown on the xray. The vet said to wait and let it pass but any changes in her behavior like vomiting, lethargy loss of appetite should be a sign to call the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the next three days my dog was eating, pooping and seemed fine except she became more and more lethargic. Took her to ER and they did emergency surgery as the cob was still lodged in her stomach. Thank goodness it did not impact her intestines. After the doctor removed the remaining cob from her stomach I saw the contents and I did not see or feel any large pieces- just a lot of small pieces. What happens is the cob becomes hardened and glue-like and it can stick together which makes it difficult to pass. 7k later...I have a dog at home that is now recovering from this ordeal. So thankful that she made it through this! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5983" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T05:35:52.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10600" CreationDate="2015-10-21T13:20:55.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To help explain this, it's useful to understand why dogs work so well with humans in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all down to what's called the formative period. This is the period during which a young animal 'learns the world' understand what is or isn't 'normal'. And the reason dogs 'work well' with humans, is because for dogs, this formative period is considerably longer than with most wild animals (some, probably most of this will be down to selective breeding too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's strongly recommended for a puppy, that in it's initial 8-12 weeks you expose it to as many experiences as you can, because then it has a wide range of stuff that is 'normal'. This includes interaction with humans, other dogs, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However an older dog - that is no longer in the 'formative period' will have a harder time. If they weren't taugh 'people are ok' at an early  age, they will &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; be more cautious about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean you need to give it up as a lost cause? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By no means. Your dog will never quite be as domesticated as a household pet, but there's still plenty you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you note - training is a good first step. Both of you should go to training classes, because then you will get to understand each other. Your dog needs to understand your version of body language, and you need to 'read' the dog. It's not hard, it just takes a bit of practice, and going through the steps of training helps with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given he's reluctant to be touched, that implies he's suspicious - he may never entirely lose that, because it's a strong survival instinct. I would suggest your first port of call should be shameless bribery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get some properly stinky treats. Tripe sticks, bits of liver, that kind of thing. Honestly, the stinkier the better. You can cook the liver and it'll get a bit less messy, but trust me - your house will smell if you do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But make teeny tiny pieces, and focus on rewarding 'good'. Things you want to reinforce in the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Negative reinforcement is difficult, and should be avoided as much as possible. (But telling him off for pissing on a generator is probably still a good thing to be doing). Where you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; ensure that it's done immediately - any more than about 5s after, and they won't understand why they're being punished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But otherwise be careful, because you can accidentally 'reinforce' negative behaviour. A classic example is if a dog wees on the carpet, and you punish them. They &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; have been weeing because of anxiety, and you've just made that anxiety worse. Or barking - they may be barking at a threat. If you punish them, they may associate the punishment with the threat - and confirm that they were right all along. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do much less harm with positive reinforcement. E.g. like this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;_r=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html?pagewanted=all&amp;amp;_r=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick is - LRS - Least Reinforcing Syndrome (or Behaviour). Because any sort of reinforcement (positive or negative) can potentially strengthen something undesired. And focus on rewarding any good, because at worst all you'll get is a slightly tubby but well behaved dog. (And you can 'ease off' the food later!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T13:20:55.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10616" CreationDate="2015-10-21T14:33:25.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that you are &quot;free feed her rabbit feed from the Agro-coop&quot; I suspect this is a case of too much high value food.  We have a pretty good look at rabbit digestion in our question and answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1503&quot;&gt;Can rabbits fart?&lt;/a&gt; which includes lot of good references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit digestion is primarily dependent on moving large quantities of low-value food.  When they receive to much high value food it disrupts everything.  The natural balance of bacteria in the cecum is changed, they stop eating their cecotropes, the cecotropes are not the same as the normal rabbit droppings, they are sticky and yucky.  Cecotropes that fueled by high value foods are pretty much everything you describe in your question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general rule of thumb is to give 1/4 cup of pellets for every 5 pounds of body weight.  This is just a guideline you may need to adjust it, we have some bunnies in our house that need significantly more and others that need less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said you changed food recently to a product from your local Agro-coop, that food is designed for production rabbits; mothers breeding kits, who will also be eating it and growing fast so they can be eaten young. Even in moderation that is likely to high value of a food.  Occasionally it is even recommended to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/pellet-free-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not feed any pellets&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bunny is kicking her litter out, because she dislikes the poop in her litter box as much as you do.  In the short term while you are addressing the issue, I recommend changing her litter more often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Related Questions that will be helpful to read. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6263&quot;&gt;Food Pellet - Is my rabbit eating enough?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1882&quot;&gt;Does a rabbit&amp;#39;s activity level impact the dietary limits of sugars?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1460&quot;&gt;What are the basic requirements of a healthy adult rabbit&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1441&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T14:33:25.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-21T21:32:16.310" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I just recently adopted a schipperke mix from the humane society near us. She's a 5year old(give or take a few years), who had ACL surgery back on 8/22/15. She's in roughly week 6 of recovery now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was in foster care for some time during the surgery, and then went on to the humane society. Since we've gotten her, she definitely continues to have a limp, especially after sleeping extended periods of time. I've been doing leg stretches for her on the hip, knee and ankle joints every morning and night, we carry her down stairs, but every morning i let her walk up one batch of stairs(15 stairs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been giving her 30-45 minute walks each day(since monday when we adopted her). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On 10/10/15 I see a note taken saying(this based on what i can read):&#xA; &quot;Rev 6 weeks(assume recovery time), Looking good, a may minimal/mild favoring still, mostly no limp&quot;. We are supposed to keep her on strict leash until 10/30/15. Her left lateral stifle has a &quot;bump&quot; which was also noted on 9/17/15 by the foster parents, and it still is present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mainly concerned as I've never dealt with ACL/CCL surgeries before. She is definitely not wanting to put much weight on the leg, which is what is concerning me. When we lift her up to &quot;dance&quot;, she puts a majority of her weight on her good leg(right) and when we try to get her to take a few steps she resists. During walks we are not walking at a fast pace, walking on level ground with some incline, however she definitely limps on the leg and refuses to put any weight on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this &quot;normal&quot;/expected? I dont want to put her under tooo much stress and cause more harm to that leg, however the humane society indicated that she really didn't have a limp. Is there things we should be doing? should we be forcing her to take 1-2 steps while dancing? Should we be putting heating packs on her knee area to help sooth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks everyone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5985" LastActivityDate="2015-10-21T21:32:16.310" Title="Recently adopted Schipperke mix, question regarding its ACL/CCL surgery" Tags="&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10610" CreationDate="2015-10-22T02:51:23.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the mint family (peppermint, spearmint, perhaps others), other than catnip which is actually a mint, have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicylic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;salicylate&lt;/a&gt; (read: aspirin) and that can be dangerous for cats and so you'd want to avoid them in a home garden that cats can access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one to be aware of is chives. Chives are a member of the same family as onions, garlic, and leeks, known as &lt;em&gt;allium&lt;/em&gt; and so all of them are dangerous to cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-10-22T11:23:12.820" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T11:23:12.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-22T07:05:55.600" Score="1" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gray cat is very lovely but I can't pet her unless I'm talking to her. She will only let me pet her for a little bit of time but will strangely let me play with her kittens. I want to pet her for a longer time and not have to talk to her to pet her. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5986" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T10:16:46.310" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T10:16:46.310" Title="My gray cat won't let me pet her unless I'm talking to her she will also let me pet her kittens why" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10627" CreationDate="2015-10-22T08:37:30.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think maybe your cat is more sensitive to petting. My cat only tolerates scratches. Any kind of petting will cause her to roll over and show me her tummy and if I touch her there I will get bitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe instead of talking to her, always approach her quietly and let her smell your hand first. And let her show you where she wants you to pet her(Usually around her head area)? I think for a cat petting their body doesn't do much for them or they don't know how to enjoy those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5987" LastActivityDate="2015-10-22T08:37:30.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-22T23:51:56.010" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7.5 year old red-tick coonhound. Although I am not a hunter, I take him for three walks per day, usually between 1 and 1.5 hours each (with the exception of the 3rd walk which is just an evening stroll). He's usually pretty content with this, but I worry that he is not getting enough mental stimulation since I can't take him hunting. Does anyone have ideas on how to entertain him in a different way than walking/jogging?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5561" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T13:29:28.620" Title="Any advice on coonhound pet ownership?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10679" CreationDate="2015-10-23T01:28:42.090" Score="5" ViewCount="3495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently purchased a sponge filter just like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.ca/Aquarium-Biochemical-Sponge-Filter-Fish/dp/B0056XVF82/ref=pd_sim_199_13?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;refRID=19TXTKDERZCW56B383K4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. I added it to my tank when it arrived home about a week ago. My tank has been running for over 4 months now. The tank has been stocked for like 3 months, so it has cycled already. For now, both filter are in the tank to be sure I don't create an ammonia spike by removing the old hang-on-the-back filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: how long should I keep running both filter to be sure the new one has all necessary bacteria in the new one? So I can remove the old one (hang-on-the-back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-10T02:17:19.317" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T02:21:41.117" Title="How long to wait before I remove the old filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10632" CreationDate="2015-10-23T10:11:55.443" Score="3" ViewCount="11161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 month old puppy. He is a cross Mastiff and his weight is about 27kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took him when he was 1.5 months old. Then I trained him to pee on some newspapers I let laying on the floor of the flat where we were living. He learned this pretty fast and kept eliminating there while he could not go outside because the lack of vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he started to go outside, he learned to eliminate outside, and he does it everytime we go out nowadays. I eliminated the newspapers from home, and, some time after that, the dog was holding for about 9 hours while I was at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, like a month ago he started waking up during the night and peeing on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have moved to a different city this week. He peed on the floor the first night he spent on the new flat. Another day, we went for a walk, he peed outside and then we came home. I left home for about an hour and when I did come back he had peed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also sometimes pees in the morning when I leave for work and my flatmate is locked in her room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday we went for a walk about 7PM, then, about 10PM he peed on the floor just in front of my flatmate and me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's weird because for some time he did eliminate only outside, but then returned to bad habits and started doing it at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do for him to return eliminating only outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5990" LastEditorUserId="5991" LastEditDate="2015-10-24T02:30:23.150" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T02:30:23.150" Title="My 7-month-old puppy is peeing in the home constantly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10631" CreationDate="2015-10-23T10:57:29.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently had this issue, and we paper trained as well. From research and talking to our usual dog trainer it's one of the possible bad habits in the dogs 'terrible twos' stage of life (think of how badly behaved a toddler can become in this phase of their lives as well). Some dogs start to bark when they didn't, some go toilet in the house, some go back to chewing everything... Some dogs do nothing bad at all as not all dogs go through this phase, and they do grow out of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in the meantime your dog will need a bit of tough love. Our 8 month pup spends his nights in a smaller pen than he was used to (open plan house so we don't want him having the run of the place overnight). He used to get the whole kitchen but now he doesn't until he re-learns his house training. He's left with a few quiet toys, and his food/water bowls. We started with a pen, with his little crate in, just big enough for him to walk around it (or sleep on the cold tiles if he gets hot) and now we're at a larger pen over double the size of the original one, which is now about 1/3 of our kitchen. He's still dry overnight and in the day with this method. The pen will keep getting larger the more dry days/nights he has until he's back to the full space he was in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving his food and water bowls in there, even empty, we found helped - dogs have the mentality of not going to the toilet where they sleep (crate) and where they eat (food bowls). We used to take his food bowl away after breakfast / dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in the day he's only in a pen if we're out, otherwise he can run around downstairs as much as he likes as we're there for him to ask to be let out. We know, just like you, that he is perfectly capable of holding for 9 hours (though he doesn't usually have to on a regular basis), but it is a bit of a spiteful habit when a dog is in this phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog needs &lt;strong&gt;structure&lt;/strong&gt; - as when I asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/10311/5149&quot;&gt;How to stop overnight toileting&lt;/a&gt; on here myself, I got some great advice which has helped. If you're able to regularly take him out when you're in, he'll get more used to empting his bladder when he gets the chance to - plus he'll get more bored of where he is going, so less excitement = more likely to pee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took Liams (above question) advice of a regular evening pre-bed walk. This walk is the exact same route every night - he knows this walk, and what it means, and consistently he'll at least pee on this walk, even if he doesn't poo. 8pm every night he get's agitated and asks to go on his walk. This in combination with regular meal times and not over treating or feeding the dog can help with less number 2's (and is just plain better for your dog!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've also found going back to giving him a treat after toileting outside has re-encouraged his want to go out for a toilet. We also recently have found adding in another walk to the day is helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus you need to learn your dogs quirks for asking to go out - our Pup doesn't always go to the back door and whine, sometimes he sits as high up on the stairs as he can and just stairs at us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-10-23T12:11:57.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10651" CreationDate="2015-10-23T15:42:36.693" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in and have been researching therapy dogs. I was wondering which breed of dogs make the best therapy dog and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5992" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-10-24T02:31:04.943" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T18:33:49.317" Title="Breeds of dogs for therapy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;service-animal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-24T04:00:15.710" Score="1" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, my dog was bitten by a number of jumping ants. One bite was on a toe of her front paw. Since then she has been licking at it constantly. Comparing with the other paw, it is hard and lumpy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of her licking, the side of this toe has lost its hair and the skin is pinkish. I am considering a e collar or some other treatment to stop her licking, but I wonder about the hardness &amp;amp; persistence of the bite reaction. There's doesn't seem to be any pus or infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this kind of reaction to an ant bite usual?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5994" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T04:00:15.710" Title="Persistent lump on dog's paw after jumping ant bite" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10644" CreationDate="2015-10-24T09:27:15.790" Score="7" ViewCount="8438" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pet carriers we have come with loops in the top so you can use the seat belt to hold the carrier in place.  This seems like a great idea, but I think front and/or rear impact accidents are most common, which means my pet would probably go head first into the carrier door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wlVgn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wlVgn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Facing Front&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually place the carriers in the back seat, side facing with the seat belt pulled snugly against the carrier.  Most carriers have a two piece design that leaves a ridge half way up that snuggles nicely with the seat belt.  In the event of a front and/or rear impact accident the pet would impact the side of the carrier with their side.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEX05.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEX05.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Side Facing&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the safest position for a pet carrier in a car?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-03-22T11:34:41.263" Title="What is the safest position for a pet carrier in a car?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10638" CreationDate="2015-10-24T15:21:36.543" Score="4" ViewCount="1537" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat is about 3 years old. I have been advised to desex it for the sake of its own health (cancer and infections of the urinal tract).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How significant would be the health benefits to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5996" LastEditorUserId="5996" LastEditDate="2015-10-24T17:25:49.503" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T12:27:29.893" Title="How dangerous is for a female cat to never be spayed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-24T18:09:59.657" Score="4" ViewCount="8132" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is pregnant for the very first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: is it good for a cat to keep one of her own kittens (male or female?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of kitties will go to our friends' homes, and after this pregnancy we will spay her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5997" LastEditorUserId="1440" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T13:50:49.263" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T13:50:49.263" Title="Is it good to keep one of a cat's kittens instead of rehoming them all?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10636" CreationDate="2015-10-24T18:42:29.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many health benefits of spaying your kitty.  The chances of ovarian or uterine cancer are eliminated, as well as Pyometra (a serious and potentially fatal infection of the uterus).  The younger you spay, the greater the chances are reduced of your cat getting mammary cancer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acvs.org/small-animal/mammary-tumors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;acvs.org&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  Cats spayed before 6 months of age have a 7-times reduced risk of developing mammary cancer and spaying at any age reduces the risk of mammary tumors by 40% to 60% in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some health concerns eliminated be spaying your kitty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catrescuenetwork.org/benefits-to-spaying-your-cat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;catrescuenetwork.org&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  Spaying eliminates the chances of developing:  Pyometra. Pyometra is a serious and potentially fatal infection of the uterus experienced by many unspayed cats and dogs. If it is left untreated, your pet will most likely die.&#xA;  Ovarian cancer, cysts and infections. Ovarian cancer is a common occurrence in unaltered females.&#xA;  Uterine cancer and uterine infections. These are common occurrences in unaltered female dogs and cats, especially older pets.&#xA;  Acute metritis (infected uterus). This can be potentially fatal if not treated in time.&#xA;  Difficult pregnancy and delivery. This is common in older and ill cats.&#xA;  Pseudopregnancies. Some females go through a false pregnancy every time they come into heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-24T18:42:29.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10646" CreationDate="2015-10-24T18:54:45.243" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone ever heard of, or made an official diagnosis of Rabies virus in a cat? I'm a veterinarian in KZN South Africa and strangely enough has never heard of an official case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-10-25T18:05:32.763" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T04:15:34.107" Title="Records of rabies diagnosis in cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10635" CreationDate="2015-10-25T11:25:22.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning&lt;/strong&gt; The type of carrier pictured in the question may not be the optimal choice for pet protection during an accident. The following answer is specific to the type of carrier in the question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some research it appears there is only one group testing pet carriers in accidents. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.centerforpetsafety.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Center for Pet Safety&lt;/a&gt; this is a non-profit who received funding from Subaru.  There are no standards or regulation and the level of testing is nowhere near as complete as human crash testing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The current level of testing is not about the pets survival but about the crates.  Many of the crates tested, broke during testing. With crash dummy pets being fully or partially ejected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the two positions for carriers in the question, the side to side seems to offer more protection.  Pets impacting the carrier door during an accident tended to be ejected. Additionally carriers that were not held tightly to the seat seemed to suffer more damage, so using the seat belt tends to offer more protection.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The carriers pictured in the question are popular due to their relatively low cost and ease of cleaning.  There are several different manufactures of this type of carrier, not all have been tested and there are various results from those tested, &lt;strong&gt;some test pets were ejected through the side of this type of carrier!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the two choices in the question, side to side, secured with the seat belt is better. But may not be the best possible solution.  There are many variables, including the size of the pet. There is insufficient information at this time for conclusion about injuries based on the pets positioning inside carrier, that are not ejected. A more complete summery is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.centerforpetsafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015_cps_carrier_summary_072215.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;available here (2015 PDF)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T11:25:22.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10629" CreationDate="2015-10-25T13:29:28.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to keep older dogs who are less inclined to play happy and invested in a more natural need satisfaction - we have a Shetland sheepdog and he'll likely never herd sheep but he gets occupied with other activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly we take him geocaching a lot - this involves plenty of walking but he's gotten very used to helping find the geocaches as they're usually all plastic and start to smell the same (even to a human nose they smell like musty damp paper etc). This isn't a trail but when we're in the right area and start looking around he loves hunting around in the undergrowth as much as we do!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can purchase animal scents online and do a trail in your own garden every now and again if it's big enough, hiding a good treat or toy at the end of it (fox urine is a common purchase in the UK as it's replaced actual fox hunts). Though urine scents will linger, so to create a fresh trail it'll be best to either water your garden or wait until a dry spell after some rain. You could feasibly do this with a really smelly treat instead of a scent but I'm not sure how well it would work (he might cut a few corners if it's too pungent?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could take a dog to agility, it's mentally stimulating as the dogs have to perform specific tasks. Usually you'd start this at a year old (you should wait for complete bone development before starting on this) but old dogs can learn new tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;James Jenkins mentioned the Barn Hunts and that's also a great other options and the link he gave gives a brilliant answer to how that works: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2734/what-is-a-barn-hunt&quot;&gt;What is a &amp;quot;Barn Hunt&amp;quot;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to possibly take him hunt training, you don't actually have to take him hunting itself. My sister has a gun dog whose currently a young puppy and she's due to go to training as a retriever for pheasants. There are courses about if you can find one near you - you may find he enjoys it and you can possibly spark some ideas for how to entertain him better based on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-10-25T13:29:28.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10639" CreationDate="2015-10-25T15:50:36.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/domestic_animals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;US Center for Disease Control&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Cats have represented the majority of rabid domestic animals&#xA;since 1992 with the State of Pennsylvania having reported the&#xA;largest number of rabid cats (40), followed by Virginia (37). &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That survey dates from 2013, but the page has been reviewed this year so I believe it would still be considered current data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who don't know, even with modern treatments rabies is still considered incurable in humans unless treatement begins within 72 hours of exposure and can be agonizingly fatal within 10 days. Some animals can survive it longer, and occasionally even in humans it can lie dormant for months or years. By the time diagnostically useful symptoms appear, it's generally too late. Not something you want to gamble with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vaccination against rabies is legally required for both cats and dogs in many places. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This got me curious about preventative use of the human vaccine. Apparently protective use is currently recommended only for people at higher than usual risk of exposure -- vets or others who work with animals that could have been exposed, and travellers to parts of the world where post-exposure treatment may not be rapidly available. It occurs to me that anyone doing taxidermy might also consider it a good precaution. The main reason for delaying it until exposure seems to be cost rather than risk of adverse reaction; the series of treatments may be anywhere from US$2000 to over US$7000 and provides about two years of protection.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommended reading: Berton Rouche, &lt;em&gt;The Incurable Wound&lt;/em&gt;, title essay. This one hasn't changed much. (All of Rouche's medical essays are good reading, though some are out of date; he did a great job of explaining things in terms the average scientifically-interested reader could understand.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T04:15:34.107" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T04:15:34.107" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-25T21:22:20.357" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am changing from a 3 gallon tank to a 10 gallon do can I just put him in the bigger on after a day of having it up and running or do I need to wait longer and can I just put him in it or do I have to us a bag first?  This is all new to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6005" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-10-26T09:23:13.510" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T17:36:39.127" Title="Changing Beta from one tank to another" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10660" CreationDate="2015-10-26T06:47:33.213" Score="1" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know kittens usually like to chase moving objects, how about the old one? Do they also enjoy that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:48:53.113" Title="Do old cats chase moving objects?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10637" CreationDate="2015-10-26T15:12:52.523" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can re-home all kittens, this is typically best.  In nature, the mother cat naturally weans the kittens, teaching them how to hunt and bringing them half-alive prey to chase and kill.   She starts separating herself slowly from the kittens to teach them to be independent.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving the kitten with the mother until 8 weeks of age is the minimum.  If you can, leave them with the mother until they are 12 weeks.  The idea is - you want to leave them with the mother just long enough for the mother to teach them to use the litter pan and not to play too rough.  This produces a well-socialized kitten.  During the last 4 weeks, you will begin separating the kittens (a couple at a time) from the mother for an hour or two.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mother keeps a kitten, it will be difficult to wean that kitten, which can cause the mother to become exhausted and her glands to swell painfully.  If you do re-home all kittens, remember to give the mother a new bed and wash or remove anything with the kittens' scent.  If the mother smells the scent, she may continue to look for the kittens, causing her anxiety when she can't find them.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems logical to us to let the mom keep a kitten.  However, in the cat world, the mom has done her job when all kittens are successfully independent from her.  Then, she will be a proud mom!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T15:12:52.523" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10633" CreationDate="2015-10-26T18:27:19.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what kind of therapy. Best advice is to go to your area's website and explore what dogs they have, pictures, and if there are any adoptable career-change dogs. You can also talk to other people in that field about what breeds are best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking in so broad a sense it can barely be called an answer, these breeds typically dominate most fields for their intelligence, train-ability, and relaxed demeanor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Golden retriever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Labrador&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;German Shepard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you start talking about a more specific field, you'll start to see more breeds, but generally I feel these three are in just about every field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T18:27:19.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9734" CreationDate="2015-10-26T20:30:38.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's a guaranteed, works-100% way to have them get along. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing to remember is that ferrets have thicker skin than the dog so they may not know how hard of a bite is too hard. If you notice bite-y behavior, you should immediately scruff your ferret to let them know the behavior is not okay. The important thing with that is to be consistent. You need to scruff your ferret nearly every time for them to get the idea. Timeouts are an option, too (but not in the cage they sleep in, somewhere else). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because your ferret is a baby, he's going to be more bite-y. Most babies are. This is a good time to train them to not bite (or at least not be so rough). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always look for signs of fear or anxiety in your dog (low ears, lack of tail-wagging, tail between the legs, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.doggonesafe.com/signs_of_anxiety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;displacement behaviors&lt;/a&gt;) when they're interacting. If your dog frequently looks uncomfortable, they may just not be a good fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T20:30:38.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6980" CreationDate="2015-10-26T21:16:40.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Schnauzer mix will pull out all the hair on his back he can reach when he is fed food with either corn or grains, we are not sure which.  We heard this was potentially the problem and switched, within a month the hair was growing back and he left it alone.  Several months later we forgot, and ended up with 1 bag of corn/grain containing food. (we mix two types of good quality dry food)  Right after that his hair started disappearing. (by being  pulled out)  Back on Corn and Grain free, and his hair grew back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give this at least a month, maybe 6-8 weeks.  No treats, as they often contain corn and grain, so stay away from them.  This is critical for smaller dogs, as it will affect them more as a percentage of body weight and food consumed.  If you can't live without feeding your dog treats, find grain and corn free ones and gradually get them switched over.  Stay away from made in China anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another irritant for dogs that can show up as hair being pulled out is fleas.  We have found that Frontline works for us, or a generic equivalent.  A 3 month supply is fairly inexpensive if bought direct, and not through the vet.  (PetSmart, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go with the gradual food change to avoid diarrhea and see how that goes after 6-8 weeks.  If you notice fleas around, on your dog, or know they are present in your area then do both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is simple yet amazing the recovery.  Just as an FYI, we mix Nature's Recipe and Costco, both Lamb and Rice and Corn and Grain free.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6012" LastActivityDate="2015-10-26T21:16:40.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10516" CreationDate="2015-10-27T01:30:39.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I took her for her annual vaccination shot I mentioned the problem to my vet and he suggested using an enclosed litter tray (I'd have to get three or four since I have three cats and they all share the litter trays). His reasoning was that there is no edge to scratch on, only walls. I told him that I keep the litter trays inside large plastic storage containers to stop the litter from flying onto the floor when they're covering and that maybe removing the trays and putting the litter directly into the boxes might help. He thought it was worth trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing this for about a week now and it has made a difference. She is now much more likely to cover her poo although she does still like to scratch on the edges, even though they are higher. It's harder for her to do this now so she scoops the litter more often than before. She still doesn't cover it properly every time but either she or one of the other cats covers it later. All three cats will try to cover it if they sniff it directly. So the problem is about 75% solved, which is a huge improvement! The house no longer smells of cat poo all the time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T01:30:39.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-27T03:11:09.877" Score="2" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am missing a small White Cloud Mountain minnow in my newly set 20 gallon (76 L) tank. I just added it and 4 others to the tank less than a week ago. Now, I can only find 7 out of the 8 White Cloud Mountain minnows. Should I seek for it, moving all the plants and decorations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was planning not to change water for one more week. Also, the &lt;em&gt;Ludwigia&lt;/em&gt; plants in the tank are dying. All the other fish (2 small female betas and 3 Cory cats) are doing well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? I think the little White Cloud Mountain minnow may have died - should I move everything to look for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6014" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:05:21.033" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:06:23.183" Title="I am missing a small White Cloud Mountain minnow in my newly set 20 gallon tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-27T04:40:45.760" Score="1" ViewCount="4085" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 year old Yorkie.  He recently picked up a new mannerism that is causing some problems.  He will growl and bite at peoples shoes when they step close to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few thing's I've noticed about the behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's never me or my wife that he bites at&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's often when he's under a table or chair (so maybe it surprises him or he doesn't see the persons face), but not always.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's when the feet get close, but not necessarily close enough to step on him.  He will attack the feet from his position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Usually men (maybe the bigger feet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Usually leather shoes (this could just be a coincidence)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The items I say &quot;usually&quot; with are because I originally thought that each occurrence was related to that, but he proved me wrong by attacking a woman's foot once and recently some Velcro shoes (yes, I said Velcro, can't say I blamed him for that one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, most people have thought it was funny, but he's not playing around.  He's seriously violent when he gets into that mode and since he's so small he's easy to get under control, but sometimes I'll be talking to someone and not necessarily watching him. As soon as I look down I'll notice he's on the end of his leash biting a person with the intention of killing their foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do fear that maybe he would do it to someone who is bare footed, or maybe even a child someday (but I think it does relate to the bigger feet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why this would have recently started happening?  He's small but I don't think he's ever really been stepped on (could be wrong I guess).  And does anyone know what I might do to curb this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2922" LastActivityDate="2019-11-30T20:42:30.350" Title="Dog bites at people's feet when they get close" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10666" CreationDate="2015-10-27T09:28:18.810" Score="5" ViewCount="5108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog seems to be waking me up earlier and earlier in the morning to be let outside and fed. We used to be on a pretty good schedule. We'd get up at 5 a.m., I'd put him out, and get his breakfast ready while he did his thing. However, for the last couple of weeks, he's been getting me up earlier and earlier. Yesterday he started barking at 3 a.m. wanting breakfast. Today it was 4. The time is about to change, so I fear it's only going to get worse, because he has no clue about a clock. =;)-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's been no other change in routine for us recently. We eat dinner at the same time and go to bed at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get this guy back on a decent schedule? I could really use a whole night's sleep again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3221" LastEditorUserId="3221" LastEditDate="2015-10-27T10:40:18.747" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T13:27:11.020" Title="How do I get my dog to sleep longer?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10658" CreationDate="2015-10-27T11:04:48.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few options here I think which will depend on your regular routine more than anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly the usual way to prevent a bad barking habit, no matter the time of day, is to grit your teeth and ignore it. Eventually he'll realise barking means that you will not come down and he'll stop using it to gain your attention. This means ear plugs, apologies to neighbours and not going down to him to give him his breakfast. This is how I addressed the situation with my own puppy when he barked. This can be eased with a quiet radio as some dogs wake up, dislike the silence and whine or bark. Reinforce this by not going to him if he starts barking on your way to give him breakfast, 10-15 seconds should do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this our pup is alarm trained, we turned the volume up on our alarm, so he could hear it. Alarm means we're awake and we're getting up, which means garden, breakfast and fun can happen... It also meant we could push the alarm back at weekends and gained ourselves an extra hour. He'd wait for the alarm before giving a whine (the older he's gotten the less he has barked anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can, and this is more just to treat the symptoms not the problem itself, think about using a timed feeder. We use these for our pups treat dispersal throughout the day, and we used to use them to feed our cat - most come with an ice pack to keep the food fresher. Obviously this is more for hunger based early rising, as discussed in the comments and won't aid him wanting to go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T11:04:48.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10648" CreationDate="2015-10-27T11:45:16.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, older cats still love to play!  The moving object simulates prey. A cat's natural instinct to hunt, chase, and pounce should never go away.  They will slow down a little as they get older, but they should never lose the thrill of &quot;the hunt.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, it's up to us to make sure they don't slow down too much.  We do this by providing different types of stimulation - all types of toys, things to scratch, and places to climb.  Dragging string-type toys or feather wands are a great way to keep your older kitty's body and mind healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T11:45:16.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10427" CreationDate="2015-10-27T13:58:56.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very small bag of kibble is probably cheaper, and would go further--You can put some in a baggie and carry it with you, just as you could with treats, and give the  dogs a  couple pieces as a treat when you meet them-- (but once you feed them they will continue to come back to you looking for food, so be careful unless you want them hanging around your place:-)! .  If you just want a treat for the dogs I would be careful to avoid very inexpensive bargain brand treats, or anything that is a product of China.  I purchased some dog treats and neglected to check where they were from-- turns out they were from China and they had toxins which caused a chemical burn in my dogs throat. Fortunately she was OK after a visit to the vet, but it was a lesson-- sometimes cheaper is not better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6008" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T13:58:56.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7353" CreationDate="2015-10-27T15:06:45.200" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think HCM is a problem with Birmans as it is supposed to be in larger breeds. I do know that my Birman died of FIP and my vet told me there is a larger chance of a Birman getting it. There is nothing you can do for FIP but watch your pet die at an early age. I did get another Birman and they are a great pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6016" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T15:06:45.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10427" CreationDate="2015-10-27T17:18:00.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer: Sort-of.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the short term, most dogs will be able to eat human food without any issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, long term, breads will contribute to dental issues, like teeth rotting. Since these are stray dogs, they don't have good dental in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternative ideas&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really recommend normal dog food. Another idea is to check with the butcher shop if there is any &lt;em&gt;fresh&lt;/em&gt; meat or scraps that you can use to feed dogs ; feeding raw meat is controversial, but you can also consider cooking the meat. Do not feed raw fish; too much room for parasites.  You may be able to check charities in your area if they already have a service like this to feed stray animals. Or, alternatively, you could help solve the population by bringing the animals into an adoption shelter, if that is an option. I know that in some countries it is better for dogs to be on the streets than in the shelter, so use your best judgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T17:18:00.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10656" CreationDate="2015-10-27T17:30:02.107" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank health&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a pH and ammonia test kit at the very least so that you can monitor your tank's health. Remember to do your weekly water changes. When you first start out a tank it seems very hard, but as time goes by you get used to it and learn how to handle situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fish inches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. If you have 8 white clouds, that's 12&amp;quot; of fish (they are 1.5&amp;quot; long) - you said you have 4 other fish, too, so provided they are also little fish, you should be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Missing White Cloud Mountain minnow&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've already looked a little; there's no need to tear the tank up looking for a fish that's probably dead. Watch the area around the tank for anything that smells (perhaps the fish jumped out and died). But the most likely thing is that he died and his corpse is somewhere in the tank. It will turn up eventually, it probably got lost in the plant or in decorations. Wait for it to turn up, and in the meantime watch your pH and ammonia levels carefully (the rotting corpse will hurt the water quality); do extra water changes to keep the ammonia levels low if you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plant&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a lot of trouble even with the hardiest of live plants, and came to the conclusion that to grow them, you really have to understand the tank cycle, how the plants work, and be in-tune with the different chemicals and additives the plants need to grow (perhaps even a different type of lightblub). There can also be issues with the water you're using, too. The best advice I can give is to do lots of reading and research on planted aquariums, buy the additional chemical tests you will need, and plan out what your tank needs for plants to thrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:06:23.183" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:06:23.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10647" CreationDate="2015-10-27T17:36:39.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A new tank needs to &quot;cycle&quot; as if it has live fish in it already for a week at &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt;. That is, the lights, thermometer, filter, aerator, gravel &amp;amp; decorations, etc, should all be running like normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the new tank has cycled and all of the chemical levels (pH, ammonia, etc) are okay, then you can float your beta fish in the new tank. To float means to place it in a bag or solid container so that the water with the fish changes to the aquarium water temperature slowly. You add a little bit of the aquarium water at a time. Floating takes a half hour minimum, an hour on average. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have a beta fish with long, delicate fins, do not put any plastic plants with sharp tips in the tank; use silk plants instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2015-10-27T17:36:39.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10658" CreationDate="2015-10-27T22:47:52.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I breed springer spaniels. Consequently, I've had a number of different dogs under my roof since I started (bitches/studs I've borrowed, dogs I've watched while the owners were away etc.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This problem isn't uncommon. It's almost always a consequence of one of two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving into the dog's request to get up earlier. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting the dog off schedule (i.e. changes in feeding times, walks, bathroom opportunities, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often the two go together: you wake up earlier (or he wakes you up earlier), so you feed the dog breakfast earlier, so he gets hungry for dinner earlier, so you feed him earlier, so he gets hungry for breakfast earlier (or has to go #2 earlier), so he wakes up earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, wait out his barking for two to four nights; they almost always quickly learn that barking is futile. Second, feed him about four hours before bed (it takes about four hours for him to convert the food into a #2), then take him out for a walk before bed and make sure he does a #1 and #2 on that walk. If you do that, he won't have any reason to wake up early (he won't need to go to the bathroom and he won't feel hungry, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1011" LastEditorUserId="1011" LastEditDate="2015-10-28T13:27:11.020" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T13:27:11.020" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10668" CreationDate="2015-10-28T02:50:27.723" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it true that male cats or dogs welcome women more than men, and vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:39:14.427" Title="Male cats or dogs resist men and female one resist women, is that true?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10667" CreationDate="2015-10-28T04:21:28.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it isn't true. A cat or dog that has lived solely with one gender of human may consider the other a strange and threatening beast until it has learned otherwise, but that's a matter of how that particular animal was (or wasn't) socialized, unrelated to the gender of the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T04:21:28.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-28T09:15:53.767" Score="4" ViewCount="1040" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad has a medium-sized dog. She was adopted when she was a puppy, and is now about 6 years old. When she was younger (until about 3 years old) I used to visit a few times a year but now it's only about once a year, after I moved farther away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I'm in no way an expert in interpreting dog behaviour, she generally seems to remember me, and also be very happy to see me. When I walk in she starts barking, wagging her tail and jumping all around me. She likes it when I pet her, and some times she comes asking for it as well, by lying on my legs when I'm sitting down.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I talk to my dad (and others in the household) through Skype, if she's in the room and hears my voice she'll come up to the computer and start doing a bark-bark-howl, which I've read somewhere is dog for &quot;Come back!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However her behaviour changes entirely if we're alone in the house, or if everyone else is asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she was little (before she started being so friendly with me in general) if I went downstairs to use the bathroom, which is next to my dad's bedroom where she sleeps, I'd hear her making a low growl interspersed with a sound that's something between a bark and a snort (or maybe a bark without opening her mouth). My dad woke up and said that while she was doing that, she was pressed up against him and trembling. Eventually that stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, last time I visited, we were out and I approached the house before my dad did. She was barking from the inside, the same way she barks at strangers. When my dad came close, she stopped. We went in and she was happy to see us both, but when my dad stepped out she ran behind a corner and stared at me making the same growl-bark/snort sound I described earlier. It stopped immediately when my dad came back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had a dog myself so I'm not very familiar with their behaviour. It seems though that she &lt;em&gt;genuinely&lt;/em&gt; likes me when others are around, rather than just thinking my presence is acceptable, but looks afraid when no one else is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could explain that behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6018" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T04:50:29.207" Title="Why does my dad's dog really like me when others are there but seems afraid if we're alone?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10670" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10672" CreationDate="2015-10-28T11:30:50.173" Score="4" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a cat person. I just love cats. I want to adopt all kittens I see! :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I live in a congested part of Nepal's capital city. I live with my&#xA;  small family in a small house. All of us are usually busy at&#xA;  office/college during work time (10am to 4pm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I adopted a cat a few years ago. We couldn't control him from roaming&#xA;  outside the house (for example, he would pop out the door suddenly&#xA;  when we opened it). After few hours, we would hear his meows and as&#xA;  soon as we opened the door, he would rush back in (probably to eat).&#xA;  When we returned home after work, he would meow so desperately (as if&#xA;  he was relieved to see us). But one day, he went out and never&#xA;  returned. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently got a call from a friend that a tiny kitten has come at his place and was asking me if I wanted to adopt it. I definitely do want. But I definitely don't want another cat to leave us like that. Does adopting 2 or more cats help prevent it? (as we can't manage a pet-sitter here) Or does neutering the cat reduces it's eagerness to go out often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I adopt cats? How do working people adopt cats? Or should I forget that cats exist? :/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6019" LastEditorUserId="6019" LastEditDate="2015-10-28T14:46:31.607" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T17:47:37.453" Title="I want to adopt cat(s) but my family has a relatively busy life. Should I? How?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10461" CreationDate="2015-10-28T11:50:10.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's your responsibility as a pet owner to take proper care of your pets. It is also your responsibility as a pet owner then to ensure you have proper funds to take care of your pets.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;In a divorce you lose a percentage of your income, that's part of the consequence.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Pets are not taken into consideration, unless one or the other partner claims ownership in which case they become part of the settlement along with the books, CDs, and everything else. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;It is then up to you to ensure that you have the means to take care of any pets you are left with after the divorce, which may mean adopting your own lifestyle to make sure you have enough funds to care for them properly.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Your failure to do that might be animal abuse, the failure of the court to allocate you money to do so certainly is not.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Divorces are messy, and pets often end up getting hurt as a result and abandoned to animal shelters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3125" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T11:50:10.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10670" CreationDate="2015-10-28T12:12:10.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have personalities. Some can spend all day alone and don't mind, others want constant attention.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Some are fine being indoors at all times, others want to roam free for hours or days at an end.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;My cat for example doesn't mind being alone while I'm at work but will crawl up next to me on the couch when I get home and wants to have his belly scratched.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;My friend's cat otoh is always wanting to go out and only comes home when he's hungry. He never purrs, never wants to be petted or scratched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3125" LastActivityDate="2015-10-28T12:12:10.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-28T20:23:23.030" Score="4" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was in a foster home with his brother and foster brother at around 3 weeks of age.  He was nipped by his brother and then bitten by his foster brother in the exact same spot on his neck around 3 months of age, so he has always been sensitive to touching that area, but not aggressive, just became noticeably cautious if you would pet that area of his neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 years later, after having a benign cyst removed from his ear, the vet tech ripped his bandages off in a very quick and seemingly painful way because our dog snapped and growled.   The ear was not yet healed, so we had to re-bandage the area, which caused more growling and snapping.  Since that day, he now responds with growling if we are near his neck area to check his ears or check him for ticks.  If we stay in that area too long, he snaps at us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, since the vet tech incident, if he finds himself in a painful or upsetting situation such as recently when he pulled a leg muscle, he snapped and growled at my husband when he felt the pain while stretching near my husband.  It was as though he associated his pain with my husband, even though he pulled the muscle while running in the backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:  is there training that can help us with this situation?  I feel like it’s difficult to fix a situation you can’t anticipate, i.e. I just know that sometimes if we touch his neck the “wrong” way, he growls, and if we have to keep touching the area, like when cleaning the ears he can snap and growl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another example of this, he used to have a toy that was a circle shape with a hole in the middle.  He flipped the toy over his head, so it ended up around his neck.  My husband went to take the toy off of his head, and he snapped at him.  So, he spent 15 minutes playing with a toy, then it went over his head, and it turned into a stressful terrible incident for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern going forward is that the odds of nothing painful ever happening to the dog are slim.  I’m wondering if there are training techniques that would help this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:43:47.423" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:43:47.423" Title="Dog no longer trusts us or other dogs after bad foster home and vet experiences" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10674" CreationDate="2015-10-29T03:42:04.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since he has a long history of having pain, it's going to take a long time for him to be comfortable with things close to his neck and face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you can use classical conditioning to show him that things near his ear are ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But before you start anything, you should make sure with your vet that his ear is not bothering him. If it is, none of this will work since he's still in pain. If you need to give him ear drops or something, just get it over with as fast as possible (potentially with a muzzle) and then give him his dinner. Once he's not in pain, you should notice a big improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to move very slowly and read his signals, especially since he now feels compelled to use snaps. It's ok (and good) to push him out of his comfort zone, but make sure he knows that he can trust you. Here are a couple of tips/games to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice bringing things close to that area and then rewarding him for it. In the beginning, you may only be able to get a couple feet away. You can also try simply bringing in the treat from an uncomfortable angle and then getting closer as he gains trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take lots of breaks! This will be very stressful, so break it up with a fun game of tug/fetch/wrestle or whatever he loves. This will not only help build your relationship but also help him ignore those scary things near his ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about other activities he loves that involve objects close to him, such as putting on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Respect his growling. This is him telling you he's uncomfortable in an appropriate way and you don't want to teach him that it doesn't work (that leads to snapping as you've observed). Back off and try again farther away, or try and treat him before he starts growling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If his behavior continues to worsen to not get better, you'll want to get him checked out by the vet again and look into consulting a dog behaviorist which will be able to help come up with a plan specific to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T03:42:04.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6942" CreationDate="2015-10-29T20:48:47.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would strongly advise you do NOT use shock collars on your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are just way too many better options out there for behavioral adjustment than by using shock collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By delivering a certain electric frequency to your dog, this can be painful for them. And when they feel pain, this can cause both physical and psychological pain and trauma, and may make your dog very aggressive, especially if they are able to tell where the source of the pain is coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that if your dog can tell that you are the source of the electric shock, they’ll become aggressive towards you, and that's the last thing you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try out some of the tips mentioned here about how to PROPERLY adjust your dog's behavioral problems when it comes to excessive barking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ultimatehomelife.com/why-dogs-bark-and-how-to-stop-your-dogs-and-puppies-from-barking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ultimatehomelife.com/why-dogs-bark-and-how-to-stop-your-dogs-and-puppies-from-barking/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6028" LastActivityDate="2015-10-29T20:48:47.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10684" CreationDate="2015-10-30T01:12:10.993" Score="7" ViewCount="563" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turn to ask for help interpreting a behavior...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of neutered sibling cats, Harry and Hazel, about 7 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Periodically -- usually during a mutual grooming session -- Harry will grab Hazel's throat -- not scruffing, but under the chin as if going for a choke attack. He seems to be being gentle about it, and Hazel doesn't actively complain -- she'll go right back to washing him, even if he does it repeatedly -- but to human eyes this seems rude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen Hazel apply the same hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just ritual dominance/trust assertion, and should I stay out of it even when it happens virtually in my lap? Or should I discourage, since I'm supposedly the dominant cat in the clowder? (Dogs think they're inferior humans. Cats think we're incompetent cats.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not a behavior I've observed before, since in the past I've only had one cat at a time -- so I'd appreciate input from folks with years of observing interactions. My ape instinct is to say &quot;quit that&quot;, but my cat instinct is that as long as they're still friends they should work it out themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2020-11-29T22:42:44.440" Title="Cats and throat-hold -- accept or discourage?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9740" CreationDate="2015-10-30T01:54:23.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there are definitely multiple answers to the basic question, and reading the manual as has already been suggested is typically the best bet for any lighting fixture, definitely never go HIGHER in wattage than recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, talking LED bulbs, 2 watts is so low that I seriously doubt you would ever have an issue with the heat being generated.  Unfortunately the lighting industry is not at all friendly to the end user.  Wattage truly only relates to how much power is used to generate the light, it in fact has no real bearing on how many lumens you will receive regardless of wattage.  Lumens is the actual amount of visible light you get.  In general higher wattage does end up giving a brighter light, but ONLY when comparing lighting of the same type.  IE a 20 watt incandescent is much dimmer than a 20 watt fluorescent, and both are much dimmer than would be expected by the same amount of power used for a LED type of fixture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can easily get real technical in all of this, but looking for specific colors in LEDS will make a difference in how things show up in your tank.  There are LEDs that are great for plants, but look a little purplish in color, there are of course white, red, blue etc LED bulbs as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a light to just provide general lighting, general color etc, then a standard white LED will be fine, and should not cause any issues with your aquarium, assuming of course, that the fixture for the LED is designed to protect against moisture.  If you want a light that will brighten the colors of your fish, the higher bluish range is better, the brighter the better.  For mood lighting, generally people prefer a more yellowish tinge etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that I purchased a fixture from walmart that is using blue tinged leds and that they are generating a lot of algae where the beams are directed on the glass, the rest of the aquarium using white leds, has no issue, so there must be something in the blue led that is feeding the algae pretty well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one of my 55gal tanks, the only one using LEDs right now, it has a fixture that contains 100 white leds arranged roughly 1 inch apart along both front, and back sides of the fixture and that seems to be a really bright light... beats the look on my 75gal tank that is using VHO builbs in the 750watt range each, and it takes 2 bulbs for that... big as in HUGE waste of power but the plants love it.  The VHO (very high output) system is an incandescent system, and is way out of date by today's standards... I will be gladly replacing it with LEDs shortly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2864" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T01:54:23.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10630" CreationDate="2015-10-30T02:03:49.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 weeks or so should be enough to get some of the bacteria to transfer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that only so much will grow in the NEW pump until the load is greater, so you will not get a full transfer from existing media regardless of how long you wait as the bacteria will stay alive in the media until it is removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have already had the new pump connected and already cycled for 3 months it would be a non-issue to remove the old sponge, but you may still get a spike regardless depending on how much the bacteria in that sponge are actually contributing... but I wouldn't worry too much about it.  IT should be a very minor change at this stage, and since bacteria will have already transferred into the new pump, it will only take a couple days at most for more to grow to fill in for whatever is lost when you remove that sponge...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just realized you are going in opposite direction, that is removing HOT (hang-on-tank) for the sponge. Please note that no sponge will ever provide the depth of filtration you would get from a HOT type filter, regardless of size of sponge... unless you are attempting to allow the fish to spawn. And even then, best I would suggest would be to leave the HOT but place the sponger over the intake to reduce the chance of eggs/spawn from being sucked into the HOT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2864" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-10T02:21:41.117" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T02:21:41.117" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10682" CreationDate="2015-10-30T06:32:48.007" Score="9" ViewCount="1593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear dog owners say dogs would walk near you and be inactive if you are sad, is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2020-02-22T17:01:28.303" Title="Do cats or dogs know we are unhappy or sad?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10680" CreationDate="2015-10-30T08:29:01.093" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of dog behaviour that is &quot;well-known&quot; to owners, but not actually rigorously studied. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28446512&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;For instance, it was only last year that dogs were shown to behave with envy.&lt;/a&gt; Since we own a dog and have been taking care of someone else's for the last week, this has been abundantly clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly, in my experience, our dog will sense our moods, snuggling up if one of us is feeling particularly tired/stressed/sad, trying to make us play when we are active. She is less good at it when she is particularly over-excited. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26276660&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It has been shown that dogs do react in a neurologically similar way to humans when they hear emotional sounds and tones of human voices.&lt;/a&gt;. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-012-0560-4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another study&lt;/a&gt;, dogs demonstrated the ability to differentiate between happy/excited and disgusted facial expressions to determine which box a demonstrator looked in contained the best food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This demonstrates dogs may have the ability to distinguish our emotions. Whether or not they react sympathetically to them is another matter, which is probably harder to study empirically. Many owners certainly claim they do, myself included, but owners are particularly bad for treating their dogs as humans, and seeing what they want to see. (There are studies demonstrating that too, maybe I'll add some links later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is also a good time to mention the beneficial effects dogs can have on people with depression and emotional issues, or even when you've just had a bad day at work. For instance &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/pets-depression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;webmd&lt;/a&gt; talks about how pets may help with depression, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/childs-best-friend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;children going through emotional issues at home feel safe talking to a pet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Published in the last couple of days: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sci-news.com/biology/dogs-can-recognize-dog-human-emotions-03559.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New Study Shows Dogs Can Recognize Dog, Human Emotions&lt;/a&gt; (news article contains link to scientific journal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="962" LastEditorUserId="962" LastEditDate="2016-01-15T09:43:29.950" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T09:43:29.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10677" CreationDate="2015-10-30T13:53:46.323" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your kitties are just playing. The bite to the front of the neck is an effective way to kill prey. I think your male cat is just practicing for &quot;the hunt&quot; - keeping his skills sharp.  As long as your female cat is not complaining, they should be fine, without interruption. If your female cat hisses or starts to complain, just tell your male cat no and shoo him away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, this behavior &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be sexual. However, if your cat is not mounting your female cat, then this probably isn't the case.  Sexual behavior in a neutered male cat is not inactive, just much, much less than if he were not neutered.  My neutered male used to mount my female cat occasionally. My vet said he probably didn't even know what he was doing. It was just instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-30T13:53:46.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10680" CreationDate="2015-10-31T01:02:21.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;They certainly have to acquire some sense of when we do and do not welcome attention, and they're more aware of changes in our scent than we are ... which makes determining whether they can read our mood cues innately rather difficult. I'm not sure how one would devise a proper double-blind study for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's definitely known that dogs can detect scents associated with some diseases. It isn't known whether that means anything to them beyond &quot;smells different now; last time smelled this way lay in bed for three days and was warm.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure the question is worth asking, though, just as I don't ask whether my cats love me or just find me a good source of cuddles and treats and entertainment. They clearly &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; me, and that's all I ask. If they keep me company when I need company, I don't see any point in questioning their motives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, I'm curious about the fuzzy little thoughts in that fuzzy little head, but I don't really need to know much more than I do. I take it on faith that the difference between their thoughts and ours is in degree and emphasis and cognative tools available, rather than in kind. And if my mirror neurons are fooling me into believing I understand them better than I really do, that's ok too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-10-31T06:19:34.150" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T06:19:34.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-31T08:02:52.800" Score="3" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a 3 month male kitten and recently stray cats have started to come to the house and started making weird noises that make my kitten terrified. What does this mean and what can i do about it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6032" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T17:08:46.667" Title="Stray Cats Showing Dominance Outside My House" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10691" CreationDate="2015-10-31T14:32:24.640" Score="3" ViewCount="581" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 cats and we are moving into a two story house.  We are considering two main locations for one or two large uncovered litterboxes: upstairs or downstairs.  Which location would minimize the smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does smell tend to rise or fall?  Does it depend on the temperature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does first or second story not really matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will probably have 2 uncovered litter boxes on one floor and 1 covered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.litter-robot.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Litter Robot&lt;/a&gt; (which the cats use about half the time) on the other floor.  I am not concerned about the covered litter robot (which has minimal smell); I am just concerned with the smell of the large uncovered litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6034" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T15:57:21.317" Title="Minimize litter box smell: upstairs or downstairs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10687" CreationDate="2015-10-31T15:41:59.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @kittyconsultant that if your cat isn't neutered they may be displaying for its benefit. Or, more likely, for the benefit of a nearby queen. If so, this will probably stop fairly soon, though it may happen again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have no control over the other cats. Your cat will learn that they can't get in and will not be terrified (though he may be either pleased by the fact that you help defend his territory, or frustrated that he can't get out to chase girls himself, again depending on whether he has been fixed.) Either way, it's really a problem that solves itself as he grows up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T06:21:22.273" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T06:21:22.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10689" CreationDate="2015-10-31T15:57:21.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smells diffuse throughout the air, moving outward in all directions. So from that point of view, upstairs or downstairs doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the walls will help to contain the smell somewhat, so that whichever floor the litter box is on, the smell won't be as strong on the other floor. For that reason, assuming you are more likely to entertain guests downstairs, I'd put the open boxes upstairs, and the litter robot downstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T15:57:21.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10692" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10693" CreationDate="2015-10-31T17:23:43.103" Score="1" ViewCount="2104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a litter of Siberian kittens, and I'm thinking of taking them to a cat show in a couple months, but they'll be at the exact age when they are supposed to get vaccinated at the time. Polyvalent vaccine should be fine -- if I vaccinate them at 9 weeks and re-vaccinate 3 weeks later, they'll have exactly 3 weeks till the show. But then there's the rabies vaccine. All of the kinds I can find locally state that it should be administered to at least 3 months old kittens. If I vaccinate them 3 weeks before the show, they'll be 12 weeks old, which is about 10 days younger than 3 months. Are those 10 days that important? What will happen if I vaccinate the kittens before they're ready? And is there a way to determine if they're ready to be vaccinated other than their age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T14:07:30.733" Title="Minimum age of kittens for rabies vaccination" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10692" CreationDate="2015-10-31T21:02:59.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blackwell's 5 minute Veterinary consult lists the starting age of vaccination for rabies at 12 weeks. Purevax Feline Rabies vaccination is listed as suitable for felines 8 weeks or older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long and the short of it, you should be good to vaccinate. As a rule of thumb, I generally find that &quot;months&quot; when used to describe things like medical dosages to be very imprecise, weeks or days is always better. When I see &quot;months&quot; used then I'm almost always sure it's in 4 week increments, but always good to confirm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T14:07:30.733" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T14:07:30.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-10-31T22:33:27.030" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitty is 5 but every time she eats she throws up, there's no hair balls in the sick, she's very small for her age but not under weight, I'm very worried wot shall I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6036" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T01:43:44.347" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:41:09.840" Title="Cat keeps throwing up" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2015-10-31T23:31:55.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take her to the vet right away.  Contrary to popular belief, it's not normal for a cat to throw up often.  She could have anything from gastro problems to food allergies to much more serious things.  There are emergency animal hospitals where you can take her.  You don't need to wait until Monday.  Go now.   I wish you and your kitty the best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-10-31T23:31:55.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-01T00:37:27.833" Score="3" ViewCount="1661" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then, I see online about how a baby animal is orphaned and no longer has a mother to give the baby milk, only for another animal of a different species allow that animal to take their milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a baby cat drinks milk from a dog, and a baby rabbit drinks milk from a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question is, since they are coming from different species, wouldn't the nutritional content from one animal might not be enough for another animal? How healthy is it, in general, for one animal to drink the milk from another animal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:36:07.647" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:36:07.647" Title="Question about getting a mother's milk from another species" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10687" CreationDate="2015-11-01T09:55:33.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your kitten is just getting to the age that hormones are starting.  Per our post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1848&quot;&gt;What is most appropriate age to neuter/spay a cat?&lt;/a&gt; you should be scheduling an appointment to have your kitten neutered soon.  This will keep him from being seen as threat by the local tomcats and help keep him safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T09:55:33.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-01T10:12:51.117" Score="1" ViewCount="7048" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is not quite 3 months old and not vaccinated yet. He recently bit me and broke my skin, are there any medical concerns I should have, for myself, as a result?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6041" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T19:38:36.163" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T07:16:50.573" Title="My Kitten Bit Me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10696" CreationDate="2015-11-01T14:46:29.090" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question is... sort of. In general, the nutritional requirements of different species do vary, even for infants and so the composition of the milk is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider, for example, that cats are obligate carnivores and require certain nutritional elements in their diet for health and growth, notably taurine. In addition, many cats are lactose intolerant and, while kittens do have lactase in their system, the amount of lactose in cows milk (to reference the assertion from the comments) is way more than the lactase in the kitten can handle. Add into that is that the proportions of other compounds, such as casein to whey, is off for kitten nutrition.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Milk replacer for kittens does start with a bovine dairy source, but it's been modified and enhanced so as to be nutritionally appropriate (as it is for human infants). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not say it's impossible to cross-species nurse, by any means, but that in order to do so, you want to confirm that the make-up of the source milk contains the appropriate dietary support for the infant animal or that you're able to further supplement with other sources of nutrients. Bear in mind that cross-species nursing in captivity is often done under the supervision of veterinary specialists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild, this also does happen, surprisingly often, and some species tolerate it more than others on the giving front. In that event, the infant may get just enough solid nutrients to survive to the point that they're able to eat more adult food and continue to survive. In such cases, I would expect there to be some additional risk of reduced resistance to species-specific natural illnesses and possibly weakened bone or musculature, but that's just a risk, not assured. The success of this, long term, is likely going to work best when we're talking cross-species with comparable diets, carnivore to carnivore, herbivore to herbivore, etc. Not to mention that competition for the milk probably works best when the outside species is relatively able to compete for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, on the tl;dr front -- Cross-species nursing is going to be a case of better that than nothing at all. If the choice is the milk of another species or starving to death, then the choice is rather easy to make...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cats-and-dairy-get-the-facts?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cats and Milk: Lactose Intolerance and other Dietary Concerns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T14:46:29.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10699" CreationDate="2015-11-01T19:09:57.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the kitten is ill, you could potentially become sick. But at that age he hasn't been exposed to a lot of disease, so it isn't likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it, care for it like any other puncture wound -- clean it, cover it until the skin heals, and watch for signs of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-11-01T19:39:11.890" LastActivityDate="2015-11-01T19:39:11.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10707" CreationDate="2015-11-01T22:15:00.897" Score="4" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sherlock is a lovingly 5-yr old beagle mix, which came with us from Brazil to US a couple months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We take him out at least 3x a day, for 10-15 min walkings mainly for peeing/pooping/stretching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know he is not very social dog with others in the beginning (it takes some time for him to make new friends), but he is actually barking at (and sometimes attempting to jump into) other dogs and even short people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has lived with 5 other dogs back in Brazil, and he used to get along really well with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we took him to the dog park for the first time, and at first he was shy/scared, then he only wanted to lay down close to us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He let other dogs to sniff him, but he wasn't interested on playing with them. Some dogs came to provoke him (as a invite to play) and at first he ignored, when the dog insisted he growled and then barked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the same thing happened with a second dog we decided we should no longer insist and we went out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: should I just accept that is how he is and not take him to dog parks anymore (and live with him overreacting to other dogs/people) or is there something I can try to remedy this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6045" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:14:26.963" Title="My dog barks at other dogs and people when he is walked around my condo and also at the dog park" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10699" CreationDate="2015-11-02T07:16:50.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a rare cat owner that hasn't gotten their skin broken by their pet, and in the vast, vast majority of cases, nothing much comes of it. However, it's not without some risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In rough order of concern, cats can transmit rabies, but if your kitten is healthy, acting normally, and is an indoor cat, that's highly unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common infectious result of a cat bite is a soft tissue infection with a bacteria called Pasturella multocida.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; For some reason, the infection is more common after cat bites than dog or other bites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The signs of infection are pretty alarming and if you have it, you'll likely go to the ER despite what anyone here says. It's a rapidly progressing swelling and redness, but very easily treated with antibiotics. Usually it's seen with deep bites, both fangs in. If the kitten just broke your skin, such an infection isn't likely. Wash it with plenty of soap and water and keep an eye on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens can transmit something called cat scratch fever (or cat scratch disease).&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; It is more common in young people (it happens in adults, though), and it is mostly benign. You might want to read the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats bite. Often. Now is a good time to learn how to discourage it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6371440&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pasteurella multocida infections. Report of 34 cases and review of the literature.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pets1st.ca/articles/00045CatScratchDisease.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat Scratch Disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T07:16:50.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9361" CreationDate="2015-11-02T18:45:47.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Golden Lab was sterilized using Zeuterin at 9.5 months. We are now &#xA;needing to have him castrated at 2.5 years, due to all the annoying &#xA;intact male behaviors. He sniffs and licks pee constantly,humps every &#xA;dog he meets and is unable to participate in group dog play. His siblings were all neutered the traditional way and none of them have any of the annoying behaviors. I really regret not doing it the old school way in the first place. It would have saved us lots of money in training and our dog lots of frustration. I truly do not believe Zeuterin is a solution at this time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6048" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T18:45:47.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10704" CreationDate="2015-11-02T19:35:01.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Secluding your dog will only make matters worse. You need to take it out more to socialize it.  Also, consider verbal and leash feedback when he barks while walking. The key to this (according to Cesar Milan, at least) is to break your dog's concentration before he winds himself up. Scooting his butt with your foot, tugging on the leash if it's a design where that won't choke him, and making a distracting noise can do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T19:35:01.097" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7337" CreationDate="2015-11-02T22:20:53.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/catfish/banjocat.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Animal-world.com&lt;/a&gt; says that while the two sexes look similar, the mature female has a &quot;fuller and rounder belly.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Banjo.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aqualandpetsplus.com&lt;/a&gt; adds that the a fully-grown female may be larger in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6050" LastActivityDate="2015-11-02T22:20:53.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-03T01:06:12.300" Score="3" ViewCount="797" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 1year old Shih Tzu started salivating / drooling excessively a week ago, and it happened almost daily for 3 days or so. so we took her to the vet. The vet seemed to rule out other causes such as food poisoning etc so she confined our dog for 3 days two nights for observation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She saw one episode, and seemed to be convinced that our dog was having seizures.. the very mild kind since the dog did'nt exhibit any other symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She the prescribed Phenytoin (Dilantin) treatment for a week and monitor the episodes by marking it on the calendar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I am having second thoughts about starting the treatment because I am not entirely convinced that the excessive drooling are actual seizures because our dog's behaviour didn't change 1 bit, even during &quot;drooling&quot; sessions. Apetite was good, and she was focused, etc.. She was absolutely normal except for the excessive drooling part.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the vet said that seizure symptoms can be &quot;just that&quot;, just the drooling, i can't seem to find any information online to co-relate that. Most posts I read states accompanying symptoms, not just the excessive drooling part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our choice of trust worthy vets are limited where i'm from so i wanted to ask a around online about this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am holding off the Dilantin because I don't want to start treatment for fear of actually inducing seizures by use of the drug if our dog isn't having seizures in the first place (is that possible?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hoping for some advises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3279" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:41:05.863" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T19:41:05.863" Title="My Shih Tzu is having seizures, according to the vet... but is she really?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10710" CreationDate="2015-11-03T02:31:01.917" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that &quot;seizure&quot; is a fairly general description of a class of symptoms, and not by itself a diagnosis of type, severity, or what might be causing the seisure. &quot;Grand mal&quot; seizures are the ones that get discussed most because they're so dramatic and unmistakable, but there are certainly quieter varieties, and it may take a vet to recognize a pattern that leads to this diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't convinced by the diagnosis, asking the internet is probably much less helpful than getting a second opinion from another vet. We can't examine your dog in detail, and I at least am not a vet myself, just a semi-uninformed layman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, unless you have reason to be afraid of the drug (I haven't checked its possible side effects In humans, never mind dogs), my inclination would lean toward starting treatment. If episodes become less frequent, and then return when/if you eventually stop the treatment, that would tend to confirm diagnosis. If the drooling doesn't stop, you know this isn't the right drug for this case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't treat, &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; gather the data on when, where, and what the dog had been doing, so you have a baseline for comparison with when you start treatment... this treatment or another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-06T05:51:40.653" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T05:51:40.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-03T04:38:32.320" Score="4" ViewCount="20263" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had somewhat of a flea problem in my house within the last week. After I caught it I applied medication (Frontline and Paradyne) to the dog and cats, kept them separate, spread diatomaceous earth, and vacuumed like crazy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly certain my dog she cats are flea free but the dog is still chewing and scratching. I can't tell if he's just scratching old bites or still has them. I can't find any fleas or dirt on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I be sure he's flea free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6052" LastEditorUserId="6052" LastEditDate="2015-11-03T12:25:08.240" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T13:54:08.623" Title="How can I be certain my dog's fleas are gone?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10712" CreationDate="2015-11-03T11:40:56.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you only used diatomaceous earth (DE) last week you can be certain that &lt;strong&gt;you still have fleas&lt;/strong&gt; in your home and on your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you also used Frontline and Paradyne on the dog and cats, you can be relatively sure fleas will not survive on them.  In this case you are breaking the fleas life cycle, female fleas need to have a blood meal in order to breed.  If they try to get that meal from one of your treated pets, they will die and the life cycle will be broken. You may want to continue this treatment for few months, if not indefinitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3069/are-there-any-effective-non-toxic-methods-of-controlling-parasites-in-dogs/3236#3236&quot;&gt;DE is only effective on adult fleas&lt;/a&gt; at any given time only &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea#Life_cycle_and_habitat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about 5% of the fleas in your home are adults.&lt;/a&gt; There some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3199&quot;&gt;health concerns&lt;/a&gt; with DE, so repeated applications and removal is the recommend path to control fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To effectively control fleas with DE requires multiple applications, treatments and cleaning.  There is a detailed write up about at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.richsoil.com/flea-control.jsp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Die Fleas! Die! Die! Die! Freaky Cheap Flea Control&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas can feed from the humans in the house, keeping yourself, clothing and bedding clean should control their ability to complete a life cycle using human blood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flea control, does not mean total extermination. There will always be some risk of fleas re-establishing themselves in your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You indicate you dog is still scratching, we have an answer indicating &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3212/what-are-the-health-risks-if-my-pet-has-fleas/3219#3219&quot;&gt;pets can have allergic reactions lasting weeks or months after the fleas are gone.&lt;/a&gt;, if this is the case you may want visit a vet for diagnosis and treatment. Related Question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6980&quot;&gt;What could cause my dog to bite/pull her own hair out?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T14:23:34.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10725" CreationDate="2015-11-03T13:11:37.663" Score="3" ViewCount="9036" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two goldfish in an 18L tank, which has a pump filter and a light.  We feed them lightly once a day and I change the water every week or so.  We have had them for a few months and they have apparently been doing well overall.  (We have plans for a bigger tank, but we wanted to see how it went before investing a lot.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have always seemed to prefer hanging out at the bottom of the tank, but recently it seemed that they were both floating at the surface and had to work to move lower down.  The water tested okay (KH, GH, pH, Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;, NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;).  I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/BRIEFGUIDEFORNEWOWNERS.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that this could be the result of some swim bladder disorder which may be caused by constipation.  We followed the instructions there to fast them for 3 days and then feed them mashed pea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They still are hanging out a lot near the top, and sleep there at night.  They don't look as much now like they are floating and don't seem to have difficulty moving around the rest of the tank.  After feeding time they do forage along the bottom and all over the tank for quite some time.  I noticed they also gulp a lot at the surface after feeding time, even though the food we feed them doesn't float.  They always belch air bubbles after doing that, but I wonder if some of the air gets trapped inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So back to the fish' new hangout.  How likely is it this is a sign of infection?  Continued constipation?  Air in digestive tract?  Also, could the recent drop in temperature account for the change in behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5837" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T13:01:23.690" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T13:01:23.690" Title="Possible reasons goldfish hanging out near surface" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8077" CreationDate="2015-11-03T13:23:53.767" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to neuter your cat.  The best way to stop a cat fight is to spray water to break up the fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/2012/06/23/qa-how-to-stop-cats-from-fighting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy has more tips on resolving this here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6054" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-11-03T15:04:34.407" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T15:04:34.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10733" CreationDate="2015-11-03T21:28:35.650" Score="4" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat scratches her ears from time to time and sometimes she does it quite hard. I have looked at her ear and it is a little scabby and crusty, and when I rub it she doesn't seem to mind. I have cleaned out her ear with a q tip. I do not want to take her to the vet for something minor, so I was wondering if there was some natural oil that I can put on her ear for relief. Like me when I have itchy dry skin. If she does have ear mites or something buggy, can I put oil on that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5803" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T16:58:05.610" Title="Cat scratching her ear, can I help?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10718" CreationDate="2015-11-03T22:27:44.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very susceptible to skin problems, judging by the location of where your cat usually scratches, I would suggest you to look for black or yellow discharge, seems it might be a yeast infection. And don't worry too much(in case it is), it can be treated; an antifungal treatment might just do the trick. Just be sure to get your cat diagnosed before using any type of medicine on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-11-03T22:27:44.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-04T01:31:44.160" Score="2" ViewCount="2791" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be ethically wrong to purposely scare a cat from sneaking into the clothes dryer by turning the dryer on for a half spin when it decides to jump in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesnt seem like it could hurt the cat if I only let it make a half spin or so. Also as long as I allow it to jump in of its own curiosity, the cat's fear wouldn't be pointed at me, but just the idea that jumping in the dryer can lead to a very scary result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just wondering if animal lovers world wide would curse me if I did this. Would it be considered a good or bad way to teach the cat not to get in the dryer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could be careful and check the dryer, keep the door closed, etc, but it seems over the years there's a possibility that the cat could sneak in and it be turned on without anyone knowing the cat is inside. I always worry about this when turning on my dryer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say a cat wont jump in there with wet clothes, but sometimes you turn on the dryer if they've been sitting there a while to remove wrinkles, or you could have a front-opening washing machine, in which case the cat could jump in there too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="3752" LastEditDate="2015-11-07T21:46:56.063" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T03:38:17.190" Title="Could letting a cat take a very short spin in the clothes dryer be a good way to prevent later incident?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10720" CreationDate="2015-11-04T06:52:15.747" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yes, it would be ethically wrong&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. It's a good way to injure the cat. Prevent the problem from arising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you also worry about locking the cat in the refrigerator? How do you handle that? Same answer -- you watch what you're doing, watch the cat, and teach &quot;Not for kitty.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Besides, the cat's going to be most interested in laundry when it's dry and ideally warm. There isn't much temptation to walk on wet cloth. A cold damp T-shirt would be more than enough incentive for most cats to go elsewhere.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-30T15:09:08.480" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T15:09:08.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10720" CreationDate="2015-11-04T09:25:59.963" Score="16" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be ethically wrong to purposely scare a cat from sneaking into the clothes dryer by turning the dryer on for a half spin when it decides to jump in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, absolutely wrong&lt;/strong&gt;. There are many other ways to try to make a cat understand it is not allowed to go there. Use a water atomizer/spray if you really want the cat to get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm just wondering if animal lovers world wide would curse me if I did this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, probably&lt;/strong&gt;. If you don't consider yourself an animal lover, maybe you shouldn't even own one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I could be careful and check the dryer, keep the door closed, etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes you should&lt;/strong&gt;. Really, is it that hard to check ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2589" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T09:25:59.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10720" CreationDate="2015-11-04T11:43:38.620" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dryer cannot even be turned on until the door is shut.  So you would leave the door open, let the cat jump in, close the door, spin the dryer, open the door, and let the car jump out.  You don't think that just closing the door for a few seconds would be enough scare the cat?   Let's not spin the cat OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T11:43:38.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10718" CreationDate="2015-11-04T12:43:34.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat with a similar condition, which turns out to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/foodallergies.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;allergic dermatitis&lt;/a&gt;. While it could be a different issue for your cat, food allergies often impact their skin and it can be relatively easy to find out if that's the case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the more common food allergens in cats includes chicken and grains, amongst others, common in many standard food choices. However, a number of companies make cat foods without those ingredients, including ones specifically designed to be hypoallergenic or with low ingredient volumes. We moved our cat onto a venison-based food without grains or chicken and since then, her scratching has gone way down and her ears are healing up and the fur filling back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can consult with a vet on this, it's actually not that minor an issue, but if it is a food allergy, it's pretty easy to manage if you can use off-the-shelf food options with ingredients that they haven't been previously exposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T12:43:34.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10715" CreationDate="2015-11-04T14:11:53.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish at the surface is a symptom of not enough oxygen in the water.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have an air pump injecting bubbles then give that a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2015-11-04T14:11:53.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-04T19:34:48.477" Score="4" ViewCount="1733" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am bipolar and lately feeling very down, sad and afraid of my future. Lately, my 19-month male goldendoodle has recently began to slightly growl and move away from me while I was petting him in bed or sitting on the couch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if this is related, but sometimes when he has gotten something especially dangerous items (like socks, bottle caps, etc.) and occasionally  he doesn't drop them when I ask calmly, then I have gotten aggressive and have pried open his mouth to retrieve the item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also on few occasions, I have grasped him by the scruff of his neck, said &quot;no, no&quot;, or called him a bad dog, and on a very few occasions I have impulsively slapped him. Then I feel so guilty and repetitively tell him I'm sorry and he appears to accept it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately though, without a cause when he has been lying besides me in bed or on the couch, when I start to pet him, he twitches and jumps up then goes to the other side of the couch or jumps off. Shortly after, he usually comes back on his own and puts his paw on me and lays down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also recently he has started growling slightly and gets up quickly when I gently and affectionately start to pet him. My vet suggested this is because of his age and sex and he is going through a dominance period and I need to stop it (e.g. by grabbing him by the scruff).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I am very afraid it's more than that, and that I've broken his trust  but not his spirit. I believe if I am not able to provide him with a consistently emotional and trusting home, then I will need to give him up to a better and more stable home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has always been a very joyful dog and shows a lot of love and affection, especially to my next door neighbors and their daughter. I also like to socialize him to dogs in doggy daycare twice a week, which he absolutely loves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, I have worked with a trainer on the basics and now believe that more is necessary for both of us. The problem is, I am on disability and can't afford to work with an excellent and experienced trainer/behaviorist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feedback please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6061" LastEditorUserId="3671" LastEditDate="2015-11-05T11:16:55.333" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:37:59.080" Title="My dog growls at me, and he doesn't pay attention to me anymore" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10726" CreationDate="2015-11-04T22:57:53.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the vets comments, I suspect it's an un-neutered male? If yes, see if you can afford neutering him if the vet advises you to.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;About the dog right now: He will perceive the mood-changes in you. Dogs are good at very subtle cues, especially from &amp;quot;their&amp;quot; humans. Have you ever kept close attention to the dog perhaps changing behaviour before your mood shifts?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I am asking because you may indeed not have to give your dog away, but consider giving him an own space in your house, and do crate-training for this place. If you know your mood will be shifting, which the dog may cue you in on, you send him to HIS place, where he will feel save. This way, you can avoid scaring or even hitting him in a bad phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Golden Doodles are usually really patient dogs, from his behaviour, I suspect he has bonded to you, and your question alone shows how much you care for him AND are aware that there may be an issue. Try to stay on top of it, try to shield the dog from your bad phases, and enjoy the wonderful moments he can give you on good days. Also, use THOSE for training and mire bonding especially!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, another bit of advice more about you than your dog: take your time with major decisions like giving up your dog. Your perception of the problem may be shifted to worse than it is from your own state. Give yourself and your dog time. And: Good luck and all the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:34:26.640" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:34:26.640" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10726" CreationDate="2015-11-05T23:04:24.437" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very sad story indeed. I hear that you are suffering from a mental illness and I feel for you, as I too have suffered from bipolar and it is never an easy thing. I honour your for expressing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your dog, you mentioned that when he would get a hold of items and not give them back to you when asked. It sounds as though he was resource guarding. This is very common in dogs. It doesn't matter to the dog how insignificant we view they object. What is important is that the dog perceives that the item is of high valve. This is a very important point. How we deal with this in two ways. The first is prevention. Anything that you do not want your dog to get a hold of, simple put away in a draw, cupboard, behind a door. Rubbish bins should always be kept in a place that the dog cannot under any circumstances get to. I have heard way too many tales as a trainer and vet nurse of people coming home to find their dog dead in the kitchen as they go into the garbage and choked on a bone left in the bin. We cannot blame the dog for simple getting into something that smells delicious to them. It's like yelling and hitting a child who opened the cookie jar that we left on the floor. The second part of dealing with resource guarding is we do a swap with the dog. You need to find something that is very high value to your dog that is safe to give. This could be a squeaky toy, a Kong toy filled with peanut butter or simple an almost empty peanut butter jar. This last one is a great enrichment and can last for while. You're dog doesn't understand that a bottle  cap is dangerous so there is no point saying no no no or grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. This will only tell that dog that when you come near him, he is going to feel pain. Not a good relationship builder. When your dog has, for example a sock in his mouth, show him the peanut butter jar and get super excited. Use a high pitch baby voice saying things like, &amp;quot;look what I have&amp;quot;. It doesn't matter what words you use as dog's don't understand language, except body language and the tone of your voice. When he comes to inspect, the only way he is going to be able to get that peanut butter jar in his mouth is by dropping the other item. This is a training method and when he drops the other item, immediately say &amp;quot;Drop&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not a bad dog. The responsibility comes down to the owner. If a child is sat in front of a piano, with no training and told to play Beethoven and then gets slapped for not being able to play. That is what we do to our dogs when we have not provided the right training in a positive manner. It is human nature to use punishment (often with physical violence) when something is not done to our standard. I'm not trying at all to make you feel guilty at all. What I'm trying to get you to understand is that when we use punishment, we are blaming the dog for our mistakes. We need to guide our dog and teach them, just like we do with small children. Imagine that your parents used punishment to teach you how to do everything when growing up. You would resent them, not what to go near them as it always meant you would be hurt and would probably not learn anything in the long run. Please, please, please do not slap your dog again. The only thing it teaches him is that he will receive pain when you are around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why he is growling at you. He has learnt that you can inflict pain on him and reacts whenever you touch him. He is anticipating pain. Dog's have several ways to tell others to go away or to leave me alone. They start off with very subtle signs that may not be picked up by humans unless you understand a dog's body language. These include, looking away, licking lips, yawning when not tired, sniffing the ground, eyes darting around. They then progress to things like backing away, turning their body away from someone or something. This progresses up to baring teeth, growling, lunging slightly. Next is snapping or nipping. At the top of the ladder is the dreaded bite. I often hear people say that the dog bit without any warning. They always give plenty of warning. The signs above are the warning. It may have been building up over months or years, but the dog always gives warnings, we are just not trained in reading their body language to recognise it. Like humans, dog's will try methods when dealing in stressful situations of what work before for them. If you are being yelled at by someone and you walk away from that person, you feel safer and calmer, so you are more than likely to walk away the next time you are getting yelled at Dogs may do the same thing. Someone yells at them, they turn and walk away and now they are not being yelled at. They are not going to go backwards and simply lick their lips as that didn't work the first time so they need to do something that is more &amp;quot;dramatic&amp;quot; for lake of a better word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog has learnt that when you go to touch him, there is a high chance that he is going to be scruffed and slapped so by growling, he is telling you, &amp;quot;I'm warning you. Don't you hurt me or I will bite you&amp;quot;. You NEED TO STOP PHYSICALLY PUNISHING YOUR DOG!! You will need to start again with touch. By this I mean taking the following steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When ever you enter a room with the dog already there, throw some food near him. What his body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can then take a few steps towards him and throw food again to him. Watch his body language. If he starts to show any signs given above, back off a few steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once he is OK with you taking a few steps towards him, take a few more.&#xA;We are teaching him that you being around him is a good thing and results in positive things happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next we want to have him come towards us. Bend down, but do not kneel down. You want to be able to move if anything bad should happen such as he lunges. I'm not saying he will but after working as a dog trainer and a vet nurse, I've seen people kneeling down and a dog throws themselves at the person and that person cannot get up quickly. Offer him some food in your hand. If he seems a bit unsure, throw it to him. Do not rush these steps or any of the following steps. We are trying to build trust again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He should start coming closer towards you. Say in a baby, high pitched voice &amp;quot;Good dog&amp;quot;. Again, it doesn't matter what words you use as dog's cannot understand works, only the tone of your voice and your body language. High pitched voices are seen as a positive thing in doggy world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog is eating from your hand, you can try and pat him on the shoulders only. This is a safe spot to touch wary dogs or dogs that we do not know. Again, watch his body language, if he starts to show a lot of the white in his eye, looks away, yawns, or licks his lips he is saying I'm uncomfortable. Just continue with 5 and the start of 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dominance theory has been proved to be completely wrong. I know that there are many vets out there and trainers who cling onto this theory as it is simple and puts the blame back on the dog. But from reading what you have written, your dog is acting out of fear aggression. He is scared of being hurt so is trying to communicate to you in dog language that he will protect himself if he needs to. It is imperative that you build his trust again, treat him positively and NEVER USE PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT on him as this is all leading up to your dog biting or attacking you or worse, someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving a dog to another home once they have fear aggression is passing on that responsibility to another family. It is not fare on them or your dog and is a recipe for disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this information helps both you and your dog. I'm not sure where you are located in the world, but I would be more than happy to offer Skype session to talk with you further for free as I can tell that you love and care for your dog and are simply looking for the best way to deal with the situations that have arisen. Please let me know and I would be glad to offer any help I can. I am located in Sydney, Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:37:59.080" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:37:59.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10680" CreationDate="2015-11-06T16:21:12.043" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like human beings, healthy cats and dogs are generally concerned with their pack mates' (your) emotional state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to experiment with this, try the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lie on the floor and whimper like a hurt or otherwise very upset dog. You may have to experiment a bit with what you do, but your dog should come investigate. Really, they should investigate any substantially abnormal behavior. (This and curiosity are why, when you are fixing something or doing something new, they always seem to be in the way.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a talented actor, you could thrash around on the floor like you are having a seizure or breathe like your airway is partially blocked with choking sounds. Put on the right act and you will see some alarmed and concerned pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are trickier, because when hurt they will sometimes cry but they will often stay still and keep quiet. Curl up in a ball in a dark place like the closet and maybe sob a bit. They cat should come over and sniff you a bit at least, if not start rubbing up against you, head butting you or climbing on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats and dogs have been known to bite unresponsive owners (even chew their faces off to wake them from a drug overdose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can duplicate the utterly pathetic high pitched meow of a sad lost hungry kitten, cats will often come running to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T14:24:28.340" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:24:28.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6915" CreationDate="2015-11-06T16:44:07.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not as much of a concern in India but you should definitely not feed cow meat to a cow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T16:44:07.253" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10718" CreationDate="2015-11-06T16:58:05.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The itching could be caused by any number of things. You cat may also just have had an itchy ear and scratched it too hard, cutting herself a bit. People do this all the time too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inspect the ear daily. If after 3 days it is not healing or it looks redder or is oozing lymph/pus or bleeding or the crusty scab (clot) is getting bigger take your cat to the vet. Feel free to post some pictures and maybe some of us can make some better guesses as to what is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often taking a pet the the vet for minor seeming illnesses is a &quot;better safe than sorry&quot; strategy. If your cat has ear mites they won't go away on their own and home remedies don't work well and may even hurt your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T16:58:05.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11252" CreationDate="2015-11-06T17:06:20.630" Score="3" ViewCount="1513" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just got a 15 week old Welsh terrier. He just got his second round of vaccinations at 15 weeks (which seems a little late, but was out of our control). We live in a 3rd floor walkup in New York City on a street with tons of pedestrians and dogs, so we're afraid of taking him out to potty because we're afraid of him getting parvo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He won't be done with vaccines until he's 19 weeks and I'm afraid at that point it'll be really hard to break the habit of going in the apartment.&#xA;What do we do? We're trying to paper train him, taking him to the kitchen with a pee pad. He's only allowed near the pee pad when it's bathroom time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people seem to think it's ok to take him outside, as long as we keep him from other dogs, but I have no idea what the risk is or how common parvo is here. Dogs' pee and poop is on the sidewalk all the time, and there are a lot of them.&#xA;Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: Did the pee pads for a little while, then started taking him out to the same spot that seemed somewhat low risk (no soil, just asphalt). After a few weeks of rewarding him with treats for going outside, he hasn't had an accident in a while, and tells us when he wants to go out. All is well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6070" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-13T00:23:44.313" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T00:23:44.313" Title="Dog house training in apartment after 2nd vaccination" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10687" CreationDate="2015-11-06T17:08:46.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very territorial. The outdoor cat may consider your house to be its territory. Thus your kitten is in its Territory. Cats spit and hiss and chase and attack other cats that they are not friendly with, that are in their territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest thing is to cover the lower parts of your windows so the outdoor cat cant see the indoor kitten. If you have modern windows they cant really smell each other though them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of sight, out of mind, problem solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used various craft and foam boards for this. Something the indoor cat can't remove. If you live someplace where your neighbors will not object to the eyesore you could prop up something against the window(s) from the outside. Whatever blocks the line of sight between cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T17:08:46.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10677" CreationDate="2015-11-06T17:32:28.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can do this as a way of saying &quot;ok you can stop cleaning me now.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that Harry tolerates additional cleaning may suggest Harry changing his mind as in &quot;well this does feel pretty good and I still could use additional grooming, so I will tolerate this a bit more.&quot; Harry could also be feeling relaxed and does not want to make a big production about wanting the grooming to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats will nip, paw or even bite you if you continue to pet them after they feel they have been pet enough. Some will just get up and move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can test this principle on any humans you may share your home with. Unwelcome grooming can be unwelcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T17:32:28.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10670" CreationDate="2015-11-06T17:47:37.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats may always come back after they are let out, Some cats may not. There is no way of knowing ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the west we sometimes lock our cats up inside all day with litter boxes. The litter box is cleaned every day so it does not smell too much. A cat that has never been outside does not know what they are missing and are perfectly happy inside.  (though they are curious animals and may try to escape to the outside to explore)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being an outdoor cat in a big city is very dangerous. There are dogs, mean people, cars, trucks, trains, poisons, disease, falls off high buildings and a lot of other hazards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An outdoor / indoor cat's life expectancy is a lot shorter than a strictly indoor cat's life expectancy. This is something you may want to consider and accept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-06T17:47:37.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10712" CreationDate="2015-11-07T01:24:02.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried looking at your dog? He/she may be flea free but could have hot spots still which are itchy and painful.   As to your house it really depends on what else you've done.   DE isn't going to completely eradicate the fleas.  I suggest you bomb the entire house. Maybe twice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, Now,  not rudeness intended here but your animals had to have had quite an infestation of fleas for a while to infest your house so badly.   If your animals are regularly treated this should not be an ongoing concern.   A bath now and then helps.   I'm from the country where my dogs were exposed daily to fleas, ticks, mites etc. and I never had trouble in the house or my truck. Frontline is a good product.   Brewers Hyatt in their food also is a great help.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Good luck &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6071" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T01:24:02.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10740" CreationDate="2015-11-07T15:17:08.470" Score="7" ViewCount="1237" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this parasite in my tank this week. It was the second time I saw it but the first time I lost him before I could catch it. He wasn't on any fish or plant, he was on a wood piece the first time and the second time (when I catch it) it was on a rock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rJiaW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rJiaW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Unidentified parasite&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only saw one but with the plants, rocks and wood there might be more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder what is it (google image wasn't really helpfull) and if there is anything I need to do to protect my other tank habitant (shrimps and neon tetra)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:51:57.943" Title="What is this parasite?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10739" CreationDate="2015-11-07T15:46:25.737" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damselfly&quot;&gt;damselfly&lt;/a&gt; larvae to me, which isn't actually a parasite. It is, however, carnivorous...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish were larger, this larvae could have turned into food for them, but not in this case as you have small fish. So, as it is they can be dangerous to your fish and shrimp, so best to make sure you get them out of the tanks as soon you find them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure how it got to your tank, but best to be careful and quarantine new plants for your tank for some time to ensure that they are free of unwanted guests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-11-07T15:46:25.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-07T19:29:48.240" Score="8" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male Angora cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it keeps doing acts of sabotage, playing with litter, dropping vases, cracking cups, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have 3 other cats in the house (his &quot;wife&quot; and their 2 &quot;children&quot;). He keeps hurting them.&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Why he is doing this?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it normal?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the best thing to do with him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6072" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:23:21.193" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:23:21.193" Title="Why my cat is doing acts of sabotage?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-08T03:15:14.380" Score="4" ViewCount="5573" Body="&lt;p&gt;There don't seem to be any good, reliable answers to this question out there in Internet land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was eating a banana one day and a couple of my cats, being curious little beasties, came up and sniffed it. They both instantly recoiled, as if it was the worst smell ever! Considering they smell their own poo when they go to the toilet and like sniffing each other's bums, cats and people obviously have different ideas of what smells good or bad!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other odours that cats dislike: onion, capsicum and mint (toothpaste). These make sense as the plant has developed these strong chemicals to avoid being eaten. However, bananas are fruit and are considered delicious by many species!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen some links where a cat likes bananas, so why do some cats seem to hate the smell of banana?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T21:33:12.883" Title="Why do some cats recoil at the smell of banana?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-11-08T07:05:01.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We bought a pitch black cat and after two weeks got a friend for her also pitch black...Chloe and Zoë. After about two months both kittens went missing, we think they were playing outside and a dog chased them and they got lost. After 5 months we gave up hope and the kids starred accepting the worst, they died. We are in the process of moving to the country and this morning while having coffee in comes Zoë! Crying moaning and very thin with a big cut on her upper leg. She came into the house straight away no hesitation. She wanted attention from me straight away. I was so excited it took me a few minutes to recognize if its Zoë or Chloe..Zoë was smaller with only a few white hairs on her chest. Its almost 7 months later and she came back. She was only living with us for just over 3 months so yes, if you treat your animal well they remember and will return! Wish she could tell us what happened. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6073" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T07:05:01.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10734" CreationDate="2015-11-08T07:23:29.390" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually a dog  is never too old to learn, it just might take a bit more patience. We recently adopted a (back then) 7 months old husky without potty training and got him to do it outside within about two weeks (bit less actually).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just get your dog a place to do it, preferably something you can move/clean easily, like a plastic pan. There are also premade training mats/sets for that as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set it up in the floor or where there is space and train using it. Later on you can then slowly start moving it towards the door and later on outside (you can prepare that just in time, if you can't keep it outside, e.g. due to lack of space out other people living there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-11-08T07:23:29.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10576" CreationDate="2015-11-08T07:29:51.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are wonderful creatures to have as a pet. I have owned a turtle since 15 years. He is usually kept inside a tank, but I take him out for an hour or half at least once a day. He usually eats all the worms inside the tank, but I also provide him small pieces of wheat flour; there are various turtle foods  available in the market, so you can also feed them that. They can live in both land and water too.  Mine also loves to sit on my lap and even on the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5939" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2015-11-09T16:36:31.260" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:36:31.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-08T08:40:48.497" Score="7" ViewCount="49366" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay! So three weeks ago I got a stray kitten from the streets. He is around seven weeks old and is a male. Eight days ago, he began to stop eating and would throw up worms. He was sick for two days before we took him to the vet. They said he had a infection of roundworms and hookworms and gave him medication. He came back home all better. However, he started to eat too much. He would cry from hunger and ask me to feed him. I thought it was okay since he had lost weight from the worm infection, so I fed him more than usual. Three times daily. One and a half can of wet food for kittens. Two days ago, I began to notice his pot belly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dWIhD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dWIhD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IuIqc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IuIqc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His belly is neither too hard nor too soft. Also, aside from that, he has no other symptoms. He is eating back to normal, pooping and peeing, and his behaviour is the same. He is as playful as always. However, I'm still worried because I've heard about FIP, and I'm scared he might have it. Can someone tell me your opinion? Ill take him to the vet next week since he had an appointment for his second dose of deworming and vaccinations. But I'm scared he might be sick...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6075" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T14:10:56.287" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T02:55:48.137" Title="My kitten has a pot belly appearance, is it normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-08T10:07:34.557" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my 3 year old Minpin for about 4-5 months now and I'm struggling to fully potty train him. He was supposedly a neglected/abused dog prior, and while I have him mostly potty trained, he has had occasional accidents, and it is starting to become more often now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, in general, he doesn't have many accidents. Maybe one every 2-3 weeks or so from what I have noticed. Generally speaking, he doesn't poop or pee in the house, and as long as I am home he will come and get me and whine to let me know he needs out. He will also go on command quite easily, and consistently. There are no problems here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From time to time however, specifically when I leave for a few minutes or more, and not all the time, he will poop in the house nearly as soon as I leave. And always in the same spot. From what I have gathered, I think this is due to separation anxiety. He will whine and howl a bit while I'm gone (this has stopped now), and be super excited when I come back (jumps up and down, jumps on me, just over-the-top excitement, still happening). What is important here is that he never pees, but only poops. I am working on this and he seems to be getting a lot better. I am keeping my return home low key until he calms down, and these accidents are getting less often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently however, I have gone to speak at a conference for a few days and my girlfriend watched him at her house (he was kept in the bathroom while she was at work, and he had no accidents). Now that I am back home, he has had accidents almost every other day, which has moved to both poop and pee. He peed in the living room, which I'm not sure how I missed, but I did, so I cleaned it up and moved on. This must have happened while I was at work and when I came home I missed it, but I had been home during lunch as well to let him out. His schedule has not changed at all. I had also left one evening to run an errand and he pooped (in the same spot he always does, if he does poop).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recently, just last night, he jumped off the bed and wet in my room on the floor, but he did not let me know he had to go like he generally does. Generally he will get off the bed, whine to wake me up or lick me face or hand, and I will get up to let him out. For the most part, he has not peed at all in the house for over 4 months until just recently, so his potty behavior is progressively getting worse again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as training, here is what I am doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get up and let him out to potty&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed him breakfast (7:30-8:30am)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let him out again before I go to work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let him out again during my lunch hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let him out as soon as I get home from work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed him dinner (4:30pm consistently)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let him out 2-3 more times until bed time, and just before bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am using positive reinforcement. I go out with him to potty, and will go pee or poop on command consistently and I treat him and praise him quite a bit. When he has a accident indoors I just clean it up and take him out. I recently have been giving him full access to the house instead of just my room because he had been doing so well without accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was having accidents in the house at first I was putting him in the bathroom while gone at work. He never had a accident there. I then let him have access to my room, and he went a few months with no accidents except for a day he was sick and had diarrhea, so I then let him have full access to the house, where he also didn't have any accidents for a few weeks until this started again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His potty behavior is extremely inconsistent. Some other notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He used to get up multiple times a night (excessive), sometimes 6 times to want to out potty outside. Sometimes a few times in an hour. This has stopped and for the most part he has made it through the entire night consistently for a couple months now&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He had never peed in the house until just recently, only ever had poop accidents. I have also been letting my girlfriends dog stay as well (she stays the night), but the dogs have known each other since day one and get along really well, and my girlfriends dog does not have potty issues like my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He sometimes will not eat his breakfast. I have to coax him with a treat and sit there and really work at it to get him to eat it. According to the many people I have talked to, and pet feeding guidelines, he's getting the right amount of food per day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He apparently was mostly an outside dog. From what I understand his previous owner would scream at him all the time and toss him outside quite a bit. I think he was probably mostly an outside dog and probably not fully house trained.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really need some help because I'm unsure how to proceed. I've read pet magazines, countless people's stories, and have been really consistent. The only thing I have not tried is crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be able to give him full access to the house and not lock him in the bathroom while I'm gone, and apparently now during the night, but I don't know what else to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6076" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:42:29.943" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:42:29.943" Title="3 year old Minpin struggling to become fully potty trained" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2015-11-09T02:50:02.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same fear! I put a bunch of water on mine, and she usually goes into her shell, or really, just be patient and slowly scoop your snail up. Pulling too fast could hurt it, you're right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6080" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T02:50:02.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10750" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-09T07:11:30.293" Score="7" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old female tabby has been getting more and more finiky over the last year. We usually feed her canned wet food twice a day at the same times every day, then leave a measured amount of dry food for her to munch on through out the day if she gets peckish between meals. At first I thought she stopped eating her wet food because she was getting bored with it, so I tried giving her something different. We've tried different flavours, textures, and brands. She refused them all. She's stopped eating wet food completely. Now she's starting to refuse to eat her dry food also. Her bowl is a relatively shallow, round ceramic bowl. She's always eaten out of it before and I wash it between every meal, so it's not like it's dirty. The odd thing is... Is that she will occasionally eat out of her brother's bowl. It's the same food  she was given and exactly the same sort of bowl, but she doesn't do this to often. Her brother is also starting to get increasingly finiky, not eating the food he used to gobble down (and he can be quite the piggy). I can't think of anything that might've caused this, like environmental stressors or something of the sort. They are both strictly indoor cats, so it's only us that feed them. They have all their shots and vaccines and what not. Both are spayed/neutered... I don't know what to do anymore. I'm just buying cat food just to have it sit there and go to waste everyday. Both cats act the same as always aside from the increasing pickiness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the length of this. Just thought I'd put in as much info as I could. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6082" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:27:01.620" Title="Cat extremely finicky. At the end of my rope!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10750" CreationDate="2015-11-09T13:27:47.887" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, and foremost, a vet visit is in order.  There could be several medical reasons why a cat would stop eating.   A cat will not eat what she cannot smell.  She could have an upper respiratory infection (a kitty cold), especially since the brother is now not eating as much. URI is very contagious.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats could be developing anything from dental problems to much more serious illnesses.  Cats are notorious for hiding illness and injury.  Even if you don't notice other symptoms, your kitties could feel very sick.  So, please get an appointment as soon as possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat suddenly or gradually stops eating, it is not normal.  Healthy cats do not get tired of eating food they've always eaten.  They do not have this characteristic like people do.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you are waiting for an appointment, try warming their wet food.   Make sure it is not hot, only warm.  This will increase the smell.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also get some Gerber's chicken and gravy baby food.  Read the ingredients. It must only have chicken, water, and cornstarch - no other ingredients.  No onion powder.  This is toxic to cats.   I feed this to sick cats when I can't get them to eat anything else.  First try putting a little on your finger.  You may have to touch it to her lips, so she has to lick it off once.  Then, she should start licking it off your finger.  Baby food is only a temporary solution.  It does not have the ingredients needed for a healthy cat.   However, it gets water and some protein in them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitties the best.  Make that appointment, and let us know how it goes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T13:27:47.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10746" CreationDate="2015-11-09T15:27:00.957" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason why you have a second dosage of deworming is because it usually takes 2 dosages to kill all of the worms and get them out of the kitten's body. This is especially true if your kitten came from outside or was a stray before coming to a shelter.  It is very normal for kittens to have worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, FIP Is a different story. Vets likely won't test your kitten until he's  about three or four months old. Even then our best tests of FIP are not always conclusive.  Cat's with FIP can still live normal lives, and it's not likely any other cats you will get it.  The vet will tell you to keep the litter clean (a couple times a day), make sure the kitty gets lots of play time, and look for lethargy symptoms.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likely, your cat still has worms and the worms need time to pass through your kittens system.  So be sure to keep your appointment and express your concerns of FIP  to your vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW. You have a beautiful black kitty!   Thank you for taking care of this kitten and giving her a happy home!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T15:27:00.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-09T16:09:47.027" Score="4" ViewCount="1377" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we have a 4-year-old Aussie mix who's come down with an odd rash since we last gave her a trim. The rash doesn't match any description of mange exactly, which has caused me to wonder what the best course of action is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've seen at least two patches, one on the rump and one on the back of the neck, where the skin is thickening into a yellowed, scaly area, which flakes off and takes the hair with it, revealing dry, but not red, skin underneath. There are also tiny, elongated brown objects in the flakes, which do not move, nor appear to have any discernible anatomy. She had an immune-/mite-related rash (sounding like demodectic mange) around the time she was spayed, and has always had dandruff, but otherwise, there has been nothing of note.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our other two dogs, a Yorkie and a Yorkie mix, do not seem to be affected, and we don't notice any rashes on ourselves. Other than these two, she does not come into contact with any other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem likely to be sarcoptic mange, but it also doesn't have the redness of demodectic mange. Could it be something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6H6aV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6H6aV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The inner surface of her ears is also quite red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6084" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T09:52:44.057" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T13:53:04.837" Title="Skin Lesions On Dog - Could This Be Mange?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10500" CreationDate="2015-11-09T16:31:12.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theurbanboa.com/breeding-african-fat-tailed-gecko&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; information states that African Fat Tailed Geckos are in a position to breed when sexually mature, which occurs between 15 to 18 months of age, although, can be younger. It is also worth noting that African Fat Tailed Geckos are recommended to be bred between spring and autumn to yield the best results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there is no 'limit' on the age to breed, I would personally give yours a miss due to possible infertility or an increased percentage of 'dud eggs' as the recommended life expectancy is between 10 - 25 years according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_fat-tailed_gecko&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6085" LastEditorUserId="6085" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T09:14:07.293" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T09:14:07.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10145" CreationDate="2015-11-09T16:42:20.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally wouldn't worry about it too much. Just continue to mist daily, with the occasional shallow bath (mine love them!). If their feeding/dietary habits haven't amended, that's a positive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would get concerned when they are having issues actually shedding, whereby the skin does not come off. Although, this can be assisted, albeit with care, by soaking the area and gently rolling off the hanging skin (I would not recommend this if you're not comfortable, as this &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; harm the reptile).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6085" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T16:42:20.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10911" CreationDate="2015-11-09T18:25:41.247" Score="4" ViewCount="1202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 year old miniature schnauzer, and around 4-ish years ago she developed skin allergies in her &quot;lower-back&quot; close to the tail, and she wouldn't stop scratching until the point of hurting herself (we assume these uncontrollable and hardcore scratching &quot;spams&quot; where due to the fact that she has a pedigree, and as I understand the purer the dog the more intense the &lt;em&gt;&quot;faults/defects&quot;&lt;/em&gt; of the breed are present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually she lost most if not all of her hair in that area, and thankfully we've been able to control her allergies through: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;diet changing (food and water);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;baths with distilled water and hypoallergenic soaps;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dressing her (she has less itching with them on) from time to time, but not&#xA;all the time (humidity being a factor for all the bacteria to develop&#xA;and whatnot);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allergy medications (when really needed).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still scratches herself from time to time but the itching is greatly decreased by now, she's finally growing hair again, the issue is that the hair now is much more thicker than her &lt;em&gt;original&lt;/em&gt; hair. I was wondering if it has to do with all the lesions she caused herself that the skin got so heavily damaged beyond repair. Or if there's anything we can do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T06:07:32.157" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T06:07:32.157" Title="Miniature Schnauzer Thicker hair grow after skin problems" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10746" CreationDate="2015-11-09T18:57:43.597" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main cause of ascites (pot belly) in a found kitten is usually due to parasites, especially with hookworms. Hookworms feed on the blood of the kitten, thus resulting in a lost of oncotic proteins (such as albumin). These proteins are needed to keep water inside blood vessels, without them water sometimes slips out into abdominal cavity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An adecuate antiparasitic treatment requires two doses of albendazole and praziquantel (or any other de-wormers) at a 10-15 days interval. This is because the first dose kill the adult worms, but not the larvae. After 10 days larvae become adults so they become sensitive to the drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FIP is a mutation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/generalized_conditions/feline_infectious_peritonitis/overview_of_feline_infectious_peritonitis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline Corona Virus&lt;/a&gt;, most cats have this virus (at least in my here in south america). But it is unlikely (i.e. I've never seen it, or heard or read about it) that a cat will develop FIP without being immunodepressed by some other pathology. Usually FIP is seen in cats with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/generalized_conditions/feline_leukemia_virus_and_related_diseases/overview_of_feline_leukemia_virus_and_related_diseases.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FeLV&lt;/a&gt; or FIV. I really hope this is not the case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: check with your vet. A simple blood work should be enough to shed some light &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6086" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T02:55:48.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T02:55:48.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="299" CreationDate="2015-11-09T20:24:30.143" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother in law's dog loves holding the front part of her leash, has done it for years. She walks just fine and occasionally gets excited when she needs more exercise or if it's the first walk of her day. She attached a short tough strip that connects to her collar and the clasp of he leash. Also they need at least one leisurely walk a day to smell all the great smells on the route.  That could stop the pulling, letting them take some relaxed control. And the tenser you pull, the more stressed a dog is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6088" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T20:24:30.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2015-11-09T20:34:42.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is currently staying with my parents - the first time he has stayed with them in their new (5 years) house. He has chosen to sleep by the side of a bookshelf that he was born on 14.5 years ago in their old house. Has he remembered something about the shelf, or perhaps the smell of my Mum's study in the new house is the same as the old house? Whatever, I find it amazing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6089" LastActivityDate="2015-11-09T20:34:42.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10767" CreationDate="2015-11-10T02:17:28.457" Score="2" ViewCount="1344" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom has a female chihuahua, about 4 to 5 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While everyone is sleeping (at night, of course), she will cry (whine) outside of either my mom's door or my brother's door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both do not like it, yet have no clue how to go about making it stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way we can make this stop? Is there a quiet activity that can keep her distacted long enough to allow a full night without whining?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Letting the dog in the room is not an option. My family has work in the morning, and as much as we would love to let her in, the playful behavior is not suitable for sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not give in. Even when it comes to hearing leaves move outside, she barks for hours upon hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not react well to being put in a room alone. She will continue to cry until she is let out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never been crate trained. She has never been trained in any way. She is spoiled rotten. She can poo on my mom's couch and still get a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My family's reaction to this behavior is yellong &quot;STOP&quot;. They have no clue how to go about it. I'm the only one who seems to care enough to try and figure out the right way to handle this situation /:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="2808" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T18:03:05.510" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T19:55:50.450" Title="Chihuahua cries near door while trying to sleep" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10761" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-10T05:57:02.780" Score="7" ViewCount="5705" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is wild about &quot;cat treats&quot; like Temptations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is in that stuff that makes it so attractive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6091" LastActivityDate="2020-06-26T22:37:00.537" Title="What is in cat treats that make them so attractive?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10760" CreationDate="2015-11-10T06:07:11.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals.  They want to be with you.  Let the dog in the room.  Dog does not need to be in the bed.  Just reach down and pet the dog before you go to sleep. If they can get to you then to them it feels like they are with you.  Outside a door feels a long ways away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T07:24:45.543" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T07:24:45.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10761" CreationDate="2015-11-10T06:25:16.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a well covered secret. Only those reading the &lt;strong&gt;Ingredients&lt;/strong&gt; section of a product are asked to know. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fun aside, it's really hard or impossible to tell, since it really depends on the actual product. Some might use &lt;em&gt;catnip&lt;/em&gt;, buy it could really be as simple as being the overall composition (like kind of meat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just think of yourself: You might enjoy something as simple as vanilla pudding, even though there's no special ingredient in there. At the same time you could hate some cake with vanilla creme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T06:25:16.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10680" CreationDate="2015-11-10T10:36:55.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, dogs have a remarkable ability to read our emotions. They can easily figure out the difference between our happy and sad emotions. It’s like this for a Dog or cat, both lived with us as a pet. Study thoroughly finds that dogs have the power to sense humans emotions; they have a little patch of their brain devoted to deciphering emotions in human and dog voices; they listen better to you and in fact respond appropriately to our emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a question strikes in everyone’s mind: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsworld.in/blog/know-about-dog-emotions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;do dogs have emotions or don’t they?&lt;/a&gt;.  Being a dog owner, anyone can notice that a dog has tendencies to sense you and your emotions, when you get back home. I personally notice that when I’m happy my dog will come to play with me by doing attacks over me and sitting in my lap and if I feel low my dog can often act as a better confidant than anyone else. Moreover, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151015-your-cat-can-pick-up-on-how-you-are-feeling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats can read human facial expressions&lt;/a&gt;. It's all about cat’s brain, which is enough for them to show and understand emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6093" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:26:56.697" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:56.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10761" CreationDate="2015-11-10T10:55:05.313" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well most products for humans are already &quot;enhanced&quot; with all sorts of questionable artificial additives, there's obviously even less regulation for pet food. Don't be fooled by the engredient section as another poster suggested, many additives do not have to be declared, e.g. flavor/appetite enhancing enzymes like &quot;Protamex&quot; or &quot;Novo Pro D&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6031" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T10:55:05.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10761" CreationDate="2015-11-10T14:52:58.903" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would guess that it's some combination of being high in protein, high in fats (cats are as tuned to seek high-energy-source foods as we are, but it's claimed that they don't much notice sugar), having an interesting texture (consider potato chips as an equivalent), having a smell thst they can recognize and anticipate from a greater distance... My previous cat's favorite treat was dried anchovies, which would hit several of those points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T14:52:58.903" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10760" CreationDate="2015-11-10T15:06:52.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You coud consider crate training, to reinforce the dog's undetstanding of where its own bed is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try earplugs for a while. I'm serious. The best way to discourage an unwanted behavior is generally to not respond to it. Since it sounds like you're finding that difficult, make it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could take Frisbee's suggestion. Let the dog come Into the room so it can check that you're still there, but make very clear that the bed is Not For Pup. That might stop the whining. Or yoh might need to combine this with earplugs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could move out and let it be Mom's problem...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is very much a training problem. One of the humans has to be the Alpha and set -- and enforce -- clear rules. A dog training class is as much about training the human in this skill as it it about training the dog; this might be a good investment of your family's time. A spoiled dog is generally less happy than one that knows its status in the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-10T22:59:16.397" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T22:59:16.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10760" CreationDate="2015-11-10T15:31:31.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a training problem, so most of the &quot;annoying&quot; attitudes of your dog are your and your family's responsibility. The dog doesn't know what bed time means, I encourage you to look for a trainer if you don't feel like training the dog yourself. If you teach the dog what bed time means, having it inside the room won't be a problem. Our dog is allowed to be wherever she wants, and she has a bed in each of our rooms plus one in the living room, so she can come and go as she pleases and whichever room she is in, she knows its bed time, so she goes to sleep. This is the kind of behavior you nourish since a pup. And ask your mom to stop giving her treats all the time, treats should only be given as a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T15:31:31.717" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10760" CreationDate="2015-11-10T17:41:36.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most dogs like to be with 'their' human - even when sleeping. Now, it's possible that's just &quot;wants to snuggle up on the bed&quot;. It's up to you if that's acceptable or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However assuming that's not, then what you need to do is train 'bed time'. First - when starting - remember the old adage - a tired dog is a happy dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So start with a good long walk. You don't always have do to this - it makes the initial training easier though, and honestly makes dogs less problematic overall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Acquire a treat that will occupy the dog. We quite like the kong variety of toys, which are basically rubber things that you can stuff with treats. Whatever works best for your dog - but we found a mix of biscuits and meat paste, then freeze it works best. (Note - meat paste must not contain things harmful to your dog like onions and the like - some do, depending on where you get it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After your good long walk, train 'bed time' - tell your dog to go to bed. Guide it if necessary, and when it's there, reward with the kong, and a couple of biscuits or similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then go to bed. Close doors, turn lights out, etc. Do not react to the dog crying. (Not at all - ignore it. Even if you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to go into the same room for another reason, you should not give any attention at all - but you should avoid this if you can initially). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; find is that the attention span of your dog isn't too long - what you're trying to do is distract it long enough that it can forget that you've 'gone away and left it' which is &lt;em&gt;likely&lt;/em&gt; the cause of the crying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also find that you've build a positive association - going to bed at bed time means treats, and you go upstairs and that's fine too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may have worked a little &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; well with our doglet, because she definitely knows when it's bed time, and will huff and sigh meaningfully when it's time for us to clear off. We do still give her a couple of bed time biscuits, but the kong is now for particularly special occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-11-10T17:41:36.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-11T03:05:49.820" Score="1" ViewCount="5560" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every night or nap time, when we go to get our two year old son ready for bed, our dog will come and lay there. He also stays there for a couple of minutes after we leave the room and turn off the lights. He doesn't even get up to chase the cat if she comes by. Is this instinct and is he being protective or dominant? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know the dog's exact age or breed. We picked him up from the shelter when he was a pup, approximately 8-12 weeks old and we've had him for about 14 months. He looks like an Am staff and is probably a mix with a black lab. He is great with our son when he's awake. I'm not really worried about the behavior, just curious about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6098" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T21:12:57.060" Title="Why does our dog lay by our son's crib?" Tags="&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10859" CreationDate="2015-11-11T13:51:38.830" Score="3" ViewCount="733" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following the breeder's advice it would be a good idea to feed my British Shorthair cat a bit of raw food from time to time. I saw that the term for a raw diet is &quot;BARF&quot;, an acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately in the country I live there is no raw (frozen) food available for cats. Therefore I would like to create my own. How should I do it so I minimize the risk of infection but also create a balanced meal for my cat (even if I just give him such food once every 1-2 weeks)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1147" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T07:11:08.760" Title="How to make my own BARF food (for a cat)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7026" CreationDate="2015-11-11T14:19:18.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We give our dog a bit of canned dog food while she gets her injection as a diversion.  She's so busy eating her treat that she doesn't notice the injection.  In fact, she gets excited when we say 'let's go get your shot&quot;, and lets us know when it's time for her shot by dancing and crying if we're not watching the clock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6099" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T14:19:18.743" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10772" CreationDate="2015-11-11T16:53:57.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a protective nature that the dog has. Our black lab used to do this when I was younger. She treated us as if we were her puppies, making sure we were okay and would check on us in the night. Our gold retriever also used to follow my brother and I on our bikes. Dogs are very protective of their owners and when raised with children they seem to take them on as their own family. You're very lucky to have a pet that bonds with your child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5236" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T16:53:57.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-11T17:53:10.020" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plz &quot; Coverback &quot; the one who asked this question on 2013 &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1834/at-what-age-cats-should-stop-biting-and-scratching-games&quot;&gt;At what age cats should stop biting and scratching games&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see this question help with your experience  and answer&#xA;All other fellows also welcomed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi I have exactly the same situation with a 3 month maine coon ( got him when he was 1 month old) and he keep biting whenever he is close to my hand or feet, wondering what you did with your kitten and how it behave now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6102" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T17:53:10.020" Title="Maine coon kitten biting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-11-11T19:25:50.880" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10741" CreationDate="2015-11-11T18:47:32.267" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Via keshlam in comments above: &quot;Odds are that none of this is sabotage or malicious. Some of it is just being a cat. Some of it is things you need to explain to the cat that it can't do. And some of it sounds like you may be inadvertently encouraging, by giving the cat attention when it does them.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is an absolute angle; she never knocks anything over. &lt;strong&gt;Unless I'm watching her.&lt;/strong&gt; She'll even look back, miming at me: &quot;Oh, no. Look this thing... it's almost falling over.&quot; {nudge}&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she does this, she's asking for attention. Don't make the mistake of training them that this is how you get play time. Provide a brief distraction, possibly a scruff if you really think it's necessary, so that they don't make this association. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you still need to play with them, even if they break your favorite vase. Affection must immediately follow discipline (pet them for a bit after a successful scruff; that means they flopped over and submitted), but discipline must also consistently follow bad behavior. These situations should happen less often as you better establish your dominance (every time you scruff) and &lt;em&gt;The Rules&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6105" LastEditorUserId="3035" LastEditDate="2015-11-11T23:42:12.093" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T23:42:12.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10760" CreationDate="2015-11-11T19:55:50.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers may help if this dog is 'simply' misbehaving: ie, the dog is untrained and underexercised, and needs to be given exercise and taught when to go to sleep.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the fact that you report this dog will bark and cry for hours on end, and if shut in a room will cry for a long time, worried me, as it suggests that the dog may have a more serious issue, separation anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the problem, then ignoring it is unlikely to help.  Exercise will not help. The problem will not go away, because it's not a training problem, it's more like a phobia.  Imagine someone with arachnophobia who is forced to spend time every night in a room full of spiders.  Separation anxiety is like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment is to take away the long periods of alone time and instead work up very gradually to being alone, starting at just seconds at a time.   The dog will probably need to sleep with someone while this is being worked on, and that is where exercise might help: it is abnormal for a dog to want to play all night. A well exercised dog that is not stressed will want to sleep. The fact that your dog wants to play all night  again suggests that this little dog needs help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A qualified behaviourist could help you diagnose whether this is really the problem for this dog, and come up with a treatment plan for this condition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a blog from a behaviourist that specialises in this condition, it may help you understand. &lt;a href=&quot;http://malenademartini.com/blog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://malenademartini.com/blog/&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T19:55:50.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10741" CreationDate="2015-11-11T20:06:10.503" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to understand that cats have a very different psychology than dogs or humans do. Like us, dogs are pack animals. Co-operation and pleasing the pack leader are &lt;em&gt;survival skills&lt;/em&gt; that work in our favour when we want to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, however, are mostly solitary hunters. They don't have the same instinct to please that dogs have. This does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; mean that cats don't love their humans, but it does mean that they perceive relationships very differently than pack animals do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is not dropping vases and cracking cups to be mean or even disobedient. Perhaps it's doing so because it's fun, or because those objects are in its way, or even just by accident. If you yell at the cat for doing these things, the cat won't understand that it has broken some rule. The most likely result is that the cat will become nervous, and perhaps break more things out of anxiety-induced clumsiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preventing the cat from breaking vases and other ornaments that stay in one place is pretty easy. Get some blu-tack (or something similar); it's a substance that looks a bit like chewing gum, and can be used to stick things in place. Problem solved, and your ornaments are safe from earthquakes and clumsy humans as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there surfaces that you want the cat to stay off of? The best way to prevent a cat from doing something is to make it unappealing to the cat, but without frightening the cat. Many people keep a spray bottle of water handy, and when the cat jumps onto the forbidden shelf, it gets a squirt. This doesn't frighten the cat (who probably won't even associate the squirt with you) it just makes it associate something unpleasant with being on that shelf. There are lots of options here. Rather than a squirt bottle, I just clap when I want my cat to stop doing something. I only clap once, and not very loudly, just enough to startle but not frighten her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for fighting with the other cats, the squirt bottle can work well there also. Whenever a fight occurs, spray the combatants. But also make sure that there are lots of places where the cats can get away from each other when they want to be alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find loads of other tips on this site for specific problems. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T20:06:10.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10741" CreationDate="2015-11-11T20:17:49.393" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your cat may be bored.  Bored cats find things to do, including chasing other cats, knocking things onto the floor and destroying them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to discourage this is to get the cat a good big cat activity centre, which it can enjoy using to climb on, play with and scratch, and load it up with different kinds of toys, such as pingpong balls, catnip mice, etc, which can be knocked onto the floor harmlessly.   And spend a good while every day playing with him using a cat wand or feather toy or similar, so he gets a chance to use all that energy up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try cat-proofing the house. If possible, put fragile easily knocked off items into a no-cats space or a cupboard with a door! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to ration his access to the other cats.  It's no fun for them if they are with a cat who is a bully, and if he's constantly practicing chasing and upsetting them, in my experience he's likely to get worse.  I have a bully cat, and he is only allowed around the other cats when I'm there to make sure his behaviour is appropriate.  His behaviour has improved a lot since we started doing this.  Time-outs can work well for cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T20:17:49.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10704" CreationDate="2015-11-11T20:44:22.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK.  You have a dog who is not an instant 'loves every dog' dog. It happens.  I have one of those, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PLEASE don't force your dog to go to dog parks and then jerk on his lead if he growls.  PLEASE.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are teaching your dog that you will not protect him.  You are teaching him that he can't trust you to look after his interests.   You are teaching him that you will punish him if he lets another dog know that he's not happy or comfortable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really dangerous.  It can end up with your dog biting another dog unexpectedly because you have taken away all his alternatives and left him feeling stressed and unsafe with no other way to make the scary go away. Or he might bite you, because his world is no longer a safe place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Socialisation is important, but socialisation doesn't have to mean going to a dog park where dogs can approach your dog closely offlead.  It can mean walking past other dogs at a distance on lead, it can mean standing 300 yards away from a dog show where your dog does not feel he will be rushed, it can mean training at the other end of a field while someone else works with their dog within eyesight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are the equivalent of human introverts.  They find the company of strange dogs stressful and wearing, and they can only take so much of it in a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never reprimand your dog for growling.  If your dog growls, he's telling you he's uncomfortable.  Accept what he's telling you and adjust things so he feels happier. Often this will mean walking away.  That's fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My credentials for this advice: I have been involved in dog rescue since 2005, I have fostered many rescue dogs, one of my own current dogs is a nervous dog who behaves just like this, I have consulted a qualified behaviourist for help with this and with previous foster dogs, with good results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PLEASE, when it comes to taking dog advice, be cautious of asking questions on the internet that may be answered by people who are taking tips from watching shows about dogs on TV featuring people without behavioural qualifications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article from a very well known behaviour specialist that may help explain how your dog feels : &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/he-just-wants-say-hi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/he-just-wants-say-hi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an article explaining 'look at that' training, which may help you :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://clickerleash.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/look-at-that-a-counterintuitive-approach-to-dealing-with-reactive-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://clickerleash.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/look-at-that-a-counterintuitive-approach-to-dealing-with-reactive-dogs/&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the official home of the Behavioural Adjustment Therapy system for dealing with fear and aggression in animals, from Grisha Stewart  : &lt;a href=&quot;http://empoweredanimals.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://empoweredanimals.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article about dog park etiquette from an industry-recognised expert :&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/dog-park-etiquette-rules&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/dog-park-etiquette-rules&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-11-11T20:44:22.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2015-11-12T01:24:54.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbor lost her small Yorkshire terrier last night and she suspects an owl. The dog was in the yard, but it is a large yard and the area is rural.  She heard the dog yelping, but before she could get to her, the yelping stopped and there was no sign of the dog being there anymore. Another Yorkshire terrier was with her, but he was not harmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6107" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:38:48.543" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:38:48.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10773" CreationDate="2015-11-12T14:44:41.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go buy him some mice or rats.  If we was feral that's what he would be living on.  It's very difficult to get the proper mix of muscle, organ, bone and hair/fur/feathers that would constitute a balance diet.  Fortunately, they are evolved to hunt and eat prey like small rodents, vermin, birds, lizards ... really, whatever they can catch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat, however, is captive bred and has not experienced a wild diet and wild prey carries a host of risks.  Beyond diseases they may be carrying poisons in their body that people leave out to get rid of them.  These poisons build up over time in predators - some develop a limited immunity and some succumb to the build up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your safest approach is live, store bought mice and rats.  These are safe because their diet is controlled and, being alive there is little risk of infections growing in their guts.  The next best thing is frozen rats, mice, quail, etc.  The problem with buying pre-killed whole bodies is that an improperly handled body can end up with bacterial growth that makes it unsafe to eat.  (This is what makes carrion eaters different from predators.  Carrion eaters can tolerate rotten meat.)  So you will want to learn to remove the digestive organs before feeding it to your cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5916" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-12T19:14:47.063" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T19:14:47.063" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-12T17:39:31.683" Score="6" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I manage a website for the Oldies Club, which is a UK based dog rescue charity specialising in older dogs, which also advertises senior dogs for other charities around the UK, and I also offer volunteer help with the websites of several other charities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be difficult to decide which information about a dog should be provided most prominently on the website.  I'm aware of research suggesting  that a good quality photo is vital, but what other details are most likely to result in a dog receiving enquiries and home offers and should be prioritised? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other factors that influence adopters when choosing a rescue to adopt from? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T19:08:40.297" Title="What factors are most important to adopters of rescue dogs?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10787" CreationDate="2015-11-12T18:32:35.887" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I volunteer at an animal shelter in the US, and we often get senior pets coming to us to be rehomed. We have found that a &quot;biography&quot; really helps to promote a pet in addition to appealing photos: As the volunteers and staff get to know an animal, someone will write up a paragraph about the animal: This will include some information about the animal's personality (e.g. likes to play fetch with a ball, is easy to walk on a leash/lead, like to cuddle quietly, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also very helpful to note whether a dog gets along with other dogs, cats, children as far as we can tell. We also pull the sympathy card at times: We had a 16 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback mix dumped on us during the summer of 2014. He was in good health, although somewhat feeble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put out a Facebook appeal and he was adopted within a week. (The last I heard, he is still doing well). I also know some shelters have &quot;Senior for Seniors&quot; program where the adoption fee is reduced or eliminated when a senior person (65 +) adopts an older pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the key is to try and find something that a reader might identify with and find appealing. There are thousands of pets available on the web, so you need something to make yours stand out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-12-02T21:50:02.167" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T21:50:02.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10773" CreationDate="2015-11-12T20:46:27.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only done some basic reading on BARF, but the basic rule shoudl be: Keep the hygiene-standards up to what you woudl do for human guests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do you have a butcher in reach whom you would trust if he told you &quot;You can eat this steak rare, without any trouble&quot;? If yes, approach him. BARF often includes pieces that are rarely sold for human consumption, but your trusted butcher should have access. Ask him about storage and fodo savety, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For balancing, refer to BARF-deidcated sites, and possibly your vet (you may have to be a bit lucky to have one who can fully advise you!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T20:46:27.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10704" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:14:26.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He simply needs to be educated in the ways of the world. Do some reading about training methods and start training him -- by the way, half or more of successfully training a dog is for the human to also absorb the training - it's not all about the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:14:26.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10750" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:27:01.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second the need for a trip to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat's can say &quot;Hey, you know I don't feel very good and maybe it is .....&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have to be observant and detect changes in behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any change in behavior could be caused by disease or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time for a trip to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is vital that cats eat - if they do not do so for very long, they can start having liver problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, a trip to the vet is called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:27:01.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10720" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:33:39.890" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;NO!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good way to injure or kill the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, we would curse you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is your responsibility to keep your cat safe. If it jumps into the dryer, you just pull it out and maybe it will get the idea that they shouldn't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you leave the door open, double check that the cat has not gotten into the dryer before you use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked if animal lovers would curse you - it strikes me that you would consider them a group in which you do not put yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it odd that you don't include yourself in that group - I mean you have a cat and .. well, animal haters general don't have cats or dogs, or any type of animal living with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:33:39.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10773" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:36:56.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this is your goal, remember that housecats are descended from a desert species. One of the reasons they drink so awkwardly is that in the wild they'd be getting a lot of their water from fresh-caught prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also means their diet would have been small rodents, small reptiles (perhaps), and small birds. Fish is reportedly not something cats are especially well adapted for, even though many love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember too that your own cat may have allergies. I knew one who couldn't eat turkey; one of mine apparently gets itchy after eating fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going to design your own diet, be sure to have a vet check that it has all the needed trace elements as well as sufficient taurine (which cats can't synthesize). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I prefer to trust the labs at the (reputable) pet food companies, who will at least ensure the food covers the minimum daily requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:36:56.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10787" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:37:21.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot the same as jaylynn2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A check list of basics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OK with dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OK with cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OK with children&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;House trained&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight (many rentals have weight limit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a paragraph or two about the dog.  Be honest about health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Photos are great, but don't have the photo in the same spot for every dog.  It looks like a mug shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cute bones for check boxes.  You don't want it to look clinical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also clearing sites where multiple shelters can post.  For sure do that.  Even if those sites are ugly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Register with SEO to get your site searchable.  The search engines have a free page on how to make your site more crawlable (searchable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Screen adopters.  Encourage them to test for a week with no obligation.  You want the dog in welcome home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't pick a stupid name for the dog.  I foster a lot and they give me problem dogs.  I am not mean, but if the dog cannot comply in my home the dog is not place-able.  I got this dog named Kitty because she was a scaredy cat. I did not change the name, as she needed to learn it.  So then after 10 weeks of foster they begged me to keep her, as she made it very obvious she did not want to be any place else.  Now I am stuck with a dog named Kitty.  Her stage name is Miss K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T19:08:40.297" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T19:08:40.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:41:09.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second that - she needs to be examined by a vet. This be anything, from a minor problem to a life threatening problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats would have already been to the vets with the behavior and symptoms you are seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:41:09.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:45:45.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not just the software that you need, the hardware has to contain the components which will allow it to query a chip and process the output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I very much doubt that any phones have those elements. They would not really be of any other use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:45:45.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10648" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:48:53.113" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A healthy cat of any age will likely want to play (come want to constantly) and one form of play is stalking and catching things, if they move it's even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play is not just a kitten thing - is play just a human child thing? No, it is  not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:48:53.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10391" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:51:55.767" Score="-6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A female cat should be spayed before she has a litter. There are far too many unwanted cats in the world already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to spaying her now, consult a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:51:55.767" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10387" CreationDate="2015-11-12T23:58:17.513" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat are not nocturnal. They are dineral - they can be active any time of day or night and sleep any time of day or night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, cats sleep at night, and in the morning, and the day, and the afternoon ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats sleep on the bed with us at night. They have regular spots. Arthur likes to sleep against my back, Murphy sleeps in the crook of my are, Wendy sleeps against my wife....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of them come and go during the night. They don't sleep the entire night, though some of the elder ones do spend a large portion of the night in bed with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another answer said, cat's don't sleep one extended time period. They nap all the time. Where do you thing the term &quot;cat nap&quot; came from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-12T23:58:17.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10746" CreationDate="2015-11-13T01:15:23.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first photo - what is that area, in the middle of his body, that has no fur?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like a wound or some sort of damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is really how he looks, he needs to see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be the photo, lighting, angle, etc. but it almost looks like an incision through which you can see internal organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did he have ringworm? That could cause an area like that but you only mentioned hook and round worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ringworm is actual a fungal infection and is contagious to other animals, including humans. Treatment for ringworm is different than for internal parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that area that is visible in the first photo is real, that is, it is really like it does in the photo, I'm concerned about the cat's condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that really, looks like, that I'd want a vet to check it but you said he has been seen by a vet recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about this but if one of our cats had a spot like that and the vet disregarded it, we would take him or her to a different vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That area in the photo scares me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T01:15:23.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-13T06:47:39.193" Score="4" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so I have four cats in my household now. About a month ago, two started fighting. Neither were neutered, and one was the offspring of the other. I don't feel like typing out their names, so let's go by initials. The oldest male cat is called B, and the child is named W.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;W has just now grown into a full grown male cat, and has tried to breed with the two other female cats. B then attacked him, and every time they saw each other, they would fight until W has secluded himself in small rooms and corners, and hisses when B comes near him. My family and I decided it was due to them not being neutered, so we had that done a couple days ago. Now, B still attacks W and W still hides. He also refuses to use the litter tray, and is generally terrified of B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this change, or will we have to do more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6110" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:15:55.757" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:15:55.757" Title="Cat is afraid of another cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10742" CreationDate="2015-11-13T14:14:17.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have a sense of smell 14 times greater than humans.  I find the feline anatomy and behavior amazing.  God made cats' sense of smell so that they are exposed to less toxic items.  For example, my cat gags every time she smells toothpaste. This is a common effect. Toothpaste has cat-toxic substances in it. So the cats' sense of smell is protecting them from danger.  There are also toxic substances in citrus fruit.  However, bananas have not yet been proven as toxic to cats.  Maybe your kitty knows something we don't yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-11-13T14:14:17.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-14T08:55:07.480" Score="1" ViewCount="2049" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got our first rescue cat 9 months ago. The center said Dot was 5--she's quite small. However, different vets have said she's 8 or even 10. Had we known she was 10, we would probably have had second thoughts about adopting a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We now know that centers sometimes say older cats are younger to get them homed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dot was abandoned in a box with another cat. The other cat had previously been homed by the center, so we were confident that she was OK with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dot doesn't like being picked up and isn't a cuddly cat, although she loves being stroked. We'd love to change this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before we adopted a kitten, Dot would occasionally come and sit on our laps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 4 months ago we adopted an 8 week old kitten called Woody. He loves cuddles and enjoys sleeping and sitting on us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We keep both cats indoors all the time. There's been a lot of cats poisoned in our area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Woody has always chased Dot. We thought as he was jumping on her back end, it was a mating thing. We got him neutered about a month ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However this hasn't calmed him down at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We think Woody is just being playful and that's why he chases Dot and jumps on her. Dot doesn't like this kind of play. She occasionally stands her ground and growls and swipes at Woody. However most of the time she kind of shrieks and runs off and tries to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we are at work we have been keeping them in a lounge / dinner room, which isn't small, we've put up cat shelves, have a cat tree and there's places to hide on dining chairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently had a checkup for Dot and found she'd lost weight. She's the same weight as Woody now. We noticed Woody would push her away from the food bowls. So we had to split up the cats, upstairs and downstairs. As Woody is so fast and is hard to catch we have to be behind a door. Our house is laid out so that we only have the front door which accesses upstairs. So it would be too dangerous from an escape point of view to give Woody access to the upstairs of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a shame from a territory point of view as downstairs should be Dot's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried distraction with play which does seem to stop the chasing, but we can't play with them all the time. Although last night both cats laid down after an hour of play, sheesh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are planning a time out area with nice toys for Woody too, but we aren't around all the time to protect Dot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Woody also likes to bite us. We do put him down straight away, but it doesn't stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They could also eat together until Woody decided he'd rather have Dots bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although we'd like to stop Woody chasing Dot, we think Dot overreacts as Woody is just wanting to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We really need some suggestions as to how to get them to get along together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:53:10.307" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:53:10.307" Title="Older female cat and male kitten, playful =&gt; bad reaction" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10822" CreationDate="2015-11-14T11:43:19.410" Score="3" ViewCount="1060" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have brought an Indian flapshell turtle at my home but I am unaware regarding its sex So please help me to find the gender of my pet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-11-14T23:06:33.693" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T18:13:37.380" Title="Determine the sex of indian flapshell turtle" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10773" CreationDate="2015-11-14T15:28:40.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raw meat is risky for people, cats, and dogs to eat even in the most technologically advanced countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do very well on a diet just of high quality cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to make your own cat food this site can help: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Ingredients&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Ingredients&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T15:28:40.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10811" CreationDate="2015-11-14T19:13:56.263" Score="4" ViewCount="2388" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got a 3 year old neutered male dwarf rabbit and a male kitten who is almost four months old. The kitten isn't neutered yet, but will be before he turns five months old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat and the rabbit are friendly. They don't groom each other (yet - I have hope!) but they run and play together, and boop noses together sometimes. But earlier today I caught the kitten mounting the rabbit, including biting him on the scruff of his neck. The rabbit did not seem panicked; he just held still, even after I separated them. He seemed relaxed, but didn't move for several minutes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did the rabbit interpret this behavior? He didn't seem to mind it, so I wonder if he felt he was being groomed, as is his due as king of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was this aggressive behavior on the part of the kitty? Should we be preventing it? Should we keep them separated until the cat is neutered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T02:39:03.697" Title="Is kitten-rabbit &quot;mating&quot; behavior something to worry about?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10812" CreationDate="2015-11-14T19:30:09.150" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2015L01534&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Australian Poisons Standard&lt;/a&gt; mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NICOTINE&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(is allowed)&lt;/em&gt; in preparations containing 3 per cent or less of nicotine when labelled and packed for the &lt;strong&gt;treatment of animals.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What medications or treatments for animals would include nicotine?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in both general treatments (e.g. a wash to get rid of lice) as well as specific products (past or present).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5914" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:40:31.863" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T09:05:52.627" Title="Nicotine based treatments for animals?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10809" CreationDate="2015-11-14T23:05:28.003" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not separate them, it sounds like they are forming a bond. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380&quot;&gt;Breaking a rabbits bond can be fatal.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits often mount each other as a sign of dominance, gender does not matter when mounting for dominance.  Rabbits will sometimes mount backwards and this should be discouraged as it can injury the rabbits neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case you should discourage mounting, but don't worry about encounters that are brief (a few seconds).  They need to communicate and work through relationship issues, so you don't want to complete disallow it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat may have learned mounting behavior from the rabbit, it is likely that rabbit first mounted the cat. As a rule male rabbits tend to be a bit more submissive then female rabbits. If the rabbit did not mind, he wants to be friends with the cat and is OK with the cat being the boss. Relationships are complex, this is an oversimplification. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit does not like the behavior, or the dominance message, it will fight back.  The most aggressive rabbit move is hip nipping.  If you see the rabbit spin around and try to nip the cats hip, it is time for both to go to their own rooms for a time out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9451&quot;&gt;Rabbit integration tips &amp;amp; tricks?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2015-11-14T23:05:28.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10810" CreationDate="2015-11-15T03:15:48.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Websearch indicates that currently nicotine is considered too toxic for use and has &quot;no significant use in veterinary practice&quot;, but related compounds (nicotinoids) have been used against parasites. (Ref: Handbook of Veterinary Pharmacology, 2013 edition, and the Parisitipedia website)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Thanks foxd for pointing a typographic error.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T09:05:52.627" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T09:05:52.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2163" CreationDate="2015-11-15T21:41:12.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female leopard gecko is about 9mo, and she digs all the time at night. I thought at first she was stressed, and then being as she is female I was thinking, she was digging because nature was taking its course and she's of age to have babies... researching I have found its very normal for geckos to do this... &#xA;She doesn't show signs of stress and she's well fed... I truly believe it's just nature taking its course... if they are eating well, moving around at night, and aren't acting lethargic then the leopard geckos are perfectly fine!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6117" LastActivityDate="2015-11-15T21:41:12.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-16T06:49:56.517" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I using 2 AquaClear 30 powerheads with my Lee's 30 gallon under gravel filter. Both are set at the lowest flow possible. Are they still too strong? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6118" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T06:49:56.517" Title="Are 2 powerheads too strong?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7784" CreationDate="2015-11-16T11:53:27.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are indeed dogs that are kept specifically for this behaviour.  Their job is to act as an alarm and deterrent. In cultures where dogs are routinely kept chained up or penned in small enclosures, that's what they are kept for: to keep people from entering the property and provide an alarm if there's a risk that they will do so.  It's not a happy environment for the dog, but that's not the point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's are a couple of blog posts that may help explain this approach to dog ownership and the issues with it,  from the Dogstar Foundation, who are a brilliant small charity that work with street dogs and owned dogs in Sri Lanka: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/blog/why-having-an-owner-does-not-always-equal-good-welfare-/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/blog/why-having-an-owner-does-not-always-equal-good-welfare-/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/blog/giving-dogs-a-life-worth-living-/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/blog/giving-dogs-a-life-worth-living-/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the dogs you are encountering are given more freedom than this and are in a first-world country, but the owners may still have the attitude that they wish to encourage barrier protective behaviour to protect their property. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are dog owners that consider fence running to be 'fun' exercise for their dog.  I don't have supporting evidence for that, other than that I've met dog owners in the UK who have told me this.  They believe the dog enjoys barking and that the exercise of fence running is stimulating for an active dog that might otherwise be bored.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple of articles that explain the different reasons that a dog might be barking:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clickertraining.com/how-to-stop-unwanted-barking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.clickertraining.com/how-to-stop-unwanted-barking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The division into :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Alert barking.&#xA;Defensive barking. &#xA;Attention barking. &#xA;Frustration barking. &#xA;Boredom barking. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;may be useful, but of course with a dog that you don't know well, it can be hard to tell which sort of barking he is doing.  In fact, even the owner may well be unclear on that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to 'how much is controllable by the owner'- always a vexed question with dog ownership.  Ideally, all of it, because even if you have a naturally 'guardy' and active breed such as a border collie or a German Shepherd, the owner should ideally be able to manage the dogs environment so that the dog doesn't spend all day guarding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, when I have fostered rescue border collies and their crosses, I have found that they do have a tendency to want to guard the door from the postman, or race out into the garden barking if they hear someone go by.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't consider this appropriate behavior, and my opinion is that it is stressful for the dogs, so I keep an inner door closed so that the dogs cannot see the postman coming or rush right up to the letterbox, and I don't allow unsupervised access to the garden.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I distract and reward the dogs for the behaviour of NOT barking at passing pedestrians, particularly during the first few days in my house.  And of course I walk them a lot in varied environments and play with them, so they do have other things to think about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the dogs are not allowed to be unsupervised in a place where they can easily see and hear pedestrians, they fairly quickly learn how I want them to react.  Eventually, like my own sighthounds (which are innately much less guarding-focussed dogs) , they can be allowed outside enjoying the sun without annoying the world with their barking, as they have learned that the behaviour is not permitted, before they are allowed in a situation where they might start practicing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is of course much harder if the dog doesn't get other exercise and stimulation, gets little attention or training, must for some reason be left unsupervised before he has learned what to do, or if you live somewhere where it's simply not possible to manage the excitement because your house is small and there's nowhere available where the dog can't hear traffic, pedestrians etc, so is constantly reacting.  In that sort of situation, problem barking can be very difficult for the owner to manage, and retraining will depend on the persistence of the owner and the individual characteristics of the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an article about stress in dogs, which helps explain why I personally don't feel barking is a good way for my dogs to relieve their boredom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://agilitynet.co.uk/training/stressedout_aileenclarke.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://agilitynet.co.uk/training/stressedout_aileenclarke.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T11:53:27.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10818" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-16T12:12:54.423" Score="1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has a 3yo shiba inu that's driving me crazy. I'm always stressed because I'm afraid of dogs and when I'm at her home especially because the dog always jump over the bed. So.. how can I teach the dog not to do it even if I'm not someone important in the dog's life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6119" LastEditorUserId="6119" LastEditDate="2015-11-16T13:35:59.327" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T15:25:13.737" Title="How to train a dog not to jump on the bed" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10818" CreationDate="2015-11-16T15:25:13.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is to the question &quot;how can I teach the dog&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You and the dog don't have a relationship that will support training.  The first step would be mutual trust and respect, you don't have that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are trained to either be allowed on the bed or not. In this case it appears your girl friend has all ready trained the dog to get on the bed, before you met her.  Changing that training can be done, but it is difficult to unlearn an established behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest solution to this problem is to teach you not to be afraid of the dog. I suggest talking to your girlfriend about it and working towards a solution together.  She can show you how to interact with the dog.  Once you and the dog are friends, you won't be afraid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are bunch of related topics about dating someone with a pet, with whom you are not comfortable. The Person to Person scenarios there are out of scope here, but we can help with any person to pet issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4413&quot;&gt;How does the emotional bond to a pet compare to the emotional bond to a child?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T15:25:13.737" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2015-11-16T15:42:27.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I Personally like to feed my dogs at night because it makes them slightly more responsive to treats during the day for training purposes. Also, I don't starve them all day as I'm sure you do not. I give them interactive toys and fill them with kibble, and treat them, probably more than I should:). Although, as was stated earlier, dogs in the wild may go days before a meal and their system can handle it. We just don't want them to have to. As for weight gain, if they are otherwise healthy, it should not be an issue if you are portioning out their food and giving them plenty of exercise. Not sure about how dogs build muscle, but for humans we achieve the most gains at night. This is because our bodies produce certain hormones at night (human growth hormone for example) that cause our body to repair and grow. For humans it is best, if you are trying to build muscle, to have a meal a little before bed to give your body the energy it needs to grow. Although, you must be careful what and how much you eat. Humans, as with dogs, need to have the proper diet and exercise in order to maintain a healthy weight. It is true that you will most likely loose some weight during the night if you don't eat before bed, but this is literally because you are already starving yourself for 8 hours by sleeping. Like was said earlier, most vets recommend feeding adult dogs twice a day to maintain a healthy metabolism. This is comparable to humans eating many small meals to maintain a healthy metabolism. But, for the best results, put your dog on a routine. Feed them the appropriate amount of healthy food, and get them plenty of exercise and love, and you will be just fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6120" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T15:42:27.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10821" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10837" CreationDate="2015-11-16T17:01:26.720" Score="2" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about getting a snake and I want to know what is the best breed to start with. I've worked with lots of snakes so far at work, but I would like to get one of my own and I don't know what breed to get. I've handled Corn Snakes, King Snakes, and Eastern Indigo's all the way up to Pythons. I really enjoy these animals but I would love to know what would be good to start with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6121" LastEditorUserId="6121" LastEditDate="2015-11-18T14:56:24.523" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T14:56:24.523" Title="What is a good beginner species?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-03-17T03:16:20.053" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10806" CreationDate="2015-11-16T18:11:59.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Males tend to have a longer thicker tail than a female only when they are fully grown. Females tend to have shorter nails also. The males have longer nails on their front feet. This is in general of turtles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6121" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T18:11:59.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10825" CreationDate="2015-11-16T18:22:31.447" Score="1" ViewCount="730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done my research on rats, and I've heard it's not good to get your pet rat from Petsmart, but that is the only choice I have at the times. I'm planning on getting two females. I went to look at my local pet shops and the best place to get them was Petsmart they were all females paired together. I did not ask if they were from the same litter because I was not buying them that day. I have decided so far to get them from Petsmart. I believe its not super bad to and I would like to hear other people opinions. Not the really bad ones like don't get them there I would like a comparison of breeder and pet store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6121" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T18:46:10.727" Title="Would it be bad to get my pet rats from Petsmart?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10823" CreationDate="2015-11-16T18:46:10.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live there may be a third option that you have not mentioned.  It would be my first choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Pittsburgh we have a local rat rescue &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pittsburghratloversclub.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh Rat Lovers Club and Rescue&lt;/a&gt; check if you have something similar locally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My second choice would be your local shelter, many shelters take all kinds of pets. They may have rats waiting for their forever home, or be able to put you in contact with a local rat rescue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic problem with pet stores is that some animals come from breeder mills.  You buy one and they breed a few more, some of which find nice new homes and some don't.  The quality of stock in a pet store is often different in different areas, so a store specific answer would need to take your location into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T18:46:10.727" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10805" CreationDate="2015-11-16T19:05:28.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This does not answer all of your points, but I wanted to address a portion of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dot doesn't like being picked up and isn't a cuddly cat, although she&#xA;  loves being stroked. We'd love to change this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that different cats have entirely different rules regarding the sharing of affection (tickles, pets, scratches, etc.), and it is important to learn and respect those rules.  Doing anything else jeopardizes your relationship with the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My previous cat would allow affection at almost anytime, as along as one maintained about 6-9 inches of separation between bodies.  In other words, she wanted to be lying &lt;em&gt;near&lt;/em&gt; you, not &lt;em&gt;on or against you,&lt;/em&gt; nor to be held.  As long as you observed that, you could reach out your hand and rub or tickle as much as you wanted.  Just not the belly or paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That cat passed on early this year and I recently decided I was recovered enough to get a new feline friend.  This one I am still learning, but there are clear differences.  He will snuggle up to me tight as can be, and let me pet him all over, even belly and paws.  His rule seems to be that it has to be at his invitation.  If I come up to him and start petting, he'll squirm and trot away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a third cat in my life, really my family's cat when I was younger, and his rule seemed to be that as he entered the room, he would pick &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; human that was his choice at that time (75% of the time this was Dad, but could be Mom or me or...) and everyone else could just bugger off, thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your time, listen to what the cat is trying to tell you, and enjoy what you get in return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2015-11-16T19:26:22.040" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T19:26:22.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10772" CreationDate="2015-11-16T21:12:57.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the American Kennel Club, &quot;The Am Staff is a people-oriented dog that thrives when he is made part of the family and given a job to do.[1]  Although friendly, this breed is loyal to his own family.&quot;[2]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the breed, if a dog is raised in a home full of love and treated with care it will reflect that behaviour to it's people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of a dogs behaviour is instinctive - behaviour reinforced by generations of survival, albeit closely tied to human assistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A part of a dog's natural behaviour is to take an active role in the protection of the pack. In the case of a dog that is a part of a family of humans, the pack is the people in the human family. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog attempting to achieve dominance would most likely demonstrate a number of behaviours that would likely concern you over a period of time. Not all dominance-driven behaviours would be aggressive however, so it would be appropriate for you to continue to watch your dog closely. One of the most obvious that comes to mind is the dog not allowing other trusted family members to come near your two year old at nap or bed time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of written information about dog behaviour and in particular behaviour that is intended to achieve dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information you have provided, the behaviour you suggest is unlikely to be an effort by the dog to achieve dominance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Get to Know the American Staffordshire Terrier&quot;, 'The American Kennel Club' website, retrieved 29 May 2014.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;American Staffordshire Terrier Page&quot;, 'The American Kennel Club' website, retrieved 2013-06-16.lj&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2015-11-16T21:12:57.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-16T22:00:08.443" Score="4" ViewCount="1608" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently just changed to second shift and I am also a full time student, so I leave early in the morning and usually don't come home till after 10 at night. My wife gets home after 5 and there is no issue when she gets home. I will get home and the dogs get super excited, the smaller dog will violently attack the bigger dog whether I give them attention or not. It seems to be random. We have a dog door with a back yard. They run around and play and they are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to play with them more in my limited free time and take them on more walks thinking that maybe being pent up alone more often may be causing the problem, but nothing has helped. I've done some reading and most of it points at just training the dogs in a general way. Is there anything specific I can do for the dogs for this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6123" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T23:36:17.020" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T23:36:17.020" Title="Dog attacks other dog whenever I come home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10828" CreationDate="2015-11-16T22:46:42.157" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple alpha challenge? Bigger dogs accepts you as the alpha and smaller does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe the small dog is just jealous and wants your undivided attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-11-17T11:16:22.523" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T11:16:22.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-17T11:17:19.210" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my pet shingleback for a few years now, kept in an inside enclosure. I purchased the lizard of a breeder who had frequently handled the lizard and had it well tamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 12 months that I had the lizard I would commonly take it out of its enclosure and hold it, or let it walk around the house while watching tv on rainy days or outside in the sun on sunny days. Slowly the lizard was handled less often, and the only human interaction it would get was when I would feed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, almost 2 years later, my lizard is very panicky when I put my hand in its enclosure, even when I just place its food bowl down, and it will not let me pick it up, always hissing, trying to bite or running away (or to in an attempt to bite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated above, the lizard was already tamed when I purchased it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no experience in taming reptiles, so how would I go about making my lizard more comfortable around people and allow people to pet and pick it up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6126" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:19:27.550" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:19:27.550" Title="How to &quot;re-tame&quot; my captive shingleback" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10828" CreationDate="2015-11-17T14:53:09.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like by playing with them more and taking them for more walks you're actually on the right track, as tired dogs are happy dogs. Small breeds are definitely a bit... funny, at times, they can crave attention more, be more possessive, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally I'd say go for the ignore option and not let them get over excited by you being home, but you'd need to ideally enforce the behaviour that you want to see. So you're correct, you will have to train them a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt; your dogs are foodies you could try this: you come home, and get the dogs to sit, as soon as they come up to you. If they sit, give them a treat. Do this for both dogs. If one doesn't sit, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; dog doesn't get a treat. This in theory should get the smaller dog to realise that if he comes up and sits for you as soon as you come in he gets rewarded, if he comes up and barks or bites or shows any unwanted behaviour he gets nothing - but his bigger companion is sitting and he/she is getting a treat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, or in addition to this, you could separate the dog for a period for the bad behaviour. Pop him somewhere else - or better yet from our dog trainers, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; leave for a bit, and come back. This generally works with barking bad habits. The idea being that you want my attention, well you only get it on my terms, so behave or I'm not going to be in the room with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use a similar behaviour when our dog gets too excited playing ball and starts to bite at hands. The ball gets taken away and he has to sit to &lt;em&gt;earn&lt;/em&gt; it back again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-11-17T14:53:09.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10894" CreationDate="2015-11-17T19:21:11.373" Score="6" ViewCount="1548" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our kitty (7 months) has less-than-desirable table manners that I would like to abate a bit, as they interfere with our cleanness standards. (The kitty seems to have, from the start, high cleanness standards in other respects, namely, he keeps his longish fur in perfect order, was perfectly toilet-trained, etc.) I used to have another cat that (was not a Coon and) did not exhibit this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat uses his paws a lot when eating/drinking. He will lick milk or water on occasions, but more often he dips his front paw and licks the liquid from the paw, rather than drink from his bowl. At other times he will slosh the milk around the bowl. He lifts chunks of meat with paw, too, and tosses them randomly around bowl, maybe playing with them, eating them later from the floor. At other times, he burrows around the bowl (in vain, on a wooden floor) as if trying to hide its contents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know what to make of the burrowing. He usually does not finish what I give him, even in case I give him rather little wet food at one go. We give him high-quality canned meat for cats or freshly cooked meat at times. He seems loudly unhappy about going on solely dry food (which, admittedly, is much less messy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried a few options -- larger bowl, or bowl with saucer, to no great effect. I avoid deep bowls because of lots of whiskers. Of course I use a layer of newspaper to protect the floor, but no great improvement there either (burrows &lt;em&gt;under&lt;/em&gt; newspaper for lost bits of food).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before resigning, is there anything I can try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4037" LastEditorUserId="4037" LastEditDate="2015-11-18T08:46:31.470" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T01:43:06.937" Title="How can I persuade our Maine Coon to be less messy with food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-18T03:54:00.243" Score="14" ViewCount="3537" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of videos going around of cats getting spooked by cucumbers, for example &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc0mi0Ei1CQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  (For more examples, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/CucumbersScaringCats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this dedicated subreddit&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this merely careful selection from one extreme of the wide range of cat behavior, or do cats have some special aversion to cucumbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter, does anybody know where it comes from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5517" LastEditorUserId="5517" LastEditDate="2016-01-21T03:46:42.230" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T03:53:23.977" Title="Do cucumbers spook cats? If so, why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10746" CreationDate="2015-11-18T04:18:58.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kittens had big bellies when I first got them. They were about 8-10 weeks old. Took them to the vet and they had Giardia (and ringworm). Belly swelling went down a bit after that. I'd call the vet and ask them, again. For this test, you will have to bring a stool sample. They will give you the right container - don't worry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6130" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T04:18:58.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10821" CreationDate="2015-11-18T11:30:48.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as a &quot;starter snake&quot; - they all have different requirements and needs.&#xA;It 100% depends what you want, and what you like the look of.&#xA;If you like pythons and heavy bodied constrictors, it would be foolish to get a Corn Snake, because people say they are good for 'beginners'.&#xA;There are many snakes in rescues due to this - people are advised to get them as a starter, but they were not really what they were looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick the snake you like, research its care, speak to people who keep them and decide if its for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first snake was a Boa - I got it because I like the look of boas...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5880" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T11:30:48.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10834" CreationDate="2015-11-18T16:04:55.917" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @katepaulk that this is just caution around am unfamiliar object. Websearch &quot;kitten apple jaws video&quot; for an absolutely beautiful example of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-18T16:10:06.527" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T16:10:06.527" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10834" CreationDate="2015-11-18T17:26:24.660" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cucumber probably looks like a snake's head/upper body at first glance. If you look at videos and cats and snakes fighting, the cat often uses the same type of high leaps to stay out of striking range of the snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T17:26:24.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10834" CreationDate="2015-11-18T18:28:49.883" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats in general are often very jumpy when faced with an unknown or unexpected object.  My cat has jumped and hissed at me when I've done nothing in particular except surprise her by being there when she didn't expect it.  It's become an Internet meme that cats are afraid of cucumbers, and as a result, people are going out of their way to have cucumbers suddenly &quot;appear&quot; at their pets.  I suspect the reaction would be similar to other suddenly appearing objects the cat isn't really familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-11-18T18:28:49.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5947" CreationDate="2015-11-18T23:29:19.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this issue too, and as my hamster is in my room it is stressful at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I found out that if you simply collect cardboard toilet tubes, etc. and give them to him, he may stop. But if he doesn't, I would go to a store like Pets at Home and ask them for an easy and quick solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope my answer helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6137" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T23:12:52.120" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:12:52.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-18T23:32:37.737" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really need some help here guys. I have tried a spray, giving him chew toys and everything recommended online. I need to know what really works &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6137" LastEditorUserId="47" LastEditDate="2015-11-19T13:40:25.010" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T13:40:25.010" Title="Please help me my sirian hamster won't stop chewing the bars" Tags="&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2015-11-19T03:41:46.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10845" CreationDate="2015-11-19T01:25:38.937" Score="4" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 week old pit bull puppy. He is teething for the first time. I have given him chew toys but if someone goes to pet him he will bit them and try to chew on their hand. It was a cute thing for awhile but it's starting to actually hurt and break skin. How can I train him to stop biting people? Is there anything else I can do besides chew toys that can help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T04:00:29.677" Title="How to keep a teething puppy from biting me and other people?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10844" CreationDate="2015-11-19T01:48:35.640" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When he nips, shout &quot;ow! no!&quot; a bit louder and sooner than necessary, and if necessary stop playing and walk away. That's how dogs teach each other not to nip, after all -- they growl or bark and don't play with the annoying one until he learns not to be so rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pit bulls&quot; should be as capable of being gentle/careful as any other dog. But a puppy is a baby; as surrogate parent, it's your job to teach him how to be a Good Dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh -- and give the pup some good chew-toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-19T04:00:29.677" LastActivityDate="2015-11-19T04:00:29.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-20T12:39:21.143" Score="4" ViewCount="7180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a queen with a litter of 4-weeks-old (as of upcoming Sunday) kittens, and one of the kittens has skin problems. I contacted my regular vets (I have 2), and they weren't able to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I have a few questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to do fungal and/or bacterial culture test at home? How? I know close to nothing about this field, but I'm a quick learner. Don't have a microscope though, which can be a problem, but I'll try to get access to one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can it be aside from fungal/bacterial infection? How do I check it? There's one more or less decent vet lab here that can do basic tests, but I have to know what tests to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've more or less resigned myself to being my cats' vet (aside from the legal staff like vet certificates, and surgeries), but I need some guidance, a direction where to search next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only one kitten was affected. Her litter mates and mom are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She developed a crust on the tip of her tail when she was about 1 week old, and a bit of dandruff a bit further on the tail. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, just noticed that it was there. When she was exactly 2 weeks old, when I was taking photos of the kittens, I noticed that her tail was kind of misshapen, but instead of injury it was just matted at the sides, with hair noticeably thinner at one side, and the crust was still there on the tip of her tail. I contacted one of my vets, she told me to stop overreacting. I waited a couple days, then noticed a matted area with thin hair on the kitten's lower back, and another area, just starting to get matted, a bit further on the back. This time my vet told me to put Miramistin on it twice a day, and that's it. Further 'vet contacts' resulted in them politely flipping me off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment the kitten has a bald tip of the tail where the crust used to be (I managed to get it off by myself), a bald area further on the tail, a matted area on her lower back with hairs broken a few mm from the skin, another smaller area like that a bit further on the back, and yet another area with broken hairs on her thigh. The tip of the tail seems a bit swollen, but other than that there doesn't seem to be any swelling or reddening. She seems to have itchy paws and ears, although there are no visible signs of anything there. Other than that, she's active, eats well (at least as far as I can tell -- she still breast feeds, doesn't react to solid foods yet), gains weight steadily, and generally seems well, aside from occasional scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I borrowed a UV flashlight and scanned all of the kittens, their mom, and the show shelter where I keep them. There were a couple fluorescent flecks on the cats (not green though) but nothing on or inside the shelter. I know it's about 60/40 accuracy, but at least it's something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, my cats are indoor with no access outside whatsoever. The queen is properly vaccinated, was dewormed not long before breeding, and the last time she was on a show was in April, in my own show shelter, and I washed it with chlorhexidile when we got back home. And all of the kitten bedding is washed and ironed thoroughly, and changed regularly. I hardly have any guests, and I got into habit of washing floors near the entrance and around litter boxes with chlorhexidine every other week because of my late kidney cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Photos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mS8zt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mS8zt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;upper back&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wQQFv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wQQFv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;lower back&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lvcyT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lvcyT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;thigh&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x9SoE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x9SoE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tail tip&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gXK4d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gXK4d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tail&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:40:11.550" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T17:16:09.887" Title="Diagnosing a skin condition in a kitten with no qualified vets around" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10848" CreationDate="2015-11-21T17:37:27.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the photos my first guess is it could be some small blood clots (a scab like you and I get on a scrape or cut). The kitten may have been scraped or been bit by an insect or scratched slightly by another cat. It does not appear your kitten was attacked though. They could also be granulomas (a little crusty sore) that is a symptom of your cat having an mild allergy to something. It could be mild scabies (caused by microscopic mites biting your cat) but scabies is highly contagious so the other cats would probably have it as well if it were scabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lesions (the crusty bumps in your photos) do not appear to be substantial or infected.  If I was raising this kitten I would not be terribly worried. Keep an eye on your kitten and ensure it is eating, active / behaving normally like the other kittens, and gaining weight as it should. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lesions should go away within a week or so. If they persist or get larger or more lesions appear or there is anything unusual about your cats behavior or appetite, then there is reason for concern, and you will really need a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try any home remedies, alcohol, soap, or other mixtures as they may irritate the skin more and hurt the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possible to do fungal and/or bacterial tests at home but to get any meaningful results would require a lot of equipment and materials. Microscope, media, culture dishes, tests kits to identify genus and species, and more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be much simpler and less time consuming for you to travel 100's of miles on foot/boat/bicycle/car to find a another vet Vs giving yourself a crash course in feline pathogenic microbiology and setting up a lab in your home. Even with the best lab and a doctorate in veterinary medicine you still may not find anything conclusive about your kitten's skin condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope your diligence and kindness in trying to nurture and protect this little creature is somehow repaid to you someday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-21T17:37:27.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="477" CreationDate="2015-11-21T18:23:28.660" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Singing is a social activity that isn't restricted to humans. Wolves howl in chorus, recognizably harmonizing with each other. (If two wolves land on the same note, one or the other will shift.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are domesticated descendents of wolves; some howl, some like howling in chorus, and some will harmonize with human singers or with music. Their sense of rhythm may not be great, and the chords that sound right to them aren't always the ones we would have chosen, but there's a very long history of dogs performing well enough to be on stage as novelty acts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the pooches in question may just have decided this was amusing on their own. Or they may have done it on impulse once, noticed that it made hunans happy, and learned to do it reliably -- training, though unintentional. Or they may have been actively encouraged, especially in the cited YouTube vids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-21T20:11:06.107" LastActivityDate="2015-11-21T20:11:06.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10803" CreationDate="2015-11-21T19:48:39.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of factors can cause disputes between cats, but here are a few general suggestions that may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litter boxes. The way you described the issue, the problem doesn't sound like it's specifically a litter-box dispute, but your question implied there is only a single litter tray in your home. This may be making a bad problem even worse. The general rule is &quot;number of cats, plus 1 more&quot;, so if at all possible, you should have 5 litter boxes in your home. Try to spread out the locations of the litter boxes and avoid areas that could cause 'W' to become cornered while using them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As others mentioned in comments, give the cats more time. You need to be prepared for weeks, not days, of adjustment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on how long the drama was going on, the cats may have become conditioned to be hostile towards one another. If you can, you might want to consider separating them for a while and gradually re-introducing them under favorable conditions such as during feeding time, after lots of exercise to ensure they're both calmer. Even if you can't separate them, it is definitely a good idea to try feeding them at the same time in the same room to strengthen the association between each other's presence and &quot;good things&quot; (food) happening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2015-11-21T19:48:39.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-22T01:09:48.893" Score="11" ViewCount="703" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to reduce the algae I have in my 60 gallon  aquarium that has been caking to the leaves of my planted staurogyne repens. I have reduced my lighting to only be on for 9hrs per day and I am dosing daily with flourish XL. I have 4 siamese algae eaters, 2 oto cats, 10 mystery/nerite snails. However, algae continuous to expand on the leaves of the plants I have even though most of the aquarium is covered in plants. I have pictures of the algae, if it helps identifying the problem. It appears maybe a very dark green (but almost looks black on the plants), but doesn't quite match blackbeard, green spot, cyanobacteria, or anything else I can find information on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfWyn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfWyn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QWD98.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QWD98.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QwaoD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QwaoD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T20:13:44.490" Title="Identify algae in aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10856" CreationDate="2015-11-22T07:52:52.007" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like brown algae to me. Just ignore them, unless their growth is too massive. They won't hurt your aquarium. Indeed, they're quite the opposite and show you that things are coming together nicely. They'll disappear on their own over the coming weeks. Some spots might stay, but they shouldn't increase in size again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got any bladder snails (got many different names; they're often stowaways on new plants), place some of them on the leaves. At least mines just love those algae covered leaves and they'll just live on them till they're clean again. You can literally watch them eating/clearing &quot;paths&quot;on the leaves, if you're interested in that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2015-11-22T07:52:52.007" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10773" CreationDate="2015-11-22T09:14:06.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also live in a country with less than stellar food quality. Still, it's possible to get your cat on raw (or semi-raw) diet. There are some things to consider though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, it's not a good idea to combine commercial foods with raw diet. Commercial foods, at least good quality, are carefully balanced, there are certain amounts of proteins, fats, carbs, vitamins, and minerals that are supposed to be healthy for your cat. When you mix that diet with something else, you upset the balance, there's bound to be too much of something and too little of something else. It might not affect your pet whatsoever, or it might cause (or contribute to) serious health problems in the long run. There's no way of knowing for sure. Still, I prefer to stay on the safe side. So, either raw, or commercial foods. Unless raw is an occasional treat, then it shouldn't interfere much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if you can't be sure of the quality of meat you get, you should process it very carefully. Boiling it is an option, but not a good one. Cats digest boiled meat a lot worse than raw, and a lot of vitamins and the like decompose in heat. Chicken should be boiled or steamed regardless though, because chickens are natural carriers of &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; (a kind of pathogenic bacteria), and these are very sturdy buggers, they die only if you boil them for at least half an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is deep-freezing meat (or just freezing it for prolonged period), then defrosting it, then putting it in boiling-temperature water, and leaving it there for about 15 minutes. There are some rules though. Many single-cell pathogenic organisms (for example, &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma&lt;/em&gt;) die in -30 °C in about 2 days, in -25 °C in about a week, and in -18 °C (regular temperature of freezers we use at home) in at least 2-3 weeks or more. Some (including &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma&lt;/em&gt;) 'burst' when they are defrosted. Most fungi, on the other hand, endure cold quite well, but they die in heat, hence the boiling water. All of that is from practical knowledge though, not scientific, so if there are any professionals here, sorry in advance if I got anything wrong. Seems to work for all breeders I know who opt for raw diet though. There was just one case of toxoplasmosis, as far as I know, when the breeder gave her cat a bit of fresh meat before she put it in the freezer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the ingredients. Pure meat is a good treat, but it's not balanced food. In nature cats eat birds and mice with the contents of their stomachs, and they eat some grass (to barf hairballs, but still), so they do need ingredients other than meat, somewhere between 5 and 20%. Some vegetables (pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, everything heat-processed in some way till it's soft-ish), grains (oatmeal, buckwheat, wheat bran, rice, everything steamed or boiled till it's soft; careful with rice though, too much might cause constipation), a bit of olive or cotton-seed oil, laminaria (unless your cat is a smoke/silver/shaded/tipped show cat -- laminaria, as well as everything else with iodine, makes fur a bit darker, which makes smoke/silver/etc. less contrast), good vitamins. In another meal give your cat fermented dairy products (such as fatless yoghurt or fatless sour cream), boiled egg yolk, probiotics, additional calcium. Many people mix those, but it's not such a good idea, because iron (in meat) prevents calcium from being properly digested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for meat, fatless beef/veal, fatless lamb, chicken breasts, some beef/chicken hearts/liver, some turkey, some rabbit work fine. Pork -- not so much. Don't give cats fatty meat (or fatty anything) -- their liver is too fragile to handle too much fat. Which is to be expected actually -- have you seen any fat birds or mice in nature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give your cat fish, opt for ocean fish, boil it (there can be some specific worms in fish), and don't give it more than once a week (it contains too much phosphorus, which can be bad for health).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T07:11:08.760" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T07:11:08.760" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-22T19:00:28.193" Score="3" ViewCount="3281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a number of goldfish (three pairs of two) over the last six months or so. In all cases they have lasted about 2 months before dying. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong so here is all (hopefully) the necessary info, if anyone has any idea what I'm doing wrong please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/merch-groups/merch-groups/mg-008/25-litre-aquarium-black--%28in-store%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The tank&lt;/a&gt; is 25 litres (I know it'll need upgrading when they get bigger but they never get that far).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are three plants in there with a plastic log for the fish to hide in (I used to use a wooden log but I switched to a plastic one just in case the wood was causing a problem). There is gravel at the bottom of the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pump is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/fish/tropical-fish-tanks---accessories/fish-tank-filtration/i25-internal-filter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Marina i25&lt;/a&gt; and the cartridges are replaced every two weeks or so. I used to use the pump that came with the tank but upgraded to make sure it wasn't the cause of the problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do a partial water change every week/10 days:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I siphon some water into a bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I use a net to get the fish out and put them in the bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I clean the glass with a microfibre cloth, and clean the pump (replacing the cartridge if necessary).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I siphon out about a third/half of the water into a bucket and discard it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I siphon enough water to top the tank back up. This water has been dechlorinated with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/bioactive-tap-safe-125ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tap Safe&lt;/a&gt; and left in the bucket for 24 hours to come to the same temperature of the water in the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I leave the tank to settle for half an hour or so and then put the fish back in, discarding the water from the bowl they were temporarily in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They get fed with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/love-fish-coldwater-flakes-10g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;coldwater fish food&lt;/a&gt; every other day. I give then a pinch of food and they will almost always eat it all. A couple of times a week I feed them shelled peas - they seem to love them!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fish aren't always from the same shop (or even the same chain). I've had some fancy ones but resorted to the bog standard &lt;em&gt;&quot;hardy&quot;&lt;/em&gt; goldfish in an attempt to make them last longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The water has been regularly tested at the local pet shop and they have never found anything abnormal about the levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the past I have tried to treat them with salt but all this does is kill the plants, the fish don't get any better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After one pair of fish die the tank is emptied and cleaned (just with warm water) and refilled before adding more fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a very general question but I would appreciate it if anyone has any advice, it is slightly disheartening that I seem to manage to regularly kill off pets that are supposed to be very easy to look after. I feel like there must be something obvious that I'm doing wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5802" LastEditorUserId="5802" LastEditDate="2015-11-23T16:39:22.520" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T00:31:15.707" Title="Why do my goldfish keep dying?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1214" CreationDate="2015-11-23T07:24:34.873" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;i found a ratio of rabbits as a pet:&#xA;25% of all pet rabbits were adopted and 14% were purchased from pet stores. Between 2011-12 and 2013-14, the number of rabbits purchased at pet stores declined by 42%.&#xA;by this we ca estimate how popular rabbits are as pets &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6093" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T07:24:34.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10861" CreationDate="2015-11-23T19:51:32.813" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your tank is way, way too small. Fancy goldfish need about 20 gallons (about 75 liters?) for the first fish, and 15 gallons (56 liters) minimum for every fish you add after that--so a pair of fancies needs at least 35 gallons, etc. I'm not sure what you mean by &quot;hardy&quot; goldfish, but I'm thinking you mean comets, which grow too big to be housed in most aquariums and need a pond at the very least. Goldfish also need to be fed every day, about two or three times a day, as much as they'll eat in about one or two minutes, and then you scoop out the leftovers to prevent the food from rotting in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention if you've cycled your tank or not, but that might be worth looking into if you're not sure, and I'd invest in a testing kit of your own (liquid testing kits tend to be more accurate than strip tests, which is what most pet stores use). Upgrade to a much larger tank if you're still interested in goldfish, but the size you have now is perfectly fine for a betta if you'd rather go down that route. Don't feel discouraged, goldfish are actually much harder to care for than most people are lead to believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6155" LastActivityDate="2015-11-23T19:51:32.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-24T01:50:49.883" Score="0" ViewCount="1006" Body="&lt;p&gt;I absolutely completely understand that Rabbits must have an intake of around 80% (or more) of hay in his diet. I have tried multiple times and I am beginning to wonder if he even knows how to eat the hay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He isn't my rabbit, but my mother's. I'm going to be very blunt here but she is the type of person who will get a pet onsite without researching anything into it. In her eyes, a rabbit is an easy peasy animal. All she feeds him is pellets. Unhealthy dried bits of corn, etc pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is excruciatingly frustrating telling her about how important it is, but all she has to say is she pities the poor rabbit for me trying to only feed him hay and questions why there are pellets for rabbits in the first place. Sigh. I just feel so hopeless and frustrated. She may as well view him as a dog. &quot;Give him so pellets and he'll be fine.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now that you know what's kind of the main issue here, I want to encourage and wean off the pellets but also if my rabbit did forget, how do I provide/appetize the hay to him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6157" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T05:36:51.260" Title="My rabbit will not eat his hay! How can I motivate, or even begin adding hay into his diet?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T14:03:56.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10866" CreationDate="2015-11-24T05:36:51.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some rabbits are frustratingly picky about hay. What kind are you feeding him? Second cut timothy hay is really fragrant and sweet, which might tempt him. You can also try orchard grass, oat hay or meadow hay. Oxbow sells a &quot;botanical&quot; hay that's pretty appetizing and worth a shot if you haven't tried it already. If he's fond of any kind of herbs or greens, like parsley or basil, you could try mixing a bit of hay with that or a tiny handful of alfalfa hay. If he likes fruit, you could try slicing a fresh piece and dripping a bit of juice onto the hay to tempt him that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, get his teeth checked by a vet. Sometimes they'll refuse food because their teeth have grown too much to eat some things comfortably and need a trim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6155" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T05:36:51.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10870" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-24T12:11:19.380" Score="0" ViewCount="3465" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Sheltie's fur is not currently at it's adult coat, he's 9 months old. However we've found that it's matting a lot under his front legs - from his harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He gets mats behind his ears as well, however we trimmed them all out and now brush in talcum powder which has basically stopped all the mats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With his 'under arms' as it were we've tried talcum powder but he's still matting a lot in this area where his harness obviously moves and mats the hair.  We originally had a harness similar to: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FfEh2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FfEh2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now use this exact harness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g65hr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g65hr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we changed the harness it has improved a little, we can't use only a collar due to the lifestyle we have (regular hiking, if he falls down anywhere on a lead we don't want to have him dangling by his throat therefore choking or breaking his neck...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The harness does fit correctly, his old one (image one) was worse but in fact too tight, the other is a much better fit. We have two brushes, a slicker and a combo soft bristle / medium spread pin brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to help prevent mats in the area under his front legs? Is the talcum powder route worth continuing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T00:16:17.827" Title="Harness is matting dogs fur" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-24T14:27:39.833" Score="4" ViewCount="117798" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 weeks old puppy humps his bedding when I'm not around.&#xA;I'm not sure how I should stop this behaviour or if I should even try to..?&#xA;Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6161" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T17:23:25.727" Title="How to/Should I stop my 3-month old puppy from humping?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10872" CreationDate="2015-11-24T14:55:07.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it's perfectly normal for a young dog to hump things. Dogs hump for a number of reasons, both male and female, usually it's due to excitement - especially in such a young pup. But it can be sexual under a year, or in older dogs a sign of dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can stop the behaviour, it is possible he may or may not grow out of it, but it's not bad to stop the behaviour if you wish to no. It'll certainly be more pleasant / less embarrassing to have a pup that doesn't hump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually if you want to prevent a behaviour like this just interupt, like you would do when they're peeing unwantedly. Startling a dog generally makes them pause their actions. Give a 'No' command, but not agressively, just to grab their attention. Get them to focus on you, with a Watch command, then reward it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 13 weeks some males already have descending/descended testicles, so it's worth having a check to see if that's happening/happened yet. You can consult a vet in regards to when your breed usually drops, and when it's best to neuter. Having your dog neutered will drop the testosterone levels and your dog will &lt;em&gt;more than likely&lt;/em&gt; lose interest in this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2015-11-24T14:55:07.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4351" CreationDate="2015-11-25T00:07:25.563" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research comparing the two different kinds of snakes. My research is showed below. Everything highlighted is cited and everything not cited is from my own experience and handling snakes myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult corn snakes need a cage at least the size of a 20 gallon (76 liters) long aquarium, but bigger is even better. Snakes are not social animals, so cage-mates are quite stressful. House only one corn snake to a cage. Climbing branches may be appreciated, but a couple of dark, tight hides are essential to help the snake feel secure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general rule is that if the snake crawls around the perimeter of the cage and doesn't cover more than &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of the distance, the cage is large enough – but bigger is better. An adult California king snake requires a 20 gallon (76 liters) or larger enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience 2 things. Don't keep two snakes in the same cage because it can be stressful with the other snake because they aren't social animals. Snakes have been known to be cannibals to other snakes so having 2 snakes in the same cage isn't a good idea. Second thing is that your habitat for the snake has to be secure. If a snake can find a weak spot before you can, then the snake can get out and potentially cause problems depending on the snake. But I don't think that people would want snakes running around their house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cage Substrate&#xA;Corn Snake:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most breeders use aspen shavings as bedding because it is absorbent, soft and holds its shape when snakes burrow. Cypress mulch also works, but avoid aromatic woods such as pine or cedar. Newspaper and reptile carpet also suffice, but the corn snake tends to get under it whenever possible. Avoid sand because it may cause impactions if ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;King Snake Substrate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many commercial substrates and beddings for reptiles are available. Avoid cat litter and any chemically treated substrates and oily woods. General rule, if it looks good and doesn't give off a smell, it is OK. Feed your California king snake in a separate container if the substrate could be ingested while feeding. Newspaper, paper towels and indoor carpet are fine, but if the snake can't partially burrow in your substrate, you might consider a hide or two in the cage for security.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food&#xA;Corn Snake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary natural food of corn snakes is appropriately sized rodents. Adult corn snakes may eat birds or their eggs. Do not offer crickets because corn snakes don’t recognize them as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food King Snake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In captivity they should be fed rodents, usually mice, which are readily available. You can offer live or well-thawed frozen mice. Live adult mice can inflict wounds to your king snake. Fresh killed is a safer choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperature for a King Snake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;California kingsnakes require no special lighting if the cage is in a room with natural light. Be sure not to place the cage in or near a window where the sun will shine on the cage, or it can become too hot and fatal for your king snake.&#xA;In captivity, choices are limited to what you provide so you should have a warm end and a cool end of your cage.&#xA;Try to achieve 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 °C) at one end and in the 70s °F (around 24 °C) at the cool end. Do not use &amp;quot;hot rocks,&amp;quot; the heat is too centralized and can cause burns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperature for a Corn Snake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide a temperature gradient with a light, or undertank heat pad or cable. On the warm end 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 °C) is perfect, and room temperatures (low 70s °F / around 21 °C) are fine for the cool end. One long, skinny hide, such as a hollow log or PVC pipe, can be placed so one end of the hide is cool and one end is warm. Be sure to check the temperature inside the warm end of the hide — not on the glass. Temperatures can vary quite a bit within just a few inches, so thermometer and hide box placement is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always for both snakes feed them at least every 7 to 10 days. If your snake is an adult avoid feeding it too much because it can cause obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end the only difference is the difference in Caging Substrate and food but the food items to the snake can blend in because you can feed both rodents.&#xA;All citations are under the link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Snakes/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Snakes/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:00:58.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9742" CreationDate="2015-11-25T01:59:53.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that if you are getting an animal from a big chain pet store like PetCo or PetSmart within the first few days of owning it, it isn't an unlikely occurrence for it to die because these places treat animals so poorly. Another factor that goes into it is that especially if the car-ride home is long that itself can stress out the animal. But, another big cause of death after getting an animal from a chain or less commonly but still it happens with local pet stores but they can have diseases which is why if an animal is to be with another animal you should quarantine it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6163" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T01:59:53.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6824" CreationDate="2015-11-25T02:03:18.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be a bloat from impaction. I've heard that they can get bloated from eating pond snail eggs or other small things that aren't digestible. Another possibility is internal infection or fungus. It would help to have an image if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6163" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T02:03:18.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-25T05:57:31.963" Score="2" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have two Beardies one male one not entirely sure, Blaze and Nermy. But anyways they seem to have tail rot on there legs as well. Can this happen &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6164" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-11-25T16:18:33.250" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T16:18:33.250" Title="Tail Rot affecting other limbs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6303" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:13:34.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had something similar.its called ringworm.its best to take your cat to the vet as it can grow in size and also spread to other parts of the body.it spreads to other pets and humans also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6165" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T16:13:34.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10879" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:17:43.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it can happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's called tail rot because it's most commonly seen on the tail. What happens is, while molting, the skin doesn't fully come off the tip of the lizard's tail. So during the next molt, there's a ring of dead skin holding on to the tip of the tail that can also prevent that piece of skin from coming off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because lizards molt when they grow, that means with each molt, the ring of dead skin grows tighter, making it more and more likely to stop more skin from properly coming off, and creates what is essentially a tourniquet on the lizard's tail, cutting off blood circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can identify tail rot by the skin being a darker color than the rest of the body. Even more so than the dull patches you see while they're molting. Usually it's a clear cutoff between healthy tail, and dark, &quot;rotting&quot; tail. If not taken care of, the parts of the tail being constricted by old skin will become deformed and eventually self-amputate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This same process can happen with a lizard's feet. It will start with skin not coming off the lizard's toes, and then building up to envelope it's entire legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it's already in the stages where you've noticed it, you should really take your dragon to the nearest reptile/exotic animal veterinarian to get it looked at.They'll be able to tell you if it's currently at a stage where the condition can be mitigated, or if they need to amputate the limb(s) before they begin to cause your dragon too much discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the future, during each molt, it's best to give your dragon a lukewarm bath to help loosen molting skin. You can massage the skin with your fingers, or a soft-bristled tooth brush if you're concerned about an area during a molt, but you should never try and force molting skin off as you might damage the growing tissue underneath accidentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2015-11-25T16:17:43.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10720" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:18:30.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never ever do this to your cat. You can try spritzing some water on your cat as a punishment but never spin your cat in the dryer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6165" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2016-01-01T17:11:14.923" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T17:11:14.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7688" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:21:42.747" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a cat to go cross eyed after play is not normal. Your cat might feel a dizzy after play. If this continues to happen then it's best to consult a vet as it could happen because of disorientation in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6165" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2016-01-01T17:13:54.850" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T17:13:54.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10327" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:26:10.553" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have a 15% higher hearing than humans. What sounds loud to us is very loud to cats' sensitive ears. This can lead to ear drum ruptures. When your brother is playing the drums,you can take the cats out or distract them with treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6165" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2016-01-01T17:12:50.027" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T17:12:50.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7688" CreationDate="2015-11-25T16:41:59.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Siamese cats often have a neurological oddity which routes some of the nerves from each eye to the same hemisphere of the brain, rather than crossing over as is normal in mammals. (Websearch &quot;siamese strabismus&quot; and &quot;optic chiasm&quot; for details. I found it fascinating to discover that something similar may happen in partial-albino big cats.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Siamese compensate for this miswiring either by becoming cross-eyed (which used to be reqired for show cats; that was finally dropped, though the modern show siamese has its own you-gotta-be-kidding rules) or by rapidly flicking their eyes back and forth to &quot;average out&quot; the visual oddities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many 'meezers and part-meezers who don't show either of those symptoms normally will do so when tired. Mine used to do so. (&quot;Cat, you're woggling again...&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is what's happening, it's &quot;normal&quot; in the sense of being genetic and harmless for a housecat, though it would be a handicap in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make sure, do check with your vet, since concussion and the like can also disrupt vision and muscle control. But in this case it is probably harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Darned touch-screen typos...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T00:08:24.250" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T00:08:24.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10889" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-26T14:33:07.837" Score="2" ViewCount="2864" Body="&lt;p&gt;How good is a cockatiel's sense of smell, compared to humans, dogs and cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can they smell their food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T23:06:52.637" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T11:12:28.723" Title="How good is a cockatiel's sense of smell?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10891" CreationDate="2015-11-26T16:18:55.203" Score="6" ViewCount="6616" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bit of a story that happened a few months ago, before I ask my question with more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have a 2-month old kitten which me and my mum received from a school friend of mine (her older cat wasn't getting on with the kitten) sometime ago. We used to have cats long before I turned 10, but never really had to go through traumatizing experiences because the house back then was safe. So I moved to England, and moved into a new house which needed some maintenance. We were prepared to welcome in our new cat, trying to minimize the risks of our new kitten getting hurt as much as possible. After like 5 weeks of our kitten settling in, on an ordinary day, I came back home from work experience. After talking for a few minutes with my mum in the kitchen, she went to prepare the laundry for the washing machine. I went upstairs, thinking that my kitten would be playing with toys in my room. We couldn't see her for over 10 minutes which was worrying, seeing that she has a habit of stalking us. We looked into every corner, deeply worried, and then I looked at the washing machine glass door, only to notice that the kitten was spinning inside. I cried instantly, getting my mum over to the kitchen. We had no way of going into the washing machine unless we waited for the water to get sucked out. When we finally got her out, she was shaking and her belly was full of water (lungs were filled with washing chemicals as well). This was the first time we came across such a situation and we didn't know what to do. We held her upside down hoping to get some water out of her, but we didn't know whether this was painful for her. She had let go off her feces which was a sign her body was giving up. Pink liquid was coming out of her eyes, but she was still breathing (struggling, for that matter). I searched the closest vet on my phone and called several times to make sure I know where I am going. The closest vet was down the street I live at, but it was a considerably long distance. I am not especially not good at running, and my mum is too old to run, so I ran with the transporter and phone in my hands panicking like crazy. My mum said she'd follow me shortly. The kitten was taken in by the vet and they checked her situation. When my mum came, the vet announced that she had really low chances because of the water and chemicals in her lungs. The vet inserted drugs as a final method, and told us to go home instead of worrying and waiting. One hour after we got home, we were informed that she stopped breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, ever since then, we couldn't forgive ourselves for our carelessness, my mum's friend managed to convince us that the pain and emptiness in the house can be defeated most easily through adopting two cats. And so we adopted two cats after a few days. My mum was hard to convince since she knew she was responsible, but anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried really hard up until now to train them to not walk around dangerous things, such as the washing machine or the opening entrance door which is going fine at the moment. (We live near the main road with open staircase)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, in a case this misfortune happens again, what can we do?&#xA;Be it if one of the cats is stuck in the machine and we want to get her out as quick as possible... Or when we pull her out and try to get the water out of her lungs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward to any advice and tips. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T16:25:18.567" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T03:33:06.697" Title="What can I do if my cat is stuck in the washing machine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10890" CreationDate="2015-11-26T17:22:26.717" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but my suggestion to you is, never leave possible risk areas unattended, and always double check, my cat really likes getting into the dryer once its done (cause its warm) we allow it, but we always double check when leaving to make sure she isn't there anymore(sometimes she just falls asleep there) also we always keep our laundry and dryer machine behind closed doors, inaccessible to the cat when we cannot supervise the area. So it's not about what to do when it happens but what to do &lt;strong&gt;so it won't happen&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always doublecheck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the area out of reach from them (close lids, doors)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Call the cat, or make annoying sounds around the area, if the cat is there it'll drive it away&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2015-11-26T17:44:29.123" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T17:44:29.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10872" CreationDate="2015-11-26T22:13:57.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a natural behaviour and is not a sign of dominance. The dominance theory has been disproved for many years now. Dogs, both male and female do this behaviour when playing and is only seen as wrong by humans as we sexualise it. It would be like pulling your friend's arm. Can I ask why you would like to stop it? What would you like your dog to be doing instead? I agree with Aravona about desexing as this may decrease the humping behaviour but there are no guaranties. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have said that he is doing it while you are not around, giving him a &quot;no&quot; command when you are around will just tell him that I can't do this normal behaviour when the human is around so I'll just do it when they are not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2015-11-26T22:13:57.090" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-26T22:22:36.157" Score="2" ViewCount="475" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted two little kittens at 5 weeks old. I think the lady we got them from was some sort of cat hoarder or she was capturing ferals from outside and rehoming them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, the kitties are two brothers. They were sweet but a little skittish when we first got them which was expected. I noticed they both ate aggressively and one, Cinna, was def more dominate. I thought maybe that would subside, but now they are 8 months old and have been neutered. Cinna, has seemed to have warmed up to us a little more and is no longer acting dominant. But the other kitty, Olive, is behaving more aggressively and dominant since being fixed. He won't let us pick him up or pet him. He STILL runs from us when he sees us coming, unless we are feeding him of course. The only time he will get close is if I am laying in bed and he will crawl up on me and force me to pet him like he is displaying some sort of dominant behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the most peculiar thing about these two, Olive more than Cinna, is that they seem to have an eating disorder. They CONSTANTLY want to eat. Olive will wolf his food down so fast that he usually will throw it up within 5 or 10 minutes. They also trash my house like little kids. If there is anything out they will get into it and tear it up. Like this morning, I woke up to a broken plate and spoon on the floor that had a little spaghetti sauce left on it and they had eaten through a package of bread rolls and ate a few of the rolls. They also found a bag of hidden and sealed cat treats and was gnawing through the package when I woke up. This kind of behavior is an everyday struggle. They get in the garbage and drag out any little thing they can find. My house is constantly covered in trash because of these two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cinna, I think will be okay overall, but it's been 6/7 months and Olive seems to have gotten worse. I don't know how to help him. My only other option is to rehome them (or just Olive maybe), but I hate doing that. I've tried all the suggestions from my vet and information I have found online. Any little bit of help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit Additional Detail&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@BadComputer Thank you. Yes, I've fed them in separate bowls since they were babies. They don't fight or anything, but just rude behavior towards each other when it comes to food. Over the last week I've actually started sitting with them on the floor with treats and when one rushes the other for his treat I gently put my hand between them and push him back. That seems to help a little. I worry more about their psyche with this eating situation. They show signs of Obsessive eating disorder and Pica. I think the lady we got them from was hoarding cats. She said she had two other litters and one on the way. She rehomed them when they were only 5 weeks old and I do not think they got any human contact or bonding. Plus she said they were fully weaned and eating dry food...AT FIVE WEEKS. So I think they were just fighting over food to survive when we got them. I got them proper kitten formula and we fed them around the clock for several weeks until they were bigger and healthier looking. ...but now we are dealing with them eating everything like locust and chewing on stuff. They literally dig in the trash, not necessarily for food, but for stuff to just chew on. I've had cats my whole life and I've never seen anything quite like it. We thought we put everything up last night, but they still managed to find a soft taco wrapped up on the counter that was overlooked. We woke up to it strewn all across the house. I'm worried they may end up eating something and causing an obstruction of some sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do play with them quite a bit, which they like, but it seems like when we stand up and tower over them is when they become skittish. I think our size intimidates them. Also, when we got them, the lady said she had to trap them in her bathroom just to catch them. I noticed a week into having them that the very tip of Oly's tail was bent like it had been broken. I wonder it hadn't been shut in the door or something when she was trying to capture them. Really, it's a toss up whether this woman was hoarding cats or just catching Ferals outside and rehoming them for a fee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, you have great suggestions, but I'm worried they are emotionally scarred and have psychological damage. I was hoping to find someone who might know more about cat psyche problems&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6177" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-11-29T11:28:26.330" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:35.637" Title="Cats are still skittish; have obsessive eating disorder" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10832" CreationDate="2015-11-27T01:43:06.937" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work at an animal shelter and have seen this behavior in several cats.   It's not the norm, but I see it in about one cat every few months.  Mostly, it's with drinking.  The cat sticks his paw in the water bowl and  licks the water from its paw.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have definitely tried the right things - shallow bowls or saucers and larger bowls. Have you tried placing his bowls on a small stand so that he doesn't have to bend as far?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly, I'm thinking that you are making his food &quot;experience&quot; too easy.  Maine Coons, after all, were bred to be hunters.  Handing the food over to him in a dish is like putting a pretty bow around it and saying, &quot;Here you go.  I did your job for you.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He probably needs food puzzles so he can feel like he's working for his food.  However, food puzzles are typically for dry food.  I would give it a try anyway. You could start him out with some moist treats (between hard and wet food) to see how he reacts, and then try feeding him a dry meal.  Here is a pic of my cat's fav:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TLKKY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TLKKY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;food puzzle&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;She eats all her dry meals from this.   She puts her paw in the tubes and pulls the food out onto the mat. Then, she eats the food.  Yes, you still have food on the mat that you must keep clean.  However, this might just be fun enough that your cat will eat all the food he pulls out.   Plus, since it's on the mat, it's easy to clean.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend a flowing water fountain.  One of my cats still has to put her paw in before she drinks.  But, again, you can see the mat helps catch in water she flicks out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Knqj4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Knqj4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat water fountain&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will help your Main Coon work a little for his food, and the flowing water will be interesting and fun for him.  I wish you the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T01:43:06.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-27T02:39:29.800" Score="5" ViewCount="5047" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having the same problem as outlined in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6228&quot;&gt;How can I get my cat to stop nursing from its mother?&lt;/a&gt; My kitten is about 12 weeks old, and is still nursing. The mom tried pushing it away, but the kitten would just beat on her and pounce her until she gave in. Now, she doesn't fight at all. She doesn't seem to mind now. However, the nipple he is feeding on is huge. I mean 3 times the size they were after she had the kittens and was nursing. (She only had 2 and 1 died) The nipple is so big and heavy, that it hangs down a lot. There is also a red line around it ( the fleshy area is huge around the actual nipple) and bite marks around the actual nipple where it feeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten is eating hard food. There are 3 food dishes always full around the house. The cats also get some people's food as treats, and milk from cereal. Little bits. It's certainly not lacking food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do about it. It does seem to be hurting the mom. She was barely an adult and a stray when she became pregnant. My male knocked her up and brought her home. He's been an active father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6170" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2018-07-14T07:24:25.873" Title="How to stop a 12 week old kitten nursing . Hurting mom" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10893" CreationDate="2015-11-27T04:18:48.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, cats are a dominant species. You cannot deny that, but you can try following the suggestions below. Hope they help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with your cats using some sort of toy, like a stick. Play enough to let them get tired 2 - 3 times every day! They are youngsters. They need to utilize their energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the food problem, I suggest you should have separate bowls for each cat, and place them in the same room while eating, but bowls should be placed some distance apart. They will try to fight for each other's bowls, but it's your job to pick them up, cuddle them and put them back to their bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the petting problem, you should not rush things like that, observe your cat's sensitive parts where he doesn't want to be touched, and cuddle where he always wants you to. As you've mentioned he crawls to you, but he is aggressive. If he tries to bite while cuddling or petting, say &quot;NO&quot; and stop petting/cuddling. That's how he will understand his owner doesn't want this behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally for the rush hour problem, I would suggest you have a separate room for cats and lock that room with cats in at night. If it's not possible, then don't worry, tiring out your cat before sleep is the best option for you to ensure he will sleep longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6179" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:14.950" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:14.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-27T13:25:51.687" Score="2" ViewCount="2546" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a betta, named Joey, for a year now but I'm not sure how old he is. For the last few weeks his colour has been fading from dark blue to pretty much all white. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hides at the bottom of the tank under a moss ball. I have to encourage him to come out for food and then he floats to the top. He struggles to swim back down again to his hiding spot but he does it. He's only about 5% active as he used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has no common illness symptoms either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6181" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T22:20:55.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T22:22:27.893" Title="Is the betta fish dying of old age?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6228" CreationDate="2015-11-27T17:41:01.427" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal for queens to drop by and feed their fairly grown offspring once in a while. It wont hurt anything and may improve the immune systems of the offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is similar in concept to a human mother dropping by her child's college dorm room with a pie or some soup. There is no need to stop this behavior: it wont hurt either cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the queen was ill or something you could just gently shoo the offspring away from the queen when you see it happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2015-11-27T17:41:01.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10890" CreationDate="2015-11-28T00:04:23.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is too sad. Cats are explorers and, as a consequence, prone to accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not great at first aid, but I want to recommend cat repellents. It is known that cats find some smells repulsive; as to which smells, that may be  individual, but also easy to find out. Both of my cats, for example, detest the essential oils from citrus peel. We found out accidentally when trying to caress cat after peeling oranges. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/homemade-cat-repellent.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are some recipes for homemade repellents. Using repellents around areas where cat is not welcome may have immediate effect and may also help to teach cat to avoid that area. Not foolproof, so do not rely on that alone, even if it seems to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, in the particular case of the washing machine, keeping the door closed at all times would solve the problem (but may be unrecommended by the manufacturer). Also, some washing machines do allow an emergency open; this &lt;em&gt;dangerous and counter-intuitive operation&lt;/em&gt; is usually described in the manual and differs from type to type (not recommended by manufacturer, either, of course). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We own a recliner, and while our kitty was small, it would occasionally climb inside the construction and just sit there. We were scared to use the recliner as it would surely smash the kitty if used (i.e., reclined). So we adopted a simple protocol: while using the recliner, we &lt;em&gt;needed to see the cat sitting safely outside&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4037" LastActivityDate="2015-11-28T00:04:23.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10893" CreationDate="2015-11-29T01:42:48.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, thank you for giving these kittens a home. Although you're having some real difficulties at the moment, remember that they are still kittens. I suspect they will mellow out over the next few months as they get older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be a good situation to use that cat pheromone, Feliway (I don't know if there are other brands). It helps cats relax and feel secure. You can get a diffuser that you plug in that releases small amounts over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you might want to try is one of those puzzle balls that you put small amounts of food in. This would be in addition to their regular meals. It would give Olive something to focus his hunting skills on instead of trying to raid your kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure they have lots of toys. You don't need to spend money on this -- some of the best cat toys are free: a wadded-up piece of paper or aluminum foil, a cardboard box, a walnut, a cardboard tube from a paper towel or toilet roll, an old sock rolled into a ball, a plastic bottle cap. A cat that is tired from playing all day is more likely to behave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might ask your vet to refer you to an animal behaviourist with experience in cats. They would visit your home and observe your cats for a bit, and make suggestions about how to deal with the problems. If your vet can't suggest someone, go to any animal shelter and ask their advice. They've probably dealt with all kinds of tough cases, and would be more than happy to offer suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions for helping the cats to be more comfortable with being petted: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6487/how-can-i-keep-my-cat-from-being-scared-any-time-he-sees-or-hears-a-person/6488#6488&quot;&gt;How can I keep my cat from being scared any time he sees or hears a person?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T01:42:48.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6964" CreationDate="2015-11-29T14:30:42.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6973/5646&quot;&gt;Garry's answer&lt;/a&gt; did a really good job explaining from where cyanobacteria comes and how to prevent it. It does give a good answer on how to get rid of it but I personally don't really like to add chemicals to my tank if there is another way around it. In this case there is a really simple method to get rid of cyano and at the same time of the phosphate that it's feeding of. Of course, after it is gone you will still need to stay on top of your maintenance and to reduce feeding to ensure it doesn't come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a method I read about on several forums (unfortunately, those are in french but I can still had a link if requested). This method will cost you about 1$ and some time depending on your tank size. In my case the tank was a 15gal with a fairly heavy infestation and it took me about 10min per 2-3day for about 2weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First go buy yourself a baster in any 1$ store. &lt;strong&gt;This will never go near your kitchen after the first use, so buy a new one.&lt;/strong&gt; Use the baster to suck up all the cyano you can in the tank. Put the cyano in another container and be sure to properly kill it before disposing of it (if you don't kill it you risk infesting your water with it). In my case I added some bleach in the cyano bucket and waited about half an hour. When I couldn't see any green left in the bucket I simply disposed of it. Doing this took me about 15min of active time and 30-45min of passive time (doing something else while the bleach was working). In ideal condition, you would repeat the process each day until you don't have any left. For me I couldn't do it every day so it was each 2-3day but it still worked pretty good. After about two week of using this process I don't have any patch of cyano left in my tank and every thing is back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cyano grow back between each time you remove it, the cyano will take a lot of phosphate to grow back. So each time you remove the cyano your tank contain less of phosphate. This goes on until you only have only a really small amount left or even none left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Every thing used to remove the cyano must not go back near your kitchen. Cyanobacteria is dangerous to you if ingested.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-11-29T14:30:42.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10890" CreationDate="2015-11-30T12:26:36.323" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing all washing machines have in common is that they need electricity. In a desperate time I would have tried to pull the power cord to stop the machine. Once the machine had stopped I would have broken the door open. This would ofcourse be expensive, but so is taken a dying kitten to the vet and then losing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T12:26:36.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10720" CreationDate="2015-11-30T12:30:54.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than put the cat inside I would have put something noisy inside. Like a belt bucle. Cats are afraid of big, powerful, noisy things, so this would likely be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T12:30:54.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-11-30T16:44:55.567" Score="4" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 hermit crabs (5 months). Two of my crabs buried themselves 1 month ago and there is no dead smell. Our home is kept 69 degrees day and 67 night. How do I know my crabs are not dying a slow painful death and not molting? I really worry about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6189" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T11:00:21.367" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T11:00:21.367" Title="Is my home temp endangering hermit crabs" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;molting&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10756" CreationDate="2015-11-30T16:56:40.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had sometime over the weekend to do my own research; and found out some very possible reasons for which this thick hair is growing where the bald patches used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all I would like to point out that schnauzers in general are very healthy dogs, although the miniature branch of the breed seems prone to skin problems, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.max-the-schnauzer.com/schnauzer-skin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Max The Schnauzer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;While the majority of Schnauzers will have no problems at all, some do suffer from sensitive skin or allergies, often causing them to scratch, bite or lick themselves excessively.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After visiting several schnauzer related forums, I found a pattern; after a schnauzer loses its hair (due to whatever reason) the new coat seems to be more thick/wirey than the fluffier coat on the rest of its body. This wirey coat turns out to be the dogs natural-ungroomed coat, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://goschnauzer.com/bald-spots-on-mini-schnauzers-back/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GoSchnauzer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Schnauzers naturally have a wirey coat that gets “destroyed” with grooming with clippers. A show schnauzer has its coat manually “stripped” – which involves taking the soft undercoat out and encouraging the growth of the wirey coat. These dogs will have a wirey flat coated back&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when the Schnauzer's hair grows back it'll grow wirey and thick since this is how the natural coat is, it'll take several grooming sessions for the dog to have an even coat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2015-11-30T16:56:40.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4340" CreationDate="2015-12-01T01:37:44.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had three guinea pigs before and some will not stop chewing until the item is completely gone! Their behavior might have changed if you are spending less time with them or if there are more sounds around. Animals are finicky, so they could simply be bored/restless and looking for something to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my advice...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't give them cardboard (unattended) with tape or anything printed on it, because even if they don't eat it, the adhesive from the tape probably isn't safe to chew on. Just because they &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; process some paper, doesn't mean they &lt;em&gt;should.&lt;/em&gt; It is fun and cheap to make tunnels out of boxes, just make sure it's no more than a little corner-nibbling! :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Guinea pigs don't live in the wild, but their ancestors were eaten by hawks and other large birds, so they are natural burrowers. Because of this, they should &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; have have access to a hiding place of some sort. (Though you can coax them out with food or occasionally play with them without the house.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd recommend getting a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/117390/Planet-Petco-Small-Animal-Hideaway.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;non-dyed pine hideaway&lt;/a&gt; or one of the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/product/100637/eCOTRITION-Snak-Shak-Activity-Log.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chewable logs&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; These are tougher for them to eat and are safer for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, like Michelle suggested, chew sticks are great! Be careful not to get any toys that they can get &quot;stuck&quot; in (i.e. large loops they can get stuck around their necks). - The chew sticks are always a safe bet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- Update --&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/article/dogs/dr-debras-faqs-and-posts/ask-dr-debra-common-questions/can-eating-cardboard-be-dangerous-to-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other animals&lt;/a&gt; and humans, there is no nutritional content in paper-based products. So if they fill up their tummies on cardboard, they could be missing out on nutrients from their regular food and hay. Also, too much of a non-food could cause a blockage - see previous link and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/40001-Can-guinea-pigs-eat-cardboard?s=122b9a35dba0aae414d5d803a5e5e94d&amp;amp;p=393491&amp;amp;viewfull=1#post393491&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2528" LastEditorUserId="2528" LastEditDate="2015-12-01T16:10:25.310" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T16:10:25.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2015-12-01T01:52:38.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is basically a wild beast and always wants to play and jump around on the bed while we are sleeping. I try to get her energy out during the day by playing with her with a string around the house. I've noticed that there are some toys she will play with by herself, and some that she wants me to play with her with. I try to make sure she has the best &quot;by herself&quot; toys out at bedtime, and I also loop a string on our laundry basket for her to play with when she gets bored at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2528" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T01:52:38.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2564" CreationDate="2015-12-01T02:00:38.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been the same way with all of my guinea pigs. I've had my cat and a guinea pig sitting in my lap at the same time, but when the piggy is loose on the bathroom floor, the cat stays on the other side of the gate or runs away when the piggy comes towards her. I think they are just confused and don't know what to expect! I've had three guinea pigs and my cat has had the same reaction for all of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course, even though my cat seems scared of guinea pigs, I wouldn't trust her alone with them!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2528" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T02:00:38.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-01T08:01:05.783" Score="9" ViewCount="7137" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 10 month old male cat (virtually full grown) and we recently adopted a 6 week old male kitten. we did everything the internet recommended regarding this situation (separating them in different rooms, letting them smell each other's scent and then supervised mingling). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point we've had the kitten for a week and a half, during which the cats have been mingling quite a lot but only under our supervision. During those mingling sessions sometimes they play nicely but a lot of times the older cat gets anxious and too aggressive - he bites the kitten really hard and twists him like a ragdoll, making him scream, and then we step in and break up the fight usually by removing the kitten from the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are concerned that if we are not there to supervise, the older cat might seriously harm the kitten and are anxious about the possibility of leaving them alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how long should we continue with this routine of separation when we are not home and at what point would it be safe to leave them alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6195" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:46.377" Title="Integrating a small kitten with an older cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10917" CreationDate="2015-12-01T12:55:23.520" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'd suggest taking a look at the answers to these questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/469/how-can-i-encourage-my-kitten-to-leave-my-adult-cat-alone?rq=1&quot;&gt;How can I encourage my kitten to leave my adult cat alone?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5728/cant-tell-if-cats-are-playing-with-or-hunting-each-other?rq=1&quot;&gt;Can&amp;#39;t tell if cats are playing with or hunting each other&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9856/my-older-cat-is-very-aggressive-towards-my-6-week-old-kitten?rq=1&quot;&gt;My older cat is very aggressive towards my 6 week old kitten&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/266/how-to-get-cats-to-coexist-in-peace?rq=1&quot;&gt;How to get cats to coexist in peace?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your new kitten is very young (ideally they shouldn't leave their mother until 8 weeks at the earliest) and your older cat is still in the kitten/teenage phase and probably not too sure about this interloper in his territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions from my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a water spray close by when you let the kitten out of his &quot;safe space&quot; to interact with the other cat. Instead of physically separating them, try spraying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you give the older cat plenty of attention, particularly when the kitten is out. I don't know if it's comparable to human jealousy, but cats certainly act like they're jealous. If you can arrange to pet both at the same time, do. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a separate time-out area for either cat and if one misbehaves, put that cat in the time-out zone for a period. The kitty time-out zone shouldn't be the kitten's safe space or you'll confuse him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take an unwashed T-shirt (so it smells strongly of you) and put it in the kitten's bed for a day or so. Then put it in the older cat's bed for the same time frame. Using two shirts and switching them is even better. I don't have any references for this, but I've found that mingling the scents like this helps the cats see each other as part of the same household.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the kitten isn't being injured when the older cat loses patience with the game, you could consider simply growling at the two to separate them, but leaving them out to interact with each other. Your older cat could simply be trying to tell the kitten &quot;enough&quot; and not realize that he's scaring the little one. In addition, the kitten needs to learn when to stop, and separating them every time will make it harder to learn this. If the kitten's distress call is fear rather than pain, he'll leave the older cat alone for a while but won't change his behavior otherwise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You shouldn't pet either cat in this situation: you don't want the kitten associating irritating the older cat with your attention. You also don't want the older cat associating hurting/scaring the kitten with your attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:22:46.377" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:46.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10921" CreationDate="2015-12-01T21:05:06.427" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently brought a Shih Tzu dog; he's so adorable, we love him so much. We usually leave him alone at least 8 hours a day while I am at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I come back, I find he has peed on the carpets and defecated on the couches. The house smells bad and he's not learning to relieve himself in one spot. I bought him special pieces of tissue to go on, but to no avail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, if I buy him a big crate, would it help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would need to leave him in the crate at least 8 hours a day. I can provide food and toys for him in the crate, but if he wants to urinate or defecate, how is he supposed to do so while he's in his crate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We love him and we don't want to give him away so any quick advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6200" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T15:59:52.600" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T15:59:52.600" Title="Six month old dog urinating and defecating while I'm at work; what can I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;crate&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10920" CreationDate="2015-12-01T21:45:07.277" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step one:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't leave a puppy unattended for long periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A puppy can't hold it for too long (this is why there's pee and poo around your house)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can't train him if you're away for so long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crate won't help, unless you're there to train him, which you're not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step two:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to be committed to the dog; having a dog is a HUGE responsibility, he is under your care. You are held accountable for this dog's behavior. Loving a dog is not only being there to give him belly rubs and treats, it's also being able to provide him with a healthy and stable lifestyle; this goes through training and sometimes disciplining the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's really no workaround with your schedule (visiting at lunch time, &amp;quot;daycare&amp;quot;, helpful neighbors), I really recommend you to consider re-homing your puppy, it's more frustrating/stressing for the dog than it is for you all the amount of time he is spending alone as a pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-08T21:21:31.907" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T21:21:31.907" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-01T21:59:13.860" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 adult male dogs and a very large kitchen with a doggy flap. My dogs can hold their pee which has been proved when we go away and sleep in the caravan but when I go to work, go to bed or even just nip out I come back to puddles of pee. &#xA;They can get to the garden all day and night but they still insist on peeing inside and destroying my kitchen. It is becoming exhausting and making me resent my beloved pooches. &#xA;What can I do or use to stop this happening? I refuse to crate them as I have the doggy flap. &#xA;I would appreciate any help what so ever &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6201" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T20:27:31.677" Title="Dogs peeing inside my house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10889" CreationDate="2015-12-01T23:05:48.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was long thought that most birds had no sense of smell at all. A few groups (the Cathartid vultures [turkey vulture &amp;amp; greater and lesser yellow-headed vultures], Procellariformes [storm-petrels, etc.], kiwis, and a few others) do have an excellent sense of smell. We also know that some have little or no sense of smell (e.g., black vultures follow turkey vultures to use the turkey vultures' sense of smell to guide them to carrion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes functional sense, when you think about the problem of using a sense of smell when in flight. The air rushing through the nares (approximately, 'nostrils') would seem to be moving too rapidly to be able to be sampled for odors, without some specialized equipment (which costs energy to build and is only worthwhile if, like Cathartid vultures cruising over treetops in search of food, there is a significant return on that investment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has become increasingly clear, though, that most birds possess at least some sense of smell. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://bluepearlvet.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/downloads/2010/07/Vet-Clinics-Geriatrics.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lightfoot's section on olfaction in her article on avian geriatrics.&lt;/a&gt; Also, if you can tolerate some highly technical literature, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2692081/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;The underestimated role of olfaction in avian reproduction?&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495045/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Avian olfactory receptor gene repertoires: evidence for a well-developed sense of smell in birds?&quot;.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that the olfactory structure is this: air enter the nares, and then passes through three chambers on the way to the respiratory system. In the second of these chambers, there are olfactory sensors that are connected by nerves to the brain and which, structurally, seem very similar to mammal olfactory sensors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the research so far has been done on chickens (which seem to have a decent sense of smell, but probably not as good as ours) and pigeons (which seem to have a pretty good sense of smell. Gang-gang cockatoos, too, seem to have a decent sense of smell (perhaps in the same general range of ability as us). I don't know of any behavioral research on other Psittacines (parrots, cockatiels, etc.), but the anatomy of the olfactory organs seems similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the answer to your question probably should be: stay tuned--research is turning up new abilities right now. The best we can say for now is that it is likely that cockatiels have a sense of smell, but that it is less developed than the human sense of smell. That's just what is likely, though, pending further research. I've tried to develop some experiments that would work with my cockatiels, but every attempt has been undone by their general inquisitiveness and desire to play with everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of those fun areas in which knowledge is just developing, and careful observations by non-scientists can make contributions to the field. It gives us one more way to enjoy interacting with our cockatiels, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A timely question ...Tom G.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-12-02T11:12:28.723" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T11:12:28.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2015-12-01T23:29:04.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of mine will sometimes poke at me at odd hours for attention. I generally just roll over and turn my back on her. If that doesn't work I'll growl or hiss at her, or simply tell her firmly &quot;Hazel, No!&quot; which she does understand as &quot;he's annoyed by something I'm doing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may help that they're middle-aged cats now, and know what human habits are. When they were young I did have to explain that they must not Hop On Pop, and that included treating me as a steeplechase obsticle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Sitting&lt;/em&gt; on Pop is mostly acceptable, if they're willing to settle in. I just wish I could convince them to kneed my back rather than my belly. And they're both quide good at the stuffed-animal routine; many nights I'll have one curled up on each side.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-01T23:29:04.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10967" CreationDate="2015-12-01T23:47:01.923" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shepherd dog is roughly 1 year old, male and he has been playful and energetic. Now, when we try to get him to play, he doesn't seem like he wants to. Could this be related to joint health? If not, what could possibly be the problem? He has been having some problems with his pancreas and we're not quite sure if this is related to the problem or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T20:09:13.627" LastActivityDate="2021-01-01T20:09:13.627" Title="Dog isn't as playful as he has been for the past 5 months" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10929" CreationDate="2015-12-02T03:39:46.330" Score="7" ViewCount="4069" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do cats need dressing clothes when weather is cold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what is the temperature in which cats start to need clothes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T23:52:16.510" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T23:52:16.510" Title="Do cats need clothes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;winter&gt;&lt;clothes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10928" CreationDate="2015-12-02T06:41:53.043" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats generally have sense enough not to go outside/stay outside when it's dangerously cold unless they must. So unless you are forcing the cat outside, or your house is colder than most and you have a furless breed or &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; colder than most, this shouldn't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, most cats never need to wear clothes other than their fur. Remember, feral cats manage to survive in a wide range of climates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T06:41:53.043" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10931" CreationDate="2015-12-02T13:45:41.903" Score="10" ViewCount="1396" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past few months, I've been trying to figure out the differences between the two black cats I had for about 5 months. They are about 8 months old and they come from the same litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luna, the much smaller one is a bit quieter than Chilli, the one my inquiry is about. Luna meows when she needs to unlike Chilli, and overall behaves like all of our past cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chilli however, caught my attention through doing things like;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rapidly opening her mouth - imagine a dog catching a treat mid-air - only to close it, with no real reason. She does that around 5 times in half an hour, if nothing in the living room happens and every house member is minding their own business.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I pet her on the head, she gets so 'excited' that she opens her mouth. Sometimes, she even keeps her mouth open for the next two minutes, even when I had already stopped petting her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unlike Luna, Chilli frequently makes a journey to the kitchen and often gets caught eating some of the leftovers from the plates in the sink. We often eat spaghetti and once Chilli sees that we are finished with the plate, she excitedly jumps up and licks the sauce leftovers until there's none left. (We do not eat Spaghetti with any kind of meat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She never rubs herself against any of the house members, or her sister, or the furniture, nor even the walls. Not from what I have seen at least. Luna however does it very often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from these actions, Chilli behaves just like our past cats.&#xA;The question is, should I be worried? Or is this normal for her to be like this, considering every cat can be different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2015-12-02T15:28:37.260" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:20:01.877" Title="Is my cat's behaviour normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10930" CreationDate="2015-12-02T14:18:48.323" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eating leftovers could be entirely normal. One of my cats likes graham crackers, if she can get them; my previous cat liked broccoli. If she's eating a commercial cat food (and is actually eating a reasonable amount of it), it is unlikely that there's a trace element shortage that she's trying to compensate for, but the way to be sure is to have a vet do tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The open mouth is odd, and I do think it calls for a vet visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, cats really don't like showing that they are sick or in pain, so &quot;normal behavior otherwise&quot; isn't always good evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T14:18:48.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-02T15:20:07.153" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think she likes the smell of my clean bedding and is marking her territory,does anyone have any suggestions to stop this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6207" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:58:41.063" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:58:41.063" Title="bought a siamese kitten who was using her litter boxes,but when i changed my bedding she started peeing and pooping on my bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10939" CreationDate="2015-12-02T19:23:02.077" Score="2" ViewCount="778" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have a neighbor with a gold fish pond, and large (8 inch, 20 CM) or bigger gold fish (Koi?).  The pond was only about a foot deep and would often freeze over and/or freeze solid.  As I recall the fish seemed to survive for years of this freeze and thaw process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens when a gold fish pond freezes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T15:54:12.510" Title="What happens when a gold fish pond freezes?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10922" CreationDate="2015-12-02T20:27:31.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two possibilities: either they get anxious when they are left in the kitchen for some reason, and react by peeing, or they just don't understand that peeing in the kitchen is something they are not supposed to do. If you have four of them all loose together, it's going to make it hard because if just one gets confused and starts marking, then it will encourage the other three to do the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would use  (large, comfortable, well padded) individual crates for each dog short term while you are re-training this behaviour.  That way you can at least work out which dog is doing it, and where you need to focus your attention on retraining. You can then eliminate the crates as you establish which dog(s) need more help, so you don't have to have your kitchen stuffed with huge boxes forever. It may well be that one or two of them are not part of the problem at all, so if you can borrow crates even for just a couple of weeks, that might be long enough to give you a clearer idea of where the problem lies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scrub the whole area with a cleaning agent designed to eliminate dog odours.  Simple Solution is widely recommended, although there are a number of products that will do the job.  You will need to check that no urine has seeped into the floor or under kitchen units: their noses are very sensitive and if they can still smell it, then they will be stimulated to urinate in that area again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest that you video their behaviour while you are not there, so you can see if any individual is just peeing in an absent minded kind of way, or if they are pacing, howling, barking or appear otherwise stressed. Sometimes, you'll find that dogs can hear sounds, pick up scents, see animals passing or pick up vibrations in one room that they can't detect elsewhere, and that makes them more anxious in that location and more likely to urinate inappropriately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T20:27:31.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10834" CreationDate="2015-12-02T22:27:56.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it really depends on how the cucumber is being introduced to the cat. A lot of the posted scenarios have the cucumber placed behind the cat when it's feeding which can be very unexpected/startling to him or her (especially if they're not familiar with the object). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were changing your bed sheets and when you lifted your blanket up, you saw a cucumber on your mattress, I think you'd be startled too.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6211" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T22:27:56.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10932" CreationDate="2015-12-02T22:57:18.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Siamese cats can be very conscious of their territory.  Mine became very visibly upset when we removed a poster from the wall.  They may also go in inappropriate places if they don't like the conditions of their litter box, or if they're upset by something, such as a break in their normal routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if it persists, take the cat to the vet, to make sure it's not due to an underlying medical issue.  Once medical problems have been ruled out, it's a matter of trying stuff and seeing what works.  Here's a number of things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pick a litterbox habit and stick to it.  Make sure to that you figure out one location, type of litter, etc, that seems to work for her, and then keep it consistent.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be sure you keep the box very clean.  Make sure to clean it at least once a day.  You may also try additional boxes, so the cat has other options besides the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to clean the soiled bedding thoroughly, with cleaners designed to break up the smell.  This should help discourage repeat incidents.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep the cat out of your room.  You may be able to reintroduce the cat back into your room eventually, but for the time being, making her spots inaccessible may help break the habit, and make her go back to using the box.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider if there have been any other changes that may be stressing the cat, and see if you can mitigate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2015-12-02T22:57:18.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13504" CreationDate="2015-12-03T01:27:19.023" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a Silver (breed type) bunny and I would like to buy some other animals like dogs and other rabbits. I don't know her age and it would be nice to know what animals she could be familiar or at least get along with. (The most common ones for instance other rabbits, dogs, etc.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T16:21:32.587" Title="Recommendations on Introducing Adopted Rabbit to my other pets" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10928" CreationDate="2015-12-03T06:28:05.837" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats probably don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a jacket or boots, since they probably don't want to stay outside in the cold for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if it's cold enough where &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; would want to wear a hat &amp;amp; gloves outside (definitely below freezing) and &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; your cat wants to go outside, then your cat would be &lt;strong&gt;a lot warmer &amp;amp; more comfortable&lt;/strong&gt; wearing a jacket or sweater. A small dog jacket would work, some have a hole for a  leash attached to a harness (worn under the jacket) to pass through too (I probably wouldn't clip a leash just to a jacket, I think cats are better at wiggling out of a jacket than dogs). And if they want to walk around in the snow or ice for a while, little boots/shoes would be a good idea too &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; they will stand wearing them (I wouldn't want to touch ice or snow for long without boots or gloves.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kind of like this one from &lt;a href=&quot;http://ohyoucraftygal.blogspot.ca/2011/12/cat-hoodie-tutorial-make-your-cat-coat.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here (with instructions to make it too)&lt;/a&gt; but not many cats like to wear hats/hoodies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xflqz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xflqz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats have trouble walking when they're wearing a jacket too, and especially boots, so definitely &lt;strong&gt;stay with your cat&lt;/strong&gt; if they're wearing them, and a leash is highly recommended too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MBC5q.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MBC5q.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a jacket on in below freezing weather a cat can get chilly pretty quickly, and start shivering and progress to more problems if they don't get somewhere warm. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.moveoneinc.com/blog/expat-life/enkeep-cat-warm-winter-time/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; has lists a few cold weather safety tips too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cold weather problems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes owners forget that their cats are just as accustomed to the&#xA;  warm shelter of the indoors as they are. Some owners will leave their&#xA;  cats outside for extended periods of time, thinking that they are&#xA;  adapted to live outdoors. This can put their pets in danger of serious&#xA;  illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hypothermia&lt;/strong&gt;, or a body temperature that is below normal, is a&#xA;  condition that occurs when the cats are not able to keep their body&#xA;  temperature from falling below normal. It happens when they spend too&#xA;  much time in cold temperatures, or when cats with poor health or&#xA;  circulation are exposed to cold. In mild cases, your cat will shivers&#xA;  and show signs of depression, lethargy, and weakness. As the condition&#xA;  progresses, her muscles will stiffen, her heart and breathing rates&#xA;  will slow down, and she will stop responding to stimuli. If you notice&#xA;  these symptoms, you need to get your cat warm and take her to your&#xA;  veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another cold-related problem is &lt;strong&gt;frostbite&lt;/strong&gt;. Sometimes your&#xA;  cat may accidentally be left outside or become lost during a heavy&#xA;  snowstorm. Frostbite may result. If this happens, remember - frozen&#xA;  tissues should never be rubbed. This causes additional tissue damage.&#xA;  Prompt veterinary treatment is needed. If this is not possible, warm&#xA;  the affected area rapidly by immersing in warm, never hot, water or by&#xA;  using warm, moist towels that are changed frequently. As soon as the&#xA;  affected tissues become flushed, discontinue warming. Gently dry the&#xA;  affected tissues and lightly cover with a clean, dry, non-adhering&#xA;  bandage. If frostbite is in the later stages, gangrene may set in and&#xA;  cause all kinds of infections. So, if you suspect your cat has&#xA;  frostbite, take her to the veterinarian.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k764H.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k764H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6213" LastEditorUserId="6213" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T06:47:33.873" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T06:47:33.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10933" CreationDate="2015-12-03T11:26:11.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is unlikely that a fish pond would freeze solid and have the gold fish survive.  As temperatures drop the fish enter a state of torpor (similar to hibernation). I could not find any reliable references supporting gold fish or koi surviving in a completely frozen pond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest risk to fish wintering over in frozen water is lack of oxygen. The layer of ice over the top of the pond causes the fish to suffocate. Solutions include a small heater in one corner of the pond that will keep a small area (not the whole pond) ice free and support gas exchange between the water and the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=GJQkWknQz7UC&amp;amp;pg=PA78&amp;amp;dq=goldfish+pond+freeze+solid&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjg5Jzyxr_JAhVBRSYKHQMAD-AQ6AEINDAB#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=freeze&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Goldfish: Your Happy Healthy Pet By Gregory Skomal, PhD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?id=4ZF_AwAAQBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PT216&amp;amp;dq=goldfish+pond+freeze+solid&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjg5Jzyxr_JAhVBRSYKHQMAD-AQ6AEILzAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=freeze%20solid&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fish &amp;amp; Fishing  By Nicolae Sfetcu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/care-goldfish-pond-during-winter-months-4409.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HOW TO CARE FOR A GOLDFISH POND DURING THE WINTER MONTHS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fullserviceaquatics.com/pond-fish/what-happens-to-pond-fish-in-winter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WHAT HAPPENS TO POND FISH IN WINTER?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://extension.illinois.edu/gardenerscorner/issue_06/winter_04_10.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Koi and Goldfish Pond Winter Care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T15:54:12.510" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T15:54:12.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1765" CreationDate="2015-12-03T12:02:42.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for posting on such an old topic, but I cannot agree with the accepted solution - so, for the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Causing the fish suffocation or chemical burns is not humane, unless for you it means &quot;clean&quot; rather than &quot;painless&quot; - be sure you understand your own motivations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shots and blunt force trauma to the head are also approved in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AVMA Euthanasia Guide&lt;/a&gt; for pretty much anything. Besides immediately disabling the nervous system, it leaves no time for feeling distress from unfamiliar circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's what I use for Christmas carp (before decapitation), and rats. If you're uncertain of your whacking tool proficiency, get a .22, a strong bb gun, rivet/dowel gun, or something similar, and take it outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prepare a breadboard, plastic foil, and a tenderizer or hammer of decent mass.&#xA;Check your target:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pTFIB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pTFIB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Pull the fish out of the bowl, put it between 2 layers of foil to prevent any splash, smack the brain hard. Done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like mourning, mourn the creatures that die of natural causes without such mercy, and &lt;em&gt;live&lt;/em&gt; through worse trauma daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6214" LastEditorUserId="6214" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T09:48:08.780" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T09:48:08.780" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2015-12-03T20:19:04.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I show my dog(s) the medicine and the biscuit and tell them &quot;medicine&quot; in a nice tone. I don't want them to think it is punishment. You don't want to say &quot;good dog&quot; as they don't like what is going to happen to them.  Then I put my lab on his side paws away from me and one of my legs over his neck knee level and the other above his head and rub his belly for a while.  On a smaller dog then across the chest rather than neck.  Then I tell him &quot;medicine&quot; (he knows what that means).  Then apply solution / ointment.  Then give him the biscuit.  He does not like the solution but he likes the biscuit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-12-03T21:41:07.673" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T21:41:07.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-03T22:30:56.943" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that my Jack Russell female dog is not normal. We adopted it two years ago and we still have behavior problems with it. We live in an apartment two floors high. We tried to teach it not to pee or defecate on our sofa but didn't succeed even though we went out with it at the beginning 4 times and then 3 times a day. We had also other problems so we decided to take a dog trainer. The dog trainer gave the idea of a dog cage. We bought it a cage and thought this would resolve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But no, sometimes it would pee or defecate in the apartment; even in its own cage. How is that possible? I have heard that one of the worst things dogs would want to have is defecate or pee in its own bed. So how can that happen? Also, some days ago it peed on our kitchen table when someone left it alone, when my sibling went to the second floor for some time, why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, why is it so stubborn? I have a family that doesn't follow the rules 100% but I can say we follow the most? So why does it put its legs on the sofa when we have asked it to not do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that Jack Russell is a really really stubborn and difficult breed of dog to start, but this dog's case is not normal, and I would like some help, please. Maybe some tips and/or some way to understand its mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6219" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T08:05:01.640" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T08:05:01.640" Title="Resolving Jack Russell dog problems" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10739" CreationDate="2015-12-03T23:51:57.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;John's answer is spot on. I'm pretty sure it was effectively a damselfly larvae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add about how it possibly got in the tank and how I watched to tank the following weeks to ensure I catch them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, shortly before I saw this little guy for the first time I had purchased 2 new plants. As John pointed in his answer the larvae probably came from a plant. In my case it was a Java fern and some Whorled Pennywort - Hydrocotyle verticillata. From the plant formation it would have been pretty hard to spot them in store but once in my tank they didn't stayed on the plants. I saw them on wood, sponge filter, rocks, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the quantity, I only caught two. One when I posted this question and another one like 2 week after the posting of the question. So my advise here is if you found one be sure to keep watching for some time after because there are good chance it wasn't alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2015-12-03T23:51:57.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T00:38:12.577" Score="4" ViewCount="879" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my rabbit was sick, and we took her to the vet one night, and we put her in a new cage (smaller) and we would put her back in her big cage when she felt a bit better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So once we put her in her new cage which was around 2-3 months ago,we put her back in her big cage within 2 weeks of her in the small cage. Ever since she was in the new big cage she's started to rubbing her teeth kind of like chewing it but on the bottom on the litter box, and scratching at her litter box? I cleaned the litter box with vinegar and baking soda, I need to cut her nails soon, and I've given her toys to wear her teeth down on but she just keeps doing it! It bugs me because she's 70% of the time doing it. She is a Netherland Dwarf and spends 3 - 4 hours per day outside of her cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? Also, when she was in this cage before, she never did this..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6220" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T20:37:11.693" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T20:37:11.693" Title="Rabbit scratching and rubbing her teeth on her litter box?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T03:47:15.803" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dachshund Toby is going on 14 years this coming spring and well, he isn't a young puppy anymore. I am so afraid of him being in pain but at the same time he still seems happy. However, he has began to develop odd quirks. He has started eating his poop and pee inside or out no matter how frequently we let him outside, and he won't leave his bed unless we are taking him out or playing fetch. The last thing that is concerning me is his eyesight, last time he went to the vet she told us he was going blind from age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this together how do I know when quality of life is not enough? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6223" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-12-04T09:27:25.980" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T06:13:21.090" Title="When do i know if it is time to put my dog down?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-06T10:44:44.463" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10946" CreationDate="2015-12-04T09:18:31.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a small bunny in cage that is an ok size for sleep time, there always could be a bit more space but what you describe is not bad.  She is getting out enough so should not be feeling to &quot;caged in&quot;.  She has toys and presumably &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;hay.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution may be to let her out of the cage all the time.  See our question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;How much space does a rabbit need to live comfortably?&lt;/a&gt; for some ideas about minimum cage size and our question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320&quot;&gt;Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time?&lt;/a&gt; for thoughts on doing without a cage entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few solutions for digging at the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1817&quot;&gt;My rabbit is digging at the carpet in the corner of the living room, what should I do?&lt;/a&gt; in particular the digging box may provide an outlet for her to get digging out of her system while she is out during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see anything that you have done 'wrong' with her, so there is nothing you can fix.  House rabbits come from wild ancestors who live in underground warrens.  They get the idea that their space needs to be bigger, and they work to change it (digging), and/or other strange bunny ideas.  We have a nine year old rabbit who suddenly decides she needs to dig in the litter box.  Sometime the behavior will continue for 2 or 4 months,often leading to a litter box nearly emptied in to her bedroom space, then suddenly the behavior stops.  Months will pass and then she will start doing it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T18:40:26.750" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="288" CreationDate="2015-12-04T15:27:19.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten used one brand of litter for the first 6 months and when I changed the brand of litter she started digging it out while standing on the outside of the box.  I went back to the original litter she stopped.  Also I have heard that some cats hate the scented odor eliminating brands because the smell detracts them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6225" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T15:27:19.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10930" CreationDate="2015-12-04T15:42:13.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything seems to be normal even eating left overs.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Except&lt;/em&gt; opening her mouth&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a male cat, &lt;em&gt;Arsalan&lt;/em&gt;. He used to eat every thing we ate, e.g. chocolate (later I found out it's not good for them), banana, pomegranate, apple, pasta, noodles, bread (yeast is not good for them), bhajji, kebabs, anything with massala or spicy (giving this rarely is OK but not very often), etc. He disliked plain cooked meat, but he liked it with a bit of salt and more flavour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But keeping the mouth open is not a good sign. She might have &lt;em&gt;upper respiratory disease, which is very common in cats&lt;/em&gt;, It's better to visit the vet. If treated early, it has a lot more chances to be cured. Also, check if it's panting, and drinking more water than usual. Pull her skin from in between her shoulder blade. If it takes longer than usual to reach its original state, she might be dehydrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6226" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T08:20:01.877" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:20:01.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-04T17:08:23.363" Score="2" ViewCount="843" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a lump in between his shoulder blades that I shortly after he was neutered. I took him to the vet and he prescribed Practin (twice daily),  Melonex (twice), and Dexona (once) for 5 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first dose of all three made him very weak and dizzy and maybe he had headache because he kept calm when I was patting his head. Now after surfing through Google and checking all the side effects, I have decided to give his Melonex just once and not give Practin to him because Practin is an antihistamine and anti-serotonin,  which I don't see any need to give. He also he seems to be effected more by Practin than the other 2 drugs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please share any of your experience or thoughts about this. He also seem to have diarrhea now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6227" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-12-06T15:04:15.133" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T15:04:15.133" Title="Cat has lump between his shoulder blades" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2015-12-05T15:54:31.220" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10953" CreationDate="2015-12-04T17:21:24.523" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never discontinue a course of treatment without talking to a doctor or vet.  There may be interactions between the drugs which make the three drug combination safer. In fact it's possible that some of the drugs are specifically to manage side effects of the main drug. You don't know; I don't know either; you pay the vet for their expertise so work with them to address your concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or pay for a second opinion from another vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-04T17:21:24.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10917" CreationDate="2015-12-05T16:18:57.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience, you should seperate them if they are harming each other, then try to start joining them together with your supervision. I recommend placing them toghether in a small and empty room so you could help as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first they will start harming each other and that is OK if you are ready to help, keep them fighting until you hear screaming or if the little cat stopped fighting and thus was just getting harmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing this daily and then they will start to ignore each other, but that doesn't mean not supervising them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6072" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T21:02:32.203" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T21:02:32.203" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2015-12-05T16:18:57.750" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-05T18:39:32.753" Score="3" ViewCount="11159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting a labrador puppy in a few weeks and we are planning on crate training him. We are trying to decide where to place the crate and we think that we want him to be in the living room with us when we are in there, but at night and when we are out we would rather he was in a different room. Is there any negative effects caused by moving the crate to different locations? Should the crate be placed in a single location and left there all the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6233" LastActivityDate="2020-11-12T18:40:49.523" Title="Is it ok to move dog crate from room to room?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10956" CreationDate="2015-12-05T20:33:29.720" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another room when you sleep?  They are pack animals and sleep together.  Dog misses his/her mom and litter.  The dog wants to sleep in the room with you where he/she can smell you and hear you.  Even put the crate up so they can see you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-12-05T21:20:37.740" LastActivityDate="2015-12-05T21:20:37.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11097" CreationDate="2015-12-06T02:38:50.007" Score="3" ViewCount="2614" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I search the internet about this question there are many different opinion about the right interval to change filtration media in a regular freshwater tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the packaging of different media filter, the interval to change the media seems to vary by a good amount. Of course, companies producing filtration media are more interested to make more profit than what is left in my pocket, so for them the more I change the media the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I have never changed the filter media of my filter. About once a month I will take apart the filter and clean it in old water tank (from a water change). I will clean the sponge covering the intake (I got shrimp so no baby in the filter) then the different media from the filter (another sponge, a bag of small rock and the charcoal bag). To clean those parts, I rinse them gently in the water until there is not much coming out and then put everything back together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really interested to ear about the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/372/5646&quot;&gt;charcoal since after about two weeks&lt;/a&gt; it don't really have any effects on chemicals but since I don't use any in the tank I don't need to have any filtered out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why should I change (or not) my filtration media?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T12:43:35.070" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T12:43:35.070" Title="Why should I replace my filter media?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2015-12-06T05:58:47.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely say it is mutual grooming behaviour, ours do it when we have petted them for a long time and they are getting quite &quot;into it&quot;, then they won't let us pet them without them returning the favour.  A good test is to present, say, your arm - and not the fingers you are grooming them with. I suspect they may groom that too, even though it is not being used to groom them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thought that comes to mind is how cats clean their faces/heads, which is where we mostly pet them.  They lick their paws to wash themselves, and yet we do not do this but just rub them, they might be adding their saliva to your fingers, so you can wash them and not just rub them.  But that is a wild idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6236" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:40:03.030" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:40:03.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10948" CreationDate="2015-12-06T06:13:21.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a technical point of view, you may wish to consider that if you dog's eyesight is failing badly he may no longer wish to roam around for fear of injuring himself and that is why he would prefer to stay in his bed, but when outside there are large spaces and the risk is lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there are lots of things that can be observed from common blood tests (which are relatively cheap), which may give you an indication of weather or not he might be in any pain or if any of his major organs are failing to a significant degree.  These are not exceptionally indicative but will often give you some idea of what may be going on.  Particularly looking for inflammation markers as indicators for pain, but your vet is the best to advise really, it is a horrible position to be in and my heart goes out to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6236" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T06:13:21.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-06T19:09:11.040" Score="3" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm getting a bunny and didn't know if the smell of a cat would freak her out even if they became friends or if they could get each other sick that way even if i cleaned it out or if it's okay in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6239" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T12:45:16.687" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T12:45:16.687" Title="Can my bunny and cat share a carrier but not at the same time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8075" CreationDate="2015-12-06T19:16:26.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a bunny expert at all, but I've only done so much research recently because I'm looking to get one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly, if you try to let it out while the cats are near, but not too close. You need two people or more, for this yourself and another person pet and give both the bunny and cats a treat while they notice each other. Just reward good behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, while they're near, soon you can get closer and closer but if someone gets hurt, take it a step back. Soon, they should be fine if they were being territorial and the bunny did not hit puberty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps and please remember I'm not any kind of expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:00:26.980" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:00:26.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10956" CreationDate="2015-12-06T22:23:26.973" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are planning to crate train him for life, I would suggest getting two separate crates. That way he will know that he has his place in the living room during the day and he has a place at night when he sleeps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could move the one crate back and forth but this might become a hassle. Plus, he is going to get big so establishing a routine now will be much helpful later. My vote is, get two crates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6234" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T22:23:26.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10926" CreationDate="2015-12-06T22:27:36.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weather changes can have an affect on a pet's activity level as can changes in the household routine. If his health is fine, it might be that he has outgrown the puppy playfulness so you might have spend more time engaging him in play time. Does he have a favorite toy or game! I find it helpful to schedule time to play with my pets each day. They come to expect it and it really helps with bonding too. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6234" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T22:27:36.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10897" CreationDate="2015-12-06T22:35:16.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Betta's (also called Siamese fighting fish) life expectancy is only 2 years in captivity. Fading color is a sign of aging as is the thinning of the fins. Lethargy, lack of appetite, breathing difficulty and spotting are all signs of aging in these fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try changing the water and increasing the temperature. Also, don't overfeed the fish - it will not help. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6234" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T22:22:27.893" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T22:22:27.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10870" CreationDate="2015-12-06T22:51:58.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Yorkie and had the same problem. I found a vendor through Etsy that makes handmade halters for pets: castlepaws@bellsouth.net - Pamela Martin. Her design coupled with a custom fit has made this harness my absolute favorite. The matting and tangling problems are now a thing of the past. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6234" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T00:16:17.827" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T00:16:17.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10895" CreationDate="2015-12-06T22:56:39.827" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You must separate the mom and the kitten at this point. If you cannot do that - try cutting the toe end out of a long tube sock and putting it over the mom's torso. This should deter the kitten and protect the mom's nipples. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6234" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T22:56:39.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10669" CreationDate="2015-12-06T23:06:43.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have to agree that your Dad's presence is what makes her feel secure. I would imagine that the more time you spend with her, the more comfortable she will become. Try a giving her a new toy and finding a game you two can play together. If that doesn't work, maybe try putting bacon in your pocket. It worked for for Melvin on the movie &quot;As Good as it Gets&quot; - seriously, treats can help. Just stay calm, give her plenty of attention and try to find a unique way for the two of you to bond. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6234" LastActivityDate="2015-12-06T23:06:43.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10956" CreationDate="2015-12-07T00:20:05.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They purpose of crate training is to establish a safe space for your dog, where it can go it it wants some space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are aiming to establish it as such, and so I would suggest moving it is redundant. &#xA;Your dog will seek you out when it wants company anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should avoid disturbing the dog when crated - that is part of how you establish it as &quot;safe&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say, just position it in its overnight location, and leave it at that. Your dog will move around normally anyway.  Maybe a dog bed in your main room would be appropriate too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T00:20:05.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10964" CreationDate="2015-12-07T01:35:35.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat and rabbit can share the same carrier, unless someone is ill it does not need to be cleaned between.  With proper introductions cats and rabbits can become very good friends.  The can share everything, except food (which neither is likely to like of the others) and they &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2229&quot;&gt;should not share litter boxes&lt;/a&gt; (easier to say than enforce)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the relationship your cat and rabbit form, they may be able to share the carrier at the same time.  For stressful events like trips to the vet, they may benefit from having their friend along on the trip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See related questions about cats and rabbits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10809&quot;&gt;Is kitten-rabbit &amp;quot;mating&amp;quot; behavior something to worry about?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219&quot;&gt;What should we look for in a kitty companion for our rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2229&quot;&gt;If I have both a cat and a rabbit, can they (or should they) share a litter box?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T11:29:40.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-07T04:45:26.623" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small rescue dog and recently adopted a young black &amp;amp; tan Coonhound girl ,named Shandy, to a family with 2 young elementary school age children. Shandy is a sweet dog, but sometimes she will lunge at the kids' faces without warning. There is no growling involved and it is usually centering around food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the little boy, he was sitting down at the dinner table when Shandy lunged at him ,catching his chin.  This resulted in a small cut and bruise on the child's chin.  Also, the little girl was eating something, and Shandy lunged at her face but luckily missed it when the child jumped away.  Shandy has never tried this with either mom or dad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The family is thinking that Shandy might not be a good fit for them, but would still like some helpful suggestions. I suggested that we get a trainer in the home to assess the situation.  The second option would be to just return Shandy to our rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you shed any light on this situation?  Is there a certain type of family Shandy should go to in light of what is happening - maybe one with no kids?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T12:57:27.133" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T12:57:27.133" Title="Newly adopted Black &amp; Tan Coonhound lunging at 2 young children" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10982" CreationDate="2015-12-07T07:07:19.027" Score="3" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are kittens and puppies adopted over adult cats and dogs or is that just a rumor? If so what leads them to this choice?  Is it just because they are cuter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T11:25:58.583" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T21:35:46.277" Title="Do people prefer to adopt kittens and puppies, over adult cats or dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10980" CreationDate="2015-12-07T10:14:19.837" Score="8" ViewCount="8668" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently moved from a house to an apartment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had this cat for quite some time, and it has moved with us twice before. Both the other times, the cat would disappear for a few days (under a couch) and then start settling down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We introduced him to the new house using the following method:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We released him from his carrier in the living room, near his food/water and litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first day we kept him there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The second day we opened up the hallway to let him explore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since we opened up the hallway, the nights have gotten worse and worse, and we have since closed that door again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Around 3:00 to 3:30 A.M. the cat starts:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jumping against doors / trying to open doorknobs;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;meowing loudly;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;growling;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;going to the litterbox several times in a row, burying something that isn't there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we leave the doors open from the living room where he spends all of his time, to our bedroom, he will cry out in-front of our bedroom door until one of us wakes up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we lock him in the bedroom he'll cry at the door to the hallway (this was a bad idea).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we keep him in the living room he'll cry at the door to the hallway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that seems to calm him down is our presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we walk around with him (he'll follow us non-stop at night) he's fine and quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we go and sleep in the living room on the couch (yes, I just spent a night sleeping on the couch because of my cat) he'll purr for a while and remain quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to want us to be in the living room. And I have no idea why. It only works if it's me or my girlfriend, if our kid is with him he'll just hide and cry out from his hiding spot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day, he's his usual self:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He sleeps on the back of the couch.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's only scratching his posts.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's not peeing anywhere he shouldn't.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's not crying out during the day.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He comes when we call his name, and he's eating normally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what's causing this? Is my cat scared of being alone? Is there some smell or sound that's making him anxious at night?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm a bit sleep deprived now and really annoyed at the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6245" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T14:52:30.443" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:52:30.443" Title="Moving has caused my cat's night-life to eat away at my actual life" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10979" CreationDate="2015-12-07T11:49:50.190" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rule we all (pets and parents) go to the vet together. Everyone lives together and shares the same resources, so if one is sick, it seems reasonable to get everyone checked out.  If it's annual physical time, well everyone needs one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one has a physical issue that is not communicable like a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/&quot;&gt;hair ball&lt;/a&gt; we still take the family group, for moral support during the trip and while waiting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time everyone does not go, is if the pet does not have a partner (lives in a segregated area) and is going in for a follow up on a non-communicable issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I just being over cautious/sensitive?  Are there medical/psychological issues that make including or excluding everyone from a trip to the vet the better choice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T12:44:39.940" Title="Should I always take everyone to the vet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10978" CreationDate="2015-12-07T12:44:39.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medically&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked my vet about this once. He said that if an animal is exposed to a communicable disease but not showing symptoms, we should still not &lt;em&gt;treat&lt;/em&gt; the animal for the disease. They may be able to fight it off themselves, and our intervention may interrupt their ability to do that. Additionally, the added stress of taking them to the vet may cause them to succumb to the illness faster, more severely, or even at all (if their body had otherwise been able to fight it off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, in these situations, if a communicable disease is known to be in the house and I call or stop by the vet and tell them &quot;another animal is showing the same symptoms&quot;, they'll direct me to start treating them with the same treatment that the first animal got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the vet's office is a place for sick animals. There's always the chance that your healthy pets may pick up a new communicable disease while there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Psychologically&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this depends on species to some extent, and on the relationships between pets. Most cats get so stressed by travel and the vet, and they (tend to) not bond as tightly as dogs and rabbits. I take my cats to the vet individually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For tightly bonded animals, I would weigh the medical issues and the stress of the trip against the stress of being separated from their companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T12:44:39.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10977" CreationDate="2015-12-07T13:39:48.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, six days is really the blink of an eye for a cat to settle into a new territory. Some rescues estimate that it can take up to six &lt;em&gt;MONTHS&lt;/em&gt; for a cat to feel comfortable in a new environment. This behavior does not seem abnormal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a vet visit just to check on your cat's health. Anxiety in a new territory can be increased by a loss of vision, hearing, or onset of dementia. Additionally, the vet can evaluate your cat to see if his anxiety may indicate a need for a medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are more long term solutions, and you need some sleep NOW (moving is exhausting!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend an intensive play session before bed with a wand toy (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.go-cat.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;da bird&lt;/a&gt;). If you play with him (get him to pant if you can), then feed him, he should settle down to sleep for awhile (and hopefully stay asleep). Hopefully the activity will burn off some of his anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he still wakes you up at 3 am, I would try another play/feed session to try to get him to let you go back to sleep. Getting up for 15 minutes and then sleeping soundly until morning is better than him keeping you awake for hours!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it sounds like you normally sleep with your door closed (reasonable, with a kid in the house!). You may want to try sleeping with your door open so your cat can be sure you're still here and okay, and then go back to the living room (where he's more comfortable). Once he settles in more, you should be able to go back to keeping the door closed. If you own the new place, you could also consider installing a cat flap in your bedroom door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T13:39:48.167" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10975" CreationDate="2015-12-07T14:37:52.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately,  this is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cuteness is part of it. Wanting to feel that the animal is clearly &quot;yours&quot; plays a part. Some folks are afraid that the animal was surrendered due to behavioral problems and don't want to risk adopting someone else's training mistakes.  Some folks don't want to give up more years of living with the animal than they must. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. Different people have different concerns. But there are enough people with &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; concern to make this statistic exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T14:37:52.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10975" CreationDate="2015-12-07T14:56:48.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, puppies and kittens get adopted much faster than older dogs and cats.   I've worked at an animal shelter every weekend for almost 6 years. Puppies go the fastest because we have less of them and you can tell their breed easier than kittens.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have one of the fastest adoption rates in the country (US):  17 days. Puppies and kittens can go within the hour we put them out.  Adult dogs and cats can take a month or two to be adopted.  Other shelters aren't so lucky.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I listen to people's reasoning for adopting a puppy or kitten.  I hear things like, &quot;I want my kitten or puppy to grow up with my kids.&quot;  &quot;My child wants the kitten or puppy.&quot;  &quot;She\he is so cute.  I can't stand it.  I have to have her/him&quot;. Mostly these decisions are emotionally-based or uneducated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to educate adopters on how difficult a new puppy or kitten will be. And of course my favorite thing to say (jokingly, but not) is...&quot;you know they grow up, right?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2015-12-07T15:22:26.287" LastActivityDate="2015-12-07T15:22:26.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-08T05:05:06.377" Score="3" ViewCount="1642" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this adorable Male White Persian Cat which would be almost 3 or 3 1/2 and recently I've encountered a problem. He has started pee on my things such as my comforters and carpets. He is litter trained and knows where the litter is however this has happened on two occasions and I'm trying to understand why this is happening before he ruins my things. I'd appreciate any help if possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6249" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2015-12-08T15:27:17.790" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T05:26:09.127" Title="My White Persian Is Peeing Everywhere" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10983" CreationDate="2015-12-08T05:22:26.407" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat may be stressed. There may be changes in the household or his routine. You can give him catnip, provide cat scratchers. You can also buy some sprays that you spray on the cat. The sprays can be purchased at pet stores.&#xA;Your cat might be sick. Please call your veterinarian; and if you have not seen the vet lately, make an appointment.&#xA;You have to get the smell of the cat urine completely out of the item. There are cleaning agents for removing the smell. I like baking soda. You can also try Nature's Miracle, but it is expensive.&#xA;There may be a cat outside your house or your apartment. If your cat can see the other cat, or smell the other cat then he is going to spray urine all around your living space. Cats are territorial. If you have had your cat neutered, he should not be so aggressive with his spraying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6250" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T05:22:26.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11015" CreationDate="2015-12-08T07:25:03.593" Score="5" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often hear some people play meow soundtrack with phones or speakers for cats, and the cats seems feel surprised, but the problem is, do they surprise for unknown cats? Or just because of unfamiliar machine soundtrack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-12-11T22:57:10.653" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T22:57:10.653" Title="Can cats distinguish whether the meow sounds come from real cats or speakers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10974" CreationDate="2015-12-08T13:20:00.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any situation involving dogs that may be behaving aggressively towards young children is fraught with risk, and I don't feel comfortable advising on this over the internet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think only a qualified person, probably a behaviourist rather than a dog trainer,  who is able to see the setup and behaviour of dog and children would be able to do so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if I had any concerns that the family may not be able to prevent further incidents between the dog and children, I personally would err on the side of caution, remove the dog, and not place her again with such a young family.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she does it again and hurts a child, the likelihood is that she will be put to sleep, and if the family have asked for the dog to be removed and you don't do it, then I'd also be worried there might be implications for your rescue's liability insurance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T13:20:00.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10983" CreationDate="2015-12-08T14:16:02.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @traciguynup suggested: Breaking litter box protocol can be a sign that the cat is ill. I'd recommend a visit to the vet to rule that out. Kidney problems are unlikely at this age, but it could be a urinary tract infection or something of that sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-24T05:26:09.127" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T05:26:09.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-08T17:17:41.640" Score="4" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've all seen these devices. They're the suction-cup clamps used to affix heaters, filter intakes, tubing, and other appliances inside the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xCWLh.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the suction cups quickly deteriorate and no longer stick, the clamps loosen, and soon any torque on the appliances breaks things lose and leaves them hanging in the water. It makes the tank look like it always needs to be &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;put back together.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have my tank set up pretty much the way I want it to stay. Is there a more robust solution to holding fixtures inside the tanks so they don't start deteriorating weeks after they are installed? Maybe something designed to be a bit more &amp;quot;semi-permanent.&amp;quot; I'm thinking something hot-glued or somehow clamped or built into the framework of the tank itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-10T20:22:54.720" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T20:22:54.720" Title="Better solution for holding appliances inside the aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="10989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7743" CreationDate="2015-12-08T18:38:05.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sister went in heat the same time mamma did and although she mated she didn't get pregnant, this will cause the cat to enter a pseudopregnancy state, the cat will think it's pregnant and won't go into heat for another several months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sister might have a hormonal(ovaries) problem/defect, I can't elaborate much on this, but one of my cats had ovaries with defects(low hormone production) which would cause her to only go into heat one or two(pushing it) times a year, also if you're really worried, I'd take her to the vet since it could be tumors in the ovaries as well(worst case)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she didn't go in heat when mamma did(or at all), don't worry... Some cats just bloom later than others. It's called an average for a reason, there's no rule as to when a cat should start going into heat, only approximations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2015-12-08T18:54:56.623" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T18:54:56.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11201" CreationDate="2015-12-08T20:00:49.807" Score="4" ViewCount="1888" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say a pet owner leave his dog inside for a whole day because of a trip. The owner returns to find that the dog has peed on the furniture. Is the dog seeking revenge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6219" LastEditorUserId="6027" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T04:21:21.577" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T21:31:07.830" Title="Do dogs seek revenge on their owners?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10988" CreationDate="2015-12-08T21:54:31.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Replace the the suction cups with magnets. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marinedepot.com/Zoo_Med_MagClip_Magnetic_Suction_Cups_Heater_Accessories-Zoo_Med-MZ4111-FIHTHA-vi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.marinedepot.com/Zoo_Med_MagClip_Magnetic_Suction_Cups_Heater_Accessories-Zoo_Med-MZ4111-FIHTHA-vi.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3081" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T21:54:31.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10990" CreationDate="2015-12-08T22:59:23.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and it might not even be revenge.  They may just need to pee.  Could you go the whole day without peeing?   A dog can learn to make like 10 hour work day but much after that asking a bit.  They will sleep most of the day but they need to be on that schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T10:51:28.697" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T10:51:28.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-08T23:48:35.917" Score="1" ViewCount="515" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 5-years old Budgie (male, unfortunately now is alone) in a cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recognize when he's singing (for example when play with bell or hearing some sounds he likes). I also recognize when he wants to eat or drink (buckets are almost always full but when I'm all day outside and while he's hungry he chirps in particular way when I got home).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday he started chirping like when he's hungry but I noticed that he has food and water. But I'm sure that he wants something.&#xA;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6255" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-12-09T04:23:11.797" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T15:52:28.003" Title="What does budgie chirping means?" Tags="&lt;sound&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2015-12-21T13:50:22.497" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7528" CreationDate="2015-12-08T23:49:04.747" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vet's Number&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This item is pretty much essential in any first aid kit, but is often overlooked. if your gecko looks in a bad way or you have tried everything you know - then this is can be a gecko life saver more than the other tools on this list. There's nothing worse than scrambling around to find a contact number for a vet in a panic. To get your local reptile vet number search online for it if you haven't got one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bandages&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use ordinary plasters - it can damage the skin of your leopard gecko. As a bandage use cotton and tape or liquid bandage if you can find any. If your gecko has a deep cut or a broken bone - don't waste time with trying to form a splint or prepare a bandage, get to a vet asap. You can wrap it up for the short term however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eye/ Skin/ Wound Healing Ointments&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These ointments are available from most leading reptile shops and are good for healing cuts and scrapes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitchen Roll&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitchen roll is great as an emergency substrate and easy to replace and dispose of at as fraction of the cost of other substrates! Effective when you need to clean out a sick gecko every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quarantine Vivarium&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quarantine vivarium / faunarium is essential if you keep more than one gecko as keeping them apart can prevent the spread of infection if you catch it early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shedding Aids&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Store bought reptile shedding aids can be useful but you get the same results with luke-warm water and a piece of clean cloth! The main thing a gecko requires to shed effectively is humidity so all you need is a plastic tupperware container to make into a humid hide and a piece of cloth to take the excess skin off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find out more here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leopardgeckoguy.com/2010/11/dealing-with-shedding-issues.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.leopardgeckoguy.com/2010/11/dealing-with-shedding-issues.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Shedding aids was the only thing that I didn't know about. That was research for this answer. All other words that aren't quoted are from my experiences handling with leopard geckos)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3263" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-12-08T23:49:04.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11039" CreationDate="2015-12-09T01:53:27.873" Score="7" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 9 month old staffy pup.  I want to stop his behavior of scratching at the back door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When people are at home he is generally allowed inside the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is nobody home (and sometimes on other occasions) he is put into the back yard.  When this happens, he bangs and scratches at the back door.  He has damaged the wood on the door and the surrounding door frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try not to reward this behavior by letting him in right after he scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But sometimes we do want to let him in.  He will hear us coming home to the front of the house and scratch at the back door.  In this situation, we have been getting him to sit (which stops him scratching) before letting him in.  So what happens now is that he scratches, and then sits when we approach the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to punish or praise him in this situation, because what he wants is someone to come and talk to him (and let him in).  I think he would rather someone telling him &quot;No&quot; than being left alone entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's house trained, and can sit, stay and heel if nothing too distracting (another dog) is around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6253" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T03:16:28.960" Title="How to stop 9 month old staffy from scratching at door?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-09T12:10:40.047" Score="3" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, a 8 year old female Terrier mix, is extremely sensitive to loud sounds. She gets very scared of storms and firework.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In advance to holydays, where fireworks are pretty common, I was looking for some info about how to prevent that. I came over &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/notes/xtra-dog/helping-dogs-who-are-noise-sensitivity-especially-during-firework-season-by-alex/792281107486273/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post on facebook&lt;/a&gt; where, among other methods, it explains that wrapping the dog in bandages can help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone tried this? Does it work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5990" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T22:02:50.297" Title="Does putting some bandages on a dog really help with noise fear?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10993" CreationDate="2015-12-09T13:06:41.503" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found the answer to my question and it wasn't obvious. My budgie doesn't like the &quot;mess&quot; in my room. When I cleaned up my room, he stopped chirping. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6255" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2015-12-30T15:52:28.003" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T15:52:28.003" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="10999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10990" CreationDate="2015-12-09T18:37:52.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs live in the moment. They don't really have a concept of time. They are not capable of analyzing a situation and deciding that you are deliberating leaving them and they need to get revenge because you are late and need to be punished. More likely, you went beyond the dog's bladder capacity and it had to  relieve itself. If a dog chews and destroys something, it is probably because they got bored and hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T18:37:52.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-09T22:47:32.600" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mini doxie has been dealing with a broken lower jaw, on both sides,  for a while.  She has metal plates holding it together,  so it was able to heal but it's already &quot;healed&quot; and re broken once before so I'm afraid to try to get her into toys that involve too much chewing or tug of war.  Having said that,  I'd still like her to be able to play with toys.. does anyone out there have any ideas or suggestions for toys that would be gentle on her poor little jaw? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6257" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T22:47:32.600" Title="How to play with a dachshund that cannot chew toys?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10990" CreationDate="2015-12-09T23:53:54.297" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs do not have a concept of &quot;revenge&quot;. Their mental processes revolve primarily around the &quot;pack&quot; identity: one member of the pack is the alpha, and all have their places in a distinct pecking order. (For owners that aren't mindful of this psychology, the dog usually believes itself to be the alpha.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is fully housebroken, it probably held its bladder for as long as it could stand to (and likely experienced a feeling of failure when it couldn't hold it any longer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog's house training is not complete, then it should come as no surprise that it couldn't go all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastActivityDate="2015-12-09T23:53:54.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-10T02:27:20.050" Score="5" ViewCount="533" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it make sense to hang the bottom of a cardboard box in a cage for a cockatiel? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of cutting the bottom of small cardboard box, or half-gallon milk carton. The idea is to make a tray shape, attach it to the side of the cage with twist-ties. As a resting/nesting place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a cockatiel like this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is cardboard safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T14:59:41.117" Title="Cardboard box for a cockatiel" Tags="&lt;cage&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-10T17:26:14.493" Score="2" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a school assignment, I'm writing up a website to act as a care-sheet for Uromastyx/ces. I can't find any reliable information however on what the plural of &quot;Uromastyx&quot; (which is singular, despite how it sounds) is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked over a few discussion boards, and ended up with &quot;Uromastyces&quot;, but I can't find anything definitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I Google &quot;Uromastyces&quot;, a Programmers question I posted is one of the top results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yFcPW.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yFcPW.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google Search Results&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, which isn't particularly encouraging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T18:37:10.313" Title="&quot;Uromastyx&quot; plural = &quot;Uromastyces&quot;?" Tags="&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11004" CreationDate="2015-12-10T18:16:58.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Found a blog where they discuss this in some depth. Might as well give you the exact quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Uromastyx&quot; is the name of the genus. There is only one genus named Uromastyx so there is no plural. You do not pluralize scientific terms for genus, species, or subspecies. Sometimes when the common &quot;English&quot; name is the same as the scientific it is acceptable in common terms to pluralize, but scientifically speaking it is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: 2 specimens of I. iguana iguana, or commonly spoken 2 green&#xA;  iguanas. However to say 2 uromastikes makes you sound like you are&#xA;  trying to sound more intelligent than what you really are; inventing&#xA;  words and such. No one says that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Uromastyx/messages/2142464.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reptic Zone&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this quote, I searched for formal/correct ways to pluralize scientific names. Finding the following(&lt;a href=&quot;http://animaldiversity.org/teach/editor_guidelines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AnimalDiversity.org&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Scientific names can be regarded as either singular or plural, so it&#xA;  would be equally correct to say &quot;&lt;em&gt;Canis&lt;/em&gt; lupus [has or have] eight&#xA;  pups per litter.&quot; Since taxonomic entities are considered evolutionary&#xA;  individuals, we generally prefer that scientific names be regarded as&#xA;  singular, such as &quot;&lt;em&gt;Myotis keenii&lt;/em&gt; is found in Pacific coastal&#xA;  forests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jlindquist.net/generalmicro/102usage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proper Usage of Terms and Scientific Names&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To refer to members of a given genus in the plural sense, using&#xA;  Bacillus, Micrococcus and Mycobacterium as examples, one cannot change&#xA;  the genus name directly to a plural form. Bacilli, Micrococci and&#xA;  Mycobacteria would be improper. To get around the problem, one can&#xA;  write such as the following examples: &quot;species of Bacillus,&quot; &quot;isolates&#xA;  of Micrococcus,&quot; &quot;strains of Mycobacterium.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So technically, using the term &quot;Uromastyx&quot; as a plural form should be okay. Since there is not plural form of a genus name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2015-12-10T18:37:10.313" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T18:37:10.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2015-12-10T21:46:33.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that's worked &lt;strong&gt;incredibly&lt;/strong&gt; well for me is hiding the pills in super-chunky peanut butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; peanut butter, and since she can't tell the pills apart from the peanuts, she's swallowed her pills every time &lt;em&gt;(and even if she could, it's so sticky it would be hard to spit them out)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure your dog isn't allergic to peanuts first &lt;em&gt;(is that a thing for dogs?)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="233" LastActivityDate="2015-12-10T21:46:33.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11016" CreationDate="2015-12-11T01:01:38.077" Score="7" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tank recently had a small outbreak of columnaris (my fault since I didn't use a QT tank for new fish) The disease surprisingly and thankfully did not spread to any other fish that I know of except for the ones who already had it. I did not separate the sick because I assumed the water had already been infected and I should treat the whole tank for it rather than just the infected since all of the fish might have been exposed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the infected died today and I didn't see it due to the plants and decorations until I noticed my pleco feasting upon one of the sick's body (which I removed prompty). Would this be worse than the normal symptoms of the outbreak, and would I need anything special for this? I've started treatment with Furan-2 already. Would this treatment still work if the fish ate the columnaris? Or would I now need something more ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6266" LastEditorUserId="6266" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T03:10:30.703" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T01:44:45.130" Title="Fish eating dead fish with columnaris" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11038" CreationDate="2015-12-11T03:06:08.613" Score="2" ViewCount="3375" Body="&lt;p&gt;My adult female cat can't seem to stay away from my Christmas Cactus houseplant that's blooming so beautifully. Any suggestions on what I can do? I really dont want to get rid of it, as it was a gift given to me just yeaterday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im also hoping that it's not poisonous if she does happen to get to it without supervision.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f5Z8l.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f5Z8l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T01:58:29.653" Title="My cat keeps chewing at my Christmas Cactus plant." Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11013" CreationDate="2015-12-11T14:44:50.637" Score="5" ViewCount="11155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted an adult cat three days ago from a shelter. They didn't know how old she was because she came in as a stray. If I had to guess she is 3-5 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we offer her food she won't eat it. We have tried a few kinds of wet food but in the last three days she has eaten maybe a total of one can of food. When we open a can she will run up and take two bites then so purring and walk away. She won't even eat treats or lunch meat. She has also thrown up twice but both times seem to have been in reaction to beef.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I just need to keep trying different kinds of food for her? Is this just a nervous reaction to a new environment? (She seems pretty calm and happy). At what point should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6270" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T06:05:15.713" Title="Newly adopted cat won't eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11012" CreationDate="2015-12-11T16:12:53.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a good idea to bring new pets straight to the vet in general.  It may have been seen by a vet at the shelter already, but it's helpful for your vet at the least to have a record of what's healthy for your cat, and also it's possible for the cat to pick things up at the shelter, as it has many cats in close proximity.  So take it to the vet and tell them you're concerned the cat has not been eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are also cats that are very picky, or like to slowly &quot;graze&quot; on their food throughout the day.  I suspect your cat is a &quot;grazer&quot; since &quot;grazers&quot; will often be interested when you first put new food down, and then nibble at it and wander off.  In this case, keep trying foods to see if they seem to be particularly interested in one.  Also, leave a constant supply out so your cat can nibble throughout the day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another trick is to get the cat's attention, pick the food bowl up, turn around so the cat cannot see the bowl, and then set it back down.  Cats do not have object permanence, that is, the ability to understand that items out of view are still there, so when you take the bowl out of view, and then set it back down, the cat will think it's a new bowl, and it may then try nibbling at it some more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2015-12-12T06:05:15.713" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T06:05:15.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10985" CreationDate="2015-12-11T19:29:18.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From experience, I will say that cats generally know the difference between a speaker or an actual source when they have experience with the source (IE my cat ignores my voice from the phone), but even if they know it sounds differently, that may not mean that they differentiate between other sounds that they might not be familiar with (like an unfamiliar cat's meow, or explosions on the TV).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2015-12-11T19:29:18.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11007" CreationDate="2015-12-11T21:06:54.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a lot of research, I have found that columnaris can manifest in an internal infection, so I should also treat with Kanamycin aka Kanaplex as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned...-1689.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6266" LastEditorUserId="6266" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T01:44:45.130" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T01:44:45.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11018" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11019" CreationDate="2015-12-11T22:34:21.243" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live on a large piece of property with a long driveway (100 yards); the yard is fenced but the cat could easily get out if it wanted to. The driveway leads to a highway, and while I haven't seen my cat ever wander more than 40 yards from the house, I'm curious to know whether or not it may want to. Specifically, will a female cat wander away from its home for any common reason? Is it likely that she will stay somewhat close to the house, within the fence, and not wander off to the highway 150 yards away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, do cats have standard behavior in terms of how far they wander, or is it just random?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T15:13:48.967" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T15:27:53.727" Title="How far will my cat wander?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11018" CreationDate="2015-12-11T22:55:26.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The size of a cat's patrolled territory depends on the lay of the land and the surrounding population of cats who object to yours coming through their territories, along with how energetic/curious/determined your cat feels. Fixed vs. unfixed probably also makes a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Websearching &quot;cat territory size&quot; finds enough variation in &quot;typical&quot; estimates to make me hesitate to cite any of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I believe the answer to your question &quot;do cats have a standard behavior&quot; is &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to know, there are GPS recording devices available which would let you see where your cat has been spending her time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T14:43:10.277" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T14:43:10.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11021" CreationDate="2015-12-12T13:57:33.013" Score="6" ViewCount="19902" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat likes (specially in the mornings) to lie in my chest while I'm reading or looking something in my laptop and then he starts to purr and to lick my clothes. He does it with as much passion as when he eats his favourite food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does this very often and I don't understand why. He's the first pet I have and I have him just from very recently. Is this a normal behaviour of the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he used to do this with his previous owners or if it is normal. Why does he act this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6275" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T21:11:35.907" Title="Is it normal that my cat licks my clothes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11020" CreationDate="2015-12-12T14:44:46.453" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's normal -- or as normal as cats ever get; they're quirky beasts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Petting a cat is grooming behavior; he's grooming you in return. It's a friendly gesture... and/or a hint that he wants attention. Probably both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've known cats which lick elbows, lick fingertips, chew gently on fingertips, or just groom whatever's within reach... one woud try to lick your lips if you blew gently at her. Not all cats do this, or do it to all humans, but it's far from uncommon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-12-12T16:43:30.870" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T16:43:30.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-12T18:59:32.403" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a 120 gallon saltwater aquarium with 4 1&quot; bulkheads in back. There is a pair on either side of 4' long aquarium each pair have hold 10&quot; apart. Right now I just have screens over the bulkheads and that is how I'm running my drains down to sump. My question is, can I silicone some 3 walled overflows around each set of bulkheads with fish and livestock in still and just drain maybe 5 inches lower than the drains? I'm pretty sure I have zero surface skimming going on at the present moment and I am developing a film on the top layer of water&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFiC3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFiC3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6280" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T00:39:06.040" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T00:39:06.040" Title="Overflows on an established saltwater aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2015-12-12T21:16:46.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use cheddar cheese rather than peanut butter. I always give a small piece of cheese first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For small pills, next I offer a cheese/pill sandwich and follow immediately with a cheese chaser that she knows is coming.  The expectation works so she doesn't take time to sort out and reject the pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bigger capsules, after the pre-cheese, I stick the pill at the back of her tongue, while showing her the cheese chaser.  Because of the pre-cheese, her mouth is slobbery so the capsule goes right down.  In a dry mouth, a capsule can stick on her cheek and be rejected minutes later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She can hear &quot;cheese pill&quot; much better than the word &quot;stay&quot;, but I must admit I'm working with a tolerant, cooperative dog, who is OK with my sticking my fingers in her mouth.  It will be handy if you can teach your puppy that this is normal.  Ella demands decent cheddar though, and spits out low fat mozzarella.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6282" LastActivityDate="2015-12-12T21:16:46.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11044" CreationDate="2015-12-13T10:08:36.387" Score="9" ViewCount="20508" Body="&lt;p&gt;My royal python is currently being a very picky eater. Last night I was able to coax him in to striking an appropriately sized rat, he missed three times. I then left him overnight in a dark cupboard with the rat (brained at this point) to find he hadn't touched it by morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would my python strike but then lose interest when the prey is literally laid out in front of it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought their hunting mechanisms mostly involved heat and smell rather than movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6289" LastEditorUserId="6289" LastEditDate="2017-05-02T12:11:32.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T23:38:05.667" Title="Why would my royal/ball python strike but not eat?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-13T12:11:19.757" Score="9" ViewCount="18289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am baffled by my cat pawing at the TV when it is off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The TV sits next to the window, but as it happens at night as well as during the day, I don't think it's just interesting reflections from outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't paw the TV when it's on either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've guessed she might be pawing at her reflection but that didn't feel like the whole story.  Any ideas please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-30T03:48:12.693" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T08:39:34.070" Title="Why does my cat paw at the TV when it is off?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="881" CreationDate="2015-12-13T16:02:43.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can get toxoplasmosis. This comes from litter/cat feces and where do they lick a lot? Then they are putting their mouth in your water and you're drinking it? I just wouldn't risk it. If my family leaves water glasses out for a length of time, I dump it in case the cat has gotten to it. Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6291" LastActivityDate="2015-12-13T16:02:43.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11037" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-14T00:37:00.983" Score="4" ViewCount="8666" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat is doing something he knows is bad, such as trying to chew on flowers, I will snap my fingers and say his name and he will chatter back at me. He will stop doing it, but I'm just curious as to why he chatters at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6295" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T17:51:08.500" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T20:09:25.700" Title="Why does my cat chatter at me when he's being bad and I yell at him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11008" CreationDate="2015-12-14T01:58:29.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the ASPCA website, the Christmas Cactus plant is one of the few plants that are not toxic to cats.  Before you bring any plant into the house, take a quick look at their website to see if the plant is toxic to your cat (because most plants are):  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants&lt;/a&gt;.  If you really want to keep the plant, you can try spraying the plant with diluted Cheyenne pepper or hanging the plant somewhere your cat can't jump (although they will almost always find a way).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you make the commitment to bring a cat into your home, you give away a few &quot;rights:&quot;  the right to go to the bathroom by yourself, the right to have tinsel on your Christmas tree or ribbon on your presents, the right to have clothes without cat hair on them, and, yes...the right to have plants inside your house.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the few things you give up,  I'm sure you will agree that the friendship and love you get in return is well worth it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's innate.  Cats chew plants.  It's really much easier to get rid of the plant.  There will be no more &quot;getting on to&quot; your kitty and no more seeing how much of a bite your cat can &quot;get away with&quot; before you notice.  I think you will find that a plant-free home will be more peaceful to all involved.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T01:58:29.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10996" CreationDate="2015-12-14T03:16:28.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can wait until a few minutes he finishes scratching to let him in, so he doesn't associate him barking means you'll open the door for him. You're basically teaching him that scratching at the door will in fact NOT let him in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now what you're doing is saying sometimes if he scratches the door it'll get your attention and you'll let him in if he stops when you come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to show is that scratching will not get his attention, or only negative attention. The most important thing is not letting him in unless he stops without you approaching. Since it seems he scratches knowing you would approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6266" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T03:16:28.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10582" CreationDate="2015-12-14T11:28:26.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has just been diagnosed and will start medication today.  Do some research, you will find that there is medication available.  If I were you, I would get a second opinion from a more experienced vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6299" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T11:28:26.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11031" CreationDate="2015-12-14T15:52:43.233" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing interest in food is just something that royal pythons do; it's perfectly normal. Sometimes this fasting lasts for a few weeks, sometimes it lasts for several months. Earlier this year my own royal python stopped eating for about four months then went back to eating every 1.5 weeks like nothing happened. It seems to be more common in males than in females but there's a reason royal pythons have a reputation of being picky eaters!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, since feeding is one of the few ways to tell if your snake has any health issues, this can be frustrating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a record of your snake's weight every week or so. If his weight stays roughly the same (give or take a few grams) every time, and he continues to shed fine, then you have nothing to worry about. If the weight suddenly drops, however, take your snake to the vet, along with your records of feeding and weighing him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep offering him food every fortnight. Leaving it with him overnight is fine. Does he have anywhere to hide in your dark cupboard? If he decides he isn't hungry, he will want somewhere to feel safe, and the lack of a hide could also be stressing him out a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3921" LastEditorUserId="3921" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T15:55:45.203" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T15:55:45.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11033" CreationDate="2015-12-14T16:57:40.143" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure you're going to find an answer to your question.  My cat paws at my computer monitor and occasionally my TV, on or off.  Something about this is fun. I don't believe there is a more scientific answer.   Considering the material of the TV, I can't think of anything this action would mimic in nature.  Some things cats find fun are just mysteries.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your reaction to your cat will likely determine the frequency of her TV pawing.  If you give her attention when she paws at the TV, she now finds this an even more fun activity...I get to paw at the TV and I get attention from my favorite person.  (Don't forget, negative attention is still attention.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want her pawing at the TV, you'll need to set something in her path that is more fun to distract her.  When I need to get serious work done at my computer and my kitty starts her usual walking over my keyboard until I pet her for 30 minutes, I pull out a big, plush, freshly-washed blanket.  Awwww.  Works every time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have iPad sessions with my kitties where they get to play with the cat apps.  They get to paw the screen all they want.  It's much more interesting to chase a mouse or butterfly on a screen than to paw at nothing in a screen.  However, you may not be able to stop the behavior entirely.  Something about that screen is just sooo mesmerizing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T16:57:40.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-14T17:05:52.020" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question/ problem is; We got a rescue golden retriever when she was 9yrs old (CoCo) and a few weeks later we got a blue/red nose little girl pit named Tater who was 12 weeks. Tootsie (Rot/Doberman) female 6 months older then Tater joined the family. As soon as CoCo started to slow down a lot Tater got pushy and aggression with her and I read to stop that was to let CoCo be first and make Tater wait. This worked great. Now my problem is we just lost CoCo and Tater is upset looking for her and now she is fighting, being a bully to Tootsie to the point of us breaking up major fights.  Tootsie is more passive then Tater but will tease her and Tater is a bully. How or what can we try to get balance back. Tater is spayed but Tootsie is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6302" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T10:25:00.587" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T10:25:00.587" Title="Behavior issues after one of three dogs dies" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11037" CreationDate="2015-12-14T17:26:26.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;em&gt;You don't really describe the vocalization, so let me know if I am way off the mark.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaiR14JQlOU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example of cat chattering&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat &quot;chattering&quot; is a typical vocalization response when a cat sees a bird or a rodent outside a window. It is typically thought that they chatter in a state of high anticipation or possibly frustration in response to the surge of adrenaline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A recent study suggeststhat cats may actually be trying to imitate various sounds they hear as a hunting technique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedailycat.com/behavior/understanding/copy_cat/index.html#axzz3uJvRWtfe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats that copy and impersonate other animals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=talking+cats&amp;amp;aq=f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YouTube is full of videos&lt;/a&gt; of cats coincidentally or intentionally trying to make human-like sounds. Who knows; maybe he's trying to tell you to stop &lt;em&gt;beotching&lt;/em&gt; at him so much &amp;lt;grin&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T18:17:38.257" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T18:17:38.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11037" CreationDate="2015-12-14T18:28:40.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard a claim that the rapid jaw motion in the &quot;chitter&quot; is actually a specialized bite, which works the teeth between the prey's vertebre to sever the spinal column. I have no credible citation, alas, but I've alwsys interpreted it as &quot;I'd bite that, but I can't.&quot; Maybe in this case it's &quot;I'd bite that but I'd get my furry butt whipped&quot; -- another form of feline cursing to go with hiss, yowl, and the time my siamese pointedly made burying motions in my direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-12-14T21:08:47.970" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:08:47.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11046" CreationDate="2015-12-14T20:37:49.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a few years difference then need have the younger dog deffer to the older.  As during the final years of the older dog they just plain need it.  I start from the day the younger dog comes to the house.  The older dog gets to eat first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of the two about the same age you just let them work it out until one displays aggression the other does not handle.  At that point the more aggressive eats last.  But you may need more than just that in the situation you are in.  Discipline the more aggressive dog.  As soon as Tate begins to tease break it up and tell her no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T20:37:49.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11051" CreationDate="2015-12-14T20:54:45.623" Score="1" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say there is a dog that has shelter and food and water, physically very healthy, friendly towards people (at least some), physically not abused, but never receiving attention from a human beyond feeding (no walking, playing, socialization, no contact outside of feeding, etc.). Imagine, say, a dog locked in a room, yard, shed, that is given food and water and space to move around but nothing else. I actually have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Informally (or formally) does this qualify as abuse of some type? If so, what is it usually called? The term &quot;neglect&quot;, in official channels, seems to connote physical neglect rather than not meeting the social and psychological needs of a dog (&quot;that dog is neglected&quot; -&gt; &quot;no it's not, it's got food and shelter and is in great shape&quot;). The phrase &quot;emotional neglect&quot;, fair or not, always seems to immediately trigger eye-rolling in discussions with folks who don't take the issue as seriously as I'd like.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If so, what are the typical signs and behavioral patterns of a dog in a situation where they are physically treated well but never given serious attention? Can I identify these animals with long term observation? Are there definite red flags that indicate a very high likelihood that this is happening?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:17:37.693" Title="Identifying non-physical neglect in dogs by observation" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11050" CreationDate="2015-12-14T21:17:37.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Laws vary by locality, but I think in most places this would be legal. (Note that I recently read of a city in Virginia that passed an &quot;anti-tethering&quot; law: it is illegal to tie a dog to an outside lead for more than 3 hours a day, so there are some places with more restrictions. But this law is getting a lot of criticism, too). In general, if the physical needs are being met (food, water, shelter), and there is no physical abuse, then the government will not try to dictate how much time you spend with your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for signs of a dog being ignored and isolated, it depends on the dog. Some may act aggressively, others may be depressed and lethargic, others may get into destructive behavior out of boredom (digging, chewing inappropriate items), etc. Other might not show any outward signs, and be content with their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2015-12-14T21:17:37.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11033" CreationDate="2015-12-15T00:29:26.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a scientific basis for this, only observations of my own cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be that she knows that things are always moving around on the screen, and in their absence, she is trying to coax them out of hiding, or figure out how to bring them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if she is bored. When my cats are bored they'll start falling back on other things that have been interesting in the past; windows, the projector screen, iPads, the bathtub faucet, the printer, that random place they chased a fly around in the past, the spot on the wall I always shine the laser pointer, etc. And cats will often paw at things to try and &quot;activate&quot; them or whatever, since they can't think of much else to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I interpret that kind of pawing as a general &quot;I want the thing that was interesting here back again&quot; or &quot;I know there is something about this spot, what is it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distracting them with play has always worked for me, and keeping them busy seems to decrease the behavior overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T00:49:45.447" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T00:49:45.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11059" CreationDate="2015-12-15T01:21:24.800" Score="6" ViewCount="6594" Body="&lt;p&gt;Relatives of mine have had dogs for most of their lives.  They have been without a canine companion for a few years now and would like another, but they are in their upper 70s with the beginnings of mobility issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have always taken their dogs for walks at least twice daily, but are concerned that this might become increasingly difficult over the next several years.  They also have a large, fenced yard with plenty of room for a dog to run.  Of course, a fenced yard does not provide the dog with the chance to &quot;get the news of the neighborhood&quot;, so to speak.  (At least I've been told that this is basically what they're doing when they sniff at things when out on walks.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They prefer medium-to-large dogs -- golden retrievers, collies, and similarly-sized dogs.  (Their dogs are rescues, not purebreds, so treat this as an approximation.)  Their dogs live inside the house and get plenty of &quot;people time&quot;; they aren't kept in a yard or barn full-time.  If they got a dog they would get one, not two, and would adopt an adult, not a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How important are walks to a dog's physical and mental well-being?  Can a large yard meet a dog's needs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:08:33.873" Title="Does an adult dog need regular walks if it has a large yard to run in?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11054" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-15T01:48:29.367" Score="11" ViewCount="2224" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I are planning on moving in together in the near future and I am curious as to the best way to get his dog and my cat accustomed to one another. My cat has never been around dogs except one time and he really freaked out. His hair stood on end and he tried to hide. My boyfriend's dog is very mellow and is already accustomed to living with cats so she's not really the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try separating the two for a bit? Or should we just put them in the house/apartment together and let them work things out on their own? I think my cat would adjust fairly quickly, but I don't really know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T03:34:08.980" Title="What's the best way to get a dog and a cat accustomed to living together?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2015-12-15T02:03:46.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Large yards can definitely still keep a bigger dog happy, even if they aren't getting walks. Just make sure the dog is actually exercising when they are outside! It sounds like the most viable option for this situation would be to throw the ball or other chew toy around etc. Dog bones can also keep them occupied for a while and keep them entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for psychological aspects, I don't know exactly, but I have had dogs that only went in the backyard to play and socialize etc. They still got plenty of entertaining stimulus by chasing squirrels and sniffing where different animals had visited. It wouldn't hurt to still occasionally take the dogs to a dog park if they are very social animals, but usually dogs are still very happy to be social with their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T02:03:46.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8046" CreationDate="2015-12-15T02:59:18.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat did this for 7 years. The DR finally figured out she was a carb addict. So I started to give her wet food and her hair grew back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6305" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T02:59:18.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2015-12-15T07:56:06.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Walks aren't just exercise.  Dogs can run around a garden and blow off steam, but what they get from a walk is the quality time with their human.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes them happier and more receptive and likely to bond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can reduce the amount of walking by having space for them to run, play and toilet, but not omit them entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T07:56:06.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11066" CreationDate="2015-12-15T09:51:24.907" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are homing pigeons trained to deliver messages? Why don't they just fly away? How can someone tell them where to deliver the messages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6307" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T18:41:02.813" Title="How are homing pigeons trained?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2015-12-15T11:30:33.010" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Optimally every dog would get a couple of hours of walk time every day. Also optimally there would not be any dogs in the shelter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the yard is large enough for the dog to get up to speed and run in circles it should have the opportunity to get all the exercise it wants.  For a dog with a big yard, walks are more about social time than exercise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the situation you describe, the dog is going to get lots of social time, as your family is going to be spending all their time with the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many shelters have seniors for seniors programs, where older pets are specifically looking for the calmer setting of a retired persons life.  Ultimately it comes down to finding the pet that is looking for the home you have.  A Dalmatian puppy would probably not be a good fit, for your relatives home, but an older, big, lazy dog would fit perfectly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T22:08:33.873" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:08:33.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11060" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11061" CreationDate="2015-12-15T12:21:33.020" Score="4" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. X-rays were done and showed cancer spread to lungs. He was given about 6 months to live at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's about 14 years old no and the original diagnosis was a little over 2 years ago!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He looks like a mess now. Mass keeps growing and it takes up a sizable portion of his insides. He's still relatively happy. Wags his tail, barks when he wants food. His mobility has gone down and he sleeps a lot more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when he rests, he'll lay up against a hard surface on his right side. I figured this gave him a little relief from the pressure of the mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I placed a small heating pad place on low in his dog bed. I put a double wrapped bath towel over it. I monitored the temp and turned it off after about an hour. He loved it!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is that okay? Is it harmful to him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6308" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T16:27:27.757" Title="My dog has adenocarcinoma. Is a heating pad not good?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11060" CreationDate="2015-12-15T14:22:25.923" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The situation you are describing is often described as &quot;Hospice&quot;, you are providing comfort care for a sick being.  Quality of life is more important than quantity of life, comfort over living longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it feels good, and adds to the comfort it is good.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are making the important steps in monitoring the application of heat for safety. Temp is not too high, always supervised if they are unable to move away from the heat, monitoring that electrical cords are not chewed on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally in my area there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gentlejourneyvet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;veterinarians who specialize in hospice care&lt;/a&gt; if you are lucky enough to have one in your area, contact them.  Ours makes house calls, and the comfort they give to the pet and family can be significant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Directly speaking to the use of heat for pain management, current practice is to include heat as part of solution.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Non-pharmacological methods to manage pain include cutaneous stimulation techniques (heat and cold applications) acupuncture, psychosocial methods of care, holistic management and pastoral care.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3474460/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T16:27:27.757" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T16:27:27.757" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11054" CreationDate="2015-12-15T15:56:43.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I volunteer at an animal shelter, and this is a very common question. The relationship takes time to build, and you need to be patient and willing to follow the steps necessary to make it work. It sounds like you are ready for this and really want it to work.  This is the first step needed.  So, thank you for caring about your animals.  Here are some steps to follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Until both animals are comfortable, interactions must be supervised.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog is used to being crated, then crate him during your first few interactions. If not, use a baby gate and confine him to a portion of the house where he cannot reach the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the dog is confined, let the cat in the room to see the dog. Your kitty will be scared at first. That's OK and normal.  Also, remember, hissing is not bad. It only means &quot;I don't want any trouble.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let your cat approach the dog.  Do not force any type of interaction.  You will need to speak to your cat constantly, comforting and petting him (if he will let you). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your cat's favorite treat ready. When the cat sees the dog, give your kitty a treat. After a couple sessions, he will start associating good things with seeing the dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can have your boyfriend do the same with the dog, if the dog starts to get jealous that the cat is getting food.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The age and temperament of your cat will determine how many confined sessions you will need.  Make sure the sessions are short at first and then gradually make them longer.  You will start to see the cat coming into the room, cleaning himself, and probably ignoring the dog.  This is actually a good sign. It means he's comfortable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, do the same steps with the dog behind a baby gate. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, do the same steps with your boyfriend holding the dog on a leash.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, these steps should occur before the dog moves into the house, since this will take some time.  If you rush the process, they may never be &quot;friends.&quot;  Also, as @Frisbee alluded, you will need a couple tall cat trees (at least 6 ft tall or taller), so your cat can get away from the dog when he wants.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow these steps and let your cat lead the pace, you will have a happy home...and your kitty will be teasing the dog in no time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T15:56:43.570" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10993" CreationDate="2015-12-15T17:02:20.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chirping could mean many things, mourning for a friend, hungry, or just wants your companionship. He could even be communicating with birds outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6266" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T17:02:20.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11065" CreationDate="2015-12-15T17:42:09.153" Score="4" ViewCount="12663" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working with rescued rabbits we often have people who purchased two girl (or boy) bunnies from a pet store or breeder, and a few months later they have a bunch of baby bunnies that need new homes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard this reported multiple times, in fact the majority of baby bunnies that enter the rescues in my area are the result of a spontaneous gender change of one of the rabbits.  According to Wikipedia it is known to occur with animals as complex as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_change&quot;&gt;chickens&lt;/a&gt;, but it does not mention rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T12:46:35.697" Title="What causes rabbits to spontaneously change gender?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11064" CreationDate="2015-12-15T17:53:41.073" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?Can-Rabbits-Change-Gender-/-Sex?&amp;amp;id=5847031&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stated here&lt;/a&gt;, they don't change gender.  Rabbits are one of those species whose gender is difficult to tell, especially in young animals, and therefore are regularly misidentified.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T12:46:35.697" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T12:46:35.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11058" CreationDate="2015-12-15T18:10:28.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are not trained.  As stated in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_pigeon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_pigeon&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_post&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_post&lt;/a&gt; the homing pigeon was selectively bred to have the ability to figure out where its home is over particularly long distances.  The pigeon just needs to be raised in a location to consider that place its home, and it will naturally want to fly back when separated from its home.  As a result, each pigeon could only be used to deliver to one location, and people would have to raise pigeons according to where they might want to send messages in the future. Homing pigeons have also been known to make mistakes when flying home as well, or they have been killed along the way.  Therefore, in order to insure messages were received, multiple birds with the same message might be sent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2015-12-15T18:41:02.813" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T18:41:02.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-15T20:44:57.270" Score="8" ViewCount="41227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a kitten, when he was only 1.5 months old (he is now almost 4 months), from his breeder so he didn't know a lot things. So I've had to teach him how to use the litter box and even how to eat from a bowl. However the one thing I haven't been able to teach him is how to clean himself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He tends to lick himself all over his body but from time to time he gets some poop on his fur which not only makes him dirty, but also my carpets and quilts. Is there a way to make him understand how to clean himself instead of me needing to cut away some of his fur so that the feces falls off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6311" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2015-12-16T01:27:21.037" LastActivityDate="2020-07-05T11:43:20.207" Title="How do I teach my kitten to clean feces from itself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="47" CreationDate="2015-12-15T22:05:26.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Color has nothing to do with intensity. No color is inherently &quot;safer&quot;. However, the color green is more apparent to the human eye - so a 150mw red laser will appear dimmer than a 150mw green laser. This does not mean it's any weaker or any safer, it has the exact same burning potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also beware, most of the lasers floating around are somewhat lacking in quality control, and often MUCH stronger than advertised. While it's true that a 5mw laser would normally be fairly safe around an animal, I've measured lasers marked as &amp;lt;5mw well over 20mw. This is not in the least bit safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation, if you wish to use a laser with your animal, would be to look for a &amp;lt;1mw (Class II) red (650nm). It will be more than bright enough for indoor use, it's on a spectrum that animals can easily see and even taking into account poor manufacture it should be at a low enough power you won't have to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6314" LastActivityDate="2015-12-15T22:05:26.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11068" CreationDate="2015-12-16T08:02:07.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try playing momma-cat and &quot;licking&quot; him clean with a damp corner of a sponge or washcloth... but remember that you're still dealing with an infant who's not yet entirely sure that tail is his...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T08:02:07.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2015-12-16T08:41:13.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I have read (and believe when I say I am no expert) cats have to have room for there whiskers because they detect so much as they eat. That is why they eat out of the center of the bowl and not the sides. My cats don't even eat to the bottom of the dishes I have currently because they are to deep for them and constantly complain until I shuffle the food around. For xmas they will be getting new and shallower dishes. Thank you for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6317" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T08:41:13.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11068" CreationDate="2015-12-16T13:49:20.537" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't say, but I'm guessing your kitty has medium to long hair.  If this is the case, you will need to take him to the groomers regularly so they can shave his &quot;back end.&quot;  Otherwise, it is difficult for your cat to get that area completely clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'm guessing that you're probably still giving your kitten a lot of wet food.  He is old enough to be eating dry kitten food.  Try dry food during the day and a half a can of wet food at night.  This will help solidify his stool so it won't get in his fur.  If you have never given the kitten dry food, you will need to mix the wet and dry together until he gets the hang of it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember, kittens usually rush the litter box process because they want to get back to all the fun things they're missing.  I know it's frustrating, but it sounds like you are being very patient with him.  I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T13:49:20.537" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2015-12-16T16:44:53.640" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;You said it happens when your are gazing into your cats face..  As a human that is a good thing but to a cat and especially a stray eye contact or stareing is a sign of aggression and that you are going to attack.  To disarm the cat you need to blink slowly and look away.  Don't stare at their face.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T16:44:53.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2015-12-16T16:48:22.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rat terrier and a large black lab.  For our dogs, we cut a slit in a piece of hot dog and hide the pill inside the hot dog. They get so excited to have people food that they just chew it up and swallow it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely think the best strategy is to hide the pill in some type of human food, just try some options and see what works best for your dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T16:48:22.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-16T21:18:55.847" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever since my Chihuahua was a puppy, he constantly switches back legs when running. Some times, he runs on all fours. Other times, he will run on 3 legs, always keeping one back leg off the ground. When he does this, it is never the same leg, and some times he switches. He never shows any signs of discomfort or yelps that might indicate pain. We even took him to the vet when he was young and they checked his knees and they did not detect anything. They said smaller breed dogs may do this &quot;just because they can get away with it.&quot; However, I was doing some reading today and came across &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chihuahua_(dog)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link on wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; about luxating patella. It states&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chihuahuas are also known for luxating patella, a genetic condition&#xA;  that can occur in all dogs. In some dogs, the ridges forming the&#xA;  patellar groove are not shaped correctly and a shallow groove is&#xA;  created, causing the patella to luxate or slip out of place, sideways.&#xA;  The knee cap sliding across the bony ridges of the femur can cause&#xA;  some pain. &lt;strong&gt;The affected chihuahua will hold its leg flexed, and foot&#xA;  off the ground until the quadriceps muscle relaxes and lengthens,&#xA;  after which the animal feels no discomfort and continues with&#xA;  activity&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis my own. This seems to describe what occurs. But he doesn't have any issue walking, and like I mentioned no indication of pain. Did my vet know what he was talking about? Or should I be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6324" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T15:21:10.663" Title="Luxating patella in Chihuahua?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2015-12-16T22:51:47.953" Score="14" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I immediately retaliate, hard, just like another cat would, to make&#xA;  her think twice about doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...I make sure to hurt her as much as she did me. That seems like&#xA;  sonething she'll certainly understand as retaliation for her&#xA;  aggression toward me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a bad idea with any animal, and &lt;em&gt;especially with cats&lt;/em&gt;. Cats don't have the same kind of relationship with us that dogs do. Cats are solitary animals for the most part. They don't have an instinct to please the leader of the pack the way that dogs do. What you see as punishment or retaliation merely frightens the cat, &lt;em&gt;making things worse for the next time&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat enjoys the play up to a point, and then wants to quit. She can't say so in words, but she gives you some signal that she needs a break. Unfortunately, you're missing the signal. That's not too surprising, because it's not easy to read another animal's body language, the signals can be subtle, and each cat is different. And even the most savvy cat owners miss these signals from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I recommend is that you keep your play sessions short for a few days. End the session while she still wants more. Then gradually lengthen the time, while &lt;em&gt;watching her body language very carefully&lt;/em&gt;. I can't tell you exactly what to look for, because I don't know your cat. But likely signs that she needs a break might include: putting her paw on your hand, pulling her head back a bit, or tensing up her body. Once you learn her signal for &quot;enough&quot;, this problem will disappear almost entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We get along a lot better with our cats once we take responsibility for any misunderstandings in communication (which is what this is). After all, we're the ones with the big brains, so the onus is on us to meet them a lot more than halfway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether it's a cat or any other animal, when a behaviour problem occurs it's usually not the animal that needs training, but the human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-12-16T22:51:47.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11079" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-17T03:24:26.540" Score="7" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three German shepherds, they are nine months old and came from the same litter. While I am gone, one of the dogs literally pulls out the other dog's eyebrows. I have tried separating them but they hate it and scream the entire time I'm gone. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6327" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T15:11:24.310" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T05:23:54.330" Title="My dog keeps pulling out the others eyebrows" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-17T06:08:16.717" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;At a job that requires interaction with dog how would one go about dealing with aggressiveness? For example if you worked at a petsmart or kennel how would you deal with an aggressive dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T14:18:51.597" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T00:16:52.540" Title="Dealing with aggressive dogs in a professional environment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11084" CreationDate="2015-12-17T06:47:33.593" Score="1" ViewCount="535" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know some people may more attract mosquito to bite, how about cats and dogs? Is cat or dog more attract mosquitos compared with human?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T16:10:16.513" Title="Cat,dog and human, which is most attractive for mosquito?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11068" CreationDate="2015-12-17T12:37:49.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience a healthy cat or kitten will produce rather dry poop that doesn't stick to the fur. That suggests that your kitten is having stomach issues and may need a vet visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens usually have more sensitive stomachs than adult cats anyway, and from what I've seen a kitten with stomach problems is much more likely to have sloppy, messy poop than to throw up - and sloppy, messy poop will stick to fur. Kittens will also be more likely to step in it afterwards (cleaning up after that is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; fun!) while they're trying to cover it up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did with the last longhaired kitten I had when she had issues was to start with a box of tissues and use the tissue to &quot;wash&quot; her butt. You might get everything out this way, or you might need to brush/comb the rest out. I recommend doing this when the kitten is sleepy or you'll be trying to clean a squirming ball of energy that wants to play with you. Don't forget to &lt;em&gt;thoroughly&lt;/em&gt; wash your hands and the brush/comb after you've thrown the used tissues in the trash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a lot of poop to clean, you might need several sessions, and if the kitten is having serious stomach issues, you might want to trim the fur there until you can get the stomach problems settled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few other thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there's a difference between a healthy, more or less dry poop hanging from the kitten's butt and poopy mess sticking to the fur. The dry dangler is probably either the kitten rushing the job to get back to the more interesting things or a partial hairball that hasn't been fully passed. If it's a hairball, there'll be kitten fur holding the poop and you'll want to give the kitten hairball treatment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As others have said, the breeder really shouldn't have given you the kitten so young. You'll want to watch for other health issues. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your kitten has ongoing diarrhea, you need to see a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T12:37:49.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-17T13:01:15.947" Score="7" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats with two female cats. The problem is that the older male cat is hurting his 6 month old male kitten.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What should I do to stop the older one from doing this ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6072" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T12:41:37.273" Title="Is it possible to stop two male cats from fighting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11081" CreationDate="2015-12-17T16:10:16.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is mostly genetics and varies from person to person, cat to cat, and dog to dog.  For example, my dog and I are not very attractive to mosquitoes, but my sister gets bitten all the time. It really goes by a per case for each individual and there isn't a straight answer for whether cats, dogs, or humans are the most attractive for mosquitoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a helpful article explaining some current research on mosquitoes, humans, and pets and who/ what attracts them: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/are-you-mosquito-magnet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mosquito Magnets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T16:10:16.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11079" CreationDate="2015-12-17T22:15:01.603" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stretch but use a q-tip and put something bitter on the eyebrow (like a bitter apple).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it may be an irritant to the eye so just start with a dab.  Even if you hit an inch above the eye it would get on the other dogs tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2015-12-17T22:15:01.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11083" CreationDate="2015-12-18T01:24:05.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should neuter the adult male cat. Then you should begin behavior modification as suggested by keshlam in the comment that he should be creating as an answer soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T01:24:05.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6729" CreationDate="2015-12-18T01:52:58.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are doing aquaponics and you have to clean your tank, you are not doing it right. You should have an ammonia and nitrogen cycle going. I have two ponds, one on the top of my hillside and one on the bottom. I've had a permaculture food forest going for about 7 years now.  I have a couple different species of fish in the top larger pond. That pond filters down through my Swales until it feeds into my smaller pond at the bottom of the hillside where I have shrimp, red claws (&quot;freshwater lobster&quot;) and feeder fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a Southern California and have found it possible to create different microclimates on my land. I recently just started my symbotic relationship between ducks and rice. I got to say it's going great, the ducks eat all the weeds and provide nutrients for the rice.  Not to mention they are ready to be sold or harvested by the time the rice is harvested.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway to the main question: no, you cannot.  You would be better off having two or three ponds, especially if you want to start a homestead.  Those ponds can also be used to water plants near by or for your animals to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When building a homestead/permaculture everything should have more than one use in my opinion. I have a small, 3 acre farm that's done wonders.  40 chickens give me more eggs than I could ever ask for, kill bugs and turn over my topsoil. 30 ducks feed my rice field, while my rice field feeds my ducks.  My fish pond feeds my nut trees, berries, fruits, veggies, spices, etc. while my crustacean pond feeds my herbs, leafy greens and water loving cukes and melons.  I recently just got 6 pigs that I let roam free in my &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; acre of woods, where I have a bunch of nut and fruit trees planted.  I'm hoping after they eat all the hazelnuts, acorns, apples, etc that fall on the ground that the flavor will be out of this world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6338" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:32:34.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:32:34.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2015-12-18T03:59:09.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one who kneads all the time.  He showed up as a feral kitten, around 4-5 weeks old.  Couldn't find his mom and he was too afraid to come near anyone for the first month.  He didn't get the mothering he needed and is a little immature.  He likes to knead on my shoulder and nurse on my shirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think he will ever stop, and I do NOT want to punish him.  He turned out to be super cuddly and just loves being held and petted.  I don't want that to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things have helped.  When he digs in with his claws, I will pick up a paw and hold it.  He still flexes his paws, but it doesn't hurt.  I keep a thick dishtowel near the sofa and drape that over me when he comes to nurse and knead.  His claws don't go through it.  Finally, I bought cat milk at the pet store, the kind that's formulated for cats to digest.  I give him about an ounce of milk every night.  That seems to push a few of his kitten buttons and he doesn't want to nurse and knead as much when he gets his milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish he would stop, but I can live with it.  Like I said, this guy went from feral to about the most affectionate cat I've ever had.  I'll take a few claws in the shoulder for that.  He's not doing it to hurt me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6339" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T03:59:09.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11093" CreationDate="2015-12-18T05:19:52.083" Score="4" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it healthy to permanently rely on wet food products for adult cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really difficult for me to prepare foods at home or buy cooked chickens from shops every day, so I am thinking of buying Royal Canin wet food products and making them the main meal for my cat, but I am worried about health issues, especially for long-term feeding habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6340" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T20:25:16.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T20:25:16.670" Title="Is it healthy to permanently rely on wet food products for adult cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11089" CreationDate="2015-12-18T06:42:15.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet would say wet food may be preferable. Paraphrasing: &quot;House cats descend from a desert breed and evolved to get a lot of their moisture from their prey. Dry food is convenient and may be better for their teeth but doesn't give them that, and they may be getting dehydrated as a result--you've seen how awkward it is for cats to drink.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm undecided. My current cats are getting much more wet food and have some obvious dental issues; my previous cat got almost entirely dry food and AFAIK didn't have those same issues... but that may be individual variation rather than evidence, and vets were less good about looking for dental problems then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T20:24:49.400" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T20:24:49.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2015-12-18T06:46:00.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been able to perduade cats to kneed with minimal or no claws, by a combination of making uncomfortable noises when poked and gently tapping the paw tips or lifting them away from me. Remember, cats successfully train each other to go easy on the claws...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T06:46:00.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11094" CreationDate="2015-12-18T11:24:51.890" Score="4" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot find any information on this anywhere so I am resorting to asking here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had my gerbils now for about a month and I have no desire to hold them, as I am naturally a flighty person and when I have tried when I first got them, they were very young and nipped (not bite) me and I jumped which was concerning me that if I did this too often that they would become afraid of me. I give them a good quality of life, I change their water everyday; food often and clean their cage once a week and fill it with toilet rolls and some treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are still fairly young, not even a year old and they get along so well with each other, often sleeping right next to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite me not holding them, they don't seem in any way afraid of me, as the more extroverted one, always comes near the edge of the cage to talk to me and the introverted one does sometimes but he is very shy and doesn't really try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To bond and have some interaction with them, I sometimes stick my hand in the cage and stroke their bodys/heads which they seem to be fine with and I very often gently come close to the cage and talk to them. &#xA;My friend has gerbils and she is VERY touchy with them and always is holding them and putting them on her shoulder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why I am posting this is because I am concerned that I am not giving my gerbils a good quality of life just due to the fact that I do not hold them. This sounds so silly because they seem happy and healthy, it is just, that I have never come across information that states that holding is optional and not holding them is okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that if I do not hold them on a regular basis that they will not be 'tame' however when I do sometimes stroke them they are not aggressive in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the background info on my situation, Please tell me your answers to put my mind at rest, as I do love my gerbils and want them to have a good life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is: Is holding a gerbil optional or is it vital for them to lead a happy and healthy life?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6341" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T13:25:06.630" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T13:25:06.630" Title="Not holding gerbils really stressing me out" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11089" CreationDate="2015-12-18T14:36:30.587" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;All well-known brand cat food is going to have the right balance of nutrition for your kitty.  You don't have to worry about health issues (unless your cat has allergies to certain foods).  Now, if you live in a country where it is difficult to get name brand cat food, you need to talk to your vet about what is the best available. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have to worry about health issues when you feed your cat people food.  Getting all the nutrition your cat needs with people food is very difficult unless your vet is guiding you every step of the way.   Your kitty will likely be even more healthy if you transfer him/her to a brand cat food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Keshlam is exactly right that inside cats have a problem with dehydration.   The wet food helps this issue, since it has a large percentage of water in it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your issues with feeding only wet cat food will be...(1) soft stool (that may turn into diarrhea often),(2) ensuring you take up the dish after your kitty eats (just like us, you don't want to leave wet food out all day; the food can degrade and harm your kitty), and (3) teeth problems (also mentioned by Keshlam). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ease the issues I mention above, I feed my cats dry food during the day and wet food at night.  AND I have a drinking fountain with constant running water for them, which encourages them to drink more...well worth the money.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just some things to think about.  I wish you and your kitty the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T14:36:30.587" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11092" CreationDate="2015-12-18T15:16:21.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are taking very good care of your gerbils, and they are relaxed and happy. You are doing fine as you are. I would continue to stroke them, both because it's good for bonding and because it will make things easier if you ever have to give them medicine. Your gerbils don't need to be held.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someday you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; want to be able to hold them, I suggest you take it slowly, in a series of steps that you practice regularly over several days or weeks. Only proceed to the next step when both you and the gerbils are completely comfortable with the current step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your hand, open, with the palm facing upward, in the cage. Let them walk onto it, but don't close your hand around them. Perhaps put a treat in your hand to encourage them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partially close your hand around the gerbil, then open it again. Do this slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fully close your hand around the gerbil, then open it again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick the gerbil up an inch or so, then move your hand back down and open it. Do this slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, you can proceed to holding your gerbil. But this is all optional. You don't need to hold your gerbils unless you want to. They are happy as they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T15:16:21.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11103" CreationDate="2015-12-18T18:54:50.510" Score="4" ViewCount="1833" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty experienced with freshwater aquariums, but I would like to set up a small 3-gallon nano saltwater aquarium to keep a few corals, a shrimp, and one fish.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Is this possible?  I have read some places that you should not keep saltwater fish in a tank that size and others say it is fine.  I've also seen videos of people with small 3 gallon saltwater tanks with fish.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is possible, please suggest what type of fish I would be able to have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not possible, please explain to me why I cannot have this or what my limits would be with the 3-gallon saltwater aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T21:29:42.083" Title="3 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7577" CreationDate="2015-12-18T19:00:10.763" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issue BUT my dog will be the first everytime I take him out - even if only 5 minutes later, so then what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried just ignoring him if we just came in.  One time I took up bell for 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we take him to fenced backyard if he goes a &quot;good&quot; - firstly, not a few drops and/or secondly, we make a fuss and play.  If he does a drop or two and then wants to play - we leave him the yard alone for 5 minutes.  It has cut down on the ringing.  Also trying - once he rings, we wait to see if he rings again.  Sometime if we don't respond he lays down.  Smart dogs are the WORST, it hilarious!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6344" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-31T13:14:32.570" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T13:14:32.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10959" CreationDate="2015-12-18T19:08:46.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a traditional freshwater aquarium filter, there are three separate parts: &lt;strong&gt;Mechanical, Chemical, and Biological&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mechanical:&lt;/strong&gt; This is your top sponge, it just filters out particles in the water such as uneaten food or fish waste.  The people that sell fish pads are going to tell you to change it every two weeks, but you should be fine changing it every month or two depending on how dirty it gets. As long as you are washing out the particles that collect in the sponge, use it as long as it will last.  A good rule of thumb is if the sponge has turned dark brown/ black and remains so after a rinse - its time to replace.  Also, if it is falling apart or you can easily tear it apart it is time for a change. A fresh sponge is important to collect the maximum amount of particles from the water to keep it clear and fresh for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chemical:&lt;/strong&gt; This is the charcoal that removes toxic substances such as airborne contaminants from the water.  It is really just to make sure there is nothing offensive to humans in the water, but I change mine two or three times a year just to be safe.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biological:&lt;/strong&gt; These are the &quot;rocks&quot; at the bottom of your filter.  It encourages the growth of special bacteria that process ammonia and nitrite and convert these materials to relatively harmless nitrate.  This keeps the biological balance in your aquarium.  Do not replace this unless you are setting up a new aquarium as it is dangerous to your fish and could cause them to die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastEditorUserId="6310" LastEditDate="2015-12-18T21:23:41.503" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T21:23:41.503" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11153" CreationDate="2015-12-18T20:17:39.827" Score="3" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog threw up white foam. She has thrown up this white foam before so this isn't the first time, but it doesn't happen often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume she sometimes swallows parts of her toys because she tears them to shreds. She always eats normally, the same amount each day and doesn't act as if she is sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just normal behavior for a dog to sometimes throw up white foam or is there possibly a more serious issue that I should be concerned about, such as a pathogenic bacteria, worms, etc.? Is my dog trying to tell me something by throwing up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: she has been doing this since I've had her (4 years old now) and she visited the vet in the past year for a check up with nothing wrong.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I took my dog to the vet yesterday because I noticed blood in her poop (about 2 weeks after this post) and it turns out she had some type of stomach virus. It cost about $180 for the vet visit and medications, but they gave her some antibiotic shots and some pills that I have to give her. So for the record: blood in poop is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:13:06.330" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:13:06.330" Title="Dog threw up white foam" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11099" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24238" CreationDate="2015-12-18T05:23:31.523" Score="6" ViewCount="429" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small garden pond (1x1m and a foot deep) that is surrounded by plants that bear red/orange flowers/fruits. When the chili plant became mature, the chili peppers just fell off into the pond where they started rotting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 3 types of aquatic plants in the pond that provide oxygen. It always rains here so there's no need to have a direct source of fresh water. I have guppies, swordtails and mollies that have been there for two years already. There are unwanted snails and frogs too. There haven't been any dead fishes until the chili pepper started rotting in the pond. Did the chili kill my pond fishes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6347" OwnerDisplayName="Rod Maniego" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:38:34.713" Title="Did the Bird's Eye chili kill my pond fishes?" Tags="&lt;pond&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11099" CreationDate="2015-12-18T16:16:18.287" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, all three of those types of fish are brackish water fish, which means they tolerate and even prefer hard salty water up to a point. If you have organic material rotting in the pond, it could quite possibly lower the pH below what these fish can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is always recommended to keep detritus from accumulating in ponds,&#xA;Especially small ones like yours because the rotting can also consume a great deal of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there you have two possibilities as to why your fish may have died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing. Where are you? If you are in the summer time right now, the added heat also reduces the amount of oxygen the water can keep in solution. Cold water can hold more oxygen than warm water, and the summer time is always a dangerous time for fish because the added heat not only stresses some fish, but also makes less oxygen available to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Escoce" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T16:16:18.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2015-12-18T20:38:44.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The AMVA study cited above (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_225_9_1399.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_225_9_1399.pdf&lt;/a&gt;) was conducted on colonies of free-roaming cats that had human caretakers. These humans presumably fed them. Among real feral cats* (having no food supplied by a human) there is additionally death through starvation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, people with a cat they can't keep should make great efforts to place the cat with new people. It is common for people to think that cats (however much they have been pets) can survive in the wild, but the information we have come across shows that the odds of survival of an individual house-raised cat put in the wild are small. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the country, where unwanted cats are sometimes abandoned. I resent the off-loading of now fearful cats, that have no food (people rarely help them, and prey is insufficient) to live on, can become pests probing garbage containers, and are subject to predation by larger animals. Almost all of them suffer a lot. Yes, this is the way of the wild, but we have expected better for pet species. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For free-ranging cats, &quot;estimates of the reproductive capacity of female cats and the consequences of&#xA;unabated reproduction are often extrapolated beyond&#xA;scientific reliability, as they typically fail to use realis-&#xA;tic litter sizes or ignore kitten mortality rates,&quot; states the AMVA paper. We have developed a great fear of sexual intactness of cats, but that level of fear is not called for in situations of very high mortality of kittens.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Communicating about feral cats is made more difficult when different people mean different things by &quot;feral&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6345" LastActivityDate="2015-12-18T20:38:44.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11095" CreationDate="2015-12-20T01:20:18.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very small salt water tanks are pretty difficult to maintain. Properly heating/cooling a tank that small is always a challenge -- most heaters aren't adequate enough to maintain a stable temperature in such a small tank, and you might need to wind up investing in a chiller as well. All tanks deal with evaporation, but in a tank that small you have to monitor that daily or the sudden increase in salinity can kill whatever you have in there. As with freshwater aquariums, you have to worry about ammonia and nitrates, and it's very easy to overstock in smaller aquariums. Three gallons is more of a pico tank than a nano, and with picos and nanos there's virtually no room for error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as stocking options go, it really depends on the fish you're aiming to keep. I'm not very well versed in pico tanks, but from what I can tell you're pretty much limited to gobies -- they don't need a lot of space to swim, most of them stay fairly small, they don't have a huge bioload, and they're pretty happy when kept singly. If you're keeping corals you're going to want to make sure you pick a subspecies that's reef safe, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've never kept saltwater, I'd advise joining a forum specifically for saltwater tanks, looking around for a local fish store that specializes in saltwater fish, and possibly starting a much larger tank until you get the feel for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6155" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T21:29:42.083" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T21:29:42.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T03:02:13.057" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 year old rescue mixed Maltese. I also have an an 8 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Maltese came first, and so they have lived together for 8 years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I was talking to someone who has been a dog owner for his whole life and I consider an expert in training dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mentioned that I like the fact that the two dogs can keep each other company while I'm at work. He mentioned offhandedly that it probably doesn't matter much either way -- the two dogs would most likely be equally happy if they were separate and lived their own lives with different owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, he insinuated that there really isn't any reason for having these two glued at the hip. Recently, I had the opportunity to send the Maltese off to live with my elderly father, who lives in a different town. I said no, since I thought the dogs would be happier together. Maybe that's not the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do dogs need dog friends?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T13:12:32.730" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T15:26:07.873" Title="Do dogs need dog friends?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T08:48:43.813" Score="4" ViewCount="640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was at work and my door was closed.  My sister opened the door and the cat got in and was pawing at it. The cat broke open the roof and attacked gecko's tail and took his leg clean off! What kind of first aid should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-12-20T12:31:06.313" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:40:31.270" Title="My leopard gecko arm was taken off by my sister's cat while was at work!" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9594" CreationDate="2015-12-20T08:55:27.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was like that too, after a while yours will get use to the kittens. Try to introduce them slowly. Make sure you are always there when they are introduced. If one feels threatened, it could go in one of two ways: one runs away and you have a funny video, or two they attack and you have to put yourself in the middle of it making a bad video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:27:31.490" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:27:31.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T09:04:38.107" Score="3" ViewCount="2199" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat paws at my door at night and wakes me up. I know the easy thing to do is leave the door open but I can't sleep with it open.is there a way to keep her from scratching at my door?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T11:47:41.833" Title="My cat wakes me up at night pawing at my door" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11080" CreationDate="2015-12-20T09:10:28.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are messing with an aggressive dog,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crouch low.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if it is not trying to bite you put you hand out slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if it is close and calmish try to pet it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if it tries to jump onto you put out your knee. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is for training new animals. Just make sure you feel safe man I hope this works. It did for my dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastEditorUserId="6105" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T17:51:26.170" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T17:51:26.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T12:23:08.543" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am reading &quot;Fired up, frantic and freaked out&quot; by Laura VanArdendonk Baugh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On page 23 she describes the clicking process as the following steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Click&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pause&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Move the treat hand&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deliver&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's with this &quot;pause&quot; step? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing clicker training for a while now (and I think it's working) but I am doing it on the premise that I have to deliver the treat within 3 seconds of the click in order for the dog to make the connection. And the sooner the better so: better deliver the treat immediately after the click (that's probably within one second).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any clicker training experts or preferably someone with an&#xA;  animal behaviourist degree out there who can tell me if this pause&#xA;  step in the book is a typo? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T19:23:27.347" Title="Clicker training -- to pause or not to pause?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11108" CreationDate="2015-12-20T12:31:19.190" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to ignore it. If necessary buy ear plugs. She needs to learn that scratching the door does not yield anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be consequent. Even opening the door once will teach her that if she scratches the door will open so she will try again. Be patient. Never open the door, don't talk through the closed door, etc. just completely ignore it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also make sure their bowls are full. Our cats have unrestricted access to food: as soon as I see an empty bowl I fill it up. This is optimal for cats without eating disorder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help it you could buy some cat deterrent spray (smells of something the cat does not like) which you can spray on the door. This can help prevent further scratching of the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I'd place one on each side of these of your door: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000634MH8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/SmartCat-3832-Ultimate-Scratching-Post/dp/B000634MH8/ref=zg_bs_2975247011_1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T11:47:41.833" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T11:47:41.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11083" CreationDate="2015-12-20T12:41:37.273" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you spay/neuter all 4 of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will not only likely solve the aggression problem but also prevent the problem of producing about 8 kittens twice a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's 16 kittens per year on average in the first year. Then the next year each of the kittens, say half of them are female, will produce 16 kittens itself. That's 16 kittens from the first two mother cats plus 8*16=128 kittens from the second generation cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's 144 cats in year two. And so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you love cats do the world some good and pay for surgery in order to prevent future unnecessary suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T12:41:37.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11110" CreationDate="2015-12-20T13:40:09.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think one of the key things you touched upon was giving the treat &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the click, which means there is a pause even if it's only 500 ms or so (forward conditioning). While I can't be sure, it's possible the author specifically mentioned this step because it can be missed by many trainers who may be tempted to click and treat at the same time to ensure the dog gets the reward (simultaneous conditioning). While this is not a bad thing and will work, it's not nearly as effective at making the connection between the clicker and the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wiki article has some more information on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;classical conditioning&lt;/a&gt; and specifically notes differences when the reward is delivered in relation to the stimulus (in your case the clicker).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="1277" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T19:23:27.347" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T19:23:27.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T16:57:32.490" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am worried about one of my turtles (&lt;a href=&quot;https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachemys_scripta_elegans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Red-eared turtles&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are almost 2 years (or perhaps 2 years) old. One of my turtles does not want to eat. The other eats normally. That makes me discard issues with the aquarium temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked their shells. They are strong.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I checked their ears. They open and close them normally, and look normal in size and color, nothing changed in proportions these months.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I checked their nostrils. They look to have no cold and breathe well underwater. They also move as quick as always.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I always check when they eat. There's no fight for food (except when the other one follows my finger trying to eat it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I noticed that the turtle that does not eat, has a tiny white rounded mark in the neck. That mark had another (brownish-like) color before. What's happening with my turtle and how do I help it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2840" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2016-01-16T00:06:34.613" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T00:06:34.613" Title="My turtle doesn't eat" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11108" CreationDate="2015-12-20T19:48:25.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the easy thing to do is leave the door open &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm saying, it's not only the easy thing, it's the only thing!  Those of us fortunate to have cats in our home give up some things...one of those &lt;em&gt;things&lt;/em&gt; is the right to keep an inside door closed (when a person is behind it)...ever.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of this, here are some things that may help you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get an open pet door for the door to your room.  Your kitty can come and go as she please.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want no opening to the outside of your room at night, spend some extra money to get a pet door that responds to a signal in your cat's collar (meaning you would have to get your cat to wear a collar) and the system opens the pet door when the cat is in close vicinity.   IMPORTANT:  If you live in an apartment, you will need to buy a second door to cut out the pet door and store the original door.  When you leave the apt, put on the original door so you don't get charged.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another option is setting up a can of &quot;air&quot; just outside your bedroom door.  (see link).  This item detects movement and sprays a small amount of air to startle the cat.  The website says the air is nontoxic, odor free, and harmless to your kitty.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Ssscat-PDT00-13914-SSSCAT-Cat-Training/dp/B000RIA95G&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never tried this method before, but I have heard behaviorists recommend it.  However, I have a very smart cat.  I can see her figuring out how to get around it or knocking it down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have also seen people open their bedroom door just enough for the cat to get through and hang a long cloth over the opening so they can still have privacy.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitty the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T19:48:25.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T22:02:25.777" Score="3" ViewCount="686" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a set of furniture for my tv and dvds that my cat recently has discovered as something fun to climb on. For that she needs to start from the window-frame, jump behind the curtain and get on a closet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want her to climb on it, because she could cause damage by chewing, or throwing dvds on the ground, damaging the boxes and scratching the dvds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I make it very clear that she's not allowed to climb the furniture set, by firmly saying 'no!' (and body language) and grabbing her by the neck and taking her off the furniture, if she persists. This usually works, as shouting or standing up from the couch normally makes her turn back. But sometimes she just rushes forward to reach as much as she can, before I have time to react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just cats being cats, or might this be a sign of boredom? What can I do to get a more permanent solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PS: Sort of funny, she resets the clock above the furniture, by moving the big hand (she has to stand on dvds and stretch real high to do that).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastEditorUserId="6356" LastEditDate="2015-12-20T22:07:40.990" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T23:41:59.090" Title="Cat stubbornly keeps repeating behaviour she's not supposed to do (and knows)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2015-12-25T00:53:16.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11118" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-20T22:05:52.357" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Chihuahua is constantly and I do mean constantly licking her pups genitals, not his rear but his other part and she doesn't seem to lick anywhere else!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6357" LastActivityDate="2015-12-20T22:05:52.357" Title="dog cleaning pup way too much" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11225" CreationDate="2015-12-20T22:32:46.250" Score="6" ViewCount="942" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two female Border Collies, now about 12 and 8. The older one is the mother of the younger, and the dominance issues we went through when the youngest wanted to assert herself... well, it took about a year for things to fall into place with the help of our vet and a trainer. (The younger dog is the dominant one.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 8 months ago, my son (same town) got a male BC pup as a rescue, and I volunteered to dog-sit as both my son and his wife work long hours. Of course he was the underdog, and it wasn't a problem (my girls weren't unduly aggressive.) After a few months, he was able to stay at home alone for longer periods of time, and we switched from the dog being here to my stopping in at my son's home to take him out and play mid-day on days when I was able.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog has now far outgrown both my females. He tries to be the dominant dog: he tries to eat their food, take their spot where they're resting, and sometimes much worse (he urinates on their beds and where they eat!) This causes all kinds of growling and snapping, and I correct his behavior, not allowing him to dominate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog-owner in me knows there will be more peace ultimately if my girls just learn that he is now the dominant dog. Then there will be no more bickering; they'll know their place. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my heart isn't in line with my head, and I'm not up for the months of disruption this will inevitably cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just allow nature to take its course?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: At my house, I treat my dogs as the dominant dogs. At my son's house, I do not push the issue at all, and there doesn't seem to be any fighting. I guess he feels a lot more secure on his own turf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="3246" LastEditDate="2015-12-21T18:27:08.977" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T04:20:32.140" Title="Should I let my son's dog dominate mine?" Tags="&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1212" CreationDate="2015-12-21T01:15:37.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yet another anecdotal bit of evidence rather than quantitative (which is what I was looking for,) but from my experience it seems as though ferrets aren't clever as much as they are persistent and they have a good memory.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the ones I had, it seemed like they would just keep trying to get to whatever it was they were trying to get to, and they would remember anything they did that got them closer to their goal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6358" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T00:43:03.260" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T00:43:03.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2015-12-21T08:25:19.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was attacked by an owl tonight, I was watching my dog and it just swooped on him I ran outside and kicked the owl until it flew away. My dog was rushed to a vet hospital with puncture wounds on his head, neck, and eye. So yes they attack dogs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6360" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-12-21T12:59:27.970" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T12:59:27.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-21T08:29:36.590" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a high energy dog that's very easily distracted. I want to start doing exercises that will make him focus on me even with distractions around (eventually). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am reading a book and the first exercise suggested there is to make him touch a target (my hand e.g.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I was wondering if there aren't any better exercises out there. I don't necessarily mean more complex. It's just that I don't see how touching my hand will ever be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: what are good focus exercises for a dog with a lot of energy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-12-21T16:51:18.010" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T06:55:51.860" Title="Good focus exercise for high energy dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5880" CreationDate="2015-12-21T11:14:10.963" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found one funny pet: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/bats-enlisted-in-italys-battle-with-mosquitoes-28542555.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a bat&lt;/a&gt;. Those were sold once for £25 in Italian supermarkets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2695" LastActivityDate="2015-12-21T11:14:10.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-21T18:08:55.380" Score="1" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a skeptic and someone that never had a pet, all I see in pets are creatures that are very needy and you have to look after, take care when sick, sometimes with expensive procedures, and are a burden if you have to stay away for any time longer than a few hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the furthest to a conclusion I reached for the answer to &quot;why people have pets?&quot; is that pets, mostly dogs, somewhat resemble the reaction that people that love or care about you have with you, although that's arguably instinctive. For example: a Dog seems happy when he see the owner, just like a girlfriend or family member does. And that is usually taken by people as a reason to bound. Other more simple explanation is that pets are cute and we like to have them around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any scientific explanation to why people have pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6349" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T18:46:18.243" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T03:25:14.580" Title="Why do people have pets?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2015-12-28T15:51:11.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2015-12-22T04:51:57.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hot dogs are not bad for dogs in moderation but be careful because they are high in sodium and fat and low in real nutritional content. If you want to give fido a treat or use it for training I say go for it. Use common sense, you don't want to feed your dog hot dogs as their main food source just like you wouldn't recommend hot dogs as a staple food source for a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6365" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T04:51:57.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11123" CreationDate="2015-12-22T06:46:30.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of focus exercises to choose from for any energy level dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example there are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch, get your dog into any position and make them watch a treat in your hand, if you take the treat to your eye level and lower the treat slowly the dog should wait until it's told (for us thats right by his nose without him moving) until he can have it. If the dog jumps up, you start over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit and Stay, these usually go hand in hand but a rock solid stay should leave your dog in a position with you able to walk around the room and around the dog, without them moving. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food Refusal, this is where you leave a treat in front of the dog and they do not take it until you tell them to. We can now do this with at least one treat on each front paw. This is also good for dogs who are grabby with meals. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On Your Bed, this is a handy one but take a blanket or the dogs bed and get them to perform a sit on it... Then slowly move further away until you can send them to their bed and they sit there for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Distance training, this is getting dogs to do sits, downs etc from a distance. Start a few steps away from your dog and then move another few steps back etc until you can ask your dog to sit from across the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Recall, always great to have a solid recall. It means your dog should be listening out for you calling them back regardless of what play, or distractions, there may be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastEditorUserId="5149" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T06:55:51.860" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T06:55:51.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-22T13:06:06.280" Score="3" ViewCount="489" Body="&lt;p&gt;We were considering a small pet for our family when, out of the blue, someone offered us a 6-month old Syrian hamster. The owner felt that their children weren't paying the pet enough attention, and was worried she (the hamster) might be bored and unstimulated due to lack of contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have an unexpected hamster. Her name is Luna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We knew that hamsters were nocturnal, of course. But we just assumed that they slept for 8-10 hours through the middle of the day and would be awake at dawn and dusk. Luna seems to sleep an awful lot: she's asleep when we get up between 7-8am. Occasionally she half-wakes and grabs a snack, then sits in her nest with her eyes closed to eat it. She doesn't start to stir until 7pm and she's not properly awake until 8-9pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our children are not that old, and they're both in bed before 9pm. So they don't get to see very much of Luna at all. My wife and I go to see her, give her some fresh food and water and some interaction before we go to bed. But that's not much stimulation for her. The kids are a bit sad they can't play with their new pet, and I'm worried she's going to lack attention with us as much as she did in her previous home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could wake her up, but it seems cruel. And we read somewhere that hamsters tend to bite if they're disturbed from their sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It must be said that she doesn't seem bored. We've seen no evidence of repetitive behaviours and all the signs are she's very active at night - her cage is often trashed in the morning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it possible to encourage or train a hamster to have more periods of activity during the evening? And perhaps more importantly, if it is, is it cruel to do so? If it is ok, how should be we best go about it? Or do we have to accept she'll spend most of our time with us asleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1251" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T13:32:28.507" Title="Is it possible and/or cruel to encourage a hamster to be more awake during the evening?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11130" CreationDate="2015-12-22T13:32:28.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamster&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hamsters are  crepuscular&lt;/a&gt; which means they are more active in the morning and evening.  Tending to nap during the day and at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't speak specifically to hamsters, but we have rabbits which are also crepuscular. Part of being a family is adjusting.  Each individual (human or not) has a personality, we all adjust to each other.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crepuscular pets normally work well in the modern family, they tend to be up in the morning while we are getting ready for the day, they nap while we are at work/school and wake when we get home, then sleep when we do.  All in a perfect world of course.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong, with expecting your hamster to be awake during these times of day. She has some habits from her old home, now it is time to help her make new habits in her 'forever home'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T13:32:28.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11126" CreationDate="2015-12-22T17:14:49.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a special edition from Scientific American this month with an article that happens to discuss this. The article is &quot;Pets: why do we have them&quot;, by Daisy Yuhas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers led by Christof Koch of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle have found neurons in the amygdala , an area invovled in emotions, that respond preferentially to animal images. The 2011 finding hints at a neural basis for the powerful emotional reactions animals elicit from us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other points in the article is that hugging pets leads to higher levels of oxytocin, that pets give social connectedness and provide relief from stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was also pointed out that pets tend to have the forms that we associate with babies/children, such as large eyes and soft contours. But if I understand the article right, it is not yet proven that this leads to our positive response towards pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a personal note, I believe that there are evolutionary reasons. Domesticating wolves into dogs was beneficial for both, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2015-12-22T17:54:28.167" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T17:54:28.167" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11135" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-22T21:33:23.837" Score="13" ViewCount="16157" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently moved into a new house (approximately 2 weeks ago). The new house has a 2 story family room. The upstairs hallway overlooks the family room, with a dropoff of 10-11 feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night Romeo jumped off of the balcony into the family room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He appeared fine, did not cry upon landing, did not limp at all. What signs should I look for that would indicate a vet visit is needed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T09:38:31.430" Title="Should I take my cat to the vet after a big fall/jump?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11135" CreationDate="2015-12-22T22:17:36.310" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much if it was from a 2 story height, not cause it's not high but because it's high enough for the cat to prepare for landing thanks to their righting reflex, this reflex is what allows a cat to know which way is up and which one is down, allowing it to land on its feet. They develop this reflex at a very young age(if you hold a kitten belly up you'll notice how it &amp;quot;twists&amp;quot; because he is trying to accommodate itself for a proper landing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are capable of this thanks to their flexible vertebrae, the image below shows how a cat moves its body in order to achieve a proper landing position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6FpHn.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6FpHn.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's thanks to their size and weight that they can achieve this, being so small allows them to have a very much slower terminal velocity(max speed while on free fall).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, if you're really concerned you can always take the cat to the vet, there's nothing wrong with being extra careful.(Injuries can be sustained, but it really depends on height, and cat's ability to successfully position itself)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_righting_reflex&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T22:28:18.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11117" CreationDate="2015-12-22T23:41:59.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have a natural need to climb in the wild - to literally save their life against predators and allow them to see to hunt - and without other alternatives they will ignore arbitrary rules.  A better way of thinking is to provide an &lt;em&gt;acceptable alternative&lt;/em&gt; to something you don't like...like in this case a cat tree, or a good scratch post to keep a cat from clawing the carpet or sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could even move the clock to above the new tree to allow the cat to have fun stopping the hand!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2015-12-22T23:41:59.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11135" CreationDate="2015-12-23T00:51:19.173" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't like admitting that they're hurt. Observe, and if there's significant behavior change, the vet is probably a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in good condition can survive some surprising falls -- if you don't have problems with the concept, web search &quot;feline high-rise syndrome&quot; for some surprising results that suggest how -- but they don't &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; land well. My previous cat once fell about 20' off a roof, and almost got away with it -- but she didn't hit quite right and broke her jaw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats now have an 8'-tall cat tree. They'll jump from the 5' and 6.5' platforms at times... but when possible they'll aim for the sofa, which is both a shorter fall and a padded landing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:30:30.507" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:30:30.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11162" CreationDate="2015-12-23T02:46:28.227" Score="0" ViewCount="607" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can we keep cats an dogs as pet for repelling bugs and mice naturally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T15:23:59.417" Title="Do cats and dogs repel bugs and mice?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11139" CreationDate="2015-12-23T04:27:53.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They definitely don't repel bugs, though cats may appreciate bugs as toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mice... Again they're probably more likely to kill the mice than to simply scare them away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T04:27:53.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11143" CreationDate="2015-12-23T14:34:12.313" Score="2" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 10 week old kitten that I recently adopted at the age of 6 weeks. Since we adopted him he's been sick quite a lot including ringworm, diaria and lately he has contracted some sort of virus that caused a very high fever on and off - for this he spent almost a week hospitalized with an IV drip. &#xA;During the time he was being treated for the virus the kitten started acting a bit weird - doing things he never did before and vise versa.&#xA;For example he would cry asking for food (and look excited to receive it) but after we gave it to him he would sniff it a little bit and walk away not eating anything (and this is food he adored before he got sick). &#xA;Also he used to drink a lot of water from the sink along with our other cat (it was their thing) but now he isn't interested in it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently he is still on antibiotics to fight the virus but has generally recovered. Since he stopped eating we tried all sorts of foods but the only food he'll eat now is fancy feast - and even then he's picky with the flavors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctors are saying that generally he's fine now, but are still in the dark regarding this strange behavior. Having said that I should mention that one of that doctors aids stated that it &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be FIP (The most fatal cat disease ever) since some of the symptoms are strange behavior, but they can't really be certain until things get really bad or they don't.. So now I'm worried sick that he might be dying :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone encountered this type of behavior with their cats? Or maybe know what can be causing it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6195" LastEditorUserId="6195" LastEditDate="2015-12-24T09:37:22.513" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T09:37:22.513" Title="Kitten behaving strangely" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-23T19:36:01.033" Score="5" ViewCount="4337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that cats can drink sea water and get hydrated (less thirsty). I have also heard that &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/9920/how-much-sea-water-can-i-safely-drink&quot;&gt;people can die from drinking sea water.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can cats drink sea water and do well?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:01.260" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T20:36:18.907" Title="Can cats drink sea water?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11141" CreationDate="2015-12-23T21:18:38.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar situation with one of my cats, years ago. My cat got ringworm, and then right as that was going away he got a high fever, and had to be hopsitalised with an IV and antibiotics. I was a nervous wreck the whole time. In hindsight, I suspect he had some sort of infection that lowered the immune system, and that made him more susceptible to ringworm. So even though the ringworm showed up first, the real problem may have been the infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat came home from the hospital, it took several weeks before he had his full energy back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things you describe sound like normal cat behaviour. Of course, it's good that you're aware of differences in &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; pet's behaviour, and that you have reported the changes to the vet. But given that your kitten is only 10 weeks old, he's going through some personality changes anyway. The behaviour you describe (meowing, seeming interested in food but then rejecting it) sound to me like he's aware that something's not quite right (perhaps he feels very lethargic), but doesn't know what he wants or how to fix it. So he's probably not meowing for food or anything in particular; he just wants to feel better. Since you can't magically make him feel better, extra attention is probably the best you can give him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with FIT (did you mean FIP, Feline Infectious Peritonitis?) But I think it's best to try to put those scary possibilities out of your mind. The behaviour you described doesn't sound &quot;strange&quot; at all to me. Keep in touch with the vet, but try to be as relaxed as possible. You don't want to communicate your worry to the kitten. Best of luck to you both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2015-12-23T21:18:38.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11126" CreationDate="2015-12-24T03:25:14.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that people have pets because it makes them feel happy and joyful. It also allows people to develop friendship skills and be a better person. One more thing is that pets can make people feel less lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6374" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T03:25:14.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11119" CreationDate="2015-12-24T05:35:14.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you need to step in for the sake of being the dominate dog in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stick around and watch the dogs eat and make sure they are not stealing from each others bowl/food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spray the dog when he is marking his territory in your house with a squirt bottle or another method of correction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your son's dog takes your other dogs spots, correct him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how we have corrected one of our moms dogs when he would visit and it has done wonders. Note: I do know that you are suppose to let the dogs work out who is who in the pack, but you are suppose to be the alpha dog out of the whole pack. Just keep that in mind and everything should work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T05:35:14.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-24T18:54:46.487" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't afford the local vet, want $100 just to look at her, and the worm meds I have given her haven't helped,she's gotten so skinny and she leaks now, any help will be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5940" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T20:45:26.610" Title="my cat has really bad diarea and it smells really bad and she's lost a lot of weight" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11150" CreationDate="2015-12-24T20:45:26.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diarrhea is a serious and, potentially, fatal illness with many potential causes. So, it's not so easy to just help in this respect, you're really are best to see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest risk is fluid loss, so you need to keep your cat hydrated. So, remove any foods and put them away for at least 12 hours to help settle the guts down, but make plenty of clean, fresh, water available (in multiple bowls) to help her replenish water loss. You can also mix the water (50/50) with gatorade to provide some minerals back into the system that may be lost from the diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I realize that vets can be expensive, try to contact them to see if you can work out a payment plan if needed. Many are compassionate to animals and will help in that way, so that gets you past the immediate cost hurdle. You need to do this, because, if you see any of the following &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;then you must get her to a vet immediately&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Issue persists for 24 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat appears lethargic or very weak&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat vomits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat seems to have a fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also ask the vet for some home care advice as well. I have to really stress, though, that unless the episode passes quickly, the risk to her increases the longer that she doesn't see a vet. So, really, try to negotiate a way to pay in instalments if you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2015-12-24T20:45:26.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11098" CreationDate="2015-12-25T15:33:04.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try googling about her dog food as she may be sensitive to it. My Doberman used to throw up foam, food and/or bile once in a while. Her urine also really burned up the yard, but she was otherwise happy and healthy. Turns out a lot of other owners had the same issues for the food I had been using. Slowly switched over to a new brand and presto, problems solved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the vet should be asking for a stool sample on the annual checkups to analyze for intestinal parasites. The test costs a little extra but is worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6377" LastActivityDate="2015-12-25T15:33:04.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4388" CreationDate="2015-12-26T14:57:32.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if thread still open, but if your Boston is sleeping on or near wool, try a fleece blanket instead. This made a huge difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6380" LastActivityDate="2015-12-26T14:57:32.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11158" CreationDate="2015-12-26T22:48:03.707" Score="6" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to hug and kiss indoor cats ? (kiss on body,neck,pawls not lips)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We in family love our cat very very much and we deal with it like if it is a baby, we pet, hug and kiss it all the time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But i am worried about health risks of these doings ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: our cat never goes out and its indoor cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6340" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T15:16:01.920" Title="Is it safe to hug and kiss indoor cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11157" CreationDate="2015-12-27T01:02:25.423" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably safer than kissing most humans. Fewer diseases cross easily between species than between members of the same species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're probably not washing your hands every time you pet the cat, so you're already exposed. If the cat is sleeping on your bed that's additional exposure. You're getting some exposure from the litterbox as well, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the illnesses the cat might have would be ones you brought into the household. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; have some exposures you don't, from sniffing at your shoes for example, of from hunting/eating small critters, or simply from the fact that they bite/lick/mouthe more things than we do. And being indoors is not complete protection against biting insects, which can carry disease or parasites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my own conclusion has been that I accepted some minor risks when I decided to bring cats into the household. Having made that decision, I'm not going to worry a lot about it. The cats and I both get a yearly checkup, plus a vet visit when we seem to be ill, and that's good enough for me. (Actually, the cats see their doctor more often than I see mine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-12-27T15:16:01.920" LastActivityDate="2015-12-27T15:16:01.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7592" CreationDate="2015-12-28T14:52:52.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find your local Wildlife Rescue Facility or veterinary clinic and bring any wild bird (pigeons included) there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6390" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T14:52:52.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11139" CreationDate="2015-12-28T15:10:58.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been scientifically proven that healthy mice naturally fear the smell of cats, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/news/10117428&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.com/news/10117428&lt;/a&gt; so yes, having a cat in your house will repel mice to some degree.  I can tell you from personal experience, it's not 100 percent effective in keeping mice out.  If your cat has areas of the house it doesn't go into, it's smell won't be as strong, and its also known that mice infected with toxoplasmosis no longer fear the smell of cats. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-cats-permanently-1.13777&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-cats-permanently-1.13777&lt;/a&gt;. As for dogs and bugs, I'm unaware of any studies on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2015-12-28T15:23:59.417" LastActivityDate="2015-12-28T15:23:59.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2015-12-29T04:30:50.943" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My beardie has always chosen to wave and mix in head bobbing. He will respond in kind when I am standing at least three feet from his home but gets very agitated if i approach after his initial greeting without signaling back. This has always led me to believe its a way to greet and communicate with friends and perhaps warn away or be alerted to dangerous creatures as they seem to not have the best eyesight for long distances, ie. the other side of my living room or about 25 feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6394" LastActivityDate="2015-12-29T04:30:50.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11964" CreationDate="2015-12-29T20:26:22.580" Score="0" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of getting into beekeeping. I don't know whether this question belongs on pets, because they're animals; garden &amp;amp; landscape, because they have to do with raising a food product involving plants; or maybe somewhere else completely, but I think pets is most appropriate, so I'll start here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the Langstroth hives (the kind I'm interested in) seem to be four sided boxes with not top of bottom and are smooth on those edges. I plant to build My own and want to know if there is a reason that no one routes a rabbit on the inside of the bottom of each box and one on the outside of the top of each box? Coupled with a round over on the outer edge of the top of the box, it seems like it would really help the stability of the boxes by locking them together, as well as helping keep rain out of the seam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be pretty shallow, just a small lip that catches. The boxes I see in videos just appear to sit on top of each other with no latches or anything. I'd worry about a strong wind or animal knocking them over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-28T11:27:34.217" LastActivityDate="2018-12-28T11:27:34.217" Title="Beehive Construction" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15029" CreationDate="2015-12-29T20:28:17.957" Score="2" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three ferrets. I bought a small harness from Petco similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/small-animal/small-animal-collars-leashes-harnesses/petco-deluxe-ferret-harness-and-lead-set&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gUF7P.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gUF7P.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've had no luck getting it on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried slipping it on while they're distracted (chewing something or licking Ferretone). But as soon as they notice they immediately flip out and start fighting to get it off. They always manage to squeeze out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3867" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T02:14:40.120" Title="How to leash train a ferret?" Tags="&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11172" CreationDate="2015-12-29T21:04:30.230" Score="4" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;In doing a little looking around, I found three different answers to the question: What percent of cats are susceptible to catnip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/catnip.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Humane Society&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;an estimated 50 percent&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-how-does-catnip-work-on-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scientific American&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;about 70 to 80 percent&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cat-world.com.au/all-about-catnip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat World&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;around 50–66%&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each source carefully notes the figure as an estimate.  None of them cite any sources or give any explanation beyond the figures coming from &quot;experts.&quot;  (You'd think someone would take a poll, but that's not my point)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recall hearing many years ago that the gene for catnip sensitivity followed a simple &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominance_(genetics)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dominant-recessive&lt;/a&gt; pattern.  Similar to Mendel's peas, in a well-mixed population, you'll have the pairs RR, Rr, rR, and rr - only 25% (the rr group) will not express the trait, the other 75% will.  That would lend support to Scientific American's numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the genes that cause catnip sensitivity exhibit some form of co-dominance, like human blood groups, then the percentages can skew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question comes down to:  What hard-science exists to explain the variation in sensitivity to catnip among cats?  Have there been any long-term breeding experiments?  Has that portion of the feline genome been explored at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T14:45:17.850" Title="The genetics of catnip susceptibility" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11171" CreationDate="2015-12-30T00:16:13.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You misunderstand how the percentages are applied in Mendellian genetics.  Those expected percentages only work given known sets of genes in individuals.  In real life, genes are often distributed very unevenly in a population, due to the pressures of natural selection, and the effect of isolation.  An easily observable example is the gene for polydactylism (extra fingers) is dominant in humans.  If the gene were evenly distributed in the human population, polydactyly would be common.  Obviously this is not true, because the gene did not end up getting spread much beyond some isolated populations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/media/Documents/magazine-extras/Biological%20Sciences%20Review/BSR%20Vol%2025%20No%204/BiolRev-25_4-cat-genetics.pdf?ext=.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this document&lt;/a&gt; that is observing the results in breeding individual cats with known phenotypes, the catnip gene appears to be autosomally (not sex linked) dominant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2016-01-01T14:45:17.850" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T14:45:17.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11176" CreationDate="2015-12-30T03:39:41.623" Score="3" ViewCount="3733" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we know, the character of cats and dogs are different, for example, dogs usually follow their owners but cats usually not. But if a kitten is adopted with a group of puppies and grow up together, will it gain the character of dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2019-09-02T16:41:33.453" Title="Does a cat behave like a dog if it is adopted with puppies when it is a kitten?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-30T04:36:35.823" Score="2" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave my bearded dragon a bath, but didn't realize my there was chlorine in my water source. He's tilting his head and won't move it, so is there anything I can do or is he dying? I haven't tried anything yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6399" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-01-01T14:48:02.043" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T17:29:24.023" Title="Bearded dragon has tilted head and doesn't move it, what can be done?" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11173" CreationDate="2015-12-30T04:42:01.667" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no. The cat will behave as much like a dog as a cat raised by humans behaves like a human. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will learn how to read canine body language and noises, and figure out how to start and stop play, and the other essentials for living with the dogs. It will probably think of the dogs as big confused cats, just as it will think of the humans in the household as big confused cats. (Dogs think they're inferior humans; cats think we are inferior cats.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the cat may adopt some habits and tricks to get along with the dogs better. It will certainly consider the dogs good warm things for sleeping with and on. But it will remain essentally a cat; a lot of the basic behavior is built in. (A lot of ours is too, but we combine training the ape to follow directions and making up justifications for behaviors the ape does on its own.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine had a dog that had a pet cat. That was clearly the relationship; the cat spent more time with the dog than with the human, and the dog would carry the cat around as if it was a puppy or toy. But outside of that friendship, and always smelling like dog drool from being carried and washed all day, the cat was a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2015-12-30T15:42:27.350" LastActivityDate="2015-12-30T15:42:27.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2015-12-30T18:47:48.997" Score="3" ViewCount="691" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a two gallon tank for my Betta and some fake plants and today the water got cloudy and he's hanging at the bottom of his tank. I'm not sure why he's so down and how the water got do dirty in just two days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6400" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:29:22.623" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:32:32.300" Title="Lethargic Betta?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:32:15.920" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-01T01:05:02.203" Score="6" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two littermates, a boy and a girl a few months ago. They get along very well, but there is a problem: they cannot stand to be apart for even a few minutes. If I put one in the bedroom and shut the door, they will cry and scratch at the door and carpet until they are let out. My little boy is the worst; he will even start crying if his sister is just in the other room out of sight until she comes running or he finds her. This isn't usually a problem, but my boy likes to muscle in on his sister's food, so I'd like to start feeding them separately, but even food will not convince him to let his sister out of sight. I also need to get them fixed soon, and I'm worried about how stressed out he will be. Any suggestions on how to get them to start being more independent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6405" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T10:39:06.557" Title="Cat littermates afraid to be alone for even a moment" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11179" CreationDate="2016-01-01T10:39:06.557" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety aside, cats just don't like closed doors!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with the feeding issue, perhaps you can arrange something where they are not really separated, but the female can protect her food a bit more easily. One option might be to find a cat-sized box, put it on its side, and place the female's food in it. Her body will block access to her food. Another technique I have used with success is to split the food up into three bowls, side-by-side or in a triangle. When the brother nudges the sister out of the way, she can easily move to another bowl. This tends to equalise the amount eaten by the two cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you arrange with the vet to have them fixed, ask if they can be kept in one cage or in side-by-side cages until the operation. (After the operation they will be too drowsy to care.) Alternatively, you might arrange to have them operated on first thing in the morning. The vet can call you as soon as they are awake, and you can pick them up. That should minimise any separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T10:39:06.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1212" CreationDate="2016-01-01T12:16:56.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 ferrets, a male and female.  The male, I'm convinced wouldn't last 2 minutes if he escaped into the wild. Placid, docile &amp;amp; frankly pretty dim I'd say (though I adore him &amp;amp; will be devastated when he pops off).  The female on the other hand - smaller, far more agile, clever, resourceful &amp;amp; weary of anything unfamiliar, as a wild animal would be - I'm sure she'd give it her best if she escaped into the wild.  She has tested us to the limit in terms of getting around problems presented to her, especially when it comes to escaping and has escaped from their (old) external enclosure about 4 or 5 times. She was gone overnight on 2 occasions, both times I thought we'd never see her again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always read however that ferrets have no homing instinct.. but we know that she used to wander off up the woods behind the house at play time.  The times she was out all night (one of which was freezing), she came back the next day. We knew she hadn't been in the enclosure all night as we'd left it open with food and bedding left in a certain position - neither had been touched.  I was wandering about calling her &amp;amp; eventually I looked down &amp;amp; there she was with her mischievous little mask looking up at me as if to say 'yeah?  I was out all night.. so what? What of it?' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd say between my 2 ferrets there's a notable difference in the level of intelligence.  He's thick, she's clever!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6407" LastActivityDate="2016-01-01T12:16:56.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18472" CreationDate="2016-01-01T19:45:54.953" Score="14" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 year old lab.  I have a friend that has a 15 year old lab.  I have another friend who put his 8 year old lab down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based upon the following experience I have a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oldest lab, a 15 year old, has had a natural diet all its life.  Some cooked meat, some raw meat, pumpkin and green beans. Every once in a while it would get dog food, but very rarely.  This dog is healthy.  Lots of grey hair but very chipper, good weight.  Trots to get balls, there is no more full sprint ball retrieval, but this dog stays active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The eleven year old is in pretty good shape, but is beginning to fade.  Some dog food (upscale, whatever that means), pumpkin and green beans.  It gets cooked chicken and fish remnants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 9 year old ate nothing but off the shelf grocery store dog food.  Whatever was handy.  Poor guy had many tumors and cancer in it's intestinal tract and was recently euthanized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that some of the dogs in my life that have been given a more healthy diet are experiencing greater longevity.  The owner of the 15 year old said, &quot;no dog food for my dogs.  Only real food.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is obviously not enough information to make a determination regarding the wellness of the dogs and their diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;So my questions are&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are the risks of feeding my dog standard off-the-shelf dog food?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are the benefits to feeding a dog a diet of regular real food rather than processed food?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are there any studies or correlations of data to support one way or the other having a difference on the health of any pet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were some incidents a few years ago of a Chinese food manufacturer putting melanin in their food, and it was sold in the US.  The results were horrific and there were quite a few deaths of pets.  I can't help but think that in other processed foods there are harmful compounds that may not kill your pet in the short term but will effect its health long term regarding various cancers or other malaise that could have an effect on longevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3701" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T11:40:17.697" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T11:40:17.697" Title="Low Quality Dog Food - What are the risks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-01T20:44:42.543" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has an elderly (female, spayed) cat who has developed a GI problem (diarrhea + scooting).  They are going through all of the veterinary recommended tests and treatments, but while waiting for results the vet suggested some probiotic treats (with the mindset that its unlikely to make things worse and may make things better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we determine if probiotics would be helpful for the cat's condition (are they the right strain, are they alive, etc)? How can my friend determine if his vet is selling him snake oil?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T17:46:23.123" Title="How can I determine if a probiotic product has ingredients that will be helpful to a GI illness?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11170" CreationDate="2016-01-02T20:10:44.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting them accustomed to the harness isn't an overnight task. Whenever you have them out of their enclosure, make sure to put it on and give them a treat when you do it so they associate the harness with good things. When they start to wiggle out of it, you can try &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7c4BBIygB4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scruffing&lt;/a&gt; them before they succeed to discourage the behavior. The important thing is to be consistent with everything you do with them, which requires close attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have four ferrets and I've tried to train them for harnesses in the past but they didn't really get the idea. So I gave up with it. If they're not getting it, they may just not be good for the harness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming walks outside are the end-game and there's just a couple of things to keep in mind there. Make sure they have their distemper vaccine if you're walking them in an area where they can meet dogs or dogs might be. Don't walk them on grassy areas that have been treated recently as they are more sensitive to the chemicals than larger animals. And concrete has the potential to damage their foot pads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastActivityDate="2016-01-02T20:10:44.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-03T13:15:19.117" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a new 8 gallon (around 30 liters) fish tank on December 31st. And the same evening I put a 4 inch (10 cm) oranda and a 2 inch (5 cm) black moor in it. I totally forgot about cycling the tank. I even tried to return the fish back but they say they can't take the fish back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since yesterday, I've been searching the web for all similar issues and from there I learned that I need to do a weekly 10-15% water change to keep my ammonia levels in check, also I couldn't find a test kit anywhere nearby so I'm just observing the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank Specifications&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Volume: 8 gallons (around 30 liters)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Filter: 600 liters per hour&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Filter media: 1 cm thick plastic sponge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Substrate: Medium size gravel (2.5 inch / 6.4 cm thick layer at the bottom)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Decorations: 3 plastic plants at one corner&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thermometer: submersible&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heater: not needed as my room temp is around 20 °C mostly&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lighting: built-in hood lights&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia, nitrate, nitite: unknown&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Black moor's behaviour:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moor is sitting at the bottom every 5 minutes for about a minute or so and again starts moving again normally, searching for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oranda's behaviour:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oranda is behaving rather normally, but it's also tanking a break for a little while but with shorter durations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of them get active at the feeding time (which looks normal) and are eating well. But, I know that they are having a hard time staying in there. I just want to know how long will my tank tank to cycle this way and if I need to do some other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T11:10:52.347" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T11:10:52.347" Title="New tank issue makes me sad" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11186" CreationDate="2016-01-03T18:49:49.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have two fairly large fish in a relatively small aquarium which is going to create a fair amount of ammonia. To speed cycling and minimize ammonia effects on your fish, I'd get some de-nitrifying bacteria in the tank ASAP and do larger water changes.  If you have a friend with fish, you could take some squeezings of their filter media and add it to yours or you can buy such bacteria commercially.  In the meantime, a daily 33-50% water change is going to be much more helpful in knocking down ammonia levels than the smaller amounts you mentioned.  Finally, I highly recommend live plants where possible as they soak up ammonia for their own use.  I have a couple goldfish in a 5 1/2 gallon tank, no filtration, but a bunch of water lettuce and my ammonia levels are 0 ppm and my nitrates are only about 5 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6414" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T18:49:49.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11186" CreationDate="2016-01-03T19:22:04.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do (since you did not mention this) is ensure that all water that enters your aquarium is dechlorinated. Chlorine is used to treat household water and although its levels are harmless to us, they are deadly for fish. You can dechlorinate your water by using one of the many dechlorinating kits that you can find either at a pet shop or online. If you did not dechlorinate the water, you need to do so immediately as your fish are practically swimming in acid, and chlorine will eventually damage their gills (and will most probably cause asphyxiation to them with fatal results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A test kit is vital for monitoring the well being of your aquarium. You need to remember that by simply observing your fish you cannot know when your tank has cycled. By definition, a cycled tank is the one where zero ammonia and zero nitrites exist. Since fish tolerate low levels of ammonia and nitrites (at least on the short term) they will most probably not show any symptoms of stress or ammonia/nitrite poisoning. However, this does not mean that the tank has actually cycled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, while a tank gets cycled the ammonia and nitrite levels fluctuate a lot. By using a test kit and doing proactive testing on your aquarium (say, once or twice a day) you will be able to identify rapidly rising ammonia and nitrite levels (called ammonia/nitrite spikes) and pro-actively perform water changes before their levels become dangerous for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, ensure that you are feeding your fish only as much as they need to eat (overfeeding is very common to new aquarium owners). You should remember that any food that is not consumed by your fish will eventually be decomposed and increase your ammonia levels of your tank (this will further strain your filter which is already struggling trying to cycle). You can help your filter cope with the increase in ammonia levels by getting a gravel cleaner (another important tool for your tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, to ensure that your aquarium is properly cycled:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dechlorinate your water and ensure that all water that enters your tank from now on is dechlorinated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a test kit and start monitoring your ammonia and nitrite levels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perform 25% water changes every other day (until you get a test kit I would advise doing 25% daily to ensure that the ammonia levels do not increase in dangerous levels). Your water change should ideally be done through gravel cleaning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure that you are not overfeeding, if you see that your ammonia/nitrite levels are high, do not feed your fish for a day (most fish are fine without food for 2-4 days)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wait until your test kit reading shows zero ammonia and zero nitrites for at least a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most importantly of all, DO NOT introduce any more fish in your aquarium until your tank has cycled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6413" LastActivityDate="2016-01-03T19:22:04.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11190" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-04T02:15:08.167" Score="1" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Maltese is very picky and is hard to please with food. I give him no table scraps and am feeding him natural balance as of now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6418" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T12:19:40.090" LastActivityDate="2018-03-02T02:12:48.617" Title="What's the best food for a picky 7 month old maltese" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11194" CreationDate="2016-01-04T12:33:06.270" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know any essential oil that cats like to smell? It seems, that my cat likes nothing. Maybe the smell of oils is too strong. I have tried fir-tree, pine, mint, melissa, eucalyptus, orange, lavender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6423" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T17:48:27.163" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T17:48:27.163" Title="What essential oils can I use that my cat would also like?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-04T12:44:16.457" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to teach my cat to use a human toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently he uses the toilet to urinate without any problem, but he does not like to poop there.  I do not understand why. He sniffs, goes around several times and then sits to poop on the floor right near the toilet. If I put a litter box on the toilet, then the cat uses the litter box without any hesitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the reason for such behavior? Any suggestions how to train the cat next?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6423" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2016-01-04T21:42:55.983" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T21:42:55.983" Title="Cat does not like to poop into toilet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-01-06T07:49:30.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11202" CreationDate="2016-01-04T13:20:10.727" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I bought my third parakeet, he was shy. But after some weeks, he became so happy and funny. However, now I see he's flirting with the feeding box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he needs a female parakeet or he's just playing around the cage due to him only having 11 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's just playing around the cage, what can I do? Can I buy some toys for the bird?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6424" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T17:09:19.233" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:09:19.233" Title="My parakeet is flirting with the feeding box; does he needs a female parakeet?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11191" CreationDate="2016-01-04T17:21:31.397" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essential oils are NOT recommended for use with cats without professional guidance. The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Essential oil use for felines (cats) is very limited due to a cat’s&#xA;  sensitive metabolic system and their internal organs: the liver and&#xA;  kidneys do not breakdown certain substances due to lack of enzymes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some hydrosols-hydrolats (the aromatic-water by product that remains&#xA;  after the steam distillation process of plant material: flowers,&#xA;  leaves, twigs and bark for essential oil use) can be a gentle and safe&#xA;  alternative for animals, and even for cats if used in minute amounts:&#xA;  Always use under the guidance of a professional aromatherapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.naha.org/assets/uploads/Animal_Aromatherapy_Safety_NAHA.pdf&quot;&gt;Animal Aromatherapy and Essential Oil Safety By Kelly Holland Azzaro, RA, CCAP, CBFP, LMT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T17:21:31.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11183" CreationDate="2016-01-04T17:46:23.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Most probiotic product labels are inaccurate and sloppy, but the two notable exceptions (from a 2011 study) were Purina's Fortiflora and IAMS Prostora Max. However, even with adequate labels, the product may not deliver a clinically significant amount of probiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study was published in 2011 (so a few years ago, the products may have changed since then) that attempted to determine if probiotics labels are adequate and accurate. The study did not consider the affect that the probiotics would have on pet health, but concentrated on label claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weese, JS. Martin H. Assessment of commercial probiotic bacterial contents and label accuracy. Canadian Veterinary Journal 2011;52:43–46. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3003573/pdf/cvj_01_43.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full text&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, labels were assessed for adequacy. This meant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Product labels were scrutinized; this included an assessment  of&#xA;  spelling of contents, if contents were clearly described (genus  and&#xA;  species), if the number of viable organisms was stated, if  there was&#xA;  an expiry date, and if specific health claims were made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If an adequate label is defined as one that contains specific  (and&#xA;  valid) bacterial names (genus and species), with no spelling errors&#xA;  and a clear statement of number of viable organisms  that are&#xA;  expected, then only 8 (32%) products were properly  labeled. If a more&#xA;  stringent definition of an adequate label is  used, which includes a&#xA;  requirement that the product identify  the specific bacterial strain&#xA;  that is present, then no products  were adequately labeled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the product was tested to determine the species and quantity of probiotics present in the product. The result was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only 4/15 (27%) products that had specific claims of viable organisms&#xA;  met or exceeded their label claim.&#xA;  ...  It is  unclear whether the products with low levels actually had&#xA;  the  stated numbers at the time of manufacturing or whether the &#xA;  stated levels were never present. Regardless of whether or not the &#xA;  organisms died during storage or were never there is irrelevant  for&#xA;  the patients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, meeting the label claim does not ensure that the product delivers a clinically significant amount of probiotics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, 1 product contained 3194% of claimed Bacillus subtilis &#xA;  and mixed lactic  acid bacteria, yet the label claim was very low...&#xA;  Even though this product exceeded the label claim, the number of&#xA;  viable organisms provided per recommended dose (1/4 to 3 tsp) would be&#xA;  quite low and unlikely to be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Colonization and clinical studies involving dogs and cats, which&#xA;  tended to use empirical dosing, have used doses of 200 million to 500&#xA;  billion CFU/d, levels that are unachievable with most of the&#xA;  tested products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T17:46:23.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-04T19:25:09.227" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother recently bought a Chinese Striped-neck turtle, and he wants to know for how long can it be out of water.&#xA;Can you guys help me out?&#xA;Thanks in forward,&#xA;Roberto&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6427" LastActivityDate="2016-01-04T19:25:09.227" Title="Chinese Striped-neck turtle above water" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1962" CreationDate="2016-01-05T10:07:40.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits need a proper space to eat, sleep, hide, jump, dig, and play. If you don’t have factory- farm no worry, you can provide to your rabbit a cage or a huge with minimum recommended size of 6’x2’ i.e 1.8m x 0.6m with additional large area of 32 sq ft for exercising which is important for your rabbit. This size recommendation is based on The Rabbit Code of Practice for the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Space you provide should be big enough for your rabbit to lie down and stretch out comfortably in all way.&#xA;    it should be high enough for it to stand up on its back legs without ears touching the top.&#xA;    it should be long enough so that it can move around, can feed &amp;amp; drink. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References from &lt;a href=&quot;http://gov.wales/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://gov.wales/&lt;/a&gt; (Welsh Government) They may load slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/ahw/animalwelfare/pets/codesofpractice/?lang=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Section 14 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 provides power for the National Assembly for Wales to issue Codes of Practice to promote animal welfare;The Codes of Practice for the Welfare of Cats, Dogs, Equines and Rabbits are now in force&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/ahw/animalwelfare/pets/codesofpractice/codeofpractocewelfarerabbits/?lang=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Code of practice for the welfare of rabbits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gov.wales/docs/drah/publications/110817rabbitcodeen.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to look after your Rabbit, following the code (PDF)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6432" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-04-03T18:33:46.263" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T18:33:46.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10990" CreationDate="2016-01-05T22:10:22.027" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree, dogs have no concept of revenge, they do however develop abandonment issues and anxiety when left alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a springer and cannot leave him for any longer than 4 hours because he then becomes very distressed. They are social animals and do not like being left on their own, but often our lifestyles clash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T22:10:22.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11193" CreationDate="2016-01-05T22:25:35.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior is normal, especially if your feeder has colors similar to a parakeet. It is nothing to cause concern, unless he becomes obsessed with the feeder to the point of ignoring other distractions. That's unlikely to happen if he has other toys and distractions (and plenty of attention from you, too, for companionship).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's always good to have a variety of toys and to rotate them often (to maintain interest). They don't have to be fancy and expensive, but be careful to avoid anything toxic or anything that is sharp or presents a choking hazard. A piece of twine with a few knots in it (hung from the top of the cage), a piece of cardboard on a string, a tennis ball to push around, etc., all are inexpensive and fun toys. Just keep changing them whenever your parakeet starts to get bored with them. (You can re-use the same toys, as long as they've been stored long enough for him to have forgotten about them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2016-01-05T22:25:35.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-05T23:31:31.973" Score="4" ViewCount="2494" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it &quot;more natural&quot; (or behaviorally preferable) for two domestic cats to eat together&amp;hellip; or to feed them separately? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, and &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; of them is what I would call an&amp;hellip; &lt;em&gt;aggressive eater.&lt;/em&gt; He's always been that way. I took him in as a young stray born of a feral parents, but I managed to domesticate him to be one of the sweetest cats you will ever know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But feeding times brings out his posturing, and meals are consumed with a constant growling under his breath and guarded glances towards his happily-feeding companion like someone is going to take away his last meal for awhile. Of course that never happens; there is plenty for all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking was that teaching them to eat together would be a useful part of his social domestication&amp;hellip; but a year later without success, I'm wondering if the potential sense of well-being is worth the stress of something he may never overcome. It has never escalated into anything physical &amp;mdash; the other cat basically ignores him &amp;mdash; and they get along famously in every other way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way to help assure him that the posturing is completely unnecessary? Is it even considered &quot;better adjusted&quot; if they &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; eat together? Or am I going against some basic instinct where they would be better off feeding separately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-01-06T21:45:21.087" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T21:45:21.087" Title="Two Cats: Better to feed together or separately?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2016-01-06T00:35:19.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try putting the bowls in a carrier or box so that he can't see them or easily push the other cat aside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T00:35:19.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11204" CreationDate="2016-01-06T14:15:53.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Single stand with two bowls forces them into close proximity.  Move one of the bowls away and the issue will decrease. Move it out of line of sight and the problem will vanish, but that isn't always convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to train acceptance of the single stand (I wouldn't, personally), start by backing off to what the cats consider a polite distance and move in gradually over the course of several months, paying attention to what the cat is telling you is and isn't acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't force it; some cats, especially ex-ferals, never get over feeling that if they don't defend their food someone else will take it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-01-06T14:15:53.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-07T08:28:54.993" Score="2" ViewCount="1930" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, a few sets of gold fish have died continuously due to a sudden infection of the white spot disease that has contaminated the tank. I was looking to place my turtles in that tank as they are getting a little too big for their own. Just wanted to know if the white spot disease would spread on them? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6440" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T23:54:50.943" Title="Is the white spot disease from gold fish contagious for turtles?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-07T10:10:40.420" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male mastiff is 8 months old &amp;amp; has just finished puppy pad training. However since he started to cock his leg to pee, he has started to pee up a chair in the house. How do I get him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6441" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T19:18:03.497" Title="Toilet behaviour" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11209" CreationDate="2016-01-07T23:43:29.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ich, also known as &quot;white spot disease,&quot; is a disease that affects freshwater fish such as goldfish (there is a marine variant as well). Being a reptile, turtles are not at risk for ich and so won't be infected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, having said that, I would strongly advise against just putting them in that tank with out a proper cleaning. The water is probably not generally healthy, as a result of any ich treatments you may have made and the dead fish that have passed through it. You'll want to ensure a healthy environment is not only a start point, but a maintained one, for your turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, don't put any fish in with the turtles, they'll only become food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-01-07T23:54:50.943" LastActivityDate="2016-01-07T23:54:50.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11214" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-08T02:34:31.170" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1 yr old poodle always seeks attention from me when I get home after work (he is usually confined in the kitchen). He will whine non-stop when he sees me and hoping I will let him out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why we don't let him out is because he will pee and jump at people from excitement. I'm trying to teach him that only when he calms down then we will give him the attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He don't usually whines when he is home with my mum even though she confines him sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6431" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T14:34:14.983" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T14:34:14.983" Title="Toy poodle seeking attention" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2016-01-08T19:53:22.230" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat tries so hard but has never been able to get her bottom totally clean. I can see in her eyes that it makes her sad. I usually do this every other day. This remedy is quick and easy for both of us. I prepare ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clean comfy blanket on living room floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clean towel on bathroom floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pile of cheap wash cloths cut in half&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bowl of mildly warm water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trash pail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;cat brush or comb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I start by brushing and petting. It helps her relax.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I use 1 very wet warm cloth to wipe 1 time only, then discard it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I start around the tail and work my way down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then I use a couple dry cloths just to blot the excessive water on&#xA;her fur.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wash my hands, close the bathroom door, clean the mess later and lead my cat to her clean blanket on the living room floor where she is rewarded with her fave treats. Now, I can see in her eyes that she's very happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6451" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T14:25:09.640" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:25:09.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11284" CreationDate="2016-01-08T20:30:04.943" Score="2" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;In more detail, the question is &lt;strong&gt;whether and how much cats notice cat breeds in other cats&lt;/strong&gt;. Including, perhaps, not strictly &lt;em&gt;breed&lt;/em&gt; but factors such as ferality, or a handicap. This is something I wondered about recently, however, may also become a practical concern for someone who keeps a cat and thinks of adopting another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Differences between cat breeds may be more or less pronounced; of course some are quite hard to overlook (size; fur; folded ears; bobtail; etc.) even for relatively inexperienced humans. Do cats register these or perhaps additional differences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it may be difficult to tell what cats notice, I expect some reactions may be observable. For example, cats may act friendlier to other cats of roughly the same size or general appearance; cats may exhibit mating preferences; some olfactory preferences might be manifest; etc. It may even be that particular breeds get on well while others do not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested both in research done in this area (if any) and in individual experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may or may not be analogous to dogs' perceptions of breed; I do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4037" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T01:42:51.980" Title="Do cats notice breeds?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-09T12:53:21.773" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats and I have moved twice in the last 6 months due to a death in the family my Bengal has started wetting everywhere in the house she will not go out at all, I have put cat litter in a box for her she will use that and still wee all over the house.l have tried a couple of things they have not worked. &#xA; Please help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6456" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-01-10T10:42:02.943" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T10:42:02.943" Title="Cat wetting in house" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10342" CreationDate="2016-01-09T17:54:31.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like they are asking to be preened. I couldn't find a great video to demonstrate this behaviour but you can see it on this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zVD88FUYWY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;youtube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you say, they sometimes get annoyed when asked. This doesn't necessarily mean that they don't get along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, they tend to accept more often for their mate or their offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3300" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T17:54:31.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11218" CreationDate="2016-01-09T19:26:56.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will edit my answer as you answer the questions above, but here's a start.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMPORTANT:  Anytime a cat is not using the litter box, you first must rule out medical reasons.  After your vet clears your cat of any medical issues, then you can look toward changing behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CHANGE &amp;amp; COMMUNICATION:  Cats, no matter the breed, don't like change.  Moving twice in such a short period is a lot for a cat to handle.  Add to that, your cat is a Bengal, and you may have a whole other set of issues to overcome.  If the issue is behavioral, your cat is likely trying to communicate with you. Although you may not like the method of communication, it's now up to you to figure out what your cat is trying to tell you (besides the obvious, &quot;I don't like change&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE LITTER:  You mentioned that your cat used to go outside.  Have you leash trained her?  If not, it's always safer to keep your cats inside the house. However, if she is used to going out, you may need to make the litter more like the dirt she would use outside.  You can dig up some dirt and grass outside and put that in her litter box.  Over time, you can mix in a little litter, and slowly change her over to all litter.  This will take some time.  Be sure not to rush it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE BOX:  Bengals are big cats.  Be sure you have a litter box that is very large.  Pet stores will likely not have a box big enough for your cat. You can use a large plastic storage container.  Don't be stingy with the dirt/litter. Cats like to dig and cover. Make it like a sandbox for your kitty.  You mentioned you had another cat. This means more litter boxes. The recommendation from behavior experts is one litter box per cat plus one. I have two cats, and they will use two large litter boxes, but this is not always the case. You may need three.  If you have different levels to your house, you may need to put a litter box on each level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE ENVIRONMENT:  Now, let's talk about your house. You need to try to make your house more &quot;fun&quot; than the previous houses. Every cat needs stimulation from their environment, but this especially goes for a Bengal.  Bengals need plenty of running space, lots of things to climb, and interactive toys- not to mention a lot of attention from you.  You can put shelves like stair steps going up and down your walls, and get a couple very tall cat trees with lots of levels.   If she is a typical Bengal and likes water, fill the bathtub or sink so she can play in it.  I would also recommend interactive food/treat toys, so she has to work for her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OTHER:  Is your cat spayed?  Unaltered cats typically have more unpredictable behavior.  Is there another cat outside? If your kitty smells another cat outside, she could be reacting to another cat in her territory.  This requires making the perimeter of your house undesirable to other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult problem to overcome. Please be patient, and thank you for caring enough about your kitty to post this question. I really hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-01-09T19:26:56.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11210" CreationDate="2016-01-10T19:18:03.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Experience has taught me that it's not a matter of making him 'stop' to pee inside, up a chair in this case, but to offer your dog plenty of peeing opportunities outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take him outside, and patiently wait until he pees. In the very beginning this may take 30 minutes, even an hour, but it becomes easier and faster the more you train this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your mastiff pees, say 'pee pee' and reward him with treats. Rinse and repeat every hour (if your dog still has the urge to pee inside, repeat faster), and after a while your dog will know that he'll be rewarded when/if he pees outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6251" LastActivityDate="2016-01-10T19:18:03.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-10T20:52:28.997" Score="5" ViewCount="2225" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I clean my long haired cat and keep her clean? I've bathed her and the next day she smells like urine all the time. How do I keep her clean? What can I do to help her? I don't think she is happy about this either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6463" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2016-01-14T15:05:28.887" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T15:05:28.887" Title="My long haired cat keeps getting dirty - how do I keep her clean and how do I clean her all the time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-11T00:25:36.547" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see people mention that they use mineral oil to kill and remove mites from the snake but I'm not sure what kind of mineral oil to use. When I looked up mineral oil I seen there's different kinds. Can someone please tell me what kind to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6464" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-01-11T17:28:28.093" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:34:19.020" Title="Type of mineral oil ot remove snake mites?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11119" CreationDate="2016-01-11T04:20:32.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question. I'd like to first state that the dominance theory was initially brought about by David Mech, who studied captive wolves. He and many other trainers who originally believe in this theory, have now stated that this theory is incorrect and did not represent the actual living structure of a wolf pack. They act as a family unit and do not have an alpha or submissive wolves in the pack. It is a mum, dad and a few youngsters and the mum and dad teach the younger ones as we teach our children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that you have had a trainer in the past as well as a vet who said that there was a dominance issue, but this is not current (the last twenty years of animal behaviour) information and simple puts the blame on the dog, gives us an OK to use punishment and allows us to think that dogs are plotting against us. I know the only thing my dog is thinking about at night is that first morning belly rub and yummy breakfast she will be getting, not where to dig the next hole in the backyard (she doesn't dig, just using a bit of humour to get the point across).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is great that your two girls get along so well. You haven't said if the male is desexed or not. Non-desexed males will mark their terriorty (or what they believe to be their terrioroty) a lot more than desexed males. I would strongly suggest, that unless your son is going to breed from him, to desex him, if they haven't don't it already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As above, males and females urinate on areas to send messages to other dogs. Think of their pee as a flyer someone has put up on a notice board. The pee tells other dogs all sorts of information. The male is urinating on the girls beds as he can smell his last &quot;message&quot; and wants to keep that message fresh. As long as the bed smells of his pee, he's going to keep peeing there. I would suggest washing all their beds and only letting the females into areas where you don't want the male to go. If a dog finds a surface comfortable, they are going to lay on or in it, regardless if it is there bed. I would give all three dogs a yummy chew such as a Kong toy filled with cream cheese on the areas you want them to lay down on. It should keep them occupied for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to the stealing of food, this is quite an easy one to deal with. Feed all three dogs separately and when one dog walks away from their food bowl, even if there is food in it, take the bowl away. You may have to feed the male outside while the females eat inside. Better to separate all three into different rooms/areas so they only have their food bowl to get to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punishment (whether hitting, screaming at a dog or spraying them with water) is proven not to work and will only cause the dog that is receiving it to dislike the person dissing it out and will lead to other, much more serious issues, like the dog snapping, growling or even biting the person &quot;correcting them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this has helped and look forward to seeing how you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T04:20:32.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11098" CreationDate="2016-01-11T04:46:21.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes dogs can throw up from eating grass. They either eat grass as they feel they need to throw up something or because they are not getting enough plant nutrients in their diet. I'd keep a log of it to see how regular it is and what preceeds it (if a dog eats too fast, this may cause them to throw up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is because she is eating too fast, buy her a slow-eating bowl (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=slow%20eating%20dog%20bowl&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;gws_rd=cr&amp;amp;ei=-jKTVtXkDcnl0gSQ6YSIAg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Google search results&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Works wonders for my overexcited Labrador who used to inhale her food. Also, scatter feeding can help to slow down eating. You basically take the amount of dry food and throw it around the backyard. Not only is it a great way to slow down how fast she eats, it's also a great enrichment as it allows her to display her natural scavenger behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps and your little fur baby is feeling better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:22:57.020" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:57.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6980" CreationDate="2016-01-11T05:36:28.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does she lick at the areas? A few suggestions that may be helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a diary of when you noticing her doing it. If it is a behavioural issue (which most of the time hair pulling is in animals), keeping note of what happened before or during the hair pulling may be helpful as you can then try to avoid that situation. Of course, this is only if certain situations are causing it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since it seems to be localised to just her arms, I'm lead to believe it may be a behavioural issue rather than a medical one, but with that being said, I don't want to rule out medical as I do not know what other behaviours she may be exhibiting, plus, dogs can get hot spots on only one part of their body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aloveen shampoo and condition are the bomb. &lt;a href=&quot;http://dermcare.com.au/Products/Shampoo-and-Rinse/Aloveen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dermcare.com.au/Products/Shampoo-and-Rinse/Aloveen.html&lt;/a&gt; They have a moisturising agent in them that helps with sensitive skin. You have to leave each one on for at least 5-10 minutes before rising otherwise, it won't work. Try not to wash her more than once every 10 days as washing a dog more than once a fortnight can strip their natural oils from their skin, causing them to be more itchy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A vension based food can help as it doesn't have as much protein, which can lead to skin irritation. I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://ivorycoat.com.au/venison-adult-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ivorycoat.com.au/venison-adult-dog-food/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;for my Lab and it has definitely help with her skin issues&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding sardines to her diet is not only good for her gut but works wonders for a dog's skin. Salmon oil added to her food may help as well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doggy day care can get expensive. Have you looked into Nose Work? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.k9nosework.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.k9nosework.com/&lt;/a&gt; My girl was so exhausted after two hours on and off of doing this that she slept so deeply that night. Really gives their brain a work out and is great to watch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully some of this may help and hope your fur baby is feeling better soon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T05:36:28.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2016-01-11T12:19:37.937" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The very first thing to do is take her to a vet to rule out any bladder, kidney, or incontinence issues.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no medical causes of her problems, the first thing I'd suggest from experience with long haired cats is taking a look at the fur on her back end. If she's constantly smelling of urine, chances are her fur is in the way when she urinates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things you can do to mitigate problems with a long haired cat getting urine on her fur:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trim the fur around her butt. You don't need to shave, but making sure there's a clear area so when she urinates and defecates there's nothing in the way will help. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you keep the litter box clean. She probably has tufts between her paw pads, and her belly fur could be long enough to drag through the litter as well. That will pick up damp litter and urine (clumping litter helps to mitigate this problem. So does replacing ordinary litter more often than you think you need to).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brush/comb her daily. This will help to remove anything that's been caught on her fur. As an added bonus, once she figures out this is pleasant time with her human, she'll want you to do it. It will also help prevent matting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that isn't enough you may need to observe her and see if she's playing in the litter box. If so, take a look at the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5581/should-i-keep-my-cat-from-playing-in-her-litter-box?rq=1&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T12:19:37.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11230" CreationDate="2016-01-11T16:38:12.083" Score="4" ViewCount="2438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a basket with about 15-20 toys of various shapes, textures, colors, and sizes.  I keep about 5 to 8 out at a time, the rest remain in the hidden basket (in a cupboard over the fridge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that cats get acclimated to toys, and will begin to ignore them (&lt;em&gt;Hmph!  I've already killed that thing eleventy hundred times.&lt;/em&gt;)  With no real set schedule, every couple weeks I go around, find all the toys that went under appliances and chairs, gather up all the other toys, and put them in the basket. Then I put out other toys.  My cat has been with me only a few months so far, so each rotation introduces at least one new toy, but also brings back some familiar ones.  As toys wear out, I will trash them and buy new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat seems to okay with this, and plays with his toys with equal vigor no matter how long they've been out.  At least, he hasn't complained so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder about the long-term effectiveness of this (lack of a) plan.  Should I have more or fewer toys at a time?  Should I get the rotation on any schedule, and if so, how often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Searches for &quot;rotate cat toys&quot; are all ads for cat toys that rotate, and &quot;switch/ change cat toys&quot; are about switching to different kinds of food or litter.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:35:32.280" Title="How many toys available at a time, and how often to rotate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11229" CreationDate="2016-01-11T17:35:32.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are individuals.  Some cats have very little play-drive, and are satisfied with only a couple toys.  Others are quite frisky.  So observe your cat, and look for signs of boredom or excess energy.  For instance, the cat may randomly try to pounce and bite inappropriate things such as your hands, or be unable to sit still while being petted.  Then it's time to try more toys, or maybe more interactive play (like with laser pointers, or feather lures.) It sounds to me like your cat has plenty for now, maybe even more than is strictly necessary for less playful cats, but again, it's up to you to determine how many your cat requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T17:35:32.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-11T18:34:01.433" Score="1" ViewCount="24910" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently returned from a trip and I've found that sometimes my cat goes to the main door of the house and starts meowing. The cat didn't use to do this before my trip. During this trip I left the cat alone at home and a friend of mine came everyday to feed the cat, play a bit with him, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he do that? Is it normal? Is there any way to stop him from doing this so insistently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6275" LastActivityDate="2019-10-26T05:02:05.587" Title="Why does my cat meow in front of the door?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11269" CreationDate="2016-01-11T18:43:51.027" Score="6" ViewCount="21099" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a roughly 9 month old &quot;puppy.&quot; We have a dog walker come in during the middle of the day, making our dog's longest stint in the crate about 4.5 hours. Our dog walker won't be able to come for three days, leaving our dog crated for roughly 7 hours. I don't expect the pup to be particularly happy about 7 hours in her crate, but is it reasonable to expect her to go 7 hours without an accident at this age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T05:43:46.523" Title="How long can my 9 month old puppy stay in the crate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11232" CreationDate="2016-01-11T21:56:04.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As said, expect an accident, move on and don't punish the dog for what is essentially not its fault. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an awfully long time for any sociable animal to be locked up and not fair. I don't want to get into personal situations but it sounds like having a puppy was not a good idea if the majority of its day is spent locked in a crate. Personally, I would suggest make adjustments in your own life to suit the animal for learning and play, this age is when they absorb the most information and pick up good habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you close to your home when you are at work? Can you take the dog to work with you to at least have it close by? Are there friends or family who can look after the animal? Because at that age, yes, it is still a puppy and to be locked up all day will be utterly confusing for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to drag on but I feel that important things may not have been taken into account. I hope I am wrong, but that is no life for a puppy, or any animal in fact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T21:56:04.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11232" CreationDate="2016-01-11T23:41:05.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to expect an accident to happen. Clean it up and start over. If no accident then be happy. What I like is an oversize crate so they don't have to lay in the accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK I have to step in and disagree with Morgan.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog can have a very happy life with just an hour of interaction a day. &#xA;Give them 30 minutes of exercise and 30 minutes of attention. &#xA;On a busy day you can make a dog feel important in 10 minutes. &#xA;Long or short day greet your dog when you get home. If it has been a long day then take them out immediately - hey I held it take me OUT. &#xA;Let them sleep in the same room as you.&#xA;A puppy will sleep 20 hours in a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-01-11T23:41:05.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10377" CreationDate="2016-01-12T01:07:19.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like what's bothering you is not so much the fact that they play roughly, but that it makes her look like she's survived a dog fight, which is understandable because we're talking about 2 pitts. Pitts have a bad rap; they are wonderful dogs. The great thing about Pitts is that, as a breed, they are highly driven to please their owner(s), so both of them care what you think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he stops when she yips, then he knows about playing 'appropriately' with another dog. The fact that she doesn't yip often means that she enjoys the rough play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to do some 'negative' reinforcement. I'm not advocating any type of physical discipline, what I mean is giving a negative consequence - a timeout - when the play gets too rough. Designate a timeout area in your home, some place where you can stick the dog for a minute or two and leave it there. When the play starts to get too rough, tell them to calm down or and if it continues, wordlessly, calmly take the male dog and put him in timeout. Have him stay there for a few minutes. Then wordlessly go get him and bring him out of timeout. If the rough play starts again, repeat. He'll quickly figure out that getting too rough means no more play and doing something boring. She will figure out getting too rough means her play companion gets taken away. Dogs are primarily non-verbal so they don't need a lot of talking. Being calm (and quiet) about it helps the dog to get it faster than if you're upset. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your female is the one who starts it, put her in time out. This should do the trick, but the key is consistency. Don't let a time go because you don't feel like dealing with it just then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've fostered and rehabbed many dogs and this technique works. I originally saw it on 'It's Me or the Dog,' a program featuring dog trainer, Victoria Stillwell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T01:07:19.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10753" CreationDate="2016-01-12T01:32:10.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought of a few things: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It could be a bacterial infection on the skin and a hot spot. Bacteria is normal, but sometimes it can get out of control, which can lead to itchiness and things like oozing spots where the fur gets scratched away. A shot from the vet can help with this. One of my dogs has needed a shot more than once for this type of thing. I normally try Sulfodene on the spot first; it will help stop the itching as well as dry up the spot. You can find it at PetCo/Petsmart. Make sure you trim the fur around the spot before you apply because can get stuck in the spot as it dries. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Often food allergies manifest in itching for dogs. Things like flaky skin say that there's something in the diet that your dog is allergic to. My dog is allergic to corn; I switched him to Science Diet and it was non-stop itching and constipation until I switched him to something else. I would try doing a corn-free dog food and see if that helps. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I definitely think that you should take her to the vet, just to make sure there's nothing really serious going on. You mentioned a mite-related rash; I'm not necessarily familiar with those, but if it was me, I would just want to check with the vet about this, especially because you described the brown things. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also make sure that you're not bathing your dog too often; it can dry out the skin. And, using an oatmeal shampoo is soothing for itchiness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-01-12T13:09:49.410" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T13:09:49.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10600" CreationDate="2016-01-12T02:07:04.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding the urinating on the car and over your urine - that sounds more like marking than pottying. Yes, they both involve urine, but are for vastly different reasons. Marking is done to mark territory. He's urinating over your urine to tell other dogs (whether they come or not) that this land is protected. It's not necessarily him trying to be dominant over you, but more that he's saying that he'll take care of you and his territory. It also can be done to help a dog feel secure. One of my dogs, who is perfectly potty trained, will mark when he's stressed. When he feels secure, he doesn't mark. Because you're new, you created stress, since he doesn't know you and so he marked the thing you brought with you. Doing things that communicate that you're a safe person will encourage his security and will help prevent the marking. There is a spray that you can use to discourage his marking of your generator. It's the smell of it that keeps the dog away. You can get it a pet store. You also might try Vicks Vaporub - most dogs hate that smell and will avoid where it is. Like someone else said, unless you catch the dog doing it and discipline then, the dog won't associate the discipline with what he's doing. If you do catch him and he leaves the generator but then goes potty someplace else, praise him for doing the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tail chasing is another sign of stress/excess energy. That with the crazy running says that he's excited. It does sound like he's trying to play with you, which is a good sign and says that he does consider you friends. You could be more scary than a woman partially because your voice is deeper than a man. High pitched normally communicates happiness to a dog where deeper pitches are more serious and/or disciplinary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snorting he's doing is a sign of pleasure. Sometimes it can be an actual sneeze but a lot of times it's the equivalent of a laugh. The freezing (before jumping out of the way) actually sounds more like a calming signal to you - dogs give them to us all the time when they think that we're stressed or he's unsure what's going on with us. Things like walking in an arc towards you, stopping in its tracks, looking away, blinking, licking lips, lying down, these can all be calming signals. Again, helping him feel secure will help with these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suggestion of a smelly reward is a good one, especially if you start by simply dropping the treats in your vicinity when he's around so he associates you with the treat. Then, when he's hovering, don't look at him but hold out the treat in your palm. Staring down a dog is a sign of dominance/aggression but looking away tells the dog you're not a threat. Don't react when he takes the treat. When he gets used to taking it from you, start looking at him and interacting with him. I would also start feeding him a little, but make it look like you're eating the food first. This tells the dog that you're the boss; the dominant dog eats first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the car problem, the suggestion of desensitizing the dog to you leaving is a good one. Go sit in the car. Get out. When he doesn't react, get in and start it. Get out. Build up to no reaction when you leave. Leave and come back after a minute. Etc. When you come back, get out of your car and go back to whatever you were doing, ignoring the dog until he's calm. It communicates that you leaving is no big deal and you'll come back 'soon.' What I also would do is invest in a Kong toy, the kind where you can put something inside it. Most dogs love peanut butter. Put PB in it and give it to the dog when you're about to leave. This gives him a reward and distraction when you're leaving. You may find that he settles down and goes to work on the Kong, allowing you to leave without the car chasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might sound like a lot of work - but it'll only be in the beginning. Put in the effort and you'll have a great guard dog and companion for your property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've owned many dogs as well as fostered and rehabbed unsocialized dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T02:07:04.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9738" CreationDate="2016-01-12T02:41:17.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your crate is not too big; it should be big enough for the dog to turn around in and lie down. Dogs instinctually will not pee where they sleep, but if the crate's big enough, it will pee on one end and lie down on the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try leaving on a radio or the TV when you leave; that helps with stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs will mark and/or poop to help themselves feel secure; if your dog has separation anxiety, working on that will help alleviate this behavior. One of my dogs will mark when he's stressed; helping him to feel secure curbed this. My other dog would chew up things (like my laptop charger, my phone charger, books, a favorite pair of shoes) because of that anxiety; again, helping him to feel secure curbed this&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog is not too old to learn something new. It may take a little longer, but he'll get it. I taught a 10-year-old dog that was rescued from a hoarder to be potty-trained. It's possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can't tell if you're crating him whenever you're not there - ie when you go get groceries - or if it's when you're leaving for extended periods. If you crate only when you leave, you're teaching the dog that into crate = you leaving. If this is the case, try feeding your dog in the crate so that he associates the crate with more than that. Also, random 5-minute crating so that it doesn't mean you will be gone, just that he'll be in the crate. Are you crating because he's not well potty-trained? You might also think about investing in a gate and having him hang out in a bathroom if you're worried about accidents.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you come home, wait until he's totally calm before you let him out of the crate and then do so without making it be a big deal. That says you're the boss rather than answering his demand to be let out. Knowing that you're the boss, rather than not knowing who's the boss, helps with dog anxiety. I recommend &lt;strong&gt;'The Dog Listener' by Jan Fennel&lt;/strong&gt;. She has a great non-verbal method of telling a dog that you're the boss. Knowing that you're the boss will help a lot with the anxiety and will actually help your dog empty his bladder more fully. Fennel's book also gives lots of examples of 'bad' behavior and suggestions for how to deal with them. Victoria Stillwell of 'It's Me or the Dog' is also a great resource. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Quiet Moments' are soft chews with Melatonin in them; my Silky can sometimes get stressed out/restless at night and one of them helps him calm down to go to sleep. That might help. It takes a few minutes, but the melatonin is calming. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope these help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-01-12T13:08:45.523" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T13:08:45.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2016-01-12T03:58:59.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs can often be allergic to CORN; it may be that what you were feeding her contained that. The dental treat most likely did. A friend has a dog allergic to chicken (which is more rare). It does sound like her finkiness was related to an allergy; my dog does the same thing. The times where I've 'made' him eat something, many times he's vomited afterward. It's like he knows it won't agree with him. Glad that the hamburger and rice are working for her, but I know it would be nice to figure out something a little 'easier.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snorting could be what is called 'reverse sneezing.' Certain breeds are prone to it and both my dogs do it occasionally. It's nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T03:58:59.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6015" CreationDate="2016-01-12T04:09:41.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watched the video and don't think you have anything to worry about. Their play looks completely normal. The female going down is a submissive thing and she doesn't look scared at all, particularly because she continued to bite/mouth at him after he backed off. If she didn't like it, her body language would be different; right now it looks like she's playing. She definitely wouldn't mouth back, would run away as soon as he let her up and she'd most likely be vocally complaining, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T04:09:41.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3177" CreationDate="2016-01-12T04:25:13.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds more like shorter walks mean more dogs get a walk, which helps with stress and pent-up energy and helps them be adopted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what the dog's perspective might be: a dog doesn't have the same concept of time that we do and it won't consider the walk being short or long; it's just a walk, an opportunity to smell new things and explore. Yes, it might be shorter than it would like, but it doesn't go into the walk worried about it being too short. Dogs live too much in the moment to think like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A longer walk will get rid of more energy which means a calmer dog, but you're never going to see a dog in a normal state when it's at a shelter. Some act more like themselves but they're still not going to be like what they would be at home because it is such an unsure environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm someone who has worked with a dog rescue, fostered and rehabbed dogs so they have a successful second-chance, and has adopted several rescues myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T04:25:13.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3287" CreationDate="2016-01-12T04:35:27.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the treat that you're giving her is not her normal treat (sounds like it isn't, since your dad gives homemade treats), it could be that she's allergic to something in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that she went and ate grass to vomit tells me that it was something that she ate that irritated her stomach. Some dogs' stomachs are just more sensitive to that sort of thing (whether they have diabetes or not). My Silky is one of them and this has happened with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, I'd suggest having the dog fast after its been vomiting because that helps its stomach to settle, but I don't know how wise that would be for a diabetic dog. I would just eliminate the non-homemade treats because that seems to be the likely culprit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:33:20.467" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:33:20.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10669" CreationDate="2016-01-12T04:50:29.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How dogs act when their person is around as compared to being alone with someone else is different. My dogs ignore my roommate when she's the only one home (one of them hangs out on my pillow/bed the whole time). The minute I get home, they are totally affectionate to her (and me). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does sound like your Dad (her person) gives her security. She most likely does remember you, but you are a friend and not quite a member of her pack. My dogs are the same way, where there are certain people they &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; but it's still not the same as when I'm there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you two are alone, I would actually ignore her and let her come to you. Her growl-bark sounds like a fear-growl rather than an aggressive growl. Direct eye contact challenges dogs and if she's feeling insecure, looking directly at her will be stressful. By ignoring her and letting her come to you, you are non-verbally communicating that you're not a threat. And dogs are primarily non-verbal creatures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treats are a good persuader, too, especially when they are ones the dog really loves. If you start dropping them when you're around and in the dog's vicinity without directly interacting with the dog, you'll be reinforcing that you're a safe and attractive person to be around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it sounds counter-intuitive. As people we want to go and pet the dog to show that we're friendly and not a threat, but dogs don't work that way. Also, I would pet her where she can see your hand (like her chest and not the back of her neck); this builds trust, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T04:50:29.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10545" CreationDate="2016-01-12T05:01:51.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually think that it's mainly instinctual. Dogs yip when they're excited (a high sound) and growl when they're defending or ordering another dog (a low sound). No one teaches them this; they just know. Humans, too, typically use sounds the same way, that's why it can be harder for men to communicate that they're happy with their dogs because they speak at a lower register. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I would actually argue that it's more the non-verbal cues that the dog focuses on, rather than the verbal ones. A vast majority of their communication with each other (and with us) is non-verbal. That's why two seemingly unaffected dogs can suddenly go after each other. They saw the non-verbal cues that we miss. Dogs read our faces from left to right just like humans do, because the right side of our face (which would be on the dog's left) is more expressive than the left side. They're the only animal that pays attention when a person points. That stray dog would be able to tell if we were relaxed or stressed just by how we carry ourselves and the tension in our voice, regardless of pitch. So even if we didn't say anything, it would know if we were upset or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't to say that nurture doesn't pay a role, because they learn what humans' sounds sound like, but I would say it was mainly nature that informs a dog's actions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:01:51.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10418" CreationDate="2016-01-12T05:13:56.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be something she randomly ate which irritated her pancreas, causing the vomiting. One of my dogs recently ate something that gave him a bout of pancreatitis and it took more than a week for him to get back to normal. He wasn't running or jumping (which he does all the time, especially when he's excited) and he was walking funny because of his discomfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my understanding that the shirt works because of the added pressure and fur stimulation that it provides. Something about it is comforting. It could be that the shirt was pressing on a spot that was extra-sensitive because of the pancreatitis, so removing the pressure relieved the discomfort. The shirt wouldn't be tight enough to cause that much constriction (unless you bought one too small) but it could add enough pressure to be uncomfortable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:13:56.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9829" CreationDate="2016-01-12T05:21:57.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it. My dogs have gotten warts as they age. It's completely normal. (My Silky has about 6 now on various spots. My Yorkie had about 12.) The only time you should be concerned is if it acts like a growth on a human: quickly grows, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:21:57.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11076" CreationDate="2016-01-12T05:31:57.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a subluxating patella that acts up only occasionally. My Yorkie had this problem. Most of the time he was fine, but occasionally, he would do something wrong and irritate it and then he would limp. Testing his knees didn't show anything, but they were slightly looser than 'typical' so it was suggested that this might be a potential cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder, though, about the consistent switching. It suggests to me that it might be something else. You didn't mention how old he was; it could potentially be arthritis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:31:57.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10997" CreationDate="2016-01-12T05:34:41.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone mentioned the Thundershirt; I think the bandaging is an attempt to create the same type of pressure and fur stimulation that the shirt does. Something about it is calming for the dog. I have friends who swear by the Thundershirt and I have seen it work in making a nervous dog calmer, especially during things like storms and fireworks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:34:41.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10734" CreationDate="2016-01-12T05:56:55.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(1) While the parvo virus is very contagious, I've never heard of it being contracted from encountering another dog on the street. That doesn't mean it can't happen, but normally, I've heard of it spreading in environments where animals are kept in close quarters and/or live together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) Waiting a few more weeks until he has all of his vaccinations isn't going to ruin any hope of potty-training. My Dudley was a rescue from a hoarder (which meant he went anywhere inside). When I got him, he was 10 years old and had a UTI. No telling how long he had it. He drank tons of water to dilute his urine. This meant that he pottied about once an hour. It also meant lots of accidents. Despite years of repeated behavior and being an older dog, he quickly learned that telling me he needed to go out and pottying outside earned him a yummy treat, where going inside didn't get him one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The challenge with puppies is that, like small children, they don't start out with much bladder control. But if you positively reinforce going outside, especially if you reward it, he'll quickly pick it up. Until then, I would limit where your puppy wanders (he may complain a little but he won't hold it against you) and make sure you use an enzymatic cleaner on any accidents to get rid of the smell of the urine. Dudley also didn't potty when he was in his crate, so you might think about crating your puppy when you're not at home. Instinctually, dogs don't go to the bathroom where they sleep. Just make sure that there's not too much room in the crate (just enough to turn around) because if there is, the puppy might potty at the opposite end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T05:56:55.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-12T06:25:45.590" Score="6" ViewCount="1713" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a pet fancy mouse three months ago. He was six months old at the time, so fairly young and not well socialized. I've spent a lot of time with him, getting him used to being handled and around people. Just like my last mouse, he did nip me a little bit and I taught him that nipping was not alright. The behavior disappeared and now I have a pretty good relationship with him. He willingly climbs onto my hand and even when I let him out to play in his playpen he still loves to come and climb all over me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, he started nipping again, but the behavior is... different. I don't feel that it is aggressive.  His nips do not hurt at all and are very light. Additionally, he is very slow and methodical with his teeth. I let him do it for a few seconds and what ended up happening was he just lightly held my finger in his mouth (no pain or breaking of the skin). I've been trying to discourage the behavior, but he seems intent on continuing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sure what to think about the behavior. Is it social? Aggressive? Something odd that only he does? Should I discourage it or simply let him continue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6471" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-01-12T16:13:03.490" LastActivityDate="2016-08-02T11:34:19.630" Title="Can biting in pet mice be non agressive?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10426" CreationDate="2016-01-12T06:36:02.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have emotions. Their intelligence is similar to a 2-3 year old. But they aren't people and don't look at things like people do. For instance, they live in the now instead of holding on to things. They don't sulk and are natural peace keepers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the shark, I think it's a combination of things. Part of it could be because of you (the attention that you give when you play, her attachment to you which extends to the toy because it might smell like you) but it could also be because of the toy itself. My dogs prefer certain toys (and they're not the same toys either), but it goes in cycles because dogs get bored of toys, too. For one, it's a stuffed grizzly bear. The other loves soft animals with appendages to chew off. My Yorkie would only play with 3 specific toys, because of the noise they made. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6469" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T06:36:02.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6819" CreationDate="2016-01-12T16:23:41.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't say I'm any expert on the subject, but I did own a bearded dragon for several years. He too would occasionally glance up and look at my face. It is entirely possible that your lizard does recognize your face as there is some evidence to suggest that reptiles can recognize and form bonds with their owners. &lt;a href=&quot;https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk/reptile-emotions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk/reptile-emotions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is just as likely that your lizard is simply looking at the highest point. Or if she is skittish she could be watching you as if she might watch a predator and trying to keep track of your movements. As I said before, I'm no expert on this matter so you may take what I have said with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6471" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T16:23:41.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9738" CreationDate="2016-01-12T21:28:31.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you take a good look at this blog by separation anxiety specialist Malena De Martini : &lt;a href=&quot;http://malenademartini.com/blog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://malenademartini.com/blog/&lt;/a&gt; for a modern and science-based approach to treating separation anxiety.  If you are not sure what approach to take, you may want to consider employing a qualified behaviourist to prepare a treatment plan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be extremely cautious of advice that talks about 'being the boss' or insists on keeping your dog in his crate while he is upset out of some mistaken idea that a terrified dog will somehow learn control.  Learning doesn't happen when a dog is frightened.   He may give up and shut down into learned helplessness, but this is not a positive step, even though old fashioned resources sometimes portray it as such. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-01-12T21:28:31.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11264" CreationDate="2016-01-13T17:11:46.603" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;My background is a non-dog owner; I will soon be looking after my sister's two year old male goldendoodle who was homed with them at the age of eight months. I'll be looking after him for about a week while his family are out of the country. My nephews will be around if I have questions while my sister is away, and my SO &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; dogs&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; so I'm not taking this on completely alone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be discussing this with my sister, naturally, but are there any general things I should be aware of? Particularly aspects that someone who is used to having dogs might overlook when briefing someone who isn't! I already know about his usual walk frequency and timing, and that he will be my best friend if I keep some treat on me! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I understand that this cross can be prone to anxiety. I've met him and played with him on a few occasions, so I won't be a completely new and strange face. I also assume that I'll be able to borrow his usual sleeping basket and some of his toys while he is a guest at mine; and plan to ask my nephew round so that he has another familiar face. What signs of anxiety should I look out for; and if he does seem anxious, what can I do to ameliorate this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The week has been and gone without incident. The only things I can think of to add to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/11264/6479&quot;&gt;excellent answer provided by Victoria&lt;/a&gt; are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gear for walking. You might think &quot;I walk places, no big deal&quot;, but bear in mind you might be walking two or more hours per day and plan accordingly. That means both waterproofs and decent footwear at least!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Knowing a bit about how a particular dog will communicate is useful too. Spending time with him/her (as mentioned in comments) can help here, but if nothing else it can be reassuring to know that what appears to be an &quot;Oh god I'm dying&quot;-type whine might only be a  way of saying &quot;I'd like to go out&quot; or &quot;I'm bored and would like attention&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We both had a great week- thanks in part to the constructive advice here! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; She has a very cute looking pitbull back home, unfortunately a continent away so out of the question for the purposes of experience or socialisation with my sister's dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6479" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-01-24T18:17:23.110" Title="What steps should I take to prepare myself for dogsitting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1834" CreationDate="2016-01-13T17:15:41.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior isn't grown out of as much as trained out of.  First, you need to play with your cat a lot more, with things where your hands are far away, so it can't bite or scratch, like feather lures or laser pointers.  If your cat is played out, it'll be much less likely to bite or scratch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for body posture or behavior that indicates your cat has excess energy before trying to pet it.  If your cat's acting restless, like it's twitching and keeps shifting positions, seems particularly alert, very reactive to movement, or its body seems tense, with its ears slightly back, all of these can be indicators of excess energy.  So play with it if you notice these sorts of signs.  It's probably a good idea to always try to play it out before you try to pet it as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other step is to immediately stop any sort of interaction if the cat does bite or scratch. After about five minutes, try playing with the lure or laser pointer again, and make sure it's tired out.  Not getting to play anymore for a while when it does bite or scratch, plus giving it a different outlet, should be a good enough to hopefully redirect your cat to playing more appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-01-13T17:15:41.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11322" CreationDate="2016-01-14T02:29:12.937" Score="5" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found some red algae last night in my tank. I'm looking for possible cause and also a way to kill it. I have shrimp and fish in that tank, so no chemicals if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My water parameters are stable since 4 months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia: 0 mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrite: 0 mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrate: less than 5mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;phosphate: less than 2mg/l. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a regular water change once per week or at most every 2 weeks. I use tap water, de-chlorinated, for my water change. I do not dose any fertilizer in the tank and no CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now all I have is those small algae on an &lt;em&gt;Anubias&lt;/em&gt; (see picture below) but I want to find the cause and address it before it does damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a picture:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TsDxW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TsDxW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:01:56.857" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:01:56.857" Title="Red algae in my tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="299" CreationDate="2016-01-14T13:59:11.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rescue with similar anxieties. He was a stray in California with no idea of his past. He does freak out and did insist on walking directly in front of me ect. One of the things I learned is with anxiety, it's a lot easier to train them, is if you relieve them of pent up energy first. I have a lab/pit cross and my rescue is a pit and they are very high energy outside but chill inside. So what I suggest is finding a ball diamond or fenced in area, let him run around, then try the leash training. &#xA;I also play my other good dog against my rescue lol. When she walks nice, she gets treats and praise. That has broken him out of zone out on his stresses.  Still a work in progress. Regular walks that are positive and disciplinary, is what I'm doing with him.&#xA;He's almost trained to be a running partner. I give him a light tap with my knee when we're running and when his stressers appear, I don't let him cross in front of me. When he doesn't react, he gets praise and a treat. So far so good! &#xA;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6484" LastActivityDate="2016-01-14T13:59:11.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11259" CreationDate="2016-01-14T15:24:54.530" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Things to ask your sister:&#xA;- can he open cupboards?  If so, think about how to secure those, particularly any that might contain risky substances or food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;can he open doors? If so, check your doors and think what you can do to secure them so any that might be dangerous cannot be opened with paw&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;does he steal things off kitchen surfaces? (even if he doesn't usually, it's usually safest to assume a new dog MAY do this and be more careful about putting things away. )&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that upsets his stomach (dogs can have surprisingly delicate digestions, and every one is different!) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;how reliably will he come when called? (even if the answer is 'very', consider what you would do if this time he decided not to.  A dog is most likely to do a runner in his first week in a new house!) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things for you to think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider how garbage is stored.  Can the dog get into it?  Can you move bins to less vulnerable locations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out on walks, how will you approach other dogs? Be aware that dogs with handlers they don't know well could be more wary and less likely to be happy to greet, even if normally they are really friendly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will you let him off the lead?  If so, where is the safest place to do that?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he usually walked on a flexi lead?  If so, be aware that the locks on these can fail, and they can get wrapped around the dog or other dogs.  This is one of those things nobody tells you :-D  It's safest to use a fixed-length lead if you are somewhere like a busy road where the lead lock failing could be fatal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where is the nearest vet?  What out-of-hours provision is there? Store the vet contact number on your mobile, just in case that late-night dogwalk goes horribly wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you MUST do :&#xA;Get a dog tag with YOUR home phone number, mobile and address on it and put it on your visitor on arrival.  If the nightmare happens and you mislay your visiting dog, you don't want a helpful finder to be trying to contact your sister on holiday: you want them to be able to call you direct or walk right to your door, so you can get there pronto and have it all be over.  Trust me, it is worth spending a small sum for that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you have a lovely time with your visitor and all these precautions turn out to be quite unnecessary! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastEditorUserId="3820" LastEditDate="2016-01-16T09:14:18.810" LastActivityDate="2016-01-16T09:14:18.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11266" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11268" CreationDate="2016-01-14T17:06:23.683" Score="4" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I notices some dark red growth on inside my aquarium. Any idea what this is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O2RWk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O2RWk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T12:57:27.433" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T12:57:27.433" Title="Crimson colored growth in saltwater tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11266" CreationDate="2016-01-14T20:57:30.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's cyanobacteria. It comes in a multitude of colors, purple'ish and dark green are the most common, but can be any range from tan to almost completely black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a new tank, it's not uncommon to go through a number of algae and bacteria stages over the first year or so. In this case it will likely pass if you keep up good maintenance. You can blast it off the rocks and suck it out with a turkey baster if it is loosely attached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, it's a result of either too many nutrients (overstocking, over feeding, poor maintenance, or a combination) or an imbalance in nitrate (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;) and phosphate (PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt;) levels. It's very common a few months after people start a carbon dosing or biopellet reactor, as the NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; is brought down to nearly zero while PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; remains at a higher level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:13:56.813" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:13:56.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11232" CreationDate="2016-01-15T08:34:27.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you don't get up in the middle of the night to let your puppy out to go, do you? If not, she can hold it for 7 or 8 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't get her a larger crate; if she has to go, she will if she can get away from it. It's not a great idea to give them the opportunity to go in their crate. One of the reasons to crate-train is to teach bladder control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can't agree that crating your dog is such a miserable existence that you should change your life to stop it, you might consider letting her grow into gradually larger spaces when you're gone: a bathroom at first, then a mudroom, etc. You can put a bed and some toys, water and a few other entertainments in a small room with a gate. (Some people even put in a set up to skype with the dog during the day.) Any area with a vinyl or tile floor (just in case) will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T08:34:27.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2016-01-15T08:37:12.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't give any pointers on disciplining other than tone. My five year old male cat responds to my tone when he's doing something that he's not supposed to.  However, I do think it's important that your cat is aware of how he or she is fed. That food just doesn't magically show up in their dish. My cat associates me with his portioned out food every day. This may sound a little strict and he may not recognize me as the &quot;alpha&quot; cat, but he sure knows to not piss off the hand that feeds him. Anyway works for us and he is a healthy weight too. He gets special &quot;treats&quot; as rewards only also. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6490" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T08:37:12.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-15T17:54:40.310" Score="8" ViewCount="732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just lost my male 16 years old cat. I have a 5 years old female, very sweet but lonely. She is declawed in her front feet. I want to get her a new cat, what age, sex and with the claws do you recommend? They are inside cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6494" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-01-15T20:10:03.827" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:40:45.110" Title="New cat for my other cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11272" CreationDate="2016-01-15T18:11:03.550" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry you lost your male cat. Getting another cat will be good for both you and your female cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would get an adult cat, not a kitten. A mature cat will likely be calmer, and less likely to annoy your cat. Plus, you'll be able to determine the cat's temperament. And you'll be giving a home to an adult cat (they are harder to find homes for than kittens). The sex of the cat isn't really important, assuming it's spayed/neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest that you go to a shelter and explain your situation. They'll know the temperament of the different cats, and will help you pick one that should settle in nicely with your cat. In my experience, shelter staff are very good at matching the right animal to the owner and situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T18:11:03.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-15T20:48:01.397" Score="4" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a red eared slider that is approximately 4 years of age, about 7&quot; (17.5 cm) in girth and about 10&quot; (25 cm) in length. It has an above water basking area that is accessed by a ramp. The basking area has three flat rocks approximately 6&quot; (15 cm) in diameter surrounded by pea gravel. My turtle has recently began using it's hind legs to throw the pea gravel over into the water. In the last two days the turtle has manipulated the large rocks over the side of the platform into the water. Again there are 3 rocks, approximately 6&quot; (15 cm) in diameter, 1&quot; (2.5 cm) thick, weighing a couple of pounds (over 1 kilogram) a piece!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the turtle is incredibly strong, but what's going on? I don't know why my turtle is behaving this way. Oh, I'm not sure of gender (OK, I'm not an expert) but he/she has never been around another turtle. Might this be some sort of &quot;false pregnancy&quot; behavior in that it's searching for sand or a softer material than pea gravel to lay eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, my turtle is very healthy and behaving as always otherwise. Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6496" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T15:23:09.420" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T15:25:18.627" Title="Red eared slider moving large land items" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11275" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-15T21:15:22.107" Score="4" ViewCount="906" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of 6-month-old kittens. About a month ago, they decided that their day should begin before 4am. (Note that they have dry food available all the time, and get some wet at the beginning and end of the day.) Prior to that, serenading was heard more like 5:30am. So, I've been &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferber_method&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'ferberizing'&lt;/a&gt;(*) them -- I go to sleep with earplugs in place, and I don't open the door and let them into the bedroom until I'm ready. After about two weeks of this, the first serious serenade usually comes along at 5:20am. So, what's a reasonable ambition here? Should I just decide that 5:30am is the start of the cat day, at least for now? Or would further struggle result in relative quiet until 6:00am?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the answers so far, I think a bit of elaboration is in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not my first trip to the cat rodeo; I am well aware that a closed door is a moral insult to the average domestic cat. However, we've never owned a cat who was prepared to be a polite 'midnight visitor' -- whether it's playing hockey with items on dressers or licking exposed ears. In the past, household geometry permitted a division of territory into cat vs. person that put the evil &lt;em&gt;door&lt;/em&gt; far enough away from our bedroom that any complaining was not a big issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the initial yes-or-no character of this question: &quot;Is it reasonable to think that they will learn that companionship and canned cat food will only arrive at time X, and so it's not worth the effort to make a fuss earlier?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of when I'm writing this addendum, we have a pair of answers: &quot;Yes&quot; and &quot;Maybe (depending on their motivations, and here are some other strategies, and maybe canned cat food first thing is not such a brilliant plan.)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A finding of 'No' leads either towards a reconsideration of household geometry options, or an exploration of how to leave the bedroom door open at night without serving as a 2am trampoline (a subject for another question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) Note that we are not literally following ferber by trying to gradually increase the amount of time; in the case at hand, I'm pretty sure that this would only serve to teach them that endurance is a winning strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6497" LastEditorUserId="6497" LastEditDate="2016-01-16T21:50:09.530" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T21:57:14.317" Title="How late can I train my cats to let me sleep in?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11275" CreationDate="2016-01-15T21:33:05.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, you can train the cats to whatever time you want as long as you're consistent about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband is a lighter sleeper than I am, and more easily annoyed by the cats. They often wake him up at 6 am. When he's not home they don't start bothering me until at least 9 am because when I'm asleep I'm dead to the world and they know bothering me won't get them anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T21:33:05.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-15T22:23:16.773" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is acting relatively normal but he is in brumation so he is less active. I have little to no experience with these kind of things, since he is my first reptile, and I got him 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scales on the tip of his nose are black and the area around it is orange in color or darker grey. The scales don't look like the rest of his body and I just want to make sure he's okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6498" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-01-19T20:54:41.803" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T20:54:41.803" Title="Does my bearded dragon have anything wrong with him?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-01-19T22:33:46.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11272" CreationDate="2016-01-15T22:40:14.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I'm sure you know, this is no small undertaking.  First, how long ago was &quot;just&quot;?  What behaviors is your 5 year old exhibiting that make you feel she is &quot;lonely&quot;?  I can tell you from extremely painful experience that you need to be very careful - it is not hard to find yourself in a situation where, though you had the finest intentions, at least two are miserable (and I'm including you).  Once you bring in another cat the die is set and the whole household has to live with the situation.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I strongly urge you to put this off as long as you comfortably can, and make the selection process as long as you can. Your female won't mind that you want to make the best decision possible. Who doesn't fall in love with kittens?  Yet they are so full of energy, so high maintenance, so in-your-face.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also suggest you set some benchmarks, preferably with a vet's (or some other professional's) help, such as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how will I work their feeding?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what do I do if a cat wants to eat the other cat's food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what if they fight?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what would I like to see my house look like after 2nd week, 4th week, 6th week, etc.?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more prepared you are for situations the better the process will work out.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I wish you - and your 5 year old - the very best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:40:45.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:40:45.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11272" CreationDate="2016-01-15T22:42:05.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest trying to find a cat of the opposite sex that's close in age to your five year old. I've had a similar experience in bringing a second feline into the fray after losing one. Another thing to do is to try and spend some time with the cat you're considering adding to the family to make sure that it has a temperament that you feel is compatible with your current cat's. The times I've added on a cat I haven't ever really experienced problems, at least not after the initial hissing and spitting to determine who's the boss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else to keep in mind is that while most of us treat our cats like they're our children, they are cats and the social hierarchy of animals is determined in a different way than that of humans. Try not to force anything. I've read about I don't know how many horror stories of people and their cats not getting along. I've never experienced it with any of the cats I've had and I have always ended up bringing another cat into the mix at some point. None of them have ever done serious damage to each other and I haven't had any that have constantly fought or anything along those lines. I'm sure it'll work out and you'll have a pair of lap heaters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6500" LastEditorUserId="6500" LastEditDate="2016-01-15T22:48:06.630" LastActivityDate="2016-01-15T22:48:06.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11462" CreationDate="2016-01-16T03:54:25.120" Score="3" ViewCount="6929" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1765/5646&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; about how to euthanize a fish but I wonder what is the least painful way to kill shrimp?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since invertebrates are different than fish I wonder if there is another way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:02:04.233" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:08:05.320" Title="What is the least painful way to kill a shrimp" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11275" CreationDate="2016-01-16T17:15:00.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, closing the bedroom door will likely not work.  Cats do NOT like closed doors.  So, now, not only are they meowing for food, they are meowing for you to open the door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are only 6 months, so you'll have to continue showing some patience (ear plugs is a good start).   You said they always have food available.  I'm guessing this is dry food.  There are a couple things you can try...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The best option, by far, would be to get your kitties an automatic feeder. You program it to drop a little dry food two or three times a day.  If they want to eat at 4 am, program it to drop food at that time.  They will come to realize that the feeder gives the food and you don't.  So, likely they will stop meowing at you because they will be busy eating and then, of course, cleaning themselves.   If you have one cat that is food dominate, you may need two automatic feeders programmed at the same time.  Just be sure not to over feed and have lots of water available.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If for some reason you don't want to do automatic feeders, you can try some of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the evening, try giving them wet food.   Be sure to give the wet food at the same time every night.   Cats are creatures of habit, and pretty soon your cats will tell you what time it is, even if you forget to feed them.  They will get into the habit that the really good food comes at night, and hopefully won't bother you when sleeping in the morning.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you get up, don't feed the cats their dry food right away.  Get ready for work and eat your own breakfast.   Then, feed the cats.  They will be meowing incessantly, but they will learn to calm down, as long as you are consistent.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could also try keeping a small bowl of dry cat food in your bedroom.  This will remind them that they are not really hungry (they just want the consistent habit of you putting food in their dish).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best wishes to you and your new kitty family!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T21:57:14.317" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T21:57:14.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11216" CreationDate="2016-01-17T05:49:10.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three-legged cat named Meko, so I can answer from the handicap perspective. With my own cats and other cats that she's run into, I've noticed that her handicap makes other cats a lot nicer to her, almost like they are mothering her? I have three other cats in addition to Meko, and I have noticed that the other cats seem to like to take care of her. She is constantly getting bathed by the other three cats, for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I thought was interesting; I used to take my cats to a friend's house to visit. My friend has a cat too, and her cat does not react well at all to strange cats in her house, lots of angry cat noises and hissing. Interesting enough, when she met Meko, she did not hiss or growl at all; she actually rolled over on her back, showed her stomach, and made chirping meows. It was very bizarre since we've never seen her react like that to any other cat before or since then! Meko wasn't being very friendly back, but the other cat still refused to growl at her even though Meko was intruding on her territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6506" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T05:49:10.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-17T14:18:05.363" Score="3" ViewCount="1198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am buying a hermit crab from the PetCo store, but I do not wish to purchase an under-tank heater. Is there an alternative to keep the tank warm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6507" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T21:29:15.033" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T21:30:55.007" Title="How can can I keep my hermit crab warm without buying an under tank heater?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-17T21:20:59.133" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here is the deal: my dad purchased a baby bunny (or at least I think so, because it is really small) for my sister.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But considering my previous experience, I know I will end up taking care of it. If anyone could give me information on how to take care of it, or could lead me to a trusted information site, it would be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update edit&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much, I have improved its living space, I have prepared an instruction manual for feeding it, built a water dispenser and played with it quite a lot. Regarding the topic of getting another rabbit - I was thinking that I should introduce him to a female or another male.  I haven't neutered him yet, but I plan to do it this week. Thank you for all the feedback and your support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6508" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:24:34.720" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:24:34.720" Title="How can I take care of a bunny?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11285" CreationDate="2016-01-17T21:25:00.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#tbm=shop&amp;amp;q=reptile+reflector+light&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overhead reflector light&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#tbm=shop&amp;amp;q=reptile+ceramic+heater&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ceramic heat emitter&lt;/a&gt; can serve as an inexpensive source of heat over a tank. Some may even say a &lt;em&gt;preferable&lt;/em&gt; source of heat since it more accurately mimics the warming effects of the sun. Not only that, but with an overhead &lt;em&gt;spot&lt;/em&gt; source of radiant heat, you can place it on one side of the cage so the crab will be able to freely move closer or farther way to regulate how much warmth they need throughout the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a thermometer to determine that the range of temperatures inside the cage is what the crab needs. And if you are using a standard light bulb, be sure you turn it off at night (while assuring that the temperatures do not drop too low).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-01-17T21:30:55.007" LastActivityDate="2016-01-17T21:30:55.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11286" CreationDate="2016-01-18T12:17:41.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By the time rabbits are weaned and ready to be placed in homes, they are usually nearly (~75%) of their full size.  If the bunny is small it is likely a dwarf breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have found one of the better sites on internet for bunny information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might start by reviewing all the questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits&quot;&gt;tagged rabbits&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have much experience with rabbits here are some good questions and answers to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1503&quot;&gt;Can rabbits fart?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692&quot;&gt;What is wool block in rabbits?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1853&quot;&gt;Can a bath really kill a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;How much space does a rabbit need to live comfortably?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of these include links to good references, and related questions. If you have any other questions and find we don't already have an answer to it, post a new question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-01-18T18:21:16.413" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-18T23:34:35.787" Score="3" ViewCount="951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry I am not a native speaker so please bear with me :).&#xA;I have a 3-year-old female cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two months ago, she went into heat like always, but she developed a new habit this time...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She keeps meowing all day long (nothing unusual till now) until I pick her up and give her a belly rub (which she used to hate a lot,) and then she relaxes and sleeps on my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This habit became more strange. For two months, she was following me everywhere in my house meowing loudly (especially at night).  She even jumps up and opens the door of my bedroom then gets under the blanket and wakes me up with some bites or knocks to my head till I rub her belly, then she sleeps while I rub her belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I know is that she became so connected to me, but what makes me worried is that she always licks her belly while rubbing (or between rubs) till her lower nipples are red and seem irritated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said normal stuff like try changing her diet, and he pointed that this might be from boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very worried that there might some pain in that area that goes away temporarily when I rub her belly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that I should be really worried about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6511" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-03T08:42:05.460" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T08:42:05.460" Title="my cat follows me everywhere meowing till I rub her belly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T12:11:47.657" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11286" CreationDate="2016-01-19T17:27:20.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm glad to hear you are prepared to take responsibility for this bunny.  So many rabbits are bought as children's pets without proper research! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are social animals, and live in groups in the wild.  Single isolated rabbits can become very depressed.  This rabbit will need either lots of human company and stimulation, or ideally a bunny friend to keep him company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits need a lot more space than people tend to think.  The small cages sold for them are really only suitable as bedrooms.  A rabbit should either be let out every day to run in a rabbit proofed room or run, or ideally, have a run as well as a house to sleep in that is at least six foot square and in which it can stand up fully on hind legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pelleted rabbit food is not great for their teeth, although it's better for them than the sort of food that has lots of brightly-coloured chunks and grains in it.   Ideally, your rabbit should be eating as much grass and hay as possible. Don't use sawdust for bedding, it's murder on their lungs and not that easy to clean out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits love to chew and because their teeth grow constantly, they need to do it a lot.  Cardboard boxes to destroy are often popular, and you can buy nests made from untreated woven grasses or willow.  If you know anyone with an apple tree, your rabbit will love cuttings from that to chew, and they are usually available free when the tree needs pruning! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are very hormonal animals, and they can get very grumpy if not spayed/neutered.  Female rabbits are also very prone to reproductive disorders, so it's best to get them neutered early so they can be introduced to a friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my country (Britain) the diseases that require vaccination in rabbits are myxomatosis and RHD - but your country may be different, so consult your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can live up to 12 years if well looked after.  Ideally they will live indoors, but they can be somewhat messy and destructive companions in small spaces, being hard to completely house train,  so in warmer countries without too many nasty predators, they are often kept outside. This is sometimes considered controversial, but in my opinion is OK if the rabbit has plenty of space and company, has a well insulated dry space, for example a shed, to sleep,  and is not exposed to predators or disease.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is NOT OK to keep a single rabbit outside in a small hutch where it will be lonely and vulnerable to predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps.  Try the Rabbit Welfare Association website for more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-01-19T17:27:20.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="646" CreationDate="2016-01-19T18:03:36.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the question is old and the OP have probably resolved his issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are already several good answer here but I would like add one more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was searching a solution for my community tank to get rid of snail or at least limit their population. I have shrimps in there so most chemicals were out of question. Second there was the assassin snail solution (as suggested by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/960/5646&quot;&gt;GrandMasterB&lt;/a&gt; answer's) but there are several story of those snail eating shrimp or even small fish. I also read that given the right conditions, those snail reproduce almost as much as other pest snail (why replace one specie with another... same problem just a different specie). I also found the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/649/5646&quot;&gt;loach solution&lt;/a&gt; but my tank was too small for those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to give a shot with Danios fish, they are fairly inexpensive, fun to watch (fast swimmer, always active, colorful, etc.) and more importantly they eat small snail. When I dropped them in my tank, within five minutes they were eating all the snails they could fit in they mouth. Three day later, I still have bigger snail but I haven't seen a baby snail for the last two days. They will not kill/eat all snail but they will limit the population quite fast and eventually the bigger snail will die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are not looking for a solution to kill all the snail population but more to limit it, Danios are a great solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T18:09:26.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10135" CreationDate="2016-01-19T18:55:12.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think clothing is bad on itself, it's more the intent behind the clothing. Right now it's pretty cold in my house, and my 15 lb (6.8 kg) Yorkshire Terrier mix has a sweater on, because he has pretty short hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I enjoy dressing him, he's adorable, but I am clear that he's a dog, not a baby nor a child, but a dog. he needs walks, he needs to roughhouse with his larger brothers, who by the way don't have sweaters on. He's a dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6515" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:06:46.910" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:06:46.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-20T03:36:22.940" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, who is a Schnauzer and Terrier mix (we don't know what kind of terrier), had extremely sensitive skin, to the point that he will yelp and sometimes bite you when you brush him. But his fur is so wiry that unless we brush him it gets really tangled, and he gets stuff in it, like his own poop, and the mud that he digs in. We've taken to just shaving him down, which does make his fur more manageable as well as making him look a bit less like a Schnauzer. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to make him less sensitive, or, failing that, if there is a type of brush I can use that won't hurt him. Because even shaved, he still needs to be brushed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6517" LastActivityDate="2016-02-19T17:43:56.333" Title="Schnauzer/Terrier Mix extreme skin sensitivity" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2016-01-20T05:29:15.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cocker spaniel just had emergency surgery for bowel obstruction of foreign body. It was a chunk of corn cob that he had eaten at least 4 months ago. It was covered in black. X-Ray did not show the obstruction but the ultrasound did. He is day 2 post op and still in hospital. I won't ever have corn in the cob in the house again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6518" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T05:29:15.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11299" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11301" CreationDate="2016-01-20T09:13:47.317" Score="4" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is always biting a family member. He(family member) has always been rough with the cat and my cat enjoys it. But recently she(my cat) has gotten more rough whilst he wants to stop roughhousing with her. She has occasionally draw blood as she tends to bite him harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As that he tend to get angry when she bites, she will now run away in anticipation of him getting angry, but will still continue to bite him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I/that family member do to stop her from biting or let her know that he doesn't want to play this &quot;game&quot; anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5987" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-01-20T14:04:40.257" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T21:37:53.037" Title="How do I teach my cat to stop biting after rough play?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11297" CreationDate="2016-01-20T17:18:04.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the sensitivity is all over the dog's body, it's more than likely an allergic reaction to the food the dog is consuming. To fix this try to find dry food that doesn't contain poultry(poultry fat is okay) or -if possible- with only lamb as the protein ingredient. Also you can switch the water it drinks, no more tap water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can change the water you bathe the dog with to distilled water and hypoallergenic soaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the irritation/sensibility is localized it's probable the dog it's rubbing somewhere that has organisms or components that cause the irritation, pay close attention to your dog and see it's daily routine, you'll be able to find where the dog is scratching or rubbing and then remove said item from the dog's reach, again the distilled water and the hypoallergenic soaps can help while the sensitivity decays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must add that cutting your dog's hair with clippers might not be the best idea, as clippers going too close to the skin will only make the sensitivity worse. Try scissors instead, it's more tedious but your dog's skin will thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T17:18:04.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11299" CreationDate="2016-01-20T17:39:07.223" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop using his hands to play with the cat, the cat relates his hands with rough playtime, so you need to provide the cat with something else to play with. Until the cat disassociates your family member's hands with rough play I'd recommend a toy that has an extension. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T17:39:07.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11303" CreationDate="2016-01-20T18:26:53.707" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats around the same age as each other, but sometimes their play gets a bit too rough, and my sisters cat (the elder one) will hurt the younger, and he will get cuts that bleed. Is my cat really hurting, or is it just a shallow cut, and what should i do about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6520" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T02:48:59.900" Title="How do can you tell if your cat is hurting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11302" CreationDate="2016-01-20T21:24:35.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/02/03/how-to-know-if-your-cat-is-in-pain-and-what-to-do-about-it.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cats hide pain&lt;/a&gt;.  It's instinctive.  The cat that shows pain, in the wild, is the cat the predators attack first.  Being that cat is not a good survival strategy.  In fact, if a cat is showing outward signs of pain, it can be an indication it has given up, or that the pain is &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; serious- in either case, get to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat is not showing pain, it is really hard to know whether it actually is feeling pain.  Treat the wound like you would for a child that came in from playing in the yard crying because he fell and skinned his elbow.  If the cat will let you, that is.  Do your best to determine the severity by spreading the fur and seeing the length and depth of the cut.  Apply direct pressure with a (non-adhesive) gauze pad until the bleeding is completely stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, when in doubt- vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T21:24:35.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11299" CreationDate="2016-01-20T21:37:53.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are individuals.  I once had a cat that I could easily play who's-got-who with.  At least 80% of the time she would just wrap her forepaws around my wrist and gently mouth at my knuckles.  If she escalated, I could just give out an &quot;Ouch!&quot; and she let go.  She was probably thinking, &quot;dat hooman such crybaby&quot; but so what?  With my latest cat, he is simply too aggressive, so for the foreseeable future who's-got-who is out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a different game instead.  I have a kiddie fishing pole with a bird toy tied in where a lure would be.  I need to be careful he doesn't tangle himself in the line, but I can cast down the hallway and reel him in for a half-hour at a time.  I get tired before he does.  I give this just as an example alternative- your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T21:37:53.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-20T23:13:12.550" Score="4" ViewCount="4448" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, let me preface this by saying I have never been a dog person. I think they are cute, and enjoy playing with people's dogs at their homes, but I did not/do not want one. I'm slightly allergic to them, and far too much of a neat freak to have them. That being said, my boyfriend moved in with me about 4 months ago. His female wiener dog (Dachshund) had been staying in the country with his mom and her male wiener dog. When we would visit my boyfriend's mom's house, Lady (his dog) would jump into his lap and stare me down while he pet her. I never paid her much mind, I knew she probably just missed him. She would sit by me and let me pet her too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of that changed when we brought her home with us. When my boyfriend asked me if he could bring her home, knowing my aversion to having dogs in my home, I asked 3 questions:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is she potty trained? I just installed $6,000 carpet in my house.&#xA;The previous owners had let their multiple dogs use their carpet as&#xA;a urinal and the carpet had to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does she eat underwear or shoes? This was a concern for me because I&#xA;have some very expensive shoes and I had a puppy when I was younger&#xA;that would drag out our entire hamper to eat our underwear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is she aggressive towards kids? I have a 6 year old daughter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His answers were yes - she never uses the restroom in the house, no - she never ate underwear even as a puppy, nor shoes, and no - she's very good with kids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my problem - it's MY house, but the dog thinks SHE owns it. Within 2 weeks of living here, she ate 4 pairs of my panties, I found them in shreds under my bed. and she peed in my carpet twice - on the floor in my room on my side of the bed only. Now, before the typical &quot;put your underwear in a basket&quot; &quot;pick up your panties&quot; comments rain down - my basket is a tall basket with a lid. She's a mini-doxen. My panties SHOULD have been secure. Next comment I'm sure I'll get, &quot;shut your bedroom door.&quot; I do. My boyfriend, however, is bad about leaving it open despite me telling him to shut it so she doesn't eat my panties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next issue I keep running into is her possessiveness over my boyfriend, and I've noticed as of lately, it's going into possessiveness over my daughter, his son, my sister, my brother - basically anyone that's over except for me and my mom. A friend of mine with a lot of experience with dogs said that she's staking her &quot;claim.&quot; She's trying to &quot;claim&quot; my boyfriend, the kids, basically anyone that will let her. My mom and I are both very dominate female personalities, she's never tried &quot;claiming&quot; either of us. My friend said that her eating my underwear, especially since she's not a puppy and never did it to my boyfriend's ex-wife (who she apparently didn't like either), in addition to her peeing on the carpet on my side of the bed is a way to try to show her claim to my territory and dominance over me. My friend said that I had to show I was dominate over her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't believe my friend until I noticed that she'd be laying down somewhere, and if she saw me walking in the direction of my boyfriend, whether I was going to him or not, she'd dash by me and jump into the seat next to him or into his lap and stare me down. Previously during this behavior, the boyfriend would laugh and say &quot;aw, she loves me.&quot; and I would just shake my head at her and continue what I was doing. After reading about &quot;small dog syndrome&quot; and &quot;claiming&quot;, I realized that was the way she was asserting dominance over me and that my friend had been right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now when she does that, whether I'm going to sit by my boyfriend or not, I pick her up, set her in the floor, and take my place beside my boyfriend to show her I'm the dominant female in the house. She then ate a pair of my boyfriend's underwear on 2 separate occasions once I started asserting my dominance in the house. My friend said that she was probably mad at him for letting me &quot;take her spot&quot;. She also rolls over and bears her belly to me. My boyfriend said that it's her submitting to me, but I've read that studies show it's also a strategic move to attack and protect itself at the same time. She doesn't do this with anyone else in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week, I was trying to put her outside to pee because she had been kenneled all day from us being at work. She jumped up in the chair and stared at me, so I went to pick her up to put her outside. I did NOT pick her up around her belly - but SHE PEED ON ME! I was furious! I put her outside, cleaned up, and called my boyfriend immediately. He laughed and said, &quot;You scared the piss out of her! She's scared of you!&quot; She has no reason to be scared of me. I don't hit her. I feed her, I give her water, I let her outside. But I have rules. I don't let her in the kitchen when I'm cooking unless I call her in. And I don't allow her to sniff around the table at dinner time. Also, if she hasn't had a bath recently or stinks, I don't let her on the furniture. I don't put up with begging when we eat either. And in light of her proclivity for peeing in my room and eating my panties, I have said she's not allowed in bedrooms or bathrooms. She's used to having free-reign. Now, she rolls over when I walk into the room, and pees on herself. It's been happening a lot - and quite frankly, it's driving me crazy. I want to get rid of the dog, but my boyfriend loves her. I have tried playing with her, I give her treats, I pet her/rub her belly/scratch her ears - but nothing works. My boyfriend says &quot;maybe she senses you don't like dogs&quot;. Maybe - but I love him, so I'm really trying with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also been told I should lean over her when she rolls over, not on her, just over her, so that she recognizes me as the dominant female, and that while I do this, to stare her down until she looks away. I did this. It worked - but that's when the rolling over and pissing herself issue started. I know she hates me, honestly, the feeling is mutual after her acting this way, but I'm at my wits' end on what to do about her, so any advice will be helpful. I'm not trying to incite a riot of &quot;you're mean because you don't like dogs.&quot; comments - everybody is different, everybody has their preferences, my preference just happens to be a pet-free home. I'm really trying with this dog - she's just always been the alpha female in the house, and I don't play that game. I truly need help with what to do about this. I'm not willing to roll over for her, if you catch my meaning, just to make her easier to get along with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend I mentioned earlier stated that we're having these issues because she has staked a claim on my boyfriend and may consider him &quot;her person or her mate&quot; or something. She said it's common with wiener dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, any constructive and helpful advice is needed. I know there's going to be some backlash on this because some people won't read what I'm really trying to get at, but please, help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6521" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T11:52:42.773" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T11:52:42.773" Title="My boyfriend's dog hates me, help please! Warning! Long post" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11305" CreationDate="2016-01-20T23:37:25.363" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all your bf needs to step up and take ownership.  It is his dog and your house.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bf should shut the door.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bf should place the dog on the floor.  You bf should not let the dog stare you down.  He is telling the dog this is acceptable behavior.  He should not defer discipline / training to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to get help with a professional dog trainer but first need to train your bf. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to isolate the dog to small area in the house.  When you feed the dog make the dog come to you and just tell her good dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to make the dog submit - look away.  She recognizes you are the woman of the house but she wants her man and is taking it out on your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bf should go the kennel and let the dog know barking is not acceptable. He should great you first and let the dog see it.  He should let the dog out in a confined area and not let her have free reign until she calms down.  If she does not calm down she goes back in the kennel.  Right now she is getting what she want by being a bitch. And your bf is nothing but an enabler.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-01-20T23:47:37.673" LastActivityDate="2016-01-20T23:47:37.673" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-21T02:26:03.500" Score="2" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of October we got a new 12 week-old beagle, Copper. We brought him home to our other two dogs, Rusty (1.5 year-old bluetick) and Lucky (14 year-old beagle). At first everyone got along just fine, but one day when they were all outside Copper tried to play with Lucky. Lucky didn't want to play and got mad with Copper and started growling and snapping. Rusty then started to fight with Lucky because he wanted to protect Copper. This was about a week or two after we got Copper. Now, we can't let all three dogs be with each other because Lucky doesn't like copper. If copper didn't try to play with Lucky everything would be fine, but all copper wants to do is play with everybody. Copper is now about 6.5 months old and lucky still doesn't like him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train Copper to stop trying to play with Lucky, or train Lucky not to get mad at Copper, and train Rusty not to fight with Lucky when Lucky gets mad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Lucky was never socialized as a puppy so he doesn't get along with very many dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6522" LastActivityDate="2018-08-20T10:34:17.397" Title="Older dog doesn't like puppy, but middle age dog loves puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10834" CreationDate="2016-01-21T03:53:23.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was apparently a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/CucumbersScaringCats/comments/3ogton/why_are_cats_scared_of_cucumbers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;popular&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/CucumbersScaringCats/comments/3sld90/why_this_works/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/Fx3ztQJ.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some scientists &lt;a href=&quot;https://upvoted.com/2015/11/19/hey-internet-not-all-cats-have-an-innate-fear-of-cucumbers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chimed in to answer&lt;/a&gt;, basically speculating it's based on their reflex related to fear of snakes, and/or some cat-specific personality attribute.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5517" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T03:53:23.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-21T08:21:16.537" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from the United States. I am partnered with a friend of mine in a small industry startup in his home village in South India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I visit 2-3 times each year. There is a small street dog, named Taiku, at our factory who has been adopted by the facility personnel and does a wonderful job keeping of watch over the place at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, while he is used to the locals he is always very wary of me whenever I arrive at the factory. Whether I arrive in the company car, by foot, or on the back of my partner's motorcycle, he will threaten me as soon as he observes me by holding his ground and issuing an unending guttural growl. This happens every time I arrive, every day, each time I visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am used to making peace with aggressive dogs back home who will bark and snarl when they are trying to establish ward off intruders. However, Taiku prefers a low growl and a cold stare, which we were always taught to respect as a serious warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foreigners don't find themselves in this village very often and he behaves this way with anyone I bring along with me. I think it is the sight of us, perhaps our white-skinned faces, rather than our scent that puts him off, as he won't necessarily behave this way around me all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, when I am in the office, there is usually no drama. In fact, he is currently sitting two feet away from my feet. There was one instance when he even affectionately stood between my legs. I thought at that point maybe we had made a breakthrough. I took it easy for a moment and let him do his thing, and a couple minutes later (after I was out of the range of his jaws), I got his attention by making a gentle tounge-cluck and offering my hand for him to smell. However, once he observed my face, began growling, at which point he had to be escorted out of the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is very persistent in his opposition to me. He will continue to growl at me even with my partner's hand holding the scruff of his neck, or even while being confronted with a raised stick by one of the staff members, (which he otherwise respect and will submit convincingly to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My daily arrivals are usually a fiasco of staff members dancing between us, yelling and chasing him around with a stick. I always hold my ground and calmly proceed inside. I've never reacted in fear and he's never made good on any of his threats. I'm not particularly worried about actually getting bit, but I'm wondering if there would be a more peaceful way to arrive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experience with a dog like this? There is never any attempt to become familiar with me, just instant, persistent aggression that seems to distract him completely from everything else around him. Is there anything I can do to make peace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6523" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T22:59:36.327" Title="Aggressive Indian Watchdog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11309" CreationDate="2016-01-21T09:52:43.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried tossing him a treat when he is sitting calmly?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Also, it seems to me that currently the staff may be encouraging his behavior: The dog considers you a threat, and growls. The people around him also start acting aggressive, generally stressed, and so on. So, &amp;quot;you arrive&amp;quot; = &amp;quot;stress&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It may be best to select a few &amp;quot;dog handlers&amp;quot;, who, in case of your arrival, calmly lead the dog away, to your office, or whatever works best. This way &amp;quot;you arrive&amp;quot; will equal &amp;quot;Dog being taken somewhere save and calm&amp;quot;, hopefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should at least make your arrivals a controlled thing, the further relationship will hopefully grow from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-07T22:59:36.327" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T22:59:36.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2016-01-21T19:54:27.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay so I have a German Shepherd and he is only 10 months but over 150 pounds and I am not very strong so I tried all of these &quot;solutions&quot; above but none of them worked so I calmly put my dog in a &quot;headlock&quot; not hurting him and squeezed the cleanser into both his ears. Yes, he struggled but I got it in there and massaged at the base of both ears and gave him a treat. But now he isn't whining and his ears don't stink anymore(thank god).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2016-01-21T19:54:27.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-21T21:04:38.600" Score="6" ViewCount="1469" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Update:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish with white patches on his side.  Patches start small but grown slowly, over months.  Finally, they appear like a mass, then ulcerate.  The fish does not appear sick now, but will be sick by the time the mass appears. They die after it ulcerates.  It is contagious, since several fish in the aquarium have died from this malady.  Most of them were swordtails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;55 gallon, well established tank, pH 7.2, temperature 80 °F (27 °C), no nitrates, nitrites or ammonia. Two 55 watt compact fluorescent plant growth lights. Filtration is external Marineland filter.  20% water changes once or twice a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Original issue&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In picture 3, 1 and 2 are not accurate.  The first image shows what they look like best.  They pretty much all look the same (they're small and match the scale pattern well).  All of the fish have one at their anus and have them at their lateral line; however, only pearl has one under her top fin.  Pearl's appear on both sides; however, red's only appear on one side.&#xA;I'd love to see my fish stop dying.  What is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pearl Gourami: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bvckc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bvckc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Right side of pearl.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sjgIq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sjgIq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Left side of pearl.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2qhB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2qhB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Right side of flattop.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:14:00.600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:14:00.600" Title="White marks on my Pearl Gourami turn into blisters/tumors before they die" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-22T00:30:42.403" Score="3" ViewCount="3958" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until July last year we had two female cats, both around nine years old and both brought up together from kittens (neither have had kittens and both were &quot;doctored and chipped&quot; many years ago). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In July 2015 we got two &quot;farm&quot; kittens (a boy and girl) and duly seperated the older cats from the new arrivals as per quarantine suggestions. After a few weeks we began to introduce them. One of the older cats hissed a bit and gave out the occasional slap if the kittens got a bit close but is now fully integrated with the youngsters and we are delighted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other older female cat is a totally different story. It's impossible to have the &quot;problem&quot; older cat in the same room because blood will be spilled and tonight for instance, the blood spilled was from my hand when the two &quot;warring&quot; parties inadvertently &quot;got together&quot;. I had to grab the older cat by the scruff of the neck because she was attacking the younger female. It's been like this for months and we don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last couple of months we have bought baby-gates to block off doors and have the older cat in the kitchen while the youngsters (now also doctored) have been in the adjoining room. The older cat howls and fights the &quot;gate&quot; the instant she sees the youngsters. She paces up and down and will try to be vicious through the gate if one of the youngsters walks by. The howl is a little blood curdling - talk about chalk and cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tonight, the problem older cat forced her way through the baby-gate (god knows how) and attacked the female youngster. In her credit, the female youngster is standing up to her but I had to push my hand in to break up the fight and basically, we are at our wits end and don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last three months the problem older cat has &quot;broken&quot; her way into the vicinity of the youngsters and, quite literally, fur has flown. Tonight my finger was cut and the younger female cats stitches (due to her being spayed) have opened up a bit. On a previous occasion the older cat and the female youngster chased up to the top of a cat scratch post and both fell 4 foot to the floor whilst still locked in combat - it's as if the older cat just does not care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit more about the older cat - she isn't what you would call normal - she is extremely territorial - if another cat steps on the drive she's flying at them like a maniac. I've seen her take on large tom cats who have strayed onto her patch (she is quite slight herself) and really got involved at the sharp-end. It's as if she possesses no fear and she comes back inside with the wounds but, would do it again 5 minutes later. She is both awesome and terrible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem older cat is weird in other ways. Although she lived in the same household from a kitten, at that time a lodger adopted her but he had a tendency to keep her in his room and, when he left (about 4 years ago) she just didn't seem like a normal cat - I'm sorry I can't be specific about this but I'm no psychologist!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, we don't know what to do about this and would welcome any pertinent advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6064" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T11:53:30.440" Title="Older cat not accepting new cats into the household" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8027" CreationDate="2016-01-22T02:11:10.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several reports of people growing lucky bamboo completely underwater in a fish tank. I would personally not try it since it could die and foul the water, but if you let the leaves out of the water the stalk should do fine in the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Else the suggestion of Wes Austin of planting it in the filter is a good one. I also saw people hanging it half in the tank and the other half out of it. This will leave the root exposed witch bring more hiding place and another look. This last option seems more safe for both, the plant and fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5O9vV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tank with 2 underwater bamboo plants fed with liquid plant food&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2017-02-02T13:43:35.693" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T13:43:35.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7166" CreationDate="2016-01-22T02:31:57.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Danio are school fish, they should be kept in group of 4-6 or more. The recommended minimum aquarium size seem to vary depending on the source but it's assumed to be some where between a 10g and a 20g. Your tank is too small for your fish and they are too few of them. The best would be to upgrade to a bigger tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Danio are quick fish, they swim fast so they need open space to do some quick speedy run. I have 4 zebra danio in my 15g and when I see them do some speed run I wonder if my tank isn't too small for them. Here I talk about a tank 5x time bigger than your.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer the question, your fish is probably stress out because there are too few of them in a too small tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T02:31:57.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11307" CreationDate="2016-01-22T08:41:04.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have same problem with my dogs. I think mostly because of odd number of dogs at home. I think you need to train Lucky to play along with Copper for a couple of time without Rusty getting along. If I were you, I would put Copper and Lucky together for a couple of days, at the same time need to watch as they might fight during that time. You must also show Lucky that you wouldn't like if Lucky fought with Copper but also you must not cuddle too much to Copper as it will end up making Lucky jealous.&#xA;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6530" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T08:41:04.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-22T22:26:40.570" Score="2" ViewCount="5646" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple weeks ago, my dog had an episode where he was dry-heaving for a few hours. When I let him outside he obsessively and frenetically looked for certain types of dried leaves to eat (note that he couldn't eat any grass because the ground was covered with snow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About halfway through the episode, my dog succeeded in vomiting, but it didn't stop the dry-heaving nor the obsession with eating leaves.  Eventually the episode passed and he calmed down, and there were no more symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has now started up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to ease his anxiety and help him vomit when he can't find grass in the winter time?  Does letting him out to eat grass/leaves help the vomit come sooner? After he vomits, is there anything I can do to help the dry-heaving stop sooner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="385" LastActivityDate="2016-01-22T22:26:40.570" Title="How can I comfort my dog when he is dry heaving and obsessively trying to eat leaves?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11261" CreationDate="2016-01-24T15:05:42.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an update on my research and how it went in my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched many sources for the cause of those algae and how to kill them. It was suggested to me that red algae appear in high pH water, which wasn't my case (around 7). I haven't found a cause for them to appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I did to remove them: I had quite a bit of brown/green algae on the glass on my tank and I also had many plants hiding a great quantity of snails. Some of those plants weren't as healthy as they could be. So I cleaned my glass as best I could of algae. After that I removed all plants which were not super healthy (this step also removed several snails). I made a bigger water change right after (approx 40% vs my normal 25%). Less than a week after, I made a normal water change (~25%). The red algae regressed by themselves by the next week and as I stand now I don't have any left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they wouldn't have regressed I would have used &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.aquariophilieduquebec.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&amp;amp;t=21851#p195255&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this method I found here on a forum in French&lt;/a&gt; (in case you want to read/translate by yourself). The method is the peroxide one. &lt;strong&gt;If you resort to this method be sure you are ready to lose some/all your plants.&lt;/strong&gt; Using a 3,5% peroxide you make a solution 1/9 with tap water (9 parts of water for each part of peroxide) and dip the plant in the solution. The time to leave the plant in the solution varies depending on the plant type. Plants with small leaves are to stay less than 1 minute, plants with normal leaves less than 2 minutes and plants with thick leaves less than 3 minutes. If you are not sure about the plant type, better to underdo it since &lt;strong&gt;too long in the solution will kill the plant.&lt;/strong&gt; Right after the dip, you must rinse the plant as much as you can before you put it back in your tank. The algae will not appear dead right away but over the next couple of days it should start to discolor. As soon as the algae are dead, snails/shrimps/fish will start to eat it (which they wouldn't do normally when it's alive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-22T09:40:31.423" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T09:40:31.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-24T16:03:21.780" Score="3" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom told me on Saturday that our dog Max has cancer and internal bleeding caused by a ruptured spleen. We'll put him to sleep on Friday, January 29th. I want his last week to be happy, how can I spend this last week with him so that he can be happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, he's a German Shepherd and Labrador mix, he's around 8 or 9 years old, and he's a big doofy dog, a gentle giant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6517" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:23:14.120" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T23:23:14.120" Title="How to spend the last week with your dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11324" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-24T20:51:26.637" Score="7" ViewCount="932" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has an issue with other kinds of people...specifically, Indian people (Asia).   Whenever he gets close to the vicinity of Indian people, especially when we have guests in our home, he gets very angry and extremely aggressive, even if he hasn't met them before.  With other people, like Caucasians and Latinos, he will remain extremely gentle upon first meeting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be only Indian people that are causing the issue. I've read that dogs are colorblind so I don't think he's discriminating based on skin color, but I suspect it may be to the smell of some people. However, I've had friends who don't smell as strong as other Indians and he still barks at them as well. This issue is isolated just for Indians for some odd reason and I don't know what's going on with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I prevent my dog from being &quot;racist&quot;? Is there some sort of conditioning or training I can do to make him more receptive and more pleasant to other Indians out there? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2588" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T20:12:12.070" Title="How can I prevent my dog from being a racist?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-25T02:45:01.997" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats (girls) who are amazing.  One is very lazy, and the other is a active. So I had some money and bought them a mouse toy that squeaks when it moves.  (We have figured out how to make it stop squeaking also.)  My active cat won't play with the toy or her sister.  Her lazy sister does play with the toy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats were always friends with each other.  Why are they not now? These cats won't go near each other since I got the toy mouse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6540" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-01-26T16:34:27.913" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T16:34:27.913" Title="My cat stopped playing with her sister since we got a new toy mouse" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11302" CreationDate="2016-01-25T02:48:59.900" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They will meow a lot and be extra laying have to cats who hurt them self's all the time if they look and act hurt call a vet ASAP &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6540" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T02:48:59.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-25T03:09:33.110" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;My beta fish is brand new. I just got him last week, and I use a Back To The Roots tank that filters out the nitrates in the fish waste by having a garden on the top that uses the nitrates for the plants to grow. Is he ok, or just lazy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6539" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T03:09:33.110" Title="My beta fish is hanging out near the bottom of the tank." Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-07-04T19:16:39.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11331" CreationDate="2016-01-25T07:09:41.050" Score="2" ViewCount="3084" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the whiskers of my cat got twisted (I don't know how she got it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it something to worry about?&#xA;Is there something I can do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6542" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T14:03:43.273" Title="Is a twisted whisker (for a cat) dangerous?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11330" CreationDate="2016-01-25T14:03:43.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not normally have twisted or fragile whiskers (a few certain breeds do), the whisker may be a little uncomfortable but will regrow and the old will fall out within a few weeks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to do anything (unless the whisker is close to the eye and is irritating it).  Whiskers are very, very sensitive.  They give the cat much information about its environment.  Your kitty will not appreciate you messing with this sensitive part of her anatomy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it is only one whisker, she should compensate with her other whiskers when it comes to balance and examining her environment.   You don't say if your cat stays inside.   As a precaution, you will need to keep your cat inside while the whisker falls out and grows back.  This is to prevent her from misjudging her environment.  (Although, I hope you always keep your kitty inside!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, don't worry!   Cat's are curious creatures.  Unfortunately, their curiosity may often cost them a whisker.  Fortunately, the problem rectifies itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE:  If you start to see curly whiskers more often, you likely have a kitty whose whiskers natural curl.  Again, nothing to worry about.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T14:03:43.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2016-01-25T15:33:06.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diatomaceous earth. It's perfectly safe for anyone or anything without a hard exoskeleton. People often use it to deworm their animals, especially back in the day, and will even eat it themselves for the same purpose I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the way I understand it, is that it's like microscopic shards of glass. It won't hurt a person, cat, etc... because it's not big enough to cause damage. However, when any insect with a hard exoskeleton walks across it, it's like you walking across glass shards. It slices their exoskeleton and they basically dehydrate to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it should be perfectly safe for animals and plants, but deadly to ants, cockroaches, wasps, etc... You can just blow some into the wall or behind the baseboards. I'm pretty sure I saw a tv exterminator (Billy the Exterminator, maybe?) use one of those baby booger suckers to blow it into a crack or crevice where wasps were getting in and said it would last for roughly a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T15:33:06.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11305" CreationDate="2016-01-25T17:06:50.067" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll let my answer be more food for thought than an outright answer, because you're already doing a few of the things I'd be trying, such as putting her off the furniture when she &quot;claims&quot; your boyfriend. I'll also agree with Frisbee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this dog displays more fearful tendencies than aggressive ones. Rolling over and peeing on herself strongly tells me this. I once rented an apartment in college where the landlord had a very aggressive and yappy Lhasa Apso/Shih Tzu. Everyone else acted scared of the dog and it was aggressive towards me as well, but I'd sit on the steps to my studio apartment and talk to the landlord, ignoring the dog. Then it eventually calmed down and got to where it liked me fairly well, though it would still act pretty aggressively in the house, even biting the owner if he did something it really didn't like. However, when I started working with it, it would growl and snap at me, but pee itself. When I'd take it out for a walk, it would cling to my leg and act fearful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My belief is that the dog was a naturally fearful dog that was very scared out of its element, but when it was in what it thought of as its own territory, it acted aggressive out of fear, kind of like in the horror movies where someone in the scary house pulls out a gun and is spinning around looking for boogie men, then taking a shot at a moving shadow, only to realize it's the cat. Aggression from fear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your case is similar. I think you've taken a dog from its familiar surroundings and given it free reign of the entire house. While this sounds like you're being kind to the dog by not confining it to a smaller area, you're really not. Think of it like when a kid goes to kindergarten after only being at home with you. It's scary at first, but they're limited to a small class room with other children. When they become more familiar with the other children, they become more confident and are no longer scared. The more times this happens as they progress through the grades, the less meeting new people will bother them. This happens to adults as well. When they start a new job and don't know the people, they don't know who appreciates a joke and who will be offended. They also don't know what exactly is expected of them from the company and what will get them in trouble. The more comfortable they get at their job the more relaxed they get. This also happens when you have to drive to a new city or area. You are nervous and constantly checking directions the first couple of times. After a while you start navigating smoothly around there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is that your dog needed to be confined to one room unless 100% supervised when she moved in. Then she needed to be allowed in more rooms as time progressed. Because she was given full reign of the house, it was too much unfamiliar territory and she became fearful and wanted to control anything she could. They translated into destruction, peeing(marking), and claiming your boyfriend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go back to this and start over. I'd make your boyfriend clean anywhere she's used the bathroom with a special cleaner that neutralizes the smell. Smell will encourage them to go in the same spots to re-up the mark when it starts to fade. A room with easily cleanable floors would be ideal. If someone is home to supervise her, you could have her either loose in the room or get her one of the wire playpens with toys and/or chews, so she has something to do. She just needs a small place to become used to, then when she's more confident, introduce additional rooms one at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think you should make sure she has plenty of mental and physical stimulation. Letting a dog out in the back yard doesn't cut it. I'm not sure exactly what your situation is with her. You could run marathons with her for all I know. However, it's important that she exercises both mentally and physically. I'm sure you find that true with your kids as well. Even when they run around and play hard, they can still ask you a million questions while they're resting up for the next go round. You can practice physical exercise in the ways you would think. Letting her run around, fetch a ball, swim, etc... Mental exercise is a little different. It's something they have to focus on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take walking for instance. When a lot of people walk a dog, they let them walk where ever they want, stop and sniff, pull, etc... People do it, because it seems like the dog won't have fun if they don't let them, or maybe they're letting them lead so they can find a potty spot they like. Either way, this provides no mental stimulation for the dog, because their minds flit from one thing to another. You have to give them a specific task, which is walking beside you, on the side that you choose, with their shoulder near your leg and slack in the leash. Dogs have an excellent sense of smell and can smell everything from beside your leg by running over to it. Also, by letting them stop and pee wherever they wish, then they are in charge of the walk. In effect, they're your boss and telling you what to do. In a proper walk, you choose where you go and at what speed. You also choose when and where to stop for a potty break. A good example of this is driving. When you go somewhere in your car, you typically don't drive around aimlessly. You have a destination in mind and a vague if not specific time you have to be there. This determines the speed you'll go at and if you'll stop anywhere. You won't stop at every toy store and fast food joint your kid points at. You'll stop in good locations and give them the opportunity to go. So walking your dog properly is not only good for them, but easier on you as well. Training the dogs with a clicker also provides mental stimulation, as well as control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you're boyfriend needs to step up. Any authority he has over the dog needs to be transferred to you through reinforcement. For instance, if she knows the sit command, then you should tell her to sit. If she doesn't, then he should reinforce your command by telling her to sit. When she does, you give her the treat. The same applies to the couch and putting her off. Then instinct is good, but I have two things I'd say about it. One is the boyfriend should put her off, so that she knows he refuses to be claimed, not that you're taking him away from her. Also, many people confuse doing something for a dog as the dog doing it. They'll push their butt down and tell the dog to sit, or run around yelling sit till the dog gets tired and sits down, then beam proudly that the dog sits. In reality, while shaping is a legitimate training tool to help the dog understand the initial concept, it really isn't acceptable as complete till the dog will offer it. So when you pick her up and set her off the couch, it's good that she's off the couch, but bad that you had to physically put her off. There is no acknowledgment there from her. You should tell her to get off, maybe even standing on the couch and body blocking her off. Using physical touch to get her off as a last resort. Eventually, she'll learn that you won't budge and she'll start getting off with the first voice command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said though, your boyfriend needs to step up. You need to talk to him honestly about it. I understand the urge to laugh something off, but I'm not sure he realizes what he's actually doing. That would be telling you that he doesn't care about you or your problem. You were clear in stating to him when he moved in that you'd have a problem with destructive behavior or peeing in the house. That's excellent. He should be taking it seriously and doing what he can to stop or fix the behavior. Instead he's laughing about it. It shows that he doesn't really care to fix the issue and figures you'll get over it. I think it's time for another talk. You need to tell him that it's a serious issue for you and you don't find it funny. You need to tell him you were clear on what you expected from the dog when it moved in. Tell him that you don't dislike the dog, but the problems she causes and that she's welcome to stay if they're fixed. Tell him that you don't feel like he's respecting your feelings on this issue and give him an example of something that he does or likes that you take seriously for him. A relationship is about being there for each other and this is a symptom that he's not committed to your relationship. If he laughs off the dog issue he'll laugh off something else. Tell him you can't be pissed off about a dog destroying your house (your house together) and that you shouldn't have to be. That he's welcome to work with the dog, that you're willing to help and do your part, but he needs to figure out what's important to him. If it's ultimately the dog, then you need to break up. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T11:52:00.840" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T11:52:00.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2016-01-25T20:27:18.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Beth said, it probably is going to be helpful to exercise the dog first, but after that, I don't think it's going to help much with an infected ear. Most dogs won't be distracted when you're going to do something to them that will probably hurt, since they're infected. Shaving the ears is also a good thing, but again, buzzing and irritation are probably going to have your dog struggling too much while the ears are bad. It's a good idea once they're healed, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen every other poster talk about the cotton ball method. I know that one poster said the vet showed it to them. While it may be better than nothing, I don't recommend it. The reason I don't think it works well is because a dogs ear canal isn't straight. It's &quot;L&quot; shaped. So even if you push a cotton ball all the way to the bottom, as far as you can reach, then fill the ear canal with solution, then you're only cleaning half the ear. The proper way to clean the ear is to fill it with solution, and massage the ear. It's best done by grabbing the base of the ear and working it around. This will also be less painful than sticking your finger inside and rubbing it around. You should do this for a couple of minutes. Then let your dog shake their head. The solution and agitation of the ear should have broken up some of the wax and/or debris and when the dog shakes it's head, the nasty stuff will fly out. Feel free to have a towel to hold by the dogs head to keep this from flying all over the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as controlling the dog, you'll have to figure out what works for you and your dog. You will probably have to put them into some kind of wrestlers lock till they become more used to it. I've had some dogs that would rather lay down to have it done. I could put a leg over their body to hold it in place, use the hand closest to the nose to hold the head down and the ear open, and use my free hand to apply the medicine. Dogs of all sizes can be squeezed between your legs gently to restrain them. With small dogs, you can sit on the couch and put them between your legs, closing them gently to keep them in place. I'll put the pinky, ring, and middle fingers of my securing hand around their head to keep them from turning away and the other hand to squirt solution in the ear. You can do the same process with a large dog, but have them on the floor while you sit on the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You dog will probably try to wrestle away from you. You just need to use your body to block theirs. If they keep trying to scoot backwards, then use the couch or a wall to block them. If they try to turn their head away, then use your off hand to hold it steady. It's just a dexterity and thinking your way through it thing. I once saw my aunt, mother, brother, and cousin trying to put eye drops in a 5lb Pomeranian. When all four couldn't do it, they asked me for help. I put him between my legs, used three fingers to hold his head, two to pull his eyelids apart and the free hand to apply the medicine. I got both eyes done by myself in about 60 seconds. So it can be done, it's just experience. Don't be afraid to put him in a gentle body lock, but if you feel even an iota of doubt about whether he'll snap when you hold him that constrictively and do something uncomfortable, then buy a muzzle for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it a little more comfortable for the dog, I like to put the ear cleaning solution under my side till it comes up to body temp. It has to be more pleasant than when it's cold, which it tends to be winter or summer out of the drawer in the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, once the dog shakes his head to clear out the solution, use your cotton ball or paper towels to clean the excess gunk out of the part of the ear you can reach. Everyone will recommend you not to do the following, but if you're very careful, have a good hold on your dog, and are ready to pull a way if the move, you can use a cotton swab to get in the creases of the ear. I use these especially when the ear is really nasty. The cotton ball and paper towels can't get into all the crannies. I've seen my vet do it plenty of times. They just don't recommend people do it at home to avoid potential injury to the dog. Sometimes they feel so good, they'll lean into it. Then once the ear is wiped out, let it sit for a little while to air out and then go back and apply the medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I can't remember which poster mentioned it, but if you have a lot of trouble with it, they have a medicated gunk they can put it. It's like axel grease and the dog can't hear for a long while, but it works with no fuss. They put it in at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T20:27:18.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11313" CreationDate="2016-01-25T23:30:34.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try getting a prescription for kitty valium from a vet.  It can take a lot of the starch out of these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2016-01-25T23:30:34.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11080" CreationDate="2016-01-26T11:02:49.947" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aggression in dogs varies enormously.  In rescue organisations, it's not uncommon to encounter the dog that is described as 'aggressive' but on closer examination turns out to be reacting to inappropriate handling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I think at an organisation such as Petsmart there should be formal training in this stuff from a professional, but here's my take on it for what that's worth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing: find out as much as you can about the circumstances of past aggression.  Was the aggression against dogs, or people?  If people, was it towards children, men, women in hats, men with beards?  Did the dog actually bite, or did he just growl?  Some people even describe dogs as 'aggressive' when they are simply bouncy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs may be aggressive in response to environmental factors: thunder, heavy traffic.  Or they may redirect their aggression onto a human because they are stressed and worried about a dog running about in the distance.  The more you know about the circumstances, the less you are likely to get bitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that you are not inadvertently causing fear.  Make sure that the area is well lit: some dogs will react fearfully to a shadowy figure.  Observe the dog carefully from a distance.  Is he afraid of something you are wearing?  Are you holding a stick that he's afraid of?  Did you drop something that made a loud noise?  Take it slowly, stay low and don't approach if the dog is looking uncomfortable.  Be prepared to back off at any moment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time is really important with dog stress.  A dog that would bite you if you walked straight up to him when he's terrified might be quite happy to meet you if you are prepared to just sit on the floor nearby and not look at him for ten minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not grab at a dog by the collar.  If you need to move him, put him on a lead before you need to move him.  If putting a lead on the collar is difficult, you could use a slip lead, or keep a harness on the dog until you have won his confidence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not grab and remove toys, bones, or other desirable items such as shoes: instead, set the dog up for success by keeping that stuff where he can't get it.  If the dog gets something he really must not have, try swapping for something better, such as sausage or ham.  That's a useful exercise to transform an 'aggressive' dog into a nice one anyway, so swapping is a good behaviour to teach.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learn to introduce a muzzle.  Muzzles have pros and cons, but sometimes they can be useful, for example to allow a dog to exercise when you are not quite sure how he might react. The more positively and carefully a muzzle is introduced, the more likely it is you can use them as a handy management tool.  I find that squeezy liver paste can be handy, or cheese paste. Let the dog lick the stuff out of the muzzle a few times before you try fastening it onto his face. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind of muzzle that is made of cloth and holds the dog's mouth shut is only suitable for use for very brief periods, for example for a vet check.  For other purposes, a basket muzzle that allows the dog's mouth to open fully, pant and drink, is much more suitable. People tend to use muzzles that are too small: the dog is less likely to try to get it off if it's a nice big one that doesn't press uncomfortably on his face. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some dogs that really are dangerous, to all other dogs, or to people.  Some of them can be managed, some of them really can't.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even healthy dogs can have mental illnesses that make them dangerous to people, and no, it's not &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; down to bad handling or a terrible owner, sometimes great owners end up with very troubled dogs.  If you think you might be dealing with one of those, do not take risks. The owner of a dog suffering from that kind of mental affliction should not really be asking anyone else to take the risk of getting near him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T11:02:49.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11324" CreationDate="2016-01-26T11:21:31.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this should be a matter of introducing people in a positive way, without rushing things,  in the same way that you might condition a dog to accept people with sticks or other dogs.  I've never had a dog that has been racist towards humans, but I'll give it a go from that viewpoint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, give him a safe place to go where he can feel safe from the 'scary' people until he understands they are not scary.  Don't wait for him to react: if you have friends over who you think will trigger the reaction, pop your dog into his safe place where he can't see or hear them before they arrive, and ask them to keep away from it. That way he will feel safer in his home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://empoweredanimals.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://empoweredanimals.com/&lt;/a&gt; for information about behavioural adjustment therapy.   This approach uses a long line with a harness and approaching the scary person from a distance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because your dog is aggressive towards (some) people, it might be best to find a BAT trainer who can help you safely retrain this behaviour, but the site has an excellent video that shows the basics.  The key thing is not to rush it, and to try to help your dog feel safe so he doesn't have to react.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T11:21:31.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11323" CreationDate="2016-01-26T15:52:01.460" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am so, so sorry for this sad news.  I know it's difficult, but you need to understand that this last week is really for you.  Your dog is happy just being with you.  I would suggest taking the week off work (or working from home, if this is possible).  Just be with him.  That's all he wants.  It doesn't really matter what you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;. You will feel comfort knowing you spent his last week with him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This week is for you to come to peace that you did everything you could to keep him happy and healthy.  It seems like you really love him and have taken good care of him.  Focus on knowing that you gave him a good, happy life that he may not have gotten with another owner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thoughts and prayers are with you both.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T15:52:01.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11313" CreationDate="2016-01-26T16:14:00.873" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat is not as aggressive as yours but is very territorial too. Since having her we've successfully introduced into the household a male cat and a male dog. She was 6 and 8 years old respectively. She used to attack both of them at the beginning, but since they were not very &quot;brave&quot; they would keep to themselves at the ground floor and she would spend most of her time upstairs, so that helped a lot with the transition. During the first months of both the new cat and the new dog, however, if they crossed paths she would definitely attack them. So here's what worked for us:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the older her favourite place in the house and don't let the new cats get in there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let the newcomers provoke the older cat, tell them no when they do it, show them that they have to go away from her. If they get close, pick them and move them away. Maybe even use a water bottle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, when bad things happen, show the older cat that you are not happy with her behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always feed the older cat first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the older cat sleep in your room/bed? If so do not let the youngsters in, this is her special time and place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you've been doing some variation of most of it, but keep at it. I don't know if this will make you happy or sad, but only after 2 years in each instance I'm confident that she will not randomly slap them if they get too close. Older cats tend to adapt very slowly to new situations, is just the way it is unfortunately. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="583" LastEditDate="2016-01-26T21:53:04.583" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T21:53:04.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2016-01-26T16:33:05.233" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't say how long ago you got the toy.  Cats will often get bored of their toys quickly.  So, the problem may solve itself.   If not, here are a couple things you can try...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have supervised sessions only. Let your inactive cat play with the toy for short periods of time each day when you are there to supervise.  While your inactive cat is playing with the toy, give your active cat a lot of attention. Pet her, and give her a lot of praise. There is something she doesn't like about the toy.  After the session is over, give your active cat her favorite treat. By doing this, you are trying to condition her that the toy is not that bad.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Modify #1 by giving your active cat her favorite toy and treat, while you go in a closed room with your inactive cat and let her play with the toy. The toy you give your active cat should be one you only bring out for these special sessions.  However, this may not work if your active cat cannot get past the fact that a door in the house is closed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get rid of the toy, and try to find another interactive toy. There are many on the market now.  This may be your best option.  If you are worried about your inactive cat gaining weight, try the interactive food tubes or balls. Below is the picture of the one I use with my slightly-overweight cat.  She loves it - she puts her paw in the tubes and gets out the food and it slows her eating.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcjGq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcjGq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Interactive Food Toy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitties the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-01-26T16:33:05.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-27T02:10:24.533" Score="3" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I got our female St. Bernard (Ellie) about a year and a half ago from a family, but don't know much about her past before they got her (only had her a few months).  We think she's about 3 years old now and weighs about 115 pounds.  She is extremely mild mannered and laid back with people and kids, but when my wife and I walk Ellie around the neighborhood she gets extremely excited and fairly aggressive towards other dogs (some days she's much worse than others, and some days she has very little reaction).  I've tried using treats to reward, but it seemed like she got more excited knowing she would get a treat when she saw the other dog.  We've taken her to pets stores and the dog park, where she's a little anxious, but otherwise just fine around the other dogs.  She's also great at the vet's when she's out with the other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does Ellie act this way only around our apartment/neighborhood and what are some solutions to help reduce the protective/territorial instincts?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6550" LastEditorUserId="6550" LastEditDate="2016-02-10T20:54:41.630" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T20:55:08.060" Title="My dog is protective in the neighborhood" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11608" CreationDate="2016-01-27T15:27:49.983" Score="2" ViewCount="1302" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last batch of plants that I ordered came with a surprise supply of string algae. So now it's growing on top of all my plants in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying everything I can to get rid of it. The farlowella I have in the tank seem to keep it off of the sides of the tank, but they can't seem to keep up with everything that's growing off of the plants. It's all dwarf hairgrass and other thin-stemmed plants, so I don't think that they can comfortably eat off of them. I've been considering getting some nerite snails to try and help, but I'm kind of assuming they'll have the same problem. The water in this house has copper in it, so I can't really get any shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually do have a UV filter on that tank. It's helped with a previous type of algae bloom I had, but it doesn't seem to do much for this type of algae. I've also tried to supplement the tank with some Flourish Excel, but I think because I don't have any broad-leafed plants in the tank that the plants don't use up the nutrients needed to starve the algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've gotten rid of almost all of it before by putting goldfish in the tank. But they also dig up the plants and eventually destroy them if they're left in the tank for too long. And since the string algae is a single-cell organism, it only takes one leftover cell for it to eventually take over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the last time, all my plants were destroyed by the goldfish except for the large &quot;clump&quot; of java moss that's in the tank, I'm pretty certain that's where it's hiding in. I'm assuming that the goldfish could never get into the moss effectively to eat all of the algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing I've tried was taking all the plants out, and rinsing them off, to try and wash away the algae, but it's back again. I can put the goldfish back in the tank to get rid of the algae, but I'd like to get rid of it for good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to get rid of string algae from hard to reach places like inside java moss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T23:15:45.110" Title="How can I get rid of string algae that's inside java moss?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-27T16:51:26.180" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ailing Betta. The man at the aquarium store sold me some meds for fungus. I think it burnt him. Now he has fin rot. Today I took out about a gallon of water and put in fresh with Prime conditioner and a bit of aqua salt. Also added Melafix per instructions. Poor thing is almost fin less, but still swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, if he pulls through I will be very happy, but if he dies, what can I do about getting the tank sanitized? I read where people use bleach water, that's a no no. Acrylic tank, I used to use salt to scrub with, but don't know if this will scratch it and I would boil rocks. What about all the plants? and the decorations? This tank cost me a lot of money setting it up and would like to be able to re use it in the future, if my little buddy does not make it. I am afraid I will transfer this disease to another fish. Opinions any one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am so shocked this even happened. I had many tanks before and as well as Betas, hardly lost any fish, just started back to this hobby and this happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2016-01-28T10:47:31.903" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T19:04:30.603" Title="Five gallon fish tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-02-11T17:31:30.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-28T01:11:35.033" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta is currently in a 5 gallon tank. I bought a Fluval Edge 6 gallon for his new home. His tank has obviously cycled, but unfortunately the Fluval Edge has a different built in filter than the one that's in my current tank. Therefore, I don't think I can transfer the cartridge into the new filter for bacteria purposes. I'm also going with a different substrate in the new tank rather than gravel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of just using maybe half of his old tank water to fill up the new one and substitute the rest of the water with fresh dechlorinated water. However, I'm not sure if this is enough for the bacteria to transfer over. What do you think? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6558" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T09:42:17.230" Title="Transferring my fish." Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11352" CreationDate="2016-01-28T03:23:25.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No this won't cycle the new tank. The highest bacteria concentration is in the filter, substrate and decorations (plants, driftwood, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Betta are quite hardy fish so I would not really worry about it. But there are still a couple of things you can do to maximize bacteria transfer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squish as much things out of the old filter and drop it directly in the new one (use old tank water to rince the old filter). Transfer as much as possible of the old decorations in the new tank (particularly biological stuff) even if you plan to change them later. You can also use bacteria boost any fish store have to help cycle the tank faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="6310" LastEditDate="2016-03-02T16:34:25.587" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T16:34:25.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11313" CreationDate="2016-01-28T10:10:35.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are all your cats sterilized? Sometimes hormones that are produced by ovariums, make animals to behave in strange way. I am not a vet, but I have read about such situations. After operations cats (and dogs) usually become calmer and kinder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, your older cat protects her territory. Maybe some jealousy adds. So try to talk to a vet about sterilization, and ask for advice about some pills that would help her to become a little bit calmer. I usually  use catmint when want to introduce 2 cats to each other. Cats like its smell, they even sometimes leak it :) And don't pay attention on something else. I guess, there are some sprays with catmint for comfort use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't forget to &quot;love&quot; your old one. She is in stress, a stranger appeared in her house, maybe she is afraid, that you don't love her anymore. Give her good and tasty food, talk to her, pet her. She must feel your love. She won't get changed shortly, she needs time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find videos made by Jackson Galaxy, he is famous &quot;cats whisperer&quot;. He gives advices how pets and their owbers can overcome some difficulties. He really knows cats. Maybe you'll find something useful for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="6560" LastEditDate="2016-01-28T11:53:30.440" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T11:53:30.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-28T12:56:58.530" Score="3" ViewCount="13663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats, both about 1.5 years old, supposed to be brothers, but I don't know if that is really true =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They live with me in my 50m² flat. Sometimes I go out with them in the backyard, when the weather is nice. They have tons of toys and 4 scratching posts/cat trees, a big one, a larger one and two small ones and a lot of cupboards to climb and hide =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the feeling that they are quite bored. Of course, they are often alone at home, but that's the reason I got two of them. They play with each other and sometimes play with their toys, which seem rather uninteresting to them. They come to me when they want to cuddle and go away when they have enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one problem is, they are scratching a lot... a very lot, on the walls and on the doors (open doors.) Sometimes I have the feeling that they do it just to provoke me or get my attention. They get enough to eat (I suppose... 2x 100g wet food per day, steady supply of dry food, water and some treats) and they get a lot of attention from me... but it seems to be not enough. One of them is particularly eager to anger me. He scratches the wall or the door and looks directly into my direction, and as soon as I turn around or raise my voice or show any reaction to it, he runs away. So far throwing my key ring is a good way to convince them to leave the door alone... but even harsher punishment doesn't seem to work (nothing serious, just the average clap on the back, loud voice and so on.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He definitely knows that he is doing something wrong and hides immediately when I tell him to stop, which makes it rather difficult to show him where he can scratch. When I sit down again, sometimes he immediately goes to the door and scratches again, but I don't want to make this a game for him. They also scratch when I'm not at home and they are alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always try to entertain them when I get home, try to play with them, get new toys for them. They are interested for one or two minutes, but then it seems to get boring and they simply go away or sit in front of me with the look of &quot;What do you want from me, you imbecile?&quot; So, I don't know what to do to keep them entertained anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have some tips what to do to keep them entertained and convince them to stop scratching everything? They already have done some major damage to my walls and to my door frames. All help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6561" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:08.400" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:33:42.857" Title="Bored cats, scratching at the wall" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-28T13:08:08.717" Score="3" ViewCount="356" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, about 1.5 years old and supposed to be brothers, but don't know if that's true =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom also has a cat, she is about 8 years old, a bit crusty and was the only cat in the household since she lives there with my mum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to bring them with me when I visited her, so that they can play with each other and all that stuff. But my mum's cat really seems to dislike the idea of the presence of other cats. She hisses and snaps at them, tries to hit them and mostly go out of their way and hides somewhere until they are gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to say, although I got the two cats way to early from the owner, because she lied about the age, and I am not the most talented one in raising cats, they behave really well when we visit the other cat. They know that there is something wrong, but they aren't intimidated by her. They bow down before her, go out of her way, approach very slowly to show her that they mean no harm, so I don't think they can do any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also tried to have them together for a longer period of time, e.g. nearly two weeks when I visited my mum for the Christmas holiday. But nothing's changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way we could improve their relationship? I know, it's the same with people, sometimes you definitely don't like someone. But it would be nice if they would get along fine. That way we could give them to someone together when we want to go for holiday or visit relatives or something like that.&#xA;Do you have any idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6561" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T18:52:43.520" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T14:23:22.090" Title="My mom's cat doesn't like my cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6412" CreationDate="2016-01-28T16:46:44.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;my two cats were just spayed &amp;amp; neutered. What I did to keep the cone on was took the ribbon out that the vet supplied and put the collars they already wore in place. It worked like a charm. They were never able to get it off because they couldn't untie the ribbon (:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6563" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T16:46:44.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11358" CreationDate="2016-01-28T16:56:48.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats are much more territorial than dogs are, believe it or not. They will play together only in space that they accept as shared territory. &lt;em&gt;Very&lt;/em&gt; careful introduction, usually over a week or two (or longer) can convince them to accept each other, but only after a lot of posturing and threatening and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really recommended unless they're going to be sharing space for months. It's more stressful for them than the convenience for you is worth, and they won't thank you for it. Leave them home next time; they really don't need a play date, and definitely not with their grumpy old aunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one person is only occasionally cat-sitting both sets of cats, the best solution may be to continue to keep them physically separated... I'm not sure whether meeting on neutral ground would make the process easier or harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-01-28T21:57:40.763" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T21:57:40.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11357" CreationDate="2016-01-28T17:03:45.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Scratching posts, cardboard, or other approved surfaces for stretching claw muscles and asserting &quot;this place is mine.&quot; Mine love nylon backpacks, a couple of boxes in my office that I'm willing to let them have, and the carpet on their cat tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Scratching, looking at you, and running away suggests they specifically want your attention. Don't respond except to say &quot;no&quot; and show them the appropriate place to scratch, or you risk encouraging them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) If the problem continues after these steps, see other answers for additional techniques for discouraging scratching specific surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are going to scratch. Give them a socially acceptable place to do so, and teach them to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:33:42.857" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:33:42.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2074" CreationDate="2016-01-28T17:46:06.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have the same problem with my cat playing with earplugs. I did a search on Amazon for silicone toys to replace it with, since it seemed that he liked that shape and texture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across this, it originally was not made to be used as a cat toy (as you'll read) but it is body safe and cute looking so I decided to buy it. He actually won't put it down. The texture is similar to that of skin and it is flexible so I think he thinks it's a mouse and carries it around, stalking, as if he has just caught his prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this option might seem weird to people but it's the only (safe) option that's gotten my cat away from non-safe items to play with in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NSFW&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00M75RMZ2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Eden-Beginner-Smooth-Silicone-Purple/dp/B00M75RMZ2&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;NSFW&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6564" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:01:01.663" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:01:01.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11348" CreationDate="2016-01-28T18:36:11.250" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think you could try one of two things. Either hydrogen peroxide, which is a much milder alternative to bleach and cleans as well as bleach (it just degraded in sunlight so is harder to store); or use the powdered oxygen they use to clean carboys and the equipment when making wine or beer. It should be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-01-28T18:36:11.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11369" CreationDate="2016-01-28T21:28:09.283" Score="1" ViewCount="2295" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom got a new puppy Yorkie Terrier. I went to google and searched for &lt;code&gt;Yorkie Terrier&lt;/code&gt; and found these pictures&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oZoXE.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oZoXE.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine looks like the one on the left but he's just one month old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if all Yorkies will have the same hair as adults or if I have to take special care to make it look like the second one. Or are they all different kinds of Yorkies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some tips to improve his hair for him to look like the middle one? I don't want to attempt anything I am not sure about in case I provide bad care and he ends up looking like the one on the right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6567" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-05T20:14:13.950" LastActivityDate="2017-08-05T20:14:13.950" Title="Will the hair of my Yorkie Terrier growth so long?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11368" CreationDate="2016-01-29T08:06:18.327" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 months old boxer at home that has been with us for 2 weeks.&#xA;Right now our couch is completely off limits,&#xA;We don't want him to go to the couch to scratch it but we would like to sit with him on the couch when we're around.&#xA;Is there a way to make him understand that he can go on the couch only with us?&#xA;He is very smart and eager to learn, on this short time he has already learned some tricks and where he has to use the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T10:31:26.147" Title="Boxer puppy boundaries" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11358" CreationDate="2016-01-29T09:41:39.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your mother's cat is very possessive. She thinks of your mother's house as if it's her house. It's her territory. She is the only pet there. Will you be happy, if someone - a stranger -  comes to your place without invitation and lives there for 2 weeks? I don't think so :)&#xA;What you must do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't let your cats meet with your mother's cat  meet in first day when you come. Close newcomers in one room, but try not to prevent you mother's cat walk where she wants. She needs to feel herself comfortable. She is at home, your cats are guests.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next day let them meet but not for a long time. She has to get used to them, to their smell and sounds. It's all new for her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let them be in one room longer and longer next days. Step by step. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To make her more calm you may give her catmint - it smells good for cats and calm them down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't let your cats sleep on her place. If you see, that she's angry or displeased, move your cats in another room. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed her first. Always. And give them different plates. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't let your cats play with her toys. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Say your mother pet her more often, so she could feel her love and tenderness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slaps are OK, sometimes it's a part of a game or warning: don't come close. It's natural behaviour. But if they fight, the situation is more serious. As I can see from your post, your mother's cat just feels uncomfortable with other pets. It is understandable. Your cats are more friendly, coz they got used to live together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope my advice will help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T18:51:12.320" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T18:51:12.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11366" CreationDate="2016-01-29T10:31:26.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is going to be difficult to teach the dog it can get on the couch if; I am on it, or if someone else is on it, or if we are both on it, but not if no one else is on it. My wife has some complex rules like this for dirty dishes and I still get in trouble, for putting the wrong thing in wrong side of the sink at the wrong time.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead use a blanket or towel and make the blanket the object that the dog is getting on.  You can get on the blanket, when it is on the floor, you can get on the blanket when it is on the couch, you can get on the blanket anytime.  You can't get on the couch, you can't get on the table, you can't get on the counter.  But you can always get on the blanket where ever it is. This is kind of like the &quot;Clean / Dirty&quot; sign on a dishwasher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jipyF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jipyF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Example sign image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sends a very clear message.  As long as you are consistent about training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T10:31:26.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11365" CreationDate="2016-01-29T20:00:54.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll make some general observations that might apply if your dog is pure-bred. The long-haired dogs you see at dog shows always look impeccably groomed, with long, flowing fur. That is because they are brushed every day, often multiple times per day. Long fur tends to tangle easily and/or break as a dog runs around, rolls around, or simply lies down, and if the tangles are not removed promptly they begin to form mats. Dogs with fur that touches the ground may have that fur tied up and protected when the dog goes outside. In other words, keeping that coat in show-quality condition is a very time consuming and arduous commitment. It also means that the dogs may not be able to run and play freely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why you will rarely see dogs with long perfect coats in everyday life. Many people have their dogs clipped periodically because shorter hair is much easier to brush and keep tangle free. Matted fur is painful for the dog, and must be removed. It is likely that the dog on the right was clipped (received a haircut).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_Collie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Bearded Collie&quot;&gt;Bearded Collie&lt;/a&gt; that I keep in full coat (I never have her fur shortened by clipping). But she does not look nearly as good as a Beardie in a dog show. I do thoroughly brush her twice a week, but that is not enough to keep her coat completely mat free. When I cut mats out, the coat loses that overall smooth look. And the day after I brush, the fur get tousled and begins to tangle, so that perfectly groomed, flowing look is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, if your puppy is a pure-bred Yorkie, it is possible to have him look like the dog in the middle if you are willing to put in the time and effort. You can also have them groomed, leaving the coat longer than the dog on the right as a compromise: He will be easier to keep in good coat condition and look more like the dog in the middle than the one on the right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T20:00:54.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-29T20:47:26.397" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tesla&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, who's only 3 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't see if &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tesla&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has got testicles or another things because &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tesla&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has got a &lt;em&gt;very long&lt;/em&gt; hair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We asked to our neighbors (they have two cats) how we can now the sex of the cat by only looking &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tesla&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;'s colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tesla&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has got a white hair with black parts and a little bit of brown on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our neighbors said:&#xA;- If the cat has got &lt;strong&gt;three&lt;/strong&gt; colours, the cat is female.&#xA;- If the cat is has got &lt;strong&gt;two&lt;/strong&gt; colors, the cat is male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But we aren't sure about our cats is male, because the cat is flirting with wild cats that they live arround our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody tell me if the cat is &lt;em&gt;male&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;female&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6424" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T20:47:26.397" Title="How I do know if my cat is male or female?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-01-30T11:29:07.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2016-01-29T21:31:09.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it fascinating that in other countries it is illegal to take a rabbit from the wild (not fully educated in this, so excuse me if I'm wrong). In New Zealand if you take a wild animal that is considered a pest from the wild you are not allowed to return it to the wild. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I have a young wild rabbit, here NZ. The cats brought him home and he must have escaped. When i got him he had just left the nest. He was tiny, maybe 3 or 4 weeks old. Anyway I've had him for 3 weeks now. Never feed him milk as he was happy with grass. And he is just so unbelievably tame. He free ranges inside the house, and has a large cage outside. He is toilet trained, not that i made much effort to teach him. He eats everything a tame rabbit would, loves cuddles. The only thing I would say that is different about him is he can get destructive when he wants attention. By far he is the nicest rabbit i have ever had, and I've had a few. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6571" LastActivityDate="2016-01-29T21:31:09.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-30T03:45:41.570" Score="5" ViewCount="11574" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a really loving cat that has had relatively few problems. He came from a shelter, so I don't know his exact age, but probably about five or six years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I was petting him (he came to me to be petted) and as I stroked his back, he went into a maniacal fit, biting both me and himself, and had to be pried away. I received several deep wounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a lesser event a week ago, and then several days ago it happened to my wife. The cat had climbed on her as she lay on the sofa, and she was petting him and made the mistake of running her hand down his back. He went totally crazy and did enough damage to her thumb that we had to take her to the E R 30 miles away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm really careful, I can induce the same thing at will by stroking his back in the right place. I stand as far away as possible, because he goes into a horrible fit that lasts about 10 to 15 seconds. He seems to have no control at all. It's scary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a cat that is normally affectionate and a real lover. Now I'm kind of afraid to hold him anywhere near my face, and have to be really careful how I pet him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have a lot of money that I can spend on getting xrays and doing diagnostics. I need help. And so does my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6572" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-05-09T13:23:29.080" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T13:23:29.080" Title="Cat bites aggressively when his back is touched" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-30T04:10:05.310" Score="3" ViewCount="18006" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in a home with three other dogs. We have a nice backyard and a doggie door, and all the animals know how to use it, but for some reason we can't get two of them to stop peeing inside the house. One is going senile, and the other is a younger boy we think is competing with our newest addition, a 4 year old Pomchi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, my problem is that for some reason my 4 year old keeps drinking the senile girl dog's pee. I've seen him both licking it up after she's peed in the house as well as right underneath her leg as it's literally coming out. I don't think he does it with the other dogs -- these two always play together and you know do the dirty if they can get away with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a sign of affection? Or what's going on here? My dog himself is very well house trained and we have never had an issue of him going in our room, only when he first moved in did he really mark the furniture but he eventually stopped. I've never seen him drink his own urine, just hers. We just adopted him about a year and a half ago and I know he was neglected in his previous home. Not sure if improper training has anything to do with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight on why he's doing this and suggestions on how we can get him to stop are greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6573" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T20:52:57.517" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T22:00:30.053" Title="Why does my dog drink another dog's pee?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17185" CreationDate="2016-01-30T17:45:39.460" Score="6" ViewCount="3696" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday the fishes in my tank were visually ok, today I noticed that one of my red tailed sharks has a bulky belly. Are they sick or pregnant? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are pictures of the two &quot;normal&quot; ones, and the third in question:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nZx0d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nZx0d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jw85l.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jw85l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gRiYV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gRiYV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6575" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T16:17:44.907" Title="Is my red tailed shark sick or pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2016-01-30T18:13:13.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a steam cleaner, the kind that sprays out dirty water and sucks it back up. A Bissell or some other brand works well. Make sure it has a hose. They also sell smaller versions of this that only have a hose and nothing else. It will have two compartments, one for dirty water, one for clean. Once you have this (borrow or buy-worth the money though.. Seriously) open the windows in the room your about to clean the mattress in. If it's warm outside it will dry faster. Now, stand the mattress up on its side, upright. This will stop the water from going too far into the mattress and help it dry. Fill the clean water tank with a solution of 1/4 cup bleach and 2 tablespoons of liquid laundry detergent. The hotter the water the better. Now here comes the part that'd going to take a while but in the end you will be quite satisfied. Start at one top corner, working in roughly square foot patches, spraying the mattress with the solution and let it sit a minute. Then suck it back up, repeating as necessary until the water runs clear. Work your way to the bottom and make sure you take your time to suck out as much of the water as possible. You will be surprised at what comes out of the mattress. Dust mites, skin dirt and.. The pee. The bleach will kill germs and help it go back to its new color and the combination of the two (laundry detergent and bleach) will break down the dirt, bust up the pee and allow it to be suctioned out, killing any smell as it goes. I've had cats all my life and have seen this work before, as well as if there's anyone in the house with allergies it should help them. Just keep refilling the tank and emptying the old water (watch it's color even from seemingly clean spots to be effectively grossed out) and let it air dry. A fan helps but the open windows and sunlight should do the trick before bedtime if you start early enough in the morning. Expect to use between 7 and 9 tanks of water and spend about 3 hours. But I promise it works and will save your mattress. DO NOT DO THIS TO A MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS. It will not dry. Standard, normal, regular mattresses only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6576" LastActivityDate="2016-01-30T18:13:13.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="496" CreationDate="2016-01-31T04:14:31.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes my dog is also drinking her own urine and is very old with vision issues. A doggy door would be ideal but we have cats who would bring in the catch of the day if they had the opportunity so we need to watch before we let them in. I buy large or extra large pee pads for the dog when it is too cold to put her out to pee- she resists going out when it's cold. I have found buying human bed pads that stick to the doggy floor tray then add the layers of pee pads and change them frequently every day a couple times of need be seems to decrease the opportunity for her to drink her urine. It does make sense that the dog is trying to keep her space clean so we can't blame her for her efforts or actions we can only try to limit the opportunity for her to feel the need to tidy up her space the best she can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6580" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T04:14:31.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11384" CreationDate="2016-01-31T16:08:49.480" Score="8" ViewCount="2209" Body="&lt;p&gt;When grooming my girlfriend's cat with a brush, she very often tries to push her face into the brush. The previous brush was rectangular and she would aim with her nose at one corner of it. I had the impression that she tries to clean her nose with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we have a couple curry combs lying around and once tried one of them to brush her. The cat seems to really like those but still tries to push her face and head against the brush. I also scratch her behind the ears, but she will always try to catch the brush and push against it. Trying to brush her sometimes becomes impossible as she will force her head between the brush her and her other fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this does not stop after a couple times, she does that on and on, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXPEkg6TjSc&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXPEkg6TjSc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she trying to tell me something and I just do not get it? Or does she just like that sensation? Is there anything I should do differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastActivityDate="2019-09-15T03:19:02.287" Title="Cat always tries to press her head against the brush" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11381" CreationDate="2016-01-31T16:43:12.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She either likes the sensation (faces are hard to clean properly)   or she's telling you she approves and wants to get more of her scent onto the brush to mark it as hers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or something else; translating from cat to human is tricky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of mine would much rather lick the comb than be groomed with it. I've stopped trying to understand ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T16:43:12.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-01-31T16:58:38.113" Score="2" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a neutered 2 y/o Male yellow lab. He constantly wants to be around the family and comes up on the couch like he is a lap dog. He comes up onto our bed every night. However, I don't often see him wagging his tail or licking the kids. He just likes to sit next to us and put his head on our lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very different from our 5 y/o German Shepherd who loves to give kisses and seems to be always wagging his tail. Is this just how Labs are? Are they sort of stoic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to make sure nothing is wrong with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Is it possible he is depressed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6583" LastEditorUserId="6583" LastEditDate="2016-02-01T03:51:44.767" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T03:51:44.767" Title="Are Labrador Retreiver typically stoic?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11381" CreationDate="2016-01-31T18:25:02.143" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think she is trying to mark the brush with her scent. If you look at this diagram you can see how many scent glands are located on a cat's head in almost exactly the spots the cat in the video is rubbing against the brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LFHTE.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LFHTE.png&quot; alt=&quot;Cat scent glands&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unrelated: I never realized there was one on the back above the tail. That might explain why they like getting scratched there so much and do the &quot;ratchet&quot; thing with their butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2016-01-31T18:25:02.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11373" CreationDate="2016-02-01T00:42:27.077" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very sorry to hear about your troubles.  As Keshlam said, the first thing your kitty needs is a trip to the vet.  Your vet should be able to rule out the basics without much extra cost, such as fleas and parasites. Also, your vet can rule out some of the obvious internal issues just by palpating him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I didn't understand from your post - When did you get your cat?  Recently?  Or are you saying that the cat didn't bite you when you rubbed his back and now he does?  Also, is your cat overweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats have a place they don't want to be petted.  For many, it's the stomach.  For some, they only like their head scratched.  For other cats, it's the back at the base of the tail.  This is a very sensitive area that some cats prefer you avoid.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat either finds it painful or he gets overstimulated.  Either way, the first thing to do is to stop petting your cat at the base of the tail.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas and obesity are common reasons for hypersensitivity in this region.  However, because your cat does not stop biting when you stop petting him, this tells me that the problem could be more neurological.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, I am NOT a vet. All I can do is give you some best guesses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a new behavior for your cat, he may be getting arthritis.  It may be most painful where the tail meets the back. Your vet would likely prescribe an anti-inflammatory.  And, yes, it may require an X-ray.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has always had this condition (at least since you've had him), it could be hyperesthesia syndrome.   My cat has a less severe form of this.  There is an excellent explanation of the condition at the following site:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/HyperesthesiaSyndrome.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hyperesthesia Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue being careful not to get near this sensitive area while petting him.  Even if you can only pet his head while he sits by you, you and your cat can still have a wonderful friendship and life together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitty the best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T00:42:27.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11387" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-01T03:29:06.037" Score="4" ViewCount="939" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats; Rosie (female, 7 years old), and Pepe (male, 3 years old).  Problem is, they eat each other's food, and it makes it hard to keep track of who just ate, especially because Rosie likes to gorge herself until she pukes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, the following applies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our household is vegan, so we feed our pets vegan food.  Pepe is an exception, however, as male cats need some form of meat in their diet (else they risk crystals in their bladder).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rosie and Pepe are approximately the same size (Pepe's slightly larger).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We also have a dog, Brutus (male, 4 years old).  Both cats eat his food frequently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes one of our pets will decide they're full before their food bowl is empty.  Or they may come back to it occasionally and graze (like how I do with Oreos).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proximity is irrelevant; both of my cats' food bowls are in different rooms, but they still graze from each other's bowls freely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both cats have a healthy weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I ensure that my cats eat only the food that I've allocated to each of them?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-02T14:43:09.370" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:07:57.293" Title="Cats eat each other's food (and dog's food), makes it hard to keep track of when they eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11387" CreationDate="2016-02-01T16:36:28.683" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your question.  You have a few different issues within your one question, but let's start with your main question regarding cats eating each other's food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem with my cats. I have one cat who gorges herself, and I have one skinny cat who likes to graze all day long. What do you do with this situation?  It is not easy. You have to get a little creative. And unfortunately you will likely never get to the point where they will only eat their own food. However, you can get to a point where they &lt;em&gt;mostly&lt;/em&gt; eat their own food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to note is that cats tend to be dominant over certain things. Cats are not usually dominant over everything, like dogs tend to be. Some cats are dominant over food, which it sounds like your cat is.  My thin cat will not eat unless my overweight cat is eating. You can see the obvious dominance there. Here are some ideas for you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;KEEPING CATS FROM EATING EACH OTHER'S FOOD&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I feed my cats wet food at night. I feed the slightly overweight cat in one place and my thin cat on a high shelf where she can see the other cat eating.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day, I feed my overweight cat using an interactive feeder, so she has to use her natural instincts to work for her food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x90wp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x90wp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I give my skinny cat a small bowl of dry food on another shelf, so she can graze.  It's not that my overweight cat can't get to the other food, but she is content to eat her easier-to-get food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each morning, I also feed my skinny cat dry food in our closet, which is at the end of our walk-in bathroom.  So there is quite a buffer from the bathroom door.  I turn on the fan, so the other cat (who is closed out) cannot hear my skinny cat crunching.  The things we do for our cats! I also sneak my skinny cat treats now and then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CATS EATING DOG FOOD&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is a real problem for inside cats.  You have to stop this.  Even though your cats may be healthy now, eating dog food will make any cat overweight and unhealthy.  I have volunteered at an animal shelter for many years and have seen this problem over and over again with overweight cats given to the shelter.  Feed your dog at times you can supervise and take up the bowl when your dog is finished.  If you kennel your dog, feed him in his kennel, so the cats can't get to the food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAN CATS EAT VEGAN FOOD&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is the most difficult part of your question because I can tell you have strong convictions in this area.  However, I must tell you that cats should not ever be on a vegan diet.  I am very sorry.  I know this is difficult to hear.  Cats were built to be obligate carnivores. They must have the taurine from the meat because they cannot produce it on their own, like dogs can.  I know some vegan pet foods have synthetic taurine, but I wouldn't chance this.  It is just not the same.  Cats on a vegan diet will likely have severe medical conditions.  See the quote below from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet WebMD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If allowed to continue long enough, these dietary problems can lead to serious and sometimes irreversible medical conditions. The one veterinarians mention most often is taurine-related dilated cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart with weak contractions and poor pumping ability). Low taurine can also lead to reproductive failures, growth failures, and eye problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps and at least gives you some ideas.   I wish you and your animal family the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T09:07:57.293" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:07:57.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1409" CreationDate="2016-02-01T18:47:33.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key word you used was Loaches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any shrimp you put in that tank are immediately an expensive fancy dinner. Loaches will flip them and rip them out of their shells just like they were snails. Loaches and invertebrates just don't mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mollies will eat all but the largest shrimp as well. I've had this experience personally as I watched one devour my red crystals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6587" LastActivityDate="2016-02-01T18:47:33.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11400" CreationDate="2016-02-02T00:21:00.943" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm moving in about 2 weeks. I'm sure my cat is not going to know what's going on and why she's in a new environment. Any suggestions on what I can do to make this transition less stressful for her during this process until she feels comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-02T14:37:25.287" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:36:36.930" Title="How can I help my cat get acclimated in my new home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-02-03T18:25:25.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11392" CreationDate="2016-02-02T03:34:41.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally move my cat(s), their bedding, their food, their litter box, and their toys all together, in the first trip. I shut them in a small place like a bathroom, and try not to disturb them until the day's moving activities are over. It also reduces the risk that they'll run out the door while you're moving furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most small animals feel safer in a small dark place when stressed, so leave her travel crate in the bathroom in case she wants to hide there. If she starts meowing to get out of the bathroom, that's actually a good sign that she's more annoyed than stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T03:34:41.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-02T08:46:46.140" Score="2" ViewCount="6370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an owner of two full white rednose pitbulls (male named Rocky and female named Roxie). They're brother and sister. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roxie is 11 months old and is a few days into her first heat. When she pees she also bleeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rocky, who is also 11 months, always follows her around and drinks her pee and blood. I think he's sick. There's been nights where he cries before going to bed. What should I do? This has never happened to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6588" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-05-10T12:58:01.817" LastActivityDate="2019-05-10T12:58:01.817" Title="Why does my male pitbull drink my female's pee (while she's in heat)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11398" CreationDate="2016-02-02T09:13:40.043" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just caught my neutered male trying to mount. She has been meowing loudly, is rubbing herself against everything and is doing that &quot;horse like&quot; jumping followed by bursts of speed.&#xA;Very playful overall. Is this normal?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mbTr9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mbTr9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2765" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:52:51.353" Title="Why is my female cat showing estrus behavior two months after spaying?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11397" CreationDate="2016-02-02T13:35:57.147" Score="28" ViewCount="100898" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few times every week, I have noticed that one of my cats would bring me her stuffed mouse-shaped toy with catnip inside it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The living room with all the toys is downstairs, in contrast to where I am working on my computer - upstairs. I always have the door to my room open, so whenever this happens, my cat meows, which naturally is rare of her to do in other occasions, and when I turn around, she would stand there with one of the two mouse toys, that contain some catnip, in her mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't do that with any other toys, even though some of these other toys are also filled with catnip. Therefore, I'm coming to a conclusion that catnip is not the reason, but it is the shape of the toy instead. I have had these two cats since they were small, therefore I am almost certain that they have not seen a mouse in our house or anything of the sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I became curious, as I have already heard a few stories from my friends about their cats bringing their dead prey (such as moths or real mice) to their owners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, what could be one of the reasons my cat brings me the toy as if it was her dead prey? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T15:41:28.187" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T05:42:13.710" Title="Why does my cat bring me her toy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2016-02-02T14:21:44.873" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a documentary that says cats will bring 'prey' (this included dead plant particulate as well as animals in the show) to their owners, because they believed they were bringing sustenance to the pack when they might not be able to obtain it themselves. So your cat probably thinks you're a bad hunter and she's trying to keep you alive. The things she has to do for you. :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat does a similar behavior with his little ball toys with the bells in them. He'll pick them up by biting through the slots and then he'll walk around the house yowling. He doesn't do it often, but in his case, he's asking someone to take it and throw it for him to chase. He likes to hide around a corner and have someone roll it in from the other room so that he can pounce and swat it. He'll knock it around for a while, then bring it back to your general vicinity and drop it for you to throw again. It could be that your cat wants you to play with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T14:21:44.873" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11395" CreationDate="2016-02-02T14:37:03.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take your cat to the vet. During the spay, some ovarian tissue may have been left behind, and it is still producing hormones that cause her to go into heat (this is called Ovarian Remnant Syndrome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet will do some bloodwork to check her hormone levels, and if the bloodwork and physical exam indicate that she still has ovarian tissue, another surgery will be needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T14:37:03.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11392" CreationDate="2016-02-02T15:36:36.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for caring so much about your cat to ask this question.   Cats use their amazing sense of smell to understand their environment.  So, everything you will want to do revolves around scent.  Here are a few ideas for you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BLANKETS:&lt;/strong&gt;  Don't underestimate the power of the blanket! Cats love blankets!  If your kitty has a favorite blanket, be sure you don't wash it before moving.  If your kitty doesn't have a blanket, I would suggest getting two throw blankets. Make sure they are really plush and comfortable.  Two weeks is enough time to get her scent all over the blankets, just put them where she likes to sleep.  Be sure not to wash them, and bring them with you to your new house. Put one in the area where she will stay while the movers are moving your things in the house.  After the movers are gone, put the two blanket somewhere she will find comfortable, such as one near a window and one on the couch with you. This makes sure that she smells her scent and is more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HER FURNITURE:&lt;/strong&gt;  Now is not the time to get rid of old cat trees or toys.   Make sure they all come with you to the new house. This will have her scent all over them and will help her feel comfortable.  Resist the urge to clean them so that your new place is cat-hair free. I know this is something you probably want to do, but it's not the best way to help your cat feel comfortable.  If you do not have a cat tree, now is the time to get one. She will find something fun waiting for her in her new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FELIWAY:&lt;/strong&gt;  If you have never used this product, it is great for calming cats. I use it at the shelter, where I volunteer, all the time. It simulates the pheromones in the cat's glands, which they rub against everything to deposit their scent.  I have found that this product really helps calm many stressed kitties.  It comes in a spray and a plug-in.  I would suggest getting a bottle to spray around your house for the first couple weeks.  If your cat is hiding under the bed, spray a little under the bed.  Be careful not to spray it on her, of course.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DIRTY LAUNDRY:&lt;/strong&gt;   Don't wash all your laundry.  Leave some dirty laundry in a pile in the room/bathroom where your cat will stay when the movers are bringing in all your things.  This will help your cat feel comfortable because she smells your scent. If she ends up laying in the pile of laundry, don't wash it for the first week. This will give her a safe place to come back to.  Yes, I'm giving you permission &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to do your laundry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LOTS OF YOU:&lt;/strong&gt;   She will need the sound of your voice telling her everything is ok ...and lots of petting, reassuring her that you are there and are not leaving her.  If you are able, take a couple days off work, just to be with her.  If she is hiding, sit with her, and just talk with her and maybe give her some favorite treats.  Don't try dragging her out of her hiding place.  She will soon understand that everything is OK, as long as she has you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.   I wish you and your kitty the best in this endeavor!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:36:36.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2016-02-02T15:36:44.410" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can also be &quot;here, watch this for me&quot; or &quot;I like you so I'm sharing my toy with you&quot; or &quot;this place is mine so I'm comfortable parking my toy here&quot; -- or even just &quot;I was playing with the toy, but lost interest in it when I saw you; I'd rather play with you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I've seen all of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-02-02T16:21:59.697" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T16:21:59.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11395" CreationDate="2016-02-02T15:52:51.353" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your neutered male may mount just for instinct.  He may not even know what he's doing. I had a male cat that did this to my female cat every once in a while. I wouldn't use this to confirm your cat is in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a cat that, does what I call, &quot;fish jumping&quot; (what you call &quot;horse-like jumping&quot;).  It's just how she gets my attention.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your female cat is young, it will be hard to tell if her surgery was successful. She may exhibit all kinds of crazy behavior just because she's young.  So you do need to take her back to the vet, as Zaralynda recommends, to have her checked out.  Nothing may be wrong, but it's better to know now, instead of waiting, in case a correction is required.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps, and I wish you and your cat family the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T15:52:51.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11394" CreationDate="2016-02-02T16:29:12.980" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal behavior for a male dog when a female dog is in heat.  Dogs (and many other animals) have a Jacobson's organ on the roof of their mouths they use for &quot;tasting&quot; the air, like an additional way to smell.  The Jacobson's organ is used to smell pheromones that a female gives off while she is in estrus.  It is also common, when the female is going into estrus, for the males to taste their urine, in order to better smell her pheromones with the Jacobson's organ.  Since your dogs are brother and sister, if the male is also not neutered, please make sure to keep them apart while the female is in estrus.  Dogs will inbreed if given the opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T16:29:12.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11357" CreationDate="2016-02-02T17:34:39.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem like you are doing all the right things.  A couple extra things you could try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MOVE THE CAT TREES:&lt;/strong&gt;  Make sure one or two of their cat trees are located in the area where you spend the most time. If you have already done this, sometimes just moving the cat tree a meter from where it was makes it suddenly more interesting to the feline mind.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DETERRENT TAPE:&lt;/strong&gt;  Pet stores have sheets of double-sided tape that is safe to put on furniture.  I've never tried to put it on a door or wall, but I think it would work the same. Put it in the places they are scratching. It only takes one time to feel the tape, and they won't scratch there again.  After a time of them scratching on the proper items (a couple weeks, a month), you can remove the tape.  The problem with putting it on the wall is that it may take off some paint. I don't really know.  However, depending on how desperate you are to stop the behavior, it may be worth it to you.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STOP TAKING THEM OUTSIDE:&lt;/strong&gt;  I know you aren't going to like this one, but occasionally taking them outside is likely making them bored inside.  Inside cats can be perfectly happy inside (not to mention safer and healthier), especially with all the things you have for them to do.  However, it works better when the kitties don't know there is an outside.   To wean them from outside, you can occasionally bring some outside to the inside.  For example, bring a small branch inside.  They will recognize the smell and be interested in it.  Do things like this, more in the beginning and then less and less.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really hope this helps.   I wish you and your kitties the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T17:34:39.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11405" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-02T18:35:51.667" Score="4" ViewCount="4180" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son's leopard gecko's toe doesn't look good. We thought it may have turned purple because of shedding. We've tried soaking it. Nothing seems to be working. Its toenail looks a bit black too. Does anyone know what is going on here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XKE4w.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XKE4w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6590" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:45:26.933" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:45:26.933" Title="Leopard gecko's toe looks blackish purple" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2016-02-02T21:01:14.757" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aww - it's a love offering!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like the other person answered that it's an offering of food, it has a deeper meaning.  It's out of favored affection, not so much concern you are going to starve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned of this years ago from some pet doctor.  And please note that only few people get these special offerings, so you should feel very special and I think this is adorable. When cats bring their prized possessions and/or dead prey (if they're able) to you, it's a deep sign of love.  So you might not want to toss them away in future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you get why she gave you that confused look; sorry to say she probably felt a tinge of rejection.  So when she does that again, you'll know how to better respond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6591" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T15:44:20.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T15:44:20.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2016-02-02T21:13:38.410" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats does this with one particular toy about twice a day, once for me and once for my wife.  It's usually after he's had a meal or some treats, so we believe it's a gesture of thanks to us for providing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Years ago, we had another cat who used to carry around toys while meowing, but they weren't &quot;deliveries&quot; for us.  She just carried them around.  Vet said it was maternal instinct, as though she was carrying one kitten and calling to the rest to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6593" LastActivityDate="2016-02-02T21:13:38.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11411" CreationDate="2016-02-03T01:14:56.833" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not an exact duplicate because of my puppy's background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I have an almost one year old puppy, some sort of Chihuahua+Terrier mix (8 lbs). I adopted her when she was 8 months old, and was advised that she had been moved from pound to pound (as an ambassador for events and such) for 5 months, meaning by the time she was 8 months old she'd been living in a shelter for most of her life. Nothing is known about her life before the shelter, so it's entirely possible that by the time she came into my life there had been no attempt at house-breaking her whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now I have a one year old puppy whom I've been trying to house train for 4 months with little to no effect. She won't go to the bathroom in her crate (that's where I feed her), so that's a plus, but she seems to &lt;strong&gt;prefer&lt;/strong&gt; to go in the house than to go outside. I'll wake up or get home and immediately take her from her crate to outside, where she'll pee and poop if I'm lucky. Typically she'll just run around until I have to bring her back in, at which point she'll immediately run off and poop in the corner. It might also be good to point out that she's on restricted water (only while eating or after exerting herself), but she still manages to pee... a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She knows that she shouldn't be doing it, because she'll never do it if she knows I can see her and when I do find it she cowers/hides (even though I've never been aggressive towards her or even yelled).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do? What's the trick? I'm starting to worry she'll never be housebroken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6596" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T12:57:56.700" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T12:57:56.700" Title="House training a pound puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-03T04:30:09.913" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has two &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;degus&lt;/a&gt;. They used to chew on the bars in their old enclosure, so she bought them a much larger one that they seemed content with. Today, when she got home after a long day of work/school (so she was gone a bit longer than normal), she found that they had eaten a hole the size of 1.5-2 human fists in the side of their new enclosure (the base is plastic). There was no chewing damage to this area of the cage last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason they suddenly would have decided to consume that much of their cage? That seems like an absurd amount for such small creatures to me, especially given how long it took them to damage anything else they tried to chew on. They have had plenty of food and water available, so they shouldn't be hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6600" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T04:30:09.913" Title="Degus Ate Huge Amount of Cage Today" Tags="&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2016-02-03T10:45:05.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats to do this to remind me to feed them. It is basically the equivalent of them saying &lt;em&gt;&quot;I've brought you food, now it's your turn to give me food!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my mother's cats used to do this with large chunks of canned cat food. She'd pick it up out of the bowl with her mouth, bring it to one of us and make that special yowling sound that she also made if she'd caught a mouse or a bird and wanted into the house. It's definitely a sharing gesture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter if your cat has never seen a mouse before. It's hard-wired into them that particular shapes and certain movements are exciting. To my knowledge, my cats have never seen a real mouse, only their toy mice that they occasionally bring me. They do love watching birds through the window and occasionally &quot;hunt&quot; them through the glass!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastEditorUserId="3252" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T05:42:13.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T05:42:13.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11408" CreationDate="2016-02-03T14:55:03.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you take her outside, take her on a leash and bring treats with you. If she goes, give her treats and lots of praise. Only then can you let her run and play after she successfully goes. If she does not go within a few minutes, take her back inside and put her back in the crate for about 15 minutes. Then go back outside and try again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, remember that a dog does not always eliminate everything at once. Are you taking her for walks? If you take a walk for at least 15 minutes or so, she will have more opportunities to go outside. Always praise her lavishly and give her treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you need more supervision inside for a while too. You need to watch her constantly when she is not in her crate. It might help to attach her to your belt with a leash while inside. You need to catch her in the act inside, ideally before she actually starts to go, and immediately get her outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Housetraining is possible at any age, but gets to be more difficult when a dog has formed habits of going inside. You need to be very vigilant until good patterns and habits are in place. Finally, make sure you are cleaning up any accidents with a good enzymatic cleaner (I use Nature's Miracle) so that there is no trace of odor left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-02-03T14:55:03.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11357" CreationDate="2016-02-04T02:08:10.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is double sided tape that can be bought at a pet store. It is specially designed so that it won't take the paint off a wall (double sided tape from a hardware store will).  My two cats do the same thing as far as being annoying. When I sit down to concentrate on the computer, they start messing with my papers and scratching chairs. I haven't solved this entirely, but I know they want attention. So I stand up and pretend I'm mad and say, &quot;I'm going to get you!&quot; and advance. A chase could be 5 steps or 20. You probably have to repeat this several times. They will stop running when tired, and it really doesn't take that long. Then I gather them up and give them a big hug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:33:10.373" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:33:10.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-04T09:16:18.363" Score="6" ViewCount="485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ten year old female ringneck parrot. Last year she had lead poisoning and plucked out most of her feathers. Almost all her feathers have grown back now, but there are still areas on her chest and back where she only has down feathers and none of her normal feathers. Will these feathers ever grow back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-02-04T17:56:09.603" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T16:18:27.100" Title="My parrot's feathers aren't growing back" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2016-02-04T18:23:52.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your puppy has brindle in his/her genes and at the moment his coat does not look brindle, there is a small possibility his coat might change. We mixed our blue nose pit bull with a brindle pit bull and kept one of the pups. She had a litter of 10 and 4 of them changed coats once they reached 8 months of age. The one we kept was one of them. He is black and white with brown stripes. At first I never thought that would have happened because he was just black, but their coat changes. So if your puppy has that gene in them, there is a possibility his/her color will change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6615" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T13:04:49.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T13:04:49.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-05T09:27:36.073" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately my girl cat all of sudden goes nuts on reaching at her backside to scratch and bite and starts peeing as if she's lost bladder control. It seems unintentional, like she doesn't realize she's doing it because she's so engrossed in getting at this all of a sudden itch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6619" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-02-05T14:10:32.347" LastActivityDate="2016-02-05T14:15:33.923" Title="Cat sporadically sratches and pees at the same time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11418" CreationDate="2016-02-05T14:15:33.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of things that could be causing this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat is older, she could have kidney or bladder problems making the area irritated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she's older, she could be having difficulties with fleas. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she's had recent problems with diarrhea or not eating, she could have blocked scent glands (trust me, this is a vet problem. You do NOT want to try to clear them yourself).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take her to a vet and get her checked out: fleas are easily dealt with but the other possible causes of her irritation back there need a professional. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2016-02-05T14:15:33.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2016-02-06T13:23:51.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I woke up yesterday with my long haired cat being a bit restless. As I took a closer look, she had 5 pieces of poop stuck to the fur at her butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to pull them off but she didn't like it so i grabbed a little paraffin oil and massaged it to the area with the poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this, the poop came off easily. I bought a trimmer to get rid of the long hair at her butt and the oily parts so it doesn't get stuck. I hope that the trimming helps to prevent the poop getting stuck anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6624" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:36:42.163" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:36:42.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2016-02-06T19:46:12.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baby oil and coconut oil will work as well. My sister sprayed a little bit of Pam cooking spray and that also worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6626" LastActivityDate="2016-02-06T19:46:12.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11793" CreationDate="2016-02-07T02:23:35.297" Score="9" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was considering adopting a milk snake. She's 5 ft. long and the first time I held her she was very friendly, wrapping herself around both my arms, and mostly staying in that position. I held her for several minutes, slowly wrapping her around the other arm as she gradually moved around and uncoiled herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second time I met her though, she moved much faster, and made two sudden movements of jabbing. But she was jabbing away from me (at no one). (What does that mean?) As she was moving faster, it was harder to keep her coiled around my arms, so I brought her closer to my chest, at which point she wrapped herself around my neck. This was fine, until I felt a sharp pain in my cheek just under my ear. My friend had to pry the snake's jaws open with her fingers, and she was very upset, saying she's had the snake since it hatched and had never seen her bite anyone. She also said the snake was supposed to be fed yesterday and was probably very hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I ventured to hold the snake again. Almost immediately though, the snake started jabbing again in random directions. I quickly gave the snake back to my friend, and she quickly and tightly coiled herself around my friend's arms. Then my friend tried holding the snake close to my arm for a few minutes to let her get my scent. The snake however burrowed into my friend's sweater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the snake feels threatened by me, how should I proceed to make her feel safe? Is it possible? Why was she so friendly the first time, but not the others? Are snakes (or milksnakes) very unpredictable or moody?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2487" LastEditorUserId="2487" LastEditDate="2019-04-04T07:52:38.133" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T07:52:38.133" Title="How to proceed with a pet snake that starts jabbing when held?" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10674" CreationDate="2016-02-07T18:38:45.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will take a while for your dog to regain trust. Especially of other dogs. But what I have learned with my dog that had a similar experience is to pet his back and slowly work your way to his neck. Try this a few times a day for a month or two and he should be getting better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6628" LastActivityDate="2016-02-07T18:38:45.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-08T00:13:04.937" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our family pet cat is very well-behaved, but she's rather plain. She doesn't do any of the crazyfun things cats do on the internet. Is there a way to bring out her playful side?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6629" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-02-08T18:54:28.110" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T06:39:43.057" Title="Family cat is boring--way to bring out it's playful side?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11426" CreationDate="2016-02-08T15:00:45.350" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember that videos become popular on the internet because they are &lt;em&gt;exceptional&lt;/em&gt;. Also remember that young cats tend to be more energetic than adults, and that cat personalities differ just as human personalities differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, it's a matter of finding something that particular cat is interested in doing. One of mine loves chasing a laser pointer, especially on the couch where she can hurl herself at it with full force and just bounce if she lands badly. The other decided some years ago that the red dot wasn't an interesting game, but absolutely loves chasing a string. One will bound up the cat tree any time I'm going in that direction to meet me eye-to-eye; the other prefers climbing to the top of the 8' tree to supervise his kingdom. One likes to rest on the catnip pillow, the other likes to rest with a window view. One of them periodically tries to teach me to play fetch. One is much better at solving treat puzzles than the other. And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also train a cat to play some games. Or the cat may train you. I mentioned that Hazel sometimes wants me to throw a toy so she can chase it; Harry likes to sit behind me while I'm washing up in the morning and try to grab my hand -- I don't know whether he has figured out yet that I can see him in the mirror and am teasing him deliberately. A past cat used to like to hide and grab my ankle as I walked by; unfortunately other family members objected so she stopped that game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, given the opportunity, what they really want is just to curl up on my lap for a warm nap with cuddles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give your cat choices, have patience, accept that she is who she is and that most adult cats aren't clowns most of the time, and when she does something you think is cute encourage her. (For pets, just as for children, &quot;cute&quot; is a survival skill.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-02-09T06:39:43.057" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T06:39:43.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-08T18:05:39.190" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my 5yr old Bichoon has become anxious. While walking in our park, we heard gun shots of someone behind the park who killed a snake. Now, every loud noise bothers him to the point of where he is struggling to run &amp;amp; makes himself sick pulling on the leash. This is our favorite walking trail &amp;amp; now he doesn't want to walk there. He remembers. If I can get him around the trail - he wants to run the last 300-400 yards of it.  It is almost as if he were having a panic attack. Other noises now seem to bother him. Car door, workers with hammers, etc.  I don't know how to handle. The park has always been his happy place...but no more.  It makes me sad. Any advice would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6632" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T23:57:42.227" Title="Anxious Dog while walking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11428" CreationDate="2016-02-08T18:33:16.493" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question hits very close to home, and I wish I had a simple answer. I have a 5 year old dog that has reacted like this since very young puppyhood. I have tried desensitization recording and counter-conditioning, and these might be the simplest things to start with. But it sounds like your dog might be like mine: he will have no interest in treats when you get to a frightening situation, and so counter-conditioning doesn't help. When a dog panics, the thinking part of their brain shuts down, and so he cannot learn or reason during that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I very recently took my dog to a veterinarian who is a behavioral specialist. I decided to answer this question because of one advice she stressed: You need to manage the situations as best as you can because &lt;em&gt;each incident damages neurons.&lt;/em&gt; We have started my dog on some prescription medications that are designed to reduce the panic response and allow her to think when confronted with something frightening. After we get the dosages right, we will be working on coping skills and counter-conditioning. But it looks to be a long road ahead, with slow improvements. (I was reluctant to start prescription meds because I didn't want a doped-out zombie dog. So far I don't see any change to her personality, so that fear was unwarranted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice is to not force your dog into fearful situations (my dog is the same as yours with remembering bad experiences, BTW; we have had to abandon some walking routes because she remembers bad experiences on them). Try counter-conditioning: Go to a point along that route that approaches where the dog becomes frightened but &lt;em&gt;is before where he gets anxious&lt;/em&gt;, and then feed lots of treats, play with a toy, etc. -- you want to create a positive experience with that place. After a short time, turn around and go back the way you came, avoiding the frightening place. Very slowly (over the course of days or weeks) move farther along the route, feeding at new places. You can do the same with sound: get a recording of something that is frightening, and play it at a barely perceptible volume while treating. Slowly (days and weeks) increase the volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find that you cannot make progress moving along the route or increasing volume, then seek professional help. Here is a place for more information on fear in dogs: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/fear&quot;&gt;http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/fear&lt;/a&gt; (Dr. McConnell is an animal behavioral specialist). Finally, if you want to try drugs, check with your veterinarian. I started there, but my general practice vet was not comfortable in combining drugs because she did not have the expertise. So I sought out a veterinarian who specializes in behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditDate="2016-02-08T18:48:31.993" LastActivityDate="2016-02-08T18:48:31.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-09T11:49:00.557" Score="2" ViewCount="2121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an university student and I have a cat with an awesome character, that of course, is not a problem! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that lately my cat wants to play at 6:30- 7:00 am everyday and starts meowing and looking for attention. I'm doing lots of exams now so I go to bed late and I need to sleep more than my little cat wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do? It looks like I should change my habits during exams period &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6637" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-03-23T15:00:07.557" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:31:44.853" Title="My cat doesn't want me to sleep" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11443" CreationDate="2016-02-09T16:54:39.550" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been inclined to get an aquarium for myself and been thinking about it for the last couple of days. There's only one issue, I feel like my apartment gets too cold at night and somewhat cold during the day, since it doesn't really heat up unless I open the windows(which I can't unless I'm staying in, cause it rains randomly so I can't just open the windows when I leave to work) The coldest we've been during the night is 39F and during the day it ranges from 45F - 62F, so I was wondering what should I consider or what are the right safety measures (size of tank, type of fish, type of light) I should take into account for my very first aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T13:11:20.653" Title="Setting up a good environment for a possible aquarium" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11434" CreationDate="2016-02-09T17:59:58.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a heater larger than the recommended size for whatever tank you decide on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most tropical fish need temperatures in the low 70's to the mid-90's, so with your ambient temperature there's absolutely no question you will need a heater. The exception to this is if you run a temperate tank which the stocking requires much colder temperatures. These tanks typically have very few options for stocking and cannot be stocked at a comparable level to tropical fish tanks. I would not suggest a temperate tank as a first aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what size aquarium, this one is subjective to the amount of space you have and your initial budget and how much work you want to do on the tank. Larger tanks offer much better stability as well as many more options for the actual fish you keep. They are more expensive to setup and initially purchase and may require much more routine maintenance. If you are going to be running a heater 24 hours a day, which your ambient temperature would suggest is a possibility, make sure to account for the costs of running the tank itself. For a quick example; running a 300W heater 24 hours a day will cost slightly more than $20 per month in electricity at 10¢ per KWH. The costs of operating larger tanks, especially with high power lighting and large heaters or chillers, can quickly become a significant and continuous expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lighting should be based on whether you plan on keeping live plants, or coral in the case of saltwater tanks. Otherwise for fish only, the lighting isn't extremely important, just be aware that low quality and poor spectrum lighting can contribute to algae problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Type of fish is dependent on how you plan the tank. You can pick fish first and design the tank setup around those fish, or you can design a setup that is appropriate for a variety of fish. Neither is a better solution, if you know what type of fish you are most interested in, I would start there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T17:59:58.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11439" CreationDate="2016-02-09T18:25:10.587" Score="6" ViewCount="524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am seated quietly on one side of the couch.  My nine-month-old cat, adopted just a couple months ago, is laying on the other side, and I have reached out a hand and am rubbing his head and neck.  This goes on quite nicely for several minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah, but I seem to have made a mistake.  Maybe I tickled too hard or for too long, or wasn't reading the signals right.  It doesn't happen a lot, but often enough.  I'm trying to learn, but for now I have eight tiny hypodermic needles embedded in my wrist, and four powerful incisors massaging my knuckles.  It hurts, and there is a little blood.  It is clear that his intent is simply to send me a message- he is not actually trying to tear me apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the pain is intense, it is bearable.  I am calm enough to not shout, nor try to immediately pull away, as that would just deepen the wounds.  I try to get the scruff with my other hand, but he spots the other hand approaching and switches his attack.  I suppose I just have to wait it out, keeping as still as I can, until he lets me go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This story is slightly exaggerated for purposes of this site, but there is a kernel of truth within.  While adjusting to a new cat and being taught the proper way to share affection with this cat, how can one most effectively free oneself from the lesson being learned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2016-02-09T23:06:52.160" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T00:41:58.367" Title="Oops, I accidentally pushed the &quot;attack my knuckles&quot; button. How do I get away safely?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-09T19:28:58.797" Score="3" ViewCount="13240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female budgerigar whose beak recently changed colour - its tip turned brownish-black. There are no bulges on the beak, nor does she have any other symptoms.  I previously had a budgie whose behaviour changed dramatically as it was traumatised after a visit to the vet, so I'm rather scared of taking this one anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could cause this beak discoloration in my budgie? Is there something I can do to help her, aside from taking her to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She is between 1 and 2 years old. I give her a commercial mixture of bird seed, consisting predominantly of millet (78%) and other types of seeds. I also give her a commercial mixture of parrot minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beak pigmentation looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FohJR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FohJR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6639" LastEditorUserId="6639" LastEditDate="2016-02-11T03:11:30.187" LastActivityDate="2019-03-05T16:30:49.570" Title="What can cause dark pigmentation on the tip of budgie's beak?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11436" CreationDate="2016-02-09T20:04:04.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I love your title and your write up!  Very humorous...although I'm sure you are not at the point where you can laugh just yet.  So let's see what we can do to get you there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say how old your kitty is.  If he is young, he could just be exhibiting typical kitten behavior.  However, from your description, I'm going to guess he is an adult cat.  Please let me know if I'm wrong, and I will edit my answer, accordingly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your cat suffers from petting aggression.  This is where the cat can only handle short amounts of petting at one session.  Then, &lt;em&gt;seemingly&lt;/em&gt; without warning, the cat gets overstimulated and turns on you, biting and/or scratching like a bipolar tiger.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is keep your petting sessions short.  When he's acted this way, how long were you able to pet him before the scratching/biting started?  Estimate the amount of time and make sure your petting sessions are always less than this time.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always have a toy next to you (but on the side of you with no cat) before you start your petting sessions.  If your cat usually grabs onto your hand and kicks you with his back feet, a cat kicking toy would be good.  If not, you'll want a toy that is soft that he can bite.  If you do happen to go over his petting allotment time and he starts to bite and scratch, quickly give him the toy and he will let go of your hand.   Let him take out his frustrations on the proper thing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before your cat starts biting and scratching, look for these signs:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tail twitching (or swishing) back and forth, first slowly and then faster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head turning slowly in the direction of your petting, such as looking back toward your hand if you are petting his back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General body tensing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps, and I wish you and your kitty the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-09T20:04:04.093" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11436" CreationDate="2016-02-10T06:42:48.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue to pay attention to body language, as you are already doing. You've only had the cat a few months, so you will probably get better at reading this particular cat's signals, and will be able to stop petting before it happens.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make petting sessions a bit shorter; leave the cat wanting more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it happens, say something like &quot;gentle, gentle&quot; very &lt;em&gt;softly&lt;/em&gt;, and move slowly to disengage your hand. I've had good success with this, but it didn't happen overnight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the claws trimmed. You only need to remove the very tips of those little &quot;daggers of love&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's purely a reflex action rather than the cat trying to &quot;send a message&quot;. It happens instantaneously, and cats usually seem surprised (and a bit afraid) when it happens. That's why I try to calm the cat first, and then remove my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T06:42:48.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11434" CreationDate="2016-02-10T13:11:20.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Freshwater needs less technique so I think it is easier to start with and less expensive as well - including the fish... The requirements to temperature are very different and I would recommend to start with fish which prefer lower temperatures in your case - e. g. Tanichthys albonubes (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cloud_Mountain_minnow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cloud_Mountain_minnow&lt;/a&gt;) and Corydoras paleatus / Peppered catfish (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corydoras_paleatus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corydoras_paleatus&lt;/a&gt;). Both are easy to keep and absolutely suitable for beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T13:11:20.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11464" CreationDate="2016-02-10T18:36:36.353" Score="4" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the three cats in my life, the first two were relatively chill, and the latest is by far the most full of energy, vigor, and character.  As an example, the first cat never showed the slightest interest in blanket spelunking&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, the second appreciated a good blanket spelunk, but was quickly satisfied she had seen what needed to be seen.  The latest is absolutely obsessed with it.  Ever wrinkle, every corner, every seam- it &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be thoroughly explored and examined!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I continue to adjust to this personality that is so different from what I am accustomed to, I feel like anything I can do to encourage positive outlets of his energy, I need to latch on to.  Blanket Spelunking is right up there on the list, alongside several others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So first, I want to get inside the cat's head.  This doesn't seem to be a hunting-related behavior, at least not on the surface of it.  I can tell it is fun, but why?  I understand why human kids build forts, but what is the motive for the feline spelunker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, I want to make it more fun and enjoyable.  Hiding toys and treats under blankets would be an obvious step (or would it?).  Are there other things I can do?  Perhaps knowing the motive will make this clearer, but I am asking anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;Just in case I am coining a term the community is not familiar with, &lt;strong&gt;Blanket Spelunking&lt;/strong&gt; is the sport of squeezing ones body under a blanket, then crawling around underneath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T22:34:59.647" Title="Understanding and Encouraging Blanket Spelunking" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11446" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11447" CreationDate="2016-02-10T19:28:26.917" Score="1" ViewCount="37857" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to transfer the contents of a 26-pound bag of dry dog food from the bag to a more convenient container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions for a container to hold that amount, or a method for finding such a container?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does one determine if a container is likely to hold an entire bag? Trial and error can be messy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This might be useful for other dry pet foods too. Maybe for other dry goods generally)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastEditorUserId="512" LastEditDate="2016-02-11T00:04:47.397" LastActivityDate="2018-11-05T17:22:05.397" Title="What container holds a 26-pound bag of kibble?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11446" CreationDate="2016-02-10T19:28:26.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;7-Gallon Bucket&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That 26-pound bag happens to just fit a 7-gallon bucket available from brewers supply companies with just a bit of room to spare. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add a screw-type lid from a home building supply company and you have a nice complete kibble storage system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Calculation&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My clever friend determined this would work by weighing a cup of the kibble, and dividing that weight into the 26 pounds to determine how many cups of kibble are in a bag. The she divided the 7 gallon volume to get the number of cups would fit in the bucket. Voilà. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could apply this strategy to your own kibble and your own container under consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SFQba.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SFQba.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastEditorUserId="512" LastEditDate="2016-02-10T20:25:02.383" LastActivityDate="2016-02-10T20:25:02.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11449" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-10T23:13:05.107" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 year old Lhasa Apso. Over the past year or two we've noticed that she goes into these weird states where she stands in out of character places in the house and shakes. It usually goes away after a few hours. We've spoken with the vet a few times and he hasn't been concerned enough to seek treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week she got groomed and immediately after that she's been in the same depressed, trembling state for 5-6 days now. She's gone to the same groomer for years and they've always commented on how happy she was there. I took her to the vet yesterday and our first step is putting her in a Thundershirt. She seems to like it but it hasn't done much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her symptoms include trembling, acting depressed, not wanting to be alone, not being interest in treats, waiting somebody to sleep with her at night. The vet tested her urine and said it was perfect. She doesn't show any sign of physical pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for ideas on how to identify the triggers for this. We haven't been able to find a pattern. There's no smoke detectors beeping. No fireworks. No loud music. No life changes. The kids have treated her normally. The next step is medication and I'd like to avoid that if possible because she doesn't act like this frequently enough to warrant it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6647" LastEditorUserId="6647" LastEditDate="2016-02-12T21:55:29.723" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T21:55:29.723" Title="My dog has anxiety issues and I'm trying to discover the triggers" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11436" CreationDate="2016-02-11T00:41:58.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are in the middle of an attack, the first rule is not to pull away. Claws are made to hold fast prey trying to escape.  So actually relax and push in to avoid tearing the skin.  Even go limp and have the arm &quot;play dead&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To encourage the cat to let go, you should try pretending you are another cat and meow a complaint or even hiss.  It tends to get their attention and works better than scolding as it pushes a different set of buttons.  When the cat stops biting and holding, you can try gently removing your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can try the other answers' advice about how to limit such hand play in the future.  Soon the cat will be larger and stronger, so you need to get the lessons in early!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T00:41:58.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11463" CreationDate="2016-02-11T01:16:39.287" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a golden retriever yellow lab that is around 11-12 years old. She seems to have been in pain and discomfort for the past few days. We took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with colitis because she had been trying to defecate but wasn't able to. This was among other symptoms that I can't quite remember now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has had a history of low platelets and it has now been about a year since we have put her on steroids. We tried to wean her down from a large dose, but we stopped at 15mg/day of prednisolone. She also takes glucosamine every day too because her hips seem to have been getting weaker. I just measured her heart beat and it seems to be in a normal zone (around 80 beats/min.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently she is on a medley of medications for her colitis (for pain and etc.) She seemed to have been doing better, but she still is very low in energy, rarely moves from where she is, and seems to be in pain. Should we take her to the vet again, and does anyone have an idea at to what it possible could be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6648" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-02-11T17:09:00.307" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T22:29:52.413" Title="My dog seems to be in pain" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2016-02-11T15:50:22.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual approach to identifying a non-life-threatening food allergy or intolerance involves experimenting until you see a pattern between what causes a reaction and what doesn't. Or just finding enough that don't and calling that good enough for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-11T15:50:22.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13713" CreationDate="2016-02-11T17:30:42.867" Score="4" ViewCount="18646" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this spot on my 7 week old kitten, it doesn't seem to be painful. I tried to clean it using H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; solution - it went away, but 5 days later appeared again together with a new spot on the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it an infection? Should I go to vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/acJB1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6574" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T20:21:14.627" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T20:34:33.247" Title="Black dark spot on kitten's face" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11454" CreationDate="2016-02-12T13:26:50.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My immediate guess was freckles. Really. Orange tabbies have freckles under their fur. Surprised me too when I first noticed on mine, but it's entirely normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's really something that can be cleaned off, it could be something greasy that the cat is rubbing against, or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic principle: if you are asking &quot;should I go to the doctor/vet&quot;, you should. (I spent 24 hours walking around with an atypical heart attack in progress. Don't Do That.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-07-10T18:35:41.263" LastActivityDate="2016-07-10T18:35:41.263" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-12T15:56:14.380" Score="6" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my wife and I set ourselves to training our cat to use the toilet. Over the course of several months, we performed the following steps and were met with great success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We moved the covered litter box close to the toilet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We switched the litter out for a soluble brand so it wouldn't wreck our plumbing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We raised the litter box to the level of the toilet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We removed the top of the covered litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We moved it on top of the toilet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My wife then molded an aluminum turkey pan to fit inside the bowl of the toilet and filled it with the soluble litter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We cut a small hole in the center of the turkey pan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over time, we gradually expanded the size of the hole until there was nothing left for our kitty to stand on but the toilet seat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, all that exists is the shining rim of the turkey pan below the toilet seat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat has been successfully peeing and pooping in the toilet for about 3 months or so now. That is until this last Christmas. When we put our tree up, it created a nice, little, isolated corner in our apartment. One day I discovered a poop in the corner. Since then, there have been a handful of incidents where she'll poop in the same corner if it's not covered with stuff, or like this morning, she'll poop right in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;front&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of the toilet on the mat. It doesn't happen every time, or even half the time, but just every now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a hunch that our cat doesn't particularly like the sensation of pooping on the toilet because it splashes up onto her butt. Things that I've read say that if a cat doesn't like their pooping space, they'll pick a different spot. I &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; there are people who have had complete success with toilet training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, we're determined to have her using the toilet, so going back to a litter box isn't really an option. Has anyone else had this same problem? And how would you recommend addressing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have considered using toilet paper to cover the surface of the water. This has proven... from experience... to reduce/eliminate splash entirely, but I don't think it will stay there all day, and I don't think I could train her to put toilet paper over the surface of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This really comes down to whether or not this is just something behavioral that needs extra training/addressing in some other manner, or if there's something creative that can be done to improve her experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6658" LastEditorUserId="6658" LastEditDate="2016-02-12T18:48:16.317" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T19:31:37.627" Title="Toilet Trained Cat... Almost" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11459" CreationDate="2016-02-12T19:31:37.627" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breaking litterbox protocol can be an indication that the cat is ill. Assuming you've checked that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) Treat all the places she's hit with an enzyme cleaner to neutralize the smell and not encourage reuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) Go back at least to the solid pan, show her it's solid again, ad resume the process from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you're asking the cat to do something that directly conflicts with its instincts. Not every cat will be able to cooperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My solution is clumping litter and a non-automated self-cleaning litter tray. My kids &quot;grew up&quot; with it and are used to it, and it really isn't more than a minute or two of work per day go dump it into a covered pail and toss some replacement litter in. Full cleaning once a month. Painless enough for me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T19:31:37.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11281" CreationDate="2016-02-12T20:24:12.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that freezing the shrimp would be the least painful.  Put it in a bag of water, then refrigerate for about an hour, then freeze overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And honestly some say that just putting it in a bag and stomping it or hitting it against the wall is a quick and painless way to euthanize the shrimp.  I know stomping sounds horrible, but it is quick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to some suggestions: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/94025-how-to-euthanize-a-shrimp/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Euthanize a Shrimp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, some people have argued that shrimp and lobsters have such a small brain that their nervous system isn't complex enough to feel pain.  Its more of a theory than a fact, though.  It is hard to believe that a living animal could not feel pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T20:24:12.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11451" CreationDate="2016-02-12T20:52:29.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm only guessing here (I have no medical knowledge!), but I get the impression from your post that the vet felt that colitis was the most likely cause, but doesn't know for sure that it is colitis. Perhaps the tests to find out if a dog actually has colitis are expensive, invasive, stressful, painful, or something like that. Given the dog's age and other conditions, they may have wanted to avoid anything stressful if possible. So they decided to try treating it as colitis not only because they expected it to help, but if it did help, that would help confirm the diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how quickly the colitis medicine should make your dog feel better. &lt;strong&gt;I would at least call the vet asap to tell them how your dog is doing, and ask what you should do next.&lt;/strong&gt; Maybe the answer is that the medicine seems to be working, but will take more time, and maybe they can prescribe some pain meds. Maybe the answer is that the medicine should have had more effect by now, so it may be something other than colitis. Maybe now they will want to do some tests, or try a different treatment. Maybe they will want to send you to a specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is older, and has other health problems as well. I'm sure you're very worried about her. As someone who's been through a similar situation with a beloved dog, I know it can be difficult to take in all the information during a vet visit. We might be calm and collected in a (human) doctors office, asking all the right questions, but fall apart when our pets are involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go to the vet, it's helpful to have a written list of all the symptoms you're worried about, and the questions you want to ask. When the vet recommends a treatment, you'll probably want to ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How quickly should I expect to see some improvement?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much improvement can I expect (will the problem go away, or will it need continual management)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there additional symptoms I should watch out for?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Considering my dog's age and other medical conditions, I'm particularly concerned about her quality of life. With that in mind, do you still think this is the best treatment?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope your dog will have many more happy years with you, and don't want to inject a note of doom and gloom. It's just that once a dog gets to a certain age and develops a few medical conditions, it's good to start thinking ahead. Think about what activities your dog enjoys, and how to maximise the number of good days, rather than maximising her lifespan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T20:52:29.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11445" CreationDate="2016-02-12T22:29:03.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's a culmination of being safe (hidden in darkness, not visible to others), being warm (cats love being comfy and warm) and lastly due to the generally curious nature of cats wanting to be in and around new unexplored things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 3 cats from which I draw upon some observational conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One doesn't ever go inside blankets but regularly sits on top of them. She also happens to be the least frightful of the 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two are much more cautious, and generally dislike when guests come over. They will regularly hide in blankets when this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of those two, one is noticeably more frightful of guests and exhibits very little curiosity towards meeting them. He has a personality that drives him to seclude himself and very much desires warmer sleeping areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second of those two is much more curious and naturally active and will explore the blankets for the fun of it from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I don't believe any of the reasons to be hunting related. A more fun/enjoyable blanket environment would be one that is partially formed and more inviting. Try to make a sort of cave-like enclosure by propping up parts of the blanket with pillows. This will pique their curiosity greatly. Putting some food/catnip inside will as usual give them some other reason to go in but usually the natural curiosity is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After they explore their curiosity with whatever setup you have, they may decide they like the atmosphere and settle down. Depending on their personality, they may try to incorporate that area into their playtime. You can certainly encourage this by using a string toy or something you know your cats find engaging and have it go in and out of the blanketed area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats will naturally seek out hiding places and if its warm/inviting, all the better for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thorough exploitative nature of the cat you mention could be a scent related thing too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large part of each cats personality is set in stone from the early months of it's life and the particular genetic wiring. You're likely not going to get your less interested cats more interested in something they weren't naturally interested in. If they see another cat having a tremendous amount of fun doing something, they may try it out but they may conclude yet again that it's just not as fun as that other one made it look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2016-02-12T22:34:59.647" LastActivityDate="2016-02-12T22:34:59.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2016-02-13T04:55:28.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are inflicting pain on your cat then that's abuse. Teach your cat to be gentle by being gentle to your cat.  Your cat will end up hating you if you keep retaliating like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6662" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T04:55:28.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-13T08:07:29.527" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a question: my baby (my dog) got her tail caught in the screen door and she has been injuried, resulting in a wound. Now she is scared to come inside or to come near me and I don't know how to help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I resolve this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6663" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T19:43:33.190" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T19:43:33.190" Title="Dog too scared to come inside after incident" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11467" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-13T11:05:39.643" Score="2" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 bunnies, I've successfully trained one bunny of mine to drink from drinking bottle, but the others weren't able to do so. Do you think that success one could teach its friends to drink like the way she does? Like naturally? Or I should teach those two with the same method? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6664" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T20:19:19.313" Title="Rabbits teaching its own friends to drink from drinking bottle" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-09-12T10:50:20.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11467" CreationDate="2016-02-13T12:12:29.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a comment asking for clarification before addressing how to teach them to drink from the bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description it sounds like the 3 rabbits are in separate areas.  If that is the case I would not put them together so they can teach each other. Our existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10449&quot;&gt;Introducing male rabbit to girl rabbit&lt;/a&gt; addresses some of the challenges on placing rabbits together. Even if they are sibling who have been separated for sometime, it can be bad.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/514&quot;&gt;Rabbits are very territorial&lt;/a&gt; and are prone to fight each other when one is placed in the others territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T12:12:29.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11466" CreationDate="2016-02-13T15:38:07.153" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let her get hungry - she will come to food.  You, inside, or outside.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dogs are driven by food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a dog that did not like his outdoor kennel so I started feeding him in the kennel and learned to like the kennel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-02-13T23:41:49.837" LastActivityDate="2016-02-13T23:41:49.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-13T17:29:05.010" Score="2" ViewCount="3170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat (DMH) came home with a heavy coat of dried paint on one of his paws. It looks like he must have stepped in a roller pan or something like that. I'm pretty sure it is an oil based paint as there is still a strong solvent smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far we've tried vegetable oil, which doesn't seem to touch it, cutting the paint with (rather wimpy) clippers, and also with scissors. The paint is well on its way to drying, and it is hard to cut – so we're worried about cutting him (or getting shredded by him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wondering if there are ways to safely remove the paint, if it needs to be removed, and if a trip to the emergency vet is in order?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T11:55:23.587" Title="Removing dried paint from cat fur" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11471" CreationDate="2016-02-14T01:29:18.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the United States (&lt;em&gt;as you are per your comment&lt;/em&gt;) the most significant health concern with modern paints is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Volatile organic compound (VOC)&lt;/a&gt; in short these are the things in paint, that evaperate so the paint goes from being a liquid to a solid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US there is a current trend to lower and/or eliminate the VOCs as well &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/toxic-chemicals-in-paint-zmaz03onzgoe.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref1,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2008/04/what-are-vocs-in-paint-and-is-more-or-less-of-them-better/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref2.&lt;/a&gt; Lead paint has been &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_paint#Regulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;banned in the US since 1977&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the paint is already dried, your cat is not subject to any additional health risks, while he is &quot;wearing&quot; the dry paint.  using solvents to remove it will introduce more VOC's, which would not be good. You don't need to go to the emergency room to have the paint removed.  BUT do keep on eye on things, It is going to be annoying and he may cause injury to himself (or may not) trying to remove the paint.  If he does then take him to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T01:29:18.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T11:00:41.860" Score="2" ViewCount="11999" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok I think my cat is taunting me....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a very annoying habit of doing poops on my bed and I can't figure out why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially it was when he was new and related to any changes in the home or us being away which I guess must have been stressful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We changed his litter - he pooped on the bed. &#xA;Each time we got back from holiday he pooped on the bed. &#xA;He pooped under the dinning table whilst we were away (my brother was house sitting). &#xA;We bought a new and rather overpriced sofa (it was our first piece of new furniture as a couple.) I got home from work the day it arrived to find a poop on the velvet cover. I cleaned it up and it happened twice after that. Eventually he stopped pooping on it and touch wood no accidents since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's fine when we travel now but for some reason on the odd occasion he still likes to poop on the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, he does warn us which is the bit I can't work out. So before he poops he basically meows very loudly from the bed room - if we don't go and see him he'll take a Poop on the bed!! How mean is that!? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We give him tones of attention and with lots of love and strokes. He has toys that we rotate to keep him entertained and his litter tray is very well maintained, an ipad of cat games (it's fine to judge me most my friends do). He has a fully organic diet and get's garden time twice a day. We've also got another cat and they get on very well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've put this pooping down to attention seeking but I just don't know how to stop it. I already give him lots of love and attention. If anyone has any clues to stop this irritating behavior please let me know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6671" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:24:14.883" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T13:33:46.967" Title="Is my cat pooping on my bed to get attention? How do I get it to stop?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T13:27:10.273" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Shetland Sheepdog that we keep indoors. When we leave the house, we put him out, or put him in his crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose it is 10 °F (-12 °C) and not wet. Is this a safe temperature for several hours outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about 20 °F (-7 °C) or 0 °F (-18 °C)? How do you know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been playing it safe, but he hates the crate, and I don't want to confine him unnecessarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5046" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T18:55:54.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T18:55:54.110" Title="How cold is it acceptable for a Shetland Sheepdog to stay in for 2 to 4 hours?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T15:14:19.110" Score="2" ViewCount="599" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 month old julienne/pot belly mix (Ham Solo). He weighs about 21 pounds, and is probably fully grown. He gets along well with my 4 year old beagle/bulldog mix (General Grievous - see the pattern?) but I do feed them separately. The pig came house trained, but we could never get him to use the litter box, so we trained him to pee outside. He has no problem going outside through the pet door, and usually follows the dog. We have quite a bit of lawn, and he is good about pooping and peeing on the lawn same as the dog. But he has picked up the habit of pooping in one corner where the side of the house meets the gate. He still pees and poops on the lawn if I carry him out and set him down. What can I do to break his habit of pooping on the concrete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6672" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T15:14:19.110" Title="How do I stop my pig from pooping on the concrete?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T16:28:44.573" Score="2" ViewCount="4193" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my cat is about 3 years old. She was never really playful, she only really played with her toys for a day or two (longest was a week) before getting bored of them. I can only keep her in my room because of the &amp;quot;no pets&amp;quot; rule in my apartment complex. But she can roam around in there. All she does is sleep all day. She doesn't play with any toys anymore. When she wants to be held, she stays for about 10 seconds before wanting to be put back down. She doesn't like to play, or move around a lot. It could be because she is stuck in my room all the time, or part of her personality. But I'm not completely sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6673" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:42:24.610" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:42:24.610" Title="Why doesn't my cat like to do anything?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11500" CreationDate="2016-02-14T17:24:03.553" Score="2" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted two cats, a boy and a girl. Their age is something between 1 to 1.5 years, I'm not sure, the shelter is not sure as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's now near a week that they're here at the house. In the beginning the girl, who looks a bit older, was fine and discovered the house really quickly, while the boy was always under the bed in a dark space sitting and just getting out only for peeing and eating and returning under the bed again. From the first moment it was obvious that the girl doesn't like the boy. Whenever he passes near to her she makes sounds for a fight, and the boy runs away to his dark house.&#xA;She was like 'This is my territory' cat, and the boy is like 'Would you please let me play?' cat, he's badly scared of her, which is sad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now after few days it's a bit different. The girl is getting sad while the boy is getting happier. The girl was really open to being petted by me while the boy always ran away from me, but now they're both runnig away from me. They can't play with each other, and when the boy is playing, she gets mad at him, he gets scared and hide under the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's a week they're here but I'm not sure what's wrong with them and what is the solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6674" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:46.270" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:54.797" Title="My cats don't like each other and not enjoying their life" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T17:51:21.117" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two dogs - brother and sister from different litters. Albert is 20 months and Ursula is 1 year and was the runt of her litter. Ursula joined us when she was 3 months old and Albert was 11 months. From the moment she got here, she's played very rough with him. She is always hanging off of his throat. How do we get her to stop with the throat? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6675" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-02-16T12:28:21.383" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T12:28:21.383" Title="Female always hanging off males throat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-14T21:40:35.707" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved into a new apartment, which does allow cats. Today, I heard meowing coming from the laundry room in the basement, and thinking it was a stray, went to leave it food and water before calling a shelter. However, the cat is locked inside of a mesh-lined area meant for resident storage, with blankets draped around it and the door locked, and there is litter, food, and water already inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since these areas are for resident rental only, it's got to be one of our neighbor's cats, but it's very cold and dark down there and he is quite obviously not in a large enough space. We're considering talking to the rental office, a shelter, or animal control, but we're not sure who'd be best able to help. It's even a possibility they're keeping a stray there for a few days until they can get him to a shelter, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, I live in Maryland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best course of action?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6677" LastActivityDate="2016-02-14T21:40:35.707" Title="Cat locked in apartment basement" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11479" CreationDate="2016-02-15T01:10:19.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It took a month before I saw both of my cats at once, and there were definitely periods when one or the other was being less scared. They spent some of that time grumbling at each other. They're now back to being close friends, cuddling with each other and grooming each other (when not teasing each other, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, give them time to settle in. Some cats can do that in a week, but many do need more time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T01:10:19.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11466" CreationDate="2016-02-15T01:18:18.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best suggestion I've got:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re-introduce yourself as you would to a Dog you've never seen before and that isn't sure it trusts you.Go outside, sit down, and give her a chance to come to you, with lots of space to retreat so she doesn't feel threatened. When she eventually does so, don't grab at her; make clear that you're happy to see her, possibly offer her a treat or two. Let her convince herself that you didn't mean to hurt her and she's still &quot;your baby&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then see if she can be persuaded to follow you back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's willing to accept you as Mommy again, it'll be a lot easier to examine the wound, clean it, and if it's at all serious take her to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T01:18:18.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7436" CreationDate="2016-02-15T01:48:23.813" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No thanks to our friend, our cat rapidly chased a laser light in tight circles for one minute. The result when she stopped was that she looked dazed and wobbled when trying to walk and then fell over--Classic signs of dizziness. Following a brief second she belly crawled away until she regained balance, then hid for several minutes. Though unscientific, I'd say my friend definitely caused her to be dizzy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6678" LastActivityDate="2016-02-15T01:48:23.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-15T05:48:53.020" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone know if there is a cure for an infection of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/digestive_system/gastrointestinal_parasites_of_small_animals/spirocerca_lupi_in_small_animals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spiorocerca lupi&lt;/a&gt; (a specific worm found in southern US as well as subtropical areas of the world) in dogs or if there is any work towards finding a cure in the near future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6679" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T19:05:41.523" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T07:41:54.177" Title="How can spirocerca lupi worms be killed in a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11486" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-15T12:37:38.283" Score="4" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently the water in my aquarium is having a higher pH than I want. What I wonder is if the Cirax filter (and in general biological ceramic filters) affects the pH value (by increasing it, or if it is neutral towards the pH of the water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder this as I was thinking of adding a second one to my aquarium, but I am afraid of it increasing the pH even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5065" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T10:45:01.583" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T10:45:01.583" Title="Does Juwel Cirax (ceramic biological filters) affect pH in the aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2016-02-16T02:57:38.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been to my local pet store, and the side with the smaller crickets rarely ever seem to chirp. I suggest getting the smaller crickets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6683" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T02:57:38.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11547" CreationDate="2016-02-16T14:32:00.730" Score="4" ViewCount="961" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've an 8 week old German Shepherd. We've had him nearly 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're feeding him a mixture of raw meat/organs and dried large breed puppy food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's very friendly and gentle, and is gaining size/weight at a rate of around 1kg/week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that with the diet he's on, he's not really keen on treats. I've tried several different types, but he's either not hungry, or they're not appetising enough for him to get excited about. He doesn't even eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I take him out into the garden, he's used to going to the same place and doing his business, I then shout him in and praise him heavily. This gets him excited, but I've no treats to reinforce this with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel it's partly due this that he's still peeing indoors and there's no warning he's about to do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice, as this is my first puppy since adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6688" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-02-16T15:11:54.507" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T11:23:41.567" Title="German Shepherd Puppy doesn't like treats, so difficult to reward good toilet habits" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11475" CreationDate="2016-02-16T17:00:18.913" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course first, you need to take him to the vet to rule out medical issues.  The loud meow before defecating could be pain.  After you know there is no medical issues, here are some things you could try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LARGER/MORE LITTER BOXES:&lt;/strong&gt;  Since you have 2 cats, you will need 2 or 3 litter boxes.  You want to make his litter box experience enjoyable.  Typically, litter boxes you purchase at the pet stores are not large enough. Personally, I use two large storage containers for my two cat.  They have high sides and are large enough for the cats to turn around comfortably.  I also have a stepstool leading up to the box so they can easily get in and out. Also, some cats like to urinate in one box and defecate in another (I have one of those kitties). Your cat may simply want another box.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LITTER BOX BULLYING:&lt;/strong&gt;  This occurs when one cat waits near the box (around a corner, perhaps) for the other cat to finish using the litter box.  When he finishes and gets out of the box, the waiting cat ambushes him.  This may look like play, but it can be a form of dominance.  Make sure your other kitty is not lying in wait when your cat uses the litter box.  If you do have this situation, you will need to find places, with more than one exit point, to put extra boxes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LITTER:&lt;/strong&gt;  If your cat will defecate in the garden, you may need to mix your litter with dirt from outside to entice him to use it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ENTERTAINMENT:&lt;/strong&gt;  First of all, I am impressed with the level of entertainment you give your kitties.  My cats like iPad cat games, too!  (Be careful about taking them outside, there are a lot of dangers for cats outside, even if supervised.). How much vertical space do you have for the kitties.   Maybe placing a tall cat tree, with different levels, next to your bed will distract your cat because he will find the tree more fun than your bed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things to note:  (1) You probably need to get rid of any bed sheets or comforter that he's used.  Sometimes, washing is not enough.  Cats have a superior sense of smell. (2) I understand you want nice furniture, but it isn't very practical with pets.  Even without your particular problem, you will always have cat hair, a few scratches, and don't forget the puke stains.  However, the relationship and love of a cat far outweighs these.  (3) I know it is difficult to understand, but your  cat is not trying to be mean or vindictive.  These are human characteristics, not cat's.  Your cat is trying to tell you something.   Sometimes, it can be difficult figuring it out, but thank you for seeking answers here.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitty the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T17:00:18.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11488" CreationDate="2016-02-16T18:39:00.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well since James Jenkins decided to delete my comment, I'll add it as an answer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should try out clicker training.  In my experience with my dog, she wanted to play rather than eat treats, but she responded really well to the clicker sound.  The basic concept is to click a button that makes a sound to reinforce good behavior.  This is usually paired with a treat, but in cases like yours, it can work alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give it a try! You can find clicker training devices at your local pet store.  Here is a link to a helpful website on clicker training: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/pets/dog-behavior/how-train-your-dog-clicker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clicker Training Your Dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6310" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T18:39:00.127" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2016-02-16T20:22:28.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consult with a vet, but the general way to find allergies is to give the dog only one type of meat for a while. Try different types (but only one at a time) and see which he reacts to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, vets can do a blood test to establish some types of allergies. I would start with that before experimenting yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6690" LastActivityDate="2016-02-16T20:22:28.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2016-02-17T14:59:43.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Secret weapon: nutritional yeast flakes!  If you aren't familiar, it is just human food -- can buy in most groceries (under name Bragg's, Bob's or bulk). NOT to be confused with brewer's yeast or baking yeast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a strong aroma and nutty, cheesy flavor; most of my cats are crazy about it. But, a bit like catnip: some love it, some apathetic to it.  I mix a tablespoon-ish with water to make a cheezy gravy and give as a treat, or sometimes just add it to their wet food for flavors they reject. It is loaded with B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; (so try it yourself, er, without the cat medicine) so a good supplement for them anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had good success administering crushed tablets of Clavamox or Capstar this way, although regular wet food (like Fancy Feast) tends to work for crushed pills, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning, I needed to start 2 cats on Clindimycin liquid. I tasted it; it is extremely bitter.  In cat's metal bowl, I measured out the 2 mL of Clindimycin, added about as much juice from a (human) can of salmon [cheap Dollar Store one], then stirred in the nutritional yeast flakes for a thick gravy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure enough, both cats cleaned the bowl!  Now, whether I can pull this off for 21 days (twice a day?) is another story, hence my landing on this page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time, I'll try adding some baking soda along with the nutritional yeast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ANOTHER TIP FOR CRUSHED PILLS:&#xA;For those kittehs that don't like the nutritional yeast, I crush the small tablet and pour the fine powder into a wide syringe. Keep finger on tip of syringe as stopper. Then, I pour in some tuna or salmon juice, put the plunger in, shake it to mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tip syringe up (your finger at the top), and gently ease off finger to release air at tip. Still upright, move the plunger to remove all the remaining air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Position syringe at side of their mouth, not front, so it is shorter distance to back of throat and so cat can't focus attention on it so easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6695" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:42:07.323" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:42:07.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11478" CreationDate="2016-02-17T15:06:45.523" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remind you that cats have their own character, some are playful, some are lazy, others might just want to be pet when they want, other can't live without human interaction and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention the cat has never been playful, and that could be an indicator of her character. A cat doesn't need to be playing 24/7 in order to be a happy cat. But you also mention you keep the cat locked in a room and that's a huge warning sign. Cats need open space to investigate, and feel like a &quot;real&quot; feline, or in its absence, high places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might(vague assumption) be depressed from not receiving the right stimulation and the lethargic behavior could be a sign of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I noted in my comment, such a small space can take a toll on an animal that by instinct wanders around the place it lives. I would recommend you to invest in kitty castles or DIY shelves where the cat can climb to; having a high place to view her somewhat-small kingdom could make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-02-17T15:53:16.373" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T15:53:16.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11488" CreationDate="2016-02-17T19:04:21.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience with our boston terrier puppy, we found clicker training to work really well. When she did what we were asking, we would click and immediately give her a super tiny piece of turkey. One slice of turkey would get us through about 30 minutes of training (she's small though, so you may need to use more). Since your dog doesn't seem to like treats, maybe try piece of a food they do like. Otherwise, you could use playtime, snuggles, or anything else they really enjoy as the &quot;reward&quot; that will be associated with the click.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're huge fans of Zak George on YouTube. Here's his video on clicker training that we used to train ourselves to train our dog: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/HPDOrEEsAJ8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/HPDOrEEsAJ8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6697" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T19:04:21.597" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2016-02-17T21:50:19.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats in particular (my pride and joy,  who is ALWAYS on my lap, grooms me, consistently runs to get ahead of me just so she can flop on her back and present me her belly, comes every time I call her, and also plays fetch) does this every time I shower. And because of the way she reacts two different things I have done while in the shower I'm pretty sure I have the answer as to why they meow while you're in there. All my cats are so used to me being around them all the time that I believe she just wants reassurance that I'm still there even though she can't see me. You learn to recognize the emotion behind different meows. The shower meows always sound very nervous like she's frightened. Usually takes 3 or 4 times of me poking my head out, petting her, and reassuring her that I'm still there before she calms down and stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6698" LastActivityDate="2016-02-17T21:50:19.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11475" CreationDate="2016-02-18T09:16:28.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to add one more detail to what KittyConsultant has already said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to use sand in litter box. if you have this issue from the very begining, I can think your cat it's very happy of his litter box. Cats are obsessed with &quot;digging&quot; and filling up the results of defecation. And sand is more natural for them than anything else. Try a big and deep litter box full of sand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastActivityDate="2016-02-18T09:16:28.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11479" CreationDate="2016-02-18T09:40:29.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be patient. They spent a lot of time in shelter, everything is new for them in your house: smells, food, sounds, you. In shelter they don't usually get much love coz there are too many animals in there. &#xA;Buy them toys, talk to them (I am serious), touch them, show them your love, they need to be assured, they are safe now. Sometimes it's helpful to feed them from your hands. Or you can ask for a vet to give some sedative to calm them down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A year ago I had a cat which I took from the street. He spent 2 weeks under my bath. He ate at night, didn't want to play and ran away from me, when he saw me. I used to take him away, touched him, talked with him. He liked it and started purring but then ran away again and next day we started everything all over. I spent a month assuring him that I was not going to hurt him. One night he just came to me and slept all night on my pillow :). It was sudden, but so nice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he lives with a new family. First, he behaved in the same way, but now he's the greatest and loved cat :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:54.797" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:54.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-18T11:05:07.863" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm intending to adopt a cat. My specific circumstances are that i live in a flat, one floor up, right next to a busy road. A cat door is out of the question, and i would not be comfortable allowing a cat to come and go so close to a busy road. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After lots of careful thought and looking online at cat's protection to see what cats they are offering for adoption, I have noticed that most cats that are available for adoption, that are comfortable as indoor cats, have FIV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raising a kitten to be an indoor cat is not really an option as I would not have the time to litter and house train it properly, as i work 5 days a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I do not believe it would be fair to adopt a healthy cat and keep it indoors as i believe all cats should be allowed outdoors, especially if the cat has previously been allowed outdoors. But a FIV+ cat cannot be allowed to mingle with non FIV+ cats, which would actually fit my position well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to give a FIV+ cat a good, loving home. But could some of you fine folks give me an idea of what it's like to care for a FIV+ cat and what may be involved? First hand accounts from FIV+ cat owners would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6699" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:30.527" Title="Seeking Advice on Adopting a FIV+ Cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-02-26T14:04:18.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11446" CreationDate="2016-02-19T21:20:47.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many products will display the expected mass of food expected to accommodate. I have a 30lb rated product that holds a 26lb bag just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd rather try and calculate - you can estimate that 3.75 lbs of typical dog food will fill roughly the volume of 1 gallon (this calculation is dependent on the specific density of the dog food - but we'll just estimate with known values). With that, we can also estimate the previous answer of a 7 gallon bucket should also work (max mass of about 26.25 lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6696" LastEditorUserId="6696" LastEditDate="2016-02-19T21:25:53.227" LastActivityDate="2016-02-19T21:25:53.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11501" CreationDate="2016-02-20T06:16:02.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an FIV+ cat, and for us it hasn't really been much different than before he was infected except we can't let him out as much, and we're more attentive to his behavior so we can get early indicators if he starts to get sick.  We also have a non FIV+ cat that we let out on demand, and it hasn't been a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="12" LastEditDate="2016-02-21T20:26:13.927" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T20:26:13.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11501" CreationDate="2016-02-20T09:11:06.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 female cats. One was adopted 2.5 years ago when she was a kitty, and the second one was homeless, we took her from the street. I don't even know her age. I only can think by her teeth she's about 7-8 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a flat, and don't allow them go out at all. There are always cars, neighbours' dogs, even not very kind people (people who don't like pets at all and are always ready to hurt them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I have to say? They feel themselves perfectly. They eat, sleep, play with us and each other, use litterboxes. I work 6 days a week, from 8am to 8pm, and wash litterboxes in the morning and in the evening. I guess my pets have a perfect life.  Moreover, when I come home and open the door, at first they are interested what's going on in the hall, but then get frightened and run into a flat, hiding under the sofa :) They are pets now, and they got used to living inside, so I don't even think they would survive if they go outside one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for me, I don't think that letting a cat go out near a bus stop is a good idea. I would better prefer they live inside all their lives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be infected with FIV from mother cats with milk or with bites. In general, FIV cats behave and live normally long years - they eat, play, sleep. But any disease can kill them. That is why letting out FIV cats isn't a good idea. Healthy ones can be infected if they have fights with other animals, and the FIV cat can catch a disease. At home they both definitely will live longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-18T05:40:30.527" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:30.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-20T12:48:01.340" Score="3" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have lost over 40 fish in the last couple of weeks. All cichlids! They stopped eating, then developed small cottonball like specks on their entire body. From there red bruise like blotches appeared, starting by the fins and spreading over the body. They clamped their fins and lost their ability to stay upright. Soon after this, they died. Can't find anything on the internet to help us stop this. Looking for advice. We have a catfish and a pleco in the same tank. They have not been affected but we are wondering if they could carry the problem if we put them in a different tank. Any help is greatly appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6714" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T15:11:14.373" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T10:53:22.443" Title="Dying cichlids in our tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2016-02-20T15:57:04.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats with two separate instances of this behavior. One can licks at the fringe of the (fake) oriental carpet. For her we sprinkled white pepper along the fringe and tried not to track it around for a few days. She was repelled for a while, but every now and then we have to repeat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cat pulls at the edges of the berber carpet on the stairs, and yanks out the vertical threads, which is thin, strong fiber like floss. He won't let us brush his teeth and we wonder if he is 'flossing' with this stuff. But we don't want him to ingest it, so our stairs are lined with duct tape (argh). Big warning for cat owners, avoid looped or berber type rug or carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6716" LastActivityDate="2016-02-20T15:57:04.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-20T23:12:18.867" Score="7" ViewCount="49585" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are at our wits end with two of our cats and want to see what advice people have for us. Here's the problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larry, a male, stalks and attacks Curly Sue, a female. In the past, we have witnessed fights between them starting and were able to break them up: usually they start with Larry &quot;looking at Curly Sue funny&quot; - almost like he is stalking her - and Curly Sue hissing and growling at Larry. This causes Larry to get more agitated, his tail poofs, and he goes into full-on stalking mode. If not stopped, he starts attacking Curly Sue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously we try and stop this whenever we can, but sometimes the cats are in another part of the house or we are asleep and we don't hear the commotion until it's too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we are not around to stop Larry's stalking and Larry attacks Curly Sue, Curly Sue lets out a blood-curdling series of screams. During the commotion, Curly Sue urinates all over herself, Larry, and whatever else is nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I feel terrible for Curly Sue - she is so scared that it's causing her to urinate herself. But this is also causing a lot of stress on my wife and I, and a lot of property/furniture damage from the cat urine. The other day this happened in the middle of the night under the bed and ruined our box spring. Dealing with Curly Sue soiling herself and Larry, the box spring, and moving and cleaning under the bed was &lt;em&gt;not fun&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have gone through a separation and re-introduction process several times in the past, but inevitably Larry's violence toward Curly Sue always rekindles. This happened several years ago in our old home, and we ended up keeping Curly Sue locked up with food, water, and a litterbox in our spare bedroom when we were not home. Although I didn't like making our spare bedroom a &quot;cat room&quot;, it solved the problem and Larry never attacked Curly Sue while we were home. We had not had any issues in our new home until recently. In contrast with the situation in our old home, Larry now attacks Curly Sue while we are home and awake! It's gotten so bad that I am not going to let them intermingle at all; one cat is going to stay in the spare bedroom until we can figure something out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, neither cat has a problem using the litterbox. Curly Sue will only let off a &quot;urine grenade&quot; when Larry attacks her like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of any changes in our home that would have triggered this behavior. Also, we have tried Feliway products in our home, but they have not affected this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are thinking of asking our vet to put one or both of them on a psychotropic drug to calm them down. Short of putting one of them up for adoption, I do not know what else to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats are normally very sweet and gentle. This behavior is so strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6718" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T19:28:41.200" Title="My male cat is attacking my female cat; female so scared she urinates herself" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11515" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-21T07:48:50.107" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our three Italian Greyhounds liked to play with his food. About 4 weeks ago we sometimes used to throw some food around for him until we realized he would wait for us to throw him his food and not eat otherwise. So we stopped throwing him his food, only putting his bowl out on certain times a day, to eat. After a while he stopped whining to make us throw his food and we thought the problem was solved, leaving the bowl out throughout the day as we had done for the previous 8 years with no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday we were looking at him, and realized his ribs were sticking out. Unusualy so. We weighed him and it turns out he has lost more than on kilogram. That's more than fifteen percent of his usual weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried hand feeding him now and he will eat the entire bowl out of hand. We're going to try and keep this up for a few days to see if the problem is really only his appetite, and not some sort of worm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the problem: he will not eat out of the bowl, from the ground, from a plate... will only eat moving food (like from your hand, or if you throw it..). It doesn't seem to be a &quot;wannabe alpha&quot; kind of problem, since he was just starving himself to the point were he must have constantly been terribly hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please... any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6721" LastActivityDate="2016-02-21T07:48:50.107" Title="Dog was starving himself" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-21T13:43:11.637" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;My year and half old Rottweiler/German Shepherd has developed a scary behavior recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of a sudden he start barking, runs like mad, then goes and hides in a dark place. When he is in his kennel and at night he is calm and relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: can sunlight affect his brain like aura in epilepsy, or could he be  suffering from a brain tumor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help from someone with similar experience would be appreciated. It makes me feel sad and helpless to see this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6723" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:45:36.633" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:45:36.633" Title="Dog suddenly barking and hiding" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-22T08:21:53.190" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been suffering a problem since last few weeks. I took my cat out for some playtime and he led me to another stray cat's feces in my yard's grass &amp;amp; now this has been very frequent. I've tried to cover the feces with sand to deter the cat but that has no luck. How do i prevent stray cats from excreting over my premises and how to remove the current feces in the yard  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6726" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T08:21:53.190" Title="Solution To Stop Cat Excreting In My Front Yard" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-02-23T11:25:32.493" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11511" CreationDate="2016-02-22T10:38:27.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;40 fish!? This does &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; like an infection... specifically, this sounds a lot like &lt;strong&gt;White Spot&lt;/strong&gt; (aka Ich). Check out our existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1922/what-exactly-is-ich&quot;&gt;What, exactly, is &amp;quot;ich&amp;quot;?&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; link with more info and treatment. The 'bruises' may be a secondary infection even. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most fish illnesses- quarantine is the best first step to troubleshooting. I would start a fresh tank for the new Cichlids, but if you can't, follow some of the treatment steps in the link above, but take it slow: environmental changes are always stressful on fish. Be mindful of oxygen changes and temperature (!and pH!) changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience cat fish are hardy little beasties, so it might be that their skin type and where they live in the tank plays a role in them not getting sick. They, and your plants may well be contributing factors. I know some plants may be 'carriers' if they've lived in infected tanks before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2463" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T10:53:22.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2917" CreationDate="2016-02-22T16:11:09.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of potential solutions, but in the end, unless you can keep an animal from entering your yard, you can't keep them from defecating/urinating in it.  Even this solution is not sufficient for birds who fly over, nor for animals who broadcast across and through fence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T16:11:09.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11523" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-22T17:48:30.083" Score="2" ViewCount="836" Body="&lt;p&gt;Titch is four years old. I have had her for just a week and she loved her Whiskas tuna in jelly. I have tried new flavours, and she ate some meat, just some. She was fat, still is. Maybe she is just on a diet of her own instictive choosing. But still, it is concerning me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she misses her previous owner (my friend died, but I am OK) so I took Titch in, as she had suffered enough, and I was going to get a cat anyway, and Titch knew me already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just before I adopted her, she had been in hospital, for sadly, she had been taken in by my friend's neighbour and then kicked out. So she ended up in hospital needing antibiotics, having been wandering around the hall of my friend's building for some days. So one week out of hospital tells me her health must be good. I hope! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has run the length of my large living room, twice now - she's getting confident.  She sleeps OK. An indoor cat, for she is rather fey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was fine when I checked up on her which I did because I heard two cat-attack shrieks (in two days) so maybe she is eating the mice that she caught She loves the kitchen. Our building has mice, which is kitty heaven. But I am only guessing. She eats the jelly and then licks around her mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We exchange blinks all the time, she comes to say hello, up onto my desk. I loved her and petted her from the start. Always I get the purrs and nose kisses. I stroke her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does Titch's behavior sound OK to you? I will be trying  some chicken breast, but want my cat to be ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:03:53.343" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:03:53.343" Title="Is my cat well and happy? She eats only jelly of food and mice" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11523" CreationDate="2016-02-22T19:48:12.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats generally love gravy or jelly... even if they're indifferent to the chunks of solid food in it. This may be due to their having bedn desert creatures before they adopted us; they &quot;expect&quot; to get most of their moisture from their food rather than by drinking water directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re hunting mice: There are some risks there, from parasites to neighbors putting out mouse poison... while I'm sure the cat loves having all those toys to chase (until their batteries run out or ghey get broken), you might want to consider discouraging that game, or at least keep a close eye on her health during hunting season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat is maintaining its body weight, it is probably getting enough to eat somehow. (I'd still worry about exactly what it was eating.) If it starts losing weight that wasn't just fat, that's an immediate health risk and needs to be addressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-22T19:48:12.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-22T23:21:08.883" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;My miniature poodle is pulling hair out of his right front paw; now also going after the left one!  This started just before he had cataract surgery and escalated after the surgery.  Yes, he's had some allergies, but they only caused some light licking.  This is a different issue. I spent $430.00 for a veterinary dermatologist to give me some spray to use as needed, and a special shampoo to use. No diagnosis or ideas on behavioral changes.  Anyone else had this problem and able to correct it?  He has a raw spot that the vet cultured. Results in about a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6734" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T15:10:17.233" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T15:10:17.233" Title="My miniature poodle pulling hair out of his right paw." Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-12-06T11:26:12.457" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11514" CreationDate="2016-02-23T06:13:20.850" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very sorry to hear about your kitty problems.  Given the description you've given, it seems like a very complex problem. You've done the right things, trying the reintroduction process and having plenty of vertical space for the cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely get your vet involved.  It almost seems like your male cat may have something medical going on, rather than behavioral.  Pain can make a cat lash out at another cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it does turn out to be behavioral, have you tried daily play sessions with each cat?   The play sessions would now need to be separated.  They idea is that you play with each cat until they are finished playing.  Be sure to use something on the end of a pole and string, like a feather or something with stuffing they can get their teeth and claws into.   Be sure to buy two, so each cat can have their own toy.   You don't want your male's toy to smell like the female.  Also, be sure to put up the toys when done with your play session.  This will help your cats look forward to the play sessions each day because it's the only time they get to play with that particular fun toy.  And be sure not to use a laser pointer because this frustrates many cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the male, the play sessions should help him take out aggression on the toy and release any pent up energy.  For the female, the play sessions should help her gain confidence.  Then, after a while of separation, hopefully you can get to the point where they can come together again.  However, the play sessions should not go away.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this time of separation (while you are trying to figure out what to do), make sure both cats still get plenty of attention from you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We may never find out why your male kitty is lashing out at his sibling.  It could have been something that happened 4 years ago.  Also, it may not have had anything to do with the female cat.  She may have just been standing near him when it happened.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I hope you find the solution.  I wish you and your kitties the best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-23T06:13:20.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-23T10:58:10.347" Score="3" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 4 cats that I'm taking care of at my garden, and when it's time to eat, I take the food and spread it in a line so that all 4 of them can easily eat without distraction from the others. But most of the times (like 9 out of 10), all 4 of them will go to the end of the line of the food and try to eat. Of course, because they are 4, they cannot all eat at the same spot and I have to pick them up and place them along the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason they do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="612" LastActivityDate="2016-03-27T18:03:20.310" Title="Why do many cats want to eat at the same spot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-23T22:00:00.863" Score="4" ViewCount="1523" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this certain leopard gecko for about two months now and she was brought to me from a friend who neglected her. Her vivarium didn't allow her to shed properly and is missing some toes. She's just sheded for the first time with me. It's been about three days and there's still some patches around her eyes and various places on the body but because she has been neglected, she won't let us handle her, take it off her, etc. I'm not too sure on what to do as she is very timid and practically wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6737" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:50:13.443" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T04:23:23.737" Title="My leopard gecko needs help shedding, but won't let me handle her" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-24T02:09:49.167" Score="9" ViewCount="2234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 50-60 day pregnant cat, which goes freely in and out of the house, but prefers being outside 80% of the time, usually coming in at night to sleep. I read that newborn kittens need to be kept warm, and I've seen it suggested that a heating pad was used. Specifically an article stated that the kittens wouldn't be ready for 70-75° F temperatures until a few weeks of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, is this accurate? I live in Louisiana, USA, a warm climate, so I'm not sure if heating would really be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would assume cats are capable of taking care of their kittens just fine without help, but articles I've been reading seem to dictate otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If warmth is necessary, and my cat chooses to have the kittens outside, which is highly possible, should I move them and if so, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I pick them all up into a box and carry them inside, would that scare the mother? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I live in a x3-wide trailer with an enclosed lower skirted area, where the cat seems to go at night for safety if not yet inside, what if the kittens are had under there where I can't find / get to them, will they be ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T14:55:03.363" LastActivityDate="2021-03-09T07:14:53.327" Title="How can I move new born kittens if the mother has them in a bad place?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2016-02-24T03:54:41.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my 3 &quot;babies&quot; Pure Balance dog food. This is inexpensive  (at least the chicken &amp;amp; brown rice formula). It doesn't contain wheat, corn, or soy. None of my dogs have any allergic reactions to this food. We go through 4 30lb. bags per month costing roughly $125/month. I definitely suggest this for a cheaper dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6739" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T03:54:41.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11529" CreationDate="2016-02-24T15:30:17.607" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had 2 females having litters over the course of their life-span, and it was the same situation, the cat would live outdoors freely and just come in whenever it wanted to &quot;chill&quot; or sleep. One thing you need to make sure is that the cat feels very comfortable indoors, set up a bedding that it's well covered, &quot;hidden&quot; and make sure she finds it, in our case we would only show the place to the cat and she would have the litter there since I feel she trusted us with the location of her litter. Put some old newspapers or old rags you don't mind disposing, an area big enough for her to lay down but not larger than twice her size, they seek comfy small areas so they feel they have control over the area and the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really need to move the kittens(in case she has the litter outdoors) make sure she knows where you're moving the kittens, I had to do this several times, and I'd say the best thing is to move them all in one trip; it makes the cat less anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T15:30:17.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11532" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-24T17:33:31.850" Score="4" ViewCount="5170" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 14 year old indoor/outdoor cat has been diagnosed with diabetes. I travel for my work, so am unable to provide the twice daily insulin injections. But I did change her diet to all protein.  Over the past 3 years she has gotten thinner, slower, and weaker, but still visits for caresses.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trouble is, she is urinating all over the house.  I try to keep the litter box clean, but my husband is ready to feed her to the coyotes. Even my love for her is laced with resentment at this point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what point will she be truly suffering with this disease? How long will she live? I have never put down an animal before and prefer not to, but certainly don't want her to suffer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6741" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:53:59.873" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T17:08:36.430" Title="Is Feline Diabetes painful?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-24T17:48:28.347" Score="4" ViewCount="674" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 75 gallon freshwater aquarium with a pretty heavy fish load (7 giant fist-sized+ blood parrots). But I also have a giant Eheim 1200XLT canister filter running with gallons of various bio media, so my ammonia and nitrites consistently read 0 ppm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across the equipment to essentially &lt;em&gt;build&lt;/em&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbGWp37djZQ&amp;amp;t=7m50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;moving-bed filter&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will the extra bio-filtration provide any &lt;em&gt;additional&lt;/em&gt; benefit for my aquarium?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the fun of the build, I'm not sure if there is any benefit to a moving-bed filter beyond reducing the (already zero) ammonia/nitrites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T22:45:54.093" Title="When is (more) aquarium bio-filtration overkill?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-24T20:52:17.780" Score="3" ViewCount="2301" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a cat that sometimes comes visits me, and I give sausages to him.But he still won't let me pet him, because he goes back slowly. He comes when I call him,but still, I think he doesn't trust me. He even &quot;asks&quot; me to follow him, but he is scared of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6743" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:51:32.177" Title="How can you gain a cat's trust? Please help me!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-24T21:01:44.057" Score="2" ViewCount="4684" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat sheds so much, so I can't even pet her! Then there's cat hair everywhere! Can I do a homemade cleaner, or something like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6743" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-03T19:32:47.050" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T19:32:47.050" Title="My cat is shedding so much! What to do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11532" CreationDate="2016-02-24T22:17:08.980" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is showing symptoms that are signs of untreated diabetes in humans at least (weight loss, increased urination, fatigue), and untreated diabetics say the condition is quite uncomfortable.  Untreated diabetes can lead to pretty awful complications in humans as well, such as blindness and susceptibility to infection.  I'm guessing the same applies to cats.  If you are unable to treat your cat, and considering her age, I think you should seriously consider putting her down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T22:17:08.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11534" CreationDate="2016-02-24T22:45:54.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would provide additional capacity for biological filtration, but it wouldn't likely provide any additional benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the nitrogen cycle works to convert ammonia to nitrite, to nitrate, and finally to nitrogen gas, the first 3 compounds being toxic to fish, with the level of toxicity decreasing in that order. The problem that we all experience in small fish tanks without specialized filtration, is that we cannot accomplish the final step of converting nitrate into nitrogen gas. The reason being that the final step requires bacteria in an anoxic (oxygen-free) environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any additional traditional filtration, such as the product you're asking about, simply provides more surface area for more normal nitrifying bacteria to inhabit. At best it would just make your tank better at creating nitrate. But still, the bacteria in a tank will only grow in numbers to what is required to process the waste in the tank. Your existing eheim filter, as well as the surfaces of everything in the tank, likely have more than enough area for your stocking, and probably could handle many times more, specifically speaking of processing ammonia. Bacteria are just really good at what they do. The amount of surface area required for nitrification is usually only a fraction of what we actually use to filter our tanks. Unless you're experiencing ammonia or nitrite spikes on an established tank, you have enough filtration for your bio load and feeding regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note, if you are able to find a filter that can process nitrate into nitrogen gas (denitrification), it can greatly reduce the need to do water changes, or in some situations can remove the need to do water changes entirely. In saltwater tanks, there's a number of fairly simple methods to accomplish this, some of these work in freshwater as well. But, in freshwater, the cost, complexity, and simply how cheap fresh water is, makes them unnecessary for most freshwater aquariums. If you do want to research some of these, coil and sulphur denitrators, are the two most common methods that work with both fresh and saltwater. There are others such as deep sand beds and carbon dosing with varying results in freshwater, the later may not work at all since skimmers aren't used on freshwater tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-02-24T22:45:54.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2016-02-24T23:46:54.987" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you brush or comb the cat (which many cats enjoy, if done gently), that will gather a lot of the loose fur, and leave her looking and feeling silkier too. Of course you and the immediate surroundings are going to get rather furred in the process, though doing this often caN limit how much is scattered at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a furry pet sheds fur. Some breeds shed less, or less obviously, but realistically if you can't cope with this then keeping a pet may not be appropriate for your lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-02-25T20:55:45.853" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T20:55:45.853" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11536" CreationDate="2016-02-24T23:55:19.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Patience. As many weeks or months of patience as are required. Move calmly, let the cat come to you as much as possible rather than chasing it, don't grab -- hold out a hand to be sniffed and rubbed against rather than trying to pet the cat, until it's very comfortable initiating contact itself. Ferals in particular will often take a long time to decide that they're comfortable with extended contact, if they ever do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat decides quickly that you're a good human, then either it has been lucky enough not to know any bad humans or you should feel very flattered. Or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about it from the cat's point of view. King Kong over there seems friendly, but how sure are you? Trust takes time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T13:50:11.693" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:50:11.693" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11536" CreationDate="2016-02-25T00:05:17.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably been mistreated by someone at some point so it's not likely to trust you easily. If the cat looks homeless, giving it a nice place to sleep that's either in your house, or very near your house is a good idea. Keep feeding it and talking nicely to it. Once the cat learns that you are not a threat, it might let you pet it. It might try to get you to follow, and you probably should, just to show that you can be its new buddy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats express trust and affection by softly closing and blinking their eyes at each other. Almost like if they're sleepy, or falling asleep. If you make these kinds of eyes at the cat, that's a first step. You're telling kitty that you're fond of it and you trust it. If the cat makes these kinds of eyes at you, you're making progress. If you can sit there looking at it making soft eyes, you're already buddies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When getting ready to pet an untrusting cat, always get down on their level. Standing or even kneeling down makes you seem big and threatening, or like you're getting ready to pounce or jump up. It's best to sit on the ground in a way that it doesn't look like you're going to be easily moving any time soon; sit cross-legged. This lets the cat know that you're trying not to be big and scary, and you have no intention of doing it harm and running off, or kidnapping it. You are just two 'cool cats' hanging out eating some sausages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now you're sitting there and looking at the cat like you're both getting sleepy. Slowly blinking at each other, or looking at each other with softly squinted eyes (not angry squints). Stick your hand out with the palm side facing down, sort of like if you were to add a pinch of salt to your dinner, fingers down and relaxed, maybe even rubbing together a little. The cat might be curious if you have more food that you're holding. Your hand should be at or below its eye level. You can also put some food that's close to you, but just out of your reach. That'll bring it in closer, but DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LEAN OVER AND TOUCH IT! Just let it get used to the idea of you being close. Let it associate you and food, and you and soft eyes, and you and NO quick movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's happily eating your snacks and your hand is out there, it is possible that after enough of this kind of bonding, when it's finished a couple tiny pieces of sausage, it'll sort of come over and gently fist bump your hand with its head. I still wouldn't attempt to get more pets from it than that, for now. Just let it rub its face on you and sort of 'ask' you to pet it on the head. I'd just pet the cat slowly on the head, sort of combing its fur in the right direction, maybe gentle scratches. Don't try to go under its chest, or pet its body yet. Not until you are fully able to pet it without it freaking out. DO NOT TRY TO PICK IT UP!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly, the cat will get used to the pets and ask for more. If you're petting it and it sort of lies on its side like a dead cat, then you can start to pet the body and maybe the belly. I call these &quot;dead cat snuggles&quot;. If a cat exposes its underside, that means it really trusts you because that's its most vulnerable state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5251" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T13:51:32.177" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:51:32.177" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-25T10:03:00.103" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wasn't home, so my cousin sent me some photos. When I saw the photos I was shocked and excited at the same time. My cat( female) was mating with another cat ( male of course).There are one-two weeks since that.I think my cat's eyes change when she is hungry. From a dot, it goes like a sharp line.And I think she is eating a little bit more. But she isn't getting fatter or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6743" LastActivityDate="2016-03-27T17:03:20.273" Title="How to know if your cat is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-01T10:03:07.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11488" CreationDate="2016-02-25T11:04:01.317" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my humble opinion you've already answered your own question by describing the manner in which you &quot;treat&quot; your dog...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;..., I then shout him in and praise him heavily. This gets him excited...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have already achieved the desired behaviour in your puppy without treats, so they're simply not required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The greatest reward you can offer your dog is your love and positive praise, which are vital in reinforcing their sense of security and their acceptance into your pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were taught that using treats is a temporary measure in pet training and that once you have your dog behaving as required, the treats are to be diminished and eventually stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't misunderstand me, there will always be a place for treats. We still use them a lot. For example, our fifteen year old cattle-kelpie-x is given dried beef liver treats when we go out. It keeps him busy for a couple of minutes while we make our departure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding his peeing inside, I can describe what worked for us... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attempt to predict the times when your puppy might need to pee. At these times take him outside and stand with him on a grassed area, attached to a leash if necessary. When he does pee, provide the same encouraging praise. He may not pee - don't worry - persist with the predictive pee breaks and only provide encouraging praise when he behaves as required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case that you see him peeing inside, &lt;strong&gt;only when you catch him in the act&lt;/strong&gt;, gently but firmly hold him, place one hand on his head and push his nose into the pee. Firmly vocalise that this behaviour is not acceptable with a strong &quot;No&quot; or &quot;Bad dog&quot;, but say this &lt;strong&gt;only once&lt;/strong&gt; per peeing incident. Then either send or carry the dog outside and leave him alone. Don't say a word to the dog for a period of time, ignore him completely, for at least fifteen minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being ignored is very painful for humans and dogs alike. Believe me the most problematic puppy will respond to this type of &quot;punishment&quot; very quickly and learn the behaviour needed to ensure they are not ignored. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2016-02-25T11:23:41.567" LastActivityDate="2016-02-25T11:23:41.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11932" CreationDate="2016-02-25T12:21:15.333" Score="6" ViewCount="14772" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog is a Pitbull/Husky mix. We got him from the kennel where he spent about 7 years of his life (got adopted twice but returned to the kennel a few weeks after), he's been with us for 1,5 years. He doesn't like other dogs or animals (we're doing slow progress on that) but usually loves humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a very powerful dog with lots of energy. Education was hard at first (lots of exercise and discipline) but we got there with patience and he is much better balanced and calm. He has some rules that he understands and sometimes he tries to break them, we think he is only testing us, nothing special.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he gets very excited sometimes. He loves eating, we had to get a special bowl so he doesn't just vacuum the food. When we fill his bowl, he sits down because he knows we only give him the &quot;eat&quot; command when he calms down, but he still looks excited and runs like crazy towards the bowl when we tell him to and eats like a maniac.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After eating, he gets very excited. Currently, we're having some work done in the yard, so he is being held by a long leash (on his harness). He doesn't have room to run and just walks around in circles and barks at the sky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we calm our dog after eating? Sometimes he is calm, sometimes he is excited, that's normal for him and we are glad he is this way. But he always gets pumped up after eating, and we would like to know how we can calm him down (or, if that is the right answer, should we let him release energy or something like that)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PS:&lt;/strong&gt; He always eats after going for a walk, morning and afternoon/evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1134" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T14:17:45.583" LastActivityDate="2018-04-12T17:39:20.630" Title="How can we calm our dog after eating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2016-02-25T21:31:33.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that will help is bathing your cat. Some people freak out about this, but I bathe my cat a few times a year. He's an indoor/outdoor cat. He likes to roll in the dirt and most of the time he cleans it off, but sometimes he's just dirty or mangy looking. Then or when he's shedding, a good bath will help him enormously. Not only does it get a lot of loose hair off, it also seems to cause the other hair that's starting to come loose to go ahead and let go more quickly. That way most of it is gone all at once, instead of shedding a little here and there over the course of weeks. Lastly, a bath will also simulate grooming by your cat, which will further help get rid of unwanted hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the bath itself, I don't know how confident you are, but it's really not that big of a deal. The key is prep and trickery. I prep throughout the year by randomly carrying my cat into the bathroom. With the water on or off, it doesn't matter. It just makes them comfortable with the setting. If they want down, that's fine, set them down and let them run off. On the day of the bath set yourself a couple of towels and the shampoo at the edge of the tub. Get the water adjusted to the correct temp and preferably you'll have a hose sprayer, but a plastic drink cup works almost as well. A helper is useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carry the cat into the bathroom and have someone or yourself shut the door in case a wet, pissed off cat gets away from you. As you get closer to the water, they'll begin to panic and want to get down. This juncture is critical. Don't try to pull the cat away from your body and force it into the tub. You'll need a blood transfusion. Instead, let the cat down in a natural manner. He'll start to shift his feet under himself to run off, instead of into your flesh. Let your hands slide under his arm pits then &quot;swoop&quot; him up and quickly onto the floor of the tub. Granted I've only ever had the one cat and he's not a giant butthole, but once his feet are on the bottom of the tub he's never tried to claw me. He might try to get away or jump out, but not claw. I keep one hand on his shoulder blades and rinse and soap with the other. I can have him bathed and rinsed in under 5 minutes. It seems to take the fight out of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After he's bathed and rinsed, drying him is another important step (important if you don't want to get shredded). Don't try to pick him up and swaddle him like a baby. I once had a family member want to do that for the poor putty-tat. I told them not to and they lost a shoulder when they didn't listen. They still want to get away. Instead, run your hands from his neck to his tail, squeegeeing him while his feet are still on the floor of the tub. Then throw a towel over his whole body and fluff him dry. While he's covered, perform the armpit swoop out of the tub onto the bathroom floor. You can probably use one more towel and fluff him again. After that, open the bathroom door and stand back. He'll take care of the rest. Prepare to be pouted at for a while, but on the bright side, he'll smell like baby shampoo or Piña colada (FURminator shampoo) for almost a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he's fully dry, I'd follow up with multiple short sessions with a FURminator deshedding tool. I use it on mine once every few weeks and strip massive amounts of hair off. The ad says that using it once a week reduces shedding by 90%. He really likes it if I do it lightly and even rolls over to get his belly and chin done. I have to use a little more pressure than he likes to do a really good job, so short light sessions on a regular basis are probably best. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T13:52:57.973" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:52:57.973" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11550" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-26T02:04:02.707" Score="4" ViewCount="12553" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are interested in using both an invisible fence and a bark collar with our new dog. It seems a bit inconvenient for both him and me if he has to wear two separate collars for this. Do products exist that perform both functions at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6749" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T14:16:52.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T17:34:19.560" Title="Combined invisible fence with bark collar?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11552" CreationDate="2016-02-26T08:42:52.947" Score="2" ViewCount="3422" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is delivering and I see some blood, seemingly originating from the vaginal canal, not very much. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T14:55:14.937" LastActivityDate="2016-10-16T21:59:07.287" Title="Is some blood during cat delivery normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11551" CreationDate="2016-02-26T11:50:58.147" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some fluid isn't abnormal, there will be a small amount at the start as she discharges the vaginal plug prior to birthing the first kitten. During the process, she will chew off the umbilical cords of each kitten. Finally, as her uterus contracts there will be some additional fluid discharged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observation, post delivery, is important though. If you continue to see a bright, red, bloody discharge continue or she shows signs of disinterest or lethargy, unwillingness to eat, then it may be wise to contact a vet for advice. Don't stress though, cats have been doing this for thousands of years without our help. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T11:50:58.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11550" CreationDate="2016-02-26T14:02:13.613" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, please do not buy either of these products.  They are illegal in many countries and are widely accepted as problematic by behavioural experts worldwide. They can cause a lot of suffering and will not keep your dog either quiet or safe reliably.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to use them appropriately and work with your dog to ensure that he understands borders and does not bark excessively, then you simply do not need either of them. Just train the dog, he is an intelligent animal, not a device: he doesn't require a remote control and will not benefit from the use of one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that both are available and there are people who use them does not make them a good idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/shockcollars&quot;&gt;http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/shockcollars&lt;/a&gt;  for more information and other approaches that are humane, work better and are less likely to end up with a traumatised dog biting someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T14:02:13.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11546" CreationDate="2016-02-26T15:59:57.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course the only way to know for sure is to take your kitty to the vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your cousin saw the cats mating, there is a very high probability that she is pregnant.   This is because the cat species has a remarkable built in survival mechanism. Unlike humans and many other animals, the female cat does not ovulate until stimulated by the male cat.  This results in most matings becoming a pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To directly answer your question, you will likely not see signs of her pregnancy until about 3 weeks after mating.  Here are some signs to look for at that time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of being in heat have stopped&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her nipples may become pinker and swell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She may vomit (similar to human's morning sickness)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She may want more attention from you&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of course, abdominal enlargement (but you likely won't see this until about the fifth week)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toward the end of her pregnancy, she will show nesting traits.  She will try to find a quiet place to safely deliver her kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the following link to learn more:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.about.com/od/reproduction/a/pregnant_signs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://cats.about.com/od/reproduction/a/pregnant_signs.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that you don't let her outside while she is pregnant.   Otherwise, she will find a nesting area outside, and you may never find her again.  Her motherly instinct kicks in, and the safety of her kittens is all she is thinking about.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is pregnant, may I suggest spaying her after giving birth, as soon as your vet says you can.  Animal shelters are full of unwanted litters.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this info helps, and I wish you and your kitty the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T15:59:57.617" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11527" CreationDate="2016-02-26T16:15:25.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats tend to be dominate over certain items.  The tend not to be &quot;alpha cats&quot; over everything.  Some cats are dominate only over the litter box.  Some are dominant over their place they sleep during the day, while some are dominant over food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since outside cats are at a disadvantage when it comes to food, most pick up the trait of &quot;dominance over food&quot; in order to survive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, in your garden, there's plenty of food for all, a cat eating out of one dish means that food will not be available to the other cats.  Their outside survival instinct, tells them to eat the food the other cat is eating before it's gone.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think with time, the cats can be conditioned to understand that food will be available to them, without fighting for it.  To do this, you must be consistent with the time you feed them...and I mean very consistent.  I feed my inside cats wet food each night at 8:30 pm.  If I am five minutes late, one of my cats comes to get me and won't stop meowing until I feed them.  After all, I'm the one that's late.  They will know.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best wishes with your garden kitties, and thank you for caring for them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T16:15:25.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-26T16:21:09.433" Score="2" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, named Yoda, is about a year and a half old. He's my first cat ever. He always follows me, is very chatty cat and loves sleeping with me on my bed. He is well behaved and doesn't bite or rip things apart. Well, he used to like playing and pretending to bite a lot, and he would always listen when I called his name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, the problem is I had to leave for a week so I told my sister to take care of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoda was 8 months old when he had been outdoors for the first time. I wanted him to be house cat, but I guess that's not his kind? That's what my friend told me - that he is an outdoor cat, and I'm wondering whether it's true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But back to the story - I left for a week and my sister kept him outside for the whole week. I thought it was OK. Yoda was 10 months when he started leaving outside, I thought he likes outdoors. I feed him at the front door everyday. Sometimes he won't show, so I put food in his bowls. He gets really scared when I approach him and he won't let me pick him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has also bitten my sister because she tried picking him up. I always try checking him if he has something, but so far he doesn't. He still reacts when I call his name, but won't come inside. I feel so bad and this whole situation makes me sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I let him live outdoors or not? How do I make him to be the loveable cat he was before? Is it possible for him to be trained like that back again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6751" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T23:52:23.530" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T23:52:23.530" Title="How can I get my cat back to the way he was?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11556" CreationDate="2016-02-26T17:06:42.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Awww.  I'm so sorry for you and your kitty.  It is a myth that cats are happier outside than inside.  It's much safer for a cat to live inside, and it greatly extends their life.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to do whatever it takes to get your cat back inside, even if it means tricking or trapping him.  You can get a safe cat trap and put the food inside the cage.  It will close once the cat is inside.  This is the fastest way to make sure you get him inside as soon as possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not want to do this, you can try another method that will take a little longer.  Start putting his food and water dishes immediately in front of your door (but still outside).  Repeat for a few days.  Then, keep the same placement of the dishes, but keep your door open while he eats.  Be careful to keep the appropriate distance from the cat so he feels comfortable eating in front of you.  After he's done eating, shut the door and let him continue being outside.  Repeat this for a few days.  Then, move the food dish just inside the doorway.  Again, let him leave when he's done and shut the door.  Repeat for a few days.  Slowly move the food bowl further inside, always leaving your door open so your kitty doesn't feel trapped and get spooked.  If this happens, you may need to start the process over again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you can get the food dish far enough inside that you can close your door and trap him inside.  He may hide.  Be patient.  Talk to him.  Don't try to remove him from his hiding place.  Over time, when he feels comfortable, he will come out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your cat now knows there is an outside, you will need to make your house very fun for your cat. You will need a couple tall cat trees with different levels. The trees need to be at least 6 feet tall. This is quite a bit of money, but it will be worth it in the end.  You can also put shelves up on the walls, like stair steps for him to climb.   Set up lots of things for him to climb and toys to play with.  He won't interact with them right away, but again be patient and he will.  Try getting a pole with a feather on the other end.  Use this during play sessions. If he likes it and plays with it, this will help you bond.  Be sure not to leave the toy out.  It only comes out when you are playing with him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any problems with him using the litter box, you may have to try combining the litter with dirt from outside or some of the sandy types of litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have him neutered, you will need to do so right away. This will also decrease wanting to go outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't let him go outside for any reason, even when begging loudly.  Outside no longer exists.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He should begin to bond with you again.  Don't try to rush the process.  Let him drive the speed of interactions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you and your kitty the best.  I hope you will eventually get your loving cat back.  Let us know how it goes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T17:06:42.960" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-26T17:30:26.420" Score="4" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying get my cat to be house cat again. But should I get him spayed or neutered first? I know where take him. But I'm scared he bite the doctor? Should I take him? Cause they are professional so they know what to do with cat that bite if it gets scared. Or Should I wait and train him , so he won't bite? I know getting him neutered now will make less irritating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6751" LastEditorUserId="6751" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T17:55:36.420" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T10:04:57.710" Title="Should I get my cat spayed/neutered now?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11558" CreationDate="2016-02-26T19:01:17.773" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take him to get neutered now!  We have several &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/desexing+cats&quot;&gt;existing questions and answer&lt;/a&gt; about spaying and neutering cats, you might want to browse them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you note in your question, the vet is a professional who know how to handle your cat.  All of your listed training goals will be &lt;strong&gt;MUCH&lt;/strong&gt; easier once he is neutered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T19:01:17.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11324" CreationDate="2016-02-26T19:46:56.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they are become an accepted member of your pack, they exhibit many types of behaviour that are directly related to that strong lifelong association.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two important behaviours come to mind in your situation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protection - they are a loyal and constant protector of your family / pack; and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reflection - they are a gentle reflector / insight into your own behaviour. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are these relevant in this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is important to consider your attitude towards your visitors, it is equally important to consider the attitude of your visitors towards to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs sense both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important to consider that different cultures have different attitudes towards dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your Asian Indian friends live with a culture that see dogs differently... for example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;most middle class families in India cannot afford to maintain a dog as a pet, usually only very wealthy families can afford such a luxury;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there is a huge population of stray dogs in India, many of whom are infected with rabies, form packs and aggressively attack humans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that many Asian Indians see dogs possibly the same way Western societies see rats - as disease ridden pests - albeit more dangerous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who have lived in India, they would have been indoctrinated with a fear of the very real possibility of witnessing or being the victim of a vicious dog attack, along with the very real possibility of contracting rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact in 2009 the World Health Organisation identified that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/12/09-021209/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;roughly 36% of the world’s rabies deaths occur in India each year&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps your Asian Indian friends continue this cultural understanding and fear of dogs and while they may hide it from you so as not to offend, their fear may be very real. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that fear is often based on a lack of understanding of how to adequately deal with a perceived issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, dogs are able to sense this fear and will most likely interpret this as a threat to their pack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I return to the two important behaviours... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protection - your dog is simply attempting to protect his pack from a perceived threat; and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reflection - you may experience elevated anxiety due to your dog's previous behaviour towards your Asian Indian guests - your dog will sense this in you and associate this emotional state with your Asian Indian guests (self perpetuating cycle).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do you change this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understanding the problem is a big step towards solving it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing this deep cultural belief of your Asian Indian friends and dispelling their longstanding fear will take time - a long time. It may not be something you can achieve on your own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honest conversation in this instance may prove difficult and could possibly offend rather than reassure your guests. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing your dogs from their home won't help... It will only reinforce the negative association. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot stop your dog being protective in the case of a perceived threat, but you can condition his response. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend taking the time to train your dog to be less aggressive in the presence of your Asian Indian guests. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be done by attempting to reassure your dog of his safety in their presence. You may need to undertake some strong actions in the presence of your Asian Indian guests - it may be worth warning them that this might be required so they feel comfortable. Reinforce all desired behaviour in your dog (use treats if that helps) and reprimand all undesirable behaviour (take a hold of your dog, once and only once provide a strong verbal reprimand such as &quot;No&quot;, remove them for a short period and ignore them, then reintroduce them into the situation to provide them with another opportunity to demonstrate desirable behaviour). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patience is key, for your guests and your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T20:12:12.070" LastActivityDate="2016-02-26T20:12:12.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-26T21:23:42.163" Score="4" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the first time ever, she had her third eyelid, the one that pulls across from the inner corner, about a quarter of the way across both eyes in fact, but I have never seen her face like this, she was staring at me in a new way and not blinking love blinks when I  stroked her or closing her eyes and purring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One factor might be that I have had to halt her from sitting on my computer keyboard as she altering the settngs in ways that needed a repair, she was getting stroked while sitting on the keyboard, which was hard to handle, so I out a book under the laptop so that she has no flat surface to sit on, one idea that I found on-line that might not be the best solution, after all. Though I sroke her when she  is on the armchair too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor is that I changed my coloured light-bulb for a white brighter one, an overhead light, nothing in her eyes, no brighter than the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has a suede rug on my desk, the run of my home 100% (bedroom and kitchen, living room, she goes where she wants, sleeps where she wants) food and water, clean litter, petting on offer, which is when she stared so, while on the suede rug, perhaps she is bored of it, but she usually bucks her head back to let me know that she wants me to stop, she scented me, rubbed her cheeks on my jacket. Still, she is not perky, she was like this in the kitchen too, just not herself...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want our special bond back. The bond with the love blinks. Maybe I am worrying over nothing and she will change back. Do cats have off days? Is she just growing up? She is four human years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6731" LastEditorUserId="6731" LastEditDate="2016-02-26T23:22:54.973" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T13:12:18.157" Title="why did my cat stare at me with her third eyelid pulled across?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11564" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-27T04:58:46.533" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXhsXZ9i3to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This treatment video&lt;/a&gt; by a specialist claims manual removal, including washing, is suggested for &quot;newborn&quot; kittens. &quot;Newborn&quot; &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; seem to suggest &quot;one day old is included&quot; but I just wanted to double check. Is it ok to wash and comb newborn kittens as described in the video?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I've never given my cat, the mother, a bath, and since the video suggests staying away from chemicals in the vicinity of newborn kittens, I have a dilemma as to how I can get rid of the fleas on her also. Suggestions are welcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-29T20:36:04.580" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T20:36:04.580" Title="Is manual flea removal by bath and brush ok for 1 day old kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-27T07:40:26.733" Score="4" ViewCount="1699" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has licked almost all the fur off of her belly and down between her inner back legs, also small patches on her arms. Could she be doing this because I have completely cut fish out of her diet? My other cat is allergic to fish, which is why I have taken fish out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6757" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-02-27T10:27:59.483" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T22:40:06.880" Title="Is there a relationship between my cat licking the fur off her belly and a diet change?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11566" CreationDate="2016-02-27T12:33:24.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may be a connection. Some cats do have allergies, though actually an allergy to fish is not uncommon, as you've found. I'd suggest trying another food, looking at ingredients to try to isolate specific items. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. I hope it isn't an allergy to turkey; as a friend found out, turkey is a common protein source in many cat foods even if it isn't the featured flavor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T12:33:24.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-27T14:01:23.167" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi we have a two year old mongrel dog from the pound, she is mixed with collie/retreaver. She is very nervous and anxious except when she is next to me. I believe she had a bad start in life.  My problem is that we have a big garden and every time I put her outside with our other dog she whines to get back indoors. I tell her stop and she does for about 5 mins, she doesn't settle down outside and continually whines at the door and paces up and down whining until she can get into the house. It is an enclosed garden so she is safe and I would love her to just relax and enjoy being outdoors. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6758" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-28T13:05:40.203" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T13:05:40.203" Title="How can I teach my dog to relax when outdoors?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11566" CreationDate="2016-02-27T15:10:42.717" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I agree with Keshlam in that cat allergies to food are common.  Now, your other cat may have an allergy to the new food, and you may have to keep trying foods until you find one that satisfies both cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FOOD ALLERGIES&lt;/strong&gt;:  The thing that is difficult about cat food allergies is that you have to find a food with a main ingredient they've never eaten before. If you have the money, you can get cat food from your vet that has duck, lamb, etc. Usually, cats have not had these types of ingredients in over-the-counter foods.  Your vet can really help in this area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OCD / ANXIETY:&lt;/strong&gt;  However, another reason for this behavior in your kitty could be purely change.  Cats are habitual creatures.  When something changes, occasionally a cat can start, what we would call, an OCD behavior.  This is what happened to one of my cats when I boarded him for the first time.   I was young and didn't know any better.  Plus, pet sitters weren't as prevalent.  I left for a week on business to come back to my kitty who chewed the hair off his legs and stomach, similar to your situation.  It became such a habit (or maybe some sort of calming technique?) that the OCD lessened through the years but never truly went away.  Of course, I never boarded him again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CHANGES:&lt;/strong&gt;  Have you made any other changes that would affect your cat besides the food change? --- Moving, working later, new person in your life, even moving furniture around.   Cats are very sensitive to any type of change.  If you can't think of anything, it is probably the food.  Now, the hard part is determining whether it's the change itself or an actual food allergy.  You will need your vet's help to isolate the true cause.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DISTRACTION AND LOTS OF LOVE&lt;/strong&gt;:  In the mean time, you can try distracting your cat with a toy, like a feather wand, when you see him chew himself.   Lots of attention to let her know everything is ok always helps, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best wishes to you and your kitty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T15:10:42.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11479" CreationDate="2016-02-27T22:22:57.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many pet stores sell pheromone dispensers that you can plug into any outlet, designed to help cats relax and take a chill pill.  Or there's always &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_2975276011_nr_n_10?fst=as%3Aoff&amp;amp;rh=n%3A2619533011%2Cn%3A%212619534011%2Cn%3A2975241011%2Cn%3A2975276011%2Cn%3A2975293011&amp;amp;bbn=2975276011&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1456611658&amp;amp;rnid=2975276011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amazon.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will still take time and patience, but it might help defuse the situation in the meantime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6448" LastActivityDate="2016-02-27T22:22:57.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11572" CreationDate="2016-02-28T00:06:01.440" Score="8" ViewCount="5168" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im in short order moving into an apartment and my roommates arent big cat people so said cat would only have my room which id guess is about 200-230 sq ft. I would invest in a six foot cat tower for play, climbing and such. Would this be enough room or would it simply be unhealthy for a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6759" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T01:59:59.653" Title="How much space does a cat need?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-10T03:58:28.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11571" CreationDate="2016-02-28T01:59:59.653" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is doable if you provide enrichment for your cat, which it sounds like you plan on doing with the cat tower. It would not be unhealthy for the cat as long as she had enough room to climb and explore, and you play with her regularly. You might consider putting lots of empty shelves on the wall for her to climb around on – essentially increasing her &quot;floor&quot; space. Make sure the shelves are good and sturdy. For an indoor cat, the vertical space is almost as important as the horizontal space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend having a kitten in such a confined space, however an older cat may be perfectly content living in one room. It also depends what the cat is used to. A cat that is used to roaming large areas of the house and going outdoors chasing mice will likely have many more issues with being confined to one room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to consider is &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; space. Keep in mind that things like the litter box and catfood may have to be near to your bed – are you okay with that? Also will your cat mind eating in the same room as her litter box – some cats are fussy that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T01:59:59.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11568" CreationDate="2016-02-28T06:48:05.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds a lot like separation anxiety, just a bit reversed (most often the dogs have to stay inside alone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just look up any other question regarding that topic to get more hints and suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in short:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your dogs outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play a bit with them, then leave.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After just a minute or so, return and continue playing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat the whole thing daily with increased time spans of being away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a while your dog will learn, that you'll always return.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T06:48:05.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1440" CreationDate="2016-02-28T07:06:27.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I solved this with a friend's cat -- who I was hosting because they couldn't deal with him while other things were also going on -- was to close him out of the bedroom for about a week, wearing earplugs when necessary. After he stopped &lt;em&gt;demanding&lt;/em&gt; entry, I started letting him in -- but if he made trouble he immediately got put out of the room for multiple days and we restarted from scratch. It only took a couple of iterations for him to figure out that misbehaving wasn't getting him what he wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train the cat. Don't let the cat train you; don't let him make it a game. If he wants attention, give him attention only when he behaves, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; when he misbehaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T07:06:27.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11604" CreationDate="2016-02-28T10:00:42.330" Score="7" ViewCount="21341" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been 48 hours since my cat, a first-time mother, gave birth to 2 kittens. She breathes normally much of the time, but quite often I notice she begins to breathe rapidly. This occurs while nursing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked this up, and there are more than five Google results with people all asking about this exact situation. However, surprisingly, I haven't seen a single answer that is any way conclusive or explanatory or expert, or from experience after seeing an expert. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on taking the cat to the vet on Monday, don't worry, but considering the considerable volume of people asking about this specific situation (a new mother breathing fast), I assume it's a specific, non-isolated problem, which probably has a single common cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with this? If no one does, I suppose I'll self-answer tomorrow after a visit to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T05:45:27.230" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T05:45:27.230" Title="rapid breathing from a new mother cat - what is the most common cause?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2016-02-28T13:12:18.157" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not her perky self (behavioral change) and is showing her third eyelid, she may be sick. Please take your cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T13:12:18.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2016-02-28T17:23:09.373" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google &quot;furminator&quot; and order that comb, it makes a load of difference but you will need to comb him or her regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T17:23:09.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11564" CreationDate="2016-02-28T17:29:10.223" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not use anything on newborn kittens or their mother while the kittens are feeding off of her!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the cats indoor? then you might have a problem with the fleas..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they outside? Then wait until they are the appropriate age and use a anti flea treatment that you got from a pharmacist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T17:29:10.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-02-28T19:56:33.707" Score="2" ViewCount="3104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old, very smart Shetland sheepdog. He has never had any kind of formal training like obedience school or a dog trainer, but he is generally very well behaved when he is inside. He has learned to sit, stay, come, get on and off the bed, etc on command. He also understands &quot;no,&quot; and that when I say, &quot;that's enough&quot; or &quot;no more&quot; that he is not in trouble but needs to stop what he's doing. But when he is outside, he doesn't obey at all. He will mostly just bark and run around, and if you approach him he usually just runs off. He also refuses to come inside when we want him to. He decides when to come in. We can't tempt him inside with food because he is just too smart. He knows what we're up to and will not approach food unless we put it down and back off. &#xA;Also, in order to get to the garage, you must go through the backyard. When we try to leave, he runs around in circles and barks, and we cannot control him or make him stop. He has actually killed a section of grass doing this. My dad tried putting up a small fence in the middle of his route, which worked for a while, but now he just runs around it. &#xA;Obviously, he is much faster than us, so that we cannot catch him when  he is outside. I think he has figured this out, and that is the reason he does not behave. What can we do to get him to behave outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6763" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T15:44:33.233" Title="How do I teach my dog to obey commands outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11566" CreationDate="2016-02-28T20:38:06.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, it can be food allergy. But it can also be an allergy to something else entirely, so I would suggest going to a vet and taking tests to try and determine what your cat reacts to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6690" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T20:38:06.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11566" CreationDate="2016-02-28T22:40:06.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a medical or psychological problem here. Licking is often a sign that your cat has itchy skin. Ringworm is common in cats and can cause excessive itching. Bacterial infections will also cause severe itching. Allergies, which can be caused by food, will irritate the skin in cats. Dry skin will do the same thing. Cats will also over groom themselves when they are suffering anxiety. Changes in a cat's environment will often cause anxiety. New pets in the home will cause a cat to experience anxiety. Indoor cats, who often aren't given adequate stimulation, will often develop psychological problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6764" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T22:40:06.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11581" CreationDate="2016-02-28T22:55:00.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all: to your dog &quot;sit&quot; while in your house is very different from &quot;sit&quot; while outside. So, him not beign able to follow the same commands in different locations is annoying, but perfectly normal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The key will be to train the same command outside as well, as if you do it for the very first time, and your dog has no idea what &quot;sit&quot; even means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First would be: NO off-leash time outside. You can take a very long leash for outside playtime, but Off-leash is out until he obeys.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Second: find something he WILL pay attention to. An awesome treat, a special toy, some game he really likes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then, as I said, start training outside as if he knew nothing. Most important is a way to get his attention. When you can get it, reward absolutley EVERY behavior you would like the dog to show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind in case all else fails: Your dog will not starve is he doesn't get food for a day. You may want to check with your vet, but if you can approach this by only feeding the dog when he comes in when you call. You set out food, call him, and he doesn't come? Fine, food goes away.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Keep in mind this will onyl work if the dog will NOT resort to huntign mice or anything like this, and DO make sure he does not truly starve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-02-28T22:55:00.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11594" CreationDate="2016-02-29T06:45:18.417" Score="6" ViewCount="1695" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got an 8 month old cat at the shelter about a week ago. Right from the beginning he has always used the litter box without fail. BUT tonight he decided to go into my duffle bag that was on the floor and poop in it! Why did he do this? Is this likely to become a habit? And what do I do to keep it from becoming a habit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Added from comment:&lt;/strong&gt; The litter box was clean and I know he was not feeling afraid to go to his litter box because it is by his food and water bowl and he went in there to eat right before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6765" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-02-29T20:33:55.077" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T21:18:15.233" Title="Why did my cat poop in my bag?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11592" CreationDate="2016-02-29T19:29:43.010" Score="10" ViewCount="3109" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats are almost one year old and I've had them for around 8-9 months. I've been noticing for a good month now that both of them enjoy cuddling in the toilet and bathroom. Yes, the toilet room is separate and on the opposite end of the corridor to the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be quite blunt here - When I go to the toilet to do my stuff, my cats always ask me to open the door, only to get inside and go around my legs and jump on my lap. They look more joyous than they normally do. They jump towards my hand for a cuddle, they lick my fingers, bite them playfully, etc. I thought that it was something to do with the door being closed - as I read many other questions, cats 'panic' when the doors are closed anywhere! - but turns out it makes no difference. I went once without closing the door and the same thing happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then at some point the same thing kept happening in the bathroom, whenever for example I was brushing my teeth, washing hands, or anything else. They'd go around my legs and do everything mentioned previously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't ever do that in any other rooms. They'd obviously stick their head out for some head scratching but that lasts for a few seconds. In the toilet room and bathroom it can last for half an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything weird about this? Or is this something completely okay? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:59.947" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:59.947" Title="Why do my cats get cuddly in these rooms only?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11532" CreationDate="2016-02-29T20:07:44.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off speaking as someone that has had type I diabetes for 20 years, pain isn't the most common thing I associate with the disease. It does however cause a great many changes making life unpleasant and has led to secondary problems. Feline diabetes causes similar issues with your cat. Untreated diabetes leads to consistent elevated glucose levels in your cat's body. This will basically cause stress on it's organs. Side effects may include loss of feeling (neuropathy which can be painful as well). It can cause slower healing of the extremities, lead to blindness, circulation issues, kidney failure, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're unable to provide your cat with the medication it requires you should seriously consider finding someone that is home and able to give your cat treatment and give your cat a new and healthier home. A simple switch to a protein only diet will not &quot;cure&quot; the problem. If you want your cat to live out the remainder of its life as best as best as possible you need to seriously consider these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read quite a bit about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/brochure_diabetes.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline diabetes here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6500" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T20:07:44.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11587" CreationDate="2016-02-29T20:33:13.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do not like to have their litter boxes and food/water close to each other (if that seems strange, consider how many meals you've eaten on the toilet). I suggest that you move either the box or the dishes to at least the other side of the room, if not another room entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I recommend that you clean the duffle bag with an enzyme cleaner and not leave it where the cat has access to it for a few weeks to make sure that it does not become a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T20:33:13.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11588" CreationDate="2016-02-29T20:41:05.400" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior is not a cause for concern, or even especially unusual. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always assumed it was something that I'd unintentionally reinforced (I'm sitting here with my hands unoccupied and a cat wanders in. Hey kitty come here I'll pet you). We had one cat who would coming RUNNING and jump in your lap as soon as you sat down. But honestly, I'm not sure why they do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T20:41:05.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11532" CreationDate="2016-02-29T20:53:07.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please take your cat to the vet and express your concerns. Ask the vet directly how your cat feels on a day-to-day basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is she in pain? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is she uncomfortable? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is her mental state affected?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should you look for to identify pain and altered mental status?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These answers should help you determine when euthanasia is the right time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T20:53:07.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11587" CreationDate="2016-02-29T21:18:15.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have once had a cat that had a single accident, and it was obviously the result of the cat mistaking a toy box for a litterbox, due to a certain resemblance to a litterbox (out of the way, box shaped, the toys would cover anything.). I think there is a possibility your cat may have made a similar mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To rule out health issues, take the cat to the vet.  You should take new pets to the vet right away anyways.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clean the bag thoroughly with cleaners designed to remove the smell.  This should help prevent repeat occurrences.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep anything litterbox-like out of reach.  Boxes and bags with objects in them, especially.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider getting additional boxes.  If a more ideal place is nearby, the cat will probably use those instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember also it's only been a week.  The cat is still probably settling in, and it may not have habituated itself to the box yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-02-29T21:18:15.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11581" CreationDate="2016-03-01T00:56:48.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;See it from his perspective&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside is this amazing space full of lots of wonderful smells, sights and sounds.  There are other creatures there: in the ground, in the trees, or that have left their scent in passing.  It's full of stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inside is nice and warm and cosy, but to him it's basically a boring place where all there is to do is sleep.  Unlike us, he can't read a book, or get meaningful stimulation from the computer/television/whatever you're doing, nor even have a nice chat on the phone/with whomever is around.  It'd be like you being trapped in your bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consequently, when you coax him back inside, to him it's the end of fun time and the start of a long stint of boring time.  Of course he's going to ignore you if he can, and stay out there for as long as possible.  Even better, sometimes you accidentally reward his stubbornness with every dog's most favourite game, chase!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By far and away the best solution to this is to &lt;strong&gt;give your dog plenty more stimulation and outdoor exercise&lt;/strong&gt;: I don't have an especially active breed (certainly a lot less active than a Sheltie), but she gets at least two hours of &lt;em&gt;walks&lt;/em&gt; (not just time alone outside) &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt;—most of that involving lots of play with balls and other dogs, but all of it involving interaction with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Changing that perspective&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's not possible, what's the solution?  &lt;strong&gt;Make inside more appealing to him!&lt;/strong&gt;   Try to stimulate him inside whenever possible: I've bought some &quot;doggie puzzles&quot;, though it's easy enough just to hide some treats or a toy (show him what you're doing at first) and get him to &quot;find it!&quot;.  I even play hide and seek with my dog from time to time (I tell her to stay, then I go hide somewhere and call for her to come: she gets treats and lots of praise when she finds me, which further strengthens her recall when we're outside), or just work on some tricks (heel, come, roll over, etc)—we'll then carry on practising those when we're outside (but only after she's had some exercise).  All of this is designed to stop inside being seen as a purely boring place, but rather somewhere that fun happens too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use little training treats, but if your dog isn't food-motivated, then reward the desired behaviour with some stimulation.  5 minutes of play, for example.  Dogs love nothing more than a bit of interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Training him to come inside on command&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest going outside with a squeaky toy (or whatever he loves) and engaging him in play.  After a short while, end the play and go back inside.  Once he's lost interest in you, go back outside and do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat until he shows great interest in you whenever you appear at the door.  Now produce the toy but don't play outside... instead throw it inside for him.  If he wants to take it outside, that's fine.  Don't stop him.  Keep playing.  You don't want him to equate the toy being inside with either the end of play or his access to outside.  So just carry on playing with him wherever he wants.  He'll stop seeing the door as a gateway between sleep and fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've done this a number of times, and he's clearly relaxed about coming in to fetch the toy and even staying inside to play with you for a bit, then add a command.  &quot;Inside!&quot; as you throw the toy inside.  Repeat a few more times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you're ready to just show him the toy and say &quot;inside!&quot; without throwing it.  He should come bounding in.  If not, go back a step or two and try again.   Training is all about repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he comes inside, then you can reward him with praise and a little play with the toy.  Soon enough you'll be able to say &quot;inside!&quot; without any toy (but hey, keep up the praise!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1281" LastEditorUserId="1281" LastEditDate="2016-03-01T15:44:33.233" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T15:44:33.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11528" CreationDate="2016-03-01T13:47:36.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may be no immediate solution, but you can train her to enjoy your company. I inherited a very old leopard gecko who didn't get enough attention. If you slowly show that you mean the lizard no harm, eventually she may come around to being handled. Start by talking to her when you feed her so that she knows your voice is the one that is taking care of her. Use that same voice when you put your hand on the cage and always let her come to you. If you ever do pick her up, make sure you hold her correctly (plenty of support under the belly and legs). It took a little over a month but our gecko lets me &quot;pet&quot; him. He's still uncomfortable being held, but he allows it now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the short term, check the link in the comment above &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2715/my-leopard-gecko-sometimes-has-trouble-shedding-how-can-i-help&quot;&gt;My leopard gecko sometimes has trouble shedding. How I can I help?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T13:47:36.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11581" CreationDate="2016-03-01T15:06:55.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think eggyal and Layna did a very good job in covering the subject. I do have things to add from my personal experience, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As eggyal was saying, you're dog is seeing the outside as fun time and the inside as dull. The doggy puzzles and other stimulus are a good idea, but it'll never be as stimulating as the outdoors. It's like if someone took you to an amusement park and after 15min, they said alright, I'll give you $5 if you leave. You didn't say if your dog is food motivated (most are, but I have one that really isn't very food motivated), but that's how your dog feels about it. Whatever treat you have isn't as good as more outside time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed this a lot with house dogs. My two dogs do come inside if they weather is bad, but mostly they're outside on the porch. We live in the country, so they aren't fenced in or tied up. They could run away to California if they wanted, but they hardly ever get off the porch. Conversely, when my grandmother would take her house dog to the river or when my aunt does the same, their dogs run away and won't come to them. My aunt often runs after her Pomeranian yelling &quot;Sit, sit, sit, sit...&quot; till the dog gets tired of playing and stops. Whether he sits or not, she says good boy, picks him up an puts him in the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I can more easily catch him and the method that will help you is that I often reach down and pet him, like I'm going to pick him up, then I give him a treat and let him go about his business. I do this often when I'm around him. If 9 times out of 10, you catch your dog, then let him go back to his playing, then he'll let you catch him consistently on that 10th time. On the other hand, if you snatch him up and take him inside every time you get your hands on him, then he's going to run from you. There is almost no human that can catch any dog by running them down, so you shouldn't even try. You need to entice him to come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, you also need to work on his training more. From what you've said, he has what many peoples dogs have, a vague set of commands that he sort of does okay. Many of my dogs had that growing up. However, once I got older I got more serious about training my dogs. It's a lot of work and most people don't want to put it in. Sometimes they convince themselves they will when the dog is a puppy, but its much easier to do something correctly for a couple of weeks than it is to do something for the rest of the dogs life. And that's what it takes. Granted it gets easier, but you're training your animal, good or bad, every time you interact with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you tell you dog not to beg for food 100 times and then on the 101rst time you give him some of your food, he'll beg constantly for weeks. The key is being consistent. Also, I know I've made it sound like a massive amount of work but it really isn't. Dogs have short attention spans and training sessions should be kept short anyway. I rarely work my dogs more than 10min at a time. However, when I've first training them, I do multiple sessions a day. Training can even be as short as a few seconds. Whenever my dogs come in the house, I walk in first, then stop with the door wide open and wait for them to stop at the door and look at me and wait for my signal to come in. My grandmother's dog I inherited was especially bad at this, since she'd always been a spoiled house dog and used to barging in and knocking people down. More than once I scooped her back onto her butt with my foot. It took her a little while, but she finally learned to wait on a signal. This literally took less than 1min each time, but it instilled basic manner and we can now leave the doors open during nice weather and not worry about a muddy dog bursting into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training can seem like a lot of work, but the benefits and lack of frustration, like that you're experiencing now, are really worth it. As for your dog, I'd suggest clicker training. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of sites, books, and youtube videos on it, so I won't go into it here, but it's a really good training method. You want to take the commands he already knows and improve upon them gradually. If he sits, try to get him to sit faster or straighter. One percent improvement over 100 days is 100% improvement. Even things like this will help you catch him, because the more he learns to listen when you ask, the more likely he will do it when he doesn't necessarily want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One piece of advice is to treat early and often when training. You aren't looking for perfection in the beginning and you don't want to frustrate your dog. Also, if your dog starts getting frustrated or shutting down, ask him to do something he's good at, reward him, then quite till you've thought about how to better get across to him what you're asking. Lastly, even when you phase out treats, you still have to treat occasionally to make it worth your dogs while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, like Layna said, you can have him on a long leash till you get better control of him. If your yard is fenced in, then I would wait to work on this till a nice day. Then take a chair out under a tree, let him loose and read a book while he's running around. Anytime he comes near you, give him a piece of high value treat, like a piece of hotdog and then let him go back to playing. If you think you can get away with it, try to walk toward him and pet him, then walk back to your chair. If he dodges you and runs away, ignore him and walk a little further past him like you weren't trying to get him, then go back to your chair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A last option that I don't recommend you introduce on your own would be an electronic collar. Many people don't like these, because they think anyone who uses one is cruelly shocking their dog. In reality, these collars have many levels of stimulation and often start with a buzz or beeping sound, then vibrate before an actual electric stimulation happens. The reason they are a good idea is for the exact issue you're having now. You're dog thinks he can get away from you an any correction you might issue, so he feels free to do what he wants. I bet he behaves fine on a leash, because he knows you can touch him or bump the leash to give a correction. A long leash is the next step to this and an electronic collar is the step after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, they're used with hunting dogs, because they get so focused on hunting that they can't even hear their trainers. I know my Jack Russell was like that. The handlers make the collars beep/buzz to ask the dog to look at them for a signal. If they ignore that, then they gradually amp up the stimulation to where the dog does acknowledge it. The dog chooses the level of stimulation that's necessary and often, the next time, they listen with less stimulation until it's never necessary to &quot;shock&quot; them. You also get dogs like yours and my grandmothers who just play can't catch me, can't touch me. You simply have to show them it isn't true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, you can't just strap on an electric collar and go to town. You have to properly fit it to the dog. You also have to train them just like anything else, to associate the collar with your correction. If you're dogs running around doing something and his collar starts to beep or shock him, he'll have no idea what's causing it, much less how to respond to it. You also have to control yourself. It's easy for people to get frustrated when an animal is not doing what they feel it should. Even if you don't expect your dog to be perfect, they often do something well for several days, then all of a sudden they regress and act like they've never heard the command before. That's part of training, but it can frustrate people and you can't allow that to happen when you're using an electronic collar. The dog isn't actually doing anything wrong and using the collar to correct him is detrimental to him and his training. So if you decide to use one, I recommend you pay someone who is competent and you feel uses a collar correctly to teach you and your dog how to use one. Even some professional trainers don't use them correctly, so you should evaluate their competence yourself. I'd ask to observe a training session where they use one. Good luck with your dog. I do think the catch and release method will solve your immediate problem with the least amount of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-03-01T15:06:55.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-02T10:54:25.927" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my dog from the shelter and from day one he would follow me around and got possessive and protective of me but not my dad from the first time I locked eyes with him I felt like there was a connection and instead of me just choosing him, he chose me as well, he is also more obedient for me when he knows my dad is the boss, my dad could try and tell him to sit a few times and even then he may not but when I say a command he does it instantly, why would that be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6770" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:08:25.660" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:08:25.660" Title="Why is my dog more obedient for me then my dad" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11599" CreationDate="2016-03-02T13:52:52.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog has practiced more with you than with your dad. Dogs don't generalize well. The concept that a command means the same thing when not issued by the same person in exactly the same way (and might earn approval/treats) has to be learned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dad isn't available, find other people who can be talked into occasionally helping the dog practice this skill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-02T16:12:40.277" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T16:12:40.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-02T17:12:10.020" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reese is 8 years old. She has no medical issues. She pees in house, sometimes poops when I'm not home. This started about a year ago. I tried to lock her in my bathroom when I left, but after a month, she was still barking and getting frantic in there - chewing up her bedding, scratching the door, etc. She is on Xanax now and that is not helping. I don't make a big deal when I leave or come back. I have put my dining room chairs along the path where she usually pees and that is a deterrent, but my house looks crazy. I'm guessing that something outside gets her excited and she runs over to pee and then the chairs distract her and she doesn't. I was thinking about getting a surveillance camera so that I could watch her and talk to her when I see her going to pre, but obviously can't keep doing that. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6775" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-05T15:36:42.263" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T17:26:32.793" Title="How do I stop previously trained dog from peeing in house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11575" CreationDate="2016-03-02T18:19:49.963" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, not your specific case, but since you asked about common causes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very common cause is postpartum low blood calcium, otherwise known as milk fever. Signs of this include rapid breathing, amongst many others, and while it is rare for felines, they are at higher risk for it during their first litter. In such cases, medical attention is very likely needed, especially if they show signs of stiffness, ignoring the kittens, and other behavior changes that are really out of character. It is very treatable if dealt with quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-03-02T18:19:49.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-03T15:16:24.550" Score="6" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until last summer my cat was feral, at which time he adopted us and moved into my shop.  When snow became deep, I provided him with a litter box in the covered lean-to where I store firewood and some machinery. That worked fine until the snow melted and Frank began spending time outside. One day, he came into the shop howling with his wet paws covered with cat litter. I decided it was time to remove the litter box and allow him to resume toileting in the woods as he had before he moved in. Now he is using the ground in the lean-to, which shouldn't be attractive to a cat for that purpose, as it is covered with a 3&quot; layer of drain rock, i.e., rocks that are about 2&quot; in diameter. How can I get Frank to stop using this area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6780" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T01:23:48.947" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T10:49:18.593" Title="How can I get my semi-feral cat to toilet outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11346" CreationDate="2016-03-03T16:36:34.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've successfully gotten rid of the algae by taking all my plants out and placing them into a quarantine tank, then dosing the tank with hydrogen peroxide for 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not too sure on the specifics about how it works, but I found the solution suggested on some forums. A solution of 1 milliliter of hydrogen peroxide per 30 liters of water is supposed to be safe to use directly into a tank with fish in it. The hydrogen peroxide supposedly decomposes in light (which is why it's always in a dark bottle), turning into separate water and oxygen molecules after 24 hours. The reason I used a quarantine tank was because I couldn't find anything about it being safe for invertebrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After three days of dosing the quarantine tank, I could no longer see the string algae. And several weeks later it hasn't been growing back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T23:15:45.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T23:15:45.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11588" CreationDate="2016-03-03T17:33:06.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;smells probably. Know how we fuss around their litter box when they do a stinky poo. They're just returning the favour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2886" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T17:33:06.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8066" CreationDate="2016-03-03T22:40:25.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is nearly unanswerable, as he could want to go outside for plenty of reasons, but I'll try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets are just like humans, they can change, he might of just gotten used to your certain area and wanted to move on, or something you don't know of could've frightened him to run outside, maybe the sound of your wife coming in scared him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's probably thousands of reasons this could happen, but as we weren't there, we can't really help you answer this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6782" LastActivityDate="2016-03-03T22:40:25.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-03T22:45:21.907" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog digs. It's not to sharpen his claws. He is anxious. The older dad dog was fine for 1 yr, in his new home with me but then he decided to dig and destroy my entire sofa. He looked guilty and I saw him so I know he did this. I want to buy a new sofa, how do I ease his need to dig my sofa? He has toys and 2 beds. Is there an anti anxiety medication that would work??  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6783" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T01:21:19.133" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T18:22:47.290" Title="How to I train my dog to stop digging on the sofa?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11612" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-03T23:45:37.580" Score="10" ViewCount="5102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just adopted my first cat, Oliver. He is 8 months old and I was told by the shelter that he was previously a stray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only had him about a week and a half, but he already seems to have warmed up to me pretty well.  When he sees me on the ground, he starts to purr and would come over to me. He loves to be petted, rubs his face and chin on me, curls up next to me and on my lap, kneads when he sees me or when I pet him, licks me, nibbles my fingers sometimes and looks me in the eyes - overall, he does all things I have read are a sign of a cats love. He does most of these things to strangers, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that confuses me is that he only does these things when one is on the floor by him. He spends all of his time under the bed and does not come out on his own. I go under the bed to see him (my bed in slightly elevated, so I am able to do this) or I pick him up and bring him out from under the bed but he is not comfortable again until I sit down. The only time he comes out from under the bed on his own is to go to his litter box or water/food bowls but only when I am sitting on my bed or chair. Even if I start to stand up or do stand up right after he is purring in my lap he will shoot off under the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is sitting in my lap and someone around me stands up or walks into the room he will run under the bed too. He has never hissed, but he shoots off. I know it takes a while for a cat to get comfortable in a new home and with new people but the part that confuses me is that he is so comfortable around me and other people as long as we aren't standing. I tried not going under the bed to him for a while to see if he would come out to me but he didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I just need to give him more time or will he likely always fear people who are standing and not initiate contact with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6765" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T23:28:16.027" LastActivityDate="2021-03-21T03:36:02.313" Title="Why is my cat only afraid of people when they're standing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11612" CreationDate="2016-03-03T23:56:51.193" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;At a week and a half he's still settling in. Give him time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was a month before mine were comfortable enough to sit with me, longer before they'd reliably be lap cats. They are still cautious when more than a few strangers are in the house, but these days my problem is keeping them _out_of my lap when I'm busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, re why standing: think of sharing a large room with King Kong. Wouldn't you find him much less threatening if he was sitting rather than standing?  Less huge-looking, less able to suddenly chase you...  any animal is more likely to investigate if you're sitting down at their level. That's true for young humans too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-04T01:23:45.667" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T01:23:45.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-04T00:06:33.697" Score="4" ViewCount="1182" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has begun to pull his fur out while grooming. At first, I thought it might be an allergic reaction, as was indicated by a Google search, but I have since dismissed that theory. My cat is not &lt;em&gt;overgrooming&lt;/em&gt;, he's just grooming normally (I also removed several things that might be causing an allergic reaction: room fresheners and diet change - no change). My cat is indoor only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have noticed is that my cat no longer 'chews' when grooming. This behavior has been replaced by pulling the fur out wholesale. I have three cats, and while grooming they all pause and seem to 'nibble' or 'chew' on a certain area for a moment, before moving on. I've always assumed this is normal behavior. My cat now no longer does this, and is instead pulling his fur out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Why is my cat doing this? Is there something I can do to prevent it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important Factors:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I noticed this change shortly after my cat had dental surgery. He had&#xA;a lot of teeth removed, including almost all of his molars, and one&#xA;lower incisor. Aside from the incisor, his front teeth remain intact. I'm beginning to wonder if this lack of teeth is causing my cat to pull his fur out, though I'm not sure why it would. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I no longer let my cat eat dry food, due to the surgery mentioned above. He wants to eat it, but cannot chew it. This results in him swallowing it whole, where it sits in a lump in his stomach and slowly expands with the moisture (the food is very hard and dry). I let my cat have small amounts of dry food on occasion, but otherwise feed him only canned wet food (which he eats fine cut up). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if you need more information, and thanks for your time! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T18:03:49.667" Title="Is my cat pulling its fur out due to a lack of teeth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11614" CreationDate="2016-03-04T01:20:15.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat with no teeth who groomed normally, and a cat with all of her teeth who pulls out her fur. In my experience, teeth don't have anything to do with pulling out his fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior is called &quot;mowing&quot; or &quot;barbering&quot; informally, but any type of hair loss is referred to as &quot;alopecia&quot;. It can be caused by &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites (fleas, mites, ringworm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies (food, seasonal, environmental)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry Skin (nutrition deficiency or environmental)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Psychological (boredom, anxiety)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cats-and-compulsive-scratching-licking-and-chewing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, when I've worked with veterinarians on my cats' skin issues, we'll &lt;strong&gt;rule out all of the possible physical causes&lt;/strong&gt; (do a flea treatment, food trial/allergy testing, etc) before deciding that it's psychological. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it may be that the dental surgery caused stress, and since he's stressed he's barbering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your cat to the vet and discuss the barbering with them. You can also take your cat to someone who specializes in skin diseases, by &lt;strong&gt;asking for a referral to a veterinary dermatologist&lt;/strong&gt;. They are slightly more expensive than a normal vet (the one I saw charged double my vet's normal rate for the initial exam, but follow up exams were about the same amount as my normal vet's exams).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide that it is psychological, the VIN article suggests: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is generally called “psychogenic” mowing. We don’t imply that we know if cats are licking out of obsession or out of anxiety or even boredom. We simply say that there is nothing wrong with the skin. Psychoanalysis is generally unnecessary; the approach is aimed at environmental enrichment. This means the cat gets more toys, more games (feeding in a different location daily to create a hide-and-seek sort of cat entertainment), and more attention. Clomipramine has both anti-anxiety as well as anti-compulsive effects and has been helpful though it does not come in a convenient feline size and may have to be compounded. Amitriptyline has both anti-anxiety properties as well as anti-histamine properties and is sometimes used to cover both the medical and psychogenic causes of mowing simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have put one of our girls on Amitriptyline (she definitely has anxiety, and it was affecting her bladder as well as causing mowing). I definitely recommend getting it compounded into a transdermal gel if you decide to go that route, as an anxious cat doesn't need additional stress of being pilled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T01:20:15.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2016-03-04T09:38:09.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Setting up a camera, at least for a while, will let you see what he's doing when he misbehaves. Maybe something &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; setting him off; maybe there is more complex behavior that would be a clue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't have to be monitored surveillance;  just a recording to review later. A GoPro or webcam woukd do nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T09:38:09.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11352" CreationDate="2016-03-04T09:42:17.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically a new tank is seeded with gravel from an established tank, particularly if has an under-gravel circulator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if a betta would appreciate or even like a big tank. They will normally find a secluded shelterd space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T09:42:17.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11612" CreationDate="2016-03-04T10:53:16.217" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I'd like to say &quot;Well done&quot; for winning this amount of trust from your cat in just a week and a half. When I adopted two female cats from the same litter, they were a bit younger, perhaps they were 4-5 months, however their previous owner treated them very badly. It took us some time to get them used to us and our house, to let them know they don't need to walk with their legs low to the ground. (No, they were not in heat, they were just frightened of the new environment)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cat doesn't fully trust you yet, I'd suggest to let him accustom himself the way he likes to. Whenever he gets out from below the bed, make sure to play with him - buy cat toys in case you haven't - but when it comes to dragging him out of the bed, don't do this too often. Let the cat know you are letting him set his own territory. As keshlam wisely said, standing human giants can be a bit much for a little cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, cats are known for feeling protection in closed spaces, such as beds, boxes, etc etc. In my case, I put a box together and cut out several square holes for my cats to go in. Whenever my cats are up for playtime, they usually go into the box and I tempt them with their toys. Usually a stick with a piece of string and a toy, etc etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going back to my point, many cats could show this uncomfortable behaviour to some extent, whether they had enough time to open up to their owners or not. And by enough time, it could even be half a year. Keep watching and notice what kind of other characteristics your cat has. I'm sure he will open up to you and he will be more confident when someone is standing near him. And seeing that you have made so much progress with your cat in just one week, I can only see that it will get better and better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T10:53:16.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11620" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-04T17:01:35.500" Score="2" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11yr old westie, and a 3 month old Lakeland puppy. More than once now the puppy has clamped onto my Westies side, and wont let go. Its very concerning behaviour and means they have to be watched all the time. How do I effectively discourage and stop this behaviour ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6792" LastActivityDate="2016-03-04T17:01:35.500" Title="My puppy when playing with my older dog has bitten and clamped on" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-05T00:02:51.617" Score="2" ViewCount="10181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi my platy gave birth to one fry 4 days ago I tried to catch the fry buy as I took my eyes off it, it disappeared presumably eaten. I caught the mother and put her in a tub as did not have a breeding box I waiting an hour or so but she had no more I think it's because I stressed her out. I can see she is still pregnant as her belly is the same and she has the gravid spot and still doing the behaviour of a pregnant fish. My question is when will she have the rest? Thank you I have also turned up the heat a bit to encourage her&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6795" LastActivityDate="2020-11-06T00:31:39.860" Title="My platy is holding fry when will she give birth?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9594" CreationDate="2016-03-05T00:05:52.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's because they have only just been born and he will sense that the mother will not want him near them. Or maybe he has never seen kittens before and it's a new experience to him :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6795" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T00:05:52.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11611" CreationDate="2016-03-05T00:08:12.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When your in the house don't let him on the sofa simply tell him (no) then eventually when your out he should know he's not aloud on there. My bitch does this just randomly starts digging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6795" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T18:15:31.920" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T18:15:31.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2016-03-05T00:10:37.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you can't stop them I have a 2 year old bitch and she does it. It is anxiety of you not being there which is why they do it. I just put tarpooling down for my dog when I lock her away and go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6795" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T00:10:37.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-05T15:42:06.873" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been clicker training my youngest cat (Romeo, 3-4 years old, male, neutered). He associated the clicker with a treat, and now we're working on &quot;down&quot; (as in, jump off the counter you troublemaker).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He knows that during a training session (we work in the bedroom away from the other cats) that if he jumps off the bed he gets a click and treat. So he'll jump up and down off the bed repeatedly (without the voice command) and then make frustrated noises at me for not rewarding him. Once he's done that a few times, and sits down, I'll give him the &quot;down&quot; command (a few times) and when he jumps down I reward him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I responding to him in the right way (and he just needs more repetition to associate the voice command with the behavior?), or should I be doing something else. I don't like to see him get so frustrated at not getting the reward, but I've never done clicker training before. Is the frustration part of the process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T21:08:58.820" Title="Associating vocal command with behavior during clicker training (cats)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-05T15:45:23.137" Score="1" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;My oldest cat (Ginger, 12 years old, female, spayed) is very food motivated so I thought she would take to clicker training. She flinches away from the sound of the clicker and after about 3-4 treats she ignores me (and the food!) altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just keep trying to associate the clicker with the food (2-3 treats at a time)? Is there something else I should do besides just click/treat? Or will she never become accustomed to the clicker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T15:09:19.743" Title="Why is my cat afraid of the clicker sound?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11627" CreationDate="2016-03-05T20:55:00.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't think there's any good way to predict what her reaction to the clicker will be over time. Clearly she either doesn't like the sound or associates it with something bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could start using the clicker às part of calling her for dinner. But here's nothing magical about clicks, they're just conveniently easy to hear and brief so they can be clearly connected to a specific action. A different click, or a puff on a dogwhistle, or anything else with those characteristics, might be worth trying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T20:55:00.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11626" CreationDate="2016-03-05T21:08:58.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're basically on track. The trick earns a reward only when done on request. Otherwise he is training you to give treats when he jumps, which isn't what you had in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not an easy distinction for a car to learn, unless he's already used to talking commands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine seem to have learned a few words and sounds without deliberate training ... Down, excuse me, in, whistling as come-here, twanging the cab's pulltab as announcement that gooshyfood will soon be available ... but that's been seven years of casual mutual training. And I'm still not sure how much they understand the words as opposed to tone of voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-03-05T21:08:58.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-06T03:49:33.573" Score="4" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my dog a home prepared meal made up of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 diced carrot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 diced Broccoli head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 large handful of Basmati rice &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 grams (1lb) of Heart Smart mince or 500 grams of organic chicken mince &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all boiled in sufficient water until cooked and the water basically runs dry. I then freeze individual meals in sandwich bags to use as required. I have a small Maltese and he gets 1 sandwich bag (about 2 large table spoons) of this morning and night. Is this healthy and sufficient for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6798" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T14:47:09.240" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T00:33:25.377" Title="Is this an adequate recipe for home made dog food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-06T03:56:35.783" Score="4" ViewCount="4541" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog refuses to drink clean cool water from a bowl. He comes into the shower when I am showering and drinks the soapy water. I have tried all shapes and colours of drinking dishes and bowls, but he insists on drinking from the shower. Will this be detrimental to his health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6798" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T14:49:58.523" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T02:25:49.387" Title="Is it bad for my dog to drink soapy shower water (that is all he drinks)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1226" CreationDate="2016-03-06T04:34:09.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is how my vet finally had to do it, after half a dozen splints that just fell down. Worked like a charm, but yes, it has to be tight across the shoulders. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4yPl8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4yPl8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6800" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T04:34:09.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11634" CreationDate="2016-03-06T11:26:21.223" Score="4" ViewCount="961" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ruby is a 4 year old &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Spot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;English spot&lt;/a&gt; she lives in our bedroom.  She is a rescue bunny who was found abandoned in a neighborhood. She likes to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7976/why-does-my-rabbit-try-and-make-my-bed-wrinkle-free&quot;&gt;work the wrinkles out of the bed&lt;/a&gt;.  Is this something I should be concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T14:01:51.217" Title="Rabbit making the bed, how cute is that?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11633" CreationDate="2016-03-06T11:27:18.523" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should be concerned. While it is cute in the beginning, it can become obsessive.  It is pretty much an impossible to get all the wrinkles out of the bed while you are on it.  No matter how hard she works at, Ruby will be unable to get all the wrinkles out.  After a while (&lt;em&gt;more than a year in this case&lt;/em&gt;) the continued attempts lead to obsessive behavior that damages the bedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While not as initially destructive as carpet digging, it should be treated the same, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1817/my-rabbit-is-digging-at-the-carpet-in-the-corner-of-the-living-room-what-should/1821#1821&quot;&gt;use redirection to a digging box.&lt;/a&gt; In this case the behavior has been ongoing for more then a year so modifying the existing behavior becomes challenging. We have increased her available space, by bunny proofing an additional room next to our bedroom and moving the baby/bunny gate so she has full time access to these two rooms.  We have also added brown paper bags to her toy collection in the second room, these provide a reasonable substitute for the wrinkle issue, as well as adding healthy fiber to her diet.  It has be been a couple months now and the bed making behavior has decreased, but we still need to redirect her daily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 18 months later&lt;/strong&gt; Occasionally there will be periods when she restarts the behavior.  She is and always has been, on the bed several times per day, we currently believe that strips or designs on the top blanket/comforter lead to starting the behavior.  Solid colored coverings, are less likely to cause her to start or continue the behavior. We have found that covering the bed with a solid color fitted sheet (&amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;fitted = less wrinkles&lt;/em&gt;) both protects the bed and discourages the behavior.    When weeks have passed, without us noticing the behavior we stop using the fitted sheet, and she does not return to the behavior until we forget and put a stripped comforter on the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T14:01:51.217" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T14:01:51.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9848" CreationDate="2016-03-06T14:56:30.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat might possibly have fleas. When this happens with my cat, she will twitch her fur where a flea bites her and then tend to jump and run to avoid carpet locations where (I suspect) fleas have jumped on her in the past. The chewing of paws might be an attempt to chew a flea she has found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T14:56:30.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2016-03-06T15:06:47.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Younger cats are more full of energy and willing to play with anything, including a laser they have no way of catching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had an older cat who had stopped playing very much, but I found that I could get her to chase a laser by tossing a food treat while she wasn't watching and then running the laser to the treat and circling it. Once she figured out that there was a reward for her in chasing the laser, doing this over and over acted as a positive reinforcement to her chasing the laser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think chasing a laser they can't catch is harmful to cats, but some cats may need some sort of incentive to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T15:06:47.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11627" CreationDate="2016-03-06T15:09:19.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice is to STOP using the clicker.   Your kitty isn't going to respond to a sound she doesn't like.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TONGUE AS CLICKER:&lt;/strong&gt;  I have &quot;clicker trained&quot; my cats using my tongue as a clicker.  I put the end of tongue to the roof of my mouth and make two quick, successive clicks.  You have to be sure to make the exact sound each time.  Using this method, you can soften the sound so it is more pleasant to your cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SHORT SESSIONS:&lt;/strong&gt;  Remember, clicker training a cat takes some patience and time.  You need to keep your sessions very short and repeat each day.  (There is nothing a cat likes more than everything happening the exact same way everyday.)  Basically, if the cat is finished with the session, you're finished.  You try again the next day.  Trying to force a cat to participate or getting frustrated at your cat will not work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NATURAL MOVEMENTS:&lt;/strong&gt;  Also, I'm not sure what you're trying to train her to do, but remember you have to use the cat's natural movements.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clicker training can be a great bonding experience between you and your kitty.  Best wishes to you both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T15:09:19.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2016-03-06T15:16:17.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually use this hunt/play behavior to get my cat to exercise. I toss a piece of food down a long linoleum floored hallway, and she chases it down the hallway (playing soccer with it as she goes), until she catches and eats it. When she returns to me for more food, I toss the next piece down the hallway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think of it as a kitty pinball game, with the gap under the closet acting as the bottom of the pinball game between the flippers where you lose your ball. After the game, my cat tries to fish food out from the closet until I open it and let her reclaim her lost food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-03-06T15:16:17.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-06T21:02:05.543" Score="2" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10 month old &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/chiweenie.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chiweenie&lt;/a&gt; eats everything, quite literally everything. He eats shoes socks underwear plastic foam pens/pencils Kleenexes paperclips carpet you name it and he will try to eat it. He brings everything into his kennel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is an extremely smart dog and knows that what he's doing is wrong. If you so much as look at him when he has something he knows he should not eat in his mouth he immediately drops it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that maybe getting him fixed would help at least a little but to no avail.  He is costing me more then I can afford. My kids would be heartbroken if I have to get rid of him but I'm almost at that point. bit as a single mother of 4 I can not keep replacing everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I train him to stop chewing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6804" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T14:39:41.367" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T21:13:18.097" Title="How do I train my dog to stop chewing everything that fits into his mouth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-03-10T03:59:35.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11650" CreationDate="2016-03-07T03:07:38.987" Score="6" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old female cat dashes through my apartment really fast at 6am every morning. She will run from my bedroom to my livingroom really fast as if she's racing with another cat. This is a regular routine for her. I was just wondering if this is a behavioral problem or if this is how she exercises. It's like clock-work. When she does this; it's on an empty stomach because I don't feed her until 6:30am. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T19:15:42.687" Title="My cat dashes through my apartment at the same time everyday" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11639" CreationDate="2016-03-07T13:36:15.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bit late to say this, but in your situation I would have suggested an adult dog rather than one who is still really a puppy. Your lifestyle, as you have described it, is not optimal for raising another infant, and unless one of you kids is mature enough to seriously take on some of the responsibility of training the dog it all lands on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best suggestion I have is an actual dog training class, which will both improve the dog's obedience and improve your ability to be the Alpha and convince the dog to pay attention... If you can make the time for that, or, again, if one of the kids can take that responsibility. Good luck...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T13:36:15.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11639" CreationDate="2016-03-07T16:13:32.700" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep things out of reach that you don't want him to be getting at. This shouldn't be too hard with a dog as that is typically just floor space. Even easier with a small dog. Keep the floor clean and have your kids help. He should be finding toys that he is &lt;em&gt;supposed&lt;/em&gt; to be chewing/eating rather than your garments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it is still a puppy (and will be for a while longer) you aren't going to be able to get him to stop altogether. Training could help but the real issue is in addressing the tremendous amount of pent-up energy he has. He needs copious amounts of exercise and activity to wear him down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T16:13:32.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11611" CreationDate="2016-03-07T17:22:40.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;This is perfectly normal for a 1 year old dog to be explorative, active, and want to use his tools for fun.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear him out daily with lots of exercise. He's digging on the couch&#xA;because it's fun and he isn't tired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide him with a location in which he &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; dig because he needs a healthy  approved outlet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sure you could dope him with meds instead of giving him proper care and attention... &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt;. It's unlikely he is doing this because he has anxiety - it is much more likely he isn't getting a proper amount of exercise. Dogs need as much and usually more exercise than we do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toss a dog blanket over the couch before he hops up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastEditorUserId="3017" LastEditDate="2016-03-17T18:22:47.290" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T18:22:47.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-07T17:23:50.137" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year and a half ago i rescued a female puppy from a shelter. Everything is just fine, she loves to run, dig in the backyard, sleep in the sofa, anything simply amuses her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once i have a big backyard, when i'm away from home to work i usually let the door open so she can go outside, instead of being closed in the kitchen from 8am to 6pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet recently she found that she can jump the walls and walk a bit in the fields behind my house. So far so good, there's no predators and no roads for a mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When i get home, i play with her, run a bit, &quot;fight&quot; with her and stuff. Immediately after we stop playin, i go inside and she jumps the walls to go after the chickens that are in those fields, chooses one and brings it home. I don't even know if she actually eats part of it or just plays with it. What can i do? Besides building a bigger wall or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dad has chickens too and she just smells them, without hurting ( even were i'm at the window just watching ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6708" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T18:29:11.670" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T20:49:28.173" Title="Dog goes after neighbors' chickens" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-07T18:53:05.563" Score="6" ViewCount="803" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to understand the behaviour of a stray cat which daily comes outside our gate and meows. My friend and I give her milk. She then drinks it and starts moving in between our legs with tail vertically up straight. When I try to move back, she comes toward me. When I try to touch her, she starts looking at my hand. Although she is very small, I am afraid of her nails. But when she is drinking milk, I can touch her on her head, until she is drinking. I really want to pick her up :3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: what does the cat's behaviour mean? Is she getting friendly and wants attention or want me not to touch her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6806" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T17:04:17.027" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T17:04:17.027" Title="Cat moving between legs, with tail straight up" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11644" CreationDate="2016-03-07T20:49:28.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you know if she's actually killing the chickens or not? What kind of dog is she? What's the height/build of the walls she's jumping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are these your chickens? If not, it may be worth noting you could be held liable for any damage she does/has done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fix this issue, you have several options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could fortify the wall/fence in a way that prevents her from scaling and/or jumping them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could invest in some toys to place in the yard that'll keep her interest while you're away. A stuffed Kong ball, for example, works wonders to keep dogs occupied. Or perhaps a puzzle toy to exercise her mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could spend some time familiarizing her with the chickens and training her to leave them be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also look into building a containment area for the chickens, to protect both them and the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mariah&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T20:49:28.173" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11645" CreationDate="2016-03-07T20:57:09.377" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Why-do-cats-like-to-rub-against-peoples-legs&quot;&gt;https://www.quora.com/Why-do-cats-like-to-rub-against-peoples-legs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this for you and I'm pretty sure it's valid information. Most cats make it a point to mark their owners and while the cat in question here is a stray, she associates the milk you give her with you and doesn't want any other cat to be receiving it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So she marks you to tell other cats to stay away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I understand you're afraid of her nails, but perhaps instead of moving to pet her immediately (never reach behind an unfamiliar animal's head), you could let her sniff your hand first. Scent is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also important to take it slow. Don't rush any interactions, especially that of picking her up. A lot of cats, even indoor ones, don't enjoy being held. Let her initiate the contact. Sit down with your legs crossed and wait to see if she'll approach you. If she does, take it as an encouraging sign and let her sniff your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might even climb into your lap from there, who knows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an added morsel : when a cat has its tail straight up, that means it's happy to see you! &#xA;- Mariah&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastEditorUserId="6807" LastEditDate="2016-03-07T21:44:00.393" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T21:44:00.393" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11631" CreationDate="2016-03-07T21:07:00.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never let your pets drink soapy water, as some soaps are laxatives and can upset their digestive systems. Lock the door when you bathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog refuses to drink from regular water bowls, perhaps she doesn't like it because it hits her whiskers, and the sensation is unpleasant. Perhaps try a wider bowl, if you haven't already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration is a possibility if she's truly not drinking, but most dogs WILL drink when they get thirsty enough, regardless of previous reservations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a wider bowl doesn't work, switch tactics entirely and invest in a fountain-type water dispenser. Speak with one of the clerks at Petsmart or wherever you buy your pet products -- who knows, they may have experience with sensitive dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-10T11:15:38.250" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T11:15:38.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11639" CreationDate="2016-03-07T21:13:18.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are considered fully grown at two years of age. 10 months old is still very much a puppy and puppies chew. This is a common behavior --- which, believe it or not, is a good thing because that means there's a wealth of possible solutions out there to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This stage in your pup's life is critical in what sort of adult dog he becomes. Impress upon him what is okay and what is not okay as early as possible and as firmly as possible. You may have to repeat yourself over and over, but this is okay! Repition is key, as exasperating as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Victoria Stillwell is one of the best resources out there for using positive reinforcement to train your dog and I've found an article that I hope proves helpful : &lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/nuisance-behaviors/chewing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/nuisance-behaviors/chewing/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mariah&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-03-07T21:13:18.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11640" CreationDate="2016-03-07T21:16:07.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is exhibiting strange behavior or having a case of the &quot;zoomies,&quot; she may just be releasing some stored-up energy after lying around all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing is wrong with her, so don't fear! This is a perfectly normal behavior for all animals, especially young dogs and cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petful.com/behaviors/why-does-my-cat-go-crazy-and-run-around/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petful.com/behaviors/why-does-my-cat-go-crazy-and-run-around/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditDate="2016-03-08T19:15:42.687" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T19:15:42.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11630" CreationDate="2016-03-08T00:33:25.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;FYI: our vet has been helping us with raw food for our dogs for years. We have several dogs in the family ranging from 15lb to 70lb. In general you have the right mixture, 1/3 veggie, 1/3 carbs, 1/3 proteins. I would double check the amount though. I would contact either known breeders or a Maltese rescue society, you will be amazed how much info they are willing to provide. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6808" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T00:33:25.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-08T02:00:42.010" Score="3" ViewCount="2129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was removing the top to my terrarium, and I dropped it on my leopard geckos tail. He didn't drop his tail but he has an open wound. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6809" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:19:00.750" Title="Leopard gecko tail cut" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-08T03:00:42.540" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I recently moved down to TX from WI. Back in WI, our pet needs were amply met by us visiting her parents who owned dogs, cats, horses, llamas, chickens, rabbits...you get the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After moving here, we are SORELY missing those interactions. There are a couple of problems though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We both have demanding jobs and often work 10 or more hours a day (but I come home for lunches)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm on immunosuppresants so the pet can't venture into wild areas or I run the risk of getting seriously sick. Kitty litterboxes pose the same problem&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its been a constant struggle. We want to be responsible pet owners that love and tend for their pets regularly, but cannot figure out what to do. Help please!&#xA;Regards,&#xA;H&amp;amp;V&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6810" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-10T11:49:34.107" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T11:49:34.107" Title="Pet options for an immunosuppressed family member" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-10T04:00:08.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11653" CreationDate="2016-03-08T04:19:45.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think cats are better suited to your lifestyle given that you will be out of the house for long periods of time, and your immunosuppressant requirement.  A cat can be kept entirely indoors, and so is fairly unlikely to pick up random diseases, and cats are generally much better equipped to be alone for ten or more hours a day.  As to your concern with litterboxes, I'm guessing picking up after dogs would have a similar risk for you, so with either pet, I'd say your wife should be primarily responsible for that part of pet care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I emphatically don't recommend getting cats if you plan on having children.  With your compromised immune system, she would definitely have to take care of the box, but she would not be able to do this if she were pregnant, due to the risk of pregnant women getting infected with toxoplasmosis, which is a parasite cats carry which can cause birth defects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T04:19:45.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11653" CreationDate="2016-03-08T11:22:43.303" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As suggested by a comment from  @Layna, house rabbits may be a good choice.  My wife is immunosuppressed and cares for our 3 rabbits, plus several foster rabbits.  In any case you will want to talk to your care provider before making a final decision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are generally between cats and dogs in the behavior.  They are intelligent and each has a unique personality.  They use a litter box, can be trained (much like a horse) and are crepuscular (active in the morning and evening).  The will happily live in your home with no desire to go out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have several posts about them &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/rabbits&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;rabbits&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;rabbits&lt;/a&gt; The web page &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://rabbit.org/&lt;/a&gt; is the national house rabbit society page and also offers lots of great information.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-08T23:15:37.657" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T23:15:37.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11652" CreationDate="2016-03-08T12:29:55.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never owned a gecko, but you should take a careful look or take it to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that their tails have massive regeneration and might even fall off with stress or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to treat the wound and remove any substrate or dirt that has stuck to the wound. Apply disinfectant (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7562/what-antiseptic-is-safe-to-use-on-reptiles&quot;&gt;What antiseptic is safe to use on reptiles&lt;/a&gt;) to the stump using a cotton bud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related : &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7529/my-leopard-geckos-tail-fell-off-what-should-i-do&quot;&gt;My leopard gecko&amp;#39;s tail fell off! What should I do?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6708" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:19:00.750" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:19:00.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11622" CreationDate="2016-03-08T12:34:56.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends, it might even regress the pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put her in the aquarium again and add some hiding places. I've used LEGOS before, and it worked. Even the mother as the urge to eats them..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6708" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T12:34:56.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11652" CreationDate="2016-03-08T14:25:58.317" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.moonvalleyreptiles.com/reptile-resources/reptile-health-and-nutrition/wound-care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.moonvalleyreptiles.com/reptile-resources/reptile-health-and-nutrition/wound-care&lt;/a&gt; .. is an excellent link that I found about reptile wound care. I myself own two African dwarf frogs, but I understand they're not quite the same as a non-aquatic reptile, heh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All wounds, regardless of species, should be kept clean to prevent infection. If the wound is deep, apply pressure to staunch bleeding and contact your vet as soon as possible, as your scale baby may require stitches and/or oral antibiotics. Let me know how it goes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mariah&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T14:25:58.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11622" CreationDate="2016-03-08T14:38:02.957" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if I seem confused --- the wording of your post is a bit .. well, confusing. I actually thought you were talking about a platypus at first .. LOL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no personal experience with platies or fish in general but I did some research for you and I read that sometimes, platies will hold their fry if there's an issue with water quality. There's some other possibilities, too, that may be your issue. The article is here :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myaquariumclub.com/pregnant-platy-help-12499317.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myaquariumclub.com/pregnant-platy-help-12499317.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mariah&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T14:38:02.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="173" CreationDate="2016-03-08T21:27:18.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a cat, who recently passed away, for 17 years. He washed his paws in his water dish every time he got out of his litter box. I changed litter brand and types probably 30 different times and he still washed his paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have a 5 month old kitten, who started washing his paws at least once a day after using the litter box. He also drinks from a faucet and the remaining water in the tub. He does not like to get his head or back wet though. I think they just like having clean paws. I noticed litter between his toes, so I put a very shallow puddle of water in my sink and he dipped and shook until he was clean!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6811" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T19:59:20.310" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T19:59:20.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11622" CreationDate="2016-03-08T22:08:24.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, moving a pregnant platy is a bad idea.  You want to have the female in an aquarium where you want the fry to be born, then remove the mother after she gives birth to prevent her eating her young.  I keep a large ball of java moss in with my platy-mommy which seems to give the fry plenty of hiding places.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving a pregnant platy, even to a divider, is likely to increase the stress on the fish and increase the likelihood that she terminates in order to protect herself.  You can place a male in the female's tank for breeding, but remember that platys can give birth to multiple fry with only one fertilization)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a separate aquarium for your platy-mommy, consider adding a ball of java moss or plenty of other hiding places somehow.  I have never had a tank divider work and my fish always seem stressed inside them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6812" LastActivityDate="2016-03-08T22:08:24.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-08T22:16:26.987" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a boxes 4 months old puppy.&#xA;We're working with a trainer mainly for discipline, and we teach him some orders like lay down, stay, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we do that I would like to teach him individually some tricks that are more &quot;for fun&quot; and &quot;cute&quot; and less to do with discipline and are more fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far the only one I have succeeded was &quot;give me your hand&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What would you recommend me to teach him, and most importantly, how to teach it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5071" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T14:50:53.700" Title="Puppy training tricks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-09T09:18:49.173" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a star tortoise of 2 years old. just this morning I have kept it in water and left it, I don't know when it moved away from the box and fell down from four floors.i just found it and its ok from outside but its not moving.I don't know what happened to it. please help me to make it normal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6814" LastActivityDate="2016-03-09T09:18:49.173" Title="My tortoise is not moving" Tags="&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-03-09T18:03:37.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11665" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-09T10:42:18.400" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's been an outbreak of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_rot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alabama Rot&lt;/a&gt; in a dog near to my house. This raised concerns for my pets. I tried to find some information on what causes it and what preventative measures to take but much of the information online seems vague and contradictory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone provide some solid information on the latest thinking around this disease? Its causes, effective preventative measures, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2801" LastEditorDisplayName="user2801" LastEditDate="2016-03-09T16:36:00.450" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T23:34:51.063" Title="Is there any conclusive evidence of what the cause of Alabama Rot is?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-09T18:42:35.220" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my dog since he was 6wks old, he is now 7yrs.  He loves to lay on my lap, touch me, but if I pet, pick him up he acts fearful, like he might bite me, though he never has. I have used calming meds with no success, he has a thunder shirt, he does seem slightly more relaxed with that, slightly.  I would love to be able to cuddle him, but he wants no part of it... Is there any hope?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6817" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-04-19T11:58:31.977" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T11:58:31.977" Title="Is there hope for my fearful, anxious dog?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11645" CreationDate="2016-03-10T22:04:45.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a side note, most cats are lactose intolerant, and drinking milk can give them diarrhea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cat-world.com.au/can-cats-drink-milk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cat-world.com.au/can-cats-drink-milk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Feline-nutrition/can-i-feed-my-cat-milk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Feline-nutrition/can-i-feed-my-cat-milk.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/whats-the-deal-with-cats-and-milk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/whats-the-deal-with-cats-and-milk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-03-11T15:06:19.577" LastActivityDate="2016-03-11T15:06:19.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11667" CreationDate="2016-03-10T23:19:55.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many animals are uncomfortable with being picked up and held, even if they're sold about sitting on laps. I know cats who enjoy being tumbled end over end or tossed into the air and caught, but who will want down if you're just holding them for more than a minute or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're at all nervous (the &quot;might bite me&quot; suggests you might be) the dog may also pick that up, and it won't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I chalk this up to individual personality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can &lt;em&gt;train&lt;/em&gt; a dog or cat to tolerate, and then maybe enjoy, being held. The process is the same as for any other training; make a point of getting them used to the idea, reward patience with praise and a treat or play or extra cuddles of &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; preferred type -- whatever they respond to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(All cats are uncomfortable with having their paws held.I make a point of getting mine used to it and even making careful paw massage a regular part of our play; it makes ckaw-trimming a bit less of a struggle. There are a few other undignified things I've gotten them used to for similar purposes. It comes down to how willing you are to work with the animal to explain what you want from them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T23:19:55.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11665" CreationDate="2016-03-10T23:34:51.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the most recent scholarly article I can find on the subject, no one knows what causes this disease yet. Specifically: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV) aka 'Alabama Rot'] is a disease of unknown aetiology carrying a poor prognosis when&#xA;  azotaemia develops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet Rec. 2015 Apr 11;176(15):384. doi: 10.1136/vr.102892. Epub 2015 Mar 23.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy as a cause of acute kidney injury in dogs in the UK.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Holm LP1, Hawkins I2, Robin C3, Newton RJ3, Jepson R4, Stanzani G4, McMahon LA1, Pesavento P5, Carr T6, Cogan T7, Couto CG8, Cianciolo R9, Walker DJ1.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25802439?dopt=Abstract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;web abstract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only preventative measure that I could find suggested was that you wash your dog after each walk, but there's no evidence that washing helps (and dogs that have been washed have also become ill). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, until they are able to figure out what causes it, there will not be any good recommendations on how to avoid the disease. The best advice I found suggested that if your dog develops any sores or wounds, you should go immediately to the vet for advice. Dogs who are not given supportive therapy for their kidneys quickly tend to have worse outcomes than dogs who are treated promptly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-10T23:34:51.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11716" CreationDate="2016-03-11T00:42:50.097" Score="4" ViewCount="1096" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a four-year-old ragdoll cat and a one-year-old miniature schnauzer puppy (about half the cat's size). The cat has learned to tolerate the dog and only retreats to high ground if she is actively being pestered. Neither animal has even been aggressive toward the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently took the cat outside to explore the backyard and enjoy the warm weather. This trip happened to be her first time in the yard since getting the dog. When she returned inside, she was immediately very skittish around the dog, seeking a hiding spot if she even heard the dog in another room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The backyard is where the dog habitually releases waste, so I'm sure it must smell very much like her to other animals. Did I inadvertently create a dominance issue by introducing the cat into the dog's &quot;territory&quot;? If so, is there anything I can do to reset the scales? It's been a couple days since this started, and the cat is showing great improvement on her own, but I wonder if there's anything else I can do to help besides wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6821" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T23:53:07.833" Title="Cat Suddenly Afraid of Dog" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-11T21:08:55.313" Score="2" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a dog comes running to me, I wonder how I can assess whether they want to attack or greet me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="330" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T00:11:43.223" Title="When a dog comes running to me, how can I know whether they want to attack or greet me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-12T00:15:14.700" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new baby bunny and I have a 28&quot; x 15.5&quot; (71 x 39 cm) cage for him all set up and comfy just for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't know if I want to keep him in the guest room or in my room. If he stays in my room, I'll have TV going and I don't know whether he would be happy in a living room or in a quiet room with lights on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6829" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:26:39.817" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:26:39.817" Title="My baby bunny having its own room" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11678" CreationDate="2016-03-12T03:01:42.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are social creatures and like to have stimulation and interaction in their lives. Without a companion rabbit, I would really recommend that he stays in the same room as you and that you get him out and about as much as possible. That cage is really quite small and, eventually, he's really going to outgrow it and need some space to roam, so getting your room ready is the best way to go. It's not that hard to bunny proof a single room and they can be litter trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T03:01:42.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-12T03:39:48.570" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking very strange. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His left eye is showing signs of redness currently. It's very watery and he seems to be having trouble keeping it open. There's no discharge except the wateriness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for his belly, there is a spot on it. Circular and pinkish-red. It looks dry and agitated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not an outdoor cat. He has no fleas and had no ability to get into anything outside. (He's honestly terrified to go outside.) He's not around other cats either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've been cleaning his eye with a warm cloth. Should I put a little salt on the cloth? He drinks plenty of water and he doesn't appear to be having difficulty rating or being playful. He sleeps most of the day and is active at night. And he's been pooping and peeing regularly, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of his belly: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7pUxe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7pUxe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here is a picture of his eyes:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9WVCr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9WVCr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(He's currently in a playful mood) &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SKyGX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SKyGX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6830" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-12T08:26:55.900" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T14:50:22.840" Title="My cat's left eye and his belly don't look right." Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-12T13:33:23.873" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male mini Daschsund who has what I have identified as severe containment anxiety which he has had since the age of 10 weeks when I brought him home. It was originally misdiagnosed as separation anxiety which often happens- as he has increased with age ( he is now 9) so has his containment anxiety- I have tried the thunder shirt, pheromones and he is now on 10 mg Prozac once daily which does help calm him enough that he no longer self harms, as a Daschsund he must be contained at night and when we are gone (due to IVDD risks) &#xA;My immediate need is to find a way to contain him that he can't escape from but that is sturdy enough to contain him that he cant knock over or chew his way out of.&#xA;I can't leave him in a room of my home like a gated kitchen or bathroom because he has and will chew himself out (trim and door frames) &#xA;There are no doggie daycares in my rural area and that wouldn't fix the bedtime/overnight issue anyway &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please Help &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6831" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-03-23T14:56:11.973" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T14:56:11.973" Title="Containment Anxiety" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11680" CreationDate="2016-03-12T14:50:22.840" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would get the eye looked at by a Vet soonest. We had a similar issue with one of our cats and it was basically corneal ulceration. It's uncomfortable and reduces vision and if not treated, can result in loss of sight in the eye. However, if caught and treated reasonably early, a full recovery is a few weeks away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, get him in for a look, you've almost perfectly described the symptoms our cat had. Just be prepared to apply various eye drops many times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-03-12T14:50:22.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-13T11:04:47.247" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Golden Retriever breed puppy is 75 days old. Yesterday, he got his 2nd vaccination. However, after almost 36 hours, he behaves something different such as biting everything, peeing elsewhere, not listening our voice, and irregularity in pooping, sleeping in corner of the room. Is it normal for him? or need any urgent attention?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6833" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T12:25:20.217" Title="Golden Retriever puppy after vaccination" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11684" CreationDate="2016-03-13T12:25:20.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any sudden changes after a medical treatment should be brought to the attention of a medical provider immediately.  Call your vet, if they don't have an emergency service call your local emergency vet. Expect you will need to take the pet in for an exam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-03-13T12:25:20.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11405" CreationDate="2016-03-13T17:38:39.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just from clogged up skin but your gecko could lose its toes due to blood circulation being cut off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just soak it in warm water for ten minutes then get a cotton ball and rub and pat gently till its clogged skin comes off. This process should remain gentle: do not force skin off with fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this happening again keep your gecko in a cage with a moist environment and replace sand with a mat. Make sure his favorite hiding spot stays moist too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6835" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-03-14T11:47:46.883" LastActivityDate="2016-03-14T11:47:46.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-13T20:44:18.277" Score="-2" ViewCount="8389" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had several Beta over the past years and my kids want a different kind of fish. The Beta worked because they didn't need a filter or aeration.  Our tank  is 3 gallons,  some decorative plants,  and a temp regulator. What fish would be good for this set up?  Not interested in purchasing a bigger tank  or air system they always break on me. Thinking two or three fish max. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6836" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:26:01.907" Title="What kinds of fish recommended for my 3 gallon tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-13T21:06:30.993" Score="6" ViewCount="3351" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 16 and for the past year she has been having many accidents inside due to her age.  I clean it up as soon as it happens, but if I'm not home, it's apparently left long enough for a stain to set, so now my tiles have this terrible grayish stain build up, and I need to clean it. I've tried a baking soda and peroxide mix with no luck, same with vinegar.  Any ideas? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6837" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:22:07.920" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T03:52:54.523" Title="How can Old built up pet urine stains be removed from tile flooring?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-14T12:09:12.713" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the years, I've had a number of cats, and I've noticed that they all have their own preferences for how they prefer their toys to behave.  Some of them wanted their toys dragged on the ground, some of them were only interested if they were fluttering in the air, and our current cat doesn't care, so long as she can pounce on it from hiding.  I've always presumed that this corresponds to different hunting behavior in wild cats - a preference for catching small ground critters, birds, or whatever they can sneak up on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm wondering what determines this preference.  Is it genetic?  Taught?  Or just subject to each cat's individual preferences?  Or is it simply me reading too much into how indoor cats play with human-powered toys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T18:29:03.463" Title="What determines a cat's hunting preferences?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11693" CreationDate="2016-03-15T06:34:11.780" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I see windows with a cat net installed on it.  How are they used? When should I consider using a cat net? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T19:39:57.743" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T00:50:54.857" Title="When do we need cat nets on window?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11677" CreationDate="2016-03-15T07:41:19.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;if the dog is friendly, his tail will be wagging side to side, he may bark in greeting, a fearful dog will have a still tail, he maybe barking, he will probably run toward you then possibly run away, an aggressive dog will have a sticking up still tail, he will be forward, and growling &amp;amp; maybe barking, he maybe showing his teeth, also watch their ears, dogs first smell, hear then see, so watch their ears, tail, be observant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6844" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T07:41:19.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3111" CreationDate="2016-03-15T10:54:21.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get your dog walking comfortably on a leash, initially all you need to prefer a light flat collar and  a light leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first step is to get your dog familiar with the collar. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you attach a collar to him only when you take your dog outside then start attaching even in the home when you interacting with him. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just make sure while putting a collar just put it sung but no so tight otherwise that will be uncomfortable and irritating for your pooch; he should forget about it as you are getting his attention and interacting to take mind off the wearing of the collar. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6845" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-15T13:31:05.763" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T13:31:05.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2016-03-15T12:45:36.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any fall over 10 feet/4 meters could be dangerous to a cat. (Websearch &quot;feline high-rise syndrome&quot; for statistics). Cats &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be OK above that, or may be at risk below that, but that's the point at which I would start worrying. (A past cat &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; stuck her landing from 15', but banged her jaw on the ground and broke it.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with kids, the risk depends in part on how careful the cat is or isn't, but sudden wind gusts or a misstep are always a risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insect screens aren't adequate to protect kids, but can do a decent job of protecting most cats, and are probably more useful and more attractive than netting...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T12:45:36.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5695" CreationDate="2016-03-15T18:05:21.277" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;She may think you are cleaning her and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Grooming is social bonding, you guys are identifying each other as a family unit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When problems result, it is usually because given anxiety (as a kitten or - continued stressful environment in adulthood), a cat may groom too often, and then there is a feedback loop: the comfort they get from cleaning their human becomes habit that reinforces itself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior is still only a problem when humans start to want it to stop. In my case, it's becuase it drives my partner mad that when he's trying to sleep, he can hear my cat abrading, and I mean abrading, my arm.  Other people can't take the rough tongue. If you're cool with it, it's not a problem. Plus it probably won't become a reflexive obsessive habit, given a safe happy environment. And in the meanime, you guys are bonding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6847" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T18:05:21.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11687" CreationDate="2016-03-15T19:07:31.777" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; fish that can thrive in a small container of its own filth with limited oxygen for any length of time. I am sorry to say this, but even your beta fish &lt;em&gt;needed&lt;/em&gt; filtration once it arrived at its new home. Unfortunately, I suspect that's why you've gone through several of them in the last few years. Betas live 4-6 years upwards of 10 years in a domestic environment. It's unfortunate that pet stores continue to sell fish and bowls as zero-care setups &lt;em&gt;explicitly&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beta fish and (to a lesser extent) your common goldfish are able to survive adverse conditions for a short period of time. That's why they are displayed that way. But understand that by &lt;em&gt;keeping&lt;/em&gt; them in these conditions is only giving them minimal life support; barely. These no-air, no-sanitation habitats are essentially subjecting them to becoming short-lived, disposable pets struggling on borrowed time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be fair to your question, if you pick virtually &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; small, non-social aquarium fish rated for &quot;beginners&quot; &amp;mdash; one that will never grow and one that doesn't mind living in near isolation &amp;mdash; it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible to maintain a severely &lt;em&gt;under&lt;/em&gt;-stocked tank without a filter&amp;hellip; but that's provided you follow a rigorous routine of &lt;em&gt;frequent&lt;/em&gt; water changes and water conditioning that is outside the scope of this question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But honestly, for want of a simple sponge filter and an air pump that should last you for &lt;em&gt;years,&lt;/em&gt; I wouldn't even try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-03-15T19:12:58.340" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T19:12:58.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3111" CreationDate="2016-03-15T22:12:27.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Come from behind.  With the the dog sitting come from behind in a squat with your knees to each side.  Link hands to collar at the chest of the dog.  You now have the dog under control.  He cannot go forward, back, or side to side.  Slip the collar up and over his head.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-03-15T22:12:27.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11677" CreationDate="2016-03-15T22:29:27.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most dogs don't attack.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are growing / snarling and showing teeth that is not a good sign.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are playful with tail wagging that is a good sign.  Even if they want to play they don't typically run straight at a stranger.  Typically they will check you out from a distance first.  Even dogs going to a park will typically check other dogs out first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can come across a danger dog that just plain means business and is not even snarling.  If you are on strange land they could just be defending territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And breed matters.  Two Golden Retrievers charging me and I am not much worried.  Two Pit Bulls charge and I am pulling my knife ready to defend.  A Dachshund can also be aggressive and bite but they cannot do much damage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dogs that would not bite anyone will run at a stranger and bark in my yard but they stop like 5' short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you are afraid running is probably not the best action.  A dog that just wants to challenge you will sense fear and may decide to attack.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do ML and NLP I think you could go to a few dog parks and just pick it up.  Dog protocol is way easier than NLP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T00:11:43.223" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T00:11:43.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-15T22:39:06.397" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mini schnauzer (10 months old) literally tries to eat everything when we are out on a walk. We've removed bottle caps, napkins, wood chunks,stones, you name it!!!! I've tried many things to stop him...but it seems of no use.I use the &quot;Leave It&quot; command, tried just a simple no, all while pulling up on his harness.... What is going on with him? My husband is on the verge of giving him up..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6849" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T02:18:54.470" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T02:21:47.917" Title="How do I stop my mini schauzer from eating non food items while on walks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-03-19T15:24:16.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2016-03-16T00:53:24.480" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you clean the litter box much more regularly than 2 times a week. We clean ours at least twice a day.   Imagine flushing your toilet only twice a week -  would you want to use it after 3 or 4 days of no flushing?   Cats are just as particular as we are when it comes to this.   I find that cats much prefer clean litter boxes.  Plus it keeps odors down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6851" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:42:59.243" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:42:59.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11698" CreationDate="2016-03-16T02:13:10.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 10 months, the pup may be teething. He's also young enough that he is still learning the world. Humans that age will put everything in their mouths for the same reason... And remember that a dog's mouth is also as close as it comes to having hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wanted a puppy, you got a puppy. He'll grow out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, some toys specifically intended to be chewed on might help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't know whether dogs can develop pica. One of my cats seems to have a mild case thereof ; he insists on trying to ingest strings and dust bunnies. I control his access to string -- if it's thick enough he'll just try to chew it into pieces, which is much safer -- but the dust bunnies are on their own.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T02:21:47.917" LastActivityDate="2016-03-16T02:21:47.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11764" CreationDate="2016-03-16T13:52:06.290" Score="5" ViewCount="10412" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Ginger (10 years old, female, spayed) came to us overweight. We didn't really worry about it until she started showing signs of arthritis, but we've recently changed her diet and it seems to be helping. She's losing weight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now has a lot of extra skin. Like, double handfuls of extra skin. It flops around when she runs and turns her into a kitty puddle when she lays down. It doesn't seem to bother her, but I'm just curious. Will her skin tighten up or will she always be a kitty puddle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T23:07:50.507" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T23:07:50.507" Title="Will my cat lose her extra skin (from losing weight)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-16T14:03:05.310" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am venkat, from Chennai,India, staying in a Apartment. We are facing a problem with our neighbhour pet dog which urniates in our car&amp;amp;bike parking area. I have requested the owner of the don in this regards but thet least bother about it. Is there any way to stop this? Pls advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6856" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-16T19:39:05.957" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T09:58:16.793" Title="Get rid of stray dog's urination" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11719" CreationDate="2016-03-16T16:43:01.233" Score="3" ViewCount="835" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was driving my car and saw something on the road, I was about to continue but then I double checked and realized it's a small tortoise, so I picked it up and brought it home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, it's been here for a few days now, and it doesn't want to eat. I tried to offer it lettuce, coleslaw and stoke other leaves and grass types, and she doesn't want to open its mouth whatsoever.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I live in a small village and the nearest vet is far away and I was wondering if I can do anything before giving up a work day to make it eat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can it die of starvation or dehydration if there is always food and water around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6858" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T21:00:57.063" Title="My tortoise doesn't want to eat" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11706" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-16T23:14:24.360" Score="3" ViewCount="6762" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have owned a cat for about 9 years, who has always used his litter box. We recently had a bunny for a short time and when we let it out, the bunny pooped in our living room in some of the corners. The bunny is no longer here but now the cat keeps pooping in the same spot the bunny did. How can we stop the cat from pooping in this same spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6862" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:29:24.577" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:33:43.720" Title="How to stop cat from pooping on carpet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11785" CreationDate="2016-03-17T02:13:56.577" Score="9" ViewCount="2663" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a cat last weekend (about a year old, according to the rescue place I got her from), and she is a fantastic cat, but I'm frustrated (and kind of worried for her sake) that she constantly needs attention.  She follows me from room to room, often so close to my feet that I have to walk at an aggravatingly slow pace so that I don't step on her or kick her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't let her sleep with me because I've heard horrible stories about people that have rolled over on pets in their sleep, so I close the door to my bedroom at night.  She sits outside of my door and cries all night because I'm not with her.  Same when I take a shower.  I also work during the day, and when I get home she's ecstatic to see me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that she'll grow out of, i.e., will she get used to being alone?  I like that she likes humans so much, but I worry that she's miserable when she's alone, and I'm also a little frustrated that I can barely go to the bathroom without her following me in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also thought about getting one of those dvds for cats to keep her occupied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6864" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:46:42.303" Title="Cat constantly needs attention. Will she grow out of it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11706" CreationDate="2016-03-17T02:17:43.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a cat breaks litter box protocol -- unless it was unable to get to the box, e.g. by a door being closed or another cat deciding to guard it -- this is usually an indication of illness and time for a vet visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, treat the marked area with an enzyme-based cleaner (available from pet stores under multiple brand names) to remove all traces of the scent, which might otherwise encourage a repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:33:43.720" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:33:43.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11708" CreationDate="2016-03-17T03:46:13.200" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for adopting a cat from a rescue place! If your cat is &quot;about a year old&quot;, then I assume that she's basically full-grown. I think it's safe to let her sleep with you, if you want to do that. A kitten might be in danger of getting rolled over on, but an adult cat will normally be alert enough (even while sleeping) to the movements of their human bed partners to avoid injury. However, if you prefer not to have her sleep with you, she will eventually adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat walking close to your feet is a problem, though, because there is danger you will accidentally kick her. I once had a cat who did this, and I'll tell you how I trained her out of it. I have heard that other cat owners use this same technique. When she's getting in the way of your feet, slide one foot under her, lift her slightly and set her down to one side. (Of course, I'm not talking about kicking her, just lifting her an inch or so with your foot and moving her gently aside.) This is easier to do when you're barefoot or wearing soft slippers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that most cat owners end up just accepting that they will have feline observers when they go to the bathroom. ;^) You can close her in the bathroom with you. But if you continue to close her outside, I'm sure she will adapt. Just be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the constant need for attention, she may well grow out of it. You've only had her for a short time. But do make sure she has toys around the house. These don't need to be expensive toys - things like walnuts, plastic bottle caps, etc. are often the best toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T03:46:13.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11703" CreationDate="2016-03-17T06:54:33.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs tend to frequent certain spots to go potty, and nowhere else. Hopefully, this is just a minor issue and this post was geared towards increasing rep rather than trying a list of suggested ways to repel this dog from your parking area... So if nothing else works, before taking the hose to him (effective 100% of the time) , mix a little water in with some chili pepper flakes and apply to desired area a little while before the dogs usual potty break.  Dogs identify their toilet with the nose, and he'll soon find another area that he'll mark as his. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6865" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-17T09:58:16.793" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T09:58:16.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-17T08:18:59.027" Score="3" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a kitten in November, and she's nearly 6 months old now. Within the last couple of weeks, she's been trying to climb the aluminum blinds in my apartment. I prefer to keep the blinds down for most of the day as we live on the ground floor of our complex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two sets of blinds in the apartment, one in the bedroom, and one smaller set in the living room. One suggestion we received was to put double-sided tape on the window sill to discourage her going on to it. It worked until she found she could step carefully in the areas we didn't/couldn't get to. I don't want to discourage her chilling in the window, or even climbing through the blinds to the other side to sit. What I'd like to discourage is her trying to climb the blinds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially I believed it may be due to the cord hanging down, and she was trying to get a better reach at it, but when I pull the cord down to a more reachable distance, she still preferred to climb the blinds. This makes me believe that it's more of a &lt;em&gt;vertical&lt;/em&gt; issue, rather than a &lt;em&gt;catching&lt;/em&gt; issue. Her interest in them is also dependent on our proximity to the window. I don't spend a lot of time in the living room, but when I'm out there she tries to climb it, and every night when I go to bed, she tries to climb those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently do not own any cat towers or anything of that nature, simply due to not having the requisite amount of space to put it anywhere, as well as the possibility that I may have to move in the near future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion we received was to buy a spray bottle and spray her with it when she tries to climb, which is good for immediate feedback, but terrible for all of the reasons you can find by googling it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this being a vertical issue a safe assumption to make? If so, what sort of things can I try to get her to reduce, or stop her attempts at climbing up the blind? If not, what else might it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6866" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T13:31:59.947" Title="How to get kitten to stop playing with aluminum blinds" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11714" CreationDate="2016-03-17T14:31:42.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have any free wall-space? If yes, you can try to attach boards to the walls, in some climbable configuration for the cat (Pad the boards some, and perhaps have something hand from them as a climbing-aid.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or perhaps you can just offer a perch between window and blinds? A narrow self or something like that?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your kitten wants to climb, and it seems to be looking for some kind of perch. So, you should provide this, even if it seems a makeshift solution.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, does your kitten get extra-attention when she climbs the blinds? If yes, you successfully taught her &quot;If you want us to pay attention, climb the blinds!&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Play some more with her, and give her more interesting places to play in, and the blinds should be safe :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T14:31:42.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11674" CreationDate="2016-03-17T23:53:07.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question. Just to start off with, the dominance theory is one that has been disproved by the very people who first came up with the theory. They deduced behaviours of wolves kept in captivity and as such, the wolves were not display natural behaviours. In the wild, they live in family units with the adults teaching the younger wolves. We like the adult wolves, are our pets teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that this is the first time the cat has been in the yard. Now while the smell of the dog's droppings and urine may have been unpleasant to the cat, it could be a multitude of things that made your cat skittish after coming back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can stay in a state of arousal or reactivity for up to 48 hours after an incident has scared them or freaked them out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/redirected-aggression-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/redirected-aggression-in-cats/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She may have seen something that made her worried or scared and as such can take up to 48 hours or longer to calm back down. In future, I'd advise to slowly introduce her back into the yard, making sure that every interaction is fun and positive. Make sure to watch for signs of unrest or uncomfortably when you are outside with her &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/stress-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/stress-in-cats/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://auntstaceyscats.com/subtle-signs-of-feline-stress/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://auntstaceyscats.com/subtle-signs-of-feline-stress/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=5958454&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=5958454&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagopetrescue.org/cat-information.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.chicagopetrescue.org/cat-information.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-03-17T23:53:07.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11718" CreationDate="2016-03-18T03:02:56.777" Score="4" ViewCount="1776" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1601/can-i-feed-my-cat-a-vegetarian-or-vegan-diet&quot;&gt;This question&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;that cats cannot survive on a vegan diets alone, but what if the diet included common insects? Such as crickets, grass hoppers and flies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I ask is in relation to Zootopia, which explain carnivore diets as based on insect 'burgers'.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/122725/what-do-the-carnivores-eat-in-the-zootopia-universe&quot;&gt;relevant question here&lt;/a&gt;. As such I was wondering if this is a feasible solution in feline predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6869" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-12-26T11:00:08.640" Title="Can cats survive on a diet composed of insects?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11717" CreationDate="2016-03-18T03:07:49.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless insects contain significant quantities of all the essential nutrients -- specifically including taurine, which is an essential amino acid for cats since they can't synthesize it -- the answer is no. Even if you could convince the cat to put up with that diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are obligate carnivores. Don't try to make them anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-18T06:29:48.940" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T06:29:48.940" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11704" CreationDate="2016-03-18T03:19:11.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be illegal, yes - but it was a generous act.  And yes, some do carry &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; and have respiratory problems.  The tortoise should not eat lettuce, coleslaw, or anything along that line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, put him in a shallow container of lukewarm water to make sure he is clean and expels the waste.  Tortoises urinate and defecate in water, so you will need to let him do his thing, then give him a clean container about once or twice a week to go in on his own. Also, provide a separate container to leave in for it to drink out of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They eat (all shredded) fresh kale, shredded carrots, collard, turnip and mustard greens, green beans, sweet potatoes snow peas, some types of fruits. They also have tortoise food in a pet or feed store, but I would recommend making your own salad of the above.  You can make most of it in advance and if you have access to fresh clean grass or alfalfa grass or pellets.  They also eat some dead plants and weeds, just double check to make sure they are not poisonous.  They also need sunlight or an UVB florescent light if they cannot get the real thing.  They also have vitamins that will help greatly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and when in doubt, ask Google or go to a tortoise site for help.  I had been raising a desert tortoise for 5 years (15 years ago) that was a hatchling and covered in red ants when my husband found her. But when she had to go to a forever home (landlord issues), she was given a perfect health checkup from the new mom's vet.  I still miss her but know she is with other tortoises and should be having good her own babies by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tortoise will eat when she is settle in her new home and after she goes to the bathroom. They only eat maybe once a day really good. Some only once a week. This is the time they are coming out of hibernation and she may have already eaten. Best to not handle her and let her be to get settled in a while. Just keep feeding and giving her fresh water on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6870" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T21:00:57.063" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T21:00:57.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11706" CreationDate="2016-03-18T12:53:15.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We recently had a bunny for a short time and when we let it out, the&#xA;  bunny pooped in our living room in some of the corners. The bunny is&#xA;  no longer here but now the cat keeps pooping in the same spot the&#xA;  bunny did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very much into smells, and are known to urinate or poop on places that smell like urine\poop from before.&#xA;I'm thinking your cat is pooping on those places because it can still smell that there has been poop there before.&#xA;I would've tried spraying anti-cat fumes on those places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several fumes/smells can be used to make a cat stay away from certain spots. Most cats hate citrus fruits, pepper, typical human perfumes, tooth paste, and certain products that can be bought in pet stores for this purpose (I don't remember what they are called).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T12:53:15.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11706" CreationDate="2016-03-18T13:07:33.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another reason for such a behaviour might be stress. Maybe something changed? Other animals / people which trouble your cat? And please consider that cats have other standards than humans have so it might be something simple like this: I know a cat which was avoiding its litter box after a balloon burst near it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not have a health problem and you cannot find another reason - maybe you could to train her. E. g. put a litter box at the place your cat is using now and pull it back to the original place step by step - a short distance each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T13:07:33.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11714" CreationDate="2016-03-18T13:31:59.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A kitten needs a lot of action so it might be bored a bit. Try to give it alternatives to the blends. Get some toys and play with it. You do not need to buy these things. You can make e. g. balls out of aluminium foil or newspapers. Feathers fixed at one end of a stick are very attractive. If you sit down on the floor and swing a simple string around you it will try to chase after the end of the string. Its a good training for an indoor cat as well. A lot of cats like to play with paperbords and if you play table tennis - these balls are also very appropriate. When your kitten is older it usually will be less active and maybe the blends will be become unattractive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-03-18T13:31:59.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11725" CreationDate="2016-03-18T18:36:37.933" Score="3" ViewCount="2031" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends and I found a newborn puppy and have temporarily made a shelter for him in the park. It is an old sink covered with an asbestos sheet. Till the time we manage to find a home for it, what are the preliminary steps to be taken? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age&lt;/strong&gt;: We don't really know its age but I can give you some info which will help you deduce it's age...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-It's eyes are open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-It only drinks milk. Refuses to eat biscuits or bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-It is light enough for me to pick up with one hand. (I'm fourteen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-It is about 10 inches in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also noticed that it is covered with a lot of tiny bugs and attracts a lot of flies... Anything that can be done about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: The only reason it isn't already living with me is because my mom won't allow it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6872" LastEditorUserId="6872" LastEditDate="2016-03-18T18:46:02.810" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T13:06:53.770" Title="Found newborn puppy on the street. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11724" CreationDate="2016-03-19T09:34:13.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question. You are 14 and do not have parental approval to bring a pet into your home.  A rescue or shelter is not option in your area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The little bugs are probably fleas, you can learn about flea control at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8163&quot;&gt;A stray dog has fleas. Any way to help remove them?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/107&quot;&gt;How can I get rid of fleas without dangerous chemicals?&lt;/a&gt; some of the more effective treatments have costs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of questions specific to dog parasite and health issues in India; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5971&quot;&gt;How important is it to get your dog vaccinated for heartworm in India?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7299/&quot;&gt;Anti-rabies vaccination once in 3 years for pets in countries like India?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are costs as well as considerations for your health involved in caring for a dog (or any pet).  Providing care without a secure home is going to be nearly impossible.  Puppies need milk from a dog to do well, more detail at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1386/&quot;&gt;Should I supplement the diet of a breast-feeding puppy?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is great that you are trying to save the puppy, but if you can't find it a home soon, it will likely suffer considerably. If it does survive and you don't find a home it will become a stray dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10557&quot;&gt;Adopting Stray Dogs&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several considerations, you have taken on the responsibility of caring for the abandoned puppy, the decisions about, What you should I do?, are yours.  Hopefully you will find enough information here to make informed decisions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T09:34:13.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-19T09:50:23.720" Score="1" ViewCount="1112" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a number of questions about stray dogs in India, and it appears that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/world/asia/india-stray-dogs-are-a-menace.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stray Dogs in India Are a Menace&lt;/a&gt;.  In the United States, stray dogs are mostly captured, assessed, cared for in a humane way and either found homes or euthanized. The same system also provides a location to take animals, where the hard decisions can be made by others, if re-homing or euthanasia is the best choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In countries like India, where stray are problematic and there is not infrastructure in place to address the issue, what options exist for a  concerned individual to euthanize a dog? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-06-10T10:38:39.783" Title="What are the options for euthanasia in countries like India?" Tags="&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11726" CreationDate="2016-03-19T15:53:56.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in India, people can be very religious and euthanizing would probably lead to a lot of unnecessary debate and nothing good would come out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what happens in my neighbourhood:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Someone complains about the stray dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If enough complaints are registered, a government van turns up in about a week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;All adult male dogs are captured. (Younger dogs are left alone)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are neutered.*&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are turned loose on the streets, often in the same neighbourhood.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;*I'm not sure whether or not the females are spayed but I don't think so...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6872" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T15:53:56.160" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11724" CreationDate="2016-03-19T16:49:32.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say  there are possibly fleas on it, take the puppy to the vet but make sure you wear gloves or something to protect you, as the puppy could be ill or have a disease (you never know) Go to the vets and ask for treatment but also explain that you found it and you can't keep the dear, the vets might take the puppy, treat it then get ready to go to a shelter or just adopted, the size also depends on what breed the puppy is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T16:49:32.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2016-03-19T17:26:32.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do what she should do as a puppy, if she gives a sign that she needs to go or when she just finishes going take her quickly outside and keep her out for a good minute or after you clean up, then she should understand it is not acceptable, or if you like you can get large dog litter trays or pads and train her to go on those, she sounds as if she is an oldie and maybe forgetting where she needs to go or she can't get there on time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastActivityDate="2016-03-19T17:26:32.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-19T17:45:21.670" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 7 beautiful chickens, in the coop there is a place &lt;strong&gt;for a mud bath and they have logs in the corner&lt;/strong&gt;, my hens and cockerel &lt;strong&gt;only dogs and scraps when I do a bit of gardening (flip and crumble the dirt)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;but is there any other ways to break there boredom?&lt;/em&gt; Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:46:07.507" Title="Methods of breaking Chicken Boredom" Tags="&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-19T21:51:06.453" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;My snake has these little black looking bugs on it, they crush very easy, I know they're not fleas. Wondering about the best way to get rid of them ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6878" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2016-03-20T09:00:53.923" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T09:47:23.927" Title="My pet Rat snake has little black bugs" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-03-21T17:43:43.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3281" CreationDate="2016-03-20T00:05:26.553" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a website for you about snake body language&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found this passage from a website:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2610&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How do I know if my reptile is upset?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, if a reptile doesn't like what you are doing, whether that&#xA;  is handling him, petting him, or anything else, he will try to get&#xA;  away from you or possibly even bite. Signs that something in his&#xA;  environment is making your reptile feel insecure, uncomfortable, or in&#xA;  pain include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Breathing heavily with lots of noticeable movement in the rib cage area &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Fussiness, squirming, and hissing in a usually tame reptile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Trying to climb you or get away&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Drawing away when you go to pick him up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Striking and biting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Wraps himself very tightly around your arm, leg, or torso &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Draws back with his head and neck lifted off the ground (an S-curve)  Buzzes his tail &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Thrashes around in your hands &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-Strikes at you (full strikes or false strikes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read this article once, which made me shocked (I first saw it on facebook)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/02/this-story-about-a-snake-wanting-to-eat-their-owner-will-really-make-you-think-about-your-friendships-5538469/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Snake wanting to eat it's owner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This short story, which has been shared widely across Facebook by user&#xA;  Chris Planer, is something to think about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There once was a woman who had a pet snake that she loved very much.&#xA;  The snake was about 7 feet long and one day it just stopped eating.&#xA;  After several weeks of trying everything she could to get the snake to&#xA;  eat, the woman took it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The woman explained the situation to the vet and he asked her, “Has&#xA;  your snake been sleeping with you at night or snuggling really close&#xA;  and stretching himself out?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The woman replied, “Yes he’s been doing it everyday and it makes me so&#xA;  sad that I can’t help him feel better.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The vet says “Ma’am your snake is not sick, he has been preparing to&#xA;  eat you. He’s been sizing you up everyday so he knows how big he has&#xA;  to be, and not eating so he has enough room to digest you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moral of the story: You’ve gotta recognise the snakes out there. Just&#xA;  because they seem close to you and sleep in your bed, it doesn’t mean&#xA;  their intentions are good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn’t some food for thought – no pun intended – then we’re not sure what is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-04-18T17:50:03.340" LastActivityDate="2018-04-18T17:50:03.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11780" CreationDate="2016-03-20T00:08:19.727" Score="2" ViewCount="642" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in South Africa where I'm not aware of the necessity or vaccines for pet parrots. Do pet parrots require vaccinations anywhere else in the world?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-03-21T02:42:42.323" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T21:44:41.203" Title="Do pet parrots need vaccinations?" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3281" CreationDate="2016-03-20T00:31:08.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We must be careful to make assumptions. Emotions like being at ease or comfortable are relative to the eye of the beholder. How tight do you for example think a tree boa wraps itself around a tree? (I dunno?) and how tight do you think a constrictor coils around its prey? Are these agressive behaviours? Are they normal? Are they conformable behaviours? Who knows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only talk from experience here with my own snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mating behaviour sometimes goes in hand with tail tip movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female egg laying often goes with burrowing behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the obvious one we all know is fear and/or aggression can be identified through hissing, striking out, and fleeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are the only ones that repeated themselves in those situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="5998" LastEditDate="2016-03-20T00:36:48.023" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T00:36:48.023" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11737" CreationDate="2016-03-20T00:44:14.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chickens are social birds. Some farmers and animal scientists even say that even if you keep them in small cages the fact that they have &quot;friends&quot; makes them &quot;happy&quot; - not necessary my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your question: Feed them from the ground. Plant some plants if you can. Create heights and shelter areas. Differ their food on a regular basis, i.e. feed safe leafy vegetables. You can even chase them around or spray them from time to time if they don't go crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T00:44:14.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2016-03-20T07:32:25.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat that had the same behavior. He suddenly started to sometimes defecate outside the litter box. Then I noticed that he would sometimes cry when he was peeing in the litter box. So I took him to the vet who diagnosed that he had a urinary tract infection.  Some cats are prone to urinary tract infection and the vet recommended a special food to avoid it. Slowly he stopped defecating on the floor and returned back to normal behavior with no more problems.  You might want to take your cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6879" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T13:56:46.417" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T13:56:46.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3201" CreationDate="2016-03-20T23:14:30.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Selemectin is an Avermectin-like drug and is registered in some countries (in the form of for example Revolution top spot) for the use in dogs and cats to treat and manage fleas. Some trials are also going on to test efficiency against Sarcoptic and Demodectic mange. It is only registered for dogs and cats and in fact the pamphlet recommends washing your hands if you as a human came in contact with it. It is considered very safe at recommended dosages, i.e. Revolution are sold according to the size of the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:14:30.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11224" CreationDate="2016-03-20T23:34:19.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any mineral oil to use for mites on snakes, but my medicine reference books say that soaking in multiple plain lukewarm water also gets rid of them. This will also help to remove excess skin that might also contribute to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:34:19.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11737" CreationDate="2016-03-20T23:46:07.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hang a cabbage from a piece of string!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously - they &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; it - my mother's hens dance and bounce when they have cabbage-on-string to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoAIYuhYfik&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a random example on YouTube&lt;/a&gt; – disclaimer: I don't know these hens! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6881" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:46:07.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6235" CreationDate="2016-03-20T23:48:53.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a bit late, but for others doing the same. The main things to monitor in new/stray cats are appetite, vomition, lethargy, runny poops, struggling or inability to urinate and breathing and eye problems. Common diseases/conditions that hit suddenly includes Feline Herpiesvirus (eyes, mouth, lungs), Feline Corona virus (appetite, diarrhoea), stress (urination problems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a stray you unfortunately don't know the history and diseases like Feline Leukaemia (FeLV) and Feline Aids (FIV) is a definitely a possibility, even if they are vaccinated, but for example not tested. These diseases can take months to show clinical signs (weight loss, inappetance, lethargy, fever, other diseases, etc. etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-20T23:48:53.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1041" CreationDate="2016-03-21T02:55:55.997" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that the  Naegleria fowleri bacteria does not pose a risk to dogs.  Here in the south, hunting dogs drink in shallow ponds all the time while running through the woods, as well as dogs drinking out of lakes, rivers, and  swamps, always at the shore, exposing their nose under water often.  I have never heard of a dog dying from NF infection.  Their immune system is not the same as humans, and cannot be compared to ours.  I would say our dogs are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6882" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T02:55:55.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11708" CreationDate="2016-03-21T11:16:50.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is displaying classic signs of loneliness. Do you go out during the day and leave her alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs to watch for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shouting at you when you close the door on her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Following you around constantly (may seem adorable but it's over-attachment)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Destructive behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating quickly when you are there but ignoring food when you are not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you is to go back to the animal centre and get another cat. If that's not possible then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lots of toys, and swap them out regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plenty of things to climb on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Audio / visual stimulation - so music and/or TV &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play games with her to entertain her when you are there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and my cats have always slept on the bed with me. In fact, truth be told I have two Burmese, and they sleep IN the bed. I tried closing the door but gave up when they figured out how to use the handle. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about shutting her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6884" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T13:51:24.383" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T13:51:24.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11761" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-21T12:12:51.827" Score="2" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought Kota, approx 2half, Northern Inuit bitch, not neutered only 8 days ago. She lives with my stud dog 5yr old Northern Inuit, Leo who is brilliant had him from puppy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They are getting on well though Kota is needy and insecure, which I was expecting as she was from a rescue. She was with a lovely couple, but they were working all day and didn't have time for her. I do not know her history before that.&#xA;I hate to see this beautiful young bitch so wound up and unhappy. She has a few people issues who come to house, but she's just scared and we are slowly doing OK with that its putting lead on. Leaving the house she's terrified and then dragging me. She's big and strong and going to be bigger and stronger and I can barely hold her; she can't wait to get home.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Leo loves his walks, but I can't walk them together which I want to do eventually and even some one walking Leo with her makes no difference. I've got the Halti lead and just need the head piece; the last people used a harness but I've read these are made for pulling and she does anyway so it's just normal collar and lead for next day until I can get head piece. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate pushing her out the door when its something she should be enjoying can you please help me and Kota&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6885" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-03T06:12:30.663" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T06:12:30.663" Title="Kota, scared to leave house and pulls until she's choking on lead, plus scared of every thing outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11688" CreationDate="2016-03-21T15:02:57.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this sounds crazy, but a brilliant solvent for urine is … urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time she has an accident while you're there, pull on your rubber gloves and use a thin absorbent sponge cloth to mop up all the fresh urine. Then use the sponge cloth to re-wet a historic stained area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, just work on an area the size of the sponge cloth - this'll show you whether the technique is successful, and will also ensure your &quot;cleaning fluid&quot; is  concentrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place a kitchen towel over the top of the area you've just dampened, place the sponge over the kitchen towel, and put another kitchen towel over the sponge. Leave this soggy sponge sandwich in place for at least an hour, with an upturned bucket over the top to keep smells in and feet out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After it's had a really good soak, don the rubber gloves again, and use the complete &quot;sandwich&quot; as a wiping cloth - you should hopefully see the bottom kitchen towel is a &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; darker colour than the upper - a delightful mix of dissolved old urine and fallout from daily traffic across the tiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dispose of the kitchen towels, rinse out the sponge cloth and use it with detergent (e.g. washing up liquid) and water to clean the urine-treated area. Sprinkle some baking soda over the top to absorb any lingering smells (and to discourage any – ahem – further treatment :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, this technique is also fantastic for getting bird deposits off cars without damaging the paintwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.s. Here in the UK the sponge cloths are sold under the Spontex brandname and look like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spontex.co.uk/content-files/product/images/1/1/5ee040f03f0e4fcca3be61497563e3b3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6881" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T15:02:57.550" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11702" CreationDate="2016-03-21T16:07:31.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great job on helping your cat lose some of those extra pounds!   I bet she feels much better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, your cat's skin will not likely tighten around her new body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PEOPLE:  For, people, it can take a couple years before the skin &quot;fits&quot; right after weight loss...and that's only if you are young and didn't lose too much weight.  People not in this category often choose surgery to tighten the skin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CATS:  It is similar in cats.  A cat's skin elasticity gets less with age.  This starts, usually, with middle age cats (i.e., your kitty).  If a cat loses weight too quickly, this can also cause large amounts of skin.  In this case, the skin's elasticity just can't keep up with the weight loss.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WATER:  One thing that will likely help increase your cat's skin elasticity is plenty of water.   Inside cats tend to be dehydrated.  So, we need to entice them to drink more.   If you are able, get a cat water fountain.  My cats love ours and drink a lot more water than without it.   If you cannot get a fountain, leave a faucet dripping in a sink or bathtub.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a similar situation with my middle-aged cat a few years ago.  He was only slightly overweight.  When he lost a couple pounds, he had stomach fat that almost touched the ground, and he never lost it.  However, he was a happy cat.  As long as it isn't bothering your kitty, she should be ok.  Ask your vet next time you're there to see if there are any other recommendations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T16:07:31.807" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9580" CreationDate="2016-03-21T17:09:04.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has the same problem. He is a 9 year old wire fox terrier and he just likes to lick himself to pass the time. He doesn't have anxiety issues, he's a very calm, relaxed dog but he likes to always be licking on something. If it's not his paws, and there's nothing else around, he'll lick the bedspread!  Anyway, our dog's paws got to be worse than your dog's and even though he's had a round of anti-fungal medicines he's still not healed. You see, he recently licked them so badly the outer layer of his toe pads started detaching. So, the vet isn't exactly sure what's going on, and we never did rule out demodex mange mites, so that's a possibility. In any case, the prescription antibiotic and anti-fungals didn't really help. So I've been treating him with natural home remedies -- borax baths and also epsom salt foot soaks. His feet are about 30% better after three weeks of this.  As to the licking impulse, we have somewhat broken him of that habit just by telling him &quot;no&quot; when he starts up. I should add something important -- we ordered a basket style muzzle for our dog from the internet and we have it on him at night, and also when we leave the house. This is a must!! We also have tape under the bottom of the mask, so he can't get his tongue out down there and lick himself (he was sneakily doing that).&#xA;Anyway, I hope this helps. I'd love to know how your dog is doing. I know this is a tough problem and can get very expensive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6887" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T17:09:04.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11761" CreationDate="2016-03-21T17:11:45.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like this dog is very stressed.  Personally, I would be inclined to give the walks a rest for a few days,  not introduce any additional equipment, and just let her relax a bit.  If you are having to force her out of the door and then can barely hold her, I'm concerned that introducing a headcollar could make the stress worse, particularly since she is not used to one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely that at the moment, she's pulling as a reaction to the stress, rather than because she can't walk on a loose lead (I have found my rescue foster dogs often pull like trains on the first couple of days, and this has even happened with severely arthritic dogs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do not learn well when they are stressed, so introducing a headcollar will be a purely mechanical restriction, which could result in the stress coming out in some other way. That might be bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any space outdoors where she can just go to relieve herself without needing to be on lead at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would give her perhaps as much as 3-4 days of just chilling time and see if that results in a calmer dog that is more confident about going out.  You have the rest of her life to walk her, and if the stress levels are that high, she doesn't need stimulation, she needs time to get over the stress hormones in her system and get back to a more normal level of operation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-03-21T17:11:45.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11769" CreationDate="2016-03-21T17:53:18.293" Score="8" ViewCount="2278" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how frequently cats lose their whiskers?  Is it natural shedding, like their hair, or is it much less frequent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because I have two cats and am randomly find a whisker here and there for the one cat.  I never find any from the other cat but his whiskers are darker and much closer in color to the color of his fur.  I'm thinking he may shed his whiskers, too -- but maybe I just never see them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5185" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T20:33:49.053" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T20:40:36.247" Title="How frequently do cats lose their whiskers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11768" CreationDate="2016-03-21T18:42:10.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Continuously (if slowly) shed and replaced; nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm always amused by finding a whisker; I forget just how long they are compared to the cat until  I have one without the cat attached, and I find it interesting to ponder how that would scale up if large cat's whiskers were the same relative length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-22T01:25:46.450" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T01:25:46.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11772" CreationDate="2016-03-22T06:19:40.863" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard some theories that if a cat or dog is abandoned, when it is adopted again, it is harder to train them because they may be unable to trust human anymore, is it real?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T17:30:42.437" Title="Are abandoned cats or dogs harder to train?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11770" CreationDate="2016-03-22T10:05:53.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only know dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on what they went though.  Most dogs can be rehabilitated (learn to trust).  You can get an abused dog that may never come around.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do Monday - Friday care with a foster agency and get the challenging dogs. By Thursday they typically bond.  But I had one girl that must have been abused by a man because, even after 4 weeks, I got no where with her. However, she was fine with all the women at the agency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Establish yourself as the alpha can be hard. If you get a defiant dog with trust issues, then you cannot even begin training. If they are destructive, then it can be a real problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you bond, it can be even deeper than if you had them since a puppy. I have a girl I adopted that will not leave the yard, even if the gate is open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a dog from a responsible shelter that will help match you with a dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have built trust, then training is just basic dog training.  It will depend on the intelligence of the dog and your ability to train.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-03-22T15:42:07.360" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T15:42:07.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11770" CreationDate="2016-03-22T11:25:41.980" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I caught a wild cat of obviously unknown history. She had to spend 10 days at the animal shelter before I was allowed to adopt her. She was temporarily placed in a foster home to be socialised and was evaluted as being unfriendly and anti-social at the end of her stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got her after the 10 days I spent one and a half hours with her in a single room with the door closed every day so she would get used to me. Most of this time was spent with me sitting on the floor and her ignoring me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually she began to trust that I wouldn't harm her and she started to interact with me. Two years later, she now comes and sits on my lap, she loves attention, she asks to be picked up and cuddled and she has integrated with my other two cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other two cats were originally feral kittens. All three were originally little spitballs of pure hate and fear but now all three of them are totally beautiful cats! I did exactly the same process with the kittens as I did for the adult cat and, with patience, I got the same result: a loving cat in each case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it might be hard, but it certainly isn't impossible. The important thing is to act in a way that is consistant and that they can trust. If you break their trust you could permanently damage your relationship with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T11:25:41.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11702" CreationDate="2016-03-22T13:20:49.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She had to go to the vet yesterday so I asked about her loose skin. The vet said that eventually the loose skin will migrate down to her belly and give her a bigger &quot;belly pouch&quot; that will flop around when she walks/runs. She won't loose any of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T13:20:49.277" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-22T13:30:14.583" Score="3" ViewCount="551" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the weekend my cat (10 years old, female, spayed) developed some kind of urinary problem (she was going to the litter box every 5 minutes, only producing a few drops). She went to the vet on Monday morning and the vet gave her an injection of simbadol (1.8mg/ml, 0.8ml dose, so 1.44 mg for a 13.75 pound cat) to treat her pain/discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet warned me that the medication would make her high. An hour after returning home she started drooling. I called the vet and they said drooling is normal on this medication (I told them that she was producing Santa Claus worthy beards, and they said that was fine, just try to keep her clean).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to associate foaming drool (like she's doing) with anxiety. Is the drug making her anxious? What other reasons could the drug be making her drool like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gqRbH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gqRbH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:10:26.630" Title="Why is my cat drooling on simbadol?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11708" CreationDate="2016-03-22T13:35:46.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think she will &quot;grow out of it&quot; (indicating that it's a function of age) so much as she will eventually learn your routines. Once she knows that you leave the house at (for example) 8 am every day but always come home at 5pm, she won't worry so much while you're gone because she knows you'll come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I tend to be a restless sleeper and have never crushed a cat. I've kicked them a BUNCH and eventually they learn not to sleep near my feet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T13:35:46.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11662" CreationDate="2016-03-22T14:50:53.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend using clicker training to train your dog, no matter what you're working on. You can find massive amounts of video and instructions on how to do this, but the basic principle is that you have a device you hold in your hand and when your animal does something you like, which you can encourage or capture in a number of ways, you make a clicking sound. After you've taught the animal what the &quot;clicker&quot; means by &quot;charging&quot; it, then that sound marks the exact behavior you wish the animal to repeat. Therefore, helping the animal understand the exact behavior that caused the reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason this is necessary is because traditional training would have you hold a treat above your dogs head, say sit, and when he sits, you tell him good boy and give him the treat. While saying &quot;Good Boy&quot; is similar to a marker, it isn't always what people say, their tone or inflection may be different, and it takes a couple of seconds to say. The dog may also see the treat as the real marker. That means there will be a window of ~10 seconds that your dog could see as marking the correct behavior. Even if you started the millisecond his butt touched the ground, he could have stood up, looked left or right, etc... The clicker marks the exact instant of the behavior and really helps your animal understand. It's also consistent and your dog understands it's a &quot;Bridge&quot;, meaning a click equals a treat. It's operant conditioning, like Pavlov's dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you understand &quot;Click-and-Treat&quot; and have practiced with a clicker and a tennis ball, then you're ready to start on your dog. I won't tell you specifics to any particular trick in this answer as there is so much information on it readily available. Instead I'll tell you keys to success and things to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you need to realistically assess what you will teach your dog. Everyone might want a super dog that knows a thousand tricks, but that takes someone who dedicates all their free time to training their dog. I know that I don't have that kind of time. Once you figure out what level you reasonably think you can train your dog to, then come up with a list of commands. You might not cover everything, but you don't want to teach your dog a command now that will sound like a command you'll teach down the road. They should be short, sharp, and sound as different as possible. You can also use hand cues for things. For instance, when working labs as retrievers, the trainer blows a whistle that means &quot;look at me&quot; and then give a hand signal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you know what commands you want to teach you should start with the basic ones and move on when they have a really good grasp of things. To be honest it really doesn't matter what you teach. The real trick is to teach your dog how to learn. If you teach you dog to be engaged in training and to keep trying things till they get it right, you'll help yourself out down the line. If you start with a difficult trick now, your dog will become frustrated and give up. If you've been teaching him how to learn all along, he'll try different things to get the reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go into training sessions with a game plan, but be prepared to adapt. When I'm training my horses or my dogs I go into it with a plant to work on 5-7 things that training sessions. If I run into problems or areas where they need improvement, I add those to the list for the next week or so. However, if the dog wants to work on something else or offers up a behavior, work on that while they're willing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep sessions short. I'm serious about this one. People want to hammer on training for an hour to make up for the fact that they've been busy all week. Ideally, you'll work with your dog in 10-15 minute sessions, less if they're a puppy and more if they act like they can handle it when they're more advanced in training. However, you'll find you'll make much more progress this way than hammering on something for along time. You just shift from one thing to another and train multiple things in that short session. Do it 2-3 times a day. The dog doesn't get bored, you maintain their interest, and you get much more accomplished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog acts frustrated, you should go back to a trick he does well and reward him, then quite and reevaluate the way you're going about it. When the dog gets frustrated he'll quite on you if you keep pushing and you'll get frustrated and mad. You're counter productive at that point. Also, it's natural for many animals to do a trick well multiple times and then screw it up and act like they've never heard of it. It's part of the training process. Know that it's going to happen and be prepared to go back and work on it from a lower level. Once they have it down solid this will no longer happen. Don't get frustrated and simply take them back to something they can handle and start over next training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally like to start my dogs with basic manners. By basic manners, I mean teaching a dog not to pull on the leash, walk through a door without being asked, not jumping in your car without being asked, etc... People don't think these things are important till they are. For instance, my family inherited my grandmothers spoiled dog. I kept making her wait till I asked before jumping in the car. They called me a dictator and wouldn't enforce this behavior. They took the dog to the river where she got muddy and soaked in river water. When they opened the car door to put something in there and put a cover down for her, she leaped in and shook that all over the clean interior before jumping in the front seat and doing it again. I tried to instill the same behavior at the door way. Again, they refused to enforce it. I simply asked her to wait till I waved her in before entering the house. Well, they were carrying groceries in and could barely get the door open. The dog rushed in and about took them and the groceries down. You have to prepare for situations where you don't have both hands free and your full attention available for the dog. I like to be able to leave the doors open in the spring without worrying about a dog coming inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't be afraid to treat. People are often too stingy when clicker training. Waiting on perfection or drastic improvement to treat. Treat anytime the dog gets close to what you're offering and give &quot;Jackpot&quot; rewards if they get a big breakthrough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your dog. If you start teaching these skill and teach your dog how to learn, you'll be able to easily teach it any cutsie trick you'd like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T14:50:53.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11774" CreationDate="2016-03-22T14:52:15.483" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spoke to the vet again today, and he said that opiates (like simbadol) can make cats nauseous and that's why she's drooling. Since the drooling has gone on for over 24 hours, he gave me some Cerenia pills to reduce her nausea. Pilling her caused her to create another huge beard again, but she seems to be better now (after an hour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T14:52:15.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11770" CreationDate="2016-03-22T17:30:42.437" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contact local &quot;rescue&quot; organizations. They can tell you what may be involved in socializing a feral animal, and where you may just have to accept that they may never be fully socialized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T17:30:42.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11744" CreationDate="2016-03-22T21:44:41.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only available avian vaccine is for avian polyomavirus (APV). APV is usually only a problem for hand-fed chicks. If chicks are parent-raised (or if they are shared-socialized, so that the parents and the human caretaker both feed the chicks), APV is rarely a problem, because antibodies are passed from the parents to the chicks during feedings. The vaccine itself can cause problems, and there is not a consensus among veterinarians about the wisdom of vaccinating for APV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An excellent, up-to-date discussion by Dr. Susan Orosz of APV vaccination can be found at: &lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/vaccines-pet-birds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/vaccines-pet-birds/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2016-03-22T21:44:41.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2016-03-23T07:33:49.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 pound (2.7 kg) Maltese was attacked by an owl 2 days ago at 5 AM. The owl carried her about 12 m (40 feet) and dropped her.  I took her to the emergency vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is suffering from sores on her right side over her ribs and several sores all over her front left leg. She has an eye injury from being dropped on her head and bruises on her body, her left front leg and neck.  She was so terribly traumatized that she cried at the top of her lungs for over an half hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is recovering, although she is very tender and sore. I knew we had an owl that resided in our backyard - I could hear it sometimes at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It never crossed my mind what it might do. I now go out with my dog for her potty breaks and am thinking seriously of getting a dog run.  A lesson learned the hard way at my dog's expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6891" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:37:40.810" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:37:40.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-23T08:45:26.890" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since my cat had his tail amputated he's been nibbling at his back and making bald, scabby patches of skin. How can I get this to heal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6892" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-03-23T15:04:20.390" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T07:55:39.497" Title="How to heal a scabby bald area on cats back" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-23T16:11:11.727" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it better to keep a single parrot as a pet, or more than one for company. I know there are many things to consider, but and overall answer will be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T21:35:17.710" Title="Wise to have one or two pet parrots in the same cage" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11783" CreationDate="2016-03-23T19:59:02.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Parrots should &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; be kept at least as a pair. They are highly social animals, and a human just cannot replace that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, keep in mind that most commercial cages are realyl too small for even one parrot, let alone 2. To give a parrot a happy life, you should more be thinkign about a room the parrot can move freely in, with the cage as a &quot;save house&quot; to retreat to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T19:59:02.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11708" CreationDate="2016-03-23T21:54:39.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats that used to sleep with me. Their time to get up was 3:30 or 4 a.m. So I went to bed and closed the door. It took 2 weeks before they stopped meowing outside the door. Routine: 4 a.m. meowing begins. I waited until they paused for a minute, then opened the door. This took awhile and now they don't meow at all. When I get up at 5 a.m. they are at the door, waiting quietly. And sometimes I can sleep until 6!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T21:54:39.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11307" CreationDate="2016-03-23T22:00:31.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pretty good about communicating with themselves. Lucky's growling and snapping at Cooper doesn't necessarily mean that Lucky was being aggressive and looking to hurt Cooper. This is how dogs teach each other what they are willing to tolerate from each other. I think the real problem is that Rusty got in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be for you to let Lucky teach Cooper himself that he doesn't want to play and just wants to be left alone. This can only happen with Rusty out of the way. So I would suggest giving Lucky and Cooper an opportunity to interact with each other by themselves, and putting Rusty somewhere else by himself so he doesn't interfere. You can put Rusty in a locked room, or in a different floor in the house, or take him outside while you leave the other two inside or vice versa, or take him for a long walk or to the dog park or hiking. Just make sure he doesn't see or hear the other two dogs. And make sure Rusty doesn't feel like he is being punished, so if you put him in a different room, give him a rawhide or kong or something to make him happy and entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to do this in short bursts every day for weeks, maybe longer, until Cooper gets the picture that Lucky isn't interested in play. Just make sure you keep a very close eye on Lucky and Cooper while they are together just in case things get out of hand. Never leave them unattended. A good trick is to keep leashes on both dogs so you can easily pull them apart if you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6893" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T22:00:31.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11761" CreationDate="2016-03-23T23:01:32.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to hire a behaviorist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a dog just like this, and almost a year and a half later I still can't take her for walks. She's afraid of strangers, noises, being outside, you name it, she's afraid of it. She was about 1.5 years old when I adopted her and I was told she came from a hoarding (possibly puppy mill) situation and was never properly socialized as a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a serious case, and I think most dogs adjust much quicker than mine, but fearfulness in dogs is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with with the help of a professional. You could make things worse by pushing her too far beyond her boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I attempted walking my dog with the help of a behaviorist and noticed it was making things worse. So I stopped. I felt just like you did, that this is something she should enjoy doing, but I felt it was in her best interest to stop pushing her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a couple of asides, please get her spayed. Tens of thousands of dogs are killed every year in US shelters. We don't need to add to that. Secondly, no reputable rescue would adopt out an unspayed/unneutered dog. It's a shame that this &quot;rescue&quot; did that. Lastly, it's not true that rescue dogs inherently come with issues and baggage. Your lovely girl has some issues and so does mine, but there are many more that are perfectly happy and adjusted dogs. Dogs bought from puppy mills tend to have just as many issues because they are ripped away from their mothers way too young and are not properly socialized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6894" LastActivityDate="2016-03-23T23:01:32.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11788" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-23T23:39:06.850" Score="6" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My red ear slider shell flakes off as clear flakes. What is happening, what do I need to do? I have been using cuttle bone and stepped up his basking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6895" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T01:55:57.287" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T01:55:57.287" Title="My turtle's shell flakes off" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11708" CreationDate="2016-03-24T17:01:51.337" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you may be a first time cat owner.  The first rules of &quot;owning&quot; a cat are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will no longer have closed doors inside the house. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will no longer have plants or flowers inside the house (most are toxic to cats). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will learn to slowly go up and down stairs to let the cat run in front of you (and you will teach all visitors to do the same).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And you will never (and I do mean never) go to the bathroom by yourself again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to answer your actual question:  yes, your kitty should calm down in a couple weeks.  I work at an animal shelter, and we do not have time to spend quality time with each cat, when we have 100 cats at any one time.   Your kitty has been starved for attention.  After she understands that you will come back every day after work and are not leaving her and after she understands she will get attention every day, she should start acting more like a &quot;normal&quot; cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are more affectionate than others.  It sounds like your cat will likely always follow you (mine do too) and want to be with you, but her anxiety about needing to soak up every ounce of your attention before you leave her should subside.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you let her sleep with you.  This will help her anxiety.  You do not have to worry about hurting her in your sleep.   You may not realize it, but you are very predictable to a cat.  You will give some indication, no matter how slight, that you are getting ready to roll over, kick, etc.  Your cat will know, even from what looks like a deep sleep, and respond accordingly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, with a &quot;normal&quot; cat you still must follow the rules I stated at the beginning.  These never go away.  Cats hate closed doors.  Cats eat plants.  Cats will always be under your feet when going up and down stairs.  It's cat law.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as you can see by the many people who are trying to help you on this site, these small, insignificant aggravations are nothing compared to the joy of having a cat as your best friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:46:42.303" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:46:42.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11422" CreationDate="2016-03-24T18:17:53.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snakes are a lot more likely to bite when they are hungry. My ball will act like he wants to strike me about a day or two before his scheduled feeding day then for two or three days after he will be very cautious, although I would suggest the biting is both a result of fear (my aggressive boa strikes in exactly the same manner), and possibly environmental stress. My boa is the biggest scarred cat because she grew up in an abusive household and when you pull her out of the enclosure she will strike randomly in any direction to try to scare you off. Did the snake let out a huff sound or did it straight out hiss at you? Make sure when you hold the snake you aren't gripping it at all. Let the snake crawl between hands or arms and don't use sudden movements. Also try not to come from over top of the snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another note, also snakes can &quot;smell&quot; fear in a sense that you release pheromones when you are scared that can be detected by snakes. Make sure you also wash your hands so it cant smell any other pets you may have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you follow the care sheet and the temp/humidity are right in the environment. I would also suggest feeding the snake, waiting 3-5 days, then trying to hold them again. You can also help the snake get used to you (a new, big, scary creature) by standing by the cage for a while. You don't even have to be doing anything but it helps the snake get used to your scent. I also highly recommend slow movements and most snakes don't like coming in from above. The best way to make a snake feel safe is simply a lot of time around that snake. Try to work with the snake a bit and make sure it is used to people holding it. Also don't handle the snake for a few days after a move, a feeding, or generally any change that can stress them out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:57:24.980" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:57:24.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10374" CreationDate="2016-03-24T18:45:52.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What type of treatment? Most of the time, conditioner for water is just getting rid of chlorine, both fish conditioner and ReptiSafe do this. From what I read on forums, it seems that ReptiSafe and &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; fish conditioners are fine for all animals as long as you follow the instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note, make sure the pH levels needed for your fish are not harmful to the reptile you have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:03:49.367" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:03:49.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9339" CreationDate="2016-03-24T20:50:14.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are going to want both ideally. The deep substrate is good for burrowing (which they will do) but not deep enough to cut down on the heat. I would say at least 1 hide and deeper substrate is probably fine but two hides are good for most terrestrial snakes. According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Snakes/Kenyan-Sand-Boa/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;care sheet&lt;/a&gt; sand boas also destroy their environment so dont get a ton of stuff in there and also dont get heavy hides for when they burrow so it doesn't injure themselves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-03-24T21:55:21.807" LastActivityDate="2016-03-24T21:55:21.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11797" CreationDate="2016-03-25T01:38:20.837" Score="9" ViewCount="12275" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently discovered that we have another mouse in our apartment.  We also have a cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, our cat has caught a mouse before, and has shown interest in doing so again, but we don't want to encourage her to eat a mouse - we don't know if other people in the apartment use poison or not.  And we aren't keeping her just to kill mice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, we'd like to get traps, safe traps, that can kill the mouse but not harm our cat.  What sort of trap can we get that would do this?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't care if the mouse lives or dies - we just want it caught and gone.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-30T17:55:50.453" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T17:55:50.453" Title="What mouse traps are pet safe?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11796" CreationDate="2016-03-25T07:06:48.750" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd simply buy a live trap that won't kill the mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many different makes available, but in general it should be impossible for your cat to get hurt by them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an added bonus, once trapped, the mouse will be isolated, i.e. making it impossible for your cat to eat the mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for clarification: Do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; use poison in a live trap. The cat might be able to open it and/or get poison to drop out, which you don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-03-28T13:50:37.160" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T13:50:37.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-25T10:32:54.420" Score="7" ViewCount="48229" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat always seems to get his front paws stuck on any fabric when he uses his claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have blankets on the sofa (so we can wash them out every now and then) and if he stretches his paws after a nap, 9 out of 10 times one of his claws is hooked in the blanket and he seems to have an issue unhooking his paw.&#xA;Even when he uses a scratching pole, his claw seems to get stuck in the rope of the pole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not intentionality dig his claws into anything, but still gets stuck on it.&#xA;He goes on a yearly check up every year but the vet never said &quot;its time to clip his claws a bit&quot; even if we ask if its necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes he will even have both his paws hooked onto something.&#xA;He usually gets himself lose but it always looks like its a problem when he does so.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Our other cat never seems to get his paw stuck on anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing worth mentioning is that he does suffer from the same affliction as shown in this post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7104/why-does-my-cat-get-calluses-on-his-paw-pads&quot;&gt;Why does my cat get calluses on his paw pads?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T01:18:28.960" Title="Why does my cat get hooked on everything with his nails?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-25T13:19:13.397" Score="4" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom rescued a bunny that was abandoned in a house for about 9 months, and we got her a nice big cage, with plenty of chews, and lots of hay and rabbit food. Our neighbor was feeding the bunny, but she could never catch her and she ate her food them but she isn't anymore. I've had her for 3 days, and yesterday I gave her half a carrot and about 2 or 3 broccoli. I mixed her regular Timothy pellets (her regular food she isn't eating) with Timothy hay (also something she isn't eating) with some dry oats and the carrot and broccoli. She ate everything except her pellets and hay. I know she needs to say both of them, but I'm not sure how to get her to want to eat them. What should I do?? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6904" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:13:39.883" Title="Just rescued a bunny... Not eating any hay or rabbit food" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11799" CreationDate="2016-03-25T14:13:39.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get her to eat more hay, feed less pellets and carrots.  A better choice for fresh vegetables is romaine lettuce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carrots and broccoli should both be feed with moderation &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/what-to-feed-your-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What to Feed Your Rabbit at rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt; also see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1816&quot;&gt;Are carrots a healthy part of a rabbit diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pellets should also be feed in moderation, about 1/4 cup per pounds of body weight per day (but varies greatly depending on weight issues).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the rabbit was outside for some time, fleas may be an issue, so take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925&quot;&gt;How do I get rid of fleas on my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:13:39.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2016-03-25T14:23:24.787" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats seem to have this problem more than others. I would suggest trimming his front claws regularly. You only need to take off the sharp pointy tip so they're blunted a bit. It doesn't need to be a precision job. If he isn't used to getting his claws trimmed, then just do one paw at a time, or even just one nail at a time! If you do this regularly, you'll probably find that there are only a few claws that need trimming at any one time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should eliminate the problem. Any time he gets stuck, check to see if a new nail has appeared; if so, trim it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem persists despite nail trimming, consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:23:24.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2016-03-25T14:25:17.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are individuals when dealing with their claws.  For example, some cats will keep them sheathed when playing, others don't so much.  Some cats will scratch at scratching posts more than others.  I imagine your one cat is partially getting caught more due to individual differences in behavior.  It'll help if you take particular care to keep them clipped, but your cat will probably still get caught sometimes anyways.  As for the callous thing, I had a cat that had those type of callouses, but he did not seem to get his claws caught on things very often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:25:17.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11433" CreationDate="2016-03-25T14:31:44.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat may be waking your because it's hungry, or because it's bored. Or a combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed the cat when you wake up, or shortly afterward, then it will associate waking you with getting fed. Perhaps you can feed the cat later, just before you leave for the day. Or leave a little dry food out the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now comes the fun part. When the cat wakes you, pull it close and snuggle it. You can do this without really waking up. Either the cat stays and you get a nice cat cuddle, or more likely, it runs off and leaves you alone for a bit. Either way, it's a win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T14:31:44.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11804" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11981" CreationDate="2016-03-25T17:46:41.770" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 month old Cocker Spaniel puppy and he urinates in designated spot correctly but when it comes to stool he always misses it and makes a mess and keeps stepping in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train him to do defecate in the same spot as urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6907" LastEditorUserId="971" LastEditDate="2016-03-26T06:40:21.070" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T03:49:56.020" Title="How to make puppy defecate and urinate in the same place?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11796" CreationDate="2016-03-25T19:23:05.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/11797/6901&quot;&gt;previous&lt;/a&gt; answer says you can buy live traps. They have them at many home improvement stores like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lowes.com/pd_642546-446-0360610___?productId=50259655&amp;amp;pl=1&amp;amp;Ntt=mouse%20no%20kill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one at Lowes&lt;/a&gt;. They sell in many &quot;no kill&quot; or &quot;pet safe&quot; formats. Ive even seen a poison trap where the mouse gets poisoned inside the trap so it is still &quot;pet safe&quot; because the poison is not exposed to the animal. If these get to be expensive I am posting some links to homemade mouse traps. Depending on how curious your cat is, they may or may not work for your purposes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need a cheap alternative from items around the house here are a few suggestions: &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/5811880/make-a-no-kill-mousetrap-with-a-jar-and-a-nickel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is one using a mug and a nickel (that i have used before and it works surprisingly well)&lt;/a&gt; if your cat is not nosy enough to knock it down that is a good cheap alternative to a bought trap. The caveat is that the mug needs to be fairly shallow (for the mouse to reach) and heavy enough to trap the mouse under.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTrssT8dcg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a video on how to make a water bottle trap for a mouse/rat&lt;/a&gt;. Ive never used this so I cant verify that it works but it is an option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-%22No-Kill%22-Mouse-Trap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This one shows you with pictures using a basket and roll of cardboard&lt;/a&gt; This one is not as good for a cat because the cat can just jump into it and attack the mouse, or knock the catching container over to play with the mouse. Im putting here for reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of these work you can always get a snapping mouse trap then make sure to put it in places your cat cant get (behind fridge, etc.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-03-25T19:23:05.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2016-03-26T03:00:04.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have comment privileges so I can't comment on mhwombat's answer, but I agree that trimming the claws should help or possibly solve this. I trim my cats' claws approximately once a month. One of my cats used to regularly get her claws stuck in carpet even while walking normally, and keeping her claws trimmed has prevented that from happening. When I first started trimming her claws she gave me an extra-hard time, but I think part of the reason was because her toes were sore from getting caught on things; she was much better about it the times afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6506" LastActivityDate="2016-03-26T03:00:04.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-26T13:32:03.747" Score="4" ViewCount="1857" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a year old male rabbit that will not eat hay of any kind and barely eats any pellets. He has been this way since we brought him home. I have tried all kinds of hay and hay cubes. I've bought plain pellets and pellets with other stuff mixed in. I finally started feeding him a limited amount of fresh vegetables and a little fruit which he loves. He also loves fresh picked grass. Any suggestions on what to do with this lucky guy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6909" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-03-26T23:54:56.160" LastActivityDate="2016-11-02T09:48:19.353" Title="my rabbit absolutely will not eat hay and very little pellets" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11808" CreationDate="2016-03-26T14:15:58.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, worth checking &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10866/my-rabbit-will-not-eat-his-hay-how-can-i-motivate-or-even-begin-adding-hay-int?rq=1&quot;&gt;My rabbit will not eat his hay! How can I motivate, or even begin adding hay into his diet?&lt;/a&gt; for some good information on some hay types to try. He may simply not like the brand/variety you're supplying him. Fresh is better and he needs to have it available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the topic of pellets, well, when I had rabbits, the pellets were there as a backup in case we were late in feeding them. A good mix of fresh veggies is much better for your bun, pellets are more like junk food and I would minimize them. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/pellet-free-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society&lt;/a&gt; has more detail on the topic as well as lots of food suggestions, especially which veggies are appropriate and which to avoid completely (there are a few).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-03-26T14:15:58.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2016-03-27T14:29:52.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is likely playing aggressively, this happens with some cats. My cat attacks and bites me especially when I am lying in bed. As I am on his eye level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She treats you like another cat, maybe even her mother. Kittens bite their mothers as play but since you aren't a cat hurting her back may not help.  She may think you are playing rough with her because she is playing her cat way with you. Cats fur make bites probably not as painful for them but when she bites you it feels as if she is trying to hurt you but she isn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6915" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-27T15:30:46.177" LastActivityDate="2016-03-27T15:30:46.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11813" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-28T01:33:20.917" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is generally healthy but just tapered off yesterday and has resisted all food and fluids today. We have given some liquids by syringe but at this efforts he screams. He is definitely dehydrated. He seems interested in food but then won't eat it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His respirations and temperature are normal. He won't let us take pulse or look in mouth. He had good urine output last night.  10 days ago he had teeth cleaned and a full blood workup.  Platelets are low.  All else is normal except glucose and creatinin which are high and doctor attributes it to stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will take him to vet in AM but any ideas before then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6917" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T15:47:09.550" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T15:48:44.097" Title="6 yo cat not eating or drinking, ideas?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2018-01-16T19:08:41.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2016-03-28T01:46:09.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since he objects to trimming maybe gently pet and practice expressing his claws with out clippers until he lets you occasionally clip one claw.  Build on this as he is comfortable.  Just take the tip.  Other idea would be purchase claw sheaths from vet or specialty shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6917" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T01:46:09.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2016-03-28T09:12:07.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also agree that the length of the nails can affect the incidence of hooking to things. If clipping is not for your cat, which in my experience is only reserved for really calm cats, then you can try scratch posts or boxes to 'de' sharpen the nails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place a scratch post close to the area he spends a lot of time and sprinkle some Catnip over it to start the 'bonding' process. It's a more natural way and worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T09:12:07.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11796" CreationDate="2016-03-28T09:43:04.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very common thought that will come to mind when dealing with unwanted wild rodents in your dwelling are the very popular warfarin-like rodenticides (i.e. Rattax). Although I disagree a bit, but can't find my official sources to back me up, the concern about secondary poisoning for your cats are raised by the public. Although not cats so much, the biggest danger is primary ingestion by pets (mainly dogs) of these poisons. Rats can bump them off the shelves or carry them to more exposed areas. The humanity is also questionable, but see later as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your situation, live traps are better. Commercially available, but you can also use, for example, one of those olden days 1L glass milk bottles placed at a +- 40 degrees angle and put some mouse treats in it. Place it where you see the droppings. The mouse will go in, but due to the slippery nature of glass won't be able to escape again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, when relocating it to a nearby veldt or outside, being dwelling loving creatures, the mouse will either come back or very likely go and bother someone else, who might not be so kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T09:43:04.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-28T09:49:07.337" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;My young (6 months) female Shiba Inu keeps gnawing on our antique wood roof posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are a few centuries old, and therefore splinter easily - which I guess is half the fun for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried sprays for furniture but it didn't work. Neither has wrapping the posts with cling film (Saran wrap).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are considering brushing a chili powder concoction on the posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6920" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T12:06:49.407" Title="How to stop dog from gnawing on antique posts" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5942" CreationDate="2016-03-28T10:12:16.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to say, but the pet food industry very much preys on owner perception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that concerns me by this type of advertising is, what is YOUR perception about meat byproducts? I know my girlfriend for example despises it and she will never buy those foods for her cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are VERY different from humans (and dogs for that matter) when it comes to their nutritional needs. Not all meat by-products are bad for cats, but most cat owners don't have the ability to judge correctly. As was pointed out, the control of the quality and types of byproducts used are also questionable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I do believe in is science. That's all we as humans have that can guide us in the right direction. There are animal scientists and often veterinarians working on pet food formulations. Is that the truth or perception you get from the brand? - i.e. their reputation? Then I would say their claim about not using by-products carries weight. Although not always the case, but most often, the cost of the food is an indication of quality of ingredients and research value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-28T10:12:16.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-28T23:44:43.637" Score="0" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bearded Dragon is shedding her whole back but she has a white grey spot is there anyone that's experience that with their bearded Dragon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeling really concerned &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6928" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-03-30T10:08:56.520" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T10:08:56.520" Title="Shedding bearded Dragon, has a white grey spot" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-01T10:03:53.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2016-03-29T03:36:42.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a good idea to take a wild animal into your house accept in very rare situations. Baby cottontail rabbits are very hard to keep alive without their mother for a number of reasons. First, they have poor immune systems and the little immunity they do have comes from the mother's milk. Without that they often die. Also-you can not buy rabbit formula at a local pet store. Rabbits' formula is very different from human, dog or cat formula. Rabbits are vegetarians and don't digest those formulas well. Also, a mother rabbit usually only nurses her babies for about 5 minutes per day. Therefore each baby probably only gets about a minute to nurse in a 24 hour period. Therefore the mother rabbit's milk is extremely high in calories and fat. That is not the case with dog and cat formulas you will find at local pet stores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rehabilitation of a baby cottontail is very hard but it is not impossible. I actually found a baby cottontail when its eyes were still closed. It was likely only 2-3 days old. It was lying alone on a hot sidewalk. It was probably dropped by a cat that removed it from its nest. The nest could not be found and the rabbit looked close to death so I brought it inside. I knew nothing about baby rabbits at the time but I read all I could. I first hydrated the bunny with drops of pedialyte and an eye dropper.  I then switched to puppy formula mixed with probiotics for rabbits. I kept the bunny in a covered aquarium with a heat lamp on one side. It's a very long story from there but that was two years ago and the cottontail is now a house pet. He eats rabbit food, hay and veggies like a domestic rabbit would. He lives inside my house in a huge 3 floor cage and is litter box trained! He's skittish and doesn't like to be picked up. However, he lets me pet him and he will eat out of my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made the decision not to release him to the wild because I felt he probably would not survive. I live in the woods with bobcats, fishers, fox and coyotes. The rabbit has learned to ring a bell when his food dish is empty. Obviously, that is not going to work well in the woods. He seems very happy. I'm sure he doesn't miss the wild since he has never experienced it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6929" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:27:17.100" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:27:17.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2016-03-29T07:57:07.910" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Air circulation:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is critical. Air, oxygen should be added to the pond amid the winter basically on the grounds that the fish are as yet breathing and, along these lines, spending the accessible supply. Additionally moving water takes more time to solidify than still water &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deicers:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deicers are regularly called &quot;pond warmers&quot; and this is a misinterpretation. They are not intended to warm the whole pond, but rather just to keep a gap in the ice sufficiently open for the carbon monoxide to escape and to give fresh air access. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Smelling salts:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently we have to address the smelling salts issue in the event that we need to over winter fish. Around 80% of the smelling salts in the pond originates from the fish. The vast majority of it from the gill capacity and the rest from their waste. Alkali additionally is delivered from rotting natural matter, dead stuff... leaves, plants, bugs, dead fish, and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Break the ice whenever. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sustain the fish after the water temp stays beneath 50 degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leave the pond pumps and Filters running if there is a chance&#xA;the framework will solidify and the water will be lost.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Include fresh water without utilizing a dechlorinator.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Salt the ice on the pond with the expectation that it will liquefy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give garbage a chance to develop on the ice over the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give anybody a chance to ice skate or play hockey on the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6931" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-29T13:40:04.960" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T13:40:04.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1576" CreationDate="2016-03-29T08:32:59.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Algae for ponds, fountains, wall waterfalls or any other water feature:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Algae really performs an essential and imperative part, much the same as some other plant in your pond - that is to assimilate nitrates, which is what's left in the water after your pond's useful microorganisms are done corrupting fish and plant waste. Nitrates are incredible plant manures, however left unchecked, can be hurtful to amphibian life. Along these lines, a tiny bit of algae is okay and it is likewise a wellspring of nourishment for goldfish and koi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6931" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-29T13:35:01.690" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T13:35:01.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-29T13:01:57.970" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Female show Florida White has starting &quot;unintentional harming&quot; her litters, I believe she is doing this while the cleaning them after birth. We managed to save 2 out of 5. We have been holding our momma Lop (her litter is 4 weeks old so they are too old to place these little ones with her) and holding the other babies to her while they feed. Mind you the newborns were born 3/26/16 and today is 3/29/16. We have managed to keep them going for this long. Just wondering if there is anything else I can do to increase chance of survival? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note my children raise FFA breeding rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6933" LastEditorUserId="6933" LastEditDate="2016-03-29T13:15:10.650" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T13:15:10.650" Title="Domestic Rabbit Abandoned her litter" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2841" CreationDate="2016-03-29T16:28:13.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The oldest cat ever recorded was in part, fed coffee with heavy cream. So it seems like caffeine may not be completely bad for cats. I wonder how much coffee they gave the cat... Creme Puff (the cat) lived for 38 years according to Wikipedia and other sources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creme_Puff_%28cat%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creme_Puff_%28cat%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6935" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T16:28:13.103" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11822" CreationDate="2016-03-29T17:22:19.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It shouldnt be anything serious, there is a nice answer to a similar question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2109/6901&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that describes (what sounds to me) like exactly the same problem. There is also a good picture to go along with it. Also if you want to read the same thing from a forum i found check my comment on the question. It seems to me like it is a shedding problem and a lukewarm bath should help the beardie along with that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;make sure it is lukewarm and not warmer&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are at 98 degrees so if we think it is warm reptiles will think it is scalding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T17:27:43.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12094" CreationDate="2016-03-29T17:33:13.150" Score="6" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought my Uro a Finch seed mix since I read seeds can be a good addition to a Uro's diet in terms of nutrients and roughage. I've been giving it to her for a few months now, and noticed that she particularly likes one of the ingredients; large beige chunks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to go over the ingredients again, and realized there are a few &quot;odd&quot; ingredients in it that I missed the first time I bought it. My biggest concern, since it seems like an unnatural part of their diet and what she seems to be the most fond of, is &quot;ground hulled peanuts&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this cause for concern/switching brands/recipes? She absolutely &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; this mix, so I'd rather not switch if  it's ok, but I also don't want to hurt her.&#xA;She isn't given insects, so I don't think overconsumption of protein would be an issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some searching, and found forum posts of lizards eating (and loving) peanut butter, but obviously this doesn't prove that it's good for them, or not harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the back of the bag. I underlined a few questionable ingredients, including the peanuts. I know both corn and rice are often used as filler, but looking through the mix, I can't see anything that looks like either of them; I can only see seeds and fruit chunks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jPB8C.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jPB8C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="2651" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T00:52:31.763" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T14:34:37.073" Title="Can Uromastyx eat peanuts?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2841" CreationDate="2016-03-29T18:25:20.687" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Websearch says that LD50  (the overdose that will kill half the animals in the study) for caffeine is around 70 mg per 1 lb body weight (150 mg / kg body weight). As an example, instant coffee contains over 60 mg caffeine per teaspoon. So, the lethal dose of caffeine for a 15 lb (6.8 kg) dog would be 17 teaspoons of instant coffee. Stronger coffees such as Turkish coffee, percolated coffees, and energy drinks would take much less to become toxic for a dog. LD50 in a cat is 200 mg/kg ... So cats are less sensitive per body weight, but do typically weigh less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theobromine LD50 is about 1000 mg/kg in humans. But for cats it’s 200 mg/kg and for dogs it’s 300 mg/kg. So cats are more sensitive to tea and chocolate than dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, cats are much less likely to scarf down significant quantities of either than dogs are. They don't react to sweetness, among other reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you don't want to actively feed your cat these chemicals. But a few drops, or a few chocolate flakes, are unlikely to do any harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-03-29T20:05:26.003" LastActivityDate="2016-03-29T20:05:26.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11080" CreationDate="2016-03-30T00:16:52.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two words: body language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be calm (I did not say pretend, I say be calm. Animals can read body language way better than humans)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid eye contact, direct eye contact is a challenge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid facing the animal directly, turn at an angle. Stand up straight, you want to project confidence without aggression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yawn or stretch, it means &quot;I am not a threat&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep your hands and feet for yourself, do not gesticulate and do not reach for the animal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you have to speak, speak slowly and with low register (high pitch is an alerting signal to animals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be patient while you follow the above. If you do it right, the animal will calm down. When it does, offer food but only if the animal appears calm. Now you can also lower to your knees but keep the back and head straight. You are not submitting, you are being friendly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gained this knowledge in several years of dog rescue volunteering cross referenced with current body of knowledge. Specifically I specialized in difficult cases where dogs distrust humans and for good reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6808" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T00:16:52.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6581" CreationDate="2016-03-30T02:58:58.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get the guy fixed and they can live together without the female getting pregnant I would look for signs that the female is close to pregnancy and take the male away once she shows these signs as for the double pregnancy it's pretty rare but if you want to be sure she doesn't have a double pregnancy seperate them until you get the male fixed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6936" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T02:58:58.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11834" CreationDate="2016-03-30T07:27:17.790" Score="4" ViewCount="993" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new puppy and I am trying to train him not to eat the cat food. The cat has worms, so I take some fancy feast and put some liquid wormer in it. Because the cat is still spooked by the dog, I have noticed he wont eat all of his food in one sitting. My dog is waking up in the middle of the night and eating the cat's medicated food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will this hurt him?&lt;/strong&gt; and are there any other ways besides putting him in his kennel to get him to stop? I don't want the kennel to be punishment, and he is a barker when I put him in the kennel making it hard to sleep. What do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5585" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:08:04.343" Title="Dog keeps eating my cats medicated food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11833" CreationDate="2016-03-30T10:20:32.880" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the cat food up on a counter where the cat can get to it but the dog can't.  If the cat does not get all of the medicine you can create worms in the cat that are immune to drug you are using to treat cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That which does not kill a parasite makes it stronger&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T10:20:32.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9918" CreationDate="2016-03-30T13:01:20.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I first put in Betta food and wait until my Betta is done eating, and then a put tropical fish flakes in for my neon tetras. It has worked very well and I have been able to keep them alive for up to a year so far!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6938" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T13:01:20.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2016-03-30T20:21:52.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen or heard of Carpet Scratch Stoppers but after many failed attempts to stop my cat from getting into the computer room (with all those cords) I did come up with a solution. I bought the clear carpet runners for steps. Use it upside down with the little pricks showing (just doen't step on that in stocking feet) or even the correct way. You can cut to fit. It worked for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2016-03-30T20:21:52.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11838" CreationDate="2016-03-31T02:34:46.537" Score="4" ViewCount="21753" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog, Peanut, is a 2 year old female Dachshund. We just recently took her for her first visit to a nearby dog park. We noticed that she had foam on her lips/jowls. I then realized visiting the dog park seems to cause her to create more saliva than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On our next visit to the park, we paid closer attention, and sure enough, we had to wipe her mouth off a couple times. (Of course, we didn't really HAVE to, but you know what I mean.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this salivating a normal physical response, or reaction, when visiting a social area, such as a leash-free dog park?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T18:12:54.473" Title="Is it normal for a dog park visit to cause extra saliva/foam at the mouth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11837" CreationDate="2016-03-31T06:18:10.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's pretty normal, our boys sometimes let it &quot;rain&quot; a bit under their mouths, if they smell other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I'm not sure about the actual &quot;foam&quot;. This might be an overreaction of some kind, but overall it's really hard to judge, because for some &quot;foam&quot; starts at 1-2 bubbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're unsure, ask your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T06:18:10.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11142" CreationDate="2016-03-31T12:56:35.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats can &quot;drink&quot; sea water. Anyone can for that matter can drink sea water. Is it good for them? No. Will they? Questionable. They will also not get hydrated from drinking sea water - the opposite will happen. Sea water contains high levels of Sodium and Chloride (mainly salt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is a well known fact that most domestic species, including companion animals, can tolerate high levels of salt in their diets (up to 13% is mentioned) - as long as there is fresh water available. If not, high levels of Sodium gets absorbed into the blood and has an osmotic effect, pulling water towards the blood, &lt;strong&gt;DE&lt;/strong&gt;hydrating the body and increasing the blood pressure (similar to humans eating lots of salted meats). Cats are no different. Dehydration, as with any species, will lead to many other problems including blindness, renal shut down, seisures, etc, including death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Source Merck Veterinary Manual (I used 10th edition). &quot;Salt poisoning&quot; under pathophysiology and etiology.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what some people might confuse cats and salt water with, and I recall, I can't quote at the moment, is the fact that, being desert animals, cats have huge capacity for retaining water in their bodies. Their kidneys can retain water and concentrate urine to excrete a concentrated mineral mixture. Evolutionary, this puts a lot of strain on their kidneys, making them more prone to renal functional problems which lead to partial or complete failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason, veterinary feline diets often contains relative high levels of salt to stimulate (fresh) water intake, to better support the kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T13:20:06.543" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T13:20:06.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11837" CreationDate="2016-03-31T13:11:01.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is normal &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt;, but it's surely not something to be concerned about. My dog, female, Dashshund X does not do it when she goes out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many possible normal reasons for it to happen. Very often it's a bit of car sickness that starts the process. Other dogs will salivate when they see or smell food. Other dogs or people can also cause her to get very excited making it an adrenal response. Hormones from sniffing the urination of male dogs or female dogs on heat can also trigger this behaviour. All physiologically acceptable reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T13:11:01.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11833" CreationDate="2016-03-31T13:20:40.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog can get a bit overweight from too many proteins from cat food. Cat food can also spoil dogs, especially puppies, because it tastes better than dog food. Theoretically your puppy's potential worms can also become resistant to the cats' dewormers and cause minor problems in the future - so make sure your puppy gets proper deworming as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from serving your cat from a height, you can also try different dewormers, like top spot dewormers that get absorbed through the skin (talk to your family veterinarian about options). Otherwise, feed your cat while going for a walk with the dog, or feed them in different locations at the same time. By feeding a small quantity of palatable food (like Fancy Feast) with the dewormer powder on, a hungry cat will be more inclined to eat it all at one go, whereafter you feed the rest of the food. Also, as a side note, I always warn clients that feeding a cat from a counter encourages them to jump on your dinner table while you're eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T09:08:04.343" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:08:04.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11817" CreationDate="2016-03-31T19:16:39.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have not had any answers so here is an idea.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a light packing foam.  Not the bubble stuff - a light foam.  You could even use newspaper.   Soak it in a bitter apple or chili powder or ... and wrap some legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brush chili powder also seems like a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T12:06:49.407" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T12:06:49.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-31T19:45:51.060" Score="4" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am starting to get setup for snake breeding (balls) and I am lost on the process of multi enclosures. It is hard to find information about getting started with them and best practices/equipment to use because most links on google are just people selling them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to need at least 8 enclosures for the baby snakes and I was wondering if people build their own racks or if they just buy them online? If you build your own do you need a separate thermostat for each or just one thermostat hooked to all the (tape I assume) if it is a multi rack thing. Also should I get heating on all the enclosures or just the back or sides of the rack? Is there a problem with light using the racks? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-12-08T03:41:39.317" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T22:15:21.670" Title="How do I heat and/or build multiple snake enclosures?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11865" CreationDate="2016-03-31T20:21:57.763" Score="3" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the early days my cat, which is about 3 years old, likes to play with me by gently scratching and biting my hand without really giving any damage, but recently she's become more aggressive and attacks with force, leaving multiple scratch marks and tries to bite &quot;for real&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I try to stop her she sees it as &quot;prey trying to resist&quot; and attacks even more aggressively, and if I ignore her and walk away, she'll run behind and try to catch my legs to continue the &quot;hunt&quot;. Are there any ways to make her understand that what she's doing hurts and she should take the game less seriously? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6740" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T09:51:42.793" Title="How do I stop my cat from going too far while playing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2016-03-31T20:45:47.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a fish pond and never have, but I can give you an answer I've derived from watching some pond building shows as well as from articles where people have ponds their livestock drink from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the pond building show, they had the water suck up from the bottom/far end of the pond to go up to the filter and return on the top/opposite side. This created a &quot;current&quot; that help kick up the debris and get them properly filtered. However, during the winter, they didn't want to disturb the fish resting on the bottom, so they moved the intake either to the top, or the top/same side as the return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea on the livestock pond that might work for you, is that the person put a small water pump in the pond. You're filter return might do this as well, but the pump pushed the water straight up. It wasn't a geyser, but broke the water surface so that there was constantly moving water and even when the rest of the pond froze, a fairly large area around the pump was ice free. This would keep it open enough to promote oxygen exchange for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T20:45:47.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-03-31T21:03:14.653" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female dog, when she was little her birth did not go to plan, her mother was constantly used to being bred, I was thinking of breeding my dog once but one problem... I am too scared what will happen, this is what happened in her birth....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-My dog was found a hole in her heart&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-She had fur but took longer to grow (when she was fully grown she had puppy fur still and looked like a hairless dog)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-She is a teacup (Small for her breed)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think she will be safe and the puppies will? I know she will be a great mother but I am not sure if her and puppies will be healthy.&#xA;Such as if one of them will be ill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(she is not pregnant but I want to make sure in case if I do breed her)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastEditorUserId="6875" LastEditDate="2016-03-31T21:48:23.840" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T21:48:23.840" Title="What is the impact of my dog having puppies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11844" CreationDate="2016-03-31T21:24:08.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem with my leg, we found out what my cat loves though which changed it all which are toy mice and catnip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and buy some fun toys and play with her, but it is best to find out how she is with catnip first because it can have different kinds of impact. For example, my cat loves catnip so much that when we give her a toy with catnip she goes absolutely crazy and her eyes widen up! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say buy one toy that your cat may/will love, as your cat is getting older her bites and scratches wont seem as cute. You think as she gets older the more they will hurt, so it is best to switch your hand to a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastEditorUserId="6955" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T09:51:42.793" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T09:51:42.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11813" CreationDate="2016-03-31T21:29:39.807" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take him to the vets and do what they say. There is not much you can do. He is an older cat. Maybe he is ill or something, or has a bad stomach ache. I would let the vet tell you what to do for your pet as he seems to be in safe hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6875" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T15:48:44.097" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T15:48:44.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11846" CreationDate="2016-03-31T21:38:50.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very broad question and depends on many factors. To me it surely sounds like a case for concern, but even a strong, well fed, healthy bitch born from a strong, well fed, healthy mother can have abnormal pups or struggle during the process of giving birth. Things such as genetics also plays a role, which is also unknown. The likelihood that your veterinarian will advise against breeding just taking the history into consideration is high and so will I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a supported answer, Wikipedia has some interesting facts about Teacub dogs - &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very small dogs (adult or not), purely due to their size are prone to have problems when giving birth for various reasons. The mother and the puppies in these breeds are both in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-03-31T21:38:50.477" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11915" CreationDate="2016-03-31T22:18:07.523" Score="3" ViewCount="7534" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people I suppose will get a parrot when it is still a baby. What is a good age to sell them and what age are considered cut off ages for proper bonding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-04-02T23:41:39.957" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T20:43:53.233" Title="When is the best age to get a baby parrot?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11851" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-01T13:30:01.957" Score="4" ViewCount="1829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a substrate to use in a parrot cage. It needs to be safe (firstly), but then also not to bad looking and easy to clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-04-01T14:09:43.883" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T03:15:54.170" Title="What are good substrates for parrot cages?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6882" CreationDate="2016-04-01T13:40:42.450" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to put your dog on hypoallergenic diet. One source of knowledge you may find here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ihypoallergeniccats.com/hypoallergenic-cat-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypoallergenic pet diet&lt;/a&gt; . It written for cats but it is the same with dogs. I know because I used to solve similar problem and this article was pretty helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6944" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T13:40:42.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6442" CreationDate="2016-04-01T13:45:15.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This really depends. Person who suffer from allergies by specific breed may not be allergic to some other breed and vice versa. Allergy to cat is very specific and influence different people variously. Interestingly long-term exposure to cats may cause both increasing or decreasing allergic symptoms. Exposure to cats impacts people differently. You may find more about this on the following link:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ihypoallergeniccats.com/resources/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hypoallergenic Cats&lt;/a&gt; ... see hypoallergenic cats basics and interesting facts about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6945" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T13:45:15.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9860" CreationDate="2016-04-01T13:53:33.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There exist several cat breeds that may not trigger the allergy symptoms as other cats. Those are known as hypoallergenic cats or allergy-friendly cats.&#xA;Also some people may be more allergic to one specific breed whereas some other may not be allergic to it. It depends on several conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you reading the articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://ihypoallergeniccats.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ihypoallergeniccats.com&lt;/a&gt; website, especially the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://ihypoallergeniccats.com/should-i-get-a-hypoallergenic-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Should I get a Hypoallergenic Cat&lt;/a&gt; as it may give you nice overview what you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6946" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T13:53:33.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11817" CreationDate="2016-04-01T19:10:27.190" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use plain old water in a clean spray bottle, and spritz when you catch the pup in the act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T19:10:27.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9586" CreationDate="2016-04-01T19:14:36.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not freeze rawhide. Instead, you can make great frozen treats by filling a Kong with wet food or peanut butter and freezing it overnight. This is my pup's favorite frozen snack. If you don't have a Kong, ice cube trays work, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2016-04-01T19:14:36.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-01T23:15:37.710" Score="2" ViewCount="2097" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog is almost 9 years old. She never pees or poops in the house while we're present, she only does it when we're gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently had a similar problem that we were able to solve. Our dog used to pee/poop in the living room at night after we'd go to bed and closed the door. If we left the door open, she'd jump in bed with us and she wouldn't pee or poop all night. This showed us that the issue was behavioral, not that she couldn't hold it in overnight. We ultimately solved this problem by getting a kennel and having her sleep in there overnight and she hasn't peed or pooped overnight since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That worked for overnight, but we don't want to have to lock her in her kennel during the day when we're gone at work. What other option do we have to stop her from peeing/pooping in the house while we're gone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting that our dog is not spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6948" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T13:56:34.460" Title="Why does our dog pee/poop when we aren't home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-14T13:44:16.380" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9586" CreationDate="2016-04-02T13:55:55.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have decided that feeding rawhide to your dog is appropriate, I don't see why freezing them would be any cause for concern.  Many dogs enjoy frozen treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of lines of thought on if rawhide should be feed to a dog at all, these are addressed in our existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2936&quot;&gt;Are rawhide bones or natural raw bones potentially dangerous for a dog?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked around for reference for or against, offering frozen rawhide treats to dogs.  I did not find anything different then offering them unfrozen. Frozen hide/leather does not get brittle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-02T13:55:55.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11844" CreationDate="2016-04-03T03:18:56.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make sure you give her lots of fun toys to play with and &lt;strong&gt;lots of other places to scratch.&lt;/strong&gt; This should distract her from scratching you instead of other things. &lt;strong&gt;cats need to scratch and that's a fact.&lt;/strong&gt; They just don't need to scratch you. If she starts being aggressive to you or giving you that infamous &quot;look&quot; go to a different room and &lt;strong&gt;don't let her in.&lt;/strong&gt; Stay there for about 5-10 seconds and she will very quickly realize that being aggressive is &lt;strong&gt;not OK.&lt;/strong&gt; When playing, try not to offer your hand as prey or she will quickly be convinced that your hand is what she is playing with, and will play with your hand like she would a cat toy. Make sure you &lt;strong&gt;play with your cat often&lt;/strong&gt; so that she can let off her energy on things other than you. Keep on playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-04-03T08:36:26.677" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T08:36:26.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7714" CreationDate="2016-04-03T03:29:10.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some tell tale warning signs of sudden cat aggression are... suddenly stoping their purring or no longer looking relaxed. Excessive tail swinging. That look they get in their eye as they slowly move towards you going for the kill. (thats when you get bit the worst.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you give her lots of fun toys to play with and lots of other places to scratch. This should distract her from scratching you instead of other things. cats need to scratch and that's a fact. They just don't need to scratch you. If she starts being aggressive to you or giving you that infamous &quot;look&quot; go to a different room and don't let her in. Stay there for about 5-10 seconds and she will very quickly realize that being aggressive is not OK. When playing, try not to offer your hand as prey or she will quickly be convinced that your hand is what she is playing with, and will play with your hand like she would a cat toy. Make sure you play with your cat often so that she can let off her energy on things other than you. Keep on playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-GoldNugget8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend watching this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si-yk1KxYX0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si-yk1KxYX0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T03:29:10.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2016-04-03T03:44:46.890" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be a variation of the behavior mentioned in the article below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wool sucking behavior in cats (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/wool-sucking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you’ve never heard of this, I know it probably sounds like a very weird and unappealing thing for a cat to do, but it’s actually relatively common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is Wool sucking?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The behavior consists of a cat actually sucking on items such as blankets, sweaters, shoelaces and even bathmats and carpets. The most common materials though are blankets and sweaters. There are also cases where a cat may suckle on another cat’s tail or other body part.&#xA;  Some cats actually even begin chewing on and ingesting the material and that’s when wool sucking transitions into pica behavior. Pica can lead to intestinal problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wool sucking is usually seen in cats under one year of age. Typically, many cats eventually outgrow the behavior but some do continue to engage in wool sucking if there is no behavior modification or environmental change made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that my cat lick lots of random things too. I have even seen him lick the floor. The interesting thing is, he only does it in places where food items have once been. Cats don't have great near-sightedness and are primarily far-sighted. So I believe that it may be their sense of smell messing with them. They also don't have great taste either so they do frequently rely on their amazing nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There could have, at one point, been something your cat would have liked near that paper that he is smelling on the paper and thinking it is edible. I would though still recommend seeing him to the vet as this could be a larger problem, or lead to a larger problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:20:36.647" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:20:36.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11881" CreationDate="2016-04-03T04:15:36.000" Score="4" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat hasn't changed it's behaviour at all but is squinting his left eye. He has done this before and it was just some sort of thing that like 15% of cats get. They gave him eye drops and he was fine. Now he is squinting again and his left eye is watering quite a bit. Should I take him to the vet? We have some eye drops from last time. Should I use those?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those of you who wanted to know, he has now healed up. It was just a simple infection. Thats why I was hesitant to bother the vet, because we had some eye drops from when he had that last time. Thanks for the help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="6955" LastEditDate="2016-04-04T22:22:23.340" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T22:22:23.340" Title="Cat Squinting Left Eye" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11872" CreationDate="2016-04-03T04:26:08.410" Score="6" ViewCount="1614" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love instruments. I currently play piano and trumpet, and practice every day; 1 hour for piano, 30 minutes for trumpet, each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat seems to love piano, always purrs and relaxes as I play it. When I play the trumpet, however, my cat meows very loudly at me - which is very abnormal for him, as he is generally a quiet, cuddly cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if he is trying to tell me something. Does the trumpet affect his hearing? If so, what can I do to help him? Please consider the fact that I am most certainly not going to quit playing the trumpet. I would really like to know whether someone has the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T19:46:19.463" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T21:42:38.330" Title="Do loud noises damage cats' hearing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11907" CreationDate="2016-04-03T04:33:47.603" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neutered 6 human years old male cat (Butterscotch) has always had digestive issues and when we finally found a food for him, we were very happy. He still throws up his food occasionally when he eats too fast but this has gotten better with time and he only does it when he is very stressed out. He lives a very happy slightly spoiled life. I was recently told that you should feed your cat wet food. So I tried and he threw up almost instantly after eating it. I tried one with pumpkin (supposed to be better for your cats digestive system.) he still threw up. I gave him three different digestive wet food over a period of time and he still threw up. So finally, I gave up. Now i'm wondering again if I should feed my cat wet food. It is still said that wet food has many benefits. If so how can I get him to digest it!!! Someone asked why I want to switch. I don't want to &quot;switch&quot; I just want to add wet food into his daily meals because of it's health benefits. (or at least supposed health benefits.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the food he is on is this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-care-nutrition-digestive-care-adult-dry-cat-food/2555&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-care-nutrition-digestive-care-adult-dry-cat-food/2555&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food he is on has some pretty strange ingredients. I was told that if you wouldn't eat it (aside from the flavour obviously) you shouldn't feed it to your cat. However, maybe this does have the proper nutrients for a cat, I don't have a clue really! If someone could please get back to me on if I should add wet food to his diet and if this food has the proper nutrients for a cat? I just realized that I didn't add this in last time. My cat drinks about half a decent sized water bowl a day. Plus whatever he can steal from what I am drinking. (usually not much.) Is this enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="6955" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T23:36:38.010" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T16:36:00.763" Title="Advise On Feeding My Sensitive Cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11869" CreationDate="2016-04-03T06:04:09.710" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loud noises certainly &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; damage a cat's hearing, but if the cat is staying there meowing at you rather than heading for the far end of the house, that probably isn't what he is trying to tell you. Maybe he just thinks that when you are loud he is supposed to be loud too. Maybe it's just &quot;Don't play with that, play with me!&quot; Maybe he thinks the noise means you are unhappy and he's worried about you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about him, could you practice with a mute, or does that change the trumpet's response too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-04-03T19:19:42.430" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T19:19:42.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2884" CreationDate="2016-04-03T06:12:51.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine had to explain to a professor that the cat has eaten her homework... Well, not eaten, but chewed to bits. That cat was a paper punch with legs; best guess I had was that she just liked the feel of her teeth punching through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it could simply be because the cat has noticed that this gets your attention. One of mine sometimes licks the pillow next to my ear, apparently just because it's hard to ignore the rasping noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or any of the reasons others have suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably harmless to the cat, whatever the reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-04-03T16:28:56.343" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T16:28:56.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11868" CreationDate="2016-04-03T08:59:21.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, go to the vet.  It could be an infection (as mentioned in comments) or it could be something else.  A hands on assessment by a trained professional is the best choice in your situation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T08:59:21.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11851" CreationDate="2016-04-03T09:56:17.540" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the opinions of other keepers and internet consultants the safest and most recommended/used substrate for parrot cages is paper. Newspaper and white or brown butcher paper are mentioned on ALL personal sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T09:56:17.540" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11876" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-03T10:02:15.170" Score="6" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got Oscar as a puppy and trained him using standard positive re-enforcement techniques. He would do something I wanted (like potty outside) and this resulted in praise and treats. I would take time every day and sit on the floor &quot;at his level&quot; and issue a command, then when he did it, praise and treats. Stopping him from doing things that I didn't want him to do, usually involved a gentle &quot;Nope&quot; or in rare cases a very loud &quot;NO!&quot; followed by directing him to the right thing (say &quot;NO!&quot; at chewing shoes then giving him a chew toy after a few seconds). I say this to demonstrate, that I have some experience and success with positive reinforcement. Oscar is well trained happy, and well balanced dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we got Shalio, as a puppy. Oscar is still around. We have tried the same exact technique. And while she responds well 60% of the time, she is extremely stubborn. If she doesn't want to do a thing, then she won't. Not even for awesome treats like lunch meat. This is ok, not ideal, be we can simply try training during different times of the day, or in shorter sessions, after she is worn out from playing etc. till we find a time where she does want to follow the commands. However, once she decides she wants to do a thing, nothing short of physically stopping her and making it impossible will  work. For example, like most young dogs she likes to chew paper. If she decides that she want's that paper in the trash, then nothing short of taking it away from her, and putting it out of reach (or putting her in her crate) is going to stop her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that we are going through this phase where she &quot;can't do anything right&quot;. When we try to play, she will get distracted by something and end up in trouble. When we try to groom, she gets distracted and in trouble. When we try to sleep, she gets distracted and in trouble. There is almost no chance for positive reinforcement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if she decides that she wants to do something, then she is either going to do it, or push so far that you have no choice but to isolate her from what she wants to do, and she has a habit of only wanting to do things that get her in trouble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other modifications can we make so that she has at least some time doing good things, instead of being in a situation where she is either asleep or in trouble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6959" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T14:41:26.317" Title="Traning an exceptionally stubborn dog" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2016-04-03T15:25:03.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though having a large yard to run around in is great for a dog there are many benefits to walking your dog besides exercise.  Walking your dog regularly helps maintain a sense of routine which most animals thrive on.  It also reinforces dominance within your relationship helping the dog to remember you are the &quot;pack leader&quot;.  You'll find that dog walks will pay off in many different ways.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastEditorUserId="6962" LastEditDate="2016-04-07T22:59:34.397" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T22:59:34.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11833" CreationDate="2016-04-03T15:27:57.940" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the cat food somewhere that isn't within reach of a puppy.  Usually a countertop, short table, or any other elevated space is sufficient.  Eating cat food can give dogs diarrhea too which you definitely do not want in your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T15:27:57.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-03T15:30:54.897" Score="4" ViewCount="898" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be moving across the US with a U-Haul truck and a car in-tow and need to accommodate for 2 cats that travel in rabbit cage size containers.  Leaving the cats in the towed car is illegal in many states and there is not enough space for them in the truck cab.  What are other options for making this move with the cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6961" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T16:50:10.140" Title="Moving Cross-country with 2 Cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11851" CreationDate="2016-04-03T16:06:20.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally newspaper is what people would use but you can actually buy sandpaper like sheets from the pet store for use with parrot and small parakeet cages.  They are brown and about the size of a piece of writing paper (8x11&quot;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T16:06:20.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11868" CreationDate="2016-04-03T17:40:40.260" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you should. An experienced veterinarian will be able to tell you whether it is infection of the sclera or conjunctiva (bacterial and/or viral), cataracts, glaucoma (very serious!), injuries with corneal ulceration, allergies, chemical irritation, something stuck in the eye or nerve damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T17:40:40.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11782" CreationDate="2016-04-03T18:24:00.663" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would take him to the vet. I don't know anything of your cat's medical history and this might be another problem. The vet or you should check him for fleas and ticks (preferably the vet) and if that is not the case, the vet will probably recommend something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vetericyn.com/vetericyn-pet-care/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://vetericyn.com/vetericyn-pet-care/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like, you could even try this before a visit to the vet. If the problem persists make sure you take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T18:24:00.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11689" CreationDate="2016-04-03T18:29:03.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would always have something to do with the breed. Some breeds are made for jumping, some for running, and some have so many breeds mixed in it doesn't matter! It also has something to do with the mom of the cat. The mom's preference and skills will play a part in determining the hunting style of her kids. It also has to do with your cat. If your cat is very playful and energetic they will run around and chase anything! If your cat is older and has arthritis and such, they may just enjoy a couple swipes at a toy moving in front of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-03T18:29:03.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11606" CreationDate="2016-04-04T01:42:28.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You moved too fast for him. Cats always follow strict routines, and your cat has designated that area as the &quot;toilet area&quot; so, following routine, your cat &quot;toilets&quot; there. You can't just move a cat's litter box. This confuses them greatly. First things first, you will have to put the litter box back where it was (the place he always &quot;toilets&quot;.) Then every day, gradually move it closer to the spot you want it. Your cat knows (or should know) to go in the box to do his business. The trick is to move it not too far, but not so little that it takes you three months to get it to where you want it. Eventually, you will have the box (and the poo) right where you want it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I almost forgot to mention, even with the slow move, if your cat persists in pooping outside the litter box or in areas he hasn't before, consult a vet. Pooping constantly outside the litter box can be an indicator of some pretty serious problems. Definitely try my suggestion before you jump to any conclusions about taking him to the vet, though, as most of the time, a medical problem is not the case, and you just made the move too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T10:49:18.593" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T10:49:18.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9371" CreationDate="2016-04-04T02:35:25.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep checking on him to make sure he doesn't make it worse or that it doesn't get worse on it's own. Get him to the vet ASAP or even search for a 24 hour animal hospital in your area. Watch him carefully to see if he is acting in pain and such. If so make sure the shell hasn't broken more. Hopefully you have gotten him to the vet by now. Best Wishes for your Turtle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T02:35:25.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11889" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12300" CreationDate="2016-04-04T02:43:37.233" Score="9" ViewCount="2739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very strictly indoor cat, that has tried to dart outside a couple of times and sometimes succeeded, only making it to the edge of our patio before we caught him. My absolute worst nightmare is him getting lost. We have him microchipped and stamped. Should we have an ID tag on a collar for him too? If so, how can I get him warmed up to the idea of having a collar? &#xA;I am also going to add that he has been neutered&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-04-14T02:15:07.417" LastActivityDate="2018-04-14T02:15:07.417" Title="Should I put a collar on my indoor cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11889" CreationDate="2016-04-04T03:40:30.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try initially applying the collar during an extended petting session, while the cat is effectively sedated... Just tried an around-the-neck grip on both of mine, who are curled up on me, and I think I could get away with it as long as I continued the massage thereafter. Not sure how they would react upon waking, though further distracting with a treat might distract them long enough to get past the initial surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, I've always deliberately gotten cats used to having paws handled and similar indignities precisely so they'll trust me on other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T03:40:30.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11858" CreationDate="2016-04-04T04:45:49.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it is a combination of separation anxiety and a behavior issue.  You should contact your vet and get their opinion and to get a blood workup done before doing too much, as it may be a medical problem.  But you should not yell or rub it's nose in it, that just feeds the anxiety.  Ask your vet if your dog needs medication (puppy valium or prozac) to help with the issue, and then find out if she could recommend a puppy behaviorist.  You can download a music cd. to help calm it down while your gone.  Even if your not seeing the accidents going on, they are just looking for the attention, good or bad.   I have the same issue and as mad as I get I can't yell at them.  I just say bad puppies in a firm voice (but I dont yell) and clean the mess up.  They know what they did is wrong and once I'm done I give them plenty of love and attention.  I have found the music has helped alot (not t.v. or radio) and I'll tell them I'll be right back as I'm walking out the door (no eye contact).  They are smarter than you think and will catch on fast.  But make sure you check with a vet and make sure it's not a medical condition.  (I don't believe in crating an animal unless it's an emergency or for the welfare of others)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6870" LastEditorUserId="6870" LastEditDate="2016-04-04T04:52:28.303" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T04:52:28.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11889" CreationDate="2016-04-04T10:54:59.510" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have tried putting harnesses on our cats, then immediately taking them outside on a lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way they are excited about getting to see what's out there and not really paying any attention to lead/harness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a couple of minutes, we bring them back in and take their leads off, leaving them with their harnesses on for extended periods of time so that they can get used to them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6968" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T10:54:59.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-04T11:58:06.750" Score="3" ViewCount="1360" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat shakes when relaxing and sleeping, she also licks her lips and then gets up and has some food. I always leave food out for her, can any one help or has anyone else had this. Three of the vets I went to, keep telling me nothing is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6969" LastEditorUserId="6955" LastEditDate="2016-04-05T09:51:13.167" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T09:51:13.167" Title="My cat shake's her back legs when she is sleeping or just relaxing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-05T09:53:51.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11889" CreationDate="2016-04-04T13:28:27.020" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a microchip, so presumably you live in a part of the world were it is reasonable to expect a lost cat will be scanned, by either the local vet or rescue.  Only you can decide if a collar is appropriate for your cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting a collar on a cat has risks. see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pawsfla.com/info/display?PageID=10666&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Collar Hazards&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://pascoevalevet.com.au/about/patients/cat-collar-injury-more-common-than-you-think&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Collar Injury&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;a couple random picks from google there are lots more&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are territorial and not likely to run off and get lost &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-tips/lost-cat-behavior/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ref&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, Dogs on the other hand do get lost and a collar can help them find a ride home.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I think, the risks of adding a collar to cat who is always indoors and micro chipped are greater then the risk of the cat getting lost and not finding a ride home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say if your cat has been altered.  If he is not neutered, I would get that done which should decrease the desire to go out.  If spay/neuter alone does not alter the behavior I would look for other ways to modify the desire.  An indoor house pet (&lt;em&gt;of any species&lt;/em&gt;) who suddenly finds themselves outside alone, is going to have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126/will-owls-attack-small-dogs/8129#8129&quot;&gt;significantly more dangers&lt;/a&gt; then just finding their way home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T13:52:03.403" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-04T15:10:08.207" Score="4" ViewCount="917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can be gone for 30 minutes or all day (work). He goes crazy barking, whirling around, preventing me from walking into the house. If anyone saw him, they would think he is being aggressive, but he isn't. He has never bitten anyone, and I am &quot;his person&quot;. The problem is my other dog thinks he is being aggressive, and is confused, and he barks at me now also. Oh, and if I try ignoring him, it goes on and on - longer than 5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He only does this with me. My roommate can come in, and he doesn't bark at him at all. Interestingly, I can remember when this started. I had him about 3 months (he is a 4 year old rescue), and one day he decided I was &quot;his&quot;. He began following me around everywhere, and this behavior started also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, I read the post &quot;My dog gets aggressive to me when I come home&quot;, and the actions are not similar in that he doesn't ever bite. He is a very sweet natured dog, and except for this annoying behavior, he is a good dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6971" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T20:30:10.533" Title="My dog goes crazy barking when I return home" Tags="&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11897" CreationDate="2016-04-04T18:11:03.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is he neutered?  That might help calm him down some.  But you should talk to your vet and ask if there could be a medical reason fo his actions and then for a number for a respectable behaviour specialist.  He has some separation-anxiety issues it sounds like and if you can't stop soon, it will only get harder if it can be stopped at all.  There are some things you can try at first, such as &quot;Calming music&quot; for dogs to help the stay calm (download from your phone and put on cd), when you leave tell him you'll be right back (even if is going to be 10 hrs.) but don't make an issue of leaveing (no eye contact when you do leave), when you return, calmly say hi and if he's really excited tell him that his action is inappropriate behavior and go lay down, once hes calm, go up to hem and give him tons of loving and a small treat.  But talk to your vet before anything, make sure he is healthy. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6870" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-04-04T20:30:10.533" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T20:30:10.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11928" CreationDate="2016-04-04T19:06:48.173" Score="4" ViewCount="4579" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a household that includes 4 people and 5 dogs. Of this group, one of the people and 3 of the dogs are relatively new: a new roommate moved in and brought a breeding pair of min-pins, and we kept one of the puppies from their litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The youngest dog, a min-pin puppy, developed the habit of barking at one of the people who lives in the house. Just to clarify: the puppy is just over a year old, was born in the house, and the person that sets her off has lived here for almost 5 years. So he has been a member of the household since she was born. For some reason, this one dog has focused on this one person, and every time she sees him moving around the house, she goes into a fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, he will leave his room and come into one of the public areas (kitchen, living room, den, etc), and she will bark very angrily at him until someone calms her down. It typically requires someone to approach her and calm her down before she stops -- she has never responded to voice commands when in this state. (I will note that she's never aggressive when in these moods -- no growling or biting, etc.) After that, as long as he remains in a public area, she exhibits normal behavior towards him. But as soon as he leaves (goes to the bathroom, or back to his room, etc.) and returns, it starts again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the solution to unwanted barking is to try to train her to do something else (incompatible) instead, but I'm at a loss trying to figure out what is triggering her behavior in the first place. As far as I am aware, he has never done anything to her that would make her act this way. She sees him for many hours a day every day of the week; he plays with her, pets her, gives her treats, takes her outside to do her business, etc. Sometimes he's even the one approach her when she's barking and she will calm down, though other times she will backpedal if he tries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might she be picking up on -- that she doesn't pick up from the other 3 of us, and that the other 4 dogs are ignoring -- and how can I train her to react differently to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3325" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T13:54:23.510" Title="Figuring out why one of my dogs barks at one of my roommates" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11899" CreationDate="2016-04-04T20:16:25.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a human reminds the dog of some other human they didn't like. I knew a dog who believed all men with beards were evil.She could be calmed and reluctantly introduced, and be OK for a while -- then she'd go back to being scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you can figure out whether bad experience was -- a vet? movers? --about all you can do is keep exposing her, being careful not to reward the barking -- and hope she decides that this person is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-04T20:16:25.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11911" CreationDate="2016-04-04T22:20:07.997" Score="3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one very territorial cat, named Butterscotch. (Male, Neutered, 6 human years old, Ginger Tabby.) I have a friend who fosters animals, and I am very jealous of the adorable kittens he recently had. (I am happy to say that they found homes very fast.) I would love to foster animals but I don't think my cat would like that to much. Is there some way I can still do this without my cat being bothered? I don't have any extra space in my house to have a foster room, and there is definatly no place in the house where my cat doesn't have a &quot;special place.&quot; If there is no way of doing this, how can I get involved with a no-kill shelter? (which my home city lacks.) I don't want to get a full time job, just help with some no-kill cat care. Is there any other ways I can get involved with cat-related work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T16:58:31.777" Title="To Foster or Not to Foster?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9603" CreationDate="2016-04-04T22:40:57.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Please take her to the vet!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be an indicator for some very serious problems! It could also be an indicator for less serious problems. Either way, a cat wouldn't just do this for no reason. Cats follow routines. There is no apparent reason why your cat would suddenly do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to break it to you, but often cats do this only when they have very serious problems (cancer, something in their urinary tract, other) This is often the #1 warning sign something is wrong with your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make a vet visit as soon as possible.&lt;/strong&gt; Best of luck to you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T11:15:21.943" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:15:21.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2016-04-05T02:10:09.970" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think oldcat's answer is perhaps the best solution, but here's another idea:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had this same problem with alpacas. Most of them were content to stay at one bowl but there was one who was always interested in someone else's bowl. My solution was use one more bowl than the number of animals, and divide the food equally among the bowls. That way when one of the more passive animals was nudged away from a bowl, there was always an empty and unguarded bowl to move to. The greedy one was too busy trying to guard and take over bowls to get an unfair share of food.&#xA;Based on my observation, this resulted in every animal getting an equal amount of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T02:10:09.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2016-04-05T02:13:14.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there are ways of doing this. Some of them may be pricey, but they are &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; effective. The first thing that I would recommend is the SureFlap feeder. It's kind hard to explain. The basic premise is, you can the the feeder or feeders to detect a cats SureFlap ID collar or microchip. (If you don't know if your cats are microchipped ask your vet. If they aren't I would recommend it.) I will leave a link to it here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sureflap.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.sureflap.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is &lt;strong&gt;highly recommended&lt;/strong&gt; for your situation. People from Catster magazine, (formerly Cat Fancy) Modern Cat magazine, and many others love this product. This is definatly the best way of doing things. Other ways to do it include: Tweaking an Arduino board to do this; Feeding the cats at separate times, for instance you feed Blue while the other cat is in a different room, and then do the same with Zo while Blue is in a different room. These are what I think are the best ways to do it however you can do some DIY-ing and come up with something that weighs your cat and then opens if your cat is the correct weight. I'm not going to go in depth on this, but if you the DIY kind of person, give it a shot. If you do end up doing this, please let me know some how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T02:13:14.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11914" CreationDate="2016-04-05T03:15:33.100" Score="4" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog were very sick the past weeks, he was diagnosed with canine distemper, now he seems to be good, I mean that he is acting as usual, he's happy, playing with us and eating, but he still have secretion in his eyes and very rarely in his nose. We took them to the vet just to check if he's now ok, but she told us that he will never be healthy, because this virus has no cure. &#xA;I want to now if that's true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6972" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T18:00:37.383" Title="Is it true that canine distemper has no cure?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11870" CreationDate="2016-04-05T13:53:29.170" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any cat food sold in the U.S. and E.U. and labeled &quot;complete&quot; - even the inexpensive brands you buy at the grocery store - is required by law to provide all the nutrition that a cat needs at any stage of life. The brand of food your cat is on is well-respected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The food he is on has some pretty strange ingredients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really. Most of the ingredients with strange names are vitamins, amino acids, or important minerals which your cat needs. Is there a particular ingredient that you're concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that since pets generally eat the same food every day, manufacturers must add vitamins, amino acids, and minerals to their food. That's because there's no natural food that provides everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't want to &quot;switch&quot; I just want to add wet food into his daily meals because of it's health benefits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that there are some benefits to wet food, and some benefits to dry food. You can feed both, but dry food alone is fine as long as your pet drinks water. It sounds like you had to try a bunch of foods before you found one that your cat tolerates, so I'd be tempted to stick with that and not rock the boat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your cat has digestive issues, it's essential that you make any dietary changes &lt;strong&gt;slowly&lt;/strong&gt;. Start with a tiny amount of the new food. The next day, mix in a bit more of the new food. Repeat until you've made the desired change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T13:53:29.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="567" CreationDate="2016-04-05T14:33:27.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a big adult leopard tortoise in the garden. She only makes a sound when I call her. She then comes walking to me at the same time (hoping to be fed or petted). I am pretty sure the way you explain it as well, it is communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be nice to hear from somebody if wild tortoises also make sounds to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6976" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T14:33:27.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11901" CreationDate="2016-04-05T16:58:31.777" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a way to physically separate foster animals from your own animals you should not take in foster pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the very least you should quarantine foster pets for several days.  Bringing in a newly adopted animal is a one time risk, bringing in a series of fosters is a repeated risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do allow the foster to intermingle with you pet, what happens when your pet forms a bond with the new pet? Which if they are not fighting, is what they are doing when they are together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time a foster should meet your existing pets is if you are considering adopting it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to open-door shelters, you may want to reconsider your potential for assisting.  Each shelter is unique, but my local open-door shelter does not kill an animal to make room for the next.  Sometimes it gets very crowded, one time a alligator spent a prolonged time in the staff restroom, waiting for it's forever home, because it just did not have another place to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1518&quot;&gt;What is the difference between &amp;quot;Open Door&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Limited Access&amp;quot; shelter policies?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-05T16:58:31.777" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-05T17:14:06.433" Score="2" ViewCount="1529" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading several articles on guide dogs for the blind I often found that, when it comes to the road crossing bit, they say that the dogs are not trained to pay attention to the crossing lights or the beeper some crossings are equipped with, they rather look at the changes in traffic movement.&#xA;Anyone knows how do they train the dogs to &quot;look for cars&quot; before crossing?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I'm aware that there is a command given by the handler but my question is about how they get taught to evaluate the traffic after the command is given.&#xA;This is an example of the various things I read (from guidedogsofamerica FAQ page):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q: &lt;em&gt;I heard that dogs are color blind, so how do they know when the&#xA;  light turns green so they can cross the street?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Guide Dogs do not read the lights nor make the decision to cross&#xA;  the street. It is the guide dog user that gives the command to go&#xA;  forward. First the guide dog user listens for the traffic. When the&#xA;  guide dog user determines it is safe to go forward, they give the&#xA;  command and cross the street. &lt;strong&gt;If the guide dog determines it is unsafe&#xA;  to cross the street when it is given the command, it will&#xA;  “intelligently disobey”. This might happen if the guide dog user&#xA;  misjudges the traffic or if a motorist suddenly comes around a corner&#xA;  speeding.&lt;/strong&gt; In many cases, guide dogs have saved lives because they have&#xA;  protected their partners from dangerous situations involving unsafe&#xA;  motor vehicles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6981" LastEditorUserId="6981" LastEditDate="2016-04-06T14:01:50.650" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T08:23:07.320" Title="How to train a dog to properly cross a road?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11912" CreationDate="2016-04-05T17:58:52.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, they don't teach the dog to cross when the traffic changes, they teach the dog to stop at the corner when it is on wearing the harness (without regard for lights, signs or traffic) they teach the person to cross when the sounds indicate the traffic is favorable.  When the dog is on a leash, it is &quot;not working&quot; and does not stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A guide dog who is &quot;working&quot; (wearing the harness) behaves much differently then when &quot;not working&quot;.  A guide dog out of harness and on a leash behaves like any other dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can teach the dog, to stop when somethings occur (i.e. wearing a harness, and at a corner) but they only go when given a signal by the person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some real life experience with guide dogs, they are smart and they are trained, but the level of expertise your research is indicating would be best case, and rare. There are occasions that a guide dog will make choices and disregard the blind persons direction and do something wonderful, but there are just as many where the dog will do something inappropriate. A guide dog is living tool, much like a cane or GPS. None are infallible, they give clues to the person who then makes the decisions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-04-08T17:10:23.137" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T17:10:23.137" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11905" CreationDate="2016-04-05T23:31:44.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. There is no disease that has &quot;no cure&quot; (unless you were born with something like Down syndrome and such.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People often say &quot;it has no cure.&quot; What this really means is that they just can't cure it themselves. There is no saying your dog won't get over it by himself. Just because humans don't have a cure for it, doesn't mean it's incurable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is kind of a bad example: take for instance Ebola. It has &quot;no cure&quot; yet some people got over it themselves. Just because you got it doesn't mean you couldn't cure it. It just means that humans don't have something that will take it away for you. I'm not saying you dog will get over it for sure, I'm just saying that he might.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's hope for the best. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T18:00:37.383" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T18:00:37.383" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11850" CreationDate="2016-04-06T01:30:39.233" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an excellent question, and an area of some controversy right now. I'll stick to the main non-controversial points here, and will offer some personal experience. I won't try to settle the controversies, but hope that these reflections are useful for helping you in using your best judgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) Do not ever buy a baby parrot that is not weaned unless you know what you are doing when hand-feeding baby birds. (Hand-feeding poses the risk of aspiration, in which food can get in the baby's trachea and drown it.) Even then, wait until the baby has enough feathers to be able to regulate its own body temperature. This is not only to ensure that the baby can be handled safely--it also allows the parents sufficient time to feed the baby so that they can transfer antibodies to it and boost its immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) Be aware of state and local regulations. In California, for example, it is prohibited to buy or sell and unweaned parrot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(3) The received wisdom that an adult bird will not bond as well to its human as a baby has come under some criticism lately. I have adopted some adult birds from some unfortunate circumstances (one is on my shoulder right now), and have purchased some adult birds (one of whom loves to sleep leaned up against my cheek). I have found that, with patience and love, they have all become loving pets who have bonded with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I raise birds, I start helping to hand feed them when their pinfeathers are well emerged, and I share the feeding responsibilities with the parents. (This technique, called shared socialization, requires some trust be built between the breeder and the parents, of course.) My birds have all gone on to bond with their new humans (the birds I could bring myself to give up, that is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parrots are highly intelligent, and their relationships with their parents might be more important than we currently understand. Since a weaned bird will happily bond with its humans, it may be prudent to leave the babies with their parents for a longer, rather than a shorter, amount of time and let them develop some confidence in their parents' care. A more grown baby will also have a more developed personality, and it will be easier to tell if the individual bird is a good match for the person involved. (How? The bird will tell you by it reactions to the humans.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T01:30:39.233" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11918" CreationDate="2016-04-06T02:46:56.297" Score="5" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fairly small house (OK, it's really small). Not an apartment, but still very small. I also have a cat, who loves exploring every bit of my small house. He loves the basement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basement is unfinished, so it has a lot of stuff just laying around until I could put things on shelves. The shelves, however, are also just laying around, they also have things on them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important things: as you may have already noticed, this is a recipe for disaster. Cat jumps on a shelf, important breakable stuff falls down, breakable stuff breaks. This makes the cat happy, but me - not so much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has loads of things to lay on upstairs, including a large cat post positioned in front of the living room windows, an arsenal of cardboard boxes strategically placed on shelves and desks, and couches, chairs, and beds. However, downstairs is a cat paradise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shelves and other things are in abstract positions, loads of raised up places to lay (with unsafe ones now blocked off), and, of course, drum roll please - the nice warm vibrating top of our front load dryer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only problem with this is that he has only the small upstairs to adventure in when contractors are here - which is quite frequent as I am trying to get my basement finished. I don't want my cat going downstairs while, or even after, the contractors are here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I don't want him going down after the contractors are here is because there is loads of wood, power tools, boxes of nails, screws, other sharp and dangerous miscellaneous items - or, at least, there is until I clean the basement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all know the saying &lt;em&gt;&quot;curiosity killed the cat&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. How do I increase the space he has upstairs so he doesn't want to go downstairs to sleep and play? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I coming at it from the right direction, or is there some other way I should be handling this problem? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, I would like him to have more space upstairs, because even with the cat post and cardboard boxes, he still doesn't really have much. I don't really want to pay to much money on this, as I need some money for finishing my basement too. What are some ways of doing this? I want a good long-term solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I forgot to mention, my cat is a little overweight, so whatever it is, it needs to be sturdy! Thanks for the help, sorry if I wrote too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:50:24.667" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:50:24.667" Title="What are some ways to increase space for cats in a small house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11926" CreationDate="2016-04-06T02:59:52.020" Score="2" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cute little fur ball, named Butterscotch, is quite food motivated, and I would like to train him to do cool things like roll over and shake a paw. He has a very sensitive stomach (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/11870/17671&quot;&gt;as you may already know&lt;/a&gt;) and I can only feed him about 5-6 treats a day, sometimes more if I'm lucky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard of clicker training, but have absolutely no clue how to do it. I also don't know if that would even work for him. Does anyone know of a good way to train him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, does anyone know of some really epic tricks I could teach him? Even things such as: hoing to a certain location when asked: coming when called by name, hrabbing something for you, playing dead, I would really like to teach him to do these things and if someone knows of another great trick, let me know! I would love to teach him all the tricks I can!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T19:09:54.113" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T19:09:54.113" Title="How to Train my Easily Distracted Cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11916" CreationDate="2016-04-06T04:01:50.873" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use vertical space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep breakables out of spaces the cat has access to, behind door or behind glass or at great heights (some cats can jump to the top of a fridge, so that's a minimum). You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; train cats that there are surfaces they aren't allowed on but (a) you want to do that without the breakables present, (b) there is no guarantee they will behave when not observed, and (c) if the surface is at all interestingly placed, they are almost guaranteed to try again at some point in the future, to check whether the role is still in force. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give the cat other things to climb -- a cat tree (good homebrew designs can be found on the web), shelves that they are allowed on, the top of a cabinet with a reasonable route to it either by climbing or jumping or both... Things to crawl under/through are another kind if space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give them toys to play with in the available space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, to a cat, a room is much bigger than for us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Reverse-engineering the 8' cat tree I inherited, I figure it's one sheet of plywood, one 8' 2x4 (or a bit more?), one 8' 4x4, four heavy angle brackets, two carpet runners, and screws and glue to assemble it. Not very expensive for something that lets the cats meet me at eye level and/or climb almost to the ceiling.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-04-07T02:24:00.420" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T02:24:00.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-06T10:34:22.413" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been recommended that I add a probiotic to my cat's diet to improve her digestive help - the dose is a quarter tablet twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do people convince their cats to take their meds? I was thinking of wrapping it in ham...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6968" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T13:04:23.640" Title="How to get my cat to eat a tablet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-04-06T13:41:57.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11919" CreationDate="2016-04-06T12:41:27.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I did this, the probiotic was advertised as being tasteless. I just opened the capsule and sprinkled the contents over the cat's wet food (which she considers a treat since she is mostly eating dry kibble). She showed no signs of noticing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(She is also getting a glycosigen supplement, served the same way -- but that company actually have included some chicken flavoring.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T12:41:27.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11919" CreationDate="2016-04-06T13:01:39.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wrap it in ham please consider using beef not porc because of the Aujeszky virus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats love malt paste so if the pill is not too big they will not notice if I put something in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T13:01:39.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11919" CreationDate="2016-04-06T13:04:23.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that my cat likes cheese so if I give her a pill I use cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6988" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T13:04:23.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11924" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-06T13:23:59.597" Score="5" ViewCount="120195" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past 10 days I have been gone every 3-4 days and then I return home to feed my betta. I'm usually not gone that much, and when I came home Monday my fish looked dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My betta fish has always been very active and when I come home he swims back and forth like he's really excited. He's always swam around and would follow my fingers and follow me when I walked by the tank. Actively ate, I feed him dried blood worms once a day and he always ate within 5 minutes. There was always bubble nests covering the top of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I came home Thursday he was laying at the bottom of the tank which I have NEVER seen him do. I sat and watched the bowl for 5 minutes and it didn't appear he was breathing or moving at all but he wasn't white and didn't appear dead. I tapped on the glass lightly and he didn't respond. I went to pick the bowl up to flush him and when I did he jumped up and swam. I put the bowl back down and he slowly floated to the bottom. I immediately put food in the tank thinking he was starving from only being fed once every 3-4 days the past 10 days but he wouldn't move he just laid back on the bottom. I gently turned the bowl again to try and get a reaction and he jumped up and swam really fast to the top then went back down to the bottom, it looked as if he ate some of the food but I'm not positive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kept trying to get him to eat, at one point he slowly swam to the top and attempted to inhale food and failed and then just floated back to the bottom. I used my hand to try to assist him to the top (I know I should not have but I figured if I didn't he was going to die anyway and didn't have a net). At one point he was actually turning gray/white and had managed to get his body in a you shape and that's when I really thought he was dead. The water was ice cold because I like my heat at 65 and my fish has never had an issue. Read online about how they like 75 water temp and he could be freezing so I filled my sink up with warm water and held his tank in it until it warmed up. He started to regain color and was being a bit more active. He ate and seemed OK but I'm worried he's sick/injured/going to die now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have him in a 1.5 gal tank with aquarium gravel and a small fake plant and a small statue. I change the water once every 2 or 3 weeks when it gets this clear foggy slime on the top (don't knpw what this is?) And begins looking a little dirty. I put betta safe water conditioner in the new water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been home the past 2 days and he eats within 5 min again but is not moving. He just floats at the top at a slight angle, which I've never seen him do, with his fins hanging and slowly drifts around the top of the tank. If I turn the bowl he reacts slightly. He doesn't respond to my fingers anymore or swim actively or anything. I turned my heat up to 70-75 and I'm going to go buy a heater now that I know they like warmer water. Also getting a 10 gal tank with a filter but if he's going to die I'd rather not go buy a bunch of new stuff. I don't want him to die but I don't know how to help him or what's wrong with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to leave again for 3 days and don't know if it would be smart to bring him or leave him home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6989" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-01-10T01:19:32.577" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T20:36:15.077" Title="Is my betta dying/sick or just sleeping?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2016-04-06T16:50:10.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your question!   Moving is very stressful for cats. You want them with you, while you're driving, so you can comfort them.  They also need to be in an area where the temperature is regulated.  It can get hot inside a carrier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SMALL, SOFT CARRIERS:&lt;/strong&gt;  You can put your kitties in smaller carriers so they will fit in the cab with you. They will sleep most of the time. So, they don't need much room.  If there will be people in the cab with you, they can hold a carrier on their lap. This way they can reach in and comfort the kitties.  Expect a lot of howling at first because they will be scared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you can get a small soft carrier that will be easy to fit anywhere. Here's a picture of mine:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NEdpl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NEdpl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;soft carrier&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MAKE STOPS EVERY FEW HOURS:&lt;/strong&gt;  You will also need to make stops every few hours to let them out to use the litter pan and drink water and eat.  Be careful to keep all doors closed so they do not run outside.  This also gives them a chance to get out of the carrier and walk around the cab.  Don't expect them to use the litter pan the first time you let them out.  They will probably be too scared.  Bring their favorite treats with you and try to get them to eat a few. You don't want them to eat too much because some cats get motion sick.  Let them roam around the cab for about 15 minutes each stop.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THE BEST OPTION:&lt;/strong&gt;. Another, more expensive option is to have two family members or friends stay behind and fly to your destination with the cats. This is actually the best choice. It will be less stressful for the cats because it's a much shorter trip.  This is the option I chose when moving from Florida to Texas.  Make sure to read the airline regulations for pets in economy.  When I travelled years ago, it was one pet per person and two pets in economy per flight.  Back them, it was $50 per pet.  They have to be in a carrier that will fit under the seat in front of you.  Don't travel with them in cargo.  This will be to stressful for them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this gives you some alternatives!  Best wishes to you and your kitties...and safe travels!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T16:50:10.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11917" CreationDate="2016-04-06T16:52:53.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clicker training a cat takes great patience, but it can be a great bonding experience for you and your kitty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CLICKER TRAINING&lt;/strong&gt;:  For clicker training you need treats and a small clicker you can find at any pet store.  The idea is - as soon as your cat does the wanted behavior, you click and give the kitty a treat. The click has to come immediately after the wanted behavior, and the treat has to immediately follow the click.  After time, you will be able to give the cat a treat every other behavior, but still click immediately after each behavior.  You will slowly be able to reduce the treats and only click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAT TRICKS:&lt;/strong&gt;  When you read the articles/books keshlam mentioned, they will tell you that cat &quot;tricks&quot; have to come from behaviors they already instinctively do.  Often, the first things you teach your cat is to recognize the click means a treat is coming and to look at you after he eats it.  After this is mastered, the next thing is usually having your cat jump on a carpeted surface and touch his nose to a wand or a pen, which is used only for training.  This is a natural behavior for a cat.  When the nose touches, you click and give the treat.  This is the beginning stages of getting your cat to go to a location you point to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SHORT SESSIONS:&lt;/strong&gt;  It's ok that your cat can only have a few treats a day.  The training sessions must be kept short or your cat will lose interest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple basic articles that will get you started:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Clicket-Train-a-Cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Clicker Train a Cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/3-tricks-to-teach-your-cat-with-a-clicker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3 Tricks to Teach your Cat with a Clicker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-04-06T17:29:57.590" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T17:29:57.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11917" CreationDate="2016-04-06T17:06:25.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need treats to train a food motivated cat. If he can tolerate any dry food, you can use that in place of &quot;treats&quot;. I've been clicker training one of my cats using kibble for several weeks now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T17:06:25.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11899" CreationDate="2016-04-06T18:04:28.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now, your dog is having an emotional response to your roommate. It will be difficult to train the dog to do an incompatible behavior unless you fix that first. What you need to do is condition a different emotional response (counter conditioning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set up the situation so you are near the dog when the roommate enters the room, then rain down her favorite treats on her before she has a chance to bark. You should notice that after a while, when the roommate comes in the dog will look to you for treats instead of barking. When that happens, you can reduce the value of the treats until you're just giving kibble. Then you can reduce the frequency and/or train an incompatible behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastActivityDate="2016-04-06T18:04:28.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11924" CreationDate="2016-04-06T22:27:37.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought it was just me who had this problem. I had a betta fish that did this exact thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;make sure you keep the water warm.&lt;/strong&gt; Second of all, this can just be a sign of aging. When my betta fish got older, it just sat at the bottom of the tank and did nothing. Once it started doing this, it lived another 6 years! It didn't appear to be eating, but when you put food in, later that day it would go up and eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fish also began turning greyish white but didn't die. It just lost its colour. Like I said it lived really long, it lived about 8 years in total. I don't think this is a problem. Just keep feeding it and watching it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be fine. Rest assured that my fish did the exact same thing, and was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T20:36:15.077" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T20:36:15.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2016-04-07T02:14:55.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was putting up a big fuss just for checking her ear for infection with a Q-tip. I got her to let me by getting her to lay on her side with her head flat and the ear I'm checking up, and holding a treat in front of her face. I first touched the inside of the ear with the swab and gave her the treat, repeating a few times, and gradually (very gradually) getting more and more &quot;intimate&quot; with the ear each time. Eventually, she let me get an adequate sample from her ear. This may or may not work for every dog, or for cleaning rather than swabbing, but my dog is pretty wild in general so you never know. Also, she is in fact a German Shepherd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, I'm pretty sure now that her ear is infected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6992" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-04-07T13:50:27.393" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T13:50:27.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11548" CreationDate="2016-04-07T03:45:57.727" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Running around after eating can cause bloat in larger dogs, so this is potentially more important than you originally thought! lol. I would definitely suggest either moving the second walk to after he eats, or adding a 3rd walk about a half hour after his meal--no heavy running, of course. Eating knock the ol' digestive system into motion, so to speak, so dogs are also more likely to need to do the doo sometime after a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog also gets really excited after eating. He'll rub his face all over his bed and bring all his toys up and grab and paw and bark, you know the deal. I'll still play with him, but only with my hands and the front half of his body. That is, no running. Mostly playing with his mouth, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He'll also stop if I tell him to, so he may not be as excited as your buddy. Regardless, I might suggest a strong, hollow ball with a really good bounce-back after a bite, yanno? Let him tire out his jaw, not his guts (or your floors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6993" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T03:45:57.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11876" CreationDate="2016-04-07T14:17:08.857" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be persistent.  Dogs will test you over and over. The trick is to not give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastActivityDate="2016-04-07T14:17:08.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-07T14:27:06.823" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a pet put down 4 weeks ago, and since then my 8 year old, Shaffy, won't eat or drink unless I feed her. She won't go on a walk. She stares at the walls, gets stuck in corners and cries a lot and walks about with her head hanging down like she's sad and distanct and sleeps a lot. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6996" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:28:29.837" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:28:29.837" Title="My dog's not eat eating or drinking" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11944" CreationDate="2016-04-08T02:10:09.737" Score="8" ViewCount="18834" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good and bad news. The good is that nice people have adopted both of my cat's kittens together without splitting them up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bad: someone told me 6 weeks was old enough, but now I found out 8 is the actual minimum suggested age and some people siggest more than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kittens have been eating solid food and using a litter box for about 4 days now. Will they be ok having been adopted together, even though they're just six weeks old? The new owners have taken care of kittens in the past, and they thought six weeks would be ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:37:36.887" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T08:45:51.820" Title="I had my cat's kittens adopted young (6 weeks), will they be okay?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-08T03:14:42.323" Score="1" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;My poor kitty started throwing up her dry medium quality, hairball formula (she has extremely long hair - 3 inches). I read online that her body was rejecting 'old familiar' ..in search of the nutrition she now critically needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to feed her real food like meat and fish from the human food stores, only to have her pooh pooh everything but cheap quality crunchy dried cat foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that she needs real food I tried the vet recommended high (supposedly) quality Royal Canin (really) and despite the whopping price tag it has no superior foods in it: all by-products, grains like corn corn meal, wheat,  wheat gluten, corn and foods such as ground up feathers beaks and meat by-products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat does not like the so-called organic, baked, holistic food that Walmart has three types of. She will nibble at the one called Pure Balance.&#xA;Will have nothing to do with either flavor of Actrium, both of which I approved, also I was so happy with Pure Balance being accepted..although it is just a bite or two a day, so I mixed it with Purina which is what she likes but vomits far too often to be her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine my delight when I was live trapping a 'dropped off' cat (yes I live in the country near a village). And in my desperation with my shrinking cat, I was delighted to feed her tuna daily for the past two weeks. She rejects salmon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just read the terrible reports on feeding tuna to one's cat, so even if I find it at a good price I should not stock up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a Global Pet foods at the nearby city 100 miles from here where I live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to get some wet food it seems that no matter the taste dry food is not the ideal food for the cat. Locally it is just Whiskas and Fancy Feast, she licks the gravy and leaves the remainder, which makes it very costly. What brand of wet cat food is in Canada and affordable, and contains none of the fillers, and to augment that, what can you recommend by name for a dry food that is affordable, also without grains/glutens/preservatives &amp;amp; colorings. So both wet &amp;amp; dry food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need a name of a brand which is inexpensive but not made by a company of criminals, something which has the traditional flavor which I will recognize but will not mislead either my cat nor me in terms of quality and nutritional content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;--- EDIT ---&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for taking the time for my cat, yes I have tried that Vet Brand Royal Canin, and am not impressed. I bought it expecting (did not read ingredients until it was too late, I had paid and taken it home) a higher quality food. It is hardly different from what they have at the human store for cats. I do not want by-products, beaks, feathers, claws and hoofs. I want &lt;strong&gt;no grain fillers&lt;/strong&gt; such as corn and wheat gluten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the theory that cats are having dental problems because of the grain making sugar as it is broken down. I am looking for a different kind of product, call it holistic or natural, more like what the cat might choose for herself if she had that kind of life. She always rejects real food so it took this long for her body to say &quot;enough, something real please.&quot; Walmart has 3 kinds of natural grain free organic no by-product brands and she will only eat one type of those 3 if I mix in Purina, which I guess I will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So much bad is being said about dry food so I try to find a wet food that she does not just lick the gravy off and stalk off. I have never had such a finicky eater. Thanks again &amp;amp; wish me luck with the 1/2 compromise &amp;amp; 1/2 keeping looking. At least I read enough about tuna at this site that I know now that is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7001" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-04-17T03:11:16.367" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T03:11:16.367" Title="Please help me find a food brand in Canada for my 3 yr old Tabby which is not all by-products/fillers/gluten etc" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2016-05-09T22:05:38.127" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11942" CreationDate="2016-04-08T06:39:49.477" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious about this illness. I was looking at adoptable cats at a local shelter, and more cats have Felv than don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an epidemic? Why do so many cats have this illness and is it getting worse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6786" LastEditorUserId="6786" LastEditDate="2016-04-08T07:14:04.083" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T15:56:40.443" Title="Feline Leukemia question" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2016-04-08T15:18:00.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not common but I have seen metal collars that are not choke collars.  Google metal dog collar.   You can also convert a metal choke collar to not choke.  I had one dog that liked to chew the collar off the other.  But if the dog cannot chew it then may just slip the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bitter apple or pepper might work but that close to the eyes and mouth it would be an irritant so I don't think I would do that but it is an idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T15:18:00.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11939" CreationDate="2016-04-08T15:56:40.443" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Felv is common among young cats, who live wholly or partial outside.  It is a terrible disease if left untreated, often taking the cat's life within 3 years.  However, those willing to care for an infected cat can, many times, extend their life greatly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TRANSFER OF FELV:&lt;/strong&gt;  The disease is transferred cat to cat. It's a cat disease only, i.e., dogs, people, and other animals can't &quot;catch it.&quot;  Felv is mostly transferred through saliva and blood (fighting, grooming, biting, using each other's food and water dishes). It also has a small possibility of transferring through urine and feces (e.g., outside or litter box).  Kittens are usually infected through the infected mother.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WHY SO MANY:&lt;/strong&gt;  As far as your question regarding why you are seeing so many infected cats - this is because you are going to a shelter that will accept Felv cats.  Most shelters will not accept the cats or will euthanize them.  If this shelter is actually accepting the cats without euthanizing, that is why they have so many.  They are probably the only shelter in the area to do so, and everyone, therefore, is taking their infected cats to them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ON THE DECLINE:&lt;/strong&gt;  PetMD says that they are actually seeing less cases of Feline Leukemia over the last 25 years.   Here's the link, if you would like to read more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/facts-about-feline-leukemia-virus#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PetMD Felv&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-04-08T15:56:40.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11937" CreationDate="2016-04-09T03:00:59.380" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you've subsequently learned, 12 weeks seems to be the recommended age for separating kittens and puppies from mama.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, given that it's over and done with, and the kittens seem to be doing well, I wouldn't worry about it. A few decades ago, 6 weeks was widely accepted as an OK time to adopt out kittens and puppies. And although we now know that it's better to wait a little longer, most of those kittens and puppies did just fine. The fact that both kittens are staying together will probably do a lot to offset the stress of leaving home a little early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T03:00:59.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11945" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-09T06:07:21.177" Score="1" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6wXpP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6wXpP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w5aL7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w5aL7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kept it at the window side for basking and it jumped off. When I went down it was walking, but was bleeding near the mouth. Now, I keep it in water and it looks like bleeding has stopped. It is moving normally, no cracks are visible in the shell (hoping there is no crack), but it's not taking food or opening its mouth. Is there anything to worry about; any internal injury or jaw fracture? I am posting the pics from when it was bleeding, and afterwards when keeping it in water. Is it safe to keep it in water or should I keep it dry to prevent infection? It's one year old, no vets nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7008" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2016-04-14T15:59:49.107" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T15:59:49.107" Title="My turtle fell from fifth floor, almost 40 ft" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-04-10T09:27:20.327" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11916" CreationDate="2016-04-09T07:36:40.783" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think walls! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put up shelves all over the place, at different levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know someone who made a cat high-way in the house at about 7 feet. He put up shelves at that height in most of the rooms and made holes above doors to allow unfettered travel. He framed the wholes quite nicely and put trim around them so, while they do get your attention the first time you see them, they don't look bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also put shorter shelves at lower heights. His highway is not continuous. It has one or two breaks on each wall, I guess about 10&quot; wide, to allow entry and exit from the highway to lower shelves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His wife loves cats as much as he does but she was hesitant about the highway. He promised that if she didn't like it, he'd remove it and put things back to exactly the way they were before it was installed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He told me that after he got the first sections up and cats were all over them, his wife quickly gave in. Her only question was, &quot;Can we get any Federal Highway development money to help pay for this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out some of the results of this Google search: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=wall+mounted+cat+shelves&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=wall+mounted+cat+shelves&lt;/a&gt; or some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T07:36:40.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11782" CreationDate="2016-04-09T07:55:39.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second that - the vet needs to see him to determine what is going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heaven forbid it but he might have to wear an Elizabethan collar (also known a &quot;cones&quot; for a few days to prevent him getting at the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say &quot;Heaven forbid&quot; because cats simply are not happy, don't eat as well - or do anything well when wearing a collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't even put collars on them after they are neutered or spayed and we have not had a single problem - in the 30 years of our marriage, my wife and I have had about 23 cats neutered or spayed and none of them wore collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the case of your cat, you need a vet to figure out the reason he is biting at the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he keeps it up, an infection could occur in the area and that would not be good, no infection is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T07:55:39.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5919" CreationDate="2016-04-09T08:26:13.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who has transfered a Cross Orbweaver spider [Araneus diadematus] into her house as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ykYD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ykYD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spiders.us/species/araneus-diadematus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.spiders.us/species/araneus-diadematus/&lt;/a&gt; has details on this species. Since this common species is easily found in gardens or grassy areas, not dangerous to humans, and stays put in one location once it has built a web, it might be what you are looking for. The spider seems to be happy building her web inside in semi-shaded upper corners of window frames. A window with a tall plant might make it more attractive to the spider. Except for the occasional misting of the web with water, they take almost no care at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you locate the spider's web, determine the location of the webs three anchor points. Break the bottom anchor. The spider will start gathering the web material. When she has most of the material gathered into a ball, break both upper web anchors and use one of the anchors to lower the spider into a container with a lid and then close it. Now move the container into your house to the window you wish her to live in, open the container, and leave her alone to climb out and select her new web location. These spiders do not normally live longer than a year or so, since they normally lay eggs and then die over the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: My friend kept her spider for four years, so apparently these spiders can last multiple years under optimal conditions (like not having to live through freezing temperatures outside).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastEditorUserId="6801" LastEditDate="2016-04-29T01:13:17.143" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T01:13:17.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11953" CreationDate="2016-04-09T13:50:45.983" Score="3" ViewCount="33393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats from one litter. One of them is visibly larger, more approachable and likes to lie down on the floor the second she gets the chance. Although she doesn't do that all the time.&#xA;When her surroundings become peaceful - that is when nobody is walking back and forth etc - she lays her head on the ground and slowly falls asleep. I catch her do this about 3-4 times in a week if not more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, she'd sleep on my bed and then she would go on the floor to sleep again. I found it adorable in a way but at the same time I'd almost always pick her up and put her on any of her favorite sleeping posts (other than floor of course) that is way softer and warmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, should I do anything about this repetitive behaviour? I have only been picking her up due to the feeling that the floor isn't something good to nap/sleep on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T00:20:37.670" Title="Should I do anything if I catch my cat sleeping on the floor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2016-04-09T16:43:31.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I bet you were sad when your dog got put down. That is exactly what's wrong with your other dog. Your dog is grieving the loss of your other dog. Clearly they had a relationship or they were great friends. (not just humans make friends, this has been seen in all species of animals.) Give him lots of extra care and love, and if you think it would be reasonable, get him another friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-04-14T09:22:10.923" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T09:22:10.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11945" CreationDate="2016-04-09T17:03:18.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TAKE IT TO THE VET OR ANIMAL HOSPITAL!!!&lt;/strong&gt; Your turtle might be seriously injured. If someone broke their leg, would you say &quot;alright time to go swimming now!&quot; Even better example, your friend falls off that window, so you take him out for food and than go swimming. It's the same with turtles. You take them to the vet/hospital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T17:03:18.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2016-04-09T17:09:25.257" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this too. You have to remember, cats were not always domestic animals. They still have instincts and memories from when they were wild animals. In the wild, there is no fluffy bed or cat post, and if there was it was probably a furry predator. Naturally, being small animals, they would sleep wherever they felt safe. Whether that be a pile of dirt or a tree. I'm not saying your cat doesn't feel safe on your bed, but maybe he feels like he is more hidden somewhere else. Or just lays there because it has your scent on it. Often, my cat prefers a cardboard box over my bed. I put some papers in the bottom and viola, perfect cat bed. There is nothing wrong with your cat sleeping on the floor. It won't harm him in any way shape or form. It is very annoying when you spend lots of money on a fancy toy and then your cat likes the packaging instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-04-09T17:09:25.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-09T19:58:25.880" Score="6" ViewCount="10122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1 year old cat and she gave birth to four kittens five weeks ago, so&#xA;she is still breastfeeding them. My question would be: is it possible that she is pregnant again (she can go out any time)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7011" LastEditorUserId="7011" LastEditDate="2016-04-09T20:19:49.597" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T07:22:56.973" Title="How much time have to pass until a cat can be pregnant again after giving birth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11851" CreationDate="2016-04-10T03:15:54.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2XyX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2XyX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hagen Vision Cage With Shredded Paper Litter&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two budgies, one male, one female. Each bird has its own cage because the female tends to bully the male so I give him his own cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See photo. I use Hagen Vision cages for my budgies. The design has a plastic base which is about 10 cm (4&quot;) deep. I fill this base to  depth of about 8 cm (3&quot;) with clean shredded waste paper i.e. junk mail etc that has been passed through a shredder with a cross-cut function so the paper is cut into strips about 0.5 cm wide x 2.0 cm long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This homemade litter is free, clean, low-dust, non-toxic and my budgies (especially my female) like playing with the pieces of paper so it is an extra toy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from home so I can let my birds spend all day outside their cages and return only to sleep. Each morning I release the birds and then clean the cages. Under the sleeping perch there is a small heap of night-time droppings. I lift this out with a handful of shredded paper and smooth over the gap. I then clean out the water and food bowls. It takes about five minutes to make each cage perfectly clean and ready to be used again that night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the week the litter is emptied into a compost bin to be recycled and I clean and disinfect the cages and add new shredded paper. It takes about 20 minutes to wash each cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shredded litter means effortless petcare which is 'green', ethical, and very efficient. I recommend it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7013" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T03:15:54.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10009" CreationDate="2016-04-10T03:55:37.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H3n27.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H3n27.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hagen Vision Cage&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend the Hagen Vision cage (photo). I originally bought one cage, in the medium size (about 60x60x40 cm), which is big enough for a pair of budgies. But my female bird is bossy and she bullies the male so I bought a second one to give them each their own bedroom - my birds only sleep in their cages and spend all day out and about (I work from home so I can give them this freedom). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Hagen design is very practical, easy to clean, plenty of doors to access the interior. I did not like the perches supplied with the cage so fitted new ones made of rope and natural wood. I use a variety of food/water containers and cage toys to keep the cage interesting but I only change things gradually so that the birds are not upset. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in England. The Hagen Vision cages cost about £75 each. The extra equipment (perches, food bowls, toys, food, treats etc) cost about £75 per cage. I estimate that each cage set-up was about £150. I think this is a reasonable amount to invest in essential petcare. It's about the same cost as a cage for a guinea pig, hamster etc and a lot cheaper than the cost of an aquarium for pet fish, vivarium for reptiles or the costs associated with keeping a pet cat or dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7014" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T03:55:37.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-10T04:43:21.050" Score="4" ViewCount="866" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby Bearded dragon that I got from some guy. He kept them on a gravel like sand which looks horrible and if the little guy did eat some he would not pass some of it through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I'm not suppose to have them on sand especially this small, but mine has had no problems and I take him out when I feed him and he/she has been on it since birth. I am upgrading his enclosure to 20 gallon tank so it will be a bit bigger. More than half the surface will have tiles and the little remaining will be sand. I want him to be able to dig and play in the sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to get Zoo Med's Excavator clay but have learned it hardens like a rock and I want him to be able to dig and play in it. Is there any other sand or dirt that sticks together or something he can dig in without it collapsing or should I just get normal sand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7016" LastEditorUserId="5998" LastEditDate="2016-04-10T09:26:30.353" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T22:46:22.247" Title="Whats the best sand to use for my bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8150" CreationDate="2016-04-10T04:44:24.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can bird's feathers be dyed? I know that bird's feathers (and beak) can be dyed on a temporary basis e.g. when eating food that is highly coloured such as berries or beetroot or carrot. They can also get temporarily stained if they brush against toys that have been dyed with water-soluble vegetable dyes. But this dye fades when the bird has a bath or cleans its feathers. And the vegetable dyes are non-toxic or have health benefits (e.g. eating carotenes) so ingestion during play or preening is not a risk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could the feathers be dyed with a 'permanent dye'? No, they could not. I believe that any attempt to do so would cause serious harm to the bird (1) because permanent dyes are toxic and would be ingested and poison the bird. (2) because the dye would affect the properties of the feathers so that downy feathers could not remain fluffy and so maintain the bird's body temperature correctly and flight feathers would not be efficient for flying (3) because the dyeing process would terrify the birds. These stresses would be magnified for baby birds and probably kill them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the animal welfare issues, there are consumer protection laws to consider too. I believe that to dye a bird in order to give a false impression would be a form of fraud, for which a seller might expect criminal prosecution as well as civil action (being sued). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in the UK, dyeing a bird would probably result in criminal prosecution under animal rights and animal welfare legislation. You could expect fines and/or a prison sentence. You would also face prison for fraud and if you conspired with others in a scheme to cheat buyers by selling dyed birds you might be prosecuted under legislation dealing with criminal conspiracy and organised crime. There would be a heavy prison sentence for this too. Given the popular hatred towards those convicted of animal abuse, you would probably not enjoy your time inside once other inmates knew what you had done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think any decent person would not even consider dyeing birds. But if there are irresponsible people reading this, who do not give a damn about animal welfare and think dyeing birds might be a clever way to make easy money, then maybe they will have second thoughts when they consider the prosecutions they would be liable to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, if I suspected anyone was attempting to dye birds, I would not hesitate to report them to the police and the RSPCA. I am so offended by the very idea of doing this that I am struggling to keep this reply civil. I hope I have succeeded but if not then I hope the reader will understand my outrage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7017" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T04:44:24.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2016-04-10T08:58:36.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You said it. Any substrate that can be ingested, especially sand, is not safe for Bearded dragons - no matter the type, quantity, their age or size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some commercial products, like for example Zoo Med's Excavator, will probably claim that their substrate is safe and &quot;digestible&quot; when ingested, but in my opinion it can still cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any academic research on the topic, but literature, internet consultants and myself would suggest caution when used. Saying that, sand-like substrates are considered more natural and are still popular choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that many Bearded dragons will have &quot;sand cravings&quot; especially if their Calcium/VitD requirements are not met. They might also accidentally ingest substrates when preying on live, moving insects. Although rare, I had to put many Beardies to sleep because of sand impactions - the risk is real! Insects, like small crickets, might also have ample hiding space if a course textured substrate like some &quot;dirts&quot; are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using sand-like substrates it is advisable to make sure it is hygienic and easily replaceable. When you talk about Excavator clay that hardens, why is that? It should be replaced before that happens. Whatever else you might use, it must also be free of insects and other bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, &quot;normal sand&quot; is very vague. It differs from area to area etc. If you absolutely want to use sand, stick to a commercial one. There are a few on the market. Consider a big name like Zoo Med and Exo Terra. Ask your local reptile friendly pet shop for their stock preference and availability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T08:58:36.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11956" CreationDate="2016-04-10T09:12:09.460" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Theoretically yes. Cats are pregnant for just over 60 days and generally goes on heat every 3 weeks or so. It is known that the heat cycle can start very shortly after giving birth, meaning that she will show interest and be susceptible to tom cats again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a definitive answer on whether she IS pregnant, I would advise a consultation with your family veterinarian who might be able to tell by palpation (not always) or give you options to do a sonar or blood tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, if I were the veterinarian, I would strongly recommend spaying her to prevent (unwanted) offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T09:12:09.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11169" CreationDate="2016-04-10T14:03:29.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Langstroth bee hives are designed to be modular so you can expand the hive when need, and also so you can pull them apart if needed to remove honey or do other things such as adding food for your bees. Since bees add propolis &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propolis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bee glue, or bee caulk&lt;/a&gt; to any joints or gaps in the hive to help seal it, you don't need to worry about the rain getting in through those gaps. If you are worried about the exterior of the hive getting rained on, lay a large piece of plywood on the top of the hive so that it forms an overhanging roof that prevents rain from hitting the hive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to cut a rabbet joint into the top or bottom of a hive module where it fits into other parts of the hive and then the bees added propolis to that joint, it would become almost impossible to separate those hive modules without destroying the hive. If you do any woodworking you know that a joint and glue bond forms one of the strongest joints possible, which is good when making furniture but not so good when you need to open the hive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-05T11:02:32.297" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T11:02:32.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10545" CreationDate="2016-04-10T16:17:59.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Combination.  Each emotion we feel stimulates the production of different hormones which the dog &quot;senses&quot; or smells. Hence dogs are excellent detectors for people who have epilepsy for example as they can inform the person they are about to have an episode. Oral volume in which ever circumstance whether positive or negative stirs excitement, as we all know on our nights out or interactions with people we are thrilled to see and wish to share our thrill.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently live in Egypt and have rescued a few dogs and adopted four.  Obviously they are used to Arabic, however we have never had problems communicating.  Break it down.  Remember, a dog has the intellectual intelligence of a three year old, but the perceptive intelligence of the Dalai Lama.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7020" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T12:00:37.403" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T12:00:37.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2016-04-10T16:43:23.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five year old Dachshund. I give her a little bit of finely cut up hot-dogs in her evening meal and she seems to do fine. Never more than a half of hot-dog. I also stick pills in a piece of hot-dog and she gobbles it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7021" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T11:52:20.727" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T11:52:20.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-10T16:44:54.413" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four technically high energy dogs, two Canaan, one German Shepherd and a Shi Zu jack russell terrier mix.....all rescued, here in Cairo.  I feel I am not giving them enough.  I am a teacher and have a fairly large apartment with a garden of the same dimensions which the dogs are not really interested in actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a general fear and abhorrence of dogs in this culture, generally.  And I have developed a phobia of going out with the whole pack as although my dogs (oi, coco, elvis and Fat girl) are wonderfully natured and social, I have been arrested many times purely because neighbors saw us and made up stories.  I still have my babes but have reduced going out with them to once a day. well at least in day light hours.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found a new location in a compound near to a large expanse of desert, so each morning around half four we hike around 6 kilometers through it.  The dogs go mental and run about like loons, and for the rest of the day, sleep or watch me or TV.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I originate from a dogie filled family in Scotland who is used to going on massive trips for hours each day...plus a half to an hour trip off the lead in the evening, I mean are these dogs being tolerant and suffering or are really actually OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7020" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T16:00:28.307" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T15:11:36.443" Title="Do you think my dogs are exercised enough?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11956" CreationDate="2016-04-10T17:21:16.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, adult female house cats are pregnant, nursing, in heat, or the one to two weeks between heat cycles. If she is currently nursing, she is not likely to have gone back into heat and be impregnated again. (One of the reasons adult males of various species, including felines, kill young is so the female will go back into estrus and they can mate with them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that she gave birth about 5 weeks ago and is still nursing, it is &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt;, but not &lt;em&gt;probable&lt;/em&gt;, that she is pregnant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7022" LastActivityDate="2016-04-10T17:21:16.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-11T03:18:28.670" Score="4" ViewCount="3798" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6HQgH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6HQgH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This white spot is much thicker than shedding skin and seems to be on his eyelid as well. Could it be a fungus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7026" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T21:15:49.877" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T21:15:49.877" Title="What is the white spot on my Bearded Dragon's head? It does not look like shedding skin" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T12:18:07.623" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-11T04:57:43.147" Score="4" ViewCount="1419" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently my black headed python is eating 3 medium mice once every 10 days. If he is eating 3 with ease should I upgrade the size of his mice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have 2 hatchling jungles that are currently eating 2 fuzzy mice. Should I also upgrade their mice or just keep them on what they are eating for a while longer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I know when it is time to give larger mice to my snake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7028" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T21:15:32.370" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:54:55.130" Title="How to choose the right size of mice for my snakes?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11968" CreationDate="2016-04-11T05:26:26.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say you answered your own question right with this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...and for the rest of the day, sleep or watch me or TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dogs would have to burn more energy, they wouldn't do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've got two Huskies (so even more energy) and you can easily tell that they've got too much energy left for the day once they start running/playing inside the house in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs with too much energy won't just sit around watching you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-04-11T15:52:32.807" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T15:52:32.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2016-04-11T11:11:48.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This suggestion comes from my experience with Uromastyx. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Uromastyx love to dig, so recently, I started using a clay/sand mix that allows for basic burrows. While I've never had an impaction problem (and I've used plain sand for years), I know the potential certainly exists, so I can't in good consciousness say I recommend sand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The substrate that I'm thinking of switching to, once I can find a suitable source, is birdseed. It has the same general traits as &quot;non-sticky&quot; sand, but has the added bonus of being readily edible if it's accidentally, or otherwise, ingested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.deerfernfarms.com/uromastyx_care.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's where I originally learned about using birdseed.&lt;/a&gt; Do a search on the page for &quot;bird&quot;, and it'll be the first result. I recommend reading that entire paragraph, as it goes over everything they've tried, and the problems that they ran into. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T11:11:48.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11935" CreationDate="2016-04-11T15:41:09.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't feed him by hand anymore. He'll get hungry. Even if it is grief, the body's imperative to stay alive will cause him to eat at some point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, rather than waiting for him to get interested again, I'd get a few really high value foods. Get him some hot dogs, chicken, bacon, ham, etc... Whatever he really goes crazy for and encourage him with those. If you have something that wouldn't leave a residue on your floors, I'd even suggest &quot;hiding&quot; some of these treats around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place one under a chair, or under the coffee table. Maybe put one behind the couch. Basically, encourage him to get up and wander around the room, looking for these treats. Just like with people, he'll have trouble wallowing in grief when he has something that takes his mind off of it. If he doesn't have anything better to do than think about it, he probably will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also suggest taking him for more walk and spending more time with him than usual. Not just having him sit near you, but brush him down every day. Not only will this help keep your house cleaner, but he'll have time dedicated to him. When you're walking, there will be lots of stimulus for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing I'd suggest is to clean your house. If he really is missing his friend, then it's going to smell like the other dog everywhere he goes. Try to wash every thing and if feasible, move things around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel confident that if you try a few of these things, your dog will start to come around. I think it's important not to encourage the moping and not to project things on your dog that aren't there. I know that one animal certainly can miss another animal and it may be the case here, because of the timing. However, some animals do have neurological issues that cause them to act strangely. Also, I know it's very easy for people to project issues onto their animals. It happens very frequently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example is with my Jack Russell. When I was at home, we inherited my grandmothers dog. Because she had been an indoor dog they assumed that she'd be scared of rain storms. In fact she did act fearful to a small extent because I'm sure my grandmother babied her. So they would let her in whenever a rain shower happened and they were home to let her in. My dog saw her getting inside and asked to get in as well. They started letting her in during rainstorms as well. It didn't take long for my dog to figure out she could get inside if she'd come to the door any time it rained. They tried to tell me that she was scared of rain storms and I told them to bite me. I'd frequently seen her go out into rain to kill frogs and she loves to go shooting with us so she isn't scared of loud noises. She simply learned that a certain behavior gained a certain reaction and exploited it to her benefit. Again, I'm not saying your dog doesn't legitimately miss it's friend, I'm just advising that you evaluate your dog based on it being a dog and don't prescribe it human feelings or motivations. It has those on it's own and they're perfectly valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope your dog perks up soon. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-11T15:41:09.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11972" CreationDate="2016-04-11T20:53:09.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;General rule for snakes is you feed them food that is as wide as their widest dimension. If my snake at it's widest was the size of a toiletpaper roll, I should feed it rats that would fit inside the toilet paper roll or would nearly fit inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, all mentions of BHP on forums say they act like they are hungry constantly, even if they recently ate. I would say what you are doing is fine for now. A lot of forums recommend splitting BHP meal into multiple smaller things when they get full grown to keep them from getting obese. I would say start with one bigger and two regular sized if you are going to increase portion size, but when you do I would be extra careful to watch for signs of obesity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a quote from a source I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://nswfmpa.org/Husbandry%20Manuals/Published%20Manuals/Reptilia/Black%20Headed%20Python.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The size of a meal for young growing pythons should be approximately 10% of the&#xA;  snake's body weight each meal, and adults about 3-5%. It is better to feed two smaller&#xA;  food items rather than one large item to assist digestibility. In the first year of the python's&#xA;  life it should be fed once every 5-7 days. You don’t want young growing pythons to shed&#xA;  more than once every 6-8 weeks. If they do, then reduce the feeding rate. Likewise if they&#xA;  are only shedding once every 12-14 weeks, increase the feeding rate slightly. Adults&#xA;  should be fed once every 2-3 weeks and it's fine for them to only shed 2-4 times a year.&#xA;  Females preparing for breeding should be feed weekly. (Reptiles Australia Vol. 2 Issue 1 pg 6-&#xA;  11)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that this is specifically for Black Headed Pythons and isn't necessarily true for all species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you want to weigh your food you can follow this. If your snake gets a lot bigger than it is now, then I would say to upgrade, but if it is full grown and isn't slimming down I would say you are fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the other snakes, they will need to upgrade eventually. The safest bet is to look at the care sheet for the species and see what others feed them and if all else fails feed to the snakes widest part every 5-7 days (for small pythons) and then increase the time interval between feeding when they grow more and take bigger food. This is usually done after a year or two of life when the snake is starting to reach its adult length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T17:54:55.130" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:54:55.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11804" CreationDate="2016-04-12T03:49:56.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a puppy once that we trained using training pads. She generally got on the pad before going, but she did get to the point where once she could smell the pad, she would go. This meant she would urinate and defecate right next to the pad. Once she began doing that, we just removed the pads and she would always go outside to do her business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to increase the intensity of however you choose to train your pet until he understands that he needs to hit the right mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7022" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T03:49:56.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11924" CreationDate="2016-04-12T15:48:22.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me it sounds like your betta is definitively not feeling ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, they need warm water. 75 is really the minimum, 79 is better (around 26 °C). &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, 1.5 gal is not a lot of water. Especially if you don't have a filter and only do a water change every 2-3 weeks.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;The water will quickly get polluted, your nitrite levels could get to high by left over food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a first step you could make sure you do a water change every week, and replace at least 25% of the water. But don't do a full 100% water change! &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;And in any case, your betta will definitely be grateful if you get a bigger tank, with a heater and a filter.&#xA;Bettas don't like lots of current in the water though. So I suggest that you get a sponge filter with an air pump. Some real plants also wouldn't hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="9294" LastEditDate="2017-05-31T09:48:46.630" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T09:48:46.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-12T16:55:32.313" Score="3" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 18 month old calico female cat. I have to work during the day so I leave her to roam and don't lock her in any certain rooms. She's an indoor cat who uses a kitty litter, which is cleaned every time she uses it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past month she has pooped once and had a wee once on my throw, on my sofa where I sit. She had a wee in my bath, too, by the plug hole last week while I was on the loo myself. I'm at my wits end with it now and don't have any idea why she's doing this. Can anyone give me any ideas how to stop her from doing this and give me some advice on what to do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other kitty who I had for 18years(who died 5 years ago now) never did anything like this so I don't know why my kitty is doing this now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7039" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2016-04-12T20:44:52.297" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:44:18.447" Title="toilet issues with my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-12T18:46:59.550" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My housemate brought his 3yo dog to live with us a few weeks ago and in that time he hasn't warmed up to myself or our other two housemates. When the owner is home, the dog is happy and acts normally, but when we try to get near, he will start to growl and run away. We can pet him without him biting us, but when we do, it stays as still as possible and sometimes starts shaking. If we feed him a treat with the owner around, he will only take it if he's near the owner and will then just run away again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the owner isn't home, the dog keeps his head down and stays really still in a corner of the house. It growls if I approach it, but again if I get close enough, I can pet him even though he stays perfectly still when I do. I tried taking him for a walk, but if I pick up the leash, he won't budge and I'd have to drag him to get him to move. He also won't eat treats or food when the owner isn't around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about the history of the dog other than that it was an only child and the owner had it since it was born. It seems like the dog must have had some traumatic experiences at some point, but not that we know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to get the dog to not be so afraid of us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7041" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T19:13:53.020" Title="Housemate's dog won't warmup to us" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11985" CreationDate="2016-04-12T19:13:53.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't crowd the dog. Let it come to you, or not, as it sees fit. Avoid sudden motions and unexpected noises. Consider sitting on the floor for a while, or at least if a chair; standing humans look more threatening than ones who are closer to the dog's own eye level. If petting the dog, hold out a hand to be sniffed first, then try rubbing the chest under the dog's neck, this avoids unintentionally sending stronger dominance signals before the dog has decided you can be trusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, approach the dog initially as you would approach a cat...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-12T19:13:53.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6228" CreationDate="2016-04-12T20:06:48.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issue as you, but I haven't stopped them nursing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has lost so much weight due to the feeding and I'm feeding her almost 6-8 times a day. Her kittens eat too, but it's breaking my heart to see mom so hungry all the time. I overfeed because she is looking thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We went to vet today and she too is concerned and said to shoo the kittens away if I see her nursing, so here it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no I don't think it's cruel or otherwise to stop kittens nursing especially if they are feeding normally too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take care of the cat mommy, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7043" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T12:52:26.333" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T12:52:26.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-13T00:23:56.117" Score="6" ViewCount="1821" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions for how to transport a cockatiel bird across a city in a car ride? The bird will occasionally relocate from one home to another every few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we had a bird cage already established in each home, how could we easily move the bird back and forth? Any suggestion for an inexpensive compact simple container to get the bird from cage to car to other cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also tips for coaxing/moving the bird between cage and container would be good. This bird is tame enough to enjoy a thorough neck massage between a pair of fingers, but is not otherwise trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T03:36:55.060" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T03:36:55.060" Title="Transport a cockatiel locally in car ride" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2016-04-13T00:52:09.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take her to the vet!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be a sign of some pretty serious diseases, including cancer. There is pretty much no reason for her to start going some place else inconsistently. I would take her to the vet as soon as possible. If the vet says it's nothing, I would first of all make sure there is no loud or even &quot;quiet&quot; noises constantly in the area of the litter box. If there is, they might be scaring your cat away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, could you tell us if your cat is spay/neutered? If she isn't, this may help. If you are going to move your cat's litter box, do so &lt;strong&gt;slowly.&lt;/strong&gt; abrupt moving of their property can disturb a cat. Move it about a foot each day. This can be tedious but almost never fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other reasons she may not be going in her litter box include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;people frequently walking past;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;litter box not offering privacy or being being closed off - please note that your cat needs about two exits from the litter box;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having to go too far to get to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be 1 litter box per story in your house, including the basement and then 1 more. For example, let's say you have a 2 story house, and a basement, you would have 4 litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped. Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:44:18.447" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:44:18.447" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2016-04-13T01:04:24.810" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He could just want to lie down. The do like to rest. Get him a betta bed. Mine love them. You put it near the surface of the water so they can lie down just under the water. I have a leaf one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7045" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T01:04:24.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11997" CreationDate="2016-04-13T01:07:40.560" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to upgrade my small cat tree. I have a slightly overweight tabby cat. It needs to be sturdy and have lots of places to sleep perch and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if cats are affected by certain materials, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scented wood like cedar;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;certain carpet types;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My related concers are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What sort of toys should I build into it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there some that are better for my cat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it a good idea to incorporate corrugated cardboard as well as carpet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I have closed in parts or just perches?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I make it look half decent and not like a chunk of wood covered in cardboard?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any ideas (or pictures) of really unique homemade cat houses?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I make a nice one that doesn't cost over $500-$600? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:56:14.393" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:56:14.393" Title="How should I build a cat tree?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5947" CreationDate="2016-04-13T03:40:14.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Olive oil works really well also. Just rub some onto the bars and he or she won't like the taste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7046" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T03:40:14.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-13T04:54:27.043" Score="2" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked a question a few months ago about my cat's behavior. I have a 9 month old male Persian Cat, and I wanted to know what I can do prevent stray cats entering my house premises and intimidating my pet. He doesn't really do much but gets easily frustrated and runs out of the house the first chance he gets. How can I stop stray cats entering the premises? I had him neutered on the advice of my vet, keshlam, and James Jenkins♦. However, that didn't stop them visiting and intimidating my cat. Please help on how I can stop this before my cat runs away and doesn't come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7047" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:52:05.327" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:29.733" Title="Stray Cats Intimidating my Pet Cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="11996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11924" CreationDate="2016-04-13T14:04:44.810" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to what the pet stores would have you believe, every single betta fish needs more care than a small bowl. They make you think you're really upping their lifestyle by moving them from a small cup to a small bowl. The reason they can survive like this is because they can gulp air. Of course, they can also use their gills like all fish, but in the water's oxygen content becomes very low, they can gulp air from the surface. You'll notice I said survive and not live/thrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm definitely not trying to come down on you. This is considered the norm and is perpetuated by the pet store industry. Here is something to think about, though. Like any animal, the betta fish is going to have an ideal habitat. They are going to prefer oxygenated water, low pollution in their water, appropriate kinds and amounts of food, and an area they can claim as their territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with the pollution, which is the main problem that's run into with bettas. Ideally, fish would live in an ecosystem that maintained itself. Fish would eat and produce waste. The waste raises the nitrate (nitrite? I forget) levels in the water. Plants process it and make the water cleaner. It's a cycle. In the home aquarium, you actually can make a self sustaining setup, minus adding some water for evaporation, but most people don't do this. Most people use a filter and artificial plants. How that works is that the filter pad takes out the physically large particles. It also provides a surface for good algae to grow on. These help brake down the nitrates, and while you should remove excess algae, you shouldn't scrub it perfectly clean and sanitize it. The carbon in the filter helps to remove toxins that the algae didn't. When you replace a filter pad, you're really just replacing the carbon. Then the water is returned to the tank. Since it was agitated and dropped back in, it also helps aerate the water. Besides the algae there are other bacteria and microbes in a healthy tank that help break down fish waste and toxins. That's why you can't set up a tank and dump fish in the same day. Most people recommend letting the tank cycle for a minimum of a week and that's if you dump in some water from a running aquarium to kick start the bacterial growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more water there is per fish, the more buffer you have. If you have a well balanced tank, you can add more fish. If you add too many, you start to raise the toxin levels and the fish get sick. You then either have to reduce the fish, add more plants, or treat the water in some other way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that helps is water changes. For most people this is changing no more than 20% of the water in the tank and for those without live plants, often coincides with vacuuming the gravel. The change helps remove the excess toxins and waste, but you're also loosing some of the good bacteria as well. They have to replenish themselves. The problem with a small betta bowl is that a 20% water change on a bowl that small is a really big shock. Also, if you're on any kind of chlorinated water, even treated, it's another big shock to the fish. Again, it's about the buffer. 20% of a 30gal tank is only 6gal. That leaves 24gal of stable water the fish is used to. It's a much greater change when you're changing 20% of a couple of cups of liquid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, when they're in these small bowls, they're living in low oxygen water, sitting in their own waste, and dealing with toxic levels of bad stuff. Even when they get a water change to reduce the bad stuff, it doesn't leave them with enough of the good stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this fish comes from a warmer part of the world and enjoys more heat. Even if they are okay with the cold, again, it's about that buffer. It takes a lot more to cool or heat a big tank that a small bowl of water. That means the temp can fluctuate quickly and that wills stress your fish as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to do we fix this. The easiest and cheapest thing I would do is go out a purchase a small tank with a built in filter and light, then add a tank heater that allows you to set the temp. Here is an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XFvoa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XFvoa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://www.petswarehouse.com/aqe-kit-mini-bow-bk-25g-93732/?gclid=CKn4-vLii8wCFdgQgQodcBINbw&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petswarehouse.com/aqe-kit-mini-bow-bk-25g-93732/?gclid=CKn4-vLii8wCFdgQgQodcBINbw&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petswarehouse.com/aqe-kit-mini-bow-bk-25g-93732/?gclid=CKn4-vLii8wCFdgQgQodcBINbw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a small tank like this in college, and it worked great. I took a listless betta and added him to this tank and you wouldn't believe the difference. He went form sitting on the bottom of the cup almost leaning over to swimming strongly around the tank and playing in the water return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying that there isn't something wrong with your fish, either old age or disease. However, from what you've said, it sounds like it or any future fish would greatly benefit from this upgrade. Additionally, while bettas are territorial with other male bettas, they are fine with other fish. You can get a couple of extra fish to add in with him. Just be careful that you get docile fish as even guppies can nip his pretty tail. I've even had a betta in a 35gal and they've done great with all the other fish. He spent a lot of time cruising around the tank and playing in the water return. Give it a try and I really think you'll see a difference in your fish. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T14:04:44.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11993" CreationDate="2016-04-13T15:58:13.627" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can make something nice and reasonably cheaply, especially if you can reclaim materials (nice way of saying find usable trash). This is also based on you having access to a few basic tools, such as cordless drills, bits, spade bits, circular saw, jigsaw, etc... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you'll have to consider is stability. There are 3 ways, off the top of my head, to secure a cat tree. One is to have a design that's small enough or wide enough on it's on that its not going to fall over even if your cat is swinging from the top. The second way is similar to the first. You can build it larger, but you'll build at least 3 bases to make it stable sort of like how a stool is stable with 3-4 legs. The stability would come from hooking them to each other. That would be more expensive, though, and take up much more room. You could conceivably build one in a corner and have good stability and wouldn't take up nearly as much room. You would put one base in the corner and run one leg down each wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I'd probably do it, though, is to anchor it. I would either put a bolt in a ceiling joist or a wall stud. You don't have to worry about it messing anything up, because if you ever decide to take it down, you simply remove the bolt, put some putty in the hole, when it dries you sand it flush, then hit it with a touch of matching paint. An alternate way is to use a plate, bolt, and nut to push against the ceiling. You would drill a hole slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt in the top of the cat tree, about 1/2-3/4 the length of the bolt in depth, and make the cat trees main post about 4&quot; short of the ceiling. You can cut a small plate of the plywood you'll use for the platforms. If you have a spade bit or other bit the size of the bolt head, I'd make a slight counter sink. Then glue some felt to the back for protection of your ceiling. The way you'd secure it would be to run the nut up the bolt about half way, add a washer, and drop it in the hole. Put the plate on top of the bolt head and adjust the nut down, to force the bolt up and push the plate toward the ceiling. Again, you'll want to be under a joist and if you push too hard it'll crush the drywall. If you're not under a joist, you'll go through the ceiling and have a big problem. However, it'll be easy to install and move with this method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as how to make it, you can get fancy or keep it simple. I'd use a 4&quot;x4&quot; for the main post. It's common, cheap, and is about the right size. For each arm, I'd probably use a short piece of 2&quot;x4&quot; cut from a regular length. To attach it, you can go as fancy as a mortise and tennon, you can use and L-bracket to screw it to the post and 2&quot;x4&quot; with screws, or what I might do is use the L-bracket, but then drill a hole through the 4&quot;x4&quot;, counter sinking the backside and use a lag bolt to add extra security for a fat cat. It will really help with the stress of the weight at the end of the arm. As a note, anytime you're putting in a screw, from a decking screw to a lag bolt, you have to predrill the hole to prevent the wood from splitting, which looks bad and weakens the hold. To choose the appropriate bit for the hole, hold the bit up directly over the screw, you should be able to see the blades of the screw, but not the shaft. Another helpful tips is to buy screws for the bit you have, not vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One addition I just thought of is that you might not want your arms and platforms to be 90 degrees from each other. That might be a hard jump for a fat cat. If you want to decrease the angle, simply turn the 4&quot;x4&quot; so that one of it's corners is up and use whatever is handy to block the sides and keep it semi-steady. Then take your circular saw and make a 1&quot; deep cut. Move over and make another about .5&quot; over. Repeat till you have a series of cuts. You can then either use a hammer, or more cleanly a chisel, to knock them out. You can then use sand paper or carefully sweep the circular saw back and forth to smooth it. It doesn't need to be perfect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a great time to mention you need to use all the safety precautions. Wear ear plugs, eye protection, gloves, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now that we have the main post, and the arms attached, you just need the platforms. You basically have 2 types of platforms on cat trees. Either a flat platform (sometimes with sides, like a nest), or sideways cylinder. The platforms are the easiest. Simply take a piece of 3/4&quot; plywood and mark out the shape. You can free form it if you aren't putting sides on it. If you want sides, I'd do a simple rectangle. It will be very easy to attach the sides to this. If you free form it, you'd either have to make kerf cuts or steam bend some 3-ply. That's more work than it's worth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cylinders should be easy as well. Cut rings out of the plywood. You can probably get away with 3 rings. The inner diameter (ID) should be whatever diameter you want it for the cat, plus about 2&quot; to account for the carpet. The outer diameter can be whatever you want, but I'd say make the rings 2&quot;-4&quot; thick. Then either use short lengths of 2&quot;x4&quot; or 2&quot;x2&quot; to separate the rings. Just use screws to attach them. So you'd have a ring with 3-4 pieces of 2&quot;x4&quot; attached like a stool with legs. Screw a ring onto the bottom of the legs. Add more legs, screw the other ring on. You now have a cylinder. I'd probably notch out the bottom to set on the 2&quot;x4&quot; arm and screw down through it to attach it. To keep the carpet from sagging, I'd probably glue and staple strips of 3-ply around the inside and outside like stripping to support the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To cover I'd try to find some used carpet. You can probably contact a carpeting company and either get scraps or get descent carpet they're pulling out of a home to put new carpet in. Either way, you need to wash it. Just wash it outside with dawn, a scrub brush, and a water hose. Hang it to dry. Attach it to the platforms first. Start with the top and glue it down, pressing it tight while you lay it down. Wrap it around the edges. To get it tight to the bottom, cut slits or triangles out of the material hanging below the bottom. Then put some glue around the edge of the bottom and pull the strips tight and push them into the glue. Once it sets, you can lay a piece over the bottom to cover it and it'll look good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can wrap the arms and post in the same manner. I would probably measure the piece of carpet and precut it. Then I'd glue, but I'd use nails to tack down the starting edge. I'd start on the bottom. Then wrap it and use screws and washers to screw through both pieces of carpet. You won't see it on the bottom or the back. You don't have to, though. The glue will hold fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd leave sections of the post without carpet. You can put it all over if you want, but I wouldn't use cardboard. I'd put a rough hemp type rope in these sections. Drill a hole at the top and bottom of the section you'll wrap with rope. You can do the math or just guess at the amount of rope you'll need. Pass the rope through the hole and tie a knot. Wrap the rope around the post, pulling as tight as you can and making sure the rope is pushed against the previous wrap.  When you get to the top, make sure you have 6-8&quot; of rope left. Keeping the wraps tight, feed the rope through the hole. You can pull it tight and tie a knot. This will tightly secure the rope and make it easy to replace if the cats shred it. If you think it's necessary, you can add touches of glue or a few screws to keep it from sliding, but I don't think it's necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for attaching toys, you can simply attach premade toys or drill holes through the carpet wherever you want, stick a dowel rod in, and hang a string and toy from the end. It's up to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you can build a quality cat tree fairly cheaply. If you already have the tools, then you'll just need to buy a 4&quot;x4&quot;, a 2&quot;x4&quot;, a box of screws, maybe some lag bolts, one L-bracket per arm, a little rope, and find some free carpet. Good luck. Sorry for the long post. It kinda got out of hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-13T15:58:13.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-13T20:52:42.420" Score="6" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious about teaching my horse to lie down. I was hoping someone on here could give me an effective, gentle method that works consistently and easy to communicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As some background, I'm not a horse trainer, but I have watch the natural horse training videos extensively and have been working on issues with our horses for several years. I've taught them all to trailer load quietly, including one that almost hurt my mother several times and had a bad habit of running out backwards and hitting his head on the top when his back feet went off and he jerked his head up. He no puts on two feet and pauses till you ask him to get all the way on. He backs off the same way. I've also trained two geldings from the day they were born till first ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that has always eluded me is teaching a horse to lie down. I've attempted it multiple times over the years. I know there can be problems, like them trying to randomly lie down when you don't wish them to. However, I'd like the ability to teach if I so choose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a one leg hobble and attempted to use it to teach a horse we used to have. I bound up one of his front legs. The one leg hobble isn't tight, it's comfortable, but it prevents them from putting their leg down. It's similar to people who put a soft rope around that foot and wrap the rope around the belly. After hobbling the one front leg, I used a rope halter and a long lead line. I'd already practiced following the feel of the rope extensively with him. I had the line on the off-side of his body from the hobble, and around his butt. I put pressure on the rope till he was bound up and waited for him to try and find his way out of it by rocking and bringing his knee to the ground. However, this wasn't my horse and he hadn't been taught to think his way through a situation. Instead of lying down, he reared up and flipped over. After a couple of times of this I quite. Even though we were in a grassy field with no stones, I didn't want him to hurt himself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I later tried this same method with one of my colts. However, he might be a little too smart. When I bound him up, instead of panicking or lying down, he shifted his weight to the back and did a small spin in place, freeing himself up. I tried several more times and he kept doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like a better method. I haven't tried it, but I've got a dvd of a trick trainer who teaches them to put their front feet on a marker and uses a carrot to lure them lower and lower till they have to put a leg down to get to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to tie my horse up and yank his legs out from under him. That defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to do, which is to gain even more trust from them. I can walk out in the pasture while they're sleeping and sit on them. They aren't scared to lie down near me. I just don't know how to cue it in a way that's easy for them to understand and I don't have the tools in my arsenal to fix the issues they have. Or the knowledge to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help you guys can offer would be appreciated. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T21:50:14.937" Title="How to teach my horse to lie down?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="11999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11995" CreationDate="2016-04-13T22:03:45.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will give a few options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I would recommend you mix vinegar with lemon juice. (75% vinegar 25% lemon juice) I guarantee no cats will come near this stuff, you just have to apply every day in small amounts around your house's parameter. Keep in mind this will kill grass and other plants very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way is to make a smoothie. Yep, make a smoothie. In this smoothie, put bananas, cucumber, and assorted citrus. Dump this around the perimeter of your house and it should keep cats away. It still might kill grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet another way is to purchase some lemon-scented mosquito repellent strips, or spray and put them around the perimeter of your house. The spray will kill grass and plants. Still another way, is to put any Febreze product around the perimeter of the house. The spray will of course, kill plants and grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way is to mark your cat's territory. By this, I mean, yes, putting your cats &quot;waste&quot; around your house. This will let other cats know that this is his territory. Although I'm guessing you won't do this. Hope one of these helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:52:29.733" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:29.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2016-04-14T01:31:40.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is neutered already and her litter tray is always clean as I clean it after every use, but I read on Google it could be a sign of separation anxiety as I've just started a new 9 too 5 job, so I'm not with her all day now. My cat is also in good health, but to use the loo I sit on is very strange to me, and I live in a ground floor flat so I only need one litter tray and my lola can get to it easily. Thanks for the advice and I've never seen a cat litter box with two exits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7039" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-04-14T15:15:40.453" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T15:15:40.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2016-04-14T02:03:00.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats. One of them is very agressive with food, so I feed her after the other two have eaten (they know how to share). I used to lock her out of the room, feed the other two and then go to the toilet (my morning routine). She would pee in the bath almost every day because of food anxiety. I have now changed my routine where I lock all three of them in a room where they have a litter tray while I go to the toilet. She still has food anxiety but at least she now goes in the litter tray instead of the bath. I then remove her from the room and feed the other two first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to know exactly what's going on with your cat without observing her directly. Does she go to the toilet in inappropriate places only while you're at work? It could be separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T02:03:00.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12014" CreationDate="2016-04-14T05:23:37.480" Score="8" ViewCount="11159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats from the same litter that I adopted when they were around 12 weeks old. They are going to be a year old in two days, and as of recently I have been wondering if there's something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chilli is the bigger and much more approachable one, while Luna is very quiet, petite and usually lets her sister be first in a lot of aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chilli as of recently started occupying Luna's favorite sleeping spots - ironing board, top of a wardrobe, armchair. This would be seen on various occasions and Luna would rarely sleep or rest in these spots afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also caught my cats - from what it looked like - playfighting as any other cats would do, however I noticed that it is mostly Chilli that will 'attack' her first and it is also mostly her that will continue after a few second pauses.&#xA;Today, I was doing my stuff in the bathroom when all of a sudden Luna meowed, very likely asking me to open the door for her. After a few seconds I opened the door only to find that Chilli was literally sitting on top of her and was licking her face. Luna looked extremely uncomfortable and jumped out of Chilli's grasp in a matter of seconds. &#xA;On several occasions, Chilli would approach Luna and attempt to clean her, however Luna would usually resort to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although there are times when even Luna sleeps beside Chilli and cleans her, should I be concerned about how Luna is treated by her sister? Oh and also, I think it's valuable to say that Luna is the cat that rubs against the house members' legs and some other furniture, while Chilli does not do this at all. Lastly, my mother spotted that they rarely eat together when given wet food, and that is something that did not happen before. Chilli becomes uninterested with the food when she sees Luna eating it. Chilli would usually eat after Luna is gone and not in the surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, is there anything that suggests that my cat is bullying her sister, and if yes, is there anything I can do to approach this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-05-24T07:49:35.963" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T16:11:02.150" Title="How can I tell if my cat is bullying her sister and what can I do to combat the problem?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12003" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-14T05:32:30.897" Score="3" ViewCount="2429" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ferrets were originally domesticated and bred for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret#Ferreting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;ferreting&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, which means going into rodent holes and chasing out the resident rats/mice/rabbits/etc into traps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live on a property that has lots of ground squirrels, and their holes are something of a nuisance and a danger to my family's horses. The rest of my family seems to think killing them is acceptable, while I believe it to be morally akin to mass murder. I would prefer to find a more humane way of removing the ground squirrels, and relocating them alive would certainly be an improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a ferret yet, but I am planning on getting one soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could I train my (future) ferret to chase the ground squirrels out of their holes? If so, how should I go about doing this and/or what resources should I refer to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5778" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T13:16:32.170" Title="Can I train my ferret for ferreting?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-14T11:01:20.207" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the tropics and have a temperature range of 75-95 °F (24-35 °C). I would like to grow tilapia fish in a tank with volume of 10,000L. I like the tank on my terrace, it will be covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What material should I use for the tank, so the water does not get too hot for tilapia? Ideally temperature should be less than 84 °F (29 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7053" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T18:50:20.407" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T18:51:42.623" Title="What material should I use for fish tank for tilapia" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2016-04-14T13:10:30.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our ten year old female bi-colour tabby gives silent meows 99% of the time. She has many other peculiar traits that I have never witnessed in lots of other cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why the silent meow? I think that she has learnt from our responses to her demands that she can get our attention to open a door, feed her, etc., simply by not going to the extra effort of having to make an audible sound. In other words &quot;Why go to that extra effort when I don't need to?&quot; That is a sign of a really clever cat - and she displays such cleverness in many other ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7056" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-03-01T09:56:16.877" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T09:56:16.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12003" CreationDate="2016-04-14T13:45:01.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest up front. I don't have, nor have I had, a ferret. I have interacted with them and I know they're smart, full of energy when they're awake, and like to tunnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell you for sure that the ferret won't kill the ground squirrels anyway. If it doesn't, then enough harassment might cause them to leave, but more than likely, they'll just go back down into their holes once you're gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I think the easiest method is going to be to use clicker training. Teach your ferret a few minor  cues, like coming to you when you call. This will be important if you are letting him loose outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practice in the house with corrugated pipe. Buy a few short sections and some T-joints from home depot or whatever home and garden store you have nearby. You'll need something scented like the ground squirrel. Whether it's ground squirrel hide or something else you can find doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by putting a few treats in the tunnel. Send the ferret in to find them. When he comes out of the tunnel and comes back to you, click and reward him with a high value treat. Higher value than the treats in the tunnel. So you could put kibbles in the tunnel and give him chicken when he comes back to you. What you're trying to train is that you'll send him into the tunnel and he needs to come back to you for his reward. Going into the tunnel is a fun activity and coming back to you is the real reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with a straight piece of tunnel, but once he gets the idea, put on a T-joint and add some more pipe. At first, you should be putting treats all over the tunnels, but eventually you'll want to reduce the amount of treats in the tunnel so he has to look for them more. It'll also be important that you eventually send him in and there are no treats in there. You'll have to teach him it's okay to no find anything. He should come back to you and you'll have a treat every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also keep track of how much food he'll take before it doesn't seem to matter to him. He'll get full after a while and play will be more important than food rewards. He might not come back to you easily after this happens. You'll want to take him out before he eats, and quite sending him into holes before he's full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he's going after the treats, start replacing it with the ground squirrel lure. Again, start off with just the straight tunnel. Put the lure inside one end with a string on it. Send him in the other ends. Maybe put a couple of treats before the lure. Let him sniff it good, then start pulling it out in short jerky motions. Don't pull it too fast, too soon. When he follows the lure out, take it away and call him back to you for a treat. The object isn't to catch the lure, but to chase it out of the tunnel. You can vary this theme. You can pull the lure back past him, so that it goes under his belly or over his back. You ad sections and pull it around corners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while, he'll understand chasing out the lure leads to a good treat. You can always toss a treat in the entrance of an outside hole to get him started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To move the training outside, dig a trench an bury the corrugated pipe, with the ends sticking up. You don't have to bury it deep and you can even start by just laying it on the ground at first. At some point you do want to teach him to go down into the ground, though. To advance his training, I'd bury a length of tube, then I'd put a box in the ground. You should be able to lift the lid off and where the pipe comes up to it on either side should be screen and you should be able to left them up. This will allow you to set a live trap and catch a ground squirrel. Put the squirrel in the box and have both the screen doors down. Send in the ferret. When you think he's at the door, open the escape side for the squirrel and then open the ferrets side. He'll chase it out the other side and then you can treat him with chicken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about him running off outside, you can do a couple of things. One thing is you can put a short fence around the 'training' area. He could escape if left alone, but you can easily catch him when he comes out of the tunnel. The other thing is to leash him and spend time outside letting him become used to it. If the only time he gets out is when he's hunting, then he'll be easily distracted. However, if going outside is just an ordinary thing, then he'll concentrate on work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the best idea I can come up with. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T13:45:01.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12004" CreationDate="2016-04-14T15:41:42.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't be able to control the tank temperature through the material being used. You might be able to increase or decrease the rate at which the tank changes to the ambient temperature but that's about it. What you can do, is make sure the tank stays in the shade which will help keep the temperature down but if you have high humidity, it's likely the tank will be fairly warm in or out of the shade. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other options would be to use evaporative cooling which works poorly in high humidity environments, or use a commercial chiller, which is expensive and expensive to constantly run. It's basically like running a refrigerated air conditioning unit for the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But they're pretty hardy fish and I don't think you'll have trouble keeping them in 90 °F (32 °C) water as long as you can keep the water quality good enough for them. And as most fish go, tilapia can live in some pretty nasty water, so I imagine you'll be ok with some reasonable filtration and husbandry. When water heats up it loses the ability to hold oxygen, so you might want some air pumps and air stones to maintain as much oxygen in the water as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T18:51:42.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T18:51:42.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12011" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12023" CreationDate="2016-04-14T16:32:57.997" Score="2" ViewCount="3148" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 months old Shih Tzu / Yorkshire Terrier mix is peeing inside the house when I'm not looking, every morning he walks up to the door and he goes out to pee and poo. When I know I won't be able to keep and eye on him for more than 10 minutes, I put him in his crate, I will come back and let him out if he needs to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He walks over to the door but there are times he sneaks and pees under the table when I'm sitting on the sofa next to the door ready to let him out if he needs to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This post addresses part of the issue &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8173/why-is-my-dog-peeing-in-the-house-when-i-am-home&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; ,I felt we were making progress and now we are going backwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7059" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T11:51:23.693" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T11:51:23.693" Title="Dog peeing inside when I'm not looking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-14T16:42:08.327" Score="2" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat and 4 kittens (5.5 months old), all healthy and recently spayed. They're on a mix of dry (Acana), canned (various, will run out for good soon), and homemade raw. The cat was on dry/homemade raw at her breeder's, but when I took her, I decided that it was too much pain in the neck and switched her to dry/canned. When she was nursing, I started feeding her and the kittens raw, which all of them ate well enough, and was planning to wean them off canned (which is not available here anymore anyway). At some point (a little over a month I think) the cat and one of the kittens stopped eating raw, in the middle of a batch (so it couldn't have been because of changed ingredients), with no other reasons I noticed or could think of. I gave them a week to be fussy, then started leaving them less dry so that they're hungry at dinnertime (I play with them anyway), and started experimenting with additives (the only thing that worked was sprinkling their food with dried breadcrumbs, and even that worked exactly twice). Then I left them alone for a few days before getting spayed, because they were getting noticeably thinner. After spaying they were on prescription food for a little under a week, then we were at it again. After stoically half-starving for a week, the cat ate raw 2 or 3 times (the kitten still didn't), I started giving them their regular amount of dry, and the cat stopped eating raw again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I'm out of ideas. I tried every safe additive I could think of that is locally available, I let them sniff every ingredient of their food by itself to check if there was anything they didn't like, I tried different methods of defrosting and different temperatures and conditions (completely raw, slightly cooked...) of the food. What else can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T16:42:08.327" Title="How to reintroduce cats to raw food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2016-04-14T17:44:28.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Alan had it almost correct. Between my personal experience and a documentary I watched explaining some cat behaviors, I think it's not a lack of effort, but a tailored response to get us to perform an option. My cat isn't super vocal most of the time. If he wants someone to play with him at 3:30am he can be very loud and heard all over the house. Over the last year or two, he's started meowing very quietly. It'll be high pitched. It may even sound like a squeaky toy or make no sound at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the documentary, humans anthropomorphize their cats (no shocker there, right?) They say that when the cat mooshes your stomach or kneads dough, whatever you call it, people think they're showing affection. In reality, this is a behavior that stimulated milk to flow when they were kittens. Humans think it's cute, so they pet them when they do it. This encourages it to continue. However, they'll do it without encouragement simply because we don't correct them. It's like a kid sucking on his thumb or drinking from a bottle at 12yrs old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The documentary also said that when people think cats are bringing them presents of dead birds, snake (maybe not so dead), or leaves, we think they're bringing us gifts. Instead, the documentary claims that they feel like we're poor hunters and they're bringing food back to the other members of their clowder to ensure their survival. There is nothing in my own experience that contradicts this for me. I can totally see my cat thinking I'm the one that needs looking after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for vocalization, they said that cats aren't very vocal with each other after kittenhood. Yes, they yowl at each other, especially when fighting or looking to mate, but they said that the vast majority of cat vocalizations we hear are specifically made for humans. The cats meow and get a reaction out of us. Therefore, they continue to meow. The meow can easily evolve. If they meow and we don't respond, they can meow harder or softer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of my cat, I believe that when his meow was whinier and quieter, my family thought it was funny and paid more attention to him. They still do, by petting him and/or picking him up and saying his meower is broken. They usually do what he wants, such as going to check his food bowl to make sure he can't see the bottom or letting him outside. Either way, his meow has gotten almost silent. However, when he's ignored it gets louder. Try that with your cat. Ignore the quiet meows, not even looking over, and if they get louder, then you can see what the cat wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T05:44:46.887" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T05:44:46.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12002" CreationDate="2016-04-14T20:01:01.203" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it sounds like you could have a little bit of a dominance issue.  Unlike dogs, who tend to be all dominate or all submissive, cats tend to be dominate over certain things.  For example:  In a two cat household, one cat could be dominate over food, while the other is dominate over the litter box.  In your case, it sounds like Chilli is dominate over sleeping areas, and Luna is dominate over food.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FEEDING:&lt;/strong&gt;  One of my cats is dominate over food.  I make sure to feed them in separate bowls, across the room from each other.  My cat prefers to have a clear view of the dominate cat because she will not eat unless she sees my other cat eating.  You will need to figure out if Chilli wants to see Luna eat or have her view obstructed so she doesn't see her while eating.  This will determine where you place the bowls.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAT TREE:&lt;/strong&gt;  Now, on to your original question.  I would first recommend a tall cat tree (at least 5 ft tall) with several levels.  If you have 2 floors, put one on each floor.  Cats will tend to establish a natural dominance on the tree by who sleeps on what level.  This also gives both cats a place to sleep in the same location.  If Chilli sleeps on the top level, she likely will not bother Luna on a lower, &quot;inferior&quot; level.  Luna will not care that she is on a lower level, as long as Chilli leaves her alone.  A good, quality cat tree can be a little expensive, but it could be worth it to have peace in the house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PLAYTIME:&lt;/strong&gt;  This area is a little more difficult to diagnose.  Cats are going to play fight, and ears will even go back now and then.  However, from your description, it does sound like there could be an issue.  I actually have the same issue with my two cats (both girls but not siblings).  I found that my more submissive cat (during play) likes when I &quot;get on to&quot; my dominate cat.  I let them play until I see my submissive cat's ears go back and stay back.  Then, I say my dominate cat's name sternly, and I might add &quot;No&quot; (not yelling, just sternly enough for my cat to know I'm not going to be happy if she continues).  The dominate cat pauses, which gives a chance for my other cat to get away.  If I'm in another room when this happens, my submissive cat has learned to hiss when she needs my help to get away.  At which time, I sternly say my dominate cat's name.  I don't even have to see their fight because it's the only time my cat hisses.  It's quite funny because sometimes she'll use the hiss just to get the upper hand and then attack my dominate cat.  So, you could try something similar, but it means you have to watch your cats' body language carefully to know the difference between playing and 'enough is enough.'  It's important that you don't yell at or act mad toward your kitty for something they would normally do in the wild.  They will not understand.  You can teach them, however, at what point you would like them to stop fighting.  By the way, grooming is sometimes a distraction technique by a more submissive cat - as in, &quot;If I groom you, maybe you'll forget about attacking me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LITTER BOX:&lt;/strong&gt;  You didn't mention this, but also watch the litter box area when Luna is using it.  Make sure that Chilli isn't waiting for her to get out.  What may look like play, around the litter box, could actually be &quot;ambushing.&quot;   You would try to solve this by adding another litter box in a different location or having more than one exit from the litter box area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SHOULD YOU WORRY:&lt;/strong&gt;  No.  Your two kitties are at the age where they are no longer kittens cuddling together, helping each other through the unknown, scary world.  They are wanting their own space, at times, and are figuring out their own rules of the house.  This is a normal stage.  I would suggest helping them with their &quot;rules&quot; by stopping any over-dominance situation (i.e., anything you think would make one of your cats fearful of the other).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps a little.  Best wishes to you and your kitties!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-04-14T20:01:01.203" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2083" CreationDate="2016-04-14T22:02:00.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I have two grown fowls. All I had to do was clip some feathers out of their wings so they won't fly,but I don't know how long it will take for the wings to grow back, will that run away and not come back? I want to test that theory with their wings clipped see if they would return. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7061" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-04-15T13:45:16.703" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:45:16.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11938" CreationDate="2016-04-15T01:30:24.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my cat a combination of Nature's Instinct dry and wet food because it's the healthiest food that I can afford. The dry food is 83% animal ingredients and the wet food is 95%. I believe that this is much healthier for cats than products containing rice, wheat or other carbohydrate sources as their primary ingredient. If your cat rejects the healthy food, maybe you could slowly adjust her to it by mixing it into the cheap food that she likes and gradually increasing the ratio. She would probably like the Weruva canned foods, which has a consistency that is more similar to tuna. This article has other good recommendations: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://consciouscat.net/2012/03/22/the-best-food-for-your-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://consciouscat.net/2012/03/22/the-best-food-for-your-cat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7063" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T01:30:24.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11990" CreationDate="2016-04-15T03:34:03.957" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've got a few choices. You can do a search on Amazon for &quot;bird carrier.&quot; They tend to be a bit pricey but are built specifically for birds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can go buy a small animal carrier or the smallest cat carrier you can find. Ideally it should be a hard carrier so you can seat-belt it into the car. Buy a rope perch, or any kind of perch that you can force the ends through the sides. The goal is a sturdy container with a solid perch for the bird to grasp. I've had the best luck with the rope perches. Place some paper towels or newspaper on the floor of the carrier and you're set!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cover the carrier with a blanket or towel. The bird will sleep for the car ride as long as it's dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To move the bird into the carrier, do it tail first. Have the bird sitting on one of your hands and then pet its neck with the other hand while backing it into the carrier. Place it on the perch, remove your hands, and close the carrier. If you back the bird in, there's less chance of panic or attempts to escape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, slowly introduce the carrier to the bird by placing good food and treats in the carrier and letting the bird go in and out of it as much as it wants for a period of time - at least a couple weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've transported several small birds this way. I did have one carrier that I had to modify with some plexiglass because the bird could fit her head through the bars but not get out. Keep an eye out for that. Most birds never cared to try, but I had one that tried to escape that way. In an emergency, bolt cutters do go through the wire very easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7064" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T03:34:03.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12019" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12020" CreationDate="2016-04-15T04:34:43.200" Score="6" ViewCount="3886" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a bad and frequent habit of eating (or trying to eat) inedible items. Specifically, she tends to eat plastic trash bags, cardboard, and paper, though she is especially prone to eating the trash bags. She has been doing this since she moved in with me almost two years ago, and she has done it consistently. She is otherwise a healthy, affectionate cat, who eats all of her food and is active around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I have figured out to prevent it is to either lay a very thick coating of some kind of repellent such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0030BE192&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, or to simply put my garbage cans in a closet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why does she like to eat inedible things?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can I do to teach her not to?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kind of negative medical side effects can happen from this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7065" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T12:53:21.140" Title="Why does my cat eat inedible things, how can I stop it, and what are the medical side-effects?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12019" CreationDate="2016-04-15T09:00:54.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is showing signs of the Pica syndrom.&#xA;Pica syndrom is in short, the consumption of non-edible materials.&#xA;This consumption of non-edible materials is generally meant by consumption of fabrics, or in other words objects made of plastic, rubber, wood, leather, cellophane. Paper and cardboard are arguably popular when it comes to Pica.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Many cats will chew and tear at objects when exhibiting predatory behaviour during play but pieces are torn off and not consumed. A pica sufferer will take the chosen object in its mouth and grind repeatedly with the back molar teeth before swallowing in a sequence that can take just a few seconds. The behaviour is highly rewarding for susceptible individuals and many will go to great lengths to seek out the favoured material. It is not fully understood why sufferers appear so highly motivated to consume fabric but one theory suggests that the act of chewing causes chemicals to be released in the ‘pica brain’ producing a feeling of intense pleasure. This then becomes addictive and, if a cat is observed ‘wool eating’, the expression does appear to be one of sheer ecstasy!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://icatcare.org/advice/problem-behaviour/pica-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vast majority of the inedible objects your cat eats will not be digested properly and may lead to an obstruction. If your cat has diarrhea, vomits, or has displayed any other unnatural behaviour I would recommend going to the vet as this could be a sign of the obstruction. Also, because Pica can be a sign of an underlying medical problem, cats displaying unusual ingestive behaviour should be examined by a veterinarian. If things get more complicated, it may turn out that your cat has something else, as the symptoms are associated with craving for unusual objects, and these symptoms may be due to other illnesses/diseases. Some of them are hyperthyroidism, cancer, lead poisoning.&#xA;To answer your second question, teaching her not to eat inedible objects is something you're already doing through the repellent. It may be harder to teach her through commands or showing her through gestures, as this syndrome is hard to manage. Regardless, I'd also recommend to continue locking away anything inedible that you found your cat chewing on/eating before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of guides suggest that cats could also be triggered to eat inedible objects by boredom, therefore it is important to increase environmental enrichment. Some of the ways to do that could be through introducing puzzle feeders, activity toys, scratching posts, cat trees and other forms of simulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all, I really hope it doesn't escalate to a serious disease. I would like to wish you and your cat a lot of good luck with identifying the problem. Stay strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: I wanted to add just to clarify something - are you sure it's been like this for two years? Two years is an incredibly long time unless you've really been trying hard to lock inedible materials away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-04-15T12:53:21.140" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T12:53:21.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12019" CreationDate="2016-04-15T12:42:30.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be what D.Tanya said, or it could be something a lot simpler, like hairballs. My cat starts eating plastic bags when she has a lot of fur in her stomach, and it's my cue to give her a course of malt paste, then she stops paying any attention to the plastic bags. Either way, contact a vet if it's possible. If it's Pica, it's Pica. There was at least one episode of My Cat From Hell about it, which might help you understand how to deal with it. If your vet finds lots of fur in your cat's stomach (by ultrasound or otherwise), then try giving your cat malt paste and see if it helps. If it's something else, it's something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T12:42:30.303" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12011" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:02:56.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your doing things right. You're putting him in his kennel when you can't keep an eye on him and taking him out when he asks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of things I would try are ,firstly, cleaning where he pottied with a cleaner designed to remove pet scent. When dogs go to the bathroom in the house, the lingering smell, even after cleaning, can cause the to remark in the same spot. I would also consider moving that table temporarily. That should shake things up a little and break his routine of going under it to go to the bathroom. It's not permanent, just till you get the issue straightened out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, I would consider getting him an X Pen. Basically, it's an area significantly bigger than a kennel, but still keeps him contained. It's made of light wire, so it would be easy to put away if company comes over or move from room to room as needed. I know it was probably out there in multiple places, but I first saw it on a Leerburg Kennels dvd. They use it to contain even their adult dogs, who could easily knock it over. They're just used to it. When they have younger dogs it's easy to line the bottom with puppy pads. They also put toys in there and rotate them out once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, consider that your dog is only 3 months old. It doesn't have full control of it's bladder and won't for some time. I think the rule is that they can be expected to hold it for 1hr per month old they are, not to exceed 9hrs. Of course, you'll have exceptions. You'll find that a younger dog may hold it for longer or shorter time. You should just expect accidents no matter what you do. However, if you keep up the training and stick with it, I'm confident the dog will become a well housebroken pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe trying taking him out more frequently whether he asks or not. There may be something outside that triggers him to potty. Other things that encourage using the bathroom in dogs are waking up, eating, drinking, and playing. Make sure you take him out after these activities to avoid some of the accidents. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:02:56.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11687" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:26:01.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that this tank is not suitable for fish.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;But perhaps you can consider getting shrimps? It are active animals which are also  fun to look at.&#xA;They're perfect for small, low maintenance tanks. &lt;br&gt;Even though they will also need some filtration. Best is a sponge filter with an air pump, that way the little shrimp won't be sucked into the filter. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got a 30 litre tank (8 gal), with neocarina heterepoda shrimps (cherry shrimp). These are ideal starter shrimps, because they are easy to keep &amp;amp; breed.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;They're group animals, so to start you should probably get around 20 of them. But after a couple months you should already have plenty more. I started 7 months ago with 25, and I think I'm now well over 70 (it's getting to difficult to count).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If possible, check if nobody in your area wants to sell a few, instead of buying them in a pet store. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;In Belgium, pet stores usually charge up to €2/shrimp. I've been able to buy mine for €0.50/shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:26:01.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11956" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:33:02.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible, yes that she may be pregnant again. Most cats do not come into heat again until after they have finished nursing their kittens, but in rare cases a queen may enter heat within the first few days of giving birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat was housebound towards the end of her pregnancy, and you can confidently vouch that she was not around an entire male immediately after giving birth, then the chances of her being pregnant again are pretty much none. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, whilst nursing a queen will not enter a season, but if she has been going outside since parturition, then it is possible, but unlikely that she may have entered into another season and found a male to mate with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:33:02.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:34:34.207" Score="4" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that, in the aquarium, KH (carbonate hardness) raises the pH slightly, but primarily acts as a &amp;quot;buffer&amp;quot;, preventing large pH swings.  For &lt;em&gt;Neocaridina&lt;/em&gt; shrimp (I keep red cherries, but I suppose for any &lt;em&gt;Neocaridina&lt;/em&gt;s) I have seen recommended KH levels from anywhere between 0 to 3.  Though, most common is probably 1-2.  However, I read that several very successful shrimp breeders don't supplement their RO water with any KH whatsoever, using only GH+ remineralizers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of forgoing the addition of KH to &lt;em&gt;Neocaridina&lt;/em&gt; tanks?  It does give you the opportunity to add other KH sensitive species like Tigers or Bees (shrimp species, not cats or insects), but are there any other benefits?  Are there any cons besides having a less stable pH?  Why is having a less stable pH not a concern for these breeders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7048" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T04:29:10.377" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T04:29:10.377" Title="Effect of KH on Neocaridina shrimp" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;&lt;shrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11937" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:42:05.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a big debate on when kittens should leave mum, and generally I believe it works on a cat by cat basis. I have previously worked in a rescue shelter, and as long as kittens are toileting normally by themselves, and are fully weaned onto solid food, then we would often start splitting them from mum over a two week weaning period at around six weeks of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the kittens are putting on adequate weight and doing the above mentioned toileting and eating activites healthily, then there will be no real health detriment. Moving into a new home at six to eight weeks of age can have a very positive effect on a kittens social development. During this period of their life they are very open to experiencing and accepting new things as the norm, so a new home will be more easily accepted by an 8 week old kitten than one rehomed at 12, as this one may have already gone through a lot of it's social development and find all the new sensations overwhelming and quite difficult to cope with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the sounds of it, your kittens will be doing fine. The big deciding factor we used to use is whether or not the kittens were vaccinated, usually the first dose should be given no earlier than seven weeks old, so any time after that if the kitten is healthy should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:42:05.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11889" CreationDate="2016-04-15T13:46:52.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personal opinion really is the answer to this question, but you have done the responsible thing and had the cat microchipped, which would be the first thing a vet or rescue centre would check. I have worked in a rescue centre for a number of years, and have seen some horrific injuries sustained to cats because of collars, ranging from dislocated forelimbs, split open armpits, jaw injuries and fatalities. I personally do not agree with using them, as these risks, though small, can have severe consequences for the cat in an accident, yet a microchip will always be looked for if the cat is found as lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always advise people if they choose to put a collar on their cat to go for a loose 'quick release' buckled collar, so if any kind of accident occurs, the collar will simply snap off if the cat struggles, keeping it safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-15T13:46:52.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11486" CreationDate="2016-04-15T14:23:40.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that it would affect pH in any way (and definitely would not raise it), but I can't find any source to back this up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But about 2-3 months ago I added Cirax to my 180 litre tank (47 gallon, Juwel Vision with the stock Juwel filter). I regularly test my pH and did not measure any difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 2 weeks ago I also added one of those blue Juwel sponges, and again I did not measure any differences.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;If you're looking to lower the pH then there are a few other possibilities though.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could add chemicals to your water: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sera.com.sg/fw_wateradjust.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.sera.com.sg/fw_wateradjust.php&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could add peat or peat moss to your filter: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.algone.com/adjust-ph-aquarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.algone.com/adjust-ph-aquarium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catappa leaves: &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariadise.com/indian-almond-leaves/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://aquariadise.com/indian-almond-leaves/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the biggest changes are probably achieved by adding CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;. JBL has a few CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; systems with a pH controller. You could configure your desired pH value, and it will automatically add CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; until that level is reached. But these systems are rather expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:40:34.530" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:40:34.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12325" CreationDate="2016-04-15T16:36:37.300" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 2 year old male standard poodle, who is a wonderful dog by the way, and have done some training with him in the past - mainly centered on food and use of an e-collar.  He is completely responsive to both food and e-collar, but is fairly independent and hard to motivate otherwise.  What are some methods for enhancing our bond, and his obedience, without having a pocket full of food at all times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6957" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T12:54:02.890" Title="Methods to train attention and obedience in a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-16T09:39:02.983" Score="6" ViewCount="5397" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male, 5 month old kitten. I received him at 2 months old from a friend. When I brought him home he didn't use the litter box, but I realized that he didn't like the litter. Since then, I changed the litter, and he started using the box with no problem. Now, all of a sudden, he stopped using the litter box again. He now uses my dog's beds, blankets, pillows, clothing, anything fabric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I clean out the box about twice a week, and change the litter about every 1-2 weeks. I use the Nature's Miracle pet cleaner and Arm and Hammer baking soda to try to remove the scent as best as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that it's not like he can't make it to the box because I've seen him go up to the box, sniff it, then do his businesses a foot away. I do have a couple of ferrets who have yet to learn that they too need to use their own litter box, but the cat is not allowed around the ferrets, so I don't think he could have seen them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried disciplining him, but this seems to do nothing. Also, every time he uses the litter box, whether on his own or with me having to correct him, I try to reward him. Would anyone know why he suddenly stopped using the litter box after three months of no problems? And what else should I do to try to correct this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7068" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:38:32.653" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T04:15:24.047" Title="Kitten stopped using litterbox, how should I correct him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11938" CreationDate="2016-04-16T10:08:49.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dry food, try Orijen. It is grain and gluten free. Although it does have a pretty high price, it is the best dry cat you can get for your pet. When I had a senior cat, I changed his diet to this and his health improved quite a bit. It uses good quality ingredients with very little filler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For wet food, try Weruva. It, like Orijen, is the best wet cat food you could find. It is also grain and gluten free, with little to no by-products. It uses real meat, and high quality ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are on the pricy side and can't be found in a typical store, but they are worth it as most dry foods like Purina uses sawdust as a filler and other indigestable ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the less pricy side, for dry, try Merrick. It is the lowest costing, dry, grain and gluten free cat food I can find. Unfortunately I have never been able to find this in store, so I've ordered it online from Amazon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a lower cost wet food, Sheba is not too bad. I have been able to find this in my local Walmart or even at dollar stores. Most of the ingredients are meat based, but it is not nearly as high quality as other foods, but it is the best one I've found in local stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, if you really can't get your cat to eat anything, keep anything down, or find a good food you agree with, you should try to mix pedialyte with water to help keep her hydrated, and try to feed her chicken, beef, and/or turkey baby food. The only thing in those meat based baby foods is the meat and meat broth. This is what I fed to my cat when he was sick, on a vet recommendation. But this should only be temporary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7068" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T10:08:49.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2016-04-16T10:23:02.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is fine. Although I'm not an expert, I have had multiple cats since I was a small child. All but one one of my cats did this same exact behavior, more of less. If you think that you might step on your pet, then go ahead and  move her, but if she's comfortable and not acting out of the ordinary, she's fine. If she's happy, that's what counts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7068" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T10:23:02.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11917" CreationDate="2016-04-16T10:32:12.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are creatures which won’t go with discipline. Any kind of training to teach your cat requires patience and positive reinforcement. Getting your to listen requires basic training which builds strong and useful communication links between you and your cat. It just needs to follow certain things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never hit him &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be aware how to talk to him. Try to call his name without word “no”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To come to you, always take a pleasure for him. &#xA;Next slowly and gradually you can go with training. Follow below listed steps:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get ready with treat, then align yourself to the same level as your cat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tap your cat’s paw while saying “shake” and use clicker when it moves its paw.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go ahead and repeat with the training until your cat offers its paw in response to the “shake” command without tapping.&#xA;With these certain steps you can move for more training like come on command and with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsworld.in/blog/how-to-toilet-train-your-cat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how to toilet train your cat&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6845" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T10:32:12.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12031" CreationDate="2016-04-16T10:57:12.903" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's happening for more than a week, the first thing you should do is take him to a vet. There could be a myriad of problems that would cause inappropriate elimination (doing business in inappropriate places). If he gets a clean bill of health, that's another story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, disciplining a cat is a bit tricky because they usually don't associate punishment with what they did. For them it's not &quot;I did a bad thing, so I git punished&quot;, it's &quot;the human turned scary for no reason&quot; which can sometimes morph into &quot;when human sees me doing it, human gets scary&quot;, then the cat might stop doing it, but a lot more likely he'll find a way to do his thing where he thinks you won't see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be several non-health-related reasons a cat stops using a litter box. In a very generalised manner, he either (1) doesn't feel safe doing his business in the litter box, (2) doesn't feel safe in the house so he marks territory, (3) thinks his litter box stinks of something strange, (4) thinks his litter box is dirty, (5) he's going hormonal and is marking territory, or (6) doesn't like the feel of the litter under his feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you changed your litter brand recently, we can disregard the last one, although keep it in mind if nothing else works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Does someone walk around him when he does his business? Is his litter box in a public place where someone often walks by? Do ferrets or the dog go anywhere near his litter box? Are there any loud sounds nearby? Can you remember a time when he was chased out of the box or heard a loud sound, got scared and ran away? Maybe something fell nearby? Just pay attention what happens when he goes to use the litter box, if he does at all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Same as the previous one, but about the whole house. Also, does he have his things around the house? Toys? Beds? A cat tree? How does he know it's his territory? Does he seem confident and at ease when he goes around the house or does he sneak in corners and hide a lot? Do the ferrets or the dog chase him, even playing?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with Nature's Miracle. Does it smell? Baking soda doesn't smell much, but if you don't wash it off properly, it might. Feline nose is a lot more sensitive than a human's, although not as much as a dog's.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Twice a week seems a bit rare. Depends on the type of litter you're using, but you should clean out poop daily either way, and if you're using clumping litter, you should clean out the clumps at least daily, too, preferable twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is he neutered? If not, and if he's not in a breeding programme, you probably should do it. Aside from the inconvenience his hormonal behaviour will bring you (aggression, spraying and clawing things to mark territory, etc.), he'll be suffering himself if he doesn't get a female regularly. But consult your vet first. A kitten of this age is usually in the process of changing teeth, and it puts a bit of a strain on the body. If he's generally healthy and strong, it won't be a problem, but if there's anything wrong (or at least not completely right), you should wait a few months before he has all adult teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, good luck! Post here when you have an update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T10:57:12.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11938" CreationDate="2016-04-16T11:40:08.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Transferring my comments to an answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to sound like a party pooper, but it's generally either good quality pet food without artificial preservatives, colourings, etc, or affordable. RC is notoriously bad quality tbh, I've had a bad experience with it myself. Also, I don't know about Americas, but in the rest of the world supermarkets usually don't have really good pet food, you have to buy it in specialised pet shops, and many of these shops have online stores and do delivery (usually affordable if not free). As for brands, Acana and Orijen are good dry. I'd also try these if I had a chance (some have canned variety, some don't) : Addiction, Evolve, FirstMate, Fromm, Wysong, ZiwiPeak.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And try malt paste for the hair balls. (NO, GoldNugget8, malt paste is not Evil Incarnate. Read ingredients list first, for goodness' sake) My cats (Siberians) happily lap it up from a spoon. You don't have to feed it to your cat all the time, just give it for 3-5 days when you notice hairball problems incoming. But all of that only after you get your cat to a vet. I know that probably every single person here has already told you to do so, but I don't want to sound like I'm telling you not to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T11:40:08.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12038" CreationDate="2016-04-16T14:02:23.243" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small poochon (poodle/bichon frise) dog that gets excited when I try to put him on a leash. It is nearly impossible for me to put his leash on when he is excited like that. How can I teach him to not get excited when I put his leash on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditDate="2017-03-13T19:13:23.067" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T19:13:23.067" Title="How do you teach a dog to allow me to put his leash on?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12037" CreationDate="2016-04-16T16:14:48.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Positive reinforcement here is the key to keeping your dog calm. Obviously, dogs find walking extremely exciting and associate the leash with going out and having fun. Working on your dog's basic training commands on a daily basis is vital to calming him, so at least two times a day some basic sit and stay commands with him, always rewarding him when he gets these right, but also start to reward when he is correct and also calm. When the leash is needed, turn putting the leash on into another command session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask him to sit, he should want the treat so will try to carry out this command. If he remains calm, you should be able to put on his leash. Another factor to consider is that your dog needs to learn that he won't go out for a walk without the leash, so try to avoid chasing him about with the leash to put it on. Call him to you by the door when you have the leash, and only put it on when he is calm and responding to commands. This requires time and patience, so try to keep calm yourself and simply ignore any overexcited behaviour, and immediately reward him when he does what you are asking of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I encountered this behaviour a lot with dogs in the rescue centres I've worked at, as dogs are so excited to get out of their kennels, so consistency and patience are going to be your best friends. If you are struggling with his behaviour, then the best people to ask would be behaviourists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-16T16:14:48.183" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-16T23:19:05.243" Score="1" ViewCount="2992" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been twitching quite a bit lately. She doesn't seem to be ichy or licking. Its just twitching. &#xA;Just a little concerned because she never did that before and now it happens all the time when she lays on me. People can't see it but i can feel when she does it. She is 12 yrs old and siamese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7069" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:34:06.040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T20:34:06.040" Title="Why is my cat twitching?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-16T23:24:17.643" Score="3" ViewCount="1288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new kitten (Slalom) I rescued from my work (warehouse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have an earlier rescue cat (Sochi) from work also. The method we used to socialize Sochi was to keep her in our room for a day while introducing her to our other cat and dogs. We then put her inside a large crate in the living room for a couple days to socialize with others while separated from them so she would feel safe. At first Sochi hissed, but she now roams around the house and is affectionate and sociable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But our new rescue kitten (Slalom) got out of the crate and hides in the basement. He's leaves the basement when no people are around. Our other cats go to the basement with him. He has all needed essentials, treats and toys. I can approach him to give him treats now, but he won't allow me to touch him. He has never hissed. But he has been hiding in the basement for 2 months now. What can I do to get Slalom to trust me and other humans and become more socialized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7070" LastEditorUserId="6801" LastEditDate="2016-08-22T13:42:37.593" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T13:42:37.593" Title="My rescue kitten is afraid of people and hides in the basement" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-16T23:26:17.837" Score="1" ViewCount="617" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why won't my Siamese cat leave me alone? She has to be with me 24/7. No one else but me. &#xA;I'm not complaining... I love her to pieces. Just feel bad for the others that she doesn't want to give attention to, and they try so hard to get her to like them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7069" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T06:59:53.010" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T06:59:53.010" Title="Why won't my siamese cat leave me alone?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-16T23:36:59.843" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;i was wondering if anyone can tell me why my cat has been twitching. She doesnt have the symptons of hyperesthesia she just twitches. She is a 12 yr old siamese&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7069" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2016-04-17T17:31:01.310" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T17:31:01.310" Title="My cat keeps twitching" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-04-20T18:53:56.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12041" CreationDate="2016-04-17T01:19:24.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Siamese can be very dog-like in their focus on &quot;their&quot; people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But many cats are hard to make friends with unless you are very patient. Some of the answers to other cat questions here will be applicable for folks who want to befriend her: sit down so you don't seem so huge, let the cat come to you, don't grab, consider using a toy that lets you play with the cat at a bit of a distance so it feels safer, let the cat decide whether it wants to be friends with you, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-04-22T02:40:32.157" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T02:40:32.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-17T03:07:12.610" Score="2" ViewCount="7953" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last August I decided to by a new 10 gallon tank and buy a new Betta.  I set my tank up and went to a local Spring source where people get drinking water from a pipe coming out of the mountain. I had the fish store test and set up my tank and my beautiful Betta dies within a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just cleaned the tank. I kept it going all this time with no fish just a piece of drift wood and one live plant. Then I filled it with distilled water.  Should I add aquarium salt? And how long do I need to wait before adding my Betta?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I do have a large piece of real drift wood purchased from a fish store in the tank. I understand the tannins are beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7071" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-02-07T11:40:54.970" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T11:40:54.970" Title="How to remineralize distilled water?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12040" CreationDate="2016-04-17T05:48:12.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not rare for rescues to distrust people. Many of them have been abused, and cats have good memory. Usually you just have to give them time and a lot of TLC (tender loving care) without imposing on them too much. Seems like your kitten is slowly warming up to you if he lets you give him treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few suggestions though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are all of his essentials in the basement or around the house? What's his relationship with the other pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're trying to touch him, be calm (cats read our state easily), move slowly and steadily, and keep your hand(s) at his eye level or lower (keeping hands above eye level can be seen as a threat, especially by a skittish kitten), don't loom over him (that makes you look huge and scary). Same goes for other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERJXwaTVPI8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slow blink&lt;/a&gt; to let him know you trust him and to encourage him to trust you more. Same for other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he responds well to treats, challenge him with it softly. Sit a foot away and let him come to you for a treat, then a little farther, then farther still... Let him warm up to the idea that if he comes to you, good things happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let other people bring him treats, leave them as close to him as he'll let them without bolting, then leave. After a bit of time, leave the treats close to him, retreat a couple steps, and wait a bit. With time he should be comfortable enough to get out and take the treat when the people are still there. Then retreat less, then stay there when you put the treat down, then try touching him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with him slowly leading him out of the basement. Let him chase the toy as far as he's comfortable going. When he doesn't want to go any farther, don't push him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let other people play with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be a long process. You were lucky with your first rescue, but it doesn't always work as smoothly. Just be patient and don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T05:48:12.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12039" CreationDate="2016-04-17T05:54:33.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, get your cat to a vet and be sure to do bloodwork. There are very many conditions that can cause that. Siamese cats are predisposed to a lot of conditions, and with a cat over 10 I'd go for bi-annual checkups regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not health-related, it might be overstimulation (for example, when you pet your cat too much at a time and she starts feeling uncomfortable because of it) or pent up energy (then you should play with her more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T05:54:33.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-17T06:53:56.760" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to get a 75-100 gallon salt water fish tank. I have done some research but still, I am not too educated on this matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am looking to have about 5-10 fish (the average salt water fish you can find at your local store) in my tank, what is the most efficient yet cost-effective setup? I do not want that I have to constantly clean the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm leaning towards a hang on protein skimmer. Is this a good idea? Also what else would I need? I also don't want to have anything that requires major plumbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7072" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T19:34:32.260" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T19:34:32.260" Title="Salt Water Fish Tank Requirements" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12050" CreationDate="2016-04-17T10:58:14.440" Score="1" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I Have a Cocker Spaniel puppy (3 months now) and the past 2 months I realized after research that I have done a terrible mistake in potty &amp;amp; crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I built him a big crate and placed the potty in the corner inside the crate and he learnt to defecate and pee on his own correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this will make him think it's okay to go potty at anytime without discipline or holding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I undo this mistake as I want to establish a potty break routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6907" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T12:36:22.863" Title="How to undo the mistakes I have done in potty training?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12048" CreationDate="2016-04-17T12:36:22.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toilet training is all about positive reinforcement. It sounds like your puppy has got the hang of using a specific place to toilet nice and quickly, which is great. What you need to do now is get him to change where that place is. Toilet training requires a lot of patience and vigilance on your part, and consistency is the key. Whenever you are at home and with your dog, get into the habit of taking him outside on a regular basis and starting to use a key word to encourage to toilet. Like all training, he will not recognise this as anything at first, but whenever he does toilet outside upon you using said keyword, praise and reward him. He will start to associate toileting outside as a good thing. With puppies, it's always important to remember that they need to toilet a lot, just after they have eaten, just after they wake up, and almost every hour you are going to want to get him outside and go through the motions of using your keyword and really rewarding him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to changing what he has already learnt, when you are not home using  crate can be a great toilet training aid, as dogs generally do not want to toilet where they sleep. If you are away for a short amount of time, say a few hours, shut him in the crate without the potty, and he should hold his toileting. As soon as you return, get him outside and use your keyword and rewarding. This will further enforce in his head that toileting outside is good. If you are away for longer than a few hours, you may want to leave the potty in with him as that is what he knows and you do not want him to have to hold it for too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The golden rule for toilet training is to never punish any accidents a dog has, you need to really work with your dog and aid him in making the decision to toilet outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience working with dogs, toilet training pads or potties actually complicate matters, as like you said the dog becomes unsure where he is able to toilet. You basically want to teach him that going outside is always good, and going inside gets no reaction from you at all. Be prepared for accidents, as puppies are unpredictable, but only focus on the positive behaviours. You will also start to learn from your dog's body language when he needs to toilet; they will often look distracted and sniff the floor in circles, and sometimes head towards the door, so be alert at all times and work with your puppy, remembering to only focus on good behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-17T12:36:22.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12051" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-17T22:57:39.000" Score="1" ViewCount="3250" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 month old shih tzu is licking her pee after she goes on the training pads. How do I stop her from doing this? She has plenty of water and food. Help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7075" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:32:29.140" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T20:32:29.140" Title="How do I stop my puppy from licking her pee from training pads?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-18T13:42:38.797" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currenly own a 3.5 year old male Black Lab. He is well trained, well exercised and a great family dog. I've always wanted a German Shepherd and am considering purchasing a GSD puppy (not sure if it would be a male or female yet). I'm curious what I might expect from our Black Lab as far as behaviour changes, if any. I'm pretty sure if I were to bring in an adult GSD, I could expect problems. But, bringing in a puppy, I'm not so sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7079" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:33:06.130" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T20:33:06.130" Title="How would a new puppy affect a 3.5 year old male Black Lab?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12040" CreationDate="2016-04-18T19:07:14.607" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kaworu's answer is excellent, so I'll just add a few suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a cardboard box or something else he can hide in near your sofa&#xA;(or wherever you relax). This can help him get more comfortable with&#xA;being near you. If he won't even come out of the basement when people are around, try putting the box/hiding place at the entrance to the basement. Gradually move it closer to your sofa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he does make an appearance, don't make a big&#xA;fuss. You can greet him, but then go back to whatever you were doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try lying on the floor and coaxing him to come to you (perhaps with&#xA;treats). You don't have to do this a lot, but it will help in the&#xA;beginning. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he does come near you, don't reach out and pet him&#xA;without warning. Instead, extend your hand as a request to pet him. If he walks away, that's a &quot;no&quot;, so respect that. If he stays close,&#xA;that's &quot;yes&quot;. Reach out slowly and pet him. Early on, he may flinch&#xA;even if he stays put. I'd treat that as a &quot;yes&quot;, but approach extra&#xA;gently. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you pet him, try not to bring your hand down from above.&#xA;Put your hand down at his level, and then move it toward him. Imagine&#xA;if you had a friend that was 10 times your height. Even if you&#xA;trusted this friend completely, you'd flinch if he brought his hand&#xA;quickly down toward you!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may want to try a product like Feliway or Kalm aid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't &quot;pat&quot;. Stroke him, scratch the chin&#xA;and around the ears, and if he lets you, rub his tummy. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he allows&#xA;you to pick him up, do so as gently as if he were the most fragile,&#xA;precious thing in the world. Cats really appreciate exaggerated&#xA;gentleness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T19:07:14.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12044" CreationDate="2016-04-18T19:31:11.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely need to add minerals to the distilled water.  Fish require minerals for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6564/is-distilled-or-spring-water-better-for-fish-tanks&quot;&gt;a variety of reasons&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have several options for remineralizing the water.  Remineralizers generally fall into two categories: the solid powdered form and liquid.  Solids are cheaper, but usually require preparing the water and letting it rest before adding to the tank.  Whereas the liquid remineralizers can be mixed with water and added to the tank immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick google search should lead you to some options.  You just want to be sure that the remineralizer you choose is optimal for Bettas.  Some are targeted at the mineral requirements of specific species.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7048" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-18T19:31:11.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-19T11:36:07.657" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a German Shepherd, one with lots of fur. All of a sudden he is having hair loss. It is not in the normal quantities, slightly more than usual but not a bald patch. Do I have some thing to worry about? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7055" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:21:13.527" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T12:52:29.340" Title="My dog is having a lot of hair fall" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-19T12:42:26.697" Score="9" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of instructions on &lt;strong&gt;what to do if approached by a dog&lt;/strong&gt;, for example this one : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Handle-a-Dog-Attack&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Handle-a-Dog-Attack&lt;/a&gt; . I don't see anything new there, have been using similar approach, despite never reading any instructions or guides on how to handle dog attacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how does this change if &lt;strong&gt;I have my dog with me? And he is the target of the other dog?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an English springer spaniel and when we walk, sometimes we come across unleashed dogs who approach and start fighting, and don't follow their owner's commands. German shepherd, staffordshire terrier and boxer, those are the breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can tell my dog to stand still, I can put the leash on him. But trying to not let a fight happen can be difficult at times. And breaking one up as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouting angrily in a deep voice works most of the time. But sometimes dogs just ignore me, and try to ran past me to attack my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question, related to first one, &lt;strong&gt;what should I do if some dog is biting mine, and not letting go?&lt;/strong&gt; I have not had this happen to me, but a neighbor had his collie badly hurt by a boxer. He was unable to get him off until boxer's owner came.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of information on these questions on the internet, but it is hard for me to understand the quality of information in this case. And I don't want to do something stupid if the described situation happens. I hope that here  I will get answers from knowledgeable people, typical to StackExchange communities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5500" LastEditorUserId="5500" LastEditDate="2016-04-29T00:00:05.200" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T00:00:05.200" Title="What to do if I am with my dog and an aggressive and unleashed dog approaches us?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2016-04-19T14:06:37.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Foggy water is often caused by a &lt;a href=&quot;http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/qa/f/faq0015.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bacterial blossom&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On itself it is nothing to worry about, and the water is not actually 'dirty'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you need to provide more information to be sure if that's really what's going on here.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You mentioned that the water got so dirty in just 2 days. Does that mean that you set up the tank and immediately added the betta to it?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In that case it is something to worry about, and it is also not healthy for your betta. Which could then also explain the lethargic behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before adding fish to an aquarium, it has to go through a '&lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/cycling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cycle&lt;/a&gt;'. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;During this period you need to have your aquarium running with water, filters, heater and lighting. But without any fish. Keep it like this for at least 2-3 weeks.&lt;br&gt; During this period the chemical composition of the water changes and the growth of these 'good bacteria' start. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the first week it will get a peak of the levels of ammonia and nitrite. If these values get too high, they are lethal for your fish. Once you get enough of these bacteria, the levels of ammonia and nitrite will disappear. And only then your tank is ready to get some fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's a bit too late now to cycle your tank.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So what you should do now is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you don't feed the fish too much. Once every 2 days should be ok.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a daily, partial water change. 50% should be ok&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding some real plants is also better than plastic (the plastic can also hurt the fins of your betta)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a test kit for ammonia and nitrite. If you measure daily (before changing the water), you should see a spike after about 1 or 2 weeks. If it's back at 0nppm (when it is actually safe to add fish to it) you can stop doing these water changes..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="7048" LastEditDate="2016-04-20T12:48:23.450" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T12:48:23.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12062" CreationDate="2016-04-19T16:00:37.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish I could give you an answer with more expertise but I'm not a dog expert. Only knowledge I have is experiences with my own pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your comment replies, it seems your dog might be dealing with allergies. The best course of action would be to take the dog to a vet to have him checked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you want to learn what might be causing this itch look for these signs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog is itching and losing hair all over its body, its something he is eating/drinking; check his food and google if G.S. are allergic or prone to allergies to any of these ingredients. Sometimes switching from tap water to distilled water helps too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the skin problems are localized, that means the dog is getting in direct contact with the allergenic component, something in your yard or park you frequent; study his movements when outside and try to pin out the exact place where the dog happens to lay down or scratch and it fits the itching pattern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, my first suggestion would be to take him to a vet. Hope all goes well with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5727" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T16:00:37.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2016-04-19T18:04:49.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically when it comes to disciplining cats, negative reinforcement doesn't work. It just confuses the cats and can make the behavior worse and instill fear in your cat. The best approach is using positive reinforcement, which cats respond to better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good article detailing all about it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://catsmeouch.com/how-to-discipline-a-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://catsmeouch.com/how-to-discipline-a-cat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of your cat climbing on counter tops, you might want to look into getting some cat shelves and tress for your cat to play and climb on instead. This post may be helpful as well &lt;a href=&quot;http://catsmeouch.com/how-to-keep-cats-away-from-certain-areas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://catsmeouch.com/how-to-keep-cats-away-from-certain-areas/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7088" LastActivityDate="2016-04-19T18:04:49.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-19T20:48:02.587" Score="2" ViewCount="764" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are various suggestions I have read on how to keep a rabbit cool in hot and extreme heat conditions, including &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2800/how-can-i-keep-a-rabbit-cool/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What none of these seem to address is the suitability of shaving or trimming the rabbit's fur.  I have read various opinions on this and they range from &quot;don't do it unless you have special expensive equipment like a vet&quot; or &quot;don't do it because the fur will protect the bunny from the heat&quot; to &quot;it will definitely help to keep the rabbit cooler&quot;.  There are also differing opinions on how short a cut should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had experience shaving rabbit fur, but not expressly for the purpose for dealing with being outdoors in hot weather, so I am familiar with the issues doing the actual shaving, but not with the practicality of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will shaving a rabbit help them to better deal with the heat?  Will it be helpful in filling gaps in other cooling methods when they aren't possible, for instance those which appear to require frequent presence to refresh cold water or frozen water bottles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1054" LastEditorUserId="1054" LastEditDate="2016-04-20T21:43:35.557" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T23:30:46.443" Title="Does fur protect a rabbit from heat or make it hotter?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2016-04-20T02:41:43.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband destroyed a lone infant cottontail nest. I have been feeding her kitten formula and she is now 138 grams and about one month of age. I have been supplementing her formula with parsley, carrot top greens, grass, and spinach. She will sometimes eat carrots and apples. I had to give her probiotics I bought with a kitten rescue kit when she developed enteritis after three days in captivity.  She has gained weight and is maturing. I purchased the powder formula KMR by PetAg. I started feeding her slowly with a 1 mL oral syringe and graduated to a 3 mL oral syringe when she started eating more at one feed.  Feed the baby very slowly because they will aspirate, and if probiotics are needed a probiotic gel works well. Just a ball-point pen tip worth of the probiotic gel once a day until diarrhea resolves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7092" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T02:41:43.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-20T07:44:37.983" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 month old black lab spends almost all of his time with his nose pressed against the ground, sniffing. This happens when we are out in the park and also when he is in the rooms of the house where he doesn't normally have constant access to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is fairly responsive when it comes to recall, if we walk away from him while he is sniffing and call he mostly comes running back to us.  But we can't get him interested in playing with us because as soon as we throw a ball or anything he just ignores it and goes back to sniffing the ground.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also when we are walking on lead he doesn't really pull forwards, it tends to be that he stops everywhere to sniff so we end up pulling him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am lost for ideas of how we get him to stop the sniffing and turn his focus to us and playing games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6233" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T08:19:02.047" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:19:02.047" Title="Using positive reinforcement to stop labrador from constantly sniffing the ground" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2016-04-20T09:32:43.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert, but I have 2 dogs myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, my experience is that the right kind of toy/ball can make a LOT of difference. One of my dogs never wanted to play, until one day I got one of those hard rubber balls with the hole trough the middle (I think the hole is meant to hold treats, never used it for that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He loves the thing and always stops whatever he's doing to play with it.&#xA;If your local petshop allows it take your dog there and make him pick the ball/toy, they may all be similar to you but your dog might think otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using only positive reinforcement you won't be able to make him stop sniffing, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you could do is make playing more interesting for him, by giving him treats whenever he does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7096" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T07:59:53.163" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T07:59:53.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2016-04-20T14:07:47.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to have a reward that out weighs what he's getting from sniffing the ground. You wouldn't stop watching a favorite TV show or playing a video game if someone told you that if you stop you can come scrub the bathroom with them. It's got to be worth it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the stopping while on a walk, I suggest an extra lead that's much thinner. Go to home depot and get some cheap paracord. Make a loop in one end and feed the body of the rope through the eye to make a loop. Put this around his neck and high up near his ears. When he stops, just keep moving and bump him with the lead. You may have to tug a little, but it'll put more pressure on a smaller area and be more uncomfortable than a wider collar that's further down on the neck. That should help alleviate that problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something you should consider is working with what the dog naturally likes to do. If he is really big on using his nose, I wouldn't discourage it, but channel it. Start doing scent work. It'll engage his mind, let him do what he likes to do anyway, but it'll also give it a set of rules and guidelines. I think that would probably be the best thing for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T14:07:47.633" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-20T16:14:29.437" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like seeing coils of intestine through the cut wound or it may be the muscle I'm not sure. A staff here said its infested with maggots. The dog is kinda irritated one , doesn't allow any one to go near  . we are unable to restrain him. So i can't find out whether its infested with maggots. I see no signs of pus or blood. Since it is in breast area he has the access to lick it. But for precaution can i spray med. turpentine oil ? Will it cause harm if maggots aren't there? Would oral ivernectin heal that ? Or any other antibiotic course should be given?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7098" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-21T20:28:56.337" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T23:15:25.407" Title="How can I help an unfriendly dog with a serious wound?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12068" CreationDate="2016-04-20T23:30:46.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Does fur protect the rabbit from heat or make it hotter?&quot; Both, actually.  Fur is an insulator, which means that it impedes heat exchange in either direction.  That is, heat is slower to leave the rabbit's body, in the case that it's cold outside, and outside heat is absorbed into the rabbit more slowly, like in the case of the rabbit being in direct sun in summer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the outside environment is cooler than their body temperature, a mammal may feel too hot because their body is constantly producing heat, and they're designed to have a certain amount of that heat lost to the outside.  If it's warm enough outside, fur could impede the movement of heat too much, making it feel too warm, and removing fur by shaving could help speed it up, making the rabbit feel cooler.  There are other benefits to having fur, however, such as protection of the skin from sunburns and injury.  Therefore, I would consult with a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-04-20T23:30:46.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12093" CreationDate="2016-04-21T12:38:34.040" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased some flame moss online for the first time and it arrived rubber-banded to a wire mesh.  Do I just throw it in the tank like this or do I have to remove the rubber bands?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7048" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-01-10T13:26:43.537" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T13:26:43.537" Title="Should I remove rubber bands from delivered flame moss?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2016-04-21T18:36:07.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, ask yourself why you want to stop your dog from sniffing. Sniffing is something that's really important to dogs. From a practical perspective, sniffing a lot will tire your dog out, so when you get home your dog is less likely to have other training issues. Does it really cost you so much to let your dog &quot;live a little&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If yes, then there is a reward you have that you already know is important to your dog: the ability to sniff. This is an amazing gift! You can train your dog through positive reinforcement when you don't have treats on you, because there is almost always something nearby that your dog wants to sniff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need to make allowing your dog to sniff contingent on doing what you want first. To start, adjust your dog's collar so it is right behind his ears, and give him enough leash to be comfortable standing or sitting, but he can't get his nose to the ground. Then wait. Your dog is going to try to sniff, then look at you like &quot;huh&quot;? If you already have a marker (clicker, &quot;yes&quot;, etc.), use that, then say &quot;ok, go sniff.&quot; If not, this might be a good way to get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let him sniff a bit, then stick a treat right in his face and raise his head so you can restart by adjusting his collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to keep what you're asking for &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; short in the beginning. The reason this works is because it doesn't cost much for your dog to do what you want, and it isn't the end of what he wants to do--it's a way for him to be able to &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; you to give him what he wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog loves to sniff as well, and when I walk him I stop at the places he has indicated are the most tempting to sniff and ask him to work--usually a few steps of heeling with a sit or a turn thrown in--at each one before he can sniff. It's great because what started out as a distraction is what's now motivating him to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T18:36:07.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2016-04-21T20:28:06.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please find a way to get this dog seen by a veterinarian. Even if you can't restrain the dog, perhaps you can get a veterinarian to visit your location and determine if the dog has maggots or intestines poking through the wound (both conditions are serious).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not recommend the use of turpentine oil on such a potentially serious wound, turpentine oil can harm the body's ability to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-04-21T20:28:06.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-21T23:45:51.203" Score="1" ViewCount="605" Body="&lt;p&gt;If cats are obligate carnivores and require no carbohydrate in their diet, do they derive all the glucose their cells need through gluconeogenesis? Some sources I've found state that carnivores get their glucose from the animals they're eating, but that conflicts with the fact that they say cats and dogs require NO CARBOHYDRATE in their diet whatsoever. My guess is they just catabolize protein for energy and are better equipped to deal with the acidic waste products than humans are? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7109" LastActivityDate="2016-10-16T15:49:20.010" Title="How do carnivores (cats, dogs) catabolize protein for energy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12030" CreationDate="2016-04-22T00:05:37.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you provide some more information in regards to the behaviours you are trying to improve or strengthen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T00:05:37.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12080" CreationDate="2016-04-22T02:31:12.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obligate carnivore means they must eat meat (specifically to get taurine, which they can't synthesize), not that they can't also eat other things. In the wild, I've been told, some of a cat's nutrition may actually come from the stomach contents of prey. And mine have expressed interest in everything from broccoli to Graham crackers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is certainly possible to burn protein and fats for energy. Humans do it too; where do you think the calories in a lean steak come from? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing very special; basic biology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There are amino acids we can't synthesize too, but they're ones which are relatively easy to get from plants.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T02:31:12.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2932" CreationDate="2016-04-22T02:38:05.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately for the storytellers, this is mostly confirmation bias -- we tend to notice the cases where the behavior corresponds to full moon and ignore all the cases where the behavior or the full moon happen independently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one definite effect, of course, is that a fuller moon casts more light, and since cats see well in low light levels they are able to take advantage of this better than we can. That may mean they can see activity outside that we can't. Or they may be hearing other animals taking advantage of the improved visibility and reacting to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the most part,this is a myth, and should probably be taken over to the Skeptics area of Stack Exchange if you want folks to track down hard data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T02:38:05.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-22T02:59:13.617" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been vocal for most of his life, and nothing I have tried has worked; including training (both reward and punishment), keeping him inside (he still barks at almost anything), and I have even tried using a citronella barking collar, which didn't do anything for the barking, he'd only eventually get annoyed at the collar and attempt to &quot;scare it away&quot; by barking at the spray. He has always found something to bark at, whether or not there is actually something there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I have said, the collar is a last resort, and I really don't want to use this improperly. He is primarily an outside dog, and I am away for most of the day, generally between 7am and 6pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is considered inhumane, and I hate the thought of hurting my dog, but I need to stop, or at least reduce the amount that my dog barks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how should I use this collar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5143" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-22T03:05:50.577" LastActivityDate="2020-03-23T00:27:25.720" Title="Preffered method for applying a barking collar" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12063" CreationDate="2016-04-22T03:14:52.633" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is being attacked, the other dog is being vicious, and you need to get him off as soon as possible. What can you do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When dogs act like this, their focus is very singular: they see nothing but their target. What you need to do is re-direct their focus long enough for you to escape the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog has been in fights with other dogs often, (his nature is very pushy, but he isn't dominant enough to back it up) and often ends up at the mercy of the other dogs. All I have been able to do to get them off my dog is to bring their attention away from my dog, onto me. This unfortunately often involves violence, as in the heat of the moment, there is little else you can do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The response required to distract the attacker also depends on the ferocity of the dog, sometimes you may just be able to kick the other dog away, and pull yours to safety, but other times, I have personally been required to physically overpower the other dog, and have ended up taking some damage myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any better solutions, please let me know too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5143" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T03:14:52.633" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12085" CreationDate="2016-04-22T07:34:57.453" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally, the collar should only zap the dog a few times. There's a warning beep before it fires; the dog should learn to respect that warning and still at the beep or before it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T07:34:57.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12092" CreationDate="2016-04-22T09:18:56.120" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 week old German shepherd is being crate trained with us right now. We have had her almost a week and I think things are going well. My expectations are not too high as she is still very young. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is happy to be left in her crate overnight without us there. She does not whine much at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now we are crating her only at night. We get up every 2 hours or so to let her out pee outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that she has had three nights where she goes to the toilet in her crate at the opposite corner to where she sleeps. ( we made it as small as we could for her to fit her size but there is still space for her to sit in one end and be able to pee in the other end it seems). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially she seemed to be able to hold her per for about 4-5 hours at night and be fine ( the first two nights with us she had no accidents). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now she had had quite a few in a row. I am worried she is learning it's ok to pee in there. Which we don't want at all obviously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know anyone else who had crate trained a puppy before so I am just looking for confirmation that we are doing things correctly, or if not then how we can improve to stop her peeing in her crate at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:19:27.170" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T14:20:19.623" Title="Help in crate training my German shepherd correctly?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12104" CreationDate="2016-04-22T09:24:53.103" Score="2" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens at least once daily, and it started around two or three weeks ago. One of our two cats from the same litter (she is smaller, much more shy) began jumping right onto the stairs railing and then she would meow continuously until I come out of my room. I noticed that it only happens when she knows there is someone upstairs, and that she will stop meowing once she sees me and will come towards me for petting (while still on the railing). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not so concerned about her falling off the railing as this never happened before - both of our cats take extra care in walking on the railing. However, I am interested in finding out what my cat wants from doing this. Is this perhaps related to cats bringing dead prey to their owners, as they may expect to get praised for doing so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T09:01:50.650" Title="Why does my cat meow when she stands on the railing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12090" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-22T13:30:18.330" Score="6" ViewCount="762" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 14 year old cat was diagnosed with arthritis last August over the pelvic area and spine. Unfortunately for the past month he has been peeing all over the place. I have tried all sorts of things to help his situation such as having several litter boxes which are completely flat, appropriate food and giving him vitamins for his joints. I also got him groomed as he no longer cleans himself, this was suggested by our vet. At this stage I don't know what to do that might help reduce the peeing part as he no longer uses any of the litter boxes. Any suggestions please?  Or could it be something else, such as kidney failure? :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7112" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T16:41:55.583" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T16:41:55.583" Title="How can I help a arthritic cat who is peeing outside of the box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12099" CreationDate="2016-04-22T14:07:58.207" Score="3" ViewCount="473" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be that the question may have been asked multiple times, still i would like you to please analyse the question before down voting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have adopted 2 street dogs from an NGO in Hyderabad, India&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male, 45 days Approx.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Female, 2 Months Approx.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The on the second day when i brought them in, the female started showing the following symptoms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;started rejecting food, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vomited all over the floor and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;also had a foul smelling stool passing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she lost about 1.5 Kg within 1 day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she also became very lethargic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male on the other hand was quite fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet diagnosed her with &lt;code&gt;Parvo-virus&lt;/code&gt;. For a second opinion, a second vet diagnosed her with &lt;code&gt;Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis or HGE&lt;/code&gt;, citing that the stomach pain was not there. He even performed the Parvo Test using some kit which gave negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimistically we started the treatment for HGE and she had started showing improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she is &lt;code&gt;not vomiting&lt;/code&gt; at all, but her stool is now completely stinking sticky fluid. The vet is now saying it might again be &lt;code&gt;Parvo&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest if that can be true. my vet has told me to wait for 2-3 days. but in case it is Parvo, then I need to take care of the male pup as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-10T07:23:34.783" Title="Can my pup actually be affected by Parvo Virus" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12088" CreationDate="2016-04-22T17:29:05.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key with toilet training or crate training is patience and vigilance on your part. It's great that you are waking up during the night to take her out, a lot of people assume their puppy will hold it overnight, so keep this up. At such a young age she will still not be at the point where she has learnt how to hold her bladder for long periods of time, but you can aid this by positively reinforcing any 'good' toileting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be frustrating when she has accidents, but you must ensure that you ignore these and do not make a negative reaction to this. When you take her out to toilet, make sure you have some treats on hand and really make a great fuss of her when she toilets outside, as her brain will really respond to this. She will start to think toileting outside means happy times, so will then begin to make the decision to hold it when inside. It will take time and patience on your part, but the key is to avoid any negative response to her toileting indoors, as this will make her start to feel anxious about toileting in general and can lead to more serious problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay resilient and really work on the positive rewarding, and the results will come in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T17:29:05.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12076" CreationDate="2016-04-22T19:40:13.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do either but it's hard to give specific advice without seeing exactly how it's attached. Most mosses take a long time to attach to whatever they are being mounted to so rubber bands or small zip ties are commonly used to attach them until they can grab hold and spread on their own. As far as the mesh goes, the moss will typically attach to it and eventually cover it completely making a solid carpet. If you don't want a carpet in your tank, you may want to remove it or some of it from the mesh and attach it somewhere else in your tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you want to be certain it is stainless mesh as most other metal mesh will corrode and leach elements into your tank which could be detrimental to your plants and other inhabitants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T19:40:13.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11829" CreationDate="2016-04-22T19:59:42.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's particularly harmful if it's not a large component of her diet. The problems with seed mixes is you have to research the nutritional components of each item, which is time consuming. Peanuts do have a high oxalate (oxalic acid) and goitrogen content. You can use a sifter or a colander with small holes to remove the large chunks if you feel she is eating too much of it. This removes the oat groats which could expand in the gut. A few will probably be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also this is a supplemented feed so be sure you adjust your other supplements if you are feeding this as more than 10% of her total diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T19:59:42.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2016-04-22T20:12:33.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend not having a particulate substrate while he's a baby. Larger adults have less of a problem passing foreign objects, but there's always a possibility that it won't be passed and you could end up with an impaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to give him a place to dig when he's older, consider a mix of organic potting soil with sand, I've used that with Uromastyx without a problem, but again there is still a risk with any particulate substrate. Don't use calcium sand or walnut shells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beardeddragonlady.com/impaction--constipation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.beardeddragonlady.com/impaction--constipation.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.moonvalleyreptiles.com/enclosures/top-5-worst-reptile-substrates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.moonvalleyreptiles.com/enclosures/top-5-worst-reptile-substrates&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-articles/calcium-sand-dangers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-articles/calcium-sand-dangers/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2016-04-22T20:12:33.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-22T23:47:02.150" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a German Shepherd named Bruno; he is not always ferocious but he seriously hates this kitten that comes in the backyard. He has even tried attacking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten is still small, but knows to run around though. No one among the neighbors is willing to take the kitten in. I would want to take it but I have Bruno too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I ever expect these two to be good to each other? What can I do so that Bruno stops hating the kitten?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7055" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:35:51.113" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:35:51.113" Title="How do I get my dog and a kitten to be friends?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-23T00:38:22.360" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I transport my adult suckerfish, by automobile for 6 hours ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7114" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T14:31:21.613" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T14:31:21.613" Title="how can I transport a suckerfish by automobile for 6 hours?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12091" CreationDate="2016-04-23T22:39:14.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it can be true for mainly two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, Canine Parvovirus (CPV) and Haemorrhagic Gastroenteritis (HGE) can look very similar. Some tests (the ones we use for example) can give false negatives, meaning that even if the test indicates that it is not CPV, it can still be CPV (happens rarely though - in my opinion, the vet should have mentioned that possibility, esp. as the first vet suspected CPV). As you noted, the prognoses differs tremendously, but the treatment and treatment goals are very similar and overlap - making it acceptable to treat for both and upon the outcome period (2-3 days vs. about a week) the suspected diagnosis can be more accurately &quot;confirmed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, it is possible to be infected by CPV in the animal hospital itself, or to be infected just prior to joining your family. CPV infection takes 3 - 10 days (sources for these numbers varies) to manifest and become visible to the pet owner. If your dog was for example infected with CPV on day 0 (without clinical signs) and HGE (which has a completely different cause with fast manifestation) 2-3 days later, the CPV can still become clinical 1-7 days after the HGE infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would worry about the other doggie. Get him/her vaccinated ASAP!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastEditorUserId="5998" LastEditDate="2019-02-10T07:23:34.783" LastActivityDate="2019-02-10T07:23:34.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-23T22:44:40.107" Score="2" ViewCount="809" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some articles I have found say it's 3-5 times a day, some say 2-3 times a day with no more than 8-12 hours between times when dog gets out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother's dog (English Springer Spaniel) is used to being taken out 2 times a day. 7-8 in the morning and ~11 in the evening. He only poops in the morning. He seems to be used to this schedule, he does not seem too needy in morning and evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my question is, is twice a day not enough and is this hurting the dog in the long run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I convince my mother that 3 times are needed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5500" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:22:51.570" LastActivityDate="2019-01-08T04:27:53.680" Title="How often should a dog pee and poop normally?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12123" CreationDate="2016-04-24T02:51:54.670" Score="4" ViewCount="957" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest I was a bit surprised when I heard that fish can eat cucumber. I though it's a joke till I watched it with my own eyes on Youtube: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pt4ZdEKniQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pt4ZdEKniQ&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I saw on the video, a bunch of fish seemed to enjoy eating cucumber. 3 hours ago I went to traditional market to buy a cucumber, I cut it then I put it into my aquarium but my fish seemed to ignore it and just swam around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to let the fish to starve a bit to introduce this cucumber?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 10 total fish in my aquarium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 bettas - one is bigger male and another one is smaller, I don't know it's female or male, tough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 young guppies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually I feed my fish with pellets but I want them to eat cucumber too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:38:14.713" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:38:14.713" Title="My guppy &amp; betta fish ignore cucumber" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11990" CreationDate="2016-04-24T06:47:19.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother uses a standard small pet carrier for his Military Macaw. A towel on the bottom also helps provide something to grab, as well as making the carrier easier to clean when the bird does what birds do. I asked about adding a perch dowel; his reaction was &quot;optional&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T00:18:49.527" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T00:18:49.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12089" CreationDate="2016-04-24T09:01:50.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are smart enough to repeat behavior that results in some desired response from you. If your cat's behavior results in the attention she wants, she will learn to repeat that behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats like to be in higher places; it allows them to see things better and is a better defensive position if they are threatened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you combine both cat traits above, you have a reasonable explanation for your cat's behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T09:01:50.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9231" CreationDate="2016-04-24T09:19:44.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat (and other animal) behavior is affected by many, sometimes conflicting, motivations. You can see the same behavior in people when they want to stay awake for some reason but are very short of sleep; when they start to fall asleep their head drops and they then snap their head up and attempt to stay awake again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats prefer to sleep in locations they consider secure; if for some reason they are in a location where they feel threatened or can see possible prey, they wish to stay awake but if they need sleep they display this behavior. I have noticed this sort of falling asleep/trying to stay awake behavior is more common in kittens than in adult cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, your example video link is no longer working, but I found another one at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CNd6OGdMO8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CNd6OGdMO8&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-04-24T09:19:44.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12106" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-24T11:43:39.110" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;My apartment (and most like it here in the heart of Honolulu) has german cockroaches. While I'm sure that we'll never get rid of them completely, poison traps (roach hotels) and raid barrier poison as well as being squeaky clean keeps them basically out of our sight. My biggest concern is the geckos that show up in the house periodically. I know they eat roaches. If they eat a roach that has been poisoned (which all of the roaches in my house have been because I spread that stuff everywhere, even behind the fridge, stove, and cabinets), how much is it hurting them? What we're using Combat brand roach hotels and Raid spray as well as Raid border control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7117" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-04-25T14:33:05.453" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T17:56:03.920" Title="I live in Hawai'i where houses generally have both cockroaches and geckos. Are the geckos being poisoned by the poisoned roaches?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-24T23:00:49.413" Score="3" ViewCount="1113" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 week old puppy ( German shepherd), when told off for something such as going for the rubbish bin or chewing something we don't want her to chew, we tell her &quot;no&quot; and gently pull her back or hold whatever it is and say &quot; give&quot; until she gives the back. We try to give her something we want her to chew but this rarely works if we is going for something she really wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes however she snaps back at me or others and occasionally barks at you as if she is upset and trying to dominate back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she does this we again say &quot;no&quot; and if need be put her back in her puppy pen and don't give her attention for a few minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't often have to tell her off like this but I was just wondering if such a reaction is normal or if we should be handling behaviour like this differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T21:48:40.413" Title="puppy upset when told off?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2016-04-25T04:30:30.000" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blue Dawn dish soap diluted with some water and a flea comb will help to remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salmon oil or other fatty acids added to their diet will definitely help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cleaning their water dish and switching to something other than plastic will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7122" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:53:07.087" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:53:07.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12110" CreationDate="2016-04-25T06:30:39.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Upset&quot; may be the wrong word. But you may be sending your puppy confusing messages!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ideally, you want her to LIKE her pen. Imagine if she disliked it, and you put her into it because you need her to stay out of the way because you are moving heavy things around, or just cannot keep a close enough eye on her because you are busy with something. Putting her somewhere she doesn't like for these occasions would certainly not be good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, take the idea situation that she really likes her pen. Then she snaps at you, you give her the &quot;no!&quot;, trying to correct her behaviour, and if she does not follow the correction, you put her into a place she likes to be in! So, no you will not upset her, but you will potentially reinforce a behaviour you do not want; teaching her that if she keeps the snapping up, she gets to be in her pen. THAT you do not want.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, you would be better of to correct her until she does what you expect, then reward her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a sidenote, you seem unsure about the reason for her barking as well. If it worries you, try to work out what she is really signalling. And if it is a warning make sure you correct any aggressive behaviour, but NOT the barking BEFORE being aggressive. But at puppy-age, chances are it is just excitement, so try to work it out, but don't worry TOO much :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T06:30:39.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12101" CreationDate="2016-04-25T12:48:07.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the video you can see a catfish and I think the cucumber is primary for him since they are vegetarians. Bettas are predominant carnivorous (insects, larvae) so they will not eat cucumber. For Guppys having some vegetables is fine. They are in general very curious and hoggish fishes. Mine always tested if my fingers are eatable so if you offer them cucumber I would expect them to taste it some day. But be careful: if you leave the cucumber in the tank for several days it will dissolve and this is really a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T12:48:07.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12097" CreationDate="2016-04-25T14:24:54.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 5 gallon bucket and a battery powered airstone is usually a good way to transport. The biggest concern is the fish running out of oxygen in a closed container and the larger the fish, the more quickly it will consume the oxygen in the water. The battery powered air pump will keep the water oxygenated. As long as the temperature doesn't drop too much, this method is typically easily good for a 6 hour trip. Longer trips you will need to worry about ammonia build up in the container, but for just 6 hours, there usually isn't a huge problem with ammonia. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T14:24:54.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12090" CreationDate="2016-04-25T15:38:32.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, thank you for caring for your kitty into his senior and geriatric years. You have done the right things by offering him multiple, flat litter boxes throughout the house so he doesn't have to step high to get in or out.  If you have two floors to your house, be sure there are litter boxes on each floor (but I'm sure you've already done this).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you definitely need to take him back to the vet to see if there is an additional problem.   If you live in a place where there are veterinary specialists with immediate diagnostic tools, you should ask your vet for a referral.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet (or specialist) doesn't find anything else, they can give you medicine for your cat's arthritic pain.  The usual go-to medication for many geriatric cat problems is prednisolone, a steroid similar to the human prednisone.  I had to give this to my cat, and it helped him feel a lot better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful with giving your kitty joint vitamins.  These are unregulated, so be sure to buy a well-known brand.  What's even better is a prescription food that already has these supplements in it.  I know Hills has a joint formula food.  You have to purchase these types of foods from your vet, and the food is more expensive.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is overweight at all and is not diagnosed with additional problems, your first goal should be to get him to a better weight.  Even the loss of one or two pounds for an overweight, arthritic cat can make a lot of difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you could try picking him up and placing him in the litter box every few hours to see if he will go.  This isn't likely to work but is always worth a try.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I could give you more of a &quot;magic&quot; answer, but your kitty is at that age where the body starts to degenerate more and more.  There is no cure for arthritis in cats, but you can manage the pain so your cat has a much better quality of life.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I truly wish you and your kitty the best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-04-25T15:38:32.007" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-26T00:21:53.843" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;my 1 year old female 75 lb doberman, sharpei, Staffordshire terrier mix has been having black stool a few times a week.  It's solid in firmness, but pure black.  Sometimes mixed in with the brown sections.  Ran a preliminary parasite test on a black sample at VCA, was negative.  Ran a more comprehensive sample through a lab via my regular vet, which included test for occult blood, all returned negative on a pure black sample.  Just got these most recent tests back today, can anybody provide ideas about what might be going on?  First suggestions might be to try a different food, she's on Taste of the Wild Salmon, she was on the lamb flavor before.  She was on glucosamine chondroitin for hip dysplasia but I took her off that because I believe it increased the frequency of the black occurrence.  Also takes fish oil with her meals. Chews knuckle bones, elk antlers, and a Greenie dental chew per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7125" LastEditorUserId="7125" LastEditDate="2016-04-26T03:57:36.460" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T03:57:36.460" Title="Dog black stool, negative on tests" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6220" CreationDate="2016-04-26T12:18:23.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used R/L that expired 13 YEARS AGO but the double bags are intact, and I have used it in my cat for over 2 weeks SQ without any problems. I change the needles daily and the IV lines weekly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7126" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T12:18:23.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12096" CreationDate="2016-04-26T16:09:00.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The link that afaf12 gave has some good info.  There are several ways to go about the introduction, but I would suggest the following steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.  Vaccinations:&lt;/strong&gt;  Before any interaction can occur, you must take the kitten to the vet and get all the proper kitten vaccines. Also, when the kitten is old enough, you need to get him/her spayed or neutered as soon as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.  Fix a Room for the Kitten:&lt;/strong&gt;  If you decide to do this, the kitten needs to stay inside from now on. Inside cats on average live to be 16 years old. They can even live into their 20s now. Outside cats, however, have an average lifespan of 4 years.  Fix a room for the kitten with food, water, litter box, blankets to sleep on, lots of toys, something to scratch on, and a tall cat tree (tall enough that the cat can be on the top level and your dog cannot reach the kitten). This room becomes the kitten's safety spot, where the kitten can run back to and feel safe.  When the dog is in the house, the kitten stays in the room with the door closed. Of course, you go in often to pet and comfort the kitty. However, do not let the dog in at this time.  Your dog can smell the cat under the door.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Kitten Explores House without Dog:&lt;/strong&gt;  While your dog is outside, let the kitten explore your house. This will help the kitten feel safe when the time comes to meet the dog. Have several sessions where the kitten gets to explore the house, so he/she can smell out the whole place.  Be sure to put the kitten back in the room before the dog comes in the house again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Treat Time:&lt;/strong&gt;  Start feeding your dog treats on the outside of the door to the kitten's room.  This will help him know that, when he smells the cat, he gets something good.  Do this about 2 times a day until your dog stops barking when he smells the cat or sees the kitty's paws come out from under the door.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5.  Scent Transfer:&lt;/strong&gt;  Now, take one of the blankets the kitten has been sleeping on, and put it somewhere where the dog will smell it often.  This will help him get used to the cat's scent.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.  Controlled Meeting:&lt;/strong&gt;  When you feel your dog is comfortable with the cat's smell and is no longer barking at the kitten, it's time for a controlled meeting.  Now this part may be difficult since your dog is a German Shepherd. You need to get some sort of a gate that your dog cannot jump over or knock down. Then, place the dog behind the gate. (This is all done inside the house.). Let the kitten out of the room, and let the kitten come up to the dog as he feels comfortable. I would suggest you stay behind the gate with the dog the first couple times so that you can comfort him and give him treats.  We need to get it in your dog's mind that, when I see the kitten, I get something good.  Try these meetings once a day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7.  Dog on a Leash:&lt;/strong&gt;  When you feel the dog and the cat are either ignoring each other or friendly to each other, it's time for the meeting to progress. Place the tall cat tree in the main room you typically spend most of your time.  Put the cat on it, so the kitten knows where it is.  Put the dog on a leash that you hold TIGHTLY, take the baby gate down, and let the dog and cat continue to interact in the room with the cat tree.  If the dog reacts poorly, stop the meeting.  This is where the cat tree becomes important.  The cat can get away and feel safe.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, this process takes time and patience. However, please do not rush the process, or they may never get along.  Throughout the whole process, when the dog smells or sees the kitten, let your dog know that he is your number one pet.  This is very important.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a lot of information, but it is a tedious process.  I wish you, your dog, and your new kitten a happy and peaceful adventure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T16:09:00.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9368" CreationDate="2016-04-26T19:08:37.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I give my dog whatever fish-oil supplement I happen to be taking at the time.  As far as drugs and medicines go, if it's human quality, it's ok for dogs.  THE REVERSE IS NOT TRUE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I poke the gel-cap with a push pin and squirt it in her food when I give her her daily food scoop.  She seems to like to try to lick it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as dosage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ktudor/2013/aug/the-dangers-of-too-much-fish-oil-30731&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ktudor/2013/aug/the-dangers-of-too-much-fish-oil-30731&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The National Research Council has established a safe upper limit of EPA and DHA for dogs. It has yet to establish one for cats. In light of that, it is probably safe to use the guidelines for dogs for both species. Translating the data suggests that a dose between 20-55mg combined EPA and DHA per pound of body weight is safe for dogs and cats. This dose is far less than those used to treat serious conditions where the risk of side effects is less important than the benefits of treatment. Consult with your veterinarian when treating conditions requiring higher dosages.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, just ask the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6812" LastActivityDate="2016-04-26T19:08:37.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="954" CreationDate="2016-04-26T20:17:12.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in south west Nigeria, I have lost so many turkeys brooding over their eggs as a result of snake attack. What I do now is to clear the surroundings of the nest and use a 6 yard (around 5.48 m) length of mosquito net to make a peg-suspended fence around the nest, making sure no openings are left. With a door to allow the hen food and water, I close it up at 6 pm. It works&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7130" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T15:59:13.277" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T15:59:13.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12101" CreationDate="2016-04-27T05:36:28.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience raw cucumber is often too hard/unattractive for aquarium fishes and snails, especially if they're unused to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put about 2 or 3cm of water in a pan or small pot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boil the water and put 0.5cm thick slices of cucumber inside it (should be mostly covered by water, so not too many). Remove any seeds before, the fishes won't be able to eat those anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then wait and continue boiling them. Don't worry about the cucumber floating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the slices become semi transparent they're done and you can try feeding them again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The longer you boil the slices the easier it is fur your fishes to eat them, but it might also become harder to move the slices in one piece.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to remove any remaining cucumber parts after a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-04-28T15:20:29.060" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T15:20:29.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2016-04-27T06:04:02.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my guy does the same thing and he is the same age. He likes to cuddle and sleep right up on my chest and usually likes to put his nose or even the whole face on mine with his eyes closed and just purrs like a little boat. But after a couple minutes of this I hear him start opening his mouth just a tiny bit. One, two, three times, then he usually tries to bite my chin. Of course my natural reaction at first was corporal punishment like blowing in his face. And yes, I popped him on the nose a couple times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is very self-confident so he wouldn't run away. But the nose tap wasn't working. Eventually I was at the point of pushing his face away with mine - kind of a dominance thing. I sternly tell him he better not bite and if he persists with his little game I send him on his way. He does not like this and usually comes back and sits facing me on the couch until I let him come back. Then he just curls up and sleeps, or shoves his face into my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I started sending him away for biting he does it much less and responds when I use the stern voice and push his face away. So I know its an affection thing but that doesn't mean it's OK. I'm the boss. I have him to the point where he responds to the stern voice for other things (like attacking the pitbull) and snapping is a wonderful tactic for discipline training. Even the 14 year old dog responds to it now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the hitting thing just doesn't work. For example my cat was by no means afraid of me and he was more aggressive with his little game after I would tap him one. I don't think its like morally wrong unless of course your hitting hard enough to turn it into abuse. It's like the difference between tapping a toddler on the diaper and bare butt spanking with a leather belt (the latter is not fun from what I remember). One is discipline, and another one is abuse which just doesn't work. We all have our own relationships with our animals and know them best. Mine thinks he is boss but the balance is shifting as I learn how to bother him back. He gets timeouts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7133" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T14:06:05.550" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T14:06:05.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-27T12:11:53.427" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat likes to scratch at the edges of any and all kinds of water bowls and then tenses up when he drinks the water. I've tried all kinds of different water bowls but he scratches at all of them so hard that he just flips them over and spills water everywhere. I've even tried the colored plastic ice cubes so he can see the water level easier. It's to the point that I can't even have a glass of water for myself because he spills it trying to paw at it so hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7134" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T12:11:53.427" Title="Why does my cat scratch around water before drinking it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-05-04T14:25:13.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2016-04-27T13:11:57.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes but he isn't in play mode. This is what the person who asked the original question was trying to explain to you. And it isn't really petting either. I know his attitudes very well and he always does this when showing me love and cuddling before going to sleep on me. I'm sure it's the mommy thing. We adopted him very young and he had already been rescued from the outside for several weeks so never had a mommy. It's frustrating but I quickly learned that any physical punishment wasn't working. Sending him off of my lap and using the &quot;mom voice&quot; is what does the trick. I know he just can't help himself but still have to establish dominance. He really thinks he is in charge around here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as for interpreting cat's biting as a signal they are done with petting - I don't believe it. I know it does happen but people just allow cats to be in charge of every situation and somewhat cater to them - but that's not the answer. You just have to get them used to affection while they are still young. Anyone I know could come to my house, pick my cat, hold him up like a baby and rub his tummy. You could pet him anywhere on his body and he doesn't nip or anything and that's because I have been loving and affectionate since the first day. Seriously I can stick my face in his tummy and give him kisses. He introduces himself and gives love to everyone I bring home just like our dog. If you treat them like royalty and show that you are afraid of them and their claws then they become spoiled violent little things and thats exactly why people don't like cats. Don't let them be in charge, guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7133" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T13:46:17.477" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T13:46:17.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12129" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-27T17:45:56.847" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been having a strange issue that I have been having trouble diagnosing.  A couple times a year, she will suddenly be struck with what looks like sudden muscle spasms in her rear legs.  She will be sitting around the house, and suddenly she will run across the room, stretch out her hind legs on the floor, whimper or yelp, and try to bite at her hind quarters.  This will last maybe 5 to 10 seconds and then will stop just as quickly as it came.  These incidents will repeat every 5 minutes for about an hour and then she will be fine, like nothing happened.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a 9 year-old Puggle, in good shape, who exercises regularly and has no other health problems.  These incidents seem to be seasonal, happing in the spring and fall (we live in Boston).  I have chatted with her vet about this before, but she had no clue what the problem could be and only offered to do a bunch of expensive tests to try to narrow the problem down.  Since this only happens a handful of times per year, and she is fine otherwise, we have never been too worried, but she is getting older, and I would like to figure out if this might be an issue that will worsen and become serious in her old age.  Any thoughts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7136" LastEditorUserId="7136" LastEditDate="2016-04-27T18:14:29.613" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T18:14:29.613" Title="Dog suffers from periodic mysterious brief, but intense, leg pain" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12106" CreationDate="2016-04-27T17:56:03.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the type of poison you use. I don't know how hard it would be to get in Hawaii, but diatomaceous earth would be an excellent solution. It's basically a white looking powder. Supposedly, it's like microscopically sharp glass blades. It's too small to harm even the gecko (I've even been told it won't harm earth worms). The way it's effective is that it slices into the exoskeleton of insects and they dehydrate and die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that people feed it to their animals and sometimes take it themselves with no ill effect. Supposedly it treats intestinal parasites. Either way, you can put this powder out and when the cockroaches move through it, it should damage them and they should die. The geckos could eat it with no real effect and it won't hurt you either, so you can put it in your cabinets with your dishes or anywhere you want. It shouldn't be harmful to children, pets, people, or other small animals. Only insects with their hard exoskeletons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T17:56:03.920" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12110" CreationDate="2016-04-27T21:48:40.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One strategy people have used with success is &quot;trading up.&quot; Offer your dog a much better thing than what she has, such as a high-value treat. She will open her mouth to get the better thing. If you do it right, your dog will find things and bring them to you just to trade. The ideal is to teach the dog what you &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; rather than trying to stop her from doing what you don't want. It's kind of like if someone tells you not to think of pink elephants. You may want to do what they ask, but you're going to think of pink elephants. If they tell you to think of blue monkeys, you won't be thinking of pink elephants anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video is a great example of how you can get a dog who refuses to give up something she shouldn't have by &quot;telling her off&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqs54qMgQA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqs54qMgQA&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastActivityDate="2016-04-27T21:48:40.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12137" CreationDate="2016-04-28T13:58:52.847" Score="6" ViewCount="2954" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my home, I prefer the style of closet door known best to me as accordion-style, consisting of two large, folded vinyl panels that hang from a track along the top, are secured to the closet opening at the ends, hang freely at the bottom, and meet in the middle held together by a simple magnetic latch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My just barely one-year-old male DSH recently learned a new game.  Squeeze a paw under the vinyl panels.  Wiggle it around until the magnets release.  Push one panel aside.  Enter closet.  Climb the clothes suspended inside.  Win!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I have caught him in the act, he immediately exits and runs away, I don't even need to say or do anything.  I suspect previous sessions of getting shot with a canned air duster when he strayed out-of-bounds must be in his head, but not enough to keep him from trying when he think he can get away with it (i.e. all the humans are in other rooms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am torn between addressing this issue at the cat level or the door level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the door level, I suppose I could replace the doors with wooden bi-fold or bi-pass, but I prefer the convenience of the accordion style.  Also no guarantees the cat wouldn't figure out how to open those- they are heavier, but still move freely.  Any suggestions on how to re-enforce the magnet or add something where the panels meet at the bottom to keep him from being able to pop the latch (yet still allow humans to access their clothes with minimal disruption)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the cat level, I believe I do have a more general problem of &quot;respect for barriers.&quot;  Plant stands and knick-knack shelves have also been a struggle.  This is where the air duster was used on him earlier.  He backs off whenever a human approaches, but he still looks, extends a paw, and so on.  So it seems he still has some thoughts or desires to cross the boundary, and the idea that boundary means boundary is not yet learned.  I would welcome some tips to improve myself as a trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2018-03-28T03:15:49.357" Title="How to prevent a cat from opening an accordion closet door" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12136" CreationDate="2016-04-28T17:14:24.167" Score="1" ViewCount="12768" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat seems to be having.....digestion issues. He's a 6 month old black domestic short hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He tends to splatter it everywhere and drag it along his long butt fur all over my apartment. He's a strictly indoor cat, but I worry about his health. We've tried Blue Mountain, Royal Canin, The Petsmart brand, Fancy Feast, Avoderm, (a couple others I can't remember) and are currently trying the Hill Science Diet for kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always give it 3-4 weeks on a single food before I switch it out if it's not working. I THINK (I'm no vet) that he's not getting enough fiber in his diet. I've tried the &quot;no grains, soys, etc.&quot; foods, but it seems his stomach still struggles. I have a bowl that always has dry food in it, and a single can every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any sort of sensitive stomach food or food I can feed him to get a bit more fiber in his diet? It seems there's a distinct lack of variety/health options for kittens, but it could be I'm just looking in the wrong places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In thanks, here's a very flattering picture of the little guy.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWLuH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWLuH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I bought some catgrass, and in combination with the new food, my kitten seems to be happier and less liquid. Thank you all for the help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7140" LastEditorUserId="7140" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T22:53:03.093" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T15:49:10.577" Title="How can I add fiber into my cat's diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2016-04-28T20:52:30.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats who are kept indoors do not have access to the plant matter that outdoor cats would instinctively seek out to supplement their protein heavy diet, so this is an important factor you should consider. Many animals, including our domestic pets, are able to self medicate certain bodily issues by seeking out plants that will aid their digestion. If an outdoor cat is feeling like it has a bit of a dodgy stomach, it will seek out grass or other plant matter to help aid it's digestion. Therefore, it is very important to offer these options to all indoor cats. A 'wild' cat would be getting a huge range of food types in its diet simply from eating prey items, as the stomach contents of said prey would usually be full of plant matter. So, whilst a cat is an obligate carnivore, they still need a lot of other types of food in their diet. A few plants that are safe for cats that you can easily grow indoors are catnip, catgrass, catmint,  lemon grass and valerian, but there are many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is get your cat seen by a vet to rule out any disease that is causing this poor digestion, and then making a few simple changes to your home setup to accommodate for the parts of the outside world he is missing out on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T20:52:30.050" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12132" CreationDate="2016-04-28T21:02:04.110" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple solutions for training are as follows: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can try to set up a barrier of scatmats with the spikes up under the closet. Cats hate walking on them and it doesnt hurt them or anything (the clear mats with tiny rubber spikes)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ive also heard of double sided tape to help train them.This helps especially with shelves because it doesnt look too bad and cats dont like walking on it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A third option is aluminum foil. This is the same idea.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard orange peels will keep cats away because they hate citrus? this one may be a myth though.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A suggestion for the door could be to replace the magnet with a&#xA;    mechanical lock, such as a pin/hook in one side of the door then a&#xA;    straight metal arm with a ring on the other end. The cat will not be&#xA;    able to shake that loose as well. I posted a picture as an example&#xA;    of this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MiCan.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MiCan.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;straight lock for closet&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can do is try to shove a towel or something where he puts his paw to try to keep him from shaking the door that way. This is not sustainable though, because he will probably find another way to loosen the magnet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make the magnet stronger you can stack more magnets on top, or you can replace it with a naturally stronger magnet. A couple other ways are suggested &lt;a href=&quot;http://science.howstuffworks.com/how-to-make-magnet-stronger.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; but I think i would steer clear of spending too much time on trying to strengthen the magnets you have already because the strength will plateau. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T21:02:04.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2016-04-28T21:14:58.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can take Fibersure you just have to dose it for a tiny creature instead of a human&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T21:14:58.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12132" CreationDate="2016-04-28T21:49:11.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply putting a cardboard box, or some similar weight, in front of either the corner of the hinge (depending on tour of door) can be enough to block easy access for the cat without significantly impeding humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-04-28T21:49:11.080" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-04-29T09:48:08.513" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 year old Golden and she is acting strange about the stairs.  We have a set of stairs at both the front and back doors as our house sits up 8'.  Each set of stairs has a landing 1/2 way up.  She will climb the first set of stairs to the landing but seems confused when she needs to climb the next set. The stairs out back were rebuilt just for her a few years ago with a long wide rise but she has stopped using these also. She climbs to the first landing and that's as far as she will go. If she starts out on her right foot she's ok but getting her to do that is almost impossible.  We built a ramp but she refuses to use it. Guess I need to install an elevator to get my baby girl inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7144" LastActivityDate="2016-04-29T09:48:08.513" Title="Dog acting strange about stairs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-05-02T14:26:15.133" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12159" CreationDate="2016-04-29T18:59:35.433" Score="6" ViewCount="2398" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat enjoys hanging out on the balcony and likes to jump up on the railing. The problem is that my railing is fairly thin, curved on top, and made of smooth plastic -- making it difficult for my cat to balance (she's a bit clumsy in general, too). She occasionally wobbles a bit when trying to walk along the railing, and a couple times she has almost slipped and had to cling on to save herself. Needless to say this makes me extremely nervous, and I've started letting her outside less (only when I can be right there with her). She's very sad about that and regularly sits at the sliding door crying to be let out. I'm not sure how dangerous a fall would actually be (I live on the 4th floor of an apartment building), but I don't want to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prevent her from jumping up on the railing, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make it safe for her to be up on the railing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have in mind is something that could be attached to the railing that would either block her from jumping on it or provide a flat walkway that she could walk on instead of the railing itself. However, I have no idea what might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7146" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:34:36.883" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:34:36.883" Title="How can I make my balcony safe for my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="358" CreationDate="2016-04-30T04:40:05.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can state that my rabbit can find a wire that has energy in it remarkably quick.  An unplugged wire can sit in his cage for a week and be ignored. In less than a year, I have had to replace 3 lightening chargers but no mini USB. The digital antenna (indoor) was chased only when plugged in to power and only when the sockets that are on the wall switch are on, will he seek to destroy the lamps or fans that are plugged in.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As a trained electrician, I have repaired a lot of wires, and have found the car audio split sleeving to work best, though on some, he has tried to go for the plug part (laptop charger died this way.)  He does not seem deterred by getting a shock, instead he seems to go after them even more ferociously.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I now keep him in a &quot;playpen&quot; and only after patrolling a room for any wire, do I allow him out.  Now he is trying to dig through the carpet to get to the electrical wires under the flooring.  I did go into the crawl-space to verify.  Each area that he digs at, has a live circit running to a light or house appliance that is running.&#xA;I would say it is sound or smell. At first I thought it was similar to the instinct of a cat with a cucumber/snake, but that does not explain the live wires only and the wires underneath in the crawlspace.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7147" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T04:40:05.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2016-04-30T18:22:37.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people surround their balconies with netting.  However, the cat will climb the net, guaranteed! Provided it's strong and well-secured, this shouldn't be a problem, and it leaves you with a bit of a view of the outdoors. Alternatively, you might be able to find some clear plastic sheeting that would be thick enough to be claw-proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are ways to discourage the cat from jumping up onto the railing, I wouldn't put my confidence in them given the danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-04-30T18:22:37.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12168" CreationDate="2016-04-30T22:41:23.543" Score="5" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two 2-year old cats. They are siblings (male and female) and have been neutered/spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tomcat has never been very sociable but was friendly enough and liked to be stroked and brushed, but in the last month he has been spending very little time in the house (we have a cat-flap so they can freely go in and out). Especially in the last week he has been coming in only at night, and then running out as soon as he's been fed in the morning, avoiding all contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning I decided to pick him up after he had finished his meal to check everything was alright but as soon as I did so he viciously attacked me. He was hissing and scratching wildly and drew quite a lot of blood. I had to let him go and he ran straight out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be grateful for any advice about what might be causing his this behaviour, and what I can do about it. He doesn't seem to be injured or show any signs of pain when he moves, but I'm thinking to take him to the vet just to be sure. If he reacts this viciously though I'm worried I might not be able to get hold of him at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2016/08&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eventually managed to catch him and take him to a vet, although it took over a month! I couldn't get hold of a trap (I'm in Korea and not fluent in the language so it wasn't so easy), so I had to gradually win back his trust, starting outside where he seemed to be less edgy and them encouraging him back in the house with food. Anyway, the vet couldn't find anything medically wrong with him, and he's slowly got back to his usual self (still anti-social but non-violent, to humans at least!). So I'm still not sure what caused his original lashing-out, but now I'm much more careful to make sure he feels unthreatened before I pick him up... hopefully we won't have any more trouble!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7149" LastEditorUserId="7149" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T09:26:41.810" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T09:26:41.810" Title="Cat avoids contact and attacked me when I tried to pick him up" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1922" CreationDate="2016-05-01T05:08:07.127" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spidercat outlined some good points, since the &lt;em&gt;Ichthyophthirius multifiliis&lt;/em&gt; parasite is a very popular issue in aquariums i feel like adding my personal experiences as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Causes for an outbreak:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be but not limited to &lt;strong&gt;temperatures&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;pH&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;nitrite&#xA;/ nitrate levels&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;lighting&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;overpopulation!&lt;/strong&gt; - environmental changes of all sorts.&#xA;Anything that causes stress or weakens immune system of the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Avoiding an outbreak:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AVOID STRESS AT ALL COST&lt;/strong&gt; - when settling new fish, make sure the water temperature and pH levels don't cause a shock - it's highly&#xA;suggested to measure tank temperature and pH levels and get&#xA;information from the dealer about the water they use - otherwise&#xA;measure on your own. If there are big differences use a second tank to&#xA;bring the fish slowly to the level of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When settling in new fish I can't underline this enough, use a second&#xA;tank for 2-4 weeks - specially if the new fish are weak, tiny, unhealthy, - in most cases the &amp;quot;new fish&amp;quot; will get the&#xA;parasite first, this in most cases is not caused by the fish&#xA;themselves but by a weakened immune system from  the transport from&#xA;the farm or a shock from the difference of water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High nitrite and nitrate levels can harm the immune system of your&#xA;fish and accelerate an outbreak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, having a second tank with 30%-100% of the main tank water&#xA;volume can be an immense help to either quarantine fish or to have&#xA;&amp;quot;good water&amp;quot; at hand - so you can, if in need, settle fresh water over&#xA;night and realize 90% water changes (I'll write about this below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Let's have a look on the life-cycle of the &lt;em&gt;Ichthyophthirius multifiliis&lt;/em&gt; parasite.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The white points / dots on the fish are the &lt;strong&gt;trophozoites&lt;/strong&gt; -&#xA;normally the first trophozoites are spotted on the fins. Once the&#xA;parasite has gathered enough food he will release from the fish and&#xA;enter the tomont (dividing) stage. The tomonts gravitate to the ground,&#xA;but can stick to any ornamental object. The tomont divides up to 10&#xA;times - within 7 hours each tomont can divide in 1024 encapsuled&#xA;theronts which attack the fish - from the the lifecycle repeats itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parasite lifecycle is dependent on the temperature - wikipedia&#xA;states that at 25°C / 77°F the lifecycle takes 7 days while at 6°C/43°F&#xA;it takes 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The parasite does not like temperatures above 30°C and pH below 5,6 and above 9,2 - unfortunately,&#xA;most fish cant stand that temperature and those pH values too - some fish can stand pH values below ~6 which also might be a help.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My fishes got the parasite, what can I do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;First and foremost, analyze the mistakes that lead to the spreading of the parasite - otherwise you will sooner or later face the same problem again.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no ultimate solution but a few points that certainly will, could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your fish can withstand it heat up the tank to 30°C - if not, proceed to 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make drastic water changes - 90% are reasonable (Here is why a second tank with prepared water can be helpful - you can resettle&#xA;the fish every day in the prepared water or just change the water of the tank. AGAIN MAKE SURE THE FISH DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH STRESS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get vitamins and &lt;em&gt;Artemia&lt;/em&gt; - your fish need to stay strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If possible separate the infected fish from the healthy fish (again a    second or 3rd tank for this purpose is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get an UV-C clearer - in this case bigger / more is better - got multiple filters, put it on each filter, maybe even get one intern UV-C clearer - the more water you can clear from the parasite per hour  the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;AVOID STRESS at all cost - if the tank is in a frequented room put a towel on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I did manage to clean fish from the parasite by grinding along wit ha finger (only works if you are really careful, otherwise you&#xA;do more bad than good)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clean all plant and other inventory during the sterilization process multiple times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clean the gravel during the sterilization process with a gravel cleaner  - best to do this before the  daily 90% water change - same&#xA;for the plants and other inventory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diatom or sand filter (I haven't tested this yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lower pH (BE VERY CAREFUL HERE UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU DO SKIP THIS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Final words:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is an outbreak clearly something went wrong. Tanks are a biological environment where every change can put it out of balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish dealers are not always experts, often they are great salesmen. It's a huge commodity to have a fish dealer who loves aquaristics and is not just doing his job as salesman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been doing aquaristics for 22 years, the best advice I got was online and from books in 90% of times. Reading about water and fish will prevent such problems as ichthyo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, aquaristics is a serious hobby which needs dedication, passion and some financial efforts to have a long lasting positive experience - the reward if those are put in is awesome - I love my hobby :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6286" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T12:36:22.513" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-01T13:05:09.560" Score="3" ViewCount="8535" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would a light-up collar keep an owl at distance? I have a four pound dog. Lately I have heard an owl in our trees. Very concerned about my dog. Any thoughts would be welcomed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7152" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-05-02T19:15:35.230" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T13:40:20.957" Title="How to keep an owl away from my small dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2016-05-01T13:37:19.723" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion. Cats do what cats do. Just build a safe place on the deck the cat can hangout safely. Instinct will do the rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7152" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T13:37:19.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-01T20:30:52.167" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one wants to move an aquarium (say within 10 minutes walking/carrying distance, but answers with hint for long distance (&gt; 1 day travelling in a car) are welcome as well), there probably things to consider regarding the well being of inhabitant and potential damage of the aquarium (be it during the transport or non-visible long term damage (microfissure, breaking silicone joints)). What precautions have to be taken? How long do I have to plan in advance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2016-05-06T14:13:21.910" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T22:23:43.397" Title="How to move an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12150" CreationDate="2016-05-01T20:30:52.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When moving an aquarium (from an old location close to the new one) consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving the aquarium means stress for inhabitants and you. So, don't place the aquarium at a worse location than before ((more) direct impact of sunlight which might cause algae growning, less stable or unleveled surface, more noise emission for the room it will stands in).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove heavy pieces of decoration and all electronical equipment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only very small aquariums (≤ 60 l) might be carried when almost empty. Carefully evaluate the stress for the inhabitants being contained in an almost empty aquarium for short time and being moved to a temporary location and back. If you have an unused running aquarium at hand, consider using it for some time and moving fish back after days or weeks only to reduce the frequency of moves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carry with two persons and lift and base very symetrically in order to minimize the tension on the glass and joints - it's not a piece of furniture. If fish are in the aquarium while carrying, add a cover to prevent them from jumping out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When moving over a long distance, more things have to be considered and organized; they're not covered by the above listing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T22:23:43.397" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T22:23:43.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-01T20:58:47.163" Score="2" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to remove green bacteria algae from aquarium? Reasons for their bloom might be location of the aquarium close to a window with direct impact of sunlight and/or too high values of PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; (phosphate) concentration.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hotcO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hotcO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;green bacteria algae&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:08:34.887" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:10:41.603" Title="How to remove green bacteria algae from aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12152" CreationDate="2016-05-01T20:58:47.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than using algaecide potentially causing harm to plants, animals, producing workers and the rest of the world&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; value to the minimum by adding pug to the filter. Usually takes effect (with 1 mg/l) after 48 hours. It's the initial nutrition for the algae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide less food which increases the PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; value (frozen food and others).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn on an oxygen pump if you have one since O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; production of plants is lower because of less light getting through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the aquarium away from direct sunlight impact (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12150/how-to-move-an-aquarium&quot;&gt;How to move an aquarium?&lt;/a&gt; for things to consider)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a group of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (more than 5 make sense) in a container with a separation/membrane which allows water exchange and prevents fish from eating the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; as well as getting out into the aquarium (where they'd be eaten). Ideally the separation makes the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; invisible for the aquarium inhabitants in order to not provide them moving food all the time. Place the container with the separation into a stream (of the filter outlet or close to the air pump). The stream is visible by the green algae swathes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can track the progress by checking how deep you can see into the aquarium day by day. The &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; should start to multiply by 4 every 2 to 5 days and 60 l are cleared after a week. Then decorate your &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; with orders and release them as living food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example glass with plastic kitchen sieve (since &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; can't fully control their movement chances that small &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; get through the sieve are small; mollys don't show any interest in &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;; a test with a nylon stocking with a knot showed that too few water is exchanged in the container):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k1lcw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k1lcw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;*Daphnia* container (glass with kitchen sieve)&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; work with red and even blue bacteria algae as well since they're consumed by &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After installing an undergravel filter in the aquarium (which was a severe action which can't be performed in all aquariums) I have crystal clear water and it might be that the problem is prevented forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T20:25:03.593" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T20:25:03.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="95" CreationDate="2016-05-01T23:44:14.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an older question but one more thing to think about, related to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/992/7155&quot;&gt;toxotes's&lt;/a&gt; answer, is about the space requirements of a fish irrespective of other tankmates. Yes, on one hand we have to consider the waste they produce, the water volume, and the filtration to deal with the waste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, though, fish have different needs/wants for room to move. Poor swimmers can be in a much smaller tank than an otherwise similar fish that naturally swims well. Many common schooling fish, like several popular tetra species, are accustomed to having a vast area of potential places to swim and explore. To be clear, they require &lt;em&gt;open&lt;/em&gt; spaces; it's one of the reasons that in many setups it is best to have only one schooling species even if it seems that biologically you could handle more than one group. Each of them occupies space the other would like to know is open for future use. And when you think about stocking, adding one fish to an existing school entails much less additional required space than adding a new species altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, the parts of the tank a fish occupies is worth thinking about as well. Neon tetras and corydoras (other than pygmy and hastatus species, which do not spend all their time on the bottom) do not compete for space. Cichlids and many schooling species don't much care about the very top of the tank and would therefore be unbothered by fish like hatchets that spend the vast majority of their time at the surface. If you were thinking about keeping mostly bottom-dwelling species, then you could stock quite a few more in a 20 gallon long tank than a standard 20 gallon due to the greater square footage on the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that you're providing the fish's entire world. The tank they are in is all they will know. We can't give them the size and complexity of their native habitats, but that's no reason not to do our best to give them an adequate environment. Even fish like the betta—who many like to say live in very shallow, &quot;puddle&quot;-like waters—have thousands of gallons to roam in their native lands in spite of the shallow depth. With that said, the reason we are more open to keeping fish like the betta in small tanks is because the mass-bred (and especially the long-finned) varieties are not good swimmers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T23:44:14.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12044" CreationDate="2016-05-01T23:57:18.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I have to ask first–is there any particular reason you don't want to use your tap water? In many cases, as long as you add a dechlorinator (easy to find, cheap, lasts a long time for small amounts of water) tap water is perfectly fine for common fish like bettas. Otherwise, you're looking at buying a lot of distilled water and remineralizer for weekly water changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a commenter said, I doubt the water source was the problem with your first betta. A new fish tank, even with a filter, will not be safe for fish until bacteria grow in the filter. Why? Because these bacteria will consume the fish's chief waste product, ammonia, and (after a couple more steps) excrete it as nitrate, which is far less toxic. A newly set up tank, without frequently replenishing the water, will rapidly accumulate ammonia which will painfully poison the fish. If you didn't know this—and the fish shop should tell you these things, but many don't know or don't bother–then that is the likely reason the fish didn't make it. Another possibility with bettas is heat; if you didn't heat the tank, it never had a hope for a long life. Bettas are tropical fish that need at least 77 degrees Fahrenheit water temperatures or else become sluggish and very prone to illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for aquarium salt, don't bother. It is an option if the fish gets sick, but there is not salt in these fish's native waters and it adds more risk than potential benefit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you would wait until these aforementioned bacteria have grown in the filter before you add the betta. To describe how to do this in detail is beyond the scope of this question, but the gist of it is that you need to artificially add waste to the tank to feed the bacteria. This process takes patience and ideally some water tests to verify that things are working. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/the-almost-complete-guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for some more info. If you don't want to wait for this bacteria growth process to occur (known as &quot;cycling&quot;), then it doesn't matter how long you wait to add the fish...just make sure you change out about 25% of the water every 2-3 days for the first month or two you have it in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastActivityDate="2016-05-01T23:57:18.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12152" CreationDate="2016-05-01T23:57:22.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can introduce a &lt;em&gt;Hypostomus plecostomus&lt;/em&gt;, also called &quot;algae eater&quot;, to the aquarium. These fish are great for keeping algae at bay. They are readily available at most pet shops and come in all sorts of sizes: from an inch in length to much larger and are inexpensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/quVFh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/quVFh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:10:41.603" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:10:41.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-02T05:41:25.993" Score="4" ViewCount="7360" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but our dog has a persistent ringworm problem. Several times throughout the years, we'd apply Viaderm or something that can be bought from our local vet. Then, when she'd (it's a she) stop itching so much and we'd used up all her Viaderm, we'll stop treating her. Then her ringworm comes back. I guess through the years, her number of spots with infection has only increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm thinking now is to treat her for good. We'd shave her bald then apply the Viaderm for weeks. We've tried shaving her last year (or was it 2 years ago??), but it was a tedious task -- it's a thick curly fur, and you could hardly call her bald. So I was thinking of using a sheep shear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7157" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-05-02T13:44:04.047" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T06:50:33.123" Title="Shearing our Golden Retriever with Sheep Shears" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12148" CreationDate="2016-05-02T15:22:41.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you get a light-up collar you should try to get a strobe one. The strobing light confuses owls and is actually used in products like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niteguard.com/animal/owl-deterrent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; (which is also a solution).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can do to help pets not get taken from a raptor but none of them are 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FIRST AND FOREMOST, you should call animal control. Many animal control facilities have a raptor relocation team (or contractor) that can safely catch the bird and release in a place away from your house. They also probably have experience in this situation and if they can do anything to help with the owls you are better off than previously. (and if they cant then you are no worse off than previously)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Secondly, you should be supervising your pet carefully. If another creature is near the prey the owl is a lot less likely to attack because they can get injured. If you are outside with your dog near it can deter the owl from making the attempt. I should mention this also depends on the bird because some raptors are more cautious than others and some will carry off smaller dogs with you right there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another solution is to make a cage for the pet. If you let it outside unsupervised you can make a chain link kennel or a shelter for your dog to play in. The kennel is a fine idea but if have a shelter then the dog can still get carried away. Owls can fly pretty silently due to their feathers and since you have a 4 lb dog i would be worried. Being the owner of a small dog you must be willing to supervise it at all times that it is outside because of predators like raptors and yotes and such.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a bigger dog too you can let them outside at the same time. This works in the same way as you being next to your dog but also comes with the same dangers. Since your dog is 4 lbs a great horned owl or a red tail can carry it off easily and if you or the dog is on the opposite side of the yard they can swoop in and take the pet before you can react.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ive heard that keeping birdfeeders or squirrel feeders out of your yard can help prevent owls from showing up in the first place but I dont think this will get rid of owls or protect you pet in any way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The last advice i have is a product like the one mentioned above in the link. I have not used it but it may be worth a shot if it can deter an owl from your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said none of these are 100% and the best thing you can do for your pet is to be very careful whenever they are outisde and keep them on a leash or very close to you. Also, if you can you should try to identify the owl from their sounds and see if it is one that will carry away small dogs. There are plenty of bird watching sites that play sounds of calls and you can go from there. Many owls arent big enough to carry away dogs and cause no harm to them being there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I should also mention that killing, injuring, or even capturing raptors is illegal and they are protected by the government. You can be fined and even jailed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T15:22:41.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2016-05-02T15:56:57.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have a cat tree on the balcony?  If not, this may at least be a partial solution.   I used to have a cat that did the same thing.  Your kitty wants to be up high so she can see everything.  Get a cat tree, with several levels, that is taller than the railing.  Of course, place it somewhere away from the railing so she can't jump from the tree to the railing.  This won't completely stop the behavior but should greatly reduce it.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitty (that also climbed on the railing) did fall.  We were only on the second floor.  One day, I went to check on her, and she wasn't there.  I was frantic.  I put up flyers with her picture on everyone's apartment door.  Two long days later, someone found her hiding in the bushes one building away.  Thankfully, she was not hurt.  Stories like these don't always have a happy ending.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing what I know now, I would probably put a cat enclosure on the balcony to be sure my kitty didn't fall.   Take a look at these:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wayfair.com/Cat-Cages-and-Enclosures-C409570.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cat cages and playpens &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teampetsupply.com/cat-enclosures/2793-kittywalk-grand-prix-outdoor-cat-enclosure.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grand prix enclosure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cagesbydesign.com/t-suncatchercat.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;custom cat enclosures&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend whatever money is necessary to keep your kitty safe.  You'll have peace of mind, which is worth a lot more.  ... And next time you get a cat, make sure the kitty never knows there is an outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-05-02T15:56:57.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12160" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-03T00:02:05.133" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been planning to adopt a kitten and train it to a front carrier backpack so I can take it when I travel (within the same state). I have just been asked to adopt three very young kittens (when they are weaned). How would I manage the same feat with two or three? Is it fair to them for me to even try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that matter, what age should I start to train them and when should I take them from their mother? The mother is a feral cat who has settled temporarily in my daughter 's backyard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7160" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T15:46:25.773" Title="Three kittens (2 weeks) want to train to front carrier (like Baby Bjorn but for cats)" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12160" CreationDate="2016-05-03T01:56:11.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a challenge to convince &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; cat to put up with this. Some cats will trust their humans to carry them around indefinitely, but many don't like being held in arms for more than a few minutes, even it they'll happily sit in laps for hours -- it's all about trust and control. My previous cat would put up with almost anything; my current cats are doing me a great favor if they let me carry them upstairs at bedtime (when they'd follow me there anyway). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you would probably have to approach this as an explicit training exercise, rewarding the cat for being willing to put up with something it initially won't like.Eventually it may decide that this is safe after all, and interesting, but I would not expect that to happen quickly unless you have an &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; cooperative cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistically, a better bet would be to get the cat used to a standard pet carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Other answers have covered the age at which it's reasonable to separate kittens from the queen. -- basically, you want to let her and the siblings finish teaching them basic feline social skills, and let them get some confidence in exploring the world, before you remove those supports.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-05-03T15:46:25.773" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T15:46:25.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="698" CreationDate="2016-05-03T02:02:39.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too many uncertainties here.&#xA;Any structural joint needs careful preparation, correct materials &amp;amp; correct procedures.&#xA;If you mess up you may lose your fish, a risk not worth taking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7161" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T02:02:39.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12164" CreationDate="2016-05-03T06:26:08.567" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard some theories that normal cats are not smelly, and odor is caused by some abnormal conditions such as illness, lack bathing or lack house cleaning, is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T10:42:19.297" Title="Is it true that cats themselves are not smelly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12163" CreationDate="2016-05-03T10:42:19.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is true. Cats keep themselves quite clean, so that even an &quot;alley cat&quot; will not be smelly. If a cat stops cleaning itself, that is normally a sign of illness, or a physical problem that makes it difficult for the cat to bathe itself (for example, the cat may be severely overweight, which makes it less limber).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T10:42:19.297" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12157" CreationDate="2016-05-03T13:20:30.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be able to buy a manual sheep trimmer, cheaper than a quality set of electric clippers, but it's going to be worth the extra money for the physical effort it will save you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the sheep clipper will work, but they're super heavy duty, to go through all that wool again and again. I think you can buy a quality horse body clipper and do just as well. Probably come out cheaper as well. They're meant for going through thick winter hair, but don't need to be as heavy duty as sheep shears. They sell dog body clippers as well. You just have to look for that. None of these cheap ones you get from Walmart are going to do anything except for ears, feet, and maybe their butt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T13:20:30.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12215" CreationDate="2016-05-03T14:13:52.260" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to adopt a dog in the next week or two and I was trying to research care and training. Ive seen online that people train dogs on cut up hotdogs and I was wondering if this is healthy or if there is other healthy and good foods to train with? People online say it cant be chewy and ideally it would be soft. Ive heard sliced apples are good too but I was just wondering if there is a recommended food to train a dog on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T03:55:41.610" Title="What is a good food to train a dog on?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12144" CreationDate="2016-05-03T14:44:04.820" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You first need to take your cat to the vet to rule out medical issues.  When a cat suddenly changes his behavior, it's likely medically.  He may have been hurt outside (cat fight, car, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to borrow/rent a cat trap from a local trap-neuter-return (TNR) organization.   You would place his food inside the trap, and it would humanely close, trapping the cat.   You can do this outside, where he enters the house (he may be less suspicious of it) or inside your house where you normally feed him.  Be sure to keep the sister in another room the whole time, with food and treats, so she isn't the one trapped.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for my questions- If your issue does happen to be behavioral, your cat seems to be exhibiting behaviors as if he were not neutered.  I was thinking - possible undescended testicle.  Maybe the vet tech only got one.  It does happen, but this is a complete guess.  Something your vet can look into, if no other medical problems exist.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please update your post after you go to the vet, and let us know what he/she said.  From there, we may be able to offer more advice.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for caring for your two kitty siblings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2016-05-03T14:44:04.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12169" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-03T19:16:18.557" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi  I've a 16 sq ft cage for my 2 cavies and I've an old tin dollhouse (22 inches wide x 11 inches deep) that I'd like to sit inside the cage, along with other toys and chews, as a hidey hut. I'm using a felt playmat with a road map design. Will this be harmful in any way to my cavies? or will they enjoy it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7164" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-05-04T14:24:04.847" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T19:43:50.050" Title="Cavy home question" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-04T03:24:09.757" Score="2" ViewCount="1388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 year old JackChi named Sasha who's incredibly sweet and loves attention, however she is a monster when she's outside. I live with my grandma and sometimes she'll forget to close the door, and Sasha will run out and go around the neighborhood sniffing and doing her thing before she comes back to my front door (I try to prevent this, but sometimes I can't do anything to stop my grandma from forgetting to close the door.) When she's outside, she'll bark at everyone and anything, and she scares children and aggravates dogs and their owners. It's really an embarrassment seeing this 13 pound dog barking her head off at everything with a girl running behind her wondering why her usually obedient dog won't listen to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that confuses me though is the way she barks at people. She barks at them from a certain distance and will start to follow them until she loses interest and moves on to her next victim. She doesn't lunge at people but she does run up to them and stop a few feet away. With dogs she'll run up to them and it aggravates them so they get into a barking fit. Then she comes inside as if nothing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to fix this behavior but of course I've failed numerous times. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7166" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T17:23:09.693" Title="My dog barks at random strangers but then follows them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12170" CreationDate="2016-05-04T11:41:52.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, it sounds territorial.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She leaves the house, checks out her territory, and &lt;em&gt;successfully&lt;/em&gt; scares people off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For possibly explanation for her barking: to your dog, it clearly seems to work: she barks, doesn't even need to get close, and people still leave! To us, it is &quot;well, they walked on, after all, they only wanted to walk past anyway&quot;. To your dog, it is &quot;I barked. The person left. Barking worked!&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it is indeed territorial, you will most likely be able to see what she considers the border: it is where she looses interest in the people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, how do you fix it. Mind you, this is MY take on this. Alternatives go via &quot;dominance&quot;-theories, but this is what I happen to like.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does she play &quot;fetch&quot;-games well? The easiest way to make your dog come to your call it to be really really really interesting and important: more so than any people walking past. Take a small pack you fill with treats. Put your dog on a LONG leash -&gt; This is your backup!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, basically, pay fetch. The idea is: 1) She gets to play with you. 2) She gets to search and hunt. 3) She has a reason to come to YOU! Because she may have found the bag with the food, but YOU open it, and YOU feed her from it. So, you are fun, AND you have food. You are &quot;doggie-god&quot;!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting her to bring you the bag may be tricky at first. That is what the leash is for: She gets the bag, you call her. When she comes to you, you are overjoyed. If she ignores your call, you can just pull her to you. She has the chance to change her mind about coming to you on her own, and you get a second way to get her to bring the bag. Just make sure to reward every RIGHT step she makes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That mostly brings you closer to your dog. And THAT may already help get your dog to come to you. Because what you want, at the core, is to be able to call her, and she comes to you, without fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T11:41:52.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12169" CreationDate="2016-05-04T19:36:57.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tin will be tricky: They  WILL bite into it, and the edges will be sharp. So, keep the tin-house away from them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, as a side-note, keep in mind that ALL houses you have in the cage will need 2 exits at least.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The felt-mat is to be the floor for your cage? The mat itself should not be hurtful, but it will need a LOT of cleaning. That's what kept me from going felt-based for mine.  With no bedding on top, expect a full washing about every 2 or 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is an outside play-mat, just clean as needed, depending on their playmat-time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and: Congratulations, on actually having an actually decently sized cage!!! All too rare, sadly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T19:36:57.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-04T20:17:37.670" Score="3" ViewCount="2594" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten who acts really strange when I take a shower. It starts as soon as I turn the water on in the shower. If I leave the door open while I take a shower, he meows at me and tries to get in but its too small to jump on the ledge. If the door is closed, he meows and claws underneath it. When I'm done showering and open the door I can't find him. And when I do he is usually hiding behind the fridge or another tight space. Acting scared or something. Why is he doing this? I'm worried as to why he acts like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7172" LastEditorUserId="5727" LastEditDate="2016-05-06T15:17:17.800" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T02:02:28.017" Title="My cat acts strange and scared when I take a shower" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2016-05-04T20:31:42.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unscented baby wipes are used when caring for newborn kittens and puppies to help them use the restroom. Look up bottle feeding kittens on youtube though I wish there were some way to raise funds on or from youtube to care for orphaned animals etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7173" LastActivityDate="2016-05-04T20:31:42.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12176" CreationDate="2016-05-04T23:44:15.100" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kitten making a fuss when you take a shower is entirely normal. You're doing something he doesn't understand and you aren't letting him participate. Even much older cats may want to supervise, or to jump in after you've out and investigate the heat and smells. Mine usually insist on trying to drink some of the water left in the bottom of the tub.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hiding: Perhaps this is separation anxiety; the human has left him All Alone and isn't available to help if he gets into trouble, and he's young enough to still be nervous about that. Or this may just be a game; he has learned that after a shower your willing to play hide-and-seek. It's also possible that you come out of the shower smelling different than when you went in and the kitten isn't immediately convinced you're the same person; if so he'll figure it out over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is any need to  worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they were completely predictable, they wouldn't be cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-05-05T17:38:52.390" LastActivityDate="2016-05-05T17:38:52.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12167" CreationDate="2016-05-05T03:09:53.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use part of their dinner. Basically anything the dog normally would eat is fine. Dogs are good like that. Food = happy. Just cut/break up any large bits so that you have a larger number of bits food to offer so you can keep training them for longer. Dogs are happy with receiving food even if it is only a tiny bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important when training a dog with food rewards to not double up their food intake. This is where the using part of their dinner comes in. If you measure out their food for the day ahead of time, and take from that for training purposes, then at the end of the day give them what remains of their dinner then they will still only be eating a healthy amount of food each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even dry dog food will work if you don't leave them a bowl of this dry dog food out during the day for them to snack on whenever they feel like it. Take the food bowl away at the end of their meal. Then they will enjoy the dry food as a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastActivityDate="2016-05-05T03:09:53.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2769" CreationDate="2016-05-05T11:35:45.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bunny died two days ago. He was at least 10 years old. He started out with us indoors bc we had no garden for him to play in outside. But we moved to a house with a screened in porch and that is where we put his hutch and a little fence so he had a large space to run around in. There was also a ceiling fan. Nonetheless, when it was very hot or cold, we brought him inside. Less than a year ago, we moved to a house with no porch and that is when some health problems started. His hutch was on a terrace in the shade and he still had plenty of room and I still brought him in during inclement weather, but the problem was, recently, flies. Without a screened-in environment, it's hard to keep them away. I have been completely grief-stricken and am having nightmares of guilt because I think he died of fly strike. I saw no evidence (maggots) of this when I found him dead but I can't think why else he would die, and his behind was messy when I found him. My husband disagrees. He believes our rabbit simply died of old age because we don't know how old he was when we rescued him. &#xA;I will say this, he very much loved napping in the sunshine and smelling the breeze. However, keeping a rabbit out of doors requires much greater effort in terms of keeping their environment clean. Having gone through the last 48 hours in self-recrimination and tears, I would not recommend it. --Josie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7174" LastActivityDate="2016-05-05T11:35:45.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-05T13:33:44.190" Score="4" ViewCount="2124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently the weather in my city has gone extremely hot and humid and that has started to concern me. I have a Triple Coat Persian Cat and he is most definitely not enjoying the summer. He usually sleeps and stays around cool areas of the house including the laundry area and the bathroom. Although the laundry room is clean however the bathroom isn't and is dangerous for him. I've tried discouraging him however he still prefers it. How do I keep my cat cool effectively without hurting him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-05-06T15:17:23.550" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:38:55.823" Title="How to keep my Persian Cat Cool?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12186" CreationDate="2016-05-05T15:20:33.690" Score="2" ViewCount="3300" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw on a forum once that hot water is enough to clean a reptile water bowl and I'm a little skeptical of this. Is this enough to clean it or should I use diluted vinegar, disinfectant such as Wipe Out, or a bleach solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presently I have been using hot water and rinse every day, then every week or two I will do a &quot;deep clean&quot; and use a diluted vinegar solution to clean it, then let it stand for a while. I was thinking i maybe should disinfect it every time with a diluted vinegar solution but I wanted to know if this is needed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is Wipe Out in the water dish bad? I use it for disinfecting the cage so it shouldn't be THAAAAT bad for the snake to be around but it could be different for the water dish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-05-06T14:26:10.590" LastActivityDate="2016-05-06T14:26:10.590" Title="Is hot water enough to clean a reptile's water bowl?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12181" CreationDate="2016-05-06T03:38:02.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few little things you can do and a few that require a lot of money. First and foremost: &lt;strong&gt;Keep your house at around 20-22 degrees Celsius!&lt;/strong&gt; This will help quite a lot. Second, I have tried this with my own cat and it worked very well: put an ice cube or two in your cat's water dish. This cools him off and also encourages him to drink lots of water. I also really like keshlam's idea: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Think about what he finds attractive about the bathroom and duplicate it elsewhere. Tile floors, or tub, that soak up and diffuse heat better than other surfaces? ...Unless you keep the bathroom door closed continuously, the only answer to &quot;it's dangerous&quot; is &quot;make it less dangerous&quot;; that will make it safer for humans too. Cat proofing and childproofing are similar. -keshlam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That will definitely solve your problem of your cat going into the bathroom. Another idea, make sure your cat has some nice cool places where he feels safe and where you don't mind him being. Find a nice spot of shade and put a bed or blanket or even towel there. You can also purchase blankets and beds that have built-in cooling tech. They all work in various ways. Here are some good ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0047LFDQO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Green-Pet-Shop-Cooling-Small/dp/B0047LFDQO&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/Aspen-Pet-80134-Cooling-16-Inch/dp/B00DJRCQ3U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.ca/Aspen-Pet-80134-Cooling-16-Inch/dp/B00DJRCQ3U&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00CXHQC8C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Furimals-Warming-Cooling-Pet-Large/dp/B00CXHQC8C&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, they are all from Amazon. Apparently Amazon is the top exporter of pet cooling (and heating) mats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully these helped you. There may be other ways of solving your problem, but these are definitely the most efficient. Unfortunately, those cooling pads can get quite pricey. However, they are totally worth it! Stay cool, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:38:55.823" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:38:55.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12182" CreationDate="2016-05-06T14:22:55.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically hot water would be enough to clean the bowl, but not really sanitize it. Unless we're talking about boiling hot water. It also might be a bit different with snakes, but my lizards defecate in their water dish all the time. So I want to keep their bowl sanitary if they're also going to drink out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I use dish soap, but I also have a &quot;non-toxic&quot; brand cage cleaning solution that's main ingredient is vinegar. Bleach should be fine as long as you rinse it out thoroughly before refilling it and putting it back in the vivarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your reptile doesn't defecate in the water dish, I'd suggest using a bit of cleaning solution. Because they might have stepped in/through some of their feces, and then into their water dish. So even though it looks clean it might not be. Soap also helps break up the slime that builds up in water dishes that comes from their saliva as they drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2016-05-06T14:22:55.607" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2016-05-07T00:22:33.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get an old 12 oz soda can rinse it out then place around 10 pennies inside of the can, and tape it off at the mouth. I find electrical tape or silver duct tape works the best. Now that you have that finished the next steps are the most important. The next time you are out front with your dog and a person approaches your fence whether they are by themselves or walking their own dog and your dog starts barking, you take the soda can and under toss it gently towards the general direction of your dog. DO NOT throw it at your dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of this is NOT to hurt your dog but to startle your dog instead. It's to snap them out of the &quot;bad&quot; behavior that they're doing and get them focused on something else other than the passerby. In a sense it's like resetting their brain. The noise the can with pennies will make is loud thus triggering their brains to forget about what they are doing at the time. When your dog stops barking at the person is when you want to give positive praise and or a treat for their good behavior. As time progresses your dog will associate his/her (in our minds negative behavior of) barking with a loud sound that he/she doesn't like and eventually the barking will cease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember to toss, NOT throw the can in the direction of your dog, NOT at your dog. This technique has worked for every dog I've ever owned and my friends dogs as well. And believe it or not... none of them are scared of soda cans! Good luck and I hope this helps you and your dog with the barking issues at hand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7184" LastEditorUserId="112" LastEditDate="2016-05-08T09:39:02.353" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T09:39:02.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-07T14:04:41.703" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live close to the Baltic Sea which is part of Atlantic ocean. I am planning to set up marine aquarium, but found that it costy, does being close to the sea and collecting all needed inhabitants right from the sea would reduce prices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7185" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T13:52:43.593" Title="Reducing costs for setting up marine aquarium" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-08T08:18:53.403" Score="2" ViewCount="922" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bearded dragon has a black spot/patch on her back.  She has had it for. Month or two.  Ive been giving her a bath in betadine just in case of infection but it doesn't seem to be going away. Can someone please tell me what it is so i can help my beardie. Id post a picture if i can figure it out.  Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7191" LastActivityDate="2016-05-08T08:18:53.403" Title="Black spot/patch on my bearded dragons back" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-08T11:33:25.597" Score="2" ViewCount="981" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really need immediate help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in India and adopted a rabbit 2 years ago. One year ago she gave birth to 6 healthy babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her diet includes biscuits, fruits like  apple, cucumber, guava, raisins, watermelon, mango, and chiku. We provide a a local green leafy vegetable which she  loves and is very nutritious. Other than that she eats carrot, potato, tomato, and the leaves of cauliflower in winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She stays in cage but most of the time we let her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I have noticed one thing in her leg. Her left foot' s little toe doesnt seem okay as compared to her right foot. The left foot's little toe seems to hang loose. She does not have any strength in that toe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should i do?&#xA;Should i be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7193" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T19:34:01.990" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T02:56:24.540" Title="How can I tell if my rabbit broke her toe?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12205" CreationDate="2016-05-08T11:52:21.527" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our neighbor has recently gotten a new cat - it's still quite young. It's recently been going into our garden and sitting in the rabbit run and actively staring at them. At the moment at least, our rabbits don't seem at all concerned about the cat even when it's less than a foot away from them. This may be because they're both bigger than the cat or they're just extremely lazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried about this behavior? Should anything be done about this or is it considered normal social interaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7194" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T14:03:18.253" Title="Neighbor has a new cat - implications on our rabbits?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-08T19:04:07.833" Score="4" ViewCount="1020" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased a guppy and I feel that it's quite fatter and stomach is bulged compared to other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it pregnant? How could I tell whether a guppy female is pregnant or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OTRsq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OTRsq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7196" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T16:00:57.283" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T16:02:49.310" Title="Is my guppy pregnant? How could I tell whether a guppy is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12257" CreationDate="2016-05-09T00:48:58.553" Score="3" ViewCount="3644" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, named Butterscotch, keeps cutting open his face. I'm not really sure how he is doing this, because I have checked everywhere and there is nothing that could cut his face open! I took him to the vet and the vet said that it wasn't a problem and that he just got cut. After he did it a few more times, we took him back. Still, the vet said it was nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heal the cut?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stop it from happening?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I found the culprit. Found out my cat could jump on top of my shower doors. There was a conch shell on the cabinet to get up there. Is it possible this would scratch him? He bled quite a bit but I didn't see any blood on the conch shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:53:54.093" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:53:54.093" Title="Cat keeps getting cuts on his face!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7839" CreationDate="2016-05-09T05:19:28.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guppies, being guppies, would control the population themselves if it's not a heavily planted tank and doesn't have alot of hiding spots. Guppy-nabilism. Delicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7200" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T05:19:28.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12209" CreationDate="2016-05-09T13:44:33.937" Score="3" ViewCount="2332" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has a dog (Hybrid Indian Spitz) who just gave birth to two little pups (one male, one female) two weeks ago. His parents don't want any more dogs, so they want to give them away. He is very fond of the male pup and doesn't want to give it to someone, but his parents won't let him keep it. So he tells me that I should keep it, that way he can at least see him. Even I think the pup is really cute, and I want to keep it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, I live alone in a one-room apartment. I have a job and I am working 5 days a week. I have to leave for my job early, and I come back home at late evening. So he will be home alone most of the day. Plus there are children in the building playing and running around, so if I leave the pup home alone, they might knock the door just to make the pup bark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have did some research on the '&lt;em&gt;things-to-know-before-keeping-a-pet-dog&lt;/em&gt;', I know there will be cost involved in vaccination, plus the responsibility of training and taking care, housebreaking, going out for walk and exercise. I have read that the Indian Spitz are very adaptable to environment (I am guessing living in a one room apartment will push that adaptability to the limit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: is it OK to leave the pup/dog alone for whole day in a one-room apartment, especially with the possibility of kids playing outside? I am worrying these kids' behavior could have potential to torment the pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7203" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:37:39.600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:40:07.870" Title="Is it ok to leave the pup/dog alone for whole day in a one-room apartment?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12188" CreationDate="2016-05-09T13:52:43.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not likely. The equipment costs are going to be relatively the same which are a huge portion of the cost. In your case, the baltic is a temperate / cold water environment, and these types of aquariums are usually more expensive than the standard tropical ones. You'll likely need a chiller to keep the water temperature low enough, and stocking in cold water tanks is difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I don't know the water quality of the ocean in your area, but most ocean water collected directly on the coast is often unsuitable for an aquarium. Heavy metal and other contaminants are very common and typically do not work well in a closed home aquarium environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to keep costs down is through careful planning and stocking. As far as coral tanks go, not keeping SPS or other coral that require very clean, lower nutrient, water is the best option for keeping costs down in a reef tank. Limited stocking can reduce the need for a skimmer and reduce the need to do frequent water changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T13:52:43.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12195" CreationDate="2016-05-09T14:03:18.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that your run is secure, and your rabbits have a safe hiding place where they can get away from being stared at by the cat if it does bother them, I wouldn't worry about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a rare and large cat that will tackle an adult domestic rabbit (they are too big, and they don't behave or smell like normal prey), and your rabbits, from their behaviour, sound like they are coping fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I last kept rabbits, our neighbour's cat used to come and visit them as well.  They became quite good friends and it was never a problem.  Rabbits are social beings, as I'm sure you know, and cats often enjoy social interaction with other species too, so it may be that your neighbour's cat is not so much hungry as lonely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T14:03:18.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11876" CreationDate="2016-05-09T14:41:26.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh, this does sound familiar. (Only, I am envious of that 60% responding well. I have a saluki. Sometimes her responding well felt like it was down at the 5% mark. ) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will be people who will tell you you need to be 'firm', by which they mean you should shout at your dog, jerk your dog about by the neck, or hit her.  I have owned/fostered a number of second-hand dogs where people have tried that and it has not worked out well, so personally I try not to do that and it sounds like you don't want to either, which is great! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I try to imagine how I would manage this if she was, say, a large bear.  I do not think anyone would suggest being firm with a bear, or expecting him to understand the word 'no'.  Instead, you set things up for success, manage the environment, reward the good choices and use your giant human brain to advantage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are most of the way there, only your previous experience is with a dog that worked out what you meant by 'no'.  It really is pretty common for dogs to not get this, so you need to take out the requirement for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set things up so that if she ignores you, nothing bad can happen, and if she pays attention, you have rewards ready - not just at designated training sessions, but all the time. Be calm, even when she's being naughty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she steals things from the bin, put the bin in a place she can't get at, or buy a dog-proof bin.  If she steals things from the kitchen surfaces, practice the 6-foot rule and put everything below that into a cupboard. If necessary, put locks on your doors. Make sure she has regular exercise and isn't left hungry. Use the crate BEFORE she gets into trouble, not once she has done so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you want to look at every form of mischief she gets into, and work out a way for that not to be a problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never take anything from her without providing a more-awesome swap - not after you've given a command, but before: you need to give her the idea of swapping first : impulse control comes much later. If she won't swap, take it as a learning experience and don't put the stolen item where she can get at it next time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you are managing the environment to prevent your life being shredded,  work on getting an awesome relationship.  Be the source of all amazing things.  Be trustworthy.  Use your human brain to keep your stuff safe and at the same time make her life amazing.  Give her choices, but make sure all the choices are right choices.   If she makes a wrong choice, that's your problem really - you put her in a situation where the wrong choice was tempting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And after a while, you find you have a dog who is genuinely responsive, who you can communicate with on quite a deep level, way beyond 'yes and no'.  And after a while you no longer need to put things on high shelves or hide your shoes, because your dog no longer wants to make those choices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dogs that are 'stubborn', this approach works really well.  I appreciate it sounds a bit like 'giving in' but it really isn't.  It's just using your advantages - your big brain and ability to manipulate the environment should be able to trump her paws, speed and teeth every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T14:41:26.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2769" CreationDate="2016-05-09T14:57:36.757" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing all the previous answers are from the USA. Here in the UK, where the climate is temperate, and the same species of rabbit that is kept domestically is also a wild species,  rabbits are widely recommended as outdoor pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the recommendation is that rabbits should never be kept singly in a small wire-bottomed hutch (which is inhumane), but in pairs or larger groups in a larger enclosure, for example a large hutch with attached run/play area or shed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have kept rabbits in this way myself. They lived to the age of 12 and were happy animals, with space to run, dig, and graze. It is hard work ensuring they have enough space and their environment is safe and clean, but then that also applies indoors.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may well be that people who keep a single rabbit in a small outdoor hutch believe that they are doing a kindness, but rabbits in this situation do often develop behavioural and health problems.  Giving the animal space and companionship is widely recommended, and works so obviously well that I would hope most rabbit owners could quickly see it was worth the effort.   This is distinct from the 'indoors/outdoors' thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/&lt;/a&gt;  and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/rabbits&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastEditorUserId="3820" LastEditDate="2016-05-09T15:04:16.993" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T15:04:16.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-09T16:04:18.180" Score="3" ViewCount="8696" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two male rabbits from a friend of mine. (Her children were over them). I have had them all winter (In Wyoming) and they have been great. 3 weeks ago I found a baby bunny in the bottom of the cage. SURPRISE! We have a female. I sexed them when I brought them home but it's been bout 15 yrs since I have raised rabbits for 4-H and they looked like males to me. Ha ha. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway she had 6 live ones in there. And about 15 dead ones that had been there a while. (The box that is built into the cage is hard to clean unless you take off the wall). So thinking they are both males I had no thought to take the hutch apart in the winter looking for babies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well I cleaned out the cage, separated the parents and all bunnies were doing ok. Then 3 days later one died. I chalked it up to her 1st litter that has survived and she's getting used to being a mom. Then another kit. I have lost 5 out of the 6. Last night at 10 pm I had 2 (seemingly healthy) hopping round, eyes open, just 2 days short of 3 weeks old bunnies. This morn when I peeked at them the biggest one was dead. (I have checked them about 3-4 times a day just because I have lost so many)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now down to one I'm at a loss on what is happening. She is eating and drinking great. The kit seems healthy. It hops around and away from me. Ha ha. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas or suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7204" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T16:00:08.287" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T12:26:26.160" Title="Why are my Baby bunnies Dying?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12203" CreationDate="2016-05-09T16:17:12.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your case, you probably shouldn't get the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dogs are okay being left alone all day, because they spend most of the day sleeping anyway. Many, many people have jobs and leave their dogs home all day, but with a one-bedroom apartment you have to put in a little more effort into the dog. If you want to leave them home ALL day, then you should try to get someone to come and take the dog out during the day. Being in a smaller space, the dog can also become really stressed if you don't take it out for longer periods of time. Say, if you leave it home all day and then only take it on a ten minute walk after work, then put it back in the apartment, it can feel cooped up and could get stressed or start to destroy your apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One (more expensive) alternative is a dog daycare center. This can help socialize the dog and also keeps it exercised and entertained. If you do this 2 times a week, the price isn't going to be too bad and it is still better than nothing. A general work day with a dog in an apartment is taking it on a long walk/run before work to tire them out, leave them home with a bit of food/water, come home for lunch and give them a bathroom break, give them a short walk (depending on how close you live from work), then right after work give them another longer walk or a nice park/dog-park visit. Then, right before bed, you should take them out again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important thing to keep in mind is entertaining the dog. This is important in a one-bedroom apartment over a house because of the small space. Make sure to leave them with safe toys (for example, they mustn't be made of rawhide) to play with. If a dog becomes bored, they can become destructive. Another way to keep them entertained is to use puzzles with treat rewards. This can stimulate the dog's mind, which is as important as their body. This can also be accomplished with training when you get home from work or in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Puppies needs are different&lt;/strong&gt;. Puppies can't hold their bathroom breaks for as long as older dogs with more bladder control, and have many more needs when it comes to socialization. If you are leaving pretty early in the morning and coming back pretty late in the evening, then I would say you probably shouldn't own a dog. As given above, it is POSSIBLE to own adult dogs if you put in a lot of effort, but puppies have a whole different set of needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, yes it CAN be okay for a DOG if you devote more time to compensate for this alone time and have someone to take care of the dog at least a couple times during the day. Although I worry about how early &quot;early&quot; is and how late &quot;late evening&quot; is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a PUP I don't think they can hold a bathroom break very long and need socialization, so I would say unless you have someone to take it out and play with it during the day and fulfill these needs then you SHOULDN'T get the pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:40:07.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:40:07.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12208" CreationDate="2016-05-09T17:16:36.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not enough information in your question for a full answer. But as it sounds like you have the male and female living together full time, she is probably getting pregnant as soon as she gives birth.  It is also possible she is having multiple pregnancies at the same time.  If either of these is the case, you are likely to find the mother dead soon as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to separate the male and female!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6997&quot;&gt;How to appease a rabbit separated from his pregnant companion?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6581&quot;&gt;Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12228&quot;&gt;Can rabbits make babies when separated by a single wire cage wall?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T12:51:11.507" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12197" CreationDate="2016-05-09T17:23:49.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;LFlare is right. You have a pregnant female guppy there. It's a fuzzy pic, but it looks like she's got a while before she pops. What you need to look into now are live birthing chambers to keep her from eating the babies and deciding whether you'll let them into the main tank to take their chances or put them into a separate baby tank for a few months. I've done both. You have more control and loose less with the separate tank, but you can end up with stronger fish the other way. Guppies will cannibalize the babies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TDveE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TDveE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0168GA53G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hatchery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-05-09T17:23:49.747" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-10T00:30:57.883" Score="4" ViewCount="734" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog seems to have occasional seizures, for lack of a better term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems to occur randomly and not very often; maybe 4 times in the last year that I've witnessed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it occurs, she appears weak in her rear legs with a little bit of shaking as she tries to walk and her eyes appear far away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It passes very quickly, never lasting more than 10 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's up to date on her shots, takes Nexgard and heart worm pills once a month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T01:42:41.247" Title="Dog has occasional weakness in rear legs; seizure" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12167" CreationDate="2016-05-10T10:19:45.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends what your dog likes - just as with humans, dogs can be picky, and some foods will upset their stomach, so it's often trial and error to find a good 'reward' food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that most of my foster dogs like meat and cheese, and chunks of hot dog or small cubes of cheese are easy to buy, carry and hand out.  Most dogs will work harder for 'special treat food' than for bits of kibble, although there are exceptions! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some also like carrots and apples.  Some will work for bits of their normal kibble, others will eat kibble only if it's well mixed with other food and definitely not as a treat!  I have one dog who cannot eat any kibble, for some reason all the dry biscuit-format foods upset his stomach.  This is unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want your dog to think you are awesome, you could bake him liver, tuna or sardine cake - these ingredients have a strong smell, and most dogs find them irresistible, even in very small chunks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some recipes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bdws.co.uk/2011/09/11/homemade-liver-cake-recipe-worlds-greates/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bdws.co.uk/2011/09/11/homemade-liver-cake-recipe-worlds-greates/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bdws.co.uk/2012/12/15/tuna-loaf-dog-treats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bdws.co.uk/2012/12/15/tuna-loaf-dog-treats/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bdws.co.uk/2012/12/06/sardine-oatcakes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bdws.co.uk/2012/12/06/sardine-oatcakes/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(you can make smaller quantities, I know the liver cake recipe looks a bit daunting!  If your dog gets gassy when he has wheat flour, as many do, you can make all of these with just porridge oats instead - add a bit more water so you don't clog your blender.  Or potato.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that when you first bring your dog home, everything will probably be a bit overwhelming.  He might be scared, or super excited, and he may not be interested in food right away.  If this happens, don't make a big deal of it -  give him a few days of calm to settle and try again.  You can store liver cake in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T10:19:45.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16300" CreationDate="2016-05-10T10:43:10.730" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm taking care of a Yorkshire terrier for a friend. She's quite a shy and nervous dog but has warmed up over the last few days and is always requesting affection and even sleeps on our bed. However, this morning after her walk we noted some blood on her chin. At first I thought it was just a graze from an injury sustained in her walk, but now I'm not so sure as a couple of hours later it still looks very sore. I've attached some images. Is this something I should let a vet handle or will it clear up on it's own? Pics attached&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that she seems to be behaving normally. Hungry, usual patterns of behaviour, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KfE79.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KfE79.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pic 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pby80.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pby80.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pic 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7208" LastEditorUserId="7208" LastEditDate="2016-05-10T11:09:45.123" LastActivityDate="2017-02-05T10:01:20.533" Title="Sore on Yorkshire Terrier external mouth / chin. Visit to vet required?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-10T13:19:19.607" Score="4" ViewCount="5506" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, which I adopted with my girlfriend, does not recognise me anymore after I came back from a two week holiday. Everytime it is near me, it starts running away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After spending so much time with it, it is quite disheartening. I don't want to entice it with food, as it is teaching it the wrong values. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7210" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-25T21:08:01.450" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T21:08:01.450" Title="My cat does not recognize me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12217" CreationDate="2016-05-10T17:58:22.283" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have long memories, so I'm sure it does still recognise you. My guess is that it was upset that you were gone, and has associated that unhappiness with you. It may not seem entirely logical, but then humans aren't always logical either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to entice it with food. You're not teaching it wrong values, you're helping it replace a sad memory with a happy one. Whatever you did the first time around to bond with it, you can do again. It shouldn't take long to re-establish your bond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T17:58:22.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12203" CreationDate="2016-05-10T18:11:54.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The big concerns all potential dog owners should consider are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bathroom Breaks&lt;/strong&gt; it's best for the dog to have free access to outside, and at the very least bathroom breaks should be on a schedule. Dogs, like us, tend to get used to &quot;going&quot; at the same times every day. Like human children, puppies don't have as good bladder control as their adult counterparts. You won't be able to leave your puppy in all day if you work a 9-5 job. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding times&lt;/strong&gt; Again, it's best to have a regular schedule with this. However, you could automate it with an automatic feeder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Socialization&lt;/strong&gt; This is the hardest point to handle I think -- Dogs are pack animals and very social. Normally for people who are gone all day, I'd suggest getting a second dog and then spending as much time as possible with them when you are home, but with you living in a one room apartment this may not be realistic. Another option to consider would be doggy day care (most medium-large cities will have options) or hiring a neighborhood teenager to come over and spend time walking/hanging out with your dog. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise&lt;/strong&gt; While small, Indian Spitz tend to be pretty high-energy dogs. Especially since you don't have a yard where he'll be able to run off extra energy, you'll have to spend a lot of time walking and playing with him in your free time. Bored/under-exercised dogs tend to be destructive, disruptive dogs that won't fit in well in apartment life. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training&lt;/strong&gt; Getting a puppy is a big commitment. They require a lot of training along with the other points. Unlike cats, dogs don't naturally know that they can't poop in the house, and won't know basic obedience commands like sit/stay/lie down/etc. There are great classes at most pet stores/community centers that can help you with this, but if you already have long hours it's unlikely that you'll have the time to dedicate to such an endeavor. If you're already familiar with training dogs, you might be able to handle this yourself (I've had luck training young dogs with 20-minute a day sessions in my own home) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I'd advise you against getting a puppy in your current situation. It's not impossible, but it would be a lot for you to manage. If you do decide to though, I'd highly recommend talking to the parents of the kids in your apartment building. If they're old enough they may be able to help out with walking and dog sitting while you're away. I did this (in addition to mowing lawns) in my neighborhood when I was a kid. Just make sure you have a good relationship with the kid and their parents so you can make sure they'll be responsible! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T18:11:54.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12216" CreationDate="2016-05-10T18:16:26.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you know that she had an injury during the walk, or were you just guessing that might be the case? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're sure it's a small &lt;em&gt;injury&lt;/em&gt;, I would check to make sure none of her teeth or gums are sore. If not, I think you can just observe for a few days to make sure it's healing about as quickly as you would expect a similar wound on your own body. If the teeth or gums are sore, or the wound doesn't heal quickly, definitely see the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not sure what this is, and you can reach the owner, ask them if they've seen the problem before. For all I can tell from the photo, this might be an allergic reaction that the dog is scratching. The owner may be able to tell you how to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, I would take the dog to the vet on the next day they're open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T18:16:26.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12181" CreationDate="2016-05-10T18:30:32.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long-haired cat too and this is a constant problem for us! &#xA;If you have the money to afford a cooling pad, I'd highly recommend one, however, I've worked out a few other cheaper solutions through the years that may help you out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, I'd recommend making your bathroom safer for your cat. I'm not sure exactly what's making it dangerous for him, but the cool porcelain tub is one of my cat's favorite things on hot days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also built a home-made &quot;cooling pad&quot; for him with good results. I simply made a few ice packs by filling large freezer zip-loc bags with water and freezing them so they're flat and thin. I double-bag them so they won't leak. (I'd generally advise against using commercial ice packs as they tend to not use plain water as filler -- if they break they could be dangerous for your cat depending on what's inside.) I then wrap the bags in a towel (to protect from sharp claws) and place it near his favorite napping spot. it's a big hit. I keep a couple frozen bags in the freezer at all times, and stick one in his towel in the late morning when it starts heating up. Obviously, don't use this in a small-kennel situation where the cat can't move away from the ice pack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More options: does your cat have any tile or stone floors to lie on? My house doesn't have too many, which is why he spends so much of his time in the bathtub. At night, he likes to sleep on a slab of Masonite (compressed particle board) that I place at the end of my bed. It has the cooling benefits of a hard surface but still allows him to be needy and sleep with me. If your house is mostly carpeted, consider investing in a masonite (or better yet, granite or marble) slab for him to lounge on. You can buy big pieces of masonite from your local hardware store, and have them cut it to whatever size you want for pretty cheap. You can even put an ice bag under it for extra oomph. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, remember that the best solutions are often the easiest. I have a small table fan that I have pointed at his favorite nap spot. I leave it on all day in the summer. If it gets turned off for whatever reason he will come find me and complain until I turn it back on. If you go with this option, make sure there's a good &quot;cage&quot; around the fan with bars that are close enough together that a paw can't slip through. Cats do really stupid things sometimes, and it's best to assume that if they can injure themselves they will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-10T18:30:32.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-10T19:26:12.623" Score="4" ViewCount="1697" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fiancée and I are considering getting a Mediterranean spur thigh tortoise - neither of us have had one before, and we're unsure if it's suited to our current situation - as much as we both love the idea. The tortoise in question is currently 6 months old and is being given away by a friend of my fiancée.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a ground-floor flat with no garden or outside space - however, we do plan to buy our first house (non-negotiably with a garden) within the next 2 years (maximum - we hope less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been told that vitamin D is important for tortoises, especially in early life, and fully plan on getting a UV lamp and a proper &quot;tortoise house&quot; (unsure of the correct term!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would rather not get a tortoise at all than selfishly make it fit into our lives at the expense of harming its life or development, so any help would be hugely appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7212" LastEditorUserId="7212" LastEditDate="2016-05-10T21:49:41.157" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T09:22:34.380" Title="How Important is Natural Sunlight to Tortoises?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12217" CreationDate="2016-05-11T03:18:23.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can carry a grudge for a few days. After that, they start to forget what they were mad about. Like most of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend's cat very explicitly snubs her for several days after she comes home from a trip-- even though there are other people in the house, &quot;My Human was bad and left me alone for the weekend.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat didn't know you very well -- and especially if you smell different for some reason -- you may need to go through the exercise of making friends again.  It should go faster this time. (And even if it remembers you well, a bit of bribery helps soothe hurt feelings.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile the standard rules apply. Let the cat come to you when it's ready; don't chase it, don't stare. Try not to move too quickly/suddenly. Sitting still for a while -- with a book, perhaps, or TV, or just chatting/cuddling with your girlfriend -- is less threatening than standing up or moving around,and lets the cat decide how close to approach when.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your girlfriend is still on the cat's approved list, and the cat is being held by her, you may be able to come over and pet it a bit without complaint; that both makes the cat feel a bit more protected and gives it an even better chance to try to make you jealous by making a fuss over the other human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T03:18:23.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12167" CreationDate="2016-05-11T03:55:41.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to strike a good balance of delicious but not so desirable that your dog can't focus. I bought these freeze dried liver treats for my dog once that were TOO good and made it hard for my dog to focus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had good luck with chopped up hot dogs, bits of cheese, and broken up larger treats. It depends on what your dog likes. One of mine really loves apples. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The size of the treat is very important to keep in mind -- you want to keep it small so your dog won't get too fat and won't get full while they're training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T03:55:41.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1423" CreationDate="2016-05-11T14:47:11.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I first brought home my flemish/silver fox girl she was about 2 months old. I noticed the first couple days that she looked a little funny a small rabbit that seemed to have swallowed a balloon trying to run around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, when I called my vet and described her symptoms, she said that she most likely had bloat and that I was to remove all food (dry or green) and feed 100% Timothy hay for 2 weeks. My little girl started expelling gas like no body's business which made her smell for the next week but she was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7215" LastActivityDate="2016-05-11T14:47:11.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-11T15:57:33.790" Score="3" ViewCount="1388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard several people say that their female rabbit got pregnant while physically separated from the buck by a wire cage. I have heard it from multiple people, over a span of years. In all cases there was a single wire fence dividing the two.  At first I suspected the person accidently allowed full contact, but I am beginning to wonder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is easy enough to imagine impregnation with a bipedal animal separated only by wire cage (&lt;em&gt;given appropriate size openings in the cage&lt;/em&gt;). But it is difficult to imagine in a four legged animal like a rabbit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any validated occurrence of rabbit pregnancy, where separation between doe and buck was a wire cage or similar? If so what types of wire separation can be shown to be effective or in-effective in preventing pregnancy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6581&quot;&gt;Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T01:38:45.097" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T01:38:45.097" Title="Can rabbits make babies when separated by a single wire cage wall?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12235" CreationDate="2016-05-12T00:18:26.517" Score="4" ViewCount="1872" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hot-rocks look like a great idea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to warm the hide at night and the rock at day, so as to entice my corn snake out more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But everywhere over the Internet they are blasted as being dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But surely it is just implementation and not the principle that is at fault... If a rock is heated to, say, 34&amp;nbsp;°C - that should surely be fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't find a single rock that gets positive reviews from the snake community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there really some compelling logic against the idea, or is it just that nobody is selling a quality product?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7219" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:20:14.267" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:20:14.267" Title="Safe hot-rock for corn snake" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11422" CreationDate="2016-05-12T00:40:35.050" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe a change of scent set the snake on guard and then a sudden head movement triggered a lunge. My corn snake is a sweetie, but she still has a go at constricting me if I put her around my neck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Kalari teacher told me a Sufi story of the scorpion and his friend the frog who must cross the river. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Let me sit on your back, for I cannot swim.&quot; says the Scorpion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;But you will sting me!&quot; says the frog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Upon my honour I will not!&quot; says the scorpion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Ok then&quot; says the frog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And so the scorpion hops on and the frog starts swimming.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;But why?&quot; wails the frog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Sorry,&quot; says the scorpion. &quot;Instinct!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the key must be to let a snake move from your girlfriend to you of its own free will, as part of &quot;exploring&quot;. Maybe you could swap sweaters as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7219" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T00:40:35.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12236" CreationDate="2016-05-12T07:55:33.453" Score="6" ViewCount="1189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if I have a cat allergy, and I don't want to adopt a real cat to test myself, what else can I to to test cat allergy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5736" LastEditorUserId="7223" LastEditDate="2016-05-13T13:25:19.013" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T18:18:44.173" Title="How can I test whether I have a cat allergy without really adopting a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12232" CreationDate="2016-05-12T09:16:56.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't have access to a friend's cat, you can always visit your local animal shelter and visit the cats there. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_to_cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat allergies&lt;/a&gt; are usually allergies to the (cat's) saliva on cat fur. If you bury your face in a cat's fur and don't have an allergic reaction, you are probably pretty safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T09:16:56.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12237" CreationDate="2016-05-12T13:57:32.730" Score="1" ViewCount="3688" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased some Assassin snails. Do they need to be acclimated?  I acclimated shrimp and fish using the slow drip method in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7048" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:33:32.660" Title="Do Snails Need to be Acclimated to Aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12229" CreationDate="2016-05-12T14:25:51.747" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, it is a little of both. &#xA;The reason hot rocks are frowned upon more than UTHs and basking lights is because they fail to spread heat as much as the previous. To feel the effects of the warmth, the animal will need to sit directly on the rock. Since reptiles dont have the nervous system we do as humans, it is harder for them to tell if they are getting injured (especially on the belly) and many reptiles will get burnt from sitting on the rock all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may think that a thermostat can circumvent this but this is a little tough to implement. The heat mat/ tape is on the outside of the cage so if there is a malfunction with the thermometer there is at least a little buffer zone between the heat source and the reptile, where the hot rock is in the cage with no buffer zone. Also I cant really think of a way to securely attach a thermometer to/around the rock so the reptile cant disturb it sans tape and glue which can be bad for the reptile. You can have the same problems with a heat mat which is why owners should check this often, but the lack of buffer zone between a heat source and reptile is the biggest concern. One problem that can happen with mats is the snake crawls through water then goes to the mat and the water heats up (with a higher specific heat it is harder to heat but when it is heated it loses heat slower) and that can harm the reptile. Now with a mat you have some form of substrate so the snake would need to burrow for this to happen, but with a rock it can happen anytime they go straight from the water dish to the basking spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, many of the rocks are also pretty poor. A lot of hot rocks have &quot;hot spots&quot; which means they have spots that are hotter than the rest of the rock and this can mean even with a thermostat on the rock certain spots can be warmer than the rest of it. This is not as true for high end heat rocks, though. I have seen newer ones with build in thermostats and auto shut off features because of the bad rep they have, but why would you get a higher end one of these when you can just get a UTH or a bulb? In many cases the UTH or bulb are a lot easier to set up and a heat rock should only be used after careful observation for a long time and things like surge protector and a higher end rock. I have heard of people building a little cage around the heat rock and that probably would work but like i said it doesnt spread heat as much as a bulb so that seems like a lot of wasted effort to me. Also why risk the health of your snake for it when people have obviously had problems with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the above is talking about an electric heat rock, but the same principles can be applied for a rock heated by a ceramic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR;&lt;/strong&gt; the rock is hard to heat evenly and the hot spots can injure your reptile and the rock being inside the cage can injure your reptile MORE than other heating sources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T14:25:51.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12232" CreationDate="2016-05-12T15:24:55.387" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most conclusive way to discover if you have an allergy or not is to ask your doctor for an allergy test.  There are two types, skin based and blood based.  The skin based one, they will prick your skin with the suspected allergen, and see if you react.  With blood based, they'll draw a blood sample and test that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free ways to try to test it out, is to visit some cats.  If you have a friend with cats, or shelters, or even if you live in a location with one of those cat cafes, go there and spend some time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind though that your observations at these locations might not tell the whole story.  For instance, shelters often keep their cats in an area with concrete floors and unfurnished cages.  Theses types of surfaces do not retain dander, and so for someone with mild allergies, they might not be triggered there, but in a home, you could be due to carpets and furniture capturing the dander much more.  It's also possible that there might be another allergen present in these locations that happens to trigger a reaction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, allergies can also worsen over time, so there is a slight risk that even if you show no symptoms now, later on you develop them.  If you suffer from asthma or tend to suffer from a lot of other allergies, it might be better to not get a cat even if you don't show symptoms now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2016-05-12T15:49:48.783" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:49:48.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12234" CreationDate="2016-05-12T15:33:32.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snails are generally much more resistant to water changes than fish (and definitely shrimp).&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would not bother to acclimate them, or definitely not for the same duration as with fish or shrimps. E.g. 15 minutes or so, just to be safe.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I bought a few a few of these a while back and just dropped them in my tank. I also transferred them from 1 tank to another, without any problems or deaths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2016-05-12T15:33:32.660" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2016-05-13T10:00:53.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/lighting.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tortoises synthesise their own vitamin D3 from the UV component of&#xA;  sunlight. Vitamin D3 is essential for the effective metabolism of dietary calcium in reptiles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carnivorous and omnivorous reptiles get a high proportion of their vitamin D3 requirement from their food, however, plants do not contain D3, cholecalciferol, instead they contain D2, ergocalciferol, which is far less efficient in calcium metabolism than D3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, this means that since almost all tortoises are herbivorous, they will depend more on the artificial lightning (your UV lamp in this case) to get vitamin D3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The website goes on to explain that if vitamin D3 is not available, your tortoise could develop a condition known as Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). In accordance to what you said, yes, younger tortoises are most at risk. MBD could cause the bones to soften in younger animals, especially the long bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly... The tortoise house you're referring to, I believe is called the vivarium/terrarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-05-13T14:46:55.767" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T14:46:55.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12242" CreationDate="2016-05-13T16:28:21.800" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard, the goodness in sunlight that helps people make vitamin D does not pass through windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true, and if so, does it impact pets as well? If my pet only gets sunlight through windows, how does this impact the health considerations (good and bad) of sunlight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T19:08:50.687" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T21:43:30.987" Title="How do windows impact health considerations of sunlight for pets?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12232" CreationDate="2016-05-13T18:18:44.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few ideas to add to Kai's excellent answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spend the night at the house of a friend who has cats. Preferably a friend who isn't a clean freak. If you are allergic, you'll soon find out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider fostering a cat. Check with shelters in the area to see if they need foster homes. A typical scenario might be a cat who needs socialisation in order to make a good pet; your job would be to help the cat overcome its fear of humans. After a period of time, the cat goes back to the shelter (or you can adopt it if you want). If you do have a cat allergy, it's probably a mild one (or else you'd already know about it). If necessary, you could return the cat early, but you could also just take antihistamines while the cat is with you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or just adopt a cat on a trial basis. All good shelters will take a pet back within a reasonable period of time. I just adopted two cats a week ago (yay!) and the form I signed said &quot;If for any reason after I adopt a cat I am unable to keep it, I will return it to the  after prior arrangements.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allergy tests are useful, but they can give false positives. I had allergy tests done years ago, and in addition to a strong allergy dust, it indicated I have a mild allergy to cats and some kinds of grass. I do indeed have a dust allergy, but I've had cats most of my life and have never had any reaction to them. Nor have I ever had any problems with grasses of any kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T18:18:44.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12240" CreationDate="2016-05-13T20:37:23.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glass does block some ultraviolet; exactly how much varies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However: Most pets have fur, which means they aren't going to be synthesizing a lot of vitamin D that way anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if they are eating a decent-quality commercial pet food they will be getting the vitamins they need from their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer may be different for reptiles, but even so this isn't something I would worry about unless my vet told me there was an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cats lie in the sunlight, it's just because they like the warmth. And perhaps because they are&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Prints/PrintPages/CatGravPoster.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;converting it to gravity&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-05-13T20:58:40.277" LastActivityDate="2016-05-13T20:58:40.277" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-14T03:03:06.567" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;How soon can I return My tetras to their tank after a water change. I have changed 50% of my tank water and want to know when I can return my fish to the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7233" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T03:03:06.567" Title="Fish Tank water change" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-05-20T10:03:44.763" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9355" CreationDate="2016-05-14T13:40:48.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't your exact situation, but may be applicable.  We adopted a pitbull mix off the street who couldn't have been friendlier to people (especially kids).  I tried to introduce her to my dog at the house and she handled it about as well as your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had the house divided in half with baby gates for my son, but it worked perfectly for this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It allowed the dogs to sniff/check each other out, while not allowing the other to invade their personal space; with the added benefit disallowing a fight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each had plenty of space to remove themselves from the situation and not be forced to be around the other.  (By &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; I really only mean the new dog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a few days they eyed each other and didn't get along.  In the meantime, I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Immediately interrupted signs of aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constantly praised/rewarded them both when they were tolerating each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would switch which sides of the fence they were each on.  So neither had a &quot;territory&quot; or felt jealous that the other side was better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fed them with completely separate bowls in different rooms (and kept this up even after they inevitably became best friends).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We eventually got to give them more and more interaction with each other but all the while treated them equally as to not harbor any jealousy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastActivityDate="2016-05-14T13:40:48.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1110" CreationDate="2016-05-15T01:34:30.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta fish shouldn't be housed in a bowl primarily because they just aren't large enough with the recommended minimum tank size being 5 gallons or more for a betta fish to thrive. As for tank mates, it just really depends on the temperament of your individual betta, how large the tank is and making sure there is plenty of hiding places for each to retreat to. A betta however will not get lonely living alone. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;https://bettafish.org/betta-fish-tank-mates/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a guide&lt;/a&gt; if you want to read more on the subject and what specific species are best to live together with the betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7235" LastActivityDate="2016-05-15T01:34:30.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12247" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12253" CreationDate="2016-05-15T20:45:43.400" Score="0" ViewCount="4653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have 2 bearded dragons. One being a juvenile and the other being not much older than a baby. I have researched online about bearded dragons and heat rocks with many conflicting answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should baby or juvenile bearded dragons be using a heat rock? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heat rock is medium sized. I am also using a small dome shaped heater to use from above that is not over top the rock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x3det.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x3det.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of Heat Dome over the habitat&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image is sideways to show it's position in relation to the heating rock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-05-16T15:26:57.917" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T15:26:57.917" Title="Should juvenile bearded dragons have heat rocks?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-15T20:52:46.737" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever since last week my dog (7 year old golden retriever) has been peeing at an unusual amount and licking her anus just as much. Also, a white substance appears in her urine. This all started after i showered her about a week ago and i dont know what is going on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7237" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T00:09:34.243" Title="Dog pees too much problem" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13555" CreationDate="2016-05-15T21:36:49.120" Score="2" ViewCount="524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased two bearded dragons. One is a juvenile while the other is not much older than a baby.&#xA;The baby bearded dragon is very accepting of holding and interaction and doesn't do much besides bask.&#xA;The juvenile seems absolutely terrified of human interaction and even puts itself in danger (trying to jump from pretty high, I am 6'2&quot;, to the ground). I am concerned the dragon might have been mistreated to be absolutely terrified as it is the first I have owned that is scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two dragons are in the cage together and get along fairly well. There is no fighting or dominance issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can break his fear? Should I consult the sellers about possible mistreatment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T15:50:44.263" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T20:21:47.580" Title="Bearded dragon scared of hands?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12251" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-16T02:10:37.203" Score="1" ViewCount="3076" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.outsideonline.com/1856881/20-best-dog-breeds-runners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.outsideonline.com/1856881/20-best-dog-breeds-runners&lt;/a&gt;, a Rhodesian Ridgeback is the breed of dog that's the best for endurance running because it was originally bred to hunt lions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7239" LastActivityDate="2018-03-21T05:10:32.237" Title="How long can a Rhodesian Ridgeback run for?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-16T05:23:07.127" Score="2" ViewCount="5082" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to give a puppy liquid whey left over from cheese making? I read somewhere that it is fine and I am curious if that's true as it sounds a bit crazy for that to be true to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7240" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T16:10:18.847" Title="Is whey good for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12247" CreationDate="2016-05-16T07:32:40.517" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean heat rocks that are electric powered and function to provide a place for the dragons to sit on to warm up, then generally the answer is no. These devices are often made with no thermostat, so they will constantly give out heat. Most lizards have evolved with some form of photosensitive cells on the top of their head that they use to sense light, meaning that they can generally only gauge how hot they are getting if the heat is given from above, like the sun would naturally do. Electric heat rocks run the risk of the animal sitting on the rock for extended periods of time and not realising just how hot that surface is to touch, and there have been many cases of animals being severely burned by them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If by heat rock you mean placing a rock underneath a light/heat source, then this is a very good idea. Lizards use the heat to aid their digestion, so using an appropriate heat/light source above a rock will allow said rock to heat up to a safe amount, allowing the lizard to sit and monitor the light levels from above, but also be able to digest efficiently as its belly will be gently warmed by the rock below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general rule to go by is that the animal should not be able to make any physical contact with a heat source, as this runs the risk of severe burns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7040" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T07:32:40.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-16T08:39:42.437" Score="1" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to have better filtration and I was informed that bacteria which I add to water can live longer and grow in proper substrate. I would like to have also plants, but they have no chance to survive :). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anyway, I would like to know, what substrate is good for beneficial bacterias?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LTWwl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LTWwl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T18:22:16.113" Title="What turtle aquarium substrate suits for &quot;filtration&quot; bacteria?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12251" CreationDate="2016-05-16T15:15:38.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't really an answer to that. Someone might be able to make a rough guess, but you'll have to provide the parameters of this scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, is this a healthy adult dog? Where is the running taking place? On a flat African savannah or through snowy mountains? Is the dog supposed to be in top physical condition, active house pet condition, or sedate life style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you name all the conditions, it still varies from animal to animal based on their heart. Not their physical heart, though that too, but their will to keep on going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably a long time, though. They say wolves can spend days running down prey and sled dogs pull heavy sleds through the snow all day long for several days during events like the Iditarod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T15:15:38.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12252" CreationDate="2016-05-16T15:26:05.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia, whey &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whey#Health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;contains 6% lactose&lt;/a&gt;  we know from the answers to the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5442&quot;&gt;Is it OK to feed dogs dairy products?&lt;/a&gt; that giving dairy products to adult dogs is problematic.  We also know from the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7363&quot;&gt;If my pet is lactose intolerant does that mean they can&amp;#39;t have any dairy products?&lt;/a&gt; that lactose can lead to flatulence, diarrhea, nausea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many commercial dog food products include protein from whey, but that is a processed product (presumably with the lactose removed).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy who should not have developed lactose intolerance, and should be able to digest &lt;strong&gt;MODERATE&lt;/strong&gt; amounts of whey just like they would a complete milk product (see related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10696&quot;&gt;Question about getting a mother&amp;#39;s milk from another species&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for loose stool and/or gas, don't over feed, discontinue before the puppy matures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T15:26:05.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12199" CreationDate="2016-05-16T17:52:09.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several camera options that can help you find the cause.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set up a camera (&lt;em&gt;preferably with motion activation&lt;/em&gt;) in the place(s) you think is the most likely cause.  Comparing new injuries with the video should be very helpful in identifying the cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also cat mounted cameras but I am &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11889/should-i-put-a-collar-on-my-indoor-cat/11896#11896&quot;&gt;not a fan of collars on cats.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T17:52:09.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12254" CreationDate="2016-05-16T18:22:16.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just about any type of aquarium safe gravel or sand will work for a substrate. I find the best to be smaller grain so that uneaten food and waste doesn't accumulate between the grains. I would avoid marine substrates and sands as they are calcium based and will mess with the ph of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is that the filtration is basically working to convert the waste into nitrate. If you understand the nitrogen cycle in a closed system like an aquarium, there's almost zero possibility that you will be able to reproduce the final step of converting nitrate into nitrogen gas. Unless you do not have sufficient filtration as it currently stands, it's unlikely that adding a substrate is going to have any noticeable effect on the water quality. It definitely may look better, but it's not going to substantially reduce the amount of water changes and maintenance to keep the tank clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing is that gravel, especially larger size, can trap waste and uneaten food. If you aren't vacuuming the gravel directly when you do water changes, gravel can actually make the tank much less clean than running bare bottom like you currently are. Just make sure if you do switch to gravel, to vacuum the surface to remove waste when you do water changes. A python or other vacuum is the easiest way to accomplish this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as plants, you might be able to get away with very hardy plants like anubias. They're very durable and almost nothing will eat them. As long as the tank is kept at a high enough temperature, there's a chance these could survive in a turtle tank. You could also try plants like water lotus which will send up lily pads to the surface in addition to leaves underwater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T18:22:16.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12213" CreationDate="2016-05-16T20:12:51.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother-in-law's dog does something similar where her back legs shake and go limp. They realised it was an issue with her nervous system but it only happens when she get extremely worked up, be it with excitement or anger. They have since moved from a Canadian city to the Irish countryside where the dog is much more relaxed and easy going (she's a rescue terrier with tendencies to be aggressive) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be it the air or the outside space that is making her less stressed, but the shakes don't seem to happen as frequently anymore. They had her diagnosed by the vet and all, but it wasn't impacting her life enough to put her through major surgery since it was such an infrequent, brief and non-distressing occurrence for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I would still get a diagnosis from an actual vet but it could be down to stress if it is frequent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-16T20:12:51.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-17T02:24:09.893" Score="8" ViewCount="57072" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing with a question that has bugged me for a while. I have an approximately two year old rescue cat we found as a kitten. She is our first time cat so I'm not too sure if this is common but I find her to be so skinny and slight in comparison to other cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has all of her shots and worming up to date. We feed her high grade dry food and occasionally wet food as a treat. We get nothing but compliments on her coat being so silky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is mainly an indoor cat but she goes outside for maybe 4-5 hours a day then stays in for the evening.  We try to refrain from feeding her much until the evening because she will stay out after dark if she's full. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I went in with her to the vet to get her last shot the vet commented on how small she was and we wormed her then to be sure, that was about 2 months ago now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, she hasn't really grown much in height since she was about 6 months old, she's just really long and skinny, you can even feel her rib cage despite her eating well and being wormed. My friend has two cats (male and female) that are about 6 months old and have way surpassed her in size. Is this normal, has anyone else a similar type of cat? I've just been thinking of it ever since the vet commented on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She is also spayed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastEditorUserId="7156" LastEditDate="2016-05-17T18:31:15.190" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:23.767" Title="Can a cat be naturally skinny?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-17T05:14:45.427" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Just like us, cats vary in size and shape and weight. And like us, some of that is diet, some is health, some is genetics, some is age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my lady's cats was the runt of the litter; it wasn't certain she would survive, and she has always been both small and skinny. It hasn't seemed to limit her climbing/jumping much, if at all; I think she benefits from square/cube law to be stronger relative to her weight than you would expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cat in the family was not only longer/taller/broader but also more solidly muscled. I think he may have weighed twice what the small one did, without being overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The simplest rule-of-thumb test for whether a cat is overweight: if you can count every vertibra as you run your hand down their back, they're fine. If some or all of them are hard to feel through the skin, there's probably more fat there than there should be. The runt really is below ideal weight; not only can you feel every bone in her back, it's somewhat hard to believe there are muscles and tendons there. Especially true now that she's a senior catizen.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T05:14:45.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11485" CreationDate="2016-05-17T06:37:25.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local/Hillcrest-Fever/we-have-parasites-on-the-back-foot-for-now-take-advantage-dr-anthony-zambelli-20160229&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local/Hillcrest-Fever/we-have-parasites-on-the-back-foot-for-now-take-advantage-dr-anthony-zambelli-20160229&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention injections on a yearly basis is the best thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T06:37:25.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-17T10:00:40.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats at present. Two are norwegian forest cats. One of it is overweight, it could have a kilo less. The tomcat has an optimal weight. My third cat is a Main Coon and it is taller than the others - and very skinny. It could have at least 500g more. Each of my cats gets its own kind of food because they are a bit picky and they don't like the food the others get. They did not change their build during the last years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not worry if your cat is healthy and active. If you feed dry food you could offer it permanently (and water of cause). I think your cat will take as much as it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T10:00:40.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12264" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-17T11:23:50.347" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;So i want a young rabbit and i have 4 cats and one of them is 2 years old and is very hyper he loves to jump and play and attacks the other 3 cats. Should I get a 3 month old bunny with a cat like him? If I can find a spot that would not be outside and would be out of his reach would that work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7244" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-05-18T14:04:38.503" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T14:04:38.503" Title="So I am looking into getting a young rabbit but i have 4 cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11998" CreationDate="2016-05-17T11:32:49.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever heard of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicker_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clicker Training&lt;/a&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It works with positive reinforcement. First you condition your horse (or dog) that every time it hears the &quot;click&quot; (a sound which should always be the same) a treat follows (most of the time it is food). &#xA;Then you can use the Click at the exact time your horse does something right, and then give him the treat.&#xA;It is best if you do these first steps with a trainer on site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you and your horse know how the Clicker Training works, you can train him to do every kind of trick. Starting with lifting his leg on touch, shaking his head, to rearing or lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine taught her horse to lie down. She always puts him in the riding arena after riding so he can roll in the sand. It is routine for them. To teach him to lie down on command, she just went in when he was going to roll and clicked just as he touched the floor. He then waited for his treat lying on the floor. After a few times she said the command before he could lie down, to link her words with the action. Now he can lie on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T11:32:49.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-17T12:48:17.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your cat sterilized? Non-sterilized cats are usually rather fit and even skinny because mating calls take a  lot of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition I guess she runs a lot outside that helps her to keep fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I suppose that she is still growing and all her energy goes into size not width, which would be hilarious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My third though: was the medicine for worming effective? As she goes outside she must be wormed every 4 months. Maybe it's worth trying another medicine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:22:23.767" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:23.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5849" CreationDate="2016-05-17T16:10:06.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this problem with a cat I adopted. He gets very nervous and I don't think this reaction will go away anytime soon. I bought him a reusable cat diaper to minimize the mess and so he doesn't end up covered with poop. It works great and he doesn't seem to mind it too much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7245" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T16:10:06.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5500" CreationDate="2016-05-17T17:42:16.867" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the most simple terms, I think it's mostly to do with the colour&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myalbinoleopardgecko.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myalbinoleopardgecko.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7246" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T17:42:16.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12269" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-17T18:59:35.567" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any 'clues' to confirm that worming medication has worked and my cat doesn't have worms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My cat goes to the toilet outside so I can't check for 'poo-clues', if that even is a way :D )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T08:45:55.230" Title="How to tell if worming medication was effective?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12264" CreationDate="2016-05-17T19:07:34.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would say no. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Cats are instinctive hunters and on very rare occasions 'play nice' with prey animals such as rats, birds, guinea pigs etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you have 4 extremely gentle mannered cats, which is highly unlikely, I believe their presence and interest in the little furry new thing would, quite literally, scare a baby rabbit to death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastEditorUserId="7156" LastEditDate="2016-05-18T06:31:45.530" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T06:31:45.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12269" CreationDate="2016-05-17T19:58:46.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to try getting yourself a litter box and keeping the cat indoors until you've verified the cat no longer has any worms in their stool.  This way you can be completely sure that the cat is free of them.  Otherwise it will be extremely hard to monitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T19:58:46.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-17T22:03:06.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know cats are desert animals and the get their needed moisture from the wet food.  Think of dry food like eating a dehydrated food ration. Then the drink and it plumps and goes out pretty quick, not really the way id choose to eat.&#xA;But seeing how there is no listing of sugars on pet foods, its harder yet to get your cat its needed nutrients. &#xA;hope this helps someone , and my next cats will be all wet food or cooked meats, like chicken and fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7247" LastActivityDate="2016-05-17T22:03:06.887" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12269" CreationDate="2016-05-18T08:45:55.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only laboratory test can tell you 100% truth. Take her/his dirty to a vet. &#xA;Test will shoow whether there are worms or their eggs or not. Some kinds of worms are too small so you are not able to see it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T08:45:55.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9854" CreationDate="2016-05-18T13:36:17.317" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat and rabbit should not be left alone unsupervised until they have learned to behave well with each other. Cats and rabbits can do very well together, but supervision is required when introducing any new members to a household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219&quot;&gt;What should we look for in a kitty companion for our rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T13:36:17.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12264" CreationDate="2016-05-18T14:04:16.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A young rabbit is not going to fit well into the family you describe.  Cats and rabbits do well together, see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219&quot;&gt;What should we look for in a kitty companion for our rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; But a young bunny and an aggressive cat are not going to be a good match. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally your rabbit should have access to as much of the house as the cats do. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320&quot;&gt;Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time?&lt;/a&gt; though some people limit bunnies to just &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8122&quot;&gt;one room for any number of reasons.&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need the right rabbit to fit into the existing family of cats you describe.  I would suggest an adult rabbit of 2 plus years of age, probably a medium to large rabbit like an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Spot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;English Spot&lt;/a&gt;. Rabbits have different personalities and you will want one that is not timid.  Depending on where you live the local shelter may have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/978/why-do-rabbits-leave-droppings-at-the-romp&quot;&gt;Rabbit Romps or something simular&lt;/a&gt; that will let you assess the personality of the rabbit, before you adopt.  Rabbits from a shelter tend to be older, litter box trained and spayed or neutered as part of the adoption process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have several posts about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits+cats&quot;&gt;rabbits &amp;amp; cats&lt;/a&gt; that will help you a lot as you make your decisions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IMPORTANT: Always have a place that the cat can get away from the rabbit.&lt;/strong&gt; It is not possible to have an area where the cats can't get to the rabbit. For the most part this is not an issue.  You will have supervised the introductions and formed the relationship, before leaving them alone together. Rabbits are generally more territorial and demanding of attention then cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads to situations where the cat is not providing the attention that rabbit thinks it is entitled to, the rabbit can be aggressive to the cat, the cat than wants a place it can have some alone time, until it is ready for more time with the rabbit.  Rabbits tend not to go higher then then couch or bed, and leaps to areas at or greater then a counter are unusual.  There should be a high shelf, cat tree, or someplace for the cat to be able to be safe from the rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T14:04:16.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-18T14:45:54.290" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 year Beagle is &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; perfect pet- he rarely barks, is very playful and fairly obedient&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that goes for a toss when it is &lt;em&gt;feeding time&lt;/em&gt;. He drools so much in anticipation of being fed, and leaves pools of drool puddles all over. It is not that he isn't being fed enough- he is almost always a step away from obese. I am pretty sure he can't stop eating till he is physically unable to !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kind of hoped that this drooling would decrease with age but on the contrary, it seems to increase &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it is involuntary but cleaning after him is taking a toll. Vets I have talked to couldn't  offer any help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would love to hear from folks here (PS: That's him on my Avatar)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7251" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-31T19:50:50.753" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T19:50:50.753" Title="How to prevent my dog drool" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="110" CreationDate="2016-05-18T15:02:16.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've switched to using coconut oil as a moisturizer. They LOVE to lick that off, but it isn't harmful, since some people use it as a curative for cats. (I'm not recommending that, but it shouldn't be a problem if they lick it off)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7252" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T15:02:16.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-18T17:39:45.810" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the food sold in most Vet Hospitals (Hills) is not the best for your pet. Veterinary nutrition is the most overlooked course work in Vet. School. Hills does a beautiful job convincing vet students that their food is &quot;the best&quot;. They also provide the best margins thus prompting vets to promote their products. Look at the ingredient label and understand that the ingredients are in order; the first being the biggest portion of the food and portions decline in order. If corn or other grains are in the first three ingredients, that is a definite indicator the food is a lesser quality. ( Have you ever seen a cat or dog in a corn field chowing down?) It is unfortunate the economics drives many of the decisions in the &quot;modern&quot; Veterinary Hospital but it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7253" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:27:37.710" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:27:37.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-18T17:56:17.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do need to get their moisture from their food. A steady diet of dry food can lead to cystitis in females and worse a plugged male. Cats do not like to drink water from a bowl although they will when they get thirsty enough. It is definately healther if they can get their water from their food and not be forced to get their water from a bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7253" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T17:56:17.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2016-05-18T18:05:02.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to work with a woman named Barb Stein DVM. At the time she was probably the foremost feline veterinarian in the country and she had 2 Burmese cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was quite allergic to cats but she learned to deal with it by keeping her place immaculate and her cats and were always well brushed. Even with that she had to use antihistamines to control her allergies. The love of her cats was more important to her than a occasional runny nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7253" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-05-19T10:23:56.660" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T10:23:56.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12197" CreationDate="2016-05-18T19:29:20.420" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes definitely pregnant. As Dalton says, you may want a birthing chamber to put her into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience I would also look into &lt;a href=&quot;http://guppyfishcare.com/sexing-guppies-the-difference-between-male-and-female-guppies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sexing&lt;/a&gt; guppies if you want to keep your tank population in check. &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/fast-guppies-multiply-4229.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guppies breed like rabbits.&lt;/a&gt; You can generally sex the fry (baby fish) at around 3 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't learn this process quick enough when I was a teenager and went from 1 tank with 5 guppies in it, to 5 tasks with 600 guppies in less than 6 months! My parents were less than amused...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your new hoard of little breeders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2016-05-18T19:29:20.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12288" CreationDate="2016-05-18T20:52:10.177" Score="3" ViewCount="1564" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted a 2 year old male cat from the local humane society. He has a very outgoing personality and has already claimed the house as his own within a few days after spending the night 'sequestered' in the bedroom. That part is going great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the rub, my sister and brother-in-law are regular weekend visitors to the house, and due to their particular situation the only way to make it worth coming out is if they bring the dog. He's an senior brown lab/pit bull mix. He already lives in an apartment with an older cat so I'm not particularly worried about him chasing the cat around the house or harming him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I really want them to get along as we are my sister's main dog sitter so it is pretty important that the new cat and the regularly visiting dog have a good relationship. How would you introduce them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7255" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T06:38:04.513" Title="How to introduce a newly resident cat to regularly visiting dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2016-05-19T02:01:56.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a long, tall and skinny tux-tabby boy who is also commented on for his slender appearance.  He's 12lbs, slender, and perfect.  Might be the breed?  Some are slinky!  I was always told that feeling ribs is fine as long as it's when you press gently, during a stroke for example.  Neither of mine go outside due to personal choice given the traffic and diseases around my neighborhood.  I could not cope with anything happening to them because I decided to let them go explore our crappy neighbourhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I second people's comments on the wet food, though, and would add that ingredients are everything, especially where cats are concerned.  My 2 boys have been on good quality food their whole lives and at 3 years old, still play like crazed kittens.  Keep dry food to a minimum, think &quot;fingerpinch&quot; not &quot;handfull&quot; as well.  There is NO such thing as a &quot;dry mouse&quot; and cats are carnivores, they get little to no nutrition from plants and almost zilch from the ground up grains that brands like Hills(?) and Friskies love putting as a main ingredient in their food.  Ground Yellow Corn... for example... nothing but industrial waste used to bulk up their slaughterhouse waste, something I would not feed to a pig but people put their hard-earned cash into these products that are worth less than the tin they come in!  A lot of the dry food you see out there also has too much filler, and not enough rich protein sources, plus the manufacturing process is said to be appalling.  People add water or wet food, allowing stagnant bacteria to flourish.  Drinking cannot make up for this dry food diet -- it's not going to help a species known for low-thirst drive and it's not going to prevent those kidneys from working overtime to undo the damage dry food does.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps if you keep this cat indoors more, you may notice some weight gain?  There are plenty of ways to give a cat exercise indoors, a cat tree for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last note, try lightly cooking (or fully cooking) some chicken liver, hearts or even breast for a treat.  I leave it a little pink in the middle for my lil guys and they love it!  Also, seems basic but I had trouble adjusting as my boys both grew (both are now 12lbs) but make sure that you are feeding appropriate to the weight of your cat, that means nevermind the cans, look at the calories.  My boys are on about 300 a day on average if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. &quot;High grade dry food&quot; is a misnomer.  It's actually becoming known as &quot;Kidney disease in a bag&quot;.  The worst wet food might just be better than the best dry food, with a few exceptions to that rule &lt;em&gt;cough&lt;/em&gt; science-diet-&quot;hells&quot;-purina&lt;em&gt;cough&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7257" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T02:01:56.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12285" CreationDate="2016-05-19T06:32:53.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way for a cat and dog to get along with each other is by bringing them up together. But in this case, we are talking about a full-grown cat and a senior dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By nature, cats are always cautious of their surroundings. If you think that the dog will be okay with the strange cat hanging around its vicinity, then you shouldn't force them to bond and let time do its magic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid petting the cat in the dog's presence as dogs tend to get possessive of their masters, given that the cat takes advantage of this and probably piss the dog off. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the cat in a slightly higher level, probably on a high-chair or the refrigerator and bring in the dog. The cat will naturally start observing and studying the dog's actions, very intensely and down to each small detail. After the cat realizes that the dog isn't a threat, it will slowly approach it to learn more about it, mostly when the dog is fast asleep. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, you could feed them together, by keeping a safe distance between the dog bowl and the cat's plate, and slowly, but certainly, they shouldn't mind each others presence. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no shortcut for this as the are not very fond of each other, by nature.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I know this? *&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have 5 cats and a dog under my roof and initially, the cats were very weary about the annoying and strange creature - the dog, walking amidst their kingdom, the house. But now, one of them constantly play with the dog, 3 of them don't mind its presence and 1 of them is still suspicious of the dog's intentions and in doesn't trust the dog completely.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7258" LastEditorUserId="7258" LastEditDate="2016-05-19T06:38:04.513" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T06:38:04.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11485" CreationDate="2016-05-19T07:33:52.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't really explain it any better than the info provided. The article stems from south africa which has a climate ideally suited the high amount of dogs with spirocerca lupi. Due to the common nature of it over here. Vets have successfully tried an injection based medicine called doramectin and in preventative scenarios milbemax to help the dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously if the illness has reached a late stage, it is very difficult to cure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the positive side, I was told by my vet that milebmax should be given to the dog every 6 months and doramectin once a year with the annual rabies, dewormer shots. This should be done to all dogs irrespective of whether it has the illness or not. Spirocerca has become so common that the medication should really be a must for any dog in my opinion. I have lost a dog from this so I speak from experience here(www.dhameergovind.co.za).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major problem is that not all countries has such a big outbreak so naturally better medical results take longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastEditorUserId="5956" LastEditDate="2016-05-19T07:41:54.177" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T07:41:54.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10327" CreationDate="2016-05-19T11:38:26.767" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advantage of cats over dogs are the higher sense of intelligence, especially when it comes to their own well-being. Cats always hold their priorities much higher than they hold their master's. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much as I hate to admit it, cats are selfish beings, when compared to dogs. Having said that, as soon as they realize a certain environment is unsuitable for them, or may hold a potential danger to them, they leave. So when the cats feel that the drum noise is of harm to them, they will leave the immediate area of the noise and sit somewhere far enough to minimize any danger the sound may present to their hearing. Cats take care of themselves that way and are far more independent than dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's hearing is an essence to its welfare. They rely a lot on their listening. So, any noise that blocks their senses from working properly will leave them in a state of unrest and panic. They will leave the room immediately. So even if there is a danger to their hearing capabilities, or not, they will leave the premises to a quieter area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, on the other hand, prefer to sit with its master; even if the environment in not favourable to them. They may sit with you, hearing the loud noise and may be open to a hearing issue caused by loud noises, much unlike cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom Line&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;The cats will take care of themselves if the noise is too high. They will leave and return when the sound is gone. You need not worry about these furry little masterminds. When it comes to their own welfare, there isn't any species of animal that isn't this smart.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7258" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T11:38:26.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12062" CreationDate="2016-05-19T18:57:53.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;like Just Do It said, check for food allergies or irritation first. When in doubt, take him to the vet. It never hurts to get a check-up anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hair loss, specifically on the stomach, can be associated with thyroid problems. My dog had thinning belly hair until we got her on the proper medication. If he seems more sluggish or lazy than usual, this could be why. A few tests from the vet will determine if this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that Shepherd type breeds will blow their undercoats at the beginning of summer, so the warm weather could be the explanation in the uptick in shedding. Mine is doing it right now (it's a mess). If not brushed out within a reasonable amount of time, the clumps of fur coming out could mat and cause some skin irritation and itching. I highly recommend an under coat brush coupled with a wire slicker brush to keep him looking sleek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-19T18:57:53.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12299" CreationDate="2016-05-20T05:14:37.207" Score="7" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who lives mainly indoors but we leave the window open during daylight for her to come and go as she pleases. She could be gone for an hour or two at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a little bell on her collar to warn birds she's coming and prevent her from bringing anything home. Instead, now and again she brings us home feathers that have fallen off birds every .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, is it ok not to ever allow her to hunt? Is hunting good for a cats psyche and wellbeing? Judging by her personality, I know she would love to stalk and catch prey. Should we take the bell off every now and again to allow her to hunt freely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; I meant to update this a while ago but within a week of me posting this, my cat (which we have had for two years) brought home her first 'gift' to me of a birds head and it's wings. She must have been reading my posts! The other day she also brought home a live bird which we have since nursed back to health and released back to the wild. To those you mentioned the bell not stopping hunting completely you sure were right! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastEditorUserId="7156" LastEditDate="2016-06-03T02:33:33.737" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T02:33:33.737" Title="Is not allowing your cat to hunt ok?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12296" CreationDate="2016-05-20T10:40:51.017" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to keep your cat from hunting and killing other animals is to keep them inside.  The question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7977&quot;&gt;How can I prevent my cat from killing animals and birds?&lt;/a&gt; shows that putting a bell on the cat is not 100% effective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat will still hunt, the bell may or may not give the other animals sufficient notice to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have the existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8158&quot;&gt;Laser pointer: does a no-win situation risk psychological harm to cats?&lt;/a&gt; with a GREAT answer by Zaralynda. that speaks to psychologically issues.  But keep in mind, bells don't make hunting a no-win situation, it just makes it harder for the cat to catch the animal.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T14:20:43.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12296" CreationDate="2016-05-20T17:34:45.127" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bell will not prevent your cat from hunting. It my make it a little harder for her to sneak around, but my cat wears a bell and still brings dead voles and mice home regularly. The bell is more to prevent him from sneaking up on us than the birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is &quot;replace&quot; the hunting action for her. Buy a couple cat toys (or make your own out of tin foil/pipecleaners/anything your cat likes) and spend some time playing with her every night. Twilight is the time cats are usually the most active and interested in hunting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to cat behaviorist &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacksongalaxy.com/2014/11/03/the-jackson-galaxy-collection-by-petmate/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Jackson Galaxy&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy&lt;/a&gt;, cats like to follow a hunt-catch-kill-eat pattern. Keep this in mind while you're playing with her, and reward her with a couple treats to satisfy the &quot;eat&quot; part when you are done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of cats do just fine being 100% indoor and never having the chance to catch real prey. With enough exercise and playing she should be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T17:34:45.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11889" CreationDate="2016-05-20T17:41:10.907" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should put an orange collar on your strictly-indoor cat to mark him as an escaped convict. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.explodingkittens.com/kittyconvict&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;The kitty convict project&quot;&gt;The Kitty Convict Project&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While having your kitty micro chipped is awesome, many lost kitties never get reported or brought in to the shelter to be scanned as outdoor cats are so common. &#xA;While this project is still catching on, the orange collar will help indicate that your kitty isn't supposed to be outside. You can even add small tags or embroidery on the collar so your neighbors can return her without having to go get his chip scanned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to get her a collar, please ensure it's a breakaway safety collar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-20T17:41:10.907" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12390" CreationDate="2016-05-20T17:51:52.980" Score="1" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these berries poisonous for my cat? &#xA;(no, he hasn't eaten any, but if they would be dangerous for him, I'd remove that Bush, just to make sure...) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aIHpX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aIHpX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bush&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7268" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T09:29:12.803" Title="Berries poisonous for cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12307" CreationDate="2016-05-21T01:51:41.690" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a neutered male cat who is in his 11th year now, and as of this year has had trouble keeping his usual dry food down (same stuff he's been eating for years), vomiting it up a couple times per month. No obviously problems at the vet, so we experimented with different food. We tried a couple of wet foods, increased the ones that worked well for him, and it seemed to resolve the issue mostly.  Well, it resolved it in that he only eats the wet food now (and has even more trouble stomaching the dry food, now that he eats it rarely).  Going exclusively to wet food got rid of the vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, we still need an option to free-feed him for specific periods, such as unplanned travel or (as is the case now) an upcoming birth of a baby.  In short, if we need to quickly leave for more than 24 hours, we obviously can't just dump a couple of cans of wet food out and go &quot;See ya!&quot;  On the converse, our apartment uses magnetic key fobs, so we can't just &quot;leave a key for the cat sitter&quot; (coordinating with cat sitters is quite complicated where we live).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leaves us needing some other type of emergency free-feeding option that can cover up to 48 hours, but that he can stomach. Are there any specialized dry foods, food dispensers, or highly-spoilproof wet foods that people would recommend for this purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7269" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T13:29:23.413" Title="What is a good cat food for free-feeding an older cat who is not stomaching dry food lately?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2016-05-21T02:54:21.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never tried them, but there are semi-moist foods that you can get in  pouch. Perhaps they would keep a bit better than wet food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you check a pet store you should be able to find a variety of dry foods for cats with sensitive stomachs. I think you should be able to find one that suits your cat. Of course, you'll need to make any food changes slowly and incrementally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T02:54:21.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12306" CreationDate="2016-05-21T03:12:40.527" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I brought home two adorable cats from the shelter two weeks ago. The female, Ana, is about 9 months; the male, Professor Paws, about two years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately Professor Paws just started scratching himself and has created a bald spot on his back. I suspect ringworm but of course that's not the only possibility. Unfortunately, these things always seem to happen on a Friday night. Since I don't think this is an emergency, I'll take both of them to the vet on Monday. But is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable in the meantime? I was thinking that a small amount of coconut or olive oil might ease the itching. Of course, it would need to be something that's safe if he licks it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Turns out my vet is open on Saturday, so I took both cats in for a check-up. The vet thinks the Professor might have a flea allergy, and putting anything on it would probably just get licked off. Even though he had a flea treatment two weeks ago at the place I adopted him from, my vet gave him an extra treatment, plus antibiotics and something else I forgot and cant read the name of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2016-05-21T16:13:19.223" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T16:13:19.223" Title="Home care for possible ringworm while waiting to see the vet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12304" CreationDate="2016-05-21T06:38:11.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything can look like ringworm and ringworm can look like anything. It's not a true emergency, but saying that, scratched lesions on pets can get worse very rapidly. Because of licking and safety, I personally would not try any home remedies on these wounds. If you don't have any other choice and it is getting worse you can try some Aloe vera (only) based products, but if he licks those he will potentially froth vigorously from the mouth, but that might distract him from continuing. Some cats will go bezerk though. Under extreme circumstances you can also try to wipe the debris off the wound with a very diluted (1:10) solution of Iodine based liquid (not ointment) antiseptic. It will sting a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because cat nails are riddled with horrible bacteria, I usually treat these cases with systemic antibiotics as well, which is scheduled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure your vet is not open on a Saturday...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T06:38:11.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2016-05-21T13:29:23.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used a timed feeder for wet food (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002AR0D8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this is the one I've used&lt;/a&gt;) and it worked pretty well. It takes a bit of time to set up, so wouldn't work if you had to run out of the house with no warning, but if you have about 15 minutes to set up it should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has an ice pack in the base so that helps the wet food stay fresh. I ended up buying several extra ice packs, but I was using it pretty consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T13:29:23.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13834" CreationDate="2016-05-21T13:42:35.897" Score="9" ViewCount="2804" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have a 15gal tank fully cycled. The tank is stock on the heavy side of thing and I purchase a larger tank (75gal) for another project I will not be doing finally. So I will use the larger tank to transfer the livestock of the small one when I move in about 2 week. I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5904/is-it-safe-to-move-fish-and-all-equipment-to-a-new-tank&quot;&gt;the question &quot;Is it safe to move fish and all equipment to a new tank?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, but since the tank difference is much bigger I can't simply do as he did. Up to this point all is good, but now the new tank won't be cycled. The filtration on the 15 is an aquaclear30 with a double sponge filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to avoid moving the livestock twice in a small amount of time. If I move the old filtration with the livestock could I simply add every one in the 75 and wait before adding anything else? I know the tank will be under filtered but in theory this setup handled the same bioload in the 15 gal tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The livestock currently in the 15 gal tank is 9 neon tetra, 4 zebra danios, 2 endler male, and 15-30 red cherry shrimps (not sure exactly how much I have in there... small baby factory).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T09:40:36.357" Title="How to upgrade fish to a much larger aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12310" CreationDate="2016-05-21T14:22:16.220" Score="3" ViewCount="654" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a different kind of cichlid fish and I live in Lahore, Pakistan. It's summer time here and the temperature is 50°C in day time and 32°C in night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fish tank is about 45 Gallon and the temperature in the tank was 35°C... But I tried bringing it back to 32°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last two weeks my 6 fish died. They were big and healthy. No disease or wound. Still they are dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone help? :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7139" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-05-22T09:10:12.163" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T03:22:01.623" Title="Cichlids fishes are dying in summer weather" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12309" CreationDate="2016-05-21T18:53:44.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having the temperature too hot will have many bad effect on your tank as you found out. Livestock, and plants will die, algae will grow crazy etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind about high temperature water is that it contain less oxygen than cooler water. So make sure you have a good surface agitation. You can also add and air pump to help with gas exchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the situation is temporary, this doesn't seem to apply to you, there are many way to cool the water a bit. Having a cold water bottle floating in the tank, do a small water change with cooler water, and probably a lot of other things. In you case since the situation is not temporary, I thing your best bet would be to invest in an appropriately size chiller for your aquarium. I'm sure there are other options less costly than a commercial chiller. By searching quickly I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.ca/url?q=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dzp6QhXArIEY&amp;amp;sa=U&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiX0d2M4uvMAhUNKlIKHcTmB0gQtwIIDzAC&amp;amp;sig2=n2mw9im7Ad-H9sh1amnIfw&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNHYOqx5jWETx_3Xmrzovo1FEJURhg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video here&lt;/a&gt; about a cheap diy solution. It might be worth a shot before investing big money on a chiller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway I hope this gave you some idea and that your fish will stop dying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T18:53:44.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-21T21:03:56.083" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, I never see a stressed fish survive. Usually a stressed fish starts to get weak and then die in several next hours. In my case, it usually happens when I change the water or put some new fishes . Are there any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7115" LastActivityDate="2016-05-21T21:03:56.083" Title="Preventing a stressed fish dying. Is it even possible?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-22T04:16:45.313" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ~10-year-old cat (male, neutered, indoor-only) has recently has a decline in appetite and corresponding weight loss.  We've been to the vet, had X-rays and blood tests (normal), had an ultrasound, and are waiting for a possible biopsy of lymph nodes in/near the GI tract (showed as enlarged on the ultrasound), but the first available appointment is a few weeks away.  In the meantime, I'm looking for ways to encourage him to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I put wet food down he eats a few mouthfuls and then loses interest.  I've tried a variety of canned foods, both pate and chunks in gravy, and including a prescription food specialized for GI problems.  The cat is allergic to fish, so canned tuna isn't an option (unless I get desperate enough that &quot;food now&quot; trumps &quot;allergic reaction later&quot;).  Dry food is available all time.  He'll eat a few treats if I feed them to him one at a time, but not if I put a bunch out at once.  Fresh water is available at all times (multiple locations, replaced a couple times a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally feed wet food in shallow bowls; my vet suggested a plate instead, which hasn't made a difference so far.  She also suggested serving canned food at room temperature, not straight out of the fridge, which I'm doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet prescribed a low dose of an antidepressant (yes, really!) because a side-effect is appetite stimulation.  That seemed to make a difference on the first day, but not much since (it's been a week since we started this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had to have three teeth pulled about seven weeks ago due to resorptive lesions in his mouth.  My vet has examined him since and found no further problems in his mouth -- and, in fact, he was eating normally for a while after that surgery.  The loss of appetite is much more recent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get him to eat more?  Are there particular foods that might work better?  (I'm flexible about &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; I feed him, aside from the fish thing, if it'll get more nutrients into him.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously we need to identify and solve the underlying medical problem.  That's not what this question is about, though input on that is welcome too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2016-05-22T16:56:20.420" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T20:09:34.757" Title="Tips for encouraging a cat to eat more?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-22T13:58:26.387" Score="5" ViewCount="4471" Body="&lt;p&gt;They say English Bull Mastiff has one of the shortest life spans of the average K-9. The English Bull Mastiff is not even the largest of the K-9 Family! Why do they have such a short life span?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7272" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-05-22T23:58:54.053" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T14:13:17.490" Title="Why is the Life Span of an English Bull Mastiff only 10 years?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-22T15:06:19.807" Score="1" ViewCount="15158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a pair of cats from a shelter, male and female. I was told that they were neutered and spayed, but the male appears to have normal testicles. I'm taking the cats to my own vet for a checkup and will ask about it then. (They are indoor cats and the female is definitely spayed, so it's not an emergency.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a neutered male cat to appear to have normal testicles? I had difficulty finding the answer on the Internet, and thought others might be interested in the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:45:41.477" Title="Can a male cat look like he isn't neutered when he is?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12315" CreationDate="2016-05-22T15:06:19.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is possible, but if you have any concerns, check with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took the cats to my own vet for a checkup. By palpating his testicles she confirmed that Professor Paws is indeed neutered. She was also surprised at his appearance, but suggested that he had an especially large pair before neutering. He is a very confident cat ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2016-05-22T21:26:46.297" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T21:26:46.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-22T16:31:15.890" Score="3" ViewCount="5718" Body="&lt;p&gt;My downstairs neighbor has a German Shepherd, and last night the poor dog was periodically crying out (as if in pain) for about an hour, which caused my own dog to freak out a bit. I've never met the neighbor, and I'd like to avoid confrontation unless I know the dog is in danger. I saw the dog kept out on the neighbor's balcony this morning, and he/she appeared physically okay from a distance. At what point should I report this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7273" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T13:35:29.103" Title="What should I do if neighbor's dog cries out (for help)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12313" CreationDate="2016-05-22T18:18:26.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I don't have a suggestion for getting your cat to eat &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;, but you might focus on getting high-calorie foods into him until you can reverse the weight loss. I believe there's some sort of paste/food that comes in a tube that vets sometimes suggest for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he's eating treats if you feed them to him one at a time, maybe putting out &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; food will help. Of course you'll refill the plate once he cleans it. You know how sometimes when you're ill, you can manage a few bites, but will feel overwhelmed if someone offers you a big serving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add something I just thought of: Chicken breast. You can buy small packages of broiled chicken breast pieces in the market, and cats usually find it hard to resist. They're pre-cooked (handy for us vegetarians who don't like to prepare meat). I'm using it right now to sneak some medicine into one of my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2016-05-22T20:09:34.757" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T20:09:34.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12308" CreationDate="2016-05-22T18:19:48.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did something very similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre-move&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I starter by adding cycled water from my old tank to the new tank. After weekly transferring multiple buckets for three weeks, the new aquarium contained a lot of cycled water from the old aquarium (30%).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also shared some filter material from the old tank with the new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Move&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I started to empty the old tank into the new and bigger tank, scooped out the fish and finally transferred the last bit of cycled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new tank was at this point filled with cycled water for about 55%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post-move&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started by adding (non-cycled) water to new tank to further fill it to about 80%. A week later I added the last 20%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All my livestock survived the transfer (Neon and Tetra species, some Cherry shrimp and Cory's).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5866" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T18:19:48.407" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12317" CreationDate="2016-05-22T20:35:47.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most communities have a &lt;em&gt;Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case where you live, call them for advice. They should be able to provide sensible advice from their experience in such matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also they usually investigate situations that you have described but never reveal the source of the complaint - it is expected that you are to remain anonymous during their investigations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally it is worth noting that if the owner actually cares for their animal, they would welcome advice from neighbours and others that their animal is distressed. With sensible and caring advice, they are able to take action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2016-05-22T20:35:47.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12317" CreationDate="2016-05-23T00:07:58.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you concerted that it is not their dog? Maybe they are dog sitting and the dog is missing their family, and crying from the pain of being separated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need not be confrontational. Stop by and say you saw the dog on the porch for the first time yesterday.  Maybe offer advice on a good dog park, or other conversations relevant to dogs in your area.  Get the conversation flowing and the source of the crying should come to light.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still have concerns look for your local humane society or animal rights group, tell them your concerns.  They should be able to provided direction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-05-23T13:35:29.103" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T13:35:29.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12314" CreationDate="2016-05-23T11:05:44.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bull Mastiffs are large, hefty dogs. They are very heavy. If not cared for properly, they tend to be overweight and this may cause many problems to their health. If you dig around the internet, you will find out that English Bull Mastiffs have a list of health issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_dysplasia_(canine)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hip dysplasia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This affects almost 1/4th of the mastiff population. This generally wears down its immunity and usually cannot be completely reversible. As a hip problem would affect a human, the dogs also finds it very hard to move around with hip problems, especially with the fact that they weigh so much (around 120 lbs - 130 lbs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_dysplasia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elbow dysplasia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like hip dysplasia, this creates multiple problems on the elbows of dogs, especially on the cartilages. This can start from the puppy-stage of the dog and can worsen over his growth. Secondary processes such as inflammation and osteoarthritis can arise from this damage, which increase the problem and add further problems of their own. Almost 13% of English Mastiffs are diagnosed with this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hypothyroidism&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Entropion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These problems are diagnosed to almost 3% of the Mastiff population, but can be avoided with proper care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General health issues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like any dogs, they are also prone to a wide range of cancers. With lymphoma and hepatic cancer leading the list. My own dog died of liver cancer when he was only 6 years old (Although, he wasn't a mastiff). Dogs are also prone to gastro-intestinal issues, as the world is their plate. If they eat plastic and anything like that, it causes many issues. Many dogs are prone to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/gastric-volvulus-bloat-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bloat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight issues and Overweight&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs such as mastiffs and Labradors have a general weight issue. They tend to grow a lot, if not careful. A heavy dog will have many issues such as weak knees and more dangerously - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetary.com/dog/condition/high-cholesterol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cholesterol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Cholesterol can cause heart issues and even blocks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all this, any big dog is prone to most of these problems. So why does The English Bull Mastiff, which is not even the biggest of all Mastiffs, have a shorter life span? The answer to this lies in genetics. English Mastiffs generally have a poor genetic design, when compared to a cross-breed dog. They have lesser immunity and is very prone to hereditary health conditions. So the answer is simple - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They are designed that way.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like asking why humans don't live to a 200 with such a complex and advanced genetic structure. The poor genetic structure, with the high probability of genetic disorders and the weight and size, only adds to their misery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullmastiff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/bullmastiffs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Your Pure Breed Puppy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7258" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T11:05:44.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12030" CreationDate="2016-05-23T12:54:02.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) throw away the e-collar.  Poor timing on these (and most people's timing sucks) tends to result in poor behaviour, and the dog being frightened to try new behaviours.  They are an easy way to cause yourself unnecessary dog-related problems, and the science backs this up.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See also:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.greenacreskennel.com/dog-behavior-and-training/the-unintended-consequences-of-shock-collars.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.greenacreskennel.com/dog-behavior-and-training/the-unintended-consequences-of-shock-collars.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2013/06/the-end-for-shock-collars.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2013/06/the-end-for-shock-collars.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.smartanimaltraining.com/2013/05/23/e-collars-why-i-never-want-to-use-them-again/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.smartanimaltraining.com/2013/05/23/e-collars-why-i-never-want-to-use-them-again/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(and many others) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) carry food instead and reward for good behaviour. Poor timing here will have much less awkward consequences than punishment, and carrying food is not a hard thing to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) give it time.  Your dog has a personality and he is currently at just the age when he's testing boundaries and likely to be more independent. You need to let your bond with him develop into friendship, and this takes time, just as it does with human friends.  (Consider also, that if you made your human friends behave the way you want by zapping them when they didn't want to do what you said, they too might become hard to motivate). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-23T12:54:02.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-23T21:51:40.837" Score="4" ViewCount="4690" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently in the process of moving into a new apartment. My roommate is a stranger who I met on Craigslist, and she has been living in the apartment for the past two years. She has a 6 year old Jack Russell mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I came to the apartment to take a look, my roommate-to-be was already outside walking the dog when she greeted me at the parking lot. The dog seemed totally fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today was a different story. I came to the apartment to unload a few boxes. When I walked in, the dog ran up and barked at me like crazy. I basically ignored him, and as my roommate and I started talking, he calmed down a little bit. I noticed him apprehensively giving me the side eye once in awhile. After chitchatting, I went back outside to grab more things. After about 20 minutes, I walked through the door again. The dog runs up and barks again. This time, as I'm carrying a box into my room, he bites my calf. I was wearing stretchy gym pants and mid-walk when he did this, so he got a better grip of my pants than my actual leg (Thank God). I am not sure if he was actually going to bite down. My roommate yelled, &quot;NO! Go back to mommy's room.&quot; As she apologized, she said that he's normally not like this when she's not home and mentioned that he's a rescue, so his past could potentially be contributing to his behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several years ago, I lived with another roommate (also a stranger from Craigslist) who also had a dog. This dog would also bark whenever I came home, but ONLY if my roommate was already home. If she wasn't home, the dog would pay me no attention to coming in. During this time, I spent the majority of my time at my boyfriend's house, so it makes sense that this dog never got &quot;used to me.&quot; I get the sense that my new roommate's dog will also be like this, based on what the roommate said today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs are obviously territorial and are trying to protect their owners. &#xA;I officially move in in two days, and this incident is sort of making me worried. The last thing I want is to live in an environment where I'll be stressed out about coming home because of my roommate's pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I establish to the dog that I belong there? Will he eventually calm down after he gets used to my presence? My friend, who fosters dogs regularly, said to do so by taking him on long walks a few times, never reward him or acknowledge him when he's behaving that way but instead push him away from me and ignore him. And when he does behave, reward him with a treat. Any other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7277" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T17:19:42.940" Title="New roommate's dog tried to bite me. How do I establish that I now belong there?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15504" CreationDate="2016-05-24T02:21:20.530" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cockatiel for about 1 month... This is the second one I got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is tamed partially (he still bites sometimes but not me; he doesn't really allow touching his back or wings - sometimes he will, sometimes he warns that he will bite)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He got used to the surroundings and 3/4 of the house and all the people around here. He also got used to spending time out of the cage with us and&#xA;he learned to fly to me when he wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid now after reading some articles on the Internet about bird powder, because my mother says that his powder causes my sneezing and coughing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been ill for about 2 weeks and I have sore throat. I visited a  doctor and took the medication for 2 weeks, but I still feel ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After putting him to sleep, now I feel some difficulty in breathing&#xA;and I kind of have a blocked nose. I washed it twice but it still didn't seem to fix it. So after reading those articles about allergies and hypersensitivity of bird powder I am afraid to be having these problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally if I sold it to a pet store I don't feel he would survive after bonding with us like that... A pet store or a new owner won't be the same as here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's 2 questions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am I sensitive to these powders?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I have to sell him, would he survive that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I am noticing that he sneezes a lot about 4 repetitive times rapidly then calms down (no discharge). Is there anything wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first when I got him when he took his first flights around the room his nose became seriously red from the inner... He got injured from the middle of his beak between the nose openings once from hitting the wall (at his first times i noticed he didn't know how to stop).&#xA;I added disinfectant and flour and he healed yesterday the old part pealed off and he is clean and good to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7280" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T14:16:18.487" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T22:32:48.420" Title="Selling my cockatiel / general inquiries on an allergy" Tags="&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12340" CreationDate="2016-05-24T08:40:08.873" Score="1" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a few guppies and two albino sharks. I have a seven gallon tank. Can I keep both of them together or separate the guppies in my five gallon tank? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7196" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T19:18:34.223" Title="Can an Albino Shark stay with a guppy in the same tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12334" CreationDate="2016-05-24T11:50:42.377" Score="4" ViewCount="2005" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I should have asked this sooner, as this was something our cat was doing for months, although we didn't pay attention to this until vomit started to appear in our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, we give two of our cats (Chilli and Luna) some treats once every two days. We limit the amount of treats to around 3-6. Chilli breaks them down with her teeth as usual, however Luna mostly doesn't. We'd often find vomit behind sofa or in the corridor. We concluded that the vomit appearing in our house belongs to Luna. This doesn't happen often, but we are pretty sure it would be due to these treats as we caught her vomit a few times, hours after swallowing the treats. Also, she seems fine other than the occasional vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to teach my cat (Luna) to break down her treats before she eats them? I'm not looking forward to refraining from giving her treats as we'd like to continue to give rewards for activities. Also, the treats in question are about as small as the 'dreamies'. Would giving them bigger treats be a good alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T12:29:45.337" Title="Can I teach my cat not to eat her treats whole?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12327" CreationDate="2016-05-24T12:20:02.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kind of feel that it should be your room-mate asking this, not you - it's hard to train someone else's dog!   If I were talking to her, I'd gently suggest she stop yelling at her dog.  She will not make him happy and confident by ignoring his attempts to signal discomfort/danger, then yelling at him when he is pushed too far :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should talk to your room-mate about this situation.  She should be moving the dog away from you and keeping him away from you in a space where he feels safe, such as a crate or behind a dog gate, until he is more relaxed about your presence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your room mate if you can feed the dog, and what to give him. This is a good way to make friends and establish that you are one of the household - and you shouldn't need to do it often. But don't approach the dog while he is eating.  Throw a chunk of cheese or a piece of sausage to him instead, so he is not tempted to come closer than he's comfortable with, then suddenly finds he's right next to you once the cheese is inside him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest that if you come in and the dog barks at you, it would be best to stand still or back off.  Squatting down or sitting can be reassuring too, particularly if you are unusually tall, some dogs find that alarming initially and need a bit of time to get used to it.   If you are holding something that might be scary - eg a box or a stick - put it down. (Ideally, the owner would then move the dog away so you can get on with things!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not stare at the dog, or move suddenly, but give him space, look sideways if you need to keep an eye on him, and speak quietly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes just ignoring can work and I can understand why you tried it, but clearly this dog is stressed enough to bite, and you don't want to risk a more serious second attempt.  I hope that helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T12:20:02.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12332" CreationDate="2016-05-24T12:29:18.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've observed that treats and kibble with a high cereal content can have this effect.  I think it is because the dry material absorbs a lot of water once swallowed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try switching to something else as a treat, for example freeze-dried fish chunks or chopped chicken.  I found this approach greatly reduced the vomiting issues with my six cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T12:29:18.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12332" CreationDate="2016-05-24T12:29:45.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Commercial cat treats are intended to be eaten whole. Predator teeth are designed for puncturing and ripping more than chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Feline vomiting is fairly common as a result of fur ingested during  grooming. These &quot;hair balls&quot; can be controlled to some extent by brushing and by giving the cat food supplements which help them process these (lubricants, cat grass), but part of having a cat is dealing with this. With patience, some cats can at least be taught to look for a hard floor before upchucking, but that can be a hard concept to get across. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course if vomiting becomes more than occasional, especially if the cat is losing weight, a vet visit becomes appropriate. But once a week or less is probably just the cat being a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T12:29:45.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12358" CreationDate="2016-05-24T13:31:07.353" Score="2" ViewCount="927" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a a male Yorkie Poo. He is 6.5 years old. He is in good health, but this morning I woke up and he had a limp. It appears that he is putting less weight on his back right leg. I examined the leg and noticed that there were no cracks or cuts on his paw pads. There was also no noticeable swelling. It does not seem to be bothering him too much because he jumps up onto the couch and off of it still (the height he has to jump is about a foot and a half high. I imagine that if there were a fracture or a break then he would not be able to make this jump? Please correct me if I am wrong on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I would like to avoid taking him to the vet if I can (but I will if it is a must). What is the best course of action now? I tried to ice his leg but he keeps moving and making it impossible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7284" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:49:57.913" Title="My dog is limping" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12366" CreationDate="2016-05-24T14:15:05.700" Score="5" ViewCount="38270" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dog is an English springer spaniel, male, 7 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walk him in an overgrown park (dogs are allowed there), he is off the leash during our walks. Occasionally we see a wild rabbit or squirrel. He has chased rabbits numerous times, and I did not mind that. Dog seemed way too slow and rabbits ran into bushes making it impossible for my dog to follow them. My dog is not trained to hunt or chase. I guess it's his breed and nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today he managed to chase down a rabbit and kill it. He bit it, broke rabbit's bones in the process I assume, and left it on the ground. Lost all interest in the rabbit afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I wonder about is - can I expect my dog to become more vicious with other dogs now? Small dogs? Or be more interested in hunting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that nothing evil or extraordinary happened. It's the way of the nature. Survival of the fittest. Rabbit we encountered today was not as smart as the ones before. It would have been better if I stopped my dog, but I honestly did not think there is a chance he can get the rabbit. He has chased them for 7 years, never getting close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know he tasted blood for first time today, so I will be even more careful with him from now on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5500" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T13:23:45.743" LastActivityDate="2020-06-26T03:15:34.920" Title="Can killing a rabbit trigger a behavior change in my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12327" CreationDate="2016-05-24T16:47:30.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main thing you need to accomplish is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://careforreactivedogs.com/care-protocol-content&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)&lt;/a&gt;. In short, you want your appearance to make your roommate's dog very happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest way to do this is keep a pocket full of the dog's kibble mixed with a few treats. Whenever you enter the room, throw a handful of kibble/treats behind the dog. This does a few things. The first thing is it gets the dog further from you. Many dogs rush toward things they are afraid of, scaring themselves further. This reverses that in a positive way. The next thing it does is makes the dog sniff around to find all the food, which naturally defuses fear and aggression. I do something like this when I feed my goats because my dog gets anxious when I go in the fence without him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same vein, you can give the dog a food toy in another part of the room. This amps up the searching behavior, so it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pamdennison.com/article/im-from-missouri/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;really effective&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can do is to train an incompatible behavior, positively. This has a nice side effect that later you can use whatever behavior you've trained. One example is training a dog to lie quietly on a mat. I like the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm/product/3616/treat--train-remote-reward-dog-trainer.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;treat and train&lt;/a&gt; for this because I can be doing something unrelated (like carrying boxes) and my dog is getting trained. It comes with a DVD that has a lot of good information on dog training in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punishing the dog for aggression will work against any work you do to create a CER, because it creates a negative emotion that is associated with the target of aggression (you), so if you can get your roommate to stop doing that, it will be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastEditorUserId="3123" LastEditDate="2016-05-24T17:19:42.940" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T17:19:42.940" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-24T18:43:47.437" Score="1" ViewCount="1032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the UK and we have the full gamut of seasons. From freezing January to sweltering August and as my flat faces South, plenty of sun from May to September.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It must be something she can climb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T13:22:31.220" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:33:29.860" Title="Any ideas for an indoor real, climbable, tree or plant for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12331" CreationDate="2016-05-24T19:18:34.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly a single albino shark shouldn't be in a tank this small at all let alone 2 of them. They grow to around 5 - 6in, have a high metabolism, and they have a moderately large body mass when adults. I'd recommend about a 40 - 50 gallon minimum for them, ideally 75+ for multiple so they have adequate room to swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T19:18:34.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12339" CreationDate="2016-05-24T21:02:46.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do some shopping around! I'm not sure what your budget is or how much you're willing to spend, but real indoor cat trees -- quality ones -- tend to run upwards of $100.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T21:02:46.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12337" CreationDate="2016-05-24T21:10:42.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well. I don't know about personality changes, but you might want to take some precautions to prevent any health issues from cropping up, since rabbits and other wild animals can carry dangerous parasites and diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take your dog to the vet for a checkup, just to be on the safe side. Personality changes are unlikely, I'd imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T21:10:42.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12336" CreationDate="2016-05-24T21:15:48.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't always display outwards symptoms of being in pain. Wait and see if the limp doesn't disappear after an hour or so. If not, the best course of action may be to take him to the vet, despite your reservations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this in a search for 'swollen dog leg': &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/pets/dog-health/dog_has_swollen_leg.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.medicinenet.com/pets/dog-health/dog_has_swollen_leg.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6807" LastActivityDate="2016-05-24T21:15:48.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12347" CreationDate="2016-05-25T00:20:14.287" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems our 12 week old puppy has gotten a cold from us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our oldest son came home buggered and passed it on to me and put me home for the day. Doggy is here with us and I just noticed her sneezing and with the nose dripping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything to do when dogs get a cold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any medication we should give her (I'm more thinking maybe fruits or something)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7107" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T13:24:21.870" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:28:21.227" Title="What to do when a dog has a cold?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2016-05-25T00:51:21.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a nice trip to the vet. You never know. Only the vet can conclude what is really going on with your dog. I can't conclude on any medication and such because 1. I am not a vet. And 2. I can't see your dog in person and don't know for sure what is going on. So take your dog to the vet, and the vet will tell you for sure what the best thing(s) to do is/are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T00:51:21.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12352" CreationDate="2016-05-25T10:16:36.747" Score="4" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a call from my neighbor saying he found my dog in the creek and she wasn't moving her back legs. I rushed from work to get her. I took her to the vet and he said that she had a hyper-extended right front arm and severe swelling in the large muscle in the middle of her back. She has deep tissue pain and her spine is still intact. She tries to move, but it's obviously very painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet gave me 3 medicines to give her and told me to call him at noon today. My question is &lt;strong&gt;what is the best way to move her without causing any pain to her or more injury?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having to care for her at home, because I can't afford to keep her at the Animal Hospital. When I move her, she doesn't seem to be too bothered. You can tell it's sensitive, but she doesn't yelp with pain or anything. She tries to stand on her own, but when she does, the pain does make her whimper a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to keep her as still as possible and I have a heating pad set on low to her back. I got her laying on a dog pillow with the puppy pad under.  She's eating and drinking water and seems content for the moment. Any suggestions on moving her would help. Also, the medicines he gave her are methocarbomal, prednisone, and tramadol. They are in low doses, so she stays coherent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7290" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T13:22:46.050" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T13:25:35.753" Title="Hyper extended right shoulder and swelling and sever swelling in back muscles" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6042" CreationDate="2016-05-25T10:55:38.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A better option is diatomaceous earth. It's crushed seashells; you can buy it at any pool supply store and it's non-toxic and super fine. I have used it many times. I even put it on my dogs and on their bedding. It can even be used in fish tanks, it's all natural and non-toxic. I would check into that. As far as the egg shells, I'm not sure about that one. Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7290" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T14:48:41.003" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T14:48:41.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12349" CreationDate="2016-05-25T11:00:25.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend having the dog blanket moved with her on it. Slide it slowly and hopefully it wont cause pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7291" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-05-25T13:25:35.753" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T13:25:35.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12339" CreationDate="2016-05-25T14:22:50.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're asking about a live plant that your cat can climb into. I don't think you're going to find anything. The reason being, that no matter how bright the inside of your house is, you most likely won't have enough light or space for a tree to grow to a thickness that can support the weight of your cat climbing through it. Outside of a mall, I doubt you've ever see shrubbery that big inside of a residence. I know I haven't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you simply want your cat to have access to living plants, you could get a regular cat tree and simply place plants at the base and even in the tree. They also have cat trees that simulate real trees. I think that will be the best option to achieve what you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I simply don't think an indoor tree is going to get much more than broom handle thick. Which won't support the weight of a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T14:22:50.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-25T14:47:25.823" Score="3" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a female Rottweiler, about 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried every kind of chewing toy. The only ones she can't destroy are the silicon made ones, but the silicon ball is too heavy for her and she gets bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any advice on which play toy that she could chew and which would be resistant to chewing-related damage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was looking for something I can throw if possible, so that she can use it at home and outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves balls more than bones, she get bored with fake bones in few days / hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7292" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T14:21:32.127" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T14:21:32.127" Title="Rottweiler - need a durable chewing toy or ball - desperate owner" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;agility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-25T15:51:45.383" Score="2" ViewCount="2477" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mother is a West Highland White Terrier. Father is a Mal-Shi (Maltese/Shi-Tzu Mixed Breed), coloured white, brown and tan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our puppy was born pure white. Is she likely to change her colour as she matures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7294" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-26T10:00:45.490" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T08:51:54.943" Title="Do white puppies change colour?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2016-05-25T16:28:21.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rhinoviruses, which are the most common cause of colds in humans, are not transmissible to dogs.  In fact, it's pretty safe to say that there are virtually no &quot;cold&quot;-type viruses that can pass from people to dogs (or vice versa), so the puppy did not get this from your son.  Just as in people, there are no common/safe medications that will speed resolution of upper respiratory viral infections.  There is the possibility that this is something like Bordetella/infectious tracheobronchitis complex, so it is definitely worth a trip to the vet. NEVER give a medication to a pet without consulting a vet--many human medications are toxic to cats and dogs, and even the &quot;safe&quot; medications may be dosed very differently in a pet compared to a human.  Even fruits can be problematic--grapes and raisins can be toxic to dogs.  Finally, make sure the puppy is well vaccinated: distemper, a really nasty and frequently fatal disease, can initially look like a cold, but is a really preventable disease with appropriate vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7295" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:28:21.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12339" CreationDate="2016-05-25T16:33:29.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you probably won't be able to grow a tree inside that's big enough for your cat, you could go for a substitute instead. I had a friend when I was younger who had an enormous branch in her house for her cat to climb around on. It was set at an angle, so it wasn't straight up and down, but leaned against the wall and gave the cat fun places to perch. She even built a few platforms into it where the cat could lounge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any large hardwood branch should work for this, just make sure it's not weak in any places before you bring it in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easier still would be a store-bought carpeted cat tree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:33:29.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12336" CreationDate="2016-05-25T16:40:24.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm glad he's back to his usual self!  A soft tissue injury (sprain/strain) is certainly possible, but those often tend to take longer than a couple hours to resolve.  The sudden onset/sudden resolution could fit with patellar luxation (kneecap slipping out of the groove), which is very common in small breed dogs.  It can pop in and out, making them suddenly lame and then suddenly not.  A vet can help you diagnose this.  Another alternative, depending upon where you live, would be Lyme disease, which causes a &quot;shifting&quot; lameness--one leg looks lame for a while, then it goes away, then another leg is affected, etc.  Again, a vet can help you diagnose this.&#xA;In general, cold compresses may be a good idea but only helps if 1) you can identify where on the leg the injury is, and 2) the dog tolerates it/holds still.  For a minor lameness (lame but not in terrible pain), your best bet is to keep them quiet (no running/jumping/climbing, including the couch!) for a day or so, and bring them to the vet if it is not substantially better after 12-24 hours.  For a severe lameness, just get them to the vet.  If at all possible, do NOT use any pain medications unless prescribed by a vet--things like ibuprofen can actually be remarkably toxic to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7296" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:40:24.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12315" CreationDate="2016-05-25T16:45:41.477" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some males, especially big toms neutered as adults, can still look like they have testicles (it tends to actually be just tufted hair on the scrotum).  If there is ever any question, a vet can look at his penis: unneutered males will have little barbs on the penis, which are absent in neutered males.  This is most useful for identifying cryptorchid cats (in which the testicles don't descend and instead remain out of sight up in the abdomen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7297" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T16:45:41.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-25T18:25:30.710" Score="3" ViewCount="635" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shorthaired Pointer is having issues since our entire family has moved to a new home and yard. She never tore up anything in our house when we would leave her alone, but ever since we moved she appears very nervous, whines and seems to have anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need some help trying to figure out what I can do for her. I work about 9 hours a day away from home but she is by my side the minute I get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me some ideas on how to reduce the stress on her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7298" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-26T10:00:35.207" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T19:03:57.537" Title="My German Shorthaired Pointer is displaying nervousness and anxiety: what can I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12309" CreationDate="2016-05-25T20:13:42.843" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you explain what type of cichlids are in the tank and how the tank is setup? 35C is hot, but many cichlids can handle this temperature if they have adequate oxygen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect your fish are actually suffocating and not dying specifically because of the temperature. At this temperature, water has almost no ability to hold oxygen. Make sure there is ample surface agitation, limit stocking, run a good airstone, and do not use CO2. This is almost compulsory keeping tanks even at 32C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your humidity is low, you can use a fan across the water surface which will cool the tank by evaporation. This is actually very effective if there is enough airflow, but the humidity around the tank needs to be low, and it will require you to frequently top off the tank due to evaporative losses. If you live in a very humid area, this is usually a waste of time because you cannot get enough  evaporation needed to effectively remove heat from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than evaporative cooling, you're basically at getting a commercial chiller. For this size tank there's not really any other option that is reasonably effective at keeping it cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-05-25T20:13:42.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12337" CreationDate="2016-05-26T02:19:34.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a good amount of rabbit around my house because I live in the Forest and my dog got her first rabbit in 11 years of being here and she has tried again but has been unsuccessful with it. I was always told that once they get the taste of blood they will do it again but I don't believe that because I see the rabbits in the yard with her laying there and them just hopping around her so I think it depends on the dog and opportunity. I would say that I don't think your dog will turn into a rabbit killer they are really just to hard to catch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7290" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T02:19:34.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12409" CreationDate="2016-05-26T11:58:20.250" Score="6" ViewCount="2040" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today when I picked up my iguana I noticed that his nail is almost off his toe but still attached, and there's blood on it, and the toe might be broken because I noticed that he keeps his hands off the ground a lot, because of pain I'm guessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how I'm going to treat him. I can't got to a reptile vet because where I live its illegal to bring reptiles here so we don't have a reptile vet around. I have to treat it myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also he sometimes bites his front legs, is it possible that he pulled it off by himself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please tell how I can treat it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is him below.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gXtRc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gXtRc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good news is, his nail fell of in his own now, I didn't have to pull it off myself. But I still want to know how to treat this injury. Another thing I noticed when I returned him to his cage that he's always lifting his hand up and keeps it up and shakes it! Does shaking his hands or his front leg means that he's in pain or that his toe is broken or is normal?! I really not much of an expert i just had him for couple of weeks. And he's my first reptile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is a picture of his toes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nVCin.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nVCin.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7304" LastEditorUserId="7307" LastEditDate="2016-05-26T17:22:57.547" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T21:40:26.803" Title="How to treat a torn iguana toe nail?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12337" CreationDate="2016-05-26T14:10:40.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This really depends on the individual nature of your dog.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs find hunting highly reinforcing, and the more of it they do, the more they want to do it.   Practicing a behaviour makes it more likely that the dog will choose it over alternatives, particularly if there is an exciting pay-off like catching the rabbit. See David Ryan's book, '&quot;Stop!&quot; How to control predatory chasing in dogs' for a good explanation of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, not all dogs DO find catching exciting.  I had an ex-racing greyhound at one point, who once caught a squirrel.  The squirrel bit her on the nose, and she didn't know what to do with it.  It ran away.  After that, she was careful not to catch more squirrels, although she still enjoyed chasing them, you could see her deliberately slow down before she got too close.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://fuzzylogicdog.wordpress.com/tag/predatory-sequence/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;predatory sequence in dogs&lt;/a&gt; is not equally reinforcing to all dogs, and breed can make a difference.  For example, border collies are selected for their strong Eye, Orient, Eye-stalk and Chase, but not for grab-bite or kill-bite.  Labradors have strong Grab instincts, but are selected to be soft-mouthed, so rarely make a kill.  Many terriers are bred to kill rats, so have a much stronger kill instinct than other breeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, Springer Spaniels are designed to drive prey out of cover so it can be shot, so you'd expect your dog to find that part of things very rewarding: it's what he's designed for.  But it may well be that he didn't find killing a rabbit to be much fun, and will choose not to do it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's unlikely that he will suddenly become a risk to other dogs.   Rabbits do not smell or behave like dogs at all, and as your dog has a very highly developed sense of smell, it's unlikely he will get them mixed up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous para does assume that your dog has met many other dogs, is familiar with them, and know that dogs come in lots of shapes and sizes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one situation where there is likely to be confusion between small dogs and other prey is with greyhounds straight from the track: as these unfortunate dogs are often kept isolated with no contact with dogs of different shapes, they can get very confused and need time and management to learn that a chihuahua or a dachshund is also a dog.  This should be much less of an issue with a well socialised Springer who has been brought up with lots of social contact though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T14:10:40.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12371" CreationDate="2016-05-26T15:40:11.943" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a red hair, smooth coat, Dachshund, now 11 months old. I have grown to despise walking her; she eats any thing on walks, even rocks and bugs. She's leaves pine needles, but otherwise it doesn't seem to matter; if it's laying there, she'll pick it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been working on her about this since she was 9 weeks old. It's never made a difference. Even taking her out to potty, she does the same thing, looking for anything. It could be a fly flying around, whatever, it will distract her from doing her business. It's very bad. She is my third Dachshund. I've never had one like her before. While walking, she never looks around, but her head is always down, sniffing and searching. I'm wore out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, she seems to go &quot;crazy&quot; when she sees other people or a dog or cat. It doesn't mater what. It is like she has A.D.D or A.D.H.D. or other mental problems. Please, please help me, I'm going crazy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7305" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:08:08.843" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:08:08.843" Title="Dog walking problem" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-26T16:13:33.600" Score="2" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fostering a 5 year old rat terrier and he has a flaky bald patch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an isolated patch; his skin and coat are otherwise healthy: no dandruff, fleas, mites, etc. He doesn't seem to notice it, he doesn't lick or chew it so it's not caused by him irritating the area. It's not inflamed or infected, it just constantly flakes skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it's not causing him any distress, I'm mostly asking this question so that I can find a way to stop the skin flaking before we take him to adoption events. I also want to make sure it's not a sign of something more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9zGFM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9zGFM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;here&amp;#39;s the little guy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: He was tested at the vet and it's not mange. He's since been moved to a foster in a different region that has more people interested in adopting, so I won't be able to follow up anymore unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7306" LastEditorUserId="7306" LastEditDate="2016-07-13T20:38:57.993" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T20:38:57.993" Title="Circular patch on dog's back; ruled out mange, ringworm, other fungal causes, hotspot" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12368" CreationDate="2016-05-26T16:46:15.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This dog sounds very stressed.  Constant sniffing is often a sign that the dog is trying to defuse tension.  Excessive interest in objects, and overreacting to other dogs and people can also be a sign of a highly stressed dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you'd get a professional who can see your dog's behaviour and interpret it to help you understand it properly, but I understand that finances can make that hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With an easily distracted dog, it's very easy to get worried yourself and have your voice show your stress, but the key thing is to try to stay really calm, don't raise your voice, and have lots of patience.  (I've recently been through this myself with an awkward sighthound, so I really sympathise) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a really good Youtube channel from Kikopup which I think may help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good place to start: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs_M9Fzc94U&amp;amp;list=PLF09632A4A4BD3DDC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;introducing clicker training.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTSuPk2Ccjo&amp;amp;list=PLEBF2B84BEEEA6DFA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a series of videos about building attention&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;And here's her series about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXtcKXk-QWoivpkvXgqhAC44tlofiw-CS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;working with shy dogs&lt;/a&gt; - I'm not sure if your dog is shy, but that much sniffing and obsessive behaviour is often a sign of shyness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to look into Ttouch massage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/3_1/features/Easing-Your-Dogs-Stress_5031-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;excellent article about stress in dogs&lt;/a&gt; that I think may help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastEditorUserId="3820" LastEditDate="2016-05-27T15:49:04.660" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T15:49:04.660" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12360" CreationDate="2016-05-26T17:13:29.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;anxiety and unease is very common in dogs after stressful events like moving. Think about it, it must be scary to move to a completely new place with zero explanation! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do to help her out is to exercise her, a lot. A tired dog won't have the energy to be stressed out. Take her for a walk/run before you leave for work, and again when you get home. If your family is home during the day, have them take her out too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time when you're gone, make sure she has a safe space to go to. Open kennels work great for this, especially if you put one of your dirty tee shirts in it. Your smell will be very reassuring to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to try is to leave the tv or music on while you're gone. It sounds weird, but if you always have some sort of noise playing while you're home, your dog will associate that with being around you. Having that noise play (softly) may reassure her while you're gone. It works for my dog, anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T17:13:29.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12354" CreationDate="2016-05-26T17:24:31.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Variety is the spice of life, even for dogs. &#xA;Keep her busy and entertained by alternating the types of chew toys she gets every day. Here's a few more options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kongcompany.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Kong Toy&lt;/a&gt; - These are super durable rubber toys that are hollow on the inside. You can fill them with a bit of peanut butter or other food, which will keep your dog busy all day. The website has a few more ideas for recipes/fillers. There are plenty of other interactive food/puzzle toys, but a large chew-oriented dog like yours might be more prone to actually destroying the toy rather than solving the puzzle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pupcicles - Basically just an ice block with food frozen into it. These are super easy to make and used as enrichment in zoos all over the country. They're especially great on hot days (outside, of course). You can freeze treats or toys into it, or flavor the whole block with a bit of chicken or beef broth. I like to freeze carrots and apple slices in for my dog. Just make sure whatever you freeze in is not &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a food dangerous to dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another dog. This option is a bit extreme, but remember that dogs are highly social pack animals. They like having company all the time, and don't do well being left alone for long stretches of time. Another dog is a big commitment, but a second dog will help keep her entertained and give her someone to play with. If you do decide to go this route, just make sure she gets along well with the other dog before you decide to adopt. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastEditorUserId="2689" LastEditDate="2016-05-26T19:12:33.097" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T19:12:33.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-26T19:43:27.060" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 year old female Pitt Bull who got out when she was about a year old. She came back limping in her back legs and hip area. When I took her in the vet said she could have been hit by a car but she also had her knees genetically on the side of her legs instead of where they belong, which would cause her more and more problems later on. &#xA;What is the best thing I can do for a dog now 5 years later, who has trouble walking because of her hip and knee issues? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7308" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:15:15.823" Title="Pitt Bull with knee and hip problems" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-26T20:41:10.633" Score="4" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried all types of ways to teach my chihuahua/Greyhound mix to stop barking. She usually barks when hearing new noises, when someone comes to the door (whether she knows them or not), or following another dog's lead. I have tried expensive bark collars, discipline (holding her and saying know; a small spank on the rear; a verbal no, etc)... Any advice on how I can train her not to bark? My daughter would take her to the office with her so she could join the rest of the pack, but she barks at any new visitor that comes to the office, and so is left on her own all day while I'm at work. I'd love to curb this behavior so she could have more fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7308" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-28T00:09:09.520" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T12:53:04.450" Title="Chihuahua Mini Greyhound mix still barking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12337" CreationDate="2016-05-26T22:29:45.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;More interested in hunting, perhaps. &quot;Hey, I actually caught one&quot; That was fun, let's try that again.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other behaviour changes seem unlikely  to arise. Why should they? Other dogs aren't rabbits, and know how to signal &quot;that's enough, I'm done playing.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-26T22:29:45.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T02:17:57.263" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Background&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat, Polar, is a very amiable calico. This past January (2016) or so, Polar started having these episodes where suddenly her two right paws would seize up, being pulled towards her torso, and half a beat later she is fine. We thought it would sort itself out. By late February, we started being concerned. These episodes got worse,instead of stumbling, she would fall. When she seized, her right side paws would be yanked tightly against her torso. At this point, there was no affect on her left side. She would fall, two seconds later, she gets up without acknowledging anything happened. In early March, we took her to the vet. He didn't witness any episodes, said it wasn't seizures, and that she was very healthy. By late April, the intensity of the episodes plateaued. They only last 3 or 4 seconds. Her right legs are pulled against her torso, her left legs forcibly extended straight down, and her face clenches. Unfortunately the frequency has increased from 5 per week (Feb) to 1 per hour now (May). I know cats are tough and don't show pain, so I'm not sure how much these episodes hurt. What is really bad is the falling. She falls off of stuff all the time (less than 4 ft high) and hits the ground like a rock because she is in an episode. She has a scab above her eye from one of these falls. Right now we don't have stairs, but we are moving soon to a house with 2 flights. &lt;strong&gt;What can I do to fix/alleviate this?&lt;/strong&gt; If I can't fix it, what would be a sign that I should put her to sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Problem Description&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat, Polar, goes through episodes where her muscles seize, however they are not seizures. Here is what I can discern about them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Triggers&lt;/strong&gt;: When she wakes up, when she gets up to fast, when she is startled, when she goes from walking to running, when she jumps onto something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Duration&lt;/strong&gt;: 3-4 seconds of where the muscles are taut, then 1-2 seconds before she gets up and moves on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Characteristics&lt;/strong&gt;: She is consistently contorted in the same way, she does not try to avoid the triggers, she is not defensive afterwards, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Details&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some details about Polar and her life that may or may not be relevant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Videos&lt;/strong&gt; of two episodes are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c35YhwcdeW8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdGHZbIp088&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age&lt;/strong&gt; is at least 9 years. We found her under a shed in the middle of a snow storm 9 years ago, she looked like an older kitten.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desexed&lt;/strong&gt;, front paws are &lt;strong&gt;Declawed&lt;/strong&gt;, lives strictly &lt;strong&gt;Indoors&lt;/strong&gt; and for the past 3 years she has been our only cat (she hates other cats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; is heathly dry cat food (we switch to a different brand in March to see if that helped) and filtered water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medical History&lt;/strong&gt; is minimal she is probably not up-to-date with shots or anything like that. We've never had any problems with her besides last summer (2015). She would get a scab on her chest from scratching or something and would proceed to go full-on OCD grooming herself trying to get her fur smooth, which would enlarged the wound. She did this several (more than 10 less than 20) times. She also caught a bat in our house (Fall 2014) once. Also the knobs on the back of her ankles on her rear legs are bald because she chews that them regularly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've tried&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Here is everything we've tried so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vet&lt;/strong&gt;: Took her to the vet. She is healthy and not having seizures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet Change&lt;/strong&gt;: We changed food brands to see if it would fix it, no discernible effect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Research&lt;/strong&gt;: We've tried researching what the problem could be, could not find anything. Every search with muscles/seizing turns up seizures. I'm at the end of my rope on what to look into.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Networking&lt;/strong&gt;: We've talked to long-time cat owners, vets/vet assistants that we know and they didn't have any ideas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are concerned that when we move next week to a house with stairs, that she could seriously injure herself (we can't block off the stairs from her). Another worry is that this condition could escalate to a point where she would have to be put down for her own good. Any ideas on how to fix/alleviate these episodes? How do I discern when to we should put her to sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On January 24th 2017, we put Polar to sleep. Within a year of first showing symptoms, she would have episodes as frequently as 10/hour and started having them while sleeping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7311" LastEditorUserId="7311" LastEditDate="2017-03-08T18:04:58.833" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T18:04:58.833" Title="What is causing this muscular seizing in my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12355" CreationDate="2016-05-27T08:51:54.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no definitive way to say, but you can assume that there's the chance of some of the colors or patterns of the parents becoming visible over time. Just don't expect your white puppy suddenly being completely brown or black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how old your puppy is, however, it's likely you won't see any significant changes anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some shots of one of our dogs to illustrate the color pattern on his head changing over time (or not).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With just a few days of age (you can see the mother in background; the father has a mix of white/light brown fur), you clearly see strong and distinctive white and black areas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YUO5S.png&quot; alt=&quot;Tiny puppy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About &lt;strong&gt;8 weeks&lt;/strong&gt; later this changed to a more grayish mix of hair (also note the white line in the middle almost disappearing):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/P4oVg.png&quot; alt=&quot;Not so tiny puppy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gray/white mix of colors sticked for quite some time then, here about &lt;strong&gt;a month&lt;/strong&gt; later:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UmTs3.png&quot; alt=&quot;Bit older puppy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With about &lt;strong&gt;6 months&lt;/strong&gt; you can clearly see the darker hairs returning while he also started his first change of coat (losing the puppy coat):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QkRZz.png&quot; alt=&quot;Almost big boy puppy&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;final&quot; pattern &lt;strong&gt;after about a year&lt;/strong&gt; finally sticked (with minor changes between winter and summer; compare this with the mother above and it's quite close, albeit significantly darker):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wT8Pr.png&quot; alt=&quot;No puppy anymore&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, from my experience, fur in summer and winter can have different shades or colors, but the dog won't look completely different just due to that. In our case we see a more grayish back in winter and a almost completely black back in summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to add another tiny bit of trivia: For some races the eye color might change as well. In the case of huskies they can have eyes ranging from blue to dark brown, sometimes even having a pair of different colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just make sure you like your dog no matter his hair/eye color, because you might be in for some surprises.&lt;/em&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T08:51:54.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12416" CreationDate="2016-05-27T11:04:26.047" Score="6" ViewCount="13222" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3.5 month old German Shepherd is a good girl most of the time. We are just having a problem with her at the moment in that she is being too rough and grabbing one of my sons clothes more than anyone else in the family. He is 11. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are evenings when whenever she interacts with him it is like this quite a lot. Other days she is fine. She just nips him ( it's getting to be quite hard) and pulls at his clothes. She keeps playing like its a tug game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be clear that she does not bite him to hurt him. She is not aggressive towards him. It is clear she just wants to play rough but this is not acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He says no in a strong voice, he has tried yelping like a puppy would, he holds her in a cuddle and strokes her until she calms down or puts her outside for time out. The last two strategies do work but only for a short time before she tries it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We walk her twice a day and took her to puppy classes. She regularly socialises with my parents two dogs and we clicker train her. She can do basic commands and some tricks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are working on teaching him to play with her more with toys rather than his hands as he does often just try to repeatedly pet her when she clearly doesn't want to play that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly it is me or my husband who do the care/ training with her. My eldest son who is 14 sometimes gets this bad behaviour from her as do we all but she is definitely a lot worse with my youngest son. She has never behaved this way with strangers. She has always been great with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help! Is this something she will stop with time of we continue with what we are doing or can we try something else? He has such a hard time with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:25:54.660" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T15:06:48.720" Title="Help! Puppy keeps being too rough with one of my children" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;children&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12354" CreationDate="2016-05-27T13:29:51.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Really important advice... THE GOLDEN RULE...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can teach a dog to treat his or her toys with greater respect. How you ask? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog begins to treat the toy with damaging results, remove the toy immediately and place in a visible but inaccessible (to the dog) location for at least 24 hours. After that time has passed and preferably at a similar time of day (dogs love routine) return the toy to circulation, but this time keep a closer watch and, if your four legged friend begins to repeat the destructive behaviour, again remove the toy and place in the same visible but inaccessible location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this process for at least seven days. If the behaviour does not improve during this time, I'm not certain what else to suggest, except maybe longer periods between the return of the toy to circulation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a photo of my fella's favourite &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; most robust toys...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/84odK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/84odK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bill the Brown Dog&amp;#39;s Favourite Toys&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If and when the link fails... In order of &quot;robustness&quot; and favour...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The green squeaky toys Ee-Ee (left in photo) and Aw-Aw (right in photo) are the oldest and by far the most robust. Ee-Ee the &quot;squid&quot; (it's a guess, we've never truly figured it out) is over ten years old and surprisingly maintained its squeak, after which it was named, until last year. I'm not certain about Ee-Ee but know for certain that Aw-Aw is manufactured by JW Pet Company Inc, based in Teterboro, NJ, USA. Aw-Aw is dated 2007. They are of very similar thick rubber-like material and have been treated brutally and extensively both inside and outside, Ee-Ee more so than Aw-Aw.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Red-Rope has been a long time favourite and despite suffering some significant unravelling has been and still is a favourite chewing toy and popular wrestling toy. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yellow-Duckie taught us the golden rule detailed above. Yellow-Duckie was one of three, however one sibling was left behind at a holiday destination and the other lost a wing. Yellow-Duckie still squeaks although occasionally the squeaker needs to be reinserted. Yellow-Duckie was purchased in 2005 and is the currently preferred throw and catch toy. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ruffous (the dog) is a recent purchase (two years ago) that was expected to last a week or two. Application of the golden rule detailed above has significantly prolonged Ruffous' life. Despite loss of coat, tail and minor limbs, Ruffous still squeaks and is popular but treated with a little more care by Bill the Brown Dog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2016-05-27T13:41:40.323" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T13:41:40.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12378" CreationDate="2016-05-27T13:34:05.110" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would show those videos to a vet; they may be able figure out what it is once they see it, or at least tell you if she is in pain. The fact that she doesn't avoid the triggers and is relaxed afterward suggests to me that the seizure itself is not painful, although the resulting injuries might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Triggers: When she wakes up, when she gets up to fast, when she is&#xA;  startled, when she goes from walking to running, when she jumps onto&#xA;  something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you move to the new house, I would find a way to restrict her to one floor temporarily. Then, if the vet can reduce the frequency of the episodes I think she might be able to adapt to a multi-story house provided that the only way to get from one floor to another is via normal enclosed stairs. (I.e., not something like a loft where she could just fall off the edge.) She's not super likely to do any of those things that you define as triggers at top of the stairs. Cats prefer to relax in places that aren't in the main traffic flow of the house. And if worse comes to worst and she has a seizure on the stairs, she'll probably only roll down a step or two because cats aren't smooth cylinders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not making light of the problem; it is scary and there is the potential that she will hurt herself. When I've had animals that acquired disabilities, I was overwhelmed at first, but gradually I figured out little ways to keep them safer and ensure that they enjoyed life. So you probably don't need to make a decision yet; wait and see what happens. Maybe someone who has a one-story house will take her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet can't reduce the frequency of seizures, and you can't restrict her to one floor permanently, then you may have a difficult decision to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2016-05-27T14:28:08.020" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T14:28:08.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-27T16:57:45.597" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought some light to use for my iguanas. Can i use this type of light for heating for the iguana (refer to the picture below):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ObIsk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ObIsk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure whether it produce enough heat or not, but i think it might be too bright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this not the one i should use, then what should i use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7304" LastActivityDate="2016-05-27T16:57:45.597" Title="Iguana heating lights?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12385" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-28T01:03:57.747" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet weasel. When she is up on my shoulders, she seem to be fine. She will be relaxed and calm. However, when I put her down on the ground, she seems to be very nervous, or afraid. She will run from people's feet, almost as if she is afraid of being stepped on. It's like she had a very traumatic experience in connection with a person's foot (stepped on, or something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me some advice about how to help her overcome this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7317" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-29T09:22:35.657" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T09:22:35.657" Title="Pet weasel seems afraid of being on the ground" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12301" CreationDate="2016-05-28T13:44:33.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had those berries in our yard,  as kids and were told never to eat them, and they never seemed to be a problem with any cats, including ours. We lived in a track and there were lots of cats. And remember a cat is a self survivor, so the are smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7247" LastActivityDate="2016-05-28T13:44:33.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12374" CreationDate="2016-05-28T23:40:14.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you can't cure it without risky surgery that I would not recommend, but you can do some things for any pets that have movement-related disabilities. These also work for pets with arthritis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cooling/heating pads.&lt;/strong&gt; These are a great solution for any animal in need of a little pain relief. They provide great comfort to your pet while keeping them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lots of love.&lt;/strong&gt; While not really doing anything to cure the problem at all, this can definitely help comforting your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A massage.&lt;/strong&gt; It sounds crazy but this can actually help a lot. It relaxes your pet and its muscles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lots of bedding.&lt;/strong&gt; Providing lots of places to lie down and take a break can help significantly. Your dog won't have to travel so far to get to a nice bed to take a nap in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully I helped you, if none of these work, consult a vet and they may be able to give your dog a medicated pain reliever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T07:15:15.823" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:15:15.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10990" CreationDate="2016-05-29T00:12:29.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think some dogs are intelligent enough to seek revenge. I have a female dog that if I lock her out of my bedroom where she normally sleeps she will poop right in front of the bedroom door. She can easily go outside because we have a dog door. Examples when I had my boyfriend spend the night and I would lock her out of the room she pooped right in front of the door. She was 3 yrs old. Today I was changing the bedding on my bed and cleaning my room, she kept trying to come in to jump on the bed so I locked her out of the room. When I opened the door she had pooped in front of the door. She is 12 yrs now. This is the only time she has pooped in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7321" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-05-29T09:24:27.963" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T09:24:27.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12381" CreationDate="2016-05-29T00:30:30.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't list this approach yet, so I will suggest it as alternative:&#xA;Tell your son to STOP interacting, and as calmly as possible walks away.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The idea is to signal: if you do this, all the fun ends.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The dog may not make this easy, from your description, but it also seems like he is well-enough socialized that he will undertsand the &quot;I do not want this&quot; signal this will send.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T00:30:30.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12301" CreationDate="2016-05-29T07:45:16.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/24995/what-is-this-low-growing-bush-with-variegated-leaves-and-red-berries&quot;&gt;Gardening.SE&lt;/a&gt; I was told that this is a form of holly (ilex spp) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; which is poisonous for both humans and cats, but like it was said here es well, cats are very unlikely to eat them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7268" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:42:27.750" LastActivityDate="2016-05-29T09:29:12.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12398" CreationDate="2016-05-29T12:24:09.963" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been mulling on this thought for a while, but as of last night, I have two three-week-old squabs to feed and I figure I probably need to find the answer. So far, I have been feeding them defrosted peas. Does this contain enough nutrients and minerals for squabs to live on, or do they really need chick feed or similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7301" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-05-29T22:34:04.113" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T19:32:15.737" Title="Are peas a complete food and nutrition source for squabs?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-29T20:18:14.770" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 black ice ocellaris which are a bonded pair. My original 40 gallon crashed in which they loved the little right corner. They're in QT more because I had them in a friend tank with other fish that aren't same species..  they definitely are sexed as the Smaller one does his submission twitch when she (bigger) comes next to him (smaller).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soon I'll be introducing them into a 120 gal 48x24x24 with 140lbs of LR..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These clowns won't host, as I had a big bta living right in their territory when I had the 40 gal 4&quot; away. They would only steal food from said BTA, not host. FYI These are tank bred black ice Ocellaris..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking if I introduced  one or more depending on any advice I get to the new 120 gallon which has NO fish currently until after I QT them (but this means there will be a 3 week establishment of the initial clowns in the 120 gal while the new client will be in QT  (tank has 2 BTA and 1 Long tentacle and torches and frogspawbs etc. currently in it) If I added a new pair or one small juvenile wild caught one (the whole effort is because I want a hosting clown) if the initial clowns have their territory established  then I added a new one to other end of tank at night, would this be possible with the original clowns not hiding and a wild caught definitely would host?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was also thinking maybe a pair of wild caught juvenile pink skunks which I hear are peaceful but hold their own when mature which are more likely to host anemone then ocellaris are. And again the tank possibly is big enough to have it. Skunks and tomatoes look totally different from their normal clownfish  tear shape etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or ideas would be great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7323" LastEditorUserId="7301" LastEditDate="2016-05-30T19:15:24.330" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T19:15:24.330" Title="Adding new clown to a bonded pair" Tags="&lt;clownfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-30T09:15:05.930" Score="1" ViewCount="728" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gf and i got ourselves 2 cats (mother and daughter) who had been living in terrible circumstances. &#xA;The daughter has evolved to a point where she plays with us and plays herself with us around. Still, she won't allow us within 5 feet. She's comfortable with us being in the same room, but only to a certain point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mother is something else. She has been hiding under the closet or in the litter box since then, only coming out when we are asleep or when she's really hungry. There were points we thought she had a breakthrough, but those corner stones were lost very quickly. When we try to give her treats or play with her, she reacts very apathetically, not even smelling the food or looking at the toy. When she enters a room where we are present and look at her (even briefly), she's gone again. To be honest, we have no clue anymore what to do...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7324" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T10:08:53.923" Title="Cats are still scared after 2 months" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12394" CreationDate="2016-05-30T10:08:53.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to an excellent short series of videos on socialising feral cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist of it is using food and irresistible treats to get the cats to eat in the presence of humans that are far away; then gradually requiring them to be a little closer to the human to get the treat. You will need to move forward in very small stages. In your case, you may need to start with getting her to eat when you are awake but in another room. There will be setbacks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can ask your local humane society or animal shelter for advice. I'm sure they will be happy to help and have good advice to offer; as they have to socialise feral cats regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T10:08:53.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-30T11:12:57.233" Score="6" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night, burglars got into my yard. My dog charged and barked and they run away. Friends tell me to be cautious because the burglars now know I have a dog and they might return prepared. &#xA;I live alone and I work till 7:30 in the evening. During my working hours my dog is alone in the garden.&#xA;What precautions should I take to prevent burglars from harming my dog if they decide to come back during my working hours or during the night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T15:55:01.137" Title="What precautions should I take for burglars not to harm my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12396" CreationDate="2016-05-30T15:12:11.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are unlikely to come back any time soon unless there is something about your house that makes you an especially attractive target. There are lots of houses without the complication of a dog &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T15:12:11.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12391" CreationDate="2016-05-30T19:32:15.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, there are very few foods that are a source of complete nutrition. &lt;em&gt;Always&lt;/em&gt; add some variety to diets, whether it's your own diet, or your Squab's. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the question itself, I'll refer you to a good nutritional site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2521/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2521/2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see by looking at the charts that although peas are a good source of a variety of nutrients, there are a few important ones that it's lacking (mainly Vitamins B, D, E, and a couple minerals). That would suggest that if this was all they had over the long term, they may become deficient in these nutrients, so I would definitely add more variety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note I'm completely ignorant of the nutritional requirements for Squabs. This is just to outline the weaknesses of feeding them only peas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T19:32:15.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="666" CreationDate="2016-05-30T23:10:07.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet informed me that it is not a good if my cat eats crickets. Evidently crickets eat fleas and fleas can be carriers for tapeworms. The latter will cause problems for any cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7327" LastActivityDate="2016-05-30T23:10:07.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12396" CreationDate="2016-05-31T15:55:01.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try putting up some automatic flood lights. These will come on in the evening if someone is sneaking around. Thieves prefer the dark if possible and a light coming on makes them nervous, even if they don't think someone is home. A neighbor could see them and call the cops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you don't have or can't afford a security system, then you can probably get some signs that say the property is under camera surveillance. I really don't think they'll be back, but these are two easy methods to help deter them besides your dog, who did the right thing. I think that's about as much protection as you can offer your dog, because even if he's inside, they're breaking in anyway and could do something to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T15:55:01.137" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8076" CreationDate="2016-05-31T17:16:09.890" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 16-year old cat has done the same thing his entire life. He's not deaf, but his wailing/howling seems to be connected with either a) being bored/lonely, and/or b) looking for me. Her wailing getting worse with her deafness may be her way of trying to get attention, but not being able to do it at an appropriate volume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with my cat, playing with him, exercising him, or just giving him cuddles for a bit seems to solve the problem, although occasionally he still decides to howl at night. The best solution I've found for this is to sleep with my door open and let him come cuddle whenever he wants. Having a cat is really just compromising until you're both happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-05-31T17:16:09.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-31T21:06:13.967" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night my 6 year old cat was meowing a lot. He then got on a bed in my spare room and defecated right in front of me. I immediately put him outside, but he came straight back indoors. After that, he slept for the night, but again today, he has not been outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried in case this happens again. I put the litter box out so at least he has somewhere other than the bed to do his duty (if he continues not wanting to go outside).  He has urinated and defecated in the litter tray, rather than go outside to do them all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really concerned, as I don't want to be dealing with litter trays again!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7331" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:38:28.590" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:38:28.590" Title="What to do when a cat's behavior suddenly changes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-05-31T23:40:46.113" Score="1" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 21-month-old Cane Corso has been diagnosed with elevated creatinine levels, they are currently at 2.2.  I have purchased a kidney function supplement, but am curious about what my success will be long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7332" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-06-02T11:44:30.423" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T11:33:20.627" Title="Can creatinine levels be lowered in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12402" CreationDate="2016-06-01T14:33:18.787" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take him to the vet!! This can be the result of some very serious diseases including cancer. Take him to the vet ASAP!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T14:33:18.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12412" CreationDate="2016-06-01T15:11:54.003" Score="4" ViewCount="1131" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I live in a small flat along with our neutered male British Shorthair. Over the last month, we both traveled quite a bit and were away from the flat for more than 15 days. During this time, a friend of ours took care of our cat, simply cleaning out the litter box and feeding him. After we returned, I tried to clean out his litter box and he suddenly hissed and growled at me and tried to attack me. I stopped and waited until he calmed down. After about 10 minutes, when I was sitting a bit away from him, he approached me and let me pet him as if nothing unusual had happened. I am now afraid of touching his litter box and have absolutely no idea what caused him to get angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas what I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7337" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-06-01T18:29:19.373" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T12:15:39.947" Title="Concerned about cat's reaction while cleaning litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-01T19:54:06.173" Score="7" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat used the litter box fine until we got a second cat. The second cat is wonderful but has the stinkiest poo I've ever smelled and the first cat refuses to use the same little box. We put a second litter box in my daughter's room, where the first cat practically lives, and that helps during the day, but the cat is too active at night so we put her downstairs, where she poops on the floor. The first cat is smaller,  so I thought I could get another box for her - but how do I keep the second cat from using her's?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7339" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:00:03.793" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:19:27.933" Title="Litter Box for One" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12365" CreationDate="2016-06-01T21:40:26.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a small small article about it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anapsid.org/ripped.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont own a green iguana but i read many forums about this injury. General consensus on many of the forums i saw is that it is a common injury when their claw is stuck in/on something and they jerk suddenly (from surprise or something) You should be able to treat it by soaking it a little in Betadine solution with just enough to brown the water a little and then tip it with something like neosporin. Do this daily until the wound clears up and make sure the enclosure stays clean (usually 6-7 days is what many people said but it is variable). You may bandage it with loose gauze but it should ONLY be done until it stops bleeding. After that it should be left open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-06-01T21:40:26.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2016-06-02T08:09:36.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your friend did something and scared the cat during the days that he was feeding it (he might have dropped the litter box or hit some furniture by mistake, or poured water on the cat by mistake). I would suggest that you keep cleaning the litter box normally and it will get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T08:09:36.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-02T12:02:27.727" Score="2" ViewCount="723" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I am fostering three 6 week kittens and have a resident two year old cat. The kittens have been introduced to her with them in their carrier and she really doesn't seem bothered by them. She had a sniff then carried on  but they hiss at her. My cat is used to dogs (we are currently fostering a dog too that isn't in the house at present) and she has met other cats when my friends brought theirs over. She is probably more comfortable with dogs to be honest because she has plenty of high places to escape to. When do you think it is safe to let them out and meet her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; My resident cat has since started to growl at the kittens in the carrier after one of the kittens hissed at her so I assume I should continue the introduction in the traditional way of separate secure rooms and slow supervised introductions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastEditorUserId="7156" LastEditDate="2016-06-02T20:02:03.417" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T20:02:03.417" Title="How to introduce foster kittens to resident cat that doesn't seem bothered by them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2016-06-02T12:15:39.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to think about this from the cat's point of view. Litter box has territorial and dominance implications. If the cat wasn't sure who you were, due to combination of your absence and a scent change, it is possible that this was a &quot;who are you, what have you done with my human, and are you about to kick me out of the house&quot; reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so this should correct itself in a few days as the cat concedes that you really are yourself and gets over its annoyance at your absence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T12:15:39.947" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12157" CreationDate="2016-06-02T14:05:26.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this is a one time deal it may be more cost effective to pay the dog groomer to shave your pet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inexpensive clippers can get hot enough to burn your pet before the shearing is complete.  As you noted in your comments they may not even last long enough to finish the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quality shears are expensive. More expensive than a single use will justify. Paying someone to shear your pet with their expensive shears may be most cost effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case consult with your vet about the plan prior to beginning the shearing or the treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T14:05:26.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12419" CreationDate="2016-06-02T18:17:08.257" Score="6" ViewCount="8865" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat particularly likes it when I bring out the cat-teaser (essentially a fake 'bird' on a stick). He makes a great deal of effort in catching it, and I assume he's enjoying himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is, what's going through the cat's mind? Does he know it's a game/practice for hunting, and is enjoying himself, or does he actually think he's hunting something he can't really eat - and therefore a disappointing waste of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes consider whether I should feed him a treat or something after playing with him to give him the whole experience of the hunt - if it's the latter case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5587" LastActivityDate="2019-10-11T04:45:06.460" Title="Does the cat know it's a game?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7559" CreationDate="2016-06-02T21:41:11.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog that doesn't like to drink. He likes to drink in the middle of the night. Or when no one is looking. I read up on it and one thing that it said was watermelon is 80% water and a dog can have it just make sure there is no seeds.. Also wet dog food instead of dry and I sneak a little water in it.You can freeze watermelon pieces so you have them all the time. I worry about it. I have a niece that doesn't want to drink either.You have to love your way into his heart again. But call your vet and ask him what he thinks. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7341" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T21:41:11.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12381" CreationDate="2016-06-02T23:12:58.640" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can lead to serious problems. I am currently working with a 9 month old German Shepard x wold hound who is now biting hard enough to break the skin. This is largely do to the fact that when he would play bite, the owners would tell him no and 2 seconds later keep patting him on the head. I'm sharing this story as I'm showing that you need to get a handle on it now before your dog starts biting, not play biting (even if it seems like the dog is playing. If it hurts when they bite, it is no longer play biting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing your son needs to do is to watch for when the dog starts getting too excited. He is only to play and interact with her when she is calm and not hyper. As soon as she starts getting mouthy or excited, your son is to say &quot;Uh oh&quot; and go into another room that your dog does not have access to. This needs to happen the second your dog gets too excited. This does several things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teaches the dog that play will only happen when both parties are enjoying it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You dog will start to recognise that if she gets too worked up, play will cease. In her mind &quot;Oh no. He's not playing with me anymore. I guess I got a little carried away&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teaches your son to read your dog's body language better&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what constitutes &quot;too excited&quot;? If your dog starts jumping up (ask for a sit and ignore the jumping), mouthing the hands, lots and lots of barking (a bit of bark is OK as your dog is communicating that they are happy and wanting to play), biting at clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that you can all do is not to play with your dogs head or ears when playing. This can signal to dogs that it's super play time and a lot of dogs will turn around to you and start mouthing you hands. There is no point tell your dog no when they mouth or bite you and then continuing to play with them. It has taught them nothing except mouthing the human's hands gets more play time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You son needs to be more confident around your dog. Small children usually use high pitched voices, squeal and running away when a dog is interacting with them and all this says to a dog is I'm a super fun playmate who runs with you and barks back in excitement. This can cause the dog to get even more excited. I like to tell my client's children to be a tree. A tree does not make noise or run around when a dog approaches them. The dog learns that a tree is nothing exciting so doesn't bother to chase or bite the tree. Ask your son (with either your husband or yourself supervising) to enter the room with you dog and stand up tall with arms by his side. Ask him to be calm and then either one of the adults will play with the dog. Your son can come over after about 2 minutes to slowly and calmly pat your dog from the shoulders to the rump (NOT THE HEAD). Then he can leave the room. If the dog gets too excited by your son, your son can leave the room while you stay in the room with the dog, waiting for her to calm down before play can begin again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a really good link that will hopefully provide some helpful tips. &lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/puppy-knowledge/teething-mouthing/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/puppy-knowledge/teething-mouthing/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps and good luck to you all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-06-02T23:12:58.640" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12408" CreationDate="2016-06-02T23:27:08.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good job in getting another litter box. Some people who just think that the cats will just have to work it out and go in the same box, so well done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there another litter box downstairs that your first cat can use? Sometimes you may have to have a little box in a few rooms, as it gives the cat the choice of where they want to go. Make sure it is in an area that feels secure to your cat (not in the middle of the room but maybe hidden behind a door). A bit more privacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats generally have smellier urine and poo than dogs as their diet has a higher meat content in dry and wet food (cats are carnivores that need a chemical called taurine to keep their eyes healthy). What this does is to make their liver produce more creatinine, which is a waste product that every mammal produces in their urine and poo. It may be a good idea to take your second cat for a urinalysis and fecal float test at the vet to check their liver enzymes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your cats and their bowel movements :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T08:19:27.933" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:19:27.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13441" CreationDate="2016-06-03T00:05:31.183" Score="3" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used collars and the oil you drop on the skin that get's absorbed into the bloodstream thereby killing the ticks.  I have noticed my older lab does not react well the topical treatment.  She get's lethargic for a few days and may have some intestinal reaction, diarrhea or very soft BM's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to her age and declining health I am feeling a bit of aversion giving the topical treatment this season. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am wondering what the active ingredient in the oral medication is and if it's safe for older dogs?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is 13 years old and still chugging.   :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3701" LastEditorUserId="3701" LastEditDate="2016-06-03T06:35:10.750" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T14:27:26.930" Title="What is the active ingredient in oral anti-tick medication?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12414" CreationDate="2016-06-03T00:10:28.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat is &quot;hunting&quot; when it isn't hungry, it's doing so for entertainment value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat usually isn't interested in eating a bug, just catching it. A well-fed cat may not always be interested in killing larger prey; they just get carried away, play a bit too roughly, and break the toy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no requirement that every hunt end with a kill.  Cats will sometimes bring toys to humans as a request. They are quite capable of understanding the concept of play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, like kids in the same age ranges, they may sometimes get over-excited. It's appropriate to watch out for that and not tease them past the point of exhaustion.  They often get better at judging this as they get older, just as humans do; my middle-aged girl will indicate quite clearly when she needs to stop to catch her breath, and whether she wants to play again after doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're weird little critters, but they aren't &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; alien.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T00:10:28.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-03T00:23:05.893" Score="3" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 320 liters tank and at the moment I have one tiny catfish (not much bigger that a tetra), a very little bristle nose, 10 small goldfish and one larger one. He measures about 6cm in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many, if any, more fish can I safely add to this tank? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7343" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:11:57.313" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:11:57.313" Title="How many goldfish can I have in my tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12421" CreationDate="2016-06-03T13:28:47.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to consider when figuring how many fish you can add to an aquarium. You can search fish tank stocking rules and come up with several. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not necessarily how big you aquarium is, but how many square inches of surface area you have. The reason you're limited on how many fish you can have in any given tank is mainly based on oxygen exchange. There has to be enough oxygen exchange between the surrounding air and the water in the tank so that the fish can breath. You have a few fish in a large tank. They will be able to breath fine. You add a few more and they breath fine as well. There will be a certain point, though, when you add fish and all together the fish in the tank need more air than is available in the water. It's not just adding fish either, the fish you already have will need more oxygen as they get bigger. At that point, you have to modify the living conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't want to pack fish till you're at that imaginary line where they go from enough oxygen to not enough, because you need a buffer. Let's say you have a tank with the right amount of fish in it. However, you kill the good bacteria in your filter by cleaning it too well and now they aren't removing and converting the bad part of fish waste into something safe for the fish. The water quality goes down and coupled with the lower oxygen levels, your fish sicken and die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to add air is with an air stone. It pumps air directly into the water as well as when the bubbles break the surface of the tank, disturbing it and creating more surface area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Live plants are another way to help your tank. Not only do they create oxygen in the water, but they remove toxins and waste. If you just have plastic plants and gravel then the fish rely on you 100% for the balance of the ecosystem. With plants you can actually set it up where you don't do anything to the tank, but scrape the algae off the glass and top it off. You can create a complete ecosystem. Many people find a balance between the to. The fact remains that with plants you can have more fish in the tank that without. The same is true with the air stone mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else that I've never looked into, but have thought about is that lots of sites will give you a rule such as &quot;1 inch of fish per gallon of water&quot;, but it occurs to me that just like any other animal, a fish that is more active is going to burn more oxygen that a fish that isn't. So the catfish you mentioned is probably going to find a hidey hole and rest till feeding time. The gold fish will keep cruising around the tank, so the smaller gold fish will probably use more oxygen individually than the catfish will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the end it's a guessing game. The best thing to do is to start with a small amount of fish and run them for a few months. If they do well, then add a couple of more. You can also just use a test to determine if your oxygen levels are adequate. Here is a link to a test kit I googled. It provides 40 test for around $23. I don't know how well it works, never having used one, but I figure it's accurate enough. Kind of like the other test kits. You're not getting lab results, but good enough answers to keep you from harming your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact I do suggest you just test your water on a regular basis. Many people only check things when there is a problem. From fish, to dogs, to cars, to your own body. However, if you check it regularly and keep track of it, then you have references to what is average and you'll know when your results are abnormal. Then you can treat as required. Good luck and just guessing off the top of my head, you'd be able to add several more fish, assuming a standard rectangle tank, even if you have gravel and plastic plants with just a filter. 320liters converts to roughly 85 gallons and that's a fairly large tank. I've kept more, albeit much smaller fish, in a 10 gallon with no ill effects. I was managing it closely, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-06-03T13:28:47.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12424" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-04T05:03:17.523" Score="5" ViewCount="21243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pretty good stereo system at the house, and I like to listen to my music and movies at a loud volume, but one not particularly dangerous for humans: typically 80-90dB, possibly with peaks around 95-105dB for gunshots/explosions in movies. I'm well versed in OSHA's hearing duration recommendations, and as someone suffering from some high-frequency hearing loss due to loud concerts 20 years ago, I make very sure not to do further damage to myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;OSHA guidelines for max listening time without causing damage:&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bpd2R.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bpd2R.png&quot; alt=&quot;OSHA volume duration&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a dog who loves to lay near my feet while I'm listening to music, or watching movies. My wife is concerned that &quot;the music is too loud for the dog!&quot; and constantly asking me to turn it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously dogs have more sensitive hearing than humans, but from my understanding of how sound and hearing works, all that means is that they've got a greater High Freq. range and can hear softer sounds than humans can. It doesn't seem to mean that sounds feel/are twice as loud for dogs than humans. Unfortunately trying to find information about this online seems to conclude that this is the general consensus... but of course no one has any proof, just repeating the rote &quot;dogs hearing is more sensitive&quot; line with no explanation of why that would be bad. To me that's argument makes as much sense as saying that dogs/cats have more sensitive eyesight so we ought to dim the lights so we don't hurt their eyes... which obviously isn't the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog doesn't seem to mind and happily goes to sleep right beside me during a movie at loud volume, while still going crazy when he hears a neighbor talking in their yard across the street (i.e. his hearing is fine). I'm of the opinion that if it was actually causing damage to him, he'd move to a different room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have there been any actual studies on this? Is loud music more dangerous for a dog than a human? Could the fatigue contribute to future deafness in my dog? Should I turn the volume down or is everything fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T10:09:52.913" Title="Are loud sounds/music more dangerous for a dog's hearing than a humans?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-04T09:58:59.930" Score="2" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bichon_Frise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bichon Frise&lt;/a&gt; goes crazy when we take him to the groomers and when he comes home. He has very sensitive skin and is itchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he has a flea or if there's another cause for his behavior. The vet has him on steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do about this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7347" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T16:24:08.717" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T13:14:15.710" Title="How do I help my itchy Bichon Frise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-04T15:57:09.123" Score="3" ViewCount="1070" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Mister Demeanor has been really playful, he always eats and every time I eat he wants some of what I have. Recently, I left to go to D.C. for three days. When I came back, he was acting a little strange. He hides in dark places, he is not eating (he chooses to sit by his food bowl without eating or drinking) and every time his brother Tiger wants to play he just walks away. Mister Demeanor is around 2-3 months old. I need to help him. What might be going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7348" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-12-23T19:33:58.537" LastActivityDate="2020-12-23T19:33:58.537" Title="My cat isn't eating, drinking, or playing. What might be wrong?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="12427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12157" CreationDate="2016-06-04T23:10:00.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are experienced at shearing sheep or grooming dogs, I would not try sheep shears. It is very easy to cut an animal with them. Electric clippers have safety features to minimise the chance of injury, but shears have none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say that shears are unsafe; in the hands of a skilled person they are probably as safe or even safer than electric clippers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider that sheep's wool puffs out from the body, so you don't have to (and shouldn't) hold or pull it away from the skin. I would think that with a retriever's fur you might need a brush or comb to hold the fur off of the skin while you cut it with shears. It might be very awkward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation where you want the entire body shaved as soon as possible, I'd take the dog to a groomer. If in future you want to do all the grooming yourself, and you really want to try sheep shears, then try them on the broad flattish places like the back and sides. Take it slow. As you gain confidence and get to know your dog's anatomy well (i.e., you know exactly where the skin is under all that fur) then you can start doing the more difficult places like neck, &quot;armpits&quot; and groin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T23:10:00.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12402" CreationDate="2016-06-04T23:23:14.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the &quot;meowing a lot&quot; and not going outside are unusual behaviour for your cat, he may be ill. I'd take him to the vet ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check his body carefully for any tender spots. He may have been bitten. When the skin of a cat is punctured, it can heal quickly, but the flesh underneath can be infected, causing an abscess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet gives him a clean bill of health, it may be that something outside frightened your cat. See if you can identify the problem and solve it. If it's a dog, perhaps you can make sure your cat has a high place to jump to, or fence the yard. If it's another cat, they will probably sort out the boundary issues themselves, but keep a close eye on the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if your cat wants to stay inside from now on, consider that indoor cats usually live &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; longer than outdoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-04T23:23:14.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="12429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12424" CreationDate="2016-06-05T00:23:55.293" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife is concerned that &quot;the music is too loud for the dog!&quot; and&#xA;  constantly asking me to turn it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might it be the case that the music is too loud for your wife? ;^)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Obviously dogs have more sensitive hearing than humans, but from my&#xA;  understanding of how sound and hearing works, all that means is that&#xA;  they've got a greater High Freq. range and can hear softer sounds than&#xA;  humans can. It doesn't seem to mean that sounds feel/are twice as loud&#xA;  for dogs than humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a vet, but based on my dimly remembered physics courses, I would mostly agree with you. If it's not too loud for you, it's probably OK for your dog... &lt;strong&gt;except&lt;/strong&gt; I suppose your audio system could produce frequencies that are outside your range of hearing that would be too loud for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My dog doesn't seem to mind and happily goes to sleep right beside me&#xA;  &#xA;  I'm of the opinion that if it was actually causing damage to&#xA;  him, he'd move to a different room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the sound was too loud for him, he might still prefer to be close to you! However, my guess is he wouldn't be able to sleep so easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I doubt you're doing him any damage, unless you have some equipment that can measure the sound levels throughout the entire hearing range of a dog, I don't think you can be sure. Maybe turn it down a little bit just to be on the safe side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T00:23:55.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-05T02:16:26.147" Score="3" ViewCount="3038" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had one male and two female guppies. A little more than a month ago, the male died because he was being bitten a lot by the females. Maybe there was another reason as well. The female was impregnated by him and still hasn't given birth more than a month later. She looks pregnant, but not ready yet. She also attacks the other female guppy and chases her away from food. They are in a well-planted 5 gallon (19 liters) tank. I recently put the female in a separate tank, so that there is less stress. Will she ever give birth? Why is she acting strangely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hgj17.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hgj17.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7349" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T17:46:24.537" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T17:46:24.537" Title="Why is my guppy being aggressive and not giving birth?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-05T03:32:30.297" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has just started drinking his pee when he goes outside in the grass and then he start chattering his teeth like you do when your freezing but its hot outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7351" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T04:37:32.407" Title="Dog drinking his pee" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-23T06:11:27.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12414" CreationDate="2016-06-05T08:03:21.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat continues to chase your cat-teaser time after time with no food reward, you should assume he is getting something other than food out of chasing it; either enjoyment at practice at hunting, or just burning off energy. Cats learn, and if food were his only motivation he would probably not chase it after the first couple times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as rewarding your cat with food during or after play, I do this with my cat all the time. Food is a wonderful motivator when training cats (assuming your cat is food motivated), and I like to reward spectacular jumps or catches my cat makes. Once she catches the toy she often doesn't want to release it, and she will (with some toys) try to chew her 'prey' destruction. Trying to pull a caught toy away from her just makes her hold the toy tighter, so to prevent toy destruction I will toss a kitty kibble down the hall, which causes her to immediately release the toy and run after the kibble. I am giving her the choice of chewing the toy or getting food, and she always chooses the food. Adding food as a reward to playtime increases my cat's desire to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with keshlam that you should watch your cat for overexertion. Stop now and then and determine how hard he is breathing to avoid overexerting your cat. Cats are not long distance runners, they are sprinters; they are designed for short intense activity in between long periods of low activity or rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T08:03:21.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6181" CreationDate="2016-06-05T08:26:02.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have in the past used 8-12&quot; stuffed animals (usually tigers). I'm not sure how much difference it makes to the cat whether you use a kicker (stuffed rectangle) or a stuffed animal toy, but I enjoy making the stuffed animal lash its tail and make stalking movements toward my cat, and I think that my cat gets more enjoyment out of this sort of play, since when I do so my cat often switches from defensive fighting positions (lying on back) to offensive ones (jumping on the toy and chewing/kicking the heck out of it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the hand attacking/kicking behavior is play for the purpose of learning how to fight large opponents (like other cats), while chasing a cat teaser or laser pointer is play for the purpose of learning to catch prey. I try to think about how to make my cat's pretend opponent more realistic since this seems to make my cat enjoy play more. So when I use a laser pointer, I will make the dot scurry along walls, duck around corners, and run and hide inside paper bags as though it were a small frightened prey animal, rather than just wriggle it back and forth in front of my cat, and she seems to become much more focused on catching the dot when I do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T08:26:02.007" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-05T17:56:09.150" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're getting some eggs in a couple of days to put under our broody hen - is there anything we need to be aware of? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6968" LastActivityDate="2016-06-05T17:56:09.150" Title="Putting eggs under a broody hen" Tags="&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15931" CreationDate="2016-06-05T18:09:41.350" Score="5" ViewCount="601" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two middle-aged (or older?) cats from the same shelter 3.5 years ago.  Both were healthy until recently when one developed FIP.  Since I adopted them they have had no contact with other cats, aside from whatever happens behind the scenes at the vet's office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_ftp.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article from the Cornell Veterinary School&lt;/a&gt;, a cat can be exposed to the virus (with no symptoms) and develop FIP years later.  So it sounds like it's possible that my cat came to me already infected and the disease only manifested now.  (It's also possible that the other cat is a carrier who transmitted it to him without getting sick himself.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is a cat with future-FIP infectious?  Only during an initial exposure to coronavirus (when my cat caught this), or from that time onward?  Only after developing FIP?  If a cat has been exposed to coronavirus in the past but has never shown symptoms of FIP, can he transmit that coronavirus to other cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out the effect of this on my remaining cat, and whether I can safely adopt another cat to join him.  There is no reliable test for FIP other than biopsies, so at best testing can tell us if he's been exposed to coronavirus (the test looks for the antibodies). But my biggest concern is whether he could be &lt;em&gt;infectious&lt;/em&gt;.  (If he's also &lt;em&gt;infected&lt;/em&gt; then, sadly, there's nothing we can do about that.  We can only test for coronavirus and coronavirus doesn't always lead to FIP from what I've read.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T17:36:14.323" Title="When is coronavirus leading to FIP contagious?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12418" CreationDate="2016-06-06T14:11:58.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure this is what you are looking for, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/compare-the-3-types-of-flea-and-tick-medication-for-dogs/2790&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;two brands of oral anti-tick/flea medicine for dogs&lt;/a&gt; are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Capstar Flea Killer - contains &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitenpyram&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nitenpyram&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comfortis - contains &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spinosad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitenpyram on Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitenpyram is an insecticide used in agriculture and veterinary medicine to kill external parasites of pets. It is a neonicotinoid, a neurotoxin that blocks neural messages and binds particularly tightly in the central nervous system of insects, causing rapid death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been used orally in dogs, cats and some wildlife species for over 10 years. After ingestion, it begins killing adult fleas within 10 to 30 minutes and continues to kill fleas for 4 to 6 hours. The effects of nitenpyram last approximately 24–48 hours. Nitenpyram is safe to use on puppies and kittens as young as four weeks old if they weigh at least 2 pounds (0.91 kg). Panting and excitement, as well as other symptoms, have been noted in cats and dogs within 2 hours of administration. In heavily infested animals, it can cause extreme itching as the fleas die. There is no antidote for Nitenpyram poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitenpyram does not kill insect eggs and has no long-term activity. Thus, it is not effective as a long-term flea preventative. It is used to kill adult fleas quickly on an infested animal, and combined with a longer-term flea preventative like fipronil or lufenuron to prevent reinfestation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spinosad on Wikipedia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spinosad has been used around the world for the control of a variety of insect pests, including Lepidoptera, Diptera, Thysanoptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and Hymenoptera, and many others. It was first registered as a pesticide in the United States for use on crops in 1997. Its labeled use rate is set at 1 ppm (1 mg a.i./kg of grain) and its maximum residue limit (MRL) or tolerance is set at 1.5 ppm. Spinosad’s widespread commercial launch was deferred, awaiting final MRL or tolerance approvals in a few remaining grain-importing countries. It is considered a natural product, thus is approved for use in organic agriculture by numerous nations. Two other uses for spinosad are for pets and humans. Spinosad has recently been used in oral preparations to treat C. felis, the cat flea, in canines and felines; the optimal dose set for canines is reported to be 30 mg/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trade names include Comfortis and Trifexis (which also includes milbemycin oxime) (both brands treat adult fleas on pets; the latter also prevents heartworm disease), and Natroba (for human head lice). It is commonly used to kill thrips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to make a bit of a personal statement here, I think. As you read both of the above descriptions, you might notice that the medicine used in both of the above medications is designed really for the immediate killing of fleas and ticks, in the short term. Wanting to make your pet's remaining years more comfortable and less medicated is a great ideal, but neither of these products are going to be long lasting enough to act as a preventative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, your choices need to be limited (for a preventative solution) to topical oils and/or collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T14:53:31.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12418" CreationDate="2016-06-06T18:33:45.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The name of the drug is Bravecto&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The active ingredient is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluralaner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Furalaner&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3975339/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;safety study&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It enters the bloodstream and has efficacy for up to 8 weeks.  Ticks that consume the blood of the host ingest by proxy the insecticide which effects their respiratory system&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fda.gov/downloads/animalveterinary/products/approvedanimaldrugproducts/foiadrugsummaries/ucm399075.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FDA application for approval from May 15, 2014&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3701" LastActivityDate="2016-06-06T18:33:45.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-06T22:50:22.243" Score="4" ViewCount="2509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 year old tabby cat. I have had him since he was around 10 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past approximately two years he has started to hate strangers coming over. It started about a year ago when my friend's sister was watching him and had a friend over. He sniffed around her stuff, seemed anxious then attacked her. And when I describe his attacking, I mean as vicious a cat attack as I have seen anywhere, and I include television in that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It got to a point today where my girlfriend had a colleague staying with us. He attacked her, my girlfriend and myself (scratching and hissing). It got to such an awful point her colleague started to cry. Obviously I felt awful about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, I'd try to give him a time out in another room, but I can't pick him up because he attacks me viciously whenever I try to get near him.  He seems incredibly anxious and scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I have tried everything - distracting him, giving him treats, playing with him, but nothing seems to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has now got to the stage where he will periodically attack me in a hugely vicious manner.  He often leaves me bleeding.  I really want to correct this behaviour, but I can't do anything when he attacks. He seems blinded by rage.  I just have to get out of his way and let him calm down a little, but I'm a prisoner in my own home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would love to know how to train him out of this - can't even have friends over at the moment and honestly I fear for my safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To note: I have tried Feliway but it seems to only make him more angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7360" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:00:41.803" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T14:12:29.033" Title="Desperately need help with incredibly aggressive cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13443" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-07T01:53:23.573" Score="3" ViewCount="1856" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 6 dogs, the new dog will cover my crotch while sleeping... not a huge issue I guess but she uses her nose and sometimes pushes HARD. I heard they do that with food. Does she think my crotch is food? Is she trying some weird dominate thing?she will grab whatever is in reach and pile it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7361" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-07T20:22:32.273" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T20:22:32.273" Title="Why does my dog push my crotch while I'm sleeping?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1862" CreationDate="2016-06-07T02:08:46.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our rabbit just died today because she was young and got scared to death by out giant dog. She escaped the cage and ran in front of him, he lunged, she ran and hid as he tried to grab her and when I picked he up her breathing was crazy and then she passed, eyes open in shock. The dog didn't touch her, just scared her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7362" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T02:08:46.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13443" CreationDate="2016-06-07T02:29:27.187" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs &quot;see&quot; the world more with their nose than their eyes.  Not to get too graphic but the most odorous place on the human body is the genitals. Many dogs will sniff new people's crotches , much to the embarrassment of their owners. It's a dogs way of identifying and remembering who you are.  For whatever reason, some dogs do this much more than other dogs. If she/he is new, and you have a houseful of other dogs, she /he may be nervous and lays across your lap or pushes her nose into your crotch hard as a way to calm her/himself.  I know it sounds weird, but smelling their humans is very comforting to some dogs.  It's like they are saying &quot;Ah !  There you are !&quot;  Hope that helps. ZZ&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7363" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T02:29:27.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13442" CreationDate="2016-06-07T07:12:45.303" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it would be beneficial to have a cat behaviourist pay a visit, and observe the cat in your home, and observe how you interact with him. There are probably things that you're doing (without being aware of them) that exacerbate the problem. Your vet or local animal shelter can probably recommend someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I do have some suggestions that may help. You describe the cat as being angry or experiencing rage, but you also describe him as anxious and scared. In fact, I think the cat is acting almost entirely out of fear. And as you and your girlfriend are naturally becoming more anxious around him, it exacerbates the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we need to focus on making the cat feel &lt;em&gt;safe and secure&lt;/em&gt; in his home. Set up some places where he can observe things from a height. A cat tree in the living room (or wherever you spend most of your time) would be great. It would be best if he has the option of walking around the room without ever touching the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I would look at how you pet him. Some cats are overstimulated if you pet them from the head, along the body, toward the tail. Try just petting the head, e.g. scratching the ears and stroking the cheeks. Watch his body language, too: If the tip of the tail is twitching, he's getting overstimulated, and if the tail is lashing about, you've gone too far. And certainly don't roughhouse with him the way you might with a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would trim his claws so that if he does attack he won't do as much harm, and so that you'll be less worried about the possibility that he might attack. I realise that if you're having difficulty picking him up, then trimming his claws yourself might be too much of a challenge, but you could get a groomer to do it. Then, as the cat gets calmer, you can take over the job. Remember that you only need to do the front paws, and you can do one nail one day, and another nail another day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T07:12:45.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13451" CreationDate="2016-06-07T15:25:49.537" Score="2" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad has promised me that we will adopt  a dog before my birthday, but before that, I want to know what preparations I should make before having one. (My mom is a dog lover and has a little experience with dogs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7368" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T16:22:57.640" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T16:22:57.640" Title="What things should I prepare before having a dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13448" CreationDate="2016-06-07T16:31:32.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs like schedules, so preparing a schedule is probably the most important preparation you can make. &#xA;If you have a fenced-in yard, I highly recommend installing a dog door so your dog can let himself in and out for the bathroom. If you're adopting a puppy, you'll have to train this behavior, but older, potty trained dogs will usually catch on pretty fast. &#xA;If you don't have a fenced-in yard, or don't want to install a dog door, you'll have to figure out a potty schedule. The frequency will depend on the dog and his age, generally around 4-5 times per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also have to figure out a time to take him out on walks. Even small dogs need a lot of exercise. Tired dogs are well behaved dogs, which will help your new dog settle peacefully into his new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also want to figure out a feeding schedule -- two to three meals a day works for most owners. As with potty breaks and walks, try to keep it regular. &#xA;Figure out a sleeping arrangement for your dog. I recommend  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;crate training&lt;/a&gt; your dog. It keeps new dogs contained at night while you can't keep a close eye on them. I did this with mine when they were young, and now they know to stay in bed at night, even though we've phased out the crates in favor of dog pillows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, figure out a vet to take your dog to. The shelter you adopt your dog from will let you know if he needs any more shots or to be neutered/spayed. Check out online reviews and find a vet's office nearby that you can take him to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;okay, here's a basic list of what you'll need to take care of your doggy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food and water dishes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dog food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treats (get small ones -- they're better for training)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crate (optional)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leash and collar (if you get a spazzy dog, you may opt for a harness too)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog tags (you can get them engraved and most pet stores)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More things that you can wait on for a little while, but will need eventually:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog shampoo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog Nail clippers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brush (unless you get a long hair dog, in which case you'll need one immediately)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T16:31:32.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13448" CreationDate="2016-06-07T20:43:00.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to things to get, you need to agree on a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What will the dog be allowed to do&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What behaviors are &quot;Must haves&quot; and shoudl be trained?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What style of trainign do you prefer?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you have a previously well-trained dog, you will need to continue working with him, in a consitant way! In most cases (traumatized dogs and just ESPECIALLY wild or stubborn ones excluded), gentle trainign-styles will work just fine, as long as everyone is consitant! For example, if you decide &quot;my dog is allowed on the couch&quot;, that is just fine, but make sure everyone agrees on that, and make sure you can send him off at any time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And (as @Paparazzi mentioned in his comment) find a dog that matches YOUR personality. Good breeders can make good guesses about their puppies, good shelters and adoption-groups know about their dogs as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T20:43:00.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13448" CreationDate="2016-06-07T21:01:01.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Kwuz did a pretty good job. I will offer my take on it, though, since it's a little different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is assess your situation and figure out if you should get a dog. I'm not telling you that you can't or shouldn't have a dog. I don't know that. It's what you have to figure out. There are lots of people who love the idea of having a dog, but in reality they might not have the time, money, energy, or lifestyle to have a dog. It's now fair to the dog that get and in the end it's really about that. What's good for the dog. If you run through your assessment and find that you still think you should get a dog, then great. If not, then it's just not time and you should wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of all the things to consider, time is the largest commitment. Will you have all the time that your dog needs from you. If he's an indoor dog, he'll need to be walked a minimum of twice a day with one walk being fairly long. This is good for his mental health. He'll be focusing on following you as the leader if you're doing it right. It helps mentally drain him and helps prevent some &quot;bad&quot; behaviors you can see. So you have to decide if you'll be able to get up early to take him for a walk, keeping in mind that it may be raining or snowing. If it is, you have to get dressed and be miserable in it, because you can't leave him inside when he has to go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other time commitments are grooming, which takes more time the more hair the dog has, bathing, trips to the vet, etc... If someone is willing to help you with these chores to free up some of your time, that's awesome. However, if at any time, they opt out, you have to buckle down and handle whatever it is yourself. I'm not trying to discourage you at all. I'm just being realistic. A lot of people even convince themselves that they'll do right by their dog, but it's easy to do these things 1 time, 10 times, or 100 times, but even a large breed dog will mean approx. 7 years of your life. Small dogs can be around longer than you've been alive so far. It's really something you have to think about. Also think about what you'll be doing within that dogs lifespan. Will you be moving out, going to college, etc... What happens to the dog then, can you take him with you. You're making a commitment now that will affect you for some time to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've thought about the time it'll require of your life and you've decided to go ahead, then congratulations. The next step is to decide what type of dog you want. By that, I don't mean breed, but energy type. This is just as important as the time and it can make a huge difference. Currently, I have a Jack Russell. This is listed as one of the most energetic breeds. At 14 years old, she still runs around like when she was 2. I live on a fairly large acre farm and spent many, many hours training her and working the energy off of her. It paid off, though, and now I can walk into the vet and she hops in a chair beside me and other people don't believe she's a Jack Russell, they think she's a puppy first, then another breed. I tell them what she is and they tell me I must be mistaken, because they are crazy hyper and bite, while mine sits there and looks around calmly. It was just hours of work, though. If you live a high energy life style then you can have a high energy dog in a small living situation, like and apartment. That'll take more effort on your part, though. You can reduce your load by getting a less energetic dog. I can have a higher energy dog, with less effort, because I have space where she can frequently cut loose if she wants to. On the other hand, if you're a low energy person, get a low energy dog. The key is to match yourself and your (realistic) goals to your dog. If you're a runner and you've stuck with it for a while, you can really handle a high energy dog. If you're honest and you're a couch potato like me, then you either need to get a low/moderate energy dog, or prepare to kick yourself in the butt and get moving for them. She's not made me any less lazy, but I am healthier for having to get up and do things with her. So that's something to think about to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, if you have decided what kind of dog to you're looking for, then start shopping around. It really doesn't matter if it's a rescue dog or a purebred. All dogs can be great. The only consideration is that if you buy from a breeder, you do the research and make sure they're reputable and that they've screened for health concerns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NEVER, I repeat NEVER, buy a dog that you believe is part of a puppy mill operation. A puppy mill is where people basically log dogs in cages except when they're breeding them and then they sell the puppies to make a profit. I've been told that a good breeder barely makes money off of the puppies after they've provided the proper care to the mother and the puppies. Never buy a puppy that is less than 8 weeks old either (and older isn't worse), because they won't be properly socialized. You'll hear that from a lot of people, but what it means is that they are around their mother and their siblings. When they play too rough the others tell them so and they're reprimanded or loose their playmate. These and other actions teach your dog what boundaries are, what consequences are and how to get along politely with others. That doesn't mean that a puppy left with it's mother long enough will turn out a wonder dog, because reinforcement of principles occur over the dogs whole life, but it does start them off well. It's like how when you were little, your parents taught you not to throw your food on the floor or scream bloody murder. At least I hope so, right? :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This same deal applies to back yard breeders. I wouldn't buy puppies from a friend or anyone else that bred their dog themselves. I think this is highly irresponsible. There is no genetic screening, no though as to why the dog should or shouldn't be bred, no thought to confirmation, or improvement of the dog. They just want to breed, either to make a buck or because they want to continue their beloved dogs &quot;line&quot;. It makes me sick when I hear someone say they just want to breed their dog once before they fix it. The truth is that a pregnancy is dangerous for any dog. Females can only have 2-3 liters in relative safety before it gets dangerous for them. On top of that you will deform a females body for no good reason, and no least, you've increased the puppy population in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong, I'm all for breeding dogs. It's the same with horses. The economy crashed and backyard breeders couldn't move their horses anymore. People who were buying were much more discerning (like they should have been from the start) and other who couldn't afford to keep them couldn't sell them. I was personally riding horses once and we pulled in right as a couple were riding out. We got back right before they did and they had two horses loaded on their trailer. It was that bad. Having said that, if you don't breed, you don't improve and you loose history that we have in these breeds. I'm just lobbying for responsible breeders and buyers who care about the health of the animal and the betterment of the breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even new breeds can be okay. As a matter of fact, I just saw a picture of a Pomeranian/Siberian husky cross named Mya that was gorgeous. She looked like a fox. I'd love to have one. However, I'll do my research and find out if they're healthy and all that before hand. I won't go into it blind or support someone who is hammering out dogs to satisfy the designer dog demand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So even if you want a purebred or close enough, you can adopt them. Many search sites allow you input the breed you'd like. The only consideration is like with any other mutt (I love them and have had several), you don't have a clue as to their genetic makeup and you could end up looking at sever health complications down the road, or none at all. It's a crap-shoot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now you've decided that you want a dog, that you have the time and commitment to take care of it, you're going to find a responsible breeder, and you've listened to this loudmouth drone on-and-on like he knows what he's talking about. :) The next thing to do is start doing your research. Start looking into what the top quality foods are and find a compromise of what is best and what you can afford. It would be nice to have a 5-star chef/canine nutritionist prepare your dogs every meal, but you can be realistic. I grew up feeding my dogs kibbles-and-bits. They were okay. That's not to say a good quality food won't make your dog live longer and be healthier. As one example, I inherited a keeshond from my grandmother. She went from indoor dog to indoor/outdoor dog. She developed a skin condition. The vet suggest changing to a grain free dog food. Her skin cleared up and she even lost a little weight. You'll have to make that call yourself. It's also something to consider when choose how large of a dog you want. I like good sized dog, but I tell you that I much prefer picking up my Jack Russell to the fat lab I used to have when it came time to put them in the back of the truck or up on the vets table. You'll also be able to feed a more expensive food when they don't eat a garbage can full at a sitting. At lets be honest, I met a Great Dane who's tail was at a really awkward height. He wagged near me once and I saw stars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else to research is training. I suggest you look into clicker training, also known as operant conditioning. The idea of it is that in traditional training, the dog does a behavior and you say &quot;good boy&quot; and give him a treat. However, the dog could pop up, turn his head, or any number of behaviors in the time it takes you to say &quot;good boy&quot; much less walk over and give him the treat. The sound of the clicker becomes what's called a &quot;bridge&quot;. It's short and sharp and clearly marks the exact instant the dog achieve the desired behavior. He learns, through &quot;charging&quot;, that the clicker means a treat and associates the exact action at the time of the click with the treat, thus his mind bridges &lt;em&gt;wink,wink&lt;/em&gt; the association between the two. You can practice at home by dropping a tennis ball and clicking the instant it touches the floor. It's good to practice your coordination before trying it on the dog. It'll confuse him some if you're trying to work things out at the same time. That's inevitable, and fine, but should be minimized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also envision you're ideal dog. What do you want in a dog. Is he going to follow you around, instantly listen to any command, rescue babies from burning buildings? Or is he just going to have a solid grasp of basic commands and not do a bunch of aggravating things like whine, pee in the house, jump on people, dash through doors knocking people down, chase cats, etc... You need to have some sort of image in your head that you're working toward. Every second you're with your dog you're working toward that goal. It's very important not to expect something a dog isn't capable of, and you shouldn't expect large leaps of progress, as a matter of fact I'll tell you now that your dog absolutely will go backward in his training at some point. He'll do something right a hundred times, then act like he doesn't know what you're talking about. It's normal and you shouldn't be discouraged. However, you should have that idea in your mind and take little opportunities to fix it. As an example, when I inherited the keeshond, she had zero manners or training. I start working on basics, like not coming in the house unless asked. That's a basic skill that allows me to enjoy having my doors open in the spring or fall, or even carry groceries inside without having to worry about a dog running in and knocking me down. My family actively fought me on this, calling me a dictator and took opportunities to undermine me and let the dog bust in. Then they took her to the river in a freshly washed car. They got ready to leave and the dog had rolled in stinking river mud. They opened the door and told her to hold on a second while they laid a dog blanket down for the mess. The split second they shifted out of the way, the dog leaped into the car, smearing mud on their clothes, then proceeded to jump from the backseat to the front where she shook that lovely mud all over the car. They took it a little more seriously after that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That brings me to my next point. Make sure you're family is going to back you up. It's not required, but if your family back you up and reinforces training the same as you, then your dog will progress much more rapidly. If they do like my family, then the dog will still listen to you, but it can act bad when out of your sight. They'll end up resenting it when it doesn't listen, even though they wouldn't put in the minimum effort and it'll be a thing. Have them read this post if you need to. They can take away from it what they want to. I'm telling you, though, that adopting a dog is a family ordeal, even if it's one person's dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same training vein, try to decide how much you want to train your dog. Some dogs are smarter than others, so your dog will be self-limiting to a point, however, if you plan to train more than the basics, put some thought into a command list. Dogs don't speak English, no matter what anyone tells you. They can learn certain commands and pick up on body language very well. They can also anticipate set ups. You'll tend to do things the same way even subconsciously. They don't speak English, though and can't infer what you mean. So it's best to use short, sharp commands, like: sit, stay, down, over, etc... It's best not to even use verbal commands till you get consistent results from no verbal cues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train &quot;sit&quot; for having the dog sit and &quot;down&quot; for the dog lying down, you wouldn't want to say &quot;sit down&quot;, the human can infer that you mean sit, but the dog hears to commands. It's also long for a command. The more cues you teach, the more conflict you'll have. So you should take the time before the dog arrives to hash out a substantial command list so you don't teach something now that sounds like something else latter on. You always have the option of going outside the English language if you need to. Some people intentionally training a dog in another language. The helps avoid confusion, say if some at your house tell another person to sit down and they'll bring them a drink. They do it as well, for security dogs, so they can't be called off except by a trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training your dog, you should keep sessions short and frequent. Dogs have an attention span and they'll shut down if you pass it. It'll get longer the older and more trained they get, but you should still keep sessions short and frequent as opposed to one hour long session. If a dog gets confused and seems to be try but not getting it, or you start getting frustrated, back down to an easier task, quite them, think about it, and come back fresh later. Also, start in a distraction free environment. A quite room should be a starting point. A fair or rodeo should be something to work toward. You should be careful not to train in exactly the same way every time. You'll be surprised when you have the dog face you and sit, that he won't sit beside you, facing the same way. You'll give the command and he'll run around and face you to sit. Use a wall and a stick to block him or think of anther clever way to teach him that sit simply means sit, no matter where you are or which way you're facing. This applies to other commands as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When clicker training, treat often. People don't treat enough, especially when the dog is just learning clicker training. The dog is working for a reward. If it isn't great enough of often enough, they'll quite on you. The same as you will if your work asks you for a massive out put, but then doesn't pay your well or frequently. If you think they've done well, then give them a jackpot reward, which is a handful of treats and lots of praise. Something to keep in mind is that your dogs motivation will wane in proportion to how full he gets, so keep the treats small. He can also get fat, so you may need to substitute some of his meal for the treats when training heavily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, (getting to the end here, I promise) you need to keep an open mind and wade through the trash. You're going to find a lot of information on dogs and a lot of conflicting information. You'll have people that believe in a lot of negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement only, or a mix. Personally, I believe in a mix. There are some things, squirrels are a good example, that can be more motivating than a click and a treat. In a case like this It's fine to say no or use an appropriate leash correction. Negative reinforcement can be harsh but it doesn't have to be. I also believe in electronic collars (aka shock collars) they get a bad wrap, but it's a tool like any other. My Jack Russell for instance, could really have used one when she was younger. She was really well behaved when on a leash, but she quickly found out that I didn't have control when it wasn't on and it took a long time to train her that way. You aren't electrocuting your dog and many have a beep or a vibration to start and proceed from there. It's simply a way to tap your dog on the should from a long distance and say, no I can still touch you. I do strongly recommend training with an instructor before using one. The dog has to be introduced properly or he won't understand where it's coming from and the trainer has to be rock solid as well. You can't risk accidentally hitting the button or hitting it in anger or frustration. If you're mad or frustrated it's because you aren't doing it right. You need to regroup, get help, and try again. Knowledge is power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things to wade through are fads. One that I really don't like are harnesses. Even Kwuz suggested getting a harness if the dog was a spaz. The purpose of the harness in the dog world was so that tracking dogs could run to the end of their lead and pull the handler along without having the lead pull their head up off the ground and away from the sent. Another purpose is so that sled dogs can pull more easily and the pressure is distributed across their body for maximum comfort when pulling. So taking a spaz or untrained dog and putting on a device that allows them to be bad more efficiently doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I even heard my aunt tell me that the &quot;breeder&quot; of her Pomeranian told her to only use a harness and not a collar on him because they have bird bones and his own wait on the end of the leash could snap his neck. That's a load of horse hockey. You will have to be careful with a dog like that that you don't hurt them, but they can easily be trained not to pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Jack Russell was very bad at first about chocking herself and making a horrible sound when I was first training her to the leash and collar. You need to do it the same way as you do with a horse though. I guarantee you don't see anyone leading one of those around by a harness around their chest. When training a horse to lead, you teach them to give to the pressure. Let your dog walk around with the leash and collar on in the house. You don't want him to get up too much speed. He'll step on the collar and he'll have to step off of it to relieve the pressure. You can also put gentle pressure on the lead and wait till he step off of the pressure, even an inch and release it. You can click-and-treat for quicker results. It's also better to pull them slightly to the side so they can't brace against it. When they take a step to keep their balance, you release the pressure and they learn that they should come off of pressure, not lean into it. Consistent practice will have them leading like champs in no time. Again, you'll run into situations where something happens. The dog will pull, but its about what you've spent hour after hour, two minutes at a time, ingraining into your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I hope this has helped you some. I think what I've gone over is more important that listing the basics, like food bowl and brush. I think this will give you some ideas and skills to excel with your dog. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-06-07T21:01:01.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13448" CreationDate="2016-06-07T21:34:18.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I read all the answers before adding my contribution... but in this case... in addition to other responses...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a long time and long term dog owner I can provide a list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have the opportunity, take your puppy to puppy school;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have the opportunity, socialise your puppy with other dogs as often as possible when he or she is young - but only after the period of isolation required following vaccination; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puppies are &quot;children&quot; until about 1.5 - 2 years old - great love and patience is required;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While it is a puppy, teach your dog to allow you to remove food from their mouth - it could save their life later; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not punish your dog, they do not understand the concept;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train your dog with care, thought and careful observation;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train your dog using carefully selected and consistent commands based on different sounding words, so there is less chance for ambiguity;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On training, apart from the basic commands, don't expect too much obedience until your dog is 2 years old;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On training, if your dog demonstrates &quot;good&quot; behaviour, lavish them with attention and praise;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On training, if your dog demonstrates &quot;bad&quot; behaviour, ignore him or her for periods of time to clearly demonstrate your displeasure - a little &quot;bad&quot;, ignore for an hour, a lot &quot;bad&quot;, ignore for 24 hours - still feed your dog during this time as they rely on you for food, just do so without acknowledgement. (Don't use this method until your dog is older maybe 1 - 1.5 years. Don't use this method with house training.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;House train your dog with empathy - it must be taught but it knows no better - when it has an accident, firmly hold its snout next to the mess, say once and once only a very strong and firm &quot;NO&quot;, lift the dog up and place it outside - as other answers comment it is important to schedule regular breaks to toilet train your dog. Wet grass is a great trigger for young pups to take a toilet break. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs are pack animals - to live a fulfilling life, dogs need to feel loved and feel like they are an important part of their pack, in this case you and your family;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs will challenge us to be the alpha male or female (boss) of the pack - ensure &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; maintain this role by providing &lt;strong&gt;strong&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;consistent&lt;/strong&gt; routine and commands;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if we are watchful and thoughtful, dogs can teach us a lot about life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Kwuz 's answer is excellent. The comments about schedule (routine) are important and deserve significant consideration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck you should look forward to a more fulfilling and love filled life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2016-06-08T04:09:23.837" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T04:09:23.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13442" CreationDate="2016-06-07T23:01:41.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost - thank you for not giving up on him. It sounds as though you love him a lot and are willing to work at changing his behavior. What's his name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wrote: &quot;In the past approximately two years he has started to hate strangers coming over. It started about a year ago when my friends sister was watching him and had a friend over.&quot; Could you clarify if this fearful behavior has been going on for one year or two? I'm a bit confused. I'm trying to pin down what the initial trigger was to see how that's been reinforced over a specific time range. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, could you describe the vet visit he had? Was it a basic examination or did he have blood work done? I'm assuming he's neutered, and don't mean to insult you by suggesting he's not. Was it a repeat visit with his usual vet, or was it the first time he's been to that vet - or any vet - in his life? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I urge you to start watching a show on the Animal Planet channel, &quot;My Cat From Hell,&quot; with Jackson Galaxy. Not only will you get solid advice to start using right now, but you won't feel so alone. He has some videos on YouTube, as well. There are clips from the show on Animal Planet's website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the wombat that getting your kitty to some high ground might afford him some feeling of control. Make sure not to let him get so high that you can't reach him quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two suggestions could give you two quick steps you can take to reduce anxiety in both you and your cat. I doubt there will be a quick and easy way to fix the whole problem, but assure you that if he's physically normal, it can be done. It might even be easier and/or quicker than you think. If he has a physical problem (pain, brain wiring, etc.), that can be tracked down, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5192" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-11T14:12:29.033" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T14:12:29.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17308" CreationDate="2016-06-08T07:51:02.023" Score="8" ViewCount="3893" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding my cat (3 years old neutered male British shorthair) with dry and occasionally wet (but I prefer mostly dry food according to the vet's advice to keep his teeth healthy) food from one of the most expensive cat food brand since he was 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that to eat the same food all the time might not be healthy and try to give him some fresh cooked meal. What surprises me is that he shows almost no interest in trying fresh cooked food, chicken, beef or fish which a normal stray cat would love to have. He just smells the food I offer him and look at my face like “Are you kidding me? Do you really think that I eat this crap?”. I have also tried cooking meat without any salt and spices but still didn’t work with him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Is-there-an-additive-in-commercial-cat-food-that-cats-find-addictive/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;websites&quot;&gt;websites&lt;/a&gt;, fabricated foods “are sprayed with proprietary mixtures of palatability enhancers”. I have no problem with that as long as they are not unhealthy. However, I really wonder if commercial foods have all the nutrition and vitamins my cat needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I change my cat's eating habit that he eats also fresh cooked meats? According to some cat owners, cat will eat anything if you don’t feed him a day (or two) long but I can’t do that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or is it completely ok if cat eats fabricated food all the time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7337" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-09T20:33:18.753" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:44:36.380" Title="Are commercial cat foods addictive?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2016-06-08T08:53:52.837" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Commercial foods from respectable manufacturers will meet the cats' nutritional needs better than anything home-cooked is likely to. They know the requirements precisely from lab studies, and supplement the foods to meet those needs. There are specific issues to watch out for, such as ash content which can affect kidney health, but avoiding the cheapest brands will screen out most of those problems and your vet can probably recommend which brands they are happiest with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be notoriously picky eaters, given the opportunity, and often are less appreciative of variety than we expect them to be. If you've found something the cat likes, it's entirely reasonable to stick with it for long periods, offering alternatives periodically to see whether the cat considers them interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-06-08T09:00:51.703" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T09:00:51.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13466" CreationDate="2016-06-08T10:11:43.283" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17370/can-dish-soap-really-be-used-to-kill-ticks-and-fleas/37134#37134&quot;&gt;on Biology.SE, indicating that lemon dawn can help control fleas but also should not be used on cats.&lt;/a&gt; What &quot;adverse reactions&quot; do Limonene and Linalool have on cats?  How is this different from reactions on other species? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T20:47:30.733" Title="Why shouldn't I use Lemon Dawn to wash a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3248" CreationDate="2016-06-08T16:23:31.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet advised me to add a thin layer of &quot;Dr Elsey's CatAttract&quot; to the box.  This is a litter designed (as I understand) to smell like the kinds of places favored by feral cats for their function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It hasn't helped much, yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LATER:  What worked, it seems, was cleaning the box more often (I had been doing it once a day).  I'll continue to add CatAttract until it runs out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7318" LastEditorUserId="7318" LastEditDate="2016-06-29T19:35:10.590" LastActivityDate="2016-06-29T19:35:10.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-08T19:29:08.387" Score="4" ViewCount="1375" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago I saw a wild rabbit eating my green beans. I kept seeing her, but she sort of stopped. Sort of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night, while it was still light, my dog had something in his mouth, I yelled at him to drop it because 2 years ago, during Easter, he had a baby bunny. Anyways, he dropped it and it was a newborn baby bunny. I put on gloves and put it in an open plastic container, putting the fluff surrounding the nest in it, and what did I find? 7 more newborn bunnies. When I say newborn, I mean they were born at the very least on Friday or Saturday, if not yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nest was in my yard, which is fenced, and with my dog being an avid hunter I decided I would dig them another little nest nearby. Just as I was picking up the container, their mother was a few feet away and darted under the fence. I dug them a little burrow on the other side of my fence, so my mean dog wouldn't kill them. I would say a few yards away. The entire time the mother was watching me. I put them in the nest, I checked on them this morning and they were all still in there and burrowed together (so adorable) but I was wandering a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a way to tell if they are orphaned?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a way to tell if they are unhealthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do i do if they are orphaned or unhealthy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I can post a picture if needed, but they look healthy and made little cut noises too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T13:13:29.260" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T13:13:29.260" Title="How can I make sure wild baby bunnies aren't orphaned?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13458" CreationDate="2016-06-08T19:56:35.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would make a little tell-tale setup to let you know if the mother is around. Maybe push a couple of sticks in the ground around the nest and prop up grass stems or something like that. If the mother is coming around, she'll knock the stems down and you'll be able to see if she is coming and going. Or you can just set up a game camera if you know someone who has one or use binoculars. The biggest thing you shouldn't do, though is continue to go around the nest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Newborn rabbits, especially babies without fur, aren't going to last long. I'd suggest searching online for wild animal centers or contact your local game and wildlife management office and ask them for more information. They'll be able to point you to a rescue if you think the mother has abandoned them. Also, they'll be able to tell you of any legal ramifications. For instance, in many states, it's illegal to keep a wild rabbit as a pet without some type of license. You're not trying to do that, so there isn't an issue, but if you did try to keep them and raise them, it's just something to keep in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and I hope they do okay. I imagine that since you didn't move them very far and the mother saw them that she'll come back and take care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T19:56:35.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13462" CreationDate="2016-06-08T22:54:28.143" Score="4" ViewCount="7344" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit just died but she leaves behind a bonded sister of 7 years. The rabbit who died has always been interested and friendly with us but her sister has always been very tentative and shy with people. I understand that it is recommended to bring the rabbit's dead body home from the vet to let the other rabbit get closure, but unfortunately this is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help my rabbit cope with the passing of her sister and recognize symptoms of depression? I feel like showering her with attention is not something she will necessarily enjoy. I could give her extra treats, but that doesn't seems like a great idea either. Should I make changes to her environment perhaps? She has free run of the house currently. Getting a new rabbit to bond with is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is not an easy question, so thank you deeply for any suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7374" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T20:53:16.193" Title="My rabbit just died but she leaves behind a bonded sister of 7 years. How can I help her cope?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2016-06-08T23:18:32.323" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a sense, yes, commercial cat foods could be addictive insofar as tasty food is addictive. This does not mean that there is anything nefarious in the commercial food (like nicotine in tobacco). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to supplement your cat's diet with fresh cooked meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7374" LastActivityDate="2016-06-08T23:18:32.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13460" CreationDate="2016-06-09T00:08:40.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can die of loneliness when their bond mate dies.  Rabbits are extremely dependent on digestion for survival.  Rabbits that don't eat for 24 hours tend to die. 12 Hours without eating is a medical emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like us, when a loved one dies, you get sad and maybe you don't feel like eating.  If your rabbit does not eat, it is really bad.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness?&lt;/a&gt; Also the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit&quot;&gt;What should be in a rabbit first aid kit?&lt;/a&gt; has some hints on what to have on hand.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what do you do?  Obviously monitor her diet, very closely.  If she is not eating figure out how to get food in her stomach.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybunny has a different personality, your remaining bunny is not a people person. You are correct that forcing her to cuddle with you is not going to help.  But do make yourself available, lay on the floor near her, sit down next to her while she is eating.  Just be there for her. You may find she now has more interest in getting pets from you (or not). But making yourself available to her, will help.  Bunnies often just lay near each other, sometimes touching some times not, but just being near is enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first couple of days through the first couple of weeks are the highest risk. If you can keep food going in her for the first couple of weeks you should be OK.  You always want to monitor intake, but after two weeks you should past the worst risk.  Everbunny I know of dying from a loss, passed in the first week to 10 days, and was not with someone who monitored their food intake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T00:08:40.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2016-06-09T09:06:47.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was separated from my cat two different times once for 18 months and another time for 25 months each time I've came home the cat interacted with me as if I never left I am also almost the only person the cat would like to interact with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7375" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T09:06:47.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-09T19:04:00.947" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been changes in our household in the last year, my granddaughter moved in with me September 2015, and I've rescued 2 kittens since August 2015.  Tiggy began this negative behavior about 4 months ago.  I scoop the litterbox often daily but this has not helped.  I've considered putting a litterbox in my bedroom but am not crazy about that idea though perhaps I should.  Any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7376" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-09T20:34:07.330" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T20:34:07.330" Title="Neutered male Maine Coon with me for 8 years has begun peeing on my bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-06-10T01:25:27.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13456" CreationDate="2016-06-09T20:47:30.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2002.221.258&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a case study&lt;/a&gt; to show that limonene can definitely be toxic, but I can't find any information on concentration/dosages (work seems to be pre-epubs), nor info on how much limonene/linalool are in lemon dawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this information, I would avoid it just based on an abundance of caution, not because it's likely to be harmful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-06-09T20:47:30.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13468" CreationDate="2016-06-09T21:20:17.090" Score="4" ViewCount="2483" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently won a big batch of cat food in a raffle, it was an unknown brand to us (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feringa-katzenfutter.de/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feringa&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We checked the contents and the bag of cat grains says it contains 0.5% catnip.&#xA;After reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1966/should-i-regularly-feed-my-cat-catnip&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; its clear that cats shouldn't eat catnip as a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how bad would 0.5% be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave some to my mother who gave it to her cats and she said they absolutely loved it, this was before we knew it had catnip in it.&#xA;So after that we figured out why the cats absolutely loved it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to end up with 2 cats who only want this brand of food anymore because it contains catnip and don't want to have to feed them this for the rest of their lives like they are addicts.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Would it be okay to give my cats this food or should i just dump it to be safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T11:10:27.377" Title="catnip in cat food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13467" CreationDate="2016-06-10T01:23:13.250" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, if you read the linked article, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/News/PressRoom/Pages/Catnip.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Crazy for catnip,&quot;&lt;/a&gt; on the American Veterinary Medical Association, you will note a few facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's no apparent addictive properties with catnip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No toxic dose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interest wanes with exposure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, with respect to worrying if they're going to become junkies to the brand, not likely to be a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, also in the article, is information that ingestion of catnip can lead to stomach upset, but that will vary by cat and by amount. If there is signs of this, you can discontinue feeding, but the amounts here are really quite small, so I think this is very unlikely. Bear in mind that it's in the food, not raw catnip and, while an anecdotal thing, we've given our cats raw catnip over the years and it's not been a problem for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, I would consider treating this more like a treat anyways. I'm not sure how big the batch is, but you can either use it like a daily small treat or mix it in with other food and slowly reduce the amount added over time as you go through the package.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T01:23:13.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13553" CreationDate="2016-06-10T04:46:39.690" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My milksnake likes to find a way behind the foam rock wall and hang out against the glass. I try to move her and set the wall more securely, but she always finds a way back there again. Anything to worry about? Is my tank too warm for her? Or does she just find this area cozy / safe. The terrarium is 3' x 2', and she's grown to about 5 ft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y4ipx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y4ipx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2487" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T16:05:13.147" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T12:19:33.180" Title="Should I worry that my milksnake likes to hang out behind the rock facade?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13471" CreationDate="2016-06-10T07:58:54.183" Score="3" ViewCount="1732" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female african gray parrot, she has been at my house since 6 years. I am the only one allowed to put his finger in her cage and cuddle her, if any body else tries to put his finger, she will attempt to bite, even if my wife attempts to do so, knowing that my wife spends much more time with her than me, Is it normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing, when i give her my finger, she grabs it with her legs, then she folds her wings a little bit to the front, as if she was hugging a small chick, then she begins to get half-digested food from her mouth and puts them on my finger, making small noises funny sound in the process, similar to a chicken sound, what is this behavior, and how can we describe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7379" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T01:48:52.750" Title="My Female African gray Parrot tries to feed me when I cuddle her" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13470" CreationDate="2016-06-10T13:48:36.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;She thinks of you as another parrot, another member of her flock, a relative, and possibly as her mate, and is treating you that way when trying to feed you. It's weird from our human point of view, but it makes perfect sense to a bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not liking other humans: she may see them as competition, or she may just not trust them. I don't speak bird well enough to offer advice the best way to get past this; hopefully someone else can do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-06-10T18:24:57.010" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T18:24:57.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32" CreationDate="2016-06-10T22:33:39.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had these in every room in the house.  My dog began slowly to show signs of discomfort, teeth chattering and started to jump with movements around her.  It was getting worse.  I took her to the vet to check her teeth and also a full check over.  He found nothing.  Then one evening it occurred to me it maybe the plugs so I turned them all off.  It has been 3 weeks now and all the distressed symptoms have gone.  Coincidence? I don't think so.  Dogs do hear them and like humans , if they are sensitive it may distress them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7384" LastActivityDate="2016-06-10T22:33:39.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-10T23:01:57.840" Score="5" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just after a bit of advice as I think my tom cat is attacking my female cat when we're not around. My female cat is 4 years old and we've had her since she was a kitten. She was spayed at about 1. We recently rescued the tom cat, around 9 months ago. He is 3 - not sure of the exact age, though; and has been neutered, but again - not sure what age. Although the vet did tell us he was done late because he's big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first introduced them they seemed to get along. They didn't really bother with each other, but would eat together and would always sniff each other nicely. They sometimes had a bit of a scuffle, but never anything nasty, more playful. Just recently, he disappeared for around 6 weeks which is the longest he's been gone. He normally goes for around a week or we would know where to find him. But this time he wasn't where he normally is and was gone for longer. Now, he's back and my female seems really scared of him and won't sleep on the landing with him (like they did before.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been worrying that maybe he is being aggressive when we are out or asleep or even when they are both out. Tonight, she has come home with what looks like a cut on her head, but there's no blood, just a bold white patch (she's jet black.) We're not sure if he's hurt her or if she's done it out. She loves hunting! We really don't know what to do, she's my baby and I hate the thought of her being scared, but don't want to just get rid of our tom...  Any help, please? It would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7385" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T00:12:37.910" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T00:12:37.910" Title="Is my tom cat attacking my female cat when we're not around?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T01:00:34.277" Score="2" ViewCount="976" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An incompetent relative of mine (I'm not sure who) left a cough candy in its wrapper unattended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All my relatives left the house, and I'm staying with the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, the dog got hold of this candy and ate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8-12 months old (I don't keep track)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;miniature schnauzer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Candy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Ricola -- Original Swiss Herb&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sugar free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;active ingredient:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;menthol, 4.8 mg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inactive ingredients:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extracts of a Ricola herb mixture (elder, horehound, hyssop, lemon balm, lindens flowers, mallow, peppermint, sage, thyme, wild thyme)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;isomalt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;natural flavor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sorbitol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all the information from the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concerns/Reliefs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs, especially mini schnauzers, cannot have sweets and have a weak pancreas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My grandmother's (who is notorious for over-feeding living beings) mini schnauzer (which lived until a ripe old age) ate sweets like chocolates all the time and had no noticeable negative effects. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7386" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T03:03:23.110" Title="Dog ate cough-suppressant candy (made for humans)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13474" CreationDate="2016-06-11T02:58:22.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two ingredients I would be concerned about are the isomalt and the sorbitol, which are sugar substitutes. I was in a vet's office recently, and there was a poster on the wall warning of the dangers of (some?) sugar substitutes to dogs, among other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you call your vet -- even if out of hours. They may advise you to bring the dog in immediately, or to observe the dog for symptoms. Or they may tell you not to worry. Better to be safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T02:58:22.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13474" CreationDate="2016-06-11T03:03:23.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IWNax.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IWNax.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;If you think your dog may have eaten something dangerous, CALL YOUR VET or: ASPCA POISON CONTROL HOTLINE (888)426-4435, NATIONAL PET POISON HELPLINE (800)213-6680&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you think your dog may have eaten something dangerous, CALL YOUR VET or: ASPCA POISON CONTROL HOTLINE (888)426-4435, NATIONAL PET POISON HELPLINE (800)213-6680&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, I'd say the first thing to do is call one of these numbers. They're happy to help, even with false alarms (I doubt they get &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; many calls...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep a close eye on your pet. Strange, loopy behavior may be a tip-off of a bigger problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your dog drinks lots of water to keep his kidneys pumping. Also, don't worry too much; it will probably be fine. The worst thing you can do to yourself is convince yourself something terrible has happened when, in all likelihood, this will blow over by tomorrow. Keep a positive attitude. When you hear paws, think Labrador Retrievers, not &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/azawakh#/slide/1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Azawakhs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok. That came out weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3878" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T03:03:23.110" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-10T01:59:48.287" Score="3" ViewCount="1090" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats evidently have a decent memory, as they can be taught tricks (though not easily). Furthermore, they are able to learn where their house is, and retrace their steps when wandering outside the house. I was washing my cat (to my cat's obvious outrage), and was wondering how long it would hold a grudge. Assuming cats can hold a grudge, and would form one after one such outrage, how long would they hold that grudge? How long would they remember the incident?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7390" OwnerDisplayName="DevilApple227" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T11:52:21.440" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T11:52:21.440" Title="Cats holding grudges?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T13:50:08.963" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 year old cat is handicapped &amp;amp; the newwkitten is very aggressive to him. He can be sweet but is so hyper it climbs to top of curtains &amp;amp; jumps on my husband's med alert &amp;amp; sets it off. I really didn't realize how much stress this was going to put on my older cat! He also plays in liter box ! Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7389" LastEditorUserId="7389" LastEditDate="2016-06-11T21:12:37.650" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T21:12:37.650" Title="Is it normal for a 2 month old kitten to be aggressive to older ca &amp; play in liter box?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-06-13T13:17:20.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13481" CreationDate="2016-06-11T14:27:25.870" Score="3" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that cats tend to stop eating, and crawl under a couch or bed when they are dying. Understandably, I am now irrationally terrified every time my cat spends more than 1/2 an hour under a bed, or misses a meal. Is this actually true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7390" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T15:46:51.607" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T15:55:29.863" Title="Cat's behaviour when dying" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13480" CreationDate="2016-06-11T15:29:08.757" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not especially. Those may indicate the cat isn't feeling well, but most reasons a cat might not be feeling well are not fatal, and there are other reasons a cat might feel like hiding or not be immediately interested in food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T15:55:29.863" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T15:55:29.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3075" CreationDate="2016-06-11T15:57:37.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this answer relies highly on what you are talking about. There is, of course, the obvious distinction between positive and negative things (extreme things are likely better remembered than moderate things). I am more interested in more subtle distinctions: specifically, between the 5 senses. I hypothesize that cats remember a human for a long time not by he looks, or even by how he sounds or acts. I think that the cat may remember a human purely by scent. It is advantageous for a cat, and any other hunting animal, to remember scents for a long time, for obvious reasons. In fact, any animal, really, should be good at remembering scents, as they must be able to identify and trace pheromones, as well as identify and trace animal tracks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7390" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T15:57:37.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T19:44:18.500" Score="9" ViewCount="4348" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do ants exhibit any signs of grief (or other human-like emotions for that matter, i.e. affection..) such as mourning the loss of others from their colony, burying their dead, or trying to aid the injured? And so on..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably sounds like a stupid question at first but when you get right down to it they do appear to be  rather sophisticated and social creatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often notice ants carrying their fallen comrades. One time I poked one and it dropped the ant it was carrying and they both ran away. A few other times I did the same thing but only one ran away and the other was dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5624" LastEditorUserId="5624" LastEditDate="2016-07-22T07:41:38.583" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T20:07:07.813" Title="Do ants mourn their dead?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2016-06-11T20:17:27.507" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question, and more complicated than you might think. Ants (at least some species of them) move the bodies of their dead comrades to a rubbish pile away from the mound. I think most entomologists would see that as a practical instinct for hygiene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ant colonies do have some pretty sophisticated behaviour, like being able to quickly find the shortest path to a food source. However, it turns out we can easily reproduce this behaviour with a few lines of code following very simple rules. For example, as ants walk along, they lay down pheromone trails, which fade quickly. Perhaps 90% of the time, an ant will follow the strongest pheromone trail it encounters. The other 10% of the time, it will strike out in a random direction. As soon as the ant finds food, it returns to the colony. Now, suppose the ants are currently using two different paths to the food. The path that is shortest will tend to have the strongest and freshest pheromone trails, because the ants that go that way will return more quickly. So more ants follow that shorter path, which leads to an even stronger and fresher pheromone trail. Soon the longer path is abandoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar, other ant behaviour can be explained in terms of simple rules. That leads many people to conclude that there's &quot;no one home&quot; in an ant's brain, that an ant is a sort of mindless robot. A brain that can host a &lt;em&gt;mind&lt;/em&gt; is a complicated thing to evolve; we wouldn't expect it to evolve if it was unnecessary. Interestingly, some have suggested that if there is any conscious awareness, it's at the level of the colony, not the individual ant!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all of that would seem to suggest that ants don't grieve because they aren't conscious in the way a pet dog or cat is. But that might not be the end of the story. It seems like the more science learns about minds and consciousness, the more species we admit into the privileged circle of &quot;mind havers&quot;. And recently there was an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/insects-are-conscious-claims-major-paper-that-could-show-us-how-our-own-thoughts-began-a7002151.html&quot;&gt;interesting paper&lt;/a&gt; that seems to indicate that insect brains could support some type of awareness. If true, that doesn't answer the question of whether or not insects have emotion, but it makes it a bit more plausible that there's &quot;someone home&quot; to experience emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-11T20:17:27.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13478" CreationDate="2016-06-11T20:30:40.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually your question isn't how long it can remember, but how long it will hold it against you, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purely anecdotal: I have rarely seen a cat hold a &lt;em&gt;grudge&lt;/em&gt; (emotional response) more than a week. However, I have seen them retain a behavior change after a single incident for much longer, if they are concerned about avoiding a repetition of an unpleasant experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my best guess is that the cat is unlikely to think of you as &quot;the bad person who washed me&quot; for long, and will not seek revenge, and will not snub you generally for more than a few days. But the cat may try to take steps to avoid being washed again, and those may include staying a bit out of reach until it decides you aren't about to repeat this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am explicitly not asking why the situation arose. A cat rarely needs bathing, and in those rare cases there are ways to make it a more pleasant experience which you may want to review... but whatever has happened, has happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-06-13T00:14:47.147" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T00:14:47.147" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-11T21:10:52.047" Score="2" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 adult red-eared sliders, two male and two female.  One of my females is definitely carrying eggs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are in a wonderful outdoor habitat. We did all the research before we built it two years ago.  The reason we moved them from the tank they were in that was inside the house is because the female laid eggs in the water and they had gotten too big.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last summer when we moved them outside, they hardly ever even basked on the ramp and never left the pond and walked around on land.  This year they bask on the ramp but still we have never seen them on land.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the female has had eggs for at least 3 weeks now and am wondering if I should make her spend time on land in the enclosed habitat by fencing off an area inside the habitat to put her in so she will lay the eggs. Or will she eventually crawl out and nest on her own?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mixture of soil to sand is exactly what it is supposed to be and is at least 13&quot; deep throughout the habitat.  I used a rake and smoothed out the soil in the habitat so I will be able to tell if the turtles are getting out of the pond and walking around and am absolutely sure they haven't, so I know there isn't a nest that I'm just missing. I am also wondering if she does nest and the eggs hatch, will the babies dig to the surface on their own, or do I need to make sure I know where she nests so I can help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7393" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:28:58.793" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T20:05:01.157" Title="How long before my red-eared slider lays eggs? Should I force her onto land?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13490" CreationDate="2016-06-12T18:32:04.183" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently adopted a found cat. Looking into pet insurance many forms ask for unknown information; e.g. date of birth.  Is it ok to guess such information, should we contact those companies to clarify the situation, or are there specialist insurers / policies aimed at such situations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background on the “Found Cat” situation / why we think it's ok to adopt him.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I have been visitted by a cat, which often turns up injured. As its injuries were not being treated we assume that he doesn't have an owner, or his owner's unable to fully care for him. As such we got in touch with a friend who works for a cat charity, who took him to the Celia Hammond Animal Trust to have him looked at. They cleaned him up, confirmed he's been neutered and that he's not chipped. They advised that he's being bullied by unneutered toms in the area, and to try to keep him inside more to keep him safe. As such we're slowly getting him used to staying with us / will wait to see if an owner comes forward in the meantime (though suspect that`s unlikely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5921" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-27T09:33:50.063" LastActivityDate="2018-01-27T09:33:50.063" Title="Can I guess on information requested by pet insurance forms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;insurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13489" CreationDate="2016-06-12T19:41:18.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, ask your vet to estimate the critters age. The insurance companies are aware that pets don't usually come with birth certificate, and an informed estimate is acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-06-12T19:41:18.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-13T05:54:37.423" Score="7" ViewCount="1056" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder how I can check whether a room contains fleas. It doesn't contain pets anymore, and I don't have access to the pets to check whether they have fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g., for bed bugs, one way to detect the presence is to set bed bug traps around the bed mattress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="330" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T15:21:18.963" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T07:12:42.917" Title="How can I check whether a room contain fleas?" Tags="&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-13T10:08:11.997" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;When choosing a horse, for a beginner, what are some characteristics or behaviors to look for? Are there certain breeds to look at or avoid and, if so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T15:20:46.617" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T20:35:12.423" Title="What to look for in a horse for beginners?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13498" CreationDate="2016-06-13T10:29:45.663" Score="4" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat that was born and lived in our house 13 years ago, she is very domestic, never goes outside the house, and thus, other than her mother that passed away 3 years ago, have seen no other cats. We adopted a baby kitten, and waiting for he to get old enough before bringing her to our home, she is still nursing with her mother. What are things that we can do to make our cat accept the newcomer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7379" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T19:17:59.460" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:39:38.787" Title="How can we prepare our older cat for the introduction of a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2016-06-13T15:16:59.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 snails 2 big 1 medium and 1 super small. I pick up my small one no problem and the medium one isn't that hard but the two big ones are Hard!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them won't even budge when I put water on him or feed him. So I just have to wait until he feels like it. But the other one is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7402" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-24T09:11:54.493" LastActivityDate="2017-09-24T09:11:54.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13495" CreationDate="2016-06-13T18:23:19.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of other answers addressing how to introduce cats to each other. Browse those questions and get some ideas, but I'd like to address what will probably be the main issue in this specific case: &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Kittens are devilish, hyper hellions&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your older cat is probably used to a pretty relaxed lifestyle, free from disruption and stress. Introducing a kitten into the household is going to change that. Here's what you can do to keep everyone happy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give your older cat a safe, calm place to relax in. A little nook behind/on top of furniture, under a bed, somewhere she can get away from everyone else. &#xA;Additionally, make sure you exercise the kitten, a lot. A tired kitten will be less likely to annoy your older cat. Get some cat toys (&quot;fishing pole&quot; type toys are great, you can run the cat up and down the stairs with them and tire them out quickly) and keep her hunting/playing instincts satisfied by the toys rather than your older cat (who probably won't appreciate claws in her tail). Remember that cats are &quot;sprinters,&quot; when they hunt, they go hard and get tired quickly. Multiple short playtimes will be more effective than one marathon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your new family member. Don't forget to add an extra litterbox to your house to help avoid disputes as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-06-13T18:23:19.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9984" CreationDate="2016-06-14T00:17:06.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ants got into a fairly new $50 bag of prescription food, and I'm in no financial position at this time to throw it out. I immediately poured the food into a zip loc bag, which killed the ants (avalanche!). I was not about to pick out every ant carcass from 6-7 lbs. of food! Colander wouldn't work completely since the ants were sticking to the food and to every surface they touched, so I ended up pouring the food from one container to the next, with dead ants sticking to each container as the food was transferred to each one. Then I wiped the ants out of the containers and repeated the process until I felt the amount of ant remains was small enough. PS: I tried using compressed air, but it was about the same as the colander.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't use ant poison so there's no issue there, but that is a very important thing to consider if you find yourself in this position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7406" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T00:17:06.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13501" CreationDate="2016-06-14T06:55:13.347" Score="3" ViewCount="2214" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my head this question is kinda awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this year we started planting some vegetables on the balcony. (for your information it's strawberries, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, hot pepper, lemon balm, mint)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So our cat is usually pleased when he gets some herbs (afaik helps digestion) and usually he tries to get the balm. Recently he discovered the big leaves of our cucumbers and since then he is acting kinda odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever we are near the balcony door, he would start complaining and showing that he wants to go there. When we give in, he goes straight for the cucumber leaves and we don't know why he behaves this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this behaviour of his mean? Is there anything in that plant that might help or harm him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7407" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T11:48:15.377" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T13:18:51.280" Title="problems when a cat eats cucumber leaves?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13500" CreationDate="2016-06-14T13:18:51.280" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tomato and pepper are in the Nightshade family and toxic, so I'd worry about those, but he can probably tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe cucumber is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats enjoy nibbling selected plants. Adding fiber to the diet may help them deal with hairballs, and it may help clean their teeth, so unless you are worried about damage to the plant this is harmless at worst. You could try redirecting his attention by planting some grass for him -- pet stores often sell grass seeds selected for the purpose -- or perhaps even some catnip, but he may consider the cuke interesting even with his own crops available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normal behavior. I had a cat who liked broccoli, though that may have been because she saw me eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T13:18:51.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2016-06-14T15:31:10.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The house that I grew up in had an addition on a separate HVAC system than the rest of the house. Once we went on vacation for a week and closed the addition off (turned off the HVAC, etc). Our family dog had free run of the rest of the house while we were gone, but not the addition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a week without access to food, the fleas in the addition were RAVENOUS. I remember walking into the addition in white socks and my feet instantly had several dozen black dots on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no longer pets in your home, I suspect any fleas that are present will soon start snacking on the humans (so if you have flea bites, you have fleas).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This won't tell you if you have eggs (or hibernating pupae). You can encourage adult fleas to emerge by increasing the room's temperature and humidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T15:31:10.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12194" CreationDate="2016-06-14T16:16:05.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about your rabbit's health you should take her to a vet - it isn't really possible to diagnose if she has broken her finger online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6608" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T16:16:05.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10937" CreationDate="2016-06-14T16:21:32.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I introduced my neutered female rabbit successfully with my older neutered male rabbit - I started off by having them in separate runs, next to each other and then supervised them together in &quot;neutral territory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, male and female rabbits get along together best (obviously after being neutered!) however I have also had 2 males together before. The trick is to gradually introduce them slowly - there are rabbit adoption companies that can help with this; you can take your bunny to them and they will help them bond in a neutral area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bunnies have also become friendly with my neighbour's cats but they have never met a dog! I would be a little concerned about a dog, unless you had it as a puppy and it grew up around the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6608" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T16:21:32.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13512" CreationDate="2016-06-14T16:24:58.850" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 6gallon tank housing a total of 9 fishes,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 Betta&#xA;4 Neon Tetras&#xA;2 Golden Mbuna&#xA;2 Orange Zebras&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far all fishes are doing fine, my betta is silent and doesnt harm other fishes also the same for the tetras and mbunas. The zebras are very much playful chasing each other and rest of the other fishes except for the betta. I got a few live plants in my tank and a lot of hiding places also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if this combination is good to keep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7410" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-14T16:35:15.860" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T16:17:13.320" Title="Will I have any problems with this combination of fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12194" CreationDate="2016-06-14T18:51:44.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits who live on wire bottom cages frequently get broken toes.  This can be limited by trimming toe nails regularly and decreasing startling occurrences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scenario: A rabbit with long toe nails is on a wire bottom cage, something scares the rabbit and she jumps. Her toe nail hangs on the wire mesh and the toe is broken.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also read some of the posts about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits+diet&quot;&gt;rabbit diet&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-06-14T18:51:44.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13510" CreationDate="2016-06-15T03:40:50.757" Score="7" ViewCount="9879" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was talking to a dog owner today and they said that it is normal for a dog to be able to withhold from peeing for 8 hours or so.&#xA;I used to live in NY City and there are lots of people with apartments that own dogs. For those that can't afford a dog walker, people will walk their dog before work and immediately after coming home from work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether it is ok for a dog to withhold from peeing or is it uncomfortable for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7415" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T14:09:46.757" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T17:20:11.527" Title="Is it okay for a dog to hold their pee during the day until you come home to walk it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13507" CreationDate="2016-06-15T16:00:32.683" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with most things, this depends on the dog.  Elderly dogs, like elderly humans, often need to pee more often and want to drink more often too.   This often means they need to urinate more often, and when they are not given an opportunity to do so, they may urinate in the house, or sometimes even in their sleep without realising it.  For an elderly dog who has been house trained all their life, this can be quite distressing, to wake in a wet bed, as it would be for a human being. It can also result in skin problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some owners withhold water to prevent this sort of problem happening so the dog can be left longer without wetting in the house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fostered an elderly rescue dog who had this issue, and the advice of my vet was that withholding water was both inhumane and could result in further health problems arising.  In particular, dogs that are taking heart medication will need to pee regularly.  This is because medication such as furosemide is designed to prevent fluid buildup by moving it through the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, younger dogs can often hold their bladders for what seems like a very long time.  My own saluki cross (aged 7) has currently been for about 18 hours without urinating.  The door is wide open to the garden, and she could go out there if she wants, but it's been raining all day and she hates the wet.  She seems to be able to sleep quite happily for a very long time without needing a pee break.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some breeds of dog are better at this than others.  Sighthounds have a reputation for being able to sleep uninterrupted for a long time, but the Italian Greyhound, one of the smallest, is supposed to be very difficult to house train, perhaps because of the small bladder size, and will need more regular breaks than a typical ex-racing greyhound would do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably a good rule of thumb that dogs should be given regular pee breaks unless it's clear they don't need them, and that owners should be aware that this sort of need may change as a dog gets older. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T16:00:32.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13494" CreationDate="2016-06-15T16:05:15.430" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, we probably need a little more information as to your situation to provide a better answer. However, I can probably point you in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, what kind of beginner are we talking about? Is it a child or an adult? Do they have any experience with horses at all or is completely brand new to them. Have you figured out the logistics of the horse, including price up upkeep and whether or not it'll be at your house or if you're boarding. There are pros and cons to each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll throw it out there and say that if the person getting the horse has absolutely no experience with horses, or even very little, then I don't suggest getting a horse at all. I suggest taking riding lessons and helping out at the barn for at least a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A horse is a very large animal. It isn't a dog where you can just put it in the back yard and if you don't teach it manners then just keep it locked up when company is around. If you don't know basic management practices when handling horses, then they WILL take advantage of you and escalate their bad behavior into something that can get your hurt. Even people that have been around horses a long time, don't often notice when a horse needs to be corrected. For instance, a horse will often step into your space. The horse needs to be driven out of your space. However, many people step away. In a horse herd, the one who can move the others feet is more dominant and is in charge. Simple things like this escalate, because the horse gains courage each time he doesn't something and nothing negative happens. This is the same principle as training. It has the potential to get your seriously hurt or even killed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I suggest taking lessons for at least a year. You'll be taught basic handling practices and much more important, you'll become familiar with horses. Over time, with association, people become familiar with situations to the point they can predict what's going to happen. It's not just with horses or other pets, but anything. You know that if you're driving on the road and someone comes up beside you, driving erratically, you slow down and let them pass. It's the same with horses, as you become familiar with them, you'll learn to see what they're doing and know what may happen next. This allows you to be prepared and have a much better chance of controlling the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time at the barn, helping out, also allows you the opportunity (or the child as the case may be) to determine whether or not you want commit to the level of work that is necessary. You need to scoop stall twice a day, go out and blanket horses in the field when it's starting to sleet. You need to get over the period of time where everything is still fresh and you're excited to go out and do the drudgery. Let it become a grind and see if you're still committed. This grind increases when you bring your horse home. Not only are you 100% responsible for all the chores, but you also have to maintain the grounds. This means fixing fence, mowing pastures, etc... Just those two at minimum require a lot of time, not to mention equipment. You need the fencing plyers, channel locks, staples, hammers, stretchers, etc... You'll have to purchase and maintain a tractor and bush hog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That brings me to the next point, which is money. You need to figure up the costs of owning the horse over its expected lifetime. This will include farrier work, initial investment in tack, boarding, maintaining your home grounds, yearly shots, emergency vet visits, a truck and trailer to take your horse places, maintenance on all of those things, etc... Like anything else, there is give and take. If you board, it seems expensive, but you aren't buying a tractor and maintaining it, or repairing fence, or anything else. They can take 100% care of your horse and you can just pick them up and ride. You don't have to have the best equipment to maintain your fields, but you will need to know how to fix and maintain it if you get older equipment. So it's give and take. I suggest you set up a spreadsheet and figure up the actual cost. Factor in your time, which is really worth a lot. I probably spend a bergilliondy hours in care for every hour I get to enjoy my horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also figure in potential change in lifestyle. That's why I asked above, whether it was a child or adult. Some people can sell their horse if their situation changes, but many people get attached and make huge sacrifices when their life situation changes and it becomes hard to care for the horse. It's not a good market right now, either. I know people who have gone on trail rides and come back to discover two horses loaded on their trailer. No one wants a to buy and some people can't keep them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you buy for a child or an adult who might not have a stable situation in a couple of years, that's something to consider. A child is interested now, but what about when they can start driving and hanging out with their friends. Even if they do, what about when they go to college. You still have to care for the horse and pay the bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's all my warnings and things to consider. If you've looked over all of that and still want a horse of your own, I'll cover that now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is look at site after site where they advertise horse. Take down notes on any horse you like. What'll start to happen is you'll become familiar with the grade of horse you want and what prices they're going for. Just like on ebay or amazon, just because horses are marked at a certain price, doesn't mean they're selling at that price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You asked about a particular breed and the answer is, no, it doesn't matter. I don't care what people tell you, there is a horse for you in every breed. Horses are individuals like people. If you want an Arabian, then get an Arabian. Sure there are plenty of hyper arabs, but there are just as many calm dead broke ones. A lot of it is stigma, like with pit bulls. They're perceived a certain way, so they're treated that way. People think arabs are hot and at many of the shows, they like to see that high energy and drive. So people think that's just the way they are and when they start acting fractious, they don't do anything about it. If the horses are trained to calm down when they experience something scary, then they'll be a calm horse. So you'll be able to find fiery eyed devils, dead broke kids horses, and everything in between. You just have to keep looking and not be willing to settle. The only caveat I'll add about not getting a certain breed is size. You can't put a large person on a tiny horse for the most part. Whatever size the horse is, you don't want to be more than 20% or so of that horses weight, including tack. Of course that varies like anything else and there are horses that can carry more or less weight, but that is a decent guideline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have sorted through adds on a few hundred horses, start considering what your goals are. Do you just want a horse to walk around the arena, go trail riding, do dressage, or anything else. Your goal will help you determine what to get for your first horse. To be honest, it really doesn't matter what your first horse is capable of. Most horse will be able to do low level of any discipline you want to do. Also, no matter what you think your goals are now, you'll probably change them some as you learn more about your horse and yourself. Once you start settling in to what you want to do, then you can get help deciding if the horses you're looking at have the confirmation and are at a good age to care you through that disciple till you're ready to advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll run into a lot of saying when it comes to horses and one of them is &quot;Green on Green, make Black and Blue&quot;. What that means is that many people want to buy a young horses so that they can grow together. The same thing applies to rescue horse. People want to rescue a poor, abused, damaged horse. These are not the ones for you. It's the same reason why you don't let children teach other children in school. It's the reason you don't ask a drummer to teach you guitar. I'm not trying to say anything bad about you at all, but some one who is ignorant (not stupid) can't teach someone who is ignorant. Ignorance is just a lack of knowledge. You need a really solid horse who will take care of you until your knowledge of horses increases. Once you have enough knowledge, then you can bring a more inexperienced horse along, the same way your horse brought you along. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to narrow your selection list down to one horse, even if you're 110% sure that's the one you want, because you just can't tell from a picture. You should have several horses you want to look at. When you get to that point, you should find someone whom you believe is a knowledgeable horse person that is willing to help you. They will see things that you don't even notice or would know about if you did see them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should set up appointments to go see these horses. I'll warn you ahead of time of the biggest trap people fall into. That's love at first site. You've wanted a horse for so long and you're finally in the presence of one. It can be overwhelming. Don't let it sucker you into buying the first horse you come across, even if he turns out to be the one. That year of interaction I talked about earlier will go a long way toward alleviating this, but won't rid you of it entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same vein, don't go for a horse just because it's pretty. Pretty can kill. The order of things you should look for in a horse are, temperament, confirmation, age, and looks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperament is the horse's personality. Is he confident? Is he inquisitive? A great horse will still spook, it's whether he flips out and runs off bucking or stops to investigate the scary thing that will let you know if he's a good horse. You want a friendly horse that isn't too pushy (though that can change if you don't correct his attempts), that's friendly, inquisitive, and investigates what startles him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conformation is how the horse is build. His bone structure and his lines. You'll need an experience person to help you with this, and like I said, it's not super important for your first horse. Equis magazine used to run a good series where they'd give you three similar horses and you had to judge them based on confirmation. The next page showed you the order the judges put them in an why. I don't know if they still do that or not, but if you can find them, they're a great reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age isn't really important, but it does matter some. I have a horse that was trustworthy in almost any situation when she was 2 yrs old. She was ridden in supper rocky mountains where she could run across wild ponies, bears, etc... She's a solid horse. However, most horses have been ridden enough and settled into their ways by the time they're 5-7yrs old. It's just like a dog or a child. They loose some of that wild rambunctious energy that can be annoying and can be trusted with a little more responsibility. On the other end of that scale, if you have a horse that is over 12yrs old and it still has bad habits, then it's probably not for you. It'll take more work, that you won't know how to do, than it's worth to turn them into a solid horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly is looks. If you've got a few horses that have good temperament, descent conformation, are a good age where you can enjoy them for several years, then by all means, pick the prettiest one. Just let that be the last consideration. Trust me, there are enough horses out there, for sale or adoption, that you can meet all your criteria and still pick a &quot;pretty&quot; one. Just be patient. You're committing to what is possibly a 25-40yr relationship. Don't feel like you have to rush into it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your experienced horse friend to check out the horses with you and when you think you have it narrowed down to one, get a trustworthy vet to check on the horse for general health. Tell them to look this non-gift horse in the mouth and make sure he's the age they claim. That's another saying you'll hear, &quot;There is no such thing as a free horse&quot;. That's super true. The initial investment is nothing to the overall cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry this reply was super long, but I felt it was all relevant information that you need to have if you're looking to purchase a horse for the first time. Horse friends will be your biggest resource, because horse people love to talk horses and they'll not only be able to help you know what you'd need to buy, but they can offer info on what good prices are, and help you choose your horse. It'll be easy to cultivate these friends at that year of riding lessons I was talking about. Also, you should feel encouraged to take lessons with your own horse after getting him. You'll still be in for a huge benefit. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: One last thing I thought of on my way back from lunch. If the person getting the horse has a handicap, be sure to consider that in your purchase. They need to be able to mount and dismount the horse. There are aids to assist with this, like mounting blocks. The horse can also be taught to park out. However, if the horse wants to misbehave and you're on a trail ride in the woods, they need to be able to mount. So the horses height would be a consideration there as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T20:35:12.423" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T20:35:12.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13505" CreationDate="2016-06-15T19:20:37.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Orange Zebras is a fairly ambiguous title. Are these cichlids or zebra danios or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Golden Mbuna and possibly Orange Zebras if they're the cichlids that go by this name, are too large and aggressive for this size of tank. Those fish need something closer to the 50 - 75 gallon minimum range, ideally over 100 gallons due to aggression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's typically not a good idea to keep neons with any cichlid other than a few South and Central American ones like angelfish, discus, apistogramma, and rams (mikrogeophagus ramirezi) as they'll eventually become dinner. It's also possible they will pester or kill the beta as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically, definitely no on the cichlids for both tank size and keeping them with these other fish. Otherwise if the orange zebras are zebra danios they should be fine. The tank size is still on the small end, I definitely wouldn't put any more fish in there, and make sure to keep up on water changes, but it should work with proper maintinence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T19:20:37.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-15T20:31:12.857" Score="2" ViewCount="1471" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my first puppy, a Newfypoo (Newfoundland + Poodle), he is 8.5 weeks old and weights 10 lbs - is this a normal, healthy weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this &lt;a href=&quot;https://newfypoobreed.com/weight-chart/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;weight chart&lt;/a&gt; but I would like to hear directly from current Newfypoo owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7419" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T13:03:43.807" Title="Newfypoo weight chart" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6948" CreationDate="2016-06-15T22:34:36.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many examples of organisations that do work to prevent animals ending up in rescues.   There are so many possible reasons that a pet might end up in rescue, and a huge range of potential help that might prevent this happening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a huge list of organisations that offer help to people having financial difficulty caring for their pets in the USA:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/trouble_affording_pet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/trouble_affording_pet.html&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few examples of specific reasons for surrender and organisations dealing with this, mostly from the UK because that's where I'm from: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For elderly / ill people who are unable to walk their dogs, or going into hospital.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the Cinnamon Trust and PAPAS (People and Pets Advocates)  in the UK help people who are unable to exercise / groom / care for their dogs due to their age or illness.  The organisations help them find volunteer dog walkers, groomers,  or temporary foster care.  This can make a huge difference in enabling people who are ill to keep a pet rather than giving it up for rehoming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People who can afford to care for one pet, but not 12&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many organisations worldwide offer low-cost or free neutering and spaying.  This is a huge help to many pet owners, who are well able to care for one adult cat or dog, but not to afford the costs of treating pregnancy complications and raising, vaccinating, treating and feeding repeated litters of pups or kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People fleeing domestic violence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The RSPCA in the UK runs a Petretreat service, which looks after the pets of people fleeing domestic abuse until they are settled in a home where they can take their pet back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People who cannot afford to treat their pets illness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Blue Cross in the UK runs animal hospitals which offer veterinary help to the pets of people who are unable to afford basic treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogstar Foundation in Sri Lanka runs neutering and general veterinary care clinics to help people who cannot afford to treat their pets and advise them on care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People who are unable to find accommodation that will allow them to keep their pet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Dogs Trust in the UK runs Lets with Pets, a website that provides information on pet-friendly rentals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Locating lost/stolen pets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many pets that end up in shelters are not homeless, but lost or stolen. &#xA;Many organisations offer free or discounted microchipping for pets.  Microchipping is a valuable tool for getting lost pets back to their owners. It is now a legal requirement in the UK that dogs must be microchipped and the microchip record updated with the owner's current details, and also that dogs in public places must wear a tag with address and contact details.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Counselling / advice for pet owners struggling with behaviour problems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many rescues, particularly breed-specific ones,  will offer free behavioural advice or run forums or Facebook pages for advice.  The problem here is that there is no standard,  and it can be very hard for a pet owner struggling with behaviour problems and little money to spend on advice, to know if the advice they are getting is appropriate and science-based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastEditorUserId="3820" LastEditDate="2016-06-15T22:49:34.933" LastActivityDate="2016-06-15T22:49:34.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13473" CreationDate="2016-06-16T07:59:08.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He might be attacking her, or he might smell of something weird, or they might have 'forgotten' each other (he's been away for 6 weeks, it's possible). First, try bathing him to rule out the possible smell problem. Then try re-introducing them. If what you did when he first arrived worked fine, just repeat the whole process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T07:59:08.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12404" CreationDate="2016-06-16T10:50:00.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apologise in advance if I get anything wrong, because I have experience with a kidney cat, not dog, but I'll try to stick to things that should be universal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, about your last question. The long term effects of any treatment would depend on what your dog was diagnosed with. Elevated creatinine levels are not a diagnosis, they're a symptom. The question is: a symptom of what? Consult your vet about that. The most common things from the top of my head would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too much protein in your dog's diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is simple enough. Simple diet rebalancing will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Too fast muscle growth and/or too much exercise and/or recent muscle damage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Self-explanatory, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acute kidney infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chronic kidney infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acute kidney failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chronic kidney failure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it could be a lot of other things, really. Talk to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's something acute, your dog's creatinine levels will fall gradually by themselves when you deal with the cause of the problem. If it's a chronic problem though... you'll have to work with your vet closely for a long time. You'll still have to deal with the cause (how -- depends on what that is), and you'll have to deal with the toxic waste products in your dog's body that are generated when certain foods are processed and don't flush properly (that's what chronically high crea levels are about, although crea itself is not toxic). Your vet is your guide, but you can consider certain probiotics that help flush waste products through the gut, prebiotics to feed the probiotics, and certain oral adsorbents that bind with the toxins and flush together with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T10:50:00.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2016-06-16T17:10:13.073" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take him to the vet. Those symptoms -- hiding in dark places, losing interest in food, playing and love -- are very common in sick cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T17:10:13.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2016-06-16T19:10:04.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm happy that your cat is overcome this problem of shaking on falling asleep&#xA;My cat 1.3 years old has this problem today, he took the inactivated rabies vaccine yesterday (second time in his life).&#xA;The shaking is not severe but it prevents him from sleep, but otherwise he is normal.&#xA;I think this is related to the vaccine (now Nobivac, first time it was Rabvac)&#xA;I had no problem with the Rabvac&#xA;Most probably your cat had the rabies vaccine by 3 month of age. This may also be the cause.&#xA;That is why I'm relieved somewhat by the fact that it was temporary.&#xA;I only hope that he manages to get some good sleep. I will observe him and feed him more as per your advice.&#xA;thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7422" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T19:10:04.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2016-06-16T21:16:57.947" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, he is definitely sick. It could be stress, bad water quality, or just not enough nutrition. Does he have any buddies to swim with? Try adding in some stress coat and maybe some aquarium salt. I hope he feels better!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7423" LastActivityDate="2016-06-16T21:16:57.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9309" CreationDate="2016-06-16T21:19:18.230" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt;'s fins are very long, flowy and sometimes it is hard for them to swim. I would add in Stress Coat, but I wouldn't worry so much if he seems normal otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7423" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:14:34.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:14:34.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13530" CreationDate="2016-06-16T22:07:14.887" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently watched this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/AnimalMoments/videos/1722149848052722/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;. I couldn't find the original video. The contents are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;some glass bowl/cup contains water with these fake swimming fish &gt; cat&#xA;  gets curious &gt; cat dips a paw into water trying to get at the fish &gt;&#xA;  cats takes paw out and licks off the water &gt; repeats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that it was a great way to get my cat to drink more water and have some fun. These fish are probably made of plastic and I'm not sure if the motor which powers them emits anything dangerous into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for my cat to drink such water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6788" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-17T18:21:57.433" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T18:21:57.433" Title="Is it safe for my cat to drink water which contains fake fish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-17T00:30:32.043" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to go to work during the day and I'm struggling to find a system that works well for making my Sheltie comfortable when I'm gone. I leave her in the house with plenty of food and water, check on her during my lunch break if I can, etc, but potty training is &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; going well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what I'd like to do is install a doggy door this weekend. That way she'd have a lot more space to play in and it would make it infinitely easier to potty train her. Asides from the fact that I find training pads to be gross, she doesn't get what they're for anyway, despite my many attempts to follow tutorials on training her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She likes to go outside (&quot;go&quot; in both senses of the word). So that's great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's 1 problem. While my yard &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; fully fenced, at 3 months she's still skinny enough to squeeze between the gaps in my fence when she wants to. This is kind of what the fence looks like (more or less):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWqAF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWqAF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;main fence&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My plan is to add a 2nd level of fencing, probably using the thick plastic net with metal stakes you see here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t8tbP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t8tbP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;safety fencing&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm fearful that she'll be able to dig under or bite through it. Is that a valid concern with this kind of puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she can chew through it, suppose I put in metal chicken wire. Would that do the trick or would she dig under it? I've never seen her digging but I used to have a husky so I know that some dogs would dig under it in seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T00:30:32.043" Title="Is it safe to leave a Sheltie puppy with access to a doggy door?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2016-06-17T07:07:46.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fleas are attracted to heat; that is how they sense potential animals to jump on and bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to detect/remove fleas from an empty room, including fleas that haven't yet hatched, is to set up a lamp (heat source) just above a pan filled with soapy water. The fleas will jump toward the lamp and land in the water where they will drown. Examine the pan after a few days to see how many fleas were caught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T07:07:46.097" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2016-06-17T07:12:42.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?num=50&amp;amp;safe=active&amp;amp;q=flea+trap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flea trap&lt;/a&gt;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xMeKY.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xMeKY.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ucAmd.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ucAmd.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="330" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T07:12:42.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13529" CreationDate="2016-06-17T13:37:18.173" Score="4" ViewCount="6851" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have researched drowning fleas.  There is a lot of good data at &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17370/can-dish-soap-really-be-used-to-kill-ticks-and-fleas/17477#17477&quot;&gt;Can dish soap really be used to kill ticks and fleas?&lt;/a&gt; the summary there suggests if you wash fleas away in the yard, your pet well get them back tomorrow. But if you wash them down the drain they are gone forever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are multiple online reports of &quot;drowning fleas&quot; and killing them with soapy water.  After looking for the science there does not seem to be much support for these fatal claims. There is little doubt that giving your pet a soapy bath in the tub will help remove the fleas, they may even appear dead.  But in all likelihood these fleas are just waiting to dry out and be revived, hopefully in the city sewer.  If you bath your pet in the yard, and than let the dry pet in the yard again the next day the clean pet and clean revived fleas will likely reunite. Soapy water is more likely to facilitate removal of the comatose flea from the pet and carry it down the drain. So it is reasonable to have noticeable decrease in the flea population after a bath.  But &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/196/&quot;&gt;excessive bathing has it's own risks&lt;/a&gt; and given the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea#Life_cycle_and_habitat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;life cycle of a flea&lt;/a&gt; soapy baths alone are unlikely to be a final solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe some insects, like spiders if flushed or washed down the drain will often climb back up into the home.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the same hold true for fleas? Does flushed = &quot;Gone&quot; or &quot;On a short trip, be right back&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:16:53.780" Title="Will fleas get back in my home if I wash them down the drain?" Tags="&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13527" CreationDate="2016-06-17T17:39:34.290" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, modern plumbing has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_(plumbing)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trap&lt;/a&gt;. A small amount of water stays in the trap to prevent sewer gases from entering the building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a flea is washed down the drain but doesn't get pushed all of the way into the sewer, it will hang out in this water pool, and thus, will never get dried out to revive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the traps of infrequently used drains will dry out, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17370/can-dish-soap-really-be-used-to-kill-ticks-and-fleas/17477#17477&quot;&gt;the flea will die in 24 hours of submersion&lt;/a&gt;. The trap will not dry out in 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:48:14.837" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T17:39:34.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13521" CreationDate="2016-06-17T17:48:38.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not seen the video, but I read the description in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern with this scenario is that cat fountains get slimy pretty fast (definitely within a week). If not intended as a drinking fountain, the parts are likely not easy to clean (ridges and pores for bacteria to grow in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, since it's unlikely that food-safe plastics were used, they may leach heavy metals (commonly found in bright colored paint) into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of any concerns with the motor. A motor used in a water toy should be adequately sealed from the water to prevent shocks. If it leaked oil or other fluids into the water tank, it wouldn't last very long (unless there was a method/instructions on how to replenish these fluids, which seems unlikely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We cannot say definitively whether this is safe or not (the videographer may have made this tank specially to be a water fountain and used the proper materials!), but it seems in general to be a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not drinking enough, the best method to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1881/how-do-i-motivate-a-cat-to-drink-more-water?rq=1&quot;&gt;increase their hydration&lt;/a&gt; is to encourage them to eat wet food. After that, consider adding a cat water fountain that is easy to clean (cats don't like gross water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T18:19:51.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2016-06-17T23:43:42.000" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told by  some  E Mastiff breeders years ago   X large dogs should NOT get high protein ( protein first item on ingredients)dog food as it excellerates  bone growth  and bones need to grow slowly  to be stronger&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MY three  E Mastiffs are 6 and 7 years old and only have had Purina Chow with a spoon or 2 of Alpo or some soft dog food  since puppies and are very healthy and weigh between 165 to r 200lbs .&#xA;They have never been ill .My sons E Mastiff is 9 father of 2 of mine.Hes also very healthy eats Beneful&#xA;The lumps on the elbow.... btw can get way bigger than small ball.My males are softball size.Vet doesnt think operation is a good idea because that area doesnt heal well at all.&#xA;He like sleeping on tile.Do it again id  start him   on something soft and try and keep him on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7427" LastActivityDate="2016-06-17T23:43:42.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28028" CreationDate="2016-06-18T12:44:09.813" Score="3" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I created a protection for my filter entry with acryl and polymerisation glue &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acrifix.com/product/acrifix/us/products/reactive-cements/acrifix-1r0192/Pages/default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Evonic Acrifix 1R 0192&lt;/a&gt; in form of a cube. Can I use it in my aquarium (under water) without harming fish after drying it completely with UV light and leaving it outside 1 day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figured that covering the edges with aquarium silicone wouldn't help since it would only cover blunt edges and eventually toxic parts of the glue could emerge from sharp edges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 60 l freshwater aquarium with Mollys and wels catfishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-06-25T09:37:26.900" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T05:05:20.177" Title="Can I use polymerisation glue for acryl in aquarium water?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-18T13:09:26.013" Score="3" ViewCount="17937" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is almost a year old and has suddenly started freaking out at the smallest movement or sounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been living with me in the same apartment for as long as he's been alive. &#xA;He's used to everything. The hair dryer, the door bell. Nothing scared him except the vacuum. &#xA;All of a sudden, last week, we are playing in the living and he jumped up and ran away. He stood in the hallway all puffed up and hissing, but I just figured I did a sudden movement that scared him. But then a few days he was near me on the sofa, which he always sleeps on, and he stayed starring for a few seconds and freaked out again. &#xA;He seems more stressed than usual and strays away from the living area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what is happening.. Please help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7429" LastActivityDate="2019-05-27T12:39:16.330" Title="Why is my cat freaking out all of a sudden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13533" CreationDate="2016-06-18T19:18:11.127" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The possibilities that occur to me are, in no particular order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You cat hears (or smells) something you can't. This could be another animal close by, or a high-pitched sound. Perhaps you have a new neighbour with a pet, or other animals are able to get near your apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something frightened your cat, and now he is afraid of something that he associates with the frightening event. This could be a location, a sound, a movement, for example. But if I understand your description correctly, the two times where the cat freaked out don't have much in common except that both events were in the living room, but maybe you can figure out a connection.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your cat has a health problem. Any new, unusual behaviour on the part of a pet indicates that a vet visit may be in order. I don't know how severe the &quot;freaking out&quot; was except that you said your cat was puffed up and hissing. Cats do that sort of thing once in a while, but two episodes in short succession would concern me. If a third happened, I would definitely go to the vet. And if there was more to it than puffing up and hissing, for example, if the cat seems dazed, his eyes are unfocused, he seems nervous for a while after the incident, or something else about him seems &quot;off&quot; to you, I would suggest a trip to the vet now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-18T19:18:11.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4388" CreationDate="2016-06-19T04:33:02.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a Boston Terrier who could snore so loud I could hear him in the living room from the bedroom.  Our vet suggested a children's antihistamine. He has passed away since and I have trouble sleeping without his snoring.  I thought of it as a white noise sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7435" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T04:33:02.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-19T14:20:21.150" Score="4" ViewCount="2519" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 19 yr old cat has started to bite me in anger while I sleep. He has always slept with me, this is something that he just started doing and I don't know what to do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7438" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2016-06-20T16:04:42.603" LastActivityDate="2019-03-08T13:17:44.850" Title="Bite attack while I sleep" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13543" CreationDate="2016-06-19T15:30:16.907" Score="4" ViewCount="16685" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Rosie (female, age 8) likes to drink out of our swimming pool.  This has apparently been going on for a while, but I just found out yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Given the following:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She prefers to drink water from a specific area of the pool, one that happens to &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; be near the filter or the water jets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no ladder or stepwell in the pool (we just climb out from the shallow end).&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a mount for a ladder, but it's not near where Rosie drinks water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pool liner is brand-new and the water is clean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't know what we use to treat the water (but I can find out).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rosie is perfectly healthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have these questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will the pool water give our cat any health problems?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If Rosie falls in, will she be able to get out?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she falls in, can she damage our pool liner?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T17:03:20.397" Title="My cat drinks out of our swimming pool, is this a problem?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13540" CreationDate="2016-06-19T18:45:11.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You wind up unintentionally taking in some of that water every time you swim. It isn't exactly up to potable-water standards, but it's better than the puddles your cat is also drinking from when you aren't watching. Don't worry about it from that point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; try to make sure that if the cat actually falls into the pool there's a place where she can get back out. I've seen squirrels drown because there was no place in a pool where they could rest and/or spring high enough from to get past the edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-06-20T17:03:20.397" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T17:03:20.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12132" CreationDate="2016-06-19T19:21:33.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats hate the smell of vinegar. For you the smell goes away fairly quickly.     Lightly spray the area your cat will stay away. They learn quickly so you won't have to spray forever. This worked for my cat digging up my house plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7440" LastActivityDate="2016-06-19T19:21:33.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13540" CreationDate="2016-06-20T06:25:50.353" Score="6" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will the pool water give our cat any health problems?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely not. If the water is clean and you're not using an excessive amount of chemicals (like chlorine), there shouldn't be any problem. If in doubt, you can confirm with your vet, potentially even bringing a water probe, but I think this would be exaggerating the whole thing. As long as your cat is behaving normal, don't worry too much about it. Tapped water is treated as well and never really clean (the latter being even more true for rain water). Yet we usually make it &quot;pet friendly&quot; for aquarium dwellers only (who have to live in there, not just drink it).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If Rosie falls in, will she be able to get out?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's something we can't tell without knowing your pool specifically. You should ensure there's some way for your cat to get out (and she somewhat knows  that). Remember that the cat won't be able to jump from the water without touching the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If she falls in, can she damage our pool liner?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to the other question, this heavily depends on how your pool is constructed. (But I really hope that's least of your worries. :)) Usually the materials used are rather durable, but if the cat is in panic and there's something soft to be damaged, I could imagine the cat potentially damaging that unintentionally, while trying to get out of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-06-20T06:25:50.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-20T08:14:46.213" Score="2" ViewCount="8345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 2 year old parsons russell terrier, Bentley. He works with me - we do dog boarding and dog sitting from my home and we always have at least one other dog over. Therefore I can never leave his food bowl like i would otherwise because the other dogs will steal it. Most of the time when I put his bowl in front of him he would just sit and stare at me. He doesn't look scared, he just stares and refuses to sometimes even sniff the food. I try to leave him in the kitchen alone to eat but when I come back he hasn't moved at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we don't have any dogs over I leave his bowl on the floor and he will come by himself and eat when he wants to. But that rarely happens, we have dogs over 99% of the time and I can't risk the other dogs getting an upset tummy because of Bentley's food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other dogs would eat their meals so nicely, and Bentley would watch them eat but wouldn't touch his own food. I mix some delicious wet food with his dry food and at times I have to put pieces of cheese in it so he will even agree to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know he's not THAT picky because he eats his dry food without anything else in it without issues when it's left on the ground. I need an advice on how to teach him to eat what I give him? Because he THROWS UP when he doesn't eat! After having breakfast and skipping lunch he would throw up yellow foam just an hour before dinner! As far as I know it's his stomach telling me it's empty. I know in the wild they can go days without eating, but I'm tired of cleaning throw up that sometimes ends on the carpet or bed, and I'm tired of running through the flat when I hear him about to throw up so I can move him to a hard floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also must say that I myself is a very anxious and problematic person - my family slowly drove me insane in my childhood and I ended up with many psychological issues. Nevertheless I'm 20 and my family still is driving me insane. I get mad (mostly at myself) a lot and I think Bentley can feel it, but there is nothing I can do about it as my family refuses to believe I have any issues at all. Until I make enough money to pay for my own therapy, I'm stuck with anger and anxiety issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Bentley goes to hide whenever anyone around talks too loudly or yells, like if anyone plays a ps3 game and gets mad at the character dying, he would run away. Even if the other dogs around will see the yelling as play and fun and would jump on me to play!  I need him to feel relaxed no matter what's going on around. He is such a perfect dog other than these 2 issues. Please help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7443" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-06-22T13:33:15.643" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T20:24:55.017" Title="Sometimes my dog refuses to eat, just sits next to his bowls and does nothing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12085" CreationDate="2016-06-21T14:04:52.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preferred method really is: don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you see, it doesn't work, and with any automatic system, it is doubtful what the dog associates the punishment with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried training your dog to bark on command? Most dogs, once they associate the barking with a command, will reduce barking in non-command situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that fails, or doesn't work well enough: does your dog have a safe spot he can retreat to? The idea is to redirect the &quot;there may be a threat, I better bark at it&quot; behavior to &quot;there may be a threat, I'd better lie here silently and wait it out.&quot; But that only works if your dog has that safe spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-10T12:34:20.337" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T12:34:20.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-21T16:08:10.237" Score="2" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm already far in the process of making by own sand and gravel from ground from my garden or a nearby location (e.g. in order to avoid buying and transporting stuff over many kilometers that I can make myself or for aesthetic reason) (medium sand, coarse sand and fine gravel (= 0.2 to 6.3 mm) according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_size&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ISO 14688-1:2002&lt;/a&gt;) and already&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;made sure I'm not violating environmental or property laws when aquiring the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sieved the ground with two sieves determining the minimal and maximal size of grains[1]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rinsed the gravel multiple times (like I'd do for store-bought gravel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;desinfected the gravel with boiling water and paracite desinfection (for living food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that the small remaining amount of biological particles will be destroyed by filtering and composting during the warm-up phase of the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only issue I'm having is to remove the carbon/peat particles from the resulting gravel. The particles are ugly and might cause the pH value to be instable for a long time. I figured that particles could be removed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with an aquarium vacuum cleaner (from a bucket), but they repeatedly block the tube because peat is much lighter than the ground (but don't float all). The method allows very good separation with almost no loss of ground material and waisting of water, but is annoying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by crushing it in a mortar or mixer (probably one about whose look you don't care too much about and which can be cleaned easily). The progress of smashing the peat in the mortar is inacceptably slow and an average mixer without a sharpened rotor already destroys up to half of the sieved ground which is too much loss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by burning all organic material on a ceramic net on a tripod with a Bunsen burner. I didn't try that. I appears energy wasteful and expensive to buy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by removing the carbon with (bio-)chemical reaction(s). Those might take long time (since peat is already quite reduced to carbon) or intoxicate the ground, so they have to be chosen carefully. I didn't figure out any.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for the solution which is both sustainable in terms of resource consumption and not time consuming. I don't plan to produce more than 10 kg of gravel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Not determining a minimal size causes infinitely fine grained dust to block filter or remain in the aquarium for ever which causes blur at every move of a fish or hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T15:39:21.373" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T15:26:19.270" Title="How to remove carbon particles/peat from my self-made gravel?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13505" CreationDate="2016-06-21T16:17:13.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the social aspect and fish getting attacked/eaten by other fish, you should also consider what a healty habitat is for the different types of fish you have or want.  &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;For the Betta the water should be idealy at least 25°C, for the Danios that is actually already a bit too much. So that's not really a good match.  &lt;br/&gt; And Neon Tetra's are very active fish and like to hang out in groups. So for a tank of this size I would not recommend them.  They need more space to swim, and their behaviour will look nicer if you have a larger group (at least 6-8, preferably more).&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;  Basically, I would only suggest a Betta for such small tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T16:17:13.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5841" CreationDate="2016-06-21T17:16:47.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience is anecdotal but we used a dog knee brace for my 10 year old mutt when she tore her ACL and we decided not to operate on the leg. She was older, a bigger dog, and it didn't seem right to put her through that expensive surgery (mostly for her sake!!) Maybe if this had happened to her when she was younger I would have given more consideration to the surgery. I had read from different online forums about people successfully recovering from this type of injury with the help of a knee brace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a dog knee brace online after some more looking into things and it worked wonders for us. It wasn't like those rigid stifle braces you often find online, this one was more flexible and didn't completely prohibit movement. We did however have to put our dog on extremely limited activity for a minimum of 8 weeks, but we were able to continue to use the dog brace after she recovered and it's never seemed to bother her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would check with your vet if I were you to see if it's a viable option, but in my experience it worked and I know of other people where it's also worked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7453" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-06-25T09:52:52.147" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:52:52.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13507" CreationDate="2016-06-21T17:20:11.527" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably likely that your dog could hold their pee for that long, but would you want to hold your pee for 8 hours? If one day it's unavoidable, well that just comes with being a dog owner, but I definitely wouldn't rely on that statistic to leave your dog alone for that long on a regular basis without going outside to the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T17:20:11.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13469" CreationDate="2016-06-21T19:34:20.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually when this happens, it is because the snake feels there is a lack of adequate hiding enclosures in the cage. As you can tell, a snake loves to squeeze into the tightest space possible that can still cover them. If it chooses a hiding place behind the wall, it is probably doing so because of a lack of other hideouts, the other hideouts are too big and don't help it feel secure, the hideouts are too small and it feels exposed, or it doesn't like the hide/material of the hideout or it prefers the wall. I would say, maybe pick up another hideout or two (two being the preferred if you don't have any) from a pet store or online, then try to reset the wall and see if it still prefers that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't work then I would say it isn't that big of a deal. If you really didn't want it behind there, you could try to hot-glue the formation to the side of the cage but do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; try to tape it. If there is something sticky in your cage, a snake will find out how to get it stuck on them (trust me), and hot glue isn't sticky or harmful when removed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find an example of a hideout &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0002AR5B0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general rule for snake enclosure size is that you take the perimeter (length + length + width + width) and if that is less than double the snake length, you need to upgrade. in your case you have a 3 x 2, so 2*3 + 2*2 = 6 + 4 = 10ft (around 3 meters) which is exactly twice your snake's length. This means the size is fine, but it wouldn't necessarily be bad to upgrade to slightly larger one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for warmth, you should provide your temperatures of the cage or else we won't be able to tell you if it is because they are cold. Same with humidity. You can read more about the care of your snake by looking up a milk snake care sheet online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T12:19:33.180" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T12:19:33.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12308" CreationDate="2016-06-21T19:55:32.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Rolf has a pretty good idea, but I don't see why you have to haul them in the larger tank if it's going to be a problem. You could just get a Rubbermaid tote with a locking lid and transfer them all in that. You could even get some fish transport bags from your local fish dealer and put them in there, just like when you buy them. Either way, they're in 100% the water they're used to. With the Rubbermaid tote, you'd want it on the big side anyway. You don't want to fill them more than half or less with water so that moving doesn't slosh them around and out of the container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also still use your 75gal you want to use. 15gal is 20% of 75gal. If you take a 25% water change out today and put it in the 75gal tank, then do so again in one week, you'll have ~7.5gal of 100% in the tank. Then in 2 weeks when you move, add the 15gal from the original tank. Maybe transfer half the water, then the animals, then the rest of the water. You should now have 22.5gal in the 75gal tank. This is 30% of the volume it can hold and is 7.5gal more room that they're used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that is a good amount of water in the tank for traveling and it's 100% the water they're used to. Also, if you felt it was a little low, you could even add in an additional 3.75gal of fresh water. That would be what they'd be getting in their 25% change anyway. I think you can easily get away with these figures. I know it's a little more of a change than the typical 20%, but most people usually guess on how much their taking out and I don't think it's a big enough difference to matter. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T19:55:32.290" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12249" CreationDate="2016-06-21T20:21:47.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about a beardie, but for snakes when they are scared of hands you have to work with them until they are used to it. A lot of time it is the animals personality but if you are concerned about the breeder you should ask to tour their facilities. You can look at the other animals and see if there are signs of abuse and reputable breeders will let you do this most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ill take you through a typical process of working to tame a snake down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enclosure&lt;/strong&gt;: The first thing you should do is move the enclosure to a less public place if it is in a high traffic area such as a living room. If this is not possible then you could put a few hides (beardies need a lot of space so this shouldnt be a huge problem) or put a background image on 2 or 3 sides of the cage (if 4 sides and a top are see-through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Process&lt;/strong&gt;: After getting the cage set up to be more private you can start to work with them. Ill say right now that for snakes it can take a week to many months depending, so if you truly want to get it comfortable with humans you should be prepared to put in a lot of effort. You need to be empathetic toward its fear as soon as you approach the enclosure. I am not sure what type of senses beardies have but snakes can smell (/taste) pretty decently. The first thing you need to do is get it used to your smell. You can do this by sitting next to the cage for a few minutes before opening or interacting with them at all. Also make sure to sanitize your hands after interacting with other pets because the smell of those pets could scare the beardie too. After doing this you should aim to pick the animal for short time period. I usually start with a 5-10 minute sessions per day until they seem comfortable enough with them. For you, that could look like the dragon not jumping, not fluffing, hissing, or bobbing their head. Once that is achieved you pretty much have what you want to teach them and can increase holding time and continue. When you increase the time you can just repeat the above. Just keep working with them until they seem fairly comfortable with you holding them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I should mention that sometimes reptiles will never really grow out of their habits and if that is the case maybe consider keeping as a looking animal or rehome it as such?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes&lt;/strong&gt;: Above is the basic process, but there are other things you can keep in mind. The first is when you first start holding him, make sure you do it over a bed or a couch. This will make falls or jumps a lot less damaging to him if they happen because the small body size can make those falls devastating. You can also kneel or sit and handle him lower to the ground. Another thing to consider is training the reptile to respond to certain triggers. for snakes this is feeding response training (if a snake thinks your hand is food and bites, you have to train them to not bite the hand). This is done with snakes by throwing a tiny bit of substrate on them when they feed so they know it is actual feeding time. The same can be applied to beardies too. If you train it to associate a tiny bit of substrate with getting picked up it may not be as scared because it knows what is coming. Another thing to remember is slow movements and try not to come from directly above. predators in the wild come from above so many reptiles are sensitive to this type of movement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-06-21T20:21:47.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7708" CreationDate="2016-06-22T05:32:18.220" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat bites are to never be taken lightly, people. Cats carry major bacteria in their mouths and faeces. 9 out of 10 cat bites become infected. Cat bites are 80% dangerous on scales. Cats have sharper teeth than dogs and their bites can be a lot worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel uncomfortable with your cat and your cat is not comfortable with you then you should find another safe place for your cat. Go with your gut feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe spend a close and careful time with your cat for a week or 2. Give each other a chance. Watch and learn her signs and respect each other. Always go see a doctor for any animal bite. That's common sense when it comes to being one on one. Don't listen to cat hippy morons that distrust your pain and concern over an animal! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm studying to become a vet and animal behavior specialist. I love animals! But how dare other people try and make it seem like it's somehow your fault that the cat bit you! Lol come on folks. Domestic animals know from right and wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7455" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-06-23T16:19:57.163" LastActivityDate="2016-06-23T16:19:57.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-22T13:00:09.270" Score="4" ViewCount="30868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find very effective and natural ant killer to kill ants inside my house. they are all over, in my kitchen, in my bedroom, windows, main doors. I was tried some ant killers, but they smells so bad. And I have a dog. I do want my get effect with those ant killer. So, I didn't use it any more..please recommend some better ant killer which is safe for my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7456" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-06-25T09:37:43.683" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T10:38:46.997" Title="Is there any ant killer which is safe for my pets?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13549" CreationDate="2016-06-22T13:34:47.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so it seems like you're saying that you've collected local gravel that you want to use in your aquarium. You're currently in the process of making it fish safe. You've already sized it and rinsed it like you would aquarium gravel. Now you have a mixture of gravel and peat and you want to separate out the peat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing that I would try is putting it in a 5 gallon bucket in batches. Don't fill more than 1/3 of the bucket with the gravel. Take a water hose and fill the bucket up. Keep the hose blasting into the bucket, agitating the gravel. Use your hand, as well, to stir the gravel up. As you noted with your aquarium vacuum, the peat is lighter than the gravel. The gravel will quickly settle to the bottom and the peat will be suspended in the water if it hasn't already flooded over the rim of the bucket. When you get it good and stirred up, tip the bucket over and dump out all the water you can without dumping the gravel out. Turn it back upright and repeat till you're no longer seeing particles floating in the bucket. Set that batch out to dry and start on another batch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that will get rid of most of your peat easily. You're right, though, to worry about changing the chemistry of your water. Peat moss is acidic. That's one reason I use it for my carnivorous plants. It will make your water more acidic as it leaches into it. However, there is only so much difference it can make. If you get most of it out, the change will be very small. If you want to test it, simply take any container and fill it half full with a random sample of the gravel mix. Fill it to the top with water. Then use a pH test kit and see where it's at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method you could use to help get rid of impurities that will affect your water chemistry is to put the gravel mix in a bucket, cover it with water, and let it sit for a month, dumping and changing the water every 3-4 days. This is the method you use when making concrete inserts to go in fish tanks. I saw a guy doing it when he was building a custom &quot;rock&quot; insert for his cichlids out of concrete. He had to leach out everything that would harm the fish. If it works with concrete, it should work with your gravel mix to reduce any agents that want to leech out. Then you wouldn't have to worry about any smaller particles that you missed. This is also the method I use to process new peat moss and sand that I use on my carnivorous plants to remove things like salts that could damage my plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason to use that method is because you might not be sure of the type of gravel you have. Some rocks can break down and release things into the water. Limestone comes to the top of my head, but I understand other rocks can leech things into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T13:34:47.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2016-06-22T13:43:59.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a bad ant infestation, you need to call an exterminator to come out and treat the inside and outside of your house. Most of the chemicals will be pet safe after a certain amount of time. You can just take your dog and spend the day somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have areas you really think the pet will get into on a regular basis, like around their food bowl, then you could use diatomaceous earth. This is a natural product that looks like a white powder. It's completely safe for humans an pets. In fact some people feed it to their animals as a natural dewormer, though I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of it in that instance. I've even heard that some people ingest the occasional amount of it for the same purpose, in some places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I understand that it works is that the grains of dust are actually like microscopic little knives. The don't hurt soft creatures like you, your dog, worms, etc..., because the nicks are so small and we heal. However, supposedly any insect with an exoskeleton gets nicked and it cuts their exoskeleton. This causes them to dehydrate because they don't have skin that rapidly seals up. They die of dehydration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it's a white powder, so it isn't going to stay in high traffic areas for very long, but you can put it down anywhere you want and it's perfectly safe, even if your dog goes and licks it. It will last much longer if it's in places you normally wouldn't disturb, like the back of your dish cabinets, under trim, under your washer and dryer, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure you can order some online. It's hard for me to get around where I'm at, because the small bags online are more expensive and the bags I can find locally are cheaper, but they want to sell you like 50lbs at a time. It's something you can look into, though, that may solve your problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T13:43:59.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12374" CreationDate="2016-06-22T15:01:41.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the things mentioned above are definitely important and can help you dog be more comfortable. You could also try out knee/hip braces for dogs that are flexible enough to be worn daily. I've personally used a knee brace after my dog tore her ACL and couldn't have been happier with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you could check out is getting some sort of harness to help bear some of your dog's weight when you're going for walks. They have rear support harnesses out there that are meant to do just this.. Depends on how much difficulty your dog has getting around and how much help she needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7453" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-06-25T09:51:45.143" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:51:45.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12336" CreationDate="2016-06-22T15:07:38.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's lots of reasons why a dog may start to limp and it's not always necessarily going to be something that's broken or fractured. If I were you, and you can, visit your vet or at least put in a call. A limp can be a sign of a disease or just a slight hint that something else is wrong beneath the surface. Dog's don't show pain the same way as humans do, so it can be hard to figure out when something's not right. I have a beagle who started to limp one day after going for a walk and even though the limp wasn't severe and wasn't always present, I took her to the vet and it ended up being a torn ACL. After paying for one TLPO surgery, and a dog knee brace for the recovery process, and some rehabilitation, she was back to her normal self. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was it expensive? Yes. Was the whole process difficult for the both of us? Yes. But was it necessary? Absolutely. Don't take your dog's health for granted. It needs to be taken just as seriously as you would your own health. Get to the vet, that's my recommendation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7453" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-06-25T09:49:57.913" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:49:57.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11968" CreationDate="2016-06-22T15:11:36.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you're doing just fine based on your situation. A 6 km walk is plenty of exercise, and seems like you want to do more but your situation prevents you from doing so. If they're well behaved and calm at home, it seems like they're getting out the energy they need to in order to be relaxed the rest of the day. Ideally every dog would spend hours outside each day playing, but the reality is that everyone does the best they can based on their individual circumstances. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7453" LastActivityDate="2016-06-22T15:11:36.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1081" CreationDate="2016-06-22T15:19:52.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of things you can do to help easy your dog's arthritis pain related to old age. I have a 14 year old malamute/shepherd mix and recently his hips have started to go down hill pretty fast. I keep him in an ideal weight for his size and feed him special dog food intended for older dogs. While I'm sure there are also supplements on the market for treating arthritis, one thing you can do as an owner is get the dog a harness that will enable you to take some of the burden off of your animal. I have the a rear support harness, which I love because I don't have to break my back bending down to help lift up my dog. And it's not just about lifting them.. you can use it whenever you have the leash on and hold up some of their weight so the joints are under less stress as you walk (and build your bicep at the same time! haha). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is a lab, she's probably quite big and her own weight is going to put her already arthritic joints under stress. I would look into an option like this if I were you, can't hurt to try different things!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7453" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-06-25T09:48:41.580" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:48:41.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13538" CreationDate="2016-06-23T11:03:23.773" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few possible reasons of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Disease. Your cat is rather old, so he might have some health problems, suffer from pain. Unfortunately, animals can't say what bothers them. The way they communicate with us is by their actions and changes in their behaviour. Some animals start peeing everywhere, some don't want to eat food they usually eat, some of them become aggressive. You should take your cat to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Again, reason, that is connected with your cat's age - changes in his mind.  Amentia I would say or dementia. Only after visiting a vet you will find it out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;New members of your family. Maybe a boyfriend/girlfiend/baby, etc. Some old can't start feeling loneliness or they feel how your attitude to them has changed. Or it maybe a passage or stress. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any way, I wish your cat is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="7501" LastEditDate="2019-03-08T13:17:44.850" LastActivityDate="2019-03-08T13:17:44.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13495" CreationDate="2016-06-23T11:26:32.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, there is a way to prepare your cat for bringing a newbie. I help homeless cats so sometimes I have the same problem - how to put my domestic cats in touch with the new ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smells play the greatest role in cat's life. Take a toy or a plaid or a bowl or even a litter box of a new cat and bring it to your old one. He/she must to get used to its smell. When your little one comes, his smell will be familiar to your cat and less stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second step is the day of their meeting. Don't put them in touch at first second. Put the new one in a closed room, but let your old cat stay free. He is at home, it's his territory: he's been living here for all his life and has all rights. He must get used to sounds that the new one makes, to his presence. If the old one isn't aggressive, you can open the door in a few hours. They both might hiss at first time and mew aggressively. But it's a natural behavour. If you are afraid, you might cut their claws so they don't hurt each other if they want to find out who's stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let the new one eat from the old one's dish, play with his toys or sleep in his favourite places. Your old cat must feel safe in his house. Touch him, stroke him, love him. Don't show him that he is replaced with the new one, that there is another favourite child. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the same time play with the new one in order he not disturb the old one, and stroke him as well. He also needs to feel your love.  At first you may leave them in different rooms when you leave the house. But sooner or later, I am sure, they will become friends. It may take some time, but not forever :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:39:38.787" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:39:38.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13473" CreationDate="2016-06-23T12:26:37.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your tom cat castrated?&#xA;I guess, when he was away for 6 weeks, he wasn't hunting mice, he was hunting female cats. &#xA;Hormones play strange tricks with animals sometimes. If he's not a castrate he needs to feel his domination, as human men )). He wants to be the owner of a territory. In this situation I can see the only option - take him to a vet to castrate him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason might be a disease. Animals can't talk. They can't tell us that something bothers them. So they start behaving in unusual ways, and aggressiveness is one of them. The solution is the same - take your tom cat to a vet to check his health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope everything will be OK. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T11:17:19.520" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:17:19.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2016-06-23T23:46:22.930" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice don't use borax if you have kids and pets inside your home. Borax is harmful for pets. I recommend you to use ant killer spray that is safe for kids and pets. It is 100% natural and non toxic and no smell, no stain. I have been used this ant spray from last year, it is very effective against ants. It is safe for kids and pets that's why I brought it online from. you can find many pets and kids safe ant killer at &lt;a href=&quot;http://petsafeantkiller.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://petsafeantkiller.org&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7460" LastEditorUserId="7460" LastEditDate="2017-05-15T10:38:46.997" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T10:38:46.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-25T01:54:23.373" Score="3" ViewCount="4063" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 1 1/2 yr. old German Shepherd who can act like she doesn't know who we are.  She has been like this since we got her at about 3 mos. old.  I've never had a dog act like this before.  Today it was a bit unnerving because I was walking back from getting the mail and the dog crouched down and looked like she could attack.  Even after I spoke to her she acted strange. She finally recognized me.  I worry that things could get worse with her.  Any one have any ideas?  Safety comes first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7463" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T21:21:23.963" Title="My dog acts like she doesn't know me sometimes" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9371" CreationDate="2016-06-25T09:16:31.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there blood? Do you see any notable difference in the way he walks? or the way he is acting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture is blurry but the break doesn't look as bad as it could have been. In simplified terms, a turtle's shell serves the same purpose as a bug's exoskeleton. If the break is complete the vet may wire it shut or they may even use super glue. This is still what most would consider an emergency, so if you have the cash then please take him in sooner rather than later. Monitor his behavior overnight. Note any changes and take him into the vet right when they open tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice any oddities in his behavior, then please take him into a 24 hour vet. Otherwise, I think he will be okay until the morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7466" LastActivityDate="2016-06-25T09:16:31.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-25T20:19:30.297" Score="3" ViewCount="1374" Body="&lt;p&gt;i have a problem as my cat loves particularly one ball.Its strange as he plays with it all the time, one he even swallowed it and then thrown it.I have to hide it quite often and when I do it he stops eating and for me, he has depression.I hide it because he does not relax when he has it or am  afraid that he will eat it again.Please help me to figure out what it means....thank you.Marta&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7445" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T12:33:29.117" Title="my cat plays only with one toy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13578" CreationDate="2016-06-26T03:39:47.380" Score="6" ViewCount="28536" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 10.5 year old dog, with a tumor that has been removed before, that just grew back.  The tumor ruptured, and it smells absolutely terrible.  Does the smell of the tumor imply anything in relation to euthanizing the animal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pit bull / black lab mix who is 10.5 years old.  About 3 years ago, she started growing a tumor on the under side of her tail.  We have the tumor removed, but we didn't have it tested or anything, since it wouldn't have changed how we treated her (I don't believe in giving chemo to a dog that old, and I also can't really afford it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After we had the tumor removed, and she had healed from the surgery, she seemed fine.  Flash forward about six months, and the tumor started to grow back, in the same place.  We knew this would probably happen, because the vet told us he couldn't get all of the tumor without possibly damaging her anus (it was on the underside base of her tail).  Well, I couldn't afford to have the tumor removed every six months, so I decided to leave it alone for a bit, and have it removed every year to a year and a half.  Once she had had the new tumor for a year and a half, she was healthy (besides starting to limp slightly, which I imagine isn't rare for a 9 year old dog), and I decided to leave the tumor alone.  I didn't know if it was cancerous, and she had been fine for well over a year since she originally grew the tumor.  This may or may not have been a mistake, but that's what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, yesterday her tumor ruptured.  She seemed to immediately be in a lot of pain, and was bleeding a lot.  I started to freak out, because (stop here if you are squeamish) the inside of the tumor looked like hamburger meat, and the smell was unbearable.  I contacted my vet immediately, and I have her scheduled for a surgery to remove the tumor again.  After closely monitoring her over the past day, she seems to be acting completely different (which makes sense because of the pain).  She is limping much more, she's panting constantly, she won't eat, when I pet her she doesn't react.  It's really difficult seeing her like that.  She's on pain medicine, but even with that, she just seems like she's in terrible shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my real question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the smell that is coming from her tumor, imply anything in relation to having her euthanized.  I'm horrified of the idea of removing the tumor, putting her through so much stress, and pain with that, just to euthanize her a month later.  I'm also horrified of the idea of euthanizing her, when removing the tumor could have solved several issues, and kept her alive another year or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that no one can answer whether or not I should euthanize right now.  That's why I'm specifically asking about the smell.  I've only ever smelled a dog like that one other time, and it was from a dog that was in so much pain from cancer, that it made me sick seeing it.  Any knowledge is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7470" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-06-26T10:12:04.243" LastActivityDate="2018-06-06T23:20:55.237" Title="Does the &quot;cancer smell&quot; in my dogs tumor indicate probable outcomes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13577" CreationDate="2016-06-26T04:16:27.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the smell you describe is an indication for or against euthanasia. I assume that it is a very serious symptom and indicates tissue death, but I suspect that no one could say much beyond that without knowing the specific medical details of your dog's case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that her condition has deteriorated quickly since you contacted the vet to arrange surgery. Also, it is clear from your question that your dog is in pain, even with the pain medication. That's upsetting, but perhaps the more important question is what will the quality of her life be after the surgery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you call the vet and describe the changes in your dog's current condition. My questions for the vet would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the change in her condition an emergency? I.e., do we need to do the surgery sooner?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the change in her condition alter your recommendation for surgery?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do you expect her quality of life to be after surgery?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything further we can do (e.g. a change in medication) to make her more comfortable while we wait for surgery?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that euthanasia is a very difficult decision. My heart goes out to you and your dog during this difficult time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T04:16:27.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13577" CreationDate="2016-06-26T08:07:26.863" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not euthanize because the tumor smelled bad.  A this point you don't know if the tumor is benign or malignant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog has multiple symptoms that seem to go beyond just the trauma of a tumor rupturing.  Take the dog to the vet for an exam.  The vet will help you make these decisions.  If you do move forward with a surgery to remove the tumor then have it tested for cancer (malignant).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-06-27T04:00:37.737" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T04:00:37.737" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-26T11:06:45.270" Score="4" ViewCount="15680" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a wild &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottontail_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cottontail rabbit&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;domestic rabbit&lt;/a&gt; try to make babies, will they have kits? I know that horses and donkeys make &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mules&lt;/a&gt; what do domestic and cottontail rabbits make? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T04:42:22.230" Title="Can wild cottontail rabbits interbreed with domestic rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1563" CreationDate="2016-06-26T16:34:10.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;after 3 years old, we can sexually identify our giant gourami by checking their lower lip, bottom of pectoral fin etc. male have thicker lower lip and golden colour on the bottom of pectoral fin. female have small face and black colour near pectoral fin..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7472" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T16:34:10.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7026" CreationDate="2016-06-26T23:51:38.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I  question the 45 degree angle for needle insertion for a subcutaneous injection. I have been trained to ensure the needle is PARALLEL to the animal body's when injecting- parallel to the surface of the skin on the back. If you angle the needle too much, you may enter a muscle, go through the skin to the opposite side, or stick your own finger. And I found that if the bevel of the needle is facing up ts helps. I know in humans, we use 45 degree angle insertions, but not with canines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7476" LastActivityDate="2016-06-26T23:51:38.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T01:20:46.267" Score="9" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've only been around to see three kittens acclimate, but I've always been surprised at how quickly all of them start using a litter box, especially compared to the toilet training time for puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes cats so quick to recognize and choose a litter box to defecate into?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will accept an answer with a convincing reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7477" LastEditorUserId="7477" LastEditDate="2016-07-21T16:19:11.507" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T03:59:38.113" Title="How do cats learn to use the litter box so quickly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T04:50:53.207" Score="8" ViewCount="11377" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something I have wondered before about cats &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; dogs, but when my cat decided to jump over me to get to the other side of the bed in which she accidentally scratched my stomach on the way down (it broke skin) — it got me wondering: Are pets aware of accidental injuries caused by them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find anything online about this, and maybe it's a weird question in general, but I'm curious enough to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5813" LastEditorUserId="5813" LastEditDate="2016-06-29T19:07:41.693" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T18:08:06.223" Title="Are cats aware of accidental scratches they inflict on their owners?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T05:42:11.040" Score="-1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the value of a trained adult working (Livestock Guardian) dog greater than the value of that dog as a young puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7480" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T12:43:18.183" Title="does the value of a working dog increase over time?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13594" CreationDate="2016-06-27T05:53:49.383" Score="4" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is broad question but I am thinking about adopting a kitten soon. However I started thinking about two for their welfare. However my parents, who live on another side of the world, are a bit terrified:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their experience with two cats in single household is that it ends with violence, including sexual, between cats when they grow up even when they were fine as kittens.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are a little bit worried about problems with travelling (I don't want to tell them that but I &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; travelling and even with one cat I planned to ask a friend to see him/her rather then introduce a cat to stress of international travel).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are also worried that, as I am single at this moment, I may have a trouble finding significant other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't buy the argument about kittens playing with each other when I'm away at work as they think that a single one will just sleep through the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Are they right? Is there any negative stereotype about singles with two cats (I'm currently in Western US)? Is my rented flat (&amp;lt;900 ft sq) too small for 2 cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. Cats would be of course sprayed/neutered (already by shelter I believe) and stay-at-home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-15T10:55:06.140" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:46:09.787" Title="Cultural and inter-cat problems with adopting two kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T07:11:22.457" Score="3" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently took in a cat (backstory here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/13489/5921&quot;&gt;Can I guess on information requested by pet insurance forms?&lt;/a&gt;). He's been fighting with other toms in the area; sometimes in defense, though also as the aggressor. &#xA;He stays in at night, but gets agitated if kept in during the day, even when stimulated, spending a maximum of 30 minutes inside before he wants to go out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With humans he's perfectly behaved, having befriended most neighbours and visitors, and even allowing us to put him in his carrier without too much of a struggle and with no clawing despite disliking it as much as any other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen lots of advice on getting two cats to live together as housemates, but can't find much on neighbouring cats belonging to different owners.&#xA;Are there ways to reduce his aggression short of keeping him inside or moving house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5921" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T19:56:20.320" Title="How do you prevent a neutered tom from fighting neighbors cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13592" CreationDate="2016-06-27T08:03:49.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their experience with two cats in single household is that it ends with violence, including sexual, between cats when they grow up even when they were fine as kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most animals: If there aren't any problems in training or regarding health issues etc. multiple cats will get along nicely. Ever heard of full prides of lions? ;) Of course there can be the occasional playing and fighting, but at times we've had three cats at the same time (two male, one female; all neutered) and no problems except the occassional &quot;I want there! No I want! Nah, my place! No! Let's fight!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are a little bit worried about problems with travelling (I don't want to tell them that but I hate travelling and even with one cat I planned to ask a friend to see him/her rather then introduce a cat to stress of international travel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely, try avoiding unnecessary trips, especially longer ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are also worried that, as I am single at this moment, I may have a trouble finding significant other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the comments. I'm not sure where your parents are from, but apart from phobias or allergies, do you (and they) really think anyone would avoid you just for having cats? Well, as long as you're not like the crazy cat lady from &lt;em&gt;The Simpsons&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They don't buy the argument about kittens playing with each other when I'm away at work as they think that a single one will just sleep through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spoiler alert: Both would most likely just sleep apart from occasional playing, they have a point there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, don't make that decision based on what others say or think of you. Considerg how much time and space you have for your pets (if you've got multiple cats they should have a chance to be physically separated for a bit, e.g. at least two rooms) and often ignored how much money you have for them. You not only have to buy more food, you'll also have higher veterinarian bills, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T08:03:49.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13591" CreationDate="2016-06-27T08:16:20.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course it is, if properly trained. But it isn't age alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just think of the amount of training that got invested and also other costs (food, medical care, etc.). A puppy is no real &quot;working dog&quot; after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The magic word here is &quot;properly trained&quot;. A well fed guard dog that will just bark all day long or bite any stranger without provocation won't be considered as well trained/valuable as one that actually follows orders, is silent unless provoked etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T08:16:20.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2016-06-27T15:15:28.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think D.E. would work best in this situation but I am offering alternative solutions. For a contact killer you can use dishsoap and water in a spray bottle (I am pretty sure it suffocates them). You can also set a trap where you get a small plate of really shallow soapy water and leave a sugar trail to it (I have not tried this method but supposedly it is good for taking out groups of ants). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you dont want to kill them lemon juice or orange rinds and water supposedly has a chemical which repels them too. This supposedly works as a preventative thing and a contact thing (but doesnt kill them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just putting this out there because i can, but this option is low impact and environmentally safe but not pet safe upon ingestion. Borax or boric acid and sugar mix on a plate (or a cotton ball soaked in the mixture and water) can kill the ants too &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-06-27T15:15:28.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-27T17:49:35.807" Score="4" ViewCount="2345" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat suddenly got Feline Aortic Thromboembolism in the middle of the night and we rushed her to an emergency vet as it looked like she was in a lot of pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the vet she was given the heaviest painkillers. On their advice, we opted to euthanize her as this condition is extremely painful and operation often makes things worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet first administered 2 full syringes into her I.V. which should have killed her in about a minute. But several minutes later was still breathing. The vet then administered another 2 full injections into her I.V. and again she was still breathing and even looking around a bit several minutes later. The vet said that it was taking so long because her heart wasn't pumping properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet then administered a syringe directly into her kidney and we waited and she had to do it again. The whole process took I believe at least 30 minutes  for a total of 6 injections before she died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believed the vet's explanation that it was because her heart wasn't working properly, but my father now thinks we made a bad decision because he perceives it that it took so much to kill her because she must have been in such good health and doesn't trust what the vet says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried Googling for cases of where a lot more injections are required to euthanize a pet with heart problems but I can't find anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know if this kind of things happens with pets with heart problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7482" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T19:26:57.067" Title="Is this why it took 6 injections and 30 minutes to euthanize our cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13588" CreationDate="2016-06-27T20:53:05.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wild, house cats who are lower status  in their clowder will bury their  waste so the aren't percieved &#xA;as challenging the alpha's right to that space. Humans are just taking advantage of this existing behavior&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, on the other hand,  view toileting habits as another way to announce their presence to the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-07-21T15:54:54.863" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T15:54:54.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-28T04:44:50.567" Score="8" ViewCount="2959" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat is 7 and I've had her since she was 4 months old. We moved when she was 1.5 and she started peeing all over the house. There was blood in the pee and the vet gave her antidepressants but it didn't work so we let her outside and she was okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also stopped liking other cats after we moved. In November last year, one cat she grew up with moved away with my sister. In February this year, the other cat we had died but she really hated him. In early march, we got another cat about 1.5 years old and she's crazy and funny and little but i still loved my cat the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, in early June, she started peeing little drops everywhere but there was no blood. We took her to the vet and they tried to get a urine sample but couldn't, and kept her for a few hours but still couldn't, so they gave her an antibiotic shot and she peed for real in her litter box the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't changed her food or litter type, nor had anything recently changed. Then we went on vacation for 10 days and when I got home, she had peed everywhere in my room. On my bed, on paper on the ground, in her litter box, on anything on the ground. I cleaned most of it up but I was tired from the drive and went to sleep. Then she woke me up at 2 am by almost peeing on me. She was preparing to pee on my bed and on me and I took her to her litter box and when she went back to trying to pee on me, I moved it next to my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that in addition to her squatting to pee everywhere, she's started to pee standing up with her back arched and tail shaking, her back against the wall or my bedskirt or my suitcase. I don't know if it's medical or mental and I don't want to stress her out more by taking her to the vet but I'm worried and honestly annoyed because she's peeing on everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I noticed since I got home yesterday, she's started flopping down more. She'll jump on my bed and immediately flop and lay down or she'll stop walking and flop over. It's different than her normal flopping; it's not the cute kind. I've tried giving her treats and sitting with her outside and we have a catnip plant growing that she loves and nothing has calmed her down. I'm desperate for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7485" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T13:16:38.617" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T14:57:37.130" Title="Cat is suddenly peeing everywhere" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2016-06-28T06:43:11.040" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did the vet advise you to do more tests? I mean urinary test, ultrasound investigation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience I can assume that your cat suffers from pain. Usually, if a cat's behavior changes suddenly, it means that cat is trying to show you something, as they can't speak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat has already had problems with peeing. Peeing with little drops could be because of cystitis or urine calculus/renal gravel. If she pees on you, it definitely means she has problems. You just need to find out what kind of problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take her to a vet. Do more tests, check her health. The sooner the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T14:05:28.613" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T14:05:28.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2016-06-28T06:52:39.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess they have no idea :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have fur that protects them from accidental injuries when they play.&#xA;Besides they use their claws  instinctively when jump. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they scratch you too often try to cut their claws or use special claw caps as it's shown in a video&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLnvmZCZiKs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLnvmZCZiKs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T06:52:39.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13588" CreationDate="2016-06-28T08:17:10.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it has to do with their instinct. They feel that when they have to go, they have to go to a soft soily area and that's what the litter box replicates (remember that cats like to cover the area with dirt after they finish??). In the house, there is no other area like that so the litter box is the first place that they will go to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T08:17:10.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-28T11:45:14.870" Score="5" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago my cat (just barely not a kitten anymore) got into a fight with a small forest Owl. The owl didn't survive this. The cat has not been acting strange since and I noticed no injuries so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried? Could there be internal injuries that only show later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7487" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-06-28T18:13:09.930" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T17:13:04.863" Title="My cat got into a fight with an owl. Should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13747" CreationDate="2016-06-28T13:16:10.957" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a picture in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Mattenfilter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;German Wikipedia article of a mat/Hamburg filter&lt;/a&gt; I see a gravel blockage (plastic piece at the bottom of the fixation glued to the ground) and was wondering about its purpose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dsfhu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dsfhu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(see &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Eck-HMF.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Eck-HMF.png&lt;/a&gt; for license)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find a notion of it in the article or any of the referenced websites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't image anything going past the mat no matter whether there's the blockage or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:36:28.657" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:36:28.657" Title="What's the purpose of a gravel blockage of a mat filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13597" CreationDate="2016-06-28T19:26:57.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of anything in particular about a cat with a heart condition that would make it more difficult to euthanize them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, when the two injection method is used, the first injection should be sedation. If the pet is not sedated, the second injection should not be used until profound sedation occurs (usually they'll try to give more of the sedation medication, or if the pet is not suffering they'll wait a longer period).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, since the initial 4 injections were given in an IV, I would suspect that something had happened with the IV, but the correct response is not an injection into the kidney! Petfinder provides &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/pro/for-shelters/general-statement-euthanasia/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a statement&lt;/a&gt; from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) with the following guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The following euthanasia injection routes are not acceptable:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  subcutaneous (under the skin), intramuscular (within the muscle),&#xA;  intrapulmonary (within the lung), &lt;strong&gt;intrarenal (within the kidney),&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  intrasplenic (within the spleen), intrathecal (within the membranes of&#xA;  the spinal cord), intrathoracic (within the chest cavity), and any&#xA;  other nonvascular injection routes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many sedation medications can be given intramuscularly (into a muscle), and that should have been the route the vet tried before intrarenal (into the kidney).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My experience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat with restrictive cardiomyopathy (his heart wasn't relaxing enough because the walls had stiffened). We were warned about the possibility of Aortic Thromboembolism, so when he suddenly appeared to be in extreme pain we rushed him to the vet and had him euthanized. It did not take any extra medication, but he had stopped breathing twice before the euthanasia, so he was in pretty bad shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T19:26:57.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13593" CreationDate="2016-06-28T19:42:19.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to prevent your cat from fighting other neighborhood cats is to keep him inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's recently been neutered, the fighting/aggression may drop off over the next 1-6 months as his hormone levels change, but it's possible that fighting is a habit now and not affected by hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-06-28T19:42:19.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-28T23:16:43.763" Score="1" ViewCount="676" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rat has developed dark spots at the base of her whiskers, her front claws seem to be dark too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They look like they might be dried blood, but I'd have expected her to have cleaned herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else seen this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/3483/piper&quot;&gt;Piper&lt;/a&gt; suggested.  It's around her eyes now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Yn4Wt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Yn4Wt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;porphyrn around eyes&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T16:11:58.760" Title="Black spots at base of rat's whiskers" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13612" CreationDate="2016-06-30T13:37:54.147" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have very small tank, and it's my 4th or 5th month that i own a beta (fighter) fish. last day i went to store to change the pipe, that i see those fish, i don't know all of their names, and some in english so i have to describe or show image, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i bought a black ghost knife, one of those small cleaner (i think is a plecos), two triangular one that are in the image, and two glass cleaner (as it was wrote in my language) which stick to walls or ground, and 5 very small fish, and 2 apple snail, a gold and a brown one. i though next month upgrade my tank to a big one two, but this morning i notice the watter is so messy, i though maybe the food were too much, or they dirty the watter as they are now too many, but once i back, there were only the beta, plecos, and those 5 small which i don't know their names, including two snail...&#xA;know i want to know if the snail are poisnous, or the beta hit them hard... what should i do? &#xA;I really missed the black ghost knife&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E91Ld.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E91Ld.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e78hh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e78hh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xNqQ2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xNqQ2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i want to make sure what do i do the next time i went to that store... i liked these fishes that i take, so i think i go for same type the next time too...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also if it were beta, on the time of night which i didn't noticed, would it hit my other small too? or i can leave them in this tank together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="7494" LastEditDate="2016-06-30T14:31:24.300" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T18:49:10.367" Title="Betta with other fish... a fight? or other cause?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13611" CreationDate="2016-06-30T17:17:01.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That appears to be a very small, novelty-sized aquarium (1-3 gallons?). The recommended size for a &lt;em&gt;single&lt;/em&gt; beta fish is at least 5 gallons (preferably 10 gallons)&amp;hellip; so &lt;strong&gt;that tank looks &lt;em&gt;fatally&lt;/em&gt; overcrowded.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those 8 cm (3&quot;) Plecos will grow into  30-60 cm (1-2 foot) long fish that need a very large aquarium to do well. That Silver Angel will also get as big as your outstretched hand. Snails are also messy (and can also be aggressive &quot;fish suckers&quot;), so a big guy like that isn't recommended for a small tank either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beta fish are also EXTREMELY territorial,&lt;/strong&gt; so it is generally recommended you keep them alone. &lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; beta fish (on a case-by-case basis) &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; tolerate a tank mate if that fish is &quot;dull&quot; and somewhat unobtrusive. But any fish with colorful scales or other showy displays will almost certainly provoke attacks and constant harassment causing injury or possibly death to the other fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to say that a larger tank isn't really a solution here. To keep all those fish, you should get a 2nd tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-06-30T18:49:10.367" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T18:49:10.367" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13557" CreationDate="2016-06-30T19:53:57.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try Dichlorvos strips. You can buy these at most hardware stores and the vapours from the strips affect invertebrates; however, these strips should be used only for a short time and shouldn't be used while you are inhabiting a room (though my people ignore the warnings on the package and do just that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CDC notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not use in kitchens or food prep or storage areas where unwrapped food may be exposed.  Kitchen utensils should not contact the strips.&#xA;  Pets and children should not play or sleep where strips are in use, nor should the strips be used in any room where humans are likely to spend more than four hours a day. An important sidenote here: most of the illnesses (65%) reported in the CDC paper occurred when exposures exceeded four hours per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can close a room and leave the strip to run it's course overnight and then move the strip somewhere else. Once the strip has been removed, provided that there is some ventilation, there will not be any harmful residue left behind. If you are moving through the room occasionally the vapours won't harm you or your dog. You can keep these strips on your exterior walls (on the outside of your house) to help deter them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side Note: I also use diatomaceous earth to kill/deter ants as my wife has a terrible ant phobia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7498" LastEditorUserId="7498" LastEditDate="2016-06-30T20:06:25.653" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T20:06:25.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13570" CreationDate="2016-06-30T20:36:05.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without having more information, my advice to you, if safety is your main concern (which is should be) is bring the animal to an animal care expert and trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some trainers can ID ingrained behavioural problems and possible causes. Remember: animals can also experience mental illness, which can cause erratic behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog may have vision/hearing/‎olfactory issues which interfere with identifying you, which an animal care expert may also be able to identify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother brought a dog with very odd behaviour to a trusted animal care expert who referred her (the dog) to a vet for proper diagnosis of epilepsy which it turned out the dog had. In other cases you could be looking at various neurological disorders, some of which can lead to dangerous behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is all speculation. Your dog could be fine and this may just be idiosyncratic behaviour. Get the dog looked at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7498" LastActivityDate="2016-06-30T20:36:05.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-06-30T20:57:13.810" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a very small tank, which I'll replace soon, with I think a 40G tank.&#xA;I had a betta, and yesterday i bought several fish, of which only the placus, 5 tiny fish, and two snails survived the war, even another kind of aquarium cleaner which I don't know the name of didn't survive... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I own a two outlet air pump, and a very small filter, which takes water from below, and releases it from the top. I'm not sure about these snumber but it says F.Max: 500L/H&#xA;And about the air pump: Air Output: 2×4 L/min&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my fishes' death, I searched several things, and i came across other things too, like snails need pH around 7 I think, or terms like nitrot or something alike, and other things...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also elsewhere I heard that a woman talked about how a lot of her fish died because of the placus, which I always thought cleaned, but it seem they have more waste that can cause death to others...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do large fish require water replacement in a short period with a filter attached? what devices do I need to keep them alive? And what's their priority. When should I do a water change? Do I need a live plant environment, and if so, then how should the water get replaced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my snail are of the &lt;code&gt;Pomacea canaliculata&lt;/code&gt; type. Should I raise the level of stone at some point so they can go outside the water, as I want them to increase? And can it happen in the middle of tank so it will split the tank in two sections, so the snail don't become bait?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe I said many things, not to answer them one by one, but to understand my need from this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last shot from my small tank(before fish death): &#xA;Regarding the photo, how fast should I replace my tank, can I wait for next month (20 day in my country)?&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2pyB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2pyB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Currently the snails, plocus, beta, and those on the top are alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And about the matches, I don't think i can afford more than 40 G, what can match, and how many should be taken so they can co-exist? I know this is a bit general, but I'm not as familiar with fish as you are, so I may learn several names to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:15:33.400" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:15:33.400" Title="Best environment and Matches, beside Beta, Snail, and small Plecos" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2016-07-01T02:28:00.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost certainly not.  For one thing, while cats do have feeling in their claws, they almost certainly don't have good enough feeling to really tell if they just broke the skin or not (just like if you were to scratch someone with your nails, you can't really tell for sure), and so I don't think they'd notice if they did not observe the injury.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, while cats do seem to understand facial expressions and body language, and so they do have empathy in that sense, cats do not appear to have the mental capacity to truly understand another's viewpoint.  Therefore, I'm not convinced that a cat would truly understand that it was the cause of injury, or that you were even injured.  Mostly the cat probably just understands, &quot;the human seems in pain.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T02:28:00.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-01T03:10:05.363" Score="3" ViewCount="11234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd love to have a cat but I hate the smell of cat poop and disgusted by the prospect of cleaning a litter box being my daily routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a quiet lane and my house has a quiet large garden covered with lawn. I can also make a cat door so that my would-be cat can go outside freely do her business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I read horrible stories (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-health-indoor-outdoor-cats-ask-a-vet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/caring-animal-companions/caring-cats/indoor-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;) about letting cats outside. in addition, I cannot afford to buy fancy self-cleaning litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering what to do about this. Should I try to suppress my desire to own a cat? Or is it ok to have a cat and let her outside? &#xA;Appreciate your hints on this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="7501" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T00:52:30.810" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:15:33.530" Title="How can I have a cat without a litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13644" CreationDate="2016-07-01T03:48:11.427" Score="4" ViewCount="3061" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the telltale signs that a cat has no owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Context on the cat I'm worried about in particular&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who jumps through my window into my home and just walks around. He runs whenever someone walks, but he has no problems if there are awake humans (There are no animals in my home, however there are several dogs around)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I started leaving him some food or even feeding him by throwing some food out the window (He refuses to come close). He does seem to be hungry all the time, however he does have a necklace and doesn't seem to be weak (He has to do quite a big jump to get to my windows)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that I know nothing of the cat, except that he panicked the one time I accidentally closed the windows with him inside. I'm unsure if the cat's scamming me for free food or if he's abandoned&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to that, my question. How can I figure out if a cat has no owner, and if you would so kind (although I do understand it might be too localized), how can I tell if this particular (seemingly fine except for the recent approximation he has made towards my house) cat has an owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7502" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T00:09:33.273" Title="How to tell if a cat is abandoned?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13618" CreationDate="2016-07-01T07:15:36.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you like cats and you would own one, do it. We have a cat. She is 5 year old and the &amp;lt;5 minutes daily to clean her toilette is the daily to-do for me. The cat is an indoor cat and she is happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7503" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T21:57:16.313" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T21:57:16.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13618" CreationDate="2016-07-01T14:23:58.740" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the last time you dealt with cat litter and litter boxes, but there have been some dramatic advances with both. Clumping litters and crystal litters all but eliminate the smell completely. And without spending a lot, you could get one of these rolling litter boxes that mean you wouldn't even need to scoop. (Caveat: I haven't used one of these, but I know people who love them.) That said, there is the possibility that you get a fussy cat that doesn't like certain types of litter. So while I can't guarantee that you won't have problems, I'm pretty confident that with a bit of experimentation you can find a solution that both you and the cat are happy with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a firm believer in keeping cats indoors; they are safer and live far longer than their outdoor counterpart. That said, if you're want to adopt a cat from a shelter, you'll be giving it a far better life, even if you let it outdoors, than it would have in the shelter for the rest of its life. So if the choice is between having no cat and adopting a cat that you allow outdoors, go for the second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most shelters will give you a trial period where you can return the animal if it doesn't work out. If you're not sure how well you can cope with the smell, you can use the trial period to find out. Or you can foster a cat for a limited period of time. That way, even if you find the smell objectionable, you know it's only for a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, don't underestimate the power of love. When you feel that unconditional love from an animal, cleaning up after it doesn't seem like nearly as much of a chore. I'm living proof. Frankly, I'm not a neat person, and my home is always a mess. I detest cleaning. But paradoxically, the litter boxes get scooped and cleaned regularly, and I don't mind litter duty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ln5BC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ln5BC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T14:23:58.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7640" CreationDate="2016-07-01T15:50:22.077" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to take a box that is usually used for moving and place it usidedown over&#xA;The tank. Look at that! I cant see it and it cant see itself :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7507" LastActivityDate="2016-07-01T15:50:22.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13651" CreationDate="2016-07-02T05:33:28.270" Score="4" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted yesterday a pair of 3 month kittens. I was told at shelter that I should confine them to one room for 7-14 days unless they start exploring. The most adventurous of sisters tried to repeatedly sneak past my legs when I enter or leave to get into living room. I'm a bit afraid they she will try to explore outside where catching her will be much more difficult. How can I prevent her from running away and getting lost when I exit my flat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. I'm renting so I can't do too many things which are permanent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: They are domestic shorthair and both are very sociable, playful and exploring (after letting them out of carrier they both started exploring with their tail in 'up' position). They both seems to have unlimited amounts of energy as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastEditorUserId="6955" LastEditDate="2016-07-03T04:49:45.587" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T16:19:34.440" Title="My 3 months cat wants to explore living room but I'm afraid that I may let her out" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13630" CreationDate="2016-07-02T06:15:51.237" Score="4" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;That may be a strange question but my kittens expressed a lot of interest in bottle of non-alcoholic beer I was drinking. They tried to lick the bottle and started licking me around my lips. I could not find any information regarding non-alcoholic beer when I tried to google it (only about alcohol). I don't see any signs of poisoning/intoxication (especially that I hadn't really let them enjoy what they are doing) but should I worried about their well being?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worried new cat daddy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastActivityDate="2016-07-02T14:15:26.683" Title="Is indirect exposure to non-alcoholic beer dangerous for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-02T09:31:02.117" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a really old dog, about fourteen or so, covered in tumors. I got her when I was four. I'm 18 now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's gotten progressively worse lately. As in, within the past month or so, new tumors have popped up on her throat. She's having trouble eating. I know it's stress that made her worse - my mom was in the yard with her and our Papillon when two unleashed unsupervised German Shepherds came into our yard and disemboweled our Papillon. Our old dog got to her first and chased both of them all the way home, followed by my mom. I went outside to see what was going on and when I opened the door the Papillon came inside. I freaked, forgot every bit of dog first aid I know, and (fortunately; I should not have freaked out like that, I knew better than to freak out like that) decided to try human first aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet with my mom's boyfriend while my mom waited on animal control. We were expecting to need to put her down. She came out of shock on the way there, crying in pain, but did not bite me. Once there, the vet rushed us in and took her directly into surgery before we filled out forms - despite being told flat out we were broke. The vet managed to save her because she had nothing torn inside - our old dog had gotten to her fast enough to stop them from doing more damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guy got his dogs back the next day. We're still paying off the vet bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our old dog got worse really fast, but she got her energy back once we got the Papillon back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the dogs came into our yard about 24 days after the attack. They had been loose since then, days after the attack then a day before this incident his girlfriend posted on Facebook that one of them was lost and friendly, confirmed that the dog in the picture taken a few days after the attack was the lost dog. The dog was promptly found under a pile of clothes 'trying to keep cool' after we called bull larky. It should be noted that she claimed it jumped out of the open window of a moving car. It was 5AM, pitch black, and my mom was taking the dogs out. (We went right to animal control as soon as they opened and filed another complaint. Apparently, until they attack a human and do serious damage, animal control can't do much more than fine him each time the dogs get loose. Despite our dog being the third animal they have attacked unprovoked and the guy lying about where he lived.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our old dog started choking on nothing the same day. She's gotten even worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't afford to take her to the vet. Especially not while still paying off the vet bills for the attack, even after the vet was willing to give us a discount. (They are the only vet that doesn't charge $1500 just to look at a dog, much less treat it. These people also treat and adopt out strays. Despite not being rescues.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom says even if we could afford to treat her, it would probably kill her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We feed both dogs wet food twice a day and leave dry food out. (I know, I know. It's not good for them. They need dry food twice daily. Wet food is bad for them. I know. I've read the research. Mom doesn't want them fighting over the wet food, and our old dog has trouble eating solids.It was originally just her teeth(because someone threw away the doggy toothbrush and the doggy toothpaste when we moved and never got new ones.) but now she is having trouble swallowing. We think it hurts.) On bad days my mom blends the wet food with water for her. They always have a bowl full of water. My mom's boyfriend sneaks her people food whenever he can, and sometimes I give her peanut butter or sandwich meat or cheese. I usually only give her people food as a reward for extra good behavior, because her health comes first, but she's at the point anything solid is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we could be doing differently to ease her pain and make her comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were expecting to have longer before she got this bad. Things don't always work out the way we want, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to make her live longer - I'm not asking you to tell me how to make her live longer - because that would be selfish of me. When you own a pet you have to do what's best by it, even if it isn't what's best for you. Even if it hurts you.&#xA;When you adopt a pet that's what you sign up for, a lifetime of friendship in exchange for caring.&#xA;If you get hurt because you care, well, you signed up for it. That doesn't make it any easier to let go, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7511" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-16T02:54:22.497" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T02:54:22.497" Title="Dog cancer treatment options" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;cancer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2016-07-02T10:28:38.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The colder they are the less they chirp. I put my aquarium with 50+ crickets by the window at night and they are ten times more quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7512" LastActivityDate="2016-07-02T10:28:38.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13626" CreationDate="2016-07-02T14:15:26.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;De-alcoholized beer isn't actually zero alcohol, but it's very, very low (typically 0.5% ABV). That may be low enough to be harmless to a cat, but bear in mind that there's a major weight difference between us and them, so percentages needed to feel effects are different. Also that, in the end, alcohol is just bad for them and there's nothing positive to be gained there by allowing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other reason I would discourage it is to discourage them when there's beer that has normal volumes around. If your cat has a taste for it, they may go after it and, well, they can't read to see there's a difference and avoid the risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl;dr - I wouldn't allow it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-07-02T14:15:26.683" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-02T20:38:13.757" Score="2" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a white skirt tetra, and he seems to be a little on the aggressive side toward one of my Cory Catfish. This Cory happens to bee the crazy one that likes to swim really fast all over the place. When the Cory get's close to the Tetra, the Tetra starts to follow it and bump into it. He keeps doing this, and sometimes he tries to just find the Cory and bully him like this. Is he being aggressive or is he just playing? or is it his way of telling the cory to &quot;Calm down&quot;? I don't know if I should take out the Tetra or not, but I don't want any of my fish dying either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7517" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T14:53:12.923" Title="White Skirt Tetra" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-02T23:44:43.940" Score="2" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends dog is 4 years old.  She is a colly and lab mix.  She has been sick for about a year.  She emits a unpleasant smell.  The smell is similar to concentrated human saliva.  She has been taken to two vets.  They tested for tick panel, kidney failure and blood, stool and  urine analysis.  All came back normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/G5Y30XqgL9A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video 1: Walking with back in U shape.  Back looks slightly humped. &lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Could this be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_dg_intervertebral_disc_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spinal problem&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/TZ6UXC_cr5s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video 2: Laying down.  Will not lift neck up to look at me.  Nails long and not bitten. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y6QQL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y6QQL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a year ago and when the symptoms started she was around some insecticide about 3 hours after application.  She is currently taking heart worm pills, Trifexis.  No other medications. She moves around very slowly.  She has heavy hair loss around the belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a high energy very exciteable dog that has been reduced to the energy levels of very senior dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7519" LastEditorUserId="7519" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T14:19:36.603" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T14:19:36.603" Title="Dog lethargic, hair loss, doesnt lift head and moves slowly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13646" CreationDate="2016-07-03T13:17:05.790" Score="2" ViewCount="1007" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to train my puppy to use potty pads for over a month to no avail. The biggest problem is that as soon as she sees a potty pad she instantly sets in on shredding into fine strips of confetti using her teeth and paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I researched this online and spoke to the puppy training expert at my vet about this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are something things I've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Use a pad holder, use pads with sticky edges, tape the pad down&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RESULT:  She can dislodge the pad despite this, but it really doesn't matter because even with secured edges she still manages to tear herself a hole in the middle of the pad (like drilling a pilot hole) then proceeds to totally decimate the pad. I think she times herself to see how long it takes her and she's got her time under 10 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Use verbal commands to stop her&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RESULT: This only works in the moment I'm doing it (if at all) and then the second I turn my attention elsewhere she goes back to destruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Spray the edges with bitter apple&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RESULT: She licks it then asks me if she can have some more of the &quot;apple candy&quot;. I guess I could find something stronger but she doesn't need the edges to destroy it and it seems like that would just deter her from going onto the pad anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Restrict her movements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RESULT: I tried this and it's failed multiple ways. If I make it where she can only be in the crate or on the pad and she's left alone, then the pad gets destroyed long before she would need to use it. I've also tried feeding her a big meal then putting her on the crate and only letting her out directly onto the pad with me there holding her leash. I did this every 15-20 minutes for 2 entire evenings last week. She just &quot;holds&quot; it somehow and has no idea what I'm trying to get her to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record she is a very smart dog and she has no problem going outside. However she does have to spend significant time alone during working hours, so she needs the pads yet she just thinks they're too appealing as shreddable objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and in case you're wondering:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she's got a billion toys, they just aren't as cool as shredding potty pads I guess&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;her nails are trimmed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastEditorUserId="3495" LastEditDate="2016-07-03T15:41:05.810" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T06:46:55.637" Title="Puppy shreds potty pads and doesn't &quot;get&quot; their purposes, despite several training attempts" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13639" CreationDate="2016-07-03T15:21:21.260" Score="2" ViewCount="609" Body="&lt;p&gt;My baby (2-3 months) bearded dragon only eats about 6-9 dubia roaches a day. I add dehydrated meal worms to &quot;her&quot; (still not totally sure yet) salad every day. Is this normal behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7524" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T17:33:15.420" Title="Baby dragon doesn't eat many roaches" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13633" CreationDate="2016-07-03T17:40:43.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a vet but the first possibility that occurred to me was hypothyroid. This would explain the extreme lack of energy and loss of hair. It can also make the animal sensitive to cold and subject to infections, as explained &lt;a href=&quot;http://anicare.ie/fact-sheets/dog-facts/hypothyroidism/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The test shouldn't be expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if the idea occurred to me, I'm sure a vet would have thought of it too and may have ruled it out without needing to do a test. Still, I think it's worth asking the vet if hypothyroid is a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest your friend clip the dog's toenails, as walking on them will probably be uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T17:40:43.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13638" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-03T19:57:11.680" Score="4" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I was a kid I've always wanted a dog, and since now I have my own home, I can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before thinking about anything else I wanted to find out of it is detrimental to either a dogs physical or mental health to be left at home during office hours? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hours no one would be home would be 08:30 - 16:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it isn't a responsible thing to do I will have to wait until I retire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5152" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:02:56.407" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:02:56.407" Title="Can a dog be left alone during work hours?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13636" CreationDate="2016-07-03T20:12:09.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much does she weigh?&#xA;Can you tell me about your setup (temps, humidity, substrate etc.)&#xA;How much weight is she gaining every week?&#xA;Is she eating her veggies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dubia roaches are large they could just be filling her up much faster than small crickets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-04T17:33:15.420" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T17:33:15.420" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13638" CreationDate="2016-07-03T20:17:32.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a fenced yard that the dog can stay in while you're at work, it should not be a problem. But consider getting two dogs, so that they can keep each other company. Also, consider adopting an adult dog(s) from a shelter, as a puppy would be more likely to get lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a yard, then there's the question of how the dog will get a chance to pee or poop. You don't say where you're located, but it's likely you could find someone to walk your dog once a day while you're at work. Alternatively, there may be &quot;doggy day care&quot; centres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T20:17:32.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13638" CreationDate="2016-07-03T20:25:25.850" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No worries there, just keep him/her busy :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your dog lots of toys to have fun with during the day, I'm a big fan of foraging toys (make them work for their food). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a good 1 hour run in the morning before work to tucker him/her out for the better part of the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn on radio/tv for some background noise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doggy daycare is also a good option (though do your research), you can also hire someone to walk your dog at lunch time as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about your pooch being lonely you can always get two but that's a handful. If this is your first time owning a dog it would be better if you just got one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-03T20:25:25.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-03T23:31:38.877" Score="3" ViewCount="6728" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog likes to hang out the window as we drive. And, as a matter of clarification: He's in a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/BooneTheBullTerrier/videos/995678660529151/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;harness attached to the seat&lt;/a&gt; with enough room for one leg to dangle (and scratch things) (It gets adjusted as needed to keep him safe from falling out). This is fine in my car, as I've already dinged it up and I don't care about the paint job (I drive em till the engine drops)... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in other cars - including Hers - we do care about the paint job and have a desire to get or do &quot;something&quot; to protect the door - inside and out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the look of &lt;a href=&quot;https://smile.amazon.com/Underpaws-BB-002-underPAWS-Bad-Bone/dp/B00ANOYIEM/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; from Amazon:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Gzq-IYIWL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And we like the looks of &lt;a href=&quot;https://smile.amazon.com/Bushwhacker%C2%AE-Vehicle-Protector-Scratch-Shield/dp/B00PV09VZ4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81mU%2BSDbSxL._SL1500_.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81mU%2BSDbSxL._SL1500_.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is &quot;Magnetic&quot; and sits on the outside... the other is cloth and sits on the inside - protecting inside and out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that we'd like a single item, if possible (since the window DOES need to go up and down). Maybe the second one, with magnets added to keep it attached to the door on the outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have tips/tricks/suggestions on how to protect the inside AND outside of a door for a dog who loves to &quot;hang out&quot;? There seems to be plenty of options for the inside of a car... but not many for the &quot;Outside&quot; and nothing that does both that I've seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="241" LastEditDate="2016-07-06T18:01:23.247" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:23:25.050" Title="Door Protector for dogs that like to Hang Out the Window" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13619" CreationDate="2016-07-04T00:09:33.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't hold him, there's not a lot you can do.  If you can catch him, you could take him to a vet or animal shelter to have him scanned for a microchip.  The absence of the chip doesn't tell you he's abandoned, but the presence of one, and the ensuing phone call, would tell you if he is.  If there's no chip and you want to adopt him (or at least ensure he's getting veterinary care), you can attach a note.  The way I did this once was to take a flea collar (which has the virtue of being white) and write &quot;owner: please call (my phone number)&quot; on it with a Sharpie.  After a week with no response I took the cat to the vet for a screening and then adopted her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He might be scamming you for food.  I wouldn't be all that concerned about helping him be overfed; if he's roaming the neighborhood already, he's not on a restricted diet.  If you want to feed him, feed him.  When it gets cold and you're not keeping your windows open, either he'll start showing up on your doorstep instead or he'll dine elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T00:09:33.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13634" CreationDate="2016-07-04T04:49:38.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try putting a pad outside on the ground when you take her out to see if she has any desire to go to it. Maybe if she already has a preferred location outside that she does her business, you could prepare ahead of time and place a pad or two out there and see if she ignores them, or avoids them.&#xA;It may be strange, but when she goes outside, take a pad and soak up some urine on it, and take it back inside and she if she recognizes that as an appropriate place now that there is obviously urine on this &quot;pad&quot;. Maybe she won't rip it up either.&#xA;We have a new puppy and she did the same thing (ripping up the pad immediately). Luckily for us someone will be home with her for the next 2 months every day, so we have just completely stopped offering pads.&#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T04:49:38.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13634" CreationDate="2016-07-04T06:46:55.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our case it was usually enough to place a more interesting toy nearby. Although to be honest, while our (Husky) puppy was quite overactive, he never tried to seriously ear or shred the pads. He scratched one once, but that's been it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We never had some holder for it, I only had to make sure to pin the corners with some (paper) tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you could try, get some artificial &quot;scent&quot; to put on the center of the pad so the dog will instinctively smell that this isn't meant for playing. The quicker (and cheaper) approach for this is to wait for some accident to happen (or till the next round outside), then grab some paper towel, pick some liquid up and rub it over the center of the training pad. You could also use some dropper/pipette, if you've got one. This doesn't have to be a lot, just a few drops should be more than enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T06:46:55.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-04T06:58:28.500" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parakeet is still in the nesting box with 7 eggs and it been almost 30 days and she is still on them ? What should I do ?? Will she have more eggs soon or do I remove everything? I have 3 females and 2 male in the cage? Should I leave the box in the cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7530" LastActivityDate="2016-09-02T11:42:31.873" Title="What should i do with my parakeet is still on her eggs after 30 days and what happen to her?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13647" CreationDate="2016-07-04T11:18:54.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't want her to lay remove the nesting box, at the 30 day mark you should remove them. It takes about 18-23 days for eggs to hatch, typically the hen will know when it's time to get rid of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally if you remove their eggs too soon they will lay more however removing the nest box (and anything else that resembles or could be used as a nest) and reduce daylight hours will decrease the need for them to lay eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to purchase fake egg to replace the real ones so if she wants to sit on them longer you wont have to worry about them rotting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T11:18:54.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12047" CreationDate="2016-07-04T16:15:34.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a bit loaded question, but I will do my best to address your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 75 gallon tank, you can run a hang-on back skimmer and you should be fine as long as you purchase a high quality one.  Currently, the best hang-on back skimmers on the market would be Reef Octopus and AquaMaxx. You can have a pretty successful tank without a sump. A sump will provide the advantage of being able to hide things, more volume, and more flexibility of the equipment you want, but I would agree adding a sump is intimating because of plumbing requirement. These days, you can purchase an all-in-one aquarium with compartments to hold skimmers, heaters, auto-top off systems, etc in the back of the tank, but they will be more expensive than if you built your system with a sump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a sum up -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For cheapest setup and size&lt;/strong&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cheapest aquarium, there are going to be two options - purchase a 75 gallon fish tank from Petco (brand name is Top Fin). This tank is around $199. Or you can purchase the combo with the stand for $299. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second&lt;/strong&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a used tank from Craigslist. You can get a pretty good deal from there - especially in the summer when most aquarium keepers leave the hobby.  If you buy a tank from Craigslist, you will need to clean the tank with distilled white vinegar to get it ready for usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all that being said, the &lt;strong&gt;least expensive&lt;/strong&gt; setup would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchasing a used tank setup from Craigslist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchasing whatever missing equipment you need with lighting being your most expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going fish only or fish only with live rock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchasing frag corals from local reef tank owners instead of fish stores&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Buying a brand new&lt;/strong&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you chose to purchase brand new, there are several pieces of equipment you will need just to get started. Here is the main list. Your options and price will increase depending on your long-term goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein Skimmer &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RODI System (A must if you choose to keep a reef tank)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heater&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salt Mix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Test Kits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lighting (Will get more expensive if you chose to have a reef tank)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biological Filtration (Either with Canister/Wet/Dry if you choose fish only or porous dry rock if you chose reef tank)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flow (Powerhead for circulation and oxygen exchange - again gets more expensive if you want a reef tank)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Substrate (Aragonite based)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refractometer (better than hydrometer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 75 gallon tank - you are likely looking at ~$1000+ all in even for a cheap setup. As for fish, 5-7 fish should be fine in a 75 gallon tank, but you have to make sure you put the best compatible fish and likely easy to keep as you are beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this list of top 10 &lt;a href=&quot;https://aquariumstoredepot.com/blogs/news/80525444-top-10-best-saltwater-aquarium-fish-for-any-reef-tank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;saltwater aquarium fish&lt;/a&gt; for any reef tank blog post for a good list of fish to get you started. You can also check out this guide for &lt;a href=&quot;https://aquariumstoredepot.com/blogs/news/88874692-saltwater-aquarium-selection-guide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;saltwater aquarium&lt;/a&gt; selection to get additional information regarding aquarium types and the glass vs. acrylic debate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7535" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T19:22:35.357" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T19:22:35.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13625" CreationDate="2016-07-04T16:19:34.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) With experience, you will learn to check for cats underfoot before opening doors, and to position bags and such to help blockade unauthorized excursions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) If they are indoor- only cats, you may find that they will eventually decide that outdoors is Someone Else's Territory, and not actually be very interested in exploring it on their own. My girlfriend's cats, if carried outside, will generally dash right back inside. Mine will play sneak-past-me games at the inner door to the porch, but while they are interested in the outside I've never had them try to cross the outside threshold; they know they aren't supposed to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Even if they are indoor- only cats, consider having them microchips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T16:19:34.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3209" CreationDate="2016-07-04T16:24:23.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any type of auto water change setup I have seen has been plumbed to your homes piping. It's usually pretty custom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can change water daily using dosing pumps, which is what I have typically seen with auto water changing systems. Freshwater systems are going to be easier to automate because you do not have to be concerned about salt mixing and RODI water. Most auto water changing systems I have seen have been with reef tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tanks these days that do have the ability to drain your water with a leverage, which is half of the process. Fluval is the company that starting selling all in tanks using this drain feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7535" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T16:24:23.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6655" CreationDate="2016-07-04T16:27:43.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it does matter. The primary reason is territory. Many fish are territorial and want to establish their own areas in the tank. The other is swimming space as some fish get stressed out if they cannot swim openly back and forth in the tank. The other reason is lighting. For plant and reef tanks, the shorter the tank, the less light intensity you will need to reach all areas of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason, the long and shallow tanks tend to be the best choices for fish (rectangle shaped). There are some fish that prefer vertical space, but the vast majority of fish out there are going to prefer a longer tank versus taller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7535" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T16:27:43.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-04T17:06:09.150" Score="2" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't keep fish, but I've wondered about this.  From what I understand, snails are introduced to a fish tank to keep it clean.  Fish produce waste and the snails eat this along with algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't the snails themselves produce just as much waste though?  Are we just converting one kind of wate into another?  Why doesn't this need cleaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastEditorUserId="3359" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T19:15:10.000" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T19:15:10.000" Title="How does a snail clean a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7277" CreationDate="2016-07-04T18:07:14.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is free-fed, meaning there is a full food bowl available at all times. He is overweight. I bought him a special interactive feeder bowl, which forces him to work for every paw-ful of food he eats... and he is &lt;strong&gt;still&lt;/strong&gt; overweight, though he did lose a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some things to consider when trying to figure out if your cat has self control.&#xA;First, this is a weakness that many humans have - we eat when we're bored, when we're stressed, when we want to celebrate, etc. Cats absolutely do that, too. Dogs, too. In fact, there are some dog breeds (entire &lt;strong&gt;breeds&lt;/strong&gt;!) that are simply known for being food-obsessed, like beagles and labs. My brother has a dog that will literally eat until it throws up, and then will eat some more. It just depends on how food-oriented or food-obsessed the individual is.&#xA;Second, if this is a high-value, unusual treat, then all bets are off. There are some people that, if you put a cake in front of them, they will eat until the cake is gone - a slice here, a nibble there and a few hours later, no more cake.&#xA;Third, it is important to remember that before the comforts and conveniences of our modern world developed, we humans and our pets had to work for hours to get a meal. It is actually unnatural to simply walk up to a bowl of food and eat until you are full and then have to find a way to occupy yourself for the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a separate but related note, be careful that the food you are giving your cat is safe and non-toxic. (not spoiled, bone-free) You can find a list of cat-safe foods on google easily. Also, remember that if this is an unusual or special treat, that too much of it could make your kitty sick enough to make messes all over your house, so moderation is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7523" LastActivityDate="2016-07-04T18:07:14.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-04T20:15:05.307" Score="2" ViewCount="1296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what to do I have two leopard geckos and I was just feeding them and one of them bite the others head and now theirs a small noticeable hole should I take it to the vet or whatever or will it heal naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7536" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T22:17:17.133" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T20:10:13.940" Title="What to do when one leopard gecko bites another?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-04T21:07:33.713" Score="2" ViewCount="2805" Body="&lt;p&gt;She is a 13 year old Labrador and I have I just started to notice this problem. It does not seem to be too bad, but it makes me worry about her. I am dog sitting for a family member so I cannot take her to the vet or anything if it is just something small. I can't lift her to give her a bath but is there something I can try? Thank you for helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7537" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T00:02:18.570" Title="My dog is pulling her fur out and eating it" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13654" CreationDate="2016-07-05T00:00:11.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The large snails produce more waste, they are better at cleaning algae than fish feces (not all snails will munch on fish feces).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what kind of garbage eaters you have you still need to do maintenance and suction out the feces/debris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T00:00:11.513" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13657" CreationDate="2016-07-05T00:02:18.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any skin issues need to be seen by a vet as a number of things can make a dog pull out their fur/overgroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;some examples are flea allergy dermatitis, allergies, skin infection etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can never guarantee 100% as to what it is without being able to see the dog in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T00:02:18.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T01:12:25.807" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this is the question: can animals count? If so, and if it implies some intelligence degree, why they fail to do less complex tasks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, a female duck may lay eggs in a tree hole. The offspring need to jump from the tree as the mother calls them in the ground. She will wait until all of the little ones are with her: so she knows somehow to count. Correct? That proves some level of intelligence. However she is not wise enough to round around an obstacle like a mesh panel or a fallen tree branch to get more food. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please only serious and solid answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. I'm not including those with &quot;sufficient&quot; intelligence, like simians, dolphins, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7539" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T02:39:11.810" Title="Can animals count?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13673" CreationDate="2016-07-05T01:14:31.367" Score="3" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried to google that one - is it more environment friendly to flush cat litter (assuming it is flushable) or landfill it? I can see that flushing has disadvantage of polluting water, while we throw away to landfill too much things anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, I'm in California and use (at least for now) World's Best Cat Litter (as they are used to it from shelter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T20:45:15.490" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T20:45:15.490" Title="Is flushing or landfilling cat litter more environmental friendly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13661" CreationDate="2016-07-05T01:46:54.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at the bottom of this page &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/natural-cat-litter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/natural-cat-litter/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is, coincidentally, a little blurb about California &quot;*The state of California encourages the disposal of cat feces in trash and discourages flushing feces in toilets or disposing of them in drains.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter you are using is essentially dried up corn with no chemicals added making it safe for the environment - flush or no flush. As to why it's different in California you may have to contact the manufacturer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T01:46:54.550" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T02:06:06.117" Score="1" ViewCount="5317" Body="&lt;p&gt;Below I link to a video of my dog rubbing its nose on its bed repeatedly and then tapping a bone with its nose. Then the whole cycle was repeated. She did this for about 15 minutes. Can anyone explain it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/iCrFxdHAHd8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/iCrFxdHAHd8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7542" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T13:05:53.903" Title="Dog rubbing nose on bed and tapping bone. Any explanation?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13660" CreationDate="2016-07-05T02:18:18.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdotal evidence is &quot;Some can, some can't, some may just not solve problems that way&quot; Some birds have been demonstrated to be able to count up to 14 or so. On the other hand, look up cowbirds to understand why the number of eggs, even if they could count, might not be what drives behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intelligence is not a single thing. It's a bunch of mental tools that evolved to meet the requirements of survival, and that can sometimes then be applied to solve other problems. It isn't yes/no, it isn't even just a matter of degree; it's how good the critters are at solving each specific problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And note that intelligence isn't the only way to solve problems. Persistent trial-and-error, and some memory of what finally worked last time, often works well enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T02:18:18.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="746" CreationDate="2016-07-05T03:30:10.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tortoise, Beef, loves being scrubbed with a toothbrush on the back of shell, only with dawn soap. We only use the original type (blue/original), but I use a damp cotton ball to wipe off dirt from the bottom and a Q-tip for legs. Hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7544" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T14:20:30.947" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T14:20:30.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13663" CreationDate="2016-07-05T05:02:39.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our two Huskies does the exact same thing, but only when he wants to move something or - which I think is the actual reason here as well - &lt;strong&gt;when he wants to dig in something like food for later&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pillow is soft, so by instinct the dog might assume it can be moved over the bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T05:02:39.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T07:00:47.213" Score="3" ViewCount="4438" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, my cat (11 years old, male neutered) was recently diagnosed with moderate inflammation of his intestines (IBD) and a stomach ulcer. It explains his occasional vomiting over the last couple of months, which suddenly increased to the point where he refuses all food and is on a feeding tube. The longer-term vomiting is likely due to the IBD, but the food aversion and severe vomiting is likely due to the ulcer (according to the vet who did the endoscopy). At least it wasn't cancer, it seems like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is now on a number of anti-nausea drugs (metoclopramide, cerenia, and ondansetron) and also ulcer medication (sucralfate). Of all the nausea things, only metoclopramide seems to actually do much, which makes its 4-5 hour duration rather unfortunate (he'll vomit up to dry heaves despite the other two, though we've only done 2 doses of ondansatron so far). Mostly, he just hides himself away feeling sick and his only enjoyment is chin scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else had a cat with a stomach ulcer and have insights on the typical healing process? I am particularly wondering how long the healing process is likely to be. I should ideally be introducing foods to eat, but there is really no point right now when his primary mission in life is currently &quot;hide behind the couch and try not to vomit on myself.&quot; However, it is my understanding that his appetite should probably return once the ulcer is resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone have insight or tips about a typical successful treatment process (e.g. medication issues, dietary, how long it takes a stomach ulcer to heal)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 1:&lt;/strong&gt; It might actually be the sucralfate that is the only one that does much, rather than the metoclopramide.  I tend to deliver their doses close together, and their durations are similar. When I recently gave the sucralate a bit later, he tossed his cookies despite a metoclopramide dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2:&lt;/strong&gt; Unfortunately, the poor boy did not make it. The ulcer would not heal for some reason, leading to persistent anemia and death. Lack of vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; due to his earlier vomiting might have been a contributing factor (he got a shot, but probably too late). As a note, switching from Hills a/d to Royal Canin Pea-Duck did help him stop vomiting and keep food down, but he was just too weak and couldn't recover. If I could re-do this in a similar situation (ulcer caused by IBD), it would be to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch immediately to a high-calorie rare-protein diet (pea-duck is good, about 190/can, while venison and rabbit are lower-calorie, at least for Royal Canin)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start on weekly vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; shots as a preventative measure (they're cheap and shouldn't hurt anything even if unneeded), and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get regular bloodwork done so you can track trends for healing of the ulcer (at least once per week).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drooling - be aware that excessive drooling may not be due to nausea, but might be due to anemia also.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hind leg weakness - be aware that weak hind legs is often related to nervous system issues, such as those associated with vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; deficiency (which can be caused by vomiting, diarrhea, or lack of absorption due to bad IBD).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider switching food as soon as bile vomiting starts to increase (e.g. vomiting on a mostly-empty stomach, rather than during or directly after feeding), since kitty's immune system might have started rejecting that type of food (seems to be what might have happened with Hill's a/d, which worked great for 2 days and then went rapidly downhill). IBD sometimes means the cat's gut will learn to reject certain foods, so just because a food worked well at one point doesn't mean it will be good even a few days later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these in addition to the standard of care (e.g. sucralfate).  All of these eventually were used for my cat, but not all of them were immediate (and they could have in theory all been started up-front). There's still a pretty good chance my cat would not have made it, since the ulcer was not healing well, but it might give a bit more of a fighting chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7269" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:40:30.450" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:40:30.450" Title="What might be a typical stomach ulcer healing process and timeline?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T09:26:27.217" Score="2" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm asking this question about my sisters cat. I'm 17 and she's 14 and we have two sister cats from the same litter, they're both just over a year old. Her cat is black and we should have named her shadow as she barely interacts with any of us during the day. She's very shy and runs away if any of us try to stroke her or cuddle her. However, at night time she jumps onto my sisters bed and is very affectionate, giving kisses and headbumps - she's the same every night with her. But she only does this to my sister. When my sister and mum leave the house in the morning for school and work she cries constantly for her and when I try to pet her she runs away. But when my sister comes back in the afternoon 'shadow' continues her shy behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does she do this? We're all so confused!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7546" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-07-05T13:23:45.007" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T16:18:28.320" Title="Why is my sister's cat very shy during the day and around others?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13669" CreationDate="2016-07-05T10:53:59.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats are just naturally very timid and may never come around to other people. One of the veterinarians I work with has a cat like this however the cat never wants to cuddle and hides until she (the doctor) sleeps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always try the diffuser feliway, this can help with anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T10:53:59.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2016-07-05T11:43:45.537" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go for a recheck, make sure they look at the pee. &#xA;Have you switched her diet? She seems like a stress UTI cat, talk to your veterinarian about Hill's C/D. It's a urinary diet for cats prone to getting UTI's from stress, it's one of our most sold foods for cats (along with urinary s/o) that works great. Also another good add on for this is the feliway difuser (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.feliway.com/&lt;/a&gt;) I love love love this stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they cannot get a sample at the clinic ask them for litter beads and a syringe so you can collect urine yourself at home. Lock her in the bathroom with the litter box and beads, if she won't use the box chances are she'll use the bathtub or sink which is still ok. Also a side note if you do this remove any carpet/towels that will soak up pee if she decides to pee on those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some UTI's aren't cured with our standard antibiotics so a culture and sensitivity would be another thing to consider however they would need to do a cystocentesis for a proper sample.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! We see this ALL the time in clinic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T11:43:45.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13661" CreationDate="2016-07-05T13:44:39.747" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The concern in California is protection of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://seaotterresearch.org/seaotters.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;California Sea Otter&lt;/a&gt;. In 2004, some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751904000050&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;researchers discovered&lt;/a&gt; a significant number of dead sea otters on the beach and autopsy revealed that they had died from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;toxoplasmosis&lt;/a&gt; infection.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not known how much of the toxoplasmosis infection comes from house cats (when poop is flushed, the parasite enters the water supply and is not killed by water sanitation methods, so it is eventually flushed out to sea) or from feral cats (who poop on the ground, which is then washed into rivers/streams when it rains), but cat owners are warned not to flush their cat's poop so they do not contribute to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T13:44:39.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6106" CreationDate="2016-07-05T17:26:52.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that will eat dog food. I have watched him and he sometimes thinks that he is a dog. He goes outside with the dogs in the morning then when coming back inside they stop for a drink of water and a quick bite of food and the cat does the same at times. He then proceeds to his cat food. I think that this has become just a mimicking habit as the cat is young and has not been around other animals but the dogs. The cat also likes to try human food and wants to try whatever you are eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7548" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T17:26:52.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T18:51:38.087" Score="7" ViewCount="10034" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 week old Husky Puppy, and he is very sweet. Potty training is going well, and we are very happy with him. Our only issue is that he absolutely hates his crate when he is awake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I introduced him to the crate with treats, as well as feed him in there to get acclimated with it. If he isn't tired, he cries constantly. I know that you aren't supposed to coddle them at night, but I cannot sleep thru this. I've started to lay down next to him at night until he falls back asleep. This helps, but sleeping on the floor is not ideal. I live in an apartment, so there is not a good location to put the crate where I can sleep if he cries at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7549" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:33:41.310" Title="7 Week Old Husky Puppy Cries In Crate" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-05T19:16:08.400" Score="6" ViewCount="3591" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is just over a year old, so full blown puppy stage... but she is constantly hyper. I don't mean like burst of energy then she lays down. She is always moving. I'll play with her, take her on walks, let her go to the bathroom regularly...but she just jumps on me and whines like she needs something, then when I pay attention it's more play. If she does sorta lay in my lap she's constantly moving positions and biting at my hands and legs. Then I'll pet her and she'll start play growling and biting more. It doesn't matter how many times I tell her 'no'. She keeps doing it. It doesn't matter how much I play with her, She is never tired. Is ADHD in dogs? She did jump out of my hands when she was little and hit her head on concrete.. could that be it? or maybe the breed? She's half Mini Schnauzer and then the other half was a mutt that I think was a Chihuahua-terrier mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what else to do. My boyfriend hates her because she does the same thing to him. She's sweet if you can get her calm enough for a few seconds..I hope she grows out of this. Her mom was my dog too and was never like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6790" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T06:05:52.883" Title="My dog is becoming unusually hyper. Whining, won't hold still, and jumping/nipping at me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13676" CreationDate="2016-07-05T22:56:52.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Huskies are one of the whinniest dogs we see (German shepherds are a close second). You absolutely cannot give him attention when he cries, this rewards the behavior. They are energetic dogs that need a lot of exercise, to help with him having a better sleep go for a run before bedtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tucker him out so that he wants to sleep, can even try using the DAP spray/wipes/diffuser to help calm him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T22:56:52.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2016-07-05T23:28:24.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seriously, dump the mattress.  All of these &quot;formulas&quot; never work, even the enzyme based ones don't completely get the job done.  If you can't afford a new mattress, get an air mattress and keep the cats off of it.  I've owned cats for 30+ years.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7550" LastActivityDate="2016-07-05T23:28:24.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13676" CreationDate="2016-07-06T06:10:10.520" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if you have tried this already .... But I've been through this too and it's not fun. So I hope this might help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not an expert or anything on this but with my puppy, (German shepherd) one thing that helped her settle to crate training was leaving her in there for short periods of time. I would put her in, leave the room and come in and treat her when she was quiet. I'd then leave again and repeat before letting her out. I would do this at random points during the day for some time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the time I was away would only be 30 seconds but I would make sure to ONLY come in when she was quiet. I would ignore whining totally. I did this for some time over a few days until at night she stopped whining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and stick at it. I'm sure it will improve with time if nothing else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T06:10:10.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13676" CreationDate="2016-07-06T07:56:58.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah I remember these days... ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few things that helped me a lot (in addition to &lt;em&gt;J Hutchison's&lt;/em&gt; suggestions):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, place the crate next to your bed. If this isn't possible, bring your mattress to the crate. It's not forever, just one or two weeks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before putting the dog inside, go outside a bit. Even five minutes will help and tire the puppy just a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once back inside, put the puppy into the crate and spend some time next to the crate or close (I used to watch one or two episodes of some TV show about 1m away).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then take another short trip outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go back in, puppy back in crate, and try to sleep next or close to the crate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the puppy starts crying, say something, maybe touch the crate and let it sniff your hand, just don't open the door. (Unless it's a bathroom emergency of course.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this sounds tedious, in our case (8-9 weeks old male) the crying stopped almost immediately. He was perfectly fine sitting in there since he saw me outside and knew there's someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About one or two weeks later he didn't even mind not seeing me (corner of the bed between me and the crate). If he started to whine a bit, I'd say one or two words and he'd be happy again. At this stage we essentially skipped the &quot;in crate while watching TV&quot; step and he was allowed to sleep next to me in bed, while I watch something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one or two weeks later, I suddenly decided to even skip the last crating. We went outside,  I just said &quot;come get in, you're allowed in bed&quot; - he couldn't have understood it as a whole, but he clearly got the idea &lt;em&gt;somehow&lt;/em&gt;, so from that day on I no longer needed the crate, he'd just sleep next to me or behind my pillow. (Of course this requires the accessible area to be puppy-safe.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few weeks later that was no longer an issue either and he started to sleep on his own at his own picked place atop the staircase (none of us &lt;em&gt;escapes&lt;/em&gt; without passing him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this sounds tedious (it really can be), it's totally worth the trouble, because you'll save yourself lots of time and trouble later, if you know your dog trusts you and won't ruin your inventory just because he's alone for a few minutes (or outside a crate during the night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, just wanting to mention that, just to be sure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never forget dogs are pack animals and especially Huskies have a very strong pack mentality. (Our two boys would literally add pretty much any stranger or other dog to it.) You and your family are part of the pack, maybe even some neighbours. The puppy doesn't want to be alone (natural instinct to be safe etc.), so it will cry for you. While it's perfectly fine to teach the puppy that you won't just come whenever it cries, you should never completely ignore that either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that &quot;puppy is overactive and doesn't want to stay in crate or sleep&quot; might be an indicator for the puppy indeed not being tired enough. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and one more thing, since we also adopted a young dog (our second… pack mentality and stuff), who was crated most of the day and had growth problems: Not judging you or anything, but please make sure your crate is big enough for your dog to be comfortable. Ideally you could just get a crate that's big enough for an adult husky right away (safes you from buying another later on e.g. for vet visits or in case of any medical problems). It should be around 100-120cm long and 60 cm wide and high, ideally made from durable metal (don't even try to crate a Husky in cloth or plastic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T07:56:58.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13677" CreationDate="2016-07-06T09:49:26.393" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You just have a very energetic pup who needs to get rid of that energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will not go away anytime soon, when they hit their senior years is typically when they slow down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wants to play which is very normal, the only cure for that is to play with her ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop her from biting and jumping I could try clicker training. The goal is to relate the sound of a click as a good thing, start by just clicking and giving treats for her to understand this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You always want to do positive reinforcement, if she starts jumping and nipping tell her to sit and wait a good 30 seconds before clicking and treating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try redirecting the nipping behavior to her toys instead of your hands. When she bites her toys click and reward. :) hope this helps, sounds like you have a healthy dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T09:49:26.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13685" CreationDate="2016-07-06T11:09:06.750" Score="7" ViewCount="41248" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I was taking care of the trash. I took out the regular black trash bag and opened it through swinging it around (I hope you get what I mean). I was in the kitchen, which is right next to the stairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started 'swinging' the trash bag, one of my cats started running down the stairs like she was being chased by a dog. Long story short, she ran down the stairs so quickly, and then she dashed right under the trash bag and ran for the living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my understanding, she must have been on the stairs, because I expected her to run as far away from the sound of the bag (she should have ran upstairs in this case), yet she went downstairs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, here's the dilemma. Around 5 minutes after my cat dashed to the living room, I went upstairs and found something dark on the floor right on top of the stairs. The room wasn't lit up at the time so I touched it to verify what it is. It was poop, and it could be easily said that it was recent. This is the first time it happened. I mean, my cats already heard the bag and so I already know that they are terrified of the sound it makes. They have never had an accident with releasing faeces or peeing anywhere other than the litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing I am confused about is whether that bag really scared her. I mean, the poop is there and that's a clear sign that it all happened at the same time, but my cat was at the top of a fairly long staircase. It's so long that I really doubt she would have ran down the whole set of stairs, and if anything she would have ran to a room upstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Is it likely that she released faeces due to getting scared?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rejected edit note: Suggested edit has changed the word &quot;faeces&quot; to &quot;feces&quot; only in the title, while the edit should have also pursued the spelling of the word in the question body. Faeces and feces are both the same. I am using faeces due to the area I live in. Feces is used in North America according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammarist.com/spelling/faeces-vs-feces/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;, however both versions are technically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-07-16T15:40:00.303" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T04:02:53.767" Title="Can cats release faeces from getting scared?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13676" CreationDate="2016-07-06T13:55:31.497" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the puppy needs to go to it's crate on it's own and not by being forced to go there. The only solution is to make it feel like the crate is it's own house. Leave it's food plate and water plate next to it, have a nice blanket or pillow inside it and maybe leave a toy inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will make the dog want to go there when sleepy (what's best than sleepin on the blanket that has your smell and having your water and food nearby?). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T13:55:31.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2016-07-06T15:27:39.907" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;They sure can!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However keep an eye out, if you see that the pooping around the house continues there may be an underlying medical/behavioral issue at hand. It does sounds like you may have scared the poop out of her :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T15:27:39.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13643" CreationDate="2016-07-06T15:33:25.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible reason that it was down voted is because this isn't safe. I don't think I'd let the dog hang out the window at all. It's not the fact that his head is out, but that he can get his front legs out. It's too easy for them to be encouraged by squirrels, cats, whatever to lean out too far and when you take a turn, they can just flop on out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not getting preachy on this subject, just being realistic about what I've seen. Personally, my dogs ride loose in the back of my pickup most of the time. I know some people don't like that, but I take precautions. I hose down the back of my truck in the summer so it isn't hot, I always go straight to my destination so it doesn't have a chance to get hot, they can get under the toolbox if they want out of the wind or sun, and I train them to ride in the back properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like with your dog, I've had ones that want to put their feet over the edge. This has led to them jumping out when you come to a stop. I also don't want my paint scratched. Instead, what I did, and I think it'll work for you as well, is I took a strap and hooked it to the gooseneck rings in the center of my bed. I gave them just enough line to get under the tool box or look over the side of the bed without their collars rubbing on the side. The smaller dog can put her feet on the wheel wells, but not on the side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After riding them around like that for a while, I would let them loose, but only ride down the driveway and back. Then I extended the distance, but only on back roads. I haven't had one yet to put their feet back up on the sides, but if I did, I'd just clip them back for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, I think you need to do something similar for your dog. I think you should go to your local salvage yard and cut a seat belt buckle and a bit of strap from an old car, that will work in your car. Run the 6&quot; of belt through the buckle and put a grommet in it. You can then buy and adjustable length strap, and adjust it so that he can stick his nose out, but not get up on the side. This will give him the benefit, without the danger of falling/jumping out, or the damage to your car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also sure that if you'd like to pay a little more money, that they sell something premade. You can just look for dog car harness, like here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=bfdfaab7-f73a-4725-b92a-f1eb56f91e5e&amp;amp;sfb=1&amp;amp;itemguid=fd0979a1-0aa0-4b92-889d-6dd595fb2833&amp;amp;utm_content=32996&amp;amp;ccd=IFP003&amp;amp;mr:trackingCode=405C7116-ECCA-E311-BF26-001B21631C34&amp;amp;mr:referralID=NA&amp;amp;mr:device=c&amp;amp;mr:adType=plaonline&amp;amp;mr:ad=42125748763&amp;amp;mr:keyword=&amp;amp;mr:match=&amp;amp;mr:tid=pla-84787250443&amp;amp;mr:ploc=9010679&amp;amp;mr:iloc=&amp;amp;mr:store=&amp;amp;mr:filter=84787250443&amp;amp;gclid=CMaFsr6U380CFRY7gQoddz8Pwg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seat Belt Harness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: You said in your comment that the dog was harness and you're just looking for something to help prevent scratches. Personally, I tend to be cheap and can usually make something as good or better than I can buy. Maybe not in looks, but in functionality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was going to try to make a product to fix this, I'd order some ballistic nylon and make a piece shaped like a large butterfly bandage. There would be two layers so I could add something to the inside. I'd buy some cheapo magnets from a hobby store or the dollar store and sew them around the edges of one side. This side would go outside your car and the magnets would stick to the outside or your car, holding it in place. Since they're in-between the two layers the cloth would protect your car. On the inside portion, you could sew on straps. The configuration of your care would determine where you hook them. The easiest thing might be to just let a couple of straps hang down of the end and shut them in the door. Pull it through the window and have a protective layer that doesn't damage your car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted there may be flaws with a do it yourself product. For instance, I wouldn't permanently sew the two layers together till I knew I had enough magnets to keep it from sliding in high winds. It's just an idea. I don't know of a one piece store bought product you can use. I don't think you'd have much into something homemade, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2016-07-06T20:27:35.693" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T20:27:35.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5841" CreationDate="2016-07-06T16:09:16.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OP here, following up after two years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We opted for starting with a leg brace, which seemed to be more of a discomfort to our dog than a help. After trying that solution for about a month, we decided to just keep her calm and see how much rest could do for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly, she's made almost a full recovery. For the first six months, we limited her activity to a minimal amount of walking, and leashed outdoor excursions to keep her from bolting after rabbits, squirrels, birds, etc. After that, we just tried to keep an eye on her when we had her out in the backyard, and check beforehand to make sure there wasn't anything present that would induce a sprint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first year, we would notice her limping quite a bit if she overexerted herself. However, recently she's made a few mad dashes across the yard with no ill effects afterwards. We still try to discourage all out sprints, but she seems to be at a high level of functionality considering where she started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="342" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T16:09:16.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13668" CreationDate="2016-07-06T18:42:31.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no experience with that kind of problem. But I do have a slightly off-the-wall suggestion: try some food that is nothing like cat food (so that it won't have the unpleasant association with nausea). Raw vegetables might be a good thing to try because he can play with them, and while picking it up he may get a taste of it and find he likes it. (I had a cat who was inordinately fond of carrot sticks; she would lick them to slivers. She also loved arugula/rocket.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you'll want to make sure that whatever you offer him is safe for cats. Avoid anything in the onion/garlic family. You may be able to get him to &quot;drink&quot; some food. Maybe offer him a little cold vegetable or beef broth if you can make it without onion or garlic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to make some food into a paste, then apply a tiny amount to his fur. He'll immediately clean himself, which means he'll get a taste of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T18:42:31.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13677" CreationDate="2016-07-06T23:14:53.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mm about 2 months ago she was considerably less hyper. She would keep&#xA;  herself occupied with toys and lay in my lap to sleep for a few&#xA;  minutes before playing again... now I can't get her to be still for&#xA;  anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An unexplained change in behaviour is a good reason to see the vet. Hyperactivity can be an indication of a thryoid problem, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If medical problems can be ruled out, I would focus on more training for your dog, and making sure she gets &lt;em&gt;lots&lt;/em&gt; of exercise. Consider whether you may unintentionally be rewarding her behaviour with more attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easier to train an animal to &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; something than to &lt;em&gt;not do&lt;/em&gt; something, so think of some things that you would like her to do when she's hyper instead of whining, nipping, and otherwise bothering you. Train her to do those things on cue. Then, when she gets hyper, tell her to do one of those things, and then praise her lots for it. Once she learns that she has better ways of getting good attention, she should be a better-behaved dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article may be helpful: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dog-health-guide.org/doghyperactivity.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dog-health-guide.org/doghyperactivity.html&lt;/a&gt;. I've summarised it above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-06T23:14:53.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-07T01:35:58.570" Score="4" ViewCount="1280" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 12-year-old Australian Shepherd/Greyhound mix has had a serious skin ailment for almost a year now, somewhat similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10753/skin-lesions-on-dog-could-this-be-mange&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;red rash on various parts of his body (at different times, on his underbelly, back, snout, ears, and under his front legs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yellow flakes, sometimes in areas with the rash, sometimes elsewhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hair loss where the flakes are worst&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;major itchiness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problems began around September of last year, two or three weeks after I took my dog with me on a visit to my parents. Within about a month, my mom noticed that one of her dogs had the exact same symptoms. (Her other dog died not long after of unrelated causes, but never had the same skin issues.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, both dogs have been to the vet several times. They've been given steroids and antibiotics, which only work to reduce the symptoms for a few weeks at a time. Both my vet and my mom's vet say this is probably caused by allergies, but I'm skeptical. The timing is just too suspicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neither dog has had allergy issues in the past (one dog is 12, the other 16)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both dogs were on the same diet (Beneful) until around April of last year. Now they are on entirely different diets. My dog has to eat Royal Canin Urinary SO for the rest of his life to prevent a recurrence of bladder stones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They live 150 miles apart and only meet once every few months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both dogs had skin scrapings taken and no mites were found&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neither dog has fleas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My parents got a younger dog in November, but that dog has shown no skin problems, even after eight months of being around the older dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's clearly not contagious, but I also have a hard time believing that two dogs with no history of allergies, who live over a hundred miles apart and eat different food, would suddenly start having allergies within a month of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else that could cause this besides allergies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7552" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T10:35:18.650" Title="What could cause my dog's rash and yellow flakes besides allergies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2016-07-07T10:35:18.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly its impossible to diagnose skin issues online, it needs to be seen in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hot spots (bacterial), fungal, allergies, parasites. Maybe they both came in contact with a chemical. Sometimes you need a longer course of antibiotics than average (you said it was helping but would come back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can always try getting a second opinion or ideally go to a veterinary dermatologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your last statement, if the protein source is the same in both foods it doesn't matter what brand it is. If your pet is allergic to chicken and both foods have chicken you will still get a reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-07T10:35:18.650" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-08T04:55:46.267" Score="3" ViewCount="2324" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever my cat goes to sleep,after a minute or so, it turns upside down (belly up)and there is some twitching in the paws legs tail and whiskers. Is it normal or some disease? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7558" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-07-09T10:37:33.457" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T10:37:33.457" Title="My cat always sleeps upside down" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13692" CreationDate="2016-07-08T05:39:28.847" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Entirely normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people prefer to sleep on their stomachs, others on their sides or backs; some change position depending on how warm or cold they are or for other reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true of cats. Upside down may look silly to us, but it really doesn't mean anything but that the cat is comfortable that way, and that it trusts you not to try to take advantage of this less-defended pose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit of twitching of paws and face usually just indicates that the cat is dreaming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-07-08T10:04:08.207" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T10:04:08.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2016-07-08T12:10:31.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they can. And they can pee too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once my cat was watching out the window enjoying views and fresh air. It was in the kitchen, where I was cooking dinner, so I perfectly saw eveyrthing that happend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She stood on the blinds lace and didn't realise it. Next moment she turned around and felt, that lace intertwined her paw. She scared but didn't manage to free her paw. She scared even more, started jumping highly, trying to free herself but intertwined herself even more. I am writing this so long, but those day it took 2 or 3 seconds only. &#xA;I took her in my hands and freed her. Then I saw yellow drops everywhere: on my arms, on table, on window, on window still. I guess, when she was terrified, she didn't control her urinary bladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks God she didn't poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T12:10:31.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13696" CreationDate="2016-07-08T21:20:11.963" Score="1" ViewCount="946" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 week old foster puppy with a broken Tibia and his splint/cast has slipped off twice. He doesn't move or anything he just sleeps and it comes off. The vet at the shelter don't know what to do and are thinking of amputating his leg. What do we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7566" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-07-09T10:37:22.800" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T10:37:22.800" Title="What do I do if my puppy's splint keeps slipping off?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13695" CreationDate="2016-07-08T23:50:50.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have they tried placing a cast instead? Maybe they need a different technique or stickier tape. Hard to say as I'm not sure how it was done originally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're willing to spend some money (well, a lot of money) or if the shelter is, you can go see a veterinary orthopedic surgeon for an alternative to amputation. They would have better knowledge and equipment to deal with this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some rescues will do fund raisers for these special cases, you could even offer to help the shelter do one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck to your little one, I hope you can find another option besides amputation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-08T23:50:50.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-09T04:29:31.013" Score="3" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;We want to build a dog run in the backyard for our German Shepherd pup. &#xA;She likes to chew rocks. &#xA;Horse stall rubber mats?&#xA;Cement blocks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7568" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:20:07.643" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T23:20:07.643" Title="What is best material for ground cover of an outdoor dog run?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13697" CreationDate="2016-07-09T09:01:42.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cement is a good option, its very easy to wash if she poops or pees/makes a mess(wash with a hose). It also prevents dogs from digging under the fence. Though instead of using blocks just fill the entire area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shelters in my area use cement, really convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note make sure that there is a shaded area so she can get out of the sun if need be :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-07-09T09:10:46.983" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T09:10:46.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13638" CreationDate="2016-07-09T14:05:57.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have always had a desire to get a dog, but your main concern is time left alone while at work, I would not be concerned. Dogs really don't register time like we do. And will more than likely keep himself entertained or sleep through it.  When you come home it will be as though you just left and came back. The previous recommendation on installing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.carpetrenovations.com/blog/pet-stains-odors-products-blog/how-effective-is-a-doggy-door&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;doggy door&lt;/a&gt; is a great idea, so the pet can go in and out to relieve himself and find a butterfly or two or possibly a neighbor next door to bark at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/alb3y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/alb3y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7572" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:02:00.917" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:02:00.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13705" CreationDate="2016-07-09T14:44:32.030" Score="3" ViewCount="551" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a siberian husky puppy which is gonna be 3 months old this July 11. I tried training him using his dog food and some JerHigh Beef/Bacon dog treats but he doesn't pay much attention to them even we are in a closed room. I'm thinking it was the treat that's not interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will I know what kind/flavor of treat my dog likes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7573" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T18:36:54.140" Title="I need help with dog training treat for my Siberian Husky" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13706" CreationDate="2016-07-09T14:46:20.183" Score="2" ViewCount="11220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 week old purebred female yellow Labrador Retriever. She was bred from a various bird hunting family, and their dogs are slim and in great shape. From what I could find online, they are more of an 'English' style Lab, even though it appears there is no official distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to build a fenced area in my back yard that has shade/sun/cover. We already have a larger backyard that is fenced at 6 feet (183 cm) high, but I don't want her roaming the whole backyard during the day while we are gone. The long-term plan will be that she can go outside to it via a dog door at any time when she is older and can be left alone without needing supervision during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overall area of this will be 300 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (around 27.8 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I don't know how high I should build the fence so that she cannot jump over it when she is fully grown/most capable. I've heard a lot of conflicting numbers from other websites, with some stating their dog jumped over a 6 foot (183 cm) fence!? Is that even possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I respect the SE community answers, so I've come to ask what you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T00:21:06.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T00:24:17.397" Title="Minimum fence height for Labrador Retriever?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13703" CreationDate="2016-07-09T15:33:18.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will know because he will go bonkers for it, though some dogs are not highly food motivated.&#xA;Some people will cook chicken and chop it up in little pieces, you may try that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing training when they are hungry is the ideal time to do it. He will be more motivated to listen to you when he knows you have the goods :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you doing clicker training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T15:33:18.623" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13704" CreationDate="2016-07-09T16:13:30.743" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a few dogs climb fences over the years (mostly border collies), which is why I like the fencing that goes up and over. Though what I see the most is dogs digging under the fence and getting out. Having a fence that goes deep under ground or having a cement base with fencing around it would be good choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 feet is great if you can manage that (+ a few feet extra for in ground). My dads golden got out many times from digging under the fence and she only started doing this later on in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-09T16:13:30.743" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13707" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-09T23:48:00.093" Score="2" ViewCount="2246" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my puppy has worms she's been dewormed 4 times and still has them!&#xA;The worms that come out when she poops look like rice and today when I went to clean her water bowl out there was one of those worms in it!!! Why is this??? Please help me thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7574" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:57:52.760" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:57:52.760" Title="Why is there a worm in my dogs waterbowl?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13704" CreationDate="2016-07-10T11:37:48.413" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Lab can jump a 4' fence with running room. And chain link is right out because she will climb. Good luck on deciding what to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train her to the fenced area as a young pup, you won't have to worry nearly as much about her trying to escape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7524" LastEditorUserId="7524" LastEditDate="2016-07-11T11:02:55.600" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T11:02:55.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-10T15:35:42.403" Score="4" ViewCount="2226" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 does and one buck, both does are pregnant and I want to put them together with their kits. I have 1 huge cage because I want to put the baby rabbits in there with their moms. Will that be okay or will they kill the kits? One of the does is 6 days behind the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to separate them, for when they give birth and build nests, for two weeks. After that, will it be okay to put the kits and their moms together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7576" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-07-11T11:36:35.323" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T11:36:35.323" Title="Can I put 2 different batches of baby rabbits together" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13710" CreationDate="2016-07-11T00:26:43.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, Rabbits are very territorial.  Doe rabbits even more so then bucks.  Each doe wants to have a safe place to have her kits. If you try to put both does together when they are pregnant or have young kits it will likely be a huge battle.  The does will fight each other.  I don't know what they will will do to the kits, but it won't be good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related questions &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6581&quot;&gt;Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T00:26:43.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11454" CreationDate="2016-07-11T04:00:55.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet said it is feline acne,  most likely caused by using plastic plate;  it is a kind of allergic reaction to plastic and my kitten was too small to clean itself properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, please switch to using plate made of metal instead of plastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the best remedy is to dry it with H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (hydrogen peroxide) solution multiple times for 5-10 minutes, then when it becomes soft try to clean it with dry cotton, but don't scratch the spot. Repeat the process next day until you remove the spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6574" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T20:34:33.247" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T20:34:33.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13718" CreationDate="2016-07-11T04:17:05.323" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;In line with the n + 1 rule I planned to buy a third litter box. I inspect/scoop both my current boxes 1-2 times a day, and I hardly see any use of second one. It seems that it is a bit of waste to change litter if it was practically unused (they are sisters so I guess they are used to sharing) as I feel like I'm throwing away 2-3 inches of clean litter. For those 2 backup litter boxes, should I change the litter weekly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Worlds Best Cat Litter if that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T18:45:04.977" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T18:45:04.977" Title="Should I change litter weekly even if it is hardly used?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13703" CreationDate="2016-07-11T05:48:04.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used rare beef liver with great success before. Just throw it on the pan for a couple of minutes to brown it. No salt, no oil, just braised meat. They LOVE it. Liver tends to be pretty inexpensive, and you can store it in the fridge for up to a week after it's cooked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure he'll go crazy for it. Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7583" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T05:48:04.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-11T10:27:38.117" Score="7" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sixty-three my cat is four, we live alone. I am in good health, my vet described my cat as &quot;spoiled&quot; and had nothing bad to say on her home visit, so no expense is spared if anybody has ideas for her safety in the long-run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or am I just worrying unduly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose I have a heart attack and she is left unfed?&#xA;I want to know about alarms that alert the Police or whoever could get to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T09:37:19.333" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T11:56:50.247" Title="How to prepare for cats well being if I die suddenly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13714" CreationDate="2016-07-11T11:04:36.493" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If litterbox #3 is barely used I wouldn't chuck it, though when you say barely used is it a few pees in a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T11:04:36.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13714" CreationDate="2016-07-11T13:22:35.873" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are using a clumping litter, their usual advice is to sift-and-refill daily, and do a complete replacement monthly to get the bits that escape. I have never been certain about the necessity for that last, but it certainly won't hurt anything but your wallet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a rarely-used box, I'd say adjusting the replacement rate proportionately seems reasonable. But I Am Not A Vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T13:22:35.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13677" CreationDate="2016-07-11T18:27:38.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I somehow associate hyper with little dogs and I don't claim any expertise with them, but is there someone else with a dog with whom you could arrange daily play dates in a doggie park?  It might be a relief to allow her to exercise with a creature with more stamina.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't some pet stores have pet obedience classes?  Might that help?  Maybe the teacher can give you some pointers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T18:27:38.983" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13703" CreationDate="2016-07-11T18:31:09.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some dogs respond to toys more than food. Or fetching a ball, or playing tug, etc. Experiment with different things and see what works best. As others have said, higher value foods like chicken or liver may work well too. Just be sure to cut them into vary small pieces if you are doing a lot of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T18:31:09.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13703" CreationDate="2016-07-11T18:36:54.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We used to cut liver into small pieces, quick fry it, and then let it cool and freeze it.  Then we'd use it for snacks for him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastActivityDate="2016-07-11T18:36:54.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-11T22:50:31.300" Score="9" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a border collie mix who is highly leash-reactive that I'd like to introduce to a friend's dog. When we are out on walks, we never introduce her to dogs because she goes into a complete frenzy whenever she sees another dog. Most of the time it's general wining and pulling but she can also &quot;go into orbit&quot; and start barking and pulling incessantly. Needless to say she doesn't approach other dogs with the right energy. :(. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been able to introduce her to other dogs off-leash on occasion. She does ok at the dog park but we don't take her very often. She has one dog friend she plays with all the time. But we've also had bad experiences. We introduced her to someone's dog off leash and her energy was too much for the other dog to handle I guess, and a fight ensued. The other dog (a pit mix) bit our dogs ear and pinned her down. I've been wary about introductions every since. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that introducing dogs gradually by taking them on a walk together is a good idea so I'd like to try that this time. But my dog is most reactive when she's on leash! I've afraid she's just going to get so excitable and aggressive it'll ruin the whole introduction. Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7588" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T17:58:29.863" Title="Best way to introduce a leash-reactive dog?" Tags="&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;&lt;welsh-collie&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13723" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13728" CreationDate="2016-07-12T00:23:48.167" Score="2" ViewCount="2093" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby bearded dragon (3 months +/-) When should I start looking to trim her (suspected but not sure) nails? and would it be prudent to just leave some sand paper in her cage so she can &quot;file&quot; them while running around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7524" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T15:32:29.090" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T15:32:29.090" Title="At what age should I start trimming a bearded dragons claws?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13727" CreationDate="2016-07-12T01:43:38.417" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby bearded dragon (3 months+/-) I dust her live food - dubia roaches) each day. Should I put the dusted roaches back into the feeder box even though they might get dusted again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7524" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T16:46:13.203" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T16:46:13.203" Title="Should I put dusted roaches back in the feeder box" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13731" CreationDate="2016-07-12T04:51:50.580" Score="4" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goldfish is sick and I am not very good at this. The fish has got white elevated growth/spots and the edges of the fins also have some growth. Here are the pictures of the fish: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lx7f0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lx7f0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KDnRt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KDnRt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are two medicines I have, please advise if can use one of these to treat the fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wardley - Promethyasul &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active Constituents:  MAFENIDE HYDROCHLORIDE 24.2 mg/ml &#xA;                     ANINACRINE HYDROCHLORIDE 3.3mg/ml &#xA;                     MALACHITE GREEN 0.4mg/mL&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Blue Planet - Fungus Cure &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active Constituents: Acriflavine 2.00mg/ml and Malachite Green 0.40mg/ml&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7589" LastEditorUserId="7589" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T04:58:37.180" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T15:22:08.663" Title="Can I use these medicines for my sick fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-12T09:37:12.637" Score="2" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 year old Japanese Chin, Pekingese cross has these recurrent eye infections which respond to oral antibiotics and prednisone. We've had to use oral medications as we haven't been able to apply eye ointments or drops. Unfortunately we didn't fully train his bite inhibition so he will try and bite if we attempt to apply the medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet sold us a muzzle but it doesn't work. It covers his eyes so that we can't get to them to treat topically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've added pictures of his face so you can see the problem. He has a very flat face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/IMTwmkK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Comet&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/cFCAc2Y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Comet 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So any suggestions on how I can apply the treatment without losing a finger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T15:31:19.800" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T16:09:07.397" Title="How to administer topical eye ointments to flat faced dog who bites" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13724" CreationDate="2016-07-12T09:42:08.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes that is perfectly OK, they won't go bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only issue is if their substrate is moist then you can get mold from the powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T10:14:24.280" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T10:14:24.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13723" CreationDate="2016-07-12T09:56:00.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at the nails under a light you will be able to see the quik (it is pink), as long as you don't cut pass that you're fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/images/librariesprovider19/pet-care/procedures/trimmingclaws_img11.jpg?sfvrsn=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/images/librariesprovider19/pet-care/procedures/trimmingclaws_img11.jpg?sfvrsn=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a picture of a cats nail, the idea is the same just a different type of nail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be cautious with sand paper, if most of her terrain would be sand paper it could cause some sores on her feet. If its a small area you'll be fine though it wont do much if she never runs on it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T09:56:00.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13726" CreationDate="2016-07-12T10:22:39.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For nippy dogs it's definitely a two person job. We will sometimes place an e-collar - one person will hold his head up while he other aims the drops from up high into the eyes. The e-collar helps prevent him from being able to bite us during restraint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also book appointments for technicians to do this for you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always reward at then end of treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding from comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a few shots with the owners consent on her little bichon frise. imgur.com/a/HiIza&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The burrito is most commonly seen on cats but it works on small dogs too. Takes practice, I'm hoping someone at your regular vet can show you first hand or do it for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would youtube kitty burrito so that you can visually see how it's done, the last fold you do goes between your hips and the table while your hands hold the head&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-07-12T16:09:07.397" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T16:09:07.397" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13716" CreationDate="2016-07-12T13:28:54.583" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest looking into a check in call service. These services either call you or have you call them at a regular interval to make sure you are okay. If the regular contact is not made, they can alert family, friends, or emergency services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would set it so that they contact a friend or family member who knows that you have a cat who will need to be cared for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find these services by googling &quot;senior check in call&quot;, or asking your local hospital or community/senior services center. This type of service can not only help your cat, but if you become incapacitated and cannot call for help it will ensure you receive help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you should make long term arrangements for the care of your cat. You can ask a friend or family member to take your cat after you have passed, but if they aren't immediately eager your cat may be better off with a no-kill shelter that you leave some money with. You should consult with a lawyer to set these arrangements up in your will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-07-12T13:28:54.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13725" CreationDate="2016-07-13T00:16:54.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both safe products so long as you have a filtered aquarium (choose one product, do not mix both).&#xA;Be sure to read the instructions carefully as some aquarium remedies require you to remove certain parts of the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both treat fungus which is what your little guy looks to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T00:16:54.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2016-07-13T03:24:18.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I added 10 juvenile cardinals (generally thought to be more robust than neon tetras, and more colorful, with a complete iridescent blue line and more red). The existing four adult cardinals seemed to accept them without question or pause (this was after a period of acclimatization-of which I have learned that adding a small amount of existing aquarium water at a time to the acclimatized new school before releasing them assures a higher degree of acceptance (nitrate, ph level)). The problematic stage began after this, with the four adult cardinals dying one after the other, and this within a matter of two days. Generation assured? Passing of the flame? This is not meant to be humorous, but I can find no other explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7594" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T03:24:18.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-13T08:14:30.753" Score="3" ViewCount="2534" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I have quality time (laying on bed and petting, them grooming me etc.) with my kittens one of them attempts to steal glasses out of my face and chew on them. She is very persistent but she doesn't seem to car in other situations - for example when glasses just lie on night table - at least for now. From what I understand that is sign of affection as glasses have a strong smell of daddy but I'm afraid as they are relatively valuable and hard to replace item. How can I redirect that behavior (I don't mind her playing with my hair for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T12:55:44.210" Title="How to prevent my cat from stealing my glasses" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13735" CreationDate="2016-07-13T12:54:11.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make a loop of tape, stick it to your glasses (the part they like to chew on), and leave it on the night table while you observe. Chances are that once a kitten gets stuck on the tape, it will never go near your glasses again. Repeat the process until all kittens have learned the lesson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only do this when you're around to help free the kittens from the tape. (Getting something stuck in their fur really upsets cats.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T12:54:11.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13735" CreationDate="2016-07-13T12:55:44.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens won't learn if they don't have boundaries. Playing with people's heads is a risky business – maybe not now when she is a kitten, but certainly when she gets older. It's all fun and games until she gets a bit overexcited and bites your face, or scratches your eye. I don't think you will be successful in training her to not play with your glasses if you continue to let her play with your hair, or any other part of your face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with her in other ways instead, such as with toys. Reward her when she does not play with your face. Turn away and ignore her when she tries to play with your face. Basically, set some boundaries. Ignoring a kitten can be punishment enough when she misbehaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T12:55:44.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11467" CreationDate="2016-07-13T17:32:08.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just take the bottle and hold it over their heads twice a for a minute every day and they will drink from it and eventually and they won't need you. I didn't even train mine they just noticed that  their water was gone so they drank from the bottle. They will be fine because its instinct to get water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7577" LastActivityDate="2016-07-13T17:32:08.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13741" CreationDate="2016-07-13T23:10:03.793" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Worldwide over 25 million dogs are eaten legally in non-emergency conditions by humans every year. Dogs are most popular in Chinese cuisine. China accounts for 40% of all dogs sold for culinary purposes, with South Korean as a close 2nd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I'm curious if the countries that consider dogs a normal part of their diet also keep them as pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking because I have a job where almost everyone I interact with was born in raised in such places and to my knowledge the ones who have pets only have cats, though it could be a coincidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastEditorUserId="3495" LastEditDate="2016-07-14T00:56:52.280" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T03:38:40.040" Title="Do nations with large dog eating populations still have dogs as pets?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13739" CreationDate="2016-07-14T00:47:34.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked with a man from South Korea, he said that people keep cats and dogs as pets and those are not eaten. They have large dog farms (like our cattle farms) for eating, I would assume same goes for cats but he only talked about dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T00:47:34.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13739" CreationDate="2016-07-14T03:38:40.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;America has a large pork eating population, yet some breeds of pig are kept as pets and some individuals of breeds normally raised for food may be pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same species -- and the same breed -- may be meat animal, work animal, lab animal, pet. It isn't even unheard of for a single animal to occupy more than one of these roles at different times in its life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many American city-dwellers don't like thinking about that. Sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T03:38:40.040" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-14T11:00:45.680" Score="2" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 years old male Welsh Corgi has had this problem where he very often does not eat unless accompanied. We keep him in the backyard, and as soon as I leave him and close the glass door, he ceases eating. When I or someone he recognizes comes through the door and stays with him, he immediately starts eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been times when we placed food in his bowl and he doesn't eat until the next morning, when I come through the door to play with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts or help would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7582" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-19T18:43:54.823" LastActivityDate="2020-10-19T18:43:54.823" Title="Dog not eating unless accompanied" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-14T14:50:38.933" Score="0" ViewCount="786" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a dog from an animal rescue society. While she was listed as a mix of breed X on the rescue society's website, her veterinary paperwork shows &quot;Pit Mix&quot; as her predominant breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While she has a few features that might suggest pitbull, to my untrained eye, she looks more like breed X. For example, she has a much longer snout than any pitbulls I've seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I've read, identifying mixed breeds by eye is subject to a lot of error anyway. The &quot;Pit Mix&quot; designation limits where we can rent and even what towns we can live in, so we'd like to try to change it. Let me just add that she has a very calm and gentle temperament and that we plan to go to professional training with her.  We live in a Midwestern US state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience changing a dog's breed designation? Is it simply a matter of finding a sympathetic veterinarian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7542" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:29:07.333" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:29:07.333" Title="Changing breed designation of &quot;Pit Mix&quot;" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13744" CreationDate="2016-07-14T15:14:51.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When clients register with us they tell us what the breed is suppose to be, it's subjective unless you do DNA testing (which is cheap where I work in Canada).&#xA;Sometimes we end up changing it because we simply do not see the breed that the owner mentions (this is for owners who have not seen their dogs parents). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going for a check-up at a different veterinarian and mentioning what breed you think she is, they might not change it and that will be on her new records.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best way to know what mixture of breeds you have is by doing DNA testing (we send off blood samples). Though it may not end up in your favor if she does have some pitty in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T15:14:51.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13743" CreationDate="2016-07-14T20:01:03.460" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a lab that did the same thing.  I just sat down with him while he ate.  It seemed to be important to him.   I also had another dog in the house that would eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T20:01:03.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13604" CreationDate="2016-07-14T20:51:37.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just to prevent gravel from sliding into the corner when the filter is removed for maintenance or to be replaced. Without it, a person would typically need to use both hands when changing the filter, 1 to pull and hold the gravel out of the corner, and the other to insert the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as filtration functionality goes, it's irrelevant, it's just there to keep the gravel from interfering with installing the filter sponge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-07-14T20:51:37.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13749" CreationDate="2016-07-14T21:35:34.337" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I just got two tamaskan puppies from two different litters two days apart from the same male. My female (Lyra) is fluffy and I think she has more husky in her, my husband's male (Squall) is short-haired and looks more like a German Shepherd. They are 12 weeks old now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squall loves to do tricks. Every time I get the treats out he follows me around looking me in the eyes, then does all the tricks we already learned (like sit, down, shake (paw), stay) and I've been teaching him &quot;play dead&quot;, which he almost gets, but usually just rolls on his back and starts flailing his feet in the air +) so cute +) and &quot;heel&quot;. He will literally do tricks as long as I keep trying to teach him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lyra on the other hand is so stubborn. She doesn't care about toys or treats or anything. I'm not even sure if she actually knows &quot;sit&quot;, or if she just like sitting and does it whenever possible. I tried teaching her &quot;down&quot; by luring her with the treat to the ground, and she would just plaster on the floor with her face on it all spread out, not even looking at me. I'm not sure if that's her way or doing &quot;down&quot;, but she will only do that with a treat MAYBE 5-6 times, never when I just say the command, and then she just stops and goes away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I train them separately because Squall will completely take over and try to steal all the food, plus they distract each other. So I put them in their crates one at a time, but the crated puppy starts freaking out. Though they calm down after 5 minutes or so. Squall is usually much more opposed to being crated then Lyra, she just doesn't seem to care about anything ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just seems super passive and like she just wants to lie down and not move all day. I think part of it might be because we're in Florida and it's 80 degrees in the house and she has that crazy thick coat, but still... I can't take them outside because it's high 90s right now, and I can't really play with them together because Squall is so much more into everything, Lyra just gives up and goes to do her own thing. Or they start play fighting. I think they prefer that to playing to me, at least Lyra does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that training a husky is crazy hard, but I didn't think she'd have THAT much husky in her. Squall is much more like the GSD I used to have, much more fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I get Lyra to be more interested in learning stuff?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-07-15T12:09:07.727" LastActivityDate="2016-07-17T01:12:23.617" Title="How do I get my husky mix puppy to want to train?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13748" CreationDate="2016-07-15T01:43:18.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Teach them separately and when hungry.&#xA;Ideal training times are before breakfast and before supper, no snacks in between.&#xA;End on a high note, after last trick give her full breakfast/supper and give lots of loving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T01:43:18.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13743" CreationDate="2016-07-15T01:46:43.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to dogs who are stubborn for food a good way to get them eating is to place the dish down with their meal, give them a good 15-30mins. If they don't touch it remove the dish and try again at supper time, dogs who see their dish always available tend to have an easier time snuffing than if it's only there for a limited time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't panic he will eat :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T01:46:43.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-15T06:31:03.637" Score="0" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit discovered that the pool in our backyard has water in it. She figured out a way to drink it.  My family put a rock so she can better reach the turtle pool. I'm curious to know if the water from the turtle and fish pool is safe for the rabbit to drink.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7604" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-15T11:18:11.207" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T11:53:41.893" Title="Can a rabbit be safe drinking water that a turtle and fish live in?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13751" CreationDate="2016-07-15T11:17:41.047" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought is it should be fine.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617&quot;&gt;Rabbits eat poop&lt;/a&gt; so a bit of bacteria is probably not going to be an issue. My bigger concern would be fleas and parasites.  For anybunny that gets to spend sometime outside I recommend Revolution see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8194&quot;&gt;How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T11:17:41.047" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13751" CreationDate="2016-07-15T11:53:41.893" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles carry salmonella as well as other bacteria that can be harmful to your rabbit, both animals carry very different gut flora. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are so so sensitive with their GI tract, that's like the #1 issue we see in clinic (GI stasis, diarrhea, hairballs etc..), an imbalance can be disastrous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure a few drinks isn't going to be a problem but ideally fresh water is preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-15T11:53:41.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2016-07-16T04:58:22.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pick up snails you just have to do it gently. If you pull a little and they don't lift off let go! Wait try again later. Don't do it too many times or they will foam up and urinate. Your snail isn't always going to want to do what so you have to be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7608" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T04:58:22.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13761" CreationDate="2016-07-16T06:18:33.083" Score="2" ViewCount="1020" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of Indian Star tortoise. I have make them to stay together since last one month. What is duration that my female will lay egg after breeding? Also How much time it will take for a baby to comeout once the eggs has been laid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T06:46:46.330" Title="When do Star tortoise lay eggs" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13763" CreationDate="2016-07-16T12:39:21.533" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a pond for several months. Up until this week, there have been hundreds of toad tadpoles living in it. However, fish continually die in the pool. Not sure what to do. I left one in the plastic bag with half pet store water and half pond water and it looks fine. I have a pump in the pond, could it be that the pump is too powerful for fish to survive? The tadpoles seemed to survive fine.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://goo.gl/photos/5XLafufxHFyPiY8k7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pond&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7611" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T19:36:15.623" Title="Goldfish die in hours" Tags="&lt;pond&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13758" CreationDate="2016-07-16T13:13:40.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://startortoises.net/breeding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://startortoises.net/breeding.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty good site for your tortoise needs, has all the info. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Incubation in captivity, the average is around 90-120 days depending on the incubation temperature.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can take around 60-90 days for her to lay after mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-07-16T18:28:30.857" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T18:28:30.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15071" CreationDate="2016-07-16T14:48:25.893" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do my plants seem to get destroyed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have around eleven to thirteen small fish, including &lt;em&gt;Hypostomus plecostomus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My usual temperature inside aquarium was around 26 - 27 °C at first but I quickly made a fan cooling system which took it down to 21 °C at night and 23 °C during daytime. I do not have any carbon dioxide system, but an ordinary air bubbler pump. I still haven't bought any fertilizer because I can't afford it till next week and I don't have any aquarium LED red/blue'ish light. The aquarium itself isn't in direct sunlight at any time of day, but is still near window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My aquarium dimensions are 90 x 30 x 40 cm. The substrate is a mixture of coarse gravel and fine sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do to revive my plants? What is the most urgent step I should take first?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Iacj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Iacj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r70RA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r70RA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CRZ6R.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CRZ6R.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cyqkr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cyqkr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hWjnZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hWjnZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mcVFB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mcVFB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4L7px.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4L7px.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IlCby.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IlCby.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZRst.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZRst.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:34:19.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:19:40.987" Title="My aquarium plants' leaves are dying" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13760" CreationDate="2016-07-16T15:05:35.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the pump is not the reason your fish die. Please test your pond water and tell us these parameters: pH, nitrite and ammonia. These are the most important parameters of the water, you might get the test kit from your fish supplier or a pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do say the pump and the waterflow is not the reason your fish die, because it is not likely your fish are going to be hurt by fast flowing water. I do have a garden pond of 33000 litres of water and a waterflow of 45000 litres per hour from my two pumps. It is also of interest if your fish supplier can provide the water parameters of the tank(s) your fish came from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is always a reason for fish to get ill, usualy it is the water parameters - the water might get poisonous for the fish if ammonia or nitrite is too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T19:36:15.623" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T19:36:15.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="485" CreationDate="2016-07-16T18:55:32.827" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding a point I haven't spotted in the preceding answers:. Declawing can cause long-term discomfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current cats were (sigh) declawed long before I adopted them. Even though this was apparently done properly using the currently preferred surgical technique, one of them has been left with an essentially incurable case of tendonitis, since some of the tendons that were supposed to operate the claws no longer have anything to pull against. I have her on several dietary supplements to manage this (additional glucosamine and the like) and they do reduce the symptoms... But she is still indicating that one paw aches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't. Seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-07-16T18:55:32.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13704" CreationDate="2016-07-17T01:44:53.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the area will have cover and be a significantly small part of the space (300 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; is about 6 x 6 yards), then plan for wide wire mesh across the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mesh would have to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fixed at one edge;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;able to be rolled or unfolded across;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clipped to the other 3 edges as needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T00:24:17.397" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T00:24:17.397" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13677" CreationDate="2016-07-17T02:01:54.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First like everyone else has said, if this is a new change/gradual change, ask the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise some ideas for approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First it can be really hard to tire out some dogs. But try. Remember that tiredness is mental (think about when you concentrate a lot) as well as physical - for example teaching a dog to track scent can be very mentally tiring for them and much less so for you. Make sure the activity is tiring. Get a doggy backpack and have her carry your water or some extra weight on a walk, making it both more intense exercise and more tiring for the same distance (not enough to make it painful or harmful, and not if the dog has joint or similar issues. just a little, so it takes more effort and shallow inclines take a bit more work, a bit like how some runners use small weights on their ankles and wrists).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option - and equally valuable - is to educate the dog to entertain herself. If you think about it, what's going on is boredom and perhaps also insecurity (&quot;entertain me, reassure me, give me attention!&quot;). You won't be able to always do that, and the dog need to learn it. Unsurprisingly it will be a reluctant learning because the dog has it ideally now (as she sees it!). But being able to handle lack of attention is a useful skill, and if she hasn't ever had to learn to entertain herself, how will she learn. Buy a child's pen or something (people often give those away for free as kids grow a bit!), put her and some toys and water in it. Then ignore (although in same room). Keep ignoring until ready to pay attention. She will eventually learn. Once she can cope a bit, extend the time slowly. Watch for signs the dog is self-calming - behaviour like panting, grooming, big yawns, looking away, can all be self calming behaviours and are skills a dog would naturally learn as a puppy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastEditorUserId="7227" LastEditDate="2016-07-18T06:05:52.883" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T06:05:52.883" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-17T04:08:47.460" Score="5" ViewCount="2636" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it is very risky to get a rabbit neutered.  My baby is wild but acts very domesticated.   He has his own bedroom and it is right next to my bedroom. He gets loads of attention and lots of handling. I love him very very very much and he knows this. He is given many treats, much talking to, much brushing and very very very much love . He does not spray, he very rarely bites and he allows me to handle him as much as any other rabbit woman. He is extremely loving and friendly and very comical. I don't see a reason to get him neutered since his behavior is wonderful just the way it is.  I am nervous that the risk involved in getting him neutered is not worth it since I have no behavioral problems with him. If I do not have him neutered will this greatly increase his chances of getting cancer?  I know that is that way in dogs and cats because I am very experienced in having all different types of animals and I have my whole life. I believe in neutering all of my animals but I know is extremely risky in neutering rabbits, especially a wild rabbit and I'm not comfortable taking the risk. What are your thoughts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7616" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-19T13:10:45.077" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T05:28:45.790" Title="Should I get my baby cottontail rabbit who is extremely domesticated neutered?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13716" CreationDate="2016-07-17T10:07:48.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK there is a service to take care of your animal: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cats.org.uk/get-involved/support-us/cat-guardians&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Guardians&lt;/a&gt;. Maybe there is something similar where you live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this might help you a little, and it must be possible that a friend or neighbour can alert the police if something happens to you.&#xA;Or some sort of service from a security company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T11:56:50.247" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T11:56:50.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-17T12:38:57.480" Score="2" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a noob in fish keeping and bought a 10 gallon aquarium 2 days back. It had 3 neon tetras, 5 guppies and 2 Indian glass fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the first day one of my guppies started coming to he surface quite often and it had trouble swimming. By the end of the day it got stuck in the plants and started breathing heavily and died the next day. All my other fish also died in the same way. Now, I have only two neon tetra and don't want them to die as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7617" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T01:02:44.130" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T01:02:44.130" Title="My fish are slowly sinking in the tank and then they die ....pls help" Tags="&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13777" CreationDate="2016-07-18T07:35:44.787" Score="4" ViewCount="3469" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have the double coat so it is not the same as other cat breeds. It gets hot and humid here in Saitama, Japan. While we use aircon, we do tend to leave it off when going out and my 8 year old cat likes the unairconditioned areas. Should you shave to give him more comfort in summer and how? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="12293" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T10:39:51.840" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T10:39:51.840" Title="Should you shave a Norwegian Forest cat for summer? If so, how?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13774" CreationDate="2016-07-18T16:01:44.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats generally prefer a warmer temperature than most people. My cats even use their heating pads in the summer! If your cat seems to prefer unairconditioned areas, then you probably don't need to shave him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T16:01:44.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-18T16:11:14.363" Score="4" ViewCount="1235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read a blog post on &lt;a href=&quot;http://consciouscat.net/2016/07/18/e-cigarettes-toxic-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the dangers of vaping around cats&lt;/a&gt;. Obviously ingesting the vaping fluid could be a serious emergency, but the post also states: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Additionally, cats living with someone who vapes are exposed to the second-hand aerosols from the vapor that is exhaled into the air. These particles may also settle into household dust. As cats come in contact with the particles, they will ingest them via grooming themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have friends who use e-cigarettes without nicotine to reduce their dependence on cigarettes (they have the oral habit). I've been told that the exhale of these products is just water vapor. Are there additional cancer causing materials in the vapor that could cause harm to their pets? How much risk is there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:07:33.277" Title="Is second hand exposure to (non-nicotine) vaping harmful to my pet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13774" CreationDate="2016-07-18T16:13:53.160" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally have a long hair double coat cat (Maine Coon) but most my info comes from reading Husky forums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here is what some online forums say&lt;/strong&gt;: Shaving is not necessary for a double fur cat. It seems like it would help to us but many breeder specific pages are extremely against shaving pets (especially double coat animals like Huskies or Maine Coons). The reasoning is because it can stress out the animal, permanently mess up the undercoat, and generally doesn't help as much as much as we think it would. The double coat can prevent heat as well as insulate in the same way as house insulation works. Sometimes cutting the coat can actually make them warmer and put them at higher risk for sun exposure (huskies more than cats). If your cat doesnt display signs of overheating then the cat is probably fine. There are a couple things you can do to help the cat when you are away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Helping keep cool&lt;/strong&gt;: To help your cat keep cool you can do a few things. Some musts for any double coat breed is to provide plenty of shade and fresh water. This can help the animal cool down tremendously and is an absolute requirement in a warm summer with a double coat. You can maybe run a fan on the floor when you are away and see if your cat curls up in its path (it may not go too close because it is bothered by the breeze but it could still like the air flow). If it doesn't ever happen then you can probably stop running the fan if you want but i am always for some type of air flow or coolness option for pets. Another thing you can do is put an icepack in a sock near where they lay down (like if you have a hide or a mat or something). This can help cool them down and it is relatively cheap and easy to implement for when you dont have air conditioning. Another thing to remember is that without air condition you should reduce playing with your cat because if they run around a lot they can overheat. Now you say you turn off the AC when going out so this shouldnt be a problem since you do run AC sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My experience&lt;/strong&gt;: I am by no means a certified vet or breeder. I am coming from a stance of owning a Maine Coon for a few months. I picked up my cat from a family that did shave him in a lions cut to try to tone down the allergies of their daughter. They told me he acted really sheepish and scared when they shaved him and that he barely interacted with them for a long time (they humanized it by saying it was &quot;embarrassment&quot; but i dont agree). This is probably from the stress of the shave and judging from how they talked about it it seems like it lasted quite a while. I cant even imagine him acting sheepish because he jumps on my face every-morning and greets most people that come to my place with a headbutt so the stress from shaving can have a significant impact on their behavior. My AC was broken for a few days where the temp was over 30C and my cat would sometimes lay in the sun still. When he was hot he would go get a drink then go under the chair in my living room. Cats are not like snakes and they can manage their comfort to a decent degree, meaning if they get hot they will find a cooler place to lay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also brush my cat all the time and that keeps the fur from matting and helps thin the coat slightly by brushing out dead hairs in the coat and undercoat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end I am against shaving/cutting pets with a double coat. It seems to be a very controversial topic but that is my stance. I think there are things you can do to help cool them down and if you keep them brushed and provide shade and water they can still be comfortable. I personally think your cat is probably fine and there are small things you can do to help if it needs to cool down. The fact that you run AC or something similar when you are home and the fact that the cat is indoors with access to shade means that it wont be hot all the time. You can maybe think about running a small fan or do the icepack thing if you are really worried or it gets &gt; 35C but i wouldn't worry about it too much unless your cat starts displaying signs of heatstroke or overheating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T16:13:53.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-18T18:36:54.567" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog eat rocks, dirt, sticks, leaves or anything else he finds laying around? I don't know what to do. Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7622" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:10:26.223" Title="Why does my puppy eat so many things besides his dog food?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13776" CreationDate="2016-07-18T18:39:47.323" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The PG (propylene glycol) in vaping can be pretty harmful to cats but the doses from vaping are usually too small. A VG (vegetable glycerin) formula is generally fine. The VG is where most of what settles into dust when vaping because it is generally less likely to evaporate (which is why the PG has smaller clouds and VG has bigger clouds). In regards to dogs PG is fine in non-large doses. In fact they use it in a lot of dog food for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have a weird sensitivity to PG, and it can cause Heinz body anemia as the article mentions, but the exposure amount needed is higher than they would get from vapor. They determined this by putting PG in cat food (such as how it is in dog food), but it was in higher volumes than the cat can usually get from PG droplets in the air. This is especially true if the blend isn't 100% PG and water. If you avoid vaping into food or blowing directly on your cat's face and clean your living quarters more than once a year, you are probably fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the liquid can be dangerous, so clean spills and drips when you can. Most of these scare articles are written by people with very little scientific background and are deep in the holistic movement (not that I'm against the holistic movement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, many of the opposite ideology about vaping is written by people in the exact same boat. The truth is that science hasn't done the research to know for sure, but as of right now we do know that Heinz body anemia comes from larger exposure to PG than MOST (not all) cats can get from just residing in a house with a person that vapes (It also depends on the cat and the house and the frequency of vaping).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, the risk is fairly low, but it is still there. If you want to know more you can try to ask your vet but many vets I've talked to don't know about how vaping affects pets. Also, many people I associate with vape with cats and it has no ill effects or health issues and their cats are generally in good spirits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, if you can reduce the exposure it will always be better for your cats. You can vape less than normal around them, vape in a ventilated area, and always avoid vaping over food/water or on the cat, deep clean your apartment more, and always change the liquid over a sink or an area that is easily cleaned and less accessible to cats. It is also safer to vape a blend with less PG (for the cat and not necessarily for you). I wouldn't worry about your cats getting Heinz from it, but I wouldn't completely disregard it as a possibly, and I'd respond accordingly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T09:07:33.277" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T09:07:33.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-18T20:24:58.793" Score="5" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grandma has had an unwanted bunny for about 4 years now. He is very skittish and not friendly because he has never been socialized. I was wondering if there's still hope for him and if he can be socialized so he can be let out of his cage more often and actually be able to enjoy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, my grandma says she only lets him out when she cleans his cage and she puts him into a hallway that is blocked off with a gate, so he can't get out. When he is put into the blocked off hallway, he often just sits in the corner regardless of whether anyone is in there with him or not. He also kicks a lot if you try to pick him up to be put back into his cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway we can try to socialize him? Does anyone know any rescue organizations that may take him if we can't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7624" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:32:30.280" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T12:27:18.087" Title="How do you socialize a bunny that has been locked in a cage for many years with very little socialization?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-18T20:49:36.570" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Boston terrier, female, 2 years old. We've been socializing her ever since she's been a puppy and she's generally well behaved. She sometimes tends to be stubborn, but is a good dog overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is one type of behavior that I would really like to correct with her: when we are outside, leashed or not, and she sees another dog, regardless of the sex, size, or breed, at first she freezes and looks at a dog for about 10 seconds, and then charges like mad (she is really, I mean really, fast dog). If the other dog is big, it let's her come and she usually just runs past it and then makes a full circle only to make another go. But, if the other dog is small or has low confidence, it reads it as an attack and gets defensive, and the dog owner almost always reads it as my dog being aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels like she is &lt;strong&gt;super&lt;/strong&gt; excited when she sees another dog. And whilst this may appear as an cheerful character, it is actually quite burdening. Has anyone had any experience on this subject? How do I explain my dog to take it down a notch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7625" LastActivityDate="2016-07-18T20:49:36.570" Title="Dog charges at other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2016-07-19T04:36:13.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like it was mentioned before, cats have higher body temperatures than humans and as such can also tolerate much higher temperatures.  You could shut off your AC completely and the cat will be fine. In fact, if you see your cat curling up into a ball when the AC is on, then you know that that temperature is actually too cold for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7629" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T04:36:13.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="376" CreationDate="2016-07-19T11:09:11.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just discovered these clippers for cats' nails, which are supposed to be good for the visually impaired (and anyone, for that matter). That reminded me of this question, so I dug it up to add this information. I haven't tried the product myself, but I have seen two good reviews:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reviews:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/my-cat-bubba-gets-a-nail-trim-with-the-zen-clipper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/my-cat-bubba-gets-a-nail-trim-with-the-zen-clipper&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.floppycats.com/cat-nail-clippers-for-blind-people.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.floppycats.com/cat-nail-clippers-for-blind-people.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where to buy:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zenclipper.com/buy-now&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.zenclipper.com/buy-now&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Also available on Amazon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this may sound weird, but have you tried filing the nails? After all, you only need to blunt the tip slightly. I have no idea how a cat would react to it, but it seems worth a try. I would try filing outward from the paw rather than side to side, as that would be a more natural scratching motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these clippers aren't available to you, consider the advice in [this answer].&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/377/31&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T22:59:20.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13788" CreationDate="2016-07-19T13:47:47.977" Score="4" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, the majority of UK was hit with heatwaves, and as I am writing this, it's a flaming 90 °F (32 °C). Comparisons aside, it is the hottest it has been in the past few years, for London.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since yesterday, one of my cats exhibited some behaviour where she would lie down and hug the cool wall, while stretched out. Overall, my cats seem to be slightly affected by the heat, as seen from them constantly lying down stretched out as much as it's possible for them, in shady areas. We don't let them go outside due to living next to an active road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night, my mother gave us wet mini towels to cool our bodies down during the night, so that we can sleep comfortably, etc. (Note: she didn't give the towels to cats, to clarify. We have other family members as well). Today, I came up with an idea to put a moist towel on my cat's belly, while she was 'sunbathing' in front of the window. She seemed very grateful, started purring, nudging my hand with her nose, so I assumed I did a good thing for her. She then fell asleep. She is currently still sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good thing if it's not too wet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other ways are there to help my cats feel more comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T18:48:57.523" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T18:48:57.523" Title="What are the ways to help my cats feel better during a heatwave?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13770" CreationDate="2016-07-19T14:11:06.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many concerns about wild rabbits at pets, Take a look at my answer at &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/854/can-i-make-a-baby-wild-rabbit-a-pet/857#857&quot;&gt;Can I make a baby wild rabbit a pet?&lt;/a&gt; Given your description, of the behavior it very possible that you have domestic rabbit who is brown with a white tail and was in the wild when found. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting aside all of the issues of cotton tail as a pet, and just discussing the having a pet male rabbit neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realistically if the rabbit is always going to be in captivity and never exposed to other rabbits. the biggest reason to neuter is to modify behavior RE: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2237&quot;&gt;How do I discourage rabbits from spraying?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common reason to neuter is related to rabbits making babies RE: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877&quot;&gt;How fast do rabbits really breed?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female rabbits are definitely more at risk for cancers if they have not been spayed.  I have not heard of an increased cancer risk for males. I defer addressing that at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third most common reason for neutering is housing rabbits in the same structure.  Rabbits are very territorial and have high sex drives.  An unaltered rabbit in the same building will cause negative behavior changes in the other rabbits in the home.  This is the focus of my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not the neutering that is risky it is the anesthesia.  The risk is definitely higher with rabbits than other animals.  So considering this is an important part of the decision.  I don't know what the real risk is, but I would guess it is between 1 in 100 to 1 in 1000. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age at exposure to anesthesia can make a difference, all things being equal younger (but mature) is less risky then older. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should consider neutering for these reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boarding, if you go on vacation, to the hospital, or anyplace where you can't take your rabbit.  If you can't get someone to come to your house, you will be looking to find a place to board him.  In my area this usually occurs through the local group &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitwranglers.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit Wranglers&lt;/a&gt; your rabbit goes to someones home who has rabbits and they watch him while you are gone.  For all the reasons above it is more difficult to place a rabbit who has not been altered for boarding. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bonding, if you decide to get a second rabbit as friend, it is strongly recommended that both have been altered for at 30 days before introducing them.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Behavior, Neutering modifies behavior. This behavior tends to develop as the rabbit ages. A neutered rabbit is much less likely to develop poor behavior as it ages.  Neutering and altering behavior on an older rabbit brings more challenges. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rescue, if you die or otherwise become unable to care for your rabbit, he will go to a rescue.  At which point he will be neutered, during this very difficult time this is one less stress he could do without.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In summary;&lt;/strong&gt; Yes there are risks, they are real, you are right to be concerned.  While you don't &lt;strong&gt;NEED&lt;/strong&gt; to get him neutered today, anymore then you needed to get him neutered yesterday.  It is all the tomorrows, of which the are probably 8 to 12 or even as many 16 years more ahead for you both. You need to neuter him for unknowns of all of those tomorrows. The best age is 4 to 8 months, optimally at least a month before any of the 4 events above. Your are intelligent enough to recognize the risks of anesthesia, so I know you are intelligent enough to recognize the risk of one of those other 4 things occurring with less than a month warning. Sooner is better, I think you should make an appointment for the neutering as soon as you see he is male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most Common&lt;/strong&gt; in this answer is based on my personal experience. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T14:11:06.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13786" CreationDate="2016-07-19T14:37:42.390" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/13777/6901&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; answer of mine for a few suggestions. Also a rubbing a cat down with a wet towel is perfectly fine. In fact if it is very hot it is definitely encouraged as long as your cat isnt stressed from it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it is natural for cats to be lazy during heatwaves. They dont want to make themselves warmer and overheat. Many people are the same way, i think. Try to play with them less when it is so warm because you dont want them to overexert themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T14:37:42.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13743" CreationDate="2016-07-19T19:28:29.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just leave food out for him and he will eventually eat when he gets hungry. Your dog may prefer eating with other people around, but he likely won't starve himself without them. Pets are pretty adaptable when it comes to eating. If you stay away from your dog's food bowl for long enough, he will learn to eat on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7634" LastActivityDate="2016-07-19T19:28:29.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2874" CreationDate="2016-07-20T00:25:21.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you need to regularly bring your cat to the vet. But regular is in the eye of the beholder and you already said that you take your cat to the vet when it's time to renew the vaccines, which is in fact a regular routine. You actually do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; need to take them &lt;strong&gt;every year&lt;/strong&gt;, which I think is what you are really asking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, it all started some time in the 1940s when a study was done to see if there was any connection between how often people visited their doctor and their overall health. The study found that people who visited their doctors at least once a year lived statistically longer and healthier lives. Doctors everywhere jumped to the conclusion that the act of visiting their doctor &lt;em&gt;caused&lt;/em&gt; those people to live longer and healthier lives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this was an incorrect leap in logic. You see, the masses confused correlation and causation. &lt;strong&gt;Correlation&lt;/strong&gt; simply means there's a &lt;em&gt;relationship between&lt;/em&gt; two or more variables, while &lt;strong&gt;causation&lt;/strong&gt; means that one things &lt;em&gt;directly causes&lt;/em&gt; another thing to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you may have heard the statistic that the majority of car accidents happen near your home. Here's a few versions of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Only 1% of accidents occurred more than 50 miles from home.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;52 percent of reported crashes occurred five miles or less from home.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;One in three road accidents happen a mile from home.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen? Is the connection between being near your house a correlation or a causation?&#xA;Think about it for a second. Is it possible for your house's nearness to influence your driving and directly &lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; you to crash? &lt;em&gt;No!&lt;/em&gt; It is just a building and buildings are everywhere. Therefore, the connection is one of correlation, not causation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason most car accidents happen near your house is two-fold. First, 50 miles is a long way to drive and it's pretty easy for a person to travel inside a 50 mile radius circle and still be happy. &lt;em&gt;That's where we spend most of our time driving, so of course that's where an accident is most likely to happen.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, people tend to drive more carelessly near their homes. They've driven those roads hundreds, no, thousands of times before. At night. In the rain. In rush hour. When sick. When dead tired. They know those roads like they know the back of their hand. If there's anywhere it's OK for them to take their eyes off the road a bit longer than normal, its one stop sign away from their house and-- &lt;em&gt;OHMYGOD! WHERE DID THAT CAR COME FROM!!!&lt;/em&gt;   CRASH!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does this have to do with a medical study published in the 1940s and how often you should take your cat to the vet?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Well, that study was widely publicized by people who confused correlation with causation and concluded that be&lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; those people visited the doctor more often, they were healthier. &lt;em&gt;Wrong!&lt;/em&gt; Those people were healthier be&lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; they were health conscious individuals and be&lt;em&gt;cause&lt;/em&gt; they were more aware of and concerned with their health, they visited their doctor when they thought that something might be wrong with their body instead of waiting 8 months to see if the bloody coughing or strange swelling went away on its own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, that misunderstood study only proved that people who were more willing to visit their doctor at the first sign of trouble tended to live healthier lives. Not exactly a brilliant, ground-breaking discovery, but because the data and the connection about it was misinterpreted, we now are expected to visit the doctor at least once a year. (And dentist.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But we believe that visiting the doctor once a year is best for us, and if you're a good, loving, responsible pet owner, shouldn't you do the same for you beloved pets, too? I mean, if they're really a member of the family, they should visit the doctor just as often as your family does? Right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, NO, your pets do not need to visit the vet &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't let you off the hook, though. Unlike humans, animals are not capable of telling you when they feel bad or where something hurts. It is up to you to monitor their health and look out for signs of illnesses or injuries, for sudden weight loss, changes in behavior or eating or bowel routines, strange lumps, or pained limps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't feel guilty about not taking Kitty to the vet once a year, but you should feel guilty for not taking him to the vet and then not noticing when he gets sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7523" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T00:25:21.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T14:14:16.193" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my leo since February. His name is Elvis (I think it's a male). The last two weeks he has been very lethargic and slowly not eating, and now more recently he's not pooping. It started when he was having trouble shedding. I waited a few days before I helped him. I had to soak him in warm water and use a Q-Tip. I have entirely cleaned out his cage, giving fresh crickets and mealworms. But still nothing. As of right now he hasn't pooped in about 4+ days. He barely moves, and when he does, it's slowly. He doesn't even do much when I open his cage and touch him. He is starting to lose weight and I am very worried about him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7640" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-25T14:45:31.467" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T14:45:31.467" Title="Sick leopard gecko" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T17:24:33.840" Score="2" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 four month old rabbits. I bought a harness and leash for rabbits, because I wanted them to be able to run freely in the fields and the garden with me next to them, while not losing them. I have tried to put the harness on and walk them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lilly tries to get away from me each time, because she sees me running after her, which makes her even more scared, and she leaps away and tries to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Midnight is much worse. He runs around, super fast, in a circle and jumps and freaks out, and I am scared he and Lilly will hurt themselves or even kill themselves trying to get away!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only want to help them, but I am scared for them. I have stopped trying for awhile, but am considering trying again in a few days. Can you give me  any tips on harness training a rabbit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7642" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T19:43:04.267" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T19:43:04.267" Title="How to harness train my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13796" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T17:35:15.600" Score="2" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried the following methods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kennel in my room&lt;/strong&gt; - he got out, tore everything up, and peed everywhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kennel outside&lt;/strong&gt; - he got out, and ran away for a short period of time (I had to go find him about a mile away from my house).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eight foot Fenced in area&lt;/strong&gt; - He somehow climbed the fence, didn't dig below it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: He got out of all of these &quot;traps&quot; within a matter of an hour. I may consider renaming him &quot;Houdini&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I have no idea what to do at this point. I live in a rural area and there isn't any type of dog-sitters that I have been able to find. Is there any way I can train him to stay in one place and be calm until I return?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is about 5 months old, I have had him for about 4 months. He is a Boxer mix. He is not fixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5585" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T19:33:55.307" Title="How can I train my dog to stay in one place when I leave?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13795" CreationDate="2016-07-20T17:48:54.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First Harness training a Rabbit is pretty easy.  See our related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/677&quot;&gt;How to leash train a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; for all the how to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second and &lt;strong&gt;Most Important&lt;/strong&gt; I have a couple of big concerns about your plan and expectations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When domestic rabbits are outside, they don't run freely.  They are very territorial, and slow to advance.  If you set a domestic rabbit down in the middle of a field they will go out a 10 - 50 feet (1 - 15 meters) and comeback.  It is not at all like taking a dog for walk. They prefer to lay in the shade or undercover and eat grass.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fleas and parasites are big issue when you take your rabbit outside.  See our related questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925&quot;&gt;How do I get rid of fleas on my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8194&quot;&gt;How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be?&lt;/a&gt; Revolution is the drug you should use it requires prescription and it is fairly expensive. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect most of the issues you describe with getting the harness on are addressed in this quote from my answer at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/677&quot;&gt;How to leash train a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The largest hurdle is getting the harness securely without upsetting your bunny. You have to fasten under their neck, and this is a bunny's least favorite place to be handled. Once it is on, you're fine. Some may try to chew at it, but most will ignore it once it is in place&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T17:48:54.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T19:28:41.123" Score="4" ViewCount="1433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took my grandma's rabbit because she's wasn't taking care of it well. He's very skittish and doesn't like to be picked up and such. I was petting him and he has his front legs splayed out like he's laying down, but his back legs are positioned as if he is sitting normally. Is he scared when I'm letting him or is this normal behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7624" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-10T21:45:40.613" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T21:45:40.613" Title="I was petting my bunny and I can't tell if he's scared or likes it" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T11:35:32.370" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I throw sticks with our dog (a Swiss Shepherd) she usually barks at me with a high pitch when I'm about to throw the stick. Sometimes she still has another stick in her mouth and in that case her barking is much lower concerning the pitch. Why is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7664" OwnerDisplayName="descheleschilder" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T15:26:19.367" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T15:26:19.367" Title="Why can´t our dog bark with a high pitch while holding a stick in her mouth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:12:31.020" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 15 year old cat, who has arthritis, has stopped burying her poop in the litterbox. Shes had arthritis for a few years and she's always buried her poop but has stopped doing so for a couple of months now. Nothing in her environment has changed, that I'm aware of. We have two other cats who she doesnt care for, but they've been with us for fifteen years as well. Do you know why a cat would stop burying--could it be related to her arthritis, is it something psychological, etc? How can I get her to start burying again?...it stinks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7645" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:15:09.793" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:15:09.793" Title="Cat stopped burying poop in litterbox" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13798" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:38:46.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal, if he were scared he would run away from you or will be aggressive and charge/nip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:38:46.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13801" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:42:23.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very well could be from arthritis, you can always add arm and hammer baking soda to the litter to reduce smell or just pick it up once she poops. There are also self cleaning litter boxes that clean the litter after a pee or poop (though some cats get scared of these).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you changed the litter at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:42:23.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13794" CreationDate="2016-07-20T20:46:30.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go to the vet hospital if he's constipated for 4+ days and not eating/lethargic for 2 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A veterinarian will have to do a physical exam to determine cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T20:46:30.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13781" CreationDate="2016-07-20T21:01:10.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is hope :)&#xA;Allow him to get use to the new place first, I would leave him be and give him a place to hide to feel comfortable. Do this for the first 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3 and on - allow him to roam in the room his cage is, you may sit on the floor and let him come to you if he wants. Be very gentle and soft spoken, try giving him treats if he comes to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never force anything and don't feel bad if he never wants to be picked up, rabbits are not a fan of heights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find with fearful rabbits using a towel or small blanket is best. Drop the towel completely on top of him and wrap him up starting with him bum/hind legs, you want to be able to control his kicking. Then wrap the rest of him, hold him close to your body and place him where you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are prone to spinal injuries from flailing around or having a bad fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He needs to have exercise daily (if you're home let him out until you leave or go to bed) they need lots of space and environmental enrichment. Related questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320&quot;&gt;Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126&quot;&gt;Will owls attack small dogs?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8194&quot;&gt;How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I will recommend is to neuter, un-neutered rabbits will spray and develop some aggressive behaviors. It also prevents certain cancers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SPCA will typically take rabbits or you can try finding a home online (through Craigslist type sites).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T13:36:30.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13779" CreationDate="2016-07-20T21:10:26.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal puppy behavior though I would redirect this to his toys. Sticks and rocks are dangerous, rocks damage teeth and sticks can become lodged it their esophagus and damage their gums. If he's prone to eating things I highly recommend getting pet insurance, it will save your butt in case he gets a foreign body (object lodged in their Gastro intestinal system). It is a very expensive surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see him eating this stuff distract him with one of his toys and play with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:10:26.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-20T21:43:13.733" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between urinary S/O wet cat food and urinary S/O dry cat food? My cat had crystals and the vet said to give him the wet food as it was better for him. I was just wondering if that was his personal opinion or if the wet food is indeed better for him than dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7647" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-07T11:42:08.850" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T11:42:08.850" Title="Urinary S/O cat food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13807" CreationDate="2016-07-20T21:49:54.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep it is! Though they both work the same the idea behind wet food is more water intake. For cats we like to see them drink a lot as it makes them pee more frequently instead of holding it in for long periods of time (holding it in gives a chance for stones/crystals to form). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-20T21:49:54.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14995" CreationDate="2016-07-21T00:16:48.237" Score="2" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my girlfriend got her first dog, male Maltese, in September last year. Few weeks after we went on a walk and all was fine, after that few more walks, but I has never been at her home, where she lives with her mother and sister (so 3 females, and he is male). When I visited them for the first time, he started relentlessly barking from safe distance. We thought he is still young so I didn't visit them for few months and then I started visiting, every time the same story, I come he barks, for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we tried me sitting on floor, she playing with him when I visit. Nothing worked. So I ordered special (and expensive) treats for him that I only give him when I visit them. First few times she gave it so he knows they are good, and then me for last few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 2-3 hours of barking he stops, but me talking, coughing or laughing and touching my girlfriend makes him jump and start barking again. We thought that he is protective of &quot;his&quot; home, but one time, when he stopped barking she picked him up and I tried to give him my hand to sniff it (palm down), he got so scared that he peed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And after two months of casual wait for him to get cool, then give him treats (in meantime, he came carefully to smell me a few times). Yesterday when me and my girlfriend fell asleep, he got his toy and brought it to me and I threw it and he brought it back, and we played for half and hour. He smelled me, he took treats from my hands, lick my hands and finally he fell asleep, and I thought that that is finally it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But today I visited, he started barking again, I wanted to give him my hand to smell it, he peed again and didn't stop barking. Like nothing happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that is a big post, but I am out of ideas and he is so cute. It's truly concerning situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I love dogs, dogs usually love me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I never ever, steeped on him, yelled on him or anything bad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He lives with 3 females. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He usually barks, on new males, but stops after 5 minutes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I sat on floor, gave him best treats for two months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We were friends for few hours and next day he forgot that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7648" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T19:44:06.817" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T19:44:06.817" Title="My girlfriend's 9 month old Maltese is terrified of me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-21T01:27:49.197" Score="2" ViewCount="1615" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought 2 black skirt tetras along with some other fish for my 10 gallon tank. The next morning one of the tetras died, from stress I think. The other tetra was on its own for about 5-6 hours, then I added another black skirt tetra into the tank. Now the old one keeps trying to nibble at the new one's fins. He tore a piece off and every time the new one starts swimming around, he gets chased by the old one. And now I'm noticing he's started to nip at my other fish' fins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the cause of this? How do I stop it? If I take the bully fish out and put him in a different tank for a week or two and put him back in the 10 gallon tank, will it make him less aggressive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm scared the new one will die soon, which is sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7649" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:09:20.400" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T04:40:54.823" Title="How can I stop my black skirt tetras from fighting?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13798" CreationDate="2016-07-21T11:32:58.610" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arms out front, legs under hips, is a normal petting position for rabbits.  As he gets more comfortable he may also lay on his side, or in the superman position (&lt;em&gt;arms out front, legs stretched out back&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits will normally run away, nip, charge or box at you when they are afraid or mad.  Growling and/or thumping are also signs of unhappiness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit may also nip at you or headbutt you, if you stop petting them before they are done.  Each bunny has a unique personality, some only like to be pet for a minute or two, some like to be pet for an hour or more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teeth chattering is a sign of happiness or contentment, it is to rabbits as purring is to cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits prefer not to be held, or snuggled tightly.  Anything that makes them feel captured, is generally not liked.  They will lay against you, or even get climb on top of you.  Letting the bunny decide, about how close or where they want to be on you, is the best choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most appreciated petting is any place on the head, behind the ears, along the jaw, head to back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid under chin, hips (varies by rabbit), and stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-21T13:37:36.860" LastActivityDate="2016-07-21T13:37:36.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13867" CreationDate="2016-07-21T12:20:45.703" Score="3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes discover lost dogs on the street that have a collar with a tag with maybe a contact phone to reach their owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I don't know their character or if something happened and scared them or made them nervous, I have to admit I am a bit scared to put my hand under their mouth and reach for their collar tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: What is the best and safest way to reach and read the tag on the collar of a lost dog that you haven't met before, without risking your hand being bitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:50.517" Title="How can I read lost dog's collar tag without it biting me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13588" CreationDate="2016-07-21T14:48:21.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is important for a cat to hide its smell, because a cat is a predator, and if the cat's smell is not hidden, its prey will be alerted and harder to get.&#xA;But the cat is also prey for other larger animals, so it makes sense to hide its smell from other animals. This is the basic reason for cats to hide its smell by burying its poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ten months ago I adopted a feral cat (yes, a wild animal,the vet says he is at least ten years old.) It did take 3 days before he started to use the litterbox. This was mostly because he was terrified of me and my apartment and it took some time for him to get used to things. So most cats learn to use a litterbox very quickly no matter their age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T02:06:57.767" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T02:06:57.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-21T15:18:42.000" Score="3" ViewCount="1442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have small fish (I don't know what kind they are) in a 500 gallon pond (around 2000 liters) that are very hardy. They survived their previous home (hundreds of fish in a 70 gallon / around 270 liters) pond with no water circulation at all, full of algae that you can't see anything deeper than an inch) and a 9 hour car ride in a plastic bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to move some of them to a smaller water basin, packed with water plants. If possible, this will be a low maintenance feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can they survive by eating the plants without me giving fish food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7651" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:23:42.360" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:23:42.360" Title="Can fish live in a plant-filled pond without being fed?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13828" CreationDate="2016-07-22T02:41:59.143" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I visited a local pet adoption center today and really took a shining to one of the dogs. We would love to bring her home, but I will be traveling for work next week and my wife has long work hours and a long commute. What is the best way to help introduce her to our home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the options that we have been considering are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speaking with the adoption center and seeing if they would keep her until I returned from my work trip. My work trips are only about 4 times/year and only 1 week long - so I'm not so worried about finding accommodations in the future. I do have doubts though that the adoption center would be agreeable to this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hiring someone to come in and take the dog for an afternoon walk and some companion time while I'm away and my wife is at work (I work at home, so the rest of the year is fine). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Placing her in a kennel for the first few days. This sounds like it would be awfully disruptive and confusing to her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not adopting her at this time and hoping that she's still there next week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7656" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T23:38:59.387" Title="How do we introduce a new dog into the home knowing we have long work hours for the first week?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-22T02:42:41.723" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;We (Me and my wife and child) went away from 11 am on Wednesday until 3pm on Thursday. We discovered that our 8 year old Norwegian Forest Cat had not drunk or gone to the toilet the entire time that we were away. My wife's parents were home a lot  upstairs and he was familiar with them- he is often upstairs many times a day and plays with them some times. I think he ate some food. It is big worry that if we go away that he might become sick. He needs us to pour fresh water in his water bowl and possibly hold it for him- he doesn't like water fountains. Does my cat have a disorder? How can handle it.   He did all his toilet time about five minutes after we came home and soon after drank a lot of water.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="3029" LastEditDate="2016-07-22T02:48:52.600" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T13:53:58.007" Title="Does my cat have an attachment disorder and how to handle it?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-22T08:01:02.187" Score="7" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always wondered; why are the bodily fluids, etc. that accumulate (and usually dry out) in the corners of a dogs (and cats too, I think) eyes &lt;em&gt;black?;&lt;/em&gt; but in humans, it is not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5624" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T00:16:50.403" Title="Why do dogs have black eye juice?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13772" CreationDate="2016-07-22T11:18:58.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fish are most likely dying because the tank has not been cycled before you added the fish. You need to lean about the nitrogen cycle e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Why-is-an-understanding-of-the-nitrogen-cycle-important-when-setting-up-a-fish-aquarium_454.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Why-is-an-understanding-of-the-nitrogen-cycle-important-when-setting-up-a-fish-aquarium_454.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime you have an emergency, and need to remove the ammonia urgently. Go to the fish shop and get something like ammo-lock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T11:18:58.220" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1020" CreationDate="2016-07-22T12:07:48.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hitting your fuzzy buddies isn't a good idea. Even a gentle tap is a bad idea. It can make them fear you, even if it is a soft tap on the back. They are more likely to become more aggressive. Time out in the carrier and scuffing them and gently dragging them across the floor is the best way. My kiddos dominance fight alot. Until there is blood there is no need to intervene because they are just establishing a pecking order or who is in charge and who isnt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7660" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T12:07:48.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-22T16:20:29.810" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Need to know if there is a way of making my cat tree/s last longer than 2 months. I did not buy the most expensive one, at £30, but it all but worn away by kitty enjoying her scratching sessions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to spend more? or is sisal just sisal regardless of price? I have already trimmed off the shag, the sisal that sticks out that kitty's scratchings have caused, and now comes the time to replace it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T22:55:07.807" Title="long-lasting sisal cat tree?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-22T16:42:06.747" Score="3" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many small animals &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2354/&quot;&gt;can drink from a bowl&lt;/a&gt; but their people provide them with bottles that have nipples to drink out of.  Like any container that has water sitting in it for a long time, stuff can grow in them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a safe an effective way to get both the water bottle and the nipple clean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5BMi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5BMi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T17:56:01.970" Title="How to clean water bottles and nipples?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13824" CreationDate="2016-07-22T22:55:07.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having purchased many cat trees, and even made a few, I believe the durability depends on the &lt;em&gt;thickness&lt;/em&gt; of the sisal rope. So you can either repair the tree with a thicker rope, or purchase a new one made with thicker rope. If you decide to repair it, or make a new one, see the link James suggested &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6823&quot;&gt;What are safe materials for repairing a scratching post?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While carpet is an option, as keshlam suggested, I suggest sticking with sisal for two reasons: 1) your cat is obviously happy with it, and 2) carpet can have glues and other chemicals that aren't necessarily cat-safe. I wouldn't be worried about carpet that the cat mostly just lies on, but if the carpet is going to be scratched to bits, those bits are more likely to stick to fur and be ingested during grooming. But if you do decide to go with carpet, I suggest turning it around so that the &lt;em&gt;backing&lt;/em&gt; is what the cat scratches rather than the pile. It will last longer that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T22:55:07.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13818" CreationDate="2016-07-22T23:38:59.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think asking the shelter to hold the dog for one more week is the best option. I assume that like most shelters, they ask adoptees to fill out paperwork and make a donation or pay a fee. If you pay the fee/donation before you go on your trip, it will reassure the shelter staff that you won't change your mind. Also, you might offer an extra donation to cover the cost of keeping the dog an extra week. Half of what you would have paid to board the dog for a week would probably cover the shelter's cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Mario says, I don't think the shelter would be put off by the request. It's possible they might have to refuse, but there's no harm in asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My second choice would be hiring someone to come in and take the dog for an afternoon walk and some companion time. Ask the shelter for a recommendation - it's possible that someone from the shelter offers that service, which would be great because your new dog will already know them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-22T23:38:59.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13835" CreationDate="2016-07-23T02:45:50.420" Score="3" ViewCount="538" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1.5 year old Boston terrier who when he was a puppy got all his shots, including 3 for parvo. My roommate recently got a puppy. 10 weeks old? it was sick and when the vet checked he was confirmed for parvo. My dog has been playing with him and sharing toys/water/food with this puppy(possibly even ate his poop) is he at risk for parvo? I'm so scared for my boston. I hope this is the right section.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8038" OwnerDisplayName="Jeff Meigs" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T14:02:20.453" Title="Can a dog that has had all his shots for parvo, still contract it?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-23T07:57:09.200" Score="7" ViewCount="4658" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Mother-in-law started feeding her off of her plate as soon as she was weaned and she just will NOT eat cat food. I have tried many brands of high end dry &amp;amp; wet but no ~ I tried tuna ~ no ~ She just won't eat anything but that nasty old lunchmeat which has no nutrition for her and I am so upset ~ I give her milk replacer so she at least gets some nutrition. Can anyone help please? I am so worried about her development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7665" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-07-23T08:36:57.967" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T09:12:36.487" Title="My sons 12 week old kitten will eat only human food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13833" CreationDate="2016-07-23T08:50:08.853" Score="3" ViewCount="3698" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my two cats called Chilli happened to bite my mother's hand, but it wasn't anything to be concerned about. It was a mild bite. My mother was trying to see how our cats would react after hearing cats meowing in a video on her phone. Chilli came towards her and bit her hand, then left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Around 2 months after I happened to be doing the same thing as my mother did. I played the same video on my phone that was played two months before, and I got the same result. Chilli bit my hand very lightly and then retreated as soon as the video ended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? Is she not fond of the meowing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this is the specific video:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T11:00:13.683" Title="My cat bites my hand mildly after hearing cats in my phone" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13663" CreationDate="2016-07-23T09:35:33.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instinct tells her it'd be best to bury this bone for later use. Naturally, dogs are using their claws for digging into the ground and their nose for covering up again. It is like pushing sand onto something so it is hidden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7666" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2016-07-27T13:05:53.903" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T13:05:53.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13831" CreationDate="2016-07-23T10:06:03.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two cats in the video are talking to each other, the title is &quot;The two talking cats&quot;.  They seem to like each other, as there is grooming at the end.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't speak cat, it seems to be a romance or some other kind of 'chic lit' video.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is putting her mouth on your hand to communicate her thoughts about the story you are sharing with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-07-23T10:06:03.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12308" CreationDate="2016-07-23T11:55:21.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks later, I have decided to tell you how I did it. It's been over a month since the transfer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two answers were good, but they simply didn't work in my case. Since the larger tank was over 5 times bigger, keeping old water wasn't really an option. You need movement in the water so it doesn't become stagnant, especially over a 2 week period. Also since I wasn't just moving the fish from one tank to the other, it was harder to fill up the 75gal with tank water. They were in 2 different apartments, which made keeping water impractical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong, if it's practical to dump old tank water in the larger tank to fill it up partially at least, go ahead and do it. But if you are in a situation like me, where it is not practical, filling with tap water is correct. Since most of the good bacteria live in the filter and on other solid objects (substrate, decoration, plants, etc.), by transferring the filter, I had transferred the most of the bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how I did the move. I had 20-40 red cherry shrimp and ~10 neon tetra, 4 danios zebra and 2 endler. I first removed most of the decoration from the tank. This was mostly plants, a couple of rocks and some wood. Then I started to drain the tank. I took the filter media and dropped them in a large ziplock filled with old tank water. Than I filled a plastic container with about 2-3 gallons of water. The rest went to the sink. When the tank had under 25% water left, I started to catch fish with a net. I put them in the plastic bin for transportation. It's the same bin I dropped 2-3 gal of old water in it. When I had all the fish in the bin, I started to catch shrimps. Those I put in a small bottle filled at 50% with tank water. When every one was in its transport container, I took off. The first thing I did at my new home was to drop the containers in the new tank just like I would have done if I had purchased the fish. While the water was matching temperature, I reinstalled my filter on the new tank. After about 20 min, I started to add water from the new tank in the container. I repeated the above step a couple of times and after that, I scooped the fish out of the container and put them in their new home. For the shrimp I removed the cap and let the bottle sink in the tank (I didn't mind ~500ml of old water in 75gal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of days before the move, I started to feed less. About 25% less by feeding and the two days before the move I didn't feed. When they were moved, I didn't feed the same day. But the next day I fed them lightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been over a month since the move and I didn't lose any fish. They are all going great. For the shrimp I can't say because it's too hard, but I still see plenty so at least a large portion survived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-22T09:40:36.357" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T09:40:36.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13829" CreationDate="2016-07-23T13:08:11.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Parvovirus most commonly affects unvaccinated puppies less than 6 months of age. However, no vaccine is 100% effective, and vaccinated adult dogs can much less commonly be infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the risk may be low in a vaccinated dog, I would still take your dog to see a veterinarian. They can perform a Parvovirus SNAP test. If your dog is in the early infection stages, he may not be shedding the virus in large quantities in the faeces yet. In this case your veterinarian may recommend a blood test (complete blood count). Since parvovirus typically affects the bone marrow first, a low white blood cell count could be an early indicator of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parvovirus can live in the environment for many months, so make sure to disinfect and clean all surfaces with a dilute bleach solution – especially toys, bowls, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2016-07-23T13:08:11.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13825" CreationDate="2016-07-23T13:43:51.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Boiling is your best bet but plastic is always hard to clean properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can purchase glass bottles with stainless steel nipples, those you can wash in the dish washer or boil them as well. Glass is easier to keep clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water should be changed daily and bottles fully cleaned at minimum once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-07-24T16:46:51.917" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T16:46:51.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-23T17:50:33.250" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog wee's in his bed if I put a blanket or pillow in there he also wee's and poos over my kitchen when I'm at work. He is a two year old bulldog. He has been castrated and the vets have checked him out for any infection or incontinence and is all clear. Some say a companion because he might be stressed out but I'd like any suggestions before I do go ahead with another dog for him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7668" LastActivityDate="2016-07-23T21:06:10.883" Title="Dog toilet training" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13839" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-23T20:14:46.673" Score="4" ViewCount="1395" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle's shell was dark when it was younger and as it has grown, its became lighter is that bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7669" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-08-29T21:51:34.533" LastActivityDate="2017-08-25T03:01:49.853" Title="Is my turtle's shell changing color a bad sign?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-08-26T21:05:49.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13839" CreationDate="2016-07-23T20:57:32.313" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be shedding its &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scute&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scutes&lt;/a&gt;, they can turn light during this process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-07-24T09:37:07.780" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T09:37:07.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2016-07-23T21:06:10.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crate training is my go to for house soiling. It must be big enough for the dog to stand up, lie down and turn around. If the crate is too large he will just soil in one spot and sleep in the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he does his business outside be sure to reward him with treats (clicker training is always a good idea).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also hire someone to come by your place at lunch time to let him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting another dog to try and fix a problem is never a good idea, you may end up with two dogs soiling or two dogs anxious for your return. If a dog is missing his owner having a companion won't make him miss you less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's anxious when home alone you can try doggy daycare or try some anti-anxiety medications (under a veterinarians guidance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-23T21:06:10.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13825" CreationDate="2016-07-24T10:27:49.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Rebecca mentions in her answer cleaning quality product like glass water bottles and stainless steel nipples is much easier, than it is for plastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First and most important if you must use nipples for watering, buy quality stainless steel nipples with quality valves (often this is a stainless steel ball bearing) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use a bottle brush to scrub the inside of the bottle. Sometimes you can find small ones that will fit inside the nipple, but the valve is often difficult to clean. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many farm supply stores sell water bottle nipples that attach to soda bottles. Because of the soda bottles rounded shape they are often easier to clean with a bottle brush than bottles with corners.  Also if they get soiled or damaged they are easy to replace. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use water and salt. Salt is an inexpensive, non-toxic cleaning solution.  When you add salt to water, only so much can dissolve, at around 25% no mater how much you shake there are still participles of salt (like sand) that settle to the bottom.  High concentrations of salt kill most things that live/grow in fresh water. The additional salt works as an abrasive to scour the inside of the water bottle and nipple. Shake the bottle with the water and salt in it (&lt;em&gt;put your thumb over the nipple end while shaking&lt;/em&gt;) if very dirty you may need to repeat with fresh solution, rinse well and everything is good. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For cleaning just stainless steel nipples with the ball bearing valve, mix the water and salt solution in an bowl, submerge the nipple in the solution and capture some inside (maybe 1/3 full) cover both ends with your fingers and shake. The inside of the tube and the valve will be scrubbed clean.  Rinse well. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T10:27:49.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13830" CreationDate="2016-07-24T11:23:19.407" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is problem in learned behavior that can occur in young animals, whether cats or human children. In humans these foods are referred to as &quot;comfort foods&quot;; I, for example, learned as a child to like macaroni and cheese even though it is not the most healthy food for me to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens learn their favorite foods when they are young, usually from their mother.  Normally this helps kittens to have preferences for foods that are easy to find in their environment, whether mice, birds, or canned soft cat-food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your specific case, the kitten learned to eat human food from your mother-in-law, who taught your kitten to really like lunchmeat. Have no fear; although the kitten may say she won't eat anything but lunchmeat, (if you can keep anyone from feeding the kitten incorrect foods) when she gets hungry enough she will eat other foods, even if she is grumpy about it and claims you are starving her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a friend who rescued a kitten who when young lived next to a garbage dumpster behind a donut shop; she had as a kitten developed a taste for the donuts tossed into that dumpster. She lived out a normal life except for having an extreme sweet tooth and would gobble down anything with maple frosting on it (and then proceed to throw it up). Donuts were not healthy for her, but she had learned while young that they were a readily available food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat doesn't still doesn't eat normal cat food after starving for several days, you may need to cut some of her desired lunch meat into tiny pieces and mix well with the cat food you are trying to get her to eat, but expect her to try to eat just the lunchmeat out of the mix unless it is mixed very well with the cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally worry about how your mother-in-law makes bad decisions about what to feed young things she comes in contact with. Spoiling kittens (or grandchildren) with incorrect foods may be fun for her, but any bad habits learned by them will need to be either corrected by you or lived with forever afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastEditorUserId="6801" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T09:12:36.487" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T09:12:36.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2817" CreationDate="2016-07-24T11:39:15.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat I had pawed her food as well. In her case, there were ants who had found traces of food in her dish and she was trying to separate her food from the ants. Once she started doing this, it became a habit that she continued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pawing water in a dish may be a reaction to an unfortunate drinking accident in the past (darn that clear water! sneeze, sneeze). Drinking water directly from the faucet may be a preference for cleaner water than she can get in a bowl. Or there may actually be a difference in flavor; my brother used to claim he could taste which faucet in our house water came from, but since I couldn't taste any difference he may have been trying to pull one over on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T11:39:15.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="567" CreationDate="2016-07-24T14:15:22.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently obtained a red footed tortoise that whistles with every breath. I am confident my enclosure and environment is suitable for the tortoise and the Tortoise received proper care before I bought him. I am not a professional but in my opinion this kind of whistling may be normal. Even though I am not an expert I am just chiming in because I thought it would be helpful to hear from someone else's situation. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7675" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T14:15:22.537" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13848" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13872" CreationDate="2016-07-24T18:20:33.400" Score="2" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bough this Soil, as required dirt for aquarium (i don't know how to say in your language that desn't mix with specific kind of dirt, but the thing that root of plant live within). Here are some images:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0EncO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0EncO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The Substrate Brand and packaging&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WsVMi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WsVMi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The Substrate Usage Details&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/INOp0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/INOp0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Other Details&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The seller said it's good foryour plants , and it contains muck(or equivalent), and it help my plants. I have 90WX30dX40h tank, which is filled with semi small and big grit, with height of around 2 or 3 centimeter. small filter inside tank that contains nothing special, soon will add a hanging on small filter, which may fill some part of it with bacterial things(which i don't now about), and remove one sheet of active coil due to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok back to aquarium soil... first... is this alone enough for aquarium? i didn't find any tutorial, or one that i find and randomly it was also in stackexchange, it used too many special word, which is unknown for me, made it very hard, second, i have very low budget and aquarium stuff are very expensive toward my earning.&#xA;Ok so the question are:&#xA;1. It says for typical 60CM tank (57L) recommanded usage is 8~11, so my tank recommendation should be around 15~20, but the package says it's one litre (first i filled most of the tank with grit and i have low budget), so does this enough for not too many plant (i mean buy providing requirment, not keeping the root of plants)?&#xA;2.can it fill the cover the floor(90X30) how many more do i need to reach the need(due low budget), not recommendation? &#xA;3.do i need to use any thing else beside it (hope fully non expensive stuff)? &#xA;4.does it hurt for fish or snail?&#xA;5.where should it be? below or top of grit?&#xA;6.it says it help bacteries, but does it provide a place for them to live or i still need other things for that(and again below or on top?)&#xA;7.i have two big and a very small air stone, which i put them at the very buttom, and i like to hide them, does they hurt these soil? the package seem to be wet inside and have steam on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some photo from my aquarium to specify the grit i used, or filter, or cooling, ...:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cr3mm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cr3mm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the grit i used&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9g1lT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9g1lT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My whole aquarium&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z0T0T.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z0T0T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The filter i talked about, previously used with very smaller tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="7494" LastEditDate="2016-07-24T19:18:28.370" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T08:42:08.703" Title="How to use Aquarium Substrate Soil" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13830" CreationDate="2016-07-24T20:57:29.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats, Dogs, and humans will eat what they don't prefer WHEN they are hungry enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT...&#xA;People joke about cats and their finicky eating habits, but it’s actually a serious issue if your cat won’t eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although a refusal to eat is concerning for all pets, it can be more dangerous for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When animals don’t eat enough, they must rely on their fat reserves for energy. Before stored fat can be used for fuel, it must be processed by the liver. This step requires adequate supplies of protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With rapid weight loss in a cat that stops eating, protein supplies are soon exhausted and the liver becomes overwhelmed by all the fat. This results in a dangerous condition known as hepatic lipidosis, which can lead to liver failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of relying on people food, try encouraging your cat to eat commercial canned food. You may find that heating the food or mixing in fish oil, broth, or cooked egg could entice your picky cat to eat. If your cat still won’t eat, take the food away and provide fresh food later in the day. If the food is left to harden and become stale, your cat may learn to avoid it in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has been eating human food exclusively, be sure to transition your pet over several weeks by mixing together your pet’s favorite people food with cat food. Over time, you should be able to change the ratio until your pet is eating only cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many experts recommend rotating your cat’s diet among different brands two to four times a year by using a similar technique. This practice may help reduce finickiness and also minimize the development of food allergies and intestinal problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7676" LastActivityDate="2016-07-24T20:57:29.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-25T02:04:32.403" Score="1" ViewCount="610" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, we want to add medium size redwood bark pieces (mulch) around our yard at the flower beds.  We have a 3mo. old German Shepherd pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Landscaper suggested black, but we are concerned that this is actually bark stained black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She often chews on the bark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a health risk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7568" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T07:48:43.863" Title="is redwood decorative bark mulch stained black bad for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13852" CreationDate="2016-07-25T07:48:43.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about just waiting a bit longer with the bark and for the potential problem to solve itself? Our dog (Siberian Husky) also chewed on bark chips for a while but this pretty much disappeared once he had his final teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, we can't really tell, because we don't know what's actually in there. It might be harmless, it might be harmful. We can't tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although keep in mind it's no problem for most dogs to swallow tiny bits of wood, this shouldn't become a habit, as it might lead to complications and health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T07:48:43.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9652" CreationDate="2016-07-25T15:37:30.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do believe a pet that will cover his food or treats is simply because they're not hungry and is telling you that you're giving him her to much&#xA;to eat .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7682" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T15:37:30.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-25T16:19:33.817" Score="2" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are siblings. Their mother has good eyes. It seems that the eyes of the other two siblings are OK; but with these two, something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KUqDw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KUqDw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Gyud.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Gyud.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7683" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T19:32:37.713" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T20:41:57.803" Title="What's with these cats' eyes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13857" CreationDate="2016-07-25T17:38:08.780" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;They need to see a vet, chances are it's feline rhinotracheitis which can cause some issues with eyes (we see this a lot in our cats from the SPCA), it could also be an eye infection which would require antibiotic eye drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only way to know and treat is by taking them to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T20:41:57.803" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T20:41:57.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13830" CreationDate="2016-07-25T21:14:24.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am reiterating what has been said previously.  Cats have (I have read) starved because not too bright people fed them only one type of cat food and that company either reformulated or it was taken off the market. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get kitty eating cat food, keep mixing it by brands and by meat-type.  This way you will never run into that horrible situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I would cut up the food he likes and mix it with cat food.  As he gets used to one mixture, use less and less of the people food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an adult spoils a child or an animal, they are not doing it for the benefit of the animal.  It is entirely a selfish and childish thing to do.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T21:14:24.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2016-07-25T21:37:12.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also ditch the mattress and chalk it up to my careless decision.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have used Nature's Miracle and the Febreeze products that spray on and are made especially for pets.  These may be great, with repeated applications, for thin carpets but I doubt if you will ever get that odor out of something thick like a mattress.  Even after you may think you have done the job, the first humid day will see that odor wafting out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I've had a sofa that had a pretty bad odor to it.  I had just purchased a new Dyson vacuum cleaner, and it took repeated tries over many days, but that renowned (ha) suction actually got rid of the smell.  I have wall to wall industrial carpeting and that Dyson will pull it up off the floor a bit.  When I first got it, for the first maybe 13 times I vacuumed, the floor looked clean, but it continued to pull debris that was deep seated in that carpet because my prior vacuums did such a lousy job.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastActivityDate="2016-07-25T21:37:12.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13865" CreationDate="2016-07-26T00:12:36.810" Score="3" ViewCount="17946" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uw8Oq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uw8Oq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat ear w/hair loss&amp;amp;scabs&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi my cat is about 4 years old now and something that we just recently came to notice is that he has a bit of scabs and peeling/hair loss on one of his ears. We're not sure what it could be, but we're really worried. I believe this is the first time this has happened. Could it be something like mites? Mange? He doesn't really scratch at it. It is also not red or inflamed, it is just flaking off. If anyone could help me, I would be really thankful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7686" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T13:22:11.773" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T03:55:17.660" Title="What is this scabbing and hair loss on my cat's ear?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13863" CreationDate="2016-07-26T05:37:17.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We see a few cats come in like this, could be a number of things like parasites (parasite control always recommended for outdoor pets). If he is outdoors he could have gotten into a scrap with another animal or come in contact with a toxic substance. Could even be the beginning of allergies or ringworm (fungal infection that can be transmitted to people).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is better to go to your veterinarian just to take a quick peak at his ears (inside and out) and get proper treatment if needed. Skin problems can never be diagnosed online as you need to preform tests to rule out the possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T05:37:17.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13863" CreationDate="2016-07-26T08:01:00.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With that question you better to go to a vet. He will take skin scraping, and  check it in laboratory. &#xA;The treatment will depend on what your cat has, whether it's mange, mites, tinea, food allergy. And don't worry, all these problems are solved easily with correct medicines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T08:01:00.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5509" CreationDate="2016-07-26T08:24:01.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the person who adopts a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got 2 cats. The first one I got when she was 4 weeks. She was small and cute. Everyone likes kittens :). And I managed to educate her, breed her how I want. However, I didn't know whether I would be successful or not (as with children, we can never be sure no matter how hard we try). Some people say it's better to adopt a kitten as in this situation the kitten can get used to the new family much easier. But they need more attention. Kittens play, play and play. They have so much energy, so they sometimes ruin your stuff, just because they are bored. They need to be played with a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2 years I adopted an adult cat. She was grown up, about 6 years, and it took about 2 weeks to get her used to our home, our house, and about 3 months to get her used to our rules (not eating flowers, not sleeping on the dinner table, not scratching our armchairs, etc). However, she perfectly knew where to pee. I had to buy special forage for her, new scratching mat, as she didn't want to use the existing scratching post. What is important: before adopting I knew her character, her personality, I knew what she likes and what she doesn't, about her habits, what fur she has, etc. Adult cats are more calm. They have less energy in comparison with kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this concerns all types of pets: bunnies, dogs, parrots. The choice between a kitten or and adult cat depends on what you want and what you are ready for.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:39:50.143" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:39:50.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13813" CreationDate="2016-07-26T08:55:35.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess there is no correct answer, but this is what can be suggested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you see a dog which you think needs help, don't come too close the first time. You need to understand, whether the dog is frightened, scared, aggressive, friendly, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't keep back too close. The dog should see you, again, in case it's frightened or aggressive (dog may think you want to attack her and attack first).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If dog is calm, doesn't roar or show its teeth, take its collar with a strong hand. Remember, dogs can feel your fear or weakness. It doesn't mean it will bite you, but the dog can just walk/run away. You can buy some food (sausage, piece of meat) and give it to a dog. While the dog is eating, you can easily read the tag. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't come to a dog if it's nervous, aggressive, or shows its teeth. Or if you are frightened or not sure. It's better to ask for help. As I have already said, animals perfectly feel your fear, and it's not good for you. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is part of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-tips/i-found-a-stray-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a good article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the dog appears approachable, remember to use caution and common sense. If you are lucky enough to get close enough to capture him or her, you still stand the risk of being bitten. Even a small dog can inflict a painful wound, and if a dog whose vaccination status is unknown bites you, you will be advised to undergo expensive and painful preventative treatment for rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When approaching the dog, speak calmly and reassuringly to him. Make&#xA;  sure he can see you at all times as you approach, and perhaps entice&#xA;  him to come to you by offering a morsel of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:06:50.517" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:50.517" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13868" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-26T15:38:40.660" Score="2" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 15 year old indoor cat has been losing weight over a 6-month period and the vet is offering suggestions - but so far nothing is working. Here is his history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he used to have 3 fixed meals when his brother was alive. Felt very stressed - but ate. Had to separate the two (the other was food fixated);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when his brother died about a year and 1/2 ago - let cat graze. At first OK;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;now, he eats 1/2 of his food during the day and other 1/2 at night. When cat sitter comes in when we are on vacation - all is OK;&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;when we are home - cat will eat very little at night&lt;/strong&gt; (regardless of whether we have him in the bedroom or keep the door shut (with him outside); &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have tried putting another food bowl at night upstairs; also extra brushing (can't do treats because of food allergies).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7689" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:19:04.273" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T19:16:20.000" Title="My cat has been eating about half of what he should" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-26T15:41:16.743" Score="2" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize that this question may be a bit open ended, but the follow up question is not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never owned a dog before, but almost everyone I know has one. Until recently I've had no desire to get one until I saw a Shiba Inu a while back. With further research about the breed, I've quickly found out that they cannot be off leash (for the most part), are somewhat independent, and issuing commands to them may be difficult. These seem like deal breakers, but are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want a dog in which will be my buddy instead of getting easily bored, and one in which will not attempt to compete for leader/not listen to me, as they are very intelligent. I've also seen that they are much like cats (one of which I own), and can be independent. The also don't like being touched which may become difficult. Despite the fact that I'd follow all leash laws, it remains that I'd want to have some time with it off to play/fetch. As I live in an apartment building with no enclosed yard, this seems difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With more research I believe that I like Spitz dogs, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shikoku-ken.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sesame_shikoku_ken3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://petmapz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Kishu-Ken.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://animalia-life.com/image.php?pic=/data_images/finnish-spitz/finnish-spitz7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, however, many of the dogs I've looked at seem to be difficult to handle. A Canaan for example; I've simply &lt;strong&gt;heard&lt;/strong&gt; many reasons as to why they may not be a good choice as they are very alert like a wild animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the &lt;strong&gt;above reasons&lt;/strong&gt; deal breakers? Why or why not? Are Shiba Inus a good first dog choice for a male living in an apartment with no backyard? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7688" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T16:04:24.410" Title="Are Shiba Inus a good first dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13868" CreationDate="2016-07-26T17:51:18.133" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a cat is noticeably losing weight and you don't already know why:  &lt;strong&gt;Vet. Now.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-07-26T18:54:53.357" LastActivityDate="2016-07-26T18:54:53.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11396" CreationDate="2016-07-27T01:46:13.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My three-legged cat, Maple, has started this ritual about a year ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has three feather-like toys that she has come to favor out of her dozens of toys. One has a stick attached! She will drag those toys up two flights of stairs (and note that she has only three legs!) and bring them up onto my bed. When I don't wake up from her mewling and excitement, I wake up covered in her toys. She's so excited when I wake up and pet her, purring like a motor boat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely think it's a sign of affection, or perhaps a way of her telling me she wants attention and I should wake up and give it to her now, which is hilarious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7690" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T15:34:21.560" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T15:34:21.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13848" CreationDate="2016-07-27T08:42:08.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my first tank I also bought some kind of soil and used it as a layer in the grit. Because the producer said it was very good for the plants and I did not have any experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile I do not use it any longer (and do not know anybody else who uses it...) since it is quite expensive and when I compare my diverse tanks I do not see a big difference. The information on the packing says it does not change the quality of the water so I would not expect any problems or that it will reduce pH-measurement. So I think it is ok to use it - beside the fact that you usually put it in the grit when establishing a new aquarium before you put the water in...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to keep just &quot;common fishes&quot; like betta, guppy, platys, neons, catfishes... and plants and do not want to spent much money I would recommend next time to buy plants which are easy to keep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some years of trial I can tell you that there are really differences - some need to be replaced after a couple of weeks, others last years and grow without any special care. For instance I made good experience with small varieties of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallisneria&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vallisneria&lt;/a&gt; (fast-growing), &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsorum_pteropus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Java fern&lt;/a&gt; and especially &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubias&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anubias&lt;/a&gt; (slow-growing) for smaller tanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T08:42:08.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13868" CreationDate="2016-07-27T10:34:58.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you to take your cat to a vet and do full his health scanning. Losing weight can be because of a lot of diseases: liver, kidneys, parasites, heart, etc. No one can make a diagnosis through the computer monitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T11:10:55.157" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T11:10:55.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13869" CreationDate="2016-07-27T16:04:24.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right, those sort of traits could be seen as deal breakers. But not the only ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sort of hours do you work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can the dog come with you to work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the dog be left alone for long periods of the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this dog breed require a lot of mental stimulation and exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will I be able to supply this throughly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I looking for a dog based purely on the idea that it looks an interesting breed or because I feel this is the best animal for me and my lifestyle? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog is so much more than their appearance. Their characteristics differ hugely and you need to take into account the dog's own mental state as well as your ability to cater for this on a daily basis. For 10-15 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2016-07-27T16:04:24.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13876" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-27T23:18:58.460" Score="1" ViewCount="552" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey can someone pls help me iv had my hamster for about a month Friday and she is still getting use to us but there is one think I can't stand is her biting her cage iv give her everything she has her wheel toys to bit and the food things to bit iv just give her carrot and she is still biting the cage I can be up this 3am again tonight pls help &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7694" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T02:53:55.333" Title="Why do hamster bit the bars of the cage" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-28T12:39:21.527" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13876" CreationDate="2016-07-28T02:53:55.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rodent incisor teeth grow continuously, and need to be worn down to balance that. If you don't provide suitable chewing material, they will chew whatever is available, including the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T02:53:55.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2016-07-28T11:02:47.657" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is natural for a puppy or adolescent dog to have a lot of energy and you might still be dealing with it a year or so from now. So you're doing the right thing to try and address it before he reaches full adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option, which I've also suggested in another recent question, is to lay wide mesh across the top of the run you have and secured to the sides, so it can't be climbed over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider chickenwire (very thin mesh) across the bottom, if it won't hurt his paws and will get buries in grass, or paving slabs around the perimeter or burying or securing the bottom of the fence, or using stakes, so that the next act isn't digging under. (If he learns it can be done he might keep trying, if he never finds it can be done he will probably give up trying, so its worth being preemptive and get it dealt with first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally this sounds like puppy energy and not pathological. But one of the skills puppies learn in nature is to calm themselves down and you might be accidentally encouraging wild behaviour, or not giving him what he needs to start learning this as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would also suggest as well as any physical limitations is two other things. First, practice being calmer and not &quot;rising to the bait&quot; all the time when he is bouncy and exuberant. Acknowledge, pet quietly, go back to what you're doing. Above all a calm measured very soft consistent tone of vouce.  Give him signals that he can understand &quot;calm&quot; is required of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, buy an indoor &quot;pen&quot; (2nd hand kind they use for toddlers is ideal and very cheap on craigslist/eBay) maybe 5-6 foot across or similar and put him in it daily when appropriate. Maybe in a room you are in, so he has to deal with limited external entertainment rather than social abandonment. Acknowledge him briefly only when he's in it, brief petting, nice words, and eye contact, enough he doesn't think its punishment, give toys and treats - and leave him for enough time to work through attention-getting, frustration, and worry, and finally to work out how to entertain himself in a limited space. Reward (calmly and briefly!) calm lying down behaviour, when he shows it. At first this will set him off again, so you will have to keep it very very brief, calm and perhaps not immediately.  If he is food oriented, give a tiny amount - one or two nibbles - occasionally when you &quot;notice&quot; him and he's being good.  Outside the pen, keep the calming manner so he learns it doesn't just apply to one place and time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exuberance does have a place, so pick a time and place (a specific place or behaviour cue) so he knows its &quot;play time&quot;, for example in a specific room, or cue using specific words/tone/behaviour.  Dogs are &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; good at picking up that sort of thing if you do it consistently - think of how you go to put on shoes and they know its time for a walk, or whatever.  When playtime's over, go back to calm tone and signal with a different, calmer tone and behaviour yourself, so he can learn to tell the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take time, but dogs do learn :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also my reply to this question  for other ideas - &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/13677&quot;&gt;My dog is becoming unusually hyper. Whining, won&amp;#39;t hold still, and jumping/nipping at me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastEditorUserId="7227" LastEditDate="2016-07-28T11:18:19.967" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T11:18:19.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-28T19:04:20.150" Score="5" ViewCount="673" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted Carsi when he was eight months old. As far as we know, he was left behind by his owner as she moved and he was taken care of by nice people, but lived on the streets. When we adopted him, he was in the vet's office being treated for pneumonia.  It took him several weeks to get closer to us but he did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, after more than one and a half year, he comes to my lap once or twice everyday.  However, whenever we stand up and start walking in the house, we observe that he is really scared and starts taking shelter under the couch or the table. We feel disappointed that he still does not feel like at home and threatened by us even though we speak very softly to him and act very affectionately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions for us so we can have a relaxed and happy cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7700" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:44:03.357" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:47:11.033" Title="Our cat is still scared and suspicious of us" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2016-07-28T22:31:31.240" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of these answers help greatly, but you can also try putting your finger in front of the glass where your betta is and watch his behavior. If he backs away and seems uninterested he will most likely not harm any new fish in the tank, but if he seems to be irritated by your finger or stressed out, and protective he possibly will be aggressive to any other fish in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7702" LastActivityDate="2016-07-28T22:31:31.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13882" CreationDate="2016-07-29T09:52:35.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be patient and understanding.&#xA;Some cats have very easily broken heart. I am speaking figuratively, of course. Some events leave permanent scars in their souls, shock can be never forgotten, that affects the behaviour. &#xA;Cats can't talk, they don't have therapists who could help them to overcome their problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that  betrayal of his first owner, living in the street (which equals being almost homeless), illness and a lot of manipulations that vet did with him to cure - all these left a scar in his personality. Taking shelter under the table or sofa is kind of an unconscious response. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't be upset. This is him. Sometimes even old former homeless cats become domestic and tender very quickly. Sometimes, once betrayed pets can never become &quot;normal&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend you keep trying to &quot;protect&quot; him. If your house is big, buy him a special cat's house, small place, where he could feel safe and comfortable. Keep touching, talking (yes!) and streaking him. If you are persistent but soft, you'll be successful. But be ready that he'll stay fearful. It won't mean that he doesnt love you or feel unsafe or he's unhappy. It just means that the past can't leave him. Only love (he feels it) and patience can help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:47:11.033" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:47:11.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13882" CreationDate="2016-07-29T10:33:46.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been in that situation myself; here's what I found helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, realise that your cat's behaviour doesn't mean that he doesn't trust you. Clearly he does love and trust you; he shows that by wanting to be in your lap. So when he hides from you when you're standing up and walking around, think of it as an involuntary reflex that has nothing to do with his feelings for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, try to break the association between your action (standing up and walking around) and his response (hiding). One way to do this is to keep treats handy, and toss one on the floor when you're standing still. Gradually he will learn that good things happen when a human is standing still. Then move on to walking very slowly around the room and tossing treats. Eventually you should be able to walk normally. But make the training process gradual, and if at any point he goes back to hiding, go back to the previous stage for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to break the association is, next time he's on your lap, make a small movement as if you're going to stand up, but stay seated. The goal is to move just enough so that he's alert, but not enough so that he runs off. Over time, make the movement bigger. Eventually you should be able to stand up, and all he does is move off your lap and onto another part of the sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't already have a cat tree, I recommend you get one. It will encourage your cat to spend time high up, which is associated with feelings of confidence, rather than slinking about under things. A nice high one with a shelf where he can be at shoulder level would be ideal. This will allow him to feel less threatened when you're walking around the room. You can try approaching him when he's on the shelf, and offer him a treat or praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T10:33:46.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2016-07-29T13:43:51.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted an answer in the question you linked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have for a second time a male betta with other fish in a tank. The first time it was in a 15 gallon tank on the overstock side of things (after about 3 weeks I removed the betta because I was loosing fish, still not sure if he was the cause). Now I have one with the same fish in a 75gal tank, so they got plenty of space and it's going great. The betta doesn't attack other fish if they are close and most of the time just ignore them. Even at feeding time when all the fish are in a tiny space, no attack. This large tank has been up for over a month now with no fish lost due to the betta (the one I lost were due to an overflow not working correctly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from my observation from 2 different betta, I would say yes they can go in a community tank. I have read at many places to count 5 gallon of water for the betta than regular 1 inch per gallon for the rest. I would still have a plan B in case the betta doesn't want tank mates. As another answer suggest, while having him floating in the tank for acclimatization is a reasonable way to judge him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to have mates for your betta, be sure that you are ready to loose some, so don't try this with expensive fish at first. It's also recommended that you add the other fish first and than the betta last. If your doing this in the current tank of your betta, change the decoration, move stuff around so he doesn't feel like his mates have invaded his territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T13:43:51.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13889" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13890" CreationDate="2016-07-29T14:56:22.080" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12308/how-to-upgrade-fish-to-a-much-larger-aquarium&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; a couple of month ago, I suggest you read it first so you know the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 15 gallon tank with 10 neon tetras, 4 zebra danios, 2 Endlers and a bunch of red cherry shrimps (~30), fully cycled with an Aquaclear 30 and a small double sponge filter. As you can see it's getting a bit cramped inside the 15 gallon (57 liters), so I have decided to upgrade to a 75 gallon (284 liters) tank. As it is, I have the 75 gallon tank, but don't have any other thing for it (no filtration, no heating, no lighting). Since the fish move happens at the same time as I physically move, I would like to avoid moving the population twice in less than a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, can a large aquarium be under filtered, but also under stocked and maintain his equilibrium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-24T18:57:46.770" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T21:00:24.177" Title="Can an understock tank be under filtered?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2016-07-29T14:56:22.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually made this experiment because I wanted to know and I was actually moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my research, if the filtration is enough for the stocking, it should be ok in the larger tank. Sure, don't try to filter a pond with an AquaClear 30, but if the are really few stocking the filtration will be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I my case the AquaClear 30 was filtering about half the tank per hour and for the sponge I don't really know. What I'm sure is that after 3 week with no water change and the same feeding as before, the water was still pristine quality. Before I changed the water I tested it. It read like this 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate. So 3 weeks with no water change (before I was doing 1 water change every 2 weeks) and the filtration was holding it strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I recommend to do this? No, of course not! But if you're in a bad spot, you now know it can be done. The old heater and lighting won't be enough the do their function in the new tank, so you should get replacement as soon as you can (particularly for the heater as it crucial for well-being of many tropical fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T21:00:24.177" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T21:00:24.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13903" CreationDate="2016-07-29T19:28:08.247" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a milky white discharge, but with along black 'thread' coming out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a picture if that's hard to imagine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xGgBQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xGgBQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Boogers&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've not noticed anything else wrong with, no red eyes, or difficulty breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know sometime a little eye discharge is normal, but I'm slightly concerned by the black bit... It's longed like a really long hair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="607" LastEditorUserId="607" LastEditDate="2016-07-30T16:00:57.397" LastActivityDate="2016-07-31T23:08:36.260" Title="What up with my cat's eye boggie?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-29T23:02:19.207" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I accidentally walked into one of my dogs late at night in the dark. I didn't walk into her too hard and she didn't make any sound of pain, but she did get upset with me and went away. Though she's come up to me and has been happy with me petting her a few times, other times she gets nervous and scared when I walk by. I try to tell her that I'm being careful, but her attitude towards me hasn't changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like an awful person for this happening in the first place and her being worried when I walk by her, especially as she's been attacked by other animals in the past. How can I earn her trust again and not scare her when I'm around? I've tried giving treats to her, and sitting down with some distance between us to try to reassure her, but she's still nervous around me. I just don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7710" LastActivityDate="2016-07-29T23:02:19.207" Title="Accidentally walked into dog—how can I earn her trust again?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-07-30T00:35:38.233" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-29T23:27:29.137" Score="4" ViewCount="780" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 year old cat and a 1 year old cat. I had fostered before I got the 1 year old and my older cat didn't seem to mind, so we have it another go and agreed to foster a young kitten with a cold. We quarantine her in a separate room from my resident cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, the kitten bolted out of the room and ran down the hall and was stopped by the one year old cat, who looked spooked by this new thing in the house. Since then, he has not wanted me to touch or pick him up, and he never sleeps on my bed with me like he used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love fostering, but I want my resident cat to be happy and loving like he once was. How do I get him back to his old self? Should I introduce them when the kitten is healthy again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7711" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:48:13.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:51:05.780" Title="My young cat doesn't like the foster kittens I bring home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13893" CreationDate="2016-07-30T00:33:43.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with the comment, on introductions. Generally you should not introduce sick foster animals to your healthy home animals. The shelter I volunteer with has a clause in their agreement, where you state you will keep them separated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even seemingly healthy foster animals should not be introduced to your home animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our house the foster animals are downstairs and the personal animals are upstairs.  They are not allowed to intermingle at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As kittens are very adoptable, I would expect the foster to go back to the shelter/rescue as soon as he is healthy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing your personal cats issues, are outside my abilities. But the reaction you describe is much the same as if your spouse had discovered you had a lover hidden in the spare room.  I expect your cat's recovery from the situation will be similarly difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6834/what-are-the-expectations-of-pet-fosters&quot;&gt;What are the expectations of pet fosters?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T00:33:43.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10054" CreationDate="2016-07-30T06:25:52.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can make sure these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Distance between your house and street is minimum 20 feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your area doesn't full of trees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can use wireless dog fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The features you need in a dog fence that mostly present in wireless dog fences. It's light weight, easy to install, movable, with power backup. You should read some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethov.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wireless dog fence reviews&lt;/a&gt; to know more about it's uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some wireless fences come with rechargeable batteries and some with replaceable. But replaceable batteries also useful. Specially if you take your wireless dog fence outside home then replaceable battery is needed. And the lifetime of a replaceable battery in collar is more than a month. So it's not a big problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes you have to spend some times on training because it's all about your dog's response when get close to boundary and gets the reminder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So these required features are covered by a wireless dog fence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;light collar for the miniature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rechargeable batteries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Battery backup for power outages&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Automatic system shutdown when your dog doesn't return inside the boundary in 30 seconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7712" LastActivityDate="2016-07-30T06:25:52.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-31T21:40:49.767" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;One pitbull fought with the other, and in the process one pitbulls chew bone (a big cow bone) was left behind and the other pitbull has been chewing on it. Is it okay to retrieve that bone and give it to the dog who's bone it originally was?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both dogs are separated, but I'm just wondering because the scent of the dog who currently has the chew toy is on the toy, and so I don't know if that may cause any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just looking for some advice, maybe from someone who is experienced with pits. I am a first time pit owner (he is a rescue) and have had my pit for 4 months, so I'm still learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7718" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T23:50:05.220" Title="Is it okay to give bone from one pitbull to another pitbull while they are separated, although they have fought before?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-07-31T21:43:04.610" Score="0" ViewCount="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you use to bandage up your leapord geckos tail like it said in the information&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7719" LastActivityDate="2016-07-31T21:43:04.610" Title="Tail missing leapord gecko" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-08-01T09:20:43.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13900" CreationDate="2016-07-31T23:00:57.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bones in general are not good for dogs, they damage their teeth (wear to the pulp over time, slab fractures etc.) they can also splinter/break and get stuck in the esophagus/GI tract. Take the bones away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure that there are no toys lying around when multiple dogs are together to prevent fights in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming both dogs in question are healthy then yes you may return the toy to the original dog with no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glad to hear you adopted, good luck! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-31T23:00:57.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13891" CreationDate="2016-07-31T23:08:36.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No concerns, sometimes the &quot;eye boogers&quot; can dry up at the tip or have debris/hair accumulate to it for it to look like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abnormal discharge from eyes can appear green/yellow tinged or can be in excess (around the eye will seem very wet), sclera (white of the eye) may become red, animal may be squinting from discomfort. Animals with painful eyes also tend to paw at them or rub them on surfaces frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel that the eyes are painful be sure to never administer eye drops without seeing a veterinarian first as it may irritate the eye further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-07-31T23:08:36.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13904" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-01T02:58:57.603" Score="1" ViewCount="668" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3-year-old cat, pure white she-cat that has light blue eyes and she isn't deaf. a year ago I was able to pick her up by her scruff and she wouldn't show an emotion of minding it, i mostly do it if I'm giving her her yearly bath, or if she's fussy. But this year she will meow more if I hold her scruff, and she will show a sign of minding it, and when I set her down she will, if she's in my main room she would go behind the rocking chair, that's her spot, in the bath room she'll run beside the toilet, on the left side, or under the counter, and she'll normally meow to get out. I worry if I'm actually hurting her badly, because her sister is missing so I can't see if it happens to her as well, and I never got any hints on raising a cat, cause i got her for free, and I had no help raising them, because my brother wouldn't care, my mom would be busy with the dogs, and my stepdad will be busy being himself. Am i hurting her badly, or is she getting fussy that I hold her that way now, I held her like that for 2 1/2 years, and she didn't seem to mind until now, she will rarely not mind it, but I set her down 3 seconds later so I don't know her actions after those 3 seconds, and I really must know if I should stop or if it's a phase, cause like i said before i haven't held her sister like that when they were kits so i don't know if its only her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T08:40:28.150" Title="Holding my cats scruff" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-01T09:26:47.483" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13907" CreationDate="2016-08-01T05:21:08.883" Score="1" ViewCount="3767" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background: Got this guy today from a local shelter. A 6 year old un-neutered male teacup chihuahua mix (I think a Jack-chi). Adding him to a household with two other dogs, a 1-2 year old female teacup chihuahua, and a 4 month old male teacup Chi-winnie. All being crate-trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Whenever the new guy is handled, urine leaks out of his penis, he gets an erection, and starts an involuntary-looking humping/masturbating motion. Even petting his back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Whenever he's outside, he compulsively lifts each leg, one after another, urinating until nothing comes out, then keeps on doing it, and keeps on doing it, etc. On a walk around the block he wanted to stop every two feet to do it. And something about it seems involuntary, certainly not aggressive, as he's the most timid little guy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two things above really amount to the guy being totally disfunctional. What's going on, and will having him neutered next week fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - We haven't had him meet the female yet, though their crates are nearby. We had the two males meet outside the house and surprisingly they got on well. But within a minute, the new guy was lifting his leg dripping everywhere, and then came the erection and the contortions/humping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:  Forgot to add this possibly important detail. It seems he's been living the last year at the shelter...underneath the friggin' front desk with a bunch other little dogs. (?!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7447" LastEditorUserId="7447" LastEditDate="2016-08-01T05:32:45.477" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T08:53:57.633" Title="Why is my new adult male dog compulsively marking and humping the air?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13904" CreationDate="2016-08-01T08:40:28.150" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Older cats don't typically like being held that way, in our restraint training the scruff is one of the last ways we hold at cat as it puts them in a vulnerable position or just makes them mad. If being held in the air this way with no support on her bottom there can be discomfort, that's a lot of weight to be held by skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be kind, hold your kitty with hands on chest and bum, she would appreciate it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T08:40:28.150" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13905" CreationDate="2016-08-01T08:53:57.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's overstimulated, a good chance neutering won't fix the problem (though still a good thing to do!) but it can help. Some dogs who get overly excited will dribble urine and get erections. Humping can in time turn into a learned behavior (also used for dominance) and have no relation to hormones, that probably won't stop at this point. Even for the erections, a dog who's very excited can still get them even when testicle free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Urinating every few feet is a marking behavior will be seen in neutered pets as well, same goes for the excitement/nervous dribbling. It's fairly common and normal. However that being said if you notice that he's urinating on himself when he sleeps, seems to want to go outside for big pees more than usual or dribbling urine with no cause you could have an underlying urinary tract issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T08:53:57.633" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11414" CreationDate="2016-08-01T09:01:01.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is any follicular damage to the feathers then they won't grow back, are you sure she isn't still plucking those areas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T09:01:01.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11253" CreationDate="2016-08-01T09:06:16.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's non aggressive, if your fingers have the sent of food they may try to taste or they will do it to groom/have some fun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your little mouse seems to like you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T09:06:16.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2016-08-01T09:22:34.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Natural sunlight is the best source for reptiles to obtain D3 however for indoor tortoises you can use artificial uv lighting. Mercury vapour bulbs are ideal as they pump out a ton of uvb and can be used as basking lights (lots of heat). Taking your tortoise outside for 30mins a day is very beneficial (though the more the better), I would do this on top of having his indoor UV lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good option for indoor UV are the long tube lights, the coil bulbs are garbage so don't bother with those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As tanya had mentioned it is crutial for them to have this as it's how they utilize calcium. You will need to add supplements to his diet as well to prevent MBD (metabolic bone disease) and other health issues, though take caution that you can over supplement and make your tortoise sick. Calcium every second day and multivitamin once a week is ideal (sprinkle on food). You can purchase reptile supplements at your local pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-01T09:22:34.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13933" CreationDate="2016-08-01T23:06:32.827" Score="2" ViewCount="1667" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before cats are spayed, owners can choose to have blood-work done to see if the cat can undergo anesthesia. During this blood-work, do veterinarians usually check for the hormone (hCG?) indicating whether the cat is pregnant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words: &lt;strong&gt;Is it standard procedure for veterinarians to check if a cat is pregnant before spaying her?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T00:45:41.503" Title="Is it standard procedure for vets to check if a cat is pregnant before spaying?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14936" CreationDate="2016-08-01T23:59:52.610" Score="6" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spaying is technically called an ovariohysterectomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why aren't just ovaries, and not also the uterus, removed in spaying a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="2932" LastEditDate="2016-08-02T14:17:06.083" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T21:42:37.560" Title="Why aren't just ovaries removed in cat spaying?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-02T03:02:28.893" Score="1" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, a little backstory first: this is &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; first pet. I've had dogs growing up and, for whatever reason, whenever we got a new pet it was always my siblings'. Whether it hamster, rat, bird, or puppy, somehow I never was apart of the &amp;quot;picking out the pet&amp;quot; process nor naming it- though, as the eldest child, I was always the one taking care of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I graduated college recently and landed a dream job back in my hometown where my grandparents are located. I had always told myself that once I landed my first &amp;quot;real job&amp;quot;, I'd get myself my first true pet. I ended up deciding on a gorgeous and adorable Bengal. The adoption period of waiting the 12 weeks for her (to come of 12-weeks of age) was absolute hell in anticipation and but it was definitely worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had her for three weeks and she's amazing. We go on car trips together, to the park, I play with her constantly, etc. And of course, other than the money, vet fees, and playing with her at least 2-3 hours a day after work (she has so much energy!), I've spent an earnest 50+ hours from before I had adopted her (in making my decision), waiting for her to come of age, and even once I got her in research. From dieting to play, to psychology and positive reinforcement- I've researched it all to be the best pet-parent possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, I dropped her off at my grandparents so that they could take care of her while I pack my apartment up. There's going to be a lot of heavy lifting and coming in-and-out of the apartment, so it really wasn't the best place for a playful kitten to be around. Now, I've taken her to the house a few times already so she's familiar with them and my family. I also wanted her to get adjusted because I'm actually going to rent a room from my grandparents because it's mutually beneficial (I save money to pay off school loans and they get a sizable rent check for one room); just for a year or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, in the few days that I've been away, my grandparents have absolutely fallen in love with her. Which I'm glad! Except... it's been all fine-and-dandy but I'm a bit taken back by some of the things my grandmother has said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, let me preface that one should get the stereotype of typical old people out of their mind ASAP. These are young folks who play Pokemon Go, watch my nephew on the daily, and are always out and about. So it's not like they sit at home &amp;quot;bored&amp;quot;. My grandmother has wanted a pet for YEARS and my grandfather has sternly said no because he didn't want to clean up after it. My cat is okay in his book because it's not his problem (aka mess). Additionally, while my grandmother is the sweetest person I've ever met, she's also very... manipulative? cunning? She convinces my grandfather year after year to spend thousands on new iPads, iPhones, fancy vacations, etc. She get's what she wants and I've seen her pull some shady tactics to do so. A pet is the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; thing she's wanted over the years that she hasn't gotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, here's where my story comes in: in the few days that I've been gone, she's sent me tons of texts about how much my grandfather loves the cat and how much bonding time they've had. She's sent me 18 pictures and only &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; has been of my cat alone. The rest are of my kitten cuddling on my grandfather's bare chest in bed in the morning or my kitten cuddling with my grandmother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then today, as my grandparents are leaving for vacation and I'm heading back home, my grandmother and I have this texting conversation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: I will miss her. Ha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Yeah, she's such a cuddle bug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: She likes to join you when going to the bathroom. Ha.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm thinking in my head uhhhh TMI? I don't want to think of my precious, innocent kitten sitting with my grandma while she takes a dump lol)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Is grandpa all packed yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: Ha yep&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: He just didn't want to leave the kitty :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: Probably. He is pretty smitten by her&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Poor guy is gonna have his heart broken when I take move out :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: No cause she is staying. Ha ha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Haha nooooope. She was too expensive lol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a male, I can't admit that I love her to death so I make a financial joke instead)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: No, she's our Christmas give from you. ha ha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Maybe I'll get you one of your own but she's mine! lol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: But we love her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: So do I!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: But you left her. Ha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is where I felt I was either being jealous or sensitive. This isn't a funny joke to me. I left her for a FEW days so I could pack my apartment without my kitten getting hurt/in the way and I had mentioned a few times to my grandmother that I felt so guilty for leaving my kitten and really missed her. &amp;quot;But you left her&amp;quot;.. I just don't find that funny but actually mean)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Well she goes back in my room when I get back :O&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grandma: We will see... Ha ha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I being too sensitive? I feel like she is passively aggressively trying to take my cat or implying that they she wants my cat. I have a feeling this may present issues when I move in, such as them feeding my cat treats whenever or acting like she's theirs. I understand a good argument is &amp;quot;their house, their rules&amp;quot; so to suck it up, except I paying good money for rent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I okay feeling like the &amp;quot;But you left her&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;We will see&amp;quot; line is a bit too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7728" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-08-02T18:04:57.480" Title="Am I being jealous over my kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-08-05T13:06:52.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11253" CreationDate="2016-08-02T11:34:19.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is definitely social behaviour. If it were aggressive, you'd be hurting, and it would be quick and lunging, and he would be showing other signs of aggression such as side-walking and puffiness. He definitely seems to like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you have described it seems as if this is affectionate behavior - does he lick you when he does it? I would say he is essentially 'grooming' you , though they usually lick as well. I wouldn't discourage it personally, but if it bothers you just let him know, give a little squeak etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2016-08-02T11:34:19.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13916" CreationDate="2016-08-02T12:05:14.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hard to say without knowing all the individuals, but this sounds like standard grandparent teasing plus a few normal cat behaviors (many cats insist on following humans into the bathroom unless locked out -- I keep telling mine &quot;do I follow &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; into the litterbox?&quot; but they don't accept that objection. One has been known to try to stand on my shoulders while I'm busy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't create a problem where one isn't necessary. They really aren't going to steal your baby, or your baby's affections. Relax. Especially since cats are quite clever enough to deliberately play off their humans against each other to get more attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-08-02T18:04:57.480" LastActivityDate="2016-08-02T18:04:57.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-02T18:43:06.537" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;My four year old cat has been avoiding her litter box, because my mom's pug uses it. She's been going outside. I'm scared whenever she goes outside because I heard awful stories about one of my neighbors; her sister went missing, and I'm scared the same thing will happen again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to stop my mothers pug from using the litter box, or at least get them to share? If I use two litter boxes, what are the chances the pug will use them both as well? She peed on my parents' bed, and she was kicked to their closet because of it; my stepdad has sharp tools in there, and she already had a small cut on her neck once that healed. I don't want any injuries on her caused by his tools, especially life risking ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7720" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T14:03:52.077" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T14:03:52.077" Title="How can I get my cat to use her litterbox again" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-02T21:45:40.547" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat keeps craving chicken and human food generally. I thought I'd just cook for more people but I read feeding human food to cats is not healthy long term. I don't have time to prepare well balanced meals for cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I thought maybe I could try out a psychological trick, of overfeeding the cat with chicken until she gets sick of it and maybe willingly goes back to cat food after 2 weeks or so. If, as I read, chicken doesn't contain the nutrient the cats need, her organism probably automatically makes her like cat food (I give her usually wet food) more again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read also many people say &quot;don't spoil the cat&quot;, &quot;teach the cat this and that&quot; but I feel bad for her, since I myself also can eat what I want, when I want, and if the cat wants to eat chicken why not give her chicken until she doesn't want it anymore? Nature is wise and if this is not enough, the cat should soon want to eat something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone has experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7733" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-08-03T14:48:12.400" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T22:56:57.513" Title="Chicken overfeeding therapy for cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13921" CreationDate="2016-08-03T06:37:07.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can eat the same thing every day for years and not get bored with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want the cat to demand chicken, simply stop giving the cat chicken on demand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T06:37:07.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-03T07:52:03.973" Score="2" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Persian kitten's fur on his tail has not been completely scattered.&#xA;The part that has no fur has a dandruff-like disorder and he's scratching it. No fur is growing on that part. He has no ticks nor fleas visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is just 2 months old. When I got him, his tail was already like that.&#xA;He is very active and playful and he poops everyday. He has vitamins and is already dewormed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I wonder, what is that dandruff-like disorder and how to remove it to grow back his fur?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xSplDm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xSplDm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;here whole tail&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HcHP2l.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HcHP2l.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dandruff like&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7735" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-13T13:26:00.353" LastActivityDate="2021-04-13T13:26:00.353" Title="My 2-month-old Persian kitten's fur on tail does not seem right" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13442" CreationDate="2016-08-03T14:04:04.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both my maine coons had Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FPS). To stop the attack, which is actually seizure, your veterinarian should give your cat gabapentin - and your cat will never do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My present Maine Coon will sleep cuddly beside my face and then in the middle of the night swap my face to awake me and his eyes are &quot;wide open&quot; and he is ready to attack  my face. The gabapentin stops this altogether.  I give it to him at night, 1 hour before bedtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trust me, as this is my second Maine Coon with Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome.  My last cat lived until 14 years with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7737" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-11T11:41:34.473" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T11:41:34.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="13925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13921" CreationDate="2016-08-03T16:59:21.370" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So I thought maybe I could try out a psychological trick, of&#xA;  overfeeding the cat with chicken until she gets sick of it and maybe&#xA;  willingly goes back to cat food after 2 weeks or so. If, as I read,&#xA;  chicken doesn't contain the nutrient the cats need, her organism&#xA;  probably automatically makes her like cat food (I give her usually wet&#xA;  food) more again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see a few problems with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may not work, in which case your cat is even &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; insistent on being fed chicken.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may only work briefly, until your cat starts craving chicken again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It works so well that your cat never wants chicken again. This could be a problem because chicken can be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; useful for training, bribing, or disguising some kinds of medicine if your cat gets sick.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T16:59:21.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14931" CreationDate="2016-08-03T19:15:36.300" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background:  I'm currently crate-training and house breaking three chihuahua/chihuahua mixes. And I'm thinking of adding a fourth chihuahua to the new pack-in-the-making. But the only real hang-up is the added time it requires to take each dog to the backyard to relieve itself one by one. Which leads me to my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:  Once crate-training is more or less at an end, and the dogs have transitioned to being a pack, can I look forward to leading them all to the backyard together to relieve themselves? Or is it that people usually find this to be impossible and end up having to take each dog out individually forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I already have a no-play or hangout policy after relieving themselves in the yard...and it's not a place where we play otherwise either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7447" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T09:52:19.193" Title="In my multi-dog household, can I expect to be able to take my dogs to the backyard all together?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-03T22:11:36.570" Score="1" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;We moved recently with 2 cats. Both were former strays and would devour anything you'd put down for them to eat. Especially wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After settling in, one of them suddenly stopped eating any kind of wet food. I tried different flavours, brands, heating etc. No luck, just takes a sniff and moves on. He also refused to eat their regular dry food. Had to change the brand and managed to find one that he eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks like he's eating a decent amount of dry food but still would not touch canned stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to bring his appetite back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Just captured him doing it again: &lt;a href=&quot;http://d.ekin.io/1hmnA+&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://d.ekin.io/1hmnA+&lt;/a&gt; He ate the dry food on center and tried to bury the canned food in the small cups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7741" LastEditorUserId="7741" LastEditDate="2016-08-03T22:48:55.697" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T23:51:01.330" Title="Why would a cat refuse to eat any kind of wet food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13921" CreationDate="2016-08-03T22:25:42.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very difficult to overfeed a cat to the point of discomfort, the cat will simply stop before they get to that, even for food they really like. The only likely outcome, from my experience, is obesity and the health problems stemming from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While allowing access to a favored treat every now and then is fine, you are the caretaker and need to restrict access to improper, or junk, food. If you feel sorry for your cat's desire, you're only going to feel worse if giving in to it causes harm. Your cat will get over the denial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-08-03T22:56:57.513" LastActivityDate="2016-08-03T22:56:57.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13920" CreationDate="2016-08-04T00:38:14.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try adding another litter box where the dog cannot reach it, even in multi-cat households we always recommend # of cats + 1 = # of litter boxes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The odds of her sharing are slim to none, she will continue to use the bathroom around your house or go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option would be to train the pug to go use the washroom outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T00:38:14.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13923" CreationDate="2016-08-04T00:43:00.817" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any skin related issues should be seen by a veterinarian it could be anything from parasites, allergies (though rare in young animals), had a run in with some chemicals, skin (bacterial to yeast) infection etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may need to do skin scrapings or biopsies to rule out the causes. From pictures alone it is impossible to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T00:43:00.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="13933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13914" CreationDate="2016-08-04T00:45:41.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it is not, though we would question it if she looked pregnant (late pregnancy) and may opt to wait until she has her kittens before spaying. Not all veterinarians are comfortable aborting kittens when they are almost fully developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T00:45:41.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-04T01:16:34.163" Score="1" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my, soon to be 2 year old, red Aussie the fur has begun to change to lighter color only in one spot. I'm just wondering, does anyone know why? Thanks for the help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the photographs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yYO7G.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yYO7G.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jJBHR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jJBHR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7742" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:33:12.187" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:33:12.187" Title="Red Aussie fur color is changing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13926" CreationDate="2016-08-04T09:52:19.193" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see no problem.  I always let my dogs out at the same time and if they need to go then they go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T09:52:19.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-04T15:37:44.330" Score="2" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small cat sanctuary and have recently started doing my own wellness exams, including urinalysis strips. I'm already finding cats with very concentrated urine and some with infection that I'm trying to treat with an herbal remedy. Upon monitoring, I'm finding them drinking very little water. I can feed wet food when isolated but it's not as feasible to make it everybody's main source of food all the time. I keep clean, full water bowls outside and inside for them. I live in Texas so it is nice and hot (water bowls are in the shade). They aren't really exhibiting any symptoms, but I want my cats to be as healthy as possible. What can I do to get them to drink more water outside, where it's not really possible to set up a fountain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T02:20:24.933" Title="How do I get outside cats to drink more water?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14932" CreationDate="2016-08-04T18:38:21.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't try to treat your cats for infections yourself. You can get into trouble with that kind of thing. That's up to your discretion, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for drinking. I was watching a cat show a while back and one of the things they mentioned is that cats don't like to eat and drink in the same place as their &quot;kill&quot;. This even applies to kibbles, which they see as a &quot;kill&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had noticed in the past that my cat would walk outside and drink out of the dogs water bowls, when he had cleaner and fresher water inside. Inside, we had one of those side-by-side food and water dishes. Between seeing the show and observing his behavior, we determined he's rather drink water that was more stale than to drink beside his food bowl. We moved him a new water bowl about 10' away and he drinks much more frequently. So that's the first step I'd take if I were you. I'd make sure the water isn't near the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, cat's prefer fresh or even moving water. Granted, they'll do fine without that, but if you're interested in getting them to drink more water, it's something to consider. You can buy, reasonably priced, either a pet fountain or just  self contained fountain like the ones seen below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eb1pu.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eb1pu.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WJWPh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WJWPh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can even make your own, but buying a small pump or filter/pump and building a fountain. You can make it fancy or plain. Just make sure the all the materials are safe for you pets. Nothing that will break down and contaminate the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was going to build a cheap one and didn't care what it looked like, I'd do it like this. I'd buy an under the bed Rubbermaid (any Rubbermaid really, but these are longer and would allow more cats at once without crowding). I'd cut it down so it's 3-4&quot; deep. I'd use a filter/pump to cycle the water. You can use a modified aquarium pump. I'd probably use one like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tfawt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tfawt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom end can be shallow. I think it also have a filter, which would be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T18:38:21.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13920" CreationDate="2016-08-04T19:43:31.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like the dog is the main issue here and not the litter box itself. I would try to keep the dog away from it and see if the cat starts to use it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way, like keshlam suggested is using a litter box that has an entrance the pug can't utilize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bIDsX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bIDsX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to move the litter box where the dog physically can't get to it. Maybe up on a bench that the cat can jump on. Another option, since pugs tend to be fat is to get a walk-through baby gate to put on the door to the laundry room and put it in there. It's almost no inconvenience to the humans, the cat can probably squeeze through, assuming it's not fat, too, and the pug shouldn't be able to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2FI0I.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2FI0I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pugs aren't very athletic either, so you could just get a short one that people could step over and the cat could jump. You wouldn't even necessarily need to section off a room with this approach, though she'll probably be reluctant to go if you just cordon off the litter box and the pug is just on the other side watching her. I wouldn't go the bathroom either, though, if a creepy weirdo was staring at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FSLSE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FSLSE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she refuses to use the litter box, then try to change the configuration and even change the litter to one that smells and feels different. She might have bad associations with the smell and feel of the old one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of any of that The cat shouldn't be stuffed into a closet at all, let alone in one with sharp objects. That's a crappy cat owner right there. Why wouldn't they just put her out of their bedroom. Especially, when it's their dogs fault that she's doing all of this. Anyway, give these suggestion a try. Maybe get the pug one of those indoor pee areas if they won't house train it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o9lEn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o9lEn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T19:43:31.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13915" CreationDate="2016-08-04T21:42:37.560" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Better to take it all than leave a portion, if you were to only take ovaries you still have the risk of developing a pyometra (where pus fills inside the uterus, causing sepsis and death). If you were to only take the uterus then you would see problems such as them going into heat or obtain various cancers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T21:42:37.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14930" CreationDate="2016-08-04T21:44:58.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many reasons, could be aging, the sun, if he came in contact with something, hair cuts can also alternate a change in fur texture/colour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pictures would definitely help :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-04T21:44:58.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9974" CreationDate="2016-08-05T12:34:09.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Positive reinforcement it's the key. Ignore undesirable behaviours, and reward your parrot everytime he has a good behaviour (e.g. paying more attention to him, coddle him, etc.). It's also important try to understand why parrot does that things; maybe he's bored and needs more toys, or play with his owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important that you provide things to destroy to your parrot: it's a vital need for him. If you don't do this, he will try to satisfy this need with whatever is within reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7752" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T12:34:09.980" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14948" CreationDate="2016-08-05T16:56:35.770" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was going out of town I left my inside cat with my friends, but it ran away on the very first day (this happened about 4 weeks ago), so she never got to know my friends. When asking the neighbors if they ever saw the cat, four of them said: Yes, one of them very confidently. They also claimed that they saw her attempting to catch rabbits. It seems that the cat is somewhere around, but we have never seen her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My number one goal is to verify that this is our cat. Some neighbors offered to take a picture of it when they see it, but they never done that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friends and I (sometimes just me, sometimes just them) have walked around in the neighborhood looking for it, and tried calling it by name but to no avail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other options that can be tried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, some general information like: an inside cat is unlikely to survive catching rabbits (or other wildlife) for 4 weeks, would be helpful. This is in Seattle area, and I do see plenty of rabbits that neighborhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know if I am missing any useful information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7754" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T20:23:43.890" Title="Neighbors claim to see our cat, but we can't find it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17900" CreationDate="2016-08-05T20:18:46.007" Score="4" ViewCount="2505" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've just come into the ownership of a Mexican wood turtle. It's a long story but normally with something like this I'd do a lot of research prior to accepting the responsibility. In this case I didn't have the chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's around 4 years old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told he's very fussy with eating but loves live mealworms so we have some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often should they be fed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were given a 'bowl' for him to eat out of however everything I've read online seems to lead to the idea that as a turtle he'll feed in the water; but from what I understand they like to dig and hunt for insects. How should I give him the live meal worms? Should I drop them into his pond for him, or should I place them into the shallow bowl he has and let him have them from there? I'm concerned they may crawl out into the substrate - is this an issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-08-09T17:38:08.917" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T22:15:45.270" Title="Turtle: How do you feed mealworms?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14943" CreationDate="2016-08-05T20:23:43.890" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can always try to setup a live trap where your neighbors most frequently see her. This is going to sound ridiculous but KFC works really good for catching cats, my coworker had done this to catch her cat (caught her on the same day).&#xA;You can also leave food and water outside your place as well to entice her to come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possible for indoor cats to try and catch wildlife (doesn't mean they will be successful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck catching your cat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-05T20:23:43.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14967" CreationDate="2016-08-06T09:09:03.153" Score="4" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have quite a few kittens at our place and any time any neighbor pets come my parents give them food.&#xA;There are 2 dogs which we neighbor owns and those two dogs are like the street guards and bark at any unknown person/bike/car that goes through that area, so the owners refused to feed the dogs as other started complaining about the barking and the dogs chasing the vehicles. &#xA;However my parents continued to feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently about 3-4 weeks backs one of the dog started the behavior shown in the image below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pvP3P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pvP3P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time our car comes close the gate, one of the dog will come running towards us the car with anything that it can pick up like leaves, sticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this behavior asking for food or kind of a way saying thank you (or exchange for food)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(We feed them in the morning and the night only)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7761" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T17:20:27.277" Title="Pet's behavior - Asking for food or thanking for food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13643" CreationDate="2016-08-06T18:29:57.777" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meant to post this earlier, but my fiancé actually came up with the perfect idea: dog socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protects the car - inside and out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't have to worry about them falling off or getting blown away (like with some of the magnetic options I've seen).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have lost a few socks, so either use socks that can be lost without issue or use something to hold them on - as per the top set of socks pictured below.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Travel in style (when added to proper harnass, doggles and other assorted gear).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7A44U.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7A44U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmountain.com/photos/product/standard/114420S503133/dog-boots/fashion-pet-arctic-fleece-dog-boots.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;petmountain.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dYCMr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="241" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:23:25.050" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:23:25.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14987" CreationDate="2016-08-07T01:52:06.753" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is an old Schnauzer, 15 years old to be specific. A week ago we went to the vet because of a relatively simple respiratory problem he had, and the vet injected anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, and since then my dog hasn't eaten absolutely anything and everything we try results in him having diarrhea or vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We asked the vet and he said we can try with electrolyte water and soft food, like baby food or boiled chicken with rice, until we have encouraged him to eat. So we went to a second vet, for other opinion, and she said that the dog still has respiratory problems - she prescribed Amoxin and soft diet, but nothing improved in terms of dog's appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm desperate, what can I do to help my dog? I need to give him the nutrients he needs. He had been eating relatively well for his age until that day. I'm not sure what happened. Aside, he has been walking a lot in the recent days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you and sorry for my bad English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7767" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T22:11:52.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T22:11:52.373" Title="My old dog hasn't eaten anything for a week" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-07T08:58:54.463" Score="1" ViewCount="1934" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 55 gallon (210 liters) fish tank and I have goldfish in there right now. I'm just setting it up, it's been two months. I'm putting a lot of live plants in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many goldfish can I put in there, what's the limit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7768" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:28:37.367" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:34:53.620" Title="How many goldfish can I put into a 55 gallon (210 liters) fish tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14980" CreationDate="2016-08-07T14:06:29.693" Score="2" ViewCount="1238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my wife adopted a 4 years old dog. The dog was raised with little to none socialization with humans and dogs. He is a mix between German Shepherd and Labrador and has not been neutered. The former owner didn't exercised him much, basically he was raised to be a guard dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He brought the dog to our backyard and then, though the dog was not very kind with us, he showed no signs of excessive aggression. However, since the owner left he barks aggressively to us every time he sees us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what is the best way to tame this dog? I also saw he howling. He shows a very fearful behavior. When he barks, I stand still so that he knows this is our place, while avoiding direct eye to eye contact. Then he goes to the corner of the yard and hides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obs: We're on the fourth day since he came.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7769" LastEditorUserId="7769" LastEditDate="2016-08-08T20:15:42.527" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T06:52:23.233" Title="How to tame newly adopted dog that is very aggresive" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2016-08-07T17:13:18.480" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that might work is to place a crate outside with him, with the door open. If he enters the crate, go over repeating calming words and close the crate door. Next, you'll have to get a secure collar or harness and a leash on him, the end of which you'll keep hanging outside of the crate. To get the collar or harness on the dog, if he's too scared to be touched, go somewhere very distracting, with lots of dog smells and noises like a pet store's dog washing station, and have other people around you. Maybe have a female sooth the dog and help if he responds well to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have the dog on a secure leash, then take him for some walks, placing him in a crate in between each walk. If he doesn't want to go in the crate at this point, throw in a couple tasty treats ahead of him. When he's in the crate, never give attention to his whining, barking, etc, unless you've waited too long since his last bathroom break and you're convinced he's telling you he's gotta go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the long term, you should look into crate-training the dog, but make sure that it's very activity-oriented, such that the crate becomes a &quot;homebase&quot; out of which he does lots of scheduled activities like walking, running, swimming, playing, cuddling, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One great resource is Leerburg.com, specifically the free articles on dog training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7447" LastEditorUserId="7447" LastEditDate="2016-08-07T21:27:20.457" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T21:27:20.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6213" CreationDate="2016-08-07T22:20:18.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking there may be something to it! Almost 2 years ago, my neighbor and I began feeding 2 feral sisters and their brother. We suspect the brother was hit by a car and killed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A year-and-a-half ago, one of the sisters walked into my apartment and stayed - it's taken her a year, though, to accept/ask for affection from me. The other sister has remained &quot;feral&quot; and primarily stays on the second floor of the landing my neighbor and I share. During the past few months, the outside feral cat has started to come into my apartment. The sister cat who lives with me IMMEDIATELY went over to her and started licking her forehead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said when I started this, there may be something to it that sibling feral cats do recognize each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I have 2 other indoor cats - the sister cat who &quot;adopted&quot; us won't lick one of my male cats, but will pretty much &quot;shadow&quot; and lick my other male cat. And, as I've already mentioned, will IMMEDIATELY lick her outside &quot;feral&quot; sister cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7770" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:04:03.247" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:04:03.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2016-08-07T22:31:22.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a dog training class. Not only will they teach the dog to behave, they will teach the human(s) how to be more alpha so the dog wants to behave. A friend if mine, who favors herding dogs, found a class absolutely essential when one of her dogs showed signs of wanting to be the alpha in the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-07T22:31:22.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-07T23:03:34.370" Score="4" ViewCount="529" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am losing fish every day, originally an ich infection, which appears to be treated. Now I am treating the survivors with Tetracyline because they are dying with red streaks on them. What is the best way to disinfect nets and siphon tubes safely and quickly that is cost-effective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:23:03.860" Title="How to disinfect nets and siphon tubing for tropical fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-07T23:22:37.217" Score="1" ViewCount="1457" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I bought 3 balloon mollies to put in a 20L tank, which I also added my male Betta shortly after. How long should it take for them to get along? My Betta was a little defensive, not attacking the mollies, but showing signs of flaring. The mollies are hiding at the moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7771" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-01-10T01:00:01.887" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T03:37:41.333" Title="Mollies with Bettas?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2016-08-08T02:14:02.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take her to the vet. This description fits characteristics of Kidney Failure  or even Kidney Disease. I know this because my previous cat, may she rest in peace, had a condition with similar signs, if not exact. She was only 2 years when we had to put her down. The earlier the treatment, the longer you can prevent any damage from occurring real fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7773" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T13:51:58.940" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T13:51:58.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14966" CreationDate="2016-08-08T02:40:12.477" Score="2" ViewCount="1377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started doing my own urinalysis on my cats with UA strips. And there have been a few that had ketones show up just slightly or a little more. But glucose was negative. I don't know how to interpret these results given no glucose present. Can somebody tell me what this means so I know if there's something I need to be treating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T02:13:41.267" Title="What does it mean if ketones are present but no glucose?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2016-08-08T04:02:12.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know exactly what spitting is, my cat does it ALL the time when she's super happy and excited.. and from reading your post, I see your kitten who loves you also does it. I -used- to think cats only &quot;spat&quot; when they were extremely agitated or angry, but now I am solidly convinced that this is a sign of extreme excitement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excitement can be happy fun excitement, frustrated excitement or angry excitement, but there's no question my cat absolutely adores me, more loyal and loving than any dog.. and she's 8years old now and always spits when we play ball, or &quot;gimme dat!&quot; or just play/run around/sing and yell in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She gets very happy/excited and runs around as well, puffy tail, ears back, playful &quot;full of the devil&quot; eyes.. She jumps and spits, but if I grab her and pick her up, she's all love and brumbles. She can put all her claws on my face and teeth on my nose at her most excited, but she won't sink them in. If I yell at her playfully, she raises her meow even louder. Then she gets hyper and playful, and starts spitting at the ball she kicks around and attacks. It's super, super cute. She &quot;pretends&quot; to attack my ankles as I walk by, just pouncing on them and spitting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spitting is pure excitement, energy level 100%. Just like a little child screaming because they're happy and hyper. Or angry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7774" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T04:02:12.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-08T05:28:40.583" Score="2" ViewCount="3155" Body="&lt;p&gt;My snails have been making a layer of... something(?) around the entrance to their shells.  I don't know what it is.  They remain in their shells until I remove the layer, which is really bothering me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone identify the stuff and tell me how to prevent it? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tv3Ky.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tv3Ky.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7775" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T22:47:15.240" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T23:00:25.153" Title="What is this white layer growing in the snail shell's entrance?" Tags="&lt;biology&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14962" CreationDate="2016-08-08T11:30:19.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the color of urine can make some of the values a false positive. I've seen this with ketones and bilirubin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find the strips useful when it comes to finding infection (the white blood cell value often gives me false negatives/false positives), any true concerns should be checked under a microscope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any diabetic signs such as excess drinking/peeing, walking on their hocks, loss of appetite along with weight loss or cystitis/urinary tract infection (UTI's are very rare in cats) such as peeing around the house, crying at the litterbox, straining. That would deem a vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T11:30:19.470" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14950" CreationDate="2016-08-08T16:13:50.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a few dogs do this as a way of saying hello, I'm happy to see you - I want to give you something because I love you! Some highly people friendly dogs will do this to strangers as well, they love everybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, they probably do want food too :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T16:13:50.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14962" CreationDate="2016-08-08T16:47:15.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/endocrine/c_ct_diabetes_with_ketoacidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/endocrine/c_ct_diabetes_with_ketoacidosis&lt;/a&gt;, ketones are an emergency; you should go to your vet immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However... if it's only a slight amount, and there are no other symptoms, I think just a call to the vet will suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, I suggest you ask your vet for some guidelines about what to do in future. The advice will probably be specific to your cat and the history of his diabetes management, and what readings are typical for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T16:47:15.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14973" CreationDate="2016-08-08T19:15:42.810" Score="4" ViewCount="2364" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really hope I will never have to do this, but today something happened which made me think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was pulling a jacket out of my backpack, and my big, heavy bicycle lock came with it. It fell to the floor from about 1.5 meter height, and landed right next to my cat's head. The cat got super scared and jumped away, but nothing else happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if this lock had hit the cat on the head, or landed on its back, there could be some serious injury. Let's say the cat got mortally injured, but not outright killed, and had to be put down. What would be the most humane way to do euthanize it? Should I put her in the car and drive 30 minutes to the vet? Sounds like a lot of suffering. What if I don't have a car? Or this happens in the evening/night when no vets are open? I don't want my cat to suffer for many hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my area there is an arrangement between vets so there is always at least one vet open at any time of the day, but there were some funding issues with this, so this arrangement could have been shut down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the morbid question, but I would like to be prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7776" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T01:37:46.843" Title="Most humane way to emergency euthanize an injured cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1510" CreationDate="2016-08-08T19:23:15.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your tank must have too many fish.  If you want fish Then you must understand the nitrogen cycle. The tank must cycle.  That means the bacteria that break down ammonia into nitrate must be present.  And you need plants.  Those will use the nitrates for food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have no plants. Then the nitrates will build up until they harm the fish.  Once you do a water change some of the nitrates will be removed.  This also removes the beneficial bacteria. And if you do a large enough water change and feed them too much too fast or have too many fish the ammonia will build up faster than the bacteria can deal with it.  Once the bacteria return to normal they will convert the ammonia to nitrite then to nitrate and then it will start building up rapidly again without the plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a circle. An ecosystem in a fish tank. THe fish provide ammonia for the bacteria. And the bacteria and the light provide the food for the plants.   Both plants and bacteria help keep the water clean.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the absence of any plants algae will start to grow really fast because of the high level of nitrates.  If you add plants and they keep the nitrates low you will also have lower algae growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7777" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T19:23:15.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2016-08-08T20:09:40.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This probably is not the most humane answer, however neutering him may solve the issue. The dog may have excess testosterone causing him to be aggressive. If the behavior is due to fear, you can purchase a thunder shirt for around $50 and this usually calms dogs down as it makes them more secure. The only issue is that you would have to get the thunder shirt on the dog. My last solution is to get calming tablets from PetSmart. After moving I had to do this to calm my dogs down. They are not harmful and are full of natural ingredients to help the dog calm down. You also need to have the dog associate you with good things. Every time you go to him and he stops barking, give him a treat. Hope these solutions help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T20:09:40.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13809" CreationDate="2016-08-08T20:22:13.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend with a dog like this. My dog also became nervous as he aged. You can try getting the dog a thunder shirt to help him feel like he's being held. However, since he peed while your girlfriend was holding him, I don't know that this will work. Another good thing to try is calming treats. They can be bought at PetSmart and it should calm the dog down within 30 minutes to an hour. Try to think back and see if there are any smells on you when you come over that could alarm the dog. For example, it is possible that the smell of other dogs scares the puppy. It is also possible that the dog is scared of males because of a previous experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T20:22:13.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14969" CreationDate="2016-08-08T20:22:49.797" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats like humans, can survive a lot of injuries even if they appear to be lethal. You should take your pet to the vet for any type of euthanasia. The most humane way to euthanize a cat is through lethal injection, which should only be done by a veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I put her in the car and drive 30 minutes to the vet? Sounds like a lot of suffering. What if I don't have a car? Or this happens in the evening/night when no vets are open?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you should do is locate the nearest emergency veterinarian clinic and get their phone number. If/when an emergency happens, call them and they will tell you what to do in a situation that dire. Having that number on a magnet on the fridge is the first step!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastEditorUserId="5413" LastEditDate="2016-08-09T17:46:09.077" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T17:46:09.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13545" CreationDate="2016-08-08T20:24:55.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's highly possible that your dog doesn't like the brand of food. When I give my dogs a brand they don't like, they will refuse to eat it. Try changing to a different brand with different ingredients and see if this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the second issue, try getting a thundershirt or thundershirt knockoff. They help a dog to feel more secure because it feels as if someone is holding them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-08T20:24:55.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14954" CreationDate="2016-08-08T20:27:40.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that a common consensus from most goldfish-themed websites is 20 gallons (76 liters) for the first goldfish, and then 10 gallons (38 liters) more for each additional one beyond that... so in your case, 4 fish would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:34:53.620" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:34:53.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="14976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14962" CreationDate="2016-08-08T20:43:34.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Results like these can mean any number of things but only a trained veterinary professional will be able to give you a correct diagnosis. It is good that you are attempting to take a more proactive stance in your pets health but this is a concern that only your veterinarian should answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally wouldn't want you to make the judgement call without consulting with an emergency veterinary clinic if off hours or with your own day clinic veterinarian. That is a lot for an individual to take on. I think it is best to involve you and a vet in the decision of your pets health. Both you and the vet want what is best to treat the animal or end the suffering in a humane way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a pet owner having all the numbers and knowing where your vet hospital/ emergency clinic is before an accident actually happens is critical. The earlier the emergency is caught the better. Always have a plan! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7779" LastEditorUserId="5413" LastEditDate="2016-08-09T11:40:40.793" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T11:40:40.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9336" CreationDate="2016-08-09T15:29:03.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They can see blue and yellow, all the other colors appear as shades of those two, especially yellow. Red appears brown-grayish, violet actually appears as very vibrant blue, try to buy yellow and blue toys, I think it will make them happy that their toys don't appear dull &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7786" LastActivityDate="2016-08-09T15:29:03.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2016-08-09T22:39:17.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a very tricky and potentially dangerous situation.  A poorly socialised dog that has been used to being a guard dog and living outside is exactly the kind of dog who is most likely to bite.  In my experience volunteering for a dog rescue, dogs from this kind of environment are most likely to cause problems for adopters, including biting. :-(   H&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it is true that neutered dogs tend to be less aggressive in general, in a dog that is poorly socialised with no experience of being a pet, who is showing some fearful behaviour, approaching him to apply a thundershirt or medication could be dangerous.  Neutering is also thought to be a risk factor for making fearful/aggressive behaviour worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely not risk trying to take this dog out to a class, or trying to get a lead on him yet.   If you feel you want professional help, hire a qualified behaviourist who has experience, for example rehabilitating guard dogs or working with rescue dogs that have been street dogs, who can give you one-to-one advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only suggest taking things very slowly, and feeding the dog very small regular meals.  Don't make the dog come too close to you to get food, or he may come closer than he is comfortable with and then react in panic.  Instead, leave the food and retreat, so that the dog can see you, but doesn't feel challenged. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he have a 'safe space' in the yard - a kennel or doghouse where he can feel safe?  If not, and if you can provide one, that may help. He is feeling very insecure at the moment, and having a space that is just for him should help him feel safer.   Don't approach him when he's in his safe space until you know each other much better and he seems much more relaxed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't stare at him or make a loud noise, just be there, and provide food.   Over time, this will develop positive associations around your presence.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a useful page here about working with fear aggressive dogs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://fearfuldogs.com/key-concepts-of-working-with-fearful-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fearfuldogs.com/key-concepts-of-working-with-fearful-dogs/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also find this book interesting : CHARLIE, THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE WILD by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma.  It's about an ex-feral dog, but Charlie did have some behaviour traits which sound comparable, and I know Lisa managed them successfully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like this is a pretty difficult situation.  Good luck.  Please be careful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastEditorUserId="3820" LastEditDate="2016-08-10T15:22:12.197" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T15:22:12.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14962" CreationDate="2016-08-10T02:13:41.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a website that ran down the analysis on what everything meant on the urinalysis strips. It said that ketones are substances formed in the body during the breakdown of lipids, or fat. This might explain their presence as most of my cats eat much less in the summer because of the heat. I'm in Texas and we're having 100 degree days. So the cats eat less and their body starts to breakdown fat for fuel, therefore ketones show up during testing. I suppose it's just a theory but I hope I'm at least on the right track for an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T02:13:41.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-10T03:00:43.930" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering bringing my dog hiking and possibly build it up to camping overnight. Is there any essentials you recommend I should bring other than the obvious water bowls, food, leash, harness and blanket to sleep on? Are little booties, life jackets etc necessary purchases? Has anyone any other useful tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: My dog is a husky, german shepherd type mix so he's a big fella, quite excitable and sometimes nervous. He has a very good recall most times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7156" LastEditorUserId="7156" LastEditDate="2016-08-10T11:37:23.123" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T06:43:22.907" Title="Tips on essentials before I bring my dog hiking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14983" CreationDate="2016-08-10T06:16:50.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I'd just say start small and learn yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also heavily depends on your actual dog as well (partially) on his personality. Whether he's off-leash, where you go, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boots are often one way to protect the paws from harmful influences such as snow, ice, or salt water. Ever seen wolves with boots outside fairytales?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to learn how your dog reacts to different ground, then adjust accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog gets problems with the paws directly related to the ground, get some boots. Otherwise I wouldn't bother. Your dog should feel far more comfortable and have a more secure stand without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things like swimming vests I'd make it dependant on where you go. If it's a small dog or you expect fast flowing water, I'd think about getting one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only thing I'd really take with me is some good first aid kit for dogs. These usually include everything you need in case of cuts or other small wounds. Also plan ahead regarding potential vets near your hiking location, save their telephone numbers and addresses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing to consider might be local regulations. It's possible you're not allowed to have your dog off-leash during some time off the year and you might have to have clearly visible straps on your dog so hunters can associate it being with someone rather than straying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-08-11T06:12:09.710" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T06:12:09.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14983" CreationDate="2016-08-10T07:22:59.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This link covers it best   &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/hiking-dogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;REI dog tips&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes the obvious but often camp version. For example a collapsible bowl.  Not a blanket - they are heavy - get a camping seat pad. The bulk and weight adds up. If it is a big dog then get a pack for them.  Let the dog sleep in your tent or get them a doggy tent.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not going to get a pack then a harness with a handle.  If the dog falls in water or a hole you need to be able to scoop them quickly.  My dog is afraid of small bridges and I have to carry him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kevlar socks are essential in many regions. Thorn, burrs, and sharp rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the dogs feet often.  A burr or cut can get injected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-08-10T07:40:47.407" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T07:40:47.407" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8141" CreationDate="2016-08-10T13:42:27.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be able to lure the cat into a shed, garage, or house, as keshlam suggests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or see if you can borrow a humane trap from someone. Try animal shelters, humane associations, vets, even pest control companies or hunters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can build a simple humane trap yourself. I did a web search for &quot;build humane trap&quot; and found many links. Here's one, but you may be able to find others that need minimal construction and only require materials you have on hand.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-low-pressure-humane-animal-trap/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-low-pressure-humane-animal-trap/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T13:42:27.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14953" CreationDate="2016-08-10T15:46:29.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try giving your dog some rice milk to settle his stomach. Another thing you can try is putting a tablespoon of olive oil in his food. If your dog has no appetite and begins getting weaker, definitely take him back to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-10T15:46:29.323" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9539" CreationDate="2016-08-11T08:52:51.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat was a kitten, she had a litter box. Due to bad communications between us who lived there, the box did not get cleaned as often as it should, so the cat started doing her business only outside. We kept the box around for some time, but she never used it again, and we trashed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some years later, the cat disappeared. She was found six weeks later 20 km from home, and returned to me, thanks to her chip. After this incident, she was afraid to go outside. She would go out if I accompanied her, but was reluctant to go alone. Naturally, the cat still had to do her business, so carpets, blankets and corners became targets for her needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought her a new litter box, and gave her time. She gradually started to go more and more outside alone, but actually came in to use the litter box when she had to go, then jumped out again. Now, a year later, she is back to her normal self, and hasn't used the box in months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my suggestion is to get a litter box, and teach your cat to use it. DO NOT shame your cat for going on your furniture if it has no alternative. See Sienna Vaile's answer. Then just give it time. Maybe it will fall back into its old habits, maybe it won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7776" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T08:52:51.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14991" CreationDate="2016-08-11T12:01:39.857" Score="3" ViewCount="4989" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently I have an aquarium that has a pebble bottom. Smooth and round pebbles both big and small. I am toying with the idea of introducing live plants to my aquarium. I would like to avoid soil substrate. Will it be possible to grow live plants using just the pebbles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the reasons for considering to have live plants is due to the fish poop that gets in the pebbles. I am hoping that these left over poop after siphoning will become fertilizer for the plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7796" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:13:30.850" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:13:30.850" Title="Aqua plants and fish poop" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14990" CreationDate="2016-08-11T13:15:04.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes! Not only is it possible its a sustainable method of farming! Hydroponics is farming without soil, and aquaponics is hydroponics using fish. On a low level, the fish waste feeds the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish. &lt;a href=&quot;http://farmerbrownsaquaponics.blogspot.com/p/what-is-aquaponics-primer-for-newcomers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; are a lot more details. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to grow food you can eat, lettuce is by far the easiest to use. If you just wanna have some plants in the water, I'd go to your local pet store and ask them what they recommend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastActivityDate="2016-08-11T13:15:04.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-11T22:19:38.590" Score="6" ViewCount="3603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat whose been pulling his fur out since February. In February, he had most of his teeth pulled (three incisors and one molar left), so at first I thought it was because of that, since he's never pulled out his fur before (and actually I still do). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been pulling out his fur since. I posted a question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11614/is-my-cat-pulling-its-fur-out-due-to-a-lack-of-teeth&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, about why he might be doing this. The only answer suggested that he was 'mowing' due to stress or parasites. There are a few problems with this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have three cats total, all indoor only. This is the only one that is mowing. Because of this, I doubt it is parasites. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While it is certainly possible the cat had stress right after the dental procedure, it has now been nearly six months. He acts perfectly normal. I can't really see this as being a result of stress. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat is cleaning normally. He doesn't clean more frequently than he used to, or more thoroughly (another reason I doubt it is stress/parasite related). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing my cat is doing differently is in the way he cleans. All cats (that I've ever known, anyway) 'chew' a bit when they clean. They'll lick, pause and seem to chew at the skin for a second, and then go back to licking. This is perfectly normal. My cat now licks, then chews, then grabs a hunk of fur and pulls it out, then routinely goes back to licking. There is nothing sudden about it; he does this as if it is the normal cleaning procedure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I stop my cat from pulling his fur out?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We bought a collar and had the cat where that for a few months (2-3).&#xA;The only thing it did was &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; lessen the intensity of the mowing&#xA;for about two weeks after taking it off. My cat is now back to his&#xA;normal mowing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat is a short-hair red tabby, and relatively old (12 or 13). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There was no diet change that could have caused this problem. We tried some new foods after the problem occurred, but we are now back to using the same food we always have. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat is on a medication for what I believe is called a 'hyper thyroid' condition, but he had been on it several months &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the dental procedure, and was perfectly normal. And no, it's not a pill, it's chewable. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat pulls fur out all over his body, but it is most concentrated on his arms, and more recently, on his legs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not hesitate to ask for more information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T15:02:17.353" Title="Can I stop my cat from pulling out his fur?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13656" CreationDate="2016-08-11T23:25:07.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have two male geckos, which fight (check if they have a bump underneath their bottom)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't have enough room&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medical Reasons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are still young and panic a lot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing/Restless&#xA;-etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need more information to confirm any of these.&#xA;I recommend observing them and taking them to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7799" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-08-12T09:09:25.513" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T09:09:25.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-12T00:40:49.110" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have a 3 month old Shiba Inu/Poodle mix. The crate training is rather hit and miss, and that could be because my wife his home with him during the day and he is likely peeing without us realizing it (she keeps as good of an eye on him as she can).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work a full-time job and my wife is leaving for a week (we will have had him for 2 weeks when she leaves). My plan is to get home over the lunch hour, but it will be about 5 hours on both sides of lunch before he is let out.  He peed in his crate for the first time today as my wife had him in there for about 3 hours to prepare him for next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering how to handle next week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I keep him in the crate even though he may pee in there (and potentially become unhappy with us)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or should I leave him in a bathroom with his crate, food, water, and some toys in there?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know if I take option 2 he may have more accidents, but I think it could be less of a shock for him and make the week easier on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7801" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T15:19:51.673" Title="Shiba Inu/Poodle being crate Trained - Can I leave him in the bathroom" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13809" CreationDate="2016-08-12T01:25:25.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I left my used t-shirt with my girlfriend so he can get used to my smell, and when I am there I played with his toys and after some time he gets interested. I gave him treats and after some time we got into a better relationship :D He is barking now when I come but his tail is up and he seems happy. He still gets scared if I drop something, but slowly we are getting there. Patience, treats and play and we will get there :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7648" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T16:22:39.347" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T16:22:39.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="91" CreationDate="2016-08-12T03:47:04.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get snails. They are much more effective than fish in cleaning algae. I have three large mystery snails, two zebra snails, and a bunch of Malaysian trumpet snails and ramshorn snails. My glass and, most important, my plants are spotless clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7802" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T03:47:04.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="14998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15002" CreationDate="2016-08-12T09:05:30.780" Score="4" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old dog is starting to have yellow teeth, especially the ones in the back of his jaws. I was wondering, what is the right way to take care of a dog's teeth without overdoing it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want my dog to be healthy...not to have a hollywood star's smile or anything. For now I use only dental sticks, but are they enough? Should I wash his teeth and if yes, how regularly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2019-08-26T14:35:51.607" Title="How to take care of my dog's teeth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2016-08-12T13:08:49.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 things which might could work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a cat toilet and learn him too do his needs on/in there.&#xA;Or if you have a balcony/garden that is tight/closed enough so he can't escape. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will give the dog the freedom to do this on his own but requires some training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.&#xA;Get a dog walking service, this way you dont have to care about it. &#xA;This might cost money or maybe you have a neighbor with a dog of his own willing to walk your dog with his&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7806" LastEditorUserId="7806" LastEditDate="2016-08-12T19:04:56.133" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T19:04:56.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14998" CreationDate="2016-08-12T14:26:59.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say brush his teeth at least once a week. However, it is said that you should brush daily but I don't know of anyone, even vets that do this.If your dog is like mine and hates toothbrushes, then you can go to the pet store and get some tooth wipes. Dogs generally don't mind these. You should do more than dental sticks as these did not help my dogs who ended up needing a professional cleaning in order to remove serious plaque buildup. Here are some more resources: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.banfield.com/pet-health-resources/preventive-care/dental/do-i-need-to-brush-my-dog-s-teeth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.banfield.com/pet-health-resources/preventive-care/dental/do-i-need-to-brush-my-dog-s-teeth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T14:26:59.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14998" CreationDate="2016-08-12T15:12:48.230" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few options for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Brush your dogs teeth daily (once a week is not enough), or if he hates brushing then apply the paste directly onto his teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Feed a dental diet such as Hill's T/D or Royal Canin Dental diet, if they aren't chewing the food then the diet itself is useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Dentastix, Greenies, CET chews, moderately soft chew toys (if you wack it on your knee and it hurts then it's too hard for your pets teeth) are all other good options for healthy teeth. If he eats the treats too fast or swallows them whole then it wont work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay away from bones, sticks and hard chew toys, they will damage your dogs teeth or get lodged in their esophagus (sticks/bones).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention is key as once periodontal disease sets in you cannot reverse it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T15:12:48.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14992" CreationDate="2016-08-12T15:32:11.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be stress related, boredom, parasites or allergies - skin issues should be consulted with a veterinarian as they can see it first hand and do a work-up (i.e skin scrapings, allergy testing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you rule out medical issues then it's a good time to look at his lifestyle, does he have toys to play with? a cat tree? etc. Is there anything new in the environment that would cause him stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to try some anti-anxiety medications (under a veterinarians orders), there are a few over the counter products to try such as the Feli-way diffuser (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.feliway.com/&lt;/a&gt;) or KalmAid. Both can be purchased at your vet hospital. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T15:32:11.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14990" CreationDate="2016-08-12T16:25:06.857" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plants will not grow well in the pebbles, this is a terrible substrate for plant roots. What you could do, however, is grow the plants in small pots and bury the pots in the pebbles. Put some soil rich in clay at the bottom of the pots, then add sand on top to keep the soil from muddying the water. This won't get rid of the poop problem, though. Add some corydoras to stir up the bottom and a good filter to get rid of the poop when is suspended in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7802" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T16:25:06.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14992" CreationDate="2016-08-12T16:31:19.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cat that did the same thing, to be point of being &quot;naked&quot; of fur from the waist down. What solved the problem was a medicine that you put in the neck of the cat to get rid of fleas. It turned out that the cat was allergic to fleas and was pulling out the fur because she was so itchy. She is an indoor cat, too. It lives with another cat that didn't have that problem. However, we have to medicate both cats against fleas to keep the fleas from going from one to the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7802" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T16:31:19.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14960" CreationDate="2016-08-12T16:37:25.870" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't put any other fish with Bettas. The Bettas will stalk the other fish and from time to time bite off a big chunk of their fins. They have big mouths and sharp teeth, and are extremely aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7802" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T16:37:25.870" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12425" CreationDate="2016-08-12T17:44:18.773" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he has sensitive skin, then he could be allergic to the products they are using at the groomers. My dog can only use hypoallergenic shampoo and anything else causes him to scratch so hard that his crate is covered in fur. A common way to get rid of dry skin for dogs is to feed them a teaspoon or so of olive oil. Additonal info about the olive oil: &lt;a href=&quot;http://thebark.com/content/winterizing-your-dogs-coat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thebark.com/content/winterizing-your-dogs-coat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T17:44:18.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12375" CreationDate="2016-08-12T17:53:16.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;She could have a bit of anxiety. Have you tried a citronella spray bark collar? They don't hurt the dogs but emit a smell that the dogs do not care for. Another method to stop the barking would be to get her a thundershirt so she feels secure wherever she is. My last recommendation would be to get calming treats from the pet store. They are generally made with natural ingredients to help dogs stay calm. However, this brand linked below doesn't work for all dogs and only works for some. You could also try valerian supplements but be warned, they smell really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray Collar (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0002D31QU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thundershirt (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B003TTYQD6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calming Treats (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/dog/stress-anxiety-relief/21st-century-essential-pet-pet-eze-dog-calming-supplement-zid36-13011/cat-36-catid-100061;pgid=1bV0qH4DXKdSRpepMa9fsVHE00007lhGVrzq;sid=oTD-ek3ssRL3ehpCrWK-fn3mQjui3K7n_ZbgMwtJ?var_id=36-13011&amp;amp;_t=pfm%3Dcategory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;petsmart.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:23:07.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:23:07.123" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14960" CreationDate="2016-08-12T19:31:38.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta can be housed with various other fish but in your case, you're short on space. 20L (5 gal) is about what is recommended for only a betta. Various sources seem to place the min tank requirement at 75L (20 gal) for mollies but some say 37L (10 gal) is fine. So as you can see, the your best guess would be to upgrade to a large tank or to split them in two tank. The betta in your current one and a larger for the mollies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do split or upgrade please make sure the tank is/are cycled before getting the fish in them or you risk loosing some/all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2016-08-12T19:31:38.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-13T16:01:07.627" Score="2" ViewCount="3133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I have male and a female budgie and they keep fighting. They don't really stop. They are a couple and I don't want to split them.I have a sheet over their cage and they have kinda stopped and still fight alittle under the sheet. How can I make them stop fighting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7809" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T02:42:08.497" Title="Male and female budgies fighting" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15012" CreationDate="2016-08-13T16:33:33.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Need to separate, not all male/female of same species will get along. You cannot train them to want to be together.&#xA;If they are constantly fighting they are not a bonded pair.&#xA;Introducing one bird to the other needs time and an extra cage on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When acquiring a new bird:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Ideally there should be a 3-6 month quarantine to prevent spread of infectious diseases if they have some, during this time frame you will see if your new bird develops any illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Once quarantine is done place bird #2 in the same room (but not the same cage) as your original.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) After a week you can place bird #2's cage next to bird #1 for them to get a better look at each other and to get more familiar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) After another week you may try introducing them to each other outside and away from their cages. (Some birds can be cage aggressive/possessive). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) After multiple play sessions outside of their cages goes well and you feel confident that they get along you may place them on the same cage. Watch their reactions/body language if you feel that they love each other you will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T16:33:33.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2016-08-13T19:14:34.350" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Siamese cats it was a corrective effect since their retina turned inward due to a genetic trait linked to their blue eyes I think. They don't all have it now since breeders have tried to eliminate it. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/normal-siamese-cat-crosseyed-8836.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pets.thenest.com/normal-siamese-cat-crosseyed-8836.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7811" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T19:14:34.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-13T21:32:49.103" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday (Friday) I took him to the vet because he has been eating less and less this past week. Thursday he ate a little, but not much. Plus he's lost weightand has loose stool.. They gave him fluids and a shot to help with nausea because he threw up a little during the night. I was given some meds but told it will only help the symptoms and probably won't do much. He has an ultrasound Monday at 8:30am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now... Ever since we've come home he just sits around. He still hasn't eaten or drank water. I've tried giving him his favorite wet food, nothing. I boiled some chicken and when I held a piece up to his mouth he almost seemed interested in the food but at the last minute didn't take a bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He isn't hiding, just laying where he usually does. Right now he's sitting next to me purring. Eyes are clear and nose is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dilemma is I can't decide if I should pay the extra money and go to the emergency vet since he still hasn't eaten. It's been over 24 hours and come Monday (if he still doesn't eat) will be 60.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I'd just like some input and ideas to get him to eat and drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7813" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T21:32:49.103" Title="12 y/o cat not eating/drinking" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-08-13T22:38:34.027" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16930" CreationDate="2016-08-13T22:18:28.463" Score="2" ViewCount="56926" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I run a small cat sanctuary and am currently between vets. I'm trying to learn to do some basic treating on my own. I know when a cat is sick enough to call a vet so please don't just tell me to go to a vet. That doesn't answer my question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing urinalyses on my herd and am finding urinary issues from not drinking enough and probably from an all dry diet. Some cystitis and some infection. I've found a good natural compound that treats the cystitis really well, but not the infection. So I've started them on amoxicillin for UTI, I'm just not sure the correct dosage and length of treatment for each cat. When I've looked elsewhere online, I've seen 5-10mg per pound and 10-25mg per pound. Also, nothing really says for how long to give it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone offer me some better specifics on this? I've been treating conservatively so far (10mg per pound) and only for about a week but I'm still getting leukocytes showing up when I test them. I know people usually have to take a 2 week course to treat everything, but I wasn't sure about animals. Honestly, it's been so long since I've used anything but the Convenia shot, I can't remember. I'm trying to treat the infection without overwhelming their system as I just had two cats die after having the Convenia shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for some better guidelines here. If you think it might require further testing, I'm completely open to that. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T13:01:29.823" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T18:52:55.037" Title="Amoxicillin dosage and length of treatment for cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15012" CreationDate="2016-08-13T22:50:32.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cage is too small, they might be having territorial issues. Budgies are not usually a type of bird where gender matters. I have my six with all mixed genders, some male, some female. Maybe try getting a bigger cage or something for them each to do when they are bored?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7711" LastActivityDate="2016-08-13T22:50:32.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15019" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-13T23:29:28.087" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know how you treat hives on your pet dog? possible bee pollen!! Looks like small pumps in one area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7814" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T12:20:12.520" Title="how do you treat hives on a pitt bull?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15017" CreationDate="2016-08-14T00:24:27.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The strips can be VERY misleading, you may not even have a UTI if you're only looking at the strips and not under the microscope. I find the white blood cell mark is always inaccurate in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A complete urinalysis should be done to detect a UTI, this involves the strip (ketones, bilirubin, blood, ph, glucose are most reliable), specific gravity (checking concentration of urine for kidney function) and microscopic exam. The microscopic exam is VERY important, you can visually check for bacteria, crystals, blood cells, epithelial cells (from bladder or kidneys), casts, yeast etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of our kitties are given antibiotics when there is no need as most of the time it is cystitis and not a UTI, which then you would only give an anti-inflammatory such as Metacam or Onsior (onsior is safest for cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If infections keep on returning you would need to do a culture and sensitivity (in a perfect world this should be done before first round of antibiotics) to find out what antibiotic is effective for the type of bacteria that's causing the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If cystitis keeps returning it's probably stress related and you will need to help minimize their stress. Hills C/D stress diet is what we recommend for those cats as well as Feliway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are signs of crystals a diet change needs to happen, Royal Canin urinary S/O or Hill's C/D is what we recommend. Wet food is very important for cats, we like to see a lot of water intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly recommend a full urinalysis and veterinary consult before giving antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-04-22T11:12:51.957" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T11:12:51.957" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2016-08-14T02:03:32.673" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 4+ year old eastern cotton tail living with us. He came into our home at about 3 weeks old. I found him on the front lawn, looked like a cat had gotten at him. I brought him in, weighed him and guessed at age from that. I was going to release him at dusk, but there were 3 cats waiting where I had found him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next day, the neighbours' dog was loose running in our yard. I figured a couple days wouldn't hurt. We fed him wild food from outside - dandelions, clover, alfalfa, weeds, sticks, all the stuff found on various Google sites. We also substituted him with soy milk(organic GMO free) which he just loved. We were also picking soy from a farm field down the road for him - which made him go blind. I called a vet and they put me in touch with a wildlife rehab. We decided the soy must have been GMO. Once we stopped with the GMO soy his sight came back (I still give him organic I grow myself). Also - very important, the rehabilitator said give him organic rolled oats (he still eats them every day and loves them - make sure there are no additives or preserves in the bag of rolled oats as it can kill bunny). She also gave us a bag of pellets - which he refused to touch. We even purchased a new bag of pellets just in case - he won't touch pellets. In the winter he ate stored sticks from the fall, oats and dandelions from the grocery store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing, he litter trained himself, from the first week in the house he always went back to his cage to do business. He is always free, rarely caged. We do have another house rabbit - he will have nothing to do with her and sleeps under our bed during the day while our domesticated bunny is out and about (domesticated is in hutch at night). We also have a dog - and this was when we realized we couldn't release our wild bunny. I left the bedroom door open one day when I was folding laundry, the dog was sleeping in the hall. The cotton tail walked over the dog as he went to check to see if the domesticated bunny was out. The dog is fine (although I would never leave them unattended).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then realized living with the dog smell in the house must have been enough to make him not scared of it. Anyways, we now have an eastern cotton tail living with us. He isn't tame per se, we can't hold him or pet him like the domesticated one - we didn't raise him that way as we weren't going to have him stay. He is a house rabbit. He prefers to eat his greens out of my hand. He loves to watch TV - loves it! He does binkies all over my furniture every day. He plays with the domesticated rabbit's toys in front of her when she is in her hutch - just to bother her (he also plays with dog toys). He drinks water out of the dog bowl and not his own. He has a favorite chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And over the last few months I have caught him sleeping on the bed with us at night. He is still very skittish, in a natural sort of way, not scared, but just in case sort of reaction. He is a lot like the domesticated when it comes to playing. If I play with a stick, he wants to play too and does binky bunny jumps. The rehabilitator said he would turn cross and wild at 3 years old, but he didn't. When I researched it, it seemed to be when a rabbit was caged. Again he isn't a pet, he is just part of our home and we respect his preferences. What bunny wants bunny gets... lol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7815" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:03:12.413" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:03:12.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15047" CreationDate="2016-08-14T05:42:52.070" Score="2" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4-year old female Boxer who must be on a grain-free diet as part of a broader treatment of her persistent ear infection. The problem is grain-free dog food is a heck of a lot more expensive than say, beef.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any important precautions I should be aware of before putting her on a raw diet? Obviously I'll be sure to keep things sanitary and not feed her any kind of especially bacteria-ridden meat like cheap stuff or uncooked chicken. Anything else? I don't want to be surprised by something I did woefully wrong (or didn't do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, how much of other things like vegetables should I use to supplement the meat? It just seems like a ton of fat and protein, which I guess is good, but what specifically would she be missing, and how much of it would be necessary to balance her diet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I've been told two different things. The first is to withhold any food for 24 hours before putting her on a raw diet (which really doesn't make sense to me), and the second is to gradually work it into her normal diet before eventually letting it take over (which makes more sense but I've heard more of the former than the latter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7817" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T11:16:36.093" Title="Is raw meat a suitable substitute for grain-free dog food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2016-08-14T10:35:38.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After exactly 1 week, I'm happy to say we finally solved the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We started by positively reinforcing the calm behavior but stood still every time he barked at me. After some days he changed from aggressive to ultra-scared and hiding. He made himself a corner of the yard as his safe place and I started doing an exercise of throwing him treats everytime he looked at me and everytime he had the guts of leaving his place. Until a day he basically started laying on the ground like asking for treats but when I threw him treats, he didn't wanted these anymore. Then I shown him the leash and he basically begged for it. So I put the leash on him and he walked for 2 hours. After that, he's a totally new dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's basically what I recommend for someone who is having the same problem: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Learn to differentiate fear aggression from dominance aggression&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1ntwr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1ntwr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dominance Agression&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mz64g.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mz64g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fear Agression&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dominance aggression is dealed by claiming the territory and being alpha (search the web about it). But never face the dog in the eye.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fear aggression is dealed by getting out of the situation slowly (never face the dog in the eye, stay sideways, and move out from the dog). Try to not trigger this state. Instead, throw him treats from distance and let him get it. In fact, sometimes just throw a treat and go away. That may make him curious. Associate your voice, your eye, your face, with the treat. And respect his fear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be patient. It may take some days. Celebrate little victories. It's a step-by-step process. Everyday you'll see he has improved a little.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7769" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T10:35:38.927" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-14T12:53:21.493" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just got a green cheek concur I been told he is bout 5 yrs old hand tame and talks but he is not I have got him to step on my finger in the cage by using treats  to get him to step on but that's it he seems happy he purrs when he  like something. I also have a rock pebbler and a ring neck they girls how do I get him to fly to me out of the cage &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7818" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T01:32:40.600" Title="how to get my concur to fly to me" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15022" CreationDate="2016-08-14T13:21:30.753" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of us in the vet industry do not approve of raw diets mostly because of issues with listeria, salmonella and bones. We often call it the &amp;quot;BARF&amp;quot; diet (bones and raw food). We even put warnings on the pets file who are on raw to make sure they do not lick our faces, take extra caution with feces and to minimize contact for our pregnant staff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AHAA standards on raw meat can be found here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aaha.org/professional/resources/raw_protein_diet.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aaha.org/professional/resources/raw_protein_diet.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Past proponents of raw food diets believed that this was the healthiest food choice for pets. It was also assumed that feeding such a diet would cause no harm to other animals or to humans. There have subsequently been multiple studies showing both these premises to be false. Based on overwhelming scientific evidence, AAHA does not advocate or endorse feeding pets any raw or dehydrated nonsterilized foods, including treats that are of animal origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Homemade raw food diets are unsafe because retail meats for human consumption can be contaminated with pathogens. Studies that have been done on both commercially available and homemade raw protein diets have found a high percentage (30–50 percent) of them contaminated with pathogenic organisms, and up to 30 percent of the dogs fed such diets may shed pathogenic organisms in their stool. Many of the pathogens found in raw protein diets can be transmitted to the human population by contact with the food itself, pet, or environmental surfaces. A disturbing number of these organisms have also been shown to be resistant to multiple antimicrobials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw protein diets are now demonstrated to be a health risk for several groups, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The pets consuming the diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other animals in contact with these pets or their feces&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Human family members&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The public&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People at highest risk of serious disease from the enteric pathogens found in raw diets include those that are very young, old, or immune-compromised. These are the very groups that are the focus of most animal-assisted intervention (AAI) programs. It is especially important that therapy pets involved in AAI not be fed raw protein diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AAHA is committed to the human community, the veterinary medical profession, our AAHA hospitals, and the patients we serve in recommending the best known medical practices using evidence-based medicine. We value the relationships between our pets and their families, along with the positive impact that they have on the larger population, such as in AAI programs. Feeding a raw protein diet no longer concerns only each individual pet, but has become a larger community health issue; for this reason, AAHA can no longer support or advocate the feeding of raw protein diets to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make your pets diet please cook it and follow recipes to make sure that it is balanced (most home-made diets lack in many nutrients). We always recommend Hilary's blend as she provides recipes as well as the vitamin/mineral to prevent deficiencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completeandbalanced.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.completeandbalanced.com/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can pick this book with the supplements up at any vet hospital (they can order it in too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for transitioning, don't fast for 24 hours - mix in old food with new food adding more of the new and less of the old for a span of 7 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T13:21:30.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15140" CreationDate="2016-08-14T14:21:12.450" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Does feeding need to be corrected? And in which direction(s)?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Where I am now:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two rabbits born end of Feb 2016. Siblings, one male (castrated) and one female. They are both small for their age. I got them from a rescue place. The person I got them from said they have a genetic defect whereby they will grow slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the first few weeks I owned them I learned the muesli style pellets (muesli plus pellets) was not good for them, so I weaned them onto 100% pellets in a week. No problems there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the rabbits I provide the following daily amounts combined (not each).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Approx equal volumes of hay and greens. Total volume approx the same as the volume of the rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The greens comprise approximately equal amounts of nettles, young blackberry runners and dandelion leaves with some white clover in lesser amounts. Once a week I’ll go to the nearby fields and collect a large bag of these, mix them up and store them in the fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;70g pellets (recently increased from half that amount). Pellets are &lt;a href=&quot;https://shop.vitakraft.de/emotion-complete-adult-18717.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vitakraft Emotion&lt;/a&gt; - I just realised these are for dwarf rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 blackberries - either fresh off the bush, else from the freezer as I froze this year´s glut of blackberries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 tablespoon ripe nectarine or apple - fresh or frozen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small cucumber cut into 4 pieces lengthwise (usually about 10cm long, diameter 3 - 4cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasional amounts of any of celery leaves and stalks, lemon basil, peppermint, broccoli leaves, radish tops (all taken from our garden).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have a 7 square metre circular run I improvised by wrapping 10m of chicken wire round the garden trampoline. It provides both space and shade. I used to move food from their hay rack in their main hutch to this play area, but I have stopped that now. I want them to eat the grass. They will eat grass. But not much during the day. They seem to like grass more if I pull a few strands and feed them through the chicken wire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don´t seem to be addicted to the pellets. That is, they will nibble on them and move on but they are usually eaten in 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will eat everything, but the hay only sparingly. So that means everything I give them is eaten, except the hay. I drop in some food in the morning around 07:30, and replenish in the evening, 19:00 to 20:00. In the morning they seem hungry, and know they are going to get their breakfast, but overnight they only eat the greens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried hay I made myself from fresh meadow plants (which I think is superior to anything I have bought, but only because it is still green :P ), nameless hay from the local supermarket, and I just took delivery of some Timothy Hay, “meadow hay” and also some dried dandelion leaves (intended as a reserve for the winter, provided they eat these).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have given them only the Timothy hay, and they didn't seem to be impressed by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Where do I need to be?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they getting enough fibre from the greens I am giving them? But what about winter when there are no fresh greens like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enough protein, minerals and vitamins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get them to eat more hay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7819" LastActivityDate="2019-06-03T06:44:15.757" Title="Am I feeding my rabbits a balanced diet? If not, how to get there?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11170" CreationDate="2016-08-14T19:54:17.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can finally answer my own question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It helps that they are older now and less psycho. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What finally worked was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slip it on when she's half asleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure it's even tighter than I thought necessary so she can't wiggle out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;take her outside immediately so that she's distracted and preoccupied with exploring instead of escaping the harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lots of treats!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was the first successful attempt. On later attempts I could put it on her while she was awake as long I was firm but gentle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I always made sure to take her outside immediately, both for the distraction and for positive reinforcement that the leash means exploration time! Now she accepts it without struggling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3867" LastEditorUserId="3867" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T02:14:40.120" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T02:14:40.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14959" CreationDate="2016-08-14T20:24:23.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;the best is dipping it in hot boiling water for 2-3 minutes :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2016-08-14T20:24:23.047" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15024" CreationDate="2016-08-15T01:32:40.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're on the right track using treats to get him to step up. Keep doing that until he will do it reliably. Then start holding your hand a little farther away and coaxing him to climb or hop onto your hand. When he's hopping reliably, you can increase the distance so that he's got to fly a little to get to you. Over time, keep holding your hand farther and father away and eventually he'll be flying to you for treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very patient and work in small increments. Remember you must have a good relationship with your bird, if he doesn't trust you he won't care to come to you. If he seems to have trouble with a certain distance, move a little closer or offer a higher-value treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7064" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T01:32:40.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-15T02:37:42.480" Score="0" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit still feels and looks like she is pregnant, she had 7 babies and it is the 4 day after birth. Could she still have a baby in her ? I repalpated her and i can feel 1 full size baby and a ball &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7577" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T02:37:42.480" Title="rabbit birth. Feels like babys" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2016-08-15T14:00:18.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15033" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15034" CreationDate="2016-08-15T04:11:22.147" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with someone else and their cat will cry at me sometimes and request a &amp;quot;pet&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;rub down&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read up a little bit about certain cat behaviors and found I may have just been baited in to getting the cat's pheromone on me but the crying sound is a strange precursor to the rubbing against me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the significance of these particular feline behaviors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally: this cat is a female and estimated 10 years old or older, and lives not only with me and its owner, but also two dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7516" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:45:03.593" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:45:03.593" Title="Seemingly crying cat sound, yet she continues friendly rubbing on me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15033" CreationDate="2016-08-15T12:54:50.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feline vocalizations can cover a wide range, and this sound is almost certainly not &quot;crying&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scent marking or not, voluntarily coming over and rubbing against you is a friendly greeting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-08-15T14:08:12.603" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T14:08:12.603" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15019" CreationDate="2016-08-15T14:41:24.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can give your dog Benadryl at the recommended dose for your dog's size but I recommend calling your vet first to make sure it won't interfere with any other medicine he is on. If you do decide to go this route, you give them 1mg per pound they weigh. Also, I highly recommend getting the children's liquid Benadryl as it is much easier to measure out. This will likely make your dog sleepy till it wears off. Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/care/can-i-give-my-dog-benadryl-and-if-so-how-much&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/dog/care/can-i-give-my-dog-benadryl-and-if-so-how-much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T14:41:24.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2016-08-15T15:19:51.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not suggest leaving him in the bathroom. I attempted to do this with my dogs while crate training. It caused an anxiety that was not there before and they actively ate through a wall at my home. There are some sprays sold that try to stop dogs from using the bathroom in certain areas. I suggest trying one of these. Also, try putting newspaper or a dog pee pad in the corner of the crate and see if you can get him to go on that instead. Then slowly phase this out so he realizes that the crate is not a place to use the toilet. Make sure you are taking him out on long enough walks as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T15:19:51.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15040" CreationDate="2016-08-15T16:23:20.093" Score="0" ViewCount="498" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fostering young kittens, and I am going to go buy a scale to weigh them. I looked at a few, but I can't decide which scale is best. Do any of you have a preferred scale, and what brand is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7711" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T16:36:23.383" Title="Best brand of scale for kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15033" CreationDate="2016-08-15T16:31:11.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is not crying, it is most likely a friendly meow. The cat likes you and wants you to pet her. When she rubs against you, it's means she considers you family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7711" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T16:31:11.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15038" CreationDate="2016-08-15T16:36:23.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any digital scale is fine, we use baby scales but they are generally expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are only weighing small kittens a digital kitchen scale works great, put kittens in a bowl and weigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T16:36:23.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-15T16:59:34.100" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not from the medical area but I am struggling with a trouble with my pets and it seems that no veterinary here in my city know how to explain this to me. I have two cats and I need to make an internacional travel with them. To accomplish this, I need to make serology exam on them. But, something is happening with the blood because is happening hemolysis after taking it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I have made some researchs about why hemolysis happens and none of them convince me at all, my question is: why serology can not be made with a tiny hemolisys in blood? I have took the blood of my cat three times to prove she does not have anger disease and lab (the unique in Brazil which is allowed to make this) is saying they cannot make the exame because the blood had a really really tiny hemolysis. Is this truth or it is only burocracy? (I already have heard this theory)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for helping me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7823" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T20:17:27.637" Title="Why is not possible to make serology exam in animal's blood with hemolysis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-15T18:56:45.487" Score="4" ViewCount="762" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be better for me to get my Betta a heating system or can I use a heat lamp? He is in a 1.5 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7826" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T13:13:33.783" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T13:13:33.783" Title="My Betta is in a 1.5 gallon tank with a filter system but no heat. Would it be better to get him a heating system or can a heat lamp help?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15043" CreationDate="2016-08-15T19:16:43.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Underwater heater is ideal however with a tank that small he wouldn't have very much place to swim. Betta's are known to jump out of their tanks so you would need to cover the majority of the top, thus making a heat lamp inadequate/fire hazard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend increasing the size of his tank (3-5 Gallon) that way you could add live plants (or fake), more places to hide, filter and a heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T19:16:43.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15041" CreationDate="2016-08-15T19:22:29.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some lab machines are very sensitive and will be inaccurate if the sample is hemolyzed. To reduce the chance of hemolysis they need to use a larger gauge (23G-22G) needle and obtain the sample from her jugular vein. This location gets a very large, clean sample at once compared to her cephalic/saphenous veins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope they are not charging you for each visit, we've done rabies (I assume it's comparable to anger disease) titres with no issues like that. Though in Canada our lab equipment might be more advanced than Brazil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T19:22:29.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15043" CreationDate="2016-08-15T22:04:12.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an ideal world you would want a filter to clean the water and circulate it in the tank, a heater to maintain ~25°C (78°F) and a bigger tank (2.5 - 5 gallons). As a general rule the more space in your tank the better, your fish will benefit from it and behave more naturally when it is comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An underwater heater is a pretty standard way to keep the temperature constant on a Tropical Aquarium. A Betta is a tropical fish so requires warm water. With an internal filter, the water gets circulated around the tank so all of the water gets moved past the heater and eventually will normalise. Heating from a single position (as you will with a heat lamp) will provide sub-optimal heat distribution with the surface of the water being hotter than the bottom of the tank. Additionally, you will have to have the heat lamp on continuously to maintain a semi-constant temperature which may be inconvenient for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to prolong the life of your fish, keeping it in good quality water at the right temperature with enough space will greatly improve its quality of life and a few small investments will help with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional thought:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My first tank was 22 litres and it was much more difficult to maintain a good water quality and steady water parameters than a much larger tank. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are multiple betta kits online which will provide you all the necessary tools to keep your fish fit and healthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2016-08-15T22:04:12.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15022" CreationDate="2016-08-16T11:16:36.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is our story. It contains real life examples of the dietary challenges we've faced with our robust red cattle kelpie cross.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not intended to take away from the interesting, relevant and important answer provided by @RebeccaRVT. Hygiene is, without question, essential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our brown dog was a gift from friends at 8 weeks of age (him not me) and we're still together fifteen and a half years later. He's an awesome dog, but he's not been without complications, especially the last few years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three years ago he almost died as a result of post operative effects of major spinal surgery, essentially to save his life, following a vicious dog attack. He didn't eat for ten days following surgery and was forced into a second hospital visit to rehydrate and recover. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His diet after hospital was essentially cooked chicken breast meat - it being literally all he would or could eat without suffering serious digestive problems. To this we slowly introduced cooked vegetables and cooked rice. Eventually his digestion became stable and we began including dry biscuits and other foods. However he lost his ability to digest certain foods such as lamb, pork and pork products. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This stable period ended and during the last twelve months our brown dog has suffered serious digestive issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add to my old mate's complications, he more recently developed incontinence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To attempt to resolve these issues our vet ran tests at different times over the last twelve months. Each result suggests a dog in good health and in our vet's words &quot;he has the blood and organs of an eight year old animal&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite his age he leads an active life. He is vocal, barking to catch our attention and remains interested in everything that happens around him. He still takes long walks and loves meeting with other dogs at the parks where we walk him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bouts of constant &quot;jelly poo&quot; diahorrea and the continuing incontinence have presented significant medical and practical challenges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having little effective support from our vet - &quot;he's an old dog&quot; - I began my own research and test diets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a while we thought we had the problem solved - he was sensitive / allergic to grains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we excluded grains from his diet and that appeared to solve the problem. We had a paleo diet dog! (Joke) That is, until the severe bouts of diahorrea returned. (No joke)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more research suggested that we may have literally starved our brown dog of the essential fats that cause his canine metabolism to function properly. By cooking all his food we were chemically altering his food and in particular, destroying the naturally occurring fats in meats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog's metabolism relies on naturally occurring fats to trigger proper organ function in his digestive system. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I hypothesised the following...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too much acid in the stomach and the pancreas can/will not produce enough bicarbonate and then, most of the enzymes and bile prepared by the liver and pancreas will be ineffective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too little acid in the stomach and enzyme production and bile release are not properly triggered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps not enough acid was being produced in his stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our brown dog literally presented symptoms of enzyme deficiency and pancreatitis, however as mentioned above, veterinary tests on his blood, urine and faeces have concluded this is not the case - in fact he presents as a healthy middle aged dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're involved in a continual trial of dietary adjustments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So after this significant history lesson on a brown dog... what works?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw food works. All the time, every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No biscuits. Not even grain free biscuits. Maybe small amounts, but by the end of the third day, the return of the jelly poo diahorrea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning; raw beef mince, raw egg, lightly cooked broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, fresh celery tops, parsley. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the evening; lightly cooked chicken breast fillet, lightly cooked broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, fresh celery tops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hygiene works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash your hands before (and after) handling the dog food. Clean the food bowl. Clean the water bowl. If possible, use fresh meat or alternatively keep all meat frozen until required. If using frozen meat, use a microwave to defrost but not cook the meat. Frozen veges make meal preparation easier too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also never starve your dog or place them on &quot;fast&quot; unless it is medically advised and supervised by veterinary professionals. Our dogs rely on us for food and it is unfair to be inconsistent in food supply. We transition changes over periods of at least one week. Patience is required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope our experience might help you work out a solution that is good for your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T11:16:36.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9594" CreationDate="2016-08-16T12:53:06.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are still so tiny that he doesn't understand what the truly are yet. When Raven introduces him and explains in their animal language that those are her babies he will be fine. Just give it some time and he will understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7829" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T12:53:06.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9802" CreationDate="2016-08-16T12:57:11.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't take the chance. Parvo killed my puppy. If you live in a nice neighborhood then I would definitely get the other 2 shots. Parvo has no bounds and if any of you neighbor's board their animals while going on vacation then there you go, a possible outbreak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7829" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T12:57:11.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9652" CreationDate="2016-08-16T15:28:45.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog just did this same thing last night. She has a food issue though, that she will eat until she explodes (lab X pitty X boarder collie). She managed to find our friend's dog food storage and knock it over and go to town in a matter of seconds before we all realized she was missing. Anyways, needless to say she ate her fair share. But when we got her home she ran straight into her spot in the yard and started heaving and burying it with her nose. We thought she was embarrassed because she got into trouble, but this morning first place she sulked off to was those piles... Turns out our little miss was saving it for a later time because apparently we &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; feed her and she couldn't wait until breakfast :p&#xA;She's fine btw, her bloat wasn't extreme or anything, she just had a bad tummy ache. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*So maybe for the odd behaviour is that the hot day made him feel ill and or tired and he couldn't eat, maybe heat stroke or something, but he didn't want his food to go to waste or knew he would be hungry before his next feeding time. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Labs and their food, I tell you&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7830" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-08-16T16:32:08.670" LastActivityDate="2016-08-16T16:32:08.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15060" CreationDate="2016-08-16T19:23:02.173" Score="4" ViewCount="2015" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are thinking about adopting a 2.5 year old cavapoo (50% Cavalier- 50% miniature Poodle 8.5kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a very large office at work and am thinking I could take the dog with me to work everyday. I work at 2km from home and am biking everyday on concrete path that would be safe for a dog to run next to the bike (except if the concrete would hurt the dog's paws). The trip is mainly flat and I take about 4-5 minutes to make it but I realize I will have to slow down for the dog. Intuitively, I'd think that such a trip would be too enduring for such a relatively small dog but I might be mistaken as I have little experience with dogs (and even less with small dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is an adult cavapoo able to run over 2km on concrete twice a day?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much time would it take to a cavapoo to run over 2km?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I live at Vancouver, BC. The temperature does not get too high but the winter is very rainy. Will the dog be happy to run under the rain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could also take the cavapoo in a bucket in the morning and allow it to run on the way back in the evening, or systematically take the cavapoo in the bucket for half the trip. Does one of these alternative sounds like a better idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7833" LastEditorUserId="7833" LastEditDate="2016-08-17T23:50:22.493" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T19:30:23.150" Title="Are Cavalier-Poodle able to run over 2km?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15056" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-17T01:12:36.560" Score="4" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a while now my male dog (blue heeler) will ask to be mounted by my female dog (blue heeler/lab mix). He will rub up against her and then push his butt into her face. He will do this several times until she mounts him. He's only a year and a few months old and has not yet been neutered. It's very odd and he will do it many times a night. Why is he doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7837" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T18:10:38.563" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T18:10:38.563" Title="What does it mean when your male dog asks to be mounted by your female dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-17T12:20:25.810" Score="4" ViewCount="7619" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I have an indoor cat. He is 1 year old and his name is Spock. He is normally very sweet and loving. He is rarely home alone because we have opposite schedules and one of us is usually here with him. He has recently started having negative habits only with me. I work from home part of the time and he has this cute habit of standing up on his back legs and literally tapping me on the arm or shoulder when he wants attention:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vVV6R.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vVV6R.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Just like this, which is cute. I stop and give him attention for a while and then I'll set him down out of my lap and he will spin around and bite me. He has done it several times. But when he does the tapping thing to my boyfriend he never bites him. When I told my boyfriend, he almost didn't believe me but then he saw him do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why would he only bite me, and what should I do to stop this behavior?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7840" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:09:12.517" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T13:24:26.633" Title="Cat biting only me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15054" CreationDate="2016-08-17T17:23:09.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think a dog that small could keep up with a bicycle, and would have trouble keeping up with a jogger for that distance. Dogs from the herding and sporting groups tend to make better running companions because running is part of the &quot;job&quot; of their breed. But realize that no dog is really bred to run long distances continuously -- they are bred to run in bursts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is the product of two toy breeds, who were originally bred just to be companion dogs. Running isn't in their genes. A small dog will have to take several steps just to match one of your strides. Trying to keep up with a bicycle seems impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-08-17T17:23:09.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15061" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-17T22:34:31.043" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have looked a little online and most of the answers i have found are &quot;it depends&quot;. I am curious how much it is generally recommended to feed a cat. whether by percentage of weight or volume (aka % or cups) or something else. I am fairly new to taking care of cats and i come from a snake background in which feeding is easy and well documented. My cat usually acts like he is dying of hunger when he first starts eating but sometimes will leave a few bites of food left in his bowl. I generally feed a dry bowl (1/4 cup) leaving for work and a wet bowl (1/4 cup) coming home from work. I know dry food is generally not recommended but i am transitioning from all dry diet of Iams (what his first family had) and the dry food I feed him has 4 bird products (deboned chicken, deboned turkey, and some other bird related stuff stuff that i forgot) as the main ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there a specific scale to use or is it really just a toss up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T12:33:50.597" Title="how much food should i feed my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-08-18T13:30:17.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-18T00:07:22.257" Score="4" ViewCount="2889" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family got 3 pond fish which were koi. I realized one fish was getting bigger/swollen looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few months he was getting &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; swollen or big and during the month he stopped eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QNTYf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QNTYf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was so worried because he was the kind of fish that would come to you and let you pet it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today he died. I'm not sure what caused it. Recently a frog joined our pond and I'm not sure if he caused it. I would really want to know if the frog was the reason and how I could have prevented it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ernI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ernI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7842" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-30T08:50:30.650" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T08:50:30.650" Title="Why did my koi pond fish die?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2016-08-18T00:11:28.137" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;my friends dog was like that I I helped her and told her to aprotch it with a soft calm voice and let it get used to you  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7842" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T00:11:28.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13893" CreationDate="2016-08-18T00:31:02.347" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, thing is all you got to do is keep them separated for a while, then keep them together in the same room for a few minutes. Then, keep a good eye on them and do it over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat should get used to it. When the kittens show no sign of fear and your cat does not attack or growl, you can let them roam around all over. They should have enough space to stay away from each other if they want, just remember to keep an eye on them, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if your cat is still mean to it and hurts it but you still want to keep the kittens then you should keep them in different rooms or you might want to get rid of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My family used to have a tortoise shell breed of cat named Ginger, and we adopted a cat named Flower. We used this method and only a few days later Flower would always sit with Ginger and follow her everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now Ginger is gone, she died from cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7842" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:51:05.780" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:51:05.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15061" CreationDate="2016-08-18T12:33:50.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every diet is different for it's caloric content, go by the bag (bag is usually very generous). If you add wet food on top of the recommended amount for dry you will have to cut back on dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reweigh your cat every month to check for weight gains and losses, you may have to tweak the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T12:33:50.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-18T14:07:15.300" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I both work, but are considering getting a cat. I'm wondering if this is acceptable and if there are any specific considerations that need to be made for the welfare of the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading online, I have seen that some breeds aren't well suited to this and some cats may be better off in pairs to give them a friend for during the day when everyone is out at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a small house and can give access to the garden/outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I need to consider? Is there anything I need to do or anything I should avoid getting/doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7845" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T14:23:03.013" Title="Getting a cat - advice for working people" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-08-18T16:26:00.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15067" CreationDate="2016-08-18T14:23:03.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are fairly independent but like humans their needs vary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to get just one cat, make sure that you get a lot of toys and set aside a chunk of your free time every day to spend with the cat/kitten. Since this feline will not have your company while you're at work, it will need extra enrichment to make up for it. Cat trees, balls with bells, toy mice, etc will be replacing the enrichment it would normally get from having siblings or you around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan to get two cats (what I recommend!), make sure that you get two food bowls, two litter boxes, two water dishes, etc. Like humans they need both together and apart time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do plan to let your cats roam outside, please talk to your local vet about the dangers that are in your area. I personally would never let my cats outside as the risk outweighs the reward (I do buy them cat grass and other safe plants to make up for it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final note, you don't have to have an animal to go talk to a veterinarian (or even go to the vet); most people in the veterinary profession love talking about animals and would be more than happy to help you through the process of getting started with your new furry family!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5413" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T14:23:03.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14990" CreationDate="2016-08-18T14:59:24.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely possible to grow plants without a soil substrate. &lt;br&gt;There are even a bunch of plants that don't have their roots in the soil, you'll need to attach them to a rock or a piece of wood. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubias&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anubias&lt;/a&gt; or a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsorum_pteropus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Java Fern&lt;/a&gt; for example. I have them both attached to a piece of wood in my tank, and they're growing great. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For other plants it depends a bit on the size of the pebbles you have. In the beginning it's possible that you'll have to hold them down with a rock, or also attach them to something to give them the chance to grow their roots around the pebbles. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, plants won't really help you solve the fish poop problem though. Some of it will probably be used, but you'll still need to do the 'normal' fishtank maintenance (like water changes). And to successfully grow plants you'll also need to use fertilizer, and/or have clay balls near the roots.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;I definitely recommend adding real plants to a fishtank, but I don't think it will help with the problem you're trying to solve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T14:59:24.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-18T15:10:27.720" Score="1" ViewCount="1123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My little kitty cat was very playful but after a small incident he got very very very much scared of everything, even including his toys. He used to come to me when he feal sleepy but not anymore. Sometimes he comes but just looks at me and do little meow. If I hold him, he try's to run. So now I try not to force him. So how can I make him get back to normal the way he was before?&#xA;Sorry for my bad English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7846" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T15:42:50.340" Title="Suddenly my kitten is fearing me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2016-08-18T15:12:33.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll need to give your plants some fertilizer (I assume that's the word you didn't know). &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aquathusiast.com/nutrientdeficiency/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; gives an overview of some symptoms and what might be missing then. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;Having a general/allround fertilizer would be a good start (CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is probably not really required).&#xA;Personally, I use &lt;a href=&quot;https://easylife.nl/en/freshwater/plant-food/profito&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Profito&lt;/a&gt; and my plants grow really well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:19:40.987" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:19:40.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14959" CreationDate="2016-08-18T20:21:08.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soak in bleach water. I use 1/10 bleach to water and I would let it soak for a good 10 minutes, but you can go longer. Rinse it with distilled water if possible, tap is ok, but RO or distilled is better, and let them dry completely. Have been doing it this way for almost 30 years and have never had a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just confirming you didn't try to treat the ich with tetracyline, correct? It's definitely not an effective treatment for it. Also because of the ich lifecycle, keep an eye on the fish because it's possible the ich disappears during the free swimming stage and it will re-appear on the fish later. Temp is by far the safest and most effective way to treat FW ich in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-08-18T20:21:08.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2016-08-19T01:18:49.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your pictures, it seem like you don't have a lighting system. If it's the case that's definitively the next thing you need to add here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plant need light to do photosynthesis and to feed themselves. So adding a decent lightning system is next. You don't need any fancy stuff for not too demanding plants (I don't know if yours are hard or easy plant). The best is something with the same spectrum as the sun about 5700k. The package generally say something like daylight or similar. Get a couple of those bulb and light the tank from above. From the dimension you listed (the tank look way bigger from your pictures), I would say you will need minimum 3 lamps. They can be suspended from above or clipped to the side of the tank or what ever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest you put the lights on a timer so plants and fish have  a consistent lighting schedule but this is optional. After the lighting is done for a couple of week (3-4+) you can look to supplement fertilizer to your plants if they still look to have difficulties. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T01:18:49.007" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15070" CreationDate="2016-08-19T06:14:33.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That happens sometimes if the toy you are playing with accidentally hits them and it freaks them out.  That happened with one of mine. It took a while for her to not be scared.  But she came around. She is rather feral too and that can make it take longer too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just be gentle and patient. They will come around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7851" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T06:14:33.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10893" CreationDate="2016-08-19T06:39:51.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally do not like the idea of locking a pet in a room or cage. If you do that, why have a pet? But that is me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I save feral cats and some take longer to calm down and get used to us. And some seem to trust more quickly. You just need to give them time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your trash can have a lid? I do have one cat that likes to get into everything. He is a brat, but very lovable. I have had him since he was about 8 days old. Did not even have his eyes open yet.  He was bottle fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all of my cats are strays. They range from 7 months to 10 years. And the 10 year old I also bottle fed as she was very tiny when I found her. The mother disappeared, so my boyfriend and I took care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just try to be patient. If they are feral, they are a little more instinctual of protecting themselves but will learn to trust you with time. Hope this helps and good luck with your new kitties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7851" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:35.637" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:35.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3227" CreationDate="2016-08-19T06:44:12.257" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that does that too...I just try not to leave things like that out. Because he is a total nut. He loves tape. and plastic bags. &#xA;And he is very healthy. &#xA;the best thing is try not to leave that kind of thing out for him to get into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7851" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T06:44:12.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-19T07:39:19.560" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/itscainitsabel/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Aren't they just lovely? &amp;lt;3&quot;&gt;my Weimaraners, Cain and Abel&lt;/a&gt; for a late night walk last night. Not sure how but Abel hurt himself. He has a wound on his front, left leg and a slight limp. Don't want to wrap it with anything as I know he will have ripped it off the second I leave him to his own devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to help him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not infect the wound as he most definitely will from walking around&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cover it so that he does not experience any pain and the wound does&#xA;not get dirt and bacteria on it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6883" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:07:29.117" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:08:09.503" Title="My pet has a superficial wound on his foot. He's limping. How can I relieve his pain and cover the wound from infection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15084" CreationDate="2016-08-19T10:15:34.963" Score="6" ViewCount="2833" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though it's a delicate problem in most cats, my cat has always been drinking acceptable amounts of water (usually 3/4 of her bowl per day, which is equivalent of ~300 mL, she is weighing 4.5kg ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the extreme heat wave of this summer, I've decided buy one of those water fountains. The problem is, she is absolutely crazy about the fountain and this new drinking technique. And most of the time, she drinks so much that some gurgling sounds can be heard when she climbs up/down to somewhere after drinking (and the occasional cat coughing from drinking too hastily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is now drinking at least 700mL of water per day which I'm worried about. Every other behaviour (eating, activity) of hers is completely normal. When I consulted my vet about the situation they simply said it's normal with the extreme heat wave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can extreme water drinking can possibly make my cat ill or cause some sort of problem with her overall health ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6180" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T01:26:24.653" Title="Cat is drinking too much water" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15083" CreationDate="2016-08-19T10:27:31.213" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound like it's mainly due to the heat - the previous amount from the bowl might not actually have been quite as much as she wanted given the temperature, even with &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; of the bowl left. One of my cats is rather fussy about having her water be &amp;quot;fresh&amp;quot; and I'll often find that in a morning her bowl will still be &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; full, but as soon as I fill it back up with fresh water, she will have a massive drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;coughing&amp;quot; from drinking too quickly is probably at least partly due to fact that she is drinking from a stream of water rather than a static bowl. Much like when humans drink from a water fountain rather than a glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet isn't worried then that's the main thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T01:26:24.653" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T01:26:24.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-19T10:42:25.860" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am watching &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTQDYsmj-Bo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; on youtube. Is the cat trying to get close to the baby or is it some kind of aggressive behaviour? By the way, the cat in the video is a female cat and gave birth to three kittens last year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7853" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T15:24:45.310" Title="Can anyone explain me about this cat's behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12152" CreationDate="2016-08-19T14:33:14.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding the PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt;, it's not a high PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; that could cause algae. It's more the ratio between NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; and PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; that could cause it (it's called the Redfield Ratio). More information about it can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://buddendo.home.xs4all.nl/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://buddendo.home.xs4all.nl/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;And most often the cause of algae is a lack of nutrients for your plants in combination with too much (sun)light. &#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since you mention that your tank is close to a window, then this is most likely the cause of your algae.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;So as a first step, I would suggest to move it away from the window, and also limit the amount of hours you keep the lights on (if you have any).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second step is to do a water change (not all of it, max 50%) and try to remove as much algae manually.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then start adding plant fertilizer. The 'Estimative Index' is also a great way to do this and prevent algae: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilizing/15225-estimative-index-dosing-guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilizing/15225-estimative-index-dosing-guide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; could also be added. Algae are often also caused by a lack of it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once this is all ok, you can gradually increase how long you keep the lights on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that you'll already notice a big difference if you simply move your tank away from the window though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:14:23.807" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:14:23.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15085" CreationDate="2016-08-19T15:24:45.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the cat is just wary of the baby, but also very curious. Initially, the cat was tense and looked like it might flee. Then you can see its body relax. Next, it starts investigating, gradually getting closer to the baby. Finally it decides the baby is probably not a threat, and sits near it, but at a safe distance. As the cat sits, its body relaxes, but it's still a bit wary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare this with how a cat looks when its chasing prey. The cat crouches very low to the ground (even lower than in the video with the baby), it shifts from side to side to get the right balance, the tail flicks back and forth, and then... POUNCE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T15:24:45.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15070" CreationDate="2016-08-19T15:42:50.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the age of the kitten then they shouldn't be fearful for long. The younger they are the soon r r they forget. Sounds like you have a sensitive cat. My 4 month old kitten liked to be startled, he then tries to Chase us back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7857" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T15:42:50.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15083" CreationDate="2016-08-19T15:47:17.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be pleased.  Cats have a tendency to drink too little water, which can lead to urinary tract issues.  It's a bigger issue for males but still, be happy your cat is hydrating well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7858" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T15:47:17.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2206" CreationDate="2016-08-19T16:15:31.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah I agree on the energy thing. I have a friend that has two dog's and when they see me, I get a greeting bark from one, and then she stills politely to get petted. The other one would just politely sit in front of me and put it's head upward and let me pet him . Both with waggly tales. Ny neighbors dog comes up to me, waggly tail, no barking and gets petted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7859" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T16:15:31.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15098" CreationDate="2016-08-19T16:36:02.333" Score="2" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;About four months ago we adopted a long-haired female kitten (6-10 months old, the vet couldn't tell because she was slightly sickly and thus smaller than normal) from our local shelter. Despite our best attempts to love and facilitate her, she still doesn't seem to be well adapted to humans;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She looks scared when people walk near her (hides under furniture or scurries away a short distance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is constantly tense while we pet her, although sometimes she calms down eventually&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She usually begins to meow, scratch, or bite us shortly after we begin petting her&lt;/strong&gt;, and attempts to escape (and we of course we don't force her to stay)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She will stop playing or watching something when we enter the room&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is perhaps most happy when we play with a laser or other toys, which we do frequently&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is slightly overweight (we feed her half a can of wet food in the morning and half a can at night)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have two dogs and one other male cat. She is scared of the dogs but constantly plays with the other cat (much to his annoyance.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are unaware of the details of her circumstances or previous living conditions, although we believe she lived outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that can only be changed with time, or is there something we can try to help her become less anxious in our home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7861" LastEditorUserId="7861" LastEditDate="2016-08-19T17:40:59.950" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T23:03:03.997" Title="Adopted kitten still hasn't adapted well to humans" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15083" CreationDate="2016-08-19T17:14:22.280" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excessive consumption of water in cats can be a sign of kidney failure. A lot of older cats have problems with their kidneys. Since you mentioned having talked to a vet I assume this was ruled out, but keep an eye on it after temperatures normalize and if this persists it might be a good idea to get blood work done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is diagnosed with kidney disease, vets prescribe a special diet that is low in protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1272" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T17:14:22.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15083" CreationDate="2016-08-19T18:17:41.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;your cat is a wise guy, he cures himself from prostate and kidney stones and cleans his blood, detoxicates... Check his blood glucose for diabetes and urine for concentration function and pituitary as a last case for antidiuretic hormone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7863" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T18:17:41.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15091" CreationDate="2016-08-19T18:53:50.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a few things to try that tend to help, however some cats will NEVER come around. Be calm and give her all the space she needs, let her come to you and don't go to her. It takes time and she may always be fearful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Feliway diffuser - this emits a pheromone to help reduce anxiety, we use this a lot and cat speciality clinics have this everywhere. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.feliway.com/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Royal Canin Calm Diet - This diet can also help with anxiety, no drugs/medications added it's all natural products to keep kitties at ease. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/vet/calming-support&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/vet/calming-support&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are anti-anxiety oral medications you could use but you would end up stressing her more by pilling her all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T18:53:50.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13800" CreationDate="2016-08-19T18:55:56.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that higher pitched barks often require a dog to open their mouths. Your dog's pitch is changing because she is unable to open her mouth while having a stick in it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T18:55:56.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2527" CreationDate="2016-08-19T20:22:27.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree it depends on breed and individual temperament. A Basenji should &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; be left unattended on any lead for long. We set up a similar system, and after an hour she was snarling and squealing and had rubbed off neck hairs with a little blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, some dogs are happy like that. My mom currently wants her new rescued Miniature Schnauzer set up in a similar system. She only plans to use it for when she is working in the yard, when she needs to go back and forth, opening gates and doors. We shall see...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7864" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T20:22:27.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15091" CreationDate="2016-08-19T21:50:37.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answers to this question should help you tackle this problem.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12040/my-rescue-kitten-is-afraid-of-people-and-hides-in-the-basement/12054#12054&quot;&gt;My rescue kitten is afraid of people and hides in the basement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also here is a link to an excellent short series of videos on socialising feral cats. Not that your cat is feral; in fact I think you will see that you've made more progress than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist of it is using food and irresistible treats to get the cats to eat in the presence of humans that are far away; then gradually requiring them to be a little closer to the human to get the treat. You will need to move forward in very small stages. In your case, you may need to start with getting her to eat when you are awake but in another room. There will be setbacks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can ask your local humane society or animal shelter for advice. I'm sure they will be happy to help and have good advice to offer; as they have to socialise feral cats regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-08-19T21:50:37.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-20T07:54:21.243" Score="2" ViewCount="664" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased a rabbit from a pet store. During the purchase, the rabbit have already had a wound on his back. It seems going to be better. After 2 days, he shed the fur around his mouth and nose area, but I can't find the shedded hair in the cage area. The next day, he started to lose fur around his eyes. He stop drinking water and just eats carrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What may be the causes? Is it virus? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7866" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-08-21T22:41:33.150" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T16:18:34.050" Title="Rabbit losing hair around face areas (eyes, nose and mouth)" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-20T09:47:10.310" Score="3" ViewCount="1146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently realised that I need to rearrange my two male cats neutering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best time would be during some holiday I already have booked off from work,  but shortly after that (1-2 days) my wife and I are going away for three days with only my brother-in-law to look after them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My BIL has not got a lot of cat experience, but has cat sat for us before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that cats will be groggy and drowsy after the surgery (which is fine)  but that it will take ~2 weeks for the wounds to heal. Some websites &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://cattime.com/cat-facts/health/308-spaying-or-neutering-your-cat-what-to-expect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/long-after-neuter-cats-recover-9559.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; day the cats need to be supervised during this time so that they don't lick it play fight and open the wounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our boys do scrap a little while we're around (though very little) but we don't know what they get up to when we're out. Nothing violent at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're both around 6 months of age, and male. We can supervise them the day is the surgery and some of the day after for certain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How's much supervision will they most likely need, and what's the worst case scenario? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="607" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T19:41:07.930" Title="How's much supervision will my two male cats need after neutering?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15234" CreationDate="2016-08-20T17:46:04.850" Score="3" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, domestic long hair, ragamuffin mix, male, 15 years old and in good health (bloodwork last month was stellar, and he doesn't act a day over 8), but I am concerned about his weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His weight has always been in the 13-14 lb range. He is a relatively large cat and also was a bit chunky on his underside. For years I fed him 4/3 cup dry food per day split morning and night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In August 2014 he weighed in at 14.7 lbs and I decided to put him on a bit of a diet and started feeding him for a 12lb target weight, 1 cup per day split, Iams pro health senior dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In August 2015 he was at 13.1 and much more active, so I changed nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This month, August 2016 he was at a startling 10.1 lbs. He is as active as ever and like I said clean bill of health but I am slightly concerned. Vet does not seem concerned, and 10.1 lbs is normal for a Cat (TM) so it's hard to judge. I can't tell if this is bad, or if it is healthy, because I'm used to him being heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it's hard to judge because I just shaved him, so he looks about half the size he usually does. Fwiw he does not look boney to me, at least, I can't see his ribs at all. He's got a bit of loose skin on his belly where his fat used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now, I have added 2.5 oz wet food in the morning to his normal daily 1 cup of dry food (his stool was slightly dry, although he was not constipated, that was his only issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my mistakes is I don't own a scale, I'm going to start monitoring monthly. But my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This seems sudden and was definitely unexpected, is it something I should be concerned about?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I determine what a healthy target weight is for my cat?&lt;/strong&gt; I mean Google gives a range for the &quot;average&quot; weight of &quot;a cat&quot; but there's too much variation to just pick a number. How can I judge what a stable healthy weight for a given specific cat should be? How do I know when to increase / decrease food portions?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize this question may be all over the place, what I'm really asking about is how to figure out what weight is healthy for any cat, based on observations of their health and activity (I have another 2 year old too and I suspect I'm going to have to watch her weight as well some day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2016-08-20T18:03:15.373" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T14:27:27.167" Title="Cat diet success vs unhealthy weight loss, how do I determine a healthy target weight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15102" CreationDate="2016-08-20T18:16:37.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you put cones on their heads you might be able to ease the supervision burden on your bil as far as licking goes. If you can keep them in separate rooms you can also take play fighting out of the picture, although as you suspect the first few days they won't be doing much of anything at all. Then supervision becomes simply a matter of helping them keep deal with the cone, e.g. being nice to them, helping them eat, cleaning their face, making sure litter isn't stuck near the wounds (depending on the kind of litter you use you might consider shredding up some newspaper and layering it on top of you notice it's irritating them), that kind of stuff, but it's no longer necessary to constantly watch them or be concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risk of injury or opening the wounds is real. Doing these two things will change the risk from injury to merely discomfort and unhappiness, which is much more manageable short and long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet about the cones and see if you can prepare a separate room for at least one, with food water and litter available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastActivityDate="2016-08-20T18:16:37.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15106" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-21T06:15:52.487" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 3 weeks ago we noticed our male cat licking, scratching himself a lot, so put flea medication on him and sprayed the area at the base of his body near his tail (where he had created sores from biting the area) with hydrocortizone spray.&#xA;Since then he will have nothing to do with us, he sleeps under the spare bed all day, and when he comes out and we try to pet him he runs away and won't let us touch him.  Before this, he was friendly, affectionate and sociable.  He is eating, drinking and using the litter box as usual.&#xA;What can we do to get him to like us again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7871" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T14:17:21.287" Title="my cat changed his behavior" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10061" CreationDate="2016-08-21T08:17:28.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen 'affectionate biting' behavior like this in some cats I have known. Partially this behavior is just cat behavior. If you see two kittens biting and thumping each other while playing, you know that that cats bite not only in fear or anger but also in play and affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biting behavior like this may be (at least partially) triggered by specific smells. When I shave I use my right hand to spread the shaving foam on my face, and afterward one of my cats would tend to bite that hand when she was next to me on my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is some perfume, aftershave, or a specific brand of soap you are using on your face, it may be triggering this behavior. Try not using these things on your face but instead apply them to your hands to test if your cat is biting a specific smell, and then stop using that product (at least on on places you don't want your cat to bite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as swatting your cat goes, I cannot strongly enough emphasize that cats do not think the same way that humans do. When you hit a cat you may think the cat sees the relationship between what it has just done and your hitting it. Not true. The cat sees that you are a source of violence and will tend to stay away from you after that, but that is because you have increased your cat's fear of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hitting your cat may make her avoid you, but since there is little or no connection in your cat's brain between her action and your strike your cat's biting behavior not be affected; you may have actually made things worse since your cat may now react preemptively with more violence during any interaction with the scary threat (you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T08:17:28.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-21T09:27:14.377" Score="4" ViewCount="1057" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just post a word that is similar to the brand name, as I suspect that you can not advertise or mention the very name itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or please tell me what chemicals are safe/unsafe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that - how long do I leave my poor cat in the bedroom, away from the danger? The room being painted has French doors, airing the room in a day, so I think. Advice welcome. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2016-08-21T22:42:53.907" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T13:58:34.463" Title="Safe paint for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15108" CreationDate="2016-08-21T18:46:47.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of the paints you're going to use to paint your home is &quot;safe&quot; for a cat (or a human) to ingest, so if that is the concern, then we're really only talking about keeping the cat out of the area while drying. Paint dry times vary a bit, but latex is usually 2-3 hours and oil-based is usually around 6-7 hours. Once dry I think you can let the cat near it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't really think that's totally necessary. We've had 3 cats for many years and have painted all over the house with none of the cats getting into trouble with it after it's been applied. While cats are curious, they don't just eat everything they come across, they're more likely to get it on their paws and track it around than anything else and so we only kept them out during the active painting time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T18:46:47.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7962" CreationDate="2016-08-21T21:49:58.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your female dog is probably in heat! Unless you want a litter of puppies you might want to keep your female puppy inside. Yeah I know puppies might sound all nice and cute but trust me there are a lot to take care of. So if you don't have a big house there's some space to provide them especially if they're pit bulls and if you don't have a lot of food or water especially water then you might want to keep your dog inside like I said so yeah I just thought this would be helpful. As us humans know it by a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7873" LastActivityDate="2016-08-21T21:49:58.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-22T02:38:18.490" Score="3" ViewCount="6728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a couple of office chairs in my home office and one of my cats has done quite a bit of damage to both of them with his claws. He has shredded much of the fabric-covered chair and the leather chair has many puncture marks on the bottom of the seat from where he has flexed his claws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to replace or re-upholster these chairs with a material that will be comfortable and attractive but also highly resistant to cat claws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions other than declawing the cat or putting him down, neither of which I will even consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7875" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T17:26:12.110" Title="How do I keep cats from destroying office chairs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10342" CreationDate="2016-08-22T05:31:01.927" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're asking to be preened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Missy (pictured on the left) never gets the message, so Prince (right) pecks Missy after a few seconds, because he wants attention. I've also seen this in my other cockatiel pair and between two parakeets. Even one of my parrotlets bows his head to request preening from a parakeet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kloqN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kloqN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cockatiel bowing&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7870" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T05:31:01.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15058" CreationDate="2016-08-22T19:05:56.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 1/2 year old female tuxedo domestic short hair displays similar behavior towards me. I live alone with few visitors.  She's never been a cuddly snuggly cat, even as a kitten. She reaches up and taps my arm when I am seated at my computer. She is fully clawed and sometimes a claw gets stuck in my pant's leg or my arm gets snagged. When I reach down to her, my hand gets nips and she'll sometimes snag my hand. I interpret that there's no personal aggression towards me; she is trying to engage me to play.  If I engage and toss toys or get the feather on a stick, she works out some energy and I can get back to my work.  She's fulfilled by 10-15 minutes of attention and play; and I reap a few hours of uninterrupted work. It's actually normal for us.  As for you being nipped as opposed to your boyfriend.....I'd guess that Spock is reading you differently at this time, but he likely would bite your boyfriend anytime the need for play overcomes manners.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would ask that you please do not punish Spock for this behavior. As I think back on the cats that have been in my 63 year long life, I recall that most of the short haired cats were more &quot;bitey&quot; than medium or long haired cats. I think it's it's more their nature to be tightly wound as opposed to laid back. I tried to change my girl's way of gaining my attention during her first year with me. From her body language it seemed she felt confused and demoralized; and I felt awful for yelling at her. Didn't change a thing. I accept her ways. She does me the same favor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-05-09T02:55:37.787" LastActivityDate="2020-05-09T02:55:37.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15111" CreationDate="2016-08-22T21:10:53.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that velour and micro fibers are very tightly woven and resistant to cat claws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastActivityDate="2016-08-22T21:10:53.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2016-08-22T21:28:27.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have placed, in every room, those 2 by 1&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; foot (61 by 46 cm) rug samples that carpeting companies give you.  My past cat loved them.  My present cats use the carpeted post of a carpeted window high cat box.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:01:33.450" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:01:33.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="746" CreationDate="2016-08-23T00:33:24.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have extremely sensitive skin and so I find that using just a tiny bit of my gentle everyday use face wash works to rid him of his smell. I only do this about once every two months. I don't recommend using it on your tortoises neck or head. Just a tiny drop on each limb seems to do the trick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7878" LastActivityDate="2016-08-23T00:33:24.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T05:40:49.740" Score="2" ViewCount="1969" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today my Beta started swimming like a mad man and hitting himself on the side of the bowl and ornamental plants. You can hear him crashing against these things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm scared he's hurting himself. After some time has passed, he will have another episode. After these episodes he just lies at the top of the waterline and doesn't move much. He's not eating normally, but it's the thrashing that really has me worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know anything about what this behavior could mean? Am I getting ready to loose my fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7880" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-04T19:15:48.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T05:48:52.523" Title="Betta hitting walls of tank in 'panic episodes' - What is causing this?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T11:06:40.343" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard someone talking about &quot;fly strike' and their pet, what is it? Can it be prevented and/or treated? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:01:32.920" Title="What is Fly Strike?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15121" CreationDate="2016-08-23T14:10:09.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's when they have an open wound and a fly lays eggs and they get infested with maggots. If it is left on, the maggots will grow to be flies eventually and lay eggs of their own starting the process over and it can kill the animal due to ammonia excreted from maggots or shock/infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend had to clean sheep with fly strike when he lived in New Zealand - and as far as I know you cut fur around the strike, use some type of insecticide/antibiotic to get the maggots off and put all the maggots you find in a bag in the sunlight. It kills the maggots and ends the life cycle at that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to make sure to keep applying antibiotic after that and make sure no more eggs are in the animal. You also should separate the animal from any compadres until they are healed up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:01:32.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:01:32.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T16:56:46.610" Score="1" ViewCount="29220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our story starts around a few months ago when a female cat gave birth to a 4 kittens in our backyard. At the time we didn't know what to do so we called RSPCA and asked them what we should do and they told us &quot;the mother cat will take care of the kittens just leave them alone and they will go away&quot;, however my mother didn't want to leave them alone because she thought they would starve and she started buying food for them and the mother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cats started opening their eyes this orange tomcat that walks around our neighbourhood randomly started coming to us and eating the food, at the time we thought nothing of it. However one day he decided to take one of the kittens overnight, (we know he did it because he was trying to accomplish it all day but we kept stopping him). We ended up thinking that he had eaten the kitten and we thought we could do nothing about it. One month later he comes back and starts to do this thing where he goes on top of the mother cat and bites her neck (mating I assume) However the mother cat doesn't allow him to do this and she usually walks away or fights him off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward another month and now he is trying to do the same thing with the KITTENS! WHERE HE BITES THEIR NECK AND JUMPS ON THEIR BACK (again I assume this is mating).Roughly about 2 weeks ago he took another one of the kittens overnight however this one ended up coming back on its own. We always shoo him away. Recently the mother cat has stopped spending less time with her kittens and going away more and sometimes doesn't come back for a few nights&#xA;We all assumed this was to get away from the male tomcat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning he came back and started doing the thing where jumps on their back and starts biting the kittens necks again (one of the kittens has gotten to the point where the fur has started falling off and you can see some of his skin on his neck which is really disturbing and worrying). The mother cat has gotten to the point where she always runs away when she sees the tomcat and doesn't come back for a bit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are really worried for the kittens and don't want them getting pregnant and having litter at such a young age. You are probably wondering why we haven't just brought the kittens into our house however when we do that they just hide behind the fridge or go into a really dark corner with wires which is really dangerous. What should we do? Is there people we can call to come take the cats away? We live in the UK so if you can give us any UK related homes or something to come take the kittens away. We are worried almost everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7884" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T23:28:20.410" Title="Male cat keeps trying to mate with female kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15125" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T17:02:12.373" Score="1" ViewCount="2731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is the right place as it isn't really a normal pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We found a caterpillar a few days a go, and decided to keep it until it turns in to a butterfly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We made him a habitat in a clean sweet container, lined with kitchen roll, and sour holes punched in the lid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seemed happy for the first two days eating the strawberry we found him on, and an assortment of other leafs from our garden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night he didn't move much, and after returning from work today he doesn't seem to have eaten anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal or are we doing something wrong? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5152" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:46:12.823" Title="Caterpillar stopped eating" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T17:55:07.543" Score="1" ViewCount="2942" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I get my mickey mouse platy to start birthing the young again? She had given birth to three - I wanna say - preemies because an egg was laying at the bottom of our breeder tank that I had her in she at two of the babies I was able to save the third baby and that baby is doing well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I moved the mother back into the main tank and have the one baby in the breeder box. The babies where born on August 18th 2016 and it's now four days latter. The mother is still swimming and thriving, but still looks pregnant. She eats and is pooping really well and she is looking square in the normal pregnancy way too. She is showing signs of trying to go back into labor by hiding slow swimming movements too. Any advise on what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the temp set between 78°F (25,5°C) and 80°F (26,5°C). I also have moved the live plants into the main tank and bought a separator to have the platy on the one side of the main tank and the Molly and cat fish on the other side. Our molly is not pregnant. This is I believe the platy's first set of baby fry. I have a ten gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7879" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:02:21.823" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:02:21.823" Title="How do I get my mickey mouse platy back into labor?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T18:25:30.087" Score="4" ViewCount="798" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 13 year old male tabby cat had two kinds of bladder stones a couple of years ago. He had surgery for the stones, all were removed, and there's been no issue with the stones returning since then. At the time of the surgery he weighed about 17-18 pounds. The vet recommended that we feed him Hill's Prescription Diet &quot;w/d&quot; dry food for digestive issues and weight management, and since then he's come down to about 13 pounds. As background info he's naturally a biggish, lanky cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that he's getting too thin, even at 13 pounds. He's a solitary indoor cat (we live in NYC), so doesn't get a ton of exercise. The weather this summer (hot) seemed to take the wind out of his sails, even with the AC left on during the day when it's extremely hot. He's less interested in eating overall. This isn't to say he doesn't have an appetite, he just doesn't eat as much as he once did. I'm hoping that when the weather turns cooler his appetite will return. I supplement in fresh chicken and fish to give me a bit more fat, but even that he doesn't always go crazy for it the way he once did. I realize that he's getting older and he will shrink the way that most creatures do in their latter days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned before we buy him the Hill's Prescription &quot;w/d&quot; food for digestive and weight management issues. Cleary the weight management isn't an issue anymore, but we do not want the bladder stones to return. The Hill's w/d food goes for about $65 for an 18 pound bag, which is a lot of money. Is there a cheaper option that will give him a bit more caloric intake while still keeping the digestive issues at bay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7883" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T12:57:21.407" LastActivityDate="2018-03-04T20:15:51.170" Title="Cat: Weight Management &amp; Bladder Stones" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2016-08-23T20:04:58.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the vet is happy with his weight, he is not getting too thin. You &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be able to feel the individual bones of the spine through a cat's skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A friend's cat does take this to extremes; she was the runt of the litter and has never weighed much more than 6 pounds at her heaviest. At this point, she's almost a walking skeleton in a fur coat.... and she is 19 years old and still going, having outlived her siblings. Your kid is probably not as skinny as you think he is!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-10-23T20:38:40.680" LastActivityDate="2016-10-23T20:38:40.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15111" CreationDate="2016-08-23T22:46:21.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scratching serves several purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;marking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sharpenig oft claws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;simply workout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sometimes boredom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;timeout during play&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to prevent destruction oft certain things you should keep the different purposes in mind. &#xA;Produktfoto&#xA;As the causes for scratching won't vanish because it is natural behaviour in cats you can only arrange things to make your cat scratch elsewhere. So you basically have to provide better scratching opprotunities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat marks its property by scratching. If you provide a scratching post it must be visible for a cat to consider it a good marking place. So test several positions and observe your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can prefer different materials. Mine love real wood, because it peels the claws better than textiles and the scratch marks are visible to other cats (even if there aren't any at your home). Wood makes dort but this is the price I pay for having my furniture saved. Your cat may prefer other materials. Testing can hell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workout by scratching is preferably done in an ergonomic position. I leaned some wooden branches against the wall in an 45 degree angle and the cats really like it. Inclined cardboards are available which are good for trying it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is bored do something about it. Play and provide toys for different opportunities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are playing and your cat needs a timeout it will either lick itself or scratch. So consider where you play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastEditorUserId="3732" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T05:59:28.930" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T05:59:28.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-23T23:08:58.997" Score="3" ViewCount="2670" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ordered wet cat food from Chewy - Sheba brand Perfect Portions paté. When I opened the container, the consistency was different than usual. Instead of sort of solid wet it was more watery with some consistency so not watery, like liquid. The expiration date is good and the smell was good too. It seems like it was stored in a humid environment, I guess. Anyway, I fed Ali (my cat) some. He licked it and seemed to like it, but I am still concerned there is something wrong with the food. So my question is - is it okay if I feed this to my cat? And is it spoiled or not, or should I be aware of something? I don't know. I just never had this happened before so I'm confused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7192" OwnerDisplayName="Taren Suarez" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:27:12.023" LastActivityDate="2020-09-05T14:56:07.107" Title="How can I tell if my cat food is spoiled?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15124" CreationDate="2016-08-23T23:41:51.393" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most female cats reach puberty and have their first heat cycle between five and nine months of age, occasionally earlier... just as human puberty occurs before the body is fully adult. You should talk to you vet about getting the cats neutered; that will mostly eliminate the mounting problem and completely eliminate the risk of more kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'd try to get the older Tom and Queen fixed &lt;strong&gt;*now&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, and the kittens fixed at the earliest age/size your vet is willing to perform the operation. Obviously if the adults are someone else's cats you would need to talk to their owners about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that: Mock mounting can also be a dominance display. My two nine-year-olds are both neutered, but every so often the boy will grab his sister's scruff. Since they aren't harming each other, and since she sometimes instigates this wrestling match, I'm mostly letting them handle it .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(She wants me to stop typing now...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T02:53:19.503" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T02:53:19.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-24T00:30:31.117" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got our puppy from the Humane Society.  They wrote on the paperwork &quot;shepherd mix&quot;.  They told us it was a pit / shepherd mix, but that's not on the papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I search for pictures of 'pit terriers', our dog looks very similar.  We'd like to fly internationally but the airline has a &quot;no pit terrier&quot; policy.  Is my &quot;shepherd mix&quot; paperwork from the Humane Society enough to &quot;prove&quot; that the dog isn't a pit terrier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7890" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-08-25T12:16:12.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:26:52.060" Title="Can Humane Society paperwork be used to prove breed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15132" CreationDate="2016-08-24T02:51:12.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask the airline. It's their policy, it's their  judgement call, it's their obligation to explain this to you if they want you to buy a ticket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like one airline's answer, try others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T02:51:12.930" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15126" CreationDate="2016-08-24T07:31:41.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Platy fish are Live bearers, meaning that they give birth directly to young ones. &gt;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platy_(fish)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Platy fish Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order for you to have more Platy babies, you will need to have one male. Whether a male is present in your larger tank, is not clear from the info you provided. Male to female ratio should be either 2F : 1M or 3F : 1M, this is only to prevent lesser number of females being harassed by males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T07:31:41.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15137" CreationDate="2016-08-24T12:48:55.413" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard somewhere that in the UK there is a maximum legal number of 66 monkeys that any one person can keep as a pet. It seemed like an arbitrary number to me so I wanted to ask if there is a maximum limit to the quantity of a certain types of animal an individual can keep as a pet e.g. monkeys&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2474" LastEditorUserId="2474" LastEditDate="2016-08-25T09:39:11.927" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T09:39:11.927" Title="Is there a maximum legal limit to the quantity of certain types of animal an individual can keep as a pet e.g. monkeys" Tags="&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15136" CreationDate="2016-08-24T14:03:27.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask your Local Authority Having Jurisdiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not be able to keep monkeys at all; animals classified as wildlife require special permits in many countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may also be local ordinances. I believe people can't keep roosters my town for noise reasons, though they can keep hens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may also be laws intended to prevent &quot;animal hoarding&quot; cases. And you may need to be able to demonstrate that the animals are getting suitable care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T16:02:20.243" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T16:02:20.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15132" CreationDate="2016-08-24T14:09:57.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I highly doubt the Humane Society paperwork can prove anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the paperwork is educated guesses since most dogs are brought in or rescued from abusive homes. At best I would say that paperwork could convince people that don't know anything about dogs but I would not put any stock into it. Most of the time it is up to the landlord/airline/person that bans breeds anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dog adoption places that I have come across usually put &quot;mix&quot; or &quot;unknown mix&quot; or another type of dog for pit terriers because of the bad press surrounding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to point out that the reason they ban them on international flights is because they are outright banned in a lot of countries. I am not positive, but I doubt you can fight the law in those countries with Humane society paperwork, especially when they told you that it was a terrier mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:26:52.060" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:26:52.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15125" CreationDate="2016-08-24T15:12:16.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a caterpillar stops eating it could mean it is either sick or pupating. You should not handle them at this time and should remove any dead ones asap. Sadly, it could mean the caterpillar will die but i would just keep on waiting and seeing if it returns to normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources of sickness can be from many things. It could be pesticide or other product on the plants, it could be a parasite, or it could even be a product you used on your hands when you handled it (some lotions or sunscreen or something). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess he stopped eating prepping for molt, pupation, or just because. I wouldnt worry too much unless it happens for a few days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T15:12:16.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15026" CreationDate="2016-08-24T15:47:44.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I asked about caecatrophs because often a sign that rabbits are overeating is that they are leaving these around rather than ingesting them. If you aren't seeing them, that's a good sign for their diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet you are offering sounds really good and varied, but possibly is a little sweet - apple and blackberries &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; day?  If you are keen for them to eat up their hay and grass like good little rabbits, you could probably reduce the sweeties in their diet a little.  Hay is very good for rabbits but like us, they often prefer things that are delicious to things that are healthy!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like to give them a bit more fibre and help them keep their teeth in order, twigs from apple trees are excellent and can often be got for free if you can spot a crab-apple tree that has grown from a pip or find someone with a big oldfashioned tree that need pruning. If you give them a largish piece, they can trim the bark off and snip the twigs into shorter lengths, so it's good enrichment activity as well as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may possibly prefer grass you pull for them to grass that grows under the trampoline because the grass outside is sweeter - grass growing in shade doesn't grow so fast and sweet.  Or they might just be enjoying the attention: a lot of rabbits seem to like being presented with items that they can snip in half or generally destroy, but would ignore if they were not presented as a special item.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. Sounds like they are pretty lucky bunnies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T15:47:44.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15157" CreationDate="2016-08-24T16:53:53.900" Score="4" ViewCount="653" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am feeding a feral cat and get two kittens for over a month now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is scared of every member of my family and she runs away as soon as anyone approaches. I am the only one that feeds her and provides her with water and stays out late watching her and the kitties play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, even though I'm the only that the cat approaches, she only stops opening her mouth and screaming at me when I stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest I'm scared that she'll bite me, I'm new to all this cats thing (I've never had a pet before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does she only do that with me when I'm the only one that feeds her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7893" LastEditorUserId="7893" LastEditDate="2016-08-25T04:45:33.880" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T14:32:19.400" Title="My feral cat is attacking only me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15148" CreationDate="2016-08-24T17:05:19.670" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockapoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cockapoo&lt;/a&gt; (not a F1 generation) puppy of 9 weeks old yesterday. He seemed very healthy and we saw the documents from the previous visit in the veterinary the breeder did, stating the dog is healthy (although had fleas). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, the puppy's left eyeball is very clearly not centered. Here is a picture&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ikfed.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ikfed.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breeder said he was in good health. I just sent him the picture but he hasn't answered yet. I also tried to contact the vet but the clinic is currently closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you give me some advice? What might likely be going on? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7833" LastEditorUserId="7833" LastEditDate="2018-12-14T19:10:33.853" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T19:10:33.853" Title="Eyeball going crazy in a Cockapoo" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15111" CreationDate="2016-08-24T17:26:12.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also was going to mention a MICRO FIBER. It's not perfect but better than a lot of material. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T17:26:12.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-24T17:37:00.803" Score="3" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night my cat brought in a mouse right before I was going to sleep, and I tried to save it but failed. She killed the creature, and then gave it to me. It was really cute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought it was really kind of her to bring me a dead mouse, and I want to take a picture of the dead animal when she's got it with her and hasn't given it to me. I let her suck my pyjamas or whatever, and I gave her a bit of wet food in an effort to bribe her into getting me another so I could photograph it, but nothings working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for me to ask my cat to bring me a dead thing? I want her to bring me one every day now, and I want my house to be littered in corpses that I can take out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T21:41:43.780" Title="How can I ask my cat to bring me something?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="986" CreationDate="2016-08-24T17:37:36.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one has mentioned the rind of citrus fruit. I'm a lemon in water person so I take the half rind, put it in a custard dish and place it where I don't want the cat to go. Looks a little strange and you have to explain to others why you have bowls of lemon rind around. But it works. Maybe essense of lemon rubbed on a dish would work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T17:37:36.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6504" CreationDate="2016-08-24T18:51:39.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;60 lbs is a bit.  A climbing harness designed for dogs and practice putting it on and off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 50 ft climbs rope and a carabiner (or two).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lowering 60 lbs three stories not not the each.  Hand over is would be tiring the rope could slip.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not worry about a pulley.  Climbing rope is not abraid and fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technique to use is called a top belay. There are simple devices that let you belay with little effort.  I would use a simple figure 8.  You would need an anchor for the belay device.  In external anchor at the top of the window would be ideal.  Practice with 60 lb object.  You do not need to lock yourself as you are not on the top of a cliff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T18:51:39.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15142" CreationDate="2016-08-24T19:03:33.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be several things. All of them mean that you need to take the dog to the vet immediately. This is not a problem that could easily be solved on here. It could be nerve damage or something even more serious. &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/04/22/5-diseases-causing-dog-blue-eyes.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/04/22/5-diseases-causing-dog-blue-eyes.aspx&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T19:03:33.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15145" CreationDate="2016-08-24T19:14:04.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible to train you cat to do tricks. It will take considerably longer than with a dog because you first have to convince the cat that learning is worth the effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the only way I can think of to teach her to hunt for you us to reward her when she brings something home, and to increase her opportunities to find things to bring home (which may require training her with some sort of lure). Or to just work on &quot;bring it here&quot; -- which is a difficult concept for some cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you've been doing won't work because she isn't connecting her action with the reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And not all cats are dedicated hunters, especially if they aren't hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T22:21:32.263" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T22:21:32.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-24T23:37:20.987" Score="1" ViewCount="1253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took my rabbit into the vet, she had a lump on her belly.  The vet made an incision about an inch and half (4cm) long and removed the lump (not cancer) it was just under her skin.  He stiched her up with disolving stiches.  She lives in our bedroom, and is very clean. I had some pain medicine I was rubbing on the wound, and she kept licking it off.  I tried to supervise her as much as possible and keep her from licking the incision, but about 20 hours after surgery she had the stitches out and the wound was wide open. I called the vet and he said, not worry about, keep the area clean with soap and water and it will heal on it's own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I do what he said or find another vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-08-24T23:41:29.170" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T23:41:29.170" Title="My rabbit pulled her stitches out the day after surgery, now what?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15150" CreationDate="2016-08-24T23:40:49.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This vet is recognized in our community as a rabbit and exotics specialist.  He is highly regarded and we followed his instructions.  In this case following his instructions is the right choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 weeks after the surgery the site is almost entirely healed.  I wish I had a picture of it to begin with because looking at it now, it difficult to believe the wound could have been as large as it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SAc3b.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SAc3b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why all of this was the right choice in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is an indoor rabbit, we do not have flies in the house.  If there was any chance of flys getting near her wound &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15121/what-is-fly-strike&quot;&gt;fly Strike&lt;/a&gt; would be a real concern.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cone on a rabbit to prevent her licking her belly is potential option. BUT it would also disrupt &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;cecotrope eating&lt;/a&gt; and that could cause diet and digestion issues. It should only be considered with a full understanding of the issues and a plan to address them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This rabbit is in the house with excellent litter and hygiene habits, her litter box is in our bedroom so it is emptied well before it gets ripe. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits heal fast, I had no idea how fast until this episode. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We were able to closely monitor her incision for signs of trouble, if a problem developed it could be addressed at the first sign. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the stitches were gone, we stopped trying to keep her from licking the area.  In the end she kept it very clean, and we never needed to wash it. A scab did not really develop until the end, the incision site just kept shrinking until it became the tiny spot that then scabbed over, in the picture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit had any potential for exposure to flies, or insects. Or if the rabbit tended to have a messy bottom this would not be a good choice, going back to the vet and getting the wound re-closed with staples would be a good idea. Also using a mosquito net to protect her from flies would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-08-24T23:40:49.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11079" CreationDate="2016-08-25T00:59:09.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eye brow pulling is the symptom, not the illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The illness here sounds like a combination of &lt;em&gt;boredom&lt;/em&gt; and/or &lt;em&gt;separation anxiety&lt;/em&gt;. Probably the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GS are an intelligent and energetic breed. When you are home, there is balance because you absorb their interest/energy, when you leave things spiral out of control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, do some googling on separation anxiety and doggie boredom. That really is your problem, fixing that is much better than putting irritants near a dog's eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things I remember reading about separation anxiety:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exhaust them before you leave the house with a walk or other play&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't make a big emotional scene when you leave (and come home)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leave them with a treat filled kong or other similar toy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7897" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T00:59:09.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14983" CreationDate="2016-08-25T01:18:52.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are great and comprehensive. I'm commenting in answer form for emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're going into bear country (and most places are) have a can of pepper spray formulated for bears. The pepper spray could also be effective against other attackers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7897" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T01:18:52.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14983" CreationDate="2016-08-25T06:43:22.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A point I haven't seen made yet: Just as with humans, start exercise in smaller doses and work up to longer hikes. Think of it like hiking with a kid; the dog doesn't know how far you plan to go today and you don't want them getting exhausted early and forcing you to carry them. They need to build up endurance and learn to pace themselves; you need to learn to read how tired they are getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, obviously, before letting them off leash make sure that's permitted... and be prepared to jump in and control the dog if it gets into an awkward interaction with another dog or another human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T06:43:22.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15141" CreationDate="2016-08-25T08:18:39.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having taken in a feral cat I understand what you mean. They can be defensive, and I assume what you mean by screaming is hissing. I agree that the best thing to do would be to get help from a person who knows more about cats. You don't know what the cats been through like trauma or worse. So I wouldn't get to close to it until you get a second opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7898" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-08-25T11:36:50.337" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T11:36:50.337" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15141" CreationDate="2016-08-25T14:25:31.917" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the cat has learned that you are a reliable source of food, and so she does not run away from you (as she does with everyone else in your family). However, she does not completely trust you and the fact that she has kittens probably makes her trust you even less. So the hissing is a warning for you to keep your distance. This might diminish over time as she learns to trust you more, but some cats are truly wild and may never let you get close enough to pet her. My advice is to be patient. You could also try tossing some pieces of food in her direction (but not directly at her) as you approach and see if you can get closer over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T14:25:31.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-25T19:45:50.473" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a new kitten (8 weeks). She's adorable as anything but she engages in a lot of &quot;play&quot; fighting (scratching, pawing, biting, pouncing, etc). It doesn't bother me at all ( I find it cute that she thinks she can take me down ) but a) I don't want her to develop into an aggressive cat, but also b) I'm just wondering how sure we are that cats actually &quot;play&quot;. Playing seems like such a human concept, that it seems weird to ascribe such behaviours to cats. She certainly chases after balls, yarn, etc, but how do we know that it's just playing, as opposed to a bad attempt at hunting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7901" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T21:03:13.130" Title="Do we really know if cats are &quot;playing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-25T20:09:54.347" Score="1" ViewCount="1140" Body="&lt;p&gt;When going down the stairs, my Corgi puppy will sometimes get so excited to get to the end that she jumps from the second-to-last step all the way to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this breed is prone to hip problems, I don't want her to keep doing this. Is there any way to train her to take every step without skipping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6720" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T19:04:52.637" Title="How can I teach my dog not to jump down the last two steps on my stairs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15159" CreationDate="2016-08-25T20:19:12.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try putting her in the situation with treats and a leash. Take her down the stairs on the leash very slowly but without choking her and give her a treat when she goes down the stairs properly. If you can't get her to stop skipping stairs, you could try putting a soft mat at the bottom to brace her fall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T20:19:12.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15158" CreationDate="2016-08-25T21:05:12.030" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Play is almost universal among animals with large enough brains to react/interact creatively with their siblings and surroundings. It is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;far&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; from being specific to humans, and not limited to juveniles. Zoos have learned that providing &quot;enrichment activities&quot; for animals makes them happier, healthier, and less frustrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At its base, play is enjoyment in practicing skills that the animal needs. Balance, coordination, pattern analysis, social skills are all improved by practice, and the animal is motivated to practice partly by finding challenges interesting. Liking (reasonably safe) challenge leads directly to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't prove that animals are aware of this &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; play, without instrumenting their brains. But the evidence from observation of how they interact with toys and with each other leaves very little room for doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-25T21:05:12.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-26T02:54:30.080" Score="2" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a beagle that is a year and a half that chews and eats all of her toys! I even got her one of the toys that is supposed to be indestructible and she chewed the edges of it to eat the thread! I don't know what to do! How can I get her to stop eating them without taking all of them away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7904" LastActivityDate="2017-01-28T08:57:36.157" Title="My beagle eats all of her toys!" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-26T09:05:16.273" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we go for a walk me and my German Shepherd are passing from an obstacle that is not very tall and the dog can jump over it. The obstacle is like &lt;a href=&quot;http://i2.cdscdn.com/pdt2/6/1/7/1/700x700/sec3700692005617/rw/jod1-barriere-de-parking-u-escamotable.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; but without the middle metal part (the one that has the lock).&#xA;I'd like to teach the dog to jump over it just for fun but I don't know how to make him know that I want to jump over it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to make moves to show him that I want him to jump but we tries to pass around it or under it. How can I make him understand that I want him to jump over it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course I don't want to force him to do anything that he doesn't want but he usually likes running and playing while we are walking and most of the times he tries to tell me he wants to run so I figured it would be cool to put something like this in our walking routine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T13:39:27.587" Title="How do I teach my dog to jump over obstacles?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15165" CreationDate="2016-08-26T10:06:48.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smart dog... why jump if you can just walk under? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, serious answer: start out with something just high enough to require a little hop. When he hops, add the command, praise him, reward him... basically, do whatever you did to train him any other commands he knows!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Once he understands that you actually LIKE it when he jumps over such an obstacle, you can start using higher ones. He should get it quiet quickly then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Comment about how to get him to hop over anything a tall: by @keshlam:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patience. Start with the obstacle flat onthe ground so it's step over, and line yourself up so he's coming straight to you. Reward going over rather than around. Do this for a while. Raise it slightly and reward going over rather than around. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Eventually the dog will get the idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2016-08-26T13:39:27.587" LastActivityDate="2016-08-26T13:39:27.587" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15167" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-26T11:35:43.337" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's sometime since my fish body poped up with color of white, and then it's tail some how more blody, i asked someone and send picture he didn't reply, so i went to store yesterday, and he replied to use ceftriaxone, but since i used that once before for another disease maybe a month ago, once the main shop owner came buy, i again asked the same question, so he replied it's some kind of Fungus, and i have to use tetra cycling pill 1 per 30 littre, so my aquarium is 108 littre, and i add it, but once i did some research, ... i didn't found that sign, but seeing fungus on internet, at firsts is wasn't like that at all, that was somehow different, so i wanted to make sure... also since it took a week, my fish body got scare in that place,...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some photos...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8ECyv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8ECyv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Body And Tail&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iFa93.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iFa93.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Side View, See How Much It Poped Up&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;BTW, these image are from today, so its more than just to get poped out, it also like a wound&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if by any chance, the medicine was wrong, or i have to add any other things, please tell me,...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me note something else before hit the &quot;Post your question&quot; button.&#xA;around two week ago, i was about to remove a cutted out leaf, and once i saw something start to move like a single root in the aquarium, since the movement were so much and rounded shape, i though it was a worm... very slim like a single root, white, and with so much and rounded movement... sincei t were close to outlet of filter, i'm not sure, bTW, i tried to remove it, took it with the leaf, not sure if it removed... any thing about that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update 2016-09-05&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, he losses most of his last tail fin, he got slower, so at last i could take him. during this time they (the big shop owner) recomended 'tetracycling' and i give them, twise, 2 day ago i bougth cefteriaxone for another couse, and just to make sure, so since then his stomach seem less poped, but still... i don't know what to say,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't have any more cefteriaxone, so after seperating him, i add one glass of aquarium water, which contain a little of that drug, add a little tetracycling, and i also add salt, he survived till now, if he get better, i shall add some salt to the aquarium it self, i saw some very small sign of sickness on some fishes during these recent days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some new picture of that fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MXCGn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MXCGn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/amGNP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/amGNP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cSpBS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cSpBS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update 2016-09-06&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish just died  I still kept the body of i found time today,  I'll take it to someone maybe other don't meet the same destiny... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="7494" LastEditDate="2016-09-06T08:50:38.507" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T08:50:38.507" Title="Can't find fish disease, Fish body Poped Up" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16722" CreationDate="2016-08-26T17:42:49.970" Score="2" ViewCount="1360" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I bought a filter (top filter): a Sea Star HX-1480G, with F.Max at 2800L/H (which means that it has a flow rate of 2800 liters of water per hour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I installed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 layer of a polyfiber pad at the bottom,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a mix of a nitrate remover pad and a phosphate remover pad in the next layer, then on top&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;filter peat/turf (any thing you call it, I got the word from text on the box, it says it decreases pH and KH) which the owner called substrate, or something like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning I was reading the turf box, and it said &amp;quot;place after the mechanical-biological filtration, or hang directly in the aquarium netbag.&amp;quot;, so I'm worried whether I might have misused it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also didn't get the bacteria media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I replace all these filtration layers monthly, or just the pad? I am facing higher costs due to exchange rates when importing these supplies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The filter has a large net so that I can't put some of my media without a pad over it, otherwise they bypass the net, and go inside the aquarium.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the filter is rather full, what should I do if I want to add bacteria media?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit (2017/20/04)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previously I used to put flat stuff below, also the polyfiber, then the anti-phosphate and another things above it, and then all other things as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to your answer, I reordered my filter today:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ltIQV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ltIQV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bag contains pH-KH turfs, and other things beside it as you see, you know them better, I don't know well.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ewP0D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ewP0D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the anti-phosphate and anti-nitrate:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NPBER.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NPBER.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the polyfiber, as there were old and for the flat surface above, they didn't fit the whole area, but I think it's OK for now...&#xA;And then put them together:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cj9a5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cj9a5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T13:26:40.367" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T13:26:40.367" Title="Aquarium filter... what's the order?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15174" CreationDate="2016-08-27T09:17:09.643" Score="5" ViewCount="11478" Body="&lt;p&gt;So in my city every year we have the council organised collection of large items for disposal, where people put the items out on the kerbside for collection. Mostly it really is just garbage, however sometime people just don't want it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an aquarium with a stand. I'm wanting to test to see if it can be a fish tank (not a half filled turtle tank), and want to know how to test if it is strong and sound enough and won't cause a flood or leak or the stand collapse when I bring it in to my house and fill it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the test method is to take it outside, fill it up and see if it explodes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how long should I leave it filled up for the test to show any leaks?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are there any other tests I should do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after emptying it and moving it inside, what are the signs to look for when filling it again that would indicate imminent failure leading to it flooding my house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is 120cm x 37cm x 45cm, LxWxH measured on the inside surface of the glass. That is 200L (52.8 gallons). The sides are 6mm and the base is 10mm thick glass. The stand provides support to the tank only around the perimeter of the tank on the 25mm box steel the stand is made from. There is no support under the middle of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/USa3B.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/USa3B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tank and stand&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tQlsB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tQlsB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tank view from top&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BADn0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BADn0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tank view from front&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a solid pine plank that is the right size and 26mm thick that I could put foam sheets on top of to provide more even support if you think it would be better than relying on the 10mm thick glass bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: well, it holds a full load of water as shown in the pictures, at least overnight, and I can't find any external wet spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2&lt;/strong&gt;: I moved the tank inside about 1.5 years ago and it is still leak free. I even added a 1.2m long, 100 mm diameter pipe &lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; filled with gravel to the top of the tank for an aquaponics grow bed. The pipe is supported by a couple of planks resting on the front and back panes of glass. Note some decorative house plants may leach toxins to the water and kill your fish. I've not had that problem with edible vegetable plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T23:30:24.947" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T23:30:24.947" Title="How to test if fish tank will break and flood my house?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2016-08-27T17:21:22.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No Wild animals should be kept as pets. It is illegal. Plus, the fact that you asked if you need to feed it differently suggests you haven't even researched. The best bet to keeping the little one alive is taking it to a rehabilitation center. You must always keep it warm, as a rabbit's normal temperature is about 101 degrees Fahrenheit. To keep it warm, fill a sock with rice and heat it up, make sure it wont burn the bunny, then put it in a shoe box with holes poked in the lid with a soft cloth on the bottom. Then put the rabbit in. It should keep the rabbit warm while on the ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7907" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T17:21:22.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15173" CreationDate="2016-08-27T19:12:11.060" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're in a bit of a weird situation with our cat Rosie (female, 8 years old).  We've had her for most of her life, yet have never seen her refuse to eat her food as much as she has this week.  More specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rosie seems to be in good health, though we haven't taken her to the vet in a while.  She's not on any medications.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rosie is an outdoor cat; she walks around our neighborhood, but usually comes inside once or twice a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; vomited, urinated, or pooped any more or any differently than usual, to the best of our knowledge (remember, we don't know where exactly she goes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She's lost a fair bit of weight recently, but she doesn't seem any more lethargic or frail than usual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This has only really been going on for the past week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried feeding her the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Several varieties of wet and dry food (mostly fish-based)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our dog's food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some combination of the above mixed with a special kind of goat milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And we've tried giving it to her in the following ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outside, near the door we usually let her in from&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inside my room (she likes me the most)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With our other cat temporarily locked in another room (she &lt;em&gt;hates&lt;/em&gt; him)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rosie normally eats this stuff.  She'll also eat the following (but we haven't tried it as we don't have any right now):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turkey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheese (either real cheese or vegan substitutes--&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/11389/6584&quot;&gt;though we've abandoned the idea of our pets eating vegan&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leftover fried rice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it possible that Rosie is sick?  Is she being fussier than usual?  Or is she just preparing for a modeling gig we weren't informed about?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T19:27:55.900" Title="My cat won't eat food that she normally likes" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15172" CreationDate="2016-08-27T19:27:55.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A change in appetite, and weight loss, are both signs that a pet may be ill. You should consult your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-08-27T19:27:55.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15170" CreationDate="2016-08-27T23:46:03.810" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This link here outline pretty well &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reefaquarium.com/2013/buying-a-used-aquarium/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to check for bad sign around an used tank and also outline how to prepare the tank for your use&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will resume briefly what to check but I leave the link so you can read all of it by yourself. It has many picture and really good explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First look for any crack on all surface of the tank. If you find any crack it will probably leak eventually if not already. After that look for any missing chip around the edges. Missing chips increase the chance the seal will fail. If all panel look good, look for hard water stain around the edge (especially if the tank have a trim) if you find any, it mean the tank was leaking or is leaking. After that inspect the silicon, any piece coming loose is not good, also if there is many bubble in the silicon it increase the chance of failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/glass-thickness-guide.139898/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this guide on glass thickness for aquarium&lt;/a&gt; your aquarium seem to really be an aquarium and not some terrarium or any other use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from all I can see, if you found the stand with the tank, it's most likely was design to support the tank.So I would not even add your plank and foam under the tank. Especially if the tank have a bottom trim because it is already designed to distribute the weight around the perimeter as best as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitively try to fill up the tank outside or in a garage before doing it inside. I would fill the tank on the stand up to the half and check for any leaks, if you find none, proceed to fully fill the tank and look again once done. If possible, leave the tank sit for something like 24h and check to see if any leak are created and if the stand hold well. If every thing good well, you are now the new happy owner of that 53 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not an experienced fish keeper, I recommend you read up on cycling a tank before putting any fish in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2019-01-07T14:20:46.520" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T14:20:46.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15091" CreationDate="2016-08-28T12:34:16.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried to give your cat an elevated place to hide? It needs to be able&#xA;to watch the room from a safe place to feel secure.&#xA;Most cats do like to have an elevated place to sleep/view the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T23:03:03.997" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T23:03:03.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9656" CreationDate="2016-08-28T14:43:12.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I inserted the capsule inside a piece of chicken liver and gave him a few bits of plain liver before giving him the liver with the capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7912" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-08-31T16:59:13.230" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T16:59:13.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15184" CreationDate="2016-08-29T01:13:20.540" Score="4" ViewCount="24350" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 yr old, 12 1/2 lb neutered male cat. He's normally an outside cat but has been wanting to spend time with me inside lately. While petting him I notice that I can feel his spine. He's obviously not thin and I can't really feel his ribs. I have other older cats in a similar condition. Is this something that just happens as they age or is something else going on? He still kneads on me but isn't really purring, which concerns me a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastActivityDate="2019-08-18T22:44:31.193" Title="Why can I feel my 12 lb cat's spine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15180" CreationDate="2016-08-29T03:38:44.087" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be able to feel your cat's spine. If you can't, he's overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T03:38:44.087" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15182" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-29T16:21:37.837" Score="4" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 14 month old, adorable husky. His testicles never descended to this day, when he was 6 month old, the vet said he is a bilateral crypt-orchid and suggested surgery for getting his testicles removed .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though we never had any intention to breed our husky, my husband is completely against neutering or spaying any pets. Every time we visit the vet, it really scares me when the vet talks about all the things that could happen, the chance of him getting a testicular cancer, incontinence in the later stages of life, aggression, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not really worried about the aggression part because we never had any issues with out little guy being aggressive at any time; he is a people and dog lover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that the vet says we can't even feel where his testicles are,  he needs an ultrasound examination to detect where they are, and might need to undergo a major surgery depending on where their position is ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to note though is when we come home from work and when is really excited to see us, he rolls back for a belly rub and we could see two testicle-like things next to his private part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We spoke to the vet about it asking if those are what his testicles are and they are just underneath his skin next to his private area. However, the vet mentioned about two other ball-like organs that exist around the same area and thinks they might be those, but not his testicles.&#xA;Is the vet really just scaring me or is this something really dangerous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to put my baby under a major surgery if this is not very serious. Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7918" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T20:14:13.050" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T20:14:13.050" Title="Do I have to neuter my 14 month old Husky cryptorchid?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15182" CreationDate="2016-08-29T21:26:37.157" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a dog has a retained testicle (or two), there are two major problems that your dog is at increased risk for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Testicular cancer. The risk of developing cancer in a retained testicle is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/retained-testicle-cryptorchidism-in-dogs/544&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;at least 10 times higher&lt;/a&gt; than in a normal dog. If this occurs, the vet will likely recommend removing the testicle, in the hopes that the cancer can be removed before it has spread.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Testicular torsion. Torsion is when the testicle twists inside the body. This condition is EXTREMELY PAINFUL and the vet will recommend removing the testicle. Torsion cuts off blood supply to the testicle, and a failure to treat it will result in tissue death and rot inside of the body. An emergency neuter will be several times more expensive than a planned neuter now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By recommending neuter now, your vet is trying to prevent your dog from having a life threatening illness later in life. It's possible that neither of these things could happen if your dog remains unneutered, but they definitely will not happen if you neuter now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T21:26:37.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15180" CreationDate="2016-08-29T21:37:09.317" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat's spine seems bonier than normal, but his weight is the same, he may be dehydrated. If he is dehydrated, his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/pethealth/cat_disorders_and_diseases/skin_disorders_of_cats/structure_of_the_skin_in_cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;subcutaneous fat layer&lt;/a&gt; is thinner than normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to know if there is something wrong with your cat would be to take him to the vet. The vet will do a through examination, and if it's been awhile since your cat has been seen he may recommend bloodwork. Outdoor cats are at risk of a wide variety of diseases and parasites and something may be affecting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T21:37:09.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15180" CreationDate="2016-08-29T21:37:56.157" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, like humans, cats can have fat distribution change, or even lose some weight just due to age.  Maybe even more so with cats than with people, because cats tend to get a little hyperthyroidism with age.  A cautionary checkup with the vet is in order whenever you notice any change, however, as cats do not tend to show distress, and sometimes the first sign something is wrong is weight loss.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-08-29T21:37:56.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1101" CreationDate="2016-08-30T04:25:26.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's simple to reduce the singing of the crickets. You can either buy smaller or non-adult crickets, or turn a light fixture on them as if it were daylight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the males are the only ones who sing to get the females attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7920" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2016-08-31T16:58:35.977" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T16:58:35.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-30T04:55:32.280" Score="2" ViewCount="5818" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog keeps on finding, and obliterating headphones by chewing them up to a non-functional state. I have calculated this to cost me more than $1200 in earbuds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I fix this? In other words, where can I find dog-proof earbuds, or make my dog not want to chew them? As a side note, please consider that I don't want hot sauce in my ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7922" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T01:01:10.303" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T01:01:10.303" Title="My dog has destroyed almost $1200 in earbuds! What can I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15188" CreationDate="2016-08-30T08:21:47.000" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hide them! Take them somewhere high, on a bookshelf for example, where the dog cannot reach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T08:21:47.000" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15132" CreationDate="2016-08-30T09:50:52.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Evidently there are DNA kits available for you to take a sample and mail in.  If your vet does this it will cost more.  I would trust the kit over the description of the shelter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once looked for shelter cats that were Siamese from shelters that had an online presence.  The vast majority of cats shown there to be Siamese had no resemblance to the breed that I could see.  There are probably many others like me who would not trust there opinion on this matter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try the DNA test.  If it does not work out, just keep it to yourself.  Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7587" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T09:50:52.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15188" CreationDate="2016-08-30T15:01:58.820" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Active training. Get a case of cheap earbuds and expose the dog to them under supervision, actively teaching *No! Not yours, do not touch!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Works for me with cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I don't think you told us the dog's age. Puppies chew, period; it's the human's responsibility to direct that to appropriate chew toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T15:01:58.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-30T20:12:23.500" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;My four year old yellow bellied slider has some strange lines in his plastron. I couldn't tell how long have those been there, I think for a long time, maybe even years, but it's something that's starting to worry me a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plastron itself feels hard and firm, carefully pressing it doesn't give in at all, even with a moderate pressure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than this he looks (and behaves) healthily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9aVUJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9aVUJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lines in turtle plastron&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the straight lines that cross the lower scutes from side to side. They are clearer yellow than the rest of the plastron, with a pinkish halo around them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kkc2F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kkc2F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;color corrected version&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've emphasised the colours in this picture to make the lines more apparent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2016-08-30T20:12:23.500" Title="Strange lines on turtle plastron" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-31T07:39:02.850" Score="1" ViewCount="1092" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had 2 older rats just over 3 years old. One has passed away. The other is still well and energetic. I do not want to commit to introducing another pair of rats for companionship at this time. It would mean another 3+ year commitment. I am offering him out of the cage time with me every day as well as daily time in the exercise ball. I am worried about the loss of companionship. Is anyone aware of a short term solution for companionship or a suitable surrogate partner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7928" LastActivityDate="2016-09-30T18:30:33.330" Title="When 1 of 2 rats die is there a suitable surrogate" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-31T17:26:04.060" Score="2" ViewCount="1733" Body="&lt;p&gt;These kittens' mom dissapeared (inside-outside cat on a farm) a month ago. I've sort of lost track of how old they are, but probably no more that 2 months now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/18szT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/18szT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been feeding them solid food ever since; we have a big bag of adult cat food and I've been moderately soaking it in water, then microwaving for a little while to get the water soaked into it. They've been eating, but its hard to tell if they're eating much after it dries. Do I need to keep freshly softened food out, or can they eat it just fine dry at 2 months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-30T16:27:34.080" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T16:27:34.080" Title="Do 2 month old kittens need freshly softened food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15196" CreationDate="2016-08-31T17:54:08.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 months is completely fine to feed them dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the food you give is labeled for kittens as they need a larger portion of vit/min/fats/protein than they would as an adult or senior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T17:54:08.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15194" CreationDate="2016-08-31T17:57:15.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In their senior year I wouldn't introduce another rat, even though they are social there's a good chance he wont appreciate a new rat coming in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spend time with him daily, 3 years is a good long life for them, let him rest in peace for the time he has left :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T17:57:15.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10391" CreationDate="2016-08-31T18:51:37.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my previous clinic we would spay 2 weeks after weaning. Gives the mother enough time to feed her babies and recover as producing milk, caring for kittens can be hard on their system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-08-31T18:51:37.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15201" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-08-31T21:47:47.720" Score="2" ViewCount="1102" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have had green dust algae on the walls of my planted aquarium for about a year's time, and I have tried a lot of different things, but no matter what, it keeps returning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;large water changes;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allowing the algae to grow in the tank for at least a month before scraping it off and doing a large water change;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lowering daily light duration down to 4 hours per day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still I have had no success in getting rid of the algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is pretty heavily planted 60 gallon tank, runs CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection, and I use Flourish (weekly) and Flourish XL (daily). Though I have tried halting Flourish dosing, still with no effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help in getting rid of the algae would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6151" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:06:00.957" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T22:37:31.457" Title="Get rid of green dust algae in aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-01T03:40:34.383" Score="4" ViewCount="1038" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Koi fish was attacked by a Blue Heron about 2 months ago. I chased the Heron off and it dropped the fish. I put the fish back in the pond but it had a couple of puncture wounds. It is still alive, but stays mostly on the bottom and when it tries to swim, it is kind of on its side and goes in circles. It also has difficulty getting to the surface and cannot stay there more than a couple of seconds before it sinks to the bottom again. I have been hand feeding it every day to keep it alive. It will hungrily take the food from my hand if I put it up to its mouth, but can't feed itself otherwise. Is there anything I can do to help it heal, or is this all I can expect? I have seen no change after two months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7933" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T09:01:40.810" Title="Koi fish injury from a Blue Heron" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9265" CreationDate="2016-09-01T08:49:37.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I do not know the answer specifically for feline herpes, L-lysine is helpful for human herpes (HSV-1 and HSV-2). Lysine and arginine are both amino-acids that pair with each other. The herpes virus feeds on arginine, so keeping the ratio of lysine higher than arginine is quite helpful in preventing and/or reducing the severity of outbreaks. Lysine is an essentional amino-acid, meaning we cannot create it ourselves. This may or may not apply to felines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For humans, do not omit arginine from the diet, simply make sure you are ingesting a higher amount of lysine. However, I have read that taking lysine supplements daily is bad for your liver and kidneys. In moderation it is fine as long as there are no other contraindications. Basically, if you know you're stressed (or about to be stressed), you should start taking some lysine. You can also be more mindful as to what foods you eat. A simple websearch will list out all the foods that are higher in lysine vs argenine content. You may want to do some research on whether lysine suppliments are safe for cats to take daily, unlike for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7934" LastActivityDate="2016-09-01T08:49:37.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18237" CreationDate="2016-09-01T12:28:39.223" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a young Labrador (1 year old). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His day roughly consists of: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;06.00 - 06.10: Wake up, 10 minutes of outside time in garden to pee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;06.10 - 07.00: 20-15 minutes of searching for food in various toys, chills and cuddles with humans afterwards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;07.05 - 15.00: Outside in dog run, around 20 m^2 with isolated dog house and lots of toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15.00 - 15.30: Greet humans, relieves himself and sniffs in garden and searches 15-20 minutes for food in various toys. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15.30 - 16.30: Long walk in forest, no leash. 10 minutes of training. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;16.30 - 18.00: Chill in garden or in house while dinner is cooked and eaten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18.00 - 18.15: Short training session (sometimes skipped)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18.15 - 20.00: For the rest of the evening, depending on the weather he will either stay inside with us or walk around in the garden with us, often chewing on either a stick, some animal skins or something. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20.00 - 20.20: Searches 15-20 minutes for food in various toys. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;21.30: Short pee before bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're facing some issues with him barking a lot when we sit down after dinner. And I want to be sure it is not because he needs more stimulation, but it is a bad habit / behavioral issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this enough stimulation for a &lt;strong&gt;very active breed&lt;/strong&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T22:38:18.620" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T22:38:18.620" Title="How much activation/stimulation is *enough*" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-02T23:40:27.640" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female Newfoundland (4yrs old) has started lunging at small children when we are on vacation. She (and my other newf) are walked every day, mostly off-leash, but on-leash at least once a week. Whilst away on vacation twice this year she has lunged and jumped up at small children under 10. She has not snapped and doesn't land on them, but this is totally out of character for her. We do not shout at her or smack her but firmly say 'no'. She seems to know that her behaviour is unwarranted and appears out of sorts for a while after. Last year a young boy jumped out behind her and startled her enough that she barked at him then ran to me. That is the only trigger that I can think of. She is fine in her usual walking areas and parks at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7941" LastActivityDate="2020-03-16T22:43:57.153" Title="Unusual lunging from my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10988" CreationDate="2016-09-03T00:31:10.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used silicon sealant in my Oscars tank as he kept moving the heater and tank décor. As long as it's practical to lower the water level whilst you do it, it's a great permanent solution. Just be sure to buy aquarium safe sealant as domestic silicone contains algae and bacteria inhibitors, which are harmful to fish. Most fish shops sell it in small tubes but it's cheaper to go online and buy one of the tubes to use in a sealant gun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7942" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T00:31:10.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-03T18:55:53.240" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a two cat household which includes a 16 year old skinny, spayed female and a 6 year old porky, spayed female. The older cat is a grazer, the younger eats everything in sight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The old cat is healthy, but has gradually gone from about 7 1/2 lbs (her average adult weight) to 6 lbs. over the last 3 years. I am currently feeding her wet cat food every time she asks, about 9/10 times a day. She eats pretty much all I put down for her, leaving a crumb or two for &quot;porky&quot;. Even with this feeding on demand, she continues to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a high calorie cat food that would be advisable for an older cat? Or any other advice for me to help her maintain, or even gain some weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7946" LastActivityDate="2017-11-18T18:52:17.947" Title="How do I help my older cat maintain weight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2016-09-03T22:43:38.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say that the older cat is healthy, so I assume you've been to the vet to verify that. (If not, you should go to the vet because there are several health problems that elder cats are prone to and that can cause weight loss.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many well-known cat food brands have high-calorie versions of their food, as well as special versions for other needs. You can probably get these from your vet, or order them online. Kitten food is higher-calorie than cat food, and is easy to find, so that may be all you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the cat has lost weight, and you describe it as skinny, I don't know if that means the cat is just a bit thin, or if it is emaciated. That's another reason to visit the vet. If the cat needs to put on some weight quickly, there are high-calorie pastes and stuff that you can use. Your vet can advise you. Again, you can usually buy these things from a vet, or online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-09-03T22:43:38.007" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15230" CreationDate="2016-09-04T00:49:27.023" Score="3" ViewCount="3739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two small minpins, and as I was giving them their evening walk, a cat darted out of the bushes and tried to attack them. My first reaction was to sling my dogs behind me, which forced the cat to overshoot and zip past us. As soon as it did, it stopped and came right back at us, so again I slung my (now yapping) dogs behind me, and it overshot. Again, it turned around and came back at us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was getting tired of playing matador and I didn't want to hurt my dogs by throwing them about by the neck, so on the cat's next pass I managed to hook my foot under it and toss it away - not a kick, but as gentle a punt as I could manage to tell it to get lost. Again, as soon as it landed, it came back, and as I was out of options I kicked it straight in the face, launching it right back into the bushes. I heard it scurry away and it never came back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After we got home I checked my dogs to see if they'd been hurt, and thankfully there wasn't a scratch on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What should I have done in this situation?&lt;/em&gt; I feel bad for hurting an animal (especially since I don't know if it was feral or not - I was too busy protecting my dogs to notice a collar) but I couldn't think of any other way to keep it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If it was somebody's pet, could they take legal action against me?&lt;/em&gt; Or is it the owner's responsibility since their pet was attacking mine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7949" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T17:08:04.353" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T17:08:04.353" Title="Ourdoor cat attacked my dogs on a walk, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-04T15:39:48.597" Score="4" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I run a small cat sanctuary in the Texas Hill Country and I have a 6 year old cat I've raised from a kitten. For as long as I can remember she's had chronic diarrhea, at least for the last 4 years. I've taken her to the vet and we've tried antibiotics and treating her for coccidia. I've put her on FortiFlora for lengths of time. Nothing helped. It's like it's just her normal bowel movement. It doesn't seem to dehydrate her or cause any other symptoms. I've got her isolated right now because I'm treating her for some cystitis. I'm giving her some wet food and some food for sensitive stomachs along with the FortiFlora again. She seems to have several bouts of diarrhea a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just wondering if anyone here has had a similar issue and maybe treated it unconventionally or has any idea what the issue might be. It would be nice to get this resolved for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T16:55:59.347" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:26:04.553" Title="Cat with chronic diarrhea" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-04T22:04:17.580" Score="2" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at different cages for our hamster (can't remember what kind she is - she's just average size) but the tubes/tunnels that come with them seem really narrow for our hamster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can they fit through a tube that is smaller than they are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7953" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T11:37:56.147" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:37:56.147" Title="Hamster cage's tunnels seem to be too small" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15214" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-05T02:40:11.760" Score="3" ViewCount="1271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have cockatiels that always fly to my dad, or sometimes my grandpa. They rarely fly to my mom or me - only when we have food. We think it's because the previous owner was male. But how do they recognize the owner? Do they recognize gender? Is it based more on auditory than visual input? Is olfaction involved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7870" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T22:45:11.733" Title="How does a bird know its owner?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1409" CreationDate="2016-09-05T05:13:39.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually have 4 Yoyo loaches, two cory dorus (SP) and 5 cherry shrimp.  So far, for the past 3 months, my shrimp have been fine so far.  My tank is heavily planted with moss and various other plants which obviously helps.  Also, my Yoyo's are well fed and there are plenty of pest snails to keep them happy - shrimp can move pretty fast when they want to so its easier for them to eat the snails than chase the shrimp.  Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7955" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T05:13:39.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11169" CreationDate="2016-09-05T09:38:38.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason for not having a lip, beyond simply not needing a lip, is to help avoid accidental bee deaths when placing one box on top of another.  By sliding one box into place on top of the other, any bees which are in the way are simply pushed so move out of the way; were you to place one box on top of the other any bees on the edge may be crushed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in existing answers, the propolis will form a sufficient seal to avoid needing any lip (the bees will take care of this shortly after the box is added).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your stack is high and you're concerned about stability in high winds, or if transporting the hive, you can strap the boxes together (e.g. using a ratchet strap around the hives and base block); however most keepers say this is not typically required under normal conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5921" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T09:38:38.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-05T13:14:31.513" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, my dog eats his own feces. How do I stop it? I noticed this recently. I not sure he started this habit when he was a puppy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7956" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-09-05T14:02:28.397" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T14:02:28.397" Title="Stop dog from eating his own feces" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2016-09-05T14:06:17.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15212" CreationDate="2016-09-05T14:32:16.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poor cat! It sounds like you've been working closely with your vet for a long time trying to resolve this, with little success. I'm not a vet, but I wonder if this is something a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_microbiota_transplant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fecal transplant&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;could help. I believe this has been used successfully to treat a variety of stubborn GI problems in humans; I don't know if it has been used in cats. It might be worth asking your vet about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T14:32:16.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2774" CreationDate="2016-09-05T16:14:18.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably have Cory catfish. Your tank is looking a little dirty, so make sure you do water changes once per week, changing 20% or more of the water. You should also get a bigger dig tank as they will be much happier with the extra space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7957" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-09-08T23:52:05.527" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T23:52:05.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7268" CreationDate="2016-09-05T18:51:01.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have known a few pig farmers, they have historically fed pork to their pigs. That is not just pigs that will go to market but some to show pigs as well. As to specific dietary improvements that may have over other diets for show pigs I cannot attest to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, I believe feeding pork to a pig is the best way to get the most &quot;pork filled flavor in every bite of pork&quot;. It just seems like you get more pork for your buck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7958" LastActivityDate="2016-09-05T18:51:01.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15226" CreationDate="2016-09-06T12:34:06.650" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I Have a labra dog and I am a pure vegetarian person so that I want the list of vegetarian food for my dog, which helpful for dog health as well as disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in Advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7963" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T22:11:26.163" Title="List of vegetarian food for my Dog(Labra)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2016-09-06T18:59:26.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten (1-year old Ragdoll) doesn't do anything WHILE i'm in the shower. She's probably not even in the room. But, as soon as the water stops, she comes in, and meows at me about ten times as i'm drying off. Every time. My shower curtain is transparent, so it's not as if she misses me or doesn't know where I am. She doesn't even care that I'm in the shower until i finish.... Bizarre creatures. She doesn't meow at me when I leave the apartment and return. That's a different behavior — she rolls around on her back....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7965" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T18:59:26.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-06T21:20:07.333" Score="2" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter has a bearded dragon and he is weak, has significantly low appetite and sometimes does not eat at all. She feeds him crickets with vitamins.  We took him to the vet and he is now on a special diet for a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can we feed him? Could it be that the light in his glass cage is too hot? Please help me, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7966" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T19:49:23.460" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T20:00:46.560" Title="Diet and care for bearded dragon" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15224" CreationDate="2016-09-06T22:05:31.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bearded dragon setup includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;55 gallon (210 liters) tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repti-Carpet or newspaper bedding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;UVA/UVB tube lighting with a mercury vapor bulb basking light (also includes UVA/UVB). These lights should not be blocked by screen or glass as it blocks most UV radiation. Also, the bulbs should be changed every 6 months to a year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large water dish for soaking/drinking (shallow for young dragons), some beardies prefer to defecate in their water dishes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should have at least 1 digital thermometer at his basking end of the cage to make sure it does not exceed 110&amp;nbsp;°F (43&amp;nbsp;°C) and does not go below 95&amp;nbsp;°F (35&amp;nbsp;°C).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cooler side should be in the 80's&amp;nbsp;°F (around 29&amp;nbsp;°C) while night time temperatures should not go below 75&amp;nbsp;°F (24&amp;nbsp;°C).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture below will give you an idea:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wd5es.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wd5es.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;great bearded dragon setup&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger beardies can eat superworms, waxworms, butterworms and hornworms. You can feed a dragon of any age vegetables (more veggies as adults and less insects). Some good choices of greens are bok choy, kale, butternut squash, zucchini, carrots and snap peas. You can even sprinkle pellets on their veggies as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;99% of the time, reptile problems are because of poor habitat. If you have yet to bring a fecal sample to your veterinarian, please do! These guys almost ALWAYS have parasites which can cause inappetence, diarrhea (with blood in stool), weight loss and lethargy. My bearded dragon had 5 different parasites when I purchased him as a baby, I have yet to see a lizard/snake that did not have some sort of parasite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're on oxbow carnivore care you can feed that until he gets his appetite back. Rule of thumb for supplementation: multivitamin once a week and calcium every second day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he's done growing or if you've purchased him as an adult I recommend a survey radiograph to confirm that bone density is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T20:00:46.560" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T20:00:46.560" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15222" CreationDate="2016-09-06T22:11:26.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep there are options for canine vegetarian diets! &#xA;You have the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-canine-vegetarian-dry-dog-food-17.6-lb-bag/561717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;royal canin vegetarian diet&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also &lt;a href=&quot;http://completeandbalanced.com/recipebook.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hilary's blend&lt;/a&gt; dog recipes have a few vegetarian options if you want to go home-made, these recipes are complete and balanced so your pet does not lack any nutrients. Your veterinarian could photocopy a few recipes, you will just have to buy the supplement powders that she provides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T22:11:26.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15214" CreationDate="2016-09-06T22:45:11.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Birds are smart, period.&#xA;Sight and sound are two main factors, they have a very poor sense of smell. They can tell gender as some parrots bond more with a certain gender, for instance my African grey LOVES men but is always weary of women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T22:45:11.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2016-09-06T23:59:47.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 16 years old I highly recommend doing blood work as hyperthyroidism and kidney disease are ridiculously common in our senior cats. Once she is clear then talk to your vet about a diet, most senior cats should be on a senior diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mhwonbat mentioned kitten food, I highly recommend you do NOT use this as it is also high in protein which can cause a lot of damage if she has any kind of kidney disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet check first :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-09-06T23:59:47.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15211" CreationDate="2016-09-07T08:50:53.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You were under attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes the perpetrator was only a cat, but you were still under attack. You were the victim here from a human point of view. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals work to different sets of rules however. Some animals are territorial. Even within breeds of cats and dogs you will find a great range of territorial behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat felt threatened because you and your dogs were in its territory. So the cat attacked in an effort to force you to leave. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How were you to know you were in its territory? Simple answer - you simply cannot know - well not the first time. You know now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very easy to feel bad about this situation but things you need to keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The situation was unexpected; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You were forced to defend yourself and your dogs; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You had little time to think and only time to react; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You were in an urban environment? If so you were in a human dominated environment that contains mostly domestic pets. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In such an environment it is the owner of the domestic pet who is responsible for the behaviour of their animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You attempted to protect your dogs without harming the cat, which you did for the initial approaches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only after significant hurt did the cat decide to back down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What were the alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That you allow the cat to attack you or your dogs? Would you then sue the owners of the cat for the damage to you or your dogs? Unlikely and not a very satisfactory outcome for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you acted as most people would. You defended yourself until it was obvious that action was not working, then take increasingly drastic action until the attack stopped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it is sensible to avoid the area in future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case that you cannot avoid the area, then ask the owner whether they are willing to have a conversation about their cat. They may or may not be aware that their cat is behaving in this way. They may or may not be willing to do anything about it regardless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it becomes a serious and ongoing problem that stops you enjoying your day and the owner of the cat is not willing to talk or act, then you are within your rights to approach your local regional administration, such as local council. These people will be able to assist you with a formal complaint and may even approach the cat owner on your behalf. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Importantly you should not feel bad about what happened. You acted to defend yourself and your dogs with as much consideration as you could under the circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2016-09-07T08:50:53.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15212" CreationDate="2016-09-08T13:30:27.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diarrhea can be a symptom of an allergy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To determine if its an allergy you need to start eliminating potential allergens. Try limiting its exposure to foreign material by changing things such as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The type of cleaning solutions used in their cage / area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The type of bedding material.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If bedding material is laundered change laundry detergent to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;something hypoallergenic and without perfumes. Don't use fabric softeners.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove cat toys, catnip, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try substantial changes to the cat's diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend starting with home made cat food: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Ingredients&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than having an allergy the cat may be intolerant of certain foods or additives.Try bottled water rather than your tap or well water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T13:30:27.423" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15104" CreationDate="2016-09-08T14:27:27.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well obviously you have been taking good care of you cat as he is now a senior citizen (76 in human years) and in good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats' builds vary: Some are stockier and some are really lean. I have seen litter-mates that get the same food and live in the same environment have vastly different weights / builds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently my adult cats range from 6 lbs to 17 lbs. the 6-pounder is missing a leg and comes from family of very small cats. The 17-pounder is lean, solid muscle and looks &quot;cut&quot; even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no ideal weight for cats. There are multi-point tests you can look at to identify feline obesity such as: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1%202230&amp;amp;aid=660&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many vets don't advocate portion control and state always having food out for the cat is just fine. Some cats will over-eat and become obese. These cats need portion control and extra exercise. Since your cat is healthy and 76 years old I would say your portion control efforts certainly have not done any harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is active, eating, and otherwise healthy per your vet there is not a lot of cause for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-08T14:27:27.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15106" CreationDate="2016-09-09T01:27:05.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you put the correct dosage on the cat? It could be something as simple as the smell of the medication. You have to remember cats have an excellent sense of smell. He may just be avoiding    you because he thinks your going to put more on him. Try washing your hands prior with water to get rid of the sent of soap when playing with him in case he is confusing that with his flea medication &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7973" LastActivityDate="2016-09-09T01:27:05.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15238" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-09T17:30:28.970" Score="2" ViewCount="1701" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay so I have had my tank for about 3 or 4 months and &#xA;Thomas bubbles has always been active and social, but for the past week he is just laying at the bottom and rarely swims around. He still eats great, I cycle the water 20% every week in his 2.5 gallon tank. I have tried to give him a ping pong ball to play with for boredom but he just doesn't seem his self. He doesn't look like he has ich,velvet,or fin rot. The only questionable physical condition I see is maybe is top fin is clamped a little I cant tell. What am I missing. the ph level has been a little high and I have been struggle a little to get it down, but I don't think it has been to high to long to hurt him to bad yet. Could this be the main problem or what should I be trying to do. He is my families only pet, and we love him dearly. Any help is much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7975" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:31:46.360" Title="Betta eats great but just lays at the bottom of the tank!" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:31:31.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15239" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-09T20:00:10.063" Score="6" ViewCount="5765" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 13 year old Shepard Terrier mix.  Over the last four months, her health has been deteriorating.  She has pretty significant gum disease that has undoubtedly affected other organs by now.  Her back hips are gone to the point that she struggles to move without a lot of motivation.  I switched her to a boiled chicken/rice diet in order to get her eating better (she had been on dry dog food most of her life) and her appetite is still low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is having digestive problems, energy problems, etc.  I have consulted with a vet, there are some very expensive things that could be done (removal of her teeth and hopefully treatment of her gum disease) that may prolong her life, but at 13+ years we all know we are fighting a clock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I feel at this point I am delaying my pain of letting her go by forcing her to endure more.  There are very few times when she shows excitement, and the final straw for me was her unwillingness to chase the wildlife that she has spent her life on a mission for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have set a date with my vet (1 week from today) in the hopes that there will be some miraculous recovery, but I am looking for other options.  I am going to bury her on the lake property that my family purchased the same time as I rescued my dog.  This is four hours away from my vet and the nearest animal shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As hard as it may be, I would prefer to be the one to put my dog down.  I've been told by the vet that regulations would not allow me to do that.  Obviously the humane society has similar rules.  What are the (humane) options for putting my own dog to sleep?  I understand that in the old days, a .22 would do the job just fine but I don't think I'm going to buy a gun just to shoot my dog and all of my firearms are meant for large animals, not a 30 lb dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7976" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T22:35:27.467" Title="What are my options for putting my own dog to sleep?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15239" CreationDate="2016-09-10T00:03:57.893" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult time, and taking your loved one to a vet for their last moments with you just does not seem like the right thing to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When faced with a similar situation we found that there were two vets who do home visits in our area, with euthanasiaed included in their services.  One specialized in hospice care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case what had been a slowly developing issue that we would need to be address soon became an urgent issue during the night.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gentlejourneyvet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hospice vet&lt;/a&gt; and she was able to get to our home as her second call of the morning.  When the vet arrived, Baxter was sitting on my wife's lap on the couch, clearly struggling to breath but also as content as is possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet took a seat on the floor and did an exam and discussed the situation and options with us, all the while Baxter continued to sit on my wife's lap in our living room getting pets and relaxing.  We made the decision and the vet administered the drugs.  In a few minutes Baxter was in the happier place, without pain or stress...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a decision we continue to feel good about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarify&lt;/strong&gt; This does not just apply to cats and dogs.  Baxter is/was a rabbit who stars in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;this answer about wool block&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T19:24:23.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15256" CreationDate="2016-09-10T09:44:19.517" Score="4" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;Star Trek Cookbook,&lt;/em&gt; there's a cat food recipe under the Data character entry. My question is, how effective is it as a homemade cat food? Would it work as dog food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recipe (Catfood #219, subroutine |DataSpot\Nancy|):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 pound liver, kidneys, hearts, haggis or other organs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;water to boil meat in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 cups bran&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 cups old fashioned oatmeal or rolled oats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1/4 cup canola or other cooking oil&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boil meat in saucepan with water until cooked, cool, then mince/grind&#xA;up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mix in water used for boiling and other ingredients until you have a&#xA;dough like mixture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preheat oven to 250 degrees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Form kibble or bite sized biscuits from the dough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arrange biscuits on oiled baking sheet and bake for 3 hours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turn off oven but leave sheet inside, then air-dry biscuits for&#xA;another 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T15:25:57.747" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T15:25:57.747" Title="Star Trek cookbook pet food question" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15212" CreationDate="2016-09-10T10:38:05.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might ask your vet if vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; injections are worth a try. If it works, it may need to be repeated every two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was at the vet today, and we got to talking about B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt;. She mentioned that it could work wonders for cats with irritable bowel syndrome. She also said that she has one feline patient that she's treating with B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt;, and if the cat is just a day or two late for the injection, the bloody diarrhoea returns. She said this can help dogs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T21:43:29.183" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T21:43:29.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15239" CreationDate="2016-09-10T15:20:28.113" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no humane options for you to put your dog to sleep. If done incorrectly, you could cause tremendous pain and suffering. Veterinarians are trained to humanely euthanize animals, and have the expertise to know when, how, and why euthanasia may be a reasonable option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2016-09-10T15:20:28.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-10T23:27:45.533" Score="0" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About the dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a puppy cockapoo (mix Cocker Spaniel and Poodle). He is almost 3 months old and we have had him for a bit less than a month. He is now house trained, crate trained, obeys to &quot;come&quot; and &quot;sit&quot;, a little bit to &quot;heel&quot; and most of the time does not pull too much on the leash when walking. Generally, he behaves ok with people he does not know (but he jumps vigorously on other dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The &quot;Ouch&quot; command&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also understands the command &quot;ouch&quot; which is pretty much the only negatively enforced command we taught him and it means &quot;stop biting the thing you are biting&quot;. We taught him this command mainly by holding him in the air away from our body for 10-15 seconds to induce boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The issue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every day, he runs next to my bike (with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B003OYIAW4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this kind of item&lt;/a&gt;; I go relatively slowly) from home to work and return (2 km one way). He seems to like it a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he arrives at home and sees my wife or when he arrives at work and sees my coworkers, he becomes too energetic. He bites on everything (incl. people), jump on everything (incl. people) and I fail to find a solution to calm him down. As we (the dog and I) leave the apartment or my office he calms down a little bit but it starts again as he sees my wife or my coworkers. The &quot;Ouch&quot; command sometimes kinda work in the sense that he stops biting on something but directly jumps onto the next thing (but often he just does not care about the command). It can last from 10 to 45 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am seeking for advice to deal with this behaviour.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are three different responses to this behaviour, none of which have really shown perfect results yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The 3 responses&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My response (force to lie and wait for calmness)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My response is to say &quot;Ouch&quot; and then putting him on his flank on the ground and forcing him to keep the lying position with my hands (no pain of course). This position seems to calm him down a bit but sometimes he does not seem to calm down and I kind feel pity after 30 seconds of me holding him, so I just release him and he continue biting and destroying everything. Holding him in the air fails as he manage to catch my hands and his harness (and destroy it quite quickly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My wife's response (ignoring the dog)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does the same thing than me but she also practice the logic of &quot;stop any motion and ignore the dog&quot;. When she ignores the dog, he usually starts running like crazy all over the appartement, jumps on the couch, knock everything down! Even though if he stops biting us, it does not seem to be a perfect solution either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My coworker's response (let him play if he needs to)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My coworker tends to think I am being too restrictive for the dog (as I mind when he is too energetic with people, when he barks or even when he growls a little bit). His solution is to hold a toy in his hand on which the dog bites and pulls and growls for a while. I let him tried this method only once but we went for a walk with him (we had to go) before the dog could calm down (after just 10 minutes) so I can't tell if it is a good solution but I don't appreciate seeing my dog growling or doing any behaviour that relates to aggressiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7833" LastEditorUserId="7833" LastEditDate="2016-09-11T14:28:37.823" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T23:03:40.337" Title="Dog gets crazy when he sees people he loves" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-11T03:05:14.343" Score="1" ViewCount="2837" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is an 11 year old chihuahua mix. He was diagnosed with diabetes back in 2012. We have been giving him insulin shots twice a day, one in the morning and one at night since 2012. He visits the vet every year, some times twice a year to get checked up and see how his diabetes is going. At first we gave him 5 ml of insulin and just recently the vet put up his doze to 8 ml. We have been injecting him on his neck for the past 4 years. But now his neck has multiple little bumps where we frequently injected him in the past. The vet told us to start injecting him on his lower back area kind of by his tail, and he even demonstrated but it's really hard and I get really nervous. Also as I've tried to inject him in that new area, it seems that it hurts him and I can never get it right. This morning I tried to inject him on his neck again after a really long time and I drew blood accidently which really freaked me out since that has never happened before. Dealing with his diabetes has become really hard and I'm considering putting him down which is something I really don't want to do, I want him to die by natural causes. I want to continue fighting his diabetes along side him but I'm becoming hopeless. I scheduled an appointment with his vet next week and we will talk more about how to inject him and maybe even possibilities of putting him to sleep if there is no other way. Even though he's old he still seems fine I don't want to give up on him until I see he can't continue anymore. Please, I would really appreciate it if someone out there could share with me some detailed advice of where and how to inject my dog and how to make the experience less painful for him. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7981" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:52:41.363" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T13:52:41.363" Title="I'm Having Difficulty Giving My Dog His Insulin Shots" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15252" CreationDate="2016-09-11T03:36:05.837" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Humane Society told us our dog was a &quot;pitbull terrier&quot;, and a &quot;shepherd mix&quot;, on two different papers.  It looks a lot like a vizsla for me, but I know nothing about dogs.  Are there any tell-tale signs I can look for, to make the determination?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7890" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T11:37:26.567" Title="Vizsla vs. pitbull terrier" Tags="&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15247" CreationDate="2016-09-11T07:15:52.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds a lot like typical &quot;puppy wants to play&quot;, plus the dog is trying to see how far it's allowed to go (again typical for that age). Maybe tiring the dog out a bit more might be enough for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using some toy for pulling is perfectly fine and won't lead to any kind of aggression. It's a common way to play amongst dogs. Get a special rope for pulling in the appropriate size. This might be one of the fastest ways to get the dog tired at work. Just make sure the dog understands the difference between toy and clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T07:15:52.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15249" CreationDate="2016-09-11T11:37:26.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can go to your vet hospital and they can send a blood sample off to a lab to do DNA testing, it's relatively cheap (30$ where I'm from) and you'll know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T11:37:26.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15238" CreationDate="2016-09-11T15:31:59.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check the temperature. Bettas like 78 to 80 degrees F. Colder temperatures make them less active. Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7986" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T15:31:59.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15213" CreationDate="2016-09-11T15:36:48.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really know that much about hamsters, but based on just looking at them a few times, I know that hamsters tend to skrunch up normally, which makes them look fatter, but in reality they can actually fit through small spaces by stretching out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7986" LastActivityDate="2016-09-11T15:36:48.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15244" CreationDate="2016-09-12T06:37:21.270" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Addressing the recipe part only:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in the future must have undergone significant changes in their digestion and hungriness. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats can't really use the bran or oats, so they're essentially just filler.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 pound of organs is quite a lot for a cat (and there's also the filler stuff).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall I'd say this is clearly meant as some kind of treat and definitely no full food replacement and definitely not a single meal (poor Spot!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the ingredients I'd say it's better fit for dogs than cats (they'll be able to utilize all the nutrients).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T06:37:21.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15259" CreationDate="2016-09-12T15:53:57.397" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my cat returned from a 3 month 'vacation'. We know her to Run off for a day or two, but never that long. What strikes me is that she did come back. So, Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a standard domestic cat, about 6 years old, spaded at 3. We did have some new animals shortly before she left, but that was about a month before she bugged out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7990" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T18:36:30.687" Title="Why did my cat leave/return?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15258" CreationDate="2016-09-12T18:36:30.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;She got lost. Or someone else adopted her for a while. Or some other cat took over her territory and it was a while before she felt safe coming home. Or...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-09-12T18:36:30.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-12T23:03:28.840" Score="7" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats who have an allergy to mosquitoes. It creates scab-like sores on their noses and ears that bleed easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet gave me this stuff called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.drugs.com/vet/vet-kem-ovitrol-plus-for-dogs-cats-can.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ovitrol&lt;/a&gt; to put on their heads with a cotton ball to keep the mosquitoes away but it's not working. I got rid of everything in the yard that could hold standing water and sprayed the area with repellent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to take them back to the vet but I'd like to be armed with some options and information. Usually when my other cats have something like a flea allergy, they can be given a steroid shot to help the allergy clear up. Is this an option for them? I'm a little trepidatious of long-acting shots of late. Could they be put on an oral steroid to help? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything I find online talks about getting rid of the mosquitoes, and not how to treat the allergy. Looking for people who've had more experience with this. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7743" LastEditorUserId="12600" LastEditDate="2018-12-16T11:45:29.263" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:00:22.727" Title="How can I treat mosquito allergy in cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15267" CreationDate="2016-09-13T12:03:31.567" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 female huskies, 1 of them usually loves their food, once it's put down, it's gone in seconds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last few weeks, we have had trouble with her (the one that loves her food) not eating.  We usually mix things up, sometimes it can be a dry meal from a bag, other times it can be some sort of meat roll, or meat from a tin.  She doesn't get excited for the food she used to love, but as soon as we start putting the other food in the bowl, she cries for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried a few different brands of dry food, and will try one more next pay day.  Things are getting quite expensive trying different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she just being really picky and hoping to have the meat instead of the dry food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read some information that I should stick to what I'm doing by placing the food down, leaving it for a little while, then picking it up so shes learns that what is put down is what she should be eating, but it doesn't seem to be working, she will just sit there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Health wise, she looks fine, runs around in the garden like normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long should I put up with her doing this, as it's coming up to day 4 or 5 now, and I'm about to break and just give her the meat, which is rather expensive for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7997" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T05:17:05.647" Title="Husky refuses to eat dry biscuits unless it's something else like canned meat for dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13574" CreationDate="2016-09-13T22:26:11.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing that seems worrisome is that it happened once that your cat swallowed the ball. All other aspects of your question should not worry you at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three cats and everyone of them has different favorites toys and ways of playing with them. And also their likes change during time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your worries about eating the ball again but you definitely should not hide toys because cat &quot;is not relaxed&quot;. In fact it is just opposite. Cats love to play and you should provide them with as much occasions to play as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still not comfortable with my answer and the situation in general I would recommend to actively play with the cat as author of &quot;The Cat From Hell&quot; often recommends. This way you could test different toys and different ways to play with them.&#xA;Sometimes I try this method with my cats - note that toys can be hard or soft, furry or plain, heavy or light and so on, so on. You can throw the toy in different directions, shake the toy, or even put it on the cat :) Maybe different kind of ball or the same kind but little larger would be good for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another very important aspect are social interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite of widely used stereotype that cats are solitaries the truth is that they need presence of other beings, especially other cats. So I highly recommend to have two cats (at least ;). You cannot guess in advance what will be relation between them (love, hate or indifference). But even in &quot;indifference&quot; mode it is valuable for cat health to not stay alone for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8000" LastActivityDate="2016-09-13T22:26:11.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15130" CreationDate="2016-09-13T23:04:31.503" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I smell cat food every time I feed my cats. A good smell and undamaged container are enough for me to accept the food. It happened once that the food looked different than usual, and I gave the food to my cats cautiously. They ate it without any doubt, so I was happy that their instinct told them that the food is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this is a sufficient procedure.&#xA;If not - what else we can do?&#xA;You can throw the cans away or give them back to the seller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately there might be some kind of poisons developing in the food, especially some with no smell or taste (like botulinum toxin in food for humans) but I'm not aware of any in cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8000" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:26:45.513" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:45.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15263" CreationDate="2016-09-14T05:17:05.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's fine and would eat other stuff, I wouldn't worry too much. Huskies can be extremely nitpicking, but dogs won't starve to death, even if the food available isn't what they have in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've got two Huskies and both tend to not eat a lot or sometimes nothing at all for a few days, possibly related to weather and/or fur changes as it seems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting them to drink is a lot more important. As with all things, if you really worry, ask your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T05:17:05.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2016-09-14T09:35:42.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a wild cottontail.  Saved it from a crow and a vet needed to help it with its wounds.  The vet informed me that if I did keep it as a pet, they could not take it on as a client as it is illegal to own a wild rabbit.  However, a couple of days later, she called to say she had contacted the authorities on my behalf anonymously to inquire about the situation and based on the circumstances could care for it.  I was happy that my rabbit would have a vet.  I take my cotton tail every three months for a nail trim and have had her spade. Having your wild rabbit fixed apparently calms them and helps with health issues like cancer as they age.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My experience has been positive. She is just over two years of age. She is toilet trained (all on her own).  I feed her a variety of food stuffs, mainly Timothy hay and rabbit pellets (best quality is only a few extra bucks a bag), and supplement with lettuce mixes (I avoid iceberg and spinach at vets recommendation), blueberries as a treat.  She also loves the rabbit sticks of bird seed (which I see wild rabbits eating at bird feeders). In summer I pick dandelions and clover ensuring they are from lawns not contaminated with spray).&#xA;My cottontail lives with a mature Aussie that has always been calm around her.  My rabbit even jumped onto the dog's back once when she was so eager to get a treat.  She is rarely &quot;locked up&quot; except if we have a large crowd visiting.  At this time I put her cage in a spare room or cover it with a blanket.  She roams the back of the house evening to morning in a bunny proofed area doing lots of binkies and jumping. I get a kick out of watching her and love when she jumps up on me knocking the wind out of me.  She prefers to sleep in a hollow next to her cage formed from a blanket covering half the cage.  She enters her cage to eat and drink and use her toilet. Sometimes she may doze there. We keep her cage high, behind a love seat on a table, away from drafts. She is in the family room and part of the family and use to our movements and noise.  She gets her alone time and sleep during the week days when we are at work.&#xA;Is she a good pet? For us she is as we are a couple with no children.  We accept that a few pets is all she wants for attention.  She likes her nose rubbed.  We have a mature dog that has a gentle nature as a herder.  Not a pet if you have a noisy house with children. She is not a cuddle bunny.  Get a domesticated rabbit if you want a cuddle bunny. She will always been skittish and on guard. We accept her for her wild nature and nocturnal lifestyle.  We let her come to us.  Cottontails especially females are solitary in nature.  She is part of the household and we enjoy her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8002" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T09:35:42.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13574" CreationDate="2016-09-14T12:33:29.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience cats often have have a particular toy or type of toy that is their favorite. Toys that can be swallowed are bad toys and should be removed or used with human supervision only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat who loved a silk ribbon. One day she decided to eat it and I found her was running around the house with 5&quot; of ribbon hanging out of her mouth ( the rest in her stomach). I think it was more traumatic to me than her really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that she gets no more silk ribbons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway you should experiment with different toys and find him some safe kitty toys he likes. Playing with your cat with the new toy will probably make the toy more appealing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T12:33:29.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12003" CreationDate="2016-09-14T12:59:03.663" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are describing would be a complicated and involved training exercise requiring months of work. You would probably need training yourself or read a lot of books on animal training to do it successfully. It would probably require mock tunnels and squirrel skin props.It is possible though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The possibility always exists that during or after training Mr. Ferret will decide that a squirrel may look look a good dinner or make a good chew-toy. Being torn to pieces is typically not considered a good, humane way to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple and humane way to get rid of your squirrels is to use a live trap such as a cage trap. Catch them, take them far away and release them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T12:59:03.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15106" CreationDate="2016-09-14T13:10:49.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now he associates you with the bad spraying experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give him his favorite cat food or treats and sit by closely. Don't try to pet him. After a few feedings, slowly try to pet him. Pet him gently and sweetly. Also try playing and interacting with him. You need to make him associate you with good things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because he is licking and scratching doesn't mean he has fleas. The sprays are often toxic to cats and may burn or be painful. You can spot fleas by examining your pet's hair closely - they are little tiny brown jumping insects. Cat fleas are a particular species of flea and don't infest humans so you have nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid off-the-shelf sprays as they are typically just insect poisons which are bad for your cat. Avoid administering treatments unless you know for sure what what the ailment is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is licking or scratching a lot or loosing hair take him to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T13:10:49.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15239" CreationDate="2016-09-14T19:19:36.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet won't (probably) let you do everything as you aren't licensed and could cause pain+ suffering by mistake. But they may agree to let you press the plunger once they've set it up properly, if you explain why it matters to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing it at home is likely to be considered to cause extra risk of suffering though (whether it actually did or didn't).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T19:19:36.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-14T20:04:23.610" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a cat, she's five years old, polydactyl, fixed and declawed. My question is, why won't she play and how could I get her to? Also, she sometimes chews on her toe pads, almost like they're bothering her, why does she do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8004" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T16:24:31.087" Title="My cat won't play" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15158" CreationDate="2016-09-14T20:51:39.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats are very aggressive at play. Even after several years together, they still chase, tackle, wrestle, pin, and bite with a great deal of vocalization that &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; like they are tearing each other apart. It has never been a problem &amp;mdash; they are the best of friends and get along famously &amp;mdash; but here is what I look for to make sure play-aggression isn't turning into violence or bullying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it reciprocal?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does one give chase and then the other? When one is dominating (winning), does the other get a chance, or is one constantly taking every lull in the action trying to get away? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are the claws in when it counts?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There's a lot of swatting and grabbing where one grabs onto the other with a type of &quot;bear hug&quot; while the back legs go to town in an almost kangaroo-like kicking. They might show their claws in display when rearing up, but if the claws go to work and the hair starts flying in chunks or drawing blood, obviously they're no longer playing. Mock aggression should not be causing injury or damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does the victim &quot;roll over&quot; onto their back?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If a cat were really trying to defend itself, it wouldn't roll over and display its midline. It makes them vulnerable. A cat exposing its midline to another is a display of trust and encouragement.  It's a way to say, &quot;I trust you; come and get me.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do they sit together quietly?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If there was some sort of on-going territorial aggression, the aggressor would not likely tolerate the other cat in its space. Keep a mental note to make sure they are regularly spending time together without aggressive behavior. If  one is spending all its time in another part of the house or every encounter means a [play] fight, that may be a sign of bullying or unwanted territorial behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2016-09-14T21:03:13.130" LastActivityDate="2016-09-14T21:03:13.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15274" CreationDate="2016-09-14T21:34:34.350" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, declawing a cat is biologically equivalent (roughly) to removing the tips of their toes at the first knuckle, so you might expect some complications. Even if a vet does not find a specific problem, your cat may simply have lost interest in bouncing around if that area has become tender. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned chewing on her pads. That alone would prompt me to bring her to the vet to check her out. An X-ray might reveal loose bone fragments which can be left behind with this type of amputation which might explain the chewing and the lack of play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can also be other problems related to the declawing which may be correctable (unusual scar formation, for example). I'd have a vet look at it to see if the area has healed properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've already tried various cat toys to find out what she likes, I wouldn't keep pushing her too hard without knowing if there is something else going on. At five years old, she certainly already knows how to play, so I would eliminate any physical problems before encouraging her in activities that might cause her discomfort. Even if they don't find anything localized to her paws, they may be able to determine if there is anything else that might explain the lack of interest in normal play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck; I hope it works out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="115" LastEditDate="2018-11-15T16:24:31.087" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T16:24:31.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T01:03:32.197" Score="4" ViewCount="10306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently trying to sleep after my 3 month old kitten broke one of my favorite frames into pieces. He knows he's not supposed to be on that shelf. I've consistently forbidden him, never let him reach it, said &quot;no&quot; countless times, put him on the floor if he even reached with his front paws, which he did a couple times, after seeing a shiny bracelet that caught his attention, but he didn't show that much interest besides that. Yet, it didn't matter. And I saw him do it. It was not an accident, he didn't simply bumped it aside. He deliberately pushed it off the shelf with his paw and watched it fall and explode on the floor. He's been here for almost 2 months. This came out of the blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a cat for 16 and a half years before. She never did such things, so I'm desperate. My aunt has 6 cats and they never do this sort of thing. I've listened to her advice about being firm, consistent, etc. Doesn't make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also spent the whole day throwing a book and a pair of glasses on the floor from the bedside table every second I turned around. If I looked at him, he would sometimes run guilty, but sometimes he'd just completely ignore my warnings and keep conscientiously misbehaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't respond to blowing on his face, touching his nose, and even if I pick him up to put him on the floor, he bites so fast and hard, it barely gives me a chance. He often play bites, too, at least I think that's his point half the time I reach my hand to pet him. I take my hand away, tell him not to do it, even removed myself from his presence. It doesn't work. Many times I am not even interacting with him, and he runs to me or my boyfriend and bites. It's OK when I can get away, but when we're laying down to sleep and he runs at our arms and fingers, it hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People have referred to lemon helping to keep them away from places. Zero effectiveness with my cat. He likes lemon. Everything people told me to do, and everything I read about, he either likes it instead of being displeased, or is not affected whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not understand. I always treated him kindly, he eats good food, his litter box is cleaned everyday and changed regularly, too, we play with him, we love him and show it, I just don't understand what else to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's so tiny and cute and sweet to us when he's calm. He lets us pet him everywhere, pick him up, kiss him wherever we want. Heck, I can have my nose on him if I want to, we just sync and chill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he so double-sided? What could I be doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7885" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T21:06:31.733" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T14:43:38.057" Title="How do I make a cat understand something is wrong?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T10:40:03.907" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 feet by 6 feet hole newly introduced on one of my walls. This wall in particular, separates the foyer and the drawing rooms in my house. I have mentally worked out a plan to use this hole for a couple of needs, such as placing my TV, and some books may be. Now, I have a left out space of 3.5 feet by 3 feet (thickness of the wall is 1 feet including the projection slabs) where I think it is appropriate to place a planted aquarium. Here is a representational image of what I'm planning to do. The blue box is the proposed aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rMHzB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rMHzB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that, there will be view from both sides of the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5tmEP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5tmEP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the view from the other angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WfXFu.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WfXFu.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The approximate measurement of the aquarium will be 106h X 95w X 30d (all in centimetres).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no experience whatsoever in this domain. So I would like expert opinion on the following questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How viable is such a project? (Alternate opinions also welcome)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it possible to build this tank leak proof and without additional structural support given the large height requirement?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How difficult and practical it is to build a double sided aquarium?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How costly this project will be approx? (I'm living in India)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My plan is to put very tiny fishes, in small numbers (like 3-4 guppies). What species should I look for?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8009" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T08:16:46.350" Title="How to setup a planted aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15277" CreationDate="2016-09-15T11:48:31.280" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's not trying to annoy you or misbehave. You are reading emotions into his behavior that he almost certainly does not feel. You are hurt and angry because of his behavior, so your reactions are probably making things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very different than dogs and people. Dogs, like us, evolved to live in packs. They have a concept of pack leader, and know that it's important to please the pack leader. So a dog will avoid doing certain things that he knows will displease the pack leader (his owner). If you're angry, your dog will be unhappy. Cats, however, are solitary hunters; they do not recognize a leader. If you're angry, your cat will just be confused or frightened. Cats do love us, but they don't have an inbuilt urge to please us the way dogs do. Cats can definitely be trained, but you need to understand their differences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's not fair to compare your kitten to the 16 year-old cat that you had. Your kitten has an overwhelming biological urge to explore his environment; that's how they learn. He gets bored easily. He won't be a kitten forever. When he's a few years old, he will probably be much calmer and will behave more in line with your expectations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I recommend that you provide lots of toys for your kitten. They needn't be expensive; cardboard tubes, walnuts, wadded-up paper, and boxes make great toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, play with your kitten every day. Really wear him out! A tired cat is a well-behaved cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest that you watch the TV series &quot;My Cat from Hell&quot; with Jackson Galaxy, particularly the first season. Much of the series is on You Tube, but it would be worth purchasing the DVD set. You'll learn to see things from a cat's point of view, which will help you solve the problems you're experiencing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He knows he's not supposed to be on that shelf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, all he knows is that if he tries to go to that shelf when you're around, something exciting or unpleasant will happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He deliberately pushed it off the shelf with his paw and watched &#xA;  it fall and explode on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, he wanted to see what would happen. Or maybe he was just bored. If you don't want your things broken, the simplest solution is to attach them to the shelf or wall so they can't be moved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can put a small roll of tape on the shelf. When he jumps onto the shelf, the tape will get stuck on his paws, which will deter him from jumping up there again. However, the tape will upset him, so only use it when you're around to remove it for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He also spent the whole day throwing a book and a pair of glasses on&#xA;  the floor from the bedside table every second I turned around. If I&#xA;  looked at him, he would sometimes run guilty, but sometimes he'd just&#xA;  completely ignore my warnings and keep conscientiously misbehaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was probably bored, and looking for some excitement, which you provided every time you reacted! A better approach would have been to play with him or introduce a toy that he could play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He often play bites, too, at least I&#xA;  think that's his point half the time I reach my hand to pet him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that you never use your hands as toys. If he bites, don't get angry (which will only frighten him). Don't react at all; just walk away. When he learns that biting triggers the end of playtime, he will stop doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not understand. I always treated him kindly...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't understand your behavior either. But when you learn to understand the psychology of cats better, you will have a more comfortable relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T21:11:00.023" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T21:11:00.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3275" CreationDate="2016-09-15T14:24:55.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on another site about putting the rubber mesh that you line cabinets with on the top half of the stairs.  Cost under $10 at Lowes. Mesh is held in place with a loop made of electrical tape making it effectively two sided. Once they get in rhythm on the top stairs they are fine on the bottom half. After helping my dog down once he now goes up and down freely.  It is an easy and effective solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8011" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T14:24:55.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T15:43:22.310" Score="2" ViewCount="1423" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an indoor cat who has no problem with me when I'm inside. She'll come up to me, let me pet her, etc. She even sleeps on my side of the bed when I'm out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But whenever I go outside and pass by her window she hisses and growls at me through the window. It seems odd, because if I come in immediately, she won't even be bothered by me, even if I'm still wearing any jacket, hat, or gloves I may have been wearing outside. It seems to be just me being outside. The window puts her about 6 feet above the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she be bothered by me when I'm outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8012" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T15:43:22.310" Title="My Cat Growls at Me When I'm Outside" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-15T17:21:52.133" Score="1" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, the other night, was following a bug in our house when he tried to eat it, he freaked out. He jumped up and took off running. I caught him in a different room, and there he was still jumpy and had saliva, that was somewhat foamy, coming from his mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found out that the bug is a squash bug. They are like stink bugs but live in your garden, often destroying it. One of them got in to the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the bug is toxic or he was just reacting because of the smell and taste it gave off. I also don't know if they sting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8014" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-09-15T23:58:54.873" LastActivityDate="2016-09-15T23:58:54.873" Title="My cat tried to eat a squash bug" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T05:02:55.113" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two map turtles; one male and another one female. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I caught them doing the mating dance and the deeds plenty of times. I got the male from a friend and he was lonely, so about a month later got the female from our local pet store. She was the only map turtle I could find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, it's been about a year now and she has shown signs of trying to make nests in the dry area, as evidenced by the missing soil/sand. For about three weeks she has been hiding in the back of the water tank, not even coming up to bask like she normally does. On the other hand, the male kept the normal routine. Now she is swimming all over the tank up and down all crazy non-stop for two days. Also, as a note - she has a pea-sized opening at the base of her tail but I see no egg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Any information would be great, thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8016" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T00:30:23.777" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T00:30:23.777" Title="I think my female map turtle is trying to lay her eggs in the water" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-05-04T21:11:17.100" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T11:38:47.353" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female Platty pregnant she was fat when we got her and she has got even fatter. On the bottom of her near her fins I have noticed today there is like a white lump, she is very quiet and stays to herself. I she going to give birth soon. Any help would be great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8017" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:01:05.887" Title="Pregnant Platty" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T16:00:43.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T12:00:22.180" Score="3" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have to hand feed him and he is not starving. I'm just curious, if I put his food in his bowl and leave the room, he won't eat until I return and he knows I'm not leaving? I'm curious, how to fix this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have my roommate's dog with me all the time, but have to feed them separately until we work out their issues. So when I put my dogs food down and leave to go put the other dogs food down, neither will eat unless I'm in the room. But my roommate's other dog will eat with no problem, why? It's frustrating! I just want them to eat. I can't be in 2 places at once. Maybe a cage will help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, my dog is a 1 year old male unneutered pitbull, bull mastiff, lab mix, my roommate's dog that's always with me is a 5 year old male, neutered, Cavachon, a King Charles Spaniel and Bichon frisé mix, and the other dog is a 10 year old male neutered golden retriever lab mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8018" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T15:20:21.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T02:29:15.570" Title="My dog won't eat his kibble unless I'm sitting right there?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15326" CreationDate="2016-09-16T12:37:09.597" Score="3" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we adopted our black cat Ki-Ki, he would eat cat food just fine when he was little. 2-3 years later he wants me to feed him only human food because we sometimes gave him scraps of meat we cooked. Could this be the reason? Has he gotten addicted to human food and not like cat food anymore? The only time he eats cat food is when I am in there with him, as if he doesn't like to be left alone. What is happening to Ki-Ki??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8019" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:23:46.497" Title="My Black Cat (Named Ki-Ki), won't eat cat food anymore!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3275" CreationDate="2016-09-16T16:01:46.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;FWIW, it took a lot of time, patience, and positive reinforcement. Puppy Pants is still a raw ball of nerves and fear (and we just moved for the second time since we brought him into our lives so he's adjusting all over again), but nothing like he was in 2014. What it took was constant rewards to convince him that all these new things are okay. They're fine. He's fine. Everything is fine. This liver is delicious. (note: he didn't seem to be food motivated until we found really really amazing treats. Bacon, cream cheese, liver: for these things he will work.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't really believe he would ever come round, and I think in our impatience we probably slowed him down. But we eventually brought him around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T16:01:46.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T17:03:17.460" Score="4" ViewCount="314" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bearded dragon is being aggressive, anything that comes in or near his tank he tries to attack. If I vacuum near his tank he tries to go after it, when I plug up anything in the socket, if I stick his food in there. For example I have a prepared his pellets and bugs with calcium. And I'll just pour that in his bowl and he tries to attack to container. I'm the only one that can handle him, but it takes a lot of trying. I'm also guessing it's a him I have another one who's a female and about 1 year old who displayed this behavior but not near as bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8022" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T17:05:06.947" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T17:51:35.437" Title="Aggressive bearded dragon help?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13603" CreationDate="2016-09-16T17:13:04.863" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be internal injuries which would need a vets diagnosis to determine.  A simple check you could do for skelatel or muscle injuries in to pet your cat all over. Not roughly but enough you can her parts underneath. And if she shows discomfort at any particular spot or spots might give you indication. But acting strangely is a vague distribution. I would take my car to the vet. Best of luck though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8022" LastActivityDate="2016-09-16T17:13:04.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7921" CreationDate="2016-09-16T17:18:35.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take her to the vet immediately! It has to be corrected by surgery or else toxins will leak into her body and she will die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8022" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2016-09-18T17:28:01.160" LastActivityDate="2016-09-18T17:28:01.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-16T19:15:44.060" Score="2" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1.5 year female Labradoodle who continues to pee when nobody is home. We work and are not home 9-9.5 hours a day. The dog does not want to hold it and wait until I get home and take her out. She always pees or poops at one part of the kitchen and I started putting puppy pads on the floor since I am tired of cleaning it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a smart dog, but has decided it was fine to pee and poop the house. If I am home during the day, she waits and lets me know she wants to go out and does not pee or poop. I punish her by raising my voice and showing her the pee or poop and she knows the punishment is coming when I get home, but does it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything I can do to break her pattern and get her to wait?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8023" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:06:00.113" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:06:00.113" Title="Housebreaking a 1.5 year Labradoodle" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15306" CreationDate="2016-09-16T19:23:38.573" Score="3" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that likes to start his day off early (e.g. 5am) where he starts batting items around (boxes i leave out for him and toys and sometimes items he shouldnt), running from one room to the other, and trying to scratch my door frames (previous family I adopted him from removed his claws so this is not an issue but it can be loud still). He also jumps on my bed and presses his face against my hand and lays on my head. Is there some way to discourage him from waking up so early or at least being hyper in the morning? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:47:17.097" Title="How to stop a cat from waking me up?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15550" CreationDate="2016-09-16T19:41:06.627" Score="4" ViewCount="443" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a problem with eating houseplants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He ate an entire succulent over a month time period while I was at work even with lemons near or aluminum foil on the windowsill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about going the pet grass option but he has another problem. He also likes to knock over plants and scatter the dirt around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a small cactus with a red bulb on the end and he batted it around until I lost it (it is somewhere in or around my living room furniture) and spilled the dirt everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also knocked over my other succulent (I had a nice desert plant arrangement too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this will be a problem when I go the pet grass route. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how would I keep him from playing with the pet grass dirt and spreading the dirt around my apartment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T22:02:46.630" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T13:30:30.260" Title="How to keep a cat from scattering house plant dirt?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15300" CreationDate="2016-09-17T02:17:54.803" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a cat person , but not a plant person. I say just don't have plants. Why bother?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I do have family with cats and plants. Both are cat parents with indoor/outdoor cats. They don't bother much. I have been an indoor only cat person, never felt the need to have plants to know any info about it. But if indoor, that may be a wondrous place to frolic, why give it to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor or outdoor, it's simple, don't have a plant. If you want to get one specifically for your cat, then get them the grass and see if it works for you or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8026" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T22:12:01.767" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T22:12:01.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15239" CreationDate="2016-09-17T02:22:06.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Watching my dog struggle in my arms after the vet administered the drug to put him to sleep was horrifying as he went into spasms trying to breath and trying to wriggle out of my arms. The vet had already administered something to calm him down because he had always hated being in the vet's office. &#xA;Talk to your vet about what to expect before you decide to hold your pet while being euthanized would be my suggestion. Had I known that the reaction could be such a struggle to fight the drugs, I would have said my goodbyes and left the room until it was time to take him home for burial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8027" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T02:22:06.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15298" CreationDate="2016-09-17T02:23:36.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;NO! Aside from trying to keep them up late so they sleep in late...like a child. The answer is no. You can try to keep them away from the option to wake you. That could be bedroom door closed, or teflon walls. They will be up after a set time....you can only change with sleeping schedule...or not having access to you in themorning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8026" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T02:23:36.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2016-09-17T04:06:52.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My youngest one uses ecoturf, while the older one has the carpet like bottom, she had an injury on her underbelly and we switched it during her recovery so her site didn't get infected. But she likes the carpet better so we stayed with that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8022" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T04:06:52.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15298" CreationDate="2016-09-17T05:11:09.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't reward the behavior. When they are too rough in waking you toss them off the bed, or hit them with a squirt from a spray bottle, or hiss at them, or firmly and loudly say &quot;no!&quot;, or some combination of these. Cats are quite capable of learning which behaviors get them favorable attention and which produce responses they don't like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, rambunctious behavior does drop off as they age out of  being kittens. So this eventually valves itself. My two mostly just cuddle against me if I'm sleeping, though one sometimes wants me to lift the covers so she can crawl under, and both want to kneed my belly for a few minutes before we all go to sleep. (Not always permitted.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T05:11:09.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2016-09-17T12:51:06.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've experienced this with our oldest cat, Cassie, a calico that adopted us over 18 years ago. We have since added a few more cats to our family and one of them is a very large alpha Maine Coon male. They all get along fine, but Cassie is very skittish and always on her haunches, like she doesn't trust the other cats not to pounce on her (as far as I know, they have never done that). She has developed a silent meow and I think it's because she is afraid to beg for something, or draw attention. Maybe in the social cat hierarchy in our home, she feels she &quot;has no voice&quot;. She is not always silent, but mostly is when she wants attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8029" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:22:17.077" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:17.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="32" CreationDate="2016-09-17T19:13:01.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In are kitchen we have an electric fly killer to get rid of fly's. Recently our dog has being crying and acting as if he is scared. We tutned of all of any thing electrical like lights and flash lights but he seemed fine so turned back on everything and he went back to his bad behavior. Recently we were eating when when we heard are fly killer make a noise and soon we found that it was the problem, our dog was scared of it. We searched up what simtems happens and we soon found out that any sudden noises that are loud can give a dog a heart attack ( normally that older dog ) instantly we got rid of the DG ly killer. In future if you have dogs or cats in your house make sure you don't have an electric fly killer. ( the reason for them to have a heart attack is because they can hear much more than we can and if we think that something is loud they can hear it much note than we can!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8032" LastActivityDate="2016-09-17T19:13:01.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2016-09-18T12:41:46.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While this answer does not meet the criteria set forth to receive the bounty. It comes from a credible source and is worthy of consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presentation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DIGESTIVE ISSUES YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY KNOW ABOUT – GI STASIS AND BLOAT Presented by: Melissa Ferry, DVM, MedVet Hilliard, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.midwestbunfest.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Midwest BunFest, Saturday September 17, 2016&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the part of the presentation focusing on bloat, one of the slides displayed an image of the mucus poop, I listened carefully and asked a followup question. This is what I learned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the experience of Dr Ferry, this symptom is associated specific to bloat. She and her practice partners believe it is created at or near the cecum during the episode of bloat, when it is passed it is considered a good sign, indicating the episode of bloat has been survived. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-09-18T12:41:46.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-18T19:40:02.423" Score="2" ViewCount="701" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 month old dog is we behaved and goes outside if we leave the back door open. But if it gets a bit cold and we shut it. She wont hold it at all and just go without her approaching us for a sign or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone got any ideas? Winter is coming and dont really want to constantly leave the door open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do open the door regularly to let them out. My older dog doesnt but this one does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8039" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T12:56:51.897" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T15:59:56.217" Title="Dog pees inside if back door shut with no sign" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-18T21:36:22.020" Score="5" ViewCount="6621" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost my Maine Coon four years ago. I believe I have found him but he's not trusting to come to me. Is that normal for a cat not to remember me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8040" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T12:56:29.410" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:21:31.710" Title="Will my lost cat remember me after 4 years" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-18T22:31:42.807" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 babies who are almost a year old and a buck and a doe as outside pets. They are all in separate cages. I've noticed four of the six rabbits have a single scab on the top of their nose. I've never had any weird problems with my rabbits before except for this year when I bought a flemish giant that had a case of ear mites. (little did I know) I have no clue what these scabs mean. One was a blackish color which I know isn't good. I want to treat them but don't know what to treat them for. Getting a vet around my area is hard because not many around me see rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8041" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T12:49:51.060" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T12:49:51.060" Title="What does it mean if my rabbit has a scab on the top of its nose?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-09-19T12:51:04.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-19T00:50:55.037" Score="0" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;looks like a dwarf bunny. black and white in color how can I rid it of Fleas as I cannot get close because it's feral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8043" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T12:31:01.903" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T15:10:25.450" Title="Feral Bunny with fleas, how can I help it when I'm unable to get more than two feet close?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15315" CreationDate="2016-09-19T02:06:54.907" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put out some Daminix and hope that the rabbit finds if and uses it as nesting material? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild animals have parasites. That's the nature of nature....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T02:06:54.907" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1525" CreationDate="2016-09-19T10:49:04.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer this method because nearly all cats will not respond to negative reinforcement at all. All cats will respond to natural instincts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Felines(felidae) have a wide variety of social behaviors. House cats, Felidae Felinae Felis F. Catus, are descended from the  Felidae Pantherinae subfamily. This subfamily includes: Lions, tigers, Jaguars, Leopards, panthers, and other panther-like feline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through many years of domesticating, house cats have adapted to human interaction yet retain several diverse instincts from their Pantherinae ancestors. Toms typically socialize more like panthers; they lean towards being dominant, territorial(spraying), less social, solo animals. Queens typically socialize as lioness; pride animals, solo hunters, providers, and protectors. Tell tale signs of panther-like behavior are: ignores you a lot, cat chooses when to be pet and left alone, doesn't bring you dead mice. Tell tale signs of pride like inclinations are: sleeping with you, waking you up in the morning, excessive meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had my female cat since she was 8 weeks old. I've been able to raise the cat to be submissive. If your cat is the dominant in the household use the following technique with care as overuse could make the cat loathe you. It can also make the cat feel it is no longer welcome and needs to find a new family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat attempts to get on my desk I pick her up by the scruff of her neck (this is ok to do with cats of any age as long as they aren't overweight). This shows the first sign of dominance as this is how mothers carry their young. I turn around, putting myself between the desk and the cat establishing a barrier. I then initiate a &quot;Stare Down&quot; with that cat just like you might see on the discovery channel when two unfamiliar cats are contesting territory. This step can take awhile as this is part of their ancestral instincts. Remain still and maintain eye contact. If you blink do it quickly, slow blinks are an comfortable/affectionate sign. A dominate cat will turn its head away to the side and TURN away an pretend nothing ever happened. A submissive cat will turn its head down and BACK away. If a submissive cat turns its head to the side and doesn't back away this is the equivalent of &quot;I don't want to challenge you but I still want up there so I'm going to stick around and see if you change your mind&quot;. If this is the case don't adjust your position to meet the cats eyes but continue to stare down the cat until it concedes and walks away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards, I will get the cat's attention and rub my head on the desk, marking the territory just as cats do when they are depositing their pheromones to mark territory. This sets up clear territorial and dominance boundaries and overtime with will convert a dominant cat. When doing this it's important to let the cat have its own private territories that you do not invade to keep the cat comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8046" LastEditorUserId="8046" LastEditDate="2016-09-19T10:54:57.967" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T10:54:57.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1222" CreationDate="2016-09-19T11:31:43.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is shy and has anxiety problems....  but he loves the hose!!!!!! I have a trigger hose and I've been training him with it. When he obeys &quot;sit&quot; I let him chase the hose and say &quot;get it&quot;. Then i moved on to sit and down,  because he crouched naturally looking at the hose, he was rewarded with the hose (saying &quot;get it&quot;). The next step was to make him stay.  I made him sit and down, then said stay. I'd squirt the hose and If he broke his stay, I'd turn it off instantly. If he waited until i said &quot;get it&quot; he got to play.&#xA;The end game is making him sit and get down and stay while I'm watering the garden,  with play time on command. &#xA;It's been the best training method yet!!&#xA;We are really bonding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8047" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T11:31:43.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15315" CreationDate="2016-09-19T12:45:38.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike cats; released domestic rabbits, transition back into domestication very well.  As I write this there is a rabbit sleeping on my bed, who was released in to a neighborhood a few years ago. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1578/can-i-release-my-pet-rabbit-in-the-wild&quot;&gt;Domestic rabbits do not do well in the wild.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The very best thing you can do is capture the bunny and get it into the local shelter system.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7252&quot;&gt;One of my three pet bunnies jumped out of the hutch and we can&amp;#39;t catch her&lt;/a&gt; for some ideas to catch the rabbit.  Depending on where you live there may be a local rabbit rescue who can assist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the rabbit is caught it can be treated with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;something like Revolution&lt;/a&gt; which will also treat other parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit can then go on to live a long and happy life in someones home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2020-06-22T15:10:25.450" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T15:10:25.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15297" CreationDate="2016-09-19T17:30:23.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting down puppy pads is encouraging her to go in the house. They are scented with a pheremone that draws the dog to go there (rather than anywhere else in the house). IMHO, they are only useful for people who accept that their dog needs to  eliminate in the house. As long as you put them down, the dog will continue to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog is pretty well house-trained, but that the day might be too long. Have you considered trying a dog walker to break up the day? Another alternative would be to go back to crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T17:30:23.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15239" CreationDate="2016-09-19T22:59:58.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was with my daughter when she had to put her Pitt Bull, Bently, down at home by a vet. It was extremely fast, and appeared to be very humane and painless.  Bentley was in her lap, and both of us talking to her, and petting her while she received the medication. . . Best way I can see to get them out of the pain of illness and to a better place. We miss her of course, but are happy she left peacefully and in a home environment that felt safe to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7308" LastActivityDate="2016-09-19T22:59:58.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3267" CreationDate="2016-09-20T11:49:12.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 1/2 year old bull mastiff. I have been feeding him Blue Buffalo  since I got him at 8 weeks old. He is very lean and active for a bull mastiff. I feed him about 3-4 cups twice a day which averages about 130.00 a month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important that you can afford this breed. I just had to take mine to the vet because he developed some sort of allergies on his skin, eyes and ears and the vet bill was $210.00 with all his medication. This wasn't an option I had to take him an get all his meds or he would have gotten worse.  They're just like your children, you can expect things to come up and you need to be able to care for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8050" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-09-20T12:26:56.347" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T12:26:56.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2016-09-20T12:29:07.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for opening the discussion. I have a silent meower, he's healthy in every other way. The only unusual thing I noticed is that as a kitten he had faintly bad breath and still has it. He meows in a way that sounds like breath. I thought when he was a kitten that he was adorably hissing at me, over time I realized the slight hiss of his breath is his only sound. Every now and then he tries very hard and makes a precious squeak that kind of scares him. I worried he was deaf, but he responds - sometimes too sensitively - to sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading all the suggestions here, I think it seems coincidental he's a tabby with other rare traits like a bobtail. He may have a genotype that caused his vocal abilities to have been underdeveloped, thus he is disabled in the context of making the common range of sounds. Or he may have a mental stimulus associated with sound that is sensually overwhelming, like cat autism, I'm not sure. I'm happy all these cats sound healthy. Just unique!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8051" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T15:09:55.220" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T15:09:55.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15291" CreationDate="2016-09-20T15:23:46.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a cat develops a taste for human food they will make it their full time job to get more. This includes begging for food, stealing it, or even taking it by force. Human food tastes/smells better than cat food evidently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people view these begging/stealing behaviors as undesirable so the normal advice is to not feed your cat human food ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also many believe our cats tend to view us as &quot;mom&quot; and they like to see what we are eating and also be sociable and eat when we eat. Several of my cats love to eat their food as we are eating dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat also needs a balanced diet, and human food typically does not meet their dietary needs. Cooked or uncooked lean meat won't hurt them but it is still not a balanced diet. Cats eat some vegetable matter in the wild and eat the organs of their prey so they actually get quite a variety of nutrients. Thus pet food has some cat digestible vegetables such as green beans or carrots and some added compounds like taurine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Keshlam suggested if you stop feeding the cat human food he should (begrudgingly) eat the cat food when he gets hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:23:46.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15298" CreationDate="2016-09-20T15:47:17.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are neither diurnal nor nocturnal, they are crepuscular: They are most active in the twilight hours around dawn and dusk. This is normal healthy behavior for them, so it would not be good for your cat to be forced into doing otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed them in the morning when you wake up they may quickly learn to wake you up when they think they should be fed. If you get up and feed them when they are trying to wake you up, their behavior will be reinforced. Your cat may also be concerned that something is wrong with you if they think you are oversleeping and they may try to see if you are responsive and get you up and moving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Keshlam suggested you can be firm with your cat and let them know you do not want to woken up. If you give in after a while then they will just learn to be persistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If their behavior and the noise it is a problem, lock the cat out of your bedroom, or isolate them in another part of your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:47:17.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15312" CreationDate="2016-09-20T15:56:06.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;She doesn't understand that she is supposed to go outside yet, you just need to explain this in a way she can understand, and enforce it consistently in a way that will make her feel happy and confident about doing it your way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am house training adult rescue dogs, I usually keep the dog on lead in the house for a few days.  It's a pain, but it means the dog cannot slip away and get it wrong, if she starts to sniff or squat, you'll see it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also take the dog outside at least once an hour, give her time outside which isn't ball games or exciting stuff, just hanging about.  Usually a dog with nothing much to do will pee before too long.  Then you can praise her for getting it right, and maybe reward her with a ball game or treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she has the general idea you can let her off the lead in the house, but continue to supervise closely and pop her outside regularly.  Over time, she'll form a routine and will probably begin to ask to go out if she needs to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-09-20T15:56:06.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-20T17:59:44.063" Score="1" ViewCount="818" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a plant which grows up the pipe of my undergravel filter (in a 30 l freshwater aquarium), i.e. from ground to the water surface growing precisely around the pipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that I could use a plant which is so large that it'd cover the tube and that I could put a mat around the tube and let java farn crow on it. It's more of a knowledge question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of the fact that the plant would limit the maintainability of the filter installation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case you don't know yet, what an undergravel filter is: &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/choosing-aquarium-equipment7.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/choosing-aquarium-equipment7.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T15:35:26.073" Title="Is there such a thing a underwater climbing plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15334" CreationDate="2016-09-21T03:58:13.383" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued a puppy from a local rescue organization recently. The puppy is about 5-8 months old and is a German sheppard doberman mix. I feed him roughly 3 cups of dog food a day broken into 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Breakfast and lunch is a rounded scoop with dinner being a level scoop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as I put the food down my puppy devours it within &amp;lt;8 seconds. This seems absurdly fast to me but he also does not appear to get sick or have a problem holding it down. He seems to always be hungry but I'm told that is normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal for a puppy to eat so quickly?  Or is this a result of not being fed properly/normally until he was rescued?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8055" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T07:36:23.623" Title="New puppy devours food impossibly quick" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15331" CreationDate="2016-09-21T07:36:23.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this can be normal, especially if the pup is used to having to compete with littermates for access to the food bowl. And dogs tend to eat quickly anyway, as recognized by the idiom &quot;to wolf down a meal&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may decrease over time as he realizes that nobody is trying to take the food away before he's done eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T07:36:23.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10414" CreationDate="2016-09-21T15:55:24.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just purchased a wheel for our bengal kittens, age 6 months and 7 months. They both have lots of energy and are highly trainable, one of them is extremely treats motivated and the other is toy/attention motivated.  We got the wheel two days ago and have been working with them a bit each day and they both will run on the wheel when we are there training them. They haven't gone to the wheel on their own yet, but I suspect after more training sessions, they will start to use it. They both still have LOTS of energy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8058" LastActivityDate="2016-09-21T15:55:24.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15300" CreationDate="2016-09-22T10:04:26.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest, safest and best way is simple; don't let them get near it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't teach a cat not to do something, you can only teach them to not do something while you are nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small example, our cats never walk on the dinner table when we are home, but if we happen to be outside in the garden or come home when they don't expect it, we might find them sitting or walking on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for plants, years of personal experience has taught me that plants and cats inside do not mix.&#xA;Cats like to chew on plants and they will continue to do this. Cats also love to play with small moving objects (bugs) and there will be small tiny bugs on/in your plant eventually that will draw their attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either place the plants where they cannot reach them or put large pointy stones in the pot. This might help prevent them from scratching out the dirt everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keyword is &quot;Might&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T13:30:30.260" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T13:30:30.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-22T14:25:55.223" Score="2" ViewCount="6090" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're trying to diagnose a recurring limp in my 6mo puppy. Been to the vet a few times, x-rays, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I had a outside thought. He's been eating the apples that fall in the front yard, and I just learned that he shouldn't eat the seeds due to the cyanide. He's been doing it probably for the last 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we've dealt with that, but I'm curious if anyone has experience with consistent low-level cyanide poisoning, in a dog or any other animal. Can you be specific about the symptoms? If motor control was effected, was it widespread or at least symmetric, or was it limited e.g. to a specific limb? Did it come and go, or was it persistent? Did the animal recover eventually after removing the cyanide exposure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I can find general lists of symptoms, but I'm interested in how it played out in specific cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8065" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T17:17:55.663" Title="Chronic low-level cyanide poisoning in dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15329" CreationDate="2016-09-22T15:35:26.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A web search for &quot;underwater climbing plant&quot; yielded &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aqcenter.net/topic/1801-climbing-plants/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, which suggests Hydrocotyle Japan. You should be able to train it around the pipe as it sends out roots every few centimeters like ivy. It might be easier if you first wrap some sort of netting around the pipe, so that the roots have something to anchor on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself don't know much about fish, so I can't guarantee that Hydrocotyle Japan is safe for your fish. However, that link is an aquarium site, so I suspect that if you research the plant, you'll find it's safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T15:35:26.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15340" CreationDate="2016-09-22T17:17:55.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely your puppy ate enough seeds, or for long enough (just 3 months) to cause problems.&#xA;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/is-it-safe-for-dogs-to-eat-apples.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this vet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While it’s unlikely your dog would chew up and eat enough seeds to&#xA;  become ill or die (for comparison, an adult would need to eat about a&#xA;  cup of seeds to suffer any ill effects), it’s still easier and safer&#xA;  to remove seeds and stems before serving the apple to your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/10-people-foods-dogs/1896&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Modern Dog Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though the effects of a few apple seeds will likely not harm your dog,&#xA;  the deleterious effects can accumulate over time if allowed to eat&#xA;  apple seeds regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/consultant/Consult.asp?Fun=Cause_2963&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine&lt;/a&gt; has a list of symptoms of cyanide poisoning in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Abnormal behavior, aggression, changing habits, Ataxia, Bloody stools,&#xA;  feces, hematochezia, Coma, Congestion oral mucous membranes, Decreased&#xA;  respiratory rate, Diarrhea, Dysmetria, Dyspnea, Excessive salivation,&#xA;  Excitement, Fecal incontinence, Forelimb spasms, Generalized weakness,&#xA;  Head, face, neck spasms, Hindlimb spasms, Hyperesthesia, Inability to&#xA;  stand, Increased respiratory rate, Miosis, Mydriasis, Seizures or&#xA;  syncope, Sudden death, Urinary incontinence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you still don't have a diagnosis for the limping, I would mention the apples next time you see your vet. But in the meantime, I wouldn't worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-09-22T17:17:55.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-23T02:57:16.960" Score="1" ViewCount="4277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new tank which I didn't cycle before adding fish (didn't know about it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However since then I have read about cycling and have purchased a fresh water test kit. I tested my water and got the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ammonia 0&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrite 5 ppm (this is the highest lvl my color chart has)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrate 0&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its been like that for a week despite 30% water changes every two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything I have read on internet forums say my fish should be dead. However they seem fine. They are not gasping for breath at the top of my tank like would be expected for nitrite poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 6 tetras and a bristlenose pleco in a 60 litre tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has nitrite toxicity to fish been overstated? Why are my fish still alive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Its been two weeks now, Nitrites are still at 5 ppm, I have upped the water changes to 50% every day, with no effects on the Nitrite readings. I still haven't lost any fish. My guess is that the nitrites are actually well over 5 ppm so the 50% water changes are not enough to bring it below 5 ppm. I'm starting to see Nitrates in the tank so the cycle is progressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updates 2&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Its been three weeks and the nitrites have now gone to zero. I havn't had lost any fish, or seen any signs of nitrite poisoning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="8067" LastEditDate="2016-10-10T04:18:20.373" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T19:45:37.860" Title="Nitrite 5 ppm why are my fish still alive" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-23T14:59:28.350" Score="2" ViewCount="1231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to make sure that I figured out the best way to transport fish (e.g. wels, guppies which less than 5 cm body length) for less than 1 hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that it's no necessary to provide additional oxygen as suggested in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1671/how-to-transport-fishes-over-large-distance&quot;&gt;How to transport fishes over large distance?&lt;/a&gt;, so the only (consequent) question is imo whether it's better to use a static container (e.g. a bucket) or a plastic/other impermeable bag. A static container causes more movement of the water (surface) whereas a bag has the disadvantage to change the depth of the water dramatically if it falls to the side. Both is stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stores usually use plastic bags, but that might be because they don't have to be returned and that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that it's better that it's dark inside the container because it calms the fish down. It might be bad, though, because the change between shutting down the circulation in the dark and waking it up if the container moves might be more stressful than keeping the fish awake/stressed constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T16:34:17.390" Title="How to transport fishes over a short distance/less than one hour?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15345" CreationDate="2016-09-23T16:34:17.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For that distance just about anything large enough is going to be fine, bag, bucket, large tupperware, without oxygen or other method to keep the water oxygenated. The exception to this would be very large fish, which isn't what you're dealing with. Keeping the container in something dark will additionally help to reduce stress. Unless the road you are traveling on is extremely rough, I wouldn't be especially concerned with the movement in the bag being harmful to the fish. The water offers excellent padding to anything in it as long as it's not literally getting shaken up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T16:34:17.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2016-09-23T17:40:48.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1%202142&amp;amp;aid=2729&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good article at peteducation.com&lt;/a&gt; that has a useful list of recommended foods. I don't know the cost of all these foods, but perhaps you can find one that is less expensive. (Also see if you can order the food online at a lower price.) Here's the key info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[The] diets that are designed to actually dissolve urinary stones&#xA;  include Hill's s/d, Royal Canin Dissolution, and Royal Canin Urinary&#xA;  SO. Hill's s/d should only used on a short-term basis, however, since&#xA;  it is not balanced for long-term use. Those diets that are available&#xA;  to help prevent stones and crystal formation in cats that are&#xA;  susceptible to them include Purina CNM UR-Formula, Royal Canin Urinary&#xA;  SO, Royal Canin Control, and Hill's c/d, w/d, and r/d. All of these&#xA;  diets have a balanced level of the minerals that make up the crystals&#xA;  such as magnesium and phosphorous. In addition to being formulated to&#xA;  produce an acid urine, they are also formulated to produce more dilute&#xA;  urine, so crystals are less likely to form. The diets are available&#xA;  through your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that you read the article as they have specific food recommendations based on the type of stones your cat had.&#xA;They recommend free feeding so the cat will eat small meals throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After eating a large meal, the pH of the urine usually becomes more&#xA;  alkaline. By eating small meals throughout the day, the urine pH will&#xA;  stay more acidic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also stress the importance of making sure your cat drinks enough water. You might want to try a &quot;pet water fountain&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-09-23T17:40:48.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-24T02:33:12.137" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's &lt;strong&gt;nine years old&lt;/strong&gt;, but he suddenly started peeing on the leg of a chair in a certain room, the backroom on a gift bag, and the corner of my rug by my bed. I put down those pee pads for him, where he usually goes, but he just finds a new spot! I don't know what to do, he isn't neutered but he's the only dog here. I have a cat, but we've had both of them since they were little so they basically grew up together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8072" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2016-09-26T21:38:12.077" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T21:38:12.077" Title="My dog is peeing everywhere" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15348" CreationDate="2016-09-24T16:45:56.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a reason why your dog has started to urinate everywhere, and whether that reason is behavioural or medical, you need to take him to a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many possible medical causes, ranging from a urinary tract infection, joint pain, metabolic disease (diabetes or Cushing's), prostatic disease (since he is intact), to something more sinister. Equally well the inappropriate urination may be a behavioural issue, such as marking behaviour or anxiety due to a change to his environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way your veterinarian will need to rule out a medical cause, and at minimum will likely want to do bloodwork (CBC and chemistry) as well as a urinalysis, and may want to do pursue imaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T16:45:56.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-24T17:17:23.213" Score="4" ViewCount="624" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just popping some of my birds ready pin-feathers, as a normally do. And I grabbed one and he freaked out and he made me accidentally pull it. There is a red wound on his head but he seems to be acting normal. Should I do something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8074" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T18:55:27.160" Title="I plucked on of my birds feathers on accident! Should I do something?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15350" CreationDate="2016-09-24T18:55:27.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will be fine, pulling out a blood feather is only painful momentarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-09-24T18:55:27.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15356" CreationDate="2016-09-25T04:01:42.587" Score="3" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to keep a small fresh water aquarium to water my plants. The water will be circulated by a small solar pump, the tank will be indoors and will get partial sunlight exposure each day. Temperature will be about 74-85 °F (23-29 °C). I'm looking for plants and maybe snails, arthropods or other small living things that could live in this tank. Low maintenance is a must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any good plants or small critters for something like this? I've ruled out fish as the tank is likely too small and warm for fish to be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8075" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:21:42.350" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:26:50.053" Title="Aquarium for watering plants, what organisms would be best?" Tags="&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2016-09-25T18:48:42.077" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use small nylon zip ties. You can tie any plant to something in the tank. I tied my fresh plants to plastic ones and voila! no issues with keeping them in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8079" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T18:48:42.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15353" CreationDate="2016-09-25T19:11:57.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm assuming you want to put water into that aquarium and use it to water your plants, then refilling with tap water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;74-80 °F (or 24-27°C) isn't that uncommon for tropical aquariums, 85 °F might be a tad bit too high longterm-wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How big is this tank going to be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are tons of various plants available that won't really care about whether the aquarium is in direct sunlight or not and how the water is. In fact most would probably profit from that (as would algae).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest getting a small piece of &lt;em&gt;Ceratophyllum demersum&lt;/em&gt; (also known as &lt;em&gt;hornwort&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;coontail&lt;/em&gt;). It's a fast growing, swimming plant. You can put s omething heavy on it to keep it down though. If you know someone who has some, you can probably even get a short piece for free. Under the right conditions (read: some sunny water is usually enough) it will grow about 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) a week, so there shouldn't be any shortage for any happy owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails sound like a perfect choice, especially since many would really work with &quot;no maintenance&quot; and they're usually fine with tap water (even if there's some chlorine in there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest getting some bladder/tadpole snails (&lt;em&gt;Physidae&lt;/em&gt;) as well as some rams-horn snails (&lt;em&gt;Planorbarius corneus&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're &quot;lucky&quot;, you'll even get some together with purchased plants for free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These snails are very robust, they don't mind the water temperature changing and also water quality is a rather low concern (it can become really green and smelly, yet they wouldn't mind). They'll also live happily off the algae growing on some plants or stones in the aquarium, if there's direct sun light at least some time of the day. They won't say no to the occasional pellet or piece of fish food though (especially in the beginning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could also imagine putting a population of &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;, also known as water fleas, in there. (Note: this might be a problem with your pump or taking water for the plants). You can often buy these as living food for fish. These little fellows can live in a perfectly balanced environment with the snails while also help keeping the water clean. The snails feed off algae and fish food, the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; eat what the snails &quot;produce&quot; and the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; remainders once again help the algae and plants grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the whole setup to start you won't need a lot. 3-4 snails of each species and one or two inches of the plant would actually be enough even for a bigger tank. Even if you'd have to buy everything, you shouldn't have to spend significantly more than 5-10$. You don't need any soil or ground for this (but you can add one, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually set up a small glass container (0.9 l) with the mentioned plants and animals on my windowsill a few months ago, originally just planned as an experiment to see whether I could breed daphne as fresh food for the real aquarium. The water is slightly green and there are some algae on the bottom and top, but the whole thing is stable all summer so far with only some occasional water refill needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the container in direct sun light in the morning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RvY9P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RvY9P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture of the 0.9 l container with plants, algae, snails, and daphne inside.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that pile of snails in the top right. I've thrown a fish food tab in there yesterday and over night they all swarmed up there. They're all ancestors of three or four snails I picked from my main aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The surface doesn't look too nice, but then again there's no water circulation except occasional refills, so that's expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a close up of the bottom part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vsR1b.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vsR1b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bottom of the container with some snails and daphne hiding between algae.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never put anything in there as ground material, these are all algae that grew over the last two or three months (they're essentially floating, nothing stuck). To be perfectly honest I really like how this looks and I could also imagine some bigger white stones in there for contrast (but it's really too small for some serious &quot;aquascaping&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While updating my answer I also noticed one of the biggest snails plowing through the algae on the ground, exposing some of the water fleas hiding in there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/nCXaaQL.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/nCXaaQL.gif&quot; alt=&quot;One of the bigger snails between the algae on the ground.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there's definitely something to see and watch. If you've got children this might also be some tiny project to start together, especially considering it's pretty much running on its own, so even if the kids lose interest for a while, this is a non-problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could imagine this whole thing looking rather great in one of those small Betta tanks (without an actual fish) two or three pebbles, a small plant and some snails…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:26:50.053" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:26:50.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5575" CreationDate="2016-09-25T23:45:32.253" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one trick that worked with my turtles, I got my turtles at a really young age but this may also work with older turtles. Buy about four dozen mosquito fish (very cheap) and dump them into the tank. If the turtles eat them then keep buying more, eventually your turtles will become uninterested in the fish and you can start adding other fish, in your case goldfish. &#xA;Also, you do know the sizing in that tank is horrible. Here let me help you out. &#xA;Assuming that you keep your turtles until adulthood you will need at least and 80-100 gallon aquarium&#xA;Goldfish need lots of space too contrary to popular beleif &#xA;One comet (common) goldfish: 30 gallons add ten gallons for each goldfish added after that &#xA;One fancy goldfish: 20 gallons add ten gallons for each fish added after that&#xA;Please get the right sized aquarium, no matter how small the animal it's still considered abuse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8080" LastActivityDate="2016-09-25T23:45:32.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T02:55:54.327" Score="4" ViewCount="8515" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an affectionate, devoted, fifteen-pound tuxedo cat named Milo who loves nothing better than chewing on feathers. He is so good to us I want to indulge him, if I can do that in a healthy way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet explained that as &quot;complete predators&quot; cats are best nourished by eating their entire prey - fur, feathers, bird feet, skulls, etc. So I believe eating feathers is not inherently bad for him, perhaps even the opposite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But feathers are full of fungus, mites, viruses, bacteria, and goodness knows what else. Presumably the digestive system can handle this, but we'd like to clean the feathers if possible. Google &quot;sanitize feathers&quot; and you get responses from crafters who aren't going to eat their feathers, so they're not shy about using bleach, soap, borax, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could buy feathers, but who knows what they use to clean them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most feathers are illegal to collect, of course, but there are non-migratory turkeys around here that drop huge feathers that are great for chewing. At the moment we just freeze them for a couple weeks, but I'm not perfectly satisfied with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milo is a neutered male, 100% indoor cat. Boy, does he love eating feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8081" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T02:17:45.530" Title="How can you clean feathers so they're safe for cats to chew on?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T09:30:19.073" Score="2" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bearded dragon doesn't use his hiding spot. He rather prefers to perch on his basking spot to sleep. Why is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8084" LastEditorUserId="6901" LastEditDate="2016-09-30T11:50:53.547" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T03:13:44.033" Title="bearded dragon perches when he sleeps why is that?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T12:48:06.330" Score="4" ViewCount="3064" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has ants on him. What can I use on him to get rid of the ants that is safe for my cat? I have used body powder by rubbing it into his fir and that seems to stop him from scratching so much. I have already gotten rid of the ants that were in the house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;He is an indoor cat. I had some ants get into my kitchen and shortly after that he started to scratch a lot. I no longer have ants in the house and I don't see any on him but now he keeps scratching the areas he had aggravated. He seems to be getting better but I hate that the itchy areas are making him miserable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8087" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-10-04T13:15:23.447" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T04:11:22.513" Title="Ants on my cat cause itching, how do I treat the bites?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4398" CreationDate="2016-09-26T13:27:35.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who told me she knows a cat who jumped out of a 5th floor window, because a bird flew by and she wanted to catch it. She did survive, but she seems to have gotten some brain damage. Since the accident her personality changed a lot, like she is aggressive the whole time and often would even attack her owner without any obvious reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could install some kind of cage around the window, that will still let in sun and air, but that is so small that a cat can't fall/jump through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8088" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T13:27:35.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T17:21:34.680" Score="3" ViewCount="3123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 week old cavapoo puppy and she seems to just poop during the night. She gently wakes me up at 1 Am, 3 Am and 6 Am for poops. She usually starts at 20:00 and has 1-2 poops before sleep at around 11. She barely poops during the day and however many times I take her outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She gets food at 08:00, 12:00, 15:00 and 18:00, and no more food or water after 19:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any Help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8090" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:17:53.613" Title="How to get my dog to poop during the day rather than the night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15360" CreationDate="2016-09-26T17:33:57.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's his preferred sleeping spot, my dragon rotates between inside his cave and on top. Where they feel the warmest is where they will usually sleep or sometimes they're too lazy to switch spots :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-09-26T17:33:57.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-26T20:17:47.513" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dachshund, 15 months old, will not play with her toys. She just constantly watching me, staring, all she wants is to go for walks. I walk her 3 times a day, if I'm not quite ready by her evening time to work, she starts tearing up her pillow cause she's mad I'm not ready at her time. I walk her in the evening around 7:00 PM and she starts bothering me at 5:00 AM. That's too early, it's too hot, what in the world can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's also very hyper. She wants all my attention all day long. I don't have time to play all day. I have things to do. She's gotten worse! My goodness, it has even started affecting me mentally. I'm a nervous wreck. What is wrong with her? I give her bones to chew and she only wants the ones she can chew up in 30 minutes. Sorry, they're very expensive to buy for her to go through that fast. I've even bought the bigger harder ones. She doesn't even want them. All she wants is go out for walks all day if she got her way. Should I just stop walking her for a couple of days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at my wits' end, about to get rid of her, had her since 9 weeks old. Please help me. I'm desperate. Thank you, Wanda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7305" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T22:53:09.893" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T18:15:03.260" Title="15 month Dachshund overly demanding for walks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15201" CreationDate="2016-09-26T23:47:43.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try an UV sterilizer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will kill the algae in the water. You will still have to do water changes to get rid of the dead algae, but over the space of a week with a few water changes you should have crystal clear water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What won't work:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing light:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae need light to grow, so reducing the light would seem like a good idea. The problem is that your plants also need light so reducing the light levels enough to kill the algae would also kill your plants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing nitrates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae live on nitrates. So reducing your nitrates to 0 or near zero would help. However your plants also need nitrates to grow. And even if you wanted to reduce nitrates, you would have to do regular massive water changes to keep the nitrates low enough to prevent algae growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water changes will remove some of the algae in the water. But not all of it and there will always be more than enough left to reproduce.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T22:37:31.457" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T22:37:31.457" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15373" CreationDate="2016-09-28T02:28:47.163" Score="3" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm taking care of this cat, and I don't have a great deal of experience with animals. My friend told me the cat was overweight when we first got her, but I've noticed she has quite a pronounced belly as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this cat look pregnant, or is she simply overweight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://streamable.com/zldc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://streamable.com/zldc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8100" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T15:26:51.010" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T15:26:51.010" Title="How can I tell the difference between a pregnant or overweight cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15372" CreationDate="2016-09-28T02:48:29.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The average cat's gestation period is 64 days. How long has this been an issue, and how rapidly has it been changing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, you should get the cat to a vet for a checkup. The cat might be pregnant, fat, or sick, and a vet can determine which and what should be done about it if anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You might notice subtle indications of pregnancy after the first 3 weeks. The cat's nipples will begin to swell and their color will change from white to a rosy pink.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell from the video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-09-28T12:06:00.827" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T12:06:00.827" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2016-09-28T09:53:02.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop walking it for a couple of days? No. That is an unfair punishment for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog you have is a very energetic breed and was used for flushing out badgers, among other creates. These dogs are tough and require plenty of stimulation which means putting in the hours and effort to ensure it is mentally satisfied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long is each walk? I am unfamiliar with the breed but if it is a hound-type dog I assume it requires plenty of exercise. This is why research into a breed is key before getting a dog. You should never buy a dog on looks alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Identify tough toys that she can play with and also give her mental stimulation. Sometimes a dog chewing things up is a sign that it is not getting enough attention. You have to be smart and identify the cues a dog gives you, if it comes up to you wanting to play, play with it for a bit. It's not hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is still a puppy at that age and you need to be made aware of this because it does not sound like the dog is getting the mental challenges and play it requires at that age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2016-09-28T09:53:02.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15417" CreationDate="2016-09-28T12:39:33.313" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;After installing an aquarium with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a new filter without bacteria in the media&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;new/washed gravel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plants which don't have sufficient roots yet (to absorb nitrate&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;)&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nitrite peak&lt;/a&gt; occurs. Which one(s) of these conditions (and possible others) cause the nitrite (NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;) peak? Which one(s) have more or less influence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to evaulate the possibility to install an undergravel filter in a running aqaurium where I'd have to move the gravel and replant plants step by step.&#xA;I have a 60 l freshwater aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Citation needed for the fact that plants absorb nitrate with roots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T11:14:39.267" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T11:14:39.267" Title="What are reasons for the nitrite (NO₂-) peak during aquarium installation/start phase?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-29T06:47:20.917" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just purchased two young hens to add to my free range flock of 5. Unfortunately they were debeaked. How do I reverse that?  Trim the lower beak until it is shorter than the top? Best way to do that??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8107" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-09-29T14:59:21.467" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T14:59:21.467" Title="Reverse a debeaked hen?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-09-29T11:30:09.853" Score="7" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;: I have no intention of actually ever feeding mine or any other dog with alcohol or other harmful substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybody seems to know that alcohol is bad for pets. But just how bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When searching the internet the only things I can find are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natural-wonder-pets.com/how-harmful-is-alcohol-to-dogs-and-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Websites that tell me alcohol is bad for dogs/cats&lt;/a&gt;, well thank you but it is clear that alcohol is a toxin  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_dg_ethanol_toxicosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Websites that tell me how to diagnose alcohol poisoning in dogs&lt;/a&gt;, very useful but not quite what I am looking to find  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100225153334AAwudbG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A yahoo answers question dating back to 2009&lt;/a&gt; giving some figures and pseudonumbers but nothing to back these things up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the things mentioned above do have the same problem: They give great advice, etc. But all the amounts, numbers and mentions of alcohol are in &lt;em&gt;relative&lt;/em&gt; sizes (e.g. much, little, high, low). The problem of these relative sizes is that they are not of any use without any contextual information they relate to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q&lt;/strong&gt;: Is there any hard-data on how much alcohol affects a dog in what way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=most%20common%20dog&amp;amp;ie=&amp;amp;oe=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;most common dog&lt;/a&gt; results in the Labrador Retriever, thus we will assume this specific breed for this question&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;Because I feel it necessary to make this fact clear&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;It makes sense that these numbers will be subsequently different for a Chihuahua or a Bernese Mountain Dog&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8108" LastEditorUserId="8108" LastEditDate="2016-10-01T23:08:56.783" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T10:52:23.867" Title="In what ways are dogs affected by alcohol?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15377" CreationDate="2016-09-29T14:58:56.753" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A chickens beak will grow back over time.  Presumably the beak was trimmed by someone who knew what they were doing.  Any attempts on your part to correct by trimming the lower part is likely to just cause more issues.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a now free range chicken, they should both manage their own beak growth, they may choose to rub the bottom beak against a rock and shorten it, or they may not.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is &quot;Just give it time, nature will take care of it&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tillysnest.com/2011/12/how-to-fix-broken-beak-html/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.tillysnest.com/2011/12/how-to-fix-broken-beak-html/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/Today-I-noticed-that-the-tip-of-one-hens-beak-H152.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/Today-I-noticed-that-the-tip-of-one-hens-beak-H152.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T14:58:56.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15383" CreationDate="2016-09-29T15:09:10.933" Score="7" ViewCount="55046" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats. One, a male black shorthair, is starting to act rather oddly. He's starting to stare at the walls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally this wouldn't be a problem. However, it's gotten so bad that we had to move his cat perch away from the router, because we thought he was going to jump on it to get at the wall. He is now trying to sit on me/my computer desk to get closer to another wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The odd thing about this is that he is the only one staring at the walls. The other two cats act like nothing is there at all. Nothing IS there, either, including no sounds and no cracks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is only staring at specific places. At first there were only two in the living room: one behind the router (which might have lights from the router on it, though I can't see them) and one next to the kitchen, which as far as I can tell has no light on it whatsoever. It has the unmoving shadow of a fruit basket, but I can't imagine that would be it. He now stares at the wall in my bedroom also, trying to climb on my computer desk like I mentioned. There is some light from the shade on this wall in the early morning, but otherwise it is extremely nondescript. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is my cat doing this?&lt;/strong&gt; He is acting as if there is something on the wall that he can't quite see/hear, but knows it is there. As if he was chasing a laser pointer, but toned down by about a third. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastActivityDate="2018-02-24T04:18:02.677" Title="My cat is staring at the wall constantly - why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15380" CreationDate="2016-09-29T20:17:18.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its impossible to know for sure, but perhaps there is something in the wall he can hear.  My cats would stare at the base of the refrigerator for hours.  One, way more than others.  I couldnt understand why.  It wasnt until one evening I found him staring again and turned on the lights and saw the head of a mouse poking out.  Again, one cat was far more interested than the other, so it could be his hearing was better, or the other was just not that interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2016-09-29T20:17:18.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15380" CreationDate="2016-09-29T20:47:02.110" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mention unmoving shadow and a shade of light at a specific time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reminds me a lot of my own cat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He has always had a fascination for these things and a keen memory for it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He always comes sit with us at the dinner table, because the light reflects on our knifes against the ceiling, he loves this and whenever we eat, he will sit and stare at the ceiling, even if there is no reflection &quot;active&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also spots any other reflections nearly instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also loves moving shadows. Is the fruit basket always there? it could be that he is intrigued by the &quot;new&quot; shadow on the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other cat who is 1 year older never shows any interest in any of these things, he will not chase a reflecting light on the wall or ceiling and cares even less for shadows.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So interest in things depends on the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry to much about it but i understand you as an owner, you have to remember that these animals do not think like we do and that everything new does not have a simple explanation for them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We know at night that light from outsides comes from cars, streetlights or even people. Cats do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastEditorUserId="3549" LastEditDate="2017-03-27T06:43:17.917" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T06:43:17.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7470" CreationDate="2016-09-30T01:43:04.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens require more food than adult cats so it's probably ok that he's eating a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, kittens should be fed three times a day as opposed to the two times/day of their adult counterparts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8111" LastActivityDate="2016-09-30T01:43:04.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15387" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-01T01:15:02.803" Score="6" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's a bit rude to be calling my deaf, odd-eyed white cat stupid, but that really is the most adequate way to describe her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But... before I talk about my cat, I gotta talk about this door. You see, this particular door goes from the outside of the house to the inside of the house -- and it's always left open. So in reality, it's more of a passage than a door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat however does not seem to realize this. When she wants to go outside, or inside, she will sit right in front of the open door and meow until a human guides her through it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried putting treats right on the other side of the open door, but she sticks to her ways. -- she just continues to meow until you walk through it with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, she has had no real drama in the past. -- So, I have no idea why she would have a fear of walking through the passage. She is absolutely fine with walking through other doors, just not the one that connects the inside of the house to the outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8119" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T15:23:57.583" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T15:23:57.583" Title="How do I get a stupid cat to walk through an open door?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15393" CreationDate="2016-10-01T07:58:55.973" Score="1" ViewCount="2271" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd think it would be simple, but my Norwegian Forest Cat is loathe to jump over the 60 cm high fence from carpet to carpet.   Currently he will jump out from a covered cat toilet, but I think he is still reticent about the other way.   How do I encourage his jumping? We just put it up. It surrounds his food area, toilet and favourite window. We don't want him to use an alternate route through the baby bed, which has a rail to jump over--he has jumped in there at least once. Now he will have an extra area for his own use that is not disturbed by my one-year-old. How do they encourage movie cats?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:53:05.590" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:53:05.590" Title="How do I encourage my cat to jump over a baby fence" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15388" CreationDate="2016-10-01T11:19:03.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He will jump over it if he wants to get to the other side. You might be able to entice him over with food or treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But consider that he doesn't want to jump over it. There could be a medical reason why he does not want to jump. For example, he could have arthritis which makes it very painful to jump from heights. Based on his breed, hip dysplasia is another possible source of pain. Some cats are good at hiding pain. He also could simply be overweight which just makes it a struggle to jump over high barriers. I am not saying there is something medically wrong with your cat, but it would be worthwhile to have a veterinarian examine him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2016-10-01T11:19:03.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15416" CreationDate="2016-10-01T15:18:17.527" Score="1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is afraid of the manual air pump I use for pumping my bike's tires (when I carry it but especially when I operate it). How can I teach him that there's nothing to be afraid ? I've seen videos of dogs that love air pumps blowing at their faces. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T09:03:05.587" Title="How to teach my dog to not be afraid of my air pump" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15388" CreationDate="2016-10-01T21:33:57.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are more likely to jump up onto something higher, or down onto something lower. Jumping over something as high as a baby gate doesn't seem to be as natural a behaviour for them. I would break it up into two steps. Perhaps you can put something next to the baby gate that he can jump up onto, and then down from there. Maybe later if you remove the &quot;something&quot;, he will try it in one go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-10-02T02:21:00.857" LastActivityDate="2016-10-02T02:21:00.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-02T04:37:19.883" Score="3" ViewCount="5780" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 18 months old male Rottie. Since last few days I have been notucing that when my dog pee, suddenly big ants come in a large number and start drinking it. Does it mean that my dog has some disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8122" LastActivityDate="2017-06-24T20:24:55.477" Title="My Dog's urine is drunk by big ants in large number" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15397" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15404" CreationDate="2016-10-02T18:34:29.960" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Peanut and I returned from our afternoon long walk, and she's passed out on my lap. She is a 2 and a half year old medium standard female Dachshund. As she was sleeping, I checked her paws, nails, pads, etc. to see if she needed any nail trimming (she didn't.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I was doing this, I noticed her pads have a few, well, rough patches. Now normally her pads are smooth in one direction (back to front) and slightly rough, or grippy in the other (front to back) and I'm not really sure why that is, but that's normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, however, one of her pads, left front main (or center) pad, has a patch of roughness, that I can feel in any direction. Need I be concerned? If so, what would I do (other than a vet trip, which I will if needed, but would rather home remedy it)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should a dog's pads be cared for, generally speaking, or do we simply leave them alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T16:34:19.283" Title="General Care of a Dog's Pads?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15343" CreationDate="2016-10-03T03:32:03.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.theaquariumwiki.com&lt;/a&gt; has a good answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to it Nitrites at 10-20 ppm is considered lethal. (Although it does vary by species)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 5 ppm the nitrites are not high enough to be lethal to my fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However those levels could still be doing damage to my fish. Including damage to the gills and long term damage to their immune system as well as stress. Any detectable level of nitrite could be doing damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="9294" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T19:45:37.860" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T19:45:37.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15380" CreationDate="2016-10-03T11:46:00.513" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;How old is your cat?&#xA;We sometimes see this type of behavior in older pets, it can be a sign of a cognitive disorder (senility). Or as others have mentioned it could be that he may hear somethings in the walls :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T11:46:00.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-03T13:46:16.633" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat seems to be extremely itchy all the time, even after we've applied her flea meds. She does get fleas if we don't apply the meds every 3 to 4 weeks, but even when we have she seems to be scratching herself all over the place non-stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had her at the vet but the vet seems to think her skin is healthy and can't see any other issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is changing into summer at the moment and she's an extremely fluffy cat and during this time of the year she sheds about three quarters of that fluffiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that the hair loss process agitates her skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8128" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2016-10-10T11:40:56.707" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T11:40:56.707" Title="My Cat seems to be extremely itchy all the time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15294" CreationDate="2016-10-03T15:36:08.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes during breeding season they can become aggressive (indoor dragons cycles are off so it's possible to trigger breeding mode anytime during the year).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T15:36:08.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15397" CreationDate="2016-10-03T16:34:19.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be overly concerned, dogs feet are fairly tough however that being said be careful of hot pavement and salt (for removing ice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like they are getting dry/cracked you can apply musher's dog paw wax. If you walk on hot pavement or salty roads, dog booties are beneficial (though not all dogs like them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pup becomes sensitive to the area it could be a &quot;corn&quot;, though I have never seen them on Dachshunds (see them all the time on greyhounds). No one knows why they get them, a lot of speculation though. They just need to be dug out by veterinary personnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture of corn, the white circle on inner digit. : &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LIRuf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LIRuf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-03T16:34:19.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15405" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-03T21:08:09.643" Score="3" ViewCount="2027" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have started a small nano planted tank. Super ambitious I know. I failed once and now I am going for it a second time with some new plants and doing waters change almost every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I have got some white hair like stuff on my plants and filter and there are even some white specs on my snails in the tank. No exactly sure what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The details of the tank are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am using Sechems Flourish Excel and Potassium products only when I do a water change of over 40%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to get the tank to cycle. I currently have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrate: 5ppm - 10ppm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrite: 1ppm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia: 0 - 0.25ppm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pH: 7.2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lights: are on for 9 hours total. with a siesta time of about 5 hours. So I have the lights on for about 5 hours then off for 5 hours then on for 4 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas? I have attached some pictures below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f4cY3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f4cY3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kWOpr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kWOpr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8130" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-11-04T10:15:33.150" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T10:55:06.610" Title="Is this white hair algae?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15414" CreationDate="2016-10-04T04:35:52.243" Score="2" ViewCount="3612" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I recently got a border collie puppy (8 weeks when we got her, 11 weeks now) and since we got her she has been having fairly regular accidents inside (as young puppies do). We have been trying to housetrain her. We have been: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking the puppy out regularly, usually on/around the hour, every hour, unless she is sleeping (then we go as soon as she wakes up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have been taking her outside every time she goes to the door and sits by the door (in the hopes that she links this behaviour with going out and going potty)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have been rewarding her with praise (good girls and chest rubs) and treats when she goes outside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have been ignoring 'accidents' inside and quietly cleaning them up (as we were worried that the cleaning up noise was rewarding her)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, over the last 2-3 days her accidents have gone from being a once a day thing to 6-8 times a day thing. Now just about every time she urinates she does so inside (in a bunch of different spots in the house). We are at a something of a loss and we are really having a hard time not showing our frustration with the situation as it seems to be getting out of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you help us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional information: She is great at nighttime, she manages 5-6 hours without any problem in her crate. Also, she is currently having some major issues with chewing/eating things outside (I don't know how that might be related, but it might be, I guess). And, lastly, other than at nighttime (and about an hour before bed) she has constant access to her water. She tends to eat slowly, so she basically free feeds (not by our choice). Once again, I don't know how that could be related, but it might be, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8132" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T17:46:30.873" Title="Puppy has gotten demonstrably worse at housetraining?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-04T07:35:36.650" Score="4" ViewCount="12012" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using ceramic rings as filter media for biological filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a given aquarium size how many grams of the ceramic filter media do I need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The packet doesn't have sizing instructions. I also cannot find any guidelines on line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that stocking levels will affect how much you need, so for the sake of this question assume 1 inch of fish per gallon of water (as per common stocking recommendations)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T19:30:43.713" Title="How many grams of ceramic rings do I need in my filter" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15410" CreationDate="2016-10-04T08:43:19.957" Score="2" ViewCount="2211" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I were living separately until about 3 months ago. She has a dog and has always given it a lot of attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the move, it has been woken up earlier, because I tend to wake up at about 8am, whereas my wife wakes up later. I open the back door so it can defecate but it doesn't get any other attention until about 11am when my wife wakes up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, I work from home sometimes. We have a home office, which we agreed the dog would stay out of. I close the door and start working and about 10 minutes later, the dog whines and scratches at the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife says that she is working on making the dog a bit more independent but that hasn't really happened. I don't like dogs and just want to get on with my work without being disturbed. I am not interested in anything that needs a lot of time - but equally, shock collars and similar &quot;inhumane&quot; options are out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to read up on repelling dogs and recently sprayed the bottom part of the office door with vinegar. It seemed to work at first but the dog seems to have got used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8133" LastActivityDate="2017-12-27T14:02:59.897" Title="Routine change - how to stop dog scratching at the door" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15409" CreationDate="2016-10-04T09:24:27.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try setting up a baby gate to keep the dog from approaching the door, but you may then find that the dog sits behind the gate and barks instead, but it's worth a try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could let the dog into the bedroom with your wife when you get up.  He'd probably prefer being with her to being with you, assuming that he's not allowed access to the bedroom at the moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could give the dog something to chew to keep him occupied away from the door when you get up, although I suspect finding something that will keep the dog busy for four hours is asking a lot of any chew. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bully sticks or beef trachea are perhaps least likely to cause problems, assuming that the dog can digest beef.  Rawhide chews are popular, but really dogs need to be supervised when eating it because if they eat too fast and don't chew it properly it can cause serious intestinal problems.  Cooked bones are a bad idea, and I suspect you don't want to get into feeding raw bones since they tend to be messy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be that the only answer to this is for your wife to get up and walk her dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T09:24:27.807" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15409" CreationDate="2016-10-04T14:58:02.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't solve things like this without putting in some time. The dog needs training, and repetition to actually understand that what he's doing is not the right thing. Like it or not, either you or your wife will have to put time and effort into getting him to stop that behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a similar situation where as soon as I left a room and the dog couldn't follow me to the next, he would start barking or whining. I just went into the seperate room, and as soon as he started barking or whining went back in, firmly said &quot;No!&quot; (or whatever words you use to indicate bad behaviour) and told him to go to his spot. (his basket in this case.). I would get him to stay and go back in the other room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just repeated this process until the dog understood that whenever he barked or whined I'd come out, and make him go back to his spot, which ofcourse he didn't want to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any animal, if you want to change behaviour, you need to invest time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't look into repelling, but just correct unwanted behaviour. It'll be better for both yourself, and the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8134" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T14:58:02.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15408" CreationDate="2016-10-04T15:05:03.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general view on this, as long as they fit in the filter and don't block or disrupt the flow through it it's a good amount. I don't think there's really a set &quot;x amount of rings per gallon&quot; kind of deal, atleast not that I've ever heard of. I have these rings on the bottom section of my filter in my small tank and I've just stocked them to optimally fit the space they occupy without hindering the waterflow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8134" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T15:05:03.243" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15407" CreationDate="2016-10-04T15:09:53.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With all my dogs the only option I ever found that actually worked was to simply take the puppy, place her at the accident and firmly address it with your &quot;No&quot; word. I don't know why people always seem to say that ignoring it and just cleaning it up does anything, your dog won't make the link that this is a bad thing. And if the accidents are increasing, it certainly doesn't mind doing it's bussiness in his &quot;home&quot; territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me this approach worked within a week or 2. I pick up my puppy, place it near the accident, point at the accident so she has attention on it and just address her with the usual &quot;What's this? No! Bad!&quot; and such. Take them out right after to see if they have to do anything more, so you can reward it outside instead. It might sound silly, but hey, it's worked for a Border Collie, Alaskan Malemute and a Maltese-Poodle mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ofcourse very excitedly reward doing it's bussiness outside with cheerful attitude and treats if they are on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8134" LastEditorUserId="8134" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T08:35:44.737" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T08:35:44.737" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15405" CreationDate="2016-10-04T15:19:50.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're looking at waste from the snails here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, water changes should be done on a weekly basis, probably around 25-30%. Certainly not daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: White hair algea looks like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13590&amp;amp;stc=1&amp;amp;d=1242787789&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13590&amp;amp;stc=1&amp;amp;d=1242787789&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think this is what's going on in your tank. Snails like that when they get irritated or stressed can start producing trails like that, and their waste can show just as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8134" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T15:19:50.007" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15391" CreationDate="2016-10-04T15:24:55.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs are often scared of things like that - but whenever they show fear, we try to show positive reinforcement. A few things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lure your dog to touch the air pump (when it is not blowing air) and give the dog treats/attention whenever it touches it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it gets a little bit more comfortable with it, show the air that can come out. (Don't blow it in the animal's face) But show that it can be kind of fun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a little bit of a game out of using the air pump. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I think dogs can love it or hate it. My dogs are tolerant but I don't think they will ever love it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8135" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T15:24:55.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15375" CreationDate="2016-10-04T15:38:11.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The peak occurs because there are not sufficient bacteria to counter the effect. Once the peak starts, the bacteria start to form and break it back down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These bacteria form in your gravel, your filter, anywhere. If you change the gravel completely you will naturally lose some of your bacteria, but if you keep your filter intact then you shouldn't worry all that much. Keep an eye on the levels and do water changes if it gets to dangerous levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you always leave plenty of time between changing the gravel and filter media so the bacteria have time to form in the new gravel / filter before you take the only ones you have left back out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During the cycling process, ammonia levels will go up and then&#xA;  suddenly plummet as the nitrite-forming bacteria take hold. Because&#xA;  nitrate-forming bacteria don't even begin to appear until nitrite is&#xA;  present in significant quantities, nitrite levels skyrocket (as the&#xA;  built-up ammonia is converted), continuing to rise as the&#xA;  continually-produced ammonia is converted to nitrite. Once the&#xA;  nitrate-forming bacteria take hold, nitrite levels fall, nitrate&#xA;  levels rise, and the tank is fully cycled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the established tank uses an undergravel filter, nitrifying&#xA;  bacteria will be attached to the gravel. Take some of the gravel (a&#xA;  cup or more) and hang it in a mesh bag in your filter (if you can), or&#xA;  lay it over the top of the gravel in the new tank (if it has an UGF).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8134" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T15:38:11.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15407" CreationDate="2016-10-04T17:44:14.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you mean when you say &quot;quietly cleaning them up&quot;? Everything's probably dependent on the personality of the dog and what they are aware of. But I think the biggest thing for us has been letting the puppy observe the cleanup. It seems like she eventually learned that inside isn't the place to go because we always made it go away. The last accident she had, she even tried to help lick the pee out of the carpet. Now she doesn't go inside at all (and she's a 4-month old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that could help is, if your puppy is peeing, surprise them and try to get them to stop. Then take them outside to finish if they could stop. Just make sure nothing's negative about it any potty experience and they're getting a reward they really like when they go outside. Don't try it for pooping, they don't seem to be able to stop once they've started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall it sounds like you're doing the right thing. A bunch of accidents over a couple of days may just be a small phase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8137" LastActivityDate="2016-10-04T17:44:14.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1772" CreationDate="2016-10-04T19:24:49.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the things that I tried was to teach my dog what was their toy, so they can chew on it, and what was not a toy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did this over time using repetition. We would give them a toy, play with them, get excited about it, tell them &quot;yes&quot; a lot.  For non-toys like shirts, shoes, etc. we would put it up to them and tell them &quot;no&quot; - not in a mean way but in a firm way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a single playing session, we would alternate between toys: &quot;yes&quot; and not toys: &quot;no&quot;, and they were able to learn the difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, our dogs became very aware of the difference between a toy and a non-toy. So much that when a dog trainer, a friend of ours, offered our dogs a hat to chew on, our dogs did not take him up on the offer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8135" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:46:02.273" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:46:02.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2016-10-05T03:05:48.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a dog about 6 months ago.  She had lots of colors in her coat but her first 2 groomings made her quite dark.  Then the next grooming returned her blonde!  And as she grows out, she is still blonde.  Strangely, she now matches my other dog who is definitely blonde (as am I.)  People who didn't see my new adoptee for several months don't even recognize her.  Now I know this is anecdotal and my new dog was severely severely stressed at the shelter - but can a dog change their coat to fit their new family?  I seem to be experiencing this.  I can't explain it - I am just reporting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8140" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T03:05:48.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15405" CreationDate="2016-10-05T07:37:05.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Kevin, these &quot;algae&quot; are most likely just trails left by the snails. If they're still getting used to the water or they think there's something not perfectly fine, they'll use more slime to cover themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That Nitrate level is perfectly fine, Nitrite should in theory be a perfect 0, but that might be your test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only problem with your water values I see could be the Ammonia value, but I guess you're lacking resolution on your test? But again, I'd say you're probably fine based on your pH level (there won't be any significant ammonia at 7pH or lower; it would all be relatively harmless ammonium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on those snails. Snails are usually a very good water quality indicator. If they're trying to get out of the water (to the top of the tank), there's usually something amiss (but again depends on the exact species).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T07:37:05.473" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-05T12:35:52.647" Score="2" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male platy is the father of the four females in the tank.  Mom died about six months ago and we figured dad was just get along with the females once they got older.  He was always a little guy but they are MUCH bigger.  They might be pregnant. However, they have soundly rejected him and he wanders alone in the tank, sometimes just hanging with the catfish.  The females are wild and all over the place and literally will bump him and he has started to hide. He also looks smaller or are the girls just bigger.  What gives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8138" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T10:26:52.633" Title="My male platy's behavior has changed" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-05T14:41:31.940" Score="-1" ViewCount="639" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horses eat a variety of hand fed treats, including bread. They eat white bread and multi grain bread. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some left over sultana bread or &quot;raisin toast&quot; bread (it's not actual toast, it's bread for toasting). My question is: Is it safe for them to eat a few slices of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2016-10-05T15:53:10.213" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T00:37:04.587" Title="Can horse eat sultanas in sultana bread?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15552" CreationDate="2016-10-05T15:28:44.017" Score="4" ViewCount="1343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that is around 5 years old.  I used to feed her 3 times a day around 1/4 a cup of food, but the vet said she was gaining a little weight and would like to see her 1 pound (lb) lighter ideally.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I changed from feeding her 1/4 cup of food at 6am, 1pm, and 9pm to 1/4 cup of food at 9pm and 8am.  Now she is begging at 7am in the morning for food and this has been going on for about 4 months now where she hasn't adapted to the new feeding times.  Her weight has stabilized and she is much more active than she was before but she is continuing to beg at 7am and getting more aggressive by meowing and pawing at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make her stop begging, should I just move up her feeding to 7am?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8141" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T22:22:16.187" Title="How to stop my cat from begging for food near feeding time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1422" CreationDate="2016-10-05T15:44:53.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a rabbit cage for my guinea pig. I put a piece of plastic to cover the wire mesh. You can get the plastic at Ace Hardware. You have to measure the cage to see how big the cage is. My guinea pig loves it. Make sure the cage is big enough for your guinea pig &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8142" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-10-10T11:40:45.320" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T11:40:45.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-05T16:26:25.867" Score="4" ViewCount="2598" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the day, my 3 year old boxer/Corso will bug me to let me know he needs out. At night he just goes on the carpet without letting us know. (I'm a light sleeper so I'd wake up if he bugged) How do I get him to tell us he needs to go out after we've gone to bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8143" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T21:38:44.267" Title="My dog won't tell me he has to go out at night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15427" CreationDate="2016-10-05T23:42:36.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best method I can think of that would certainly help with your problem is to isolate your dog sleeping area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a crate until your dog learns to alert you whenever he needs to use the bathroom. He may not think you will respond when you are asleep and this may be the reason he decides to pee on the carpet instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, here is something you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have your dog sleep inside his crate. Place the crate near your bed so that you can hear your dog when he makes any noise to indicate that he needs to go out to potty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you hear him, immediately take him our and provide a treat reward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To speed up the training process, you can intentionally play with him late at night, provide water, and pretend to sleep early. By doing this, you are certain that you dog will want to go potty, and you can practice this process every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while, you dog will learn that all he has to do is make noise and you will wake up to let him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do not want to pee/poo where they sleep. They instinctively want to go outside, therefore this isn't something we need to teach them. However, we do need to teach them how they can communicate with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps, don't be discouraged. For a 3 year old dog, it may take a little bit of time before he learns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8147" LastActivityDate="2016-10-05T23:42:36.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10861" CreationDate="2016-10-06T01:03:02.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a fresh water liquid test kit and test the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. I wouldn't trust the pet store tests. They said our water was fine, but actually we had toxic levels of nitrites; I think they may have only tested the ammonia. The test should also be performed just before a water change, as this is the point at which your levels will be the highest/most toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish can live for 20 years, so having them die after only two months indicates that there is definitely something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ammonia&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have more than zero ammonia, then your tank isn't cycled and this is the reason your fish are dying. To fix this you either need more bio-media in your filter (or a bigger filter) or to reduce ammonia sources (less fish, less feeding or a bigger tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nitrites&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have more than zero nitrites, then this is what is killing your fish. The fix for this is the same as for ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nitrates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have more than 50 ppm nitrates (before a water change) then this could be what is killing your fish. To fix this you need to do more frequent water changes or get a larger tank or reduce the amount of fish. A filter can't remove nitrates, so getting a bigger filter with more bio-media won't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Filter&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your filter could be the problem. When you replace the cartridge does this include the bio-media (that's what it looks like from the link)? If so, then your tank is definitely not cycled. It takes 4-6 weeks for your tank to cycle (beneficial bacteria need to build up on your bio-media to a level sufficient to convert ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates). This takes 4 to 6 weeks. If you are replacing the bio-media every two weeks, then this process can never complete and will be starting again from scratch. Your ammonia and nitrite levels will be out of control and your fish will die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All your filter really needs is a sponge/filter foam (for mechanical filtration); this can be rinsed out in aquarium water, and so doesn't need to be replaced. And some bio-media (which shouldn't be replaced as described above). The activated carbon is only really required to remove medication from your tank. Lots of experienced fish keepers don't use activated carbon at all. So they are really onto a money winner with you by getting you to replace your filter every two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T00:31:15.707" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T00:31:15.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-06T04:19:50.910" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 year old cat has stopped using her litter box after my other cat died. She is going on the floor or in her food dish. When I took her down to the litter box to try and reintroduce her to it she tensed up as soon as we got into the room the litter box was in. I don't know how to get her to use the box again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8143" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T04:19:50.910" Title="Cat won't use litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-10-06T11:35:39.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15422" CreationDate="2016-10-06T09:06:45.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you absolutely sure they are all female? In my swordtails (they are pretty much the same fish anyway) I've noticed that late developing males are a common occurence, fish I thought were female in the start turn out to be male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had many cases of these &quot;late bloomers&quot; who turn out to be male when they get bigger. Maybe one of your females is actually a male now, and because he's bigger, simply bullies your other male out of the picture. Observe your fish and make sure. There is a very aggresive hierarchy among males in these types of fish. The smaller one will always be bullied if there are not more than 2 to spread the aggresion on. This leads to it being forced to hide 24/7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8134" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T09:06:45.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-06T14:39:59.063" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband and I adopted a 4 month old puppy into our home with two 4 yr old cats 4 days ago. She's very mellow for a puppy and not very vocal, generally. At this point our puppy, Maya, and our cats occasionally get within 5-6 feet from each other but everyone is still on edge and only out of necessity. Maya is curious but we don't want to push our cats past their comfort zones. I understand time is the biggest factor here but I want to be sure we're instilling Maya with the right impression of the cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're encouraging Maya to leave them alone by calling her away from the cats when she starts wondering toward them and using &quot;no&quot; on the occasion that she does bark at or chase them. I want to give our cats the time they each need to feel safe with her but am worried this will teach Maya she's not supposed to be near them. Is this the best approach? Any other ideas? This is my first experience introducing a puppy to cats and would love some advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8148" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T00:09:35.933" Title="Assimilating new puppy to cats" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15407" CreationDate="2016-10-06T16:17:45.610" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is easy. You just have to treat the animal more like you would a human. If a human were to urinate and/or defecate in your living room, you would be disgusted, and your initial reaction would be involuntary; visceral. In a way that reflects your attitude. Likewise, if a dog does the same thing, then react in kind. If you're disgusted; then be disgusted; act disgusted; express your disgust honestly. Dogs, typically, are keenly sensitive, and empathically aware. There's no need for excessive physical confrontation or yelling because they are hypersensitive to feelings like guilt, shame, rejection, disappointment, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5624" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T16:17:45.610" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15433" CreationDate="2016-10-06T16:52:11.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like things are going very well for it being only 4 days since you brought the puppy home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd make sure that the cats have plenty of escape routes for times when they don't want to interact with the puppy. If you don't have a cat tree, now is the time to buy (or make) some. The ideal is that your cats could navigate the entire house without ever touching the floor (e.g. jump onto the chair, then onto the table, then up the cat tree, across the window sill, along the back of the sofa...). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, not everyone has enough money or space to fill their house with enough cat trees and other things to achieve that ideal. But with a little ingenuity, you can probably fill the bigger gaps, at least temporarily. Move some of your furniture, add some boxes in strategic locations, etc. Dining room chairs are particularly handy for plugging gaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cats are nervous eating when the puppy is around, or the puppy tries to get at their food, you can &quot;puppy-proof&quot; the area with dining room chairs, or by placing the food in a box with a cat-sized entrance cut out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-10-06T16:52:11.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15449" CreationDate="2016-10-07T04:43:06.887" Score="3" ViewCount="3718" Body="&lt;p&gt;For either making or buying a bird cage, are there any standards or conventions specifying the space between bars appropriate to each species ( cockatoo, cockatiel, parakeet, finch, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a couple cages I measured the space between bars was exactly one centimeter. Is that common across most cages, or does it vary by bird species?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T00:01:38.947" Title="Space between bars of bird cage guidelines" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15438" CreationDate="2016-10-07T10:35:10.950" Score="2" ViewCount="9474" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent question, sparked my interest. I have heard that too much grain is bad for horses, and I have heard that bread is bad for many animals. Are there any health concerns with feeding bread to horses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T21:35:40.700" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T21:35:40.700" Title="Can horses eat bread?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15437" CreationDate="2016-10-07T12:19:40.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Giving horses slices of bread as a treat is common where I live (Australia). For many people it's as common as giving horses carrots and apples. Having said that, a horse may get what I refer to as snack amounts, one or two slices or up to 6 slices as a treat and, usually, no more in a day. The amount of grain in that amount of bread is so small compared to the grain intake of horses being hand fed grain. I feed a couple of my horses 4 one litre scoops of grain per day (in separate meals). Put into that perspective, the grain in bread is negligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed my horses bread as a treat, maybe once or twice a week and do so without any harm to their health and know of many people who do the same thing and use bread to help catch their horses. AFAIK there is no health issues for feeding snack amounts of  white, whole meal or multigrain bread for horses. It's certainly not something that should form the basis of a diet, and neither should apples or carrots either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken out some interesting snippets from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.equinews.com/answer-exchange/feeding-bread-to-horses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the bread is made with wheat flour, yeast, salt, and water, there is nothing in it that is toxic to the horse, and it can contribute enormously to caloric intake if fed in large quantities. There is no harm in occasionally feeding bread, but it is not the most nutritious feedstuff when used as the sole concentrate. While bread is chock full of calories, it provides few nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.../...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The high starch content of bread may be a potential problem if fed in large amounts. .../...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not customary to feed wheat grain to horses because of the high gluten content. The problem with wheat gluten balling up in the stomach or intestinal tract and causing blockage (colic) is not a concern with feeding bread because the yeast and the heat of baking have altered the gluten starch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The caution with bread&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, as with any horse feed, hay, chaff, etc, is mould. Ensure you don't feed horses mouldy bread, this can make a horse very ill and even be lethal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T22:43:01.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2016-10-07T12:38:20.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horses know their names, as they come to me when I use them, whether I am empty handed or have food. I can spend hours with them and they will be in the paddock with me and when I call them, they will come. They come more to a collection of calls. Their names and/or &quot;Good Girl&quot; and/or &quot;Come&quot;. They stop grazing, look at me and mosey on over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I trained them, when renaming or keeping the same name, I use a high pitched voice and have treats in my pockets (or in a container). I use cut up apple and carrot. To begin with I hold out the treats and use their name over and over and tell them good girl (or boy, I only have mares atm) and pat them. Tell them they're brave if they're timid. Now I know they don't understand the meaning of the words, but they understand my intent. I include pats, snuggles and kisses. It takes about a week to train a horse to come like that. They remind me a lot of herbivore dogs, but very big and harder to teach tricks, but can be just as loyal and affectionate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food and affection are the best motivators for horses and I believe training any animal to come when called. Using repetition and reward so the association with coming to the owner is a pleasant one. Horses become difficult to catch if the owner is bad tempered and curses the animal when they can't catch them easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T12:38:20.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1580" CreationDate="2016-10-07T12:47:35.477" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Living in the largest city in Australia, most horses in our area, which is built up and in the suburbs, are given approximately 1/2 acre each. With this, they must be hand fed and exercised.  The real estate comes at such a high premium that it's difficult to find agistments in some areas that will allow more than that. However there are usually ample avenues to take the horses for exercise (pony clubs, bush trails).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The further away from the city centre the larger the acreage per horse, where there will be the ideal, where horses do not need their feed supplemented from the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I had 2-3 horses on a 7 acre property and they needed hay, as the grass type was not sufficient to feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T12:47:35.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2016-10-07T17:33:00.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is so sad :( looks like an upper respiratory infection which can be fatal when not treated in kittens. Please in future if you find an animal that is clearly suffering, seek veterinary help immediately! It looks like she needed some painkillers and the correct diagnoses/treatment may have saved her life &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8153" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T17:33:00.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2016-10-07T22:25:56.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to some good answers. I wet my fingers and flick the water on them. This way there's not much water, so I'm not damaging my trust with them and it will get them off the bench for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are scratching something I don't want them to, I just stop them by swishing them away (gently) with my hand and saying &quot;no&quot; in a stern voice (not sure how much these voice intonations work, will have to try them without the swish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T22:25:56.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15423" CreationDate="2016-10-07T22:50:57.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeding horses a few slices of raisin bread as a treat is not harmful for them, in fact there seems to be some evidence that sultanas are good for horses, as they can be good for humans, with their anti oxidant properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key with any treats, is moderation, so that the basis of a horse's diet is made up of a balanced and nutritious diet. Excess treats are not balanced. Mind you horses each so much, it would be positively willful and perhaps neglectful to attempt to feed a horse an excess of treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canhorseseat.com/raisins/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some horses owners are concerned&lt;/a&gt; about feeding their horses raisins because they have been shown to be toxic to dogs and some other domestic animals, however this does not apply to horses. Raisins are perfectly acceptable treats for a horse so long as they are fed to them in quantities of less than 1-2 lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.naturalhorse.com/sample2.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Naturally Healthy Horse Treats By Katie Shoultz&lt;/a&gt; discusses fruits that are safe for horses and also endorses that raisins are safe for horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/15438/6796&quot;&gt;This answer discusses&lt;/a&gt; that feeding bread to horses in small amounts (as treats) is not harmful. So I will address the sultana/raisin part of the bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-10-07T22:50:57.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15445" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-08T00:00:52.533" Score="9" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently acquired a starved horse. She would have a body score of approx 1.5 / 5. She is 18 yo,  15 1 hh, a thoroughbred and this state seems to have been of more recent times, as in the past she was well-nourished. She has (ironically) been wormed regularly and has been vaccinated. Her coat is surprisingly glossy, although it looks shabby in this picture, and it's spring here so her winter coat is shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has no other health issues. No parasites, infections, feet and teeth are okay.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She was on a diet of one biscuit of low quality hay and a small hard feed per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Warning be careful not to hover over the image unintentionally, as the picture is graphic.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following photo has been taken after a long float trip, she was very sweaty and her fur is stiff, making her appearance worse. Please only look at it if you can cope with this, she is very underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oROd0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oROd0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Photography of horse&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is a photo of her water buckets. There was no fresh water available to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zoaRK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zoaRK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Photography of water buckets&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I safely feed her to a state of good health and healthy body weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2016-10-13T18:43:43.720" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T08:57:10.020" Title="A good feed routine for a neglected and underweight horse" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15445" CreationDate="2016-10-08T00:00:52.533" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Update and routine at 4 months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo has 2 litres of copra, and 1.2 litres of steam extruded lupins, with 12 litres of water per day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Mixed with this she has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pre and pro-biotics (for several months) to recreate a healthy gut flora   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whole linseeds to balance the omega acids to assist in pain relief   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lecithin to soothe and repair any ulceration caused by being starved  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;turmeric every second day to assist with inflammation and other incidental uses of this &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a hoof rescue mix of vitamins and minerals customised for Australian horses and the hay she is having to balance ratios of Copper, Zinc and Iron and add any missing trace elements, including Selenium. It also contains salt.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's hot I add more salt to her diet.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has adlib meadow hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was to recommence  her feeding regime, I would have started her on the low starch and zero grain diet earlier, as this is better for her health over the long run. The feed I started her on was similar to what she was being given in her previous home (when she was being fed at all) and it was better to make changes to her diet gradually to allow her system to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her coat is glossier from the balanced vitamins and minerals and she is gradually building up muscle and has good stores of fat. Her disposition is improving as her pain issues from being starved are being addressed and relieved.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rRN61.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rRN61.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have owned and nourished two other underweight horses, but they were not as thin as Cleo. The following routine was created in consultation with a horse rescue specialist. If Cleo's body score was lower, it may not be suitable to launch into the following routine and I am monitoring her health as we go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Cleo has no other complicated health issues, and she is not at risk of dying quickly, she can be given a good feeding routine. She is getting similar hard feeds to what she was in her previous home, however the quantities are much larger and more frequent feeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FEED&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For feeding I am using a scoop of approx 2 L. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo has started on a diet of two hard feeds morning and late afternoon consisting of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 scoops cool pellet mix&#xA;2 scoops of non heating stud mix (grain)&#xA;3 scoops of lucerne chaff&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1/2 cup sunflower oil &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will give her one extra hard feed lunch snack in the middle of the day of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1/2 scoop  cool pellet mix&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1/2 scoop of non heating stud mix (grain)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1 scoop of lucerne chaff  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR some other snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am feeding her a grass hay, three time per day. I am using grass hay to reduce the likelihood of colic as she is unable to self moderate and will gorge, she is so hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As she improves I will return to lucerne hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;nb&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; I would reduce the grain in some of the feeds in the first 4 days, depending on how she was coping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ROUTINE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have built a small feeding yard (shown in the pink boundary) to keep her from my other two mares. This way she can eat without stress and it will alleviate and reduce pecking order issues within the 3 mares. It's also a handy place to wash them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KACEL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KACEL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo's feed is prepared first and she comes into the feed yard. I then make up a hard feed for one of the other horses and give some hay to the third one at the same time. They are patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While Cleo is eating I give her some snacks of cut apple and carrot and talk to her in a soft voice, gently patting her and praising her and using her name and some key phrases I use with my horses. I cut up the apple and carrot, so that the treat sizes are smaller and it goes a longer way, as I don't want to be feeding her too many apples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also while she is eating I put out some grass hay, so when she finishes I let her out and she makes her way to the hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c4JJw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c4JJw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day the horses are given 3-5 biscuits of hay 3 times per day to share, after morning and night hard feeds and for lunch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her water is checked and refreshed or emptied, cleaned and refilled 3-4 times a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note it's important to receive expert guidance when caring for such neglected animals, as there are risks associated with feeding starved animals. In this instance the animal was being fed regularly, but not enough. So we are continuing with the same type of feed, but increasing the amount to ones sustainable for healthy life. Her current health is sufficient to take to a regular feeding regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I will add a picture when she is a healthy weight.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CLEO'S DIARY OF PROGRESS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 3:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After a bath. This shows how quickly a horse can improve with care. Now she is having enough calories, she will be retaining more fluid, as the body loses fluid when starving, as the sugar in the cells, helps to retain the fluid. So when people first diet, they lose a couple of kilos that is fluid not fat and put it on when the caloric intake resumes to a level that is for a health body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When bathing her I used a soft, small curry comb on her winter coat very gently as I was rinsing off her shampoo. I also found a piece of wire matted in her tail which I cut out. She needs a conditioner on her mane and tail. I will use those on the next bath. We will wait a couple of days for the next bath. She enjoyed it on the hot day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also see she has energy and is lively after her bath, a good sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wKx7E.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wKx7E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has settled in with the other horses in her new home and these are all things to be considered with her feeding to ensure she is on the correct diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JrSEf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JrSEf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 4:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thriving on her new diet. Being well hydrated also makes a difference to her appearance. Although she is still thin, she's looking healthier and relaxing. You can see her winter coat is shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LD0La.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LD0La.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 5:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She is past the early days of reacting to her new diet, so I am now feeding her lucerne hay instead of grass hay. The patch on her back is where we've scraped the winter coat off, as that part was coming off easily. So it looks odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've reduced the chaff  in her hard feeds, as she's not finishing them. Normally I wouldn't reduce the chaff, but she goes off to eat hay as soon as she is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 9:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FEED&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo has two hard feeds morning and late afternoon consisting of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 scoops cool pellet mix&#xA;2 scoops of non heating stud mix (grain)&#xA;3 scoops of lucerne chaff&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1/2 cup sunflower oil &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lucerne hay is put out after every hard feed. The three horses are fed approximately  one bale of hay per day, as there is little pick in the paddock and there is another horse that needs some weight gain also. I manage the third horse that is in good condition, by giving her a feed of chaff only, so she doesn't feel like she's missing out when the others are being fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ROUTINE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now eats in the same paddock as the other horses, I supervise them until she is finished, to prevent another horse stealing her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grooming her while she eats. She is managing two full hard feeds per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/McsyX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/McsyX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 11:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's now having 3 scoops pellets with her meal as she is hungry and managing it well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been rolling in the mud here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VJzH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VJzH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.5 weeks:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WooGn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WooGn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Day 23:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QTgD9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QTgD9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;4 weeks:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 4 weeks today at a round bale of meadow and lucerne hay. They will be getting oaten hay adlib from next week with a hay net to slow down feeding and prevent gorging. I am gradually cutting back her hard feeds and will retain the adlib hay. The hard feeds will be balanced with her condition as she goes. She looks like a new horse :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pYmoh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pYmoh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary to 2.5 months:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First month:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She was on the original diet for a month to get her weight up.&#xA;Two big hard feeds, and lucerne hay after.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second month:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then gradually dropped out the stud mix. &#xA;Changed to linseeds because of the omega 6 and 3 balance.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Went to one feed.&#xA;Added the vit and mins and salt (this did not need to wait).&#xA;Gave adlib hay - a large oaten or meadow hay/lucerne round bale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also started a gentle exercise regime, involving stretches and walking over low poles in a way that forces her to think about her foot placement and recover her muscles and muscle memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After second month:&#xA;She  got her vaccination booster.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Reduced stopped the pellets over couple of weeks.&#xA;Increased the lucerne chaff when I dropped the pellets.&#xA;Adlib meadow hay.&#xA;She gets 4 scoops of lucerne chaff with vits and mins, salt and linseeds.&#xA;Will reduce the lucerne chaff on the days she get biscuits of lucerne hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still needs to gain muscle, but that will take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now enjoys life in a paddock on her own, she is surrounded by horses and chats over the fence, but with her food aggression, she is more relaxed on her own, as she isn't needing to defend her feed. Although there was plenty to go around, she couldn't relax completely with other horses. Hopefully the scars from being starved with heal with time and she will be able to share a paddock again and not stress over food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throughout this time I've sought the advice of professionals and modified her routine accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At Two months:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2skWL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2skWL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At Two half months:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R76Dl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R76Dl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10 months later (&lt;em&gt;and after a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18199/how-to-care-for-a-severe-wound-on-horses-leg&quot;&gt;serious injury&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;):  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8wRM0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8wRM0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5mVdM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5mVdM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 months later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoying beet pulp, copra, lucerne chaff, linseeds, minerals to suit local soil, salt and hay. Happy, healthy, shiney... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r1paq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r1paq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T08:57:10.020" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T08:57:10.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1896" CreationDate="2016-10-08T19:02:51.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it has been some time since this question was posted, but for others seeking similar answers, I would get a chest xray for the rabbit. I have had two rabbits with thymoma, which vets often say is very rare, but it is not so rare anymore. The vets just thought my rabbit had a respiratory issue, until I requested an xray and they found the chest tumor. Bulging eyes is one symptom, difficulty breathing and snoring sounds is another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being overweight can also cause snoring, and the hay, as mentioned, could also be a factor. Orchard grass or oat hay is generally the least likely to be dusty or trigger allergies (in both humans and rabbits). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit is on the floor and the floor is carpeted, frequent vacuuming may help, since dust and dust mites that close to the rabbit's nose could easily create some rough breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8159" LastActivityDate="2016-10-08T19:02:51.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15436" CreationDate="2016-10-08T23:53:37.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It varies across birds, as, for example, a cockatoo has such different requirements from a canary. A cage that is too large for a small bird can cause a hazard to the bird getting it's head caught between the bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've seen the cages for bigger birds with the bigger spacing often have stronger wire to make up the bars, as the cage will, usually, be bigger and needs to be stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birdcagesnow.com/bird-cage-bar-spacing-guide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bird Cage Bar Spacing Guide&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VlIqU.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VlIqU.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For metric users:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small birds 1.3 - 1.6 cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medium birds 1.3 - 1.9 cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large birds 1.9 - 2.5 cm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) It's better to use a smaller bar spacing than a larger one in the range given for a species. A smaller size makes it less likely that a bird will poke its head through the bars and get stuck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) Beware of the very small finches! Small waxbills (e.g., orange-cheeked), tiny manikins (e.g., bronze-winged) and other tiny finches can squeeze through 1/2 inch bar spacing. Use 3/8 inch for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15436/space-between-bars-of-bird-cage-guidelines/15449#comment20200_15449&quot;&gt;Thanks to comment&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/2836/tom-gaskill&quot;&gt;Tom Gaskill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another interesting link &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birdchannel.com/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-bird-cages.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 Things You Need To Know About Bird Cages&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T00:01:38.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T00:04:36.660" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat recently stopped eating all of his food and at first I thought it was because he was bored(he was eating the same food for a year) so I got new food and tried to change it slowly but he had no interest. I took him to the vet and she did blood work and urinalysis and everything came out good. The only thing she mentioned at the visit was he has gingivitis in the front little teeth. &#xA;He's 3 years old, neutered, and an indoor only cat. &#xA;Before all this he ate a mix of Fromm chicken dry food and Earthborn wet food. I wanted to transition him to Orijen dry and while he now(after medication) eats some of it he won't eat it all. The only thing he really ate, and I bought it because I was desperate for him to eat, was Sheba canned wet food but that made him have diarrhea. I'm trying to give him Friskies just so he can eat but he only eats a little and that's when I sit with him and coax him to eat it. The vet has him on steroids now and we finished antibiotics a few days ago. I really am at my wits end and I don't know what to do to get him to eat. We traveled kind of far with him recently and I'm not sure if that's the cause but I just wanted to ask if anyone had a similar experience and what they did. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8160" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T23:52:44.407" Title="Cat is not eating like he should" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15433" CreationDate="2016-10-09T00:09:35.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other answer I'd like to add a part answer about the chasing and barking. It's normal for the puppy to want to chase and bark at the cats and that is the worst thing she can do to make friends. I would recommend using a stern voice and a clear &quot;no&quot; when she starts that. You'll have to be close to her, to physically grab her when she's doing that and redirect her behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you can do is when they are close to each other, have some food treats handy and teach the puppy to sit calmly with lots of pats and little treats and catch phrases, &quot;that's a good girl&quot; so she associates being close to the cats to being a quiet and pleasant place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T00:09:35.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15427" CreationDate="2016-10-09T00:17:06.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a similar vein to the other answer I would be locking the dog in a laundry or bathroom overnight, with a dog bed and a bowl of water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing before going to bed, take the dog out and first thing in the morning again. See how that goes. If the dog doesn't not pee in the laundry you can try the house again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is to leave a door part way open (not viable for all climates or places) or use a doggy door (not always viable for renters). Make sure you train the dog to use the door during the day and then see how she goes at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T00:17:06.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T08:25:34.893" Score="1" ViewCount="1727" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had a small pot on the kitchen counter with sugar for a really long time but just the last week my cat started looking for it. He never showed interest in sugar since very recently. He tries to get it open and when he manages, he starts licking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's this change of cravings something that I should be concerned with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2504" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T21:04:20.487" Title="My cat suddenly craves sugar" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15453" CreationDate="2016-10-09T09:49:47.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are actually unable to taste sweetness, so it is unlikely the cat is seeking sugar. However, he may have started investigating this out if curiosity, and continued because he noticed that it got a reaction from the humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(One of my cats wants to at least have a taste of anything the human is eating, just to find out what it is, and has sometimes decided it is an interesting flavor or texture even though it tastes different to her.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or -- pure speculation -- he may be picking up traces of a mouse having been near the sugar...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re whether it's safe: Medical science has been moving toward an opinion that sugar in more than minimal quantities is as bad for us as we used to think fats were, and in fact may be the real cause if some of the metabolic illnesses we had been attributing to fats.  A cat's metabolism is a bit different, but I don't think it's &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; different,  and &quot;minimal quantities&quot; is much smaller for a much smaller animal. So I think it's probably safer to discourage this new habit.... or at least not reinforce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-09T21:04:20.487" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T21:04:20.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T13:54:48.737" Score="6" ViewCount="8405" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that my cats pat the area where they intend to lay down for a pretty long time, 30 seconds to up to 3 minutes. Interestingly enough, this is only on soft surfaces, never on hard surfaces such as the floor. Why do they do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7390" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-03T13:01:46.787" LastActivityDate="2018-06-24T13:29:47.530" Title="Why do cats pat the area before they lay down?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T17:07:01.353" Score="1" ViewCount="477" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 month old puppy mongrel who is well train, very, VERY well exercised (but not over the top), command trained, space confinement / crate trained, taken out about 4 or 5 times a day to pee / poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has a crate and 2 very comfy beds (exact same model) which I bought for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She LOVES to pee on her bed (and she really loves her bed as well it's super comfy), has happened many times before. I can't understand why and I'm thinking maybe she wants to &quot;claim&quot; the bed as hers but in that case shouldn't she just mark it with a little pee not the whole flow? And this also goes against the principle that dogs like to keep their sleeping area clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such I have taken away the beds and only put it out beside me (so that I can supervise) for her to lie on it only after she has peed outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However just 15min ago she RAN from crate to her bed just outside the crate to pee on it after peeing outside just an hour ago. Always likes to pee on her bed. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone help me understand her psychology / what's going on in her mind? thanks so Much! I love my Puppy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. when she sleeps for the night in her crate and needs to pee, she diligently goes to the pee tray in her cage to pee in it which is great, I just don't understand why she wants to pee on her comfy bed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8164" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2016-10-10T11:41:09.343" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T15:29:01.867" Title="4 month old puppy RAN from crate to her bed in the living to pee on it after peeing outside just an hour ago. Always likes to pee on her bed. Why?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15460" CreationDate="2016-10-09T18:25:13.683" Score="3" ViewCount="2420" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old dog, whenever I plant anything in some flower pots that I have in the garden, likes to dig and get it out of the flower pot. He only does it when I have something planted (so it's not because he just likes to dig) and he only stops when every plant is out of their flower pot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have punished him several times for that and now he seems to know that he is doing something wrong (judging by the look on his face and by the distance he keeps from me everytime he has done it) but he still can't stop doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop him from de-planting all my plants out of their flower pots? Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T19:20:56.660" Title="Dog destroys everything I plant in flower pots" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15459" CreationDate="2016-10-09T19:13:11.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put something in the soil that will repel the dog. Chilli powder, or chopped up chillies. There are also products on the market to stop dogs from going on lawns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may also be bored, which is why he is digging. If there is a particular time that he is digging and you are home, play fetch or take him for a walk. If he is doing it when you aren't home, make sure you leave him a bone that he can't get through, that will keep him busy for the duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a place for both punishment and reward. The other thing to do, when you see him approach them, call him in a friendly tone and praise him when he comes. Offers treats and make a big deal out of it when he returns to you. For punishment a water squirter with a serious voice would work if you catch him in the middle of digging, although this may not be viable if he sees you and runs off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A note on him seeming to know what he is doing is wrong, he would be aware that he may be punished, so giving you look we perceive as &quot;guilt&quot; which really is submission. He's keeping his distance to avoid the punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T19:13:11.130" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15462" CreationDate="2016-10-09T21:44:26.433" Score="3" ViewCount="1524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a calico cat (4f) and my roommate's golden lab dog (5m) in a townhome together. The cat has her own space for litter, food, and a bed. She also has toys in the main space. Generally the two ignore each other, but are not friends by any means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past day the cat has been hissing, growling, and fluffing her fur. If given the chance she attacks the dog at the face. The dog has done nothing to taunt the cat or bother her. It is all her going after the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this has happened in the past I separate the cat to a small bathroom for a short while, not knowing what else to do. This has not helped today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am at my wit's end. Are there any suggestions? Please, anything is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8165" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T23:37:19.103" Title="Cat keeps hissing/attacking dog without reason" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15461" CreationDate="2016-10-09T23:37:19.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat may think the dog doesn't smell like the one she knows. I have this problem with my two cats every time one or both of them come back  from the vet, and the only good solution is to let them complain at each other until they work it out, which usually takes about a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be other causes, but I'm afraid the answer is the same. You can't reason with pets. You can separate them, you can try to train them to understand that &quot;no&quot; it &quot;stop that&quot; means whatever they are doing displeases you, but in the end they really have to work out their relationship for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T23:37:19.103" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15450" CreationDate="2016-10-09T23:52:44.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something you can try is to dampen her dry food. Now the issue with wetting dry food is bacteria will grow in it. Which is why dry food mixed with wet food needs to be eaten immediately and shouldn't be left out for hours. Try dampening some dry food to soften it. This should prevent diarrhea that canned food can give and will give her the same flavour experience that she is used to without any irritation on her tooth/gum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you can try (and my cats love this) is buy small tins of tuna in oil. Drizzle some of the oil of the dry food with some of the tuna and see if this entices her to eat it. If it doesn't dry, then try dampening it. That way you will know whether it's her palate that has changed. or her tooth/gums causing her pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that I would feed my cats a particular food for some time and they grew sick of it, so I experimented and tried different foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also recipes for indoors cats, fur ball and elderly cats. There are also some dry foods that are not as hard - no crunch - which may help her if there is pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how you get on and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-10-09T23:52:44.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-09T23:57:50.700" Score="2" ViewCount="715" Body="&lt;p&gt;The care of horses can be opinionated and there is a lot of varying ideas about what is safe for horses to have as treats and the quantities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What treats are safe for horses and in what amounts? Are there any considerations that we need to be aware of when feeding horses treats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-12-23T06:32:48.947" Title="What treats are safe for horses?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15458" CreationDate="2016-10-10T15:29:01.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not telling what's actually in her mind, but I have two thoughts for you. One is the smell. You have to use a special cleaner to get all the pee smell out. If you don't, then her natural instinct is to go in the same spot as the smell fades to &quot;remark&quot; her territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another theory is that she associates that type of bed with a place to go to the bathroom. I'd try to remove those styles of beds and buy one that's different and see what happens. She might just associate faux wool pillow beds with peeing. I'd try a cloth one with sides. You get the idea. Change the location of the bed, the style of bed, and get a pet urine cleaner for accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she understands that she shouldn't be peeing on bedding, then you can probably use it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-10-10T15:29:01.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-11T00:18:08.050" Score="3" ViewCount="23845" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am attempting a fishless cycle on a small, nano-planted tank that is getting stuck on extremely high levels of nitrite. The tank has been set up for about two weeks now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not dosing ammonia. I have two nerite snails in the tank that are creating some waste, so I get my ammonia from that and they are controlling any algae that might happen. My ammonia levels are usually always around 0.25 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a water change, the nitrite spikes within 24 hours and then the nitrate will spike about 24-48 hours after that. However, the nitrite is still at extremely high levels even after the nitrate spikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a patience game, waiting for the good bacteria to build and catch up to the output of nitrites? I have heard to do a water change when the nitrates get too high, but I don't want to disrupt the nitrite level in possibly letting good bacteria to colonize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help on this would be awesome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8130" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T00:36:28.503" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T00:36:28.503" Title="Aquarium is stuck on a nitrite spike" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-11T04:04:20.513" Score="3" ViewCount="2674" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 5 and last year this time she started to lick her fur from her belly (leaving a mohawk) down to her back legs. She is very skittish ,and the slightest loud sound makes her run for cover. She is very loving and quiet. I just don't know what to do. I don't have any money for a vet. Can someone tell me what to do please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8173" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T04:59:18.657" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T04:59:18.657" Title="Licking all her hair from her belly to her back paws" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-11T06:53:43.933" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a four-year-old female cat. She had a male companion until she was 6 months old, when she lost him to an accident. Ever since, she has been alone. My fiancée and myself have a very busy life. I only spend 2-3 hours a day at home in the weekdays. My fiancée, although she works from home, she travels quite often. The cat ends up spending the whole day on her own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only concern is my cat's well being. I wonder, if there is any scientifically-backed reasons to adopt another kitten, to be a companion for my cat. Does my cat feel lonely, sad, or depressed because she does not have anyone to play or fight with? Will another cat contribute positively to her well being. Is there any research on the topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T14:08:12.617" Title="Any research on whether we should adopt a companion for the cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10047" CreationDate="2016-10-11T14:48:54.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maggot infestation can be cured.&#xA;It's very natural that the animal wouldn't let you come near it as it is in extreme pain as the maggots continuously feed upon its flesh, skin and organs.&#xA;So first it is necessary to kill the maggots.&#xA;Get medicinal turpentine oil from a veterinary medicine shop. Pour a cap or two of that oil over the wound depending upon the size and depth of the affected area.&#xA;After 8 hours you will see that all the maggots are dead and they have tried to come out of the infested area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8174" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T18:25:53.990" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T18:25:53.990" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15468" CreationDate="2016-10-11T16:23:43.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically it is indeed a patience game.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;But how often do you change the water, and how much? Since your doing a fishless cycle (which is indeed the recommened way to do it), you don't actually have to do water changes.&lt;br/&gt; If you replace to much water, it's indeed possible that your cycling has to start all over again every time.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Just let it rest for about 3-4 weeks and then check the nitrite levels. By then they should already start decreasing/be zero.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;You can also find more information in this answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/215/how-does-one-effectively-cycle-an-aquarium&quot;&gt;How does one effectively &amp;quot;cycle&amp;quot; an aquarium?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T16:23:43.483" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15469" CreationDate="2016-10-11T18:03:57.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excessive grooming in animals is generally a stress response, like biting your fingernails. Unfortunately the stress maybe physical &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; mental. Unless you can guess what is disturbing the cat and quickly resolve it, I'm afraid I do advise scraping the money together for a vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T18:03:57.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-11T18:33:32.367" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6-month old puppy pees when we scold him... I read that you're not supposed to yell at the dog when they mess up, but just now he ran out of the door even though he knows he's not supposed to and when I yelled at him to get back he peed all over the place. The other day he knocked some stuff over and I just grabbed him by the collar to lead him to his time-out spot and he peed again. I didn't spank him or yell or anything because I read that you're not supposed to do that, but I feel like not scolding him for submissive peeing is gonna give him the idea that it's working and that he should pee every time to avoid being scolded .... I don't know what to do. It's starting to get really annoying. I don't know if he's going to grow out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T18:33:32.367" Title="How to stop submissive urination?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15482" CreationDate="2016-10-11T19:45:31.307" Score="0" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;6 application of the flea treatment was $97 for dog 40 - 88 lb. $99 for 6 applications for a dog 89 - 123 lbs.  My dogs weigh 40 and 50 so I just bought the large dog and split the application.   Ingredients are the same medium and large.  Is there any harm in splitting application?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentry Large Dog 89 - 132 lbs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Fipronil 9.8%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(s) - methoprene  8.8%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;other 81.4 %&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4.02 ml  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2016-10-12T11:40:46.373" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:24:47.447" Title="Share Flea Treatment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15427" CreationDate="2016-10-11T21:38:44.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make a noise alarm. Put some loose change in two empty soda bottles&#xA;and run a string between them. At night, when he ventures into the&#xA;carpeted room he'll knock the bottles over and make noise. Then you&#xA;can call him or otherwise interrupt him and take him out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It isn't that hard to teach him to ring a bell when he want to go&#xA;   out. First teach targeting with a clicker. Start with him touching&#xA;   your hand with his nose, when he touches, then click &amp;amp; treat. Then have&#xA;   him ring a hanging bell by the door. Each&#xA;   time before you go out with him, ask him to ringing a bell. As soon&#xA;   as he does, celebrate and run outside with him. Withing a few days,&#xA;   the dog will ring the bell on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3368" LastActivityDate="2016-10-11T21:38:44.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15481" CreationDate="2016-10-11T22:46:43.927" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat recently got neutered and must wear the e-collar as he's already ripped open the incision once. Most of the time he's licking the collar trying to get at his wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not the problem. I remove the collar every once in a while (closely supervised) so he can have some time to relax. When I take off the collar he won't stop licking and gnawing at his upper chest, upper front arms, and scratching the back of his head. He's not even going for the incision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This wasn't an issue before he got the e-collar (except for the occasional scratching). He's already gotten flea medicine when we got him about a month ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something wrong? Should I see a vet? (We have an appointment next week as a follow-up)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="anon" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T23:41:07.730" Title="My cat won't stop licking himself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15475" CreationDate="2016-10-12T13:17:55.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have the dosing and a few syringes you can split it no problem, I would contact the company or your vet clinic to ask how many mls each dog needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T13:17:55.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-12T14:08:11.057" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an American bully. He started watching over baby calves, then one of my neighbors was sick and he stayed at their house. Now a neighbor down the road lost her dad day before yesterday, and when he goes outside he goes to their house. Can you tell me why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8179" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T14:59:30.797" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T14:59:30.797" Title="Bully keeps running off" Tags="&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15477" CreationDate="2016-10-12T19:32:21.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's just grooming himself, when they wear the collar they can't reach anything so once it comes off it's go time! No concerns as long as the incision is healing nicely :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T19:32:21.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15475" CreationDate="2016-10-12T22:24:47.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is for the use of Revolution (Selamectin) for dogs, as used on house rabbits. This is prescription medication administered following the guidance of our Veterinarian.  You should contact your Vet before splitting dosages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note we monitor our pets weight in kilograms (kg), while the medication is prescribed by pounds (lbs) so we have an additional calculation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Revolution for Dogs 20.1 - 40lbs; 1.0 ml per tube &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Convert the range to a single number 20+40=60, 60/2=30, patient weight per tube is 30lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30lbs divided by 2.2kg equals 13.6KG of patient per tube (per ml)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1ml divided by 13.6kg equals 0.08ml per kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;4kg patient times 0.08ml equals 0.32ml per dose&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Same as above in pounds&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1ml divided by 30lbs equals 0.04ml per pound&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;9lbs patient times 0.04ml equals 0.36ml per dose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Test math&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13.6kg times .08ml equals 1.08ml per tube&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30lbs times .04ml equals 1.2ml per tube&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Revolution for Dogs 85.1 - 130lbs; 3.0 ml per tube&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Convert the range to a single number 85+130=215, 215/2=107, patient weight per tube is 107lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;107lbs divided by 2.2kg equals 48.8KG of patient per tube (per ml)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3ml divided by 148.8kg equals 0.06ml per kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4kg patient times 0.06ml equals 0.24ml per dose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why calculate based on the middle weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see from the test math, some variation enters during rounding. Using the middle weight, any rounding errors are less likely cause a problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to guess an amount while squeezing some on a live wiggling patient, is likely to cause issues.  To little and the fleas are not controlled, to much and the patient can be injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tube is opened by pressing down on the top cap. When you remove the cap, there is a small hole in the top of the tube. Use a syringe with needle attached to suck out the correct amount of medicine.  Remove the needle, and apply the medicine as directed by the packaging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Syringes can be purchased at your local farm supply store. As long as you keep it clean, you should be able to use the same syringe multiple times (applying to skin not injecting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note that some packages (i.e. Revolution for cats) have different strengths in the tube.  Do the math with every new package of medicine, don't bet your pets life that nothing has changed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Revolution for 15 to 22 pound cats contains 60mg of Selamectin per ml&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Revolution for 20 to 40 pound dogs contains 120mg of Selamectin per ml &lt;strong&gt;&gt;&gt;twice as strong&amp;lt;&amp;lt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEOL2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEOL2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wdqwr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wdqwr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T22:24:47.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15483" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-12T23:01:54.133" Score="4" ViewCount="6382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a cat bed, basically a basket with mattress in it but my cat refuses to sleep in it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, she sleeps under plants or on concrete. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get her to sleep on her bed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8180" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:37:11.553" Title="How to get a cat to sleep in a cat bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15468" CreationDate="2016-10-12T23:11:05.730" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can take 4-6 weeks for your aquarium to cycle. So you just need to wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need to do any water changes, this is only required when doing a cycle with fish so the ammonia/nitrite is kept low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you need to do is keep the ammonia up. Test your tank every day and if ammonia is below 2 ppm then top it up to 2 ppm. (you need to keep feeding the bacteria which is producing ammonia or they will die off)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once ammonia/nitrites go to zero within 24 hours of being 2 ppm then you are cycled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need to be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastActivityDate="2016-10-12T23:11:05.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T05:47:14.607" Score="2" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just recently got a puppy, and the training has been going very bad. It has been 3 weeks and she won't potty outside unless I coax her into it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom told me to rub her face in pee and spank her in case she has an accident. So I was sitting in my room with her when she defecated onto my floor, so I got up and put her face in it, then spanked her 4 times.  After that I put her in the cage, and when I went to close the latch she bit me, which resulted in bleeding.  On impulse I grabbed her and smacked her snout 6 times, then put her on the floor.  She then proceeded to pee on the floor, so I spanked her 1 time and rubbed her face in the pee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been hiding in the corner for the last hour, and when I approach her she whines.  I feel terrible, and I should probably just tell the police I'm a dog abuser, because I hit her so many times.  I'm afraid I'll lose my emotional connection with her.  I love her and I never meant to hurt her.  I was doing what I was told.  I just don't want her to try to kill me when she's big.  This is the first time this happened, but I'm afraid I've completely destroyed our relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8181" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T12:43:59.037" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T12:43:59.037" Title="How do I let my dog know I'm not going to hurt her" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15485" CreationDate="2016-10-13T07:00:28.293" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One: Forget your mom's advice about dog-training, she seems to have some really outdated information.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, about the puppy: you need patience now. A LOT of it. That's what puppies often need. Have treats with you, sit somewhere in her sight. Throw treat, let her eat it. Throw another. Do NOT sit facing her, but sideways, so she can approach you on her own terms.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How old is she? Puppies up to a certain age are NOT ABLE to fully control their bladder. You cannot blame her for that. When she has an accident, IGNORE HER, and quietly clean it up. Use a cleaner that will get rid of the smell, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, look up &quot;submissive peeing&quot;. Peeing may be a sign of submitting to you, NOT of wanting to mark territory, trying to annoy you, or anything like that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, for further training: dogs, especially puppies, LOVE treats, but they ALSO love attention! Whenever she does anything you find desirable, praise her. Whenever she does something wrong that you can safely ignore, ignore it. When she does something undesirable you cannot ignore (danger to her, damaging things), redirect her: first, gently push her away, then, when she has stopped the behaviour, give her some awesome alternative: chew toys work well with puppies!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I hope that helps. Dog-training has come quiet a long way since dominance-theory and making the dog submissive to you. Look into any reward-based training you feel will work for you! And enjoy life with your puppy :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T07:00:28.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2016-10-13T16:07:57.037" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs become very accustomed to recognizing your scent. This also applies to items belonging to you that carry your scent. If you spend a solid amount of time with your cat and it likes to play with you etc: Then alongside the catnip I would recommend placing a recently used t-shirt of yours in the cat's bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The catnip relaxes the cat and makes most feel playful. This makes them feel happy and knowing/remembering that they feel happy in a certain location means they will spend more time closer to said location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand having your scent close to the kitty will make them feel safe, this is most true if the cat has been with you for many years or since its infancy. ie. it looks up to you as a parent hopefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other helpful notes I can recommend:&#xA;1. Play with your cat a little while it is on the bed or near it from time to time and give it some love :)&#xA;2. If the cat chooses to sleep elsewhere gently move the cat to the bed and stay beside it for a few minutes whilst gently petting it. If it goes right back to sleep then mission accomplished, otherwise, you may need to rinse and repeat until you get your results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that all cats will get accustomed to new sleeping spots at a different pace - all depending on their own personality! =]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also another side note, some cats do prefer sleeping on hard surfaces. If your cat is ALWAYS falling asleep on a hard surface, consider removing any cushioning from its bed or adding something to harden it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8182" LastEditorUserId="8182" LastEditDate="2016-10-19T14:24:02.963" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T14:24:02.963" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15480" CreationDate="2016-10-13T16:51:43.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is not running away, he is visiting all of his friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a risk of him getting run over by cars, abused by strangers, mingling with diseased dogs (eg, mange), or tangling with hostile wildlife, you may want to re-design his yard-space so that he cannot escape anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your dog is prone to wander, please make sure that he is microchipped, so he can be returned to you if he looses his way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T16:51:43.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T19:12:09.570" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this point my dog will take a hold of the toy or object, but always drops it. I've been trying to shape holding the toy for longer, but it doesn't seem to be working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was easier with &lt;em&gt;Stay&lt;/em&gt; because I could continuously treat during the stay and could use a no-reward marker when he started to get up. But you can't treat when he's holding a toy! And the no-reward marker doesn't work well because then the toy is now on the ground instead of in his mouth (gravity and all...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my approach at this point is to have him take the toy, tell him to &lt;em&gt;Drop it&lt;/em&gt;, and then reward for the drop it. So if he takes it and drops it on his own (too early), no reward. Obviously I need to cue him to drop it early enough that he is succeeding as often as possible. But he still seems to be getting frustrated easily so we are not making much progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on encouraging him to hold it for longer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8065" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T18:57:17.873" Title="Teaching Take: My dog always drops the toy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15485" CreationDate="2016-10-13T21:56:56.693" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you've been doing something, and returned to greet your puppy, and the puppy peed.  Or perhaps you were walking between rooms, and discovered a little smelly present on the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must force yourself to think of one thing and one thing only- the mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time has stopped.  The world does not exist.  The puppy does not exist.  Ignore everything except the mess.  There is only the mess!  Maybe you feel angry, or frustrated, or disgusted.  If you do, those feelings are only about the mess.  Proceed immediately to the cabinet where the cleaning supplies are located and return directly to the mess.  The puppy may try to follow you and observe your actions.  It doesn't matter, the puppy does not exist.  Only the mess exists, and you are a robot.  The mess must be eliminated with extreme prejudice.  It is your entire existence, your universe.  Wipe, rub, scrub, spray, toss.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Hoover- it beats as it sweeps.  Nothing else matters.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah, but now the mess is gone.  Time resumes.  The world and the puppy return to your reality.  You are yourself.  And you are happy.  I repeat, you are HAPPY.  Spell it with me, H-A-P-P-Y.  Time to celebrate.  How about sweetly talking and giving ear rubs to that neat puppy of yours?  Awesome way to celebrate if you ask me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2016-10-13T23:32:07.043" LastActivityDate="2016-10-13T23:32:07.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15491" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-13T22:34:10.617" Score="1" ViewCount="1727" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I got a rescue puppy a few months ago - he was only 6 weeks when we got him. He was very skiddish to both of us at first, understandably. But now he loves my wife, and seemingly forgets who I am every day. When my wife is home with Nelson, he is okay with me after a few minutes, and begins to play. But when I come home from work by myself, he cowers and runs away when I try and pick him up to take him out to go pee, but he usually lets me pick him up and is okay once I do that and start petting him. But today, he started growling at me and moved quickly, like to nip at me, but didnt actually nip but just hit me with his nose. I really dont know what to do! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8185" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T19:06:46.950" Title="My dog forgets me (it seems)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15437" CreationDate="2016-10-14T00:45:21.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the biggest thing they worry about with feeding &quot;too much&quot; bread is imbalance of vitamins and trace minerals that are possible.  I know here A LOT of people use loaves of bread to feed to underweight horses because they provide so many calories but they provide this on top of their regular diet so they are ensured to get all the nutrients they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8186" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T00:45:21.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15491" CreationDate="2016-10-14T05:24:28.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure you're misinterpreting this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nipping, poking you, etc. sounds very typical for &quot;Oh! Hey! You're back, I want to play!&quot;. This sounds very reminiscent considering our Huskies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog might also run so you run after (which is typical playing behavior).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got the puppy with six weeks it's possible the dog didn't learn everything so far regarding behavior, so might unintentionally show weird behavior, but not on purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd strongly suggest you check for a local dog school with puppy classes for proper socialization (as an alternative have an older socialized dog you trust play with your puppy from time to time). Even just once or twice a week should definitely help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-10-14T13:33:03.460" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T13:33:03.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15499" CreationDate="2016-10-14T10:10:13.867" Score="3" ViewCount="1313" Body="&lt;p&gt;An answer at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6281/how-smart-are-rabbits/6284#6284&quot;&gt;How smart are rabbits?&lt;/a&gt; includes the following quote and reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits also have no or very underdeveloped pain sensing regions in their brains (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.raising-rabbits.com/rabbit-facts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even as a predator rends a rabbit limb from limb, the rabbit may not feel much pain at all, at least, not in the manner that we humans sense it. The idea that rabbits experience 'untold pain and agony' during predation, or even during butchering by humans, is not supported by science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While prey animals are no doubt capable of feeling pain, it is the anxiety and fear that keeps the rabbit alive in dangerous situations. Problem is, beyond a certain threshold of fear, terror can literally paralyze a rabbit, completely incapacitating it. A rabbit’s high-pitched scream is a response to terror (whether logical or not), not pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comment &amp;quot;not supported by science&amp;quot; could either mean, we have never actually done any scientific testing so there for there is no evidence. Or it could mean there have been scientific studies that prove rabbits don't feel pain. Or it could just be some ones opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the the science around pain in rabbits as compared to humans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:15:05.523" Title="Do rabbits feel pain?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2016-10-14T14:12:20.733" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my reading about cat behaviour, the mother hunts and allows the young to eat first before eating.  You adopted two younger cats and they are just eating first like they would in the wild.  I have two cats, both male, one is a hunter and one is not, he is smaller.  The smaller one eats right away, and the healthier one waits until he has eaten, and then starts eating.  They both eat out of both bowls.  I think it is an instinct thing sometimes and nothing to worry about.  Adult cats would understand and I don't think it causes them stress the way we think it would. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8190" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T14:12:20.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15491" CreationDate="2016-10-14T14:51:36.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some dogs bond strongly with one person to the exclusion of others.  I can be part of the breed or it could just be a part of the dog's psyche.  Typically dogs that were bred to be primarily companion animals, Pekinese, pugs, Yorkies, and Poodles are excellent examples of this type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often times in rescues I see dogs that prefer women because they had a scary or abusive male around during their early development, and have seen quite a few with the reverse as well.  If this is the case then if you continue to work with the dog and provide positive reinforcement then you should be able to overcome it.  The other thing to watch out for is if your spouse or children are accidentally reinforcing the behavior.  &quot;Haha its funny the dog doesnt like daddy!&quot;  The dog just gets the positive reaction to his behavior from his favorite people reinforcing the behavior as a good one unintentionally.  The best way is for them to ignore the dog completely when it does this.  This combined with attention and positive feedback from you should help break this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2462" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T14:51:36.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15491" CreationDate="2016-10-14T19:06:46.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is in response to corey...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically everything in his answer is completely wrong. I'd disregard everything he said. Cowering in a corner and growling can't really be misinterpreted as anything other than what it is. The answer to your dog being scared in your presence and in a new home is ABSOLUTELY  not to bring another larger older dog into the equation and certainly not to move it into yet another unknown location like a school&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the dog was abused by a man, you'll just need to be patient and loving. You should be the one to feed it and not your wife. This will help the pup bond with you and should help if feel more secure in your presence and your role in the house. Don't ship it off to a dog school, that's just assinine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it has this behaviour it's definitely not forgetting you, it's just remembering past abuse, or at the very least remembering you as a presence to be feared. Just be firm with him, make sure you are feeding him on a schedule, twice a day and that you're the one feeding him. Don't just put food in a bowl and let it sit out all day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't bribe him with treats. It will reinforce negative behaviour. Just be patient with the dog and if he comes to you give him a treat. You should never give your dog a treat without a reason and need to always make sure your dog knows why he's being rewarded. If not it's hard to know what kind of behaviour the dog might interpret as &quot;good&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8191" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T19:06:46.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15495" CreationDate="2016-10-14T19:23:11.137" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes rabbits feel pain, I'm the anesthesiologist for our exotic pet surgeries and I can guarantee they feel pain. A part of monitoring their anesthetic depth you do a pain response by squeezing their toes, if they pull back/kick they are too light. During an ovariohysterectomy (spay) once we start tugging on those fallopian tubes and cervix their vitals can rise as the body is sensing pain (at this point we may increase anesthetic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also see rabbits chew at their incision as a response to pain as well (which is why we send them home on pain medications).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-14T19:23:11.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15501" CreationDate="2016-10-14T20:49:50.590" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two dogs. Both adopted when they were puppies from a rescue organization roughly 9 years ago. Dogs grew up together, slept together in a large dog bed, pretty much best of friends entire life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few nights ago one of my dogs seemed to be in a lot of pain and his stomache was swelling. His brother was crying and howling worried about him which is what caused us to investigate what was going on. Upon rushing our dog to the vet,it turns out his stomach had flipped unexpectedly and he was in extreme pain. Less than 30% chance surgery would resolve this and not leave lasting pain or effects. We made the tough decision to lay him to rest that night to stop his pain and agony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been a few days and our other dog has been staying at our sons house with his two dogs (they have known each other for years and love each other). He seems very depressed and seemed to know right away that something bad had happened when we took his brother to the vet. He seems pretty lethargic and is acting like he is in remorse over his brother dying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question has to do with the proper steps to help him through this tough time. Currently we have him staying with my son and his dogs to give him companionship with other dogs he knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some questions/ to guide the discussion are:&#xA; Should be remove all traces and scents of his brother from the house before he comes home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long does it take dogs to recover my the loss of a companion to their level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be a good idea to get another dog that has the same temperament as him so he doesn't feel alone at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8055" LastEditorUserId="8055" LastEditDate="2016-10-14T22:16:28.667" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T16:44:22.073" Title="Helping dog recover from death of his brother" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15500" CreationDate="2016-10-15T16:44:22.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to give a try at this but every dog is different.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would give him a couple weeks with your son.  You are not going to remove all scents from a dog so don't try.  Do remove any articles (bed, bowl, toys ....) from the old dog.  Do NOT say the old dogs name.  Give the dog a new toy and provide lots of attention.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a pair that were not siblings and it only took a couple days for the dog.  It took me much longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T16:44:22.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15547" CreationDate="2016-10-15T18:05:46.757" Score="7" ViewCount="1411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had a dog that we had to put to sleep because of his stomach flipping (on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2%202090&amp;amp;aid=402&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;peteducation.com&lt;/a&gt; you could learn more about this subject). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been reading into many different causes and suspected causes. While there are a lot of unknowns, the one that is consistently brought up is eating out of raised bowls. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read multiple sites that speak about dogs eating out of raised bowls - that is, bowls on a stand or ledge about 6-16 inches (15-40 cm) above the ground - versus bowls that are sitting flat on the ground. Various sites state that it is better for dogs to eat out of raised bowls as it decreases the danger of bloat and stomachs flipping. At the same time, others state that it increased the danger of bloat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to have my dogs eat out of raised bowls or have the bowls sitting on the floor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8055" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T19:24:23.813" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T19:36:46.483" Title="Should dogs eat out of raised or non-raised bowls?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-15T22:06:24.250" Score="4" ViewCount="4903" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 year old Yorkshire terrier was born with gray coat. Almost overnight, she is turning brown in her face and spot on her back. She has been spayed since 6 months. Why is this happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8193" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T19:54:10.393" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T19:54:10.393" Title="Why is my adult dog's coat changing color?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12329" CreationDate="2016-10-15T22:32:48.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It doesn't seem that I am sensitive after that long time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they won't survive, I tried giving them out to a friend but it didn't seem they would continue there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7280" LastActivityDate="2016-10-15T22:32:48.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-16T14:37:56.083" Score="3" ViewCount="753" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are necessary and optional steps to get crystal clear aquarium water, i.e. water with as few large and micro particles and maximal visibility in the distance as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T11:27:01.343" Title="How to get cristal clear water in an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15506" CreationDate="2016-10-16T14:37:56.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the right choice of location of the aquarium (not in the sunlight) which reduces the risk of algae growth and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/fish-aquariums/How-to-keep-your-aquarium-crystal-clear-at-all-times&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;filtration, decorations and food&lt;/a&gt; in combination with the desired residents, the most promising step (after one year of trying) seems to be the installation of an undergravel filter with an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.eheim.com/de_DE/produkte/technik/pumpen/universal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eheim Universal pump&lt;/a&gt; (300 l/h for a 60 l aqaurium was a good choice)[1].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't manage to figure out a way to let the undergravel be responsible for the aquarium alone, since&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it takes a lot of time to be sufficiently effective (you definitely need another running filter for the first weeks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;300 l/h is the smallest Eheim pump and it's not a large filter volume per time for a 60 l aquarium. If the filter is slightly blocked it starts to suck air which is not a problem, but indicates that 600 l/h is too much (whereas an Aquaclear 20 already has 470/h and is bearly sufficient for a 100 l tank). A second column can be added to the undergravel filter and be connected with a Y-piece to the pump, of course.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now I have the undergravel filter and a hang-on filter and since 3 weeks I don't have any chance to get any dirt in my vacuum cleaner - it's just completely clean which is the main reason for the water being cristal clear as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't take the risk to run an undergravel filter only since it might block/reduce the flow rate and then it might be difficult to react fast enough and get another filter running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] There seems to be no other pump which has two tube connections in the world. I searched for several days. You need a tube connection on the entry side because you need to pump the water out of the column of the undergravel filter net. Of course, 50 € for a simple filter with 300 l/h is five times more than compared to others, but this is about the water clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2016-12-16T11:27:01.343" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T11:27:01.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-16T16:48:37.777" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of buying my son a small fish bowl, but I am a complete novice and would welcome any advice on what fish to buy, what accessories I require and how to maintain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8198" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-02-07T11:41:07.943" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T11:41:07.943" Title="Fish bowl acquisition advise" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15509" CreationDate="2016-10-16T17:10:00.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good starter fish for kids are betta fish and goldfish  that being said fish bowls are not adequate for fish, as much as its advertised. Unless it's big enough to install a filter and heater while still having plenty of room for your fish to live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5gal is a good start to house 1 betta fish, if you want to have a goldfish you'll need to upgrade as they can become pretty big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas need a filter and a heater where as goldfish only need a filter. &#xA;You'll need water conditioner, small water syphon (tiny pump to suck up feces in the gravel), algae scrubber and food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your new tank should be filtered and conditioned/cycled for minimum 1 week before introducing fish, this allows time for beneficial bacteria to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing water changes, only change 20% of water (water changes are achieved when syphoning feces). This is done approx. every 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Live plants are very good for fish but need care as well by adding UV lighting and plant food. Fake plants are safe and your best choice for a childs tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Algae will grown in the tank very fast if it's exposed to sunlight, green algae is not harmful but good to clean if it's getting out of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-16T17:10:00.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-16T21:26:14.077" Score="2" ViewCount="1559" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a beautiful female tabby (1/3 siamese too I think) and she's always been skinny, I've tried her on multiple different brands of cat food (both wet and dry) and she only likes Gocat kibble, Felix and Whiskers, every other brand she mainly left in the bowl (especially kibble) and despite all the different brands I've tried her with she's still skinny. I can feel her hips a bit &lt;strong&gt;(is that normal?)&lt;/strong&gt; I've heard that introducing some raw meat can help but I'm not sure if I should try her on that. She's outside a lot and she gets fed 3 times a day. any help, advice or suggestions will be much appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8201" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T02:00:07.090" Title="Can a cat be naturally skinny? or is she just fussy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11551" CreationDate="2016-10-16T21:59:07.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bleeding a little during birth is perfectly normal so don't worry and it will also be mixed with amniotic fluid from the kittens so it may look like there's more blood than there actually is. When my cat was giving birth to her kittens she would bleed a little after/between each one. just as long as it is bright red and not dark or a brownish colour then she's perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8201" LastActivityDate="2016-10-16T21:59:07.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15513" CreationDate="2016-10-16T22:25:44.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat can certainly be naturally skinny. I know one who was the runt of her litter and has been extremely thin all her life, to the point where you can easily count every bone. She is now 17 years old, having outlived two other cats in that household, so it certainly doesn't seem to have held her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T01:01:29.843" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T01:01:29.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-16T22:44:47.470" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old male kitten and he has a bald patch on his left shoulder/side. what could this be? how can it be treated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8201" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T01:01:03.630" Title="My kitten has a bald patch" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15517" CreationDate="2016-10-17T01:01:03.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be many things. You need a vet to determine which and recommend appropriate treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T01:01:03.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9828" CreationDate="2016-10-17T18:51:53.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hand feeding is worth a shot - this is a technique often used to help dogs bond with humans either as puppies or after a traumatic experience.  Get some of Lenny's favorite treats, or even better some high value treats like real meat, cheese, etc.  Have a whole bunch of them broken up into pea sized amounts.  Sit on the floor, far enough away so that Lenny is not trying to get away from you.  Put a few of the treats on the ground around you, when he comes to get them offer lots of calm verbal praise.  If Lenny is too scared to come get the treats, you can gently toss them a bit closer to him until he is willing to eat one.  Again, offer calm verbal praise when he accepts the food.&#xA;You want to get to the point where Lenny will take a treat from your hand.  Once he will take the treats from your hand you can go on to feeding him a whole meal from your hand (assuming you feed him dry kibble).  This will teach Lenny that you're a good guy and when you're around he gets treats.  He will begin to associate your presence with positive things, and will eventually be happy to see you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how severe his aversion to you is this could take a day or a week or a year.  While you're doing this be careful not to force him to interact with you too much - live your normal life, see him as much as you usually would, but don't keep trying to pet him if he is clearly uncomfortable or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T18:51:53.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15489" CreationDate="2016-10-17T18:57:17.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does your pup know &quot;Leave it&quot;?  I've found it's easier to teach leave it and take it together, as opposed to take it and drop it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pup doesn't know leave it, you can start training him on that and make sure there's a clear distinction between when he's supposed to leave something and when he's supposed to take it.  For example, sit on the floor a foot or so away from your dog, hold a treat in your hand without your arm extended, say leave it, if your dog leaves it for 3 seconds say &quot;Take it&quot; and put the treat right up to his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In lieu of food based rewards you can offer verbal praise while the toy or whatever is in his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T18:57:17.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12425" CreationDate="2016-10-17T19:15:20.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's only happening when you take him to the groomer it's likely an allergy to one of the products they use.  Try a more sensitive, oatmeal based shampoo like Earthbath Fragrance Free Oatmeal and Aloe.  It's also possible the groomer isn't getting all of the shampoo out and there is residue still on his skin which is irritating.  Your vet should have had you try this before prescribing steroids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's itchy all the time, regardless of having been groomed recently that's another story.  You vet should be checking for fleas by parting his hair in multiple places and inspecting his skin for flea excrement.  If the vet hasn't been doing this you can do it at home with a comb.  Also, your dog should be on a flea preventative.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try an anti itch spray (usually tea tree oil and oatmeal based - not bitter apple spray or other deterrents).  If that doesn't work you can try Benadryl (the dose is 1 mg per pound, so if your dog is 10 pounds the dose is 10mg).  Make sure the Benadryl doesn't have any added cough or cold medicine mixed in.  Lastly you can look at your dog food choices - it's possible he's allergic to something he's eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope your pup feels better soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-06-05T13:14:15.710" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T13:14:15.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15536" CreationDate="2016-10-17T20:21:04.767" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 200 liters (100 cm) aquarium. When I bought it I didn't know it could not be placed in front of the window so it grows algae now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The algae is green and rough. I cannot remove easily. I can only remove with my nails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank doesn't have a background picture(wallpaper).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if putting a background picture and/or a curtain can help deal with that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be painful take off the water and fish in order to move the aquarium to a new place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="8206" LastEditDate="2016-10-17T20:30:23.033" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T03:02:58.863" Title="How to minimize algae in this case?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15522" CreationDate="2016-10-17T21:27:10.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can add a curtain or a background as you said but you would need to keep it closed for the most part, worth trying if you don't want to relocate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was working at our local pet store we would use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/images2000x2000/X_Acto_X670_X670_Single_Edge_362348.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;razor blades&lt;/a&gt; to scrape the windows (just don't cut yourself), came off really easy. I never found any of the pet store algae scrappers useful for the really hard algae you speak of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people will purchase algae eaters such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Pomacea.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;apple snails&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Plecostomus_1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plecostomus&lt;/a&gt;, I find they do help some but they wouldn't be able to keep up with your problem and they also grow really big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-17T21:27:10.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13810" CreationDate="2016-10-18T10:29:34.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is pretty simple: buy more tetras.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tetras like to live in shoal. I would say something around 12 for your tank size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will get more calm with more fish because they will lose territory(I don't know the exactly theory, but I had many tetras and they were fine in shoal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it will look beautiful because they will swim together. They have a kind of hierarchy, so the strong ones will be at front of the group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="8206" LastEditDate="2016-10-18T10:34:41.883" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T10:34:41.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15527" CreationDate="2016-10-18T10:33:27.637" Score="3" ViewCount="1238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have my Indian female dog &quot;Hazel&quot; which I treat like my own daughter (though  I am a bachelor). I was reluctant to get her spayed as I felt like keeping her intact will be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I need to go to my hometown for this Indian festival for 2 weeks and no one was ready to take a un-spayed dog in, so I got her spayed by a good vet but I cried during whole surgery duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been 2 days since her surgery and I am doing my best to keep her warm, safe and happy - but when I look at her I felt like I broke a fix dog. I feel guilty and still cry a most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me, there is something I can do for her to make her happy which makes me feel better? Could spaying have changed her behaviour in any ways? I want her to be my same old girl who plays wth me for hours, running, biting, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8208" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:37:19.917" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:37:19.917" Title="Spaying my female dog and feeling guilty" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15503" CreationDate="2016-10-18T10:42:51.353" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is a natural process and part of growth .. same thing happened to my Indian Female dog who was white and brown .. but lately she has many black spots which eventually turn into brown and finally her brown color is overshadowing the white one. I consulted a vet he says its okk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8208" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T10:42:51.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15525" CreationDate="2016-10-18T12:58:04.683" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not feel guilty it's VERY good that you spayed her!! You've helped prevent so many bad things. At my work, although not very common to see intact females anymore, the ones we do see always have an issue!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common issues I see with intact females are cancer and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyometra&quot;&gt;pyometra&lt;/a&gt; (essentially uterus fills with pus to the extent it kills your dog unless spayed), by spaying you significantly reduce the risk of cancer and completely eliminate the chance of a pyometra. You have unlocked the potential to give her a few more years of life :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a less serious note you also prevent the chances of her becoming pregnant which then you have possible c-sections and eclampsia (lack of calcium while nursing). They tend to not want to roam as much once spayed (roaming to search for a mate while in heat), you remove the chance of false pregnancy - where her body thinks she's pregnant and she goes through all the phases from nesting to lactating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T12:58:04.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15464" CreationDate="2016-10-18T15:26:45.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my horse only with grass, hay, oats if I trained him and supplementary minerals adapted to his blood tests.&#xA;As a treat I use pressed flax pellets (what remains when pressing flax oil) or for special occasions small parts of organic carrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feed apples or bananas because they contain huge amounts of sugar.&#xA;Apples are also very acidic which is not good for your horse's digestion (max 1-2 per day).&#xA;Bananas contain a lot of potassium which horses cannot metabolize very well (max 1 banana per month).&#xA;Bread contains a lot of phosphate which is also not good for your horse's metabolism (max 1-2 slices per day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general one can say, that &quot;the dose makes the poison&quot;. If you feed your horse correctly in 99% of the time, the odd sugar-loaded treat does not harm it. However be aware, that the horse's digestion works different than ours and most of the fodder you can buy has mostly junk in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2016-10-20T06:56:22.940" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T06:56:22.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15407" CreationDate="2016-10-18T17:46:30.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you catch her in the act, interrupt her.  Usually lifting the pup off the ground will get them to stop peeing and then you can carry them outside.  You can also say 'no' or 'oops' whatever your negative marker word is, but only if you catch her in the act.  She won't understand what she did wrong if you bring her back to the area even a few minutes after she's finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are you using to clean up with?  You'll need something that eliminates the odor, like Nature's Miracle Stain and Odor Remover.  Otherwise, it will be difficult to break the association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you crating her during the day (or any non-sleeping times) at all?  If not, try crating her for short periods of time and then taking her outside immediately.  For example, after coming inside from a walk play for 15 minutes or so and then put her in the crate with a stuffed Kong or other toy.  After an hour or so, take her outside.  If she pees/poops reward her and repeat the process gradually lengthening the amount of free time between crating.  If she won't pee outside after walking around for 15-30 minutes, take her back inside and put her immediately into the crate so she can't have an accident.  Take her outside again after 30 minutes.  Rinse and repeat.  The goal is to set her up for success by not creating an environment where she's likely to have an accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T17:46:30.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11688" CreationDate="2016-10-18T17:50:29.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natures-miracle.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nature's Miracle&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used it for years to get stains and odors out of hardwood, carpet, linens and it's always worked great.  Even on older, set-in stains Nature's Miracle has been helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T17:50:29.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13722" CreationDate="2016-10-18T17:58:29.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Basic obedience training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Re-conditioning when it comes to other dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is reliable with basic commands, putting her into a down/stay position will prevent her from jumping around and barking (most dogs aren't able to bark loudly while laying down).  It doesn't sound like your dog is reliable, otherwise I assume you would have tried this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you're working on basic obedience the best thing you can do is be vigilant.  When there's another dog nearby, before your dog starts freaking out, get her to pay attention to you and before she can get excited reward her for being calm.  Continue to distract and reward her until either the other dog is out of sight or she loses her cool.  You'll want to get some high value treats for this, like pieces of freshly cooked beef and chicken or at the very least treats that are made with 100% meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main issue here is that the barking and jumping are intrinsically rewarding for the dog, so your best hope is to cut the behavior off before it starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-18T17:58:29.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-18T18:52:50.687" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Backstory&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you view my profile and peruse some of my recent questions, you will be able to figure out that a year ago I adopted a kitten that was quite different from what I had ever known before.  He has more character, energy, and rambunctiousness than all cats I've met combined.  The last year has been&#xA;a unique learning experience for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had to continually seek ways to stimulate his brain and find outlets for him.  My vet and her staff have helped with suggestions, as has pets.se.  Some of his daily food is delivered via puzzles; mostly home-made from cardboard tubes.  I've built caves out of old blankets and boxes and put things inside to explore.  I bought a set of Lincoln Logs just to have safe and sanctioned destruction; my towers used to last mere hours, now it's up to weeks, but they all eventually fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Through it all, I believe the trouble-making little fuzz bucket and I have come to love each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some other facts about my cat that may or may not be relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is mostly an indoor cat.  I have been hesitant to let him wander due to neighborhood dogs and hawks.  But I have taken him out on a harness and lead.  He completely ignores barking, lawn mowers, and other noise from beyond the chain-link fences as he merrily chases insects and paws at weeds.  He squirms a little when I put the harness on, but as soon as it is on, he goes straight to the back door and paws at it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has a thing with water.  If I accidentally leave the toilet seat up, I will soon find water splashed all over the floors and walls of the bathroom.  He likes to go into the bathtub when it is not in use and roll around.  The water in his bowl is as likely to be splashed around as it is    to be lapped up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is picky regarding affection.  If I come to him, he will tolerate only a little tickling and does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; want to be picked up.  If he comes to me, he will cuddle up as tight as he can and totally give himself over to all kinds of tickling and rubbing.  Then five minutes later, he will leave.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Idea&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that he is basically an adult, a family member said to me, &quot;Why don't you teach him to ride in your kayak with you?&quot;  At first I dismissed the idea&#xA;as absurd.  Now, as the thought has germinated in my brain for a while, I am starting to consider it.  As autumn is currently setting in, I am packing up and winterizing all my boat gear.  But come April 2017, as the cat nears two years old, I may just see what happens.  (I've seen the moturrsikling kitteh on the interwebs, so why not?)  Officially, I am still undecided.  I am curious&#xA;what suggestions this community might provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had some ideas for experimenting with his reactions and acclimating him that I have considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over winter:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bringing the kayak into the house for an hour every couple weeks.  Let him sniff at it and explore inside.  Then sit it myself, and get him to sit with me.  Put treats in it for extra motivation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a PFD for him (possibly another question) and have him wear it at the same time the kayak is inside the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When spring arrives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take him for walks on a lead along the shoreline, letting him see and smell the concept of &quot;Lake.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Float the kayak in shallow water, put him inside with his PFD and on a lead, and wade along side, able to take him to shore immediately if anything goes wrong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I even try it at all?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any feedback or suggested changes or improvements to my own ideas?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What else can/should I do over the winter to prepare?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What else can/should I do come spring before trying a full-blown ride with him?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T17:49:04.073" Title="Kayaking Cat Conundrum" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15522" CreationDate="2016-10-18T20:23:56.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a opaque background will help if the tank has his back at the window. If it is not the case it won't help with the algae. &lt;strong&gt;As long as your tank sit in direct sun light you will have excessive algae&lt;/strong&gt;. There are a few solutions that might help a little bit but the only good one is to move the tank where it is not in direct sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some ideas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have an opaque background around the back and the side of the tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add real plants, they eat the same nutriment as algae, but generally algae are more effective to get those nutrient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add livestock that feed on algae (snail, shrimp, some fish, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deal with it by scrapping it regularly and knowing it will need to be redone in a couple of days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T03:02:58.863" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T03:02:58.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-19T09:22:50.927" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;What can be done to help a cow that had osteoporosis? Do pigs get osteoporosis as well? What can be done to help a pig with osteoporosis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8212" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-10-21T04:00:28.480" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T04:00:28.480" Title="Cows and pigs with osteoporosis?" Tags="&lt;pig&gt;&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15586" CreationDate="2016-10-19T15:01:05.777" Score="2" ViewCount="1350" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title says it all. Is there some way to get a cat to stop chewing on cords. I have a lot of corded things lying around and my cat likes to play with them. He crawls under my computer desk and bats my phone charger cord out of my phone and I even catch him chewing on my snake thermostats sometimes. Is there some way to discourage or outright prevent this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2016-10-26T21:45:10.260" Title="How to get a cat to stop chewing on cords?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-10T15:00:01.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2016-10-19T17:48:19.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's any magic solution beyond saying &quot;no&quot;, taking the inappropriate toy away or moving the cat, and giving them something better to play with...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T17:48:19.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15534" CreationDate="2016-10-19T17:49:04.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You certainly do love your cat. In requires to swimming. Cat can swim. If tipped over in your boat, she (he?) will immediately head for shore. When I was 12, we took our cat out in a rowboat a good distance from shore and put the cat in the water. He stuck out for the shoreline. Someone was there with a towel to wipe him off. He didn't seem to mind, but I don't think it was his favorite activity. Maybe you could find a doggie pool where you and the cat could get in together. Just a thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep him as an indoor cat. Besides the dangers you mention, there are also cars and mean people. An indoor cat is expected to live 15-20 years. An outdoor cat--5 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2016-10-19T17:49:04.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13772" CreationDate="2016-10-20T14:34:49.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 big &amp;amp; lethal problems you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You tank hasn't been cycled&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned before, your tank needs to 'cycle' before you can add any fish to it. During this period, the chemical composition of the water goes through a few stages. This takes usually at least 3-4 weeks. Only after that, you can slowly start to add fish (also don't add all the fish at once!). More information can indeed be found in this answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/215/&quot;&gt;How does one effectively &amp;quot;cycle&amp;quot; an aquarium?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your tank is overstocked&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a small tank, and a lot of fish in it. Basically a tank that size is (in my opinion) just large enough for a single betta fish, definitely not for 10 fish.&#xA;Your fish produce waste, and if there is too much waste is also not healthy for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the combination of these 2 things probably killed your fish.&#xA;As an emergency solution you should now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a partial water change every day (around 50% of the water)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add chemicals to decrease the ammonia levels in the water (ask your local pet-shop)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are also chemicals to speed up this 'cycling' process. It's usually called something like 'Filter Start'. Get some of those as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another word of advice: don't go to your local pet shop for advice on fish for your tank. Pet shops usually don't know much about aquariums either, and only want to sell fish/equipment. Go to a specialized fish shop and ask them for advice. These specialized shops actually know what they are talking about, and normally also care about the well being of the fish they sell.&#xA;And also do your own research beforehand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T14:34:49.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15544" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-20T18:34:09.240" Score="2" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was on Facebook and saw this image, and I'm wondering if the statement is true or not. From Google translator:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collar with a bell? Better not use!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your kitten has rattle on a leash? Due to the sensitive hearing, it can be stressed with the constant noise. We will help you to live safe and comfortable? Get rid of the bell!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is it true it harms cats to use this kind of item? I have bells on my cats so I can know where they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wsVIL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wsVIL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of a kitten wearing a collar with the caption &amp;quot;Coleira com guizo? Melhor nao usar!&amp;quot; and a Whiskas logo&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3508" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T14:18:59.923" LastActivityDate="2020-10-11T22:30:15.447" Title="Are bells on collars harmful to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15544" CreationDate="2016-10-20T18:57:03.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, a cat won't be stressed with a bell. However that being said if your cat is outdoors I wouldn't put one on mostly because if it's trying to hide from a predator it will be much more difficult. On the bright side your cat won't be killing our wildlife either (point is keep kitties indoors or in an outdoor cat pen where they cannot harm or be harmed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about your cat escaping and getting lost, microchip! Kitties can become snagged in things if they have a collar on, if they have the quick release well then a tag would be useless as it could be lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-20T18:57:03.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5877" CreationDate="2016-10-21T12:13:09.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What most people won't tell you is that if you leave a doe in the cage with the buck and he keeps after her, she will eventually reach around and castrate him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You never leave a doe unattended for more than a few minutes. If she's grumpy and doesn't want anything to do with him and she starts getting nippy towards him, you get her out of there quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit reproduction also depends upon breed. A med. small rabbit will have approx. 4-6 kits per litter. And the bucks can oftentimes go temporarily sterile during high temps (high 80's to 90's).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some breeds aren't prolific and some are. Some strains within a breed will produce less than others. I've raised New Zealands that gave me litters of 10 to 12. I've raised English Spots that averaged 8 and FL whites about 4-6 per litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8215" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T12:13:09.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15502" CreationDate="2016-10-21T17:07:48.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From searching the internet, it appears that many of the sites that identify raised bowls as a risk factor are run by veterinarians, and do refer to a scientific study that supports that idea. Here is one &lt;a href=&quot;https://thepetauthority.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/be-careful-with-the-internet-a-lesson-in-bloat-torsion-gdv/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;veterinarian's blog addressing the issue&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all of the sites seem to agree that this is only one of many factors that raise the risk of bloat. My veterinarian always encouraged at least two meals per day for my large dogs, and more frequent smaller meals are safer. I also use a &quot;Slow-down&quot; feeding bowl like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/dogit-go-slow-anti-gulping-dog-bowl/dp/50565&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. According to my vet, bloat is most likely after a dog eats a big meal very quickly. The elevation of the bowl appears to be another contributing factor, but all risks should be considered together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T17:07:48.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15359" CreationDate="2016-10-21T19:13:12.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats love to eat feathers as well. However, when I asked my vet about it, she said that I should not collect feathers outside and give them to my indoor cats for playing (and possible eating). She said that the hollow shaft can contain harmful bacteria/diseases which are especially dangerous for indoor cats. (I cleaned the feathers I collected by pouring boiling water over them but it seems that is not enough. I also think it's important to consider that outdoor cats usually get vaccinated more extensively and/or their immune system is different.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I sometimes buy peacock feathers from a small webpage that spends earnings to treat cat diseases, so I feel somewhat safe about them and my cats like those for playing as well. I don't think that it is important for them to actually eat feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-01-14T15:56:01.673" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T15:56:01.673" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15300" CreationDate="2016-10-21T19:26:55.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is important to offer cat grass (in austria it is even mentioned in the law as minimum requirement for having a cat indoors). I feel like my cats are a lot less interested in my plants since they have cat grass (that they got calmer after turning 3 helped as well). I placed it somewhere high where they can sit comfortable and placed my other plants somewhere high where it is uncomfortable for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Big stones in the pots on the earth were already mentioned.&#xA;If you use big pots then they cannot knock it over.&#xA;Maybe you have the opportunity to span a net over the most parts of the earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is bored it might help to offer different activities which can distract him from the plants. For example a box filled with crumpled papers or a rail cat toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T19:26:55.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2016-10-21T19:47:38.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had success in preventing my cat from chewing cords by putting my hand between her head and the cord whenever I saw that the wanted to chew on it, repeatedly. That means sometimes 5 times in a row, until she made at least a small pause before trying again. If it took several tries until she stopped I offered her a more interesting game with a moving string or something when she stopped. In general playing regularly with playing rods also reduced her interest on those non-moving cords.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T19:47:38.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15425" CreationDate="2016-10-21T20:33:03.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe the time between the feedings is to long for her now. Cats also tend to eat several smalls portions a day. One of my cats wants to eat after playing sessions. Both of my cats wake up later when we played in the evening. Therefore I suggest trying the folling steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Divide the amount of food in three&lt;/strong&gt; and feed three times a day, one in the morning, one in the evening and one before you go to bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before feeding the last time &lt;strong&gt;make sure that your cat had some active time&lt;/strong&gt;, especially in the evening. Try to play with her in the evening to prevent that she sleeps while you are still up and encourage her to rest when you are resting. You said she is more active now, so maybe she needs more playtime from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to avoid feeding her when she is begging&lt;/strong&gt;, since that would teach her when she is begging she will get food. I don't mean torturing her, try to satisfy her needs otherwise / beforehands, so that you don't have to feel bad for her when you ignore her begging and ideally she doesn't have the need for it anymore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: this is all assuming that she does get enough food now. (I don't have experience with dry food and when feeding moist food active cats usually eat as much as they want.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastEditorUserId="8218" LastEditDate="2016-10-21T20:40:26.533" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T20:40:26.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15425" CreationDate="2016-10-21T20:43:02.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Move the feeding time to 7PM, so the cat knows pestering you in the morning doesn't produce food. Mine are on a dispenser for dry food,  and get the wet food at completely unpredictable times. That doesn't  keep them from walking on me n the morning, but that's just because they want attention and/or a warm spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-21T20:43:02.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-22T01:39:33.557" Score="1" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LofBB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LofBB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;why would a corn snake have flat looking skin on their sides almost looks like wings . It just looks like their is something wrong . Could it be she's pregnant ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8221" LastActivityDate="2016-12-23T00:46:56.163" Title="why would a corn snake have flat looking skin on their sides almost looks like wings" Tags="&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-22T03:57:49.297" Score="1" ViewCount="1069" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a young female rabbit that I found 4 months ago.  Since then she has had a litter of 7 bunnies.  They are now 13 weeks old.  When I found her she was malnourished and had a respiratory infection.  She was treated for this.  Her lab work and chest xray are now normal however her respiratory rate is still 140. She acts and looks healthy.  Other than her respiratory rate being elevated.  Does anyone have any ideas? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8222" LastActivityDate="2016-12-29T01:18:16.087" Title="Why is my young female rabbit breathing fast." Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2327" CreationDate="2016-10-23T21:49:15.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lavender king snake, and I also have a breeding pair of doves, which have given me about a dozen doves in around a year, I've been pulling the eggs when they are laid, ideally before incubation begins, they're probably better for the snake if I let the doves incubate, but I had one break open after being incubated and for the sake of my conscience I don't let them incubate at all anymore. I have had good success with feeding the eggs to both my king and ball snakes, however my king seems to have a higher metabolism than the ball, so usually the king gets the eggs to carry her through in between feeding mice. If you don't have access to dove or pigeon eggs, quail eggs can be found at many of the asian supermarkets, but you'll likely have to live near a city to find one. I can't even find most goya products in the rural gerocery stores near my own home, and I've never found quail eggs anywhere outside of an asian supermarket&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8228" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2016-10-25T20:38:43.687" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T20:38:43.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15555" CreationDate="2016-10-23T23:19:23.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears to be the remains of a bad shed just from the quality of the picture.&#xA;What do you feed the snake and how often? Describe the setup of the snake. Do you house snakes together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2016-10-23T23:19:23.297" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-24T01:42:58.327" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 border collies. One male, one female. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male one loves to romp around and loves rough play with other dogs. The female one is quiet and calm and loves to play with same sized dogs but doesn't enjoy rough play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when I go to the dog park there are certain large dogs that have figured out that my female dog gets intimidated by barking. So the 3 individuals in question, if any one of them is present, will start by running after her and barking until she flees into a corner and sits down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then they keep barking and cornering her. It's pretty obvious that she does not enjoy it. I consider this bullying. There is no play going on anymore once she sits in the corner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I leave them to it but today a particularly unpleasant individual briefly grabbed her and she yelped so I went after them and in between until finally one of the other dog owners told the owner of the bully to call his dog off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So what's the best way of dealing with this kind of thing at the dog&#xA;  park?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:18:39.933" Title="How to deal with bullying at the dog park" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="845" CreationDate="2016-10-24T04:27:41.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its entirely normal for dogs to get the hiccups at a young age.  But there are many reasons which could be a bit more serious.  I would suggest that your dog is still at an age where it is common but if you had an older dogs that gets the hiccups commonly then you would want to see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many natural solutions and natural remedies which may help (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://topdogtips.blogspot.com/2016/10/natural-remedies-to-cure-dog-hiccups.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://topdogtips.blogspot.com/2016/10/natural-remedies-to-cure-dog-hiccups.html&lt;/a&gt;).  Sometimes it is just the food and moving to a low grain diet will help a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8229" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T04:27:41.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15562" CreationDate="2016-10-24T07:50:26.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog similar to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she loves to socialize&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doesn't like too much rough play&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gets intimidated by barking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stay near your dog at all times so you can watch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if another dog gets too close ask whose dog it is (so you and they are both paying attention)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when the play gets too rough call your dog away before it does&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if all else fails and your dog starts being bullied walk over and tell both dogs &quot;No&quot; (I've found this one gets both the owner's and the other dog's attention)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5962" LastEditorUserId="5962" LastEditDate="2016-11-22T11:23:22.267" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T11:23:22.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-24T15:42:19.320" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 month old Keeshond puppy is taking &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.drugs.com/vet/temaril-p-tablets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Temaril-P&lt;/a&gt; and has been exhibiting some aggression (VERY out of character for her).  The vet said she will be back to normal once the steroids are out of her system (early next week), but I'm concerned about a lapse in training.  She's barking and growling at everything, nipping at me, and is very on edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any experience using a scenario like this as a training exercise?  It's important to me that no matter what is going on she never bites anyone, ideally I'd like her to be able to self soothe in even the most stressful situations.  Before the steroids she never lost her cool, was extremely tolerant of people (including little kids) and other animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T15:42:19.320" Title="Temaril-P and agression in dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15567" CreationDate="2016-10-24T18:41:55.003" Score="4" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;Winter is coming where I live in the northeastern United States, and this will be my first cold winter with a dog. It will be cold enough that we won't be able to spend long periods of time outside. Also, the amount of snow will make it difficult to get around (even walks will be difficult/dangerous, since the sidewalks will be covered with snow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to come up with ways to exercise my 1 year old Australian Cattle Dog mix during the winter because I am currently exercising her almost entirely outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an idea how much exercise she needs, her daily exercise routine includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 mile walk first thing in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After breakfast, ~30 minutes of play time chasing frisbees and balls. We stop playing once she's panting and gets tired enough to sit down on her own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk or additional play time throughout the day when she starts to get rowdy again. This is usually two or three times per day and involves ~30 minutes for a walk or ~15-20 minutes for chasing frisbees and balls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not really enough space inside the house for her to sprint after a ball, so I don't think she'll get worn out by chasing a ball indoors. Also, I'm reluctant to play something more aggressive with her (like tug of war) because I also have a toddler in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched around the Internet for a while and found a few good ideas. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/toys-and-play/ways-to-exercise-your-dog-indoors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; has some good suggestions. Running up and down the stairs and the treadmill should work for me in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are other indoor exercises for a dog?&lt;/strong&gt; I'm looking for activities that aren't too aggressive since I have a young child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8217" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T06:19:30.220" Title="How to exercise a dog when stuck indoors for long periods of time (e.g. during winter)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15566" CreationDate="2016-10-24T20:59:29.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should look into play groups for your pup.  Even if you can only get to 1 per week it will be nice to have a large indoor space where your pup can run around with other dogs and really get some of her physical energy out.  Aside from local breed clubs and trainers, Meetup.com is a good place to start.  Also, you can probably swing shorter play sessions outside, even in the cold (10 minutes instead of 30, and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Winter is the perfect time to work on obedience training.  The mental stimulation can take the place of some physical exercise, which will make it easier to keep you dog occupied all winter.  You could also enroll in a local training class for something like canine agility or nose work.  Along this same line, you can turn every meal into game time by using a Kong to make you pup work for her meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T20:59:29.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15566" CreationDate="2016-10-24T22:59:08.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you thought about getting a treadmill for her? I have several friends who have bought them for their dogs to use when the weather is not so great and they seem to enjoy them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8231" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T22:59:08.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15503" CreationDate="2016-10-24T23:02:50.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty common thing, usually happens from sun bleaching. Does your girl spend a lot of time outdoors or in the sun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8232" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T23:02:50.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2181" CreationDate="2016-10-24T23:19:56.620" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This post is a little late after your original question, but I could not help to finish this for anyone who sees this question!&#xA;You should try putting the wood pellets (Or whatever soft animal bedding you are using) on top of the newspaper, that will make the cage easier to clean, and it will be more comfortable to your cavy. :)&#xA;Cleaning the cage really often would not be harmful at all to your cavy, just make sure he's got a good place to be while you clean. As for the upper plastic floor, try putting an old bath towel on it! That will make it softer, soak up the urine, and make it simple to clean! Your cavy probably does not have a defect that prevents him from cleaning, he's just too lazy... my guinea pig Juliet has the same problem. xD&#xA;To keep him clean, you will can try bathing him every month, but no more, You can use baby soap or small animal soap. If he itches excessively you can see if he has fleas at the vet, or look if there is a way to find out if he has fleas your self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8233" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T23:19:56.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15477" CreationDate="2016-10-24T23:41:07.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt this should be much of a concern. If you take off the collar for a longer period of time (A few hours/days) and he still grooms the entire time, that might signify a problem. If his happens, try checking for fleas and other bugs in his fur. You might want to brush him while he still has the collar on, it will help him stay clean while he cannot clean himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8233" LastActivityDate="2016-10-24T23:41:07.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15579" CreationDate="2016-10-25T01:28:59.790" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a dog last week, and she was very nervous when she arrived home, but today I was surprised because she wanted to play a lot with me, jumping, running, but also biting (a lot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wants to bite me, and several stuff that is next to her. I want to know that if is normal to a dog and if I should let her play this way with me, or this will cause problem when she is an adult with more strength, or if this is a normal behavior related to her age and when she grow up, she will stop doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I'm fine with this kind of games, I'm not getting hurt (yet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8234" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T14:18:01.940" Title="Is normal for dog to play biting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15573" CreationDate="2016-10-25T01:44:03.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be fine with it, but it will scare some people and annoy others. Grabbing and jumping should be allowed only when a toy is involved, so she can learn when it is and isn't appropriate. It's your responsibility to teach her this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T01:44:03.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15573" CreationDate="2016-10-25T05:54:14.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How old is she? She could be teething. I had the same issue with my German Shepherd. She started biting a lot! We later realised that it was because she started teething. She is now 2 years + and has toned down with her biting very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8235" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T05:54:14.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15566" CreationDate="2016-10-25T06:19:30.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to existing suggestions I'd like to add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't assume your dog won't like snow and cold weather. This can differentiate between individual dogs. One of our Huskies just loves cold air while the other one would love to cuddle up all day long during winter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wouldn't recommend excessive running on stairs, especially for a dog that's still growing. You might cause hip problems later. While this is still something people are discussing, I simply wouldn't risk it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walks are less about distance, they're more about adventure. You don't have to go far, instead pick some treats or your and let your dog look for them in the snow. Even some parking space can be sufficient for this. Picking up scents, looking for stuff, etc. can tire out dogs faster than any long walk. You might want your dog to try catching snow balls, which is something your kid might join in as well, just make sure to throw past the dog, not directly at it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T06:19:30.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-25T12:30:13.523" Score="3" ViewCount="902" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had our 15 month old Golden mix for over a year now. He's usually crated at night, and he's been sleeping well. He usually wakes up before us but doesn't make a peep till he sees us stirring - he's awesome that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We noticed that he tries to stretch while in the crate. As the crate is only 36 inches long and he's around 25 inches long he was not able to stretch to his heart's content. We bought a larger crate a few days ago and donated the old one to a shelter. Now at night though, he seems a little restless. Every night since he's been in the new crate, he gently barks at around 2am and wakes us up. Once we let him onto our bed, he curls up and sleeps peacefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that the new crate is new big for him, that he liked the cosiness of the old one better? Or could this be a case of him 'breaking in' the new crate? We're trying to not encourage him to sleep on our bed as this could be a painful habit going forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way - are there any suggestions to help him (and us!) sleep at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8236" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T02:48:19.890" Title="Dog restless at night in new crate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15577" CreationDate="2016-10-25T13:58:38.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, stop letting him into your bed if your long term goal isn't to have him sleep there every night.  He will quickly learn that barking or fussing = getting to sleep in bed with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally you could have had a few days to transition from the old crate to the new, but that ship has sailed since the old crate is gone.  All you can do now is make him comfy in his new home.  It's likely not the size, but that it's new and not yet his.  You should treat this like you're starting over with crate training.  Put his favorite toys in the new crate, feed all his meals in there, leave surprise treats in the crate for him to find when he goes in there on his own.  Offer praise and rewards when he goes into the crate voluntarily.  Make sure the crate is accessible to him at all times, even if you don't crate him during the day you can leave the crate door open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your pup will get used to his new home, but it will take a little while.  The most important thing is that you don't reward him for fussing or barking at night.  Once you go to bed, that's it until the morning, don't let him out or reward him with attention.  Some people find this very difficult, but as long as your pup is safe and has something to occupy himself with (a Kong or other toy) he will be fine until the morning.  Before you know it he will love his new crate as much as the old one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T13:58:38.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15573" CreationDate="2016-10-25T14:18:01.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biting is very common at that age as they are still learning boundaries. We are currently dealing with a teething, mouthy two months old as well and when he gets mouthy with us we will redirect his biting to a toy or a chew. If he nips too hard (puppy teeth are SHARP!) I just respond with a loud yelp noise and will tap him lightly on the noise with my fingertip and he stops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would work on correcting the mouthiness now, although its not an aggressive behavior, it can easily develop into an annoying habit and nobody wants to deal with an adult dog who won't stop using their teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8232" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T14:18:01.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-25T15:33:40.817" Score="4" ViewCount="565" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten whom we found as a stray and have since taken her in. She has lived with us for a little over a month now and has always been excellent about using her box. Within the last few weeks, she has this new habit where she gets her litter and scoops it with her front two paws and throws it outside of her box (it's seriously the weirdest thing to watch). Since she is so young, I want to break this habit ASAP, especially so I don't have to keep vacuuming so much. Any advice? Her box has fairly high walls, and she is a very intelligent cat and has plenty of other things to keep her busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8237" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T08:36:34.513" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T08:36:34.513" Title="Cat specifically puts litter outside of box" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10338" CreationDate="2016-10-25T17:12:17.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you met with a behaviorist? This is very uncommon behavior for the breed, the English Bull Terrier is known for having a friendly demeanor, both AKC and UKC breed standard refer to viciousness as an undesirable trait, so the fact that this dog is aggressive to people is extremely concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would meet with both a behaviorist and a veterinarian to rule out any underlying medical issues and have them formulate a plan to handle the dog's aggression issues. For the time being, I would not take him in public without a muzzle, make sure your fencing and containment for him is adequate and keep him away from people. It isn't worth the risk of him attacking anybody. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8232" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T17:12:17.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15580" CreationDate="2016-10-25T21:24:57.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have only one litter box for her, I suggest getting a second one. Many cats prefer to put their two different kinds of droppings in different places (one of my cats really first pees in one box then right afterwards moves on to the other one for his other business.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe cleaning the box more regularly would help too (at least two times a day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastActivityDate="2016-10-25T21:24:57.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7214" CreationDate="2016-10-26T06:25:33.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first few moths were the MOST important. Even one that was bottle raised but rehomed after 6 months has trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start only feeding her from your hand though you could leave some food for over night or other long periods due to their high metabolism but make it what she likes least when you have to leave something out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need to wear heavy duty gloves but pick her up and hold her several times a day every day and, if she will take it, feed her something while holding, but if not give her something after. Slowly over time increase how long you hold her. This is a bit stressful but it is honestly the best way was she will learn eventually that biting does not get her out of being handled so should eventually stop. I know of several fennecs successfully tamed this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8241" LastActivityDate="2016-10-26T06:25:33.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15585" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-26T17:12:30.327" Score="3" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;Red ear slider 18 yr female, for the first time, has a black tube extended, at times 1 &amp;amp; 1/2 ins. Long, under her tail w/ 4 items gathered at its end. Are they eggs &amp;amp; what can we do to help get them released?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8243" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T01:33:29.463" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:33:29.463" Title="Red ear slider female" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T15:54:13.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2016-10-26T21:45:10.260" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rubbed lemon juice on my cat's favorite cords and that seems to have deterred the behavior, but I'm not sure if it's due to the lemon or that he's just moved on. Supposedly, cats hate citrus. &quot;Critter cords&quot; may help in the meantime (plastic cord covers that slip over chargers, etc. and prevent the cat's teeth from doing damage). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a certain area he likes, maybe try a Sssscat. (It's a motion-activated can of compressed air that usually scares the life out of the cat). Has worked to keep my cat off of the counter, it may work to keep yours away from the thermostat area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8244" LastActivityDate="2016-10-26T21:45:10.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="666" CreationDate="2016-10-27T00:08:23.797" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend it because some bugs can be deadly to eat and may have diseases. Lyme disease is one of those that is harmful to both humans and animals. If your cat has a fever over 100 °F (37.8 °C) take it to get medical attention. Some vets advise to watch your cat or dog, it may have something that is seriously dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8246" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:30:03.467" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:03.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6141" CreationDate="2016-10-27T05:19:56.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Easy way.. buy a dawn to dusk photo cell. Wire it to a relay. Normal switching for photo cell porch light. On at dark, off at dawn. Relay on at night cuts power to your lights. At dawn relay off send power to your lights. No timer to set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8247" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T05:19:56.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15595" CreationDate="2016-10-27T06:11:47.420" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using a water pump for an undergravel filter with 300 l/h (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/pumps/universal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eheim universal 300&lt;/a&gt;). If the filter is blocked because or irregularities, the pump starts to suck air because water isn't sinking fast enough through the gravel. Inserting a valve and limiting the input of the pump causes it to run smooth/without noise and without sucking air. Can this input reduction be somehow harmful for the (lifetime of the) pump?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T21:49:25.177" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T21:49:25.177" Title="Can it harm my water pump if I limit the input with a valve?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-27T15:33:16.983" Score="2" ViewCount="467" Body="&lt;p&gt;When moving home it affects us all, including pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can take people a while to feel happy in a new home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long is normal before a dog returns to its confident old behaviors? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5152" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T17:38:56.750" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T07:58:20.070" Title="How long will it take for a dog to adjust to a new home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15596" CreationDate="2016-10-27T15:58:45.110" Score="4" ViewCount="952" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife is 7 months pregnant and we've got most of our nursery area (it's in our master bedroom) set up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, our 4 year old 18 lbs (8.2 kg) Maine Coon is getting up and sleeping in the baby's bassinet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife is worried that he will hurt the baby once he arrives, scratch him or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats currently sleep in our room on their cat tree. Their litter box and food are in our master bathroom. The cats have always had free run of our room and other furniture so how can I deter or prevent the cat from climbing in or on the new baby furniture?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5266" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:33:48.240" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:33:48.240" Title="How to keep a cat out of a crib / bassinet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15591" CreationDate="2016-10-27T16:46:06.847" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would keep the door to the nursery closed at all times, so the cat cannot get in.  Start it now, while you're probably not in there that much, and the cat will get used to it, and hopefully be less interested in trying to get in there after the baby arrives.  If you're concerned that you won't hear the baby in the nursery with the door closed, make sure to get baby monitors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T16:46:06.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15590" CreationDate="2016-10-27T17:02:51.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each dog is different. Some dogs are confident and adaptable and will adjust in a matter of a few days. Slow to adjust dogs can take weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8232" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T17:02:51.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="387" CreationDate="2016-10-27T17:19:03.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your description of body language, he's probably not a confident dog so protects himself by being aggressive. The kicking up dirt is a form of marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How old is your dog and is he neutered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do is use a choke chain to correct, if worn correctly it is a very effective way to correct unwanted leash behavior. I would walk him directly to my side and when he tries to pull or begins to pay attention to distraction, give a simple quick tug to leash to catch his attention. I would continue walking him daily for at least 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say this is dominant behavior, I would say it sounds more like an insecure dog. I had a bull breed who behaved same way and it took him time and exposure, but we were able to enjoy a nice relaxed walk without him lunging or being stressed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8232" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T12:47:34.663" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T12:47:34.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15589" CreationDate="2016-10-27T18:27:10.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, Yes it can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your product link is not English, and I did not see diagrams.  Different designs can have different issues.  Less water is probably better then sucking air, so your solution is likely better for the pump then without it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pump is designed and tested for moving a specific volume of water.  When you limit this there will be strains on the pump. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T18:27:10.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15591" CreationDate="2016-10-27T20:43:35.237" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, there is a strong possibility that once the baby (noisy stinky thing that your cat will think it is) begins to occupy the bed, the cat will no longer want anything to do with the bed.  Also, your concerns about smothering are likely exaggerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, you clearly should prevent this, and begin now, even if only for the sake of cleanliness of the baby's bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option might be canned air.  I've taught my cat to keep off curio shelves by manually giving him a puff.  There are versions available that have a motion sensor on top as well.  Perhaps begin by placing one at the base, so the cat gets &quot;shot&quot; before he even gets as far as the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option would be to place something in the bed, whenever the baby is not there, that the cat doesn't like.  Some people say their cats avoid those plastic floor protectors with the spikes on the under-side, if turned spikes up.  It doesn't work for me, but it might for you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2016-10-27T20:48:41.757" LastActivityDate="2016-10-27T20:48:41.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2016-10-28T14:01:37.123" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 walks a day?  That's not very much activity for a Dachshund - and also might not be enough for her to be relieving herself.  Your pup may be bothering you to go for a walk because she needs to pee.  This breed is high energy, and even though they are small they need a good amount of stimulation. Expecting your dog to hold it from 7pm until 7am is unreasonable, at 15 months old she probably can't comfortably do that. You might try going for a walk right before you go to sleep, and then again first thing in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you gone through basic obedience training?  If not, start there.  Learning basic commands like sit and down will provide a good amount of mental stimulation and then you can go on to teach her increasingly difficult commands and tricks.  You could even get her into a tracking or agility class after she masters the basics.  Dachshund's were bred to hunt, and she might enjoy this.  Talk to your trainer after she's close to mastering the basics and they can point you in the right direction.  Since you mentioned it's very hot where you live right now, which I assume means you can't let her play outside much, working on obedience can take the place of some physical exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live there is likely a dog daycare nearby - you could try enrolling her a few days each week so she has other dogs to play with.  She will come home tired, and will not bother you to play as much.  Along the same vein, do you have any neighbors or friends with dogs that you could set up a play date with?  If not, there are free dog play groups in many neighborhoods, you just have to look.  Check out Meetup.com, your local Petco, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as toys and chews go, have you tried a stuffed Kong?  You can get whatever size is appropriate for your pup and stuff it with whatever she loves (peanut butter mixed with kibble, cooked meat and greek yogurt, even just whatever you feed her for regular meals).  Kong makes all sorts of durable, stuffable chew toys that are fantastic for keeping dogs occupied.  You can also give the Himalayan Dog Chew a try - it should take your pup a while to chew it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day the problem is that your dog is not getting the mental and physical stimulation it requires.  A dog is not a fun toy for you to play with when you feel like it, it's a living creature that requires your time, love, and attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T18:15:03.260" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T18:15:03.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15591" CreationDate="2016-10-28T14:16:53.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of ours filled the crib with balloons or alikes to prevent the cat from getting in the crib.&#xA;Once the baby was there, the cat had no interest anymore in the crib.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better idea would indeed be to simply keep the cat out of the baby's room by closing the door.&#xA;Health wise this would also be better for the baby&#xA;A house cat will quickly learn what area's of the house they can enter and which not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We never let our cats in our bedroom and they never try to enter.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We occasionally let them in our office, but only when we are in there and they will only try to go in when the door is open and we are inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2016-10-28T14:16:53.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-28T16:03:21.750" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6141&quot;&gt;Aquarium lighting systems that follow seasonal changes?&lt;/a&gt; and I got thinking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an indoor fish tank has a heater, it probably holds primarily tropical fish. As the tropics are near the equator, there is little if any seasonal change in the heat or lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have tropical fish, what impact if any do seasonal light changes have on the fish? Are there any seasonable variables other then light that might impact the well being of tropical fish? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T17:03:00.223" Title="Should Aquarium fish follow seasonal changes?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-28T16:39:22.977" Score="7" ViewCount="13853" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to warm up left over canned cat food? I don't think my cat likes it straight out of the fridge, and I'm not sure it's healthy for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8253" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T01:55:52.947" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T01:55:52.947" Title="Is it safe to feed a cat refrigerated canned cat food leftovers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-28T17:23:11.047" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;My older dog is an overly-tolerant purebred Newfoundland(True). She and my younger dog have lived together in the same house since we adopted the younger one at 5 months old. The Newfie is seven years old now, and is getting quite tired of my rescue mix's pestering. My rescue mix(Luna) is three, and she still tries to get my Newfie girl to play. When True refuses to play with Luna, Luna tries to herd her. True just sits there. This frustrates Luna, so she tries to use True's neck fur to pull her out of a sitting position. Eventually, True gets tired of this, and gently but clearly exerts dominance. Luna backs off, but only for 5-25 minutes, at which point she begins again. True has been at a sleepover during the week in order for her to take a break from Luna. She seems to be bored with only Molly(the resident dog) to play with, so we know that she's willing to play a little bit. But only on her terms. Advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8251" LastEditorUserId="8251" LastEditDate="2016-10-29T05:51:06.643" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T16:01:16.220" Title="How to get my younger dog to stop pestering my older dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;herding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-28T13:19:53.020" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without changing her personality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we install IUD or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My female cat has 4 kittens. She is  nursing her children. Why I love them all, 6 cats are too many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also her &quot;husband&quot; was at home when she's looking for mate outside. Is it possible that some of the kitten is her husband's kitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only one look like her husband.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" OwnerDisplayName="Jim Thio" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-09-01T16:30:53.710" LastActivityDate="2018-09-01T16:30:53.710" Title="What are the ways to prevent my tammy cat from being pregnant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15602" CreationDate="2016-10-28T17:47:56.090" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spay her - the best way to prevent it and benefit her well-being. Spaying her will not change her personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are contraceptive injections but good veterinarians don't like using them as they have high risks of cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-28T17:47:56.090" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8093" CreationDate="2016-10-28T17:56:00.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine a stranger was walking along the outside of your house. You'd be suspicious, and ask &quot;What are you doing?&quot; That's what the dogs are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; simply a matter of familiarity, you could talk to your neighbor about introducing you and your family(including your dog) to his dogs. Often, once they know who you are, and see that you're friendly with their human(s), they will be less protective of their territory towards you and your family. Giving them treats(supervised by their humans) is a good way to ingratiate yourself with them. However, only do this with permission and after the introduction! Playdates between your dog and theirs is also a good idea, not only for the noise, but also for the mental, emotional, and physical health of all dogs involved. My dogs(all 5 that I've had over the years) used to bark at neighbors and their dogs, but after proper introductions, they became great friends! Well, except my newest youngster. She's a herding mix that we're still training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're barking because their humans have trained or encouraged them to protect their territory or flock, it's likely just a part of the cost of living out in the country, like seeing cows or sheep might be. If your neighbors have sheep, horses, cattle, etc. that need to be herded and protected, dogs are often a part of that, and asking them to get their dogs to stop doing their jobs would be like asking a farmer to switch from a tractor and other modern machinery to doing it by hand just because you don't like the sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if I wasn't any help, but I hope this was of use to you. No matter your decision, be sure talk to the dogs' humans about it- they'll likely cooperate! Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8251" LastActivityDate="2016-10-28T17:56:00.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15639" CreationDate="2016-10-28T19:09:29.513" Score="3" ViewCount="1300" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 1/2 month old kitten got spayed yesterday! The vet said to leave the e-collar on for 14 days, and to try to keep her from exerting herself too much. They recommended I keep her in a safe place where she won't be able to jump a lot until she is recovered, to allow the incision to heal. I kept her in the bathroom overnight to be safe, but she will jump at the door if she knows I'm in the apartment, so other than that I've let her roam as usual and just kept a close eye on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be out of town next weekend for three days (days 8-10 after the surgery) so I'm trying to figure out what to do. The other times I've been out of town, I've gotten a sitter to come check on her in my apartment - she seems lonely when I get back, but otherwise fine. The other option is boarding, which I did for one day at the vet's, and she seemed terrified when I got her back and took a while to unwind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is that leaving her at home with a cone and a not-totally-healed incision is dangerous, even with someone coming by once or twice a day. (Also, leaving her in small bathroom for that long seems cruel.) On the other hand, I am worried that boarding her would cause too much stress. On the &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; other hand, this is my first cat and I've read elsewhere that kittens are usually fine after a couple days, so maybe it's not a big deal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of hiring a cat-sitter vs. boarding in this situation? Are there other options or concerns I should consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T14:55:54.607" Title="What to do with a kitten a week after spay?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15600" CreationDate="2016-10-28T21:34:43.073" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my kitten half a can of wet food at a time. The remaining half goes in the fridge until the next feeding time. I usually set the can out on the counter a little while before I intend to feed her, to let it warm up to room temperature. She seems to have no problem with this, although I have noticed that when I don't plan ahead and give her food straight from the fridge, she typically leaves most of it sitting there and comes back to it an hour or so later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also warmed up cold food in the microwave, but be careful that it does not overheat! Depending on the type of food, microwaving may dry it out a little as well, so you might mix in a little water if that happens. And of course don't microwave it in the can :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question may be interesting to you as well: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9808/does-leaving-wet-pet-food-at-room-temperature-for-12-hours-pose-a-risk-for-your&quot;&gt;Does leaving wet pet food at room temperature for 12+ hours pose a risk for your cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-10-28T21:34:43.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-29T20:42:32.683" Score="3" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is this time of year when my cats decided they need a new fur for the coming season (and being very non-eco friendly they want natural). Rogue started to shed a lot and as there was also a bit of shed fur left in fur I started brushing as I was afraid of hairballs (as far as I understand those are not healthiest for her). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However she often starts to kick/slightly bite me/brush when I'm doing it or walks away. I never heard her cry however, she often purrs and the body language seems fine (tail up/question mark/ears to the front). Am I correct in assumption that it feels for her like combination of playing with her sister (play scratch/play bites) and petting so she responds in kind or is it hurting her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastActivityDate="2016-12-29T09:25:42.650" Title="How to interpret behaviour of my cat during brushing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-30T00:06:38.140" Score="4" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got 3 kittens 16 years ago. I used the &quot;Want Advertiser&quot; which was a paper classifieds magazine for the local area (Massachusetts). There were tons of ads for free kittens, so I picked one and ended up taking all three that the family had, which were 3 all-black male American shorthairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward 16 years. One of my cats has died and the other 2 are getting older, so I am looking to get a new cat. I want to get the same type, which is an all-black American shorthair. Unfortunately, this seems impossible to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Want Advertiser went out of business, so that is no longer an option. I have been checking Craigslist for 3 months and have found only 3 female black kittens, and none of the sellers returned my phone calls. Not only that there are literally 10 ISO (in search of) ads WANTING kittens for every kitten being offered. I tried going to a &quot;shelter&quot; named &quot;Buddy Dog&quot; but that was useless because they had no black kittens and all their kittens were sexually mutilated, which I do not want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am willing to pay any amount of money to get a local all-black kitten, but apparently that does not matter because noone breeds them. They only breed &quot;exotic&quot; cats like Bombays and Persians, so I can't buy one from a breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;Has something changed in the last 16 years that is making cats harder to find and obtain? If so, what changed?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T14:33:02.013" LastActivityDate="2020-03-05T14:37:10.713" Title="Hard to find black kitten, has something changed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15600" CreationDate="2016-10-30T00:10:45.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a basin, like a mixing bowl (plastic if possible) and fill with water from the tap on full hot. In other words, turn your tap water to maximum hot and fill the basin with the hot water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put the cat food in a soup bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Float the soup bowl in the hot water. It will be nice and warm in about 15 to 20 minutes, and will lose none of its moistness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T00:10:45.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15602" CreationDate="2016-10-30T00:25:07.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female cats can have kittens by multiple Toms. What happens is that she mates with multiple males and sperm from different males fertilizes different eggs. Note that just because a kitten looks different, does not mean anything. Cats can sometimes have kittens that look much different, even though they are all from the same sire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to prevent kittens without altering her body chemistry is to confine her whenever she goes into heat so no intact male can reach her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be a way to abort a cat once she becomes pregnant, but it would involve toxic substances or risky medical steps, like an introduced infection. One mild toxin that has been used for contraception is Queen Anne's Lace, which is kind of like an ancient form of Plan B. The seeds are steeped as a tea and it must be drunk without fail within 24 hours of conception. Even so, it is not reliable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T00:25:07.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15580" CreationDate="2016-10-30T00:28:54.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is doing that because it considers the litter box too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try using a hooded litter box, but that is risky, because if she decides it is hopelessly small, then she will start peeing outside of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reliable solution is to construct a BIG litter box. By big, I mean 30 inches by 24 inches by 6 inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T00:28:54.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15556" CreationDate="2016-10-30T00:32:45.677" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is probably stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild, rabbits live in burrows, if you just have her in a hutch, she will be stressed because it seems too exposed to her and she feels trapped with nowhere to run and hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try creating an artificial burrow that is sizable and allows her to hide away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T00:32:45.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2016-10-30T00:35:26.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably too exposed. Female cats like to sleep in secure locations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try putting it in a corner and covering it up with something so she is completely hidden when she is in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T00:35:26.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15614" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15615" CreationDate="2016-10-30T01:00:45.173" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle occasionally swims around his tank and splashes water everywhere. He flaps his flippers and makes a strange, crooning noise. It looks like he is spasmodic. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8257" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T03:39:36.530" Title="My turtle is acting weirdly. I am worried he could be dying" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15614" CreationDate="2016-10-30T03:39:36.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles get stir crazy and want to go around exploring and looking for other turtles. There is no solution, other than getting bigger tanks and adding more turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T03:39:36.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="677" CreationDate="2016-10-30T04:56:40.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have such strong back legs, relative to their body mass, that they can literally break their own spine if they are restrained while kicking violently. This has been known to happen while a rabbit is on a leash. A rabbit is so easily startled that any sound can scare them, causing them to bolt and then be jerked backward once they reach the end of the leash, snapping their backbones. The House Rabbit Society has &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/can-i-walk-my-rabbit-on-a-leash/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a video of this on their website,&lt;/a&gt; and other &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-outdoor-and-indoor-hazards-to-companion-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entries about it&lt;/a&gt; also you can find numerous other sites that warn against walking a rabbit on a leash. It is dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8259" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-10-30T10:02:35.527" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T10:02:35.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15607" CreationDate="2016-10-30T07:22:07.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your assumptions sound correct to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would most likely result in at least some growling or more aggressive behavior if your cat overlords wouldn't condone such practices employed by thy hooman slave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, hairballs are completely normal and won't harm otherwise healthy cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-10-30T07:27:50.453" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T07:27:50.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2016-10-30T15:48:49.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping is their main hobby and they will sleep wherever they like or are allowed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all my years of having cats i can tell you this:&#xA;Buy an expensive cat bed for $99 and the cat will just ignore it, put a cardboard box right next to it by accident and they will jump in it after 20 seconds and love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? because cats are like that..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T15:48:49.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15619" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-30T18:09:40.327" Score="4" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took my kitten for shots. He is 3 months old. He licks his genital area so much it hurts him sometimes to urinate. My Vet says he has never seen this and he has been a Vet for 25 years. Any suggestions on how to help the little fella stop. It's pretty obsessive. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8115" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2016-11-09T21:22:26.723" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T21:22:26.723" Title="Kitten licks genitals ( a lot). (Serious question). Can I get him to stop it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="875" CreationDate="2016-10-30T18:58:38.010" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some lovely cat brushes, rubbery, comfy. Just lightly draw the brush not down but slowly across the matted fur a few times in order to get it lifting off the cat little by little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then brush down her back all over evenly, bit by bit to her tail, which my cat interprets as petting. You can use the hand you are not brushing with to maintain friendly contact. She purrs, though does not like the sides of her body done, so stop there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brush your own hair with the cat's brush. Show her the brush first. Show her the hairs after. Once the cat undetstands what is going on, she is compliant, and relieved to be cooler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the extra-warm fluffy undercoat hair being shed. The coarse top coat is for year-round protection. In summer cats naturally shed their undercoat hair, and sometimes it mats up. If it is matted a lot, beyond brushing out, vets can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="7286" LastEditDate="2016-10-31T13:30:45.167" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T13:30:45.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-30T19:28:18.460" Score="4" ViewCount="2769" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering adopting a cat which is friendly and likes to play.&#xA;Will this cat attack  or injure my three turtles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three of them,&#xA;Two Attack anything in sight, the other is extra shy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take any precautions? If so, like what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8263" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T17:52:19.217" Title="Are cats fine around turtles?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15633" CreationDate="2016-10-30T21:04:53.427" Score="4" ViewCount="4371" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female spayed cat Togepi was a stray cat until earlier this year (round about March) when we decided to take her in. As a stray cat she spent most of her time outside and refused to use a litter box since she's used to going in gardens and dirt all her life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently she's become more needy and loving after her sterilization, and I decided to start keeping her inside, with open doors so she could go outside when nature calls. It's never been a problem before, but all of a sudden she started to pee on my bed. E.g. this morning I took her outside to pee and she didn't, came back to my room, and played for about 20 min, after which she jumped on top of my bed, looked me straight in the eye and started peeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I don't know what to make of this, since last week she was at a vet for a full examination, micro chipping, vaccines etc. In other words - health wise she's as healthy as can get. But she has never used a litter box before and now all of a sudden she keeps peeing on my bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: She did it again later after I washed all my sheets too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have narrowed it down to either stress, or marking territory since she's only recently been allowed to wander about in the house and sleep inside. &#xA;Also, I will be moving overseas soon and my family is moving to another house soon too- can this underlying stress be the culprit of this strange behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the check list:&#xA;*I play with her everyday for almost an hour if not more, day and night&#xA;*I feed her everyday&#xA;*She sleeps mostly in my room&#xA;*She follows me around like my shadow &#xA;*I give her plenty of love and affection&#xA;*We have a litter box, but she doesn't use it, and I cleaned it as well, she still peed on my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions that may help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M9SQL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M9SQL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Togepi&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8264" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T14:26:41.193" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T14:26:41.193" Title="Help! Adopted stray cat peeing on my bed all of a sudden" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2016-10-30T21:29:37.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no shortage of Massacusetts shelters with kittens and cats looking for homes. Some will have all-black cats. You may have to settle for one a bit older than a kitten, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; at this time of year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try looking for organizations with &quot;cat&quot; in their name rather than &quot;dog,&quot; Ask your vet for suggestions. Ask local pet stores; most no longer sell kittens but many have arrangements with local shelters. One of the churches in my area hosts a monthly cat adoption day. The MSPCA also has many cats looking for homes, mostly adults but occasionally kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go out looking, rather than waiting for a cat to come to you, I think you'll find one you can't resist... black or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-10-31T01:20:57.653" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T01:20:57.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15623" CreationDate="2016-10-30T22:21:50.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each cat varies but rule of thumb is to never let predatory species interact with prey species unsupervised (if at all). Turtles will at least have some defense but they should be kept separate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many horror stories out there of peoples cats or dogs getting along fine with their pocket pets (ex. rabbits or birds) for years then one day instincts kick in and they come home to deceased pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T22:21:50.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2016-10-30T23:02:20.583" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try looking after Halloween, a lot of shelters will NOT adopt out black kittens because of cults using them for sacrifices. The shelter I volunteered at would not even post that they had some for the month of October.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T23:02:20.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15619" CreationDate="2016-10-30T23:08:58.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The kitten may have a medical problem or birth defect which is causing him discomfort in that area. When a cat feels itchiness or pain, they will respond by licking. One possibility is a hernia. Another possibility is that he is having an allergic reaction to the shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T23:08:58.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2016-10-30T23:13:21.337" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Rebecca suggests, no reputable shelter will adopt out black kittens near Halloween. But furthermore, no reputable shelter will adopt out kittens that aren't spayed or neutered. Your use of the phrase &quot;sexually mutilated&quot; indicates that you find this policy abhorrent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand how spaying and neutering might seem cruel. But if you do a little research into the subject, you may change your mind. Here's a good place to start: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/spayneuter-your-pet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/spayneuter-your-pet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-10-30T23:13:21.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2016-10-31T05:32:57.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Administering cat meds over the years, certain cats were especially difficult. Awful tasting medicine made it difficult or worse for all the cats. Over time I found what worked for me with all the cats, but especially with cats that We're an extra challenge. About bad taste, crushed pills inside gelatin capsules solved the pill taste problem. Pills and liquids covered below. My process worked fine for some time, until Rudy. He craves affection from everyone, two- and four-legged, especially children. He's also large, muscular, strong, and athletic -- bull in a china shop. Giving him a med, he goes full-force BERSERK with remarkable strength. Pills in tasteless capsules I'd get into the back of his mouth, later would be discovered on the floor. So this process is for Rudy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll use &quot;pill&quot; hand or &quot;grip&quot; hand, and describe the harder task -- giving a pill to an uncooperative cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to avoid adding anticipation anxiety -- don't make the prep process an obvious production. Cats see the signs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a small cleared floor area without carpet or rugs (so cat can't grip and pull away -- hopefully while cat is on meds you keep nails clipped), and place med and a syringe or dropper filled with water within easy reach of pill hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting yourself and cat into position -- objective is to maintain control and accomplish as quickly as possible. Kneel on floor with cat, having a firm grip on scruff of neck, and position cat between legs. lock and hold firmly between legs, and don't lose grip on neck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Holding scruff of neck, tilt head back toward you and get pill (back tilt needed only for pills). Mouth will easily open and allow your pill hand to quickly place pill in REAR of mouth. Close and hold shut momentarily and retrieve water syringe. Release mouth and administer water. That will cause swallowing. Sometimes I coat the capsule with nutritional supplement in a tube -- it's sticky and slippery. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bad-tasting liquids I do same as for pill without head tilt. I use a plastic dropper with tip that is rounded -- many have a sharp cut at the opening. Insert the dropper at the side of the mouth. I place it at the rear but outside the teeth. Some prefer back of the tongue. My experience is the discomfort adds difficulty. I follow immediately with a syringe or dropper of water to wash it down. Then let loose for treats. Sometimes when a cat's on liquid med I'll dilute some strained meat baby food and use that instead of water to wash down the med. Still treats, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please excuse redundancy in expressing quick, firm, hold. This med giving used to be so intimidating, it was a dreaded ordeal, made worse knowing if meds are needed it's important. Setting up, doing a mental run-through, focusing on controlling the cat and not hesitating, then thinking &quot;just do it&quot; helps a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be very happy if anything passed on here helps someone and a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, the empty gel capsules are sold online and are in various sizes. You can find a size chart online too. I try to use the smallest size that med will fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8265" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T04:27:32.590" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:27:32.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15634" CreationDate="2016-10-31T08:07:34.387" Score="4" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am researching on home-cooked meals for my cats and all the articles I've came across emphasize the importance of adding additional vitamin supplements into the meal but they did not mentioned specifically to get vitamins for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean I can get any good ol' vitamin pills from pharmacies given that they are pure and do not have additional ingredients added to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vitamins mentioned are Taurine, Vitamin B, Vitamin E.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related but more on medicine instead of vitamin: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/726/can-i-give-my-cat-human-medicine&quot;&gt;Can I give my cat human medicine?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8266" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T19:57:24.883" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T19:57:24.883" Title="Can I use vitamin pills meant for humans in home-cooked meals for my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15624" CreationDate="2016-10-31T11:43:55.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to hazard a guess that you have a stressed cat. The behavior you describe (looking at you before peeing) is in my experience typical of a cat that's feeling insecure and wants reassurance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't like change, and that includes you and your family's habits. If both you and your family are moving soon, that means that the patterns of behavior your cat thought were normal have changed, and she's not happy about this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best option is lots of reassurance and petting. Try not to get angry at the cat when she lets fly, and where possible, close the bedroom door and keep other likely targets away from her. It's &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt; to get the smell of cat pee out of things, which means that you're always better off preventing than having to fix up afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you catch her on the bed assuming the position, pick her up and hold her while taking her outside to one of her preferred places. Talk to her softly and pet her a lot while she's there, and stay outside with her for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used a version of this to stop unwanted urination in several cats now, and with enough patience it works. The cat gets the idea that you're not abandoning her and gets the attention she wants, and ultimately you get to avoid having to clean a whole lot of cat urine off things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For the litterbox&lt;/strong&gt; - the first thing you need to think of here, again, based on my experience, is how similar the kitty litter is to her preferred places outside. She's more likely to use a box with litter that's got a similar texture and scent to the places she uses outside. If that means mixing soil from one of her favorite spots with the litter so there's a familiar smell, do that until she's accustomed to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would honestly not even try to get her using a litterbox until you've fixed the urination issue. Otherwise you're just adding confusion and stress to an already insecure cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that's stable (at least a couple of weeks without improper urination), you can change out or adjust the litter, and start taking her to the box when she shows signs of wanting to go. Always talk softly and pet her a lot, particularly while she's in the box, so she associates it with good things. It may take a while, but she should eventually get the idea that the litterbox is also a place to do her business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="159" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T11:43:55.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15632" CreationDate="2016-10-31T12:48:11.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not as human grade vitamins are not regulated, there was a study done in my province where they took a bunch of different brand supplements and calculated the amount of the product is in each pill - they were always off and some were significantly lower than the amount said on the bottle  (ex. 200mg vitamin A capsule only contained 5mg of vitamin A). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet supplements you get at veterinary hospitals ARE regulated and you will get what it says on the bottle.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completeandbalancedforcats.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hilary's blend&lt;/a&gt; has the vitamin/mineral mix needed for her recipes, this is who we recommend for owners that want to make their pets food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T12:48:11.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11808" CreationDate="2016-10-31T13:02:01.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To piggy back off the previous answer, I agree trying a different higher quality  hay will likely do the trick. A rabbit's digestive system is designed for a high fiber diet--not one high in fat, protein or sugar.  I recommend farm fresh Timothy Hay (for rabbits and all small pets) and here's why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quick Story:&lt;/strong&gt;  Knowing rabbits needed high quality hay, I became sold on timothy hay when mom had gotten a guinea pig named Lizzy that would not eat her timothy hay from the stores. I was a little upset at my mom when I found out about this, because we happened to live in Ellensburg Washington, which is literally the timothy hay capital of the world! I knew I could get Lizzy way better hay than what she was getting from the stores. And sure enough, when I did, she gobbled it down and asked for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timothy hay in the stores is usually at least 1 year old, and often times 2 years old or more! That's because this hay has to go through a much longer supply chain. Not to mention the loss of moisture from plastic packaging. Due to its freshness and natural sweetness (which is attractive to rabbits), trying a farm fresh hay may work for your rabbit as it did our guinea pig. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, besides digestive health, the other reason rabbits should eat hay is for dental health. Eating hay aids in the natural renewal process of rabbit teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many factors to consider when considering your rabbit’s food and nutrition, but hay is at the very core if their diets.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://smallpetselect.com/rabbit-food-guide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a handy rabbit nutrition guide.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8268" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-11-02T09:48:19.353" LastActivityDate="2016-11-02T09:48:19.353" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2016-10-31T13:52:43.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apologies if this has already been mentioned: as with any training, making sure the difficult part is followed by a reward can help convince the cat to cooperate, or at least not to object so strongly. I know folks who medicate their cat eight before the wet-food meal; the cat is anticipating a treat and has learned that it has to put up with treatment before getting the gooshyfood. The meal may also help clear the taste of the medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T13:52:43.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15605" CreationDate="2016-10-31T14:55:54.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Self-answering what I've decided to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the weekend I kept an eye on her, while letting her roam as usual during the day. The e-collar makes her a bit more clumsy, but otherwise she didn't get into any troubling situations and has been running and jumping about (despite my best efforts the first couple days) with no discomfort or injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I feel comfortable leaving her at home now instead of boarding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Factors contributing to this decision:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has been in excellent health as a kitten, and is recovering well from the surgery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The e-collar has held up against all attempts to get it off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've kitten-proofed well enough that she won't get stuck anywhere because of the e-collar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She was very displeased being confined in the bathroom even overnight, so I'm sure sticking her in a small kennel with strange smells and noises would be way worse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative that was suggested was having a friend stay in my apartment with her, or having her stay at their place for the weekend. This would have been my first choice if I felt she needed closer supervision. Unfortunately I didn't have anyone local I could ask to do that, but it's something that could work well for others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T14:55:54.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15632" CreationDate="2016-10-31T16:19:21.223" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, in most cases vitamins are non-toxic so there is no risk of an overdose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vitamins such as taurine, B1 (thiamin) and E are all common nutrients found in abundance in animal flesh and it is not possible to take too much of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no difference between &quot;pet&quot; vitamins and &quot;human&quot; vitamins, other than marketing. The vendors that supply such vitamins get them from exactly the same sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-10-31T16:19:21.223" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15641" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-10-31T17:29:15.110" Score="6" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the counter (OTC) vitamins and supplements are taken by a lot of people. Of the ones commonly available, which are toxic to cats in standard human doses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of this question, assume the cat consumes 3 or less of the largest dosage available.  Unless there is some reason to suspect the cat will be extremely drawn to consume more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-29T19:04:13.203" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T19:05:07.913" Title="What OTC vitamins or supplements that people take are toxic to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15577" CreationDate="2016-11-01T02:48:19.890" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume by a &quot;crate&quot; you mean a cage. Keeping a large dog, like a golden retriever, cooped up in a cage for hours on end is not going to result in a psychologically stable animal and you are likely to see all kinds of neurotic behaviors result, not just whimpering at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T02:48:19.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9886" CreationDate="2016-11-01T03:14:07.570" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize I'm coming super late to this conversation but I wanted to add my own experience with my cat because I've yet to come across anything that explains or sounds like the situation with my cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted her when she was already a year old and she actually can't meow. She makes a noise, but it sounds more like a puff of air that sounds like &quot;key.&quot; It's not a chirp, there is no tone or variation. When people first it, they think it's a hiss, but it's not. She can hiss but it sounds and she looks very very different when she hisses vs when she &quot;keys.&quot; You also can't hear her purr at all: I have to feel her throat to know if she's purring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only ever heard her make one other sound, and it's when she sees birds, but still it just sounds like air being pushed out and more guttural than her key. She doesn't vocalize often though, usually just when I come home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said he wouldn't be able to explain it unless he investigated while she was under anesthesia and I didn't feel like putting her through an unnecessary procedure just to find if her vocal box is damaged. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm bringing this up because I don't think a quiet meow is always psychological as another post suggested, but physical. Granted my cat has never been able to meow so it could be a different scenario. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8273" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-11-01T11:40:00.827" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T11:40:00.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-01T04:14:53.767" Score="4" ViewCount="2540" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two kittens, a male and a female about the same age. They seem to spend all their time chasing each other around, then when they get close, they hiss and swat a bit then go back to chasing. They don't seem to be hurting each other, but they are both on edge and not cuddly anymore. Eventually if I play with them enough, they will sleep on either side of the couch and I can cuddle them. but when they get close to each other, they either hiss or swat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what tricks there are to get them to like each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have no problem sharing food and a litter box. They take turns. It's very odd. The female seems to be the dominant one, but my male kitten will chase her around too, so it's hard to say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell if they enjoy it or are at constant war. To make matters worse, if I leave them locked in a room away from me, they start to whine and literally won't stop for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also add they won't attack while the other one's eating or using the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8274" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:26:18.030" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:26:18.030" Title="Two kittens won't get along" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15645" CreationDate="2016-11-01T19:06:36.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that they enjoy the chasing up to a point, but they get wound up and don't know how to calm things down. Here are some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, make sure that they have a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of toys. The toys needn't be expensive; things like wadded-up pieces of paper, walnuts, and plastic bottle caps make great toys. The more you play with them, and the more opportunities they have to play with each other, the calmer they will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equally important, make sure there are places where a kitten can feel safe when it doesn't want to play. The best way to do this is to have at least one cat tree (or better yet, several) with several levels that cats can lie on or in. A cat can escape to the uppermost level for a bit of peace and quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T19:06:36.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15645" CreationDate="2016-11-01T19:35:57.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you need to make sure each cat has some place they can go to get away from the others.  That can be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fBJMNS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat tree&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2dZEnzF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some other cat furniture&lt;/a&gt;, or even a small yard or balcony.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the cats have a place they can escape from the others, if they are continuously coming back for more that's an indication that they are getting some kind of reward out of the behavior - even if only a bit of relief from boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Locking them all in a room together, without any means of escape or other toys to play with of course they will be playing/fighting with each other.  Get some toys for them, like those &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fa8txT&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tiny mice filled with catnip&lt;/a&gt;.  Please don't give them garbage like bottle caps or nut shells which they are more likely to hurt themselves with.  You can also get some toys (&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fa66uN&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this one&lt;/a&gt;) that you can use to play with them as a group - this may help them bond a bit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, there's no way to force cats to play nicely with one another.  The best thing you can do is ensure they have ample outlets for their energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T19:35:57.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-01T20:07:29.383" Score="4" ViewCount="535" Body="&lt;p&gt;New style of cat-love, give them a taste of the outdoors, but safely. Extend their territory.  Will chicken wire be adequate? And how do I attach it to brick-work? I am a tenant, so must not damage the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-24T11:51:38.440" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T11:51:38.440" Title="a cheap catio (cat's patio)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;catio&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2016-11-01T20:23:29.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this for a yard, or are you looking for a window perch style catio?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have outdoor space, you could try getting something pre-made that you could attach to a window by way of a small ramp (ex. &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fah183&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a window perch style set up you'll need the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wood planks for the frame and floor (pressure treated wood is cheapest, but cedat or redwood are decay resistant).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Galvanized steel wire mesh for the sides and roof&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Screws, steel staples, staple gun, wire cutters, drill, and saw (some stores like Home Dept will cut the materials for you for free or a small charge, so definitely look into that).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet for preserving the brickwork is to drill into the concrete, not the actual bricks.  When you move out you can fill the holes back in easily.  You'll need concrete fasteners to make sure everything stays put.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.familyhandyman.com/masonry/pouring-concrete/how-to-choose-and-use-concrete-fasteners/view-all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; gives a good overview of different concrete fasteners, and you can choose whichever one is appropriate based on the weight of the catio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T20:23:29.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15632" CreationDate="2016-11-01T21:20:52.560" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different animals have different physiologies.  What's safe for humans isn't necessarily safe for animals.  Even those that are safe may only be safe at smaller dosages, or may have no effect at all.  Many animals, for example, are able to produce their own Vitamin C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, the safe delivery mechanisms might differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please check with a very before you try anything.  You may end up with an expensive vets bill and a sick animal to look after or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3359" LastActivityDate="2016-11-01T21:20:52.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-02T23:28:28.980" Score="3" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my rabbits is always under my cabinet and I can't get him out of there. I have tried hiding up the gap so he can not get under there and provide more hides for him but he is always under there. what would be a good way to stop this as I have tried everything and am running out of ideas.&#xA;He is also digging up the carpet is there a fool proof way of stopping this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T15:44:58.630" Title="Grumpy house rabbit who is hiding under my cabnet" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13825" CreationDate="2016-11-03T00:08:16.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;for my rabbits, I use a strong &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_sterilizing_fluid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;solution of Milton&lt;/a&gt; to rest in the nipple for 5-10 minutes. Then I wash with dish water and then rinse all this out really well leave to dry then rinse again just to be on the safe side. this helped with getting rid of the green stuff that always grows inside the bottles and I've never had a problem with them. I do this once every 1 to 2 months depending on the temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note: I have recently been putting water bottle covers on which have helped reduce the green growth that has been happening a lot recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastEditorUserId="8294" LastEditDate="2016-11-07T17:56:01.970" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T17:56:01.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13795" CreationDate="2016-11-03T11:39:45.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;the way I did it for my two boys is I left the harnesses on for a long period of time for them to get used to the feel of one and then throughout this time I got them habituated to humans being around them, this helps with their jumpiness as well. &#xA;Once they had gotten used to humans, I put their leads onto the harness and took one at a time outside in my arms, I then sat down with the rabbit and let them explore with me sitting down as they then see you as less of a threat.&#xA;they are now both walkable with thumper being able to walk alongside you, as long as you are holding a treat!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T11:39:45.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15662" CreationDate="2016-11-03T13:23:27.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience if you block off the area with something as simple as cardboard before the rabbit decides the place is nice, you can redirect them easily. &#xA;Where we have cabinets/dressers that the rabbit can get under.  I take out the bottom drawer and use a stapler to attach a piece of cardboard on the inside.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the rabbit has decided it is home, you will need a more substantial solution (i.e. the box I built under the bed (link below).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description it sounds like you have made multiple attempts to keep him out from under the cabinet, all of which have failed.  This means you have taught him that, all he needs to do is work at it and can get back under the cabinet, which is true for anything not made of steel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case you will need to un-teach him. You might move the cabinet out of his area for a time, but I am not sure how long it will take him to &quot;forget&quot; that is his favorite space.  The lowest budget solution with the least impact to your living space is to get some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lowes.com/pd/Standard-Cored-Concrete-Block-Common-8-in-x-8-in-x-16-in-Actual-7-625-in-x-7-625-in-x-15-625-in/3608978&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;concrete blocks&lt;/a&gt; and build a &quot;foundation&quot; for the cabinet to sit on.  Make sure there is not an easy way for him to get in.  From his perceptive, the space under the cabinet will have changed from an easy opening to a concrete wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar issue we had, the laundry hampers/baskets were sitting on the floor.  These have holes in the side, and Ruby would sometimes pull on the dirty clothes through the ventilation hole in the side.  We moved the hampers out of her space for about 2 months, when we put them back in I had built a box about 12 inches high to place the hampers on.  She can easily reach up to the hamper vent holes, but she doesn't.  When she is hopping past there is a solid box that she sees, not the tempting clothes in the hamper.  The old temptation is separated by time (2 months) and space (12 inches) and it's not a problem any more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are solutions for digging and under spaces in my answers to these two questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1817/my-rabbit-is-digging-at-the-carpet-in-the-corner-of-the-living-room-what-should/1821#1821&quot;&gt;My rabbit is digging at the carpet in the corner of the living room, what should I do?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8122/is-a-bedroom-enough-space-for-a-bunny-to-be-happy/8130#8130&quot;&gt;Is a bedroom enough space for a bunny to be happy?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T15:44:58.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15108" CreationDate="2016-11-03T13:39:41.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_paint&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;soy based paints&lt;/a&gt; which are non-toxic. Depending on the additives by the manufacture, they are potentially edible.  We use DuraSoy for our house rabbit condo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2025/is-it-safe-to-use-tung-oil-to-waterproof-a-rabbit-enclosure/2026#2026&quot;&gt;Is it safe to use tung oil to waterproof a rabbit enclosure?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T13:58:34.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2663" CreationDate="2016-11-03T21:26:58.833" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is sore hooks which it does look like, I'd recommend a trip to the vets to confirm this, a good solution is to dab a little sudocrem onto the infected area. I have done this for both rabbits and guinea pigs sores and it always works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastActivityDate="2016-11-03T21:26:58.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-04T15:08:15.650" Score="2" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy Mia is 1 year old and very energetic. She jumps and barks when she plays. and when you walk, she wants to play with you. I was concerned because my older boy dog, Mojo, did not act like that when he was her age. Is that normal for puppies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8302" LastActivityDate="2016-12-11T17:46:35.357" Title="Very very energetic puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-04T22:20:39.743" Score="4" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/780/8305&quot;&gt;Should I feed my cat milk?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that some adult cats can handle cow's milk (whole milk), and other cats can't (diarrhea).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this:  A cat knows what's good for it, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If milk caused problems or discomfort for a cat in the past, the cat would know it and would NOT keep drinking milk, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- especially an outdoor cat, or a half-feral cat, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite half-feral  cat seems very careful about trying new food.  It tries a nibble, goes away, and comes back a few hours later --  presumably after it has determined that the new food item is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I ask a related question?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen on TV shows : hardcore &quot;survival skills&quot; guys saying what they do to see if a wild fruit is safe to eat -- they first rub it against the skin (wait a few hours), eat a tiny portion (wait several hours), eat a nibble (wait several hours), then it's safe to eat. -- or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- Do  feral cats do this ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8305" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T23:20:09.883" Title="Cat and cow's milk (whole milk) -- A feral cat knows what's good for it, right?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-04T22:34:50.637" Score="1" ViewCount="523" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KqIvc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KqIvc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;  &quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I have a 11 week old kitten that I have cared for since it was 2 weeks old. I was told it is male but I have never raised a kitten before so I am not positive. Is there any way I can tell for sure?   (Best picture I can get,sorry)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8306" LastEditorUserId="8306" LastEditDate="2016-11-04T22:59:03.057" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T21:41:32.890" Title="At what age does a male kitten mature physically?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15675" CreationDate="2016-11-04T22:47:07.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;11 weeks old you should be able to feel testicles, unless he's a cryptorchid (testicles retained in abdomen) or a female :). &#xA;Feel free to post a picture of his/her genitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T22:47:07.110" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15674" CreationDate="2016-11-04T22:50:12.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No they do not know, they can't correlate something like that as the side-effects happen later and not immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your kitty may not like the food very much or isn't very hungry, that is why it only eats a small amount and then comes back later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We get cats come in often enough with string-gut (they eat dental floss or yarn and it gets caught in their intestines), they don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-04T22:50:12.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15678" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-05T01:18:47.063" Score="1" ViewCount="3649" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QGLpB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitty cut her eye today so we took her to the vet, they gave her eye drops so everything is fine just now. She has a cone to prevent her from pawing it or hitting it off something, but she won't stop trying to take off the cone. Any way to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8307" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditDate="2016-11-07T12:33:39.400" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T12:33:39.400" Title="Cat won't stop trying to take off her head cone, that keeps her from touching her injury" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15678" CreationDate="2016-11-05T02:43:03.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any way to prevent what? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of &lt;em&gt;course&lt;/em&gt; she is trying to take the cone off; she has no idea why you are making her wear this annoying thing and she certainly doesn't want to do so. You would object too, if someone put one on you with no explanation you could understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is better for her to be frustrated and a bit uncomfortable for a while than to risk her interfering with treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to distract her from thinking about the cone, but realistically the answer is that since she will only be wearing it for a short time it isn't worth trying too hard. Give her extra cuddles and/or treats, if you want, but she's just going to have to put up with the cone as long as the doctor said she should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-11-05T08:16:58.540" LastActivityDate="2016-11-05T08:16:58.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15681" CreationDate="2016-11-05T12:24:13.720" Score="1" ViewCount="679" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per Hindu mythology or vaastushastra. Is it lucky to keep a turtle as a pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a turtle by the roadside and my family members say it is lucky as per vastu-shastra. Is it so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastActivityDate="2016-11-05T12:27:41.967" Title="Are turtles lucky" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2016-11-05T16:37:33.360" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15680" CreationDate="2016-11-05T12:27:41.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I am not sure about any history but yes my turtle indeed prove very lucky to me. I had much problems in my house as well as I used to fight everyday with my mother in law. She has a very typical nature. Also my on could not get good marks in his exam. I also had fight often with my husband and I always expected a second child.but we did not have it. Once my brother had brought a turtle from roadside. As he was going outstation I brought baby turtle with me to my home considering it as my another kid. I had read a lot that turtles bring luck to home but I didn't believed in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sometime smoothly everything went good. Me and my mother in law also had good relationship again. The chaos of the house was turn into peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also had a daughter when my son was 22 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed I do believe that if turtles are kept with you as a your own kid they do bring good fortune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5939" LastActivityDate="2016-11-05T12:27:41.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6607" CreationDate="2016-11-05T14:57:47.463" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some very interesting anecdotal stories and testimonies &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.earthclinic.com/pets/feline_respiratory_disease.html#acv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here regarding Apple Cider Vinegar&lt;/a&gt; being effective for such conditions for cats with feline respiratory issues (Lysine is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.earthclinic.com/pets/feline_respiratory_disease-editors-choice.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;also mentioned&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Quote regarding Organic ACV (with the mother):&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;After purchasing a 32oz. bottle of OACV at my local grocery store, I came home and made a batch of OACV/Water ratio of about 1/4 cup OACV&#xA;  to 1cup purified drinking water from our home water system. I'm sure&#xA;  any normal faucet water would work fine but wasn't sure at that point&#xA;  if I was going to try adding some to their drinking water- turns out I&#xA;  didn't need to do that after all. I soaked cotton balls in the&#xA;  solution and applied to each cat on back of their necks down thru&#xA;  shoulder blades and to all 4 of their paw pads, especially the fronts&#xA;  because they will lick them throughout their day when cleaning&#xA;  themselves and Wallahh!! OACV ingested by default! Most of them didn't&#xA;  respond with licking their paws right away as I had hoped but made&#xA;  sure they all had a pretty good soaking to their neckline and also&#xA;  their front paws topsides as well as paw pads. Make sure it gets in&#xA;  between their toes/claws as well so the solution gets in there real&#xA;  good causing them to lick due to feeling wet and uncomfortable&#xA;  perhaps. I did this just 2 times in 24 hr period and once the&#xA;  following day and what a remarkable difference. ...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8311" LastActivityDate="2016-11-05T14:57:47.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15683" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-05T19:01:39.190" Score="4" ViewCount="2817" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male kitten and I found him and 3 sisters of his abandoned. They were starved so badly they couldn't last a full day. All of his sisters died so we got him a friend. They play a lot then they get sleepy. My question is: When he gets sleepy, why does he suck on a blanket we have? &#xA;Is it because he didn't have a mom when we found him? He was about 1 month old, possibly less, so I thought maybe he sucked on the blanket because he never had his mom, but I just want to know why he does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8313" LastEditorUserId="6176" LastEditDate="2016-11-14T12:48:20.427" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T19:45:12.280" Title="My kitten kneads and sucks on our blanket but why" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-05T20:24:34.200" Score="2" ViewCount="5248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed something strange with my cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he is happy (generally when he is purring) his fur feels very soft and silky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However when he was scared or unhappy (when there are fireworks or he's had a catfight) his fur is dry and almost stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do cats change their fur softness depending on emotion, and if so why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8315" LastActivityDate="2019-07-15T14:39:58.480" Title="Can and do cats change the softness of their fur depending on emotion?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15685" CreationDate="2016-11-05T21:33:46.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats, like most (all?) mammals, have the ability to raise their fur, and do so when cold (to trap more heat) or when scared or angry (our best guess is that this is done to make them look bigger). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People do this too; you may have heard mention of getting goose pimples when cold or having your hair stand on end when scared. It just isn't as obvious on us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-11-06T01:21:01.497" LastActivityDate="2016-11-06T01:21:01.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-06T05:45:50.160" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we fed a cat last week, and now wherever WE go, it follows us for a purr. However, my mothers allergic to cats we don't want the cat in the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, whenever we open the door, the cat comes in, I'd rather keep it &lt;strong&gt;OUTSIDE&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop it from coming inside the house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8317" LastActivityDate="2016-11-06T05:45:50.160" Title="How to make a cat stop coming in the house (But leave it outside!)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-06T23:19:19.403" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 different problems with my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) He doesn't meow when he is hungry, but he gets really lovable and as soon as you get up to move he MEOWS to the point it's really annoying and he won't stop tell he starts to eat. Is there a good way to stop this meowing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) He won't wait till I pour the food all the way out to eat. He starts to eat it as I am pouring it out and even shoves his face into the bag while I'm pouring it. Is there a way to train him to not do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I have a litter box, but I live in a one bedroom apartment and it stinks like crazy! I would love to be able to teach him to be able to tell me he needs to go outside and put it out on the balcony so it won't smell the whole entire apartment up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I do this last one I have to say this. He is/was a stray. I don't know how old he is. He didn't take long to trust me, but he was a stray so he has his aggressive times, but the problem is the longer I have him the worse and meaner he gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) He will be purring and lovable then all the sudden he will attack my hand and hiss. I can't touch him &quot;wrong&quot; or he gets mad and attacks me, then goes straight back to being lovable until I touch him in a way he doesn't like. There have been times that I just had my hand laying by him and he got mad and started attacking it. This is what has been making me want to get rid of him, but I would love to keep him around so I'm not lonely when my partner's at work, and I don't want to have to throw him out because then I will feel bad. Is there a way to teach him not to attack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8323" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T22:00:36.303" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T22:00:36.303" Title="Help Training My Cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15691" CreationDate="2016-11-07T01:32:07.237" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rescued strays often exhibit food anxiety of one form or another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Stop feeding in the morning, so he doesn't think waking you will get him food sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Pick up the bowl to refill it. Problem solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) That solution is unlikely to work. Filling the litter box deeper so he can bury more effectively, getting an absorbent/clumping cat litter and cleaning it on a daily basis, using a covered cat box if your cat will accept it (most will), all help. Sometimes what you are feeding the cat also matters, and the cat's health may; consider asking your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Common behavior, especially for ex-feral. Over time you will learn the signals that he is getting over-excited and should be allowed to rest; over time he may learn to trust you more and sit still for longer petting sessions. Or he may not; I knew a cat who never entirely trusted humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reminder: Rolling over to expose the belly is &quot;I trust you not to attack me&quot;, and unless the cat &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; trusts you, reaching in to rub the belly may provoke a &quot;hey, no, don't be rude!&quot; reaction. Keep your hands in places the cat tells you are acceptable, at least for now, unless you have a specific need like trimming claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T01:32:07.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15698" CreationDate="2016-11-07T08:31:03.100" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around this time every year my rabbit, Joey, starts to become ill. before I just thought it was him catching a cold off me as each time it's when I'm ill as well but thumper my other rabbit has never become ill before but this year he has. It seems like it is just the common cold and it is the first winter that they have been put inside but how would I prevent the colds for my rabbits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastEditorUserId="8294" LastEditDate="2016-11-07T15:55:47.890" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T16:06:49.423" Title="my rabbits are sneezing" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15683" CreationDate="2016-11-07T12:10:03.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people would say it's because their mother never made them stop either because the mother died, got lost, or left her kittens.&#xA;I think this is the truth and could be the issue going on here since you found them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason they do it is because to get fed by mom they need to suck on the nipple, just like human babies. Normally, the mom would teach them to stop, but in this case she never did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't agree with people saying it isn't harmless. Yes it seems cute and innocent but it isn't. The cat can choke or get stomach problems on materials, wool, inner stuffing etc. Some cats will grow over it and stop, but most won't. They do it like children biting on sweater ropes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best way to stop it is to either go the hard way or the easier way. The hard way will be trying to pull the cat away every time he does it but since a cat has a big will of his own it's very very very hard to stop it like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easier way would be keeping the cat out of range from cloth for a while so he can't find his addiction to cloth. Remove cloth materials from the ground, walls, couch etc. If the cat sleeps on you, it could be wise to start locking him out for his own safety. Yes, he will meow at the door, start scratching and might even try to open the door with force. For this, you need to ignore how heartbreaking it might be, he wants to be with you because he always have been with you and doesn't understand why you locked him out all of a sudden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about 3 months, try to see what he does. If he does it again, repeat else your cat will be fine again to sleep with you without choking himself to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It worked for my cat at least, and he doesn't suck on any cloth anymore not even if he is able to do without prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7806" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T19:45:12.280" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T19:45:12.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15696" CreationDate="2016-11-07T13:15:56.167" Score="0" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a new dachshund, he is 3 months old. I am worried about his behaviour around my kids. If they run or walk by, he aggressively bites their ankles, pants, bathrobes and growls at them - every single time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have told them to stop moving and say 'stop/no' loudly. I have to physically stand next to them for him not to do it. He does not have this behaviour with my husband or me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need some help because my daughter, aged 6, is sometimes very scared by this aggressive behaviour. I try very hard to intervene but I can't be in the room at all times. We had friends visit yesterday and I was terrified he'd do this with their children. I've exposed this puppy to as many people/situations as possible to make sure he's socialised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a new dog owner and have little experience. I don't know if this is normal. Maybe this dog would be better suited for a family without small children. And my kids don't engage in aggressive play - no tug-of war for example. Just fetch and he is still biting at their arms. He also growls at them if they are playing fetch when they try to take the ball back to throw it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8327" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-16T12:59:33.950" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T12:59:33.950" Title="New puppy - is this normal behaviour" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15695" CreationDate="2016-11-07T13:39:52.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;How old are the kids? The children ALL should take part in training the dog. At this age and without further knowing the dog, I would suspect it is a mix of overexcitement and trying to get the running kids under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, long-term:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have the children involved in teaching and reinforcing simple commands like &quot;sit&quot;, &quot;stay&quot; and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the fetch-play: if the dog growls, the play is over! Period. You can resume after 5 minutes or so. Perhaps longer, adapt the time to something that works. The idea should be: dog brings ball back, dog lays ball down (!!!!), ball gets thrown again! You may have to invest some time into getting the dog to understand that, AND into making sure the kids understand that rule as well (Good weather, lots of fun, all of them are bound to forget! Remind them as needed!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, if the kids are involved in this simple training, the dog will stop the growling and nipping as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short-term:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The kids don't run past the dog. They calmly walk past him. If he shows any sign of growling, THEY give a clear &quot;no&quot;. Or &quot;Blanket!&quot; to send the dog to its spot. Choose something simple and clear!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If that is not practical due to age of the kids, or the kids fearing the dog, he will need to remain separated from the kids when you are not present. But I believe if you practice the &quot;NO!&quot; with them (and most dogs DO respond to that after some practice), I think even your 6-year-old daughter will be able to walk past with confidence :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the kids know how to deal with the dogs aggressiveness, and the dog learns that the kids will not be intimidated, things should hopefully calm down and there will be little need for strict &quot;NO!&quot;s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T13:39:52.320" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15693" CreationDate="2016-11-07T16:06:49.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits don't catch the cold, chances are your thinking of &quot;snuffles&quot; (aka pasteurellosis) which most rabbits carry but not everyone shows symptoms (stress or immunosuppression can reveal the illness). If Thumper is housed with Joey then Joey is the one who passed it to Thumper, chances are these flare-ups will always reoccur. If it gets too bad veterinarians will prescribe antibiotics (such as enrofloxacin) to clear it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that during the colder months to house them indoors since it seems to be a contributing factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get any new bunnies do not house them with your current rabbits, pasteurellosis is very contagious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T16:06:49.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2206" CreationDate="2016-11-07T16:21:09.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog also does the same behavior but when one person is already in the house and a new person enters. We ask one of our friends who has been adopting troubled dogs for many years, who said it's a protection thing as he wouldn't even bark at the builders unless someone was already in the house. it may be why your dog doesn't bark and get excited when you and your wife are coming into the house at the same time and it has only been reinforced with your wife getting excited when someone else is already in the house, which may be why the dog gets more excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastActivityDate="2016-11-07T16:21:09.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-07T17:22:01.690" Score="2" ViewCount="1023" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 4 he came from the pound after he was found in the house and his owner had passed away, he was there for 4 days. When i go out and he is left alone, not usually for more than an hour he pees in the house. What can i do to help stop  this behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8328" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T03:39:51.147" Title="dog pees in house when left for under an hour" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7077" CreationDate="2016-11-08T11:23:01.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not quite sure if it works exactly the same but I needed to test the eyesight of my dog for a while because of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was put my finger up and approach it slowly to see if she would react in case she got blind.&#xA;As I understood from the vet, every animal would turn away when you get too close to the eye. Doing this with some speed will let you notice when they think it gets too dangerous for them and can help you test eye sight on distance. (never touch the eye though). This will not get a 100% sure result because it will only react when it gets too close in the opinion of the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might give you a good indication of the eye sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7806" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T15:57:35.960" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T15:57:35.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15702" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-08T13:36:06.110" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought today two fish and a small filtered tank (the size of a large bowl I guess).&#xA;There are lots of bubbles but no stream from the filter tube, the girl at the pet shop says it's okay since we can see bubbles lining the bowl, is she right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one of the fish is a black moor. The one I took has only one eye bulging, while the rest I saw had two, is that okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8329" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-01-09T05:26:15.193" LastActivityDate="2021-03-24T22:12:31.383" Title="I got my first fish and tank and I have some questions" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15702" CreationDate="2016-11-08T14:22:38.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of filter is it? If it's a sponge filter with an air pump, then indeed you won't see a stream, but lots of bubbles. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;However, such filter is not suited for the kind of fish you have. They have limited filtering capacity. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Do you have any information about the type of filter/tank you bought? &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Also, perhaps not an answer to your question, but as far as I can tell you've made a few other beginners mistakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A tank needs to go through a cycling process BEFORE you can add fish to it. This can take at least 4 weeks. If you don't do that, you risk that all your fish will die. Have a look at this answer for more information: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/323/7038&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/323/7038&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A Black moor is a type of goldfish. For their well being a single goldfish needs at least 60 litres of water (16 gallon). Since you mention that it's basically 'a large bowl', I would assume that your tank is in fact not suitable for any kind of fish, except perhaps a single Betta.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet stores usually only care about selling things &amp;amp; profit, or they simply don't have decent knowledge about fishkeeping. The fact that they 'allowed' you to buy fish &amp;amp; tank on the same day is already an indication of this. If you want advice, you're better of going to a specialized fish shop for information, or look it up on the internet beforehand (or ask questions here). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since you are already concerned that your fish is not ok, I would try to return them to the store where you bought them. And then do some research on starting &amp;amp; running aquariums and the type of fish you want to keep. It's often thought that goldfishes are easy to keep, and perhaps it also looks like that. But in fact, if you keep them in small fishbowls they usually don't live that long. When kept in a good &amp;amp; healthy environment, a goldfish could live for 20 years or more...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T14:22:38.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-08T18:33:37.190" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I started up my tropical aquarium about 2 months ago. Changed part of the water a few days ago I might have put to much sausage in it both my angel fish died and now the other 3 are not looking very good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just move them into a bowl with part aquarium water &amp;amp; part tap anyway I noticed two of thems tails are gone is that from me or is that something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8330" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-06T18:39:35.297" LastActivityDate="2019-03-06T19:23:46.863" Title="Changed water and fish dying" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15780" CreationDate="2016-11-08T22:28:45.733" Score="3" ViewCount="1474" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have a Green Tree Python that is about 3 feet long and still has the yellow juvenile colors. The cage is kept at about 55-60% humidity and a temperature of about 85° F. The snake's cloaca vent is currently swollen although there is no prolapse protruding from the vent. The snake acts perfectly fine. Although I have experience with prolapsing, I have never seen anything like this before. The cloaca looks perfectly normal (normal coloring, nothing protruding, etc). It is just swollen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed the snake, in my opinion, undersized hopper mice. The swelling has been there for a couple of days after I have fed it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apologize for the lack of pictures. I know it's difficult to make a judgement without pictures; however, I hope you understand due to the not so friendly nature of the snake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I know it's very difficult to see but here is a picture. The opening is the all black marking on her underside. The black is part of the natural coloring for the snake. The swelling is difficult to tell from the picture though. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hnKCo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hnKCo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cloaca opening&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastEditorUserId="7232" LastEditDate="2016-11-08T22:48:10.680" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T01:35:12.957" Title="Swelling of the cloaca" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15695" CreationDate="2016-11-08T22:44:08.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like the answer above me, I would like to point out that everyone needs to be involved in the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog needs to understand that you are all his family, not just you. That way he will not feel jealous of the kids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you should read about symptoms of the aggressive dogs here and check it out, maybe you spot or remember any additional symptoms:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sitmeanssit.com/dog-training-mu/austin-dog-training/how-to-tell-if-a-dog-is-being-agressive/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is my dog aggressive?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, ask yourself did you provide everything that is needed for a puppy. Young dogs can feel agitated if they lack on something and even if they won't throw tantrums at you, they might do that with your kids. Read here about everything that a puppy needs:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mysweetpuppy.net/new-puppy-shopping-checklist/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Puppy checklist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8332" LastActivityDate="2016-11-08T22:44:08.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15691" CreationDate="2016-11-08T22:50:22.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats meow when they think food is coming or they are hungry. Not much you can do about it. Make sure you only feed the cat at a specific time. If the cat gets the idea they can cause you to feed them by meowing, then they will meow constantly. Never let it get to you. I deal with it by going into my study and closing the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't fill bowls with the cat there. Fill the bowl in a secure location and put it down. You can train a cat to stand down from jumping for food, but you have to be EXTREMELY patient, because cats learn a lot slower than dogs. You could easily be there for an hour every day, waiting for him to stand down. One of my cats was getting too pushy, so I would not feed him until he got off the food stand. He learned that eventually but it took a LONG time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use a large, covered litter box it can help. Cat excrement stinks. Get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male cats will bite unless they are trained from kitten (6 weeks old) to be cuddled. Since you got a mature cat, he will bite forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T14:49:45.763" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T14:49:45.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-09T13:35:27.093" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a newbie and amateur with pets. My cats are male triplets and they are 10 months old. One of them start peeing or spraying around the house and I think he might be stressed out for being unable to mate. However, the other two are fine. Besides, there are feral cats that came to the house area and attacked him. His peeing start getting worse and it's become a daily habit. He even sprayed his pee at my leg. He doesn't like to be held either and loses appetite. We also have new cats in the house, but he start peeing before that and fighting with his brother instead of the new one. So what should I do to stop his behaviour? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8334" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T11:17:24.500" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:17:24.500" Title="Behaviour problems" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15708" CreationDate="2016-11-09T14:13:46.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The simple answer is to get them neutered.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you really want them to stay bad-tempered and spray pungent gunk everywhere...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cats.org.uk/neutering-faqs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FAQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-11-09T14:13:46.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-10T02:38:32.717" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 year old adopted cat is great. He's super intelligent but a bit lazy... I've bought every toy and tried to entertain him, but nothing---- only when it comes to food. The thing is, he is so needy- only for food! He begs incessantly for food, then once he is fed he will rush up to me and make himself comfortable and practically burp in my face! I got him at 4 years old, and all this time I've kept him on a reasonable diet.  He is super affectionate, loving and great- except for his begging for food.  I was worried it was worms, but it isn't. I make sure he is entertained in between feedings, but is he still bored? Anyone have some advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8337" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T14:14:11.140" Title="My cat is very affectionate and hungry" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15685" CreationDate="2016-11-10T03:10:41.677" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats can have varied fur textures according to their mood, this is a sign of distress. It is up to us to evaluate and understand the situation and remedy- good job for noticing! Your cat will appreciate your observations as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8337" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T03:10:41.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15599" CreationDate="2016-11-10T17:03:00.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with most things related to fish keeping, it will depend on the type of fish you have and what you want to do with it. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Although I don't think light will have a big impact, but the temperature definitely can. An interesting article can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/seasons.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/seasons.php&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;In the tropics there is not a big difference in terms of amount of daylight, but they do have a dry season and a rain season. During dry season puddles of water &amp;amp; rivers will have lower water levels, be warmer (also less oxygen then), not as much current in rivers,... During rain season a small puddle of water can become a big pond in a couple of hours, water temperature could drop because of the fresh rain, ... &lt;br&gt; And this can be the trigger for fish to start breeding. According to a post on &lt;a href=&quot;http://africancichlidhub.com/forum/index.php?topic=2684.0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this forum&lt;/a&gt; a slightly higher temperature in your tank will increase the chance of breeding for Cichlid fishes. For &lt;a href=&quot;http://breedtropicalfish.blogspot.fr/2007/03/how-to-breed-and-raise-cory-catfish.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Corrydoras it's the opposite&lt;/a&gt;. I also read somewhere that using a watering can (to simulate rain) to add water to your tank could also trigger breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2016-11-10T17:03:00.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-10T21:46:24.913" Score="3" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday we put our Hermans tortoise in a box in the fridge. When we put him in he was a little agitated at first but settled down immediately. He had spotted eating for a week so we thought it was time to hibernate him,and he was 0.18 on the Jackson scale. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I just went to check on him and he had crawled out of his box in the fridge and was not moving. I've given him a lukewarm bath and set him under his heart lamp as his shell was very cold. He's still not really moving and I'm very worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I need to do (except take him to the vet tomorrow)?&#xA;Is it ok to not hibernate him, he's 3 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some nice lukewarm baths, and lots of time under his sun lamp he fully recovered and got a very healthy appetite back and is doing fantastically now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8340" LastEditorUserId="8340" LastEditDate="2018-03-16T14:39:37.233" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T15:10:15.620" Title="Tortoise came out of hibernation box in the fridge" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-11T17:16:51.033" Score="1" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering buying a hedgehog. My hesitation is that about once a month I travel about four hours away by car to visit my dad. I usually leave late Thursday night and return Sunday late afternoon. Would a hedgehog be ok in a traveling crate for that long? Will the traveling be too stressful for him? Or, alternatively, would he be ok if left alone with food and water for that time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8341" LastActivityDate="2016-11-11T19:03:47.007" Title="Can hedgehogs travel frequently?" Tags="&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15672" CreationDate="2016-11-11T17:22:31.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very normal behaviour for a 1 year old dog.  Dogs are energetic and do like to play especially certain breeds.  I wouldn't be too disgruntled over it or worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastActivityDate="2016-11-11T17:22:31.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15716" CreationDate="2016-11-11T19:03:47.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Travelling is fine, chances are he/she will be sleeping the entire time. I would recommend bringing her regular cage with you so she can stay in it during your visit, being cooped up in a travel crate wouldn't be very fun for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also leave her alone for the time and top up food and water though I would recommend having someone stop by in between to make sure she doesn't run out of anything, specifically water. Sometimes those bottles drip depleting the water supply very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-11T19:03:47.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-12T02:48:51.367" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does neutered give any negative effect on the cat? He already have spraying problem. Some people say that it make them more passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8334" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-11-13T04:01:24.307" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T04:01:24.307" Title="Neutering's effect" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-30T17:10:08.660" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15720" CreationDate="2016-11-12T13:35:56.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really, if he was neutered before spraying it would have prevented him from starting however now that you neutered him a bit late he may never stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole passive thing is a myth, he will still be the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-12T13:35:56.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-13T11:44:09.517" Score="3" ViewCount="12766" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Watership Down&lt;/a&gt; which I have found has many very accurate descriptions of rabbit behavior. The book characters are mostly anthropomorphised rabbits. The head rabbit of the Efrafa warren, General Woundwort talks often about other rabbits he has killed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally you don't think of rabbits with behavior that aggressive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blackavar is rabbit who tries to escape from Efrafa but is apprehended &amp;amp; mutilated. His ears are torn to shreds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I attended an event where a rabbit named Avari was attending (Petco Addoption event), in the picture below you can see his ears have mostly been chewed away, his eyelashes are gone, and his nose is injured.  A few months ago he was rescued from a hoarding sitiuation much like Efrafa.  ~70 rabbits were being held together in a small out building. He was mutilated by other rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can see that rabbits will fight until mutilation occurs.  Will they also fight each other to the death? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d3M9c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d3M9c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l3iQR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l3iQR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The story of Avari is true. He is currently recoverd from his injuries and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36039803&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;available for adoption&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-05-07T10:17:03.593" Title="Do rabbits fight each other to the death?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15723" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2016-11-13T12:21:55.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently under discussion at &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2144/new-tag-literature&quot;&gt;New tag literature&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-11-13T12:21:55.323" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T12:21:55.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15724" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2016-11-13T12:21:55.323" Score="0" Body="Fictional animal characters that otherwise relate to topics in scope at pets." OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-11-13T12:21:55.323" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T12:21:55.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15711" CreationDate="2016-11-13T14:14:11.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is motivated by food so strongly, this gives you a powerful tool to both develop his play habits and relieve his boredom. Cat behavior is just like ours; they would prefer to get what they want with the least effort possible but will put effort into anything that they decide will benefit them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy some kitty 'kibble' that your cat likes. You are looking for dry cat-food that comes in larger than normal cat-food pieces. Often sold as cat treats but some regular dry cat-food brands also come in larger than normal sizes. Look for pieces that are about 1/2 inch in size. The size is less important than your cat's desire to eat that kind of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/udwv6.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/udwv6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally the kibble is healthy food for your cat, rather than the equivalent of kitty 'junk food'. I like to use 'Hill's science Diet' but the important part is that your cat preferred food works best. Store the kibble in a cat-proof container in a convenient location. I use old plastic food containers like the one pictured below. Note the flip-top lid that allows dispensing but is also catproof:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EyhUK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EyhUK.png&quot; alt=&quot;Parmisan cheese container&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for how to use that food to interact with your cat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) your cat comes up to you and begs. Grab the container of kitty kibble and find a hallway. Toss one kibble down the hallway so your cat can chase it. When he comes back, toss another kibble down the hallway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Buy an interactive cat toy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B3B01.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B3B01.png&quot; alt=&quot;fishing for cats&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your cat reliably chases kitty kibble down the hallway, wait until your cat starts begging again and then hold a single kitty kibble in one hand and the cat toy in your other hand. Drag the toy in front of your cat. If he makes any attempt at grabbing the toy, immediately toss the kibble down the hall so he chases it. When he comes back for more, repeat. Eventually you should only toss kibble for him if he makes a really good grab; half-hearted attempts just means the lure escapes the cat. Caught lures result in another food treat tossed down the hall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are doing is training your cat to develop prey catching habits that result in food, just like nature intended. It keeps him exercised and un-bored. One thing to remember is that the more intelligent you cat is the more you will want to vary the way you move/control the toy lure's 'behavior' to keep him interested. You don't want the lure to be either too easy or too hard to catch. Also, get different types of cat toys so you can change the toy you use to keep things from getting too boring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u1ma1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u1ma1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fun things to do are to seal your cat into a bedroom or other room, and then walk around your house hiding kibbles. Now let your cat out and let him discover the kibbles over time. Just remember that where you place the kibbles is also an invitation for the cat to go to that location, so if you place kibble on your kitchen table, you encourage your cat to jump up to that location forever afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has problems finding the kibbles, get a laser pointer, do a hallway kibble toss and at the same time use the laser pointer to circle the location of the kibble you just threw. Do this a few more times. Now use the laser on an undiscovered 'hidden' kibble. You cat will quickly figure out the laser dot seems to knows where all that hidden food is hiding and start chasing it. Just remember to always allow your cat to find a kibble when you get him to chase the laser dot. After all, chasing that dot is just pointless exercise to your cat unless there is some food in it as a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T14:14:11.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15700" CreationDate="2016-11-13T17:18:16.947" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crate training is essential with some dogs to help make sure they don't pee around the house when left alone.  Maybe try restricting water directly before you leave the dog unattended and if only for an hour maybe no water while you are out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6962" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T17:18:16.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2016-11-13T22:33:52.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No bones period, bones are NOT good for dogs not even a little bit. They grind away their teeth and have risks of breaking their teeth as well (see it all the time in clinic), bone chewers always have awful teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that we see quite often are obstructions and perforation of the GI tract from dogs swallowing bones whole or shards, impactions are treated with a nice expensive surgery where as perforations are more likely to be fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rule of thumb if you whack it on your knee and it hurts then it's too hard for your dogs teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-13T22:33:52.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15730" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-14T22:36:47.447" Score="6" ViewCount="3487" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have multiple cats ranging from 2 yrs old to 4 months old. They have all been treated for fleas and tape worms and are now flea free and on last worm treatment. My question is has anyone had cats that have lumps all over them under their skin with a white center? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/motBi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/motBi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot; lump with white center on hind leg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8289" LastActivityDate="2021-04-24T04:34:48.377" Title="Cats/kittens with lumps under their skin" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15457" CreationDate="2016-11-16T03:20:48.567" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is kneading. In kittens, cats knead their mothers to get more milk out of them. An adult cat will knead when it's feeling content because it associates the motion with the comforts of nursing and its mom. Some cats even suckle on what they're kneading, though I've never seen my cat do it. Beware, though, as my cat sneaks into my bed at night and painfully kneads my face. It's less funny than it sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8354" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-11-03T11:34:24.430" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T11:34:24.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-16T04:16:30.873" Score="1" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to train my 9-year old dog to ring a bell on the door when she needs/wants to go outside.  I've been trying for about a year now with very minimal success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use obedience snacks to try to train her to ring the bell.  When she needs to go out, we go to the door, and I have her give me her paw, which I then gently use to swat the bell.  Then I give her one snack and open the door to let her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried giving the snack at different times:  before ringing the bell, after ringing the bell but before opening the door, after opening the door, and even after she physically goes outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she needs to go out, she walks to the door, but doesn't have the concept of the ringing it by herself.  When I get over there, she gets in position and starts to put her paw in the air for me to grab, but she hasn't learned to ring by herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?  What do I need to do to make the association in her brain?  Or is she simply too old to learn at this point and I should just give up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8355" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T17:15:12.383" Title="How can I train my dog to ring a bell to go outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15732" CreationDate="2016-11-16T08:45:11.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try something different. Both our dogs understood rather quickly how a door or gate work, just by watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such I'd simply use the bell myself whenever I go outside. So when you go outside, ring the bell and open the door. Just repeat this over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while the dog &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; associate ringing with the door opening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older dogs might need more time than puppies to learn, but there isn't really any &quot;too old&quot; for animals. Just as you could learn new stuff every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T08:45:11.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-16T17:32:01.990" Score="9" ViewCount="36681" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats. All neutered and spayed. A tuxedo named Pip, a tabby named Kitty, and a tortie named Faith. Pip isn't really all that important in this question, I'll give more info about him later. Faith is a grumpy cat and she is pretty aggressive, but it's more out of fear. She didn't trust me for most of my life but now she won't stop kneading my face in bed and keeping me up all night because she wants me to pet her. She's about 7-9 years, we aren't really sure. Now enter Kitty. He's a li'l devil. We got him in about September or August of 2015, he's, I think, 3 years. We thought he was a kitten when we first found him because he was so small and skinny. Now he's small and fat. He's very territorial, constantly rub-rub-rubbing on every little thing to get his scent there and claim it. Pip, our sweet li'l innocent angel that wouldn't hurt a fly. Well, he would, but he's a cat, what do you expect? He used to be more aggressive until my brother traumatized him (more on that in another question) and now he's very skittish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all sounds nice. You have 3 happy cats, what could possibly go wrong? &#xA;... A lot. Kitty's favorite activity is chasing Faith and battling with her. He's gotten into quite a few 'duels' with Pip (all of which Pip won) and so I think he's trying to show his dominance. He failed with Pip but Faith is weak and old so she's the perfect target for our little bully. I've not been sure on if I should ask this or not but the final straw was when I heard yowling and hissing from outside today. (Note: whenever Faith comes in Kitty tries to chase her, so we have to hold him down so he won't chase her.) and Kitty was chasing Faith up the stairs to our deck and Faith was backed into a corner. I opened the door, shook Kitty a few times and flicked him on the nose as punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things get worse when Faith fuels the fire. Whenever she sees Kitty she hisses and tries to scratch at him. Things get &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;even worse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; when Pip joins in though. Pip doesn't know what he's doing, he chases her very rarely, and I think he only does it because Kitty does it. (Kitty is then ultimate bad role model.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure one of you will suggest to have them 'make friends' or something but that definitely wouldn't work. They'd murder each other, and if they didn't, Faith would collapse under the stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe one of you will suggest &quot;Maybe give one of them up.&quot; However, I could not give up any of my kitties even if I wanted to. Faith, although she'd be freed from the stress of Pip and Kitty, will be separated from me. She gets very attached very easily and it would definitely not be a good idea. My sister (her original owner) left her in September to go to college and Faith got attached to me, somebody she already had a slight bond with. In a new house, she wouldn't recognize anyone, and I think it would be even worse than the stress with Pip and Kitty she is facing now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions, please? I am so tired. I've tried everything, clapping, flicking Kitty/Faith (when she starts the fight) on the forehead/nose, nothing works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8354" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:11.543" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:02:21.730" Title="How can I get my cat to stop chasing my other cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-16T18:12:17.287" Score="2" ViewCount="1565" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Pip. We got him in september of 2014. He was lively, playful, brave, and hyper. My brother is a very mean guy. He sees amusement in other's pain and fear, and enjoys teasing me until i break down and cry for his own sick amusement. He does love the cats, but I think he broke one of our cats, Pip. As you can see, he used to be so happy and lively. How did he change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somewhere in 2015, my brother thought it would be funny to 'spook' Pip. Randomly jumping out at him, making loud noises, sneaking up on him, just being mean to him and doing everything he can to scare the cat. Quickly, Pip became very skittish, fearful, timid, and overall not at all what he used to be. He's still hyper, but uses it on the wrong things, such as running and jumping at the smallest of sounds, and begging for treats. He's not the same. It's been about a year and he's still this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if we can ever get the old Pip back, or if my brother scared him so bad he's forever broken. Either way, i really want help with this because Pip used to be so fun and happy. Now he's probably afraid of his own shadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8354" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T19:08:14.437" Title="My brother traumatized my cat. Help?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-16T22:55:33.193" Score="4" ViewCount="10618" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Tank Info:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long the tank has been set up: about 3-4 months (he was in a 3.5 gal for a while but I got a new one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size of the tank: 5 gallons, gravel bottom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish: one male crowntail Betta, had him since late March of this year&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plants &amp;amp; Misc: two fake silk plants, two decorations (roman pillars)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chemicals used: Top Fin Betta Water Conditioner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maintenance schedule: 25-50% water change, weekly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Water Parameters:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia: 0-0.25&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrite: 0&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrate: 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH: 7.6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I believe it was the 13th, when my betta, Spidey, started acting a little weird. He would act normal and swim up to my face excitedly, but mostly chill at the bottom of the tank- which is unlike him. He had made a bubble nest and continued to act normal for the most part, till yesterday (14th) and today (15th). On both of these days, he was mainly resting at the bottom, occasionally moving spots, but would dart to the top all panicked while trying to take air before going back to the bottom (almost like he was sinking). I took out about 50% of the water out of the tank (so he wouldn't have to go so far for air), took out everything besides the filter and the heater, trying to feed him a pea. He would perk up but didn't have the strength to swim over and grab the falling food. My sister and I transferred him into the small container he originally came in when we first got him to try to see if he would eat the pea. However, since there's not that much room for him to move around, he tries to gain momentum by swimming in a circle, and will try to jump in order to grab some air (which he was doing in the 5 gal as well) or to try to get the pea. Whenever he'd make it near the surface of the water when getting air, he'd grab air, then sink back down to the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past few weeks he hasn't been eating much either, and since a couple of days ago, he refuses to eat at all (I feed him 2-3 pellets twice a day, which I've been doing since I first got him; not sure if that would help him accumulate the constipation or not). I haven't fed him properly for roughly a week more or less, as he would only eat one pellet per day, till recently- where he refuses to eat completely. There are no signs of white spots, ammonia burns, or inflamed gills. He shows no other signs of other disorders/diseases besides SBD/Constipation as his belly is really bloated, he's lethargic, and sinks to the bottom. Also, his body has also occasionally gone in an S-shape upon realizing that this might be SBD. Other than struggling to swim, he's very attentive and still is curious and examines his surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went out to try to find medicine to cure the SBD/Constipation, and at my local pet store they had API General Cure, which is supposed to treat parasitic fish disease. I looked up some reviews on it, and a lot of people were saying that it cured their fish's issues, but I didn't see any about SBD, mainly parasites, dropsy, pop-eye, fin-rot and everything but SBD. However, I haven't tried out this medicine yet, because I wanted to try the pea thing to help get him going. I've been trying to get him to eat the pea for the past 3 hours and I don't want to leave it in there when I go to sleep, so I took them out. He's still in the small container, occasionally going up for air, but mainly staying in one spot at the bottom. I'm not sure what to do, or if I should move him back into the 5 gal or temp put him in the 3.5 gal tank either. I know I read up that in order to get rid of constipation (which I thought he was a week ago, so I fasted him for about a week, because I didn't see him pooping the day after feeding him). Ever since I got him, he's had long, stringy light brown poop, and it always took him forever to pass his bowels. I also read that that could be internal parasites, but he wasn't lethargic at all at that time, and was acting like his crazy, excited-self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8360" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:35:27.467" Title="Male Betta sinking to the bottom of tank" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:35:11.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15674" CreationDate="2016-11-16T23:20:09.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the cat doesn't know what's good for it. I would recommend just sticking to no milk, it's likely bad for it since it's bad for most cats. I just wouldn't take a chance. Plus, cat diarrhea? Nasty. Gross. Blegh. If you really wanna give it milk maybe a very small amount in a small bowl to test it out and see the results but, again, cat doesn't know what's good for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8354" LastActivityDate="2016-11-16T23:20:09.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15732" CreationDate="2016-11-17T09:13:37.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have varying capacity to conceptualise the &quot;human world&quot;. Some breeds are more adept than others. What breed is your dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dogs simply do not understand a large part of our world, so we must learn to understand theirs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, you have done very well because she walks to the door when she wants to go outside and understands that by lifting her paw she will receive a treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So think about that... she's actually doing 90% of what you're attempting to train... which is a wonderful result.  Now all you need to do is reverse engineer a different outcome...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps try placing the treat on the bell somehow... but only after she has walked to the door. Some bells have a link to hang them from... so maybe you could &quot;hang&quot; the treat through that. When she takes the treat she will indirectly ring the bell. Eventually she may associate the bell more with the treat than wanting to go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So perhaps it is better that you provide the treat when she gets to the door, then you ring the bell when she walk through the doorway... or place the bell so that a wire rings the bell when the door opens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only suggestions but maybe you use these as a base to develop a solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and happy training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T09:13:37.090" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-17T12:16:19.217" Score="4" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi just got a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow_Chow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chow Chow&lt;/a&gt; puppy. Everything is great apart from messy drinking. Does anybody have any tips to stop him dipping his mane into his drinking water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8365" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-01-26T01:16:57.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T00:56:20.137" Title="Chow pup drinking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15742" CreationDate="2016-11-17T13:03:47.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There aren't many successful methods, however there are some preventions with minimal success or methods that reduce the amount of consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may not be a very plausible answer depending on your puppy's snout, however after researching other sources, one of the solutions that could potentially help is getting yourself a glass tupperware container with a removable rubber (example here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MZON0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;click&lt;/a&gt;). You would have to cut out a circular hole that is big enough for your puppy's snout to fit into it. This could work as whenever your dog goes to drink out of it, the mane would be pushed back, and so it will stay out of water. However, once again, I am concerned that this solution may not be plausible for your puppy's snout as from the looks of it, chow puppies have nearly flat snouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also give less water in a bowl a go, if this is possible. If you do it, it's possible that your dog's mane won't dip into the water as much as it would with the regular amount of water in the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/comments/2ay6ca/how_do_it_keep_my_dogs_from_slopping_water_on_the/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T13:03:47.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15745" CreationDate="2016-11-17T14:52:53.677" Score="0" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the book  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Watership Down&lt;/a&gt; the rabbits are often &quot;eating pellets&quot;.  My pet rabbit eats food pellets I buy from the pet store, but I don't see how that would apply to the rabbits in Watership Down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What pellets are rabbits eating in Watership Down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2016-11-17T18:57:18.863" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T18:57:18.863" Title="What pellets are rabbits eating in Watership Down?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2016-11-18T00:57:42.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15744" CreationDate="2016-11-17T18:42:47.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presumably &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;cecotropes.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit's digestive system is not as efficient as that of a larger herbivore. There is a lot of nutrition left after good has made one pass through, and it's been concentrated and pretreated by digestive enzymes... and rabbits may send it through for a second pass.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do distinguish between cecotropes and feces, so the gutter insult near the end of the book is still appropriately rude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T18:44:40.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15736" CreationDate="2016-11-17T19:08:14.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First deal with the source of your problems and discipline your brother, ensure that he will not continue to treat the cat with the same behavior. After you are absolutely certain he will not mistreat your family pet anymore you can start focusing on Pip more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to give him more attention than usual and stay communicative. Always be positive when you are interacting and give him treats liberally throughout the day. If your brother is up to it and you trust that he has matured you can attempt to change how Pip views him by letting him give treats to the pet and start developing a positive relationship with Pip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is not going to change over night, just like she did not develop anxiety over night, however with time and consistent positivity throughout her interaction with the family you will eventually have a happy family cat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8366" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T19:08:14.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2016-11-17T22:46:22.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No sand really, at least not for babies and juvies. For adults use play sand (if in US - &lt;a href=&quot;http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE3-2091863enh-z8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE3-2091863enh-z8.jpg&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the sand MUST not turn into hard stone-like piece after it gets wet. It must be like running sand when it gets wet. Then the probability of impaction is lower as the sand will more likely just pass through the dragon instead of forming a hard ball which will just stay inside and impact the dragon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8368" LastActivityDate="2016-11-17T22:46:22.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15774" CreationDate="2016-11-19T03:22:23.147" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs. Two older dogs and one young puppy (1 yr old). Occasional the puppy doesn't hit the &quot;off&quot; switch with wanting to play and you can visible see the other dogs are starting to get annoyed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the puppy did not want to stop playing, I deciding to send him in the other area of the house (behind baby gate where he could still see everyone). That area is the &quot;dog&quot; area and has dog beds and toys.  My other 2 dogs laid on the ground in the same room as me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this type of separation bad and will the puppy be resentful or feel &quot;less&quot; than the other dogs? Is there a better way of handling the situation?  Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8055" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T15:35:56.993" Title="Separating older dogs from puppy when in living room" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4341" CreationDate="2016-11-19T20:27:59.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi this is all I know from experience with dogs&#xA;Short snouts generally have respiratory and bite problems like how pugs do and long snouts generally don't have these. &#xA;In my opinion long snouts are better for the animals health and wellbeing as they don't get as high a chance of respiratory problems and I have known about dogs that have had &quot;braces&quot; to sort out their bite problems&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T20:27:59.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11105" CreationDate="2016-11-19T20:40:49.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this happens in the future then if the tail was dropped and not bitten which they generally are then it will be fine but for the leg clean it and call the vet to ask about the next step hope this helps! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastActivityDate="2016-11-19T20:40:49.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10314" CreationDate="2016-11-19T21:06:21.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister's hamster has never been given a sand bath, as we didn't realise that it was a thing and it lived for 3 years. So I don't think that 2 months will be the end of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you think they are developing problems, then I'd go to the veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8294" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:43:29.967" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:43:29.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9567" CreationDate="2016-11-19T22:42:03.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd be more concerned about mould growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dairyfertility.com.au/hgf/Wet%20%20Hay%20can%20equal%20mould%20or%20fire%2021%2011%2007Updated.doc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries is titled &quot;Wet Hay Can = Mould Or Fire&quot;. (Note for clarity Victoria state of Australia.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article confirms &lt;em&gt;&quot;...excess moisture (rain or plant sap) equals loss of dry matter/bulk and nutritive value AND probably mouldy bales AND possibly spontaneous combustion, i.e. FIRE!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/dairy/pastures-management/what-happens-to-hay-when-it-heats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by Agriculture Victoria seems more scientific and less sensational and is titled &quot;What happens to hay when it heats?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article confirms &lt;em&gt;&quot;Heating of hay causes losses of dry matter (DM) and nutritive value. The ideal conditions (heat and moisture) in heating hay results in mould growth which further increases losses as well as reducing the hay's palatability due to production of mould spores. Lastly, there is always danger of a haystack fire due to spontaneous combustion.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'd purchase 75-100 bales at a time to feed horses and by far our greater concern was mould. (That's not to say you shouldn't be concerned about fire.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mouldy hay can cause illness in horses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/nutrition/moldy-hay/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by the University of Minnesota is titled &quot;Do not feed moldy hay to horses&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article confirms &lt;em&gt;&quot;Horses are particularly sensitive to dust from mold spores and can get a respiratory disease similar to asthma in humans...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also explains that mould can produce mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are a toxic by-product from the natural metabolism of moulds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article makes recommendations that include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a mycotoxin problem is suspected, a comprehensive review of animal nutrition and health is essential – i.e. problems blamed on mycotoxins may be other disorders or nutritional issues. Diagnosing a mycotoxin problem is difficult and often involves the elimination of other possible factors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The physical dust problem associated with moldy forage can be reduced by feeding in a well ventilated area, mixing with a high moisture feed or wetting the hay, but these will not reduce mycotoxins if present.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mouldy hay and the presence of mycotoxins may have a negative effect on rabbits, although I'm not certain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you do a little more research on the effects of mould spores on rabbits, which could include ringing your local veterinary clinic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://world-rabbit-science.com/WRSA-Proceedings/Congress-2008-Verona/Papers/N2-Mezes.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by Páter Károly and the Department of Nutrition, Szent István University, is titled &quot;Mycotoxins and Other Contaminants in Rabbit Feeds&quot; and appears to have been presented at the 9th World Rabbit Congress in 2008 in Verona Italy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the effects on the bunny are more severe than the horse...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But firstly it also better explains mycotoxins as &lt;em&gt;&quot;invisible, highly corrosive, secondary metabolites of moulds which may persist in feed and even hay, when the moulds that produced them are no longer present&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Scott, 1990); and &lt;em&gt;&quot;Nearly all of the mycotoxins are cytotoxic, disrupting various cellular structures such as membranes, and interfering with vital cellular processes such as protein, RNA and DNA synthesis&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Guerre et al., 2000). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms are numerous and often associated with other more common ailments of the digestive and nervous systems - but of all the negative effects on rabbit health, my greatest concern is associated with the statement that &lt;em&gt;&quot;...damage to organs is cumulative over a period of time.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? Because it will be difficult to identify that by feeding mouldy hay to rabbits, you may be inadvertently but slowly poisoning your furry little companion and causing him or her severe pain and discomfort and most likely an early demise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence the update... be careful with the condition of your hay and if in doubt, don't feed it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2016-11-23T11:02:07.170" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T11:02:07.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15758" CreationDate="2016-11-19T23:09:18.973" Score="3" ViewCount="2670" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some pet owners crop their dog's ears.  This procedure ends with the ears standing straight up.  I get the impression that this is genearlly tailored towards specific breeds (stronger ones), though I don't truly know.  There are various laws prohibiting these procedures in certain locations (even entire countries) because of animal cruelty.  Here's a before and after photo of what I'm referring to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vdK4a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vdK4a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dog ear cropping before and after&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't help but wonder if there are any upsides to it at all.  Either medically, sensory, or functionally.  As far as I can tell, it looks like some owners do this strictly for appearences.  Upon further research, they apparently have a lot of different styles, too.  Like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n1JP8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n1JP8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dog ear cropping styles&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this provide any &lt;em&gt;legitimate&lt;/em&gt; benefit?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do people do it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8372" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T22:03:25.460" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T22:03:25.460" Title="What are the benefits to cropping dog ears?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15756" CreationDate="2016-11-19T23:43:04.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They do it for aesthetics, it does not serve any purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T21:27:11.303" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T21:27:11.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15756" CreationDate="2016-11-20T00:03:19.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about appearance, to make them look tougher which is why it's generally done with certain breeds. Beyond that, there's no benefit to the dog, the &quot;toughness&quot; appearance is a human aesthetic only and many are now starting to back away from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit based on commentary... There is a possible legitimate benefit with respect reducing the risk of a yeast infection. As @RebeccaRVT notes, floppy ears can help to trap moisture in the ear canal which can lead to ear infections. Mind you, based on some of the reading I've done, this is more common in breeds with large, very floppy, ears than the ones typically cropped, but at least something to discuss with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still think there is some additional protection for the ear canal with respect to foreign objects when left natural as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my side editorial opinion is that I like the natural look far better. However, that's because I generally prefer the look of a happy animal rather than one that has been tailored to look mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-11-20T15:28:33.377" LastActivityDate="2016-11-20T15:28:33.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-20T22:27:37.537" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My beard dragons sex. Have two one goes crazy bobbing head up and down and black beard. The other one is bigger but no bobbing and does have like a beard . We put them in together and the smaller one bites and hold big one down then big one just tries to get away. The one we know is a male which is smaller won't stop bobbin but other one just stares at other one through tank. Need help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8376" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:25:04.470" Title="Sexing my beardies" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11190" CreationDate="2016-11-21T15:50:34.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a couple of options. The one I would no personally choose, is to buy several brands of dog foods and put a little of each out a short distance apart. See which one he likes. This is a slippery road, though. My Grandmother used to keep multiple bags of dog food in the house and if the dog didn't immediately choke down her food, she said she didn't like that one anymore and switched her. That kind of thing costs a lot of money and leads to stomach trouble for the dog, though. Animals prefer a consistent diet. I'm not saying that they wouldn't prefer an occasional addition to their food, and most will always go after people food, but as far as their health and digestive system, they prefer a steady diet. It's why I don't feed mine anything but dog food and training treats. I think it's good that you're not feeding people food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did personally is research and look up what the top quality foods are. I found a list somewhere, I can't remember where at this time, but an independent group had evaluate multiple pet foods and come up with an extensive list of excellent dog foods. Sufficed to say, but I didn't even recognize the names of the top 10. These people automatically disqualified any brand that had grains or meals added. Just whole meats and veggies. They also disqualified a lot because of recalls. They included subsidiary brands that tried to pretend they weren't part of the larger company that had a lot of recalls. I think &quot;Taste of the Wild&quot; fell into that category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually found one of the brands on that top 100 list at a local store. I switched my dog to that and she seemed to like it pretty well. I blended the last of her old food with an increasing amount of her new food to switch her over without upsetting her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, though, I don't pay much attention to what she wanted. While I'd like her to like her food, there really isn't as much option as you'd think. All you can do is look at the best pet food and get the highest level that you're willing to put he time/money into. Ideally, the best pet food is prepared people grade food, such as boiled or grilled chicken, fish, lean meats, steamed vegetables, etc... The problem there is you don't know if you're giving them all the nutrients and necessaries that they need to be healthy. You could prepare every mill by hand out of high quality ingredients and still make your pet sick or unhealthy because you're depriving them of something by not adding it to their diet. It's also time consuming, expensive, and labor intensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step down is to buy the raw foods, then down from that are the canned wet foods, and dry food is below that. I prefer dry food, because of ease of storage and usage. I buy the highest quality I can reasonably afford. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you get something trashy, like Old Roy or prepare mills by hand, you're basically getting the best you can, so that really limits your options to 3-4 or less in your level of food. Of course you can then pick up a small bag of each of these and let your dog choose, if you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I don't really believe that are dogs that are picky eaters. I know I'll probably get a down voter or comments on it, but I believe its almost exclusively projected on pets by owners. As an example to support my theory, I'll use my grandmother's dog. She was extremely snobbish about food. Even steak had to be cut up, cooled to the proper temperature, and left out for her convenience. She was stolen once and managed to get loose from the people, based on a later eye-witness account. She was loose for ~1 week. I burned through several tanks of gas searching for her. Turns out, the man that saw her escape from the thieves car fed her for a couple of days, then she was on her own for the rest of the week. When we got her back, for about a month afterwards, she'd eat anything you put down for her. Then my grandmother started babying her and switching her food around and she went back to her old ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We later inherited the dog. When we first got her, I'd put pieces of boiled chicken or some other healthy treat out for them. She'd turn her nose up and walk off. One of the other two immediately inhaled it. She came back 15min later and was looking for it to eat it. She pretty quickly learned to eat when she had the chance. She became much less picky from that point on. She got plenty to eat, but knew she needed to eat what she was given then and there or wait till next feeding. Between consistent diet and more exercise, she actually became much healthier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if it were me, I'd put the dogs food down for 15min twice a day. If she's still actively eating after 15min, let her continue, but if you put it down and she doesn't eat for 15min, then take it up and let her wait. Repeat at the end of the day. It won't take but a couple of days and she'll start eating. It may seem a little cruel, but it's actually healthier. You can control quantity, unlike with free feeding, and you also help regulate when they have to go to the bathroom and help prevent accidents in the house. Good luck and I hope you find a good dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T15:50:34.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-21T15:58:33.857" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He meows at me, as soon as I get out of bed, for food. I used to feed him in the morning, but then started to feed him at dinner and he meows throughout the day anytime we go into the dinning room or kitchen (which is probably most of the day), which is where we keep his food and food bowl. I thought this might also stop him from trying to get our food while we are eating it, but it doesn't and he continues to meow for food after he has done eating. So how do I stop him from meowing all day and trying to eat our food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He claws everything. I even got him two scratching posts. He uses them, but still scratches on the couch and bed. I don't know how to stop him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He eats really fast. I got a rock and put it in his bowl, but this doesn't help. Plus he doesn't even move himself towards food. He paws at it to move it towards him. And he's rough when he eats, so he pushes the food bowl all over the place and spills water everywhere. Is there a way to stop him from eating so fast and pushing the bowl everywhere?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8378" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T23:38:09.863" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:38:31.953" Title="How To Train a Cat 3 Questions?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15762" CreationDate="2016-11-21T16:35:18.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, I'll try to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I think the most effective technique is something which is, I believe, called &quot;Behavior Extinction&quot;. I may have heard it wrong, but the principle is that you get your cat to quit waking you up or meowing for food, by completely ignoring that behavior. I can tell you from personal experience. I started to ignore my cat when he meowed to wake me up. If he bit me awake I'd pop his butt or push him off the bed, but still ignore him. He gave up after a week or two. Other family members get up and see what he wants, so he won't stop waking them up. It'll be hard to ignore, but as long as you don't give in and acknowledge or feed them when they are actively meowing or trying to get you to do something, they should quit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Step one to reducing clawing damage is to keep the claws trimmed. I wait till my cat is in a coma-like sleep and then clip them. I play with his paws when he's asleep all the time, so he's used to it and does not wake up. Then I can have the clippers nearby and I just press his pad till they all pop out and snip, snip, snip. Never, ever, EVER, remove the claws as it causes physical and mental pain and discomfort. If anyone reading this feels like they have no other recourse, then find it a good home and get a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another helpful way, especially if he's clawing on specific spots. is to get one of a variety of devices off Amazon that attaches to a compressed air can, like you'd use to clean a keyboard. They have motion sensors and when they sense the cat, they puff air out at them and shoo them off. I read that cats don't necessarily associate an action with a consequence, such as them being on the counter and you using a squirt bottle to shoo them off and teach them not to get on the counter. I read that they don't associate getting on the counter with getting squirted, they just think you're a d***. On the other hand, this device is on 24/7, whether you're watching or not, and puffs them with air when they get next to their scratching areas. I think it's worth a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Firstly, I'd separate the food and water. I saw a documentary and it said cats don't like to drink near their kills, because they feel it's contaminated. Apparently they're arrogant enough to think they &quot;killed&quot; their kibbles and prefer to drink away from their food. I've noticed this personally when my cat bypasses his clean water and goes out to drink out of a stale plant saucer or the dogs' bowl. We separated his food and water, and he drinks much more readily now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for his food, get a rubber drawer liner or a non-skid pet mat to keep him from sliding. Get a bowl with the little knobs to slow down eating. He won't be able to shift them around. Another alternative is to get a treat ball that releases treats when it's rolled and feed him exclusively from that. It would provide exercise and mental stimulation, as well as reducing the rate he feeds at to help prevent medical issues. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:38:31.953" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:38:31.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9539" CreationDate="2016-11-21T16:52:17.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try a couple of things. First off, provide a litter box. Like puppy pads, this just channels where they go. Also, start confining her to one room. If you think it's territorial, reduce the amount of territory. She might not feel the need to mark it if she's there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all that works, then try moving the litter box outside and/or letting her out to go to the bathroom more frequently. Hopefully, she'll progress to going strictly outside, but it's also possible that you'll always need a litter box. That switch flips in their heads and sometimes they just change. You've got to roll with it unless you want all your stuff peed on. Hopefully, this helps, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T16:52:17.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15732" CreationDate="2016-11-21T17:15:12.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so here are my thoughts on this. When you're going over and taking her paw and ringing the bell, I don't believe you're training her to ring the bell like you believe you are. You're physically doing it for her. I believe, in her mind, she's just tolerating it, because it's something you make her do before a walk. The same way you trim her claws or bathe her. It's just something she has to tolerate before a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you want to get her engaged with the act of ringing the bell. All dogs are very good at recognizing patterns that lead to behaviors. In fact, people often think dogs initiate a behavior to get a reward, but often they're reading a humans body language and they are preforming an action because they know it's coming, not because they're actively trying to generate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I'd approach this is to think about it like she does. Try to go through it in your head like it's a foreign language. Actually, it's hard for people to do, because we are so language oriented, but try to go through it without thinking the language in your head. To people, we visualize the bell and think &quot;okay, there's the bell&quot;, &quot;dog rings bell, I open door&quot;. The problem is that people are good at context and abstraction and most animals aren't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, it's like if someone started giving you a weird hand sign they made up and when you looked at them like they're stupid, they tell you it's supposed to mean, sit in that chair and I'll give you $20 bucks. You have no idea what it means. However, if they give you $5 every time you get within 10 feet of them, you'll start coming around them all the time. Then if they give you a $10 every time you sit on anything, you'll start siting on everything you can. Lastly, they'll go stand near the chair they want you in and when you sit like you've been sitting on everything, they'll give you a $20. You'll start wearing that chair out. Once they know you're going to do it, they'll add their weird hand sign in. It may still be weird to you at first, but pretty soon, they'll make the sign and you'll just walk over and plop down in the chair for your $20, because who couldn't use an extra $20 for so little effort. However, this time they give you a jackpot reward of $100. You'll come from another room for a $100.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the same principle with the dog. I'd start by holding the bell out and letting her sniff it. When she does, I'd either click-and-treat (see internet for more info) or tell her &quot;Yes&quot; and take her out. Once she knows to touch it with her nose, and I mean even a quick sniff, set it on the floor near the door when you're ready to take her out. See if she'll sniff it. If she doesn't, then back up and hold it up for her or put your finger near it. When she sniffs it, reward and go out. After she knows that she goes out when she touches it, repeat for a week or so. When it's habit, let her sniff it and then don't let her out. When she sniffs it again, then let her out. What's happening here is that she knows sniffing it gets a reward, but this time it didn't so she tries to do it with more authority. Click-and-treat, being food based, can really ramp up the motivation here. Especially if the weather is nasty outside. The goal is to get her to hit it repeatedly and start to hit it harder from mild frustration. Eventually she'll cause it to ring and you'll jackpot her with lots of praise and treats, so have them on hand at all times to jackpot any ringing of the bell. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T17:15:12.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15768" CreationDate="2016-11-21T17:36:02.533" Score="1" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;So i have a tank of about 15 litres and I have had a Danio and a guppy for a year. Nitrate levels are low and there isn't any ammonia, also the water ph is normal. My brother fed the danio,goldfish pellets and somehow she digested it. She looks awful and from one side it looks like her stomach is about to explode, also if you can see there is some brown thing inside of it. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FlvWZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8379" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T20:51:06.700" Title="Help my danios stomach is huge and looks like it's going to explode!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;danio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15766" CreationDate="2016-11-21T20:51:06.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good news is that it does not look like dropsy. I would try to treat the fish like it is constipated. Put a single (thawed) pea and see if she eats it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitor and observe. If the fish gets worse, start treatment as if it is injured with melafix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T20:51:06.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15188" CreationDate="2016-11-21T20:54:26.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies like to chew on things, especially rubber things like earbuds, wires, AC power cords, irrigation hosing, water hose tubing, shoes, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best defense is honestly just putting them up and out of reach. Anything it can reach is fair play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a bitter apple spray that you can use, but it doesn't work 100% of the time and honestly it gives you the false impression you can leave your things laying around and your puppy won't bother them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2016-11-21T20:54:26.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-22T09:28:25.047" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbour is at work all day. while he is out his dog constantly barks. How can he train it not to bark while alone in the house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8386" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:08:03.117" Title="Dog barking while alone in house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-20T19:30:08.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15770" CreationDate="2016-11-22T14:08:03.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like separation anxiety, the dog would need some training and depending on severity it may never go away without the help of some calming medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things he can try first would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vigorous exercise before he leaves for the day, this will make him more likely to want to sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward the dog before he leaves by giving him foraging toys (i.e toys filled with food/treats).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thundershirt - it's a vest that essentially hugs the dog making him feel safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DAP collar or spray - this is a scent that helps keep dogs calm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doggie daycare or have someone pet-sit at home when the owners away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the dog with him to work if it's possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Speak with a behaviorist about counter-conditioning his fear response to leaving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purchasing another dog will not make him stop barking, he misses his master and not another dog (a lot of the time you'll end up with 2 dogs going nuts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all fails then he can try some medications such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://nutriscience.ie/product/kalmaid-dog-calming-supplement-copy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kalmaid&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&amp;amp;S=0&amp;amp;C=0&amp;amp;A=2742&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fluoxetine&lt;/a&gt;. Kalmaid is non-prescription so you can pick it up at your vet without the need of seeing a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:08:03.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15562" CreationDate="2016-11-22T14:18:39.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never been a fan of dog parks, we see a lot of dog attacks come into the clinic from these places. Some incredibly severe (bites to the throat, lacerating the jugular vein).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The beauty of social media (the internet as a whole even) is that you can find people with dogs that match the personality of your own, try to find some dog groups and get together with a few people. The situation is much more controlled as you don't have unknown dogs coming in, you'll know the personality of these dogs and it will be in smaller groups making it a positive experience for you and your pooch. Heck even you will make some new friends this way :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:18:39.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15760" CreationDate="2016-11-22T14:25:04.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great way to sex your dragons is by passing a light through their tail, like this picture:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ojr3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ojr3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Head bobbing and puffing of the beard can be a dominance display or sexual, both situations can be harmful for your dragons so keep them separate at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:25:04.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15749" CreationDate="2016-11-22T14:33:00.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea is fine though to make it seem like it's not a punishment when you place the puppy in the other area redirect his playfulness to you and give him a nice foraging treat (food stuffed in toys). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a nice distraction that benefits both parties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T14:33:00.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15749" CreationDate="2016-11-22T15:35:56.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We only bring our puppy (12 weeks now) into the living area when he (and our other dog) is tired.  Our older dog is usually happily in bed and we supervise the puppy fairly closely to make sure that he stays a close to his blanket as possible (small wandering is ok, but we tempt him back with a toy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a little gentle interaction, he'll usually start resting and go to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever puppy gets too excitable (playing or biting), he goes back into the kitchen to blow off some steam (either plays by himself or with supervision).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever he gets into a nipping mood, he goes into the kitchen by himself or taken to the relief area if he's not been in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T15:35:56.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15645" CreationDate="2016-11-22T15:58:20.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted 2 very small kittens who were abandoned when their mama was struck and killed by a car. (I was told this by the agency who called me, as a volunteer to feed the kittens as they were only 3-4 weeks old). I, of course fell in love with the sisters, but had never had 2 or more kittens so close in age and found it is completely different raising 2 kittens as opposed to one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your kittens chasing each other and fighting each other, that's exactly what they are doing. It is jealousy and as odd as it may sound, possession of you! I found that my kittens did the same thing but when I wasn't around would love each other. As soon as I would get home, the hissing, fighting would begin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try playing a game with both of them like pulling a string for them to chase giving each one equal time then hug and pet the one that catches the string and let that kitten know it's the other's turn to play. Also, when they are comforting the other one make a big deal about what sweet good kitties they are. They will understand that it makes you happy and make sure you pet both of them together while telling them how good they are. They will stop competing with each other for your sole attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8388" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T15:58:20.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15778" CreationDate="2016-11-22T19:55:44.010" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have this new member of our family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4tMgx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4tMgx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kbodq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kbodq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breeder told us that he is a german spitz small. But when i checked the sizes of that type, if it is above 30 cm height from shoulder then it should be german spitz medium. This bad boy in the picture is 13 weeks old and already 25 cm long from the shoulder. They say dogs usually grow a lot between 4 months-6 months and he is not even 4 months old. Does that mean he is gonna be a larger dog than a spitz small? I mean 5 cm does not seem too much. What do you think guys? Is he a medium size spitz?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8389" LastEditorUserId="8389" LastEditDate="2016-11-22T20:00:57.647" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T20:55:18.370" Title="German Spitz type?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15777" CreationDate="2016-11-22T20:55:18.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you met and interacted with the dam when you picked up your puppy - how large was she?  That's going to be the best indicator of how large your puppy will eventually be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that he is currently at 25 cm it's unlikely he will meet the breed standard for a Klein (small).  The German Spitz has only been recently treated as two separate varieties, thus sizes have not really cemented themselves yet.  Often you find a Klein growing as big as a Mittel and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-11-22T20:55:18.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-23T00:28:32.323" Score="2" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 gallon aquarium and have one medium size goldfish in the tank. About a month ago, I decided to purchase couple of live plants. Once I got it, I simply planted it into the tank without cleaning the plants. About a week later, I saw a small snail. I was surprise to see it but not alarmed. Then, 3 days later 2 more. On a closer inspection, I saw many what looked like snail eggs on the plants and on the glass. Today, I was looking at the tank and found many tiny snails. Plus, it looks like my gold fish was bitten by something. On one side of the fish, it looks like something took a big bite of the fish. So, is my goldfish of 7 years doomed and is going to die? and Will I be able to get rid of the snails out of my tank? I think I have snail infestation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8394" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-01-11T23:12:29.457" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T05:29:07.720" Title="Can small snails bite medium size gold fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15705" CreationDate="2016-11-23T01:35:12.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have taken the snake to a professional. Although the swelling was severe there was nothing protruding from the vent that would indicate a prolapse. Also there was no bloody stool on other bacterial signs that would indicate cloacitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet claimed it is common for snakes to have, in broad terms, constipation.&#xA;Soaking the snake in lukewarm water every other day helped the swelling.&#xA;Whereas feeding smaller meals would prevent the issue in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After massaging the area and soaking the snake the swelling is gone. I also downsized the mice and feed less frequently for the time being to prevent the swelling again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T01:35:12.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15779" CreationDate="2016-11-23T14:16:27.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;These snails are able to reproduce on their own so there's a few options to get rid of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Setting up snail traps and removing them yourself, as you see them scoop them out. I.e placing a small dish at bottom of tank with lettuce overnight, they will go to it and you can easily remove them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purchasing an assassin snail, they don't reproduce like crazy, are small and can thrive in cold water. There are other fish who can kill snails however they need warmer temperatures compared to goldfish. Since you only have a 10gal aquarium for your goldfish I wouldn't stock anything else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overfeeding can help these snails thrive, so be sure your goldfish eats all of his dinner :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chemical treatment can be found at your LFS however I'm not a fan of adding chemicals meant to kill something in aquariums, it may harm your fish.&#xA;-At this point you don't really need to remove the plant, your tank has eggs everywhere now as long as you can keep up with them popping up, purchase an assassin snail and remove the eggs as you see them you'll eventually get rid of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tiny snails won't bite your fish, they will just infest your tank and clog up the filter if not kept under control. &#xA;As for the bite, if it's on a fin he could have snagged it on something or got bit by another fish in the tank (unless he's alone)? Hard to say without pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-23T14:16:27.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15787" CreationDate="2016-11-23T20:15:30.750" Score="5" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to get an aquarium for my daughter, but I don't want it in her room, I want it in the lounge, so everyone can enjoy it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like things to look tidy so have been having a hard time finding a tank that I liked the look of that didn't have bad reviews (biOrb, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/gear/reviews/articles/review-cylindrical-aquarium-from-norrom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this review&lt;/a&gt; and am pretty keen on the one from norrom there (practicalfishkeeping.co.uk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only want a few fish in there, so I think the size is more than enough, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main questions are, what are the best kind of fish for this setup? Ideally I'm looking for things that would be very happy in this kind of tank, not eat each other but are also pretty, bright, unusual and active to please the kids!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really want to get a heater, so ideally fish that will be happy at room temperature whatever that may be (20 °C)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8399" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:03:44.510" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:48:17.703" Title="Pretty, bright, unusual and active fish acquisition advice for kids" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-23T23:07:52.307" Score="1" ViewCount="625" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a pet mouse who has some condition with her eyes that causes her to scratch them a lot. The local vet hasn't been particularly helpful (not for a lack of trying) and the various things they have offered us haven't helped much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her face is quite swolen up and she continues to scratch and causes her face to bleed. Other than the scratching she seems to be ok. My wife has been washing her face with cotton wool swabs and saline solution and it seems to help a bit but she still scratches a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas that might help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8400" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T03:54:35.730" Title="How to help a mouse with an eye infection?" Tags="&lt;scratching&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15785" CreationDate="2016-11-24T03:54:35.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a possible allergy sign, have you tried changing food? Not sure what you're feeding her now, but you could try cutting out different food items to see if you can spot the source and/or put her on a rice-based diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility there is the bedding, also something to consider changing up. If you're using wood, consider dropping it for something dust free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any event, we tend not to think about allergies in animals, but they get them. I have a cat on a special diet because she has wicked food allergies and so most common cat foods send her into a scratching fit to the point of injury. Mice are no different in this respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T03:54:35.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15784" CreationDate="2016-11-24T08:16:31.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all: Nice that you want to get your daughter some fish and even more awesome that you're not going the cheap route of grabbing some bland (and in the end unhealthy) gold fish glass or betta tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the biggest problem with your choice would indeed be the heating, because from your description you're most likely looking for tropical swarm fishes (like danios or tetras). While some of these might indeed be &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt; fine with room temperature, most prefer heated water. There might be exceptions, but right now I can't think of anything without looking it up, so maybe someone else got some better ideas here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However: How dead set on fishes are you? Because I could imagine another different alternative that might be very interesting for all of you to watch as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you considered putting &lt;strong&gt;shrimps&lt;/strong&gt; in there rather than fish? I'm not talking about the tiny species often sold as &lt;em&gt;sea men&lt;/em&gt; (or similar) in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several sub-species of small shrimps that will happily live in a 40l tank, even without any heating elements. And there are more advantages to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could setup the aquarium, get some taller plants for the center, add a few small caves and/or patches of moss and other plants offering hiding places (but also room to swim freely) and then – once the whole tank is cycled after a few weeks – get one or two &lt;strong&gt;ramshorn snails&lt;/strong&gt; and a group of 10-20 (I'd highly recommend 20) of &lt;em&gt;Neocaridina Davidi&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Neocaridina Heteropoda&lt;/em&gt;, often sold as &lt;strong&gt;cherry shrimp&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;sakura shrimp&lt;/strong&gt; (but naming might vary based on color).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cherry shrimps are &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; beginner/child friendly and accept a wide range of water qualities. The temperature might be anything from 4-27°C, so they'll be perfectly fine without heating and won't mind the water getting warmer in summer. Also they'll happily procreate in fresh water aquariums and aren't cannibalistic. As such you can start with 10-20 animals and – depending on feeding etc. – will produce new offspring once every 4-8 weeks. Their eggs and baby shrimps will stick to their mother's gills until they're big enough to survive on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They'll live for 1-2 years, but younger animals will constantly take their place to ensure there's always something to watch (and you don't have to buy new ones). Also they're not very picky regarding food and will happily keep your tank clean, even if you miss some dead animal (they won't attack living ones).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're available in many different colors (their original one is transparent with some black or reddish patterns), but offspring occasionally will have different colors. Price varies greatly on color and could be anything from 50 Pence up to several Pounds (I'm assuming you're from the UK). Keep in mind they won't grow bigger than 2-3cm (females being on the larger end). But once their population is healthy enough, you could even add some bigger shrimp who'll sometimes try to eat the smaller species (so it's not a good start for the beginning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a short clip showcasing the red variation in a 20l tank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo11owXZjrA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo11owXZjrA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video has quite a few of them swimming around (natural color variation):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUkl_Qy-ZEY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUkl_Qy-ZEY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior isn't based on color. These are just two random video clips I've picked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; If your daughter really wants to go with fishes, go with fishes or let her choose. You can also combine shrimps with fishes, but that obviously won't solve the initial problem. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mind asthetics, getting the heater in the aquarium you've chosen might be a bit tricky. It won't be huge, but still clearly visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the aquarium doesn't have to be round, there are tons of different nano aquarium designs out there, often only having some small bar or &quot;box&quot; on one side with filters, heater, etc. inside. One design I really like is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005WEDVIM/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fluval Edge&lt;/a&gt;, but it's rather small for fishes (possible, but on the lower end):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mXYt8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mXYt8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture of the Fluval Edge on Amazon&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also go with a simple glass cube (available from different manufacturers) and add a small filter and heater that will be put into the tank. You'll somehow have to deal with lighting and power lines for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2016-11-24T09:37:25.730" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T09:37:25.730" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15789" CreationDate="2016-11-24T08:51:16.317" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, I had attached the picture and if anyone know the breed and how old is the kitten? He is no longer breastfeed and eat kitten food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QaMId.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QaMId.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8401" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T15:58:11.767" Title="How to know kitten's breed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-11-25T04:58:50.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15788" CreationDate="2016-11-24T15:58:11.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats you will find are mixes that are defined by color and length of fur then by a breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your kitty were to come to a veterinary hospital he would be marked as a Domestic Short-hair (DSH), tabby or tabby-calico (looks like he has white, orange and black?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-11-24T15:58:11.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-24T19:05:05.187" Score="3" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;A mother gave birth to 5 puppies near my apartment, which is in an isolated area, a short while ago. I only noticed them 4 nights ago and started to feed her 2 chicken drumsticks everyday which is no where near enough but it was all I could do. She gave birth to one brown puppy, 3 which are a mixture of brown and white and one completely black which is the odd one out. I didn't notice anything odd yesterday but today I noticed that she moved her all puppies to a new new location, only a few feet away from the old one, except her black puppy which was left all alone. I picked it up and put it with its brothers and sisters and that point is started drizzling. I came back after 2 hours and found that the mother had moved all her puppies again to a warmer location except for the black one. It was left out in the cold under the rain and it screeching while it's mother was only 5 steps away and seemed to pay it no mind. Clearly she has decided to abandon this one. I picked her up, brought her home and warmed her up with a blanket but I don't know what I should do. It does not seem to have any congenital abnormalities. I don't know if it is sick or if the mother just can't take care of all five so she had to abandon  one. There is no vet out here where I live and definitely no store that sells puppy milk formula. What do I do with it and what do I feed it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8403" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T09:47:25.207" Title="What to do with an abandoned puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-24T20:43:12.760" Score="2" ViewCount="842" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O06np.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed this after he shed.&#xA;Is this an in-grown nail or something else? It seems to be irritated, and red, at the tip of the toe where the object (nail?) Begins. But the rest of his claws are white. &#xA;Has anyone else seen this before? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8404" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2016-11-25T04:58:12.483" LastActivityDate="2018-06-29T14:49:41.730" Title="In-grown nail or something stuck in his toe?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15790" CreationDate="2016-11-25T09:47:25.207" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Call the nearest dog rescue center and ask them for advice.  They deal with this kind of case all of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2016-11-25T09:47:25.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-27T09:45:01.073" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 12 month old kitten and there is an older female cat in the area. This older cat comes around to our house and picks up our cat by the neck, carrying her around. Our cat does not get bitten and does not react to the older cat's behaviour, but is the displayed maternal behavior from the neighbor's cat normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8410" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T00:50:54.880" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T00:50:54.880" Title="Is it normal for a cat to display maternal behavior while not being the mother?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15795" CreationDate="2016-11-27T13:20:25.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different cats have different levels of the tendency to want to take care of babies. One cat I knew tended to steal kittens from multiple other mother cats in the same household, even after she was fixed. All the kittens from two other litters ended up in one box with her in it. Any cat that has an excess of this nurturing instinct may try to mother (take care of) any kittens or young cats it can find or sometimes even other young animals like puppies or rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2016-11-27T13:20:25.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15851" CreationDate="2016-11-27T18:27:48.520" Score="2" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a basket of all sorts of toys. During the day, she will not play with them at all, and I know this for a fact because she takes them out and their scattered around my home. But around 3:00am to 4:00am when it's completely dark, I happen to wake up; and her toys are scattered everywhere. She's been playing with her toys at this time for quite some time and I wonder why it's only around this time and not during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:43:22.613" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T10:33:22.847" Title="Why does my cat only play with her toys late at night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-28T04:15:56.450" Score="0" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it necessary to wet grains, pellets or even chaff? Are there particular ingredients that one should look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Australia chaff is routinely mixed with horse feeds. This is a practice that is not common to all parts of the world. Chaff is a good way to administer vitamins, minerals and salt, any other additives that a horse may need, when a horse doesn't need to be hard fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-22T14:14:32.090" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T15:41:42.660" Title="Is it necessary to wet hard feeds?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-28T05:12:11.123" Score="4" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does chaff compare to hay in terms of nutrition and fibre?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, does lucerne chaff contain the same protein levels as lucerne hay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T17:14:59.173" Title="How does chaff compare to hay?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-28T18:11:58.733" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pasture is meant to be a good natural source of omega 3. Would feeding meadow hay replace that? If so would a diet of 30-40% meadow hay be enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T18:11:58.733" Title="Is meadow hay a good source of omega 3" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15163" CreationDate="2016-11-28T21:02:32.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No dog toys are truly indestructible, although the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2gB8wlQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;KONG Extreme&lt;/a&gt; line is very durable and this &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fFvtmV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Goughnuts ring is guaranteed indestructible&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fuiskW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they also have a tug toy&lt;/a&gt;).  I would certainly take the guarantee with a grain of salt, but providing the toughest toys available is a good start.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now onto your main question - how to prevent your pup from destroying/eating all of her toys.  The best way to ensure your pup isn't destroying all of her toys is to make it more rewarding to practice another behavior or to remove the reward from this behavior.  It will be a bit easier to remove the reward than to compete with it, so that's what I'll focus on.  Beagle's were bred as pack hunters, and as such your pup needs loads of exercise and stimulation (mental and physical).  I'm assuming you've gone through basic obedience training when you first got her.  If not, start there.  Your pup should be reliable with basic commands, such as sit, stay, and come (that last one is a life saver).  Aside from daily trips to the dog park or dog daycare (assuming this is your only dog), you should be practicing obedience training throughout each day.  If you can afford to, getting your dog into a sport (like agility or flyball) will alleviate a lot of her excess energy which she's currently releasing onto her toys.  You can search for a training club near you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/events/training-clubs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day a tired dog is a good dog.  By making sure she's properly stimulated with appropriate activities you will ensure that she doesn't feel the need to destroy all of her toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2016-11-28T21:10:29.193" LastActivityDate="2016-11-28T21:10:29.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9351" CreationDate="2016-11-28T23:46:24.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take to a vet, possible injury. Happened to my dog turned out to be a nail that was growing weird needed real attention&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8418" LastEditorUserId="8418" LastEditDate="2016-11-29T00:20:50.247" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T00:20:50.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15997" CreationDate="2016-11-29T01:01:52.460" Score="2" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I have a 6 month old male rabbit who is very friendly. He lives outside most of the time but he gets to come inside daily and have a play in the living room + kitchen for at least a couple of hours which he enjoys, and he loves being around people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What he doesn't like is being picked up. When we have to pick him up he'll be very specific about how he's held, but he's still visibly uncomfortable (though not aggressive). We understand why he doesn't like being picked up (prey instinct etc), but we don't understand what happens next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After we put him back down, he'll wander into the middle of the living room and do the biggest flop we've ever seen. Usually this mean's he'll do a full 270 degree roll from standing to laying on the opposite side he started rolling from. My understanding of rabbit behaviour (I'm pretty new to the gig) is that a flop is a sign of contentment, but he's clearly pretty grumpy about the whole ordeal. What gives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8419" LastEditorUserId="8419" LastEditDate="2016-12-30T19:01:52.883" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T19:23:12.713" Title="Why does my rabbit &quot;flop&quot; after he's been picked up?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-29T05:02:11.953" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old lab. He's the happiest dog I've ever had, you just look at him and he starts wagging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My daughter (she's an adult) comes to visit me and my wife every 6 months or so, my lab is in total love with her. As soon as she gets out of her truck he goes insane to get to her to love her up. I don't understand it. He's been like this since he was a puppy with her, she's the only one he'll lick, he licks her face, he sits on or beside her and follows her everywhere and waits by her door in the morning and goes crazy when she gets up. He loves us and is always happy but when she comes it puts him into a whole other world it's like he's euphoric. When she goes back home he mopes around for a day or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the reason for that behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8420" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T00:51:29.973" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T00:51:29.973" Title="My lab mopes when my daughter goes home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15163" CreationDate="2016-11-29T08:18:35.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your beagle is adolescent. In my experience, young dogs begin to &quot;settle down&quot; around one and a half to two years of age. (Of course there is great variation to this &quot;rule of thumb&quot; between breeds and even within breeds.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you might be around six months from enjoying a more mature and less destructive pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cattle kelpie has a beautiful nature now, but was a real rascal when he was young. In fact his behaviour began to settle down when he was around a year and a half old and he was a far more responsive and less mischievous companion once he was two years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - look on the bright side - your beagle is chewing her toys and not your furniture or your shoes or your clothes or your bed linen...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My humble advice is to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be patient for the next six months and allow your beagle to enjoy her adolescence (so long as she restricts her destructive behaviour to her toys); and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be thankful that your beagle is directing her energy to her toys and not anything else in your home. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also direct you to my response to a question about durable chewing toys...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/12354/1257&quot;&gt;Rottweiler - need a durable chewing toy or ball, DESPERATE OWNER :)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/12382/1257&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T08:18:35.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9656" CreationDate="2016-11-29T18:49:33.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two things we'd do with reluctant dogs and regular medications is either mix it with some wet dog food or some low-fat salad dressing. It's easy to break the capsule open and hard pills can be stuck in a small piece of aluminum foil or plastic wrap and tap it with a hammer till it's powder. I used to keep a plastic spoon. I'd put the powder on it, and a spoon worth of low-fat honey mustard dressing, and my lab would suck down her joint supplements with no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T18:49:33.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15159" CreationDate="2016-11-29T19:04:52.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to give her a compelling reason to not jump off of the steps. She isn't going to be nearly as interested in listening to you tell her to slow down as she is going to be to get out in the yard and smell things. You have to be the bigger incentive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd get a high value treat and put her on a leash. I'd get her to the last couple of steps and stop her. Get her to look at you and give her the treat. You can repeat this on the way back up the steps as well, still stopping on the bottom two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing this, you're creating a really nice association with slowing down or stopping on the bottom couple of steps. Then when she goes down them on her own, the thought of the treat that going to that step associates in her mind might cause her to slow enough no to jump. It'll probably take multiple repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also help to play a little before you go outside to knock that edge off her energy. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T19:04:52.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2016-11-29T19:43:09.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just acquired a 2/3 year old JRT, who seriously needs expert training which I have already arranged. The Trainer states that dogs should not be fed in the morning, but rather at midday or early evening. This lady has forty years experience in dog behaviour and training. I think part of the reason is that the dog will then be more interested in treats as rewards through the training regime. Hope this helps.  Dave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8425" LastActivityDate="2016-11-29T19:43:09.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-30T01:54:34.737" Score="2" ViewCount="524" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 7 month old Saint Bernard dog would bite strangers out of excitement while being on walks. He is not a tiny dog, this scares people and they think he is trying to be aggressive. It is embarrassing and unacceptable. It also makes it difficult when the stranger encourages the behavior while I'm saying &quot;don't bite&quot; and holding his mouth shut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also pulls uncontrollably towards people while we are passing, as well as towards dogs. He goes crazy when he sees another dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get him to stop pulling and biting? I've been using the excuse that he is a puppy and just excited, for too long. Please help! I want to fix this as soon as possible! On top of that, we live in an apartment complex that is very dog friendly. We constantly run into dogs and people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's the most loving dog, he just needs to learn some manners!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8427" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T23:18:15.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T23:18:15.870" Title="Saint Bernard puppy pulling and biting problem" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15811" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-30T03:05:15.423" Score="2" ViewCount="1069" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 year old cat, who has been peeing/pooping in our basement. She has done this before a while ago, but stopped the habit after changing her litter. Then, this past summer, we took down our shed and much of it's contents are currently in our garage where her litter box is. Soon after, she started refusing to use the litter box. My mother got tired of cleaning up after her and put her outside for the summer. (She is an indoor/outdoor cat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've recently let her back in due to the cold weather (after 4-5 months I'd say) and us being out of town for Thanksgiving. It was easier to get someone to feed her that way if she's in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first she seemed fine and had no issue. We were more careful to clean her litter box more often. And coming back from Thanksgiving, we found pee/poo in the house again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't want the litter box in the house, because she is usually messy with it and there really isn't any convenient space in the house for it. I don't think it's a urinary infection, because she hadn't gotten back into the habit until we tore down the shed. We aren't going to get her checked out, because it's expensive and we are pretty positive it's the stuff in the garage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am just not sure what to do anymore to correct this. She'll get put in the garage for the winter if she doesn't stop this act. I think come this next summer we'll put up a new shed, but until then I'm not sure what I can do. But if this keeps up, she'll be kicked out of the house again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8428" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T00:41:34.610" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T00:41:34.610" Title="Cat keeps peeing/pooping in the basement" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9918" CreationDate="2016-11-30T03:08:50.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive got 8 neons in a tank with one female betta, they all get along. We only use betta pellets, but the betta and neons share. I think if you have a female betta as opposed to a male, then they are a lot less aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8430" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:07:19.803" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:07:19.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15212" CreationDate="2016-11-30T07:35:09.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add another idea in addition to the other answers. I'm coming from the perspective of a dog owner so please take that into consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cattle kelpie is now 16 years old. He was hospitalised after a severe spinal injury almost three years ago. After the hospitalisation and during his recovery period he was very sensitive to food. We reacted by making sure his food was thoroughly cooked and every aspect of our preparation and his eating was sterile. He's suffered from digestive issues over the last one and a half years that have manifested as long and severe bouts of diarrhea and &quot;jelly&quot; poo, which is sad. A number of carefully controlled diets failed to solve the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first hint of the solution came when the vet prescribed calf scour tablets. This medication was developed to stop baby calves dying from dehydration due to diarrhea. The symptoms are usually associated with poor gut health. We continue to treat our boy with a quarter tablet every three to four days. It helped a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step was to feed him natural, mostly raw food. This was to encourage his body to produce the correct proteins in his bile duct and gallbladder during digestion. No dried food or grains. Raw beef mince, egg, spinach leaves and a spoonful of yoghurt for breakfast. Some partially cooked chicken and vegges for dinner. It helped more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final step was to feed him beef bones at least twice a week, in the dirt. I'm not joking - it was an accident the first time - it works! Raw beef bones fed to our dog on a patch of dirt. We allowed the bone to become covered in dirt throughout the eating process. Obviously healthy garden soil is preferable and avoid local environmental disasters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It helped fix his digestive issues. He needs the beneficial microorganisms in the soil to help maintain gut health. Now he is the healthiest he's been since the accident! No more diarrhea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I think I forgot he was a dog and tried to keep him wrapped up in a blanket and fed on baby food. Certainly he needed that for a little while, but not in the long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All animals are different and even within breeds there is vast variation. Cats are different to dogs but both are evolved from meat eating species that lived in harsh environments without the &quot;cleanliness&quot; that humans surround ourselves with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps our experience can give you a thought about how you might help heal your cat's digestive issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T04:26:04.553" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:26:04.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15810" CreationDate="2016-11-30T07:51:34.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try using a &quot;Chirp and Treat&quot; technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, when you're out on a walk and he's behaving nicely, make a short, sharp chirp sound (or use a clicker) to grab his attention and them immediately reward with a small treat.  Repeat this at intervals (but not too often) so that he learns to associate the chirp with reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a small toy with you on walks is also a good distraction and can be used to bring focus back to you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, simply chirping will distract him away from distractions and put his attention back onto yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When approaching other dogs, it may help to place yourself between the other dogs and your puppy and keep him back with your knees.  Pulling back on a leash while the dog is in front of you invariably does nothing more than reinforce the pulling tendency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T07:51:34.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15821" CreationDate="2016-11-30T11:53:34.053" Score="1" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I brush my cat with this thing:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3sX1P.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3sX1P.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I brush her every three days. My cat's fur is medium length (she's not long-haired; more like the cat in the picture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with the brushing I still have cat hair everywhere in my room: on bedcovers, socks, and other clothes; and it's very hard to get rid of it!  I even don't know how to cleanup my bedcover right now, it's all covered in cat fur. I tried to wash it in the washing machine but this didn't help (and my cat likes to sleep on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to stop this fur apocalypse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8431" LastEditorUserId="6801" LastEditDate="2016-12-02T09:58:13.033" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T13:40:15.380" Title="How to get rid of cat fur all over and around my room?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5500" CreationDate="2016-11-30T12:24:23.630" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a albino I think it's a sure more reason it's a rainfall but on here there calling it a rainwater she's tiny as can be I just got her home 8 days ago . She wouldn't eat nothing at all until 3 days ago . Albinos are typical  have no color at all that means all white .blizzards have color until there older and turn all white when you think of albino you think pale white with red eyes . In my opinion and as read I would place the blizzard as a type of albino some other geckos like the blizzard the Diablo are not true albino because they will have a pink or yellow on them in my opinion is not true Albino but I know the 3 Albino straits . And I know for sure blizzards are a type . And the three albinos are very cool because they only have certain features that make them the type they are and I think that's cool but when I think albino I think white with red eyes but not all albinos have red eyes . I used to have snakes I had a Albino all white and special albino called a snow albino which was completely white with other patterns of white so I undertstans there are different types of albino I just wanted to say my point to where not all albinos are all the same like I said some people say a blizzard is not a albino at all due to patternless but like I said when you think of a albino you think of a all white like a blizzard . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8432" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T12:24:23.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15811" CreationDate="2016-11-30T16:01:11.160" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the things from the shed are making her uncomfortable/spooked. They may have smells from other animals. Put a litter box somewhere else in the house. Your pet is a member of the family and needs a bathroom space where she feels safe  even if it's not convenient, it's part of being a cat owner. I use a top entry litter box like &quot;Clever Cat&quot; to cut down on the mess and litter spread. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8434" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T16:01:11.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15810" CreationDate="2016-11-30T19:26:42.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of telling him 'no', try making a 'that-hurt' kind of sound (a more high-pitched yelp, followed by a few seconds of wimpering noises while holding the area he playfully bit). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like our dog, he may respond better to the worry that he hurt you than to being told off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8436" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T19:26:42.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15811" CreationDate="2016-11-30T19:59:06.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either clean up the stuff in the garage at all or get a storage locker until the new shed is complete.  Also, you can look into getting some litter attractant like &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2glCfT1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.  It's basically a special kind of litter that is formulated to attract cats by scent and make them want to eliminate in the appropriate spot.  Other logistical options include a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2glCkG9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;top entry litter box&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2fENy9t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;extended entry enclosed litter boxes&lt;/a&gt;, which will virtually eliminate any dust or mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Locking the cat in the garage alone all winter is only going to make her crazy, and she may become destructive in other ways.  I second other respondents in saying you need to take your cat to the vet and get her checked out.  Even if it seems like nothing is wrong, you aren't a doctor and may be missing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you can't afford to give your cat proper veterinary care, then you can't afford to have a cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I'm not sure where you live, but I'm in one of the most expensive cities in the world and a visit to the vet (with shots and blood or fecal tests) rarely runs over $200.  There are also clinics and animal care organizations which provide inexpensive vet care if you are having a hard time managing the expense.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-11-30T19:59:06.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-11-30T21:34:56.803" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own 2 dogs, one of them have worms (2 months) while the other doesn't (7 years). I was completely shocked when I saw worms going into my floor! If my other dog (no worms) walk into an area where the worms burrowed into, is he going to be okay? Or will the worms go somewhere else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8437" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T14:50:54.687" Title="What do I do if my puppy's worms burrow into the floor!" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15815" CreationDate="2016-12-01T03:39:13.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats Shed. Most cats have fur of more than one color so they can visibly shed on anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vacuuming, especially a vacuum that has a small beater-brush for upholstery, can help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Velour fur removers,&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rrli3.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rrli3.png&quot; alt=&quot;Velour lint brush&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[the red cloth on the brush picks up fur from furniture or carpet]&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sticky fur removers,&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QUjow.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QUjow.png&quot; alt=&quot;Sticky lint brush&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[hair sticks to the scotch-tape like surface]&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or grooming gloves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/asHP2.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/asHP2.png&quot; alt=&quot;Pet grooming glove&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[surface is similar to rubber and picks up hair when petting cat]&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can all help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping clothes in drawers and closets can help. Picking clothing that has colors and patterns that hide the fur can help more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I gave up ages ago. Except for formal clothing, I simply accept that I will be wearing evidence that I have a cat, and if it bothers anyone that is &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; problem, not mine. The formal clothing gets stored in bags, checked for new fur before I go out, and bagged again immediately after dry-cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(People shed too, but we have hair rather than fur, and it behaves a bit differently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="6801" LastEditDate="2016-12-07T13:40:15.380" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T13:40:15.380" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15822" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15824" CreationDate="2016-12-01T03:53:37.373" Score="4" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a fairly regular basis, my cat will do this thing where it looks like she's going to throw up, but then she only gags and nothing happens. One way to describe the motion would be a person who gags / acts like they're going to throw up but then covers their mouth like you'd see in a sitcom. Obviously my cat doesn't cover her mouth, but everything else is basically the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've mentioned in a previous question that my cat likes to eat non-edible things such as paper, plastic, etc. I've made a conscious effort to hide any and all plastic over the last year, and I am fairly confident that she has not eaten any plastic in the last 8-12 months. She does occasionally manage to bite and chew a small piece of paper, but that seems to happen pretty infrequently and typically with only a very small piece of paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why could she be doing this? Is it because of her past eating habits? Is it because she's a long haired cat and licks herself basically all day (i.e. she swallows a lot of fur)? Is there anything I could do with her diet to potentially help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7065" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T14:37:54.140" Title="Why is my cat gagging?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15822" CreationDate="2016-12-01T14:37:54.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is common behaviour when a cat has hairballs, and hairballs are especially common with long-haired cats. You can purchase a hairball remedy at any pet store, or order one on-line. It's a sticky brown gel/paste. The easiest way to get the cat to take it is to put some on the cat's fur (the cat will immediately lick it off to get its fur clean). You'll probably want to apply it once a week as a preventative measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your profile, I gather that you're in the U.S. One of the common brands of hairball remedies is called Petromalt, if I remember correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T14:37:54.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15820" CreationDate="2016-12-01T14:50:54.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it depends on the type of worms that your dog has. Dogs can be infected with a variety of species of worms, with different lifecycles. Some worms can only be transmitted through an intermediate host, such as a mosquito. Some worms lay eggs which are passed in the dog's stool, and can then be ingested by another dog. Some worms enter through openings in the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&amp;amp;aid=757&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; contains more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-12-01T14:50:54.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15834" CreationDate="2016-12-02T01:30:40.723" Score="2" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Background&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently purchased a 3 month old female Persian kitten which was born last August.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;We already have a one year old male border collie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both animals grew with their counterparts in their initial families &lt;em&gt;(the place were they were born)&lt;/em&gt;. That is : the puppy liked to play with a short aired cat and the kitten liked to sleep with a Bichon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is twice as big as the Bichon my cat knew. When my dog sees the kitten, it run after it &lt;em&gt;(but it doesn’t growl or bristles its hair)&lt;/em&gt;. It also ends up crying if it can’t approach my kitten &lt;em&gt;(either because it watches it through the window of the garden or because my kitten is in a cupboard)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The real problem is the kitten : it is completely terrified of the border collie. It arches its back and constantly tries to escape my dog when it is in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ends up in one of the following situation :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The kitten manages to climb a cupboard in order to escape. This makes the border collie cry so much that I need to put it in the garden.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog manages to corner the cat in the house and sit in front of it without touching it &lt;em&gt;(in that case it doesn’t cry)&lt;/em&gt;, but the kitten is so afraid that it doesn’t try to bit or scratch at the border collie. As result, the dog doesn’t learn it should leave the cat alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of them can last several hours &lt;em&gt;(the dog doesn’t move an inch)&lt;/em&gt;. In both cases, my female Persian kitten still has its heart pulsing very very fast after that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Result&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 month of confrontation with Feliway® and FeliFriend® seems to have made my cat's fear stronger &lt;em&gt;(at the same time it has no problem with other humans even those it doesn’t know)&lt;/em&gt;. I don’t try to force their relationship. I leave them alone when they are together.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This is problematic since I expect the cat to hunt the wild birds which eat the fruits of my garden every day next summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no ideas of what I should do at that point. At least, if my cat ends up having less fear, it could teach the dog to not play with it, so they could avoid each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8441" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T00:21:42.460" Title="How to teach female Persian kittens to no longer be scared by male border collie?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-02T10:50:00.757" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;How could I train my cat not to scratch everything while I need to go to school and my mother to work? I want educational advices that i could learn her when she is little. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8444" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-02T16:08:12.587" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T13:09:57.747" Title="How can I train my cat not to scratch furniture?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15828" CreationDate="2016-12-02T12:24:06.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best option is to work &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; your cat's instincts, rather than against them. Cats have an instinct to scratch so you need to provide suitable objects for them to scratch on that are more attractive than your furniture. Buy (or make) several scratching posts, bait them with catnip, and place them around the house. Cats like to scratch when they wake up, so put scratching posts near favourite sleeping spots. Another good place is right next to any place your cat has a tendency to scratch (like the arm of a sofa).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reward your kitten (with treats or praise) for using the scratching posts, and she will build good associations with sratching there. She will learn to prefer scratching on the surfaces you provide instead of your furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T12:24:06.150" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15864" CreationDate="2016-12-02T12:27:33.267" Score="-2" ViewCount="19975" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6.5 year old dog (neutered Lakeland Terrier male) masturbates on a daily basis. The sight and sounds of it are highly disturbing to me, as you can imagine (or not). The worst part is his sheath gets stuck, requiring me to &quot;unroll&quot; it. He usually does it while I'm asleep, so I don't even have the chance to stop him in the act, but even then it's too late, as he'd already be stuck in lipstick position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read suggestions to use a cone or bitter spray, but that seems like a temporary solution. Is there something more permanent to stop these urges (like medication)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8445" LastActivityDate="2019-12-25T05:45:50.710" Title="How do I stop my dog from masturbating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-02T16:26:56.537" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, can I train a cat or a dog to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8448" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T23:05:16.487" Title="Can I train a cat/dog to capture stray/feral kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15832" CreationDate="2016-12-02T17:50:12.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are easier to train than cats, short answer is yes it is possible to train dogs to catch kittens. Many breeds of dogs can be &quot;soft mouth&quot; trained.  In this scenario the animal they are retrieving is handled softly so they are not injured.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the number of issues, make it too problematic to use as solution. For instance how do you identify the kitten is stray/feral?  It would be nearly impossible to identify a kitten as stray as opposed to a cat belonging to a neighbor. How are you going to explain to the neighbor when your dog keeps bringing their cat to you?  Also the risk of injury to the dog is substantial. Neither the kitten nor it's mother are going to appreciate the kitten being taken away by a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more practical solution is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1699/why-are-cats-released-as-part-of-spay-and-release-programs&quot;&gt;spay and release&lt;/a&gt; capture the female stray before she has babies and spay her. Kittens need to be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1848/what-is-most-appropriate-age-to-neuter-spay-a-cat&quot;&gt;4-6 months old before spay/neuter&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T17:50:12.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15827" CreationDate="2016-12-02T20:41:49.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you need to make sure the cat has some place she can go to get away from the dog. That can be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2gPABJM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat tree&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2h3kUzn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some other cat furniture&lt;/a&gt;, or even a small place in the garden that's fenced off.  &lt;em&gt;Solving this problem is going to be less about teaching your cat to be comfortable with the dog and more about teaching the dog how to behave around the cat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right in that it's unlikely your dog is trying to hurt the cat.  Border Collie's are herding dogs.  It's likely that he is trying to herd your cat, which is why he is able to remain keeping the cat cornered for long periods of time without becoming bored.  The way the alleviate this behavior is through obedience training.  Basic commands, such as 'sit', 'stay', 'come', and 'leave it' will be of great help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, ensuring that your dog has ample outlets for his energy will help reduce his drive to chase and herd your cat.  It's not enough to merely have a yard for your dog to run around in, given the breed.  You may want to consider taking up a canine sport, such as agility or rally.  These can provide a job for your dog, which Border Collie's definitely need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-12-02T20:41:49.533" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-03T03:26:03.090" Score="2" ViewCount="1089" Body="&lt;p&gt;we just built a new home.  We brought our Staffie, Bella, to house last weekend (7 days ago) for a pre-moving in overnight stay so she can get to know the environment. Those 2 days she looked depreseed and developed diahorea and would not eat.  Last night we brought her for her first night.  We put her doghouse right by the back door and her food and water bowls next to it.  I got up at 4am to get her indoors before sunrise.  I saw that she had completely covered her food and water bowls with sand.  When she heard me call, she came out of her doghouse and covered her food with more sand before coming to me.  Very weird.  I believe this can be stress??  What can I do to help her relax and settle in with us?  The boundary walls are not yet done, so we keep her indoors most of the time (she loves running outside) and take for walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope she is okay.  Don't know what I can do for her.&#xA;Many thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8450" LastEditorUserId="8529" LastEditDate="2016-12-19T05:34:56.433" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T05:34:56.433" Title="My dog covers food and water bowls with sand" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15830" CreationDate="2016-12-04T05:01:26.093" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your dog fixed? If it isn't, then his 'behavior' is going to continue until you do. &#xA;If your dog is fixed, and this is just something he does, I have one suggestion I could offer.&#xA;I worked at a pet store for a few years, and there is actually an um... sex toy for dogs, essentially. It sort of looks like one of those hand-held back massagers in shape (that 4-prong thing) but its dog-sized. It comes with a spray that is meant to mimic the hormones from a female in heat, and you put this 'object' in the corner of your house somewhere that is genuinely out of sight. Its made of a type of plastic that is easy to clean, and its meant to encourage your dog to act out its behavior on that. It should stop your dogs penis from becoming 'unsheathed' to the point where you have to do something about it.   This is actually something designed for dogs who aren't fixed, can't breed, etc.  They're going to have natural instincts and this just offers you a somewhat better option then just having him hump your furniture and well, whatever it wants.  Unfortunately animals are sexual beings, and aside from you doping him up to the point where he just lays there all day (horrible quality of life for you dog!) I don't think there is much you can really do other then behavioral training.&#xA;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8451" LastActivityDate="2016-12-04T05:01:26.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15408" CreationDate="2016-12-04T08:01:11.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not possible to answer this question, there are too many variables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of, all ceramic rings have different sizes and different manufacturers&#xA;have different types of ceramic.&#xA;Ceramic filter media or other types of filter media have different surface size depending on type and brand.&#xA;The reason for using ceramic or other large surface types of filter media is&#xA;to give bacteria a place to break down waste to ammonia and then to nitrite before converting nitrite to nitrate (plant food).&#xA;So this means more filter media can handle more waste products from more fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is some useful information, even if it doesn't answer your exact question.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-31T19:30:43.713" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T19:30:43.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15839" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-04T11:28:46.060" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have caught my cat a couple of times chewing on household plants. Most of the plants now have chewed leaves. I have seen him do it outside but I suspect he might. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why does my cat chew on plant leaves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8315" LastActivityDate="2016-12-04T14:39:22.963" Title="Why does my cat eat plants?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15839" CreationDate="2016-12-04T14:39:22.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Roughage, to aid digestion, help them pass/regurgitate hairballs, and sometimes just because they like the texture or it cleans their teeth (same reasons some cats like puncturing paper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to discourage nibbling on your houseplants, consider planting a pot of cat grass (in the literal sense, not &quot;kitty pot&quot; aka catnip). Most pet suppliers offer seeds for one or another member of the grass family,  for just this purpose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-12-04T14:39:22.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15841" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-05T03:41:42.187" Score="4" ViewCount="9155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the UV lamp useful for decorative freshwater (aquarium) fishes or may it be rather dangerous instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I am aware the Sun causes fishes' coloration to saturate, and although the UV lamp only resembles sunlight, it is still supposed to provide such effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on the other hand, the irradiation is potentially harmful to people during protracted exposure; can it also be as dangerous to the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5629" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-02T23:13:40.697" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T23:13:40.697" Title="Is an UV lamp dangerous for fish?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16273" CreationDate="2016-12-06T00:00:09.967" Score="5" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Weimaraner barks VERY loudly (146dB measured with a precision meter) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What protects the dog's eardrums from this extreme noise?   My human ears are stunned by this volume and would certainly be damaged if I did not block the noise. Dogs cannot block it - so what is the mechanism that protects them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8456" LastEditorUserId="8456" LastEditDate="2016-12-07T18:55:08.527" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T19:06:07.833" Title="What protects a dog's hearing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-06T04:58:04.433" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom once had a German shepherd female who would submissively pee whenever they came home and looked her in the eyes. The vets gave her the advice that she should never look the dog in the eyes when she came home, as a strategy to break the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My brother, who was living with my mom at the time, thought this advice was ridiculous. He said every time he came home he deliberately approached the dog and looked her straight in the eyes and was very affectionate with her, scratching her ears, etc. The first 3-5 times she peed a little, but after that she completely stopped and went on to be a great dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;is there a theory of dog-training that explains why this worked?&lt;/strong&gt; My brother's approach seems like it would work intuitively, but since it is never offered as advice I wonder if there is more to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8458" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T12:48:19.883" Title="Submissive peeing - solved by staring into their eyes with affection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15844" CreationDate="2016-12-06T12:48:19.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I cannot look into that specific dogs head, what makes sense to me is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The dog learned to connect &quot;they come home and look me in the eye&quot; with &quot;and now they are gonna pet me and be very nice!&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As this then overrides the dogs instinctive &quot;he's looking me in the eye, he is angry, I better be very small and harmless!&quot;, no more submissive peeing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T12:48:19.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-06T12:52:00.267" Score="2" ViewCount="903" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am feeding pair of goldfish in bowl. I do change the water everyday morning, because I am filling the bowl with tap water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cleaning the bowl today morning, it jumped out and dropped on floor from 4 feet (120 cm) height. Then immediately I put her back in bowl, then it started swimming upside-down. What should I do to make my gold fish normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following picture I took when it was swimming normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h8Xho.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h8Xho.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8459" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T20:09:17.213" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T20:09:17.213" Title="Goldfish dropped on floor, then it started swimming upside down" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3056" CreationDate="2016-12-06T22:46:47.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat too, and he hates the harness as well. Maybe it is just uncomfortable for it so you can try getting a softer and less tight harness. If he or she is trying to reach behind and pull it off, that's a sign he doesn't want it. What I did is I left the cat with the harness on so he would get used to it, then attached a leash. Sometimes the cat just doesn't want to be on a leash. Train the cat and after putting on the harness give it a treat. Soon the cat will get used to the harness. As I said, sometimes the cat just doesn't want it, it's too tight or uncomfortable or he needs to get used to it. Hope this was helpful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8461" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T22:46:47.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15828" CreationDate="2016-12-06T22:50:47.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need your cat to know that it is wrong. Pull it away when it is doing it, or give it a little lecture. But don't do anything mean, it will just be scared of you. Buy something for it to scratch like a special cat carpet or scratching post, so it can scratch that. You may use a spray that keeps away your cat. Reward you cat when it scratches on the scratching post. As I said the best way it to teach it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8461" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T22:50:47.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15797" CreationDate="2016-12-06T22:56:40.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is because cats are most active at night and during the day it mostly naps and is not very energetic. Also at night the cat can see what looks like a mouse or prey, while during the day he can clearly see it and doesn't bother to chase it. Another reason may be that he just enjoys playing when no one is around, like at night, or his hunting skills usually perk up at night. I hop this was helpful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8461" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T22:56:40.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15832" CreationDate="2016-12-06T23:05:16.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can train a cat or dog to catch others, but the cat can be scared of the other, or when it hunts it down it is not trained to bring it back to you. Cats have sharp senses and are more good at hunting than dogs, which over the years have lost most of their hunting abilities. My answer is that you can train a cat or dog, mostly cat, to hunt down another stray one, but only if it wants to , don't force it to, if it is scared. The thing is the feral cat can have diseases and illness so it's best not to touch it. Still you need to know if the kitten is really stray or feral, you wouldn't want to kill a pet kitten. You can tell if it usually is seen wandering streets, no collar, dirty, and check if it looks like it knows what it doing, if it is used to the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8461" LastActivityDate="2016-12-06T23:05:16.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-07T05:25:39.610" Score="5" ViewCount="1448" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two rats often play wrestle, but last night it apparently escalated. I heard Dawn squeaking louder than usual, but didn't think anything about it; but this morning half her tail was missing and she's sooo scared! What in the world would cause my other rat to do this? They had more than enough food.&#xA;Dusk (the cannibal) has always been very timid and shy, where Dawn would explore and run around Dusk always stayed close to the cage. Having said that, Dusk has bitten me before...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8462" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-12T23:01:17.043" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T23:09:20.443" Title="Why did my pet rat eat her cage mate's tail?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-07T07:02:32.953" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been 2 days since my cat started going to the litter box but leaving no waste inside the box. Every time, he sits inside for a long time and acts like he's defecating or peeing, but as I said, nothing is produced. I'm not sure if he having difficulty with peeing or defecating. But I have checked that there are feces and that the shape and color is normal, and he defecates two or 3 times a day as usual. So I'm wondering if he's having trouble peeing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More frustratingly, he suddenly pees while sitting on my lap. This has happened 2 times. I wonder what happened to him, because this thing never happened before, as he always used the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8401" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T14:03:57.440" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T14:13:39.633" Title="Why kitten always go to litter box but no pee or stools?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8164" CreationDate="2016-12-07T09:50:32.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;[NOT A VET]&#xA;This looks like the nail has been torn off and the tissue underneath is undergoing necrosis. I suggest seeing a vet, it looks a bit swollen so it is probably infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T09:50:32.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15797" CreationDate="2016-12-07T09:53:15.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats prefer hunting in low light conditions and you might also be entertaining her during the day (with food, attention etc.). If you would like to encourage her to play on her her own during the day I suggest closing the blinds in her play room and turn the lights off. A bit of catnip would also assist with getting her to change her routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T09:53:15.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15846" CreationDate="2016-12-07T10:02:55.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's likely that they've gotten brain damage and there is probably not much you can do about that, you would need to see an aquatic vet for a proper assessment. If you want to improve the quality of their life I suggest buying an aquarium. It is &lt;strong&gt;extremely harmful&lt;/strong&gt; to keep goldfish in bowls, the only fish that can be kept in bowls are bettas. Goldfish need proper aquariums to live out their full lives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T10:02:55.423" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15836" CreationDate="2016-12-07T10:12:19.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she is used to running around but can't do this any more, I suggest taking her on a lot more walks than she usually gets. Letting her sleep with you for a few days until she is more accustomed to the place may also help. Moving her food/water bowls to a place where she can't cover it with things might encourage her to eat. Give her a lot of love, but don't change things too quickly it might stress her out more.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is also possible that the new place may have a bug that she caught, if the diarrhoea lasts longer than a week or the not eating last longer than a few days, take her to a vet. They should be able to also help with helping with cheering her up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T10:12:19.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15855" CreationDate="2016-12-07T10:31:48.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like constipation and some other related uncontrollable bladder issue which could be signs of something serious. Take him to a vet &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T10:31:48.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15855" CreationDate="2016-12-07T11:10:17.070" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does indeed sound like he is having trouble peeing, which might indicate an infection, partial blockage, kidney/bladder stones, among other things. I would take the cat to the vet immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T11:10:17.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15830" CreationDate="2016-12-07T20:07:28.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I solved my problem without medication, cones of shame, or &quot;toys&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00B90DTI0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;male dog wrap&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which is a soft washable cloth diaper that wraps around his belly, covering his privates. My dog doesn't seem to mind it. It really works well for my dog's situation. I just put it on at night. If he goes at it during the day, I tell him &quot;no&quot; and give him a timeout in his crate with the wrap on. Hopefully, this will train him to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00SLIHG8C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;cover-ups&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; for females in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8445" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T20:07:28.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15804" CreationDate="2016-12-07T21:18:58.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This actually is a very common problem for us with our dog and other people as well as other dogs. Whenever my sister comes to stay with her dog for a few days at our place and then leaves, our Rat Terrier/Sheltie mix always mopes for about a day and looks around for them. I believe it is simply habit/comfort. They are used to a person or animal being around and they feel uneasy when that person leaves, especially if they have a strong attachment to them. &lt;br /&gt;In the case of my sister's dog, my sister often forgets one her dog's toys and then our dog, who doesn't really play with toys all that often, becomes obsessed with it. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I would suggest is getting your daughter to leave something behind that has her scent such as a shirt or sweater she has worn but not washed yet. We actually used to do this when we kennel trained our dog as a puppy. I had a long sleeved t-shirt that pretty much stayed in his kennel 24/7 for the first year we had him. The scent reminds them of the person and can help calm them if they are uneasy about the change.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; This isn't actually specific to dogs either. Humans also strongly associate scents with our memories, dogs just have it that much stronger. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.njpetcommunity.com/pets-care-health/how-dogs-remember/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How dogs remember&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2014/10/how-does-dogs-brain-respond-to-smell-of.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Does a Dog's Brain Respond to the Smell of a Familiar Human?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8468" LastActivityDate="2016-12-07T21:18:58.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-08T05:22:20.247" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe my cat has come down with a cold. I have had a light cold for the last week or so, and unfortunately I think I may have passed it onto her as she started sneezing regularly a few days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to take care of her? Should I get her some kind of feline cold medicine, or just let her ride the cold out naturally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7065" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T15:20:15.730" Title="How do I take care of a cat with a cold?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15866" CreationDate="2016-12-08T11:00:26.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs cannot get your cold, sneezing can be related to a number of things like dust, something stuck up there (least common reason) or feline upper resp disease (most common) which overtime you'd get eye discharge. Sometimes they just sneeze and it's normal, unless excessive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned then feel free to check with a veterinarian as we can't do much without seeing her in person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T11:00:26.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15841" CreationDate="2016-12-08T14:10:57.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing can be compared to natural sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently moved my fish from artificial lighting to my balcony - open to air, sunlight and without a lid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference was evident within two weeks. At first, my fish were scared of the open. Now, their colours are significantly more saturated. The fish have also become incredibly active (and hence hungry). They also know when to dive down into the water when crows arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My nocturnal aquarium snails seem to be happy too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8454" LastActivityDate="2016-12-08T14:10:57.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-08T18:19:09.267" Score="4" ViewCount="2312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a 7 to 8 month old rescue, who I believe was previously abused / abandoned. He is loving towards people, but is extremely anxious when left alone. I am trying to crate train him, because I know that is often helpful for dogs that have separation issues, and it is necessary currently so that he does not damage the house. I'm home most of the time; the only time he is not with me is for a couple hours when I have to go out, or about 7 hours at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If left alone for any extended amount of time (a couple hours), he pees. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is &lt;em&gt;terrified&lt;/em&gt; of going in a crate. He won't go in even for all the treats in the world. I think a crate was used as a punishment for him previously.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He even pees in the crate. Usually dogs don't want to soil themselves, but he will actually lay in his own mess (gross).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Associating the crate with positive things (lots of treats and praise). This has helped in that he is more calm while in the crate, but he continues to be terrified of going in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting a crate that fits - His crate is approximately the right size; if he pees, he can't get away from it. I plan on trying making the crate smaller with another panel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequent potty outings - When given frequent opportunities to pee outside, he seems to only go 2 to 3 times a day. He has shown that he can hold it for extended amounts of time when with me. There have been accidents, but the evidence seems to suggest the crate peeing is due to separation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most pressing question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I have him not pee in his crate when I am gone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update from comments: The crate is in another room than where I sleep (thus the being separated for about 7 hours a night). My main concern with putting the crate in the bedroom is the carpet, in case accidents happen. That is something I can try though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8471" LastEditorUserId="8472" LastEditDate="2016-12-15T02:16:03.300" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T22:26:48.173" Title="How to house-train a dog with separation anxiety?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15870" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-09T09:46:09.063" Score="4" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know about free or low cost medical care for my pet cats. I am on a low fixed income and I need to provide care for them. One of my cats was not feeling well and I could not afford to take him to the animal hospital. I woke up this morning and Mr. Hobbs was dead. This death could have  been prevented if I had access to medical care I could afford. I still have 3 cats in the home. Can you help me please. Mr. Hobbs death has got me utterly heartbroken. I want to be a responsible pet owner and provide them with all the proper care. I love my babies. I am so sad right now. Please help me find care for them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8474" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2016-12-18T03:38:17.043" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T03:38:17.043" Title="Preventive Medical Care" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15870" CreationDate="2016-12-09T12:28:32.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so sorry about the loss of Mr. Hobbs. The death of a beloved pet is always gut-wrenching. Please try to remember that he had a better life with the food, shelter and affection that you provided than he would have had on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shelters are very aware that the cost of medical care can mean the difference between keeping a pet in the home or being surrendered. Some shelters have made arrangements with vets to help with this problem. If you contact the shelters in your area and explain your situation, they may be able to refer you to such a programme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets are also sensitive to the cost issue, and will often reduce prices for an owner with a low income, or arrange for payment over time. Again, the shelter may be able to refer you to a vet that they think would help you. Finally, when an animal is ill, you can always contact a vet, explain your situation, and ask for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T12:28:32.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15870" CreationDate="2016-12-09T14:02:03.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know you're location, but there are usually free and low cost clinics available to those in need. The clinics usually don't have the resources to run every day, but weekends or a couple days a month people volunteer their time to help out. I know from personal experience that things can seem hopeless at times, but resources are out there it's just a matter of finding them.Without more specific info on your situation and location I can't give a more detailed answer. You can start with googling non-profit organizations,no-kill shelters, or contacting the humane society in your area for possible info on organizations willing to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8475" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T14:02:03.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1419" CreationDate="2016-12-09T14:06:49.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male tabby, Richard, who is kind of a &quot;thick&quot; cat (not chunky but big) and he also bites his front paws when you scratch his hind quarters. He also makes a drawn out chirping noise that, to me, sounds like he is ticklish. My parents have one of his sisters and she behaves the same way. &#xA;I also grew up with a Russian Blue who liked to be &quot;spanked&quot; with a rolled up news paper. She would end up shedding it She loved that game. If she saw or heard a paper being rolled up, she would come running. I've heard that cats don't have the &quot;ability&quot; to be ticklish, but it sure seems like it to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8476" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T14:06:49.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-09T16:06:24.060" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a 6 week old German Shepherd (now she is 8 weeks old) and she won't stop biting. I know that she is a puppy, but she will bite my whole family (all except for me). How do I train her to stop biting? I've tried the whole loud ow, and that doesn't work. She just ignores it and bites you again. My family is freaking out about the biting so I was wondering if she's abnormally aggressive or just being a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I know that you should not adopt a puppy before 8-12 weeks but there was a bad situation so she had to be taken away.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8477" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:05:47.240" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:05:47.240" Title="is she aggressive or just being a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9248" CreationDate="2016-12-09T16:13:39.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of people are against it, but try Craigslist; some people put up ads for accident litters or animals they can't care for anymore, so check that out. Also, try going to your local vet; sometimes they are aware of some foster dogs that are in need of a home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8477" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:47:12.223" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:47:12.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15874" CreationDate="2016-12-09T20:49:02.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is the pup typically biting?  During playtime, during rest time, when you're giving a command?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;During play time:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If your pup isn't responding to the high pitched yelp/ouch sound you'll have to teach her that biting makes the fun stop.  When she bites you (even if it seems like an accident), make a high pitched yelping sound, then immediately get up and walk away from her.  Ignore her for 3-5 minutes no matter what she does.  Then go back to playing.  If she bites again, rinse and repeat.  It will take consistency and patience but she will eventually learn that biting = no more fun.  This is (more or less) how other dogs teach puppies not to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When giving a command:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Again, keep up the high pitched yelping in response.  Don't hide if it hurts.  Second, you should have a marker word for when your puppy has failed to properly respond to the command.  The word I use with my dogs is &quot;whoops&quot;, but choose whatever you like (I don't recommend &quot;no&quot; for many reasons).  Use your marker word and try the command again.  Assuming she's biting your hands, try to keep your hands out of reach, even if slightly.  Rinse and repeat up to 3 times.  If she hasn't properly responded to the command on the 3rd round, try another command she's more reliable with and reward her if she exhibits the desired behavior.  If she gets it right on the 2nd or 3rd time (no biting + exhibiting the desired behavior) reward and praise like crazy!  Always end training on a high note, so that your pup associates training with fun and rewards and love, not only with all the times she missed the mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;During rest time&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If your pup is chewing on you when resting, this is likely a relic of being taken too early from the litter.  You should redirect her to a safe and appropriate chew toy.  Again, this takes consistency and patience but she will learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You should get your pup into a puppy training class ASAP.  Being socialized around other puppies of similar age will help immensely with teaching things like bite inhibition and other basic behaviors.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2016-12-09T20:49:02.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-09T21:49:11.850" Score="2" ViewCount="1113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two tamaskan puppies who are 7 months old and already at 75 lb (around 34 kg) each. They love to gallop around the house and body-slam each other into the walls. It was fine while they were little, but now they're knocking over trashcans and chairs and I'm legitimately worried that they're going to knock a hole in the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walk them for two hours, but that doesn't stop them from running around before the walk nor from starting to run around again after resting a little while after the walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm on the verge of tethering them to each other so they can't run around the house because I don't know what else to do short of locking them up in the crates, which is sad and confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T21:00:09.087" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T21:00:09.087" Title="How to prevent two dogs from chasing each other around the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10928" CreationDate="2016-12-09T23:06:09.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried a coat made from a knitted legwarmer with holes for the front paws on my cat today, because she wanted to go out in the cold.  After an hour I searched for her and she was sitting with the &quot;coat&quot; torn and hanging from branches.  I will never use a coat again: too dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8480" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2016-12-22T10:52:57.790" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T10:52:57.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15881" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-10T03:43:49.853" Score="2" ViewCount="6251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a red eared slider turtle, who won't grow. I've had my turtle for 10 months. It's about 2 inches. Also, the bottom shell is soft and squishy. Please help. I want to help my turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8483" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-15T00:22:55.843" LastActivityDate="2020-11-15T00:22:55.843" Title="My red eared slider turtle won't grow" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15887" CreationDate="2016-12-10T14:06:14.097" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;: Are anxiety vests effective for dogs?  What else can I do to make my dogs anxiety go away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a nearly 12 year old male Boston Terrier.  The dog is my girlfriend's.  Shes had him for almost 8 years.  According to her, his previous owner had to leave him at an adoption center for personal reasons (twice!), before giving him to my girlfriend.  I believe that because of this, and since she has owned him for 8 years now, he has grown very attached to her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she goes to work and I am home with the dog, he shivers constantly.  He will not play with toys, he usually refuses to eat and drink water (sometimes he will), and just looks unhappy.  I'm fairly confident that he is experiencing some form of separation anxiety.  As soon as my girlfriend comes home, he races to see her and will either grab a toy to play with or scarf down his food and water that have been in his bowl all day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only methods I've found to control his shivering are laying on the couch with him, or putting him in his cage where he usually falls asleep.  I don't like having to put him away in his cage since I am home (we only like to use the cage when we aren't home or are sleeping), and I don't want to sit on the couch all day.  I was wondering, how effective are those &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsmart.com/dog/food-and-health/vitamins-and-wellness/stress-and-anxiety-relief/thundershirt-dog-anxiety-shirt-5170692.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiA7K7CBRCrwt26v5uHs98BEiQA0JzsZ4fA7uo6UVoXLKsUAgbJZazzBU0MggvGMZuBfSKz4XgaAmPX8P8HAQ&amp;amp;lsft=utm_source%3Agoogle%2Cutm_term%3A5170692%2Cutm_medium%3APLA%2Cutm_content%3AGSC%20-%20Brand%20-%20Hard%20Goods%20-%20Dog%20%7C%20Food%20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anxiety vest&lt;/a&gt; that they make for dogs?  Are they a gimmick or do they really work?  I find it hard to believe that wearing a piece of clothing can sooth a dogs anxiety.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also note, he has the same behavior during a thunderstorm, or around the 4th of July with all the fireworks.  Would the vest be effective for this as well? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2016-12-12T18:31:08.253" Title="Shivering dog: Anxiety Vest or some other method?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15881" CreationDate="2016-12-10T14:31:11.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is what I've been able to find about this turtle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A male red-eared slider reaches sexual maturity when his shell is approximately 4 inches long. Depending on nutrition, that's between the ages of 2 and 5 years. A female's upper shell must reach 6 to 7 inches in length before she's sexually mature, which occurs between the ages of 5 and 7 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/can-tell-turtle-growing-11452.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based off that finding, it sounds like your turtle is growing at a normal rate.  From your question, I don't know the age or sex of your turtle, but if its within its first year, I think its growing just fine.  Make sure that it gets proper nutrition to help ensure that it grows at the expected rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/oUrG8TrAOBo?t=50s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a video&lt;/a&gt; that discusses turtle shell health.  One of the things mentioned that could make a shell soft on the top and bottom is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtlepuddle.org/health/shellrot.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shell rot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  This could be indicated by pink/white spots on the shell.  There is too much information to list here in that link, but check it out.  Typically, poor conditions cause shell rot for turtles in captivity.  They provide a home remedy for mild shell rot, but its not guaranteed.  The video above also shows what a healthy turtles shell should look like.  If it looks similar, there could be something else going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T14:31:11.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15853" CreationDate="2016-12-10T14:53:42.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.curiousv.com/curiosityrats/files/infotrue.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; that states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On close inspection, it can be seen that rats' tails are skin, soft with hair, and the &quot;scale&quot; is only a texture. Rat tails are easily injured and can tear from a bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guess as to what happened is they were either playing or got aggressive with one another and either accidentally or purposely bit off the tail of the other rat.  Since you said that they often play wrestle, perhaps it was an accident, or the event escalated to the point where they began to actually fight.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T14:53:42.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-10T16:54:22.310" Score="1" ViewCount="777" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fish (all three) have ick, they currently live in a 33g tank. The fish are two platys and 1 catfish (he's small). I have a spare 10g tank that only has gravel and water in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be easier to medicate in that tank and keep it clean (I don't have to change as much water volume wise, etc). So I was wondering if it's wise to move them? Or would the stress do them more harm than good? I also cannot use full doses in the current tank because there are snails and I don't want to kill them accidentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8486" LastActivityDate="2016-12-10T16:54:22.310" Title="Should I move my sick fish to a clean tank for treatment?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-12T00:11:12.610" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time we give the dogs a bite of scraps at the end of our meal, my basset immediately pees in the floor.  Every time.  We try to be fair and give her and our beagle the same size nibble.  They are both seniors.  12 years old.  I have researched everywhere and haven't found one thing about this problem.  We have stopped giving her any bites, but I really want to understand why she is doing it.  Does she think she is rewarding us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8491" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2016-12-18T03:38:26.543" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T03:38:26.543" Title="How to stop your basset from peeing out of spite" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15882" CreationDate="2016-12-12T16:31:16.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes they work! Though keep in mind it may not work for your dog but we recommend them all the time and even sell them at the clinic. Even if it doesn't work you can return it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other options for anxiety as well such as kalm-aid, Dap spray/diffuser,  RC Calm diet or if you want to go for a medication approach speak to your veterinarian about Prozac for your pooch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many senior pets become more anxious as they age,  especially when their owner is away - when I had my dog he would become very sick if we ever went on vacation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify the shirts we recommend are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Thunder shirts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-12-12T18:31:08.253" LastActivityDate="2016-12-12T18:31:08.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15898" CreationDate="2016-12-13T13:16:00.180" Score="2" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Wife and I recently (two and a half weeks ago) adopted two cats, a brother and sister around 7 years old, from our local shelter. On the first day, the brother was more confident, but then became very timid, and he keeps hiding behind the sofa and under tables. His sister, on the other hand, has been much more outgoing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first we thought this was just him being scared of the new environment, but recently we've noticed that she seems to be intimidating him - she'll come and push in if we are giving him attention, and she eats from his food bowl while he just sits and watches. In the last couple of days she's also tried to claim his favourite sleeping position (the back of the sofa), which would give her control of almost all the high-up places - she already has a cat-tree and the lounge window-sill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to dissuade this behaviour? We're particularly worried about him eating properly, if she keeps stopping him, and we want him to be able to be more confident around the house and around us, e.g. being comfortable to sit on our laps without her interfering. - ideally we'd like them comfortable enough with each other being close enough that we can have one on each of our laps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not yet allowed outside (it's only been just over two weeks), though we have, in the last few days, given them access to more of the house (hall/landing/stairs as well as the lounge and kitchen), and he's taken to sitting at the top of the stairs (claiming a new high-place?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They currently have two litter-boxes, which, as far as we can tell, both appear to use. They have separate food bowls, but currently they are in the same corner of the kitchen. We have a three-level cat tree, and a separate scratching post (which he tends to use). We feed them wet food in the evening and dry in the morning, and he tends to eat more of the dry - she'll wolf down her portion of the wet food while he looks on from a few feet away, then move over and eat his...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T01:19:16.053" Title="New cats: Female intimidating/bullying her brother" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15889" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-13T14:28:05.533" Score="3" ViewCount="628" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we recently found out that we have a problem. We have a little group of cats in our neighborhood and they have settled themselves in under our deck. There are three cats and they won't leave from under our deck and my cats don't like going outside anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to leave the food outside for my two cats because they used to wander all day, but now we keep it inside because of the strays. Still, even now they won't leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They are fed by the neighbors down the street, so I know they aren't starving.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how to get rid of them, so my cats would go outside again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8477" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T22:10:50.283" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:22:19.700" Title="Stray cats under the deck" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-13T15:42:08.710" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 week old puppy, but since she is too young she doesn't have all her shots. Should I wait till she's 16 weeks old to introduce her to new puppies or should I just introduce her to adult dogs with all their shots?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8477" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T16:19:43.723" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T00:31:55.613" Title="Socializing a puppy without all of the vaccinations" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15889" CreationDate="2016-12-13T15:58:38.637" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Install some screening or lattice below your deck to prevent them from going underneath. They will probably move on to other places if your food source is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T15:58:38.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15890" CreationDate="2016-12-13T16:04:32.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, no, don't wait!!!! There are critical periods of brain development for a puppy that end around 12 weeks for socialization, so it is very important to have your puppy meet many other dogs. That being said, you want to be careful where you do this: Avoid dog parks, for example, where you do not know all of the dog owners. A great place to meet multiple dogs is a puppy kindergarten training class. If you have friends with dogs and know that they are vaccinated, then by all means introduce your puppy to them. Just be careful to introduce them slowly, as some dogs might be less tolerant of a puppy's energy and bad manners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T16:04:32.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2016-12-13T16:41:55.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave mine a soft but firm slap on the head, just enough to show who is boss but not hard enough to hurt it, as well as yell at it. The cat has not done it since, and the cat is still affectionate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat sees you as a big cat and your hand is a big claw; because you're bigger you cat will back down and accept that you are the master.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8498" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2016-12-25T02:17:36.743" LastActivityDate="2016-12-25T02:17:36.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15894" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-13T18:04:44.263" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8 month old cattle dog who recently has shown aggression towards other dogs at different times. He goes to daycare with groups of dogs, every Friday from 7am to 7pm and does great! He meets new and different dogs every time and never a problem or sign of aggression. However, when I take him on a hike or to the pond and he sees another dog, he gets very aggressive. It used to just be a quick growl and stare, then it escalated to sniffing the other dog and snapping towards its face. We went to Tractor Supply on Sunday and lab walked down another aisle (not near us, but within sight) and as soon as Axle saw him, he showed his teeth, growled and lunged towards the dog. Not in a playful manner. Is he resource guarding me? How can I teach him that other dogs are ok outside of his daycare setting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8499" LastActivityDate="2016-12-13T18:04:44.263" Title="Unusual Aggression with Other Dogs" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15888" CreationDate="2016-12-14T13:57:33.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats which live together might be fond of each other or not. It does not depend on their relationship. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try to play with &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt; of them at the same time - alternately with the brother and the sister. One plays, the other should watch. E.g. let them run after a string or some feathers at the end of a stick which also elder cats are still interested in. And try to pet them in the same way: first sister, then brother, then sister. Same with some treats. The idea is to show them that they are both welcome and you will not favor any of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might not work in all cases. One woman told me about her cats. The adult daughter fought against her mother intensivly (really hurting her) and continuously so they had to be separated finally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But nevertheless I would give it a try. All of my cats finally accepted the other cats although they might not be best friends. I just showed them that I will not accept bad behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-15T01:19:16.053" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T01:19:16.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-14T16:46:29.663" Score="1" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually it is my boyfriend's dog.  The first time I saw her, she was very exited and jumped into my body.  A year later when she came to my place, she was at first very exited too, I could see by her tail curving up.  But moments after she become very quiet, never barked, and did not respond when we called her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that my boyfriend comes home less often since he got his new job, because he stays over at my place.  His dog stay at home with his brother and he rarely play with her.  Is that the reason my dog seems to be depressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I tried to pinch her ear, and she did not even responded when I hurt her.  Normally a dog will cry out when you accidentally hurt it.  What is happening to her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, she becomes over exited and can't control her behavior when I walk her, often chasing strangers and other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8506" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2016-12-18T03:39:05.337" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T03:39:05.337" Title="My dog is too quiet" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-14T22:42:27.610" Score="2" ViewCount="499" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 month old lab that I have had since 2 months old and we have been joined at the hip since then.  My 19 year old daughter recently adopted a 4 month old puppy that we have had about a month or so.  The two dogs get along perfectly and have been a joy.  My lab, however, woke up one day and started to avoid me-to the point of slinking out of the room like I have beaten her.  She doesn't give me eye contact and doesn't greet me when I come home anymore.  She is a very loving dog and has now latched herself to my daughter. Any thoughts or suggestions as to why this is happening and what I need to do to help the situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8508" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T16:33:33.853" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T16:33:33.853" Title="Dog has withdrawn from me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-15T05:06:24.413" Score="1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why would a mom dog move the runt of her litter to a place by itself after 3 weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8510" LastEditorUserId="159" LastEditDate="2016-12-15T13:43:44.653" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T13:43:44.653" Title="Why would dog move her runt puppy to a place by itself after three weeks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1805" CreationDate="2016-12-15T20:40:45.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my research from living with animals (specifically cats and dogs), I have noticed the following: Bunting or head-butting is when a cat is purposely rubbing his/her head against you but not in a territorial way. This signals comfort and shows that they trust you and can rely on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another telltale sign is kneading. Many pet owners are confused about this and don't understand it. This is basically your cat getting comfortable, although I might be a little uncomfortable for you, the cat is showing you that he or she is not nervous around you, or else it would choose to be somewhere else. To me it is the equivalent of a dog pawing you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next obvious thing in my opinion is a cat wanting to be near you. If your cat or a cat in general wants to be near, presuming that it's fed, then take it that this cat wants your love. It is showing that it feels comfortable, safe, wanted, and most of all loved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8513" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T14:23:16.963" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:23:16.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15913" CreationDate="2016-12-15T20:51:27.233" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a boxer diagnosed with lymphoma in the lung a few months back.  But she has been responding well to prednisone since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past weeks, breathing has increased [typically reaching sleeping rates of around 65 breaths per minute].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are also times where for a few minutes (both when sleeping and when up and about), she will settle into longer deeper breaths [nearer 35 breaths per minute].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these deeper breathing periods generally exclude actual physical limitation of lung volume [probably from the cancer] as being the direct cause of the tachypnea, or is there generally significant variability in breathing even in such circumstances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7999" LastEditorUserId="7999" LastEditDate="2016-12-15T23:17:39.403" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T07:07:26.313" Title="Do occasional improved periods of breathing indicate that rapid breathing is not due to decreased lung capacity?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15886" CreationDate="2016-12-15T22:12:18.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Need more information for this. You mentioned that they are both seniors. May be a good idea to take them both into the vets to get a senior work up (bloods, urine and faecal matter testing). Could be a urinary infection or weak bladder at her age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she pee a lot more now? She isn't doing it out of spite though. We tend to anthropomorphise dogs and compare what they do with human emotions. Dogs live in the present and don't sit up at night thinking of ways to &quot;spite&quot; us or &quot;get back at us&quot;. She may be in a state of being conditioned to pee after she gets the treat (self rewarding behaviour), or without further context to what you do when giving her the treat or after giving her the treat (nervous peeing from fear of being yelled at), it's hard to say why this is happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly advise getting her checked out at the vet for a medical reason. For Behavioural problems, I always have the animal checked over by a vet first as it's simply the ethical thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T22:12:18.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15890" CreationDate="2016-12-15T22:17:34.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious as to why she does not have all her shots yet. In Australia, the standard of vaccination is the first ones at 8 weeks, then 12 weeks and the third at 16 weeks then when they are 1 year old. I would be cautious about introducing her to vaccinated dogs as she may have something and give it to the vaccinated dogs. Vaccinations are not a barrier against the diseases but merely a preventative measure. I would speak with your vet about any dog owners who would be happy to have your pup playing with them. I completely agree with @jalynn2 about no dog parks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5270" LastActivityDate="2016-12-15T22:17:34.600" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15506" CreationDate="2016-12-16T02:10:50.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good mechanical filtration is the primary method. This can be accomplished using a number of methods. In freshwater, a canister or hang on back filter running filter floss or another media that (obviously) mechanically filters particles from the water is one of the best ways. For a saltwater fish only or a reef tank, a filter sock or sump or overflow utilizing floss or filter pads is typically the most common way to deal with it. This will take care of particulate matter to an extremely small size if the correct filter media is used. Some socks and filter floss can filter down to a few microns making the water extremely clear. I personally do not like using under-gravel filters as the other poster suggested as they add too much depth to the substrate level and have a number of risks that can literally destroy an entire tank if the water flow stops, but they utilize the entire substrate as a filter and can provide very good mechanical and biological filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the water is stained yellow or brown which is common and natural in both saltwater and freshwater planted tanks, some form of carbon is usually the best way to clear up the water color. A good quality carbon like ROX, which is an extremely high quality carbon by a specific manufacturer, works best, but in any case make sure to carefully follow the carbon usage instructions and cease using it if signs of HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) or other carbon related illness or stress occurs to fish, coral, or other inhabitants.  If you're dealing with driftwood leaching tannins, or other features in the water that is causing it to stain, it's probably better not to add carbon and let it naturally leach the tannins over time and remove with water changes. There isn't an extremely effective method of speeding this process up in a tank, so might as well save the money on carbon and let it subside naturally while being removed with routine water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T02:10:50.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-16T11:05:07.583" Score="2" ViewCount="966" Body="&lt;p&gt;We bought a parrot 11 months ago, why are its feathers not growing back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WKSOi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8516" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-02-14T01:36:30.880" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T13:38:32.203" Title="Parrot feathers are not growing" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15900" CreationDate="2016-12-16T14:18:10.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen indications of my dog responding with jealousy when I've paid extra attention to other dogs [though it appears it was long questioned as to whether dogs are capable of the full depth of human jealousy, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10985936/Darwin-was-right...dogs-really-do-get-jealous.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recent information&lt;/a&gt; appear to show they are].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm absolutely no psychologist, and often don't pay much attention to the field.  But if dogs are indeed capable of jealousy, it would seem quite reasonable that they would have similar reactions to people.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=eEXfY9SD2ycC&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PA178&amp;amp;dq=evln%20model%20jealousy&amp;amp;ots=9KuA3nEVdW&amp;amp;sig=uJrE7hkv5CPNXRksNs55baAs3sU#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=evln%20model%20jealousy&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This book&lt;/a&gt; appears to summarize some attempts to categorize such human responses in the 70s and 80s, generally laying out a loose breakdown of: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Communication (showing dissatisfaction?)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasizing dependency (fawning attention to you?)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Retribution (spiteful reactions?)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emotional withdrawal (depression?)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It sounds like they've since maybe decided jealousy is more complex.  Isn't everything?!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you describe her latching onto your daughter might suggest she's trying to emphatically show her spite to you.  After all, we've all certainly seen/experienced someone (perhaps as a child) responding jealously to a friend's new attention by going out and urgently trying to one up them.  Whether it's getting a new powerful friend to outdo their new friend, or a new expensive item to outdo their new purchase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book suggests a retribution response might indicate that the motivation behind that is self esteem... so I suppose that would suggest you'd do best by fawning over her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I really don't put a ton of stock in such things.  I've only had one dog, but found the relationship to be complex and varying, especially at the puppy stage.  Not too different from having a child I suppose.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And that rather than responding impulsively to each of the many turns, you would need to stay strong, keep making clear your love for her, and that your consistent unwavering stance will win her over, and with more respect in the longrun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand it must be hard, there have been a lot of relationships with humans and with dogs that have been tough on both sides in my life, and it's probably the same for most of us.  You only have so long with your doggy, and much like a parent with a child, there promise to be bigger fears one day with your doggy companion.  Life is short.  Stay the course, don't give in to temporary fears, and just keep on loving!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7999" LastActivityDate="2016-12-16T14:18:10.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15912" CreationDate="2016-12-16T14:56:42.497" Score="2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Bengal at home. The other day I fed him some raw chicken that was sitting in the fridge and I just took out to season and prepare. The next morning I woke up and there were piles of dry vomit in a few places. The cat was not being 100% himself. The next day I came home and noticed that he didn't go potty nor did he eat much of his food. I fed the cat some snacks, but he threw that up as well. He's been drinking water, but he doesn't seem to be groomed (which he always does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can be an issue here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8521" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T15:19:31.017" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T10:25:35.337" Title="Cat vomiting and not acting right" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2016-12-16T15:52:26.907" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take him to a vet &lt;strong&gt;ASAP&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not feed animals raw food, especially chicken.&#xA;He might have a food poisoning or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he has a fever, he can die from this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-17T16:01:46.657" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T16:01:46.657" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15903" CreationDate="2016-12-16T23:47:34.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sad to hear your dog is diagnosed with lymphoma :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the breathing rates, you need to consider the difference between oxygenation and heat regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an inevitable decrease of lung volume, which shows by the increase of 'average' respiration rate, when your animal needs to oxygenate and heat regulate.  There are these moments when only oxygenation is needed, those are the moments when resp rate drops.  But the lung volume is still decreased, unfortunately.  The animal just needs less 'flow'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;KR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hewi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8524" LastEditorUserId="7999" LastEditDate="2016-12-17T03:01:47.907" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T03:01:47.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-17T00:06:09.640" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Miss Kitty is 19 yrs young. She has started to bite my aunt (which is 89 yrs young ). Miss Kitty has also been drinking a lot of water and sleeping in her cat box .6 months ago my aunt listed her husband of 40+ yrs . But miss kitty just started the biting and sleeping in her box these last 2 weeks. As for her drinking all the time started 2-3 months ago maybe 4 months ago my aunt doesn't remember. Can you help my aunt's cat please .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8525" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-17T00:45:59.170" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T00:46:54.590" Title="My aunt's cat's behavior has changed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15914" CreationDate="2016-12-17T00:46:54.590" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds like kidney failure. Get the cat to the vet &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-12-17T00:46:54.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15916" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-17T05:25:48.653" Score="2" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 1 year old German shepherd in human years and 7 in dog years. He's a good boy but he chews on everything. He chews on trash, drywall, plastic, clothing. Everything. I always have to get it out of his mouth but he never learns when to stop. Even when we say &quot;No!&quot; or &quot;Stop!&quot; He doesn't listen. My parents want to get rid of him and trainers some good trainers cost a lot and we don't have that kind of money. I don't know what to do and I've tried a lot of things. Please help me and tell me what has worked for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8526" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:17.250" Title="How can I stop my dog from chewing on everything." Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-18T00:52:34.590" Score="3" ViewCount="1192" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has two small clumps of fur on her neck that are very close to her skin. She's short haired, and I brush her regularly, plus she grooms herself multiple times a day. The clumps are so close to her skin that it's hard to tell that they're there unless you're petting her and you find them. Because of that, I'm not sure if it's just matted fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The mats are actually a sore. I found that out when a scab fell off of it. She's also become light-sensitive in the past couple of hours, her eyes being a little red. I should also add that last week on Thursday, she swallowed a 4-inch piece of yarn that she has not yet passed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8004" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:33:21.230" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:33:21.230" Title="Fur clumps close to skin" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15916" CreationDate="2016-12-18T00:57:08.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are making the most typical mistake any 'new' dog owner makes regarding chewing on stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be very careful now and preferably do as described below or your dog will get into the habit and you will never be able to get the habit out of his system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you never do anything when he actually chews stuff he should not be chewing: &lt;strong&gt;ignore the bad behavior.&lt;/strong&gt; When your dog is chewing on stuff, just start playing with a chew he can actually have, give that lots and lots of interest, your dog will eventually come to you and be more interested in the once he can have you should never ever drag things out of his mouth, you are giving him attention for bad behaviour, never ever say or shout 'no' or 'stop' to your dog, you're giving him attention for bad behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead, say 'good boy' and 'well done' when he actually chews the good things, &lt;strong&gt;reward the good behavior&lt;/strong&gt;, give him lots of cuddles and attention when he is chewing his rope (my preferable advised toy).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure he is not bored, walk him regularly and frequently feed him little bits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. If you are already worried about the price for a couple of dog trainer lessons, what will happen when your dog might have a serious illness and needs veterinary attention, are you saving up or getting him insured?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8524" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:30:17.250" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:17.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-18T16:23:32.977" Score="2" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very much as the question says, is there a breed of owl that does well in a household environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/captive-barn-owls/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The barn owl trust&lt;/a&gt; says that barn owls don't make good pets, but is there a breed that does, and what sort of environment should they be provided with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3292" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T16:23:32.977" Title="Is there a breed of owl that makes a good pet" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2361" CreationDate="2016-12-18T20:21:01.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Rabbit House wrote about this very question in an post called, 5 Ways to Get Your Rabbit to Eat More Hay.  They start saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Considering at least 80% of a rabbit’s diet should be hay (or grass)&#xA;  there is a worrying number of rabbits owners that report their bunny&#xA;  eats little or no hay. The high fibre content of hay is essential for&#xA;  maintaining a healthy gut and teeth, as well as providing a boredom&#xA;  busting activity for your rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, below are my top 5 tips for turning your rabbit in to a hay eater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Feed Tastier Hay Hay is a bit like apples. It comes in lots of different varieties and flavours. Some people like crisp Granny Smiths&#xA;  others like sweet Cox’s, and cooking apples taste horrible (unless&#xA;  cooked). Likewise some rabbits can be quite fussy about the variety of&#xA;  hay they like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When choosing hay avoid the finely chopped, brownish plastic packed&#xA;  varieties you find in a lot of pet shops. Look for green, long strands&#xA;  that smell nice and aren’t too dusty. Hay sold at feed shops and&#xA;  farms, for horses to eat, is usually good and a lot cheaper then pet&#xA;  shop bags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oxbow do a wide range of different hay’s you can try your rabbit with.&#xA;  You do not have to stick to one variety, mix and match to keep your&#xA;  rabbit’s interest. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therabbithouse.com/blog/2007/06/20/5-ways-to-get-your-to-rabbit-eat-more-hay/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;READ MORE.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small Pet Select, provider of tastier and fresh Timothy Hay, &lt;a href=&quot;http://smallpetselect.com/rabbit-hay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wrote a rabbit guide&lt;/a&gt; to timothy hay that may also be helpful.  Small Pet delivers direct to your door to ensure maximum fresh Timothy Hay.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8537" LastActivityDate="2016-12-18T20:21:01.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-18T20:38:17.637" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my 10 week old kitten yesterday and he was desexed 3 days before that. That seems too young. Wondering what effects this could have on his hormones, personality and development?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8539" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T21:32:27.370" Title="My kitten was desexed young?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2016-12-22T14:16:06.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15926" CreationDate="2016-12-19T00:41:40.397" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you need to worry. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/spayneuter-your-pet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is generally considered safe for kittens as young as eight weeks&#xA;  old to be spayed or neutered. In animal shelters, surgery is often&#xA;  performed at this time so that kittens can be sterilized prior to&#xA;  adoption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T00:41:40.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15926" CreationDate="2016-12-19T01:23:46.277" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All is good! SPCA's spay/neuter the kittens super young, this helps them to be adopted MUCH faster. The surgery is more risky but you won't have any bad side-effects from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T01:23:46.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13437" CreationDate="2016-12-19T17:36:14.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Veterinary partner is a very reliable website that should be able to answer your questions on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=681&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FIP&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat wont get FIP by being with an FIP + cat, it can however contract coronavirus. And yes as you mentioned, not all coronavirus cats will develop FIP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my &amp;quot;Common Diseases of Companion Animals&amp;quot; textbook:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;80% to 90% of cats in catteries have antibodies to FECV and these cats shed virus intermittently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said by continuously disinfecting and only having one/two cat(s) in your home you can eventually clear out FECV (most common household disinfectants work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check your current cat what his current anti-body levels are for coronavirus if you're concerned about a new cat coming in as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An excerpt from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=681&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;veterinary partner&lt;/a&gt; on FECV:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An active infection lasts several weeks to a few months. Virus is shed in the infected cat’s stool during this period. If the cat is reinfected, virus sheds again for weeks to months. During this time, the cat may or may not seems at all ill. Some infected cats do not shed virus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mutation to a form of virus that can cause FIP is more likely to occur in an immune-compromised cat. Most cats with FIP are less than one year old (their immaturity is their immune compromise). Crowding is also an important source of immune-compromise. Another important factor in mutation is multiple exposure/infections. When cats keep getting reinfected, the virus they carry has more chance of mutating to a form that causes FIP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only seen 3 cases of FIP in almost 4 years in practice, it's not very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T17:36:14.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15935" CreationDate="2016-12-19T18:16:59.077" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want a dog very much. But I have some concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am going to finish my university studies next year and then start a well enough paying job to maintain a pet. I will probably have to work more than 8 hours a day. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend studies medicine and will have even worse hours at random times due to nightshifts, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We want kids eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My mother is alergic to animal hair or whatever, that's what she says. Anyway, she's alergic to something but I heard there are dogs that don't trigger allergies. She doesn't live with us, but I'd like to take the dog with me when visiting, maybe they can take care of the dog on holidays, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dog should be bigger than a football but smaller than a pony.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is, considering this background, is getting a dog in the next years realistic? And what breeds (or mutts) should we prefer?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess a puppy is not the best idea, a well trained dog would in my humble opinion be a better fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But what should I keep in mind, where can I get such a dog complying with my rather high ethical standards on this matter?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know, let's just assume animal activist standards or slightly below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll edit in answers to questions in the comments if need be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the helpful answers and comments so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would getting two dogs really be a solution to leaving the dog(s) at home? And how much time at home alone is &quot;too much&quot; time?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8542" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T20:09:46.487" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T20:09:46.487" Title="Can I get a dog - and which breed; from where?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2020-05-05T12:19:37.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15934" CreationDate="2016-12-19T18:52:34.830" Score="7" ViewCount="8223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do cats commit incest? If so, at what age would this behavior begin, and when should male and female kittens be separated from one another so as to avoid incest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2016-12-25T02:17:53.037" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T16:28:29.530" Title="Do cats commit incest?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15933" CreationDate="2016-12-19T19:27:12.010" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats, like most animals, will mate with any willing member of the opposite sex. So, yes, they will sometimes inbreed. Humans have been known to encourage that when trying to select for specific genetic traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than trying to separate them -- they can hit puberty as early as 8 months, if I remember correctly -- I strongly recommend getting them surgically neutered, unless you are raising purebreds. There are already many more cats looking for homes than homes looking for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-19T20:50:38.273" LastActivityDate="2016-12-19T20:50:38.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2016-12-19T19:27:17.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With both of you being gone so much, getting a dog might not be a great idea. Dogs, like humans, are social animals and need interaction with others. They also have a lot of energy and being stuck at home alone most of the day might lead to behavioral issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you do want one I would suggest visiting a shelter and looking at older dogs with less energy and generally better behaved. You may even consider two dogs--they will keep each other company and dogs will learn from each other's good habits (although sometimes a few bad ones like barking at the mailman). Plus, if you get them from a shelter, that is two dogs you have rescued. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although every dog has it's own personality, some breeds are notoriously difficult for beginners. These would be German Shepherds, Huskies, beagles, dachshunds and Dalmatians. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easier dog breeds would be labs, golden retrievers and some types of chihuahuas. These are typically higher energy dogs so an older one would be the best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best bet is usually a mix, as they usually have better health than purebreds. Fortunately, most shelters are filled with older lab mixes (usually black labs) because people find them boring and want something unique and a puppy. The sad thing is that these older lab mixes are often the best choices for new pet owners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8146" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T15:32:13.733" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:32:13.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11105" CreationDate="2016-12-19T21:42:40.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is a big wound, like that seems to be, I would use neosporin and some clean gauze or cloth to try to stop the bleeding. Neosporin is safe to use on beardies and snakes, so I assume it is for them too. You will probably want to try drying the wound after you have cleaned it, and take it to the vet as fast as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:40:31.270" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:40:31.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6643" CreationDate="2016-12-20T02:12:46.840" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been doing some research on using Asian clams as mechanical filters and to clean up extra food in the sump/refugium of my 90 gal mbuna tank. Freshwater clams dont photosynthesize like saltwater giant clams and therefore dont lower nitrate, nitrites, or ammonia. They also require supplemental filter feeder food. Otherwise I agree with the previous answer. &#xA;I intend to try them anyway. maybe I'll update if they work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8546" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T02:12:46.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15903" CreationDate="2016-12-20T07:07:26.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm marking Hewi's answer as correct, was good information.  But in case anyone else is seeking something concrete, here is the followup with our own results...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here was Hanna's x-ray four months ago:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46tDV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46tDV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;then&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not even a world close to a radiologist.  I wish there was more out there to understand it online, but unfortunately the resources are pretty paltry.  But as I understand it, you're aiming to look for black as healthy lung tissue.  White can be other things causing a poor picture... you're really looking towards more subtle shapes for problems, as I'll make clearer below.  But you really want to see lots of good black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the x-ray this week:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BIaJD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BIaJD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;now&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you can pretty clearly see the answer to my question was: no... despite occasional longer breaths, it can still be an indication that it is really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The side view might help see more into the explanation to why I believe:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yIwCs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yIwCs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;now2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what we were shown by the vet and can see here, it's pretty clear the problem... it's the small &quot;cannonball&quot; spots that are the ugliness...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jewD7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jewD7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;now2more&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those red circles identify just some of them I'm thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it just doesn't work like I'd imagined when I asked the question.  It isn't all about one big growth surging through the lungs cutting down volume and making breaths shorter and shorter.  It's often a growing horde of masses doing the damage collectively. :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps laying just right, things settle just enough to get a few good breaths.  Because it wasn't a mass that was taking up her whole long.  It was a bunch of them spread out.  And they're generally going to just make it worse and worse until it reaches the end of the road if the feasible treatments have run out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, the answer is clearly: &lt;strong&gt;even occasional deep breaths don't do anything to rule out the awful spread of cancer in the lungs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm certainly sorry if you're having to go through this.  I know too well.  Life is too brutally short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember how short it is always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7999" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T07:07:26.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-20T19:05:21.693" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I mean by the title is - I have a bengal cat that we used to take outside once in a while on a leash in our backyard. But he got so bad that he was yowling all the time, mostly at night when everyone went to bed. We stopped taking him outside and he stopped meowing so much, he's been so good lately and I don't really want to risk that bad behavior again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I was to try and do this again on semi-schedule, once a day or something, how would I teach him not to demand to go out all the time afterwards? Would he learn eventually that he gets to go out once a day and stop demanding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has self-learned that when I grab his water bowl he's going to get fresh water and he'll sit there waiting patiently. Would it work like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8549" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T23:38:26.470" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T23:38:26.470" Title="How to teach a cat to go outside without being loud?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-20T19:49:43.360" Score="3" ViewCount="623" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Cockatiel laid four eggs and one of them hatched. Its been more than 12 hours but she never tried to feed the day old chick and simply warms the baby and sits on three of her other eggs. Has she abandoned it clearly? If so, how do I take care of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8551" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditDate="2016-12-27T06:34:20.477" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T21:22:46.470" Title="How do I take care of a day old abandoned Cockatiel?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2580" CreationDate="2016-12-20T20:19:57.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my untamed conure about a month ago.  Due to where we got him (very dirty, in small cage with 3 others and no hand taming)  I thought it would take forever....but I'm persistent&#xA;I started with the usual but he'd just run away scared.  Then I backed off and just gave him millet treats (only thing he'd even try ) for 2 days several times a day.  Once I saw he was comfortable I started to put the millet further away so he'd have to reach more.  Then I put it so that he'd have to climb my finger to reach and put my finger over his favorite perch.  10 days later....he knows step up!!!!&#xA;Now we are working on being comfortable with our hands outside the cage&#xA;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8552" LastActivityDate="2016-12-20T20:19:57.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7935" CreationDate="2016-12-21T15:32:23.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't advise &quot;catching&quot; the dogs yourself. Stray or lost dogs are often anxious and scared, and a leash or stranger holding them back may only increase their anxiety. I suggest calling your local rescue organization first. They know best how to approach animals and can scan take the dogs to a vet to scan for a microchip. Many also have no kill policies and wonderful foster homes on hand for those dogs without a home. If you are unable to locate local rescue organizations, I suggest contacting animal control. Often dog owners go to animal control when looking for lost pets. The experience there can be mixed depending on your location, which is why I suggest rescue orgs first. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:32:23.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15920" CreationDate="2016-12-21T15:48:47.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The light sensitivity and sores seem unrelated. She may have glaucoma and a skin condition.&#xA;Glaucoma is a serious, irreversible illness. She needs to be taken to a vet as soon as possible, especially if it seems like she's losing her sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:48:47.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2016-12-21T15:53:14.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar situation with industrial equipment that creates both noise and vibrations. I tried using rawhide bones, but that did not distract my pup from the equipment, and she howled and lunged at it. Here's the process:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place the instrument on the ground or on a floor cushion with a few high value treats in a trail leading to it. I recommend treats that your dog only gets when you are using your instruments. String cheese, freeze dried liver bits, lean, crip bacon are all good options. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do no play the instrument or pick it up. Allow your dog to eat the treats and sniff the instrument. Praise her when she gets close to the instrument.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do this several times a day for a 4-5 days, and slowly move the treats closer to the instrument. Eventually your dog will associate the instrument with the special treats and should not show signs of anxiety when you present the instrument.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat this cycle again as you begin to play the instrument. Start with soft scales.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go slow (several times a day, 4-5 days/cycle) as you work towards increasing the volume and intensity. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If at any time your dog becomes anxious, go to the beginning of that cycle. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's time consuming, but it worked well for me, and my dog no longer requires treats when I am using industrial equipment. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T15:53:14.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1598" CreationDate="2016-12-21T16:28:58.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dealt with similar problem after I adopted my pup. The good news is that it gets better. Here's what worked for me: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start with &lt;strong&gt;gradual&lt;/strong&gt; desensitization: Unfamiliarity is often the source of fear. Start by by gradually exposing your dog to other people by providing positive associations with it. Give your dog high-value treats while slowly introducing other people from afar and slowly increase exposure. Digestion triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which is associated with a relaxed state. Note: If your dog shows signs of anxiety, slow down! You are going too fast. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise helps: Another way to reduce fear and anxiety in dogs is to get physical. It will release &quot;feel good&quot; hormones and reduce extra energy that may be contributing to your dog’s anxiety. Commit to just 20 to 30 minutes a day, and your dog will thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Medication may be a good temporary option: This should only be considered after you have exhausted your options. It's controversial, but it made a big difference for my dog. Your vet can recommend prescription drugs which can help calm the dog down. Temporarily pairing medication with desensitization training helped me get my dog over her least favorite encounters. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward to today, my dog doesn't need medication or treats and is not anxious around others. It's a lot of work and requires patience, but it's worth it. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T16:28:58.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-21T20:40:00.303" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live on a 10 acre property surrounded on one side by other small properties and on the other, a large expanse of forested bushland. My small 5 year old Kelpie cross and 7 year old cattle dog cross lab escaped their yard yesterday and returned home 6 hours later. The cattle dog vomited 3 times and it was an unusual colour and consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are now wondering if consuming bait is a possibility for the dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8554" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T00:35:01.443" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T00:35:01.443" Title="Has my dog eaten fox bait?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15932" CreationDate="2016-12-21T21:28:37.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on your living situation as to how long away from home is too long, and also the age and type of dog you're getting. For a small puppy, more than a couple hours is too much. If it's an adult dog that you can leave outside in good weather, they can handle very long amounts of time outside (some dogs up to 12 hours) but that's when a second dog would help to keep them from getting bored and lonely. If a dog is outside by themselves for that long EVERY day, they won't lead a happy life. But if you live somewhere without a fenced in yard, if you have a medium or larger adult dog, they should go no longer than 8 hours between potty breaks and that should be an exception. They SHOULD get a potty break about every 4 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the breed, as mentioned in the comments most hypoallergenic dogs are pretty small like a Bichon Frise. Poodles are a bigger hypoallergenic breed but they sometimes don't make the best pets. Maybe a Schnauzer as the other person recommended but whatever breed you get, it is always best to buy from a shelter and many shelter dogs are mixes. Look for a mix that has &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; and not fur (hair is usually longer and more wiry than fur)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T21:28:37.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15926" CreationDate="2016-12-21T21:32:27.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest effects of this is that he will (hopefully) never develop a marking habit. Cats usually start marking around the time that they go through puberty and it's more common in male cats, so it's definitely a good thing that he's fixed already&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T21:32:27.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15916" CreationDate="2016-12-21T21:38:41.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there are certain things he chews on a lot, you can get bitter apple spray which works really well to deter them. For general chewing, make sure he has lots of chew toys and bones that will keep him entertained. If he likes to chew, he's going to chew no matter what. So you have to give him things that are okay to chew on. Buffalo horns and antlers last a LONG time and are great for aggressive chewers. You can get them online or at any pet store&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5568" LastActivityDate="2016-12-21T21:38:41.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15949" CreationDate="2016-12-22T01:51:25.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can't guarantee the answer is no, since we have no idea what toxins might be in that bait. If there is any chance the answer is yes: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vet. Now.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T01:51:25.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15955" CreationDate="2016-12-22T07:11:19.537" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;So Woody (young adult boy cat) can almost touch noses when Dizzy (2.5 year old boy cat) jumps up on to the bed and there's no hissing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(We've had Woody since he was a kitten and just got Dizzy two weeks ago. We also have a much older female cat who keeps things to herself but occasionally hisses at both and sometimes chased by Woody, but that's another story.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can also eat close to each other, when we feed them wet food close to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But Woody will hiss at Dizzy when in close proximity at other times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Dizzy can occasionally chase after Woody once he's been spooked by Dizzy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We guess Woody must get frightened of Dizzy, hence the hissing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain this behaviour ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastActivityDate="2019-11-26T06:56:34.010" Title="Cat hissing / but can be close to other cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15954" CreationDate="2016-12-22T13:10:25.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hissing can just be &quot;don't crowd me, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They'll negotiate something. It may or may not get quieter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T13:10:25.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2639" CreationDate="2016-12-22T15:54:30.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to bump an old thread, I came here for something else (first time poster here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had a cat that didn't know their own name and the idea that a cat wouldn't is strange to me.   It probably depends on how a cat is raised, but in a family with kids, giving the cat a name as a kitten, the cat picks up their name pretty quickly cause it's the word they hear most often.   I agree that cats are more into listening for tones and they may respond to children's voices better than adults due to higher pitch, but I've had over 10 cats in my life and every one knew there name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One cat, Vivian, she would respond to any similar sound like Lidian was just as good.   (She was my brother's cat, later mine, and we never did experiments but probably other names like Didian, Vidian, anything like that might have work, and/or, she might have figured out the game and ignored the similar sounds after that - cats are smart that way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cat I got already given and familiar with her name, &quot;Precious&quot;, she used to come when she was called.   She was raised in a one cat household when they had to get rid of her at 1 year and I had her sister so I took her in.  (bad idea, they had no idea they were sisters after 1 year and there was some battles for territory).   But 2 things happened.   Precious figured out that Shadow (her sister/my other cat) didn't come when called so after about 2 weeks, precious stopped coming when I called her, what's more, Shadow figured out then when I called Precious, she wants to see what was going on, so she'd come, but shadow never came when I called her, she'd just look at me.   Both cats seemed to not only know their own names but the other cat's name.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also had cats, when feeding them, would meow when their name was called (when there was no food on the counter, that performance wasn't repeated), but 2 cats in the same room, each one would meow after their name, they wouldn't both meow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, raised with a name as a kitten, virtually all cats know their name and the idea that one wouldn't is a strange concept to me, but it might depend a lot on the situation the cat was raised in and how often he/she hears their name.   I don't know about taking in a stray cat as an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do agree with some of the posts above, cats also respond to tones.   That's accurate too, but there's name recognition as well and my cats recognizing and responding differently to the other cats name, said in the same tone, seems like strong evidence of that to me that they know both their name and the other cat's name and I've had 2 sets of cats that responded that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, does the cat know that as her name?   Or hear her name as some kind of command?   No way to know.    My cat Shadow was really smart and she one time, started chewing on a wire (I know, that sounds dumb right), but I said her name in a different tone and she totally got it and she never chewed on a wire again at least for several years, as she got older she stopped listening to my instructions but I got several years of her leaving all wires alone.   She could figure things out like that.   I taught her never to scratch a person in the face in a similar same way, by tapping her on the side of the head, not hard, but stern and saying no, and she never scratched a person in the face again after that.    Kittens are kind of programmed to learn things and figure things out, even if they don't learn command behaviors the way dog's do.   Learning their name is something even the dumbest kitten should be able to do - imho.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8555" LastActivityDate="2016-12-22T15:54:30.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-23T07:11:08.017" Score="4" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our new cat Dizzy, stalks either of our cats when they are in the litter box. Then said cats dart out of the box to escape. Any suggestions about how we resolve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have two hooded litter boxes and we recently put out a litter tray.&#xA;One hooded box is upstairs and the other two are downstairs (one around the corner from the other).  Dizzy uses the tray and I believe at least one hooded box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas the other cats Woody and Dot only use the hooded boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3852" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2016-12-25T02:16:42.350" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T20:50:09.777" Title="Occupied litter box stalking" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-23T22:54:32.110" Score="1" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am visiting family for the holidays. One of the relatives has brought a dog that lays on the couch and barks whenever I come within, say, 10 feet of it. (For example, let's say I'm looking for the remote control or just wish to sit on the couch.) The dog behaves aggressively and barks loudly as if it were defending its territory (the couch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how should I behave towards this dog? Specifically, should I make eye contact or avoid it? Should I let the dog have its space and stay away? Should I retreat when the dog barks at me or stand my ground?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8560" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T12:23:37.017" Title="Should I make eye contact with my relative's aggressive dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15958" CreationDate="2016-12-24T12:23:37.017" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically, when a dog acts aggressively, it is feeling threatened.  Looking directly at the dog will make it feel more so, but still keep a side look at the dog in case it makes a move toward you.  I suggest giving it space and time to watch you.  Sitting in the room, reading quietly or conversing calmly while the owner caresses the dog can help.  Also, it may help if the owner can introduce you - do not pet the dog's head (dominating) but let the dog sniff your hand (giving a treat is a good thing if okay with the owner).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8562" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T12:23:37.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14950" CreationDate="2016-12-24T17:20:27.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first rule of understanding dog behavior is to remember:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Dogs are pack animals!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different from humans, they filter every interaction, every event through the lens of the pack. Some &lt;em&gt;pack rules&lt;/em&gt; you should familiarize yourself with are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;A subset of the rules of the pack:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pack must have a strong &lt;strong&gt;alpha&lt;/strong&gt; in order for the pack to be strong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pack must be strong in order for the dog to feel safe and secure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The identity of the alpha is not fixed, but constantly changing and up for challenge at any time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog is, therefore, always trying to identify the alpha.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He who controls the food is the first candidate for being the alpha. But not necessarily so if other alpha behaviors do not follow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, the dog considers his food source (your parents) as a potential alpha &lt;em&gt;candidate&lt;/em&gt;. The act of bringing you leaves and such is a proxy for bringing you food (a &lt;em&gt;kill&lt;/em&gt;, which the dog does not have and to which the pack alpha would be entitled).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8560" LastActivityDate="2016-12-24T17:20:27.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15879" CreationDate="2016-12-24T17:24:01.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When they exhibit unacceptable behavior, you must correct them &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; they are doing it. Not after. By the time they move on to their next &lt;em&gt;thought&lt;/em&gt; it's already too late. Dogs live in the moment and do not understand corrections for things in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Do&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, the moment they start misbehaving, give them a strong verbal signal to stop. Your tone, firmness, immediacy and consistency are the important factors. If they do not stop as a result of your verbal command, escalate your corrective measures until it's &lt;em&gt;just enough&lt;/em&gt; to achieve your desired result. This could go up to and include kenneling. Alpha rolling them is the ultimate punishment. Don't take alpha rolls lightly or use them for minor or transient misbehavior. Save that for the big stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Do not&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never hit your dog. That's not a &quot;thing&quot; in the dog world. Do not talk to dogs like they are human. They don't understand that. Do not yell or respond emotionally. Dogs do not respect emotions when correcting their behavior. Do not call the dog's name. Because you want the dog to associate their name with positive reward. If they don't stop immediately, you must correct them immediately. It is important you do this every time they misbehave. Not just some of the time. Otherwise, you will be teaching them it's okay to misbehave some of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8560" LastEditorUserId="8560" LastEditDate="2016-12-25T01:25:14.290" LastActivityDate="2016-12-25T01:25:14.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15963" CreationDate="2016-12-25T04:28:54.373" Score="3" ViewCount="408" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I recently got a free bunny from someone that found it out in the street. When we received it my dad thought it was really big and could possibly be pregnant. We let it roam around the house freely and prepared a spot which serves as her toilet, but we noticed it would constantly go into my parents room in the closet where there is a bunch of clothes and had noticed some spots with missing fur and didn't know why until this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It made like a nest with some towels and a bunch of fur, I saw something moving and they were babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm  not really sure what to do, should I leave them there where it's warm in the closet and let the bunny do her thing? Or put them in a box with towels and feed them? I'm guessing they're about 7 days old because they have fur but haven't opened their eyes yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any information would be appreciated :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8564" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:34:22.583" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:34:22.583" Title="My bunny had babies, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15962" CreationDate="2016-12-25T11:25:48.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leaving the babies where they are is the number one thing to do, in the short term. Rabbits have been having babies (kits) for a long time, they are naturally good at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long term you will need to think about restricting the parts of the house the kits can get to until they have learned how to behave (i.e. what not to chew on. etc).  In the longer term you will need to think about separating them (see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6262&quot;&gt;Do Rabbits Inbreed?&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming the rabbit you have is an escaped or abandoned house rabbit. Raising wild rabbits can be problomatic (see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/854/can-i-make-a-baby-wild-rabbit-a-pet&quot;&gt;Can I make a baby wild rabbit a pet?&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The area where mom is going to the bathroom needs a litter box, as does an area near the kits for their future use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of hundred questions with good answers about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits&quot;&gt;house rabbits, take a look, there is lots to learn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have more questions about things that have not been asked yet, feel free to post a new question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2016-12-25T14:10:57.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T03:33:48.677" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby bearded dragon that's 28 days old and haven't had any feeding nor pooping problems until today in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran out of crickets 2 days ago and went to buy more crickets at a different shop that I usually go to. They didn't have any pinhead crickets but they had &quot;small&quot; crickets available and I took them. It had spent about half day without eating that day and fed I with no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning I noticed her poop but it had a good part that looked like crickets. I tried feeding her again and didn't want to eat the smallest crickets I have. It would eat them if I dropped a few in the tank - if I grab the pinhead crickets with tweezers or let them crawl on my hand and let her catch them, but she's not interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I stop feeding her these &quot;small&quot; crickets or should I go purchase actual pinhead crickets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8564" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T12:07:06.467" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T12:07:06.467" Title="Baby bearded dragon feeding/digestion" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15966" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T13:07:19.660" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Brazil. I have a 52 gallon tank. It has small common species such as molly. The PH is very alkaline(7.5 - 8). The fish are healthy. I bought some plants: elodeas(Egeria densa). They were growing fast and becoming tall. Some reached out the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a lot of snails showed up. Uncountable snails. I killed some that were on the glass, however there were a lot, so I went to the store and bought a product that has &lt;code&gt;Copper Sulfate, and Iron Sulfate&lt;/code&gt; on its composition. The salesman said to apply one drop for each 5 five liters. So I did it, for three times, with 24 hour between each application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that the plants start to die. The leaves became brown and are falling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the product is the cause because they were healthy and growing so much before that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone knows if the mentioned elements of the product would be the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T08:03:50.707" Title="Did I kill my plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15967" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T23:01:57.573" Score="3" ViewCount="7153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually give my four cats two cans of Fancy Feast wet cat food in the morning, which is about half a can of wet cat food per cat, plus the dry cat food they always have in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I only had one cat of wet food, so I decided to mix it with tuna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of dieat &amp;amp; health, my question is: what's healthier, just the two cans of Fancy Feast or one can of cat food and some tuna?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, I know that a cat's natural diet is carnivorous and not canned food and/or dry food. Just wanted to get this out of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:12.910" Title="Wet cat food mixed with tuna for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15967" CreationDate="2016-12-26T23:27:38.623" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either or is fine, however, not canned tuna. Canned tuna has a ton of salt. Fresh from the market tuna or salmon would be ideal though pricey. The omegas in fish are a wonderful additive to your cats' diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, in general we always prefer them to be on canned food. This greatly helps the prevention of crystal and stone formation in the bladder (also good for kidney health). Its high concentration of water makes your cat want to pee more, allowing the bladder to be flushed more frequently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T05:13:24.180" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T05:13:24.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-26T23:28:47.757" Score="1" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a turtle for about 2 weeks now, and today I noticed him laying his head against the glass, which I did not see him do earlier. I am quite new to reptiles and I am a bit worried. I have also noticed him being quite nervous when I try to pick him up. He did not do this before. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed him vegetables, bloodworms and dried river shrimp. I also dust them once in a while with calcium powder with vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8569" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T11:24:49.893" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T11:24:49.893" Title="Turtle laying his head restlessly against glass" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15967" CreationDate="2016-12-26T23:29:10.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat food -- at least good-quality  cat food -- contains dietary supplements to make it a complete diet. Tuna doesn't, and so may be better in some ways and worse in others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that some cats are allergic to fish, despite the stereotypes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2016-12-27T03:59:26.780" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T03:59:26.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15965" CreationDate="2016-12-26T23:35:38.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they seemed too big for her they may have upset her belly, it happens sometimes that the bugs haven't digested properly. Feel free to feed her some greens as well, a bit easier to digest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider are parasites, always good to bring a fecal sample to your vet hospital to check, I have yet to look at a sample with no parasites. Those little buggers will cause GI issues, lethargy and innapitence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to post a picture of your Beardie and the crickets if you're unsure if they're too big or not. Typical rule of thumb is no bigger then the width of their head. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-26T23:35:38.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15966" CreationDate="2016-12-27T08:03:50.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At least Copper Sulfate is a possible cause of the plants' degeneration. &lt;a href=&quot;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/cuso4gen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NPIC&lt;/a&gt; has this to say about Copper Sulfate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Copper sulfate is an inorganic compound that combines sulfur with copper. It can kill bacteria, algae, roots, plants, snails, and fungi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Copper Sulfate is also used to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coppersulfatecrystals.com/killroots.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kill roots&lt;/a&gt; in sewer lines. Presumably if it can kill roots, it is not very good for plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8572" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T08:03:50.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15977" CreationDate="2016-12-27T10:53:52.270" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can a guest help an owner verbally discipline a dog when the owner's family gives inconsistent verbal discipline themselves? More background below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cousin owns a 2 year old male &lt;strong&gt;chihuahua&lt;/strong&gt;. Whilst I was a guest in the house, I saw a lot of poor behaviour from the dog, namely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biting&lt;/strong&gt;: I was bitten whilst walking past the dog's food. My main concern is that my cousin has a &lt;strong&gt;baby&lt;/strong&gt;, less than 1 year old, and I am more concerned about her future safety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Growling&lt;/strong&gt;: This was near constant, towards everyone in the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protecting food&lt;/strong&gt;: Whilst the dog was a puppy raised on the farm it was bred on, it competed heavily for food, an issue that has not been addressed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jumping onto furniture&lt;/strong&gt;: This is a smaller issue, but the dog was constantly on the furniture, though my cousin permitted this&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've observed, the causes for the behaviour are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Competition for food at an early age&lt;/strong&gt;, as mentioned above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conflicting verbal discipline from different members of the family&lt;/strong&gt;, namely some will shout, some will make a joke about it, others will change the tone of the message part way through etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The dog decides when the punishment ends&lt;/strong&gt;, as the punishment is being sent to his basket. The dog decides when it can come out and is not sent back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Has not been neutered&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5807" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T11:21:10.440" Title="How can a guest help an owner verbally discipline a dog when the owner's family gives inconsistent verbal discipline themselves?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;children&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15976" CreationDate="2016-12-27T11:21:10.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not the dog that needs the training, it is the dogs family. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things you mention like being on furniture are personal choice, it would be inappropriate for you as guest to dictate on this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things like biting and growling, can only be addressed through long term behavior modification.  You can't change it during a visit.  The family can be taught to modify the dogs behavior.  If they are not willing or able to learn to modify the behavior, there is nothing a visitor can do in the short term that will result in long term modification of the dogs behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T11:21:10.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15942" CreationDate="2016-12-27T21:22:46.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is still too early to panic, so be calm but be prepared. I've often had cockatiels who did not attempt to feed their babies for the first 24 hours. The babies usually still have some yolk sac remaining and will be fine, as long as the parents are keeping them warm. If there's no feeding after 24 hours, then you may need to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need some high-quality bird baby food. (I have had excellent results with LaFeber's Nutri-Start.) Do not waste your money on low-cost baby food unless there's nothing else available. Then, follow the instructions on the package carefully. Food should be very watery for young chicks. Food temperature should be about 104 degrees Fahrenheit (cockatiel body temperature). You can use a syringe or eye-dropper to feed the baby, or use a 1/4 teaspoon steel measuring spoon bent in at the ends (so that it resembles a parent cockatiel's bill--I've had great success with this, but it's messy, and you'll need to clean the baby with a tissue after each feeding). The baby should not be over-fed. The baby's crop should be tense but have a little bit of give (almost exactly like the feel of a tennis ball) after feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very good source for guidance on feeding methods is: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cockatiel.com/handfeeding.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.cockatiel.com/handfeeding.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best wishes--I'm sure that you'll do fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T21:22:46.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15979" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15994" CreationDate="2016-12-27T21:35:10.173" Score="4" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who loves to eat wheat grass. The only issue is that wheat grass dies about 2-3 weeks after germination. So I have been planting them from wheat berries every 4-5 days so that he gets a continuous supply. I am wondering if there is some hardier and longer lasting grass that cats would eat. Any suggestion would be most welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8575" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T22:22:53.500" Title="What types of grass do cats eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-27T21:45:53.973" Score="9" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;My baby wheel bugs hatched recently, and I'm having a hard time finding food for them.  I tried to make a fruit fly trap with a bottle, a funnel, and some smashed tomato, but I guess it's too cold outside.  Yesterday I brought the trap inside, but I haven't seen any flies yet.  I know I could buy fruit fly cultures, but I don't want to spend any money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better trap I can make or a good place I can look to get bugs small enough for my wheel bugs to eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8576" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T02:47:55.300" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T23:01:55.180" Title="What to feed newborn wheel bugs" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15979" CreationDate="2016-12-27T22:27:26.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per websearch: oat and wheat variantions seem to be popular for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per observation:Most lawn grasses. Anything reasonably short and tender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2016-12-27T22:27:26.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-28T04:27:27.687" Score="1" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm setting up a wet / dry aquarium filter and I'd like to handle both the water return and the protein skimming (foam generation) with only 1 submerged power head, a situation consisting of 1 submerged pump for 2 purposes: 75% water return to the main fish tank above and 25% air suction created with the water for an air stone that generates foam for the protein skimmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The power head label indicates that it has a max pump amount of about 237 GPH (I'm betting it's closer to maybe 200 GPH). The current outlet from the unit that connects to the 5/8&quot; return tube is a 1/4&quot; nozzle. My thoughts are to mod the pump (or more likely, the hose) to allow just enough air suction to feed the air stone. I'm hoping there's a way to somehow use a tee connector from the main return that could somehow use gravity to suck air into a separate branch and push just enough air into the air stone (for a custom protein skimmer fitting). Have any of you done something similar to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm unsure about is whether a mod like this would suck enough air into the tube (assuming it's even possible). I did stumble onto a blog where someone apparently modded the impeller chamber to suck in air and I think they were able to push enough air into a separate chamber that caused enough foam generation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is to create just enough water vacuum necessary to suck air into a separate line that would then feed the air stone with air while simultaneously pushing water back into the above main tank with the primary branch of the 5/8&quot; tube (all from a single submerged pump, thereby eliminating the need to buy another pump).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight into this would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8577" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T04:27:27.687" Title="Create air intake from submerged water pump…?" Tags="&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15987" CreationDate="2016-12-28T13:42:49.823" Score="4" ViewCount="740" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read some questions here asking if cats &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; eat grass. Based on those, I gather that the purpose of eating grass is so kitty can get rid of hairballs or other indigestible &quot;stuff&quot; in their digestive tract. So now I am curious if cats &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; have grass available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My situation: I have a 7-month-old shorthair kitten who is indoors-only, so she's never eaten grass. I also haven't found any hairballs so far, even though everyone says all cats do have them eventually. A few times, I've heard her as if she was about to cough something up, but it never happened.. although I catch her trying to eat dust bunnies every so often, so I'm sure she's managed to ingest &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; amount of bad stuff. The only time I saw her actually cough something up was a small piece of yarn she found. (Yes, I made sure to store all my yarn in closed containers after that!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned that in the future she might need to get rid of something, but won't be able to. Should I be providing some form of &quot;cat grass&quot; for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T10:41:22.640" Title="Do cats need to eat grass?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15984" CreationDate="2016-12-28T17:37:47.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can but it isn't necessary, if you're worried about hairballs then brushing her daily will help a lot as well as the grass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-28T17:37:47.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15988" CreationDate="2016-12-29T01:20:37.473" Score="3" ViewCount="1504" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read other posts here on the topic of unwanted chewing behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15916/how-can-i-stop-my-dog-from-chewing-on-everything&quot;&gt;How can I stop my dog from chewing on everything.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1908/how-can-i-train-my-dog-to-stop-eating-everything&quot;&gt;How can I train my dog to stop eating everything?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10571/my-dogs-eats-sandals-and-plastics&quot;&gt;my dogs eats sandals and plastics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the above offer a solution to my dog's behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've talked with different vets and spent hours googling the subject. All the advise I receive doesn't seem to address the extreme nature of my problem. It's not something a few days of dog training can stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is now 6 months old and his endless chewing, eating and swallowing of anything he finds will not stop. It is not a random behavior, but is a constant never stopping moving from one spot to another looking for something to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He requires by the second monitoring when he's let out of his room. Can not be left alone anywhere in the house. Can not be allowed to walk around freely and can not be trusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is also a nipper, biter and grabber of hands, legs and feet. He especially bites my two daughters constantly. He does not have to be in a hyper state to bite. He will calmly walk up to anyone and just grab you. The biting is worse if he is excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it really is the constant eating of non-food items that is driving me nuts. If he can not find something on the floor he will climb, jump, claw open or rip apart anything until he finds something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've spent a lot of money on leashes, dog gates, crates, dog toys, dog treats and gave him unlimited dog food (which resulted in lots more dog poop without a change in behavior). We can close the gate to the front room which has now been taken over as the dog room. If we remove everything from this room, fill it with hundreds of dog toys, dog treats and dog food. He will still chew the dry wall, crown molding and door frames.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from home, and share my office space with the dog. He does not have separation anxiety, and he is very well crate train (he will sleep in his crate with the door open on his own).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take him for walks, take him to the dog park to run off leash and let him play outside for hours. Nothing is working. As soon as he is back inside he starts scanning for something to eat. He does not just chew it. He completely eats it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crayons, pencils, paper, tissue, shoes, hats, gloves, beer cans, soda cans, eye glasses, computer keyboards and mouse, wires, extension cords, TV remote, kids toys, soup cans, markers, play doh, glue bottles, books, etc.. etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can not keep moving things out of reach and still live in the same house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a happy, goofy and playful puppy but his large size (80lbs) and tall height (he can reach anything on a high counter, table or shelve) makes this behavior extra destructive and stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been to the vet and everything checks out just fine. We've had blood work done, poop/pee tests and have taken him to training classes for puppies. We've tried positive rewards, negative rewards and even gave a remote buzzer a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any hope that this will ever stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2016-12-29T03:20:25.013" Title="My dog eats everything that isn't food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15984" CreationDate="2016-12-29T01:51:30.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All cats have hairballs but they can pass these into the litter box without coughing them out. Which cats can do this and how often depends on many things like health, fur type, food and grooming habits. So she's doing it right now but you just don't see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might not have shed her first winter coat. Depending on the breed she will grow thicker fur during the cold season and start shedding in the spring. Short hair cats will shed more hair then they swallow as it's less likely to need grooming to shed fur. The more fur on the sofa is less fur in her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brushing her is the best solution to reduce hairballs. Providing structures for her to rub up against will help her loosen fur. You can also buy toothpaste like meds that you feed your cat which helps the fur pass into the litter box. There is also cat food that includes ingredients to help pass fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats eat grass instinctively and the eating of grass does not indicate there is a hairball, but grass is non-toxic and she will throw up any grass that does not get digested. Cats enjoy eating grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will search for alternatives if she has hairballs. She will eat ribbon, string, house plants or wires. All of these things are harmful and if you see her doing this, then remove those things and provide her with some grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use to just go outside and cut grass with scissors and take that back to my apartment for my cat. He would eat it right away but ignore it after it became a few hours old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy grass pots in pet stores or online and grow your own for her. Keep the pot on the floor where she has access. She'll love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8580" LastActivityDate="2016-12-29T01:51:30.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15986" CreationDate="2016-12-29T03:20:25.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some animals are OCD for eating things and cannot be conditioned otherwise ,  a vet I work with has a cat like that who we've done multiple foreign body surgeries on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing I would do is get pet insurance that will cover foreign body surgeries, they aren't cheap and with a dog like yours it will happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly I suggest buying a basket muzzle, I've seen a few dogs that need to wear one at all times because they eat everything.  We had to do this for a golden retriever that had 3 foreign body surgeries in a year, this poor dogs intestines can't handle much anymore.  These types of muzzles don't tighten around the mouth like the fabric ones,  it fits loosely enough to be comfortable yet will prevent him from eating things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this doesn't fix the behavior but worth doing all the same, you can always call a few trainers to see what they have done as I'm not well versed in this type of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-29T03:20:25.013" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15990" CreationDate="2016-12-29T11:13:25.520" Score="3" ViewCount="3777" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since turtles have eaten all of my goldfish, I stopped putting more fish in their aquarium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem is: today morning I saw too many mosquito larvae on surface of water. Seems like turtles don't like eating them, but I know guppies do. But I am concerned whether I can put them in one tank with turtles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any solution I can apply to prevent aquarium water from being infested by mosquito larvae?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:45:50.457" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T20:00:29.330" Title="Guppies and turtles together?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15989" CreationDate="2016-12-29T14:52:21.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try guppies but chances are your turtles will eat them, however if you add enough plants for them to hide in they may survive. Another easy way is to just scoop out the larvae with a small fish net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on still water so having something to keep the flow going would help, I assume for your turtles you have a canister filter? The output on it can be placed near the surface to have that ripple effect on the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2016-12-29T19:13:33.400" LastActivityDate="2016-12-29T19:13:33.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T04:42:53.967" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a six month old Labrador/Golden Retriever mixed puppy. What are some good foods for my little puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zVj7D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zVj7D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Photo by OP&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8809" OwnerDisplayName="Dogmal" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T19:43:52.863" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T05:35:16.810" Title="What are some good foods for a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T08:10:55.033" Score="3" ViewCount="1048" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, a 2 years old unneutered male mastiff mix and a 10 years old neutered female fox terrier mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I walk them in my neighborhood and we see another male dog, the male dog starts barking like crazy until he stops seeing the other dog. His hair bristles and he tries to reach the other dog. This happens only with male dogs, he is very playful with female dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I visited my parents' town and brought the male dog, and, while he did bark to some extent, it was not close to how he barks when walking around my own house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when he is in the park, without a leash, he never barks at other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is he thinks my neighborhood as his domain and just barks other males to drive them out of his territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can stop my dog doing this? He is big and strong, and scares people when he barks like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5990" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T11:35:32.790" Title="How to stop my dog from barking at other male dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15967" CreationDate="2016-12-30T12:54:08.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is Fancy Feast good?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging by the nutritional information of both 'liver and chicken feast in gravy' and 'purely Fancy Feast', this wet food doesn't provide enough fat. Fat is the ingredient that 'tells' a cat's brain to stop eating at some point and of course it is also their main energy source. This means that they need a lot of this type of food to actually be full. Additionally there seems to be a lot of liver in the food (at least it's in the second position on the ingredient list). So no, not great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food should not be fed as a full meal either because it's dry (cats naturally aren't great at drinking a lot) as well as usually filled with wheat or other stuff cats can't even digest properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I feed Tuna?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure. However, fish is a special thing even among RAW diets. Fish has a ton of Vitamin D which can be 'overdosed', so to speak. Cats won't die from a fish every few months or anything, but it's not great for them either. Additionally, some fish are rich in Thiaminase (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiaminase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiaminase&lt;/a&gt;) which breaks down thiamine (Vit B1), which in turn means that it will effectively remove that from whatever else the cat is eating at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been studies where cats being fed fish already showed deficiencies after 11 days (Thiamine Deficiency and Associated Clinical Disorders by McCandless, 2009) symptoms of which can be loss of appetite, nerve damage (trembling, cramps, ataxia) and overall weight loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This all might sound very scary indeed, but again, non-supplemented fish or other meat once a month or something is perfectly within the range of 'fine' :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T04:20:03.780" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T04:20:03.780" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="15994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15979" CreationDate="2016-12-30T12:58:39.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wheat is kind of perfect for this as its soft and has no sharp edges... with other types of grass, the risk of the cat hurting its throat or the blade ending up in its nose (yes, it happens... a lot more than one would think) is too high and therefore should be avoided. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another plant one could recommend is cyperus gracilis - the last bit is the important part as other cyperus plants also can grow too sharp or tough for the cats to eat safely. &#xA;The plant grows about 60cm high and quite wildly unless in the cold. It needs a lot of watering, but the bonus is that you can grow new plants very easily whenever the first one blooms, meaning a potentially endless supply without having to buy any more seeds or fully grown plants. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T12:58:39.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15991" CreationDate="2016-12-30T15:28:10.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on your price range:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Grocery store food - Iams Puppy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Pet Store Food - Acana or Blue Buffalo Puppy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Veterinary Food - Royal Canin or Hills Puppy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog is neutered keep an eye on his weight, you may have to alter the amount he gets or switch to an adult food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will always be a lot of controversy on diets just keep in mind that every dog is different and what will work for someone's dog  may not work for yours. The only food I would truly stay away from are RAW diets, it is a health risk to the general public (children, elderly and pregnant women) and to your pets if not properly balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would like to make your own dog food I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://completeandbalanced.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hilary's blend&lt;/a&gt;, the recipes are balanced to prevent any deficiencies and approved by veterinary nutritionists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All life stages dog foods are also no good, there is no such thing, each stage of life needs a different % of nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't give in to the marketing that all foods with corn are bad, in cheaper foods they are bad because the digestibility is very low where as in veterinary food digestibility is high (L.I.P greater than 90%) and it makes for a good source of energy. You'll also see a lot of &quot;gluten free&quot; or &quot;wheat free&quot;, all marketing gimmicks, the only time you'd need a wheat free diet is if your dog is allergic to wheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nice indicator on how well it works is quality of skin and coat - your pets fur should not be brittle or greasy and his skin should not be dry and flaky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T15:28:10.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17957" CreationDate="2016-12-30T17:29:46.540" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three and a half year old mutt, who sheds excessive amounts of hair. My clothing and floors are covered with puffs of her hair, and I vacuum and use lint rollers daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried fish oil, adding salmon to her diet, frequent grooming, bathing, using a furminator, and everything else I can think of. The vet tells me that my dog is perfectly healthy, so it's really just an inconvenience, not a disorder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If it matters, she's a mutt. Part hound. &lt;a href=&quot;https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5792/23699210421_79e5095e52_b.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a photo.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I reduce or contain the shedding? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastEditorUserId="6942" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T18:22:49.380" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T12:57:33.237" Title="How do I reduce my dog's excessive shedding?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15803" CreationDate="2016-12-30T19:23:12.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everybunny is a different person.  All of my rabbits live in the house, but they enjoy going outside for fresh grass in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Harmony &quot;HATES&quot; to be held, even though she is being carried from a place she like to another place she likes, we still get a thump, run off and pout from her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ruby loves to be handled, if you aren't paying enough attention to her, she will try and climb up your leg like a cat.  She never has an issue with being pickedup, sometimes she is not happy about being put down, and wants up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally you are correct, rabbits don't like to be held for &quot;(prey instinct etc)&quot; and flopping is a sign of contentment. They adapt quickly, and it may just take a few seconds for him to get over it and go flop/lay contently on floor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As he is not thumping I think he is getting over it as soon as he feet hit the ground, and everything is wonderful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T19:23:12.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15991" CreationDate="2016-12-30T20:22:32.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used Purina all naturals it is an affordable choice of food that does Not have grain as the first ingredient. Instead it has chicken or beef byproducts as the first ingredient. Science diet is usually provided by the vet practice and although it is expensive it is OK to dilute the primary good choice with A less expensive food for vitamins and nutrients. Honestly I feel it is best to get the best food that you can afford, with the most natural ingredients. Having your pet eat well is one way to prevent disease sickness and aging of your pet. The healthier the diet the better- like preventive care. Keep an eye on your pets weight. The heavier the animal the faster is ages., Also I cook high protein foods for my pets. You may be interested in how easily you can make food for your pets. And treats too! &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/how-to-make-homemade-dog-food-for-labradors/231&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/how-to-make-homemade-dog-food-for-labradors/231&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T20:22:32.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="15999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15967" CreationDate="2016-12-30T20:44:37.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do not catch tuna in the wild. However they love protein and are very good at choosing food with high protein. The salt of tuna is unhealthy for your pet. Try shrimp and salmon. Yet I'd suggest cooking the food yourself. Fish is easily baked. Sautéing is good way to go but use butter with no salt or olive oil. Coconut oil is great for their coat too. And most of the rescues I work with will eat coconut oil right from the spoon. But give them small doses. Like a teaspoon or else it may have a purgative effect, resulting in diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:30:12.910" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:30:12.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15979" CreationDate="2016-12-30T20:51:06.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've purchased cat grass in the past yet my cats are happy with our natural grass in the garden. It helps them to digest more easily and grass even calms an uncomfortable tummy! Oat and wheat families are easily chewed and not at all harmful. No matter what though you should make sure they don't over eat grass as it will have a purgative effect. There are times cats want to purge due to bad food or getting into something they should not have eaten.  I have had many rescues that go right to eating grass rafter having been fed BAD foods like kibbles n bits, or friskies. These two labels are not adequate for a pets healthy diet. It's comparable to feeding your children Cheetos for a meal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastActivityDate="2016-12-30T20:51:06.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15989" CreationDate="2016-12-30T20:54:10.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles eat fish. They do not have any specific fish they don't eat. Even if the fish is too big the turtle will slowly eat the fish a little bit at a time, for example by biting fins, eyes, etc. You may have to just scoop the larvae  often and keep tank light off if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T20:00:29.330" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T20:00:29.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16003" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-30T21:39:30.073" Score="3" ViewCount="1113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 month old German Shepherd Dog (GSD)/Belgian Malinois and he is the second GSD puppy I've had in the past three years, so I am a little bit experienced in some areas, but I need some help with dog-dog behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I socialized him with other people and dogs and he is super friendly, too friendly. At the dog park, he spends over 95% of the time licking and trying to sniff other dogs genitals which has been leading to attempts to mount. (I know this is considered normal dog behavior, but this appears to be borderline obsessive). He usually singles out a smaller dog and then just chases them around with the above behavior. The dogs sometimes snap back, but he keeps at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several owners have taken their dogs and left as they end up snarling and growling and he continues to try and lick/sniff their genitals. I'm having his neutered in several weeks, but he has displayed this behavior since he was 12-weeks old. I don't know if this is a dominance issue or etiquette as he was taken away from his litter at 6.5 weeks. I keep hoping a dog will react in a way to discourage him, but it is getting worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to reiterate that this isn't an occasional thing, he will zero in on a dog and his face wont leave their genitals until we leave, even after pulling him away and trying to reward good behavior. He will even continue as the dogs try to go to the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help. My previous dog was very submissive and this sort of issue never came up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8593" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:25:30.103" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T23:25:30.103" Title="9 month old puppy behavior problems" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15933" CreationDate="2016-12-30T21:42:52.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes unfortunately cats do inbreed. It is safe to fix your pet at any age. There are restrictions for too young and too old. Fortunately most vet practices 'screen' your pet before surgery. At our clinic we put every pet under anesthesia for the procedure. So it's best to be cautious about the pets health.  There are clinics that offer discounted or at cost fixing. You may have to travel a bit to find a clinic. Or submit financial information for consideration to see if you are eligible to get a discounted rate. We have a local clinic that does not make you jump through hoops to have your pet fixed. All they ask is that you provide proof that your pet has been vaccinated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastEditorUserId="8592" LastEditDate="2016-12-31T16:28:29.530" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T16:28:29.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1848" CreationDate="2016-12-30T21:52:39.540" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have fixed cats at all different ages. There are some variables outside of age that can affect when or if fixing is the appropriate choice. There is no birth control alternative. &#xA;Except to have same sex pets. &#xA;Variables that could prevent a safe fix- bad heart- murmur, disease...&#xA;Emaciation or unhealthy immune system. The anesthesia or even the mixing with other animals could harm an animal suffering malnutrition.&#xA;Age is a variable - there is a such thing as too young or too old. &#xA;Allergies to anesthesia or other medications. &#xA;Pregnancy - some vets will provide abortions. But only to a certain stage of pregnancy.&#xA;Respiratory issues that obstruct nasal passages or make breathing difficult in anyway. We put our animals on oxygen if we need.&#xA;I work as a recovery technician. In a spay and neuter clinic. I am a vet tech student.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8592" LastEditorUserId="8627" LastEditDate="2017-01-07T00:40:19.530" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T00:40:19.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-31T06:36:08.153" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10-months old male dog's penis doesn't want to retract. What do I do now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8596" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-12-31T20:47:41.330" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T20:47:41.330" Title="My 10-months old male dog's penis doesn't want to retract" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16016" CreationDate="2016-12-31T06:39:19.613" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog ate an hour ago and is now in sitting front of me, begging. I let him outside and he immediately went to go pee, but when he came back inside he started begging again. What could he be begging for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some common reasons are for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to use the bathroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else could he be begging for and would there be a way to differentiate begging for each of these needs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8595" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2016-12-31T14:32:37.147" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T18:51:03.480" Title="What are common reasons that dogs beg?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16003" CreationDate="2016-12-31T07:35:52.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds pretty normal to me. Possibly a tad bit too &quot;obsessive&quot;, but certainly nothing new. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd definitely wait with neutering. The dog is still not fully grown up and getting it fixed now might keep him as active/playful/sniffing forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know several dog owners who were sold on the &quot;neutering fixes everything&quot; approach and they're left with partially hyperactive dogs still acting like puppies despite their age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just give it some time, possibly try to use a long set line so you're still in control (for the time being). Your dog is just growing up and trying to find it's place (plus trying to determine how far it may go). One of our Huskies was similar, minus the excessive mounting, and it pretty much disappeared completely over the following year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T07:35:52.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15941" CreationDate="2016-12-31T10:47:19.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like human beings, cats are different. Some outdoor cats are perfectly fine and willing with a schedule (be it 'only during the day/night' or 'every evening for a few hours'), however, yours demonstrably is not which can be one of the problems with 'going for walks' with cats - they demand it on their own schedule and time. &#xA;I know, not the answer you wanted probably... Sorry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, given that he won't be fine with a schedule, your options are: &#xA;1) A cat 'doorbell'. (f.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01CY0UQWU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/Newcomdigi-Doorbell-Water-Proof-Dust-Proof-Wireless/dp/B01CY0UQWU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1483180530&amp;amp;sr=8-3&amp;amp;keywords=cat+doorbell&lt;/a&gt; - not endorsed by me, just the first one I found). This is activated by the animal and notifies you wirelessly that the cat wants to be let in. &#xA;Only an option if you are home at all times, of course. Also you should look into clicker training for this (which is also great for other things). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) A cat flap/door. Might need a custom one for a Bengal, depending on the F generation. The cat can go outside and inside as they please and they won't annoy you anymore. If you don't own the place you live in, cat flaps can be out into windows as well (you do have to replace the glass of course), so its not like you have to open up the walls or anything :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) An outside fun-house time in combination with the cat flap. This is an awesome but also very expensive thing to do and only an option if you have a garden and the permission from the landlord or lady. Basically a metal square cage with trees / wooden beams, hiding spots and other 'outside stuff' to entertain cats with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Well, okay, there is one last thing you could try. Again with clicker training, you could teach your cat a specific sign - that is only used for this and not ever in jest - that means 'we will go outside now'. &#xA;Given the cats previous behavior, this is unlikely to work as the problem is not specifically the irregularity of taking them outside but that they want to explore on their own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T10:47:19.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16006" CreationDate="2016-12-31T13:48:53.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If its not retracting a vet visit is warranted, could be something simple and only needs lubricant to be placed back in the sheath or a medical concern that would need surgical correction.  Hard to say without seeing the pet in person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T13:48:53.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-31T16:46:48.333" Score="4" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you please tell me where to look for the million bubble air pump or the oxy-mist air pump.  I cannot find it anywhere.  Or an alternative for my Sea Monkeys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8599" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-01-02T11:03:54.013" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T11:03:54.013" Title="Sea Monkeys air pump" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;&lt;sea-monkeys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2016-12-31T17:35:25.000" Score="4" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working to compile a list of dog park etiquette rules for my clients (I'm a professional dog walker). I started a list here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://pettium.com/top-10-dog-park-etiquette-rules&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Top 10 dog park etiquette rules&lt;/a&gt; I'd love to hear if you agree/disagree with any of the rules I listed and if you feel I should add any not yet listed. Please let me know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a high-level summary of 5 I listed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick up after your dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring toys you don’t mind sharing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep close watch over your dog while at the park&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don’t allow young children to play at the dog park&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Know your dog and the dog park’s rules&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T01:13:16.547" Title="Dog park etiquette rules" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15941" CreationDate="2016-12-31T17:36:27.940" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meowing is the cat’s primary way to let you know what she wants. If she wants to go outside, she’ll likely learn to meow at the door. Likewise, if she’s outdoors and wants in, she’ll meow to get you to let her back inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8600" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T17:36:27.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16006" CreationDate="2016-12-31T17:38:53.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds like a serious issue that should not go ignored. Do you have a vet? Most vet hospitals have an urgent care center which only costs a little more than a regular vet visit. I'd recommend going asap so you animal doesn't suffer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8600" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T17:38:53.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16012" CreationDate="2016-12-31T18:38:42.140" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend that you ask people to NOT bring toys,  this can cause dog fights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would encourage separating large dogs from small dogs (2 different enclosures). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see a lot of dogs come in the clinic with some pretty bad wounds from these kinds of parks, would be nice to have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/92/bb/a6/92bba6502d06c44848a1332875e598b0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diagram showing canine body language&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend the retractable leash, it's very hard to control your dog with the small lead. These leashes also break easily,  are clunky and won't help at all if you need instant control of your dog (fighting with it to shorten the lead). For big dogs a &lt;a href=&quot;https://leerburg.com/Photos/TwoHandLeash_01.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;double loop leash&lt;/a&gt; is wonderful,  you can keep them close and have better control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For small dogs I would go with a regular &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allk-9.com/images/leash_nylon_double_layer.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nylon leash&lt;/a&gt;,  again better and quicker control of the situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Retractable leashes have their place but not in a dog park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, looks great :)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T18:38:42.140" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16007" CreationDate="2016-12-31T18:51:03.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good way to figure it out is to stand up and see if your dog will lead you somewhere. When my dog would beg I would stand up and ask repeatedly &quot;what do you want?&quot; in a positive tone, then start walking to see what direction he will go to. They're pretty smart and will lead you to what they want or start playing with you if they want to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason you haven't listed is to find a toy they lost, my grand-mothers dog will cry and lead her to where the toy is stuck or hidden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2016-12-31T18:51:03.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-01T05:50:54.580" Score="1" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I give food to the homeless cats around my house، To prevent their hunger&#xA;One of them was a kitten؛ I was his/her only source of food، &#xA;He/she is older now but in dealing with other cats، well!, I think He/She is incompatible with other cats، Violent clashes occurred between them!، I think he is an Incompatible cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is psychology of the cat that has been raised by humans natural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8603" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T11:25:49.983" Title="Is psychology of the cat that has been raised by humans natural?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15651" CreationDate="2017-01-01T11:03:20.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chicken wire should work to keep a cat in, as it works to keep cats out of the chicken coop.  The structure may not need be anchored to the house, the chicken run in this image is designed to be moved, the house and run just touch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can jump several feet, and they can climb, your run will need a roof, it can be solid or wire.  Googling for 'outdoor cat run' images shows several different options. Your budget and layout will ultimately decide how extravagant your run is, but if it is solidly built and stable it does not need to be physically attached to your house, just touching it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly as you are living in a rental, you may want to plan so it can easily be taken apart and moved.  If you look closely at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Coop_and_run_front_right.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;high resolution pictures of the chicken run&lt;/a&gt; you can see the carriage bolts that hold the sides together. Comes apart easily for storage or long moves.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jD63h.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jD63h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coop_and_run_front_right.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image sourced commons.wikimedia.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T11:03:20.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16018" CreationDate="2017-01-01T11:25:49.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat that from a very young age* has been raised by humans does have a different psychology than one that was raised by another cat. I have observed several cats who were raised this way and they tend to be more human focused than other cats. They may not interact completely normally with other cats, but can learn normal cat-like behavior over time if given enough exposure to other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as violence between cats go, this is normal cat behavior. Normal cats can and do defend what they see as their territory from strange cats that trespass. A cats territory includes people and food in that territory as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*Normally the 'very young age' is approximately around the time the kitten opens its eyes or younger. If a cat has any exposure to another cat (usually its mother) after this, it tends to have normal cat behavior.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T11:25:49.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-01T11:28:15.457" Score="2" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat. She's about 6 months old. She was fine yesterday. She went into hiding last night. I found her today. And she seems really sick. Her behavior is completely different. Her back legs seem really sore. She won't eat or drink. And her breathing is a lot faster then it's supposed to be. Please help me help her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8605" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-25T11:57:32.230" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T11:57:32.230" Title="My cat was fine yesterday. And today shes not eating or drinking" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16021" CreationDate="2017-01-01T11:46:18.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to take the cat to the vet today.If she was only not eating you could wait until tomorrow for the vet.  Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5593/how-long-can-a-healthy-cat-go-without-food&quot;&gt;How long can a healthy cat go without food?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T11:46:18.987" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6092" CreationDate="2017-01-01T12:34:30.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is put them down.they might keep on spreading this deadly disease,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8606" LastActivityDate="2017-01-01T12:34:30.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16011" CreationDate="2017-01-02T03:31:06.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be able to use any aquarium air pump, but most likely you will want a very small one. There's a number of online pet stores or your local big box or smaller local fish stores will carry them. The whisper brand pumps are decent and cost as little as about $5 or $6 for the model 10, which I would think would be plenty. Azoo, aqueon, and a few other manufacturers also make small cheap pumps. You may want to get a small inline valve at the same time in case the pump puts out too much air for what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-01-02T03:31:06.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-02T08:03:47.120" Score="2" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of male and female Indian Star Tortoises (Geochelone elegans).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, they have mated successfully. However, I have also observed that my female tortoise was digging in the ground, which can indicate she was preparing to lay eggs. How can I confirm whether or not she has laid any eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-01-03T04:03:59.843" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T04:03:59.843" Title="How to know if an Indian Star Tortoise has laid eggs" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16162" CreationDate="2017-01-02T13:05:24.343" Score="3" ViewCount="1272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby Indian flapshell turtle (&lt;em&gt;Lissemys punctata&lt;/em&gt;), around 4-5 months old. I have observed that it has not been consuming its food for the last few days. It is playing fine inside water and also basking under sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could the issue of not eating be due to the cold/winter here? Should I consult a veterinarian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T20:16:55.240" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T20:16:55.240" Title="Indian flapshell turtle not eating" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16292" CreationDate="2017-01-02T16:59:33.417" Score="1" ViewCount="483" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, male, 15 years, previously otherwise healthy (until yesterday he's always been active, healthy weight, energy level about the same as a 7-8 year old) except for a heart murmur since birth, until an ER visit last night diagnosed critically low potassium and moderately high blood sugar. Working theory based on x-rays and bloodwork so far is hyperaldosteronism due to a possible tumor on adrenal gland, non-metasticizing, unknown if malignant. He's getting ultrasound today to confirm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been researching treatment options if it comes back positive as a tumor, which I have a feeling it will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the options so far seem very high risk. There's an adrenalectomy, which apparently can go either very great or very poorly, and from my research this won't be an option if the tumor is bilateral or there's not much functioning gland that can be saved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's Lysodren, which appears to have risky and awful side effects. There's also ketoconazole, which can cause liver damage, which worries me because of his age although I believe him to be otherwise healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also be talking to the doctor at the hospital for more options today, but my question for you guys is are there any other treatment options I can add to my list? I'm trying to build as comprehensive a list as possible from internet research, talking to the doctor, and other people's experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking both for personal experiences from pet owners as well as cited treatments and opinions from any professionals here. I am open to natural treatment suggestions as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T04:53:53.563" Title="Feline hyperaldosteronism (Conn's disease) alternative treatment options" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15992" CreationDate="2017-01-03T18:51:57.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just sounds like your dog is territorial. Having him neutered, like what was said by jalynn2 in the comment above will hopefully help with this. Other that that, you can reprimand him and let him know that you do not like when he does this. You can do this vocally or with a clicker or sound emitter. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T18:51:57.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16003" CreationDate="2017-01-03T18:56:14.160" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be a problem that could be partially due to not being neutered but it sounds more like an etiquette issue. The dogs growling and snarling are performing checks on him and letting him know that they do not approve of what he is doing. Eventually he will come to understand that other dogs do not like it when he oversteps their boundaries. This seems like it mostly has to do with his young age. I would keep socializing him so that he is able to understand what is okay and what is not okay. If you keep him separated, he will never learn that other dogs do not like what he is doing. In the meantime, I would keep trying to reprimand him. Pull him away and tell him no in a firm voice. If he understands what no means, he will learn that you don't like what he is doing either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2017-01-03T18:56:14.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16039" CreationDate="2017-01-04T04:10:48.820" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a younger sweet cat (now 5!) for company for our older cat (almost 12!) because the older cat is very sweet and loving and loves other cat's company.  The younger cat has been the &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; companion for the older cat.  They've been together almost 4 years.  They've always played 'rough', and when the older cat was younger he engaged in rough play with other housemates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, lately, I notice that our older cat is becoming more and more sensitive to the rough play with the younger cat.  When the younger cat chases him and mounts him and bites him on the neck, our older cat starts wailing much more loudly than he used to.  This is also consistent with him being louder in general around feeding time; he used to be very quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: should I restrain the younger cat from this rough play when I am around?  I know older cats become more sensitive in their joints, etc., but I always thought the exercise and play would be good for him nonetheless.  I don't want to be stupid about it though and keep letting the younger cat have his way regardless of the older cat's feelings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8616" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T19:22:08.950" Title="Should I stop younger buddy cat from playing rough with older cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-04T05:50:47.600" Score="1" ViewCount="2708" Body="&lt;p&gt;3-4 month old male kitten. Whenever there is a play session, he remains hyperactive and aggressive after the play session. His eyes bulge, he doesn't seem to recognise me &amp;amp; tries to bite me &amp;amp; jump and attack me. He also starts attacking and hiding from invisible enemies. This lasts for many many hours after the play session. On days he doesn't play - he is a lap kitten.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During play, I use a hook/string &amp;amp; he chases it around &amp;amp; tries to grab it. Or he plays with a small colorful ball which makes a bell like sound as he moves it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Kitten was a stray kitten which came to my window when he was around 2.5 months old &amp;amp; cried to be let in &amp;amp; was. I don't have any idea how he was separated from her mother/siblings etc. I heard from others that a stray dog had tried to attack him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8619" LastEditorUserId="8619" LastEditDate="2017-01-25T11:50:57.063" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T11:50:57.063" Title="Kitten becomes hyper after a play session" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16037" CreationDate="2017-01-04T11:14:31.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your situation is why usually the rule of thumb for finding good companion cats is: same gender, same age (more important if they are young) and (more important if they are adults) same character/playstyle/social needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, it sounds like they got along fine socially and character-wise, but the age discrepancy was a bit much. That is fine when both cats still have the same activity level, but in the long run it shows as your older cat isn't up for as much rough play (which male cats tend to be into, so that's perfectly normal behavior from the younger cat) as he was before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two possible (very general) causes for this: &#xA;1) Your older cat is just that. Older. He is just not that into wrestling anymore and is showing that to his buddy... &#xA;2) Medical reasons. At your older cats age (although not ancient), it is not beyond reason that he does have a few aches in his joints. Does he jump less often or high than before? Maybe get a geriatric blood panel and have him x-rayed (to check for arthritis, spondylosis etc.) if you can at all afford it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, the younger cat will be getting more and more frustrated as he can't get rid of all that energy that he has and therefore may start ignoring the older cats signals of 'hey, thats enough now, I don't want to'. And while they will still generally like each other, this usually leads to their relationship getting worse. While you can step in, by 'just happening' to calmly need to go where the two of them are or making an odd/unknown (not loud) noise (yelling might send the wrong message and increase stress and energy rather than dissolve the situation), obviously that can a) only be done when you are present and quick enough and b) is a band-aid at best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I usually suggest in these cases (they are quite common) is to adopt another male that has had the chance to grow up with siblings/is social enough to accept a 'no, not now' from other cats but is the same age of your younger cat (4-6, not younger) and same activity level. &#xA;With social cats, these situations then resolves quite nicely as the two younger ones roll through the place in a ball of happy fur and the older one can join in if they like - but doesn't have to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not an option for you at all, the only other solution I would suggest is: give the younger one away and adopt a cat at the older ones age (as he knows and enjoys company in general, he just can't keep up with the younger one anymore). This is HARD, I know. It sucks and you immediately say 'oh gosh no never'. &#xA;Keep in mind that any other ideas (unless the reason for this issue is health-based!) will be mere temporary fixes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be health check first, then third cat. If that's not possible, see above...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T19:22:08.950" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T19:22:08.950" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15992" CreationDate="2017-01-04T11:35:32.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, neutering a dog should really be a given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally wouldn't go down the &quot;reprimanding&quot; route as you might be reinforcing negativity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd use treats as a distracting measure and back up with praise when there's no barking.  Over time, reduce the treats, but keep up the praise and reassurance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, try changing the positions when approaching other dogs on walks, positioning yourself between your dog and the other.  This means that you're in the protective role instead of your dog (you protect him,  as opposed to him protecting you).  I admit though, that this doesn't always work in an excited dog, hence the proactive distract/treat/reward process..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T11:35:32.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16038" CreationDate="2017-01-04T11:44:34.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your kitten has a kitten companion of the same age&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teach it that playing with people-bodies is a no-no. Everytime she does this, get up and ignore her; literally not looking at her until she stops - it shouldn't take more than a few seconds. She is trying to play with you as if you are a cat, and unfortunately people don't have protective fur. Lack of protective fur makes her play activity a painful one rather than fun. However, her play is not wrong per se, either, so don't actively punish her. Large eyes and attentive face indicate play behavior and fun (I know, not for you, sorry :) ). Additionally, you can try using longer toys to play with her so you're not within immediate reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your kitten lives alone&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people do this and think it is perfectly fine. Let me tell you a secret: it's not. Among other reasons, because of what you are experiencing: cats that 'attack' people, pee in the apartment, scratch the walls or furniture or act lethargic are all possible signs of - simply put - being lonely. This is not to attack you or to say you are a bad person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are inherently social creatures; they merely hunt alone. Leyhausen and other ethologists have observed various types of social groups even among feral cats. Your kitten is merely trying to play; it won't stop playing... or, it might, and then just sleep. And do nothing. ...Not really a happy life, though of course she will be happy whenever you are around, you -are- her life after all and you love her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best and most simple solution is to get a kitten of the same gender, age and character for your kitten. Trust me, she will magically and suddenly not attack you anymore, it works every single time because cats don't -want- to hurt us; they will go to someone who actually wants to play the way they do... if someone else like that is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why the same age? This is important so the cats will be roughly equivalent in size, strength and interests. A 6 month old wants to prove themselves and test their strength; they would overpower a 3-4 month old cat too easily, possibly leading to situations where the little one doesn't dare to move out from under the bed anymore. (with adult cats, a few weeks of course don't make such an enormous difference)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why the same gender? Putting two cats together is always a bit of a game of chance and luck. We are trying to increase the chance of compatibility, and in general female kittens grow up to play chase, hide and seek, and toy games, while male kittens grow up to focus more on very physical, rough fighting games (usually around the 8 month stage). There are exceptions, but with kittens the age of yours, we just can't know for sure so we go with what will most likely be the best fit. Female, in your case. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why the same character? This goes back to same interests and is much, much easier to gauge with adults that already had past feline company because you will know exactly what kind of play behavior they display (making gender somewhat less of a primary factor), how much social contact they need (do they want to basically lie on top of each other and social groom or is sitting and birdwatching together the height of their social need) and how active they are (a couch potato will be a poor partner indeed for a buzzing bee of a kitten and vice versa). In this case, you should be able to at least gauge how active your little one is. If she is timid and more into cuddling than play, don't look for the 'most rough-playing kitten ever'. Same the other way around, but yeah, once more you can only go by estimates here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With adult cats, I would give advice on how to properly introduce the cats to each other, but with kittens there really is no need for any special precautions. Just keep the new arrival in her own room for a day or so (until she recovers from the stress of moving and eats on her own etc.) and then let them have at it :) They might hiss and growl for a bit, but after a few days they will already play together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First English study I found - from 2001. This really shouldn't be news. &quot;The domestic cat is a social species with complex intra-colony social dynamics.&quot; If a living being is inherently social, depriving it of any contact with its own species is detrimental at best. (see humans, solitary confinement and various experiments)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://katzen-verstehen.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/social-organization-of-the-cat.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://katzen-verstehen.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/social-organization-of-the-cat.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastEditorUserId="8586" LastEditDate="2017-01-07T23:50:21.297" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T23:50:21.297" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16054" CreationDate="2017-01-04T19:48:57.717" Score="2" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;My uncle passed away a couple of days ago and I have been asked to adopt his beagle. The dog has likely a couple of health conditions due to neglect, my uncle was a depressed man for a lot of his life and the dog has been over fed, under excercised and as such, I am concerned that we would be taking on more than what we are being asked to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that my uncle had pet insurance for the dog, although nobody at this point can give me specific details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the UK, does pet insurance transfer between owners in the event of the original owners' death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read through a handful of policy terms and conditions and cannot seem to see anything relevant whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3286" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-27T09:32:30.087" LastActivityDate="2018-01-27T09:32:30.087" Title="Pet insurance on death of owner" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;insurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-04T20:34:55.177" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;150 gal fish and reef tank. One ascillaris died 8 mos ago. Paired for over 5 yrs. Is it possible to introduce a younger one? I have many rose anemonies.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XyFjB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here]![enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8621" LastActivityDate="2017-01-04T20:34:55.177" Title="Introducing new black and white oscillaris to 5 yr old oscillaris that lost mate possible?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-04T21:44:27.573" Score="2" ViewCount="483" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had kittens.  We kept a female and gave a male one away.  The new home didn't work out so we took the male one back.  Will they remember each other?  They were separated for about a week and a half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8623" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T00:33:02.333" Title="Memory for sibling after separation for a week and a half" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T00:15:39.067" Score="1" ViewCount="723" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NuB3X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My betta has got a red lump on his tail that just appeared. I have reviewed many sites but haven't seen anything quite like it. I have had him for about 6 months and he has been very healthy. Now He seems a little sluggish and spends lots of time on the bottom.  When he does swim, he is all over the place then quickly goes back to the bottom. His water temp is good, he gets partial water changes regularly.  Not sure what has caused the bump or the behaviour change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8626" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T00:15:39.067" Title="Betta fish with bump on his tail" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16047" CreationDate="2017-01-05T00:33:02.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely, unless the kittens were newborn at the separation time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something amusing that I recall: I had a female cat that I took to my grandma's one summer. My grandma had a male cat at that time living in the house. Both cats got along quite well, but then I took my cat back to my home. When I brought her over to my grandma's again more than a year later, I expected some adjustment between the two to occur. To my surprise, they recognized each other immediately, like they had never got separated...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8627" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T00:33:02.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16051" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T01:55:23.653" Score="13" ViewCount="812" Body="&lt;p&gt;A neighbor on a local community message board is trying to locate the owner of this stray &quot;dog&quot; pictured below (Raleigh North Carolina area). She was reportedly a little timid at first but became super playful in a few seconds. The kids love  her but their dog seemed to really dislike her, but later also became friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I say this is a wild red fox.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7YiHh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neighbors are arguing that this is not a fox but some type of terrier or some other arcane breed I cannot recall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any plausible breed this could be, i.e. &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a fox? Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T16:44:58.593" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T22:58:24.263" Title="Stray dog or fox?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;fox&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16051" CreationDate="2017-01-05T05:32:31.310" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming this isn't a joke, that is a fox.  If you want to make absolutely sure, and assuming you can check safely, check the eyes.  Foxes have slit pupils when they're contracted, like a cat's.  Dogs always have rounded pupils.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is a wild animal, however, do not handle it, and those who have interacted with it should possibly seek medical treatment as foxes can carry serious diseases such as rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2017-01-05T05:42:15.057" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T05:42:15.057" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-05T11:48:45.100" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My little hermit crab joy has abandoned her shell last night and I have no idea where she is. I have no idea what happened and my other crabs look fine. She has never done anything like this before and she is usually active around the tank. She did disappear under the substrate for a day a couple days ago but she quickly reappeared with her shell ON the whole time. I'm just worried that she died because my other crab teensy died the same way. She abandoned her shell and never returned. I'm scared for joy because she was one of my favorites and always enjoyed to play with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8630" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:53:15.120" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:53:15.120" Title="Missing hermit crabs?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16044" CreationDate="2017-01-05T14:12:56.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have something that looks lie it's the policy document, then you (or whoever has probate) should really call the insurance company and transfer the policy holders details (just the same as for utility bills and other policies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, you can confirm the terms of the policy as it applies to the dog and whether a change in ownership (of the dog and policy) affects the policy in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to hear of your loss, and wish you every success with the beagle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T14:12:56.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15980" CreationDate="2017-01-05T18:47:19.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_bug#Ecological_significance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Wheel bugs may be overly sensitive to pesticides&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wheel bugs are highly regarded by organic gardeners because they consume a variety of insects and their presence indicates a healthy, pesticide-free ecosystem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10329/feeding-leopard-gecko-food-from-outside&quot;&gt;Feeding Leopard Gecko food from outside?&lt;/a&gt; the risk of harm to your pet(s) from wild caught insects in residential areas, is significant.  Purchasing Farm-raised insects or beginning with them to farm your own may be ultimately more cost effective and safer for your pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to fruit flies, aphids could form the foundation of a healthy herd to feed your Wheel bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2017-01-05T19:15:53.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11631" CreationDate="2017-01-06T02:25:49.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog isn't drinking enough (he has crystals in his urine and I want him to drink more) I put some kibble in his water bowl - just a little so he is forced to drink it while 'fishing' for the kibble. Kind of like apple bobbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also tried adding water to the food but then I think it gets too mushy and he tends to get kibble paste stuck in his teeth more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8635" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T02:25:49.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16064" CreationDate="2017-01-06T14:47:11.077" Score="5" ViewCount="18953" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a small snail (about 1&quot; / 2.5 cm shell) in the same tank as my betta fish. They seemed to both be doing fine living together for the 7 months I've had them. But this week, I checked up on the tank and found the snail shell overturned. I tried flipping it upright but when I looked later it was flipped over again and looked empty, which is sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had changed the filter and added water recently (2-3 weeks ago), but I've done water changes in the past and the snail was fine, so I don't see why it would have hurt the snail this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do betta fish attack snails, and if so, why might it have done now? Or did the snail probably die of other causes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:14:52.487" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:17:24.980" Title="Do betta fish attack snails?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16060" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16061" CreationDate="2017-01-06T15:08:22.777" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog mix, Jack Russel Terrier / Chihuahua, about 3 years old. I feed her meal which is a mix of kibble and can on her plate in the evening. I have begun to notice that she will only eat it if its me that sets her plate down. However when someone else in my family does it she leaves the plate there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume this is a routine issue with her but I find it fascinating that she would go with hunger over a different plate setter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also assume the only way to correct this behavior is to go through a week of someone else other than me feeding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone else see this behavior? Normal? I have had dogs before and this is the first I have seen of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8639" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T22:42:34.967" Title="My dog will not accept meal from anyone other than me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16060" CreationDate="2017-01-06T18:17:31.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people deliberately train their dogs not to take food from strangers. Sounds like yours made that decision herself. Either that, or she's holding out in case this sucker can be guilt-tripped into giving her something tastier...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course you don't want to let the dog set the rules. You're the pack leader, or should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there is a standard training regimen for this, but coming at it from a behavior mod point of view I'd suggest breaking the message down into steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed with other people present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prepare the food, hand it to someone else, and have them set it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have them prepare and serve while you supervise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have them prepare and serve while you are in the next room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try it in your absence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to do this with several different people before the dog generalizes from &quot;this person is OK&quot; to &quot;people are OK.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T18:17:31.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16068" CreationDate="2017-01-06T22:27:11.207" Score="3" ViewCount="1077" Body="&lt;p&gt;SO my cats are excessive biters.  wall corners, the plastic window shades you have in most apartments, my metal towel holder, cardboard boxes, any food in plastic bags or wrappers on the counters such as a loaf of bread, and many of my electronic devices such as headphones and charging cables for my iphone, apple watch, and mac book pro.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know when I got the kittens, they were very young at 4 weeks (yea that's a whole other story), and I have been waiting for them to grow out of this destructive phase (they have also destroyed some things like the cap to the side overflow drain in the bathtub) but it seems to be never ending at almost 9 months old now.  Even bit the glass lip off of my beer bottle while I was in another room.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried everything from coating the wires in that bitter spray to providing them enough toys that it is a mine field to walk around.  They have dry food out 24/7 regulated by 2 small bowls that usually last them a little more than a day before I refill.  I do also feed them their wet food as well so they should be getting a balanced diet.  They don't scare very easily if at all.  Any attempts to clap or do pennies in a can doesn't even pique their interest as they continue the behaviors.  They are also extremely aggressive when I am eating food more so than any other cat I have had.  Usually after a few times of putting them down off the table or away from where ever it is I am eating, the cats will lose interest and walk off.  These 2 guys however, will try to &quot;outsmart&quot; me by coming at different angles, or different sides of the table, or come up behind other objects thinking I can't see them and it will turn dinner into a 15 minute game of keep away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something  more I can do? is this an issue I should talk to the vet about? I have previously brought it up to the vet while getting them their kitten shots but they kind of dismissed the subject or provided solutions I have already tried.  I have put wires I don't use away in a drawer where they cannot access it, but for my phone I charge over night, I have been waking up to them chewing on it in the middle of the night.  I don't want to lock them out of my bedroom but I also cannot have my phone where I won't hear it due to my job.  I would like to stop the behavior rather than just find a temporary solution like hiding the wires.  Would getting something like cat grass help?  dog chew toys? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to add... I have been using the spray bottle pretty heavily since they were young.  It is to the point all I have to do is show them it and they stop doing what ever it is they are doing.  They also know what they are doing is wrong because when I hear them up to something and they hear me walking into the room they are in, they instantly scatter.  So my cats are aware that when they are doing certain behaviors that a consequence is coming.  They just, try to get away with it like any other kid I suppose lol  But that is the other odd thing is that they are NOT afraid of water.  They practically shower with me every morning sitting on the side of the bathtub.  As far as what breed they are in case it matters, they were advertised as a maine coon mix that I adopted from a shelter.  However when taken to the vet, they are just short haired domestics and they do not show any physical traits of a maine coon anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are very loving playful cats.  Some of the most loving cats I have had.  My female loves to be cradled in my arms like a baby for hours while I am working at the computer and my male will often jump up and lay on my arm or curl up on the inner part of my arm if they are extended.  Both are very bonded to me and will follow me every where I go and my female even puts her paws on the side of my leg like dogs do when I come home from work.  Even my mom commented on how attached the cats are to me as well.  They really are great, cute, and friendly cats that everyone loves when ever they visit my place.  It's just this destructive kick they have that I don't know how else to put an end to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastEditorUserId="8641" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T18:02:21.763" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T18:02:21.763" Title="kittens are biting everything... literally" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16060" CreationDate="2017-01-06T22:42:34.967" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't let her go a week without eating.   Feed from you every other day but a normal serving.  If she gets too thin then plan B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2017-01-06T22:42:34.967" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2017-01-07T05:33:58.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gone through two snails with my betta over the last few years. I've never seen the betta care about the snail's presence. I would think the snail probably died of natural causes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think snails are as robust as bettas!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8643" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T05:33:58.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2017-01-07T15:07:50.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, you said giving up one of them is not an option and neither is letting them duel it out. I definitely agree with the latter, but there might be another possible solution rather than the former. :)&#xA;Note that if this has been going on for a long time already both Kitty and Faith will have learned and accepted this behavior as the norm and things will be hard to change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Faith is about 7-9 which makes her a fully grown adult lady and Kitty is a young male in his prime, about 3 years. Their interests are simply not the same and Kitty seems very intent on wrestling to his heart's content. Additionally, it seems that (judging by what you wrote) Faith is not up to the task of showing Kitty that she isn't into that kind of play (typically, female cats aren't) and instead runs away... Which is great fun for Kitty and he doesn't get that what he is doing is wrong. To him, he is just playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, Faith doesn't have the confidence to stand up to Kitty who in turn is getting more and more frustrated. Even if she was the correct gender and/or loved to wrestle, she probably wouldn't be active enough for Kitty. So what to do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's risky in this specific situation as Faith isn't a confident cat, but a solution in many bad 'male cat wants to wrestle with female cat' cases is to get another male of about the same age and activity level as the other male. This is because cats don't usually -want- to terrify other cats for long periods of time, they want to play with someone who reciprocates as that is a lot more fun for both cats. The important bit is that the new arrival has to be properly socialised (grew up with other kittens, accepts hisses or rejection) as otherwise there really could be a scenario where Faith gets chased by two males instead of one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it's risky, but you said you don't want to give any cat away, so this is the only other solution I can see. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, I wouldn't physically punish Kitty for what he is doing - you are basically telling a young adult that he shouldn't play, he doesn't get it. &#xA;What you can do is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Casually walk between the two cats whenever Kitty looks like he is going to jump Faith. Block his path, interrupt the situation peacefully. You can also use a neutral, unknown sound for this (doesn't have to be loud, just distract Kitty for a moment). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward good behaviour so the relationship still remains positive otherwise (if it is). Any positive interaction should be rewarded here :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build Faiths confidence. Clicker-training is good for this if she is up for that, but also solo play sessions where she gets to have the 'prey' for a little while before it flys off for another round of merry hunting. No laserpointers in this case, they have no built-in reward and can be frustrating. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastEditorUserId="8586" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T02:53:52.093" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T02:53:52.093" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15866" CreationDate="2017-01-07T15:20:15.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed with Rebecca, you can't pass a cold to your cat (you can pass on certain eye infections and other stuff but that's another topic). However, if your cat does have a cold it needs to be treated by a vet as what is commonly called a cold among felines can get very, very bad. Cats can lose their eyes for example, but those are of course cases that have been left &lt;strong&gt;untreated&lt;/strong&gt; for a long time, so don't panic either :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat regularly sneezes, or has more eye discharge than usual (especially with red eyes or the pink skin underneath the eyelid (conjunctiva) easily showing), or has trouble breathing, or has, well, snot running out of their nose... Definitely time for the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will usually prescribe antibiotics that should be given until a day or so after all the symptoms have passed, so get more if necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T15:20:15.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16062" CreationDate="2017-01-07T18:11:34.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, having a Vet examine their teeth is a good idea, regardless. First of all, it will help prevent any future dental issues. Second, it will keep an eye on current progress of tooth growth and ensure that the &quot;baby&quot; teeth are departing correctly. This should be pretty frequent during the growth of their teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meanwhile, if they are teething, you may want to stick with soft foods and get a teething toys for them, especially ones that you can chill down. Similar to human babies, the chill of the teething toys can help reduce discomfort. I also think your challenges have been exacerbated by the early adoption, but finding them acceptable chewing toys may help. Spray bottle won't do much, it's short-lived effectiveness, but make sure you discourage any biting of people, it will carry on otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2017-01-07T18:11:34.300" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16071" CreationDate="2017-01-08T08:41:39.370" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have rescued a small pigeon female and now it is part of the family. She is mostly residing in a large enclosed balcony where I have also placed an IP camera. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several times, I have seen her sleeping or just sitting exactly near the IP camera (she tried to stay on top of it, but it's not that comfy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question: is it safe to stay for many hours exactly near the camera?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a technical perspective, I see two possible problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;- IR radiation&lt;/strong&gt; - this is emitted by the camera when outside light dims and night mode is toggled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;- Electromagnetic radiation&lt;/strong&gt; - the camera communicates with the router using wireless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, these seem very small when compared to the electromagnetism generated by medium voltage lines, on top of which birds can be seen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8647" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T13:59:42.157" Title="Is it safe for a pet to stay exactly near an IP camera?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16070" CreationDate="2017-01-08T09:23:21.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you're really scared by electrosmog, you shouldn't have to worry too much about this. It's a cool buzz word and you can sell protection, counseling, etc. but in the end it's not really problematic, once you look at the bigger picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;IR radiation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Infrared radiation is essentially just light/heat emitted that you can't see. There's no real harm being exposed to it (in contrast to ultraviolet light/UV). That tiny camera won't emit enough to roast anything. Any artificial light source would most likely emit more UV / IR light and still cause no problems, since the amounts may be ignored compared to natural sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Electromagnetic radiation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar here, I wouldn't worry too much about it. There's far too less energy involved to cause any measurable harm. Plus it's very likely other WiFi devices of you or your neighbours are causing a lot more &amp;quot;electrosmog&amp;quot; than that one IP camera. In addition, WiFi isn't really powerful compared to wider range technology like mobile phones. &lt;a href=&quot;http://scienceblogs.com/builtonfacts/2009/09/17/wifi-and-radiation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Science Blogs.com&lt;/a&gt; did the math and in short the energy levels involved are far too low to change or damage DNA no matter the distance. Remember there are even implants like pacemakers utilizing wireless communication and wireless charging. You'd be rather not wise to use something you don't consider safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Voltage lines&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While people can be sensitive to these, power in these lines runs typically at 50 or 60 Hz and as such won't really be able to penetrate anything (including skin) in significant orders. To quote a source, I've googled and found the book &lt;em&gt;Physical and Biological Hazards of the Workplace&lt;/em&gt;, page 219, citing &lt;strong&gt;home wiring&lt;/strong&gt; to have an electric field of around &lt;strong&gt;1-10 &lt;sup&gt;V&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;m&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and a magnetic field of &lt;strong&gt;1-5 mG&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't worry too much about the units. The important fact here is the natural exposure caused by the &lt;strong&gt;Earth&lt;/strong&gt; itself: &lt;strong&gt;120 &lt;sup&gt;V&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;m&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;450 mG&lt;/strong&gt;. As you can see, the added radiation is typically below 1% of the natural exposure, and as such usually something to ignore (unless you're really sensitive to the frequency).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides all that, maybe just offer the pigeon something more comfortable somewhere else, especially if it has problems properly sitting on there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T13:59:42.157" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16076" CreationDate="2017-01-08T11:15:54.970" Score="3" ViewCount="4018" Body="&lt;p&gt;Air pumps (let's say with 200 l/h) slightly increase the level of oxygen in the water simply by making bubbles rise from the bottom of the aquarium to the water surface. Can I expect an (even minimal) effect for the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; level as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that concentrated CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from a bio facility or a bottle is disolved using a flipper or a diffusor and that's the way to go for reliable CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; supply (otherwise there'd be no CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; facilities for aquariums), but since pumping masses of air and therefore increasing the level in the water has an effect for the gas O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; it might have one for the gas CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 60 l freshwater aquarium with 35 cm distance between the gravel surface and the water surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T15:00:42.003" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:12:00.377" Title="Will an airpump increase the CO2 level in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7541" CreationDate="2017-01-08T14:29:34.333" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;spaying a bitch which is on heat will cause her to breed excessively and not easy to control the loss of blood.&#xA;A dog will show you enough signs that it is coming in to heat period that's when you take precaution by isolating it from the males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8648" LastActivityDate="2017-01-08T14:29:34.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-08T16:27:41.723" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that's almost 2. He was found alone at 2 weeks old and was bottle fed up to 4-5 weeks. He bites his food and can strangley drink water but can't figure out how to lick other cats or me. He tries but ends up using his teeth in the end. Any ideas on how to teach him to be able to lick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8649" LastActivityDate="2017-01-08T18:52:47.643" Title="My Cat does not know how to lick" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16074" CreationDate="2017-01-08T18:10:06.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I assume you're aware that cats don't lick socially as much as dogs do. They may groom each other if they're especially friendly/trusting, but outside of that they're more likely to rub against something/someone they like, or push their faces against it -- basically, scent-marking it as &quot;I like this, it's mine&quot;. If a cat licks you, you should either feel flattered or wonder what flavor or scent caught it's attention,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for most cats, not licking is really not surprising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, some cats are just a bit confused about the whole grooming thing. One of mine will start her tongue going, then take a surprisingly long time to figure out that she should probably apply it to something. Another I've known would sometimes thoroughly dampen his paw, then scrub his face with the other paw. Repeatedly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nipping/grabbing is probably just play wrestling, unless he's biting hard enough to cause pain. If you don't like it, make annoyed noises and push the cat away or snub him for a while and he'll figure out that this is something you don't want him to do. My other cat likes this game, and since he's careful not to actually bite I haven't felt any need to discourage it. (As it happens, he's also the one who will sometimes decide I've been petting him long enough and it's time for him to wash my fingers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, it sounds like there isn't anything that needs fixing here. If you really, really want to train your cat to lick your fingers, try dipping them in tuna water or some other treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2017-01-08T18:52:47.643" LastActivityDate="2017-01-08T18:52:47.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16072" CreationDate="2017-01-08T19:51:17.643" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, aeration will typically cause CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; degassing unless the room the tank is in has substantially elevated CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; levels. I've personally tested the differences in CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration when aerating and not aerating, with other factors controlled, and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; levels go down or have negligible change, likely depending on the initial concentration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know the specific chemical mechanism for this, but I suspect that O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is far more solvent in water so the increased surface area is consumed by O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; absorption rather than CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; absorption. The increased surface area due to aeration is the primary mechanism for this as far as what I've read. Additionally, CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; levels remain fairly consistent due to surface tension, again with aeration, that surface tension is broken, allowing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to degas. If I can find a specific reference to this phenomenon, I will update this post. But at least anecdotally in several decades of keeping planted tanks, aeration and increased surface area through mechanical means, decreases CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration and increases O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; absorption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:12:00.377" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:12:00.377" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-08T20:29:30.713" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until 6 months ago, my husband and I had 2 cats we rescued from the local Humane Society. One was larger that the other and loved sleeping with us. If the smaller cat jumped up on the bed and saw the larger cat there, she would turn around and jump back down. They did get along great, played with each other and cleaned/groomed each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 months ago, the larger of the two passed away from cancer. The smaller one now sleeps with us and seems to be really coming out of her shell and becoming more and more affectionate. My dilemma is that I have been asked to adopt a 6 year old, neutered and friendly, from what I am told, because the owner is having health issues and does not want his cat to go to the HS if something happens to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My hesitation is that our cat is finally becoming confident and I am afraid that if I bring in a large male cat into our home, she will revert to her previous behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not a bad cat, but I have enjoyed her becoming friendlier and I don't want that to change. And, since I work long days, I don't want to come home and find that they have fought or the newer cat will have torn up the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8650" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T11:11:35.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T11:11:35.373" Title="Introducing a 6 year old cat into a home with a 12 year old cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15704" CreationDate="2017-01-09T18:33:56.117" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably intoxicated the fish with the remains of bleach. The containers usually have a warning label that it's toxic for water organisms. There you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3ML4J.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3ML4J.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling the decoration if they support it is a good idea. Better is to put them in a saturated salt dissolution (put table salt in boiling water until you see some of it fall to the ground and let it cool down). This will kill eggs of paracites which will survive the boiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleaning the empty aquarium with warm water is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T18:33:56.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13631" CreationDate="2017-01-09T19:19:27.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Corydoras need good hiding places (Sterba 1990). The fact that the Cory is swimming fast might indicate that they're missing/not sufficient. Increasing hiding places by adding fast growing plants might solve the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, this behaviour justifies to separate Tetra and Corydoras into different aquariums. I'd move the Tetra out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;STERBA, Günther. Süsswasserfische der Welt. 2., durchges. Aufl. ed. Stuttgart: Stuttgart : Ulmer, 1990. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T19:19:27.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16072" CreationDate="2017-01-09T19:34:28.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;CO₂ is far more soluble in water than O₂. The problem is the amount of CO₂ in air. Air is only about 0.0407% CO₂. There is just not enough of it. Dissolved gases compete with each other so even though CO₂ is more soluble it does not compete for space with O₂ and N₂ that dominate air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said the ocean has a lot of CO₂ but there is a lot of ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2017-01-09T19:52:49.850" LastActivityDate="2017-01-09T19:52:49.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16102" CreationDate="2017-01-09T22:41:39.190" Score="2" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog that's part Amstaff.  This is my first dog.  It is generally well behaved.  It is about 10 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the dog snaps at me.  For example, just now my face was near its stomach checking out a rash, and it snapped its mouth close to my face.  Not hard, and not actually on my face, but close to it.  It was annoyed that I was manipulating its body to get a look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might this indicate problem behavior?  If so, is it very bad (ingrained hostility), or something a trainer can fix?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7890" LastActivityDate="2019-01-10T12:32:14.420" Title="Dog snaps at me sometimes, problem?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11281" CreationDate="2017-01-09T22:54:47.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The process might be irrelevant due to the brain size/incapacity to feel pain as pointed out in @MSU_Bulldog's answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since precise cutting with a sharp blade into the brain is not an option as it is for fish, there remains &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the option to introduce brain/nervous system death through cold. That might have led to the idea that just any process of freezing would do the job. The original idea is to freeze a fully saturated salt solution (created by putting salt into boiling water until it doesn't dissolve anymore and starts falling to the bottom of the container) and put the being inside. It will easily take the temperature of the freezer which is usually -21 to -18°C while staying liquid. The death is instant as opposed to let the being suffer while suffocating in the freezer long before dying of cold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an overdose of an anesthetic like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eugenol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both methods are recommended for fish as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:06:43.597" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:06:43.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-09T23:08:25.747" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently rescued a feral kitten (at least a couple of months) from my neighborhood about 3 days ago. When I captured him, I just let him out in my bathroom (from the cage I caught him in), without first taking him to the vet. :-/ Well, I'm noticing that his right eye is milky, and I'm going to take him to the vet tomorrow. He's curled up behind my toilet. What is the least traumatizing way to get him from behind the toilet to a medium sized dog-like cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no way he's going to let me just pick him up, and he hasn't eaten since I've trapped him (so luring him with food won't work). Does anyone know how I can get him to run into the cage without fully traumatizing him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. He was eating the same food outside when he was free, so it's not that he doesn't like the food. I think he's just too scared to eat it. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8658" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T22:09:44.407" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T23:05:06.963" Title="How to move a feral kitten from my bathroom to a cage?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16095" CreationDate="2017-01-10T01:49:08.077" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is always excited to go on walks. However, he will pull as hard as he can ahead whichever way we decide to go. After walks he has raw marks beneath where the harness lies (we use a harness because he kept choking himself on a collar). However, if I try to stop, he will immediately start to yelp and whine as if he is in pain. This behavior stops as soon as we return home. I am wondering if there is a way to prevent him from pulling so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8660" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T18:01:20.163" Title="How to prevent self-harming pulling" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16090" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-10T07:43:10.533" Score="2" ViewCount="1855" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 26- x 52-feet (8- x 16-meters) pond, with a depth of 1.5 meters, in which I intend to stock Tilapia. How many can such a pond accommodate?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one is 22- x 45-feet (7- x 14-meters) and I intend to stock it with Catfish. How many can such a pond accommodate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8661" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T05:56:07.150" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T05:56:07.150" Title="How many Tilapia and Catfish can my ponds accomodate?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16090" CreationDate="2017-01-10T14:40:34.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclamer&lt;/strong&gt; I'm really no expert when it come to tilapia and catfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a quick search, it seem stocking rules for tilapia are either 2-3 fish per square meter of surface or 1 kg of fish per 10 gallon of water (this seem quite a heavy population if you ask me) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.piclist.com/techref/other/pond/TilapiaRaising.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://backyardtilapia.com/Backyard_Tilapia_Farming.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;. I would check against both rule and use the lower one. Using the surface rule, it give about 250-375 adult fish for your pond. It also depend on the specific race you grow since they seem to vary quite a bit from race to race (600g to 2.7kg) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tilapia are cichlids so the population density need to be high enough to reduce aggression from dominant male on the others. The water must not be flowing and be sure to check your local regulation on them since they are considered a pest in nature because they reproduce quite fast and are hardy fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My quick research on catfish seem to show that they need much bigger pond. They were talking acre size so I would put that idea on the back burner. Maybe someone more experienced can prove me wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T14:40:34.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13631" CreationDate="2017-01-10T14:53:12.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16082/5646&quot;&gt;The answer from Karl&lt;/a&gt; is surely a good one. But I think there might be another reason too. White skirt tetra are a school fish. The recommendation is to keep minimum 5 together. If you really bought &quot;a tetra&quot; you simply need more. I don't want to recommend buying more directly since we are missing information on your tank overall. 5 fish and a 20 gallon tank is the minimum you need to keep this fish healthy and happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T14:53:12.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16093" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16099" CreationDate="2017-01-10T15:58:29.467" Score="2" ViewCount="519" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium with some species (guppy, black tetras, neons) that have all grown up. Now I need to introduce new fishes, from the same species, but they are much smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I prevent attacks, so that older fish don't bite their tails? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="66" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T20:35:22.107" Title="How to introduce new fish in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16089" CreationDate="2017-01-10T18:01:20.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's extremely likely that your dog yelps and whines when you stop because that behavior results in you moving forward.  Once he learns that making a fuss doesn't work, he will stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of harness are you using.  I would recommend using a front clip harness, such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2jr7Qki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetSafe Easy Walk Harness&lt;/a&gt;.  Back clip harnesses are a sure fire way to teach your dog to pull and pull hard.  A front clip harness will force your dog to turn and face you when he pulls, thus ensuring that he doesn't get to move forward (his desired outcome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a big fan of the 'Choose To Heel' methodology as well.  This basically calls for continuous rewards while your dog is heeling and no rewards when he is not.  Start the walk inside, with your dog on leash, reward him with a high value treat for not pulling/staying by your side.  Walk around your house/apartment a bit, rewarding him all the while for behaving appropriately.  Then move out to the backyard/hallway/porch depending on your living situation.  Continue rewarding for good behavior.  When you're getting consistent behavior inside, or on your own property, move outside.  The first step you take outside or into whatever area is the where he normally starts pulling, catch him before he's able to pull and reward him.  Even if this means rewarding him as you're moving out the door do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he pulls, stop walking.  Under no circumstances should you move forward while he's pulling.  If he starting whining, take a few steps back (I call these penalty steps).  Only when he comes back to you and sits by your side do you reward and move forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T18:01:20.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16084" CreationDate="2017-01-10T18:01:45.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals. The primary social factor affecting a dog's &lt;em&gt;life&lt;/em&gt; in the pack is the dog's &lt;em&gt;status&lt;/em&gt; in the pack. When a dog is on its back, in the dog world, this is an act of submission. (Because it's neck is exposed and the dog on top could kill it if it wanted.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, it's hard to tell if there is a problem without more information. In other words, your dog could be an alpha-type that instinctively rejects doing acts of submission (like being on its back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog thinks its the alpha, however, this will eventually become a problem as it will expect you to do the submitting and could potentially bite you in order to try to enforce its dominance in the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, a trainer can not correct it. As the dog will perceive the trainer to be the alpha. Which will still leave you with your problem of appearing to your dog as being lower in pack status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to consider studying on this topic. Even if your dog is at the extreme end of the alpha personality spectrum, you still hold the trump card: you control the food. Properly managed, you could use that factor alone (your dog's sole source of food) if necessary, to secure alpha status with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another answer mentions, if you use a trainer, get a &lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt; trainer (to train the human, i.e., you) not a dog trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8560" LastEditorUserId="8560" LastEditDate="2017-01-11T03:13:30.547" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T03:13:30.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-10T18:09:32.103" Score="2" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;While setting up lactated ringers bag I accidentally poked it with needle causing small leak, if I tape the hole can I still use it? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8664" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T19:20:25.717" Title="While setting up lactated ringers bag I accidentally poked it with needle causing small leak, can I still use?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16097" CreationDate="2017-01-10T19:20:25.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you have compromised the contents.  Tape is not going to make a seal that will keep the contents sterile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming the needle was new and sterile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming a brand new bag, that was just removed from it's outer container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case and if an emergency I might use it for the one IV/Sub Q dose that I was trying to deliver when I accidentally poked the bag.  But I would throw it out and get new supplies for the next treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If either the Bag or Needle were not brand new at the time of the accident, I would not even consider it for emergency use. Excepting life or death, which this would not be if there is time to look online for an answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6220/how-long-do-subcutaneous-fluids-lactated-ringers-keep&quot;&gt;How long do subcutaneous fluids (lactated ringers) keep?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T19:20:25.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16093" CreationDate="2017-01-10T20:35:22.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases, just properly acclimating and then releasing them is fine, this is assuming you don't have a quarantine tank setup in which you would first quarantine until you are certain they are disease and parasite free and then acclimate them to the display tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible for some aggressions to occur and this greatly depends on the fish species. Often times, fish must learn where they fit in the hierarchy and unfortunately this can involve aggression. Small fish like the ones you're speaking about might chase and nip initially, but it is usually temporary and the new fish will join the existing ones in as little as a few minutes but some may take a few days or weeks to be comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, there are some situations where fish should be incrementally introduced to avoid that aggression because the aggressor will end up stressing or actually killing the new addition. This is typically done by isolating the new fish or dividing the tank with a clear partition so the different fish can grow accustomed to each other before they are physically introduced. Maroon or clarki clownfish in marine tanks are one example that can greatly benefit from this. Certain cichlids in freshwater tanks are another that can benefit from initial isolation to reduce aggression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in most cases, introducing very small fish to larger ones of the same species is a bad idea if the additions are small enough to be eaten. Fish rarely differentiate between a conspecific and a meal, so if they can eat what you add to the tank, they might just do that. Bottom line here is don't add juvenile or very small fish to a tank containing fish large enough to eat the new ones. They don't care if you're adding their cousin, they just see small fish as a meal...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of this fish you're referring to, all of this should be completely unnecessary and if you are comfortable introducing them without quarantine, I would follow your normal acclimation procedures and release them with the existing fish in the tank. Dimming the lights can help the fish adjust and reduces the activity of the fish in the tank which can reduce chasing and nipping. The next recommendation is debatable because I routinely see advice for the opposite, but I have much better luck in almost every situation, feeding soon after adding new fish. This reduces stress on the fish that were just added and can immediately make the new fish feel more at home. Less stress = less opportunity for illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T20:35:22.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2017-01-10T22:09:48.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found this thread as I was searching for why my 15month old golden is vomiting bile in the morning.  It appears that the reason is because her stomach is empty and the lining becomes irritated.  My girl gets fed about 7.00am and between 5 and 6pm, with supposedly bedtime dog biscuits (2-3 only)about 7.30-8.00pm.  I hate to think what she may be like if I was to move to one meal a day - everyone is different, so I guess it's what suits you and your pooch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8666" LastActivityDate="2017-01-10T22:09:48.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16084" CreationDate="2017-01-11T00:49:38.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What a trainer can do is train you in how to train the dog. A friend of  mine needed exactly that to help her make the dominance order clear to her pooch. They are both much happier now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2017-01-11T03:36:28.030" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T03:36:28.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-11T04:41:33.760" Score="3" ViewCount="3609" Body="&lt;p&gt;For Christmas I got a 3 month old hand-fed, and completely tame, Cockatiel. The first few days she was rather quiet, but after that she warmed up to me she only made those high-pitched squeaks, you know, just the normal noise that a Cockatiel would make. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for about the past week, her crest has been flat against her head just about 95% of the time, and she is constantly making this grumbled, scratchy, crying-like noise. It sort of sounds like the noise baby cockatiels make when they are begging for food. She only does this noise when humans are in sight. I would have assumed that she's just begging for food, but she has some in her cage at all times and water as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also tried taking her out and playing with her, in case she was just asking for attention. This also doesn't work, she continues to act like she's angry and upset at everyone. She does not bite or hiss though if I pick her up or touch her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she making this noise? I'm worried she's sick or is in some sort of constant pain.  In the photo you will see her crest is flat and she looks very grumpy. I just don't know why! Help!&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1FaVh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8669" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-15T14:27:02.817" LastActivityDate="2020-04-21T20:47:11.693" Title="My Cockatiel makes a strange noise and I don't know why!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10009" CreationDate="2017-01-11T04:57:23.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That cage seems plenty big for two budgies. They are small birds and especially if they are tame and you handle them frequently, you won't need a huge cage. However, it's better to have horizontal bars verses vertical ones, so that your birdies can climb on the cage without slipping down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just place lots of perches and toys in the cage and they should be fine.  The photo I've attached is of my budgie's cage, her toys are removed though so I could clean them. As you can see a budgie does not need a massive cage, mine doesn't have a huge cage and she is still a very happy bird. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NAk9q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NAk9q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8669" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T04:57:23.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16126" CreationDate="2017-01-11T16:48:22.120" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have 2 dogs (1 boy 1 girl) that are fixed and are 10 years in age. They are siblings and are miniature doberman pinschers mixed with maltese. My mother died last March and had been taking care of them while I was away at college (I'm 20). I moved into my own apartment with the dogs. The dogs have had separation anxiety since my mother died and are now crated together in a huge crate when I am not home or else they will howl and bark nonstop which is not okay in an apartment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we have moved, they have gotten increasingly picky in their food and are disobedient. The male dog has lost a distressing amount of weight and has been checked out numerous times. There is nothing medically wrong with him. He always finished his food but was losing weight anyway. My vet recommended I switch them to a combination of prescription wet and dry food. After this, he seemed to gain weight for a short amount of time before the food made him nauseous and caused him to throw up and defecate in his crate overnight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this began, I switched them to a Beneful wet food and a dry food. He has been gaining weight since I switched them but I noticed that both dogs now refuse to eat their dry food at all. They will eat the wet food and pour out the dry food and proceed to urinate in the bowls and all over the crate. I know this could be seen as not going outside enough, but that is definitely not the case. I take them out when I get up in the morning (8am), when I get home from work or school (4:30pm) and then around dinner time (7pm). The dogs get fed and receive water at dinner time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have been urinating multiple times a day every day since I have returned from a 2 week vacation. The dog-sitter did not have this issue with the dogs and followed the exact same schedule as I did. So I guess my main questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are my dogs doing this (peeing in their food and water bowls) to spite me? They have no medical problems as I have gotten them evaluated multiple times in the last 2 or 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can I decrease their urination inside my home? They don't seem to care that they are peeing in their sleeping place and I can not place a pee pad because they will tear it up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I switch them to all wet food? They will refuse to eat for well over 24 hours if I just fill their food bowl with dry food and I do not want to starve them. They have not had any stomach problems with the wet food but the current portions I purchased are too small to be meals on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing something wrong? They were completely crate trained for the past decade and normally had no &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone please help me! I've had these dogs for almost a decade and I do not plan on getting rid of them. But it's hard to come home from work everyday to a home smelling like urine and immediately get down on my hands and knees cleaning before I even get a chance to sit down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T23:36:07.013" Title="Dogs increasingly becoming picky and going to the bathroom in crate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;crate&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16077" CreationDate="2017-01-11T22:51:37.230" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Worse thing you can do is to bring the new, older, cat into your house. After a month or so if you want a cat friend for your cat, get the opposite sex and younger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5463" LastActivityDate="2017-01-11T22:51:37.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-11T23:55:53.343" Score="1" ViewCount="7785" Body="&lt;p&gt;We rescued Reggie at 3 mths old.  Since I work from home, he is always near me and prefers me over my husband.  We have a bedtime routine which involves me cuddling and kissing his cheek.  He will cuddle close and lick the end of my nose.  Pretty cute, right?  Yeah.  The licks are always followed by him nipping me with his sharp little front teeth.  He's not aggressive by any means, but whyyyyyyyyy bite?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If anyone has any insight on this, I'd love to hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T05:08:21.070" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T05:08:21.070" Title="My kitten licks and nips my nose when he's snuggling with me." Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-12T01:46:04.273" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 budgies (male and female) since last November but there are 2 problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, they appear really scared of me; they're not chicks so I know it takes time to become friends with them but they seem to still be really scared of me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, they're really loud. I know they are budgies, so they make noise and I don't mind that, but they're often too loud, especially the male budgie. I did some research and it seems that there was one way to work on the noise: when they start to make noise, I should ignore and once they stop, give them some treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to try solving the noise problem way, but they seem to be really scared of me so I can't close enough to give them treats. Are there any suggestions on how I can gain their trust?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8672" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T04:48:59.683" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T04:48:59.683" Title="How to get closer with my budgies?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-12T02:58:28.070" Score="4" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some advice.&#xA;I have a 9 month old female puppy who I'm trying to housebreak.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I work Monday-Friday, leave at 6am and get home at 5pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand it's a long time for her to be alone.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I've been getting different information from friends on what do do with her during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought the smallest wire crate available (comes with a divider). I also have a plastic corral that I zip tied to the ends to give her some room to move out of the cage (her bed is in there) and use puppy training pads when needed.  I've had her for 2 weeks and the mess I come home to is getting bigger and bigger. She pees on the pads as well as the floor, plays/eats poop and just in the past couple of days is shredding the soiled pads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friends are telling me I'm giving her way too much room.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;That I should put her in just her cage (make it a little smaller with the divider) and nothing else.  No water or bed.  They said I will no doubt come home to a big mess, but eventually she will get better with &amp;quot;holding&amp;quot; her pee/poop and not do it in the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds harsh to me, but nothing is working. Every day is a bigger mess.  I'm more concerned that she doesn't seem to king sitting in pee, destroying a soiled pad or playing/eating poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8673" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T15:09:51.960" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T15:09:51.960" Title="Puppy crate training" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13815" CreationDate="2017-01-12T06:03:10.630" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you live in a house full of flowers without food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless the plant's leaves or roots can be eaten by the fish, it is advisable to feed the fish no matter the circumstances. The plants won't give all the nutritional values the fish need to get to grow and be healthy. They may provide lots of vitamins, but what of the much needed proteins and carbohydrates? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer remains NO, they can live but won't live up to their full potential without proper feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh the other hand, for those who may bump into this question, &lt;a href=&quot;http://homeaquaria.com/5-reasons-why-artificial-plants-are-better-than-live-plants/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is a link for you to read&lt;/a&gt; (source: homeaquaria.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8661" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:21:12.270" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:21:12.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16110" CreationDate="2017-01-12T08:09:59.993" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's far too long to leave a dog alone, you can't really expect any dog to sit and wait all day long for you to come home and still be perfectly behaved.  The mess is due to anxiety - putting her into a small crate will do nothing at all to lessen that anxiety while you're away working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to arrange for a dog walker/friend to come and interact/walk the dog every day when you're at work (yes, this can be an added expense, but it's something to factor into the cost of owning a dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to question whether your lifestyle supports owning a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second option is a big question and is something that all of us dog owners have answered.  By and large, we have adjusted our lifestyle to cater for having a dog as part of our family &quot;packs&quot;.  Most of the time, this is a happy and fulfilling lifestyle change that benefits both the dogs and the owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T08:09:59.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-12T18:33:02.640" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a behavior problem, or material problem?  Do I need to change what I line the crate with?  Or is she misbehaving?  She's not in the crate, most of the time.  I put her in there when I take a shower, or go out to the store.  Then she tears the towels to shreds!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7890" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:07:53.480" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:07:53.480" Title="My dog tears up the towels I line her crate with" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-12T18:55:43.290" Score="1" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has five sleep areas of her own that she uses; all of them designed to be comfy. She uses them all, but she likes to use my bed (a double bed) too. I really do not like to disturb her when she is sleeping on my bed, but have no choice sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I turn in for the night, I have tried saying to her, several times &quot;catsname sleep, mummy sleep&quot; in the hopes that she will stay on the bed with me.  She dithers, and even stayed for a little bit once, but decided to jump off the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As well as her other sleep areas, she has a donut bed in the bedroom which she uses from time to time. She likes to use all of her sleep areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she half-expecting to be disturbed when sleeping on my bed? I just hate disturbing her sleep. We live alone in a one bedroom flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="6801" LastEditDate="2017-01-17T14:45:11.237" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T14:55:37.243" Title="is it ok to persuade my cat to sleep off my bed (not on)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16110" CreationDate="2017-01-12T19:29:21.340" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies do not begin to develop bladder control until around 6 months old.  It's not fully developed until around a year of age.  What this means is that your puppy is not physically capable of holding it, no matter how small or large a space you keep her in.  Will giving her less space help to her learn to hold it longer?  Yes.  Dogs naturally do not want to soil their dens, but there comes a point when it is physically impossible and she will relieve herself wherever she is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your puppy also sounds very bored.  The shredding, playing in her own excrement, etc. are all signs of extreme boredom.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people who work 9-5ish have a dog walker or bring their dog to a daycare.  Certainly if you're gone 12 hours a day, 5 days a week you should make arrangements for your pup to have access to some stimulation and the outdoors.  Also, dogs needs access to food and water during the day.  A 9 month old dog should still be eating 2-3 times per day (some adult dogs can do just one feeding, but puppies need more).  If you're leaving at 6am and not getting back until 5-6pm, when is your dog eating and drinking?  Forcing her into a smaller crate than is appropriate with no access to food, water, stimulation, or breaks to relieve herself is abuse.  &lt;em&gt;You don't seem like a person who wants to intentionally hurt their dog, more like someone who doesn't want their house covered in poop and shreds of puppy pads and isn't sure how to get that result.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here are some action steps for you to take, which (if followed) will result in a positive change in your dogs behavior.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the crate you have is appropriately sized, not just the smallest one available.  Since you didn't mention breed, a good rule of thumb is that your dog should have room to stand up (with her head up, not bent over) without touching the top of the crate, comfortably turn around, and comfortably lay down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure you have as consistent a schedule as possible.  Try to feed and walk her around the same times every day (dinner doesn't need to always be 6:03 exactly, more like between 6 and 8).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your pup plenty of exercise before you leave in the morning and after you come home at night.  30-60 minutes (varies by breed) at the park each morning will do amazing things for her temperament and behavior.  You're not the only person who leaves early for work, there are loads of people with their dogs at my local park at 5am.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start some basic obedience training.  Find an experienced trainer and enroll in a group class.  Again, regular training will do wonders to alleviate some of the boredom and misbehavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a dog walker (at least 2 walks/day) or find a dog daycare.  No matter how much exercise you give her or training you do it's cruel to leave a dog alone for 12 hours every day with no access to stimulation or an area to relieve herself.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     - If you're going to use a dog walker, continue the crate training.  Take away the pen, and instead make sure she has things to occupy herself with in the crate.  You can feed her meals in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2jARbem&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong&lt;/a&gt;.  Get a few of them, whatever size is appropriate for your pup (they're dishwasher safe, so having a few means you don't have to be constantly washing them).  Fill it with layers of kibble and other goodies (I use plain unsweetened greek yogurt, baby food, applesauce, fresh cooked fish, cheese, etc.) and then freeze it overnight.  Give it to her in her crate as you walk out the door in the morning.  It will keep her occupied for a while (my pup takes at least an hour to get through all the frozen food and she loves it), and will also begin developing a positive association with being alone.  Make a second one for lunch and have the dog walker give it to her when they get in from walk #1.  You'll need 2 walks per day, since you're gone for so long.  Once your pup is a little older you could go down to 1 per day if you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, lots of exercise.  Get a dog walker or enroll in a dog daycare.  Best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-01-12T19:36:56.547" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T19:36:56.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16114" CreationDate="2017-01-12T19:43:46.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog is bored, and ripping up the towels is a fun way to pass the time.  You can probably take the towels out, and let her lay on the crate pan.  I doubt the towel adds much in the way of comfort of warmth.  &lt;em&gt;Either way, even if you only put her in there while you take a shower or do another equally short activity, put a toy or Kong filled with treats in there with her.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-01-12T19:43:46.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16108" CreationDate="2017-01-13T01:50:30.077" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biting might be a result of over-stimulation. Try to play with your cat 10-15 minutes before bedtime. Playing before will calm him down a bit. This will result in a much happier and relaxed cat who will be less likely to bite. Since when petting a cat's full body, they can get overstimulated which may result in a &quot;love bite.&quot; To prevent this I wear my cat out a bit and make sure she's gotten her energy out before night time cuddles. Hope that clarifies my first answer a bit. Good luck with your cat! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorDisplayName="user8659" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T21:20:53.583" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T21:20:53.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-13T04:02:21.723" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have ten small zebra danios, I feed them everyday with regular fish pellets I bought from the local pet store. Yesterday, I got some frozen shrimps for them to eat and I crushed the shrimps into powder so that they can eat easily. I noticed that none of the fish had touch the shrimps, but are eating fish food normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8675" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-04T19:32:09.893" LastActivityDate="2018-08-03T20:01:18.620" Title="Why my zebra danios are not eating frozen shrimp?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;danio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16114" CreationDate="2017-01-13T09:34:56.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue is that you put your dog in the crate and then leave.  The dog now associates being in the crate with separation, and now you get the anxiety being expressed as destruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crates should be a positive place for the dog to be - it's their space to feel comfortable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's plenty of reading to be had on crating dogs, but start with crating your dog earlier and staying around until she's comfortable and relaxed, at which point you can leave without any fuss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T09:34:56.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16086" CreationDate="2017-01-13T10:29:42.950" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is late, but may be useful for future reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With cats truly afraid of people, you just... walk behind or up to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a small, closed room&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove as many hiding spots as possible (at least those you can't get to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put box down, maybe cover it with a blanket but leave an opening so that it's a nice dark cave/hiding spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just follow them around until the cat goes into the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Close box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This only works with cats that are skittish and afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method is to throw a large blanket or towel over the cat for your protection and grab it then, but this requires a firm grip and the person in question not hesitating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the cat will be stressed, there is no way around that really... but needs must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T22:19:40.550" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T22:19:40.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16103" CreationDate="2017-01-13T10:34:21.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you keep her alone? Cockatiels are very social birds (as most are) and keeping them as solitary beings severely impacts their mental and physical well-being. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she has a partner, I would take her to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T10:34:21.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16108" CreationDate="2017-01-13T10:38:25.770" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Licking and soft nipping are signs of affection among cats, so he isn't doing anything wrong per se. If it does hurt you, then make a small 'ouch' noise like lizryan suggested and stop the interaction. If it doesn't, just let him, he likes you :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, please do consider getting him a feline playmate of the same age, gender, rough character and activity level. Cats are social creatures, they suffer in various ways when kept alone. 'Even' ferals form social groups if there are sufficient resources to sustain that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://katzen-verstehen.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/social-organization-of-the-cat.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://katzen-verstehen.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/social-organization-of-the-cat.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T10:38:25.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16125" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-13T17:05:20.947" Score="1" ViewCount="2232" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed a somehow strange thing about several pets - they seem to be afraid of black objects, at least until get used to them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat&lt;/strong&gt; - I have taken care of a friend's cat for about an year. Several times, she noticed a black purse and tried to touch it, but too afraid to get near it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog&lt;/strong&gt; - My grandma adopted a dog, when already she had some cats. Not being raised together, they did not get along too well and all cats were scared of him, except of a completely black cat. This particular cat showed no aggressive behavior towards the dog, yet the dog was too scared to actually touch the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pigeon&lt;/strong&gt; - a rescued pigeon female entered our family some time ago. She mostly resides within a large balcony where have I also placed a black IP camera. By mistake she landed near it, but got really scared by it. After a while, she got used to it, as it clearly does not move and does not want to eat her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question: are pets usually afraid of black objects?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it might be connected to being afraid of darkness, but I could not find any information about this. Clearly, most of our pets see things differently (cats and dogs less colorful and pigeons can see more than we do), but nothing special about black objects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8647" LastEditorUserId="8647" LastEditDate="2017-01-13T19:18:10.333" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T02:44:27.053" Title="Why some pets seem to be afraid of black objects?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16106" CreationDate="2017-01-13T21:23:46.920" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Are my dogs doing this (peeing in their food and water bowls) to spite me? They have no medical problems as I have gotten them evaluated multiple times in the last 2 or 3 months.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dogs aren't capable of acting out in spite.  They don't have the requisite level of consciousness to do so.  Dogs behave in whatever way works more effectively to get their desired outcome.  It's likely these behaviors are due to major life changes, especially since you said they've been check out by a vet multiple times and the vet has found nothing medically/physically wrong with them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- How can I decrease their urination inside my home? They don't seem to care that they are peeing in their sleeping place and I can not place a pee pad because they will tear it up.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The dogs each need their own crate.  The space they're in is obviously too big, as they have room to pee.  You mentioned the separation anxiety, which I understand can get to be a lot especially in an apartment when you're concerned about neighbors complaining and so on.  If you live in an apartment building, go and talk to your neighbors.  Explain the situation - most people will be understanding.  There might be some barking and whining, but you're working on the problem.  I'd buy a big jar of cheap foam earplugs and hand them out to neighbors with tiny bottles of booze or sweets.  I've taken this approach, and only had 1 person react negatively.  Your dogs were crate trained before, you can get back to that with some additional training.  If you can take a few days off to re-train them that would be best.  Get them each an appropriately sized crate and start crate training from scratch.  A good rule of thumb is that the dog should have space to comfortably stand up (with their head up, not bent over) without touching the top of the crate, turn around, and lay down.  If you can swing coming home mid-day to give them an extra walk or get a dog walker to do this that might help as well.  3 walks per day actually might not be enough.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Should I switch them to all wet food? They will refuse to eat for well over 24 hours if I just fill their food bowl with dry food and I do not want to starve them. They have not had any stomach problems with the wet food but the current portions I purchased are too small to be meals on their own.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No.  Wet food doesn't provide enough nutrients to be the sole thing that you feed your dog.  Have you tried mixing the wet and dry food together?  That way to get the wet food they have to eat some of the kibble.  If you're tried that and had no success, your best bet is fresh food.  Buy some meat or fish and vegetables, cook it all together without any seasoning, and mix that with something wet like greek yogurt or baby food.  One solid combo that shouldn't bother your dog's stomach is cooked chicken, brown rice, and greek yogurt.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Am I doing something wrong? They were completely crate trained for the past decade and normally had no&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It sounds like you're doing your best in a tough situation (or more like a series of tough situations).  Re-crate train, try some fresh food, add in an extra walk to two.  Things should get easier.  Worst case scenario, there is anxiety medication for dogs that you could talk to your vet about.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-01-13T21:23:46.920" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-14T00:55:10.970" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a healthy male, about 14 years old. He is not obese, eats holistic food, including wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed, before the eating issue that he had some pus in the corner of his eye. I looked at it as close as I could, didn't see anything but I cleaned it with a moist cotton ball. A little later, I checked and it looked worse and a little bloody. I use colloidal silver all the time. It works great for cleaning pet wounds. I sprayed colloidal silver on a cotton ball and cleaned it really well and gently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I noticed a scratch on his upper eye lid. There was a tinge of pink on the cotton ball. The next day I checked it again and it appeared that he had an abscess that was draining below his lower lid. I cleaned it several times during the day. Within two days it has completely cleared up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that he hasn't eaten at all in about 5 days. I have been making it easy for him to get water by always keeping a bowl beside him so he doesn't have to go far. I am worried, so I have made him some organic broth to get some nutrients in him. He is not interested but I have been dropper feeding him with it. He is lethargic. I had to work the past three days and could not get him to the vet. There are no visible signs of anything wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried about him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8677" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T19:24:30.007" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T19:24:30.007" Title="Healthy older cat had a scratch that healed but now hasn't eaten for days" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2017-01-14T06:10:34.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I breed cats and had the same problem - it turned out to be the food didn't include a mineral in high enough quantity - now I have a cavapoo who was quite red as a puppy who now is almost white - I was looking to find if the same might be true for dogs.   Food for thought &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8678" LastActivityDate="2017-01-14T06:10:34.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2017-01-14T06:19:55.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;BETA CAROTENE - I just found the answer. Apparently, it gives nuts, etc. their colour. If a dog is deficient, apparently it fades away their coat's colour. You must look it up and triple check for yourself the dose and best way of getting it for your dog though. No suing me please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8678" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T12:56:37.257" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T12:56:37.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16115" CreationDate="2017-01-14T11:47:00.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the title of your question you seem to ask if it is ok to have your cat not sleep on your bed. In your question, you seem to want your cat to sleep with you on your bed, so I will address that with a solution that has worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is food motivated (only some cats are), she will do anything for a snack. If this is so, you can store cat snacks close to your bed in a cat proof container and after getting into bed place one cat snack next to you on the covers. Your cat will jump up and eat the snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a container like the one below; note the latching flip-top lid. This container is pretty darned cat-proof; my cat has tried without success for months to break into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZW3BT.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZW3BT.png&quot; alt=&quot;Cat-proof plastic container&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give your cat food once or twice each time you get into bed, eventually she will expect she might get food whenever you go to bed and jump up on your bed once you get in. She will then wait for food, and often fall asleep while waiting. Hey presto! A sleeping cat on your bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6801" LastActivityDate="2017-01-14T11:47:00.280" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16131" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-14T16:50:43.540" Score="2" ViewCount="483" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just received 3 baby turtles as a gift from my boyfriend and we were looking online to see what species they are. The smallest one is a darker shade of green. I saw some called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;red-eared slider&lt;/a&gt; turtles, but my turtles don't have any sign of red ears, unless they are too small to notice. I also saw tiny red-eared slider turtles and they look like normal red-eared turtles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, how do you tell a turtle's gender; and what kind of foods other than the normal turtle food, can I give them as treats?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9KkRG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9KkRG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;3 baby turtles&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vazzo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vazzo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;3 baby turtles&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8679" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2017-01-26T01:19:10.977" LastActivityDate="2019-08-26T23:18:13.033" Title="How can I find out the species of my baby turtles?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9505" CreationDate="2017-01-14T18:26:13.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Must keep extraction site(s) free of unnecessary bacteria, like that introduced from chew toys, anything that was in any dogs mouth. Dogs will get the zoomies, running back and forth down hallways if available to burn off energy, mine does this when after cracked tooth extraction, seven days of constant rain kept us both inside. Despite attention, love, cuddles, boxing, rough housing, hide and seek, treat puzzles, she still needs to just run it off. Walks changed to 16 foot sprints on the lead leash. All good as these physical activities kept her from needing pain medications. Grind up kibble and mix with water as canned food will make your dog sick if not used to the sudden change. Use a hammer in a bag or food processor to consistency of coffee grounds. Let soak in warm water. Works great and can return to whole nuggets after a couple weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8680" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-01-24T18:57:50.793" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T18:57:50.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14959" CreationDate="2017-01-15T01:14:39.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the items to clean in a saturated salt solution. It can be created by putting salt into boiling water until the salt no longer dissolves in the water and drop to the ground. It will kill parasite eggs which easily survive boiling. Leave the items in for 1 or 2 days at normal room temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be a problem for the silicon tubes. Give it a try with a small piece of 1cm which you can cut of the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:23:03.860" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:23:03.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16131" CreationDate="2017-01-15T01:48:44.023" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd be more inclined to think they're probably yellow belly sliders which are the same as far as care and size go, but they don't develop the red marks on the side of their head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would stick with turtle food and you can give snacks like the veggies you have in there or crickets, but the turtle food will be much better as far as nutrition is concerned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do a lot of research on care, they get rather large, and need heated water and a heated basking area. They are cold blooded so the basking area, which should be heated to roughly 90 degrees, is extremely important. The very general rule for housing is 10 gallons of water per 1 inch of shell, per turtle, so right now, you're looking at roughly a 30 - 40 gallon aquarium. They grow fairly quickly as juveniles but will slow down, but for 3 adults you honestly are in the territory of needing a pond, they get commonly 10 - 12in in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T01:48:44.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16038" CreationDate="2017-01-15T12:02:22.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To begin with, your methods of play with your kitten are universal and in my humble opinion harmless - not the cause of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also - I've not read the other answer/s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;very quickly&lt;/em&gt; skipped through the comments and noticed you mention your kitten might be a feral / alley cat. If this is the case could you please edit your question and add/include a brief description of how you came to care for your kitten? It will add context to others who read your original post to better understand your situation and assist those who are attempting to prepare an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few comments I'd like to make in response to your question. I'll itemise my comments first and explain in a little more detail following...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not wanting to personify your kitten for fear of setting a bad precedent, but kittens are in &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; respects similar to a human baby and require a number of thoughtful considerations by its human owner or carer, including: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The kitten has very basic needs - sleep, eat, toilet, play (not necessarily in that order)... then repeat; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The kitten needs a role model, a creature to set the rules of the litter; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many animals respond to the emotional and physical state of their carer/owner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To explain in a little more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basic Needs and Routine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forgive me if this is obvious, but your kitten has very basic needs at this time in its life. You must provide it with a safe environment for sleep, adequate food and water, time for play and an opportunity to toilet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Routine is an important element to this. The more consistently you are able to provide for your kitten at the same time every day, the more content it will be. Same feeding time, same play time, same toilet time, etc. This is not always possible and we all do the best we can, so just do the best you can to set a routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play is just one component of your kitten's needs. All must be provided to as regular a routine as you can manage, to ensure a healthy balanced environment for your kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Role Model and Discipline&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While still with its litter and under the care of its mother, a kitten will be taught the lessons of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. So while still in the litter, an unruly kitten will be disciplined by its mother and the mother will act as its role model. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must take this role now that it is no longer with its litter &quot;siblings&quot; and under the care of its mother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over a period of time you must learn to discipline your kitten and act as it's role model, you must determine what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most animals respond well to discipline. Note that some need a &quot;firmer hand&quot; than others, so the extent of discipline is something that you are best to determine for yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note however that discipline must never be cruel or aggressive, or damage the animal in any way physically or mentally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I read your description of your kitten's behaviour after play, it makes me think your kitten becomes over-excited during play and because it has a youthful almost boundless energy, your kitten finds it difficult to calm down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some ways human children can become over-excited during play and find it equally difficult to calm down, especially at the end of the day when they are already tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To discipline your kitten: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take her by the scruff of her neck, as her mother would do. This action has two known effects... it has a physical effect that restrains your kitten and makes it difficult for her to continue the over-excited behaviour and it also has a psychological effect that makes the kitten &quot;feel&quot; reprimanded. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Say once and only once &quot;No&quot;, firmly and without compassion. Make certain the tone in your voice makes your message clear. She will not &quot;understand&quot; the first time so show patience. Do not continually berate your kitten as it has a very short memory and will forget what it has done to deserve the reprimand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take your kitten to a &quot;safe place&quot;, for example her sleeping area, then place her in this area and make certain she is contained - that is - she is unable to escape from this space. She will most likely cry for a short time but eventually she will calm down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some time has passed, perhaps a half hour, check on you kitten. If she has calmed down, remove you kitten from her &quot;safe place&quot; space and show her a lot of affection. If she misbehaves again, repeat the steps above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Animal Response&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that many animals respond to the emotional and physical state of their carer/owner. So the more upset you become, the more elevated your kitten's response. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that your kitten is still so young and inexperienced. She is still learning so much every minute of every day and most likely cannot distinguish between your emotion states, let alone hers. She will however understand the difference between elevated emotions and calm emotions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as difficult as this is, always try to remain calm. Your calm emotional state will reassure your kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T12:02:22.723" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-15T15:25:42.503" Score="3" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I recently got a dog, and even though we never had any formal training, it seems like she (the dog, not my wife) prefers to urinate outdoors rather than indoors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she wants to go, she'd wander around near the door uneasily and whining occasionally, and when I take her out then, she picks a spot immediately and takes care of business. Also, if she's not done, she'd not come inside despite beckoning and tempting with food. When she finally has the last bit of poo/pee out, she'd come inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, my wife and I got her from some people who didn't train her at all. They just tied her up near the construction site. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a problem or anything, but I'm just curious as to whether dogs, by nature, prefer to poop and pee outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8683" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:43:31.867" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:43:31.867" Title="Do dogs prefer to urinate outdoors?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16136" CreationDate="2017-01-15T15:39:06.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adult dogs use urine to mark their territory -- males more noticeably than females, but the signalling is there for both. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is some wiring telling them to pee at some distance from their den. But that's guesswork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-01-15T15:39:06.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16106" CreationDate="2017-01-15T20:12:39.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can tell you that it is written rule that major change in a pet's life can lead to behavioral issues most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So first thing is to get back to a routine as close as the one they had before the passing of your mother.  They seem to be nervous and stressed and are acting accordingly.  An increase in their exercise will help to expel some of that energy in a good daycare setting where they get to be a dog is one idea.  Make sure your crate size is not large enough to allow urination in one corner and sleeping in the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically I do recommend one change, change to dry food as soon as possible, the wet food had too many long-term negative side effects on weight, teeth, see about getting something like science diet sensitive stomach (ID) and can AD only for a short while to get their digestive tracks in line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to create your own success I would move the feeding to earlier in the day.  This is your start, foundation, and remember this is a nervous breed by nature, so if possible keep major changes out of the picture until they get on track.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T23:36:07.013" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T23:36:07.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-15T22:15:41.453" Score="4" ViewCount="6858" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog &lt;strong&gt;really doesn't like&lt;/strong&gt; people or animals wearing fluorescent clothing.  I thought it was just my dog, but recently, whilst stuck on a motorway at night in the rain, following a crash, a policeman in full day glow overalls stuck his head next to the car and... well, the policeman remarked that it was common for dogs to dislike fluorescent clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question that I would like to know is, why this might be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know dogs have different colour vision than humans, as represented in the below image:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ziDZN.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ziDZN.png&quot; alt=&quot;spectral differences in colour vision human vs.dog&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially I was thinking that the fluorescence might appear particularly bright for them, (looking at the bright yellow 'band') and this was what dogs disliked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then I saw this image (below) to do with reflectance of fluorescent ink (fluorescence is occurring either end of the human visible spectrum) and it made me think, is it actually possible that rather than making things seem brighter, fluorescent clothing makes things almost disappear to a dog?  In such a scenario the dog is scared because they just see bits of objects moving not a complete picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ctcWy.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ctcWy.png&quot; alt=&quot;reflectance of fluorescent ink&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8685" LastActivityDate="2019-11-21T12:02:45.383" Title="Why do some dogs dislike fluorescent clothing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6205" CreationDate="2017-01-16T00:22:25.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experimented a lot with undergravel filter for the last months also for the purpose of keeping the gravel clean and avoiding maintenance with a vacuum cleaner. The effort was large, but result is imo astonishing: There's no visible dirt on the surface (I can even observe it disappear) and I can hardly get any dirt into a vacuum cleaner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That leads me to say, that I don't see a reason why you'd want to inverse the sense of water flow. Furthermore the following arguments speak against it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water sinks if you pump the water out of the filter chamber under the gravel. That leads to a quite equaly rate of flow on the whole gravel surface (and thus the cleaning effect). If you pump the water in the chamber instead you'll loose that effect and only use a part of the gravel as filter media.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a very strong pump that either has to work against a huge pressure in you undergravel filter chamber or will lift your gravel and destroy the effect of a gravel filter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice: I ended up creating a custom filter chamber with flexiglass with drilled holes adjusted to the gravel size - you can't take sand, but drills go down to 1mm which allows you to use 1mm gravel. Details at &lt;a href=&quot;https://richtercloud.de:446/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=tasks:aquarium:undergravel_filter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://richtercloud.de:446/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=tasks:aquarium:undergravel_filter&lt;/a&gt;. In another aquarium I have a standard filter chamber (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B009F8V3FY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B009F8V3FY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&lt;/a&gt; for details) which provides the same results, but doesn't allow small gravel and even the large gravel will cause blockage over long time. I use Eheim Universal pumps with 300 l/h which are expensive, but great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you need to remove all NO3 which isn't contained in organic material which you'd usually vacuum through water changes. Using a bucket for the cold water coming out of the shower at the morning dramatically reduces additional consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2017-01-16T00:22:25.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16149" CreationDate="2017-01-16T23:10:59.043" Score="2" ViewCount="709" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can acidic water fish live in alkaline water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my tank pH is around 7.5 because its substrate is made of dolomite. I basically have molly and platys, but I want to have other kind of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I'd like tetra (neon) cardinal, or some big fish from Amazonian Bay (I can get they easily here in Brazil). These fish pH will be around 6 and 6.8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I can put some tree trunk in order to turn the water more acidic. In the last case, I should change substrate (more painful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will acidic water fish die in alkaline water, if so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:18:33.800" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:27:35.300" Title="Can Acidic Water Fish Live In Alkaline Water?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-17T02:08:10.123" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of adopting a 7 year old cocker spaniel. Can he be easily house trained&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8691" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T11:32:14.500" Title="Can a 7 year cocker spaniel be house trained easy" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16145" CreationDate="2017-01-17T03:54:11.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can orientate at the pH value recommendations for the fish you'd like to have in your aquarium. There's no strict border between acidic and alkaline liquids/water for the well-being of a fish. Values are provided by various sources, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://theaquariumwiki.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;theaquariumwiki.com&lt;/a&gt; or literature and if a value is missing you can ask here. You'll notice that most of them have a pH value tolerance reaching from below and above 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The wrong pH value will only kill a fish if the value severely differs from the optimum, you should not only care about the survival of the fish, but it's well-being as well. Long-time damage, loss of fertility and unexpected behaviour are difficult to track down to changes to the pH value and animal abuse, so monitor the value well (meaning frequently and with limited measuring mistakes) and inform yourself well about how to change the pH value (your idea is good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:27:35.300" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:27:35.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-17T06:06:53.907" Score="4" ViewCount="78794" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple days ago, I adopted a cat from a lady off Craigslist. We went to go pick her up, and everything seemed fine. Now that she's home, I'm worried. She hasn't eaten, had water, or used the potty in over 24 hours. I know it might take some time for her to get used to us, but she hasn't warmed up at all. She is always hiding. She spent the entire night wedged between the bed and the wall. When I got home from work, she was hiding under the pantry and was too scared to leave that she peed herself. I gave her a bath and she's hiding again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She hasn't come out to explore the house at all. I'm extremely worried. The hiding doesn't worry me as much as not eating. When she isn't hiding (when we pull her out, we don't do it often), the only way to keep her calm is to wrap her up in a blanket, and she is so scared she shakes the entire time. If she isn't hiding, she's always looking around the room like there's a murderer looking for her or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She isn't too skinny and she's got a great coat. I haven't noticed any injuries on her, so she seems healthy enough but I just don't know how to help her. I know giving her space will help some, but she hasn't eaten in over 24 hours and that worries me. I even bought her some wet food and she didn't show the least amount of interest in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's only a year old, and the lady we got her from seemed to be a good person, but she did tell me Luna (the cat) lived mostly in her bedroom with 5 other cats so maybe that's the issue. I just need to know how to help her. We've only had her a couple days so I'm obviously going to give it more time but she needs to eat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/judTR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture of Luna the cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8693" LastEditorUserId="7988" LastEditDate="2017-01-22T03:50:57.410" LastActivityDate="2018-02-09T02:58:43.773" Title="New cat is hiding and not eating" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16145" CreationDate="2017-01-17T12:57:51.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the fish and depends on the pH. Normally I would say that stability is more important than a specific parameter range and I would still stick to that. I don't think many are going to have a hard time adjusting to a close to neutral pH like 7.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you're talking about wild fish which do not always tolerate drastically changed conditions very well. I do think any should be fine in you water as far as pH goes, but depending on the species, you may need to provide incredibly consistent and clean water for them to thrive, sometimes this requires changing 100% or more of the aquarium water per day, with treated and seasoned water, which means it has been sitting long enough that the pH and other parameters are stable. pH out of the tap will usually change due to degassing and settling over the first 24 or so hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The Amazon&amp;quot; holds an incredibly vast diversity of life, and as far as species go, there's something like 50% of the species of fish on earth in that river. So it really depends on the fish you're looking to keep. Some specific Amazonian fish such as wild discus, altum angelfish and cardinal tetras do not tolerate anything but the cleanest and most stable water imaginable, otherwise they deteriorate or become sterile. For fish like these and many other sensitive ones, stability and the cleanest water possible is going to be the chore in trying to keep them. So, it's not pH you're going to have to worry about, but keeping up with water quality is going to be a near full time task depending on the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:24:28.567" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:24:28.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16152" CreationDate="2017-01-17T19:17:36.100" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy (a pug that is almost three months old) is having diarrhea with some blood occasionally.&#xA;This happened straight after we started providing it with more food. The change was due to the fact that we could not measure the food intake in the last couple of weeks, but after we acquired a measuring cup, we doubled the intake because we found out that before we were providing half of the daily recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the dog is as playful as before, has no temperature, has a large appetite, and drinks water normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most probable cause of the diarrhea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8697" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-01-17T20:01:19.497" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T12:32:11.750" Title="Puppy suffers from diarrhea, but has no other signs of illness" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16151" CreationDate="2017-01-17T20:33:08.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;You need to get your pup checked out by a vet asap.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ASAP means stop reading this and call your vet right now.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's possible the increase in food has contributed to the diarrhea, blood in the stool is a big red flag.  It's more likely your pup has swallowed something harmful, or has something else going on internally.  Your vet will likely ask for a stool sample, and run some tests - including an ultrasound or xray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-01-17T20:33:08.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13549" CreationDate="2017-01-17T22:11:01.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note @Dalton's advices on possible problems on using gravel from earth - and give credit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After making quite a lot of gravel myself - or more processing a lot of earth since the outcome is minimal - if figured that the separation of biomass from the gravel if the most difficult part in terms of aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on &lt;a href=&quot;https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/66428/which-chemical-reaction-to-use-to-remove-carbon-peat-from-sieved-earth-gravel&quot;&gt;a post on chemistry SE&lt;/a&gt; I experienced the most efficient process to separate biomass to be using the magnesium sulfate epsomite which is contained in salt fertilizers and costs about 1 € for the use case (5 € for the bag).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dissolved approx. 1 kg of &amp;quot;Compo Bittersalz&amp;quot; fertilizer (containing 16% MgO and 13% S) into 1 l of tab water at room temperature until the solution was saturated. Then I added the gravel and mixed intensively and removed the mounting peat with a fine sieve (5 times). Then I mixed and poured the top water into another container through the same sieve (5 times). That removed about 95% of biomass remaining after sieving and intensive rinsing which is a good and quick result. The solutions can be preserved and reused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The resulting gravel should be rinsed intensively before boiling, disinfecting and adding it to the aquarium. Mollys and shrimps do seem to like it very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-24T15:26:19.270" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T15:26:19.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1149" CreationDate="2017-01-18T00:08:30.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved to Georgia and inherited 3 pond comets which live outside regardless of temperature. Their names are Winkin Blinkin and Nod. When my friends ask which one is which I told them the orange one is Nod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All humor aside this last weekend I took a lot of stones from a live running brook that runs through my yard and put them in the pond which is made of plastic and wasn't very interesting. I moved the filter from the middle of the pond that blocked the fish's path to right under the waterfall. Then I threw stones along the hoses to cover them up and I put stones all around the periphery giving the fish a place to hide in the crevices on the stones in the floor also give the fish a place to go and explore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there are shallow areas and deep areas for the fish and they're very active. I'm sitting here right now in the dark with a flashlight just shining straight across the water and the fish are very active and playful and running in and out of crevices and appear to be having what could be called a good time. The only toy that was in the bottom of the pond when I inherited it was a piece of roof drain tile that the fish would hide in. I suspect that this roof drain tile was put there to protect them from predators but there was nothing else for them to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And now that there are points of interest in the pond I can see them getting in and out and doing what seems to be playful activity with each other. One of the fish even plays underneath the spout of a decorative spitting fish and seems to enjoy it. So I would say that the fish definitely appreciate the change of scenery and think they are in a new place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8699" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:34:11.667" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:34:11.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-18T05:12:55.967" Score="1" ViewCount="1221" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat NEVER has bitten me in the nearly 10 years I have had him but today he got very angry and starting batting at me, biting and meowing (which he also rarely does). He is an outside/inside cat, maybe that has something to do with it? Should I call the vet ASAP?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8701" LastActivityDate="2017-02-17T11:45:29.463" Title="My usually very quiet and calm cat started biting me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15700" CreationDate="2017-01-18T09:54:16.280" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I do is to put a newspaper in an area where he may pee. This area is better if it may be enclosed. Leave your dog there first before letting him roam around. In a while he's gonna pee in that newspaper. Just do this for some time and soon enough, he's going to remember his peeing spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8703" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T09:54:16.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16148" CreationDate="2017-01-18T11:26:24.127" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot to unpack here. First off, cats are creaatures of habit and territorial as well as social. So moving to another location is always very stressful and &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; cause illness as stress is obviously not that great for the immune system. &#xA;This young Lady now is in unfamiliar territory and there are no friends there - not saying you aren't friendly, but she doesn't know that yet, to her she has no one to communicate and huddle with for comfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideal situation is that you adopt a cat, give her a quiet room (yes, only one) to stay in until she eats &amp;amp; uses the toilet and then start making friendly contact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not eating or drinking for cats is dangerous, but I would wait with a vet visit as thats even more stress and won't help right now unless there are actual symptoms (eye discharge, sneezing, vomiting etc. - and yes not eating is usually a symptom as well but not immediately after moving territories). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have to say: please stop pulling her out of her hiding spot, wrapping her in a blanket or anything like that. It takes any sense of safety she had in her hidey hole away from her. It might very well be that she was shaking in your arms because she thought you were going to hurt her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, lets look forward instead of back :) So, the plan! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Confine her to one room. Preferably it should be the one she is already in right now, but if that room is very well frequented all day, do move her only this one more time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In that room, offer her some boxes or blanket-caves/forts that she can hide in. Never reach into these hiding places. They are basically sacred for now :) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a cat banquet into the room. This means loads of bowls (use soup plates if you don't have enough) with wet food, dry food, wet food with sauce, lactose-free milk, maybe some raw fish or chicken, cooked chicken (no bones, only a pinch of salt in the broth), cream, dreamies, anything you can think of. This is because yes, she has to eat, after three days of not eating aything a cat's organs start to deteriorate. So it doesn't matter if what she eats is crap, you can always get her used to some good wet food (at most 5% of grain/rice/potatoes/whatnot as thats just filler, rest should be meat and good entrails so not too much lung or udder tissue for example). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave her completely alone. This is hard, I know. All you want to do is soothe her, show her you are a great person :) Unfortunately, that usually does the opposite, confirming for the cat that something &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; to be wrong if the big people also seem all worried and odd. Give her time. Only enter the room for the food, at most three times a day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever you enter the room, don't stare as that can be perceived as an agressive warning. Just ignore her, maybe talk to yourself in a happy voice, just about what you're doing or whatever comes to mind. If she is out of her hiding spot, slowly blink at her if you want, but do not go towards her or stretch your hand out or anything. We want her to focus on calming down and food right now, not on you. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, you can busy yourself and look up a bit about how to 'properly' (sounds weird, I know) pet a cat and how to read cat body language. Most cats for example are annoyed when we just pet them without 'asking' first. Asking in this case means holding out your hand and the cat rubs against it, incidentally also showing you how you should continue petting her. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, as a last but still very important thing: This cat has lived together with other cats, she is social, cats are social beings in general. Please consider adopting another cat of the same age, gender and activity level&amp;amp;play behavior&amp;amp;character. (This after she has adjusted to you, maybe a month or so) Look into slow introductions of cats with protective gates etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T11:26:24.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16156" CreationDate="2017-01-18T11:39:38.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several possibilities here, starting from non-fixable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat lives alone (meaning no appropriate feline companion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that this is a sign of the longterm mental health issues that cats in solitary can develop. This would mean you basically can't do anything about it at this point except reap what was sown as he might be too old for proper socialisation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He might just be bored&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its cold outside this time of year, does he still run around for hours out there? If he is understimulated, he might be attempting to play with you - which, unfortunately for us humans, hurts us because of the lack of any protective fur. Don't punish him in case you do, play more with him (but appropriately for both of you this time :D). Let him run after a toy on a stick or whatnot, clicker training also helps if he is mentally understimulated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not an easy fix, but fixable. He might be sick. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if he reacts like this when you touch him, but even if thats not the case, he is starting to go over that middle-age hump and thats when some diseases can show up. And if he is in pain, of course he will be grumpy. Definitely get a blood panel and x-ray done (checking for infections, his organs, athritis, spondylosis and the like), but I also would get his teeth checked. Not just the outside, but tell the vet that you want him checked for Feline Tooth Resorption (or just TR, or feline odontoclastic resorption lesion (FORL)) as it's really painful and can in many cases only be diagnosed by x-raying individual teeth. &#xA;That should give the vet a good diagnostic overview to see whether or not he is phsysically in pain &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T11:39:38.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16027" CreationDate="2017-01-18T11:59:10.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have consulted the vet they told it was result of heavy cold in this region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T11:59:10.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16127" CreationDate="2017-01-18T19:39:20.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get to a vet. It sounds like your cat has an infection. It may be healed on the surface but apparently not internally. Five days is a long time for an animal, especially a small one, to go without food or water. You may now be running into an issue of dehydration. Definitely go straight to the vet. I hope everything goes well for your kitty! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2017-01-18T19:39:20.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-19T01:13:10.537" Score="4" ViewCount="2505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a second aquarium and set it up. When doing so, I added some gravel and artificial plants from my first aquarium to it because a staff member at the store told me it would help with cycling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to make sure that there are no parasites in the second aquarium because a couple days later, I realized some fish in my first tank started to act weird and I am now treating it for parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If I empty the second tank, rinse everything with hot water and let it dry, will it kill any parasites&lt;/strong&gt; that could have been added to the second tank when I added the gravel and plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastEditorUserId="8711" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T23:21:50.597" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:33:43.123" Title="Killing aquarium parasites?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15700" CreationDate="2017-01-19T01:55:34.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As suggested before, get a crate and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.paws.org/library/dogs/training/how-to-crate-train-your-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crate train&lt;/a&gt; him. Make sure it is big enough for him to stand up in and turn around. Make it a safe and happy place for him to be in (use happy phrases/treats/toys when he enters, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take him outside to potty after he has spent time home alone, even if he had an accident inside. And do the same if he has an accident while you are there. Take him to the same spot every time for a few weeks and use praise as he potties and treat rewards directly after he is done.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Never punish a dog for going inside because they may learn to fear going potty in front of you. If you catch them in the act, say a quick &quot;no!&quot; and take them directly outside and praise them for going potty outside. Again, take him to the same spot every time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also talk with your vet because it might be anxiety or some other problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T01:55:34.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16146" CreationDate="2017-01-19T02:46:45.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to popular belief, old dogs can learn new tricks... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming there are no underlying issues you may not be aware of (talk to your vet), I would say, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It takes &lt;strong&gt;patience&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;consistency&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog is food driven, get yourself some training treats. Yes, &quot;training treats&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the dog outside to potty every couple of hours and try to keep a routine every day. Take them to the same spot &lt;strong&gt;every time&lt;/strong&gt;. If going for a walk, take them on the same route every time. Do this for a month or two. It would be a good idea to continue for a while, even after they have learned where you want them to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use praise (&quot;good boy/girl!&quot;) when they do go potty outside and give treats directly after they have finished. Get used to putting them in your pockets or get a treat bag from the pet store to carry them in. Do this &lt;em&gt;every time&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; scold or punish the dog for going inside because they may learn to fear going in front of you, which will make training them even harder. If you catch them in the act, say a quick &quot;no!&quot; and take them directly out, even if they have already finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T02:46:45.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16136" CreationDate="2017-01-19T03:05:36.660" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, most dogs do prefer to go outside, away from their home. Dogs do not like to potty where they eat/sleep/play/spend most of their time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs that potty inside were either trained/conditioned to do so, or are being prevented from making it outside for some reason (old age, health issues, their owner didn't take them out in time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T03:05:36.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15900" CreationDate="2017-01-19T03:23:07.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are very playful animals and kids make lots of fun noises and gestures that can easily excite dogs. I would suggest adding more playtime with the dog into your daily routine (15-30 minutes, one-on-one). This would include you getting down on the floor and using the dog's favorite toys with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try more training time with the dog that would include positive reinforcement and activities that reinforce the idea that when the dog comes to you, it will be a positive and fun experience. Use praise, play, and treats when the dog comes to you and when she is in your presence. Even if you are busy, acknowledge your dog's presence when they enter the room by saying hello (happy tone) and giving her a quick pet or the occasional treat. If you don't already, take on more responsibilities for caring for the dog (walks, feeding times, etc.). This will also help you bond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastEditorUserId="8711" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T19:08:20.730" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T19:08:20.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16165" CreationDate="2017-01-19T08:12:01.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a new aquarium, you need to let it empty (just water, gravels and plants) for 4 weeks before putting fish in it. &#xA;Otherwise, your water will be full of ammonia and other bad things for your living friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So taking elements from your first aquarium won't help at all, but as those bad things are in water, you can take some water from your first aquarium to help bring in the good bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it's done a lot in others countries, but here in France you can then take some of the water in your aquarium and get it analyzed by a pet store selling fish and they will tell you if your water is good enough for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you already bought your fish without letting the aquarium empty at first, I would advise you to transfer them in the first one if they can live with your other fish, or to take enough water from the first tank for them to live in for some time. Then you would be able to go to some pet stores selling bacteria for aquarium and let your second tank empty for 3 or 4 week, just adding the new bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8712" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T08:12:01.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16165" CreationDate="2017-01-19T12:14:36.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16171/5646&quot;&gt;Ise&lt;/a&gt; said is partially true, moving decoration, plant and substrate from the first tank to the second will help with cycling, but most of the beneficial bacteria live in the filter. The best way would be to move some of your old media from the first tank's filter to the second tank's. This is not always an option depending on the media, the filter type, etc. A good way to quick start your new tank is to rinse the old filter media in tank water (from a water change) and than dump all the gunk in the new filter. That gunk will contain a lot of bacteria from the first filter, but will still be much better than nothing as of now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the rest her answer is pretty spot on, the main problem seem to be that your tank hasn't cycled yet and this is the reason for the fish acting weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T23:34:02.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16165" CreationDate="2017-01-19T16:34:32.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think most misunderstood your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my understanding correct that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are currently cycling your new tank, without any fish?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you've moved gravel &amp;amp; plants from your existing tank to your new one (to speed up cycling)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you now think there are parasites in your existing tank (not the new one)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the question remains: why do you think there are suddenly parasites in your existing tank? Besides removed gravel &amp;amp; plants, you did not change anything...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I don't think you're having parasites... There might be 2 other things going one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you removed too many plants, the chemical composition of the water might have changed. Less oxygen, higher CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; (also affect pH), higher nitrates, etc. If this is a sudden change, your fish might become stressed &amp;amp; need time to adjust. Only proper way to check this is by testing the water. Fish stores can do that, but they usually do that with these paper strips that are very inaccurate. It's better if you use a testing kit with liquids.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, how much gravel did you remove, and how careful did you do that? Besides your filter, the gravel is also a source of 'good' bacteria that lets you keep stable water parameters. If you removed a lot, it's possible that the current bacteria population is not capable (for now) to keep the parameters stable. Also, gravel can contains a lot of debris from leftover food and dead plants, it can also contain gas from decomposition of it. If you stir up the gravel, these gasses are released in the water. Usually this results in an ammonia spike. And I think this is actually what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For both things, the only way to make sure is to test your water. There are chemicals available to decrease the levels of ammonia (but test first before using them!).&#xA;Meanwhile, I would suggest that you do a partial water change every day (30% or so) and don't overfeed your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:33:43.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:33:43.123" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-19T17:52:25.450" Score="1" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that is exhibiting some irregular breathing and I suspect that it is a pharyngeal polyps. In order to confirm this I need to look behind the soft palate. How can I do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS My cat is very well behaved, trusts me and is compliant, so opening his mouth is not a problem. I clean his teeth regularly and he likes it. I need to know the technique for retracting the soft palette.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(please don't write &quot;take him to the vet&quot;; I know that; that is not the question; the question is: how can I examine behind the soft palate of a cat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastEditorUserId="8256" LastEditDate="2017-08-18T17:27:38.760" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T17:27:38.760" Title="Examine behind the soft palate of cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-19T21:14:17.497" Score="2" ViewCount="1106" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago my girlfriend and 2 cats moved in, and my dog (9 year old labrador) got shut out from the bedroom.  Due to the large attached bath, it was the most logical place for their litterbox and therefore safe space for them.  My dog never slept in the bedroom with me anyway, but he used to have access.  Now he's shut out with a baby gate.  He started out barking at night wanting to come in, but that was easy to ignore until it stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, after I came back from a week long trip (so possible separation issues?  My girlfriend stayed home with him and said he was fine while I was gone), he has started barking in the morning, ranging from 2am to 6am, but mostly around 4:30-5am.  I thought this would end on its own, but it's carried on for 6 weeks now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it's hard to ignore.  It wakes us up, but then once he sees me move he doesn't carry on, which makes it hard to &quot;not respond to it&quot; or do any kind of irritation such as squirt bottle or noise.  The sonic collar I got doesn't detect his bark, only his head scratching and my bark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8716" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T23:57:35.510" Title="My dog barks early in the morning, but it doesn't carry on" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16176" CreationDate="2017-01-19T21:32:05.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider putting a gate on the bathroom door that will allow the cats to get to the litter box, but keep the dog out. Then, the dog could have access to the bedroom, and will probably be happier. Here is an example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000JJFNJK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gate with cat door&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T21:32:05.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16176" CreationDate="2017-01-19T23:51:11.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try putting him in a crate at night (placed in the bedroom). This way the dog is not banned from the room, and ultimately, from you. This would require proper crate training, of course, if not already established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a crate is not for you, the gate idea mentioned by jalynn2 would also work just as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I wouldn't suggest spraying him with anything to get him to stop barking. It might &lt;a href=&quot;http://thedo.gs/2013/01/training/can-i-use-a-spray-bottle-to-make-my-dog-stop-barking-at-the-doorbell-46594/7544/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;backfire&lt;/a&gt;, and instead, he may associate the negative experience with you and not the fact that he is barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastEditorUserId="8711" LastEditDate="2017-01-19T23:57:35.510" LastActivityDate="2017-01-19T23:57:35.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-20T05:59:30.300" Score="1" ViewCount="682" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Pomeranian bitch and a male pin had sex today for 1 minute or so and his penis didn't get stuck in her. Does that imply that she hasn't been fertilized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xjdGf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8720" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:10:17.783" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:10:17.783" Title="Sexual intercourse duration of dogs and fertility" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16181" CreationDate="2017-01-20T07:22:42.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As thousands of young (human) involuntary mothers could probably tell you, you can't be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult your vet, he'll be able to help you to determine the exact situation and what could or should possibly be done (as we don't know you dog's health status etc. either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T07:22:42.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16175" CreationDate="2017-01-20T12:29:51.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an ill cat and my vet told me how to do it, but it's a bit dangerous because the cat must be very well-behaved. If he's not, wrap his body in a towel so he won't scratch you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First be sure your nails are short so you don't hurt the cat. Then you will use two fingers: your thumb and your index (I prefer my middle because my hand is small). Put your thumb on the right side of this mouth and the other finger on the left side, aproximately &lt;strong&gt;behind&lt;/strong&gt; his canines. Then you have to press down gently but steady and his mouth will eventually open.&#xA;He will try to resist so when he opens a bit I use my other hand to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has breathing problems maybe its a bit problematic to do it by yourself, he will stress out for sure while you practice. I hope it helps, good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8721" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T12:29:51.330" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="666" CreationDate="2017-01-20T12:53:11.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some bugs contaning or exuding toxins which could in theory harm mammals if ingested in sufficient lots. Examples are ladybirds or green shield bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this usually won't happen. Toxins produced by bugs have a evolutionary purpose. It is to prevent predators from eating the bugs. So what is the best strategy for a bug to prevent being eaten by using a toxin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The toxin could harm the predator silently by e.g. damaging organs like liver or kidney. If the predator had eaten enough bugs it would fall sick and die eventually&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The toxin could kill the predator instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The toxin could taste extremely bad or have an instant irritant effect. Only a very prolonged consumption would lead to substantial health risks of the predator.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best strategy is Nr. 3 for different reasons. Nr. 1 is the worst. Nr. 1 neither prevents the bug from being eaten nor trigger a learning process at the predator. Probably a big bunch of bugs will be eaten by a single predator and liftetime of the predator may be or may be not reduced substantially. Especially if the bug is a rare species. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nr. 2 is slightly better but will be easily rendered useless as most predators tend to breed in case of sufficient food. A evolutionary effect (predators starting to mitigate the bug) will only take place, if the bugs can be discriminated by the predator from other species. This is usually achieved by warning coloration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nr. 3 is the best, because it usually takes only one contact of a bug with the predator to prevent any further attacks from that individual. It even opens the possibility of survival by the individual bug because it is released before being swallowed. The predator will survive and occupy the ecological niche, preventing other predators with similar habits from preying on the bugs. If the social skills of the predator are high enough it will even pass the meme to its offsprings. Accompanied by a warning coloration like on ladybirds, this option maximises the likelyhood of beeing not eaten by this kind of predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why most allomones produced by bugs primarily have an irritant or deterrent effect which supersedes the health danger of the predator by magnitude. Both, the prey and the predator profit from this strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can safely assume your cat will taste only uncritical portions of unhealthy bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T12:53:11.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16151" CreationDate="2017-01-20T16:11:07.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most probable cause for bloody diarrhea is an infection with giardia intestinalis or. This is not necessarily lethal, but the outcome depends on the overall health status and correct treatment. Furthermore giardiosis can be transmitted to humans, so it should be treated in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As LizMGagne wrote correctly only a vet can distinguish a giardiosis from other causes which may be more dangerous. To diagnose giardiosis firmly, ususally the stool from three successive days has to be evaluated. Your vet will instruct you accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastActivityDate="2017-01-20T16:11:07.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17269" CreationDate="2017-01-20T16:38:24.410" Score="4" ViewCount="1285" Body="&lt;p&gt;About six months ago, I adopted two cats from a local shelter who are the light of my life. Unfortunately, one of my cats, &quot;Dr. Lavender&quot;, has chronic conjunctivitis.&#xA;The vet verified that there were no problems with the cornea,&#xA;then said she probably had feline herpes virus (FHV) and that we'd never be able to get rid of the conjunctivitis completely.&#xA;Indeed, after treating the cat for several weeks, the symptoms were &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; a little bit better.&#xA;The vet recommended that I stop the medication (doxycycline, if I recall) for now, but repeat it for 10 days whenever the symptoms were particularly bad.&#xA;She also said that topical ointments were unlikely to help with this condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also giving the cat lysine supplements to help with the FHV. (I'm aware of the meta-analysis that found that lysine isn't helpful for FHV, but after discussing it with my vet we decided to continue the lysine in the hope that it might help, since it doesn't do any harm.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only symptoms are an occasional teardrop (about once every two months), and an occasional (about once every 3-4 weeks) tendency to not open the affected eye quite as wide as the other. But I want to do everything I can to make my cats healthy. I've done some research into this on my own, but haven't found anything hopeful. &lt;strong&gt;Are there any other treatments that I could discuss with my vet?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:30:43.923" Title="Chronic conjunctivitis in cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9594" CreationDate="2017-01-20T18:01:36.590" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes some dogs are not so much afraid of the kittens, but afraid of what will happen if they hurt the kittens. In their minds they may badly want to eat or bite the kittens, but they know you will be upset or they will get into serious trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog that is afraid of other baby animals should be watched VERY carefully to protect the small or baby animal and prevent disaster and heartbreak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs just have it in them to want to kill smaller animals and there is almost nothing you can do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please protect your kittens and introduce them to your dog slowly, and do not leave them home alone together without being crated or separated in different rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8723" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:28:10.560" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:28:10.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15980" CreationDate="2017-01-20T18:23:38.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you simply leave some fruit leftovers in a spot in your home in a bug container, they will come. I have done it for baby lizards using tomato and orange rinds. I never had a problem with those pests popping up like magic no matter the weather outdoors.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8723" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T22:01:48.223" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:01:48.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15742" CreationDate="2017-01-20T18:27:52.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make his water bowl sit up off the ground. Other than that, especially in the summer, get used to it and shave the bottom of his neck a bit for his comfort as well. It's hilarious, they are a mess! You will get slobbered on for the rest of his life, it's pure fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8723" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T00:56:20.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T00:56:20.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15470" CreationDate="2017-01-20T18:38:31.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you will get any scientific answers. Just ask yourself, hey, why not? She could be mad and you could return the cat to a no kill shelter. Adopt, don't buy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing happened with my cat, but then when we got a kitten, he HATED it. He seemed angry at life in general and me for a very long time. I would say go with a cat the age of your cat or older, not a little kitten that will want to play and possibly irritate the heck out of her. For sure, there are enough cats out there that need a home and I doubt your cat loves being home so long all alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, they also make movies that cats like to watch with colors, sounds and pictures all tailor made for them, which is hilarious. You could try that too. Get you a baby cam and see if she likes to watch TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8723" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:42:30.473" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:42:30.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-20T23:17:17.703" Score="6" ViewCount="1900" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had made her way into the crawl space in my garage. It is a big garage with a very high ceiling. She was not able to get back down so we had to go up by ladder and find her and bring her down. While trying to get her out she was struggling and wouldn't let me safely grab her and climb down the tall ladder. I had her in my arms half way between where she was and grabbed her by her scruff. I didn't dangle her in the air but brought her to my chest and laid her up against it still holding on while I climbed down. Is this safe or could it have hurt her. She has a tendency to explore and was wondering if this would be safe to do in emergencies every once in a while&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8724" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T15:19:00.160" Title="Grabbing cat by scruff" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-11-16T09:55:19.523" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16194" CreationDate="2017-01-21T00:45:04.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lifting an adult cat by their scruff should be avoided; lift by gripping the body if at all possible. Which it sounds like you did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grabbing/pinching the scruff to get them to stop struggling does appear to be safe, though I would be nervous about applying that pressure point too often or too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T00:45:04.970" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16151" CreationDate="2017-01-21T06:02:56.643" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an elderly dog (16 years) who suffers from bouts of diahorrea and who is otherwise healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet prescribed calf scour tablets, that help manage bacterial imbalances in the digestive system. It is prescription medication and therefore can only be prescribed by a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has assisted enormously as has a diet of raw food and beef bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in others responses, please take your dog to see a vet immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can stomach it - collect a very recent sample of the puppy's diahorrea - that may help the vet analyse the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The potential causes of the diahorrea are numerous, but generally relate to the health of the digestive system of your dog that could be related to the dog's: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;local environment (your home); &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wider environment (where you take your dog in your community); &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diet; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;current or recent emotional condition; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;current or recent medical condition. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point being, with all the possible contributing factors, only your vet has the training, expertise, experience and equipment necessary to perform the medical checks and tests that will hopefully result in a reasonable answer to your question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="1257" LastEditDate="2017-01-21T12:32:11.750" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T12:32:11.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16201" CreationDate="2017-01-21T20:55:06.277" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Transporting a Cocker Spaniel on a 10 hour direct flight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to use a traditional open-top water dish or a water bottle (like might be used for rabbits, but larger)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern with the water dish is that the water will spill and he won't have enough during the flight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern with the water bottle is that he won't be able to get enough water from the nipple, or won't figure out how to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8729" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T15:34:43.533" Title="Water dish vs bottle for dog kennel?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2017-01-21T23:37:49.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to remove cat urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you find out a cat urine spot, you should:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry the urine from with paper towel and use the same to b the lot urine in rugs. Do not use cloth unless you're sure you won't need it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clean the compounds that are not water-soluble, use enzyme cleaners which are the most powerful substance in term of cleaning cat urine. They are meant to destroy the uric acid into ammonia and carbon dioxide. You will notice that it will off gas afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the best enzyme cleaner possible - inexpensive cleaners often require multiple uses before they remove the odor of cat urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not try to speed up the drying process after using an enzyme cleaner because you may stop the enzyme from dissipating of the ammonia and carbon dioxide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When applying the cleaner; you should soak the target area to allow the enzymes to really do their job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After leaving the cleaner on for approximately a quarter of an hour, blot it up, then let the spot dry naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although rugs are the usual areas where your cat may urinate, beds, sofas, and clothing can also be sullied. Use the same procedure on these as you did on your rug. Slipcovers and clothing should be washed separately after they have been treated with the enzyme cleaner. Spray marking will be found on a vertical surface such as a door frame or chair leg.&#xA;I found this in this blog &lt;a href=&quot;http://cathealthblog.ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://cathealthblog.ml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8730" LastActivityDate="2017-01-21T23:37:49.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16199" CreationDate="2017-01-22T01:45:44.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned that your dog won't know how to use the bottle, why not have a test run?&#xA;Water bottles are pretty cheap and if it doesn't work out you can probably return it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend the open water dish.  It's likely to spill and your dog will have a miserable 10 hour flight, which is already stressful enough without being thirsty and wet.  A nice in between is a water pail.  It's deeper than a regular dish and you can clip it to the side of the crate for stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I've had success with a flat sided pail, like this one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2lcP4hN&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://amzn.to/2lcP4hN&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I typically use a very small carabiner or other clip to attach the pail to the side of the crate in addition to the built in hooks for maximum hold and stability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-02-23T15:34:43.533" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T15:34:43.533" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16259" CreationDate="2017-01-22T03:12:16.223" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had dogs all when I was growing up, but never had to train one. I adopted a dog, yesterday, and the dog is very sweet to me. He did fine in the dog park and walking along the trails in Philadelphia. I decided to take him with me to pickup something, in the beginning while waiting by the door he would go up and greet everyone who went in and out. After about 10 minutes, he started growling, barking and standing on his hind legs. This behavior is new to me, the dogs I previously had growing up were all very nice and never exhibited this behavior to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I get he has only been in the city for a day, but this behavior worries me since I cannot avoid people on the sidewalk and don't know if he will sniff or lunge at them. This behavior seemed to be out of protection of me since he was standing pretty much under me while barking at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8733" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:59:08.960" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:59:08.960" Title="Dog being overprotective" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-22T04:11:59.313" Score="3" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got two zebra danios on Thursday. They've been doing just fine, but I just now noticed that they are both sort of bloated. Their stomachs look a little bigger, but they are swimming just fine. I have been feeding them a pinch of TetraFin Plus twice a day - once in the morning and once at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a disease, I dont know what it is. If it is a disease, would MelaFix help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8735" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T15:14:05.037" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T21:25:02.007" Title="Bloated Zebra Danio" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-22T04:40:42.333" Score="1" ViewCount="11973" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 year old DLH Calico. She has been scratching at her chin on and off over the years. I treat her for fleas and worms regularly and have visited the vet on multiple occasions and they don't seem concerned. She has now started scratching at her face and the top of her head that she is bleeding and scabbing. My cats are fed NutriSource dry food. Could this be caused by stress or a food allergy? Even if I have changed her food? Should I consult in a different vet?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/txL9Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8736" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T23:37:05.997" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T02:19:41.020" Title="Cat scratching her face and head" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16204" CreationDate="2017-01-22T13:34:37.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As many people with allergies will tell you - they can get worse if you keep getting in contact with the triggers. Also, allergies or intolerances can develop later in life and don't have to be a 'from birth to death' thing. Some cats can be intolerant or allergic when it comes to grains, potatoes, certain types of protein or the specific thickener that is being used for some wet foods. So yes, allergy might be an option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat has sores or scratches itself, there are generally these common causes: &#xA;- Parasites (you accounted for that) &#xA;- Fungus - I assume the vet took a sample from the wounds to check for that? If not, have him do so of course. &#xA;- Food allergies. I think this might be most likely right now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are allergy tests for cats, but they tend to be unreliable at best, so usually it is advised to test giving pure raw meat to the cat for a while - preferrably a protein it hasn't eaten before, for example horse or goat. This is done for about 4 weeks at least in order to make sure that the immune system of the cat had time to calm down, so to speak. &#xA;(Preferably, the meat should be fed with a pinch of salt, some blood and a pinch of powdered eggshells (for calcium) to there are at least -some- supplements)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If raw meat isn't an option for you, the only other possible way to do this is feed mono-protein wet food without any grains whatsoever. So for example a wet food with only horse ingredients and ~4 percent of carrots/pumpkin should be fine. No grains, no potatoes! &#xA;The ingredient list should read f.e. &#xA;95% Horse (50% Horsemeat, 20% Horseliver, 20% Horseheart, 5% Horsekidneys, 5% Horsestomachs), 5% Carrots. &#xA;(and of course calcium, phosphate, taurin etc.) Meaning absolutely no unknown ingredients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you start the diet, you can ask your vet to help alleviate your cats symptoms temporarily (only if they are really bad as its not like he will give her sugarpills and all that) by prescribing cortisone. Cortisone is an immune supressant (among other things) and will therefore suppress the reaction of the cats body. Its heavy medication though and should not be given (or stopped) lightly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the diet proves that your cat does have food allergy, you can slowly (as in - 1 per month) introduce 1 new ingredient/protein at a time. This will help you figure out what exactly she reacts to (there may be multiple things) and adjust her diet accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food, by the way, is most commonly a no for allergic/intolerant cats - grains are notorious for that and dry food is just factually mostly made out of that. (and therefore is more suited for chickens than carnivores anyway)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-22T13:34:37.387" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-22T22:47:01.513" Score="1" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just bought a 5 month old puppy, it's been a week and I think I may have rushed the collar and leash training as the puppy can't walk straight with the collar on and frequently shakes her head and scratches at the collar. It's a very soft collar with a light name tag. &#xA;How long does it typically take a puppy to accept a collar? A leash? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the leash is on, she refuses to walk anywhere and puts on the breaks. I let her wear and drag the leash around a bit indoors to get her used to it, but as soon as I pick up the other end, she refuses to comply. Without the collar on she frolicks and plays and wants to get into all sorts of mischief like eating rocks and biting at branches. With that in mind, I'd prefer she were on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try to find a thinner collar and start over from the top? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8740" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T08:16:32.440" Title="puppy hates collar and leash" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16207" CreationDate="2017-01-23T08:16:32.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A five month old puppy should be used to a leash by now.  I'm guessing the previous owner didn't do that training for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd start by simply standing still with the leash on and using small treats to reward calm behaviour and help her focus on you rather than being tethered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When relative calmness can be demonstrated when stationary, introduce some movement with encouragement and more treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A five month puppy probably wouldn't be expected to be fully leash trained at five months (ours certainly isn't), but you shouldn't have the thrashing &quot;fish on a hook&quot; behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The collar, it should be on pretty much all the time, just make sure that it's well fitting (you should be able to get two fingers comfortably under the collar).  I don't know what the breed of your puppy is or what the current width of your collar is.  The obvious thing to do is look at what other people are using with the same breed/size of dog and use that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-01-23T08:16:32.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-23T21:06:04.687" Score="2" ViewCount="518" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who had to have a PU surgery and now has a traditional cheap plastic E-Collar held on with a gauze band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's scratching his neck at the gauze and there's a good chance he will get the cone loose if he continues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opting for improving the cone a bit there seems to be quite a variety of cone solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2017-03-25T16:46:29.810" Title="Best E-Collar for cat post Perineal Urethrostomy (PU) surgery?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-24T03:22:46.337" Score="4" ViewCount="1102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a large patch of wheat grass (cat grass) growing that my cats mostly enjoyed chewing on more than eating. Unfortunately one cat frequently ate way too much and threw up so it needed to be taken down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also noticed a few objects like ends of screw drivers or anything with a small butt to it, corners of wood furniture get chewed on periodically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do brush my cats teeth occasionally but it is very difficult. Ideally I'd like to be able to provide them with the tools they need to keep their own teeth healthy like they appear to be trying to do instinctively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine are indoor only but I imagine outdoor cats have a slight advantage in having lots of stick/plants to chew up as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can buy or grow for them that lets them clean their teeth how they want to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T15:49:26.750" Title="Plants for cat dental health?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16225" CreationDate="2017-01-24T08:32:20.257" Score="6" ViewCount="20631" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've moved from a two bedroom apartment into a two storey house. My cats have a lot more room to roam around in. My older cat meows a lot more now. He almost never did before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he does it, he does it over and over for minutes at a time. It's a throaty or guttural meow and it sounds somewhat anxious, at least that's how it makes me feel when I hear him. He seems to like to carry his cat toys around when he's doing it though, so do I take that as a sign that he is content?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how I should interpret his new sounds. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8748" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-08T18:02:39.367" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T18:02:39.367" Title="Why does my cat meow a lot more since moving?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16215" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16216" CreationDate="2017-01-24T12:56:06.490" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;About six months ago, I adopted two cats from a local shelter who are the light of my life. One of my cats, &quot;Prof. Paws&quot;, seems to be prone to allergies and have a tendency to itchy skin. When I first got him, the vet diagnosed him with a flea allergy, and an infection where he was scratching. We treated that, and I give my cats flea treatments regularly even though they are indoor cats. He also had a slight problem with flatulence, but I switched him to a food for cats with allergies or sensitive stomachs, and that's gone now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So Prof. Paws' health is good, but he still scratches a little bit more often than is normal. It's a mild problem, one that a human could probably solve with an occasional oatmeal bath (but a cat would not appreciate that!). &lt;strong&gt;There are loads of nutritional supplements for cats that claim to improve skin condition; what ingredients should I look for to help with itching?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T15:18:58.503" Title="Cat with itchy skin" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16215" CreationDate="2017-01-24T15:18:58.503" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What food was he on vs what he's on now? If it's food related allergies you should try a food that has a different source of protein (ex. fish instead of chicken).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry itchy skin can also be a problem with the food itself (low quality food vs high quality) - Omega 3 + 6 fatty acids can help (do not buy human grade, veterinary is better). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a product called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dermoscent.com/en/p102-essential-6-spot-on.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dermoscent&lt;/a&gt; that can help, it's a monthly topical and it's cheap!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's dry from winter where you live you can consider using a humidifier and place it where the cat spends most of his time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T15:18:58.503" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16213" CreationDate="2017-01-24T15:26:34.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes - meat :D &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously though, cats are naturally carnivorous and don't really chew as much as slice (but thats being a bit pedantic) in order to keep their teeth clean. &#xA;Eating grass/plant matter helps with digestion but can be overindulged in - especially with house cats, since to them it can be something special/zomg amazing, but you already know that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats aren't used to eating raw meat, I would start with something soft like pure chicken meat, then maybe offer necks that are already cut in half (again, needs to be raw, cooked bones get brittle). If they master that you can stop cutting the necks in half and move on to halved chicken wings f.e. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best stuff to clean cat teeth are dense cubes of beef or chicken wings in my opinion. Anything thats a bit harder to separate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rules for feeding raw meat: &#xA;- For yourself / humans only: The usual rules for handling raw food - and especially meat - apply, so wash your hands after feeding/handling the meat etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Preferrably give them their meat in a small, easily cleanable area. They will usually play with it and carry it around, so close the doors first. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cat muscles can get sore, too - so don't do it too often in the beginning :) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is not uncommon for them to require smaller pieces of meat at the beginning as they're simply not used to separating large pieces of meat (or 'worse', cracking bones). Adjust to their pace. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In general, don't give them raw meat more often than about once every 2 weeks. If you want to give them raw meat more often, you need to supplement it properly (it's not the same/as easy as raw-feeding dogs and a lot to read up on, but can be worth it) or they might get sick long-term. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Growling and 'hiding' meat is normal - thats why a small closed room is recommended :) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastEditorUserId="8586" LastEditDate="2017-01-24T15:49:26.750" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T15:49:26.750" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16213" CreationDate="2017-01-24T15:27:10.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.greenies.ca/cats/cat-dental-treats.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Greenies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.virbacvet.com/products/detail/c.e.t.-oral-hygiene-chews-for-cats/chews&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;C.E.T Oral hygene chews for cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.royalcanin.ca/products/catalog/Royal-Canin-Veterinary-Diet-Feline-DENTAL-dry-cat-food/226005&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RC Dental diet&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-feline-td-dry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hills T/D&lt;/a&gt; (note for cats we like for them to have a good amount of wet food in their diet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsdrugmart.ca/Product/Dentachlor-Dental-Rinse-7490600/3930&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DentaChlor oral rinse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go to the petstore they have dental chew toys for cats as well just keep in mind that it shouldn't be hard (stay away from bones) or have pieces that could fray and become ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T15:27:10.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16211" CreationDate="2017-01-24T15:36:06.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetrimark.com/core/media/media.nl?id=46434&amp;amp;c=ACCT123382&amp;amp;h=dfed198e408a88a327d4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ez-soft e-collar&lt;/a&gt;, we usually send home our cat patients with them. They tolerate them much better as it's lighter and less clumsy, if you see it doesn't work for your kitty you could always return it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;there is also the &lt;a href=&quot;https://1mpr64kkw06av2tn1d975o3k-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Cloud_collar-700x700.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cloud collar&lt;/a&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T15:36:06.763" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-24T15:43:55.990" Score="2" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one year old dog who loves to play outside, but doesn't come inside when I call her. She often will look at me, sometimes even coming to the door, only to then run back outside, almost as if she is taunting me. She has been getting better when I say &quot;Bella, come!&quot; but it's still not close to where I want it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought one of those dinner bells with the intention of her associating the bell with treats, like classical conditioning with Pavlov's dogs. I then plan on ringing the bell when I want her to come in. However, I want to make sure I do this correctly. How do I do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8750" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T21:26:34.100" Title="How to get dog to come inside with a bell" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16220" CreationDate="2017-01-24T19:09:25.310" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Classical conditioning means that the dog learns to associate a cue with a pleasurable event, and responds as strongly to the cue as they do to the event. Pavlov's dogs knew that the bell meant that food was imminent, and so they salivated upon hearing the bell even when they could not see or smell the food yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to classical conditioning is repetition of the cue/reward sequence for many (hundreds to thousands) repetitions. With a recall, you should start off with a very short distance on a leash, do a bunch of repetitions and slowly increase the distance. But the sequence is always the same: give the cue, and immediately reward the dog when he gets to you. I recommend that you incorporate a &quot;collar grab&quot; as part of the recall: Reach for the dog's collar and then give the treat when you have your hand around it. So getting hold of the collar is all part of the sequence. Of course, you will spread this out over many days and weeks. Neither you or your dog want to do 100 recalls in a row. Incorporate it into your daily life, and call the dog for dinner, to go on a walk, to go play in the yard, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing special about a dinner bell vs. a verbal cue. A dog can respond just as well to &quot;Come!&quot; or &quot;Here!&quot; or any other word you choose as well as a bell. Just be consistent with the cue. And remember, you won't always have a dinner bell with you, but you do have your voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-01-24T19:09:25.310" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-24T19:11:16.397" Score="0" ViewCount="2613" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 3 cats as of now... Cassa who is 10 years old, Demon who is 3 years old, and the newbie Twiggy who is going on 2 years old. All are fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cassa is the first one we got and she was more a &amp;quot;people&amp;quot; cat. It took her 4 months to take to Demon when he was a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Demon will not stop chasing Twiggy, he swats her, chases her - for me, it looks like he bullies her. He will sometimes growl and hiss as well. We keep Demon and Twiggy separate. Cassa and Twiggy are completely fine. We have tried redirecting with toys and Feliway treats; he will eat his wet food in front of her, but once she's done - if she walks away, he HAS TO BE THERE WITH HER! When she's in the bedroom on the &amp;quot;rotation&amp;quot; he will stay at the door or be at the door if we are in the bedroom. He even has a small tantrum if we put him in the bedroom and she's in the different place of our home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8752" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T01:14:30.920" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T01:14:30.920" Title="Male cat won't stop stalking and chasing our new cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16214" CreationDate="2017-01-25T01:51:56.217" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be a sign that your cat is somewhat insecure; that he is anxious. I think with his meow he is saying: &quot;Where am I? Where is my place, my territory?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A toy is a substitute for a captured prey, which a cat will typically take home. Carrying his prey, he might be saying: &quot;This is mine!&quot; and in this case even: &quot;And where I take it, that is my home.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility: The kind of meow you are discribing also resembles the sound a cat can make in an unexpected encounter with another cat, not one of the other cats in the house or the yard, but one from outside the territory. Maybe there is the scent of another cat in your new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is based mainly on my personal observations of cats. I am not an educated expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8754" LastEditorUserId="8754" LastEditDate="2017-02-04T13:38:26.923" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T13:38:26.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16214" CreationDate="2017-01-25T10:44:53.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be that moving house triggered him to start meowing more. However, I wouldn't be concerned about the meowing unless there are other signs that he is distressed. When he meows, try talking to him. Some cats like to carry on &quot;conversations&quot; with their humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wouldn't read too much into the intensity of the meow. I had one cat where I could always tell when she was bringing me one of her toys, because she would meow very loudly and plaintively. The first time I heard that particular meow, I was sure she had been hurt, but I soon learned that it was just her saying something like &quot;look what a mighty hunter I am, for I have slain the fierce toy mouse&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T10:44:53.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16222" CreationDate="2017-01-25T12:57:07.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an educated expert, but this sounds like perfectly normal cat behaviour to me. As long as no cat is seriously hurt I would not worry to much. It's just their way of establishing a relationship, cats are not always gentle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's easier said than done, but try to intervene as little as possible. Instead try to give them room to figure it out for themselves, even literally in the sense of space to move. A narrow passage e.g. is always a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cats are fighting, I thinks it's okay to step in between them, but it's better to give them a push and block their way then to grab them. But they will have to fight once in a while to determine who deserves the best place in the house or some other privilege.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still I think it's hard to tell what goes on in their minds and hard to predict how their relationship will develope. I hope in time they will get used to each other and live in peace. Around my house there are two cats who are always avoiding each other and scaring each other away, exept when it's really cold, then they huddle together in a box that is hardly big enough for one cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8754" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T12:57:07.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-25T15:17:51.810" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my house, we have 2 Bengal cats, one female and one male. They were originally my step-fathers and as of recently my mother has become more and more frustrated with them. Some of the things they do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Claw at the carpet on the stairs, slowly but surely ruining the carpet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping on fabric-covered dining-room chairs, leaving 'puncture' holes from their claws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constantly going after any food they can see or smell and that they fancy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Somehow managing to open cupboard doors and boxes and pouches to get at their food (apparently, when I was told about this it sounded rather impressive and unbelievable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fighting with each other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interacting with the toys of their new 5 month old son (sniffing, licking, eating etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping up on the sofa and places where they are not allowed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequently ruining &quot;nice things&quot;, the latest of which was a very expensive bed sheet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They jump up on me, such as my trousers and shoulders when even though it hurts, I'm not that bothered about but my mother hates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it matters, my step-dad told me that the girl was the 'leader of the litter' when they were kittens. They are indoor 99.9% of the time and go outside on leads/leashes maybe 3 times a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has recently told me that she &quot;absolutely hates&quot; them both and wants them gone. Even though I am not too keen on them, I don't want them to leave. Is there any way their behaviour could be trained or improved or changed so that they aren't so hated and are more bearable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8756" LastEditorUserId="8756" LastEditDate="2017-01-30T08:25:26.613" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T08:25:26.613" Title="How to improve 7 year-old cats behaviours?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16220" CreationDate="2017-01-25T21:26:34.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;jalynn2 has some great suggestions and that is a good idea for training. The thing I would suggest you do immediately, though, is catch and release.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that I mean that, like jalynn2 said, your dog has to see the reward as equal to or greater than anything else she'd rather be doing. If you think about it from her perspective, she's having a great time playing outside and if she comes inside with you, her reward is to be in a &quot;boring&quot; room where she knows all the smells already and nothing is happening to grab her attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed with friends and family members who keep their dogs inside all the time, or even in a fenced in yard, they'll bring the dogs to the river and turn them loose. The dog will tear off to play with the other dogs and then the owner will immediately start to try calling them back. There is no incentive there and they'll definitely be ignored, so they should call the dog. If they don't want them to run off, they should be leashed. Also, when they go to leave, some of them will run around chasing their dog, yelling &quot;sit,sit,sit,sit,sit!&quot;. When it finally does, they'll praise it. This devalues and disassociates any meaning from the cue for the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can catch these same dogs for the owners, though, for two reasons. One, I don't try to catch them until the initial buzz from the new stimulus has worn off, and two, because I catch-and-release the dog. By that I mean I'll take opportunities to walk up to the dog, pet them, and walk away. You can almost see them cringe, expecting to be picked up or leashed and led to the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few repetitions, though, they run up to me to be petted when I look at them, or at least don't run off. I might do this 10-20 times through the day, whenever I'm walking by them. So when I do it once at the end of the day, they don't expect me to pick them up and aren't trying to get away. They've also worn themselves out by then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should do something similar. I think you should go out while your dog is playing, call her over, give her a treat, and let her go back to playing. Do it a few times per session. You can go over and catch her, play with her, and let her go back to playing. If you repeat this more times than when you bring her in, she won't mind being caught, because overall, it's more fun throughout, than the negative of being brought in can impact. You can also make being inside more fun. Of course, let her wear off a lot of the excess energy before you even try. Teaching a proper fetch is a good way to help with this, but it isn't some dogs game. Once you bring her in, play with her inside. Don't make being inside an end to fun, but another place to have fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just two more examples before I stop. My Jack Russell doesn't like the cold. Her kennel is upstairs and when I call her down to potty in the mornings and evenings, especially, she didn't want to come down. She knew she was going from a warm bed to a cold outside. I have to go to work or bed, so she didn't have a choice. She'd be very reluctant and slow, though. It would make me angry and frustrated. I took a breath, stepped back, and thought about it from her point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end I decided to call her down, randomly, throughout the day. I'd give her a treat and send her back upstairs. At first, she was extremely reluctant to come down. After just a few repetitions, she'd run downstairs for her treat. She didn't seem to mind that 2 times out of 12, she'd go out to use the bathroom in the cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along the same lines, she didn't like it when I started walking more to loose weight and we were walking after dark. She was trying to lag behind and run home (she's normally loose leash and does great) or something similar. Again, I was highly frustrated having to constantly look back to see if she was with me. I finally wised up and started giving her pieces of treat occasionally. She got to where she was thinking about the next treat instead of being out after dark and now she doesn't think anything about walking a couple of miles in the dark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think this method could really help you. Give it a shot and see if it works. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-01-25T21:26:34.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-26T00:07:04.593" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to adopt a cat with basal cell carcinoma.  The shelter's vet removed the tumor and had it tested, it was benign.  As far as they know the cat is cancer-free now, am I assuming more risk by adopting this cat?  Is this cat more likely to have cancer than any other cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8759" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T15:45:14.483" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T00:49:09.423" Title="I'm looking at adopting a cat that had basal cell carcinoma" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;cancer&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9299" CreationDate="2017-01-26T02:27:08.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They like to lick your feet because they know that you're it's owner and that they will feel more safe around you, just like when you were little, you would never run away from your parents! Cats are the same thing, they are like your younger brother/sister&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8762" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T02:27:08.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-26T15:42:25.297" Score="2" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male betta Drake which I have had for around a year continually sits at the bottom of the tank. He occasionally rushes to the top of the tank to presumably get air. I am aware that my Tetra Floating Starter Kit 1.5 Gallon Cube isn't a entirely suitable tank, that's not permanent. I have the included filter, and a 2-15 gallon heater that keeps the tank at 76°F/24.5°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A likely cause is ammonia toxicity, I have yet to cycle any new tank, this will change also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom is aqua culture aquarium gravel, with aqua culture plants for decoration, Drake usually is at the bottom near or behind these plants. It seems as if whenever I leave the room and return, he moves along the bottom slightly. The real question is if his symptoms are of any cause that is preventable at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/beRcw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8764" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-02-07T11:41:27.213" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:28:33.630" Title="Betta at bottom of tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:28:17.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2017-01-26T17:54:26.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend putting Goo be Gone on a damp washcloth and gently rubbing the glue portion that's sticking to your dog. The bandage adhesive should slowly become &quot;unsticky&quot;, so that you can remove the bandaid easily. Once you remove it, be sure to rinse the area to remove the Goo be Gone. While it's not made for animals or humans, I have used it many times on both with great results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6942" LastActivityDate="2017-01-26T17:54:26.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16187" CreationDate="2017-01-26T19:44:50.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you look for allergies? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By conjunctivitis, did you mean red eyes or tears? Tears can occur when the lachrymal canal is blocked. An operation can solve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe consulting an ophthalmologist vet would be a good idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8765" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:30:43.923" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:30:43.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16214" CreationDate="2017-01-26T23:48:33.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another possibility, pure speculation: Old cats sometimes lose some or all of their vision, just as old humans sometimes do. It's not completely impossible that he's using the echoes to help learn the new space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2017-02-06T05:17:34.880" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T05:17:34.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16228" CreationDate="2017-01-27T07:54:00.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they really are bengals (meaning they have papers, not just vaccination papers but those regarding their geneology etc.) then congratulations, they are bengals. ;) &#xA;But even with 'normal' cats one should always be aware that they should and will use all 3 dimensions of their territory... especially so if they are indoor only. Its up to us humans to give them as many options to go up and around as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your individual points: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Claw at the carpet on the stairs, slowly but surely ruining the&#xA;  carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't write anything about the available scratching options, so I'll cover the basics. Cats scratch both to mark their territory and slightly use up their claws. Leaving marks feels really, really good to them. Therefore they need suitable scratching options in key places. Key places being: next to exits/entrances, next to well-visited places, along commonly used walking paths. &#xA;Scratching options include verital and horizontal ones, such as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full-on cat-trees &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One cat post with sisal, make sure its at least 90cm high (probably more for a Bengal, actually - and same goes for the cat trees) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;flat sisal boards that can be put on the walls, the side of a couch/chair and the likes &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;basically pressed cardboard pieces like f.e. this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.raumideen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/moebel_fuer_katzen_03.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.raumideen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/moebel_fuer_katzen_03.jpg&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the carpet on the stairs, you can offer something attractive next to it, remove it or replace it with something sturdier (f.e. sisal again) that they are allowed to scratch on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jumping on fabric dining table chars leaving 'puncture' holes from&#xA;  their claws&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impossible not to do when you are a cat. They will use every surface they can and since they walk on their toes, naturally their claws will leave puncture marks on materials like f.e. soft leather. This is normal, and can not be changed via training or other means. &#xA;Compare it to complaining that children leave fingerprints on things they &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to touch, f.e. doors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Constantly going after any food they can see or smell and that they&#xA;  fancy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common issue in many households, with a very easy fix. If they are constantly begging and grabbing anything they can, give them more good-quality wet food - as much as they want. They might puke from it at first because they are (and please don't take this as an insult) not used to being actually full, but cats naturally have a good sense of how much they should eat... These two just might have to rediscover it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good quality wet food is not Hills or something like that. Always look at the ingredient list. If they write down Exactly what from which animal is in there (f.e. Chicken (30% meat, 15% necks etc. - not an actual wet food example) then that is usually awesome quality. Medium and very decent are lists where there is no percentage, but still names all the different parts that are used. The 'bad ones' are the cans that just say 'At least X% chicken' and then mostly grain... You have no idea whats in there, the manufacturer makes no promises of whats in there and cats don't digest it well and get hungry again very quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feed dry food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Human food should of course never be left unsupervised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Somehow managing to open cupboard doors and boxes and pouches to get&#xA;  at their food (apparently, when I was told about this it sounded&#xA;  rather impressive and unbelievable)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again pretty common actually, but easily fixable by childproofing the cupboard doors, using better boxes and not leaving pouches with food around. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fighting with each other&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Define fighting. Is one of the pair growling, screaming and hiding for a period of time afterwards? Or does one of them hiss/growl/meep only a little and the other stops, then the first one jumps in again? Or are they just wrestling? &#xA;The latter two are perfectly normal play behavior, only the first one is problematic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interacting with the toys of their new 5 month old son (sniffing, licking, eating etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, cats will use everything in their territory as they wish. Once more you can compare this to a toddler playing with scissors that are left on the floor. Of course it will. The question is: are the toys dangerous for the cats, meaning are they safe to be licked (I would assume so since they are childrens' toys?) and can they be accidentally swallowed. If yes to the second point, do not leave the toys out unsupervised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jumping up on the sofa and places where they are not allowed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside, cats have territorries that span many kilometers... with us, they only have a fraction of that. It is up to the owners of a cat to make that territory as exciting and usable as possible. &#xA;Why would the sofa be off limits? There is no reason to. If its fragile or easily punctured by walking over it, put a blanket on top, there are some quite pretty ones out there to protect sofas for just this (and other) reason. &#xA;Other places, same thing. Cats live 3dimensionally, you can at most teach them 1-2 places they shouldn't be &lt;em&gt;when you are there or currently using it&lt;/em&gt; (for me, thats the stove and in front of the computer monitors f.e.). This is done by putting them down each and every single time when they go there... And by offering good/suitable/better/comfortable alternatives next to the place. For the stove/kitchen work area, I have bought a cat tree so they can watch what I'm doing (which is, after all, usually the purpose of jumping up there) from a safe place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Frequently ruining &quot;nice things&quot;, the latest of which was a very expensive bed sheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By now these sound like very bored cats that play with what they have available... How often do people actively engage them? Do you utilise clicker training? Bengals especially are incredibly active and intelligent, they need to use both muscle-types to actually be satisfied. &#xA;Some people use large wheels for their cats too, but thats 'just' running and gets bland/old. Get new stuff, change things up every now and then. Large feathers/small bells/other materials and things to run and chase after with their humans, labyrinths with little treats inside, agility training etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They jump up on me, such as my trousers and shoulders when even though it hurts, I'm not that bothered about but my mother hates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, like dogs do? This one can actually be fixed by training. Immediately go 'owowowow', no in a loud (!) but kind of high pitched tone and turn away if they stand on their hind legs and put their front paws on your trousers (if it hurts). Ignore them for a few seconds. They will get that this hurts and you don't like it. &#xA;If they do this out of excitement, use clicker training to tell them what to do instead of what not to do (f.e. sit) and then praise like they just won an olympic gold medal :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the loads of guesswork in my answer, I can only work with the details you provided. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T07:54:00.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16240" CreationDate="2017-01-27T07:55:14.637" Score="4" ViewCount="9710" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very cute feral cat in our old home (it's next to our new one). Almost 2 weeks ago, I started feeding it every day. In the last few days, it started to rub me and even allowed me to pet it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I noticed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purring.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I try to pet gently, it turns his head very quickly and sometimes raises its hand (I got a very little scratch :D).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No hissing, it follows me everywhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &#xA;Since the cat is allowing me to pet it, is there a way that I can attract it to live/sleep in a better place? Also, how can I estimate its age? I want to get some blankets for it but am not sure how to let him understand that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I'm 100% sure this is a feral cat, since in my community people don't care about pets that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NgysB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NgysB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat teeth&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8770" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T18:34:29.620" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T18:34:29.620" Title="Is it normal for a feral cat to let me pet him/her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16239" CreationDate="2017-01-27T08:05:57.880" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To your title: No, its not quite normal. Depends what kind of feral cat it is, really. &#xA;Feral doesn't equal feral. Cats can be strays but they still have a past, f.e. this one maybe had some positive experiences in their formative months and therefore isn't completely opposed to human contact now. Plus, of course, you seem to be doing a good job :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try not to pet them on your own accord, but offer your hand instead. They might rub against the hand and show you how they like to be petted, or they might get skittish which will tell you that 'hands' are a touchy (ha) subject still. To get a feral cat to associate hands with good things, you can try giving treats/food closer and closer to yourself until the food can be eaten out of the hand, the rest will come with time and patience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to your other questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the cat is allowing me to pet him. Is there a way that I can&#xA;  attract it to live/sleep in a better place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes and no. You can give them options, f.e. a box with styrofoam (insulation) inside and maybe hay for warmth. You can also somewhat move their feeding spot bit by bit and therefore establish a new place as 'safe' or good. But ultimately, they will go where they wish... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, how can I estimate it's age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually this is done by checking th cats' teeth, but even that only gives a very rough estimate (kitten, youngling ~1, 1-4, 5-10ish, anything above). Are they castrated? If not, that should definitely be a thing on your to-do list. If they are, then the vet should definitely check for a chip/tattoo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to get some blankets for it but not sure how to let him&#xA;  understand that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure I understand this question - just put down some blankets and maybe put some treats on top :) However, I would advise against using blankets outside, as they get damp very quickly. Styrofoam and Hay is a lot better, though the latter has to be changed every now and then as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T08:05:57.880" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9505" CreationDate="2017-01-27T10:20:42.593" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Longer walks where she can smell all she wants.&#xA;You can practice nose games, sprinkles for exemple (hide some rewards very appetant like meat in a square area and let her find it), or finding objects (you can use a small bag full of rewards and hide it, when she found it, she can have some and you can continue the game).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8765" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T10:20:42.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16253" CreationDate="2017-01-27T15:11:50.433" Score="-3" ViewCount="1459" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not talking about canned dog food. I'm talking about kibble or dry dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had dogs for 22+ years and don't give them dry dog food, or any kind of dog food for that matter, because its quality is ridiculously low and they don't enjoy it. And the results? Let's just say my dogs have a habit of living past their &quot;sell by date,&quot; usually by an extra 5 - 7 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine has gotten her second family dog, a golden retriever, and she spends a silly amount on a specific dog food that the dog has been on since birth. She's one year old now and still eating the same dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think she enjoys it too much as she's eating her own feces like it's her last meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would she live longer eating dog food or real food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8772" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditorDisplayName="user8045" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T17:19:37.997" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T17:19:37.997" Title="Will a dog live longer if it eats dry dog food all the time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-27T18:16:35.507" Score="6" ViewCount="872" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found more than one (old) websites (in German) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.teichratgeber.de/wodkafilter_bau01.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.teichratgeber.de/wodkafilter_bau01.html&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ohligers.de/Nitratfilter1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ohligers.de/Nitratfilter1.htm&lt;/a&gt; and there're probably more) which consider a biological nitrate filter a cheap and easy way of denitrification. Other research is difficult because it takes places in non-Q&amp;amp;A forums which are overly painful to read. I found 3 references to the instructions above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My research concludes that one needs a redox sonde for about 150 €, a dosage pump for another 60 € (and you probably want to spend double for some basic quality) and a potentially complex chain of filter chambers (not expensive, but not free neither) in order to avoid bacteria duff. The danger of the filter producing extremely smelly sulfuric products is omnipresent and makes it difficult to leave the filter unattended during vacation - or requires electronical regulation hardware which will cost a multiple of the basic setup described above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A anion exchange granulate-based filter for a 600 l aquarium cost 150 € (or 500 € for 2500 l) and requires recharging every x weeks in boiling water for half an hour. The granulate lasts about 10 years; seporax, the filter media in biological filter, will certainly last longer, but some wearout will happen to it over the time, I assume. The filter shouldn't stop running, but the granulate isn't damaged as long as water flows through it, no matter how much nitrate it contains or whether it's charged or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see the point. Am I missing something? Did the conditions/prices change over time (the second link estimates the cost at 800 DM for a 700 l aquarium which is ~400€)? Or did I just hit two pages based on superficial research?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="5646" LastEditDate="2017-01-28T20:18:13.427" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T22:58:12.090" Title="Why is a biological denitrification filter considered cheap to build and operate?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16239" CreationDate="2017-01-27T20:51:08.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with most living things, being &lt;em&gt;consistent&lt;/em&gt; is the key to establishing the trusting relationship that will allow you to provide a better life for this young cat.&#xA;I think all the above suggestions are good paths; choose what you can do &lt;em&gt;consistently&lt;/em&gt; and the cat will come to expect and trust you, allowing the access you need. Be patient--trust takes time. And thank you for caring!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T20:51:08.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16228" CreationDate="2017-01-27T21:18:44.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jumping on fabric dining table chars leaving 'puncture' holes from&#xA;  their claws &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I agree with much of psy's above answer, insofar as cat claws go, you can clip them to alleviate the puncturing of items. The process is delicate and you MUST be careful and aware while performing this task. With proper trimming, the inadvertent damage created by the &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; sharp claw tip will stop because it is blunted by the clipping. I've posted a couple of videos which explain technique: one from a veterinarian and one by a cat lover.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/3P3S0V2EUpo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/3P3S0V2EUpo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/LAXtNfruanY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/LAXtNfruanY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and if unable to ultimately keep the cats, PLEASE make certain they go to a good home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-01-27T21:28:49.513" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T21:28:49.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2545" CreationDate="2017-01-27T21:31:43.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We raised 200 pigs per year, when they were about 3 to 5 weeks old, we vaccinated, castrated, and nose-ringed. We set up a line - about 3 catchers, the vet with syringes/bottles, the castrating board, and the ringer.   A catcher would grab a pig, go thru a gate, get in line &amp;amp; hold the pig while the vet gave the shots. He then moved to the castrate line and held the pig during castration. And then moved to the ringer line - and then put the pig thru a pasture gate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for cruelty, I'm guessing that the ringing was the least cruel of the 3 processes. Hard to tell, pigs scream continuously the entire time that you handle them (be sure to wear ear protection). And wear leather gloves, they reach around and bite your thumb at every opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you grow pastured hogs, you'll need rings, 250 pound hogs can dig under most fences, actually pull posts out of ground, wreck the side of wooden buildings, etc. If you are raising hogs on concrete confinement, they hurt each other - when they fight, they bite each other, the rings make that uncomfortable for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8775" LastActivityDate="2017-01-27T21:31:43.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16249" CreationDate="2017-01-29T08:25:57.523" Score="-2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it true that  onion and garlic food items are toxic to pet dogs and is dog foods like pedigree etc really good for pet dogs health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8780" LastActivityDate="2017-01-29T14:05:19.523" Title="Is onion and garlic foods toxic?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-01-29T15:33:41.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16248" CreationDate="2017-01-29T14:05:19.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes onion and garlic are toxic to most animals, it can cause hemolysis of the red blood cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pedigree is one of the lower quality foods out there but some dogs do perfectly fine on it. If grocery store food like pedigree is the type of food in your price range I would grab Iams puppy/adult/senior depending on the lifestage of your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-01-29T14:05:19.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16250" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-29T16:29:26.393" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dennerle Profi-Line CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; Diffusor recommends to place it far from water movement, e.g. the filter output, but when I put it there I see that the fine CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; bubbles which take about 15 seconds to rise to the water surface, where a part of them still isn't dissolved completely in the water, are pushed down by the water stream and almost all dissolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already have placed the filter output quite far below the surface in order to reduce water surface moving which reduces the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; level into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 60 l freshwater aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T18:10:41.430" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T18:10:41.430" Title="Why are CO₂ diffusors supposed to be located far from water movement?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16187" CreationDate="2017-01-29T21:07:33.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree with consulting a feline ophthalmic specialist. Be certain to bring a complete history of treatments, tests, meds, duration of symptoms, etc. &#xA;Medical history is crucial to correct diagnosis and treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-01-29T21:07:33.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16242" CreationDate="2017-01-30T08:04:20.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Yes, they will&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pet food business is big business.  Companies won't last too long if they produce food that's unsuitable for their target market.  An awful lot of science goes into the ingredients for pet food (wet and dry) to ensure that it meets the dietary requirements of the animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People choose dry food (kibble) for a variety of reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It keeps well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It doesn't smell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It doesn't make a mess if it gets spilt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's easily transportable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's easy to weigh out portions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs like eating it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less waste (there's no tins and because it keeps better, you can buy it in larger bags)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's probably more expensive, but to many owners, the convenience outweighs the downsides of buying wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to whether dogs live longer on wet or dry food - that's pretty much impossible to prove one way or the other, considering just how many factors there are in a dogs life.  I've also seem plenty of old dogs do perfectly well on dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T08:04:20.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16244" CreationDate="2017-01-30T10:46:47.617" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a well balanced aquarium you shouldn't need an additional denitrification filter. The filter material used as well as the ground material should provide enough area and living room for denitrifying bacteria. Both work as such filters and are cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the filter in your second link is really just a home made aquarium filter and very cheap. You don't need any probe or automated systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You basically just need a dense area with lots of surface (such as different ceramic or vulcanic materials) and relatively low water flow (i.e. not too fast). That's it. Most filters offer this in some way or another (typically after or in combination with a mechanical filter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still have a nitrate problem, you should try to do bigger water changes more often or possibly introduce more fast growing plants. It's also possible that you're cleaning your filter too often or too aggressive (e.g. the boiling part would be a big no-no for me). I'm actually not really sure where you got the part with boiling filter material. Doing so you'll kill the bacteria you want to keep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-01-30T10:46:47.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16261" CreationDate="2017-01-30T14:36:08.663" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a Labrador English mastiff cross. She was a rescue and we think she's around 9. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She suffers from arthritis and has received injections for her conditions although not for over a year. She's on Royal Canin mobility food which has done wonders for her with just the occasional flair of stiffness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a small patch of grass she uses to pee on in the morning and night which looks awful now due to the acid in her pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are lots of products out there to help my grass not going yellow. I haven't used any yet because I feel it might have a detrimental effect on her and damage her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&#xA;Are these products safe? What's the best with the least side effects? Are there more natural ways to deal with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, I live in the U.K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;I meant there are products that can be put in the dog's water to deal with the problem&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-02-01T07:24:35.833" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T16:02:27.933" Title="Pee patches on grass" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-30T14:44:19.493" Score="2" ViewCount="3916" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The Background&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 2 cats, and they are wonderfully smart…&lt;em&gt;except&lt;/em&gt; when it comes to eating certain things that they have no business eating.  One of these things is plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats once ate a dead leaf that blew in from outside.  A few minutes later, he threw it up…then promptly began eating &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; dead leaf.  (I stopped him and swept all the leaves out of the house.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our other cat loves to chew on individual bristles of our broom.  Thankfully, he doesn’t eat them—but I really wish he wouldn’t!  He also likes to chew on fake christmas tree pine needles and tinsel, which we discourage through difficult access and shoo-ing him away when he gets close.  (But it is difficult.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I’ve known for years that this behavior often means the cat is trying to solve a digestive or nutritional issue. Before everyone piles on proclaiming this is the answer, please note the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;we &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; feed our cats high-quality catfood (both wet and dry)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;this behavior has existed through several changes in catfood (both brand and flavor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;we have had vets check the cats nutrition, blood chemistry, etc., and they are doing great&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these reasons, I don’t think that the unwanted behavior is due to the cats’ diet.  I think it’s just a peculiarity of these two individuals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not allergic to cats, but I am interested in improving indoor air quality.  A nice, natural solution for this is simply to keep 3 specific houseplants and “&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ted.com/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_own_fresh_air&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;grow your own fresh air&lt;/a&gt;”.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(That is, these 3 plants were tested as the best for removing allergens and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VOCs&lt;/a&gt; from the air.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I’m afraid to get these plants, because I think the cats will eat them (or at least chew on them).  They are listed as toxic to cats (and dogs).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Questions&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to keep indoor houseplants, and be &lt;em&gt;certain&lt;/em&gt; that they are inaccessible to cats?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the usual dietary explanations, is there any other reason cats chew upon and eat things that they shouldn’t?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5418" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T14:19:53.963" Title="How to stop cats from eating toxic plants?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-30T16:46:00.460" Score="4" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a species of fish that I could keep in a 10 gallon freshwater aquarium that will not spawn- either because I could easily keep all one sex or because the fish require special circumstances in order to spawn. I know that many fish, such as neon tetras, have a very high mortality rate for fry, but this is not quite what I am looking for- I want to avoid spawning in the first place. I cannot stomach the idea of fry dying in my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, these fish would be shrimp-safe and schooling, but all suggestions are welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently known fish:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guppy; can keep all one sex, non-schooling, shrimp-safe&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Betta; can keep all one sex, non-schooling, not shrimp-safe&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8784" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T15:54:23.807" Title="Fish that do not spawn in freshwater aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16260" CreationDate="2017-01-30T22:28:49.843" Score="4" ViewCount="3370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a female pitbull that's just over two months old.  Sometimes, while she is sleeping, she will begin to twitch and make noises.  It almost looks like she is distressed - like she is having a bad dream.  Should I wake them up in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T08:25:24.520" Title="Puppy twitches and makes noises in sleep: Should I wake them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16202" CreationDate="2017-01-31T07:21:00.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several line of thoughts behind dogs/puppies &quot;bad behaviour&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had dogs my whole life including rescues showing lots of unwanted behaviours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My attitude towards dog has always been the same: they are pack animals and need some sort of leadership. Even if people and dog behaviourist have new thoughts on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy is like a child in many ways. We put rules in place for children to grow up safely and in return, it's the child's normal behaviour to challenge these rules as they grow into adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dogs/puppies, you have a similar problem. As they grow they try things and challenge what's around them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like a parent, you need to take charge. You need to make your puppy understand what's good behaviour and what's bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your choices are:&#xA;1) Ignore a bad behaviour, show no interest or emotion once that behaviour occurs(for mild case)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) recognise that the behaviour is bad enough that it needs a &quot;negative&quot; intervention. Basically disagree with the dog and use something simple like:&quot;no!&quot;&#xA;3) is the same as 2) but most effective of all: Start with 2) and then use what's called behaviour replacement therapy. Basically say &quot;no&quot;, I disagree and then replace that behaviour by a command like&quot;sit&quot; followed by a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to decide what's what and how you wish your dog to behave. Positive reinforcement is always best(the third option), however not always possible. This where training comes in. All of the basic commands(sit, stay, down...). This will give you and your dog structure and excellent communication. It's also very rewarding for both of you and will increase your bound. Be sensitive and start small, in a room your puppy is comfortable in with few distractions and build from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train a dog, it's like 3). Patience is required. You never force a dog into a behaviour, you let him work it out. Wait for the behaviour and then reward it.&#xA;There are plenty of books available to help you.&#xA;Your puppy needs a leader. If he/she doesn't have one, he/she will be forced to lead and let's face it, being a leader can be stressful and difficult. If a puppy hasn't had another older dog show him what to do, he/she will make it up and it generally turns to aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have always worked with humans. Historically, it's thought that wolves got closer to humans to get an easier meal. In exchange for food and security, they guarded, hunted, herded and so on. These days, they don't work and find it hard to have a purpose. You need to make your dog work for rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rewards is not just food but it is a big part of training(adjust your dogs diet to compensate for treats) but also hugs, cuddles, toys, whatever is going to enrich their life has to be earned and not given for free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would help if you told me what your dog is, especially if you need more help.&#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T07:21:00.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16258" CreationDate="2017-01-31T07:35:34.303" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are just like us. They dream like us and it's a healthy way to deal with what's happened during the day. However there's no evidence that they have nightmares.&#xA;But it's important for that process to happen undisturbed. Your dog is likely dreaming of a rabbit chase. &#xA;All this is perfectly normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting article there&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://terriblyterrier.com/can-dogs-have-nightmares/&quot;&gt;https://terriblyterrier.com/can-dogs-have-nightmares/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-01-31T08:14:45.443" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T08:14:45.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16255" CreationDate="2017-01-31T08:20:59.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be worth encouraging her to take her morning/evening promenade on hardstanding or some bare ground while being on the lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I appreciate this isn't really convenient, but it at least saves your lawn and negates the need for any dietary additions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are currently training a Guide Dog puppy and we've been told that we should train the dog to make motions on command on a piece of hardstanding.  It's worked so well that we're going to do the same thing with any future dogs we have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be an idea to ask your vet for advice on this as well (you're paying for treatment, so you may as get free advice while you're there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.todayshomeowner.com/how-to-keep-dogs-from-damaging-your-lawn/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, dogs urine isn't acid, it's just really high in nitrogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Solutions&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water your lawn: The best way to reduce the damage to your lawn is to dilute the urine by saturating the spot with water immediately. By the way, this approach also works should you accidentally spill fertilizer on your yard, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water your dog: Make sure your dog is well hydrated to dilute the strength of the urine. Adding some canned dog food, or moistening dry food with a little water, is another way to add water to their diet. Many dietary additives make your dog thirstier (usually by adding salt), leading to more water consumption. So there is no real magic there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Examine diet: Consult your vet to see if you are feeding your dog the right amount of protein. The nitrogen in urine comes from protein metabolism, and some dogs might benefit from a lower-protein diet. This is not something that should be undertaken without a vet’s analysis of your dog’s diet and lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy high-quality dog food: In general, higher-quality dog foods have higher-quality protein sources, which are more easily digestible and less likely to leave by-products in the urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train your dog: Train your dog to go in a designated space away from the main lawn. While this may sound like a daunting task, dogs really can be trained to go in specific places on command. Make sure the area has mulch or pea gravel that is easy to replace and keep clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plant resistant grasses: Fescues and ryegrass are more resistant to urine burns than grasses like Kentucky bluegrass and Bermuda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep your lawn healthy: A healthy, well cared for lawn can withstand the occasional overdose of nitrogen better than a stressed lawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Choose supplements carefully: Your local pet store likely has a variety of products claiming to bind and neutralize urine. Results are not proven on these products, and you should consult your vet to make sure they are safe before using. Generally, I feel it’s better to use solutions that work with biology and nature, rather than trying to alter it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, consult with your vet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T16:02:27.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16272" CreationDate="2017-01-31T09:38:59.930" Score="6" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was having a walk today with a friend and I saw two cats--one of them is young and the other old-- attacking another young cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The young cat was afraid and looking at both cats expecting the next attack, and they would attack the cat frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sometime, the young evil cat hopped on the cat and bited it from the back and the cat started screaming of pain --The other old cat would also do that, so we interfered and separated the cats and we then started to push the evil cats away and we did that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sometime, the small cat would show us her belly, and other time she would voluntary go to the other cats and get attacked again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going on here?What should I have done? leave them? or interfere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are stray cats, but I just wanted to know why they do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8788" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2017-02-03T08:19:52.187" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T08:19:52.187" Title="Two cats are attacking another cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-01-31T13:30:50.230" Score="2" ViewCount="3152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 80 lb tamaskan puppies who sleep in their crates at night. I don't know if all crates come with the same type of tray, but mine are not smooth on the bottom (they have a kind of bumpy relief). Every time the dogs move, their nails make a horrible loud scratching noise and wake me up at night. I can't put anything on the tray like a blanket or a dog pillow because they destroy and eat everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this? I'm trying to avoid spending $100 on new trays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at this lazy dog sleeping after thrashing around his crate all night and keeping me up ......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y4ylR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y4ylR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastEditorUserId="3565" LastEditDate="2017-02-01T14:22:08.760" LastActivityDate="2019-06-15T10:35:59.947" Title="How to stop dogs from making noise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16263" CreationDate="2017-01-31T17:44:15.413" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are willing to spend a little money, you could look into rubber mats for the crates. They're generally easy to clean and you won't get the scratching sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8711" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T17:44:15.413" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16263" CreationDate="2017-01-31T18:42:33.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cut an old yoga mat to size of the floor of the crate, adding an additional inch on each side as to match the curve. Add strips of Velcro across the bottom width of the mat and the crate floor every 5 inches. Attach mat to floor of crate and seal all edges of mat at crate curve with duct tape as to alleviate the puppies from pulling up the mat and chewing it. &#xA;The mat can be removed and washed in a washing machine on the gentle cycle and remounted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-01-31T18:42:33.270" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16256" CreationDate="2017-02-01T09:59:07.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any way to keep indoor houseplants, and be certain that they&#xA;  are inaccessible to cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, but it depends on the specifics of your home and how agile your cats are. F.e. you can have pots hanging from the ceiling at a height that you can reach but surrounded by enough empty air (so not close to a shelf f.e.) that the cats physically can't jump on it. &#xA;Another option would be a cage of sort with the mesh small enough that paws can't get through and the plant safe inside. &#xA;However! Keeping poisonous plants that way is still very dangerous as a bit of fallen greenery or wind (or, in the cage version, just a growth spurt) literally puts the cats life at risk. This is because of... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apart from the usual dietary explanations, is there any other reason&#xA;  cats chew upon and eat things that they shouldn’t?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boredom. This doesn't mean that you are bad cat owners, but the fact remains that outdoor cats have a huge amount of varied plants, sticks and whatnot to choose from when it comes to chewing things. Indoor cats can have a pretty boring life and as soon as something new appears they will inspect it - be that a leaf, insects or other things. Most indoor cats therefore are unfortunately not able to properly discern what is and isn't good for them. (same with chive in human food f.e.) So I would strongly advise against purposefully buying plants that are poisonous to cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you could try offering grass specifically for cats (wheat is very easy to grow and cheap) to provide something they are allowed to chew on, but that won't 100% prevent them from chewing on other things, either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It falls to us owners to keep our cats safe. If I were you I would look into plants that are non-poisonous to all the members of my family that still act as natural air fresheners for you. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8586" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T09:59:07.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16277" CreationDate="2017-02-01T12:51:55.877" Score="4" ViewCount="5889" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a few questions here discussing this (slightly), and it appears that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/7702/8484&quot;&gt;one answer&lt;/a&gt; suggests dividing the cage somehow and letting one half be a bathroom area, and one half where the puppy can rest.  This denotes that the cage is not empty.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read elsewhere and have been told, the cage should be completely empty so that if/when the puppy goes in her cage, she will realize she is stuck with a puddle of her urine in her cage and nowhere to go which should in turn get her to stop urinating in her cage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper thing to do in this situation?  Should the cage have some sort of towel for a cushion from the hard plastic tray, or should we leave it empty and let the puppy stick it out?  Shes usually in the crate from about 10pm to 6am. She is currently about 11 weeks old and the potty training adventure has really only just begun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T12:01:18.057" Title="Crate training a puppy: Should the cage be empty?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16267" CreationDate="2017-02-01T14:08:07.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two points should be made here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: your puppy is not able to control it's bladder fully yet! No matter it it realises it will sit in pee or not, it will need to go. The general rule to follow  is: your puppy can control it's bladder for one hour for each month of age. So, at 2 months, that's 2 hours, at 3 months, that's 3 hours, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: The idea behind the crate it that it is a comfortable place for the dog. It is a peaceful, relaxed place, where the dog will happily go all by itself. This may also be important later: If it is loud and stressful in the house, because of a party, major repairs or something like that, the crate should be a place of retreat for the dog, not a place to be &quot;just out of the way&quot; so the humans are not disturbed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So: make the puppy comfortable! So, got with puppy-pads, a tray with towels, whatever works out for your puppy, and make sure the puppy has a cuddly, clean place as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with training, and enjoy the time with your puppy! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2017-03-31T12:01:18.057" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T12:01:18.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16256" CreationDate="2017-02-01T14:19:53.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think psycoatde did a pretty good job answering, but I'd like to add a few things. One is that if a plant is truly toxic to your cats, don't bring it in the house. The small amount of air exchange that plant will give you won't be worth harming your cat, just buy an air purifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you need to do some research and find out which plants are actually toxic and which aren't. For instance, I've heard for years that you shouldn't have poinsettia in the house if you have pets, because if they eat them they'll die. Recently, they've said that they are only irritating to the pet, causing some vomiting or diarrhea at the worst, and they have to eat a lot to have that happen. Here is a link to an article on it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/poinsettia/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Poison Helpline&lt;/a&gt;. So you plants might not be as toxic as you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Psycoatde was right in that your cats are just board. Animals need stimulus, people included. You've got a tv, computer, phone, books, etc... You go out, you see people, you eat at different restaurants, etc... Your pets don't get that. People often don't think about it or take it seriously enough because they had a bunch of stimulus through the day at work or at school. They're ready to wind down and have reduced stimulus. However, your pet has been at home where he's been for so long that he knows every nook, cranny, and smell intimately. You coming home or a mail man coming to the door is a small amount of stimulus in a boring day. I'm not saying anything about you specifically, but I think people in general would have a better idea of what their pet goes through on an everyday basis if they spent one day in their bedroom with no stimulus. No tv, phone, book, anything. Stay in there for 24hrs. Only come out to eat, drink, or use the bathroom twice. You have to hold it or go in your pants otherwise. See if it seems as inconvenient to take your pet out or do something then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not a rant at your or anyone, its just something I don't think people consider enough. So basically, your cats need more stimulus. If they like the tassels on the broom, get them a tassel cat toy. If he wants to chew on the plants, get him some cat nip or even cat grass. Another good idea would be to create a cat pen outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/he2Ky.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/he2Ky.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or put them on a leash and walk them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DumH6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DumH6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These will all allow your cat to get that extra stimulus they need. You can also play with them more, with toys you make twitch and jump till they're worn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I've read that unlike dogs, cats don't associate a correction with the act, but with the person. This means that when they chew on something and you scold them, they don't realize the scolding is for chewing the plant. They just know that you've lost your mind. In cases like that, the best method I've seen to combat it is something like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Air Blaster&lt;/a&gt;. It's a motion activated air can. So when the cat gets somewhere he shouldn't, he trips the motion sensor and it hits him with a puff of air. Then the area becomes anathema to him and it does it whether you catch him in the act or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T14:19:53.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16263" CreationDate="2017-02-01T14:33:44.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take a look at this place: &lt;a href=&quot;http://k9ballistics.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;k9ballistics.com/&lt;/a&gt; This place advertises as having a chew proof bed. You could look into it and see if there is a guarantee. You can also look up ballistic or high denier nylon and make a slip cover for you bed. You can order the raw material. I can attest to the strength of this type of material. I have water proof horse blankets that are either 1200 or 1600 denier and they run through the woods and hit stubs with them, lay on them, and they pull on each others. These have held up extremely well with little damage. I think it's really worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like another poster said, though, your dogs nails are probably too long. This can happen even trimming them every week if you aren't aggressive enough. It's a fine line, but as the nail grow out, so does the quick. If you trim the nails back to near the quick, it'll die back and you can trim it back further. I have a Jack Russell and she used to be so active I only had to trim her nails a couple of times a year. Almost a year ago, I noticed that they'd grown out, because she was slowing with age and were actually turning her toes slightly. I started right away, trimming them back to near the quick every week. It took several months, but I finally got them to where she's silent when she walks across the floors. I would have noticed sooner, but she's mostly an outside dog so I don't hear it. You have to get near the quick without hitting it. Like I said, it's a slow process. It took me months to work the quick back less than a quarter of an inch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth it, though. If your dogs nails are long enough that you hear them walk, then they're putting stress on the toes. This causes the dog to rock back on their heels, stressing the leg and causing discomfort, pain, and arthritis. I noticed a definite change in how she runs around from when they were too long to when I got them cut back to a reasonable length. Now that they're where I want them, I use a dremel sander to keep them there. That is more comfortable for her as well as rounding them nicely so that they don't scratch the floors. Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T14:33:44.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16257" CreationDate="2017-02-01T14:36:22.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get guppies. They're pretty, readily available, cheap, and stay small enough to have several in a 10 gallon tank. The males have all the color, so you could just get males. Another option is to get multiple fish in either mail or female. Get some male guppies, male sword tails, some male or female platys or mollies. They're all easy to sex and stay small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T14:36:22.260" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16262" CreationDate="2017-02-01T18:16:02.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the young cat that showed you her belly might be in heat (estrous) and the other cats are trying to mate with her. Since they are strays, the very best thing you could do is take the young female and have her spayed. Stray animals that reproduce make more stray animals. Ask around your area, oftentimes you can find veterinarians who do low cost spay/neuter services and organizations who raise money to pay for surgeries--especially for feral or stray cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are obviously a caring person, help this young kitten and reduce the population of unwanted companion animals. Thanks for caring! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T18:16:02.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15843" CreationDate="2017-02-01T19:06:07.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply speaking, when a dog barks, the positive pressure on the ear canal created by the physical motions of the bark close off, protecting the ear; much the same as you covering your ears. From Per Jensen, &quot;The Behavioral Biology of Dogs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the utricle is activated immediately before a dog starts to bark and therefore offers protection to its own ear &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detailed info, you can read at &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikivet.net/Ear_-_Anatomy_%26_Physiology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WikiVet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-01T19:06:07.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16275" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-02T05:37:25.253" Score="5" ViewCount="15179" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat suckles and kneads on this really soft blanket that I have and I think might resemble his mother. I was wondering if I could bottle feed him, but I dont know what or how I should do that? I know adult cats cannot have milk or cream. Should I bottle feed him or just let him continue to just suckle on the blanket? Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8795" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:57.263" Title="My 6 month old cat suckles and kneads on a blanket" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16275" CreationDate="2017-02-02T07:00:30.600" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 year old cat still does that as well. It's usually when a kitten was taken away from their mother too soon. My cat was abandoned when he was 3 weeks old. I did bottle feed him for 2 or 3 more weeks, then weaned him to solid food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your kitten doesn't need a bottle -- he'll just chew the nipple off. Just comfort and pet him/her, speak soothingly and all will be well. The suckling is a self-comforting device your kitten uses to feel safe. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T07:00:30.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16267" CreationDate="2017-02-02T08:31:49.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Layna, toilet training and crate training are 2 different things.&#xA;A crate should be a sanctuary for your puppy, a place of safety, a place of her own where she/he can retreat safely, like a den in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's several ways to train your puppy to use the crate but this is what I did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First make it comfortable with blankets and old duvets. The crate needs to have a blanket over the top, like a roof to simulate den conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to make the puppy understand the above by associating the crate with positive experiences. &#xA;Food is by far the best reward. Keep the crate open, and lure your puppy closer and closer. Eventually placing a treat in the crate. Repeat several times until the puppy feels comfortable or goes in on its own. A command can be added later. This may have to be repeated several times. If the puppy gets in the crate, getting hugs and fuss in the crate is really useful to emphasise security. I also used to feed my dog in it as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to close the door, you can sit next to the crate when your puppy is in until they start sleeping and relaxing. Then I slowly closed the door and stayed there whilst reading, enhancing calmness. Did it several times a day till the closed door didn't bother the dog. Then I start on moving away, a few feet at the time, until I can do anything around the house.&#xA;Don't go too fast. Don't be afraid to go back a step.&#xA;The most effective training is for the puppy to work it out with your guidance.&#xA;Never force a dog to do something, crate should never be associated with negative experiences.&#xA;Good luck &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**ADDED ANSWER **&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking your puppy at night might be detrimental to the aim you're trying to achieve: basically your puppy being able to hold it all night!&#xA;I understand it might be necessary but you should focus more about bladder emptying during the day. Dogs love routines, it makes them feel safe. If you organise a strong routine through the day, nights should get quickly sorted.&#xA;If a dog was wild, this would be a typical day:&#xA;Get up at dawn(birds usually give them the queue) &#xA;Out of the den to look for food. This can last all day if they're not good or very quickly if you have a clever one(which you do!). This is simulated by the walk! That's why you should always feed your dog after walking it.&#xA;If their belly is full, it's back to the den to sleep all day... or until they are hungry again. &#xA;Then back out again looking for food. Then back to the den.. and so on.&#xA;Then sleep all night, without need to go for a pee.&#xA;In all that, they empty their bladders as they look for food. You'll notice that an adult dog never empty its bladder in one go. What they do is leave little messages that they've been there, for others and for themselves for different purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get the puppy in a similar routine and wee training will work. Of course biology is a factor and she needs to grown in her bladder control, so be sensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helps. Focusing just on bladder control is not the exact answer, giving your puppy structure is.&#xA;Hope that helps. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-02-03T17:49:15.190" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T17:49:15.190" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16281" CreationDate="2017-02-02T14:41:31.983" Score="2" ViewCount="1236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes my puppy will bite her foot. I can't tell if she is bored or playing, but the bite looks fairly aggressive which is odd to me since it's herself she is biting. She does like to nibble on toys and furniture (which we do not let her on the furniture), so I'm trying to understand if this is normal behavior. She is fairly hyper a lot of the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByNi02RoHJUIelVKdHFyZzJtVjg/view?usp=drivesdk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a video&lt;/a&gt; of her chewing her foot (I'd upload it, but imgur doesn't like it).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:38:40.963" Title="Why does my puppy like to bite her foot?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16278" CreationDate="2017-02-02T15:26:28.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest checking it for any lumps or anything different that would make her want to scratch it. But if she is all good, it may be that she just likes messing around with her leg because if it hurt her she would stop doing it or yelp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8477" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T15:38:40.963" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:38:40.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16278" CreationDate="2017-02-02T17:08:40.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes puppies like to play with their feet and will bite at them or paw at the inside of their mouths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gnawing/licking excessively at paws on the other hand can indicate allergies or something irritating the paws (like ice or salt). Looks like you have a pitbull, I STRONGLY suggest getting pet insurance as they are VERY prone to allergies as they get older - allergies will be really hard on the wallet. I would even go as far as putting him on a diet made for allergies and will benefit skin and coat. Veterinary dermatologists like to use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iams.com/dog-food/veterinary-formula-dog-food-skin-coat-health-ko&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Iams K/O diet&lt;/a&gt; and the main source of protein is kangaroo which isn't a common allergen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T17:08:40.997" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16278" CreationDate="2017-02-02T17:30:55.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with both answers but have you considered this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned she's very hyper and you think she could be bored. That is a strong possibility to consider. Pit bulls are very intelligent and you need to make sure they are challenged mentally as well as physically. Training is a must and will help bound even more.&#xA;But they also need to be told that being quiet and resting is most important, otherwise you could get further problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good article here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/1544-dog-training-settle-down-dunbar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/1544-dog-training-settle-down-dunbar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And btw: Puppies chew. That's how they &quot;test&quot; the world, with their mouth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T17:30:55.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16267" CreationDate="2017-02-02T18:13:37.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to what the other answers are saying, I think you're misconstruing the idea of a long-term confinement area (over 4 hours is long-term) with a crate. In a long-term confinement area, you have a relatively large area, such as the 4x4' area that most exercise pens enclose. Inside that, you have a crate with the door open or removed. Because the puppy can get out, most will not potty in there. This should be comfortable and welcoming, as others have said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also inside the confinement area, you should have an area where it's ok to potty. Some people use pee pads or newspapers. Others use things that are more like going outdoors, like a piece of sod in a large pan or a sand box. The reasoning behind the latter is that the puppy never gets used to peeing on things that are like things you will have on the floor. I hope this clarifies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastActivityDate="2017-02-02T18:13:37.743" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16275" CreationDate="2017-02-03T08:06:46.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's normal and your cat doesn't need bottle feeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had such situation for a few times. &#xA;My parents' cat was taken from her mother when she was 4 weeks. After she got into our house, she sucked my toys (I was 11 years old), our blankets and my sister's long hair so in the morning she looked like a broom :). She only stopped after 3 or 4 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own cat was taken early from her mother as well. Firstly she liked to suck blankets, now she licks socks sometimes, but doesn't do it often now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make your kitten feel safe and everything will be OK. Maybe it needs some private place like a kitten house or basket with soft blanket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:29.540" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:29.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-03T14:50:34.870" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a 5 month old German Shepherd and lately she hasn't had her usual appetite, she would only eat her food if fed by hand. She is also losing weight because of the reduced appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, she recently lost two teeth - it happened this weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone know how to feed her, make sure that she eats and when she will have her regular appetite back?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also, considering the weight loss issue, should I increase the number of her daily meals to 4?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8477" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T14:09:02.083" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T14:09:02.083" Title="Is my German Shepherd teething or sick?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;purebred&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16286" CreationDate="2017-02-03T19:15:17.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a dog doesn't eat well nor drink well then it is highly likely she's not right. This is one of the ways they tell us. I strongly suggest a vet's visit. &#xA;There are lots of other possible reasons but I would eliminate that first.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/dog-not-eating-possible-causes-and-appetite-solutions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/dog-not-eating-possible-causes-and-appetite-solutions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T19:15:17.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16286" CreationDate="2017-02-03T19:16:25.070" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She needs to be seen by a veterinarian immediately. These symptoms could be any number of diseases which affect puppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T19:16:25.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15675" CreationDate="2017-02-03T19:27:33.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Funniest cat face ever! Poor guy has no eyes. &#xA;Yeah, it's a boy. And he needs to be neutered around 6 or 7 months old. Search for spay/neuter clinics in your area. Also he needs his vaccinations ASAP. Many clinics have a weekly or monthly low cost &quot;shot clinic&quot; which you can ask about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-03T19:27:33.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16291" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-04T00:55:02.450" Score="1" ViewCount="2022" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every night, my cat heads out and comes home with 4-5 big chunks of insulation.  It started about 7 months ago after she found a nest of mice living in insulation.  Now I think she brings it to me as a gift.  She shows up looking like she has a giant cotton candy in her mouth.  I'm worried about the insulation she gets in her mouth and digestive tract.  I'm not sure if there's any way to train her to change her behavior other than not letting her out.  That drives her (and then me) crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8807" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T09:58:29.850" Title="My cat keeps bringing home insulation (pink fiberglass)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16031" CreationDate="2017-02-04T02:29:39.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, basically, there are no &quot;alternative treatments&quot; for this, at least not in my case where the hyperaldosteronism was caused by an adrenal tumor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All non-surgical treatment options revolve around countering the symptoms, such as potassium supplements to raise potassium levels. None seem to lead to particularly good quality of life except in very mild cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for large tumors, you simply can't keep up. In my cat's case, his potassium was so low and being depleted (through urine) so quickly that the combination of IVs, oral supplements, and a paste applied to the skin, still barely countered it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, any solutions that treat the symptoms are temporary at best, as the tumor grows it will eventually overwhelm any efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only true solution seems to be to surgically remove the tumor via an adrenalectomy, or to put the animal down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that surgery is only a viable solution if the tumor is not caused by a metastatic cancer (in which case, expect more). If the tumor has invaded the nearby vena cava, (there is a picture of the anatomy, as well as some decent info, on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/oncology_adrenal_tumors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;), removal becomes significantly more difficult and risky, and sometimes impossible. However, it is my understanding that assessing both of the previous conditions generally requires access to the tumor anyways, so it doesn't seem to me like they can be readily used to make judgments ahead of time. According to the previous link, in dogs at least (the condition is rare in cats), the general survival rate of an adrenalectomy is roughly 78%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I opted for the surgery, of course. In my cat's case the tumor was benign, isolated, and in a relatively ideal form for removal. The operation was performed the moment his potassium was back up to safe levels (it took 4-5 days for his levels to respond to the supplements). The surgery was a success, and the cat has recovered 100%. In fact, it's like it subtracted 5 years from his age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cases may be different, I don't know, but in my case there were no other options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2017-02-04T04:53:53.563" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T04:53:53.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-04T07:49:36.997" Score="1" ViewCount="2267" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is 6 month old and in morning time she wakes up then starts to walk and make a prrr sound as usually she does that sound when she doesn't find her self busy... &#xA;Then she comes to bed smells my face then starts to lick my eyes if I am not showing the sign that I am awake she will go back on the floor and the jumps on my face with a hard bite to my nose between my eyes... Most of the times the first thing what she does when I just open my eyes she starts constantly jump on  my biting all face and she bites really strong that after those attacks bite marks bleeding... She never does that to my boyfriend and I find it very strange... Do I do something wrong? I never hurt her she has no reason to hate me... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8810" LastEditorUserId="1156" LastEditDate="2017-02-04T10:15:49.157" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T19:59:10.000" Title="Why my kitten bites my face and nose in the morning?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T16:02:11.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16275" CreationDate="2017-02-04T08:36:28.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten does it when she is preparing to go to sleep or when she would like to be stroked. It's more like she needs a warming cuddles... we asked our vet, is it because she was taken too early from her mother, as we got our kitten without any information how old she was? He said that some cats just act like that where soft duvets are, so they feel like it's a mother's fur and is comforting them... But that is normal... I was told not to be worried, as his 10 years old cat does the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8810" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:57.263" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:57.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16291" CreationDate="2017-02-04T09:51:38.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thoughts: I would find the source of the insulation and clean it up. If it's on someone else's property, approach them and explain the issue. It needs to be covered securely or bagged and disposed of properly. Take it to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.recycle.net/specs/gr095510.html?affilid=100029&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recycler&lt;/a&gt; in your area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her breathing the fiberglass particles, ingesting residue left on her fur when she grooms is very toxic and dangerous to her and your health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she comes inside, she is depositing these tiny particles everywhere she goes. Once they get in your lungs, they are there forever doing damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hazards&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;  It is important for InterNACHI inspectors to understand the&#xA;  health risks associated with exposure to fiberglass insulation. These&#xA;  risks are not, at present, fully understood or agreed upon, but it is&#xA;  generally accepted that, in certain situations, it has the potential&#xA;  to cause physical harm. Small particles that come into contact with&#xA;  skin can lodge in pores and cause itchiness, rashes and irritation.&#xA;  When inhaled, particles can cause coughing, nosebleeds, and other&#xA;  respiratory ailments. Very fine airborne particles are capable of&#xA;  becoming deeply lodged in the lungs and are believed by many to cause&#xA;  cancer and other serious afflictions. OSHA considers this threat to be&#xA;  serious enough that it requires fiberglass insulation to carry a&#xA;  cancer warning label.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.recycle.net/specs/gr095510.html?affilid=100029&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nachi.org/fiberglass-insulation-history-hazards-alternatives.htm?loadbetadesign=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.nachi.org/fiberglass-insulation-history-hazards-alternatives.htm?loadbetadesign=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-02-04T09:58:29.850" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T09:58:29.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16222" CreationDate="2017-02-04T10:21:18.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are territorial. Twiggy has invaded. You are right to keep them separated for some weeks, sometimes a couple of months. &#xA;Letting them &quot;work it out&quot; without human supervision can be dangerous--especially with an older cat. Physical and psychological distress isn't good for anyone--kitties included. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anytime I introduce new animals to each other, I let the new addition roam around in a contained area, like the kitchen with the door closed. The &quot;resident&quot; animal gets carried into the room and I hold them and reassure them they are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since they have already &quot;met&quot;  I would just sit there and not let him attack or harass the newbie. Talk to him softly. Kinda like having a new baby with a toddler who is interested and then gets jealous when the new baby gets all your attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and please let us know how it's going with the new cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-04T10:21:18.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9395" CreationDate="2017-02-05T01:27:39.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is in the process of being treated for brain tumor or spinal/brain infection like encephalitis. She gets the same way sometimes from the brain swelling at the frontal lobe... It also causes her eyesight to be off, eyes to bug out and she is off balance. It's best even though you know your dog to proceed with caution because a scared, sick dog will be on the defensive. ER will try to put her down. I chose to go with a neurologist who's doing a CT scan and spinal tap...  Good luck to you. It is urgent you get help right away. Brain infections can be cured if treated fast enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8813" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:09:28.607" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:09:28.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12216" CreationDate="2017-02-05T10:01:20.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very difficult to see well because of inadequate light and her fur. From what I can see, it looks like &quot;road rash&quot; --a scrape to her chin.&#xA;First thing is trim the hair around the wound--it will grow back. Then clean the area with a gauze pad and warm water. Check the area for swelling , pus, signs of infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, light from the bottom and take a new pic and post it. Then, with a new gauze pad, apply betadine, povodine/iodine antiseptic. Check and clean the wound area several times a day--especially after meals. If the wound appears to be healing and she eating well with no behavior changes, you can probably avoid a vet  visit. If there are any signs of infection, she may ultimately need antibiotics. Please check back in and let us know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-05T10:01:20.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-05T13:43:07.267" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8 month old Keeshond, who I am planning to spay in June (after her 1st birthday).  What changes can I expect regarding her personality/temperament and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of info about neutering male dogs and possible personality/temperament changes that result.  However, female dogs seem to be underrepresented in the literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upvotes for answers which include (or at least link to) the scientific basis for your answer.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-02-05T13:57:01.883" Title="What personality and temperament changes should I expect after spaying my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16339" CreationDate="2017-02-05T13:47:41.903" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 1.5 years old. She is Labrador 30 kg. She is lazy, total walk (not running) per day is 50 min. I saw so many tips on how to feed dogs. Here are three: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20*30 = 600g meat per day. Someone's advice 600+other* = 900 per day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20*30 is total food weight. That means 50% meat, 50% other. 300g meat+300 other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Someone's advice to give less meat if the dog is lazy. That means 200g meat+400 other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;*Other means buckwheat + vegetables&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is good for my dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8817" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-08T06:59:47.603" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:32:43.643" Title="How much should my dog eat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16301" CreationDate="2017-02-05T13:57:01.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You won't see any changes, it will just prevent her from having behaviors related to being in heat or false pregnancy. However you can see a physical change as they tend to gain weight much easier after being spayed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-05T13:57:01.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-05T21:55:43.697" Score="7" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat we got from the ASPCA a few years ago, and he's always been very strange for a cat. But I've been noticing that he'll lick his reflection on any glass surface. Why does he do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8819" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T20:18:47.687" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:18:47.687" Title="Why does my cat lick his mirror reflection?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-06T00:18:14.757" Score="3" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Hamster that I got yesterday went down a curvy tube into another part of her cage (a separate container) and acted like she wanted out, but when she climbed back up the tube she got to a point and just stopped. Then she came back down and resumed trying to get out. Any idea why she stopped?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8820" LastEditorUserId="8820" LastEditDate="2017-02-08T00:39:51.213" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:24:10.080" Title="Hamster refuses to climb back up pipe" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-06T14:22:58.750" Score="6" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I rescued a Pomeranian 5 years ago from some pretty bad conditions. When we got him, he would show signs of aggression and nipped at us a few times when disciplining him. We knew he came from a bad home so we tried working with him. We took him to classes and he did well (although he NEVER shows aggression around people he isn't used to being around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He becomes aggressive in certain situations, for example if we take anything away like a bone or toy.  We have to be very careful when doing so because his attitude indicates he is willing to bite. Over the 5 years, we have had a couple of instances. The first was about a year ago; he bit my wife when she was with him on the couch and accidentally rolled onto him. We gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was scared and in pain, but my wife did have to see a doctor and we reported the bite. More recently though, he bit my wife again when she was giving him an anti inflammatory because he dropped it and when she went to pick it up he felt as though she was taking something away and bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I am feeling like he needs to be put down but it is hard because 99% of the time he is a great, lovable dog and I feel like I have failed in rescuing this dog. I am posting this so I can get an outside opinion that isn't swayed by having had the dog for 5 years. We definitely don't want him in the house anymore because my wife is uncomfortable around him. Is there any place out there where I can find him an owner that works with these types of dogs or do I need to face facts and put him down? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8824" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:43:07.047" Title="What do I do with my aggressive dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16310" CreationDate="2017-02-06T18:49:13.200" Score="2" ViewCount="12064" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I posted &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16278/why-does-my-puppy-like-to-bite-her-foot&quot;&gt;a question&lt;/a&gt; about my puppy biting it's foot. One of the answers said allergies are common in Pitbulls.  My puppy itches at her collar quite often. She has a red spot on her neck that resembles a rash. It's only on one part of her neck, and not all the way around where the collar rests. I can't tell if it is just small cuts she may have caused while itching herself or an actual rash. Once the collar is off her, she typically does not itch there. She also likes to itch at her harness we use to walk her occasionally (which is 100% polyester). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tu60i.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tu60i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;collar&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sVwoX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sVwoX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;neck rash&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see she scratches at the collar a lot. Can dogs be allergic to these kinds of materials? The collar is like a fake leather with little metal studs. Her collar before was like a strap that clipped together which she also itched at.  Is it possible she just dislikes collars? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not have fleas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T23:53:57.490" Title="Can dogs be allergic to materials that collars are made of?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16309" CreationDate="2017-02-06T19:42:38.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep! Collars can cause these kinds of irritations, most commonly I see it in dogs that go in the water a lot and get their collars wet. The moisture from the collar can cause yeasty irritations on the skin. Leather also tends to keep moisture in better than nylon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would remove the collar and wait for the area to heal, once healed try a different kind of material. If you notice that it's persistent with different materials I wouldn't make her wear one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For walks I recommend a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsolutions.com/images/Products/59001175.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gentle leader&lt;/a&gt; or a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7WSk5qCUAEO88C.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;body harness&lt;/a&gt; - both these options are great for dogs who pull a lot, it doesn't harm their esophagus/trachea and corrects their pulling behavior. For the body harness make sure it clips from the front, the ones that clip on the back won't correct pulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your worried about her getting lost and needing identification ask your veterinarian to implant a microchip. These chips will have information on the pet that is lost and help return them to you, chips can be scanned at animal shelters and vet hospitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T19:42:38.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16309" CreationDate="2017-02-06T19:49:42.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's safe to assume that most things that humans can be allergic to, a dog can be allergic to as well.  There are people that have contact allergies with certain types of metal, like nickel is a common one.  There are also people that are allergic to their shoes, for instance, possibly due to chemicals used to treat the materials in the shoe.  Therefore, I believe it is possible that your dog is in fact allergic to the collar.  I recommend trying collars made out of different materials and see if that helps.  You might also try a harness type instead, at least temporarily, if you're concerned the collar might rub the raw area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T19:49:42.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16304" CreationDate="2017-02-06T19:50:30.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very few animals understand that a reflection is themselves, they think it's another animal. It could be that he's trying to groom his &quot;friend&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is dew/moisture on the glass he could be getting water from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may just like the texture of it, some cats will lick plastic wrappers for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T19:50:30.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16308" CreationDate="2017-02-06T20:15:16.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did he see the vet ?&#xA;Why did he take AI ? Does he have some dolors ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like he's very stressed by your wife (it can be explained by bad communication or/and some dolors) and do ressource defensing. &#xA;He doesn't have to be murdered for his stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best you can do is working with a pro on positive reinforcement on his ressource defensing and reduce the stress. All his behaviour can be explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8765" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T20:15:16.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16308" CreationDate="2017-02-06T21:24:51.213" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds (from your question and comment) that your dog is more afraid than anything else.  Resource guarding (becoming 'aggressive' when something may be taken away) is typically a fear-based behavior.  The same goes for lashing out when your dog is hiding under the bed or other furniture and you're trying to get him to come out, as well as acting out when scolded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that you rescued him from a bad situation.  It's likely your pup is a bit traumatized from whatever he went through before he was with you.  He may have learned that the only way to stay safe, secure, and fed is to bite and growl when he feels afraid and now that has become a conditioned response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily, with some love and consistency you should be able to decrease these undesirable behaviors.  First things first, no more scolding.  You might be wondering how you'll get your dog to behave without telling him 'no' or otherwise punishing him.  This is easily accomplished by reinforcing the desired behavior with something positive (like a treat or praise), and also by setting him up for success by not putting him in a situation where he will act out (at least for the immediate future).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great trick for eliminating resource guarding is to teach your dog that every time you take something away he gets something even better.  Get of his regular food and go through the following:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick up your dog’s bowl and make it look like you are filling it with his food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place the empty bowl on the ground in front of him. Wait for him to investigate, see there is nothing there and look at you. As soon as he looks at you, praise him and add a bit of food into his bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After your dog has finished eating the food wait for him to look at you again and add more food into his bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, wait until all the food has been eaten. Walk a step or two away from his bowl and then back and add a little more. This teaches your pup that your approach and presence at his food bowl means he is going to get more food and you are a positive part of the experience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your dog in this manner for several days and as your dog becomes more relaxed with your presence close to his bowl, gradually add larger handfuls of food until you get to the point where you can put down a full food bowl and he can eat with you standing right next to him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The next stage is to practice walking by an empty bowl and throwing a piece of high value food such as chicken into it. Every time you approach your dog’s empty bowl your dog will see your approach as something good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The last stage of this training is to throw a delicious treat into your dog’s bowl as he is in the process of eating. By this time he should be much more relaxed with your presence and able to accept you being close to him as he eats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If he is never aggressive about food, but more about toys try the following:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get one of your dogs toys or bones (something you won't mind getting food on) &#xA;Place it on the ground in front of him. Wait for him to come over to it, when he does praise him and drop a bit of food onto the ground near the toy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After your dog has finished eating the food wait for him to look at you again and drop another morsel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, wait until he eats his treat. Now, take a step or two away from his toy and step back and drop another treat. This teaches your pup that your approach and presence near his toys means he is going to get something good and you are a positive part of the experience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do this every day for several days and as your dog becomes more relaxed with your presence near his toys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The next stage is to practice walking by you pup while he is already playing and  throwing a piece of high value food into the action. When you do this, don't look at or interact with him.  Continue walking as you gently toss the treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The last stage of this training is to be able to trade your dog a treat for his toy.  This may take a lot of patience and practice, but the culmination of any resource guarding training is teaching &quot;drop it&quot;.  For this you should do in person training with a qualified &lt;strong&gt;positive reinforcement only&lt;/strong&gt; trainer in your area.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since you mentioned he is more timid in front of strangers, try to get a video of the behavior to show the trainer.  You could even set up your smart phone, computer, or tablet to record your living room (or any other room) and capture the entire interaction from start to finish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-02-06T21:30:00.753" LastActivityDate="2017-02-06T21:30:00.753" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-07T01:36:52.367" Score="5" ViewCount="99861" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 3 year old Pomeranian. He is very happy, active, and loves to be around other people. He used to eat only when people were around him so I used to accompany him during his eating times, which are during the morning and the night. Nevertheless, I have been having a problem regarding his eating habits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, an aunt stayed with us and hanged around the home most of the day. She loves animals, so my aunt spent a lot of time with my dog. She pet him, took him out, and started feeding him by putting the food on her hand and then he would eat it from her hand. She would pretty much feed him like if he was a little kid, which I thought was ridiculous. I talked to her about the issue, but she disregarded my conversation and did it behind my back. My aunt left a week ago, but now the problem is that my dog refused to eat unless I do the exact same thing. I am worried because I do not like to see him not eating for one or two days, but at the same time I don't like having him eat from my hand. &lt;strong&gt;How can I make my dog forget this habit of only eating from someone's hand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking I would just stop doing it and he will eventually get really hungry and be forced to eat. However, I am worried he will just stop eating completely. What is the best approach to this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8827" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T21:55:30.273" Title="Dog refuses to eat unless fed by hand" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-07T02:30:10.617" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Leopard Gecko started shedding two days ago and stil has its head covered in dead skin. This is my first gecko and I don't know what to do he is trying to get it off it is loose but if I have to help I want to do it right to not injure him &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZskjK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8828" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T02:30:10.617" Title="My Geckos Head Still Has Skin On It!" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-02-07T12:06:42.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2017-02-07T11:58:43.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like he equates the hand feeding with affection/attention. Try spending time with him playing and or going for a walk before his normal feeding time. Praise him often. Then at feeding time, place his bowl down and crouch down beside him as you put him at his bowl. Talk to him; praise him. I think he will begin to eat on his own.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T11:58:43.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16321" CreationDate="2017-02-07T17:30:58.643" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment and I take my dog out once a day to do his business. The rest of the other times he has to go, he goes in our bathroom on a grass plastic mat. Lately my apartment has started to smell really bad because of the urine. I try to clean out the plastic with warm water and spray it with and odor free spray but the smell somehow is still there. Any advice or products that might help me? Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5394" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T08:55:51.267" Title="How to get rid of daily urine odor?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16320" CreationDate="2017-02-07T18:33:51.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any pet store should have multiple brands of enzyme-based pet odor cancelling liquids. These chemically combine with volatile organics, stopping them from vaporizing in the first place and thus actually stopping the odor rather than masking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T18:33:51.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7883" CreationDate="2017-02-07T22:35:32.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is regarding a cat, but my pet rats REFUSE to take antibiotics through a syringe. I tried mixing their medication in their favorite food, but they still won't bother. I found out putting whip cream (their favorite treat) at the tip of the syringe helps. They'll lick it while I'm squirting the antibiotics into their mouth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8833" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T22:35:32.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16325" CreationDate="2017-02-07T22:53:11.623" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;While playing, my puppy likes to try and bite me occasionally. If she succeeds, it's not a full on bite, nor is it aggressive.  But should I discourage this behavior? If I proceed to allow her to play bite, what could I expect when she's older?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T23:48:35.130" Title="Should I discourage playful biting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16324" CreationDate="2017-02-07T23:48:35.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider how others will react. You know the dog is just grabbing, gently -- but if she does this to someone else, they may panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do permit this, you should clearly train her to distinguish when and where it is appropriate. That's going to take more dedicated effort than simply training not to do this to people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-02-07T23:48:35.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-08T03:39:03.950" Score="2" ViewCount="5016" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've had my ferret Chris for almost a year now. He's three years old and and I recently got a new ferret that's a baby male about 6 months old (Jeff). I'm scared because I can't tell if they like each other or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jeff is a very active hyper ferret, he often bites at peoples feet and likes to play rough. Chris is the older one and he is much more mellow. At first when I got them, they were fine together. Jeff would try to play with Chris but he would ignore him. But recently they get into fights - some were small and some bad and resulted in Jeff pooping himself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of them has ever bled, but it looks vicious to me. My cage has the ability to be split into two cages and when they were friendly I had them together and they would sleep together and be friendly. They would occasionally get into fights outside of the cage. After they started fighting out of the cage and Jeff started pooping himself, I made the cage into two cages. They both seemed fine and still are in separate cages but when they get out they sometimes still get into fights. When they get into fights or whatever it is, it starts off as them just smelling each other and then one gets all riled up and it always ends in Chris getting Jeff by the throat and Jeff will start loudly squeaking and I break it up. I need help I don't know what to do, whether this is normal and they're just playing around or if they genuinely don't like each other and I should just let them out separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8835" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-15T22:16:00.770" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T23:19:11.650" Title="Ferrets, are they playing or fighting?" Tags="&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2017-02-08T04:50:49.633" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I believe they do. If my cats accidentally scratch me during play and I yell OUCH, they immediately stop the play and try to lick  me where I was scratched. So while I don't believe it is intentionally done, play sometimes get out of hand and things happen, and they feel bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8836" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2017-02-13T11:53:33.557" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T11:53:33.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-08T09:35:58.713" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten, 5 months old, spends 12 hours inside the home &amp;amp; 12 hours outside. There are stray dogs, kids etc who try to scare him but as of now he is able to well handle himself.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will neutering him reduce his aggression &amp;amp; thereby reduce his ability to protect himself? He is not particularly a very aggressive or fighting cat, but he can handle himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other behaviour changes can I expect after neutering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8619" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T09:48:23.300" Title="Will neutering a kitten make him less able to protect himself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-08T09:43:58.367" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some basic questions about my 1-year-old pug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How much should he eat? Typically he should eat 2 times, but he always keeps some food in his bowl and whenever he wants he eats. Is this a good practice? (I use Royal Canin Mini Adult)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now-a-days he always wants what I'm eating. How to stop this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm too new (being my first pet) in this area, so your views are appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8839" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:20:01.317" Title="How much my pug puppy should eat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16328" CreationDate="2017-02-08T09:48:23.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While neutering will make him less likely to &lt;em&gt;start&lt;/em&gt; fights (because he's not competing for females and will likely be less territorial), it will not affect his ability to defend himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/spayneuter-your-pet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The ASPCA&lt;/a&gt; some additional information about neutering and its effects on personality and behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T09:48:23.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16341" CreationDate="2017-02-08T10:34:47.540" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one year old pug. He sheds too much fur to the extent that I can see his hairs all around my apartment. He absolutely hates being brushed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8839" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-08T12:47:07.137" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:47:22.577" Title="Pug sheds too much fur" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16331" CreationDate="2017-02-08T13:05:26.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you considered other products besides a brush like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/four-paws-magic-coat-red-pet-love-glove&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;?  It's possible that the brush may be painful to your pug, making him dislike it.  Using something like the above link is essentially petting them while at the same time getting the loose hair off them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you suspect that your dog is losing too much fur, I would try changing to a different type of food - one that improves hair.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T13:05:26.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-08T13:44:55.790" Score="9" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have more than one dog, who are free to roam around in a rather large area and they are often out of (my) sight. Usually one of the dogs hangs around the house (they seem to take turns on their own accord). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each dog also recognizes that the other dogs have their own names. I think this is the case since when feeding them only the one I call out with each bowl of food comes up, and not the others, who wait for their turn (please correct me if I am wrong about this). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way I can teach them to go and call/bring (one/more of) the other dogs (for instance, the younger ones need to be given their medicine) so I don't have to walk the acreage on a mission of discovery? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most obvious solution is a dog whistle. But there are other creatures around who are also sensitive to that (frequency of) sound and will respond to it. So whistling is not an option. I could also experiment different kinds of whistles (and I probably will), but that's not the point of the question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add: they don't play fetch. Rather, they (each) played it exactly once. The second time I threw the ball they just looked at me and walked off. Neither am I interested in fetch, nor traditional schutzhound training. The dogs are very well behaved and &quot;sensible&quot;, but not &quot;highly trained&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8842" LastEditorUserId="8842" LastEditDate="2017-02-08T14:14:04.760" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T10:29:49.453" Title="How can I teach one of my dogs to call another (of my) dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-08T21:19:52.140" Score="6" ViewCount="22712" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are thinking of getting a Pug but want to know if this breed of dog would be okay left alone during the day.  The dog could be alone for up to 11 hours but usually more like 9 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8847" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T20:06:27.097" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T18:26:30.783" Title="Can we leave a pug alone for 9 to 11 hours during the day?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16336" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-08T23:06:52.027" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has a 6 year old Chihuahua/Pug named Willow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has HORRIBLE breathe! The worst I have ever smelled in a dog. I always said &quot;this is not normal, go get this checked out&quot;, and my girlfriend said that vet said she is ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now Willow is sick and lethargic. She took her to the vet, and they are not certain what is wrong so they gave her antibiotics....and they also said &quot;Her front teeth may need to be extracted&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, how do you go from &quot;being ok&quot; to &quot;needing to be extracted&quot;??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this vet doing a sub par job? Should I recommend she find a new vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, what step can be taken to improve Willows dental hygiene and health? She is a very healthy and happy dog otherwise, and I would hate for this to become a serious issue for her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8848" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:06:52.027" Title="How to deal with dogs dental issues?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16329" CreationDate="2017-02-08T23:14:24.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leaving food out beyond the two set feeding times is not a good practice.  You should go by the recommended amount on the bag for his weight and split that in half; one portion each feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To prevent begging you should avoid reacting to the begging and if necessary physically separate yourself from the him while you are eating as most of what we consume can be extremely unhealthy for a dog to consume (salts, sugars, and artificial byproducts they aren't meant to have).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, have you looked into raw feeding?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8849" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:14:24.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16329" CreationDate="2017-02-08T23:20:01.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As Gone2 has stated, you should definitely regulate your pug's intake by removing the food after 15-20 minutes with each feeding.&#xA;All kibble has feeding directions on the back, so you should follow the feeding recommendations on the bag for his weight unless otherwise directed by a veterinarian.  Dogs should generally have a thin layer over their midsection but not so thick you can't feel their ribs.  The ribs also shouldn't be visible while they're relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For begging, you can try redirecting by rewarding him when he doesn't beg.  Or teach him a down stay.  Another method is to give him a toy, himalayan chew, or bully stick to work on while you eat in peace.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8850" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:20:01.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16302" CreationDate="2017-02-08T23:32:43.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This place has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rawpawspetfood.com/serving-size-calculator-s/153.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;calculator&quot;&gt;calculator&lt;/a&gt; that can give you a basic idea of the ratios based upon weight.  Generally speaking about 2.5% to 3% of the desired weight is what I feed to all my dogs for weight maintenance.  My smallest one is hyperactive and on the skinnier end so she gets 5%.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep in mind you don't have to feed bones and organs every day.  The balanced meals can be once or twice a week.  And I follow the rule of about 5% of the monthly intake being organs and about 8% bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are some other sites to provide more insight as well.&#xA;rawfeddogs.org/rawguide.html&#xA;primalpooch.com/prey-model-vs-barf/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8850" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:32:43.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16308" CreationDate="2017-02-08T23:43:07.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you need to enlist the help of a positive, force-free trainer to help you relearn how to care for and bond with your dog.  Fear can be one of the hardest issues to deal with and is actually the number one reason for dog bites.  You don't have an aggressive dog, you just need to understand your dogs perspective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a high value object without reason only initiates defensive behavior.  Another method would be to keep extra small sized treats or a similar toy and trade each time you want to take away the item your dog has at the time.  This over time will teach the dog that nothing negative will happen when you remove the said toy.  Over time you may even be able to phase out the trades and just simply give a quick pet and praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8850" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:43:07.047" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16331" CreationDate="2017-02-08T23:47:22.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried desensitizing your dog to brushing?  High praise with very short brushing sessions in the order of one or two strokes.  Followed by maybe some belly rubs and treats?  Do this slowly over the course of several days and build up to where your dog associates the brush and being brushed with something they enjoy.  Doing so now can save you lots of time and prevent the grooming struggles that a lot of dog owners face later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8850" LastActivityDate="2017-02-08T23:47:22.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2017-02-09T00:37:03.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;11 hours is a long time for a dog to be alone, 9 is OK but the regular 8 hour intervals or less is preferred as they need to pee/poo (unless you litter train him). Dogs are social animals and would want your companionship, they need exercise, training, socialization etc. If your pooch is not entertained or stimulated they have high chances of acquiring behavioral issues such as destruction of your property (boredom), house soiling, anxiety etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the days that you would be gone for 11 hours I would suggest bringing him to doggy daycare, he will get a lot of attention and playtime with other dogs and people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-02-09T16:49:58.237" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T16:49:58.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-09T03:56:26.303" Score="2" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my second dog I've owned. He's my first boy-dog and any dog this big. He's a Mastiff Boxer mix with a brindle coat. My last 12year dog was a female black lab that past away 18 months ago. My new dog is totally AMAZING! and I love him in the same way I loved my last dog. But there is a new alarming behavior that I need to work on immediately! I need help and advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said, he is an amazing puppy with lots and lots of puppy energy and happiness. For the last couple of months when I take him to the dog park he has this habit of jumping up and &quot;kissing&quot; people... like bopping his snout against peoples faces. It's pretty impressive because he has a 5 foot vertical leap on all four paws... like he's bouncing up and kissing you at mouth level. It's really cute and most people don't seem to mind it (because it's a dog park).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a few days ago he was doing the same behavior and an elderly lady yelled out loud &quot;GET YOUR DOG AWAY FROM ME!!!!!&quot; as he bopped her in the cheek. She seemed to be covering her cheek with her hand like she was hurt. At the time I thought maybe she was over-reacting? But I was concerned so I immediately leashed him up and took him home. I've been taking him back to the dog park each day since. So today I go out to the park with him to get his exercise, and there was this nice woman at the park with her dog and my boy bounced up again and &quot;kissed&quot; (or bopped) her in the nose and she got a mild bloody nose from that. That was the second warning sign and now I'm really concerned! What do I do? I need advice from experts. I DO NOT WANT A LAW SUIT OR MY DOG BEING PUT DOWN for being aggressive. He's absolutely not. He's just a Mastiff puppy with a very happy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first plan is to start using the shock collar at the park. And only shock him when he jumps up at people. He WILL NOT listen to my verbal commands if he's really engaged in play. I feel like going to the shock collar is the best method to give him what he wants (play in the dog park) and give me what I want (doggy exercise and discipline ) without the risk of having people hurt by his jumping. He's really a big puppy and I want the best for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a better (more expedient) solution then the shock collar I'm open to suggestions. Many many thanks for all of your suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8853" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T15:19:55.983" Title="1yo Mastiff puppy is jumping and kissing / poking people in the face" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-09T10:34:40.027" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother has recently passed away and I now have mom's cat. She is approximately 6 years old, but when I took her to the vet they said she was overweight (4 kg) and her gums were looking sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They told me not to give her any sachets of meat-based wet food, from which she was only licking the gravy anyway, and have told me to give her Royal Canin dental dried food which I have. But she doesn't seem to want to go outside until I have given her something else. I have been giving her a small amount of tinned tuna in water and she seems to eat this and some of the dental biscuits during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know - what I could give her that is healthy? Your help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8856" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:18:42.357" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:18:42.357" Title="My cat is overweight and I am not sure what to feed her" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16343" CreationDate="2017-02-09T11:27:32.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shock collars should ideally never be used, and if, only by someone who REALLY REALLY knows what they are doing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does he do it with you, too? Or in a more controlled environment? If yes: Train there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two things you should do here for training:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You have to train your dog to come back to you even when engaged in play. You can train that with a heavily reward-based program: whenever you ask the dogs attention, and it responds, praise him, reward him, give him a toy, whatever works good for him as a reward. You are absolutely delighted he looked at you! Nothing makes you more happy than your dogs response when you call it! Slowly build up the level of distraction you compete against, and eventually, you should be able to call him out of even the most exciting play.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The more distracted he was before, the more intensely you should reward. Ignoring all the other dogs AND that ball AND that Frisbee all at once is a HUGE challenge for your dog. If he does it, you are again absolutely overjoyed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While you are at it, train him to &quot;stay&quot;, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: He is greeting people like that; you do not want that; he may greet people, but politely! Ideally, you find someone to work with you, and put him into a situation where he does greet your helper like that. Now, you reward the kind of greeting you WANT. If he does his jumping-trick, he gets ignored by the one he jumped at, and called back by you. If he approaches in the manner you want, you and your helper again praise him, reward him, pay attention to him. Basically, you teach him that the more gentle way is WAY more fun than jumping up (cute as it may be for dog-lovers!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally: You CAN train him to jump on command, and give his kiss on command, too. This way, he can occasionally still behave that way, but YOU choose when he does it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T11:27:32.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2017-02-09T13:11:19.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dental diet is pretty fatty in general, I've seen many pets become chunky after eating it with no exercise. A food we recommend is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.proplanveterinarydiets.com/products/om-overweight-management-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purina veterinary OM&lt;/a&gt; (overweight management) for our obese cats, I see more success with it than the royal canin satiety support. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet food is key to a healthy cat as it  greatly improves urinary health (kidneys, bladder, stones, crystals). Reasoning to this is that wet food has about 80% moisture making your kitty pee more and flush out her kidneys. OM comes in wet and dry giving your kitty a nice variety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exercise is also important though I see she goes outside, in addition to this you may buy one of those &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0021L8W6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;automatic lazer pointers&lt;/a&gt; that zoom around the room for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dental health, brush daily with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3497&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;soft finger brush&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=24578&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pet approved tooth paste&lt;/a&gt; - smearing the toothpaste on the teeth/gums will also help if you have difficulties brushing. There are feline dental chews you can get as well such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.greenies.com/cats.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;greenies&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetoquinol.ca/eng/products/enzadent-teeth-cleaning-chews-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;enzadent oral cat chews&lt;/a&gt;. Stay away from hard chew toys such as bones as they can become lodged in their intestinal tract or break teeth (most commonly seen in dogs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add a little extra in regards to her going outside. I highly recommend making an &lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/00/40/ba/0040ba4076e182219d34025c1febab0f.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;outdoor play area&lt;/a&gt; that makes her and the wildlife safe. Cats are killing vast amounts of wildlife and making certain species of birds, lizards and turtles extinct. This enclosure will keep your cat safe from predators like eagles, foxes and coyotes. The danger of getting hit by a car is another thing to consider or if she gets lost (microchip is key here). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T20:04:43.313" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:04:43.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16343" CreationDate="2017-02-09T15:19:55.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please please please don't use a shock collar.&lt;/strong&gt;  You can easily train away this behavior with far more effective and far less cruel methods.  Using a shock collar will only confuse and frighten your dog, in which case he may become actually aggressive as opposed to merely playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely that the behavior is being reinforced by people who think this is cute.  Your pup has probably learned that (at least some) people will give him positive attention if he bops them with his nose so now he tried it with everyone.  You have a few training options here: try to get this behavior under stimulus control (aka teach him a command for this) or eliminate the behavior completely.  It's going to be easier to eliminate it completely, so that's what I'll go with.  Here's how you do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he bops you like this at home or anywhere else, immediately turn your back to him and ignore him until he is sitting or laying down quietly (the first few times this may take a minute or two).  As soon as he's sitting/laying quietly turn around and give him lots and lots of praise and attention.  What you're doing here is teaching him that good things happen when he's quiet and calm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assuming you're friendly with the regulars at the dog park, talk to them about what you're trying to do and make sure they don't reinforce him for jumping.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue working on basic obedience, the more behaviors you have under stimulus control the better.  You want your dogs default behavior to be looking at you for a command.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T15:19:55.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-09T16:39:54.657" Score="4" ViewCount="2080" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a cat and he just came from behind the stove after a week.  He only comes out when humans are gone.  Over the last few days, he's built up some trust for me and I pet him and he paces around me in a circle  (that's part of the question  too).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just now he put his front paws on my legs, the nails are a bit long, what is this behavior  saying?  I'm use to it with dogs, but not cats. I've never owed a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8859" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-13T11:54:13.943" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T11:54:13.943" Title="New shy cat put paws on my legs, what could that mean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16348" CreationDate="2017-02-09T20:01:11.567" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your cat is getting to know you and is slowly developing a trusting relationship!  He's in a new place with lots of new smells and things to explore, so it may take a few weeks before he feels &quot;normal&quot; and comfortable in your space.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the pacing - this sounds like normal curious cat behavior when they're starting to accept you.  You'll know you're accepted if he rubs against you. &lt;em&gt;Please note if a cat is walking in circles but seems to be stumbling or disoriented, this is very different and it needs to be brought to a vet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paws on the leg sound like a friendly hi and perhaps a request for something.  He could be asking to be petted, or needs food/water, or wants a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reward any trust behavior with treats, and talk to him in a soothing tone.  Try to move slower when you're around him, and don't make sudden moves or noises. You could try coaxing him to play if you've got any toys.  Playing is a great bonding activity.  Good luck! It sounds like you're on your way to having a new best friend!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5126" LastActivityDate="2017-02-09T20:01:11.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-10T01:14:23.713" Score="3" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that recently was hospitalized with a urinary blockage. The vet put him on a prescription food for urinary care that comes in both wet and dry varieties. He doesnt like the dry, so we've been feeding him the wet food twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now heres the issue, I have a second cat who doesnt have this issue. He doesnt like scheduled feediings, and prefers to munch throughout the day. We leave a bowl of food available for him at all times. Sometimes, the cat with the urinary issue will eat some of the regular food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: is there a food that's good for urinary health that isnt prescription and is safe for both of cats to consume, but that won't break the bank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8860" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T12:59:14.680" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T14:23:54.210" Title="Food for cat with urinary problems?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16320" CreationDate="2017-02-10T08:55:51.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should replace the grass mat at some point. Vinegar and baking soda are good to remove odors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://m.wikihow.com/Neutralize-Pet-Smell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://m.wikihow.com/Neutralize-Pet-Smell&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8861" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T08:55:51.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-10T10:39:46.803" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this six months old cat who's adorable but crazy lol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's the offspring (Chubbs) of the daughter (Luna) of my female cat (Mara), which I gave to my step daughter but now Chubs won't stop suckling on Mara and she doesn't stop him from doing it. Obviously she doesn't produce milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop it?&#xA;To clarify &#xA;Mara is the mother of Luna&#xA;Luna is the mother of Chubs&#xA;Chubs suckles on Mara.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8862" LastEditorUserId="8862" LastEditDate="2017-02-16T10:01:09.163" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T10:01:09.163" Title="6 months old cat won't stop suckling his grandmother" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-02-17T15:28:03.467" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2017-02-10T14:44:11.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For clarity I will name your cats to cat 1 and cat 2.&#xA;Cat 1 = Previously Blocked // Cat 2 = Healthy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cat 1 keep him on the prescription wet food diet until your vet says otherwise, I would be afraid to switch him so soon and he re-blocks - they call it a prescription diet because it should be treated like a medication. You can price check from different veterinary hospitals as food prices will vary, the hospital I work at has much cheaper prices than other clinics around (10% difference).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If cat 1 picks at cat 2's food I would recommend that you feed Cat 2 more wet food - he may not have blocked yet but risks are much higher on dry food. Buy what's in your budget but keep in mind that with higher quality foods you won't need to feed as much (this varies from food to food) for your cats to obtain their daily nutritional needs. For example let's say a 0.50$ can of low grade food you'd need to feed 3 cans vs a 1.00$ high quality food where you only need to feed 1 can a day - you will also see increase in stool production on low grade foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can try is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sureflap.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Surefeed&lt;/a&gt; this can be programmed to only open when a certain pet is near, it helps prevent unwanted food theft. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water intake is very important to prevent cats from blocking: add a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.filtersfast.com/P-ClearCatit-Pet-Drinking-Fountain-55600.asp?kpid=55600&amp;amp;fsrc=G1F5F&amp;amp;gclid=Cj0KEQiA5vXEBRChycOl36LPn5EBEiQAJV2-bFW2IOTPxyrAVlPQernrOFmhY74AR7Xo5LlBtG6BShQaAmE68P8HAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;water fountain&lt;/a&gt; (cats prefer running cold water vs still), increase wet food, or add water to dry food. This allows them to pee more thus flushing out all the garbage. A cat that doesn't pee frequently (you will see 1 large pee in the box vs many small/medium pees) holds in all the junk that the kidneys filter out from their system and then you start seeing crystal/stone formations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-04T14:23:54.210" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T14:23:54.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2017-02-10T16:05:04.087" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stubborn dog won't stop eating completely, he will eventually eat. Place the food in his bowl or on a plate and wait, once you see him eat out of his dish reward with treats and praise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to add something really yummy on top, something he goes bananas for to break his will power and go for the bowl :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T16:05:04.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16356" CreationDate="2017-02-10T20:23:33.563" Score="1" ViewCount="534" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat got its leg trapped in a door and his leg is swollen. It's the leg on th upper part of the picture. When it first happened he could put a little bit of pressure on it but now its swollen and won't put any pressure on it. I have given him some food and he can walk but he limps. He doesn't seem to be in pain but when I touch his leg he screams. For this reason I have not felt the leg to see if it's broken. He also has a small cut on the side of his leg where he trapped it in the door. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if it's broken and tell me what to do other than take him to the vet tomorrow.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AT0Ty.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8868" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T20:38:41.427" Title="I think my cat broke it's leg" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16355" CreationDate="2017-02-10T20:38:41.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Take him to the vet tonight!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is absolutely no potential for an emergency vet.  Do your best to keep him inactive, until you can reach the vet first thing tomorrow morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-02-10T20:38:41.427" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2017-02-11T00:05:59.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pugs (and dogs in general) are ... demanding. It could still work as long as you give him extra attention when you get home. Also, as above, I'd recommend a doggy daycare so he won't be lonely and bored&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8820" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T00:05:59.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16374" CreationDate="2017-02-11T00:12:09.030" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Syrian black bear hamster has lately been washing her front paws and face a lot. Is this because she is nervous? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8820" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T23:08:34.427" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:08:34.427" Title="Hamster excessively washing her front paws" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7544" CreationDate="2017-02-11T21:59:19.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got very ill and ended up going emergency centre to be told I had caught a servere stomach infection. &#xA;I had not ate anything bad or under cooked etc.  But I  had 1 my snakes out for a good hour.  She sits on my chest or Curtis round I my fingers.  I put her away as I went to bed. &#xA;As I got in bed a ate a couple cookies. When I woke up in the morning I had servere sickness and diarrhea. &#xA;Pain was so intense and any fluid I drank even a sip I brought straight back up. &#xA;It took 2 days to get fluid to stay down. &#xA;This is only time I've ever not washed my hands after handling so I would say  airways wash your hands just incase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8872" LastActivityDate="2017-02-11T21:59:19.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-12T01:25:44.353" Score="5" ViewCount="2337" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog Cooper is a 1 &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; year old Lab mix, and for the last few months, he has been constantly aggressive. It's odd because he is totally normal away from home. Inside, he growls and bares his teeth at my 5 year old little sister whenever she comes too close to him or pets him. He guards my bed at all times, guards random areas in the house, trash, and (especially) his food bowl. We've resorted to muzzling him at all times because he has already attacked our other dogs twice and snaps at people other than myself for different things. (He's tried to bite my cousin over the socks/shoes in the bottom of my nightstand!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than his resource guarding and apparent dominance issues, he's a really great dog. He goes to a dog park once a week and does amazing with the people and dogs there, so whatever is wrong has to do with our house. I won't have the funds to pay for a trainer for at least a few more months, and I have no intention of giving him away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, do you have any tips/advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8873" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T06:23:34.297" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T15:00:11.640" Title="Why does my dog only show aggressive behavior indoors?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16362" CreationDate="2017-02-12T08:36:34.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've answered your question: your dog has dominance issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, this can turn your dog into a dangerous dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention he goes to the park once a week and behaves fine. That's also a problem. Your dog lacks exercise and training. He has too much energy and doesn't know what to do with it. On top of that, it seems he lacks leadership. Labs are very active dogs and can go for miles. It's important you research the breed to understand what your dog needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/labrador-retriever#/slide/1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/labrador-retriever#/slide/1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several line of thoughts behind dogs &quot;bad behaviour&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had dogs my whole life including rescues showing lots of unwanted behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My attitude towards dog has always been the same: they are pack animals and need some sort of leadership. Even if people and dog behaviourist have new thoughts on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your choices are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Ignore a bad behaviour, show no interest or emotion once that behaviour occurs(for mild case)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) recognise that the behaviour is bad enough that it needs a &quot;negative&quot; intervention. Basically disagree with the dog and use something simple like:&quot;no!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) is the same as 2) but most effective of all: Start with 2) and then use what's called behaviour replacement therapy. Basically say &quot;no&quot;, I disagree and then replace that behaviour by a command like&quot;sit&quot; followed by a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to decide what's what and how you wish your dog to behave. Positive reinforcement is always best(the third option), however not always possible. This where training comes in. &#xA;All of the basic commands(sit, stay, down...). This will give you and your dog structure and excellent communication. It's also very rewarding for both of you and will increase your bound. Be sensitive and start small, in a room your dog is comfortable in with few distractions and build from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train a dog, it's like 3). Patience is required. You never force a dog into a behaviour, you let him work it out. Wait for the behaviour and then reward it. There are plenty of books available to help you. Your dog needs a leader. If he doesn't have one, he will be forced to lead and let's face it, being a leader can be stressful and difficult. If a dog hasn't had another older dog show him what to do, he will make it up and it generally turns to aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have always worked with humans. Historically, it's thought that wolves got closer to humans to get an easier meal. In exchange for food and security, they guarded, hunted, herded and so on. These days, they don't work and find it hard to have a purpose. You need to make your dog work for rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rewards is not just food but it is a big part of training(adjust your dogs diet to compensate for treats) but also hugs, cuddles, toys, whatever is going to enrich their life has to be earned and not given for free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a book used by many trainers:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81H3RZUhYyL._AC_UL320_SR208,320_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81H3RZUhYyL._AC_UL320_SR208,320_.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also read articles from Cesar Milan the ultimate dog whisperer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, it would be useful to visit your vet to eliminate any medical conditions that could trigger this behaviour first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-02-12T08:43:14.163" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T08:43:14.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-12T14:07:32.010" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that rock salt is inexpensive but can be like little knives on bare paws.  I know some of the special formulas can be more toxic to pets.  What do I need to know when picking pet friendly deicers? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our pets don't go out in the winter, so paw damage is low on our list.  Larger concerns are consuming any that might get tracked in by people and residual effects to the out doors in the spring.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consume enough of anything it is harmful. We keep our deicers where the pets can't reach it.  So primary concerns are for incidental consumption, like licking tracked in salt off of the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T23:31:43.480" Title="What do I need to know when picking pet friendly deicers?" Tags="&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15469" CreationDate="2017-02-12T17:23:21.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is probably a stress response. But it can probably be resolved by building up her trust with you and the environment. To do this, stay reasonably far away until she gets used to her environment. Then, work with her everyday to build up trust, by acclimating her to your hands. Give her treats while doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8820" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T17:23:21.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16372" CreationDate="2017-02-12T18:35:44.830" Score="6" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats (male, 3yo) is very energetic and almost dog-like, personally I love it!  Our other cat (female, same age) is quite the opposite, she is far more sedentary and gets quite annoyed when our male cat tries to chase after her and play with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, does anyone have suggestions (store bought or homemade) for cat toys that would both entertain and exercise our male cat such that he might not have as much of a tendency to chase our other cat around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any/all suggestions are appreciated, thanks much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8875" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:37.493" Title="Cat Toy(s) For Energetic Cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16367" CreationDate="2017-02-12T23:23:37.633" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few options I can think of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00RTDNI64&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wireless cat mice&lt;/a&gt; - this one you can control&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00SQXVF7A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HEXBUG mouse&lt;/a&gt; - this one moves on its own&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00FZF3OEO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petsafe Pounce&lt;/a&gt; - mouse moves randomly in a circle&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0021L8W6K&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petsafe lazer toy&lt;/a&gt; - lazer moves around for you&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0018CE8LG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petsafe food dispenser&lt;/a&gt; - Ball you put food in and the cat has to bounce it around to get the food out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00NFZMHKS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Exercise wheel for cats&lt;/a&gt; - Will need some training for it - hamster wheel for cats!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsmart.com/cat/supplies-and-training/furniture-and-scratchers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Towers&lt;/a&gt; - great for climbing&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/jcoates/2011/june/cats_and_catnip-does_it_really_get_them_high_and_why-11271&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catnip&lt;/a&gt; - Sprinkle catnip on a towel and watch him roll around!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toys to avoid are ones with string or elastics, cats tend to swallow these things giving you an expensive surgery to prepare for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="9137" LastEditDate="2018-05-31T15:12:50.780" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T15:12:50.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16364" CreationDate="2017-02-12T23:31:43.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a product called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.safepaw.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Safe Paw&lt;/a&gt; that is made for pets and kids. A de-icer that is pet safe will have a claim on the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about your pets eating it, I've never seen a toxicity relating to this and I live in a very ice heavy province so it's (rock salt) used everywhere 24/7. Still a good idea to keep it away from them but you don't need to be concerned about remnants in your house from people coming in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-12T23:31:43.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16359" CreationDate="2017-02-13T00:00:14.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, she just wants to be clean :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nervous or scared hamsters will run away, hide, poop themselves, bat your hands or turn on their backs and scream at you if you try to touch them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T00:00:14.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12248" CreationDate="2017-02-13T00:09:34.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She probably has a UTI (urinary tract infection). I would see a vet to get it properly diagnosed and treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8820" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T00:09:34.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16367" CreationDate="2017-02-13T01:46:59.563" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Rebecca RVT's excellent suggestions, I would recommend almost any container or packing materials.Cats are notorious for their love of boxes!I can say without hesitation, my many cats over the years have virtually always chosen &quot;free&quot; cat toys like boxes or any kind of ball-of-something; paper, foil, string and anything they can bat around over expensive cat amusements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite solution for an active, young cat: A cardboard box, the corrugated packing material (for scratching), a ball of paper and any high place they can easily access. Everywhere I've lived, I've always added some carpeted shelves above the fray where my kitties could feel safe and &quot;hunter-y.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all, make certain he has access to attention, affection and somewhere to be &quot;above it all.&quot; Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T01:46:59.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-10T08:03:36.960" Score="8" ViewCount="1282" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat catches a lot of mice and birds.  It always leaves the heart, perfectly intact. My question is, what about the tails of the mice, the feathers of the birds? I sometimes find some feathers but never all of them. Does the cat eat it, and why does it leave the heart?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="susan" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-16T14:13:38.620" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T03:22:15.340" Title="Why does my cat not eat the hearts of its prey?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-13T09:48:03.237" Score="4" ViewCount="1013" Body="&lt;p&gt;I struggle getting Atopica liquid into my cat so my vet game me the capsules for dogs, but I read on the package it only meant to be used for dogs.  Is it safe for my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8881" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-13T13:18:34.707" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T13:26:22.450" Title="Can Atopica capsules for dogs be given to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-13T10:30:46.273" Score="6" ViewCount="3224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know Great Pyrenees are known to be very stubborn with the recall and can rarely be trusted off leash. If you've successfully done this, how did you do it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people have used e-collars effectively but I wonder if they have a chance of working on a Great Pyrenees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8882" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T16:45:59.040" LastActivityDate="2018-02-09T11:03:58.313" Title="How can I train a Great Pyrenees to come back when off leash?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recall&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16378" CreationDate="2017-02-13T13:21:19.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is safe, it's the exact same drug only difference is cats have liquid form whereas dogs have capsules/tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People tend to find it easier to give liquids vs pills to cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more peace of mind than from an internet stranger you can give the company a call and talk to their staff 1-888-545-5973 (US Elanco) &#xA;Website - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.elanco.us/contact-us/default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.elanco.us/contact-us/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-02-13T13:26:22.450" LastActivityDate="2017-02-13T13:26:22.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16389" CreationDate="2017-02-13T15:57:20.637" Score="2" ViewCount="1784" Body="&lt;p&gt;On occasion, my Boston Terrier will snort very heavily, usually only for about 20 seconds.  Its very loud, and it sounds kind of like there is a lot of snot in his nose when he does it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone once told me that &quot;smushed face&quot; dogs such as a Boston Terrier or French Bulldog do this.  But why?  I'm not concerned that its affecting his breathing or anything (he's done it for years I'm told), but why do these kind of dogs do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-13T16:16:25.837" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T14:24:49.557" Title="Why does my Boston Terrier snort heavily at times?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-14T01:43:43.680" Score="3" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;My beardie has had a few shriveled up looking scales on his stomach for a little while, at first it was just one or two but now there are significantly more, and they've spread to his arms too. I'm not sure if they're tender or not, he doesn't usually like having his legs brush when bathing (I use a soft bristled toothbrush) but it seemed like he was jerking back more this time than usual. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what this is or if it's something to be worried about? &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EutYw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zbRgD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8885" LastActivityDate="2017-11-25T17:54:11.737" Title="Shriveled scales on arms and stomach?" Tags="&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-14T02:55:41.027" Score="1" ViewCount="34927" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that when I'm in bed my puppy will lay in my arms or next to me; and then all of a sudden he walks up on me lays on my shoulder, and puts his face in my neck and goes to sleep. I don't know if it's his way of cuddling, if he just prefers the heat, or if it's his way of showing dominance of me to his brother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8886" LastEditorUserId="8886" LastEditDate="2017-02-14T03:16:29.800" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T11:03:28.653" Title="Why does my puppy like to put his face in my neck when he sleeps?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16395" CreationDate="2017-02-14T06:26:57.007" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently noticed that my pets (indoor rabbit and a parakeet) almost always eat at the moment I start eating my breakfast or dinner. I was wondering, is there a reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8888" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T12:54:23.513" Title="Why do my pets eat at the same time I eat?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16383" CreationDate="2017-02-14T06:57:20.123" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like trying to get close and &quot;cuddling&quot;. Also this way the puppy immediately notices when you're trying to leave. I wouldn't try to interpret too much into this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dogs usually rest their head on my lap or shoulder when they want to beg for something, which might also be something here: &quot;Hey, get up!&quot; Just biting or pulling might not be an option out of respect. They'd just idle and wait patiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I don't think it's something about dominance. Puppies usually don't care and they start the whole dominance thing and trying to find their place in the pack by playing and toying around. You'll notice when it starts. It won't just happen by putting their head on you. That's far too calm to be honest. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2017-02-14T19:53:41.503" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T19:53:41.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16381" CreationDate="2017-02-14T14:24:49.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachycephalic_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachycephalic_syndrome&lt;/a&gt; explains the anatomical reasons why a brachycephalic (aka &quot;Smushed-face) dog has more difficulty breathing than a dog with a typical skull structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are four different anatomical abnormalities that contribute to the disease, all of which occur more commonly in brachycephalic breeds: an elongated soft palate, stenotic nares, a hypoplastic trachea, and everted laryngeal saccules (a condition which occurs secondarily to the other abnormalities). Because all of these components make it more difficult to breathe, in situations of exercise, stress, or heat, an animal with these abnormalities may be unable to take deep or fast enough breaths to blow off carbon dioxide. This leads to distress and further increases respiratory rate and heart rate, creating a vicious circle that can quickly lead to a life-threatening situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs experiencing a crisis situation due to brachycephalic syndrome&#xA;  typically benefit from oxygen, cool temperatures, sedatives, and in&#xA;  some cases more advanced medical intervention including intubation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this article describes the extreme problems that may occur, your dog may have a milder form of some of the abnormalities that cause the snorting. You should just be aware that things can escalate, and take that in consideration when the dog is exercising, or the weather is extremely hot, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T14:24:49.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-14T16:08:34.713" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16239/is-it-normal-for-a-feral-cat-to-let-me-pet-him-her&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; about a cat in our house yard. Every morning at 7am, I feed her. Is it possible for a human to get a disease from a cat? I wash my hands everytime after petting her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Is it risky for me to give her a bath? Now she don't mind closing the door and setting inside my house. By the way, she is very funny, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/p/BQcsDMBB36l/?taken-by=shadeed9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is a video of her playing :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8770" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-02-14T16:08:34.713" Title="Is it possible for a human to get a disease from a feral cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-02-14T19:11:34.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-14T22:51:10.343" Score="4" ViewCount="723" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two platys that look pregnant. I know that they have a square belly and a black spot on their rear end. &#xA;One seems to have been pregnant for ages and just notice signs of the black spot on the other.  How long are they pregnant for? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DFrpE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DFrpE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8892" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T14:19:32.673" Title="Pregnant platies" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16392" CreationDate="2017-02-15T01:15:41.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Platys are pregnant for about 4 weeks, be sure to add lots of plants for the fry to hide as the parents and other fish will try to eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also purchase a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/fish/supplies/aquarium-maintenance/breeders/top-fin-aquarium-mesh-breeder-16800.html?cgid=300086&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mesh breeder&lt;/a&gt; to keep them safe as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T01:15:41.413" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16386" CreationDate="2017-02-15T12:54:23.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have pets that graze throughout the day thus having higher chances of eating at the same time as you. It makes sense for them to be hungry first thing in the morning as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 3 parrots that do everything simultaneously - eat, groom, sleep and get scared. It's internal clockwork and flock mentality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-15T12:54:23.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-15T15:32:15.043" Score="6" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up with family cats and come from a family of cat lovers so have been around cats for a long time. However, recently my grandmother died and I offered to adopt her 10 year old tomcat, Ned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cousin also offered to adopt the cat, and as adopting him would have required me to ask permission from my landlady and possibly pay extra rent, I let her take him. However a week later, she asked if I could have him instead as she found she was severely allergic. I said yes, after getting permission from our landlady.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you're supposed to keep cats in for two weeks, but I really can't overstate how well he has adapted to living with us in such a short amount of time. From his first few hours with us on Sunday evening, he was curiously exploring the house, getting his belly rubbed, getting comfortable. We woke up to find he'd used the litter tray with no problems and is eating healthily. He's slept on our bed with us and sits on our laps most evenings while we watch TV. He's a fussy, affectionate old thing and he often follows you round the house while you're doing chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During his brief tenure at my cousin's house, she said he was 'hiding' from her 6 year old son a lot, and it sounds like he was a lot more timid there than he is here, which is a good sign for us I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like most cats he loves looking out of the window, and sometimes he cries to go out of the house by the back door, but whenever we slip out of the back door to go outside, he doesn't make a break for it. He clearly wants to explore our small, fairly enclosed back garden but doesn't seem like he wants to escape!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much leeway is there with this 2 week incubation date? Does anyone have any stories of letting a cat out earlier - accidentally or not - and is there anything I should know if I decide to let him out early? Or despite all the good signs is this a straight up bad idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-31T19:50:35.397" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:20:43.607" Title="How long should I keep a well-adjusted cat in?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16396" CreationDate="2017-02-15T19:20:56.017" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats should be kept indoors or have an &lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f0/0f/71/f00f717c56ebcbd7fde9c7071da2f987.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;outdoor cat pen&lt;/a&gt; to keep him and the wildlife safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are making many species of birds, lizards and some turtles go extinct. You will also have the risk of him getting lost (a microchip will help if he is found by someone else) or killed by bigger predators (foxes, eagles, coyotes etc.) and vehicles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to leash your cat, be sure he is supervised at all times. If a predator is around, he won't be able to escape. We've had a few cats get swooped up by hawks in the area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also add that if you decide to let him out, please have him fully vaccinated for &lt;a href=&quot;http://aspengrovevet.com/feline-viral-rhinotracheitis-fvrcp-herpes-virus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FVRCP&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://aspengrovevet.com/feline-leukemia-virus-felv/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leukemia&lt;/a&gt; and Rabies as well as giving him a monthly flea + dewormer that will cover tapeworms (as well as others, but not all anti-parasitics treat tapes). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-02-16T13:11:23.863" LastActivityDate="2017-02-16T13:11:23.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16399" CreationDate="2017-02-15T21:15:32.290" Score="6" ViewCount="19683" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading up on a lot of forums about how cats need wet food, I have tried to feed my cat wet food from about November until recently (February). I don't try every day, more like every once in a while when I go to the store, I try a different brand and have even tried one or two off Amazon. I've tried just a small dollop in his normal food, I've tried just wet food without his food, and I've tried a mixture of both evenly and nothing worked. He hasn't touched wet food any time that I've tried this. When I mix he will leave the whole thing, and when I put dried food on top he will eat it off and around the wet food but not touch the wet food at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should mention I have a scheduled feeding time and amount and I have only tried an evening time for the wet food. I keep him on poultry for the most part but with the wet food I've tried even branching to salmon as a 4th ingredient. His dry food is chicken and turkey based and he eats fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He drinks a decent amount of water when I am home. Sometimes I'll hear him drinking randomly in the evening, and every morning after I shower he jumps in right after I get out and licks the floor of the shower for a little bit. I could shower right after he drinks from his bowl and this will still happen so it's not like he is dying of dehydration (from what I can tell). His coat is really nice, and I'm taking him on a checkup soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if this is a problem? Should I keep trying different wet foods or should I give up? Is there a specific process to transition? Is there a specific temperature or way to serve the food that makes a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T05:13:21.067" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T05:13:30.313" Title="My cat refuses to eat any wet food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16398" CreationDate="2017-02-15T22:19:49.600" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats may never enjoy wet food, sadly. It's always good to introduce new types of foods when young. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats' taste depend on a few things, most importantly texture and smell. The smellier the better! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats like chunks and gravy type of wet food while others would prefer the pate texture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smell is factor #1: they don't have a very good sense of taste like us so they rely more on how smelly it is. Warming up his food in the microwave will help with enhancing the smell. Be sure to mix it well and that it's not too hot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get more water into him if he refuses wet food, add water to his dry (remove food after 1 hour to prevent mold and bacterial growth) and buy a kitty water fountain. Cats prefer running water, so a fountain is handy, though not all cats like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our go-to food for fussy can eaters at the clinic is Purina Veterinary Diet Essential Care, for whatever reason cats go nuts for it. It's a running joke for it to be called &quot;kitty crack&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps a little. I'll add more things if I think of any. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T05:13:30.313" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T05:13:30.313" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="197" CreationDate="2017-02-16T19:23:43.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this post resurrected and I want to put in a resource I found. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mite Eradication 101:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Permethrin&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Permethrin comes in many forms - Provent-A-Mite (PAM), NIX/RID head lice treatment, Permethrin-10 from a livestock supply store, etc. Once mixed with water its half life is 30 days if kept out of direct sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PAM has several advantages. It has been tested for use with reptiles, and it comes ready to use. The disadvantages are that it's expensive and most reptile stores don't have it in stock, so you have to wait for it to be shipped to you if you don't have any on hand. Meanwhile the mites are busy feeding and breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NIX/RID is cheaper than PAM and is readily available at WalMart, CVS, and other drug stores. It is also easy to dilute: mix one two ounce (59 ml) bottle of the cream rinse with one gallon of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a dollar per ounce Permethrin-10 is the cheapest of the three options; one eight ounce (230g) bottle will make 240 gallons (910 liters) of solution, as only 6 milliliters of it are needed per gallon (3.78 l) of water to make an effective mite spray. The upside is that if you have a lot of snakes to treat this will do it very economically. The downside is that it's all too easy to make too strong of a permethrin solution which can seriously injure or kill your snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter which product you use, it must be used correctly. I've never applied any permethrin product directly onto my snakes as it's not needed for mite treatment, and permethrin poisoning in a snake can cause irreversible neurological damage or death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Permethrin use: spray the enclosure, paper substrate, and hides with the diluted solution or PAM. DO NOT SPRAY THE WATER BOWL. Allow everything to dry completely before returning your snake to its home. Also keep a supply of treated and dried newspaper or paper towels and treated hides available so that when a snake makes a mess, you replace the soiled paper and hides with treated ones. Treat the enclosure every two to three weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reptile Spray&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptile Spray kills mites on contact while wet, once it dries it loses its effectiveness pretty quickly. Reptile Spray is a solution of salts rather than an insecticide; it kills mites by dehydrating them. I don't spray the snakes as more ends up on the floor than on the snake. Instead, I spray a white paper towel with it and wipe it on the snake. That way you get even coverage on the snake, you can work it into the area under their chin really well as that's a favorite hiding place for mites, you don't stress out your snake, and you can look for mites on the paper towel to see how quickly they're being eradicated. Apply twice a week. Note - this stuff hurts like h*** in an open wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hot Shot No-Pest Strips&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people take a Hot Shot No-Pest strip, cut it into pieces, put each piece into a small sealed container, poke some holes in the container, and put each container into the snake's enclosure. I've used the No-Pest strip but I just hang it in the snake room and close the door. Either way is effective, especially if you have a major outbreak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do use it, remove the water bowls as the insecticide is strongly attracted to water and you don't want the snake drinking it. After 24 hours remove the strip (or pieces), put them into an airtight container for future use, air out the room, and put the water bowls back. Repeat treatment weekly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important! If you also keep tarantulas, feeder roaches/dubias, crickets, etc. do not use the No-Pest Strip as it can kill them too!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mild Dish Soap&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One or two drops of mild dish detergent in your snake's bath water will break the surface tension and prevent mites from floating in the water so they drown. No more than that is needed, your snake should not look like it is taking a bubble bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Heat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't laugh, but a temperature of 135 °F (57 °C) for five seconds will kill mites and the eggs. I purchased a heat gun used for stripping paint that can be set to blow hot air from 180 °F through 1200 °F (82 °C through 650 °C). Using the heat gun and a temperature gun I heated the surfaces and crevices of my racks and enclosures to kill off any mite eggs that may have been laid outside the tubs. Don't get your enclosure surfaces and joined/glued areas too hot or you can damage them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mite treatment should continue for 30 days after you stop finding mites on your snake, as an egg can take that long to hatch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;FINAL NOTE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effective quarantine means that you treat every new arrival as if it has mites, and new snakes are kept as far away from your established collection as possible for at least 90 days. I treat the quarantine enclosure, hides, and paper with permethrin a day or so before the new snake arrives, and I wipe it with a paper towel soaked in Reptile Spray as part of my inspection process when it comes out of the shipping box. If it has mites I will know it within a day or two at most. This also goes for snakes from &quot;trusted&quot; sources, my first mite outbreak ever came from someone I trusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?244084-purchased-snake-with-mites&amp;amp;highlight=mites&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Copied from ball-pythons.net&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple notes on this. &#xA;I wouldn't recommend the chemical treatments he says unless the mite outbreak is really bad. It seems that yours is just beginning so I would first try the bleach the cage and soap water or betadine strategy. Only in dire circumstances should you risk exposing your snake to chemicals. The reptile spray is probably fine too, but remember the salt will also dry out your snake's skin too. There is also a strategy of catching mites on a surface outside the cage of putting upside down or double-sided tape in a circle around it to see if you can grab any trying to escape or just exploring. As I mentioned in comments, you should clean out all substrate immediately and after bleaching and after the fumes evaporate you should put paper towels to cover the bottom to make it so you can clean the cage easily and so you can see mites easier. Remember not to use water bowls in presence of chemicals and to keep the treatments up for more than 30 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for reviving this dead post, but there are always mite questions and it is good to know a few other solutions if the betadine doesn't work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T17:39:40.533" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:39:40.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18254" CreationDate="2017-02-16T20:28:26.063" Score="7" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog has an ISO standard microchip implanted in Hungary according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dvc.services/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This transponder has a country code according to ISO 3166 from&#xA;  Hungary, the manufacturer is &quot;Felixcan S.L.&quot; and the product is&#xA;  granted as injectable. The transponder is ISO conform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2013 she had a rabies vaccination in Hungary, and this is visible in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petvetdata.hu/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;hungarian database&lt;/a&gt;. After we moved with her to the UK. This year we are travelling again so she got a vaccination in the UK on the 1st of February. We got the stamp in her passport, and have been told that the microchip has been updated. Now I am trying to check the public online databases and I don't see the recent update. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.carodog.eu/identification-and-registration/#natdat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;From here I found out&lt;/a&gt; that every country has its own database(s). UK has the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petlog.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petlog&lt;/a&gt;, that one knows nothing about our microchip. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmaxx.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This very nice page&lt;/a&gt; queries almost all local databases, and it finds nothing, although tells the UK database has some communication issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the UK clinic we had the rabies vaccination I could only talk to the receptionist so far, and she could not help. I am worried and want to be sure that we can cross the border with no problem. What is the best way to find this out? Also this brings up a more generic question: how this whole system works? If the Vet inputs data, where it will be recorded, how these databases exchange data between each other, how the international database Europetnet collects the data, and how often? And how the border authorities check the database? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8899" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T16:38:53.613" Title="Microchips: which national database hosts the record if the pet moved between countries?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17712" CreationDate="2017-02-16T23:11:12.513" Score="6" ViewCount="6218" Body="&lt;p&gt;The typical differences given between maine coon, ragdoll, and ragamuffin cats are somewhat vague, and also sometimes involve knowing the cat well enough to be familiar with its disposition. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://cats.petbreeds.com/compare/8-12-25/Ragamuffin-vs-Maine-Coon-vs-Ragdoll&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://cats.petbreeds.com/compare/8-12-25/Ragamuffin-vs-Maine-Coon-vs-Ragdoll&lt;/a&gt; (which is pretty representative of what I've gathered browsing forums, too), these cats share a lot in common. Personality-wise there just isn't enough to go on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maine coon: Gentle, independent, intelligent. Lap cat. Good with everybody.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ragdoll: Friendly, gentle, quiet. Lap cat. Good with everybody.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ragamuffin: Affectionate, friendly, gentle. Lap cat. Good with everybody.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physically there's a bunch of fuzzy stuff, like life-span, heart defect risks (HCM in maine coons and ragdolls), etc. All three breeds allow for a wide variety of colorings. Most confusingly, maine coons seem to have a reputation for being a rather large breed, but petbreeds.com actually lists the typical max weights of ragdolls and ragamuffins as higher (20lb vs 15lb maine coon). So, also, not enough to go on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same deal with photographs. A lot of sites have a picture of a &quot;typical&quot; cat of a certain breed but appearances vary greatly. Even just looking at image search results for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=maine%20coon&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;maine coon&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=ragdoll&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ragdoll&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=ragamuffin&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ragamuffin&lt;/a&gt;, there is significant overlap, especially as you scroll further down the result list, or if you add a coloring (for example, add &quot;tuxedo&quot; to each of those searches).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, all of the above has a lot of variance. It becomes especially difficult when the cat is not purebred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find the commonly listed physical and personality differences to be non-specific and unsatisfactory, so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there any typical physical differences that can be used to quickly get at least a decent guess of which of these three breeds an adult cat is?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular: &lt;em&gt;facial features and proportions, eye colors, jaw/teeth, head/ear shape, skeletal structure, tail, legs and paws&lt;/em&gt;? (For example, this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/royal-canin-ragdoll-dry-cat-food-7/dp/55298&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ragdoll-specific food&lt;/a&gt; mentions &quot;the Ragdoll cat's broad jaw&quot;, a trait generally not mentioned in forums or breed comparison sites.) I am specifically looking for some info beyond the standard &quot;my ragdoll is the sweetest little guy&quot;. Journals and academic sources welcome but certainly not required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am more interested in identifying adult/senior cats than kittens, although I certainly wouldn't turn away any kitten identification info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T16:32:27.590" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T16:32:27.590" Title="Identifying maine coon vs. ragdoll vs. ragamuffin" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1236" CreationDate="2017-02-17T17:14:17.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ferrets get along great with our 3 cats and dog. With hamsters they go into instant feral mode. I advise early introductions. They do not require constant attention, but daily exercise for at least an hour and a half, and a good diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8901" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:17:58.373" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:17:58.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16403" CreationDate="2017-02-17T20:16:14.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it goes floppy-limp when you pick it up it's probably at least part ragdoll, though it may just be exceptionally used to being handled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But realistically, unless you know it's breeding history you can't claim that it is of any particular breed. Most cats, like most dogs, are mutts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-02-17T20:16:14.607" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16417" CreationDate="2017-02-17T21:03:09.473" Score="4" ViewCount="923" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, 3 years old, female, spayed, mutt, indoor only, otherwise healthy and active who has been drooling excessively (a small bead on each corner of her mouth at any given time, small puddles when sleeping) for 2-3 days with no other changes (behavior, appetite, breathing, litter box, no change). She has no history of illness, and her only odd lifelong behavior is a strange love of playing in and drinking water (since she was 2 weeks old, so heavy water consumption is not a change for her) .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I would take her to the vet for a dental exam as a first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, at the moment, I am extremely short on funds, and would rather not make a trip to the vet unless there's nothing I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: Under the assumption that it is not a life threatening condition (it at least does not appear to be urgent), what easy things can I check for on my own at home that also have solutions that I can try myself before taking her to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2017-02-22T19:01:59.593" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T19:01:59.593" Title="Initial steps to correct cat's excessive drooling" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-18T02:21:16.870" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;Within the past week we took in a large, very large, lab mix. We have a Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler mix already and another dog, a beagle. Our Australian Shepherd is antisocial with any dog but our beagle. This lab was chasing cars, etc. and getting out of his owner's yard, coming to our yard frequently. The owner did not want this lab anymore and was going to put it at an oil field site to die, pretty much. So we took the lab in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is nothing but stress in our house. We joined the three dogs after a week: the beagle, Shepherd and lab. Our Shepherd is scared AND attacks, and the lab attacks. Both Shepherd and lab fight. I don't want to rehome the lab, we need help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this going to work, or do we have to find options to rehome the lab?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8905" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:41:23.053" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:41:23.053" Title="Aggression between dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-18T10:44:57.360" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I scratch around my cats spine, he immediatly starts licking the air.As my vet said, this is obvious sign of a flea allergy. Advantix multi was the solution, as two days later, and for the entire time he was on the medication, he did not react this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cats do, he got older and the same treatment does not have the same effect. He seems to still be affected by the dermatitis at his older age. Is this common?  He is on a high dose and can't go higher. Is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8906" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T19:36:26.843" Title="Old cat flea allergy dermatitis." Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16409" CreationDate="2017-02-18T14:21:57.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to try a new topical flea medication. Advantage stopped working for my cat and I switched to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.comfortis.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Comfortis&lt;/a&gt; which has continued to work really well for the past 2 years. Brushing your cat will also help and he may enjoy the extra attention. If his skin is flaky, you can make a solution of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tatcha.com/tatcha-institute/colloidal-oatmeal-benefits-for-the-skin/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;colloidal oatmeal&lt;/a&gt; in a basin of warm water. Soak a piece of old tee-shirt in the solution and wipe down his coat, rinsing out the rag often in clean, warm water and then dunking it again in the oatmeal solution. Try to get down to his skin and remove any flaky patches with the wipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat tolerates this well as long as the wipe is not too wet, just damp. You needn't rinse and it's safe for him to lick his coat afterward. There are a number of treatments and supplements you can look into if the situation doesn't improve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-18T14:21:57.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-18T16:07:05.757" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;He threw up twice in 7 hours, it looked like his wet food and one of his whole treats. He plays and runs around like normal. He has been purring a whole lot as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He ate his dry food from the slow release toy, but hasn't eaten more wet food. I saw him drink a bunch of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8908" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T20:27:22.733" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T21:24:59.010" Title="7 month old cat throws up wet food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16406" CreationDate="2017-02-18T19:03:46.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmmm. I would take her to the vet. Since funds are tight, do some internet research to find low-cost vets in your area. There are many resources for people on limited incomes with pets. You might also try homeless resources in you area--since many homeless people have pets, there are some very good vets who serve the homeless community who may be willing to work with your financial limits. With some research, I'll bet you can find someone to work within your budget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-18T19:03:46.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5883" CreationDate="2017-02-18T23:16:27.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All good advice. Bottom line: Vet visit ASAP. She is in pain and if untreated, everyday her condition is almost certainly worsening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T13:58:18.587" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T13:58:18.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15359" CreationDate="2017-02-18T23:26:52.847" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only two thoughts I had (boiling or baking, both which will heat the inside of the shaft as well as the outside) are both confirmed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://ourpastimes.com/sterilize-feathers-8589343.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, which states (edited for formatting):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dry Heat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn oven to 230 degrees Fahrenheit (110 degrees Celsius).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place feathers 4 inches apart on a cookie sheet. This allows hot air to circulate freely around each feather.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bake for two and a half hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove from oven to cool.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Boiling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place feathers in a saucepan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add water to cover the feathers and be 1 inch above them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heat the water on high heat until it bubbles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boil for 20 minutes. Some fungus spores may survive this treatment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reshape the feathers gently with your fingers. Their fibers will compress from the boiling action.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling step 5 is obviously only really relevant to crafting. In any case, heat sterilization doesn't involve chemicals and should treat the inside as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heat sterilization is a common technique. Note that &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_heat_sterilization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dry heat sterilization&lt;/a&gt;, according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/Disinfection_Sterilization/13_10otherSterilizationMethods.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the CDC&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common time-temperature relationships for sterilization with hot air sterilizers are 170 °C (340 °F) for 60 minutes, 160 °C (320 °F) for 120 minutes, and 150 °C (300 °F) for 150 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you want to go by the CDC you might try baking at 300 °F or higher, but monitor carefully as I do not know at what temperature feathers would begin to melt or burn. I believe dry heat sterilization is generally done by blowing hot air, so if you do not have a convection oven you may want to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/articles/detail/convection-cooking-adjustments&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;increase the baking time and/or temperature slightly&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 230 °F baking / 212 °F boiling temperatures from that site are a bit low, although I am not familiar enough to give you any real solid info on what those temperatures kill and what survives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That said&lt;/em&gt;, some obligatory disclaimers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no scientific information backing the end results of feather sterilization through these processes. Even the &lt;a href=&quot;http://apps.who.int/phint/pdf/b/Jb.7.5.9.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WHO mentions&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Since the achievement of the absolute state of sterility cannot be demonstrated, the sterility of a pharmaceutical preparation can be defined only in terms of probability.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no idea if feathers release anything toxic when heated, although my gut says no, I am not sure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no idea if instrument / pharmaceutical sterilization techniques are appropriate for feathers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd still be worried about feathers as a choking hazard, regardless of how clean they are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really I'd just get your cat a nice fluffy toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T20:41:53.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16406" CreationDate="2017-02-18T23:51:45.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A drooly cat should be seen by a vet, since she is otherwise acting normal do it at your earliest convenience. There are low-cost vet clinics that you can check-out, there are also lines of credit you can get access to (ex. Petcard in Canada) and some clinics will do payment plans. Usually a drooling cat can be cause by a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) A painful mouth - ulcers, cuts, teeth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Nausea (excessively licking lips is also a sign of nausea)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) A bad smell - if a cat REALLY hates the smell of something they will drool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Really excited - Some cats will drool in a time of excitement, my co-workers cat would start drooling as soon as you started to pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, call your local clinics and ask for prices, if they do payment plans or if they can recommend a company that will give you an instant line of credit for pet care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another place you can try is the SPCA, some of them have veterinarians on staff who can do exams for free/discount for low-income families.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-02-18T23:51:45.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16411" CreationDate="2017-02-19T00:02:43.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on him! He might be having an off day. If you notice in the next couple of days that he's eating/drinking significantly less or that he's losing weight (weigh him daily if you can until you're no longer concerned) then bring him in for a checkup. Take note that 1-2 lbs. is quite a bit of weight for a cat to lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is that if a cat throws up multiple times in a month, there is something wrong, whether it be dietary allergies or eating too much fur. Some people will think it's normal for cats to vomit on occasion, but it is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T21:24:59.010" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T21:24:59.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-19T04:26:29.967" Score="4" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a four year old brother/sister. Izze &amp;amp; Bella. Ive had since kittens. Lovely, sweet indoor cats, they play, wrestle, small 8 lb cats. Izze was the perfect male cat, he was in love with me, fetched, a just a joy. Bella sits and observes mostly, a cuddly cat but gets crabby at times toward her brother, but both, wonderful cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last July my boyfriend was murdered in his home. He had 2 dogs and 3 cats. Long story, but the dogs were locked in a room till they died and the 3 cats fended for themselves for a month till rescued. Lots of violence was going on during that time, not to the cats, we don't think. Traumatic regardless. All 3 cats were adopted together as kittens and are 12 years old. Lived all their lives in that home with the dogs. All indoor cats. In July 2016, two cats were adopted together by a friend. The 3rd cat, I took home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patches is the new cat in the home. She is 12 lbs. She's a bit jumpy, hears every noise and is rather vocal. Mine, not so much. She's a lover but more dog-like, she pushes hard when being pet, even aggressively so with little nips to make you continue and likes to climb on my chest or lay on top of me when on my side. She eats like a dog. My two are slow, she gobbles and stalks their bowls waiting for leftovers. Mine used to take hours for wet food. No rush, no stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All 3 are fine together when begging for food. I can pet 2 at a time, if I'm there between them. Sometimes all 3 will sleep on a bed, but not near each other. There are 3 perches in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now, since Patches, Izze, my male, 8 pounder gets in.a stalking mood and looks at Patches in an evil way. He chases, she runs, turns, hisses, screams and if they start hitting (all front claw declawed), Bella leaps in to defend her brother and she's a brute! Patches and Bella alone are cordial, but growl at each other sometime. They never go after each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats never peed on carpets or floors before. Now Izze, my perfect cat, is peeing somewhere almost daily. I have 4 litter boxes, 2 up and 2 down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been 6 months. I do not know how to get Izze to stop stalking and harassing Patches. I've used water, loud noises. It stops them in the moment but sometimes I'm not quick enough. The peeing is destroying my home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was in tears tonight, will this ever end? I think it's all territorial dominance but not sure what to do now. I live in a 2 bedroom townhouse, 1700 Sq ft. As I said, they are all indoor cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I let them fight it out? Do I lock Izze away when he starts stalking? Do I keep spraying them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas? Patches has been thru so much and so have I. I can't get rid of her, but we are all so stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8911" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T09:18:25.677" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T09:18:25.677" Title="Older, larger cat introduced after tragedy...Not going well. HELP!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16420" CreationDate="2017-02-19T09:03:44.637" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separate them, quarantine the new cat in a limited area (one room, eg) and re-introduce gradually. There are good resources on the web for this, including at least one YouTube video series spanning several weeks and explaining what the cats' interactions and body language are saying about their progress in tolerating/trusting each other. Note that it may take a long time for them to stop hissing at each other; you will be doing well if after a few weeks  they settle for that and an occasional swipe if the other gets too near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to give the established cats lots of attention to reassure them that this is still their territory and you are still their people despite the interloper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is going to take a sustained effort on your part. It may be easier to re-home the new cat elsewhere .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T09:03:44.637" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16420" CreationDate="2017-02-19T16:54:46.780" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While 4 litter boxes for three cats should in theory be sufficient, it may be beneficial to temporarily add some extra litter boxes. I suspect that Izze is avoiding the litter boxes because he is afraid of being ambushed; so an uncovered litter box that allows him to see his surroundings may be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might consider feeding Peaches in a separate room so that Izze and Bella can eat in peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look around the house to see if you can rearrange some furniture or add some cat trees to create more &quot;safe passageways&quot;, or add more perches as needed. Imagine you're a cat, and the cat you're nervous around is on the floor. How would you get from, say, the sofa to a water dish or litter box without feeling exposed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The TV series &quot;My Cat from Hell&quot; will give you loads of good advice. You may be able to find episodes on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a feline hormone sold as &quot;Feliway&quot; that is supposed to help cats mellow out. You can purchase it as a diffuser. It may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2017-02-21T18:52:53.517" LastActivityDate="2017-02-21T18:52:53.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-19T17:00:18.497" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dog who is quite a barker – any activity outside of our yard is cause for a loud and often sustained volley of barking. It is driving one of our neighbors crazy, so we've been experimenting with various bark control devices. We've got a dog door and the biggest problem is when our dog is out and we're not at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far we've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Locking the dog door, effective, but the dog loves to sit out in the yard and watch the world go by. Also, it seems mean to ask him to &quot;hold it&quot; for most of the day when one of us can't get home to let him out in the middle of the day. I think it might also make him more excitable and vocal when he is out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sitting with him in the yard and giving him lots of treats when people and dogs go by. It might help, it has definitely improved his recall, but it doesn't seem to be making a significant shift in barking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A citronella spray collar - not sure if it works at all. He might either like the smell or he might be ignoring it. He comes in from barking smelling like a lemon…&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ultrasonic &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01MR485PN&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bird houses&lt;/a&gt; that are supposed to create an unpleasant sound when the dog barks, which is in turn supposed to reduce barking. More than anything we've tried, these seem to be having some effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question(s):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the best placement for these devices? They have a speaker on one side. I assume that they are highly directional. Is there anyway to estimate or measure the &quot;dispersion angle&quot; (is that the right term) of the speaker so that I can visualize the area that is covered?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How sensitive are ultrasonic signals to interference by foliage?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Any other suggestions for effective placement?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T21:44:34.033" Title="Ultrasonic Bark Control" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16408" CreationDate="2017-02-19T18:56:08.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is possibly a very complex problem with various answers. Here's a few ideas for you to think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, as long as this lab is medically ok, it's highly likely the dog needs behaviour replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the previous owner didn't teach the dog about correct behaviour and it sounds to me like so, that needs to be corrected.&#xA;Clearly your other dog knows and is possibly trying to correct that behaviour but failing. Or it is more likely that there is a power struggle between the 2 big dogs. This possibly means your Australian dog has been in charge all along and the top dog position is being challenged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals and need to be lead as well as being told what to do. You need to lead and bring the pack together. If you lead all 3 dogs by being the top dog, they will follow and respect each other if you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have rescued difficult dogs my whole life and I regularly get calls from the local rescue centre to help families with these problems. In my experience, unless there's a medical problem, it's almost always behaviour or lack of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lab is a working dog and needs exactly that. Their brain must be challenged as well as their physicality... like all dogs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a few links for you to look at but I can guarantee that this dog needs training and behaviour control. If you put the effort in, this dog and the others, as well as you will have a relationship you didn't think would exist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-deal-with-bad-dog-behavior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-deal-with-bad-dog-behavior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.co.uk/amp/m.wikihow.com/Stop-a-Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.google.co.uk/amp/m.wikihow.com/Stop-a-Dog&lt;/a&gt;'s-Unwanted-Behavior%3Famp%3D1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best book I ever read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dog-Whisperer-2Nd-Compassionate-Nonviolent/dp/1593375980&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dog-Whisperer-2Nd-Compassionate-Nonviolent/dp/1593375980&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-02-19T19:43:33.840" LastActivityDate="2017-02-19T19:43:33.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15101" CreationDate="2017-02-20T16:18:34.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be allergies. I would consult a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-20T16:18:34.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5689" CreationDate="2017-02-20T19:44:50.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother's cat did this surgery a month ago. Now she is OK but after surgery she went home and starts playing so the hurt opens again and she was almost about dying in the second surgery. She got an infection and doctors decided to cut more the intestine.&#xA;The better you can do and keep you cat closed in a small area, in order not to be allowed to move during the recovery time. I would say around 10-15 days (that's what my brother did the second time). And now Olivia is doing very well. Thanks God.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8922" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-03-15T07:08:33.907" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T07:08:33.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7353" CreationDate="2017-02-21T14:16:22.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have a Birman.  I LOVE the breed and really would like to get another one someday, but I am hesitant.  I bought my cat, Whopper, in 1999.  (It was &quot;the year of the W&quot; and she had been very big for a female kitten.  I had shown up to buy her sister, Whistlepop, but had left with Whopper - my very own fluffy little malted milk ball. =)  When Whopper was about three years old, she developed Lymphocytic-Plasmacytic Gingivitis Stomatitis (LPGS).  My poor, sweet girl had such problems with her mouth.  It was horrible.  I didn't find online at the time that Birmans were susceptible to this, but Persians were, and I’d found a couple different websites where the authors stated that some people believed the Birman breed had a strong influx of Persian in their development.  There is no cure for LPGS.  During my research, I also found that Birmans had an increased susceptibility to develop FIP.  Whopper never got FIP though.  She died in 2006 right before her 7th birthday of kidney disease.  I didn’t realize there was a problem until it showed up in her pre-surgical bloodwork when she went in to get her teeth cleaned.  By then, she was pretty far along in the progression of the disease.  I was heartbroken.  It’s unusual for a 6-year-old cat to get kidney disease.  When I researched the disease in the Birman breed after she was diagnosed, I found that Persians had a high risk of developing kidney disease, and Birmans had a moderate risk.  I cried for over a year after she died.  It was four years before I could think about her without tears coming to my eyes.  We had been very tightly bonded.  I close with some advice for you:  No matter WHAT breed you choose, there WILL be health problems associated with that breed.  Spend lots of time researching the breed and also choosing from the most reputable breeders you can find who test their cats for problems before breeding and breed ONLY for the betterment of the breed.  Be willing to spend more for your kitten.  Testing costs money.  Do your very best to get the best odds for yourself in obtaining the healthiest kitten possible.  I’m sure this is an old question and the person who originally asked it has long since found a kitten for themselves, but I would like to help others who read this in the future.  Save yourself some heartache and do your homework!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8924" LastActivityDate="2017-02-21T14:16:22.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-21T16:42:34.373" Score="2" ViewCount="1329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a leopard gecko which was given to me by someone. Her eyelids seem to have grown closed. I was told it was her shedding that didn't come off correctly and have done as suggested in this case by swabbing the eyes with water and keeping her in humid conditions. No improvement has been marked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did google photos of what retained eye caps look like and hers look much more severe than this, as it seems her eyelids are immobile and stuck on her eyes. She is very healthy otherwise and always eats well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise me on what to do as I would really like to help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AIpB3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AIpB3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8925" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:17:59.417" Title="Leopard gecko's eye problem - eyelids have grown closed" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15970" CreationDate="2017-02-21T22:05:33.093" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess would be a husbandry issue is stressing him somewhat. Look up a caresheet at what temps, humidity, and environment he needs. Im not familiar with turtles so i cant answer more than that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2017-02-21T22:05:33.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-22T09:13:46.440" Score="3" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved to be closer to my sister and her family. My mom had recently passed away and the family needed a change. During this time my sister had fleas in her household. She had a cat, dog and bird. She flea dipped the pets (well not the bird) and they came to stay at my house. During this time, the 15 year old cat, adopted my dad as her cat owner. He was perfect for her needs as she sits around a lot and snuggles and he's available being retired and a chair potato type of personality. Dad and my sister decided that I appeared lonely so I was talked into adopting another cat. Totally different personality. She is two years old and prefers to play, follow, sit on perches not people and just generally be up high. The two cats seem to tolerate each other but are not cuddling or anything like that. They sleep together on the same pieces of furniture or take turns on ones they can't share and have chosen to not even sleep with us but instead with each other on spare beds, chairs and in windows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All is well until morning feeding. I originally fed the cats 7 am and 7 pm. Cleo, the older cat, when she came to live with us alone, loved it. She would just come in my room around 6 am and wait for me to wake up to get fed. Sometimes she would meow at 6:30 but that wasn't too bad anyway. She has dry food offered all the time in my dad's bedroom so I never got the excitement with wet food. Well Annabelle (the younger cat) at first wouldn't eat near Cleo. We fed them in separate rooms. Gradually the two cats moved closer to each other by their choice not mine and now eat side by side. Cleo, the 15 year old cat, loves her food. She will eat her own food then finish off Annabelle's. I've always allowed this to happen as long as Annabelle was done. I saw no harm in Cleo licking the bowl. I'm not sure how Annabelle feels. If the food wasn't finished for some odd reason, I'd put it up high on my dresser for Annabelle to choose to eat later (her dry food is up on my dresser since Cleo doesn't go up high and Annabelle prefers everything up high.). Cleo is on special UTI food and Annabelle is on normal cat food so that is why their dry food is separate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all fine but the problem is morning meal times. The cats will fight before food and they have gradually created an environment that morning meals are now at 4 am instead of 7. They fight until I get up to feed them. No blood occurs or fur removed or anything but instead Cleo comes into my room and stares at me and Annabelle fights with her until I finally just give in and get up and feed them. I can't sleep with two cats fighting. I have looked and it's mostly pawing at each other's faces, sometimes rolling around on the floor but never anything more than that. During the rest of the day they are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, since I do not have a door on my room keeping Cleo out so Annabelle doesn't fight with her, does anyone have any ideas of how to make the morning meal be at 6 or 7 so I can actually sleep at night instead of getting up and feeding them? I care for my grandma full time so sleep is so rare and it's so upsetting to have grandma finally fall asleep at 3 only to be woken up by a hissing cat (the older cat) 20 minutes later.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T23:11:27.590" Title="aggression between two cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-22T10:41:35.907" Score="3" ViewCount="1510" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a betta fish, which I have had for 2 years. A few months ago, my nephew got into its food (which I now keep up high) and dumped it into his tank. I cleaned the tank but not before he ate whatever he could eat. I left him unfed for a few days hoping to let him finish digesting the food that was in his system and recover. That did not work so I tried a dose of &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;. Once again the fish continued to lay on its side and he is still behaving like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has his swim bladder been damaged? Is there something I can do for him to help him recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He still comes up to eat. He's currently in a 5 gallon tank with silk planks, a cave, a water filter, stone gravel and a heater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:54:19.863" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:54:19.863" Title="How do I treat a sideways laying betta fish?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16420" CreationDate="2017-02-22T11:56:55.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat series that Mhwombat is talking about is wonderful. Jackson, the owner of Cat from Hell, suggests shelving, trees, bookcases or anything else that a cat can hide in or around and still get from Point A to Point B and allow them to feel safe. In my house we have a cat tree, followed by a Bay window the cats jump into then some open sided bookcases attached to the wall which they jump down into and walk across the length of the room in to the next bay window then an unused hospital bed where they sleep. There are plants on the level above them in the bookcase to give them privacy. My older cat will use this to get around as the younger cat is prone to bouncing on anything that moves. I also had to remove the bell from around the older cat's collar to make her appear less toy-like to the younger cat. That was causing a ton of issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jackson also does re-introductions of cats which is what Keshlam is talking about. He separates the cats in separate rooms then changes up the cats so that each get used to each other's scents. Then introduces doors to smell the other cat while eating, then seeing the other cat while eating, and gradually has the two cats eating side by side without the door. It's quite amazing to watch. I watched an episode with similar issues where he was using a toy to lure the troubled cat away from the two cats he was battling. Jackson stated that cats need to see toys as toys and cats as companions. The trick is to figure out if it's territorial or just plain aggression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The peeing might be another territorial issue. If the litter boxes are dirty or covered or if the cat feels cornered, they may not use the litter boxes. I know my first night with my two cats together, we had a pooping accident and that was because one cat had cornered another cat and she was unable to get to the litter box feeling very uncomfortable. I also had one cat who would not use a covered box. I introduced an uncovered box and she happily now uses the box. I also had a problem of pee and litter being around the litter box and figured out the sides of the box were just too low for her to keep the pee inside. Simply turning the litter box around so that she was entering and peeing on the higher side fixed that problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't give up on your cats yet. Try a few things and see if you can't figure out a way to make them work. If they are able to lay next to each other without a problem, then it might just be a few tweaks to allow them to peacefully live together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T11:56:55.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16367" CreationDate="2017-02-22T12:20:06.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to chase and bat around those little plastic balls with bells on them. In fact she loves anything that has feathers on it or bells whether it be fake mice or bells or a string toy. She also loves plastic lids or cups. I think she likes the sound they make while on our tile kitchen floor. My cats two favorite toys are a turbo cat scratcher (a circle toy that has a ball that she can bat around and a scratcher circle in the middle that is replaceable. She spends 30 minutes or so playing on it and loves it at night as I replaced the ball with one that glows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one of her favorites is the hot pursuit concealed toy (The cat's meow). I got the idea to buy it for her as she attacks my legs under the blankets. It's a toy that acts just like something moving under a blanket. She simply loves the thing and can spend a good bit of time on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat also has fallen in love with the laser pointer and will even carry it to a person and drop it on their lap (much like a dog does to an owner with their leash). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T12:20:06.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16367" CreationDate="2017-02-22T16:07:06.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think good toys are in the eye of the cat. I have a bunch of bought toys that my cat plays with sometimes (his favorite being a tube looking stuffed animal thing with a feather on the end), but his absolute favorite things to play with are just random things he finds around the house. He loves crumpled receipts and he will find the most random ones to bring to his little stash. He takes pieces of cardboard and even big boxes and bats them around at all (and I mean all) hours of the day. He also steals plastic bags a lot, so I have to either put them up high or cut the handles so he doesn't choke himself. He has a knack for finding little things like twist ties that I accidentally drop, then he stores them for later in places I don't know about or can't reach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is really up to the cat. Personally, the toys I buy are feathered ones because I noticed my cat seems to lick them when I'm not home like he is grooming them. I also get a few of those string toys with fluff on a string attached to a stick that he likes and I like, because those tire my cat out the most. They are pretty easy to absentmindedly wave while watching a movie or something, too. I would suggest just getting a decent amount of different cheap toys and give your cats a &quot;play area&quot; in your house where they can choose what they want to do. If you have an energetic cat, you personally should spend more time exercising it, just like a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:52:37.493" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:37.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16430" CreationDate="2017-02-22T16:23:23.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are really worried, I would take them to an exotic vet. They will be able to tell you for sure if it is a retained eye cap, something like a calcium deposit or a different disorder. They will also be able to give you prescription or normal eye drops for your pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't particularly worried about it, you can try to wait until their next shed and see if it comes off during that shed. A lot of people do that for retained eye caps in snakes. It isn't life threatening if it is a cap, but please note that my experience comes from snakes and it could be different for leopard geckos. If it is still there after the next shed, you should probably take them to a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to keep your humidity at a correct level, to keep them watered, and keep the temperatures correct. Usually if it is a retained eye cap, it will come off normally&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: yours looks fairly bad. I would err on the side of being safe by taking it to a vet. I'm sure all they'll do is give you some drops and call it good (assuming it is an eye cap issue), but it would be good to have the gecko checked to make sure, considering the severity of the case - and especially if you don't know when the last shed was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:10:47.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:10:47.067" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-22T19:49:04.740" Score="1" ViewCount="3895" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat's poop and pee's smell is killing me. It's been over a year since she came to me and I've always cleaned her tray once a week and the smell wasn't bad. But lately I've had to clean her tray three times a week because of the smell. Her poop smells so strong it makes me gag even through her litter box (she has one of those which are covered from all Sides with a flap door thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her pee smells different, I don't know how to explain it, but it's entirely a new smell and also very strong. She's around three years old, female, and hasn't been spayed or neutered (will neuter her very soon). Since she's under weight (around 3.6-4 kgs), I've changed her diet from mostly biscuits (Mera cat food and Brit Care) and sometimes Can food (Brit Care) to mostly canned food (Whiskas) and biscuits (Mera Cat Food). I changed her diet about a month ago but the smelly problem has only started last week. I'm a student and vets around here are very expensive. Can anybody tell me if it's her diet or some serious problem? Thanks in advance❤.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8935" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:16:39.500" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:16:39.500" Title="Cat's poop and pee smell has gotten very strong" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1816" CreationDate="2017-02-22T23:01:45.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, carrots are very high in sugar and should not make up the bulk of a rabbit's diet. If they are given as a meal, it must be in moderation, and I mean moderation, only feed them as a meal twice a month at most. They are better used as an occassional treat, as they are like chocolate to a bunny. What you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; feed them lots of is hay, specifically timothy hay. They also need fresh fruits and vegetables like cabbage and blueberries (which my bunny, Snowball, LOVES). In addition, when you make changes to their diet, do it &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Rapid changes can cause their intestinal flora to change dramatically and most likely lead to &lt;strong&gt;death&lt;/strong&gt;. I learned a lot of this from personal experience, but I did do a lot of research &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; getting my bunny, which sadly few people do these days and the bunnies die because the owners have no idea how to care for them. I would like to say to those owners that this is what they get for not thinking ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8936" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T23:01:45.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16377" CreationDate="2017-02-22T23:07:35.433" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe the hearts are too tough to eat even with their sharp teeth, or maybe they are actually poisonous and therefore inedible. If either is the case, the cat knows, and therefore leaves it alone. As for the feathers, I think they are discarded since they're most likely as useless to the cat as the hearts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8936" LastActivityDate="2017-02-22T23:07:35.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16444" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-23T01:01:05.643" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really need to figure out a way to have my cats live outdoors (6 months old). They're stinking up the whole house. I'm going to buy a cat house on Amazon, but I'm not sure how to keep it warm. I feel bad for those guys being in cold temperatures when they're used to being mostly indoors. Should I try to make it warm and toasty for them? Or is it ok to just give them like a heated pad to lay on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8937" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:53:04.000" Title="How to keep my cats warm in outside cat house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16444" CreationDate="2017-02-23T02:08:16.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, cats are very clean creatures. If there is odor, assuming you mean cat box smells, you need to clean it much more often. Cats don't like the smell either so they may be going outside the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kitten's six months old are too young to be outside unattended.&lt;/strong&gt; There are dangers outside they are not equipped to deal with since they have been inside with humans: Other animals, especially other cats, car traffic (they won't stay in the yard once they acclimate) they can easily get hit by a car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of issues brought up by your inquiry. Are they spayed/neutered? Vaccinated? A heating pad outside is a fire danger and shock hazard for them. It will get wet and they are likely to chew on the cord. &lt;strong&gt;VERY DANGEROUS AND NOT AN OPTION.&lt;/strong&gt; Check back in and let's try to find solutions for you AND the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T02:08:16.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16441" CreationDate="2017-02-23T02:31:05.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You aren't cleaning her litter box often enough. Once a day is really the minimum for her health and to keep down odor. Since you find the odor intolerable, think of how she feels. She has likely picked up a UTI (urinary tract infection) from the dirty litter. She should be seen by a vet in order to check for this or any other malady which brought on the change you now notice. Antibiotics are likely needed. There are low-cost spay/neuter services most places. Check the internet for your area. It is imperative she be spayed ASAP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she's scheduled for the vet (ASAP), you need to completely empty the litter box, clean with soapy water and a scouring pad. Rinse thoroughly with clean water. In a bucket or glass container, add a 1/8 of a cup chlorine bleach to a liter of hot water. Pour this solution into the now clean litter box and slosh it around a few times. Empty the liquid into the sink and rinse the litter box again with warm/hot water. Let air dry or dry thoroughly with paper towels. Refill the box with new litter, remembering to scoop out soiled matter AT LEAST ONCE PER DAY. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T02:31:05.560" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16435" CreationDate="2017-02-23T03:07:33.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fish is most likely still ok. I had a betta fish for about 7 or 8 years, and it almost never moved unless it was eating. Other than that it just floated on its side for pretty much its entire life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8938" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T03:07:33.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16434" CreationDate="2017-02-23T03:15:03.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend trying to ignore them as best they can. As annoying as it is, if they get what they want, and this is how they get it, they will continue. Gradually this will push back their feeding times again. However, breaking up their fights is ok if you see it is necessary. Don't deny them food until 7 AM on the first day, slowly push it back until they realize it's only coming when you want it too. Cats are routine animals, so gradual and gentle changes are best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8939" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T03:15:03.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16377" CreationDate="2017-02-23T03:22:15.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very picky with what they eat. Although hearts have a lot of good nutrients for cats, if a cat doesnt like the texture or taste, it might just reject it. Cats most likely won't eat the feathers or the tails, as they are harder to digest, but might occasionally eat a few. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this is unrelated, and not a current issue for you, it will prevent future stress. Remember to get your cat regularily checked up on by the vet. Mice and birds can carry diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8940" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T03:22:15.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2017-02-23T07:23:44.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel it's important to point out that if you have small dogs like I do (I have 3 and 4 pound Yorkshire Terriers) a hot dog is about the same size as their little throats. They can get stuck in the throat and it could kill your dog. If I'm giving my dogs a treat of hot dogs I cut them up really good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8942" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:18:10.207" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:18:10.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16444" CreationDate="2017-02-23T07:52:40.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with M.Mat, kittens or even cats that are used to inside shouldn't be placed outdoors. Those outside cat houses, some that are heated, are usually used for strays that frequent an area but refuse to go inside due to probably being feral or just afraid of humans. Cats outside are in danger, especially during the cold, wet, and at night.  Even if they manage to be kept safe from outside attackers, cars, and any other dangers in your area, they still have to deal with constant weather elements and as kittens, people usually take them inside to save them from that hard life of a stray. It's never really a good idea to turn a domestic cat into a stray cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the litter box is bothering you, then it might need to be changed more often. I have two cats, one that is prone to UTIs so I find myself scooping my litter every other day rather than waiting the week, like my sister, who has one cat, does. She also has 2 litter boxes for her one cat. I have two litter boxes for two cats. I have them side by side because I notice the cats naturally using one box for poop and the other box mostly for pee. You can choose to spread them out if you would like especially if you notice a room that they are spraying in. Often times cats will pee in the same spot every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you clean the area they marked with a urine remover or bleach everytime they pee to ensure the odor is gone. Cats will remark an area if they smell the urine of themselves or another cat. I, for one, do not like the smell of litter as well which is why I change it more often (it's in the corner of my kitchen so I do not want the smell of litter box to be overpowering the smell of my kitchen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are marking or peeing outside the litter box, it might mean they need changed more often, need more than one litter box (especially with more than one kitten you probably need more than one litter box), or need a litter box with a lid. Some cats do not like to use a litter box with a lid so keep an eye on that problem. I also changed my litter to be clump and seal for multiple cats. I used to use tidy bowl but found the smell of the one cat's stronger smelling urine (which is a side effect of her being on special more acidity food to prevent UTIs), to still be smelled after a day of her using the litter box. My sister likes tidy cat so it's a personal preference I guess. Sometimes a change to multi-cats, or to a different litter can be the answer. Maybe all four changes will help the smell of your house if that is related. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T14:53:04.000" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T14:53:04.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16258" CreationDate="2017-02-23T08:25:24.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs do dream as stated earlier. They will yip and quietly bark in their sleep while dreaming and will move their legs by twitching or to appear as running. It's perfectly normal and just like a human doing the same in their sleep. There's no need to wake them or disturb them. They just are enjoying a good dream of chase or taking a swim. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T08:25:24.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16444" CreationDate="2017-02-23T12:04:00.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, cats 6 months old are too young to live outdoors, so please wait until they are at least one year old. You don't tell where you do live so its not easy to give advice. There is some difference if you are living in the Arctic or in the tropics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is to keep the cat house out of the wind and in a place without direct sun. This means that if the temperature is in the range of minus 5 to plus 30 degree Celsius, cats might have a good life if they are provided water and food in the correct quantity. (I hope it never gets below freezing where you do live, as this is bad for cats and people, I live in Norway and know this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T11:19:13.623" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T11:19:13.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16456" CreationDate="2017-02-23T17:00:32.293" Score="4" ViewCount="1557" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 8 months ago, my wife and I adopted a cat from a shelter. She was about two years old at the time (meaning she's approaching three now). We love her a lot and do what we can to teach her how to be more sociable, but she unfortunately has some bad habits from her life before we adopted her. For context we are in a relatively small apartment, and so I suspect that she gets annoyed with us being close all the time (she usually feels much better after her time outs and goes back to being nice). She is usually nice, and has learned to be ok with us picking her up for a little while, but sometimes her mood seems to swing quickly to being very aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if she gets bored and we aren't paying attention to her at the moment, she will come over and bite us on the leg. Usually not very hard, but sometimes hard enough to break skin. From advise I found online, we normally handle this by firmly telling her no, then going back to what we were doing (so that we don't reinforce that as a way to get attention). If she is then good and doesn't bite anymore, we will go and play with her to relieve the boredom. However, sometimes she decides to keep biting us harder until we have to react (breaking skin and sometimes drawing blood). In those cases we take her into another room (a room with her food, water, and litter box) and close the door for a little while to let her calm down and learn that that isn't acceptable (a time-out of sorts). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, recently, she has sometimes become even more aggressive. When we move her into the other room and put her down, she either runs out quickly (understandable since she doesn't want a time out), or she will attack and really try to hurt us (biting and latching on and scratching). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can live with a few scratches and scars, but I feel that all of us would be better off if she would learn how to communicate without biting. Do you have any suggestions on techniques that could help? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8944" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T12:12:54.100" Title="How to teach an adult cat not to bite" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16455" CreationDate="2017-02-23T17:57:20.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's very likely your cat just has too much energy, and is using that energy in inappropriate ways.  Using normal methods of dissuasion will be less effective if the cat is also being rewarded in some way, like in the case that it's managing to work off its excess energy and boredom by pouncing on you.  So I think in addition to what you are already doing, you need to try to get your cat to play in appropriate ways more.  Get more toys, especially ones the cat can pounce and destroy.  Feather lures are usually good, or maybe laser pointers.  Most cats play only in short bursts and then lose interest, so you may need to try periodic short play sessions during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T17:57:20.517" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16455" CreationDate="2017-02-23T19:19:39.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are not generally social animals like dogs whose behaviour can be modelled to our way of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/14/cats-do-not-need-their-owners-scientists-conclude/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/14/cats-do-not-need-their-owners-scientists-conclude/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is however true that they tolerate us if we feed them and keep them comfortable.... why shouldn't they!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the first answer that your cat has too much energy, especially when you describe the behaviour after his outings. Being out, probably hunting satisfies his instincts and his purpose in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be fooled, cats are hunters and predators. Even if they live together, it's for mutual benefits.... that's how they consider us too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course some are more cuddly than others but if you think about it, always on their terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the biting is not acceptable. There's a trick that I used on puppies and kitten: if you feed the cat by hand, from time to time, he will learn to lick your hand but not bite. If he bites, take the food away. If he licks, give him more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, if he comes to bite, do your negative acceptance from the behaviour and make him lick your hand. Maybe keep something handy around to put on your fingers to reinforce this behaviour replacement therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest more interaction in the house with toys, climbing areas...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T19:19:39.817" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2017-02-23T19:33:55.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with previous answer, some excellent solutions there but you need to think about training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're a parent, a puppy/dog needs to be trained what is the right or wrong behaviour, like a child does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs like routine and boundaries, it gives them a purpose. That purpose is accentuated by teaching basic commands which includes a rest and chill command, especially for a puppy. Kids want to stay up all night but we know they need rest and sometimes have to be told to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for cage training, here is what I tend to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's several ways to train your puppy to use the crate but this is what I did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First make it comfortable with blankets and old duvets. The crate needs to have a blanket over the top, like a roof to simulate den conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to make the puppy understand the above by associating the crate with positive experiences. Food is by far the best reward. Keep the crate open, and lure your puppy closer and closer. Eventually placing a treat in the crate. Repeat several times until the puppy feels comfortable or goes in on its own. A command can be added later. This may have to be repeated several times. If the puppy gets in the crate, getting hugs and fuss in the crate is really useful to emphasise security. I also used to feed my dog in it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to close the door, you can sit next to the crate when your puppy is in until they start sleeping and relaxing. Then I slowly closed the door and stayed there whilst reading, enhancing calmness. Did it several times a day till the closed door didn't bother the dog. Then I start on moving away, a few feet at the time, until I can do anything around the house. Don't go too fast. Don't be afraid to go back a step. The most effective training is for the puppy to work it out with your guidance. Never force a dog to do something, crate should never be associated with negative experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for general training this is what I have always done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My attitude towards dog has always been the same: they are pack animals and need some sort of leadership. Even if people and dog behaviourist have new thoughts on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your choices are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Ignore a bad behaviour, show no interest or emotion once that behaviour occurs(for mild case)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) recognise that the behaviour is bad enough that it needs a &quot;negative&quot; intervention. Basically disagree with the dog and use something simple like:&quot;no!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) is the same as 2) but most effective of all: Start with 2) and then use what's called behaviour replacement therapy. Basically say &quot;no&quot;, I disagree and then replace that behaviour by a command like&quot;sit&quot; followed by a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to decide what's what and how you wish your dog to behave. Positive reinforcement is always best(the third option), however not always possible. This where training comes in. All of the basic commands(sit, stay, down...). This will give you and your dog structure and excellent communication. It's also very rewarding for both of you and will increase your bound. Be sensitive and start small, in a room your dog is comfortable in with few distractions and build from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train a dog, it's like 3). Patience is required. You never force a dog into a behaviour, you let him work it out. Wait for the behaviour and then reward it. There are plenty of books available to help you. Your dog needs a leader. If he doesn't have one, he will be forced to lead and let's face it, being a leader can be stressful and difficult. If a dog hasn't had another older dog show him what to do, he will make it up and it generally turns to aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have always worked with humans. Historically, it's thought that wolves got closer to humans to get an easier meal. In exchange for food and security, they guarded, hunted, herded and so on. These days, they don't work and find it hard to have a purpose. You need to make your dog work for rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rewards is not just food but it is a big part of training(adjust your dogs diet to compensate for treats) but also hugs, cuddles, toys, whatever is going to enrich their life has to be earned and not given for free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a book used by many trainers: &lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81H3RZUhYyL._AC_UL320_SR208,320_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81H3RZUhYyL._AC_UL320_SR208,320_.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also read articles from Cesar Milan the ultimate dog whisperer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-02-23T19:33:55.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-23T21:14:22.857" Score="3" ViewCount="4387" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has had a litter of 5 beautiful kittens; however now they are 4 and a half weeks old and a few have started urinating around my room but only using the litter provided to eat... I don't know what to do&#xA;p.s. The litter is catsan non-clumping litter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8946" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-03-15T07:05:49.410" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T15:49:37.233" Title="My 4 week old kittens are weeing around the room and only using the litter to eat. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16463" CreationDate="2017-02-24T09:26:46.580" Score="6" ViewCount="3771" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the purpose/value of a wet food diet for cats? Why would you want to do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to some recent health issues I've been highly focused on my cats diet, and regularly logging caloric/potassium/B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; intake as well as mass eaten per meal. One thing I noticed is that wet food has an extremely low calorie to mass ratio compared to dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems nearly impossible to meet a cat's caloric intake requirements on wet food alone. For example, a 5.3 oz can of a certain brand of wet food contains only 62 kcal, meaning that a cat would have to eat a whopping 18-20 or so ounces of this stuff to get their daily intake in the 200 kcal area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The four wet foods I have info on here range from 0.735 to 1.245 kcal/g, meaning 160-272g of food that must be consumed per day. That's on or past the upper limit of what I see healthy cats fit in their stomachs in one day (my 3 year old tops out around 200g if she absolutely stuffs herself, but typically eats 180g-190g, my older cat maxes out about 180g, but typically eats 150g-160g). By comparison, the dry food I have on hand is 4.103 kcal/g, meaning only 48g or so must be eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under the assumption that the nutritional content of wet vs dry food is similar and sufficient, I can't imagine a normal cat being able to eat enough wet food to get even close to their daily caloric intake. Both of my cats only get a disturbingly low 130-180 kcal/day when on wet food only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why does wet food exist? For what purpose would you feed your cat wet food? I used to view it as a reasonable alternative to dry food but since I began calorie counting and monitoring diets I can't see a reason to ever feed it to a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only value I can &lt;em&gt;sort of&lt;/em&gt; see in it is if you want to do a wet/dry mix to maintain a healthy caloric intake but also add some mass to the food so the cats aren't walking around on empty stomachs, but I'm not sure if there's any real reason to do that. The other thing is, I wonder if I'm just selecting particularly low calorie wet foods (there seems to be a trend of lower-end cat foods containing higher calorie counts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brands I've examined are Royal Canin, Hill's, Wellness, Iams ProHealth, and various small but respectable brands. Currently I've settled on Royal Canin for both wet and dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(I don't buy the &amp;quot;wet foods help cats get water&amp;quot; line of reasoning so much. While they'll certainly get water from wet food, in my limited personal experience, in a sample of about 20 or so cats,  I've never &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; seen a normal, healthy cat severely dehydrate itself when water is available by not drinking it, and a pet fountain or better placement of a water bowl almost always solves issues there. When a cat isn't drinking water it's seems to virtually always be a sign of an actual bigger health issue. But, in any case, I'm interested in other value besides just water content, and I can't justify watery food with critically low caloric intake.)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T21:53:28.523" LastActivityDate="2020-07-10T03:16:59.310" Title="What is the purpose of wet cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2017-02-24T11:58:02.473" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I offer dry food for both of my cats throughout the day and they certainly do take advantage of it eating it off and on as needed. The wet food I feed one can cut in half twice a day (basically a can a day). I do it so they have breakfast with me and dinner with me. I use it as a snack treat. They simply love it. They are always so excited to see me collect the dishes we use for it and get the spoons together and the two cans of cat food. They watch me as I heat up my water for my oatmeal then put it together knowing their treats are coming. (They also hang out in the kitchen while I cook dinner for the family knowing when I finish and serve everyone, I also serve them). They have memorized their dishes as they are each different and I sit and eat my oatmeal while the two cats eat their half can of cat food. So I personally do not use it as calorie intake or for nutritional value but instead as a bonding and treat opportunity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T11:58:02.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16455" CreationDate="2017-02-24T12:12:54.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who nibbles and will bite but not leave marks while petting her. She is then telling me she needs to play. I'll pick out a few of her favorite toys or sometimes she'll choose one and we will play until she basically drops. Then she picks a spot near me, not on me as she isn't really a lap cat, and will sleep only to start the process later in the day. Sometimes she prefers to play alone, sometimes she just races from one end of the house to the other getting her energy out or sometimes she'll pick up one of her mouse toys and will throw it around to play with it. So it just might be she gets bursts of energy and needs to get it used up before being cuddly again. The other older cat looks for any and all excuses to sit on people and cuddle. She thrives on having a warm lap to sit on and a warm body to lick. There is no biting coming from her or claws being used but instead lots of love. Different cats, different reactions with different needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for treats, I leave her treats on her cat tree until she's ready to eat them. She won't eat out of my hand too but my other cat will eat off my plate or out of my hand without thinking twice. Both were strays so while I think the older cat was a family pet, the younger I'm thinking was discarded and it had something to do with a plastic bag as she's petrified of the sound of plastic bags even after having her for 9 months. I just work around whatever the cat's personality is and go with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T12:12:54.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2017-02-24T17:17:00.477" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;While probably not an exhaustive list of reasons here's some I know of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bonding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @littlemisskitty states there can be significant bonding benefits to the whole process of &quot;food time&quot;, my two both certainly know what it means when I say the magic words! And seeing them seemingly enjoy it does give me a nice warm and fuzzy feeling. Closely related to..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Enjoyment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much as you can ever be sure of these things both of mine seem to &quot;enjoy&quot; their wet food more than the dry and generally we'd all like our pets to be living a &lt;em&gt;happy&lt;/em&gt; life, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Variety in Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats will seek out variety in their diet, and a mixture of wet food plus dry kibble for grazing automatically provides part of that and mixing up the flavours of the wet food helps introduce more while still allowing you to keep them on the one variety of kibble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Monitoring intake&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While your mileage may vary I know with my two that wet food is eaten relatively quickly and in one &quot;sitting&quot; whereas the kibble is grazed at through the day and if you have multiple cats then the grazing behaviour makes it hard to know who has eaten what and when.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Water&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you weren't keen on this reason but (and I appreciate it varies from cat to to cat) but many cats aren't great at drinking &lt;em&gt;enough&lt;/em&gt; water. Many breeds do have quite a low thirst drive as their food sources in the wild (birds, small rodents etc) contain a high water content which they then supplement with occasional drinks of actual water.  As you point out it's very rare for them to severely dehydrate themselves where water is available (barring another medical or behavioural condition of course) but as with humans they should really be drinking &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; they get too thirsty and while this is unlikely to cause immediate issues it can have implications for kidney function in later life and can also contribute to causing UTIs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick side note on the calorie counts in wet food - I wonder if the cheaper brands you looked at were bulking that calorie content out with cereals as it is a cheaper way than adding meat. Cereals/Grains aren't really harmful to your cat per se (unless it has allergies or other digestive issues) but they don't digest them that well and really as obligate-carnivores they should only really be making up 10-20% of their calorie intake that way with the vast majority coming from meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-02-24T17:17:00.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-25T03:45:01.247" Score="3" ViewCount="481" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this dog who has standing ears, and now at almost 10 years old I just noticed the other ear did not have that structural support to stand up anymore. Is there something wrong with the dog or is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zx8cJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zx8cJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8955" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T19:26:41.913" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T19:26:41.913" Title="Why did my dog's ears start to flop?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16471" CreationDate="2017-02-25T16:53:26.697" Score="1" ViewCount="3545" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 22mg Baytril (enrofloxacin, antibiotic) pills for a cat, administered twice daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I crush this pill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not see any info about it having any sort of timed-release coatings or anything. The pill itself appears to be uniform in consistency (no visible coating layers, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T19:23:20.213" Title="Can I crush Baytril pills?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-25T17:15:57.200" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two five-year-old Jack Russels, from the same litter. One is well behaved, but the other is very poorly behaved. He will pee and poop in the house while I am gone, so I have started crating him whenever I am not home. He also gets into the garbage, even when I am home. We have changed all our trashcans to ones with lids, but he still opens it and gets into it. He rarely listens to commands like sit and come unless there is a treat involved. Why is it he is so poorly behaved and the other is not? What can I do to help him? Or is it just behavioral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8958" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:24:37.653" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:24:37.653" Title="Five years old and still pees and poops in house and gets into garbage" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1438" CreationDate="2017-02-26T05:17:30.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This medicine works fantastically....once you can get your cat to take it! I struggled with forcing it down her throat, which led to her avoiding me every time I stood up...it was a real hassle and she hated it. We tried mixing it with tuna which worked okay, but she would only eat it half the time, if she was starving. My boyfriend saw how frustrated I was and went out to the store and bought 10 types of fishy wet cat food. Finally we found one!! She eats it up immediately with the meds in it every morning, without issue. The one that worked for us is Fancy Feast Medleys Ocean Whitefish &amp;amp; Tuna Florentine Pate! I know every cat is different, so I would highly suggest getting a bunch and trying them all to see what your cat likes best! I'm so thankful because she doesn't hate me anymore and isn't licking all of her fur off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8959" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T05:17:30.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16468" CreationDate="2017-02-26T10:33:07.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I I had two JTR's for many years--sadly, passed on now. I had a book on JTR's that said they are the &quot;most willful breed,&quot; and from my experience this is true. You have two male JRTs who are littermates? This could be the problem. Seems like the 'misbehaver' is jealous and is acting out. Male JRTs can be competitive with each other and perhaps the &quot;bad&quot; one is trying to get your attention --even negative attention. JRT's are like human toddlers in a number of ways.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you give a bit more detail? Has the one dog always behaved this way? Do you crate the &quot;good&quot; dog when you leave? Explain &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; behavior with each dog. Do you spend more time with one than the other? With more information, I may be able to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T10:33:07.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16467" CreationDate="2017-02-26T10:56:22.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baytril (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.drugs.com/pro/baytril.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Enrofloxacin&lt;/a&gt;) is a strong antibacterial and it does have a coating on the tablet, so DO NOT CRUSH. This coating helps mask the bad taste and absorption rate. Administering an oral dose crushed would likely upset your cat's stomach, perhaps then vomiting up the medication in an unknown location, without your knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/Q-HO2PO75ts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; with instructions for giving pets meds. Pill pockets work well with dogs but not so much with cats in my experience. &quot;Pillers&quot; work well and make the process pretty easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wGYqW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wGYqW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pet Piller&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and please check back in to let us know how it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-02-26T17:12:22.727" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T17:12:22.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16396" CreationDate="2017-02-26T11:07:11.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two years ago I got a feral cat. He was at least ten years old. I kept him indoors for one month, but the day I let him out he escaped, and it took nine days before I got him back. He went back to the place where I got him from. This was 5 km away from where I live. I had him indoors for two more weeks and then he understood where his home was. There were no problems thereafter. Most cats in north Europe are outdoors for at least part of the day, and yes they do hunt, but mostly mice and rats, not very often birds. (this last part is a comment to the other answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats gets used to a new home fast. Others need more time. The one I had was feral, old and wild and had never had a home in his life. I had him for a little over a year before he became ill and had to be put down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:20:43.607" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:20:43.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-26T13:50:01.913" Score="8" ViewCount="5532" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 new black lines on my mantis's abdomen, which seems to be contracting. Almost like it's squeezing it. What is it? I don't think it used to have that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, it's also not eating, and simply ignoring the crickets that waltz past it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is wrong with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: It is a giant Asian mantis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k8zFj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k8zFj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8961" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T01:30:01.970" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T10:24:23.993" Title="My praying mantis pet is not eating and has 2 black lines on it's abdomen" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16482" CreationDate="2017-02-26T14:40:23.500" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a floating artificial log for my Betta.  He hides in it, but only if it is oriented perpendicularly to the filter outlet.  I put part of some clean pantyhose inside the return section of the filter and it reduced the flow for a couple of weeks.  However, the log has returned to being oriented towards the filter outlet and my Betta is not happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to use tape, thread or anything hazardous to anchor the log.  I don't want to put anything overly restrictive inside the filter return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8962" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:17:41.670" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T11:20:42.700" Title="How to Elegantly Anchor a Floating Ornament?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16473" CreationDate="2017-02-26T16:44:35.963" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible that it's getting ready to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/faq/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;molt&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A praying mantis won’t eat a few days before it will shed its skin (molt). This is normal. After molting it will start to eat again. When a praying mantis will not eat even though it does not need to molt, it can help to offer it a different prey species. Do not worry too much, a mantis can live for 2 weeks without any food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days before molting, the mantis will hang upside down and will not eat. Sometimes a white film-like layer can be seen all over the body of the mantis. This is the skin becoming more loose. When the mantis is becoming subadult or becoming adult, you can see that the wing buds (location where the wings grow when the mantis is still a nymph) are swollen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if the black lines are part of it, but since you said that it is not eating, and from the picture it is hanging upside down, I would say its beginning it molting cycle.  As that website states, if you don't think it's getting ready to molt, try switching what it eats after a few days.  It seems they can go quite a while without any food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-02-26T16:44:35.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-02-28T06:29:16.070" Score="3" ViewCount="39152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to make my dog's birthday special.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to give her just one McDonald's hamburger (and no more after that)?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8977" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-02T04:49:39.317" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:40:06.883" Title="Is a McDonald's hamburger safe for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16474" CreationDate="2017-02-28T11:22:34.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bit hard to give a decent answer without seeing what the log looks like, and how you want it to be positioned. Can you post some pictures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, anchoring usually requires some sort of thread. Nylon thread won't do any harm to your fish and isn't very visible either. And since it's a floating log, you can make it so that the thread is not actually in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So best idea is probably to attach a thread to the log (iff you can't tie the thread to the log, you can use a small nail or staple in the part that is above water). And then tie the other part of the thread to a suction cup and place it against the glass (above the water level).&#xA;Then position the cups and thread until you get the log in the desired direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There also exists power glue that is save for aquariums. Perhaps you can also use that to attach a thread to the log.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T11:22:34.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-02-28T12:31:41.547" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably as safe and healthy as it would be for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it would probably also make him happy, but not more happy then with any other treat you give him.&#xA;So my advice: go to the pet shop and buy an actual dog treat. Like a big bone or something like that. At least that will be more healthy and suitable for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T12:31:41.547" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-02-28T12:51:45.660" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Better safe than sorry and don't give it, lots of grease in these burgers! All that grease can cause a number of problems such as diarrhea or acute &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/endocrine/c_multi_pancreatitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pancreatitis&lt;/a&gt; - which has a possibility of turning into a long term issue (most commonly seen in our small dogs). These burgers also contain &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/onion/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;onions which are toxic&lt;/a&gt; to dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other poster mentioned going to the pet store for a nice treat which is a good idea however &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2012/mar/dogs_bones_dangerous_combination-13528&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stay away from bones&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They damage teeth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Break and puncture the intestinal track&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Break and cause an obstruction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get lodged in the roof of their mouth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet I work with had a case not too long ago with a bull pizzle that punctured the dogs esophagus and went into his chest cavity, the dog unfortunately passed away. Even though it's not technically a bone it's one of those scenarios to be weary of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T22:53:28.780" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T22:53:28.780" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2017-02-28T19:51:27.313" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;cats like to eat wet food because of the moisture.My gray adult cat Grace used to eat wet food,but when i switched to dry food she would not touch it.So i feed her a mix of wet and dry now,so she will eat both types of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8983" LastActivityDate="2017-02-28T19:51:27.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-01T00:44:53.717" Score="0" ViewCount="1871" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is about a year old, we got him from a farm. And there they said his mother abandoned him there but he was taken in by another cat with kitten a couple weeks older than him. And they also said he did't drink much or eat much either. So when we took him in we tried to make sure he drank more water and eat more which he slowly did. But whoever he would try to meow and he this still happens whoever he tries to meow and it barley comes out like it's kinda raspy and not very loud at all. And at this point he just never meows but he does tend to purr a lot but he never meows and rarely ever hisses when play/fighting with our other cat who is about the same age but not related and she is VERY vocal and constantly meowing. IDK what is wrong with him he's been neutered and has had his shots and never has had surgery and any accidents that I know of. Someone help bc I'm a lil worried about him and want to know why he doesn't meow.  also not sure what bread he is but I'm pretty sure he's an American Black Shorthair.(haven't gone to a vet yet about this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8985" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T11:28:54.317" Title="Why Does my cat not meow?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-03-31T14:20:51.793" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-03-01T04:14:28.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add to the current answers, a stock burger there has onions on it. If not ordered special, the &quot;treat&quot; could be less than pleasant. The amount on the burger may not be enough to be deadly, but I suspect that the volume is enough to ensure it's actually not a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Net effect, you may like their burgers (I'll skip passing judgment on that), but there are plenty of dog-safe treats that are sure to be as big a hit, if not bigger, than anything McDonald's is going to put out for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2017-03-01T04:14:28.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16489" CreationDate="2017-03-01T10:31:01.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same situation with my cats. My 15 year old growls when the two year old cat tries to play with her roughly, hisses when she's jumped on, meows when hungry, purrs when happy, and also has a happy sort of meow to greet. The only sound I've heard my two year old stray make is a rumbling sound. She never meows, never growls, never hisses, and will purr on occasion but honestly with the other cat being so loud and purring almost constantly unless she's batting around the two year old, I might just be comparing the 2 year old's purr to an unfair opponent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even that rumble that the younger cat makes is hard to hear. When she opens her mouth to meow a strange rapsy sound, that probably was supposed to be a greeting meow but instead turned into a muted sound, comes out. I figured it was because she was never taught to meow so there her vocal cords haven't been used enough to be louder. Since she was a stray and never really had a home, I figured that it was because she just didn't know how to really talk unlike my older cat who was a stray but was probably pre-owned and probably left behind so therefore given lots of opportunities to talk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly enough my youngest cat is thought to be an American Shorthair. Perhaps its the breed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-03-01T10:31:01.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-01T16:59:48.007" Score="2" ViewCount="8075" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting a kitten from from a women, the momma cat and her kittens were dropped off at her house. They're not ready yet so I've only seen them in pictures. She estimated that they are about 4-5 weeks old because they have started eating a little wet food. The one that I am getting looks a lot fluffier than it's siblings so I was curious as to if it will have long or short hair? I figured it could be possible for one or more of the kittens to have long hair because no one knows who the farther is. I asked but she doesn't know/isn't sure. I was just wondering if anyone on here could tell? How or when could you tell? Pictures of the kitten and one of its siblings below &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BrXx6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BrXx6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitten that I&amp;#39;m getting&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LarCR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LarCR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sibling of Kitten&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8987" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T21:50:09.113" Title="how can you tell if a kitten will have short or long hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16492" CreationDate="2017-03-02T00:08:55.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your kitten looks to be medium to long-haired to me.Pretty fluffy. I have medium-haired cat who I rescued at 3 weeks old and his coat surprised me when it came in so I'm leaning to long-haired for your little one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer hair hasn't been an issue and he likes being brushed. I started early to get him accustomed to being handled and brushed and do recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ZDbw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HzYvD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Keirnan 3 weeks old&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ZDbw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ZDbw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A recent pic&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-03-07T02:04:45.943" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T02:04:45.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-03-02T09:01:44.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is lots of sugar in a McDonalds burger. That would be really bad for your dog. Why don't you make your own burger using ingredients that you're sure that are good for the dog to eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2017-03-02T09:01:44.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2017-03-03T04:47:42.900" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way is to submit her, grab her in a gentle way and lay her down on the floor so that she can't get up. Wait until you hear her sighs (it's a way of giving up), then wait 10-15 seconds and let her go. It should work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But every dog has a way of giving up. It may take 5 minutes, or it can take 1 hour. Just don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8996" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-04-28T14:16:06.210" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T14:16:06.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2017-03-03T23:19:11.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to raise ferrets, and the roughness and biting just seems to be a ferret trait.  They jump and chatter and bite and bounce...even the most socialized of them just can't help biting sometimes.  One of my ferrets had a very odd game that she used to play with one of my roommates at the time, an older man who had a bit of a drinking problem.  He would lie on the floor, watching TV and drinking, and the ferret would bounce over and bite his toe.  He (usually half drunk, he was a very mellow drunk) would knock the ferret off his toe.  Back the ferret would go, and get knocked off again.  He said he didn't mind (even though the ferret would sometimes draw blood) and she was obviously enjoying herself.  I watched this go on for a good ten minutes once.  Eventually the ferret would tire of the game, and would crawl up on the man's tummy and contentedly go to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I did a lot of work to socialize my ferret babies (feeding them by hand even before they opened their eyes) I used to constantly have people who purchased my babies call me up days after they took their little guys home to say &quot;I can't believe how gentle your ferret is, he hardly bites at all&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because Jeff is younger, and because Chris sees him as an &quot;intruder&quot; on his home territory, Chris is probably trying to establish his dominance.  This is normal mammal behavior, not restricted to ferrets.  The pooping may be Jeff's way of showing submission, or he might be actually frightened (though ferrets seem to be almost fearless, compared to other mammals that I have owned or raised).  I've never seen a ferret defecate out of fear, but most of mine were siblings or raised together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the relative sizes of the ferrets are, but if Jeff is significantly smaller I'd make sure they aren't left together unsupervised until Jeff is large enough to hold his own.  Eventually they will end up being great friends, though even then there will be a lot of nipping and tussling that goes on.  That's just how they interact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4020" LastActivityDate="2017-03-03T23:19:11.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16506" CreationDate="2017-03-04T00:45:38.190" Score="3" ViewCount="23345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been searching for some answers for this one, but haven't found exactly what I'm looking for (or it hasn't been quite the same situation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our 7 month old dog who is pretty regularly scheduled for almost all potty breaks, has recently started peeing in the house. At about 5 months he seemed to have the potty thing down, with no accidents for a month. Now we've had 3 in the last 3 weeks (1 per week). The latest one was on our bed (thanks pooch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the kicker, all 3 times he was RECENTLY outside. I'm talking within 0.5-3 hours prior, he had already gone to the bathroom. He is a golden doodle, approximately 50 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we have a 4 year old golden doodle who never really had this problem. Same type of potty training, no issues. I'm at my wits end about what it could be. My wife tells me we can't scold him either or that will make him think peeing in general is bad. Ok, so what do we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: He was just fixed exactly a week ago, and still has sutures in etc. And we're in the process of moving, we've been packing up everything for the last 3 weeks, and move out to a new place next Saturday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9003" LastEditorUserId="9003" LastEditDate="2017-03-04T00:59:11.557" LastActivityDate="2017-03-04T01:04:46.673" Title="7 month old puppy peeing in house after recently peeing outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16505" CreationDate="2017-03-04T00:57:39.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely don't scold him.  Your dog isn't able to connect the scolding to the peeing and you will only degrade his trust in you by causing confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now onto the real issue, the peeing inside.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you talked to your vet about this?  Your pup may have a UTI or other medical issue causing him to pee excessively.  Even if your pup seems otherwise healthy and normal, still give your vet a call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that he's had a lapse in memory about where it's appropriate to pee.  Some puppies will forget some of their potty training once they've had an accident indoors.  You can combat this by taking him outside more often than normal, and also by thoroughly cleaning up the areas he's peed in.  You'll need a cleaner that removes all odor, like Nature's Miracle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mentioned an impending move it may very well be stress.  Have you noticed any other behavioral changes?  Like seeming especially clingy with you or lapses in other training?  If it's stress that's causing this the best thing you can do is be as calm and accommodating as possible with your pup.  It's confusing and scary to see all your stuff being packed up, and your people acting weird and doing weird things (like packing).  Some extra exercise and attention usually goes a long way as well as keeping your pups space (crate, bed, etc) as normal as possible for as long as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until he's gone a few weeks without an accident you might consider restricting his access to areas you don't want dog pee in when you're not supervising him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-03-04T01:04:46.673" LastActivityDate="2017-03-04T01:04:46.673" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6795" CreationDate="2017-03-04T02:08:03.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;American green tree frogs stay relatively small. I would say you could go with a relatively small tank. 5 gallon would work but a 10 gallon would be ideal more than likely. The standard 10 gallon tanks are around the specifications that you listed in your question and definitely best as you'll be able to add more to the tank like hides. You'll know if the little guy is stressed out. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zillarules.com/all-products/terrariums/critter-cage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;These&lt;/a&gt; are what I sell at the pet shop I work at. Find a store near you to snag one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9006" LastEditorUserId="9006" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T07:07:58.297" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T07:07:58.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16694" CreationDate="2017-03-04T08:33:32.107" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat whole his life from young age was living on a first floor, so he easily was going for a walk on himself and then knew where and when to go back, now we moved to another apartment on 8th floor, in different city part and we fear to let him out because as we think he won't return, but it's clearly seen what it's hard for him to live without going outdoor, so we think to buy a leash and just to take him for a walk we us, but question is will it help him, or tease more? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9007" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T16:44:34.343" Title="Taking cat for a walk" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-04T14:05:30.133" Score="2" ViewCount="788" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 feet by 1 feet (61 cm by 30 cm) aquarium, in which I keep about 4 to 6 fish. I don't know why, but whenever I keep fish in my aquarium they die within 1 to 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially I was recommended by shopkeeper to put some salt in water, could that be the reason or something else? This is 5th time my fish have died, on the other hand my neighbour's fish are living since 2 years and have even grown up though their aquarium is smaller than mine. I am on the verge of deciding to keep no more fish. Please suggest something or the reason for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9010" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T09:58:03.947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:09:34.460" Title="Reason for fish dying" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16513" CreationDate="2017-03-05T02:18:48.000" Score="3" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 dogs. My wife and I recently purchased two identical crates for each of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay if they swap crates? We thought that they would each want to &quot;own&quot; one that the other one wouldn't be allowed in. I haven't been able to find any resources confirming or denying that that is something they care about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't seem to mind switching back and forth, but I want to break this sooner than later if it might be problematic later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9011" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T08:56:53.787" Title="dog crates: okay to share?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-05T03:06:27.090" Score="3" ViewCount="1382" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has happened twice in the past two months.  I dropped my female, 1 year old, spayed dog off at the boarder for a week.  When I picked her up, she was lethargic (just laying down), hot and sweaty, and had a runny nose.  I think her breath smells mucusy, like a human's when they have a cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time, this went away after a few days.  I attributed it to being in close continual contact with many other dogs, for the first time in her life.  But, I just picked her up today, and it's happened again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This boarder has &quot;open&quot; boarding.  They don't crate them, but rather let them run around in an indoor area with a concrete floor all day.  I assume they sleep on that floor.  The boarder is staffed 24/7.  The workers seem nice.  The place has good reviews online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?  Would a dog often get sick after a week of boarding (continual play, exposure to other dogs, sleeping on the floor)?  Might she have been too cold at night?  Or could something be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She's lethargic for a few days after coming home from the kennel, both times I've left her there for a week.  It's strange because, we can watch her on the webcam playing and having fun, which she seems to do often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7890" LastEditorUserId="7890" LastEditDate="2017-03-05T15:01:57.060" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:51:11.523" Title="Dog sick after boarding" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16511" CreationDate="2017-03-05T07:41:04.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: If your dogs are properly socialized, just let them figure that out on their own. If it isn't a problem now, it shouldn't be one later on. If one prefers a specific place, it will try to get and keep it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T07:41:04.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16512" CreationDate="2017-03-05T09:57:30.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it's not normal for a dog to be sick after boarding, if you think she is running a fever then a vet visit is warranted. Dog's don't get colds or the flu, most common illness we see from boarding is kennel cough (bordetella). The main symptom is a continuous cough that can develop into a lung infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-03-05T09:57:30.367" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-05T17:20:31.393" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OMoyS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;In my ten gallon I have two females and one male both females look like this one and if anyone could tell me about how long till birth that would be great&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9014" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T12:35:02.670" Title="Are my two female guppys pregnant" Tags="&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-08T17:49:21.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16687" CreationDate="2017-03-06T04:56:42.023" Score="2" ViewCount="2112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bear the dog started chewing on his penis a few weeks ago. We noticed that he seemed to be grooming the area excessively, and within a few days, he seemed very lethargic and I noticed that there was puss on the tip of his penis (which we now know is the &quot;prepuce&quot;). Took him to an emergency vet who put him in a cone and gave us antibiotics. That helped, but the area was still inflamed, so our regular vet gave us higher dose antibiotics, an anti fungal, and topical antibacterial drops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all those drugs, he was throwing up a lot, so the vet took him off of the antibiotics. But not the antifungal or the drops. The vet is pretty clear that he doesn't know what is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At no point have we noticed a change in urination. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's now been three weeks and Bear is still super lethargic and he seems uncomfortable. His behavior is hard to describe but he is moping. He is barely willing to eat. He'll eat chicken, and hardcore treats (liver, bacon) but he's not interested in his usual food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His prepuce is now a fairly healthy shade of pink, no puss, and no intense redness, but it is definitely swollen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: are there other things we can do to make him more comfortable? And do you have any ideas about what might be going on? Spider bites? Cancer? STDs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're planning to take him to a new vet, but I'd like to come prepared to ask better questions. What should we be researching or asking the vet about? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T23:40:18.280" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T23:40:18.280" Title="Ideas about why my dog's prepuce is swollen?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16511" CreationDate="2017-03-06T08:56:53.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It shouldn't really matter.  Dogs can and will argue over food, but don't seem to over sleeping spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our Labrador will sometimes go to sleep in our Schnauzer's bed (we've had the Lab for six months and the Schnauzer forever).  When the Schnauzer sees the other dog in her bed, she'll just find somewhere else to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you habitually feed dogs in the crate, this could create issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T08:56:53.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16523" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-06T09:27:53.753" Score="4" ViewCount="726" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat has a scar from an unknown source.  We don't think she has been in any kind of fight or accident (she is always in an apartment and only has access to a balcony).  We also think it is getting worse, it has been there for around a week.  There was no red patch previously, just a tuft of missing hair.  She does not seem to be in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are getting an appointment with our vet as soon as possible, the red patch has alarmed us.  But does anybody know what this is, if it is not from a fight with another cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: We took her to the vet and it turns out that she has an allergy and has been scratching it herself.  They gave us a sort of body suit that she now has to wear for 10 days to allow it to heal.  Plus an injection to stop the itching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tftyT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tftyT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat scar&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9018" LastEditorUserId="9018" LastEditDate="2017-03-07T12:35:03.900" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T22:18:03.760" Title="Cat with scar from unknown source" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16516" CreationDate="2017-03-06T12:35:02.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://small-pets.lovetoknow.com/gestation-period-guppies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gestation period&lt;/a&gt; for a Guppy fish is between 21-30 days, with the average often being 22-26 days.  Warmer fish tanks appear to help pregnant guppies from exceeding their due date:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gestation may last from 21-30 days, although 22-26 days is average for most guppy pregnancies. A warmer tank - between 72-79 degrees Fahrenheit - is best for gestation and will keep the female from being pregnant too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also say by the looks of it, that they do look pregnant, though it's a little hard to tell through the blurriness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture for reference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/472yZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/472yZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Guppy fish&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T12:35:02.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2017-03-06T15:05:19.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been through this too: Some cats chew cables, others tear up your furniture, and others are pretty well behaved by human standards and just play with their toys and always use scratching posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like having a baby, and baby-proofing your home, you should cat-proof our home:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Remove poisonous plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Don't leave medications around like loose tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Secure delicate / valuable items that the cat may knock over and break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Don't leave razor-sharp knives out on counters etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Don't leave human food around that the cat may lick / eat. Note: Some cats like to put their paws into your drinking glasses when you are not looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Use spill-resistant sports bottles, or cap your water bottles between sips. There are also cup holders you can mount on your desktop. These are easy to DIY as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) Put away small corded items like ear buds, headsets, and phone charging cables when not in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8) Larger computer cables, and power cables can be protected with plastic or metal sheaths you can buy that cover them. e.g. cable cladding, cable raceways, cable protectors, conduit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9) Stay away from your cat when wearing expensive clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10) Put away small valuable jewelry items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11) Blankets can be thrown over couch backs and arms where the cat likes to scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12) Place tablecloths or heavy vinyl-coated fabrics on top of flat wood surfaces that you don't want scratched over time as the cat jumps on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;13) A cat falling into the bathtub while you are bathing may result in serious injury... to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;14) Avoid having high perches above where you sleep / sit. A 10 lb cat jumping 4 or more feet down onto you may result in injury... to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat Ody has taken to laying on top of our warm pizza boxes. Doing this he crushes the lid damaging the pizza within.  Hiding the pizza box works but then we have to get up from our meal every time we want another slice. Putting large light weight objects on top of the box is working for now but he is starting to figure out they can be moved. I am still working on a solution for this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-03-06T15:05:19.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16523" CreationDate="2017-03-06T16:59:16.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going to the vet soon is a great plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be ringworm &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatophytosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Dermatophytosis&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; which can be transmitted between pets, people and other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you get a definitive diagnosis from you vet, you may want to assume it is contagious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention (source is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatophytosis#Prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice often given includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid sharing clothing, sports equipment, towels, or sheets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash clothes in hot water with fungicidal soap after suspected exposure to ringworm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid walking barefoot; instead wear appropriate protective shoes in locker rooms and sandals at the beach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid touching pets with bald spots, as they are often carriers of the fungus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T23:24:01.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16510" CreationDate="2017-03-07T09:25:01.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you fish die fast, it obviously means there is something wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First of all, before you can add fish to a tank, it needs to '&lt;strong&gt;cycle&lt;/strong&gt;'. More information about that can be found in this answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/215/how-does-one-effectively-cycle-an-aquarium&quot;&gt;How does one effectively “cycle” an aquarium?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's only after you &lt;strong&gt;tested&lt;/strong&gt; your water, and no problems are found, that you can add fish to it. Ammonia and nitrites should be 0. Usually you can ask your local fish shop to do a basic test. Or you can purchase a testkit and do it yourself. Especially with a new tank, it could be useful to test the water parameters regularly, to understand how it changes over time and in between maintenances. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When adding fish, make sure they are compatible with the way your tank has been set up. Are the pH, temperature, size, etc. all ok for the type of fish you want? Do some &lt;strong&gt;research&lt;/strong&gt;! &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Goldfish, in general are relatively easy to keep. But there are a few things to keep in mind. Have a look &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-info/mistakes/12-mistakes-goldfish-keepers-make/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at this article&lt;/a&gt; on thegoldfishtank.com.&#xA;In fact, your tank is actually already a bit too small for goldfish.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When everything is ok, then you can add fish. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But don't simply drop them in the tank. You need to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Acclimate-a-Fish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;acclimate&lt;/a&gt; them and make sure they gradually get used to the different water parameters. You do this by adding a little water every couple minutes to the bag. More details can be found in the link above. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Most fish can get adjusted to different water parameters, but they need a little time for it. Sudden changes could cause problems.&#xA;Also, don't add all fish at once! &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of course you also have to maintain your tank. Do a partial water change every week and test the parameters every now and then (especially in the beginning). Some information about that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Fish-Tank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;can be found here&lt;/a&gt; on a wikiHow artice.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By following these steps, you should be able to create a healthy environment for your fish, and keep them for a long time. A goldfish can live for more then 10 years with proper care!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T09:42:44.487" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T09:42:44.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-07T10:19:06.077" Score="4" ViewCount="911" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 3 cats in our household all fixed 2 males and a female. Mr Kittty is the oldest at almost 18 years old and still as active as ever. Then there's Risotto who is essentially a rambunctious 7 year old toddler then 3 years ago we rescued a female siamese mix who was more than likely dumped. It took several months for her to even show herself and now she's essentially my shadow with me every minute of every day. The problem we are having is Mr Kittty constantly terrorizes her. It has gotten to the point he waits until she goes to sleep and goes for her neck while she's sleeping. He has started doing this thing recently where he acts like he's being nice rubs on her then in the blink of an eye his ears go completely flat and he attempts to maul her. We have two giant water feeders and as soon as she starts to drink he goes after her. I have to close him in the laundry room to feed him or he'll attack her and steal her food. I'm not sure if it's because of his age or if he just doesn't like her in the least. When she first started coming out more after we got her he was nice but as time goes on he's more and more mean to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a typical day consists of Mr Kittty attacking Derp (the female) me shooing him away, him running off and meowing REALLY loud almost as if he's throwing a tantrum. Then That loud meow signals to Risotto, so Risotto starts instigating as well. It's not uncommon for him to trap her under the bed while we're sleeping and all you hear is that low pitch growl and I see a tail sticking straight out from under the bed then her screaming bloody murder as he tries to get her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that long winded rambling I guess my question is what can I do about this? It has me somewhat worried we're going to be out one day and we come home and something has happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9021" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T20:14:03.300" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T01:41:38.350" Title="Older male cat being very aggressive with younger female cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-07T14:30:38.473" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 15 gallon column tank. It has live rock and a pair of ocellaris clownfish. I was wondering if I could add one black ocellaris clown. My pair likes hiding in a patch of plant and I really would like to add another fish. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dpCRR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; I want the fish to thrive and I don't want to accidentally kill a fish just because I think a black one would look nice in the tank. The two I have no aren't aggressive, besides when I feed them. The female will chase the male but not too aggressively, like she doesn't hurt him. Can somebody please let me know? Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9023" LastActivityDate="2017-03-07T14:30:38.473" Title="Can I add another clownfish?" Tags="&lt;clownfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2017-03-08T06:02:02.577" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two devices run at different frequencies that are not even close.  The RFID chip operates somewhere around 128 kHz and the NCU device in Android phones runs well over 1 MHz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9029" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:39:51.917" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:39:51.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-08T06:58:53.653" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gCAqi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Is my female guppy pregnant&#xA;I think she is but I'm not sure I have another guppy who is about as big &#xA;Also there stomachs look black inside are those the baby's&#xA;And if anyone could tell me that would be great&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9014" LastActivityDate="2017-03-08T06:58:53.653" Title="Are my female guppies preagnant" Tags="&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-08T17:49:40.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-08T20:38:38.173" Score="0" ViewCount="1005" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey just wondering what gender my snake can anyone tell by the pic please reply asap&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7ZXUe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7ZXUe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9034" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T18:37:55.357" Title="What's my corn snakes gender pic provided" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-02T12:08:03.493" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-10T11:38:30.713" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued goldfish eggs from my pond which have now all hatched, the aquarium which I have purchased as a nursery for them came with a filter &amp;amp; a bio box filtration system, this has slots in the side for water intake etc which the fry are small enough to enter, if so will they die.. will the filter work efficiently if I put it into a net bag or similar which the baby fry could not penetrate. Thanx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9041" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T18:12:56.953" Title="Gold Fish fry water" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2017-03-10T13:19:53.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't really a &quot;one-size fits all&quot; answer to this sort of situation but there are a couple of things you could try, and which I'd go for depends on whether Kitty is behaving purely out of &quot;fun&quot; from his point of view or whether there is any stress in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not just Kitty being a bit too exuberant in his play you could try a &quot;Feliway Friends&quot; diffuser. These work like a plug-in air freshener but instead of a faux pine scent they instead put out out a synthetic version of the hormone mother cats release after giving birth which has a calming effect on the cats in the house. I've used them before to help keep my Bengal calm during fireworks and I've seen good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of gotchas though - if I'm understanding your question correctly your cats are allowed out? If so that will reduce the effectiveness of such a device as they will obviously be spending less time under it's influence as it were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise if you have a big house you would need multiple diffusers spread throughout the house to ensure good coverage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; all down to Kitty just having too much playful energy and drive then I'd recommend giving him some regular one-on-one play time with you, ideally at roughly the same time every day (before food is best as it fits with the hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle) and with some toys that he can really go to town on and interact with. This should give him an outlet for his play that isn't poor old Faith and hopefully if that's more fun for him he'll bother the others less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T21:33:47.650" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T21:33:47.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16540" CreationDate="2017-03-10T15:15:18.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't block the intake completely it should be fine. &#xA;You can also cover it with a pantyhose or fly screen. Just make sure you rinse it with water before adding it to the aquarium. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also consider purchasing a sponge filter. I use it in my shrimp tank for the same reason. They're not suitable for bigger aquariums/bigger fish. But I assume you'll put the goldfish back in the pond once they are a little bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-10T15:15:18.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16540" CreationDate="2017-03-10T18:07:17.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are sponges made to cover the intake of your filter expressly for that and to keep debris out of the pump. Just google sponge filter intake cover or something similar to see such product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On another note, if this is a new tank, you might be better to keep the filter out of it (or in another tank) and to do large water change daily. If the tank is new it will have to cycle and will probably kill all the fry since they are more fragile (the ammonia spike from cycling [can] kill adult fish so your fry stand no chance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sponge filter as suggested in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16543/5646&quot;&gt;Diether&lt;/a&gt;'s answer are a good idea, but they will need to be cycled as any other filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-31T18:12:56.953" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T18:12:56.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16530" CreationDate="2017-03-10T23:05:55.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my guess is Mr. Old Grouch feels threatened. Some of it could be his age; a bit of dementia creeping in. Miss Kitty is threatened as well, obviously with all the &quot;terror.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not much can be done with the Mr. beyond making certain he's in good health. For your female, I recommend providing her with a &quot;nest,&quot; somewhere she can get away from her tormentor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats LOVE high places, particularly where they can observe without being observed. Your best bet, if you're the tiniest bit handy, is to add some shelving covered in remnant carpet or wrapped with sisal rope on a wall she can easily access. Two or three shelves mounted in a progressive step pattern ought to do the trick. This kind of set-up will allow her to get to a safe place easily where she is above him as to fend off any attack. Cost and time involved to make these shelves is minimal. If not handy, there are a number of different cat &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wayfair.com/CatastrophiCreations-45-Deluxe-Handcrafted-Cat-Perch-186250424CH-186250424OX-L1116-K~CTCR1010.html?refid=GX140429330555-CTCR1010_17793088&amp;amp;device=m&amp;amp;ptid=329799885117&amp;amp;targetid=pla-329799885117&amp;amp;PiID%5B%5D=17793088&amp;amp;gclid=CN6DlaWDzdICFVRtfgod_bgF5w#&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;perch&lt;/a&gt; options available commercially. These perches are well-designed and actually, &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; pretty cool and the cats will love them. If you need additional info, let me know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YrOza.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YrOza.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat perch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ai1qU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ai1qU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat perch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5raf8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5raf8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;lotus branch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've linked an amazing &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/okOVxfuSYPk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; of a family that modified their home to accommodate their many cats. You absolutely don't need to alter your home like they did but it's fun to watch and may give you some ideas for constructing a safe place for your girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insofar as feeding time, I would create a separate feeding area for Miss. Perhaps on the new shelf? Feed her last and take her to the new feeding spot the first few times. Once you've established &quot;her spot&quot; she will be less tense, feel safer and her change in disposition will trigger fewer confrontations with the other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your situation is solvable. Don't panic. If you provide a new sense of divided territory for your female, much of this current dynamic will end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please check back in if need any suggestions and to let us know how it's going. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-03-11T18:11:02.973" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T18:11:02.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-11T01:52:57.797" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off I want to give a little background information on my situation. &#xA;I haven't picked my dachshund up yet and I am doing all my research before hand. &#xA;My husband and I both work full time but different dayparts. Some days there will be a 4 to 6 hour gap where neither of us will be home. And some days there will always be a parent home. You &#xA;Upon bringing my dachshund home, I have already prepared to take a week off from work to give him constant attention.&#xA;We do not want to use a crate and this is not negotiable to us - a small pen is something we can work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, from my research I fully understand when to take out our dachshund when I am home.&#xA;What I am not fully grasping is what exactly to do when we are away from home. Do I leave water in the pen? Is it just wee wee pads lining the floor until a designated spot is created? Or should there be a bed or blanket in there? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to eventually have our dog be able to enjoy the entire apartment (with limitations to some rooms of course) without coming home to messes, without keeping him confined. Will I always have to have a wee wee pad down when we are away for those periods of time once they are trained or will they eventually be able to hold it (something I read said a puppy can hold its bladder 1 hour for every month of age. 2 months = 2 hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To anyone who answers, sorry this is lengthy and I've never posted on a site like this so anything really helps. I want to have a successful potty regime and I am prepared to do the leg work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9047" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T21:16:27.343" Title="Not fully understanding how to properly potty train 9week old dachshund" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16548" CreationDate="2017-03-11T11:42:58.067" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would pumpkin spice be good to add to cat food or not? If not why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T14:26:43.573" Title="Pumpkin spice for cats, is it good for them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16547" CreationDate="2017-03-11T14:26:43.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;. Pumpkin spice is &lt;strong&gt;not good&lt;/strong&gt; for Cats, Dogs or Rabbits, or probably any pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plain Pumpkin is fine for most any pet.  It can be helpful in digestion and as long as it not spoiled is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6674/&quot;&gt;fine for cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pumpkin Spice on the other hand can contain any number of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/uncategorized/pumpkin-spice-naughty-nice/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;additives (spices) which can be toxic.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is pumpkin specifically canned for pets, but you can also buy canned pumpkin at most grocery stores. Purchasing plain pumpkin, is fine, read the lable to verify there are not additives, but &lt;strong&gt;NEVER BUY PUMPKIN PIE FILLING&lt;/strong&gt; it has the spices that can harm (or kill) your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2017-03-11T14:26:43.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16546" CreationDate="2017-03-12T00:42:39.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you don't want to confine your dog to a crate but it's VERY important that you do, for the beginning at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crate training will facilitate your potty training, the crate should be big enough to stand up, lie down, sit down and turn around. There should be no space for him/her to pee in one corner and sleep in another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crate training is good for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crate allows the pet to have a safe space - NEVER use a crate for punishment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When boarding or going to the groomers, doggy daycare, veterinary hospital etc. your pet will not have high anxiety when kenneled. This happens A LOT and the anxiety can end up being 8+ hours of continuous barking, clawing at the kennel ripping off toe nails or chewing at the kennel breaking/wearing down teeth. I feel very sad for these dogs as it's easily prevented with proper training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevent your new puppy from soiling/damaging your property as well as preventing him from hurting himself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When going to bed place your puppy in the crate, it will help teach independence - the more you humanize your dog the more behavioral problems you'll get (i.e separation anxiety and aggression).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first week may be tough, he will cry and bark - DO NOT give in, if you do he will keep doing it - you are rewarding the behavior thus re-enforcing it. He will get use to it in time and end up enjoying the crate because he will consider it his safe space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies should not be left home alone all day, if you cannot be there to let him outside then hire someone to do this, bring to doggy daycare or come home for lunch. 3-4 hours MAX. 15 minutes after a meal take your pup outside as they will need to go. Always  give treats and lots of praise for behaviors you want, I would read up on &lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-training/methods-equipment/training-methods/clicker-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clicker training&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want him to be potty trained like a cat then use pee pads inside a litter box to start then after you may add doggy litter, preferably &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsmart.com/dog/supplies-and-training/training-and-behavior/potty-training/purina-second-nature-dog-litter-13677.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;paper based&lt;/a&gt;. Using pee pads to train a dog to pee outside prolongs the potty training process as you're teaching him to soil INSIDE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your new puppy, the first one is definitely a learning curve!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-03-12T03:24:40.647" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T03:24:40.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16551" CreationDate="2017-03-12T01:17:39.733" Score="6" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that the cats I've had over the years don't seem to show any interest in the ambient light in a room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say a room is quite dark. I turn on the light switch and it's now bright as day. I notice that the cat's eyes might visibly adjust, but she'll be totally calm. Same for the opposite direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has always puzzled me. Wouldn't you think animals would be &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; sensitive to instant transitions between day and night? Why doesn't it seem to register as an interesting event?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do other animals care more? (I know one covers a birdcage at night, for example.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9048" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T01:34:00.467" Title="Light switches and pets" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16550" CreationDate="2017-03-12T01:34:00.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because cats (dogs and many other animals) eyes have very sensitive &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tapetum lucidum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, your cat can see you and what's going on in the room she's occupying, &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the light comes on, so there is little or no reaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dpsiw.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dpsiw.png&quot; alt=&quot;Tapetum lucidum&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it may seem counter-intuitive that she's not startled, or more sensitive to the change in lighting, it's normal for animals with superior night vision. If there were NO VISIBLE LIGHT in the room and you switched it on remotely, she almost certainly would get startled or more light-sensitive because she was unable to see in complete darkness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Covering a bird cage has less to do with light and is more about warmth and diminishing distractions in the room which can disturb their sleep. Think blinders for horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T01:34:00.467" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16546" CreationDate="2017-03-12T03:29:15.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Rebecca on much and cannot stress this section of her answer enough:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Puppies should not be left home alone all day, if you cannot be there to let him outside then hire someone to do this, bring to doggy daycare or come home for lunch. 3-4 hours MAX. 15 minutes after a meal take your pup outside as they will need to go. Always gives treats and lots of praise for behaviors you want, I would read up on clicker training.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add that I think having a dog sitter in is preferable to doggy daycare for the first few months. You want to establish your home as your new puppy's home as well, so imprinting and acclimating to the home where your dachshund lives is important. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You state,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We do not want to use a crate and this is not negotiable to us - a&#xA;  small pen is something we can work with.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Crate Training&quot; is not &lt;em&gt;crate-living&lt;/em&gt;. Everyone wants and appreciates a well-trained, courteous pet. Crate training your puppy now will alleviate many future problems. Consider this: Your puppy is an &quot;infant&quot; and a crate is analogous to a crib; an enclosure, a playpen. You put an infant child to bed in a crib. During waking hours, when not engaged with your child, they go in a playpen with toys, a pacifier, a bottle of water, blanket, etc. You would never let them lie on the ground unattended or in a room alone with so many potential hazards. Same rules of thumb apply to very young animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given they are separated from their mother and littermates much earlier than happens in nature, and the fact you and your spouse will not be available for some hours during the day, it's crucial that &lt;em&gt;someone&lt;/em&gt; be there to care for your companion youngster. Your puppy needs human attention/interaction during waking hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many pet-sitting services and sitters. Check your local area and find a situation that works best for you. I have used &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this service&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.campbowwow.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this daycare&lt;/a&gt; and been very satisfied. Best of luck and please check back in so we know how it's going with you and the pup.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T03:29:15.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-12T21:59:23.673" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am setting up a small 4g aquarium. I have a large filter from my old tank that I want to reuse. Is there a disadvantage at putting 50g filter into a small tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9049" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T10:42:53.623" Title="50g filter for 4g aquarium" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-12T23:16:32.377" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife recently adopted a small daug (dachshund/pug mix) and he came with a nasty yeasty ear infection.  We have done some research and have found out that he has been in and out of the local shelter over the past year and went to the owners who gave him to us (an owner kept &quot;loosing&quot; him and was in and out of the shelter for 6-7 months)  My guess is they didn't know how to deal with his chronic ear infection and couldn't afford his vet bills. We called his original shelter and they said at intake he was severely underweight and infested with flees.  He was yeasty and had bad ear infections. Looking at all his vet records, he has been WAY over vacinated and on lots of antibiotics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to my question... he is very timid and shy. Not aggressive at all but lacks trust (for obvious reasons). I would like to clean his ears (was going to make a homeopathic remedy) and apply some drops the vet gave him but he is not wanting me to touch his ear.  Should I give him a few days to settle in before I just start messing with his ear?  I don't want the first couple days being associated with me causing him pain.  But I also don't want to just ignore his ear infection.  When I'm ready, I've read lots of tips holding the dog to clean and apply the drops... I just don't want to traumatize him. Thoughts?  I really love this sweet guy... he just needs Us to take care of him since no one else in his life really has.  I think this is going to be an on going issue since his immune system is obviously shot. Any advise is greatly appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9050" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T23:56:23.923" Title="New shelter dog has chronic ear infection." Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16554" CreationDate="2017-03-12T23:56:23.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Waiting won't change how he behaves, those ears are painful which is why he is fighting. Dog's are forgiving, better to nip it in the butt from the start instead of him finally feeling at ease and then have another stressful experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need help with cleanings you can schedule an appointment with a technician to give you some pointers and they can do the initial cleaning. This first cleaning is important as it removes the copious amount of infection that has been building up over the weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chronic ear infections are usually related to allergies, are you aware if he has any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A really good ear cleaner for dogs with chronic infections is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burow&amp;#39;s_solution&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;burrows solution&lt;/a&gt;, you can purchase this at a veterinary hospital. Be weary of over the counter human version of this as sometimes they add extra ingredients which may be harmful to cats and dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's going to hate having it done, give him lots of praise and treats after each session. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-03-12T23:56:23.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16553" CreationDate="2017-03-13T04:06:56.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you put shrimp in the tank make sure that you have a protection against them being sucked into the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the filter is made for a 10 times larger aquarium it will consume a multiple of the necessary energy for the small tank. Check the power consuption. There're reliable filters for 20 l tanks with 2 W consumption. The investment of buying an (eventually second-hand) matching filter can compensate within one year already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And like @Diether pointed out: the pump might be so strong that the whole aquarium will be a water strom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-03-13T19:31:23.803" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T19:31:23.803" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-13T06:32:06.610" Score="2" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted Tony (dog in picture) from a local shelter over a year ago. We have had very little luck improving his behavior in any category. If he's loose in the house more than 5 minutes, supervised or unsupervised, he's peeing on the walls or pooping on the floor even if he's just come and and done all of his business outside. He is 120% hyper at all times and in his mind he must be in your face or jumping on you trying to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He can't go on a leash because he has slipped every collar and harness we've put on him including choke chains and probably because of past abuse he is fear aggressive to other people and animals. We weren't told of this when we adopted him and it didn't come out until he bonded with us. I am at a loss. If you offer him treats, he'll take it once or twice and then he's not interested anymore. Praise just means he needs to lick your face off. For the jumping we've looked for rain, we've kneed him, we've told him no - all things that have worked with prior dogs - and absolutely no change. He knows he's supposed to potty outside and absolutely won't go in his crate. He was about 2 years old when he was fixed - after we adopted him. I'm just not sure where to go from here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read other posts that say there is SOMETHING that motivates him, but after about a year and a half the only thing I've seen him respond to is whatever his little doggy brain tells him is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's frustrating because this isn't my first dog. I'm 50 and have had dogs since I was a toddler. I just never have had one that didn't care if I was happy with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9052" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:32:02.020" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:32:02.020" Title="How to train a previously abused dog who is neither food nor praise motivated" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16546" CreationDate="2017-03-13T06:49:40.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always believed crate training was critical to raising a happy healthy pup. This can be an enclosed crate or a metal pen. I've used both and my only comment on it is the metal pen makes a lot more noise. It gives them a place of security when you're not at home, it keeps them from developing bad habits that will take you ten times longer to undo, especially if you're not there regularly, and it will help with potty training as they will not want to soil their &quot;home&quot;. Our pups have always slept in their crate with the door closed and been crated when we weren't home until they were old enough to have learned appropriate house behavior. We've always had big dogs (Goldens and Collies) and they mature slowly so it's not uncommon for them to have been crated until they were 2. Once they know the rules and are mature enough to follow them the doors can come off the crates and it just becomes their safe place. At any age, when you are home with them they need to be out of the crate and learning to socialize with the family. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9052" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T06:49:40.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16562" CreationDate="2017-03-13T08:31:27.687" Score="2" ViewCount="1358" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a stainless steel water bowl which I clean and refill every day. In the last few days, I have been looking for a drinking fountain (ceramic or stainless steel) because I want the best for my cat, but some comments in Amazon says that they can be pretty anti-hygienic as they have some plastic parts inside, and they are harder to clean (not for an every day cleaning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is healthier and better for water hygiene, the everyday-cleaned water bowl or a drinking fountain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add I have a water filtering machine at home, so both my cat and I drink filtered water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8721" LastEditorUserId="8721" LastEditDate="2017-03-13T13:32:05.430" LastActivityDate="2017-10-25T12:25:19.333" Title="Drinking fountain or bowl for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16560" CreationDate="2017-03-13T11:35:12.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience with cats, we only used bowls for their water.  It was either in a plastic bowl or glass bowl.  Three cats would share this bowl, and we would clean it or change out the bowl about once a week (it would get refilled daily).  Our cats never had any issues with it, and lived long healthy lives.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the fountain, I would see this working just as well.  Although if there are parts that are not able to be cleaned, buildups can occur, causing either the fountain to plug up or contaminate the water.  But, if you would compare the two, I would say that a clean fountain and a clean bowl would have the same benefits.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T11:35:12.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16560" CreationDate="2017-03-13T12:33:46.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water fountains for cats are #1!&#xA;I recommend the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/Catit-Design-Senses-Fountain-Softening/dp/B00CO527IC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1489407758&amp;amp;sr=8-8&amp;amp;keywords=catit%20design%20senses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catit Design Senses Fountain&lt;/a&gt;, It's really easy to clean - the top piece comes right off allowing you to easily clean inside. The water is also filtered, your cat will be drinking cleaner water than you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats prefer running water over still water, hence why you see cats drink from taps all the time. Water consumption is VERY important in cats so the more enticed they are to drink the risks of crystals diminish as well as it promotes kidney health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this said, not all cats like water fountains - so keep your receipt in case you need to return it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downfall with bowls is cats tend to drink less and if you are to use plastic they are more likely to get bacterial infections like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_acne&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline acne&lt;/a&gt;. Bacteria tends to easily stick to plastic and is more difficult to clean (they get wedged in the cracks/crevices of the plastic texture). If you need to stick with bowls, use stainless steel 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T12:33:46.663" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16565" CreationDate="2017-03-13T13:54:53.690" Score="4" ViewCount="1302" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three-month puppy. When I leave home, he starts to cry. I've been trying to ignore him when he starts to cry, so I just go. However, that can disturb my neighbors. I don't know for how long he cries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, before leaving home, I gave him a dog-biscuit, so he got distracted and didn't see me leaving. I don't know if he cried after finishing the biscuit because I had already gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a valid or good technique for leaving home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="8964" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T14:26:06.567" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T02:00:09.323" Title="Can I give a biscuit to my dog before leaving home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16558" CreationDate="2017-03-13T13:58:48.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You absolutely need to find a trainer, like a GOOD trainer for one on one sessions. The aggressive issues are a huge concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;he's peeing on the walls or pooping on the floor even if he's just come and and done all of his business outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress and anxiety can do this to a dog, some dogs will do this after their owners leave - they are upset. Also with his previous situation he may have been house soiling the entire time, it will be harder to break. Have you tried motivating him with play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is 120% hyper at all times and in his mind he must be in your face or jumping on you trying to get there&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a high energy dog with high energy needs - this is the type of dog that will need 1 hour or more exercise in the morning and evening, he needs to be tuckered out. This will also help with your house soiling problems. A friend of mine has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Cattle_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blue heeler&lt;/a&gt;, now this is an active breed. Every morning at 5 am they go to the park for 1 hour of strenuous exercise, in the evenings and weekends (each activity on different days) they do fly ball, dock diving (watersports), agility and disc dog. Here's a list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dog_sports&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;activities&lt;/a&gt; to look for ideas. Another option if you live a busy lifestyle is to hire someone to do these activities with your dog. Another thing to keep him busy is buying puzzle food bowls and toys where he needs to use his brain to get the kibble inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He can't go on a leash because he has slipped every collar and harness we've put on him including choke chains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choke/prong chains aren't very reliable and can cause damage to the neck, in general I prefer the use of body harnesses or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsolutions.com/images/Products/59001175.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gentle leaders&lt;/a&gt; - though I have a sneaky suspicion that he won't tolerate a gentle leader. Have you tried the &lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/55/1f/d0/551fd026e74472834e89eedda4e2c11d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;harness that clicks from the front&lt;/a&gt;?  I don't see how he could get out of it unless he snaps the clip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we've kneed him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not hit him, there are much better ways to train a dog - especially one that comes from an abusive home, this is an absolute no-no. He needs positive training and confidence boosting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;absolutely won't go in his crate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tough one and why I encourage crate training as a puppy, though obviously not your fault a way around this would be to get a dog sitter or bring him to a doggy daycare where he could have a room to himself. I know you mentioned he's fear aggressive so this will have to be done in baby steps, make it a positive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: something extra I thought of, when doing training do it prior to breakfast and supper. A hungry dog is going to be food motivated, unless they are finicky eaters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-03-14T13:04:28.027" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T13:04:28.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16563" CreationDate="2017-03-13T14:05:41.057" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is a good technique: You are teaching your dog that good things will happen as you leave, and he will look forward to that instead of being anxious when he realizes you are leaving. Dogs are very good at learning cues that you are planning to leave: picking up keys, putting on jackets, etc., will quickly alert them that you are leaving soon. If they associate that with an upcoming treat, they will be happier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also give him something to keep him occupied longer: There are various dog toys that are meant to hold treats, and the dog has to work a bit to get it out. Kongs are one example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T14:05:41.057" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16546" CreationDate="2017-03-13T14:26:58.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree 100% with the other answers regarding crate training: It is not punishment, or cruel, or any other bad impressions you may have. If you reward your pup with a small treat EVERY time you put him in his crate, he will quickly go into it on command: Just say &quot;Crate!&quot; in a cheerful voice as you put him in, and then give him a reward after you have closed the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had dogs that used their crate for their entire lives: It was their safe spot to chill out. I would not close the door after they didn't need it, but they still voluntarily went in every day. Other dogs would quit going in on their own, and I would put the crate away when they had matured into trustworthy dogs. Remember that a puppy will need to chew on things as he grows and is teething. A crate can help to ensure he is chewing on toys instead of your shoes or furniture when you are not around to watch him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly discourage you from using puppy pads: I believe they are confusing. Your mission for house training is to teach the dogs that it is NEVER acceptable to eliminate indoors. When you put out puppy pads, you are giving them permission, even encouragement, to go inside. House training is tedious, and you must commit to be very vigilant. But if you put the effort in for a couple of months, you will end up with a reliable, well trained, friend for the next 10-15 years or more. If you short-cut the training, you will be cleaning up messes for the life of your pet. The only time that my dogs have accidents is when they are sick and cannot hold it (diarrhea, unirary tract infections, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-03-13T14:26:58.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-14T00:52:16.547" Score="2" ViewCount="1852" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking for advice/steps for training a dog for shoulder carry. I googled for someone to walk through the steps, but I didn't find anything. I think I understand the general steps, but I want to make sure that I don't miss something or cause our dog harm. At the bottom is a picture of what I'd like as my end goal. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qxFxa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;this is my end goal&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9057" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T05:09:56.620" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T05:09:56.620" Title="Train a dog for shoulder carry" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16571" CreationDate="2017-03-14T11:48:45.880" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few days ago, I adopted a three-month dog. I don't know his breed. Actually, he's mixed-breed. He weighs less than 1Kg now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would someone guess his possible size and weight in the future based on his current size, weigth and age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/89QDg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/89QDg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T24oi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T24oi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T12:31:56.633" Title="Is it possible preview my dog adult size?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16570" CreationDate="2017-03-14T12:31:56.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to guess, how we usually estimate their adult size is by looking at both parents. Another way is from paws, large paws tend to mean big dogs (though there are some exceptions I.e cocker spaniels). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From pictures, age and weight he's going to stay small. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T12:31:56.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16572" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-14T13:25:01.593" Score="6" ViewCount="990" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a serious problem with my cat, she throws up every day, sometimes twice a day. It seems to happen at random, no set time after meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is 3 now, she has been doing this since she was around 1. I have taken her to the vets, blood tests are fine, and was given special food, but it didn't help. I asked the vets and they said &quot;just keep feeding her the food&quot;, but after 3 months nothing changed so switched back to normal food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Changing foods, wet food, dry food, different brands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving small portions 4 times a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternative between wet and dry throughout the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to get her to drink more by using a fountain, but she was scared of it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But nothing works! She is very timid, only comes out to see my or my partner, if anyone visits she hides in another room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is very light, but not skinny, you can't see her ribs or anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise she is a normal cat, runs around and jumps on my face at 5am. Knocks glasses on the floor etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have another cat (her sister, got them at the same time) who is fine and has no trouble. She weighs about 1 kg more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is the right one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LfBBr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LfBBr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9059" LastEditorUserId="9059" LastEditDate="2017-03-14T16:15:05.857" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T11:05:59.360" Title="Cat throws up every day" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16572" CreationDate="2017-03-14T14:12:44.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every cat is of course different, but I had the same problem with one of my felines and it seemed to stop around the time that I started putting ice cubes in his water. No guarantees, but it costs nothing and can't hurt to try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9061" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T14:12:44.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5893" CreationDate="2017-03-14T15:33:43.053" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Skin issues with skinny pigs can be quite common. I have two skinny boars at home that when they have dry skin I use an organic coconut oil on their skin and it lifts off the old dry skin and moisturizes it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ji5tE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9062" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T15:01:32.210" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T15:01:32.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16568" CreationDate="2017-03-14T16:57:56.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure on the actual steps for a safe shoulder carry specifically, but  a good place to start for any kind of carrying or actions like that is gaining full trust of the dog. When carrying them normally around they should not be trying to squirm around and jump out of your hands, they should be calm and trust in you. They should also feel secure, the picture looks like he's bracing the dogs back and chest and the dog looks like it's supporting itself using it's legs too. But maybe if the dog can't do this or is injure, get the dog comfortable with being held high up by you. If you got the technique of the carry down, my advice for the steps would be to build the trust your dog has in you, he should be totally comfortable in your arms. Once you have the trust part down try gradually trying out shoulder carrying, maybe starting out crouching low, then going to a full stride or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9063" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T16:57:56.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16510" CreationDate="2017-03-14T17:09:53.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you use faucet water when refilling the tank? If so then you should be using the de-chlorination tabs, or the little bottle of liquid that treats the water. Also a 2' by 1' tank for 4 goldfish can be way too small, unless they're feeder fish, goldfish are naturally really dirty fish though, and especially with an un-established aquarium, they could make the water almost unbearable to live in within days. I used to have 5-6 goldfish, 2 comets, a shubunkin, and the rest fancy, and even in a 35 gallon (around 130 liters) it was a lot of upkeep to keep the water clean. But getting stuff like feeder shrimp, snails and aquatic plants helps a whole ton.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion though, if they're dieing hours after you change out the water, it could be a water treatment issue. Here are some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be totally sure the water is either non chlorinated or is treated with special chemicals to make it fish safe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the pH levels, ammonia, nitrites before the fish get introduced and after&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave your tank running continuously without cleaning and without fish, or only 1 goldfish for about a month to let it cycle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Definitely upgrade to a larger tank if you want to keep over 3 goldfish, some can grow big too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9063" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T11:09:34.460" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:09:34.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2017-03-14T17:16:59.877" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe he got used to being fed by hand and expects it now. Eventually a hungry dog will still eat, 20 mins isn't long for the dog to not want to eat, just leave the bowl and see if he eats at all throughout the day. Otherwise if not, what I'd recommend would be to gradually reintroduce the dog to eating out of the bowl. Feed him out of your hand right on top of the bowl, little by little or through multiple sessions, move your hand closer to the bowl of food until it's basically eating out the the bowl without your help, if that makes sense. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9063" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T17:16:59.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16572" CreationDate="2017-03-14T18:09:44.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have nine and they were all doing the same...I stopped wet food everyday to once or twice a week  in winter only and then just as treat. Tsp., and I changed food to one color food..cats are allergic to the green and yellow, red dyes in the food.  Sister did same...problem solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9065" LastActivityDate="2017-03-14T18:09:44.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16584" CreationDate="2017-03-14T20:35:08.340" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next month, I will take my dog to take his third vaccine, so he'll be ready for walking. Nowadays, I feed him on the mornings, around 7h30 am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next month, I plan to go walking with him around 6h30 am. So, is it better to feed him before walking in order to give him some energy or is it recommended feed him after walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T07:43:47.377" Title="Should I feed my dog before exercising?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16589" CreationDate="2017-03-15T06:24:15.657" Score="7" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have an elderly cat (14-year-old Russian blue). As he is getting advanced in years he is having more and more medical problems and needs to take a course of pills once a year or so for one thing or another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, he's gotten really, really good at not taking pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to have grown an amazing amount of willpower when it comes to not opening his mouth when I put my fingers by the back of his lips. When I do finally get his mouth open and pop the pill in, regardless of which placement technique and no matter how deep I get it in he seems to have figured out how to push it out with his tongue. No matter how much I hug and cuddle him before and after he simply refuses to go gently into that good night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a while I tried hollowing out some of his favorite treats to put the pills inside, but he's learned that trick too, and has opted to no longer accept those particular treats anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and pill pockets don't work - he just eats the pocket around the pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now the only thing I can seem to do is put the pill in his mouth and then hold it shut until he swallows, but this seems incredibly inhumane and regardless he's figured out how to push the pill out before I get his mouth closed &lt;em&gt;anyway&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas for how to coerce a way-too-smart-for-his-own-good cat to take his dang medicine? Ideally &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; traumatizing him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9067" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T13:20:15.470" Title="My elderly cat is an expert at not taking pills" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16563" CreationDate="2017-03-15T07:30:49.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is a good routine for a puppy. You might also consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crate training&lt;/a&gt;. Whatever you do tho, establishing a routine and keeping a regular practice of feeding times, exercise/play times &amp;amp; bathroom times will do wonders to keep your puppy's anxiety at bay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth considering tho that you don't want to train your dog to act out when they simply want attention or a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also help to reassure your puppy before you leave and help them &quot;find their spot&quot; or &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3308&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;go to your place&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. That said, by 18 months your dog should know the place and routine you've trained them to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read that with adult dogs it is better to simply leave and not make a fuss. When you get home tho, reward them for a &quot;good wait&quot; with belly rubs. Remember too that it is not how much of a treat you give them but &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; you are giving them a treat (or affection) which is the reward.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, make sure they have something to do while you are gone. If you have the luxury of yard space, consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/PY6fG9k3ZO4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an automatic ball thrower&lt;/a&gt;. Hanging a chew toy or rope knot can also be something for them to play with while you gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-17T02:00:09.323" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T02:00:09.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16580" CreationDate="2017-03-15T07:43:47.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Confirm with your vet (presumably the person administering the vaccine) but I would think it better to feed after exercise. If feeding prior to exercise, maybe feed in small portions or use a ridged bowl so they're not gulping down food and chewing adequately? If your dog barfs while exercising you'll definitely want to feed after instead of before. As its a puppy, I'm sure they'll have lotsa energy :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T07:43:47.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16560" CreationDate="2017-03-15T11:18:43.387" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I offer both a stainless steel bowl and a drinking fountain for my two cats (two different locations of the house). I have noticed Annabelle, my two year old American Shorthair, prefers running water and in fact will not even drink from the bowl but instead will use it to play in. If the fountain is empty or not running she will in fact go turn on facets in my house to offer herself drinking water. Cleo, my at least 15 year old long haired Babydoll mixed breed, will drink from either depending on where she is. She doesn't seem too picky and will even drink after the dog that lived in the same house as her for 7 years. (she lived with my sister and the dog but came to live with me after she adopted my dad as her owner). I personally prefer the fountain myself as it seems to keep cleaner whereas the bowl always seems so dirty and gets those buildups in it. The fountain looks amazingly clean (probably due to the filter) even after 3 days when I'm cleaning it with just a tiny bit of hair buildup whereas the bowl I find myself refreshing it at least once a day if not up to 3 (on the days the dog visits). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8931" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T11:18:43.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16588" CreationDate="2017-03-15T11:22:37.377" Score="3" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was spayed a week ago and we were directed to keep her away from other pets and reduce her activity for 2 weeks. She has done everything she can to continue playing with our new kitten, but I've managed to keep them separated enough, and her stitches have healed nicely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tonight she randomly and swiftly climbed up our window screen, perched on the curtain railing thing, cried for help getting down - and as I held my arms up to her to guide her, she took a sudden and overconfident leap at them, slamming her flank into my open palm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her stitches are fine, but I'm worried about internal damage. It's been 2 hours and she seems fine so far. My question is, what are the chances that damage has been done? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9070" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T07:47:00.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T07:47:00.110" Title="Should I be concerned about my recently-spayed cat's fall?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16581" CreationDate="2017-03-15T11:34:40.380" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I'm sure you know, the key is really getting the pill as far back in he mouth right away so they have no choice but to swallow. A pill gun (or piller) my be helpful in this respect, which allows you to stick the pill further back in the mouth. There are a large number of variations of these products online or at pet stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have to give multiple medications, it can be helpful to purchase gel capsules and stick all the pills in them, so you just have to go through the operation once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is really no magic solution I'm afraid. If you are really continuing to struggle with the pills, ask you veterinarian about the possibility of getting the pills compounded into a different or more palatable form, such as a liquid or chewable. While compounding pharmacies vary in their prices, even though you will pay it bit more you may be able to save yourself and the cat an enormous amount of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T11:34:40.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16586" CreationDate="2017-03-15T12:01:39.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only right answer if you are concerned is to have a veterinarian examine her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, while she is still healing a week after surgery, in all likelihood she is fine. You said the external sutures are intact, which is important. The vet will have placed internal sutures where her ovaries and uterus were, and there is a small risk that excessive activity could loosen these sutures and cause internal bleeding. Such complications would be very uncommon a week after surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is a fair plan to monitor her closely over the next 24 hours, and if you notice any behaviour changes, pain, vomiting, decreased appetite, lethargy, or other abnormal changes then to take her into the vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T12:01:39.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16581" CreationDate="2017-03-15T13:20:15.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For now the only thing I can seem to do is put the pill in his mouth&#xA;  and then hold it shut until he swallows, but this seems incredibly&#xA;  inhumane and regardless he's figured out how to push the pill out&#xA;  before I get his mouth closed anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, just keeping his chin up until the pill has been swallowed is sufficient; you don't need to hold his mouth shut. I expect that it's less frightening for a cat to have his chin held up than to have his mouth held closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Harry V. mentioned, I suspect you may not be putting the pill far enough back on the tongue. A pill gun may solve your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip: I give a small treat before pilling, and another one after. So even during the process, the cat has something to look forward to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T13:20:15.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16604" CreationDate="2017-03-15T13:33:10.003" Score="2" ViewCount="3245" Body="&lt;p&gt;My house is under attack by mice.  Droppings everywhere, holes in boxes and plastic bags.  I'm not a killer, so, I decided to use a humane trap.  With it, I caught 8 mice in 2 days, not bad.  But I only decimated them, not eradicated them, so more to go.  I can hear them at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm quite happy with my traps and bait; the problem is now the weather is 10F degrees outside, and 20&quot; of snow.  I won't put the mice out there until it's a bit warmer, but I can't just not trap them, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got a mouse now that I've trapped and placed in an empty fish tank, I just lined the bottom with paper towels and placed a dish of water and bait for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know next to nothing about keeping mice, my intention is to release any that I catch as soon as the weather turns; but how do I care for them in the meantime?  Do I have to worry about disease, or fleas, or getting bitten?  What happens if I do get bit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mouse, by the way, is having a temper tantrum, ostensibly from getting caught.  He (or she) has already torn up all of the paper towels into confetti, after one night, and seems to be testing the best choice places to eliminate his/her bowels.  That includes in the water bowl and food dish.  And everywhere else.  So, how often do I have to change the linings, food, and water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for posterity, I might as well learn how to sex the mouse... how do I do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if I manage to catch more, should I keep them together or put them in separate tanks?  I don't want babies.  (I have one more tank suitable for this purpose, the others I have are not large enough or don't have adequate covers on top).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9071" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T09:47:32.837" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T02:33:38.377" Title="Domesticating wild mice?" Tags="&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-15T15:48:55.363" Score="6" ViewCount="4096" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog that I rescued six years ago and a six month old bitch also rescued from the street very young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I have with the puppy, not eating enough or none at all, the vet said she is healthy and good condition and not to worry about her, which is easier said than done in my case. &#xA;He suggested feeding her different puppy food that are in the market but that didn't work unless I hand fed her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consulted a professional dog trainer, and like some of you said, he suggested to put the food down and to wait, and as soon she moves away, to remove the bowl and  not to give her the food back until dinner time or breakfast as the case may be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eat before my dogs, I don't feed them scraps, they get all the exercise they need, what's more they keep me in shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all said, I worry terribly when she goes four or five days without eating, and so I give in and start hand feeding again and so the vicious cycle starts again for a couple of weeks until I'm confident she has replenished her puppy fat again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate if any of you reading my plight, can give me a more permanent solution to my problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9072" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T22:55:23.993" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T19:14:10.890" Title="How do I get my puppy to eat from her bowl instead of handfeeding?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16572" CreationDate="2017-03-15T16:38:04.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on what veterinary diet she was on before, it may be worth repeating the elimination diet, trying a different novel protein/carbohydrate or hydrolysed diet. It sounds like you have tried many protein sources so it may be a challenge to find one that she has not been exposed to before. It could just be that there was an ingredient used in the last diet trial to which she was intolerant. An elimination diet trial is really the only way to determine if she is allergic to something (which is still quite likely given her age, the chronicity, and absence of other signs). As you are aware, it is vital during a diet trial to have no access to other food, treats, medications, etc. during the trial period, and it can take 6-8 weeks before you see marked improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soaking the dry food in water can sometimes slow down the speed of eating, although it does not sound like this is particularly an issue in your cat's case if she is vomiting several hours after eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am guessing you have already discussed and ruled out this with your vet, but consider empirically deworming her, and/or doing a faecal analysis. Parasites are a possible cause of chronic vomiting in young cats, and given she is an indoor/outdoor cat it is especially important to regularly deworm and keep up to date on flea and tick prevention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diagnostically, there are still options you could pursue which may be worth bringing up at your vet, ranging to non-invasive (abdominal ultrasound) to very invasive (surgical biopsies of the GI tract). I am certainly not saying the latter is warranted in your cat's case. These may be beyond the capabilities of your general practitioner and may require referral to a specialist. The frustrating thing about chronic vomiting cats is that there is a decent chance you do every test under the sun and still don't come up with an answer – in which case, you're back at: it's most likely a food allergy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-03-15T16:38:04.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16598" CreationDate="2017-03-16T09:20:20.260" Score="3" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my female dog gave birth to a pup, which is about one and half to two months old by now. Every morning I take him on a walk near the neighborhood to get him acquainted with smells. However, my dog also likes to taste dirt from weird places (including some very gross ones). Also, only today I discovered that he was excessively vomiting (has happened three times today as of now), which has me excessively worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T00:36:11.307" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T00:36:11.307" Title="My dog eats dirt from weird places then throws up" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16595" CreationDate="2017-03-16T17:32:01.627" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not let them eat dirt.  Puppies (as I've discovered) like to eat and bite things that they otherwise really shouldn't.  It's how they learn.  You need to get your puppy into the mindset that eating abnormal objects isn't allowed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sternly tell your puppy not to eat something when they do or if it looks like they are about to.  I've been doing this with my new puppy and so far it's been working pretty well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-03-16T17:32:01.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16602" CreationDate="2017-03-16T19:15:36.697" Score="2" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I do a small water change near the end of cycling my dry rock in my marine aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia levels are 0, nitrites are at 0 or very well close to 0. But nitrates have been explosive over the last few days. There is nothing in the tank, my dry rock that I've been ghost feeding and seeding for about 3&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; weeks, and my live sand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw ammonia spike, then come down, nitrites spike then down. And now I'm just worried that these high nitrates could start blooming algae or something. There is no light on the tank, except the occasional flicked on and off when someone ventures into the basement where the tank is located (no natural light at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I safe to do a small water change, I was thinking 10 - 15 % to help reduce the nitrates then I was going to start my skimmer. I'm fairly new to the hobby as this is my second and far more researched attempt after an 8 year break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional tank info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;size: 75&amp;nbsp;gallon (280&amp;nbsp;liters);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rock: 75&amp;nbsp;lbs (34&amp;nbsp;kg) from bulk reef supply;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sand: 40&amp;nbsp;lbs (18&amp;nbsp;kg) live sand;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;temperature: 27&amp;nbsp;°C&amp;nbsp;(80&amp;nbsp;°F);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;salinity: 35&amp;nbsp;parts per trillion, specific gravity of 1.026;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;skimmer is currently not running during cycling;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;lighting is currently off as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using RO/DI system with out water reading 0&amp;nbsp;total dissolved solids (mixed and heated in a storage container for all my water changes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T22:55:27.813" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T22:55:27.813" Title="Is a water change near the end of cycling dry rock a good idea" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-16T21:37:27.413" Score="4" ViewCount="3016" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just purchased a chuck it tennis ball that comes with the throwing handle for my dog. Just about 15 mins after I bought it and tried it out with the dog, she loved it. The throwing handle is a little hard to adjust to for me so I was throwing it quick close. I managed to throw it pretty hard and the tennis ball hit my dog right in the eye! My natural instinct was to coddle my dog and apologize. I felt so sad that I hurt her, she was squinting. Now she's completely afraid I'm going to hurt her, especially when carrying the chuck it. How do I regain her trust and get her to love the toy again? She definitely thinks it's going to hurt her every time I pick it up. Though it's only been a few hours since I accidentally hit her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9083" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2017-03-16T22:53:05.563" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T17:41:42.100" Title="How can I regain my dog's trust after accidentally hurting them with a toy?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16591" CreationDate="2017-03-17T00:12:14.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you &lt;em&gt;certain&lt;/em&gt; there are no other food sources? Could she be eating the older fogs food and you don't notice?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does she not poop during long stretches of not eating? Did this &quot;days of not eating&quot; happen right when you got her or or repeatedly since then? If the former, it might just be transitional stress. If the latter, it might just be her way of telling you she has trust issues (abuse? Neglect?) and needs extra love and rehabilitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the puppies relationship with the older dog like? Have you tried separating the two during feeding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something to try:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Introduce the bowl with the hand feeding. See if you can feed by hand with the bowl under your hand. Once the pup starts eating, slide the food of your hand and in the bowl - keeping your hand in the bowl if need be. Also have more food in the bowl so there's more there if the pup wants to continue eating.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the comments suggested a vet behaviorist. I second that idea.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion is to stay present with her feeding and use a reassuring voice. Maybe spend some time building her confidence before feeding - especially if there's dominance issues with the older dog. Maybe sit with her in your lap while you feed so she feels protected, safe and the general affection of touch/contact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the pup drink enough water? How regular are the bowel movements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side-note more about training: consider only feeding her out of your left hand. Most people are right handed. That way you avoid the right hand moving = food association which might eventually lead her to act out with strangers that gesture with their right hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good that you don't feed them scraps and separate your eating time from theirs. Also good to put the food bowls away, out of sight when feeding is done. Lastly, keep a regular schedule for feeding time - establishing and maintaining a routine for feeding, exercising, pooping/peeing will go a long way towards good pup behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do both dogs have their own established &quot;spot&quot; (crate, pillow bed, blanket?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-17T00:27:13.850" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T00:27:13.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16599" CreationDate="2017-03-17T00:14:43.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'm going to assume you're curing/cycling the rock in the display tank, correct me if I am wrong here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming so, I would definitely do a water change. And I think your concerns are spot on. As soon as you apply light of any reasonable intensity, you're going to almost immediately get GHA and film algae, typically followed by more nefarious algaes. Right now is when I would figure out an initial water change and maintenance schedule. If you do decide to add livestock, do so extremely slowly because it's going to be months to a full year before the tank has any chance at natural denitrification. The 2 main concerns in adding too much are creating runaway NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; and PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; which will turn into a lot of maintenance to keep algae in check. Secondly, if you add a lot right now, it's possible to overload the biological capacity of your rock and substrate and cause what's called a soft cycle, which is basically a mini-cycle that lasts from about 1 - 3 weeks. You won't get near the ammonia spike of an actual cycle, but it can be enough to stress or kill fish and definitely enough to kill coral or inverts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's isn't really a correct way to handle this. Almost all reef tanks are going to go through a number of algae stages the first year they are setup. The goal is to minimize the carnage during that time and do everything you can to not introduce aggressive algaes like bryopsis or caulerpa racemosa among others. Just basing this on my experience, I would actually plan for roughly 10 - 15% per week for the immediate future. If you stock no fish or very lightly, you can extend weekly to every 2 - 3 weeks, dependent on whether you start having nutrient problems (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; and PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt;). Once the tank is several months old, and you have a routine schedule, you should be able to incrementally adjust it to meet the needs of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's not uncommon at all for dry rock, including mined rock like BRS pukani, marco, or reefcleaners, or others to leach PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt;. I personally do not have an explanation for this phenomenon, but I've seen it in my tanks and almost every other tank I've seen setup using dry mined rock. Keep an eye on your phosphate, as it's basically the other contributor to nuisance algaes, cyanobactera, diatoms, etc. If you have a chance, I strongly recommend joining a local and/or online reef forum or group. This is truly a community hobby, and you can learn a lot more and meet really great people through one of these clubs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:18:48.530" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:18:48.530" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16600" CreationDate="2017-03-17T00:37:10.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start slowly.  Reintroduce the toy. Does she cower from it? If so, put some smell or flavor on it. Let her sniff it/lick it. Then put it away. Repeat until she stops cowering. Put the toy(s) out of site or in a bucket when it is no longer play time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, if she is no longer cowering from it, non-chalantly use it to groom and pet her (I do this to get my dogs okay with the nail clipper). That will get her smell on it and build an association of good feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do likewise with the tennis ball if she cowers from the presence of the tennis ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, try fetch with a stick. Get some gloves if you don't want to dirty your hands picking up the stick or toy. Rebuild her fetch=FUN! habit. Once she's okay with the long handle ball thrower, back at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do note if you go the stick route if she cowers from the sight of you holding up a long object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be reassuring with your voice and with petting/belly rubs/ear scritches for good behavior and following commands. Contrast this reward voice with your command voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all - have fun :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T01:37:56.450" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T01:37:56.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16590" CreationDate="2017-03-17T00:43:47.347" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hantavirus&lt;/a&gt; from their droppings is no bueno - potentially lethal. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/cleaning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sanitize&lt;/a&gt;, fortify and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to/g166/weapons-of-mouse-destruction-how-to-eliminate-the-relentless-rodents/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;secure the home to rid the presence of them&lt;/a&gt; and prevent their re-establishing habitation there. Consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.earthkind.com/learning-center/control-mice/how-to-repel-mice-naturally-safely-and-with-confidence-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ultra-sonic&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4518157/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;predator scent abatement&lt;/a&gt;. If you are catching that many mice, then you need to establish a perimeter, clean the inlets into your home from the foundation to the roofing. Remove attracting scents, plug the holes which they get in through and remove existing nesting and food sources, other remains and especially their droppings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;strong&gt;do not &lt;a href=&quot;http://mouseranch.com/FYI/tamingWildMice.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;domesticate wild animals&lt;/a&gt; by trapping them.&lt;/strong&gt; You may have sequestered a mother from her nursing babies. Whatever the case, you have a trapped, terrified animal you are effectively torturing. Kill it (and then &lt;a href=&quot;http://bertc.com/subfive/recipes/cookingrats.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eat it&lt;/a&gt;) and be done with the pest, or release it. The mouse has made it this far in life and can fend for itself in inclement weather. I don't think you are doing it any favor by sequestering it. If you want a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adoptapet.com/s/mouse-adoption&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pet mouse&lt;/a&gt;, just buy one from a reputable dealer and research &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petco.com/content/petco/PetcoStore/en_US/pet-services/resource-center/caresheets/mice.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mouse care&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the comments, you mention your child's attachment. This is a great opportunity to learn together about making a safe home, the liabilities of wild animals (fleas, bites, disease) and the humane treatment of wild critters. Also, yes: release them miles away. You could make it a picnic or hiking excursion with your family? That way your child will have a goodbye ceremony to commemorate the end of an emotional attachment. This might also be a good time to broach the subject of pet mortality if they are old enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to come off as judgmental or disapproving. I know &quot;torture&quot; is a strong word, but a trapped wild animal is in a very high stress situation without any pattern of contact as a ground for establishing trust with what is otherwise a captor (you). This might also be a great time to buy &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/Zg_vjRKIjak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a kitten&lt;/a&gt; or re-home a good mouser of a cat. I would imagine this would be very effective in ameliorating any separation anxiety your child has after the mouse is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-17T02:33:38.377" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T02:33:38.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-17T01:06:32.627" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog Zeus (intact) has recently became aggressive with our other dog Bingo (neutered).  I think there is a dog around the block that is in heat but I'm not sure.  Bingo is a 12 years old standard poodle that weighs 75 lbs and Zeus is 3 1/2 Colorado Bulldog that weighs 120 lbs. Zeus has been in the family since he was 8 weeks old.  His behavior is so off.  We have never experienced this aggression until now.  Do I take him to get neutered and hope his aggression stops? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9084" LastEditorUserId="53" LastEditDate="2017-03-20T13:17:17.873" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T17:32:29.243" Title="Intact male started being aggressive with neutered dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16607" CreationDate="2017-03-17T03:44:26.690" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dog who around two months ago gave birth to a pup. My vet suggests me to get a dog bone for the pup because he likes to chew things. However the dog bone happens to be non-vegetarian and if I ever bring it (the dog bone) home chances are I will get thrown out of the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some vegan alternatives to dog bones which I can use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T04:29:21.940" Title="Alternatives to dog bone" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2017-03-17T04:22:25.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been happy with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kongcompany.com/products/for-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong chew toy products&lt;/a&gt; - very durable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a length of sturdy rope with a knot tied at the end. Not just any old rope from a hardware store - you'll want to find something which isn't chemically treated. Try something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.earthdog.com/hemp-rope-dog-toys.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hemp fiber rope&lt;/a&gt;. If your dog doesn't care for it, soak it in some flavor (like used cooking oil or vegetable soup base). Or, just play tug with them with it and they'll get into it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog needs meat tho, so a vegan household will need to make peace with that to make a healthy home for the four legged members of your family. Note that a vegan diet is terrible for a dog. If it becomes an option, soup bones from the local butcher not only can be boiled for GREAT soup stock (for you or the dog) but after cooking they can, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_raw_bones_or_cooked_bones?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;with caution&lt;/a&gt;, be appropriate chew toys. I have found this to be a very economically thrifty means of utilizing an animal product which likely would otherwise just get thrown away. If it helps, you could think of using the soup bone as a way of honoring the cow's life.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://urbanvegan.net/natural-dog-chews/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article has a list of good vegan suggestions&lt;/a&gt; - I particularly like the sweet potato dog chew rope, but you'll want to balance the food consumption of the chew toy with their overall food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-18T04:29:21.940" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T04:29:21.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2017-03-17T11:10:33.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chewing bones is terrible for a dog's teeth, and there is a risk fragments could break off which could cause potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal obstruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of safe alternatives for chew toys available at any pet store. I caution you against making your own chew toys, because they are more likely to break/disintegrate, which could result in your dog ingesting part of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T11:10:33.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-17T14:42:42.110" Score="4" ViewCount="3028" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two goldfish and have kept them in a fish bowl for now. As I do not have a water filter in there, should I change the water daily in the bowl? It does seem a bit dirty after a day, but I don't know if it is in fact dirtier than it should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, as many other answers suggests, I will only change only 40-50% water at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9089" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-01T12:03:12.427" LastActivityDate="2020-06-01T12:03:12.427" Title="Is changing water daily in a fish bowl harmful to the fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2017-03-17T15:02:24.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bowl is too small for goldfish. They need at least a 21&amp;nbsp;gallon&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;79&amp;nbsp;liters (80&amp;nbsp;cm length) tank with a good filter because they produce too many organic material; more than most of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you do not buy a new tank, it would be good idea to change 40% of the water everyday. You should keep the water alkaline. Feces and urine will turn the water acidic. Do not forget to use anti-chlorine on the new water and be careful with the new water temperature; it would kill the fish if the temperature changes too quickly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T23:42:58.047" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T23:42:58.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2017-03-17T15:38:57.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 6 weeks old, they have a very small bladder so cannot expect them to go all night. I had the same issue with my cockerpoo. I got up in early hours but just got up to let him out then he back in to sleep. Now, he is 6 months old and a delight. He sleeps in the bed with us and is in same room but has his own bed that he sleeps in from about 1:30 until 7 when we let him out then back to bed for another hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9090" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T15:03:23.810" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T15:03:23.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16674" CreationDate="2017-03-17T16:19:30.323" Score="4" ViewCount="9072" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 20g fish tank, dimensions are around 18in high, 24in length, 12in wide.  Currently it contains 7 neon tetras, a plastic column, and a plastic plant (medium size, about as tall as the tank and around 6 inch diameter base).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to get some more creatures for my tank, and have been looking at ghost shrimp. Can I add them? &lt;a href=&quot;http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php?AquTankName=riker&amp;amp;AquListBoxTank=Choose&amp;amp;AquTankLength=24&amp;amp;AquTankDepth=12&amp;amp;AquTankHeight=18&amp;amp;FormSubmit=Update&amp;amp;AquListBoxFilter=Choose&amp;amp;AquTextFilterRate=N/A+&amp;amp;AquListBoxFilter2=Choose&amp;amp;AquTextFilterRate2=N/A+&amp;amp;AquFilterString=ghost+shrimp&amp;amp;AquListBoxChooser=Ghost+Shrimp+(Palaemonetes+sp.)&amp;amp;AquTextBoxQuantity=&amp;amp;AquTextBoxRemoveQuantity=&amp;amp;AlreadySelected=200909300144:7::,200909300079:7::&amp;amp;FilterMode=Display+all+species&amp;amp;AqTempUnit=C&amp;amp;AqVolUnit=gUS&amp;amp;AqLengthUnit=inch&amp;amp;AqSortType=cname&amp;amp;FilterQuantity=2&amp;amp;AqJuvMode=&amp;amp;AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&amp;amp;AqSearchMode=simple&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to this calculator&lt;/a&gt;, I'm perfectly fine with a 1:1 ratio of ghost shrimp to neon tetras. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, is that healthy for both the tetras and ghost shrimp? Should I try to have  a 2:1 with more tetras than shrimp, or does it not really matter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9091" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T16:12:54.093" Title="How many ghost shrimp can I put in a 20g tank with 7 neon tetras?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16612" CreationDate="2017-03-17T16:50:59.477" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the shrimp multiply fast (because they lay hundreds of eggs, of which many do survive to adulthood) I'd start with a small number, maybe 5 males and 5 females.  And later, you may have to do population control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorDisplayName="user9091" LastEditDate="2017-03-18T10:44:46.670" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T10:44:46.670" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16614" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16635" CreationDate="2017-03-17T17:39:08.177" Score="4" ViewCount="3159" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16612/how-many-ghost-shrimp-can-i-put-in-a-20g-tank-with-7-neon-tetras&quot;&gt;Some context&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on having ghost shrimp and neon tetras in the same tank (20g), however I don't really want a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of ghost shrimp.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have 7 neon tetras.  Would they eat the baby ghost shrimp, hopefully keeping the population steady?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9091" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:35:51.953" Title="Will neon tetras eat ghost shrimp babies?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16459" CreationDate="2017-03-17T17:47:30.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens will eat litter sometimes. I believe catsan is a clay / silica based litter, which is bad for cats, people, flooring etc. It is dangerous for them to eat. I would shred some paper or look for a safer litter. Your vet may have some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just out of curiosity is their mother still around? 8 weeks is the normal recommended time they should spend with mom so they learn how to be proper cats. Does their mother use the litter box they are supposed to use? If they can watch their mother and see how and where she goes they may do the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2017-03-17T18:20:36.393" LastActivityDate="2017-03-17T18:20:36.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16618" CreationDate="2017-03-17T23:44:40.543" Score="2" ViewCount="1667" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave my three-month puppy an old ball as a toy.  When he plays with the ball, he growls and bites the ball.  I'm afraid of he becomes aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a normal behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T04:23:05.443" Title="Puppy growling at the ball" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16616" CreationDate="2017-03-18T04:23:05.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do they get aggressive with you when you take away the toy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If his growling and biting is limited to the toy and he is able to &quot;snap out of it&quot; (also a useful command phrase to use, possibly in conjunction with a sharp hand clap to shift the dogs attention) then that seems normal. Your puppy might just be &quot;getting into it&quot; with their toy. Good dog toy practice for you might also involve putting the toy(s) away when play time is over (somewhere out of sight if need be, possibly just in a bucket and you can train them to retrieve and deposit toys at the appropriate times).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog gets aggressive, remains aggressive and the aggression escalates (stiff posture, raised hackles, baring teeth, barking, snapping, nipping, biting, etc.) or the dog gets aggressive with you or others, this is not normal. If this is the case, consider talking to a veterinarian behaviorist. You can ask your vet if they can recommend one or a dog behavior training class in your area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/07/27/puppy-play.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article with some overview and suggestions&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play time is part of how you relate to your dog. You want them to have fun, but remember that you are the boss. Another command suggestion if your dog gets overly playful with strangers: consider distinguishing the &quot;down&quot; command for &quot;lie down&quot; from the &quot;off&quot; command for &quot;get off that&quot;. Also, especially while training for the first 18 months of your pup's life, be stern with the command voice (and look them in the eye) and once the command is obeyed, use an affectionate voice (and smile) and tell them &quot;good (command)&quot; - i.e. &quot;Sit!&quot; ::dog sits:: &quot;Good sit.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T04:23:05.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16624" CreationDate="2017-03-18T15:25:50.097" Score="2" ViewCount="2389" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is, it's only when we're on our way back from a walk. Leaving the house and walking is fine, he'll rub some bushes but he won't arch his back or bite/sniff his rear. But when we're homeward bound he begins to do this. Should I be concerned? Has anyone else seen this behavior before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should mention he is a 5 year old Cockapoo and is fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9097" LastEditorUserId="9097" LastEditDate="2017-03-18T17:59:57.823" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T01:01:04.807" Title="My dog keeps twisting his body, arching his back, and rubbing his back and butt on walls and bushes" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2017-03-18T19:05:54.707" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is in fact very harmful to put fish into an aquarium on the same day you've set up the aquarium. An aquarium needs to cycle before you can add any fish to it. More information about that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/215/how-does-one-effectively-cycle-an-aquarium/323#323&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Also, as mentioned before, a bowl is too small for goldfish, in fact it is too small for any type of fish. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you are serious about keeping goldfish, have a look at this article &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-info/mistakes/12-mistakes-goldfish-keepers-make/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;12 Mistakes goldfish keepers make&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I guess this information is coming a bit too late now... &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;So, if possible, I would try to take the fish back to the shop where you bought them. &lt;br&gt;Then do some research about keeping fish or ask questions here on stackexchange. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If they don't want to take them back, then it is indeed required that you do a daily partial water change now, otherwise the levels of nitrite and ammonia will raise to high, and will potentially kill your fish.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.063" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T19:05:54.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16623" CreationDate="2017-03-18T22:15:32.283" Score="2" ViewCount="1945" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for answer that is scientific in nature and not just an opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using dial (on my cat) it helps kill the fleas, sometimes better than even cheap flea-shampoos do. But like those cheap shampoos, does it or does it not kill all 4 stages in a flea's life cycle (ex. some shampoos don't kill eggs)??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 2 is using dial first before a store-bought, flea-shampoos does it cover say the eggs with a layer that the flea-shampoo doesn't penetrate to kill the egg??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8559" LastEditorUserId="8559" LastEditDate="2017-03-18T22:26:54.983" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T14:57:44.753" Title="Liquid Dial dish soap for flea-soap(shampoo) usage" Tags="&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16622" CreationDate="2017-03-18T22:37:14.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dish soap, bar soap, liquid soap, shampoo (for humans) is a no-no for cat's (or dogs). Cats skin is a significantly different &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/skin+pH&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ph&lt;/a&gt; than human skin and using &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/subscriber/0202digest.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these products&lt;/a&gt; can cause irritation, itching, allergies, etc. Additionally, when they groom themselves, they can ingest chemical traces that may cause other issues in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For good flea control, there are many, many methods and products. Do a search here on the site and you will find many answers for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/107/how-can-i-get-rid-of-fleas-without-dangerous-chemicals/6518#6518&quot;&gt;flea control.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.petmeds.com/news/flea-tick-preventatives/comfortis-for-use-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Comfortis&lt;/a&gt; on my cat and dog and have been extremely pleased. They both have no reaction to the treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.237" LastActivityDate="2017-03-18T22:43:03.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16619" CreationDate="2017-03-19T01:01:04.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sudden changes in behavior can indicate a problem - have you asked your vet? If he's doing his business on these walks prior to the odd behavior - &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/anal-sac-disease-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;possibly something related to his anal glands&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Groomers are not vets. If your groomer is voiding your dogs anal sacs as a matter of course with regular visits, it may be causing the problem. If they've only done it the once, it may be their technique is inappropriate. Imagine popping a zit with too much pressure and bruising or damaging the skin. Maybe your fingernails cut into the skin as you are frustrated by the zit not popping. Imagine doing this every day. Imagine you don't like doing this because when the zit pops it really stinks. Imagine you don't get paid much to do this and mostly do it because someone told you that you have to... Next thing you know: irritation, infection, etc. Talk to your vet and in the meantime tell your groomer to leave the anal glands alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T01:01:04.807" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16628" CreationDate="2017-03-19T03:33:41.563" Score="4" ViewCount="7401" Body="&lt;p&gt;We discovered through a blood test that our 3 year old is severely allergic to cats. We have two cats who are 7 and 8 respectively and we're adopted as kittens. So their hair and dander is all over everything in our house. We are finding new homes for that cats, but I have the painstaking chore of cleaning their hair and dander off/out of everything in the house. I know it will take a while to really clean the house and it will never be entirely free of all hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out the best way to clean so the allergen is dead or denatured so it does not affect my daughter. Will washing clothes and other linens in very hot water kill whatever it is in the hair and dander that causes a reaction? So that even if the hair is present, it won't affect her? Is there a kind of soap or other agent I can use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, we have no carpeting in the house, but we do have rugs. And since we live in a cold climate, we also have lots of thick, heavy blankets of various textiles and materials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'm asking, I'm open to pretty much any tips that can be offered to clean up after the cats! Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9100" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:10:55.207" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:10:55.207" Title="Cleaning to rid house of cat allergen after cat is gone" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16622" CreationDate="2017-03-19T10:19:53.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you are are looking for an answer that is scientific in nature.  I have to start by saying you maybe working under a false impression. There is a well researched answer at &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17370/can-dish-soap-really-be-used-to-kill-ticks-and-fleas/17477#17477&quot;&gt;Can dish soap really be used to kill ticks and fleas?&lt;/a&gt; that conflicts with the popular belief that fleas are easy to drown, soap can help wash fleas off, but it does not drown them.  There is a second answer at the same question, that indicates some dish soap that &lt;strong&gt;MAY&lt;/strong&gt; kill fleas can be harmful to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of related questions that may also help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5805/can-i-bathe-my-cat-with-shampoo&quot;&gt;Can I bathe my cat with shampoo?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3159/what-is-an-acceptable-flea-treatment-for-kittens&quot;&gt;What is an acceptable flea treatment for kittens?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T10:19:53.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16633" CreationDate="2017-03-19T12:25:02.233" Score="2" ViewCount="1157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about installing &lt;strong&gt;radiant floor&lt;/strong&gt; in my home but I'm worried about my dog, a 8kg/18lb Lhasa Apso with the head at 30cm/12&quot; from the floor and a lot of hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a radiant heating system, the floor surface is at 28ºC/82ºF while the lower layers of air, where my dog would be living, are between 22ºC/72ºF and 25ºC/77ºF.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a different temperature to the one we can find in summer (In Spain) but I'm still worried about my dog's health, considering the type of dog he is: Small and hairy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can someone provide me any advice?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9101" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-03-19T15:53:33.857" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T03:18:49.927" Title="Is radiant floor heating healthy for my small dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16625" CreationDate="2017-03-19T13:10:15.130" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allergic reactions to cats is mostly caused by proteins in saliva, as well as dander. Physical removal is the only solution. This means vacuuming and wet cleaning, mostly. You shouldn't need to use a hot wash. Hand-washing delicate items should be fine. Dry (solvent) cleaning will also work. If the problem persists, you may have to discard certain items. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_to_cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; offers some advice. A vet could probably give you more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat hairs shouldn't cause any problems in themselves, since they are mostly keratin, but dried saliva needs to be washed off. Any residual hairs left behind after laundering should be harmless. In any case, they will gradually disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HEPA&lt;/a&gt; vacuum cleaner. A HEPA air purifier may also help to reduce particulates (which is the main mechanism by which allergens are spread).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to clean your car, as well as your home. Toys and your child's bedding should be cleaned as a matter of some urgency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-03-19T13:53:52.883" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T13:53:52.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16600" CreationDate="2017-03-19T18:04:09.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Mr Kennedy. Another thing to reassure you: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs always live in the moment. Their brain is not able to look in the past and feel the moment as we humans can do.&#xA;That said, new research has shown that they are one of the only species who can read human emotions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160112214507.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160112214507.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way your dog will &quot;remember&quot; that you've hurt her whilst playing is that if you feel that bad moment and remind her when she reads your emotions. That will trigger the dog back into that moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mr Kennedy is right about the training, which is behaviour replacement and proper dog training. However, it won't be that successful if you feel guilty and keep the dog in that moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2016/01/27/what-dogs-can-teach-us-about-living-in-the-moment/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2016/01/27/what-dogs-can-teach-us-about-living-in-the-moment/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-03-19T18:04:09.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16625" CreationDate="2017-03-19T20:16:26.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excellent answer by Mick. Adding to his answer: Wash clothing, bedding, towels, etc., normally but with the addition of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OxiClean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;OxiClean&lt;/a&gt; or other H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; additive. These additives aid in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1900517/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;breakdown&lt;/a&gt; of the proteins in the saliva, thus alleviating allergic response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding this preparation  to rug cleaning solution  to wet-clean area rugs will go far to reduce potential allergens. Add 1 part dry powder to 3 parts hot water, stir to dissolve powder and add solution to rug cleaning solution. Use this liquid in the reservoir of your rug cleaner. I use a portable Bissell &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bissell.com/little-green-portable-carpet-cleaner-1400b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Little Green&lt;/a&gt; with excellent results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the process of removing allergens from your home is time-consuming and laborious, as long as you keep pets out of your house, it has to be done infrequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:09:46.863" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:09:46.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16627" CreationDate="2017-03-20T03:18:49.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Mick said, your dog will need somewhere to retreat when he gets too warm. Dogs can't sweat, which is why they pant. Wherever the radiant floor is installed, make certain your dog has a place off the floor if he gets too warm. Any elevated area should be adequate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T03:18:49.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16614" CreationDate="2017-03-20T09:19:14.567" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neon tetras will indeed eat baby shrimp. So they can be used for population control.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But keep in mind that you do have to try to keep some of the babies alive. Otherwise you might end up without any shrimp after a while. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From your other post, it seems like your tank won't have many hiding places for the shrimp. So you might want to add a few real plants and moss (shrimp will love this) and a shrimp cave. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Especially when shrimp are shedding their skin, they are more vulnerable and also need a more quiet place to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:35:51.953" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:35:51.953" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16136" CreationDate="2017-03-20T13:39:44.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs, in general, aren't born with a preference to eliminate indoors or outdoors; but they usually won't go right where they are resting. Consider yourselves lucky: your dog seems to have made an association with being outside to eliminate. My guess is that your dog, who was often tied up outside at a construction site, developed a preference for associating some outdoor smell (grass, weeds, dirt, etc) with their place to eliminate. Depending on the length of her tether, she might have had to isolate which spot she picked in order to avoid having to sit in it all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-03-20T13:39:44.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16649" CreationDate="2017-03-21T02:25:10.180" Score="1" ViewCount="1093" Body="&lt;p&gt;I eat healthfully and many healthy foods are cost effective.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am cooking beans (mainly pinto) that day I add one cup of beans each for each dog and feed them the beans over dog food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They used to love it but lately they hate beans.  These are unseasoned pinto beans that I let cool. Both dogs are typically fast eaters.  For them both to not like beans the exact same day seems odd. Maybe they got into something to upset their bellies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will get them dried dog food tomorrow but why would a dog not like cooked beans?  It's not a bad package of beans - these are the same beans I eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2017-03-21T22:17:42.257" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T12:09:20.217" Title="Dogs stop eating pinto beans - why?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16640" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-21T03:50:25.023" Score="3" ViewCount="2384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed recently that the white stones in my fish tank&#xA;are starting to have something brown growing on them,&#xA;which I suspect to be mold/algae.&#xA;The mold/algae also seems to be slowly increasing over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How do I remove the mold/algae?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And how do I prevent the mold/algae from returning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Edit&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of my fish tank.&#xA;We have a filter which you can partially see at the back.&#xA;You can see that the white stones have some brown things on them,&#xA;but interestingly it only happens on some of the stones.&#xA;The fish tank also has several brown spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LZ33d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LZ33d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9110" LastEditorUserId="9110" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T08:29:19.780" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T01:18:40.440" Title="How to remove mold/algae from the stones in a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16639" CreationDate="2017-03-21T04:05:05.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't state how big your dogs are or how much they are normally served, but, one cup of beans is a lot to substitute with their regular kibble - even for a large breed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://canigivemydog.com/beans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; notes that cooked beans are fine &lt;em&gt;in moderation&lt;/em&gt; but it could simply be that the novelty wore off and they just don't like it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the information you've provided, it is simply impossible to answer your question with anything more than speculation. Not knowing your routine with the dogs or their recent history, instead of answering your question definitively, I can only ask further questions: Did the dogs still have an appetite when they weren't interested in the beans - i.e. did the dogs eat kibble without a cup of beans on top of it? Do they seem healthy otherwise? Is their urine and stool a regular consistency? If they have lost their appetite or appear lethargic, what else do they have access to? In general, sudden changes of behavior indicate a problem but I am guessing the cause of this problem is simply that the don't want the beans. If the dogs are hungry, active and their stool and urine normal, then it is most likely they just don't like a cup of beans on top of their kibble.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some simple guidelines to feeding your dog healthfully and frugally such that they both enjoy mealtime and get the nutrition they need in a form they can utilize. Put simply: unless you are a veterinarian nutritionist: &lt;strong&gt;do not feed your pet human food.&lt;/strong&gt; Dogs don't want beans. They want meat. They &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1%202244&amp;amp;aid=2645&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;USDA and FDA approved&lt;/a&gt; kibble. The benefits of feeding them approved kibble are not only physiological (healthy immune systems), but behavioral (not encouraging begging for human food) as well. One financial benefit of doing so is that if and when your dog becomes ill, you can rule out expensive and time consuming tests attempting to discern the cause of the illness. For example - how much time have you spent just wondering why they stopped eating something most any veterinarian nutritionist would not recommend?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to sound harsh, but what you like and what your dog needs are two very different things. I applaud that you are eating healthfully and want your pets to eat healthfully too. I also understand the need and desire to find affordable solutions to feeding your animals good quality food. That said, it is a bad habit to get into thinking that because what you eat is healthy &lt;em&gt;for you&lt;/em&gt;, then what you eat is healthy &lt;em&gt;for your dogs.&lt;/em&gt; Dogs and humans have very different metabolisms and physiological considerations for nutrition. Having said that, &lt;a href=&quot;http://canigivemydog.com/beans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cooked pinto beans by themselves aren't poisonous&lt;/a&gt;, but, &quot;not poisonous&quot; is not the same as &quot;a good regular source of your dog's overall diet&quot;. As I said earlier, the amount seems like too much. It's one thing to give them a treat, but meals and treats are also not the same thing. If you do want to give your dog a treat of cooked pinto beans, keep in mind that it is not the amount of treat you give them but it is that you are giving them a treat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't need the same kind of flavorings or variety of foods which humans enjoy. Dogs need meat. Find a dog food that they are okay with (i.e. not allergic to) which features meat as the first ingredient (and not grains or filler). I feed my 12yo Retriever &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/pure-balance-grain-free-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pure Balance Grain Free&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and it had a noticeable improvement on her health compared to the cheaper bulk food available at the same store. Note that Pure Balance includes peas in this mix. Peas, like pintos, are a legume. Not all legumes are created equal for dogs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://canigivemydog.com/beans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Raw red beans&lt;/a&gt; for instance, are not such a great idea for dogs as they contain a toxin. If you aren't sure about which brand to go with, ask your vet for a recommendation. Dietary needs will change as they age.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing your dog will respond best to with their meal is a routine of feeding time and amount of food as well as a consistent kind of food. Dogs don't need a variety of food to keep them engaged in eating, or from getting bored with today's meals. This, along with routine exercise and play time, will maintain a healthy digestive and immune system. The result will be a healthy dog at an optimal weight. Your vet weighs your dog with each visit, right?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can, of course, give your dogs treats and augment their diet with appropriate things like fish oil, minced parsley, 1TBSP chamomile tea, apples, carrots (raw carrots in moderation - too many can tear up their innards - cooked carrots are better), cooked chicken, cooked fish, cooked pork, cooked steak (all with no salt or seasoning and fat removed) or even a small amount of cooked, unseasoned pinto beans. Also, some foods like cooked sweet potato (no skins) or pumpkin puree or rice are good if your dog gets diarrhea. The thing is that the way you prepare food for you (e.g. with spices, salt, seasoning, etc...) is not how you want to prepare food for your dogs. All this said, I strongly discourage you from trying to replace the majority of your dog's diet with non-FDA and non-USDA approved dog kibble (unless you are a veterinarian nutritionist).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this is a little off topic, but on the subject of feeding dogs human foods is also the issue of when and how you feed them human food. It is good training to keep your food and feeding time separate from your pets food and feeding time. That way, they are less likely to associate humans eating with them getting fed. This will make them less likely to beg and pester other people for food. Also, if you feed them snacks by hand, consider only feeding them with your left hand - most people are right handed and gesture with their dominant hand. If you feed them with only your left hand, they won't be looking to a moving right hand for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what to avoid feeding your dogs altogether, cooked unseasoned pinto beans aren't poisonous, but here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a list of foods&lt;/a&gt; that are arguably healthy or common, but are poisonous to dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avocado&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chocolate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Citrus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coconut&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grapes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk and Dairy (including yogurt)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Garlic, Onions, Chives&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raw/undercooked eggs, meat, bones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salt (&amp;amp; Salty Snack Foods)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yeast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sugar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alcohol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything with artificial sweeteners, added sugars, preservatives, etc.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-foods-your-dog-should-never-eat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;another similar list&lt;/a&gt;. Commit this information to memory. Get and keep your pets on a regular diet. Talk to your vet about what you are feeding your dogs. Also, make note of their stool - it should be a regular and firm consistency. It might be more rewarding to imagine that you are providing cost-effective food sources which your dog &quot;loves&quot; but instead of guessing about what your dogs &quot;love&quot; or &quot;hate&quot; sticking to a diet which is from USDA and FDA approved sources and with your veterinarians consent, you will instead have dogs that are &quot;healthy&quot; and &quot;thriving&quot; instead of &quot;unhealthy&quot; or &quot;bored with food they used to love.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-22T00:05:46.337" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T00:05:46.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16647" CreationDate="2017-03-21T14:46:45.107" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a basket of Victoria Secret mini dogs and they're two plush Victoria secret yorkies that are in there that she grooms all the time. She also sleeps next to the basket full of my plush mini dogs and seems like she guard them. She sleeps by the basket every night as well. I was wondering if she thinks these are her kittens. My cat is 3 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rTiIN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rTiIN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3EwFo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3EwFo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9WTiG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9WTiG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T10:42:26.663" Title="Why does my cat groom my plush yorkie?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16677" CreationDate="2017-03-21T17:34:20.010" Score="2" ViewCount="4939" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three-month dog. He's been with me about 3 weeks. My wife is allergic, so we avoid him to getting into home. Also, we are concerned about hygiene. We don't think it's a good idea dogs being inside home, however he has a very big area outside home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, every time someone opens the kitchen's door, he wants to get in. At first, when I said &quot;Go out!&quot;, he stopped. However, now the dog doesn't obey anymore. He really wants to be inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He tries to go inside by crawling. It's funny actually. It's kind of that he thinks I'm not seeing him. I have to push him otherwise he will get in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T04:31:37.263" Title="My dog insists being inside home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16645" CreationDate="2017-03-21T17:37:46.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that it is abnormal for a cat to think a toy is a kitten. My female cat use to do this with some of the stuffed animal toys we had (in my case, it was a dolphin).  She would carry it around with here sometimes (usually late at night) and you would hear her meow with it.  She would never really &quot;guard&quot; it though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that it is maternal instincts kicking in, but it could also just be something she feels like doing.  Searching on the internet returns a few results of people discussing this.  Some of the reasons include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maternal Instincts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catster.com/answers/question/nellie_carries_a_stuffed_cat_toy_around_in_her_mouth_she_treats_like_her_baby_why_is_she_doing_this-42194&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;false pregnancy&lt;/a&gt; (rare - and possible in both fixed and intact cats).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat may just find it amusing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-22T10:42:26.663" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T10:42:26.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16600" CreationDate="2017-03-21T17:41:42.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about making the dog learn that the toy is not harmful. You might offer him food along with the toy. So eventually what will happen is your dog won't be afraid the toy any more. Also, treat him with love and what i do with my dogs is cuddle; it's strange but it works for my dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9120" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T17:41:42.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16639" CreationDate="2017-03-21T18:18:50.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs need a mainly meat based diet, even though they sometimes enjoy other foods (even beans, Greek yogurt, etc.).  A few reasons your dog may suddenly be disinterested in the cooked beans he previously ate without issue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Boredom&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;- It's great to mix things up by adding cooked beans, veggies, meat or fish to your dogs regular kibble - however, like humans dogs can get bored of the same food over and over again.  If you like the idea of giving your dog fresh food as a supplement to his kibble, ask your vet (or do some googling) to find out what is appropriate for dogs (some safe bets are cooked meat and fish without bones, carrots, cauliflower, or plain unsweetened greek yogurt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Taste&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;- Since you said your dog used to eat the beans and recently stopped, it's probably safe to say he liked them well enough.  You shouldn't feed your pup anything that has been seasoned (i.e. with salt, garlic, etc.) - but if you had been feeding him unseasoned beans and tried to add seasoning he may not like whatever you put on the beans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hunger level&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;- Some dogs will eat food they don't particularly love (i.e. cooked beans) if they are especially hungry at that moment.  If you pup had been getting more exercise than normal, or if there was another lifestyle change that may have contributed to his willingness to eat a food he didn't care for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-03-22T12:09:20.217" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T12:09:20.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2017-03-21T20:45:43.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are domesticated pack animals and like to be with people. If you want your dog to be a happy and well-behaved pet, rather than an unhappy guard dog, you should perhaps look at re-homing him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-03-21T20:45:43.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2017-03-22T10:36:16.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the other post. Dogs are pack animals and need interaction for their cues and rules. Yours is just a baby. He's probably scared and lonely. I don't know what pleasure he can be to you this way and certainly he is particularly unhappy as it sounds like he has separation anxiety which another dog may not have. But please consider rehoming him. If your pet cannot enter the house it would be best to not have one. They are family members and desire that time and activity level. This doesn't sound like a good end result for either of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9128" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T10:36:16.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2017-03-22T11:33:26.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a different opinion than the other answers. Dogs may be domesticated animals but they want to be able to be outside. The best thing would be to keep him outside but spend quality time with him every day. I feel good that my dog is outside in the garden being able to run and pee whenever he wants. I can also understand though, his need to be with his pack (you in this case). Spend a lot of time with him, play with him and take him for regular walks and he will be fine. Also when the weather permits, take your laptop or your book and  go sit outside with him. He will feel great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T11:33:26.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-22T11:43:30.770" Score="1" ViewCount="2165" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet is a Labrador breed and he is suffering from maggots. He is too aggressive and does not let any of my family members touch his wound. He has maggots in his right leg at his palm and it's increasing day by day. I have tried using the spray to cure it but he won't let me apply the spray on his wound. What can I do so that I can apply the medicines?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9129" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T01:52:09.430" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T01:52:09.430" Title="How to recover a dog from maggots?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-03-23T01:54:16.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16656" CreationDate="2017-03-22T11:53:31.503" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;He needs to go to a veterinarian to assess the damage, you will need a prescription antiparasitic as well as antibiotics and pain meds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will be able to handle an aggressive dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T11:53:31.503" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16660" CreationDate="2017-03-22T17:33:56.997" Score="8" ViewCount="5081" Body="&lt;p&gt;My three-month old dog doesn't like brooms. I have to put them away out of his sight otherwise he'll bark at them. I don't know if he is playing with them or just doesn't like them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does somebody have a clue about this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-22T19:27:34.423" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T04:26:51.473" Title="My puppy doesn't like brooms" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16658" CreationDate="2017-03-22T19:34:51.557" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your puppy might just not yet be sure what to make of it.  Does he cower from it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barking at it could just be your puppy's way of getting familiar with an unfamiliar thing. The shape (large at the bottom - maybe larger than the puppy?) of an upright broom might resemble something with a tail sticking up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried just letting the dog get familiar with the broom?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could try laying it down. While you remain unengaged (i.e. ignore the broom and the puppy) see if the barking subsides to curiosity - sniffing the broom, pawing the broom - when the broom is lying down on the floor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your puppy might also be picking up cues from you about how to regard this strange thing. Does your demeanor change when it is time to sweep? The less of a fuss you make will help to clue your puppy in that the broom is neither a threat nor a toy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also help your puppy to regard the broom as a &quot;friend&quot;. If you hold the broom in a non-threatening way and present it to your puppy to sniff. Just that you are in control of a foreign object might help waylay your puppy's anxiety or diffuse the puppy's inclination to &quot;call out&quot; at or dominate the broom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T20:43:27.903" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T20:43:27.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16658" CreationDate="2017-03-22T19:37:41.897" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found two sources that state you should try and get your puppy use to the broom slowly.  One such post can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pets/413217-dog-going-beserk-at-hoover-broom-mop-any-advice?msgid=8389364&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (it's in the context of a mop, broom, and vacuum cleaner):  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think it would help to acclimatise him very very gradually. Start off by putting the mop into the middle of the floor (before he is in the room). Then let him in and just completely ignore the mop. Praise/reward him when he is ignoring the mop too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://clickerpets.acts.org/2012/04/27/how-to-teach-a-dog-or-puppy-not-to-chase-or-mouth-brooms-or-mops/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another source&lt;/a&gt; also says something similar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Begin by having your dog on leash (preferably with the leash attached to a harness, if you have one) and with a handful of treats and your mop or broom nearby. Put the mop on the ground and walk your puppy by it, dropping treats for him/her staying calm. If your puppy can’t stay calm, increase your distance from the broom, then work your way up as your dog succeeds. Once your dog can calmly walk next to the stationary broom, you’re ready for step two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step two in this process is getting your puppy use to a moving broom.  You may need a second person to help you out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Begin with distance if necessary. With your dog on leash, have a helper make a small movement with the broom, before your puppy has a chance to think about biting or chasing it, pop a treat in his/her mouth. Repeat this a few times, then feed your puppy the treat one second after the broom movement, repeat several times. Increase the time between the broom moving and your dog receiving his/her reward for being calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, increase the amount of movement you make with the broom.  Give your puppy a treat if they continue to keep up the good work, otherwise backtrack.  The goal is to eventually lessen the amount of treats and eventually not need them as they learn that they can ignore the broom.  As the linked site also states, you will need to be patient, as this will take time, and do not scold the puppy, as this may have an inverse effect and cause them to lash out on the broom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To explain the behavior, your puppy may be seeing it as a toy or something that it could play with, or something that could potentially be scaring it.  Either way, the above should help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T17:12:28.583" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T17:12:28.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16658" CreationDate="2017-03-22T20:39:27.723" Score="6" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly unscrew the stick from the broom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Throw the stick away and wait for him to fetch it back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold your dog and slowly screw the stick back in*&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shout &quot;Tadaaaaa!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*the broom, not the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9131" LastEditorUserId="9131" LastEditDate="2017-03-22T20:45:33.563" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T20:45:33.563" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16423" CreationDate="2017-03-22T21:44:34.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found the best way to control barking is to put it on command.  Once you can teach your dog to bark on command, you can teach him to stop on command. So that works when you are home. Otherwise, it sounds like a bored dog trying to amuse himself. Unless your dog is very young, old or inferm, holding their bladder while you are at work shouldn't be a problem. (He holds it all night while you sleep, after all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9123" LastActivityDate="2017-03-22T21:44:34.033" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-22T22:45:25.807" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an old cat with chronic digestive deficiency. I was treating the condition successfully by pancreatic enzyme therapy but that is having a diminishing effect over time and he is gradually wasting away. The vet has no further suggestions. Other than the digestive insufficiency he seems to be healthy and passes all the tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas what I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T05:30:00.503" Title="Old cat with declining digestion, wasting" Tags="&lt;digestion&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16663" CreationDate="2017-03-23T00:40:42.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It reads like your lil' furball has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_exocrine_pancreatic_insufficiency?page=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;E.P.I. - exocrine pancreatic insufficiency&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is necessary to monitor your cat's progress on a weekly basis after initiating treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is wasting away and your vet has no further treatment options you can always get another veterinarian to diagnose your cat, but, if you haven't already, you might also want to have &quot;that&quot; conversation with your vet. Do you have a good report with your vet? Do you feel like they listen to your questions and take the time to make sure you understand what's going on with your cat and their care? If you don't trust your vet, find another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond palliative care and consideration of your pets comfort, just give him all the love and affection you can while you are both blessed enough to be with each other. The passing of a beloved pet is never easy. Take the time now just to be present in the moment with him when you can. Your vet should be able to advise you of what to look for if his condition worsens, or what to consider for making an end-of-life decision (mobility, ability to do his business, alertness, pain, lethargy). Has your vet suggested any particular dietary guidelines? From the above article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Avoid high-fat and high-fiber diets, which are more difficult for digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...but in the final days, maybe just spoiling him with treats and catnip and such is alright?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can always get another vets prognosis, but at some point, if you haven't already, do make the time to think through the logistics and make a plan for euthanizing your dear friend. Your vet should be able to advise you about the particulars. This is also a conversation you can have with more than one vet. Also, do consider what your options are if your cat passes naturally. Planning for the inevitable will help ease the emotional burden of losing your buddy when it happens. As much as I wish I had a less morbid answer, you'll always know you gave them all the love you could while they were here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little furballs... They sure have the worst habit of not living forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T04:35:03.730" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T04:35:03.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9781" CreationDate="2017-03-23T01:12:40.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current answer is good, but I thought I could offer some information about controversial ingredients. The information comes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com&lt;/a&gt;, a dog food rating website. This site goes through the ingredients on the dog food's label and explains whether they're good or controversial. It also estimates the protein and fat content of individual dog food brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a page on the site that lists out all of the bad ingredients, but if I go to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/beneful-dog-food-dry/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;page for Beneful&lt;/a&gt;, it lists these: whole grain corn, chicken-by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole grain meal, soybean meal, poultry by-product, menadione sodium bisulfite, garlic oil, and food coloring. Note that the controversial ingredients aren't necessarily entirely bad and there are sometimes conflicting views on them. For the by-product meals for instance, the site says they are low quality products, but often contain good amounts of protein. For garlic oil, the site notes that some people think it is beneficial, but there are studies that say garlic is linked to Heinz body anemia in dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anonymous meats are also listed as controversial ingredients because &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-exposed/euthanized-pets-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some think the pet food industry uses dead pets for this ingredient.&lt;/a&gt; It is also possible that it could be from roadkill or rotten meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't make an exhaustive list of the controversial ingredients, so I would recommend checking the reviews for the brands you're planning on getting or just perusing reviews for bad dogs foods like Purina to get a better idea. You'll probably want to check the five star dog foods, too, so you know what some of the better ingredients are (I look for meat as the main ingredients, like turkey, pork, chicken, venison, etc. Organ meats and chicken fat are also considered to be good). Just in case you didn't know, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/InteractiveNutritionFactsLabel/ingredients-list.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in the United States the FDA requires the ingredients to be listed in descending order by weight&lt;/a&gt; (maybe that's obvious, but I didn't know that for a long time, so I thought I should include it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9138" LastEditorUserId="9138" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T01:48:38.893" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T01:48:38.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9781" CreationDate="2017-03-23T02:28:03.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not for everyone, but it's quite easy and cost effective to cook your dog food. I get ingredients at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.traderjoes.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Trader Joe's&lt;/a&gt; because of price and availability. This recipe has been approved by my vet as nutritionally sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recipe: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 package of organic turkey legs (6 count)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 package organic green beans&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5 organic carrots (package 15 count)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 bunch organic celery&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5 organic sweet potatoes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 cup organic white rice&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fill a large soup pot with water, rinse all ingredients, cut produce to bite size chunks, put all ingredients in pot, cover, and cook 45 minutes on medium heat. Do not add salt, oil, or spices. After cooking, cool for 30 minutes, remove skin and bone from chicken legs. Serve. Makes 15 servings. Balance can be refrigerated for up to four days. Double the recipe and freeze half. Perfect for busy weeks. I put a single portion in a ziplock freezer bag and thaw or reheat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ingredients cost: $14.00. Less than a dollar a serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have other recipes if interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T10:45:46.800" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T10:45:46.800" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16658" CreationDate="2017-03-23T04:42:32.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine did similar as a puppy, he'd chase and bite at the broom while its in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;you have to establish yourself as the alpha or at least above the puppy in your hierarchy.   Use a clear voice sound to show that this is bad behaviour.  One common phrase is a short clear guttural &quot;uuuht!&quot;   and puppy should then look at you not the broom.  Bonus if puppy licks his lips cos that means he's thinking and not just reacting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't make the sweeping into a game.  If he barks or grabs then put the broom down and go do something else.  Avoid picking up puppy and comforting him, because he'll learn that barking is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea is to put the broom upside down, or hang it up so its not on the ground.  Puppy might not recognise it.  Downside is this doesn't address the cause, just hides it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9141" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T04:42:32.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16658" CreationDate="2017-03-23T07:45:37.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is playing, and testing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't know what the broom is, but he does know that it smells like the floor. Barking is way to both play, and test to see if the broom will bark back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that your dog wasn't beaten by a broom in the past, then you have little to worry about. What your almost certainly have is a dog that needs to play more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The broom is a potential toy. Give him a more interesting toy. To a puppy smell is very important. Don't give him old cloths or shoes, but do try to give him something that smells &quot;bad&quot; to play with. Take one of toys and rub it in your dirty cloths for example. It will make a far more interesting toy than a broom that no one is using. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using the broom, then you're playing with him. You're putting motion &quot;in his zone&quot; much the way way you do with a ball or tug rope. Just re-enforce that the broom is not a toy, and that the activity is not a game. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally go &quot;No, clean up.&quot; This is a sign to my dogs that it's not time to play, but time to help clean up. They then go to the dog bed or couch and basically do something else till I can play again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that your pup is like a baby that is just learning to crawl. They are curious and want to know what everything is. The broom just looks and smells more like a toy than say the end table (hopefully). Play with your pup more, and the problem will go away on its own as he will be too tired, and with any luck, find his other toys far more fun than a broom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6959" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T04:26:51.473" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T04:26:51.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2017-03-23T09:43:34.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;At that age, the dog needs to be &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; you and other people.  Like, put a 6-foot leash on your belt and keep him beside you at all times.  He needs constant companionship and hugs as well as a good amount of attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He probably came from a home where he slept in a pike with his littermates and was surrounded by other dogs and people.  Being alone is torture.  Knowing you're &lt;em&gt;there&lt;/em&gt; is maddening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2951" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T09:43:34.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-23T12:25:27.390" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any legal standards in the US requiring specific levels of content and/or nutrition in commercial foods for any type of pet?  If so for what types of pets, and where can they be found? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would only be interested in voluntary standards, if legal standards do not exist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T18:32:29.253" Title="What standards exist in the US for pet food?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16673" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-23T13:56:28.347" Score="2" ViewCount="2390" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read your question about your cat drooling from a couple years ago and am experiencing EXACTLY the same situation, except my cat is a boy. I was curious to know if your cat is still doing well and healthy. Has she started drooling again during hotter weather? &#xA;I checked my cat's teeth and gums but I don't see any signs of dental disease. He seems to be his normal playful self....if anything, he may be a little more aggressive than usual, but he's always been pretty playful. I would appreciate your input since your cat also started doing this at around a year and a half. That's about how old he is, and it is a lot of drool. Thank you for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9148" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T13:56:28.347" Title="Cat drooling in sleep" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16612" CreationDate="2017-03-23T14:01:02.530" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any experience with ghost shrimp, but I do have cherry shrimps. And it seems like they are pretty much alike in behaviour, size, care taking, ... &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Shrimp are a lot different than fish, their bio footprint is a lot lower, they are a lot smaller,... So I would not use such calculators to see how many you can have. They usually just take the size of the fish and do some calculations (which is not a good way anyway).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/ghostshrimp.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; seems to have some good information about ghost shrimp and it mentions 10 shrimp/gallon. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I agree with Karl's comment above: it doesn't really matter. But make sure you have more shrimp than tetra's. &lt;br&gt;Actually I would say: the more shrimp the better. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've got a 30 litre (8 gallon) tank with only cherry shrimp. I started with about 20 shrimp I believe (1.5 year ago). Now I probably have close to 100. But I don't have the feeling it is overstocked. They're always spread out over the tank or swimming around. It's only when I feed them that they all come to the same place and you actually see how many there are.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I also have a 180 litres (47 gallon) tank with some corrydoras, tetra's and a betta in which I added about 15 shrimp a couple of months ago.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have no idea how many shrimp I have now (lot's of hiding places), but I always have about 10 in sight. So I'm sure those 15 shrimp were enough to keep the population steady (and growing). &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So for you, it would start with at least 10-15 shrimp and see how it goes. And I would not worry too much about having to do population control. More baby shrimp will also mean that more will be eaten by the tetra's anyway (becasue they will be easier to spot by them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T14:01:02.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-23T14:16:11.403" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has very dry blisters on his skin. I have tried going to multiple vets, but that has not changed much. I mostly feed him home cooked food, mostly veggies and sometimes packaged food (once a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am from India and I have adopted this puppy from the street. He is now 1.3 years old. I have some pictures of him with his exact condition now. He has very little hair strands left which grow back, but then fall in a very short period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the medications that I gave him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enrofloxacin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ivermectin &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nutricoat (syrup) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy Pet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Himalaya LIV-52 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Benadryl &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cetirizine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and few more that I do not remember the names now. Few of these did work, but later it started again. I need suggestions, as I cannot see him suffering this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some pictures of him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g5JSE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/g5JSE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BYR9x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BYR9x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9119" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:28:11.780" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:28:11.780" Title="Extreme dryness, dandruff, blisters on skin since past 6 months" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16675" CreationDate="2017-03-23T14:35:50.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mange#Sarcoptic_mange&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sarcoptic mange&lt;/a&gt; (scabies), and is very advanced, although I would expect a vet to easily detect this, if indeed it is mange. Forget about home and over-the-counter remedies. This is a serious and painful condition. Get him to a veterinarian straight away. Separate him from any other animals. Mange is highly contagious and can be passed to humans. With prompt and proper treatment, your dog will recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you say that you only feed him vegetables (and some other food once per week), it may be a dietary deficiency. Dogs are not herbivores and must have meat in their diet, although you can supplement it with some vegetables. I am not sure what the symptoms of canine malnutrition are, since I live in the West and meat is inexpensive here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be that your vets are too polite to discuss your dog's diet if they suspect that you might not be able to buy him meat on a regular basis. If he is suffering from dietary problems, correcting his diet will be far more effective than any medicines. You must discuss this openly with a vet and listen to what they say. If you cannot feed your dog meat for religious reasons, it would be better to re-home him with someone who can, or have the animal euthanized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: It &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; be possible to feed your dog a vegetarian diet if it is supplemented correctly. A vet should be able to advise on this, but I suggest that you be guided by the vet, rather than anyone else in this matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bf5L9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bf5L9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/article/symptoms-malnutrition-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.cuteness.com: Symptoms of Malnutrition in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T15:27:27.623" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T15:27:27.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16646" CreationDate="2017-03-23T15:47:12.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course he wants to come inside - that is where you are!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs need the company of their family - especially if he is your only dog keeping him alone outside is quite cruel. Dogs are pack animals after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If you really cannot keep him inside the home because of the allergy, and only want one dog, just find him a new home. It is fine, really! For both you and the dog that is the best in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You have a puppy - do pamper him a bit! Dogs are fully grown up when they are about 2-3 years old. Right now he has to learn everything - who you are, where he lives how to communicate with dogs, with you, with cats, postmen, etc. He won't learn that in a way that satisfies you if you do not guide him. And guiding a puppy is more or less a full time job for the first 6 months. You wont be able to teach him everything he needs to learn unless you move outside for most of the day, to spend time with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) This seems to be your first dog, I would recommend reading up an a dogs body language. This is his main way to communicate with you, and you need to be able to understand what he is saying in order to train him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Your dog will at most have the intellect of a two year old. Keep that in mind when communicating. I find training with the clicker method the easiest to make myself understood, and especially young dogs love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Concerning hygiene - dogs do clean themselves, and a healthy dog is no health risk whatsoever. Getting a dog houseclean is some work, and there will be accidents in the house, but unless you plan on licking the pee and not washing your hands after cleaning up, there is no health risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Concerning the allergies: I am allergic to animals myself, also my dogs, so I know this can be annoying when handling them. We got a breed that looses little fur, so this is not so much of an issue. However, only your wife really knows how bad her allergy gets. If she gets asthmatic around the dogs, I would recommend re-homing the little guy. If it is only slight itching of the skin, she has to decide if she wants to put up with that. Since the allergens are in the saliva of the dog, it is rather easy to handle. After interacting with the dog, just wipe down the parts you got in contact with, with clear water. But again - I think she needs to be ok with this. I know how annoying having a pet with an allergy against it can be. And 10 to 15 years is a long time to live with an animal you are allergic too, and wont work if she is not on board with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. Let me now if you have questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9147" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T15:47:12.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15601" CreationDate="2017-03-23T16:01:16.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does this bother you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your Newfoundland seems to be able to handle the situation quite well. We have an older and a younger dog too (1 and 3 years) and as long as they don't get too aggressive with each other, we just let them sort it out.&#xA;Unless they are in danger of hurting each other, I would not intervene. This is part of their normal social behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9147" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T16:01:16.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16740" CreationDate="2017-03-23T16:11:01.560" Score="3" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping there is more science to this than just opinion, because of reasons livestock can cause certain things like phosphates or alkalinity to rise and fall but... I would actually prefer some first-hand information on people's own experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I introduce my first frags? I'm assuming since water parameters will need to be more precise, then fish first? But then I wonder do fish have difficulty acclimating to introductions of certain corals and would they prefer different coral structures (species dependent?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be a lot of content to cover here, I understand. I would really like an awesome reef setup with a good mix of hard and soft corals, but my wife loves fish. I'll add additional tank details below, but for right now where I'm at, my tank is finishing it's nitrogen cycle (on a different posted question). There is currently nothing in the tank except for maturing dry rock, sand, and saltwater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional tank info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;size: 75&amp;nbsp;gallon (280&amp;nbsp;liters);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rock: 75&amp;nbsp;lbs (34&amp;nbsp;kg) from bulk reef supply;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sand: 40&amp;nbsp;lbs (18&amp;nbsp;kg) live sand;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;temperature: 27&amp;nbsp;°C&amp;nbsp;(80&amp;nbsp;°F);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;salinity: 35&amp;nbsp;parts per trillion, specific gravity of 1.026;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;skimmer is currently not running during cycling;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;lighting is currently off as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using RO/DI system with out water reading 0&amp;nbsp;total dissolved solids (mixed and heated in a storage container for all my water changes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T23:00:49.507" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T23:00:49.507" Title="Add Fish or Corals first in a mixed reef setup" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9781" CreationDate="2017-03-23T16:17:13.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well balanced dog food should be around 70% meat (meaning meat and innards) and 20% veggies and 10% carbohydrates. As long as your dog is fine with it, any meat will do.&#xA;Food for younger dogs will typically contain additional calcium and other minerals. Food for older dogs usually contains certain oils that are good for their joints and heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is allergic to certain ingredients, obviously avoid those. You can let a vet test that, if you think your dog might have one. Loss of fur and lot#s of scratching are typical symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9147" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T16:17:13.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-23T17:12:54.423" Score="2" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet that I go to is a strong proponent of alternative protein diets for cats.  Instead of common proteins like chicken, beef, and fish, the alternative proteins are less common animals like venison and duck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our two cats are about 8 years old and are perfectly healthy.  They are on the thin side (around 9 pounds).  The vet was speculating that they might be thin because of irritable bowel issues, and that the alternative proteins would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had another cat that passed a year ago, and he was fat but she also recommended alternative proteins for him so it seems this vet recommends this a lot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative proteins are much more expensive than the regular proteins so I'd rather not spend the extra money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When, if ever, does it make sense to buy alternative proteins cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9150" LastEditorUserId="9150" LastEditDate="2017-03-23T18:01:39.663" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T20:14:57.437" Title="Alternative protein diets for cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16672" CreationDate="2017-03-23T18:05:23.240" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, prepared foods that contain all the nutrients that a pet requires are labelled as &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt; foods. Foods that do not contain a full complement of nutrients, and should only be given as treats, &lt;strong&gt;must&lt;/strong&gt; be labelled as &lt;em&gt;complementary&lt;/em&gt;. This certainly applies to cat food and dog food, and from what I've read, I think that the same applies in the US. Of course, the labelling is printed in such small text that I can hardly read it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably the simplest guide, at least for cats and dogs, and you don't need to know any other regulations. It goes without saying that the bulk of a pet's food should be &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T18:05:23.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16672" CreationDate="2017-03-23T18:32:29.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration handles regulations revolving around pet food with &amp;quot;help&amp;quot; from The Association of American Feed Control Officials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In relation to Nutrition, the FDA states on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm#Nutritional_Adequacy_Statement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; on their website that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any claim that a product is &amp;quot;complete,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;balanced,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;100% nutritious,&amp;quot; or claims of a similarly nature that suggests a product is suitable for sole nourishment when it is not, in fact, nutritionally adequate for such purpose is a potentially unsafe product. For this reason, an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement is one of the most important aspects of a dog or cat food label. A &amp;quot;complete and balanced&amp;quot; pet food must be substantiated for nutritional adequacy by one of two means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first method is for the pet food to contain ingredients formulated to provide levels of nutrients that meet an established profile. Presently, the AAFCO Dog or Cat Food Nutrient Profiles are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has established profiles for nutrients of pet food.  These profiles include can be food in this rather &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lengthy PDF file&lt;/a&gt; which on page 3, lays out what the minimum amount of a nutrient that must be present in a food in order for it to be labeled as one of the profiles.  If a manufacturer can provide what levels of nutrients are in their product, they can have it labeled as so if it meets the minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linked FDA page also states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative means of substantiating nutritional adequacy is for the product to be tested using the appropriate AAFCO Feeding Trial Protocol(s). This means that the product, or &amp;quot;lead&amp;quot; member of a &amp;quot;family&amp;quot; of products, has been fed to dogs or cats under strict guidelines and found to provide proper nutrition. These products should bear the nutritional adequacy statement &amp;quot;Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that (name of product) provides complete and balanced nutrition.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning if a pet food manufacturer wants to obtain nutritional adequacy by different means, they can have their product tested in trials.  Such products will be labeled as so if they are found to be nutritious and not harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, no matter which method is used for the &amp;quot;Nutritional Adequacy Statement,&amp;quot;  all labels must also states what stage in life that the animal that is to consume it should be in (i.e. &amp;quot;for growth&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;for maintenance&amp;quot;).  A product for &amp;quot;all life stages&amp;quot; meets the more stringent needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the method used, the nutritional adequacy statement will also state for which life stage(s) the product is suitable, such as &amp;quot;for maintenance,&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;for growth.&amp;quot; A product intended &amp;quot;for all life stages&amp;quot; meets the more stringent nutritional needs for growth and reproduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T18:32:29.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16681" CreationDate="2017-03-23T20:14:57.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alternative proteins are mostly for pets who have allergies, if your vet suspects IBD then the use of these proteins can help as allergies can cause this reaction in the guts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;chicken and beef are common ingredients that causes allergies so we try to get something the pet hasn't come in contact with yet. Allergies develop as your pet ages, for example if your cats have been on chicken based diets since kittens they can obtain an intolerance to it (though not always the case!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_ibd.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; has a really good summary of IBD worth a read - I'll add a few excerpts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract can occur as a result of a specific disease, such as a parasitic or bacterial infection or a specific food allergy.  However, the cause of IBD in many cases is considered to be “idiopathic” or unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some symptoms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some common signs of feline IBD include vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, and lethargy.  Appetite can be variable, ranging from ravenous to anorexic.  While some cats will show obvious symptoms of disease, such as vomiting after every meal, other cats may exhibit symptoms much less frequently, such as vomiting or producing hairballs once or twice a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diagnosis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making a diagnosis of feline IBD requires an extensive work up because many of the common symptoms of IBD, such as vomiting and diarrhea, are also common symptoms of other diseases.  First, specific causes of gastrointestinal inflammation must be ruled out.  Your veterinarian will likely recommend blood work, fecal examinations, radiographs, and/or an ultrasound check for metabolic disease, feline leukemia, parasitic or bacterial infections, and certain types of cancer.  A hypoallergenic food trial may also be conducted to rule out food allergy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dietary Management:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because dietary allergens may play a role in inflammatory bowel disease, a food trial using hypoallergenic diets may be recommended by your veterinarian.  In using a hypoallergenic diet, the key is to use a protein and carbohydrate source that the cat has never eaten before.  Rabbit, duck, or venison-based diets are often tried initially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medical Treatment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats that have been diagnosed with IBD may be put on a course of corticosteroids, usually prednisolone. Corticosteroids have potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties.  Diabetes and excessive immunosuppression are among the serious side effects these drugs can produce.  Cats should be monitored closely while they are on corticosteroids, although they tend to tolerate these drugs well as long as they are given at an appropriate dose and schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet suspects IBD it's a good start to try out a hypoallergenic food however you can always get a second opinion if you have doubts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-03-23T20:14:57.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16692" CreationDate="2017-03-23T20:50:48.627" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Siamese cat is always biting my Great Dane. I didn't think it was much of a problem, because the dog is a &lt;em&gt;giant&lt;/em&gt; and he just never really reacted to the biting, just kinda sat there. Today though, his foot started bleeding :(. How can I get the cat to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9154" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T03:35:58.330" Title="Tiny cat is bullying giant, 3-ft dog" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9781" CreationDate="2017-03-23T22:27:27.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Too Much Protein?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the PetMD article, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/centers/nutrition/evr_dg_dangers_of_high_protein_dog_foods&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Dangers of High Protein Dog Foods&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proteins are the building blocks of the body and an absolute necessity for daily function. However, when a dog consumes too much protein in a meal it cannot all be utilized at one time, nor can it be stored for later. The body will then excrete the excess protein through the kidneys and out of the body via urine. Thus the quality of the protein actually becomes more important that than actual amount as a high quality protein is more bioavailable and can be better absorbed by the body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another issue is that the meat in these diets acting as the protein source contains other nutrients that you do not want in excessive amounts. For example, when a diet is mostly meat it becomes very difficult to maintain a proper calcium-phosphorus ratio. When this ratio is out of balance disruptions in bone growth or kidney damage can occur. Well formulated dog foods have an appropriate balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates to prevent this from happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is Excessive Protein in Dog Food Bad for My Pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Protein is a calorie dense nutrient and many of the high protein diets are extremely high in calories and can quickly lead to weight gain. With over 50% of dogs in the U.S. considered overweight or obese, dog owners need to be aware of where those extra calories are hiding. If a dog has kidney or liver issues consuming too much protein can increase the workload on these organs and upset the balance of nutrients leading to exacerbation of disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rather than look for a dog food that contains excessive levels of protein you should find one that is specifically formulated for your dog’s lifestyle, life stage, and size. A working sled dog, for example, will have significantly different nutrient and caloric requirements than the average pet dog that ventures outside for a few walks a day and spends the rest of the time lounging. These two dogs should not be fed the same diet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Are All Fillers, Grains and Meat-Meals Bad?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a common myth propagated in poorly referenced and researched &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/homemade-dog-food-recipes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;articles&quot; as advertisements such as this one&lt;/a&gt;, that &quot;commercial dog foods contain soy, corn, and wheat [which are] all common allergens for dogs.&quot; In fact, soy, corn and wheat are not at all &quot;common allergens for dogs.&quot; Not at all. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2011/coates/food_allergy_myths-11862&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Per PetMD&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Myth&lt;/strong&gt;: Dogs are typically allergic to corn, wheat, soy, and other plant-based ingredients.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Truth:&lt;/strong&gt; In a study of 278 cases of food allergies in dogs where the problem ingredient was clearly identified, beef was by far the biggest culprit (95 cases). Dairy was number two at 55 cases. Wheat came in third with 42 cases. Soy and corn were actually minimal offenders, coming in at 13 and 7 cases, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In fact, protein sources are more often to blame than grains. Beef, dairy, chicken, egg, lamb, soy, pork and fish were responsible for 231 of the food allergies, while wheat, corn and rice combined accounted for only 54. (Some dogs were allergic to more than one ingredient, which is why these numbers total more than 278.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I do use a &quot;grain free&quot; kibble for my 10+yo Lab/Goldy, &quot;Lucy.&quot; This is simply because the particular brand has the best list of ingredients for the lowest price available from my local options for commercially produced kibble. I did notice an improvement in Lucy's energy, her coat and overall health when I switched from a cheaper bulk food (50¢/lb) to the Pure Balance brand ($1+/lb - they seem to replace what otherwise might be rice content with peas and carrots). Her urine did get a slightly darker shade of yellow and has a stronger odor which makes me think it might be a little too rich, so I buffer it with rice or oatmeal, cooked carrots, some parsley and such.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite the bad press, grains are not at all to be avoided. &quot;Filler&quot; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/about-meat-meal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;meat &quot;meal&quot;&lt;/a&gt; are no substitute for the necessary protein, fats, minerals and vitamins, but that does not necessarily mean that all filler's aren't alright for your dog:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reputable dog food companies choose quality by-products to include in their foods so choose a company you can trust.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (from &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/nutrition-center/choosing-best-dog-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Choosing The Best Dog Food&lt;/a&gt;&quot;)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has not been diagnosed with an allergen, then I wouldn't sweat glutens and grains at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What Is A Balanced Diet For My Dog?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/centers/nutrition/evr_dg_what_is_a_balanced_dog_food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is a Balanced Dog Food&lt;/a&gt;&quot; by PetMD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A balanced diet for your dog should contain protein (from an animal), vegetables, whole grains, fat, and micronutrients (omega 3 fatty acids for skin and brain function; and for large breed puppies and older dogs, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs and cats also require more than 50 key nutrients, the most vital of which are vitamin C and minerals magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. The balance between these nutrients is important, too. “The body is a very complex organic place where biochemical reactions are going on,” explains Kerri Marshall, DVM, a licensed veterinarian and chief veterinary officer at Trupanion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good overview of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/nutrition-center/choosing-best-dog-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to evaluate your commercially available pet foods&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/nutrition-center/determining-best-dog-food-ingredients-label&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to read a dog food label&lt;/a&gt;. Ingredients are listed by weight, so often chicken, lamb and such are listed first because of the constituent water weight. Look for feeding trial and guaranteed analysis information. Pet food manufacturers paid a lot for those, so the manufacturers that have obtained such information will include it in the labelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what to look for, these are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFCO guidelines&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;strong&gt;minimum&lt;/strong&gt; requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crude Protein:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Growth &amp;amp; Reproduction Minimum - 22.5%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Adult Maintenance Minimum - 18.0%  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crude Fat:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Growth &amp;amp; Reproduction Minimum - 8.5%&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Adult Maintenance Minimum - 5.5%  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the above linked article for specifics, considerations and further information regarding vitamin and mineral content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: The National Research Council's &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10668/nutrient-requirements-of-dogs-and-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; Unfortunately it is an expensive book, so instead &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com/dyn/_assets/_pdfs/waltham-booklets/Essentialcatanddognutritionbookletelectronicversion.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is an excellent overview of essential pet nutrition considerations&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Waltham&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2dQL4.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2dQL4.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How Do I Know If My Dog Is Getting The Right Diet?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much depends on your dog's activity level. If your feeding schedule and amounts are consistent and the dog's activity level is consistnent, then their weight should be consistent. Your vet weighs your dog at every visit, yes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to evaluate your dog's health with whatever diet you choose choose for them. Some general indicators of health:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any odd behavior?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Energy level. Are they as playful and able to run and fetch as usual?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attentiveness. Are they engaged with their surroundings and you as&#xA;their owner?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look to your dog's nose for indications of poor health (it should be&#xA;normally cool and wet). This is something of a &quot;wive's tale&quot; but check&#xA;to see if there are dry scales forming?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look to their stool for a regular consistency and odor.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look to their urine for a normal color and odor.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to healthy food for your pet, regular feeding time and amounts along with exercise will do a lot for their overall health and immunity. Notify your vet of any changes you plan on making and ask their advice regarding a diet that best suits your particular dog's health profile and history.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What Should I Avoid?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for stuff to avoid, I would take &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogfoodproject.com/?page=badingredients&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; with a &quot;grain of salt&quot; as I see no citations to back up the claims, but I do get suspicious when I see ingredients that feel like a science report.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, avoid feeding your dog human food. This will rule out a lot of guesswork if and when your dog has health issues. Likely salt, chocolate, grapes, avocados and such aren't on your list of things to feed your dog, but these are common foods that are all bad for your dog. If you are ever wondering about something to feed your dog or that they have inadvertently eaten, a internet search for &quot;is ... bad for dogs&quot; will usually return accurate information. Arguably, cheese (and all dairy) is not a good source of regular food for dogs, but, it is also something they really dig because their sense of smell is so much more acute than ours. Putting a pill in a bit of cheese is fine... but do check with your vet about administering medication if the vet has prescribed your dog pills.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, dogs' tastebuds are not nearly as sensitive as humans. They do not need variety in their meals and I have found that dogs respond better to consistency and predictability of meals than to change.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-30T10:32:15.187" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T10:32:15.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16521" CreationDate="2017-03-23T22:39:40.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to give this some closure ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He finished his anti-fungal meds and his lethargy is thoroughly resolved. We don't know what caused the swelling, but it is no longer infected and doesn't appear to bother him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'll get a new vet next time he needs a vet, but for now he seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: It came back, we went to a new vet, he's had us monitoring it and sending photos. It came and went a couple of times over a month but when it appeared we cleaned it with Preparation H wipes (which are just hitch hazel--who knew?) for a few days and it cleared up. It has been a few months now and the whole thing remains a mystery, but my phone is now full of a lot of canine prepuce creepshots.  The new vet was pretty mystified but at least he seemed thoughtful and his approach (dialing back the meds that weren't doing anything, instead of just adding more and more drugs to his cocktail) is definitely more re-assuring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastEditorUserId="1222" LastEditDate="2017-07-05T23:34:27.237" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T23:34:27.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11514" CreationDate="2017-03-23T22:52:44.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you declaw both cats? Declawing (toe amputation) can cause behavior problems after surgery even years down the road. Go to &lt;a href=&quot;http://citythekitty.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://citythekitty.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://thepawproject.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://thepawproject.org&lt;/a&gt; for more information. Vets promote this for money, and it's not healthy for the cat either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9155" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-05-06T10:41:03.343" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T10:41:03.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="501" CreationDate="2017-03-24T00:09:58.593" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, your dog's nutritional requirements will be relative to their lifestyle (exercise routine), size, breed, age and if female, whether or not they are pregnant/nursing. Review this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com/dyn/_assets/_pdfs/waltham-booklets/Essentialcatanddognutritionbookletelectronicversion.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;guide to essential nutrition for dogs&lt;/a&gt; from the folks at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Waltham&lt;/a&gt; for a basic overview of nutritional fundamentals. Note that the guide (index pictured below) lists which nutrients (including vitamins and minerals) are essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3ntCq.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3ntCq.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How can I ensure homemade dog food is healthy for my dog?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you change your dog's diet, keep an eye on your dog's weight - it should not fluctuate. In general you want their ribs noticeable but not protruding. The breed and their coat, of course, will factor in here. I have an older, arthritic tripod, so I try and keep her a little &amp;quot;underweight&amp;quot; - but your dog has their own particular weight factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make note of their bowel movements for diarrhea, constipation, mucus or blood. Monitor their urination for color and odor. Is it always dark yellow and pungent? If so, the diet may be too rich. Are they lethargic or as active and attentive as ever? If they are lethargic they may be getting inadequate nutrition, or, you may simply be poisoning them. Do they vomit the new diet or refuse to eat it? Is their breathe odor any better or worse? Bad breath may indicate health problems. Are dry scales forming on their nose? These scales may indicate health problems. Are they displaying odd behavior? Sudden changes in behavior and temperament may indicate health problems. A little gas can be expected with big dietary changes, but extended flatulence and especially abdominal distention are signs that your dog is not doing well on the new diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should go without saying that cooking for your dog is not the same as cooking for yourself and the rest of your family. Avoid all additives like sugar, salt, seasoning, etc. in your dog's food. Fresh ingredients are best of course, but if canned, make sure there's no added salt or preservatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to cook for your pet, consult a veterinarian and/or veterinarian nutritionist about a diet appropriate to your dog's breed, age, size and activity level. Then have your vet monitor the dog's health regularly. Consult with them about how to monitor your dog in between regular check-ups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;I am interested in getting my dog on a more natural diet.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends entirely upon what you mean by &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot;. To make a diet based on what animals ate before domestication is poor reasoning as canines have changed physiologically since domestication. Also, most domesticated canines would not survive or would simply survive miserably if they were &amp;quot;in the wild&amp;quot; and left to scavenge and hunt but I presume this is not your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If by &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; you mean without a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_5/features/Dog-Food-Preservatives_16221-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;artificial additives and preservatives&lt;/a&gt; (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/36424-food-additive-bha-butylated-hydroxyanisole.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;BHA, BHT&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/red-flag-ingredients/tbhq-dangeorus-dog-food-preservative/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;TBHQ&lt;/a&gt;), then stick to fresh and organic ingredients. Also, you can look for commercially available pet food sources which feature feeding trials and guaranteed analysis in the labelling as well as advertising &amp;quot;no artificial preservatives&amp;quot;. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/10-natural-dog-foods-grains-preservatives-11183.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, &amp;quot;Blue Buffalo, Orijen, Nature's Variety, Evo, Innova, California Natural and Dr. Tim's manufacture dog food using natural preservatives.&amp;quot; See also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16686/9069&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt; to the question, &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/9781/9069&quot;&gt;What should I look for in nutritious dog food?&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;I've been wondering whether homemade dog food is safe and healthy for my dog.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are feeding your dog &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Raw-Pet-Foods-and-the-AVMA-Policy-FAQ.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;raw foods&lt;/a&gt; though, be vary careful with preparations as to not spread things like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hhs.gov/answers/public-health-and-safety/what-is-the-difference-between-salmonella-and-e-coli/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;salmonella or E.coli&lt;/a&gt; to the rest of your home. Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sva.se/en/animal-health/zoonoses/salmonella-as-a-zoonosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;salmonella&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://centaur.vri.cz/docs/EU2011/Zoonotic_E.coli.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;E. coli&lt;/a&gt; are &lt;em&gt;zoonotic&lt;/em&gt; - meaning they are diseases which can pass from animals to humans. This could happen from something as simple as feeding your dog something raw and then your dog licking you. Note as well that despite the fad popularity of a &amp;quot;raw food diet&amp;quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_dg_salmonellosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;dogs are susceptible to salmonella&lt;/a&gt; from uncooked eggs and raw meats (poultry, beef, pork etc. as well as unwashed fruits and vegetables):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salmonellosis is an infection found in dogs caused by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Salmonella bacterium&lt;/a&gt;. It often leads to disorders, including gastroenteritis, spontaneous abortions, and septicemia. This bacterial disease is also zoonotic, meaning it can be transmitted to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The severity of the disease will often determine the signs and symptoms that are overtly present in the dog. Symptoms commonly seen in dogs with salmonellosis include: Fever, Shock, Lethargy, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Anorexia, Weight loss, Dehydration, Skin disease, Mucus in stool, Abnormally fast heart rate, Swollen lymph nodes, Abnormal vaginal discharge, Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chronic forms of salmonellosis may exhibit some of these same symptoms; however, they will be more severe. These include symptoms: Fever, Weight loss, Loss of blood, Non-intestinal infections, Diarrhea that comes and goes with no logical explanation, which may last up to three or four weeks, or longer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_dg_salmonellosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are also susceptible to infection with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetary.com/dog/condition/e-coli-infection&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;E coli&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; from feeding your dog raw meat, unwashed vegetables and such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/qa_ecoli_sickness.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;E. Coli&lt;/a&gt; infection is commonly found in newborn puppies in the first few week's of life; however, it can be found in dogs of any age. The onset is very sudden, and can lead to serious complications, so it must be treated immediately. E. coli infection can lead to blood poisoning, or septicemia, and has been found to compound with parvovirus in dogs and puppies, leading to an increased risk of death by parvovirus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of E. Coli Infection in Dogs: vomiting, lack of appetite, dehydration, rapid heart rate, depression, lethargy, malaise/weakness, diarrhea, low body temperature, and bluish gums, nostrils, ears, lips, or anus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/condition/e-coli-infection&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;WagWalking&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would recommend strongly against a raw food diet. No matter how much more &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; it may seem, it is a dangerously sentimental mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16667/9069&quot;&gt;this answer for an example recipe&lt;/a&gt; which the author claims is approved by their vet for their dog - not necessarily approved for yours though. If you decide to go this route, &lt;strong&gt;CONSULT YOUR VET&lt;/strong&gt; so they may evaluate your dietary plans and recipe(s) in the context of your particular dog's health profile, history and especially their lifestyle (e.g. how much exercise they get). Much of what makes an appropriate diet is in relation to how much exercise your dog gets. 80% meat protein might be fine for working sled-dogs, but this may be a lethal diet for an older house-dog. A &lt;strong&gt;minimum&lt;/strong&gt; of 18% meat protein is recommended for maintaining an adult dog. Puppies, pregnant dogs and working dogs will require more. Also consider the fat content of the diet. Maintaining an adult dog requires a minimum of only 5.5% fats and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_fats_and_oils_good_for_your_dogs_health&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;no more than 15%&lt;/a&gt;. Too much fat can cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to lean meats, consider the kinds of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/can-dogs-eat-tomatoes-carrots-popcorn-vegetables-dog-health-food&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;vegetables which are known to be good for dogs&lt;/a&gt; in reasonable amounts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carrots&lt;/strong&gt;. Cooked, not raw. Raw carrot is alright in small doses, but&#xA;too much can tear up the insides of your dog if they are not chewed&#xA;well enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sweet Potatoes&lt;/strong&gt;. Only cooked and no skins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Green Beans&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Peas&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-exposed/dog-food-corn/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Corn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soy Beans&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cucumbers&lt;/strong&gt;. Peeled.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...best in only small amounts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Asparagus&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/blog/are-white-potatoes-bad-for-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;White Potatoes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - cooked potato is fine but no shoots, stems or&#xA;green parts. No raw potato, no skins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Broccoli&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...as well as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_contrasting_grain_based_and_meat_based_diets&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;grains&lt;/a&gt; like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oatmeal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barley&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These grains, or pumpkin puree can also aid in keeping your dog regular if they have diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...also, too much citrus is not a great idea, but some fruits are okay in small amounts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Apples&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watermelon&lt;/strong&gt; (no seeds or skins) and other melons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/can-pets-have-apple-cider-vinegar&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1tsp of apple cider vinegar diluted&lt;/a&gt; with 1TBSP of chamomile tea and a 1/4 cup of minced parsley, young wheat grass shoots or &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/09/06/pet-sprouts.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;sprouts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet will be able to help you tailor your recipe(s) to your dog's stage in life as well. If they cannot, they should be able to recommend a veterinarian nutritionist. If they cannot, find a better vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What specific vitamins &amp;amp; minerals should I ensure are included to be as healthy and well-balanced as possible?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/centers/nutrition/evr_dg_what_is_a_balanced_dog_food&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is a 'Balanced' Dog Food?&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs and cats also require more than 50 key nutrients, the most vital of which are vitamin C and minerals magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. The balance between these nutrients is important, too. “The body is a very complex organic place where biochemical reactions are going on,” explains Kerri Marshall, DVM, a licensed veterinarian and chief veterinary officer at Trupanion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fediaf.org/self-regulation/nutrition/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The European Pet Food Industry Federation&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs need a careful balance of calcium/phosphorus and sufficient&#xA;vitamin D for strong bones and healthy teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fats and oils are a source of energy which is important for active&#xA;and large dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protein is required to maintain the body muscles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a comprehensive overview of the vitamin and minerals needed, see The National Research Council's &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10668/nutrient-requirements-of-dogs-and-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a basic listing of vitamins and minerals see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by the AAFCO. The necessary minerals include: Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, Magnesium, Iron, Copper, Manganese, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium, &lt;em&gt;et cetera.&lt;/em&gt; The necessary vitamins include: Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Pantothenic acid, Niacin, Pyridoxine, Folic acid, Vitamin B12, Choline, &lt;em&gt;et cetera.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com/dyn/_assets/_pdfs/waltham-booklets/Essentialcatanddognutritionbookletelectronicversion.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the list of necessary proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals&lt;/a&gt;, you will also need to consider their interactions in the context of your dog's activity level, breed and such particulars as your vet will be familiar with in order to ascertain an overall dietary profile. Too much or too little can be bad and the effects not readily apparent. In addition to reviewing the information in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16686/9069&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt;, you should consult your vet or have them recommend a veterinarian nutritionist. Otherwise just stick to USDA, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/products/animalfoodfeeds/petfood/ucm2006475&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;FDA&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFCO&lt;/a&gt; approved dog foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SlygX.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SlygX.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:48:57.470" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T02:36:53.003" Score="3" ViewCount="845" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we have 5 cats and 2 of them we found on the street in an abandoned car. My wife and I took both cats home and ever since, one of them has always been afraid of me. Her sister is very loving to us and the other cats, but Bianca is just terrified of me for some reason. If it were a new thing I would not mind, but it has been a couple of years already and though she will hang out with my wife, she just runs under the bed when I come into the room... my question is, what's up with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9157" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T12:44:12.377" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T12:50:29.827" Title="One of our cats is afraid of me, but not of my wife" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16690" CreationDate="2017-03-24T03:18:48.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps another man has been cruel to her in the past? It is usually men who physically abuse cats, and they are quick to make the association. Our cat, that we took in 3 years ago, was very leery of my mother, and it took a long time for him to learn to trust her. Even now, he will not let her pick him up, but that may be because she is rather frail, and he is afraid of being dropped. He is also reluctant to let her pet him when I am holding him, but he is slowly becoming acclimatised to that. The cat always comes to me for cuddles (and food), although he will go to Mum when she is in bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your cat, I would suggest that you (and only you) feed it, if this is possible. Food is the best conditioner of all, and if the cat learns to associate you with food, it should come to trust you quickly enough. It will mean no grazing, though, and set meal-times would be best. You will need to be very strict about it, though, and let the cat go hungry if it won't accept food from you. How you are going to stop it from eating the other cats' food will be a problem, however. Naturally, only you should give the cat treats for the time being. Hopefully, your wife will be understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T04:03:51.697" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T04:03:51.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16685" CreationDate="2017-03-24T03:35:58.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the cat is afraid of the dog. Is the cat able to go outdoors when it likes? If not, it will feel trapped, and this may be the cause of the problem. As @M.Mat implies, some perches that the dog cannot reach would be a good idea. A box that the cat can hide in and get some privacy would also be useful. You may need need to feed the cat separately, either in different rooms or at different times. Dogs have a way of barging in on other people's meals. The cat will interpret this as bullying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the cat may just want to play. Does it hold its tail straight up when it interacts with the dog. If so, this is a sure sign that all is well. Even if this is the case, your cat still needs a retreat from the world--a place where it can feel absolutely safe. Get it some perches and a little hidey-hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T03:35:58.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16640" CreationDate="2017-03-24T09:41:13.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That could be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/brown-aquarium-algae-1378629&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;brown algae&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;It often occurs with new tanks, and should disappear after a while. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Make sure you keep doing the regular maintenance. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can try to scrub it of with your fingers, and then siphon it up while you do your maintenance. Or, if it's harder to remove take the stones out and scrub them with a brush (I've get a toothbrush I only use for my tank). But don't use any chemicals. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Preventing all algae is nearly impossible, but once you have a stable aquarium and regurarly maintain it, you should have less and you should be able to keep it under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T09:41:13.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16508" CreationDate="2017-03-24T16:44:34.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had two cats that were leashed trained, as we moved to areas not safe for them to go out on their own. They learned quickly that if they wanted to go out it was on a leash, and they adjusted to it. It did NOT tease them. Depending on the temperment of your cat, you could leash train it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First benefit of leash training is that you spend time with your cat. More time, more attention, is always beneficial to any pet and its relationship with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start slowly. If on the 8th floor, for the first walk you may stay on the 8th floor while your cat explores. Let the cat explore at his own pace, don't force the cat to go farther than it's comfortable going. If the cat is fearful, scoop it up and go directly back to your apartment. Equate safety with your apartment. Don't force the cat to go for a walk. Make it a positive experience only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be consistant. Make putting on the collar or attaching the leash always lead to being allowed to go outside of the apartment. No collar / leash, no out. Make the walk at the same time each day. Set an alarm (different from your wake-up alarm) to signal walk / play time. This will make it less likely that the cat will howl at night to go outside, or wake you up to play. It will take some time, but the cat will learn these signals and cues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start the walk at 10 minutes. Slowly expand the walk to however long you can reasonably do it. This is up to you. If you only have 30 minutes each day, then again, be consistent with it. Getting out of the building might take up most of the time, but it's time well spent together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to walk the cat like you would a dog. The walk will be a slow walk, with many stops, as you walk at the cat's pace. Don't pull the cat along. Cats can slip collars, even harnesses, by pulling back while you pull forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd use the stairs and NOT the elevator. Elevators can freak cats out. Stairs are better for exercise, at first, the stairs may be the entire walk. Stairs help release the pent up energy in your cat although taking the stairs back up to the eighth floor will probably be harder on you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never drop the leash. A cat can freak out and run into traffic, or the leash could get caught on something. The walk is not for you, the walk is for the cat. You don't run to the store with the cat on a leash. Keep your needs separate from the cat's walk. This time is just for the cat. You may end up standing in one spot for a while as the cat hunches down to watch things. This is ok. This is what a cat walk is sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if there's a park nearby. (Not a dog park.) It might take a while, or you may want to carry him, but getting him to a safe destination where he can explore would be a good idea. If using a carrier, put him in it with the leash. Don't take the leash off until you are back in your apartment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If other animals / children / people approach, step between your animal and the other animal / child / person. This signals to your cat that you stand to protect them. Once between, then if necessary, you can pick your cat up but don't hold the cat and talk to people. If still on the ground and the cat decides to approach the other person, that's the cats decision, and if you feel it's safe, let them. Don't let dogs sniff or get near. Be very watchful if a child goes near the cat. Take your cues from your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the weather is bad and you've gotten to the point of going outside the building, start the walk and let the cat go down and out the building so that they can see that they really don't want to go out. They will always look for the door into summer. The adventure will be going to the door and going back up. It's still &quot;out&quot; to them and better than nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the walk is over, pick the cat up and go directly back to your apartment. Make sure to hold the cat securely so the cat feels safe. Don't one arm it. Support the rear haunches and gently but firmly, hold the cat to your body with the other hand. The cat may protest but let him know you're the boss and the one in control. Don't brook any nonsense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful when using the keys to open the door. Put the cat down beside you if you can and let them walk in the building on leash. If he doesn't go right inside then pick him up, get in the building and close the door. You may carry him directly to your apartment, or continue the walk inside the building until you both get back to your apartment. Again, put the cat down and let him walk back inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the walk, make a big fuss and praise him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at any point the cat becomes fearful, get the cat home right away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if all of this seems too much, then invest in some pet toys and play with your cat for an hour or so everyday instead of walking them. This will release the pent up energy, provide quality time for you and your cat, and make your pet very happy. The cat may still look out the window and wish for out, but if you can exhaust them with play, their life will still be good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also alternate walks with indoor play time and/or combine them. If you make Indoor Play time really good, the cat may not even want to go out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9139" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T16:44:34.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T17:19:12.507" Score="3" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was prescribed Metronidizole/Flagyl tablets and they taste horrific.  I know there are compounding pharmacies that use veterinary syrup and would like to find a recipe. The veterinary syrup is only available via prescription but it seems it should be easy to make, or an equivalent.  Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9159" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T18:00:43.843" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T18:00:43.843" Title="How do I make veterniary syrup?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16695" CreationDate="2017-03-24T18:00:17.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crushing a pill and putting it in a home made syrup is a really bad idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The digestive track has different properties along its route. Different medications can have their usefulness significantly impacted by being available for absorption in different areas of the digestive track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the correct dosage to the patient many pills have a coating over them to ensure that the correct properties exist for them to be absorbed.  When a compounding pharmacy creates a prescript syrup, they don't simply grind up the pill and put it in syrup, they create a complete solution that takes multiple variables into account. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have more then &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/medicines+cats&quot;&gt;20 Questions with answers about giving medications to cats here,&lt;/a&gt; one is likely to help you keep your cat safe and medicated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T12:59:16.270" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T18:00:17.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-24T18:46:08.937" Score="4" ViewCount="3468" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mKVtv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I removed from my 6 week old puppy. I believe it's a tick. 20 have been removed so far. The puppy still has more. The internet suggested removing them with tweezers. But the puppy is under extreme discomfort and doesn't want to be held down. Morever, he cries a lot and just doesn't let us do it. We've tried treats and toys but they just don't work. Is there any way to get rid of them that is easier for the puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9160" LastActivityDate="2018-09-26T18:52:14.033" Title="Puppy full of ticks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16675" CreationDate="2017-03-24T19:20:22.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the limited information this could be scabies, but because of the diet, this can be solved easily by bringing your dog to a vet. This looks like a dietary deficiency combined with allergies. Dogs require Meat protein to survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be ask to put you dog on a normal diet and possible Steroid if this is an allergy or antibiotics if it is related to an infection / disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take him to see a vet and not a naturopath&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cost should be minimal and the treatment should be 10 to 14 days for most infections requiring antibiotics, and longer for allergies with steroid treatments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lwmNG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lwmNG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dieatary dificiencies&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9161" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T19:20:22.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16697" CreationDate="2017-03-24T19:34:42.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's likely anxious because he doesn't know what is going on. He might also be taking his cues from you if you are worrying while removing them. Keep breathing. Talk to him in a reassuring voice. Take breaks in between removals. Give him affection (rather than treats) and move slowly. Check him thoroughly all over - there's nowhere they won't settle in for a meal. Check the ears, in between toes, his butthole: all of him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might consider something like a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/zZal4GTRG4k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tick twister&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; For what it is worth, I've lived with outdoor dogs and tick checks were a daily routine. Tweezers can work, but if the ticks are large enough, I just pull them by hand. You do want to make sure that you completely get the entire head out, otherwise the skin can get infected.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there are &quot;Deer ticks&quot; and &quot;Dog ticks&quot;. &quot;Deer ticks&quot; are the smaller ones with the red pouches. &quot;Dog ticks&quot; are the bigger ones with dark brown pouches that have a white marking. &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.westchestergov.com/tick-borne-diseases/deer-tick-identification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a guide for telling which kind&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deer ticks are the ones that carry &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lyme disease&lt;/a&gt;, so be wary and wash your hands and instruments after getting rid of them. I am told by vets and my doctors that to get lime disease from a tick, it usually needs to be attached to a human for 48-72 hours. A bite does not mean you've gotten lime disease, but it pays to be safe!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet should be able to tell you when it is usually &quot;tick season&quot; in your area. I've always noticed them more of a problem right after it rains and the ground is wet. They'll crawl up onto long blades of grass and hop on passers-by.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it'd be good to check in with your vet about puppy shampoo, something for the skin where be was bit, and, puppy approved tick repellant options. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/lyme-disease-in-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyme disease in dogs is also an issue&lt;/a&gt;, so do check in with your vet regarding what to be wary of such as lameness, fever, lethargy, and enlarged lymph nodes. As I understand tho, a deer tick with Lyme disease needs to be attached to the dog for 48hrs for the transmission of the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know that your dog is necessarily in pain from the bites. A tick bite does hurt when they bite a human. It can be a sharp pain, but some people don't notice. Dogs have very different skin than humans too, but, no matter what, consult your vet about remediation, prevention and detecting lyme disease and how to avoid ticks in the future. Hope your puppy feels better soon!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-24T23:11:02.980" LastActivityDate="2017-03-24T23:11:02.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-03-24T22:04:14.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;How big is your dog?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A McDonald's hamburger is not the best thing to feed a dog - even as a treat. It won't kill her, but depending on her size, the salt, the bun, the ketchup, mustard and especially the onions will upset her digestion, possibly causing uncomfortable gas and diarrhea. I recommend that you only feed her the meat patty if at all. Likely it was cooked with salt or salt is ground in the beef, so make sure she drinks plenty of water afterwards. If she is under 40lbs (18 kg), I would avoid it altogether.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, with treats for your pet, it's not how much you give them but &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; you are giving them a treat. Smile as you talk to her, give her affection, gently massage her legs and muscles - stay engaged with her, she'll LOVE that :)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative suggestion for your dog's birthday maybe take a trip to a dog park or a dog friendly hike or beach? Dogs love being social, with people, other animals or other dogs - that way she can catch up on the latest news and gossip. Maybe just a fun walk around the neighborhood? She doesn't know it's her birthday. She just loves doing stuff with you!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I would also recommend against feeding her raw hamburger. Raw hamburger may contain &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; which can cause disease in your dog and which your dog may pass on to you. Instead talk to her as you cook her a plain and lean ground beef hamburger patty (no salt or seasonings). Let her sniff at the objects you are cooking with - that way she'll feel like a part of the process. When you are done cooking and the pan has cooled off you could wipe the pan to remove excess fats and let her lick the pan - but don't make this a habit, especially if it is a small dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you and your dog have lots of special occasions for a long time to come!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:40:06.883" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:40:06.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-25T07:13:48.677" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've recently rescued a 10 month old cat. Nobody really knew her background and I only got told that she's aggressive. The foster home I got her from said she's not aggressive at all. Then in the next breath said to ignore her if she hisses at me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been with us for nearly a week now. I see progress in her, she will explore at night. She goes and sits on our chair in the living room and I have found her on our bed sleeping when I come in from work. However, most of the time when I talk or go near her she will start making a strange sniffing noise followed by hissing and growling. It's very strange to me too because she has came over before and sat on my lap. I stroked her then and for some reason she lashed out hissing and growling at my face. But she wouldn't get off my lap. I don't know if it's the case of her needing time to settle more, or if it's the case of her actually being an aggressive cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want an aggressive cat so if she doesn't change her ways after so long then I will have to take her back. I feel terrible about it but I know I am not the person to help her with this behavioural problem (if this is the case). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9163" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T16:06:59.843" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T16:06:59.843" Title="How long until a new cat gets settled?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16701" CreationDate="2017-03-25T13:23:26.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give her time. She's in new place that's unfamiliar for her. However, the fact she is hissing suggests she had been hurt by people in the past. Over time she will understand that she can trust you, however that might take some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9164" LastActivityDate="2017-03-25T13:23:26.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16704" CreationDate="2017-03-25T14:48:15.213" Score="8" ViewCount="18563" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one I haven't seen before: our cat (about 18 months old, rescued from the street before 6 months old) always wants to be sure there is food floating in her water bowl before she drinks from it. If the water is clear, then without fail she very intentionally switches to her food bowl, takes 3-4 pieces in her mouth, and goes back to her water bowl to drop them in. (She ignores this ritual with other water sources, such as the toilet when someone forgets to leave the lid down...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pieces of food gradually soak up water, deteriorate, and make it rather unappealling — from a human point of view. What's the appeal to her? To clarify, we're not concerned, just curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One hypothesis so far is that she just likes the taste of her food and wants to flavour her water. But I gather that taste doesn't play a huge role in a cat's diet. Another one is that she isn't sure about the water level and wants some &quot;buoys&quot; floating in it to better gauge it. If so, she's a pretty weird cat, considering they don't all do this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9048" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:49:07.243" Title="Cat dropping food in her water" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2017-03-25T16:08:20.443" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can develop strange little rituals when it comes to food and drink. If I put down food that our cat is not prepared to eat, he will stand over it and scratch the floor as if he is trying to cover up his droppings. You can't really make a more pointed complaint than that, without putting it in writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your cat, it may be that she simply doesn't like the taste of tap water. Remember that she has been used to drinking standing water that will have had all sorts of contaminants in it. Is her water bowl made of stainless steel? Such bowls will impart a metallic taste that a cat can certainly detect. Our cat didn't like drinking from a metal bowl that we used with a previous pet, so I bought him a ceramic bowl for his water. He has been quite happy with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats prefer to drink running water, and there are plenty of videos on YouTube showing cats drinking from kitchen taps. However, this doesn't seem to be the case with your cat, especially if she drinks out of the loo, given the opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-03-25T16:20:32.863" LastActivityDate="2017-03-25T16:20:32.863" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16705" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-26T06:52:39.507" Score="2" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, his behavior changes he cries a lot at the gate for no reason and acts bad But if there not there he's good. They go to the river pretty much every weekend when it's nice out and when they come home he acts like this, I've had him for almost 3 months in a few days. Can anyone explain why he does this or if we should be concerned? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9167" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T19:52:21.347" Title="What does it mean if my puppy acts different when my mom comes home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2017-03-26T07:21:24.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a little difficult to understand the scenario you're describing. If he acts out when &lt;em&gt;they're there&lt;/em&gt; it might be his way of trying to get &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; attention because he really enjoys it when they take him to the river. Do you go to the river with them too?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet or other dog owners for advice about training and raising pups. Your vet could probably recommend someone local who could help you train him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to get him more exercise when your mom isn't around. He'll respond well to regular and focused play time, exercise and any training that you give him. Is he trained on a leash yet? Does he know &quot;sit&quot;? &quot;Paw&quot; (to hold up his paw when he's sitting to &quot;shake hands&quot;)? Does he know &quot;down&quot; to lie down? Does he know &quot;off&quot; to get off people and stuff? Keeping a regular routine of feeding, doing his business, exercise, training and such will do a lot to keep his temper even. Stick with it now and for the next year and a half and you'll have a lifetime of happy puppy :)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T07:21:24.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16709" CreationDate="2017-03-26T12:01:10.847" Score="5" ViewCount="976" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually give sweets to my dog. Say, Mysoore pak, Milk peda, payasam, etc. in high amount. Will it affect it badly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8999" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T11:08:04.023" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T13:11:49.490" Title="Issue in giving sweet in high amount to dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16708" CreationDate="2017-03-26T13:58:18.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you clean your dog's teeth afterwards? If not, the dog may suffer from dental caries (like humans who do not brush their teeth), and will have to have diseased teeth extracted. Also, a diet high in sugar will lead to obesity, and possibly diabetes later in life (again, like humans). Is this what you want for your pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, chocolate is poisonous to dogs, since they cannot metabolise theobromine very well and it will accumulate in their metabolic system if they eat too much. Humans can metabolise and excrete theobromine very easily. My brother's Yorkshire Terrier once helped himself to a boxful of chocolates and had to be hospitalised. Fortunately, the dog survived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give your dog an occasional treat (for training purposes, say), then you should buy specially formulated doggy-treats. These will be sugar-free and safe for a dog to eat. Please desist from giving your dog confectioneries meant for humans. They will do it no good in the long run (or you, for that matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T13:58:18.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16708" CreationDate="2017-03-26T22:23:19.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dogs-milk-dairy-products/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dairy&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedogdaily.com/conduct/behavior/effects_of_sugar_on_dogs/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sugar&lt;/a&gt; (especially &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/xylitol-toxicity-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Xylitol&lt;/a&gt;) are recommended for dogs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://fidoseofreality.com/10-spices-may-harm-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Seasoning&lt;/a&gt; is also not recommended for dogs if you prepare your payasam with seasonings (for example cinnamon, paprika, nutmeg, ginger). Sugar feeds bacteria - in the mouth and in the digestive tract. This can cause &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2777300/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cavities&lt;/a&gt; on the teeth and intestinal irregularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foods to avoid: salt, chocolate, avocado, grapes, citrus, coconut, dairy, nuts, garlic, onion, chives, yeast, alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foods that are okay for dogs as a treat (in small amounts and proportionate to their size and weight): cooked carrots (raw carrots can tear up innards if not properly chewed), sweet potatoes (no skins), green beans, peas, corn, soy beans, cucumbers (peeled). Only in small amounts: apple, watermelon (no seeds or skin), broccoli, asparagus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on you dog's behavior - do they get excited and then lethargic after these treats? Is their digestion affected - do they get diarrhea, or is their stool regular and firm? Likely a small dog will be more negatively affected by a sweet milk treat than a large dog, but I would strongly urge that you do not make this a regular habit no matter what size or breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind with treats that dogs are more interested in the focused affection and attention you are giving them. It is not how much of a treat or that you like the treat that is important, it is just &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; you are giving them a treat. I would also recommend that you make giving treats part of a behavior training reward routine. For example, tell your dog to &quot;sit&quot; using a stern command voice. When they sit, say &quot;good dog&quot; with a smile and an affectionate voice. Then give them the treat and a belly rub. Who's a happy puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, dogs don't have nearly as sensitive taste buds as humans. They do not need a variety of exciting flavors. They do have very sensitive senses of smell. If you want to keep them engaged while you are preparing meals, you can hold dishes and utensil's for them to sniff at. This will help them feel like a part of the activity. They do not need to taste or eat the foods you prepare for yourself and your family. In general, it is a good idea not to feed dogs human food at all and to keep your feeding times separate so as not to encourage them to beg for food from humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-26T22:31:33.547" LastActivityDate="2017-03-26T22:31:33.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16697" CreationDate="2017-03-27T02:01:27.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Side note: Im in the woods with my 8 year old Yella Lab every morning at sunup for an hour.  We used to use one of those topical tick/flea oils,  but switched to Trifexis about 5 years ago, because he's a swimmer.  Tick checks daily.  With the oils, I pulled a little more than 2 ticks a week off him.  Since the switch, it's less than half that.  A few times a year I miss one, and have to snatch one of those gross and bloated blobs off him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After his first annual, I decided to have a Lyme disease shot added, which I have continued throughout his life.  The extra layer of protection is nice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9171" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T02:01:27.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16718" CreationDate="2017-03-27T18:02:29.863" Score="2" ViewCount="565" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a sweet Cavvie boy in South Florida, which means that biting critters are a year-round concern. I'm giving him the appropriate Trifexis dose for his weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite the smell, he wolfs it down without any complaint whatsoever. He tends to throw it up within the hour, and the vomit smells very strongly of the Trifexis, so it's not likely he digested very much of the active ingredients. On a full stomach or an empty one, it seems to be a crapshoot whether or not he actually keeps the pill down. I've also tried halving the pill and giving him half in the morning and half at night, but he throws it up more often than not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anybody have any suggestions to keep his stomach under control after I've given him the Trifexis?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T23:52:28.343" Title="Cavalier having trouble keeping Trifexis down" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-27T18:33:53.397" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are thinking about switching to a new (different) raw pet food diet for our dog.  She is currently eating Primal Formula but we have heard that Darwin is also good.  However, we encountered this article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.poisonedpets.com/darwins-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.poisonedpets.com/darwins-dog-food/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here have any experience with it?  Have you found non-consumable bits in it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9175" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T14:37:01.577" Title="Does Darwin Raw Pet Food Have Metal In It?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2017-03-27T18:59:56.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vomiting is listed as a possible side-effect of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/trifexis-spinosad-plus-milbemycin-oxime&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Trifexis&lt;/a&gt;. Although I have kept dogs in the past, control of parasites was never much of a problem, so I cannot give you direct advice. However, you might consider administering a two-part treatment. I am currently giving my cat &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmeds.co.uk/Stronghold-Spot-On-for-Dogs/p/I0046152&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stronghold&lt;/a&gt; for control of fleas (which is applied topically), and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/dogs/wormers/tablets/milbemax-dog-wormer-(adult)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Milbemax&lt;/a&gt; as a broad-spectrum worm-killer (which is administered orally). He tolerates both well. Canine formulations are available (and the links point to these). Stronghold also kills worms (but not tapeworms), apparently. Depending on your dog's diet, it might be safe to forego tapeworm protection, since they are fairly easy to detect. Whatever you decide to do, consult a vet first. Milbemax is only available by veterinary prescription in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-03-28T22:33:51.793" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T22:33:51.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16708" CreationDate="2017-03-27T23:52:52.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs can get diabetes. And while folks in india do tend to feed their dogs milk products (for example old rice and yogurt/buttermilk), many dogs tend to be lactose intolerant. While mine has an extreme soft spot for that sort of sweet, on the &lt;em&gt;Rare&lt;/em&gt; occations he gets it, he has the runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditional indian milk sweets are pretty much a double whammy of fat (and your dog being overweight can cause health problems) and processed sugar. And I've seen the &lt;em&gt;long&lt;/em&gt; term concequences of feeding your dog these things. At the twilight of my aunt's dog's life he was having incontinence (Presumably due to undiagnosed diabetes), &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; poor teeth and gum disease, and weight related arthritis and joint issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do realise its probably going to be a painful process to change, but slowly weaning your dog off such sweets is a good idea. You can control your diet, but your dog usually can't, especially if he's food motivated. Its a good idea to stick to stuff meant for dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-03-27T23:52:52.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2017-03-28T05:56:29.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you giving the Trifexis to your dog with a meal or by itself?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trifexis.com/about-trifexis/dosing-administration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.trifexis.com/about-trifexis/dosing-administration&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/r4no5UzPH_4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/r4no5UzPH_4&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most common adverse reactions reported are vomiting, depression/lethargy, itching, decreased appetite, and diarrhea. To ensure heartworm prevention, observe your dog for one hour after administration. If vomiting occurs within an hour of administration, redose with another full dose. Puppies less than 14 weeks of age may experience a higher rate of vomiting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is unable to take the medicine without vomiting, then you will need to speak with your vet about alternative treatment options for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trifexis.com/about-trifexis/why-trifexis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fleas, heartworm, and intestinal parasites&lt;/a&gt; (adult hookworm, roundworm and whipworm infections). Someone else here mentioned that speaking with whomever you got the dog from might be a good idea since they might know what works well with that breed and in your area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you see your veterinarian next, ask if it might be helpful to feed your dog the medicine with any food supplements. Also, it might be worth timing the medicine with her exercise routine (before or after?) As it is a monthly pill, perhaps it might help to skip a meal and not feed your dog prior to administering the medicine. Just guessing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it is worth, my Lab/Goldy (~95lbs) is normally in the habit of eating grass. I have read that this helps with digestion (but it might just be something with bigger dogs). She prefers younger, tender blades. In the Winter when grass is not available, I will often add chopped parsley to her kibble. Sometimes wheat grass (like the kind used in juices, young, tender blades). Also, if she has diarrhea, I will sometimes add a TBSP of pumpkin puree (no additives, seasonings, spices, preservatives - just 100% pumpkin) to her kibble to help her get regular. Also, I will give her a TBSP of chamomile tea. Also, a little bit of rice seems to help keep her regular. A vet also once suggested a bland diet of skinless chicken, rice, pumpkin and cottage cheese when she had bad diarrhea for the first time. You might also see if getting him more water helps - possibly giving him ice cubes of chips to lick at? Possibly just feeding him the pill with his regular kibble and some sodium free chicken broth?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above suggestions are more for dealing with digestion problems after the fact, but I figure it is worth asking your vet to see if they can help keep you Cavalier's digestion from going in reverse. Lastly, it has aspirin in it, so do not use without consulting your vet, but a small amount of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/dogs/Home-remedies-for-vomitng-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pepto Bismol&lt;/a&gt; might help. Considering your digs size, likely only a very small amount (like a teaspoon - 5mL or a half teaspoon)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-03-28T21:19:07.910" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T21:19:07.910" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="698" CreationDate="2017-03-28T10:46:20.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can do an external repair. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/tPWD8ofOP7k&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read below and take a look at the time lapse&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;If you cannot drain your aquarium to repair a leak from the inside, and you need to work from the outside, you have to beat hydraulic pressure.&#xA;The way you can do it, is by patching from bottom (where your leak is) to top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before you begin, drain as much as you can. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a 2&quot; / 5 cm tape (scotch / masking / duct / whatever). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Patch this tape with a coat or 2 of a plastic bag. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a stripe of silicone (any kind - since it's external). Now your &quot;band-aid&quot; is ready.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put this patch on your leakage in a way that the dripping is chased up. You cannot completely seal since hydraulic pressure is stronger than silicone. But the silicone is strong enough to push the water flow 1&quot;- 2&quot; (5-10 cm) up. Just make sure you chase the leak upwards - not downwards, and not sideways.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every 20 minutes or so, you can take of your patch (the plastic bag helps here), and put a new patch, 2&quot; higher up (repeat steps 2-5) with a small overlap between the previous and the new silicone, so that you continue chasing upwards. If you miss (leak goes in another direction), repeat on this section, till you get it up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you go upwards, at some point the hydraulic pressure will be low enough that your leakage stops completely. Even if you are not lucky, once you reach the top water level, the water pressure is 0, and your leakage will be over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9180" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T23:02:32.547" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T23:02:32.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-28T11:23:24.660" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;After looking at some youtube videos and investigating this filter, I think that some info on the web is either incorrect or simply unsuitable to the HAQOS EX 1500 External Canister Filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct order of elements in Haqos EX1500 External Aquarium Filter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9180" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T15:18:40.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T15:18:40.280" Title="What is the correct order of elements in Haqos EX1500 External Aquarium Filter" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16720" CreationDate="2017-03-28T11:23:24.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The HAQOS EX1500 sucks water from the sectioned tube that is build into the filtration stages and goes all the way down.&#xA;This filter circulates water through the stages from top to bottom.&#xA;Once water reaches the bottom it's sucked up via the tube. THIS IS OPPOSITE TO SOME OTHER FILTERS IN THE MARKET.&#xA;Therefore you should put carbon at the bottom, Biological media in the middle sections, and the physical filters (coarse and fine foams, and sponges) at the top. Between the foams - the coarse foam (I think it's the supplied blue) should be on top of the fine foam (Black), and if you have finer filters they should go below that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9180" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T11:23:24.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15168" CreationDate="2017-03-28T11:39:47.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you refer to fresh water. Nobody bothers with pH, KH and phosphate in fresh water.&#xA;What matters (as far as the filter is concerned) is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical cleaning (remove debris and particles) and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bio-cycle of ammonia transformation to nitrite, and then nitrite transformation to nitrate. This is taken care of by the bio-media (by microbes that settle on the media, and everywhere else they can).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The NITRATE is removed by dilution - i.e. weekly water changes.&#xA;What you need to care about is the direction of flow of water between the stages. Once you identify the direction, you want water to hit the physical filtration first (the foams), and follow to the Bio-Media filtration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go and buy BIO MEDIA - it's the most important element. In most setups the dirt will always settle down, even if your filter is clogged, or small. But the bio filtration determines the real power of your filter to manage a large population of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your last question, I never changed any elements (so far) - I just wash them (in aquarium water - since tap water could kill the germs) once every 2 months or so - when the water flow seems to be getting low. And even then remember it's not how much water you can pump through. It's how much ammonia and nitrite you can convert to nitrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your overflow after 2 weeks: In this kind of (TOP) filter system an eventual overflow is normal, because it's open, and it lets water move &amp;quot;down only&amp;quot; by gravitation when the filter is relatively clean, and &amp;quot;2 ways&amp;quot; - both up and down, when it's a bit more clogged. HOWEVER, as far as I see it, overflow is still a good working state, because, on one hand gravitation keeps the water going down to the bottom (even though less water/hour), and the rest of the water, taking the &amp;quot;easier path&amp;quot; upwards, also passes some filtration layer (less filtration), and the overall resistance to the power head (pump), is limited in this way. The overflowing water are also oxygenated (good), so there's nothing really bad about it, unless you take it to the extreme. What I mean, is that you don't have to clean your sponges each time you see the overflow, but on the other hand don't wait 3 months to the point that almost no water comes out of the bottom exit... I think the bio-filtration depends more on the volume of bio substance, and less on how much water goes through it: think of it like this - it can do a little bio-cycle over a lot of water, or a lot of bio-cycle on a small amount of water - but as long as you have water going (feeding it with germs) it can do the work and convert the same amount of molecules per hour that's needed. But again don't take it to the extreme with the schedule. And don't clean the filter too thoroughly either, if it's your only filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9180" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T13:20:43.060" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T13:20:43.060" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2017-03-28T12:21:37.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Medications generally have side effects; some mild, some can create worse issues than the condition being treating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cavvie's rejecting &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; med, Trifexis*, which has nausea as side-effect. Rather than force the issue, I would switch to a different product. My cat and dog both use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.comfortis.com/about-comfortis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Comfortis&lt;/a&gt; and tolerate it well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*There is some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/trifexis.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;controversy&lt;/a&gt; about this medication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-03-28T23:52:28.343" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T23:52:28.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-28T12:48:24.307" Score="3" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 16 year old chartreux mix recently stopped eating his canned (wet) food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always given him 100-200 grams each day and always had a bowl of dry food ready for him. Recently, he stopped eating the canned food and sticks with the dry food. I tried changing it to like 10 different brands, organic food (very expensive), and self made food. He just licks off the sauce and takes no bites anymore. I am in no worries about his health as he otherwise seems perfectly fine and he still eats (more now) dry food and drinks normally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it maybe just a change in a cat's life? I heard you can buy just the sauce for cats so they can lick it off and get the fats and nutrients they need. Maybe that's an idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9182" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2017-03-28T16:14:46.853" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T11:17:10.843" Title="My chartreux stopped eating canned food - Normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16714" CreationDate="2017-03-28T14:37:01.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spoke with them.  They owned that a couple of years ago they did have an incident but it was resolved quickly and that they have excellent procedures in place to catch problems.  They invited me to tour their facility.  My wife and can count at least a dozen friends who swear by Darwin so we decided to give them a shot.  Besides, we are always very careful when feeding our pup.  We don't just throw food in a bowl and give it to her with out examining it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am willing to say that the answer to my question is that, No, Darwin Pet Food does not have unconsumable bits in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9175" LastActivityDate="2017-03-28T14:37:01.577" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-28T21:42:24.797" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;is my guppy pregnant? I'm not sure:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pqFrd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pqFrd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddskM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddskM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9184" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T01:38:31.393" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T01:38:31.393" Title="Is my guppy pregnant!? I hope so!" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-04-17T14:59:31.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16729" CreationDate="2017-03-29T11:36:17.423" Score="4" ViewCount="882" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a short fur Siamese cat. When I arrive home or when I finish my bath, she walks around me rubbing my legs. She likes to be petted, but when I catch her, she starts pushing me. How can I teach her there is no danger in my arms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I avoid petting her when she requires in order to she let me cuddle her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9187" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:32.957" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:32.957" Title="How can I make my cat trust my lap?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16728" CreationDate="2017-03-29T13:37:15.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kneel down (so she is not too high) and pick her up. Support her by her hind legs and bottom with one hand, and her front legs with the other. Hold her loosely so that she does not feel constrained and can jump away if she wants to. It is important that you do not try to restrain or pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she has got used to that, sit on a chair and place her on your lap. Again, let her jump off immediately if she does not like it. Do not try to restrain or pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Persevere with this, and she will eventually realise that it is safe to be held by you and sit on your lap. Once she learns to relax, you will be able to pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat prefers to sit on my lap, rather than be held, so you could start with sitting her on your lap instead of holding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food is the best conditioner of all, so you could try tempting her onto your lap by hand-feeding her with her favourite treats (my cat loves ham). Again, you must allow her to leave as soon as she wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, some cats don't like to be held at all, and it is possible that you may just have to live with that. Remember that cats don't have owners, they have staff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. It took my cat a good three years to feel entirely comfortable with being held by me, and is only now allowing my mother to stroke him while he is in my arms. He still will not let Mum pick him up. You need to be very patient with some cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-03-29T14:02:07.550" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T14:02:07.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16612" CreationDate="2017-03-29T16:12:54.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IF it's only going to be the fish and the shrimp and some decorations I would say keep the count around 5-10. The only issue I see is if you get more you're going to have to have stuff for them to feed on, in my experience they eat alot of the pieces of the uneaten stuff that floats to the bottom, or any other plant matter, etc, I'd say if you added some living aquatic plants too you'd have no problem keeping more than 10. I don't think the reproduction thing wouldn't be too much of a problem, if you're buying from a pet store that separates the sexes or only has one or the other you should be fine. I had about 5 in a tank with a bunch of goldfish, they were great because they cleaned up alot of the old food sitting around, but eventually the goldfish got to them and ate them. I think tetras are smaller though so i don't see that being a problem either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9063" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T16:12:54.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7753" CreationDate="2017-03-29T17:20:49.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have no way to know if your heater was the problem as you asked because you never told us the temperature of the tank. My tank is at 24&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;27&amp;nbsp;°C (75&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;80&amp;nbsp;°F) it fluctuates with the temperature swings in my house, but it also has a heater. I have 2 goldfish in there along with my new cichlid, 10 minnows (hopefully will become cichlid food when cichlid gets larger, I bought too many and can't catch them), 4 zebra danios, 1 gold danio, 2 giant danios, some ghost shrimp which I think the cichlid ate and 1 map turtle as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these fish (besides the newest only cichlid) have survived with the turtle for a few months now. The cichlid seems to be doing fine. My plan is to make my turtle tank more of a cichlid and turtle tank without all these smaller fish. My turtle caught some of the minnows but now rarely chases them because he thinks he can't get them and would rather beg for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides all those minnows I don't have that many other fish, only the 5 danios and the 2 giant danios. I plan on relocating the goldfish as they get larger into a pond my neighbor has with other goldfish and koi in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to keep your water very clean. I have to do so many water changes and also have 2 filters running in there, but still do biweekly water changes, and every other day or so I do waste vacuuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9188" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T23:39:14.763" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T23:39:14.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17386" CreationDate="2017-03-29T19:10:04.837" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the the best testing strips out there for measuring pH, ammonia, nitrates, etc.? I would like to find something more accurate (currently I'm using API test kits with droppers in 5 mL). It seems odd to me that the assumed accuracy and tight parameters that one needs to keep to maintain a mixed reef that API's kits are even suggested to anyone from the LFS. I would like to know if someone has better and more accurate results from other testing kits for their aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My setup is a mixed reef marine aquarium and eventually my next larger tank might be seeded with this 75G (around 280 liters) I have now. That aquarium will have controllers that will have top shelf controllers with industrial grade probes. I don't have that now. What I have is bottom of the barrel test kits though, monitoring my few thousands dollars worth investment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, does anyone know of a more accurate kit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:11:30.447" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:13:41.147" Title="Best residential aquarium test kits for accuracy versus affordability" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2017-03-29T19:52:21.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Behavioral issues for any pet are training issues. We need to work on training our pet to act the way we like it to as it has no way to identify what is good or bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consistency is the first and foremost answer to training. No matter what training you give you must always remain consistent. Pets do not understand abstracts like this is &quot;OK&quot; sometimes, but other times not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I feel is likely the scenario is that you treat your pet one way when you mom is around, and another when she isn't. You may give in to your pet's crying and bad behavior, but ignored it early on. The best way to train your dog to stop the bad behavior is to remove the reward, in this case your mom, when it starts acting up. After several times of losing the reward from the poor behavior, your dog will start to understand that the unwanted behavior does not gain any positive reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind punishing the dog is &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; the answer. Giving your dog negative attention not only makes the animal fear and distrust you, but it also reinforces a behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9190" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T19:52:21.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16737" CreationDate="2017-03-29T21:42:25.570" Score="3" ViewCount="4126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my corn snake for approximately 5 years now. He is normally a very good feeder, strikes for his food and eats well (I feed him one jumbo mouse approximately every 12-14 days). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He usually only stops eating for maybe around a month during this time of year (march-april), so when he did the same this year, initially I didn't worry. However, it has been 2 months now and he is still showing no interest at all in any food. I have tried warming the mouse in warm water before offering it to him, making a small cut in it to make it smell more appeasing to him, but still no interest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, although looking a bit thinner and weighing less, he is still very active and acting completely his normal self otherwise. I'm just not sure how long I should wait with him not eating before I should start worrying and get him seen by a vet? Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9191" LastActivityDate="2019-07-17T06:52:47.090" Title="When my snake is refusing food how long should I wait before I should worry?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15869" CreationDate="2017-03-29T22:26:48.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you need to try a gradual process to getting him used to separation. His problem of peeing in his crate (if due to separation anxiety) will not go away by simply getting him used to the crate. If the issue for him is being left alone, this is the issue that needs to be addressed first. He may be terrified of going into the crate if he has learned to associate this with being left alone. You could try having him in the crate not only at night, but maybe even for short periods (i would suggest half hour or less to begin with) while you are still in the room. Feeding him while he is in there, staying in the room with him with the crate door open, a blanket/bed in there for him and letting him get used to the crate with you there can all help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of the separation anxiety - try to vary your routine. Dogs and puppies become aware very quickly of our routines and what they mean. For example, at night if your routine is to get in your nightwear and brush your teeth and turn out lights before heading to the bedroom, he may now have learnt your routine and learned to anticipate a long time of being left alone when you do these things. Instead, you could vary it by, for example, putting on your nightwear earlier but watching TV in the same room as him instead, just to make it different to break that association he has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try to start teaching him that when he is left for a time, you will return, he will not be abandoned (many rescue animals have this anxiety sometimes due their past). Do this by leaving him in the room for short while to begin with, and giving lots of praise and maybe a treat when you return. If he pee's, has an accident or shows signs of discomfort when you come back into the room, just calmly sit down but don't give him any attention, eye contact or speak to him. It might sound harsh but by giving him that kind of attention when he is in a fearful or anxious state of mind may only help to re-inforce this, thus making it more likely for him to repeat this behaviour. Instead, wait in the room with him calmly until he calms down, then pet him, talk to him softly and praise him when he is calm. It will take a lot of patience but if you stick with it he will learn in time that being separated from you for a brief time is not a bad thing :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9191" LastActivityDate="2017-03-29T22:26:48.173" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2017-03-30T00:56:58.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something else you can try is to get some shavings from a live mouse enclosure. If you go to the pet store they should give you some, nice and smelly. Then place the thawed mouse in the shavings. I've had a few people use this trick in my pet store working days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We only start to worry once we see weight loss, as you know some snakes may not eat during certain seasons. I see a lot of ball pythons and bearded dragons go without food during winter months, this can range from 1-3 months with no weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-04T02:13:00.500" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T02:13:00.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16724" CreationDate="2017-03-30T11:17:10.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe he's just grown tired of the consistency of the food, or maybe he's had some experience with sickness or other unpleasant event that he associates with the wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the dry food provides for all the dietary needs I wouldn't worry too much, either try a minced wet food, or maybe leave wet food off the menu for a few weeks/months, then try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd mention the change in diet during your next vet visit, since a vet will be able to see it in a bigger context, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2017-03-30T11:17:10.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-30T17:49:49.160" Score="1" ViewCount="4034" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got my fish yesterday and he hasn't been moving much later that night he sat at the bottom of the tank and I thought he was sleeping the next day he was still in the bottom of the tank what do I do? Is he too cold? Is he dead or dying? Is he sick? Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9196" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2017-04-01T14:19:52.150" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T04:00:31.397" Title="Is my betta fish dead?" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-02-08T03:59:03.523" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16679" CreationDate="2017-03-30T18:57:21.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to end up adding fish first. My first fish are going to be added right after I get my clean up crew. I searched multiple forums and, as you might expect, it's quite debatable what to add first. Ultimately, it comes down to what you would like to do with your aquarium. Some only grow coral and some, like myself, have mixed reef setups, as well as others having only fish and some rock. I'll include some of the links and discussions I took part in, but you'll see that the main argument people have for a mixed reef setup to add fish first is that they're hardier than coral when it comes to new tank fluctuating patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard arguments about having successful tanks started by adding coral and fish simultaneously, but I have invested a lot of money in this aquarium already, so everything I do will come after a long, thought out, research process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/191361-fish-or-coral-first/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/191361-fish-or-coral-first/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1779272&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1779272&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livingreefs.com/threads/cycling-a-tank-adding-fish-and-corals.26452/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.livingreefs.com/threads/cycling-a-tank-adding-fish-and-corals.26452/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastEditorUserId="9080" LastEditDate="2017-04-03T14:38:55.207" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T14:38:55.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-30T19:17:39.493" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where can I place wood in my fish tank? I'm concerned about it trapping fish food and causing ammonia build ups if it's near the walls or decorations, and I don't want to make a 'hot spot' if I put it next to the heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also don't want to cause territory problems with my fish, if applicable. I have cories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where can I safely put wood in my fish tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9198" LastEditorDisplayName="user9091" LastEditDate="2017-03-31T14:22:47.793" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T15:46:14.827" Title="Where is it ok to place wood in the fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;territory&gt;&lt;decorations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-30T20:37:05.317" Score="3" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it ok for wood to be near a heater?  Or any decorations at all?  Will it create a hot spot and crack and the heater or glass of the tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9198" LastEditorDisplayName="user9091" LastEditDate="2017-03-31T12:00:25.683" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T19:41:20.337" Title="Can the wood be near the heater or decorations?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;decorations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16742" CreationDate="2017-03-31T07:53:54.773" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's ok to place it near the heater. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Heaters are often places against the glass with suction cups. So placing any ornaments or wood near a heater is also ok.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just make sure the heater is always below water if it's turned on. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T07:53:54.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16739" CreationDate="2017-03-31T10:53:35.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he is still alive you should be able to see his gills moving.  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But please give some more information about your tank to be able to help you identify why he is probably suffering from something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T10:53:35.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-31T12:33:37.130" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kind of an odd question, but when my dogs go to get a drink, after they finish, water drips from their mouths [quite a lot of it].  Since my apartment is nearly all carpet, the water drops get absorbed which cannot be good for the carpet.  Also, you'll step in wet spots and have to change your socks after!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have special mats that their bowls sit on to get any splashes of water they make when they get their drink. Ideally, I would like them to allow the water to drip onto these mats, or back into the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train them to keep their mouths over this area after getting a drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T12:33:37.130" Title="How can I train my dogs to let the water drip from their mouths over a certain area after getting a drink?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16741" CreationDate="2017-03-31T15:46:14.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Anywhere' is basically ok. But when you do maintenance it is of course easier if it is not directly against the glass. I usually keep enough space between decoration and the glass that I can easily fit my hand or a scrubber between it. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Overtime there is indeed a possibility that some waste will build up, but as long as you're not overfeeding the fish and you do your normal regular maintenance, I would not worry too much about it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I haven't moved my big pieces of wood in almost 2 years. Some small stones I do occasionally remove when doing my maintenance.&#xA;Your corries will probably spread it all over the tank anyway.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, corries are not territorial fish, they prefer to live in groups. &#xA;All fish can suffer  from stress if you are messing around in a tank and change a lot of things, because of this you should not do this too often. But it won't cause any territorial problems. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-03-31T15:46:14.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-03-31T18:33:42.293" Score="9" ViewCount="5245" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got a solo cat who we rescued a year ago.  He was a street cat (adopted at 5yrs) and took some time adapting to domestic life.  He's always been in favor of snuggles but about a week ago, he started kneading on the bed/pillows, waking us both up.  He's occasionally done this before, desiring attention, but this time around it's near-constant and whenever we try to pet him, he chirps and recoils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to my research, this can happen when a cat is removed from their mother too early, and he's decided I'm his surrogate mother (a problem, as I don't lactate).  He's on a diet, we've tried to compensate by feeding him right before we go to bed, with little success.  Last night we escalated to the nuclear option - kicking him out of the bedroom completely.  Is there some solution where we don't have to kick him out but the kneading stops?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9202" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-17T17:01:41.347" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T21:17:55.333" Title="How do I get my cat to stop kneading the bed/pillows at night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2017-04-01T08:28:39.413" Score="10" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Can cats safely eat raw meat?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No. Raw meat is a terrible idea for domesticated cats.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All it takes is one serving with &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; to infect your cat. Once infected or simply inoculated and carrying the diseases, your cat can also infect your family (see below for more information on &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; and what to look for in your cat if it has been infected).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either cook the meats you are serving your cat or stick to commercially available cat food. Yes, cats are &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore#Obligate_carnivores&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;obligate carnivores&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; (meaning that they need, or, are &amp;quot;obliged&amp;quot; to eat only meat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they may consume small amounts of plant material, they lack the physiology required for the efficient digestion of vegetable matter and, in fact, some carnivorous mammals eat vegetation specifically as an emetic. For instance, felids including the domestic cat are obligate carnivores requiring a diet of primarily animal flesh and organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...however, &lt;strong&gt;domesticated pets are quite different from undomesticated felines. Your house cat has very different nutritional needs and considerations from a wild feline.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-foods-your-cat-should-never-eat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Raw fish is also a bad idea&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;an enzyme in raw fish destroys thiamine, which is an essential B vitamin for your cat. A lack of thiamine can cause serious neurological problems and lead to convulsions and coma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-foods-your-cat-should-never-eat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Liver&lt;/a&gt; is fine in very small amounts, but is also a terrible idea as a regular source of food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eating too much liver can cause vitamin A toxicity. This is a serious condition that can affect your cat's bones. Symptoms include deformed bones, bone growths on the elbows and spine, and osteoporosis. Vitamin A toxicity can also cause death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please review this web site for an overview of &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-foods-your-cat-should-never-eat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Harmful Foods for Your Cat&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; and this article covering &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iams.com/pet-health/kitten-care/10-myths-about-raw-diets-for-kittens---iams&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 Myths About Raw Diets for Kittens&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;should we stick exclusively to factory-produced catfood?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Stick to commercially available food which has been approved by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFCO&lt;/a&gt;. In particular research and look for foods which have passed the AAFCO feeding tests as well as the formulation tests. Feeding tests actually involve feeding the formula and analyzing the nutrient absorbtion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/feeding-your-adult-cat-what-you-need-to-know&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feeding Your Adult Cat: What You Need to Know&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AAFCO uses two methods to evaluate the nutritional adequacy of adult cat foods: &lt;strong&gt;formulation&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;feeding&lt;/strong&gt; test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;formulation&lt;/strong&gt; method involves doing a nutritional analysis of ingredients and comparing it with AAFCO nutrient profiles for a cat’s particular life stage. “That diet doesn’t have to be fed to any live animal before it’s sold,” Larsen says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;feeding&lt;/strong&gt; test method evaluates the digestibility and absorption of nutrients in live animals. “I strongly prefer foods that have been through AAFCO feeding tests,” Larsen says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although adult cat foods may contain a wide range of ingredients, Larsen says your focus should be on nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mindy Bough, CVT, senior director of client services for the Midwest Office of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), agrees. “The presence of one or two ingredients may make the food appear healthy, but it’s the balance of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals that make a healthy cat food,&amp;quot; Bough says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When evaluating percentages of nutrients, keep in mind that these are measured on a “dry matter basis.” For this reason, a dry cat food may appear to have more protein than a wet food, for instance, but only because it contains less water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/diet-nutrition-feline&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for more information on a nutritionally balanced diet adequate for your cat and common mistakes (e.g. remember to make sure your cat always has water available!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;should we cook the meat first?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, if you are going to feed your cat meats, you should cook them first. No matter what you feed your cats though, the most important thing is that they get a &lt;strong&gt;balanced&lt;/strong&gt; diet sufficient to their lifestyle (particularly the amount of exercise they get) and health profile (which your vet can diagnose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/06/06/raw-food-diet-of-pets.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;When Raw Food is NOT the Right Food for Your Pet&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;an unbalanced raw diet of high quality fresh meat is in my professional opinion a greater risk to your dog or cat than cheap processed pet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do want to prepare food for your cat, I strongly recommend you at the very least read &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Waltham's&lt;/a&gt; pocketbook guide for &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waltham.com/dyn/_assets/_pdfs/waltham-booklets/Essentialcatanddognutritionbookletelectronicversion.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Essential Nutrition For Cats And Dogs&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;quot; For a comprehensive overview of the vitamin and minerals needed, see The National Research Council's &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10668/nutrient-requirements-of-dogs-and-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;quot; It is an expensive book, but an overview of the nutritional requirements is available by consulting the charts starting on page 13 of the AAFCO's article, &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the dangers and inherently unsafe practice of feeding your cat raw food, it is a very good idea to know what to look out for if you decide to make a habit of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_salmonellosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cats can get salmonellosis&lt;/a&gt; from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/features/vitalsigns/foodsafety/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; present in raw meats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with causing gastroenteritis and septicemia in cats, salmonellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease, meaning it can be transmitted to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The severity of the disease will often determine the signs and symptoms that are overtly present in the cats. Symptoms commonly seen in cats with salmonellosis include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fever, shock, lethargy, diarrhea, vomiting, anorexia, weight loss, dehydration, skin disease, mucus in stool, abnormally fast heart rate, swollen lymph nodes, abnormal vaginal discharge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chronic forms of salmonellosis may exhibit some of these same symptoms; however, they will be more severe. These include symptoms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fever, weight loss, loss of blood, non-intestinal infections, diarrhea that comes and goes with no logical explanation, which may last up to three or four weeks, or longer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/FoodSafety/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Center for Disease Control&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; infection has not declined in 15 years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reducing &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; infection is difficult because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is found in many different types of foods: meats, eggs, fruits,&#xA;vegetables, and even processed foods such as peanut butter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contamination can occur anywhere: from fields where food is grown to&#xA;cutting boards in kitchens.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What we eat and how we eat have changed: foods coming from one&#xA;central location are widely distributed, meaning that sickness can&#xA;spread quickly; we eat more meals outside the home; and more foods&#xA;and ingredients come from all over the world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some policies and procedures that can make a difference in reducing&#xA;contamination take years to put into place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Yui4b.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Yui4b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*These contaminated ingredients or single foods (belonging to one food category) were associated with 1/3 of the &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; outbreaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;†Other includes: Sprouts, leafy greens, roots, fish, grains-beans, shellfish, oil-sugar, and dairy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it is generally seen only in kittens, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_e_coli_infection&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats can also get &lt;em&gt;Colibacillosis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;em&gt;Escherichia coli&lt;/em&gt; (commonly known as &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt;) in raw meats. Like &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; is also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/ecoli.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;zoonotic and can be passed from animals to humans.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/qa_ecoli_sickness.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;From the Center for Disease Control on &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; O157:H7 spread?&#xA;Outbreaks often are caused by food that has gotten the bacteria, &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt;, in it. Bacteria can get accidentally mixed into ground beef before packaging. &lt;strong&gt;Eating undercooked meat can spread the bacteria, even though the meat looks and smells normal.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; can also live on cows’ udders. It may get into milk that is not pasteurized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T07:03:07.897" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16753" CreationDate="2017-04-01T12:00:10.690" Score="8" ViewCount="6301" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is well known that cats like to hunt and eat wildlife like birds and mice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can have a significant &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;impact on wildlife&lt;/a&gt;, but I want to know what the impact to the cat is from consuming the wildlife. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the risks to my cat from eating wildlife?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2021-01-05T21:27:21.297" Title="What are the risks to my cat from eating wildlife?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-01T12:54:11.210" Score="4" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;We rescued an abandoned male kitten about a year ago. He was just a month old then. The last year has been very good for us with him and he is happy too. It's just that he is very bitey-bitey with us, especially me. He has super sharp canines and he usually starts biting when our fingers go near him. He grabs the arm and starts biting. It's not deep bites but more playful bites. He usually holds them within the canines, bites softly and then let's go. Rinse repeat. He also has a fetish for toes. We cannot seem to sleep without our feet uncovered. He starts biting the toes and other fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that he doesn't like being petted. He loves it when we scratch under this lower jaw. He loves being petted to a certain extent and usually shows signs when he is done being petted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm told that cats usually bite to show affection but this guy's bites hurt and my mom has stopped visiting us because he does this with her too. Can anyone recommend any solution? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T09:41:52.467" Title="My cat bites a lot" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-01T17:43:04.773" Score="1" ViewCount="1564" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two kittens. One we know will be long haired for sure. The other one I am not sure and it is a question if she will be short or medium haired. Can anyone tell from these two pics if short or medium? We know not long.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LSLkr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ezOfb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JM4od.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9208" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-04-05T15:20:27.690" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T18:25:05.610" Title="I have two kittens and need an answer on determining hair length" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2017-04-01T18:55:37.793" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several risks from just the consuming of wildlife, including choking and infectious disease. In addition to the consumption of wildlife, the dangers presented to your cat and your family from the cat's hunting include all the diseases which rodents, birds and reptiles in the wild might pass to your cat which your cat can suffer from, and, some which your cat can then pass on to your family.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanillnesses.com/Infectious-Diseases-Co-Ha/Hantavirus-Pulmonary-Syndrome.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hantavirus&lt;/a&gt;: cats can spread it to your family from hunting and eating rodents: cats and dogs can spread hantavirus to humans if they bring an infected rodent into a home or other buildings where people live or work;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_leptospirosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leptospirosis&lt;/a&gt;: cats typically come into contact with the leptospira bacteria in infected soil or mud, from drinking or being in contaminated water, or from coming into contact with urine from an infected animal;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/rat-related-diseases-in-dogs-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rat-bite fever&lt;/a&gt;: if your dog or cat gets scratched or bitten by a self-defensive rat, he's at risk of getting bubonic plague, tularemia and although rare, the monkeypox virus that's similar to smallpox. But the rat doesn't have to have a specific infection to spread a disease through a bite; the rat's normal flora in their mouths and noses can carry a bacteria that causes a disease known as rat bite fever in dogs and cats. Fortunately this disease is rare in the United States;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/article/cats/diseases-conditions-of-cats/emergency-trauma-urgent-care/choking-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Choking hazards&lt;/a&gt; from tiny bones, broken bones or from gulping down large portions of flesh;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_vitamin_b1_thiamine_deficiency&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Thiamine deficiency&lt;/a&gt; from eating raw fish: destruction of B1 by thiaminase present in some bacteria and in certain types of raw fish (cod, catfish, carp, herring, etc). In general &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-foods-your-cat-should-never-eat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;raw meats are a bad idea for your cat&lt;/a&gt;: raw meat and raw fish, like raw eggs, can contain bacteria that cause food poisoning. In addition, an enzyme in raw fish destroys thiamine, which is an essential B vitamin for your cat. A lack of thiamine can cause serious neurological problems and lead to convulsions and coma;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/ecoli.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: animals can carry &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; O157 and shed the germs in their stool but still appear healthy and clean. The germs can quickly contaminate the animals’ skin, fur, feathers, and the areas where they live and roam. Animals can appear healthy and clean but can spread &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt; O157 to humans or other animals;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/salmonella.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: animals known to commonly spread &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; to humans include ... Rodents (mice, rats, hamsters, and guinea pigs). Like &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12958&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;zoonotic&lt;/a&gt; and if it can be passed to humans, it can be passed to your cat. Other animals include bird, reptiles, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_multi_10facts_about_fleas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fleas&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/care/ticks-and-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ticks&lt;/a&gt; and all the diseases (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_cestodiasis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tapeworm&lt;/a&gt; with fleas, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;amp;rls=en&amp;amp;q=lyme%20disease%20wiki&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lyme disease&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytauxzoonosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cytauxzoonosis&lt;/a&gt; with ticks and anemia with both) which parasites carry with them. Pets with fleas may develop anemia, tapeworms or intense bouts of itching (pruritus);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/facts/rabies.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabies&lt;/a&gt; if an infected animal bites your cat;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Secondary poisoning from rodent poisons;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/delta-county-cat-contracts-8232bubonic-plague&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bubonic plague&lt;/a&gt;: yes, this sounds outrageous, but as recently as the Spring of  2016, a feral cat that tested positive for bubonic plague. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/cat-contracts-plague-in-jefferson-county&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;20 humans have contracted plague in CO in 11 years&lt;/a&gt; and later that same year in the Fall there was another: a common house cat is suffering from a disease that has wiped out millions throughout history -- the bubonic plague. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2731799/posts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In 2011&lt;/a&gt;, a pet cat and a dead squirrel tested positive for the bubonic plague.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1420/9069&quot;&gt;See this answer&lt;/a&gt; to the question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1417/9069&quot;&gt;How can cat owners protect cats from secondary poisoning from rodenticides?&lt;/a&gt; for some of the dangers inherent to an outdoor cat's lifestyle. The answer references the article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/indoor-cats-vs-outdoor-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Indoor Cats vs. Outdoor Cats&lt;/a&gt; by the American Humane Society which covers health, safety and environmental concerns as well as how to keep indoor cats happy. They make the point that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cat’s prey drive is so strong that even well-fed cats may naturally enjoy hunting birds or other small animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...so as a responsible cat owner, it is part of your life that you get to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Provide your indoor cat with a variety of different interactive toys to keep them physically and mentally stimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and this can help to satisfy their hunter instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a cat whose job is to hunt rodents, consider the dangers, take precautions with your family as the cat will likely become inoculated and a carrier of zoonotic diseases, and, know the warning signs to look out for in case you cat does become infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/is-it-safe-to-let-your-cat-get-rid-of-mice/1482&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is it safe to let your cat get rid of mice? The benefits and risks of allowing your cat to hunt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/warning-signs-of-a-sick-cat/27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Warning signs of a sick cat: issues that could mean your cat is sick.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T07:11:22.743" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T07:11:22.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16752" CreationDate="2017-04-02T00:04:26.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From these pics I'd say short hair!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T18:25:05.610" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T18:25:05.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16756" CreationDate="2017-04-02T03:23:38.203" Score="2" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much what the title says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that decreasing daylight encourages winter coat growth. Others say that rugging will prevent winter coat growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does rugging horses interfere with the grow of the winter coat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T03:53:11.000" Title="Does rugging horses interfere with the grow of the winter coat?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16755" CreationDate="2017-04-02T04:02:47.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In two studies it proves that winter/summer hair growth can be controlled and stimulated by photo period - or daylight length, by using artificial light sources. This is independent of rugging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4739146/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Promoting effects of an extended photoperiod treatment on the condition of hair coats and gonadal function in Thoroughbred weanlings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The colts and fillies in the EP treatment group changed from winter to&#xA;  summer coats (molting of winter coats), whereas those in the control&#xA;  group did not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animalscience.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2012/04/equine-controlling-hair-length3.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CONTROLLING HAIR LENGTH IN HORSES&#xA;USING EXTENDED DAY LENGTH REGIMES&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of an extended lighting program is an important management&#xA;  tool for horsemen who need to get horses to slip winter hair or keep&#xA;  hair short throughout the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference a rug will make is it will flatten the hair, so it doesn't look as woolly. This can also inhibit the horse's ability to stay warm, as it is the extended hair that creates a barrier between the cold air and the horses skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.../ &lt;a href=&quot;http://summit-equine.com/how-do-horses-thermoregulate-when-it-is-cold-part-i/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;horses can make their hair stand-up&lt;/a&gt;, which is called piloerection (think of goose bumps), which acts to increase their hair depth and traps air next to their bodies creating an insulating layer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Do-I-need-to-rug-my-horse_465.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article from the RSPCA&lt;/a&gt;, discusses rugging horses in winter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about rugs in winter?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In cold wet weather a good quality and well fitting rug can help the&#xA;  horse to maintain condition, as a cold wet horse will burn a lot of&#xA;  energy keeping warm. Keep in mind though that if your horse is young&#xA;  and healthy but tends to get fat, rugs will actually help him or her&#xA;  to maintain that fat. In a natural situation excess body fat is burned&#xA;  off through the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The coat of an unrugged horse stands up in cold weather to trap air&#xA;  and warm the horse. If you decide to rug you have to compensate for&#xA;  this mechanism as a rug will stop the hair from being able to do its&#xA;  job. In some circumstances a rugged horse is actually colder than an&#xA;  unrugged horse if it is a badly fitting thin rug that flattens the&#xA;  hair and reduces the movement of the horse without providing any real&#xA;  warmth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rugs need to be checked regularly (at least twice a day) to make sure&#xA;  that the straps have not broken and the rug slipped, which can cause&#xA;  injury to your horse. Hoods can be very dangerous for horses and&#xA;  should only be used if the horse is being checked very frequently&#xA;  (much more than twice a day) because if a hood slips it can cover the&#xA;  eyes and rub the eyeball (which can cause an ulcer on the eye – a very&#xA;  serious condition for a horse requiring immediate veterinary&#xA;  attention). Horses with slipped hoods (due to not being able to see)&#xA;  have been known to fall into dams (and drown), injure their eyes on&#xA;  branches or other protrusions etc. or panic and run through fences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A rug should be removed regularly to make sure it is not rubbing,&#xA;  letting in water etc. and to make sure the horse hasn’t lost weight or&#xA;  gained too much weight. Rugs prevent horses from exfoliating their&#xA;  skin properly (by rolling and mutual grooming etc.) so a rugged horse must be groomed thoroughly and frequently to get rid of the build up of dead skin and hair (see the article Why do I need to groom my horse?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's many other factors to consider when deciding whether to rug a horse, including living conditions, diet and grooming which is outside the scope of this question. This is purely about whether rugging prevents winter coat growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T04:02:47.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-02T04:11:05.030" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a controversial question, as I am told horses are designed to thermoregulate in the wild (which does make sense). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However my horse is getting old (20) shivering and she's hard to keep weight on and I'm concerned she needs a rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a photo of her for interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DNLqx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DNLqx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T04:43:01.850" Title="Does my horse need to be rugged for winter?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16757" CreationDate="2017-04-02T04:37:21.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wild horses do a number of things to combat the cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will find shelter - horses will naturally seek out sheltered areas in which to graze or stand out of the rain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is possible when horses have unlimited acres to wander and gallop across. Many domesticated horses are confined to smaller paddocks which don't have the same aspects of shelter that are provided in nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They move - exercise keeps them warmer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is possible when a horse is well fed and has plenty of space to wander. As for point 1, many horses are confined to small spaces. Increase in feed and access to adlib pasture or hay can help keep a horses energy levels up required to combat the cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They shiver - the muscle contraction burns energy to keep them warm, much like exercising&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works well for a 'good doer' or horses that have put on weight over the spring and summer. For horses that are battling, often these will be older horses, the weight loss incurred from shivering can leave a horse too thin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.arioneo.com/en/horse-thermoregulation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HOW DOES THE HORSE PROTECT HIMSELF FROM THE COLD?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shivers are a reflex mechanism of muscle contraction that produce heat from the degradation of sugars and fatty acids (multiplication of the metabolism by 4 or 5). This moderate mechanism can be maintained for a long time, unlike intense (rather anaerobic) muscular exercise which also allows a rapid rise in body temperature, but produces lactic acid responsible for muscle fatigue is highly energy consuming (multiplication of the metabolism by 25).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the RSPCA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Do-I-need-to-rug-my-horse_465.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In cold wet weather a good quality&lt;/a&gt; and well fitting rug can help the horse to maintain condition, as a cold wet horse will burn a lot of energy keeping warm. Keep in mind though that if your horse is young and healthy but tends to get fat, rugs will actually help him or her to maintain that fat. In a natural situation excess body fat is burned off through the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their fur stands up on end - Piloerection - much like our goose bumps, the horses' fur will stand up to create a barrier between the outer cold air and the horse's skin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works when a horse is unrugged - a rug will smooth down the horses hair, making it unable to do this. This can result in a horse being colder without a rug, if the rug is not well fitted, or not water proof (in the wet) to name two possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://equusmagazine.com/management/horses-warm-10112&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A lightweight blanket will&lt;/a&gt; simply press the hair down and eliminate the coat's ability to hold and heat air, without adding any warmth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/Do-I-need-to-rug-my-horse_465.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;From the RSPCA&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The coat of an unrugged horse stands up in cold weather to trap air and warm the horse. If you decide to rug you have to compensate for this mechanism as a rug will stop the hair from being able to do its job. In some circumstances a rugged horse is actually colder than an unrugged horse if it is a badly fitting thin rug that flattens the hair and reduces the movement of the horse without providing any real warmth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will also work if the horse is not wet. If a horse is not groomed, natural oils will build up in the horses coat, making the outer coat water resistant. &#xA;Shampooing and brushing washes and brushes out the natural oil and mud that a horse uses to help maintain a barrier against the elements. A horse with a wet coat to the skin can become cold in the colder seasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.../ &lt;a href=&quot;http://summit-equine.com/how-do-horses-thermoregulate-when-it-is-cold-part-i/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;horses can make their hair stand-up&lt;/a&gt;, which is called piloerection (think of goose bumps), which acts to increase their hair depth and traps air next to their bodies creating an insulating layer&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  .../...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They then rely on the oils in their coat to prevent their skin from getting wet, which is why you should not bathe a horse that lives out in the winter or use a body brush which drags the oils through the coat, as they need the oils to stay near their skin to act as a protective barrier&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can stand together in a herd - the collective bodies of a herd will help keep individual horses warm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses are often kept in small numbers, preventing the benefit of larger herd numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;6&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vasoconstriction to the feet - to reduce blood flow and loss of heat and, in extremes, frost bite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.arioneo.com/en/horse-thermoregulation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The vasoconstriction is a constriction&lt;/a&gt; of the blood vessels of the limbs extremities which limit the loss of heat. The blood flows back to the central organs (the phenomenon induces white fingertips in cold temperature) and reduces the temperature of the extremities up to 1.7 ° C, avoiding tissue damage when horses have their feet in the snow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so the decision whether to rug or not will depend on where your horse is living, it's body score, age, health and many of the factors above. Overheating a horse is bot good for a horse, rugged horses need to be checked regularly, preferably twice a day, to check that they are not over heated or that the rugs are still in tact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rugged older girl, no longer shivering and in a better position to cope with the increasing cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOWES.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOWES.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-02T04:43:01.850" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T04:43:01.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16761" CreationDate="2017-04-02T08:19:00.527" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I accidentally bought some food that was intended for &quot;less active or overweight&quot; dogs and mixed it with equal amounts of normal food. The less active one said 75% rdi on the back, and from what I can gather it is just the normal one but buffed up with fiber to make each serve less calories overall. I might be wrong though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is very skinny and a very active terrier. She likes to run all over the place. Would it be ok to feed her the food for a long time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9211" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T13:09:42.280" Title="Is it ok to feed dog weight loss food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16760" CreationDate="2017-04-02T13:09:42.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much. While she's on it weigh her weekly to see if she's losing weight, if so you will have to either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) Feed her more&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) Supplement it with her regular kibble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-02T13:09:42.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16763" CreationDate="2017-04-03T02:52:37.867" Score="9" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the first time of my life I was kicked by a horse. My own horse in fact. She's not an aggressive horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was distracted and talking to people over the fence about the horses, pointing out the horses. I came up behind her and tickled the inside of her back leg and she kicked out immediately and got me on the thigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extremely painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I safeguard against being kicked by a horse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unsuspecting horse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OCy0R.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OCy0R.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T08:35:37.693" Title="How to safe guard against being kicked by a horse?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16762" CreationDate="2017-04-03T02:52:37.867" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, there is never a guarantee of 100% safety around horses. It's a matter of optimising safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses have a blind spot behind them. They cannot see anyone approaching them from directly behind. It's always best to approach a horse from the front, where they can clearly see you. It's always good to talk to them as well, so you can be better assured of gaining their attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a mare who was eating, I was standing in front of her. I reached to pat her, she nearly jumped like a cat, she was so shocked. She was so absorbed in eating, she didn't see me reach to pet her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know you have their attention when they look at you, particularly if they turn to look at you. while they are looking at you, you have at least, part of their attention. If they are looking at you with both ears forward, you have their full attention in that instance. It's always possible to be distracted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When approaching a horse and wanting to go to their rears, I've always taught my children to approach from the front and greet the horse. Have a pet and a little chat and catch up (which basically means pats and kisses).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then as I walk down the horse towards the rear, I keep my hand on the horse's body and talk to the horse as I approach her rear. This way the horse can feel my progress as I walk towards the rear and she listens to me. She knows what to expect, as the rhythm is smooth and my touch is constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I reach the back I'm careful to stand to one side of the rump and keep one hand placed on the horse. I can then use the other hand to inspect what I need to inspect at the rear of the horse. This is the assumption I'm at the back to check something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I need to lift the tail, I follow this procedure and keep my hand that I've trailed along the body on the horse and then touch the horse with my other hand and gently lift the tail. I try to warn the horse what I'm intending to do, by placing the hand on a neutral area, like the rump and then lead down to the tail. As the tail can be a fussy point for some horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I need to walk behind to horse, I keep my hand that has trailed along the length of the body on the horses rump while I walk behind the horse, close to the rump, so she can feel me moving behind her. I talk to her while I do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my way of thinking, it's about communication. I'm letting the horse know, as practically as possible what to expect from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now when I came up behind my horse, where there were two other horses near her and she was searching for some food to nibble on. That is a situation where she is focused on finding the treats she is finishing on cleaning up and ensuring the other horses do not try and push her off her feed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she feels a tickle on the inside of her back leg, she assumes it's another horse moving in on her nuzzling at her and her instinct is to kick. I couldn't have broken all my safe guards in more way possible, except perhaps to bow down and place my head in range of her striking hoof. It was a fool hardy way to approach a horse and dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards she came up to me, she didn't like kicking me. I was in agony and managed to stroke her quickly as I hobbled out of the paddock and later went to the hospital for xrays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three key issues here are communication, focus and environment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The handler needs to communicate to the horse what their intentions are (as best as possible)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The handler need to be focused on the task at hand. This way if the horse is distracted, the handler can be aware that the cues given to the horse may not be received.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is within the horse's environment at that moment? Is the environment in a state of flux with other horses moving around? Dogs? Other people? Is the environment calm and static?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easy to take these for granted as we have a familiarity with our horses or our attention is distracted from the task at hand or we rush through our activities in our busy lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rule I have managed to follow thus far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I never walk behind a horse I do not know.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Following picture gallery of unsuspecting horse:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A picture of a horse giving it's complete attention to a situation&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/psPOj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/psPOj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The correct end of a horse to approach&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ewa1F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ewa1F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do not approach from this end!&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/io9JF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/io9JF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Distracted horse - asking for lift away from owner!&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CMeDX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CMeDX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T02:52:37.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16751" CreationDate="2017-04-03T15:28:20.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me this sounds like a kitten who may have been taken from his mother/siblings too early and never quite learned play-limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start with I'd start yelping/yelling (OUCH!) and walking away whenever this happens, to teach him that it actually does hurt. This should over time help (might take days, weeks or even a couple of months). Also make sure that you try to play with him with safe toys he can chase and attack, though not after biting (wait at least 30 minutes or so), so he'll have an outlet for his instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't help, then you could try a water-sprayer bottle when he bites, though this has a chance to backfire on you and make the cat associate the unpleasant event with you and not the biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit to clarify in regards to comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should probably express pain whenever he bites, rather than only when it hurts. Also to make sure it sounds more like how cats would sound, rather than something that could be misinterpreted. Also the walking away and ignoring him part is important, as scolding isn't something that cats in general associate with something bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T08:17:04.077" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T08:17:04.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16767" CreationDate="2017-04-03T18:32:36.230" Score="9" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats, and 2 litter boxes. We do them when they seem full, but I'm wondering, should we do them more often than that? At what intervals, if I have 1 litter box per cat, should I clean their litter boxes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9215" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T00:00:57.057" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T00:00:57.057" Title="How often should a litter box be cleaned?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16766" CreationDate="2017-04-03T20:18:34.280" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rule of thumb: &lt;strong&gt;number of litter boxes = number of cats + 1&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should add 1 additional box to the 2 already present, boxes should be cleaned once to twice a day. Cats are clean and therefore like clean boxes to soil in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash entire box once a week: remove litter, wash box and refill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-24T23:59:18.197" LastActivityDate="2021-02-24T23:59:18.197" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16796" CreationDate="2017-04-03T20:23:54.937" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my dog found this little bird, which fell from mid flight or maybe it was sitting on a branch,  I don't know,  and brought it to me. My dog didn't bite it or hurt it in any other way.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's a really small bird barely even fills the palm of my hand. I saw it couldn't fly properly or even sit upright so I took it in. After checking I realized that the nail/ claw on one of its feet on the third digit is missing. There are no other visible injuries and it's wings are working just fine. So my guess is, because of the missing nail it can't hold on to anything and perhaps it's also making it lose its balance during flight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really have no idea whatsoever of what I should do in order to help it. &#xA;For now I'm just keeping it in a makeshift cage, gave it a soft place to rest and some food and water; I couldn't just leave it because there are many cats in the neighborhood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really appreciate some help and advice with what I should do with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if birds lose their nails/ claws like this do they grow it back?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've really been worried about this, so any form of your input is welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*UPDATE: it can't even fly properly, just like a few meters at Max &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P. S. : you can follow this link to look at what kind of bird it is: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ngkenya.com/fauna/lonchura_cucullata.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ngkenya.com/fauna/lonchura_cucullata.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastEditorUserId="9217" LastEditDate="2017-04-05T09:49:40.607" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T01:51:52.110" Title="Need some help with a bird injury. Urgent!" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-04-06T12:13:27.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2017-04-03T20:42:08.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say bring it to a vet that would do it pro-bono asap. It's not a pet and should probably get back into nature as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9215" LastActivityDate="2017-04-03T20:42:08.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-04T02:23:44.863" Score="5" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been acting up recently and I don't know what to do. She's constantly following me around. She'll get up from her sleep and meow and run after me after she hears me coming. And there have been a few incidents which have worried me. She'll come at legs when she rubs against them, and she'll swat at me when I'm sitting across her. I can't just casually walk by her, I always have to crouch down and draw her attention away from my legs so she doesn't attack them. I feel like she's always watching me and I don't understand why. She's been watching me, meowing at me and following me around constantly. This was not normal before. I'm getting more and more scared of her. She's been seeking more of my attention lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She sleeps on the floor instead of my bed now. &#xA;She no longer has an interest in running out the front door when someone comes in. &#xA;We brought in a carrier of another cat, could the smell of that cat be the cause for this behaviour? &#xA;We haven't been able to get her wet food in a week and she's constantly meowing for it. Could the lack of wet food be the cause? &#xA;Her behaviour has also changed quite a bit. We've had her for 3 months although she is 3 years old. Domestic short hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get this behaviour to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: Ever since getting her wet food and removing the carrier, most strange behaviours have stopped. Thank you all for the responses!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T09:57:11.473" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:13.420" Title="Cat is acting strange" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16771" CreationDate="2017-04-04T07:54:15.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your cat is just afraid of losing her home again. You have not had her for a long time. Surely she smells the other cat and may think there is a competitor. I would clean the carrier carefully and put in it something that smells of her or of you (an unwashed shirt or towel). And get her her favorite food. My cat gets also a bit aggressive if I do not give him enough attention (in his opinion not mine...) He tries to keep me with his claws and force me to pet him. As I understand, you are are not allowing the cat things any more which she was used to (e. g. sleeping in bed) so she might fear that you do not like / want her any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:06:13.420" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:13.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2017-04-04T08:10:22.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same happend with most of my cats. Usually they leave home only for a couple of hours but sometimes they are off for days without cause. After two or three days I start to search them and one I found near a little creek happily playing around and not really willing to come home. Another was at a construction place where they build a new house. She seemed to love the wet cement. After that adventure they acted as before. It is really a strange behaviour which emerges now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6644" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T08:10:22.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16777" CreationDate="2017-04-04T11:10:57.377" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was sold these plants as Hemianthus callitrichoides. But I am now not so sure they are. I would like to know if they are or not. And if they are not, what they may be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VPkB6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hemianthus Callitrichoides?&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9221" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:06:54.920" Title="Are thse Hemianthus callitrichoides aka Dwarf Baby Tears?" Tags="&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16790" CreationDate="2017-04-04T15:09:27.460" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My small, 15-pound dog recently had a coyote attack her when she escaped into the front yard. While the coyote was scared off before it did serious damage, a small bite was taken and treated by the vet.&#xA;However, before she was fully recovered, I gave her the play dead command, where she lay down then yelped in pain as her shoulder hit the ground.&#xA;She now runs away every time I give her the play dead command.&#xA;Though it has been several weeks since the attack, she won't evade me anymore, but still ignores me when I do the play dead command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I re-train this command after her injury? (Command is finger gun and saying &quot;bang!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She knows what I want her to do, just refuses to obey. Other commands are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9223" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T11:34:04.047" Title="Post-Injury Tricks" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16774" CreationDate="2017-04-04T15:11:29.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does look like &lt;em&gt;Hemianthus&lt;/em&gt; but the plant is dying so it's hard to say, it could also be a monte carlo plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Basics-to-starting-a-Planted-Tank/4/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Substrate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Substrates such as Flourite and Eco-Complete provide a long lasting supply of Fe to the plants through the roots. While each of these products can be costly per bag to buy, it provides you the best start to growing nice plants. I personally have used both with great success. Plants &amp;quot;will&amp;quot; grow in your average aquarium gravel but the size of the gravel is very important. It needs to be a finer grain in size and it will also need to be fertilized to provide the nutrients to the plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lighting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to do this and the most common way is via &amp;quot;Compact Flourescent Lighting&amp;quot;. They are available in many sizes and can be used in combination with each other to get the amount of watts needed to grow your planted aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do they need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Micronutrients: these are available to us through our tap water and commercially sold liquid fertilizers such as Flourish, Kent, Tropica MasterGro, etc. Start off by dosing per the bottle instructions. With time and plant growth you may find the need to up your dosages slightly. Excessive dosing will promote algae growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrates supplied using potassium nitrate (KNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;). Target is 5 - 10 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phosphates supplied using monopotassium sulfate or Fleet Enema. Target is 0.5 - 1 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potassium supplied using potassium sulfate (K&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;SO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) or potassium chloride (salt substitute like No-Salt). Target is 20 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The addition of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is very important to achieve lush growth of your plants, especially when your tank lighting is anywhere above 2 &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; WPG. In low light tanks where the demand is small for your plants CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; addition is generally not needed, but as you increase the strength of your lights, you are in turn increasing the demand for more carbon to get the most out of your plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:06:54.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16840" CreationDate="2017-04-04T18:18:33.397" Score="4" ViewCount="917" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently just established that my saltwater aquarium has cycled through ammonia and nitrites, and nitrates are ~10-20 ppm. I have been and am still ghost feeding the tank, since I purchased dry rock as I didn't want any unnecessary hitch hikers introduced to my tank right off the bat. I have talked to the LFS &lt;em&gt;experts&lt;/em&gt; and they would like me to get my cleanup crew, but, alas, there doesn't seem to be any visible evidence of anything to clean up! I've cured the rock and cycled the tank with minuscule or no light. The tank has been cycling in a window-less basement room, so there is absolutely no shred of natural light either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How would the clean up crew benefit me at this point, other than adding more ammonia than my ghost feeding?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, I realize that &lt;em&gt;eventually&lt;/em&gt; I will need to add crabs and snails, but I'm thinking I should do that after I have fish in there and actually start seeing some algae to clean up, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T00:20:09.583" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T00:20:09.583" Title="Is a clean up crew necessary if there is no evident algae?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18500" CreationDate="2017-04-04T19:25:11.567" Score="4" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female american bull dog who is just over 2 years old and is very calm and trained. However she has the tendency when off the leash to want to walk on the road. How can I successfully train her to know the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9225" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-04T21:47:18.450" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:08:17.717" Title="How to stop my dog walking on the road?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-04T20:04:35.333" Score="5" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat is 3 years old and her previous owners had her since she was a kitten. They started bringing her outside at age 2, and she becomes aggressive when kept indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I ensure that my cat is happy indoors? Will her aggressiveness increase the longer I keep her in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditorDisplayName="user8659" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T22:22:32.567" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T22:30:44.747" Title="Is keeping a cat indoors cruel?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16780" CreationDate="2017-04-04T22:50:16.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not cruel. It might help with the transition to bring the outside into your home for her, though. Your cat's aggressiveness &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; subside with the effort you make to acclimate her to her new home and conditions. Likely, your vet will also have some suggestions,  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any chance you have a screened in porch available? Maybe a perch near a window? It may or may not be helpful for her to see the outside world, but I'd imagine it would help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, spend quality time with your cat every day. Play with them and try and keep a regular schedule about it. Keep a variety of toys so each day there's something new! At a minimum, 15 minutes per day while you acclimate them to their new indoor lifestyle. Possibly twice a day or longer intervals for an adjustment period. In addition to play time you can also train cats - for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/03/07/walking-your-pet-cat.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;to walk on a leash&lt;/a&gt;. That way, you can go outside together!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a cat tree or some kind of perch is a great idea if you have the space. Your indoor cat will need a place that is their territory (be that under a bed, behind a couch, or whatever works, but a cat tree with a perch works really well in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat scratching posts are also essential to keep your cat's claws from decimating your furniture. (The spray bottle makes a great deterrent if you catch them in the act).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider planting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/news/magazines/2012/01-02/how_does_your_cat_grass_grow.html?credit=web_id101933938&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat grass&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-04-05T01:06:50.147" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T01:06:50.147" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-04T22:59:05.623" Score="4" ViewCount="16362" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new cat from the Humane Society that was once a street cat. It's about a year old and it won't stop meowing whenever it knows there's a human around. I've had it about a week and have kept it in my room, as per the humane societies recommendation. When I'm in another part of my apartment and I am quiet, it will eventually stop meowing. When it's on my lap or sleeping it sometimes stops meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, if it knows someone can give it attention, it will scream and scream. I let it out of my room once and it ran to the center of each other room, one after the other, screaming loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I purchased Feliway about 4 days ago to help with the transition but so far no luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to keep from driving myself and my neighbours insane?&#xA;Will the cat always be this noisy and needy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9227" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:27:05.360" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:27:05.360" Title="New cat won't stop meowing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16783" CreationDate="2017-04-04T23:18:37.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do want to point out though that it may suffer from separation anxiety from the excessive meowing and attention seeking. If you do have suspicions of this, I suggest you consult a vet, although that is taking it to the worst case scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for putting an end to excessive meowing, try your best to not give in when she seeks your attention in the wrong way. Only give her attention when she's calm and quiet, reward with lots of treats and cuddles!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behaviour will probably subside as you get to know your furry fried, after all its only been a week! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastActivityDate="2017-04-04T23:18:37.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16779" CreationDate="2017-04-05T02:44:50.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep her on leash and walk the perimeter so she knows her area. Consider a retractable leash and use it to train her on &quot;stay&quot; such that the leash is slack and she can walk to the perimeter and be governed if she attempts to go over. Consider a harness rather than a neck collar leash if she is a strong bolter. Take it slow. Be consistent with your training. Start out very restrictive. Until she is responsive to your voice command, don't let he off leash outdoors. Reward her with affectionate petting and rubbing and treats (in moderation) when she follows commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T02:44:50.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16783" CreationDate="2017-04-05T03:39:54.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is scared, and does not feel that it has anywhere safe to run to. My (street) cat did exactly this when I first invited him into our home and then shut the back door. It immediately ran into the centre of the living room (the largest room in the house), looking for safety. Only when I opened the back door so that it could escape if it wanted to, did it calm down. He still preferred to live outside for some time, but eventually he decided that it was OK to stay and didn't mind the back door being closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't allow your cat to go outside, then get him a hidey-hole. This could be a ready-made cat house, or something as simple as a large cardboard box with a hole cut in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that you could do is to establish set feeding times for your cat. However, if you do and the cat accepts it, it will hold you to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T03:39:54.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16783" CreationDate="2017-04-05T03:40:40.330" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is early days, and the cat is not used to having a home and human security. Many street cats will hiss at humans, but luckily your cat is wanting affection, which ultimately will make a more loving pet, one that you are able to be close to and not need to coax out of hiding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you see the cat or she meows for you, go to her and pick her up or pat her. Talk to her and praise her. They don't understand words, but they can pick up feelings from people and tone of voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pet is a time commitment and for any pet, the first weeks and months are the settling in time where you're both getting to know each other. Patience is a key here for every owner. We need to lead for the pet and understand that they are in an unfamiliar circumstance and need reassurance, whatever behaviours they are showing. In this case it is straight forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is clingy, and she will settle over time, but sounds like she will be the sort of cat that will always want to be around you. That can be annoying at times when my cat wants to climb on my keyboard, between me and my screen, as he sees where my attention is focused and wants to insert himself into that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of pats when she's not meowing (if possible) and another trick is to pick her up, give her a cuddle and a smooch and then put her down and ask her to follow you. Get her used to not being abandoned and you can train her to follow you without panic, as when you put her down, she still has your attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take some consistent effort. If you put a lot of time into this for the next few days, you'll notice she will start to settle. If you are pushing her away or agitated with her, she will feel insecure. She is terrified, as she does not understand what this home is and how long it will last. She's gone from the street, to a shelter and now your home. Imagine how lost such a small creature would feel and remember to just simply reassure her with a kind attitude. I have found kindness goes a long way when dealing with pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know how this goes and if you need more assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T03:40:40.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16783" CreationDate="2017-04-05T08:07:22.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the suggestions and input given here is  sound advice. The current situation with your new kitty will resolve with as already mentioned, patience and of your course your loving attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, she is going to need a perch of some kind, i.e., cat tree or equivalent that is &lt;em&gt;her territory&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I let it out of my room once and it ran to center of each other room , one after the other, screaming loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, this is an obvious cry for attention and her expression of distress. As others have said, this is a new situation for you both and given her history, she is displaying her insecurity in her new surroundings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give her love, attention,  a cat tree (or these great perches) and this will soon be resolved.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YeYZE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YeYZE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;perch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T19:33:30.277" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T19:33:30.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16776" CreationDate="2017-04-05T11:34:04.047" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take it slow and start from square one to regain her trust and confidence. Get her to associate finger and &quot;bang&quot; with good feelings by playing with her affectionately (petting, calm approval voice, gentle and slow) and presenting that stimulus until it is no longer associated with the physical pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T11:34:04.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16793" CreationDate="2017-04-05T15:11:30.490" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;My lease is up this summer and I'm planning on moving apartments. The problem is that I also have a 3-day trip scheduled to start the day my lease ends (cannot be changed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat will be a little over a year old at that point and has always lived indoors at my current apartment. When I go on trips, I usually have a cat-sitter come to the apartment. I've only boarded her once, just for the day, and she took a few hours to return to normal after coming home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned about her reaction to moving to a strange new place, especially if I were to leave immediately after. What is the least bad option for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Move a week or so early, leave her there and go on trip (avoids boarding, but is that enough time for her to get used to it?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Board her, move, go on the trip, and bring her back to the new apartment afterwards (or would that be doubly traumatic?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T06:45:25.753" Title="Moving my cat and going on vacation around the same time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-05T20:53:33.477" Score="3" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit had dental work yesterday (teeth ground). He is eating greens and a few pellets, but isn't interested in hay. He never loved it, but he did eat some. I know it's important, but is it OK for him to eat grass instead (for short term and long term)? Any advice is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9233" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T06:10:44.053" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T06:10:44.053" Title="Is grass OK instead of hay?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16791" CreationDate="2017-04-05T21:04:30.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would move a week early. Going to a new place is traumatic for most cats, they need time to adjust and scent mark. As you said, boarding then new apartment would be doubly traumatic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is not enough time to get used to her to get used to the apartment, why would it be any better with boarding? In a boarding situation, there will be all sorts of other cats and stimuli to stress her out. In your new home, she can feel relatively safe hiding under &lt;strong&gt;her&lt;/strong&gt; bed :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if she has been boarded there before, it is unlikely that she will occupy the same domicile with her own scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9232" LastActivityDate="2017-04-05T21:04:30.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16792" CreationDate="2017-04-06T00:27:52.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes your bunny can eat grass, it is always good to have a variety of hays as they all contain different levels of nutrients depending on the soil they grow in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few ways to entice your bunny to eat more hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Limit the amount of pellets and fresh they get a day. 1/4 cup of pellets per 6lbs and 2 cups of veggies per 6lbs of ideal body weight.  You may have to adjust the fresh veggies accordingly as sometimes it can give rabbits diarrhea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Have hay available at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Try different brands/types of hay as some will be tastier than others. Avoid Alfalfa hay in older buns as it has a lot more protein/calcium than what they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Mix the hays with foods your rabbit likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few popular hays are timothy, orchard grass, oat and Meadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T00:27:52.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16791" CreationDate="2017-04-06T01:48:03.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the cat whisperer. Take it there at least a week early. If you can't, then bring it for short sessions to get used to the house daily, and confirm with the current resident. If you can't cancel the trip, get a family member or someone the cat knows well and is used to to replace you and introduce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9235" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T06:09:26.210" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T06:09:26.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2017-04-06T01:51:52.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have enough money to spend, try caring for it and get some medicine, but be careful. Ask advice from other bird owners or vets and see if they can help or prescribe something. Try your own dong vet, they should be nicer. Make sure the bird is safe, warm comfy and has food and water. The only thing now is to see whats wrong with it. Take it to a shelter maybe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9235" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T01:51:52.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16791" CreationDate="2017-04-06T06:45:25.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did the exact same thing once, I moved out to a new apartment with my cat and there was an emergency at the day I was moving so I had to leave for a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was; I confined her to a smaller room full of her favourite things &amp;amp; furnitures. This included my bed (she always sleeps with me), her toy collection, her favourite blanket which she sometimes kneads and cleans, a couple of my clothing, food, water and of course a closed litter box. Since she was surrounded with familiar things &amp;amp; scents she had an easier time to adjust (which I have heard from my friends who kept an eye on her basic needs a couple minutes each day). And when I returned she was pretty much normal but I had to go through the skittish behaviour when I introduced her to the rest of the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can bring her a week early; by all means do it. Your cat will probably adjust in that time frame. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6180" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T06:45:25.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16802" CreationDate="2017-04-06T10:22:25.103" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I met in my house what I believe is a baby tokay. It's about the size of a small common house gecko, but it is black with faint white dots and less shy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's currently under my sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it need anything? Should I provide a tiny bowl of water? Sausage? Chicken egg? I don't have any worms, crickets, flies or the like. (There are probably a few ants under the sofa.) Should I better chase it outside (I'm in Thailand, so it's warm) or leave it there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't plan on keeping it as a pet, but I don't mind it staying with me for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9239" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T17:41:45.647" Title="Simple care for baby tokay" Tags="&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16800" CreationDate="2017-04-06T12:39:15.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He will be okay regardless what you do, these guys are nocturnal so he'll probably try to find his way out at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are good at fitting into small spaces so I'm sure he will find something to snack on inside, these guys can also last quite some time without food or water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T12:39:15.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16810" CreationDate="2017-04-06T16:34:43.600" Score="2" ViewCount="7860" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted Penny about 4-5 months ago (she's a little over a year now) from a local shelter. In the beginning she was a little nervous, which I'm guessing had to do with new surroundings.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first week was alright. She was OK being around me when we were alone, then outta nowhere she started developing a strong sense of fear towards me. Whenever we were alone, she'd hide from me and cower. If I got anywhere near her, whether it was intentional or not, she'd start shaking real hard and whine. This developed into her urinating and pooping out of fear.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As time progressed she started getting worse. She would start doing this weird scream (she's part Husky) at me, if I got too close. At times I would see her staring at me, and if I moved, she would lift her leg; as if threatening she'll pee if I come any closer. When she pees out of fear, she'll lay down, and lift her leg before releasing her bladder. She has thrown &quot;tantrums&quot; when I try to put her in her kennel when I have to go to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few times she has attacked me, actually biting me. I don't provoke her, and I've never been abusive. Rarely have I ever raised my voice, so I'm not quite sure where this is all coming from. Any time I take her out for walks, she starts yanking on the leash hard; and has managed to break loose a couple of times. Once I took her out to go potty, and she went berserk, she started doing her Husky yell and was jumping around wildly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when we're around other people, she shows me affection, and actually listens to me. It's like there's no fear in her eyes, and her body language is relaxed and playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken her to the vet, and followed all of his instructions; yet nothing is working. I'm even taking her to obedience classes, which aren't working either. I've left her alone with other people, men, and women, and she doesn't act scared or throw tantrums with them. I don't know what it is about me that causes her to act that way when we're alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9242" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T17:06:54.057" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T19:15:10.687" Title="Why is my dog afraid of me when we are alone, but affectionate most of the time when others are around?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16804" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-04-06T17:12:51.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For use with issues to do with pet urination. Whether there may be a health or behavioural problem with urination.  Can be used in conjunction with the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/toilet-training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;toilet-training&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;toilet-training&lt;/a&gt; if urination is a specific issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many pets can develop inconvenient urination problems. Whether it's urinating in the house after being toilet trained, or urinating in cars or other places we'd rather they didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some animals will urinate during specific situations, stress or anxiety perhaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried that your pet's urination is not normal, or wish to understand the usual urination habits for your species and gender of pet. Perhaps there's health concerns about urination frequency, odour and habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T17:12:51.563" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T17:12:51.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16805" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-04-06T17:12:51.563" Score="0" Body="For use with issues to do with pet urination. Whether there may be a health or behavioural problem with urination. Can be used in conjunction with the the [toilet-training] tag if urination is a specific issue. For health concerns about urination frequency, odour and habits.  &#xD;&#xA;If it's for general toilet training issues,and urination is not a specific issue, [urination] should not be used." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2020-04-12T06:45:29.017" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T06:45:29.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16800" CreationDate="2017-04-06T17:21:21.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to the other answer; also note worthy, they can give a nasty bite to humans, so don't poke your hand under the sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These animals have an unpleasant disposition and can inflict severe bites when handled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Gekko_gecko/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Gekko_gecko/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you mentioned in the comments it's only 4cm long, it's only young. I would be checking if it is still there after a day and if it is, get someone to help you lift the couch during the daylight (when it's not active) and pop a container over the gecko. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;slide a stiff piece of paper under the container and take it out to the garden. Such a young lizard may have trouble navigating back to the outdoors and if so, may need your assistance. There would be a small risk it could dehydrate if it doesn't move from under the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-06T17:41:45.647" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T17:41:45.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16780" CreationDate="2017-04-06T17:39:03.937" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping a cat indoors is not cruel. It actually increases the cat's life expectancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He [an outdoor cat] has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.melbourneanimalrescue.org.au/index.php/adoption/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-indoor-cat-vs-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;significantly reduced life expectancy&lt;/a&gt;. Cats allowed outdoors have an average life expectancy of 5 years! (Indoor cats can live for 15-20 years) This is due to the higher risk of injury, death, illness, fights, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have been introduced as pets all over the world. They are not always fit to fight off predators and, as with most animals, have difficulty navigating with human life for example traffic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many places like Australia, cats devastate the native wild life. They're actually laws in most states preventing cats from being allowed to wonder outside at night. Some people resent cats so much they will actively attempt to trap and kill them. I've had this happen to my cats when I lived in the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from injuries from accidents, there's less parasite issues, skin cancer from being exposed to the elements and from my experience, indoor cats tend to become more part of the household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, they do love to jump and need to scratch, so be prepared to make sacrifices to some furniture, even if you do provide scratching posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it takes time and patience to train them not to jump on kitchen benches and it's something that is hard to entirely break them from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a cat's perspective, jumping onto higher surfaces is natural. We have one cat that always jumps to the highest point of every room we have. We have baskets to store things and he likes to jump into these baskets.  Or as mentioned you can buy custom cat homes that will incorporate perches and carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case we live in an apartment and they can access the outdoors via our balconies. It's preferable they can see outside and it is better for them to be able to access the outdoors in some way, for sheer variety of experience. However it's not vital to their well being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People often view cats as independent creatures, but they're not. They're completely dependent on their owners to care for them and to protect them. An indoor life is the best life a cat can have. If they are well fed, have their litter regularly changed and are given attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's plenty of cat toys and you can use a simple string to play with cats and keep them entertained. Recently one of our cats has taken to our hair bands and will play with them. He stretches them and they then fling across the room, and he chases them. It's quite entertaining to watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for aggression, the cat is less likely to be aggressive if kept indoors, as there's less threats to her territory inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some interesting sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilespca.org/Portals/0/downloads/documents/Your%20Cat%E2%80%94Indoors%20or%20Out.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Your Cat—Indoors or Out - Mobile SPCA&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/common-cat-behavior-issues/aggression-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aggression in Cats - ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T22:30:44.747" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T22:30:44.747" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16771" CreationDate="2017-04-06T18:01:10.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mention that she hasn't had wet food, so there's been a change in her diet. It's possible she is slightly constipated, which would match with her sleeping on the floor rather than on the bed, as it may be more comfortable for her while she's experiencing this pain/discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if she is feeling out of sorts with the change in diet, that could be making her unhappy and cranky and difficult to deal with generally. Cats have their moods as we do and they are influenced by their environment and their bodies homoeostasis. Any change in routine, especially diet will have an affect on their mood. In some animals it may be minor, but in other instances it can be more noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we're not giving out cats something they need or want, they can respond by doing all the typical unhappy cat communications that your cat is doing. Swiping at us, stalking us and pouncing. Not being happy to see us. Her incessant nagging of you when she hears you is a sign she wants something. Whether it's her food, or relief from not feeling 100% comfortable in her digestive tract or both, she's communicating to you she's not happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the food issue, it's difficult to pet a cat that is behaving like that, as we have self preservation and do not want to be clawed. so it's a matter of small (quick) more frequent pats, to reward her when she's calm. I'm not sure what she's like when she follows you, perhaps you can try picking her up and carrying her with you to your destination and then put her down on a chair. I find that's something that works well with one of my cats and he will get into the habit of jumping onto my bed for his 'carry' as I call it. I miss it when we don't have that routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one cat that gets particularly moody and I ride out the storms with him. One thing I've found with cats, is it takes effort to give them time and affection in our busy keyboard bound lives, as their behaviour can become inconvenient when they try to get our attention by walking on keyboards. That is one example, but there's many ways our cats will try and get our attention and if they are feeling put out by us, they can sulk. It's important to make that effort to chat to and pat our pets every day. Not just in the passing of feeding routines and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it continues, I'd get her checked by a vet to ensure she's well, as there may be something going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These type of behaviour changes can be seen also with female cats coming into season, their personalities can change significantly while in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T18:01:10.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16803" CreationDate="2017-04-06T18:12:47.953" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are her main man. It might be that she trusts only you enough to let her guard down and act out. Presume, however, that she has previously been abused in private. Possibly beaten while potty trained? She might just be testing the waters in her new environment. As much as you can, a regular schedule of feeding, exercise, training, socialization and play time will help a lot to keep her temper even, but these things take time. And patience. And, at times: forgiveness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am reading a lot in to your description, but it does seem that she is expecting the other shoe to drop. Behavioral disorders will take time and patience as well as gentle loving encouragement and affection. If there's been abuse, you'll want to establish a pattern of behavior on your part so that when she trusts that you will not repeat the abuse pattern, she won't need to act out. Do not push her past her comfort zone - when she gets anxious, give her her space and time. Remain calm. Do not, however, let he acting out become a way of training you. You do need to remain boss. It might be best that you simply ignore her when you two are alone until she feels comfortable with your routine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important that she have a safe zone - be this a dog bed/pillow, a kennel/crate, or just a comfy spot with her favorite toy. Note that it is not uncommon that dogs are afraid of men - whether this is the deeper voice, hormonal scents, behavior, or what, it seems like she is afraid of being alone with a man. Have you tried socializing her with any other &lt;em&gt;gentle&lt;/em&gt;men?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does she have anything to do while she is alone? A hanging rope toy? Chew toys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that it reads like she feels safe and confident in a social atmosphere. You can build upon this. Try training her at the dog park. Simple things like leash training (wait, stay) and commands like sit, down, off, paw (to hold up her paw for shaking while she is sitting). Make sure to use your stern &quot;command&quot; voice when issuing commands. As soon as the command is obeyed, use your &quot;affectionate&quot; voice (doesn't have to be baby-talk, just distinct from the stern command voice, e.g. smile as you talk to her) to say &quot;good sit&quot; or &quot;good paw&quot; (you are also teaching her the word &quot;good&quot; as well as the command words). You can use treats as rewards, but I think you would be better off using affectionate touch and voice. Be wary not to pet your dog on top of her head. This can be intimidating to dog's as a dominance move. Instead put your hand below her head, palm up, and from under her, bring your hand to her cheek for a rub and massage. Then move in for a little belly and hind rubbing as a reward for good behavior. This is more like how dog's greet each other. This routine of train, reward along with social time in the dog park will build her trust with you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help her feel at ease in the house when she is alone with you, it might help to arrange a play date at your home with another dog? Arrange to spend some time so it is just you and the two dogs. That way your dog can read the other dog's reaction to being alone with you. Once they've acquainted (and it might help to introduce the other dog to your house and get the familiar before trying alone time) you can just ignore them and let them figure it out. Maybe once they've settled in give them each a chew toy as a reward for calm behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could simply be that her previous owner gave her no training and she only got socialization from being around other dogs, hence she acts out when alone with you. Whatever the case, she's young and still very trainable. It just takes a little extra time the later good training practices are made a part of the dogs routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T18:12:47.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16803" CreationDate="2017-04-06T19:15:10.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Activity Levels&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An issue you have is she is an active breed and a working breed and she is shut in an apartment. Husky's tend to enjoy company of other dogs and to be free to run around. They are also known for escaping from yards and wandering, as that is their nature. Being in an apartment most of the day is unlikely to make her happy. I also live in an apartment and researched breeds for months before deciding on a greyhound. They are one of the laziest dogs around, they need 20 minutes of exercise and then they want to lie down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying you should get a greyhound, I saying this is going to be an issue in understanding Penny's demeanour and emotional state. She's stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was good the first week, it was a novelty and a new home and there would have been more attention given to her. This is perfectly natural and usual when bringing home a new pet. She wouldn't have missed the outdoors so much, but as she's settled into a routine, she will start to miss running around and possibly feel a little stir crazy being camped in an apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her enthusiasm and perceived disobedience on the leash, trying to (and occasionally) breaking free is symptomatic of her need to run and work. She's excited and fresh. Plus she's still a puppy and will be until she's 2-3 years old and completely settled. so there's that extra exuberance and need for play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Puppy hood&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also leads to chewing. All dogs in the puppy phase will chew and they will chew anything that feels good on their gums. The onus is on the owners to dog proof the home from teething gums. A job easier said than done. She will need plenty of items to chew on, in fact a variety, particularly when being left alone. Boredom will make her want to chew more, as she will not be distracted from annoying gums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her Fear&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether she came from a loving home and was lost, there's likely to have been at least on painful experience with a person for her to be so terrified of you. It sounds like she is also biting out of fear. The fact she has bitten you more than once is serious, a husky is not a small dog and she can inflict quite a bit of damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's something about your demeanour when your alone that frightens her. We all have different faces when others are around. Try and note you body language when you're approaching her when you're alone and compare it to when you're in company.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try videoing yourself when you're alone and ask your partner to watch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A solution - building a relationship from the ground up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Alone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend trying to get her to approach you. If she is looking terrified, so not approach her. Sit down. Preferably take a step back and sit down. Tell her in a low calm voice that it's ok. Put your hands out in front of you palm down as you say this. Let her know she's safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to start training to overcome this fear from the ground up. Back to basics. Rewarding her for small gains. This is most difficult if you are the primary carer for the dog. If there's any chance your partner can help take over, so when you are alone with the dog, you can just sit with her. Offer her a food titbit, toss it on the ground away from you near her and praise her for taking it. With the goal that eventually she will take it from your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. In company&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When others are around do the same exercises with her and reward her. So when you come into the room, you can sit and then ask her to come. Give her a titbit and praise her. Tell her how good she is and lots of pats. Not on top of her hear, under the sides of her face. So she doesn't feel you are trying to dominate her, it will be non threatening and supportive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she comes and takes a titbit from you in company repeat as above with the praise. It's important to put both vocal and physical praise at the same time as giving the food reward, so later any of these are viewed as pleasurable and will be rewards within themselves the dog will seek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical Stance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to try and approach from a low physical stance. So crouching. You could even try lying on the floor when you're alone with her and see how she responds. Make your body language as less threatening as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing is, throughout all this, patience is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important you maintain her walks, it would be preferable if you are able to put her on a leash while someone else is in the apartment. If possible avoid having to approach and handle her on your own, as this will interfere with the process of trust and safety that you are trying to build. I understand that this might not be possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Support&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also speak to the shelter, and check local husky groups, for any possible guidance. If you are able to meet with other owners of the breed for play dates and some guidance it will help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Re-homing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned about this situation. Both for you and Penny. She is at a point where she has bitten you and depending on the laws this may make re-homing her difficult, which would be sad indeed. She deserves a chance, she's not a bad dog, we need to work out ways to improve her security levels with her. If you are unable to resolve this, then the best thing would be to (again) approach the shelter or some husky groups and see if there is someone who already has a husky who would be happy to take on a special case. I've found the best way to get help with any breed of any animal (especially dogs) is to approach enthusiasts of that breed. I have never recommended re-homing here before, but when there is aggression that involves biting, it is something that needs to be brought to the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck, please let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-06T19:15:10.687" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16811" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-06T22:28:50.853" Score="3" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 3 years old (domestic short hair). We adopted her in the beginning of January. She is overweight, was previously an outdoor/indoor cat (not only indoor), and very food motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was never really a cuddly cat. She does not like being held. The moment you pick her up form the ground and hold her, she'll meow, hiss and bite. She will sometimes sleep at the foot of the bed but now she mostly sleeps on the floor. She is quite aggressive at times. She's bitten people several times (drawing blood only a few times). She will also attack the legs. I play with her very often. Everyday, twice a day we play. I try my best to get her energy out, so that she'll be less aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been many times when I'll be on my bed and she'll jump on, look at me like I'm a complete stranger and start batting her claws at me. It felt like she was on full-on attack mode!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always wanted a cuddly lap cat, and I know that that is not a realistic goal for my situation...but I'd like to know if there's any hope for my cat. I've heard about cats that get gentler with age and become more affectionate. But on the other hand I've heard of cats that remain the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you suggest I deal with the aggressive behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'd like to know if anyone could suggest the steps I could take to improve her behaviour and make her more affectionate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-22T14:38:47.127" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T14:38:47.127" Title="Can an aggressive cat ever be affectionate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2017-04-07T07:51:47.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why are grain-free cat foods filled with vegetables instead of more meat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because vegetables (and grains) are adequate sources of nutrition for your cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't they just put more meat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult cats only require their diets to be a minimum of 26% protein to maintain their weight and health (per the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AAFCO - see page 13&lt;/a&gt;). A balanced diet for a healthy and thriving cat is relative to their health profile (weight, activity level, age, etc.) and not determined by what a cat might be able to survive on if it were in the wild. &lt;strong&gt;Cats need a balanced mix of digestible and absorbable protein, fats, vitamins and minerals. Carbohydrates, starches, fiber and sugars are not &quot;essential&quot; nutrition, however, the right kinds are beneficial.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if you have an indoor cat, too much protein can mean a fat cat. If your cat has kidney problems, too much protein can also be harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=547#answer%207&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can I feed my cat too much protein?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If your cat eats too much protein, some will be excreted in the urine and the rest will be used as calories or converted to fat - causing your cat no harm. However, if your cat has a kidney problem, high protein diets are not recommended. Most pet food companies slightly exceed the minimum recommended protein requirements to ensure that cats get adequate protein from their food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there 100% meat product cat foods, wet or dry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding your cat 100% meat does NOT mean that your cat is also getting 100% protein.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Per the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/42a903e2-451d-40ea-897a-22dc74ef6e1c/Water_in_Meats.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;USDA&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The muscle is approximately 75% water (although different cuts may have more or less water) and 20% protein, with the remaining 5% representing a combination of fat, carbohydrate, and minerals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you feed your cat 100% meat then they will be getting an unbalanced and unhealthy diet.&lt;/strong&gt; In particular they won't be getting enough of the essential vitamins they need to maintain a healthy weight and thrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-04-07T07:51:47.040" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16811" CreationDate="2017-04-07T16:24:42.113" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is hope! If you're patient, and persistent with these suggestions, I think you will be able to make a big change in your cat. You'll probably see significant improvement in a few months, and things will continue to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to an excellent short series of videos on socialising feral cats. Not that your cat is feral; in fact I think you will see that you've made more progress than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist of it is using food and irresistible treats to get the cats to eat in the presence of humans that are far away; then gradually requiring them to be a little closer to the human to get the treat. You will need to move forward in very small stages. In your case, you may need to start with getting her to eat when you are awake but in another room. There will be setbacks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you play with her, always use a toy; &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; use your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can ask your local humane society or animal shelter for advice. I'm sure they will be happy to help and have good advice to offer; as they have to socialise truly feral cats regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, play with her every day. Really wear her out! A tired cat is a well-behaved cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest that you watch the TV series &quot;My Cat from Hell&quot; with Jackson Galaxy, particularly the first season. Some of the series is on YouTube, but it would be worth purchasing the DVD set. You'll learn to see things from a cat's point of view, which will help you solve the problems you're experiencing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-07T16:24:42.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16402" CreationDate="2017-04-09T01:39:33.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We travelled with no problem, and as it might be useful for others, I summarize the experiences. First, confirming Jason C's comments, the vet enters the data in whatever manufacturer specific database. Consequently it won't appear in any national database, neither the UK nor the Hungarian one in this case. I don't know then how the authorities access this, in our case they didn't. We crossed by the DFDS Seaways ferry, and in Dover someone took a quick look on the paper passport of our dog, and that's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned we were worried about the rabies vaccination, because she had it more than 3 years before the travel. We went to the vet who renewed the vaccination. According to certain guides around the internet, if more than 3 years have passed since the last vaccination, 2 injections necessary with a minimum 2 weeks between the injections, and 3 weeks after the second one the vaccination will be valid for travelling. This prooved to be not true: we got only one injection, and we could travel 27 days after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8899" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T01:39:33.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-09T01:47:58.283" Score="1" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried googling online about what you do with the body and who you contact, but i haven't gotten clear answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do you after a cat dies?&#xA;Who do you contact and what happens to the body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T10:01:50.397" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T10:01:50.397" Title="What to do you after a cat dies?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-04-09T09:40:01.093" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16817" CreationDate="2017-04-09T08:16:34.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your veterinary hospital will have the resources to proceed with disposing a body. They can either provide you contact information or take your pet and register him with them for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If bi-laws permit, bury him in your back yard (3-4 feet deep minimum).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Common burial - this will be done by the cremation service in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Common Cremation - Cremated with other pets, no ashes will be returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Private Cremation - expensive, cremated alone and ashes will be returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Pet Cemetery - usually done by the cremation service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-04-09T17:19:18.230" LastActivityDate="2017-04-09T17:19:18.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16828" CreationDate="2017-04-09T19:49:50.000" Score="4" ViewCount="582" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every Easter, our town has fireworks display and my dog gets extremely nervous. He screams from fear and sometimes tries to jump the fence to escape. He can take all night to calm down. I try to hug him or give him his toys (which in other cases he adores) but nothing works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to calm the dog down and show him that the danger is over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T01:21:34.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T01:21:34.623" Title="How to calm down dog after fireworks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-09T20:56:21.203" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's my first post so be patient with me please:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bf and I moved into a new flat with a couple we know for ages (their cat knows us very well and used to love sitting on my lap).&#xA;The move unsettled the cat greatly and she went from being an incredibly cuddly but at times moody princess to a cat who thinks attack is the best defence.&#xA;Our friends didn't do the safe room procedure and that might have something to do with it. First her food and toilet were in the kitchen and if I would come in first thing in the morning she was rubbing against me. As soon as I turned my back on her though she would attack my calves, like a hit, and run attack. It happened almost every morning for almost 2 weeks in different spots around the flat. She would be all lovey dovey and go around my legs to the point of tripping me, then attack. She would continue to stalk me for a short distance as well. It came to a point where, when I saw her standing there staring at me that I would put on my wellies and take a towel with me.&#xA;I stopped feeding her right away because I suspected it had something to do with food aggression due to the move and it got slightly better, also because I was careful around her and never turned my back. After 2 weeks our friends decided to lock her in their bedroom at night because she was still really upset and suddenly she turned almost back into her old self.&#xA;Now she occasionally comes up to me and does that frantic leg rubbing again (end of week 3). I haven't touched her in quite a while because I don't want to get scratched and the more frantic the leg rubbing the more I know she could turn aggressive when I touch her. Just now she did that again and looked at my hands pleadingly, and when I dangled them down she rubbed against them with the same frantic movements. I made the mistake of opening my hand and her back stroked against it and I saw the frantic bottle tail warning me.&#xA;A loud no and not turning my back and a towel as distraction worked to not get me attacked but she sure was stalking me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really fed up and every interaction with her gets my heart pounding. It's been 3 weeks now and my 2 friends have no clue what they can do about it. Spraying catnip to make her comfortable seems to increase the likelihood of an attack at that very spot (favorite rug is next to kitchen).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, she is pretty overweight so they don't want me giving her any treats. Not that I feel like it at the moment lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas here? She attacked maybe three times my boyfriend as well, but generally seems to tolerate him better. She doesn't want to be touched by him either though and starts hissing. Sitting on his or my lap is still OK though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 2 friends can handle her without any issues. They are telling me I should be resolute with the cat but I don't want to go down a rabbit hole of confrontation (tried it once by blowing on her, got a loud growling in response). I'm sure she'd claw me if I were to push her aside.&#xA;Also, she doesn't really play but gets bored easily so my friends think that she is play aggressive with me and provokes me for a reaction. I just want to be left alone at that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I forgot to say just yesterday she was blinking at me and enjoyed me stroking her head for the first time in a while which I thought was a good sign. She wasn't in frantic leg rubbing mode at the time though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9252" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-10T09:07:04.580" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T09:07:04.580" Title="Cat so spooked of me she attacks and stalks" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-10T00:42:11.113" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anyone know of free vet services in the Albion Michigan area? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What would be wrong with an indoor cat, with grey goop coming from skin? Recently got outside and got in fight with another animal overnight. Never had shots, and a lot of squirrels in the area.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/udb4j.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/udb4j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;recovering from the traumatic event&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RzT6Y.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RzT6Y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;grayish goo&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8559" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T17:01:48.693" Title="Any free vet information?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-10T02:14:31.437" Score="3" ViewCount="385" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 or 3 year old cat had 2 litters and raising the third one now. Her second litter had 5 kittens, one black, two gray tabbies, and two orange tabbies. One orange tabby was light orange. The mother brought them out on August 12, 2016. They already opened their eyes after, a couple days the light orange tabby we called Sandy was gone. I searched for her but had no luck after, 6 months the mother cat had her third litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After almost 2 months after the third litter was born a light orange cat came with the believed to be the father of all the three litters. I try to figure out it's sex but, it always runs away. I think it is a female because the father does not attack it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also visit the mother cat and the kittens are there too. The light orange tabby started to visit the mother cat more often. Could this be the lost kitten? And if so did it wander off and someone adopted it or did it survive being taken by an animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time we leave the mother cat alone outside when we check on here the light orange tabby usually comes. It just started today. It always runs away from us. How do I make it know that I am not going to hurt them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9254" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:56:14.600" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:56:14.600" Title="Did my lost kitten return?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16823" CreationDate="2017-04-10T09:03:21.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1. Could this be the missing kitten&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We cannot possibly answer if it is the missing kitten. The only way it would have survived is if somebody found her and cared for her at that age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens open their eyes between 7 - 10 days old. A kitten requires 10 feeds per day in the first 2 weeks of their lives. It's also not simple to care for such young kittens separated from their mothers. So she would have needed to be adopted by someone experienced. Also such a young kitten would not be able to move very far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not probable that such a young kitten would survive like that in most situations - depending on where you live, the density of housing, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2. How to make her trust you&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to gain her trust is by offering food without pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put out small portions of food for her. When you see her, call her gently &quot;puss puss&quot; and place down a bowl and slowly move away and watch. No sudden movements, loud voices. You'll see that she will gradually get closer to you. If she is actually a street cat, she may never trust you. Many street cats are distrustful of humans (and this may be sensible from the cat's perspective) and do not recover from this distrust. They can pass it on to their offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have two grown cats we got from a litter from a street cat. The mother and kittens were all trapped and rehomed. The kittens hissed at us when we first brought them home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They always vanish whenever people are over they have not met. They need to have seen a person dozens of times before the person sees them. They hide and watch from a safe place, so visitors don't even realise they are there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They trust us, however one of them is still flighty, we cannot make sudden movements or loud sounds. We always need to approach him with a soothing voice and make a slow and deliberate action when moving our hands in to pat him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is, I'm not sure why you are breeding like this. Have you thought about desexing your cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T09:03:21.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-10T11:37:01.787" Score="2" ViewCount="6394" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently rescued two poodle terriers ages 6 and 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first got them they stayed quiet until we got up.  Its been about 4 months since we've had them and about a month ago they started barking in the early mornings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both sleep together in their crate in the family room downstairs, but are very loud.  They were neglected before, but now know that they are loved.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to ignore the barking but it generally gets louder and longer.  I will yell down to stop it and they will stop for about 20 minutes and then start up again.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are all new to having dogs and my one teenage daughter (who loves her sleep) is getting very upset.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I get them to stop and wait till we get up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9259" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T01:22:07.733" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T04:10:17.033" Title="Dogs barking in their crate at 5:30 every morning" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16820" CreationDate="2017-04-10T12:28:47.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although your situation is for after a firework display, I think the best course of action that you can take is things you would typically do before and during a firework display as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the minimum, I would bring the dog inside your home during the time of the fireworks (you said they tried to &quot;jump the fence,&quot; I'm assuming that they are outside).  Usually, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;anxiety/thundershirts&lt;/a&gt; are recommended for these kind of situations as well.  The shirt helps to calm a dog due to the pressure being applied to them from the shirt.  You can try a thudershirt both during and after a firework display. I would say it would be pretty hard to train a dog to ignore a firework display since fireworks typically aren't heard daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/contributors/10-safety-and-calming-tips-for-dogs-during-fireworks/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another site&lt;/a&gt; recommends 10 different things to try including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the dog lots of exercise during the day of the firework display&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the dog inside during the fireworks and preferably with someone to accompany them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close curtains and blinds to windows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog has a crate, try covering it with something while they are in it.  Dogs like a small space to retreat to when scared.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T12:28:47.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16826" CreationDate="2017-04-10T12:29:34.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs bark as a form of communication — as you no doubt know.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The adult wild canine will howl or bark as a way to signal its presence, location, and condition to others of the same or foreign packs.  Additionally, canine pups will bark for attention from their mothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domesticated dogs exhibit behavior which has been described as a permanent state of quasi-adolescence.  The process of domestication has filtered in preference for traits which would be seen as immature in an undomesticated canine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Seeing as how the morning barking is a recent occurance, you should look to more recent events for the cause of their behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Did their environment change recently?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there noises, which may be almost inaudible to you, that would trigger a barking chain?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Has your routine changed in some way?  Does it appear to them that you are unavailable?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Were they being housed in crates since prior to the recent spate of barking?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there some other need that would prompt the dogs to bark for attention?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do they lack food or water in the mornings?  Do they need to “do their business”?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all dogs will bark for such needs, of course.  I've seen that smaller or confined dogs tend to be more likely to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your situation, of course, the dogs are barking in the mornings and not at night when they are first secured in the crates.  That leads me to suspect the first or the third of my presented possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is at all possible, you could try releasing the dogs for a few mornings.  Do they bark?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If they need briefly let outside, then it might be necessary to do so at about the time when they'd begin barking.  Whether you adjust your schedule or are able to get some sleep later is, of course, something you need to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9143" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T12:29:34.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16822" CreationDate="2017-04-10T17:01:48.693" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Veterinary services are never free. Someone always pays, whether that be a charitable institution, or the veterinarian themselves. Nowhere will offer you veterinary treatment for free, but there may be low cost clinics in your area. There are many options for possible financial assistance; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://chspets.com/financial-assistance-resources/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of options&lt;/a&gt; appears on the website of Cascades Humane Society near you. I understand there are valid reasons why someone might not be able to afford veterinary care, and in such cases it is incumbent upon the owner to decide whether they are in a position to continuing to provide care for their pet. If that is not the case, then re-homing your pet may be a reasonable option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are any number of things that could be wrong with your cat, and it is impossible for anyone to give you a diagnosis online, or recommend treatment. It could be something very benign. It could be something very serious. Given your cat got outside and possibly fought with other animals, my major concern would be that she has a wound that has become infected. You can evaluate the skin yourself to see if you can see any puncture wound near the grey discharge. If it is infected, it is unlikely to resolve without veterinary care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given she has never been vaccinated and escaped the house, your cat may have been exposed to and possibly infected by a number of infectious diseases. Rabies must be considered since she is unvaccinated and is thought to have fought with other animals of unknown vaccination status or wildlife. Rabies is a serious disease. In an unvaccinated cat who may have been exposed to rabies, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.michigan.gov/documents/rabies_pets_flowchart_134247_7.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Michigan DHHS recommendation&lt;/a&gt; is euthanasia, or if the owner refuses then rabies booster with 4 months of quarantine, and serologic testing. The severity of these recommendations reinforces the importance of vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It certainly sounds like your cat needs veterinary care. You can call the veterinary clinics in your area to ask how much it costs to have an appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-10T17:01:48.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-10T20:22:12.890" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've a 9 yrs old GSD female. She has been suffering from kidney disease since last couple of months. Medication is going on. But her physical condition is getting bad. Is there any way that I can give her healthy life back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUN = 34.2 mg/dl&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Creatinine = 2.95 mg/dl&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Glucose = 76 mg/dl&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9262" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T21:54:40.153" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T21:54:40.153" Title="Managing kidney disease in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2017-04-11T00:04:58.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately you cannot reverse kidney disease, it will only go downhill from here. There are ways to slow the progress of the disease such as a change in diet prescribed by your veterinarian, Aventi KP, Epakitin and lots of water intake (Canned food, add water to diet, Subcutaneous fluids). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any medications/supplements you use should be prescribed/discussed with your veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure if you call your clinic they can go into more details with you and guide you better as they know her history and what stage she is at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T00:04:58.697" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16835" CreationDate="2017-04-11T01:51:07.040" Score="4" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a Black Labrador when he was five years old, and he's been a really wonderful dog in the years we've had him. Normally he barks to let us know when people have arrived at our front door, but calms down quickly when we let them in and is very friendly to our guests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week ago, my Asian friend, whom my dog had never met, came by to pick something up. As soon as my dog saw him in the window, he went absolutely ballistic in a way that I had never seen before. He would not stop barking at my friend when he came in, but fortunately he did not try to bite. My friend didn't think anything of it and tried petting him (my dog tried to avoid it), but I was absolutely mortified that he was behaving so angrily towards my friend. It was a short visit and my dog was on edge for a while afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had kind of forgotten the incident until I was walking my dog and we passed an Asian man I didn't know. My dog also went crazy over him and I had to drag him away. My area has very few Asians living in it, so this is a rarity. I wondered if my dog was reacting to their appearance, especially given that in both cases it's very unlikely he smelled anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I don't know anything about my dog's early life, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's not &quot;racist&quot;, but rather has an understandable reason for this reaction, such as a very negative experience with someone who is Asian. He hadn't really been exposed to them since living with me, so there was no chance to get acclimated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to help my dog overcome this strong reaction to Asian men? Would having my friend spend time with him (or just be present at my house more often) be enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9263" LastEditorUserId="9263" LastEditDate="2017-04-11T16:06:59.440" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T16:06:59.440" Title="My dog doesn't like people of a certain race. What can I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16834" CreationDate="2017-04-11T04:43:50.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a dog once with similar issues. Acclimating your dog is certainly a good idea to break the association but you also want them to know when you don't need them to be &quot;guard dog&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens in public, it might require some stern redirection such that when your dog starts acting aggressively towards others you let them know that you are the boss. This can be as simple as a &quot;heel&quot; or &quot;snap out of it&quot; or &quot;off&quot; command to redirect their focus. If they are on leash, it might be hard to do, but clapping your hands to get their attention might work. Follow this with a &quot;sit&quot; command and a &quot;down&quot; to get them obedient and submissive. If they have trouble with &quot;sit&quot; when they are worked up, try snapping your fingers in one hand to get their eyes on your hand and then raise your hand as you say &quot;sit&quot; - eyes up, butt down. When they follow these commands, don't reward them with treats, just repeat the command with a smile and say &quot;good [command]&quot; then give them a cheek or belly rub. Note: when dogs are defensive, patting on the head might be taken the wrong way as an unwanted dominance move, so bring your hand down below their eye level and then up for affectionate rubbing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, not trying to be racist, but I have heard that some dogs dislike it when they cannot see a persons eyes so if your friend has an epicanthic fold and &quot;single&quot; eyelids, you might want to see if your friend gets a different reaction if they open their eyes really wide. It's not a great idea that they make direct eye contact as this might be seen as intimidating, but if that doesn't make any difference, acclimation should help over time. I would recommend that while you are acclimating your dog, you give them a &quot;stay&quot; or &quot;find your spot&quot; command before your friend comes over. While your friend is there it is probably best that the two of you largely ignore the dog. If the aggression continues after you tell your dog to &quot;snap out of it&quot;, you'll want to be dominant and get them submissive so that they are paying attention to you and your command and not reacting to other stimulus.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a really severe case, you might blindfold the dog inside the home and let them associate with your friend by scent detection (after the dog has gotten used to being blindfolded of course!) You and I don't have nearly as sensitive sniffers, but Labs - and any dogs with longer noses - have especially sensitive senses of smell. Not knowing his history, there may be something he is reacting to, but whatever the cause, you're the boss (and legally responsible if there's any trouble!) If you can't get the dog to be okay with your friend approaching the home while the dog is in the yard, on the porch, by the window, etc. try the indoors with the dog blind folded and let your friend give your dog some treats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastEditorUserId="9069" LastEditDate="2017-04-11T12:54:42.000" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T12:54:42.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-11T07:41:58.583" Score="1" ViewCount="3167" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've had my rescue cat for nearly a month now and she still does not like me at all. If I go to touch her she will hiss and growl most of the time (sometimes not at first but then will once she realises that I'm the one touching her). &#xA;She allows older people to touch her, both myself and my partners mums. She allowed the vet to touch her and even scratch her bottom back tail part (which she hates when my partner does it). So I found this so strange. It's like she just doesn't like me or my partner as if it's because we are younger. (22). &#xA;I don't know whether to give her even more time to get a bond going or to just take her back since she's miserable with us? I didn't rescue a cat just to look at it and have it hate me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9163" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T17:43:44.510" Title="Rescue cat still hates me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16899" CreationDate="2017-04-11T11:48:36.053" Score="3" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Norway, we are able to buy minkie whale meat in some shops. My cat loves whale meat and I feed her around 50 grams once a week. How many grams is it safe to feed in a week? I have asked five vets about this and they have not the faintest clue about an answer to this question. This question is about raw whale meat, please put your feelings about whale hunting aside and give me a real answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-11T23:05:55.793" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T23:05:55.793" Title="How many grams of whale meat is it safe to feed my cat in a week?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16778" CreationDate="2017-04-11T13:06:09.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine is a fresh water aquarium and I recently added the nerite snail as cleaning crew. I got to know that they eat algae but they add up their waste to fish waste. Better to add the clean up crew later once you see some food source available for them. I added otto very early during my new aquarium and otto ended up finding no food to feed on. I have to return them as they became weak due to no food source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9265" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T13:06:09.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16778" CreationDate="2017-04-11T14:39:55.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my situation, as I stated in a comment here, I did end up seeing algae growth about a week after I added my cleanup crew. Like I said, I cycled the tank after curing dry pukani rock from Bulk Reef Supply. I used a bacterial seed and I definitely established that my ammonia was being converted as part of the nitrogen cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that many aquarists will have mixed success depending on a variety of intangibles in this hobby. For me, the cleanup crew added as a bio-load to the established tank just sort of helped balance some things out. The snails now hanging out at the water line and in the sand where there seems to be the most amount of stuff for them to eat. The crabs will eat the flaked food the floats to the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since asking this question, I'm thinking about introducing my first fish. I felt comfortable that the snails and crabs were doing great so I think I'm ready to pull the trigger on the fish. $2 per crab/snail versus $25 or more for a clown or angelfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all that was the greatest benefit for me. The peace of mind that my 75 gallon could handle the bioload of these newest members. I think each situation will call for different needs and dried rock will probably take a lot longer than seeding with live rock, but my next tank build will go in a similar manner. I see no point in spending a lot of money on a favorite fish species to throw it into a tank too early and shock and stress that fish! Toss the crabs and snails in first, as they're less expensive and yet somewhat hardy, and see how it goes. Take your time. Nothing in the hobby happens quickly, my 10 years ago experience will tell you that!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastActivityDate="2017-04-11T14:39:55.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16841" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-11T15:35:34.313" Score="3" ViewCount="1683" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bearded dragon is about 8 months old and she looks really healthy. I went back to the pet store to get her some more stuff and the shop owner told me to buy Repti Bark for my bearded dragon. (I'm kind of a noob) So I bought the Repti bark and putted it half of my bearded dragons terrarium. A few days later I was feeding her vegetables and she accidentally ate the bark. I went online to check if my bearded dragon will need to go to the vet or anything but there's no luck. (The vet is very far so I go for special occasions like if he needs a lot of help) I'm not sure if bark is even for bearded dragons... By the way, my bearded dragon is named Peanut (even though Peanut is a girl... I thought she was a boy. It's too late to change her name now). Anyways I just want to know if Bark is not going to kill Peanut, and if Peanut needs to be checked or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9267" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-11T18:57:18.987" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T00:08:26.903" Title="My bearded dragon ate BARK?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16841" CreationDate="2017-04-12T00:08:26.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She can pass it but sometimes it can get lodged - keep an eye on appetite and stool production, a good indication of a blockage would be vomiting, inappetence, diarrhea or stopped making stool all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remove bark, avoid substrates - your dragon doesn't need tons of humidity so having soil to retain this doesn't pertain to these guys. &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000HG99D6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Repti-carpet&lt;/a&gt; is a good choice as it's easy to remove and wash. Substrates are a bacterial breeding ground and as you have notice they sometimes eat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep her well hydrated, this will help pass the bark - Hornworms and misted veggies are the best for keeping a dragon hydrated. You can also give her a bath in tepid water and massage her belly to help things move along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperature is also an important factor in digestion - 95F - 105F are good basking temps to promote GI motility, be sure to keep the opposite end at a cooler temperature so she doesn't overheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, each reptile is very specific to it's needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T00:08:26.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-12T13:33:25.293" Score="6" ViewCount="1503" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a dog a few days ago. He's a 1 year old Chesapeake Bay/Lab mix according to the vet. He was found abandoned in the country, rescued, made it to us eventually. He's not yet neutered, we're going to change that. He starts obedience school in two weeks, but he already knows some commands (come, sit, paw, down). He's crate trained as well. He gets at least one, sometimes two, long walks every day and we have a decent sized yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's outside in the yard he's calm. He'll happily play, or lay in the sun or shade, or just watch the cars go by. He barks sometimes, but when told not to he listens. Outside he's fantastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inside is a different story. When he's inside he's always pacing and panting excessively, sometimes he whines. He's unable to settle down. Sometimes he comes over and throws his weight against me (which I have a lot of trouble with). He's also taken to chasing the cats, which we're trying to nip in the bud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few factors I can see contributing to this, but I'm not sure how to help still. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have a cat and a kitten. The cat frequently will hiss, growl, or otherwise voice his displeasure any time he sees the dog. This seems to rile up the dog. The kitten is more afraid of him and the dog has pinned him down and cornered him a few times. We want to make sure the cats aren't injured. I can see how the cats can be a stress point for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My husband is far from being a dog person. He's willing to tell the dog &quot;No&quot; or &quot;Back&quot; and defend the cats but that is the limit of his dog interaction. Having a person around he isn't allowed to interact with also seems to make him stressed. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He can't really see out any of the windows inside. This is a combination of the height of the windows and the furniture arrangement. I've been trying to rearrange furniture to give him window access but so far he does not seem interested. I'm not sure how big of a factor this is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He doesn't have a ton of time at the moment. A filled bone, a kong, two small stuffed animals, an &quot;unstuffed&quot; squeaky animal, tennis ball, and tug rope. I'm very open to getting him more toys, I'm just not sure what to get him and how many he should have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know we haven't had him very long, and things will get better when we start obedience classes; but I'd really like to make his inside-life better in the meantime if I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make him feel more comfortable inside? Does anyone have advice on training him that I am his human and my husband is not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt; Dog is calm outside of house but stressed and anxious inside. How can I help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9277" LastEditorUserId="9277" LastEditDate="2017-04-12T13:39:00.413" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T17:35:53.503" Title="Dog anxious inside, calm outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-12T13:48:57.147" Score="4" ViewCount="1441" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter has a Pit bull mix. He is 14 months old. She was walking him on a leash and my neighbor wanted to pet the dog, but my daughter said no because she did not know how the dog would act. My neighbor said that is ok and went to pet the dog and the dog bit his hand. He needed one stitch on the back of his hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, will this dog bite again? I have small grandchildren. What should we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9278" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T01:19:43.680" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T11:33:30.873" Title="Pit Bull mix that bit someone - is it likely he will bite again?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16836" CreationDate="2017-04-12T15:00:32.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so sorry that you're having this problem. As a tip for the future, when you adopt an animal, choose one that is friendly toward you and is OK with being petted by you. Don't choose an animal based on its appearance or breed. Ask the staff about the animal's personality, and tell them what you want in a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good shelter will make sure each animal is socialised before making it available for adoption. If the animal has specific issues (e.g., is nervous around noisy children), they will make sure that the animal goes to the right type of home and that the potential owner is aware of the issue. So if you decide to take this cat back and adopt a different one instead, don't feel bad about your decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that the reason this cat is more comfortable with your mum and your girlfriend's is that they are more experienced with feline body language, how best to pet a cat, and most importantly, when to stop petting. Maybe you and your girlfriend don't have as much experience with semi-feral cats. Or maybe you remind the cat of someone that was unkind to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be possible to turn this cat into a more friendly, loving pet, but it will take work. This video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si-yk1KxYX0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;You're Petting Your Cat All Wrong!&lt;/a&gt; from Jackson Galaxy should be very helpful. If you're patient, and persistent with these suggestions, I think you will be able to make a big change in your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also suggest that you watch the TV series &quot;My Cat from Hell&quot; with Jackson Galaxy, particularly the first season. Some of the series is on YouTube, but it would be worth purchasing the DVD set. You'll learn to see things from a cat's point of view, which will help you solve the problems you're experiencing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to an excellent short series of videos on socialising feral cats. Not that your cat is feral; in fact I think you will see that you've made more progress than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEcxIgMhyQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gist of it is using food and irresistible treats to get the cats to eat in the presence of humans that are far away; then eventually requiring them to eat in the human's lap. You will need to move forward in very small stages.&#xA;Best of luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T15:00:32.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16848" CreationDate="2017-04-12T15:35:01.830" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, he will likely bite again if you do nothing. And it could be a child next time, so you need to do something. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that dog bites can be fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Behaviourists classify aggression into a number of forms. The dog likely has components of fear aggression and conflict aggression. Consultation with a veterinary behaviourist is the ideal solution, but out of reach to many people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are steps you can take to reduce this type of behaviour, and if he is intact then &lt;strong&gt;neutering&lt;/strong&gt; is one of them. Dogs that have aggressive tendencies should not be bred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will require proper and dedicated training, but it will be more difficult now he is older. He may have been inadequately socialized as a puppy. The important thing is to be clear with him, use &lt;strong&gt;simple commands&lt;/strong&gt;, and consistently &lt;strong&gt;reward good behaviour&lt;/strong&gt; and ignore bad behaviour. Dogs do not generally understand punishment, so punishing bad behaviour may exacerbate his aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He should wear a &lt;strong&gt;basket muzzle&lt;/strong&gt; when around strangers and children, and out on walks. This does not stop him from drinking or eating. Make sure the type of leash you are using gives you good control of him; there are options such as Gentle Leader to give you better control of his head. Do not leave him unsupervised with children or strangers. Place him in another room in the house if there are a lot of people around and he is getting anxious or aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the cause of the dog's aggression, there may be medication options that can be prescribed by a veterinarian to reduce his anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggression is a difficult condition to solve but there are certainly many things you can do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T15:35:01.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16826" CreationDate="2017-04-12T17:00:17.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you will need to figure out why they are barking. Only then you can try working on the solution. Dogs bark for a number of reasons. It could be because of boredom, or they might be afraid of something. Sometimes it's just attention grabbing thing for them, and sometimes it can be a medical condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And based on the cause, the solution differs. If you are not able to figure out the cause, then you can also call for a professional help. I had been in similar situation and &lt;a href=&quot;http://peanutpaws.com/how-to-stop-a-dog-from-barking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; helped me in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog used to bark excessively but only when he was alone at home, although he remained quiet when we were around. After a while, I got to know about his barking problem from one of our neighbors. First, I took him to a vet, and he was healthy as a horse so it ruled out barking caused by pain or injury. Then I read few articles online and tried a couple of different suggestions and some of them worked for a couple of days but not permanently. Finally, I got a spray bark collar (there are many other types of bark collars available but I avoided them). Whenever we left our house, we put the collar on him and it worked wonderfully. He stopped barking and after a while, we removed his collar, and he stayed calm. So I guess it was a behavioral issue with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's my dog and as experts say, every dog is different. So first, try to figure out the cause of barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6303" LastEditorUserId="6303" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T04:10:17.033" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T04:10:17.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16847" CreationDate="2017-04-12T17:35:53.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety is common but what you describe is interesting in that there does not seem to be a specific trigger other than being inside the house. Obviously it's not separation anxiety if it is happening when you're in the same room. There could be a component of territoriality – it does not sound like he is being aggressive in any way, but it may actually be the cats who are the aggressors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I wonder whether it is actually anxiety or he is just very high energy and is looking for interactions with you, the cats, etc. You know your dog best and certainly the actions you describe sound like anxious behaviours, but consider that they might be at least in part attention-seeking behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sure it is anxiety, try to identify the source. Is it the whole house or particular rooms or entryways? Is is at particular times, like when loud cars go by or strangers walk by the window? Or is it when he thinks you are leaving, in which case it could actually be separation anxiety? Is it when you have the television on, or when you are cooking particular things? Dogs can take aversion to certain sounds, smells, sights, etc. If you can identify the source, you may be able to desensitize him to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are providing him with good enrichment, but you can do more. For example, you can feed him all his meals in puzzle toys – that will occupy him for quite a while. He might benefit from longer walks at his age too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also making him a safe space he can go to when he is anxious – a crate is a great place since he is already crate-trained. If you see he is anxious, train him to go to his crate on a simple command, provide him with a reward in the crate, and leave him alone in peace and quiet (no need to shut him in the crate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interactions with the cats are difficult. If possible, you can try to separate the cats and the dog in separate areas of the house for a few days, and see if his anxiety improves. To really test this you would need to ensure no interaction between the cats and the dog for a few days. In any case it is important that he learns not to play rough with the cats, or not to play at all with them. Obedience training is of course a big step towards this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not a dog that I would want to jump to medication with, certainly not while you are still training him. Neutering in itself may mellow him out a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this post doesn't contain a whole lot of specific answers to your question, but managing these behaviours is difficult. It's more of an art than a science, and requires quite a bit of trial and error to find something that works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T17:35:53.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16836" CreationDate="2017-04-12T17:43:44.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You haven't stated in your posts; have you had a cat before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got our first cat he avoided us for a month or two, he was totally different than he was at the shelter. Honestly the thing that helped the most was to ignore him and give him space. When he was ready he started coming to us on his own and cuddling, but not allowing petting. Then he slowly allowed petting. Now he cuddles so hard you can't stop him. So maybe try just ignoring her until she's super comfortable with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mhwombat posted a lot of good links and resources to try as well. &lt;em&gt;My Cat From Hell&lt;/em&gt; is a good show to think more like a cat, he emphasises playtime which helps a lot of cat problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9277" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T17:43:44.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16848" CreationDate="2017-04-12T19:21:03.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is unfortunate - especially given your daughter asked the person not to. Did your neighbor pet the dog on it's head? Not trying to blame the neighbor (tho arguably they didn't heed your daughter telling them not to pet) but this is sometimes seen as a dominance move by dogs. Some dogs also just don't like men, men with hats or people whose eyes they cannot discern. Not trying to remove the responsibility you have as the owner of the dog, but it is good to keep a mental profile of things which may trigger your dog's aggressive behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be a teaching moment for you and your family. For the immediate future, presume that your dog will bite again and take measures to prevent this. Harry V. makes an excellent suggestion about the basket muzzle and regular training. In general a regular schedule with your dog will do a lot to keep their temperament even, e.g. feeding, doing bathroom business, training, play time, sleep and down time. Play it safe until you establish a routine and the dog knows who its master is and where its place is. It is good to be safe, but I have never personally seen pit-mixes get aggressive towards their own family members. So, I wouldn't worry, but be cautious.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not already familiar with them, look into your local regulations regarding dog bites. In some States, &quot;bully breed&quot; laws allow for automatic rulings in cases of bites. I don't say this to encourage you to give up on your pet, just so that you know the liabilities. I have owned pit mixes without any incident of biting and do find them to be excellent dogs, however, knowing how they are perceived and the laws regarding their aggression, I am cautious with them around others, in new environments and when meeting strangers. Knowing the liabilities, the reward of owning such a dog is loyalty, love and an otherwise wonderful pet. I have found pit-mixes to be excellent pets - very curious, attentive, energetic and friendly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your daughter strong enough to restrain your dog? Even smaller (~40lbs) pit mixes can be surprisingly strong. It may also help to get your dog a harness for on-leash time so that if they need to be physically restrained, you are not risking damaging their throat by pulling too hard on their leash.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a dog park nearby? In addition to regular training in the home and neighborhood, socializing your dog with other dogs will help their behavior. Take it slow tho. As with any new environment, do not force them into a new situation. This might overwhelm them. I find it is a good practice to walk the perimeter with the dog while on-leash and let them get to know the area prior to letting them off-leash inside a dog park. The walk will help acclimate them, and give you an indication of how they will relate to the other dogs there. Start with short visits and keep a very watchful eye on them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing, tho, is that you need to train your dog so that they know their place and respond to commands. If they do not respond to basic commands of &quot;sit&quot;, &quot;stop&quot; or &quot;off&quot;, &quot;lie down&quot; and such, then do not let them off the leash. Once off the leash, they must also continue to respond to commands. It may help to use a stern command voice. Once the command is followed, repeat the command in an affectionate voice and praise them, e.g. sternly say &quot;sit&quot; (it might help to raise your hand while saying this: eyes up, butt down). After they sit, smile and say, &quot;good sit.&quot; Then sternly say &quot;stay.&quot; At that point you should be able to turn away from them and ignore them and they stay in their spot. When you return to them, smile and say &quot;good stay.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I suggest training without a lot of treats to reward good behavior - instead using your voice and affectionate touch. In the case of a dog that is already a year old, treats may be appropriate, just don't over feed them. Also, be wary of them training you to get the treats they want ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very strict about not letting strangers pet the dog. If they insist, tell them to not pet the dog on their head. It's a better technique to first tell the dog to sit. Then you have their attention. Then introduce them to the new person. You might also try the &quot;paw&quot; command so that your dog will hold up their paw to shake hands.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, speak with your vet about behavior training.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope things work out well with your family and your pet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9069" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T19:21:03.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16742" CreationDate="2017-04-12T19:41:20.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A heater inside an aquarium is going to be relatively safe as long as it is rated for aquarium use as sold in pet or fish shops. A general rule of thumb is cheaper products vs. industry average will be more susceptible to breaking, cracking (glass heaters), and the thermostat becoming faulty (either staying on and making the tank too warm, or shutting off and the tank will cool down too fast). In my personal experience, if I know that solid object could potentially come in contact with the heater, I will use a titanium heater which are generally more expensive. Rocks in your sump, would in your display tank could possible flow or be pushed into the glass heater and crack it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium heaters aren't going to become hot enough in water to crack glass or cause any real damage if that's also something you're worried about. It's recommended to not lay the heater flat on the tank bottom or substrate. And definitely keep the whole heater submerged! Otherwise the exposed part could become hot enough to melt through a sleeve or container that the heater is wrapped in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As with all aquarium equipment, it's not only a best practice, but&#xA;  crucial to safety that you turn off all equipment before doing water&#xA;  changes, cleaning, putting your hands in the tank, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastActivityDate="2017-04-12T19:41:20.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-13T04:42:50.677" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that is unspayed, about 1 year old. She has been sleeping next to my other cat, who has kittens about 10 days old, to the point the mother is constantly having to move the kittens. She is currently hiding in a drawer in our bathroom, but my other cat is now attempting to force the drawer open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop this from occurring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9283" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-13T07:09:18.183" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T14:19:08.280" Title="Why is my unspayed cat trying to chase off my other cat that has kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-13T08:57:38.853" Score="4" ViewCount="4009" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently experiencing behavioral problems in my male cat that has escalated over the approximate year since they started. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fable is a 4 year old male, and Twitch is one month younger. They've been together since ages 12 weeks and 8 weeks, were adopted within a few days of each other from the same shelter but different rooms, and were fixed and declawed at 5-6 months about a week or so apart. They get along really well, will often groom each other, play, and sleep together. Sometimes play can get a little rough and she'll hiss or growl at him to signal she's done and he'll quit after a few warnings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats are indoor cats, but we have a fully screened in porch so we often leave the door to it open for them. There's several cats that come roaming around onto our property, and if they get too close to the porch, Fable gets extremely territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first instance about a year ago a male stray came up to say hi to them through the screen door, and Fable muscled his way between Twitch and the stray. He didn't do anything aggressive to her, but seemed very clearly to be guarding her. The next time it happened was when he started hitting her. Since then, it has escalated to him hitting her more, chasing her through the house, pinning her down and biting (though no injuries), and the past two times she has urinated in fright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're able to stop Fable just by grabbing him by the scruff and holding him still for a few moments, and Twitch will take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours to calm down before she's back to her self, which we consider a reasonably quick recovery. After this everything goes back to normal for a few weeks until another cat gets too close to the porch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My theory is that when he smells another cat, it overwhelms his senses and he no longer recognizes Twitch by smell, so he attacks her because she's a cat. This is possible because he hit her once before after she came home from being fixed and she smelled like the vet and drugs instead of herself. My mom thinks he's just lashing out at her to chase her away from the other cat because he can't attack and chase away the cat on the other side of the screen so he's trying to separate them by any means necessary. However these are both just guesses to try to describe the scenario better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for possible solutions to this problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're considering locking up at sunset, as most of these incidents happen after dark, but that only avoids the problem and can also be frustrating for everyone because they won't understand why they can't go onto the porch when they could before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried scaring off the cats with yelling and even throwing things in their direction to no avail, and we don't want to put out anything scent-deterring in case it bothers our cats or any of the forest animals near our property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't want to put either cat on medication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, punishment after the fact is useless, since Fable won't understand if we punish him after he calms down, and if we punish him while he's in a fight mood, he might escalate the situation with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are well exercised for house cats. They play several times a day both with each other and alone with their toys, and we throw treats across the house for Fable to chase instead of handing him them. We don't believe he is pent up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't have any family members or friends with cats, so we can't have anyone bring a cat by to try to get him accustomed to strangers and we're not even sure that would work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any training methods to handle this kind of aggression? Can we train him somehow to not go into a fight mode when he sees/smells an unfamiliar cat? Or is the only option to avoid the situation entirely? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9284" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T13:23:52.630" Title="Male cat is attacking female cat when he sees/smells another cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16848" CreationDate="2017-04-13T18:14:10.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All good answers, but one thing to remember. If you act agitated or nervous, so will your dog. So much of this training involves you and how you act/react in various circumstances. I have two Pitt Bulls and one just doesn't like Corgies. Not sure why, but I veer away if I see a Corgy coming....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7308" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T18:14:10.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7353" CreationDate="2017-04-13T18:52:04.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also had a birman kitten and she passed away at 10 months from FIP.  It was so difficult to watch her become so lethargic, we had her chest fluid removed by vet, 1x just to help her breathe, they gave her steroids to help with appetite, but at the end, we were boiling chicken, salmon and then euthanize her for so she wouldn't suffer anymore. I had no idea how prone they were to FIP.  I also had an older Ragdoll at the time, thank goodness it didn't affect him although he was exposed.  He is 3 yrs old now. He was 2 at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be careful and make sure your breeder doesn't own too many cats (5, I've read is the cut off) But do your research.  Unfortunately my Vet told me, they will either get it, or they won't.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9289" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T18:52:04.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16863" CreationDate="2017-04-13T19:37:08.043" Score="5" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five year old cat, named Binx, which I've had him since birth. I also have two other cats that are his sisters and they are only four years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Binx has never really been a cuddly, passionate cat until about two years ago when he started giving all of his attention to my dad. My dad dislikes cats - although he doesn't mind Binx. But Binx loves him! He goes crazy once he gets home from work. He'll follow him around the house, lay on his chest, knead him and purr like crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't do any of this with me. I feed him and play with him so I always thought he'd be somewhat close to me but he's not. He doesn't care to be around me. He's had crystals for almost his whole life and every time he's gotten them I'm around and I'm the one to take him to the vet, so I'm unsure if he's associating me with these bad moments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His two sisters, Maisie and Ella, are nothing like him. They love coming around me and are constantly wanting my attention. I'm not sure if maybe he's jealous, but I always give him the same amount of attention I do the others, and he doesn't want it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at a loss of what to do. I want to be close to him like my dad is. Any tips on what I can do? Or on what I can differently would be very much appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hooza.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9290" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-19T23:43:02.787" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T23:43:02.787" Title="How can I get my cat to like me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16862" CreationDate="2017-04-13T20:44:02.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like humans there's no real guaranteed way to &quot;make&quot; a cat like you and the best time to form the bonds are when they are &amp;lt; 16 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be right in that the vet trips are a negative association for him, it's believed that cats have an &quot;episodic&quot; memory (&lt;a href=&quot;https://phys.org/news/2017-01-cat-ways-similar-humans-dogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://phys.org/news/2017-01-cat-ways-similar-humans-dogs.html&lt;/a&gt;) and this could be a factor here. But to my mind the most likely explanation is the close relationship you have with his sisters. Not necessarily jealously, in my experience jealous cats are more likely to compete with the rival rather than drop out (My birman male will sit at my feet and cry piteously if I pick up his Bengal &quot;sister&quot;!) but more likely that he he sees you as belonging to his sisters and therefore doesn't interfere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how you proceed from here there's no silver bullet and you may never have the relationship with Binx that your father does, all you can do is ensure that you're doing plenty of things to create &quot;good episodes&quot; in his memory and generally being good to him. Depending on his personality and temperament here's some things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Play one-on-one with him (a lot) and make sure you praise and fuss him when he &quot;catches&quot; the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If he's food-motivated bribery can work wonders - make sure he knows you have a treat handy and give him some fuss, then give him the treat and re-affirm the behavior by fussing him immediately afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give him plenty of opportunities to smell you, holding your hand still near him and just let him have a sniff then &lt;em&gt;gently&lt;/em&gt; stroke him. Given how close you are with the sisters you probably smell of them quite strongly to him, give him a chance to get a good scent of pure &quot;you&quot; by having a shower or bath and then engaging directly with him before the others, if you can get him to sniff your hand in this situation like I described above then, (assuming he will let you ) rub his cheeks, this is where cats secret &quot;their&quot; pheromones from so you'll be covering your fingers in his scent, essentially claiming you for him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-04-13T20:44:02.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-13T22:13:36.033" Score="2" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 jills that have lived together, for the most part, peacefully for the past 4 years. I have recently bathed them and used a new ferret shampoo that is lightly scented. After bathing, I did the usual thing of trying to help dry them off while they run around rubbing themselves on everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After they both became dry again, they started attacking each other, one more so than the other. One actually drew blood on the other's neck. I assumed it's down to scent, so I've tried rubbing some of their unwashed bedding on them - but that's not worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had to keep them separated for now, with one in the cage while the other is out. Any advice? I know ferrets play rough, but they've never drawn blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9291" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T14:56:42.303" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T14:56:42.303" Title="Post bath - ferret full blown attacking other ferret!" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-14T03:52:51.860" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;He has these little fins on the side of his face that keep going out and in. He's just lying in the corner of the tank. We fed him earlier and he didn't eat as much. I took out about a third of dirty water and added new water in. We also added a heater. This is hiM. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X65kB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X65kB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9292" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T03:52:51.860" Title="What do I do if my fighting fish is just lying at the bottom of the tank, barely moving but eating a little?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-07-04T18:33:15.173" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-14T08:33:51.813" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five year old cat who was diagnosed with struvite crystals. He's had it ever since he was about one to one and a half year old. He has had a catheter installed a few times and he's now on special food to help. He hasn't had them since 2014, which I'm grateful for!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do extra or buy to make sure they stay away? I constantly worry about him, because if it happens again I'm afraid I won't be able to pay for the cost of his vet bill this time around if it happens suddenly, which it use to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are there any types of treats you can feed cats that have this issue? I always want to treat him and give him something other than his cat food that he's stuck with, but I'm too scared to try regular treats in case they cause the crystals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be helpful and appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9290" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T11:50:44.010" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T11:50:44.010" Title="Struvite crystals" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16867" CreationDate="2017-04-14T12:54:34.523" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To prevent crystals stay on the veterinary diet your vet recommended. I've had people complain that it's expensive and go back to superstore cat food only to return with another blockage. These diets should be treated as a medication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water intake is important, this makes the cat pee more allowing the kidneys and bladder to be flushed more frequently. Adding can food along with his dry is an option or just feed canned food all together (the food your vet recommended will have a wet version of it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water fountains can help too although some cats don't like them. Cats typically prefer running water over still. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For treats &lt;a href=&quot;http://royalcanin.ca/products/catalog/Royal-Canin-Veterinary-Diet-Feline-URINARY-TREATS-for-cats/226054?gclid=CKPVr7H8o9MCFQUIaQodwU8I_A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;royal canin&lt;/a&gt; has some that you can purchase at your vet hospital. &#xA;Some people will also use their prescribed diet as treats as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T12:54:34.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16858" CreationDate="2017-04-14T13:23:52.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't had this problem myself, but on a couple of episodes of &amp;quot;My Cat from Hell&amp;quot; they dealt with this by placing electronic devices outside the house that would spray water to repel stray cats. There are also granules and sprays that are supposed to repel cats. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one online store&lt;/a&gt; that sells them. I haven't used them, but their website will at least give you an idea of what's available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are garbage bins in your backyard, make sure they are cat-proof. The lure of food can probably overpower any repellent you might try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for future reference, declawing is generally recognised to be a bad idea. Because the cats feel helpless without their claws, they often end up with behavioural problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T13:23:52.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16857" CreationDate="2017-04-14T14:19:08.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As to the question in your title, she is doing so, because your mother cat is her friend. But the problem is, your mother cat has &quot;moved on&quot; and &quot;settled down&quot;, she no longer has time for the party life of carefree snuggles; she is mostly concerned with her kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of three solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to shower the non-mother cat with as much love and affection as you can to fill the gap left by your mother cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get her another cat friend, although, as you may know, this could easily go wrong and the new cat might not get along with either of your existing cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would be very hesitant of this third option as there are already so many cats without homes, but if she was also had kittens of her own, that may keep her more occupied and she would not have to bother your other cat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9232" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T14:19:08.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-14T17:12:17.643" Score="4" ViewCount="18640" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last week, my 4 months old kitten was confronted with several symptoms: throwing up, releasing a clear, without smell, without color, watery liquid from her anus and pooping small amounts all over the house, which is very uncharacteristic for her. Her vomit doesn't have a strange color, it has the normal color of the food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very worried because she sleeps more now, she doesn't play anymore, and sometimes she just wakes up just to purr and eat a little. Her bottom discharge was quite big, she wet all the places where she used to sit, and the liquid water resembles very much but it's a little more dense, like some sort of jelly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This started to happen 5 days ago. I went to the vet several times and they said to me that the cat does not have something very serious. They gave me probiotics and hepatic food, and today they injected her with an antibiotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet also made an echograph and said that the uterus of the cat is completely clean and fine and the reason for her symptoms must be some sort of food poisoning. Also, he specified that the mucus of the intestines is indeed inflamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said that reason of her illness was the food I fed her: in the last days, I gave her some wet canned food and some treats (Applaws more exactly). I don't know what to believe about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, any idea about her illness and any advice about what to do would be very much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1092" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-10T11:56:33.020" LastActivityDate="2020-01-10T11:56:33.020" Title="Why is my cat throwing up and leaking a clear liquid from the bottom?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17409" CreationDate="2017-04-14T19:33:29.767" Score="3" ViewCount="1155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I occasionally stretch by putting my arms straight over my head, and then lowering them to horizontal. I end up in a position like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tO9Cb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tO9Cb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;arms held straight out to sides&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Every time&lt;/em&gt; I do this around my cat, she runs over and stares intently at my arms, waits for me to lower them, and then jumps up and tries to bite them. It doesn't matter if I move quickly or slowly (she'll wait).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have figured out she won't pounce if I keep my arms tucked at the elbows and closer to my body, instead of straight out from my sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't get it! Do I look like something to hunt when I do that? Any ideas why that particular movement triggers a response?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7988" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-15T00:28:52.500" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T21:19:34.963" Title="Why does my cat attack my arms when I stretch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16871" CreationDate="2017-04-14T20:56:16.537" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your vet is in the best position to offer you advice, as he has examined your kitten. If your vet is not highly worried about your kitten then I would give the treatment of antibiotics and new diet a little time to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect your vet already talked to you about causes and diagnostics relevant to this case. If she doesn't get better, then by all means take her back to the vet. There are loads of causes of vomiting and diarrhea in kittens, and with common things like gastroenteritis (inflamed stomach and intestines) we never find out the underlying cause, which could be some kind of bacteria or virus, or she may have eaten something that upset her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blood work is one thing that you didn't mention that I'm sure your vet would be willing to perform on request. In all likelihood it is probably unremarkable, but it's something that could be easily checked. The other thing I might consider checking at this stage is a fecal sample, or even just empirically deworm since parasites are so common in kittens and can cause vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is you need to continue your conversation with your vet if she does not get better. While there are always more tests that could be run, your vet is probably trying to rule out the common things first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-14T20:56:16.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-15T17:31:03.793" Score="1" ViewCount="458" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my dog, a 5 year old German Shepherd, had 8 puppies 2 days ago. She delivered normally and, from the little that I know, they all seemed healthy. They were crying right after birth, and all.of them manoeuvred their way to suck milk.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But since then (48hrs) we have noticed that the puppies sleeping a bit too much compared to their first day. We felt like something was wrong so we checked our dog to see if nipples were producing milk properly and we found that on pressing them only the last two (near the hind legs)  released very little milk, and the rest released nothing. Also we saw in some other dogs the milk sacs are usually very swollen after birth but for my dog only the last two are swollen and the rest are very little if not completely flat. &#xA;Is this normal for German shepherds?  And if not then should we consider dog formula milk for the puppies? Also is the formula milk safe and healthy for the pups?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How do we tell if the puppies are healthy and feeding properly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I'm really worried and would appreciate your inputs!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: my vet is out of town for Easter holidays and won't be back for the next four days so yeah really need your advice for now! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastActivityDate="2017-04-15T17:31:03.793" Title="How to know 2 day old puppies are getting enough milk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16876" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-15T22:44:59.313" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;when I brush her is that she'll do a silent meow, so it sounds like an empty meow if you get what I'm saying. It sounds like this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/B3weB7V2U0g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/B3weB7V2U0g&lt;/a&gt; I really don't understand what this communicates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i need to know if its fine if I brush her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does she enjoy or not like the brushing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorDisplayName="user8659" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T20:42:36.917" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T20:42:36.917" Title="Cat has strange behaviours when I brush her" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16872" CreationDate="2017-04-15T22:46:59.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often do you play with your cat? It sounds to me like this is just play aggression. My cat will sometimes do the same thing with my legs when I'm walking. To prevent it, play with her more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastActivityDate="2017-04-15T22:46:59.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16876" CreationDate="2017-04-16T00:21:44.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the behaviour you describe, I think your cat is really enjoying the brushing. I suggest you do it more often, as it is a good bonding experience between you and your cat. Cats groom each other to strengthen their relationships, and most cats will happily be groomed by their humans. Some cats will even &quot;groom&quot; their humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat didn't like the brushing, I'm sure she would be trying to get away from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-16T00:21:44.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T06:47:52.107" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often should my cats be fed in a day? I have three cats. One is on a special diet for struvite crystals. My other two eat dry food. Ella is skinny, but Maisie is overweight as well as her brother, Binx. I don't leave their food out because Binx is not allowed their food at all, but I feel like Maisie is constantly wanting her food so I'm always putting it out for her to eat because I end up feeling bad. So how many times a day should I feed them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9290" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T17:17:31.940" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T17:17:31.940" Title="How many times a day should I feed my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16880" CreationDate="2017-04-17T14:50:39.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no right answer to this question. From a health point of view it is okay to feed adult cats once, twice, three times a day – or more – as long as you can control their calorie intake. Free choice can be okay in some cats, but not if they tend to over-eat. I would say most people take the happy medium of feeding twice a day, as that is easiest to fit with most people's work schedules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are, of course, certain conditions where feeding schedule must be closely monitored, such as in a diabetic cat. In otherwise healthy cats who are overweight, it is important to control their calories. You can calculate how much they should be getting based on their ideal weight, and the calorie information which should be available online for most mainstream brands, or if you call the company. Unfortunately this information is not on the bag for many foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For overweight cats who tend to over-eat, you may find it helpful to split the total calories into more meals. Feeding three or four smaller meals will mean that their stomach is less empty for long periods. Also consider switching to a lower calorie food, as that will allow cats to consume more (feel fuller) but not take in additional calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timed feeders can help when you need to feed more meals a day, and provide excellent consistency in timing which cats often appreciate. However, with timed feeders it is hard to control which cat eats which food, therefore thi is not likely a workable solution for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your underweight cat, if you have not already done so, it is important your vet rules out whether there is a medical reason why she is not gaining weight despite an increased appetite. These signs are quite typical of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_hyperthyroid.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hyperthyroidism&lt;/a&gt;, so it would be worth checking a T4 to make sure her levels are within normal range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/CW_Feed.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Often Should You Feed Your Cat?&lt;/a&gt; for some further information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T14:50:39.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T18:14:37.070" Score="1" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pure-bred Catahoula dog. He is 80lbs and just turned 1yr old. I can't give him bedding because he eats it. He literally eats everything his bedding (he pooped out the bedding all over the yard, his rope toys, he eats them (can't give those to him any more), I even tried a tough rubber mat for him to lay on - nope,  he ate part of it before I took it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He eats regularly his dog food, he gets plenty of water and regular exercise. He isn't alone because I have another dog that he also plays with, as well as 2 cats (such a happy blended family that I have). But I can't get him to stop eating Everything. I can't turn my back for even one minute - it is getting to be too much. Lately I have had 2 episodes where there was explosive diarrhoea from his crate - he sleeps in there. It is more like a giant pen - but I can't trust him out in the house overnight not to eat things, so I put him in his pen overnight, as well as my other dog- she goes into her crate too (so they are both treated the same) but he loves her crate, he sleeps, and naps in his pen during the day too when he is out and about - so I don't think it has anything to do with that. What do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We walk him 2x a day, we take him for hikes a few times a week as well, we play with him daily. What more could it be? He poops random objects. He has torn apart all of his toys, we have gotten the big king toys to chew on and put treats inside for him to play with for a while. I know this is like a run on, but I want you to know that I have done almost everything I can think of to keep him from eating anything that is in his sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9303" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T22:21:27.843" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T12:21:50.700" Title="How do I get my dog to stop eating, literally, everything?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-04-28T01:20:54.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T21:10:13.920" Score="1" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an American bulldog and she's 2 years old. I've noticed this for some time right now but I just wanted to know. Every time I see her in the morning she would come up to me and rub her head across my leg and sometimes when I look on my trouser leg, there would be a ball of this eye gunk on my leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to know what this is and if its an issue I need to check with the vet. Thanks for all responses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9305" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-04-17T21:32:44.757" LastActivityDate="2017-12-08T11:15:32.107" Title="Cause of eye gunk from dogs eye?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T21:23:39.710" Score="-1" ViewCount="1326" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is my cat randomly meowing? She jumped off the bed, laid down on the ground looked ta the ceiling and started meowing. Then she started grooming herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T16:04:54.820" Title="Cat meows at nothing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-04-20T00:51:19.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16884" CreationDate="2017-04-17T21:26:39.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many causes of ocular discharge in dogs. There is no way anyone online can tell you the cause of the discharge. It could be a mild conjunctivitis, or there could be an infection. Given she is a brachycephalic breed, it's important to consider whether there is an underlying reason why she is having eye issues. Bulldog-type breeds are more likely to have conditions such as dry eye, entropion (rolled eyelid), or tear drainage issues, any of which could present as ocular discharge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you probably don't need to see a vet emergently, it is definitely worth having a vet look at her eyes to make sure there is not something structural that needs to be addressed, or an infection that needs to be treated. If an eye condition is left untreated, it could progress, and potentially irreversibly effect vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T21:26:39.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-17T22:08:44.417" Score="1" ViewCount="3107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I pet my cats back theres always dandruff towards her lower back. Also, my hands get really sticky after petting her. Why is this? Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8659" LastEditorDisplayName="user8659" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T20:43:07.493" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T15:15:52.300" Title="Cat's fur is sticky and has dandruff" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16887" CreationDate="2017-04-17T22:35:47.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like she is unable to clean herself properly because of her weight. Visit your vet to get advice on what to feed her, and how much. Engage her in regular play sessions so she will get some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until she loses the weight, you will have to help her clean herself. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzpwkn_gFP4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; will show you how to do a &quot;mini-bath&quot; with a damp, slightly soapy cloth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am surprised that at just 3 years old she is so overweight that she can't clean herself. When you visit the vet, he or she can check that there isn't some other health problem (e.g., back pain) that is making it difficult for her to clean near her tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-17T22:35:47.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-18T00:04:28.937" Score="3" ViewCount="1106" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title basically says it all.  I'm looking for suggestions for fun, stimulating dog toys that my dog can play with alone (i.e. without me having to do anything to get the toy to work, not when she's alone without supervision).  Would prefer them to be small-ish and easy to put away in a cabinet or closet when not in use.  We live in Manhattan, in a 1 bedroom apartment without a backyard, so stuff like automatic ball throwers aren't going to work.  My apartment isn't small by NYC standards but I certainly don't have space to install anything sizable from a wall/ceiling/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Backstory:&#xA;I have a 10 month old &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds/non-sporting/keeshond.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Keeshond&lt;/a&gt; who doesn't love to play with toys by herself.  She will happily play tug (and similar games) with me, loves to run around with other dogs at the park, and enjoys training (we do obedience and agility).  She also likes to chew, and has several Benebones, as well as a steady supply of Himalayan Dog Chews.  We have a few toys that, in theory, she could play with alone (&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B005AP3B8S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong Cozie&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002I0O60&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hide-A-Squirrel&lt;/a&gt;, and such) as well as basically every type of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=pets&amp;amp;field-keywords=kong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong&lt;/a&gt; which I use for all her meals.  She likes toys filled with food, and I try lots of different recipes in the Kongs, but I reserve the Kongs for when she's alone (i.e. when I go to work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:30:19.857" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:59:56.607" Title="What are some good dog toys for solo play in an apartment?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2017-04-18T00:36:13.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just used mineral oil and it worked great. Used a cotton pad and slowly applied it to the sticky edge of the bandaid. Came off quickly and was not harmful to his wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9308" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T00:36:13.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2017-04-18T05:02:32.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to feed my traumatized puppy the same way. I allowed it until I was certain he was bonded to me. And then I would give him a piece of food from my hand, but close to his dish. I'd offer him the next piece of food even closer to his bowl. For the third piece, I'd hold my finger in his bowl. When his mouth was in his bowl and taking food on his own, I could remove my hand. It did take a little longer for him to stop following me if I walked away to let him eat. These things take a lot of patience. Remember that animals do not think like humans -- but humans have the ability to experiment with different ways to train and &quot;reason&quot; with animals. If one way doesn't work, try something else. Be firm, but loving and reassuring. Your dog won't die if he goes without a meal or two (be sure he's getting water!). But if he continues refusing food, you should speak with your vet and get professional advice. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9310" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T05:02:32.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16882" CreationDate="2017-04-18T12:21:50.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds to me like you have a very bored dog - Catahoula's are working dogs, they are very smart and need constant entertainment. A friend of mine has one, her routine is on the lines of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morning - go to park for 1.5 hours of off leash running, chasing, exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lunch time - Dog walker comes by for mid-day walks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supper time - Doggy sports, every day is something new - she does: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtaAams3j9g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fly-ball&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://northamericadivingdogs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dog diving&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggsIU8rXubk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;K9 Agility&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFgBXwNgE1M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;disc dog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need foraging toys for meal times or to give when not around, they usually figure these out quickly but it will give you some time to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs are meant for active people, if you give enough exercise and mental stimulation it will help with the destructive behaviors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime I recommend putting him on pet insurance, he's a foreign body surgery waiting to happen. Also to buy a &lt;a href=&quot;http://site.morrco.com/images/full/poldogmuzsiz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;basket muzzle&lt;/a&gt; to prevent him from destroying objects, this should only be worn under supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T12:21:50.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15380" CreationDate="2017-04-18T20:06:21.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 11-12 years old. She has done this her whole life but it has increased a lot as she got older. After reading the comment saying it may be cognitive disorders or senility, I thought this could be an aswer for my own pet. With Peegy though, It's not just specific spots really, she just sits with her face as close to the wall as possible.She stares at totally blank walls all the time. Anyhow she was born with under developed eyelids abd looked like a mutant when she was little. As she grew up she just grew out of it and looks pretty normal now. Only thing is she has impaired vision and has since birth. Took me a long time to find this out. They said her staring at walls might give her comfort in a spatial consciousness kind of way because she's kind of blind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9313" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T20:06:21.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-18T22:11:35.977" Score="-2" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Yorkie is 4 months old, and she is a female. What my Yorkie does is eat the cat food, plays in her litter box, she goes in the trash can, and lastly, what I regret the most was when I hit her for the first time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually give her a time out in her cage for 20 mins when she does something wrong but she crossed the line on this one. She push down my plasma screen tv when I was at work. I grabbed a sandal and just whacked her butt very hard that she started shaking under the bed and didn't come out like for 2 hours. I regret it but man I try to be patient with her but nothing work even when I trained her for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do so she don't become too destructive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9314" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-08-16T01:35:57.267" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T18:25:05.480" Title="My yorkie is dirtying the house. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16837" CreationDate="2017-04-18T23:51:32.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would limit the intake of whale meat due to possible contamination of whales killed in Norway, according to Japanese findings. They tested for organochloride pesticides (dieldrin and aldrin) and bacterial contamination (not specified). Both dieldrin and aldrin have been banned. Dieldrin stays in the body a long time if ingested, and aldrin is converted to dieldrin. So it's easy to see where animals higher up the food chain (such as sharks &amp;amp; fish-eating whales) will concentrate dieldrin as it eats contaminated animals. Minke sometimes eat small fish and crustaceans which feed on other sea life. Mercury similarly can become concentrated in ocean animals from the same effect, although it is more concentrated in the liver. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An older Japanese study considers whale meat consumption of .1 grams per person per day as low consumption and presumably low risk of mercury and organochlorine. You'd have to convert the size of your cat and scale down, but 50g a week seems to be on the high end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do continue to feed whale meat, avoid organ meats and tails which have more fat, and do so less often or at lower quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Recent-Cases-of-Violation-of-the-Food-Sanitation-Laws-Whale-Meat-.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Recent-Cases-of-Violation-of-the-Food-Sanitation-Laws-Whale-Meat-.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (Pesticides &amp;amp; bacterial contamination)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=315&amp;amp;tid=56&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=315&amp;amp;tid=56&lt;/a&gt; (Health risks of specific organochloride pesticides)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://palumbi.stanford.edu/manuscripts/Simmonds%20et%20al%202002.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://palumbi.stanford.edu/manuscripts/Simmonds%20et%20al%202002.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (Consumption of whale meat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2017-04-18T23:51:32.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16902" CreationDate="2017-04-19T13:32:05.207" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 month old pitbull has been doing fairly well with learning some tricks such as &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;lay down.&quot;  However, I can't seem to get her to learn &quot;paw.&quot;  Whenever I try to teach her using treats as a reward, she focuses primarily on the treat and nothing else.  She will stare at the treat and ignore my command.  If I put the threat in my hand with a closed fist, and use my other hand to demonstrate I want her paw, she will sniff and lick my hand, likely looking for the treat I just had in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way to teach this? The usual technique of giving her a treat when she does it correctly isn't working for me here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T14:38:34.597" Title="What is an effective way to teach my dog &quot;paw&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16901" CreationDate="2017-04-19T14:38:34.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go the other way around for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she doesn't obey the command, hold her paw up and clearly reinforce the command &quot;Paw&quot; while you hold her paw.  Then give the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this over the next few days and she should start associating the command with the action and perform &quot;Paw&quot; pro-actively in order to get the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T14:38:34.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16898" CreationDate="2017-04-19T15:06:08.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, so first thing - the cage shouldn't be used as a punishment cell.  Cages should be a place of safety and comfort for a dog.  If you use one as a punishment, then you're taking that comfort away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, she's a puppy so you should be treating her as such.  For the first few months of his life, our puppy stayed in the kitchen for the main part.  There's nothing around that he can trash in there (at least that we didn't care so much about).  All trips into the rest of the house are supervised and even at 7 months, we don't let him loose on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd advise you to get some stair gates (same as you'd use for children) and fence off a room for the puppy she that she feels safe (and it's &quot;her&quot; territory) and its up to you to supervise her travels around the rest of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, where you feed the cat should be in a separate location to where the puppy lives and you need to move the cat food away when the puppy is around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T15:06:08.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16885" CreationDate="2017-04-19T16:04:54.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This probably isn't going to be a very satisfying answer, but: It's just something some cats do. Some cats never meow unless they need something. Some cats like to &quot;talk&quot; to people (and enjoy it when their human talks back to them). Some cats like to &quot;talk&quot; to themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it as your cat thinking out loud &quot;I wonder if there's anything interesting on the ceiling.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T16:04:54.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10277" CreationDate="2017-04-19T21:04:33.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried filling a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2osYDKz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;regular Kong&lt;/a&gt; with a mix of his kibble + some peanut butter or apple sauce or something similar and freezing it?  This would last a lot longer than the Kong Wobbler as your pup will have to work hard to get the food to melt and come out.  If you're worried about him chewing up the Kong, there is also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2osFaJY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong Extreme&lt;/a&gt; version which is more durable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good option is this &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oMCuKp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Goughnuts ring&lt;/a&gt;, which is guaranteed indestructible (they also have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oo8G4l&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tug toy&lt;/a&gt;). I would certainly take the guarantee with a grain of salt, but the ring may be a good option for when he's bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you can look into puzzle toys like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2o4TSLL&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Outward Hound Star Spinner Interactive Doy Toy Puzzle for Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oMsNvG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TRIXIE Dog Activity Flip Board&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2ot0aQP&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ethical Pet Seek-A-Treat Shuffle Bone Dog Puzzle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are great for giving your pup a small job to complete to get a reward.  Also, since your dog destroys things sometimes you'll want to use your judgement about what is safe to leave him alone with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day the best way to ensure your pup isn't destroying all of your furniture and belongings is to make it more rewarding to practice another behavior or to remove the reward from this behavior. It will be a bit easier to remove the reward than to compete with it, so that's what I'll focus on. Your dog sounds pretty bored if he's chewing up the couch while you're away - especially given that when he's well exercised at daycare he doesn't act out like this for a day or so after.  Daycare is expensive, but you're going to pay one way or another. Right now you're paying in the destruction of your stuff.  With daycare you pay with your money.  Another option is to pay is in time.  Spend more time exercising your dog - take him to the park every morning (even 30 minutes of running around with other dogs might be enough to get him through the day).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also assuming you've gone through basic obedience training when you first got your dog. If not, start there. Your pup should be reliable with basic commands, such as sit, stay, and come (that last one is a life saver). Aside from daily trips to the dog park or dog daycare (assuming this is your only dog), you can practice obedience training throughout each day as this will expend a lot of your dogs mental energy. If you can afford to, getting your dog into a sport (like agility or flyball) will alleviate a lot of his excess energy which he's currently releasing onto your couch. You can search for a training club near you &lt;a href=&quot;https://webapps.akc.org/obedience-training-club/#/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-04-19T21:04:33.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-19T23:07:16.300" Score="7" ViewCount="3835" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two Siamese cats that are siblings. They are almost two years old. Before I moved out and brought them with me, they lived in a house with three other cats. They always loved each other and shared their food and beds. Since I moved out and they came with me, Muskot (the boy) bullies Cilek (the girl). Cilek runs away from him and does not want to eat next to him. She struggles to go to the litter box because she has to walk past him, and he is always hanging out in the living room. Mus is a lap cat and demands my attention all the time. Cila is more fond of her father, my boyfriend. I have to take her food to her bed, otherwise she won't eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she steps out of her bed, Mus chases her around with his ears all flat. I don't know if he's trying to play. Cila has dominion over her bed, but he sometimes sleeps in it with her. They cuddle when that happens. &#xA;I try to be loving and patient with her, but she is a scared cat. When she does come to us for petting, he looks alert and even angry. Oftentimes, he will come between Cila and our hands, claiming the touch for himself. She then loses interest and leaves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do. I thought they would keep each other company and be happy together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Mus once urinated all over Cila's bed and I don't want to sound crazy but I think he did it on purpose. Help. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pJnZg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9318" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T00:32:13.870" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T15:40:50.543" Title="One of my cats bullies the other. What can I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-20T00:08:58.840" Score="-3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;By advanced training, I mean empty its bowels and urethra before leaving home so it can't mess the street; never threaten strangers while walking unless directed by the owners; and when directed to continue onwards, when sniffing something etc., actually starts walking immediately- how long would a dog school allow for such training?     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:21:56.047" Title="On average how long would take to give a dog advanced training" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-20T06:16:01.740" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two German Shepherds, Daisy and her daughter Dalmi. Since her birth, Dalmi was living with her mother as her companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite me and my family also being a part of their life, I still think that it plays an important role in dogs' lives if they live with each other all the time. Daisy passed away last Tuesday. So far, I have not yet noticed any visible trauma in Dalmi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But could this incident and Daisy's absence harm Dalmi in any way? And how should I keep her happy and protect her from any kind of trauma?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9262" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:48:43.713" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:48:43.713" Title="Life of a dog after losing her companion she had from birth" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16909" CreationDate="2017-04-20T07:50:52.887" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will depend on the race of the dog, some learn quicker, some are more obedient, some can be more difficult to train, on the &quot;character&quot; of the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the character and discipline of the owner, wether the owner has previous experience with a dog or not, how much time you are spending with your dog and on the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will also depend on the law in your jurisdiction, for some or all dogs training may be required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, the dog will &quot;go&quot; when you go on a walk, I do not know anybody who trains there dog to use the toilet, although it is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can expect good results after 1-2 years and daily training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which type of dog do you want? Do you have a race in mind? Do you have family, children? Do you live in the city/country? Have you taken a dog from a shelter for a few days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9320" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T07:50:52.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16912" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20606" CreationDate="2017-04-20T14:09:19.570" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Very&lt;/em&gt; long story, as short as possible (intro first, questions at bottom):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two cats. In &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/16406/987&quot;&gt;mid-February&lt;/a&gt; cat C (female, indoor, 3 yr, spayed), presented with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thick, excessive drooling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mild appetite loss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constipation (somewhere between moderate and severe).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat C also has a lifetime history of snoring / noisy breathing from the sinus area, mild eye discharge, and heavy water consumption, but generally appears healthy and active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Around that same time cat V had a very, very small, odd, brown discharge from the corner of his mouth (he was always prone to drooling, having an overbite), which at first I thought was a bit of food but it kept returning after cleaning (however, he was also due for dental work and was exhibiting signs of dental problems, eating from the side in particular). Cats were isolated, cat V appeared to recover, with the discharge discontinuing within a week. Cat C was taken in for dental worth, signs of mild gum infection noticed, teeth cleaned, given &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16467/can-i-crush-baytril-pills&quot;&gt;antibiotics&lt;/a&gt; for 2 weeks. Condition cleared up, cause of constipation remained a mystery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also starting around that time cat V (male, indoor, 16 yr, neutered):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appetite began decreasing, slowly at first. Then stopped eating entirely about 2.5 weeks ago.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;About 2 weeks ago presented with symptoms highly resembling lymphoma:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enlarged lymph node (3.5 cm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slightly enlarged spleen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Severe anemia (lack of rbc production determined).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unusual (but inconclusive) size distribution of lymphocytes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V became jaundiced then his calcium levels suddenly plummeted last week and, sadly, there were no remaining options and we decided to put him down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We were never able to get a positive lab confirmation of a cancer (three lymphatic samples and a spleen sample via needle aspirate + lots of bloodwork, V was not stable enough for a biopsy) although it remained high on our theory list.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat V has a history of IBD since January, but otherwise healthy with no signs of liver or kidney problems, no signs of pancreatitis, no signs of diabetes. He had a mild heart murmor and mild HCM since birth, inconsequential. V had become severely hypokalemic and had a benign but rare aldosterone-secreting adrenal tumor &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16031/feline-hyperaldosteronism-conns-disease-alternative-treatment-options&quot;&gt;successfully removed&lt;/a&gt; in January and made a full recovery, we determined his IBD had been masked by the tumor's released hormones. His liver was slightly enlarged but recovered after the tumor was removed. He was on 5mg prednisolone daily and biweekly B12 injections since. V also had poor coat regrowth since last August (possibly explained by tumor or vitamin deficiencies) and his black coat was turning orange since December (which we explained through salivary staining but could have other factors). We were 99.99999% confident that his lymphoma[-like] illness, even if cancer, was not directly related to the previous adrenal tumor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, Cat C's appetite has fluctuated greatly in the past 2 weeks (mild - moderate appetite loss) as has her activity level (ranging from mild lethargy to normal), but there are too many variables to know if it is significant: Loss of other cat, the weather has been significantly warmer (and the presence of potentially disease-carrying flying insects adds more potential complications to this whole thing as well), my own stress/anxiety/depression regarding loss of other pet, etc. I do not know if it is cause for concern or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats received yearly rabies and feline distemper vaccines, and C was negative for FIV in 2014. Both cats are indoor and have not been outside in at least 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, around March, I began &lt;em&gt;noticing&lt;/em&gt; water quality problems in my apartment (sharp rise in amount of unknown sediment in water), but it's highly possible, especially after talking to neighbors, that the water here has never been that great. Inaccurate home test kits revealed no interesting info except for a &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; elevated copper level that was still well below the EPA guidelines for humans. I switched both cats (and myself) to bottled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am leaving out a lot for brevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern now is for both the safety of cat C as well as any other cats that I may bring into the house in the future. &lt;strong&gt;I have no idea if C's mystery illness was linked to V's mystery illness, and I have no idea if water quality is related to any of this, and I have no idea what is relevant vs. noise.&lt;/strong&gt; It's a complete mystery all around. The dots are not connected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this all boils down to is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Communicable Diseases: C is going to the vet this week to get tested to see if she is a carrier for FeLV, FIV, FIP, and feline distemper. &lt;strong&gt;Given her mystery illness and the two month timeline and hypothesizing that there is a link to V's condition, what else should I have her tested for?&lt;/strong&gt; Is there any communicable disease that could cause drooling, appetite loss, and constipation on initial infection, with the potential to become asymptomatic in some cats, that can also lead to anemia / severe inflammatory response, or greatly increase the risk of a cancer?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chronic Toxicity: I haven't sent my water to a proper lab. &lt;strong&gt;Ignoring C's illness, given V's decline, and hypothesizing that chronic exposure to something in the water over a period of up to 3 years is linked to V's condition, what could do this and what should I test for? Are there signs of exposure I can look for in C?&lt;/strong&gt; From my research, copper, zinc, aluminum seem to be on the top of my list. Unfortunately we never took any samples from V's liver since it wasn't showing any signs of inflammation and the bile ducts were clear on ultrasound, so it's not possible to know if he was accumulating any minerals or heavy metals. It's my understanding that we can also take hair samples from C to look for accumulation of toxic substances. Note, however, that it has been almost 2 months since I took both cats off the tap water. However, long term exposure, or V's sensitivity due to his age or perhaps his IBD, could have made him more sensitive, or it was too late to prevent any damage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole situation has been incredibly complicated, with many factors whose relations, if any, remain unclear, and many occurrences with multiple reasonable explanations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2017-04-20T15:25:50.133" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T14:44:41.003" Title="Testing for external factors contributing to a cat's loss, keeping other cat safe" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-20T15:34:51.677" Score="-1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Pet has turned 1 year old but her chewing everything habit is not going. If kept loose she eat up almost everything(wood, plant, cloth, plastic, chair sheet etc.). Everybody is fedup and I'm trying to find ways to stop her this habit. Is there any deficiency of something in her or any vaccination or any medicine is required for this. At-least her this habit gets minimized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9321" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-04-21T00:18:15.730" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T00:18:15.730" Title="How to stop my pet from chewing on everything" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-04-26T01:44:38.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16913" CreationDate="2017-04-20T15:51:34.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog (assuming your pet is a dog, because if it were an iguana it probably wouldn't be able to chew up the chair covers) is bored, and destroying things is a fun way to pass the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Does your dog have appropriate things to chew on?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some good options are a &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oZoaPa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Himalayan Dog Chew&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oZwyyi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Benebone&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2pGVEQA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rope toys&lt;/a&gt;.  You'll want to supervise your dog when you introduce these toys to make sure your pup won't accidentally break them and/or hurt themselves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Does your dog have enough enrichment/mental stimulation?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stuffed &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oODOwz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong&lt;/a&gt; does wonders to occupy and tire out a bored dog.  Mix your dogs regular kibble with applesauce, peanut butter, etc and use that instead of a bowl at mealtime.  You might also think about a training class.  Lots of dogs enjoy learning and this can provide much needed stimulation as well (search for a training club near you &lt;a href=&quot;https://webapps.akc.org/obedience-training-club/#/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-04-20T15:51:34.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-21T10:05:35.193" Score="5" ViewCount="81642" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I adopted a shelter cat, unknown age, but we were told she was rather old (10 to 17 years?) Was very shy in the beginning and hid under the bed or in my wardrobe. But purred when petted. Now she has fully accepted us as their servants, always coming and sitting on our laps when we return from work and getting comfortable on the couch. She's not hiding anymore and roams the flat freely. Hopefully we can let her out into the garden soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her eating habits are rather un-cat-ish, though:&#xA;she eats very little. Most of the food goes to the trash can when her bowls (yes, several, we don't really know what food she was used to) are renewed.&#xA;She eats dry food, we see her eating from it, and sometimes we can hear her munching when we are in bed. She drinks water sufficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the wet food she only licks sauce / gravy and ignores the chunks (maybe she eats a few chunks, but merely as a by-product of gravy-licking.)&#xA;(Maybe I should write a letter to Whiskas asking for a bucket of their gravy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my cat behaving normally? Should I be worried she might be eating too little? (She doesn't seem enfeebled: jumps on the bed and on the couch and put her claws to the carpet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9325" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T10:02:44.387" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T10:02:44.387" Title="New cat only licks sauce / gravy from wet food and ignores the chunks, but eats dry food without issues" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16890" CreationDate="2017-04-21T11:00:10.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suggestions you may not have tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kong toys frozen in ice blocks, but in an apartment these would make mess obviously so perhaps not suitable. I do this outside with my Shepherd in summer. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toys that dispense treats when the dog rolls them around the room. We have the buster cube which my dog loves. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A durable ball with holes, you then get a durable piece of string or a shoe lace or something and tie the ball to it. My dog loves this as she grabs the string and runs around the room and loves it when the ball follows her. She amuses herself with it for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T22:59:56.607" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:59:56.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16917" CreationDate="2017-04-21T11:54:13.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would be quite normal,as many of the chunks you see are not meat, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/28-textured-vegetable-protein-all-about-appearance?v=preview&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;textured vegetable protei&lt;/a&gt;n (TVP). The cat is preferring the food that has a meaty taste, as opposed to the vegetarian option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T11:54:13.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-21T12:06:56.697" Score="4" ViewCount="584" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse has suffered a leg injury and has been bandaged over the withers and neck with elastoplast- an adhesive wrap that is approximately 5 cm wide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gIz1n.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gIz1n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has left sticky plaster remains on her coat, see circled in red. It won't come out with just a simple body brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQVaQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQVaQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good way to remove this stickiness from  from my horses fur?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T15:25:49.980" Title="What is a good way to remove the stickiness from adhesive bandaging from my horses fur?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16910" CreationDate="2017-04-21T12:28:39.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly they do quite well, for dogs who are dependent on a canine companion you will see anxiety/stress when they are left alone. If she hasn't shown any new off-behaviors then she is coping well and you shouldn't need to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't change anything in her routine, animals in general like routine so the more you keep it on track the better. However if Daisy was keeping Dalmi active and tuckered out you may need to increase play-time (more exercise) to prevent boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-21T12:28:39.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16917" CreationDate="2017-04-21T12:57:38.930" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats don't like chunks and gravy. In fact, some cats don't like wet food at all! If chunks and gravy isn't working try the &lt;a href=&quot;https://img.chewy.com/is/image/catalog/112040_PT5._AC_SL1500_V1487102371_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;paté version&lt;/a&gt;. Only give out small portions at a time, as wet food tends to dry up quickly, and then she definitely won't want it. You may also warm it up in the microwave to enhance the smell, but mash it sufficiently so that it's not too hot when she eats it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats rely on &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/iFgBs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smell&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/wfATb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;texture&lt;/a&gt; first when deeming it edible or not, which is why when they are kittens, it's a good idea to introduce them to different textured foods (preferably of the same brand to not cause any GI upset).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried she isn't eating enough, weigh her once to twice a week until you feel comfortable. I always recommend weighing once to twice a month for healthy pets to prevent weight gains or losses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also add this little extra tidbit - since your cat is probably a senior, I highly recommend doing a wellness visit for blood work at your regular vet. Our senior kitties are at high risk for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-checkups-preventive-care/5-silent-killers-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;number of illnesses&lt;/a&gt;, though the one I worry most about is kidney disease. The thing about kidney disease is that you only start to see physical signs once the kidneys have been damaged by ~70%. Catching it early will allow her to live longer, as you can start treating to slow the progression sooner. We like to do a senior wellness screen yearly to every second year as a preventative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T10:02:36.247" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T10:02:36.247" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-21T23:04:02.157" Score="4" ViewCount="9876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a baby leopard gecko exactly one week ago and I haven't seen him eat yet. He is a hatchling and he looks like an average sized baby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am feeding him on large calcium dusted mealworms. I have him in a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank with the hot side at about 88-90 degrees Fahrenheit (31-32 °C). So I am pretty sure the heating is not the problem. On 6th day I found that one of the mealworms had been torn in half and I hadn't touched it. So now I am wondering if the mealworms are to big for the baby leopard gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9328" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T17:50:37.313" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:21:52.740" Title="Baby leopard gecko won't eat!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-22T04:34:04.390" Score="3" ViewCount="5346" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday my 2-year-old fancy rat Paul passed away. He was black and white and had a bubbly personality, he LOVED food and loved to explore and run around. He had a nice life and was acting like usual. The night before he passed away he was running around, eating and drinking. He went to bed and when I got up for school he came out of his hut to give me a kiss. When I got back from home I was expecting to be greeted by him but when I lifted his hut up his body was curled up in there. My other rat, Kenny was snuggled up with his body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It hurt badly to see him pass. It made me feel horrible because I wasn't even there I his final hours of life.After we buried him my rat Kenny seems to be fine. He isn't displaying any signs of grief or anything.I don't know why he is taking this so easy. I'm not sure what to do now, all day yesterday I cried till I was emotionally numb. Today I was numb about it too; telling myself has passed and he's happy yet. I have moments when I feel incredibly guilty for his death and not being there. I don't know what I should do to recover from his lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anybody has any suggestions please tell me. It tears me apart since he's gone yet his cage-mate seems to not be affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9331" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-23T07:20:25.330" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T03:34:50.897" Title="What to do after the passing of my rat?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2732" CreationDate="2017-04-22T04:42:08.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about the age of the kids but on my grandpa's farm we will trim the hooves once they get long.Trim the sides and any hoof that has curved under the goat, if you see red stop cutting.I'm not a professional but this is what we do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9331" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T04:42:08.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2737" CreationDate="2017-04-22T04:49:18.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The number of lambs ewes have is determined on how many times the egg splits apart to make multiple fetuses.Having that many lambs will cause some issues and I'm glad to hear she recovered.The more lambs an ewe has the more milk she has to produce which means she needs more feed to produce enough milk for her lambs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9331" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T04:49:18.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15017" CreationDate="2017-04-22T07:25:40.550" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that most people don't recommend home treatment without a vet consultation, but the reason for that is not only the dosage amount, but the type of antibiotics given depend on the type of infection. Not to mention the fact it is tedious to get antibiotics without a prescription. But it is hard to justify a pricey vet bill when you already have what will be prescribed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat came home a few times with a paw infection, and I gave him some of my own antibiotics-amoxicillin, the complete treatment took about 1 or 2 500 mg pills. The dosage is 5-10 mg per lb., and like humans, the first dose or two should be the maximum (10 mg per lb.) and then reduced to the minimum. This is to kill the majority of the infection and not lead to antibiotic resistance and then once that is accomplished the intent is not to strain the system by ingesting unnecessary amounts, but to maintain the resistance to the infection until it is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the dose is reduced to the minimum it should be maintained until the cat is healthy again and a few days after just to make sure the infection has been eliminated. It is better to make sure it is gone that to resume treatment after an infection re-establishes. I administer half the dosage of 5 mg per lb twice a day (5 mg X 10 lbs= 50 mg per day; twice a day that means two doses of 25 mg) to make sure it is always in the system, just as recommended for humans, morning and evening doses. I wait for a few days or a week after the symptoms have disappeared, just like I would for myself. The whole treatment is usually two weeks or so. The most important thing is to wait until the cat seems healthy again and then keep giving the minimum dosage for a short time after that just to make sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9332" LastEditorUserId="13602" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T18:52:55.037" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T18:52:55.037" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16922" CreationDate="2017-04-22T13:50:48.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using a mixture of baby oil aka  mineral oil mixed with Eucalyptus oil, Tea Tree oil and citronella. It's a home made fly repellent we use on our horses. Spraying this and brushing has removed the sticky bits from the bandaging. Most oils in fact will assist in removing the adhesive from the coat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people prefer to use Eucalyptus oil or Tea Tree oil neat, but I am concerned about the harshness of an undiluted oil on the skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also products made specially for removing sticky plastic residue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option would be a soapy warm water, but I prefer the oil option, as I didn't want to wet the coat unnecessarily, as she still has a bandage on her leg and I didn't want water running onto it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend using an oil if the area needs to be re-bandaged with an adhesive bandage, as it will make it less likely to adhere to the coat. In fact, I've allowed the adhesive residue to remain on the coat so that it assists, if anything with the re-bandaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T13:50:48.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15798" CreationDate="2017-04-22T14:23:17.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Horses produce saliva when chewing with assists in digestion. When feed is wet, this reduces the production of saliva. Saliva contains the enzyme amylase which assists in the break down of carbohydrates. So whether to wet horse feed is a decision that needs to be taken into factor on an individual horse basis, linked with what feed the horse is being fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to follow the manufacturer's directions when feeding. Some of these products advise that it is ok to feed without prior soaking, some advise that the product must be soaked. Do not take the advice to not soak a product that has directions stately that is must be soaked. It may put your horse at risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few different reasons for needing to wet hard feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The feed itself absorbs excessive amounts of water&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The horse is prone to choke&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The horse has dental issues making it difficult to eat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. The feed itself absorbs excessive amounts of water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeds such as copra, many soy derivatives and beet pulp all absorb a considerable amount of water - approximately 5 times the volume water. This means that whatever the horse ingests, water will be drawn from the stomach to be absorbed by the feed. It can also mean a horse is able to eat a larger amount of that feed if it is not wet, as it is a smaller volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many horses this will not be an issue, as they will drink more to make up for this water absorption. For some horses with health issues, prone to colic, or older horses, it is better to pre-wet the feed, so that the horse is not at risk of colic from having a large mass of feed blow up inside the stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. The horse is prone to choke&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choke is when food becomes lodged in the horse's oesophagus. Horses are unable to vomit and so it can be stressful and even life threatening for a horse that has feed lodged in the oesophagus that they cannot swallow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wetting feed assists in making the feed less likely to form an immovable ball within the throat. The wet feed will more easily break up and be swallowed. A large mouthful of dusty chaff and pellets can form a ball that is difficult for the horse to dislodge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wet food is also easier to chew and swallow. A mouthful of feed that is difficult to chew may be swallowed before being chewed enough when a horse is hungry enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note, this is not the only precaution to take to avoid choke, this only in reference to wetting feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. The horse has dental issues making it difficult to eat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More so for older horses, but for horses with any dental issues, wet food is easy to chew and swallow. Obviously by removing the crunch from the feed, the chewing puts less strain on the teeth and muscles of the jaw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance a horse missing a molar will have loose teeth around the missing space.  This makes chewing more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T14:23:17.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-22T14:27:49.140" Score="3" ViewCount="6280" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a terrible problem with poop getting caught in her fur. I have tried to help her clean it but she scratched my arms up terribly. I have another Persian cat who has never had this problem. How can I keep it from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9333" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:20:06.313" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:20:06.313" Title="How can I keep poop from getting caught in my cats fur?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15017" CreationDate="2017-04-22T17:55:42.397" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A urinalysis can be suggestive of a urinary tract infection, but not necessarily diagnostic. In a free catch urine sample – which I am assuming is what you are collecting – there is a good chance you get bacteria or cells in the urine sample from the vagina or prepuce. In which case you may be treating a nonexistent UTI. To diagnose UTIs, vets usually obtain either a cystocentesis (needle in bladder) or urinary catheter sample.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Urine culture and susceptibility&lt;/strong&gt; is needed to diagnose a urinary tract infection, determine what antibiotic to treat with, and determine when to stop treating. If the bacteria happens to be resistant to Clavamox, then you are breeding resistant bacteria. Inappropriately treated lower urinary tract infection could ascend to the kidneys and cause potentially life-threatening pyelonephritis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The labelled dosage of Clavamox for UTI in cats is 62.5 mg per cat twice daily for 10-14 days. Often extra-label higher doses are used by vets. Obviously for very small or very large cats this dose needs to be adjusted at a veterinarian's recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T17:55:42.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-22T19:20:09.840" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Folks I'm tropical fish lover, this time I planning to grow real plants inside my tank instead of the fake ones. Can someone please suggest me the procedure to where to get started and what are all the ingredients I need? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-23T07:20:59.093" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:13:36.580" Title="How to start building a Live Plant Aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16933" CreationDate="2017-04-22T20:40:32.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We see this quite a bit with our over-weight or senior cats (arthritis), easy way to keep it tidy is to give her bum a nice shave. By the sounds of it you will need some assistance. Some options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Your vet clinic can do the bum trim, usually it's a technician that does it - it will be practical but may not look the nicest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Cat Groomer - will be practical and look nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's feisty with the groomer than your vet clinic is the best option, they are trained to handle fractious cats and get the job done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If poop is getting stuck because it's diarrhea, that will need a workup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T20:40:32.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16925" CreationDate="2017-04-22T20:51:08.023" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would stay away from the mealworms - they aren't very nutritious and are hard to digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your little guy grows a variety of small crickets, waxworms, silkworms and butterworms will be a delicacy. As an adult you can feed all the above as well as superworms and small to medium sized hornworms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't done a fecal test I recommend doing so as parasitic infections in our reptiles is high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay away from sand or other loose substrates - repti-carpet or paper towel is ideal as they tend to accidentally ingest the substrate while catching their food (can cause GI impactions). It is also a bacterial breeding ground, since this is an enclosed space and the soil isn't normally changed daily he will be constantly surrounded by filth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-22T20:51:08.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-23T00:00:17.113" Score="4" ViewCount="8221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats. My oldest is fifteen years old, and lately I've noticed that he's beginning to get really attached to me. On an abnormal level. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It began when we moved. Previous to moving, the cat had definitely preferred me, but nothing out of the ordinary. When we moved for the first time in his life, I put him on my bed and sat with him until he felt ready to explore the house. We stayed in that house for a year, and I noticed that he preferred to stay on the bed more than usual during that time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved again a year later, and I put him on my bed again and sat with him. His behavior increased so that now he sleeps almost nowhere but the bed, and constantly wants me to sit on the bed with him, so that he can lie on me. He's become more and more persistent about this over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Previous to moving, the cat had liked to sit on/sleep with me in bed. Nothing abnormal. But now it is at the level where he wants to do it constantly. There is no exaggeration. Constantly. If I don't sit on the bed, he will sit on it and meow loudly at me (remember I'm sitting right there at my computer), until one of us gives in. If he gives up, he will go down the hall meowing loudly, and come back later. He seems content if I put him on my lap while I work, but this is difficult for me to do, as I need to type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the cat shows worrying signs if I'm gone for more than a day. Usually this is just meowing as he looks for me and ultimately sleeping, but recently I was gone for three days, coming back only in the evening and leaving early the next day. The cat quickly lost weight, and I believe he stayed in my room the entire time. He seemed perfectly normal, otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is my cat acting this way? Is it something I should be worried about?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Additional details:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat has a hyper thyroid condition, which has always caused him to vomit/regurgitate a lot. He is on a medication for it (and has been for over a year), which was working, but now doesn't seem to be having quite as much effect. The reason I mention this is because he vomited a lot the first two days I was gone (this is NOT abnormal). This might be why he lost weight... but he hasn't lost that much before when vomiting. All the vomit was in my room, which is why I think he stayed there. (The medication is not to blame; he's been on it for a year) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My cat has dry itchy skin which is causing him to pull out his fur, which has caused us to put a soft cone on him. He's been wearing cones for a year, and seems completely unaware of and unaffected by them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The behavior described above is not new. It's been there for the majority of my cat's life. It is simply now more exaggerated than it has ever been. This change was gradual, and not sudden. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do not believe this is a fear issue. The cat moves around the house freely, often sleeping under the dining room table or on the living room floor. Sometimes he sleeps in my mother's office, as she is usually the one who feeds him. He generally tries to sit on my bed with me first though. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I live with my family, so there are other people and two other cats for him to interact with. There is plenty of food, and he is eating fine. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastEditorUserId="6785" LastEditDate="2017-10-09T15:41:07.890" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T07:14:55.577" Title="Why is my cat so attached to me? Is there anything wrong?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16927" CreationDate="2017-04-23T07:28:56.023" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Losing a pet is a real grief, that can be like losing a family member and one that not all people will understand. I still mourn my pets from decades ago from time to time. My memories of them are sweet and sad together. As I love them when I remember them and still miss them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any loss gets easier over time to deal with as we are able to assimilate it into our reality and with that comes acceptance. It doesn't mean we don't feel sad, but that initial devastation eases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, forgive yourself for not being there.You had no way to predict this.  Your dear  Paul, had his companion with him, so he was not alone. It sounds like Kenny kept him company and gave him comfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found the best way to deal with stress of losing an animal is to focus on my other pets and then get another pet. It doesn't replace the pet, in terms that each pet is unique, but it gives a new hope and a new love to help fill the hole of loss. Sometimes getting another pet is not possible. For some people getting another pet too soon, is too much for them to bear. It can feel like a betrayal or disrespectful or an emotional overload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow yourself to grieve, to cry and talk to people who understand. Avoid people you know are not animal lovers and specifically people who do not like people keeping rats as pets. The last thing you need are unkind words borne from ignorance. Don't forget to enjoy Kenny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is good to be able to post and ask for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you feel better soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-23T07:28:56.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16945" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-23T16:39:28.180" Score="3" ViewCount="3137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always given my fish distilled water but I recently got a larger tank. Would it be dangerous to give them tap water with water conditioner in it, if I have been giving them distilled water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9340" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T15:42:55.840" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T15:45:15.457" Title="Can I switch from using distilled water to tap water in aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2017-04-23T23:53:51.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used Allerpet on my 2 cats, one longhair.  They didn't mind it too much--instead of wiping on as the directions said, I parted hair and sprayed it on, then wiped it with cloth or soft brush or my fingers, which spread it better. Then I would wipe excess off counter by sliding the cats over it.  That treatment lasted 2 weeks or more, and cooled and cleaned them off nicely too. (Serve with treats!)&#xA;P.S. I have heard of a person who treated the cat (one of three) that she was allergic to by immersing it in a bucket of water, I think for an hour (not the head!!!!) and then she didn't have allergic reactions to it for a month. I think it was pretty young, and maybe that is why it could adapt to this treatment. (Serve with treats and _________??)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9343" LastEditorUserId="9343" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T00:06:27.327" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T00:06:27.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16935" CreationDate="2017-04-24T04:19:36.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really isn't much that is technically required to start this process. Any kind of lighting will &lt;em&gt;technically&lt;/em&gt; suffice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I do suggest getting some sort of LED light bar to help plant growth. You can use fluorescent lights but LED full spectrum lights are the way to go. It really depends on what your local fish store has to offer though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, make sure the tank has cycled and the water quality is good (no ammonia or nitrite) before putting anything in the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9006" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T04:19:36.610" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-24T04:25:25.367" Score="1" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a crested gecko (it's around 3 months old) and have been trying to feed the powder fruit diet (Rapashys) and have had no luck. I've broke twice and went and got crickets and calcium dusted (trust me, I don't like that I did it either) them to hold him over in hope that he would eventually take to the food but have yet to have any luck. Any advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9006" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T04:25:25.367" Title="Baby Crested Gecko Isn't Eating" Tags="&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-24T12:39:38.940" Score="6" ViewCount="6534" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get a pet bird. I love Cockatiels. I want to get a baby for training. What is the age that the baby must be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9347" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T17:55:58.973" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T21:04:12.933" Title="At what age should we get a Cockatiel baby at home?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16949" CreationDate="2017-04-24T12:54:21.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cockatiels should not be separated from their parents before they reach 8 weeks. 12 weeks is better, because that is about the time they would separate on their on in the wild: &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/long-cockatiel-need-stay-mom-11397.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cockatiels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But something else to keep in mind: Cockatiels need a LOT of attention when you keep them alone and not as a bonded pair, and you are talking about an animal that will live for about 20 years! They are certainly not beginner-pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T12:54:21.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16949" CreationDate="2017-04-24T13:24:38.547" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Layna's post however I wouldn't say cockatiels are beginner pets. Each animal is different and has specific needs, you could easily say any pet is not a beginner pet with that logic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be thorough with research, we all start somewhere. Mistakes will be made but don't let that discourage you. The most important thing when it comes to taking a baby bird home is to be sure that he/she is fully weaned. This means that she can feed herself independently and not rely on you to spoonfeed her. This is achievable by 8 weeks but sometimes it can take a little longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are very social birds, my little guy always wants to be with the other birds even if they don't approve of him. Birds need to be let our of their cage, I never cage mine unless I leave. Give lots of toys and allow him to forage for his food. You can leave the radio on when you're not around to keep his brain occupied - they are intelligent little animals and must be treated like so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure the breeder will give you lots of help but if you have any questions feel free to ask. I will also mention to stay away from any scented fragrances like perfume or candles as well as it harms their lungs. Nonstick cookware must absolutely not be used as the fumes emited are fatal to birds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related Question:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20434/how-why-is-nonstick-cookware-fatal-to-birds&quot;&gt;How/why is Nonstick cookware fatal to birds&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-05-25T01:04:57.017" LastActivityDate="2018-05-25T01:04:57.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16952" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:12:42.040" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T14:12:42.040" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T14:12:42.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16953" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:12:42.040" Score="0" Body="A bird that is a member of the Cockatoo family.  Native to parts of Australia, cockatiels feature a yellow head with a red spot on both sides." OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-24T17:54:46.493" LastActivityDate="2017-04-24T17:54:46.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16935" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:16:42.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For only a few, easy to keep plants, there is indeed not that much required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just have some lights above your tank (LED or fluorescent) and every now and then you'll have to add some fertilizer or root tabs (depending on the plants you have).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some easy plants to start with are for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariumtidings.com/java-fern/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Java fern&quot;&gt;Java Fern&lt;/a&gt;. This one should be attached to a rock or some wood. The roots may not be in the gravel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariumtidings.com/java-moss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Java Moss&lt;/a&gt; (also needs to be attached to something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=768%201630%20815&amp;amp;pcatid=815&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anubias&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cabomba&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can already create a nice tank with such a basic setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you want to add a lot of plants, or plants that are difficult to keep (usually plants with red leafs), this might not be enough. You might need to add a CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; installation and more fertilizer. But that doesn't mean it will be very complex or expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have quit a lot of plants (but relatively easy to keep) and I'm using a DIY CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; installation based on sugar and yeast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found instructions for it on a Dutch forum, but there are some instruction video's on Youtube too I noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For fertilizer I use the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/aquarium/calculators/ei_calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Estimative Index&lt;/a&gt; method. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;My plants grow like crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T01:13:36.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:13:36.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16925" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:38:33.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be that the large mealworms are too large for him. I feed my full grown adult large ones when I feed him mealworms. I would say to feed smaller for a hatchling. I am of the same stance as Rebecca, don't feed mealworms. I feed mine one per week or so, and most of his meals are small/medium Dubia roaches (because I hate crickets to be honest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also could be how you feed it. I never just leave insects in the cage. I feed them one at a time if the gecko is interested in it, then take it out if they don't eat it. Leaving them in a cage can be stressful, and even dangerous if they start chewing on the animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I approve the test and impacts. If you are worried, you should find an exotic vet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:21:52.740" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:21:52.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2017-04-24T14:53:45.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: No &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Longer answer: &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But you should probably not do this change at once. The fish might need some time to adjust to the 'new' water. And you should never do a 100% water replacement anyway. So for the first water changes I would still use distilled water, but mix it with normal tap water. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;And then, over the next days, you can always remove a few litres from your tank and add tap water to it to fill it up again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How big is your new tank?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, even the water conditioner might not even be needed, but that depends a bit on where you live I believe. Apparently in some places (like the US) there is too much chlorine in the water, which is harmful to fish. In those cases it might be needed to add conditioner or dechlorinator to the water. Test your tap water to check it. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Where I live (Belgium), this is not needed. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;But also make sure your tank is cycled, and never replace all the water at once. Maximum 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T15:45:15.457" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T15:45:15.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-25T03:01:36.177" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently started feeding two stray cats in my apartment complex and initially they all behaved. However for the past two days one cat is trying to pick a fight and chase the other one away (the smaller one). The bigger cat is almost always near where we feed them. The smaller one actually disappeared for two days and returned yesterday where the big cat again tried to chase him up a tree and then stood there waiting at the bottom. They don't fight while eating. The bigger one typically eats faster and then goes after the smaller one. Am I causing this in some way? Are they competing over food? We usually give plenty to both of them. We used to keep a sizable bowl of dry food for them to nibble on when they are hungry again but it looked like nobody ate from it a lot and we stopped keeping that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T04:58:58.017" Title="Am I causing two cats to fight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16960" CreationDate="2017-04-25T07:43:40.880" Score="7" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, this might sound weird but my 9 month old tomcat is going through a situation which I can only explain as depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So he had three siblings but their mother died immediately after giving birth to them. So we took care of four of the kittens. When they were around two months old my friend asked if she can adopt a kitten. So we requested her to adopt two so that only one won't feel alone. So now we had just two tomcats. Just two months back one of them died in an accident. We don't know who was the person responsible for this.&#xA;So now we have just one tomcat and just a week ago he brought home a female cat. We tried feeding her but she won't stay at our place and that's reasonable too.&#xA;But since last week our tomcat stays out for longer time, also he won't eat and keeps whining and crying. I thought he will get well in a day or two but it's been a week now. What should I do? I can really use your advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9346" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-25T16:21:29.957" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T15:00:54.067" Title="Do cats go through depression?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16959" CreationDate="2017-04-25T14:30:39.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed with comment above - cats can get depressed but in my experience it usually results in them withdrawing and not responding to any stimuli rather than what you say is happening, which sounds more like he is in some sort of discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's bought a stray female home with him he may have caught fleas, or worms, or at the very worst, FIV (though this is unlikely). Have the vet check him for all three, or at least get him some worming tablets and flea treatment, and see if his behaviour changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T14:30:39.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-25T14:59:32.210" Score="3" ViewCount="385" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two months ago I took in my grandmother's cat after she passed away. He's a 13 year old tomcat who has been rather spoiled - my grandmother would feed him by hand - often 'luxury' stuff like prawns and ham! So he's quite large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He settled in with us very well despite our lifestyle being very different - two busy working people (but home every evening) and an 8 year old boy. He used the litter tray straight away with no problems, ate well, played nicely with a scratching post, etc. He goes outside for a few hours in the evening and comes back late for supper. We feed him a little less than recommended for his age in the hope he'll lose some weight. He's lost a little but is still quite fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; sedentary. He likes going outside but doesn't often range too far. We've also bought him several different toys, which he ignores. For a while he did play with a small white bunny (which he stole from the boy's room!) but now just ignores it. He rarely plays with any of the others for more than a few seconds before losing interest. He would much rather just sit on your lap and fall asleep, which is lovely, but we don't always have time for this and it doesn't help him lose any weight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to stimulate him? I'm worried that he is bored at home all day, and even more worried that he's not moving around very much and not losing any weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T19:17:18.210" Title="Overweight lazy cat won't play" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16961" CreationDate="2017-04-25T19:17:18.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seeing as your cat isn't into traditional cat toys, you might consider an interactive feeding toy.  This has the benefit of forcing the cat to work for his food, this will both cut down on eating out of boredom and also motivate the cat to exercise/play to get fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some options which may work well for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill a small &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oHmAhi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong&lt;/a&gt; with your cat's regular food (if it's dry food you can seal the top with some canned tuna to keep the kibble from falling out).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For dry food only use a more open feeder like this one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2ot8MvB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catch Interactive Cat Feeder&lt;/a&gt;.  Your cat has to work to move the food around with his paws or mouth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A laser pointer does this trick for most cats, you could give &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2oHazIM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; a try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you haven't tried any catnip filled toys, here is a good option: &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2otek9v&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kickeroo Catnip Toy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-04-25T19:17:18.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-26T05:02:34.457" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Fegi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &#xA;My cat was a rescued cat I believe was feral. He loves me but is scared of other people. I want to neuter him soon. How can I reduce his anxiety when I do get him fixed. Also I'm curious what breed(s) he may be. He's a very large cat compared to others, maybe 15- 20lbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9354" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-26T11:05:30.423" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T00:14:21.437" Title="Neutering anxiety" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16964" CreationDate="2017-04-26T12:23:44.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can ask the vet to make him the first neuter of the day. That will minimise the amount of time he spends in an unfamiliar place waiting for surgery, and minimise the number of other animals he sees or smells. Also, you can ask them to call you as soon as he's nearly ready to go home, so you can come pick him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's &lt;em&gt;terrified&lt;/em&gt; of other people, you can probably get a sedative from the vet to give him before you bring him in. But it's probably best to avoid that if possible, to minimise the chance of any side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T12:23:44.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16964" CreationDate="2017-04-26T18:33:51.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short term solution: &lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can ask the pharmacist or your vet to give you some calming pills or spray for your cat.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It would be great if they could give you a sleeping pill for your cat. This way your cat would be asleep when going to the vet.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Long term solution:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Clicker training (counterconditioning and desensitisation). &lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you google 'clicker training' you'll find lots and lots of things mostly for dogs. Most of these things work for any other pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9357" LastActivityDate="2017-04-26T18:33:51.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-26T23:14:10.783" Score="1" ViewCount="665" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat has horrible dandruff. What can I do?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oCwxv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9290" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T02:51:59.297" Title="Dandruff with male cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16968" CreationDate="2017-04-27T00:12:32.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dandruff can be caused by a few things such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Low quality diet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Improper grooming&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Dry air (think of winter and the type of heating you use).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is obese or a geriatric (arthritis) cat they typically have a difficult time grooming themselves and will need assistance from you by brushing and bathing (preferably a dry bath). CEVA has some really nice sprays and dry baths designed for different skin issues - the product that is recommended for dry skin is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.douxo.eu/Product-Range/douxo-care-maintenance.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Douxo Care&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.douxo.eu/Product-Range/douxo-calm-sensitive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Douxo Calm&lt;/a&gt;. These are sold in veterinary hospitals, the staff at your regular vet can help you with your selection. For a brush I really love the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.furminator.com/Products/For-Cats/cat-grooming-deshedding-tools/how-to-keep-cat-from-shedding-deshedding-tool-for-small-short-hair-cats.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Furminator&lt;/a&gt;, it really gets that undercoat - does absolute wonders in appearance if he has fur that he cant groom out himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another product you can try is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dermoscent.com/en/p102-essential-6-spot-on.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dermoscent&lt;/a&gt;, it's a monthly topical that's pretty cheap that will help with overall skin and coat health. Good option for dry winter air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot afford higher end foods, adding Omega 6 to his diet will help with skin and coat. When it comes to supplementing I advise you get directions from your veterinarian, they will know what supplement brands in your area are of good quality and can properly dose him from his weight and health status. Human grade supplements are not regulated (least in Canada) so you won't get what it says on the bottle (I.E 100mg tablet of B12 actually contains 2mg) there are some codes to look for to ensure quality (I forget at this time but will update once I ask the vets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-04-27T00:12:32.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15503" CreationDate="2017-04-27T08:12:58.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an absolutely normal thing and is a common change as a result of aging. I have a female German shepherd who came in at three months completely black, she is now five years old and there is almost no black left on her. In fact after every &quot;shedding season&quot; the new coat that grows back has a slightly different color from the last,  and this is completely normal and healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastActivityDate="2017-04-27T08:12:58.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12375" CreationDate="2017-04-27T08:47:31.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem with my German Shepherd when we brought her in at 3 months. Actually at first when we got her she would not bark at all for a month but then one day we had some visitors over and she finally started to bark, but after that she would not stop at all whenever anyone came to the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also tried many different things like you but nothing worked. However in the end we realized her barking was only the result of curiosity about the people coming to our house. You would think when a large dog like a German Shepherd is barking at someone it's best to keep it tied or away from the person, but that only makes them bark more and in fact can cause them stress. If you just let them sniff the person and allow them to inquire on their own they are more likely to understand and remain calm. This is also a good way for them to learn how to differentiate between a genuine visitor and say for example an intruder. Dogs in general are inquisitive animals so give them the freedom to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, with young dogs and puppies it is likely that when you put them away when someone is over they may feel left out and will bark merely to get your attention. Again letting them out and staying around you will avoid that sort of feeling and they are less likely to bark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case shock collars or just shouting &quot;no&quot; at the dog or even giving them a treat may not help as much as allowing them to be curious and ensuring they don't feel ignored. Of course when you are letting out a dog already barking at a person and bringing it even closer to them may sound counter-intuitive, but put your dog on a leash and allow it to sniff the person and familiarize with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:24:23.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:24:23.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16958" CreationDate="2017-04-27T08:50:09.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you are not the reason they fight. The cats are already competitors. By feeding them, they both have to be too close to each other and this causes stress for both cats. The amount of food is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats' lives have been dependent on their ability to keep other cats out of their territory to survive. This means you need to feed them in two places as far away from each other as possible, or at least out of sight of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7988" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T04:35:42.213" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T04:35:42.213" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16976" CreationDate="2017-04-27T12:33:28.383" Score="3" ViewCount="3933" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our new puppy is 8 weeks old and has some, but not all, rounds of her vaccinations. Before she came home we bought a used plastic-based travel crate from a second-hand store. We've cleaned it out with 409, but after learning more about parvo, etc. we have not used the travel crate yet. Today we have a lot of errands to run and the travel crate would be perfect to use. Is there a risk of disease transmission from the used crate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9359" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-28T00:06:52.260" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T10:18:46.210" Title="Unvaccinated puppy in used carrier" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16973" CreationDate="2017-04-27T15:09:52.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a risk of disease transmission from the used crate?&lt;/strong&gt;   Yes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is always a risk, however large or small, of disease transmission, injury, and so on from basically anything you'll ever do with your dog.  Whether that risk is 0.0000001% or 99.997% depends on a slew of information which you haven't included (and probably don't know).  Knowing what the risk is, rather than merely the existence of risk in general, will help you make thoughtful decisions about your pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For context&lt;/em&gt;, the typical rate of infection for Parvo is less than 1% in most areas, excluding periods of time when there is an outbreak.  The rate of infection for Lepto is higher (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20673110&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;around 8%&lt;/a&gt;, barring an outbreak and depending on the area you're in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can clean the crate with bleach, although you'll need to wait before putting your pup in there since it will smell quite bad and bleach is dangerous if it gets on your dogs skin.  This will kill most of the germs in the crate, but nothing is 100% effective.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-04-27T19:26:57.833" LastActivityDate="2017-04-27T19:26:57.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-27T19:51:38.447" Score="4" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a fish tank. I googled about basics for setting up a fish tank. Almost every webpages help me to understand how important the nitrogen cycle is for a healthy fish tank. So I decided to learn about how to do nitrogen cycle and googled allot from the past few days. But by reading many articles, I am really getting confused about the entire cycle process and also many of the beginners like me don't know the correct process. Anyway I decided  to start cycling from this weekend with the knowledge I got from different sources. But I just need to ask you guys that the procedure am going to do is correct?. Please advice me or correct me if I am going to do this in wrong way. I just explained the cycling process am going to do in a overall view below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 1:  I am setting up my tank with air pump, filter, heater, gravel, substrate, plants and a pH level tester. I have API ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH test kit and water conditioner. I will add 8 small guppies. I will feed them a little everyday which they can eat in 2 or 3 minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 4: I will do 20℅water change (won't clean gravel or plants, just do top water change) without testing the ammonia level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 8:  I will test the ammonia level first before changing water. If ammonia is below 1ppm, I will leave the water as it is without changing. If ammonia is above 1ppm,  I will do a water change by 40℅ and clean 1/4 th of the gravel or substrate and gentle clean filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 12: I will do 20℅water change without testing the ammonia level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 16: I will test ammonia and nitrite levels before water change. If ammonia and nitrite levels are below 1ppm, I will leave the water as it is without changing. If the ammonia and nitrite levels are above 1ppm, I will do a 40℅ water change and will clean 1/4 th of gravel or substrate and gentle filter clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 20: I will do 20℅water change without testing the ammonia and nitrite level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 24: I will test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels before water change. If ammonia and nitrite is below 1ppm and nitrate is below 10ppm, I won't make any water change. But if ammonia or nitrite is above 1ppm, I will do a 40℅ water change and clean 1/4 th of gravel and substrate and plants and gentle filter clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I will continue the below process in every four days till ammonia and nitrite levels reach 0ppm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continuation Process: I will test the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels before water change. If ammonia and nitrite is below 1ppm, I will leave the water without changing. If it's above 1ppm, will do 40℅ water change and clean some portion of gravel, substrate and plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not much aware about the nitrate test. What should I do if the nitrate level goes above 10 or 20 ppm?. Should I need to change water?. &#xA;Is high level nitrates harmful for fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also not aware much about the pH tester. Do I need to test pH level also along with the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test and add pH controller agent based on the pH result?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice will be helpful for people like me who are beginners in this hobby :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9363" LastEditorUserId="9363" LastEditDate="2017-04-28T05:21:10.863" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T20:43:35.290" Title="Nitrogen cycle for new fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16973" CreationDate="2017-04-28T05:30:20.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is a risk of disease from the crate; no, that doesn't mean you can't use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;409 is not sufficient to kill parvovirus.  The only common cleaner that reliably kills parvo is bleach, so you should clean the crate thoroughly with a solution of bleach before using it with a puppy.  But bleach is quite effective against this virus, and if you get it good and clean, it's as safe as a brand new one (maybe safer, there's no guarantee that a new crate hasn't managed to get parvo in it somehow!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consider the risks that your puppy is already exposed to.  Parvo is very common in the environment, because wild animals can carry the canine parvovirus and leave it wherever they go.  If your puppy goes outside regularly, it's probably already being exposed.  This is why many breeders are cautious when allowing prospective adopters to meet puppies - the humans can easily bring parvovirus in with them, even if they don't even have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppy vaccination series are often referred to as &quot;booster&quot; shots, a term which is not really appropriate in this case because each vaccine either works or it doesn't.  There's no magic number of vaccines that a puppy must receive in order to achieve immunity, and the vaccines don't build on each other.  They are all basically the same vaccine, and the reason multiple shots are given is because it's hard to know which vaccination is the one that is going to &quot;take.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies receive antibodies from their mother's milk, and the presence of these antibodies will protect the puppy but will also block a vaccine from taking effect.  As a puppy is weaned, this protection fades.  It's important to give a vaccine after the maternal antibodies have cleared out, but before the puppy has a chance to become infected.  The puppy is at risk during this window of time because the period it can become infected is the same as the period when a vaccine can work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why veterinarians sometimes advise keeping puppies isolated from the world before their vaccinations have been completed.  Unfortunately, this is also a critical time in the social and mental development of puppies and isolation can lead to them becoming fearful or otherwise poorly-adjusted.  Your best bet is to work with your vet to find places where your puppy can go while being as safe from infection as possible.  Carrying your puppy will help keep her safe.  Puppy kindergarten is a good idea as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up, wash out your crate with bleach, and go ahead and use it.  Once you've thoroughly cleaned it, it's probably safer than taking the dog for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(most of this information comes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/148017887X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt; - I am not a veterinarian.  Although the book is breed-specific, the sections on health and nutrition are generally applicable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T05:30:20.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16975" CreationDate="2017-04-28T07:14:19.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To cycle a fish tank, you fill the tank with water and gravel and add water conditioner. Then start the pump and heater, let the water heat up. This takes a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 3-4 days, the water gets cloudy (normaly light grey). Then put a small amount of fish food in your tank (no fish in the tank, plants are OK). You then wait for a week and test the water, there is most likely ammonia in the water by now and maybe nitrite. Wait one more week and test the water - the level of ammonia has hopefully fallen by now. If it has, put some fish food in the water and wait one more week and then test the water again. There should be no ammonia detectable by now, but the nitrite level will be high. We are now at the end of the 3rd week. You wait one more week, then test the water - there is now hopefully no detectable ammonia and nitrite level is low or on its way down. There is most likely some nitrate in the water by now - this is what we want. We are now at the end of the 4th week. If the water is OK by now, change half of it and put a couple of fish in your tank. If the water still contains ammonia or nitrite, you will need to wait until the levels are safe for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a possibility to buy bacteria mix to shorten the time it takes to cycle a tank, but this is not very effective. You might also get matured filter media from a friend and put this in your filter, but this method might introduce diseases to your fish tank, so be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some good water test strips to buy with all the necessary tests in one strip. Ammonia and nitrite must be as low as possible, pH is best if close to 7,0. The general hardness (GH) around 7 to 14, the carbonate hardness (KH) around 6-10. Chlorine has to be zero. Different fish and animals need different water values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about cycling the tank could be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in the relevant article on fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-07T20:43:35.290" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T20:43:35.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-28T12:45:17.933" Score="4" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;First post here; a friend just sent me a box of sewing supplies, including quite a few yards of fleece and felt fabrics. Problem is she lives with cats and I'm mid-level allergic (not have-to-go-to-the-ER bad, but bad enough that I'd like to minimize contact).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of us in my house are similarly allergic, so it's massively important to me that however I clean this leaves no residue in our washer/dryer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's safe to assume that these fabrics have been sitting in her house for a period of months to years, likely with extended contact in some cases. I'm loathe to just throw the whole box away (it was a surprise gift, and very thoughtful) but health has to come first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to wash the fleece/felt to get the cat hair off, without compromising our laundry machines? In a serious pinch I could lug everything to the nearest laundromat, is that going to be the best way to go? Can I get away with just buying a lint roller instead? Alternatively, is the fabric just too compromised and I'm better off throwing it all away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't own pets so my cat knowledge is limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9365" LastEditorUserId="9365" LastEditDate="2017-04-28T13:16:40.897" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T14:21:16.163" Title="How to wash cat hair out of fleece fabric?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16975" CreationDate="2017-04-28T13:21:58.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing first: Don't put any creature in the tank at the beginning/before the tank is fully cycled!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing a time line is nonsense because the cycling can take between 1 and 4 weeks. The phases are sufficiently defined by the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels - you understood them correctly as mentioned in your question - no need to repeat them here. Note that there can be second peak of nitrite which can still be harmful for the inhabitants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nitrate level mostly influences the health of your plants. If the filter is working well (no ammonia and no nitrite), then the nitrate level is influenced by the amount of food and the number of creatures in the tank. You'll figure out a water change interval to lower the nitrate level through regular tests. Change 20 % at least every two weeks - collect the cold water from your shower to save monetary and environmental costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The test work independently. The PH value should be adjusted to match your fish or better your fish should match the PH value of the tab water. Usually you get them from a local store where the experts tell you whether the fish are kept in tab water or treated water. Changing water values is not a beginners task and goes beyond the scope of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chlorine should not be measurable in the water added to the tank with the usual test strips/kits as it destroys essential bacteria in the filter, water and gravel which destabilizes the water values (and higher concentrations can of course harm the inhabitants directly). Chlorine can be removed chemically with water conditioners (the use is controversial and out of scope for this question and answer) or by leaving the water for a few hours so that the chlorine evaporates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-09-08T15:08:12.133" LastActivityDate="2018-09-08T15:08:12.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-28T13:37:45.290" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought four goldfish 4-5 months back. I kept them in a bowl of water, and was daily removing a glass of water and adding a fresh glass of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting 2-3 months ago, everything was fine. But slowly, one of the fish started getting black spots on outer surface of its body and then died. Then, one by one, the rest of the fish also died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also happened when I tried keeping them in aquarium which also had an air pump for oxygen. Can anyone let me know what was the reason that this happened?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9366" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T13:29:48.377" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T13:31:31.463" Title="Goldfish are dying" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17752" CreationDate="2017-04-28T14:00:59.993" Score="4" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a Border Collie back in August 2016, and around November she started hunting shadows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then around December, she started focusing on lights (for an instance in the roof), but this didn't last long. She still hunts shadows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then when the sun came above the horizon again in January (we live in a part of Norway where the sun doesn't go above the horizon for a few months around winter), it didn't take long (around the end of January) for her to start staring at and trying to run towards the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried to distract her from staring, but it is very hard as she then notices shadows. And any tiny thing makes her look up, means she looks back on the sun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when we are outside training or taking a walk, she stares at the sun. Letting her go loose is something we can't do, because she is so focused on the sun she doesn't listen to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the other day she was so focused on the sun, she walked into a parked car. And yesterday a wall. She stared at the sun while walking forward, into a shadow but continued to stare in the same direction. She did then not look forward which caused her to crash into these objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas as to how I can get her to stop chasing and staring at the sun? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT 16.05.17:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem still persists, and while training or taking a walk she stares and loses focus on whatever is being done. We have tried training her to get her to stop staring at the sun, but there has been little progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8150" LastEditorDisplayName="user8150" LastEditDate="2017-05-16T20:18:37.567" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T14:44:29.370" Title="9 month old Border Collie chasing and staring at the the sun" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16980" CreationDate="2017-04-28T14:10:42.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The result may be ammonia poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution may be to add a filter into your tank, and make sure you don't overpopulate the fish tank either. Don't feed them too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, each goldfish needs 3 gallons of water per inch of their body length or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Why-is-my-goldfish-starting-to-get-black-spots-Is-that-a-disease-How-can-I-treat-it&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.quora.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-info/diseases/black-smudge-black-spot-goldfish/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thegoldfishtank.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8150" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:26:22.440" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:26:22.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16978" CreationDate="2017-04-28T14:21:16.163" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's almost certainly cat dander, saliva, or urine that you're allergic to, rather than the hair itself. Washing the fabric in hot water should neutralise any of those allergens, and also leave your washing machine free of allergens. Check that the fabric is safe to wash in hot water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a practical matter, I would make every effort to remove the cat hair &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; washing; otherwise the hair can work its way into the fleece. The lint roller you suggested sounds like a good idea to me. If you don't have one you can make one by wrapping tape around your hand, sticky-side out, and pressing down on the fabric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T14:21:16.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16958" CreationDate="2017-04-28T15:19:14.673" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No!Animals are not like humans.They do not fight over certain reasons that are fought by human beings. Animals have their own things to fight such as over foods, territorial issues, gender issues(specially male cats)etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9362" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T15:19:14.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-28T16:14:26.523" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm moving my horses into new paddocks where there hasn't been horses for 4 weeks. I'm wondering if there can still be worms in these paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to rest paddocks for long enough to prevent worm re-infestation?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If so how long does pasture need to be rested to prevent worm re-infestation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T16:14:26.523" Title="How long does pasture need to be rested to prevent worm re-infestation?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16958" CreationDate="2017-04-28T18:33:48.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Undesexed male cats will be territorial. They will fight over resources and territory.&lt;br&gt;&#xA; By limiting resources - not keeping out a continuous supply of feed, it just gives them another resource to fight over. However, as they get older the larger cat just may not want the smaller cat around, to share females with. So the food alone will not be the problem between them generally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest putting out a continual supply of dry food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can still offer the nicer food, but perhaps give the bigger cat a larger portion, to give the smaller cat time to finish eating.  I don't know how close you are to these cats.  If possible supervise them while they eat, or as suggested, feed them as far apart as possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to trap them and have them desexed?&lt;br&gt;&#xA; This will reduce the aggression between them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Possibly keep one or both as a pet, which essentially you are, just not in the ordinary sense, of having them curled up on your keyboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-28T18:33:48.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16991" CreationDate="2017-04-28T19:25:07.730" Score="4" ViewCount="1482" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 2.5 year old Golden Shepherd mix. I found a tick that looks like this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rw3cJ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rw3cJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that it's darker. It was below the neck on her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the first time ever. And I heard horror stories of how it can spawn into thousands and even end up blocking the ear (blame Google image search).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to pull it with a wipe, to no avail, until it popped. I feared the head or whatever is still stuck under the skin so I went to the clinic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They told me to not worry, but I didn't feel it was sincere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She always gets a an insecticide applied on her back once per two months. So they gave her that a month early, cleaned around the mess I made by popping the tick, and that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else I should know about? Is there a risk of eggs being somewhere ready to hatch and cause a secondary tick infestation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9371" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T17:46:27.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T17:46:27.760" Title="Did I remove the tick the right way?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-28T20:39:53.163" Score="4" ViewCount="1100" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Jack Russell Terrier poops with his rear legs and behind raised, usually sticking the poop to a tree or a wall. Any ideas why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3qco7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;JRT&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9372" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:31:55.823" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:31:55.823" Title="Hand Stand Poop" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16964" CreationDate="2017-04-29T00:14:21.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;About what breed he may be - if he was feral, then he is probably a domestic short haired tabby cat (i.e. a moggie, Heinz57, or mutt).  That is not a bad thing, as all my moggies have been great companions.   As for weight, each cat is different, so weights can vary.   As long as there is a 'waist' right before his hind legs (ignore the primordial pouch).  His vet should be able to provide guidelines.  Congratulations on adopting a companion cat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9375" LastActivityDate="2017-04-29T00:14:21.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16987" CreationDate="2017-04-29T13:55:40.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pure breed German Shepard who is very active and loves being outside, and ticks are an inevitable consequence that comes with it. &#xA;To start with the tick you saw is probably a female dog tick and her color was most likely darker because she was filled with blood. &#xA;Pulling these kind of ticks is the best thing to do. However, as you might have already realized, DO NOT simply pull them from the swollen white/grey part because that will just burst. Hold/pinch them from the base of their head (the place from where it's stuck on the dog) and instead of pulling it out at right-angles slowly scrape it up at a slightly lower angle.  This will make it easier for you and hurt the dog less. Once it's out immediately kill it by either crushing it or putting it in boiling water. Trust me if you leave it, it will be back.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Next if you found a female there's probably going to be a male nearby which looks like this&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f0PPX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f0PPX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so look for that. These types of ticks love a dirty unwashed dog more than anything. We wash our dog almost every other day and wash her feet after every time she goes on a walk. So wash your dog at least 3 times a week in the tick season.  Use a soap which is a tick prevention / treatment shampoo instead of the regular dog soap. You can also try using tick repellent powder (although be warned They have a very strong smell). Something I've found very effective is using apple cider vinegar mix as a tick repellent. &#xA;Just add two parts apple cider vinegar to one part water in a spray bottle. You can also add a few drops of peppermint oil if you like. Spray this mix all over your dog in the morning and evening (or when your dog goes out). 1-2 sprays on the back and 1 spray on the neck, each of the feet and the end of the tail should do the trick. (just make sure while you're spraying it doesn't enter the eyes or nose of your dog) &#xA;Finally get one of those really thin &quot;tick removing&quot; combs which look like this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h2yJc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h2yJc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Groom your dog with this &lt;em&gt;Daily at least once&lt;/em&gt;. This is one of the most effective ways to remove ticks without using any chemical treatments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding your question about eggs, although I'm not an expert, I don't believe that's the case for your dog because I get the impression that you don't find ticks that often on your dog.  Besides, from what I know, usually these ticks would lay eggs in open wounds and/or extremely unclean dogs, but again I don't thinks that's the case for you. Nevertheless, you should always take precautions and I hope some of the ways I've mentioned above will help you do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-30T10:35:39.813" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T10:35:39.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-29T14:21:01.547" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My roommate left me with 11 Giant African snails for a week and my job is to feed them lettuce every day, which I'm doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried for them because their glass aquarium to me seems too small (30 / 50 / 40 cm). Some of them apparently sleep on the glass walls in vertical position during the day, while others are half-buried in the 10 cm deep layer of soil. On the surface of the soil are flat, white rocks; which cover about 30% of the horizontal surface area of the aquarium. I'm assuming that those who sleep on the walls, do so because of the lack of space between all the other snails and rocks...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any guidance would prevent me from staring at them worried for about 2 hours every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9379" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:31:43.160" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T19:40:07.113" Title="Are the snails suffering?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16980" CreationDate="2017-04-29T18:53:42.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There might be several reasons for fish to get ill and die. Over feeding might result in toxic substances developing in the water. This often weakens or kills the fish. The fish might also have been infected before you bought them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a water filter to handle the waste from your fish, and the fish tank&#xA;needs to be cycled before you add fish or other animals to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Cycling a tank&amp;quot; means letting bacteria that break down waste grow and multiply so they can keep the water clean. These bacteria convert fish waste to plant food, this is called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:27:47.807" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:27:47.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="16994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-30T07:54:54.123" Score="6" ViewCount="664" Body="&lt;p&gt;She hides in my closet and won't eat. I was able to get her to drink some milk cause my mom said maybe it'll help her because she wouldn't eat peanut butter which has high iron and supposedly milk will help her get more iron. But she barely drinks water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been acting a little strange since I started cleaning my room over spring break cause me and my cousin used to share a room and she refused to help me clean it so I put off cleaning it but now my family is pissed off that it was dirty so I started taking time after school to clean my room and now I'm almost done but now she won't eat at all not even liver or chicken or even sausage she won't even eat her favorite cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried but I'm 15 and my mom can barely afford the bills and refuses to help me see what's wrong. I've checked her gums but she is an all black cat and I've googled everything I can but I can't tell what's wrong. I'm almost done cleaning the room but I feel like she is dying and I want to know how to stop that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm unable to take her to the vet I wish I could but I'm only 15 and my mom says hell no so please if you have any knowledge about this let me know&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5pigf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9383" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T01:07:53.813" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T01:07:53.813" Title="My cat is sick and I think she might be dying but she is a kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16994" CreationDate="2017-04-30T09:32:45.807" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stop feeding milk. Cats do not have the enzyme lactase that is needed to digest lactose which is present in cow's milk. This can cause diarrhoea and tummy upsets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'd leave off too much peanut butter, keep it for treats or if you need to get your cat to take medicine. It's  a high source of fat, which is not bad in a cat that is not eating, but it's better for your cat to be eating meat. The peanut butter itself may be making your cat feel ill. So try without it and see what happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she hasn't been wormed, she may need to be wormed, as a high worm burden can make kittens and cats ill. It can cause a lack of appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will also need to be vaccinated if she leaves the house, or comes into contact with other animals. Many of the illnesses common to cats can make them ill also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stivesvet.com.au/Kittencare.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;From St Ives Vet (a local vet to me)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats can be infected with roundworm, hookworm, and tapeworm.  Large worm burdens can make your kitten very ill.  They can also infect people.  When you first obtain your new kitten he/she should be wormed immediately and then again ONE week later.  Your kitten should then be wormed every 2 weeks until it is 12 weeks old and then monthly until it is 6 months old.  Intestinal worms are rarely a problem in adult cats.  The recommendation is to worm adult cats every 3 months. Products such as Milbemax tablets, Revolution topspot and Profender topspot are all effective against all worm types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be important to save to have her desexed or to find some organisation that can do this for free or for cheap, as a pregnant cat and kittens will put more strain on the family budget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stivesvet.com.au/Kittencare.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Also from St Ives Vet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your kitten should be vaccinated at 6-8 weeks of age, 10-12 weeks of age, 14-16 weeks of age, and then annually for life.  We routinely vaccinate kittens against:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have missed vaccinations, then two should be sufficient to provide a lasting immunity. As for the annual booster, this may not be necessary for the cat's health, but is for kennelling cats at catteries in many places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is to check for parasites. A high flea burden can cause anaemia. Ticks can also make cats very ill and can be fatal, depending on where you are living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stivesvet.com.au/Kittencare.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Regarding ticks&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;they cause loss of appetite, vomiting, difficulty breathing and paralysis starting in the hindlegs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I congratulate you for taking such good care of your kitten and the time to search and seek help. Please let us know how she gets on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T09:32:45.807" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-30T11:21:20.740" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which breed of dog is recommend for a beginner dog keeper ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Type of breed that should not be very much expensive and should have good health life span.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9366" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T13:58:50.540" Title="Which breed of dog is recommend for a beginner?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-05-01T08:03:47.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16987" CreationDate="2017-04-30T12:20:07.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if your able to get NexGard where you live.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9BMyx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9BMyx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Afoxolaner enters the blood stream and does not penetrate to the surrounding tissues so fleas and ticks DO need to bite your pet to be affected by the medication. Fleas are typically killed within several hours, while ticks are killed within 1-2 days. It is important to note that Nexgard does not repel ticks.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my Vet recommended this for my dog. I was thrilled. Basically when the tick starts to &amp;quot;suck the blood&amp;quot;, they start to die. When you check your dog for ticks, you will find dried up ticks. That either fall off, when you give your dog a good rub-down, or crumble when you pull it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a little concerned about the side-effects...&#xA;Vomiting, dried skin, diarrhea. Although if you do some research on the product. You will find that it only occurred in one percent of all the dogs that were tested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog has had no health issues after using this. I truly recommend it. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9384" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T12:20:07.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16996" CreationDate="2017-04-30T13:58:50.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd rather have this as a comment, not enough points. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first dog that I got, was a border collie mix with a lab. I was told that each breed has their own average health problem. Mix breeds don't cure it, but it gives a lesser chance of development. Which usually gives a longer health span. With that being said. Keep him/her exercised and eating healthy and they will live longer too! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I was taught, the darker the inside of the mouth, the smarter your furry friend will be. I want to say this is a myth. But, every dog I've met, that has had a darker inner mouth... Have been real quick learners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that it truly does matter the size of house or yard you have. It should be part of the decision, to the size of animal you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps a little. I know someone else will leave a better answer and I hope they do. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9384" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T13:58:50.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="16999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-04-30T15:03:53.710" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leo and Tiggy have been living with us for just a month. Leo has trust problems - goodness knows what has gone on in his 3 yr old life before, but he is coming to accept love now. We hoped to let them into the garden together, do you think we should do this in a few weeks one at a time? The &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9385" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-04-30T23:54:55.580" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T23:54:55.580" Title="Rescue cats- letting them outdoors ? Together or alone" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16988" CreationDate="2017-04-30T15:36:28.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is he retaining that pose for a long time (eg: 30sec - 1 minute), and perhaps whining a little? How long has he been doing this from?  Also are his droppings solid, firm and dry?  If so he maybe constipated. You should get him checked out by your vet. &#xA;Constipation can happen if his diet consists too much meat (ie protein) and very little fibers, so check that.&#xA;Usually when dogs get constipated the best thing is to give them an enema with liquid paraffin. &#xA;But anyway before you do anything consult your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastActivityDate="2017-04-30T15:36:28.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-01T13:39:10.583" Score="3" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started to notice that my dog (staff, female) is getting quite patchy hair on the top of her head. She also has a bald patch on her neck that I am unable to get a picture if at this moment in time. Should I be concerned? I know that fleas are not the case as she has none&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be molting? Sorry if a silly question just making sure, thanks and kind regards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VlZUf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9390" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T15:05:46.850" Title="What could be the cause of my dogs hair pattern?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17001" CreationDate="2017-05-01T15:05:46.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be caused by many things, but patchy focal areas of hair loss especially on the head are typical of localised &lt;em&gt;Demodex&lt;/em&gt; infection. &lt;em&gt;Demodex&lt;/em&gt; is a mite that commonly affects young Staffy-type breeds. One sometimes sees pustules, papules, or blackheads and areas of redness, but not always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Demodex is something that is quite easily treatable but you would need to go to a vet. Your vet will likely perform skin scrapings to look for &lt;em&gt;Demodex&lt;/em&gt; or other possible causes. Some cases do resolve on their own, but in other cases the infestation becomes much more severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously nobody can diagnose the cause of your dog's hair loss over the internet. Recommendation to see a veterinarian is really the only advice to give online. If this has been going on for a long time it is unlikely to get better on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T15:05:46.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17003" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-01T19:27:21.633" Score="4" ViewCount="1908" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm taking care of my roommate's 11 giant African snails for a week and it turned out that they have been depraved of necessary heat and space to move for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are now, and have been for months, living at average temperature 18 °C instead of 25 °C.&#xA;Anyway, how can I warm up a glass terrarium with only soil at the bottom and 11 giant African snails in it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions will be much appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9379" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:17:00.197" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:17:00.197" Title="How to warm up a snail terrarium?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17003" CreationDate="2017-05-01T20:42:43.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ideally your snail-neglecting roommate would have gotten a low wattage heating mat (similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2qqxPNj&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;) for their tank.  You may or may not be up for spending ~$15 on one.  If you do get a heating mat you'll want to stick it to the side of the tank, and not put it underneath as snails burrow in response to overheating.  You'll also need a way to monitor the temperature and make sure it's not getting too warm in there (an unbreakable household thermometer will do if there isn't one in the tank already).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not up for buying a heating mat, you could try getting rice or flax to make a heating pad.  The quick and dirty way to do this is basically put rice/flax inside a thick cloth which can be sealed (a flannel pillowcase would work).  Microwave for 1-3 minutes, place up against the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-05-01T20:42:43.727" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-01T21:59:52.743" Score="3" ViewCount="3879" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 yr  old female that I have been spoon feeding wet food since we got her as a kitten. Back then it was the only way she would eat, so it became a habit. Lately she takes a few bites then runs away like I hurt her. She even gives me this look. What do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9393" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T01:13:06.037" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T18:11:47.310" Title="My cat runs from me all of a sudden when eating" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11031" CreationDate="2017-05-02T12:10:53.497" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over a year later the python has now been feeding consistently for 6 months or more.&#xA;I can't be sure why they weren't eating to begin with but we made a few changes to the feeding routine;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We place the python in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/childrens-ikea-products/children-3-7/childrens-storage-furniture/trofast-storage-box-white-art-20089242/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;deep, lidded box&lt;/a&gt; half an hour before feeding time, allowing the snake to settle. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once the rat is defrosted we use feeding tongs to slip the rat in to the box, being careful to avoid being seen by the snake. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wiggle it around a little and once the python has struck, hold on to the rat for a second to ensure the strike was successful.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We then leave the area and after about 20 minutes return the python to it's viv, careful not to be seen as threatening again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We believe that there may have been a few factors involved;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The python has always been easily threatened and paid a lot of attention to whoever was offering the rat rather than the rat itself so we tried to get out of view. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We also believe that smells inside the viv were playing a part as the python usually ate shortly after cleaning out the viv but hesitated after more than a few days, hence the different container.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We've also noted that it almost never eats a completely dark rat but will eat light coloured or patchy rats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6289" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-10-15T16:30:52.583" LastActivityDate="2018-10-15T16:30:52.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3248" CreationDate="2017-05-02T15:50:33.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;WHEN YOUR CAT STOPS USING THE LITTER BOX - FOLLOW THIS ROUTINE AND REPROGRAM HIM.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a 7 year old cat who stopped using the litter box to defecate, and within another month, started urinating out of the box, as well. Going in very strange places – ex. on my butcher block cutting board, on the counters, on the carpet, sometimes close to the box, but rarely in it. I tried everything - changing diets, took him to the vet for blood work and xray to rule out disease or infection. Moved the litter box, changed the litter to natural, non-fragrance. I tried everything I could think of and read online. Finally, the vet prescribed Prozac 5mg a day – thought his problem was behavioral. It takes about a month to kick in, but after a month, he was still missing the box. I was at my wits end! I went to a Petco store, where I met a clerk who suggested the following - She said it worked for her cat. This was the end of the road for my cat, Jules, so we had nothing to lose:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;PLEASE TRY THIS – IT COULD SAVE YOUR CAT’S LIFE&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I continued with the Prozac 5 mg a day (Vet prescribed).&#xA;I bought a 3’ long x 2’ high x 2’wide wire dog kennel for $65 at Walmart.&#xA;Put the litter box at the back of the kennel, and made a bed for him in the front of the kennel by the door.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I placed a small bowl of food between the bedding and the litter box in one corner, and a small bowl of water in the other corner – sandwiched between the rug/blanket and the litter box to avoid spills.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I covered most of the kennel on the outside with a couple of towels, so he would remain calm and sleep comfortably undistracted – leaving the front door area uncovered by the towel so he could look out and get fresh air.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I placed the kennel with the cat in a quiet room and closed the door. Consider where you put the kennel, because this will be where you leave the litter box from now on, even after your cat is re-programmed. I checked on him often. This is not punishment - it’s reprogramming your cat to use the litterbox.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My cat stayed in the kennel, night and day for 4- 5 days. I cleaned the litter box every time he went in it – change it about once a week. I use non-fragrance Little Kitty clumping litter, sold at Walmart. Changed the water twice a day and made sure he had enough food twice a day. He started using the litter box every time - So far so good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After 4-5 days, I allowed him to leave the kennel, to roam freely in the same small room where the kennel remained – but that’s all. Keep the room door shut, but check to make sure he’s using the litter box left in the open kennel with the food and bedding. After a couple days of that, I decided to let him upstairs into the gated kitchen where I could supervise him when I was in the room with him. That went well, too. – When I could no longer supervise him, I put him back downstairs in his kennel room for the night. This went on for another few days or so, to make sure he used the litter box in the kennel at all times.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It’s been well over a month that he’s been roaming freely around the house unsupervised, but he continues to go back to the kennel litterbox in the room where he was re-trained. HE HASN’T HAD AN ACCIDENT IN OVER A MONTH!!!! I still give him the Prozac, and leave the kennel up – I’m afraid to change that – I don’t want him getting confused again. But, my cat actually loved sleeping in the kennel – he felt very secure in there – even when the door was open. The litter box is still in the kennel with his bedding. I have another cat, and another litter box in the same room, but Jules doesn’t use the one outside the kennel.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I hope you are willing to try this – it was the only thing that worked for Jules! He’s now a very happy, well-adjusted cat again. I thank God every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9397" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T01:11:46.860" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T01:11:46.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17012" CreationDate="2017-05-02T19:07:01.430" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any animals that are known to celebrate events? For example, we humans might celebrate a birthday or passing an important test. An event causes us to perform some sort of celebration that is motivated simply by joy and not any sort of survival instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9400" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T01:15:54.140" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T01:15:54.140" Title="Are there animals that celebrate communally?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-05-20T19:30:24.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17011" CreationDate="2017-05-02T21:20:11.863" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Four kittens were abandoned in my yard (I've only seen the mother once, when I discovered the kittens). When I discovered them, they were already very coordinated, able to walk very well, and social. I estimate they are about 5 weeks old now. They all weigh about 10 oz. One of them can eat wet food, and a very short fur one (looks premature, although it is average weight compared to its siblings) only takes a bottle, but not very well. How soon can they all be weaned to solid (wet) cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T01:15:13.433" Title="How soon can abandoned kittens be weaned off the bottle?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17010" CreationDate="2017-05-02T22:48:00.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should start slowing weaning them now, if they really are five weeks. (Check to make sure, you don't want to wean them too early) Feed them wet food, then slowly add kitten dried chow in to mix, more, and more until it is 100% dried kitten chow this process takes about a week or two.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Notice any diarrhea or vomiting. Make sure they have lots of water. Keep to the same food/brand/flavour, they will vomit if you change. After a few more weeks, and there doing fine, I say get a checkup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9401" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T01:15:13.433" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T01:15:13.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17009" CreationDate="2017-05-02T23:30:01.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, not birthdays or other human-made events but lots of social animals celebrate in groups.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example is chimpanzees.  When one finds a cache of fruit, they shout out to their friends, who typically come and join in their celebration by shrieking. Chimps also celebrate after successfully raiding a neighboring group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elephants have also been known to return to the site where an in-group member has died.  Not sure if this counts as a celebration, but it's a communal recognition of an event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-05-02T23:30:01.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17016" CreationDate="2017-05-03T09:18:38.630" Score="8" ViewCount="77924" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I've messed up and don't really know how to remedy the situation, I need some suggestions and help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situation is as follows: my in-laws are vets and do a lot of pro-bono work. One day they had a small (feral) kitten in their clinic that had suffered a rectal prolapse and had been brought into them after being found and (unfortunately) after she'd seen some rough treatment at the hands of the cattery's resident vet, that had apparently stitched her anus shut without anesthesia. Anyway, once they remedied the situation and repaired the damage, she was a fairly normal kitten and I took a shining to her, so after a few months that she went unclaimed I took her home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's developed normally and is now about a year old. I've had her for about seven months now. She's extremely skittish and has always rushed under sofas and beds to keep out of our way, but simultaneously seems OK with us when we're stationary and she is being the active party. Honestly she seems better with my partner than with me, but then again she has a good way with animals. The cat has her litter box and uses it very effectively, eats and drinks, plays around with stuff, and often sleeps with us. First thing in the morning she's always very affectionate with head bumping, licking, and meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I was trying to use the &amp;quot;gently confine a kitten&amp;quot; method to teach her she had no reason to run under the furniture all the time. That wasn't working, so while I was at it I decided to comb her because she was shedding loads. She never much liked that and probably that was the wrong thing to do because it lead to her suddenly defecating on me, which lead me to scream and jump up, she ran scared, etc., and then I tried to catch her because she was leaving fecal skid marks wherever she went.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That must have terrified her and I regret it. Now she's extremely wary of me (I don't blame her, I would be too) and whenever I approach her in a manner she deems threatening (quite difficult not to approach her in a two-room apartment) she pastes herself to the ground, puts her ears back, and flicks her tail in a classic display of submission. She becomes totally non-interactive so I can't even successfully get her to take a treat and defuse the situation. She's never been the smartest cookie in the jar (sometimes can't even find treats that are offered to her on the palm of one's hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I know I screwed up, and I would like to know where I can begin to rectify the situation and regain her trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for taking the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9407" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-01-17T16:03:05.913" LastActivityDate="2021-01-17T16:03:05.913" Title="Made my cat scared of me, need help" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17015" CreationDate="2017-05-03T11:32:24.083" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, this might take a while to fix, but it is fixable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First things first, when the cat shows fear like that it's going to be essential to signal that you are not a danger, then leave her completely alone. No kind of interaction except signaling your disinterest. There is no way to interact in a positive way once the cat has taken this position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are walking towards her and she becomes scared, again signal disinterest and then go out of your way to walk around her as much as possible, give her as much room as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signaling being disinterested and non-threatening consists of a few parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't look her in the eyes. (Cats have excellent peripheral vision and looking directly at someone you aren't very familiar with means you are considering it for food or similar.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do by accident, slowly blink, then look away. (Once you two become more comfortable with eachother this will be a very friendly way to communicate that you notice her, but not in a threatening way.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yawn! (This signals boredom, which to cats is bliss. You can't be aggressive and bored at the same time according to cats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do NOT rush. when walking, stay calm and try not to make any fast movements, especially not in her direction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for interaction: Avoid going to your cat for interaction, instead try sitting down a non-threatening distance away (I'm sure you've figured out how far that currently is already, this distance will lessen over time), then bring out some (smelly!) treats, a toy, or just tap/scratch the floor/chair/sofa to get her attention. Allow her to come to you for playing, treats, or petting. Important here, move slowly when she does come to you, unless she's completely focused on a toy that needs a bit of speed to operate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she doesn't come after a few minutes just get up and ignore her for a while, then try again later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you will begin to build her trust, and she might even become a true cuddly kitty, but it will take time, maybe weeks, maybe months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT #1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rereading some of the medical stuff, there is a possibility that you didn't really scare her into defecating, but due to the medical procedure she has an &quot;eject button&quot; (or just a really painful spot!) in the form of an exposed nerve or somesuch, which could explain the cause of the incident. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;gently confine method&quot; you mention, I've never heard of it, and doesn't seem to be a very enjoyable experience no matter how much your cat trusts you. Cats will sometimes run and hide, this will resolve itself over time as trust is built provided no stimuli reinforces the behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I have a cat that used to be really skittish, with major abandonment issues. She'd run and hide when I moved around, or when strangers were around. And she'd only approach me when I was stationary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a 2 years she'd actually sit on my lap, after 3 or 4 she'd accept strangers. These days she's the first to greet visitors, she's hard to keep off my lap, and she sleeps on the bed next to me almost every night. I even get to cut her claws without her mauling me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2017-05-03T13:14:09.720" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T13:14:09.720" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-03T14:45:14.050" Score="1" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a feral cat in our house that's always fighting with other feral cats. He's a really nice cat, but he's a big adult street cat and I know he won't let me pick him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I give this cat so he gets sleepy (or even falls asleep) and I can pick him up and put him in a cage? I would like to neuter him, because I really like him. But I can't have him peeing/marking everything and getting in fights with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to buy an automatic cage that closes when they walk into the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-24T00:31:32.637" LastActivityDate="2021-04-24T00:31:32.637" Title="Calming down feral cat to take to vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17019" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-03T16:28:42.163" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat called Tink. She is 6 years old, and she has a sort of.. pattern, if you'd like to call it by that, on her part by her tail. I thought it was a bald patch at first, but I looked up images of the bald patches and it doesn't look like one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a picture, sorry for the bad quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CnPcw.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CnPcw.png&quot; alt=&quot;A picture of the peculiar thing.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does ANYBODY know what it is? How did it come up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9411" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-04T02:21:20.410" LastActivityDate="2017-06-03T04:09:21.973" Title="My cat has a sort of.. pattern by her tail" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17018" CreationDate="2017-05-03T17:31:38.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this exact problem. I have one domesticated cat and got a new cat that was a feral cat; I got him fixed but this did not help, he still chased and hurt my other cat. I did feed them in two different places to try to avoid the fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This went so far as to my original cat losing a lot of weight, while the feral one had gained a lot of weight; he was about 8 years old when I got him. He was the nicest cat toward me but a nightmare to the other cat. I had been trying to do everything to make it work for over a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To trap your cat, take a cardboard box, tape it closed and cut a hole in one end of the box, and put some food (tuna) inside, then wait until your cat enters; this might take some time and several tries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the cat is inside, tilt the box so that its opening hole faces upwards and cover the hole with a book or something larger than the hole so he doesn't escape. Place your carrier cage against the wall so it can't move and is positioned in a way that its opened door faces outwards, place the cardboard box against the carrier, then remove the book so the cat can enter the carrier cage, when the cat enters, use the book to cover the opening of the cage while you close it; this will, probably, possibly work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My feral cat was not able to adjust so I had to take him down. I am saying this so you know what you might have to do if it doesn't work out for you and the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-04-24T00:24:02.183" LastActivityDate="2021-04-24T00:24:02.183" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17018" CreationDate="2017-05-03T19:58:13.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your local animal shelter can probably lend you a suitable trap and advise you on where to place it, how to bait it, and how to use it safely. They will likely be thrilled to help you since you're helping with the feral cat population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't want to buy an automatic cage that closes when they walk into the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your concern is the cost of the cage, borrowing one from a shelter should be free. If your concern is that the cat might get injured, the design of these cages is very safe. By following the shelter's advice, you should be fine. And if your concern is that the cat might hold a grudge against you, that's unlikely. The cat will be wary of the cage, but should have no reason to associate the experience with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-05-03T19:58:13.483" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16988" CreationDate="2017-05-04T20:34:03.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great photo!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your JRT is male. Male dogs mark their territory as a part of their &quot;normal everyday&quot; behaviour. Marking territory is a mechanism dogs use to let other dogs know who they are and helps to create an hierarchy of sorts amongst dogs in a certain area, a residual primal behaviour from a time when dogs ran in packs and moved around a designated territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Placing poop on a wall or tree is another way for your JRT to leave his message for other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His acrobatics, although unusual, are his means of ensuring his message is prominent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this also means his message may be more difficult to clean up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest your only concern should be whether cleaning up his poop is a problem. If cleaning up his poop is a problem, you might like to consider some ways to control this behaviour. Happy to elaborate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2017-05-04T20:34:03.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17050" CreationDate="2017-05-05T09:51:45.913" Score="2" ViewCount="2995" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the countryside and I keep my 3 dogs in a fairly large fenced area. I let them out to play regularly, but they've started chewing holes through the chainlink fence to get out. It's insulated with plastic but I'm afraid they might get hurt because the chewing cut through the metal and left it exposed. For now I closed the holes with some rope, and I'm letting them out more frequently, which seems to have solved the problem.&#xA;But I'm afraid they might do it again and seriously injure themselves, plus having a functional enclosing would be nice.&#xA;We don't really have time for training them not to chew the fence, so I'm thinking that a new fence might be the best solution. Do you have any recommendations, for a dog-proof fence (the cheapest the better, preferably still chained links) or any other idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9417" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T19:09:21.573" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T19:17:23.077" Title="My dogs are chewing holes in their chainlink fence; new fence recommendations?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17025" CreationDate="2017-05-05T15:38:27.973" Score="7" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are currently renovating a new house. We are there every night and we are visited by a very friendly cat every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From day 1 he was very friendly, approached us and meowed until we pet him. We have &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; fed him and we have never let him go inside, although he went inside the hallway by himself one time he now stays outside all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He visits us every night, stays in the garden for 4 hours while occasionally getting cuddled and leaves around the time we leave. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The neighbour informed us of his name, and that he lives a couple of houses away. His owners aren't home a lot, so I guess he likes the attention. We enjoy his company very much. However, I'm afraid he will start to see us as his new (maybe second?) home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do not mind at all, but are we 'stealing' him from his owners by petting him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'd also like to clarify he is not malnourished at all and looks very clean and well groomed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9418" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T15:20:03.397" Title="Am I 'stealing' someones cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17024" CreationDate="2017-05-05T16:33:19.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not like you're out looking for the cat, or even rewarding him with food.  His owners let him outside, and likely know he's living his best cat life out in the world.  It would be different if you bought him a collar, let him into your house, and refused to let him return to his original home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not much harm in petting the cat when he comes into your yard, unless the owners explicitly ask you not to.  If they aren't home often and this is their only pet, it's likely he's a bit lonely and you guys are filling that void in his cat life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="8205" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T15:20:03.397" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T15:20:03.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17029" CreationDate="2017-05-05T17:58:20.307" Score="-3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;When training a dog, the worst punishment I should do is that I should leave and close the door behind if I see something I don't like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is that why can't I pat my dog for any mistakes at the spot if dog's pain tolerance is 4 times higher than human?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also does leave always tell my dog it's a &quot;no&quot;? For example, if my dog is eating its own poop, if I leave, doesn't tell him it's okay to continue eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9419" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T06:49:56.993" Title="Why can't I pat my dog for any mistakes if dog's pain tolerance is 4 times higher than human?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-05-20T19:30:36.163" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-05T23:19:37.643" Score="4" ViewCount="1167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know if a baby squirrel could stay in the same 4-floor cage as a pet ferret or bunny we were thinking of adopting or buying. I also want to know if the baby squirrel might attack or anything, and we are not keeping the squirrel for long. we are just going to care for him because he's an orphan and his mom was killed by stray cats in our area. my last question is if we should turn the squirrel to animal control. I asked many people and a few said that they'd kill him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9422" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T23:25:16.317" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T23:25:16.317" Title="Can we house a baby squirrel in the same cage as a ferret or bunny?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17026" CreationDate="2017-05-06T06:49:56.993" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Amongst other things because you have low control over what the dog actually learns or associates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scenario 1: The dog sees a bee and tries to squish it. The bee stings, it hurts, the dog associates touching a bee and getting hurt (not necessarily the first time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scenario 2: The dog barks at the mailman. You spank it. &lt;strong&gt;Why did it hurt?&lt;/strong&gt; Because of barking? Because of the stranger showing up? Because of the car in front of the house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For negative enforcement you'd need to always have perfect timing and it's just too easy to screw up. It's far easier to be consistent with exclusively rewarding the right behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog sits there patiently and it gets a treat for doing so, the exact reason - mailman appearing, not barking, car passing by - won't matter. You enforced wanted behavior. Next time there's no car, so the dog will be able to figure out it wasn't due to the car, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong in introducing a &quot;no&quot; and enforcing it by taking something or pulling the dog away. If you use a clear command, the dog can associate that with &quot;I'm not allowed to&quot; and possibly more important &quot;there won't be treats&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T06:49:56.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-06T10:19:57.803" Score="2" ViewCount="3590" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has wounds behind his ears. There are no good vets that specializes in cats around my area. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a 2 year old persian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a photo  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/14121.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/14121.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is an outdoor cat. We also&#xA;have other (outdoor) cats here. So far, no personality changes that we notice.&#xA;He scratches his ear more than regularly.&#xA;It's a fresh wound, sometimes it bleeds a bit due to intense scratching. There are no leaks/fluid but the area looks sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3585" LastEditorUserId="3585" LastEditDate="2017-05-10T00:22:23.790" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T04:46:19.213" Title="Cat has wounds behind his ears" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17044" CreationDate="2017-05-06T10:38:21.550" Score="3" ViewCount="16826" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to live planted aquarium. Recently, while looking for CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; system for my 22 liters (about 6 gallons) tank, I came through a product named CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; tablets from generic seller. But I don't know the procedure to use this specific product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone has used this kind of stuff before, please give me your suggestions whether to use it or not. If yes, then how to use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want my plants to get killed by avoidable mistakes. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Product link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-CO2-Tablet-Carbon-dioxide-36tab-Planted-Diffuser-plant-AK251-/371350961947&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-CO2-Tablet-Carbon-dioxide-36tab-Planted-Diffuser-plant-AK251-/371350961947&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:14:09.373" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T14:52:57.700" Title="How to use CO2 tablets for aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17037" CreationDate="2017-05-06T12:12:16.290" Score="1" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's a 1 month old kitten. We used to feed him canned tuna and chicken. Yes, I know that isn't enough for him. Today we bought some dry kibble made for kittens, and put it in a bowl. He seems interested and tries to eat it, but the pieces either fall from his mouth or couldn't even chew them. I tried watering it a bit, but still couldn't chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9424" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T19:02:02.550" Title="Kitten can't eat dry kibble" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9594" CreationDate="2017-05-06T12:58:05.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was the same way when I fostered 4 kittens, which wasn't  a big problem  since once they were bigger they went back to be adopted.  The BIG problem began when I rescued 2 puppies and my loving, always sleeps with me 130 lb (60 kg) baby would literally  try to jump on the back of the couch to get away from them. He wouldn't even come in the house.  It got to be where I thought the pups were going to have to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I noticed though was after much research and an awesome  article by Cesar Millan was that I, not my dog, needed the help.  Now after a month I see him nose to nose with them outside and he will come in at night if I go get him.  I think he is/was afraid  of hurting them accidentally since the larger they get the more I find them together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing I learned (from Cesar) was not to comfort him, give treats, etc, as that was rewarding his fearful behavior which was what I had been doing all along. Now that I have stopped, it is definitely  getting better.   Good luck and sorry so long to explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9425" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:21:58.683" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:21:58.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17034" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-06T13:54:11.920" Score="5" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been feeding my dog Natural Balance dry food for the past few years. Only occasionally will she eat it right away when I put it out for her, but most of the time she &quot;eventually&quot; gets to it. The vet told me as long as she is eating at some point, it's ok. Some dogs are not that motivated by food and she is in healthy shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other day I was running out of dry food so I bought a can of Newman's Own chicken and rice food. I was actually quite surprised out how &quot;human-like&quot; it looked. When I gave it to her, she absolutely devoured it in like 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel slightly guilty for feeding her dry food that she's not that excited by. Should I change to wet food b/c she seems to enjoy it more? Maybe mix 50/50 dry/wet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9426" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:43:33.953" Title="Wet food vs. Dry food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17034" CreationDate="2017-05-06T18:57:15.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend trying to add a tablespoon on top of the dry or mix in &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; wet with &lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; dry. Wet food will cost you much more than dry one, so if she can enjoy the mixture it will be better on your wallet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When adding wet food make sure she consumes it within an hour, after that throw it out or wrap it up and place it in the fridge - it tends to spoil quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried other dry brands? Maybe she just doesn't like the brand or the meat protein - some dogs aren't crazy for certain meats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:43:33.953" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:43:33.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17032" CreationDate="2017-05-06T19:02:02.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would feed wet until he's a bit older if he's having a hard time chewing. Those little teeth at 1 month can have a hard time, he will get better at it as he ages :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 weeks is the time when they begin to eat other things besides their mothers milk, learning process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T19:02:02.550" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-06T21:08:36.177" Score="0" ViewCount="1506" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have what I think might be a very good controlled experiment since I have two dogs.  They are both Great Pyrenees.  One is &quot;mine&quot; a female 7 years old and has a thick impermeable healthy white coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT: photos provided here now]&#xA;[&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MnaJa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;chest area&quot;&gt;]&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MnaJa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;[&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UfIX0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;back area&quot;&gt;]&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UfIX0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other is a rescue dog, about the same age.  He has lived with the female for about 3-4 years.  He's steadily lost hair and his flesh is a combination of pink and black skin underneath.  He still has full hair around his face and chest/shoulders. But it's VERY thin back of that, and almost gone on his belly.  He also has &quot;tags&quot; of flesh on his stomach area.  And, he's skinny, and doesn't smell good even when he's bathed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's got access to as much food as he wants (dry) but has stayed skinny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, it's not contagious as Wendy hasn't gotten this at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry I haven't put a lot of effort into him but have some money to at least try something.  Is it possible this is worms?  If so what type, and what type of medicine should I try?  Honestly, I don't have the budget for the 150-300 that a vet would charge, but am willing to spend 30-40 on an OTC or internet-order treatment.  Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, one more thing, he's not extremely active, but no obvious sign of lethargy.  Pretty quiet though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9428" LastEditorUserId="9428" LastEditDate="2017-05-07T14:32:40.570" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T23:59:33.233" Title="Most likely cause of hair loss in dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17034" CreationDate="2017-05-06T22:49:31.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mixing canned food in with your regular kibble may make your pup more interested in eating.  Also, changing up your kibble to something more appealing or supplementing with fresh food may have the same effect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You pup might also be bored with his food.  It sounds like you leave food out for him in a bowl for him to eat when he pleases.  You might consider stuffing a Kong with a mix of kibble, a tablespoon or two of wet food, and some fresh cooked meat/fish/veggies and offering that at mealtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The larger question of wet vs. dry food comes down to nutrition.  Most wet food have less calories, protein, and fat than dry kibble.  You'll need to strike a balance between feeding your dog something he likes and fulfilling his nutritional needs.  Newman's Own Chicken and Rice canned food has (per can) only 10% protein, 5.5% fat, and 1% fiber, whereas Newman's Own Adult formula kibble has 21% protein, 12% fat, and 4.5% fiber per cup.  Most dogs need more protein and fat than canned food provides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T22:49:31.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17038" CreationDate="2017-05-06T23:09:39.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This honestly needs attention from a veterinarian - skin issues need to be seen in person as diagnostics need to be ran in order to figure out what's wrong. There are numerous reasons for hair loss - from allergies, parasites, thyroid, infection etc.. Sadly there is no medication that anyone online can recommend for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you tried calling animal shelters/rescues to help you? Some can help low income families get treatment for their pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-05-06T23:09:39.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17043" CreationDate="2017-05-07T14:16:03.083" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a 3-month-old golden retriever puppy and he is very friendly. I am living in a city and I don't know much about people around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want the puppy to be comfortable with people so that he doesn't express aggressiveness or jumping behavior towards my guest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I take my pup outside my home at late hours; however, when my neighbours or strangers pass by, they play with him. I am afraid this will make him to consider them as friendly (I am also irritated when strangers come, play and pat him since he is only a pup).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea how to make him comfortable without befriending people while training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9431" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-04-11T22:30:12.720" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T22:30:12.720" Title="How to make puppy comfortable with strangers without befriending them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-07T15:05:33.717" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pup who is around 4 months old is very aggressive and hostile to his mother and other dogs in general. He often barks at dogs 3-4 times his size (the mom's no exception). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such aggressiveness in him often forces us to chain him for extended periods of time should he escape and hurt himself in doggie turf wars. I myself am no fond of chaining the dog but it seems a necessary evil. What are some good and humane alternatives to chaining my dog for extended periods of time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastActivityDate="2017-05-14T17:23:47.697" Title="How to control my aggressive puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17041" CreationDate="2017-05-08T05:32:55.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anything wrong getting to know your neighbors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for strangers, don't worry too much. The whole &quot;come on, let's play!&quot; excitement will become far less noticeable over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's essentially a &quot;puppy thing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our dogs - a Siberian Husky - always has been overexcited when he saw other people or dogs. He'd be unstoppable, trying to go after them to have a look, scream, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While growing up this behavior toned down significantly. Now, three years later it's pretty much non-existent for total strangers. The only exception are people he considers part of the pack (like people from our small street).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also just to note: Especially with many strangers around you don't want your dog to consider them hostile in any way. This can and will cause problems. There's nothing wrong in your dog expecting some petting. As a puppy it will get overexcited etc. but as mentioned this will be temporary. Also this won't cause it to suddenly accept strangers trying to steal from your home or similar things. For dogs there's a difference on how and where you meet others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T05:32:55.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17031" CreationDate="2017-05-08T10:42:08.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the description there is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drop the tablet in different spots of the aquarium, for more even distribution of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;2 tablets for every 10 gallon of water, dose 2 times a week&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So seems like it's ok to just drop them in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've also already seen kits like this where a small basket was included with suction cups, where you could put the tablet in. This might be safer, so your fish won't confuse it with any food tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't worry about killing your plants. But do keep an eye out for your fishes. High CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; means less oxygen in your tank. So if you see your fish gasping for air, you should reduce the dose you add.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a related note, you can also buy liquid CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. In my nano tank I use EasyLife Carbo. Very good product, and I think in the end it will be cheaper than those tables. Flourish Excel is another product (but I don't have experience with this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try a DIY setup. I'm using that for my big tank (180 liters) and it works very good. I followed this guide: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hobbykwekers.nl/artikelen/item/co2-verhogen-met-omgekeerd-bakje&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.hobbykwekers.nl/artikelen/item/co2-verhogen-met-omgekeerd-bakje&lt;/a&gt; - it is in Dutch, but pictures are clear and you can use google translate. And if you google it, I'm sure you'll find similar guides in English. That reversed container makes sure you don't get too much CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in your tank (that container surface should be roughly 10 % of your tank surface). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my nano tank I found it difficult to get a decent CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; production rate. It seemed like a lot of the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; went to waste because of the small container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you play around with the mixture you might find something that works for you (less sugar and yeast).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:12:38.887" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:12:38.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17054" CreationDate="2017-05-08T12:51:51.800" Score="3" ViewCount="19639" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a leopard gecko at a reptile show and it is my first one. My room is only about 21&amp;nbsp;°C (70&amp;nbsp;°F) and is not warm enough for it. How can I make my room or the cage warmer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:43:23.873" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T14:23:54.810" Title="How do I keep my leopard gecko cage warm?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-08T14:30:11.337" Score="3" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;I let my dog out for what seemed only a few mins, maybe less then 10 min. I had been training him to stay in the yard, but I was so busy doing laundry, I thought I'll let him out really quick and put one load in then run out to check on him. I went out and found him laying in street. He had a heart beat but his tongue was hanging out with a small a mount of blood coming from his mouth. He looked perfectly in on piece, I wasn't even sure if he was hit by car but he had a glazed over look in his eyes and his body was limp when I picked him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rushed him to the vet, but they couldn't save him. Dr only said he was able to revive him but wasn't sure what had happened and I didn't know either being that I wasn't out there. My guilt overwhelms me day and night. I cry all day long, I can't sleep. He was the best dog, little yorkie poodle mix with so much love to give. He was a stray that I had picked up because I wanted to give him a good life but he ended up dead on street anyway. Can anyone tell me what might have happened. Was he hit by car but no signs of being ran over. I don't get it. I want closure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9438" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T18:56:57.847" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T14:16:08.360" Title="Found my dog laying in street, what happened" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16887" CreationDate="2017-05-08T15:15:52.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a previous owner of a cat with the same problem who was not too overweight to clean himself, I would guess that genetics (breed) has something to do with it. Certain breeds have more oily/dryer skin than others which require more attention to their grooming care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should still visit your vet to help determine the cause, or at least the implications (i.e. Does the dandruff mean she scratches herself too much, implying fleas etc. Determine if the stickiness means she has access to something that gets on her fur such as piping, plants, something outdoors, or is the stickiness produced by herself). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course if she is overweight, then self-grooming is likely a cause. Just wanted to give another POV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9439" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T15:15:52.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-08T16:19:19.333" Score="4" ViewCount="1665" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aunt keeps forgetting to feed her African clawed frog and offered it to me. I think this frog would be cool with other fish or amphibians but I've also heard of them eating some. I would like to know if there are any suitable options for a 10 or 20 gallon tank. I would also like to know if there are any live plant options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T15:18:25.457" Title="Any tank mates for an African clawed frog" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17046" CreationDate="2017-05-08T19:04:24.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can only ever be speculation, but given how quick it was it's likely the dog was hit by a car (or some other forceful impact, but that's a hideous thought). Any ingestion of poison or possible snake bite would take longer than that to cause such limpness and will often cause seizures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without seeing what happened, and no autopsy, no one can give you that definitive answer. Try to forgive yourself, we all carry regrets and make mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take these wise words &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17046/found-my-dog-laying-in-street-what-happened/17049?noredirect=1#comment22046_17049&quot;&gt;from the comments&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/982/mhwombat&quot;&gt;mhwombat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please remember that once you adopted him, he had a life filled with&#xA;  love. That's more important than the length of his life. I hope that&#xA;  when you are ready, you adopt another pet. You clearly have a lot of&#xA;  love and compassion to give to an animal that needs it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-08T19:23:01.210" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T19:23:01.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17023" CreationDate="2017-05-08T19:17:23.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A chainlink fence is one of the better styles of fencing for dogs. You hit the answer on the head when you said since you've been letting them out more often they've stopped it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs need stimulation. In this case it sounds like they're motivated by boredom and are destructive to try and find more interest in theirs lives, i.e. roam outside of the fenced area. Some breeds require more activity than others and this needs to be taken into consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you can do is add some toys into the yard and bones - if they won't brawl over them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the fencing, I wouldn't recommend timber. Determined dogs can claw and chew their way through timber, including wooden doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps consider the type of fencing that is used for pools, where there's metal posts spaced closely enough to prevent the dogs from escaping. Then there's always the issue of dogs digging to get under the fence. The only way this can be prevented is by using either concrete, rocks or digging tin down into the ground to prevent the digging. Concrete around the base of the fence is probably the most reliable and safest. digging tin down into the earth may cause injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the safest option is to keep them occupied and stimulated, this is the optimal way to avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T19:17:23.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2017-05-08T20:07:07.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ants kept in captivity will actually have a &quot;graveyard&quot; site. This is a site where they will dispose of their dead separate from their actual garbage site. I don't personally own an ant colony but this is a behavior that I've read and heard about quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some could debate whether or not this behavior is thought through or simply instinctive but I think this topic is greatly philosophical and opinion-based.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether it be a simple rule behavior and a mechanical thing or it being that they don't appreciate their dead being rummaged through by other insects and animals like mites, one thing is clear: They do dispose of their dead in peculiar ways for insects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9414" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T20:07:07.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16925" CreationDate="2017-05-08T21:16:43.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Large mealworms are too big for a hatchling. Try using smaller ones or dubia roach nymphs. Avoid waxworms though because of their too high-fat content though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T21:16:43.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17045" CreationDate="2017-05-08T23:16:32.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will need to get an under tank heater and a thermostat for your leo. You can also use heat tape but that is less friendly. I would suggest perusing over this care sheet just to get the jist of what you need to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Lizards/Leopard-Gecko/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Lizards/Leopard-Gecko/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a cheap thermostat and uth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002AQCL4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;UTH&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000NZZG3S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Thermostat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest get AT LEAST both of these items and if you have money to get a better thermo and heat source then you should. Also make sure you have a hide, a humid hide, a water bowl, and some type of substrate. Good luck on the care! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6901" LastActivityDate="2017-05-08T23:16:32.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-08T23:45:50.563" Score="4" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 turquoise rainbows, 2 albino corys, 4 zebra danios, 5 serpae tetras and 5 cherry barbs in my 30 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think I'm overstocked? If so, what do you think is the best mix/number for a tank of my size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9441" LastEditorUserId="9294" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T19:44:52.013" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:15:43.937" Title="Can my fish coexist?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17055" CreationDate="2017-05-09T10:15:53.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is overstocked at the moment. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;But these are all schooling fish and they might be happier if the schools are a bit bigger. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;A better mix would be to remove 2 species (eg the tetra's and the barbs) and replace them with the other species (more corys and rainbows for example). &lt;br&gt;&#xA;6-7 fish for a 'school' is usually really them minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T10:15:53.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-09T10:38:56.440" Score="4" ViewCount="5200" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have ants in our house, and nothing I've tried so far has been sufficiently successful. Now I'm considering using ant traps, but only under the kitchen cabinets behind the plinth, a place where neither my cats nor my kids (a baby and a toddler) would ever be able to reach them (no chance of them getting in there). Would that be safe? Are there other aspects we'd need to consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2554" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T10:41:26.353" Title="Is it safe to use ant traps if they're out of reach of my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17055" CreationDate="2017-05-09T12:57:57.293" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yah. Not overstocked but it will be if you have their appropriate schools. Try two or three schools of the smaller species like zebra danios and turquoise rainbows. You could possibly put some guppies in if you are interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T12:57:57.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17061" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-09T17:06:17.230" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I had posted in a previous question, there's a feral cat around my house that I want to neuter. He's extremely friendly (I feed him) and I can pick him up and pet him, but he just won't get into the cage. And being a &lt;em&gt;street&lt;/em&gt; cat, I assume he'll defend himself if I force him into the cage. I tried once and I knew that it wouldn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm thinking of using acepromazine so he calms down and gets sleepy. My question: does this medication calm the cat down or does he fall asleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T13:39:30.453" Title="acepromazine for feral cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17058" CreationDate="2017-05-09T17:37:49.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you are using. Stick traps are fine because the ants won't come out again. Gel, however, should not be used regardless because the cat may eat the poisoned ants and be poisoned himself even if it is a more effective method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T17:37:49.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17061" CreationDate="2017-05-09T17:42:31.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to use a slightly bigger carrier so you can put him in it easier. There should be no need to drug the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastActivityDate="2017-05-09T17:42:31.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16980" CreationDate="2017-05-09T17:46:19.190" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ammonia could have been the reason, or you could have been using water that wasn't filtered enough in the first place. They also would be way too crowded in a bowl, especially with four.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9437" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T13:31:31.463" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T13:31:31.463" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17066" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-10T06:10:30.913" Score="2" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to buy lights for my planted aquarium tank. After a small research I found that regular lights are not suited for growing plants.&#xA;Beacuse they need &lt;strong&gt;BLUE&lt;/strong&gt; for leaf growth and &lt;strong&gt;RED&lt;/strong&gt; for stem elongation. &#xA;In stores I found 2 variants of this lights. One was actually a combination of both the LED's and other was simply called Full Spectrum LED.&#xA;Can any one please suggest me which one is good for my 6 gallon tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got these plants:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eleocharis paravula&lt;/em&gt; (Japanese)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ludwigia sp.&lt;/em&gt; (Mini Red)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elatine triandra&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference (www.ebay.in):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.in/itm/10-Pcs-3w-Full-Spectrum-LED-Taiwan-Epistar-Indoor-Plant-Grow-Light-400nm-840nm-/172421286248?hash=item28251c0968:g:AMwAAOSwz2lXCiSw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Full Spectrum LED&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.in/itm/LED-Full-Spectrum-IR-UV-Grow-Light-14W-28-SMD-LEDs-E27-Plant-Flower-Grow-Bulb-/252917131903?hash=item3ae3092a7f:g:TG4AAOSwjqVZCYfK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grow Light LED&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:53:33.537" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T09:36:27.570" Title="Full Spectrum LED (400nm to 840nm) vs Grow Light LED (RED+BLUE)" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17030" CreationDate="2017-05-10T06:39:21.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am NOT a veterinarian, so take my advice with a spoonful of salt.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do in this situation is try to shave the area (electric hair/beard cutters work fairly well in my experience, just be careful about angling it because a cats skin is thinner than a humans). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would then clean it using clean water, unless the area looks like it might be infected in which case I'd use medical wound cleaning solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the area looks clearly infected or smells I would immediately go to the vet, no matter the specialisation as the cat will need medical assistance and probably antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd then cover the area with medical grade cotton and medical tape, or bandaids (The dressing might not work, depending on how tolerant the cat is.), depending on what's available, inspect and change the dressing daily (more often if keeping him indoors is not possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And try to keep the cat indoor until it looks healed (especially if the cat does not accept the dressing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T06:39:21.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17030" CreationDate="2017-05-10T06:40:14.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't look too bad so you don't need to do anything, but keep an eye on it, and if it starts to swell or is getting red, a visit to the vet might be needed. Cats do heal quite fast as long as there is no infection and from your picture it looks like it's starting to heal just fine. You might want to wash the wound with clean water, but this is usually not needed. When the cat washes itself, the saliva does contain antibacterial substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T04:46:19.213" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T04:46:19.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17015" CreationDate="2017-05-10T13:06:31.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having had big problems with a nervous 3 year old rescue cat, I am sure that the Feliway plug-in device noticeably helped his situation. He is still wary and we let him approach us without making sudden movements if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We guess that he has been very badly hurt (emotionally?) in the past and we have to win his absolute trust.  It is improving inside the house and the garden, and I didn't really believe it when everyone said 'give it time', but now I agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9385" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T20:07:22.083" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T20:07:22.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-10T13:56:16.230" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;How far apart can fence slats be spaced and still safely contain a small dog - specifically a toy poodle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there measurements that I could take on her to figure out the spacing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T13:56:16.230" Title="Spacing for fence slats - small dog" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-10T16:59:41.247" Score="7" ViewCount="4388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female cat (Annie) who is not spayed, and a male (Felix) who is neutered. Annie is very tiny and has no claws. Ever since I got Felix, he is always chasing after Annie or preventing her from eating her food, using the litter box and going in to certain rooms (my bedroom).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Annie has since started to pee on our laundry and towels. I have tried giving her UTI medications, but that did not work. I think she is super stressed out, because he will not stop. We also just moved into a new house, so we would like this to stop, so she does not pee around the new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop him from constantly pestering her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be because she is not fixed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9457" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-08-03T19:39:27.163" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T07:48:27.623" Title="How do I stop my male cat from &quot;controlling&quot; and attacking my tiny female cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17081" CreationDate="2017-05-10T18:19:52.153" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the male is doing this then he may be telling her that he is the boss. Put the male in a room with food, water, cat toys, scratching post and a place to sleep. When you want the male out, put the female in the room and let the male out. Try not to let them come into contact with each other. I hope this works out for you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9460" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T13:07:15.313" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:07:15.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15124" CreationDate="2017-05-10T18:25:29.177" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think he is showing dominance to the kittens. He maybe trying to get the females pregnant but they have to be 6 months to mates with a male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9460" LastActivityDate="2017-05-10T18:25:29.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-10T20:12:29.320" Score="3" ViewCount="964" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following GIF was trending on Reddit. It shows the owner excitedly open the PS4 console gift he received and his cat pounces on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/KuhaK9p.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Imgur&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially thought the cat was playing until I saw his bruises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ejy0t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is do cats feel threatened and a need to attack when humans exhibit an excited behavior like the person in this picture did?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9461" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T11:16:49.793" Title="Do cats usually attack when their human owner exhibts excited behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-11T02:51:35.243" Score="2" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just rescued a 70 litre fish tank with about 40 guppies in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water is so brown that you can't see the fish and it smells really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we picked it up we removed 80% of the water to transport it and replaced it with fresh water. After this 80% water change you can still only see about 5cm into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a gravel substrate which is full of detritus. We haven't gravel siphoned yet for fear of sucking up fish which we can't see due to the brown water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have also taken out one dead fish, there could be more dead fish in there which we just can't see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We havn't done a water test yet, due to the color of the water making it hard to read the color in the test tubes. So we have no idea what the water parameters are. But I'm guessing they are way off the charts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that by changing to much of the water two quickly will stress the fish. These fish have obviously gotten used to very extreme water conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I go about recovering this thank without harming the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8067" LastEditorUserId="8067" LastEditDate="2017-05-11T04:05:47.873" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T15:59:48.750" Title="Saving a neglected tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17087" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-11T02:59:09.637" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog barks a lot when we're not home. We can hear him when we leave, but we had always assumed he calmed down after a short period. Our neighbors complained today that he's been incessantly barking while we're gone and that it's bothering them and their guests. What's an appropriate way to handle this situation for our dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9463" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-11T03:17:20.283" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T06:42:10.947" Title="How do I stop my dog from barking when I'm not home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-12T15:27:55.763" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17087" CreationDate="2017-05-11T06:42:10.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barking Set-Ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep the dog in the quietest part of the house. A dog with behavior&#xA;problems has not earned “the run of the house”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep curtains and/or shades drawn. If you don’t have adequate window&#xA;coverage, get some; hang a sheet or blanket across the window. A&#xA;darker environment has a calming effect on most dogs. Additionally,&#xA;there is no visual stimuli to provoke the territorial or bored dog.&#xA;Curtains muffle sounds from the outdoors for alarm barkers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leave a radio or TV on as white noise. In many households, the&#xA;stereo/TV/radio is on from morning ’til night as long as someone is&#xA;home. Imagine how “loud” the silence is when everyone is gone and&#xA;the sound system is turned off! Beyond masking outside noises,&#xA;leaving the stereo/TV/radio on gives the aural appearance of your&#xA;presence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you leave, give the dog an “only-when-I’m-gone” chew toy with&#xA;your scent imparted on it. This toy should be something spectacular&#xA;– a sterilized beef bone stuffed deeply and thoroughly with canned&#xA;dog food or cheese spread (served frozen or chilled), a flavorful&#xA;beef-basted knotted rawhide bone, or a stuffed KongTM. Give it to&#xA;the dog upon leaving; rub it between your palms several times before&#xA;you go. Not only is this a diversion tactic, it actually makes being&#xA;left alone not so bad, as this is the only time the&#xA;“most-wonderful-thing-in-the-world” appears!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9455" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T06:42:10.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17086" CreationDate="2017-05-11T08:41:21.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a filter in it? If not, add one and fill it with a lot of fine filter cotton. That should be able to catch most of the floating fine dirt. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would definitely try to siphon the gravel. Keep it close the the gravel (and even stick it in it) &amp;amp; close to the sides, and then you don't have to worry about sucking fish up. Guppies are rater big anyway. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the gravel is fine, you might also be able to siphon the gravel itself up. &lt;br&gt;Just stick the siphon in it, all the way to the bottom. Rinse the gravel with clear water, and place it back. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Replacing 80% water initially was a good move. But this is indeed not something you can do everyday because of the fish. But you can try to replace a little water every 2 or 3 days (e.g. 5-10 liters). &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T08:41:21.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17085" CreationDate="2017-05-11T10:21:58.743" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at how the cat reacts to the situation, to the cat this is NOT excitement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the cat looks scared! The (huge for a cat) human is causing a lot of noise, moving around threateningly (limbs out, puffing, trying to appear larger). As you can see in the beginning the cat immediately flees, then attacks as the threat persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be a somewhat expected reaction from a scared cat in confined quarters with what it perceives as a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further points/analysis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be a smallish family room, with at least one dog that seems to be in on the excitement (and hence seem threatening to the cat). The only way out is being partially blocked by the threatening human. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat flees in one direction, where the dog is. Another direction is fully blocked by the camera person. The cat then has no choice but to go towards what I would guess is the only exit from the room, which is partially blocked by the gift recipient and with loud packing material flying everywhere. As you can see just as the cat is about to leap out of the room, the gift recipient throws his arm to the right, blocking the door completely along the ground, at which point the cat attacks and then flees out of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2017-05-11T11:16:49.793" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T11:16:49.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17058" CreationDate="2017-05-11T10:41:26.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you need to leave food out for longer periods of time, you can put the food bowl in a pan of water so that the ants can't reach it. Of course the pan should be small enough that the cats can eat without getting their paws wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to get rid of the ants is to remove their food source, which you have done. In addition, you could inject some sort of ant killer behind the baseboards and in other crevices. Borax is probably a good choice; it is not safe for cats in quantity (e.g. to use in a litter box), but minute amounts should not cause problems. Some people report success using soapy water, vinegar, or even catnip!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also products that contain ant bait/poison inside a plastic case, with openings big enough for an ant to get through but not a cat's paw. As I recall, these look rather like those round stick-on air freshener thingies. Assuming your cats are not in the habit of eating ants, these should work well and be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9455" LastActivityDate="2017-05-11T10:41:26.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17045" CreationDate="2017-05-11T10:43:54.643" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos, as ground-dwelling lizards, depend on heat levels between 24&amp;nbsp;°C (75&amp;nbsp;°F) at night to 32&amp;nbsp;°C (90&amp;nbsp;°F)  during the day to remain healthy and active. If you're having trouble keeping the habitat temperature in this range, try one of several simple solutions to keep your gecko warm and cozy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heat-conducting substrate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leopard geckos require warm ground in their environments, since they spend most of their time there. Some reptile substrates are poor conductors of heat, and may cause gradual cooling of the lizard's habitat. Substrates such as very fine beach sand and bark mulch tend to lose heat quickly, so should be avoided. The best substrate for leopard geckos is a combination of pea gravel at the bottom of the habitat, with a coarser sand (such as generic playground sand) on top. This combination will conduct and retain heat much better than other substrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heating pad&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heating pads, which attach to the bottom of aquariums or cages, provide a gentle and reliable source of heat that is ideal for leopard geckos. Choose a heating pad made specifically for reptiles that will cover a little over half of the habitat floor. (Leopard geckos need to be able to self-regulate their body temperature; if the heated area gets too hot, they can easily move to the unheated side.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Incandescent bulb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An incandescent bulb of 40 to 60 watts in a reflector fixture is one of the simplest ways to add both heat and light to a leopard gecko's habitat. This bulb can be placed over one half of the habitat, to allow the gecko to self-regulate his temperature. You may also choose a red light -- since leopard geckos are nocturnal, a red light bulb will not interrupt their normal sleeping patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warnings and considerations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a thermometer in your leopard gecko habitat to make sure the temperature stays between 24&amp;nbsp;°C and 32&amp;nbsp;°C (75&amp;nbsp;°F and 90&amp;nbsp;°F) at all times. Turn off heating devices if the cage gets too warm. You may need to buy a lower-powered heating pad or light if the habitat is consistently too warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9455" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-31T12:26:45.560" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T12:26:45.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-11T18:27:33.340" Score="3" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 year old cornsnake escaped and was lost for about 10 weeks. I finally found him about 3 weeks ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he's been back he has been refusing to eat. He's more active than he was before he escaped - constantly prowling the viv looking for a way out so I don't know if he's just unsettled but unless he found something when he was out, he hasn't eaten for over 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can now see a ridge where his spine in which I don't recall being present before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's always been a good eater other than when I first got him when he took about a month to start eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I start to worry? Should I take him to see the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9465" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-11T19:42:47.027" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T05:26:37.383" Title="Snake refusing food after escaping" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-12T01:46:13.013" Score="5" ViewCount="2313" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need help. Recently I've been neglecting my gecko because of something that happened to me that left me emotionally distressed. My gecko used to be healthy, but now he's skinny, squints his eyes, and refuses to eat what I give him. I don't know what vet will look at him and I don't know if he's sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm giving I'm fresh water every 2-3 days and mealworms everyday. Sometimes he'll eat, but the worms usually end up drying up and dying. My temperature gauge is broken and I have to get a new one so I have no idea what temperature it is in his cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need help. I feel so guilty and I don't want to get hated on by the vet or judged. I signed a pet form to take care of him and I failed it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hHMSL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hHMSL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9467" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-12T19:59:22.940" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T04:18:25.110" Title="Gecko won't eat" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-12T04:51:04.683" Score="6" ViewCount="1897" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 months ago I got a Persian 5 month old white kitten from a breeder.  He didn't take too long to get along with my older cat, though he doesn't seem to like me.  He is afraid if I walk by, like my feet scare him, though he will sleep with me or climb on my lap to be petted sometimes and others times he's afraid.  Sometimes he won't even take treats from me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he is scared because I have to pick him up to wash him every couple weeks and he has a lot of eye gunk that needs cleaned or else his eyes get red and the breeder said she cleaned them everyday.  Plus she showed him while she had him so she bathed him and used a blow dryer on him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All things he freaks out about when I try to do it to him.  I don't know what to do and he seems more and more scared of me everyday instead of getting friendlier.  I'm assuming all the grooming is scaring him, although I don't know why he is afraid of my feet if I walk anywhere near him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will even lay on the floor with my hand all the way out with treats (as I thought all cats where food motivated), but he either won't take any or he will quickly grab one and go into the other room to eat it and not come back for the rest, while my older cat eats his whole handful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feed the kittens treats to the older one, cause I want him to learn that one hand is for him an the other for the kitten.  They seem to get along fine together though, as long as I am not in the same room.  Then they get territorial over me.  Weird since the kitten doesn't want me other times.  I'm just so worried because he is getting more scared everyday.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes if I try to talk to him he closes his eyes to shut me out and pretend I'm not there and backs himself into a corner. I am trying to groom him as little as possible.  But with Persians you can't completely stop. &#xA;Any suggestions from a Persian owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9468" LastEditorUserId="9468" LastEditDate="2017-05-14T19:39:23.490" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T18:04:59.990" Title="Why is my Persian 9 month old kitten so scared of me? In fact it is getting worse" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17095" CreationDate="2017-05-12T09:40:12.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it will be painful, the best thing that you can do is to be honest about the situation and seek expert help. Things do not sound good as they are, and you will be respected for asking for help sooner, rather than later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T09:40:12.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17095" CreationDate="2017-05-12T19:59:12.613" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You must take him to the vet and also get a new temperature gauge today.  Also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/care-of-pet-white-lined-geckos-1238768&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;give him fresh water daily and feed your gecko crickets and only occasionally give him meal worms.&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/care-of-geckos-1238766&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding Common House Geckos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    House geckos should be fed a&#xA;  variety of small prey items. Crickets can make up the main part of&#xA;  their diet with the addition of fruit flies and other small flies,&#xA;  silkworms, the occasional mealworm, and other insects. Gut load prey&#xA;  prior to feeding them to your geckos, dust them with a calcium&#xA;  supplement two to three times a week, and a dusting of a multivitamin&#xA;  once a week. Feed your common house geckos in the evening since they&#xA;  are nocturnal. Juveniles should be fed daily but adults can be fed&#xA;  every other day. Feed as much prey as your house gecko will eagerly&#xA;  consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/care-of-geckos-1238766&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lighting and Humidity for Common House Geckos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Try to maintain a daytime temperature gradient of 75-90 degrees Fahrenheit with a night&#xA;  time low of 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat can be provided by&#xA;  utilizing ceramic heat elements or reptile bulbs in a reflector&#xA;  lighting fixture. .../...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use white reptile heat bulbs during day time hours. At night utilize a&#xA;  red or purple night time bulb for heat. These bulbs can be purchased&#xA;  in any reptile section of the pet store or online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Common house geckos are nocturnal so they do not need special UVB&#xA;  lighting like many reptiles. However, many experts feel providing UV&#xA;  lighting is still beneficial to the overall health of nocturnal&#xA;  animals therefore it is still recommended to use a UVA/UVB light bulb&#xA;  during the day time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;House geckos need a moderate to high humidity level in their enclosure&#xA;  so you should aim for 60-75 percent relative humidity which you can&#xA;  measure with a hygrometer. Provide humidity with regular misting,&#xA;  bowls of water, or a fogger and you will find that your geckos will&#xA;  likely drink from water droplets left from the mist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put your own shame aside and fulfil your agreement to take care of him. He's alive it is not too late, but it will be if he dies.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the temperature is out of range for him that could be making him ill, but seek the veterinary advice today.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We cannot control how others perceive us. If the vet is judgemental, there is nothing you can do about that. Most people understand a person going through difficulties, the problem is with a pet (just like with a child), they are dependent upon us and no matter what happens we need to put aside our difficulties to care for them. If we are failing to do this, it is our responsibility to seek help.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now you are doing so here and good on you for that. Please go and get the help your lizard needs and let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-12T20:07:37.597" LastActivityDate="2017-05-12T20:07:37.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17042" CreationDate="2017-05-12T20:56:54.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to train a dog is rewarding him when he shows behaviour we like and punish him when he show behaviour we dislike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use the chain it will only make the pup frustrated instead, take the weekend off so you have a day or 2 :  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch the puppy's behaviour, from the moment he acts aggressive towards the mother punish him by gently taking him and placing him in apart from the rest of the dogs (or the mother in your case). After a couple of minutes bring him back, in the beginning he will keep doing this, keep putting him apart from the rest and add a minute to his punishing time, from the moment he gets tired of being aggressive reward him with some treats and by acting very enthusiastic. You'll see after a while he'll understand that this behavior gets him places instead of getting punished.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9472" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-14T17:23:47.697" LastActivityDate="2017-05-14T17:23:47.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17066" CreationDate="2017-05-13T05:50:02.373" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the lights you mention is made for fish tanks. This doesn't mean they can't be used but a better choice would be to try finding lighting made for fish tanks. Maybe ask for some advice from shops that are selling aquarium equipment to find some lighting made for fish tanks that fits the size of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this doesn't answer your question fully but this is my advice to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="8973" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T07:17:06.483" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T07:17:06.483" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-13T10:45:41.787" Score="1" ViewCount="4029" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is making a weird noise. It kind of sounds like wheezing and a mix of a cough with bad phlegm and the crunching sound when rabbits eat pellets. I don't know if this is normal. What should I do? I am very scared for my rabbit.&#xA;Here is the link to the audio of my rabbit's breathing: &lt;a href=&quot;https://clyp.it/oqwgyxnw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://clyp.it/oqwgyxnw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9475" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-14T17:24:29.940" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T16:36:05.870" Title="My rabbit is making this weird noise. Is something wrong?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17105" CreationDate="2017-05-13T11:21:44.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is difficult to hear your rabbit breathing in the audio recording.  There are a number of issues that can cause breathing noises in rabbits, the most often diagnosed is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Respiratory/Bacterial/URI.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pasteurellosis.&lt;/a&gt; It is important to take your bunny to a good rabbit vet to get a proper diagnosis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the diagnosis is Pasteurellosis you and your vet may or may not decided to treat it.  Rabbit health and digestion is dependent on bacteria in the gut, disruption of these bacteria from antibiotics can lead to difficulties.  In some cases it can be difficult or impossible to completely eliminate the infection. We have an 11 year old rabbit who has been living with us for 9 years, with the snuffles (Pasteurellosis).  Sometimes Harmony wheezes, some times she has coughing/sneezing fits, mostly she is is just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crunching sound you mention, is not a sign I would relate to the snuffles, so a vet visit is definitely needed for good diagnosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5736/what-antibiotics-should-not-be-given-to-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What antibiotics should not be given to a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5734/what-antibiotics-are-generally-safe-for-rabbits&quot;&gt;What antibiotics are generally safe for rabbits?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15693/my-rabbits-are-sneezing&quot;&gt;my rabbits are sneezing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-05-13T11:21:44.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-13T11:25:40.430" Score="3" ViewCount="554" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pair of budgie and female budgie has laid the first egg on April 14th, then second on April 17th, and with a gap of two two days she has laid total 5 eggs. So my problem is: the 1st egg has been hatched on May 6th and the other 4 eggs haven't not hatched yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that left eggs are unfertilized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9476" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:37:15.533" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:37:15.533" Title="Budgies egg hatching time" Tags="&lt;budgerigar&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-13T17:28:44.730" Score="3" ViewCount="2960" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat is almost 2yrs old and today for the first time ever he has been meowing A LOT and it's not his normal meows. He is also staying very close to me and won't leave my side and will run a little ahead of me and then look back to see if I'm following him (he has never done this). He is mostly an outside cat. He comes home in the morning, eats, lays around for a couple hours and then back outside he goes for the day, but today he acted completely different. So after I realized he wanted me to follow him outside, I did. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He kept running a little ahead of me making sure I'm following him and then he got to the spot where he stopped, looked at me and just started meowing while looking at me and towards the place he wanted me to go. Well the problem is he wants me to go underneath the apartments I live at and I obviously can't fit through the tiny little vents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So long story short I'm not sure what he wants, maybe he's trying to show me something important or maybe he's just playing around but by the way he's meowing and so persistent that I follow him it doesn't seem like he's playing. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9477" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-14T17:25:43.137" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T21:20:24.077" Title="My male cat is wanting me to follow him" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17108" CreationDate="2017-05-14T17:28:15.930" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like he is trying to communicate with you and wants you to check something.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There may be another cat trapped down there, or kittens. I'd see if you can get someone to investigate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As animals cannot speak to us with works, they need to use their sounds and actions as he has.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It would be interesting to see what's down there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-05-14T17:28:15.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-15T00:18:31.453" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a seven month old havenese boy and a three-month-old havenese girl. We just recently got the girl puppy and my boy is constantly trying to hump her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that he would be able to penetrate her and hurt her, so what can I do? I have a T-shirt on him right now so I can't actually do anything but he still trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9482" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:21:14.843" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:21:14.843" Title="Puppies trying to breed too early, not in heat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17108" CreationDate="2017-05-15T11:29:04.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please find someone to help him look under there, especially if he is still doing it. Cats are very smart and can warn their owners about things like weather or foes, they can also sense emotions or imminent death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He came back to get you because he knows and trusts you, he probably hasn't tried bringing anyone else to that spot. If you don't help him no one else will. It might not be serious (maybe he's showing you his baby momma) or perhaps an animal is hurt but either way you're the only one that knows this (vague) information and it is worth looking into :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9439" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T11:29:04.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-15T11:36:56.340" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat got into a fight with another cat and ever since that day, she's been acting off. The day after the fight she slept in the same chair for the whole day (over 14 hours). I also noticed that she is purring way more, so when you go to pet her, she'll purr immediately. She has not been active and does not show as much of an interest in food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found a swollen area on her lower back, the part that is right above the base of the tail. It was swollen for about a week and she wouldn't let me touch it, like she would meow and move, right away. This morning, i noticed some pus-like white residue on that section of her fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my cat alright? Will this swollen area heal by itself? Is there anything I should know about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9485" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-15T23:35:44.023" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T23:35:44.023" Title="cat has a swollen area after a cat attack" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17113" CreationDate="2017-05-15T12:11:47.200" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats use purring both as a sign of pleasure, but also more relevant to this situation to soothe themselves when they are in pain or is uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This combined with the lack of an appetite alone would indicate that it's time to go to the vet for a checkup, the bump with pus coming out of it absolutely guarantees it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pus would indicate an infection, and while there is a chance it will heal by itself there is no guarantee, and it might do long term damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So TLDR: Time for a trip to the vet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T12:11:47.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17086" CreationDate="2017-05-15T19:45:57.683" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I purchased my tank with no prior experience at all, I had no idea of vacuuming gravel. three months in to it I was out for a month and asked a friend to check on them every couple of days. When I came back my tank was in same condition as yours. I immediately drained almost 70% of the water. Two days later i drained 40% and another two days later another 40% (vacuuming everytime). By this time everything was under control except nitrite. Which took another two rounds of 25% drain every week. Or you can drain 100% of water with vacuuming gravel and find a local treated water supplier to use in your tank. They do get pricey but worth it if you want to save your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9486" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T19:45:57.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11312" CreationDate="2017-05-15T19:58:22.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they have ich. 20% water changes is if you are doing weekly only. Once or twice a month you should be doing at least 50%. You can buy ich treatments at the store but my experience is not great with them. You can use it as preventative measure though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9486" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-15T23:33:56.737" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T23:33:56.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17113" CreationDate="2017-05-15T20:05:58.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like an abscess for sure. Drainage and a shunt are indicated with follow-up antibiotics. Vet visit is NECESSARY. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abscesses are deep, purulent, puncture wounds that need to heal from the inside out, thus the shunt. The skin surface will close and seal in bacterial/viral infection and could potentially kill your cat. The swelling and pus are indicators of the infection.&#xA;Please take your cat to the vet immediately. She is giving every indication she needs veterinary attention ASAP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-05-15T20:05:58.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17122" CreationDate="2017-05-16T01:37:12.683" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2.5 months old Golden retriever and I have been house training him for  the past 1.5 weeks. Once every 2 hours I take him to his designated area to pee and he does it. But if I miss, he doesn't even call me or give any idea that he is about to pee and pees wherever he is, even near the place where he sleeps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I could see that he doesn't sniff before peeing and if I lift him while he is peeing and then drop him in the designated area, he stops peeing for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why hasn't my puppy already learned that he has to pee only in the designated area?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, pooping is a difficult task as he does that on different times every single day and I have no clue how to make him schedule it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these both behaviors caused by the fact he is still young?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing, we wash the designated area most of the time to neutralize the smell. Could that be an issue itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9431" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:37:51.467" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:37:51.467" Title="How to potty train a 2.5 months old puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-16T02:34:35.333" Score="3" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;In January I bought a pair of black mollies. Today morning one (female) died, having her spine bent and her stomach and mouth turned white-yellow. Now the other is kind of in nausea - you know, not moving, sitting at the bottom of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone please tell me what's going on? It's not eating now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XbTp4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/24FPw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MTyjd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9489" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:19:38.810" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T22:48:20.843" Title="Is my molly under attack?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2017-05-16T06:16:22.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the &quot;designated area&quot;? Not outside? If inside, you should use special pads for training or incontinent pets. They work similar to diapers, so can be reused for small business several times, binding it and avoiding smelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing any scent from the intended area is essentially counter intuitive. You not only remove a mark &quot;this is a toilet&quot;, but might even make the area &quot;stink&quot; for the puppy's nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What always worked for us so far is getting some special treats the dog really loves but doesn't get otherwise. Doesn't matter where dry or wet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog does their business in the right area, pause them and give the special treats. Rice and repeat. Within a week or two or dogs would insist on the treats, not going back inside without getting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also something to try is play with and feed the puppy in areas where no business should happen. If the dog peed in the living room, make sure to make it a playing space. Dogs won't pee where they play, if they can avoid that. They don't want to stand inside it by accident (and it would give away their presence to potential prey).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual time it takes to train your puppy might vary, so don't get discouraged by no it just slow steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T06:16:22.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17107" CreationDate="2017-05-16T19:24:46.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that the other eggs are infertile (especially if this is their first clutch). Normal incubation for budgies is usually 18 days. Since there's no way to know which egg was laid on which day (unless you marked them), do not remove them until at least 20 days after the last egg was laid. When you do remove them, hold them close to a bright light (this is called 'candling') so that you can see if there's an embryo inside. If there is, it may just be slow developing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a young pair and this is their first clutch, you will probably find that fertility rates will increase substantially with subsequent clutches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and enjoy the babies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T19:24:46.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17121" CreationDate="2017-05-16T19:54:15.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like a parasite in the stomach which causes cramps which lead to the bent spine. I had - maybe randomly - success to remove the bending and have the fish life for another year with feeding &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; in an isolation aquarium[1]. It's not too expensive and worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question whether it's under attack is a separate one which you can figure out after the bending has gone, an attack is definitely not the cause for it. An attack or aggressive atmosphere might lower the immune system and made the infection with the parasite more easy, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] A separate cycled aquarium with the necessary equipment for the hosted fish (i.e. filtration and heating for a Molly). It can be smaller than the recommended size for the fish since the stay in it is only temporary (e.g. 20l for a Molly). Remember to acclimate the fish during the move by putting it in a container with original water and changing water from the target aquarium slowly over 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T22:48:20.843" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T22:48:20.843" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7257" CreationDate="2017-05-16T20:37:48.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess this topic varies from person to person, but here is what I did with my puppy when I got her about 7 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she starts doing something on the floor, pick up the puppy. (s)he will stop instantly. Carry the puppy outside if necessary, but with a 10 month it may be enough to carry the puppy to the door and take on a leash and go outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punishing for going to the bathroom inside can work, but it is &lt;strong&gt;critical&lt;/strong&gt; you stop the puppy &lt;strong&gt;every time the puppy starts doing something on the floor&lt;/strong&gt;. Pick up the puppy, because they will not do anything while being held(Not sure if this applies to male dogs who have started peeing standing up). Walk the puppy outside, if necessary carry the puppy to somewhere the puppy can go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing this &lt;strong&gt;every time&lt;/strong&gt;, and I mean absolutely every time, the puppy will eventually realize that that is something they should do outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for older puppies(or uncarriable ones) make sure they stand up and get them to stop. Stop them somehow. Make sure you get the puppy outside as quickly as possible after stopping them. After the puppy stops doing whatever the puppy is doing, get the puppy out as fast as possible. Then clean the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the best result, the puppy has to be stopped every time and taken out instantly every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8150" LastActivityDate="2017-05-16T20:37:48.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-17T07:36:30.363" Score="3" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three stray tom cats trying to claim territory at my house (indoors &amp;amp; outdoors). I have 2 neutered Burmese females who are a little nervous of their presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I attract them or one of them at least into a trap. They seem to be extra cautious of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8975" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-17T15:07:46.843" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T18:44:35.423" Title="How to trap an untrappable pest tom cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17129" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-17T09:08:56.040" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Chow 'Beau' just turned 10 months old, the groomer we brought him to bath and groom thinned his hair and main.  This is my third Chow so I know that you never cut a Chows coat.  My questions is will his main and coat grow back to normal.       &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9496" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T07:50:48.813" Title="Chow Chow Groming" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11438" CreationDate="2017-05-17T09:55:45.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happened to see this page.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I hope your bird still lives.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It may be the liver function of the bird that is giving this dark colour on the beak.It could be a bleeding. If the claws also are getting brown or darker it may also be the liver. Try Harrison Diet to feed your bird. I strongly recommend you to go to a bird vet specialist. This was the way I came to know why my bird had the same problem years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9498" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-17T15:06:29.897" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T15:06:29.897" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16640" CreationDate="2017-05-17T17:24:21.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure why my previous answer about having couple of Bristlenose pleco in the tank was deleted. The point I was trying to make, They clean tank out in no time and keep it clean as long as they are in tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9486" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T17:24:21.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15126" CreationDate="2017-05-17T18:17:48.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a chance she had much more before you caught the three and they were eaten. Platies can also wait to have there babies if they are stressed or sense danger or simply due to exhaustion. Turning lights out may help - a higher percentage of live bearers give birth &quot;at night&quot; maybe it feels safer , but separating her from her comfortable environment may do more harm than good, she could abort the babies under stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T18:17:48.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17121" CreationDate="2017-05-17T18:29:25.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best advice, change water as soon as possible with proper water conditioner to add more oxygen than it currently has, and if you don't have the funds to buy a new setup, check your local Craigslist or similar online classifieds to find a tank with filter, gravel, aeration, and heat as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Run to your local pet store and find an all in one medication to help. I have mollies and they absolutely love an extra dose of freshwater aquarium salt. It's cheap, it helps with many ailments, adding electrolytes to the water, soothes sores, helps to reduce fungal infection and helps with fin regeneration and fin health in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I think you were possibly describing being lathargic versus nausea? Hope he's not regurgitating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:06:23.880" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:06:23.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17128" CreationDate="2017-05-17T18:44:35.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a drop trap might help. They are kind of big and you can bait them for days before trying to trap. Get them used to eating under the drop trap, then trap them a couple weeks later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T18:44:35.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10162" CreationDate="2017-05-17T18:56:33.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, this may or may not be the issue and fix. Check your Bunny's mouth. If he has sores, an abscess, or a loose or cracked tooth, or inflammation in his mouth this could cause the jelly clear Pooh. What happens when there are sores is most bunnies reduce they're eating or stop eating thus causing GI problems, and the clear poo. Check his mouth. If any ailments are produced:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#1 course of action is vet visit, removal or abscess, or anti fungal or antibiotic depending on type of sores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#2 Choice ONLY IF VET IS NOT AN OPTION- a spray I've used on my guinea pig for ring worm, my dog who had a tooth pulled, and my cockatiel I rescued who has wing damage. It's called Vetericyn Plus Wound and Skin Care. It's safe for all animals, can be sprayed in mouth, nose, eyes, and open wounds (safe enough to spray in a humans eye to cure pink eye). It has a gentle yet effective pain soother, and I always have a bottle waiting on hand. Check his mouth, and hope this helps. Vet is always #1 choice though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="8994" LastEditDate="2017-05-17T19:02:19.083" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T19:02:19.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13429" CreationDate="2017-05-17T19:27:13.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, although your male has passed, female guppies can actually HOLD sperm for up to 6 months, when they do Hold it for fertilization the typical amount of time held doesn't usually last more than 3 months,but the sperm can last the full 6 mos.The black spot near her rear, known as the gravid spot is typically mistaken as being pregnant but is actually a sign of sexual maturity. This spot will increase in size during pregnancy and as she gets closer to giving birth her body will be more rectangular than oblong (based on picture somewhat shaped, but she doesn't look quite there yet). Gestational period is around 28 days, so think of when he passed awhen he could've last passed sperm, and how the dates match up. Make sure your tank has a ton of foliage ( live or artificial) so she has a safe place to birth away from fish waiting to feast, so her babies are less likely to be eaten, especially in the event she gives birth when you are not around. Guppiez spend most of there time toward the surface so make sure the plants you do have are tall, if not get some, floating plants work great for this. This strange activity could be her trying to set a boundary or territory, preparing for birth to keep other fish away when she finally goes into labor. Good luck, and hope you have beautiful babies! It's so fun to watch them change from looking like a jelly set of eyeballs to an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T19:27:13.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12101" CreationDate="2017-05-17T19:48:58.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the question is how to get your fish to eat cucumber but have you yet tried peas? Peas when fed correctly, have pea protein (Bettas will eat), and can help prevent and cure bloat. Try taking a few frozen peas and soak them in luke warm water for 15ish minutes, use your fingers to peal off the roughage (darker green peeling), and plop them in. Most freshwater fish love them, because they're a little sweet, adds diet change and texture and has protein for carnivorous fish. Remove excess that they don't eat within 4-6 hours to keep tank healthy. Good idea to add variety in their diet... Its been proven fish with a wider variety of diet are less likely to get viral septicemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T19:48:58.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17138" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17142" CreationDate="2017-05-17T20:38:34.803" Score="0" ViewCount="1841" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much time should I spent with my puppy. He is a border collie 4 month old. He seems to have a lot of energy and wants to socialize and play all the time. On one book, it says puppy needs socializing and interaction to build the bond with me. But on the other hand, I read that puppy should sleep/rest for 18-20 hours. For puppy with that age, that means he's going to be crated most of the time. I feel sad, especially when he whines inside the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much time does a puppy need for sleep/rest per day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9419" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T07:10:17.560" Title="How much time should i spend with my puppy 4 month old?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15957" CreationDate="2017-05-17T20:50:09.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Providing a clear and easy escape path might help with this. That can be as easy as removing the hoods from the other boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T20:50:09.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10440" CreationDate="2017-05-17T21:06:06.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Training a replacement behavior can address issues like this. A replacement behavior in any behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. In this case, I suggest teaching him to stop and sit at a distance far enough away to be out of the 'spray zone'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-05-17T21:06:06.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17138" CreationDate="2017-05-17T23:30:18.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies need a lot of sleep to aid in growth, average of 12-14 hours per day. Your pup being a border collie means Yes- a ton of energy. It is bred into your dogs DNA to run and to have a job (to be a working dog). You will find with some training and visits to the dog park, or daily dog walks will help with the pent up energy. Whining in the crate is normal, but being in for 18-20  hrs per day is not. Read up on his breed. This dog NEEDS something to do/ &quot;needs a job&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days you aren't working you should be spending a good 6-8 hours a day with your new addition, and on work days maybe wake up an hour earlier to designate time just for him, a walk, training time, fun in the sun, etc. When you come home from work fit him into your evening routine. Greet him when you come home, let him out of the crate and intead of just letting him potty extend those few minutes further into playtime, training time or another walk. I'd hate to say &quot;YOU MUST SPEND 4 HOURS WITH HIM DOING NOTHING ELSE&quot;, you're human, it's not practical. Just try to integrate him into your family/daily lives as much as possible. Have fun with it and congrats on the new addition to the family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-05-24T07:10:17.560" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T07:10:17.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17110" CreationDate="2017-05-18T05:53:03.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's something called PABS - Pet AntiBreeding System. It's basically a rear-end harness and diaper your female can wear to protect her. They are in all different sizes and a pad can be slipped in a provided slot for later use when she starts to go into heat to keep mess at a minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you plan for the future but once they are old enough/at sexual maturity (females usually start first heat at age of around 6 months, thus are able to get pregnant then). There are additional options including: spaying/neutering, and for those who are interested in surgery or may want to breed later down the road there's doggie birth control, prescribed by vets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the fear is just hurting her, try the PABS online or local pet store. The humping at his age is not unusual, so don't think you've done anything wrong or wonder if she's abnormal - totally normal at this age, the humping will continue if unfixed though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:18:39.203" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:18:39.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17105" CreationDate="2017-05-18T06:12:11.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The crunching sounds when eating could be a sign that his teeth are grinding. Many small animals like rabbits have continuous tooth growth throughout life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he offered a mineral block, salt lick and/or flavored wooden blocks? The salt and fruit flavors attract your bunny to chew them (hopefully instead of plastic litter box, cage wires or water bottle) to keep teeth at a healthy length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take him to the vet to get his upper respiratory checked out, a general physical examination should be done, but just in case ask said vet to check his teeth. Overgrowth can end in mouth sores, the loss of the ability to eat, and vets can manually grind down any extra growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also imagine when YOU have a cold or upper respiratory infection. When you chew your food and can't breathe through a stuffed up nose, you inhale while chewing to breath, thus causing a more noticeable and loader chewing noise. This may sound silly, but is still a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, sounds like a necessary vet visit as said by previous answer. Hope your bunny gets well soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T16:36:05.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T16:36:05.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17150" CreationDate="2017-05-18T06:40:40.973" Score="2" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a young male cockatiel. He's about 7-8 months old. He mimics all sorts of whistles already like the wolf whistle, pop goes the weasel, charge!, and part of Darth Vader's entrance song, he even whistles along while I play the piano (not always the right notes, but sings part of chops when I sit at the piano bench before I even begin...) He doesn't mimic ANY words I repeat regularly to him, hi bird, pretty bird, his name- Joey, goodnight, kiss kiss, etc. His crest goes up and he cocks his head, so I know he's listening and is interested. And I know it's easiest for them to learn two syllable words, but he won't. It sounds like he's trying. Sometimes it sounds like muttering, almost like the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A long time ago I was told if you teach your cockatiel how to whistle that they will most likely not learn to talk, that they're more content with what's easiest and THAT will become they're way to communicate with you. Has anyone heard of this? Is this true? Any insight or advice helps. I cannot find any online info supporting this either way about cockatiels. I've even found sites saying they will never talk which I know isn't true, so I'm stumped. Why won't he mimic words and phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:40:56.783" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:40:56.783" Title="Fact or fiction - have I ruined the chance to teach my cockatiel to talk?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-18T11:13:41.720" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can a pet door only be installed on a door?&lt;br&gt;&#xA; What are the other places to establish that might be suitable for a beagle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9511" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-18T16:02:32.140" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:57:35.290" Title="Where can I install a pet door?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17148" CreationDate="2017-05-18T11:57:32.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing I know or found proves at the cockatiel being unable to learn speaking at a later age. He may indeed be content with what he knows, and especially your reactions to what he knows, but he CAN still learn.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you really want him to speak actual words, have you considered clicker-training? For a cockatiel, I would recommend a clicker that you don't mind hearing all day long, though. He may just decide to use the click-sound to demand food!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Anyway, after you have taught him the clicker/reward-link, you can start actually teaching him words. Start by rewarding him for paying attention to the word, then for attempts to copy, and eventually for speaking the word.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Be patient, always end a session on a high note for your bird. And, above all, have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T11:57:32.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17149" CreationDate="2017-05-18T13:52:24.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In theory you could install a pet door anywhere, it's more a matter of what you're willing to do to your home and where you'd like the door to lead to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could install the door in an exterior wall leading to your yard, although that would be significantly more work and expense than installing it in a regular door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to install a pet door in an outdoor kennel so that your dog is able to have an additional area to hang out in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also install a pet door in an interior wall or door so that your dog could get from room to room without you having to leave full sized doors open.  Again, this would require a bit of expense/work to do and it would look sort of silly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet another option is to design a maze in your yard which your dog can only find his way through via pet doors.  This would be costly and time consuming, but may be loads of fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T13:52:24.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-18T15:24:22.180" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a female chihuahua/terrier mix, about a year old, and she has a bladder discipline problem. She pees when I hook her up to the lead so she can go outside. She pees when she's excited. She pees when she thinks she's in trouble. She pees when I tell her to come. She sometimes just pees randomly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's gotten to the point where I don't really want to interact with her in any way because I don't want to have pee all over the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9512" LastEditorUserId="9512" LastEditDate="2017-05-19T13:12:01.400" LastActivityDate="2017-05-19T13:12:01.400" Title="Any cure for a nervous bladder?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17149" CreationDate="2017-05-18T17:56:21.540" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen them installed on garage doors. It leaves the room for a little bit of buffer from mess and bugs between the outdoors and indoors, or makes for a shady space if the garage isn't attached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T22:57:35.290" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:57:35.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17095" CreationDate="2017-05-18T18:25:45.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get yourself some help, and then the Gecko's.... and everyone stop making this person feel guilty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7308" LastActivityDate="2017-05-18T18:25:45.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17095" CreationDate="2017-05-19T03:27:20.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the above info is correct and good advice, just note this pic is of a leopard gecko.. his tail just isn't fat due to the mal-nutrition. His body has absorbed all the nutrient and water that would've been stored in the fat cells in his tail's tissue. The skinnier the tail gets is a sign of the severity of their condition and dehydration- the fatter the better. Glad the question was asked and you're seeking help. Great start! There sure is hope for you and this little guy as previously stated. His color looks pretty good so your lights and temperature are probably in the safe zone. Also, this breed of gecko typically DOES NOT NEED HUMIDITY but grab a clean spray bottle and using luke warm to warm water (not hot, not shockingly cold) and lightly mist his body until the water starts to glide off. He will lick drops of water from his face and maybe front legs and feet. If he's not drinking well this will be at least something and a percentage will be absorbed through his skin. Any updates on how he's doing? I hope better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-19T03:27:20.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17093" CreationDate="2017-05-19T04:34:21.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I had something similar happen with a California king snake. We finally found him behind the wall in our bathroom when we started a remodel. He had become totally wild and had been hunting ALOT of rodents and maybe other snakes or lizards in the wall- hence the renovation. Your snake may have hunted some kind of vermin that was sick or infected with a bacterial or fungal issue thus sickening your snake. This IS NOT likely but should be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire series of events was very stressful on him I'm sure, and putting him back in containment after 10 weeks of freedom is part of that. It is normal for snakes not to eat when in a new or changed environment or from any type of stressor. Try NOT to handle him much, if at all until eating becomes regulated again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were feeding frozen before, know that while out he most likely hunted and now has a taste for warm blooded food and his very strong instinct has kicked in, frozen may possibly Never work again. Try live, and also try one size smaller than the typical recommended meal for his size. A small meal is less likely to be regurgitated when he does eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck! And try not to freak out too much captive snakes can go 2-3 months without eating, and adult snakes with slower digestion than juveniles have gone up to 22 months in the wild, although I don't recommend any purposeful purging. Keep trying!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-19T04:34:21.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17086" CreationDate="2017-05-19T04:50:12.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, 70 litres is 18.5 gallons. 40 guppies is a ton of fish for a tank that size. Are you able to separate them between two tanks? If you take the water and fish,  split between two tanks and top off with properly conditioned water, this would be a huge start. If not, find homes or pet store to take some? If you don't remove some of the fish, yucky water could remain an ongoing problem - ammonia shock, nitrite and nitrate spikes would result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For products I'd say get a gravel vacuum, water conditioner for all these water changes, some freshwater aquarium salt (helps kill some bacteria and aids in fin reproduction and ailments, adds electrolytes to water) and lastly, a beneficial live bacteria like API StressZyme or Seachem Stability, just to name a couple. You're losing beneficial bacteria properties as well as the bad when you do water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T15:59:48.750" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T15:59:48.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17160" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-19T23:01:12.083" Score="4" ViewCount="869" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, ones a 4 year old male Siberian husky with double hip dysplasia and the other is a 1 year and 8 month old female husky malamute mix of some sort. We just got our girl dog and she is one of the sweetest and well behaved dogs I have ever met. But when our boy thought her how to grab legs because she doesn't pay attention to him in the house and just wants to be a fluffy potato, but now she grabs his back legs when they play outside and we can't have that because his hips are really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will just get her so excited while playing, and we worry for his health because she is bigger then he is, and stronger. I usually give her a sign that I don't like what she is doing and she stops but sometimes in the heat of playing she will just forget everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do so she doesn't grab his legs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9520" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-20T07:43:11.760" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T19:56:01.470" Title="How do I correct play biting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-20T18:16:23.797" Score="5" ViewCount="4120" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's an American Bulldog btw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, he won't give you the ball back. He will chase it, get it and come back but he will just stand there with it in his teeth. I tried food (he's normally VERY food oriented but it doesn't work at all), tried trowing other balls (the other ball even if it looks the same, doesn't interest him at all).&#xA;He shakes his head and tries to get it out of my reach when I try to get the ball.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried giving corrections (won't budge), waiting doesn't work (he will gnaw at it for a looong time), and when I don't budge - say leave it for 15 mins and when he tries to lay down to gnaw at it I make him sit he will whine with the ball in his teeth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that works is when I poke his tongue with my finger and even then I have to keep him upright by the collar or he will dive after the dropped ball. &#xA;He's concentrated 100% on it (doesn't notice other dogs etc) and I don't know how to let him know it's okay, we will play if he gives it back. He's really hyper about it too so stopping the play in the middle and picking it up later doesn't work (he's too zoned in on the ball to remember why we stopped in the first place). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9526" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-20T22:50:49.033" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T04:33:20.253" Title="Dog won't give the ball back" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-21T07:58:38.963" Score="3" ViewCount="888" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 cats and they're pretty well behaved, toilet-wise. They are allowed out during the day, but we keep them in overnight as they're black cats so would be hard to see if any cars go past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past few months or so though when we've come down in the morning there will be a pungent, sloppy pile of cat poop right in front of the catflap. Their litter trays are literally about 30cm away from the catflap, yet the poop will be there on the floor. it happens so often that we've started moving the litter tray over to the catflap overnight. So now we get the poop in the littertray, but the cat never buries this one - they clear a space in the tray and drop it there, not covering it up at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means our house stinks every morning, which is not great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been looking into why they might be doing this, but can't find any reason. Possibly they're worried that a neighbourhood cat is going to come in overnight or something so are marking the area as a deterrant? But cat's would usually spray for that, not poop. Plus the catflap is chipped and locked overnight, so no cat would ever come in. They're happy cats, and show no signs of illness or distress, so we're a bit at a loss of why they're doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are we getting these overnight poops, and how can we stop it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9528" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-21T14:27:03.757" LastActivityDate="2018-02-24T23:23:46.467" Title="Cat poops on the floor by the catflap overnight" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17055" CreationDate="2017-05-21T08:14:23.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'm going to slightly disagree with the idea to keep AND add to the rainbows pop. This is one of my favorite breeds of freshwater community fish too, so although my heart says keep those beauties, my experience says differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They get about 4&quot; (10 cm) in length and need a decent sized school to be happy. It's said that if you have a proper school a 50+ gallon (190+ liters) tank is what's necessary. Volume isn't the issue with these guys, it's the length of the tank that's needed for their swimming patterns. They are lateral swimmers, middle dwellers, and need the length of 48&quot; (around 120 cm) of more unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say remove the two turquoise rainbows (especially since they'll get the biggest), two more zebra danios and add two more corys. I think your 5 cherry barb and 5 serpae tetras WILL be fine the way they are. Since it's a 30 gallon, and since your question shows your concern for overcrowding. Good luck and have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:15:43.937" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:15:43.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17166" CreationDate="2017-05-21T11:40:00.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that there's another cat hanging out in your yard at night, and that is making your cats feel threatened or more territorial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a couple of episodes of &quot;My Cat from Hell&quot; they dealt with intruders by placing electronic devices outside the house that would spray water to repel stray cats. There are also granules and sprays that are supposed to repel cats. Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one online store&lt;/a&gt; that sells them. I haven't used them, but their website will at least give you an idea of what's available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are garbage bins in your backyard, make sure they are cat-proof. The lure of food can probably overpower any repellent you might try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2017-05-24T07:43:11.483" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T07:43:11.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T01:16:09.047" Score="3" ViewCount="1457" Body="&lt;p&gt;A street puppy (about 8 months old) died in my vicinity. Cause of death was unknown, but following symptoms were visible in his body:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He developed a dewlap (major symptom).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It seemed that he had congestion in his throat, he coughed a lot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He refused to consume anything, water too. He became quiet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seemed that he wanted to eat, he would come and sniff the eatable, but didn't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were no other visible symptoms in his body. He was healthy. It was winter and in 4 days he died. His body was a little swollen after he died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the reason for the dewlap he developed and his death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-14T02:26:10.313" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T02:30:43.423" Title="Dog developed dewlap and died" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17170" CreationDate="2017-05-22T11:41:46.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be a few things that caused the dewlap to form.  From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailydogdiscoveries.com/tag/dog-dewlap/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;, some include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyperthyroidism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enlarged lymph glands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fluids leaking out of blood vessels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The source also states that injuries could cause a kind of &amp;quot;knot&amp;quot; to form under the skin in this area which may end up being an abscess or seroma (a collection of fluid under the skin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the dog didn't want to eat, I would assume that whatever caused it was also causing pain.  Medically, something was probably wrong. Of course, certain breeds of dogs have natural dewlaps, but since you said it formed, it doesn't sound like this is one of those dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-14T02:30:43.423" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T02:30:43.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17170" CreationDate="2017-05-22T12:42:35.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dewlap (excessive skin or skin flapping around the throat) can also be caused by an injury such as a dog fight or snake bite or imbedded collar, etc... that then becomes infected thus causing a fluid build up. The infection could've spread to bloodstream, kidneys, brain and/or spine threatening the dog's life and eating habits. If he was sick due to infection, this could've killed him by starvation, fever, or by the infection itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T12:42:35.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17160" CreationDate="2017-05-22T13:11:54.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a spray called Grannicks Bitter Apple that is safe to spray on your dogs skin. It's a bitter tasting chewing deterrent spray. I would try this and see if it works. There are recipes online if you don't want to buy it and want to DIY made with white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, water, and lemons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another spray option is called Fooey. It's also safe for skin, but is a little more bitter IF your dog likes the taste of vinegar or lemons. It's a little stronger but WATCH OUT- if you get this on your fingers wash off with soap immediately; rubbing your mouth or eyes after getting on your hands will leave you with burning eyes or a nasty taste that's not easy to rinse off with just water flushing. I'd use Fooey as a last  go-to option because it's not as easy to wash off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also everytime you are around and see the play biting kick it into training mode: separate them and immediately pop a chew toy (Kong, or nylabone, etc) into your youngest pup's mouth, to encourage that chewing should be done on the toy, not on your other pup. If he goes back to the legs, repeat. Any length of time he chews the toys and not your older dog (1 min, 3 mins, 5 mins, etc), tell him he's being a &quot;good boy&quot; and slip a treat (something super tasty to him that makes him drool or beg for) either in the toy or in front of his legs where he's holding the toy. You can start by treating short lengths of time, and increase the amount of time gradually before giving him more treats. In training consistency and routine is what programs correct behavior. Unfortunately he's just being a puppy and hasn't learned it's not good doggie play etiquette to chew on his elders legs, n that you're oldest is boss. Try to keep it as positive as possible. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T13:11:54.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17027" CreationDate="2017-05-22T13:27:55.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So you never want to mix species in the same cage. Ferrets are in the weasel family and are natural Born Killers. They WILL kill a squirrel (baby or adult, as well as birds,bunnies, rodents etc...) Also, bunnies are a little territorial. Even if you have the sweetest bunny, an accidental kick from their strong back legs could do some major damage to your rescued squirrel. The other concern is that wild animals and caged animals have a different tolerance to sickness, bacterias and fungi. Your squirrel may have been exposed to something that could make another animal sick, if exposed by close encounters, urine and decal matter, or other bodily fluids (sneezing or sharing drinking water, etc). Even if your squirrel is healthy it doesn't mean he hasn't been exposed to something it's tolerant of that other caged animals have yet to build antibodies towards ridding off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try looking up a wildlife rescue or a squirrel rehabber in your area. They will be more informed and more likely to care for and re-wild the squirrel than animal control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T13:27:55.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17061" CreationDate="2017-05-22T13:39:30.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are feeding him, and he regularly comes to food try a cat trap. Most local feed stores carry these and an employee or YouTube video can teach you how to use it. You place the food inside and it closes behind them. Most of them come with a handle on top and you could carry him to the vet inside the trap. Once he's been sedated by a vet he can then be transferred into a crate or carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would fear drugging him with this tranquilizer yourself could lead to him running off and curling up for a long nap somewhere else, possibly in harm's way ESPECIALLY if it kicks in too strong and he passes out somewhere. Cats can have different reactions given acepromazine, and should be administered or prescribed a certain mlg based on weight and health by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to trap him yourself call around some local rescues, explain your situation and they may trap, fix and release for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T13:39:30.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5541" CreationDate="2017-05-22T14:03:08.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is trained to go into the toilet. From experience, I can tell you that it takes a while, and you should be ready to find poop in places you don't want it, at least during the training process. I used something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UmcTN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UmcTN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(city kitty to be exact)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It had rings, you fill it with cat litter. Then cut the rings away, once a week is a good time frame. The beginning of the process should go pretty smoothly, especially if someone is frequently at home. They behave when they know someone is around (at least my cat did). The challenge is getting the cat to continue to poop in the toilet after the whole thing is removed. This was the most frustrating part for me as well. When on the last ring, and you are having difficulty slowly use less and less cat litter. The last ring probably took me over a month, of going back and forth with it. In retrospect, I should have just left it on the last ring for 1 month straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you remove the last ring and it continues to use the toilet, I would recommend spending some extra time at home. Meaning come home after work instead of going out with co-workers, don't stay out late. Do this for maybe a couple of weeks. And perhaps a month of not spending a night away is a good idea. Also, don't move the cat to a new environment during this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end tho, it's well worth it. My cat now goes in the toilet with no issues. If it has to go and the bathroom is occupied it even waits till its free. If it really really has to go, it will meow its way in :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what if you move?&#xA;Don't worry, you don't have to go through the entire process again. I started from the last ring and left it on for about one week. Once I removed it, the cat continued to go with no issues :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9538" LastActivityDate="2017-05-22T14:03:08.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-22T20:29:01.690" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ysDi3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kittens are 11 weeks old, why do the suck on my blanket and try to take off with it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9539" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T13:56:58.903" Title="11 wk old kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-05-23T14:09:13.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2017-05-23T13:56:58.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So suckling or &quot;sucking&quot;, especially on soft or fuzzy things, is what kittens do for comfort. Suckling on their mom is a favorite pastime for them. You typically see suckling in kittens that were separated or weaned from Mom too early but that's not always the case. Your kittens feel safe doing this, especially if mom isn't around anymore or if she refused to let them suckle. I would gently try to deter them from this, it could lead to them doing this for a long time or to suckling on themselves, which can cause sores or drooly-wet bellies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T13:56:58.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9737" CreationDate="2017-05-23T21:55:00.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the info in your question and comments: water tested &quot;fine&quot;, plants are still alive, and death over time (not all in one day) suggests fish illness. Since you didn't mention any signs of sores, gasping for air, or swollen eyes or abdomen, I would assume you got a parasite. Your water will test fine and your plants will live. Doing a water change would've only helped if a treatment had begun. Parasitic infections (unless it's ich) can be a little harder to spot, since SYMPTOMS are less noticeable than bacterial infections, swim bladder, dropsy or pop-eye. ALOT of fish In pods hide in live plants, you may have never noticed if a few of your fish were hanging out at the bottom, rubbing up against plants or rocks, have swollen gills, or behave erratically at random (aka flashing-quick spurts of jumping or quick swimming or circular swimming).... These are all signs of a parasitic infection, that ESPECIALLY in ponds with or without live plants, is difficult to spot. Parasites are very common in outdoor ponds, and simply a windy day, where debris is blown from further away can cause an infestation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T21:55:00.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10856" CreationDate="2017-05-23T22:13:11.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like black algae. It's usually a very deep dark green almost black color and is common in tanks with live plants and is due to high light and organic waste from your fish and plants. If you want to get rid of it, keep your light off for a few days, do a partial water change and if you're feeding your plants an aquarium plant food, cut back to once a week (if you're already down to once a week or less, cut the amount in half). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, adding more of the Siamese or Chinese algae eater, dwarf algae eater, introducing ghost shrimp or an additional otocinclus will help (I don't recommend a pleco/plecostamus because algae isn't the only thing they eat, and past the juvenile stage they eat less algae and more meat and roughage-your plants- in their diet). The ones I mentioned FEAST on this type of algae and won't damage your plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-05-23T22:19:37.763" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T22:19:37.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6606" CreationDate="2017-05-23T22:35:50.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I worked in a pet store where someone dropped off a male and female rabbit. The female was pregnant, unbenounced to us, and had babies the first night we had her. When we came to open the store in the morning all babies were dead and the male was nibbling on one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read the link provided. The info in the article says one thing but comments left by those who have experiences say another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male rabbits can be very territorial whether they are fixed or not, although neutering lessens aggression, and if in small enough containment, where the mom and babies territory mixes with the male's territory, he can take new additions as a threat. When housing multiple bunnies in one cage you want there to be enough space that each bunny can claim it's side, or area, this includes being big enough that they can each have their own space to sleep, their own food and their own space to &quot;eliminate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link Below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.raising-rabbits.com/do-male-rabbits-kill-the-babies.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.raising-rabbits.com/do-male-rabbits-kill-the-babies.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hoarding situation resulted in some bunnies being underfed, this may have attributed to food aggression or desperate hunger. This could've changed their mental state and eating habits forever. I hated hearing stories like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T22:35:50.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17048" CreationDate="2017-05-23T22:44:28.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try fancy guppies or balloon mollies. They are both suitable for 10-20 gallons and are top dwelling fish, community fish, so they'll add color and life to your tank with little interaction with your dwarf frog, and won't pick on him. I've learned they're hardier than most think. Plant recommendations would be Dwarf Anubias or Moss balls. Check out this list in link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.myfroggycam.com/using-live-plants-in-an-african-dwarf-frog-tank.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.myfroggycam.com/using-live-plants-in-an-african-dwarf-frog-tank.php&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T22:44:28.187" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11376" CreationDate="2017-05-23T22:55:01.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think everyone's comments and links may have answered this: egg layers, so they don't show signs of pregnancy, and what to feed if it's bloat- frozen peas, defrosted and peeled first. It appears to be bloat by the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-23T22:55:01.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13820" CreationDate="2017-05-24T03:09:05.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans tend to keep themselves cleaner than dogs do. The difference in color is dirt buildup. Ask any girl who doesn't wipe off her mascara before she goes to bed what color her eye boogers are in the morning - black from the buildup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course dogs don't wear makeup, but they DO dig in the dirt, do their business outdoors, go for walks, stick their noses and faces into your garden and anything else that fits their fancy! All this is done without a shower every morning or evening. If you started a daily routine of wiping your dog's eyes with a &quot;pet eye wipe&quot;, the discoloration will become significantly reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T00:16:50.403" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T00:16:50.403" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9584" CreationDate="2017-05-24T03:37:11.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, turtles have eggs in their bodies that go through stages and cycles. While the eggs are in the body is when the male fertilizes those eggs BUT a male is not a necessary factor for the eggs to be dropped. She may have had unfertilized eggs drop. Also, if she has been with a male before, just like some fish she can hold in male sperm and later lay fertilized eggs. Most turtles do not drop all of their eggs at once, especially if she has not found a suitable nesting area, they are deposited a little at a time sometimes over the course of 2-5 weeks ( normal time with sufficient nest 1-8 days), so watch for more! If she has more later on during this 2-5 week period keep a close eye on her for signs of distress, the longer she waits to drop them the more calcium build up in the egg shells making them harder than softer and not as easy to pass. There is a way to check her gravid spot to see if she has more eggs tucked inside, but be careful not to put too much pressure on her when feeling around, it could cause damage to her eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see link below for tips on how to build her a good nesting area (necessary to have whether she has a boyfriend or not).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/build-nesting-box-turtle-aquarium-8089.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://animals.mom.me/build-nesting-box-turtle-aquarium-8089.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-07-26T02:04:55.017" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T02:04:55.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17166" CreationDate="2017-05-24T03:41:35.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the suggestions in mhwombat's answer, it sounds like extra affection and reassurance from you could help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being territorial, your cats seem to be displaying fear/insecurity that would benefit from your assurances they are safe. Introduction of a new,  interesting perch mounted on a wall, would go far to give them a &quot;safe place&quot; to feel more secure and hopefully alleviate the poop problem. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iHQ2C.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iHQ2C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat perch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T03:41:35.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-24T04:23:37.087" Score="3" ViewCount="763" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have several freshwater aquariums of following volumes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one 5 gallon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one 10 gallon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two 20 gallon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one 29 gallon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one 55 gallon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and an outdoor 300 gallon pond. Aside from the pond, I started with one community tank and now have a rescue tank, a neon breeding tank and the others are holding tanks for my babies at different stages (the neon tetras, balloon mollies and fancy guppies just won't stop reproducing!) All of my tanks get weekly partial water changes, get tested with a Master Test Kit once a week, but vary in salinity, purpose and decoration - natural versus artificial plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All tanks have natural gravel except one. One of my 20 gallon tanks has black gravel. I have no live plants in this tank, just two Pygmy Cory cats and guppy babies. It's regularly cloudy, and yet the maintenance I perform on it is the exact same as the rest. I have zero fish loss, and my ammonia and nitrites never reach higher than 0.25 ppm and my nitrates never reach 5.0 ppm (usually test results between 0 and 5). All of my tanks have been running for 4+ years and I haven't had a fish die in 2 years, and that was because I accidentally smashed a baby guppy with my gravel vacuum during a water change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I change my carbon every other month in all my other aquariums because I prefer to retain as much good bacteria as possible, but 3 months ago started changing this tanks once a month, as directed on the packaging hoping to increase clarity, but no change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's aggravating because it's an eyesore and I would know EXACTLY what to do if it were caused by shock, but it's not. Could this be because of the black gravel? It was rinsed before the tank was set up, but that was forever ago. I have concerns about doing a 100% water change and starting from scratch since my fish are in such great shape. Has anyone had this happen to them before, where all parameters were fine but the tank was cloudy? I'm stumped! Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the book, I just wanted to put as much background info as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T09:27:44.493" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T09:27:44.493" Title="Could my gravel be causing my tank to be cloudy?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17129" CreationDate="2017-05-24T07:50:48.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh goodness, so sorry to hear that he was cut and not shaped or trimmed. When I worked at a vet we had to shave chows to clean and prep areas on the body for surgery (a MUST in those cases unfortunately). His coat will grow back, it just may end up being a little patchy. Give it time, like 4-6 months, time... Chow-chows are double coated like many dogs but their undercoat is much thicker, so as his coat comes back in it will look messy. Keep up with your daily grooming routine, brushing/fluffing. Know that he will be even more prone to matting now since chows' undercoats come in first, before the guard coat does. De-Tangle at the first sign of a matt starting to clump. After the coat has grown back fully, a very experienced groomer might be able to lift under and lightly use thinning shears on his undercoat in some of the patchy areas, to even him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add Omega Fatty acids to his diet to encourage a silky coat, there is no food or supplement that will speed up growth, just help with shine, strength, and overall skin health, and reduce breakage. Try salmon oil or missing link skin and coat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have to have patience, but his coat will grow back in time. I hope you got your money back from the groomer (just my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T07:50:48.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17192" CreationDate="2017-05-24T12:06:28.950" Score="4" ViewCount="2749" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I was in bed last night with my Pitbull, she had her head up near my face.  My nose was simply exhaling air near her ear, which caused it to repeatedly twitch.  If I exhaled more air, it would keep twitching, to the point where she would move her head.  I've noticed this back when I used to live with cats as well.  The same thing would occur with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do dog/cat ears twitch when air passed over them?  Do they have some sort of reflect or are they just more sensitive?  I will say that when I am exhaling at a normal rate, the air flow isn't that fast.  I can understand that it may be more annoying when I purposely exhale faster.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T13:07:12.043" Title="Why do dog/cat ears twitch when air passes over them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17191" CreationDate="2017-05-24T13:07:12.043" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever been to a farm with cows or horses and their muscles twitch when a fly lands on them? Just like in horses and cows this is a simple muscular reflex. Cats have 32 muscles in their ears and dogs have over a dozen. Although it doesn't look &quot;beefy&quot; or built-up, the muscles have a stronger reflex sensitivity than humans have. They're brain is telling them they have an itch or discomfort, and it's not even a conscious action. If irritated enough they'll run they're paws over the ear to calm the nerves and relieve the itch or discomfort. Rubbing produces more blood flow and heat to the affected area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T13:07:12.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-24T14:49:11.480" Score="3" ViewCount="2035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to give my fish a variety of foods, as it has been proven that the wider the variety, the healthier the fish. I have a lone Betta in a 5gal aquarium. I feed him floating betta pellets, and once a week I peel and defrost a pea, that he munches on. He gets freeze dried bloodworms occasionally and I sometimes crumble up freeze dried shrimp, that he gobbles up as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that sometimes his floating Betta pellets will sink to the bottom, and he ALWAYS follows it down and eats it off the bottom. I know shrimp is safe for them to eat, but what about sinking shrimp pellets? They have additional ingredients besides just shrimp, so I wonder if it's safe to break them up smaller and supplement this into his diet as well? I use the pellets for my corydoras in my other tanks. Maybe he's getting enough variety, and it's not worth the risk? Or is it fine, and there is no risk? If it's not good for him, are there any other suggestions besides what I have listed for giving him variety? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T19:14:54.467" Title="Are sinking shrimp pellets healthy for Bettas?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5888" CreationDate="2017-05-24T15:09:37.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I worked for a pet store our birds and small animals came in through Delta, and were then picked up by a courier service and driven the rest of the way. We never had death due to air travel or upon arrival but it can be stressful to the bird. Call Delta Airlines and see if this is a service they still offer or if it's only offered for certain accounts. When a friend of mine moved to the UK from Florida her pets were transported by a pet moving company via ship. This is a much longer travel process, but they're containment size maximum was larger, check by calling Delta first, it's been a few years since I worked at the pet store....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-24T15:09:37.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17198" CreationDate="2017-05-24T20:01:17.687" Score="4" ViewCount="1172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased a Roborovski hamster on the 19&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;. I let him roam his cage and get comfortable for the first four days before attempting to handle him. As an aside, his current housing is too small and I believe it's causing him distress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onto the main topic: I can successfully hand-feed him from my fingers and palm and he will walk into my hand. The problem is that, if I let my hand linger in the habitat or allow him to walk into my hand, he will begin to gnaw at my skin. I fear I may have trained him to associate my hand as food, or I am startling and upsetting him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has solid food and chew sticks, but doesn't seem very interested in the sticks. If this behavior is caused by a need for protein in his diet or stress, I'd like to know what I can do to help the little guy out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9549" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T12:03:55.737" Title="How do I prevent my Robo Dwarf Hamster from biting during handling?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7797" CreationDate="2017-05-25T03:40:55.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, not all but some catfish are considered semi-aggressive, like redtail/rainbow sharks. If when you say sailfin catfish you are referring to a plecostamus, then they are the same way. They can become bullies, especially in small habitats. Your 4gallon is overcrowded, and although you said you have had this mix before that does not mean you can predict a semi-aggressive fish's behavior. In the future for micro-aquariums, try corydora catfish or pygmy corydora catfish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Bettas have been known to mix with community fish, but it's typically recommended to keep them in a larger aquarium where they can claim their own territory, and to keep long finned or fancy tailed fish separate, because if they don't kill, they'll fin nip. I'm sorry for your loss, sounds like he was a pretty cool betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T03:40:55.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17196" CreationDate="2017-05-25T03:48:31.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, dwarf hamsters can be quite nippy, I'm sorry he's nibbling on you. Hamsters have a pretty good sense of smell. I would recommend washing and rinsing your hands thoroughly before handling. They can smell things you've handled including food, or his food and that can lead to bites. Also, you've only had him since the 19th and your hand is much larger than he. These rodents are territorial and he may see your hand as a threat to his habitat. The more you handle him gently, the more he will learn to trust you in his space. Also, once a week move his things around... His toys, chew sticks, food bowl, water bottle and hut. This will desensitize him to change and being more protective over ONE specific item or area of his cage, lowering the chance of cage aggression. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, in addition for food and habitat recommendations: I don't endorse any specific food but I know Oxbow food for hamsters and Kaytee FortiDiet Pro are good foods. Most stores should also carry a mouse/rat/rodent block food... They are square/rectangular-ish shaped and are quite hard (especially in comparison to a seeded diet). Mixing in the blocks with his diet will add nutrients, a different texture and something hard for his teeth to help in grinding. I never encourage owners to purchase wire cages because it can be harmful if your hammy, squeezes loose, gets stuck in the bars or decides chewing on the wire is fun. The upside to wire is the amount of airflow to remove close proximity ammonia smells (unhealthy for Hammy's respiratory system). BUT a ten gallon tank with a wire top (not plastic, for the airflow purpose) will keep him contained, and the size is plenty big for a robo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-05-25T17:30:36.180" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T17:30:36.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-25T12:47:41.710" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are most important recommendations for choosing clothing for my dog? What pets costumes store would you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9550" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-25T20:34:52.133" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:05:08.920" Title="What are most important recommendations for choosing clothing for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-06-08T13:25:12.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17208" CreationDate="2017-05-25T18:39:18.660" Score="2" ViewCount="2186" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my newly set aquarium, white dots are appearing over the drift wood surface. I don't know what it is and don't know how to avoid it. Its a newly planted aquarium with no fish. I haven't introduced fishes into it yet. Please someone tell me how to stop that white dots I don't want to spoil my setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T02:29:57.810" Title="White dots appearing on the drift wood surface" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-25T18:56:42.487" Score="1" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I touch my cats upper lip his mouth is abruptly opened, and sometimes his jaw moves weirdly when it opens, like it locks in place then unlocks. I don't know if its painful for my cat and I want to know if its anything to be worried about or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know my cat doesn't have trouble eating but yes, when I touch the certain part of his mouth that triggers this it happens. It also suddenly happens with out warning, from him brushing up against things with his mouth and such&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9556" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-25T20:35:49.353" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T20:35:49.353" Title="When I touch my cats upper lip his mouth opens abruptly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17199" CreationDate="2017-05-25T19:04:58.713" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all honesty: don't put clothes on your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you simply have to, or you have a dog that likes wearing jackets or something, I'd suggest buying them at your local walmart/target or something along that lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if it's a novelty costume, there are many trustworthy websites that you can find by simply looking up 'Dog T-Rex Costume' for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9556" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:02:37.213" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:02:37.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17163" CreationDate="2017-05-25T19:10:24.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing that could solve this is training. I'd suggest never tricking your dog while you are trying to teach it to give the ball back, always throw the ball as soon as you get it off the dog, and make sure to give it a treat/scratch its belly (please it) when it returns the ball to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9556" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T19:10:24.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17096" CreationDate="2017-05-25T19:16:11.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well first of all, the cat isn't shutting you out when it closes its eyes. Usually that is a sign they are at ease or are fine with you being there. Since it's still a kitten and doesn't have its mother it will naturallt cling to the older cat as a parent figure. Always let the kitten come to you and when the kitten is asleep/ resting near you make sure you are very relaxed and calm. Don't make sudden movements when you have an opportunity to pat the kitty. Move slowly and maybe scratch behind its ears to just ease it up a bit, do this a couple times and once it grows a bit more it will eventually have to become fine with you, since you constantly live together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9556" LastActivityDate="2017-05-25T19:16:11.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17199" CreationDate="2017-05-25T22:21:05.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, this can become a strong debate, and seems a little opinion based but I'll thrown in what &quot;my answer&quot; would be anyways. I had a pretty strong opinion for years that putting clothes on dogs is against nature, but so are A LOT of things that caring pet people do for their pets, so if it feels right to you, and doesn't harm your pet, go for it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I worked in a pet store, I heard some of the craziest reasons for wanting and needing pet clothing. Based on these stories, I'd put pet clothes into two categories necessity and accessory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Necessary clothing would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stress - &quot;Thundershirts&quot; and &quot;Comfortcoats&quot; are made to swaddle and fit tightly on pressure points to relieve separation and thunder anxiety.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warmth - coats and sweaters that are purchased for hairless pets that get cold, sick pets with poor circulation or senior pets that also have issues keeping warm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potty problems - ponchos and raincoats, rainboots- although rare, I heard a story from a lady who has to put a raincoat on her dog because he refused to use the potty outside if he was getting wet. I hear A LOT that not all dogs will do their business when raining because they don't like their feet to get wet, but I've personally not experienced that as an issue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accessory clothing would be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dresses, pants, bows, hats, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For putting clothes on your pet:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as a Fashion accessory or to match it's owners clothing;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for holiday events and parties;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or simply because you think it's cute!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just consider the thought &quot;is this harmful?&quot; Does is have drawstrings, buttons, tassles, bows etc that could be a choke hazard? Does the clothing cause my pup discomfort? Am I overheating my pet during warm weather? Can he or she still eliminate when wearing this, or will my pet hold it in? Does my pet have any sores, abscesses or rashes where the clothes could irritate it further?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are if you're &quot;pro-clothes&quot; your opinion on the matter won't change because you read this, but maybe this will help someone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:05:08.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:05:08.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17201" CreationDate="2017-05-26T02:29:57.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So most driftwoods are boiled down or treated at some point to be safe for all types of aquariums and terrariums. When dried out and then placed back into water, marine or fresh a fungus can grow, sounds hard to believe that sterilization will lead to fungal growth but it's true. It'll start as white tiny docs, then patches, then spread to a fuzzy like film. Some growth in tanks are safe, and this is one of them. If you take it out, scrub it off or boil and put back in it'll come back, you are stuck with it BUT there is a solution. Shrimp will eat it, and and some catfish will too! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forever ago I found an article about this online,but I can't remember how I stumbled upon it. If I find it, I'll edit to add the link!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T02:29:57.810" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17163" CreationDate="2017-05-26T04:33:20.253" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are perceived to be &quot;ball obsessed&quot; and to some extent this is true, but all dogs are different and demonstrate a wide range of characters and behaviours even within breeds. You should keep this in mind when reading about the experiences of other people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My old cattle kelpie x was, in his younger days, ball obsessed. Nothing else mattered when it came time to play with the ball. Not even food, which - similarly with your dog - was always a top priority. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After time I began to understand that his keeping the ball from me was a part of the game, literally a part of playing with a ball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After even more time I worked my attempts to recover the ball into our ball playing game activities. So this became a part of our play / game. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my dog to drop the ball, I had to make it clear to him that the game was over.  This must be done with consistency. If for example, you try to recover the ball a number of times every play session, you'll negate the importance of your ending the game, because your dog will learn the game will continue anyway.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to train your dog to drop the ball, you must have extreme patience because success in this depends on so many different factors, including the age of the dog and their level of obsession with retaining the ball. For example, beyond basic puppy school training, my dog was unresponsive to further training until around 2 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do you train your dog to drop the ball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Patience.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Issue the command to drop the ball in a firm commanding voice and most importantly &lt;strong&gt;do it only once&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your dog does not obey, then ignore your dog, turn and walk away, thereby ending the game.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As soon as your dog drops the ball, even minutes later, heap generous praise on your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the process as necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually your dog will learn to understand that the game is over unless the ball is dropped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T04:33:20.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17189" CreationDate="2017-05-26T06:17:59.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you did buy the gravel/sand where you did buy your tank it is probably safe but if bought it at a garden center or at other sources where decoration sand/gravel is sold there might be problems as they might contain harmful substances(heavy metals or dissolvable toxic chemicals or even unwanted but non toxic minerals like calcium or salts). It is also best to use size 2-4mm gravel and avoid using the finer grained types of gravel/sand. The reason for this is that toxic gasses might build up in the sand. You might see this when cleaning the tank when small bubbles of gas are released and they contain sulfur dioxide or other toxic gasses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T21:12:45.027" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T21:12:45.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17213" CreationDate="2017-05-26T16:52:46.177" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;My young pitbull (6 months), will occasionally chew her bed and rip the stuffing out of it when we put her in her cage for when we have to leave the house.  I frown upon this, and whenever she does this, I discourage the behavior.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have also been trying recently is putting a toy in the cage for her to chew on instead. However, is it likely that this can encourage chewing other things (primarily her bed since that's all that is in there) while she is inside of her cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T18:43:30.497" Title="Can putting a toy in my dogs cage encourage her to chew other things in her cage?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17212" CreationDate="2017-05-26T18:43:30.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily, but dogs associate differently...Toy could equal reward. Try taking the bed out for a few days and giving her the toy in the crate. You may have to cycle through some toys to see if she is keen on chewing a specific one, I'd say go for one without stuffing. Once you find a favorite, put the bed back in, with the toy, and possibly use a chewing deterrent spray like Grannicks Bitter apple, or similar on the parts of the bed she likes to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-26T18:43:30.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17215" CreationDate="2017-05-27T00:05:40.913" Score="3" ViewCount="1069" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppies have been extremely sick for the past week or so and as of yet they are deteriorating. Their symptoms currently are:&#xA;- Vomiting upon eating anything more than 10ml, so cannot retain food.&#xA;- extreme nausea.&#xA;- complete loss of appetite &#xA;- lethargy (they are not playing or doing as much activity as they were when they were healthy) &#xA;- loose motion &#xA;- Losing weight very quickly (from the 7 puppies 2 are almost at half the weight they had one week ago.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- panting and showing higher heart rate than normal&#xA;- been this way without change for &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; the last one week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog, a 5 year old female German shepherd recently had 7 puppies. The pups are now just over 6 weeks old. &#xA;About 1 and half week ago we noticed that they were starting to have loose motions so we consulted our vet. We found out that the vet had forgotten to inform us that the puppies need to be dewormed at 3 weeks and so were getting sick because of worm infestation. Our vet then decided to deworm all of them (at 5 weeks). All the problems started after this.  One of the puppies started vomiting the next morning and by the end of that day became lethargic and unwilling to play like she used to do.  By the second day she refused to eat the puppy food that we were giving them. She continued doing this until the night, when we finally decided to feed her from a syringe. By the morning she started vomiting and was even refusing the syringe food, but we had to force feed her since that was the only way to ensure she eats. She even refused to suck the mothers milk.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also for these two days we found significant numbers of worms passed in their stool. This sick one even vomited some worms. This carried on till the third day, when my dad returned from his tour. We were careful not to let the puppies lick his luggage and outside shoes as far as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the fourth day a second puppy became lethargic and stopped eating from its bowl; by night it was also vomiting and feeling nauseous. We started to feed this one by syringes as well. This carried on for the next three days when all the puppies became sick showing similar signs of lethargy, vomiting and loss of appetite. So we called our vet again, who decided to give &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; of them (the one who fell ill first and was the weakest) shots of long and short acting antibiotics, one oral antibiotic (I am unsure what this one exactly was) and an oral antiemitic. However this brought no change in the puppy, while the rest kept getting worse. The puppy continued vomiting and so upon request the vet gave her drips of 20ml of 5% dextrose. By the night of the next day one of the puppies vomited with streaks of blood in the vomit. After this we changed the antibiotic (I'll add the name soon) and administered it ourselves, orally. We ensured that the doses were properly diluted and adjusted each one according to the weight of each puppy.  We also continued feeding them their puppy food (with extra multivitamins) from syringes. Their vomiting did not reduce, so along with the food we also gave them concentrated glucose solutions and electrolyte rich solution (ORS). In the morning we gave them all oral antiemetic. But even after doing so much their nausea and vomiting did not subside. So the following day we gave them &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; drips if dextrose. This was last night so we are still waiting to see what happens next.  Until now they are vomiting profusely and not eating by themselves AT ALL. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to all these complications we haven't been able to vaccinate them yet. &#xA;Also just to let you know the mother did not have proper milk let down so they have been bottle fed from the 2nd week. &#xA;Until 4 weeks they were all healthy with an average weight of 5kg and very playful and active.&#xA;Oh and also our vet mentioned that some of them may have mild pneumonia but again nothing has changed till now&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will appreciate any advice or insight that you may have since at this point absolutely nothing seems to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We first thought it was an allergic reaction to the dewormer (since my vet decided to give them the adult dog dewormer by just breaking it into small pieces), but now we think on top of that it may also be some kind of viral infection. However given the limited facilities here we have not been able to test any of those two and so we are not entirely sure what is wrong with them, but till now we are treating it like a viral infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know absolutely anything that can help, then PLEASE share&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please don't tell me to &quot;go to a different vet&quot; as we already have consulted several vets and none has been able to do anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please if you have experience with such a thing let us know what we can do because honestly I'm starting to feel if something doesn't happen in the next few days we might loose them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9217" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-24T10:51:47.730" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T10:51:47.730" Title="Extremely sick German shepherd puppies" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17214" CreationDate="2017-05-27T02:36:42.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The symptoms (not eating, vomiting, lethargic) indicate &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_parvovirus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canine parvovirus&lt;/a&gt; (parvo for short). I'll be short with this answer in saying that the pups will perish if not immediately treated by a vet. This can also spread to other dogs very quickly - it's possible that the whole litter could become ill. A lot of the time with a litter of pups a vet will do a fecal on one or two of them and not all of them - this could possibly be why this wasn't detected by your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot afford vet costs, call a local non profit rescue for help. Some rescues have funds set aside for life and death vet bills for helping the community. Also, a rescue I did work with had medications and vaccines for such situations. It will be worth a shot. I'm so sorry you're not having any luck with vets and that your pup is sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="8979" LastEditDate="2019-01-24T10:37:40.153" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T10:37:40.153" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7447" CreationDate="2017-05-27T03:50:53.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this answer is late, but for people who may see this in the future, this is the rat version of &quot;choking&quot;- rats cannot choke because they have no gag reflex. (&lt;em&gt;they are unable to vomit&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratbehavior.org/vomit.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) They like to stuff as much food as they can in their mouths at once!  It can look scary for sure- mouth opening, laying still, stuff coming out of their mouth, sort of &quot;squishing&quot; their head black. It's happened to my boys a few times! Usually they are totally able to clear it on their own. It looks scarier than it is I promise :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if there are obvious signs your baby cannot breathe or is severely in distress then you would want to try and help by giving them water or a piece of crunchy food to help clear the block :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9561" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-07-29T09:37:46.270" LastActivityDate="2017-07-29T09:37:46.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10380" CreationDate="2017-05-27T07:01:45.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a dominant young female and another submissive female. They lived for two years together and were inseparable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dominant female died very suddenly, so I got a rescue rabbit the next day to keep other one company. I kept them separate but in same garden to introduce them gradually. New one in cage and original running loose. Initially she seemed interested but attacked new one when introduced. I separated them and next day the initially submissive one became subdued, lost appetite and died 2 days later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm devastated. Lost both my bunnies in 4 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9563" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:32:44.487" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:32:44.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17236" CreationDate="2017-05-27T13:13:03.157" Score="7" ViewCount="678" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I are waiting for 2 kittens to reach the 12 week mark so we can bring them home (since they are siblings they should get along, right?). We have both had cats as children and love them, so we finally decided to adopt our own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we're both going to be spending time playing with them, in the case we're both out of the appartment for anything between a few hours to maybe a day (they will of course have food and water!), will they keep each other stimulated or will they get bored easily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the primary motivations for getting 2 is that they will keep each other company so they will refrain from destructive behavior in case we might not be around, is this true or just speculation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to boil it down to a concrete question: will getting 2 cats reduce boredom and keep them stimulated in case we're not around to play with them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm working from home so I'll be around a lot, but a few times a year I'm out of the country for a few weeks for work reasons. Our parents have already told us they will look after the cats in case we're both gone for longer periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9565" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-28T05:00:49.373" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T10:54:48.103" Title="Will 2 cats keep each other stimulated?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11899" CreationDate="2017-05-27T13:54:23.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very similar to my dog. My Kelpie x Queensland heeler is what dog trainers call over the threshold, seeing things from a distance so they don't go into a excited or fearful state.Does she always do what you want her to do when yous are out walking... Don't let her see this person for the time being, the more exposure to your room mate the more it will become harder to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9566" LastActivityDate="2017-05-27T13:54:23.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-27T19:13:27.653" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 13 month cat, a domestic short hair brown tab. I've seen people equip cats with wheels these days like hamsters but that seems to be mainly bengals with much more energy and need to exercise. I spend the bulk of my day at work and my cat has a small toy, and the hurricane frisbee ball toy. At night before bed I try to laser pointer it for 5-10 mins and I get a few sprints out of it. I'm not sure if this is enough though? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9570" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T20:10:52.723" Title="How can I tell if my cat is getting enough stimulation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-27T19:51:03.843" Score="4" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my cats almost since birth, and they are now approximately ten years old. They are very friendly with me and let me touch them anywhere, especially if it involves belly rubs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2516/&quot;&gt;diagnosing one of my cats as having allergies&lt;/a&gt;, I now have to give her medication every day. It is liquid, but I put it in a size 4 gelcap (very small) and use a pill popper to get it in the back of her mouth. I then hold her mouth closed until she swallows, so she does not spit it back out. This is obviously an uncomfortable act for her, no matter how necessary it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This causes a problem. While she allows me to pet her and give her belly rubs, she freaks out any time I pick her up. If she is sitting on the floor and I walk over to her, she hides from me. If she is laying on the couch or a bed, she does not seem to mind me approaching. Clearly, the daily medication ritual has her unnerved. She is still friendly to me, however, she tries to avoid contact if she thinks it is medicine time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did read a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6045/&quot;&gt;few&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/10441/&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7085/&quot;&gt;questions&lt;/a&gt; about similar issues, but they are all centered around a new cat. I have had her for almost a decade, and this behavior is new. I would like for her to trust me again. This is not so much about gaining the trust and affection of a cat, but &lt;em&gt;regaining&lt;/em&gt; her trust - she is still affectionate to me and will even jump into my lap. I just have a difficult time picking her up or approaching her at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her allergies require daily medication for the rest of her life. Her allergy is not one that I can eliminate via environmental changes. After consulting with the veterinary allergist, the only available medication for cats is liquid &lt;a href=&quot;http://us.atopica.com/en/index-cat.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Atopica&lt;/a&gt; (which I put into a gel cap for easier administration). Unfortunately, this is not an issue I can address via the root cause (daily pills) and I must address the behavioral aspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user907" LastEditorDisplayName="user907" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T22:15:07.427" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T19:31:18.917" Title="My cat avoids me picking her up: how do I change this behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T01:22:25.310" Score="4" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my bearded dragon for almost a year, and I got her when she was a baby. She has always been very nice and never seemed agitated toward anyone. About a week ago I thought she had infertile eggs. She just got out of brumation. But she seems to be acting funny lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has all the symptoms of having infertile eggs. She has been eating more, runs around her cage, and she has started to dig. I made a box for her to lay her eggs in but doesn't seem interested. Now when I go to pick her up she doesn't seem to want to come out of her cage. Now whenever I pet between her eyes she will kick me with her back legs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She looks white like she's going to shed, but she has still never been this way with me before. Also when I can manage to get her out of her cage without a fuss she will randomly bolt away like under beds or just away from me. I'm worried about her. And I just want to make sure she's okay. She seems to be Always hungry. I haven't changed anything lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could she just be stressed? Is she getting aggressive because of the eggs or is she sick and doesn't have eggs at all?&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3l5qn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3l5qn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9574" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-28T05:03:29.377" LastActivityDate="2018-10-25T21:40:07.603" Title="Bearded dragon sick or gravid?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15965" CreationDate="2017-05-28T01:43:42.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good way to tell if your bearded dragon Should be able to eat a cricket is if the cricket is big enough to fit in the gap between their eyes. Never feed a bearded dragon anything bigger than that gap. I have had my bearded dragon since she was a baby and I have always fed her small crickets and she loves them. Unfortunately I don't know what a pinhead is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9574" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-28T04:58:47.067" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T04:58:47.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15224" CreationDate="2017-05-28T01:53:05.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baby pinky mice are a fattening food for bearded dragons. Although these need to be alive when being fed to bearded dragons, so some people refuse to use them. You can also fatten up the crickets, roaches, etc., that you are feeding him. You would want to give the animals (as in the food for the bearded dragon) fresh fruits to fatten them up. I would avoid using mealworms because bearded dragons will &lt;a href=&quot;https://beardeddragontank.com/are-mealworms-bad-for-bearded-dragons&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;often become addicted to them&lt;/a&gt; and refuse to eat anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9574" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2019-01-24T07:31:50.757" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T07:31:50.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16382" CreationDate="2017-05-28T01:58:45.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I where you I would take him to a vet. I have never heard about anything like this with bearded dragons before. I have one of my own and nothing like this has happened. But mine is just one of millions. I hope he gets better soon. If it continues to spread I really urge you to take him to a reptile vet. They should have a lot more information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9574" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T01:58:45.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15360" CreationDate="2017-05-28T02:04:11.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bearded dragon has always been the same way. From what I have gathered it is because they like to be up by the lights. In some cases if there is more than one in a cage (which shouldn't be the case, and I am not promoting. It can cause serious damage and even death) they will even lay on top of each other to get closer to the lights. So it is perfectly normal and you have nothing to worry about. Its just your little guy getting comfy! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9574" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T02:04:11.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17254" CreationDate="2017-05-28T05:29:36.153" Score="3" ViewCount="804" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued a male guppy from an acquaintance's overcrowded tank. He had a 10 gallon tank with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a female betta&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 silver dollars (which are 4 inch long)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 angelfish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 assorted fancy guppies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This poor guppy was being chased and chewed on by the silver dollars, and betta, and was much skinnier than the rest. His tailfin has been mangled. I put him in his own micro tank (2.5g) for now because it's the only extra I had available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping he'll be able to eat better, as the fish were literally rubbing up against each other and fighting for surface space at feeding time. After three days he's finally come out from hiding behind the plant and will come out and about and to the top when I feed him! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping eventually I can move him to my larger community tank where he can be with other males and females but I don't know if his fin will ever heal properly and if he'd even have a good chance if it doesn't heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now he doesn't swim that well. He holds his body at a strange angle like he doesn't have enough fin tissue or strength to hold up the back half of his body and drifts to the bottom and fights to make it back up. My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do fish fins grow back after they've been chewed and nipped on?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are there any recommendations on anything else I can do for him? I've given him an extra dose of FW aquarium salt.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, with a little nudging he got a second larger tank and separated the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the pcitures, sorry for the poor quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AQuil.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AQuil.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KbMxJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KbMxJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Old1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Old1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:15:03.717" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T08:07:21.863" Title="Will my fish's tailfin grow back?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17196" CreationDate="2017-05-28T12:03:55.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are notes from the petsmart website&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Lifting &amp;amp; Handling:&#xA;Handle your dwarf hamster gently -- scoop her up in both hands and hold her with cupped hands so she'll feel safe and secure.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a Robo hamster, but have had other pets....and one of the things i've learned that I don't think pet stores emphasize enough is how important it is to have an environment that is stimulating for your pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat that used to nip at me a LOT.  Once I added a cat tree, a window perch and took the time to throw around a cat toy for a little while each day, the cat became much more loving and happy and stopped biting me!  I think he was trying to tell me something(!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just found these tips for hamsters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.woodgreen.org.uk/pet_advice/553_hamster_enrichment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.woodgreen.org.uk/pet_advice/553_hamster_enrichment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mentioned his housing may be too small, I would start there and then make sure to add some interesting things he can climb and explore so he doesn't get bored.  I think he will thank you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope things get better for you and your hamster.  Just my two cents! :)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9573" LastActivityDate="2017-05-28T12:03:55.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T20:16:41.960" Score="1" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I told my dog to stay on my deck while I cut my grass one day, and now he will not leave the porch at all, no matter what I do. How do I get him to go and play in the yard like he used to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9577" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T00:45:36.713" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T02:28:40.117" Title="My dog won't go and play in the yard anymore after I told him to stay on the deck once" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-28T22:25:04.747" Score="4" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a friend of a friend's gecko a couple of weeks ago. I have no experience with reptiles, just my 17 year old son wanted one since forever ago. It was all quick and I was given her tank and accessories. I wasn't told she was underweight. I was told to feed her a box of locusts a week (12 to 14 per box), size of 3 or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She looked pretty skinny and felt frail to handle. I obviously did research on all aspects of caring for her, to which I saw how she should be.&#xA;She seems to gain weight and her tales are plumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought 3 tubs of locusts last Saturday and fed her the box after feeding them lettuce over 2 days. The others were put in small tank. I have tomato plants near that tank on window. I am sure that they can eat the leaves and I dropped a few in. I only saw one being eaten straight away. I quickly checked on forums where it said they are toxic to locusts and I removed it immediately.&#xA;2 locusts died within 24 hours, the rest are still alive 7 days later.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they safe to feed my beautiful leopard gecko?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess yes but don't want to risk it, unless advised. Any advice is much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9578" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:35:24.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:35:24.237" Title="Are possibly poisoned locusts safe to feed my leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17257" CreationDate="2017-05-29T05:12:31.880" Score="3" ViewCount="12813" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I rescued a badly injured cat from the streets and have been since taking care of him. He's not playful or aggressive or have any cat-like attitude in him at all, which was worrying me. But today when I ran out of his antibiotic pill and had to buy more I discovered that the lady who sold me the antibiotics for the first time gave me wrong dosage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were supposed to give him one and a half pill of 75mg (totalling about 110mg) but instead we were giving him 450mg! I can't get in touch with the vet who was seeing him because she's traveling and his consult is only in four days, but I'm really worried about him. But if I go to another vet I'll have to pay another consult and I already spent tons of money on medicine and procedures to clean the infected wound (to have an idea, the muscle is exposed, he was being eaten alive by larvae). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how worried should I be about this? Do I suspend the antibiotics completely? Do I take him right away to see a vet? Or should I wait four days? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way he's eating and drinking water properly and using the litter box, although his feces is VERY soft. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9580" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T02:46:15.463" Title="How to deal with accidental overdose of antibiotics on a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17239" CreationDate="2017-05-29T06:22:23.473" Score="4" ViewCount="1284" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main details:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An orphaned kitten in my care recently passed away.  Early on, it was what I've seen described as one of those &quot;fading kittens&quot; --  crying all the time, glassy/watery eyes.  I've read that even under the best circumstances the lives of such kittens are rather fragile.  Admittedly, I made some mistakes along the way due to ignorance and would give anything to turn back the clock and do at least a couple of things differently, but unfortunately that is not an option.  Still, I'd like to know what might have caused its death and can't afford a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/necropsy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;necropsy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  Does anyone know of someone who does pro bono necropsies?  Please offer your recommendations if you do.  In the meantime, I am wondering if the following development isn't some sort of clue to what might have caused the kitten's demise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten must have died between 3 and 6 a.m. on the 26th of May.  It has now been more than 48 hours since its death (yes, we need to bury it soon).  Its belly is now very round and bloated. Does this reveal anything about what may have caused it to die? It also has developed small tear-drop shaped darkish skin scales on the right side of its abdomen (and also one long thin oval at the bottom of its belly. The skin scales are dark gray in color.  Does this also reveal anything about its condition or what caused it to die?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information you may find helpful:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We think the kitten (a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby_cat#Mackerel_tabby&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;mackerel tabby&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; with brown striping), might have been born prematurely because it was pretty small when I first found it.  I had no idea what to do with it at first, but I eventually put it in a cage with another cat we have who had a litter of seven healthy kittens about a month prior to my finding this orphaned kitten.  (The orphaned kitten is from a different mother.)  Though the mother of seven didn't seem crazy about adding an eighth kitten to the mix, she wasn't opposed to it either, so I thought it would all work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A day or two later, however, during a routine check on these kittens, I found one of the older kittens sitting on the orphaned kitten's head (I think it was trying to quiet it) and the orphaned kitten had (for lack of a better way of expressing it) pooped itself with a somewhat sizeable yellowish/brown stool that was somewhat watery, but firm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that point, I decided to take the orphaned kitten out of that environment, but then I didn't know what to feed it and I made the mistake of giving it some cow's milk (whole milk and organic). That was a huge mistake. Not long after that, it had a bout of vomiting and diarrhea. That's when I finally decided to go online and do a bit of research (discovering that cow's milk is a big no no) and found a goat's milk formula to use (which called for goat's milk, yogurt (I also used goat's milk yogurt), water, and egg yolk. The orphaned kitten did not expel for quite some time after that, but then when it did, its stools looked really healthy -- brown, firm, fully formed. I was really happy about this development, but then, all of a sudden, the orphaned kitten had two bowel movements on one day (the 21st). This time, however, the stools were fully formed and solid, but very light colored, yellowish, and were expelled with a bit of water.  I thought maybe I was heating the formula up too much, so I pulled back on that a bit and subsequent stools were still light yellow (kind of a mustard color), sometimes hard, large and fully formed and at other times, soft, but I stopped seeing watery, loose bowel movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another detail of importance is the kitten's temperature.  In the beginning, this orphaned kitten was often cold when I picked it up, but in the days leading up to its death, it seemed to occasionally be holding on to some sort of body temperature of its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I saw that the bowel movements were returning to normal and some type of evidence that it was beginning to maintain some sort of body temperature, I had thought it had made it through the danger zone, especially since it seemed to be crying a lot less and appeared to be doing some sort of imprinting -- long steady gazes into the faces of those who held it.  To find it dead was a complete shock to say the least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've gone online and tried to research this and I've seen posts that indicate it might be some sort of problem related to an underdeveloped intestinal tract, any number of diseases kittens may contract, and even a heart problem.  Nothing, thus far, however, has been all that conclusive.  Furthermore, my search for skin scales on dead kittens is proving to be pretty futile, but I can't help but wonder if this is an important detail that might narrow it down a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've attached some photos to help you help me make sense of this little kitten's death.  It won't bring it back to life, but any insight you can lend might bring me (and perhaps others in a similar predicament) a little bit of closure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/Wn3Z6Wk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/n6dnoh0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/4LWVVmz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Close up of the skin scales, ~60 hours after death&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/mcS6wBz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Full body view showing skin scales (only showing up on one side of the body and at the bottom of the belly)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9579" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-30T04:26:23.030" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T04:26:23.030" Title="Do the skin scales developing on my dead kitten provide any clues to what may have caused its death?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17218" CreationDate="2017-05-29T10:54:48.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes two cats will stimulate each other. They will also clean the hard-to-reach spots on each other. Siblings will typically get along, but they still may show some aggression against each other (like human siblings). Oddly I notice some male cats sometimes picking on the females and the females vocalizing about it. The siblings I have had never really hurt each other though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats get jealous so make sure you give them equal attention and praise. A jealous cat may get aggressive with the other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if stimulated by other cats some cats still like to knock things over or chew on things. It is just in some cats' personalities. Other cats are reserved and seemingly conscientious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T10:54:48.103" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17223" CreationDate="2017-05-29T12:34:35.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat now associates being picked up with being fed a pill. You will have to recondition her to associate being picked up with good things / things she likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by not picking her up and just petting her gently and giving her a cat treat. Do this several times a day for a few days. Next pet her gently then pick her up for a fraction of a second and set her down gently immediately. Give her lots of praise and a treat right after you set her down. Over time you can start picking her up for longer and longer periods then rewarding her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats naturally tend to not like being restrained so look into a good cat holding technique.  Cats usually like their back legs supported. Over time you will condition her to associate being picked up with getting praise or a treat and she should tolerate being picked up more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T12:41:31.210" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T12:41:31.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17235" CreationDate="2017-05-29T15:19:07.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you know, there are many different things that could cause your kitten to have died, and there is no point on speculating here. I would consider infectious or congenital disease most likely, but these are both broad categories. You rightly point out that a necropsy would likely be necessary, but there is also a good chance that nothing would be found on gross necropsy, and would require sampling and microscopic evaluation of various tissues. A challenge at this point is that the body has already undergone changes since death which can make it more difficult at necropsy to determine what the cause of death was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The changes you have noticed are likely post-mortem changes. The bloated abdomen occurs in cats, as it does in many other species, due to overgrowth of gas-producing bacteria in the abdomen after death. The pigmentation of the skin may be due to collection of blood in focal parts of the skin after death, which might occur if that side was down initially. The dark greyish-green colour could also occur post-mortem from bile pigments leaking from intestines that were adjacent to the skin (known as bile imbibition). Kittens have very thin skin and body wall, and impression of loops of bowel is compatible with the pattern seen in the skin. I would therefore regard the skin pigmentation or bloating as post-mortem rather than pre-mortem changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case this was an infectious disease that caused your kitten's death, make sure to clean all bedding and disinfect all surfaces in which your kitten may have come into contact. For future reference, it is vital that such kittens recieve veterinary care early on, because they can direct you to provide better supportive care which may make a difference of life or death. Lastly, I find the photo of the kitten hanging unsupported in a stocking quite concerning. If the kitten decided it wanted to get out, it could fall from a height. If it needed to vomit, it could aspirate vomit into its lungs in this position. Certainly you are fine to wrap up the kitten to keep it warm, but best to do this in a box on the ground and provide some degree of freedom of movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-05-29T15:19:07.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17243" CreationDate="2017-05-29T19:21:15.557" Score="4" ViewCount="818" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am leaving for a 3 weeks vacation. Our cat is a bit of a unique chap, he loves to have people around but prefers to keep some distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He lives in our tiny house. The neighbours will be in charge of looking after him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My partner is suggesting to bring him to the other house while we're away. I wonder, will he prefer to stay alone in his well-known environment, getting visit only twice a day for food and toilet cleaning, or would it be better to let him stay over at the neighbours, so he'll not be alone but would have to deal living outside of his comfort zone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9587" LastEditorUserId="9587" LastEditDate="2017-05-29T20:32:52.330" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T03:09:39.610" Title="Leaving for vacation, leave cat alone or move it to other house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-30T01:13:00.477" Score="4" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just purchased a Turkish Van kitten from a breeder. He is about 4 months old, and I have only had him for a little over a week. There are 2 issues that I am dealing with about this sweet little boy. He is very shy and timid and hides and every time I enter a room, and he looks like he wants to run, but when I say his name then he is fine. He is afraid of my husband and won't let him touch or go near him. Also, if you make a sudden move or a noise, he runs but will come back by me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the second question: he will play with a toy and then he will pick it up and carry it to the litter box. That is gross and I don't want him to get discouraged and then think that he shouldn't use the litterbox. What can I do to stop him from doing this yucky habit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9588" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T06:09:24.867" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T06:09:24.867" Title="How to stop kitten leaving toys in the litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17241" CreationDate="2017-05-30T02:25:31.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to leave him at your home, why? because he knows more about his day-to-day place than new place, though he's our good neighbor. Would be very dangerous for the cat if left in places that he has not known, will be very worried if he confused the direction where he went.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's my experience . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7317" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-30T16:47:39.410" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T16:47:39.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-30T04:19:23.120" Score="3" ViewCount="3893" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat went in box, came out and urinated on floor. Urine smelled normal no ammonia smell at all.   It was the litter that changed the urine smell to ammonia.   I can't figure what ingredients made this happen. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9590" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-05-30T04:25:21.717" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T18:43:49.547" Title="Cat box smelled like ammonia after I changed brands of litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17233" CreationDate="2017-05-30T11:36:18.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look up the list of plants and veggies that are toxic or unsafe FOR REPTILES to eat, tomatoes AND their leaves are included. Considering anything digested by the locusts are in their bodies when the gecko eats them, my answer would be no. You can never be too sure what toxins are left in or on their bodies and which ones did and didn't chew on the leaves. Even if the ones that are left chewed on the tomatoe leaves, but only a small amount that wasn't harmful to the locusts, that may still pose a risk to your gecko. Considering he wasn't in the best of health, I wouldn't chance it; his immune system and digestive tract may be compromised or weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see link below with toxic plants and veggies for reptiles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Health/Habitats-Care/List-of-Plants-That-Can-Be-Toxic-To-Reptiles/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Health/Habitats-Care/List-of-Plants-That-Can-Be-Toxic-To-Reptiles/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've ever heard of &quot;gut loading&quot; in live feeding bugs, this is so the nutrition is transferred to the reptile being fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-30T11:36:18.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17247" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17256" CreationDate="2017-05-30T13:03:13.070" Score="4" ViewCount="5517" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat, who is 8 months old and occasionally climbs out the window to the roof. Is it safe to let my cat wander on the roof?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9593" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T03:27:07.060" Title="Is it safe to let my cat walk on the roof?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17247" CreationDate="2017-05-31T01:07:47.693" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It certainly depends on how high the roof is, but it's not inherently dangerous. Cats have good balance and the ability to right themselves during a fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is potentially dangerous is your kitten being able to go wherever she wants without supervision. She is young and inexperienced. Her natural curiosity has the potential to put her in any number of situations she's unequipped to deal with; e.g., falling off the roof, hit by a car, locked in a space she's hiding in, eating something poisonous, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats love to explore. They are territorial. Use these natural traits to train your cat to make good choices. I keep kittens for the first year of life, inside. Then I take them outside in the backyard &lt;em&gt;supervised.&lt;/em&gt; I stay with them and encourage exploration while assuring them of their safety and &quot;turf.&quot; I have trained all of my cats, ever, to come to a whistle. I have the backyard &quot;escape-proof&quot; to keep them in and unwanted visitors out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are less &quot;trainable&quot; than dogs but they can be trained to enable your comfort zone and their own safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T01:07:47.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17232" CreationDate="2017-05-31T02:28:40.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother has a &quot;middle of the pack&quot; dog who is also very sensitive to any kind of reinforcement. Ex.stopped eating for a few meals because she yelled at him for sticking his face in her other dogs food dish, some dogs just associate reinforcement diffently... we call him emotional or sensitive. It can sometimes be hard to &quot;speak dog&quot; to let them know what you're specifically wanting them to do and not do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next few times you let your dog outside put a leash on him and go with him. You'll have to retrain him that the yard is &quot;good&quot;. Lead him into the yard with a treat in hand and treat him the second he steps off the porch. Treat him when he goes off into the yard a little further, and release him off leash when you feel he's at a point where he's not trying to go back onto the porch. If he heads further into the yard, go to him (not call him towards you) and treat him again. Reinforce the behavior. If he turns around and goes back onto the porch put the leash back on him, stay calm and assertive but don't tell him no or bad dog.. So, that he doesn't think he cant be on the porch AT ALL (I'm assuming he has to walk on the porch to get back indoors). Treat him for coming onto the porch ONLY when you are ready for him to come back onto it. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T02:28:40.117" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17244" CreationDate="2017-05-31T05:11:05.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So ammonia is naturally in cat urine, but the smell is stronger the more concentrated the urine is. The less water in the urine; the more concentrated... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most litters are made of bentonite clay, silica (crystalline litters) , or Fuller's earth clay, which can be bentonite or attapulgite. All of these litter ingredients absorb the urine, and as the silica or clay expands, it spreads the urine over more surface space than if puddled, thus drying quicker. As the urine dries, some if not most of the water evaporates out of the urine, leaving behind urea, ammonia, sodium, potassium, calcium, ketones, proteins, amino acids, and other reduction substances, THUS CAUSING THE SMELL. Your litter probably has an odor neutralizer or perfume additive used to cover the smell of urine, but as the urine dries and the water evaporates, so do some of the properties of litter additives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I questioned how dry the urine was on the floor, in my comment earlier, because the drier the urine, the more it'll smell. If it were still wet or just starting to dry, the ammonia smell may not have been as apparent as if dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may have also been drinking more water, making the urine less concentrated than his last elimination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T18:43:49.547" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T18:43:49.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17353" CreationDate="2017-05-31T06:12:30.707" Score="4" ViewCount="674" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just brought home a baby parakeet. I know the typical recommendation for having a parakeet is either provide it with enough attention that it accepts you as it's flock or give it a buddy. My intention is to keep him as a lone parakeet, that attaches to me  vs another bird in its cage. I know this process may take some time for him to warm up to me but until he trusts me I know he will be a little stressed (he's a baby so he will adapt But he was caged with 8 other parakeets and is now alone). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read that rescue remedy flower essences for pets is &quot;safe&quot; for birds because it's base is vegetable glycerin instead of alcohol but it comes in a dropper bottle and I can't find info on how much to give him. I could see giving one or two drops in a larger parrots water being of little concern but I wonder about the dosage and safeness for a tiny bird like my budgie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the dosage?&#xA;Does anyone know if vegetable glycerin could cause diarrhea? Or has anyone used this on birds before? If so, how much did you give? By mouth or in water dish? Does anyone have any other tips on what would be a good stress relieving supplement instead? I just want to make him as comfortable as possible, I'm much more used to larger birds, and know budgies have sensitive bodies and that stress can literally kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background, behavior and Environment Info: he's between 2-3 months old. His cage is placed in view of my cockatiel, but not within reach of each other. The room he's in has the most amount of activity so he's never in dead space. He's already stepping up onto my finger, and will hang onto my shirt, but doesn't hang out for more than 5minutes before getting wiggly, as of yet. He has plenty of toys and perches, and he has ample water and seed (the same kind he was on at the pet store until I've had him long enough to switch). A spray of millet is available. I cover him at night. He's strictly indoors. He didn't eat food for the first day except a little millet, but is eating now. It's day 3. He had what I'd assume was stress induced diarrhea for the first 24hrs, I assume stress because it went away after he started eating again. He was not hand fed or hand raised and has no ankle band. The store he came from does not allow customer interaction with them which is good for stress and contamination while there, but not so good for human socialization or hand recognition. He made little chirping sounds at the pet store but hasn't made a sound until tonight... After covering him it sounded like he was purring himself to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active Ingredients: HPUS 5x dilution of Helianthemum, Hummularium, Clematis Vitalba, Impatiens glandulifera, Primus cerasifera, Ornithogalum umbellatum. Inactive Ingredients: 80%Glycerin 20%water. The active ingredients are the Latin names for the different flower essences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-08T17:18:29.047" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T00:46:47.620" Title="Stress relief of parakeets? Is vegetable glycerine safe for parakeets/ small birds?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17230" CreationDate="2017-05-31T07:13:16.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish generally have good regeneartion capabilities, but the regeneration success for your guppy it's hard to predict because they depend on the kind (piranha can regenerate small parts of their fins very quickly[1]). If he doesn't suffer, I'd keep up your plan. You could give him some living food, like &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;, which might support the healing process because of it's nutrition value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can leave the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; in the fish tank because the worst thing that can happen is that they start overpopulating, but it's unlikely because they're very tasty and interesting to catch (don't put too much inside because there's the danger of overeating). If you have another tank you can grow them yourself, there's a lot of information about that online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] This is mentioned in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranhas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;German Wikipedia article on piranhas&lt;/a&gt;, but not the English one - I'll add that as soon as Wikipedia's edit function becomes usable, i.e. as soon as they have a meriocratic swarm intelligence like SE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T08:07:21.863" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T08:07:21.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-05-31T12:45:10.103" Score="5" ViewCount="1874" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning on using small rocks in a section of garden and I want to pick the smallest size/shape that will keep cats from using it as a toilet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I was considering sand, but that seems to be an &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1891/how-to-make-my-cats-poo-in-certain-area-of-my-yard-garden/1904#1904&quot;&gt;invitation for cats to use as a litter box area&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a neighbor with 2 inch (5cm) river rock in his garden area and cats don't bother it at all. But is is kind of a pain to work with and around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to pick the smallest size that will prevent neighborhood cats from using it as a toilet. I am guessing someplace between sand and 2 inch (5cm) river rock should work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravel#Types&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pea Gravel&lt;/a&gt; is readily available and easy to work with, but will it be large enough to keep cats from using it? if not what is the smallest effect deterrent?  Does the shape (round vs crushed) impact the decision? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T12:01:15.390" Title="Will Pea Gravel keep cats from using my garden as a potty?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17247" CreationDate="2017-05-31T12:58:42.153" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it is not safe for cats to go out the window and on to the roof.  The obvious first concern is falling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat did not fall to it's death the first time, it is unlikely to fall next time.  The bigger risk is that there is no place to hide, and the cat is very visible from the sky.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126/will-owls-attack-small-dogs/8129#8129&quot;&gt;Birds of prey can be a risk to small pets&lt;/a&gt; your cat is at risk of being dinner for a bird of prey.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional risks include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Accidentally getting locked out, being subject to direct sunlight with no shade or water all day while you are away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeking shelter on the roof when sick or injured, creating great difficulty for you to provide care.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-05-31T14:34:04.260" LastActivityDate="2017-05-31T14:34:04.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17234" CreationDate="2017-05-31T19:56:48.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you still have a to wait a few days to see the vet I would go to a local pet store and find some probiotics or Bene-Bac to add to what he's eating It'll help provide beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract that may have been lost due to the over use of antibiotics, this is probably causing the loose stool, but a vet would dive deeper into the loose stool, especially if it in unrelated to the antibiotics. Extra fluids will help with the diarrhea too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically the largest fear with too much antibiotics is a yeast infection caused by an overproduction of white blood cells in the body; produced in the body to fight infection. Homeopathic antifungals will fix that, and prescription antifungals will treat it even quicker IF that is the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no new signs of illness the cat should remain fine, you'd see issues soon after digestion. A vet visit or phone call is always a good decision, as mentioned by previous comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, you can post your own answer to inform others of your experience if you take him to the vet or if you call your vet; let the public know what the veterinarian said!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T13:34:08.550" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T13:34:08.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17241" CreationDate="2017-06-01T03:09:39.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, most cats do not adjust well to being moved.  Taking your cat out of the environment he knows -- and with his people not around, either! -- is likely to be stressful.  And if there are pets or children at the other house, that might well make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've left my people-focused cats for a week or so with just daily or twice-daily visits and not had problems, but perhaps your cat is more needy.  Would the neighbors be willing to spend more time at your house?  If they were going to watch TV or read or surf at home in the evenings, perhaps they'd be willing to do some of that at your house every now and then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; cats who adjust well to being moved.  Think back to when you got your cat; how did that go?  Have you tried shorter visits elsewhere?  I had a cat once with some special medical issues that needed some extra attention, so I tried taking him to a friend's house for a short trip (a few days) to see how that went.  She gave him his own room and he did fine, so we continued that for longer vacations (but not much more than a week at a time).  Similarly, one of her cats required extra attention and I was able to bring him to my house for a week.  Both of these cats were very calm and mellow to begin with, and we treated it like adoption in terms of giving the cat a limited, safe environment to start with.  (Over time both cats got the run of more of the house.)  But &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; do this for the first time for a three-week vacation; if things don't go well, you aren't in a position to adjust.  (Well, unless your neighbor can bring the cat back to your house while you're gone, and do the regular visits, and you're both ok with that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T03:09:39.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2206" CreationDate="2017-06-01T23:15:01.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;George  knows you want him to be calm and not jump up and go crazy. Your wife may like that and George  knows with the energy you both give off. Like said in previous comments. It's not something to be corrected. He's already being extremely obedient. He's tuning into how each different person wants him to be. Seems he's very happy  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9606" LastActivityDate="2017-06-01T23:15:01.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17262" CreationDate="2017-06-02T02:05:22.450" Score="4" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved into the top floor of a 5 story building and wish to get two kittens soon. During the day the flat gets warm and we open the Windows a lot, so I'm worried that it might fall out of one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wVdax.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wVdax.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Bedroom,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom windows are opened as far as they normally go (can open wider, but that requires extra steps and is intended for cleaning only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Top Windows open straight up, similar to the ones in the next image&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No ledge, there's a drop straight down onto grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BAE3Q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BAE3Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitchen/Living Room&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom window does not open at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roof continues at the same angle (about 45 degrees) for about 1 or 2 more meters as the flat below us has the same angle for their windows. (Shown in the next image)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top window starts at roughly chest height for me as a somewhat tall adult (190 cm/ 6&quot;2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2eqcm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2eqcm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different perspective for image 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v9aG5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v9aG5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Map&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flat starts/ends at the red line, below that the roof continues to the next flat at the same angle of about 45 degrees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2jqfp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2jqfp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living Room&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 Windows don't open. (At the pillars)&#xA;4 Windows open like regular windows, (2 left and 2 right)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a small ledge/windowsill outside with a width of about 30cm, beyond that the roof is angled at about 45 degrees for about 1 or 2 meters, see previous photo for a better look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QGkMj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QGkMj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roof with windowsill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OdGEp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OdGEp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;roof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not already safe, what can I do to make it so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhapt it would be better to get them during a colder season where we don't open the window as much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9607" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T13:58:24.903" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T11:23:22.633" Title="Are my windows cat safe?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17261" CreationDate="2017-06-02T04:36:49.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, the first picture shows the windows opening at an angle from the top, these seem the safest, but the others seem like a major danger. If a cat can fit its head through the opening, the rest of its body can fit and follow. If you're getting kittens, the space their head can fit through is then smaller. Cats can jump quite high too, up to 8 feet (around 2.4 m) to be exact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time of year won't matter, simply because you'll have to come up with a fix next spring/summer anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are solutions though. There are mesh screens called window guards you can purchase, made to make windows kid-safe. They're made so children can't get to the window and to prevent falling or any other disasters. You could install indoor shutters (yes there is such a thing). Shutters may be the most decorative or look more liveable. There are actual &quot;pet window screens&quot; that are available online, I've never seen them in stores. And lastly you can make your own: purchase mesh and commercial grade Velcro - the kind that has 20lb (around 9 kg) test, so that if your kittens/cats jump or climb on it can hold the weight - if you use enough Velcro to fully line the inside of the window frame, and sew the mesh with also a high test strong thread, I would see this working well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add a jingle bell, small &quot;cow bell&quot; or chimes sewn somewhere on each mesh screen (whether purchased or homemade) ,the noise it makes if the kitties do try to climb it will deter them from jumping up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T11:23:22.633" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T11:23:22.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17242" CreationDate="2017-06-02T05:44:10.830" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the reason he's doing this is that he's new to your home, and the litter box is the one place that he's sure is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. So naturally he wants to keep his toy there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem should go away as he settles in. Make sure he has lots of cozy places of his own, where he feels safe. Cat beds, cardboard boxes, cat trees, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T05:44:10.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17267" CreationDate="2017-06-02T16:05:31.777" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my wife and I were planning on getting a kit (baby red fox), but my wife also wants a miniature pot-bellied pig. I had a pig when I was young, so I know how to care for it, but &lt;strong&gt;would it be safe with a fox?&lt;/strong&gt; From past experience, raising two pets together can eliminate the &quot;predator-prey relationship&quot; (e.g. raising a cat and a dog together). Would this work? Thanks, and let me know if you need more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. We also will have a German shepherd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9608" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T17:23:22.773" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T01:20:50.403" Title="Can tamed foxes and pigs live peacefully together?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;pig&gt;&lt;fox&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17265" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-06-02T16:48:02.857" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T16:48:02.857" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T16:48:02.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17266" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-06-02T16:48:02.857" Score="0" Body="Use when the animal in question is a fox as pet. " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-06-02T16:48:02.857" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T16:48:02.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17264" CreationDate="2017-06-02T17:28:15.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has been known to work, you are right... But you hear of dogs and wolves living in harmony that does not ensure it'll work. I know that's not what you want to hear but I have a few tips that may help if you decide to get them both anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk it over with your wife BEFORE you get the kit to make sure that's what she really wants because you will want to get your micro pig FIRST to adapt to your home. Bringing home the pig and bonding with it first will help it feel safe and secure, and much safer than getting them at the same time or bringing the pig home after the kit has claimed your house as it's territory. Animals can sense chemicals produced in the body representing stress and fear, and foxes prey on the weak, plus you don't want your piglet stressed anyways. You want the Fox to be the &quot;bottom of the pack&quot; from the beginning... Keep in mind you may have done a very good job training both pets, but later down the road genetics and instinct can be triggered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you bring the kit home you want to have waited until your baby micro pig is at a size that is bigger than the kit (I'm not sure what ages your bringing either home, but size is just as important). If you plan on crate training or litter training them, make sure they each have their own crate and their own litter boxes, separated on two different sides of the house. You want safe space for both animals, space that can be their &quot;own territory&quot;. Foxes mark throughout their territory, and if this becomes an issue at least it's more likely to be in a selected and seperated, trained space. If you don't plan on crate training both (although I highly recommend it), you will want to figure a way to separate them when you're not home to keep them safe. Crating is the best option but i suppose you could install a screen door somewhere in your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps! Good luck either way, foxes and pigs can be difficult to raise if you aren't home much, they both will need ALOT of at attention and one-on-one time. This is especially important for ensuring they behave together and get along, they both must trust you and your wife enough, and look up to you as their leader to mind you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-06-04T01:20:50.403" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T01:20:50.403" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17019" CreationDate="2017-06-02T18:21:49.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on what I can see from this picture, it looks a bit like what one of my cats has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ~26 pound cat can't bathe himself completely, so he gets filthy near his back end, right where your cat has the issue. Therefore there's constantly dirt and other things clumped up there which causes irritability for him. We bathe him ourselves regularly, but the area stays fairly sensitive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever there is a flea or tick outbreak we go to this shampoo which eases his irritability for a while &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/adams-plus-flea-tick-shampoo-precor/dp/102579?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Adams&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-_mTsOOf1AIVibbACh10BQ4kEAQYAyABEgLdPfD_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adams Plus Flea &amp;amp; Tick Shampoo with Precor&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9609" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-03T04:09:21.973" LastActivityDate="2017-06-03T04:09:21.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16187" CreationDate="2017-06-02T19:13:18.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;FHV is pretty common and is usually mild and not particularly dangerous to the cat. FHV is a virus and the doxycycline will do nothing to treat it. The doxycycline may prevent secondary infection if there are substantial lesions / ulceration (open sores).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just seeing drainage from one or both eyes or the nose, forming a black crusty material, you can gently wipe this this off with a tissue slightly moistened with water. I had a vet who used the tip of her finger to carefully pick it out. You just have to be careful not to touch or scratch the cat's eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the black material builds up, it could be a breeding ground for bacterial which could hurt your cat, so just keep it clean. Wash your hands before and after cleaning around your cat's eyes. FHV is not contagious to dogs or humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T19:13:18.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13654" CreationDate="2017-06-02T19:14:28.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I have seen, snails are introduced into aquariums as cleaning crew for algae, not fish waste. Snails also add lot of waste but algae is very big problem for many aquariums. Snails will work very hard and will be helping in cleaning algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9265" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T19:14:28.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17086" CreationDate="2017-06-02T19:58:40.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will prefer changing the water as early as possible. Siphon out the water and don't worry as fish will move out during siphon. Use some stress coats available in local pet stores after the water change. Using stress coat will help them relieve from stress. Leaving the fish in that water condition will actually deteriorate their health, so better to move them than leaving them in that water. Doing a complete water change just like a new aquarium is a better option. Fishes will thank you a lot for helping them out of that murky water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9265" LastActivityDate="2017-06-02T19:58:40.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-03T02:33:44.003" Score="1" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a black moore goldfish for 5 years. I just recently brought him with me to a new city and he's temporarily in a five gallon aquarium. Originally he was in a 30 gallon aquarium with other fish (that is still with my parents) but he was getting bullied, so I brought him with me. He's been fine, and looked a lot healthier, but lonely. I decided to get him a baby black moore to keep him company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got the new fish from petco (I know bad idea.) When I went to look at them, I pointed out that one looked sick, and the guy said don't take that one, take this one. (Normally I would realize that if one fish was sick, the aquarium was contaminated, but I was in such a rush, it didn't cross my mind. I put the little fish in the tank and watched them together for a day before I went away for the weekend. They both looked happy, and the new one was pretty active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I came back, the little fish was covered in white spots. Not like ich. It looked like his entire body was covered in cotton or he got snowed on. I panicked because he looked like he was going to die any second and moved him into a tupperware container (I didn't have another aquarium) I instantly went out and bought a 2.5 g hospital tank, filter, and heater. I continued to treat him with pimafix, and the guy at the aquarium store (not petco) agreed this was the best method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I watched him for a few hours, and the filter current and air stone made too much current for him to swim against, and all he wanted to do was lie inside a leaf, where the next day, I found him dead in that spot.:/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the aquarium store, the guy suggested not treating them together as I wouldn't want to medicate my other fish unecessarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally when I added the new fish, I added a bit of pimafix and melafix to the tank along with some beneficial bacteria and aquarium salt, but I feel like I should have kept treating my older fish. Today I noticed he was very active. Since the other died, he's been getting a pimafix treatment everyday, just in case. I wasn't taking any chances. However, he is not normally very active, and I'm wondering if he feels itchy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a 25% water change, removed the filter (I didn't have a spare and didn't want anything holding onto something potentially harmless. I removed the live plant, and plan to keep up with the pimafix treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, any ideas, or advice would be so appreciated. I love this fish and I couldn't forgive myself if he died too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any idea what this disease may be, please share! (The guy at the aquarium store thought it was ich over the phone, and when I showed him a picture he said &quot;oh wow. I have no idea what that is.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need a picture of the fish while he was infected, I can post it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-03T04:11:38.043" LastActivityDate="2017-06-03T04:11:38.043" Title="Fatal cotton like fungus on goldfish spreading to other?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-03T09:38:09.920" Score="3" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;They both got along great for past 3 years, usually it's my jack russell that nips my staff, but I was dreading the day it happened the other way around, last night it did, my staff is 8 and has slowed down, she's had a very active life, and is due in season very soon, they both are, she's now getting old and grumpy and just doesn't want to be mithered, jack Russel is 6 and a happy go lucky scatterbrain:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night we woke up the sound of our jack Russel screaming, they've been sleeping in the same large dog bed for the past 3 years, they're inseparable, they've had arguments in the past but usually they resolve their differences with the jack Russell yapping and maybe a quick nip but nothing to do any damage to my staff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned as jack Russell has a puncture wound under her jaw but doesn't seem to have gone into her mouth it took me around 45 mins to stem the bleeding from both wounds bathing them and flushing them with salt water, what can I do for her at home in terms of treatment, I don't think she needs stitches and has happily let me clean the wounds, she's understandably​ shaken up, her best buddy's just bit her, but she's eating, and drinking normally and going toilet fine. We've separated them for wounds to heal, treatment from a vets is virtually impossible as after moving home we're completely broke right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me advice please in terms of her head wound and does it need to be stitched or glued?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8TCp4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8TCp4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9613" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T19:41:18.207" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T17:01:48.903" Title="My staff attacked my jack russell" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17273" CreationDate="2017-06-03T10:19:05.740" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That doesn't look like it needs to be stitched or glued. Best bathe it with an antiseptic wash made for pet wounds and then apply a cream to assist with healing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=antiseptic%20wash%20for%20dogs&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU738AU738&amp;amp;oq=anticeptic%20w&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.4.69i57j0l5.11132j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many products on the market&lt;/a&gt;. A &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=chlorhexidine%20wash&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU738AU738&amp;amp;oq=chlorhe&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.8045j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chlorhexidine&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=betadine&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU738AU738&amp;amp;oq=betadine%20&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.7435j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;betadine&lt;/a&gt; based product would do the trick for the cleaning. As there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wound%20cream%20for%20dogs&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU738AU738&amp;amp;oq=wound%20cream%20for%20dogs&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.0.0l6.4598j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many creams suitable for treating wounds in dogs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other recommendation I would have is to make sure her worming vaccinations are up to date and that her diet is healthy. These all assist in sustaining a healthy immune system and promote healing and to help prevent or fight any infections. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to take your dog to the vet to be checked, as it's impossible to know definitively if the dog will be ok. The vet can prescribe any antibiotics if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly and most importantly, lots of cuddles and love. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to come back with any questions of help with dealing with the behaviour between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-08T21:44:09.670" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T21:44:09.670" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17275" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-03T14:49:29.013" Score="7" ViewCount="2033" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not trying to escape or anything, but I'm just wondering if the cage is too small. Please look at picture provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6rSRG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6rSRG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the cage&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9614" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T23:05:26.390" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T23:05:26.390" Title="Is my hamster's (fancy dwarf) cage too small?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17277" CreationDate="2017-06-03T17:38:14.240" Score="4" ViewCount="575" Body="&lt;p&gt;Domestic Long hair maybe? She is quite fluffy at 9 weeks. We rescued her and don't know the parents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will her hair be about the same length as it is now when she is full grown? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, I am guessing she will require lots of brushing. Any tips are appreciated, I have never owned a long-haired cat before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is her at 9 weeks&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jvo7c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jvo7c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hNW19.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hNW19.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9615" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-03T17:58:18.057" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T20:43:31.027" Title="How long will my cats hair be and how do I groom her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17276" CreationDate="2017-06-03T18:20:17.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She will have long hair (she already has long hair), it will be longer when she is fully grown than it is now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best types of brushes I've used for long haired cats are these. There are many other types of brushes available, but these are the ones I've preferred over the years. You basically need a brush with divided bristles, you can also use metal combs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FxShN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FxShN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PeD7O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PeD7O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are good at getting out shedding hair and untangling basic knots without hurting the cat. There will be places, for example behind the ears, that are prone to becoming matted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/7612/trond-hansen&quot;&gt;Trond Hansen&lt;/a&gt; in the comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to brush the places your cat can't reach when it washes itself,&#xA;right behind the front legs and lower back and under the chin chest&#xA;and around the head/neck area&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to stay on top of these. Checking around the neck, under the legs (right in the armpit/legpit area) and behind the ears regularly. If a small mat appears, it needs to be cut out with a small pair of scissors, with care taken not to cut the cat's skin. Gently pull the mat away from the skin and cut at the base of the mat near the skin. Some of the mat may remain at the base near the skin, but it will generally grow out as you brush the hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to start a grooming routine now. A daily brush will accustom her to being brushed and assist in preventing mats. By getting her used to checking under her arms and legs and brushing there, it will make it safer to handle her if you ever do need to use scissors to cut out any mats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Matted hair is common with long haired cats. There's no failure in finding small mats in your cat's coat. It's important they are dealt with quickly. As the matted fur increases, it pulls on the skin and can become painful. Large areas of matted fur is commonly seen in long haired pets that are neglected and can be construed as a form of animal cruelty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a long haired cat is a responsibility, but also a joy, as the hands on grooming assist in developing a relationship with your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T20:43:31.027" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T20:43:31.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17281" CreationDate="2017-06-03T22:06:59.057" Score="3" ViewCount="1352" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I found a small kitty in my garden with no mother in sight, so me and my brother decided to feed it, then we waited patiently for the mother. This is actually my first time, yet the little one warmed it's way to my heart in a flash. The mother didn't came at all during the day and the the little poor one is now sleeping the night on the below outside and it is breaking my heart. Yet it never cried loudly for it's mother nor it seemed to be in distress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspected a big cat that came near it to be the mother, but there wasn't any interaction that I can tell from and the only thing it does is eating from the kitty's food or water. But the kitty didn't mind nor was afraid of it. So how could I tell if it's abandoned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really freaking out: I have an exam in less than 9 hours, but all in my mind is little kitty that I know mother won't allow inside and will kick it outside the garden soon. And what does make it worse is that there is no local vet or any animal caring center around me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xpLHx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xpLHx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9616" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T19:08:46.503" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T19:08:46.503" Title="What is the signs that a lonely kitty is abandoned by the mother" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17298" CreationDate="2017-06-04T02:11:23.200" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an issue where a neighborhood cat seems to like to use my yard (particularly the rose bush areas) as its personal litterbox.  This wouldn't be a huge problem, except that the cat seems to track fleas in, which then yet on my wife and young child. And it is a huge pain to get rid of recurring fleas in the house when almost anything you use is going to be crawled (and soon walked) though by a child who puts literally everything in their mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this raises the question: what can be done to deter the cat and prevent fleas from getting in my yard?  I put down some of those spicy-scent things that have pepper and other things that make cats (and me) sneeze a bit.  This seems to deter it until it rains a bit, then the poop starts appearing.  I'm thinking of putting up a fence for the yard anyway, so the question is: what kinds of fences or toppers would fit all the following criteria:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deter a cat from wanting to visit the yard as much (doesn't need to be 100% cat-proof like a prison, just enough to make it prefer to go elsewhere)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fine for a child to encounter and potentially touch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look quaint in a suburban neighborhood (e.g., things that could work with a picket fence no higher than chest level, since it's the front yard that is the issue)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently the kinds of ideas I have in mind are things like a picket fence with some twisty or mildly brambly ivy (e.g., cat feet catch on it or are unpleasant to the touch, but not something that would harm either a cat or a child), a fence or wall with a rotating top (e.g., something that would twist out of the way and mess up balance if jumped on), or even just a plain old picket fence that is thin enough to be hard to stick the landing on if a cat tried to hop on and then over it (maybe with some citrus or other smelly things to make it particularly aversive).  Probably leaning toward a vinyl fence, which would make it harder to climb than wood, also. Not considering chain link because it tends to look horrible, but entirely open to suggestions of meshes.  Pictures of examples highly welcome on this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7269" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T22:57:03.240" Title="What kinds of fences/toppers would deter cats from yard without harming a toddler?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-04T05:05:12.253" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1 year old male cat has loved belly rubs ever since he was a kitten- he's only ever lived with us and is both an indoor and outdoor cat. He is always snuggling up to us, rolling over, and letting us pet his belly, or purring his super loud purr. When I get home he sits on my lap and guides my hand to his head with his paw and purrs even when I'm not petting him. (There's four other people in the house so I doubt its a lack of attention) I've never had a cat so affectionate and am curious as to what this means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9617" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-04T05:10:52.070" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T05:10:52.070" Title="Very affectionate and almost always purring cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-15T14:39:03.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17278" CreationDate="2017-06-04T05:10:10.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the kitten is alone for a day like that, then the kitten is essentially &quot;abandoned&quot;,  or is lost or homeless. Many things may have happened. The mother may have been trapped and taken. The kitten may have been dumped. It's unlikely the kitten would be naturally away from it's mother by choice, being so small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten definitely needs care. Food, fresh water, shelter and protection from predators. If your mother won't provide that and there's no one shelters, it's difficult to know what to advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say you have an exam. I don't know if you're at school, or a higher college or university, you could always put up a notice for someone willing to take the kitten. Negotiate with your mother, that you could look after her until you find her a home. Or take it to school and see if there's a responsible adult who will take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your mother won't let her into the house, then provide a box with a towel in a sheltered area, with a bowl of water and food. This kitten will need to be fed before you leave, when you return and before you go to bed. Preferably, it would be good to lay down some kitten dry food for  the in between times for her to snack. Being outdoors, without supervision, it's more than likely that any food left out for her will be eaten by other animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any local vet arrange to have the kitten taken to the local vet. At least they can care for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just be warned, the kitten is vulnerable outside and at a high risk of poor health or dying without protection and care. She will need to be wormed and vaccinated and is prey to dogs and any other local native carnivores, including birds. She has not eaten enough in the last day at the very least and if not taken care of could also starve to death. The longer she goes without the proper care, medicine, nutrition the less chance she has of surviving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and convince your mother to take the burden of responsibility of making this kitten safe. Good luck and let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17278/what-is-the-signs-that-a-lonely-kitty-is-abandoned-by-the-mother/17281?noredirect=1#comment22288_17281&quot;&gt;your comment&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;about her size she's three times my palm size,today I gave her some&#xA;  tuna &amp;amp; water..she didn't drink enough water considering how hot today&#xA;  is,also noticed that she can't see me completely &amp;amp; her eyes are blurry&#xA;  ( respiratory infection?)she is walking slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kitten needs urgent Veterinary care. She is sick and will die without medical treatment. You haven't done anything wrong, she would be worse off if you hadn't fed and watered her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She needs to be taken to a Vet immediately. She is very young and sick. She is deteriorating and will die without seeing a Veterinarian. I'll repeat, the longer she goes without the proper care, medicine, nutrition the less chance she has of surviving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-04T15:51:05.120" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T15:51:05.120" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13770" CreationDate="2017-06-04T05:28:45.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with you, Lynda, and disagree with Answer #1 from James.  Aside from the risk of surgery, rabbit behavior and personality can change after neutering. If you love your cottontail the way he is (it sounds as if he doesn't spray, is very docile, and loves you quite a lot), I wouldn't risk it.  If he's truly a cottontail, and he happens to get out and mate, that's natural and what he'd be doing in the wild anyway.  Cottontails have a very high mortality rate in the wild, and that's why they have so many babies.  If he's a cottontail, he cannot mate with a domesticated bunny -- they have a different number of chromosomes.  If he's a domesticated bunny that looks like a cottontail, just make sure that any female bunny in your home is spayed and if at all possible, try to test them out together to see if they get along before bringing her home to live permanently.  If they get along and then later, conflict develops between the two, because he's aggressively pursuing her, only then would I consider neutering.  I do agree with James that I've only heard that there's an increased risk of cancer in non-spayed females.  So that shouldn't be a factor in your decision.  There's no reason to neuter your male cottontail.  If you're happy together, leave well enough alone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9618" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T05:28:45.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17311" CreationDate="2017-06-04T12:04:00.993" Score="4" ViewCount="2486" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is about pets bitten by the snake common european viper/adder (vipera berus) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;when a dog gets bitten by this snake the dog must get to a vet within 30 minutes for treatment because it might be deadly for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat gets bitten by this snake it usually don't need to go to the vet unless it gets very sick (anaphylactic shock) if this happens you have little time to save the cat. What usually happens to a cat when bitten is this the area bitten swells a lot the cat has some pain and lays down to rest for 30 minutes to two hours depending on the amount of poison injected, and then the swelling goes down and the cat is back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large dog can handle less snake venom then a tiny cat why is this?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the five cats I have had during my life have been bitten by snakes some of them more then once and I never have taken any of them to the vet for this.I did call the vet the first time my cat got bitten but the vet told me I did not need to go there as cats have a partial immunity to viper venom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only have cats but I wonder why dogs have a stronger reaction to viper venom, every year there is warnings in the newspapers, what to do if your dog gets bitten by a snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be safe &lt;strong&gt;always contact a vet if your animal get bitten by a snake.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-07T03:51:11.903" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T13:37:27.270" Title="Why do cats and dogs react different when bitten by snake" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16927" CreationDate="2017-06-04T12:49:43.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My little guy died today. He was 16 months old. It appears he had a massive stroke. It was all over in moments. At 1PM I checked on them and gave them a little banana to snack on. A few hours later I heard a bang from the cage. Blixa was lying on the floor paralysed. I lifted him out and held him, panicking because he was gasping and couldn't move. A minute later he stopped breathing. It was all so sudden, I didn't even have time to think about calling the vet. It breaks my heart because we were really close. He'd bounce around to get my attention and jump right into my arms out of his cage to snuggle with me in bed. He totally trusted me 100%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I knew from the moment when I got my rats that I would have to also be prepared to say goodbye to them and let them go. From the very start. Rats just don't live that long. That's the paradox with them. They are so intelligent, so affectionate, they just steal your heart away and the bond with them is incredibly close. It's like a creature that smart and loving should live a long life. But actually they have really short lives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about the guilt too. No matter what you always end up feeling guilty! With Blixa I feel bad for panicking. Instead of holding him for the last few seconds I had run to my partner yelling &quot;Blixa's dying! Help me!&quot; But I didn't know he was literally taking his last few breaths. Notwithstanding at least I got to hold him the last two minutes. That bang woke me from my sleep. They often jump down onto the floor but this time I instantly knew something was wrong. Don't let the guilt eat you up. It's just because letting go hurts so bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no easy answer. A pet rat inevitably involves grief within a year or two. I'm going to miss Blixa terribly and will never forget him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your cagemate, all rats react differently. Just because they don't display the signs we'd associate with grief doesn't mean they don't feel the absence of their best buddies. Maybe it's just like humans, some people withdraw into their grief. Others deal with it by more or less carrying on as if nothing's happened. They hide their grief. Maybe it's not. The important thing to remember is that rats are not people so be careful not to anthropomorphise their behaviour too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, your rat will need a new companion as soon as possible. Rats don't need &quot;time to get over it&quot;. A rat on its own is not the way nature intended things. They need companionship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9620" LastEditorUserId="9620" LastEditDate="2017-06-05T18:49:25.360" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T18:49:25.360" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1460" CreationDate="2017-06-04T15:51:06.540" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the best foods for rabbits are those that provide the nutrients, minerals, and vitamins a bunny needs for healthy growth and development. Most of these foods are actually similar to what &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit#Diet_and_eating_habits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wild rabbits will consume on their own&lt;/a&gt; (grass, forbs, and leafy weeds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the age of a rabbit also plays a role. Checkout &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;House Rabbit Society&lt;/a&gt; for more detailed information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fresh Hay&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important item in a rabbit’s diet is fresh hay (dried grass) and it should be available in &lt;strong&gt;constant and abundant quantities&lt;/strong&gt;. Hay will provide your rabbit with the essential fiber to maintain a healthy gut movement. It also helps wearing down a rabbit’s teeth which continuously grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fresh vegetables&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fresh vegetables are also key as they provide additional nutrients to the diet. The bulk of these vegetables should be &lt;strong&gt;leafy greens&lt;/strong&gt; which help keep intestinal contents hydrated, making them easier to pass. On top of that, they will provide different tastes and textures for your long eared friend to enjoy. Offer around 2 cups of chopped vegetables per 6 lbs (=3 kg) of body weight per day and include around 3 to 6 types of vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rabbit pellets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit pellets provide a concentrated source of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that a rabbit might not get if only fed hay and vegetables. However, only a &lt;strong&gt;small amount&lt;/strong&gt; of pellets is needed to assure a healthy rabbit. Make sure to use good quality pellets and avoid muesli-style mixes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fruits&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fruits are to be &lt;strong&gt;considered as treats&lt;/strong&gt; and should be offered in very &lt;strong&gt;limited quantities&lt;/strong&gt;. As a general rule no more than 1 tablespoon per 2 lbs (=1 kg) of body weight per day. While fruit is a source of minerals and vitamins, it also contains a lot of natural sugars. Feeding your bunny too much fruit might lead to intestinal problems in the short term, as well as abnormal weight gain or other health problems in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fresh Drinking Water&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least we want to stress the importance of providing your rabbit access to fresh drinking water &lt;strong&gt;all day round&lt;/strong&gt;. If a rabbit is deprived of water, ingested food becomes dry and difficult to push through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9622" LastActivityDate="2017-06-04T15:51:06.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-04T16:39:46.853" Score="3" ViewCount="1296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took my kitten to the vet a few days ago and they used a solution to clean her ears out. The solution dripped below and around her ears and has clumped her fur - it feels like there is gel or something in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to wash it out with water and used cat shampoo twice, but nothing seems to work. Also she is long haired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9623" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T07:47:19.183" Title="Kitten's fur clumpy after vet used solution to clean ears?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17275" CreationDate="2017-06-04T23:45:05.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's what I know, I hope this answers your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The minimum recommendation for dwarf hammies is 1 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (930 cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) of surface area for one and an additional 0.5 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (470 cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) for each additional.&#xA;With that said, the bottom dimensions of your cage are under that. You have additional levels, and it appears by the pictures (seed hulls on a few levels) that your hammie uses these levels, which would add to the surface space used. If this isn't a good depiction of his activity, and he spends most of his time on the bottom, then I'd say it's too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want, when concerning surface space is enough space for a wheel, general roaming space and his food and water area to be of distance from where he eliminates to keep the ammonia content and smell separated from  food (most hammies choose one or two corners away from where they eat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IF he uses his levels regularly, and if you moved his food dish and water bottle to one of the levels, instead of the bottom, where his bedding is, I'd say size is sufficient. It also makes it easier to clean (when he's made a huge mess with his seeds in between bedding changes, you can just remove a level or two, clean it and put it back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he spends most of his time on the bottom, I'd say it's a little too cramped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I appreciate the question. It shows you care about the well being of your pet, and will help inform those who read this in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do upgrade to a larger cage, I'd say a 20 gallon (76 liters) long aquarium with a mesh lid (not plastic, for air quality) would be enough space for exercise, and separation of food and potty. Also, plastic bottomed cages are very common, and work for most but can hold calcium and minerals from urine crystals that glass cannot, making for healthier environment over time, less erosion on the plastic (when you see plastic turning white - that's from elimination) and less scrubbing when cleaning. You also don't have to worry about him chewing on the bars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the big, long explanation I've put, also know, you're using a cage that A LOT of people wouldn't have initially thought to get or invested in, and his space is A LOT better than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T23:04:08.740" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T23:04:08.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17283" CreationDate="2017-06-05T03:48:40.030" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'd like to answer your question as best that I can but I may not have all the answers... More like concepts that are to be considered. Where I'm from in Wilmington, NC, USA, we have pit vipers including rattle snakes, copperheads and water moccasins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a vet tech for years and people would bring their pets in all the time with bites from vipers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two possibilities of what I'm thinking when I read your question:&#xA;There is a such a thing as dry bites. Bites where the snake did not inject venom. I would assume cats generally being smaller than dogs, and daintier on their feet than dogs that a dry bite may be given in warning, because they're less of a threat to the snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility-- we had a dog come in that had been bitten by a rattlesnake for the second time. He had little to no reaction, and the conclusion was that the antibodies from the initial antivenom treatment was still active in his body (his puncture wounds and oozing were deep enough we knew it wasn't a dry bite). This being an experience we had at my clinic, it makes me wonder if animals who live through a bite, then have enough antibodies in their body to protect them from future bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if this does not answer your question, I answered it more as if you were asking &quot;why didn't my cat react to a European Viper Bite&quot;, not as generalized in all cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protocol where you are from may also be different in how to react to animals and different species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you find the correct answer to this. I'd be curious to see if anyone comes up with some info behind this. Cats and dogs have basically the same cardiovascular and nervous system, in which venom is transferred and affects, so I don't understand how it'd be two different reactions, medically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T03:48:40.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="854" CreationDate="2017-06-05T10:20:46.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is so kind and humane that you are caring for this orphan cottontail who had no mother to protect it, feed it, and teach it the ways of the wild.  It would certainly have become hawk or coyote bait within hours without your intervention.  In this special circumstance, in which the cottontail was all alone, you saved him!  Bravo!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been several years since you asked the question, so I hope the cottontail is still with you and has free run of your home.  They have such gentle spirits.  I had a similar situation and had a cottontail sharing my home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He would come and go as he pleased through a bunny door, but most of the time he chose to stay inside.  Such a treat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cottontails are naturally quite skittish, but given complete freedom to retreat to one of his favorite hiding places whenever he felt the need, he happily co-existed with me and my domesticated rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was sweet, gentle, and fascinating to observe.  He didn't eat nearly as much as the domesticated rabbit -- he was so small.  And he actually learned to use a litter box -- he wasn't perfect about it, but was very good about only urinating in his box and on one towel I had set up for that purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you probably fed your cottontail by syringe he might have become accustomed to you holding him and petting him as he matured.  If he didn't, that's quite natural considering his heightened flight instinct.  He still might eat small pieces of banana from your hand, investigate you if you sit quietly near him, and feel comfortable enough with you that he'll eat in your presence, groom himself, and even nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cottontail in my home was quite skittish so would run into hiding if I made sudden moves or twitched. And he usually scampered into hiding after any short period of socialization.  It seemed he only liked to socialize for a short while, then needed to retreat and snooze. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He groomed himself very well -- he was always very clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cottontails can establish relationships with domesticated rabbits, touch noses as a greeting, rest in their proximity, play and chase them, groom and be groomed, and learn domesticated rabbit behaviors.  Not all will do all of these things, but they can socialize with, and trust domesticated rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cottontail who had taken up residence in my home ate the same food as a domesticated rabbit: kale, green leaf lettuce, arugula, living wheat grass (nibbling blades from the growing plant), romaine, spinach, carrot tops, sweet bell pepper slivers (no seeds), cherry tomatoes (cut in sixths), dandelion greens and flowers, carrot slivers, baby bok choy, fresh long blades of fine fescue grass, timothy grass rabbit kibble/pellets, Kaytee sesame krunch-arounds, dried papaya bits, fresh banana, pear (no seeds), blueberries cut in quarters, cherries cut in sixths (without the seed), plum.  He didn't care for cilantro, italian parsley, raspberries, or apples.  He drank water from a small ceramic bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used a litter box that had a bowl of kibble and a few krunch-around or papaya bits as treats to encourage him to visit the box.  He also used a towel that had a bowl of water, and a plate of kibble so he could eat and go at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoors, he was more nervous and, after a few minutes, would usually bolt back indoors to safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to a domesticated rabbit, he snoozed all day and was more active at dawn and dusk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps a little, and I hope your cottontail is happy and healthy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. As with Saber's Eastern Cottontail above, our cottontail loved to snooze under our beds.  He had spots under three of them, each for a different time of the day/night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9618" LastEditorUserId="9618" LastEditDate="2017-06-17T09:20:31.833" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T09:20:31.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17295" CreationDate="2017-06-05T10:46:10.500" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I moved with my girl, who owns a cat, and the experience has been &quot;instructive&quot; so far. He would wake us up every morning scratching the door, and that would make me crazy for a long time, until I decided to buy a kid's water-gun, and spray him every time he would do that. After a week, I could sleep without problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used the same method to correct some some bad habits, but now I have come across one that I am uncertain how to approach it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, when I am tired and I lay on the bed, he comes next to me, and lays with his belly up, to be cuddled. But when he has had enough of it, instead of just going away, &lt;strong&gt;he scratches me&lt;/strong&gt;. I would like to teach him a better way to communicate &quot;I have had enough&quot;, but I am not sure how can I achieve such goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone has any idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2504" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T19:03:06.393" Title="Stop scratching behavior from cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17283" CreationDate="2017-06-05T11:33:41.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are famous for having very thick skin so maybe the snake cannot puncture very deep into the flesh and the venom is only inserted into/under the skin, not into the muscles. If the venom is not into the muscles (where the big blood vessels are) it is not carried immediately to the organs. This gives time to the organism to fight against the poison (or you to go to the vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the cats react much much faster than dogs or humans, so they could jump away when they feel the teeth penetrating the skin. So the snake won't have enough time to inject a full dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a specialist. it is just my amateur-grade opinion.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Interesting article: What to do if your cat is bitten: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-a-Cat-for-Snakebite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-a-Cat-for-Snakebite&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9627" LastEditorUserId="9627" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T13:37:27.270" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T13:37:27.270" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17292" CreationDate="2017-06-05T13:06:58.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's how cats communicate &quot;I've had enough&quot;. Watch your cat's body language throughout your petting session and you'll see it change from relaxed contentment to more tense and action-ready, up until the point that he scratches you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for signs like wide open, alert eyes, twitchy ears and whiskers, fidgety paws, and a lashing or thrashing tail. These might be endearing or cute to look at, but they're all very clear communications that your cat is getting perturbed. Keep your eyes out for these signs and stop petting when you notice them. It would be unfair to punish the cat for a reaction that you're causing by being inattentive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T13:06:58.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17292" CreationDate="2017-06-05T13:09:24.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that in this situation, it's the human that needs to be trained, not the cat. He likes belly rubs, but only a few, and he doesn't have the language to tell you &quot;thank you, that's enough now&quot;. But his body is telling you in many ways that you haven't noticed. He probably tenses up, the tip of his tail twitches, his ears go back, or there are other signs. Until you learn to recognise the signs, make sure to always leave him wanting more by keeping the cuddling sessions short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T13:09:24.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17306" CreationDate="2017-06-05T17:44:27.703" Score="2" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering to buy a fish tank (~100L). I have not much experience yet, so I am doing a lot of research before committing to something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While doing, so I have seen fish tanks being used as room divider. I could certainly use a room divider and a fish tank would look beautiful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am concerned: I have read somewhere else you should tape one wall of the fish tank because otherwise fish would be stressed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that true? Or does it depend on the kind of fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9628" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-05T18:11:54.803" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T11:30:47.507" Title="Fish tank (Aquarium) as a room divider?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17279" CreationDate="2017-06-05T17:50:39.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's likely very little you can do to prevent a cat from getting into a place it has its mind set on getting into. Cats are agile, athletic, and acrobatic. Making your fence unclimbable won't accomplish anything, and a jump into your yard from a high location (nearby tree, or roof) likely won't faze a cat. Considering that cats can walk between sharp, wrought iron palings, squeeze between or under bars, and can easily scale any wooden, vinyl, or mesh fence with their claws, a fence is not a reliable means of keeping a cat out of any yard. A sufficiently motivated cat could even dig enough soft earth to create a crawlspace under a fence, if it was interested enough in getting to the other side. There is very little in terms of a physical barrier that you can create that a can't won't see as a personal challenge to practice until they can overcome it with ease. Your only method of deterrent here would be to make such attempts painful, which you don't want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of keeping him out, you'll have to give him a reason to not want to get in to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick google search brings up that cats don't like the smell of &lt;strong&gt;rue, citronella, and lavender&lt;/strong&gt;. These would be safe for your child to touch, and would not be out of place in your garden. While Lavender is not poisonous, some people are allergic to Citronella, and &lt;strong&gt;Rue can be toxic if eaten&lt;/strong&gt; in large amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also consider mulching your garden with &lt;strong&gt;citrus fruit peels&lt;/strong&gt;: cats seem to really hate the smell of citrus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T17:50:39.337" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-05T18:31:34.003" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a five-year-old Basset hound with a loving and easy going temperament, however, he has had no exposure to children in his life and when approached by young children he gets scared and runs away, of course, this is much better than him lashing out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are going to become parents in just over three weeks, and fear that he may dislike or be scared of the new arrival. Will having a baby in the house improve the dogs attitude towards children if he has every day exposure? Are there any steps we can take to minimize the dog's stress with the new pack member arriving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T18:37:46.453" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T19:21:22.927" Title="Best methods to help your dog if he is scared of children?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17292" CreationDate="2017-06-05T19:03:06.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Belly rubs are a sign of intimate trust from a cat as this is the most vulnerable part of the body. My cat and I have been together 8 years and I don't often touch his belly. When I do it's just for a few seconds. I know he will let me but I also know it's a very special privilege he grants me, one to be indulged conservatively. Also just because a cat shows you its belly doesn't mean they want a rub. Often it's just meant as a display of trust. I don't recommend disciplining with a water gun or any other method. The cat will just associate the unpleasant experience with you, not with the unwanted behaviour. After a while the cat will become frightened of you. If you want to stop a behaviour you have to make it unpleasant in a way that is totally unassociated with you. Eg double sided sticky tape on the door . Or just leave the door open do he doesn't need to scratch it in the first place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9620" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T19:03:06.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17223" CreationDate="2017-06-05T19:31:18.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would look into alternative less stressful methods of delivering the medication. When I had to give my cat pills I quickly found the easiest way was just to hide it in some wet food or wrap it in some ham (which he loves) and deliver it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9620" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T19:31:18.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17279" CreationDate="2017-06-05T22:57:03.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey my friend had the problem of cats using her yard (now garden ) as their toilet, she used those wooden kebab kewers and stapled them all along the tip of her fence at around the average height of a cats nose, after cleaning up the following night she's had no visitors and two weeks have passed and no faeces left on her plants or flower beds, give it a try cats are smart, they know a spike when they see one, especially if there's lots of them you could even super glue them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9613" LastActivityDate="2017-06-05T22:57:03.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17470" CreationDate="2017-06-06T05:35:00.587" Score="4" ViewCount="1001" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a puppy that is 3 months old (Newfoundland/Bernese Mountain Dog). He is very intelligent and he listens good but only when we are in side the house. When we are outside he gets dominant and doesn't want to walk and listen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that I can't expect puppy's to listen inmediatly. But when he has enough (which is most of the time after 5 minutes) he sits in the grass and you can't get him to come along only if you're going back to the house. Last time he started growling at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had this problem before, what can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9541" LastEditorUserId="9541" LastEditDate="2017-06-06T11:30:13.430" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T12:30:25.850" Title="My puppy doesn't want to walk (Newfoundland/Bernese Mountain Dog)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17297" CreationDate="2017-06-06T18:16:03.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aquarium backgrounds are a good idea for more than one reason. One idea behind putting a background in, is to make the fish feel like they are in a more natural environment. They can feel more hidden than being in the front of the tank where it is brighter (less light exposure= more well hidden = less stress). Also it's used as general decor... A background can be prettier than a wall, or the other side of this room you speak of. Fish like to have a place to hide and if you have enough decor and plants (artificial or live), and maybe some that float on the surface as well, you can achieve this for them without background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background will also keep from additional natural light from hitting all sides of the tank. The less natural light you have on your aquarium = less algae growth = more oxygen in your tank = healthier environment/less stress on your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: when you bring fish home in a clear bag it's typically recommended to put that bag into a paper or colored bag or bucket to reduce stress during transport. This is the same concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T18:16:03.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17286" CreationDate="2017-06-06T18:36:11.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;ALOT of vet cleaning solutions are made with alcohol as a drying and disinfecting agent, as well as tea tree oil, mineral oil, etc for soothing it or relieving itch. A mix of these to ingredients is probably the cause. The oils used can make the hair greasy/oily thus binding the coat hairs together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try simple clear dish soap with no additives or scents, like clear dawn, with warm to cool water (the hotter the water the more damaging to the skin as well as it's fur). It's a degreaser which will remove the oils in the fur which may be the cause, but more importantly it's very safe for cats and kittens. It's even used for oil spill animal victims, and used to treat fleas in kittens and puppies that are too young for pyrethrin exposure. I would try this, and make sure it's rinsed out completely until there are no suds or bubbles. It being a degreaser should help with the clumping, and should make it much easier to gently comb out any remaining tangles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-06T18:36:11.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2017-06-06T22:41:50.573" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of commercial foods have corn in them. Some even have molasses in them. Even reputable food companies still have non-nutritious content, or are on the low grade food spectrum. Corn is a starch (very little of corn is digestible but the sugars and starches in corn are). Molasses is either sugar, or sugar beet juice boiled down into a syrup. Sugar is very addictive, thus commercial foods with these ingredients are addictive. I always recommend people searching for a good food shouldn't always trust a sales rep, although some are very helpful, but should try to help themselves read ingredient lists on the back of bags. Look for fillers, sugars, by products (if it's organ only by products - which are good for pets, companies are inclined to list them as so, instead of the word biproducts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When adding anything new into a cat's diet, whether a total change in diet or supplementing, you always want to do a gradual mix introduction. A little at a time. If you're doing a 100% diet change, not additive switch, as you gradually introduce the new food, you would also be gradually decreasing the old food. A good transition time for a food change is 7-10 days. A good introduction of a new supplement is around 4 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope all of this helps you with your answer, and possibly plus some if you're on the search for cat food. Good question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T22:44:36.380" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:44:36.380" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17283" CreationDate="2017-06-07T03:51:22.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Cats, dogs and people&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly I'd like to clarify the  general facts between dogs and cats (and humans) and snake bites, before addressing the specific common european viper/adder (vipera berus) and where your assumptions are correct and incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physiology between species varies, just as anatomy does. It this difference in physiology accounts for varying inter-species reactions.&#xA; The different species react differently to different types of venom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toxinology.com/about/brown_snake_snakebite.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;University of Adelaide&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;../.. Though they can cause neurotoxic paralysis (muscle weakness,&#xA;  respiratory failure), this is uncommon to rare in humans, but common&#xA;  in domestic animals (cats, dogs). ../..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different venoms have different effects on the victim. For example, some venoms act as anti-coagulants, some as neuro-toxins, some cause musle or kidney damage. As there's subtle physiological differences between the species, this accounts for the difference in reactions. Just as some medicine is safe for human use and not pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The funnel web spider is highly venomous and potentially lethal to human beings, but not dogs or cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://australianmuseum.net.au/spider-facts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is the world's most dangerous spider?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Australian funnel-web spiders are among the deadliest spiders in&#xA;  the world in the effect their bites have on humans and our primate&#xA;  relations (although the bite has little effect on dogs and cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The physiology of this is described well here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/8825/why-is-funnel-web-spider-venom-so-lethal-to-humans-and-not-so-much-for-other-mam&quot;&gt;Why is funnel web spider venom so lethal to humans and not so much for other mammals?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Snakes can be lethal to both dogs and cats&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many snake bites can be venomous and lethal to cats. In Australia, for instance, there's many deadly snakes, that are lethal, not only to dogs and cats, but to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/My-pet-has-been-bitten-by-a-snake-what-should-I-do_444.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the RSPCA website&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sort of reaction your pet has to a snake bite is determined by a&#xA;  number of factors: the type of snake, the amount of venom injected and&#xA;  the site of the snake bite. Generally the closer the bite is to the&#xA;  heart the quicker the venom spreads to the rest of the body. In&#xA;  addition, at the beginning of summer, snakes' venom glands are fuller&#xA;  and their bites are much more severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assumption that cats are not being injected with venom (having dry bites) is not altogether true.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/My-pet-has-been-bitten-by-a-snake-what-should-I-do_444.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the RSPCA website&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs will often try to chase or kill snakes resulting in snake bites&#xA;  usually to the dog's face and legs. Cats, being hunters and chasing&#xA;  anything that moves, are also quite susceptible to snake bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats actually receive more snake anti venom than both humans or dogs in some areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-15/cats-dogs-and-snakes-do-not-mix/5740712&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ABC News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Each spring humans are warned of the dangers of snakes coming out of&#xA;  hibernation, yet it is dogs and cats that receive more than 70 per&#xA;  cent of administered antivenom.&lt;/strong&gt; .&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ../..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It’s the cats that we tend to see [which] have more of those&#xA;  interactions than the dogs,&quot;&#xA;  ../..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;../.. cats may be at a higher risk of being bitten, ../..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth is, it's hard to obtain accurate statistics in some places about snake bite in our pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/care/evr_dg_snake_bites_and_dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Snake Bites and Dogs.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You won’t find details on the numbers of dogs bitten, or killed, by&#xA;  venomous snakes, though. I asked Michael Schaer, DVM, Professor of&#xA;  Veterinary Internal Medicine at the University of Florida, College of&#xA;  Veterinary Medicine, about the numbers of dogs bitten or killed by&#xA;  snakes in the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't believe we have a valid source of information on the actual&#xA;  numbers of dogs bitten or killed by snakes annually in the United&#xA;  States,&quot; he explained, &quot;because there is no central data resource for&#xA;  this.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Cats survive snake bites more than dogs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that cats are hardier when it comes to snake bites. They take longer to react and have a better survival rate both with and without anti-venom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-15/cats-dogs-and-snakes-do-not-mix/5740712&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ABC News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While cats may be at a higher risk of being bitten, dogs are more&#xA;  susceptible to snake bites than cats, particularly to brown snakes,&#xA;  which are more prevalent in the southern areas of South Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A bite for a dog can be lethal in less than 30 minutes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats have a greater resistance to snake bites, but will succumb to&#xA;  bites within 12 to 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.midlandvet.com.au/service/snake-bites-dogs-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Midland Vet Hospital&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats&lt;/strong&gt; tend to have milder signs than dogs. They will&#xA;  often present as being ‘dizzy’ with dilated pupils and no ability to&#xA;  blink.&lt;/li&gt;    &lt;strong&gt;Dogs&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  can have a rapid onset of signs and many owners often do not notice&#xA;  any signs before they collapse.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Survival Rates&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;90-95% of &lt;strong&gt;cats&lt;/strong&gt; will survive a snake bite&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;if treated with anti-venom&lt;/strong&gt;. If not, the chance is&#xA;  40-50%.&lt;/p&gt;70% of&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;dogs&lt;/strong&gt; will survive with anti-venom, however only 5% of&#xA;  dogs will survive if not treated with antivenom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However  cats are more likely than dogs to have allergic reactions to snake bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-15/cats-dogs-and-snakes-do-not-mix/5740712&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ABC News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;was more common for cats to have an allergic reaction to a bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Types of venomous snakes&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venomous_snake#Taxonomy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the Taxonomy of venomous snakes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Around a quarter of all snake species are identified as being&#xA;  venomous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reachvet.com/snake-bites-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;North America&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Venomous snakes that your pet may be exposed to fall into two major&#xA;  categories: the crotalids and the elapids. Crotalids belong to the pit&#xA;  viper family and include snakes such as the copperheads, rattlesnakes,&#xA;  and water moccasins (also known as cottonmouths). .../... The elapids&#xA;  are the most deadly venomous snakes. Luckily, in North America the&#xA;  coral snake is the only member of this group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should also be noted that the cost of treating a pet with anti-venom is expensive and this may or may not affect veterinarian advice, as the treatment can extend to $2-3000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The common european viper/adder (vipera berus)&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vipera berus, although it is a venomous snake, it is not a particularly dangerous snake. It doesn't account for many deaths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What usually happens to a cat when bitten is this the area bitten&#xA;  swells a lot the cat has some pain and lays down to rest for 30&#xA;  minutes to two hours depending on the amount of poison injected, and&#xA;  then the swelling goes down and the cat is back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what happens in most cases of dog, cat and human bites by this snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1289323/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Treatment of bites by adders and exotic venomous snakes&lt;/a&gt; doi:  10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1244&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;UK poisons centres are consulted about an average of 100 human and a&#xA;  dozen veterinary cases each year. In about 70% of patients, envenoming&#xA;  is negligible or purely local, causing pain, swelling, and&#xA;  inflammation of the bitten digit.&#xA;  ../.. Only 14 fatalities have been reported since 1876 ../..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus#Venom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia link provided in the question&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Relatively speaking, bites from this species are not highly dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The potential for anaphylactic reaction and possible effects of the venom, is taken seriously, as although the risk is low, it's still dangerous and can cause the patient to become ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toxinology.com/fusebox.cfm?fuseaction=main.snakes.display&amp;amp;id=SN0067&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the University of Adelaide&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bites may cause mild to severe local effects, shock &amp;amp; coagulopathy.&#xA;  All cases should be managed as potentially severe. Shock should be&#xA;  monitored for and vigorously treated. Specific antivenom is available&#xA;  only for some Vipera species, but should be used in all but minor&#xA;  envenoming cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.../...   All cases should be treated as urgent &amp;amp; potentially lethal.&#xA;  Rapid assessment &amp;amp; commencement of treatment including appropriate&#xA;  antivenom (if indicated &amp;amp; available) is mandatory. Admit all cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The common european viper/adder (vipera berus) and dogs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You describe the following symptoms if your cat is bitten by this snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when a dog gets bitten by this snake the dog must get to a vet within&#xA;  30 minutes for treatment because it might be deadly for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the poisons may be lethal to humans, it can also be lethal to dogs and cats. An anaphylactic (systemic) reaction can appear from 5 minutes or take many hours to show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1289323/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Treatment of bites by adders and exotic venomous snakes&lt;/a&gt; doi:  10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1244&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dramatic anaphylactoid symptoms may appear within five minutes of the&#xA;  bite ../.. or may be delayed for many hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study indicates that the venom can make dogs sick, but is not necessarily lethal as suggested in your question; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4349773/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The effect of a single dose of prednisolone in dogs envenomated by Vipera berus – a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial&lt;/a&gt; doi:  10.1186/s12917-015-0352-6:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.../... A total of 75 dogs bitten by Vipera berus within the previous&#xA;  24 hours were included.  .../...   None of the dogs died during the&#xA;  study period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears these dogs were not administered anti-venom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the same reaction for both dogs and humans, but the symptoms last for longer. Unless of course there is an anaphylactic response in any of these species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1289323/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Treatment of bites by adders and exotic venomous snakes&lt;/a&gt; doi:  10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1244&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Immediate sharp pain is followed, usually within a few minutes but&#xA;  sometimes up to more than 30 minutes later, by a sensation of tingling&#xA;  and local swelling that spreads proximally. Local blisters containing&#xA;  blood are uncommon. Spreading pain, tenderness, inflammation (often&#xA;  described misleadingly as “cellulitis,” although there is no&#xA;  infection), and tender enlargement of regional lymph nodes are&#xA;  sometimes noticeable within hours. Reddish lymphangitic lines and&#xA;  bruising appear, and the whole limb may become swollen and bruised&#xA;  within 24 hours (fig 2) with involvement of the trunk and, in&#xA;  children, the whole body ../..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot find any definitive difference between the reactions of dogs and cats and this particular snake bite, beyond the generalisation that cats tend to survive snake bites more so than dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for this statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A large dog can handle less snake venom then a tiny cat why is this?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no where I can find evidence of this assertion. Toxicity usually correlates with the amount of toxin, time of year, site of the bite and size of the animal across the species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/snakebite/overview-of-snakebite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;From Merck Vet Manual&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fatal snakebites are more common in dogs than in other domestic&#xA;  animals. Because of the relatively small size of some dogs in&#xA;  proportion to the amount of venom injected, the bite of even a small&#xA;  snake may be fatal. In dogs and cats, mortality is generally higher in&#xA;  bites to the thorax or abdomen than bites to the head or extremities. .../...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;note they are comparing dog sizes to livestock.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The venom affects several physiological pathways &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8342172&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Biological and biochemical activities of Vipera berus (European viper) venom.&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vipera berus venom displayed in vitro proteolytic, fibrinolytic,&#xA;  anticoagulant, and phospholipase A2 activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the exact physiological mechanism that differ between dogs and cats, I have not been able to isolate that (currently not having access to journals makes this difficult) and such a detailed review may be a better fit on &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Biology.Se&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T03:51:22.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17316" CreationDate="2017-06-07T04:16:15.450" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am using &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.revolution.com.au/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;revolution&lt;/a&gt; on my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It kills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea infestations (killing adult fleas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea larvae&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevents heartworm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hookworm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roundworm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ear mites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's applied topically to the skin, so there's no need to administer oral medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these all the worms I need to catch, or should I be using a more general purpose oral wormer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:12:35.253" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:12:35.253" Title="What other worms do I need to catch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17286" CreationDate="2017-06-07T04:45:23.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get the sticky stuff out of the fur I suggest using baby oil to first soften&#xA;and dissolve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using baby oil is a mild way to do this and can be used on most animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be used to remove several types of sticky stuff in a pets fur like oil and gum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the stuff is softened and this might take a little&#xA;time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash it off with a mild soap or shampoo and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to get the soap cleaned off as good as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-07T07:47:19.183" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T07:47:19.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17315" CreationDate="2017-06-07T04:51:08.300" Score="3" ViewCount="624" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a lifted cat grass bed that I grow on my porch. The neighborhood cats are frequently in it, which I encourage and don't mind but it was not my intention in growing it. I feed it to my cockatiel and parakeet, as it is safe for them to eat the grass AND its seeds. Part of it is growing at a weaker manner and, to put it simply, it looks funky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was suggested to me to fertilize it. I have been using my own organic compost for everything in garden, and I always rinse what I cut off for my birds before giving it - just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am curious if using fertilizer in it will make any part of it &quot;poisonous&quot; or unsafe for my birds or for the neighborhood cats that chew on it? Is rinsing it enough if I do use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T16:32:25.183" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T20:53:06.447" Title="Is using fertilizer in my cat grass bed safe for pets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17314" CreationDate="2017-06-07T05:47:51.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, using fertilizer is fairly safe as long as it is evenly distributed where you use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrogen/nitrate fertilizer does have a salty taste, but in normal use it is not dangerous as it is thinly distributed on the soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrogen/nitrate fertilizer is banned from non-commercial use in many countries as it has been used in bomb making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only danger to pets is if you don't store the bag or container safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, the amount of fertilizer it takes to be dangerous for animals is&#xA;fairly high, around several grams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T20:53:06.447" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T20:53:06.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17312" CreationDate="2017-06-07T06:13:57.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are tapeworms and lungworms too. The common misconception with tapeworms is that they can only be infected if they have fleas, but if a cat eats or catches a rodent or other animal, and it has the parasite it can still be caught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good news for you is revolution works for both tapeworms and lungworms as well! Revolution is a great medication. It also treats and prevents some other micro organism parasites that can grow in the digestive tract (ex. Toxoplasma).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T06:13:57.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7883" CreationDate="2017-06-07T10:23:31.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually since cats don't have a spit mechanism, getting the medicine behind the tongue &lt;em&gt;somewhere&lt;/em&gt; is sufficient.&#xA;What I do is insert the syringe tip between the cheeks and teeth (preferably between the cheek just behind the last molar if the syringe is long enough), no mouth opening required. Just make sure the cat is restrained, either standing or on his/her back, so you don't end up squirting it in the eye of a rapidly retreating cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get good at this you can basically get in, restrain the cat, squirt and be safely out of the way in about 15 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once that's done and you've survived without major bodily harm, give a bribe and make sure you haven't left any sharp implements near your bed before taking a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T10:23:31.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17319" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17328" CreationDate="2017-06-07T12:41:22.990" Score="4" ViewCount="2666" Body="&lt;p&gt;There have been some differing opinions about the thickness of the skin of cats and dogs lately on this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think the thickness of the skin of cats is about the same as it is in humans, and that this means one needs to be very careful when cutting or shaving a cat's fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do believe that the skin of a dog is at least twice the thickness of what is in cats and humans, and that it is less likely to get damaged by cutting or shaving the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: do cats have very thin skin compared to dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T00:06:13.457" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T00:06:13.457" Title="How thick is the skin of a cat compared to the skin of a dog?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17323" CreationDate="2017-06-07T16:34:45.480" Score="3" ViewCount="4732" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I had to move back with my parents for various reasons, but one of which is to save up to buy a home.  This process should take roughly a year or so.  I don't have anyone with me so my cats (2 cats brother and sister about a year old now) have also spent their last year with me with 10 hours+ of me not being around each day during the week.  My mom has 4 cats and both my parents work from home or spend the majority of their time at the house.  I am worried that if I let them walk about my parents house, they will get use to having all these other cats and people around and when I go to move out again, they may have issues being back to a quieter simpler life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I am keeping them in my bed room during the day.  It's a larger room than most that can fit a queen bed plus furniture plus a large cat tree and room enough to play on the floor as well.  They have a window in my room that over looks the neighbor's backyard (which is always busy and has things for them to watch with dogs running around) plus it looks out into the desert as well. They also have one of their litter boxes in my bedroom and both their food and water bowls so that they can have all they need in my room.  When I get home from work at night, I let them out to roam the house for 6ish hours before I go to sleep and bring them back to my room but essentially keeping the schedule of when they are around people and when they are not.  Most of the time they follow me about the house anyways our hang out with me when I am on my PC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel bad because my cats are probably bored being locked up in my room.  They are use to an apartment to themselves though my apartment wasn't really much larger than my bedroom anyways (basically 2 of my bedrooms).  Would it be healthy/safe to keep them in my room in this manner for a prolonged period of time?  They would still be fairly young when I move out again but I don't want to screw with their comforts by having them have no one around to 1000 things going on back to no one around again.  I also don't want my cats to end up lazy from boredom and crap either.  The other main issue is that my mom tends to take over taking care of my pets.  What I mean by this is.... if i am not around she will take it upon herself to feed them or sneak treats to them when I specifically ask her not to.  She also lets them out of my bedroom before I get home or will go into my bed room to play with them several times a day.  This bothers me because again it defeats the purpose of me keeping them in the room and I don't want them to become dependent on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-08T15:03:07.503" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T15:03:07.503" Title="Keeping my cats in a room while I am at work" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17324" CreationDate="2017-06-07T17:14:54.023" Score="6" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone I know recently got a dog. This dog, however, has no tail. How do you find out why the dog has no tail - was it born like that, was it removed, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I look for that will tell me the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8979" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-07T19:57:32.257" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T19:57:32.257" Title="How do you identify the reason why a dog has no tail?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17321" CreationDate="2017-06-07T18:59:51.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you asking recommendations on how to help get them activity or how to help in general or is this situation okay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good start that you are letting them out of the room for a few hours when you get home, but you are right in assuming they will get bored. A cats ability to run around is important to their mental state as well as their physical health (weight gain, cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal strength, hormone balance, and endorphin production). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe to add some activity you can get some cat perches and ladders to put in the bedroom. You can purchase some or make your own! This will add surface space around your room for them to roam; adding height will make them happy too. When cats feel threatened, do to small space and not enough space to claim, it helps to have places up high where they can look down at their claimed space and feel like they have a get-away from chaos or cramped space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is an investment that may be hard for you (I don't like to assume the status of anyone's finances), start by clearing off spaces and cleaning the room. Remove any items from the room you don't need or can be put in another room or stored elsewhere. Clear off tables, dressers, windowsills, chairs, beds, etc, so your cats feel more welcome to roam anywhere and everywhere in the room. If you have a closet, clear the bottom of it out and try moving their litter box in there with the door open so that they have more space in the main part of the room away from it. Cats prefer to cover and eliminate smells and it'll make their air quality somewhat better (and maybe even yours). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look around your room and ask yourself, &quot;is this room puppy proof or baby proof?&quot;. Being that they may get bored eliminate anything danger they can chew on, swallow, get their claws stuck in, or any other scenarios where playing in there could harm them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there way to move the furniture around to make for more floor space, running space? If so do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not be able to avoid your mother giving them treats when your not home. Personally my mother doesn't respect MY wishes with sneaking treats,so I know how frustrating that can be. Have a talk with her and tell her anything that's totally off limits (diet restrictions, allergies etc), and if you suspect she's giving treats, cut back just a little on how much you feed them. It'll be important for you to keep a close eye on their weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, maybe while you're home in the evening you can start to try to train them to walk on a leash. Some cats react well to this but not all. Find the lightest weight leash you can and attach it to their collars n let them drag it around under supervision until you think they're no longer scared of it. If leash training works for them, you can walk them when you get home so they're not just being lazy during your &quot;roam house&quot; hours, and maybe, just maybe your parents could walk them too when you aren't home. If you choose to take them outside, I'd recommend checking to make sure they're current on all proper medications, vaccines,and preventions. Pick them up when a dog or threat is close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this help. I think this is a more common issue than is typically talked about. People don't want to openly talk about having to keep their pets in a single room, but I have much respect for you taking a step towards making it right and comfortable for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T18:59:51.183" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17322" CreationDate="2017-06-07T19:11:58.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes with dogs who have had it removed there is a tiny patch of hair missing where the scar tissue hasn't allowed tail hair/fur growth. You may have to pull back the fur a little bit to search for a scar or small hardened lump or skin where it has scarred up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check this list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may help you identify it's breed, to tell if it's a breed that genetically has stubbed tails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_bobtail&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_bobtail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't help with breed identification on here since there are too many variations, mixes, assumptions, and identifying qualities etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-07T19:11:58.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17297" CreationDate="2017-06-08T11:30:47.507" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have to tape one side of the aquarium. Alernatively You can look for planted aquarium with heavy planting in the center of the tank. If you are not a pro then go for tall and easy hard plants like cabomba , Vallisneria etc ... This will give lot of hiding place for fish and it will be more effective and natural for fish compared to poster on the glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9648" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T11:30:47.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-08T12:07:36.390" Score="9" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small, 8lb (around 3.6 kg) female cat whom, in a day, I feed a third of a cup dry food and a can of simple nourish wet food. I split this into a morning and evening meal, but the cat meows incessantly for its morning meal at 5:40am despite me trying to ignore her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not like to serve her more food or let her free-feed as this amount has been keeping her weight stable and I would not like her to overeat and get fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some things I could try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far all I've tried is to serve her dinner late at night but this hasn't been enough as it turns out, which is concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9570" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:45:57.223" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:48:28.323" Title="How do I get my cat to stop waking me up at 5:45am?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17326" CreationDate="2017-06-08T13:52:10.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are active mostly in the late evening and in the early morning but it is&#xA;possible to change this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing to do is to make a routine of playing with&#xA;your cat so it uses the energy built up during the day, and also try to keep your cat awake and active more of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is an outdoor cat it also helps if it stays out for a longer time&#xA;during the day before you let it back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting or making some toys for your cat can also help, it is easy to make some toys for your cat like balls with a small opening and treats or dry food inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you adjust the amount of pieces of dry food in the toys I suggest it is easy&#xA;to make sure your cat uses more energy in playing with them than they get from eating the dry food in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat tree placed by a window so it can see the outside and its birds and animals might also help to keep your cat active and entertained during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For every second of the day your cat is active it gives you one more second to sleep atleast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have to go my cat got a mouse and I need to clean up the mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-09T00:14:17.860" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T00:14:17.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17319" CreationDate="2017-06-08T17:04:59.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a PDF link about dog and cat skin thickness. It states that dogs have a thickness of 2.6-5.2mm , while a cat has 0.4-3.6mm skin thickness. One should also take into consideration cats skin is more flexible and hangs off of the muscle, so that injuries are more superficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0659/4529/files/SkinCoat_WhiteSheet6-5.pdf?6678352109863082785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Skin and Coat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Jill Cline, Ph.D.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-08T21:48:07.123" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T21:48:07.123" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16884" CreationDate="2017-06-08T17:41:12.213" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bulldogs are also predispositioned to having allergies. It's possible he's having a mild allergic reaction to his food or it could be related to environment (plants he's getting into, grass, pollen, ragweeds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's in combination with eye puffiness, redness, swollen lymph nodes, OR if the discharge changed in color from black/brown to greenish yellow, or goopy instead of dry it's most likely a bacterial or fungal infection that should be treated by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try changing his diet to a sensitive skin formula, one with reduced or no allergens (common dog food allergens are corn, wheat, and chicken). This is a common recommendation (my friend switched his bullie to a limited ingredient diet food that's protein source was fish, and his skin was less flaky and itchy, and the discharge improved).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, know a little bit of crusties is normal after prolonged periods of sleep, but I like to never assume, so that my pets health is risked by lack of reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-08T17:41:12.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17326" CreationDate="2017-06-08T22:31:42.387" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens to my mom and her cats, because she feeds them wet food in the morning.  I did some reading and found that feeding them in the morning will make them want to wake you up for food in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got kittens, I made it a point to only feed them wet food when I came home from work and never in the morning.  I found this to work very well as they let me sleep (well, kind of) without waking me up wanting to eat.  They know if they are hungry, there is dry food and to feed themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats still wake me up through the night, but this is mostly due to the fact they want to play fetch at 3 am or they were on the prowl and making noise.  By playing fetch, I mean literally playing fetch.  My female will usually drop her favorite toy on me or next to me and lick my arm until I grab her toy and throw it out the bedroom door which she will go and retrieve and repeat the process should I have fallen asleep before she came back, which I'm glad of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only thing I have for you to try would be changing up when they get wet food, but if ignoring them doesn't work, it may be too late to try to change up their feeding time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also gone 10+ hours a day, so I understand your hardships of not being able to play with them.  Usually when I get home, I spend the next 3 hours playing with my cats, sometimes by choice, other times it's because they yell at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:48:28.323" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:48:28.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-08T23:52:58.857" Score="3" ViewCount="6499" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 7 month old chihuahua/ dachshund. She's actually really playful and nice if she knows you, but she will bark and growl if your a new person. She won't let you pet her, and I really need for her to be friendly since I have a big family and people come every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also barks at people outside the window and people on walks. I'm pretty sure its fear aggression because she barks at people, but if they approach her she runs away. I've been trying to give her treats when she sees people and when she's not barking, but it's not working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also barks at the doorbell, and I'm really scared she's going to bite someone. We tried socializing her at a young age but we just never had enough time. But it just looks like she's barking at anyone she sees so I just need help fixing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5MOpb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9651" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-09T00:23:46.863" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T08:35:51.057" Title="How can I stop my dog barking and growling at strangers and guests?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9366" CreationDate="2017-06-09T05:45:17.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I read your question I thought of two things: &#xA;Stress can definitely intensify underlying or pre existing conditions. As stated in your wikipedia link above, &quot;the scratch refex is a response to activation of sensory neurons whose peripheral terminals are located on the surface of the body.&quot; If your pup has an underlying condition, whether noticeable or not (anywhere from an insect bite but not limited to dry skin, allergic dermatitis, yeast, ringworm, or alopecia); the stress response in his body will stimulate neurofibrils aka nerve fibers already affected by skin condition, thus causing an itch, or make it worse. &#xA;     This can also happen if there IS NOT a previous condition. Stress and anxiety ultimately affects your pup's nervous system. When your dog is experiencing anxiety they produce stress hormones like dopamine and adrenaline. Those chemicals send messages through the nervous system via nerve cells. Nerve cells communicate with muscular cells and muscular cells communicate with skin cells, thus causing the scratch reflex you speak of. Some of my answer about stress hormones in dogs were found here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.doglistener.tv/2015/05/stress-in-dogs-what-we-cant-see/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.doglistener.tv/2015/05/stress-in-dogs-what-we-cant-see/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea that I have is allergies due to changes: There are a number of things in the new environment that could be causing an allergic reaction, ie the random scratches. Your dog may be exposed to allergins whether it's sneaking or sharing the other dogs food or treats, shampoo, sprays, topical medications, or detergent used on bedding. There could also be molds and mildews in the home, fleas or mites left from previous tenant or the other dog. The environment outside of the home may possibly be different than your previous location with more exposure to grass, pollen, ragweeds etc (Not sure if you moved to a different neighborhood, town or state). It may be a mild allergy also explaining why it's not constant scratching. Here's a link for addt'l allergens and what to do if your dog is allergic:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/allergies/allergies-what-you-need-to-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/allergies/allergies-what-you-need-to-know&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Most allergic reactions aren't limited to a certain spot (if he's only having a scratch reflex on his rear, for example), BUT having flea dermatitis or the beginnings of mange would start in a certain area of his body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I'm sure the first part of my answer, stress response, is what you're dog is dealing with, it might be of interest to explore the other possibilities. Good &amp;amp; interesting question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T05:45:17.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17337" CreationDate="2017-06-09T13:13:52.980" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any behavioral, health, or other benefits to getting a mutt over a burebred dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9655" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T13:46:31.120" Title="Are there any advantages to getting a &quot;mutt&quot; over a purebred dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;purebred&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17336" CreationDate="2017-06-09T13:46:31.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes and no.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a &quot;mutt&quot;, you get what's referred to as &lt;em&gt;hybrid vigor&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;outbreeding enhancement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a purebred, you can see a concentration of &quot;desirable&quot; breed traits that cause problems for the dog itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, push-faced dogs are more prone to breathing issues (and sometimes eye problems, if they're a bulgy-eyed breed like pugs). Keep breeding push-faced dog with push-faced dog and eventually you'll end up with a litter of puppies whose breathing is so obstructed that they suffocate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is 9th grade level science class. If you have parents with poor vision, you'll tend to have children with poor vision. If you have parent dogs with skulls too small to fit their brain, you'll have puppies with skulls too small to fit their brains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In general&lt;/strong&gt;, most purebreeds with be less healthy, with more medical complications and shorter lifespans than mixed-breed dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The benefits: you know exactly what you're getting.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a snuggly companion for your apartment, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is perfect. If you have a huge yard and go for 10km runs every day, then a GSD or a sibe are more your game. With a mutt, there's a degree of trial and error before you figure out exactly what kind of dog you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, every dog is capable of being a perfect companion for someone. It's just important to recognize what it looks like when that perfect person isn't you so you can help that dog on their way to finding their perfect forever home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T13:46:31.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5551" CreationDate="2017-06-09T16:58:02.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not knowing what type of corals you have (soft vs. hard) this is what I've come up with:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you have a hybrid fixture (metal halides/t5 combo body fixture) you will want them about 6-7&quot; inches from bottom of the bulb to top of the water (most of these that come with legs are 4-6&quot; which is okay but not optimal). If they're two different fixtures (a better result for your reef) mh should be 9-10&quot; from bottom of bulb to surface since you have 250s. The t5s 4-6&quot; (you could theoretically do 3&quot; but it's common it'll get too hot, even with a cooling fan), plus you want to keep salt splashing down to a minimum to extend the life of the bulb (usually lasts about a year in a good setup).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see anything with your light schedule being 2,4,2 especially if you're concern is heat, then keep it that way...it's just more common to see 4,4 hour interals- mostly for convenience&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T16:58:02.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10177" CreationDate="2017-06-09T17:20:03.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are padlopers... There's a species that only gets to 1.5&quot; and it's largest species only gets to 3&quot;, they just don't do as well in captivity as a mud turtle which gets only to 3-4&quot;. If you can adequately meet the dietary needs of the padlopers this should be okay, as padlopers don't do well in captivity DUE to their diet, not environment.&#xA; Mud turtles are known to thrive in captivity reaching and exceeding 40+ years old. Not sure if you have a standard 10gallon, but there are breeder style 10gallons that are lower and wider than the typical 10g high (24&quot;x9&quot;x13&quot; vs. 20&quot;x11&quot;x 13&quot;). The mud turtle would be OK until it becomes a juvenile but would need to move to something larger at that time. As stated above by @dougkavendek most turtles don't do well in tiny spaces, but the mud turtle may be an exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-06-09T17:26:30.293" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T17:26:30.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-09T19:20:59.090" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit lost a claw, I found it on the ground. I checked his feet and it seems to be the dewclaw on his front left foot. There is no blood on the claw or on his foot so I'm unsure how to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hasn't been limping and he had been eating and running around the room like normal until I found it (I am keeping him in his cage for now). Any ideas on what I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks so much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9659" LastActivityDate="2017-06-09T19:20:59.090" Title="My rabbit lost his claw" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-09T22:34:49.137" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17332" CreationDate="2017-06-09T19:44:46.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is all about training your dog as well as using reverse psychology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been around dogs since I was a child raised on a farm where dogs are a working partner in our world. I have rescued many red zone dogs ready for euthanasia and haven't failed Yet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem is that nowadays, dogs are bored, and lack training. I see you're eager to sort it when you mentioned treating your dog when behaving properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're on the right path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need to have a &quot;proper&quot; relationship with your dog. Like a child, a dog needs boundaries. Your dog needs to understand what the rules are in order to respect how you want him/her to behave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't mean violence as most people think. You need to look at what your dog does daily and ask yourself if you agree with it or not or should you need to put rules in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example I alway use is getting on the sofa. In my opinion, dogs can get on the sofa as long as I allow them to get on. My dog will never get on unless I invited her on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to look at your dogs behaviour and ask yourself what does he/she do without your permission?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You disagree with a behaviour, say&quot;no!&quot; And mean it! It's all in your intent. The dog will challenge you. You must stay strong. It's a battle of will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You disagree with a behaviour but it's trivial: ignore the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you do, it needs to&#xA;Be followed with a replacement behaviour: &quot;no!&quot; This is what you do instead. If you get it, you get a reward for good behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Passive training is also great: if your dog does something you agree with, naturally, reward straight away. Dogs are watching us and are the only animals who can mimic, learn, and understand human behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do that, you'll start to have a really good relationship with your dog.&#xA;This will solve your dog's aggression, taking the initiative. And by the way, your dog is probably leading because you're not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more training, the more interesting your relationship with your dog will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the bell, hire help from a friend. Get them to ring the bell, let your dog do what it does and say&quot;no&quot; and mean it. Create an area, around the door that is yours and claim it as yours. It takes practise. Make sure the dog understand it's your space. If the dog wants to come in the space you're claiming it needs to wait for you're OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per reverse psychology, if you want to stop your dog from barking, teach it to bark on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of books on training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-12T08:35:51.057" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T08:35:51.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-10T08:25:52.377" Score="1" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Yorkie named Master Chief and a 10-month old infant named Austin.  I think in general he has been a real sport about the new baby in the house.  It was a major change for all of us, but one he couldn't understand and certainly didn't ask for, so I give him a lot of credit there.  He has tolerated a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that my son is crawling around like a mad-man, Chief's gotten a little more aggressive and I'm a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; concerned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of Chief's major &lt;s&gt;malfunctions&lt;/s&gt; quirks is a weird aggression towards people who touch him or his bed (except petting him, especially belly rubs) while in his bed.  If I ever try to move his bed or him, he will start to bite me.  I don't think he's trying to hurt me or draw blood, but he's not messing around either.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has exhibited this aggression towards my son if he crawls up to his bed while Chief is laying in it.  Chief's main bed is on our bed towards the foot.  Austin (my son) will usually breastfeed and then play in our bed for an hour or two in the morning and that's when that happens.  Chief also has another bed (for the daytime) in the living room, which he doesn't exhibit the same level aggression with, but he can still be pretty protective when he's laying in it.  Chief will stand up, puff up his chest and get this look in his eye and actually (on a few occasions) lunged with his teeth at my boy.  He left a visible mark on his face once (no blood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got a small plush ball (grapefruit sized) for Austin.  Chief immediately thought it was his and got pretty protective of it.  We correct him whenever possible or take it away, but this has caused a couple issues when Austin has grabbed the ball and Chief didn't like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Austin will occasionally grab one of Chief's toy balls and I've seen a few different actions.  I've seen Chief get aggressive, I've also seen him get playful like he wants Austin to throw the ball (of course he doesn't and at that point Chief usually tries to forcefully, but playfully, take it from him - and he usually accidentally hurts Austin at that point which we now try to avoid by not having Chief's balls around Austin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been a couple other cases, some just (seemingly) completely random.  He's only left a mark that one time, but he's definitely lunged and bit a few times - usually either missing or me or my wife are there to grab him or push him in the nick of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We obviously (especially recently) don't leave them together without supervision.  We weren't too worried about this before.  Chief never had issues until Austin was about 7 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr:&lt;/strong&gt; So my question is: is there anything I can do to try to keep my Yorkie from exhibiting aggression when my 10-month old son crawls up to his bed while he's sleeping in it?  And what tips (in general) can you give me for taming his aggression towards my son in other situations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2922" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T09:39:29.543" Title="Yorkie vs. 10-month old son - how to deal with aggression" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15470" CreationDate="2017-06-10T09:03:00.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't call it research, but we had two cats for sixteen years, half a year ago one of them died. The one left seems now unhappy without a companion - he &quot;speaks&quot; a lot - before he wasn't very noisy if at all. He expects us to be with him much more often than before and seems unhappy when we do our own things, although we care for him as much as before or even a little more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there were two cats, they often slept together - now the one cat tries to sleep on us every night. They washed each other - especially the heads and ears - no human can do that I sadly have to admit. They played together too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my observation a companion is a good thing for a cat (if you can afford it - because it is double the cost of the food, sand and the vet). But I'd think about getting a young cat, because for two old ones, becoming friends could sometimes be a long and a hard way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T14:08:12.617" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T14:08:12.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17345" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17346" CreationDate="2017-06-10T09:42:19.507" Score="3" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dwoA1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cockatiel pays more interest to this seed than anything else, but we don't know what it actually is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9660" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-10T10:08:07.377" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T20:27:52.430" Title="Identifying component of cockatiel mix" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17345" CreationDate="2017-06-10T11:14:12.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are oats, the company all living things sells &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/bird/food-and-treats/treats/all-living-things-oat-sprays-bird-treats-4151.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;oat spray&lt;/a&gt; if you wanted to add more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-10T11:14:12.877" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2017-06-11T03:44:44.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;High quality food is important to any cat but definitely to those who have ANY health issue. With cats with urinary issues, if someone wants to switch from a prescription diet to a shelf diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always ask your vet first - if you find one that you think you want to try, bring in a picture of the nutrition label for him or her to take a look at.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look for a food with low ash content, lower proteins, higher moisture levels and possibly a cranberry derivative. Ash and proteins are hard for the kidneys to process and the more a compromised urinary tract is working to eliminate ash and proteins, the harder it has to work, and the weaker it is. Moisture and cranberry derivatives both help to flush out toxins filtered in the tract, and helps to build up acidity to keep the tract clean - the higher acidity in urine helps to kill bacteria - as does vitamin C (ascorbic acid).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, ALWAYS keep fresh, clean water out for your cats. Cats being finicky creatures need little excuse to turn their noses up at something, and you'd hate for either one of them to drink less water than is needed to help keep their UT in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T20:19:57.920" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T20:19:57.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17350" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-06-11T05:42:33.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about strays. Interactions and health of strays or the interactions of strays with pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-11T05:42:33.873" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T05:42:33.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17351" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-06-11T05:42:33.873" Score="0" Body="For questions about strays. Interactions and health of strays or the interactions of strays with pets." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-11T05:42:33.873" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T05:42:33.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-11T05:45:18.060" Score="4" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took in one of my friend's male Bettas to treat it for ich (&lt;em&gt;Ichthyophthirius&lt;/em&gt; infection). When I brought him back I noticed a film on the surface of her other Betta's tank (this one is a female). It's a small 2 gallon hexagonal tank with a mini filter, that is made for 1-3 gallons and has a very slow trickle. The same filter is powered by a pump that also runs a bubbler that she has attached by a T-valve, so both have little power. It is to my knowledge that Bettas, especially in small tanks, need little water movement due to the fact they naturally thrive in ditches and rice patties. However, what I saw made me a little concerned. Her tank has film at the top. I used her net and swiped up the film as best as I could. It wasn't sludgy, it was actually more clear, almost white as it became dry. I asked her about it and she said that only her female's tank does that. Her male is in an identical tank and he makes bubble nests all the time. She switched them from each having their own bowl to these tanks about 6 months ago and said her female's bowl had the film then, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am familiar with the idea of a film being caused by a poor tank environment, algae, or not being clean enough, but her water is clear and her gravel looks clean too. I'd like to be able to recommend a fix for her if one exists, but I'm not sure if this is normal for female bettas. She has no live plants and no other fish or invertebrates in either setup, so I'm confused by there being a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this film be? Is there a film that only females make, possibly for reproduction? Or is this a sign that maybe her tiny setup isn't doing enough? Or a mix of both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T22:28:49.150" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:28:49.150" Title="Film on surface of female betta tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17253" CreationDate="2017-06-11T10:37:06.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would not risk giving these drops to your budgie or any bird. Many of the flowers are safe - I cannot verify that they are all safe. However glycerin is something that should only be given to birds with the utmost care and really isn't necessary for their well being, but can easily make a bird ill or even be lethal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given budgies are such small birds, the propensity to overdose the bird with glycerin is even greater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is evidence that small amounts of glycerin may assist heat stressed chickens, but the level of glycerin that is beneficial can easily become a level that has an adverse affect on the birds health. There is a fine line. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/notes/BirdNote09_ProvideWater.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Note &lt;em&gt;Providing water for birds&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ingesting large amounts of glycerin elevates the blood sugar level of&#xA;  a bird, which can be harmful or even fatal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any benefits would be outweighed by the potential side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better option may be to grow and provide access to the actual flowers for your bird, ensuring that you only use flowers that are safe for your bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcha.com/bird-safe-edible-flowers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bird-Safe Edible Flowers&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apple blossum (Malus domestica)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Basil (Ocimum basilicum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bee balm (Monarda)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Borage blossoms (Borago officinalis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Calendula (Pot Marigold) (Calendula officinalis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chives (allium schoenoprasum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Coriander/cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Daises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dandelion (Taraxacum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dill  (Anethum graveolen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elderberry (Sambucus spp.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eucalyptus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Garlic  (Allium sativum L.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gladiolus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grapefruit (Citrus x paradise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hibiscus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Honeysuckle (Lonicera)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Impatiens&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jarcaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kumquat (various Fortunella species)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lilac (Oleaceae Syringa)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lime (Citrus aurantifolia)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lemon (Citrus × lemon)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Milk thistle (Silybum species)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Melalecuca (Melaleuca quinquinervia)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nasturtiums&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Orchid tree (Bauhinia verigata)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Congrats! You found the spring parrot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Orange (Citrus sinensis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oregano (Origanum vulgare)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pansies (Viola tricolor)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Passion flowers (Passifloraceae Passiflora)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Petunia (Petunia spp.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plum (Prunoideae Prunus)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo or Cucurbita mixta)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Roses/Rose hips (Rosoideae Rosa)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sage (Salvia officinalis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thyme (Lamiaceae Thyme)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Violets (Violaceae Viola)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Effects of the Addition of Pure Glycerin Supplementation in the Drinking Water on the Performance of Broilers Submitted to Heat Stress and Feed Restriction . &#xA;PO MoraesI, et al.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2015-0166&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2015-0166&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="10108" LastEditDate="2017-10-06T00:46:47.620" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T00:46:47.620" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-11T10:40:54.170" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the general consensus is 12-14 weeks, but we want to bring home 2 siblings from the same litter, and the litter we found won't be 12 weeks for another 2 months. We really want to get them home as early as possible to bond with them before my girlfriend starts university. I work from home and she's worried that if we're not both at home for the first few weeks that the cats won't see her as part of the family since she leaves every day and I don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt; If we bring home 2 siblings from the same litter a bit early, would they be better off than if we only brought one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9565" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T10:40:54.170" Title="Can you bring home 2 kittens (siblings) at 8 weeks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-06-12T09:53:15.330" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15019" CreationDate="2017-06-11T12:20:12.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always consult your Veterinarian before giving your dog any medication. However, Benadryl is a very common over the counter medication used for dogs to treat hives or bee stings. Dosages should be given at 1mg per 1lb. You will find most tablets come in 25mg so you should cut them accordingly or use children's Benadryl. It is very important that you are using Benadryl with the active ingredient diphenhydramine only. Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://belovedbark.com/giving-dogs-benadryl/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Beloved Bark&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9667" LastActivityDate="2017-06-11T12:20:12.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-11T14:23:32.787" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 7 months old, and is a small dog- dachshund. She's been barking and growling at strangers walking by our house, around our house, or guests coming. If she sees a stranger outside of our home, she'll bark her head off until they leave. She also barks at the doorbell and people who come to our house. I'm really trying to give her treats before she barks when she sees a stranger but it looks like it's not working. I will say that she was socialized when she was younger but I think it wasn't enough since we never had a lot of time to socialize. I just need help to stop her barking at strangers, and help her to learn to like people since she won't even let them talk to her. I'm having a really big party in 2 months, so I'm hoping she will just have at least a little improvement by then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9651" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T20:15:26.577" Title="Stop territorial aggression in my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17352" CreationDate="2017-06-11T17:50:07.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know a lot about bettas, so this answer is not complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A film on the water is an indication that something is not working optimally;&#xA;it might be a protein film and the reasons for this can be one or all of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waste from the food, waste from the fish, mucus from the skin of the fish, unfertilized eggs from the fish and the filter itself might produce proteins if the bacteria start to break it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter the reason, the film has to be removed manually as it blocks the gas exchange across the water-air interface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply removing the film might actually be the cure just by increasing the gas exchange, so the water absorbs more oxygen and makes the biological processes run more effectively and the problem might never return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember this is an answer but it might not be the answer, the film might be from fat/oil from the fish food, it might even be from the hands of the owner (I am not saying that it is), it might even be pollen from the outside of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what it is, it needs to be removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/article/film-top-betta-fish-tank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cuteness.com/article/film-top-betta-fish-tank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://nippyfish.net/2006/07/13/protein-layer-unsightly-surface-film/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://nippyfish.net/2006/07/13/protein-layer-unsightly-surface-film/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pangeareptile.com/forums/showthread.php?56559-Film-layer-in-my-betta-fish-s-tank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pangeareptile.com/forums/showthread.php?56559-Film-layer-in-my-betta-fish-s-tank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T22:21:55.030" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:21:55.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17361" CreationDate="2017-06-12T03:52:23.577" Score="6" ViewCount="12394" Body="&lt;p&gt;Context: I'm having an issue with fleas in the apartment. I have three adult cats, which I bathe every 6 weeks more or less. Back 3 months ago, they got fleas from the outside. I used Frontline Plus that one time only, washed all blankets and vacuumed the house prior to cleaning. After cleaning I used a common household inseticide on the corners and near the walls. (Of course I kept the cats in another room for the day) and everything appeared to be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this week I discovered fleas again. Since I'm not walking the cats outside anymore, I think some hidden flea eggs have survived and now they've hatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from a new Frontline round, I'm thinking about doing a &lt;em&gt;very thorough&lt;/em&gt; cleaning with water, detergent and bleach (sodium hypochlorite) in the entire apartment. But I'm in doubt whether it's effective in cleaning flea eggs. My search on the subject has proven inconclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question, like in the title, is whether bleach kills flea eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6551" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T02:04:29.417" Title="Does bleach kill flea eggs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-12T04:32:15.343" Score="4" ViewCount="16906" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 2 months ago I agreed to foster a feline leukemia positive cat because I love cats, own none (feline leukemia is highly contagious between cats so I was the perfect candidate for fostering since he would be the only cat), and the shelter desperately needed the room they kept him segregated in to house a new litter of kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the woman is hoping I decide to keep him at the end of this month and I want to so much but he annoys me to the point of actual crying because I don't want to hit him. He wakes me up at least every 2 hours by nudging my face with his head, which has caused bloody noses but more importantly is preventing me from getting a solid night's sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also kneads my face leaving scratches all over my face. (Yes I have clipped his nails but within a day or two they are sharp again and now too short to clip much from). He does these things when I'm awake too and at those times I can move him off of me (even though he comes right back. He's relentless.) He has other quirks that I can handle but the lack of sleep is severely impacting me. I don't want to send him back to live in a room all alone again (and I'm sure he's such an aggressive snuggler as a result of the isolation) but I don't know what else to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have grown to love him and I have always loved cats in general and always felt very passionately about saving older cats and/or sick cats but the pure rage I am beginning to feel towards him is upsetting. Does anyone have any advice on what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-12T05:06:34.893" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:49:32.500" Title="My cat claws my face when snuggling and keeps waking me up" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17359" CreationDate="2017-06-12T06:45:06.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes germicidal bleach will kill flea eggs on hard surfaces and in laundry, but the trick with hard surfaces is getting into the nooks and crannies where you can't see. If you have tested a small amount on the hard surfaces first, you may want to consider doing a soaking.. to let it sit and seep into cracks. When using it in laundry use co!Or safe bleach Instead of detergent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind bleach is harmful to pets if digested and strong fumes from bleach are harmful to their respiratory system. A thorough rinsing is important and plenty of ventilation in your home at the time of use, as well as diluting the bleach with water are all important tips for pet safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link on how to use bleach to kill eggs: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hunker.com/12442407/does-bleach-kill-flea-eggs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.hunker.com/12442407/does-bleach-kill-flea-eggs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T06:45:06.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17360" CreationDate="2017-06-12T12:27:46.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, remember that you did a good thing by agreeing to foster this cat for a few months. Right now you feel very stressed out, so when these problems occur you feel guilty because you've grown to love him, but you're thinking of giving him up. That makes it more difficult to deal with the problems that arise. I recommend that you keep telling yourself that this is just a foster situation, but while you have the cat, you're going to do everything you can to make him ready for a new home. I suspect these problems can be solved, and maybe that new home will be with you, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes I have clipped his nails but within a day or two they are sharp&#xA;  again and now too short to clip much from&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The outer layer of the claw, called the sheath, is shed periodically. When that happens, it reveals a fresh, sharp claw. I recommend you check for fresh claws daily, and trim any that have appeared. It's much easier than trimming the whole lot each time. Most days there will be no fresh claws to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you don't need to clip the nails short; you only need to remove the sharp tip. And you only need to trim the front paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you can get soft plastic nailcaps attached to each claw. They last about 4-6 weeks. One brand is called Soft Paws. I haven't tried them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the claws are dealt with, your face can remain scratch-free. Now let's deal with the cat waking you up at night. The solution I use is: when a cat wakes me at night, I pull him close and hold him. He'll immediately try to get free (and I let him go), because he wants to play, not be held. He should quickly learn that you are not fun to play with when you are asleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure he has plenty of toys to play with. I suggest you find another cat with feline leukemia to keep him company. This should not be difficult, and I'm sure the shelter would help you find one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, there is the option of keeping him in another room at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know the woman is hoping I decide to keep him at the end of this month&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to make a decision now, if you're not ready. I am sure they will be happy if you are simply willing to foster him a bit longer. For now, you can focus on getting this cat ready for a permanent home by dealing with these behaviour issues. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you decide not to keep him, please don't feel guilty. You did a good thing by providing a temporary home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2017-06-12T12:33:22.090" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T12:33:22.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-12T12:34:15.810" Score="6" ViewCount="3110" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 year old female cat has become afraid of eating, it started when she choked on a small treat 4 weeks ago. I have tried giving her food in different rooms and in different bowls, but she would eat a little morsel and then run away from it and then she stopped eating completely until I brought her a cooked chicken and for 3 days she ate but has stopped again.  before she would eat dry food morning and evening and a small portion of wet food in the evening. I really need help.  thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9675" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-12T12:58:59.830" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T10:43:07.840" Title="My cat is afraid to eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17363" CreationDate="2017-06-12T13:51:52.243" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat could have all kinds of medical problems (esophageal problems, a dental abscess, kidney failure, etc.) I would take her to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to be confused with throwing up or coughing up a hairball, I have read choking (obstructed airway) in cats is very rare. I have never actually seen a cat choke, and I watch a lot of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure how much your cat is actually eating. If a cat isn't eating its normal food it is super important to get them to a vet as soon as possible as that means something is very wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T13:51:52.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2017-06-12T14:16:17.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem. I separate the cat so he can have his urinary blockage food at night. I find it convenient to take him into the bathroom with me and shut the door when I brush my teeth at night etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that he gets to munch on normal food throughout the day. If your cat still gets blockages then increase the percentage of medicated food in your cat's diet. So you could give him the medicated food in both the morning and at night. My vet says the more the cat eats of the medicated food the lower the risk of blockages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also use Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Urinary SO Dry Cat Food, which he loves. The other cats will go at great lengths to get a bite or two so it must have something they really like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-06-12T14:16:17.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-12T15:26:55.710" Score="3" ViewCount="967" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around 30-40 mins ago I changed aquarium water, cleaned the filter and dropped some toya food for my turtles. Now I am seeing water turned red, I have already checked there are no cuts, bites or bruises on turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the reason, why water is red? Is this infection? Could it effect me also because I changed water with my hands, w/o any gloves, using buckets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Infos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The source of the new water is city Supply = tap water = hard water. Its the same source of supply from past 9 years for them. Touchwood! There growth is pretty good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I change the water whenever I see that the water is too cloudy due to food, I change the water, approx in every 20-30 days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have been feeding same food for a pretty long time. It always seemed that they like it because the moment I drop the food they grab it like they are hungry from ages. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vAqrL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vAqrL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do not use anything for dechlorination. Looks like I don't need dechlorination. They are going w/o it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I Did not use one or employ other techniques such as ageing my water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-06-28T21:45:19.080" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T11:11:59.887" Title="Turtles: Fresh water in aquarium turned red after few minutes" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17375" CreationDate="2017-06-12T18:33:55.350" Score="9" ViewCount="4207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a Shiloh Shepherd puppy from a reputable breeder, and brought him home on May 18th at 8 weeks, 4 days of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eight days ago, during the evening while he was laying down, he had a focal seizure involving the back legs. I am quite sure it was a seizure, but was stunned, as I have never heard of seizure activity in a puppy so young. I took him to the vet a few days later, who also said she had never seen seizures in a puppy this young, and advised to &quot;keep an eye on him.&quot; That was 4 days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today (in the air conditioned comfort of home), he had the same seizure, this time, though, he was standing up, and he fell to the ground, his back legs again &quot;twitching&quot;. Each episode was over in less that 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already love this puppy, but I'm retired and I'm fearful of committing to a dog who will need medication (at least) or expensive testing (at worst) on my relatively modest retirement income (which I can't see going up in the future.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of me is already committed to this puppy. It would break my heart to return him, but I know the breeder well enough (really) to know that she would place him in a loving home or keep him herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The realistic part of me is worried about what is certain to be an expensive puppy to keep. Think: medications, EEG's, MRI's, blood levels, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I've already gone over all the causes of seizures in puppies, including to the extent that I've asked neighbors if they may have put rodenticides/pesticides/etc. out. I don't have my lawn treated (I'm an old hippy/environmentalist), but the neighbors do. However, no one has had their lawn treated since before I brought the pup home. The food and the treats I give him and my other dogs are made in the US and have decent reputations. No other dog is sick. He hasn't been exposed to any toxins in the home. So I think this is neurological. The vet thinks the next step is either to return the pup or have him seen by a neurologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help on how to approach this (non-medically) would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edited to answer a comment.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited to add&lt;/strong&gt;: The pup was scheduled for a neurologist visit and an MRI ($2000). In the four weeks I had him, he has 5 seizures, and I decided to take him back to the breeder for a refund. It did not go very well, as the breeder didn't want to own up to a potentially genetic problem in her dog line (she has males she still studs out.) So I wasn't refunded the deposit ($400), and she blamed me and my vet for the dog's condition, even posting a nasty post on my vet's facebook page. She claims the dog has had no further seizures. One on the pups from that litter died in the middle of the night, though, a few weeks later (from VTach.) My take away after all the reading I did was that Shiloh Shepherds are a tricky breed at best, and the testing for them to breed isn't extensive enough. I went with a different breed puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="3246" LastEditDate="2017-09-28T20:38:05.290" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T20:38:05.290" Title="My 12 week old puppy has had two focal seizures already. Should I return him to the breeder?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-12T20:43:36.637" Score="3" ViewCount="2136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking to seek advice on how to re-establish confidence for my German Shepherd pup. She is 1 year old, not spayed. I'm currently working on potty training her but recently found out that my mother in law would punish her when she relieved herself in the house. It's my wife's dog and I have grown to love our dog so I now consider her my dog. There's a lot that I'm having to do like set a feeding schedule cause they were free feeding her. I'm also having a hard time finding what she likes. She's a picky eater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, with research I have done I found out it's bad to punish your dog when they relieve themselves in the house. I will admit I did get mad once and it was out of stress and being overwhelmed with her (she's my first dog). But I can't find ways to get her to relieve herself outside while on a leash. She goes potty on the pee pads we set up and I have them set up by the door so I can catch her going and take her outside. But I found out she only goes when we are not there or go to sleep because I'm thinking she'll think we'll scream at her or punish her. I want to get rid of that fear from. Any ideas? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9679" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T23:18:54.477" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T23:18:54.477" Title="House training 1 year old German Shepherd" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-12T21:43:45.240" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't remember ever needing to this to a Dog when I was a kid and I had dogs all my life. Could it be related to how we feed them now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9681" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-13T01:39:45.037" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T05:22:45.027" Title="Why is this anal expressing so common now?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17367" CreationDate="2017-06-13T00:23:30.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've cared for and loved a paraplegic dog for around five years now. The accident that caused the paraplegia occurred when he was eleven years old and he is now sixteen years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has aged quickly in the last three months, we believe largely due to a diagnosis of lymphoma. So our wonderful companion is close to the end of his extraordinary life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a lot of work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is, however, completely worth it to see him still happy and reward us with his amazing love and affection, his infectious character, resilience and love of life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moral of this short story is that the longer you keep your puppy, the closer you will become and the more difficult it will be for you to let him go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is already heartbreaking for you and is obviously very difficult to come to a decision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this stage you still have the opportunity to return your little friend to the breeder. It may be the more responsible decision to return the puppy to the breeder? The breeder may know someone who is more suited to caring for the little boy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all speculation however! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice to you right now - better understand your options...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contact the breeder with the aim of having a discussion about what to do - don't try to approach the discussion expecting an outcome - instead attempt to better understand your options so you can make a decision in a few days; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attempt to obtain a realistic diagnosis so that you can understand the symptoms and develop an understanding of the exact nature of your puppy's illness; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contact your local specialist animal hospital and ask them how much the necessary testing is likely to cost - maybe the breeder would cover the cost of these tests. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular I'd advocate talking to other people about your dilemma. Talking about the problem with people face to face often helps me reach a decision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. If you'd like any further advice please let me know in the comments and I'll update my answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T00:23:30.243" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-13T00:41:06.967" Score="4" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats age 7 years old who I purchased from a local pet food store when they were 6 weeks old.  They have been friendly with each other for these seven years, eating, playing, always sleeping together until 3 months ago when something happened during the wee hours in the AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have been indoor cats since we purchased them.  They are completely at odds with each other now, hissing, etc.  I have them separated in two locations of my home, which was suggested by my vet.  I have been giving Prozac to them per my vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not want to let them fight it out because one is 24lbs &amp;amp; the other 12lbs.  They were both spayed. A female cat is also in my home, which they have no problem with. I have had many cats in my lifetime that all lived together with no problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am completely perplexed at this problem. I wonder if they will ever be friendly to each other again.  Both are friendly with people.  Do cats ever forget things that would upset them, or do cats have mental breakdowns or go insane?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for any answers or suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9682" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:06:18.660" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:18.660" Title="Brothers not getting along" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17370" CreationDate="2017-06-13T05:22:45.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The change hasn't been in what we feed our pets but rather the culture, as humans, we have around animals that has evolved. With proper care, and as more and more research becomes available to us, the better we can care for our pets, and the longer our pets can live healthy longer lives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living in the wild or with little veterinarian care or without anal gland expression dogs suffer from impaction and infection. The glands are used to produce &quot;juices&quot; for better lack of a term, that are used in marking and tracking. To manually express them MORE OFTEN can be a sign of poor dieting, but not the general need to do it. They can be naturally expressed if a dogs fecal matter is firm and formed, but a poor diet that is causing runny or loose stool can cause this to back up in the glands, thus causing an extra need to manually express them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this is necessary to say, but I'll note it anyways: This does NOT mean creating a diet that will constipate your dog, and force solid stools to pass is either safe or a quick fix. Always go to a vet or well qualified groomer if you do not know the proper way to express them yourself. Example: my mother in-law was doing it herself to her senior Chihuahua and ended up causing permanent fecal incontinence in her dog, do to poor technique and because she was doing it too often reducing the muscle strength in his anus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T05:22:45.027" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17367" CreationDate="2017-06-13T10:53:04.347" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one can definitely say keep the puppy or not, but that is the advice you are asking. We cannot know for sure what the diagnosis is or if the puppy will respond well to treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly: It sounds like epilepsy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs that have their first seizure at less than 5 years of age are&#xA;  most likely to have idiopathic(primary) epilepsy. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From a totally negative view point&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the refund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have meticulously ruled out some localised poisoning and it points to having a neurological problem that has appeared early on. It could well be a lifelong problem and it will cost money in veterinary care and medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a form of epilepsy it will take daily medication (possibly twice daily) and regular visits to the vet. This will add up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs that seizure more frequently than 1 seizure a month and/ or have&#xA;  seizures in clusters (more than 2 seizures in 24 hours) and/or have&#xA;  ever had an episode of status epilepticus (continuous seizuring)&#xA;  and/or have prolonged seizures (&gt; 3-5 mins) should be treated with&#xA;  anti convulsant medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it could be worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any dog or cat of any age with seizures and abnormalities on&#xA;  neurologic exam that are progressive (getting worse) is likely to have&#xA;  a progressive intracranial disease such as encephalitis, tumour or&#xA;  neurodegenerative disorder. Further tests such as brain imaging (CT or&#xA;  MRI scan) and/or CSF analysis should be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a dog you know is going to be more difficult to manage than a healthy puppy. On a limited income this is hard and we need to be realistic of the costs of animal care. They're a huge commitment (as we all know) and take our time and resources - similar to children - though not as expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you'll miss him, you know he'll be lovingly cared for by people who can afford to do so. There may be less stress for another person to take ownership of him, which is also better for the pup.&#xA;As much as you like this breed and you know this is the last pup that will be available, is there another breeder you can buy from? Are you interested in other breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From a more positive viewpoint&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the puppy, a dog can easily become victim to an accident and cost a lot more money than this dog may ever cost you, that's a risk of pet ownership. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask the breeder if you can hold onto him, but if it is a serious degenerative disorder and the dog is going to have a short life,  are you able to have a refund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs that are less than one year of age at the onset of seizures may&#xA;  have a higher incidence of brain malformation as a possible cause of&#xA;  seizures and further investigation (brain imaging) may be warranted.&#xA;  Seizures in dogs less than 12 months of age may be associated with&#xA;  neurodegenerative disorders, inherited metabolic disorders (eg organic&#xA;  aciduria) and have also been seen young dogs (generally less than 6&#xA;  months of age) with a heavy parasitic burden. (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the dog to your local vet. A specialist may not be necessary, your vet can guide you (it is likely such a young dog will require brain scans(1)). They can make a diagnosis and form a treatment plan. Although the vets visit will cost money, your puppy will be needing to make regular vets visits for vaccinations and you can use these visits as a regular check up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the cost of epileptic medications for dogs and factor that into your budget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;60 tablets, for example, can cost $11 to $35, while 180 tablets can&#xA;  cost $30 to $110. (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it could work out at less than a dollar a day for medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extra care&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing worth mentioning is this is a bigger commitment than a healthy pet. That may not be an issue if you are retired, as you may well have the time to devote to an unwell pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the dog may require you to physically carry him, as a full grown dog. Are you physically capable of lifting him when he is full grown? This is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/17371/6796&quot;&gt;other answer&lt;/a&gt;, you will likely be more attached the longer you have the pup. This is the time to dig deep into your practical brain and say to yourself, I need to make a logical decision, not an emotional one. There is nothing to lose if you know this puppy will be well cared for if he is returned to the breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ava.com.au/sites/default/files/AVA_website/pdfs/NSW_Division/COMBINED%20SESSION%20-%20Georgina%20Child%20-%20Seizures%20in%20Dogs%20%26%20Cats.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Seizure disorders in dogs (and cats)- Spack Attacks&lt;/a&gt;, Georgina Child BVSc DACVIM (Neurology)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.howmuchisit.org/phenobarbital-for-dogs-cost/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Much Does Phenobarbital for Dogs Cost?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T10:53:04.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17372" CreationDate="2017-06-13T11:16:58.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will try to give some sort of an answer for at least parts of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of all animals, a cat's short term memory is probably better then the long term memory of elephants, (this is taking it a little far, but my point is, cats have a really good memory).&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/cats-longterm-memory-8646.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://pets.thenest.com/cats-longterm-memory-8646.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can get senile when they get old, but a 7-year-old cat is normally not senile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't normally have mental breakdowns or go insane, but I have seen a kitten that I do believe actually was mentally ill, I did take care of my sister's cat during her vacation. This cat had kittens about 2 months before this (my sister's cat was my cat's sibling, both female). The problem was really hard for both the adult cats.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/signs-mentally-ill-cat.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.vetinfo.com/signs-mentally-ill-cat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petplace.com/article/cats/behavior-training/behavior-problems/crazy-cats-can-cats-be-mentally-ill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petplace.com/article/cats/behavior-training/behavior-problems/crazy-cats-can-cats-be-mentally-ill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless there have been some changes in the environment I can't explain why your cats can't get along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat that is not well might sometimes get aggressive, but the normal thing is that the cat wants to be left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can get depressed if their owner dies (I have seen this when my mother passed away and I was left to take care of the cat.) Cats can also get depressed if their cat friend dies (I have seen this when my old cat died and I was left with the cat I got from my now dead mother). All of this happened within two years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the cats separated doesn't solve the problem in the long term, as you know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for not being able to help you with the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T18:50:08.707" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T18:50:08.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17368" CreationDate="2017-06-13T11:32:04.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one likes it when our pets do the business inside, but it seems and almost inevitable consequence of owning indoor pets. The best attitude to adopt is the no crying over spilt milk. Clean it up and work out why it happened and what can be done to change it. Which is what you're doing and your mother in law failed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, get her checked by a vet, it's possible she is not well. So not showing usual interest in food and having trouble with the toilet, these can be signs of a urinary tract infection or many other things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, whether or not she has a clean bill of health, it's time to revamp this dog's life. This dog needs positive reinforcement only, for the time being at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of play time with this dog will go a long way. This is going to take patience and time. If anyone lashes out at her it will set her back, particularly you, as her main handler. You need to earn her trust and she may always be wary of people, but she also may surprise you and come out of her shell if you work with her proactively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is find a treat that she does love. Dried liver treats are the universal treat dogs love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reward her with verbal praise and pats with the food treat, so she associates your voice and attention as a positive thing. Take her out to dog parks (and in the back yard if you  have one) and play with balls with her, allow her to escape from you in a fun way. If she's fearful, she will be comfortable getting distance between you both. Do not worry about her fetching or bringing a ball back, do not worry about calling her to come at this point. This is all emotional rebuilding, any obedience training can wait. You want your time with her to be all good, loving and lots of fun outside, snuggles inside as she trusts you more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find she is more likely to relieve herself when she is a distance from you. When you catch her going to the toilet outside, call out &quot;Good girl!&quot; in the same way you've been praising her when you put her lead on and take her walking. Use that same high pitched happy, a little excited voice. Tell her she's a &quot;good girl&quot; in your day to day dealings, with the treats and the pats, so remotely the &quot;good girl&quot; when she goes to the toilet will start to have meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also vital, allow her plenty of room on the lead, forget about heeling, allow her to sniff and explore. If she feels constricted or frightened it will be harder for her to relieve herself, as she is on guard. Also consider buying a longer leash so she can move herself a longer distance from you to, hopefully, find a comfortable distance at which she can relieve herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly as you build trust with her, you will find she sniffs around and eventually goes to the toilet, keep the praise coming. Rinse and repeat. Don't remove the food rewards until she is toilet trained and then do so gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how you get on and post more questions as you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T11:32:04.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15469" CreationDate="2017-06-13T11:59:01.523" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;People have mentioned stress but no one has brought up allergies which is most likely the case. Other reasons to overgroom are parasites and pain (ex. Over grooming abdomen because of a UTI). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing is to see a veterinarian to rule out medical reasons - in the meantime if she isn't already on a specialty diet I would switch it up, get a food with a different novel protein (ex venison instead of chicken). Ideally a prescription food from the veterinary hospital as there is no risk for contamination like pet store or grocery store brands, every bag is tested before leaving the factory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T11:59:01.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17368" CreationDate="2017-06-13T12:23:06.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Yvette, mostly. She's right in saying you should never tell a dog off if he doesn't know any better, it will only make it worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think it's important for a routine to be established. Dogs love routines and set days. They thrive on it, it makes them feel secure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have a rescue dog who was ill treated in the same manner and the routine sorted that out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk in the morning before you feed your dog. This is the most important walk. Historically, the dogs ancestors got out of the den and roamed for food so they could rest all day if successful. Try to replicate that. It keeps their brain active and mimics their &quot;normal&quot; way of life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pee in the garden when you get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second most important is the evening walk and it is exactly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before bed, another pee in the garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per training, I tend to think it's very important for a dog's rehabilitation, especially with a German shepherd, they are highly intelligent and need to be challenged. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as Yvette said, keep it to a minimal for now. Training starts a real relationship with a dog, this is where communication and trust come into place. I suggest food for training or a clicker would do well here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to know that dogs want that from humans, that's how they see their purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An idea for training your dog, &#xA;Proactive passive training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, German shepherd are highly clever and tapping into his brain is possibly. An example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you want to teach your dog to sit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find your dog's favourite treats. Keep it in your hand and make your dog smell it real well, to a point where he so badly want it, he'll do anything for it. The dog is likely to go through all the behaviour he knows: maybe bark or scratch or whine...including possible bad behaviours. Stay calm and keep making eye contact. Eventually, your dog will sit. As soon as his bum touches the ground, you must give a treat and praise. But no word command!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start in the house, in one room where there are few distractions. Repeat a lot...a lot!!! Once your dog gets it,  you can start adding a hand command, still no word command. Increase the distance between you and the dog gradually, one step at the time. If you've gone too far, come back a step. Eventually try with&#xA;Just a hand command with distance, eventually add the&quot;sit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This takes patience, calmness and leadership. Untrained dogs are a bit like children sometimes, they'll throw tantrums sometimes. It's important to be patient here but the reward for both of you If you succeed is indescribable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T12:23:06.437" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17383" CreationDate="2017-06-13T12:27:34.130" Score="9" ViewCount="7990" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have done some Google'ing into when is a good time to bring home kittens, and I have read articles where the most common answer is &quot;12 weeks but above 8 and you should be fine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read that if you bring home the kittens &lt;em&gt;a little sooner&lt;/em&gt;, it could have pros and cons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pros: the kittens might not have fully accepted their current location as their home, so bringing them home sooner should make the transition easier for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cons: the kittens learn behavior from their mother at around 12 weeks which they would be deprived of if taken home too soon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the best age to bring home kittens? Will getting 2 from the same litter reduce the chance of behavioural issues if taken earlier than 12 weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9565" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T10:05:30.727" Title="What is the optimal age to bring home kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17372" CreationDate="2017-06-13T12:39:50.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let them fight it out.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're having a dominance struggle, your intervention is only pushing that problem further into the future, rather than letting them resolve it themselves. Only intervene if they're really going at it and there's a threat of injury. Otherwise, let cats be cats and let them sort out their problems in their own way, without human intervention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T12:39:50.757" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17380" CreationDate="2017-06-13T13:36:38.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 12 weeks, most kittens have learned most things about being a cat from its mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching the kitten about hunting and killing prey usually takes about two more weeks.This is taken seriously by the mother cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you want an indoor cat, 12 weeks should be fine, but if you want an outdoor cat, 14 weeks is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T04:41:52.417" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T04:41:52.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17380" CreationDate="2017-06-13T13:56:31.033" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly you are fine with 8 weeks, I never see kittens come in at 12 weeks with new owners - always 8 weeks with zero issues. You also have people getting kittens at 6 weeks and younger depending on the situation (abandonment, barn cats etc.) with no real bad problems. You may get kittens who still suckle on things when they are brought home too young or kittens who don't know how to play properly (bite too hard).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most kittens we see come in for SPCA health checks or are strays who turn out to be lovely cats as they got older despite being taken away from mum at a young age. You can wait for 12 weeks, no harm in doing that, but 8 weeks is fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt; is a great product to help transition cats into their new home, I highly recommend you try it out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-06-13T18:21:10.200" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T18:21:10.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17380" CreationDate="2017-06-13T17:46:23.113" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally the rule of thumb is 8-12 weeks depending on how well the kitten has been socialized. I highly advise against taking them in younger than that for a multitude of reasons but the primary reasons being they haven't learned enough yet and health concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat, who just recently passed away, that my wife and I took in at 4 weeks and bottle fed him because his momma was hit by a car. He was kind to my wife and I but was nervous and terrible around everyone else. He also never learned to hunt properly and looked like a giant dork when he played with his toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can definitely take cats younger than 8 weeks but I really don't recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9687" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T17:46:23.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17385" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-13T19:39:39.953" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents adopted a puppy(Nora) a month ago, she's about 3 months old now. I'm having trouble disciplining her when she misbehaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not getting along with our other pets. By that I mean that she almost constantly bothers them. She bites and jumps at our older dog, she runs after our cats and grab them. The other dog pretends to viciously bite her, but pretending is all he can do. He usually ends up barking and whining for help. Our adult cat doesn't hesitate to slap her if she comes too close, she even scratched the puppy once. Nora doesn't seem to get the message and keeps bothering them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she does this I'd usually tell her &quot;no&quot;. If the behaviour continues I raise my voice and if she continues, which happens quite often, I would punish her by putting her alone in a room for a little time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is : How can I do that when she runs away from me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She basically just stay out of my reach and carry on her misbehavior if possible! If I manage to catch her, she tries to get out of my grip by vigorously contorting, rolling on the floor and trying to bite me! How can I handle this? She's so agitated, I'm afraid that she'd bite my face if I try to carry her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am more of a cat person, so I know that I may be biased. But I find her far too rough to the other pets. I live in fear that she may hurt my kittens. I'm worried that the adult cat may hurt her for good as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My father is home all day long, but he is quite passive and I know that he doesn't do anything to actually raise/train her. It's basically up to me and my mother to do this. Needless to say, coming home after a long day of work to a disobeying puppy leaves us with very little patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, if things don't get better, I consider suggesting that we get rid of her. I would rather avoid this. I have a long record of taking in abandoned cats and I don't feel like doing this to Nora.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9688" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T16:27:38.460" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T20:59:03.957" Title="How to punish an aggressive misbehaving puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16733" CreationDate="2017-06-13T21:39:27.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After disparate results each time I tested with APIs test kits, I decided to switch to Red Sea, you can &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00BAVVD6I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;buy kits for marine care on amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very happy with the results they produce and they read better and with far smaller error tolerance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:13:41.147" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:13:41.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2017-06-13T23:49:50.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that if I warm up to body temp whichever solution I'm using, my babies put up far less of a fight.  Solutions colder than 90+ degrees are likely to be uncomfortable or painful.  I don't suggest using the microwave to warm it up, as it is likely to get too warm and may adversely effect the chemical composition of the medication.  The easiest way I've found to do this is to... Now don't laugh... is to put the bottle under my arm pit, for awhile, while watching TB or on the PC.  If this doesn't appeal you could warm it like a baby bottle, in warm, but not hot, water.  Test the water on your wrist first, to make sure it isn't too hot.  The reason I like the underarm method is if I'm going to use cotton balls, I can warm the cotton balls as well, so they don't cool down the cleansing solution, before it goes in the ears.  Hope this helps.  Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9690" LastActivityDate="2017-06-13T23:49:50.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17380" CreationDate="2017-06-14T08:50:59.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One issue with too young is that (at any age) moving home is stressful to a cat.  Stressed cats don't look after themselves properly, kittens even more so.  A six week old kitten has far smaller reserves if it stops eating/drinking for a day.  Dehydration is the biggest worry at that stage. We had two end up in hospital for a few days, and possibly lasting health problems in one, after collecting them at six weeks.  We'd been told they were older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the advice of vets some classified ad publications won't accept adverts stating less than 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9693" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T08:50:59.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17380" CreationDate="2017-06-14T10:05:30.727" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;8 weeks is very common, since by that time the kittens should be fully weaned without intervention from the owner. But reputable breeders will keep them around for 12 weeks, so their personalities develop around their littermates and mom and the steady traffic of people interested in the kittens at the home. These breeders will also give you the origin paperwork, and perform tests for genetic defects and such common to the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The age a breeder is willing to give a kitten away is one of the indicators of what their standards of practice are; whether they care for the wellbeing of the animals in general, or just want a quick turnaround and undercut prices. (An extra month of premium kitten food is a few tens of bucks, but that's enough to move your place in a listing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the pro of 8 week kittens is all that important in the long term. A kitten will pretty quickly realise there aren't its parents and 6 more siblings to bully it around, and that it's the big cat in the house. If you want to make the transition easier and also improve on the social development, consider taking in two littermates. Anecdotally the pair I've had was significantly less bored-destructive than the single cats I've owned, since they mostly just fought and chased one another for fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9695" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T10:05:30.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17404" CreationDate="2017-06-14T10:20:59.310" Score="6" ViewCount="3183" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been feeding two stray cats for about 2 months now - a male and a female. We also have cat of our own who is indoors most of the time. The female one was pregnant when we started feeding her and from the looks of it, she seems to have had kittens but we don't know where and if they even survived. We've never seen them. Both look like they are about a year old. We are now moving houses and we were wondering what options are available to us. We cannot move the female since her kittens (if they are alive) depend on her. We are mutually very fond of each other. The male looks strong and healthy but I'm not sure if they can survive on their own. Can anyone think of other options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T12:49:50.860" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T23:53:54.847" Title="Moving houses but we feed two stray cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-14T10:59:20.477" Score="4" ViewCount="13239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was carrying him and talking to him and he suddenly bit me in my face. My 2 month old puppy hasn't gotten any vaccines yet. He just turned two months old last Saturday. Is it dangerous? Thanks. My dog's breed is pug and dachshund mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9697" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-09-27T23:17:50.960" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T23:17:50.960" Title="My 2 month old puppy bit me. He hasn't gotten any vaccines yet, is it dangerous?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7830" CreationDate="2017-06-14T12:48:45.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to the existing answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What is the connection of getting rabies from a dog and his death?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An observation period of 10 days is one way of determining whether an asymptomatic, low risk animal has rabies. Domestic pets are lower risk than wild animals, although this is a stray which puts this pup at risk. Biopsies from the brain (post mortem) is the only definitive way to diagnose rabies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Should I be worried if he dies within a week?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are in a lower risk group of carrying rabies, but it would be worrying, although there could be many reasons for the dog's death. I think observing the dogs health prior to death would also be a good idea. If the dog had trouble walking, swallowing, produced excess saliva, wouldn't drink, became excessively aggressive or shy (although some of these are also symptoms of other conditions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Does bite from a 2 months old puppy can risk humans being infected&#xA;  from rabies?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes if the dog has rabies, the skin is broken and saliva comes into contact with the wound. In fact people with open wounds should take care when handling things that may have been rummaged by rabid animals, as the saliva can still transmit the illness through an existing wound, the animal doesn't need to bite the person. The same can happen through the nose and eyes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabies is spread by saliva and brain and nerve tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of minimising the risk washing and rinsing the wound well  in soapy water is the first course of action. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If rabies has been transmitted, waiting to see if the dog dies is too late for treatment of the human being if it is indeed infected. By the time an individual (any type of animal) is displaying symptoms, the disease is usually fatal, so time is of the essence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the United States, postexposure prophylaxis consists of a regimen&#xA;  of one dose of immune globulin and four doses of rabies vaccine over a&#xA;  14-day period. Rabies immune globulin and the first dose of rabies&#xA;  vaccine should be given by your health care provider as soon as&#xA;  possible after exposure. Additional doses or rabies vaccine should be&#xA;  given on days 3, 7, and 14 after the first vaccination. Current&#xA;  vaccines are relatively painless and are given in your arm, like a flu&#xA;  or tetanus vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rabies, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;When should I seek medical attention?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) is administered only once, at the&#xA;  beginning of anti-rabies prophylaxis, to previously unvaccinated&#xA;  persons. This will provide immediate antibodies until the body can&#xA;  respond to the vaccine by actively producing antibodies of its own. If&#xA;  possible, the full dose of HRIG should be thoroughly infiltrated in&#xA;  the area around and into the wounds. Any remaining volume should be&#xA;  injected intramuscularly at a site distant from vaccine&#xA;  administration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rabies, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/medical_care/hrig.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human Rabies Immune Globulin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General reference for this answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rabies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T12:48:45.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-14T15:21:42.510" Score="4" ViewCount="857" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a rescue. She has a very skittish, submissive personality--she gets scared by things fairly easily, but usually I can at least figure out why. But recently she has been avoiding coming into the living room towards the outside wall (I am in a small above ground apartment). I'm gone all day at work, and if I had to guess why she is all of a sudden scared, it would be because a bird flew into the window, or maintenance maybe was doing some work on the roof against that wall. It's unclear exactly what she's scared of, but she hesitates when coming into the room, looking in the general direction of the windows/wall (not always in the exact same spot), and then decides to turn around and run back into the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to get her to go back to not having a fear of the wall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9702" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-06-14T17:51:53.853" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T01:04:15.540" Title="Dog all of a sudden scared of living room wall" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17360" CreationDate="2017-06-14T15:22:14.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shut Him Out at Night&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these behaviors may be correctable, it could take a lot of work and time that it doesn't sound like you are able to commit right now. The best course of action would be to stabilize your relationship with your cat by shutting him out. By the sounds of it sleep related problems are your only real issues with it. If you do end up keeping the cat long term, then it may be worth slowly integrating allowing it to sleep with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9701" LastActivityDate="2017-06-14T15:22:14.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17391" CreationDate="2017-06-14T15:23:52.223" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not particularly dangerous. Rabies is the number 1 concern, but the probability your pug/dachshund mix has the disease is super low. Rabies is transmitted mainly by saliva/bites from infected animals such as dogs, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other diseases that can be carried by your dog, but it's dependent on your location in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he punctured the skin, keep it clean to avoid infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime work on the biting behavior - socialize a ton and work on gentle play :) and start vaccines + parasite control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-27T23:16:17.170" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T23:16:17.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17400" CreationDate="2017-06-14T16:47:49.967" Score="4" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Youtube is awash with videos of young and adolescent goats climbing on things, including other farm animals. Obviously temperament will come with an individual animal, but the videos the creater the goat is climbing on never really seems to mind. I'm probably a victim of a limited sample size, but is this typical behavior in farm animals, or is it (goat climbing tolerance) something you have to train for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3517" LastActivityDate="2017-06-15T15:34:02.673" Title="Are farm animals naturally patient with kid goats, or is it a trained behavior?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;&lt;goats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17372" CreationDate="2017-06-14T19:54:48.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had cats go through this every now and then. It sounds like they are just having a prolonged feud. If this is the case the situation is fixable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior can also be caused by jealousy. If one cat receives more affection than the other the, the other cat may retaliate and start a fight. Start off by preventing jealousy fights by making sure they both get equal treatment and plenty of affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now your cats associate bad feelings with each other. You need to reverse this by having them associate good feelings with one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this you need to praise and reward them whenever they are peacefully interacting, or even ignoring each other. Pet them, verbally praise them and give them cat treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats identify each other by smell, so you want them to associate good things with each others' scent. Pick one cat and pet the sides of his face and head profusely where there are a lot of scent glands. Then with your scented-up hand pet and praise the other cat. Do this both ways so the cats associate each other's scents with good feelings (affection and praise). Do this several times a day for at least a week. Then do this periodically as maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they eat side by side, this is an excellent time to pet them both and praise them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you want to discourage / punish bad behavior such as hissing at each other. Scold them by raising your voice as soon as they begin hissing or growling at each other. You can also shoo away the aggressor. As long as you know they won't attack you when agitated you can also gently scruff the aggressor (holding them down for about 5 to 10 seconds) to let them know you don't approve of their behavior. You are trying to scruff / restrain them not actually cause them pain so be gentle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reward their good behaviour, discourage the bad, and your cats should learn to get along better in a week or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T08:04:13.137" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T08:04:13.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="946" CreationDate="2017-06-14T22:11:46.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a similar problem with our cats - in our case, our second cat, the younger (and more active) was eating both shares, while our first cat, the older and timider, was being scared off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we did was separate them while feeding.  I don't mean putting their food bowls in separate rooms, that may not be a sustainable solution since you'll have to keep them in one room out of the other constantly.  A different solution would be to hang around during feeding time and play wall for a bit to teach them manners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we put down the bowls in the evening, one is put down off to one side (the second cat runs and eats) and the other put down a few steps away to the other side. This is because cat-two is distracted with her own bowl, so the other has to be left alone, at least until she's finished, and it's far enough away so that the first cat won't be intimidated into not approaching to eat. And, whoever feeds them can usually spare a few minutes to stand between them about the time cat two is finishing up, and herd her away, scolding or distracting, to keep her from running off cat one until she's done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't perfect, especially at first (made worse since our cat two is a much faster eater) but cat one was getting a bit before being scared off, at least, and we had other measures (dry food out constantly, the issues were with meals of canned food) we weren't worried she'd starve. And over time, we had to do less and less herding as &lt;em&gt;boss cat&lt;/em&gt; (aka human-in-charge) made it clear that one bowl was for each, so that second cat could go after leftovers - after first cat was done, not chase her off - and first cat was assured we wouldn't let her be chased off, so it was safe to claim her share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coupled with the fact we wouldn't put the bowls down until both were present, second cat got manners, eventually - as an example, recently, there was a problem with one bowl (wrong color or something, she would not eat from it) but she still waited until the other cat finished before snagging the rest, because she knew the bowl on that side was not hers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, we had dry food out all the time (they self-regulated once it's clear it could be relied upon) and one meal of canned food per day, so we could stand between for just a few minutes during the one meal without too much trouble - they could visit dry food at separate times, so that wasn't an issue.  If you're doing only planned meals, or this is an issue with bowls normally left out, this may be a bit more time-intensive than it was for us - but maybe do precisely planned mealtimes for a while, don't set down the bowls until everyone's there so they eat at the same time, and you can get at least a bit of teaching done each time - and it's less irritating planning to teach them manners, than being distracted from whatever else you happen to be doing when misbehavior occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, you might try giving your older cat somewhat larger meals - she may be stealing the kittens' food simply because she's still hungry, and if she just has a larger metabolism than the serving size accounts for, her recommended serving may not be enough. Second cat ate a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt;, way more than first cat even at the same age (and cat-one was quite active when younger), but she also runs around a heck of a lot and generally has way more energy than cat-one, so the food was burned off.  And at year-and-a-half, ours was still filling out her frame, so that may also cause increased eating to support growth (cat-equivalent of teenagers, always hungry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I admit just hunger isn't always the problem, our first-cat would eat a whole can of food if we set it out in the beginning, even if she was so full afterwards her breathing whistled - which seems less about hunger than greed. But that was about 'treat' food, the canned food she got rarely, not the dry that was her daily fare - like I said, when they're sure food will be there when they need it, they only eat until they're full. Once canned food became a daily meal, she calmed down about it and became better about not overeating because she knew there would be more, and by now she often leaves leftovers for cat-two to finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9703" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-19T19:41:41.607" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T19:41:41.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17396" CreationDate="2017-06-15T15:34:02.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goats are obnoxious about climbing on things.  If you google horse bucking goats you will find several videos where the horse is not happy about it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens is the annoy goat tries to climb on the horse (&lt;em&gt;or cow, or car, or tree, etc&lt;/em&gt;) and it either works or not.  If not the goat tries again and again and again... At some point the horse (etc, all) either gets tired of bucking goat off, and just lets it happen, or the goat gives up, goats do not give up easily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer to your question is this &quot;something you have to train for?&quot; = When left together the goats train the farm animals. The only people interaction is leaving goats unsupervised in with horses, cows, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If goats and horses or cows should be left alone together is a different question, with lots of variables, and no, one right answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-06-15T15:34:02.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2017-06-16T04:05:39.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ice cubes are a good solution. I live in India where the temperatures go above 40 degrees Celsius for about 4 months of the year. Ice Cubes are what keep my fish alive. During these months my fishes enjoy the ice cubes - I have often found then fiddling around and playing with the ice cubes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure not to add more than 1% of the aquarium capacity in ice at a time as this could disturb the fish. Add ice cubes 3 times a day every 2-3 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9709" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T09:52:52.967" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T09:52:52.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17437" CreationDate="2017-06-16T13:21:34.480" Score="1" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question and one of the comments got me thinking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2410/what-is-the-benefit-of-an-ovarian-sparing-spay&quot;&gt;What is the benefit of an ovarian-sparing spay?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First comment:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2410/what-is-the-benefit-of-an-ovarian-sparing-spay#comment5170_2413&quot;&gt;but the heats would be &quot;clean&quot; heats right? No uterus no mess?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second comment:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2410/what-is-the-benefit-of-an-ovarian-sparing-spay#comment5171_2413&quot;&gt;I wonder if the &quot;clean&quot; heats still attract males and if performance venues would still prefer you to pull from a trial if the your bitch was in season?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between a normal heat cycle and one which is spayed (uterus only)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T15:59:47.600" Title="How does spaying leaving the ovaries in tact affect the heat cycle?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17390" CreationDate="2017-06-16T15:17:40.227" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difficulty is, you have been feeding them and they are at least partially dependent on you, especially if she has kittens, she's going to need all the help she can get to feed the kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's arguable whether or not you have a moral responsibility to the cats, but you care, which is important and admirable. Just moving and leaving them as is not the best option. They may well survive, but they will continue breeding and the problem of these stray cats is only increasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One pair of undesexed cats can exponentially be responsible for&#xA;  420,000 kittens, over a 7 year period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://awl.org.au/advice-education/pet-advice/cat-tips-advice/what-difference-between-feral-and-stray-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Animal welfare league&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond enlisting a rescue organisation, it's something that's going to require a bit of work on your part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an answer based on experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, do your best to locate where the kittens are. Once you've been able to locate the kittens, the mother and male cat can be trapped using a cage, using food. Some rescue organisations may be able to assist with a cage. I am not sure how soon you are moving, but if you cannot find the kittens, you'll actually be able to trap the kittens also, when they're older, as they will be able to come and find the food. This will be a piecemeal process of course, you won't catch all the cats together, it will, most likely be one at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend's friend fed a local stray and she saw her have one litter and upon having the second litter she decided to intervene. She gradually trapped all the kittens and the mother, using a food and cage trap. She had a room designated for them. The kittens would hiss at people, as that is what the mother taught them to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She desexed the mother and kept her and also kept one of the kittens, re-homing the remaining kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took two of the kittens and still have them four years later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a pic of them with another rescue cat we own. They are the grey boys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ctYQF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ctYQF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are feral cats, they'd be better suited to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-trap-neuter-return-and-is-it-an-appropriate-strategy-for-the-management-of-unowned-cats_462.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;trap neuter return&lt;/a&gt; (TNR) program, as feral cats can fend for themselves quite well (1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) Evaluation of the effect of a long-term trap-neuter-return and adoption program on a free-roaming cat population, Levy et al.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2003.222.42&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2003.222.42&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-16T23:53:54.847" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T23:53:54.847" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17435" CreationDate="2017-06-16T18:48:25.763" Score="3" ViewCount="1505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1 year old female cat who as a kitten up until now used to play with me as if I am another cat, she runs, and I'll have to follow her, then it's her turn to chase. I do that because she's been my only cat and we couldn't bring her another cat to play with until now. The point is she is only used to playing with people as animals but not real animals. When she was younger we brought her two kittens to play with. She used to chase them and run away from them as play but whenever they tried to touch her she hisses. We unfortunately had to give the two kittens to a friend for a particular reason. So since that time she didn't have an animal friend to spend time with. I felt she wasn't having her share of play, so I decided to get another cat for her to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a 7 month old male. I thought it was OK if he is younger since his body size is bigger than her. Now she tolerates him since they both know she's the boss. But whenever he tries to PLAY with her she hits him, and runs after him, sometimes hissing, sometimes she backs off and leaves him alone. And sometimes I hear him screaming and she's attacking him so I get my water spray and shoot her and that's when the fight is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to say that there is no rolling around. She is just hitting him with her paw and he starts screaming and that's when I think he's just doing that so I would come stop her. They both love playing with us. But they almost never play together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to restate that both cats are tolerant to each other's presence but they don't play together.&#xA;So how do I make them play together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as I mentioned maybe in an unclear way that Joury had previous experience with cats (the two kittens i mentioned above). But the two kittens were not cowards so I think that's why she played with them. Silver tries to play with Joury a lot. But he always runs when she is about to do something, or when he gets too close, she either hits him or gives him a glare. I could notice that she sometimes wants to kinda play with him but whenever she shows him she's about to move he runs from fear. It's like they both want to play together sometimes but she always gets some kind of ego in the last second and doesn't accept him or he feels afraid for no reason so she hits him. What do you suggest I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:52:56.727" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:52:56.727" Title="my cats won't play together (not neutered or spayed)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16591" CreationDate="2017-06-16T19:14:10.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog could have been a house dog before you rescued him at some point in his life so maybe his  owners trained him not to eat from bowls or plates some owners do that.they let the dog eat from the floor so as one of the comments said the dog could have been abused.It's obvious your dog needs a lot and a lot of attention. Try to hand feed the dog and slowly reach your hand to the food bowl and put your hand in it so he gets used to the bowl.of course praise him and give him more attention when he approuches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T19:14:10.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16872" CreationDate="2017-06-16T19:27:01.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this is a learned behaviour. Somebody might have waved their hand and hit the cat by accident. This might trigger the cat to defend itself. Cats do have an impressive memory, so this might have been when it was a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very hard to unlearn this behaviour in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat that went into kill mode if anybody pointed at him, no matter how far away they were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7988" LastEditDate="2017-06-18T16:38:20.913" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T16:38:20.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17360" CreationDate="2017-06-16T19:40:07.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say have your boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should show the cat you accept him by letting him give you love when you are awake and maybe praise him. and putting him in his crate and tell him ''No'' when he does that at sleeping time. Then head back to your bed and pretend to sleep. Of course the lights should be off then he'll have a hint to know when it's not acceptable to bother you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't take it, you have to train him. It's simple. And we know how you feel about punishing your cat. No one likes that but if you're at your point, the cat needs a home(meaning your home). Besides, it doesn't have to be a punishment, it's just ''this happens when that happens'' and of course he is better off with you than in the shelter, so putting him in the crate for about half an hour or, if he doesn't get it then, an hour, will probably make him understand you better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see your cat has already got the idea, you shouldn't exaggerate, but if he keeps coming back then half an hour should do. By the way, cats always have their boundaries between each other, so it doesn't hurt to make them understand that humans also have some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you got my message...if it's not clear you are free to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:06:21.513" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:21.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17359" CreationDate="2017-06-16T20:05:53.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fleas have a reproduction rate of 30 days. If you eradicate 1 generation the eggs may still survive. In order to prevent this you have to repeat the process of getting rid of them at least once after 30 days...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9714" LastActivityDate="2017-06-16T20:05:53.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17385" CreationDate="2017-06-16T20:19:20.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should play with her more often so her energy subsides. She is obviously extra hyper. Also considering bringing her to a dog trainer would be a good idea. If this is not possible, you could take her to the dog park and make her meet new dogs that would teach her how to behave now that your older dog isn't teaching her that. You should probably leave the kittens in a different room to guarantee safety. Training your dog to sit is the first thing you would want to consider after safety is guaranteed. And of course don't forget to provide lots of toys and treats when she hushes down a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T14:31:31.553" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:31:31.553" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17430" CreationDate="2017-06-16T22:17:48.433" Score="5" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone wrote inside of my cats ear using a Sharpie marker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suspect: The insides of ears are sensitive areas, and the chemicals inside the Sharpie might cause skin irritation and infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9716" LastEditorUserId="9608" LastEditDate="2017-06-17T15:08:41.290" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T21:32:23.040" Title="While writing inside a cats ear with a sharpy, harm a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-17T00:00:07.953" Score="6" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to get my cat to lose wight, she's 4 years old, short hair, and 19 pounds. I currently feed her one cup dry food in the night along with 1/2 cup in the morning and 1 can of wet food every one or two days. How do I get her to lose weight without switching the type of food I get her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9717" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-17T00:41:53.623" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T00:41:53.623" Title="How to get 19 pound cat to lose weight" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-27T12:33:12.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17532" CreationDate="2017-06-17T00:30:27.003" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all the 1 cup should be reduced to 3 quarters or 1 half, you should try to exercise her more by playing with her even if she wouldn't play along you shouldn't give up. Try to tease her with her favourite toy then make the toy move a little further from her, whenever she catches the toy praise her with a treat and sense her diet is now lessened she would be extra happy to have the treat. Stay on routine with her food times but just reduce the amount. She'll probably ask for more, if so then just ignore her or try to play or tease her a little, she'll either play or decide to leave you alone. I'd say try to get her interesting stuff such as new toys or let her watch you doing something anything that needs work such as building something useful in the house or just cleaning the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is interested in the outside world then take her for walks and praise her when she walks along but make the praises only a small bite of wet food or a piece of dry food not a lot of them. Make her do stuff other than eating and giving loves. I personally chase my cat for play then she chases me, quite immature but she doesn't have a cat to play with and she trusts me for being her cat friend. If you could do the same it would really good for you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T12:43:13.693" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T12:43:13.693" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5617" CreationDate="2017-06-17T01:05:08.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to vet as soon as possible. I just lost my kitten after he ate litter. It clumps up, blocks the digestive tract. He stopped eating, had diarrhea and died. You can't do anything to save them, if not treated right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9718" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-07-02T12:17:47.523" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T12:17:47.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17420" CreationDate="2017-06-17T01:29:05.200" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 yo rescue greyhound. By rescue I mean the trainer took her and her sister to the vet to be put to sleep, as they weren't running fast enough at the track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a darling sweet girl. I have no issues with her. She doesn't chase our cats, she loves going for runs when I go to the horses and she spends most of her time sleeping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Elsa growls when we move around (she sleep with us), especially if her legs are facing us.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She also can have some intense dreams it seems, where her breathing will get quite heavy and they do not seem happy. I haven't owned a dog who has dreamt like this before.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently there's traits in the greyhounds that come off the track. I've spoken with other greyhound owners and it's due to them being kennelled separately and not being used to being disturbed at all in their sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know much about her past, except her trainer took her and her sister to the vet to be put to sleep and they would've been kennelled their whole lives, and not allowed into a family home and petted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm  looking for some tips to help her through this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GejKA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GejKA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-17T07:12:21.137" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T07:12:21.137" Title="Issues with their hound growling when they're disturbed when sleeping?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17419" CreationDate="2017-06-17T02:04:56.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While she's awake, work on touching and moving her, giving treats after each touch/movement, until she's really happy and comfortable (loose body, wagging tail, happy relaxed face) with you doing that. Practice at different times of day and night and do set ups where you get into bed and act like it's sleep time, but really it's a training session. This will get her to really like being touched and moved in general, and it could generalise to being touched while asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she growls, stop! That means you've asked for too much. Also stop if she freezes or seems tense at all; build up gradually to that movement, keeping at a level where she's comfortable at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's uncomfortable being touched anywhere or moved when awake too (watch for subtle signs, not just growling), it's also worth getting her checked out for pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be careful - if a dog is startled when asleep they may bite in self-defense (even the friendliest and most gentle dog can bite if they feel scared enough in the moment). Could she sleep on a bed next to your bed instead of on it, at least for a while? That way, she can still be near you, but you can eliminate the situation where she growls until that is resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9719" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T02:04:56.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17426" CreationDate="2017-06-17T03:21:53.580" Score="1" ViewCount="854" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think my cat has play issues. When it's play time she's got alot of toys to chase , i throw toys for her and she runs after them. The issue here is that she never catches her prey/toy. Once the toy stops on its own, my cat either stops running or continues at full speed even though she knows the toy had stopped. She even runs past the toys she'd seen just stop.&#xA;How do i make her catch her so called prey and not just ignore it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T09:14:00.003" Title="My cat does not catch running toys, she runs with them" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-17T06:37:04.527" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was vomiting. The doctor pushed an injection and gave Cefpodoxime oral suspension as anti biotic. But the cat is now having diarrhoea as side effect. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9723" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T06:52:50.060" Title="Cat having diarrhea as medicine side effect" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17422" CreationDate="2017-06-17T06:52:50.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;give your cat food whith high quality preferably wet food and keep the water fresh and cool to be sure it drinks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when finished with the antibiotics it usually takes a week before it starts to normalize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T06:52:50.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10391" CreationDate="2017-06-17T08:14:42.903" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not advisable to spay the cat after weaning as some of them are getting pregnant while feeding.  As to &lt;strong&gt;TNRM&lt;/strong&gt; helping with spaying, here in Kuala Lumpur, they were contacted for paid help in spaying about 6 females and once they were told that we will be monitoring them on their return, we had no more response from the Manager, Stuart, now we have kittens from 5 of the 6 females we asked to be spayed. Would like to take the poor little things to &lt;strong&gt;TNRM&lt;/strong&gt; doors, if there is one, that is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9724" LastActivityDate="2017-06-17T08:14:42.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-18T03:54:07.957" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently acquired fungus in one of my tanks (from what I can tell I can see 3 fish with signs of it and one who has it the worst). I took the three and put them in a hospital tank to try to contain spreading, but am treating both. The worst of the three has a ring of the fungus around his gut right where most females have the gravid spot. He is still eating and eliminating, BUT instead of his poo being able to drag behind him and fall off it's stuck in the fungus and is wrapping around his body as it grows. I'm concerned with this happening he will lose the ability to eliminate, and stop eating or die from it (if the fungal infection doesn't kill him). I've seen people pick up larger fish with non latex gloves, for wound care and breeding purposes, but I try my best to put my hands in the tanks as little as possible, and never intend to  touch any of my fish. I am wondering if I can use my hands to rub part of the fuzzy off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive treated sick fish for people over the years, wether it be my own, at a pet store, or friends and  haven't experienced THIS as a specific issue. I know this sounds like a strange or stupid question for most people, but I want his healing to be as smooth as possible and increase his chances of living. It's only been 24 hours since I started treatment, and was hoping to see enough improvement that he could poo like a normal fish. I added a different texture of plant to the hospital tank to encourage him to rub against and aquarium salt for general, Gill and fin health. If I can't rub some off, are there any additional recommendations? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-11-18T04:34:46.643" Title="Fungus blocking fish from eliminating" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17421" CreationDate="2017-06-18T08:46:23.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you just throw it? &#xA;Have you ever try to rapid move it in front of it? &#xA;This could probably help if your cat isn't &quot;trained&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a (fat) sterilised cat that don't love to play so much, but when I use a fake mouse attached to a string (or just a simple string works as well) it goes crazy and love to chase it over the couches.&#xA;What I understand is that cats love to chase something that moves like a prey;  something that stops shortly don't work for them. In fact, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_death&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;apparent death&lt;/a&gt; works very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat, like all domestic animals still have the &lt;strong&gt;predatory instinct&lt;/strong&gt;: all you have to do is make it &lt;strong&gt;remember&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start from a simple string, playing with it, but remember to not force the cat.&#xA;When you see interest you could increase the duration of the game, slowly.&#xA;When it loves to play for more than 5-10 minutes it probably understands its role in the game, so you could begin to throw a wool ball. The cats love it because when they touch it, the balls continue to roll and they continue to play with it (till it will lose interest, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that your cat could do lot of progress, but you have to be &lt;em&gt;patient&lt;/em&gt;. This is the secret when you work with animals!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Of course, if your cat loves to play with your hand, you could also try first with this one&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vfY93.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vfY93.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat teaser glove&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9726" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-06-19T09:14:00.003" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T09:14:00.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16305" CreationDate="2017-06-18T12:14:17.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be she just changed her mind, or is stressed and is not sure how to get out since you said you only got her a few days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe let her out a little, waste her energy and when she's tired, put her back in. Just make sure the place has some covered hideouts if she'd like to hide, but set these hideouts in a way that you could get her right back when it's time to go back to cage. And, of course, she might want to climb something too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all on you to make sure she doesn't get lost. And I'd suggest to get a hamster ball, that way she doesn't get lost and she could roam freely in your room. Hamster tubes with treats at the end of them can be very helpful too, as she could feel safe to be in a hideout and get treats when she comes out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But hamster tubes should only be provided when the hamster feels safe around you, or else she might stay in the tube forever. To make the hamster feel less stressed and more safe, put her something in her cage so she could hide under. It's the first few days remember.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also show her that you know where she is and still you won't hurt her. Touching her, petting her or giving her treats with your hand can make that happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T23:24:10.080" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:24:10.080" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1254" CreationDate="2017-06-18T14:14:14.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;At least with my cat, the cat also had some behavioural issues straight after the adoption and turned out FIV was reason after we got the diagnosis. So it requires &lt;strong&gt;lots&lt;/strong&gt; of patience to overcome those, so FIV cat might not be for the first-time cat owners (what the vet commented to me when we considered the initial quirks). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more addition to the above list is that FIV cat can have issues with their teeth, so it could be good to put aside bit of money for that, but that can vary depending on cat.  Anyhow as they might get infections more easily, good teeth help in preventing issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also try to feed my cat with high-quality and occasionally even grain-free food - not yet sure if it will have any long-term benefits, but we shall see.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2524" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T14:14:14.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16872" CreationDate="2017-06-18T21:19:34.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She might just have the idea that it's the most exciting thing to do for some reason but you could train her to stop by showing her it isn't fun, in other words either tell her ''No'' if she is used to it, or just don't play along  and ignore her. You should move your hand away and then ignore her she should understand after some time. And if you really don't want that to happen ever again then don't ever play with her with your hand. People say you should throw out a little (not so loud) scream and then ignore her. I hope you take my advice&#xA;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T21:19:34.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17414" CreationDate="2017-06-18T21:32:23.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Haha no don't worry it's all good unless the pen or marker got threw her skin, in that case you should clean the area just like the way you clean your injuries. But if you use an alcohol cleanser it might be better if you clean it with water once it's done it's effect, so the cat won't try to lick it afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-18T21:32:23.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12381" CreationDate="2017-06-19T04:55:34.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to state that you should be sure of your dog's situation first. Is she very much excited to do such a thing as to bite your son even though he said the word ''No'', or might she be doing that because your son once may have done something that annoyed her or maybe showed her he's in charge and she didn't like it (by saying ''No'' for instance)? It's obvious she chose that particular son of yours for some reason. If it is because she plays with him most, she loves him most or she feels he's the guy her size, we'd say your dog is being very excited to play with him and so is acting that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you should pay attention to the way she bites his shirt. It's really important. Why? Because if one of the following comes with her bite of his shirt, it could mean she either has something against him which makes her want to stay on the bite thing, but she is still innocent and so feels it's wrong to actually bite the kid. Or she might have the feeling of challenging and wants to win the challenge of a kid her size and show him she's boss or she's stronger or just wants to win. Of course if that's the case she'll only be feeling that way from the moment she gets too excited until you get her off him or he shows her it's petting time and she gets off him. I'd say that because you mentioned she's kind and social usually. And it's not such a big problem now because your dog is still a puppy. Of course if the dog continues doing this till she grows up, it won't be good for your kid or you, as the dog might feel more and more desire to show the kid she wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the following things mentioned above:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;growls come with the bite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the dog looking in the kids eyes while staying on the bite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;each time you or someone else tries to get the dog off, the dog grabs harder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not one of these things occurs, she must learn that your kid is still her master just like you are. When I mentioned that it's not a big problem for now, it's because your puppy is still in the process of learning how to deal with her entire family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T15:06:48.720" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T15:06:48.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17406" CreationDate="2017-06-19T12:27:37.477" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some things to consider when having a multi-cat household, especially if she's never grown up with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Make sure they each have their separate food and water dishes, place water away from food and keep both cats feeding areas separate from each other - cats are known as solitary animals unless resources are abundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Each cat should have a &quot;safe place&quot; where they can escape from everything. You can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzE1WDMwMA==/z/Ea0AAOSwDk5UBLn-/$_35.JPG?set_id=2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat carriers&lt;/a&gt; (have one for each cat), &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wayfair.ca/Go-Pet-Club-72-Cat-Tree-GPC1036.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat trees&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bedbathandbeyond.ca/store/product/pawslife-reg-deluxe-window-cat-perch/1042840480?skuId=42840480&amp;amp;mcid=PS_googlepla_nonbrand__&amp;amp;adpos=1o1&amp;amp;creative=40250446170&amp;amp;device=c&amp;amp;matchtype=&amp;amp;network=g&amp;amp;product_id=42840480CA&amp;amp;gclid=CNnm4K7uydQCFQK4wAodUJ4EKA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;window-ledges&lt;/a&gt; etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Multiple litter boxes are a must. 1 litter box X # of cats + 1 = # of boxes you should have. These litter boxes should be away from their food/water and be on multiple floors (if applicable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt; - this pheromone is a god send and will help with aggression/anxiety in multi-cat households. Get a diffuser and Plug it in the room they spend the most time in. They have recently released their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/ca_en/Products/FELIWAY-FRIENDS-Diffusers-Refills&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feliway friends model&lt;/a&gt; to help with your exact situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I'm browsing more through the feliway site they have a bunch of neat things to help you out &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/ca_en/What-causes-stress-in-cats/Plan-a-cat-friendly-home&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Interactive - Creating a cat friendly home&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) &lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/AXB_pets/Pioneer_SmartCat/Ultimate_Post_wCat._V402326037_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scratching posts&lt;/a&gt; - always good to have a few scratching posts for each cat. Cats scratch to mark territory and keep their nails healthy. You can entice them to play with scratching posts by spraying cat nip on them (Note: not all cats care for catnip). Get a tall post so they can fully stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-feline-calm-dry-cat-food/3955&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin Feline Calm diet&lt;/a&gt; this food is designed to reduce stress in cats, there's no medication involved - what they do is they use milk protein and tryptophan (amino acid) to help reduce stress. The milk protein I believe is similar to mothers milk - which helps calm her kittens and the tryptophan is what you can find in turkey that makes you sleepy after you eat it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind Silver may NEVER want to play with Joury (love the name) so using these tips to aid in keeping the peace may be your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also check out the answers from the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16367/cat-toys-for-energetic-cat/16372#16372&quot;&gt;Cat Toys for Energetic Cats&lt;/a&gt; to help with entertaining themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-06-19T12:42:18.913" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T12:42:18.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12062" CreationDate="2017-06-19T12:52:29.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're sure it's hair loss and not shedding I would go for a vet visit. Many things cause hair loss, it will be hard to determine the cause without physical exam and/or blood work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To list a few potential problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parasites - fleas, mites, demodex&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allergies - food or environmental&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cushings disease&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Skin infection - fungal or bacterial&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't wait too long as the problem can escalate quickly. Good luck :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T12:52:29.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17403" CreationDate="2017-06-19T15:59:47.600" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading through the answers of the other topics and there is some miss-information on keeping the ovaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) There are no benefits to keeping the ovaries, keeping the ovaries means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acvs.org/small-animal/mammary-tumors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;High risk breast cancer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mammary tumors are more common in female dogs that are either not&#xA;  spayed or were spayed after 2 years of age. The risk of a dog&#xA;  developing a mammary tumor is 0.5% if spayed before their first heat&#xA;  (approximately 6 months of age), 8% after their first heat, and 26%&#xA;  after their second heat. Cats spayed before 6 months of age have a&#xA;  7-times reduced risk of developing mammary cancer and spaying at any&#xA;  age reduces the risk of mammary tumors by 40% to 60% in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can still have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/reproductive/c_multi_pyometra_hyperplasia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pyometra&lt;/a&gt;, the infection would occur in the stump that is left from removing said uterus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pets will go into heat as usual&lt;/strong&gt;, there is no mess but you get the temperament that goes along with it such as roaming, constant howling (cats), possible aggression towards other pets and restlessness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Males will still be a little too interested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially spaying by just removing the uterus does no good for the pet, only a convenience for the owner because they don't have to deal with the mess. In some parts of Europe they spay by removing ovaries only which has the same effect as a full spay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are benefits to prolonging a spay but that is not black and white, it's very breed dependent. Pros and cons should be discussed with the veterinarian as they will be the one examining the pet, after that the owner can make a choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-19T15:59:47.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-19T17:58:55.683" Score="4" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's 2 years old, has never been outside before, used to be the sweetest cat that would stalk me around the house and always want attention. He depended on me a lot since he was abused as a kitten and so I took him as my own. He was always an indoor cat and would be scared of outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However few days ago he got out from the open window as he managed to push the screen out so that's how he got out. I heard the sound around 10-11 pm and just thought he was getting into stuff and went back to bed. When I woke up the screen was popped off in the corner so I looked everywhere my cat could have hidden and he was nowhere to be found. For that reason I began to look outside - at that moment, he could have been outside for 13 hours the most. I then tried to look at shelters online to see if anything came up for my cat and sure enough, SCRAPS had him so I tried to rush there and found him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was scared and dirty, I was the only one he let to be touched so that's how both me and the SCRAPS helpers knew he was mine. Everything seemed correct, he was missing at night and was turned in that day, the cat was 2 years old, it even had the same bent tip of the tail as my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I got him home but he's been different since, it's now the second day and he's still highly aggressive towards me. I haven't been able to take off the collar with paper tag that SCRAPS put on him with the date he was found. He hisses any time he gets too close to me or I try to sit somewhat close to him without actually trying to touch him. I've given him a treat and got to the point that he would try to come up to my fingers to get a treat as well but then he just snaps back into that state that his eyes change and attacks me again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't know if he'll ever be the same that he used to be, is there any chance that he'll be back to normal?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9735" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T12:23:25.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T12:23:25.500" Title="Will my cat ever be the same?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-19T18:32:40.687" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;Folks, I got a nano-tank setup of 6 gallon (around 23 liters), in which I got: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tall Grass (&lt;em&gt;Eleocharis Vivipara&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ludwigia Mini&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dwarf Hair Grass (&lt;em&gt;Eleocharis Acicularis&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 3 weeks I didn't introduce any CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; source. They were green and growing slowly. But when I started to pour Flourish Excel, after 2 weeks I noticed some decaying leaves and stems. Dwarf Hair Grass got brownish in colour, only few of the hairs were green. &lt;em&gt;Eleocharis Vivipara&lt;/em&gt; got messed up due to dying strings. I use to pour 2.5ml everyday in the morning. My substrate is Contro Soil with no additives like root tabs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please someone suggest me some recovery option to save this current setup or please suggest me the plants for this setup. I gotta medium LED warm light with red, blue and cool white. It's bright enough to touch the bottom layer of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For low tech tank I found some plant's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Staurogyne Repens&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dwarf Sagittaria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Christmas Moss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Java Moss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glosso&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any opinion on the above please educate me and also give your suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your help will be appreciated.&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:18:11.860" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:18:11.860" Title="Flourish Excel melting my hair grass and ludwigia" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17456" CreationDate="2017-06-19T22:39:19.473" Score="2" ViewCount="1050" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was at work my dog destroyed his blanket. He was stuck at through his tooth. I cut the blanket and set him free. However there's a small lint of the blanket in one of his teeth. I'm not able to remove it. I'm wondering if I have to take him to vet or it would be removed naturally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-06-20T12:07:35.570" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T12:11:00.933" Title="Dog with lint stuck on tooth" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17438" CreationDate="2017-06-20T01:33:41.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all you should be the first person to know whether he is your cat or not. I mean, it's been two years, am I correct? There must be something about him which makes you know it's him and I don't mean the looks, I mean his usual personality when he's not around you, it can't be that he used to be with you all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second of all, yes, there's a 90 percent chance he'll go back to normal. He only needs to feel secure for time being. Don't try to get him closer to you, he'll only see you trying to decieve him. It's because he was abused before and now captured by scary humans who MIGHT have tried distracting him by showing him a treat and then captured him. Your cat may still be suffering from all the stress he felt for the night and day he just experienced. Have patience and act like you usually do with him, call him words you used to call him the way you used to and, if possible, tease him (just a little) the way you used to tease him so he could feel home again. Pretend nothing happened even if he hisses or whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good idea would be to not look afraid or feel disappointed in response to his hissing. Cats can feel your senses. Just either PLAY with him, or tease him pretending you don't know he's mad and say words you tell him when you feel loving. I'd suggest you really feel loving him at the moment. He'll form an emotional bond with you back again. When you show him everything is like it used to be slowly he'll fully return to your old cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:18:21.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:18:21.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17451" CreationDate="2017-06-20T03:49:27.237" Score="2" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;As dogs are trained these days, it's unusual for them to attack humans. But as for untrained dogs, they may have a lot of reasons to hurt people such as  people scare them and have them cornered, people challenge their whole pack, things like that (even though things like this rarely happen, the point is dogs have reasons to hurt people). So I'm thinking if a normal dog who is not afraid of humans (and is untrained) sniffs a human that smells like a cat, will the dog attack or bite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-22T20:48:14.490" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T20:48:14.490" Title="Will untrained dogs hurt a human if he/she smells like a cat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16959" CreationDate="2017-06-20T04:31:10.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume your cat isn't neutered, right? The crying is probably to call females he wants to mate with. The female he brought home left for some reason and now he wants to mate with another. Not eating and staying outside is extremely normal. But that's if he still eats a little bit. That would be a real problem only in case he never eats. So the vet says he's OK? Great, but when he does that again you should know now what's his problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T15:00:54.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T15:00:54.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17448" CreationDate="2017-06-20T05:29:34.940" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short: no. The whole cats vs. dogs thing is full of tropes and assumptions. This has nothing to do with smells though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The behavior of cats contradicts what normal socialized dogs expect. For example, a cat will move its tail when annoyed and about to attack. Dogs on the other hand will do so when being friendly/excited. Similar for growling/purring.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats are usually smaller, so once they move quickly, they might trigger a dog's hunting instincts as potential prey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats and dogs can live side by side, especially when they grow up together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs might react to smells but it's more likely one would try to find the actual origins if something doesn't feel right to them, e.g. human smelling like cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overall it still boils down to the dog's training, there's no &quot;inherent&quot; reaction other than sniffing I could think of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as an example, our Huskies will treat any other animal they see just like a dog, unless they see it running. It doesn't matter whether it's a cat or horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T05:29:34.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-20T08:56:35.977" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy (10 weeks, Pembrokeshire Corgi) has been having a little trouble with toilet training. He's only managed to poo once in the garden and all other instances have been indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's very good at using his puppy pads, so I've tried putting a few outside. However, he still just plays outside and then goes inside, goes crazy and does a poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would taking some of his poo and putting it outside (burying, covering it) encourage him to poo outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9742" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T08:56:35.977" Title="Will putting my dog's poo outside encourage it to take a dump in the garden?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17459" CreationDate="2017-06-20T09:10:02.050" Score="4" ViewCount="7021" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 kittens that we brought home 5 days ago, they are 12 and 13 weeks old now. They have a very tall cat tree that they use, they use the litterbox and they get along very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain things we don't want them to do, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping on the dinner table and kitchen counters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing with/eating the (fake) plants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping on the towel shelf (it's in the bathroom, next to the litterbox, don't want their dirty paws on my towels).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Climbing the curtains.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure they do this because they think it's fun, not because they lack attention; I work from home and I try to pet them every half hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignoring them completely when they do the above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Removing them while saying a firm &quot;NO&quot; and then walking away. They keep going right back at it and I come back, rinse and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sticking double-sided tape on the plant pots, they just ripped it off and started playing with it, then tried to eat it, and then right back to bashing the leaves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next thing I want to try is to use a tiny water gun that I can conceal in my hand and squirt them, then act like I didn't even notice they are there so they don't associate the water with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard that clicker training is the best way to train your cat to do what you want, but how does that work if you just want to train them to NOT do what you DON'T want?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that having picked them up and removed them while saying a firm &quot;NO&quot; might have damaged the bond between us and the kittens. In the first 2 days they would sit with us in the couch, now they don't want to and just sleep in their cat tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to stop unwanted behavior while building/maintaining a bond with the kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9565" LastEditorUserId="9565" LastEditDate="2017-06-20T09:31:37.560" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T14:38:24.013" Title="Whats the best way to prevent cats from going places they shouldn't?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17455" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-20T11:25:14.187" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm from the UK and my next-door neighbour keeps 2 dogs and a tortoise in a tiny little house. I have lived in this house for five years and have never seen her walk her dogs once and they constantly bark and howl. The tortoise is a recently addition to the house of heck and the clown has put the tortoise right next to my back garden fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a dog myself and he is trying to rip through the fence constantly to reach the tortoise as it is annoying him. I don't think she is competent to keep pets as the current arrangement is not good for my dog who is constantly stressed or her tortoise who I'm concerned may be hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are not on speaking terms so I would be interested in any suggestions about how to deal with this problem. This woman shouldn't be allowed to keep pets and if I have any legal ground I would like to contact the RSPCA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T13:19:31.357" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:23:49.850" Title="How to deal with suspicions of neighbours abusing animals" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17441" CreationDate="2017-06-20T12:11:00.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the item stuck in your dogs teeth does not pose a potential risk to swallowing or breathing (&lt;em&gt;or signs of discomfort or bleeding&lt;/em&gt;)... If it does then an emergency vet visit is in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the item stuck in the teeth does not self clear by the next day, then contact the vet for an appointment. Anything pressing against soft tissue like gums can cause injury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T12:11:00.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17455" CreationDate="2017-06-20T12:21:57.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you think an animal is mistreated you have to alert the RSPCA and the police, they might not act at once but one needs to keep telling them about it and try to help the animals until they do. If they find that the animals are not mistreated there is not a lot one can do, except keeping an eye on it and alerting the RSPCA and police again until they do something to solve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is about all animals, not only pets but farm animals too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-09T05:33:12.467" LastActivityDate="2020-05-09T05:33:12.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17455" CreationDate="2017-06-20T13:04:29.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were in your shoes, I'd visit her as a neighbour and say like ''Hey what cute dogs'' and ask her if they go out if not I'd ask to walk them myself. That's until the cops or the RSPCA comes to solve the problem. I don't think the tortoise is abused though considering what you say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:23:49.850" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:23:49.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17454" CreationDate="2017-06-20T13:57:16.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Funny kittens. OK now, training with a clicker makes you guys bond better, it wouldn't teach them not to do something. Instead it will teach them to do something else. And of course it needs time. If you want them to listen to the word ''No'', you should also train them to do stuff which gets them rewards. This would teach them that you love them but don't like when they do the bad stuff. Start training them to come by having something delicious each time you call them, also calling them at dinner (cat dinner of course) time makes training easier and they may learn faster to come to you when you call. That also means not to keep their bowls full all the time.The more you call them then give them treats or dinner the faster they will learn. In this case, saying ''No'' when they do the bad behaviour won't make them try to stay away from you. Treats will make them love and probably trust you as their MOM! So to make a long story short, if you want them to listen to the word ''No'' and still not hate you, you should also encourage them to do things that get them treats or a bite of wet food. They love wet food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling them to play is also a big step to bond. You can do that by choosing a certain word such as ''play'' or ''yoohoo''  and throw some toy or ball. They would associate the word with play and so run to you every time you say the word. And if the word ''no'' doesn't ever work, try saying it then put them in their carrier for some time. And about the water spray it doesn't really matter if they know it's you, just don't use it with everything. For example use it to stop them from coming on your dinner table, to stop them from eating fake plants (although I don't recommend it--it's better to just move the plants elsewhere) and to stop curtain climbing. But give them a warning first. Say no a couple of times like 3 or 4 then if they don't listen, shoot, and if they stay, keep shooting until they stop whatever they are doing. If it's a strong sprayer, avoid the face as much as possible. Use it only at the hip or back. If it's really soft and sends sparkles everywhere it's okay to get to the face as it is annoying to them and at the same time won't hurt them. But don't intentionally aim to the face, that just ain't nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT chase them with the water spray it makes them fear you . When they run away and leave the bad behaviour, stop shooting. it should take 3 sprays at maximum.That makes them understand you are a strict person but they'll still listen to your rules because in other cases you give them treats and attention just for being good at what they like (basically play). That means let them have things to climb instead of a curtain and praise them for it, allow them to take a toy (or possibly some of your stuff as toy) and show them you're proud of them for choosing and skillfully biting, chasing, playing, etc. with whatever they chose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't like to break rules even though you see a lot of them break it. They sometimes can't help it especially if it's about food. Of course you don't have to spray them every time. When they're used to it you could say no and IF necessary show them the water bottle, they should immediatly get the idea.That would make them remember the word.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT before starting the water spray process you should teach the ''No means I don't approve''. For example if you wanted them off counters, (if they are kittens and not overweight, never do so to a cat) hold them from the scruff and say no then put them down. Don't expect them to listen to the word ''No'' when they don't get the word. Doing the scruff thing makes them get the word. And saying ''No'' then spraying when they aren't trained to the word ''no'' will only make them see the word ''No'' as ''I'll attack you for no reason now, but i'm an idiot so I warn you every time''. After they learn''No'' you level up IF NEEDED and start with the water spray thing. Some cats don't even need the spraying thing. They'll just listen to ''No'' from the scruff thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't ever scruff a CAT because cats don't have a lot of skin on their necks like kittens, and also when you try to scruff your kitten you can realize if it has enough skin to not choke or if it has a little amount of skin and so chokes which of course, you should never do. Holding them from the scruff only and not carrying them from it is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By using the carrier for certain stuff and water for others, scruffing for little stuff (not so important stuff) it should workout for you.  BUT still you should start with scruffing and using the carrier before spraying. Use the word ''No''for everything which you don't approve at first, then if the cat doesn't listen use other techniques. That's after they learn to love you. They will then want to do the good things to get the treats and attention (when they start craving it from you) and avoid the bad things. (By the way you could also use a word instead of a clicker but remember to say it every time they do the good behavior and then make sure they get a treat after saying it). The whole process will take some time, so can you be patient enough to handle two cute little kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you sense your cat getting sensitive about punishment, that means you overdid it. And that can ruin everything. Try to avoid punishing them as much as possible. And praising them more. Some cats may never learn--they might just get displeased with you. In such cases leaving the cat be is your best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-22T14:38:24.013" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T14:38:24.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-20T15:43:42.020" Score="3" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thank you all in advance for your answers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am a dog-lover and I'm going to adopt my first dog in a few weeks (I couldn't do so before because of lack of time and space)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now I'm wondering if is it OK to adopt a pup from farmers who live in villages and their dogs are clearly from no specific breeds and their parents have been herding shepherd dogs in our local environment? (Western Iran)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I want to bring the dog to a small (60-70 SqM) apartment.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My main concern is the behavior. Can they be trained like a purebred? (Labs, Goldens, Border Collies, Aussies,...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9745" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T17:46:21.700" Title="Is it OK to adopt unknown breeds?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;herding&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17460" CreationDate="2017-06-20T16:16:16.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;People adopt mutts all the time, so I don't see this as much different. In which case, you try to make an educated guess as to the dog's needs, and home it appropriately.  However, knowing the parent dogs gives you more information about what the dog's needs are. Since the parents are used as herding dogs, I would say a small apartment will not be an appropriate environment for it. In order to be an effective herding dog, the dog must be fairly intelligent and have a lot of energy. It's very difficult to keep such a dog exercised and entertained in a small apartment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-06-20T16:16:16.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16398" CreationDate="2017-06-21T01:04:19.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider bringing your cat chicken or turky with gravy. And make it the same brand her dry food is. My cat doesn't really like things that have salmon or fish in them but when they contain chicken or turky she flips all over them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T01:04:19.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17425" CreationDate="2017-06-21T02:35:14.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking the fungus off with your hands will not likely remove the fungus cells, and doing so may further stress the fish out. I apologize to have to say this, but if medicine doesn't work, it may be too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9748" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T02:35:14.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17467" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-21T11:43:00.657" Score="3" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mixed breed dog that has not been given an annual antirabies vaccine. Suddenly at the age of 5 years, my dog killed a rat so I decided to give him an antirabies vaccine. Then my vet advised that after his 1st shot, another antirabies shot should be given after 2 weeks. Is it safe? I'm scared of the possible overdose of the vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9750" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T19:02:39.210" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T19:06:32.227" Title="Is it safe to give a rabies booster 2 weeks after inital vaccine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-21T11:51:22.247" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm talking about puppies because people carry them and hug them. Dogs on the other hand get stressed while getting hugged because they feel trapped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2017-06-23T21:31:46.473" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T21:31:46.473" Title="Do puppies really like being hugged?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17467" CreationDate="2017-06-21T12:00:37.547" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You see the first shot your dog is going to have is the shot he/she should have had when it was a puppy so it won't harm your dog if it gets another vaccine in two weeks. Your dog's body is much stronger now than a puppy's. Usually it takes a month to get to the next vaccine, but half a month is good for a dog to get a puppy's vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T12:00:37.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17305" CreationDate="2017-06-21T12:30:25.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try leaving the dog where you put him. Then calling for him to come get treats. Also consider having a picnic in the grass so the dog see's that after a while nothing happened (that's if the dog is scared). Also don't force the dog to do it for 5 minutes every time, make it less, then every once in a while when you try to walk him try gradually increasing the time limit but don't get to five minutes until he's calm about the whole thing. If the dog moves from his spot give him a treat. If the dog want's to go home let it. Also make the dog stay on your porch for instance and YOU spend time being out there where he can see you.  Puppies need to feel safe and encouraged. And your puppy is obviously insecure and not sure of the out side world yet. The reason he walks in the forest is because he knows you're his safest place to be. But he doesn't really want to go for walks yet. And him going to other dogs and sniffing them means he's not afraid of dogs(unless you see fear signs) and that's good. He's maybe afraid of other stuff or just the idea of leaving home,where all consumables are. So show the dog treats,water and safety and all is going to be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T12:30:25.850" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17363" CreationDate="2017-06-21T12:36:10.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to get her soft foods such as wet food. There are two kinds of wet food. The kind which has chunks and the kind that looks smashed all together. The latter should be your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T12:36:10.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17468" CreationDate="2017-06-21T13:09:24.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends by the dog. There are dogs that love hugs and others that don't. You could know just if you understand the body language of your puppy. &lt;strong&gt;Is it a good behaviour?&lt;/strong&gt; It depends!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The puppies need to be shaped&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs understand us really good so if when they are puppies we hugs them saying something with a little voice they will link it to an &lt;strong&gt;affectionate gesture&lt;/strong&gt; (and of course it is). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's spontaneous to hug our puppy! You can do it when you want, but just don't do it too much because &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;they have to learn to be independent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the opposite take them for a walk in the arms could compromise their growth.&#xA;When you are holding your puppy in the arms, while for example other dogs bark to it or while they try to sniff it, you are not help it because the dog is feeling overprotected. The puppy will never integrate in a pack and will never understand what is the right behaviour of an adult dog and this could take it to become &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;antisocial&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just remember everytime you look in your best friend's eyes: it's a dog and not a baby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oRicO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oRicO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dog-hug&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9726" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T13:09:24.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17406" CreationDate="2017-06-21T15:55:00.200" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being that both cats are not neutered, the need for more space between them is greater than if they were. I agree with all of the suggestions made by @RebeccaRVT, but keep in mind they might not do much good if AT LEAST one cat, if not both aren't neutered. The hormones and instinct running through their bodies increases unpleasant behaviors such as scratching, biting, small spats, marking, etc. The frustration isn't just hard on you, it's hard on your kitties. They have no proper outlet for their instinct and hormones at this time. They are both males which means they're either on the offense or defense of their &quot;territory&quot; being invaded by a threat (another in tact male cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may not be that violent, but your cat is sending off warnings to the other. &quot;This is my space, my human, my part of the room, my personal bubble- back up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at some of the suggestions to reduce stress in a small environment, from this post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17321/keeping-my-cats-in-a-room-while-i-am-at-work&quot;&gt;Keeping my cats in a room while I am at work&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know space isn't part of your concern BUT it is for your kitties. See if any of the tips help. Feliway is a good product, it has stress reducing pheromones and has a good success rate BUT will most likely not be strong enough to overpower what your cats are naturally producing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get one or both of them fixed, that'd be my number one recommendation, followed by @RebeccaRVT 's answer, plus some tips from the link provided. If you need help with the financial burdens of fixing them, reaching out to local cat rescues might help (some have low cost or free spay/neuter voucher programs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mentioned that Joury has played with kittens &quot;nicely&quot; without issues in the past. Being that they were all kittens, and we're not yet producing any sex hormones yet, this may very well be the reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an added bonus, fixing them will improve their overall health, increase their lifespan, and improve behavioral issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-06-21T16:05:16.687" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T16:05:16.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17467" CreationDate="2017-06-21T16:34:10.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common for dogs without a vaccination history OR without proof of what vaccines have been given to get the puppy rabies, as well as it's second (usually given a year later) as a booster shot. This is not harmful to your dog, and rescue dogs who MAY HAVE already received a vaccination are given the vaccine twice all the time either accidentally or so there can be legal/paper proof the vaccine was given. This is not dangerous. It's common to receive 2 in one month or over the course of 2-3 months. 2 weeks in-between may be a little close together, but will not harm your dog unless an allergy to the vaccine and/or ingredients in it, is present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T16:34:10.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17475" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-21T18:11:32.790" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter has a little bream in her tank and doesn't want to get rid of it. We haven't tried adding other fish into the tank due to we don't know of any other fish are compatible to be in the same tank. She is wanting to put neon fish in with her bream and we are wanting to know if these two types of fish are compatible with each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9752" LastActivityDate="2017-06-21T18:30:29.550" Title="Bream and Neon Fish" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-21T23:31:50.390" Score="3" ViewCount="822" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago I finally adopted two cats (both 2 years old, from different shelters). One of the two does not cover his poop, probably because he never learned to, and it's too late to teach him now. The other cat actually does double duty if he finds uncovered poop in the litter box, covering (so to speak) for his roommate. Anyway, the stuff stinks really badly, and the exhaust fan in my inside bathroom does not do an adequate job of clearing up the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one of those covered litter boxes (the Van Ness CP7), and it already has vents on the top (with zeolite filters that don't do anything), so I'm thinking of attaching some sort of fan that would pull the air and force it through an activated charcoal filter. Does such a thing already exist? I haven't been able to find anything on Amazon. I've looked at lots of small air purifiers, and none appear to be suitable for fitting on top of the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions? Pointers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also assume the carts won't like it if there is a whirring fan and air movement while they do their business, so a PIR sensor and a relay connected to an Arduino would take care of that. Plus, it would get me statistics for how much and how long they use the box for while I'm away :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9754" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T22:52:43.103" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T22:52:43.103" Title="Activated charcoal filters + fan for covered litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17477" CreationDate="2017-06-22T01:51:08.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I personally see covered litter boxes as bombs, so don't expect the fan in your bathroom to do the work. Bathroom fans push away smells they can reach, not smells that are hiding in little caves. I have an uncovered litter box (two actually), and I put one of them in an unused bathroom. It doesn't stink until it's cleaning time when I scoop it, and that's normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I even thought that maybe my family and I didn't smell it because our bodies got used to it, but I did dare to ask guests if they smelt anything, and they said no. They also mentioned that it's weird the litter box doesn't smell. They told me about other owners who made them want to run away because of the stinky litter box they had. So, if able, keep the litter box opened and then depend on your fan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also open a window to let the smells go away if available. Of course, cleaning the litter box is a major duty for people who really want to get rid of smells, as well as looks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:31:05.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:31:05.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17454" CreationDate="2017-06-22T02:00:48.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're cats.  Some cats have a very strong urge to explore, and see things they haven't seen before, or recently.  You aren't going to change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have places you don't want them to go, you need to do some combination of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide them with better places to go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make it uncomfortable for them to go to the places you don't want them to go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make it difficult/impossible for them to go to the places you don't want them to go &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like a squirt bottle, or saying no, and the like will work really well at training them not to go places you don't want them to go &lt;em&gt;while you're present&lt;/em&gt;.  They will absolutely associate you squirting them, at least in part, with you.  And they'll most likely go to those places when you aren't present.  Something that you could trigger remotely, without them knowing you're doing it (a remote air horn or the like) might work, but it would have to happen every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, realistically, you need to block off areas you don't want them to go, or you need to make those places unattractive to them.  Things like two-sided tape, aluminum foil, and so on are one possibility; there are also citrus sprays that some cats don't like to smell.  But the only fool-proof way is to make it impossible for them to get to wherever you don't want them to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are not social animals in the way dogs are, and they look at positive and negative stimulus differently than a social animal would.  They like treats, they like being pet and played with, and so on, and they'll get upset if you withhold positive stimulus, but they won't associate withholding positive stimulus with their behavior.  And in fact, withholding playtime and the like is will make them more likely to &quot;misbehave,&quot; as they look for some way to expend energy.  Cats are a different sort of pet, in that they're not really domesticated.  They can live with us, but they don't have to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1247" LastEditorUserId="1247" LastEditDate="2017-06-23T14:24:24.757" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T14:24:24.757" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17482" CreationDate="2017-06-22T04:14:03.157" Score="3" ViewCount="54654" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat usually sleeps alone in a different room when I of course sleep in my bedroom. She's never interested in sleeping with anyone in the family. In fact, she seems to get annoyed and leave the place if the person (trying to sleep with her) touches her a lot. She's still nice and accepts family members bothering her a little. And depending on the person she either swats or leaves when she's fed up with him or her, and that's when the person exaggerates with giving her too much love (which I don't see as too much love for a cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yesterday I got a cough attack (because of asthma which is not caused by her, it's because I got a male cat to live with us and I'm allergic to males). She was playing fetch at the time, by giving me a head band she loves and I throw it. I threw the head band, she ran, I started coughing a lot and having my chest closed. I think I also sighed a little too. She then lost interest in playing and jumped on my bed (where I was trying to rest a little and where she NEVER hangs out) and it's like she notices something is happening but she can't talk, Looking away then at me again then away etc..as if a human was thinking and looking for an answer. She totally lost interest in the game. She then decided to stay on my bed and then slept. The shocking thing was that lots of my family members came to her, petted her, gave her love (which she doesn't really like, she can usually take it for some time, but then she gets fed up with it), and she got up wanting to leave but decided to stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my family got out of my room (which my sisters and I share and the cat knows someone can suddenly get in and bother her, making it a reason to why she never sleeps in my bedroom) she stayed in the same spot, made herself comfortable and tried to sleep (usually if she had to stay in the bedroom she'd jump to the top drawer of my closet to be able to rest.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did once in a while sit down and start coughing again and she gave me a look that says &quot;I know you're sick and I don't like it&quot; (I'm not sure about that really) but then closes her eyes and tries to sleep again with my very disturbing sounds. And when I woke up, many hours later, she was still there!! It's really surprising to me that she actually stayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She used to sleep by our sides sometimes only when she was a kitten, and whenever we wake up we know that it's impossible for us to see her still where she'd been before we closed our eyes. Because she simply didn't like to sleep with us a lot, she may feel affectionate and sleep with us sometimes, but there's a 95% chance she leaves while we sleep, or if she's trapped in our room she'll wait at the door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, why did my cat sacrifice her time sleeping in an unusual spot and staying right at my feet without moving? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For more information i did sometimes stretch and my feet push her a bit, and still my cat didn't care, she stayed right at the spot. I sometimes annoy and tease her from my love to her and she would usually leave or bite in obvious discomfort. She doesn't hurt me, though, her bites are meant to warn me. It seems to be an attack while in fact she just puts her teeth on me. And yes, she could hurt me if she liked, as I saw her bad side sometimes. She just didn't do a thing to me, or leave my side, even though usually she'd make it obvious if she didn't like what I do to her.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:53:24.320" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:53:24.320" Title="Do cats know when their owner is sick?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17481" CreationDate="2017-06-22T12:41:50.610" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There has been some basic scientific inquiry into this area (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20151015-your-cat-can-pick-up-on-how-you-are-feeling&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20151015-your-cat-can-pick-up-on-how-you-are-feeling&lt;/a&gt;) but there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence that yes they do. In my own experience (and that of every cat-serving friend I've known) they display markedly different behavior when their human is unwell or noticeably upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both my two get much more &quot;snuggly&quot; when I'm unwell, often wanting to be near me much more than normal and will be display protective or guarding behaviors as .well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-06-22T12:41:50.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17490" CreationDate="2017-06-23T00:24:39.150" Score="2" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Update&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sammy received the medication well for the last few hours of his life, until he took a turn for the worst. While driving him to the vet, he has passed away and went on his way home. For anyone reading this, I regret to inform you of this sad news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our doxie senior (11 years old), Sammy, all of a sudden has tremendous swelling among both eyes and forehead. This started two days ago when the underside of his right eye started to swell. At the time we thought of nothing much of it as he always chases small insects like bees around that would sting him, but now looking back I am not so sure. I guess call it bad observations or being a bad owner, but normally if a &quot;bee&quot; would sting him his right under would always bee the areas to swell up. I never correlated that it happening more frequently was a warning sign. Upon checking the area for any bites or string areas I could not find anything. This swelling also has seemed to affect his barking and eating habits. Before the swelling started, he would always bark at every little thing. TRUST ME WHEN I SAY EVERY LITTLE THING. Now when he barks it sounds like it is labored and hurts him to do it! It also caused him in general to stop eating and barking, leading me into thinking that whatever this is, is also hurting his jaw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warning: The following picture is of my dog and may contain unsuitable content to some audiences. Viewer's discretion is advised. Please hover over the yellow block to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/JEuOPZZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My family and I plan on taking him to the vet immediately first thing in the morning. Any help before hand as to what this may be or caused by would be tremendous! If any questions arise, I will be relentlessly checking this post, so please comment and I will update the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Update&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon helping him down the stairs outside to go use the restroom, he seems very disoriented and dragging his left front leg. He stumbles around and often falls over. He is also having a hard time using the restroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9757" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2020-02-14T19:03:07.210" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T19:03:07.210" Title="Dachshund Head Swelling" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9550" CreationDate="2017-06-23T02:55:49.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we got our boy done, we stopped feeding him about 10 hours before the procedure. He still managed to sneak something in while we were asleep which he promptly threw up when he was given the anesthetic. He was fine and the procedure went well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him home right after and we were told to put him in his carrier so that he wouldn't try to get out and walk. They do not understand what's happening to them and if they try to walk and run they'll end up hurting themselves. He did wake up to pee and like the good boy that he is he tried to walk on his own in that groggy state to his litter box. I simply got the litter box near his bed where he peed and then fell asleep right back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were also asked not to feed him anything much that entire day. We fed him a little water after about three hours. Then gave him a little wet food a little later which he just nibbled at. We were specifically asked to give wet food only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By 9 pm that evening he was about 70% awake. I stayed awake most of that night with him. The doc had told us that she had given him antibiotics and pain killers so he should be comfortable. Within a day he was fully awake and back to his usual shenanigans. We were advised to not let him jump too far or let him lick that area for the next couple of days. We took him in for a quick checkup the next day and the vet told us that he was recovering just fine. Within the next 48 hours he was back to his old self. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had the same apprehensions as you but we made it through :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T02:55:49.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17481" CreationDate="2017-06-23T03:06:47.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My own personal experience says that they can feel and sense when humans they are attached to are in discomfort or distress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boy also sleeps by himself. He does like being petted and stroked but now we've learned when he does like it and when he doesn't care for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one time I had a bad tummy infection and I was constantly throwing up. He stood by the bathroom door and wouldn't let anyone in. He would just swat them away or hiss at them. This included my wife. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I came back to bed he slept by my side all day. He got up just to have water and a little food but at all other times he was right beside me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say cats don't show affection or are unemotional. My experience has been completely the opposite. They probably don't express it as much but they certainly do care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T03:06:47.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17494" CreationDate="2017-06-23T03:24:07.230" Score="3" ViewCount="1092" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like I have read that it's a bad choice to wash your dog's head and face, because you could get water in their ears and have their eyes irritated.&#xA;What are some options I can try that would avoid these negative things, but still allow me to get my dog fully clean?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there different shampoo choices for a dogs head/face that would be better to use than those for a dogs body?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a 65 lbs (29 kg) Labrador Retriever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:38:16.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:38:16.027" Title="Is it OK to wash my dogs head/face with the hose and dog shampoo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-23T03:43:34.230" Score="2" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs know better to not be on my bed because they pee on it. I have trained them to pee in their pee pads and they already know to do so.&#xA;For the past two night, my female dog, Lexi, tends to jump on while I am sleeping and falls to sleep right next to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her and her puppies bed is right next to mine and they each have their own big bed. She jumps on my bed and when I tell her to get off she refuses. When I try to carry her off, she pushes herself back and jumps on top of me like she doesn't want to get off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she trying to tell me something or is she sick or is there something wrong. I have a boy named Sniper that lays down on my bed once in a while but sleeps with my parents on their bed. I try to show all equality to them so why is she acting up now. She was never likes this before. She has always liked her own space next to my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9758" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T19:21:45.050" LastActivityDate="2017-10-22T20:07:05.070" Title="Why is my dog sleeping in my bed (previously she was trained to not get on the bed)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17485" CreationDate="2017-06-23T05:34:43.717" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;your dog has an allergic reaction probably after a snake bite or an insect bite.get it to a vet right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this is not the only answer to what it might be but the other things it might be will also need immidiate help from a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;your dog is in danger get it to a vet right now.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-06-23T05:44:36.927" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T05:44:36.927" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17363" CreationDate="2017-06-23T10:43:07.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd be taking her to the vet ASAP.. while it's plausible that it's just a fear reaction to a one-off choking incident there could be a medical issue that's preventing her from eating properly and at the very least you need to rule that out as a first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's still drinking okay then you could try getting her some soup (the kind that's made for cats not humans!) e.g: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/cat/gourmet/product-range?filter=tags.texture.soup&amp;amp;gclid=CI2g_4Lj09QCFcqd7QodTw8PBA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.purina.co.uk/cat/gourmet/product-range?filter=tags.texture.soup&amp;amp;gclid=CI2g_4Lj09QCFcqd7QodTw8PBA&lt;/a&gt; which will at least be getting her some nutrition but I still think  a vet needs to check her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T10:43:07.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17468" CreationDate="2017-06-23T15:02:14.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Labrador Retriever loved to be hugged as a puppy and still continues to love it as a 14 month old. It completely depends on the personality of your dog. Something that is unique and cute about our dog is that she initiates the hug herself by coming to you with her head down and pushes the back of her neck and upper back into your chest while you are sitting down on the floor. She literally wants the closeness and hug around her body and will stay in that position for 10-15 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that she continues the motion and does a somersault forward into your lap and then it's &quot;play time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say there is a significant &lt;em&gt;difference&lt;/em&gt; between &quot;hugging&quot; a dog and &quot;restraining/holding&quot; them. The latter being the one that more dogs would not find to be comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T15:02:14.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-23T16:01:49.493" Score="2" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm finding it difficult to figure out the best way to transport my 65 lb. Labrador Retriever in the back of my pickup truck. There is no canopy on the truck. It's not ideal to have her up in the cab since its just a single cab truck and there isn't room when there is a passenger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried using her wire framed kennel, strapped in place so it doesn't slide around and so she is secured, but I find that she then has trouble keeping her footing when turning corners (the plastic mat/tray is too slippery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not interested in just letting her be free in the back like I see some dogs, because I think its too risky for her to fall out, or be injured for the same reasons in slipping around in the bed of the truck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering getting a rubber horse mat to place in the wire framed kennel to help keep her stability if she isn't laying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also considered getting a smaller carrier of the firm plastic material so that her toes are more protected in the event she does slip (the wire kennel could possibly hurt her toes if snagged).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;99% of my trips are never more than 30 minutes, unless we taking her camping where the trip might be 1 to 1.5 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Safety and comfort are the things I am most interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know what you do for your dog in similar situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T16:01:49.493" Title="Transporting a dog in the back of a pickup truck" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17488" CreationDate="2017-06-23T16:33:58.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good alternative is to get dog bathing wipes and wipe around their face. This way there is no risk of anything getting into their eyes. However, you'd have to check to make sure that there is nothing in them that would irritate your dog. Another alternative would be to get a washcloth or sponge for the dog and only use water or waterless dog shampoo. Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pedigree.com/dog-care/health/cleaning-your-dog-s-face-and-eyes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.pedigree.com/dog-care/health/cleaning-your-dog-s-face-and-eyes&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2017-06-23T16:33:58.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-23T20:47:48.393" Score="1" ViewCount="797" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several months ago my red cap oranda developed a lump on his side. It resembled an acne nodule. The lump was beneath his scales and didn't seem to cause him any trouble. He had some mild red streaking in his tail which cleared up once I began doing more frequent water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, the lump has swollen. In fact, it looks like there are two smaller lumps beside it. The scales are pushed up and the area is red. See photos below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today the lump ruptured and briefly suppurated a stringy white tissue. Despite the lump and the rupture, the goldfish is behaving normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I suspected this was a tumor, but the rupture has me thinking otherwise. Can anyone with experienced help me diagnose the problem and advise me how to resolve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank Specs:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;size: 35 gallons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fish: 1 red cap oranda; 1 black telescope&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food: flakes/peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrate: 20 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrite: 0 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hardness: 150 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chlorine: 0 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;alkalinity: 80 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH 7.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia: between 0-0.25 ppm (I use the API test kit which isn't super accurate.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Action Taken:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've already done a five day treatment on the tank using Marineland's All-In-One Remedy, since I've had luck with this product in the past. I'm also doing 1/3 tank partial  water changes every other day in an effort to keep the water pristine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Photos:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bLwkp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bLwkp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B0f1P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/B0f1P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZAs2z.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZAs2z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gFjEE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gFjEE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'll update the photos if I can get some better ones.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9761" LastActivityDate="2021-04-06T11:47:06.190" Title="Lump on Goldfish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-23T22:23:41.777" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what other ways can we teach a dog to deal with it's feces. Can dogs learn to cover their feces? Is it even natural for them? And why don't usual dogs cover their feces? Is it a territory thing? Are they not afraid of bigger animals to find them, or is it just that they don't care or think it doesn't make a reason for other animals to come look for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be really great if someone is able to explain to me the whole thing, because a friend of mine is thinking of adopting a puppy but she's afraid the dog would dirty up her home which can make family problems for her. She is thinking of having a sand box in her yard and let the dog do it's buisiness in there like a CAT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T20:38:50.863" Title="Can a DOG learn to cover it's feces?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="792" CreationDate="2017-06-24T03:49:04.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I treat my RES with feeder fish like minnows to or goldfish . Petco in my area sells them for 19 cents a piece . I bought her a half dozen and they lasted her a few days because they are fast and she got tired of chasing them lol &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9763" LastActivityDate="2017-06-24T03:49:04.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-24T06:44:59.333" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, since antibiotics fight against bacteria, then if I give my rat an antibiotic mixed with yogurt (containing for instance Lactobacillus bulgaricus) or Nestle Sinlac (containing Bifidobacterium lactis) does it make my antibiotic weaker since there are more bacteria to fight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T18:24:05.127" Title="Antibiotics mixed with yogurt on Sinclac containing bacteria cultures?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17500" CreationDate="2017-06-24T09:43:16.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to this is: the bacteria in the food do not affect the concentration of antibiotics, but there are some antibiotics that are influenced by milk and milk products, so read the information on the package.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some antibiotics are to be given with more fluid than other types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T18:24:05.127" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T18:24:05.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-24T11:41:54.597" Score="3" ViewCount="1538" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I just walked downstairs to find my black cat chilling out on the table with a ginger cat in the room, with no issues whatsoever. The cat is called Peter and owned by someone who lives nearby. This isn't the first time I've found Peter in my house, he's been lying on the sofa before as well as eating from the food in my house, when he did that I shouted &quot;Shoo, Peter, shoo! Run while you can!&quot; and he shot right out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit confused as to why Peter is coming into my house and my cat isn't showing hostility to him. I am now convinced that they are in deep love with each other. Luckily my cat is neutered. Maybe my cat is inviting Peter round to play or to eat breakfast with her, I have no idea, and I hope I can figure out if she's inviting Peter to our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, lately Peter has been coming round every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't take very kindly to Peter because I don't know if he's coming in without my cat's permission or with my cat's permission. I don't care if he's in my house, I doubt he'll do much harm but I just want to know... why.... there's loads of other people who live near me who have cats who he could visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is my cat friends with Peter?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why is Peter visiting me?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that my cat is going out with Peter. I'm not entirely sure, but I can just guess it... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7894" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T05:57:11.543" Title="Does my cat have a boyfriend?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17503" CreationDate="2017-06-24T14:19:21.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this can be seen as an answer, but here goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happened in the mid 80s. My neutered male cat, Mons, did come home with a small female cat when I was a teen. I used to let my cat in by opening my window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat refused to let me close the window. He made a lot of noise and called out loud. The female cat jumped inside through the open window and my male cat prevented me getting anywhere close to this cat. He hissed at me to let this female cat eat his food alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two cats spent all their time together outside and only came inside to eat for a short time before they left again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happened every day for close to two months but one day the female cat was gone. I don't know where the cat went. Hopefully it did go home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes it is possible for cats to fall badly madly in love, and I do think this time was the best time in my cat's life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My male cat did not have a negative reaction when the female cat left and was straight back to his crazy self (my cat was not usually nice to other cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T05:57:11.543" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T05:57:11.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-24T16:15:55.667" Score="2" ViewCount="11179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 month old puppy and I will have to leave her alone while I'm at work, for about 9-10 hours, I don't want to leave her in a crate all that time, even though she is in the crate by the bad while I am sleeping, and doesn't have any accidents at night, she is not yet potty trained.&#xA;I am thinking of leaving her outside, I have a decent size yard.&#xA;Or I can keep her in a closed off corner in that house.&#xA;Heat is also a problem, since it can get up to +30C around here, but the yard has shade all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find someone who can keep her company for at least an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried putting her in a fenced off corner with toys food and water, and even if I'm sitting near her, she start crying, if I leave the house for 5 minutes and the volume of her cries are enough to upset the neighbors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll take her to work with me tomorrow, I take a smoke break every 2 hours so I might get some potty training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9768" LastEditorUserId="9768" LastEditDate="2017-06-24T21:03:29.613" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T05:03:44.563" Title="Leaving 2 month old puppy while at work" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-24T18:52:39.950" Score="2" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 11 months old intact male dog (mix of GSB and local dog). He used to be very sociable since I have taken him to the dog park from very early age (3 months old). He is very well behaved and playful at home, around people and children. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the last 2 months he has gotten very aggressive towards other male dogs (both intact and neutered). He would likely to pick a fight or get hot tempered very quickly and switch from wagging tail to aggressively fighting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have to let him play at the dog park at a time when no male dog is around, and if any appears, we have to leave! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have research that neutering a dog may lower his aggression, but my opinion, I don't really support neutering as I think it is unnatural (please don't hate me it just my opinion). However, if it the best option for him to have fun and &quot;join with the dog society&quot;, then I would still do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me with my situation. This is my first time owning a dog and I have tried as hard as possible to training aggressive management but it doesn't seems to work. I also have tried use muzzle on him but he still pick up fights, and he got injured even more seriously since he cannot defense himself. I am also a graduates and just started working and cannot afford dog training, it is very expensive in my country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, I would be very thankful. &#xA;Sorry for my bad English. I am not from English native speaking coutries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9769" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T21:42:01.107" Title="Intact male dog aggresion. Will neuter help?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17528" CreationDate="2017-06-24T22:59:39.003" Score="2" ViewCount="9223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can or should you add catnip to dry or moist cat food to get your cat to eat it? Should you even try to do so? If not, are there any substitutions that you can recommend? Granted not all cats like catnip, but most do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T11:44:35.953" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T11:44:35.953" Title="Could you add catnip to cat food (canned or dry) to get my cats to eat it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17507" CreationDate="2017-06-25T06:47:46.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If possible, consult an expert to judge the dog's behavior. There might be things you're missing or things you're doing wrong. Also this could be a temporary thing as your dog started trying to find it's place in the pack's hierarchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering might help but it's no guarantee and by far no universal solution to everything. Just as with people your dog might not like certain individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you're unsure about this decision consider trying a hormone suppressant first. These are small injections that will basically neuter the dog for about six to nine months rather than permanently, so you can do a test run, see what/if/how the behavior changes and later on undo, repeat, or finalize your decision. (As Rebecca mentioned as a comment there might be a higher risk of cancer involved although I don't know whether that's a general thing or specific to some injections.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2017-07-25T21:42:01.107" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T21:42:01.107" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17531" CreationDate="2017-06-25T15:00:00.603" Score="2" ViewCount="16264" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have a ~7 month old unfixed male Dogo Argentino mix who's rather orally fixated currently. He has somewhat sensitive skin, and has been licking/chewing around the base of his tail; this has caused quite a bit of irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pGoMh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Irritation&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Mx10.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Mx10.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is in otherwise good health, happy and energetic. He may have a gluten sensitivity (as his mom did) but that's as of yet unconfirmed, and we feed him gluten free food anyway. He occasionally manages to steal a few kibbles from our other dog, of non-gluten-free food, but we haven't observed any reactions (unless this is indeed a reaction)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're wondering what remedies we can use to help heal/prevent further irritation, and what kinds of deterrents we can use to stop him from agitating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought an inflatable collar to prevent him from reaching it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eVyPe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Relaxing with his donut collar&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5378" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-25T15:39:52.290" LastActivityDate="2019-07-07T21:21:56.873" Title="Remedies for irritation at base of tail" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17506" CreationDate="2017-06-25T15:38:31.460" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you considered taking her to a local puppy/dog daycare?&#xA;Considering she is only 8 weeks old, I am assuming you just recently got her (within a week??).&#xA;She is likely exhibiting completely normal adjustment behavior to her new home. It's probably not so much the amount of time away right now but rather &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; time away that is going to upset her.&#xA;With 9-10 hours away and 6-8 hours asleep, that's a long time being kenneled in a single day. I would be worried long term that you'd start to see negative behavior issues from this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my answer would be to get in touch with a local dog daycare or local dog watching/visiting service that can come by and visit your pup every day and play with her for a while. The latter being a better option since she has not had all her immunization shots yet and probably isn't ready for a dog daycare at this age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2017-06-25T15:38:31.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17924" CreationDate="2017-06-25T18:13:25.267" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 months old puppy who is healthy and playful. For the past one week he started eating his own stool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a place reserved for his #1 and #2, and he does those activities there only. I tried to constantly monitor him but I miss always. He is too sneaky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled and I saw some products for this but I don't know whether they will work or good for his health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any suggestion to stop him from eating stool?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9431" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-25T18:47:01.137" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T15:51:17.233" Title="How to stop my puppy from eating his stool?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17488" CreationDate="2017-06-25T19:13:54.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog hates it, so I feel like a bully if/when I do it, but it hasn't caused any problems. Although, I try to be gentle around the sensitive parts of the face, and only use water, wet wipes, or baby shampoo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I used regular shampoo and conditioner a couple of times, but was concerned it might be sting the eyes when rinsing with water. You can take care how and where you apply the soaps, etc. but water is more difficult to control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is the one I've used. It came in a container that was more orange/pink, but I think it's basically the same:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KGAFsm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KGAFsm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;no more tears&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5624" LastActivityDate="2017-06-25T19:13:54.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6228" CreationDate="2017-06-26T00:28:49.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMHO I don't think you should punish her. Seriously!  Please do not punish her, it is cruel.  She's a cat following her instincts.  I asked my vet about it as I have two kittens who do the same thing, and she confirmed it's a comforting behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your kitten's mother will walk away if annoyed--it's up to her. I have a 9 month old kitten who suckles my 4 years old cat on her neck, shoulder, tummy or wherever because it provides her comfort. My cat sometimes gets annoyed and walks away, but usually doesn't care.  I do not interfere.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rescued the kittens' mother whom I found as a pregnant, starving, malnourished stray. She had her litter of six and I kept her and all six until the kittens were 10 weeks old and all were adopted including the sweet mother.  I kept two of the kittens and my older two cats, a male and female, immediately took on the role of nurturing them; they still do to this day. Both kittens suckled my cats all the time--obviously they didn't get milk, but did it for comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, yes, it can harm the mother. She can get emaciated if the mother doesn't have the will to push away the kittens even if she doesn't want to feed them. Not all queens are the same. My cat fed her kittens up to 2 years old and she almost died from it because she got so skinny even though I was feeding her own eight times a day. I had to get rid of the two kittens she had (even though they were two years old when I got rid of them they will always be kittens to me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9781" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:53:10.120" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:10.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6228" CreationDate="2017-06-26T05:26:54.170" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens sucking on their mother at 9 months old isn't normal in the wild. They should be stopped, even if it comforts them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They shouldn't be relying on their mother to this time. This makes them dependent and cats are independent creatures. They should be seeking YOU for comfort, because you're a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, if they keep nursing on her, she'll probably get scratched or bitten mistakenly, and such things cause infections. Try encouraging your kitten by providing more play and less time to go nurse on its mother. Also consider separating the certain kitten from it's mom MOST of the time, but not ALL the time, and make sure you don't separate her from her siblings so she won't feel lonely. Do that for a month or so, and if it continues, add some more time for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why you shouldn't separate the kitten from its mother &lt;em&gt;all the time&lt;/em&gt; is because the mother may forget her and start trying to kick her out of the house. You want them to like each other but not to depend on each other as a mom and daughter. Your kitten needs to feel secure on her own so she feels she doesn't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; her mother, but still likes and respects her (she's becoming a cat in a few months, so it won't hurt to make her more independent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice your kitten needs comfort, try providing it yourself. Show her affection and love and attention. Providing treats when she does a certain good thing is a good way to encourage her to become more independent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you and please take my advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:27:44.840" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:27:44.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17527" CreationDate="2017-06-26T06:08:09.097" Score="4" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is constipated and it's giving her hard time in the litter box. Her stomach is hard, but not at an exaggerating point. She had this issue before when she was a little kitten so I used to give her olive oil with her milk when that happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she's a cat and people say it's bad to give her milk, not mentioning that she herself won't drink it any more. She only eat's cat food and sometimes white chicken. Nothing else. So how do I help with the constipation problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T02:40:44.563" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:48.770" Title="What to do with a constipated cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17544" CreationDate="2017-06-26T06:22:45.300" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;We like to save money by grooming our dog's hair ourselves. It takes us a couple of hours every three months. Scissors has proven more successful than a shaver. But it's hard to know how much to spend on a pair of scissors. We've gone through a couple of pairs of cheap ones (around $20) and find that they go blunt after five or six usages. What sort of price range should I be looking at if I want scissors to last for at least 5 years or more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9782" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T17:10:56.223" Title="How much should I spend on scissors for grooming my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17523" CreationDate="2017-06-26T12:38:00.920" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your cat drinks more water,&#xA;one way to do this is to move the bowl of water away from the food preferably into another room, but across the room is OK.&#xA;This is to make the faeces softer and easier to pass for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet about finding food with more fiber.&#xA;More fiber will make the faeces easier to pass for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start giving fish oil (&lt;strong&gt;not cod liver oil&lt;/strong&gt;) in the food daily, just a tea spoon in the food.&#xA;If you add some oil to the food it can make the faeces softer and easier to pass for your cat.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/fish-oil-for-dogs-and-cats-the-benefits-of-omega-3-for-pets/601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/fish-oil-for-dogs-and-cats-the-benefits-of-omega-3-for-pets/601&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is to make the cat drink more water, the rest is things&#xA;you might try if this don't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T05:30:42.087" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T05:30:42.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17523" CreationDate="2017-06-26T16:04:10.667" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat cannot produce any stool she needs to be seen by a veterinarian first to rule out the cause of constipation and have an enema performed if necessary. Book a visit today if you can, the earlier the better - if this were a dog he should be seen ASAP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct in saying milk is bad for cats. They tend to get an intolerance to it as they grow older which can cause GI upset like diarrhea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_megacolon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Megacolon&lt;/a&gt; is a concern when seeing a constipated cat, so the veterinarian may request x-rays to see what's going on in the abdomen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat ate something that is causing a blockage, you may see a reduction in stool production, though typically with an intestinal block you will see diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy and anorexia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trond Hansen made some good points which I will elaborate on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase water intake. Water helps stools move along the intestines as the consistency is more moist and less dry. You can entice your cat to drink by having a water fountain (note: some cats do not like fountains), multiple water bowls and keeping food, water and litter box separate. When purchasing a water fountain make sure the pump is quiet, as some cats will be deterred by a loud pump.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding more fiber to the diet: you can add canned pumpkin to his food in the meantime. Depending on the diagnosis your veterinarian may recommend a feline fiber food. I would hold off on the oils for now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it is very important that if your cat does not pass stools they need to see a veterinarian. Sometimes you need an enema or even an manual evac. With manual evacs the cat is sedated while the veterinarian digs/breaks down the feces through the anus. Some cats need surgery to remove feces as well, but that is by far the worst case scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-18T05:40:48.770" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:48.770" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17510" CreationDate="2017-06-26T16:44:20.540" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very good at picking out what they do and don't like in food, you may not have much luck with catnip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats rely mostly on smell and texture, taste is also a factor but it's very low on the list - they don't have very many taste buds (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cathealth.com/nutrition/do-cats-have-a-sense-of-taste&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Article #1&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://catsinternational.org/the-cats-sense-of-taste/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Article #2&lt;/a&gt;) like us so smell is very important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to consider with wet food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canned food must be warm before feeding, straight from the fridge is a no-go. When food is heated up it smells much stronger, this entices the cat to eat it. You can microwave it for a few seconds before feeding, mix it well to be sure it's not too hot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove any uneaten food in 30-60mins, sooner the better. Wet food spoils and dries fast, you may wrap it up and place it in the fridge for another meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://img.chewy.com/is/image/catalog/112040_PT5._AC_SL1500_V1487102371_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Paté&lt;/a&gt; vs &lt;a href=&quot;https://d1rgby1m7uuvjr.cloudfront.net/is/catalog/76383_PT4._AC_SL1500_V1447094761_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chunks &amp;amp; Gravy&lt;/a&gt;. Since texture is important some cats may prefer one or the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food also comes in different shapes and sizes as well as smells, try different brands. Ask pet stores or vet hospitals for samples, worst case scenario you buy a bag and return it if they don't like it. Try a type with chicken, if that doesn't work try one with salmon or venison. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can even try mixing wet with dry, but again you'd have to remove uneaten portions and preserve for later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's definitely a challenge, the food I found cats seem to go nuts for is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.ca/products/purina-veterinary-diets-essential-care-adult-formula-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PVD essential care&lt;/a&gt; line. Feel free to give it a try, you can always return the bag or food and unopened cans (though check with hospital prior to buying).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to directly answer your question, yes you can try sprinkling catnip on their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-26T16:44:20.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-26T19:25:52.070" Score="3" ViewCount="1368" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I find myself in this situation where I don't know what to do. My cat is staring at me, and I feel guilty not knowing what she wants from me. She keeps staring until she feels tired and sometimes sleeps while sitting, not laying. As if there was something really interesting and needs thinking that made her forget to lay down to sleep. I blink or close my eyes to show her a cat kiss, but she still looks at me either after she blinks using two eyes or without blinking, just continues to stare. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do i do? Why is she staring at me for such a long time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:32:28.373" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T07:21:55.207" Title="why is my cat staring at me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-27T00:27:44.510" Score="2" ViewCount="3718" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a 12 week old kitten about two weeks ago, he seems like he's settled in nicely. (He's always sitting around me, when I'm home), but he's constantly licking me every time he's near me, like every-time (for several minutes at a time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard in the grapevine of pet owners, that it could be something to do with anxiety? Is this true, should I be worried? Or is he just trying to be playful i.e. a kitten's version of a pet? I'm quite new to owning a kitten, so any advice is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9785" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T02:45:38.437" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T21:01:30.310" Title="My kitten licks me constantly, should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17516" CreationDate="2017-06-27T01:23:21.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, skin problems always warrants a physical exam. It's one of those things where you need to physically be there to examine the skin and run some tests (i.e skin scrapings) to rule out the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The head collar is a great idea, make sure he can't make matters worse. A few things come to mind when an animal chews at himself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites - Fleas are usually a generalized itch but they can focus on one area, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_dg_demodectic_mange_in_dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mange&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/skin/c_dg_sarcoptic_mange&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mites&lt;/a&gt; are also ones that can start and stay in one area but can also spread to the rest of the body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hot spot - these are infections that occur after an animal has been swimming in water (possible to obtain with a cut). If the area remains moist it allows bacteria to grow and cause irritation, since the area is irritated the dog will continue to lick and chew making it worse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury - When a dog gets injured they tend to become focused on it and lick at it continuously, in the end they can develop &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_dg_acral_lick_granuloma_a_dermatology_nightmare&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lick granulomas&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies - allergies from food or environment can cause this behavior, you will also see excessive licking of the paws.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skin/Fungal infection as a whole - This is just a compilation of everything mentioned above, they can all cause skin infections of sorts you just need to figure out if it's fungal or bacterial. Depending on how deep the infection is you may just need creams, a wash or an oral antibiotic/fungal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure where in Canada you are but call around to price shop, not everyone is priced the same. Also to save on some money if they give medications ask for a script as sometimes you can get medications cheaper at a human pharmacy (if it's available). Before they run any tests be sure you ask for a detailed estimate!! It's so important to know this prior to doing anything that way you can discuss which options would be the best one to spend your limited funds on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep up with the head collar until you can save up some money to be seen in person, they will be able to clean it up (clip and wash with special cleansers) and guide you from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T01:23:21.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17534" CreationDate="2017-06-27T06:26:03.787" Score="5" ViewCount="2698" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to get my cat to lose weight, she is a 4 year old, 19 pound, shorthaired cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, she is not naturally a large cat, her weight is an issue. Her supposed ideal weight would be around 10 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently feed her a 1/2 cup dry food in the night along with a 1/4 cup dry food in the morning sometimes, if she is hungry, and 1 can of wet food every two to three days. (purina one dry food, fancy feast medley wet food)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: What other alternative options do I have to manage her weight, other then switching the type of food I give her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These images are not of her, but she looks about the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All and any help or advice would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/35LJl.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/35LJl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3xXfl.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3xXfl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9787" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T12:34:47.983" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T22:08:27.243" Title="How to get 19 pound cat to lose weight" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-27T11:03:48.820" Score="1" ViewCount="901" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for help in identifying where I am going wrong in my Betta Fish care. I have gone through two Betta Fish over three weeks. Setup is pictured below, in a 1-gallon tank, with a water conditioner, tap water, filter, light, and the Betta food pellets. My daughter and I give the fish 3 pellets in the morning and three at night. That is a live plant in the tank, that is Betta friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard the lifespans for Betta Fish are supposed to be much longer than this, so I turn to the community to find out where I am going wrong with my care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jPZ8H.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jPZ8H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9788" LastEditorUserId="9788" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T21:49:13.977" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T21:49:13.977" Title="Help increase Betta Fish lifespan beyond 1.5 Weeks" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17532" CreationDate="2017-06-27T12:02:23.197" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try to decrease the amount of food she gets in every meal and not let her choose when to eat because as you say, she's a little overweight. So you should choose her meal times and the amount of food she gets in every meal. For starters, make her food routine once when you wake up at maybe 6 or 7 AM, then at 12 PM, 6 PM, and if she gets hungry again, 12 AM. But, the half-cup should become a &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; cup or even less because you'll be feeding her 3 to 4 times a day. And make the amounts of food she gets in every meal the same. Let's say a &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; cup or less. If you didn't go with the times I chose, it's okay to choose your own times, as long as it takes 6 to 7 hours between each meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it's easier to say give her fewer amounts of food, and more mealtimes than you used to give her before, and it should be 4 at max. If you notice she still isn't hungry after 6 to 7 hours from each meal then make it 8, although that seems too long. But don't give her food before 6 hours, calories need time to burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you should try to help burn them by playing. Training and exercise can help. But to make it more fun for her, stick up with training and playing. If you start to give her meals on routine, she'll have more appetite to be ready for training. Try tossing treats to make her run after them and eat them, don't make them lots of treats though. 5 treats are enough for every season. 3 seasons maximum per day. Training the cat to stand up or do anything else to get treats is also good, just make sure to not give a large number of treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer the header in three words I'd say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a routine for the meals she gets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have her get the same amount of food every time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with  and exercise your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your cat asks for more food at each dish it's important not to give her more. Her health depends on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-23T22:08:27.243" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T22:08:27.243" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17530" CreationDate="2017-06-27T12:49:05.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing to worry about, it's just because he extra loves you, and wants you to smell like him and be his. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you see him licking &lt;strong&gt;himself&lt;/strong&gt; a-lot, that could be a sign of anxiety. But if you're sure he likes your place and feels at home, then no worries, he just loves to see you back and that's how he expresses it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a play move by the way, it's showing affection. But I'd like to mention that he may feel lonely when you're not around and that gives him the reason to lick you a-lot. He feels very happy to see you there at last. Someone to play with and to be with. Kittens hate being alone. It's always better to get two kittens instead of one. After all they are kittens and they need a play mate almost all the time. So either be there for him 24/7 or get him a play mate, and you will see things change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9785" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T21:01:30.310" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T21:01:30.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17589" CreationDate="2017-06-27T13:08:21.900" Score="3" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat drinks water from her water bowl she leaves in peace. But whenever I give her water from another bowl, she drinks then tries to break the glass. She pushes it with her nose and throws it off the surface it was on. If it was on the floor she'd still push it until she recognizes nothing is going to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she doing that? How do I stop her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T14:08:50.483" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T17:43:45.997" Title="How to stop a cat from breaking glasses?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17529" CreationDate="2017-06-27T14:02:30.007" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've no qualifications, so please don't take this as authoritative, but your cat's probably fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats tend to wag their tails when they're angry or tense. You pointed out in the comments that she's not doing that, so I imagine that she's just sitting peacefully on the floor and watching you. All this suggests to me is that you're more interesting to look at than the walls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what to do? Pet her if you want, and if she's down for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9792" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T14:02:30.007" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17540" CreationDate="2017-06-27T14:28:46.523" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a black domestic (medium/long) shorthair that although is a butt, is loved very dearly by me and my girlfriend. He is of healthy weight at 10 lbs, and we feed him 3 cans of wet (Hills Science Diet, Healthy Cuisine, 3oz) food a day. After going to a vet, dry food affects his gums adversely and he cannot eat it, or risk kitty dentures down the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His feeding schedule is 1 can in the morning, and 2 at night. Despite this schedule which is recommended not only by my vet but by the food maker as well, he is constantly hungry and loves to complain about it. He has lost weight since we were at the vet last, and goes so far as to jump on counters and other locations for food when we're not looking, even though he knows he's not supposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is my cat so hungry constantly, and would feeding him more be a detriment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: It has been about 6 months since his last vet visit, and his weight drop was from 12 lbs to his current 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7140" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T14:38:47.883" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T15:13:01.370" Title="My cat is constantly starving" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17539" CreationDate="2017-06-27T14:39:41.580" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you may be underfeeding your cat a little, which is why he is hungry. Just as a rough idea for a 10 lb cat I would guess three of those little 2.8 oz cans are probably not enough. Without knowing the exact product (flavour) it is impossible to say but usually I would think about 4 cans per day of this diet is more appropriate for a 10 lb cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dramatic weight loss is not normal (unless you were aiming for a bit of weight loss), and warrants veterinary examination and testing to be sure there is not a medical reason for the weight loss. On the other hand it may just be that your cat just needs more calories than he is getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T14:39:41.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17539" CreationDate="2017-06-27T15:13:01.370" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats fare well on frequent small feeds, so increasing the number of feeds would be good for the cat. The same amount of feed could be fed 4 times a day, or be increased a little to include an extra feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is increasing the overall quantity and the desired weight for your cat. Your cat may be at his optimal weight or may be able to gain a pound or two depending on his size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The broad healthy range is anything &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.royalcanin.com.au/blog/what-are-healthy-weights-for-different-cat-breeds-and-sizes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;from 7 -19 pounds (3 - 9 kg)&lt;/a&gt;, depending upon sex and breed. However, for the average male domestic short hair 10 -12 pounds would be optimal, so your cat may be fine putting on weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best test is to look at and examine your cat, using the guidelines shown in the chart below to determine whether he is in a healthy weight range. Then you can experiment with the amount of food you give him, increasing it, and, hopefully, finding a happy medium, where he is not so hungry. That's where the dry food is good, as an adlib supply can be put down for many cats to snack on with no harm, but your boy can't have this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ewMMC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ewMMC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cat-world.com.au/cat-weight.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Weight – Is My Cat Underweight or Overweight, Cat World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without seeing a picture of your cat, I tend to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/17540/6796&quot;&gt;agree with Harry&lt;/a&gt;, that the 3 small cans are not quite enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T15:13:01.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-27T15:27:46.463" Score="0" ViewCount="1962" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; meow, but only when she really wants in the house, other times she makes high pitched noises or no noise at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like, she opens her mouth, wait a few milliseconds, and a small squeak comes out. My other cat can meow perfectly, and they both come from the same house, where we adopted them because that house neglected them, and they were there for the same amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Help?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;meow&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some information on her:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she's an American short-fur, or something like that;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when we got her, she was very flea-bitten;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she also had worms;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she had lots of fleas;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;her sister would strike her a lot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9793" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-05-30T02:36:50.360" LastActivityDate="2021-05-30T02:36:50.360" Title="Why can't my cat meow, unless she really wants in the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17533" CreationDate="2017-06-27T16:28:07.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you get a new fish tank it have to be cycled this means running the tank whitout any fish in it, this is to make the bacteria that breaks down the waste from the fish and food time to grow in the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite common that pet shops don't inform you the customer of this.&#xA;And this do almost always end in dead fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;this link will help you understand how this works and how to cycle the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To cycle a fish tank fill the tank with water start the pump/filter and heater.&#xA;Add a tiny bit of fish food, you now have to get a water test that shows amonia&#xA;nitrite and nitrate I do use test strips they are easy to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you have to test the water every two to thre days, what is expected to happen is you will be able to see the amonia readings on the test rise but not the nitrite,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After several days the readings on the test will show both amonia and nitrite in the water you now add a litle more fish food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some days after this the test will show less amonia but higher level of nitrite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;now you simply take a water test every two to thre days until the amonia and nitrite level is close to zero when this happens you will be able to measure some nitrate in the water this is OK and your fish tank is now cycled and ready&#xA;for the fish!.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have put the fish in the tank it is best to not feed it for a day and when you start feeding it start with very little food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed more then the fish eats in five minutes the amonia and nitrite might come back if this happens stop the feeding and change half of the water and test the water every day and cange some water if the readings is still high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-27T16:40:10.327" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T16:40:10.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17524" CreationDate="2017-06-27T17:10:56.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you'd like a pair of scissors to last 5 years you should be prepared to commit to caring, sharpening, and cleaning them properly.  You'll be largely looking at stainless steel - there are newer, shinier alloys and such being marketed but stainless steel is solid and what most groomers/breeders (at least the ones I know) will recommend.  Also, the type of scissors you buy should be recommended for your dogs specific coat type (a bichon will require different equipment than a St. Bernard and so on). You can spend $20 and, with proper care, have a pair of scissors last a year or more - alternatively you could spend $250+ and without that same level of care have those scissors be basically garbage in 6 months. With that said you're likely looking at ~$100 per pair. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might consider having your cheap scissors sharpened professionally - this would likely extend their life a bit, although professional sharpening and good care will never turn a $20 pair of scissors into a $200 pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few options for more professional grooming scissors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chrissystems.com/shears/adalynn-series-shears.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chris Christensen Adalynn Series&lt;/a&gt; - ~$150&#xA;Chris Christensen scissors (and brushes) are well liked among breeders and groomers.  The Adalynn series is made with high quality 440C steel, and they offer a lifetime warranty as well as free sharpening for all their scissors and shears.  My breeder has had a set of Chris Christensen scissors and shears which have held up over 10 years - he has 10 Keeshonds (long fur, thick double coats) which he grooms himself using the same set of tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://amzn.to/2siyAaI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kenchii Scorpion 8&quot; Straight Pro Dog Grooming Shear&lt;/a&gt; - ~$80&#xA;Kenchii is another well regarded manufacturer.  Scorpion is their base line, and will work well for most non-professional groomers.  A set of their scissors will last years, and they have a decent warranty although they don't offer the sharpening that Chris Christensen does.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T17:10:56.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17533" CreationDate="2017-06-27T17:24:21.050" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish are a complicated thing so I will go over specifics for betta fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium should be 5 gallons minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Filter should contain activated carbon (absorbs contaminants), biomax (helps beneficial bacteria thrive), foam (traps debris). It should also be gentle, betta fish do not like heavy currents.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Small water heater - betta fish are tropical and thrive better with water temps of 76 - 82 °F (24.4 - 27.7 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The 5 gallon aquarium should be cycled for 1 week minimum (and note that some people wait 1 month for large aquariums). To cycle is to have everything prepared in the tank, filter running, substrate ready, decorations, water conditioner placed, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You will need a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mars-Fishcare-Freshwater-Master-Test-Kit-34/24871748&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;basic water testing kit&lt;/a&gt; that checks pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. If you get into bigger and more exotic fish (saltwater) you will want a wider range of tests. Saltwater fish are a whole new ball game in general. Test the water before introducing fish, if you don't want to buy a kit you can ask the pet store to test the water for you (they sometimes do it for free).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed VERY LITTLE, they don't need to eat much, like 3-6 tiny beta pellets a day (in 2 feedings). You can also offer brine shrimp and blood worms. Overfeeding will kill them, it causes a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16%202160&amp;amp;aid=3401&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;number of issues&lt;/a&gt;. Some places will say feed whatever he will eat in 5 minutes, not the case for betta fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?id=652#.WVKUYGjyvIU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stress coat&lt;/a&gt; is a nice product to use when starting up a tank or just for bringing the fish home. Makes the transition much easier and helps treat your water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Live plants are always a wonderful addition to any tank: they produce oxygen, absorb ammonia and carbon dioxide. It also gives him a safe place to hide, allowing him to feel secure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this in mind, be sure to not clutter the tank with everything, he should have plenty of room to swim. If you feel that 5 gallons is not enough to accommodate the filter, heater, substrate and decor you will need to upgrade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet stores keep their betta fish in poor conditions, since they are popular they tend to stock up and place them in glass jars assuming they won't be there for long. If the beta fish keep on dying I would try to wait for another shipment or go somewhere else, they are usually really hardy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:18:49.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:18:49.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17601" CreationDate="2017-06-27T17:37:43.843" Score="2" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cousin has a kitten. He feeds it mainly boiled fish, boiled chicken liver and boiled chicken gizzard. Other than this, he feeds it very little (couple of spoons) kitty kibble every day. Other than his - he feeds very little (3-4 spoons) home made kefir to the kitten. He also feeds the cat Taurine supplement. He buys 500 mg Taurine capsules (meant for humans) &amp;amp; sprinkles the powder in the capsule in the kitten's food. He uses 1 capsule over 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an adequate diet for the kitten - he says only things lacking in the boiled meat are taurine and calcium. The kefir gives the required calcium &amp;amp; the taurine supplement provides the taurine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a decent diet for the kitten? The kitten seems healthy. Seems to be growing well also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8619" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T13:07:10.600" Title="Supplements for kitten being fed on home cooked food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17460" CreationDate="2017-06-27T17:46:21.700" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, dogs are dogs. The all have the same basic needs. And every dog can be trained. And even dogs of the same breed can be really different in behavior and character. But, you are right, not every breed is equally suitable for every task or life circumstances and the purebreeds are known for unique qualities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to bring the dog to a small (60-70 SqM) apartment.&#xA;  My main concern is the behavior. Can they be trained like a purebred? (Labs, Goldens, Border Collies, Aussies,...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These breeds you mentioned are really different. Border Collies and Aussies were bred for herding tasks. That means, they are highly intelligent, very sensible, need very much exercise, and are really self-confident. If you let them, they are working, running or playing until they die. They don't give up. They recognize every motion far away, because they were bred to see, if any sheep is running away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Labs and Goldens are bred for waterfowling and hunting. They are intelligent as well, need exercise and are self-confident. They were bred to hunt the birds or other animals, but bring them to the hunter without hurting the prey. So they are really soft with their mouth. And they are much more calm than the herding dogs and not as sensible. So they are known for being excellent family dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all the breeds you mentioned are not made for small apartments, but they can be happy there, if the owner has the time and knowledge to handle their needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is, you can't compare &quot;the purebreeds&quot; with &quot;the mixed breeds&quot;. Every breed has its qualities, things they easily learn or like to do and their weaknesses or possible problems because of the history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And keep in mind, every dog is unique and can vary from the characteristics their breeds are known for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now I'm wondering if is it OK to adopt a pup from farmers who live in villages and their dogs are clearly from no specific breeds and their parents have been herding shepherd dogs in our local environment? (Western Iran)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs are for herding purposes. So they are middle sized, I guess, because they need to be strong enough to handle the herded animals, but I think they will not be too big, because they would need to much to eat and wouldn't be as agile as middle sized ones.&#xA;Because they are mixed breeds, they may not as specific in their behavior and character as the purebreeds. So it is more likely that one puppy is calmer than another one,or one loves to hunt while another loves to do circus lessons, one is really attentive and sensible while the sibling is a little bit sleepy. But they were used for herding, so the may be alike the Border Collies and Aussies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is often said, that mixed breeds are intelligent and really loyal as well. They are easily trained. And some are convinced, that they are healthier than purebloods, because of their mixed genes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have the time, the space, and the knowledge for a pureblood herding dog like a Border Collie, than you should be able to adopt and train a mixed herding dog as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T17:46:21.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17549" CreationDate="2017-06-27T21:10:44.787" Score="1" ViewCount="1057" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of spaying my cat sense most people suggest I do so. But I'm still not convinced about why I should do that. My cat doesn't have behaviour issues, she acts like a normal cat would, she's nice to humans and doesn't like cats alot, except when she's ready for mating. I'd like her to have kittens at some point in her life and I'd love to help take care of them. People still ask me to spay and say it's better if done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, why is spaying that important if you agree to let your cat have kittens and are welling to take care of them? Are there health consequences for not spaying your cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T21:34:04.643" Title="Are there health consequences if I don't spay my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-06-27T22:25:59.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17548" CreationDate="2017-06-27T21:34:04.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may be health consequences. For instance,  your cat could end up with pyometra, which is an infection of the uterus that tends to happen in unspayed cats that do not end up getting pregnant. &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/pyometra-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/pyometra-in-cats&lt;/a&gt; There are probably other conditions that are prevented by spaying also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-06-27T21:34:04.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17560" CreationDate="2017-06-28T00:11:36.717" Score="3" ViewCount="1920" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of feral cats give birth and end up being fine. Can a house cat give birth and not get ill? Do house cats always get sick after giving birth? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are examples of diseases and disorders she could get in relation to giving birth? Must I take her to the vet if she's ready to give birth? If so, why? Wouldn't it be easier for her to have it in her home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking this question due to the concerns of people telling me not to breed my cat while I think it's fine, but I'm worried now so someone please answer and explain why I should or shouldn't be worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider this to be a very important question, because I'm deciding to let my cat have her babies in my home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:37:43.210" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:37:43.210" Title="Does a cat necessarily get sick after giving birth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17551" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-28T00:20:13.053" Score="2" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that it's common for unspayed female cats to get pyometra. I thought maybe that's because people don't allow their cats to mate when in heat, which causes the illness. But if I allow my cat to mate, will she still be at the risk of developing pyometra? Why would chances of having it decrease or increase as a result of mating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T02:21:12.787" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T02:21:12.787" Title="What causes pyometra in cats, and if allowed to mate, will the chances of having it decrease or increase?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17546" CreationDate="2017-06-28T01:46:10.280" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some concerns with some of the choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Human supplements are not regulated so you won't get the correct dose that the bottle says. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to stay away from dairy products, for the most part cats are intolerant to milk - though they can tolerate it if continuously given after birth. There are better options for calcium supplementation (such as ground up bones).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great that he's offering variety and that he's cooking the food. That being said I suggest getting a meal plan from a veterinary nutritionist or at least discuss with them whats the best options are for the life stage of his cat. If your friend does not want to go that route then I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completeandbalancedforcats.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hilary's Blend for cats&lt;/a&gt;, it's widely accepted among veterinary professionals to be complete &amp;amp; balanced. The book has a TON of recipes for all life stages and the supplements are readily available for purchase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not 100% well versed when it comes to making home-made diets, I'm more educated on what has already been proven to work to keep pets healthy and the reasons why. I think your friend is on the right track but should get a bit more guidance from board certified pet nutritionists or someone with a PH.D in animal nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T01:46:10.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-28T06:34:02.473" Score="5" ViewCount="2464" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started night shift. To keep my sleep schedule, I usually stay up all night. Will me staying up affect my dogs sleep (or health in general) as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9798" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-29T00:39:18.713" LastActivityDate="2017-06-29T00:39:18.713" Title="Is me staying up all night bad for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-28T08:27:12.393" Score="6" ViewCount="1876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using a clicker to train two cats. I would like them to respond specifically, i.e. I want to be able to direct a command to one cat and not the other when both cats are present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I train them separately (i.e. take one into a separate room), and get one of them to be able to respond to a command, how will that cat know that the command issued is not meant for her when the two cats are together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I train them together in the same room, how do I make one do nothing while the other responds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need two different clicker tones? Should I incorporate their names into the voice command? I'm worried that overuse of their name will dilute the semantic content of the sound of their names and will confuse them when all commands begin with calling their name, as opposed to distinct sounds for different commands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side question, will they learn faster when trained together? Can they learn by watching the other one perform the command?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9576" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-29T01:20:39.070" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T18:55:29.533" Title="Training multiple pets: separately or together?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17542" CreationDate="2017-06-28T13:12:50.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why can't my cat meow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My cat &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; meow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats vocalize differently regardless of how they're raised, much like how you and your siblings who were raised together developed different mannerisms. Cats aren't carbon copies of each other, their parents, or of some great ancestor. They're all different, and they all have different traits, characteristics, and quirks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quiet meow isn't a problem, especially when you already said that your cat meows when it feels like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T13:12:50.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17554" CreationDate="2017-06-28T13:31:54.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;By default, dogs are diurnal, like humans, and have a monophasic sleep schedule (one sleep period per day). We sleep when it gets dark, and wake when it gets light. This likely has the most to do with the fact that humans and dogs are both sight hunters with relatively poor night vision (particularly when compared to nighttime hunters like felines and some birds). We're programmed from the getgo to be this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't to say that we can't adapt to a different schedule. Your dog can (and probably will?) adapt to your sleep schedule, especially if you're the only human in the house. Dogs don't synthesize vitamin D from sunlight exposure, so you don't have to worry about that, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye out for the big three: change in attitude/temperament; decreased appetite; inappropriate elimination. If your dog seems fine with the schedule change, then s/he is probably okay. Any concerns should be raised with a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T13:31:54.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17550" CreationDate="2017-06-28T17:34:43.297" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's uncommon for cats to have complications while giving birth, sometimes you may get stillborns which is OK and does not indicate something is wrong with your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to take her to the vet when she gives birth, she will want to build a nest of her own and give birth there. Some cats will have kittens on their owners bed, closet, basement etc. so be prepared to cover the things that will be difficult to clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs that your cat may have complications are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straining to push more kittens but nothing comes out within 1-2 hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prolonged gestation (no kittens produced past 68 days).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crying, showing signs of pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bloody or green discharge BEFORE kittens come out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy, not eating or drinking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be in the best interest of your cat if you get abdominal radiographs done when she is close to being due, the veterinarian will be able to count the kittens and let you know how many to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to leave mom alone while she gives birth as this is a stressful time for her, check in periodically to make sure she is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T17:34:43.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17551" CreationDate="2017-06-28T17:52:01.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, pyometras can happen after insemination, after copulation, after a heat cycle, after administrating estrogens and after parturition. It happens from progesterone lasting longer than usual in the uterus, it can even happen after a spay! There is always some sort of stump left from the uterus where the infection can make way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's more common in dogs than cats as cats need to be sexually stimulated in order to ovulate thus releasing progesterone, however she doesn't need stimulation to have a pyo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pyometras are most common in middle-age to senior pets, complications in hormone balance increase as they age. though it does on occasion happen in young cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clinical signs of a pyometra are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy, non-responsive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not want to eat or drink.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;White or dark bloody discharge from vulva.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swollen abdomen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pyometras are an EMERGENCY and need to be corrected immediately - this is done by spaying the animal and being placed on antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good article on the subject from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merckvetmanual.com/reproductive-system/reproductive-diseases-of-the-female-small-animal/pyometra-in-small-animals&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Merck Manual&lt;/a&gt;. Fee free to ask questions if any words confuse you, medical journals always use fancy words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-06-30T00:53:38.073" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T00:53:38.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17555" CreationDate="2017-06-28T18:15:15.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We’ve never actually tried to clicker train a cat before, but we suspect that training them independently using distinct clicker or commands sounds might be a good idea. Even if the desired action is the same, you should issue a unique command that is known only for that cat for that action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When both are in the room, only reward the cat which the command was intended for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9801" LastActivityDate="2017-06-28T18:15:15.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17555" CreationDate="2017-06-29T03:48:46.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they would learn faster if trained together because they'll see each other do the trick and get the treat. However, if you train them together there are going to be lots of noises and hypered kitites that would try to steal each other's treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the first thing to teach them is going to have to be the rule &quot;No worries, everyone is gonna get some&quot;. After they learn that you won't leave them without a treat, they'll allow each other take treats and would be more calm about it. So to how you do that, choose a praise word (or use the clicker) and after saying each kitten's name say the praise word or use the clicker and give the treat to the mentioned cat. Be aware that you'll have to be fast in this process (the first few seasons only), have lots of treats and not let a cat take the other's treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also train them with wet food on a spoon which I think is really good because after they learn to calm down at WET food they'll be calm at any other food sense wet food is really the BOMB. But I'm warning you it's harder with wet food as they of course will be super hyper to get it at first. I personally chose to start with wet food with my two kittens, which made them less hyper and crazy to get anything I try to give them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, for the first few seasons you're going to have to STUFF your kittens with whatever you train them. That is, unless they don't seem interested, if not then don't give them a huge amount because they'll lose appetite. That will teach them to be more calm about treats or wet food or any other food you give them. Say each cat's name loud and clear and then give the treat after either the praise word ( ''good'' or ''good boy'') or the clicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course because they are cats, it's better to have their names make a different vowel, such as Leo and Caddy. Why I say use a praise word is because the cats can learn by time that the one you're looking at while saying the praise word is the one doing the desired behaviour. And to answer your question, no you shouldn't use their names in every command, you want them to understand the command we as normal people speak. But you can use their names to draw attention and to make the cat understand it's her turn. Just remember while saying the cat's name keep all your attention on that cat not the other, even if the other performs a learnt behaviour which you taught some time before. After getting the cats used to their names everything gets easier for the trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But keep in mind that you may need to take one cat in a room and train her without the other, when you do that use it's name a lot, she or he will associate their names better. It's not a must, it's just better to have each cat have private training time other than the training they have together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a certain cat to respond and the other do nothing I have but 4 things to make it all better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you ask a cat to do something say it's name then ask the command, and when the other approaches ignore it intirely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep full attention on one cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the cat used to it's name better by having private training time and don't forget to let her hear her name alot while training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the cat's name only when you want her to listen or look at you and make it in a clear voice, and give her either play or attention, or even treats or nice words every time, don't say her name and just look away or do something else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to tell you to give her a treat everytime you call her name so she remembes it better but that's not necessary as you can call her name to play or to pet her. When you call her to come to you, that's when it must be a treat or dinner time everytime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T18:55:29.533" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T18:55:29.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17565" CreationDate="2017-06-29T06:54:33.920" Score="3" ViewCount="4451" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here's my story: I find myself traveling out of the city once each month. and I'll have to leave my cat home alone for a day to three days. I live in an area where it's hard to buy litter due to the small amount of shops to sell it, not to mention the far distance I need to go every time I have to buy some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had two cats. One of them transmitted worms to the other, so I had to deworm both. I also had to get rid of the old litter. Unfortunately, it's time to travel and I have but a little amount of litter, which means a problem because leaving my cat for 3 days with just a little amount of litter means a really dirty bathroom and an irritated kitty to come back to. I still needed to leave, so while I was on my way, we stopped to let our kids play in the sand, and I thought why not get some clean sand in case of emergencies like this one? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea? I'm talking about sand that's clean to the eye, and of course I'll make sure to check it at least two times before getting it into to my house. And my cat goes poo on anything that's put in her litter box, so I don't think she'll mind it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:33:59.080" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:33:59.080" Title="Can desert/beach sand work as an alternative for litter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17564" CreationDate="2017-06-29T07:43:25.373" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some problems if you use regular sand in the litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a risk the sand might contain dangerous parasites and bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a very short time before it starts to smell really bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular sand is very poor at absorbing fluids so it gets soaked very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A positive thing is, it is easy to find, and it is free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to use it, I suggest you mix it with an absorbent type of cat litter and mix it 50/50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you have to change it more often then with regular cat litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice is to use regular cat litter and try to avoid using regular sand unless you are home and able to change it twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a short answer, but it has the things one needs to know to make a choice of what to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:10:11.807" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:10:11.807" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17533" CreationDate="2017-06-29T15:42:36.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The red flag for me was &quot;conditioner&quot;. I have had fish for 70 years and never needed, or used conditioner. I have seen fish quickly die at an auction when conditioner was added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A gallon is good for a Betta; in the 60's I raised them and kept the males in one quart (0.946 liters) containers. Keep them warm, 70 to 90 °F (21 to 32 °C), don't overfeed. Just let the tap water sit a few days, maybe with a TINY sprinkle of food to get bacteria started. Then put in the fish. That should work, assuming your tap water is safe to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I forgot the first rule: no soap or bleach near an aquarium, ever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:24:40.390" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:24:40.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17571" CreationDate="2017-06-29T22:22:36.220" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog eats too fast, so I'm afraid of him getting some stomachal problem or choking. So I spread his food through the backyard's floor. This way, he eats one piece at time  and gets busy by sniffing around to find the food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned about the risks of he getting some bacteria. I drop the food far from places where he urinates and poops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it risky? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-06-30T06:53:56.107" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T06:53:56.107" Title="Feed the dog without bowl" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17570" CreationDate="2017-06-30T01:34:25.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your location in the world what parasites and diseases are to be found so I will be mentioning the ones in my area of Canada as examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First things that come to mind when allowing a dog to eat from the ground outside is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalhealth.bayer.ca/en/dogs/all/#conditions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Internal parasites&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/generalized-conditions/leptospirosis/leptospirosis-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leptospirosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog isn't regularly treated for worms and has some he will be re-contaminating himself by eating kibble near his feces or from other animals feces. If he eats any slugs/snails or feces from these invertebrates there is a possibility of catching &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalhealth.bayer.ca/en/dogs/fox-lungworm/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fox lungworm&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leptospirosis is obtained from drinking urine of infected animals (foxes, raccoons, squirrels) or contaminated water sources like puddles. This disease is zoonotic (transmittable to people) but preventable through vaccination of your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Risks are low for him to catch something in your back yard unless there's high volume of critters and other pets running through, that being said I'm sure he'd love a foraging toy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet stores have MANY cool foraging toys to slow down his eating and make him use his brain! Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petexpertise.com/images/detailed/2/kong-genius-mike-puzzle-dog-toy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kong Genius Mike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jefferspet-weblinc.netdna-ssl.com/product_images/tricky-treat-ball/53972050535a8f4a86000576/zoom.jpg?c=1402413138&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://insights.dice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Nina-Ottosson-Wooden-Dog-Treat-Fighter.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog treat fighter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/compressed/public/pvi-green-slow-feeder-05.png?itok=6JoV_DQI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Green interactive dog feeder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are some of the MANY products that will slow down his eating and make him work for his food in a cleaner environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T01:34:25.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17570" CreationDate="2017-06-30T01:42:15.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try and feed him with the bowl, but only let him have a mouth full then take it away. Then repeat. Positive reinforcement for good behavior.  It'll take time tome and consistency.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9807" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T01:42:15.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17244" CreationDate="2017-06-30T10:03:16.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat's urine contains urea, and when the cat has taken a pee in the litterbox ,this urea will be broken down by bacteria that creates the ammonia. This is a bacterium that needs oxygen to do this, and this is what makes the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats drink too little water, and this makes the urine more concentrated, and it therefore contains a higher concentration of urea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter do have a large surface area, and this provides a large area for the bacteria to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a short time before the urine starts to smell. The reason for this is, the bacteria multiplies very fast. To avoid the smell, the wet litter has to be removed within a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most mammals' urine contains urea and very little ammonia. The name urine actually means contains urea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to avoid the smell, be sure to clean the litterbox every day, so the urine doesn't have time to develop the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your previous cat litter might have contained anti-bacterial ingredients, and this might be the reason your new cat litter starts to smell faster if it doesn't have these anti-bacterial ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T18:43:09.617" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T18:43:09.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-06-30T11:30:35.930" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat literally pooped himself because he's terrified of my grandkids and a flotation device he saw in their wading pool. He never does this, he just started when they came to visit. They have visited before but not for this long of a time. They go home in 3 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their ages are 13,10,7,&amp;amp; 6. He really freaked out with the flotation device. But he pooped on the floor and on the rug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be the noisiness? The kids? Both? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9809" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-01T14:08:59.780" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T14:08:59.780" Title="My cat is scared of my grandkids?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17575" CreationDate="2017-06-30T15:43:00.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give Your Cat an Escape&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not used to children it should be expected that the stomping around and shouting may be frightening to it. I would suggest making a room for the cat a 'No Kid Zone' such that the cat has some place to go where the kids will not follow. Ideally this area would contain their litter box so that you can hopefully avoid more accidents. If your cat is used to spending time with you alone, it would probably be nice to visit them in their preferred area as well so that they don't feel the need to be around the kids when they want attention from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9701" LastActivityDate="2017-06-30T15:43:00.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17575" CreationDate="2017-07-01T01:08:47.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pooping thing could be due to the continued stress he was having by having the kids stay for days. Of course the noises and jumping all around are probably affecting him. Teaching the kids to respect the cat's space is the best you could do for him. Because even if you put your cat in a different room he will still feel that his territory is decreased because of the kids. Although it may comfort him a little. And for the flotation divice it's better to remove it if it was in your pool. If it's in their pool just try to not let your cat a way to come and see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T01:08:47.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T01:39:04.957" Score="7" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the first time I have a cat in my life. She is almost 10 months. She came home yesterday and she was wandering around the house, which has a litter box, food, and water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning, I found my cat hiding under the bed and she hasn't come out since then. She isn't drinking nor eating. She isn't even thinking about coming out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I make this cat eat or drink? Would treats help it out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9812" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-01T05:26:11.660" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T14:02:09.347" Title="First time owning a cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17578" CreationDate="2017-07-01T04:23:59.930" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many things you can try to solve your problem. The easiest of which is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a small room in your house, where you go often, that has a door. Such as a bedroom. Take all the things your new kitten needs into that room, and close the door. Keep the cat in there, and let it slowly get used to just that part of your house. Once your cat seems comfortable there, slowly introduce it to other places in your house, and expand its territory. Treats may help with this. Make sure your cat is happy with her food and litter. If this behaviour continues, it is time to consult a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T04:23:59.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17578" CreationDate="2017-07-01T04:24:17.060" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is scared, obviously, and will come out when she gets used to her new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do now is to get her some food. Take some wet food on a plate (you might add a couple of spoons of water to the food), push this under the bed, then walk away so she can eat alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat stays under the bed for more than 2-3 days, it is time to make it come out. Reach your hand behind the cat and gently make the cat move out of her hiding place. When the cat is out, pet her for a short time before letting her go. And don't do so until 2-3 days have passed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also make or get some small toys and try to get her to play with them to make your cat forget that she is scared for a moment while she is playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat feels safe under the bed for now, but you have to make the cat feel safe in all the other places in your home too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might have had an accident under the bed and this must be cleaned up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first couple of days in a new place can be stressful for a little cat, so you must try to comfort her as best you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T14:02:09.347" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T14:02:09.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T04:54:01.787" Score="2" ViewCount="2247" Body="&lt;p&gt;So for the last 2 weeks, it's been extremely damp weather here with a relative humidity of about 90%.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also 2 other things which are happening since the last 2 weeks.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kitty litter is getting consumed really fast - at twice the speed as before. The litter seems damp all the day &amp;amp; when I scoop, more litter is getting scooped out every day.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The smell of ammonia is strong in the litter. It wasn't so before 2 weeks. Though I can smell the ammonia only when I am scooping - not otherwise - it's not strong enough to permeate the space around the box or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these 2 things related to the dampness &amp;amp; humidity? What can be done cheaply to fix this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use clumping litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8619" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T13:18:04.083" Title="Damp weather and kitty litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17583" CreationDate="2017-07-01T11:40:58.730" Score="4" ViewCount="4676" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have been using Revolution on our house rabbits for years, and I always assumed it killed ticks as well. Recently, someone told me it is not effective against ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it effective against a number of parasites, both internal and external.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does Revolution kill ticks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T14:58:09.067" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T20:30:40.190" Title="Does Revolution kill ticks?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17582" CreationDate="2017-07-01T11:49:45.170" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Revolution (Selamectin) controls tick infestations &lt;strong&gt;only due to the American Dog Tick&lt;/strong&gt; (Dermacentor variabilis), a tick commonly found on dogs. There are other common species of ticks that are not killed or controlled by REVOLUTION. Your veterinarian can recommend appropriate products to control or kill ticks common to your area. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zoetisus.com/contact/pages/product_information/revolution.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s not effective against the deer tick that causes Lyme disease. &lt;a href=&quot;https://parade.com/39758/parade/revolution-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, it kills some, but not all ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T14:59:34.137" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T14:59:34.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17597" CreationDate="2017-07-01T12:04:11.807" Score="1" ViewCount="836" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having just learned that my rabbits flea treatment is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17582/does-revolution-kill-ticks&quot;&gt;not effective on most ticks&lt;/a&gt; I am wondering what options there are for killing and/or controlling ticks on my pet rabbit.  I know there are several products you should &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit/1016#1016&quot;&gt;not use on a rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our rabbits live in our home, sleep on our beds and go places with us.  When we go camping they come along.  Outside in the morning and evening for fresh grass, and in bed with us in the camper at night.  We have been doing this for years and have never had a flea, tick or parasite problem.  There are usually wild rabbits in the places we camp, so there are lots of opportunities to become infect.  Not sure if we have just been lucky or what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are my options for preventing and controlling ticks on rabbits? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T06:53:41.763" Title="How to kill ticks on a Rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17581" CreationDate="2017-07-01T12:34:32.593" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well one of your options is to put the litter box in a closed space where their are no windows. And having a small fan around the area can keep the weather less damp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T12:34:32.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17581" CreationDate="2017-07-01T12:59:48.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't live in an extremely humid climate (max around 50%) but what I would try is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non-clumping cat litter - this litter is not designed to absorb moisture. You may have to try a few brands to see which one your cat likes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehumidifier - These things are a blessing to remove humidity in the air, though at 90% you may have to empty the water basket often. Place one where you keep the litter box and keep windows closed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Air conditioners also help with removing moisture in the air.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can sprinkle some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.armandhammer.com/pet-care/cat-care/Products/arm-and-hammer-cat-litter-deodorizer-powder.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ARM &amp;amp; HAMMER Cat Litter Deodorizer&lt;/a&gt; to reduce the smell, I find this stuff works great. Be sure to clean the litter box once to twice a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You tend to smell things easier when it's humid (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17901967&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;), which may be why the urine scent seems strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T12:59:48.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T13:06:40.000" Score="2" ViewCount="1093" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male betta and he has changed in the weeks I have had him, his tail at one point looked shredded and now it's shorter I could swear his fins look smaller to, he has been OK after a few incidents with another fish but today he's lying at bottom of tank hardly moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a water change yesterday and I have a heater and filter with plastic plants. There's also 2 other fish in beside him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9814" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-01T14:13:05.977" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:17:31.010" Title="Betta male at bottom of tank" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:32:52.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17537" CreationDate="2017-07-01T13:17:38.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats just enjoy knocking things off counters. I think it is a play behavior. Use a stainless steel or plastic bowl to prevent broken bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T13:17:38.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17537" CreationDate="2017-07-01T17:43:45.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very simple way you could stop your cat from doing this, is rubbing a small amount of lemon juice around the bottom of the glass. Cats hate the citrusy smell, and won't put their nose against it. If this is the only water your cat is being given at this time, make sure not to overdo it on the lemon juice, and only put it near the bottom, otherwise your cat may not drink the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T17:43:45.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17496" CreationDate="2017-07-01T17:46:50.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, a dog will not go like a cat. I do believe it can be territorial, but it is also part of the dog personality. I highly doubt a dog could be taught to go like a cat. It could be worth a shot, but don't be surprised if the dog doesn't get it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T17:46:50.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-01T18:39:10.317" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we have two cats that have been together for about 9 years, male and female. They've lived in harmony until about 3 years ago when we had a stray cat peeing on our front door and one spring day we opened the front door and they got a smell of it. After that the female cat has become the dominant cat. It took about 6 months to get the two of them at least ok with each other after that. She still occasionally goes after him but not often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is now when we are away, she really goes at him. We just got back from vacation for a week and the male cat had used our bed as a bathroom because the female cat wouldn't let him use the litter box. We have caught her before trying to stop him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Odd thing is we have gone on a bunch of long trips in the past 12 months and this hadn't happened before until now. We know she gets after him because we usually find pulled fur chunks all over the place as she goes after him. Oddly we found none of that this time just the poo and pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How we do fix this? they get along fine almost all the time except when we aren't home. We have two litter boxes but they are next to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't lock them away in a room while we are gone, they will destroy the carpets and our house is pretty much a big open space with 2 bedrooms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, for the most part they get along all day, she may chase him once or twice but not really do anything bad. I know this because i work out of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We really do not want to get rid of a cat. If we had to the female would have to go but that is truly a last resort only kind of thing. the male cat is kind of special and we know if we got rid of him, he would just get put down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9817" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-02T00:40:20.540" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T01:26:34.630" Title="Cat aggression while away" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17496" CreationDate="2017-07-01T20:15:28.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an option, may aunt does this at her house for her little Lhasa Apso.&#xA;She doesn't have much grass in her back yard so she made a box filled with &lt;a href=&quot;http://cdn.frooition.com/110156/images/XF10201C-MK2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;large white gravel&lt;/a&gt; which her dog uses as a toilet. Feces should be picked up as they happen and you can wash the gravel with a hose and soapy water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really easy to train a dog to go in a specific area, especially if it's unique looking. Essentially all you need to do is bring the dog directly to the box and as soon as he/she does her business you give treats and praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1f/b7/88/1fb788d0e274bbe80885454bbeec5dbc--landscape-fabric-fabric-covered.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;It looks kind of like this, minus the fire hydrant.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-07-01T20:38:50.863" LastActivityDate="2017-07-01T20:38:50.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17593" CreationDate="2017-07-02T00:44:24.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A week is a long time to leave cats unattended. I am not sure how you are managing their feed, I would hope that you have someone feeding and checking on them daily, while you're away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They need supervision and human company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Board one or both cats while you are away. Whichever cat is more robust can go into a cattery while you are away. This will solve the issue of them fighting while you are not there. I wouldn't leave any number of cats alone for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have someone stay in your home and cat sit while you are away. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is not your female cat, it's being left alone for prolonged periods of time. Cats, contrary to popular belief, are dependent on their owners for food, shelter and company. The owner provides emotional stability. Your cats expect you to return every day, when you don't, it is stressful. When you are away for a week, that is a long time for a cat to feel abandoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the problem of homeless cats, surrendering a cat is really not the best option. We make commitments to our pets and any issues the pets have, we really need to be responsible and do whatever we can to make it a peaceful like, which you are doing by coming here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T00:44:24.647" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17593" CreationDate="2017-07-02T05:15:50.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in your case you want your cats to live happily with each other without having to get rid of either one for any amount of time. So the best thing you should do is to take one of your litter boxes and place it somewhere else in the house, so the dominant cat won't be able to protect them both from your other cat. And buying another litter box can make it even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat gets crazy enough to protect all litter boxes, then consider putting one in a room and not allowing the dominant cat enter it, only the other cat. For the time you guys are out, it's okay to leave the door of the room open for both, because your male cat will know how to sneak to any of those litter boxes without the female knowing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the reason you only found the poo and pee in your bed without any signs of a cat fight is because your male cat now learned not to use the female's two litter boxes. I know both boxes are meant to be for the two cats, but in your female's eyes, they aren't. So that's why I asked you to buy a new litter box and separate the boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever your male starts using the litter boxes again or even the new box, give him a treat. Also give it to the female if she sees him using them and doesn't try attack him. If she starts to run towards him tell her ''No''. If she doesn't know the word, sadly you are going to have to spray her with a water bottle and shoo her out of the room every time she performs that act. She has to learn that not everything goes her way. Of course if your male cat is able to use the litter boxes without her seeing him, the water spray won't be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may not be used to you giving rules, so don't confuse her with treats then spray her the second you see her running towards him in the litter box. Here's how you do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when the female sees the male in the litter box, praise her with treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when the female is obviously going to attack the male in the litter box, don't spray until she gets close to him and hisses, or gives an aggressive warning (at that time your male is probably going to run from your female, and she should be running from the bottle spray and heading out of the room, or in a better case it can be only her running, which should be what you're aiming at).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't wait until the male has already gotten hit, do it before the female cat gets to him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully you won't need to use the water spray, and time can fix things, but just make sure you separate the litter boxes so none of this has to happen. And you should know that cats don't attack for no reason. Your male cat is hopefully going to understand the female and know her new boundaries. By that time, he should be gaining some ways to show her his boundaries as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it goes well with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-22T01:26:34.630" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T01:26:34.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17584" CreationDate="2017-07-02T06:53:41.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can only speak for dogs and cats, but it's basically the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove them physically.&lt;/strong&gt; (Just check after there was a chance to pick some up and possibly 1-2 hours later.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a &lt;strong&gt;flea comb&lt;/strong&gt; to remove loose ticks from the fur and a &lt;strong&gt;tick hook&lt;/strong&gt; to safely remove feeding ticks. I prefer tools to pull (and optionally twist) rather than pliers as it's far less likely you squeeze the ticks and you'll get them in one piece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful when handling the ticks as - depending on where you live - some of the diseases they might carry can spread from contact with their mouths, so make sure to wash hands afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of the ticks I usually wrap them by folding a sticky note, glueing the end together, then squishing the tick with the back of the flea comb and disposing it in the bin. Bigger ones we put on a stone tile and burn them with a hand igniter. I usually don't want to hurt any living being - not even mosquitoes - but for ticks I make an exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T06:53:41.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17600" CreationDate="2017-07-02T10:31:17.160" Score="3" ViewCount="7653" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a several ways to remove ticks, many of those methods are bad.  I won't go in to all the bad ways here, but after some research I found the best way is to physically remove the tick by pulling it out with a tool.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; pulling a tick out is not without risk.  There is always the chance of breaking the ticks mouth parts of, or causing them to expel their gut contents into the body they are attached to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tools are designed to twist the tick and some very reliable reference explicitly state not to twist the tick. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Don't twist or jerk the tick&quot; &lt;em&gt;(CDC.gov)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So If I have a tool that says to twist should I twist or not twist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T19:02:31.233" Title="Tick removal, to twist or not twist?" Tags="&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17598" CreationDate="2017-07-02T11:08:05.810" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using a tool, should you twist or not twist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CDC offers these great guidelines for tick removal with tweezers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to remove a tick&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine scrub, or soap and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dispose of a live tick by submersing it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet. Never crush a tick with your fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid folklore remedies such as &amp;quot;painting&amp;quot; the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat to make the tick detach from the skin. Your goal is to remove the tick as quickly as possible–not waiting for it to detach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/helK8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/helK8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;CDC removal&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is important to notice&lt;/strong&gt; that the CDC recommends fine tipped tweezers, not the wider version that are often used for pulling splinters or plucking eye brows.  When wide tipped tweezers and/or fingers used to pull ticks, there is higher risk of causing injury to the patient by leaving parts of the tick or its gut contents behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well what about tools designed to be twisted, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2553/how-to-remove-a-tick-on-a-dog&quot;&gt;as recommended in this answer&lt;/a&gt; or in the image below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OqSQq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OqSQq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tick twister removal&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how and/or why should you twist or not twist a tick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A ticks mouth parts have barbs, these attach inside the patients body making it difficult for the tick to be dislodged.  While there is always a risk of leaving part of the mouth behind the correct technique for the tool will increase the chances of removing the tick without harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PqbU9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PqbU9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;barbed mouth parts&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If removing with tweezers, don't twist.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not twist or jerk the tick as this may leave its mouth parts embedded, or cause it to regurgitate disease-causing fluids. If any mouth parts do break off, they may be removed with a sterilised needle or tweezer points. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bada-uk.org/correct-tick-removal/tick-removal-fine-tipped-tweezers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When using a tool designed to be remove ticks by twisting, twist 2 or 3 times&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The O'Tom Tick Twister ® cradles the body of the tick and doesn't exert pressure to either its mouth parts or its abdomen. It can therefore be safely twisted in one direction (either clockwise or counter-clockwise – the tick is not screw-threaded), which allows the barbs on the tick's proboscis to be freed from the surrounding tissue. The twisting action also helps to crack the special saliva cement that most hard-tick species secrete to fix themselves in. Because the tool doesn't cause any compression to the body of the tick, it minimises the risk of back-flow of the tick's saliva and gut contents, and  therefore helps to avoid disease transmission. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bada-uk.org/correct-tick-removal/tick-removal-tick-removal-tool&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research sources: while multiple references were used to create this answer.  Much of the direct referencing comes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bada-uk.org/bada-uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BADA-UK&lt;/a&gt; they are a volunteer charity, which had really good and completed descriptions and rationale for everything they posted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T19:02:31.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17546" CreationDate="2017-07-02T12:55:48.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; This is not a comprehensive detail on feeding cats raw diets. There is much detail that I have provided links for, to continue with reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best meal for a cat is a whole live rabbit, it contains all the nutrients a cat requires. The skeletal meat and bones provide a good balance of phosphorus and calcium and the organs provide essential vitamins, amino and fatty acids.  So your cousin is on the right path with this diet. However there's a few issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Taurine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats require regular taurine in their diet, as the body cannot store it. Taurine deficiency can lead to blindness and death in cats. Taurine is found in fresh meat. The heat of cooking destroys taurine, hence your cousins adding taurine to the cat's diet. Pet food has a synthetic taurine added to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calcium&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are lactose intolerant, they lack the enzyme lactase. Kefir, traditionally, was made with a fermentation process that reduces the lactose to lactic acid, making it a viable calcium source for cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one issue with the current day methods of making kefir. Kefir made in jars needs to be stirred to ensure that all the milk can come into contact with the kefir grains, or lactose will still be present in the mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fresh raw meat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling the meat destroys vitamins. If it's possible for the kitten to have fresh, uncooked chicken liver and gizzards, and fish. &#xA;It would be preferable to introduce some fresh skeletal meat into the cat's diet, to &#xA; assist in obtaining taurine requirements naturally. Even better would be to provide fresh chicken wings or chicken necks twice a week, which would also assist in meeting the calcium required for the cat within the chicken bones. (too many can cause constipation). Also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17546/supplements-for-kitten-being-fed-on-home-cooked-food#comment22889_17546&quot;&gt;as Beo suggests in the comments&lt;/a&gt; fish with small bones, so they get the meat and the bones, without risk of constipation. (I feed my cats this) Also never feed cats cooked bones, as they can splinter and cause blockages and/or bleeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Risks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risks of feeding a cat like this is a dietary imbalance. There's more info and recipes your cousin can read up on to ensure the kitten does not miss out. The issue with dietary's deficiencies in cats, is they will not show up immediately, but are insidious and will show up over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend reading here and having a more in depth look into it. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/easy-raw-feeding-for-the-busy-person&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Easy Raw Diet Feeding for the Busy Person&lt;/a&gt;Feline Nutrition Foundation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details on this:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/taurine-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Taurine in Cats&lt;/a&gt; By Cheryl Yuill, DVM, MSc, CVH&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/taurine-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Taurine in Cats&lt;/a&gt; Dr Bruce Syme BVSc (Hons)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodfurlife.com/kefir-for-pets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kefir for Pets&lt;/a&gt; Food Fur Life&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_feedingcat.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feeding Your Cat&lt;/a&gt; Cornell University, College of Veterinarian Medicine&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &lt;a href=&quot;http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/dont-let-calcium-phosphorous-ratios-scare-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Don't Let Calcium/Phosphorous Ratios Scare You&lt;/a&gt; Feline Nutrition Foundation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kb.rspca.org.au/what-should-i-feed-my-cat_262.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What should I feed my cat?&lt;/a&gt; RSPCA&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Skeletal meat is anything attached to the skeleton used for movement, as opposed to for example heart meat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-02T13:07:10.600" LastActivityDate="2017-07-02T13:07:10.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-02T18:24:58.367" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very very small aquarium (2L of water). What kind of animal could live in this size of aquarium with enough happinness? Maybe a starfish? Or some kind of crustacean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9824" LastEditorUserId="9824" LastEditDate="2017-07-02T18:48:39.460" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:29:56.733" Title="Animal for small aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-02T20:30:12.477" Score="4" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bunny has constipation for last couple days, last night I noticed she has a wobbly tooth too (I easily pulled it out-root was necrotic with a little pus inside) so in panic and fear of formation of an abscess i gave her clindamycin per os :(&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Took her to the vet this morning and he told me that I made a terrible mistake (I read about consequences). Bunny is still not defecating, though I was force feeding her(fresh dandelion leaves), giving her activated charcoal, oil, simethicone, flax seed slime... I'm desperate and don't know what can I do more to help her. Did anyone have similar experience?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9826" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2020-02-14T19:24:17.247" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T19:24:17.247" Title="Obstipation + toxic antibiotic intake!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-02T22:00:23.740" Score="3" ViewCount="2832" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats, and they seem to hate each other. They have been for a long time and they just don't get along. But one of them (the female) always uses the litterbox. The male never uses the litterbox. I doubt it's because its not clean enough, since we have 4 different litterboxes with 3 different types of litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does seem to pee in the litterbox though. We haven't seen any pee on the floor so far at least. This has been going on for years, but it wasn't a problem before since he was an outdoor cat. We moved to an apartment recently and we can't have him as an outdoor cat anymore. We think it is because he is unhappy and wants to go out and also doesn't get along with the other cat. We have tried everything, but he still poops on the floor. What do we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we can't solve the problem then we're just going to have to release him outside and not take him back again. We feel like its the right thing to do since its a pretty small apartment and he's lived his whole life as an outdoor cat. He also doesn't like the other cat. Can't be a fun life for him in here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9827" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-03T02:21:59.637" LastActivityDate="2019-10-08T02:21:18.440" Title="Why does my cat poop (but not pee) on the floor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-02T22:52:28.737" Score="4" ViewCount="2831" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog went out and ate a bunch of grass then immediately came in the house and pooped the undirected grass. It was encased in a clear jelly like substance with fresh blood mixed in. Earlier in the day her poop was normal. Should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9828" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:21:10.223" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:21:10.223" Title="Odd poop, clear jelly like, with fresh blood and eating grass" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-03T01:03:13.027" Score="6" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been keeping 2 young koi in an aquarium for a year now. They've grown bigger and accustom to me. Their tank is about 55-60 gallons, and I live in the northeast. They were from the same shop and same breed, and they also look similar so they're most likely siblings. But one has grown bigger than the other and eats more aggressively. The smaller one has recently been acting more skittish, and panics a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a result I think it may have injured its scales from the decor. I heard scales heal pretty quickly so I want to make sure I might be overreacting. But if it's not the case, I set up a quarantine tank next to the main just incase. The wounds however, have made the lager koi chase the smaller one more than usual-even biting the other's fins and the area of the wounds.&#xA;They are probably too domesticated to shift to a pond, but I've also been planning to build one next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So are these injuries serious (images)? And can an aquarium Koi shift to a pond koi?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HK6eX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HK6eX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IUTgB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IUTgB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9829" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-03T02:29:39.960" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:54:28.853" Title="My Koi is acting skittish suddenly, and found injuries" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17617" CreationDate="2017-07-03T01:32:43.010" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog's had these spots in her skin for some time. I'm including photos of the lesions. They're very itchy; she's always scratching herself. They also smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can it be and what medication can I buy? I prefer medication that can be taken orally because it's very hard for my parents to put ointments, creams, etc. on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bathe her biweekly with an oatmeal shampoo for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a very hot environment where the temp's been over 90 °F (32 °C) the last few weeks. She sleeps most of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe she's in pain; she wags her tail, eats well, runs and walks normally, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OST3v.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OST3v.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IWEBy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IWEBy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lEUWG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lEUWG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5TCaC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5TCaC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:01:19.317" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:16:45.077" Title="What can this be in my dog's skin?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17607" CreationDate="2017-07-03T06:13:19.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like your koi is having an ulcer or starting to develop one, this is not unusual in koi sadly there is no really effective cure for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture showing the left side of the fish is showing many lost scales and there is an area that looks like it has sunken in a little, this why I think it might be an ulcer there but I am not sure about it. On the right side there is a wound and this might be infected quite easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having koi in a indoor tank is not a good idea as a single koi needs a tank of at least 500 liters and a tank of 1000 liters is recommended. Remember a koi can easily reach 40-60 cm in four years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koi owners where I live do sometimes move their koi to indoor tanks in the winter if their pond is shallow and less then a meter deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is normally not a problem to move koi to an outdoor pond if you let it get used to the water slowly to avoid shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to move the koi in early summer when the temperature in the tank and in the pond is fairly similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you buy a book about koi like &lt;em&gt;An Interpet Guide to Koi&lt;/em&gt; by Barry James, or a similar book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koi usually get very tame in a pond and they usually comes when one approaches it,and they can eat food directly from your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry that I can't help you more with your fishes illness but diagnosing fish over the internet is not a very easy thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If/when you make a garden pond be sure to follow your local rules and regulations, where I live one needs to protect the pond or swimming pool so children can't drown in it, so you might need a fence around it. (The rules here is to build a fence but it doesn't say how close or far away this fence have to be so fencing can be done around the property or around the pond).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:54:28.853" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:54:28.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17603" CreationDate="2017-07-03T07:36:55.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frankly, nothing will be happy in such a small tank.&#xA;I don't have experience with starfish and crusacean, but a quick google search indicates that they require bigger tanks. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're interested in setting up an aquarium with animals, then you'll probably need to have around 20L. Then you can start with shrimps or a single betta&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T07:36:55.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17578" CreationDate="2017-07-03T07:53:13.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your cat really not eating and drinking, or are you not seeing him/her doing so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat did much the same when he just arrived in my house (now several years ago).&#xA;For days I'd not see him, but his food and water were being consumed. He didn't eat or drink a lot, lost some weight, but he was eating and drinking a little, always making sure that he was alone in the room when doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lasted a few days, until he came out and approached me, wanting to be petted. &#xA;I gave him some treats, scratched his ears for a few minutes, and he's been the best friend ever since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3125" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T07:53:13.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17604" CreationDate="2017-07-03T11:51:08.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5736&quot;&gt;What antibiotics should not be given to a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; it includes Clindamycin.   Addressing the treatment of infection is beyond the scope of this answer, but some suggestions about gut motility may be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GI stasis can occur when the rabbits gut stops moving food through it's system.  It is a prevalent issue with rabbits.  First course treatments focus on getting things moving again. Second course treatment is limiting risk of future episode, which mostly is centered around diet improvements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit has not produced any poop for 3 days, surgery may be required to remove blockage.  Be aware stomach/gut surgery is very high risk, my rabbit surgeon who is very skilled reports a 50% mortality rate, it generally a last resort option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-surgical treatment generally includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A gut motility drug such as cisapride (Propulsid) or metoclopramide (Reglan) {&lt;em&gt;per your comment your vet is using menbutone to increase motility, I am not familiar with this drug&lt;/em&gt;}&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simethicone to address gas and related pain&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abdominal massage and forced feeding, of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets/products/critical_care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Critical Care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without more detail it hard to define what that actual cause is. The most likely cause of a blockage is that wool block (hair ball) has moved from the stomach and blocked the intestine see this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-is-wool-block-in-rabbits/720#720&quot;&gt;related case study of my rabbit&lt;/a&gt; who had reoccurring GI Stasis issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely causes of non-blockage GI stasis are; stress, dehydration, pain or insufficient fiber (hay). In your case you report a tooth issue, the pain from that may have decreased intake and lead to the GI stasis event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related reading &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gastrointestinal Stasis: The Silent Killer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6792&quot;&gt;What reasons could there be for my rabbit not defecating?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T08:40:33.200" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T08:40:33.200" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-03T13:11:59.340" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;One month ago we rescued a pregnant cat from a risky area. People who knew her there told us she already got pregnant about 3 times before, but they never saw the kitens and they suspected someone killed her previous litters. So we took her in and two weeks later she had the kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was a little aggressive towards the humans of the house when pregnant but became much calmer and even friendly after the birth, rubbing against us, meowing softly when she saw us, showing her belly. She let us handle the kittens with no problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now she's attacking the other cats in the house, unprovoked and without warning. Yesterday she attacked one of our fosters from behind, without hissing or anything, she just lashed out on him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like locking her up with her kitties won't do a lot of good in the long run, besides, she hates being locked up and she's always asking for attention and head rubs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like she's bored out of her mind and has no escape for her energy, but I've tried playing with her with a toy stick (those with feathers in one end), and she absolutely ignored the toy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help her calm down with the other cats and also let out some steam? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's about 3 years old, healthy, fluffy, and has 5 kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9580" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-03T14:18:08.927" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T14:18:08.927" Title="Foster momma cat causing trouble, how to solve it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-03T17:04:58.597" Score="6" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a 2 year old cat that had supposedly been a stay most of her life. She is very affectionate and loving to humans, but is very defensive with other cats. We introduced her to our current cat 2 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are fixed, our current cat &lt;code&gt;Milo&lt;/code&gt; is a male Maine Coon, 2 years old, and is very energetic, curious, and playful. After day 2 he was no longer growling and was jus curious about the new cat. The new cat is &lt;code&gt;Roxy&lt;/code&gt;, female,  2 years old, breed(s) unknown, she is about 1/2-2/3 Milo's size, very affectionate of humans, but gets scared easily and hides a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behavior:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milo is very playful, but also territorial (He will try and eat her food over his, and use the litter-box she uses over the one he used to). He often tries to initiate play-time with her in the same manner he does with us, she will run away, and he will follow either seeing her as prey or thinking it's play time. She will turn around and swat at him, and he will swat back, Roxy will usually either hide at this point or go full-in to get Milo away from her. When Roxy gets aggressive, Milo backs off and tries to find something else to play with, or we play with him for a bit and love up on Roxy too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is pretty much what Milo does: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/WpTecCM.gifv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://i.imgur.com/WpTecCM.gifv&lt;/a&gt; except Roxy becomes defensive/aggressive as soon as he sniffs her or pats her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that Roxy is very wary and defensive of other cats, she puts herself in a defensive stance whenever Milo is really close, or will run and hide. We had a neighborhood stray get in the house a while back when we were moving stuff and Milo tries to sniff and play, Roxy ran and hid in a dark spot curled up (The stray treated Milo like a bother rather than a threat, and was only interested in food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we mitigate Roxie's fear/defensiveness? Milo is insistent on playing or being territorial with her at any opportunity, Roxy usually just runs and hides and that triggers something in Milo. She never leaves the bedroom on her own accord, and rarely plays, no matter what we try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Roxy also has a LOT of old little scars all over her body, I imagine from before we got her. We recently did a in-depth pat down on her after we found a bite mark on Milo's chin and a claw mark on her shoulder after they got in a tussle, and were surprised to find so many scars all over her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9832" LastEditorUserId="9832" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T16:18:29.337" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T12:13:18.447" Title="How to mitigate adopted stray's fear of other cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17607" CreationDate="2017-07-03T20:24:14.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had many Koi over the years and they are very non-combative. They won't even eat bit-size fish in the pond with them . Are there any other fish in the tank? Normally , if fish fight , the first damage is to fins. As stated , looks like disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T20:24:14.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17608" CreationDate="2017-07-03T21:02:02.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You need to bring your dog to the vet.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop reading this, call your vet, get your dog there now - it looks like a skin infection*.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These can happen for a variety of reasons, but the only course of treatment is antibiotics (you may also need a medicated shampoo, and possibly steroids depending on the severity).  You need a prescription from a vet for antibiotics, there is nothing you can buy over the counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I'm not a vet, but I have long haired dogs who are prone to skin issues.  Every time I've seen lesions like this it has been a skin infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-07-03T21:02:02.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17608" CreationDate="2017-07-04T00:16:08.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could also be a fungus. You stated that you live in a hot environment, but is it humid as well? If it is, those spots could be a fungus. To be sure and to get the proper medication, you would need a vet to diagnose them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9828" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:16:45.077" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:16:45.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6505" CreationDate="2017-07-04T03:02:38.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually it IS harmful if the cat eats many of them... like three or more a day for several days. Moths have a toxic powder on their wings. Although it may not harm them to eat a few, several in a few days can cause your cat to become lethargic, lose weight and get very sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9835" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T03:02:38.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17620" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-04T09:50:16.263" Score="2" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend is coming to visit in a couple of days with her young Labrador. I don't have my own dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past week, we had a relatively minor sewerage leak in the bottom of the garden. It's been fixed and treated with lyme and bleach as appropriate. There is still a light smell which is expected to go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned that &#xA;1) The visiting doggie is going to be drawn to this end of the garden due to the smell, and&#xA;2) The chemicals used in treating the leak could be harmful to the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of other garden, (it's only one corner, a few sqm out of a thousand or so), and I expect my friend to be around to keep an eye on her doggie. Nonetheless, I'm still concerned for his safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from physically cordoning-off the part in question, which I would consider if absolutely necessary, is there any other measure I can take, like something I could spray to deter his doggie nose? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9836" LastEditorDisplayName="user9836" LastEditDate="2017-07-04T09:55:54.503" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T09:55:54.503" Title="How do I deter a visiting doggie from a sewerage leak in my garden?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17519" CreationDate="2017-07-04T13:22:22.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog was a puppy she not only ate her own stool, but other dog stools as well. My vet gave me some medication to stop this, and she stopped within 2 weeks. There are some non-prescription products that you can use as well to stop this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9828" LastActivityDate="2017-07-04T13:22:22.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-05T11:24:34.413" Score="3" ViewCount="3668" Body="&lt;p&gt;My five year old female cat suddenly started pooping under my bed and in front of my shower in the corner and peeing right down the front of her box and just in front of it. And her pee is really strong smelling. Like it permeates my apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been happening since around the beginning of june when my neighbors moved in. They have an extremely friendly unfixed male cat that lives outside due to his spraying inside. I can't go anywhere without him saying hi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I clean my house daily scoop her box daily. Every time I find poo I put it in her box to try to reconnect the association. Her food hasn't changed. She's still on purina.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking I need to try getting some urine smell remover for the floors, a bigger litterbox for her to try. I'm going to remove the fabric from my box spring and make under the bed less appealing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9839" LastEditorUserId="10252" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T12:19:31.437" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T14:19:43.967" Title="Why does my cat suddenly poop and pee where she is not supposed to?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-06T12:45:55.277" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17622" CreationDate="2017-07-05T12:01:11.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called dominant behaviour, where a cat marks her territory with pee and poo (though it's usually by spraying only) to tell the new cat that this is her place not his. Now because the male is not fixed and has the habit of spraying and she (as I assume) IS fixed, she can't spray and so spreads her scent by pooing and peeing. She can smell his scent even though you don't, and he is spreading it very near of her territory (outside your house). This behaviour may or may not disappear as soon as the male leaves your place (and you) entirely. Having his scent on you can also encourage her to do more of that stinky stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do after you get rid of the male cat is to clean the places she used to mark with a urine smell remover as you said, but that's after you get rid of the male cat's smell outside your house, by giving him back to your neighbors and cleaning any area you find disturbing (the areas he used to spray) .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that you should try to retrain your cat to use the litter box. Getting a new litter box can encourage that behaviour, but remember to keep the old one in case she didn't like the new one. Give her treats when she uses any of the litter boxes. When you see her about to use another place as a litter box, gently carry her and place her in the litter box and after she's done give her treats and attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be some health issues she's got,so you may as well consider talking to your vet about it. It may even be due to the stress she earned after having the nieghbors move in, or possibly there is a mistake with the litter box, so that's another reason for you to buy a new one. But as you said; you clean the litter box daily, it may be where you place the litter box that's causing her to do her business somewhere else, it's not working for her now that the neighbors are in. I'd tell you to place the litter box in the places she used to use, but under your bed isn't going to do I guess. So buying a new litter box and placing it somewhere away from the other litter box should be a good step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to help you gain some more knowledge of your situation ; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/healthy-pets/cat-stop-using-the-litter-box/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/healthy-pets/cat-stop-using-the-litter-box/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9713" LastEditDate="2017-07-06T08:50:52.607" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T08:50:52.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15378" CreationDate="2017-07-05T13:53:08.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dogs are a little bit more affected of alcohol than humans&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But they have less weight, so they are much more affected when they drink the same amount. Humans have a lethal dose of 5 to 8 g/kg. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alcohol.org.nz/alcohol-its-effects/health-effects/alcohol-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.alcohol.org.nz/alcohol-its-effects/health-effects/alcohol-poisoning&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;The lethal dose of alcohol in dogs is 4.1-4.9g/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Du Jardin-Beaumetz (8) gave the lethal dose (LD50) of 95% ethyl alcohol in  dogs as 5.5-6.5 mL/kg with death occurring 12-24 hours after ingestion (1). This volume of alcohol equates to approximately 4.1-4.9 g/kg of 100% ethanol (the density of 95% ethanol is approximately 816 mg/mL (4); the specific gravity of 100% ethanol is 0.789 (9)). The toxic dose of pure alcohol (200 proof; 100% alcohol/  volume) in all species has recently been reported to be of the order of 8 g/kg in a single dose (10) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686341/pdf/canvetj00362-0043.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686341/pdf/canvetj00362-0043.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to measure the alcohol are the blood ethanol concentrations. The same article gives the following data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Respiratory depression occurs at 400-500 mg/dL; coma at 450-500 mg/dL;  and  death above 600 mg/dL (12). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2017-08-09T10:52:23.867" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T10:52:23.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6030" CreationDate="2017-07-05T15:55:49.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is too late for you, but maybe it helps someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a completely different strategy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. At the beginning don't let the children try to pet the dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every dog is different. And not every dog wants to be hugged or petted so much. Children are often loud, fast and chaotic and mostly have no understanding of personal space. They want to tell the dog that they love him and don't understand that maybe the dog does not like this kind of loving. So the main thing is to &lt;strong&gt;teach the children to respect the personal space of the dog&lt;/strong&gt;. Maybe you can touch and pet your dog, because the dog trusts you. If he is afraid of a children, every physical contact will be uncomfortable for the dog. He will never like it, until he trust the children. So before the children are allowed to pet the dog, the dog has to learn to relax in the presence of the children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Don't let the children touch the dogs area&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or leaving something there. The dog is afraid of the children. And now he comes to his personal area, the place where he normally feels very safe, and he can smell, that the children were there. The dog thinks that the children want to take his personal area for their own purpose. They don't respect him. He is much more afraid than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Show the dog that the children give him the space he needs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to show the dog, that the children respect you and him. Let him see, that there is no need for being afraid. That means, if the children arrive at your house, they can say hello to the dog, but they are not allowed to approach him. They don't touch him. It is good, when the dog is in the same room, so he can watch you and the children. Create an area where he is &quot;safe&quot; and no children will go into this area, but where he can see you. Order the dog to lie down and then ignore the dog and live your life with the children. Play and talk with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Show him, that walking with children is fine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while (it can take minutes, but sometimes it takes days) you can see that the dog can relax even if the children are in the same room. You can now try to take the children with you when you go for a walk with your dog. At the beginning he will still be afraid and not relaxed, because they are moving and may be closer to him. Tell the children to ignore the dog and be relatively calm or, if they want to run and play, stay away form the dog. If you have to go for a walk and you have to take the children with you, even when he does not relax, yet, tell the children not to go nearer to the dog than 1 meter. And then, after half an hour or an hour, when you feel that he must urinate but can't, tell them to make a 50 meters foot race. They have to start 3 meters in front of you and the dog, have to run AWAY form you and the dog and when they finished, they have to wait for you and the dog. Don't allow them to run back, the dog will be afraid. But I'll bet that the dog will use the  time of the race and the absence of the children to urinate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Show the dog that the presence of children means food and fun&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If the dog can be relaxed on a walk and urinate even if they are close to him, it is now time to teach him that children are positive. The children can now try to contact the dog (Maybe the dog already tried to contact them. Wonderful. Hopefully they didn't freak out and were excited - that would frighten him again - but reacted calmly and like nothing special has happened). Give the children some treats and they have to throw it on the ground near to the dog. Than, if the dog does not take it, let it where it is and do something else with the children. Ignore the dog. He will come after a while and take the treat, but usually in a moment where nobody watch him. If you see that, don't react to it (don't be excited or praise the dog), but you can now make another try. Let the children throw some treats. If he takes it immediately, they can throw to a nearer distance, so the dog has to move. If not, ignore... the same as before. If he stands directly in front of the children, they can place the treats on their hands. And they can wait that he eats the treats directly from their hands. If he does so, don't let them petting him. He still may not like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6. Teach the dog that children can pet him&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;the dog may be a dog, who never will love when children hug him very much and pet him all the time. You and the children have to respect that.&lt;/strong&gt; But maybe you can teach the dog to accept a little petting and maybe he can learn that it feels good, if they tickle him a bit. The children have to be very calm. They can hold a treat in their hand, but have the hand closed so that the dog can't reach it. Maybe he will sniffle and try to get it. The children now can try to pet him with the other hand very softly and calmly. If he is afraid and runs away or is shocked, tell the children to stop trying to touch him, until he is as relaxed as before. Otherwise the children can open the hand with the treat and give it to the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some last words for working with very active children and scared dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most children will understand your orders to stay away from the dog, if you explain it to them. Tell them that the dog is very afraid and that he can't understand love letters, hugs or petting. Explain that they would be afraid, too if some strange humans, which are much bigger than they are and who are loud and wild,  try to hug them. They will understand and most of the children will respect that. But children are often impatient. If you recognize that, try to show them how much better it is now in comparison to the first times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't lie to them. If you see that the dog does not like petting, hugging and fast moving children at all and that he can barely relax if they are in the same room, even after weeks, tell them. Tell them that he is not a puppet or a teddy bear and that they will never can do this. Explain them that this is not their fault and that they are wonderful and beloved children, but that this dog is too frightened. They may be sad, but that is better than an always terrified dog who may bite one day, if he can't handle the petting anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T15:55:49.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-05T19:12:38.307" Score="1" ViewCount="1521" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I got a juvenile leopard gecko named Scout about 3 days ago. I haven't held him yet because I wanted him to get comfortable in his new home before I did that. He had just finished shedding a bit before when we got him, but he still has little &quot;socks&quot; on his toes. I was told to put him in a warm shallow bath, but he's not tamed yet and happens to hate water. what can I do to get it off but not make him uncomfortable??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9840" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T06:18:05.650" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T06:18:05.650" Title="How do I get Skin off my untamed baby leopard gecko?? HELP" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-06T07:55:32.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17626" CreationDate="2017-07-05T21:29:12.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use a damp cotton swab (Q-tip) to gently massage the stuck shed off his toes. The bath would be best to get them soft enough to easily remove. It's important to not let the shed constrict blood flow to the toes as this can result in necrosis. The skin shrinks as it dries, so make sure you check his feet every day to make sure you got all the stuck shed off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5050" LastActivityDate="2017-07-05T21:29:12.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-06T08:14:13.720" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse had a serious injury 3 months ago. Her left leg was spiked through to the bone 30 cm long cutting through the muscle and the whole thigh was degloved. Her skin was hanging around her knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's come a long way. The wound is healing and a lot smaller. She is dragging her hoof however and is a little lame. She has regular vet care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has suggested that she may need to be on an anti-inflammatory on and off for life to reduce the swelling and relieve the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there is a natural alternative to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylbutazone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phenylbutazone&lt;/a&gt; that I could use, that may not be so harsh on her stomach and also be less expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This horse has previously been starved and I'm concerned about her developing ulcers. I don't want her to suffer. I want her life to be as comfortable as possible and I feed her many supplements to optimise her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VcMqt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VcMqt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/utMjb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/utMjb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T21:47:15.107" Title="Natural anti-inflammatories for horses" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17631" CreationDate="2017-07-06T10:27:16.460" Score="4" ViewCount="1890" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've bought a few adult guppies around 9 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of these guppies was gravid and gave birth around a few days after I got her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had kept the adult and the fry in the same container (simple glass tank without a filter, shown in the picture).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YDHYA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YDHYA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my concerns are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It appears that some of them have not grown at all, it has been approximately 8-9 months!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is the mentioned container (considering it has no filter) okay to keep them in? Is getting a different tank with built in filter recommended? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in general I'd like to ask if anyone has any tips raising guppies, since I've been reading up a lot but there was nothing said about their growth rate being so erratic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9843" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:28:03.967" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:28:03.967" Title="Why did my Guppies not grow for 8 months?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17630" CreationDate="2017-07-06T12:06:43.823" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of issues that I can see here that may be limiting how your fish grow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Temperature&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't mention having a heater for the tank and I cannot see one in the picture that you have provided. Whilst guppies can survive in colder water, to make a fish thrive you want to provide all the chances you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A stable temperature is very important and warmer water around 25-28 °C (77-82 °F) tends to provide the best conditions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/guppies-and-molly-tropical-fish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guppies and Mollies - thinkfish.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you live in a climate that might allow the temperature to normally reside within this window, you'll probably want a heater for consistency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Water Quality&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally in my experience, a large volume of water is easier to keep at a higher quality because fluctuations caused by water changes have less impact on the aquarium's water quality parameters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A filter is a must&lt;/strong&gt; for a sustainable tank for a number of reasons. You'll want to check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt; if you're not familiar with it already. To keep a tank sustainable for fish it must be &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/cycling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;'cycled' &lt;/a&gt; so that you don't get a build up of toxic ammonia in your tank. If you haven't got yourself a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tetra-Aquarium-6-in-1-Test-Strip/dp/B001B65ZVQ/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_201_bs_lp_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&amp;amp;refRID=0HHA0XCRFMTJWP2HPSYE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;water quality test kit&lt;/a&gt; you'll probably want to look into that too. The filter will also help to keep the water moving, agitating the surface, and allowing for more oxygen to dissolve in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure that you are doing regular water changes (normally between 15-25% a week) to keep the levels of nitrate down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Aquarium Size&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank you've got there looks pretty small. You should probably have &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; 30 litres to give them a good enough space to live comfortably in. If you intend to bread them heavily, you'll need something much larger because they are prolific breeders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most fish, the better you can set up their environment, the better they'll grow and the longer they'll live. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Closing Thoughts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This probably looks like a lot of information. Well, I guess it is. The key points here are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure the tank setup is suitable&lt;/strong&gt; (size, temperature, water quality).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency is key&lt;/strong&gt; (It's widely agreed that chancing the &lt;em&gt;perfect&lt;/em&gt; parameters does more harm than good in the long run. Get a good setup going and then maintain it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reach out!&lt;/strong&gt; (The best thing you can do is to ask for help if you need it - as you have already. I would suggest checking out some basic fish keeping videos like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcWeEm9w62mb8IKzbKIihTf59T1COF3wb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; to get to grips with the area). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:25:30.777" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:25:30.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17643" CreationDate="2017-07-06T16:45:54.383" Score="5" ViewCount="15228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, one of them likes to walk besides me, the other one behind me. I don't think she stays behind me because she is afraid, but rather because she wants to sniff stuff instead of keep walking. So I often need to pull her to continue. She could not want to walk besides the other dog, but I don't think it's the cause of the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use a H-harness in both of them. I do not want to use a choker as I've used them before and find them very little effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on how to make my dog walk besides me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7328" LastEditorUserId="7328" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T02:17:51.170" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T05:07:09.050" Title="Dog stays behind me during walks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17634" CreationDate="2017-07-06T18:38:20.243" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really want an indoor cat that I can keep in my room and bathroom and make ledges on the wall for the cat to run along and play and I will have a catio (an outdoor enclosed patio for cats), it will be in my yard along the side of the house, but my dad and brother are allergic to cats. My dad said that I can have a cat if I can somehow make sure no cat hair or dander leaves my room and bathroom and goes into the rest of the house. What can I do to keep  the cat hair and dander from leaving my bedroom and bathroom and then going into the rest of my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9845" LastEditorUserId="9845" LastEditDate="2017-07-07T01:28:23.063" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T02:30:56.053" Title="How do I stop cat hair and dander form leaving my bedroom and bathroom and going into the rest of the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17633" CreationDate="2017-07-06T18:46:51.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Manage the Hair Problem Regularly&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;While I think you'll find it nigh impossible to completely eradicate the hair, there are a few of things that you could do to significantly cut down on the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vacuum/Sweep Daily&lt;/strong&gt;: This should cut down on the amount of hair present in the rooms that you are traveling from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brush your Cat Daily&lt;/strong&gt;: This will reduce the amount of hair that your cat sheds be preemptively handling it. Also, many cats love being brushed!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lint Roll Yourself Whenever Leaving the Cat Zone&lt;/strong&gt;: This last measure prevents you accidentally transporting any hair that you may have missed with the previous two steps out of the cat zone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9701" LastActivityDate="2017-07-06T18:46:51.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17641" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T09:12:48.033" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a month ago we bought our kitten ( Missy ) she's a really playful girl, a little bit to playful. She was forever biting us and scratching, running around the room, she can't go out for another 3 months as she's not neutered, so we thought we should buy another kitten so she has another playmate, in the hope she would stop biting us ! &#xA;We bought our new kitten ( Scoobie ) yesterday, we bought a male as they are supposed to get on better this way. &#xA;I will admit, we didn't introduce them correctly, we just sat the down together and hoped for the best, we separated them at night however. &#xA;Our new little scoobie is a couple weeks younger than Missy - Missy is around 12 weeks, Scoobie is about 9. &#xA;Scoobie is a very calm and loving cat, I think he is still in the sleepy kitten stage. I can't work out if Missy is trying to fight or play with Scoobie, but she has no boundries, so if Scoobie squeals a little she pulls back for a minute then continues. &#xA;What can we do? Missy is just to rough with Scoobie, but Scoobie still goes up to her wanting to play and interact, so he's not scared of her? However he can't catch a break as Missy won't leave him alone ! Only when he eats ( in a separate part to her) she allows it.&#xA;Missy does bite and do that rabbit kick with her back legs on Scoobie, which we try to break up and distract Missy with toys ( which doesn't work ) We have tried to put them in separate rooms, mainly putting Scoobie in a room so Missy still has her 'house' but then Scoobie constantly cries and Missy almost forgets that Scoobie is in there so doesn't pay attention to the door or him! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read to leave them to it if they are hissing or boxing each other, but I get worried when little Scoobie makes a noise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do we start all over again and try to introduce them through the doors &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9854" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T09:46:04.627" Title="My kittens keep fighting!!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-10T03:42:27.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17645" CreationDate="2017-07-08T09:46:04.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is just play behaviour, but it's getting a little rough for Scoobie. If there is hissing and then jumping on each other and having their hair spiked, that's when you should stop them. But if they kick each other and follow each other it's probably just playing. You could try to separate them and leave their contact to be only behind doors, but I'd suggest it better for you (if you have a big space in your house) to let both roam freely but with supervision, as they are still young. If you notice things are getting too rough, first watch. Kittens usually stop when the other tells it that it's getting too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if they don't stop, don't put your hands in the middle of them. That way you'll only get hurt. Instead spray them with a water bottle and then separate them. Have them have a nice time together by giving them both treats in the same room. And it's better if you trim their nails a little with a cat's nail cutters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:26:30.917" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:26:30.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17632" CreationDate="2017-07-08T10:06:17.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should train her to come on command, and when she stops walking just call her and give her a treat. That's the easiest way for it. Don't forget to give the other dog treats too. And have the dogs like each other more by giving them positive experiences together such as play and training. She shouldn't mind to walk beside the other dog afterwards. And she'll be happy to walk with you without stopping as long as that gets her treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-08T10:06:17.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-08T13:42:43.767" Score="4" ViewCount="8165" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 3 weeks ago we bought our kitten Missy. She's very playful, and we find it hard to get her to know when it's hurting when she bites or scratches. We decided to buy her a playmate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We brought Scoobie into the family yesterday.  Missy is 12 weeks, Scoobie is around 9 weeks and is quite a bit smaller. We didn't introduce them as we should have (our mistake).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem okay together, as they sleep next to each other and they eat together. But Missy is overly playful and won't leave Scoobie alone when he doesn't want to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if Missy is trying to fight or trying to play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She uses her back legs and kicks Scoobie, which is when we have to break it up, as he makes noises at her. Not as in a squeal, but a &quot;&lt;em&gt;get off me&lt;/em&gt;&quot; noise, and Missy just doesn't understand. She doesn't know when to stop or to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do so she can understand when she's being to rough? Should we separate them more? &#xA;Scoobie is a very loving and playful cat, but he doesn't quite know how to stand up to Missy, so he lies on the floor most of the time with Missy kicking and biting him! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't interfere when they are chasing each other or play fighting. But when Scoobie makes the noises, I don't know if she's in pain or warning Missy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help!  I'm happy she has a playmate, but I don't want her to hurt him! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9854" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T09:18:13.367" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T10:07:00.077" Title="My kittens keep fighting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17645" CreationDate="2017-07-09T08:17:13.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the kittens are not actually hurting each other, it's best to let them fight it out. If you are concerned about Missy being too aggressive, it may be the case that they need more stimulation. Play with Missy more, buy her more toys, make sure they have scratching trees, add catnip to her toys if she seems disinterested. Possibly take her out on a leash to play outside if none of these work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she seems like she is actually hurting Scoobie (fur flying, blood drawn, screeching) you should most definitely seperate them for a few weeks. Then reintroduce them as if they're new cats, slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T08:17:13.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17650" CreationDate="2017-07-09T15:24:38.767" Score="2" ViewCount="667" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an extra bathroom which no one in the house uses; we put our cat's litter box in it. I love cats a lot so I was thinking, if I ended up adopting a lot of them (being able to take care of them all of course) can I use the extra bathtub, if sealed really well with a bath plug, as a litter box? I'm thinking of filling it with a lot of litter so it won't need changing for at least 2 months or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't allow guests to ever see it and I will make sure to seal it really well with a bath plug. What are the positives and negatives of having a bathtub as a litter box, if cleaned daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:32:27.240" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:32:27.240" Title="Can I use an unused bathtub as a litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17645" CreationDate="2017-07-09T16:01:13.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reintroduction is not necessary in your situation, because your cats obviously love each other. I'd say supervision is what's really necessary here. But not in a way that you should stop them from playing together. They should after all learn to understand each other and to understand each other's boundaries. You should leave them do it on their own. Supervision by you means to play with the extra hyper cat when she displays play aggression on the other and move her attention away from the other. Try to pass her energy onto something other than Scoobie, like a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when she gets less hyper, let her play with Scoobie as normal. They are still kittens and I'm sure they both want to play together. When Scoobie makes the noises, Missy should back off after a little time. If she doesn't, that's when you should try to take all of Missy's attention to something else, but don't separate them by putting each cat in a different room. Just play with both. If you hear hissing or warning sounds, that's when reintroduction is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T10:07:00.077" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T10:07:00.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17648" CreationDate="2017-07-09T16:32:27.863" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head –&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A bathtub is a big litter box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Negatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A bathtub is a big, smelly litter box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very difficult to keep clean regularly as you cannot easily remove all the litter to clean the base&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cannot move a bathtub to clean it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Needs a lot of litter, changed regularly, which would get expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Risk clogging your drain with litter etc. if not very careful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can likely never ever use the bathtub for a bath again, for example if you sell the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cats might start using your other baths as litter boxes, if they learn that's a nice place to go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unpleasant surprise for any guest thinking they might want a quick shower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-07-09T16:32:27.863" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17605" CreationDate="2017-07-09T18:14:34.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like trond hansen said your male cat is likely to be afraid of the female, so have some space in your home where only he is allowed to go, and not the female.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Of course have a litter box for him there ready for only him to use.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it's important to know that sense he was always an outdoor he may not be used to litterboxes and may not like them, and so like an opened space to do his business so you should train him to use them by giving him treats every time he uses any, and clean the places he pooped on very good so he would be discouraged to go there again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may even be that HE is the one being dominant not her as cats usually cover their feces and he knows he can cover his poo in a litter box but decides to do it some other place to show who's dominant.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cats that are very dominant don't cover their poo on purpose to leave it as a mark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I had two stray cats do this behaviour due to me having a cat at the time. They did it right in front of my front door as to show it's their place not my cat's.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And the two events happened at different times with different house cats. In one cat It only happened after I let the strays in for a little and gave it love and attention (like for 5 minutes or less) and the poor stray wanted my house but unfortunately I couldn't give it because it chased my cat around the house to show her who's boss and of course my cat should be boss in my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for you it can be that this male of yours is trying to show dominance over the female.        &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="10184" LastEditDate="2017-08-19T01:49:31.880" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T01:49:31.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17658" CreationDate="2017-07-10T03:08:35.287" Score="5" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a newly adopted cat (female, spayed, 1.5 yrs) in a safe room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a resident cat (female, spayed, 3 yrs) in the rest of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not yet at the point where the new cat is ready to roam the house or where the cats are ready to meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I divide my time? I work from home so can be anywhere during the day, and both areas have beds so I can sleep anywhere at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My resident cat is very attached to me and gets noticeably jealous (usually expressed as misdirected aggression when I am near or come out of the safe room) / depressed when I'm not around, she also has some serious separation anxiety issues, although I've been making progress in that regard in the past year. I want to both bond with the new cat but not make the old cat resent the new one before they even meet, and also I want to make sure the new cat has time to just relax in the safe room without me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-10T03:36:18.990" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T08:02:08.613" Title="When integrating a new cat into a house with a resident cat, how should I divide my time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17632" CreationDate="2017-07-10T05:07:09.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So a dog that chooses to walk behind you instead of with you or in front of you is a submissive or &quot;middle of the pack&quot; dog. It's a sign that they think that they're place is not alpha, or in the leader position. This is by no means a bad thing, but  a boost of confidence or importance in the &quot;pack&quot; or household may help. &#xA;I would provide activity that stimulates your dogs confidence starting off leash. When you're at home watching TV or on your computer (leisure time) I'm assuming your dog is pretty chill and not in your face constantly. Call him by name and treat him when he comes up to you and regularly for activities that most would consider normal socialization. A good trick is &quot;watch me&quot;. With &quot;watch me&quot;- place a treat in front of your face and say &quot;watch me&quot;, when your dog looks up at you (eye contact) give the treat to him. Practice this over and over.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standard harnesses encourage pulling, so I would try something called an Easy Walk Harness. It tucks behind the legs (armpit) and creates tension and pull at the pressure points without being harmful to the trachea, like standard collars. When walking, take a few steps and stop, give a sit command, and a watch me command, with treats, this command will encourage your dog to be and stay at a close enough distance next to you or a foot in front of you where a simple turn of the head directs that eye contact. This works a little better than a tug at the collar, and changing the word to &quot;heel&quot; JUST during walks will help teach your pup to stay within that walking range. Even when your dog has become good at this, continue doing random &quot;watch me&quot; commands to strengthen that eye contact you want. Watch me works for alot if different things, because is re directs their attention from what they're doing to looking at you, and increases your bond and respect, giving your dog a bit more confidence. Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T05:07:09.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-10T11:18:58.853" Score="8" ViewCount="11029" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a covered litter box which I clean twice a week. When I remove the lid to clean it, my male cat jumps into it and starts using it (urinates/defecates) in front of me, while I'm trying to clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens almost ever time. Why does he do that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9862" LastEditorUserId="2808" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T08:01:50.127" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T19:49:46.230" Title="Cat uses litterbox while I'm cleaning it - Is my cat weird" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17656" CreationDate="2017-07-10T13:33:28.590" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat isn't weird, a lot of cats display this behaviour. It could just be because he goes to check out what you are doing, and then boom! What a good idea, partner, let's use the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat was young, she used to do this every time I cleaned the litter box, and I clean it once daily. However she stopped doing it after I started telling her &quot;No&quot; every time she tried to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still likes to come see me clean it every time, but she doesn't go in. She waits until I'm done then gets in. It could be due to the fact that cats know the litter box gets clean and fancy after we are finished cleaning it, and so try to make things faster by just using it already even before we are done cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that when a cat sees someone removing its feces, it seems weird to a cat, and the cat starts getting a little stressed or confused about it and so uses the box again to keep their feces there, I'm just not sure on which site I read that and so I'm sorry to not be able to set you a link here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be because your cat prefers an open box like @Stig Tore said. And by the way, you should consider cleaning the litter box once if not twice daily, except if it is a huge box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T12:45:45.537" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T12:45:45.537" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17653" CreationDate="2017-07-10T13:50:58.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's best if you sleep on the side which has your resident cat more often, and sleep in the new cat's room once or twice for the first week. In the morning spend the time you used to spend with your resident cat like usual (except if it was all the time), then spend a lot of time with the new cat (except if she's really shy to ever come near you, in that case it needs more time to be alone). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the new cat is satisfied with the time you spend with her, and is happy and ready to let you go for a while. If you do that, your resident cat will miss you and will come to you when you are back. Here you should allow her to give you love and you should show her that you missed her like never before by giving her lots of attention, treats, and play. Be aware that you won't need to do this always, just for the first few days or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, both cats should be used to the fact that you won't be with them 99% of the time, and they should be okay with it. Just show them both love and affection, possibly give the resident cat more. If you give the new cat a lot of love and nice stuff, it wouldn't ever be ready to let you go and may start calling you once you leave the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's for you to decide. The resident cat shouldn't feel abondond and the new cat should feel at home but both should be okay with you leaving for some time. Leave them both toys and puzzles, catnip stuffed toys are also a good idea, water and a little food out for them to spend their time on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="2808" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T08:02:08.613" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T08:02:08.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-10T16:40:52.197" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a six-month-old dog. I don't know his breed. I adopted him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I try to train him by myself. Before start, I put some treats in my pocket. I give him the command or I throw the ball. He does it right. So I give him a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, I can't train him anymore because he loses focus on training and starts to sniffing around. Rapidly he finds my pocket full of treats. All he pays attention to now is my pocket.  Training is over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice for this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8206" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T03:40:44.203" Title="I can't train my dog with treats" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17662" CreationDate="2017-07-10T19:38:26.867" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom left my bunny (10 weeks old) outside for about 4 hours, with the temperature being around 86&amp;nbsp;°F (30&amp;nbsp;°C). Then, when I went for it, its mouth was wet and its two front paws I have no idea how it got wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when I went to pick it up it started to kick and jump, mind you it has never done this before, but I brought him in and now he is acting strange and laying weird (as illustrated by attached pictures).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when he walks or hops he doesn't move positions and I have no idea what to do, does anyone know? Should I take him to the vet or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help, I'm worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WPfHa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9865" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T20:24:37.193" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T20:24:37.193" Title="Bunny left outside now experiencing problems" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17660" CreationDate="2017-07-10T20:09:53.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you should probably take it to a vet it looks like an emergency. Your bunny may be about to die from dehydration or some kind of poisen or infection.Go now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T20:09:53.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17081" CreationDate="2017-07-10T20:56:26.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy new litter boxes, possibly two. And let Felix have a room for himself. Don't allow Annie to go there. Keep Felix in that room and play with him until he is dead tired. Only then let him out to rediscover your home. Once he attacks Annie, put him in his crate until he calms down (if you don't have a crate use the room.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you let him out and he attacks again, put him back in until he's calm. Let Annie have the chance of sniffing him in his crate only if she dares--don't force her to do so. After all, it was her house before his, am I right? I am picturing Annie as a kitten and Felix as a cat because I'm not sure of their age. Annie should feel at home, and Felix should learn to behave. If necessary, spray him with a water bottle whenever he tries to attack her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he walks without hurting her, give him treats and use either a clicker or a praise word so he recognizes it just happens when he displays the certain behaviour (walk by the other cat, do nothing, get parent's attention and have a delicious treat) Show him that whenever he attacks, fun stuff stops. The free house space is gone, and treats are taken away. He gets locked up as soon as fighting starts, of course with water and scratching posts and the like, but gets ignored by humans until he's calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he calms down, play with him and use the time to rub a towel (recently rubbed on Annie) all around his body. If possible, also play with him with it. Show him love and attention on a regular basis--he just doesn't get out of the room until he's calm. He should get the idea and behave more after a while. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:33:14.200" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:33:14.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-10T21:39:47.500" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted 2 beautiful female Betta fish! I also have one male. I noticed that the girls are a lot more active than the male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they swim around in their tanks, Mr.Rainbow whom I have had in my home since December 2017 either hides or sleeps but mostly sleeps. He also refuses to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I have been studying him, I noticed he is a lot bigger than the girls. Is he dying of old age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9868" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T06:11:58.790" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T06:11:58.790" Title="How do I know how old my betta is?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9884" CreationDate="2017-07-10T21:51:33.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also a Betta owner and I breed fish. One day, my female attacked my male. What I did was removed him from the tank and put him in a separate tank. In my opinion you should do whatever it takes to keep him safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9868" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T08:02:28.397" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T08:02:28.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5840" CreationDate="2017-07-10T22:15:39.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;FWIW, what finally worked was ignoring him. And time. Getting up before him didn't help (and we couldn't sustain it for long), but we did just get up and ignore him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three years later, he is still pretty assertive about telling us when he thinks it is time to get up, but he's not nearly as annoying about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1222" LastActivityDate="2017-07-10T22:15:39.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-10T23:04:25.170" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had surgery on the back foot with a split on for 6 weeks. Cat in a wired crate with an opening to a pet play fenced area without a cover. What do I use as a cover to keep the cat from climbing out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9869" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T18:09:31.613" Title="Keep cat contained in a pet play fence. What to use for cover to not escape?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17659" CreationDate="2017-07-10T23:39:05.537" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think one of the key things here is to find out what your dog really loves, and remember that it doesn't have to be one kind of treat, or even food at all. Dogs can be motivated by any number of things to varying degrees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiences&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within each of these categories you can see differing reactions. For example, a dog might enjoy getting kibble, but go crazy for a piece of cheese. Another dog might not care for either but really love playing tug or chasing a ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about some of the things your dog really loves (and it can be literally anything that won't hurt them) and then use that as a reward. Here are some examples to give you an idea of the range of rewards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food:&lt;/strong&gt; Food fed for dinner, kibble not used at mealtimes, any variety of dog treats, hot dogs, cheese, boiled chicken, salmon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toys:&lt;/strong&gt; Tugging on fluffy toys, tugging on hard toys, chasing a ball, chasing a frisbee, catching a ball, chasing a person, chewing on a bone, playing with an old sock&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experiences:&lt;/strong&gt; Verbal praise, extra games, petting, shoving, chasing a squirrel, sniffing a garden, rolling in something smelly, meeting someone new, working with their person, learned cues&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The possibilities are endless, but finding the right motivation can be difficult. Once you've found out what motivates your dog, you can then use that to your advantage. Make sure that you're controlling the reinforcement though because if he learns he can just give up and come get treats from your pocket, he'll do that. Dogs are great trainers of their humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastEditorUserId="1277" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T11:13:17.177" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T11:13:17.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17645" CreationDate="2017-07-11T00:43:08.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think an important element of the situation is that Scoobie is so young that he requires more sleep and rest than Missy.  Both kittens are quite young but 3 weeks makes a huge difference in their stamina and strength.  I second supervision and toys.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T00:43:08.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17659" CreationDate="2017-07-11T01:11:31.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;By the sounds of it, you are only exposing a treat when he executes the command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should try &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/1538-dog-training-food-lure-reward-dunbar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lure training&lt;/a&gt;. In simple terms, the idea is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;to show your dog exactly what is required and to reward it for complying&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog may not be familiar with the idea of reacting to your voice to gain a reward. Lure training is a great way to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaping_(psychology)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shape&lt;/a&gt; him, exposing him to the idea above. If he's looking for more treats after being rewarded, he hasn't made the connection of &quot;&lt;em&gt;I should do [trick] whenever owner does [command]&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. You should be using the treats as a bridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even worse, you may be making establishing the connection of &quot;&lt;em&gt;anytime I see a treat, I'll get to eat it&lt;/em&gt;&quot; by only exposing the treat when the command is executed. This could encourage the dog to look for more treats, as he may be interpreting the ball as playing rather than fetching on your behalf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expose the treat to gain your dog's interest&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;let him know you're the treat dispatcher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep his attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he gets excited, wait for him to calm down&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to detach &lt;em&gt;there is a treat here&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;you get a treat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there, use the treat to lure him into simple positions, such as sitting (usually performed automatically after a short while of not getting the treat) or laying (easy to bring your dog to ground level with the treat). Eventually you'll stray away from luring and use the treat simply as a reinforcement stimuli. Invest in a clicker as a cheaper reinforcement stimuli once your dog is familiar with commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T01:11:31.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17660" CreationDate="2017-07-11T02:40:12.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In any cases like this &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;EMERGENCY VETERINARY CARE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is required. No matter what time of day or night. A vet can offer intravenous fluids and appropriate medications, that cannot be provided at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any pet should not be exposed to extremes of climate, more so babies. They are more vulnerable and need more protection than adults. A 10 week old bunny has not long been weaned and vulnerable. Excessive heat can kill them and they should &lt;a href=&quot;http://rabbit.org/faq-orphaned-baby-bunnies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not be exposed to temperature above 65 - 75 degrees&lt;/a&gt; Fahrenheit(18 - 24 degrees Celsius) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 86 degrees Fahrenheit heat (30 degrees Celsius), the baby bunny would need to be indoors in a cooler environment and have access to fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T02:40:12.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17676" CreationDate="2017-07-11T09:41:40.193" Score="9" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: I need to portion-feed my cat as he loves food too much. I made a feeding machine that is mounted out of reach, which means the kibble falls down and scatters on the floor, where he has to go around gathering it. Is this OK for a cat, or is not having his food in a bowl stressful?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Last Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;See update 3 below for why I'm not using this anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer story:&#xA;When we got our cat from the shelter he was 8 kilos (17.6 pounds) so we feed him a fixed amount of kibble a day (prescribed by our vet) trying to get it down (which works, he's now around 6 kilos).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to feed him about three times a day: &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; in the morning, &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; when we get home and &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A problem we're having is how he likes to wake us extremely early (somewhere between 4 and 6 in the morning) because he is hungry. So I made a small feeding machine that will dispense his food, starting at half past 5 in the morning. It will dispense &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; of his food every 5 hours (so 5:30, 10:30, 15:30 and 20:30), as I read cats like to eat smaller portions during the day, instead of just one big one.&#xA;(In the beginning it would give out smaller portions every hour, but I got the feeling this was too disruptive for him: by the time he settled down after eating and started taking a nap, he'd hear his new food falling and would start eating again.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this works great in the morning: when he hears the machine he jumps off the bed and goes downstairs to eat, without waking us. Afterwards he comes back to the end of the bed for some more sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't put the machine on the ground because I'm sure with his determination to eat, he will destroy it. So at the moment it's mounted underneath one of the shelves we made for him to climb on and the kibble will just fall down and scatter and he has to go around that part of the room to get all of it. Do I have to find some way to get the kibble into a neat bowl, or is it OK for him to have to gather them? It does seem to help against eating too fast (because he has to search for some of them) and he seems happy enough (because food). But could this be stressful for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: He can get as much water as he wants. There is a bowl in nearly every room (away from his food so it doesn't fall in) that we change every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 1&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before, I made a cardboard contraption with different holes and slots to put his food in so he has to search for it. I was thinking of making a larger, wooden one (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purinaone.com/cats/a-dish-poses-little-challenge-make-a-diy-hunter-feeder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this from Purina&lt;/a&gt;) and put it underneath the machine so most of his food will fall in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'machine' I made is an auger with a container on top for the kibble. A servo motor on the back turns the auger so kibble comes out. On the back is an ESP8266 board (basically a tiny computer with Wi-Fi) that connects to my home Wi-Fi so I can tell it to move and for how long. This is done automatically at set times, but I can also use my phone to trigger it. On the top you can see a wider part, which slides into a holder that is attached to the bottom of my shelf. The parts are 3D printed. It's a prototype so it still has some exposed wires in the back. This one is printed using PLA but I'm going to make another one out of a verified food-safe material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 3:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I didn't use this system for long. One reason was that my cat managed to get to the prototype and destroy it. But the main reason was that my cat was on edge all the time, completely focus on the sound of the servo and the kibble hitting the floor. It didn't seem healthy so we're back to feeding him ourselves again for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SleUt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SleUt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The feeding machine&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9873" LastEditorUserId="9873" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T06:43:22.673" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T06:43:22.673" Title="Auto feeder: do cats need a bowl for their kibble, or is gathering from floor ok?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15853" CreationDate="2017-07-11T10:40:34.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be also that the tail got stuck somewhere between the bars if you have bars in your cage and then was torn off while they were wrestling. Have you found the missing tail somewhere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have your rats known each other for a long time, like a few months? Because where you introduce a new rat to the group, you have to do it carefully, especially if the new rat is not so young already (like a few weeks), watch them all the time and if you see aggression, blood, then give them a moment in separate cages to rethink and try to bring them together later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are rats that have known each other for a longer period it is less likely for them to fight this kind of way, unless one of them is really bad tempered - then I think you should react when you hear screams from the cage, because fighting is OK but as long as there's not blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-12T23:09:20.443" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T23:09:20.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17674" CreationDate="2017-07-11T12:58:21.570" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as the area the food falls on is kept clean with cat-safe cleaners and daily/bi-daily vacuuming or similar, this is actually a far better option than feeding in a bowl. It feeds your cat what he needs, but also helps keep him active (low activity levels is consistently a problem with domesticated cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as cleanliness is kept in mind, this is actually a ingenious idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the contraption itself: PLA is generally considered safe-ish so should be fine until you can get it printed in certified food safe materials. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://reprage.com/post/36869678168/is-3d-printed-pla-food-safe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a post on reprage.com&lt;/a&gt; points out the PLA itself is considered safe, but coloring and transfers from the hot end might not be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though considering we're talking at worst very small parts breaking off the contraption during operation that the cat is unlikely to find very appetising I don't believe there's a cause for concern on that front either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:14:00.193" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:14:00.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-11T15:13:38.717" Score="3" ViewCount="2911" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has regular short fur around her body but at her abdomen (more like at her bladder) she has longer fur, a family member told me it's because she is becoming a grown up by the days and the long fur around her abdomen is their to protect her abdomen more, because her body is getting ready for mating and pregnancy procedures. My cat is a mixed breed so I'm thinking it can be due to the admixture of breeds she's brought up to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do all female cats have longer fur at their abdomen rather than the rest of their body? Or is it probably because she is a mixed breed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i9EB2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the fur around her bladder part is like floating, while the rest of her body has shorter fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T22:03:17.997" Title="Do all female cats have longer fur around their abdomen rather than around the rest of their body?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17695" CreationDate="2017-07-11T15:19:58.217" Score="5" ViewCount="3425" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are these pouches(80 to 100g) which contain &quot;Tuna in Jelly&quot;, &quot;Cod in Jelly&quot; kind of cat food. They also come in 400g cans. Once I open a can or a pouch, how long will stay fresh before I need to put it in the fridge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food I buy is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whiskas.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WHISKAS&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8619" LastEditorUserId="8641" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T15:39:29.007" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T15:39:29.007" Title="Cat food in jelly - how long can you keep it unrefrigerated" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17692" CreationDate="2017-07-11T17:16:39.090" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;i am activly searching breed of this sand dog. I am applying couple pictures for additional help. He was very playfull and friendly oriented. Miss the chance to ask his owner for  he's dog name and breed, because tihs sand friend come fast and run away fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ibb.co/gMkuua&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image 1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ibb.co/k6WCfF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9874" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T07:36:18.390" Title="Searching breed of this dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-13T10:29:21.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17674" CreationDate="2017-07-11T20:07:44.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the previous answer, as long as the floor is cleaned regularly and is safe for your cat it's okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9787" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T19:41:42.050" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T19:41:42.050" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17677" CreationDate="2017-07-11T20:10:26.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the white fur, the area of the abdomen? If it is, my cat has the same thing. She's an orange and white tabby and has soft white fur around the abdomen which is longer than the rest. So it's probably more common in most cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9787" LastEditorUserId="9787" LastEditDate="2017-07-11T23:16:37.533" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T23:16:37.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17679" CreationDate="2017-07-11T20:15:36.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a white husky to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9787" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T20:15:36.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2545" CreationDate="2017-07-11T21:40:38.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this question is very old, but as there is no answer and I've got strong feelings concerning this topic, I thought I'd post my two cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in the Netherlands, nose rings have been illegal since 2001 because it was found cruel. The rooting behavior is important to these animals, and their noses are extremely sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently one of the main reasons to use the rings was to keep them from destroying the grass. I found a small article (Dutch) from Wageningen University and Research that talks about alternatives. They also confirm it is painful for the pigs, every time they hit something with the ring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article (linked below):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pro:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pigs don't get infected with worm eggs as easily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't destroy the grass, saving you costs for repairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Con:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ring hurts the animal every time it hits something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It prevents them from acting on their primal behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pigs often get swellings or extremely sensitive areas because of in-proper fitting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use stronger, faster growing grasses, this prevents the grazing behavior from changing into rooting + the grass will repair itself faster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep less pigs on the same land&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let them out around feeding time (prime-time for rooting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let them out after rain (worms coming up are tempting for the pigs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create areas where they are allowed to root so they leave the other areas alone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Dutch) Article:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://edepot.wur.nl/48739&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://edepot.wur.nl/48739&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9873" LastActivityDate="2017-07-11T21:40:38.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17678" CreationDate="2017-07-11T23:13:57.977" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Opened cans should be stored in the fridge, at temperatures between 40-45°F, for a maximum of 5-7 days. Any cat or dog food remaining after that time should be thrown out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;From Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/pet-care/nutrition-feeding/cat-and-dog-food-storage-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Food Storage Tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure the same time frame would suit this &quot;Tuna/Cod in Jelly.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9787" LastEditorDisplayName="user9803" LastEditDate="2017-07-12T20:34:58.483" LastActivityDate="2017-07-12T20:34:58.483" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17686" CreationDate="2017-07-12T03:40:59.907" Score="6" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though I've bought every brand out there, I can't find a way to make my cat use the litter-box consistently. She uses my kitchen floor more often.&#xA;I clean the box daily, so I don't think it is an issue with the box feeling dirty. What else can I do to make her always use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different brands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving the food away from the litter-box area &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buying a bigger box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips will be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9876" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:32:54.930" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:32:54.930" Title="Cat sometimes uses the litter box, other times uses the kitchen floor" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17685" CreationDate="2017-07-12T09:46:59.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be due to litter box's location or due to the changing of brands. Keep 1 kind of brand and she should get used to it. Whenever she uses the litter box, praise her and give her treats. What I used to do with my cat whenever she was about to use a different location for a litter box, I gently put her in it, and if she tries to leave, I put her right back in it, I keep doing that until she gets the idea and finally uses it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also used to return her to the litter box to cover her feces when she leaves it (when she was a kitten) and either let her cover it by holding her hand and making her cover it, or I cover it myself by using a spoon, and after she gets out she gets a treat or tuna bite or anything that she loves. Now she's all good and never uses a different spot. But don't make it very stressful for her, as it gets kind of stressful for a cat to be forced to do something. Be very gentle. Also keep in mind that if you don't clean the spots she used to do her business on really well, that may encourage her to go there a hundred times more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for starters (if you are able) change the location of the litter box and leave it where you put it. If it's an open litter box, don't push it all the way to the wall, as that will make it harder for her to use. Keep it in an undisturbed space in your house. Clean the spots in your kitchen very well, possibly with a urine smell remover. And finally don't allow her to use the spots again. Whenever you see her trying to dig or displaying the ''go to potty'' stance, carry her and put her in the litter box, and if she gets out put her back in. However, don't block her way out, wait until she gets out and then put back in. If you block her way out, it may only get her stressed and won't know what to do. If she doesn't get the idea dig the litter with a spoon or if it was brand new and clean do it with your finger, that not only gives her the idea but also triggers her instinct to use the spot, especially when she needs to go so bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, let her find her way out and when she comes give a treat or a delicious bite of the food she likes. Don't make it a meal, though, just enough to make her want more the next time. Of course if she isn't trained for anything yet (like most house cats) she'll need time to figure out that she only gets the delicious thing after she uses the litter box. Of course also give a treat to her whenever she uses the litter box without your help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By saying all that, it's easier to note that basically what you are doing is to retrain her to use the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course all those considerations should be taken after the cat is checked by the vet to make sure it isn't a health issue that's causing all this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wish you all the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T18:44:55.310" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T18:44:55.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-12T15:35:22.007" Score="3" ViewCount="1440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a crossbreed dog of Lhasa and Pomeranian. He was a very friendly dog. He had a wound nearby and we applied medicines, but somehow maggot infection occurred. Now he is quite angry and he cannot be controlled. Although my vet has promised me that he will take care of him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the maggot infection kill him or is it likely the vet will cure him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9880" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-07-12T16:44:22.913" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T17:01:45.403" Title="Will Myiasis cause death?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17633" CreationDate="2017-07-13T02:30:56.053" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I 100% agree with Cricket that it's practically impossible to stop the cat fur. For example, even when I brush the cat I can't brush her entire body, and that's when she wants to sit still enough. The unbrushed hair will shed and float around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Experience&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really commendable that you are doing research. I strongly recommend learning by doing, and before making the commitment. Some options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have a local animal shelter that needs volunteers?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you work at a cat boarding job? I found the help was staffed by students studying to be veterinarians and techs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Become a foster home to cats (at shelters/rescues). This is very dangerous because many graduate to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;adopt their foster&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; cat (I'm guilty).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;More ways to manage&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wear &quot;smock&quot; layer over your clothing while you are in contact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separate laundry; I know pet owners with extra laundry machines which they dedicate to pet laundry. Also, got a helpful tip from cat boarding tech about cat hair magnets (rubber ball pet toys) to wash with the clothes that can collect the hair off the fabric.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Security door like vestibule or&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantrap_(access_control)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mantrap&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;I observed these spaces also at the cat boarding house. It serves as a precaution for cats dashing through doors. It can be an extra chance to catch and confine the stray fur. Pause here to use the lint roller, remove your smock layer, and toss into laundry machine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9857" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T02:30:56.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17679" CreationDate="2017-07-13T03:21:55.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Appears to be white German Shepherd, mix of, or shepherd/Samoyed mixed. Gorgeous dog, a man who lives a few doors down from me has a dog that looks similar whose mom was Samoyed and dad was German Shepherd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Identifying dog breeds and mixed breed dogs are very difficult and my answer as well as others should be taken with caution. I'd hate for you to breed or conclude predisposed health problems based on my guess it anyone's for that matter. Even most vets offices take general guesses on paperwork &quot;lab mix&quot;, &quot;hound mix&quot; etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy a kit online for roughly $50-$60USD that will come with a pain free, mouth swabbing DNA kit for your dog, that you send off in a prepaid package. It will tell you the breed of dog up to either 4 or 5 breeds, if it's multigenerational mixed breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-07-13T07:36:18.390" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T07:36:18.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17659" CreationDate="2017-07-13T03:40:44.203" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I know men don't want to hear this suggestion- sorry guys- but placement is everything. Get a sports bra for women OR SIMILAR example shirt with front pocket, or a wrap or way to maneuver and store the treats up high on your body, under your clothes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe zipper locking them instead of loosely in your pocket will help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were me, I wouldn't give up on the treats just yet. If you start putting them in a zip bag before putting them on you (pocket or other options), your dog may also associate the crunching of the bag with treats, kinda like clicker training, where a noise is associated as a positive reinforcement, in front of the treats....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People have made comments about the breed of your dog and it's importance, but the truth is, your dog may have very strong genes that cause him to behave one way or another, have better sense of smell or sight, or hearing than others but what matters is- do you know how to recognize certain behavior and how you as a leader and human need to work around it. You have recognized 1- your dog needs training, 2- he's smart, 3- he always finds the treats in your pocket (could be great sense of smell -out like a type of hound, could be great tracking skills and instinct like German Shepherds... But my point is YOU are recognizing this without knowing it's breed, and you're reaching out to get help with a fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your dog respond well to behavioral/attitude positive reinforcement like being petted or being told &quot;good boy/girl/&lt;strong&gt;name&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, in a happy tone? If you do choose to give up on the treats, some dogs do very well with behavior enforcement... I have a papillon who will do just about anything for me to give her a super vigorous chest rub, ear rub and a &quot;good girl Abby!&quot; In my high pitched happy voice. After her trick, she looks up at me and waits for my reaction and gets excited/pumped up and happy with my same style reaction. If you're dog is a people pleaser, it you notice him looking up at you for guidance often, this might just work for your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T03:40:44.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-13T08:03:04.103" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have redeared sliders a male and a female I found some maggots (kind of embarrassing) but in my kitchen trash I save scraps for my bosses pigs but I didn't go to work for 2 days so kind of forgot it some food fell out on a bucket lid and last night my bfriend noticed them lol he wouldn't touch them and didn't tell me till this morning... When I looked at the lid it was completely covered in maggots. So with out thinking I tossed them in my turtle tank in the water my turtle ate them like a Pac-Man game did I mess up? Are my turtle going to be ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9883" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T08:03:04.103" Title="I feed my turtles maggots..is that ok?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-13T15:45:14.070" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17678" CreationDate="2017-07-13T15:37:44.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you go directly to the company website, they have an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whiskas.com/Home/Faqs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FAQ section&lt;/a&gt; with the first topic asking if their food should be refrigerated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes. Any unused portion needs to be refrigerated in a sealed container. We recommend using the food within four days of opening. You may want to allow the food to sit at room temperature for about thirty minutes or microwave the food for a few seconds (in a microwave-safe dish - not in the can!) prior to feeding, as some cats do not care for cold food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T15:37:44.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17687" CreationDate="2017-07-13T17:01:45.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, this question depends on the severity of the Myiasis and how much deep tissue has been damaged, so I will give you a broad answer, that may help you and others in the future. Usually a bacterial infection spreads quicker than the rapid spread of the larvae, and bacterial infection can definitely kill an animal. If your vet has said he/she thinks treatment is the best option for your pup (versus being in too much pain, too much suffering, or too far gone thus suggesting euthanasia) then I would try my best to keep the faith in his educated opinion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I don't have pictures, or am able to see a blood panel test, or blood/tissue culture to see what type of infection or bacteria is growing and how the body is reacting- I would suggest IF you are concerned enough you could always get a second opinion from another vet.  Subcutaneous infections can get into the bloodstream, spread to the spine, brain, other organs etc. I have seen a dog go blind from Myiasis from the location of where the infestation and infection took place. I would take this seriously either way, no matter the severity, because even if &quot;death&quot; (as you asked) isn't the outcome, there could be other outcomes that affect your pup forever. I would try your vets treatment plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You did the right thing by taking him to the vet after topical solutions didn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T17:01:45.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17667" CreationDate="2017-07-13T18:09:31.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;An easy way would be to cover the top of the enclosure with a thin blanket and clip it into place using something like binder clips. However, with this solution you run into the risk of the cat getting its nails caught in the blanket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7778" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T18:09:31.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17273" CreationDate="2017-07-13T18:33:10.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Jack Russell is absolutely fine, so I thought I'd provide an answer based on the treatment regime we used. I repeatedly washed the wound with salt water 3 times a day until it closed up, applying antiseptic wilkos own brand antiseptic cream, there's no damage to her mouth either, so I've likely saved myself a good few £ by treating her at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the top of her head now you wouldn't even tell she ever had a wound, they're back to being best of friends, and I hope they continue to be so for those that said &quot;take her to a vet&quot;  I'm glad I didn't, a vet's treatment would have been an unnecessary expense in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9887" LastEditorUserId="112" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T17:01:48.903" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T17:01:48.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17645" CreationDate="2017-07-13T20:05:02.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the owner, you aren't going to be able to change Missy's understanding of Scoobie's behavior. What you can do is change their environment and your reactions so they can both have their needs met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Provide an Escape Route&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you should make sure that if Scoobie wants to get away from Missy, there is a way to do that. Generally the easiest way to do that is to get a tall cat tower with multiple levels and platforms that are sized for one cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Missy chases Scoobie up the tower, then the small platforms will ensure that she can't do more than swat at him (which will be annoying, but not as much as trying to wrestle when Scoobie doesn't want to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Provide Other Play Outlets for Missy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Missy wants to play, and Missy should play! If Scoobie does not want to participate, it's up to you as their owner to step in and fill her needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I find 10-30 minutes with a wand toy sufficient to wear out a 2-3 year old cat (I don't have experience with young kittens). Once the cat becomes less interested in the wand, or they start huffing and breathing hard I'll give them a small amount of food (you caught the prey you've been chasing!). They will then typically groom and fall asleep, leaving the other cat to be unbothered by the more playful cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Learn How and When to Break Up a Fight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, observe the cats wrestling. If Scoobie's ears and whiskers are forward, he's interested in participating. If his ears and whiskers are drawn back, his tail (and maybe back fur) is bristly, and he's hissing, then he's not interested. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he does not want to participate, the best thing to do is to distract them so they separate on their own. Make a loud sound (clap, slam a book on the floor, etc). If that doesn't work, from a distance throw a blanket over them, separate them visually with a piece of cardboard, etc. Do not under any circumstances come near them with your body, as they can redirect their aggression towards you and injure you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-13T20:05:02.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17706" CreationDate="2017-07-14T09:36:40.107" Score="4" ViewCount="3557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that sweet foods like sugar and other sweet things are not safe for dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are sugary and sweet foods not good for cats too? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a wild baby cat whom I saw today, her mother just died today. I gave the kitten my milk which had some sugar in it. Is it safe to give her milk with sugar in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please notice, that I although have mentioned sugar in milk, but I mean all kinds of sweet foods.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT: It was Dairy milk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also what home based food is safe for cat if Dairy milk isn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9895" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T12:58:00.157" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T20:13:38.573" Title="Is sugar/sweet food safe for cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17705" CreationDate="2017-07-14T09:48:47.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sugar is perfectly fine for cats, though not as a primary source of energy since it lacks everything else the cat needs except the raw energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, some artificial sweeteners are considered toxic for cats. &lt;strong&gt;Dairy is also considered non-safe&lt;/strong&gt; if it is not made explicitly for cats since they can not break it down properly. While kittens still have the required enzymes and gut bacteria to break down cat milk, dairy from cattle or other human friendly animals tends to be different in composition in important ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not believe you've done any permanent damage, though, since milk mostly seem to just cause some diarrhea and possible mild dehydration, which the cat should recover from given the right nutrients and access to water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to help this cat you should call a cat rescue organisation or wildlife rescue, depending on whether this is a feral house cat, or a wild cat breed. If there are none in your area and you want to help you should do some research and maybe contact a remote rescue for help finding a suitable diet for the cat in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T09:48:47.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-14T12:28:42.247" Score="2" ViewCount="5649" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take my dogs out 10+ times a day because they are small dogs with small bladders. My male chihuahua (he's 5) is potty trained but it seems like when he's done doing his business outside he will still pee in the house. Its in the same spot every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My female chihuahua is almost 3 and she doesn't do it at all. Is there a way I can stop this without spending a lot of money? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9897" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-14T13:01:52.677" LastActivityDate="2020-02-23T08:01:25.967" Title="Why does my chihuahua still pee in house after I take him out?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17709" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17770" CreationDate="2017-07-14T13:25:07.623" Score="2" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female cat that rips my hands while playing, but that isn't really the problem. The problem is that I used to always take her scratching and only stop playing when it got far more out of line because I felt a little sorry for her and didn't really mind the scratching (not sure what you'll say about this but I really didn't care about her scratching). I'm used to her and whatever scratch she causes will heal much faster than if some other cat scratched me. How I know that is because I'm a little allergic to cats (males mostly) so when a cat scratches, the area gets a little swollen. And most cats cause the area to get more swollen than if it was her who scratched. It's kinda like my body got used to her a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now it's time for change. I'm afraid I'd have to give her to my friends or an adopter some time in life and I'm pretty sure no one is going handle her the way I did. And...I can also use the change for my advantage ya know. She is used to word &quot;No&quot; and usually stops when I say it, although a lot of times when she's hyper enough, she'll ignore me and rip, kick, and scratch even more. The reason I play with her with my hand is because she's been an orphan as a kitten so she hadn't a play mate to play with her the way kittens do (we weren't able to bring her a play mate due to our situations which didn't allow it at the time). She doesn't like to play with toys as much as she loves to play with her family of people, especially me. The rest of the family plays with her with their hands as well. It seems she goes softer on young ones, but they don't take her scratching for too long and start chasing her like another cat would do instead. They may even get mad about it but I always tell them it's their fault for making her such a cat, as it is, because when she was a kitten they all used to enjoy her biting and scratching while I wanted to teach her to stop. Anyway as for now I'm pretty much her only play mate, or mostly (as my family members do play with her sometimes but rarely). And for that she gets pretty bored a lot of the time and  starts trying to play with me by meowing, puffing herself as play (and believe me when I say as play, I'd usually know and it's obvious when it's not play), and then running away as so I would chase her and vise versa. Again, I'll say she doesn't like to play with anything unless I'm and usually only I am moving it. She'll ignore the rest of my family unless it was for treats. Also I'm always looking in every shop for cat toys but all I find are dog's or cat collars and leashes. So all I have are whatever is in the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to state that this issue is going no matter what, but I don't really like to end play season every time she scratches me and I'm afraid that she'll end up not listening to the word no if I do that every time, as she may get upset for the play stop and every time I say no. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please understand that the hand play thing will no be going anywhere, and I'll still play with her with my hand and feet if necessary. I'm convinced this until we manage to get her a play mate that won't be killing her instead of playing (if not SHE killing it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So any tips are welcomed although I don't think a lot would be at help. If not I'll figure it out on my own. Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9713" LastEditDate="2017-07-18T20:37:27.373" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:00:06.197" Title="How to get a grown up cat to stop scratching while playing if it was used to it since it was a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17708" CreationDate="2017-07-14T13:35:09.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, all you need to do is clean the area really well with a urine remover or anything you've got at home--just make sure it's strong enough to remove the chihuahua's pee scent from the spot. And start telling the dog &quot;No&quot; whenever it tries to do it there. And take the dog outside and encourage it to pee there. Also, can it be because you used to train your dog (when it was a puppy) to use that spot as a potty? If so, it's probably going to be harder to train it to stop using the spot. Still, cleaning the area really well will discourage it from using the spot again. Give the dog treats when it goes outside for pee, and either tell it no or ignore it completely when it uses the certain spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take it to the vet before you consider this to be a behavior issue because it may as well be a health one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the possible reasons: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be a health issue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be a behavior issue based on previous training.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be due to the dog wanting the place for him, possibly because it has some nice dog stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be just because it's the dog's routine now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be because you go to it every time it pees there and therefore associated the peeing with attention from you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-29T12:51:55.187" LastActivityDate="2019-10-29T12:51:55.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16403" CreationDate="2017-07-14T15:54:59.367" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why are most cats mixed breed?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Expense&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, obtaining a cat with papers is a lot more expensive. The lowest I've seen (posted price on a website, I've never seriously talked to a breeder) has been US $600 and some rarer breeds can be in the thousands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By contrast, a DSH/DLH can be obtained from a rescue or shelter for between $5-150. Many people adopt kittens from people in their neighborhoods or a friend of a friend (free) when a feral or unspayed outdoor cat has a litter. Sometimes an amazing friendly cat randomly shows up at your house (this happened to us). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, cat breeds aren't differentiated as much as dog breeds. For example, cats are all roughly the same size, so someone isn't going to go look for a particular breed because they don't have the strength to handle a 120 pound cat on a leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats haven't been bred for particular TASKS like dogs so they don't have huge differences in personality like dogs. A toy type dog has a very different personality than a herding type dog, because they had different jobs. That differentiation has never happened in cats. Cats had one task for thousands of years (kill vermin), and more recently have a second task (companionship).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if a prospective cat owner does not need to pay the purebred premium to ensure certain traits (because there's not that much differentiation in cat breeds) then why would they? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practices of Cat Breeders&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, when someone starts to talk to a breeder about obtaining a purebred cat, one of the things the breeder will ask is what is the purpose of this cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the prospective owner only wants a companion, often breeders will provide a &quot;pet quality&quot; cat. This is a cat that does not represent an improvement in the breed (i.e. its traits are further from the breed standard than its parents). Allowing this cat to reproduce would degrade the breed, so it is desexed (either by the breeder or required by the contract that the new owner have it done).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cat is desexed, these purebred traits are not going to be accidentally mixed with the large population of DSH/DLH (or other purebreds), so you're not going to see a half Ragdoll half DSH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To obtain a purebred cat who has not been desexed, a person generally has to show themselves to be very familiar with the breed and dedicated to the hobby. One common way of doing this is purchasing a desexed cat and showing it for a year or three. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mcbfa.org/breedcats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;One site&lt;/a&gt; explains that you can plan on spending about $2000 for the purchase of a desexed cat to show plus fees and expenses to show the cat and network with established breeders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've done this, breeders who know you may be willing to sell you an unaltered cat, for another couple thousand dollars. It's unlikely at this point that someone who had taken these steps would then allow their purebred cat to indiscriminately breed with random other cats. So, again, a half-breed (unpapered) cat is unlikely to ever be created. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats born from a purebred cat with papers are almost exclusively going to be other purebred cats with papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;But the rescue said my cat is a particular breed!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the advent of the internet and aggregation web sites like Petfinder, rescue organizations have to market their pets more aggressively. One way they do this is by assigning breeds to adoptable pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These breed assignments should be understood to mean &quot;this cat looks like BREED&quot; or &quot;this cat appears to have traits common to BREED&quot;. How well these assignments are made depends on the knowledge of the rescue staff and how aggressive they are trying to be in their marketing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some rescues will label all gray, non-striped cats &quot;Russian Blue&quot;, yet you can click through hundreds of rescue &quot;Russian Blue&quot; cats and not find a single one with anything approaching the bone structure of a Russian Blue, many even lack the eye color (which is easier to see even if you aren't familiar with how Russian Blues are built). In the context of rescue, Russian Blue means &quot;gray with no stripes or white spots&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exception to this is a breed specific rescue. These rescues are familiar with the breed and will only accept cats of that breed. They make this determination either through papers or by extensive familiarity with the breed (it varies according to each particular rescue). Even though I've gotten most of my cats from the Siamese Rescue Center, that doesn't mean that they're purebred Siamese (they are definitely not). It means that these cats have been pre-screened to have many of the traits of Siamese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Exceptions to the Above&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite the best practices of breeders (as explained above), there are some number of unaltered purebred cats that have been obtained by unscrupulous breeders (aka 'backyard breeders'). This is more likely to happen in more common (popular) breeds that have a large number of breeders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's only &amp;lt;10 breeders of a particular breed in the US, they probably all know each other or at least know of each other. It's more difficult to get an unaltered cat of that type of breed than a breed that has a bunch of breeders and while a breeder knows a lot of other breeders, they don't expect to know everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there has been more time for these accidents (letting an unaltered cat go to an unscrupulous breeder) to happen in older breeds that have been around for decades than in younger breeds that have only been around a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that these specific breed traits can be found in the common mixed breed population. The big three breeds that I've seen this happen to on large scale are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Siamese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maine Coon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Persian &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is this particular cat a Maine Coon, Ragdoll, or Ragamuffin?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have papers, most likely it's none of the above. It's a mixed breed (or Domestic Short/Medium/Long Hair).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could this cat be the result of one of the exceptions?&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;Maybe. Consider first the age of the breed, then the popularity (I couldn't find number of cats registered each year, nor even number of breeders from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tica.org/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;TICA&lt;/a&gt;, but CFA lists breeders so we'll use that as a stand-in for popularity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maine Coon - &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;at least late 19th century&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://secure.cfa.org/Search.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;29 breeders&lt;/a&gt; registered with CFA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ragdoll - &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragdoll&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1960s&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://secure.cfa.org/Search.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 breeders&lt;/a&gt; registered with CFA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ragamuffin - &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragamuffin_cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1994&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://secure.cfa.org/Search.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 breeders&lt;/a&gt; registered with CFA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, based on both age and popularity, the breed most likely to be an exception as explained above is the Maine Coon. So if the cat has a bunch of the traits that these breeds have in common and you had to pick one of these breeds as likely ancestry, I'd pick Maine Coon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-14T15:54:59.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-14T16:17:30.273" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a female baby cockatiel on July 4th (11days ago). I had to wait two weeks from when I first fell in love with her, and just visit with her instead of taking her home, because she was still handfeeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday afternoon when I took a late lunch break, I took both her and my male cockatiel out of their cages to  get a stretch and let them socialize for a little bit, as I always do. I heard a noise that I thought was my male imitating my dog's squeaky toy. This was not the case. It was my new baby, and it was her breathing, wheezing, and sneezing. I put her back in her cage, sat with her for a bit and began to worry. I had to go back to work, so I added some multivitamins to her water, turned the AC up a few degrees, covered her and prayed it was just dust, seed hulls, or feather dander causing this.  It wasn't. I got home and her conditions had only worsened. Her tail moved up and down, like support, each breath she takes, and in between  eating seeds, her beak is opened instead of closed while she breathes. I was a little  confused because I'm used to recognizing these symptoms with nose or eye drainage, in birds with respiratory infections. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called the avian vet in my area, and the receptionist connected me to the vet. He sounded a little unsure about my description ( I may have left detail out being shook up) and he offered to look at her through video chat. He was hoping with his busy agenda today AND the street a ride down and the stress it can cause a bird, maybe he could help recommend something to do at home or without bringing her in. He told me within seconds that she has pneumonia. Fluid in the lungs.... he thinks it probably started from being hand fed improperly and her symptoms are what's happened as it's progressed. He set me  up an appointment for a few hours from now, and &#xA;said he'd start a Doxycycline treatment on her. I worked at a vet who had treated a large parrot for Pneumonia with Sulfa/Trimethoprim. When I asked about that he said since she was a baby and  hasn't been eating a seed diet long, that Sulfa antibiotics, although most effective, would tear up her stomach and possibly stress her body out more than necessary, and he'd have to treat with a weaker broad spectrum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, does anyone know the survival rate OR her chances at survival of pneumonia with treatment? I'm especially curious since she won't be on an antibiotic that I'm familiar with being used for this.... If there is anybody that has a success or unsuccessful story either using Doxycycline in smaller birds OR with pneumonia treatment in birds period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I asked him what her chances were, he said all I can tell you is she will perish with intense suffering if she isn't treated... so here I am, about to take her, with all of her favorite perches and toys, and treats (he's keeping her there during treatment- I can visit her while doing so)&#xA;I'd like to stress to any readers  that I don't want this to in any way discourage ANY bird owners from taking  their bird to the vet, even if the answer is &quot;I took mine to the vet and she still didn't make it&quot;.  I also wish I could load a video, so future viewers can familiarize themselves with the noises my baby cockatiel is making and see how she's holding her body, for educational purposes, and that they know the importance of getting any pet bird with these symptoms to a vet ASAP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T14:53:15.043" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T14:53:15.043" Title="Likelihood of survival- Pneumonia baby cockatiel" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17734" CreationDate="2017-07-14T17:14:07.530" Score="2" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;we just adopted a three year old dog, she is very friendly towards people when they come at the house or approach her, and outdoors she isn't even interested in other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been practicing walking her and right now i think it is safe to say she looks at me as the pack leader, she very rarely pulls, just when she finds an interesting smell and a little tug on the leash brings her right back, so for the third day i think we made wonderful progress. She also pulls a bit when we stop at a grassy area for her to relieve herself i think this is normal and this is her reward for behaving during the walk, i let her smell around and pull me a little ( is this ok?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is with other dogs, at the pound we took her for a walk, and at the exit we passed a couple of dogs returning from a walk and she freaked out, people at the pound told us she was just jealous. She has gotten better we are at a point where most times other dogs bark at her and she just ignores them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yesterday i noticed a dog giving her a stare down i ignored him and just when we were at our closest point (5-10 m, i was not going any closer and was returning home at this point) she noticed him and started barking (not sure who started growling and barking first), i gave her a tug and/or a pat on the neck and she snapped out of it and started ignoring the other dog's barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today another dog was loose while his owner was sitting they started barking at each other and i got her to stop immediately again, but then she started crying ( as in i want to socialize?), So i moved away a little bit and when she stopped crying and calmed down i decided to let her approach, she behaved very well, started smelling him (the other dog seemed a bit scared or protective), she didn't bark or growl and only when we were very close to the other dog's owner the other dog started showing his teeth, barking, and growling, mine did nothing, the other owner told me this was normal behaviour for his dog so i decided to go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the pound my dog lived with another dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always try to keep calm and just correct her behaviour and ignore the other dogs, but i feel she wants to socialize, but it seems other dog owners in my area are &quot;bad owners&quot;, what can i do? And am.i doing stuff right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9901" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T07:10:08.790" Title="Is my dog the aggressive one?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-14T21:47:50.253" Score="2" ViewCount="1076" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is a stray, I think 8 to 9 weeks old, so I don't know how long the fur on his parents were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His fur feels thick under with shaggy long hairs on top. Can anyone estimate what kind of fur he will end up with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j0ZEd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9903" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2017-07-16T21:23:45.320" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T20:32:59.083" Title="My kitten has thick fur with shaggy longer hair all over, except on his head. Will he end up with medium fur?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-08-12T01:59:50.827" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-14T22:36:47.443" Score="1" ViewCount="1536" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D0Zxt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Yqc0C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; wondering if he will be medium hair cat when he is older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9903" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T20:29:43.107" Title="If he will be a medium hair cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2017-07-27T18:29:29.887" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-15T05:42:08.293" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you get a Pomeranian's fur cut real short for the summer?&#xA;We had our dog's fur cut real short and I've noticed this summer that&#xA;She is panting a lot!! And harder!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9905" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-16T18:39:11.620" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T17:28:42.367" Title="Should I cut my Pomeranian's fur for summer?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-15T09:12:01.420" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;am having seventeen baby rabbit and two left now. I have lost fifteen. please what is the course?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9906" LastActivityDate="2017-07-15T09:12:01.420" Title="what makes the baby rabbit get swollen stomach and at what stage do one separate them from their mother?" Tags="&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-07-15T10:37:01.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17725" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-16T02:33:08.703" Score="7" ViewCount="13162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read in Jackson Galaxy's &lt;em&gt;Catification&lt;/em&gt; that water bowls should not be placed near food bowls, since water sources near food sources in nature are likely to be contaminated. Thus, cats will drink more water from bowls placed away from food sources. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9911" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-07-18T19:07:05.823" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T10:57:21.047" Title="Do cats prefer water from bowls that are far from their food bowls?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17725" CreationDate="2017-07-16T07:13:36.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had cats for more than 20 years and never had a too huge separation between food and water – no issues. But these were all outdoor cats, so they were able to drink outside as well (e.g. from our pond).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I wouldn't worry too much and just experiment with this – it might be a personal preference for your cat after all. Our house cats originate from rather arid regions which makes them need far less water compared to other pets such as dogs (as long as they're getting wet food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A far better reason to get at least a few centimeters between both bowls would be the fact that it's easier to keep the cat from dropping anything into the water (and thus contaminating it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T07:13:36.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-16T10:37:29.960" Score="3" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our three month old boy puppy squats to pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will he eventually learn how to cock his leg by himself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this learned behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it common for puppies to be like this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-21T15:16:53.237" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T15:16:53.237" Title="Will my puppy learn to cock his leg to pee?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17727" CreationDate="2017-07-16T16:05:02.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No concern for this, it's genetic to be honest. There's a myth that goes around saying that once they hit maturity (puberty) they will cock their leg - it's not true, it has nothing to do with testosterone. I've had females cock their legs and males that don't, their method of peeing does not indicate health it's just how they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes they will change their stance throughout the day, one pee they squat the other time they cock their leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-07-16T20:58:27.277" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T20:58:27.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17725" CreationDate="2017-07-16T16:35:53.717" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;An interesting note, but it could be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats have water near the food and we found out that any other water (even a tea - no sugar :) ) in the house that is within the cat's reach in most cases is more preferred that the water in the main bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since a year we have another bowl placed far from the kitchen (where the food bowl is). Normally we wouldn't care so much because I couldn't imagine that a cat would die from thirst having water near its food, but we have a cat with kidneys problems that have to drink a lot, so when we saw that he likes the other water more we were happy to provide him with one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T16:35:53.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17727" CreationDate="2017-07-16T18:25:52.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perfectly normal, as he matures he will automatically lift his leg when need. And like Rebecca said they will do switch at will to mark the spot they're trying to mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9914" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T18:25:52.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17714" CreationDate="2017-07-16T18:40:57.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be a number of things, since you just adopted her, i say keep working with her as you are.  It'll take time and repetition.  It's hard to tell what environment she was in before.  I would try going to the dog park when there are fewer dogs there. Let her get used to the environment and build up her confidence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As for the other dog owners,  you'll learn which dogs to stay away from. Keep working with her, sounds like your doing fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9914" LastActivityDate="2017-07-16T18:40:57.367" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17727" CreationDate="2017-07-17T03:16:04.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I add by answering an unanswered part of your question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen this as a learned behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother's black kelpie, as a puppy, when he was first introduced into her home, squatted to pee. The puppy learned to cock his leg from her aging red kelpie, either through his own observation or by some other way in which dogs learn from each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also worth mentioning, my male cattle kelpie cross as a puppy squatted and, as he matured (and perhaps as his strength and balance increased), he began more and more to cock his leg to pee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T03:16:04.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17725" CreationDate="2017-07-17T06:29:07.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't see how it can be &lt;em&gt;fact&lt;/em&gt; when one other answer here already supports my experience as well. Population varies because we also do rescue cats, but at the moment it's 19 cats inside and the water and food are not more than 4 inches apart. Lost count of how many have have passed through here, yet never had one get on the kitchen counter for water. Food scraps always, but never water. Water outside is more like 6 inches from the food bowl. Don't monitor the cats specifically, but I have never seen one drink from other available sources, nor ever hesitate to use the water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon further reflection I have to even doubt the portion of the souce that refers to the reasoning behind it, namely that in the wild water sources near food sources is likely to be contaminated. Cats in nature don't go to bowls, or &quot;food sources&quot; to eat, they hunt and catch their prey. Near a water source is one likely place to have increased success hunting, as seen in many a documentary about wild cats. A contaminated water source would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; be a source of prey, as they would avoid it as well. So, logically contaminated water is not near a food source, but farther from it. In addition, from the behaviour of my cats, I'd doubt it anyway. Often, because of pawing at one or another of the bowls, the water and food bowls are in contact, and pieces of the cat food end up in the water. The cats will still drink from that side of the bowl, which is a double-well bowl, meaning they have a second choice without the food in it, yet still drink from the side with the pieces of cat food in the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only issue I can see with contamination that might affect a cat's choice to drink elsewhere is contamination we, their human servants, cause. First is that the bowl could be contaminated with something that they object to. Plastics are really bad about absorbing the scent of other things. For example, if washed in very hot soapy water, some plastics will begin to taste &quot;soapy&quot; to humans. Imagine the flavor a cat would get! Second, and more serious, is mold and algae. If your environment is right for it, the water bowl can develop a thin film of either on the inside surface, even on stainless steel. There are pet bowls which are treated to avoid this, but I've never had them last very long either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user9803" LastEditorDisplayName="user9803" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T10:57:21.047" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T10:57:21.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17714" CreationDate="2017-07-17T06:29:11.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you note that she barked while pulling on the leash: teach her to be callable even off-leash or on a long leash! I don't know if off-leash walking is allowed in your area, but in my opinion every dog should be recallable even without a leash.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have seen quiet a few dogs that are perfectly fine when greeting other dogs while running free, but TERRIBLE when restrained by a leash!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;keep her on a longer leash, and call her to you. Lure her with a treat if needed, and reward her when she comes to you in whatever way works best. Treats, toys, lots and lots of praise, whatever your dog best responds to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you feel secure in recalling her, you can walk with a longer leash, which has two advantages: you still HAVE a leash you can just keep short as needed, and use to tug her back when you need to, which gives security to you. But normally, you should be able to keep the leash long and slack, and you can just call her back to your side if she runs ahead more that you would like her to.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For the dog, it means she can approach other dogs without having to strain against a leash, too, which may actually help her be more relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the whole: you seem to have good control over her, so that IS great! I see too many dogs tugging the leash permanently or being all over the place around their humans! Her coming back on a short tug and generally staying on your side or slightly ahead is good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on it working for you or not, you should look into non-dominance-based dog-training, though. Dominance-theory is actually outdated, and while I do not deny it can and will work for most dogs, reward-based training is actually the way most modern dog-trainers work now, so, yes, rewarding her when she comes to you is good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, you may want to look into clicker-training. Especially if your dog is food-motivated, it will be easiest in the long-term without overfeeding on treats :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T06:29:11.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16747" CreationDate="2017-07-17T17:06:21.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try redirecting the kneading behavior. Whenever he starts kneading (at any time of day), put him on a specific blanket/shirt that you've dedicated for this purpose (we've noticed our cats like fluffy/soft blankets, so I'd suggest starting with something like that). If he starts kneading again, give him a treat (or piece of dry kibble).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure when you go to bed that the designated kneading blanket is nearby. If your cat likes heights, put it on a tower/tree and not on the floor (it'll get ignored on the floor). When he starts kneading at night, move him to the blanket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, he'll associate the blanket as the place to knead. As long as it's nearby at night, he should go to it, not your bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Redirection for this behavior is better than punishment. Startling or disciplining your cat for a natural behavior will damage the trust you've built up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T17:06:21.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17725" CreationDate="2017-07-17T18:04:55.240" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience of owning 7 cats, I too have noticed that they PREFER water away from their food as opposed to water by their food bowls.  I capitalize prefer because I want to stress that they don't refuse to drink from the water by their food, they simply prefer other means.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I lived in my apartment, I had 2 water bowls, 1 in the bedroom 1 by their food and they drank from it equally.  Now that I am living some where else that has more space and water bowls, they rarely drink from the water source by their food.  Their water bowl of choice is actually one that is placed on an unused counter top that allows them to see into the kitchen and living room.  Other cats in the house prefer the water bowls upstairs which is also away from their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while it is probably subjective to each cat, it is a pattern that is noticed to be mostly true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T18:04:55.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2755" CreationDate="2017-07-17T20:30:54.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have owned and raised cats (everything from Purebred Persians and Himalayans to domestic 'house cats' to feral/stray barn cats) for close to 60 years. Because of my extensive experience with cats, I feel more than confident in saying clipping a cats' claws does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; interfere with their ability to climb, scratch an itch on themselves, use a scratching post/pad to remove the dead outer layer of their claws, to mark their territory by leaving both a visual mark and a scent (they have scent glands on their paws), and to stretch their bodies and flex their feet and claws, catch prey, or defend themselves; nor does it change their behavior in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor cats do not wear their claws down as efficiently for a few reasons: They don't walk on rough terrain; they don't travel very far; they are more sedentary because they don't have to hunt for prey/food. Therefore their claws are prone to grow longer than an outdoor cat, and this can sometimes result in the claw growing into the paw pad causing pain and potential infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clipping a cats' claws &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; allow you to bond with your cat. It will also allow you to examine and observe the paw pads for dryness, cracks, abnormal growths (such as callouses and tumors); check for cuticle infections and damage; and observe for acquired dirt or sores between the toes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you clip a cats' claws, you are not removing the entire claw, nor even a good amount of it. You are simply removing the tips - approximately 1/8 of an inch. There is still the majority of the claw present and it is more than enough for the cat to function naturally, as stated above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have two neutered male cats that are strictly indoors and they get their claws trimmed twice a week or as needed (when they shed the claw sheath, the new claw is very pointed) to prevent them from damaging furniture and myself, as I am a little older now and my skin is more fragile; not to mention I have a medical condition that requires me to take blood-thinners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still aren't sure, feel free to clip your cats' claws and observe for any changes in what s/he can or can't do; the claws will grow and the sheaths will shed within two weeks or less and return to the natural, sharp claws as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9921" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-07-19T17:01:34.613" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T17:01:34.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17714" CreationDate="2017-07-17T21:12:34.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog does the same thing and its normal. Some dogs feel agitated while around other dogs especially if they are alpha dogs. My advice is to keep working with her and she'll slowly get used to the dogs in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9923" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T21:12:34.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16747" CreationDate="2017-07-17T21:17:55.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest not to discourage it as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_knead&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kneading&lt;/a&gt; is not about separation issues but rather about showing content through a natural habit.  All of my cats knead.  The bed, pillows, Their own beds, my chest, my lap.  If you are not fond of them doing it on certain items, as Zaralynda suggested, find an outlet for them to do it on.  My female and male cat both like to knead on a soft cat bed while purring very loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastActivityDate="2017-07-17T21:17:55.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-17T22:12:30.983" Score="4" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;My west highland white terrier is aggresive against my friends for example he bit my cousin's leg, tore his jeans and created a wound. Also when he meets another dog even larger than him he will try to attack. To stop him attacking my friends we keep him in the balcony while they are here, was this the right way to act? Also what can i do about him attacking other dogs? Oh and before i forget we have a larger male dog has been terrorizing him since he was a puppy. Could this be the problem&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9923" LastEditorUserId="9923" LastEditDate="2017-07-18T08:05:35.630" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T09:56:20.883" Title="My dog attacks my friends and other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17744" CreationDate="2017-07-18T07:39:44.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the dog is already that aggressive, chances are you need a professional dog-trainer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Without knowing more it is even impossible to say what the reason for the aggression is. For example, it could be based on a hunting-instincts (most Terrier-breeds where bred for solitary hunting!), defending his territory, or even fear and/or panic! Attacking other dogs may be a result of bad socialisation. I don't know the dogs history, but he may even been encouraged to attack by a previous owner.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, there are many possibilities. Seek out a professional dog-trainer, so you can diagnose the cause for the aggression and then work on it. Diagnosing the cause for aggression is possibly one of the hardest tasks disregard a dog because of all the different possible triggers, but you need to know the root cause before you can help him.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Until then, I would advise you do some basic obedience-training in a place where the dog is comfortable and calm. Use reward-based training here! No matter what the cause of the aggression is, any punishment- or dominance-based training may make the issue harder to deal with. Also, do take your dog for walks - long, tiring walks - but if possible, put a muzzle on him, and avoid other dogs. You can reintroduce to dogs once you know how to work on his aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And above all: have love and patience! For many aggressive dogs, that is what is needed most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addendum for the second dog (lot's of speculation, take this with a grain of salt.. or more!):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With the older dogs behaviour, I would suspect fear-based aggression and/or bad socialisation. The older dog should have set limits, yes, but not terrorize. If you cannot reach out for a trainer, I would in this case really start by building a LOT of trust with the younger dog: sit with him (but giving him space), pet him gently if he shows no aggression and/or fear, let him come to YOU for a treat and retreat as he wants. Train &quot;calm and nice&quot; behaviour with the older dog, too, with many rewards and treats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Try to keep the young one separate from the other dog for now as much as you can. If BOTH are calm, you should be able to let them together, give them both treats. If one of them starts being aggressive, separate them again. Above all: learn to read your dogs language! Barking and growling can mean MANY things, from &quot;play with me&quot; to &quot;back off NOW!&quot;. &#xA;And again, please avoid any punishment-related training, with both of them. It is really hard to say which of your dogs caused the issue here, but I suspect their behaviours may have fed of each other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Timing in dog-training is tricky, and once accidental rewarding the wrong behaviour is usually more easily fixed than accidentally punishing a desired one, especially in insecure dogs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2017-07-18T09:56:20.883" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T09:56:20.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-18T10:08:57.693" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a 10 month old marginated tortoise who is 6cm long and 3cm wide is that normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9923" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T01:00:50.710" Title="Is my pet tortoise's size normal for his age?" Tags="&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17603" CreationDate="2017-07-18T17:40:26.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I absolutely agree with Diether. You'll want something much bigger than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One additional thing to consider is also how difficult it is to keep a small aquarium within optimal operating parameters. The smallest change to the environment can have a big impact on your tank. For example, a fluctuation in temperature can change the water temperature in your tank hugely when there is only a small volume of water&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/113087/151035&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar affect applies to &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/water.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pH, GH, KH, NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; and NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; during water changes. If the water you add back in has a different pH to your tank you could end up with a pH swing which has the potential to harm your fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, it comes down to the life you want to provide your fish. If you're serious then do your research, take your time and seek advice on how best to proceed. Keeping fish can be enormously rewarding but it can be very cruel if you don't know &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/beginner.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the basics&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:29:56.733" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:29:56.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17719" CreationDate="2017-07-18T20:29:43.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it'll probably grow to be a medium haired cat, doesn't need a vet to know that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T20:29:43.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17725" CreationDate="2017-07-18T22:57:26.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's true only if the water bowl is placed right beside the food bowl like some pet bowls that have water and food bowls attached to each other. But if the water bowl is atleast 10 inches away from the food bowl there shouldn't be a problem. My cat always drinks water right after her dry food and she's got no problem with it. The bowls are like 10 inches apart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-18T22:57:26.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16981" CreationDate="2017-07-19T14:44:29.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue was at a peak when the sun returned (this far north there is no visible sun during the days). After a while, she started accepting the fact that it was there, and started ignoring it more and more. At this point, the problem is not present. She still stares at the sun some times, but she has started accepting it is there and doesn't constantly stare at it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distracting her while outside has also been an important part in training her to not focus on the sun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8150" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T14:44:29.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17721" CreationDate="2017-07-19T15:31:59.157" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it would definitely help! There are also a few other ways to keep her cool in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Keep your house cool by closing the blinds/curtains and keeping windows closed. Depending where you are opening the windows first thing in the morning helps as you get a cool breeze but as the day passes and it gets hotter it's best to shut them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Putting the dogs things (bed, food, water, toys) in the basement helps on hot days, the dog can spend the majority of the time there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Keep walks to the morning or late afternoon when it's cooler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Buy a small kids pool and fill it with water for your dog to have a nice swim or to lay in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) There are dog beds made to help keep pets cool, they are typically elevated. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wayfair.ca/Go-Pet-Club-Elevated-Cooling-Cot-Pet-Bed-GPC1312-L915-K~GPC1312.html?refid=GX185223812606-GPC1312&amp;amp;device=c&amp;amp;ptid=152635249500&amp;amp;targetid=pla-152635249500&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet cooling cot&lt;/a&gt; is an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Frozen dog treats help, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/homemade-dog-treats-freezer-summer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here are some ideas&lt;/a&gt; (disclamer: make sure peanut butter is xylitol free).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) Keep the air conditioning on at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T15:31:59.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17606" CreationDate="2017-07-19T16:00:53.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mucous and blood in the stool can happen for a number of reasons, if it's routine for her to eat an assortment of things from outside then it's possible she got into something that irritated her bowels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bland diet (hamburger + rice) for the next 24 hours, if no improvement it warrants a vet visit to rule out some causes (parasites, bacterial overgrowth, Inflammatory bowel disease etc.) and to be placed on the correct medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T16:00:53.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17605" CreationDate="2017-07-19T16:09:10.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very common issue with cats, we actually seen one yesterday that we're trying to solve why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failure to use the litterbox occurs for a variety of reasons that can generally be grouped into two categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat has found something undesirable about the litterbox&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat has learned to avoid the litterbox because of an unpleasant experience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thirteen rules for treating elimination outside the litterbox are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the litterbox clean. Although many cats will tolerate chronically soiled litterboxes, many will avoid them. Litterboxes should be scooped out twice a day at minimum if they have been soiled. When cleaning litterboxes use water or water and a mild soap. Strong detergents and disinfectants can leave odours that are unpleasant to cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litterboxes must be large enough for a cat to comfortably move within. Use a litterbox that is at least one and a half times the length of the cat, from nose to tail.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid covered litterboxes if possible, feral cats do not enter caves to eliminate and some house cats are not inclined to enter a covered litterbox. Odours can become more concentrated in a covered litterbox and will require more frequent cleaning. If a covered litterbox must be used and there are multiple cats in the household, cut a second entrance in the cover.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid having the litterbox in noisy, drafty, high traffic or otherwise undesirable areas. For example, placing a litterbox next to a washer or dryer in the laundry room may result in the cat not using it when the appliance is running due to the noise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide at least a dim light during the night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat is very young, old or disabled, cut a low entrance into the litterbox and place it in an area where the cat spends a lot of time. Older cats may have arthritis and stairs may prove difficult to climb.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat does not dig in the litter and cover its excrement, simultaneously offer two or more kinds of litter in separate litterboxes and keep a log of the cat’s preferences. A number of different litters may need to be tried before identifying one that the cat prefers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there is a suspected history of learned aversion, offer the cat a new litterbox in a new location. A learned aversion can develop when a cat has experienced pain while using the litterbox due to a medical condition such as urinary tract infection. Pain control and treatment of the illness are critical in minimizing the elimination problem. Aversion can also develop if the cat has experienced some traumatic incident while using the litterbox.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there are multiple cats in the house, provide as many litterboxes as there are cats, plus one more. This will avoid competition for use of the litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place the litterboxes in multiple sites.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there is a social conflict between any of the cats, address the conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the cat has long hair, trim the excess hair between the toes and around the anus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If anxiety is suspected, treat the cat with anti-anxiety medication. You can also provide your apartment with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.feliway.com/ca_en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feliway&lt;/a&gt;, this is a top notch product for stressed cats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also medical problems associated with eliminating outside the litterbox, such as constipation or blocked anal glands, so a vet visit is warranted to rule out these issues before/while doing the steps above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot tolerate the situation I would suggest finding him a home that can provide safe outdoor play rather than releasing him to fend for himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T16:09:10.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17746" CreationDate="2017-07-19T16:40:18.807" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reptiles in general don't grow the same way mammals do. Every single one of them will grow at different rates depending on how much they eat, what they eat and their environment. If he grows slowly it doesn't necessarily mean he's unhealthy, you will often see sibling tortoises be completely different in size (one can be double the size of the other) .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping a chart to monitor growth is ideal, there should be a steady weight gain in correlation to his length. So I would say yes it is normal, however pictures would help us see what his overall appearance looks like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T16:40:18.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-19T18:03:24.207" Score="3" ViewCount="4384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a pair of Pearl Gouramis and another pair of Opaline Gouramis for a few months now and, unlike any of my other fish (Tetras, Rainbow, Loaches), they spend time at the surface breathing the air instead of allowing the water to pass through their gills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an issue or is this expected behaviour in a Gourami? Perhaps this is a sign of poor water quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://adhenderson.co.uk/img/gouramiSmall.gif&quot; /&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T18:50:40.893" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T18:50:40.893" Title="Gourami breathing at water's surface" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17757" CreationDate="2017-07-19T18:03:24.207" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Don't panic!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is entirely normal behaviour for Gouramis (within moderation). Gouramis are part of a group of fish called 'Labyrinth Fish' (Sometimes also known as 'Anabantoids'). These fish have a special 'lung' organ called the 'Labyrinth organ' which allows the fish to absorb oxygen through the blood stream in a similar fashion to that of lungs directly from the air instead of by passing oxygenated water through its gills. Other common fish which are part of this group are Betta and Paradise Fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Labyrinth fish are commonly found in lakes in Asia where the water has a low oxygen content necessitating the use of an organ to absorb oxygen from the air instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this is a sign of poor water quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These fish do tend to be more resilient than other fish when it comes to water parameters but, as with any fish, good quality water is a must to maximise growth and life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A few caveats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'&lt;em&gt;Everything within moderation&lt;/em&gt;' - As the saying goes, if your fish are breathing excessively at the surface, something might be up. Check your water parameters, feeding regime and any other environmental factors that could contribute to general ill health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is advisable to ensure there is some clear space between the water surface and the lid of the aquarium to facilitate the breathing of oxygen directly through air.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whilst Labyrinth fish can survive in lower oxygen environments, good oxygen circulation is still advisable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Further Reading:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ySAcZakCmJ8C&amp;amp;lpg=PA5&amp;amp;ots=ECZ1tNFvj3&amp;amp;dq=labyrinth%20fish&amp;amp;pg=PA5#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=labyrinth%20fish&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gouramis and Other Labyrinth Fishes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ySAcZakCmJ8C&amp;amp;lpg=PA5&amp;amp;ots=ECZ1tNFvj3&amp;amp;dq=labyrinth%20fish&amp;amp;pg=PA5#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=labyrinth%20fish&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Aquarium Fish Survival Manual&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T18:03:24.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17759" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-19T18:11:40.840" Score="5" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that most of our cats enjoy trying to get into the groceries.  Particularly bread and are very curious about other foods that are not a part of their natural eating diet.  I do my best to keep my cats on a diet that is natural for them to eat (mostly just dry and wet food). Should I let them taste any human foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other foods they will sniff and bite then play with and mostly I am speaking to the bread that is left on counters.  Meats like fish and chicken sitting on the counter is understandable why they would try to go after it.  My female cat in particular goes bonkers over chicken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do cats try to eat food they are not supposed to like or eat?  Does it mean they are missing something from their diet or do cats just like to eat anything that looks like food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-25T13:21:13.917" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:45:11.997" Title="Why do my cats eat food that is not part of their natural palate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17193" CreationDate="2017-07-19T19:14:54.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I absolutely agree that a varied diet is great for the health of your fish. If you're talking about something like these: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fh02K.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fh02K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;API Shrimp Pellets&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed these to my community tank as a supplement. The base ingredients are pretty similar to the standard 'staple' tropical fish flake that I feed generally. My loaches and Bristlenose catfish love them as do the Gouramis. The tetras are a little small to have a chance at eating these successfully but the Gouramis have no issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, adapt the food for the mouth size of your fish. You may find that your Betta loses interest in the food if they can't easily eat it (although it looks like yours will follow, as you say). Watch out for choking too and make sure it's easy to fit the food in their mouth. I tend to avoid feeding high fat foods regularly because it can lead to issues like 'Droop Eye'. You can check the ingredients on the back to ensure there is also nothing that might harm them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVW1-m8Aic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a great instructional video&lt;/a&gt; on how to make your &lt;em&gt;own&lt;/em&gt; fish food to ensure that your fish are getting the best they can (although it's less money-saving on much smaller fish): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-07-19T19:14:54.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17763" CreationDate="2017-07-19T23:06:42.970" Score="2" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat is 6 months old. This is her first heat. Vet has confirmed it as heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is constantly shouting loudly in a harsh voice. We are unable to sleep for the last two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T12:06:04.687" Title="My female cat is in heat and is constantly meowing loudly. We are unable to sleep. Help" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17762" CreationDate="2017-07-20T00:25:04.150" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to fix this is to get her spayed, may need to buy some earplugs in the meantime and put her a room furthest from where you sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also add some people will stimulate them with a Qtip, since they are induced ovulators it will end the cycle. I would have a veterinarian show you the first time around if you don't want to spay her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-07-20T12:06:04.687" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T12:06:04.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17765" CreationDate="2017-07-20T02:23:40.420" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 cats, aptly named &quot;Fatty&quot; and &quot;Tiny&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fatty&quot; is a 6 year old house cat that hasn't seen the outside world in years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tiny&quot; is a cat we rescued about 45 days ago and she's roughly 2.5 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tiny came in with what looked like an eye infection, a million fleas and intestinal worms. We kept the cats isolated until Tiny could be seen by a veterinary doctor. She had treatment to kill fleas and worms and we just washed her eye and it cleared quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soon after Fatty started to develop a cough; the doctor at the clinic said it was some cat flu, probably brought over by Tiny and she got some antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the flu is a virus, I question the antibiotics.. but we went through anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we're a month and a half later and Fatty has completely lost her voice and she articulates sounds that are like 'krr'; she is unable to make any normal cat sounds anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor said it may be cat herpes that was introduced by Tiny; if this is the case, she'll never 'speak' again. In the meantime, Tiny is doing very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most striking change is in her behavior; at first she didn't accept Tiny, now they are friends, but she has become slow, uninterested in any form of play, doesn't really purr anymore, doesn't come close to us and walks away when we pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is: if she had the herpes virus, which is very common in stray cats where we live, can it have any effect on her brain that would explain a huge change in behavior? (her blood test is normal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9935" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-20T15:15:32.853" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T15:38:53.400" Title="Can exposure to cat herpes change a cat's behavior and personality?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17764" CreationDate="2017-07-20T15:38:53.400" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any brain changes that would affect her behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What may be happening is that Fatty doesn't feel well, so she's not interested in play or getting pet by you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The active (symptomatic) time after initial infection starts 2-5 days after exposure and lasts 10-20 days (&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feline-herpesvirus-infection-or-feline-viral-rhinotracheitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). It's not very clear from your question how long it's been since Fatty was exposed to Tiny (because Tiny was isolated, but I'm not sure for how long). If it's been less than 25 days, I would just continue &quot;watchful waiting&quot; (observation). Make sure you pay attention to Fatty's eating and drinking habits during this time as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's been longer than that, you may want to call your vet. It's possible that the initial infection is over, but the stress of having a new kitten in the house may have induced a flareup of the virus. Your vet will be able to tell if Fatty is experiencing a flare. Over time, you'll learn to recognize the symptoms of a flare yourself (it can be different in different cats), but the first few you may benefit from professional guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T15:38:53.400" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-20T21:45:48.877" Score="3" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had been feeding a feral kitten for some time. A few days ago, I saw what looked like a gash next to its mouth, which darkened and didn't look like it was getting better a couple of days later. In addition, it had pink patches with no fur on it's right front leg, which was the leg it would use to rub the wounded area of its mouth.&#xA;I also noticed it smells really bad, and there was what looked like dry mud or dirt on its legs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took it to a government vet who said it had Calicivirus, which needs treatment for a period of time. The kitten is not tame and was difficult to control at the clinic and was put in anesthesia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said it would be best to euthanize the kitten, as it would be difficult to control it to give it treatment and the illness would worsen and eat away much of the tissue on its face. They have no capability of holding cats there; they are either treated and released or put down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I accepted his reasoning and expertise and thought it would be the most humane thing to do, especially since it was very difficult for me to trap the kitten the first time and I wouldn't want to watch it suffer and feel helpless if I couldn't trap it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I feel guilty and worried that the kitten might have gotten cured by itself upon reading about the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was the vet right/ethical about his decision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9938" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-20T22:51:27.030" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:49:10.937" Title="Was the vet right about euthanizing a kitten with Calicivirus?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11312" CreationDate="2017-07-20T22:11:12.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be caused by a number of things and it's hard to tell from the photos but I've got a Pearl Gourami which was a bit skittish. He often caught himself on the wood that was in the tank and sometimes lost scales. The missing scales look exactly like your pictures (like white scuff marks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, in good quality water these will heal up pretty quickly and since the fish have acclimatised to the aquarium over a number of months they've stopped doing this. However, they are susceptible to infection if the water quality has imperfections during the healing process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if this is Ich, which normally looks like smaller dots of white and is pretty infectious, keeping the water quality high will help in both scenarios. Do your regular 25% weekly water changes (and a bit more if you're having issues with your water). I've had an outbreak of Ick once and the solution for me was 'AquaCare White Fungus Treatment' which contains 'Formaldehyde' and whilst it does stain the water blue for a short time, it worked like nothing else I tried (including Melafix and Pimafix together). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you continually find that your fish are falling ill then you might need to have a closer look at other factors that could be causing this issue. Consistency is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-07-20T22:11:12.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-21T03:56:56.457" Score="3" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens around 20-25% of the time I feed my kitten.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten asks me for food. I put the food in the plate &amp;amp; keep it at his usual eating place. He will smell it and then walk away disdainfully. &#xA;However,if I take small bite size portions in my hand and feed him - he will eat it - I have to feed him around 3-4 bites by hand &amp;amp; then he will move to the plate and start eating it. Alternately, if instead of feeding him by hand, if I take a piece and put it on the floor, he will eat it. Again if he eats around 3-4 pieces from the floor, he will move to the plate and start eating off the plate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten is around 8-9 months old, male, neutered.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can be the reason for this? And what's the solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8619" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T03:30:19.103" Title="Sometimes my kitten doesn't eat from his plate" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16890" CreationDate="2017-07-21T12:23:36.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does your dog react to toys that squeak?  I've got 2 Bichons; one loves them and will happily play by herself, the other is completely uninterested in them.  The ones that squeak are usually on the smaller side and plush, so they should work well in an apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9932" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T12:23:36.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17709" CreationDate="2017-07-21T12:38:21.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They make products that protect you from scratches.  Or you can just use a pot holder to protect yourself, I discovered that they act as &quot;Kitty Kryptonite&quot; and it tends to subdue them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you want them to remain fully active, try something like the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/four-paws-love-glove-grooming-mitt/dp/46139?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Four%20Paws&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwzMbLBRBzEiwAfFz4gbn5yMUAz_MCYsvO2qpf6bHwuIfR5avp44YFF96TgJYFwG1KyWSHYxoCBkEQAvD_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Love Glove&lt;/a&gt;.  It's good for grooming them while you play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I should tell you that absolutely &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; cat expert I know will tell you to play with your cat with your hands.  You should always use a wand or a glove with playthings hanging from it or something that avoids contact with your skin.  Cats can do an incredible amount of damage by accident, and they carry tiny bits of everything that's in their litterbox around with them, which could lead to infections if they get in your blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9932" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T12:38:21.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17766" CreationDate="2017-07-21T13:49:10.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feline-calicivirus-infection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some strains of calicivirus&lt;/a&gt; that are very severe and would likely warrant euthanasia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One very virulent strain of FCV, referred to as &quot;Virulent Systemic&#xA;  Feline Calicivirus&quot; or VS-FCV, causes severe generalized disease. With&#xA;  this strain of FCV, the initial symptoms involve the eyes, nose and&#xA;  mouth, but the infected cat quickly develops a high fever, severe&#xA;  depression, edema of the legs and/or face, jaundice, and symptoms of&#xA;  multiple organ disease. The VS-FCV strain is highly infectious, and&#xA;  the mortality rate is reportedly up to 67%. Fortunately, this&#xA;  particular strain of disease is very rare, with only a handful of&#xA;  outbreaks reported in the US since 1998.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, sometimes treatment decisions for difficult diseases are made based on the cat's personality. Last year I had a semi-feral cat who developed cancer in her mouth. We discussed treatment outcomes with the vet, and there was almost no chance that she could return to a state where she would not need to be medicated daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, whenever she needed to be medicated she emotionally shut down. A few years previously she had to have bladder surgery and stopped eating after the surgery (we were medicating her twice a day and it was very traumatic for her). She had to have a second surgery to insert a feeding tube so we could force feed her food/medications without further trauma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this experience, we declined to treat the cancer. It was already interfering with her ability to eat so we euthanized her that week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't tell you for sure if the vet did the right thing or not, but even if it wasn't VS-FCV the vet was likely also considering the cat's emotional reaction to treatment. Calicivirus often returns throughout the cat's life, and if the kitten was getting ulcers from the virus, it would likely continue to need treatment to the detriment of its emotional well-being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T13:49:10.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2017-07-21T14:23:52.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there's been a change in your cat's behavior (you report weight loss, loss of appetite, and lethargy), he should see the vet to be sure that there's no underlying health condition causing these changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat who had bladder stones (and a growth) a few years ago and my vet never recommended a special food. We fed her exclusively wet food (to keep her urinary tract well hydrated) and never had problems again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-feline-wd-dry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hill's w/d&lt;/a&gt; is their weight management food. It's not formulated to help with bladder stones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check with your vet, but in my opinion you could change to an inexpensive canned food without any issue. Several grocery store (cheap) brands don't include a lot of grains/vegetable fillers but would keep his urinary tract 'flushed out' and prevent stones from forming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T14:23:52.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17727" CreationDate="2017-07-21T15:02:41.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is quite normal. My lab is like 1 and a half years old and sometimes he squats while peeing and sometimes he cocks his leg. I guess whatever suits him as per the place. He did not start cocking his leg until he was an year old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say this is not and issue with your dog so, keep showering your love without worries and pet him for me as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9939" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T15:02:41.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-21T17:15:35.757" Score="3" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took in 4 abandoned newborn (no more than 3 days old) kittens and I've been feeding them lactose-free milk for 5 days now. They all seem healthy according to what Internet resources describe as normal: They become very active when hungry, they eat eagerly (from 7 to 15 milliliters depending on how hungry) every 3 to 4 hours, they urinate every time I stimulate them (the runt releases two or three drops, while the biggest one releases a violent squirt), they sleep soundly after feeding, and only make noise when hungry or being disturbed by their brothers. They're able to roll back when they fall on their backs, and they have the reflex that makes them turn their heads to my finger and suck it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem very healthy, but their defecation habits have been abnormal in several ways since the begging. First, the biggest of the kittens didn't even require stimulation to defecate for the first time: I just fed him and he pushed out a small solid stool of about 2 cm long shortly after (this was just four hours after the first time I fed them). Second, they all make solid stools; I have never seen a watery one, like I keep reading they should be. Third, they don't defecate every single day; more like every 36-48 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first two days nothing would come out when I stimulated them (using wet cotton), then two of them produced rather big stools (about 4 cm), and they all have been smaller since then. Lastly, it is common that when they're pushing a stool out it breaks halfway through (I can see the tip of the part that remains inside); when this happens, the stimulation usually won't make them push it out anymore, so after a minute I leave them alone and it goes back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this differs greatly from what I read on the Internet (liquid stools, at least once every 24 hours), but at the same time, they are actually defecating and they look healthy in every other aspect. Is this kind of behavior a healthy variation from the norm or is it a health issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9940" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T17:15:35.757" Title="Are these defecation habits a healthy variation from the norm for newborn kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-21T18:13:05.497" Score="2" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to see if there is any experience in treating an older dragon with MBD.  We just got him a week ago from a friend of a friend who couldn't take care of him anymore.  His eyesight doesn't appear great (they used a red heat lamp) he is dehydrated and underweight.  In the few days we have had him, he has perked up a lot.  His eating is improving, but he is not able to catch crickets.  He doesn't move around great and is pretty small for his age.  We are supplementing with Calcium and Multivitamins and making sure he is getting plenty of UVb.  We are going to the Vet tomorrow for our first Appt. There are no broken bones so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had success treating MBD in an older dragon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9941" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T18:13:05.497" Title="Has anyone had success treating an older dragon's MBD" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17467" CreationDate="2017-07-21T19:06:32.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the vaccine company when rabies should be boostered, typically it ranges from every 1 to 3 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protocol for the vaccine that your vet has may be to booster in 2 weeks time. The only way to know for sure is to contact the vaccine company and enquire more about the protocol. You can get the company information from your veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-21T19:06:32.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2017-07-22T06:28:33.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should also be noted that while I don't know if any apps that would allow you to actually read a microchip, it is easy to tell , at least, IF they have one.   If you download any app that detects magnetism and scan your pet with it, you will find it because it will beep when the camera part of the phone comes into contact with it.  I discovered this by accident when I downloaded an app that is used to find spying equipment such as cameras.  It looks for hidden cameras or any other bugging equipment by reading the magnetic field in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9944" LastActivityDate="2017-07-22T06:28:33.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17782" CreationDate="2017-07-22T06:38:22.993" Score="7" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a baby hedgehog two days ago. He was very friendly and I have played with him. This morning I have found him in a bad condition half bent around / curled up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody tell me how can I feed this animal? I know nothing about it, I am an IT guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YDQsR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YDQsR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9945" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-23T01:34:18.020" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T01:34:18.020" Title="How can I feed this hedgehog?" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17781" CreationDate="2017-07-22T08:13:14.320" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hedgehogs are omnivorous (they eat plants and meat) to feed them use cat food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild hedgehogs do always have parasites (internal and external) I suggest you get it dewormed if it is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't take it indoors as this might stress the hedgehog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible take a cardboard box and make a hole in it and place it in a shaded place in your garden (hedgehogs sleep during the day and are active during the night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T20:41:29.683" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T20:41:29.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17785" CreationDate="2017-07-22T17:04:04.790" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 days ago, my 2 1/2 month golden retriever started passing worm segments in her stool. It was one segment on the first and second days and two segments in the third day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure it is tapeworm, based on description and images/videos found online. (They look &lt;strong&gt;exactly&lt;/strong&gt; like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvFq27BiCtU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Called the vet's office, then took a stool sample. Made sure one of the flat-squirmish worms were in there. Later they called saying that the result was negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sample was in a large Ziploc bag (I didn't have a small one at the time). I'm suspecting they analyzed the stool sample but weren't careful enough to look around inside the bag for the worm segment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why was a worm exam negative when actual worm was included in stool sample?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I call another vet's office for a second opinion, since the puppy continues to pass these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9947" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T03:37:12.833" Title="Why was a worm exam negative when actual worm was included in stool sample?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17784" CreationDate="2017-07-22T21:47:23.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would get a second opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The steps normally taken to do a fecal exam are as followed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Macroscopic exam of feces - look at color, consistency, any mucous present etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cliniciansbrief.com/sites/default/files/attachments/Diagnostics_Parasitology_revised%20PDF.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Microscopic exam&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Direct fecal smear - taking a small stool sample and directly smear it on a microscope slide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38-nRHjLDb0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Centrifuge Fecal flotation&lt;/a&gt; - mix fecal matter with a dense solution to allow potential eggs to float to the top, this solution is spun in a centrifuge to make all of the debris sink to the bottom. Once completed you top up the tube with solution and add a cover slip on top of the tube. You wait about 20 minutes before placing the cover slip on a microscope slide, waiting allows the eggs to float to the top. In the video I have added they do this a bit differently, we didn't have a centrifuge that would keep a cover slip in place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jenashling-shamuna.blogspot.ca/2009/09/fecal-flotation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fecalyzer fecal flotation&lt;/a&gt; - This is a more simple way to make eggs float to the top, the concept is the same as the centrifuge fecal flotation though instead you use a fecalyzer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.idexx.com/small-animal-health/products-and-services/snap-giardia-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Giardia snap test&lt;/a&gt; - this test detects their cyst antigen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very possible they could have missed it if there were no eggs present in the sample they took. Tapeworms release segments of their bodies that contain eggs, if these segment were in tact and no eggs released it could give a false negative. Your vet should be able to tell you what it is once you show him the physical worm and treat accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vkiEB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vkiEB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-22T21:47:23.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-22T23:08:26.237" Score="5" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tea is already an adult cat but never had a proper scratcher so all the furniture of the house is full of scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that is purely our fault (an unfortunate mixture of lazyness and ignorance), but is it possible for Tea to take the habit now to use a proper scratcher?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm afraid that simply dropping it into the house will not encourage her to stop scratching on chairs and sofa, so are there any tips to make an adult cat change a habit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9948" LastEditorUserId="9948" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T14:21:18.640" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T17:05:09.583" Title="How can I get an adult cat to get used to a scratcher?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17787" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17794" CreationDate="2017-07-22T23:13:58.210" Score="3" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I get bored I start playing with my cat. And probably it's her favourite past time too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tickle my cat, she bites me gently and then starts licking me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bring my hand slowly from various angels to quickly touch her. My job is not to let her bite and her job is to anyhow bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I am sitting and she is playful mode she suddenly comes running and starts biting my toe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I am walking she also moves along with me, all the time jumping and biting my toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think she gets immense pleasure in biting me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already vaccinated my cat with all sorts of vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the negative part is at times the biting really hurts and there is cut on skin, though I don't mind it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is that is it all right to allow my cat do this or should I stop playing with her like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is this behaviour normal for her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T03:42:25.840" Title="Is it wrong to let your cat give love bites?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17792" CreationDate="2017-07-22T23:18:33.517" Score="5" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that one of my catfish has a 1.5 cm strangling rubber or other material band around his head, which must have started cutting into the flesh from this morning until this evening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DXV0t.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DXV0t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tynfT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tynfT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how this could have entered into the aquarium and what material it is. It could be metal, but I think it's unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best procedure to remove the band? How to accelerate the healing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T23:17:18.333" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T23:27:42.580" Title="How to free a catfish from a strangling rubber band?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-23T01:27:19.413" Score="4" ViewCount="1121" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom and I are arguing about a cage for a Guinea Pig. She wants to get a wire cage with a slide out tray because she said it would be less expensive and less stinky. I didn't want to do that because he might get bumblefoot and the cages are quite expensive, yet small. I wanted to get a C&amp;amp;C type cage with a solid bottom and use fleece, but she claimed it would be stinky, and she didn't want to wash &quot;peed up fleece&quot; in her washing machine. She also claimed that the guinea pig wouldn't get bumblefoot because he would have beds to lay in and I would take him out to play with him. What would be better for the piggy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9950" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T22:22:44.113" Title="Should I get a wire cage with a pullout bottom for my guinea pig or a solid bottom?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17788" CreationDate="2017-07-23T02:34:20.643" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks almost like a plastic washer. I don't know whether there is a &amp;quot;correct answer&amp;quot; for this but I would try. He will surely die eventually, probably with suffering, if you don't try to do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been thinking about what could you use to snip it that if blunt tipped, that's sharp enough to clip it but blunt enough to reduce damage to his gills, fin, scales, etc. I have only come up with one thing (maybe others will comment with ideas). If you go to a bead shop, Walmart, or craft supply store they sell tools for making jewelry. There is one shape in particular that is round tipped instead of sharp like scissors, I think for cutting jewelry wire and metals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need someone to help you with the next part:  I would take a colander (like you use in the kitchen) and scoop him up into it so half of his body is under water, and the other half is exposed so you can reach the plastic/rubber ring. Use the tool and snip. If you can have someone else hold the strainer then you can use two hands, one to keep him still and one to do a quick snip. I'd recommend cleaning your hands and rinsing thoroughly before doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he has a laceration or boo boo underneath, release him back into the tank and give him time to de-stress. After an hour or two you will want to scoop him back into the strainer with two things handy: Q-tips and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.  Peroxide is totally safe for disinfecting fish wounds IF used correctly. You will want to have a few Q-tips soaked in tank water and a few that have already been soaked in peroxide. Do not hold the strainer over the tank THIS TIME (no peroxide drops must end up in the tank). Quickly swab any lacerations with the peroxide-soaked Q-tips and then one gentle swipe of the ones soaked with water, and then gently release him back into the tank. All movements should be gentle yet swift, so he's not out of water but for a few seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a little bit of freshwater aquarium salt will also help kill bacteria and accelerate regeneration of scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have personally used the peroxide method on pleco, catfish and an oranda goldfish when I used to have a pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will shortly edit my answer to include a picture of the blunt snippers. You should be able to get the tool for under $5US. I recently saw a pair in the artificial plant department as well as the bead department in Walmart, I guess used for snipping the wires in fake plants, $3.94 there....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some may think this is not good advice, but if you do not try to snip the ring it will kill him, and if you try to slip it off his head you could pop an eye out or rip scales off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry this little guy got into a pickle. I'm assuming the ring may have come from filtration or if you added fish into the tank it may have been a band from the bags that accidentally popped off when floating fish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GIpF1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;blunt snippers&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0DAtk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;blunt snippers&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4n0nO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;blunt snippers&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T23:27:42.580" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T23:27:42.580" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17477" CreationDate="2017-07-23T03:17:30.787" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should be careful with covered litter boxes, some cats will decide that they don't like being in a confined space.  Adding a fan to this situation could force a cat who is on the fence about the litter box into doing their business somewhere you'd prefer they not.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those vents/filters are (as you noted) totally worthless. The only thing that will help the smell is the litter itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Old tricks are the best tricks.  Baking soda is cheap, you can get big boxes, and it works about as well as anything will.  Mix it in with your litter and that is likely to be the best solution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poop smells (obviously), but if it seems outrageously bad you may want to try changing their food.  Some cats will be sensitive to food (wet vs. dry, particular proteins, etc.) and really bad smells could be a warning sign of an underlying health problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T03:17:30.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17787" CreationDate="2017-07-23T03:42:25.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, yes.  Once in a while wouldn't be so bad, but it sounds like this is a regular thing.  If that is the case you are TRAINING your cat that your body parts are a toy.  That's probably not your objective.  I would strongly suggest redirecting to an actual toy (mouse on a string for example) that is an appropriate outlet for your cat's catch-kill-eat instinct.  This is normal behavior in the sense that your cat is responding as a normal cat would to prey.  I just doubt that you really want your cat to view your toes as prey.  As a side note, vaccinating your cat isn't going to protect YOU.  Your cat's mouth is filled with tons of bacteria; if the skin is broken from a bite or a scratch you can end up with a bad infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T03:42:25.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17786" CreationDate="2017-07-23T03:50:13.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had good luck with putting cardboard scratchers right next to the furniture they are scratching and rubbing some catnip into the pores of the cardboard.  This makes it appealing from a smell perspective, and entices the cat to scratch there rather than your furniture.  Some furniture is unfortunately too enticing; I've had to replace some furniture with leather for exactly this reason.  Obviously option 1 is the cheaper solution.  Another possible option is deterrent scents (these can be ordered online) but I can't say I have experience with these, and to be honest I'm dubious about their efficacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T03:50:13.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17790" CreationDate="2017-07-23T06:04:33.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Solid bottom. Wire grating can cause arthritis over time, from toes wrapping and unintentional grabbing around the bars. Also, toes or toe nails can get caught and pulled, causing injury anywhere from bent or yanked toenails, broken toes, foot, leg(from twisting), and muscles or tendons pulled or strained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also like to think a cage without a grate encourages cleaning. Some people associate that having a grate means they don't have to clean as often because their pet doesn't have physical contact with urine or feces, but actually alot of the harm is in the ammonia and bacterial build up from urine and droppings in close quarters causing respiratory stress and illness. Many also forget that the tray isn't the only thing that has to be cleaned, the grate would have to be as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over lengthy periods of time, walking on grate can also cause spinal stress as the body of guinea pigs, rats, and bunnies (etc...) is not made to compensate constant muscle use to hold or balance on grate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sidenote relative to the bottom of cages: Using a bedding free of oils is healthiest for small animals. Wood shavings like cedar for example can be dangerous. Once again to reduce risk of respiratory problems, but also is better for the padding on their feet. Also splintering is a less likely risk, but still happens wether it's splintering by accidental ingestion or on the skin. Carefresh is a line if small animal bedding that makes a dust free and dye free product, and there used to be a recycled newspaper pellet bedding made by yesterday's news, specifically for small animals (not sure if it's made anymore but it was made safe so that if small animals confused it with a food pellet it was safe to eat, but not encouraged- they make cat litter as well but the formulation is different and not as safe). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T06:14:40.623" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T06:14:40.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-23T06:36:22.533" Score="4" ViewCount="3751" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yDyTP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a silly question but this is my first time owning a cat, and I know close to nothing. The kitten is estimated to be around 10 weeks old. I assumed my kitten was a girl but after looking closely, I'm second guessing myself and want to be sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry for the unpleasant picture but I felt it was the easiest way to get an opinion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9953" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T07:30:46.810" Title="Is my kitten a girl or boy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-01T15:30:21.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17797" CreationDate="2017-07-23T07:30:46.810" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a boy. The penis appears round in a kitten, the vulva will be slit like. Plus there is a scrotal sac between the penis and the anus. In girls the distance between the vulva and anus is shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details and some images:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-kittens.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Veterinary Advice Online - Sexing Kittens and Cats.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/outreach/Pet-Health-Topics/categories/procedures/cats/determining-gender-(sex)-of-a-kitten&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Determining Gender (Sex) of a Kitten&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T07:30:46.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17800" CreationDate="2017-07-23T07:42:50.277" Score="1" ViewCount="889" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently learning about dog breeds and I would like to know which breed of dog the following is. Is it an Irish Setter or a red English Cocker Spaniel? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fc6zO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fc6zO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Irish Setter or Cocker Spaniel?&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9954" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:23:24.193" Title="Irish Setter or Cocker Spaniel?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-01-07T13:12:32.470" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17799" CreationDate="2017-07-23T07:51:14.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This dog looks like a mix of possibly and English Cocker Spaniel and Irish Setter. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=irish%20setter&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjx0cPM9J7VAhVHwrwKHfPoCPEQ_AUICigB&amp;amp;biw=1455&amp;amp;bih=632&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;setter has longer legs&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=english%20cocker%20spaniel&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwi0p7a89J7VAhVHVrwKHTtrDYcQ_AUICigB&amp;amp;biw=1455&amp;amp;bih=632&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;English Cocker Spaniel has a shorter stout body&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dog seems to be lacking the sleek, angular body of the setter, but it's legs seem to be too long to be an English Cocker Spaniel. To be honest, it looks like a mixture. More pictures are always helpful, to get a better look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T07:51:14.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-23T11:30:40.957" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just freed my Molly from being stuck between the interior filter and the aquarium glass for unknown time (minutes to 12 hours):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7e1rI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7e1rI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image shows that the fin is overstreched and after 30 min of being freed he doesn't still use it. He can direct his swimming when chasing females and stand &quot;upright&quot;. The skin shows some irregularities, probably scales missing put out of place by the shrimp, but no open wounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are recommended forms of treatment (I know there's probably not a &quot;best&quot; solution)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The filter is a JBL CristalProfi i60 greenline and this story makes it questionable for the use in an aquarium with Mollies as main inhabitants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T22:30:00.753" Title="How to regenerate an overstretch fin and skin damage by shrimp of a stuck molly?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-23T11:34:52.663" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please give me the names of the ingredients so that I can see what to buy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the UK, so I need the ingredients, not just a brand-name that may be unavailable here. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T12:40:24.443" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T12:40:24.443" Title="What (wall) cleaning product ingredients are safe for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17806" CreationDate="2017-07-23T14:47:20.590" Score="6" ViewCount="1424" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a young adult male axolotl (Smaug) for about a year now. Recently when testing water parameters I have found that the nitrate levels are very high (80ppm), but both nitrite and ammonia levels are at 0. I currently do a 20% water change once a week. Should I perhaps increase this to every 3 days until I can get the nitrate levels down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8540" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-23T20:48:52.120" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T22:45:32.373" Title="Axolotl nitrate levels high- more frequent water changes?" Tags="&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-23T16:05:54.080" Score="4" ViewCount="2866" Body="&lt;p&gt;We found an abandoned kitten on the lake in the backyard. We've had her for a little over a month, she's about 9 weeks now. She was to young to be away from her mother and had been out for what looked like a week. My daughter takes care of her and lately she's started kneading and suckling on her blankets. I noticed she didn't do it as much while my daughter was gone for a week. Now she's back though the kitten has almost been doing it non stop. Is it something I should be concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9957" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T12:44:27.653" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T12:44:27.653" Title="Why does my adopted kitten knead and suck on my daughters blankets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-02T14:09:01.033" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17804" CreationDate="2017-07-23T16:19:51.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No concern, that's a normal behavior for a cat who was taken away from it's mother at too young of an age. She may never grow out of it and that's OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-23T16:19:51.237" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17803" CreationDate="2017-07-23T18:32:45.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water changes will indeed reduce nitrate levels within your tank and with 80ppm you'll definitely want to reduce that as soon as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could increase the percentage of your water changes, but one thing that I've found has helped a lot is growing a plant such as pothos (formally referred to as &lt;em&gt;Pothos aureus&lt;/em&gt;, also commonly known as devil's ivy) in the top of the tank with the roots trailing into the tank. It grows extremely quickly and has helped keep my nitrate levels much more manageable. Planted tanks in general help to keep the levels down, but if that's not possible, I'd definitely recommend giving pothos a try. This technique is commonly called 'aquaponics'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fantastic video explaining the process: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcDoh0NcXLU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcDoh0NcXLU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;P.S. What a great name for an axolotl!&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T22:45:32.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T22:45:32.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-24T00:57:22.073" Score="7" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a rescue cat who is a little more than a year old. We recently moved apartments and everything fine till about a month ago. He started getting diarrhea very often. The vet gave him an antibiotic injection and things seemed to improve. His stools became solid and he was eating well again. About 2 days ago the diarrhea returned. He stopped eating wet food all together and I see that his tummy has caved in a little. He still loves egg whites and with a combination of that and Royal Canin kitten food. Any ideas on how we can stop the diarrhea? The moment he eats something he goes and poops all liquid. We boil his water just to be in the safe side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; After seeing my boy go through this diarrhea for almost two weeks, daily visits to the vet, stool analysis and an antibiotic course, we finally pinned the reason to his food and specifically Royal Canin dry kibble for kittens. A few weeks ago, there was an outbreak of bird flu in France and as expected there was a shortage of RC food right after that. The next stock that came in looked slightly different and had markings of it being made and sold somewhere in the Middle East. We've since switched to a prescription diet (Farmina Vet Life Gastro-intestinal) for about a month on the vet's orders. His energy has returned and his stool is now nice and firm. Thank you all who tried to help. Much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorUserId="9206" LastEditDate="2017-08-18T07:54:35.867" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T07:54:35.867" Title="Sustained diarrhea with my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2017-07-24T03:08:03.280" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of diagnostics that your vet could do, but you might be able to save a lot of money if you simply adjust the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop feeding egg whites. Eggs, raw or cooked, do nothing good for his health, and could be contributing the problem of diarrhea. At the very least, it makes diseases like Salmonellosis more likely. Avoid treats of any kind while he is having diarrhea, and stick with a quality cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a year of age, he is no longer a kitten, and can be getting adult food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats of any age can have food allergies, and finding a quality diet with a novel protein source could solve the diarrhea. Prescription diets are ideal for this purpose, but you may be able to find a store-bought diet that better tolerated. There are also veterinary diets formulated to be more easily digestible and might help with diarrhea, such as Hill's i/d or Purina EN.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this fails, then you need to go back to the vet. Not just to get another dose of antibiotics, but to do some tests, such as a fecal analysis and possibly blood work and imaging, to determine why your cat is having boughts of diarrhea. It shouldn't come as a surprise that there are lots and lots of causes of diarrhea, but your vet will want to start out by ruling out the common things. You can't let diarrhea go on too long untreated, because he will start to get dehydrated which could lead to other problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T03:08:03.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17801" CreationDate="2017-07-24T06:46:51.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not a lot one can do when the fin is torn, other than keep an eye on it for any infection and start treatment if it gets infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a pleco that got a torn fin; it happened when I moved the fish to another tank about a half year ago. Within 2-3 weeks, the fin was completely healed (the fin was completely split in two, so I did not have any hope for it to end well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a bad answer, but there are really no good options on how to treat this problem (at least that I know of).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T22:30:00.753" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T22:30:00.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17804" CreationDate="2017-07-24T10:22:34.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats which died at the age of 17, was doing it through his whole life. So not to worry. He was also taken away from his mother when he was very young (the mother didn't want him) and was fed by my wife using a syringe drop by drop for the first couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kneading behavior of mothers belly normally makes the milk flow, so it is a kind of childhood behavior and maybe for kittens taken away from the mother early, it doesn't stop when the cat gets older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T10:22:34.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-24T12:20:51.630" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently found out that I'll likely be moving in about 4 weeks to a new home in the same neighborhood (8 city blocks from my current building), thanks to ever increasing rents in NYC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to make the move as painless as possible for my 1 year old Keeshond. Luckily, we'll be in the same neighborhood, so we'll still go to the same parks and we'll be close enough to walk around the same general area (i.e. it won't be a completely new area that she's never been to).  Aside from moving I don't anticipate anything else changing (same dog walker, same vet, same schedule, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether I should move fast or slow - I have the option to move in early to the new place and have an overlap of 2 weeks, so I'd be able to move all my things slowly and bring the dog over to the new place to hang out and hopefully get used to it. I've read that I should just send the dog to daycare, move everything into the new place in a single day and then never bring the dog back to the old apartment - in essence a &quot;clean&quot; break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a &quot;right&quot; option between the two, what is it?&#xA;Are there other things I should be doing to prepare the dog for moving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem like this question has been asked before, though I did find 2 questions about what to do after you've moved with a dog (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6039/how-do-i-help-my-dog-adjust-after-moving&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15590/how-long-will-it-take-for-a-dog-to-adjust-to-a-new-home&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) which are unable to answer my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T17:38:24.247" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T01:30:13.457" Title="Is it easier on my dog to move in a single day or take 2 weeks to get used to the new place?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2017-07-24T12:25:11.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will also add to Harry V. answer that if your cat has stopped eating all together ( I see he stopped eating his wet) he needs to be seen sooner rather than later. Cats process fats differently than us, once your kitty stops eating the liver then proceeds to try and get rid of the fat stores in his body. Their liver has a bit of a hard time with this so the fat tends to store in the liver cells which in the end causes fatty liver disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is more prevalent in fat cats but still something to be cautious of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also start feeding a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice (1 part chicken + 3 parts rice), if no improvement within the next 24 hours on this diet he should be seen again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T12:25:11.883" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17812" CreationDate="2017-07-24T12:42:43.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young dogs are typically better at handling change than new dogs, it really depend on his personality. Overall either way is fine to be honest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a highly stressed out pooch then I would do the 2 week overlap if not just do it in one go. You can also try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thundershirt.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Thundershirt&lt;/a&gt; - a jacket that helps comfort the dog in times of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adaptil.com/ca_en/#redirected&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Appeasing Pheromone&lt;/a&gt; - natural pheromone to help the dog relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &lt;a href=&quot;https://nutriscience.ie/product/kalmaid-dog-calming-supplement-copy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;KalmAid&lt;/a&gt; - a supplement that also aids in relaxation (this is not a drug).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it greatly depends on how your dog is with change - most are fine as long as you and his regular smells are still around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T12:42:43.547" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17816" CreationDate="2017-07-24T16:07:38.950" Score="11" ViewCount="4730" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might have accidentally opened the right eye of a week old kitten. I was holding her head in order to place the feeding bottle in her mouth. She then squirmed (like she always does when trying to find the feeding bottle) and this stretched her face enough for her right eyelid to open. Her exact age should be 8-9 days, and the force applied to her face wasn't really different to how I've been holding her all the time when I feed her (since 1-2 days old); this makes me think that the eyelid was actually ready to open (because they should be sealed really tight when they're not ready yet, right?) and then it just happened when she rubbed against my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What signs should I look for in order to know if the eye was ready for it or if I have caused damage? Also, will she be able to close the eyelid by herself (to sleep) or is there something I must do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I just saw them while they're sleeping and she has both eyes closed just fine. I guess I don't have to worry about the part about being able to close it now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9940" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-24T17:48:09.283" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T22:41:57.880" Title="Did I damage my kitten by accidentally forcefully opening her eyes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17815" CreationDate="2017-07-24T17:08:09.563" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The eyelids open at about 9 to 14 days. So your kitty is at the right age for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/when-do-newborn-kittens-eyes-open.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;When Do Newborn Kittens Eyes Open?&lt;/a&gt;  at Vetinfo, it is given that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Kittens' eyes are undeveloped and overly sensitive to light when they are first born, so their bodies keep their eyelids tightly shut. So you should not rush the eye-opening process or prod at a kitten's eyes. &#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;If necessary the you may gently, with cotton ball lightly covered in warm water, wipe any discharge away from a kitten's eyes or in order to help keep swelling down. &#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-07-30T12:12:12.203" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T12:12:12.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-24T17:29:17.920" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a six months old cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The place where I live is full of stray dogs and is a graveyard for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is with us since she was a month old and has absolutely no training surviving in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is outside she will be dead within half an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet whenever she finds the door open she runs outside and starts playing hide and seek with us. We have a really tough time getting her back indoor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week earlier she had a miraculous escape from death. If I had not been in time a pack of stray dogs would have eaten her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, it appears that once indoor she completely forgets that there are dogs outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been a real headache for us for quite a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we train her that she should never go outdoor? I am against any physical punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T00:35:03.510" Title="What is the best way to make a cat realize that she is forbidden from going outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2017-07-24T19:01:26.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;THE QUESTION ABOUT REFRIGERATED CANNED CAT FOOD: I called the Purina company who makes this product and she said, yes, refrigerate it.  It can sit out for an hour before feeding or you can also warm it up in the microwave.  Not more than 4 seconds though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9959" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-07-25T00:33:47.090" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T00:33:47.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17817" CreationDate="2017-07-24T21:21:00.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I don't believe it is possible to train a cat not to venture outside when the door is open. You need to be vigilant about keeping the door closed. If the weather gets warm where you live, perhaps you can install a screen door to permit some airflow while keeping the cat in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-07-24T21:21:00.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17709" CreationDate="2017-07-24T23:29:52.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really want to go along with the hand playing without getting hurt it's very simple. (Now that I am the person who posted the question I don't think anyone should have an objection to this answer since it worked and I'm happy with my results.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a cat that's used to the word &quot;No&quot; it's even easier. When the cat bites too hard tell it &quot;no&quot;. if it bites harder tell it ''no'' again and hiss at the cat, but here's the important part: do not hiss all of a sudden, do it normally. Do not hiss with madness, hiss normally again (let's not mention how stupid and immature that would look like). If you do not know what normally here means, it means hiss like a cat, when hurt occurs make the response be a hiss, just like you respond to a person that didn't know a certain something was too annoying for you to pretend nothing happened. Stop resisting and do not move your hand in a ''try to break yourself free'' form, it's how prey acts and it's only natural for a cat to get more excited and fight more when it's prey displays this behaviour. More importantly NEVER hit your cat in response to a bite or scratch. You are huge compared to your cat, and seeing you being aggressive towards it will make it fight hard to protect itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop playing and hiss. The cat should let go at that point, and this rough play should stop for now. However, playtime shouldn't. Once the cat lets go and understands to stop, just change the game. Throw toys or things the cat likes to play with or even treats to make the cat use its extra energy on. If the cat really likes to play with you it will probably return to try and play with you. Don't reject the animal by saying ''no'' or hissing whenever it comes to play, just play softer and notice how it reflects on your cat. You will realize that the cat is starting to play softer so you won't end its favorite game. Of course encouraging the cat with a praise word and handing over treats whenever she plays nice makes the process a lot faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that's how I did it, and my results were a happy friendly house cat that plays with humans and treats them like litter mates but with more respect I guess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:00:06.197" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:00:06.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17817" CreationDate="2017-07-25T00:35:03.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You see, you can't really train a cat to never go out especially if it was a male. However, if you turn things backwards in a cat's mind it should decide to stay in. For example if you live in an apartment or a building you can make sure the outside door is closed so no dogs can get in and when your kitten runs out you close the door behind it and pretend you won't let her in, or you yourself throw her out and close the door behind her whenever she displays a bad behaviour ( that's only if she understands it's punishment though) and if she begs to come back in keep her out for some time so she would wish to come back in. This seems cruel but the cat has to learn about threats. And in this case the threat will be that she won't be able to come back home if she keeps deciding to go out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you try to stop your cat from going out it will probably want to do so even more. Just like kids. If the cat doesn't decide to stay in there's noway you can keep her in forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not live in an apartment and whenever your cat is out the door she be pretty much in the outside world you shouldn't put her outside unless you are sure no stray is around. Now that she was attacked before by dogs she probably recognizes dogs as threats, so you can have a friend who owns a well trained dog to come over and keep the dog in your yard and possibly bark at the cat when it comes out. That way she should atleast be more careful whenever she decides to step outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't follow rules, they follow their own decisions. And to make a cat go your way, you must give them reasons to make you decisions. You should show her that the best place in the world is your home, and outside is boring (no human contact or play or treats) and dangerous. Make your home a comfortable place for your kitten by providing lots of toys and play with your cat and give it treats when it plays good, even consider training your cat to do tricks and getting praised. Try to let it use it's full energy on play and it will never go outside because it would be sleeping. Get the cat great foods and treats. It will soon realize that home is much more fun and nice than the outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T00:35:03.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17759" CreationDate="2017-07-25T01:21:36.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, to start with, how can anyone say what a CAT is supposed to like or hate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats don't like TUNA. Cats will only want to eat things that their bodies can get a use of. Or things they were used to, such as milk. Cats do not need milk, but they like it because they were used to sucking it from their mothers, although milk isn't good for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand bread isn't bad for cats. So it's not a problem if they eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest to &lt;a href=&quot;https://allpetmagazine.com/can-cats-eat-bread/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see this link for more information about cats and bread&lt;/a&gt; (source:&amp;nbsp;allpetmagazine.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:45:11.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:45:11.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17827" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-25T02:54:10.647" Score="4" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to breed crickets for 3 months, but my crickets won't breed, won't lay eggs and won't chirp. I have a bed of soil (that I moisten daily) covered with a secure screen to keep adults from eating their eggs. I feed them Fluker's orange cubes, and I have a moist small paper towel for water. I keep them in a Rubbermaid container, and they have many egg shells for hiding and shelter. I keep them in a small shed and I have a small light over them. I have spent so much money and they still won't breed, lay eggs or chirp. What am I doing wrong? Any tips/advice would be very helpful, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9967" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T16:40:37.940" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T16:40:37.940" Title="It's been 3 months and my crickets still won't breed, lay eggs, or chirp" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17828" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-25T03:07:13.367" Score="4" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm watching a friend's cat and she has trouble breathing, sounding like she's snoring/slurping constantly (&quot;nasal stertor&quot;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently this is &quot;normal&quot; for her.  She's always been like this, and she behaves normally otherwise, but it would be nice if there were some way to improve the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's had surgery for nasopharyngeal polyp(s?) and antibiotics to clear infections.  Her nose is constantly plugged with grayish mucus and she breathes through her mouth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expectorant like Bisolvon or Guaifenesin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9966" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T11:48:19.380" Title="Medication for cat with difficulty breathing / congestion" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-25T08:31:04.533" Score="3" ViewCount="4360" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is UNVACCINATED but I live in Europe currently and where I live most rabies come from bats or dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was playing around with her with my hand as a mouse and other objects. She was also being played with someone else. She bit me but it was of a dot and bled a little. I also washed my hands like 40 times while playing with her. She is a indoor kitten only goes outside to do her business she mostly all the time moderated. I might have found out why she had bit me but be honest she was biting everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And someone else had her for two months and probably got bit so I had highly doubt I'd get rabies but I kept searching and other forums where they advise GO TO THE DOCTOR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the thing I found not mine &quot;Like babies and puppies, kittens tend to put objects in their mouths as a means of exploring and playing. They may chew because they are teething or just because it's fun. Some kittens chew out of boredom.Jan 20, 2015&quot; it's kinda like how babies chew on the toys to get there teeth stronger also the kitten like most are very active so it was high chance high she bit me and scratched me a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to make this more clear and re read everything and please if your gonna say &quot;You have to go to the doctor&quot; put something positive too because I always see on these forums doctors trying to tell you to take this medication and that while I barley see anyone who really had a Cat or a pet.&#xA;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9964" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-25T11:42:22.840" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T12:17:14.297" Title="My two month old cat bit me, could I get rabies?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2017-07-26T02:07:50.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17828" CreationDate="2017-07-25T11:48:19.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat who had this problem and my vet advised using &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001G7QWZ8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;saline nasal drops&lt;/a&gt; to help clear the mucous (you drip in a drop or two, then let her sneeze everything out, it can be a mess).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat was extremely docile and would let me do anything to him. Once I was clipping his claws and accidentally cut the quick (so he started bleeding). I told him to stay put while I ran to the kitchen for flour, and he just laid there on his back until I got back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MOST cats are difficult to give nasal drops to. Honestly I wouldn't advise it for a cat that is not yours. You can suggest it to your friend, but it sounds like they're already working with their vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T11:48:19.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17829" CreationDate="2017-07-25T12:17:14.297" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The odds your kitten has rabies are slim to none. Animals don't live very long once signs of rabies appear, some examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wanting to eat everything and anything&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;paralysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drooped jaw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;random bouts of aggression (not playful aggression) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;excessively salivating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protocol for a bite from a suspected animal with rabies is quarantine for 14 days to monitor for more signs or death. &#xA;If you have concerns, human hospitals will vaccinate you for rabies and do a treatment (I heard it's unpleasant). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's been in a home her entire life I wouldn't worry about rabies.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T12:17:14.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17759" CreationDate="2017-07-25T13:35:59.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our house, the cats that tend to be bread eaters are the cats who lived outside (or otherwise had to scavenge for food; one cat lived in a hoarder's home) for some significant time while they were young. I've suspected that these cats learned to eat bread because they were just trying to find &lt;em&gt;any food&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also suspected that cats fed dry food may associate bread with the cereals/grains in dry food and so believe bread is food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also had another cat who didn't particularly like bread (if you offered him a piece of bread he'd ignore it), but loved to chew on plastic bags. So, if a loaf of bread was on the counter he'd jump up to chew on the bag (and just happen to chew on the bread in the bag).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are a lot of possible reasons cats may try to eat (or chew) on your bread. It's not harmful to offer them a small piece (and may help narrow down if they're interested in the bread or the plastic), but it has minimal nutritional value so other than using it as a troubleshooting step I wouldn't advise it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T13:35:59.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17786" CreationDate="2017-07-25T17:05:09.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, recognize that cats have different scratching preferences. They can prefer particular materials, orientations, and locations. If you get a few scratchers and she doesn't use them, don't give up! Look for scratchers with different characteristics and give those a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably have the best success if you start with scratchers similar to what she's already scratching. If she's scratching the side of a couch, look for a vertical scratcher. If she's scratching the floor, look for a horizontal scratcher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place the scratcher near whatever else she has been scratching. You want to make it easy to transition to the scratcher, but she already has a habit of going to that location to scratch. If she still prefers the old spot (possible, since it has her scent!) you can cover it with sticky tape or plastic wrap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, lightly dust the scratcher with catnip. Sometimes I'll also scratch my fingernails on it while the cat is nearby/watching. That makes a sound that will usually trigger them to come investigate what I'm doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, do not ever yell at your cat for not using the scratcher. Some times people will physically move a cat to the 'correct' location, but I prefer not to do that (I'd get pretty annoyed if someone interrupted my stretch!). If your cat is not yet using the scratcher, take it as a challenge. Something is not yet right and I need a different scratcher to appeal to my cat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it can take awhile to figure out a cat's preferences. I had a cat who stubbornly scratched on an ottoman for months until we figured out that the posts we provided were not &lt;em&gt;QUITE&lt;/em&gt; tall enough. Once we bought the tallest post we could find (which was taller than the ottoman), he switched to 90% scratching the post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T17:05:09.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17356" CreationDate="2017-07-25T18:21:22.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that a quick response will not happen. Normally for a dog to get used to a action/ situation they would need at minimum of a thousand repetitions of that action. For example having a friend come over and ring the doorbell, then you diverting the dogs attention to a treat or toy eventually this will lead to the dog getting used to the sound. The same goes for every other action, when someone comes in try to get the dogs attention until someone coming in the house is not a big issue. This though will take longer then two weeks to get used to all the stimuli around your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9678" LastActivityDate="2017-07-25T18:21:22.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17837" CreationDate="2017-07-25T20:56:44.230" Score="7" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat goes in for surgery tomorrow, which makes tonight possibly her last night on this earth. I want to give her something special for dinner. She loves chicken and poultry in general, and also cheese. I was thinking of just giving her some, finely diced chicken, and some small cheese bits - but are there any other recommendations of something special I could give her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9977" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T06:57:36.993" Title="What 'Special Occasion' Food Can I Feed My Cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17836" CreationDate="2017-07-25T22:18:17.990" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be hard for us to say what is &quot;special&quot; or not.  We don't really know your cat.  We don't know her likes or dislikes or the kinds of treats or food you normally feed.  If you were to be asked the same question for yourself, it would vastly differ from what my answer would be for myself.  Probably the best thing to do is to give her the food that she goes bonkers over.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know for my cat, any time chicken is out on the table, I burn off the dinner calories just trying to keep her away.  If what you said above is what she loves, then I am sure she will enjoy it to the max.  Maybe even give her a larger portion than usual.  Extra treats of her favorite kind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let her cuddle up or play with you when it would otherwise annoy you after a day of working.  Treat the night to be all about your kitty.  Let her feel the love.  It isn't so much about getting her special food as much as it is knowing that you prepared her something she loves from your heart and spent quality time to make sure if this were to be her last night, it was memorable for you AND her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take lots of pictures, stay up a little later to watch a movie just so she would stay in your lap longer.  Enjoy your time together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-26T02:11:17.217" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T02:11:17.217" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17801" CreationDate="2017-07-26T00:04:50.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My opinion would be similar to @trondhansen in the way that- there's not anything you can do to fix, BUT I'd say there are things you can do to help make your Molly either more comfortable or to prevent infection or to help with any scales that may have fallen off in process to regenerate. Adding a dose of fresh water aquarium salt helps with scale reproduction, and would be soothing to any tears. There are ways to clean it BUT your fish has gone thru something VERY stressful, so for that purpose I would stick with a antiseptic tank additive. One that I can think of off the top of my head is made by Seachem called &quot;Stress Guard&quot;... Added a pic of it. But yes, as previously stated, your fish may &quot;heal&quot; but not go back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, aquarium salt is my &quot;go to&quot; for a lot of freshwater fish issues, but it is an especially safe additive to use in Molly due to how salt tolerant they are and that they can be acclimated to brackish and saltwater (although I don't recommend doing this if you don't know what you're doing) I felt it was a good point to add. Good luck, she's pretty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sWZDb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T00:04:50.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17812" CreationDate="2017-07-26T01:30:13.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say definitively what your dog will do best with, but typically if you need to make a significant change in environment, drawing it out isn't going to help, and may even hurt as the back and forth is confusing for the dog.  The best option is to make the new home as positive a place as possible.  Make sure you do some training exercises (e.g. sit/stay training, recall training, any tricks you might have taught) using treat rewards, and take them for a walk around the neighborhood, ideally getting them pretty tired.  Getting them exercise and stimulating them mentally will help smooth the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T01:30:13.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17827" CreationDate="2017-07-26T02:46:11.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crickets need heat more so than light. I'd try to get one of those cheap thermo-stickers. Try to keep it around 90 degrees. (Fahrenheit degrees) The chirping is the 1st thing I'd try to get going. Also instead of spending alot of money on cricket food. Try high protein dry cat food. Put it in a zip lock and roll it until it's almost powder. How many crickets are in the box? Can you post pictures of the setup?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9978" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-07-26T03:01:53.760" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T03:01:53.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17189" CreationDate="2017-07-26T03:39:41.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between the tanks? If the cloudy tank has fake plants in it and the others have real plants. You add a little salt to the real plant tanks. Water softerns in houses for well water use salt to make it less hard. Another idea would be during a water change instead of fresh water add water from one of the tanks that are clear. See if it stays clear or if it clouds back up. There are alot of variables that can contribute to this issue. I'd recommend taking changes slowly and only one change at a time. Put a week in between your trails, so you'll know what the problem was/is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9978" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T03:39:41.387" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18057" CreationDate="2017-07-26T06:53:08.107" Score="9" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently rescued a female Indian flapshell turtle. I kept it in my tank for few days. I found 9 eggs in my tank today. Can I expect babies from the eggs? How do I need to care for the eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T19:11:08.573" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T15:16:58.200" Title="Female turtle unexpectedly laid eggs, what do I do now?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15590" CreationDate="2017-07-26T07:58:20.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will definitely vary dog to dog and can even affect their house training since they don't know where to go. If your dog seems to be taking a while to adjust introduce them to the new house like you would a puppy. Confine them to the most 'lived in' room first. Once they get used to that add more rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Show them where they need to relieve themselves consistently and be easy on them if they do go in the 'wrong' place - they probably don't know where the right place is yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T07:58:20.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17836" CreationDate="2017-07-26T14:18:00.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's better not to give something special to your cat before surgery. Even us humans have hospital food for a reason. Stick to it's regular diet in order for her digestive system not to be disturbed and let's hope that she will have many more nights to enjoy special treats described in other answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And show her love! That is the most important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T14:18:00.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17849" CreationDate="2017-07-26T16:59:06.967" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good friend of mine is getting very sick (kidney disease. :( ) and is having to give up his dogs, including a 1 year old Cheweenie mix named Titan that I'm adopting, initially out of guilt but he's just plain grown on me.  I am really, really attached to the dog and am getting ready to bring him home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, Titan is left at home most of the day with four other dogs (his mom and siblings), and when i bring him home, he'll be alone most of the day alone.  I know there's a nearby dog daycare that I could take him to a few times a week (I've seen a few questions about folks that are in similar situations that suggested this), and I can commit to the time to take him for walks, since i'm planning on doing more active stuff as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've lived with dogs, but I've never had one before. I read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11259/what-steps-should-i-take-to-prepare-myself-for-dogsitting&quot;&gt;This question about getting ready for dogsitting&lt;/a&gt; and it answered a few questions, but &lt;strong&gt;what other things should I do to prepare my apartment to make sure Titan is comfortable?  What should the first week or so look like as I get Titan settled into his new home?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things about Titan:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As I mentioned, Titan is used to having his brothers and sisters around constantly.  I don't know what to do for the poor guy about this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's a digger, and destroyed a couch already.  I just got a new one, so... yay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's a small dog, so is there a good time or distance for a morning walk for him?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9984" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T20:56:52.950" Title="How do I get ready for my first dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-26T18:50:27.773" Score="5" ViewCount="4620" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat hasn't defecated in 2 days. He hasn't been neutered and he has been sleeping more than usual. We brought him outside a few days ago into our garden which we share with our neighbours dogs. They are brought outside often and I'm not quite sure what to do. He hasn't been to a vet. We found him on the street 4 years ago and we haven't done much yet except giving him clean water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9986" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T03:44:15.103" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T13:57:05.163" Title="My cat hasn't defecated in 2 days" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17847" CreationDate="2017-07-26T20:56:52.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;His current owner should pass on his basic dog gear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leash, collar, and harness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crate &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog food (you should continue feeding Titan whatever his current owner is, at least for the short term)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should plan to take a few days off work to allow Titan to acclimate to his new home.  During this time you can get him used to your schedule, the new surroundings, and so on.  You can also ease him into being alone for longer periods of time (hang out together for the first day and then leave for 30 minutes the next, an hour the day after that, and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Daycare is a great option for many dogs, though even if Titan is regularly going to daycare when you're at work you'll want him to be ok being alone for several hours at a time.  This way if you want to see a movie with friends or go out to dinner you know he'll be ok hanging out on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since Titan likes digging, or maybe digs when he's bored, you'll want to make sure you have lots for him to do.  Chiweenie's are high energy dogs, so if his current owner doesn't provide him with lots of puzzle toys, playtime, and training you'll benefit from doing these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though Titan is a small dog, he'll need a good amount of exercise.  If there's a dog run or off leash park nearby you should plan to bring him there on his morning walks - this way he'll be less destructive/bored during the day if he's home alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-07-26T20:56:52.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-27T02:06:38.070" Score="4" ViewCount="660" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if I should bring my dog to the vet tonight and say goodbye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was taken to the vet earlier today due to shortness of breath and was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), but it was a little less severe at the time. The surprising part is that the young veterinarian just prescribed a diuretic and told us come back in 2 weeks if things don't get significantly better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situation just seems more severe.  She hasn't been able to sleep or eat and is holding her head up constantly, trying to get enough air.  Not very fun to have to watch your dog go through this.  I suppose I'll wait until morning in case the medication does anything, but I really don't want her to suffer more than necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9989" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T22:24:24.483" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T22:24:24.483" Title="Dog with congestive heart failure, breathing over 120 bpm while resting" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17853" CreationDate="2017-07-27T02:14:32.847" Score="6" ViewCount="868" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am dog sitting for my landlady, and she has a large male German shepherd. We have a fenced in yard that I walk him in a few times a day.  He is not well trained and has even climbed over the fence before, so I have to keep him on a leash at all times.  Most of the time I take him outside without incident, but the last few days there have been rabbits in the yard morning and night which causes him to go crazy and chase after them dragging me behind him.  The same freakout happens if the neighbor lets his dogs out in the adjacent yard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a small lady, and it takes most of my body weight against his pulling to stop him, once I get him stopped he is still amped and is difficult to manage.  He wears a circular chain collar that tightens as he pulls away.  The real problem I am having is that he runs so abruptly that it causes me to run a few steps before I can stop him which has caused me to have pain in my leg like a pulled muscle.  I try to anticipate these sudden movements, but he even lunges after bugs at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I am only dog sitting for the next two weeks, I don't expect to be able to remove 7 years of bad habits/prey drive from the dog.  Is there anything I can do short-term to avoid getting injured further?  Send all your ideas, ill try anything!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9988" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T14:01:53.890" Title="How do I stop large german shepherd from dragging me through the yard to chase rabbits?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17850" CreationDate="2017-07-27T04:43:02.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds as though your dog is in severe respiratory distress; less than 40 breaths per minute at rest is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does need to see a veterinarian again as soon as possible. From what you say the diuretic is having little effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lasix (furosemide) is quite a safe drug in the sense that quite high doses can be given in the short term. If you cannot go to a veterinarian immediately you can increase the furosemide dose to provide comfort. You can give up to 6 mg/kg by mouth every 8 hours (Plumbs). I would be hesitant to go much higher without evaluating the dog. Smaller doses more frequently are also fine, but it sounds as though she is not responding to the smaller doses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody on here can tell you whether it might be your dog's time, that is a decision you have to make between you and your vet. If the diagnosis is definitely CHF and she is not responding to diuretics, then short of hospitalization with oxygen therapy, thoracocentesis (removal of fluid from chest) and full cardiac workup there is little that can be done to keep her comfortable. It will be a difficult decision to make, but your veterinarian should be able to provide you with an idea of prognosis based on your dog's history and clinical exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-07-27T14:10:12.777" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T14:10:12.777" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17851" CreationDate="2017-07-27T07:36:49.860" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two things I could immediately think of, although they cost a bit, but maybe the owners would be interested in it as well – both would also work in conjunction with each other:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a harness in addition to a collar. This gives you two points of support to hold the dog back, while also giving you more control over where he's looking/turning (so you might even be able to avoid the dog seeing rabbits or anything else).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a dampener between collar and actual leash. These are typically made from elastic materials and will consume most of the power applied when the dog starts jumping or running.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also in case of the collar, I'd replace that immediately, if there's no stopper or similar that keeps it from strangling the dog. This is not only outlawed in some regions, but it may also make the problem worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if there's some treat the dog loves, you might be able to use that as a distraction, but it really depends on the individual dog. We've got two and while one would do anything for a treat (even ignoring wild animals or barking dogs), the other just won't care about food at all while on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T07:36:49.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17848" CreationDate="2017-07-27T11:34:27.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have jotted down the following points from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-karen-becker/the-most-common-cause-of-_b_9189722.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Most Common Cause of Kitty Constipation&lt;/a&gt; from the Huffington Post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Constipation is a common problem in cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs of constipation -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The cat should poop every single day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;His stoll should be brown, formed (not loose), and soft and moist enough that litter sticks to them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Causes of constipation -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dehydration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;GI mobility problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Painful defacation due to fracture of the pelvis or hind limb, arthritis, or impacted anal glands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Orthopedic or neurological problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Obstruction of the colon caused by a foreign object, tumor, or hernia.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Megacolon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatment -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Try avoiding dry cat food. Add liquid from a can of tuna or other cat food into water bowel. Some prefer water from water fountain than still water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Try to make sure your cat gets regular exercises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You can add psyllium or coconut fiber in food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If hair balls are the reason you can add coconut oil to food to ease hair movement through Gastro Intestinal track.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Smoe natural laxatives like aloe vera juice can be added to food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem still persists you should visit your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T13:57:05.163" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T13:57:05.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-27T17:31:18.820" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I come home from vacation, she squeals and barks aggressively and runs around. I can't ' tell if she if over excited or angry. She won't allow me to pick her up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9991" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T19:23:03.597" Title="Aggressive behavior" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17855" CreationDate="2017-07-27T18:32:21.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dog?  Sounds like she is very happy to see you again, and maybe scolding you for being away so long.  Sounds just like a Bichon I used to own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to encourage it, turn your back on her.  Don't interact with her until she calms down.  &lt;em&gt;Do&lt;/em&gt; reward her, by greeting her on your &lt;em&gt;own&lt;/em&gt; terms, as soon as she brings it down to a level you can deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She won't allow me to pick her up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So don't.  Most small dogs don't enjoy being scooped up off the ground even if many of them will tolerate it.  I always tell mine what's coming, &quot;I'm going to pick you up.&quot;  That way, it's not a total surprise.  Now he usually will climb into my arms on his own when I bend down and say that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9992" LastActivityDate="2017-07-27T18:32:21.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17859" CreationDate="2017-07-27T20:31:04.860" Score="4" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a strange cat. She's very obedient to the point makes me think she's a dog. She's a year old. She isn't spayed but she never sprays. And she never rubs herself on objects.She never rubs on people either except when she's in heat. But only when someone is ready to give her food she may stick her tail up in a happy mood and maybe (sometimes only though) rub her head to back on the person welling to feed her and she does that just a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And comparing to what I've seen of cats on the internet and from personal experience my whole life, I've always seen cats rub alot on objects and people including me. She's been an orphan as a kitten but I don't think that prevents her from being a cat. She's been raised by us from the day she opened her eyes, and she's been living in our house ever sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When someone comes to give her love she'll lick their hands (well I wouldn't lie it's not someone, it's only ME and she rarely does that to another person, she usually just leaves when someone else tries to give her some love) but she wouldn't rub herself on the person whatsoever (whoever he/she is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure she loves us because she's always following me around and she's always near whoever gets sick. And she's always happy when we come back from a long trip and tries to play with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is WHY DOESN'T MY CAT EVER SPRAY OR RUN AGAINST THINGS?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T19:13:36.440" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T19:13:36.440" Title="Why doesn't my un-spayed female cat spray or rub herself on us or other stuff?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17873" CreationDate="2017-07-28T02:16:14.427" Score="3" ViewCount="32869" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 15 years old and used to chew shoes when she was younger. Thankfully we stopped that behaviour, but I've noticed that she still likes to take shoes and (for lack of a better word) cuddle them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been living at a family member's house for the past two years but recently came to stay with me for the week. She sleeps downstairs and my shoe rack is near her bed. I've noticed that when I come downstairs in the morning she will have one or both of my shoes nestled in her bed with her; I usually put the shoes up on the shoe rack but she goes out of her way to pull them down and take them over to her bed (one time she put enough effort into it that she accidentally knocked the shoe rack over). One time while I was watching TV and had forgot to put my shoes on the shoe rack, I also noticed her sleeping with her head propped up on the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not necessarily bad behaviour that I want to curb (besides maybe her pulling my shoes off the rack), and at her age it's probably too late to stop it. However, I'm curious as to &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; she's doing it. These shoes are well-worn so my theory is that my smell is deeply ingrained in them, which is comforting to her; or, maybe she just wants something to rest her head on while she sleeps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9993" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T12:41:08.540" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T21:56:04.867" Title="Why does my dog like to cuddle my shoes but not chew them" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17857" CreationDate="2017-07-28T02:29:35.730" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most definitive answer I can come up with is that your cat is FEMALE and not MALE and also the fact that she is INDOOR cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting from the site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/applied-ethology/behaviourproblems/urinemark.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;urine marking by female cats&lt;/a&gt; only 5% of indoor female cats spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of rubbing oneself against furniture, the purpose is similar to spraying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As given in the site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=21&amp;amp;aid=1132&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;why do cats rub against legs and furniture&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  Cats have scent glands on multiple places on their body including their faces and feet. On their face, the glands are located around the eyes, below the ears, and on the chin. By rubbing their face on various objects, such as legs and furniture, they are leaving their scent. &#xA; &lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the cat doesn't have the tendency to spray, (which is is done to mark territory and attract male cats) it also doesn't rub herself against furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal opinion, the fact which is also responsible for her behaviour is that she is an orphan cat and you have raised her since her eyes have opened. This has affected her psychologically. It is the mother cat who teaches her babies every single thing, and especially after opening of eyes it is the mother who is the only guide in this strange world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T05:53:57.553" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T05:53:57.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17851" CreationDate="2017-07-28T07:05:44.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give the dog less leash.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog needs to understand that it is following &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; lead when on the leash. Imagine that there's a line that runs from side to side in line with your body - when you walk forward, the line moves with you, and when you turn, it turns. Think of it as lining up with your shoulders or your hips.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Whenever the dog is on the leash, only give it enough length for its head to barely cross this line; don't allow it to pass forward of this line any farther than its ears. Its shoulders and most of its body should be behind you at all times. (Yes, this may require you to hold the leash at a somewhat awkward angle. You might need to use your off hand to hold the anchor loop, and possibly cross that arm in front of yourself depending on the length, and then use your dominant hand to hold the middle of the leash just behind your hip.) Start this before you're even outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how that might look initially, before the dog learns to stop pulling on the leash:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://drsophiayin.com/app/uploads/blogimg/pastedGraphic_2-1.png&quot; alt=&quot;Woman holding a leash to short length with a dog pulling&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's how it should look once the dog figures out what you expect:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images20/DogWalking2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Woman holding a leash to short length with well-trained dog&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog understands that it isn't allowed to walk ahead of you, it will start to recognize you as the leader in where to walk, which should help to reduce its inclination to dash after other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might think this wouldn't be applicable for a dog you're only watching for 2 weeks, but I can tell you from personal experience that it will:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I adopted an adult dog from a rescue who was &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; untrained aside from being housebroken, but after just ten minutes of using this technique on a single walk, he had already figured it out and was walking alongside me with a slack leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if the dog winds up getting in front of you anyway, due to its strength and speed, don't pull straight back on the leash, this will only result in it pulling harder. Instead, pull to the side. This will put the dog off-balance, and cause it to naturally turn towards you, reinforcing the idea that it should be looking to you to know what to do, rather than it leading you around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5303" LastEditorUserId="5303" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T14:01:53.890" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T14:01:53.890" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-28T15:54:41.627" Score="12" ViewCount="7533" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriends cat will often bring toys and leave them in places that seem to have meaning.  This morning he found 3 toys in the spot where he sits to put on his work shoes every morning.  What could this mean?  What is his cat trying to tell him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9997" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-28T19:07:47.020" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T19:48:06.813" Title="Is the cat trying to communicate by leaving toys in significant places?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17861" CreationDate="2017-07-28T21:54:51.807" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats often leave their &quot;prey&quot; or toys as gifts to show their sign of affection and their craft as master hunters.  Leaving them in places where the cat knows you will be is their way of trying to get your attention for a job well done.  My female cat does this often with me too and I will often praise her for her good work (Tell her good job and pet her a lot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also mean they want to play!  I know my cats will drop their toys at my feet when ever they want to play fetch and they will meow until you pick it up and throw it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately though, you will find cat toys in your bed and around places you frequent because they want to show off their abilities as master huntsmen and the &quot;prey&quot; or toy is their way of gifting you that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastActivityDate="2017-07-28T21:54:51.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17861" CreationDate="2017-07-29T03:34:44.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As given in the sites &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.yourcat.co.uk/behavioural-problems/why-does-my-cat-carry-a-toy-around-while-miaowing-loudly.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why does my cat carry her toys around?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/cats/behaviour-and-training/understanding-cat-behaviour/cat-care-and-cat-psychology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat care and cat psychology&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today's domestic cats are descendants of wild cats who started taking the advantage of the abundance of mice around food grain stores in human civilizations 4000 years back. However, many cats today are born indoors and are fed and loved throughout their life as part of a family.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But your cat's brain and emotional system are still designed for the hunt!&#xA;So rather than hunting actual rodents, your cat will enjoy chasing and pouncing on a toy mouse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now cats carry their prize catch for two reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First is that, when cats catch their prey, they take it back to their core territory to eat. Here you cat's core territory may be according to his imagination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second is that they find somewhere to hide it. Typically this means hiding the prey under dry leaves or sandy soil so they become desiccated instead of rotting. When they are hungry and short of fresh prey, they will resort to this temporary store of mummified food. Your cat may also imagine that some places are safe to hide their catch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So more than communicating with you, I think it is the altered behaviour of domestic cats to suit their natural instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:53:34.460" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:53:34.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-29T13:50:07.333" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in a rental due to hurricane Mathew, and will be moving in Aug. I have a feral Mama and 2 kittens. I  trapped  mama, had her spayed and vaccinated, brought her back and released. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trapped the kittens, which were approximately 10-12 weeks old. I also had them neutered/spayed and vaccinated but I'm keeping them in a bedroom. They are becoming more tame each day. I have them on a waiting list for a beautiful no kill shelter, Palmetto Animal League, in Okatie SC. I went to see it. I already have a housefull of dogs and cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, should I take mama to my house, few blocks away, and release her? That way I could feed her. Will it be too much for her? Here at the rental, she calls me twice a day to feed her. She is a great hunter also. It will break my heart to leave her. She has never let me pet her. I'm sure she knows that I have her kids. Signed, just want to do the right thing!!!!!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10007" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-07-29T17:19:41.420" LastActivityDate="2017-07-29T17:19:41.420" Title="Can I relocate an outdoor feral cat when I move?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-02T12:06:20.633" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17868" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-29T14:50:35.140" Score="4" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray kitten of about 2 months old came to my door steps two days back, it was looking sick as well as weak , I have adopted it. He seemed to be having an issue of indigestion when it arrived and I did feed him milk. I got him checked with one local vet and I got the medication for the indigestion. The vet told that the cat needs Non Veg food which happens to be strictly not allowed in my house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being this is a house rule, and I'd like to explore my options; what health risks are involved in feeding him a vegetarian diet? Does the reward outweigh the risk? And if I choose to feed a vegetarian diet, is there a specific mix that would be MOST healthy for this kitten, being 2 months old?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10009" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T01:07:51.523" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T15:57:07.073" Title="Vegetarian Food for Cat(2 Months Old)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-31T12:15:35.950" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-29T17:13:58.420" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a rescued Labrador/English mastiff cross, so she's big(but not fat) at 35 ish kg and approximately 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been limping at times which has come and gone. Currently it's quite bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has undergone arthritis treatment which has not worked. Then we tried codeine with metacam and still no improvement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We then had her go for full body x-ray and still nothing: no arthritis, broken bones, displesia, tumours or any lumps.... absolutely nothing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is now to be confirmed by a specialist but we think it will still be nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas? My&#xA;Father in law believes it's a sprain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: it comes and goes: she was really bad (as she is at the moment) a couple of years ago. Then it literally just stopped. This year, in March, she started to have a slight limp, then it went away. She went for a long walk with her dog friends and returned really bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-07-30T15:16:24.437" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T15:16:24.437" Title="Unexplained limping" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17868" CreationDate="2017-07-29T22:42:58.797" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats unlike dogs are obligate carnivores. Dogs and cats diet vastly differs. Dogs are with humans for 40,000 years and have evolved to become omnivore. They can get their sufficient nutrition from plant food. However, it is not the same in case of cats. Cats can thrive only on pure non-veg food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the site &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats#1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vegetarian diet for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lew Olson, PhD, author of Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs, makes&#xA;  this analogy: “Trying to feed a cat a vegan diet would be like me&#xA;  feeding my horses meat. You’re taking a whole species of animal and&#xA;  trying to force it to eat something that it isn’t designed to handle.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“For cats, it’s really inappropriate. It goes against their physiology&#xA;  and isn’t something I would recommend at all,&quot; says Cailin Heinze,&#xA;  VMD, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist and assistant professor&#xA;  of nutrition at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats given vegetarian or vegan diet has the following nutritional defficiencies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Vitamins A and D:&lt;/b&gt; Dogs and cats cannot make vitamin D&#xA;  in their skin, so it needs to be in their diet. And the vitamin D&#xA;  needs to be D3, which comes from animal sources, not D2, which comes&#xA;  from plant-based sources. “People and dogs can use D2 to some extent,&#xA;  but cats really need D3,” Heinze says.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Taurine:&lt;/b&gt; Dogs can make taurine if provided the right&#xA;  building blocks through dietary protein. Cats cannot make their own&#xA;  taurine at all, so it is regarded as an essential amino acid in this&#xA;  species and must be present in adequate amounts in the diet. Both&#xA;  species can suffer taurine deficiencies.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further it is given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Never feed vegetarian or vegan diets to kittens or to cats&#xA;  you plan to breed.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Only consider or feed commercial diets&#xA;  that have gone through feeding trials and meets the requirements for&#xA;  AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials)&#xA;  compliance.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Consult with a veterinary nutritionist who can&#xA;  analyze your commercial or homemade vegetarian pet diet and make&#xA;  recommendations for additional health safeguards.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pets/news-features/can-dogs-and-cats-be-vegetarians/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can dogs and cats be vegetarians&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats are much more complicated than dogs: they are  “obligate&#xA;  carnivores”. The feline anatomy and metabolism have evolved&#xA;  specifically for processing meals derived from small prey. While their&#xA;  anatomy and digestive system can adapt (cats can eat and digest&#xA;  plant-based food), there are critical aspects of their metabolism that&#xA;  have an absolute need for nutrients that are only commonly found in&#xA;  meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As given in the site &lt;a href=&quot;http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/09/25/vegan-diet-dangers.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;When Pets Don't Get Enough of The Right Kind of Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Obligate + carnivore = cats must eat meat to survive.&lt;/b&gt; This is&#xA;  because the protein in animal tissue has a complete amino acid&#xA;  profile. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Plant&#xA;  proteins do NOT contain all the amino acids critical for the health of&#xA;  obligate carnivores, and unlike humans who have the physiological&#xA;  ability to turn plant proteins into the missing pieces needed for a&#xA;  complete amino acid profile, cats don’t have that capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Remember:&lt;/b&gt; It’s not just the amount of protein that’s important&#xA;  – it’s also the source (for carnivores it should be animal vs.&#xA;  plant-based) and bioavailability (fresh, unprocessed, preferably raw&#xA;  muscle and organ meat is ideal for healthy cats and dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats aren’t designed to eat carbohydrates, and in fact, their bodies&#xA;  don’t produce the enzymes required to digest carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-07-31T15:57:07.073" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T15:57:07.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12088" CreationDate="2017-07-30T14:20:19.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The above answer is good information, but is also incomplete. The key phrase here is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem is that she has had three nights where she goes to the toilet in her crate at the opposite corner to where she sleeps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that she can choose a corner to go, and another corner to sleep in means that your crate is too big.  Part of the key with crate training is sizing the crate such that the dog is discouraged from going because then they would have to sit in it.  They naturally will not want to do this.  All of @Ashley suggestions are good, but they are incomplete by virtue of not including intelligently-applied negative reinforcement.  As with all dog training, there have to be both positive and negative consequences for a training regimen to stick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T14:20:19.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17858" CreationDate="2017-07-30T15:25:57.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are both creatures of habit and typically scent-motivated.  It sounds like there have been changes in your dog's environment over the past few years, and that can lead the dog to try to find stability where it can.  Your instinct is likely correct; your dog is likely finding comfort in your scent.  If you removed the shoes from the equation, they would probably try to find something else that had your scent on it.  The fact your dog also used to chew may suggest they are in what I call the &quot;I don't want to chew it, I just want to have it&quot; mentality.  As long as they aren't destroying things, leaving it alone is probably best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9952" LastActivityDate="2017-07-30T15:25:57.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17882" CreationDate="2017-07-31T00:51:07.647" Score="6" ViewCount="9198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female guppy, that's been through a lot of stress over the past year. She's moved from my friend's overcrowded, unclear green algae tank to mine, has had babies 4 times, has had internal parasites (was separated into a hospital tank, treated and put back in original tank after the parasitic infection was treated), and now appears to have dropsy. I do not have a hospital tank available, it's currently turned into my corydora breeding tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first recommendation for any fish with dropsy is to quarantine the fish, and medicate separately. My question is, if a quarantine tank is not available, is there any harm in medicating the entire tank? My tank currently houses guppies, balloon mollies, a snail and Chinese algae eater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T15:56:06.293" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T15:56:06.293" Title="Does medicating an entire tank harm healthy fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-31T09:49:26.737" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the issue.&#xA;My cat bring mice into the house (we live in countryside and she brings forest mice), and she brings them almost always alive. It is becoming significant problem as she is &quot;playing&quot; with them, and injures them that way so while hiding from her they die and start decomposing inside the house (?!). If I am home, I try to take them out as soon as she brings them, but while we're at work she gets bored and brings home god knows how many. Yesterday we located 3 dead mice, one of which was about 2 weeks old dead and hiding in the most remote place of the house, and was smelling really, really bad(that is the only reason we managed to find it).&#xA;I tried putting collar with a bell on her hoping they would hear her and run away, it didn't help. Would declawing help, or what else can we do to stop her from doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10016" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T09:49:26.737" Title="My cat brings mice ALIVE and it is becoming a problem" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-07-31T12:14:29.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17891" CreationDate="2017-07-31T15:42:57.200" Score="7" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want to get shock collars because I don't like the thought of hurting my pet, but what I'm looking for is a collar that instead of shocking the pet with electricity, just produces startling sound when they pass the perimeter. So it would be like a shock collar minus the hurting. Does such a thing exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7906" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T23:05:13.170" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T23:05:13.170" Title="Is there a &quot;shock collar&quot; that doesn't actually shock the pet, but instead just makes loud noises?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16537" CreationDate="2017-07-31T18:37:55.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is most likely a female. A better photo would increase the accuracy of the prediction, but it appears that her tail narrows immediately after the cloaca, which indicates a lack of hemipenes, thus female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10020" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T18:37:55.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11031" CreationDate="2017-07-31T19:01:09.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good to hear that your snake is eating reliably, now. They can be very picky eaters, and they are notably skittish, and it is fairly normal for them to fast for months at a time. However, when a snake strikes at food in a predatory fashion (as opposed to a defensive fashion), but then will not eat the food item, it most likely is due to being too cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ball Pythons (&lt;em&gt;Python regius&lt;/em&gt;) are hot temperature snakes. They thrive at temperatures above 90°F (32°C). When I used to rehab them for a rescue program, it was almost always because their owners had given up on them due to not eating. Sometimes they would have other problems, such as respiratory infections but, luckily, both problems are solved the same way... crank the heat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Severe infections may require medication, but mild ones are easily cured by keeping the snake at around 95°F (35°C) and giving it bowl of water large enough to soak in (dry air makes them susceptible to infections). I never had a python refuse food once it had been kept at 95°F (35°C) for a week. &lt;strong&gt;NOTE: this applies to pythons, ONLY! Corn snakes, king snakes, etc. should not be kept at this temperature except under orders from a veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10020" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T23:38:05.667" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T23:38:05.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2017-07-31T21:24:54.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 snails. I always pick them up by the shell. Sometimes I have to pull. It doesn't hurt them though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want them tamed, just be with them and do the things you want them to be confident in doing, they will be well trained to do these things if you keep training them for about 3 days. I hope this was helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10021" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-24T09:11:30.393" LastActivityDate="2017-09-24T09:11:30.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17876" CreationDate="2017-07-31T21:38:45.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in New Zealand and have had Labrador Retrievers for the past thirty odd years.&#xA;We lived in a rural area with a golf course surrounding the hill we lived on with 15 other homes.  No fences other than hedges were permitted which made it difficult to contain dogs.&#xA;We considered the collar type system which was not ideal because it didn't keep dogs from coming on to our property.&#xA;What worked beautifully was an electric fence as used by farmers to contain sheep/cattle etc..  It is inexpensive once you have purchased the unit which from memory was around US$300-$400 dollars.&#xA;Boss only got 'shocked' once.  ( you need to be cruel to be kind) He avoided the fence like the plague after that, so much so, that for his last 8 years we had no power running through it.&#xA;The beauty of the portable electric fence is that it is easily moved, you can have a small area, or you can have a big area, all run off the same unit. and can be run on batteries or normal power supply. &#xA;It won't contain cats however! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10017" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T21:38:45.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17881" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-07-31T21:43:17.980" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are in our 70's.  Just this year we had to have our 12 year old beloved Labrador Retriever put down due to canine lymphoma. &#xA;My son has an 8 year old Border Terrier who has a problem we would like to help him with.&#xA;My son lives on the flight path for a small provincial town airport, and every time an aircraft flies overhead, Cooper howls.  He has done this since he was a puppy apparently.&#xA;Last Sunday, I took him over to a small nearby aerodrome used by light aircraft only, and he was fine, even with a small aircraft starting up and taxiing within 10 metres of us, however, when I took him over to the main airport, as soon as a small turbo prop aircraft approached to land, Cooper started howling again.&#xA;My son's neighbours are not happy, and we would love to train it out of Cooper if it is not too late.&#xA;Other than this issue, he is a lovable family dog. &#xA;Your comments would be gratefully received.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10017" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T14:21:46.803" Title="Border Terrier howls at overhead aircraft" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-01T14:42:11.660" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17874" CreationDate="2017-07-31T21:56:42.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you've already pointed out, the best course of action is to quarantine the fish. If you really can't do this then you'll need to tread carefully with medicines if you have any invertebrates (snails, shrimp) or fish without scales (Bristlenose Catfish, Loaches etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, this comes down to reading the label of the medicine. There is such a smorgasbord of different medicines that it's difficult to put a hard and fast rule on which to use (they almost always warn you about the fish that might react adversely). While reading the label, you'll definitely want to check that the medicine &quot;&lt;em&gt;doesn't harm your filter&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and whilst many claim they won't, there is a chance that it could negatively impact your beneficial bacteria anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that when you add medicine to a tank, you change what the water contains. This can be stressful for fish which are healthy or fighting off an issue already. I've had great success with Melafix and Pimafix together as a 'general cure' and my catfish, snails and loaches have not had any issue. Whether this will work for dropsy on an older fish anyway, that's difficult to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As ever, my overriding advice would be to keep your water quality as clean &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; consistent as you possibly can during periods of ill-health. The consistency is important because big changes in your water can tip sick fish over the edge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, older or stressed fish can become more susceptible to ill health which might explain why dropsy (normally occurring in poor water conditions) has happened in a tank with good quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;After thought: Remember the cost of this! Medicating a whole tank can be much more expensive than medicating a smaller tank.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-07-31T21:56:42.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17894" CreationDate="2017-07-31T23:53:01.390" Score="4" ViewCount="2178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a brother and sister pairing of cats since they were 4 weeks old (same litter too).  The male was definitely the bolder, always being the one to check out an area before my female came timidly behind.  In my apartment, though, they almost never jumped around.  They struggled to jump onto the counter and would often use the kitchen table to then get onto the counter.  This was also true past when they turned a year old.  Since moving back to my parents for personal reasons, my male cat has been climbing and jumping everything in sight that the other cats I have had in my 19 years have never even attempted to go to.  While he has tried to jump onto these shelves and higher places, he has also in the process knocked over some very priceless things on my shelves.  Also as another environmental note, there are 6 cats in total at my parents house now (2 of them are my cats) which they did struggle to get along with.  My male often chased all the cats around to assert his dominance and would need to be frequently put back into my room for &amp;quot;time out&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what I can do to prevent him from jumping on shelves I do not want him to be on.  The shelves are jam-packed with items, too, but he jumps up regardless and will knock things over. The squirt bottle has little effect on my cats as well, and many forms of discipline I have tried do not seem to work with him in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't really move the shelves either or move things away from them so they can't reach, as I don't have the room or ability to provide enough spacing for that to happen.  Someone suggested a kennel from them, but I am not a huge fan of using kennels, as I feel it is cruel to keep an animal locked up in such a small space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I am looking for a different solution besides using a water bottle. The duplicate in question has 2 answers, both with the main bulk revolving around using a water spray.  As stated above, this doesn't affect my cats, and so the answers to this question are of no use to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8641" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T19:58:29.443" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T19:58:29.443" Title="How do I stop my cat from knocking over items on shelves?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-01T00:29:59.320" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently had to go back to work leaving my 9 year old Schnoodle all alone for 9-10 hours a day. Every day when I come home he is excited to see me then lays in his bed once I come in the house. (I'm thinking he knows that he did something wrong)  He has a doggie door and a fenced in yard to go in and out.  I should add that this dog was dropped off along side the road about 7 years ago so his age is a guesstimate from the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help, I feel so guilty for leaving him as it is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10022" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-01T12:26:57.633" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T12:26:57.633" Title="How do I get my dog to stop peeing in the house when he has a doggie door?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-01T02:14:17.177" Score="6" ViewCount="1804" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to add some rocks and tree branches to my aquarium for decoration. If I put them in the oven and cook them, will they be safe for the fish? What temperature and length of time is sufficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-01T17:02:40.140" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T17:02:40.140" Title="Will cooking rocks and branches in the oven make them safe for aquarium fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;decorations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17885" CreationDate="2017-08-01T09:10:16.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rocks&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Not all types of rock are suitable for aquariums. &lt;br&gt; But it's easy to test: put some vinegar  on them, if you see small bubbles appearing they are not suitable. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;If that's the case, the rocks contain too much chalk, which can have a bad effect on the aquarium and fishes.  It makes the water harder and will affect the pH levels.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Wood&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Again, not all types of wood are suitable for keeping submerged for a longer amount of type. It will start to rot and pollute the water or it will keep floating. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Have a look here for some more info: &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/types-wood-can-put-tropical-freshwater-aquarium-12180.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Wood suitable for aquarium&quot;&gt;wood suitable for aquariums&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In my opinion, it's safer to purchase some wood from a pet store.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prepartion&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't cook the rocks and wood! Putting wood in the over could be dangerous!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In stead do this (even with rocks/wood purchased from a pet store): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rinse and scrub the wood and rocks using a brush and tap water (do not use any chemicals). This is to make sure any dirt is removed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next, you can boil the rocks for a couple minutes. This will kill any bacteria. &lt;br&gt; For smaller pieces of wood you can do it too, but if you do it too long it can damage the structure of the wood. You can also pour some boiling water over it a couple times (I did this with my big pieces of wood).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rocks are now safe to add to your fish tank. &lt;br&gt; For the wood it's better to keep it submerged in a bucket with water for some times (perhaps a day or 2). &lt;br&gt; This will allow the wood to soak up water so it will sink to the bottom once you add it to your aquarium. &lt;br&gt;Also, some types of wood can colour the water, by keeping it in a bucket for some time, you won't get (as much) colored water in your fish tank. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tip: fill the bucket with warm water (or pour the boiling water over it in the bucket), this will make it go faster.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="7038" LastEditDate="2017-08-01T15:26:23.337" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T15:26:23.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17885" CreationDate="2017-08-01T12:41:00.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ensuring that the rocks and wood that you put into your aquarium is definitely an important step to take before adding anything. I've seen many, many horror stories of people adding wood/rocks to aquariums and losing all the fish in them due to incorrect preparation. Please do not take half measures with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do not heat/boil rocks!!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rocks can contain air or water pockets which, when heated, &lt;strong&gt;can explode&lt;/strong&gt;! This can obviously be extremely dangerous. Whilst you may &lt;em&gt;get away with it&lt;/em&gt;, it's really not worth the risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rocks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to select rocks that are appropriate for your tank. You need to remember that adding rocks and wood to your aquarium can and will affect your (currently stable) PH. Large swings in PH can be fatal for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you'll want to do as Deither suggests and put vinegar on them to see that they are safe to add. If it reacts, you'll probably want to find another rock. If you have some acid to hand you can use that to get a better idea of how appropriate this rock is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you rock passes the test, you'll need to clean it up. Scrub it initially to get the dirt off. It may look clean but it could still be harmful to your tank. Now clean the rock in a &lt;strong&gt;very weak&lt;/strong&gt; bleach solution. &lt;strong&gt;Be very careful using bleach near an aquarium. This can kill your whole tank&lt;/strong&gt; (Check out resources &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/is-bleach-safe-for-aquarium-use-1381085&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this&lt;/a&gt; if you are concerned about it). Once you have cleaned the rocks and &lt;strong&gt;all traces of bleach have gone&lt;/strong&gt; then you can add them to your tank. (Again, don't take any risks here - ensure you know how to use bleach on aquarium items safely before using it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wood&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wood is often smaller and can usually be boiled in some way. If you have something like bog wood which will give off tannins in your water (making the water yellowy-brown), you'll definitely want to boil or soak it to release the tannins if you don't want brown water. Ensure that you carefully boil your wood to get rid of possible bacteria. If you intend to put recently severed tree branches into a tank, consider that these will still have sap etc under the bark which could also cause you problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all honesty, wood from a local pet shop is going to be much safer and the cost of it really isn't prohibitive, in most cases. This really holds true for rocks too. If you don't want to risk any issue, play it safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional Resources:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Definitely check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmOoiLzV0Z8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; which explains the best practices for getting rocks from river bank to aquarium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not boil/heat rocks &lt;sub&gt;(It's worth mentioning so often)&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T13:08:40.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7340" CreationDate="2017-08-01T13:33:24.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is still no definitive research on whisker stress/fatigue (the theory that leads folks to suggest wide, flat bowls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2017/06/07/new-york-times-cat-trend/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Boston Magazine recently interviewed multiple sources&lt;/a&gt; looking for confirmation of whisker stress and could not find any veterinarians to agree it is a problem that cat owners should be concerned about. These sources include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Journal Searches&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Journal of the American Veterinarian Association&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;American Journal of Veterinary Research&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;International Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MSPCA's Angell Animal Medical Center&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the sources quoted in the article stressed that if your cat has trouble eating or has behavioral changes at mealtime, they should see a veterinarian for an assessment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the AVMA’s Meyer explained, “If you notice your cat having&#xA;  difficulty eating or showing behavioral changes at meal time, talk to&#xA;  your veterinarian. There could be serious and treatable medical&#xA;  problems affecting your cat, such as an illness or painful problems&#xA;  with their teeth.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This advice agrees with my own experience. Whenever a cat has changed their eating habits (or gotten significantly messier at meal time), they've had a painful mouth condition. Once we addressed that issue, their habits returned to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T13:33:24.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15362" CreationDate="2017-08-01T14:01:05.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've gotten rid of the ants but your cat is still uncomfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years ago we had an infestation of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyletiella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cheyletiella mites&lt;/a&gt; that lasted for several months (our general vet couldn't see them in a microscopic skin scraping and it wasn't until he referred us to the veterinary dermatologist that it was diagnosed and treated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the cats continued to overgroom even after the mites were gone. The vets explained to us that since she had been itchy for months, she irritated her skin causing it to remain itchy even after the mites were gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They suggested some anti-inflammatory treatments, which would suppress the itch feeling long enough for the skin to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, our cat had had the mites so long that whenever the anti-inflammatory treatment was withdrawn she would start overgrooming again. It's not a good medication to be on long term, so we stopped treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T14:01:05.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17881" CreationDate="2017-08-01T14:21:46.803" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try to desensitize your son's dog to the noise, though after 8 years the behavior may be too deeply ingrained to eliminate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your son can find some airplane noises online (try YouTube), and begin playing them at a volume the dog can handle without howling.  Give the dog lots of treats (good ones, like fresh meat or fish) and praise to reward him for remaining quiet.  Spend 5 minutes every day doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very gradually increase the volume over several separate training sessions, until the dog can handle full volume airplane noises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have lots of patience, give the dog lots of treats and praise - it will take some time for the dog's behavior to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T14:21:46.803" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17876" CreationDate="2017-08-01T17:00:58.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You bet there is! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsafe.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetSafe&lt;/a&gt; has a ton of products that will help you, I sold a lot of their products back in the day and people were really happy with the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.petsafe.net/deluxe-in-ground-cat-fence-system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In ground cat fence&lt;/a&gt;, this one has shock however you can change it to beep only. What this product normally does is beep first as a warning then shock if they continue to go out of bounds. They do learn quickly, so when they hear the beep they back off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.petsafe.net/free-to-roam-wireless-fence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wireless fence&lt;/a&gt; - same concept as above however no wires required and you can bring it anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.petsafe.net/vibration-remote-trainer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vibration remote trainer&lt;/a&gt; - this one is tone and vibration, only downfall is that you can only control 1 cat where as the two above you can buy additional collars. The weight indicated for this product is mainly for the size of the box on the collar, they can be a bit big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that there's the option of building a Catio, now it doesn't need to be as glorious as the one below but it's by far my top choice for outdoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/64A7O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/64A7O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://catiospaces.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catiospaces.com&lt;/a&gt; has a ton of blueprints for sale so you can make your own. Or you can kind of figure it out yourself just by looking at the photos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a smaller version of the Catio I posted above (you can find the blueprint on the website above):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8FUTX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8FUTX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love these as it prevents cats from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/cats-responsible-for-driving-many-species-to-extinction/all/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;killing native wildlife&lt;/a&gt;, being a pest to our neighbors (pooping and destroying gardens), getting into poisons (rat/mouse poison is common), being struck by vehicles or getting killed by a larger predator such as foxes, coyotes or large birds of prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-01T17:00:58.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17895" CreationDate="2017-08-02T09:30:13.853" Score="6" ViewCount="1294" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is now 8months, and I think I've been too permissive when he was younger, since I played a lot with him allowing him to give me small bites. &#xA;Now he bites a lot, even when I'm just petting him and he becomes tired, or when I'm on the sofa with the hand hanging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there still hope? Should I try to fix this behaviour with a water spray? Or with food to show him when he is doing good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10030" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:34:41.787" Title="Is it too late to train my cat out of biting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-02T15:22:21.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17883" CreationDate="2017-08-02T15:24:12.773" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know in previous questions you always have someone mention water bottler, this is NOT a good method at all for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat relates YOU to the water bottle, you're the bad guy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat knows you control the water bottle so will continue to do bad behaviors when you're gone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Double sided sticky tape - place the sticky tape on your shelves, when the cat jumps the sticky-ness will deter him from going there. The idea is for him to assume it's always there so you don't need keep it on the shelves long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aluminum foil - tape foil to your shelves, the noise it makes once they jump on it will scare them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://store.petsafe.net/ssscat-spray-deterrent-17&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ssscat&lt;/a&gt; - motion sensor device that activates once the cat is near it. It sprays air in their face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Air horn - hide yourself and when the cat jumps on a shelf activate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Purchase some cat trees that are taller than your shelves, them being the highest point would be great. Give your cat treats when using their trees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16372/7526&quot;&gt;plenty of toys&lt;/a&gt; for your cats to play with on the floor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If possible, keep the cat out of the room when you're not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever trick you come up with it mustn't hurt the cat but scare it, and should not make the cat think it's from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-02T15:24:12.773" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17893" CreationDate="2017-08-02T16:16:28.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is: No it's never too late, besides you may be overestimating your cat to be old. He's still young. I had the same problem with my 1 year old cat, and I fixed things myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water spray isn't the solution here, in fact it may only make your cat sad for not being able to play with you and it may as well crack the relationship between you and your cat. Treats and small bites of food are good but at the right times. You should start training your cat to the word ''No''. However,do not hit your cat to stop it from harming you because that can make your cat either fear you or become more aggressive and bite more. And do not hiss at your cat except when it gets too rough for you to handle, and in your case I don't think your cat is aggressive I think it bites you but without aggression (correct me if I were wrong). So in that case you wouldn't need to hiss. Just say ''No''.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's how you do it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your cat bites you hold his scruff with one hand, bring out your other hand's fore finger and say ''No'' (btw you can use any word instead if you like).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let your cat go and leave it alone and ignore it. If it bites again, do the same thing again, and if it does not get it, you leave the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not yell at your cat. Make the ''No'' have a firm solid tone, stop whatever fun was going on. Because something wrong has just happened. By time your cat should be able to understand that when you say no you are communicating to the cat to stop because you don't like what's going on. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your cat is in a playful mood and you don't want it to mess with your hand, bring toys or whatever the cat likes to play with and have cat treats ready. Whenever the cat plays really good praise the cat with treats and use a praise word or a clicker to inform the cat that he's done well and he gets his reward for it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want your cat to really never bite you then never play with it using your hands. Use toys or treats instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't like to hurt their partners, it's just natural for living beings not to want to hurt beings who are close to them. However they may sometimes (especially young ones) not be able to control their energy and if it's not spent on something it may turn to aggression, so that's why we play with them. You should have play seasons with your cat daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it goes well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:34:41.787" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:34:41.787" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17897" CreationDate="2017-08-03T03:05:32.600" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my cat recently underwent surgery for urinary stones. Luckily, the veterinarian caught it early and he is now doing well. I am wondering if this can be caused by diet, or lifestyle, etc. Also, what is the difference between digestive and urinary food? My cat has digestive issues, and I am wondering if urinary food will decrease his chance of getting urinary stones again and be good for digestion. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6955" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T12:53:46.390" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T12:53:46.390" Title="What causes urinary stones in cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17896" CreationDate="2017-08-03T04:19:01.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Urinary stones in cats form due to a combination of two main factors: urine pH and urine concentration. Crystals and stones form is urine that contains high concentrations of crystallogenic substances such as magnesium, phosphate, and calcium. Common crystals are struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) and calcium oxalate. These common crystals and stones of concern in cats will form in alkaline urine (high pH).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As pet owners one can affect their cats urine pH and concentration with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;: prescription urinary diets such as Hill's c/d or Royal Canin SO contain lower amounts of magnesium, phosphate, and calcium, and help keep the urine pH low. Hill's c/d also contains potassium citrate to prevent formation of calcium oxalate stones, and for this reason is usually my first choice when putting a patient on a prescription urinary diet. Gastrointestinal diets are not formulated to prevent urinary stones and are not ideal in your cat's case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water&lt;/strong&gt;: Making sure there are plenty of water sources is important, including water fountains. Wet foods help increase water intake. More water intake means less concentrated urine, meaning less risk of crystals and stones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are medications that your vet may recommend to further reduce the urine pH, such as methionine (Methigel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often urinary stones and crystals are found in combination with urinary tract infections, because bacteria thrive in alkaline urine. Therefore, antibiotics are important in initial management of urinary calculi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats who are prone to cystitis and urinary obstructions benefit from low-stress environements, using tools such as Feliway (natural cat pheremones) to manage their stress. This does not, however, directly affect whether urinary stones form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The major concern with urinary stones is that they will pass into the urethra and cause a urinary obstruction – a life threatening emergency. It is therefore essential that cats who have a history of stones are put on an appropriate prescription urinary diet. In my opinion, diet is the number one thing you can do to prevent stones from forming again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T04:19:01.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11365" CreationDate="2017-08-03T13:56:35.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All Yorkies look like the one on the left as a puppy unless they are mixed or what some call a party-Yorkie. They begin to change color around 6-8 weeks. Not all Yorkies are able to look like the one in the middle no matter how much work you put into him/her.  If they aren't bred from good quality dogs then they could have somewhat rough and course wirey hair. That hair won't grow but a maximum of 3 inches or so. Some good silky haired Yorkies won't grow to the floor either. Just like in humans, it depends on genetics and hair care but like I just said, some hair just doesn't grow long no matter what you do to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10038" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T13:56:35.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14947" CreationDate="2017-08-03T16:53:51.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How often should they be fed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This always depends on each individual turtle (different metabolisms/environment), growing turtles should be fed daily, adults can eat a meal once every other day. It is important to monitor their weight, if you notice a decrease in weight with your current schedule than increase the amount given or frequency of feedings. If you notice that they continue to gain weight and have an obese appearance then you will again have to adjust the amount or frequency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fat turtle's skin will bulge out from it's shell, your turtle will also have a hard time retracting it's limbs. Here's an example of a fat turtle, I have circled the fat pouches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wgEnR.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wgEnR.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I drop them into his pond for him, or should I place them into the shallow bowl he has and let him have them from there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquatic turtles have an easier time eating from the water, I know that this species is a bit unique and likes to hunt on land a lot as well so you can give him both options of a dish and in his pond. Remove uneaten portions from the pond after an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also mix the insects with his vegetables/fruits/pellets, this may entice him to eat other foods or at least accidentally ingest them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meal worms in general do not have as much &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grubco.com/nutritional_information.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nutritional value&lt;/a&gt; compared to other bugs. You can also try crickets, superworms, hornworms or butterworms (high in fat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm concerned they may crawl out into the substrate - is this an issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No concerns, if they burrow themselves and are never found they may turn into beetles which your turtle can later eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T22:15:45.270" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T22:15:45.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-03T17:21:37.753" Score="1" ViewCount="1077" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2e/84/79/2e8479df8f192a70064ff1a1d27dc7c5--grey-coats-beautiful-green-eyes.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Russian Blue Cat&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Please respond to this question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My cat keeps peeing on the bottom of our staircase. I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; I've figured out what started it: we brought home another cat, after one of our cats ran away, and he started peeing all over.&lt;br&gt;He occasionally pees in the basement whenever the basement door is open.&lt;br&gt;:&lt;br&gt;We've tried having two litter boxes, changing the litter, having only one litter box, changing his food, and we even got rid of our other cat and started over again!&lt;br&gt;He doesn't have any health issues, he's strictly indoors (Completely by his choice. He hates the outdoors.), the only pet in the house, age 13 in SHY (Standard Human Years), gets attention anytime somebody's home, a Russian Blue breed.&lt;br&gt;:&lt;br&gt;I don't know what to do!&lt;br&gt;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Help!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10040" LastEditorUserId="10040" LastEditDate="2017-12-18T21:31:02.113" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T21:31:02.113" Title="My cat keeps peeing on my stairs!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2017-08-03T18:45:16.840" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-03T17:41:50.707" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Warning, I am completely new to owning rabbits! Have had guinea pigs/hamsters in the past but no rabbits.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in buying two mini lop rabbits and  have a large garden but a small budget. What would be the best sized hutch for them that is not too expensive? Would it be OK to just have a run with a little sheltered bit for them? Also have two dogs so living indoors isn't really an option, any ideas? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ALSO&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If i were to get two rabbits that had already bonded, i.e from the same family, would i need to get them spayed/neutered or will they not fight as they get older? If they are spayed/neutered how would i look after them when they got home (for ex. would i split them up for a few days?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ALSO&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What medical needs do they have? found bits and bobs of their needs on the internet but nothing was particularly clear to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10041" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T12:17:01.307" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T12:17:01.307" Title="What size of hutch would be right for two mini lops?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-04T09:04:22.730" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-03T20:09:03.140" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;My feral cat that is is now 4 yrs old (I rescued him when he was around 1 year old!)started pooping on my living room area rug. He never did that before. He seems perfectly healthy with no signs of being ill. I have tried changing places where I put his liter box, tried different liters. I had another rescue who us about 6 months older than him and she has always hated him. Only recently in the past 6 months have learned to tolerant of each other!  Please help! Thank god he doesn't pee anywhere but in his box! The &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10042" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-03T20:17:02.233" LastActivityDate="2017-08-03T20:40:31.987" Title="Why is my 4 year old feral rescue pooping on the living room area rug every night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-03T20:37:14.427" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17911" CreationDate="2017-08-03T22:13:34.343" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...pet parents asking if [brand omitted] is causing any of the&#xA;  following:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (a) bloody diarrhea, &#xA;  (b) vomiting,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (c) elevated liver enzymes or&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (d) pancreatitis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The answer is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   “No.” &lt;strong&gt;Veterinarians&#xA;  frequently see these conditions in pets and the causes for each&#xA;  syndrome are almost always unrelated to their food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this statement accurate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10045" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-04T08:35:38.123" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T20:54:17.973" Title="Is this statement about pets and their food accurate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-03T23:29:49.623" Score="3" ViewCount="2330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a leopard gecko who's a little over a year old.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had her for about a month now. I have reptile carpet, a warm hideout, a cool hideout and a humid hideout. Also a little bowl of calcium, food bowl, and water bowl. I have a ceramic heater the warm side stays around 90 °F and the cool side around 78 °F.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was very curious and friendly at first, but now she spends most of her time in the humid hideout.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was eating fine and then I noticed some weird poop. Then I also noticed that she was getting ready to shed. As she got closer to shedding she stopped eating and kept to herself. She shed fine and nothing was stuck to her, but she wasn't really eating - and this was about 2-3 weeks ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet and they said she looked and felt healthy, but gave me a mixture of medicines to perk up her appetite and to move anything through that might be taking longer. She will eat a couple crickets, but her poop still doesn't look normal - it's kind of mushy and the stool doesn't really seem to be separated from the urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just sits in the humid or warm hideout most of the time, even when I put food in front of her, and her tail isn't fattening up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when she does move around she definitely seems to have energy and isn't lethargic. I also took in a stool sample and I was told there were no parasites.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also dust the food with vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; powder and recently got vitamin powder too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just concerned about her because her stool still doesn't look normal and her tail, while not skinny, is not fat and is not getting bigger. I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10046" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:39:07.477" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:39:07.477" Title="Leopard gecko not eating and acting strange" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-04T00:05:38.063" Score="3" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long could you keep a medium sized, brown, healthy, 2 years old dog outside in full sun without water on a 95 °F (35 °C) day without risking sunburn/heatstroke/etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clarify from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17907/how-long-can-a-dog-stay-outside-on-a-95-f-35-c-day-safely/17912#comment23827_17912&quot;&gt;comment posted by OP&lt;/a&gt;:&#xA;a dog was kept in that situation for an hour and a half, got into a debate about whether that was too long and went looking for sources for backup but none give a time limit. Argument was &quot;well you take a dog to the beach, right?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10047" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:16:31.983" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:37:42.920" Title="How long can a dog stay outside on a 95 °F (35 °C) day safely?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17906" CreationDate="2017-08-04T02:02:58.377" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would add variety to what insects she eats, this will entice her to eat. Some good options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small Hornworms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waxworms (high in fat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterworms &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Silkworms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all soft worms that are very nutritious and will definitely get your gecko interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monitor her weight&lt;/strong&gt; to check for weight loss, reptiles metabolize their food/nutrients much differently from us so unless she's losing weight I wouldn't be concerned about her not wanting to eat as much. As adults they also tend to not eat as much as when they were babies since they are no longer growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Geckos can lay infertile eggs&lt;/strong&gt;, they do not need a mate. If they have some eggs in the making this can also affect stool and appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leopard geckos by nature are nocturnal&lt;/strong&gt; which is why she may be hiding most of the day in her house. Try changing the feeding schedule to accommodate her internal clock, she should be most active at night when you are sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your setup sounds proper, if she loses weight after trying the above I would seek a second opinion or re-submit a fecal sample that should be sent to a lab. Reptile parasites are different from our cats and dogs so if the hospital staff is not familiar with looking for them it is highly probable that it was missed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-04T10:18:20.210" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T10:18:20.210" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7641" CreationDate="2017-08-04T02:22:45.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, she's safe to eat bugs if she wishes. The only concern would be if the bugs have insecticides on them but as you commented above chances seem slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Insects are not a common vector to transmit intestinal parasites to rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T02:22:45.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-04T02:25:17.200" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem with my 8 (soon 9) year old Labrador. At night, he runs away and always comes back really tired, but keeps going outside every night. From time to time, he howls outside the house (alone). He is never hungry, thirsty, has a lots of space around the house, but keeps doing this. I'm not really superstitious, but this really creeps me off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he run away and howl outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10048" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T19:48:09.250" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T19:48:09.250" Title="Scared of my dog's behavior - is it anxiety or some superstition stuff?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17905" CreationDate="2017-08-04T04:22:34.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Veterinarians frequently see these conditions in pets&quot;&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;TRUE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;The causes for each syndrome are almost always unrelated to their food&quot;&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;FALSE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_dg_dyschezia_hematochezia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bloody diarrhea&lt;/a&gt; occurs due to many reasons. With relation to food it can occur due to dietary indiscretion, gastrointestinal inflamation secondary to severe food allergy, bacterial infections associated with bad food, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_multi_Vomiting_Acute&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vomiting&lt;/a&gt;: Food commonly causes vomiting, ranging from a dog eating too much too quickly, eating bad food, eating food it is allergic to, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/liver-disease-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Elevated liver enzymes&lt;/a&gt;: I might give them this one – elevated liver enzymes are usually not solely due to poor diet choices, but diet can certainly make hepatobiliary disease worse. For example, some dogs with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/endocrine/c_multi_copper_storage_hepatopathy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;copper-associated hepatopathies&lt;/a&gt; will have worsening disease if eating high copper-containing diets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2012/nov/pancreatitis_in_dogs-29490&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pancreatitis&lt;/a&gt; in dogs, much less so in cats, is seen commonly due to consumption of high fat diets. Usually this occurs acutely (i.e. due to dietary indiscretion), however can occur chronically due to poor diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very difficult, if not impossible, for a pet food company to say that their foods do not &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; cause these conditions. It is also difficult for anyone to prove that the food did cause these conditions, because I doubt there will ever be a controlled study testing the hypothesis. In any case, I'd steer well clear of any non-veterinary fomulated pet food that makes such erroneous claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T20:54:17.973" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T20:54:17.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2017-08-04T04:51:47.303" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another way of looking for a solution to your question is this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question asked a different way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Of its own choice, how long would a medium sized, brown, healthy 2 year old dog remain outside in full sun without water on a 95 degree day?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the answer would be a very short period of time. The dog would naturally seek shade and water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2017-08-04T04:51:47.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-05T02:01:23.407" Score="4" ViewCount="3207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two cats, and I was wondering as to why they use one litterbox for only pooping while use the other for only peeing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They used to poop in the litterbox A (both) and pee in litterbox B (also both) and rarely switch litterbox uses. You see in this case I'm talking about TWO cats who I guess copy each other not just one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took them both to the vet and they were fine, nothing wrong with them. I just wanted to know why they do that, if anyone has a hint then please comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-05T02:12:24.043" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:33:44.157" Title="Why do my two cats use one litter box for pooping and the other for peeing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17914" CreationDate="2017-08-05T08:46:38.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wild guess --  the boxes are side by side? My friend had the same situation as you do. One day she sent me an unrelated photo, and I saw her litter boxes side by side. Cats view side by side boxes as one big box. Makes sense to use one side for poop and the other for pee. It's what I would do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10053" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:33:44.157" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:33:44.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17883" CreationDate="2017-08-05T09:04:05.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm lurking and can't leave a comment yet so pardon a comment in the answers frame. There is a product, and many similar, called Museum Putty. It's the greatest stuff. It holds things, all things, in place.  A little ball of putty under fragile knickknacks, priceless or otherwise, will keep them secure during an earthquake. It's how they advertise these products.  The putty stays soft, will pull cleanly off the item and is reusable. I secure art that gets brushed by humans in  hallways, screens in window frames so the cats can't knock them out, etc. It's easily found in hardware stores. Good luck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10053" LastActivityDate="2017-08-05T09:04:05.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-06T01:40:56.640" Score="4" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat reacted once we had our first child. My cat is 16 years old and was very cuddly so I'm fairly sure this is part of the problem. We had noticed she had started peeing around her litter box, probably quite frequently. The smell got awful with ammonia so we did a major cleaning up of the whole area, which was a mess and not helping the situation. While cleaning, we found a white plastic bag she had peed on that had dark red urine in it. She is only peeing in the basement, not in any other room so incontinence seems unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got her checked at the vet: urine analysis, x-ray, etc. The urine analysis showed no blood cells but was a bit clearer than normal, showing signs of early kidney failure, which the vet said is normal around this age. There were some crystals in the xray but not so much. Vet said we might benefit from another xray in a month as the crystals sometimes change position and there may be more than we know. This leads me to believe she might have had interstitial cystitis from the stress of adding the baby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought a cleaner for cat pee in a pet shop and cleaned up all of the basement floor with it twice. We also got a new litter box in case that would help, bigger with lower sides. We kept both for now. I think she is peeing outside the box less often now, but still does it about once a week that we've noticed. We live in a split level and our daughter rarely ever accesses the two bottom floors so the cat uses the bedroom there most of the time to nap quietly. Our daughter sometimes hang in the kitchen where the cat's food is but it's infrequent and she's usually in her high chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to questions I've read, my thinking is just to keep cleaning and maybe get a black light but I'd like a 2nd opinion on what I could do to prevent my cat from peeing around her litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10055" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T04:55:37.810" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:30:04.490" Title="My cat is peeing around the litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-08-06T03:43:07.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not safe, it has sugar and onions, dogs can't deal with any of them! Onions will cause anemia, directly affecting the red blood cells, onions are toxic for dogs, while sugar will definitely cause liver failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well somebody asked for a reference, in the US you should read what the American Kennel Club published on its website, all you need to know about dog nutrition is right there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/content/health/dog-nutrition/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.akc.org/content/health/dog-nutrition/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding to onions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/can-dogs-eat-onions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/can-dogs-eat-onions/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10056" LastEditorUserId="10056" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T11:14:38.667" LastActivityDate="2017-08-06T11:14:38.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-06T14:07:49.370" Score="4" ViewCount="1377" Body="&lt;p&gt;A feral cat and her babies recently took up residence in our garden. We managed to trap the mum and took her to the vet to be sterilised. The kittens have now gone to a re-homing association. Unfortunately we can't re-trap the female so we can take her to have the stitches removed.How dangerous is this situation for the cat? We are very worried and would appreciate any help or advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10062" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-06T17:22:23.620" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T20:25:57.003" Title="Impossible to catch female feral cat to have stitches removed after sterilisation" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6396" CreationDate="2017-08-06T19:31:08.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately there is really nothing at home you can do to help without intervention from your veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no cure for kidney disease so we rely on medicine and a formulated kidney diet to slow the progression and ease the discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A broken leg also requires pain medication, since your cat has renal disease you cannot use NSAID's - it's not fair to your cat to have to suffer. If medical costs are a problem you can always contact your local animal shelter for assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you say you're not ready to euthanize but ultimately you need to think about your pet first. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://pawspice.com/q-of-l-care/new-page.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HHHHHMM scale&lt;/a&gt; has been created to help owners decide if the time is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dn48h.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dn48h.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T15:42:53.430" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T15:42:53.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17921" CreationDate="2017-08-06T22:36:55.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If mamma cat is still coming to see you I would purchase a &lt;a href=&quot;http://communitycatcoalitionwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/How-to-Set-a-Humane-Trap-for-a-Lost-Cat.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;live-trap to catch her&lt;/a&gt;, this will be the easiest way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UlEAX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UlEAX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A REALLY good meal to entice the cat in is Kentucky Fried Chicken, the smell is really strong and attracts cats - if she's still around she'll definitely go for it. Be sure to remove the bones from the chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the sutures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animal gets irritated with the sutures and begins chewing them, this can cause damage to the incision which then leads to infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The skin acquires an &quot;allergic&quot; reaction to the suture, irritating the skin and the incision breaks open. This can happen anytime, whether now or 1 year later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sutures can get snagged on branches, can tear skin if not fully healed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Local Case Study&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spoke with the DVM and she had a case where the owner forgot to come back to remove the non-absorbable sutures. 5 months down the road the owners came back - the dogs skin was trying to heal over some the sutures causing irritation and infection. The other sutures had come out on their own from either the body rejecting them or getting torn out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Course of Action&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly encourage you to try and re-capture mamma cat to remove the sutures - if you are not 100% sure about the absorbability of said sutures please call your DVM for clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-08T20:25:57.003" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T20:25:57.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17519" CreationDate="2017-08-06T23:22:44.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like your dog is enjoying his home-made snack! Here's a few tips we recommend at the hospital:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pick up stool as soon as it comes out, need to be a bit more watchful.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.for-bid.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;For-Bid&lt;/a&gt; - all the hospitals I've worked at carry this product, you'll need to use it for a week or 2 so the dog learns to avoid stools all together. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Canned pineapple - You only need a small amount in comparison to the size of the dog to change the taste of the stool so they don't eat it. Too much can cause GI upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small dog (0-10kg) - 1/8th of a cup per meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medium dog (11-30kg) - 1/4 of a cup per meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large dog (&gt;30kg) - 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup per meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tricks may stop working once you stop using them but don't worry! It is gross but not harmful for the dog to eat his poo and also &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; an indicator that he's ill or in poor health, he just genuinely enjoys eating it. I know some dogs who only eat their poo in the winter as it's frozen (poopsicles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may grow out of it as he ages, though not always the case. Some dogs will eat their stools because they are hungry as well, growing dogs need to eat more while some breeds are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/why-labradors-wont-stop-eating/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;genetically predisposed to ALWAYS be hungry&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-08T19:51:04.367" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T19:51:04.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17921" CreationDate="2017-08-07T03:20:34.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question for your vet, as he/she knows what sutures were used, and if and when they need to be removed. If they did not say come back in x days for suture removal, then there probably are no sutures to remove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With flank and midline spays, most vets now do intradermal sutures using a slowly absorbable suture such as PDS, which does not need to be removed. Assuming your vet knew that this was a feral cat, this is very likely what they did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes nonabsorbable sutures such as nylon are placed in the skin. I would only usually do this if I needed quick closure because the animal was not doing well anesthetically, it had already been a long surgery, or skin closure was in a difficult location (unlikely with a spay). Actually I'd probably reach for staples if I needed quicker closure. Some vets do always place nylons, but I'm sure they would have arranged for you to come back to have them removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always recommend a recheck after a spay to check the incision site, regardless or whether I placed intradermal or external sutures. Obviously this is not always possible with released feral cats, and some clients just don't come back for a recheck if everything seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main risk of not having nonabsorbable sutures removed is that they may become infected. If they heal over completely, they could get infected and abscess months, even years, in the future. If it's bad enough it might mean going back to surgery to revise the incision site and debride the necrotic tissue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would first talk to your vet to find out if you do need to re-catch the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T03:20:34.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17936" CreationDate="2017-08-07T10:03:22.290" Score="31" ViewCount="16714" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does not have any specific schedule or amount for eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed her dry cat food available at market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she gives me a particular call, which I know is her &quot;please feed me call&quot;, I give her food. Sometimes it comes to food every 30 to 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I give her as much amount of food that she cat eat. I wait till there is food left and she still walks away. Then I put the left over food back in the container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the right practice to follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: It is not possible to keep open outside as it will get infested with ants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-08-09T12:24:18.803" LastActivityDate="2020-04-02T04:10:22.773" Title="Can I feed my cat whenever she wants?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-07T10:07:35.490" Score="15" ViewCount="2487" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I took a previously feral cat into our home a week and a half ago. She was born outdoors and was found in a cardboard box on a landfill near the city we live along with her four kittens. She stayed at another woman's house for four weeks (without her kittens), and during that time she started to like cuddles, playing and human company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has her spot behind the washing machine in our bathroom. She has become less jumpy during these days and she sleeps and relaxes with us in the room or next to her. We are able to hand feed her, but not touch and pet her. Our approach is slow movements and good food, lots of talking (to her) and that she controls the pace of the socialising. She's not aggressive at all, just scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, do you have any concrete tips on how to make her feel trusting and &quot;at home&quot;? Our job is to make her as much of a &quot;normal&quot; cat as possible so she can be adopted to another home forever. We've never done this before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10067" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-31T19:50:12.637" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T14:34:01.593" Title="Any tips for how to coax and teach a shy feral cat to trust?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-07T10:10:31.473" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always just left food out for my cats to eat. As long as they are active either indoors or outdoors they usually know how much they need and stay at a healthy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10067" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T10:10:31.473" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-07T10:18:11.293" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably fine but you should definitely monitor your cat's weight. If she is walking away herself then she can probably control herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried why not measure out the correct daily amount every morning then only feed her from that. Over eating or under eating is sometimes the first indication you have that your cat is sick. Using this method it is easy to notice and you don't need to worry about overfeeding!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T10:18:11.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17910" CreationDate="2017-08-07T10:52:13.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your dog is not fixed, I think it is likely that there is a female dog on heat close by. There isn't really a specific season for dogs as it is based on their age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel up to it maybe try following him or put a tracking device on his collar. The alternative is to try make sure he can't get out. The world is a dangerous place for dogs and he might get hit by a car or become injured in another way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T10:52:13.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17918" CreationDate="2017-08-07T12:48:35.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem may be that your cat is declawed. When a declawed cat becomes elderly, they are significantly more likely to develop arthritis in their paws. With arthritis, walking on litter becomes much more painful. When the cat is also in early kidney failure, they are using the litter box much more often. They come to associate the litter box with paw pain, and thus avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't tried different litters yet, some folks report success switching to a newsprint based litter (but be aware that especially with a cat in kidney failure, this is going to require a lot more work from you). I've heard some success with corn based litters, but not as much as newsprint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, we have an arthritic cat with early kidney failure who's not using the box, and we currently have puppy pads all around the area and change them out 3x a day. It's a hassle, but we're not constantly cleaning the floor while we try different litter configurations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also take your cat to the vet to ask about arthritis treatment. There's nothing that is guaranteed to work in cats (the most common medications for human and dog arthritis are NSAIDS, but cats shouldn't take them long term). Your vet may offer Adequan (off label for cats, approved for dogs) or dietary supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also manage her pain by making sure she doesn't have to jump/climb to her favorite spots, and giving her a heating pad (our elderly girl practically lives on her heating pad).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T12:48:35.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17928" CreationDate="2017-08-07T13:14:51.097" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can come up with the following points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Avoid using machines that are too noisy. Cats get easily scared by noise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give her a nice name and always speak sweetly to her by addressing her by her name. Slowly she will start responding to her name.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Try giving most tasty food to cats. Foods is one of the most trust building measures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Never let dogs around. Cats and dogs are born enemies. It will lead the cat to flee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Buy a cat sofa or bed and keep it near washing machine to lure her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If you live iin a cold place then heat some object in microwave,&#xA; put on the cat bed and cover it with thick blanket. This will attract the cat towards the bed even more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sit in front of the cat and eat meat or fish to lure her to eat along with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't let anyone other than you family near her as new people will also scare her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When the cat lets you pet her try rubbing her chin. It is the sweet spot for many animals including cats. They love when someone pet their chins. They will raise their heads, close eyes and relax.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T20:59:04.197" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T20:59:04.197" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-07T14:07:09.927" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You certainly &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do this, but there is a risk of the cat overeating to the point of obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every animal is different (including humans). Some cats will eat only what they need, others will keep eating until they are unhealthy. Mine, for example, bother me constantly for food. You might think I am starving or otherwise abusing them the way they cry. However, they are slightly overweight, and I feed them a specific amount each day after consulting with a veterinary doctor so they will go down to and maintain a healthy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are unable to think at the level humans are. A cat might be overweight and think &quot;I am hungry, time to pester the human for food&quot; but is incapable of thinking &quot;but that is okay because I need to lose weight, and do eat on a regular basis, just not enough to maintain my obese body mass.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend monitoring your cat's weight, and discussing with a vet if you are unsure about your cat's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can quickly tell if your cat is the proper weight by looking for a well-defined waist and you should be able to feel her ribs without pressing too hard (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/clearing-the-air/2014/01/how-to-determine-if-your-cat-is-overweight/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Your-Cat-is-Overweight&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 2&lt;/a&gt;). In other words, you should easily be able to feel the bone structure of your cat without the obvious appearance of being emaciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is a normal weight using your current feeding method, everything is fine. Otherwise, you will need to adjust the overall daily intake to get to that normal weight. As always, please talk to a vet if you have any health concerns about your cat or are unsure about advice you read on some random web site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user907" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T14:07:09.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17938" CreationDate="2017-08-07T14:13:00.123" Score="13" ViewCount="915" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've been having some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17918/my-cat-is-peeing-around-the-litter-box&quot;&gt;issues&lt;/a&gt; with my 16 years old cat peeing on the floor around her litter and it has been suggested that she might be having arthritis problems. Hence my question, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there sure signs I can see she might have arthritis?&#xA;Also, is arthritis something that would normally come up in a full check-up exam at the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10055" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:27:16.440" Title="Are there sure signs I can see my cat might have arthritis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-07T14:39:55.610" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not give your cat as much as she wants, obesity is a problem in our pets because they eat too much and don't exercise enough. There are guidelines on the bags of food that tells you how much your pet should be eating of that specific food. Sometimes these guidelines are generous so weigh your kitty every 2 weeks to minimum once a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://petobesityprevention.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/APOP-Press-Release-2016-Survey.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;petobesityprevention.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the October 2016 clinical survey, 53.9% of dogs and 58.9% of cats were classified as overweight (body&#xA;  condition score (BCS) 4) or obese (BCS 5) by their veterinary healthcare professional. That equals an&#xA;  estimated 41.9 million dogs and 50.5 million cats are too heavy, based on 2016 pet population projections&#xA;  provided by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). In 2015, APOP found 53.8% of dogs and&#xA;  58.2% were overweight or obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are known grazers so it's a good idea to purchase an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/cat/supplies-and-training/bowls-and-feeders/automatic-feeders/petsafe-eatwell-5-meal-automatic-pet-feeder-32824.html?cgid=200063&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;automatic feeder&lt;/a&gt; that dispenses portioned food at different times during the day. On average a cat should eat 3/4 of a cup of food or less a day (check the guidelines of the food you have). Cats benefit more from wet food than dry so be sure to add some canned goods, again you would substitute some dry for the increase of wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Portioning your pets food also allows you to easily see if your pet is losing it's appetite or always begging for more food. Both cases warrant a vet visit to screen for underlying ailments such as diabetes or hyperthyroidism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good chart to &lt;a href=&quot;http://greencrossvet.org/News/?id=90&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;body condition score your cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EpDb7.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EpDb7.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DISCLAIMER: To avoid confusion there are 2 different scales - petobesityprevention.org does the 1-5 scale where as now the standard is leaning towards 1-10 scale to be more precise with scoring body condition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T19:44:24.283" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T19:44:24.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17935" CreationDate="2017-08-07T14:50:03.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question given in great details in the sites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/cat-arthritis-symptoms-pain-relief&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Arthirits symptoms and pain relief&lt;/a&gt; (source: pets.webmd.com);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/arthritis-and-degenerative-joint-disease-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Arthritis and degenerative joint disease in cats&lt;/a&gt; (source:&amp;nbsp;icatcare.org);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Points to mention here are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Symptoms of arthritis:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Reduced mobility:&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Reluctance, hesitance or refusal to jump up or down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Jumping up to lower surfaces than previously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Jumping up or down less frequently&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Difficulty going up or down stairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Stiffness in the legs, especially after sleeping or resting for a while; occasionally there may be obvious lameness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Difficulty using the litter tray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Difficulty going through the cat flap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Reduced activity:&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Increased time spent resting or sleeping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Not hunting or exploring the outdoor environment as frequently&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Sleeping in different, easier to access sites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Reduced interaction and playing less with people or other animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Altered grooming:&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Reduced frequency of time spent grooming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Matted and scruffy coat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Sometimes overgrooming of painful joints&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Overgrown claws due to lack of activity and reduced sharpening of claws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Temperatment changes:&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;More irritable or grumpy when handled or stroked&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;More irritable or grumpy on contact with other animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Spending more time alone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;      &lt;li&gt;Avoiding interaction with people and/or animals&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Diagnosis of arthritis by vets:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;As arthritis is more common and more severe in older cats, it should be looked for in any mature (7 years plus) or older cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;When your vet examines your cat, they may be able to detect pain, discomfort, swelling or other changes affecting certain joints. If there is any uncertainty, your vet may suggest taking X-rays of the joints, but this is not always needed, and in some cases if the diagnosis is uncertain a simple trail treatment (with anti-inflammatory drugs) may be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:27:16.440" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:27:16.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17935" CreationDate="2017-08-07T15:11:42.803" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/lhuston/2012/oct/living_with_an_arthritic_senior_cat-27615&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;90% of cats have arthritis by age 12&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Signs of arthritis are:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trouble getting in or to the litterbox.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greasy, unkempt fur - unable to groom themselves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Missing jumps, hesistant to jump.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No longer using scratching posts (nails become overgrown)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No longer wanting to play&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficulty climbing stairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to help&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Veterinary consultation for anti-inflammatories - this will require blood work to check for signs of kidney or liver failure as these medications can be hard on those organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have large &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.disabledrabbits.com/uploads/1/2/8/8/12889966/9589557.jpg?186&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;low-rise litterboxes&lt;/a&gt; on each floor of the house for ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Brush fur daily and dry bath once a week - some cats are &lt;strong&gt;VERY&lt;/strong&gt; sore so pain medications will be required prior to brushing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check claws periodically and trim as needed to prevent them from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theargus.co.uk/resources/images/2913602/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;overgrowing into the paw pads&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Veterinary approved joint supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will see a major difference in your cats well-being with appropriate pain control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to expect during a senior health exam&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the age of 8 our cats and dogs are considered to be heading into their senior years, with that means a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yearly blood work - Once a year your cat should get a Blood Profile to be proactive in screening for diseases such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes and the big one kidney disease.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Study from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.idexx.eu/globalassets/documents/congress/lvs2015/felineckdsdma.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;IDEXX labs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CKD is a common disease in cats. Previous studies have found that 1 in 3 cats are likely to develop kidney disease in&#xA;their lifetime.1 However; earlier studies used azotemia to make the diagnosis of kidney disease and likely missed&#xA;nonazotemic cats with CKD, particularly those with IRIS CKD Stage 1 or Stage 2 disease. In a recent study in cats, the&#xA;prevalence of CKD was even higher than previously believed, with 50% of cats of all ages and as high as 80.9% of cats&#xA;15 years of age and older diagnosed with CKD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your veterinarian will discuss joint supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin, omega-3's, green-lip mussel and devils claw to help ease the discomfort and damage to the join. A product we sell often is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetoquinol.ca/eng/content/flexadin-plus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flexadin&lt;/a&gt;. I would stay away from human supplements as there are no regulations ( i.e 500mg glucosamine only contains 20mg). This is true for Canada so I would check with the regulations in your country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Typically your veterinarian will assume at 16 your cat has some form of arthritis - they may ask you how they are getting along with day to day life. It is not standard for veterinarians to give pain medications for arthritis (they will suggest joint supplements first unless case is severe) so it is important for you to bring up that you feel your cat is painful if this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diet - There will also be a discussion on switching your cat to a senior formula, this food will be formulated to prevent or slow down common diseases in our cats such as heart disease, kidney disease and arthritis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with these discussions your vet will do a thorough exam of heart, chest, eyes, mouth, abdomen, paws, skin, uro-genital and address what's needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T18:20:36.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-07T15:38:50.990" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a smart collar that keeps you dog in a perimeter by shock and leash pull simulation. I am looking for something a lot like petelligent, but they went out of business. I am looking for something that does a lot of the same things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10072" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T16:15:15.887" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T00:34:01.590" Title="Pet smart Collar" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-07T15:40:23.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an indoors cat who I tended to perhaps overfeed inadvertently by always making sure her bowl always had food in it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to her annual check and the vet noted that she'd gained weight and that I should work towards getting her on a diet so she can shed some of that excess weight (plus it would help prevent diabetes and other feline issues related to overeating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already noted, what has ended up working really well is getting a simple automatic feeder that provides food at set times and in set amounts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over several months she ended up losing that excess weight, learned to stop pestering me for food (she didn't really like being on a diet initially and before I got the feeder she would come and beg me to feed her) and it's also saved me the hassle of having to measure manually her portions before feeding them to her (and I don't have to worry about being stuck at work and my cat going hungry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2585" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T15:40:23.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17928" CreationDate="2017-08-07T16:26:05.253" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feral cats can be tough. I applaud you for bringing one into your home. I've had a few experiences myself with one and it can be a challenge. However, I think you've got the right approach. In my opinion the most important key here is &lt;strong&gt;patience&lt;/strong&gt;. Letting her set the pace will go a long way in her trusting you. That being said, there are a few things that you can do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, finding out what motivates them can help quite a bit with any kind of training or rehab. Food motivated cats are always the easiest, largely because it's easier to provide an immediate reward. If she is food motivated, giving her a single treat at a time to reinforce positive behaviors (choosing to sit near you rather than further away, any kind of positive physical contact, etc.) can help promote more discovery for her in that area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tend to forget that animals are very scent based creatures as we don't have as strong a sense of smell (myself in particular). One of the way cats bond is through scent sharing. They often do this by marking things with the side of their head (where an oil gland is) but giving the cat access to your scents helps promote bonding. You can do this by leaving some of your worn clothing in places or beds they sleep in. If you feel comfortable with it, give them access to your bedroom as well. It's the most scent heavy room in the house and generally cats who want to bond are drawn to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Playtime can be a big way to win a cat over as well. Try a wand toy, or one that has a handle with a toy attached to a string. Drag the toy along the ground back and forth around the cat. If you can get them playing then you can expend a lot of that nervous energy and it can really help establish trust. They may even seek you out for playtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great that they're feeding from your hand, but that may be the wrong time to try petting them. Some ferals can be defensive at feeding time (I know I just said to reinforce with food but, bear with me). Trying to touch them while they're eating may cause their defenses to go up. In my opinion (and it is an opinion) the best time to try petting them is when they're satisfied. That is, shortly after they're completely done eating a meal or 10 minutes or so after heavy playtime (too soon after playtime and they may see your hands as tasty chewtoys). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small, let them sniff your hand before touching them, keep the petting sessions short. Some cats can get overstimulated and bite if they're not used to being petted (this happens with my feral). If you're able to do this small amounts (and reinforce with treats) I think you'll see them seek out comfort and affection after a time. They may never be a truly cuddly cat but I do think that most ferals (particularly young ones) can come far enough to want human interaction and affection if they get it in the right circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10076" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-08T14:34:01.593" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T14:34:01.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6589" CreationDate="2017-08-07T16:34:22.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use baby wipes on dogs, since the skin pH level differs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are wipes especially for dogs. I use alcohol-free wipes for my Shih Tzu puppy. The way I made bathing fun for my puppy was - I first introduced him to puppy wipes and gradually introduced him to water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch this video to know how to give your puppy a relaxing spa treatment at home using puppy wipes: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJNKDg7Y3rc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJNKDg7Y3rc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10077" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:29:47.543" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:29:47.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17928" CreationDate="2017-08-07T16:43:27.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Extend one hand out like you're feeding her, but don't have food. She may come over to investigate and rub against your hand. The important thing is to have your arm stretched out so the cat doesn't feel like you can grab her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10079" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T16:43:27.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-07T17:20:11.090" Score="4" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I take my dog on walks, sometimes there will be loud noises that scare her (e.g. thunder, construction, large vehicles driving by). When this happens her flight response kicks in and she wants to take off running. She's securely on leash and won't get away, but I often will just start running with her. I usually try to jog with her anyway, and it's more often that I'm going too fast for her than the opposite, so I don't mind running for a little while when she gets scared like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also likes to run, more often when she's off-leash at the dog park or the beach, so it's not something she only does when she's scared. I partially hope that by running with her when she's scared she might forget she's scared and just be happy running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering, &lt;strong&gt;is it okay to let her run when she's scared? Would it be better to not move and try to calm her down?&lt;/strong&gt; On the one hand, I think it might be good to let her get out that energy to help calm her down some. On the other hand, I could see the argument that it encourages the fear response and might make her more likely to run away at loud noises in the future. I'm not worried about owner/pet dominance and her being in control of the pace - we only go as fast as I want, and I don't always let her run when she wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5838" LastEditorUserId="5838" LastEditDate="2017-08-07T17:50:56.313" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T16:21:06.993" Title="Is it okay to let my dog run when she's scared?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17944" CreationDate="2017-08-07T20:58:56.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but keep a limit on the length of the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most leashes are retractable and adjustable. You can give her a bit of space to move around and run, but keep her from running into traffic or smashing into a person by mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs love to run and this urge should not be suppressed. That said, take some time to be concerned about the dogs safety while allowing your dog an outlet for fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10086" LastActivityDate="2017-08-07T20:58:56.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29070" CreationDate="2017-08-08T02:18:44.570" Score="4" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an almost 2 yr old red nose pitbull mixed with boxer and lab (possibly?) who is the sweetest, most playful thing you ever met. My wife and I take turns playing with her twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening after we get off work. We have to play with her like that because she has an extremely high energy level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, yesterday evening I was doing the evening play routine as usual. Her play routine consists of me kicking a chewed up Sumo ball around the around. I kick it and she fetches it and brings it back to me every time. We do this typically until she starts slowing down because she, left to her own decision, will not stop playing because she loves the game so much.  However,  yesterday I kept going after she slowed down because I could tell she still wanted to play. I did this until she just wouldn't go after the ball anymore. I brought her inside, gave her water, let her cool off for a while before feeding her.  I could tell she was more tired than usual and she didn't eat much food, but other than that she seemed fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, before work I went out there to play with her. She was excited as she usually is but this time when I went to kick the ball, she just stood there. I went to fetch the ball myself and she followed me to it and I kicked it again. This time she tucked her tail between her legs and went and hid in the corner of the yard shaking. She would not approach me and acted like she was afraid of me. Then she ran to the door and wanted inside. I let her in and inside she seemed fine. Indoors, she will come up to me like normal so I can pet her and lay next to me, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this evening, I attempted to play with her again. She did the same thing as this morning, but not as bad. My wife went out there with her and she played completely normal. I tried to kick the ball once in the middle of their game and she looked like she wanted to run and get it, but she didn't.  So my wife ended up playing with her tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should probably note that we live in Texas and it was a little warm yesterday before all that rain came in overnight and cooled things off.  To anyone with insight into this or having experienced something similar, I welcome your feedback and comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10091" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T14:22:31.607" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T14:22:31.607" Title="My dog acts afraid of me after playtime" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T03:16:58.210" Score="4" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;My next door neighbor lives alone and I would guess that she is in about her mid to late 60's.  She has a husky who is 13 years old.  As of about 2 weeks ago, it came to my attention that her dog has suddenly become aggressive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She claims that the dog has recently acquired arthritis, yet she continues to take him out on long walks.  She has a couple of dog bites on her arm that were caused from this dog.  She talks to the dog in ways that are a bit beyond normality.  She believes that the dog communicates with her based on his facial gestures.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over this last weekend, she peered over the fence while I was in the backyard, waving me to go up to the fence.  When I did, she showed me a fresh dog bite that her dog had given her about half an hour before she showed it to me.  Her hand was dripping with blood and she had an open wound.  She refused going to the doctor by saying that her dog is up to date on his shots so she doesn't have any worry about her bite getting infected.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She told me that another neighbor must have called the police because when she was walking home with her dog after he bit her, the police stopped and offered her assistance- she refused, again by telling them about her dog being up to date on his shots.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That same day, her dog was refusing to go into her house after the walk.  I told her first off, that she shouldn't be walking him if she is aware that he has arthritic issues.  She just ignores me when I offer advice.  After about an hour of trying, I was able to get her dog into her house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days later- today, the same thing happened with the dog out in her front yard for about 8 hours, refusing to go inside.  He was walking around my front yard and near my other next door neighbors yard, but once we got him back into his owners yard, he would stop and lay down.  I was able to get him back into her house with a trail of dog treats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that she, my neighbor, is very neurotic and I really don't know what to do or who to contact.  This evening, we called Animal Control, but they said that because the dog wasn't a stray, they couldn't do anything- nor did they offer any suggestions on what we could possibly do to alleviate this issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any idea/s of what I can do or who I can contact, that can come out and talk to this woman and evaluate her dog (and maybe her, too)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10092" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T03:31:04.463" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T14:29:46.840" Title="Elderly next door neighbor and her elderly dog aggression issues" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T05:52:59.763" Score="2" ViewCount="1167" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is probably around 25 years old.  She still has decent vision, hearing, jumps up onto my chair, no apparent arthritis or any other health issues. The vet said she's fine.  The only odd thing is here eyes are always dilated.  My apartment tends to be dark, but even if I take her outside during the day, her pupils do not make the familiar cat-slit shapes but stay wide open round.  She still seems to see well enough to not bump into walls or plants, but I imagine her view of the world is like an overexposed photograph.  She'e mostly indoors anyway.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said this sometimes happens for older cats. I am curious to know more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this?  Is there a treatment, and if so how helpful would it be for this almost indoors-only cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T08:32:44.683" Title="Why are my old cat's pupils always dilated?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2017-08-08T07:20:17.273" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another reason nobody has mentioned (yet): if your cat gets chronic kidney disease (CKD) later in life, it becomes essential to get as much liquid into them as possible and wet food is highly preferable (dry is contraindicated unless they really won't eat anything else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fed my previous cat exclusively on dry food until he developed CKD at 14 years old, at which point it was a real problem teaching him (a) that wet food really was food; and (b) how to eat it tidily. (I needed to sponge down the wall by his feeding station regularly, as he'd taste it then shake his head to dislodge the odd stuff in his mouth).  (Wet food is also better for elderly cats with dental problems, I've found).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got there in the end, and he lived to almost 20; however, his successors are getting fed a mixed diet of wet and dry food -- I work on the rule of thumb that 85g wet = 17g dry, so they get 85g wet and 34g dry every day (they're hefty cats, so 50g/day of dry food is about right).  As an added bonus they adore the wet food, and pester me for it in the morning. Once they've polished off the wet food, they get their ration of dry food to free-feed on all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T07:20:17.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17948" CreationDate="2017-08-08T08:32:44.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have vertical pupils as it helps them to hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As given in the site &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livescience.com/51787-why-cats-have-vertical-pupils.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why cats have vertival pupils&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ambush predators, like many cats and snakes, were most likely to sport vertical-slit pupils, particularly when those animals were active at night. The reason for this correlation most likely has to do with the mechanics of the eye, Banks told Live Science. Ambush hunters need to be very good at gauging depth so they can effectively leap out at their prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two ways to gauge depth without moving. In one method, stereopsis, the brain compares the distance between the two images returned by each eye to gauge depth. (Hold out your finger, focus on it and close each eye in succession. That &quot;jump&quot; you see is the distance used in stereopsis.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other method, blur, takes advantage of the fuzziness of objects behind and in front of the spot on which you're focusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, the side-to-side displacement used in stereopsis is easier to gauge using vertical lines and contours than it is with horizontal ones. Thus, Banks said, the vertical pupil provides the best view for stereopsis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To judge horizontal distances, though, cats and other slit-pupil predators likely use blur, Banks said. To maximize blur, the pupil must open wide. And to maximize blur for horizontal lines, the pupil must open wide from top to bottom. In other words, the ideal shape is narrow horizontally and wide vertically — precisely the arrangement of a cat's eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is the right arrangement to maximize stereo and blur as cues to distance simultaneously,&quot; Banks said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that since your cat is mostly an indoor cat, who is hand feeded by you, and never had any experience of hunting, with time gradually her pupils have become more like human pupils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Predators who are active at night have vertical pupils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Predators who are tall and active at both night and day (eg. humans) have horizontal pupils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T08:32:44.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T08:55:34.847" Score="7" ViewCount="10006" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two young cats (a male and a female, litter mates, 19 months old) who have developed an intriguing behaviour that I haven't seen in any other cats before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without fail, when I come downstairs in the morning, one of them has dropped a toy mouse into their (ceramic) water bowl. They don't do it with other water receptacles; they don't put anything else in there (no food, no other toys). And although they mostly do it during the night (when there's nobody awake to pay them attention) they also do it during the day.  The water in their bowl is changed twice daily (morning and night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's attention seeking behaviour, but to avoid reinforcing it, I'm removing the toy from the bowl when they aren't around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I don't think they're bored -- they're indoor cats, but they have a selection of cat trees, chase toys, boxes with holes to make them work for their food. And of course a hard-working slave who will play fetch with them in the evening for hours on end, or chase the light-pointer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't a problem (except maybe for the repeatedly wet toy mice), unless it's a sign of something I shuld be worrying about, but it is puzzling me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add (in response to a comment): These are the 19th and 20th cats that I've had, and I've never encountered this with any others, hence my puzzlement. They don't do it any other fabric items that they play with (socks) or drag around (duvet covers, draught excluders).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastEditorDisplayName="user10093" LastEditDate="2017-08-08T18:44:46.190" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T20:04:38.243" Title="Why do my cats drop their toys in their water bowl?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T08:57:05.793" Score="4" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;My elderly cat Middy is in poor condition.  He seems to be breathing faster, he is eating slowly and not properly and his backbone feels more prominent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He finds the car journey to vet very distressing and I am wondering if I should wait for some more time to see whether his condition improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate some advice.  Could he have eaten a poisonous mouse? As he is a keen mouse hunter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanking you in anticipation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Angi rose and midnight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10097" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-08T12:17:57.240" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T12:46:53.900" Title="My elderly cat is in poor condition, should I wait to take him to the vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17953" CreationDate="2017-08-08T12:46:53.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat has several conditions that would be concerning if they were the only thing happening. Taken altogether I suspect your cat will not get better without medical attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lower Stress Options for Vet Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The least stressful way for a cat to see a vet is to have the vet come to your home. If you can't find a home vet for your area on the internet, call several local clinics to find out if they do home visits (or can recommend someone who does home visits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn't possible, in North and South America, you can look for a &lt;a href=&quot;https://catfriendly.com/keep-your-cat-healthy/cat-friendly-practice/can-benefit-visiting-cfp/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Friendly Practice&lt;/a&gt; (other locations may have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://icatcare.org/catfriendlyclinic&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Friendly Clinic&lt;/a&gt;). This is a certification program to ensure these veterinary hospitals take several steps to ensure that the visit is as un-stressful as possible, including&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Each Cat Friendly Practice® makes an effort to have a calming    environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A waiting area or experience that reduces stress associated with other pets, or unfamiliar smells and smells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cat Friendly Practices® can also help advise you on ways to reduce stress before and after the visit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, many of my cats feel better if I bring a blanket that smells like home for them to hide in. The vets that I've seen have all been entirely understanding (and some appreciative) that my cat was calm and relaxed hiding under the blanket, and would only expose the parts necessary for the exam as needed. We've even done a echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) with the cat's head completely covered by the blanket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Listed Health Concerns&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat who is breathing fast may be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8034/should-i-be-concerned-that-my-cat-is-breathing-fast&quot;&gt;suffering from a heart condition&lt;/a&gt;. Untreated, the cat will slowly suffocate from fluid backed up into his lungs. Fortunately, there are some very easy medications that can make your cat more comfortable and prolong his life! The cat in that question could have died that day if we hadn't taken him to the vet. With medication, he lived for another 10 months after diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15180/why-can-i-feel-my-12-lb-cats-spine&quot;&gt;feel your cat's spine&lt;/a&gt; more than you used to be able to, he may be loosing muscle, fat, or becoming dehydrated. Only your vet can determine what type of tissue loss your cat is experiencing, and what the underlying cause is. If it's dehydration, this is a serious condition that needs to be treated quickly. If it's muscle loss that's still a serious condition, but can be treated more gradually. If it's fat loss, that depends on your cat's previous condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/17888/224&quot;&gt;cat's eating habits change&lt;/a&gt; you should see a vet to make sure there's not an underlying health problem. The most common cause is usually one (or multiple) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/toothresorption.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline resorptive lesions&lt;/a&gt;. You can think of them like cavities that are SIGNIFICANTLY MUCH MORE PAINFUL. Gum disease/inflammation is also very common. Both of these conditions are treatable, but your cat needs to be assessed by a veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat ate a poisonous mouse, he would need to see a vet immediately. Many rodent poisons are anticoagulant (which means they prevent the blood from clotting). Ingesting this poison will cause your cat to bleed to death very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T12:46:53.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17588" CreationDate="2017-08-08T12:56:15.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the information you've given this sounds exactly like a poor water quality or living conditions issue. I would wager that since he left the conditions of the shop, he has slowly deteriorated. Good quality water will hugely reduce the chance of having issues with your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is the problem with my tank?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say with the data that you've provided but here is my suggestion for getting to the bottom of your issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll first want to check the current quality of your water. By this, I mean checking the levels of the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ammonia (NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrite (NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrate (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chlorine (Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider getting a test kit &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/API-Freshwater-Master-Test-Kit-x/dp/B000255NCI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1502195573&amp;amp;sr=8-4&amp;amp;keywords=water+test+kit+aquarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this&lt;/a&gt; to assist you in getting consistent readings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both ammonia and nitrite should be 0 and nitrate should be as low as possible but under 40 ppm is generally good enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any ammonia your fish &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; suffering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other issues that might be contributing?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check that you are keeping your fish in the correct conditions. Betta's needs are not much different to any other tropical fish. As a guide, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/news2014/guidelines-released-for-keeping-fighters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; which explains it all in great detail. Keep an eye on temperature, aquarium stocking, filtration etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your tank is newly setup, make sure that it has been through a fishless cycle to prepare it for the fish. Here's a good guide about &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/cycling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fishless cycling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consistency is key! Keep your water changes regular (roughly 25% per week) so that you can maintain good water quality. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overfeeding: this is a classic mistake for new fish keepers (including myself when I first started). &lt;strong&gt;A hungry fish is a healthy fish&lt;/strong&gt;. Your fish should be very keen to eat and if they aren't, you are probably overfeeding.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium size: as with most pets, the bigger habitat you can provide them, the better. If you're using a tank less than about 20 litres you'll probably want to look at upgrading if you are serious about keeping a fish in good health. Smaller tanks, often aimed at beginners are usually much harder to keep in a good condition. A small water volume often coupled with poor design does not make your job easier. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specifically to this situation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It sounds as though your fish may not live at this stage. With good water quality you can grow fins back really nicely but if you don't fix the water fast, your fish probably won't survive. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My best advice is to read around as much as you can about setting up tanks, cycling and general fish care (This site has some brilliant questions and answer to browse). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/uarujoey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;youtube channel&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent, well respected source of fish related tutorials and 'How-To' videos. You will find a lot of useful information there. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquariuminfo.org/beginner.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the site I linked to above&lt;/a&gt; carries a lot of good advice aimed at helping beginner get going.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get the basics going, the whole fish-keeping experience will be much more rewarding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:17:31.010" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:17:31.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15996" CreationDate="2017-08-08T12:57:33.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have taken most of the steps recommended to minimise shedding. These are (for reference):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular grooming: brushing will remove some or most of the loose hair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improving diet: dogs may have allergies to a certain food causing them to shed more. Higher quality food means better skin which means less shedding even without possible allergies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vet visit: your dog may be sick causing them to shed more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have tried all of that it is possible that your dog is just a shedder, some breeds do shed more than others. Dogs also shed more during season changes so this may be aggravating the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T12:57:33.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T14:35:36.583" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Friend rex the dog who lives with my neighbour barks his little stubby head off from 4-5:30 pm every day when he knows his owner is coming home.  During the day he lives in the yard, waiting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can balboa be taught not to bark and bark and bark and bark....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10104" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T14:35:36.583" Title="Dog barks for an hour when expecting owner home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-08-12T04:08:10.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-08T14:55:50.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is highly dependent on the cat. We have four cats; two of them maintain a healthy weight when allowed to free feed, the other two overfeed to the point of obesity if allowed to do so. Your cat will probably be happier if allowed to free feed if this is an option for your cat so I would recommend trying it and carefully monitoring any changes in your cat's weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="439" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T14:55:50.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T15:06:15.507" Score="5" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm moving and have stray cat I don't want to leave behind. This question is different than the another one posted, because this stray (not feral) cat won't come inside the house nor will he even go inside the cat shelter I built for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been caring for this outside cat for about a year now. It took several months for him to trust me, and he still doesn't completely trust my boyfriend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He comes around when I call or waits for me every morning. He loves to be petted, but I have four inside cats and he also has no interest in coming inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried getting him on back patio in rain and he won't come. I'm moving out of state and I don't want leave him. He has become dependant upon me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do? Can he be safely relocated with me? I love the little guy so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10105" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T10:50:32.417" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T23:40:08.067" Title="I'm moving and have stray cat I don't want to leave behind. But he won't come inside at all" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17961" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17973" CreationDate="2017-08-08T21:10:07.180" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a month ago I adopted a peach fronted conure. Her previous owners didn't feed her anything besides pellets and the occasional bit of meat (which I personally don't want to feed her since meat these days is full of hormones). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been able to feed her bits of fruit &amp;amp; sunflower seeds from my hands, but I'd like for her to get into the habit to eat fresh food on her own, ie food that I place in a bowl in her cage, as well as eat more than just fruit such as leafy greens &amp;amp; other veggies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I encourage her to eat out of her comfort zone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="10108" LastEditDate="2017-08-09T13:38:52.147" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T15:19:48.137" Title="How can I encourage my bird to eat fresh food?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-08T21:25:42.973" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could someone suggest the best substrate for my turtle tank? &#xA;I'm planning to use medium sized gravel so turtles can't swallow them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10109" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T20:07:32.957" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T22:40:16.637" Title="Is medium sized gravel okay for my 40 gal turtle tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-08T22:59:09.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to answers already here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no correct answer, that does not include &quot;depends on the cat, you and some other things&quot;. Like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is it the only cat?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;has the cat a chance to get food outdoor?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is probaly someone else feeding the cat with 'lovely things'  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But &quot;in dubio pro reo&quot;, or &quot;in doubt for the accused&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I grew up with many cats - I think about 60 all over my life till now - many where the cats of my mother when I was a child. I am around 50 now. I live know in Greece, ... some cats around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have learned: they are all different and as long as they are not sick (any kind - including psycho) the do not eat too much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as long as &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are not sick (any kind - including psycho), this is still true. (yes you and the cat are somehow a team)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, as other mentioned, keep an eye on the weight of the cat, if it gets to fat, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go to a doctor (you)         &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go to a doctor (cat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember many of the cats in my life, there were only a few cats getting fat, one had a big problem with the other cats in the house, was eating every plate clear, just to be sure .... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other one had a prob with health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And again, if the cat does not eat up all at once, good chance no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some stories: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a male cat (died with ~ 15 years, not fat, just old), we learned that 'he' does not have a problem, if we leave 'him' alone for 3 days as long as there is water and food. After this time being back, he came purring and half of the food was still here. (we found out after somebody died, we had no other chance, so don't call as bad to cats)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a cat know, (we grew her up with the bottle, we got her with 10 days, here mother left the nest with the other 5 babies), she comes 3 to 10 times a day, asking for stroke and food, most of the time just looking if there is food - just in case&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And we have a dog - educated - does not touch cat food as long as it is in the cats plate ... on the floor doggy cleans all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10111" LastActivityDate="2017-08-08T22:59:09.273" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17947" CreationDate="2017-08-09T01:26:06.650" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know any children or sisters then contact them.  This indicates some serious problems.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and get in the house to look for problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are a pretty good judge of character. Dog was not aggressive to you. She is abusing this dog even if she does not understand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog was in your yard it was a stray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T01:26:06.650" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-09T06:41:20.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two purebreed cats, which comes with the advantage of breeder support and advise. Both breeders independently recommended to us to simply leave food out for the cats at all times. In english this practice is typically called &quot;free feeding&quot;. Basically, whenever we come to the kitchen, a quick glance tells us if there's food left, and if not we add some more. Our cats can eat at any time they want, however much they want. Both of them are slim to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The background, as told to us by the breeders, is that cats do not overeat. This is different from dogs, who do. As long as a cat sees that food is always there, she will eat until not hungry anymore and then stop and walk away. Sometimes you can see them &quot;digging&quot; their food (which of course doesn't work on a kitchen floor) - that's cat for &quot;I'll keep it for later&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we were told, cats tend to become fat if they don't get activity, or if food is sometimes there and sometimes not - then they learn that when food is there, they need to eat so they are not hungry when it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ours are very independent when it comes to food, go to eat whenever they want, and only sometimes inform us, usually when we forgot to fill the plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last note: We went on short trips a few times (3-4 days) and while we have two feeding machines, basically we just leave a lot of dry food and water out, and they're absolutely fine and typically there is enough food left for a day or two when we come home. They definitely don't overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10115" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T06:41:20.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17968" CreationDate="2017-08-09T08:38:31.950" Score="2" ViewCount="1167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't own any pet but I was considering getting a dog pretty soon. (A Basset Hound to be exact, gosh these guys are cute.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to teach my future companion a lot of things, from the basic &quot;Come here&quot; to the more advanced &quot;Roll over&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clicker training seemed promising as a way to teach those activities but having to carry a tool each time I want to play with him or teach him things seems unnecessarily troublesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've understood it, the main idea of clicker training is to have a distinct sound be played as a way to say &quot;Good&quot; to your dog. If that is the case, &lt;strong&gt;couldn't we replace the &quot;clicker&quot; by a good old fingersnap ?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Has anyone had any experience with such alternatives ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unrelated question :&lt;/em&gt; Is the basset hound a good first dog ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10073" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T11:51:50.110" Title="Snapping fingers in place of a clicker" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17967" CreationDate="2017-08-09T11:51:50.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A clicker can be used just like any other marker to teach your dog the exact point it was doing something you wanted. Any consistent cue can be used such as snapping your fingers, a word such as &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;good,&quot; or even hand signals such as a thumbs up. By giving the dog a reward right after the mark, he will begin to associate the mark itself as good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A clicker specifically has the following advantages over other marks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It always sounds the same. This makes it easier for the dog to recognize.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It has no emotion. This is also related to consistency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The duration of the sound is short which makes exact marking easier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often just use the word &quot;yes&quot; because most of the time it's easier to not manage the clicker, reward, and environment at the same time. A snapping sound would also work, though you may not find snapping to be any easier to manage than a clicker. I will use a clicker if I'm looking for something very precise, such as placing a foot on a specific spot. The more clearly you indicate to your dog what he did correctly, the easier it will be for him to learn. For dogs who are scared of a clicker, you can start with a clicky-pen which is often softer but just as precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For duration tasks such as staying in a spot or heeling, I generally just feed the dog directly or release to a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the marker cue you use, remember that you always get what you reward, so be consistent with timing and criteria. Happy training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1277" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T11:51:50.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17981" CreationDate="2017-08-09T12:33:06.543" Score="6" ViewCount="542" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17927&quot;&gt;Can I feed my cat whenever she wants?&lt;/a&gt; the OP feeds dry cat food, but is not able to leave the food out all the time as ants are an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to place dry cat food so the cat can get it but the ants can't? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T02:14:50.913" Title="How can I free feed a cat without feeding the ants?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18204" CreationDate="2017-08-09T14:33:54.943" Score="4" ViewCount="897" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what the minimum space requirement is for keeping a cat? I was thinking of rescuing another cat and keeping it in my bedroom because my dad is allergic to cats, but it still would be to much for my dad's allergies. Then I thought that maybe I could keep an outdoor cat. I already have two outdoor cats that are part feral and don't like other cats coming into our yard. They will chase away and attack the new cat. I was thinking I could keep a cat in a big contained space outside that separates my outdoor cats I have now. The only problem is, I don't know what size is the minimum. Do you know the smallest space that a cat can live in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9845" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:27:59.170" LastActivityDate="2021-01-11T06:02:03.523" Title="What is the minimum space to keep a cat in an outdoor enclosure?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;catio&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18000" CreationDate="2017-08-09T15:05:58.707" Score="1" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to buy hatchling or baby turtles and working out for a good home for them. I'm going to get a 36 gallon bow shaped tank but not sure if there are any specifics/dimensions I should follow while buying a tank especially to have baby turtles. Also, not sure if 36 gallon tank is too big for them to withstand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtle Breed: Mud/Musk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appreciate any additional suggestions reg this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10109" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T20:09:11.757" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T22:35:48.940" Title="Is a 36 gallon bow shaped tank okay for baby turtles?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-09T15:14:33.670" Score="2" ViewCount="4153" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I adopted a rescue dog like 4-5 months ago, we don't know the breed for sure, but we think he is a Treeing Walker Coonhound based on his looks. The vet thinks he's around 5 to 7 years old and told us that he looked like he had a rough go at it, as he was malnourished, a bit mangy and has a couple small scars/bald spots, but he has been as sweet as he could be since we've had him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We play together a lot, rough house, I made weird sounds at him, and he always loves it.  Last night, we were playing and I was scratching his belly, and then I did a little raspberry type thing (like when you vibrate your lips on a baby's stomach or something like that, I hadn't heard that term before my girlfriend said it), but didn't blow hard or anything, just made a weird sound and vibrated my lips.  He aggressively snapped at me when I did that, and I backed away.  When I re-approached, he started growling very aggressively.  The hair on his back was standing straight-up, and he was just petrified of me after that - hair was straight up and he was shaking for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is fine with my girlfriend, but so uncomfortable with me.  He has taken treats out of my hand, but goes back to being very aggressive and growling after that just towards me.  My girlfriend and I walked him this morning, and if I was ahead of him, he wouldn't follow me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to act normal today, and to kind of ignore him - not in a mean way, just a &quot;going about my day&quot; type of thing, and not petting him or getting super close.  He still is just staring me down with this piercing suspicion.  Anyone has any suggestions/thoughts?  He has always slept in our bed, and did so last night, but stayed on my girlfriend's side, and I had a pillow between me and him so I wouldn't accidentally jostle him with my foot or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts?  I was considering going to a behavior specialist or something like that?  But I'd be curious if anyone has some thoughts or has gone through a similar experience with a dog.  Will he hate me forever?  He does seem a bit better today - in other words, hair isn't standing up and I'm in the same room with him without getting growls, but he still does NOT enjoy my presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10119" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:40:24.880" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T23:12:02.240" Title="I accidentally scared dog last night and he has been aggressive/scared of me since" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17961" CreationDate="2017-08-09T15:19:48.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the bright side she's eating pellets! That's the hardest part to transition so we're off to a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to get them to eat greens is to cook it in a chop, mash or bread. Always add the foods she likes into the mixture (her pellets for instance), digging through it she will get a taste for the other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chop&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is essentially dicing an array of vegetables, fruits and berries into small bits and mixing it with some grains like Quinoa, flax or millet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Amaranth, quinoa, chia seeds, golden flax seeds, rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, carrots, broccoli, italian squash, orange and red bell pepper, dandelion greens, rainbow chard, green kale, sweet potatoe, 1/3 bag of Birdeez Buffet, small veggie pasta, zucchini and small bag of pumpkin cous cous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TDAT2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TDAT2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mash&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my favorite to make as you can boil it all in a pot and mush it together. Looks gross but birds go bananas for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Red beets, sweet potato, celery, kale, white cabbage, yellow chili peppers, green bell pepper and boiled red lentils and quinoa&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JNSz8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JNSz8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're lazy like me you can have also purchase some pre-made mash that just need to be cooked from &lt;a href=&quot;https://goldenfeastdirect.com/our-complete-line/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Golden Feast&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thingsforwings.ca/Mashes_c_339.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;things for wings&lt;/a&gt;. I have personally purchased products from both companies and they were equally excellent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bread&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a grinder you can make your own flour out of the pellets she currently eats if not you can use Almond flour or &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/BIRD-BREAD-MIX-HOT-PEPPER/productinfo/BBMHP/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Harrison's bird bread mix&lt;/a&gt; (note: Harrison's bird bread mix is literally ground up Harrison's pellets). &lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/foods-toxic-pet-birds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stay away from products with lactose.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my recipes include almond flour, water, eggs (no shell), blue berries, ground flax, sesame seeds, quinoa, apples, finely chopped kale and coconut oil to grease the pans ONLY (Coconut oil has too much saturated fat to be added into their diet) or use liners. Personally I find the mix sticks to the liners and I lose most of my muffin to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wnRt4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wnRt4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eat the bird food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yep! That's right! That's how I got my African Grey to eat the majority of stuff he eats now. I literally had to make a big deal out of eating carrots for him to eat it - the thought process is &quot;If she likes it then I should too!&quot;. It helps with getting yourself eating healthier too, grab a bowl of veggies and chow down with your friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T15:19:48.137" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17519" CreationDate="2017-08-09T15:51:17.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog Lilly has been doing this since she was a puppy (Now she is two). She is the dominate female in our household of four dogs total and will only eat the other female dogs stool. Over time we have tried supplements to deter her eating stool, natural sources such as pineapple, and vitamins to supplement her diet to make sure she is getting enough (Read that vitamin B deficiency leads to dogs eating stool). After all these things nothing seemed to work so we brought her too two different Vets, both said it is natural for her as the dominate breed in the house and that the only real solution is to clean up the stool as soon as it is made or let the dogs out separately. This is so far the only solution that has worked for me and my wife. I wanted to add this too the list as our Lilly has been an outlier on most remedies that work on other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9678" LastActivityDate="2017-08-09T15:51:17.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18024" CreationDate="2017-08-09T21:04:07.970" Score="5" ViewCount="1859" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat sleeps on my bed by my side. Even if I make separate bed and put her there she would not listen and come to sleep by my side. Anyway I kind of like it and has no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the problem lies elsewhere. My cat has mouse toys. Moreover, she sees every small movable objects throughout the house as her toys. And such things keep mounting on my bed. After I clean my bed, again she brings them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, is there any way to teach her not to bring her toys to my bed, without forcing her out of the bed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T20:11:41.097" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T23:29:46.503" Title="How to teach my cat not to bring toys to my bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-09T22:38:31.640" Score="2" ViewCount="17479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a young Bristlenose Catfish but I'm finding it really difficult to tell which gender it is. The shop told me that it's tough to sex a very young Bristlenose catfish and this one is certainly very small.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way that I can easily tell the sexes of young Bristlenose catfish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3idtF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3idtF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Young Bristlenose Catfish&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T00:56:46.877" Title="How to sex a Bristlenose Catfish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17977" CreationDate="2017-08-09T22:38:31.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;It's pretty tough to sex a very young Bristlenose catfish&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They were right in the shop, the ability to determine the gender of these catfish gets easier with age. During their earlier months, both males and females look almost identical. Whilst the female could be very slightly bigger than the male, it's pretty dependant on the individual fish so not that much certainty can be had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When are they old enough to sex?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this kind of depends on the specific fish, diet, environment and a number of other factors but when they're around 4 - 6 months old you should start to see some subtle differences between the two sexes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What are the differences I'm looking for?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Males will grow spikes on the top of their head and around the front of the head. Here's my male bristlenose (~ 1.5 years old):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zV6Tp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zV6Tp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Male Bristlenose Spikes&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spikes on this one are still growing but when you compare it to the female below, you'll see how the female (~ 2.5 years old) looks completely smooth around the mouth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RpWEE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RpWEE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll hear people talk about females having spikes too. They do but they are &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; smaller around the sides of their face:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/njcm4.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/njcm4.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They use these to show dominance and make displays and both the males and females have these. The difference is that the male has spikes all over their heads too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, females are said to have rounder, fatter bodies but I've personally found this an inconsistent measure and is very subjective depending on the size of fish itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T00:56:46.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17979" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18580" CreationDate="2017-08-10T00:13:05.133" Score="4" ViewCount="19347" Body="&lt;p&gt;Families always have their arguments, and for some reason whenever I'M having an argument (disagreement causing to loud voices) with any of my family members my cat suddenly appears and gets a little fussy, movative, and has a curious face. She starts sniffing me, and if I continue, she may bite softly ( in fact too soft for a bite). Of course I realized she's stressed out, and for her sake, I always shut up and stop arguing and pet her. This also happens when I'm scolding my little siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem here is that our house is kind of a noisy place (not to the point the cat shouldn't live with us, though). Kids at the age of 10 and 5 may scream at each other angrily and chase each other aggressively. Even adults may argue, but my cat never responds to any of them. However, whenever I come to settle things and start scolding the kids or even getting myself into some little quarrel with any of them or the adults, my cat displays the behaviour expressed before, even if she was in the furthest room away from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have but two questions on this matter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why is my cat displaying this behaviour (I'm not screaming or even looking at her at the time by the way, so I guess she shouldn't see it as aggression even though I'd be mad at the moment)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why doesn't my cat display this behaviour to anyone else in the family (though they all get their disagreements and quarrels, and she's been with them since birth, although I was the one to take care of her since then because she was an orphan)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this same cat attitude was described in another question on this site, but the question was about snorting and not screaming or scolding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her ears aren't to the back. She looks even happy when she jumps all around although I know she isn't. Suddenly she's all nice and sweet and just wants to sniff me, but if I continue she'll bite. She does not do this to any other family member, although they are her family and she likes them as family just like me, not some sort of strangers. She's usually afraid of strangers and doesn't come out until some time has passed and she's used to the stranger. She herself scolds the kids when they keep rubbing her stomach or carry her in some annoying way (she makes noises, no hissing though, and pretends to bite to scare off her annoying siblings (human ones.) However, it doesn't always work, since they think she's just being cute) and she wouldn't dare do that to a stranger. She may hiss at them, though, and treat them as threats if they do something crazy, but never does that to her family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm trying to point out is that I believe she loves her family and doesn't just ignore them because she isn't used to them or something. She ignores their arguments and almost never let me have one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:53:51.910" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:50:01.877" Title="Why does my cat COME to me if I ever have an argument with one of my family members?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17927" CreationDate="2017-08-10T03:01:02.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Good &amp;amp; bad eating habits come from experience&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats learn stuff; they're smart!  So if a cat has all of the food it could ever eat 24/7, then it gets lots of practice in how to handle excess food.  Whenever cats stop eating (which they necessarily must if they have unlimited food), they're &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;learning the concept of moderation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, some cats instead get experience in running out of food.  These cats still learn a lesson, but it's a different  lesson: they practice eating everything that's infront of them when it's infront of them.  And that's a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;bad lesson&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  Worse, it comes at the cost of learning to eat in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Older cats who have bad habits might need management&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, if you have an older cat that's struggling with obesity, it might be too late to give it the lessons that it should've had as a kitten.  And in that case, the cat may need its diet to be managed because it doesn't know how to manage its own eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Kittens should be given good eating habits from the start&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a young kitten, it's best to get it trained immediately.  Give it excessive food 24/7; more than it could possibly eat.  Then each time the kitten goes to eat, it'll eventually have to walk away despite there being more food.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Every meal becomes a lesson in moderation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the kitten is given limited food, then it'll learn the other lesson: to eat whatever's infront of it.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Avoid this as much as possible!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  If the food's getting low, refill it such that the kitten can't run out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, the goal is to teach kittens to have healthy eating practices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T07:58:08.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17969" CreationDate="2017-08-10T03:17:16.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;tl;dr&lt;/em&gt;-&lt;/strong&gt;  Get a moat that goes around the food.  Ants usually won't go through water.  One simple approach is to put a plate underneath the food bowl, then some water on the plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Put a moat around the food&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/ANT-PROOF-PET-FOOD-BOWL/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Ant-Proof Pet Food Bowl&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;, instructibles, shows a few ways to add a moat yourself.  They show the concept as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zTteB.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zTteB.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can make something like this yourself, such as by putting a plate underneath a food bowl, or purchase a commercial solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Things to be aware of&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There're a few issues to be aware of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Larger ants require larger moats.  If used outdoors, you're more likely to have problems with larger ants that can step over thin moats or walk through shallow moats.  So, larger moats are more appropriate outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Animals may try to drink the moat.  This isn't necessarily a problem; some setups actually intend to use the same body of water for both a moat and the animal's water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Animals may scatter food into the moat, which can be messy and unhealthy if the animal also drinks from the moat.  A covered moat can help improve this problem, though cleaning and care are probably required in most cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the moat's stagnant water, it'll have to be cleaned to avoid molding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Commercial solutions&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17969/how-can-i-free-feed-a-cat-without-feeding-the-ants#comment23515_17981&quot;&gt;@JamesJenkins in the comments below below&lt;/a&gt;, searching for &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=cat+food+bowl+with+moat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat food bowl with moat&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; yields a lot of DIY and commercial solutions.  Here, I'll show a few that might be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note:  This contains commercial links to Amazon.com.  This isn't meant as an endorsement, but rather just to survey of some advertised solutions.  I have no commercial affiliation with either Amazon.com or the linked products.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One approach is a raised feeder, as shown in the product &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0746N6HWL&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;BugSnub Ant Proof Raised Feeder for Cats and Small Dogs with Stainless Steel Bowl&amp;quot; on Amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8pABl.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8pABl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach tries to avoid using a water moat.  Or, I'd assume, you could put the base in water.  Whatever the case, it demonstrates that a &amp;quot;moat&amp;quot; is any sort of barrier that prevents ants from having a viable path to the food; it doesn't necessarily need to involve water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution is this &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00DX5G0GW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;The 3-in-1 Ant Free Pet Dish&amp;quot; on Amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OuMhw.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OuMhw.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a solution that uses the same body of water for both the pet's water source and the moat.  Oddly enough, it's also a good example of how the moat can be covered to prevent the pet from drinking it - though it loses that quality by then connecting the moat to the pet's intended water bowl.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R18BPSC7H9MEUS/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;One review on Amazon.com&lt;/a&gt; suggested that larger ants could get over the moat in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There're a lot more interesting solutions on Amazon.com beyond the above quick examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T02:14:50.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2017-08-10T09:06:21.323" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a very long time for, especially a puppy, to be left alone. A pug could be fine but I think almost more important than breed is to select the specific puppy who will be ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This situation would likely be very stressful for a moderately high energy dog. They require a lot of stimulation and walks. Try to choose a puppy with less energy who will be happy just snoozing until you get home to play!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with other posters I agree that puppy day care is a great option. Another option is if someone you know, friend or family can check in on your puppy in the day for a quick play session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastEditorUserId="9981" LastEditDate="2019-02-11T11:42:52.477" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T11:42:52.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17972" CreationDate="2017-08-10T11:24:37.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would give it time. It can take a long time for a dog to built trust. For my dog it took more than a year for her to play with us at all. You probably scared him and he has no idea what you &quot;did to him&quot; in that moment so naturally he's not so sure if trusting you is a good idea.&#xA;Ignoring him is definitely the way to.&#xA;A few other suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go on walks. Dogs bond through walks and going out into open space with him will make it easier for him to be close to you. If you can't put him on the leash at this point ask your girlfriend to do that or just go on walks together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be involved in feeding times. Food is a big deal to almost any dog. If you are &quot;the source&quot; of food he will connect you with that. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do pet the dog, but only on his own terms. When the dog comes to you try to pet him if he seems comfortable. If he backs off that's fine, leave him space and don't force it onto him. I suggest petting his chin and chest rather than on the head etc., as a hand coming from above can be intimidating for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be calm, don't add excitement to the situations. For example I wouldn't try for play time until the dog trusts you again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I think it's important to give your dog time and space. He needs to learn to trust you again and forcing anything on him won't be very helpful. He'll do it in his own pace and that can take quite a while. If the situation doesn't improve a dog trainer of some sort should be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I just reread the question and I want to emphasize that even tho your dog &quot;aggressively snapped&quot; at you he probably is not aggressive in general or has aggression issues of any sort (people are fast to judge that). To my eyes your dog drew a clear line of what is ok for him and what is not. My dog shows the same behaviour when people (especially strangers) touch her in a way she doesn't like. And that's perfectly fine with me personally seeing as she backs off right after snapping and has never seriously attempted to hurt someone. Which is what your dog did as well. (At least that's the way I'm reading it.)&#xA;I am aware that this is personal preference/a matter of how you want to train your dog but I will always allow my dog to voice disagreement when people touch her. It is the dog's personal space after all. (That goes for people touching the dog or similar only. Listening to me is a whole different question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T15:11:36.707" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T15:11:36.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9989" CreationDate="2017-08-10T11:44:59.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, dogs can change colour as their coats 'blow'. Blowing means that hair strands get old and start to shed, often lighter in shade, e.g. gingerish on a brown dog, but the new coat would be usually darker and shinier. Coats vary in how liable they are to sun-bleaching, and it depends on sun intensity and perhaps predisposing factors like being in water a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coat colour can be affected by foods with pigment in them, e.g. sugar beet, food dyes and seaweed can darken light fur. For example, my palomino horse was ruined for a season's showing by winter sugarbeet feed, as it's coat went reddish, and another Spring after adlib seaweed powder, his hindquarters grew dark brown fur, which gradually disappeared by end of June, thank Goodness! I think it dissolved out by rain, as it was not groomed a lot. He's normally bright gold in summer, pale gold in winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugarbeet is often in dog foods (perhaps more as a 'filler or fibre in cheap foods?) and a rescue place might likely be using cheaper foods, which may also (I guess!) have food dye added by manufacturers to make the feed look better to human carers (like some dog treats seem to be). The effect of this would wear off as time passes, according to when it was last fed the color factor. If you knew the exact history of the dog, it may shed light on the feed situation - e.g. if it was starving somewhere, it may have scavenged dark coloured food-sources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some species can change colour temporarily for camouflage, and maybe under stress in rescue situations there may be a trigger in some dogs to darken the colour, as that may lower its risk profile, as it might in wild species?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shelter /rescue people are often wrong (in my long experience as trainer /rescue /dog breed info /behaviour work) in guessing breed mixes, and tend to stick to info given by the previous owner, and even first-time owners are given incorrect info, (pups in one litter can have more than one father and not be pedigree as supposed) so the dog may be carrying colour genes /alleles which are not expected. Google dog color genetics for lots of inforamtion. Dogs with sable genes change colour and pattern dramatically while growing up. Merles tend to grow more and more dark hairs, and roan spotting increases with age too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good breeders /websites to do with Chesapeakes and Pyreneans may be able to advise on likelihood of colour change through age /feed etc. Please google 'Chesapeake retriever coat color' etc. for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope some of this is helpful. Glad he's got a loving home now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10127" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T15:17:22.463" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T15:17:22.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17997" CreationDate="2017-08-10T12:36:56.013" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (Fluffy) has his own territory of raised platform with good window viewing, plus many other areas where my 2 year old son (Hugo) has generally restricted access or not permitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fluffy is a 5 year old Norwegian Forest Cat. We currently have a 2 metre long box in the kitchen and Fluffy camps in at times. The play is Fluffy runs in one end and Hugo chases him. Fluffy runs out and then back in. In other places, whether Hugo chases Fluffy if he wants to get away, then we let him through a door (Hugo can't pass) to upstairs. So far with the box-play Fluffy doesn't do that, but what other signs might I look for that he stressed by the &amp;quot;play&amp;quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fluffy is pretty nice - he plays for a few minutes a day biting a doll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T00:11:46.967" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T00:11:46.967" Title="What are the signs that my cat is not happy playing with my toddler son?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-10T17:59:22.440" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Folks, I'm planning to add pressurized CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; cylinder for my new tank. But now I'm stuck between the 2 cylinder materials: steel and aluminium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steel is cheap, durable and heavy. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aluminium is a little costly and lightweight, not sure about durability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in New Delhi, India. So, please suggest me a good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T16:56:35.983" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T16:56:35.983" Title="CO₂ cylinder - aluminium vs steel, which one is preferred?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="17988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17986" CreationDate="2017-08-10T19:25:31.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get whatever is cheapest. Cylinders for aquariums experience almost zero wear since they're just sitting under an aquarium. No benefit in spending more on one for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-08-10T19:25:31.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-10T19:37:41.287" Score="4" ViewCount="4018" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a rescue dog who wasn't socialised at all and so has a few behaviour problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most difficult problem at the moment is that whenever my partner isn't here she seems very anxious and barks a lot. I can't relax in my own home when I'm alone at the minute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he is here she can still be pretty unruly, however it is clear that she respects him a lot more than me and will listen to his stop, stay commands etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She humps her bed a lot when it's just the two of us and obviously sees us both on the same level so I think it may be a dominance issue? She is a jack Russel border collie cross. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any advice I would be greatful. It's getting really unbearable to the point where I'm becoming severely depressed as I'm not able to relax in my own home or have any downtime. Giving her up isn't an option as I'm sure she'd be put down due to her issues and I love her so much :'(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9789" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-10T19:58:21.613" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T08:55:18.623" Title="Dog barks when my partner is away" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17995" CreationDate="2017-08-10T23:47:00.613" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 1 year old BernieDoodle that is pretty well behaved at the house. We take him to Doggy Daycare once or twice a week so he can get some energy out and mingle since we work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At daycare he has lately been rolling in his (or others, not sure) poop. It's about every other time. Someone mentioned he might be trying to eat it so try changing food. The odd thing is this only happens there. When we leave him at the house alone he is fine. He is a very social and happy dog at home and there so not sure what this means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts? Are we taking him too much maybe? Food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10133" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:15:46.637" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:15:46.637" Title="Dog rolls in poop at daycare" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18004" CreationDate="2017-08-11T08:35:10.530" Score="2" ViewCount="9747" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's some weeds I'd like to kill in the horses' paddocks. One is 'bindi eye' - the other I'm not sure what it's called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I want to poison them before Spring (which starts next month here) and I'm looking for safe chemicals or solutions I can use and how long the horses would need  to be kept out of those paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-11T08:52:01.933" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T10:55:31.300" Title="Weed killer that's safe for a horse paddock" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17989" CreationDate="2017-08-11T15:25:48.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest the humping is a compensation action rather than a sexual one. Also the barking and not being relaxed with just you around sounds like a mix between separation anxiety and pent up energy which could then result in humping to compensate that. That's not unlikely considering it is a JR and Border Collie mix, dogs of both breeds tend to have high energy levels.&#xA;Maybe considering these questions will help you find a solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you think the dog respects you as a leader? It doesn't sound like that reading your question. You might want to work on that. It's probably best to work with your partner on this. Have him show you how he gets the dog to listen to commands and observe him. What does he do different to you? Can you work on yourself with the dog practicing those commands?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the dog get enough physical and mental workout? Try to extend the walks (especially before your partner leaves) and see if that helps at all. Maybe you should take a big part in walking the dog as it would help you bond. Try to mentally stimulate your dog. You can for example play the shell game (I introduced this using just one cup, having my dog lay her paw on it, reveal the treat,... If that works 99.9% try 2 cups, then switch them,...), sniffing games are always fun (hide a toy and let your dog search on command), there are also puzzle games that you can buy. Do whatever you think your dog will like. I think games where she has to interact with you should contribute highly to your relationship.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In what mental state is your dog when your partner leaves? Always try to leave the dog when she's in a calm and relaxed state e.g. laying in bed, observing quietly etc. That should help your dog to keep calm even when your partner has left. (Taking the dog for a walk before leaving should contribute to this.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the judgement of an experienced dog trainer/behaviorist many things are trial and error. And I am obviously neither. I would give the workout idea a chance especially and see if that helps (you can't really do anything wrong with that, can you). I recommend consulting a trainer if there is no improvement. This is not a situation anyone should have to live with and a trainer who sees the dog in action could come up with an entirely different explanation than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2017-08-12T08:55:18.623" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T08:55:18.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17989" CreationDate="2017-08-11T16:21:58.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with user 10126. Real good advice there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rescue dogs will generally suffer from anxiety. They understand when they have something good and get attached very strongly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you need to train the dog to be left alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that you already work with the dog with the basic commands. If not, it's really important you start. It will create a bond, a trust between you, as well as tapping in the dog's natural instincts which is &quot;to work&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training the dog to be left alone starts in the house:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one room, teach the dog to sit and stay. Walk a few steps back. If the dog moved or display anxiety, you've gone back too many steps. Work on length of time. Again, if the dog moves, you've waited to long, just go back a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reward when the dog stays as you wanted. Start again and again.&#xA;Each time, increase the time and distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When ready, move to another room or the edge of the room. &#xA;Continue to increase distance and times(like going upstairs or outside with the door open).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the same but close doors... for a few seconds then increase time. Continue to reward good and wanted behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are very clever, they soon work it out. Plus if you train this way, the dog will think he's being left alone to work. And they love that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have rescued a lot of dogs and this has worked on all of them. Training is paramount for trust and understanding. Dogs love to please humans and vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understand this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically , dogs are descended from grey wolves. There daily lives are to get up, go hunting, if successful, return to the den and sleep all day. Go out at dusk for possible further hunting then return for more sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mimicking nature is the best. Get up, walk the dog, feed it, leave it, return home, walk it, feed it, settle for the night.&#xA;Dog love routines, it makes them feel secure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T16:21:58.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17990" CreationDate="2017-08-11T17:11:43.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170608-the-many-reasons-why-dogs-might-roll-in-smelly-poo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scent-rolling&lt;/a&gt; is 100% a normal behavior in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1568692.Clinical_Behavioral_Medicine_for_Small_Animals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By rolling, dogs simultaneously disrupt the mark of another animal, deposit their own scent, and acquire some of the other animal's scent. They also groom by shedding some of their undercoat when they roll. The extent to which the latter might be important in a masking situation useful in predation has not been fully explored. Dogs seem to find it pleasurable to roll in some scents that humans consider fairly offensive, which may mean that they are responding neurochemically to some pheromonal cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the dog has located the area that stimulates it to roll and has begun to drop, it is almost impossible to stop even the most obedient dog. If clients absolutely need to avoid this behavior, they will have to be vigilant, use a leash, and learn to read canine communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doggy daycare is a wonderful place to socialize and have fun, his diet does not have an impact on these behaviors - your dog is simply being a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T17:11:43.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-11T17:45:46.703" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know why the cat in this video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/WdbB_6mlCPw?t=521&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/WdbB_6mlCPw?t=521&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;is making this sound.  Is a particular meow of that breed or...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10138" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-12T12:10:57.703" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T01:37:36.770" Title="Why is this cat making this sound?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17985" CreationDate="2017-08-11T17:56:41.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok some signs are that the cat would be slashing his tail around if he didn't like the playing. You may see whiskers pointed forward as a sign to attack or scare Hugo. Or ears to the back if he was to be afraid of him. But if I got you right you said Fluffy returns to the box to continue playing? If that's so then you wouldn't need to worry. He may actually like the playing. If Fluffy runs very fast however, and does not come back to Hugo this means he's afraid of him and wishes to have his space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is based on what I got out of your question, I hope it helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T17:56:41.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-11T18:10:26.907" Score="1" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it the springiness of the mattress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am getting a new bed (for me) and thought that I could use my old bed for my cat. But this means paying somebody to saw the mattress into a size that fits my bedroom. Will this be worth it? Will my cat like it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hate to wake her up from my bed, but she leaves once I sit on the bed, she knows I will soon be in it, and take up too much space for her liking, and so she leaves. But she does love the bed lately, in spite of her several other cosy sleeping spots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T00:51:59.360" Title="my cat loves my bed - why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="17999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17998" CreationDate="2017-08-11T20:19:09.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you can do an experiment and have the two mattresses in your room for just a day or two, that would make you figure out if it's worth it or not. Also you'd probably see that your cat would like spending time on your new mattress as well. It may even prefer the new one and never use the old one. It may like your bed because it smells like you or just like it because its comfortable. So thats another reason for you to do the experiment. At the end if you ask my opinion I'd say yes it's worth it but after the experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T20:19:09.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17971" CreationDate="2017-08-11T22:35:48.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;36 Gallons is a good size for baby turtles. If you are keeping the turtles to a larger size you definitely want to upgrade the size of the tank. Turtles like to roam. Width and Length are more important than height. For example a 40 gallon breeder tank is something I always recommend to new turtle owners. As long as they have enough room to swim and a basking spot out of the water that is big enough for multiple turtles, a filter, and a heater they should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T22:35:48.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17962" CreationDate="2017-08-11T22:40:16.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles like to swallow anything they can fit in their mouths. Most of the time you don't need to use a substrate for turtles. However if you want to use substrate for burrowing purposes or just pure aesthetic I would recommend using river rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example shown Below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bgIHN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bgIHN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Courtesy of https://crackberry.com/wallpaper/blue-river-rocks&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using these types of rocks may be a little more expensive but turtles cannot swallow them and still encourages natural digging behavior along with a pleasing aesthetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-11T22:40:16.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18036" CreationDate="2017-08-12T01:00:12.023" Score="3" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Rex rabbit has recently become pregnant and had a miscarriage. She still keeps plucking fur on the back of her neck like she is still making a nest. She has plucked her fur so much she caused a wound and it has become infected. We are currently treating the wound with gauze, self-stick medical tape, and anti-bacterial/infection spray. We are dressing the wound 3x daily. My concern is it is not enough. I have decent medical knowledge regarding reptiles and know decently well about rabbits and breeding. Below is a picture of the infection/wound:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AyILF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AyILF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rabbit Injury&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If somebody could give advice whether dressing the wound and keeping it clean should be enough or if more action is needed that would be fantastic. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Info about rabbits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are currently 5 rex rabbits living together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no aggression between the rabbits: it's not a fight injury&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The injury is located where rabbits normally pluck fur for nesting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They currently live in a rabbit hutch: half chicken wire/half wooden house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T22:05:29.280" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:05:29.280" Title="What can I do about this injury of my rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17991" CreationDate="2017-08-12T09:00:45.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chemical Solutions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roundup is the winner except care needs to be taken, as it's not a selective weed killer, so will also kill the grass.  The horses only need to be kept off the grass until the roundup has dried for their own safety, or a bit longer to ensure the weeds are killed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roundup.ca/en/faq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the faq&lt;/a&gt; - When can grazing resume after spraying roundup brand herbicides?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proper translocation prior to animal re-entry is imperative to&#xA;  effective weed control. To ensure proper weed control and forage&#xA;  removal, Monsanto recommends grazing not resume for 3 to 5 days after&#xA;  spraying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Grazing is safe for the animals as soon as the herbicide has dried.&#xA;  However, proper translocation must occur before grazing is allowed to&#xA;  ensure proper weed control.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When a Re-entry Interval is not listed on&#xA;  a chemical label, it is recommended to wait until the chemical has&#xA;  dried, however, assume annual weeds require a minimum of 24 hours of&#xA;  good weather conditions for proper translocation.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;For perennial weed&#xA;  and forage control, wait a minimum of 72 hours for proper&#xA;  translocation of the chemical through the target plants before&#xA;  allowing grazing.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yates.com.au/garden-expert/answers/weeds/13473-graze-paddock-pasture-withholding#ptD0YlzW7FcIt3jD.97&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yates products&lt;/a&gt;, the chemicals are absorbed by the grass and remain in the grass. The recommendation is to allow the horses into the paddocks after a week, but to mow and tip the lawn cuttings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my way of thinking, this is not the best advice, as the horses can graze on the grass as it grows and ingest the chemicals. I'd keep the horses off the pasture for 6-8 weeks, then mow and discard the clippings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.../ is a great product for lawns we don’t really recommend using it&#xA;  for pastures. You’ll need to keep the horses off the grass for at&#xA;  least 1 week and a mow where you catch the clippings and remove them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantages of such products is, they are selective herbicides and will not kill the pasture. So it can be easier doing a large weed infested area, without fear of killing any remaining grass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dowagro.com/en-au/australia/product_finder/herbicides/grazon-extra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grazon&lt;/a&gt; is recommended by many horsey people, but I haven't found information supporting or denying this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternative Solutions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Boiling water&lt;/em&gt; will kill weeds - in fact it will kill any plant, so care needs to be taken to pour it on the weeds only. This can be a tedious and time consuming process for weeding paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vinegar&lt;/em&gt; sprayed onto weeds in the sunlight will also die. Once again, it will also kill the grass, so care needs to be taken with application. The horses cannot be allowed to graze while the plants are damp. In fact it would be better to wait for rain, but that is being cautious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Iron Sulphate and Ammonium Sulphate&lt;/em&gt;. Wet the weeds with and iron sulphate (in a solution) and dust with the ammonium sulphate (in crystal or powder form). Let it sit for 3 days then hose it in. These chemicals can also act as a fertiliser, so are relatively harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-08-19T10:55:31.300" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T10:55:31.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17996" CreationDate="2017-08-12T12:09:10.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not breed dependent. The cat is terrified in this video. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ears pasted back on the head, wide eyes, swishing tail, hair fluffed up are all signs of fear based aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sound is how distressed the cat is. Trying to warn the mannequin head to go away. This sound is not breed specific, but behavioural specific. There's variation between the sounds cat's make, as there's variation in the colour of their fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T12:09:10.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18118" CreationDate="2017-08-12T12:39:39.950" Score="5" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is used to eating dry cat food available at market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that my cat would appreciate a new taste. I know the poor quality of canned fish, so I went to local fish market and bought a fish (Rohu) that was still alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cut it into small pieces and placed it in her bowl, however she won't even come near it. When I got her to have a lick of it, she got very angry with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering why she doesn't like it? As wild cats typically like fresh raw fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-23T14:02:22.057" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T14:10:23.207" Title="Why does my cat hate raw fish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18008" CreationDate="2017-08-12T13:29:13.080" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a grown outdoor cat. We will move in a few months and then we want the cat to stay in the house for the first days in the new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in those days my cat has to use the litter box. How to train a grown outdoor cat to use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="335" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T07:48:53.533" Title="Train grown outdoor cat using the litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18007" CreationDate="2017-08-12T14:42:51.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats by birth have clean litter habits. They always search for something like soil with which they can cover their excreta. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When outdoor cat is put indoor and she finds only litter box and no soil type substance in any other place, the cat will automatically do their private business in litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't require litter box training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T14:42:51.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17996" CreationDate="2017-08-12T16:58:58.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not about breed, my cat which isn't of any special breed made this kind of sound a few times and it was at the vet when taking injections. He was terrified and it was the last warning before carrying out an attack as nothing else was left to escape from the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T16:58:58.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-12T17:38:19.710" Score="9" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;House animals always seem to want to have a bite of whatever you're eating.  There are obvious things, such as hot peppers, that might not be appropriate for them.  But, what about spices or herbs that are used in homemade bread or other foods that might be inappropriate for a cat or dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10142" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-08-13T00:06:02.583" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T05:47:41.260" Title="Are there spices or other food flavorings that should never be fed to cats or dogs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-12T17:46:24.887" Score="3" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went petco the other day and I noticed this Betta fish with a red and white patch on its head. It almost looks like the scales have been scraped off. I feel like he has body rot but I'm not sure, I've never seen this kind of thing before. I am tempted to buy him and treat him for whatever he has, I just need to figure out what that is. Hopefully the picture is clear enough for you guys to be able to tell.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PrAzl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10143" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-13T06:11:20.297" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T00:22:44.547" Title="Does this fish have body rot?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18011" CreationDate="2017-08-12T18:27:39.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main Diseases&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally diseases in bettas tend to affect the fins/gills as well as the body. Looking at the pictures the fins look perfectly healthy. This doesn't mean that the fish definitely doesn't have a common disease but it can be safely ruled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coloration Changes in Bettas&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do bettas change color? Based on the picture that is the main question we are trying to answer. Bettas certainly change color from diseases but as mentioned above the fins and gills look perfectly fine. Three common things that cause bettas to change color are &lt;em&gt;Stress, Ammonia, and rubbing into things.&lt;/em&gt; Rubbing up against things usually cause the scales to turn a silver color and not a red. Stress and ammonia burns also mostly cause the color to turn silver unless the betta has a red pigment under the skin. You can check for this red pigment by looking through the fins behind a light source to see if there is any red present in the fins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the information provided the most likely culprit is stress or ammonia burns or a combination of both. Ammonia is caused by dirty water or untreated water. While you can get medicine for both the cheapest way would to perform water changes using treated water and give the betta hiding places in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T18:27:39.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17803" CreationDate="2017-08-12T19:16:43.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Test your tap water for nitrates to be sure that isn't contributing to your problem. And yes, more frequent water changes can help with keeping nitrate levels down. The addition of ghost shrimp can also help, but they may not last long as axolotls tend to find them very tasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a similar issue in my tank (high nitrates, close to 0 ammonia/nitrites). To solve this, I performed a 70-80% water change. After a few days I did a 30% change. Then monitored it and now do ~25% change after levels start creeping close to 40ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9210" LastActivityDate="2017-08-12T19:16:43.827" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18015" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-12T21:23:13.200" Score="6" ViewCount="2142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that my cat has thinning hairs on her mid back. The rest of the fur on her is soft but this one area has fur that feels more like hair and I can see through to her skin if I push the fur aside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also noticed that her purr has changed and that she purrs within a few seconds of me petting her (this never used to happen before). I don't know if this hair thinning will continue and lead to hair loss so I'm wondering if anyone can explain what is happening here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9787" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-04-22T14:07:03.237" LastActivityDate="2018-09-19T23:01:27.420" Title="Thinning hair on cats back" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18010" CreationDate="2017-08-13T00:02:59.717" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course they want a bite of what you're eating, because &lt;em&gt;you're eating it&lt;/em&gt;. Dogs and cats should not be fed humans foods, even if they look up at you with those longing irresistable eyes. People don't (usually) eat their pet's food, so why should pets eat their people's food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet foods are nutritionally balanced for pets. Pets will get overweight if constantly fed treats including table food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many spices and flavourings that we eat that are toxic to cats and dogs. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/pet-safety-tips/nutmeg-cinnamon-toxicity/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nutmeg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chives, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/garlic/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;garlic&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/onion/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;onion&lt;/a&gt; powder (or anything derived from the &lt;em&gt;Allium&lt;/em&gt; family)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/salt/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Salt&lt;/a&gt; in large quantities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/chocolate/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cocoa&lt;/a&gt; powder (or any chocolate product)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugars are generally as bad for pets as they are for us. They don't need the large amounts of carbohydrates (such as that contained in bread). Many commercial food products contain the artificial sweetener, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/xylitol/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;xylitol&lt;/a&gt;, which is very toxic to dogs. Everyone knows about chocolate, raisins, certain nuts being very toxic for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Poison Helpline&lt;/a&gt; has a list of many known toxins in cats and dogs. Be aware that there are not extensive studies of many of these toxins, because there is little funding available for such research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that small amounts of these compounds are not likely to cause more than an upset stomach, but why take the risk? Resist the puppy eyes and feed an appropriate food to your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T00:02:59.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2159" CreationDate="2017-08-13T00:28:11.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is generally not recommended to keep any type of fish with Axolotls as they can nip at their gills or otherwise stress the axolotl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plecos are definitely not compatible with axolotls for several reasons. One is the difference in needs for ideal living environment. Plecos thrive at warmer temperatures than are safe for an axolotl. The most important reason, however, is that plecos can &quot;latch&quot; onto an axolotl and destroy its slime coat which can lead to infection and possible death (see image, source: Caudata Forums).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bxp6X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Damage to axolotl slime coat after pleco attack.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9210" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T00:28:11.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18018" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18020" CreationDate="2017-08-13T02:22:56.090" Score="-2" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want my cat to live long and I'm thinking of giving her human vitamins and supplements.  Sadly, all cat foods like Meow Mix and Fancy Feast don't have vitamins added, and considering that &lt;em&gt;in nature processed foods don't exist and animals get a lot of sunlight&lt;/em&gt;, I think that most human pets are vitamin deprived unknowing to their owner, even if they appear healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I should like give my pets fish oil (like those omega 6 acids that are fat) and vitamins to help them have them live long and healthy lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if its safe to give these vitamins:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin D&lt;/strong&gt; and here's why: guess where Vitamin D is found in nature?  In meat?  Nope... actually it is found &lt;strong&gt;in fish&lt;/strong&gt;, and also (you can google it if you don't believe me), sunlight exposure.  People who are indoors are usually deprived of vitamin d.  And what do cats eat in nature: &lt;em&gt;vitamins and sunlight&lt;/em&gt;... they don't sit indoors all day long eating vitamin deprived processed meat&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fish oil&lt;/strong&gt;, and according to google it is called &quot;Omega-6 Fatty Acids&quot;, and in the wild cats get lots of fish oil, since wild cats eat fish and that's their favorite food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamin B6&lt;/strong&gt;, my cat was smart but I believe that giving her vitamins that are neuroprotective is very good for her and can make her EVEN SMARTER.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5-htp&lt;/strong&gt; my cat isn't aggressive but just so she was less stressed... &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was always healthy but I believe that if i give vitamins and fish oil and drugs like 5-htp it will live to be like 40 years old... because &lt;strong&gt;if a human child only survived on processed meat all their lives starting from being a kid&lt;/strong&gt;... do u think they wood die at age 8 or at age 80? i think at age 8. and not to mention that processed cat food is probably much worse then chicken McNuggets since i think they would be investing less in animal safety then into human safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly they don't sell vitamins and supplements for pets, so I'm considering products sold for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;tl;dr&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt;  I want to know if it is safe to give 5-htp, fish oil, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10144" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-13T05:52:32.340" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T07:46:15.197" Title="Should I give my pets vitamins or other supplements?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-13T11:42:09.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18018" CreationDate="2017-08-13T02:30:03.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never give cat human vitamins. It is extremely dangerous and potentially life threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult a vet and buy vitamin supplements made for cats only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some important points to mention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Overdose of Vitamin A and vitamin A toxicity is more common in house cats than deficiency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High doses of vitamin C can also cause problems in the urinary tract, mouth, and stomach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's difficult to find the right balance between calcium and vitamin D. Too much can be toxic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And countless more ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-08-13T02:46:34.353" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T02:46:34.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18018" CreationDate="2017-08-13T02:46:42.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;h3&gt;No, don't give your pets human drugs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals have very different nutritional requirements and tolerances.  Cats need different things, and due to their significantly smaller body size, they need very different dose sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some specific cases, reducing the dose size can be sufficient.  But that's a very case-by-case thing that needs to be researched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most drugs and nutritional supplements aren't shown to really help humans at the recommended dosages, so it's very unlikely that they'll somehow help an otherwise-healthy cat.  Realistically, you're probably either going to poison your pet or have no real effect on it.  Hopefully it's the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T02:46:42.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18018" CreationDate="2017-08-13T07:46:15.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; worth checking with a vet first, since animals have issues with very different substances than humans, and many things are body weight dependant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; of your premises are incorrect though &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sunlight exposure. People who are indoors are usually deprived of vitamin d. And what do cats eat in nature: vitamins and sunlight... they don't sit indoors all day long eating vitamin deprived processed meat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/cats-absorbing-vitamin-d-lying-sun-10489.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;make vitamin D&lt;/a&gt; in their skin from sunlight like we do. High levels can also be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/toxicity/c_ct_vitamin_d_toxicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lethal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;fish oil is probably &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; bad for your cat (though I have no clue how one pills a cat). Some vets also recommend it for artitis (our dog's on it). Once again though, these things are a lot more concentrated, than, well a fish, and might have side effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dsm.com/markets/anh/en_US/Compendium/companion_animals/vitamin_B6.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;unlikely&lt;/em&gt; to need b6 supplements&lt;/a&gt;, and if I recall correctly, as a water-soluble nutrient, is likely to get excreted in excess. Also, not sure why it would make your cat 'smarter'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find any specific examples of 5-HTP being good/bad for cats, but apparently &lt;a href=&quot;http://aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-health-poison-control/top-5-most-deadly-medications-2015&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;its lethal for dogs&lt;/a&gt; - do check with a vet. However, chemically calming your companion animal sounds like a bad idea and you might rather sort out what is actually stressing her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the main substances you mentioned, other things like sweeteners and fillers  would be potentially poisonous if its products meant for humans.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T07:46:15.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18007" CreationDate="2017-08-13T07:48:53.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the cat in a small room such as a bathroom, with only the litter box, food, and water. Do not give the. A bed, towel, or any other soft surface. Soft things like bedding tend to be inviting to pee on. After a few days the litter box will smell like kitty and they will be more likely to use the litter box instead of your laundry or other soft substrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T07:48:53.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16103" CreationDate="2017-08-13T08:03:15.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fluffing up can be one of the very first signs of a sick bird. And by sick I mean VERY sick and needs the vet immediately. Birds don’t look sick until they are really sick. In the wild a sick bird is a dead bird. They are prey animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sick bird will fluff up, show half hearted threat displays, and look unhappy. Have an avian vet check her out right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you don’t already have a scale that can measure in grams, get one. A birds weight will drop quickly when they are sick. Often this will happen long before they look or act sick.  My macaw gets a weekly weight-in to keep tabs on his health. His weight is stable to within a gram or two, unless he is sick. if he weight drops I take him straight to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T08:03:15.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17975" CreationDate="2017-08-13T08:18:44.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To decrease this behavior you can limit her access to small movable objects. Put toys away after play time, and pick up small non-toy items and put those away too. This will not train her not to do it, it will simply prevent her from practicing the behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of caching behavior in carnivores is instinctive and serves to fulfill the primary motivation of feeding. As such is not a good candidate for training ‘not to do’. Instincts that satisfy primary motivators (feeding, fighting and, procreation) are subject to ‘instinctive drift’. In other words the training doesn’t stick, and the behavior always returns. It is better to prevent her from engaging in the behavior by taking the toys away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had cats bringing me toys in bed or on the couch when they want to play. Try throwing the things she brings. If you can get her to chase things she brings to you, you can shape this behavior into a game of fetch, thus redirecting her unwanted behavior into something more acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more about instinctive drift here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instinctive_drift?wprov=sfti1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instinctive_drift?wprov=sfti1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Breland/misbehavior.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Breland/misbehavior.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T23:29:46.503" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T23:29:46.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2017-08-13T08:33:19.960" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see this behavior more often in cats with a high prey drive. It might help to reach her to chase a thrown toy and/or a laser pointer.  If you exercise her prey drive by getting her to run and chase, and you feed her well the behavior may fade. I think this toy caching behavior may be a displacement behavior to compensate for a frustrated prey drive. Play with her and wear her out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T08:33:19.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2017-08-13T09:02:01.373" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wet food has a lot more water, and a lot less carbohydrates. If kitty loves kibble she may not be willing to eat enough wet to keep her weight up. I tend to feed a combination of canned wet food and raw muscle meat. On a pure meat diet most cats will self regulate to a healthy weight. That might look like kitty is to thin if you have only had obese cats. Carbs pack weight on because cats can’t use carbohydrates effectively and eat more to make up for insufficient protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw meat tends to have more calories, and it also has more useable calories.  The feeding recommendations of 200 to 300 calories is adjusted for the insufficient protein in kibble. Raw meat has higher calorie density to both kibble and canned food. Beef has more calories than chicken. Lamb has more calories than beef. Some cats like ground meat, some like mouse sized chunks, and some like bone in whole meat. (Chicken wings and legs are good. Don’t cook it. Raw bones are safe, cooked bones splinter) Eggs are also calorie dense if kitty will eat them. If you feed only raw, get Oasis or wild trax supliments. Slab meat does not have enough calcium or taurine, and needs suplimentation..Whole prey killed prey  (guts and all) fills all dietary needs. (But mouse in the quantity needed for a cat is expensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2017-08-13T09:02:01.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18049" CreationDate="2017-08-13T10:42:15.973" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has peed on the sofa. Will playing with her at/near the sofa reinforce or prevent her from choosing that location again for peeing? My intuition is that if she develops a happy association with the area, she will avoid soiling the area because it's where she goes to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9576" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T22:54:11.920" Title="Will playing near undesirable pee location dissuade future soiling?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2017-08-14T06:51:31.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are pros and cons about hamster balls but if you have one that is ok in size and your hamster enjoys running in them then they are fine to use but never let your hamster run in them for more than 7 minutes at a time and you should always supervise them carefully as they run around. Finally, if you decide to use the ball with your hamster, put it in a large &quot;enclosed space&quot; blocking off any dangerous things (like stairs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10151" LastActivityDate="2017-08-14T06:51:31.783" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-14T08:33:54.423" Score="4" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was having too much hairfall. My vet gave me multi-vitamins. But whenever I give it to her she goes crazy for the next 24 hours. She starts shouting constantly at the top of her voice, keeps rubbing herself against all furniture and urinates here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet cannot give satisfactory explanation. He says that the medicine is completely safe for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each ml of Venky's Vengro drops has a nutritional value:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;threonine - 1.95 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;valine - 2.35 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;methionine - 0.70 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;isoleucine - 2.22 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leucine - 3.85 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;phenylalanine - 2.45 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tryptophan - 0.84 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lysine - 3.05 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;arginine - 3.56 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taurine - 3.00 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DL-methionine 0.40 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - 0.11 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) - 0.17 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin A - 700 IU;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; - 400 IU;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin E - 5 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin C - 40 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;1&lt;/sub&gt; - 0.40 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; - 1.0 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; - 3.50 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nicotinamide - 10 mg;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D-panthenol - 3.00 mg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T13:32:17.387" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T13:32:17.387" Title="Why giving multi-vitamin makes my cat crazy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-14T11:46:15.767" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not a clear picture but you can see her on the right side of the picture, we bought her 3-4 days ago and I noticed that she was a little fatter than other female fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my guppy pregnant?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to keep her separated from other fish? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/99Xr7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/99Xr7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10153" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-08-15T04:58:47.517" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T04:58:47.517" Title="Is my guppy pregnant? If so what should I do?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-16T02:51:48.993" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18003" CreationDate="2017-08-14T12:28:11.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the home treatment of a pet's wound does not heal the injury,  the only followup solution is to take the pet to the vet for diagnosis and treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have several posts about rabbit living arrangements, a few good places to start reading are below. They may help also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12208&quot;&gt;Why are my Baby bunnies Dying?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6581&quot;&gt;Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962&quot;&gt;How much space does a rabbit need to live comfortably?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T15:18:50.023" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T15:18:50.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18037" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-14T15:11:09.760" Score="5" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/18016/224&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; says that salt is considered poisonous to dogs. Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/salt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the site linked&lt;/a&gt; in that answer states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of salt to induce vomiting in dogs and cats is no longer the&#xA;  standard of care and is not recommended for use by pet owners or&#xA;  veterinarians!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I catch my dog eating something poisonous (like chocolate), how can I induce vomiting? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would then take my dog to the vet, but it's over 30 minutes to the ER vet from my house, and I think it's better to get the chocolate out quickly than let him digest it for 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-15T04:59:41.277" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T20:47:02.070" Title="How can I safely induce vomiting in a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18117" CreationDate="2017-08-14T17:29:15.620" Score="5" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;On Monday, August 21, 2017, the US mainland will experience a total eclipse for the first time in decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything special I need to do to prepare my pets? Will they be anxious about the eclipse? What if I'm not at home during the eclipse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T01:30:44.113" Title="How will the eclipse affect my pet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18038" CreationDate="2017-08-14T18:47:45.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would likely not have much of an effect on pets. Safest would be to keep them inside if possible, if you have a nervous pet. Since they don't tend to stare at the sun anyway they might just think it's dusk or an approaching storm, they also won't require special glasses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the typically scaring weather effects for animals tends to be accompanied with load noises or flashes - like a thunderstorm. Since an eclipse is silent this aspect is not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From LiveScience: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livescience.com/59628-how-solar-eclipse-will-affect-animals-pets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;How solar eclipse will affect animals&quot;&gt;How Solar Eclipse will affect animals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Animals will probably be fine, as they don't tend to look directly at the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some interesting reading on other observed effects can be found here on National Geographic: &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/animals-react-total-solar-eclipse-august-space-science/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Animals React&quot;&gt;Animals react to solar eclipse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anecdotal evidence suggests that orb-weaving spiders destroy their webs during an eclipse, so Johnson recommends finding a web to watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastEditorUserId="9981" LastEditDate="2017-08-15T06:35:47.727" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T06:35:47.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-15T13:03:55.670" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just recently got a skinny pig about 3 weeks ago. I have done lots of research on what to do and how to take care of him and I thought I was doing a good job till I got home yesterday from work and noticed he had really dry skin. It almost looked like when we get sunburns and your skin starts to peel. I have only bathed him once without soap and I used a sensitive skin baby wipe on him once, I had put on a bit of baby oil because he had a dry patch but not a lot. So I purchased coconut oil and tried that last night because I thought maybe he had a reaction to the baby oil, but he is still very dry. So I guess my question is how do I help his skin and prevent this from happening again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10157" LastEditorUserId="10157" LastEditDate="2017-08-15T13:20:04.433" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T13:20:04.433" Title="Peeling Skinny Pig Skin" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;skinny-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-15T13:59:41.550" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-15T15:10:25.060" Score="4" ViewCount="3119" Body="&lt;p&gt;A local cat has attacked my dog 4 times now.&#xA;The attacks are unprovoked (my dog doesn't growl or bark or bother them at all) and my dog loves cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the attacks had the cat chasing me down the street with my dog in my arms (he's a large Staffordshire bull terrier so not the easiest to carry as I am a small built female) and was only resolved when a kind man trapped the cat under a car with a broom so I could escape. He informed me that the cat has attacked many passing dogs. It's a funny enough story but it's become more problematic as the cat is wandering further and my dog was attacked again outside my own house today. It's not as if I can avoid the cat's &quot;Territory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried multiple things from stomping my feet near the cat in an attempt to scare it, shouting and hissing at it but nothing works. It has attacked my boyfriend's shoe when he tried to hold it back with his foot and the only way I can keep my dog safe from the cat scratching it is by picking him up out of the cat's reach but it follows me waiting for me to put him back down and it will attack again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a huge animal lover and I  really don't want to hurt the cat but if it came down to it I would protect my dog even if it meant kicking the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After today's attack once my dog was safely inside, I went back out to find the cat as I'd like to confront the owner however the cat wasn't wearing a collar this time. During the previous attacks it &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; wearing a collar so I am quite sure it isn't feral. It's frustrating that people don't view cats attacking dogs as they do the other way around... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can I do in this situation? How can I prevent the attacks?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10160" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T01:08:06.333" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:24:22.267" Title="Local cat attacks my dog whilst walking, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17947" CreationDate="2017-08-15T15:27:46.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can contact Adult Protective Services at your local Department of Social Services and they can evaluate her safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10161" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T15:27:46.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18037" CreationDate="2017-08-15T20:47:02.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way that I have been instructed to make a dog vomit is to make it drink hydrogen peroxide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experience: Our Mountain Cur swallowed a fabric toy that he was chewing. We called the Vet and they said to induce vomiting by having him ingest Hydrogen Peroxide. While we were not successful in administering it to our dog as he is stubborn the Vet did say we could of held the dogs head and poured a little (2-3 cap full) in at 15 minuet intervals until he vomited. Also we could of used a plastic syringe/Dropper to get the liquid in his mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warning: Always consult your Vet prior to trying this to see if it is the right course of action. We called and spoke to our vet prior to doing this. And while we were unsuccessful it was not due to the hydrogen peroxide not working it was due to our dog not drinking it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9678" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T20:47:02.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7806" CreationDate="2017-08-15T21:20:50.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is almost certainly happening to the fish &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; they die. When a fish dies, the common behaviour of other fish within the aquarium is to eat the body of the deceased fish. Whilst this may sound unpleasant to us, to the fish it is merely a free meal. You'll find that a lot of fish food is made up from other fish (often krill).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The eyes normally go first because they are the most exposed part of the fish and easiest for a hungry fish to eat first. If you have bottom feeders you'll probably find that they will break open the fish and eat the insides (again, to us a little unpleasant but to the fish, fresh meat). &quot;&lt;em&gt;A hungry fish is a healthy fish&lt;/em&gt;&quot; - if your fish are not overfed, they will eat anything they can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Most fish don't have eyelids so it's not a case of the eye lid breaking and releasing the eye to float around the tank. &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to stop the fish dying?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's actually a bunch of great questions on that right here on this site so check some of those out for a detailed answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17630/why-did-my-guppies-not-grow-for-8-months/17631&quot;&gt;Why didn't my guppies grow in 8 months?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/17545/6826&quot;&gt;Help increase Betta Fish lifespan beyond 1.5 Weeks&lt;/a&gt; (About Betta but general fish health)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17588/betta-male-at-bottom-of-tank&quot;&gt;Betta male at bottom of tank&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/711/6826&quot;&gt;Are there health risks to leaving a dead fish in the aquarium?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;* An answer by me is on these questions&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to ensure the health of your fish is good though is with clean water and consistency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-08-15T21:20:50.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18048" CreationDate="2017-08-16T02:38:10.200" Score="4" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has dry spots and I want to get a good shampoo. I saw a lot of shampoo online, but I know a lot of the benefits can be misleading. So, I'd like to what ingredients I should look for in dog shampoo. Currently, to combat the dry skin, I'm using coconut oil. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a pitbull, three years old, pretty big, short coat. I haven't really shampooed him yet, I just adopted him. He was neutered 3 days ago, so I'm waiting a week before I give him a bath to let the wound heal first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastEditorUserId="10163" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T02:53:50.460" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T18:49:28.250" Title="What kind of shampoo to get for dry skin?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18047" CreationDate="2017-08-16T03:29:24.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dry skin I highly recommend Oatmeal based shampoo. Oatmeal shampoo will moisturize your dogs skin as well as soften his coat. It also smells great if oatmeal is your thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really matter what brand you go for. Just look for oatmeal in the ingredients (the first brand that comes to mind though is Whole Earth Oatmeal Shampoo for Dogs if you want a brand suggestion). You can also make oatmeal shampoo at home with plenty if recipes online and fairly cheap ingredients for how much you make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T03:29:24.343" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18027" CreationDate="2017-08-16T03:39:50.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. While it's true cats don't like to play where they use the restroom, you may find the cat just won't play with you on the couch. Cats use smell to find where they use the bathroom. This is why you hear that if a cat pees on a rug, it will keep peeing on the rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend two things. First is a deodorizer to get rid of the smell of urine, so the cat doesn't associate the couch with a litterbox. Also, there are scents sold in pet stores to attract your cat to using a litterbox (normally sold with kitten items). Playing with the cat there definitely helps, just make sure to deodorize it first so the cat will actually play there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T22:54:11.920" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T22:54:11.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18050" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-16T04:37:52.793" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend's cat has had this issue for over a year and the vet cannot figure it out. (Hundreds of dollars wasted.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He won't stop grooming until he bleeds, ripping out fur and itching all around. Worst at the rear. Then there's him practically tearing out his claws, grabbing onto them with his teeth and jerking. He does the same to his paw pads. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've changed everything: food, litter, food dishes. Nothing seems to work&#xA;I checked one of the claw shells he tore out, and there are some thick black clumps on the inside. (May be dried blood though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's fully indoor!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: We've changed his food to sensitive stomach &amp;amp; then tried sensitive skin when he started to throw it up towards the second bag (both from vet approved websites.) Steroid shots worked for a week and a half, and then we tried these steroid pills (less than effective.) Changed his litter to organic, plastic dishes to metal ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This didn't seem to start happening until he got his first case of fleas (they're long gone now.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10165" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T22:00:28.363" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T22:00:28.363" Title="Cat Chewing At Nails/Toes &amp; Heavy Digging" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18038" CreationDate="2017-08-16T10:29:16.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The eclipse will not have any affect on your pet. However if they are able to look at it it could damage their eyes resulting in blindness. The best way to keep your pet safe is close your curtains or blinds so they can not see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A quick look through the literature indicates that most animals and birds react to a total solar eclipse much like they do to nighttime: for example, bees and ants return to their nests and daytime birds return to their roosts in preparation to sleep; nighttime birds become noisy and active; bats start flying and hunting; mosquitoes start biting; and dairy cattle stop grazing, since they prefer to eat during daylight. - &#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2017/08/14/how-do-animals-react-to-a-total-solar-eclipse/#73f78d9b6128&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How do animals react to total solar-eclipses (Forbes)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10166" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T15:32:12.547" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T15:32:12.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2017-08-16T12:36:27.823" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try carrying a water pistol/spray bottle with you when you walk your dog and anytime the cat comes near give it a spray. Most cats aren't very keen on getting wet and will cotton on to this pretty quickly and start avoiding you and the dog, and as much as cats might hate getting wet it doesn't actually harm them so it's preferable to kicking them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T12:36:27.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18061" CreationDate="2017-08-16T12:37:25.247" Score="4" ViewCount="3079" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm moving my adult axolotl this weekend, and I was wondering what method was best for this. I've read that transferring him into a tupperware filled with tank water can work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Would this be ok for a 1 hour journey? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to the tank, if I remove most of the water so that it's liftable, will I then need to recycle the tank once moved?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or can I simply add de-chlorinated water back then put my axolotl back in?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was planning to just leave enough water in the tank to keep the filter and decorations submerged, to maintain the bacterial culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8540" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T13:53:31.183" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T08:12:59.947" Title="How to move an axolotl and his tank without needing to re-cycle?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18054" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-16T12:57:28.317" Score="2" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;My skunk gecko mouth is half way open and looks like her chest is caved in nothing has happened to her she lives alone eats only crickets and in a very clean environment please help I don't know what to do or what is wrong &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10167" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T13:54:14.127" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T13:54:14.127" Title="Skunk gecko please help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T15:37:56.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17947" CreationDate="2017-08-16T14:29:46.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try reaching ASPCA although I'm pretty sure their time would be better spent elsewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I read in your comment, feeding chocolate could well be animal cruelty... Even if they cannot help, they might be able to point you in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to what you said, both the woman and the dog have become unsafe together. I'd try and contact organisms that would be able to help on any side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T14:29:46.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2017-08-16T14:37:02.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's two possible answers here: prevent the cat from attacking your dog, or prevent the cat from attacking any dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your neighbor said, the cat has attacked other dogs too so while you can certainly find a subterfuge to make it leave your dog alone, it will do no good for others. If the cat has became problematic, a good talk with the owner should do. Chances are the owner isn't aware and will see how to correct this behavior on his part. If not, you could have help from the authorities, as the owner of the cat is fully responsible of its behavior. (also remember this if you ever need to go to the vet because of that cat!). Third possibility is that the cat has no owner, then call the appropriate agency to take care of the stray cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, if you are indeed a frail woman, I'd go see the cat's owner accompanied. We never know how bad people could react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="93" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T14:37:02.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17843" CreationDate="2017-08-16T15:16:58.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do not wish to have some hatchings on your hands then do not allow them to incubate by keeping them cold. If you found the animal in the wild then it may well of laid fertile eggs. If you wish to hatch the eggs then buy an egg incubator for your animal's species. Egg incubators can be bought for around $100 US Dollars on incubators.org. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10166" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T15:16:58.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18067" CreationDate="2017-08-16T15:26:11.010" Score="4" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started giving my 9 year old golden retriever cosequin recently for stiffness. She had tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy (TPLO) surgery when she was 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get her to eat it, I grind up the pills and mix it in with a small amount of yogurt or tuna twice a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it impact the effectiveness to mix the morning and night batches at the same time and leave one in the fridge all day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10168" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T16:02:32.817" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T15:04:04.177" Title="Premix glucosamine - Impact of storage on effectiveness" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18053" CreationDate="2017-08-16T16:02:23.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the same as when moving with fish really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the filter media remain submerge in water. For a short journey (as 1h) no need to have air pump running.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make you animal comfortable. This means a big enough container (bag, tupperware, etc) partially filled with water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the moving. You can empty the tank completely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refill with de-chlorinated water and reinstall equipment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reintroduce your animal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow closely your parameter and do water changes as needed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5646" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T16:02:23.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18047" CreationDate="2017-08-16T16:58:15.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry skin can be caused by a few things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low-quality diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diseases such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/endocrine/c_dg_hypothyroidism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hypothyroidism&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/endocrine/c_dg_hyperadrenocorticism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cushings disease&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pitbulls are notorious for allergies, if you notice excessive itching, hair loss, chronic ear infections, browned paws (from excessive licking) I would consult your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a big fan of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.douxo.com/uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DOUXO line&lt;/a&gt;, these shampoos actually strengthen the skin barrier and not just moisturize it like oatmeal based shampoos. It contains the patented molecule &lt;a href=&quot;https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/phytosphingosine#section=Top&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phytosphingosine&lt;/a&gt;, a fundamental component of ceramides, found naturally in the skin and ensures the cohesion of the skin barrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy these shampoos at your veterinarian, they are pricier than your  regular oatmeal shampoos but they actually focus on repairing the skin vs moisturizing. Well worth the money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-16T18:49:28.250" LastActivityDate="2017-08-16T18:49:28.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18053" CreationDate="2017-08-16T17:05:16.437" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Consistency is key&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving fish/Amphibians is always going to be stressful for them. The best thing you can do to ensure that they are stressed as little as possible is to keep the conditions as similar as you can during the transport and beyond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your key question is about the process of re-cycling the existing tank after the move. This shouldn't be necessary assuming that you take the necessary steps to ensure that your filter media (really the beneficial bacteria that lives on it) is not adversely affected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge there are not a lot of things that differ between moving an Axolotl and a fish so let’s take a look at the process that I would and have followed in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Do your homework&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plan your journey from the old location to the new one (avoid a road where your fish are going to be bounced around that doesn't gain you significant time).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you likely to get stuck in traffic? (You said it’s an hour long journey, could that easily become 2?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a 'good' time of day to do this at (early morning/ late evening when traffic is minimal for example)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it easy to get the tank in and setup ready for the axolotl or will it take some time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you going to need help moving the tank? Rope in some others to help you out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the temperature going to be drastically different to the regular water temperature? Cars can get warm in the sun, try to keep temperature fluctuations to a minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This might sound a bit overkill&lt;/strong&gt; but if your journey could suddenly double in length, the last thing you want is your pet paying the price for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The Move&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As ever, the smoother you can make this transition, the better for the Axolotl. Be very careful when moving a tank which has water in &lt;sup&gt;[&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/moving-aquarium-1380905&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/sup&gt;. As you say, you’ll want the &lt;em&gt;absolute minumum&lt;/em&gt; water in it as possible because without the stand bracing the tank in the correct place &lt;strong&gt;you may find that it cracks&lt;/strong&gt;. In the case of an external sump filter &lt;sup&gt;[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oscarfishlover.com/aquarium-sump-filters&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/sup&gt;, you may be able to completely drain the tank and just keep the sump filled with water instead. Either way, keep the filter full submerged or your bacteria may die off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have tropical or marine fish, you would need to be more aware of the temperature because it’s harder to keep water at greater odds to the environment at the same temperature (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_cooling&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Newton’s Law of Cooling&lt;/a&gt; for more information).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You’ll want to move as much of the aquarium water as you can to the new tank location for two reasons; firstly, if the animal is already acclimatised with this water, that will be one less ‘new’ aspect for it to get used to and secondly; if you move water that you already know is of ‘good quality’, it reduces the number of variables if problems arise later on. Check the parameters of the water at the new location to ensure that they are not drastically different to what the Axolotl is used to. If the water parameters change quickly in the new location this could cause health complications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also place the axolotl in one of the containers because the more water you transport your axolotl in, the less impact the waste it produces will have on the quality of the water &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;the slower the water temperature will change in relation to its surround environment&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;sup&gt;[&lt;a href=&quot;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/17819/how-does-cooling-scale-with-volume&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/sup&gt;. If you can use an opaque container then that’s even better because most aquarium animals will simply go to sleep as if it were night time (excluding nocturnal fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all boils down to: “&lt;em&gt;As quickly and safely as you can make it&lt;/em&gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Settling in&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes without saying that once the move is complete, you’ll need to keep a careful eye on the parameters of your tank and if there is any spike in Ammonia or Nitirite, you’ll need to deal with it fast or the Axolotl will suffer. As I said above, check that the water in the new location is similar to the old. If it isn’t, gradually transition to the new water but allow time for the inhabitants to get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I keep repeating this, but ‘easy does it’. The Axolotl will be much happier if you ensure there is as little change over the journey to it’s new home as possible. Of course you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; just put it in a box and take your chances, but stress is one of the biggest killers in aquarium fish and whilst they might not die because of the journey, it could see a decreased lifespan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The steps suggested above are ones I followed when moving my Tropical Community tank from one flat to another (30 minutes away, 2 flights of stairs) and I was very glad I’d planned it in advance to avoid making what can be a difficult task into a nightmare for the fish and I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/moving-aquarium-1380905&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can I Move a Partially Filled Aquarium? - The spruce&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oscarfishlover.com/aquarium-sump-filters&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;What is an external sump filter? - OscarFishLover.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3: &lt;a href=&quot;https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/17819/how-does-cooling-scale-with-volume&quot;&gt;How does cooling scale with volume? - physics.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T08:12:59.947" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T08:12:59.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-16T22:33:00.367" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an indoor cat. She is never allowed outside. She has been given every possible vaccination. She gets regular bath with cat soap. And she gets to eat only hygienic cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it safe to kiss her on lips. Is there any chance of spread of disease?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I have seen such things in youtube. That's why I am wondering.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the site &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/kissing-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/kissing-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/kissing-your-cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is given,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;As such, at any point in time, a cat's mouth may be no dirtier than ours. However, cats contain certain other bacteria in their mouths, which cause gum disease. As predators, they also eat animals and insects that may harbor diseases. To be safe, avoid kissing your cat on the lips.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is predator in no sense, as she is indoor and I have never seen her eating insects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another question which is somewhat like this. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11157/is-it-safe-to-hug-and-kiss-indoor-cats&quot;&gt;Is it safe to hug and kiss indoor cats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there the specific word of &lt;b&gt;not kissing on the lip&lt;/b&gt; is written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And my question is exclusively about &lt;b&gt;kissing on the lip&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two are clearly not duplicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T16:33:44.050" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T16:33:44.050" Title="Is it safe to kiss my cat on lips?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-18T12:41:14.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-17T00:51:44.263" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog - 1/2 English mastiff who swims - swims out to other dogs fetching their balls in the water (she already has a ball in her mouth) and puts her head on other dogs (back of the neck).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the behavior mean - and any suggestions how to curtail it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never ever hurt anyone but some owners and some dogs don't like it and I am quite literally on the beach and cannot get to her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10159" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T10:18:02.727" LastActivityDate="2017-11-15T12:20:49.337" Title="Dog in water - behavior with others" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18068" CreationDate="2017-08-17T03:07:08.827" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a 3 year old pitbull. We took it to the vet and they said it has an &lt;strong&gt;ear infection&lt;/strong&gt;, but I assume the ear infection is probably deeper in the ear as I cannot see it in the visible areas. Moreover, the dog doesn't seem to be in pain nor does he scratch his ear. So I'm not sure if this ear infection is that severe. But the vet still suggested an ear infection treatment and the bill comes to about 150$. So I'm hoping to treat it myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought &lt;strong&gt;hy-otic ear rinse and am planning to give its ear a good cleaning,&lt;/strong&gt; based on some tutorials by vets on Youtube. But after that, &lt;strong&gt;what's the best way to go about doing something regarding antibiotics/medication, etc? Is there any good remedies?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The previous owner had cut its ears short when it was a puppy apparently. For the last year or so, before he came to the pound, he's been a stray - hence the ear wax build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T04:19:22.680" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T07:33:05.000" Title="Ear infection remedies" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18064" CreationDate="2017-08-17T07:09:00.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If that behaviour only happens in the water, I am really at a loss to what it means. How long does it last if the other dog tolerates it and what happens after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what you can do is not so different from any other (on land) behaviour you want to undermine: Call her back. Instantly. When she starts swimming in the direction of another dog she needs to come back. Interactions with other dogs for her will be limited to outside of the water. When she does not come back, today there will no more balls be thrown. Fun is done when you make it &quot;not fun&quot; for other dogs/humans.&#xA;Maybe at some point you can train her with the help of a dog that would tolerate her behaviour. (But only at the point where she would definitely instantly come back to you if called.) Then you can let her approach but again call her back when she shows the slightest inclination to touch the other dog on the neck. This is the step where you teach her &quot;correct&quot;, friendly interaction is okay, anything else will again stop all the fun instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5040" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T07:09:00.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18058" CreationDate="2017-08-17T07:13:17.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise against it. &#xA;I am not familiar with the typical bacteria living and growing in a can of tuna after opening it, but with the yogurt, the bacteria in there will metabolize the glucosamine. This will definitively impact the effectiveness. I strongly suspect this would at least to some extent also happen with the tuna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC242922/pdf/aem00219-0157.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is one example of Lactobacillus bacteria able to ferment glucosamine. I did not add this before because using glucosamine as a nutrient is not uncommon in general for bacteria (like it is not for humans or dogs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5040" LastEditorUserId="5040" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T15:04:04.177" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T15:04:04.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18065" CreationDate="2017-08-17T13:57:40.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he is not showing symptoms and the infection is in an early stage you can have luck with the cleaner you bought, worth a shot. If it is a yeast infection then this product may not be that beneficial as it's designed for bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is showing signs and it is moderate to severe then there is no over the counter treatment for ear infections besides the ear medication the doctor wants to provide you. Cleaning the ears alone will not kill the pathogens that reside in the canals and only provide temporary relief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the infection continuously returns even after completing the doctors prescribed medication there is an underlying cause that needs to be resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-17T14:24:24.643" LastActivityDate="2017-08-17T14:24:24.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12157" CreationDate="2017-08-17T17:21:29.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shaving a dog might be a good idea. Especially if they have a lot of hair and if they live in country that is mostly warm. You give them a bit of a haircut to make them feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could do it yourself with clippers&#xA;for instance, or maybe take them to somebody to trim their hair. Here's some &lt;a href=&quot;http://review-zone.net/best-professional-dog-and-animal-clippers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommended clippers&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10174" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-18T06:50:33.123" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T06:50:33.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18065" CreationDate="2017-08-17T18:54:29.167" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't treat it properly and it gets worse it will be harder to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our Pitt Bull had an ear infection and the vet had to clean the ears really well, they gave us an antibiotic that treated a wide spectrum of bacteria, and we were also given drops to put in the ears, and a rinse. Religiously applying the rinse and the drops for over two months we finally got the ear infection under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our Pitt Bull had this ear infection for a few months and we tried different home remedies to treat it, none of which worked; in fact it most likely made it worse and our dog suffered. When you think of the time, money, pain, and risk trying to treat it yourself you're better off relying on your vet and paying the $150.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7308" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-18T07:33:05.000" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T07:33:05.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18071" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-18T01:25:47.227" Score="4" ViewCount="2520" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 5 months old, and very hyper, and loving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I will be lying in bed on my phone or laptop, and he comes up purring wanting attention. He rubs his head all over me, and if I don't pet him back he bites on my finger tip as hard as he can. It draws blood from under my finger nail and bruises up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not like I don't ever give him attention I play with him and pet him all the time, but sometime when he comes up to get attention I am busy and don't want to pet him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions that would get him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10177" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-18T06:45:17.627" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T08:42:52.650" Title="My cat bites when wanting attention" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18071" CreationDate="2017-08-18T02:43:27.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;May be you are not giving him enough attention and he is feeling neglected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it can be that he is some sort of medical condition and in pain and is confused. So he is asking for your attention as to what's wrong with him. For this reason, at first take the cat to vet to rule out any underlying medical condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also yourself check whether cat has ticks on fur. Ticks give quite irritation to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next try to channel out your cats excessive energy by doing the following -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set up cat tree&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put elevated objects near windows so the cat can watch birds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy him a scratching pad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy him toy mouse and other toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy a laser torch and use it to make the cat run behind laser light on walls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try some cognitive therapy -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try playing with the cat for some time everyday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the play schedule same everyday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While playing if the cat bites freeze instantly and don't respond. Again start playing only when biting stops.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the cat food at a specific schedule each day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also keep some treats handy, don't react when cat does anything you don't like and reward him with treats when he behaves well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make sure to scoop the litter box twice daily and do a complete cleaning every 10 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T02:43:27.323" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17096" CreationDate="2017-08-18T06:05:18.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had two kittens from a very young age 6-8 weeks. I suggest gentle persuasion. Make sure he has love, support from you. Don't force affection, reach your hand out slowly let him smell you. Softly stroke behind his ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get toys that will encourage him to play.... Don't worry he will. Just persevere. My kittens have so many toys, soft balls, mice, strings,  toys on strings, cardboard boxes, tissue paper. They can't resist playtime. Introduce a softball, or a toy on a string. Quick movements on the ground with the toys makes it exciting.  It'll be fun for him and build trust, friendship and love. I spend a lot of time with them. Playtimes, meal times and sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they first came to me I also left treats in patterns over my floor  (Watch where you step). It was amazing to see the excitement from them discovering them. Lead the pattern towards you. The last few treats bring close to you. Gradually close the distance, this builds kitty's self confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot also has to do with their personalities and rank in the house. My eldest is cuddly, loving, super affectionate and inquisitive. The younger one is timid, jumpy but follows me round like a shadow. Personalities make a huge difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be gentle, be loving but most of all be patient.often they need to find their feet, everything is new so they frighten easy. They are worth it. &#xA;Good luck &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10181" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T06:05:18.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18071" CreationDate="2017-08-18T08:42:52.650" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boy is similar when we play with him. He has a tendency to bite and thats the way he plays. Though it has not stopped completely, it has reduced a large extent. Whenever he would start to bite, we would let out small yelps. Also we would ignore him for the next few minutes. My wife would also scold him sometimes. He now seems to recognize our voice tones and the facial expressions of what happens when he bites and I think he understands that it hurts us. He still bites but its more playful now and more often than not, he'll simply grab on and then let go in a few seconds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not follow the advice in one of the answers here of caging your cat. This makes them feel insecure and scared. And yes he will turn out to be even more ferocious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T08:42:52.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7922" CreationDate="2017-08-18T11:14:02.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be the reason for his opened mouth (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.floppycats.com/how-come-cats-leave-their-mouths-open-after-the-smell-something.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smelling something&lt;/a&gt;),&#xA;and you pulling him away in such a new confusing event for him may just get him stressed more and so swat at them. The mother knows if he's a threat and will beat him down to ground if he wanted to hurt them. He may swat at them just because he isn't sure what they are yet, and if the mother doesn't mind it it's probably because she knows that. Or at least she knows he doesn't intend to kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And him retreating every time he approaches means he is aware that something is not right and watching out for any threat that may come his way if he's done something wrong. This means he is being careful of the mother. And them licking each other means they understood each other's positions, accepted it and are now friends. No problems. And since it's the mother's second birth giving, she should be mature enough to be careful for the babies. She won't be ignoring them or be stupid and let a threat hurt them even if she's very sweet and/or likes the animal approaching. In other words she is sure he won't hurt them. This gives relief. However, the kittens shouldn't ever be left alone with the male cat if you have any doubts of him hurting them. He may not hurt them when the mother is around, but no one knows what happens when she isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good thing for you to know is that cats aren't like lions as one of the answers said. Only the most dominant of them would kill kittens. And after reading what you said about the male cat, chances are he's isn't one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T11:52:54.697" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T11:52:54.697" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18079" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-18T17:19:00.590" Score="8" ViewCount="3951" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The situation&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently bought one of those vacuum robots that wander around the house to clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set it to clean the flat twice a day (it takes ~1 hour to clean the whole flat), and I'm having a problem with my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an european/domestic cat and a Maine Coon (both approx 3 years old), male and one female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I turned on the vacuum, the european followed it a bit scared around all the flat and after few hours it stopped caring too much about it. It simply tries to stay away from it the minimum necessary to feel &quot;comfortably safe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Maine Coon was on top of the scratch post when I started the first time the robot, and she followed it with the sight all the time without getting down from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed she's very scared of it and she always tries to be in a different room from the one of the robot, but still she always try to keep an eye on it to see where it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real problem is that she isn't scared of it only while it's wandering around, she act weirdly all the day, taking glances at the robot by time in time and walking &quot;flattened&quot; when she's near it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;About her&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's usually very social and isn't scared by visitors or anything, she's genuinely curious and never scared. So I'm wondering why she's so scared by this vacuum robot?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The weird thing is that the european is the one that usually gets scared by noises and visitors!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both scared by my (&quot;old&quot;) manual vacuum and always run in a different room when I use it. Because it's much louder than the new vacuum robot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Attempts to fix the problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to make her play near it while it's turned off and to feed her still near it, but she's still quite scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make her accept the &quot;new kid&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10184" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-19T15:01:52.067" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T15:01:52.067" Title="How do I make my cat accept the new vacuum robot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16175" CreationDate="2017-08-18T17:22:02.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat who had a deformity in his soft palate. The veterinarian did the exam under anesthesia, and this cat was exceptionally calm and allowed all sorts of poking and prodding without complaint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example for how calm and compliant this cat was, I once had him on his back to clip his claws and accidentally cut the quick. He stayed on the floor on his back while I ran to the kitchen to get flour to stop the bleeding. I could do ANYTHING to this cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a vet had to sedate this cat to examine his soft palate, I would be surprised if any cat would allow you to retract their soft palate to examine behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T17:22:02.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18096" CreationDate="2017-08-18T17:34:30.967" Score="8" ViewCount="1356" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up my Mali Uro today, and noticed a stick/hook thing sticking out of one of her(?) femoral pores. I searched around, and people have mentioned &quot;bulges&quot; on the pores, but I couldn't find any mentions of a &quot;stick-like&quot; protrusion. I tried lightly pushing on it, but it seems securely fastened to her thigh. Poking at it doesn't seem to bother her either though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, my camera's autofocus is broken, so the pictures aren't great, but here's what I could get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pimNG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pimNG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture of pore&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x3WZr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x3WZr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Side picture of pore&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? I don't recall having ever seen this on any other Uros that I've had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if someone could give me a hint as to [her] sex, if possible, it would be appreciated. I've always assumed she's female because of her behavior, but she also has male features like yellow hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days later, and it's still there. It looks like it's actually gotten a little longer. I tried poking at it again, and it still seems like it's well attached. It still doesn't appear to bother her though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-20T21:09:22.053" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T03:37:40.710" Title="Mali Uromastyx: Stick thing sticking out of Femoral Pore" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2017-08-18T23:03:22.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A six week old pup should never ever ever be on its own, at this age they have only been walking and playing for approximately two weeks so the world is still very new to the pup.  You need to treat a puppy like a baby and get up during the night with it, and keep it with you until around 16 weeks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10185" LastActivityDate="2017-08-18T23:03:22.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18079" CreationDate="2017-08-19T02:20:50.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't force the situation, they may or may not get used to it some time, but that's all you could do. Time is the key. Don't play with them exactly in the same room as the vacuum just let it be and stay normal as usual. Play with them the way you used to and not necessarily in the same room with the vacuum. Play and feed in the same rooms you used to. If you switch feeding bowls near the vacuum your cat will only get anxious and stressed out, making it more afraid of the vacuum. So just let it be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for a fact, both your cats know the the vacuum isn't alive and apparently it makes Maine coon confused but as for the european cat it seems she got used to the old vacuum freaking her out all the time and so thought that this one isn't that bad. And because it knows it isn't alive she isn't afraid of it that much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need time and you need to act normal, walk as if nothing's there, call your cats to come across the room for meal time. If your cat that much scared to a point she won't walk if the vacuum is in the room, simply carry it and take it to it's meal. You should even consider putting the vacuum away for a little break for your cats. It's better if it isn't there all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for just a little note: your cats are living mammals while the vacuum is a scary thing, if not knowing what it's job is for, no one would know if it was designed to hurt or kill them, especially if it's making that loud noise which can be considered a warning and showing aggresion. And sense the vacuum is making that noise for a very long time (an hour) it just makes sense for the cats to get really confused and stressed out. So that's a good reason for you to put it away. Another thing you could do is to let the vacuum work in only one room and let the cats watch it, that way they can learn that it's not coming for them it's just spending time in the other room and your cats have the whole rest of the house for themselves, after it's done with the room put it away. After they are used to it let it clean all the house on a one time's job and put it away. This should make them less stressed about it and maybe get used to it at some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T02:20:50.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18089" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-19T09:06:35.037" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it just a sales trick to get us to spend more? What are the ingredients that make it worth the extra money? Would the mid-range food be legal if it was so bad? I refer to wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-19T10:16:15.947" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T14:43:14.463" Title="Are higher-cost cat foods any better than ordinary ones?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-21T16:20:10.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18089" CreationDate="2017-08-19T14:43:14.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's kind of like steak tartare vs McDonald's beef burger, why a difference in cost there? Both are beef? The cheap brands tend to be the 'junk food' of the pet food world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cost is not everything, however. Many brands charge a premium for being &quot;grain-free&quot; or &quot;organic&quot; when there is no strong scientific evidence to support claims that they are healthier for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many mainstream brands that are fine quality to feed your cat. I usually recommend Hill's Science Diet, but there are many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can compare the ingredients in, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.friskies.com/products/wet-cat-food/meaty-bits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Friskies Meaty Bits Chicken Dinner in Gravy&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Water sufficient for processing, chicken, liver, wheat gluten, meat by-products, turkey, soy flour, corn starch-modified, artificial and natural flavors, tricalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, taurine, added color, salt, choline chloride, mono and dicalcium phosphate, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (Vitamin K), manganese sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compared to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/sd-feline-mature-adult-chunks-and-gravy-chicken-tender-dinner-canned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hill's Science Diet Chicken Dinner&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Water, Chicken, Pork Liver, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Dextrose, Modified Rice Starch, Oat Fiber, Egg Whites, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Titanium Dioxide color, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Fish Oil, Choline Chloride, L-Lysine, Calcium Carbonate, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Iodized Salt, Taurine, Guar Gum, Calcium Chloride, Caramel color, minerals (Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate), Beta-Carotene. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that, unsurprisingly, many of the ingredients are the same. Not all meat is created equal, and while I cannot say where Friskies sources their meat from, in my opinion Science Diet is likely to be higher quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will, of course, pay more for veterinary diets that are formulated for certain medical conditions – i.e. low protein for kidney disease, low magnesium to prevent urinary stones, low carbohydrate for diabetes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T14:43:14.463" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17096" CreationDate="2017-08-19T18:04:59.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your answers.  He has come a long way and will jump onto my lap at times and take a nap on me, though he is has a less cuddly personality than my older cat.  That might change when he gets out of his teenage years...lol.  He is a little less scared though loud noises frighten him and quick movements that he catches out of the corner of his eye make him jump a foot.  But he is ok with people who come to visit, so that is good.  I just feel bad that he is afraid of so much.  Also, unfortunately, even though he has a ton of toys and likes to play with them, I have found that he has a disorder that many persians seem to have because of the breeding that went on for many years to make their faces even flatter than natural.  If he runs around playing for too long he starts panting with his mouth open and can barely breath.  So far, all the vets have told me is to put him in a cool room, alone without toys to relax and to put cold compresses on his feet to cool him down.  I need to find a vet in my area that actually knows about persian issues which I have found about by reading online.  I have gone to 3 different vet clinics and none of them know a thing about persian cats, because I believe there are surgeries that can be done to correct some of the issues but none of these vets act like anything is wrong. I feel so bad for the kitten, though I think I'm more freaked out about it than he is. He just calmly lets me put him in the bedrooom and takes a nap on my bed for a half hour and when I let him out he is back to playing...haha.  I am just afraid if it goes on for too long it will put a strain on his heart.  Again, thanks for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9468" LastActivityDate="2017-08-19T18:04:59.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18092" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-20T01:44:28.463" Score="1" ViewCount="2199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12 week old kitten and everytime he tries to meow it sounds like he lost his voice and can't get anything out. Should I be concerned? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10191" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T12:25:32.147" Title="Why can't my kitten meow?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-08-21T14:21:57.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16553" CreationDate="2017-08-20T10:36:17.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting a 50g filter in a 4g aquarium is not good.  There is a reason filters are rated by the gallon.  It will be way to powerful for any fish you put in there. Small fish will be blown around, as if in a tornado. If you insist on using it, stuff the filter area with the extra &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsmart.com/fish/food-and-care/pond-care/tetra-submersible-flat-box-filter-replacement-pad-16349.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;filter pads&lt;/a&gt; you can get at fish stores to slow the flow way down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="444" LastEditDate="2017-08-20T10:42:53.623" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T10:42:53.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18092" CreationDate="2017-08-20T11:55:16.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming he has always meowed like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat has a different meow, some meow long and deep while others are short and squeaky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their voice can change as they age however some keep their kitten mews. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T11:55:16.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-20T17:12:56.640" Score="2" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have to start this off by saying I may have not properly trained my Chihuahua from the get go and it's most likely the reason he's doing this here, but I figured I'd ask for help anyway in case there are some specific pointers that I can follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I have a ~1 year old Chihuahua. My previous dogs (german shepherds and labradors) were so much easier to train and never made mistakes for this long. My Chihuahua always goes to his designated area to pee and poop with no problem. However, usually if I leave the house and come home a few hours later, he's so excited that he pees the minute I greet him. I've sort of found a workaround to this by not greeting him for awhile after I get home. Works well for the most part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now when I get ready to take him outside (which I try to do on a daily basis), he usually pees the minute I tell him to sit (so I can put the leash on him). Very annoying and usually causes me to have to stop and go grab paper towels to clean up. Make him sit again and it's the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just that I don't take my dog out enough or something? I recall reading that some dogs do this and some dogs don't, but that most dogs will break out of this as they grow older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10195" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T10:11:59.707" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T10:11:59.707" Title="Chihuahua ALWAYS gets excited and pees" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18081" CreationDate="2017-08-20T17:41:42.077" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Waxy Secretions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the photos you have provided it looks like a waxy secretion from one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femoral_pore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;femoral pores&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;this is normal&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These secretions are used to attract mates and mark territory, both sexes of some uromastyx species will have pores where as others only the males will. They can cause discomfort if they become too large, giving a warm bath can loosen these secretions if they do not come off on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sexing Mali Uromastyx&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be done similar to bearded dragons or geckos, you will see hemipenal bulges when lifting the tail. I have never tried shining a light through a uromastyx's tail to see however you can give it a shot (&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ojr3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this bearded dragon&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QO0Xw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QO0Xw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; In the photo above you can also see the waxy secretions coming out of the pores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Mali-Uromastyx/em-Breeding/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reptile Magazine&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Determining sex is tricky at first. Both sexes possess femoral pores, and when reared in captivity, coloration is no longer a reliable indicator of sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for hemipenal bulges under the tail is the safest sexing method. Gently arch the tail over the lizard’s back. Study the underside of the tail just behind the vent opening. With females you’ll see the base of two ligaments, one on each side of the vent, angling down toward the tail tip. Just their base is visible, so it will look like a small upside-down V sitting just above each corner of the vent. With males the hemipenes sit on top of these ligaments, largely masking them. In this case, the pattern looks more like two parallel lines sitting just above the vent pointing toward the tail tip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-20T18:10:11.327" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T04:10:03.103" Score="4" ViewCount="621" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 2013 we were told our now 19 yr old male cat has pancreatitis. A traveling vet subsequently came to help me administer a med to him. Even she was not successful and told me: &quot;your cat is old. Don't keep stressing him out by taking to the vet every time he's not well anymore. As long as he's eating and drinking water, he's ok.&quot; Without typing the entire conversation, her point was: he's old, refuses meds and surgery isn't an option for him so just keep him happy. We haven't taken him since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat NEVER meowed prior to 2013. He used to be normal and eat what we gave him. Now he yells like a screaming infant and doesn't like any of the food we give him. He has a few cries and sometimes we think it could be from pain but the majority of the time it seems he's just mad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;THE PROBLEM:&#xA;It's 11:30pm and everyone just woke up for our first round of the nightmare it's become living with a geriatric cat. He will do this all night long (5 - 7 times a night!) and it's a little less during the day. He only licks his food. Refuses to eat dry food. He cries 24/7 to eat but if he liked something at noon, he hates it by 1pm. I've tried expensive foods, a ton of brands, baby food, just meat gravy, heating food, etc. Nothing works for more than a meal and he's just licking his food at best.... Unless it's on another cat's dish! Then he finds a way to tear it up. Yes we have other strays/rescues but we keep them outside or in the basement. My little old man seldom goes out anymore but if he does, he is somehow still the king of the jungle and even our tomcat is a big baby and will run from this little tyrant. He's now skin &amp;amp; bones and I'm so at the end of my rope that I'll share any food I'm eating with him just so he can get nourishment: burgers, eggs, hot dogs, bagels, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love my boy but this has been torture for all. It's like having a crying infant who never grows out of it. We are so stressed when night time comes we now all say: &quot;good night/good luck.&quot; We are so sleep deprived I don't think I will ever catch up...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleepless in Yaphank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10196" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T10:23:54.647" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T00:52:58.250" Title="For 4 years cat refuses to eat same meal twice &amp; yells 24/7" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T05:24:44.167" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;For several months we have a stray cat visiting our house regularly. She was pregnant, and has given birth to 4 adorable kittens on our roof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she was pregnant, we had forbidden her from entering the house by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;picking up and put her outside (mostly done by me)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scare her when she approached the door (mostly done by my parents)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shut the door right when we see her approach the door&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We fed her every few days, but now we don't. However, rarely we still give some leftover (meat or bones) on outside of our terrace. We fed her on the same regular spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after her giving birth, we allowed her to wander around the house in hope she will move the kittens to our house (not on the roof). Combined with current lack of feeding, this result on her sniffing around the kitchen and stealing chicken meat from our kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to solve this problem? How can we establish that we won't feed her outside the regular spot, and we will only do it (maybe) twice a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10197" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T08:51:43.010" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T09:04:26.130" Title="How to train a stray cat where I will feed it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18099" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18114" CreationDate="2017-08-21T08:44:16.180" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shepherd is scratching the upper part of his mouth and the inside of his left ear recently. I want to know, what would be the reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10182" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:40:50.687" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:40:50.687" Title="Why is my German Shepherd scratching their mouth and ear?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T08:47:19.733" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 3 year old desexed greyhound. She was brought up in kennels with other greyhounds for the first two years of her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever we've been out and come home and sometimes when we're getting ready she'll get one of her furry toys and carry it around the house in her mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's always happy and excited when she does this, wagging her tail and she looks so cute. She reminds me of a little children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering why she does this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking for people's opinions, I'm wondering if there's been any research on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pic of our dog with her favourite toys - she had taken them out onto the balcony with her and then brought them back inside when she came back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hba0a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hba0a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T17:23:47.510" Title="Why does my dog love her furry toys?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18098" CreationDate="2017-08-21T09:04:26.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat with newborns needs more food than a pregnant cat. So she will be even more hungry that when she was pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot establish a pattern with the cat that you will only feed her twice a week. The cat is hungry and has no notion of waiting several days between feeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also a cat has no understanding of stealing food, she's trying to scavenge food from wherever she can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely she will bring her kittens down from the roof and bring them into your home, especially not if you've shooed her away. She has put them up there to protect them from predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to bring the kittens into your home, the best thing will be to actually climb onto the roof and bring them down yourselves. Put them in a box with a towel - to keep them together and feeling safe. Place some food in a bowl beside the box - perhaps in the kitchen, where the mum is used to finding food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there will you need to put them in a room with a kitty litter and feed the mother several times a day and keep her with fresh water, as she may take the kittens back out of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your family cannot commit to caring for this cat and her kittens, contact an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=cat%20welfare%20java%20indonesia&amp;amp;oq=cat%20welfare%20java%20indonesia&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.4443j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;animal welfare organisation locally to you&lt;/a&gt;. The mother will need to be desexed and so will the kittens, otherwise the epidemic of strays will continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.australiananimalwelfare.com.au/app/webroot/files/upload/files/Australia%20asks%20%27Who%27s%20for%20cats%27.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Australia Asks “Who’s For Cats?”&lt;/a&gt; by &#xA;Carole Webb &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An estimation from&#xA;  a USA study cites that in 7 years, a female cat and her young can produce 420,000&#xA;  cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T09:04:26.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-21T09:30:26.113" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_fire_belly_newt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fire Bellied Newt&lt;/a&gt; for going on 10 years now.  I've fed her all sorts of frozen and packaged food, she prefers blood-worm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently had an &lt;a href=&quot;https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/35076/what-are-the-black-creatures-on-my-pumpkin-leaves&quot;&gt;Aphid problem with my pumpkin patch&lt;/a&gt; and while reading about them I came across the fact that they are favoured by Newts.  I know that Newts are pretty sensitive so would it be safe to offer these pests as snacks for my Newt and give her something more interesting in her diet or is the risk of contamination/contraction too high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10329/feeding-leopard-gecko-food-from-outside&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; question would suggest not but I've found references from &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/2009/08/17/wild-caught-invertebrates-as-reptile-and-amphibian-food-pesticide-concerns-part-1/#.WZrWECiGOiM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;articles&lt;/a&gt; and zoos which state it's generally pretty safe.  Specifically though, Aphids CAN be the target of pesticides although my personal garden has none and is pretty secluded from public areas.  Is there even a way I can make this safer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="403" LastEditorUserId="403" LastEditDate="2017-08-21T12:48:28.507" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T12:48:28.507" Title="Can I feed wild Aphids to my Fire Bellied Newt" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18097" CreationDate="2017-08-21T14:39:09.393" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advice to not take your cat to the vet was not good advice. Your cat is likely suffering from a combination of physical and mental health conditions. Only your vet can be sure what is happening and can provide instructions on how to make your cat more comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lower Stress Options for Vet Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The least stressful way for a cat to see a vet is to have the vet come to your home. If you can't find a home vet for your area on the internet, call several local clinics to find out if they do home visits (or can recommend someone who does home visits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn't possible, in North and South America, you can look for a [Cat Friendly Practice][1] (other locations may have a [Cat Friendly Clinic][2]). This is a certification program to ensure these veterinary hospitals take several steps to ensure that the visit is as un-stressful as possible, including&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Each Cat Friendly Practice® makes an effort to have a calming    environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A waiting area or experience that reduces stress associated with other pets, or unfamiliar smells and smells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cat Friendly Practices® can also help advise you on ways to reduce stress before and after the visit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, many of my cats feel better if I bring a blanket that smells like home for them to hide in. The vets that I've seen have all been entirely understanding (and some appreciative) that my cat was calm and relaxed hiding under the blanket, and would only expose the parts necessary for the exam as needed. We've even done a echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) with the cat's head completely covered by the blanket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Medication options&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not clear what type of medication you were trying to administer to your cat a few years ago. Many medications come in different types so experimentation may allow you to find something that works for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pills and liquids are the most common types of medication. If neither of those work, sometimes you can mix the medication into the cat's food or wrap it in cheese or a bit of canned tuna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, many medications can be compounded into a dermal gel that you rub into their ears. The dosing can be trickier with this method, but if nothing else works, most people can handle rubbing a cat's ears (this is how we administered an anti-anxiety medication to a feral for awhile).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specific Health Concerns&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, an elderly cat who is not eating is often experiencing kidney failure (which makes them feel very nauseous). This can be managed with medication and subcutaneous fluids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you may want to consider dementia as a possibility. Dementia can show up as loud crying in a cat who was previously very quiet (especially at night), and can be managed by altering the cat's environment (providing more mental enrichment and enclosing the cat in a smaller area of the house so he's less likely to forget where he is). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T14:39:09.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2017-08-21T16:17:40.750" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Variation in Calorie Density&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet food has a pretty wide variation in calorie density (how many calories are in a given 5.5 oz can of food). The cat food nutrition chart assembled by &lt;a href=&quot;http://catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lisa A. Pierson, DVM&lt;/a&gt; shows foods from 50-250 kcal per 5.5 oz can (note that this chart hasn't been updated in 5 years; I just include it too show a range of calorie densities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you need your cat to gain weight and your cat consistently eats the same volume of food each day, you can switch to a more calorically dense food. If you need your cat to lose weight, you can switch to a less calorically dense food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in sorting the above list by calorie density, I don't see any association between cheap/expensive foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wet Food Doesn't Require Carbohydrates for Manufacturing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get dry food to hold its shape when dried, it needs to contain carbohydrates. Even dry food labeled &quot;grain-free&quot; will contain carbohydrates (potatoes and peas are often used).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1885/is-there-benefit-to-feeding-my-cats-cat-food-that-incorporates-fruits-and-vegeta/1897#1897&quot;&gt;Cats cannot digest much plant matter&lt;/a&gt;, so many people try to avoid feeding food high in carbohydrates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are wet foods with high carbohydrate percentages, you can find wet foods with lower carbohydrates than any dry food available (even at the grocery store). For example, the lowest carbohydrate dry food I'm aware of is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000WFEMHK&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Evo (13%)&lt;/a&gt;. Looking at the (old) chart I linked above, many Fancy Feast varieties are in in the 0-5% (dry matter) range for carbohydrate content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Water Question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't have much of a natural thirst drive and instead have evolved to get much of the moisture that they need instead from their prey. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lisa A. Pierson, DVM:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cat's normal prey is ~70% water.  Canned food is ~78% water. Dry&#xA;  food is ~5-10% water.  Cats have a low thirst drive and they do not&#xA;  make up the deficit at the water bowl.  They are designed to get water&#xA;  with their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats on canned food have been shown to consume at least double the&#xA;  amount of total water when compared to dry food-fed cats when all&#xA;  sources of water (food and water bowl) are considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&amp;amp;aid=8404201&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;supporting study&lt;/a&gt; - Effect of dietary water intake on urinary output, specific gravity and relative supersaturation for calcium oxalate and struvite in the cat. Catherine M. F. Buckleya, Amanda Hawthornea, Alison Colyera and Abigail E. Stevensona. British Journal of Nutrition / Volume 106 / Supplement S1 / October 2011, pp S128-S130&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;personal experience&lt;/strong&gt; agrees with these statements. We generally feed wet food, but have some dry food on hand (my husband likes to put a big pile of dry food out at night so we can sleep in without the hungry cat alarm). We would occasionally run out of wet food and just feed dry for a few days until we got to the store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once we got Romeo, we had to change this habit. If he ate about 3 days of dry food, he would get dehydrated and get a block in his urinary tract. A blocked urinary tract is a VERY EXPENSIVE EMERGENCY. If the vet does not treat a blocked cat immediately, the cat's bladder can rupture and the cat can die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we fed a combination of wet and dry, he had frequent urinary problems. Switching to dry for a few days nearly killed him. He's now allowed dry only on Friday nights, and he hasn't had any problems since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-21T16:17:40.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-22T07:48:13.627" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm researching and adding up prices for getting a pet snake, but I have one major issue:&#xA;I keep kosher, and if I put frozen feeder mice in the freezer, that would be unkosher. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried looking for mini-freezers online, but I only find mini-fridges with tiny freezers, and they're even then, they're out of my price range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I store frozen mice if I can't keep them in the house (they can be stored in the garage)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10203" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T07:48:13.627" Title="How To Keep Feeder Mice if I Keep Kosher?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-08-22T13:11:02.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17790" CreationDate="2017-08-22T07:53:32.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the above answer I absolutely agree to: You cannot go cheaper, easier to clean and GOOD FOR THE GUINEA-PIG(!!!!) than a decently constructed C&amp;amp;C cage! To help in the argument with your mom, and speaking as a guinea-pig-owner myself:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;No matter what type of cage you have, you have to clean it regularly, or it smells, yes. The type of cage does not change that fact one bit. If she is opposed to fleece, you can use woodshavings in a C&amp;amp;C-type cage as well, and if you think about the construction just a LITTLE bit, you can make them easily cleanable! Just come up with a decent plan for how to make a full cleaning easy, and that advantage of the wire-botton quickly vanishes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little addendum: you talked about just one guinea-pig? Please, get at least two! They NEED the company of other guinea-pigs, a human can never fully replace those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T07:53:32.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18115" CreationDate="2017-08-22T11:19:25.470" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware that pretty much all dogs eat grass. Some say they puke from it, while mine eats it to soothe her belly when she feels sick. It actually prevents her from puking. My dog will eat pieces of grass pretty much every time we are out and I know dogs who go to a specific place on every walk just to eat grass, so there seem to be plenty of reasons why dogs eat grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've been wondering is&lt;/strong&gt;: When we meet dogs that my dog likes (one specifically) they will run and play and then stand next to each other and eat grass together. This made me wonder if there is a social component to grass eating. I've never seen other dogs eat grass together and it usually is my dog that initiates this behavior.&#xA;As I've now searched the internet for quite a while and came up with nothing on this....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever experienced this behavior in a dog? Is there any evidence that grass eating can have a social component?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T18:43:13.150" Title="Social component to grass eating" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18099" CreationDate="2017-08-22T14:22:57.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As people have mentioned in the comments it does sound like an ear infection and would warrant a vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Signs of an ear infection:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head shaking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head tilt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive scratching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hair loss or scabbing around the ears (from scratching)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foul odor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discharge from the ear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Causes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequent swimming without drying the ears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inadequate ear cleaning (especially in floppy eared dogs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ovrs.com/blog/ear-polyps-pets-pet-owners-need-hear/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Polyps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ear mites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to expect&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the exam the veterinarian will use an otoscope to look inside your dogs ear to check for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inflamation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excess debris&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appearance of the ear drum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the otoscopic exam a sample of the debris from both ears will be taken to view under a microscope. The most common types of infection are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bacterial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fungal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each type of infection needs a specific medication though most veterinary ear medications treat both types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-23T12:01:27.233" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T12:01:27.233" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18113" CreationDate="2017-08-22T18:43:13.150" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not really a social behavior to dogs eating grass per-say what you are seeing is one dog eating grass and the other thinking one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;That's a great idea!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;He's eating it, I want it!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If he thinks it's good maybe I should try it too!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a bonding activity it's just one trying out what his friend is doing. However if you consider dogs eating together in general to be a social event then yes you could consider this to be as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-22T18:43:13.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18116" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-22T20:32:47.913" Score="9" ViewCount="7681" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a little aquarium, which I stocked with live plants to create a sort-of-natural environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bncwo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bncwo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't stocked the tank with any fish at the moment, but I have noticed some tiny little snails. They must have been attached to the plants and I'm fine with them being there for now. What I am a little concerned about is whether these snails can survive &lt;em&gt;out of&lt;/em&gt; the water? I'm currently watching one moving closer and closer to the top of the tank, where there is a small gap to allow air pipes, etc. through. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it likely that these snails will venture out of the water, and into my room, and survive to tell the tale?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can snails found in fish tanks, survive out of water?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: snail is breaching the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10049" LastEditorUserId="10049" LastEditDate="2017-08-22T20:53:39.313" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T05:05:23.763" Title="Are underwater snails strictly bound to 'under' the water?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18038" CreationDate="2017-08-23T01:30:44.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Animals do not look at the sun for extended periods of time - there are no mass blindness events that happens in the world from solar eclipses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there anything special I need to do to prepare my pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nope, the day can resume as per usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will they be anxious about the eclipse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No they will not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What if I'm not at home during the eclipse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will be doing what they normally do when you're not around, having a snooze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On a normal day your pets don't try to look at the sun and therefore don't damage their eyes, so on this day they're not going to do it, either.&quot; - Angela Speck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rob Warren, a spokesman for the University of California–Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, also told The Sacramento Bee that &quot;our ophthalmologists don’t see much need for concern with animals during the eclipse,&quot; and that because animals don't look directly at the sun &quot;on normal days,&quot; they're not expected to during an eclipse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-08-21/is-your-pet-safe-outside-during-the-solar-eclipse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 1&lt;/a&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI9AovFNVUQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 2&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T01:30:44.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18006" CreationDate="2017-08-23T14:10:23.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry food is coated in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_digest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;animal digest&lt;/a&gt; to make it taste better to cats. I've been told it's like the flavoring dust on potato chips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat who has only ever eaten food coated with animal digest often won't be interested in food without this coating. If you want to encourage your cat to eat raw fish, you can buy animal digest to sprinkle on top. The most readily available source of animal digest in the US is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001650OE0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purina's Fortiflora&lt;/a&gt;. I'm not sure how to find it elsewhere (sorry!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that &lt;a href=&quot;https://truthaboutpetfood.com/popular-vet-recommended-supplement-contains-questionable-ingredient/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;some people find animal digest to be a questionable additive&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The legal definition of Animal Digest does not require the ingredient to be sourced from a slaughtered animal. Without this requirement in the legal definition of the pet food/treat/supplement ingredient, Animal Digest can be sourced from animals that have died in the field or a euthanized animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T14:10:23.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5570" CreationDate="2017-08-23T19:24:08.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When introducing new food I've not fed to my fish before I do not feed them for a day (maybe even two days) before I give them the new food. I have a planted tank and I know that if they're really hungry, they'll start nibbling the plants so there is no real risk in skipping feeding for a few days (I actually find skipping a day every fortnight better replicates the natural environment they'd live in anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I introduce the new food, the fish will generally eat it immediately but if they don't (or if they start spitting it out and sucking it back in again) I know that they are just not hungry enough to eat it (assuming the food is appropriate for the fish, which in your case, it is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had much luck feeding a new food alongside an existing food because most of the new food will end up on the tank bottom and fowl the water while the old food is quickly eaten. Once they have less desire to eat, they probably won't want to try anything new. In reference to the age of the fish, I've transitioned a very stubborn male Blue Dwarf Gourami who was 2 years old from brineshrimp to flakes with this method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The survival instinct seems to kick in and they'll eat anything. A hungry fish is a healthy fish so if they're pecking around the tank looking for food, that's a good sign. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an alternative to removing food from the tank for a few days, I've also found that soaking the flakes in water with a garlic clove (or garlic granules) for a few minutes before feeding has been effective at getting them interested in the food. The garlic flavour seems to make them much more interested in all foods including peas which I've previously struggled to get them to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's always best to feed a varied diet if possible because if you run out of one food, your fish will happily accept another. I try to rotate the diet of my Tropical Community Tank from Scallops, brineshrimp and mysis to algae wafers, flakes and peas. Once they've accepted the food, you should find they'll eat it more readily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you have large fish, you can prepare your own fish food which you can pack with far more exciting ingredients and help get them acclimatised for any food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Related Video:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVW1-m8Aic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DIY Fish Food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxlLI2mGlC4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Getting Fish to Eat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-08-23T19:24:08.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-23T23:34:27.770" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog just did something she had never done before. I gave her a treat, but instead of eating it she went outside and started to bury it near our tree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About two months ago she had puppies and even when they're just walking nearby her treat she starts to growl at them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Will she hurt her babies?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why has she started doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10209" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T01:55:23.387" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T13:32:06.320" Title="Burying and growling" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-11T18:41:22.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11788" CreationDate="2017-08-24T01:20:39.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;A turtles shell&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780721693279&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mader Reptile Surgery and Medicine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A turtles shell is covered by a superficial layer of keratin shields called scutes. Both scutes and underlying bone are capable of regeneration. Turtles produce new scutes with each major growth period and retain or shed the scutes from the preceding growth period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your turtles shell looks healthy besides the flakes, you are likely seeing your turtle shed its scutes. With good husbandry you do not need to do anything, the scutes will come off on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T01:20:39.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12260" CreationDate="2017-08-24T03:09:14.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8 yr old long-haired tabby who is very long and skinny. He eats, but is never really very interested in food. He'll always take  a cuddle over grub if he has the choice. He's indoor at night and in and out using a cat door during the day. Occasionally hunts and brings me a bird, but never eats one that I've seen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried every kind and combo of food out there. He has only gained 40 grams since I adopted him 2 months ago. The vet did complete labs and a very thorough exam. She says his blood work and teeth are that of a much younger cat and he's very healthy. I guess he's just a naturally skinny guy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned, a blood and urine test to show liver and kidney function could reassure you. Although they're expensive, it Helped me quit stressing and buying umpteen types of cat food that he didn't really want anyway. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7HoIM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10211" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-24T05:09:26.360" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T05:09:26.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18116" CreationDate="2017-08-24T09:30:30.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I've gathered through analysing the comments is that bladder snails (identified as the species in question), along with other species, may go above the waterline but will &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt; return back into the water on their own accord. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've found elsewhere on the web, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myaquariumclub.com/nerite-snail-crawling-out-of-water-363490.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they do this to feed or lay eggs, or  even just to get out of the water if the quality is particularly poor&lt;/a&gt; (more likely if &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; snails are out of the water as opposed to just the one). Another reason I've found is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/freshwater2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;quite a few species of aquatic snails use lungs to breathe&lt;/a&gt; - and so they are simply going to the surface to do this! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But generally, the snails will return into the water on their own!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10049" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T21:01:14.457" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T21:01:14.457" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2017-08-24T10:47:29.757" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18129" CreationDate="2017-08-24T12:30:39.043" Score="10" ViewCount="25564" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (10 y.o.) goes through this routine every morning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;water is available before I wake up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I feed her a regular portion of dry food (1/3 her daily total)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she drinks lots of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5-10 mins later she throws up between 1 and 3 times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by the time I'm done cleaning up, she is begging for food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can alleviate this by feeding her a quarter portion, waiting an hour and then another quarter portion, then she misses a half portion cause I'm out. Then I feed her two regular portions over the evening, with no throwing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally she'll throw up even after a quarter portion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't seem to come from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/380/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-eating-too-fast-and-throwing-up&quot;&gt;eating wet food too fast&lt;/a&gt;, but rather drinking too much water after a dry breakfast (but not at other times). Is there anything I can change to stop this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10214" LastEditorUserId="10214" LastEditDate="2017-08-29T10:39:00.093" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T15:25:12.117" Title="How can I stop my cat throwing up after drinking water in the morning?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11002" CreationDate="2017-08-24T15:06:13.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Should I use cardboard?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it make sense to hang the bottom of a cardboard box in a cage for a cockatiel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds LOVE boxes, this is a great idea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is cardboard safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardboard is very safe, I make many toys with cardboard boxes (cereal boxes, cookie boxes etc.) - they tend to make very good foraging opportunities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When to not use boxes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some birds can get very defensive with boxes as it they can claim it like a nest - this nesting behavior can trigger egg laying in our females. Chronic egg laying is problematic to their health as it depletes nutrients from their bodies which can result in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/egg-binding-in-birds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Egg binding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Osteoporosis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feather loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poor feather growth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-24T15:06:13.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18145" CreationDate="2017-08-25T02:08:21.953" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought edible Nubz chewy treats and on the bag it says it promotes healthy gums and teeth. How exactly does it do this? Wouldn't it just stain the teeth more? Also, is this actually healthy - should this only be kept as treats or could it be used as a meal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ingredients:&lt;/strong&gt; wheat starch, glycerin, powdered cellulose,dried chicken, lecithin, natural flavor and natural bacon flavor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Guaranteed Analysis:&lt;/strong&gt; crude protein 2%, crude fat 0.5%, crude fiver 8% and moisture 15%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture of the treat:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c8pX2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c8pX2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastEditorUserId="10163" LastEditDate="2017-08-25T19:10:49.193" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:56:23.067" Title="How does chewy treats promote clean teeth and gums" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18124" CreationDate="2017-08-25T07:57:17.573" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has the same problem. I solved the problem by giving my cat a small portion of wet food before I give her the dry food. Wet food with gravy/gel works best for my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the reason for my cat throwing up is that the dry food expands when it gets wet in the belly of the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is OK for cats to throw up once or twice in a week. If it continues for more than a week or happens more than two days in a row, you need to take your cat to a vet. If your cat gets dehydrated, you have to take the cat to a vet right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat continues to vomit daily for more than two days, you have to take it to a vet, as it might be something wrong with your cat that needs treatment. If your cat stop eating for more than 24 hours, it needs medical help right now or like yesterday (the liver might get damaged if your cat doesn't eat for more then 24 hours) and then it might be the eol (end of life).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T22:09:32.740" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T22:09:32.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-25T18:47:35.500" Score="2" ViewCount="5846" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently put two of my mystery snails together (originally separated between 2 tanks). They spent almost an entire day together &quot;piggy backing&quot; each other. Woke up and feed my fish this morning and found an egg sac on my filter (pictured). I'm worried because snails usually lay eggs right above the water line, and the condensation from the tank keeps them moist.... But this will not happen in the position she laid them. I've propped my hood in a manner that might help, but being that far from the surface, will the babies still drop into the water safely? And I'm concerned about them drying up there. I'm trying to avoid removing them to put them in a &quot;paper towel incubator&quot; because it can do alot of damage. What should I do? Will propping the hood (like pictured) be sufficient? If not, what's the best way to remove it without damaging the eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sidenote: I moved the female into this tank because she had shell damage due to soft water, and I wanted to get her into harder water for her she'll as quickly as possible without further malnutrition while I slowly increased gh, so fish weren't shocked. It's only been a week and it's showing improvement, but I'm curious if this will negativity effect the baby snails (if they hatch), or if water quality - not mother's health, is what effects their development? I also cannot increase water level because I have babies in a hang off nursery that hangs low, and they'd have no air at the top if I add water.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nDBZO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nDBZO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;eggs on filter&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kVByH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kVByH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;hood Angle, Green Arrow pointing under hood where eggs are- top of filter used to prop hood&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2018-10-27T11:21:09.160" Title="Mystery Snail laid eggs in a terrible location-, hatchling health help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18137" CreationDate="2017-08-25T19:15:01.337" Score="4" ViewCount="8732" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was neutered about 14 days ago. And the wound healed very well said my vet(about a week ago) and it seemed like it too. However, a couple days ago, right next to the surgical sight (not actually on it), a red blister type thing appeared. And today it's gotten a bit bigger. I've taken a picture and posted it on this post. Is this something to be worried about and needs immediate medical attention? Also, for the last week or so, we've been playing with him and taking him to the park. So could that have aggravated the issue?&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nQMju.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nQMju.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I don't know if this information will help, but when we was neutered, they patched him up with medical glue instead of stitches. He doesn't lick the wound nor pay it any attention. He doesn't seem to be in pain either in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastEditorUserId="10163" LastEditDate="2017-08-25T19:21:48.427" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T00:49:44.770" Title="Blister or infection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18141" CreationDate="2017-08-25T21:27:52.080" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I‌ apply &lt;code&gt;Frontline Combo&lt;/code&gt; on my cat's neck, for a day or so he becomes slow and sort of affectionate! As if a human on opium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This drug is supposed to deter lice and ticks for a month (though my cat still got lice!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ingredients as indicated on the box:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Fipronil 50mg&#xA;(S)-Methoprene 60mg&#xA;Butylhydroxyanisole(E320) 0.1mg&#xA;Excipient QSP 1 pipette 0.5 ml&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what are  biological effects of this drug combo? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does it work in the cat's body and brain? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10216" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-27T16:31:58.260" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T16:31:58.260" Title="Can Frontline Combo cause short term personality changes in my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18130" CreationDate="2017-08-25T21:40:10.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The eggs need to stay in a very humid environment to hatch. I had several batches hatch when deposited on the glass above the water line  with a good glass top. &#xA;If there is more than a tiny ( 2% ?) opening in the top , or heat from a light ( even fluorescent) near the eggs they  won't hatch. I don't remember any problem with the young finding the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-08-25T21:40:10.217" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18134" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-25T21:54:51.003" Score="3" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 13-week old puppy for almost a week now. He's a very good dog but with a lot of very normal puppy qualities (about 50% there on potty training, pretty good at crate-training, chewing on everything until I give him a toy instead, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally (pre-dog) I spend the weekend at my partner's house who also has a dog (three-year-old). Also very well behaved but doesn't do crate-training -- sleeps on the bed, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a solution I'm missing to still stay at her house without accidentally messing up my puppy's crate-training?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I originally thought I'd bring the crate with me, but I don't think her dog would allow a dog to be in a crate overnight without trying to play, etc. And the apartment isn't big enough to separate them unfortunately. (Same with my place.) I could let him sleep on the bed there but he's doing a good job at crate-training and don't want to accidentally mess it up. Any ideas I haven't thought of? Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T06:49:48.363" Title="How Can I Bring My Newly Mid-Crate-Training Puppy to My Partner's House to Sleep?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18139" CreationDate="2017-08-25T23:24:15.220" Score="8" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently took up a night shift job. Since then my cat is behaving strangely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is used to sleeping on my bed by my side. I use her as side pillow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But since I took the job, my mother says she sits all night in front of front door and occasionally meows. And she sniffs my home slippers kept in shoe rack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to make her sleep at night again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-27T16:33:23.983" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T16:33:23.983" Title="My cat is not sleeping at night since I switched to a night shift job" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-26T00:39:46.893" Score="11" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;( &lt;em&gt;Please note we live in a developing country with limited veterinary resources&lt;/em&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our one year old, short hair, domestic calico started having what we thought was chest congestion / respiratory infection a few days ago: rattling sound in chest, wheezing, whistling breath when excited, swallowing difficulty, vomiting portions of meal during eating them (gag reflex triggered while eating). On about third day we took her to vet who did X-ray (attached) to find a mass of some sort in front of chest, pushing at and up on trachea causing it to almost close.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HeiBo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HeiBo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the X-ray we looked over&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet does not think it is an infection as her colours are good, no running nose, and the mass seems very well-formed. Surgery is not a straight-off option as vet does not have scoping equipment so would be opening her up 'blind' and mass seems to be under the ribs and under some blood vessels. Vet is ready to do surgery if we insist, but does not think she will survive the act of being put under. Vet has commented that if this is a tumour it is very very strange for a cat so young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet gave her a shot of steroids and antibotics (on the off chance it is infection-based) at 3.30 pm yesterday, a 24 hour dose. By 9 pm she was breathing normally, with no more wheezing. She did vomit last night but kept her breakfast in this morning. Still, no wheezing this morning but as morning has progressed we can see that breathing is a little more troublesome than last night and she is opting to rest more than last night, I am assuming this is because the steroids are wearing off. I am going to ask vet this evening if we can get another cocktail injection tomorrow morning, to keep the momentum going if it is indeed infection-based. I'm thinking now we should have also done blood tests to see if body was responding to an infection at all, before we started her on antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a theory (which might be way off): about 5 months ago she jumped off of our balcony as she was afraid of some visitors we had in the house. We could not anticipate she was going to make this decision, she raced out the door and leaped off in a split second. Our balcony is one floor above ground level. On her way down her neck and chest slammed into the stairs' railing. In the hours/days that followed she showed absolutely zero sign of pain, discomfort or injury as a result of this, and as she is a very very nervous skittish cat, we decided not to take her to the vet to investigate if there were any resulting issues. Could it be possible that a fragment of bone or cartilage in her chest dislodged and embedded itself in any surrounding tissue, and has been building up scar tissue around itself? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I appreciate any other ideas, feedback and suggestions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10218" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:08:20.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:08:20.997" Title="Does anyone have experience with: unknown mass in cat's chest?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18131" CreationDate="2017-08-26T00:49:44.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;they patched him up with medical glue instead of stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would double check this as the more modern protocol for closing incision are internal absorbable sutures with an outer layer of medical glue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, for the last week or so, we've been playing with him and taking him to the park. So could that have aggravated the issue? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7-10 days is pretty sufficient for rest with dog castrations however we tend to say 14 to be extra safe. Dogs can get &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seroma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;seromas&lt;/a&gt; post-surgery from too much exercise or rough housing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this something to be worried about and needs immediate medical attention?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would visit your veterinarian (non-emergency) as typically they give you a free exam post-operation to make sure everything heals nicely. I personally believe it's a suture reaction to the knot of the suture pattern, we see this from time to time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T00:49:44.770" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18138" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18143" CreationDate="2017-08-26T04:41:35.497" Score="8" ViewCount="805" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pigeon in my neighbourhood has hurt her wing (see picture below). I would like to take her to a vet and see if they can treat her. If I try to catch her in a cage or a net, she will desperately try to escape by flapping her wings as a natural instinct. In the process, she may hurt herself even more, and there is a risk of the wing getting ripped off completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pigeon regularly comes to my balcony to eat bird food (seeds, foodgrains, etc.) and drink water from a bowl that I place there. She usually comes alone, but quite often comes in a group with about 10 other pigeons. Hence, the pigeon is not exactly my &amp;quot;pet&amp;quot;, but I am not a complete stranger either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to help her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2l2oIm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2l2oIm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pigeon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10219" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T22:43:31.453" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:43:31.453" Title="How can I safely catch an injured semi-domesticated pigeon?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18135" CreationDate="2017-08-26T10:44:29.310" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can take your t-shirt that you have used for the day and put it on the cat's bed. This makes your cat more comfortable as your cat can smell you even if you are not there in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used this solution for many years when I worked in the night and had several cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Some people say cats do ignore their owners but they don't as you will see if you try this little tip of mine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-08-26T12:31:29.770" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T12:31:29.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18132" CreationDate="2017-08-26T14:40:13.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I contacted &lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.merial.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Merial&lt;/a&gt; with your question and this is what the response was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you for your email regarding FRONTLINE© Combo.&#xA;  In answer to your question, following application as directed, FRONTLINE® Combo rapidly dissolves in the lipid(fat)-rich structures of the skin. It then spreads to all areas of the body surface by diffusion along a concentration gradient, away from the application site, through surface lipid (fat) within 24 hours.  This process is aided by the normal body movement of animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fipronil (the active ingredient in FRONTLINE® Combo) concentrates in the sebaceous glands in the skin. The sebaceous glands constantly secrete sebum (the oils found on skin and hair), and with this, Fipronil is secreted to coat the skin and hair. This ongoing secretion following application explains the long term activity against fleas and ticks that FRONTLINE Combo provides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;FRONTLINE® Combo has a non-systemic mode of action, which means that it kills parasites on contact rather than via the pets’ blood, and so they do not need to bite or feed on pets in order to be killed.  I’m not sure how this would make your cats behaviour change.&#xA;  May I suggest you discuss your concerns with your veterinary surgeon who may be able to assist you further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put this into layman terms, this medication should not penetrate the blood-brain barrier to cause any personality changes or psychedelic effects as it does not go into the pets blood stream - it stays in the layers of the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This drug is supposed to deter lice and ticks for a month (though my cat still got lice!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have an infestation in your house or high volumes of fleas outside ( I know southern USA has a major problem with fleas) you will still see the occasional one on your pet, the medication will kill it over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T14:40:13.773" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11002" CreationDate="2017-08-26T14:59:41.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar answer. We have African Grays ; they love to spend most of the day shredding flat cardboard.  We put a small box in the females cage, she soon stated laying eggs which involved screaming so we removed the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T14:59:41.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18138" CreationDate="2017-08-26T21:02:26.043" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she is too injured to escape the best method to catch her is to use a towel. You do not risk injuring her further as you would with a net - their wings and legs tend to get caught and tangled in the netting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/os6Pb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/os6Pb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note: I am aware the bird in the picture is not a pigeon but the method is the same.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have the bird you can place her in a box and bring her to a wildlife rehab or local veterinarian for further guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;IMPORTANT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When restraining a bird be sure to not apply too much pressure to the body, this will prevent the bird from breathing and could result in death. Their respiratory system is much more complicated and delicate than ours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8dtSq.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8dtSq.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-08-26T21:02:26.043" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-26T21:18:14.173" Score="2" ViewCount="714" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is very much into bunting he will run full steam ahead when he see's me to come say hello which is often accompanied by bunting licking and biting my nose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes need to grap him by the scruff of the neck to get him to let go and then I put him on the floor and ignore him for a little while until he can return and cuddle nicely- sometimes needs to be repeated multiple times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also has a tendency to play rough and will Bite and scratch my arms and legs as though they are his prey saying no or yelping in pain doesn't seem to deter him and if I take him off he treats it like a game and comes back even harder. I know he's a kitten and mostly just wants to play and he does have toys to play with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall he is extremely social and outgoing and loves attention I love him to bits but could do without the teeth marks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10221" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-27T05:09:19.430" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T13:26:33.347" Title="Kitten biting and scratching me when playing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18127" CreationDate="2017-08-27T06:31:36.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;nubs&quot; or &quot;rounded spike things&quot; on this treat is contributing the most when it comes to THIS SPECIFIC TREAT. The idea is that while your dog chews on it, the nubs rub up against and gently massage the teeth, gums and cheeks. The different height between the grooves of the nubs and smooth parts of this bone will help reach parts of the teeth that a 100% smooth bone won't (imagine dog biting into it, teeth landing in between 2 nubs, dog gets more surface area of the treat rubbing on teeth than if it were just smooth or flat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, powdered cellulose is, in my opinion an &quot;incredibly low quality ingredient&quot; but it is as least good for one thing, it's an emulsifier. It is a low grade fiber source that is unnecessary for digestion if your dog is on a well balanced diet BUT it does add to the texture and tartar scrape-ability of this bone. This bone sounds like a tasty treat version of a &quot;dental bone&quot;, maybe one I'd only recommend as a go-to last resort over other options (not wanting or able to brush your dogs teeth BUT your dog is also extremely picky and at least you can get your dog to chew on this?). It is definitely a &quot;treat&quot; not a necessary dietary supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other ingredients listed are not known as being &quot;good for teeth&quot; but a lot of extra ingredients are added to dental treats, and the treat still serves it's purpose anyways. Wheat starch is specifically bad for tartar build up, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T22:56:23.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:56:23.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18134" CreationDate="2017-08-27T06:49:48.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could consider getting a smaller travel carrier, one just big enough for your pup to lay down or stand up in? You could get a soft sided carrier and place it on the bed beside you when it's time to go to bed. If the other dog in the house is not allowed on furniture then it knows better than to jump on furniture and get near the puppy. If the older dog IS allowed on furniture, they could still smell each other, lay next to each other, OR be separated by bed without having to shut doors and close off space to the rest of the house (puppy with you, grown dog on other bed if there is a 2nd bed) OR separated by human, a dog on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T06:49:48.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18138" CreationDate="2017-08-27T09:06:23.323" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is easy to catch it in the dark, as many birds are completely blind at night; it doesn't need to be totally dark. Humans have better night vision than many types of birds, so at night one can simply grab the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister has had several types of birds, and when they escaped from their cages it was often enough just to turn off the lights, take them from where they were, and put them back in the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T22:40:02.463" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:40:02.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-27T11:34:31.833" Score="9" ViewCount="11483" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 year old tomcat was recently diagnosed with diabetes, with a blood glucose level of 30 (very high).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet started him on 1.5 units of Insulin (U-40 syringe) a day. After a week his glucose level remained - even increased to 31. The vet put him on 2 units twice daily. A week later, his BG was up to 32. It was getting worse!! So now he is on 3 units twice daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I give him a shot at 7 in the morning with a sachet of food. He has access to dry food all day while we are out at work. He's always hungry when my partner gets home at 4, and gives him a pouch then. I then give him another shot at 7pm with a half pouch of food. Then he gets hungry around 10.30 and we give him another pouch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet probably doesn't know that this is his feeding cycle - should I be altering the timing of his shots in accord with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:53:19.747" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T13:53:19.747" Title="What is the recommended food and insulin timing for a diabetic cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18144" CreationDate="2017-08-27T13:26:33.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your kitten is just wanting to play. He has not understood that rough playing after a level should not be done. This is usually taught my mother and siblings. Perhaps she has been separated from them too early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent this rough playing I can come up with following points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats are by nature predators and they react o movement. Don't take away your nose, hand, feet, etc. quickly. The movement will encourage the cat to play even rougher. Just freeze and try moving slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't force the cat away. It is similar to litter mate giving a kick to force her sibling away. The cat will like it and again come at you harder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever the cat plays rough stop the play and make her understand that fun is over. But if she resumes playing without the roughness part,&#xA; again start playing and don't forget to give her a treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never yell at the cat. She will not understand the reason of punishment and will get confused. Slowly she will learn to fear you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever the cat bites and you feel pain, giving a painful sound, try to sound like cat in pain. This is how litter mates express pain and asks sibling to stop the rough play.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy the cat plentiful toys so that she can self entertain herself when you are not there to play with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that this playful tendency in cats is prominent only when they are kitten. It weans away as she reaches adulthood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-08-27T13:26:33.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-27T15:02:30.470" Score="5" ViewCount="5860" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a planted tropical community tank which has a layer of roughly 3cm of fine sand substrate. I've read a lot about anaerobic gas build-up in the substrate where it is not regularly turned over and moved. When I shift the sand I get very small bubbles rising. This has been happening for a while and it doesn't seem to have a negative impact on my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/8-general-planted-tank-discussion/86199-anaerobic-bacteria-deep-substrate.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;various&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/encyclopedia/anaerobic-substrate&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;different&lt;/a&gt; sources that anaerobic gas (Hydrogen Sulphide) can prove toxic to fish but I've so far, not found this happen in practice (my fish are fit and healthy). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the 'solutions' to this problem, suggested with varying levels of controversy across the internet, include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having a thin layer of substrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using gravel not sand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularly disturbing the sand to stop the build up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing water changes to handle the toxic nature of the gas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get snails to stir up the sand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these necessarily seem like a perfect solution. In a planted tank, I rely on having enough substrate to create a stable foundation for the plants. Compost/sand definitely seems to grow them best. Gravel lets us easily stir through it to remove any of detritus that is underneath but doesn't hold plant roots well (at least in my experience). I also have some snails which live in the substrate and I would assume that they help stir the substrate up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all this in mind: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to prevent anaerobic gas build-up in a planted aquarium, assuming it is in issue?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jo3HC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image of gas bubbles/snails in substrate&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T19:44:53.757" Title="How to reduce anaerobic gas build-up in aquarium substrate?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-27T18:57:22.410" Score="6" ViewCount="3215" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 3-4 month old stray kitten. She's fed, loved, played with and taken to the vet. Today, my door was cracked open for 5 seconds and she ran out into the the woods. My husband and I tried looking for her, it's been over 4 hours. What are her chances of coming home and or surviving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: kitten has returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10223" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T21:49:34.013" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T21:49:34.013" Title="My kitten ran away, what are the chances of her coming home and/or surviving?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-28T01:30:52.603" Score="5" ViewCount="5827" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was changing the sheets today and as usual Toby likes to get under the sheets and stays for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was teasing him on top of the sheet and all if a sudden he starting yowling. I lifted the sheet and he was hissing, his ear were back and I thought he was going to attack me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He ran out of the bedroom, hit his head on the hall door and kept running. Be spent most if the day under the bed, and when he was out he would hiss and run everytime he saw me. I am heartbroken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will he get over this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10225" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T07:03:36.040" LastActivityDate="2019-11-30T11:51:33.270" Title="I scared my cat today and he hates me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5893" CreationDate="2017-08-28T01:56:45.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is a little late but I would recommend not using the pine shaving bedding. I have two skinny boys that I got from 2 different places that both advised me to use paper bedding because the shavings can be irritating/scratchy on their skin so maybe that would be causing the dry spots because of the way it rubs?? I'm not sure but I figured I would put that out there :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10226" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T01:56:45.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18151" CreationDate="2017-08-28T08:22:01.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely your cat is really close to where you live, but really scared. When you can't see it, it is very likely alive and well, but scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look under dense bushes and in small spaces. You will find it, but it can take some time or even a day or two. You'll also want to take a look up in the trees, too; it might be hiding there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also wait until it gets dark and use a flashlight to look for the reflections of your cat's eyes, as your cat might be too scared to come out to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T21:47:05.693" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T21:47:05.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-28T10:58:40.233" Score="0" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a kitten a while ago. She was about 8 weeks. We had her litter box downstairs but eventually moved it upstairs because she figured out how to go upstairs and was spending all her time up there. Fast forward a few weeks and she was doing great. She became less fearful in our house and loves attention and playing. All of a sudden she started pooping in our dining room. It is not daily but pushing weekly. When I catch her, after it happens (once we smell it), I put her over by it to look/smell it, then take her to her litter box in the bathroom and shut the door. What more can I do to stop this from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10228" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-28T16:27:00.580" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T16:27:00.580" Title="Why is my kitten pooping downstairs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-08-28T16:25:21.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18374" CreationDate="2017-08-28T13:41:27.803" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live on the 1st floor. Every morning, our newspaper boy throws the newspaper to our balcony. And my cat gets frightened and runs away to hide under bed. She has developed a certain phobia towards the newspaper in general and fears it even when it is in my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking the newspaper boy to come and deliver the newspaper at our doorstep is not an option as he does not have time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to train my cat so that she no longer fears the newspaper being thrown to the balcony?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:29:34.527" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:29:34.527" Title="My cat is getting frightened when newspaper boy throws in newspaper" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-28T14:25:43.917" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is admittedly similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1772/how-can-i-prevent-my-puppy-from-chewing-on-objects&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; but with some differences that I wanted to see if folks had any more specific advice on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 13-week old likely Shepherd mix puppy who's definitely a chewer. To be expected! We play as much as possible and I think I do a good job of getting him exercise (before he's finally done with his vaccinations at least), so hopefully I'm doing everything I can there. Also since he's teething I'm buying him a bunch of toys that should hopefully help him get through that like Kongs and stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time he chews on something he shouldn't, I say &quot;no&quot; and/or &quot;drop it&quot; and then give him a toy to actually chew on. When he plays with his toys on his own, I want to give him as much positive reinforcement as possible so he knows those are the right ones. &quot;Problem&quot; there is he's &lt;em&gt;insanely&lt;/em&gt; food-motivated. (Which is mostly great!) But if I give him even a tiny treat he will forget entirely about the toy and stop playing with it altogether in hopes that he can do something for another piece of kibble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything I'm missing here that I could try to help him know he's doing the right thing beyond saying &quot;good boy,&quot; giving him the treat, and watching him forget what he was doing before entirely? Unfortunately/understandably he doesn't mimic behavior as quickly as when it's just verbal positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastActivityDate="2017-08-28T14:25:43.917" Title="How Can I Reward My Puppy for Chewing His Toys Instead of Everything Else When He's so Food-Motivated?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18178" CreationDate="2017-08-28T16:50:32.493" Score="2" ViewCount="8839" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has a pug-chihuahua cross. I am moving in to her place and I am a light sleeper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog has always slept in bed with her.  We have now trained her to sleep in her own doggy bed. It went easily, and when we say &quot;go to bed&quot; she runs right to her bed and lays down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But she snores and breathes funny, and sometimes licks loudly at night, and it still disrupts me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we try to move her out of the room and close the door, she will cry indefinitely. Like easily for like 4 hours straight. She can definitely cry longer than we can handle, so I have not been able to determine how long she is willing to cry for. She seems to have separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where do we go from here. I wonder if I could leverage the fact that she clearly know where her bed is and when to go to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could I slowly move the bed further and further towards the door and eventually out of the room?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We need to deal with her separation anxiety so she can sleep in the living room. We already have another small dog who is sleeping in the living room already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8848" LastActivityDate="2018-12-15T12:28:36.880" Title="Getting dog to sleep in another room" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18170" CreationDate="2017-08-29T08:03:04.790" Score="3" ViewCount="1505" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 15 years old and is not aggressive (she's very coward) but she often makes strong eye contact with everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common case is when she has just eaten, I look at her, she stops, sits on her back paws and look into my eyes for dozens of seconds (even few minutes sometimes), silently (while she usually talks a lot). What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that when a cat had such a behavior it was a kind of signe of defiance or threat, but she looks relaxed, I'm a bit lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10232" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T14:08:15.147" Title="Why does my cat make strong eye contact?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-29T09:14:11.817" Score="6" ViewCount="1812" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son was watching a video of a snake giving birth to live young. I was under the impression that reptiles laid eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do snakes give birth to live young or lay eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T01:13:49.873" Title="Do snakes give birth to live young or lay eggs?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18165" CreationDate="2017-08-29T09:55:31.610" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In hot climates most snakes lay eggs, but in colder climates, like Scandinavia, snakes keep their eggs inside their body until they hatch, thus giving birth to live snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;common adder/viper&lt;/a&gt; gives birth to live young. All this takes a lot of energy so they only get offspring once every two years. This type of reproduction is called '&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovoviviparity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ovoviviparous&lt;/a&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another type of ovoviviparous snake is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronella_austriaca&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smooth snake&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only egg laying snake we have here (in Norway) is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_snake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;grass snake&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;I do have this snake in and around my garden pond; they live close to water&#xA;and eat frogs, salamanders, snails, mice and other small animals. It is interesting to see the baby snakes eat tadpoles, as tadpoles are larger than their heads.&#xA;This type of snake is not venomous but they can release a really bad discharge from their anal glands.&#xA;Please trust me when I say it smells bad (it is the same smell as a skunk, though stronger). Soap and water will not remove this smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next year I will post some pictures of this snake, as it is too late in the year now; the baby snakes have left my area. They are darker than the ones in the photos I have provided in the links.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T01:10:41.020" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T01:10:41.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18153" CreationDate="2017-08-29T10:42:21.153" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's clearly a bit freaked out but I would say that he'll almost certainly get over it and you don't need to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to be as non-threatening as possible, be affectionate and give him treats but as much as you can let him come to you. If he wants to hide let him hide because that will be making him feel safe. Also, I know this is easier said than done but as best you can you need to be relaxed around him, otherwise your stress will be communicated to him which could make him more stressed out and wary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If behavioral changes persist for more than say 48 hours it might be worth a trip to the vet as there could be an underlying medical issue causing him pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T10:42:21.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18124" CreationDate="2017-08-29T10:56:54.807" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdote isn't evidence, but my old lad (11 years old at the time) started throwing up every morning after eating dry food and drinking immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turned out to be the early signs of kidney disease. I would get your cat checked out by a vet -- catch it early and you can prolong their life substantially (old lad lived to nearly 20).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://felinecrf.org/appetite_loss_nausea_vomiting.htm#vomiting_mornings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease&lt;/a&gt; for more detail, as recommended by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm#reviews_awards&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a number of vets&lt;/a&gt;.  Of particular interest may be the statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CKD cats often vomit in the morning. This tends to happen because if a cat goes a long time without eating (such as overnight), excess stomach acid has more time to attack the stomach lining and cause vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-20T13:55:20.317" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T13:55:20.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17615" CreationDate="2017-08-29T12:13:18.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a difficult situation and sadly there is no real one-size-fits-all approach, and there definitely isn't an overnight fix. There are some things that you can try though and you might want to experiment with them to see if you can find what works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get a pheromone diffuser&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various companies market these and with different messaging but they are all essentially the same thing - they contain a synthetic version of CAP which is the pheromone that mother cats secrete after giving birth, it's supposed to encourage the cats to feel safe and secure and help reduce conflict behaviors. They aren't a cure-all and different cats will react differently but I've never seen a cat react badly to one and in my experience they can help take the edge off the tensions. Personally I use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feliway.com/uk/New-Feliway-Friends&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway Friends&lt;/a&gt;  and have seen good results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Redirect Milo's play instincts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you see Milo trying to be playful try diverting his attentions on to a toy (a fishing rod type toy is ideal for this sort of thing but you should prioritize the types that he likes). This has two benefits - firstly it means that Milo can get his play urges satisfied without having to bother Roxy and secondly it can (over time) encourage Roxy to join in. All the better if you can play with him somewhere where Roxy can observe from a safe spot because after giving her some time to get comfortable with watching him play you can start encouraging her with the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play with Roxy alone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can help build her confidence - and the more confident she is feeling the less likely she will be to freak out at Milo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure Roxy has a a &quot;safe&quot; spot in the house&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's probably already found one or more but if you can make sure that she always has somewhere she can retreat to if she needs to - and if she has gone there following Milo bothering her then try and keep him away as much as possible - take him to another room and give him some fuss or play with him so she can get a breather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give it time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat's can take a surprisingly long time to truly establish their relationships - they are solitary animals by nature so socializing with others of their kind doesn't always come quickly. And with Roxy's background there's probably a lot of quite heavily ingrained experience that teaches her to be wary of other cats (especially bigger ones)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Share the love&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both are present try giving them alternating fuss - when you're fussing a cat you will be picking up their scent on your hands so when you then fuss the second cat they will pick up on this scent and, over time, associate that scent with nice things (i.e. receiving fuss)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give it time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research suggests that cats have &quot;episodic&quot; memories similar to humans so what you need to do is build up a series of &quot;happy&quot; memories in Roxy that are associated with yourself and Milo and overtime this will start to lessen the impact of her older memories of other cats == &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; She'll probably always be wary of &quot;strangers&quot; but I think you can probably get her to accept &lt;em&gt;Milo&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T12:13:18.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18164" CreationDate="2017-08-29T14:08:15.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she seems relaxed then it's probably nothing more than her just watching you.. both of my two do this at points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try returning the eye contact and give her some slow blinks and see if she returns them, if she does then that's a strong sign of trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-08-29T14:08:15.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18176" CreationDate="2017-08-30T00:27:58.957" Score="4" ViewCount="3165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a six month old cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is here are too many stray dogs and they kill cats. So I think letting my cat having sharp nails will give her advantage if it comes to fighting with a dog for life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do get occasional cuts but I can tolerate it as long as my cat is well prepared for danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But does the cat herself face any problem with big nails like problem walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are not too many things at home where my cat can scratch nails to keep them at size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-30T16:20:29.573" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T20:38:33.980" Title="Is it necessary to keep a cat's nails trimmed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-30T02:30:45.617" Score="2" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad is a veterinarian, and he refuses to put an e-collar on our cat, who's scratching her throat and ears (both front and back) so badly she's reached flesh. We tried putting ointment on her but she hates it and licks it all off in minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, I respect his word as a vet but I don't want my cat to die because of  &lt;em&gt;allergies&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10235" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-30T03:03:15.907" LastActivityDate="2020-01-17T03:03:15.620" Title="Is it true that it's unsafe to put an e-collar on a cat? Are there any alternatives to it that cats would find more comfortable?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-30T03:48:55.913" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly I'm scared if they get stuck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need a way to get them off really quickly, without harming them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10236" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-08-30T06:43:39.010" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T06:43:39.010" Title="How can I get a hermit crab off me, safely, once it pinches?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18171" CreationDate="2017-08-30T08:26:06.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not necessary - cats are more than capable of taking care of their claws on their own - essentially this is what scratch posts etc are used for. Trimming the claws is purely a human convenience to avoid them doing too much damage to us or the furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the wider issue of the danger to the cat, obviously I don't know your personal circumstances would it not be more sensible to keep her as an indoor cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T08:26:06.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18171" CreationDate="2017-08-30T10:10:58.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young cats that regularly go outside, or indoor cats that are happy to use a scratching post regularly (so that the length and sharpness of their claws is naturally controlled) may not need their claws trimming, other than perhaps to remove the very (sharp) end to reduce the risk of them hurting you or damaging furnishings by getting tangled with them. Trimming the sharp end also reduces the risk of a claw scratch becoming infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'll add that in my experience most indoor cats need help cotrolling the length of their claws, even the most enthusiastic users of scratching post and less official alternatives).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats whose claws don't get worn down naturally, including elderly cats whose claws may not retract so well and/or may overgrow if left alone are more likely to need their claws trimmed. In addition, some cats (like my current pair and their predecessor) cannot retract their claws at all, and benefit from having them trimmed regularly (I know when it's time when I can hear them tip-tapping across a hard floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easiest to train a cat to tolerate having their claws clipped when they're young, which may be another reason to do it regularly before they actually need it. And it gives you an opportunity to check that there's no damage to the foot (important for outdoor cats who can acquire cuts and nailbed infections).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/should-you-trim-your-cats-claws.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Should You Trim Your Cats Claws&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-health-grooming-care-trimming-nails-claws-ask-a-vet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ask a Vet: How to Trim Cat Claws, and Why You Should&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastEditorDisplayName="user10093" LastEditDate="2017-08-30T10:16:43.250" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T10:16:43.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18171" CreationDate="2017-08-30T13:47:52.770" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Indoor Cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people will cut their cats nails to prevent damage to furniture, children or other pets in the household. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Young Cats&lt;/strong&gt; will maintain their nails by themselves through scratching and do not require trimming unless for the reasons above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exception would be defective claws or &quot;mittens&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GPMSm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GPMSm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have a much harder time maintaining these nails as sometimes they come out deformed or wedged too closely in between toes. These should be checked regularly as they can grow into the paw pads, this is painful and if untreated ends up with infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Senior Cats&lt;/strong&gt; need regular checks as with arthritis developing in their joints they cannot keep those nails nice and tidy. We see these types of nails often in our senior cats (pictured below) as most people do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ad1Em.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ad1Em.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see this is very painful and will cause problems walking. You can check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/17938/7526&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; on helping senior cats manage arthritis. Wikihow has a very good article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Trim-Your-Cat%27s-Nails&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;trimming nails&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Outdoor Cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoor cats need their nails for defense so I do not recommend trimming if she goes outdoors. With the exception of problematic nails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Choosing the Right Scratching Post&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A scratching post should be taller than a fully stretched cat for optimal use, there should be more than one and each with different textures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/PETCO/2365388-right-1?$ProductList-medium$&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cardboard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9a/f6/91/9af691805ee4c55879cbf87b9414022b--cat-scratching-post-posts.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Carpet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/7eaa4ea9-4297-4d6d-8ca4-8b4fd3e44133_1.e722915d08099216aab5a52f633f3a80.jpeg?odnHeight=450&amp;amp;odnWidth=450&amp;amp;odnBg=FFFFFF&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sisal rope&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spraying or sprinkling catnip on the posts or cardboard will entice your cat to use them instead of your furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uyoB3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uyoB3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-08-30T20:38:33.980" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T20:38:33.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18172" CreationDate="2017-08-30T13:57:43.220" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Step # 1&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats allergies are that severe we really need to figure out whats causing the problem and to soothe the inflammation in the meantime. This will have to be done with your DVM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step  # 2&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't put plastic e-collars on our cats instead we have a softer solution - we use EZ Soft E-collars, they are made with fabric so the cat doesn't feel the impact of banging into walls. It is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; dangerous to wear these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LuHGq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LuHGq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also trim your cats nails to reduce the damage she does to herself, keep her indoors as well to reduce risk of infection from open wounds and to keep her safe (less defense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note: E-collars are for temporary protection and are not to be substituted for treatment.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T13:57:43.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18162" CreationDate="2017-08-30T15:06:37.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try for an answer with the approaches I feel might work for you. Generally it might be helpful to not let the dog go into the sleeping room at all (day and night)l if that's an option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approach 1 (Barrier):&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Leave the bedroom door open at night but do not let your dog enter the bedroom. If your dog is persistent on going in you can practice this during the day so you don't lose too much sleep over it. Other than that blocking the door with an obstacle the dog can't pass should help you keep her out. Leaving the door open can be a permanent solution, if you feel comfortable with it. Otherwise try to close the door a little more every few days until it is completely closed. The idea here is that you don't cut all stings loose immediately and the dog can observe you (while being in another room) and realize that she doesn't miss out on anything when she isn't with  you during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approach 2 (comfort):&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;You can leave a piece of clothing, a toy, etc. with the dog, either in her bed or next to her bed. The point here is that your scent is very present even when you are not, which helps your dog feel comfortable and protected. In addition I would place the bed somewhere where the dog is able to observe most of your home, especially your bedroom door. This way she can't &quot;miss&quot; you leaving the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approach 3 (routine):&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Try to have as much of a bedtime routine as possible. This will reassure your dog that yes, you will leave but you will also be back in the morning. Leaving for bed shouldn't be an unexpected twist of events for your dog.&#xA;My personal routine with my dog is to go on a short walk, get myself ready for bed, tell my dog to lay down in her bed (if she doesn't already), pet her a bit and say &quot;goodnight&quot;, then I leave for bed. It works well for us. You'd obviously have to find your own routine that works for everyone in your household.&#xA;Other than this, observe the routine that you have or don't have at the moment. Is your dog fine until you close the door or is she nervous beforehand? You should adjust your routine to make sure the dog is fine with you leaving in the first place (meaning your dog is relaxed before you close the door). Maybe make giving your dog something to chew on part of the routine if you feel it will help your dog cope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approach 4 (&quot;casual&quot; separation anxiety):&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Of course you can also treat this like &quot;casual&quot; separation anxiety and try to work through it like that. This issue is widely discussed, so I won't lay the whole training out here as it isn't an exact answer to the specific question seeing as your dog is generally fine being left alone. &#xA;View &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/8152/10126&quot;&gt;this example&lt;/a&gt; to train being alone with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously these approaches can be combined and there is not a general solution to this. You just have to find out what works best for you and your dog. This is nothing but a collection of ideas to help you find a way to cope with the problem. The most important thing is that you are comfortable with the approach you are taking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh and as always, rewarding desired behaviour is good no matter how you work on this with your dog and giving in to the dog whining (or whatever other bad behavior she might come up with) is never a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2017-08-30T15:37:55.473" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T15:37:55.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="673" CreationDate="2017-08-30T21:03:15.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can give dogs Infections like Staph and MRSA especially if their skin is compromised. ..I.e. Scrape, hot spot, allergy skin suffers, I/V ports, wounds ect. We are a host when we touch other dogs or unsanitized surfaces and objects that have MRSA or staph. If another dog has any break in their skin and we touch it without washing our hands or wearing gloves we can give it to them. Its the chain of infection and we need to begin breaking it. Its not called zoonosis when it is from my human to pet it is called REVERSED Zoonosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10242" LastActivityDate="2017-08-30T21:03:15.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-30T21:12:33.060" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed this strange behavior in my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I give her food in a bowl she stars eating but stops when there is a small amount of food still left. Then she keeps looking at me as if wanting more food. I point her to the food left in the bowl. She sniffs the food but doesn't eat it and again starts looking at me. She doesn't even stand up and keeps sitting in front of the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now when I give her some more food, she again starts eating but stops when there is some amount of food left in the bowl. Again she starts looking at me as if she she wants some more food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process continues for 3 to 4 times until she has satisfied her hunger and then walks away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any idea regarding the reason of this strange behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2017-08-31T10:35:19.143" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T10:35:19.143" Title="My cat does not eat if there is little food in the bowl but starts eating again if I fill up the bowl with more food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-08-30T21:16:34.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-31T06:27:41.880" Score="3" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, my turtles are not active at all. They appear to be floating on the surface, completely motionless. I generally change water in that case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I also think that not giving them proper ventilation with fresh air and sunlight could also be making them inactive. I am not sure; is it really an issue? If yes, I will have all of them to bask in shaded light near window every day. If no, how should I handle this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: Added more info.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light source in aquarium - CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) 8 watts, only one lightbulb.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aquarium size is 24 x 36 x 24.5. There is gravel at the bottom of aquarium and some plastic flowers for visual aesthetics. The turtles like to sit on them as well. I don't know how they do, but they can spend hours sitting on them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Filter - two submersible filters. They generally like to sit on top of the filter :). Maybe they want to get close to the CFL attached on top of aquarium. Filters looks like this:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8I1mZ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8I1mZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One air bubbler - with air stone stripped, so that mosquitoes can't sit on surface and lay eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What kind of turtles they are - I don't know, but you can see pictures in my other question here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9295/red-flesh-coming-out-my-turtles-tail&quot;&gt;Red flesh coming out my turtle&amp;#39;s tail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T01:27:33.320" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T01:27:33.320" Title="Do aquarium turtles require basking every day?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18190" CreationDate="2017-08-31T07:49:44.837" Score="4" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 13 years old and during a visit to my vet, the vet told me there was a strange sound from her heart, it was not the normal click sound from the heart valve (s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I did think there was something wrong with her heart as it did take a little longer before her breath slowed to normal when she lays down to rest.&#xA;Her breath frequency is somewhere around 60-70 bpm for 2-3 minutes before it slows to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took 3 different vets before it was confirmed to be something wrong. The vet told me not to worry but I still do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This condition is not affecting my cat's daily life. She hunts and eats/drinks normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, will this condition shorten my cat's expected lifetime?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: at the last visit to my vet, the vet told me the abnormal heart sound was only possible to be heard when my cat was resting and not when my cat was stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It did take a few minutes before the vet was able to hear the abnormal heart sound).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet told me this was positive for my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T22:57:34.923" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T22:57:34.923" Title="My vet told me my cat's heart has an abnormal sound--will this affect how long she might live?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;&lt;lifespan&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-08-31T17:08:59.693" Score="11" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stardust hiding in the closet. 18 pounds, 14 years old, very strong. I am 71 and have bad knees. I know what to do to give her pills and liquids but can't get down  on the floor without pain. She keeps getting away from me.  I live alone so I have to figure this out for the next two weeks. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10245" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-08-31T18:35:21.657" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T01:55:40.463" Title="How can I medicate my big, strong cat when I can't get down on the floor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18183" CreationDate="2017-08-31T19:10:33.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, I will leave the filter- and space-questions to others (I am not too good at those when it comes to turtles), but pointers about the light and the sitting on the flowers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the light: Turtles do absolutely require UVB-light for their organism to work properly. That means sunlight, or a dedicated basking-lamp. Any bigger pet-store should have them. Make sure you hang it at an appropriate height, so it doesn't get too warm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the turtles sitting on the flowers and filter: Turtles need to rest occasionally. In the wilderness, they will be on branches, rocks and similar that rise out of the water. You need to provide these resting-places for them. Turtles (at least the ones you can keep in an aquarium) are not permanent swimmers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's  the general advice for all aquarium-sized turtles I am aware of at least. To identify the species you have, please take some photos form above, side, and front of your turtle :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2017-09-01T05:28:30.457" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T05:28:30.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18206" CreationDate="2017-08-31T20:36:02.693" Score="4" ViewCount="1951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a Belgian Terv puppy. At just shy of nine weeks, he weighed 9 pounds 5 oz. Three weeks later, he weighed 10 pounds 8 oz, a net gain of only 1 pound 3 oz. I was surprised, the vet was 'meh'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is eating a 5 star rated puppy food (dogfoodadvisor.com), was one cup 3x/d. Good energy, normal stool, looks healthy, but so furry, hard to tell if he's too thin or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started adding toppers to his feeding and added an extra feeding/day to get him to eat more. Plus, for training treats, I'm giving boiled chicken, beef or other high-quality treats (freeze-dried liver, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked for growth charts for the breed and I can't find any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of intermittent regurgitation and vomitting, there's a small chance that the pup can have an esophageal or pyloric problem. The pup is scheduled for a visit next week, and if inadequate weight gain, this will be followed by a barium swallow study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spoke with the breeder (450 miles away, mind you) who at first wanted to switch out the puppy for another one (what? No, I've bonded to this puppy) and when I ran the possibility of a medical problem by her, she literally screamed at me not to get the puppy tested, not to trust the vet (&quot;They don't know what they're doing! They know nothing about this breed! They're only in it for the money!&quot;), and when I said I would trust the vet, she threatened to reclaim the dog because of abuse, so I think she's out of the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried two other puppy foods to see if the pup likes one more than another. He looks great to me, but definitely smallish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? (Googling BT growth rates gets me no helpful hits.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T20:56:57.363" Title="How quickly do Belgian Tervurens grow?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18184" CreationDate="2017-08-31T20:51:24.490" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;General Information&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An abnormal heart sound may affect your cat's lifespan, but from this information it's impossible to know what type of problem is causing the abnormal sound or if it can affect your cat's lifespan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should continue to monitor your cat's breathing rate.  I was &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8112/does-purring-affect-my-cats-breathing-rate/8186#8186&quot;&gt;instructed&lt;/a&gt; to measure my cat's breathing rate while he was asleep, but check with your vet to ensure that a spike during activity is okay. If your cat has a sustained breathing rate of over 30, you need to take your cat to see a veterinarian immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sustained high breathing rate can indicate congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure is a &lt;strong&gt;medical emergency&lt;/strong&gt;, and the cat &lt;strong&gt;must immediately be taken to the veterinarian for treatment&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If her breathing rate is generally normal, you can choose to practice &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchful_waiting&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;watchful waiting&lt;/a&gt; or to schedule a cardiologist appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to see a cardiologist, they will do a full exam that typically includes an echocardiogram. In this test, the cardiologist uses an ultrasound to view the structure of the heart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results of the echocardiogram can be used to determine medications that will help prolong your cat's lifespan if the type of heart problem may cause death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some types of heart disease can increase the risk of blood clots. The major danger with blood clots is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&amp;amp;S=0&amp;amp;C=0&amp;amp;A=3351&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;saddle thrombus&lt;/a&gt;. The clearest symptoms to look for are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sudden extreme pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sudden paralysis (most often in the hind limbs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rapid abnormal breathing rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat experiencing these symptoms must go &lt;strong&gt;immediately to the veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt;. This is a &lt;strong&gt;medical emergency&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My Experience&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were told Hunter had an abnormal sounding heart, and to monitor his breathing rate (watchful waiting). We did, and everything was fine for a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day (during the weekend, so we were home), he &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8034/should-i-be-concerned-that-my-cat-is-breathing-fast/8035#8035&quot;&gt;started breathing abnormally fast&lt;/a&gt;. We took him to the ER and he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, hospitalized for a few days to stablize, and then sent home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we hadn't been home (if we had been at work, for example), he might have died before we could get him treated. On the other hand, there are lots of reasons for abnormal heart sounds that don't lead to congestive heart failure. Watchful waiting is a risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ER put him on diuretics, which decrease the fluid buildup caused by an ineffective heart. The ER didn't have enough information to treat the actual heart problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him to a cardiologist, who did an echocardiogram. He diagnosed Hunter with restrictive cardiomyopathy, which is apparently pretty rare in cats. My general vet had only ever seen 1 case before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We continued to take him for echocardiograms every 3 months, and the cardiologist adjusted his medications each time. In our area the cardiologist's fees are about 5-10 times a normal exam fee. He gave us prescriptions for generic human medications that we could buy from local pharmacies inexpensively when available (we had to cut them into small enough doses). One medication we had to mail order from a compounding pharmacy, but it wasn't much more expensive than the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of heart disease is characterized by a thickening/hardening of the heart's walls. There's no medications to treat that. They did give us medications to thin the blood and prevent blood clotting (which is common with this type of heart disease). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was euthanized about 10 months after his congestive heart failure ER visit. I suspect he had a blood clot somewhere critical, but we didn't do any diagnostics to determine exactly where. We were told by the cardiologist to expect him to survive 6-12 months when he was diagnosed, so our experience was exactly in line with the cardiologist's estimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunter's lifespan was shortened by his abnormal heart sounds. That doesn't mean that your cat's life will be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps he would have lived a little longer if he had seen a cardiologist before the congestive heart failure episode, but he declined so rapidly (and there isn't really any treatment for the underlying cause of his problem) that I'm not really sure it would have been worth the trouble or expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-08-31T20:51:24.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18205" CreationDate="2017-09-01T05:36:44.590" Score="4" ViewCount="7469" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be living in a second floor apartment in a stand-alone house.  Is it possible to have a cat there with me, who is used to going outside to hunt and explore?  I'm concerned because I wouldn't know when she's ready to come back in again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2017-09-03T21:04:01.820" Title="Letting cat in and out when living in upstairs apartment" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-01T09:20:27.090" Score="3" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a disability and have difficulty bending over. So I struggle to pick things up off the ground. I'm also weak and do not have the strength to  pick up a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I give medication to a dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T09:20:27.090" Title="How to give a dog medication when I can't bend over" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18193" CreationDate="2017-09-01T09:20:27.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a disability that makes it very difficult for me to kneel and I'm unable to get down on the floor. I've had to learn to manage everything with the least amount of bending over to reach things close to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's two ways to administer the medicine. Either mixing with food or butter or forcibly administering it. The first preference is the easiest physically and less stressful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Mixing with food or butter.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're able to disguise the taste (and you will only know by trial and error), mix any tablets in butter and any liquids in some type of tinned food the dog loves.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tablets&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Add the table to a heaped teaspoon of butter and give it to him. Wait until you are sure he has eaten it, and has not spat it out.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Liquid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Use some type of tinned food, maybe sardines or some tinned cat food, as these have a stronger flavour than tinned dog food. Mix a small amount, half a cup of tinned food with the liquid and feed it to the dog. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Forcibly administering it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the dog won't take the medication.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, put a lead on the dog and tie him to something.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a chair and use that to lower yourself more to his level.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're able to get the dog to jump onto a footstool, even better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Force the jaw open by pressing your fingers into the joint that opens and closes the mouth,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You will need to put the tablet into his mouth, toward the back and side of the tongue. Not so it slips between the tongue and the cheek. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Close the mouth and hold it closed with one hand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Raise the dog's head a bit so the neck is stretched out and gently stroke the neck underneath the jaw to encourage swallowing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you see the dog swallow, or gulp, you can release the jaw, stay&#xA;with the dog for a few minutes to check he doesn't spit it out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The same principle applies for liquid medications, but use a syringe to squirt it, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;being careful to slowly squirt towards the side and back of the tongue&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, so the dog has time to swallow it and ensure that the fluid isn't aspirated, i.e. inhaled into the lungs. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A sudden squirt to the back of the throat could go into the trachea.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T09:20:27.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18186" CreationDate="2017-09-01T13:03:27.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the pill can be crushed (you need to ask the vet about this) you can mix it in wet food and give it to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to crush pills is to take two spoons and put the pill between them. To avoid wasting medicine, do this inside a small plastic bag and press the spoons together to crush the pill. You might need to do this more than once to crush it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a capsule, you open it inside a plastic bag and put the powder on your cat's food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to use a type of wet food with a strong smell/taste: tuna, calf&#xA;or turkey.&#xA;Please don't feed your cat for some time before you try this method, as it probably needs to be hungry to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T01:55:40.463" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T01:55:40.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18186" CreationDate="2017-09-01T15:16:55.190" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Day 1: Give her a small treat on surface that's at a convenient height for you to pill her (e.g., a shelf on a cat tree) -- but don't pill her yet. Do this a few times until she is relaxed about the whole thing. Then give the treat, pill her, and give her another treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subsequent days: Give the treat, pill her, and give her another treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should help in a couple of ways. The routine of treat-pill-treat lets her know what's about to happen. Even if the animal doesn't particularly like what you're about to do, that's less frightening than the unknown. The initial treat will make her come to you, and anticipation of the final treat will help calm her while you administer the pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-09-01T15:16:55.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-02T00:07:27.167" Score="2" ViewCount="1687" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what the minimum space is for keeping a horse. I would like a horse but don't have much room so I was wondering what the minimum space is for keeping a horse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9845" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-09-02T03:29:01.533" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T03:29:01.533" Title="What is the minimum space for keeping a horse?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-02-01T13:48:06.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18200" CreationDate="2017-09-02T00:34:24.763" Score="4" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cleo came to me in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15445/a-good-feed-routine-for-a-neglected-and-underweight-horse&quot;&gt;bad shape&lt;/a&gt; 7th October 2016.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To everyone's distress (including hers), she had a horrific injury on 9th April, 2017. We could not find the cause of the injury, which is disturbing. So we moved her to a new agistment as soon as we could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She cut her front leg through to the bone, approximately 30cm long. The thigh was degloved and the skin hung around her knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The injury was horrific and caring for it was  a steep learning curve and there were a lot of conflicting ideas suggested and it took a lot of research to assess what was best for the horse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having come through such a major injury successfully without infection and a horse that is not lame, I've decided to share the experience in the hopes it will guide others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WARNING:  The photos are highly graphic.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vhWGM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Standing - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iT6WB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Close up of  injury - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING:  highly graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mAHrj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Close up of  bone - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: highly graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-02T10:26:56.107" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T23:51:45.470" Title="How to care for a severe wound on horses leg" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18199" CreationDate="2017-09-02T03:21:57.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;em&gt;All treatment and progress has been monitored closely by Equine Veterinary Specialists.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no definitive best way to treat this type of injury, but there's certainly many ideas on what is best. This is one experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;9th April, 2017 Day One - Emergency Vet Treatment&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet tended to Cleo for many hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was given pain killers and sedated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was given a tetanus booster shot, even though she had her last one 5 months earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wound was cleaned, the muscle was stitched (although the stitches there were unlikely to hold). Drains were inserted and the skin was stitched. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wUTTG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Drains in and sutured - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pressure bandage, with cotton wool, was applied to the lower leg to help reduce swelling. The upper leg was wrapped in a cotton  gauze, vet wrap and then elastoplast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/moioW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/moioW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;pressure bandage:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IPKPo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IPKPo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The elastoplast was wrapped around her body to help prevent the bandage slipping. The whole process took many hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kH6SA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kH6SA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Bandaging/Wound Care&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The leg was bandaged for the first 2.5 weeks. It was difficult to prevent the bandage from slipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bandages were changed every 1-3 days, depending on if they had slipped and the amount of discharge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SjMDI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SjMDI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the bandages were removed the leg was washing in a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=betadine%20surgical%20scrub&amp;amp;oq=betadine%20surgia&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.4691j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;betadine surgical scrub&lt;/a&gt; solution. Then padded dry with sterile gauze and allowed to air dry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bandage to the wound was reapplied with no ointment, using  cotton gauze and vet wrap, followed by elastoplast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The drains and stitches the vet removed and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloughing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sloughed skin&lt;/a&gt; was cut off after two weeks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jyqhG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Before - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mgBvl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;After - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 2.5 weeks the bandages were removed and the wound left exposed to air. The wound was bandaged for the trip to her new paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E1mVY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The day the bandages came off  - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the bandaging had stopped, the wound was cleaned second daily, with sterile saline solution, then washed with a dilute &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorhexidine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chlorhexidine&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://betadine.com.au/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Betadine&lt;/a&gt; solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a month the wound was thoroughly cleaned by the vet and the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2012/12/20/hints-on-proud-flesh-horse/#axzz4rUCvC2p2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;proud flesh (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;warning graphic images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; was removed. No anesthesia was required for this, as the proud flesh has no nerve endings, although it has ample blood supply so can look gruesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DU4Gz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;After the proud flesh was cut off  - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually the would could be hosed to clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From 1.5 month  onwards the wound was never cleaned again, but allowed to knit and heal. Although proud flesh was cut off by the vet again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 1.5 months, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/eirehidetopicaltech/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eire Hide&lt;/a&gt; was applied to the wound daily for 5 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wu77X.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;After applying Eire Hide  - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;WARNING: graphic!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The leg is now aired and left alone to finish healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EZpXn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EZpXn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Antibiotics&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo was on &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/intravenous+injection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intravenous injections&lt;/a&gt; (IV) of  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentamicin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gentamicin&lt;/a&gt;  for a week (we had trouble administering it, so had to stop it early - both the vet and myself), and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Penicillin&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/intramuscular+injection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intramuscular injections&lt;/a&gt; for 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was on twice daily oral antibiotics for 3 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Pain relief&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo was administered intravenous &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21056296&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;opiate analgesia&lt;/a&gt; twice while she was being attended to on the day of injury. She was given intravenous bute and sedated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo required pain relief, in the form of bute daily for the first 2 weeks, this gradually reduced to as needed, i.e. if she was limping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had bute in her feed before the vet attended and had IV sedation again when her drains were removed and the sloughed skin was cut off, at 2 weeks and 1 day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Nutrition&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo was originally stabled 24/7 with adlib oaten hay. So she only needed a feed with chaff to mix in antibiotics, bute and other supplements. When she was moved from the stable, she resumed her hard feed and hay regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She receives a daily equine vitamin and mineral mix tailored for Australian soil conditions and a pre and pro biotic mix to assist with bacterial disruption of her gut from the antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's also supplemented with linseeds to boost omega 3s to balance the ratios of omega 8 to 3, as she is fed a lot of hay. Omega 3 is only found in fresh pasture, not hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was given a turmeric, pepper and copra mix for 5 months, as there's some suggestive evidence it assists with inflammation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Relocation&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon advice from the vet, we were given the ok to carefully float Cleo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On 29th April, 20 days after the injury, we moved Cleo to a new agistment. A safer place, with more room, less mud and considerably less hazards. &#xA;To prepare her, she was fed bute and her leg was gently cleaned, allowed to dry and bandaged with cotton gauze and vet wrap. This was removed when she arrived at the new paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/geo2W.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/geo2W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The driver took the trip slowly and carefully, particularly cornering, so as not to toss her around and cause her any more pain. The injury made it harder for her to retain  balance while floating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trip was not far, it's usually a 13 minute trip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Swelling&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was considerable swelling above the knee and around the knee. The lower leg suffered some minor swelling when the pressure bandages came off. &#xA;The leg remained quite swollen for over 9 weeks. It was gradually reducing, but it took a long time. It took 4 months for the swelling to be obviously reduced. It's only been improving since. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Rugging&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was difficult to rug Cleo, as the bottom of most rugs would rub into the wound. As we headed into winter, she was unrugged for a while, while we experimented with different rugs. She did have stables that she could shelter in.  I finally found one that didn't rub the wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we move back into spring, she will be able to go without a rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Soundness/Lameness&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was a struggling to walk well for many weeks. Having periods of slight lameness periodically over the months showing up in a slight limp. When she was unrugged, the lameness was worse, so it seemed the cold was making her leg painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's no longer lame and can walk, trot, canter and even gallop without any noticeable issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Feet&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barefoothorse.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barefoot trim&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She went for a few months without having her feet trimmed. During her first trim after the injury, she was unable to lift her legs for long, as it put too much strain on the injured leg. The injured leg could not be trimmed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually with each trim, the farrier has been able to do more. At 5 months, the farrier  couldn't bend the injured leg enough to trim as he usually would and had to trim it as best he could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Exercise/Containment&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The decisions of how Cleo should be exercised and contained has always been done in consultation with the vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 3 weeks Cleo was confined to a stable or small outdoor enclosure so she couldn't move around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was kept in a stable for the first two weeks. The weather was inclement at the time and it was vital to keep the wound protected from the elements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the weather cleared, she was moved to an outdoor pen, no bigger than a stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she moved to the new paddocks she was kept a flat paddock that was approximately 1/3 acre. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the weeks she was progressively given time in larger paddocks with steep slopes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 4 months the vet advised us to exercise her by walking her around for 10 minutes per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZmQC5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZmQC5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Cushings test&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo had a blood test for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hygain.com.au/equine-cushings-disease-explained/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cushings disease&lt;/a&gt;. This disease can cause slow healing, flakey skin, fatty deposits. We wanted to rule out this possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Prognosis&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has checked her movements and is satisfied that she is not lame. She does not need ongoing anti-inflammatories, as once thought. She will be able to be ridden when she's fully recovered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 5 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YzmLD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YzmLD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12 months later - Cleo gallops around and jumps things. She's playful and active. Despite this - the bare foot trimmer notices her leg is a bit stiff and for that reason we will not ride her, but let her enjoy her horsey freedom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GShWO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GShWO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-04-14T14:33:06.947" LastActivityDate="2018-04-14T14:33:06.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18198" CreationDate="2017-09-02T03:23:30.910" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than physical space, owning a horse requires significant investment of time and money. How much space a horse needs shouldn't be the main question of whether or not to get a horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the answer is...it depends. Big active horses will 'require' more space than little old ponies. There is not really a minimum space needed to keep a horse, in that a horse can probably survive in very cramped conditions. It might not be happy, but it can survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses will require space to live, i.e. a barn or stall. The exact amount of space needed will vary by horse. I would say that for the average horse to be able to comfortably turn around you should not be any smaller than 10x10 feet of living space, but ideally larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For turnout, it's really a matter of opinion. I'd like a horse to have at least half an acre to roam around and graze. Otherwise the land will risk getting over-grazed. If you commit to daily rides and  extensive exercise of your horse off property, then you may be able to get away with housing a horse on less land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T03:23:30.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2919" CreationDate="2017-09-02T11:12:01.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is unusual to take walks with one's cat. I might be slightly crazy, but every cat I have had have followed me when I did take a walk in the forest where I live, and not only my own cats, but my neigbours' cats too followed me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat I have now have a small trouble with her heart so she stays at home when I takes my walks, but she still has her opportunity to join me if she wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to say I am not forcing the cats to follow me. They have their free will, and I never ever use any type of rope. They run free without anything to stop them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People I meet don't understand why the cat (s) are following me and I don't understand it. But I don't need to understand the reason for it. It happens, period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I walk too fast the cat (s) just stop and wait until I returns and follow&#xA;me back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T00:04:56.217" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T00:04:56.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18192" CreationDate="2017-09-02T13:00:00.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the configuration of the house. My sister once lived in a second floor apartment and her door was external (she climbed a set of stairs and THEN entered the house). A situation like that could have worked (especially if there was a screen or storm door so you could leave the heavy front door open).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's not any way for a cat to access your front door or a window, then likely not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T13:00:00.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17970" CreationDate="2017-09-02T16:51:51.830" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my answer to your question. There is no wrong/right answer to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat needs a place where it can keep dry and comfortable, some type of house with a roof over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It needs space to play, and it need shelves to rest and play on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It needs food and water placed in a protected area, like a place where it is dry and protected from rain and insects and other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat needs you and it needs to have you nearby. It needs you to pet it. It needs to curl up besides you when you go to bed, it needs to love you and it needs love.&#xA;It needs company. It doesn't want to be left alone, but it needs a place to be alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat needs you to talk to it. It needs to talk to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat needs its vaccines and it needs to be spayed/neutered, and if it is living outside it needs to be dewormed twice a year and checked for fleas and lice when you take it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat needs a cat tree and scratching boards in different places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing of all: it needs to be with you a lot, as in all the time when you are not at work/school. It wants to be with you when you are sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, I have not mentioned how big the area your cat needs. I know this was your question, but if the things I have mentioned are fulfilled, the cat will have a good life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source &lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/thinking-of-getting-a-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://icatcare.org/advice/thinking-of-getting-a-cat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you make the area like 5 by 2,5 meters and 2 meters tall it will be OK.&#xA;Cats can live in smaller places, but do you want it to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2021-01-11T06:02:03.523" LastActivityDate="2021-01-11T06:02:03.523" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18192" CreationDate="2017-09-02T18:56:06.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, I have never owned a cat so I'm not experienced in this field but there are a lot of cats in my area. I have seen quite some people who attach wooden stairs to the outside wall of their houses to let the cats in through a window or balcony. &#xA;Here are some examples of what that could look like: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HaOaW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HaOaW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wRfiy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wRfiy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TSZYZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TSZYZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several of these that you can buy online. I found quite a few on eBay starting at about 20 euros for where I am. (Search for cat stairs/cat ladder outside)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Trond Hansen you can put cat flaps into glass as well. So this might be a practical solution for both, you and your cat because the cat could go in and out on his/her own terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potential issues that I see in this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Burglars. The stairs could be used to climb up to the second floor. I'd personally prefer a rather hidden solution because of this. (Like the one in picture 3)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everyone in the house would have to agree with this. Make sure to ask before you settle on this solution. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T18:56:06.147" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18189" CreationDate="2017-09-02T20:26:52.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to find particulars on growth rates for the Belgian Tervuren. However the growth rates are comparable to the German Shepherd and the Malinois Shepherd aka Belgian Malinois. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;German Shepherd&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.petbreeds.com/compare/22-70/Belgian-Tervuren-vs-German-Shepherd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;As large dogs&lt;/a&gt;, both the Belgian Tervuren and the German Shepherd have&#xA;  very similar growth patterns. By the end of the first year, both dog&#xA;  breeds will be nearly 2 feet at the withers. Growth requires proper&#xA;  nutrition and these dog breeds will need approximately 2.5 to 3 cups&#xA;  of dry dog food daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mxrKT.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mxrKT.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.petbreeds.com/compare/22-70/Belgian-Tervuren-vs-German-Shepherd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Breeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Left: &lt;strong&gt;Belgian Tervuren&lt;/strong&gt;  .......................      Right: &lt;strong&gt;German Shepherd&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mRuwg.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mRuwg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.petbreeds.com/compare/22-70/Belgian-Tervuren-vs-German-Shepherd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Breeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the German Shepherd is a little larger than the Belgian Tervuren. So looking at a detailed chart for the German Shepherd growth rates, this should provide a good guide, taking into account the Belgian Tervuren may be a little lighter and still healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A German Shepherd growth chart.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IGsH6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IGsH6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.german-shepherd-lore.com/german-shepherd-growth-chart.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;German Shepherd Growth Chart by Weight &amp;amp; Age&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Malinois Shepherd&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The  Malinois Shepherd, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.petbreeds.com/compare/20-22/Belgian-Malinois-vs-Belgian-Tervuren&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;has closer weight and height to the Belgian Tervuren&lt;/a&gt;, than the German Shepherd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tx6pS.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tx6pS.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aUWfr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aUWfr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.belpatt.fr/puppy-weight-chart/Malinois-Shepherd-Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;growth chart&lt;/a&gt; of the Malinois Shepherd shows your pup is underweight. At 3 months he would be expected to be over 10 kgs, which is 22 pounds - and that's at the lower percentile  of the healthy curve.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lzDpE.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lzDpE.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At nearly 9 weeks -  9 pounds 5 oz seems light - a figure closer 15 pounds would be better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At nearly 12 weeks - 10 pounds 8 oz, only gaining 1 pound, there's definitely an issue, as this is one of the quickest points of weight gain, as seen below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UW5f3.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UW5f3.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitor his weight and keep checking with the vet, if you're not happy with the vet's attitude, seek a second opinion (I would).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.puppyweights.com/breeds.html?i=188&amp;amp;age=12%20weeks&amp;amp;w_pri=10&amp;amp;w_dec=8&amp;amp;units=oz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this little calculator&lt;/a&gt; for a Malinois (which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogs.petbreeds.com/compare/20-22/Belgian-Malinois-vs-Belgian-Tervuren&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;similar to the Belgian Tervuren&lt;/a&gt;). The puppies predicted adult weight is only 23 pounds with this growth rate, so there's obviously a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-02T20:56:57.363" LastActivityDate="2017-09-02T20:56:57.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18210" CreationDate="2017-09-03T05:18:31.773" Score="28" ViewCount="13490" Body="&lt;p&gt;In recent days I've been trying to develop a habit in my cat of a morning walk with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is to be noted that letting the cat alone outside to roam independently is not an option. Here there are lots of stray dogs who attack cats. She will be dead within half an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I live in a small 1BHK apartment, in a high rise building. So basically it's eat as much as you want with no exercise for my cat. Although she is still 7 months old, I am worried that this lifestyle might lead to cardiac and other problems in my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also when outside what my cat wants to do is to simply run to the nearest bush and get inside to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have to make my cat wear a collar with a leash to make my cat walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now when I am present the dogs don't come nearby but bark from distance and she still gets frightened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem is with cows. Here are some cows, and when my cat sees one she gets terrified. All her hairs go straight as if to make her look larger than she already is. And she simply refuses to move any further. I have to then pick up my cat and carry her away from the cow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on returning, my cat seems to get extremely upset with me. She won't play, won't meow and just sits in a corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what is an option for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly the morning walk isn't working out well. And my apartment is too small for the cat to play. I am worried she may develop heart diseases if this lifestyle of hers continues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T14:49:31.400" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T22:23:03.527" Title="My cat seems to dislike the idea of a morning walk. Should I continue?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-03T06:47:20.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cow would look like a giant.  If you want to continue walking her over the long run then don't stop. Keep taking her while she is used to it, it will only be harder if you stop, but for a few minutes. If you take her for a few minutes, so she cannot run into anything that will frighten her. See how she reacts, then you can gradually increase the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.melbourneanimalrescue.org.au/index.php/adoption/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-indoor-cat-vs-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An Outdoor Cat&lt;/a&gt;… /... Can still go outside! Start him young with a cat harness and lead – you can take him for walks (just in the back yard if it’s too embarrassing to walk a cat!) /...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps, if you see a cow, pick her up, before it gets too close. You can also try desensitizing her to the cows, by gradually taking her closer to them while you're holding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, this may be too stressful for her. There's predators lurking and cows she's fearful of. She won't come to any harm being indoors. In fact &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.melbourneanimalrescue.org.au/index.php/adoption/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-indoor-cat-vs-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;indoor cats live longer&lt;/a&gt; than outdoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Australia:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.melbourneanimalrescue.org.au/index.php/adoption/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-indoor-cat-vs-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An Outdoor Cat&lt;/a&gt;… /... He has a significantly reduced life expectancy. Cats allowed outdoors have an average life expectancy of 5 years! (Indoor cats can live for 15-20 years) This is due to the higher risk of injury, death, illness, fights, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to keep her exclusively indoors, then watching her diet and being creative about exercise will assist her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also create an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=cat+playground+indoor+ideas&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbo=u&amp;amp;source=univ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwirzoq_tIjWAhXCVrwKHWaPDBoQsAQISQ&amp;amp;biw=1455&amp;amp;bih=632&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;indoor cat playground&lt;/a&gt; and get her to chase toys on string for exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.melbourneanimalrescue.org.au/index.php/adoption/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-indoor-cat-vs-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An Outdoor Cat&lt;/a&gt;… /... Less chance of obesity – indoor cats are more prone to weight problems as they don’t get the same level of exercise (though this can be combated with a cat food formatted for indoor only cats &#xA;   .../...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it is ok to walk the cat on a harness: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-04T04:58:35.987" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T04:58:35.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-03T07:23:23.230" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is best to stop the walks; cats have a very good memory, so you&#xA;will have to change the way she gets her exercise. Since she has a very good memory, she will remember that there are cows on that route and will have a bad association with those walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you continues to take the walks you might end up in a bad circle for both&#xA;you and the cat, and this will be very hard to change later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say there is too little space where you are living, but cats don't need a lot of floor space, and it is often possible to use the vertical space, the walls and some of the furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting up some shelves and maybe combining this with the furniture to make an area for the cat to climb-jump and rest. Cats in general like to have an elevated place where they can rest and view their territory, even if she is small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not saying you should let the cat destroy your furniture; I am just saying there are possibilities one just have to find them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is impossible or too hard to change the place where you are living you&#xA;might have to change where you take the walk and hope this makes it easier for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-09-09T08:03:36.360" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T08:03:36.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14992" CreationDate="2017-09-03T10:35:04.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be related to his hyperthyroid medication or his hyperthyroid disease perhaps not being regulated. Hyperthyroid cats are far more anxious and a side effect from an allergic sensitivity to the medication is itchy skin, pulling hair out. Have they rechecked his levels along with a CBC (complete blood count)? If it is an allergic sensitivity, his eosinophils- a white cell type - are typically raised. Red/orange cats also seem to be have more allergic sensitivities. Perhaps there was a dynamic change in the household with the other cats after he came back from his dental. That could also have triggered it and now it has become a compulsive activity for him. Have you changed litters? A lot of them are terribly dusty and perfumed - avoid any lightweight ones,many cats are stressed by them. You might ask your doctor about clomipramine an ant-anxiety med, provided the behavior is not related to his thyroid med.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10250" LastActivityDate="2017-09-03T10:35:04.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-03T11:21:15.007" Score="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting a cat on a leash and walking it around isn't species-appropriate. You can and should do that with a dog, but cats usually hate that. They value their autonomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea &quot;My cat will feel safe when I am around&quot; is wrong. Cats don't think that way. While they &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; social animals, they aren't herd animals like &lt;s&gt;domesticated wolves&lt;/s&gt; dogs or humans who have a &quot;strength in numbers&quot; survival strategy. Cats don't protect each other, unless it's a mother protecting its kittens. For adult cats, it's an everyone-for-themselves world. Their survival strategy is to hunt anything that's weaker, hide from anything that's stronger and intimidate anything where it's unclear. Your cat will not feel more protected when you are around because it doesn't expect you to protect it. If anything, you make it more anxious because the leash limits its fight and flight abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also when outside what my cat wants to do is to simply run to the nearest bush and get inside to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's normal cat behavior. When you put a cat in a new environment, it will first look for a safe hiding spot. It will start to explore on its own when it has deemed the environment to be safe. You can't force that by forcing your cat out of its hiding spot. That just induces stress. Even in familiar environments, cats will often have hiding spots. That's because they are ambush predators. If you can't see it, the delicious mice can't see it either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here are some cows, and when my cat sees one she gets terrified. All her hairs go straight as if to make her look larger than she already is. And she simply refuses to move any further. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't sound like fear. When a cat is afraid, it will run away and hide somewhere. Does the cat face the cows, head down and back up? Does it hiss? That's intimidation behavior. The cat wants to demonstrate to the cows that it isn't afraid of them and that it will stand its ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intimidating cows might not make much sense to &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, but remember that your cat is inexperienced with the outside world and unfamiliar with its own strength. It might not realize that cows are stronger than it but still rather harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the solution? As the other answers said. Cats can live a perfectly happy and healthy life if kept indoor all the time. You just need to provide a cat-appropriate environment with lots of things to play with, climb on and hide in and you need to control its calorie intake so it doesn't become overweight. If you think that being outside is a more appropriate lifestyle for your cat, let it go outside by itself and let it explore the outside world on its own pace. It's a dangerous place out there and it might get hurt and killed, but there is nothing you can do about that if you want your cat to enjoy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10252" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-09-03T20:47:07.953" LastActivityDate="2017-09-03T20:47:07.953" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18214" CreationDate="2017-09-03T12:28:49.400" Score="3" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10 gallon aquarium is documented on the photo below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the wood sinks completely I want to add a proper substrate and plant some seeds (bought a few online) of various sorts of grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also bought natural substrate gravel, but I'm not sure if the grass could grow on it or on the driftwood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add gravel and plant all over the bottom and on the driftwood if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any advice or ideas of what I could buy/change in this setup or my planning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - recommendations for good gravel for plants (mind the reasonable budget) would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pz0oq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pz0oq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wood is from shop, and gravel from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-Substrate-Ceramic-Pebbles-for-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-0-33lbs-eco-for-Plants-/330617801010?hash=item4cfa5b4932:g:xZwAAOxyFPNSLoJQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.ebay.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On description it is noted as 2 - 4 mm in diameter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9843" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T20:40:52.080" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T19:31:56.543" Title="Seeking advice on planted aquariums" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18213" CreationDate="2017-09-03T14:49:16.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might be a little short for an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get a finer type of gravel, like 1-3 mm. It is best if it is white or grey, as in not a dark type of gravel. The gravel needs to reflect the light so the plants can grow better -- this is at least the idea behind it. Most pet shops have gravel or sand and you don't need to buy an expensive type; using sand from an unknown source is not safe, as it can contain toxins or things you don't want to have in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a plant-only and no-fish type of tank, you can mix in some fine sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most types of grass spread by runners in or on the gravel and often grow very slowly in the beginning before they take off, and then you need to cut the runners and remove some of them to keep your tank where you want it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wood can be made to sink faster if you put it in a kettle with water and boil it. Be sure it is covered by water, and let it cool down still covered in water. When you now put it in the tank, it sinks like a rock (normally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make plants grow on the wood, you just buy a little plant. Try to find a crack in the wood and use a rubber band to fasten the plant on, or better, in the crack you need to cut off &lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt;/&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; of the roots if they are long. The length of the roots differs depending on the type of plant. Be sure the rubber band is not too tight; it only needs to hold the plant in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You use the same method to make the grass grow on the wood. Add some fertilizer and wait... and wait; it takes time, sometimes a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T19:31:56.543" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T19:31:56.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-03T16:12:43.850" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my kittens — Nano, ~5-6 months old, got him at 12 weeks — keeps biting my fingers when being petted. It always starts with purring; Nano will seek me out at 5 in the morning, jumps into bed and starts purring like crazy, I wake up due to the sudden added weight on my shoulder/chest, and I pet him to say good morning. It can also be during the day where he will jump on my desk while I work, I stop to pet him and he starts purring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will then cradle his head in my hand, rub his head against it, and after a few seconds starts chewing. If I remove my hand, he follows and repeats. I hide my hands under the covers, and he walks over to my girlfriend and does the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure he does this cause he's content, but it's starting to get annoying and as he gets older he bites harder. What can I do to stop it without discouraging him from coming to me for petting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: He's not just nibbling on my skin, he grabs my finger (esp. my thumb) with his paws and puts it in his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9565" LastEditorUserId="9565" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T03:49:28.140" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T03:49:28.140" Title="My kitten keeps biting my fingers" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-09-05T12:20:27.513" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18192" CreationDate="2017-09-03T21:04:01.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment building, we got our cat up and down the balcony using a basket on a rope. At first we used treats to lure it into the basket and then roped it up and down. After a while it understood how that &quot;elevator service&quot; worked. The cat meowed near the basket when it wanted outside and meowed below the balcony when it wanted us to pull it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10252" LastActivityDate="2017-09-03T21:04:01.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-04T11:44:57.343" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my vet, whom I trust utterly, it's absolutely fine for cats to live inside all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First up: make sure you feed them an appropriate amount. Read the packaging, get advice from your vet or vet nurse. There are lots of foods out there and you are probably going to be better off with one designed for indoor and/pr neutered cats(which will be lower calorie). A cat should not be getting all the food they can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: create an environment where your cat can get exercise. Laser pointer, feather on a stick, ping pong ball - any kind of toy which gets them running around. Your cat will have their own preferences (mine likes yellow toys, especially ones the right size for carrying around with her). I've also got a &quot;Cat TV&quot; -  a perspex box which sticks on the outside of the window and gets filled with bird seed. My day is punctuated by the thud of paws on glass. She &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third: make sure your cat has places they feel safe - a set of (very secure) shelves or a piece of accessible furniture where they can get a bit of height. My cat is scared of horses, so when a horse goes past the house she zooms upstairs to hiss at them from the upstairs windowsill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth: If the walking isn't working out, then don't worry about it. Your cat may be a bit young - mine's 4 and we have a nice 20 minute perambulation of the garden each morning. The key part is it's led by her. She tells me/drapes herself across my keyboard when she's ready, then I show her the harness and she'll come to the door and stand still while I put it on. If she doesn't do that, we don't go out. Is your cat telling you they enjoy the experience? If not, it may not be right for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10278" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T11:44:57.343" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T13:19:03.310" Score="6" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the question says, we have a 10 year old cat (spayed) about 4kg  who seems prone to cystitis. This is her second occurrence we know of.  Last time was about 3 months ago and we might not have recognised precious bouts if any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We caught it early, it started yesterday and she was in and out of her litter tray many times. So the vet says it could be an infection, but there's no thickening he can feel (I think he said that!) and he thinks it probably isn't due to infection. He says it is more likely to be from stress or (irritating) crystals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We think he is probably right. She didn't have an easy time for most of her life, and was essentially a rescue some years ago. She can be friendly and plays at times, but has never shaken off suspicion and defensiveness against humans, and &quot;rowls&quot; and hisses, and readily claws and bites at times, if annoyed or disturbed. (She does understand moderation, she paw bats, stares, flees or rolls over as well, so it's not like she is completely feral, and does at times come up to us for attention, if we are sleeping or she wants something).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're used to this and understand it's her way, but the upshot is that it's rare for a day to pass without her showing signs of experiencing a lot of stress.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't seem to have ever really developed more than tentative and very fragile trust, or any usual degree of stress coping mechanisms, so although it's been a stable home for years, ordinary things stress her which wouldn't stress other cats: the door is shut, food is late, people make noise, people exist, people aren't playing with string for her when she wants it, a comb of any kind is nearby (she's long hair and needs daily combing to avoid hairballs), humans &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be going to grab her for unknown reasons when treats are on offer, then chair she's on or place she's lying is needed by humans, and a hundred other things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a quiet apartment without children and without ,amy raised voices, and no other cats are around. She has a lot of leeway to &quot;live and let live&quot;, but she feels stress at a lot of things, so the vet's suggestion that it could well be stress related makes a lot of sense.  We do try to give her a stable routine and &quot;safe&quot; places, but that only goes so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have used a &quot;Feliway&quot; calming plugin for a long time. Her usual routine for meals is a bowl of hard granules she can eat any time, chunks in jelly from a sachet twice daily, and if hungry a sachet of cat soup at lunchtime.  We time her meals to ensure she isn't left hungry later on. Her appetite is good and she often asks for meals before it's time.  The chunks and soup meals go fairly quickly after they are put out.  Occasional treats (a few daily) include hairball and bladder treats, cat milk, and dried or fresh fish.  She has fresh water out always, and a bowl of an appropriate kind of grass which she sometimes nibbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time she had cystitis the vet used antibiotic injection, metacam (a NSAID), and encouraged a much more liquid diet to dilute her urine. We stopped feeding her granules, added milk to her chunks and gave her soup daily. This time he has said the same but added &quot;Cystaid Plus&quot;, a product said to help the bladder resist caustic urine and crystals and help manage the condition and reduce the incidence/discomfort. He says that anti-anxiety meds are available but would very much be a last resort. She doesn't need them right how and may not need them in future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is there anything else we can do to help her, if this is a chronic condition and will recur?  Is there anything that we can do either to improve things for her, or reduce her stress further, and reduce future vet visits or upset for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Helping would include anything that might cut down future incidents - even cutting it to once or twice a year if it's going to be regular, would help a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:53:37.093" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:37.093" Title="10 yo cat prone to cystitis (probably stress related)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18222" CreationDate="2017-09-04T14:41:19.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your vet has recommended all the major treatments for this frustrating condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you did not mention in detail is diet. This is a cat I would put on a prescription urinary diet. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-feline-cd-multicare-ocean-fish-dry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hill's c/d&lt;/a&gt; is a good choice, as well as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.proplanveterinarydiets.com/products/ur-urinary-stox-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purina ProPlan UR&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-feline-urinary-so-dry-cat-food/3901&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin Urinary SO&lt;/a&gt;. These urinary diets are formulated to keep the urine pH low to prevent crystals and bacterial infections, and contain low levels of crystallogenic substances such as magnesium and phosphate. Veterinary diets are more expensive but in the long run you might be able save money by preventing additional vet bills if you can prevent boughts of cystitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also excellent combination diets now. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-feline-cd-multicare-stress-with-chicken-dry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hill's c/d Stress&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-feline-multifunction-urinary-calm-dry-cat-food/6533&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin Urinary + Calm&lt;/a&gt;. The Royal Canin combination product is very popular, and contains tryptophan and hydrolysed milk protein which can help to manage stress in addition to the urinary benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Water&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your vet says, increasing water intake by upping the amount of wet food fed can be helpful. This helps keep the urine more dilute. Also provide plenty of water sources throughout the house. Some cats like water fountains and it encourages them to drink more, others hate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Glucosamine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like she may already be getting glucosamine supplements. Apart from managing joint disease, glucosamine can help to protect and fortify the bladder lining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Anti-anxiety products/medications&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many products out to help with feline stress – Feliway you mentioned, also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetoquinolusa.com/content/zylkene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zylkene&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.solliquin.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Solliquin&lt;/a&gt;, etc. Though I prefer to avoid it, in some cases when cats have severe anxiety and resulting cystitis, then I have to turn to antidepressants such as fluoxetine (Prozac) or clomipramine (Clomicalm). These drugs are not without side effects so the pros/cons of starting them has to be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other pets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention no other cats, but make sure there are not other cats roaming outside the windows that are causing her stress. Obviously, any dogs in or near the house can be a source of stress in these cats as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Making the house cat-friendly&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last thing is to do everything you can to alleviate stress in the house. This means putting your cat's food and water in a quiet private corner. Include multiple (at least 3) litter boxes in quiet locations throughout the house. Allow plenty of hiding places and beds where she might sleep without being disturbed. Cats like vertical space more than horizontal space; that is, they like to climb and view from a height. She may feel more relaxed if you can put up high shelves around your house for her to climb up and observe from a safe height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T14:41:19.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2293" CreationDate="2017-09-04T15:06:31.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was legs with my cat. He was friendly and would always come up for a cuddle and a nuzzle but every now and then he'd go for the leg, and then scarper. It was usually in the middle of the night and you'd be fast asleep with a leg out of the cover and he'd sink his teeth in. Occasionally he'd claw at a bare leg when you walked past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'd found him as a stray kitten, only three or four weeks old, and had 2 other cats in the house, so he was socialised with cats and humans from a very young age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We lived with it. He died at age 15 and never lost the urge to kill a bare leg at random intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10280" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T15:06:31.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T16:23:58.387" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet, Cat is 05 months years old. It refused to eat anything it likes since last 03 days. Some times his breathing is noisy. I think he has phlegm.Many time it sleeps and shivers some times. I went to vet and no cure. What should be the disease? If there any medicines. please tell me. I am so helpless now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10282" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T16:23:58.387" Title="Cat doesn't eat anything and shiver sometimes" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-09-07T15:55:39.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17622" CreationDate="2017-09-04T16:30:41.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer will probably be a partial one, but I hope it will help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are solitary animals. They want their territory for themselves. If another cat is in their territory, the reaction is fight the intruder or move to another place. Your cat doesn't have anywhere to go and is more than scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will normally react to an intruder by scent marking and by not hiding the poo. Not hiding the poo is what can be described as the cat's way of yelling &quot;Get out of here! This is my territory!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But your cat is going a step further. It is extremely scared and has no more options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you, the owner, can do is try to avoid contact with the male cat and you need to remove the smell (of the male cat.) The new cat has scent marked your door and probably a lot of the area around it. To remove this smell you use a weak solution of bleach (chlorine) in a spray can and spray around your door and other areas where the male cat have been(no need to dry it off). If you pet the male cat(hard not to,) wash your hands before you pet your own cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your own cat needs to feel safe when it is using the litterbox, so this has to be moved to a place where it feels safe. For a cat to feel safe, it needs to&#xA;be able to see any type of danger (the male cat, even if it is not there in your house.) You might even have to place the litterbox on an elevated place (try to think as a cat) where I can see if anything is coming my way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing.: try to make your neighbor get the male fixed(neutred) at any cost This is about the pheromones of the male cat(not only the marking) but also the pheromones in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not your cat's fault it reacts like it does. It is its nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not important. when my mother died, I got her cat (Trine) moving in with me, but i had my own cat (Electra.) My mother and I lived in the same house but different floors. Electra did pee in my bed as she was too scared of the new cat to go to the litterbox. This was two cats knowing each other for several years, same house different floors. After two weeks they did sleep close together in the same bed and used the same litterbox, two cats different ages and not close friends but still living together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T14:19:43.967" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T14:19:43.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18227" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T16:48:24.150" Score="6" ViewCount="6717" Body="&lt;p&gt;I Recently decided to get a heater to keep the water temperatures higher for my betta. This heater will overheat my tank if I am not watching so I only turn it on during the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One night I had left my window open and I woke up to my betta laying on the bottom because the temperature had dropped to 19 degrees Celsius. I quickly turned on the heater and the water temperatures have now been fine however he is still laying on the bottom. I do not see any physical signs of disease or sickness and he will not eat his pelleted food. I am worried that when the temperature dropped he was shocked by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is currently in a 2 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10283" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T12:15:39.007" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:37:24.937" Title="Betta is not active and laying on the bottom after tank dropped to 19C" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:37:08.797" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T20:48:12.790" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on fridging my axolotl as he keeps floating for extended periods after eating. I have read extensively how to fridge so I feel confident to do it, but I was just wondering how is best to perform the 100% daily water changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will be in a Tupperware in the fridge and I'm planning to keep dechlorinated water in there too for the water changes. I also wondered how long is best to fridge him for, do I just do it until he stops floating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8540" LastActivityDate="2017-09-04T20:48:12.790" Title="How do I perform 100% daily water changes when fridging an axolotl?" Tags="&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-04T23:01:52.840" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 7yr old cocker spaniel has been an only pet since we've had him at 6 weeks old. We recently got a maltipoo who's now 4 months old (we got him at 6 weeks, but he was confined until all his shots were given). My cocker was getting accustomed to seeing him around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm trying for them to interact to be able to play together with my maltipoo on a leash. My cocker only wants to lick his penis or try to hump him. Can someone please explain this behavior as this is all new to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10286" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T12:17:32.870" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T12:17:32.870" Title="Why does my cocker spaniel behave inappropriately towards my new maltipoo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18148" CreationDate="2017-09-05T02:15:58.957" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do need to change your feeding practices. From your description, it sounds as though your cat is being overfed, which will just make the diabetes worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First – I would change the diet to one appropriate for a diabetic patient, and will help with weight loss. It needs to be low in carbohydrates. There are many veterinary diets out there that would be appropriate, talk to your vet exactly which product to use. It's not something that can be half-done. Of course if the cat does not like the diet, then it needs to be changed to another one formulated for diabetic patients. Trust me that feeding the right food, in the right amounts, is much less costly and stressful than pushing the cat into a diabetic crisis. Getting on the right diet may also allow you to decrease the insulin dose over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purina DM is the most popular diet for diabetic cats in my experience, many clients also like Hill's m/d.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Monitoring&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glucose monitoring is a must in diabetic patients. If you can do this at home it is ideal, using a glucometer by a needle prick in an ear vein (ask your vet for further instructions). A one time glucose reading at the vet is of little use to anyone; the cat is likely already has a stress hyperglycemia at that point so you have no idea if the diabetes is well managed or not. Blood glucose curves are needed for this purpose, whether done by you at home or on an outpatient basis at the vet clinic. Your vet may also recommend fructosamine testing, which gives a better idea of how glucose has been managed over a two week period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Timing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now getting to the question. You need to alter your feeding cycle. For one thing, I suspect your cat is getting far too many calories being fed wet food four times daily and free choice dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transition gradually to set meals during the day, no free choice food if possible. This may be a challenge for a cat that has always been a grazer, and your cat may not be happy about it, but you need to control what your cat is eating. Leaving food out all day will not prevent him from becoming hypoglycemic; if it happens he wouldn't think &quot;I need to eat sugar&quot; like a human diabetic might think. He just wouldn't feel good, and would not eat. When his glucose is normal he's just going to keep eating all day whenever he feels like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet to calculate the caloric needs of your cat based on the diet fed, to make sure you are feeding an appropriate amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different vets will give different recommendations as to when to give the insulin. As cats can be finicky when they want to eat, I always recommend they eat a substantial amount of their meal before any insulin is given. My recommendation is to give the insulin while the cat is eating or within 30 minutes of finishing the meal. I would be cautious giving it before a meal as you cannot be sure how much the cat will eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On lower doses of insulin it is less of a concern that a cat will become hypoglycemic, but when giving 3 units twice daily more thought does have to be given with timing of feeding and insulin dosing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The insulin product you are using may make a difference as to ideal meal timing. Long-acting insulin, glargine (Lantus), is marketed as a &quot;peakless&quot; insulin, implying that it doesn't have to be given with food, but it does still peak in cats who can become hypoglycemic if not eating appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As these diabetic cats usually need to be on a weight loss diet, I recommend sticking to twice daily feeding regimen, with insulin given at those two mealtimes. A small third or fourth meal is ok as long as you spread out the calories throughout the day, and give most of the food at the time of insulin dosing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any changes in diet should not be done suddenly; i.e. don't go from free-feeding to twice daily meals overnight. Just gradually decrease the amount free-fed, and increase the amount fed at set meal times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat won't eat it's meal, do not give any insulin to be on the safe side. If it's eaten recently (say in the last 6 hours) then you are probably safe to give a half dose of insulin. If the appetite isn't back to normal within the next few hours then your cat may be sick and need to see a veterinarian as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These recommendations are largely based on clinical experience as well as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1098612X15571880&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ISFM Consensus Guidelines on the Practical Management of Diabetes Mellitus in Cats&lt;/a&gt; (2015).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Management of diabetic cats can be one of the most challenging things for vets and owners – best of luck in getting your cat well regulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T02:15:58.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-05T07:35:36.873" Score="4" ViewCount="520" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18116/are-underwater-snails-strictly-bound-to-under-the-water&quot;&gt;posted&lt;/a&gt; the other week about some snails I had noticed in my relatively new tank; where I was warned that it would be wise to get the snail population under control while I can. Sure enough, the snail population has increased - not to the point where they're out of control - but if they continue to reproduce at the rate they have, I'd give it a few weeks before I've got myself a &quot;problem&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly positive that they're &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/freshwater/physidae.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bladder snails&lt;/a&gt;, and I have since purchased two assassin snails in an attempt to keep their population under control - though these guys seem fairly chilled out so I'm not sure how helpful they've actually been so far (FYI, they've been in the tank for four days). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/removing-aquarium-snails-1381275&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;read&lt;/a&gt; time and time again about reducing the amount of food that you feed your fish, as &quot;less food = fewer snails&quot;. However, I'm completely unsure of how much &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; I need to feed my fish to have an impact upon reducing my snail population. My fish supplier suggested to feed twice a day but I'm wondering if once a day may be more helpful to nip this in the bud? Or whether I should carry on feeding twice, and just use less food both times? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional info:&lt;/strong&gt; I have 9 tetra, 3 guppies, 1 bristlenose catfish and 3 amano shrimp. I feed them twice a day (morning and evening), a combination of flakes for the tetra/guppies and pellets for the shrimp/catfish. Once or twice a week I will use a daphnia or an algae wafer alternative for example, to create a more varied diet. I remove any left-over food which is visible to me but I &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; there will be some which sinks into the gravel and slips through my radar. I siphon my gravel relatively regularly to remove this and there isn't a clear abundance of algae as of yet - but my snail population is still increasing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have come to the conclusion that the unseen food is the issue and that I need to reduce the amount I feed my fish to minimise this. And so, my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I reduce the amount I feed my fish, to effectively minimise the reproduction of pest snails, without harming the fish?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10049" LastEditorUserId="10049" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T13:58:24.670" LastActivityDate="2020-10-23T20:34:17.800" Title="How can I reduce feeding my fish to keep my snail population under control?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-05T08:57:55.343" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently have found that cockroaches are partying next to my dog's house which is outside in the back porch. I want to get rid of them but since my dog likes to sleep in or next to his house don't want him to smell potentially dangerous pesticides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a safe way to get rid of the cockroaches without risking my dog's health? I found and sprayed outside his house with a natural repellent named 'Fleriana' that claims to be non toxic and that is safe for pets. It seems to do the trick. 2 days have passed and I haven't spotted any roaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other ideas/suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T08:57:55.343" Title="Safest way to get rid of cockroaches found close to dog's house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-05T09:14:17.357" Score="1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I earn the trust of a feral cat? I do not have meat or cat food, what can I feed them? Should I try to touch them or let them come for me? I have never seen kittens of 1-10 weeks old, where do they live?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T12:12:52.130" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T12:12:52.130" Title="Taming feral cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2017-09-05T12:12:21.343" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2017-09-05T09:48:02.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeding your fish once a day is good advice, but the result is this: you feed the fish (and the snails) less and so they will just reproduce slower. You could even stop feeding the fish for a week or a month and it would have no effect, except that your snails multiply slower and your fish will be starving (this is purely for an example and I would not recommend you do this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assassin snails will do the job, just be patient; ensure you have the right species of snail (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petinfoclub.com/Fish/Know_your_pet/Meet_the_clean-up_crew!.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Asiatic assassin snail&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: a better source about assassin snails &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clea_helena&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is this Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my first fish tank in 1977 and have tried everything you can imagine, and the only really effective solution which I've found are the assassin snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the assassin snails have removed the infestation, they will eat some of the fish food and could live for up to several years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no need to feed your fish more than once a day or even once every two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: most snails are hermaphrodites (have both male and female reproductive organs), unlike the assassin snail. Assassin snails have separate genders and so, are less likely to cause an infestation of their species in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-23T20:34:17.800" LastActivityDate="2020-10-23T20:34:17.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3111" CreationDate="2017-09-05T11:23:24.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me it looks like the dog is head-shy. A possible solution is a step-by-step training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can you touch your dog at the head? Can you stroke over his eyes? If he stands up and back away, train it. Be very calm and gently with him and train it, until he accept it. Don't train too much a day. Interrupt your training with petting him where he really likes it. If this is ok, go to step 2.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to touch him with the leash at his head. If he accept, fine, if not, train it like above.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train your dog with the collar. Be very patient and calm with him. Don't train him before a walk, but in situations where you have much time and you are relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T11:23:24.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15204" CreationDate="2017-09-05T11:54:35.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Labs are indeed a very active breed. But be aware that, when they were used for waterfowling, they were not stimulated the whole day, too. They often had to stay in kennels for hours until the hunt started. &lt;strong&gt;And even active dogs like Labs need to sleep between 15 and 20 hours a day&lt;/strong&gt;. They don't do that at once, but they need short naps during the day. So it is really unlikely that your dog is not enough stimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T11:54:35.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-05T12:10:55.063" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy a semi-open transportation bag for cats. It's safe and feeling secure for them. They can explore the surroundings, and hide whenever they want (keep it open when the cat wants to hide quickly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a wonderful chocolate cat, but she was always scared of the street dangers. Having a bag like I described above solved the problem completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10295" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T12:10:55.063" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18241" CreationDate="2017-09-05T13:17:56.457" Score="2" ViewCount="6608" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 6 year old Boxer who is beginning to have hip issues. Our vet has recommended Nutramax Dasuquin with MSM, and we are just about through our first bag of it. Its pretty costly, so I'm wondering if there is a generic, less costly, formulation of this, or even an alternative that we could try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10296" LastActivityDate="2018-09-11T08:55:53.903" Title="Is there a generic, less costly, alternative to Nutramax Dasuquin with MSM?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18267" CreationDate="2017-09-05T13:28:50.410" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am dogsitting my parents dog for a period of 2 weeks (he is used to staying 1-2 days, 2 weeks is new to him) and he goes with me to the office during the day. He is a 9 year old chichuahua mix, on the 'large' side of the chihuahua scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally he would go on 2 walks a day and spend the rest of the day around the house, in the garden, interacting with my parents or their cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:00 - A 15-20 min walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15:00 - A 15-20 min walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently this is our schedule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8:00 - Garden time for 15 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9:00 - 10 min walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;12:00 - 10 min walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15:30 - 10 min walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18:00 - 10 min walk &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;19:00-22:00 as much garden time as he pleases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And ofcourse I play with him during the day whenever he offers me a toy or looks bored to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he seems to not enjoy the walks at all. He doesn't with my parents and he does so even less in this unknown environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I wake him during his naps to go for a walk he seems to not really enjoy?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Or does him saying no to the walks suggest he is stimulated enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9418" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T16:53:22.883" Title="Dog new at the office; should I force walks to stimulate him more?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18239" CreationDate="2017-09-05T14:19:46.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dasuquin.com/en/dasuquin-soft-chews-w-msm/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dasuquin with MSM&lt;/a&gt; claims to contain the following active ingredients:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glucosamine Hydrochloride&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avocado/Soybean Unsaponifiables (ASU) Powder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Methylsulfonylemthane (MSM)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no scientific evidence that any of these ingredients provide a clinically significant improvement in arthritis pain (in either people or dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are generally recognized as safe, so vets often recommend them so that people can feel like they are doing something. If you can't afford it, &lt;strong&gt;there is likely little difference in not feeding these supplements.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your pet's pain is severe, you could ask your vet about giving him NSAIDS. In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19346540&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt;, reviewing canine arthritis treatments, the authors state:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was a high level of comfort (strong evidence) for the efficacy&#xA;  of carprofen, firocoxib and meloxicam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Overview of Recommendations for Arthritis in People&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best research on arthritis treatments is on people. The AAOS &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aaos.org/CustomTemplates/Content.aspx?id=6396&amp;amp;ssopc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reviewed existing literature&lt;/a&gt; and had the following recommendations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each recommendation is followed with Strength of Recommendation (SoR) ranking, which rates how compelling the evidence is for that treatment. A strong SoR means that the recommendation (to use or not use) is well supported by scientific research (adequate sample size, double blinded, randomized, etc) and further research is not likely to change the recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;em&gt;glucosamine&lt;/em&gt; use has a &lt;em&gt;Strong SoR&lt;/em&gt; and is classified as &lt;em&gt;&quot;not recommended&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. This means that the subject has several well-designed studies that are generally in agreement, and that those studies found that &lt;strong&gt;glucosamine did not result in clinical (i.e. noticeable) improvements&lt;/strong&gt; during the study period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conservative Treatments Recommended:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increase exercise (Strength of Recommendation: Strong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss in overweight patients (Strength of Recommendation: Moderate)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NSAID or Tramadol medication (SoR: Strong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conservative Treatments Not Recommended:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acupuncture (SoR: Strong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glucosamine and Chondroitin (SoR: Strong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conservative Treatments Cannot Recommend For Or Against&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical agents such as electrotheraputic modalities (SoR: Inconclusive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Massage (SoR: Inconclusive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brace that unloads force from affected joint (SoR: Inconclusive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acetaminophen, opioids, or pain patches (SoR: inconclusive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-05T18:36:40.753" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T18:36:40.753" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-05T14:51:27.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is an unpopular opinion, but that doesn't make it any less true: You shouldn't have gotten a cat if you can't provide a suitable living area.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you already have the cat, and as a life long cat owner myself, I understand you don't want to give her up, we'll have to make do with what we have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in general don't like being walked, and you cat clearly doesn't like it. Forcing the cat to walk is only going to result in the cat not trusting or liking you, as you are already seeing. Cats have very good memories when it comes to remembering those who wronged them, and once broken, the relationship with a cat is nigh impossible to fix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot move to a better suitable area, you'll have to entertain your cat indoors. Get a cat tree, get some toys (balls, fake mice on strings etc) and actively play with the cat indoors. That way, she gets her exercise, and she'll start to associate you with fun times, rather than with those gruesome walks. That way, the exercise can actually &lt;em&gt;improve&lt;/em&gt; your relationship with your cat, rather than ruin it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10300" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T14:51:27.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-05T15:45:11.457" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can give your cat exercise inside. Go on Amazon and buy Da Bird. It is a 10 dollar cat toy with feathers attached to a string. Wave it around and your cat will chase it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10301" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T15:45:11.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2017-09-05T18:56:41.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeast is not a good food source, because the cell wall proteins are difficult for the brine shrimp to digest.  For proof, see scientific paper:  Marques A et al.  2005.  Effects of bacteria on Artemia franciscana cultured in different gnotobiotic environments.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 4307-4317.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10303" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T18:56:41.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-05T20:22:41.840" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a very long (20+ ft.) retractable leash for your cat, along with a secure harness and instead of walking find a quiet place with trees and someplace you can sit. Try not to let the cat get too far up in the tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10304" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T20:22:41.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18227" CreationDate="2017-09-05T23:05:47.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consistency is key. You are quite right that a large peak or trough in temperature can have adverse affects on the fish and is sometimes known as &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/a/19444/33736&quot;&gt;temperature shock&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to do &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt; you can to avoid large swings in temperature, PH, GH etc because the fish struggle to adapt to it (which also includes water changes - the new water should be as similar as possible to the old water). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop this happening again, get a heater for your tank which has an adjustable thermostat so that when the water temperatures reaches the correct level, it shuts off. You'll also want to place the heater near the outlet of your filter so that there is a reasonable rate of flow to ensure the water temperature is consistent across the tank and there are no 'hot spots'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a shock, some fish may not eat for a day or so - just make sure your water is pristine to help them and don't overfeed to compensate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, the more space you can give your fish, the better it will do in your care. I'd say, in my opinion, 2 gallons is too small to keep a fish and I'd definitely have it in &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; 5 -7 gallons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-09-05T23:05:47.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-06T03:08:25.417" Score="4" ViewCount="1593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have moved in to a new condo. The only place for the 40 gal. tank is across the room from the picture window (facing north, no sun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I Am now having a problem with algae that was not present before. The lights are on timer and the feeding schedule is the same as at the old place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume the problem is from the tank being close to the window, has anyone used UV film on the sides of the fish tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10313" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-06T14:19:02.817" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T16:09:52.847" Title="UV film on fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17768" CreationDate="2017-09-06T03:30:19.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever fed him wet food? when my cat was a kitten we fed him wet food off a paper plate for awhile,Maybe the cat doesn't like the 'texture' of the plate as when he licks it  may not be to his liking. Anyway if you haven't fed him wet food before maybe try that and try paper plates ( or just a different bowl/plate)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10315" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T03:30:19.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-06T04:17:51.173" Score="7" ViewCount="17649" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the past few days, whenever I am lying on my bed or sofa, my cat stares at me from distance for about 30 seconds, she then begins to move towards me slowly. Suddenly, she charges at me and slaps me on face; she will continue to do so until I get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do now to discourage her from this behavior? I am particularly concerned that one such slap lands up on my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T01:17:30.250" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T01:17:30.250" Title="What should I do to discourage my cat from slapping me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16402" CreationDate="2017-09-06T14:48:18.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a few pets come into the hospital with foreign microchips (though not from Hungary) and the process goes like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The chip does not switch companies - i.e if your chip was registered with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.24petwatch.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;24petwatch&lt;/a&gt; it will stay with them forever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each chip database has a specific code/number at the beginning so when scanning the chip each company can then tell you what database to contact to obtain your information.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may work differently over on your side of the world as so many countries are close together however every chip database should be able to find where the chip originated from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T14:48:18.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2017-09-06T17:08:07.893" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US if you do not have your own well You will have chlorine for sure and probably ammonia also added to your water.   I change 10% of the water on Saturdays. On Thursday I draw a 5 gal pail of water the chlorine and ammonia will have evaporated out of the pail by Saturday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10313" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T17:08:07.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2017-09-06T17:45:22.963" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine uses the water bottles.  He also put Styrofoam or bubble wrap around to insulate the tank from the heat.&#xA;     I used Styrofoam around my tank when we had a power outage in January. The tank was not in the room with the fireplace.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10313" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T17:45:22.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-06T20:55:10.020" Score="1" ViewCount="1768" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 14-week old Shepherd mix puppy who definitely pulls on his leash when we walk, but that's as to be expected at this age, so that's actually not why I was thinking about getting him a &lt;a href=&quot;https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00074L4O0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gentle leader&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's got a bigger problem of eating literally anything loose on the ground; I'm attempting to train him out of it but that's obviously going to take some time. While that's happening, I was thinking about getting a gentle leader attached to a harness just to gently keep his head up. But I obviously don't want to do anything that would hurt him or cause any future problems so I wanted to see if this was a good idea in general -- and if it's not, if it's something with regards to his young age or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T16:31:17.800" Title="Is a 3-4 Month Puppy Too Young to Start Using a Gentle Leader?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18213" CreationDate="2017-09-06T21:47:44.293" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dependant on what plants you're looking to grow, it can be a difficult job getting good consistent growth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, to get your wood to sink, &lt;a href=&quot;http://kierans.fish/add-driftwood-bogwood-aquarium/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;you can boil it&lt;/a&gt; which will help it to absorb water faster so there's no need to weight it down. When boiling wood, you'll release the tannins which will stop the water being stained brown/yellow (unless you're going for that look).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Grasses&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grasses come in a huge range and can be tricky to grow. I assume that you're talking about 'carpeting' grass which is notorious for being a difficult first plant to grow. You'll probably need to inject CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to get a good strong carpet going and you'll need to have a good watt-per-gallon ratio (more on this later) to get the light to the bottom of the tank. If you want to plant something like 'dwarf hairgrass' you'll need a good substrate (probably something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jbl-Manado-Planted-Aquarium-Substrate/dp/B002J0UM4I/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Active Substrate&lt;/a&gt;). Watch out for '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/create-a-carpet-in-your-planted-tank&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;root compression&lt;/a&gt;' if you're going to use a very fine substrate with a small grass plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ensure the best growth, you need to carefully balance all of the required elements if you're going to proceed with a carpeting plant. You can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquathusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Freshwater-Plant-Nutrient-Deficiency.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this fantastic plant diagnosis chart&lt;/a&gt; to determine which nutrient you're missing if you're having problems but &lt;em&gt;be patient&lt;/em&gt; and don't toss all of the different supplements in if you're not sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Planting on driftwood&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good option for your first plant (especially in a smaller tank). It's relatively low maintenance and you can usually even pick up 'pre-planted' branches at your local fish store. Plants which get their nutrients mainly through their leaves are a good bet. You'll commonly fine Java Moss, Java Fearn and Anubias (amongst &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; others) are frequently used. If you're going to do it yourself, just make sure that the plants are firmly attached with string. Some people also choose to use Silicon or something similar but make sure you check that whatever you use is &lt;strong&gt;aquarium safe&lt;/strong&gt; before putting it anywhere near your tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Lighting&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, one of the biggest factors in good plant growth is the light you provide. For grasses which are at the bottom of the tank, you'll need a powerful light to make sure that it can reach all the way to the bottom of the tank. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://tropica.com/en/guide/make-your-aquarium-a-success/light/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;good guide&lt;/a&gt; on what lights can help your tank plants thrive but to summarise: make sure you size your light to the requirements of the plant. There's various scales but for best growth, do the calculations (don't forget the affect depth has). For the classic easy-to-grow plants, I've found that 0.5 watt per litre is perfectly adequate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Easy plants&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may not want to make it too hard for yourself at the start. There are some plants that will just grow no matter what conditions they are in (within reason). Some of the easiest I've come across are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallisneria_spiralis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vallisneria spiralis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubias&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anubias&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsorum_pteropus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Java Fern&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's plenty which grow in low light and are hardy enough to avoid the beatings of fish, poor water etc. I'd definitely start with something that will grow more easily and then graduate through the different difficulties as you gain more experience. I've bought a great looking plant, put it in my tank and watched it die despite my best efforts and it's not that enjoyable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plants can really make or break the look of your tank so decide how you want it to be aquascaped and then read up on the requirements for the specific plants you've picked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-09-06T21:47:44.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-07T02:57:44.543" Score="1" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rjeQK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rjeQK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi,&#xA;I’ve had a betta and some tetras in a 30litre tank for about 5 months. Everything’s been good, they all get along, eating fine, not fighting and such, until this morning I noticed that my betta’s ‘neck’ area is swollen. He’s still acting normal and lively, his scales aren’t like a pinecone and he’s eating fine so nothings changed in terms of behaviour, just in appearance but even then I could be imagining things. All the other fish are fine. I’m just wondering whether I should start to treat him or if this will just make him worse if he doesn’t have the condition. I change water regularly enough and test the ph/nitrate and try in general to take good care of my fish. Any thoughts as to how I should proceed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Emma&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10323" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T02:57:44.543" Title="Does my Betta have dropsy?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18264" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-07T15:17:23.447" Score="1" ViewCount="744" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the picture submitted you can clearly see a healthy betta fish in the top 3 pictures. Those pictures are from May 2017 when he was first brought home from the pet store. The bottom 3 pictures are from last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a betta fish. I wasn't aware of the type of care that these fish truly need. I did however do weekly 100% water changes adding conditioner to the water each time. I fed him 2x every day. He was active sometimes but preferred to stay in some artificial plants found in the tank. Last night I changed the water and that's when I noticed something was truly wrong. After I put him in the tank it stayed at the surface and I could see a clear struggle to breathe. Or as you can see in the pictures, it sunk to the bottom and stayed there for a while. I tried feeding it but it would not move. It did not even acknowledge the food.&#xA;I am ashamed to admit that I have yet to get a kit to test these values so I am unaware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently it is in a 1.5 gallon tank. This tank has been set up since May 14 2017. I do not have a filter. Again, I've been misinformed about the care that these fish need. I read online that if you do weekly 100% water changes you do not need a filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is only 1 fish in the tank. I've had this fish for about 4 months&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have added a new betta hammock last night. Also, I added a heater about a week ago. I also noticed that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/aqueon-betta-bowl-plus-water/dp/130982?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=f&amp;amp;utm_content=Aqueon&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8suZoZmT1gIVm7XACh2R3wpYEAQYAyABEgIhM_D_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this new conditioner&lt;/a&gt; that I bought has white flakes in it? I have purchased this conditioner before and it did not have white flakes in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I have failed as a fish owner and I did not realize the damage that I have caused it. I know it is not much but I recently order &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002DRLESA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a new tank&lt;/a&gt; and am waiting for it to arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10327" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T15:48:15.607" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:31:05.970" Title="What is wrong with my betta fish? Fin rot? Velvet?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:30:46.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18258" CreationDate="2017-09-07T16:31:17.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can definitely use a gentle leader from a young age, it is encouraged even. The one thing you need to know about these leads are that you &lt;strong&gt;MUST NEVER&lt;/strong&gt; yank on it as you can hurt your dogs neck (whiplash).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gentle leaders are not meant to prevent dogs from eating things but to train them to walk appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies explore things with their mouth so it is normal for him to want to eat and chew everything in sight - you will have to monitor him. Depending on the breed, dogs tend to get over that as they age. Be sure to have plenty of chew toys and give lots of exercise to keep his interest - a bored dog is a destructive dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T16:31:17.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18240" CreationDate="2017-09-07T16:53:22.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Him trying to turn around, stand still or back up constantly, He'll run directly for my car or the office entrance and will try to stay put no matter how enthusiastic I try to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's definitely scared of his new environment, with this demeanor I would limit his walks outside the office. He may even appreciate staying at your place by himself while you're at work, your house is much more familiar to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I wake him during his naps to go for a walk he seems to not really enjoy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let him rest - he will let you know when he needs to do his business outside. 2-3 times a day is plenty for a senior chihuahua which can be done in recognizable territory like your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-07T16:53:22.883" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18270" CreationDate="2017-09-07T18:58:51.190" Score="1" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;For my dog, I wasn't able to afford the exam that checks for all the different types of worms that dogs can attract. However, I did see deworming chewable tablets. Is it harmful to feed a dog these tablets just in case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this is a dumb question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T02:34:56.027" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T18:49:14.103" Title="Dog tablets for de-worming" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2017-09-08T02:41:13.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is ideal to do a faecal float and smear to look for any eggs or protozoa, before treating. If you would rather just empirically deworm then there are many safe over-the-counter products, but there are also many unsafe over-the-counter products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For empiric deworming in an adult dog I would recommend a fenbendazole product (such as Panacur) or pyrantel product (such as Nemex).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fenbendazole will cover for most common internal parasites but is not great for tapeworms, and not for heartworms. Pyrantel will get roundworms and hookworms but not much else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no one product that will get all worms. Certain topical medications like Advantage Multi are good for fleas, heartworms, and some intestinal worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever product you use make sure you dose it appropriately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you ask your veterinarian about the product you decide to use before giving it to the dog. There are many products out there, and with some over-the-counter products adverse reactions seem to occur with alarming frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T14:23:30.797" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T14:23:30.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17066" CreationDate="2017-09-08T05:07:56.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a ready-made setup of 7500K LED light with 6 blue LEDs.&#xA;It's giving very good results, but the only thing is blue light favours algae growth. That's the only factor which was killing my tank's beauty. If we increase the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in tank (go for pressurized), it will easily solve the algae problem of the tank. Addition of Flourish Excel will also boost the performance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: This answer is from my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9335" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T09:36:27.570" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T09:36:27.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6980" CreationDate="2017-09-08T07:23:20.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that sound for sure. I have a Yorkie Poo and she does the exact same thing. So I took her to a dog dermatologist. Yes there is a such thing. Anyway she is allergic to her environment.  My dog hates to walk on grass and I have poison ivy in my yard which I believe she steps in so check your yard too. &#xA;He cleared up a bacteria and yeast infection she had with a special shampoo, two pills, and ear drops. After that my dog has to get an allergy shot each month. Her hair grew back immediately. And she stop lick/picking her paws. I hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10334" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T07:23:20.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18252" CreationDate="2017-09-08T10:10:40.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a universal answer about cat's behavior and how to change it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, the changes are small and easy to do. At other times, it is harder. But if your cat does what you want her to do, pet her and maybe offer some treats. It is all about teaching what you want or don't want her to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to change unwanted behavior fast. If your cat finds that this&#xA;unwanted behavior will get your attention then she will continue to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take the cat and put her on the floor and then IGNORE HER EVERY TIME SHE DOES THIS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your friends and family have to help you in this. Otherwise this plan will take longer time to succeed, or worse, not succeed at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your cat finds out that she cannot get your attention by this kind of action she will stop doing it. She will change her methods to get your attention. With time, she will understand what you want and don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long will it take to change the cat's behavior depends on several factors, like for how long this has been going on, the age of your cat and how patient she is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your friends and family do have to help you and they might have to change their behavior, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are really stubborn, but all you need is to be more stubborn than your cat and you will succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is valid for several types of cat behavior (biting, jumping on table, and a lot of other things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T00:56:45.070" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:56:45.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2017-09-08T12:29:26.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;When to test for intestinal parasites&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time we would run a fecal is when a dog has diarrhea, we're very fair with our clients and do not want to waste their money on tests that have a high chance of a negative result especially when our dewormers take out the most common parasites we see. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What dewormer to use&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very much dependent on your location as risks of parasites will vary from country to country or province to province (state in your case). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Ottawa&lt;/strong&gt; we have risk of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirofilaria_immitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heartworm disease&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lyme disease&lt;/a&gt; so all of our dewormers need to focus on heartworm and should be bundled with a flea &amp;amp; tick product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea &amp;amp; tick prevention to be given from March until December&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heartworm prevention to be given from June until November&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We pair up Interceptor (heartworm, roundworm, hookworm, whipworm) with Advantix (Fleas, ticks, black flies, mosquitoes etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not concerned about ticks Advantage Multi (fleas, heartworm, roundworm, hookworm, whipworm, mange) would be a great choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bayer recommends us to use Advantix + Advantage multi but we feel like it's way too much liquid to put on a pet and it's a bit of an overkill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;San Diego&lt;/strong&gt; I'm not overly familiar with what parasites you have there so call up your local vet and ask them what bugs you have in the area and how many months of the year should you treat for, they shouldn't charge you for asking a question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In US states that are always hot, flea treatment is a must for 12 months of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In some US states&lt;/strong&gt; you can pick up some over the counter &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/fenbendazole&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fenbendazole&lt;/a&gt; at farm animal pharmacies without a prescription. I suspect this only applies to states that are known for farming. This will cover your roundworms, whipworms, hookworms, giardia and some tapeworms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to stay away from&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hartz.com/en-ca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hartz&lt;/a&gt;, their products kill pets - most over the counter pet store dewormers aren't 100% effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If heartworm disease is prevalent in your area and your dog has not been consistently protected from it it is &lt;strong&gt;HIGHLY&lt;/strong&gt; recommended to test your dog for heartworm disease &lt;strong&gt;BEFORE&lt;/strong&gt; giving heartworm medication. Killing an infestation can cause death to your pet - this should be done under veterinary supervision and guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day your most reliable medications for deworming are provided to you by your DVM, if diarrhea is present a fecal test should be ran to rule out less common protozoa such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;giardia&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_multi_coccidiosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;coccidia&lt;/a&gt; as treatment will be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-08T18:49:14.103" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T18:49:14.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-08T13:57:29.670" Score="8" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just moved out of my daughters home where my cat Jazmine stayed in my room or went outside using the doggie door. She never went into the other rooms of the house because my daughters cat was there. My bedroom door was always open so she could have gone into other rooms but because of Frodo (the other cat) she never did. (4 years)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has always been a cat who does not like change. If I moved my furniture around she would meow for a few days until she got used to the change.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I moved I got her a cat tree because I can not let her go outside anymore as I have moved from out in the country to the city. I would be afraid to let her outside with the traffic and there are a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood. I thought she would like to be up high and she seems to love it and the freedom of the new house. She moves around every room and runs and plays like I have never seen her do before.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently she has started meowing at night. She will run into my room like a wild woman and scratch her scratching post and roll around with one of her toys... run under the bed and just meow loudly!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep treats in a drawer and give her some at night before bedtime. When she wakes me up I will get her some treats and put them in her bowl in another room and then shut my bedroom door to keep her out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if she is training me to get more treats or if she is insecure in her new surroundings. She used to sleep with me but has not since the move. I have all new furniture in the bedroom so nothing is familiar to her. Any advice on how to help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10337" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-09T01:35:24.707" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:21.413" Title="New behavior since moving" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18279" CreationDate="2017-09-08T14:52:55.080" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;We want to avoid keeping a couple of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djungarian_hamster&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Djungarian hamsters&lt;/a&gt; to prevent breeding. Is it more natural for the animals to keep just one solitary hamster, or two of the same sex? And if two, males or females? In such a case we'd get siblings to reduce possible initial animosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T19:00:30.807" Title="Couple of same-sex Djungarian hamsters?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18276" CreationDate="2017-09-08T16:25:31.737" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you move into a new house, everything is new for your cat. If there has not been any other cats there before, she has the whole territory for herself.&#xA;She feels free to go everywhere and marks it as her area by rubbing against everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several things you can do when she wakes you at night, but treats are not one of them if you don't want her to wake you every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can put a cat bed in the room where you sleep so she can see you.&#xA;The reason why your cat wakes you is she is feeling a little insecure and needs to see you and feels safe by knowing where you are. You don't need to do do anything except say &quot;Hi, I am here&quot; and go to sleep again.&#xA;I know it can be hard to do this but you need to ignore her calling for you.&#xA;This is actually what a mother cat does to her kittens to wean them off drinking milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take a t-shirt you have used for a day and put this on her bed if her bed is away from where you sleep. This makes your cat feel safer as she can smell you even when you are not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important for cats to feel safe. My cat is an outdoor cat and is normally outdoors all day, but she comes inside to see if I am here several times during the day and goes out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid the cat waking you it is best to have her toys and cat tree placed away from the bedroom, maybe close to a window where she can look out and watch what is going on outside, as maybe she can see some birds or other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to avoid responding to the cat in the night when you need to sleep and make it so your cat doesn't need to wake you to feel safe and make sure you don't give her treats at night, as this is basically saying thank you for waking me and let us do this every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving your cat some comforting at night when you just have moved in is OK but don't let it continue for many days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-18T05:40:21.413" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T05:40:21.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18277" CreationDate="2017-09-08T19:00:30.807" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamsters are solitary animals and should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; be housed together - they will kill and eat one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Babies can be housed together temporarily but should be separated when they hit sexual maturity (~4-5 weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the odd case where some hamsters will get along as adults however they tend to one day change their minds and kill their cage-mate. I've seen this with many different species of hamster, including dwarf - it's pretty mortifying, especially for children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T19:00:30.807" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18285" CreationDate="2017-09-08T19:41:08.120" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's one thing about leash training that I can't quite wrap my head around regardless of how many of these I read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is pulling ahead of you on their leash, the advice is always never to pull back, which makes sense. But does this include just stopping in your tracks? Isn't that automatically creating tension even though I'm not moving/pulling that will still cause him to instinctually pull against?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My puppy definitely walks with the leash pulled tight especially if he sees something and I'd like to have him walk with slack but don't want to stop walking if that's not what I'm supposed to do because it obviously still creates leash tension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T06:07:09.837" Title="What's the Difference Between Pulling Back on Leash and Stopping?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18547" CreationDate="2017-09-08T21:19:57.110" Score="10" ViewCount="18244" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat (maybe 2 years old, adopted) who has suddenly started chewing (not just licking) a spot bald from biting herself. She's clearly hurting herself (she cries when she does it) but we're baffled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RGAMN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RGAMN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken her to the vet who had us try both a cortizone shot, an antibiotic, steroid pills, and some soy-based food, but she continues to do this without any signs it's working (almost 2 weeks). If anything, she's getting worse, not better (seems more lethargic as well). None of the other cats have any issues, nor do we have fleas. I'm trying to avoid getting a second opinion from another vet since the first one was expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10338" LastEditorUserId="10338" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-08-16T21:10:22.173" LastActivityDate="2020-08-16T21:10:22.173" Title="Cat mowing and chewing until skin bleeds" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-08T23:44:04.253" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 14-week old puppy is starting to show a bit of aggression towards other dogs -- if they're close enough he sometimes barks/growls if they're separated, or if they're playing at puppy kindergarten it may break into a fight that we need to split up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read on here and other websites, it's hard to differentiate whether to attempt to expose him to more positive social dog interactions since he's still a puppy -- or if we're at the point where I should attempt to keep him away from dogs altogether until he shows signs of improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone help shed some light on this? Seems like slowly introducing him back to dogs when he's calmer is certainly a good idea but all I've also read is how extremely important puppy socialization is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastActivityDate="2017-09-08T23:44:04.253" Title="Puppy Showing Signs of Aggression Towards Other Dogs - Should I Expose Him to More Situations or Not?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2017-09-09T02:14:12.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with high temperatures is that it reduces the content of dissolved oxygen in the water. Just add aeration and/or water movement (to increase the surface area of air-water interface). I have a small pond with a few 30 inch (76 cm) koi: the temperature has reached 85 °F (29 °C), I seldom check it. This is no problem with circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:35:23.370" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:35:23.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18249" CreationDate="2017-09-09T02:25:06.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put some plants in it ; they out compete most algae for nutrients.I went to some effort to get a tank up to a skylight for maximum sun ( with plants). Hornwort ( ceratophyllm ( sp.))  is a very easy floater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T02:25:06.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18280" CreationDate="2017-09-09T05:31:36.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience with two Huskies - which are obviously big pullers - so far I'd say a combination of both works best:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First, think of tractor pulling, if you know that motorsport. Basically the harder the dog pulls, the slower you go (or even stop). The lower the tension is, the faster you go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over time the dogs learned that just pulling won't work and they may now keep the leash on slight tension but they no longer actually pull it (unless there are things like cats or squirrels involved).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We pull the dogs back only if they'd otherwise get rewarded (or in danger) for doing something. For example, if the dog suddenly jumps into the street sniffing or at some other person.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep in mind that pulling the dog back creates significantly more tension compared to just standing still. The dogs are able to differentiate between both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T05:31:36.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-09T08:50:24.257" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;What will be the average food cost (per month) for having a dog vs cat? How much will vet cost (average) (per year) for a dog vs cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="10293" LastEditDate="2017-09-09T09:29:12.393" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T11:00:33.273" Title="Cost of keeping a dog vs cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-09-12T05:12:58.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18290" CreationDate="2017-09-09T09:59:51.843" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 1/2 months old male persian kitten , I bought it a month ago and the kitten does not seem to be friendly as I thought, sometimes it just get scared and keeps on running away. How much time it can take to over come this issue ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:30:50.290" Title="Make A kitten Follow me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18286" CreationDate="2017-09-09T10:44:19.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering costs is an important step in deciding to add a pet to your family. Cost of maintaining a pet is one of the things cause pets to be surrendered to a local shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately there is not one simple answer to the question of cost. There are multiple variables.  Costs and options vary greatly by location and over time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer is a small to medium sized dog and a cat (or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits&quot;&gt;rabbit&lt;/a&gt;) who is healthy can be kept for about the same cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plan for a vet visit annually.&lt;/strong&gt; Once with in the first week of adoption and then regularly every year (&lt;em&gt;or two&lt;/em&gt;).  Cat and Dog visits are generally the same cost, contact your local vet for details&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shots;&lt;/strong&gt; this varies greatly by location there are legal and risk based factors. In general adopting a two year old pet from a shelter is going to be the most cost effective option.  A 2 year old pet from a shelter will have had all or most of its shots, while a young pet from a farm or pet store, will likely still need several shots.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Accidents and Health issues;&lt;/strong&gt; like children some pets will have issues and some will not. In my experience sudden onset issues cost between 3 and 10 times the cost of a normal vet visit. In some cases there are more expensive treatments as well.  Just like with people, cost and availability of treatment can have life and death impacts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training;&lt;/strong&gt; cost can be direct or indirect. Like children, pets need to be taught what is acceptable behavior and what is not. This will take time and/or money.  You can pay a trainer (direct cost) to help, or you can do some research and do all your own training for free.  Failing to train is going to lead to property damage (indirect cost to replace).  It takes more time for bowel and bladder training with a dog, than a cat (or rabbit).  But dogs are more easily trainable in other ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toys;&lt;/strong&gt; Every living thing needs something of their own to focus their attention on when things get boring.  There are solutions for little to no cost, there is also a large market of products that you can spend lots of money on.  Each pet has a unique personality, and will require something different, but here cost is your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Containment;&lt;/strong&gt; If you live on 100 acres, or if you live in a small apartment in the city you will have vastly different costs, options and considerations. In short, your pet will need to be able to interact with you, get exercise, play and go to the bathroom; while staying safe. Cost can range from nothing to very expensive. A significant amount of the content on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;pets.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt; is about solving these challenges. Some pets (dogs, horses) require more outdoor access then other (cats, rabbits) your housing for the next 10 to 15 years will impact greatly the potential costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food;&lt;/strong&gt; You can spend as much or as little as you would like, basic substance feeding is about the same for all pets, large pets like big dogs (or horses), will require more food at a higher cost. Options range from feeding home made foods to store bought pet foods. Available options vary by location, but most pet foods have feeding suggestions on the package.  The cheapest bag of food may require a larger amount be feed at each meal, so it is actually more expensive to feed then a better quality, more expensive feed that requires less food to give the same amount of nutrition.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr&lt;/strong&gt; Any pet that will fit comfortably on your lap is going to have about the same cost to keep healthy and happy.  Each type of pet; cat, dog, rabbit, pig, horse, bird, snake, etc, has different general attributes, each individual pet will have a different personality. While being able to meet the basic costs of supporting a pet is important in deciding to have a pet, it does not impact which pet to choose. Choose the pet that you want to make part of your family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final note: If there is a shelter in your area, spending some time meeting different animals can help you make your decision easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-09-09T11:00:33.273" LastActivityDate="2017-09-09T11:00:33.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18288" CreationDate="2017-09-09T13:08:07.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every cat has different personality. Moreover, the first 3 to 4 months are most important in building a cat's personality. If the cat has bad experience with humans in his earlier life, he will become suspicious of humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To gain the cat's confidence, progress gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the cat a separate room. She might get afraid of new humans or other pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her some hiding area like long leafy plants or cardboard boxes, where the cat will feel secure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food is the most important thing to build trust. At first keep the food in tray and walk away. Then stay and watch him eating. Finally try feeding by hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularly bring new gifts and toys for the cat to play with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a cat tree. Elevation generally gives them confidence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the litter box clean and in a safe place where the cat will not be afraid to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly start stroking the cat softly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk with your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try lifting up the cat over your chest and keep stroking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Last but not the least try to make him socialized by introducing him to your family members and friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T08:30:50.290" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:30:50.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20324" CreationDate="2017-09-09T13:25:06.120" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 1/2 months old male persian kitten. It is not still dewormed , bought it a month ago , came to know about deworming few days ago . Whenever I feed cat food, changed the cat food too, kitten has blood in its stool and has diarrhea . Whenever i stop feeding cat food, diarrhea is better than before . Is this the problem in dry foods ? I also came to know that diarrhea and blood in stool is also caused by parasites / worms. Someone told me that it is also because of stress, but kittens seems to be fine to me .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T18:24:44.337" Title="Kitten Diarrhea With Blood" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18292" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-09-10T01:40:34.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not create another tag for a specific heart condition, without asking in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2183/should-heart-failure-be-renamed-heart-disease&quot;&gt;meta&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For questions related to any heart/cardiac issues a pet may have, including heart disease and heart failure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T01:40:34.913" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T01:40:34.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18293" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-09-10T01:40:34.913" Score="0" Body="Do not create another tag for a specific heart condition, without asking in meta.&#xD;&#xA;For questions related to any heart/cardiac issues a pet may have, including heart disease and heart failure.  https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2183/should-heart-failure-be-renamed-heart-disease" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T01:40:34.913" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T01:40:34.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18296" CreationDate="2017-09-10T06:21:52.343" Score="2" ViewCount="519" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have approx 3 month old kitten. After poo it usually put hands on the stool and hands get dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is really annoying because then it roams around and smell is everywhere, is it due to the size of litter box? Does it need more space? The litter box is kind of a tub, round, and triple the length of kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I just pick it up as he is done with poo and I put the sand over the poo. Need guidance. It is my first pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T09:36:36.863" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T09:37:19.577" Title="Kitten always gets dirty from stool" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18295" CreationDate="2017-09-10T09:17:49.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like the kitty litter tray is too small. Cats naturally like to cover up their faeces, and will dig and push dirt or kitty litter to cover it. It doesn't sound like she has much room to do this. She could be getting faeces on her paws attempting to cover it, or just by trying to exit the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect a rectangular shape may be easier for your kitten to use, than a round shape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go for a minimum size or 345 mm wide  x 440 mm high  x 125 mm  deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RnvqR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RnvqR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are pretty clean creatures and she wouldn't like having faeces on her front paws. Most importantly, be patient with her and gently clean her paws with a damp warm cloth. She cannot help that this is happening. It's always the humans who are responsible for their pets behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other issue is also to consider, her stools may be too runny. Either way, she needs a bigger litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some useful posts to help you get started: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16766/how-often-should-a-litter-box-be-cleaned&quot;&gt;How often should a litter box be cleaned?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10516/how-can-i-reduce-litter-waste-odor&quot;&gt;How can I reduce litter/waste odor?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/288/cat-digs-litter-out-of-the-box&quot;&gt;Cat digs litter out of the box&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18298/what-types-of-kitty-litter-are-there-and-what-else-can-be-used-as-kitty-litter&quot;&gt;What types of kitty litter are there and what else can be used as kitty litter?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T09:37:19.577" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T09:37:19.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T09:18:03.613" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small kitten orphaned since few days is in our neighborhood. Last two days it didn't eat much and it had in last two days is a pinch of fish. The situation worsened today and it was lying down as if waiting to die.. I bought some cow milk and tried to force feed 50ml by feeding bottle and left it after pouring on it some water. To my awful disappointment it become motionless and after a while it peed the milk I fed and vomited some through mouth.. the breathe become very less. I am not sure it will get alive. What I should do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10346" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T17:34:23.220" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T17:34:23.220" Title="Saving a unfed kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18327" CreationDate="2017-09-10T09:29:15.253" Score="4" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;What types of kitty litter are there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What type of materials can be used as kitty litter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answering the following question got me searching for some resources on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18295/kitten-always-gets-dirty-from-stool&quot;&gt;Kitten always gets dirty from stool&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've searched the site &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?page=1&amp;amp;tab=Votes&amp;amp;q=%5Bcats%5D%20%5Btoilet-training%5D%20is%3Aquestion&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=kitty%20litter%20is%3Aquestion&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to look for this question and cannot find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17564/can-desert-beach-sand-work-as-an-alternative-for-litter&quot;&gt;Can desert/beach sand work as an alternative for litter?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T09:34:22.877" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T05:54:32.423" Title="What types of kitty litter are there and what else can be used as kitty litter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18297" CreationDate="2017-09-10T09:38:15.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all , take it to the vet. Secondly, kittens sometimes may not eat when they are sick. Same thing happened with my kitten, it became sick,vomited and there was runny stool. Didn't eat any thing whole day, lay down on the floor , whenever tries to get up, shakes and again lay down. Vet injected him and after few hours he was fine. &#xA;So the only hope for him is to take to the vet, save a life , go to heaven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It must not be an answer but a comment, but I cannot comment due to low rep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T09:38:15.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18298" CreationDate="2017-09-10T12:03:54.407" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The types of cat/kitty litter one can get in different shops.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The regular absorbent&lt;/strong&gt;, typically white/gray and light weight however, sometimes the particles are hard and sharp (some cats do not like how this feels). This type of litter is made from burnt clay.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heat extruded clay&lt;/strong&gt; - Round particles, very light weight, highly absorbent and higher cost then most other types (a few cats find this type of litter too lightweight to dig in).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;clumping litter&lt;/strong&gt; - Wide range of types and a wide range of cost, most types contains bentonite, a natural clay mineral. It is quite heavy but one uses less of it (remove large clumps instead or dumping everything) many cats like this type of litter as it feels soft and cool to walk on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Silicate cat litter&lt;/strong&gt; absorbs waste the best and is often scent free, a lot of cats like this type of litter. This is actually silica gel, the same product used to keep electronic products dry during transport (the small bags labeled silica gel do not eat) it is non toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bio-degradable litter&lt;/strong&gt; is made of plant fiber in the form of pellets,&#xA;it absorbs fluids well. Most cats likes this type of litter, as a bonus it can be composted&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The types one can get for free or low cost.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regular soil/dirt&lt;/strong&gt; do not absorb fluids well, doesn't take long before it smells. Can contain unwanted bacteria and parasites, you will have to use a larger amount of it (natural for cats to dig in).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Peat (sphagnum)&lt;/strong&gt; has to be dry before using it, slowly absorbs fluids and can contain unwanted bacteria and parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sawdust&lt;/strong&gt; absorbs fluids well, is light, don't need to use a lot and it has some anti bacterial effect. It can sometimes contain dangerous chemicals if made from treated wood.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regular sand&lt;/strong&gt; have poor ability to absorb fluids and can contain dangerous bacteria and parasites. It develops a smell quite fast and is best to avoid using unless it's an emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shredded paper&lt;/strong&gt; absorbs fluid and is lightweight. You need to use a larger amount of it for it to be effective so it is best to use this only for kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T19:58:45.237" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:58:45.237" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18302" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T16:23:47.267" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;My roommate started using my bowls to feed their cat wet food. Are there any risks to anyone eating from the same bowls if the cat stays indoors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10348" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T17:49:17.150" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T17:49:17.150" Title="Should we have separate bowls for the cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;public-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18303" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T17:37:17.490" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank with 6 goldfish - all small sized. I have had this tank for around 6 months. I do weekly 50% water changes and feed them twice a day - mostly pellets and flake food. Sometimes I give them peas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just around 3 weeks or so I have this one shubunkin who has started behaving different. It doesn't eat. And it just stays at one corner of the tank for the most of the time. I thought it must have had some infection so I did more water changes, but it still hasn't helped. And most importantly the other fish seem to be healthy and lively, apart from this one. It also seems to have lost some weight. I have attached an image of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unsure how I treat this fish. I am looking for some advice. It would be great if I could get any. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hr5Pp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hr5Pp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10349" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T14:45:04.320" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T14:46:32.603" Title="Goldfish (shubunkin) behaviour changes" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18302" CreationDate="2017-09-10T17:48:34.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a risk, but it is impossible to say how high that risk is as there are (to my knowledge) no studies assessing the risk of humans and cats eating from the same bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have mouths full of bacteria, some of which – &lt;em&gt;Pasteurella&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Bartonella&lt;/em&gt;, etc. – can cause severe disease in humans. If the cat somehow fecally contaminates its food dish, then there could be a host of other bacterial (e.g. &lt;em&gt;E. coli&lt;/em&gt;) and protozoal (e.g. &lt;em&gt;Giardia)&lt;/em&gt; organisms present that can be transmitted to humans through the oral route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption is that the bowls are washed appropriately in hot water between uses. A dishwasher is sufficient to make sure most bacteria, protozoa and viruses are killed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The likelihood of transmitting these diseases from cat to humans with washed bowls is probably very low, but it is an unnecessary risk to take. Set aside a couple of dishes for the cat's own use, then you don't have to worry about this risk at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T17:48:34.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18305" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-09-10T17:50:20.137" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-09-10T17:50:20.137" LastActivityDate="2017-09-10T17:50:20.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18306" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-09-10T17:50:20.137" Score="0" Body="For questions about veterinary public health, such as diseases transmissible from pets to humans." OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T02:31:01.983" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T02:31:01.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18343" CreationDate="2017-09-10T19:06:36.110" Score="2" ViewCount="33589" Body="&lt;p&gt;At what age:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is it best for a cat to get her first litter of kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is a female cat fully physicaly developed so she can have kittens in the safest way for the mother and kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is a female cat fully mentally developed to best take care of her kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is it safest for a cat to have kittens with lowest chance of problems for both the mother and her kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;is the risk for complications during labor the lowest?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is not about what age a cat can get pregnant, it is only about what is the best for the mother and her kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is made to give people and their cats guidance when they want to have kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-09T05:35:12.703" LastActivityDate="2020-05-09T05:35:12.703" Title="At what age is it best for a cat to have the first litter of kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-10T19:13:31.900" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my first pet. Due to Diarrhea , vet has asked me to force feed the kitten 4 days. Before feeding, the behavior seems to be normal but after force feeding, the kitten's behavior seems like it just hates every one and becomes sad(whenever it is laying on the ground, I touch him and he leaves the place and finds another place where no one is around). Is it normal or am I being so harsh on this little buddy ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T00:04:22.223" Title="Force Feeding Medicines To Kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18308" CreationDate="2017-09-11T00:04:22.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I think it would depend on how much you are force feeding your kitten, too much at one time could be giving him or her an upset tummy. If you are sure that you are not overfeeding, it is possible that the kitten is just tired of getting handled and would like to be left alone. I would also take into consideration that if you are having to force feed the kitten, then it stands to reason that they are already sick and not going to feel better just yet. I think that if you have reached a point where you are force feeding it, it just isn't going to feel well until it starts to heal. I wouldn't expect the kitten to show signs of happiness and wellness until it gets over whatever it has, sometimes, as with children, the cure hurts. Good Luck and I can assure you that you will see a change in behavior when the kitten starts to feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10352" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T00:04:22.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-09-11T01:45:12.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I applaud your desire to help your cat get some exercise and stay healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of being exciting, all of the sounds, sights, and smells of the outdoors seem to create an overwhelming experience that leaves her withdrawn - this doesn't sound like a positive pattern. In order to make the outdoors less overwhelming for your kitty, you might want to look into a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01FNJWPOG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;safe, cozy backpack&lt;/a&gt; from which she can watch the outdoors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is like allowing your cat to take the house with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't give her any exercise at first, but it will allow her to get acquainted with the outdoors and the feeling of sharing a morning walk with you. Eventually, you may find that you can take her out of the backpack and walk with her. Don't be too concerned about following a specific path - cats like to explore. Let her guide you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you choose to continue walking your cat, please switch to a harness rather than a collar!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have very delicate tracheas that can collapse under the pressure of a collar. A harness allows you to more evenly distribute the pressure across your cat's body. Besides this, most harnesses are more difficult for your cat to wriggle out of - something that will come in handy if your cat becomes nervous enough to run somewhere other than into a bush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time being, my advice is to maximize the indoor environment and watch her diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you fit a cat tree in your apartment? Because a cat tree is typically tall and narrow, it won't take up much space, while offering a lot of play and stimulation opportunities. Even a tall scratching post would give her a nice place to climb, scratch, and play while accommodating your limited square footage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your cat react to catnip? A little bit of this herb could help her feel more frisky, leading to some indoor activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that she's not grazing on dry food throughout the day - this could lead to obesity and the health issues that you're concerned about. Diet shouldn't be a problem if you can portion her meals out yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wildernesscat.com/everything-need-know-dry-cat-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a blog&lt;/a&gt;  with more information about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wishing you all the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10354" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T19:15:20.250" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:15:20.250" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-11T10:01:54.357" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past two days at around 5:30am, a stray Tom cat has climbed onto my front porch and come right up to our bedroom window. My male indoor cat freaks, jumping and swatting at the Tom. He runs away when I go outside, but returns the next day. I live in the city and don't think that catching and releasing him would be a viable solution. How can we get rid of this guy so we can get some sleep and my cat can get some peace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10357" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-11T19:18:39.770" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T19:18:39.770" Title="How can I discourage a stray cat from harassing my indoor cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18313" CreationDate="2017-09-11T10:25:14.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On your front porch spread some citrus fruit extract. Also grounded coffee can be used. Both are poisonous for cats and cats avoid such areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But unlike feral cats, pet cats have much less common sense. Be careful that your pet cat does not lick them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T10:25:14.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7565" CreationDate="2017-09-11T17:09:16.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my dog has GI upset, he goes on a chicken and rice diet until whatever the issue is has resolved (when suggested by the vet). The ratio of chicken to rice is 1:2. With cubed, boiled chicken having about 270 calories per 1 cup and boiled rice having about 200 calories per 2 cups, that would suggest about 57% of calories should come from protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10359" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T17:09:16.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10418" CreationDate="2017-09-11T18:05:24.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The directions for the thunder shirt do say that you must take it off at least twice a day  for 30 min each. I am not sure if that would be enough time to matter though. I have also noticed that my dog acts out of character when he wears it for a certain period of time (sleeps a lot and lays by himself rather than seeking attention from me). I use it to calm his separation anxiety while at school and work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10361" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T18:05:24.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18319" CreationDate="2017-09-11T19:48:06.483" Score="4" ViewCount="1114" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I saved a stray kitten (a few weeks old, I'm not exactly sure) from being ran over by a car. I was looking for its mother, but I wasn't able to find her. It was getting late so I took her to my house and took care of her for a bit - and I have a feeling that it was probably a bad idea, but I really had no idea what to do. After a while, the kitten was getting attached to me - I think she thinks I'm her mom? - but unfortunately, I'm unable to keep the kitten until she is a few months old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have someone to take care of it until then. But would the kitten remember me after months? It sounds unlikely, but I would really like to know because I'm attached to her and it breaks my heart to be apart from her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10362" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T20:18:16.360" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T20:18:16.360" Title="Will my kitten remember me after a day of interaction?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18318" CreationDate="2017-09-11T21:43:43.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course it's impossible to say for sure what a cat is thinking, but from personal observation, if you only interact with a kitten for a day, then are separated for months, the cat will most likely behave as if you are a stranger when you are reunited. I think it's often the case that kittens will seem more open to strangers and as the cat grows, it becomes more wary of them. On the positive side, you can still form a new bond that's just as strong with an older cat; it just might take a little longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-09-11T21:43:43.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18252" CreationDate="2017-09-12T04:37:53.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this very same thing to me. When I've described it to others (cat lovers and cat haters) I am met with disbelief, as if I am making it up. My 7 year old girl leaps onto my bed at any time between 4:30am and 7am when I arise. She lands within a few inches of my face. It startles me; I open my eyes and she lands a slap to my cheek. She also has the dilated pupil crazy eyes. I was horrified the first several time she did this and I reared up angrily and pushed her off the bed while hollering at her and closing her out of my bedroom. I was shocked that she would &quot;attack&quot; me while I was vulnerable in sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took me awhile to figure her out.  She was trying to engage me to play with her. My solution has been to give her a whole lot more play time and attention during my waking hours. I play with her doing the same old games, but not quit at the first sign that she's done.  I keep tossing toys and moving across the room until she gets worn out and bored.  And I get a respite from the early morning cat slaps, maybe for awhile. I've accepted that this is her quirk. I'm glad she's with me and not someone who could have dumped her or slapped the crap out of her, as had been suggested to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5178" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-03-27T13:09:35.993" LastActivityDate="2019-03-27T13:09:35.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-12T05:27:17.323" Score="4" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I take my dog to the park, the following happens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When a dog barks at him, even if it is a small Chihuahua, he immediately gets scared and jumps back. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Otherwise, he just plays normally: running around with the other dogs, fetching a ball, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;However, whenever there is a shy dog, usually if it's a 5-8 month puppy that makes a lot of crying sounds, my dog immediately runs over and rough houses, mounts, etc. Today it got a little out of hand and he bit another dog's(8 month old husky) butt. It was quite a struggle to pull him off. Luckily, nothing happened to the other dog and he was fine. Maybe that triggered him? This other dog was continually letting out crying sounds. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told that dogs don't suddenly do something like biting. It's usually a longer behavior pattern. I don't want him to behave aggressively towards shy dogs and so I would like to know the best way to train him against this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He never ever barks at home. I've heard him bark just once at the park when we had to leave and he didn't want to go. Otherwise, he never barks, I've absolutely never heard him growl or pounce on any human. He doesn't lick either. And I take him to the dog park almost every other day, and he's never bit another dog. So to me, this really was a first. Any advice would be super helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;His current training&lt;/strong&gt;: He's really good with sit/stay/come. I can usually immediately re-direct his attention and he comes when called. Also, he never pulls on the leash. Although the &quot;re-directing&quot; part didn't work too well when he was biting onto the other dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a 70 pound American Staffy. They estimated him to be about 3.5 years old. And he is desexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10163" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-09-22T08:06:50.680" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T08:06:50.680" Title="how to stop my dog from bullying shy dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18324" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-12T10:52:25.953" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a turkey baster to feed my axolotl blood worms. I can see that there are old worms stuck at the top of the baster. Should I use hot water/bleach to do a proper clean of the baster?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8540" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T21:16:55.230" Title="Should I clean the turkey baster used to feed my axolotl?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18330" CreationDate="2017-09-12T14:30:05.680" Score="4" ViewCount="2729" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've noticed my dragon has some discoloration. It doesn't appear to be painful as he still curls his tail like normally when the area is touched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed it may be his lighting and heat, so recently he's been coming outside every morning to bask in actual sunlight and have gotten stronger bulbs for his tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not a climber so I don't believe it to be burns of any sort and his diet consists of gut-loaded insects (mainly cause he'd rather starve than eat some veggies) and I'm hoping it to just be his first shedding with me as I just recently got him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas or information would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/dGPdsMWJxNnsT12h1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;My Google album with dragon's photos.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5CYee.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fRzhE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10367" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T11:31:15.417" LastActivityDate="2020-08-02T14:12:45.697" Title="Bearded dragon has weird discoloration" Tags="&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18298" CreationDate="2017-09-12T14:53:50.513" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a wide variety of litter options available for cats, although the availability of specific choices will depend on where in the world you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to consider when choosing cat litter&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When deciding what litter to use, there are several factors to bear in mind, but individuals will have to decide how much weight to give to each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will my cat use it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is always the most important factor -- if a cat won't use a particular litter, then none of its other characteristics matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats need a litter that they are happy to walk on, and which allows them to dig easily to bury faeces, in a litter tray that can be kept clean and odour-free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats/basicneeds/litter-boxes&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Research has shown that most cats prefer fine-grained, unscented&#xA;  litters. Scoopable litters usually have finer grains than typical clay litter and have the added advantage of being easy to keep clean&#xA;  on a&#xA;  daily basis. Many cats are put off by the odor of scented or deodorant litters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, many owners have cats who happily use other types of cat litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How easy is it to keep the litter tray clean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are notoriously fastidious, and most cats will find an alternative to a dirty litter box, which will almost certainly be somewhere you don't want them soiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a litter box should be scooped daily, and completely changed and washed regularly (how often depends on the sort of litter you choose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another related factor is: how well does the litter control odour?  Neither you nor your cat want the litter box to smell offensive, and scooping regularly is very important for this, but some litters can also reduce odours in other ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A scented litter may seem like a good idea, but many cats dislike their smell. Some litters contain other odour control substances such as baking soda or activated charcoal, and cats may or may not accept these -- you will only know if you try. (If you have an enclosed litter box, you can often fit a charcoal filter to control odours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How expensive it is?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important consideration for most owners.Some types are more expensive to buy but they last longer/you need less, so don't just look at the purchase price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How easy is it to transport it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight matters both when you are buying the litter (transporting it home) and storing it, and when changing the complete contents of the tray. Some types of litter are very heavy, others are designed to be very light-weight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Delivery options are available in some parts of the world, but you will still need to move it around the house and out of the house when it's used (and don't forget, used litter can be up to 40 times heavier than unused litter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How easy is it to avoid the litter being tracked around the house?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is litter that escapes from the tray easy to see and clean up, or does it tread into the carpet and/or get tracked around the house on the cat's paws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;6&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How easy is it to dispose of?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some litter can only be disposed of in landfill and is not bio-degradable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some litters claim to be bio-degradable, but they should not be used for garden compost because of the high acidity in cat urine. (Commercial composting sites should handle them OK, if they accept them -- not all do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some manufacturers claim that soiled litter can be flushed down the toilet -- speaking with the voice of experience, don't (unless you don't mind blocked drains), even if your local laws and regulations allow it (many don't).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;7&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How safe is it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it dust-free, or low dust? (No litter can be entirely dust-free but some are better than others.) Would any dust that arises when changing the tray cause problems for anyone in the house, not least the cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens if the cat eats it? Is there a risk of poisoning or other adverse health impacts? Be aware that cats ingest a little bit of litter every day when they groom themselves, and kittens at the weaning stage (up to 3 months) are prone to trying to eat litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How environmentally friendly is it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does production of the litter require mining of non-renewable minerals, or is it plant-based? Is it shipped a long distance around the world? How much energy/and or chemicals are involved in its production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://greenlivingideas.com/2015/08/13/how-cat-litter-is-made/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Green Living Ideas&lt;/a&gt; if this is of particular interest to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Clumping or non-clumping?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clumping (scoopable) cat litters are formulated so that the litter forms a solid clump as it absorbs liquid. This makes it possible to remove urine and faeces from the litter tray daily (or even more often) without having to empty the tray completely. As soiled litter is removed from the tray, it should be replenished by adding an equal amount of fresh litter, so the level in the tray stays constant for your cat. A litter tray filled with clumping litter still needs to be emptied, washed and refilled at intervals (at least once a month, or more frequently if you have multiple cats using the same litter tray and/or your cat is particularly 'productive'.) Clumping litter is more likely to stick to a cat’s paws and be tracked around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-clumping cat litter can be good at removing the smell of cat urine because it can absorb a relatively large amount. However, as it becomes saturated, the urine can start to pool in the tray; and it isn't possible to remove soiled litter without changing the whole tray. If you choose non-clumping litter (with some exceptions) you must be prepared to change and clean the tray weekly (or more often in a multi-cat household). Non-clumping litter tends to be cheaper to purchase than clumping litter, but can be less cost-effective overall because it must be replaced more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Materials used in commercially-available cat-litter&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Commercial cat litter is made from four types of material:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clay&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clay-based litter is made from clay that has been processed into a variety of granule sizes and then dried. It can be clumping or non-clumping. It's heavy to transport and often dusty (although low-dust formulations are available).  It’s the most common commercial cat litter material in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recent processes for making clay litter can produce smoother, lighter particles that are more absorbent and more expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clay-based litters are prone to sticking to cat's paws, and getting tracked around the house. Litter with larger/sharper granules can be uncomfortable for a cat to walk on, but are less likely to be tracked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clay-based litter is not bio-degradable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although clay-based cat litters have been in use since the 1950s, clumping varieties are a more recent development. There are some anecdotal reports that the sodium bentonite used in some of these can cause serious health problems for cats when ingested (and anecdotal reports contradicting this) -- see &lt;a href=&quot;http://kapush.org/cat-litter/sodium-bentonite-cat-litter-dangers/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sodium bentonite cat litter dangers&lt;/a&gt;. No scientific studies have been done on the subject, but many cat breeders delay using clumping litters with kittens until they are past 3 months of age (and so less likely to try to eat the litter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Silica crystals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silica or crystal litter is made from silica gel that is dried into granules. It is not a clumping litter, but because it adsorbs and retains urine very well (it can adsorb up to 40 times its own weight) and pulls the moisture out of faeces, it is good for controlling odour and needs to be changed as infrequently as clumping litters (as long as solids are scooped at least daily and the remaining litter stirred.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is light-weight and almost dust free (although with some brands dust can be an issue when changing the tray).  It is more expensive to buy than other types but can be cost-effective because of the reduced frequency of tray changes. Some cats don't like the sharp edges of the crystals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This litter does track, but not so much as the clay types of litter, and doesn't get trodden in to the carpet so easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silica litter is not bio-degradable, but is less voluminous than clay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that silica cat litter is toxic when eaten. In addition, at least one study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/39/1/221.full&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) suggests that silica cat litter is a possible' trigger for sarcoidosis so buy low-dust formulation if you choose to use this litter. (Note: the dust from clay-based litter also contains a lot of silica.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other minerals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cat litters are available based on different mineral combinations, e.g. Chalk/quartz sand, but will not be covered in detail here. They generally claim to be lighter-weight/more absorbent/longer lasting than the clay alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bio-organic materials&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cat litters are made of environmentally friendly, renewable, bio-degradable materials, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;corn or wheat: Effective litters, but corn and wheat are some of the common food allergens for cats so you may want to avoid these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;recycled paper turned into pellets or granules: dust-free (other bio-organic types are not).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pine cedar and other wood-based litter: natural scent may help control odor but may not appeal to your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;other alternatives such as walnut and grass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most bio-organic materials can be clumping or non-clumping (depends on manufacturer and formulation, so check what you're buying carefully). Most bio-organic materials are less dusty and less likely to track around the house than clay-based litters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of litter tend to be more expensive than clay-based litters, and don't have such good odour control as the other types, so the tray will need to be scooped more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Home made or low cost litter alternatives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may choose to make your own cat litter, either because appropriate materials are available at low cost or in an emergency. However, all these alternatives have disadvantages -- notably, they are easily tracked through the house and/or have poor odour control. They will all need changing very often so you must have access to a steady supply of raw material for regular use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soil/dirt/sand/ashes&lt;/strong&gt; (This is what was used before commercial cat litter was invented). Most of these do not absorb fluids well, have poor odour control, do not clump (except sand), track everywhere in the house and can introduce bacteria and parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sawdust and/or wood shavings/pellets&lt;/strong&gt; Absorbs fluids well, is light, you don't need to use a lot and it has some anti bacterial effect. Avoid treated wood, as the chemicals involved may be bad for you and/or your cat. Sawdust tracks; shavings and pellets less so.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shredded paper&lt;/strong&gt; Absorbs fluid and is lightweight. You need to use a larger amount of it for it to be effective. You can also soak it, mix it with baking soda and air-dry it to create a scoopable litter but this is very time-consuming. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-04-22T05:54:32.423" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T05:54:32.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18331" CreationDate="2017-09-12T14:58:13.940" Score="14" ViewCount="2928" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really want a cat, but the problem is that my hobby is electronics. Half my house is a lab. I don't have dangerous equipment, but I do have tiny pieces. Most of the time are inside boxes, but when I work on a project they're all over the desk (such as resistors, chips and stuff) that could be very easily be eaten by a cat and I'm almost sure that it'll find them VERY interesting to at least play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to be able to have a cat? I know that training a cat is a fairly difficult and time consuming process, but I'm willing to do it. The problem is, until then, it may eat something and that would be a serious health hazard (especially if it eats a toxic component, such as a capacitor, which includes very toxic fluids).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to make more than enough interesting spots for the cat (shelfs to climb and scratch spots) which I think it'll love. Though most cats can't leave their human alone sometimes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also my apartment is fairly small (I live by myself and I'm a uni student), ~ 45 square meters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10369" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-02T16:48:59.053" LastActivityDate="2018-11-25T15:12:13.063" Title="Cat in a electronics hobbyist house" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2017-09-12T15:20:03.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you suspect training the cat not to get involved with the all the associated &quot;interesting&quot; bits and pieces involved in the electronics would be difficult, time-consuming and by no means garunteed of success so I think you would be unwise to rely on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have room you could shut the cat out of while you work on your projects? Or one you could shut the cat in to during the same? Make sure that wherever the cat is that it has access to plenty of toys and other safe objects of interest (plus litter and water etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can keep the cat temporarily separate from you while you work then it's a matter of good discipline with your components and tools - making sure that you tidy everything away before opening the room back up to the cat. You'll also want to keep an eye on the amount of time you spend shut away/shut the cat away so it's not excessive and make sure you give the cat plenty of attention/play/treats afterwards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not great, and believe me I can sympathize as I frequently have to shut my two away while I renovate my house but with some effort and self discipline there's no reason you can't keep the hobby going and have a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T15:20:03.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18325" CreationDate="2017-09-12T15:49:01.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What is Happening?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your bearded dragon is shedding, it can take a week or two to fully get rid of the pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Can I Help?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bathe him in luke-warm water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have rough textured materials for him to scratch on (i.e grass carpet or large rocks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never&lt;/strong&gt; peel the shed, this hurts and can cause damage to the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vcmZ8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vcmZ8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my bearded dragon, you can see the white patches on his legs and back - this is the old skin getting ready to come off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T15:49:01.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2017-09-12T17:03:10.600" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;As background, my husband has a similar electronics hobby and I sew. We lived in a house where we did our hobbies in the living room for a few years, but eventually moved into a house large enough that we each have a 'hobby room' and can shut the door to keep the cats out. I honestly believe this is the best long term solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we lived in our small house, we relied on self-discipline, supervision, and training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Self-Discipline&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if we weren't actively working on a project, all of the dangerous parts had to be put away into containers that the cats couldn't open or swallow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to make this easier (especially if you have things intricately laid out), you can work in the lid of an underbed storage box. When it's time to put things away, put the body of the box on top and hope the cat doesn't knock the whole thing off your table. I'd recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.target.com/p/sterilite-174-ultra-153-74-qt-clear-underbed-storage-tote-clear-with-gray-lid/-/A-14758435&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a box with a locking lid&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supervision&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that you can easily see all of your dangerous parts at all times so you can shoo away the cat before he starts disturbing stuff. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One method we've used for distraction is to keep a large supply of toys nearby. When the cat starts looking interested in the dangerous stuff, throw a toy into the next room. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000R3UI84&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catnip mice in bulk&lt;/a&gt; are a good option for distraction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train your cat to not ever get on your work surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need to make sure that you provide other surfaces that meet the same needs (generally, height, interesting toys, and easy interaction with you). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, you need some sort of discipline system that is not associated with you. We use &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ssscat&lt;/a&gt;, which uses a motion detector to shoot a puff of air at the cat. People also sometimes use &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01L0LIEVE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;carpet protectors&lt;/a&gt; placed nubby side up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when you are working if the cat jumps onto your work station, you need to quickly, firmly, and with no emotion, put the cat on the floor. Once the cat is on the floor (or their own nearby surface), then pet the cat or give him a treat. Additionally, when he's nearby (on his own surface or the floor), you should also reward him with treats or affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T17:03:10.600" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2017-09-12T19:53:43.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Full disclosure: Electronics hobbyist, not pet owner speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't have dangerous equipment&quot; - be aware that harmful/safe  voltage/current/exposure time levels are not the same for various animals as they are for humans, and do your research before assuming anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, hot objects (recently used soldering equipment) can become a fire hazard if dislodged. Same with wiring fed by low voltage, high current power supplies (a 15V, 5A power supply can perfectly set things on fire - so can almost any lead/acid battery). Etching chemicals, if used, also can contribute to fire hazards or seriously damage stuff if spilled (they are usually potent oxidisers, and per definition corrosive to metal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other unexpectedly dangerous objects you could find in an electronics lab: Mercury switches (Glass+Poison), any larger tubes (unencased CRTs/photomultipliers/camera tubes: Glass+implosion hazard), sharp tools (probe tips, knives), dust/debris from working on FR4 boards (inhalation hazard, probably also for animals), heavy objects with long wires hanging out from them (transformers), ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any other aspects, I can only second what is said in other answers: Keep unattended parts and equipment under lock and key, and restrict activities to a dedicated area. Make sure there is a way to disconnect all power to bench equipment when leaving it unattended with the cat around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10370" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T19:53:43.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18324" CreationDate="2017-09-12T21:16:55.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going to reuse for yourself, absolutely do a bleach cleaning! Though for sanitary reasons I would purchase a second turkey baster for yourself and keep the one for blood worms solely for your axolotl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is going to stay strictly for your axolotl then a regular cleaning with mild dish soap and hot water is fine (be sure to rinse well!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Axolotl, like other amphibians, can carry some harmful bacteria, parasites or protozoa that could potentially make us sick if ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-12T21:16:55.230" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2017-09-13T01:04:31.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think its just natural instinct. My little male kitten, Hiro, just learned he can grab his toy and carry it.  The minute he did, he carried it ALL OVER and started to growl as he carried it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had been playing fetch with him a couple times and then he realized he didn't have to let go.  I think it's just instinctual.  When he had finished carrying it around, he came over for attention and purred.  He was just getting into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's a big deal at all.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10374" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:11:29.967" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:11:29.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9708" CreationDate="2017-09-13T01:53:45.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs who are friends will chew on each others necks as a form of play: if either dog is wearing a collar, it can become a casualty. ... If you apply the taste deterrent regularly to the collar, your dog will quickly learn to avoid putting his mouth there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10375" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T01:53:45.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2017-09-13T04:33:28.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can attach ultrasonic sensors to your workstation and  set alarms if your cat comes near in that region. This will help you to keep an eye on cat even if you are not present there. Also, it is very easy to train your car according to alarm sound .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10376" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T04:33:28.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18338" CreationDate="2017-09-13T05:12:33.180" Score="3" ViewCount="4562" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among plentiful behaviors exhibited by my cat only when in heat, one is getting extremely affectionate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat will constantly for 24 hours go on prodding me to pet her. Wherever I am she would come to me and start rubbing her head against me. Then she would start rolling over me. She would purr loudly. She would start licking me. She won't allow me to even sleep constantly moving by the side of my belly and rubbing herself against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But surprisingly, like all other not so normal behavior, she stops this once the heat wears off. Then she would only respond in an affectionate tone when I call her name and prod me only for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am totally confused by her sudden change in personality whenever heat kicks in. Does anybody have any idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-13T14:03:37.647" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T14:03:37.647" Title="Is it normal for my cat to become extremely affectionate while in heat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18337" CreationDate="2017-09-13T12:20:28.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Is this normal?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes this is part of the process, it's the main behavior people will see that makes them realize their cat is in heat. Mostly because their cat keeps them up all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to help?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are induced ovulators, meaning they need to mate to ovulate (stop the heat cycle). You can use a Q-tip to induce ovulation if you find that she keeps you up all night or can't handle the constant meowing. If it's your first time doing it I would get one of the veterinary staff to show you so it can be done appropriately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-13T12:20:28.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-14T02:36:41.707" Score="1" ViewCount="666" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is about 3 to 4 months old. I read that kittens can start biting when they start getting their permanent teeth but he bites all the time. We play with toys and I let him bite them but he keeps biting me and other people. Even when I'm sitting still and don't look like &quot;prey&quot; he'll jump at me and start biting down and sometimes it really hurts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done a lot of things I've read online like clapping my hands, transferring his attention to a toy, and becoming still so you become boring for your cat to play with but I think being still when you're cat has attacked while you were still is just telling your cat it's ok to keep biting. Nothing is working. He'll bite hands, elbows, clothes, feet, toes, everything. I'll try to keep them out of his reach but he will jump and get it. He knows he shouldn't though because sometimes when he starts biting softly, I make a slight hissing noise and he immediately starts to lick instead. Then goes back to biting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also he sometimes starts to bite himself when I tell to stop like he's throwing a tantrum. Like &quot;No! I'm going to bite and if I can't bite you, I'm going to bite myself!&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a phase the he will grow out of, or is he just a biter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make him stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10381" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-14T11:19:49.933" LastActivityDate="2017-09-14T11:19:49.933" Title="My kitten won't stop biting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-09-14T11:19:57.587" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-14T11:30:26.487" Score="4" ViewCount="2640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having problems with my cats fighting.  One is a 7 month old male, and the other is a 3 month old female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got Pablo a month ago. His personality is what made us get him. Honestly I couldn't have asked for a better companion than him, he's so sweet. Until we got Elsa, 3 days ago.  I got another cat to keep Pablo company and just because I wanted more than 1. Both cats are unfixed at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elsa has been separated from Pablo since we got her. I've introduced them only for a few minutes a day, under my full supervision. At first, they'll sniff. Then Pablo will try grabbing her neck. I though he was trying to mate until today, when he started attacking her face. I break them up immediately with water spray. Elsa fights back and hisses and growls at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Pablo has been behaving very strangely since we got her. He's been spraying the whole house, deliberately drinking and eating from Elsa's bowls during the few minutes they have together, and he has been meowing very loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was hoping they'd be best friends. What am I supposed to do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2O46E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10386" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T13:21:32.873" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T13:21:32.873" Title="Male kitten (7 months) attacking female kitten (3 months)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18341" CreationDate="2017-09-14T12:24:53.033" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very territorial creatures, and while they can (and do) form social bonds with other cats, they don't naturally live in social groups in the same way that dogs do in packs. When Pablo sprays or eats from Elsa's bowls he is trying to assert his &quot;ownership&quot; over the territory of the house and its resources. The fighting is just a more direct example of the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is what you are describing is not uncommon when introducing two cats to each other and it's unlikely to set the tone for the rest of their relationship - my two did very similar when they first met and these days they are often to be found snuggled up together on my bed! I've actually got pictures somewhere of the point where peace broke out as it was unbelievably sweet to watch (I'm a softie).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chances are pretty good that with only minimal, sensible guidance from you they will work out their differences between themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Getting them both fixed will likely help (although you will likely have to wait a while before Elsa can be done, Pablo is almost certainly old enough) as not only will this help reduce aggression, but unless you have a burning desire for a litter of kittens, the first time Elsa hits a heat cycle could be a nightmare for you!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;While you are keeping them separated, you can get a couple of objects each scented from one of the cats (a blanket or something that they have slept on should do the job) and rub it around the room of the other cat to introduce the smell. This helps them get used to the scent of the other cat without it being in the room and needing direct attention. You can also do this using yourself - give one cat at good fuss/cuddle (if you can rub their cheeks with your hands all the better as this will get their pheromones directly on your hands) and then go straight to the other cat and do the same before swapping back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you can rig up a separation in a room where the cats can see/smell each other but not actually &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; to each other this would be great as it will let them study each other a bit without the worry of things turning physical.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on the fighting but don't be too hasty to break it up - cats (especially kittens and young cats) fight and chase each other quite a lot naturally as a sort of cross between playing and learning and to a human eye it can actually look quite vicious even where it isn't. So it's not always a bad sign. Only intervene if one of the cats seems to be in actual distress, avoid the water spray if you can as you don't want to get them upset at &lt;em&gt;You!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure both always have a &quot;safe&quot; place they can retreat to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try bringing them into the same room for a bit of group play (fishing rod type toys are best) and see if you can get both of them interested in the toy, they will most likely &quot;take turns&quot; at attacking the toy so make sure you keep an eye out for any signs that one cat is monopolizing it and if so wave it over by the other one to encourage them to take their &quot;turn&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reward any positive time spent together lavishly (at first anyway), with treats, favorite foods, fuss - whatever floats their boat really.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure each has their own litter tray (rule of thumb is generally &quot;number of cats + 1&quot; but this isn't always necessary)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you give Pablo plenty of fuss and attention separately from Elsa - it's very easy to get caught up in the cuteness of the new kitten and you want to avoid Pablo feeling insecure that Elsa is &quot;stealing&quot; you away from him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T09:17:53.480" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T09:17:53.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18307" CreationDate="2017-09-14T14:07:18.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cat should not be too young&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if starting to call is a sign that it is possible for a cat to get pregnant, it is not the best to start so soon. In a german breeding club there is a rule that the maiden queen has to be at least 10 month old, or 9 if a veterinarian has given their ok. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.evbl.net/zuchtrichtlinien.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.evbl.net/zuchtrichtlinien.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a homepage of a breeder who says the following (&lt;a href=&quot;https://thecatswhiskers.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/when-should-you-breed-your-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://thecatswhiskers.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/when-should-you-breed-your-cat/&lt;/a&gt;): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If your queen is a maiden queen (i.e. never been bred before), then the rule of thumb seems to be wait until she is a year old, or has called at least 3 times. However, some breeds of cats come into call earlier than 12 months.  For e.g. the Orientals have been known to go on heat at 4 months old! &#xA;  In the end, you have to play it by ear – a calling cat can lose condition if she calls repeatedly – and take the advice of the breeder who sold you your queen.  She owns the mother cat to your cat, and in most instances what applies to the mother cat applies to the daughter too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a comment he/she is answering a question about the 3-times-rule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This three times rule is not set in stone. I think it applies more to young maiden queens who start calling before the age of 1. And again, restricting the first mating to over 1 year old depends.&#xA;  When I first started, I waited until my queen was a year old – I was told by her breeder that this was to ensure she was mature enough. If the queen is too young, then there could be issues with the birth etc. because she’s not physically ready to have kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So finally I would say:&#xA;If you want to be sure that your cat is old enough: Wait until she is 1 year old. Or ask your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cat should not be too old&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats get older, they have more problem with getting pregnant or, if they are maiden, there can be health complications. To avoid problems, a general rule is that cats which are 4 to 6 years old should not be bred or only if a veterinarian is watching and gave the ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-09-14T14:07:18.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-14T23:39:18.537" Score="3" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;So our litter box is in a corner in the living room in our apartment. Aside from obsessively weird behaviours (scratching and burying for 10+ minutes after using the litter box, or pawing at the water while she drinks it), she also immediately uses the litter box almost every time I walk into the living room. Like I will stand in the kitchen, see her, walk to the living room, and she comes running in and immediately uses the litter box. I do have another cat, and there are 2 litter boxes, and there have never been fights about use. She was a rescue cat, but I don't know what could have triggered those kinds of behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10389" LastActivityDate="2017-09-14T23:39:18.537" Title="Why does my cat immediately use the litter box when I'm in the same room?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-15T02:52:07.360" Score="7" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (a three year old female) is great at going into her litter box when she needs to go.  No problems with missing it, deliberately or accidentally.  However, she seems to do it &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spca.org/Doent.Doc?id=53&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This summary&lt;/a&gt; of how a cat uses a litter box says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When cats enter the litter box they first sniff the litter. They then&#xA;  dig for a short time, &lt;strong&gt;turn and squat near the area of digging,&lt;/strong&gt; turn&#xA;  (perhaps also smelling their waste) and dig once again. While many&#xA;  cats will cover their urine or feces, others appear to &quot;miss&quot; every&#xA;  time, or may even dig briefly on the floor or walls near the litter&#xA;  box, leaving the urine or feces uncovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This matches pretty well with how I remember the cats I grew up with handling it.  My cat, however, skips the bolded step.  She will dig herself a depression, and then &lt;em&gt;without turning around&lt;/em&gt; squat down over the pile of litter she just made.  Afterwards, she'll try to cover it up, but since it's typically higher than the rest of the litter, it doesn't work so well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can teach her that missing step?  Or is this just the way she is?  If we had another cat (along with a second litter box), might she learn the &quot;usual&quot; way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T12:43:40.027" Title="My cat uses the litter box wrong!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-15T12:50:06.320" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray kitten I've been fostering has developed an upper respiratory infection. He has a lot of coughing, occasional sneezing, and runny eyes. We are without power due to the hurricane and I cannot afford to take the kitten to the vet until next week. How can I help him until next week? He has a lot of energy and a very healthy appetite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10393" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-15T18:36:28.083" LastActivityDate="2017-09-15T18:36:28.083" Title="Is there any way to help a kitten with a URI until I can afford to get him to the vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24099" CreationDate="2017-09-16T01:46:15.603" Score="6" ViewCount="2902" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two discus as recent additions to my tank. They are 3 inches each and they are the only discus I currently have in my tank. I have been observing them for a week and one of them is constantly bullying the other especially during the feeding times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one which is getting bullied is hiding at the corner of my tank most of the times and it's getting stressed. It's even having less food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I control or handle this kind of situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I understand discus fish do better in groups. What is the minimum number of discus that should be kept together? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is 40 Gallons and is well decorated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10109" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-09-20T14:48:03.413" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T20:19:40.343" Title="One discus fish bullying the other discus" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-16T07:03:57.203" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some pet cat, who lives outside independently, gave birth at my stairs. I tried to get close but the mother cat got very aggressive. So I want to know or learn how to get close to these kind of cats so I can keep them as my pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10398" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T18:39:28.813" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T18:39:28.813" Title="How do I adopt a family of kittens when their feral mother is aggressive?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-16T07:38:46.297" Score="1" ViewCount="2681" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my boy cat has glassy eyes and has been meowing a lot for the past two days. He has been eating well and is also playing with us. I see darkened wet skin around the corner of his left eye but not the right. His water intake has gone up though. Is this sign of trouble? Is he in pain? I checked him out with a visual inspection and also by lightly pressing his tummy area but he didn't show any reaction to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: took him to the vet. She said that he does not seem to have any immediate visible problems as such. What's the course of action if we have to determine if he does have diabetes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T18:47:21.877" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T18:47:21.877" Title="Glassy eyes and very vocal. What does that mean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18355" CreationDate="2017-09-16T08:10:32.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patience is the key to success&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food is the best bet to make bonding. Put tasty cat food like meat or fish at a distance and watch it from even further distance. If the mother cat doesn't eat the food the first day, wait patiently for two or three more days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once cat eats the food. Give it regularly for about 10 days and sit at a distance and watch her eating. Cats also keep shifting resting place of babies. So try to follow. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Slowly try to move closer to watch the cat eating. Don't be too quick. The cat will slowly get habituated to your presence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now you will probably be able to watch the kittens from a distance. The mother cat will not get aggressive. Also the kittens by the time will start exploring the territory. If one comes near you just give your finger to the kitten to chew. Do not do anything that might make the mother cat suspicious. Like don't try lifting the kitten the first day itself. The mother cat will be at a constant watch.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try spending more and more time with the mother cat and the kittens every day. You can also try giving the kittens some treat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this way after the kittens are about 2 months old, they will be very familiar and friendly towards you. By that time mother cat will also start giving the kittens some space and not keep them under constant watch. It is time when the mother leaves the kittens to make them independent. You can now probably try to adopt the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOOD LUCK :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T08:10:32.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18353" CreationDate="2017-09-16T19:17:46.783" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to strongly suggest taking these fish back to the store. I've kept discus for many years and bred discus in the past for roughly a decade. I can say with almost complete certainty that these fish are not going to survive and certainly are not going to achieve anything close to their potential in size and vibrancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Juvenile discus are handedly the most difficult freshwater fish to raise properly I've ever seen. If you cannot perform daily water changes upwards of 50% of the tank's total volume, and feed 4 - 5 times per day, you'll end up with unhealthy fish if they do survive to maturity and those that do will more than likely be permanently stunted. For any community tank, the only discus worth consideration are 5&quot;+ full grown fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, even adults require substantially higher quality water than most fish keepers will ever come close to providing. I recommend no less than 50% water change per week. The water change volume is completely dependent on the stocking and observing the fish, I've seen heavily stocked community tanks requiring 50% every 2 days...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crux with both juviniles and adults is the water needs to be seasoned, basically it needs to sit for 24 - 48 hours before being added to the tank so that the chemistry can stabilize and the keeper can ensure that Chlorine and Chloramines are properly removed, you must use a chlorine treatment for this or use reconstituted RO water. For juveniles this typically requires hours of work per day just in preparing water. Many professional breeders I've visited, change 100% - 200% of their tank water per day until their discus reach 5 - 6in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, discus are a community fish and should be kept in odd numbers with no less than 5 fish unless you have an established pair or a humongous tank, like 300 gallons or more. This is to minimize and distribute aggression between fish, they're cichlids so they're an inherently aggressive fish, and without enough fish to spread around aggression, you'll typically end up with a single fish without a large enough number to prevent the smallest from getting bullied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what you have right now is a situation where it's unlikely even an experienced keeper could get your fish to thrive. The tank is too small for a school of discus, bare minimum for an established pair, personally I would suggest 90 gallons is the absolute minimum I'd even consider for a small school of fish, and even with a 90 gallon tank, you're going to need to perform roughly 50 - 70% of the water per week for 5 discus and very few other tankmates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I hate to give advice like this, but I've just seen it too many times and seen too many fish stunted or outright not survive. Unless you're prepared to establish a fish only tank and feed and water change like you've never imagined or setup a large tank, both of these require a lot of work since you don't have a cycled tank ready to go, it's really unlikely you'll get good results with these fish. When they are stressed they are highly prone to diseases, stunting, and just not surviving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-09-16T19:17:46.783" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-16T21:43:48.737" Score="2" ViewCount="1171" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's many questions about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?page=2&amp;amp;tab=Relevance&amp;amp;q=purring%20is%3Aquestion&quot;&gt;purring&lt;/a&gt; and some questions about how much purring is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/914/why-does-my-cat-almost-constantly-purr-while-hes-awake&quot;&gt;Why does my cat (almost) constantly purr while he&amp;#39;s awake?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/519/how-much-purring-is-too-much-purring&quot;&gt;How much purring is too much purring?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is why cats purr? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm not looking for anecdotal answers, or opinions, I would like well-researched answers, citing reputable sources.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-03-13T13:41:54.093" Title="Why do cats purr?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-10-27T18:40:14.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-17T05:53:02.217" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's rainy season here. The hens and cocks are affected by a type of disease in the eyes. The eyes remain closed and swollen. The hens remain motionless and eventually die. It is spreading to other hens also. What we did was to rub some lemon on the eyes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can some one give insight on this sickness and it's cures &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/55fgH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/55fgH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;blind hen-b&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10346" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:22:30.690" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:22:30.690" Title="Blind disease in Hens" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;sight&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-17T08:56:42.177" Score="2" ViewCount="2143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've only had my 6 week old staffy girl for a few days but she just CANNOT be left alone because she cries non-stop. I keep reading that I shouldn't pick her up out of the crate/playpen until she stops crying but she doesn't stop so I pick her up anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been putting a hot water bottle in her bed and she actually sleeps for about 4-5 hours without disruption but it's just during the day that I can't figure out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10402" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-17T12:07:32.083" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T09:02:12.243" Title="6 week old staffy crying all day" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18360" CreationDate="2017-09-17T14:09:57.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Scientific America &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-cats-purr/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why do cats purr?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it’s a form of communication, it’s meant for those near and dear,&#xA;  since cats purr at a frequency and volume too low to travel far.&#xA;  Purring (and many other low-frequency vocalizations in mammals) often&#xA;  are associated with positive social situations: nursing, grooming,&#xA;  relaxing, being friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wired.com/2015/05/why-do-cats-purr/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Do Cats Purr? It’s Not Just Because They’re Happy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More likely, though, purring is simply soothing, or self-soothing, as&#xA;  cats may also purr in stressful situations. In that case, purring&#xA;  would be akin to how humans soothe themselves by crying, laughing,&#xA;  distracting themselves, or even organizing their desk. Some&#xA;  veterinarians and cat enthusiasts have observed cats lying alongside&#xA;  each other and purring when one is injured (a behavior termed “purr&#xA;  therapy”), though scientific literature on the subject is scant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Beyond being calming for the injured kitty, “purr therapy” may have&#xA;  bone healing properties. Domestic cats purr at a frequency of about 26&#xA;  Hertz, in a range that promotes tissue regeneration. That’s not as&#xA;  crazy as it sounds: High-impact exercise promotes bone health for the&#xA;  same reason, because bones respond to pressure by making themselves&#xA;  stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In their natural setting, cats spend a lot of time lying around&#xA;  waiting to hunt, so purring may stimulate bones so that they don’t&#xA;  become weak or brittle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10403" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T15:51:27.937" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T15:51:27.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6267" CreationDate="2017-09-17T14:19:26.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often drawn to warm-blooded animals such as mammals and birds, mosquitoes are opportunistic bloodsuckers and won't turn down a cold-blooded drink when it's convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/mosquitoes-drink-blood-reptiles-6384.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;do mosquitoes drink blood from reptiles?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only female mosquitoes drink blood. They use its iron and protein to&#xA;  nourish their eggs before laying them; blood is essential in a&#xA;  mosquito's reproductive process, but not as food for adults. Although&#xA;  some species prefer certain types of animals, such as livestock, many&#xA;  search for the first available creature. A female mosquito's&#xA;  mouthparts, or proboscis, saws through even the tough skin of reptiles&#xA;  and slides between snake scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048151.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the FDA&lt;/a&gt;, nearly all reptiles and amphibians, including tortoises, are contaminated with &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; bacteria. Baby turtles and tortoises are especially prone to carrying the bacteria. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/can-sick-tortoise-1032.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;can I get sick from a tortoise?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; can live on tortoises' skin and shells as well as in their&#xA;  digestive systems. Handling a tortoise can transmit &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;; you&#xA;  can inadvertently spread the bacteria to yourself, other people and&#xA;  any surface you touch afterward before washing your hands. You can&#xA;  pick up an infection from your tortoise's habitat, as &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; can&#xA;  live on hard surfaces for several days. The FDA and CDC advise that&#xA;  pregnant women, children under 5 years old, the elderly and people&#xA;  with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of contracting&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; and are strongly advised not to handle tortoises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do mosquitoes carry the &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; to humans? I am not so sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10403" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:15:22.850" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:15:22.850" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18391" CreationDate="2017-09-17T23:26:49.063" Score="6" ViewCount="2210" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend owns a 9 year old female cat (Lucy). She is a street cat. She has never been spayed, and has given birth once to a single dead kitten. This happened about four years ago. She's a bit overweight now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I told my boyfriend that I thought it would be a good idea to get one more cat so she has company and so we recently adopted a four month old male cat (Yo-Yo). At first, Lucy didn't pay him much attention and was a bit jealous but later on she started accepting him and she is now really affectionate towards him. She plays with him, licks him and she even lets him steal her food. We try not to let that happen if we witness it. &#xA;However, lately, and because he's growing up, Yo-Yo has been really naughty, trying to eat leftover food, messing up the plants and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my boyfriend or me try to discipline Yo-Yo, Lucy gets really aggressive and attacks us (mostly me though). Let's say I have a lot more bites and some are deep and scratches than my boyfriend does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, my boyfriend surprised me a few times when I was lying in bed reading a book by jumping on me from behind. I shouted at him because I didn't expect it, and even though I was the one sitting quietly not bothering anyone, I get attacked by Lucy. I have a feeling that she doesn't like loud noises and surprises but I don't understand why I get attacked when it should have been my boyfriend getting attacked for &quot;attacking' me (in Lucy's mind).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just tired of having bite marks all over my legs, either because I tried to discipline Yo-Yo or because I happened to be physically surprised by my boyfriend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I permanently stop that behavior? (I have asked my boyfriend not to make me react that way but there is no guarantee it will never happen again)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10408" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T09:03:34.657" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:14:04.173" Title="How can I stop my boyfriend's cat from attacking me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-17T23:39:58.920" Score="4" ViewCount="5640" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's Sunday night at 00:15 AM. I'm exhausted from a long day and just want to sleep. My cat, who is going to be a year old in a few weeks, usually sleeps in my room on my bed and I usually pick him up and bring him up with me from downstairs, which he doesn't mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats at home but am closer to the one I just mentioned. The other cat is much older and isn't as playful or friendly. He doesn't sleep in my room--he usually sleeps downstairs, but today I came home to find him on my bed sleeping, and he was sleeping on the floor of my room when I bought the soon to be 1 year old cat up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't really get along, but more so put up with each other and so maybe sensing the older cat, my 1 year old cat didn't want to sleep on the bed and retreated to hiding away under the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't have minded, but I knew he would move around under the bed at night and make a racket which would annoy me because, as I mentioned, I'm already exhausted. I tried to &quot;lure&quot; him out but he wasn't budging which annoyed me further and so I went under the bed and sort of pulled him out, at which point he scratched me and growled and then ran out of my room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went downstairs to cuddle and give him food by way of apology, but every time I tried to stroke him or pet him he would run away. I feel so guilty and this is especially hurtful because we were so close. I feel like he is now scared of me and will never forgive me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10409" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:20.200" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:20.200" Title="How do I regain my cat's trust after forcefully pulling him out from under the bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-17T23:54:42.160" Score="9" ViewCount="1096" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat ate a piece of string (not a thick one. A slim one used for sewing). She passed it through her mouth and seeing her struggle I did the stupid thing of pulling on it because I panicked. I pulled very gently, after she eliminated a ball of string, and I encountered no resistance while pulling. She stood still while I pulled, except for the last centimeters of string. The string I pulled was straight, with no knots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this, she vomited 2-3 times a clear liquid, sometimes foamy. She seemed to have no changes in behaviour other than not eating as much as usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to leave the house for some time for work, and came back home at 2 am, 8 hours after last seeing her. She vomited once more after I arrived,but she looks tired (it's still 2 am). I found no other vomit puddles. There is no vet opened at this hour but I'll get her to one first thing in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I should know until sunrise?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10410" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T08:57:04.250" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T13:56:59.840" Title="My cat vomited string and I pulled it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18356" CreationDate="2017-09-18T08:23:10.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd second Sonevol's comment - taking him to the vet is the best course of action. Glassy eyes and increased water consumption &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be signs of diabetes (which is  surprisingly common in cats) but that's just a bit of internet-stranger guesswork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T08:23:10.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2811" CreationDate="2017-09-18T11:34:21.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a book about assistance dogs for blind people. Because of some circumstances, the assistance dog had to have a new name. When the trainer wanted to have his attention, he started to call him with the new name first. For example the dog's name was Henry but shall be Fred. Than he said: &quot;Fred Henry, come here&quot; Or &quot;Fred Henry, sit&quot;. Or just &quot;Fred Henry&quot; and if the dog watched, he gave him a treat. After a while, when he recognized that he already had the attention of the dog when he said &quot;Fred...&quot;, he stopped calling him Henry. How long it has to be trained depends on how intelligent the dog is, on the discipline of the trainier using both names and on the frequency of trainings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a family dog named Ronja. She was really intelligent. When she did something funny or sweet we did not say &quot;Look at Ronja, isn't that sweet&quot; to the other family members, because if we did that, she stopped doing that and looked at us. So we started calling her &quot;Hundevieh&quot; (the english translation &quot;damned dog&quot; is much too hard, not comparable to the german meaning or emotion, but yes, it is not a common nickname). We used this nick just when we talked about her. We never teached her this name. But after some years it did not work any more. Ronja knew that we meant her by saying this name. She learned a new name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T13:56:29.290" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T13:56:29.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-18T12:11:34.930" Score="9" ViewCount="4392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some plants in my tropical aquarium. They're not doing too well. I suspect I may have a CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; shortage. Can I add soda water to the tank? I've seen complicated setups for adding CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to water. Soda water is cheap and pouring some in the tank every few days would be really simple. Would it work? Would it be safe for the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T16:14:05.670" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T18:46:56.923" Title="Can I add soda water to my tank to supply CO₂ for my plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18159" CreationDate="2017-09-18T13:48:51.830" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it should be possible, but it will be a long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat is not as easily trained as dogs and often they don't like treats as much as dogs. So the best is to train your cat when she is relaxed but hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Show her the newspaper and give her some treats. Repeat this for a few minutes for a few days until she has no fear of it anymore. The problem is that the negative experience of the thrown newspaper is there during the days of training. That contradicts your training. So it will take some more time. When your cat runs away and hides under the bed, you can call her and if she comes you can give her some treats. If she does not come to you, ignore her, don't talk to her and behave as nothing has happened. A better solution is, if possible, to lock your cat into a room where she can't hear the thrown newspaper during the time you expect the newspaper boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she has no fear of the newspaper anymore, start to throw the newspaper on the floor gently and from a very low height. Ensure that the noise is so soft that your cat does not run away. Give her some treats. Repeat that, and if you recognize that she has no fear of it, try it with a little bigger height. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to increase the distance you throw the newspaper and the volume of the noise. There will be a time when it is easier if you have someone who helps you. The other one throws the newspaper and you have the treat. At the end, train the newspaper boy situation. Another person can play the newspaper boy and throw it to your balcony. If that is fine for her, she should not be scared anymore if the real newspaper boy is coming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:17.340" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:02:17.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18368" CreationDate="2017-09-18T14:30:29.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't discipline cats by yelling. This can cause more aggression and it reinforces the idea that she can bite you to get your attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't much you can do to stop her attacking you when she's scared, this is an involuntary reaction and an unfortunate reality for some cats. Trying to stop this behaviour would be harmful in my opinion, but you can try and redirect her to a toy or something she can scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she bites you to try to get your attention, you can either ignore her or put her in a room on her own for a little while (no longer than half an hour in my opinion). Maybe leave a toy in the room with her so she can learn to use up energy on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T14:30:29.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18369" CreationDate="2017-09-18T14:40:05.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leave him be for a little while. He needs to know that you respect his space. He will come back to you when he's ready, just don't push him since that will slow down the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like humans friends after a falling out, trust needs to be re-established. You can do this just by maintaining his routine and respecting his boundaries. There is no established timeline for this since it's different for everyone, but he will forgive you eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8446" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T14:40:05.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-18T16:14:07.247" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;My four-month old lab/shepherd mix is doing pretty well with crate-training. Especially when he's tired. If he's even close to tired when I need to put him in there, he'll fall asleep pretty quickly with no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I can't quite figure out though is how to put him in there when he's not tired. Most of my friends and most articles say to give him something to keep him occupied in there while I'm gone, which makes sense. Only problem is that he &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; food. If it's anything even closely resembling food (whether it's a toy or straight food), it &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; wakes him up. And then when he's over he whines for a long time and doesn't stop -- probably because he's so amped after being stimulated by all the food. (Which also makes it tough since I don't want to let him out while he's whining.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is he doesn't care about toys enough to focus on them even though I leave toys in there as well. So it's either whine because he doesn't have anything to do or whine because he's super stimulated. (Also I keep a shirt with my scent in there as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on finding a middle-ground or anything to help with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastActivityDate="2017-09-18T16:14:07.247" Title="How Can I Put My Food-Obsessed Dog in His Crate and Keep Him Occupied Without Freaking Out?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-18T21:36:04.653" Score="8" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder what other people do to get their cats to allow them to do flea treatments (advantage) or ANY other kind of medication. I have 4 cats, two older females at the age of 11 and 12 years and two tomcats who are at the age of 7 years and 4 years.  None of them will tolerate us giving them any kind of treatment at all, they go wild at even the sight of the flea treatment package!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is zero chance of &quot;wrapping&quot; them as they know what we intend to do and run if I even pick up a towel! Yet, we have had them all since they were kittens and handled and socialized them as you should.  They are all bad but the elder tomcat is a nightmare as he is a very big cat, he weighs nearly 25&amp;nbsp;lbs (11&amp;nbsp;kg) and is long and tall. He will scratch, bite and struggle so hard to get away that he hurts us regardless of what we wear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same problem applies to trimming nails, so they have very sharp claws, somebody suggested a restraint for them but we know they would not allow us to even get them into one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10415" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T15:51:38.047" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T15:51:38.047" Title="How to administer medication to feisty cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-18T22:38:58.657" Score="3" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a three year old Shiba Inu/Yorkie mix. No matter how frequent his potty breaks are, he only poops when nobody is home (never longer than 2 hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was alone for an hour and 30 minutes today and he pooped twice, but absolutely will not go when I take him outside. I've had him for a week and I suspect he was abused in the past. Of all the times I've taken him outside in the last week, he has pooped outside 4 times. Every time I come home there is poop on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know he knows what he did was naughty too because he looks nervous when I come home and there's poop on the floor (I've never laid a hand on him). I'm starting him on a regular feeding and toileting routine. I will also be crating him for the short time that he will be alone. Is there anything else I can do? Every time he went outside I would give him a lot of praise and playtime. I give him treats every time he pees and poos outside. He hasn't shown any symptoms of separation anxiety, he just poops when nobody is home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10417" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-18T23:46:03.580" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T08:21:14.503" Title="Why does my dog poop in the house when he's alone?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-18T22:55:39.547" Score="2" ViewCount="3182" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat attacked me while I was asleep. It felt like someone threw him on me and he used his claws/paws to land on my face. Somehow he scratched the top and lower part of my arm and my thigh before he ran away. I jumped off my bed and screamed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He usually sleeps at the foot of my bed. Please help me to understand what could've took place. He ran away shortly after, for the second time. He's only one year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10418" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T17:08:56.893" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T05:57:06.253" Title="Why did my cat attack my face while I slept?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T01:51:03.993" Score="2" ViewCount="473" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been feeding her a quarter less than the usual pouchful,  and less dry food too, for a month. She lost weight from her hips and has reached a plateau, I guess, but that is just a guess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet had advised me that she needs to lose a couple of kilos. But she only met my cat once. So she does not know her that well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She runs around our large flat sometimes. So she is not massive and sedentary. Some cats are so slender, but not mine. Am I to assume that, like some humans (me, anyway) she is naturally a bit fat round her middle and shoulders and that I have nothing to worry about? She is a neutered, indoor cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-01T11:44:13.940" LastActivityDate="2020-06-01T11:44:13.940" Title="Why is my cat not losing weight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18389" CreationDate="2017-09-19T06:30:50.677" Score="4" ViewCount="1810" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat had given birth to two kittens in our house. I used to keep milk in a bowl for them to drink. Some days later the mother cat and one kitten went away somewhere, but &lt;strong&gt;one kitten remained outside our house&lt;/strong&gt;. It stays out at the back of our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still &lt;strong&gt;keep milk in a bowl for it to drink&lt;/strong&gt; and also &lt;strong&gt;occasionally give it meat&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;It's been around a &lt;strong&gt;month&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; but &lt;strong&gt;still the kitten runs away&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;every time I try to hold her or pet her&lt;/em&gt;. Even if I keep the milk in the bowl &lt;em&gt;it only comes to drink when I move a little distance away&lt;/em&gt;. If I keep the minced meat in my hand it doesn't eat, if I keep it near me also it doesn't eat, but &lt;em&gt;if I throw it a little distance, it picks it up and eats&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it that the kitten hasn't become friendly yet even when I have been giving it food for more than a month?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it still scared to come near me?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to gain its trust and get it to play with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="10421" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T15:27:09.297" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T15:27:09.297" Title="Why does my cat (kitten) run away from me all the time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18381" CreationDate="2017-09-19T06:42:19.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know he knows what he did was naughty too because he looks nervous when I come home and there's poop on the floor (I've never laid a hand on him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good you never did, keep that up :).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But ARE you possibly tense and annoyed when you come home, right? Your dog does NOT connect your annoyance with him pooping earlier! All he knows is that you come home, and you are annoyed! So, there are two separate issues:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The potty-training: keep up the potty-training for outside. If he poops outside, you are absolutely delighted, he did the greatest thing ever.  Hopefully, he will come around.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About his nervousness:&#xA;When you come home, you are delighted, too! You love coming home to your doggie! Seeing your doggie again is the greatest thing ever! You absolutely ignore the fact that he has pooped on the floor. If you scold him when he pooped while you where gone, all he knows is: You come home, you are annoyed! He has NO idea why!   After having been delighted to see your dog again, you clean up. That's a separate thing from your dog, though. He did something wrong, yes, but it is too late to correct him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps a bit :). Always remind yourself: anything that's more than a a few seconds ago? If you reward or discipline it, your dog won't make the connection. All consequences have to be immediate! Good luck :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T07:39:37.937" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T07:39:37.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18382" CreationDate="2017-09-19T07:18:17.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat did have a normal reaction to movement. You moved and the cat got triggered by this movement (when one sleeps the muscles in your face can move and this can trigger your cat's hunting/play reaction). When you play with your cat, you trigger the same reaction only then it is wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats sometimes do get triggered if you move your toes or fingers while you are asleep, but normally the cat does stop doing this after some time as your reaction to this is a negative one for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your cat is not broken. It is just reacting normally to movement, and it will stop doing this when it sees you reacting negative to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can help the cat stop doing this by playing more during the day leaving less unreleased energy in your cat(if a cat do hunt/play too little it will get frustrated and have sudden bursts of energy)here in norway we call this raptuser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T05:57:06.253" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T05:57:06.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18383" CreationDate="2017-09-19T08:43:40.543" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like humans cats will come in a range of natural weights - being 2kg over the &quot;recommended&quot; is quite a lot though. When my boy needed to lose weight (~1kg) I had better success with swapping his food out for a low calorie version. I also upped the amount of time I spent playing with him in order to increase the amount of exercise he was getting. It took a few months but his weight did come down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Since you mention she is an indoor only cat that is helpful in that it means she is not going out  and supplementing her food by hunting etc. So you can control her intake. That being the case I would go with the low calorie diet and if you can work in a good 20mins of active okay a day. If you can work the play in before a meal even better as this fits the hunt - eat - sleep cycle they would have naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T19:33:35.233" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T19:33:35.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18385" CreationDate="2017-09-19T08:52:43.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because a month really isn't a very long time. The kitten is a little over a month old and from the sounds of it has been abandoned by its mother, it's really not surprising that it's a little wary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep feeding the kitten and do as much as you can to appear non-threatening. Making only nice, slow movements and trying to stay low to the ground (think how tall even a short human must seem to a newborn kitten!) is good. Speaking of the food: you say you are giving milk, is it cow's milk? If so this might not be for the best as many cats are lactose intolerant - it's less of an issue when they are still that young but you might be better off getting some proper &quot;kitten milk&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T11:49:05.637" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T11:49:05.637" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T10:34:03.020" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lactose intolerance is a common issue among cats. Mostly in new born kittens, lactase (the enzyme required to digest lactose present in milk) is released in digestive tract. But as they grow older less and less lactase is released and the cats eventually become lactose intolerant. Moreover, even many kittens find it difficult to digest cow milk which has a higher proportion of lactose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it not the same in all cats. In facts there are some cats, who even after becoming adults, love cow's milk, and will happily drink it if given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, there are some cats who leave even mother's milk at a young age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my question is, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is cat's breed has got something to do with this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the cat's geographical location got something to do with it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it that some evolution has taken place after cats started to live with humans and 10,000 years backs none of the cats were able to digest lactose at an adult age?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it that some cats, simply don't like milk, but have the ability to digest lactose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T11:19:33.400" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T11:19:33.400" Title="Cats and lactose intolerance" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18368" CreationDate="2017-09-19T11:52:53.777" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In addition, my boyfriend surprised me a few times when I was lying in bed reading a book by jumping on me from behind. I shouted at him because I didn't expect it, and even though I was the one sitting quietly not bothering anyone, I get attacked by Lucy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did Lucy see that he jumped on you from behind or did she only hear you? If the second was the case, she naturally tried to defend him. But even if she did see it, she did not thought that he attacked you. Some cats attack each other just for fun, so it is a known principle. And they are good at reading humans' body language. She had seen that your boyfriend came to you full of anticipation for his attack and without any aggression towards you. She recognized that it was just a game. But you were a bit aggressive towards him when you reacted, right? So she defended him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one main thing between you and this cat. And this is your boyfriend. Lucy was first, right? So he was caring just for her when he was at home. And now you are there, too. And your boyfriend is giving you attention. Probably more than Lucy, right? And this is correct and nothing should change. Lucy has to learn that it is ok that you exist and that you belong to him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the first lesson is that you have to be self-confident but calm. You wrote that you have the feeling that she does not like loud noises. That is possibly true. So try not to make loud noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing you want her to do is love you. One thing to know is that trying to pet her all the time or even looking at her will not help you with this. On the contrary, it is best to start to ignore her. Don't watch her, and if she comes and tries to attract attention, don't react much. You can look at her for a short moment, but you have to be the one who ends up with it. Then you can start to ask her for attention, and she likely will accept that. Try to play with her or gave her some treats. There are 3 rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You start the game or giving treats. Never give her what she wants if she starts to attack you or begs for something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You end the game or giving treats. You have to stop it before she loses interest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop the game or giving threats immediately when she starts to be aggressive towards you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key is to always stay calm even if the cat does something wrong. If you try to discipline her, it is best to stop doing positive things with her like giving treats or playing with her. Do this immediately the second she starts behaving in a way you don't like. Or, if there is nothing you can stop, show her you don't like what she is doing. For example make a hissing noise and stare at her. If this is not sufficient, you can push her away. You are stronger, so do not hit her, but you can shift her. Always start with a soft reaction and increase the pressure until she stops. Raise your voice and shout at her just in case nothing else works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good tip for rewarding an overweight cat is to lock the food so that she can't eat whenever she wants. Then portion the food so that you know how much you can feed her a day. And then divide this portion into smaller parts you can give as treats or as regular feedings. Feed her as often as possible if she was used to having the food always around, so that it is easier for her to rearrange. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first it will be really difficult to find a situation where you can feed her, because she possibly is aggressive really often, but you have to wait until she does not attack you or is not begging. Be patient. This time will pass. You can try to put her in another room just for a minute, if she does not calm down, and then free her and give her some food, before she has the chance to attack you. If she was faster, put her back into the room, wait a minute and try it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least it is really important that your boyfriend supports you in disciplining the cats. It won't work so well if he does not support you. The cats will recognize it, and he has more authority than you at this point of time. Speaking of support, it may be a good idea if he is defending you, when Lucy starts to attack you. It shows her that he is at your side and helps her to find her new position as second after you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T06:14:04.173" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:14:04.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18373" CreationDate="2017-09-19T12:36:52.230" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soda water uses carbonic acid to produce CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; so in theory it should work, but it is not that easy: carbonic acid is as the name says an acid, and any type of acid will lower the water's pH too fast for the fish and to some degree too fast for the plants to adapt to the changed pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbonic acid dissolves calcium creating calcium carbonate, so if you have snails or any type of mussels in your water, their shells will start to dissolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbonic acid breaks down into water and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; but this process is dependent on how fast the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is used/escaping from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more about carbonic acid here &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is better to use CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in a form other than carbonic acid to help in plant growth, you will not avoid some carbonic acid beeing created but it will happen over a longer period and make the pH drop slower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The little carbonic acid created will stabilize the pH and not make it crash like adding soda water will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want to use soda water you will have to create a drip system so you can control the flow very exactly, you will also have to invest in equipment to measure the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; content in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T05:08:03.943" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T05:08:03.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18394" CreationDate="2017-09-19T15:24:59.687" Score="10" ViewCount="20974" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the recommended kitten food? How often should I feed it? (It's a kitten abandoned by its mother after 2 months.) I give it milk around every 4 hours and twice a day give it minced meatballs. Is this sufficient (considering its age of about 2 and a half months old), or should I add something more to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditDate="2017-09-20T05:03:41.490" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T15:33:02.263" Title="What food is best for a 2 month old kitten that has been abandoned by its mother?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18393" CreationDate="2017-09-19T15:42:56.437" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would avoid giving cows milk as there is a good chance the kitten will be lactose intolerant. Stick to kitten/cat milk such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whiskas.co.uk/our-products/cat-milk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whiskas Kitten Milk&lt;/a&gt; or goats milk in a pinch. The meat balls might not be the best - if they are intended for human consumption then it may contain higher levels of salt than is healthy for a kitten and may be lacking in nutrients that they need. The odd &quot;treat&quot; of human food isn't really a problem but it shouldn't form the main bulk of the diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At two months old a kitten should be eating kitten-tailored cat food as it is generally more calorific then adult food to support growth. something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.co.uk/products/cat/feline-health-nutrition-wet/kitten-instinctive/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin Kitten&lt;/a&gt;  or W&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whiskas.co.uk/our-products/wet-food/whiskas-kitten-poultry-selection-in-gravy-12-x-100g&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;hiskas Kitten wet&lt;/a&gt; (the Royal Canin is higher quality but does cost more). You could also try giving some dry food such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wellbeloved.com/product/turkey-kitten/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Well Beloved Kitten dry&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are examples and obviously there is a wide range of brands and flavors that exist - it should be labeled for kittens (they may describe it as being for cats under 12 months old) and ideally you want it to be described as &quot;complete&quot; - this means that it will provide all the nutrients that the kitten needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T19:07:20.013" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T19:07:20.013" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T18:29:11.350" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love my dogs. But I am a bit inexperienced. I tend to over-humanize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live on the countryside. We have a small plot. The dogs roam freely on it. We are most of the time around, although they mostly need to be outside, sometimes we let them into the house for some time in a dedicated space, but hey themselves may get bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am without a clue though about what to do when we leave. We sometimes need to leave for shopping and other diligences and doings. Happens around once a week or so.&#xA;We leave for the city. This may easily take 8 to 10 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way of leaving them behind? We can't have them be outside - they would follow us...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So either we leash them on a 2 metres leash outside, or we leave them inside the house, unleashed, but the space is limited and confined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think is best? Or even better ideas? Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9587" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T18:29:11.350" Title="How to leave my dogs back home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T19:18:47.567" Score="3" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;He has all the classic systems, had major diarrhea for 8 days, was in vets on iv for 5 of those days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now has excessive thirst, frequent urine, sway walking, weak back legs, eats lots of protein ....will not touch dog food or starches.  Hair is falling out with the scab effect, been treated several meds for that and won't improve...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No uti, not cushings...blood is normal range, I'm  so frustrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10425" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-19T20:18:33.490" LastActivityDate="2017-09-19T20:18:33.490" Title="My 14 yr old Shepherd husky mix does not test positive for Cushings Disease...so now what!" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18373" CreationDate="2017-09-19T21:58:13.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have an aerator or filter, the moving water will pick up enough CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from the atmosphere. Hobbyists who add CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; also normally have have high intensity lights focused on emitting certain wavelengths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:20:19.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:20:19.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18398" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-19T22:59:31.083" Score="3" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my friends suggested that I add &quot;API Aquarium Salt&quot; to my 40 gallon freshwater tank to promote good health for the fish. He mentioned it will kill some bacteria that can attack freshwater fish. I'm worried about how my fish will react to this salt being added to the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this really be beneficial for my juvenile discus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10109" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-09-20T14:52:46.767" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T20:43:16.003" Title="Benefits of adding aquarium salt to freshwater juvenile discus tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-20T18:24:44.407" Score="4" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is very sweet to people; she never claws, smacks, or hisses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought she was the sweetest thing in existence, until some additional animals moved into our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Bengal breed cat now lives with us; he has seemingly been in love with my cat since first sight; though, she does not seem to have the same interest in him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the two cats meet in a common area, they will both seem very excited to see each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First they will sniff each other's butts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then the male Bengal cat will sweetly groom her (in areas she likes&#xA;people to scratch her)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Next she'll groom the male back. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then he'll groom her again... &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But then my female will smack him in the face and hiss without any signs of being agitated before hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male cat is very sensitive, and for the first few weeks, would just sit there shocked that she had smacked him. However, eventually, he started attacking her back... this is very concerning as he is twice her size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is my cat being so &quot;sassy&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been more than 3 months at this point; how can I get my cat to not be so rude and stop picking fights that should be obvious to her that she can't win? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female is small domestic short hair, 6-10 years old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male is large well breed Bengal, 3 years old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats are indoor only, and very spoiled&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female despite being very sweet (to people) is quite plotting and manipulative, which makes me think she might have some ulterior motive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats are fixed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9232" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2017-09-27T18:18:53.450" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T21:07:35.303" Title="My &quot;sassy&quot; cat keeps attacking her not-so-secret-admirer" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-20T18:35:07.030" Score="2" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old neutered female cat, the past few nights she has started screaming and yowling all night when locked inside. Tonight she woke me up 4 times, and when I went to turn on the light outside, a local tom cat was standing at the back door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I let my dog out to scare the tomcat but my cat still wouldn't stop yowling, so I let her outside. Once outside, she continued yowling until she found the tom. Once together they ran up the street, my cat very low to the ground as if stalking him while the other cat had a relaxed posture. I thought maybe she was scaring him off however they were just facing each other normally, with no issues. What is going on? Why is my cat yowling and why does she want to meet up with this other cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10431" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-20T20:12:13.677" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T12:24:07.367" Title="Why does my cat yowl to go meet the tomcat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18415" CreationDate="2017-09-21T03:06:19.027" Score="4" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my sister want to get a bearded dragon, but we want to get two females. Can two females live together in a 120 gallon tank? I'm asking because we are getting them on saturday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10437" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-21T04:09:13.217" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T19:06:31.270" Title="Two female beardies in one tank" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18407" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-21T05:12:27.083" Score="3" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very large (8 feet by 12 feet by 6 feet deep) koi fish pond with a waterfall and extensive filtration system I inherited with the house. In it is a very large and older koi (18 inches long the size of a small salmon) and a smaller, younger one, about 4 inches long.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last month or so, the larger has been lethargic.  Sits towards the bottom most of the time and eats very little.  The smaller one is not active either.  For the last two weeks, the larger has been sitting near the top, head tilted downward with little movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used test strips and a better testing kit and the ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and ph all appear good with the ph resulting slightly above normal.  All other results look good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have added salt and Melafix in case there's a parasite.  Nothing has changed.  They are eating a little food; I don't give them too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today the small one has died.  Any ideas why or what else I can do?  The big one is still lethargic and sitting near the top with his tail higher than the head. Thanks for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10439" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T20:47:07.633" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T20:47:07.633" Title="Koi fish sick and lethargic" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18363" CreationDate="2017-09-21T09:02:12.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated in the comments, 6 weeks is a little bit too young to get separated from her mother. Taking the puppy away from her mother after 8 weeks would be more preferable. But now it happend and so it will be at bit harder for you to train her to be left alone, because she misses her family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be together with her as much as you can. Don't let her alone if it is not really needed. Play with her, train her (yes it is possible to start with training in such a young age, but be patient with her and don't require too much), so that she is tired when you have to leave her alone for a short while. Huggle together often. But keep in mind that young dogs are tired very soon, so give her time to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give her some stuffed animals, which preferably are bigger or the same size as your puppy. She will feel less lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving her a hot water bottle was a good idea. Keep on with it, but remind that it should not be too hot. It should not hurt her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train that she can be left in the crate, play with her to make her tired. Than put her in it, wait for half a minute and take her out of it &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; she starts crying. Pet her for a little while and than put her in it again. Observe her. Does she wants to sleep? Very good. Let her sleep for a while. If you see that she wakes up, take her out of the crate &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; she is really awake and starts crying. Try not to leave the room for the first training sessions. Try to extend the time of leaving her in the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then try to leave the room while she is in the crate. Even if she accepts  staying in the crate while you are in the same room for longer than 10 minutes without crying that does not mean that you can leave the room for 10 minutes. So start with half a minute first. Extend the time of your absence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be a good idea to keep her in the same room at night for the next few weeks. It is possible to change that later. But keep in mind that she is really young and feels lonely. And you should not leave her alone for the whole day. She is definetly too young for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T09:02:12.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-21T10:47:39.777" Score="6" ViewCount="1518" Body="&lt;p&gt;While my grandmother was alive her cat would sleep on her pillow next to her head and since we adopted him he has tried to carry this habit over into our house. At first it was adorable, but it has become incredibly annoying as he will sit and paw our faces while we sleep. He has very sharp claws and it wakes you up and leaves scratches. We know he doesn't mean to, but clearly he wants something. I usually go and put some biscuits down in his bowl and then he's happy. He's purring very loudly too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were putting him outside at night, but he has had some health problems recently, namely diabetes, constipation, and weakened back legs (this has got better). He has also been fighting with a neighbourhood cat, which left him with puncture wounds and he had to have antibiotics. This was probably because he was unable to defend himself due to his weakened state. For the time being, putting him outside is not an option. We have also tried shutting him in the kitchen but he will sit and scratch for hours, also waking us up. I can sleep any time, anywhere, and get by on very little sleep but my partner is not - she often has 5am starts and gets very broken sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had a similar experience? Is there anything we can do to deter him from jumping on our pillows? We don't mind him sleeping in the room or at the bottom of the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:40:34.227" Title="How can I stop my 14yr old cat jumping on our pillows as we sleep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18409" CreationDate="2017-09-21T11:07:29.780" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're going to struggle I'm afraid, especially given his age as he will be quite set in his ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding him when he wakes you up might solve the immediate problem but in the long term you will be doing more harm to your goal then good - you're essentially teaching him that if he is hungry in the night then all he has to do is come and paw you awake and you will feed him. Much better to head off this reason by providing him with food and water just before you go to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually have similar problems with my two and the only &quot;solution&quot; I've found is to shut them in another room that has food, water, litter tray and toys. They do scratch/bang at the door sometimes but it's not for long in my case probably because I have done so nearly every day since I got them as kittens so it's &quot;normal&quot; to them that they spend the night in &quot;their&quot; room. For your cat he has 14 years of experience telling him otherwise, if you can make the kitchen or another suitable room sufficiently supplied and interesting for him you might be able to get him used to the notion but it's not an overnight fix (no pun intended) and you'd have to persist with it for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise you might just have to accept that this is going to be his &quot;thing&quot; and mitigate where you can such as with providing food/water/toys elsewhere pre-bed and getting his claws clipped regularly (clipped &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; removed!) to reduce the potential for scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T11:07:29.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18402" CreationDate="2017-09-21T12:24:07.367" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound somewhat similar to mating behavior, was she neutered &quot;late&quot;? Sometimes cats that have been fixed &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; already reaching sexual maturity can still act out the behaviors even though nothing can actually come of it so it could be that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T12:24:07.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2817" CreationDate="2017-09-21T16:30:56.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a subscription to Catster Magazine, formerly known as Cat Fancy. Had it for years now and have learned a lot from it. One article says that cats do not see water unless it's moving (because it's clear). That may be the reason they prefer to drink from the tap. I have a cat fountain which works for my cat quite well but she still prefers to drink from the tap if possible. I also learned about them not liking to eat from dishes that touch their whiskers. I bought bigger bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10444" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T16:30:56.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18393" CreationDate="2017-09-21T18:07:16.013" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 2 months old your kitten can already digest solid foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After weaning (that is, when they no longer get milk from their mother's teat), most mammals, including kittens lose the ability to properly digest milk (specifically lactose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to give it something that looks and (sort-of) tastes like milk, go for the special kitty milk, which is not made of kitties, but rather from milk with reduced lactose content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2886" LastEditorUserId="2886" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T08:55:03.867" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T08:55:03.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18406" CreationDate="2017-09-21T18:36:10.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Will it Work?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible with a large tank however bearded dragons are solitary animals and do best by being alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to Make it Work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Large terrarium - 120g can work fine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple Hides in both cool and basking areas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple basking spots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Multiple branches for climbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Separate feedings - feeding multiple dragons together can end up with one dragon eating the majority of grub while the other one barely gets any. It can also end up in accidental injury from bites.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dragons should be the &lt;strong&gt;SAME SIZE ONLY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any aggressive behavior is noted they need to be &lt;strong&gt;separated immediately&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible but ideally you should buy a separate enclosure for each dragon (55 gal minimum), they get along well as babies but it can change fast once they become adults. Since you are essentially making 2 enclosures in one giant 120g tank you may as well buy 2 separate tanks to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-09-21T19:06:31.270" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T19:06:31.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5888" CreationDate="2017-09-21T18:41:34.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done this with two quaker parrots (Myiopsitta monachus), first by plane from the US to Europe, and some years later, by ferry from one European country to another one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you may be overlooking something. As far as I know you don't need export and import permits for cockatiels (CITES), but make very sure because pets, and certainly birds, can be taken away by customs if you don't have the right papers. This almost happened to me after one country's department had given me the wrong information; fortunately, I had that letter with me, but we were still kept at the airport for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you'll also need a health certificates. Ask your avian vet about this, and also look at the requirements of the country you are going to. There are time constraints; sometimes, the paperwork needs to be sent to, approved by and returned by an agency and any testing (test results) may take time too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, now I am getting to the heart of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do these two tiels normally live in the same cage? Then get one travel carrier and get them used to the carrier. I had a Doskocil cabin carrier that was - and still is - excellent; I'll see if I can add an image later. I got my birds used to that and to the excitement of travel before the actual journey. I had been told that such travels can be very stressful for birds, so I wanted to prepare them as well as I could. It's great that you'll be traveling with two birds as they'll reassure each other. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are your birds' wings clipped or not? If not, then go to your avian vet and have their wings clipped (also so that there is less chance of the birds injuring themselves as these are tiels). (For me, the idea that something might happen on the way and the birds would escape was very hard and that's why I did it.) If you do this well in advance, the shocks won't happen all at once for your birds. In the new country, their temporary dependence on you will be good for bonding and reassurance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is very rarely possible to travel internationally with pets in the plane's passenger cabin. It is possible that first-class passengers can sometimes get away with it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you travel, secure the carrier, by which I mean that in the unlikely event that the carrier falls, it won't open. One or two pieces of string is all it takes. Have spare pieces of string with you,too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are going from, say, Florida to a country with colder weather, make sure you have something on the other end that helps keep them warm (and you may also consider getting cage heating there). We were lucky, we arrived in hot weather. Take food, treats, water with you or have someone waiting on the other side with those supplies if you can. A hot-water bottle, wrapped in a towel, or in its own cover, or put under the carrier can help. (But make sure the birds don't overheat either.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And, talking with them about what's about to happen, in a reassuring manner that tells them something is up but everything will be fine helps a lot too. It helps tremendously helpful that birds are so intelligent because it means you can work with that, with them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest assured that my two quakers did perfectly fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have later had a cockatiel too, and yes, tiels have a slightly different character and pre-travel training, walking around with the birds in their carrier, taking them all sorts of places with noise and so on, may really help a lot with cockatiels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a long answer to an old question, but it may help someone else one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, here is an image of a slightly different carrier than I have and an image of one that has a small sliding wire door in the top like mine has. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.windycityparrot.com/carriers-c-232_248/airline-underseat-travel-carrier-for-small-to-medium-parrots-animals-p-1686.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This one&lt;/a&gt; (link to reputable online parrot product store) is also very suitable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aWPJM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aWPJM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kYo4i.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kYo4i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10445" LastEditorUserId="10445" LastEditDate="2017-09-21T19:22:00.633" LastActivityDate="2017-09-21T19:22:00.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18409" CreationDate="2017-09-21T22:07:47.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go to your local hardware store and buy a couple folds of clear vinyl carpeting. This is the clear plastic commonly used as a mat at computer desks, so that chairs can easily wheel around without getting caught on regular carpeting. See pic below. It is smooth on one side, and on the other side has little soft &quot;spikes&quot;, more like knobs because they're rounded, not actually spiky, to keep the mat in place on top of carpeting. If you lay this face down on top of your bed during all times when you're NOT in bed, it will deter your cat from jumping up onto the bed. It will not hurt your cat, it'll just be uncomfortable on the pads of its feet. Your cat will associate this feeling with jumping up onto your bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At night, you can also use the plastic carpeting by rolling it out, right side down, from the walkway of your door to your bed, so the cat has to walk on it to get to your bed. If you are okay with the cat in your room, this may not be the option for you at night time. If that's the case, I'd encourage you to buy a treat your kitty likes a lot (like dried chicken or salmon, place a nice fluffy warm kitty bed, near yours, where kitty can hear you breathing and/or snoring, (can still smell you possibly) and put a t-shirt or pillow case that smells like you (for cuddly comfort) in the cat bed and place him in the cat bed at night. Getting a round bed with high sides will make him feel more snuggled and safe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anytime the cat gets in the bed on its own, day or night, give him a treat. When you go to bed at night, place kitty in the bed, and treat again. If the cat wakes you up, jumping on your bed, place him in the cat bed, and treat him as you put him in, and again if he settles in to lay down, to encourage this as a pleasant behavior. Being consistent will help this become more of a happy routine, and eventually over time you can slow down with the treats, and with regular positive outcomes,  you can eventually skip the treat/reward part all together. Keep in mind the longer you continue to treat the behavior, the less likely you are to him reverting back to jumping on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom used to have issues with neighborhood cats jumping on her porch furniture and scratching them up, either accidentally or by kneading the pillows and cushions, or by sharpening their claws. She got a cat bed, put it out, and placed the vinyl carpeting on all the chairs' cushions and eventually it stopped and she no longer has to lay out the plastic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind that comes in a roll, made to bend, as pictured, is much softer that the pre-fitted hard plastic rollers, which are more expensive anyways. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8oWNr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;plastic runner by the foot, soft and flexible, better view of nubs&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8oWNr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SuJ3B.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SuJ3B.png&quot; alt=&quot;office Depot ad for vinyl carpeting &quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:40:34.227" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:40:34.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-21T22:51:34.330" Score="9" ViewCount="1146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find a couple of my saltwater fish in my 75 gallon tank.  There are so many nooks and crannies for them to hide in the live rocks. I suspect they died. I wish to locate them, so their dead bodies won't be decomposing and releasing toxins.  Any suggestions as to how to locate them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10447" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T23:02:37.310" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T23:02:37.310" Title="Locating dead fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18427" CreationDate="2017-09-22T01:18:45.693" Score="4" ViewCount="1861" Body="&lt;p&gt;Candles that use paraffin wax are dangerous for birds because they produce smoke that is especially unhealthy for birds to inhale. Soy and beeswax candles with lead-free wicks are the item of choice for bird-owners who still wish to light candles. However, these are often unscented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in purchasing soy candles that are scented using natural oils. Would these be harmful to my bird?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE I emailed the company asking what fragrance oils they used. Understandably, they did not tell me the exact oils (as I'm sure they want to keep their recipe secret), but they did tell me some of their oils contain phthalates. Is this harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="10108" LastEditDate="2017-09-22T14:14:44.200" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T16:49:07.847" Title="Are candles scented with fragrance oils safe for birds?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18419" CreationDate="2017-09-22T03:23:08.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flower essence oils are safe, as they are commonly used in herbal remedies for birds or are added to foods and supplements. Lavender essence oil, dandelion and chamomile for example are 3 that I know for sure are safe. Orange essence oil is also a safe one, and is commonly added to seed diet foods for scent and flavor. i can update this answer with additional flower and fruit oils that are safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T03:23:08.223" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18322" CreationDate="2017-09-22T07:31:13.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure with this answer, this is just a suggestion. It would be good to see what his body language is when he is biting the other dog. Is it stress? Aggression? Fear? But you can do a test, if it is triggered by the crying sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are toys for dogs which make crying sounds when are pressed like squeaky ducks. How do he react with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a dog which didn't liked it first. If we played with her and this toy and whenever the crying sound raised, she immediatly stopped playing with it. She had a naturally inhibition to hurt someone, even a toy. We thought that this is stupid and animated her to play with it anyway. And after a while she loved it madly. She was really fixated on it and started to bite this toy even harder when it cried. She was so into it that we could stop her hardly to bite this toy. So we took this toy from her because we did not want to desensitize her. She should stop with playing/biting/whatever she did if someone cries and not start to bite even stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So maybe your dog learned to bite and he is triggered by the crying sounds. If he is, you can train with those toys to stop him or to sensitize him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T07:31:13.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-22T13:35:42.270" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my 45 gallon tank water has a greenish tinge to it.  I assume its algae, as I put it below a window.  Even with the blinds closed, Im sure it gets some sunlight causing the algae to grow.  I got a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001KP9B2W&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;green killing machine&lt;/a&gt; to try to fix the issue, however its been 9 days and I see no visible change.  It says it works for tanks up to 50g, so it &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; work.  Do I just need to let it run longer?  Or perhaps I need to get a larger capacity model like &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B002ZVODP0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="444" LastEditDate="2017-09-23T10:25:55.417" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:54:05.347" Title="Green water in aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18428" CreationDate="2017-09-22T14:25:18.370" Score="4" ViewCount="1160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding my juvenile discus (3&amp;nbsp;inches&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;7.5 cm&amp;nbsp;each) and other cichlids in my tank with a wide variety of food like pellets, flakes, bloodworms, beef heart mix, etc. (4 feedings a day). As all my feedings include more protein intake, the chances of constipation is more and I have observed this with a couple of my fish with swollen tummies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my online study, feeding mashed peas to cichlids (approximately 3 to 5 feedings in two days a week) will help them to clean their tummies and make them more healthy. I have tried this and it helped me but would like to know the good practice in feeding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is feeding mashed peas good for discus along with other cichlids?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How often should i feed them in a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10109" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T11:53:35.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T11:55:01.180" Title="Feeding mashed green peas to discus" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18426" CreationDate="2017-09-22T15:15:20.907" Score="2" ViewCount="2379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wasn't at home from morning to evening. Morning I had given the cat some milk and left for college. When I returned in the evening, I notice that &lt;strong&gt;the kitten is trying to &lt;em&gt;&quot;meow&quot;&lt;/em&gt; but it isn't able to make sound&lt;/strong&gt;. It's trying hard but either the &lt;strong&gt;voice itself isn't coming out or just a very low volumed &quot;meow&quot; is coming out of is mouth.&lt;/strong&gt; Before this it &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;used to have a loud and sweet &quot;meow&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. I am very much worried as to what has happened. &lt;strong&gt;please say what to do&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-22T15:32:44.710" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T16:26:30.207" Title="Why has my kitten's &quot;meow&quot; sound reduced suddenly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18425" CreationDate="2017-09-22T16:26:30.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat isn't meowing normally again in 24 hours, I'd go to the vet. It might be a furball; a cat trying to pass a furball can look like it's trying to meow. But the fact that it is making a soft meow rather than a weird yowl or no sound at all seems strange. Stress or depression can make a cat stop meowing altogether, but I wouldn't expect a soft meow in that case. Possibly it has a bit of string caught in its throat, or it swallowed something it shouldn't have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats don't digest cow milk properly. Goat's milk is a good alternative. There are also commercially available &quot;cat milk&quot; products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T16:26:30.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18419" CreationDate="2017-09-22T16:49:07.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Is It Safe?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently there are no long term studies on the effects of essential oils in birds. As you know birds have a very sensitive respiratory system which makes the general recommendation for scents/vapors a no go. I would be hesitant to use them until more concrete evidence supports that essential oils work and are safe for birds. How oils are processed and what additives have been added are for the most part unknown which makes it risky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternative Options&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a safe way to make your house smell fresh there are other safe options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boiling Orange peels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boiling Cinnamon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Simmer lemon peels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcha.com/bird-safe-edible-flowers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fresh flowers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Potted &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15%201912&amp;amp;aid=2236&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;indoor plants&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HEPA air purifier (non-inionized)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T16:49:07.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18423" CreationDate="2017-09-22T20:00:01.713" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found peas to be extremely beneficial in relieving constipation in my aquarium fish. They have a laxative effect and help to prevent blockages which could form as a result of feeding only flakes or high protein diets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most fish will eat peas and other vegetables. I've even incorporated peas into my own home made fish foods as a staple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://nippyfish.net/2009/01/26/how-to-prepare-pea-for-a-bloated-betta/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;few guides&lt;/a&gt; on the web explaining this but really, it's pretty simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cook the peas so that they are soft (and if they're frozen make sure they have fully thawed in the middle). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cool them down by waiting or submerging them in cold water. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the outside shell of the pea which the fish may struggle to get through. You can normally gently pinch the outside and the inner pea will shoot out of the skin. (&lt;em&gt;Feeling really lazy? You can put the peas in a garlic crusher and squeeze the puree through instead of peeling&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mash the pea and feed to the fish. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the fish are less than interested you can try adding a small amount of garlic to the peas to make it more appealing to the fish. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of frequency, I try to feed at least once a week with peas but my fish don't have a extremely high protein diet. I'd suggest feeding roughly 2 - 3 times per week and see how it goes. If they're still having issues increase the frequency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T20:00:01.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18422" CreationDate="2017-09-22T22:09:44.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general diagnosis of the situation, it sounds like what you have is an algae bloom. Algae grows when there is sufficient nutrients and light in the tank which is not being used by anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;UV Steriliser&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've already got a UV steriliser which can help to combat the problem but is not the only way. The key to a UV steriliser is the amount of time the water is exposed to the UV lamp. If the water is flowing too fast through it, the lamp will have very little effect. Before upgrading, and spending possibly needless money, there are some other things that you can check first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Test Kit&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a water quality test kit if you haven't already and check that all the levels are adequate. Ensure that there is no ammonia, no nitrite and somewhere in the region of less than 30ppm nitrate (depending on your fish of course). An imbalance in your nutrient levels could trigger an algae bloom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Light Levels&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got extreme light you open yourself up to the possibility of an algae bloom. The light alone is probably not the cause and you'll likely discover it during the 'test kit' stage. Generally, you should avoid putting a fish tank near a window because it means you cannot control the light that enters your tank which can be a problem. If this isn't an option, read on for more ways to reduce the chance of it becoming a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Carbon Dioxide Levels&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like any photosynthetic organism, they need carbon dioxide to photosynthesis. If you've got a high level of carbon dioxide in your tank, you've got a great environment for maximum algae growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Okay, okay. I get the point but how do I &lt;em&gt;prevent&lt;/em&gt; algae blooms?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glad you asked. The best way is to make sure that you provide a bad environment for algae growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Decrease light level&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, move your tank away from the window or decrease the amount of time that your fish tank light is on for during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Decrease carbon dioxide concentration&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add some kind of air stone and air pump to increase the oxygen levels in the water and help gas off the carbon dioxide stored in the water. You can also improve your aeration by ensuring there is a good level of surface movement in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Regular Water Changes&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're doing your regular water changes. Water changes help to decrease nitrates. Nitrates are a great plant food and is what helps a planted fish tank thrive. Make sure you remove an uneaten food and you're not over-feeding your fish because these all contribute to the nitrate levels increasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Get some real plants!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the nutrients in your water get used up by something else, the algae will have a tough time getting a hold of your tank. There's some really easy to grow plants:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallisneria_spiralis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vallisneria spiralis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubias&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anubias&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsorum_pteropus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Java Fern&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These will help to suck the nitrates out of the water and use the carbon dioxide in the tank. If you don't fancy having plants &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; your tank, you can always let the roots of a plant trail into your tank which will work the same. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcDoh0NcXLU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;great instruction video&lt;/a&gt; about growing Pothos (devil's ivy) in the top of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Additional Reading:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/causes-and-cures-for-green-aquarium-water-1378633&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Causes and Cures for Green Aquarium Water - Shirlie Sharpe (The Spruce)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Algae - Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.thenest.com/rid-algae-blooms-aquariums-12055.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Get Rid of Algae Blooms in Aquariums - Eric Mohrman (The Nest)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;PS. To fix your &lt;em&gt;current&lt;/em&gt; situation, you'll probably need to increase your water change percentage for a little while until you can remove the algae that &lt;em&gt;already&lt;/em&gt; exists in your tank.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-09-22T22:19:10.617" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2017-09-23T04:55:32.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way I find to pick up my snail is by wetting a popsicle stick and putting it underneath his head. You can be somewhat forceful with it. You can wiggle it underneath their bodies and they will slowly crawl up onto it and it allows you to move them around. I also use his cuttlebone. It works great. I use my fingers and let them crawl onto it as long as my hand is sprayed down and moist. So far I haven't had any troubles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10454" LastActivityDate="2017-09-23T04:55:32.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-23T12:01:11.887" Score="3" ViewCount="1756" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an almost 3 year old beagle mix, I have had him since he was just a bit under a year old. He is house trained and used to never pee or poop in the floor. Now he's gotten to the point where he will pee in the floor while I'm gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will hold it a good part of the day while I'm sleeping and I'll take him out as soon as I wake up, usually right before I go to work, but when I come home from work there's always pee on the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing if I go out anywhere, even if I'm only gone for like 30 minutes, I will come home to pee on the floor. He doesn't display any signs of separation anxiety, he doesn't whine when I leave, he's not bouncing off the walls when I get home, he greets me at the door with a wag and goes about his day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing him to pee on the floor? I have cleaned and cleaned, but I can't get the smell of dog pee to go away now and I know my landlord is going to be furious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10455" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:55:09.633" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T07:38:54.177" Title="Dog peeing in house when gone" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18423" CreationDate="2017-09-24T01:35:36.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Peas are the only thing I feed my koi. I thaw them, then throw them in; it is an organic &quot;Pac-man&quot; game; the orange, silver, gold characters chase the little green dots until they are all gone. It would make a funny video if I knew anything about computers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T11:55:01.180" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T11:55:01.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18418" CreationDate="2017-09-24T04:37:26.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes as they start to decay or as other fish nibble at them, parts of them become small enough to get sucked into filtration. Check filter by partially disassembling it and remove any questionable chunks. Also, check filter intake to see if anything is stuck to the underside, or less visible side of the intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look in any caves, nooks and crannies of decor or plants for where bottom feeders may have dug them under in hiding for later feedings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do a water change with a gravel vacuum. Moving the gravel vacuum along all bottom parts of aquarium is something that should routinely be done anyways, but this would be a good time to start, OR to do an extra one, and may help you spot something that's blending in well. Fish tend to lose their vibrant colors after they have passed away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider you may not find them, and don't be too worried, sometimes other fish help eliminate this as an issue by eating &quot;floaters&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Test your water a day after the 10-15% water change to look for spikes in ammonia, and continue every couple days until levels are within safe range. If levels are fine, no worries - just keep an eye out for &quot;fuzzies&quot; where the decaying matter has blended and is now growing a fungus. This fungus is NOT safe and should be removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. Dead fish mysteries are common in the fish world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T22:48:03.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T22:48:03.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18438" CreationDate="2017-09-24T06:29:06.357" Score="2" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten in 3 month old and losing weight due to diarrhea. Before de-worming, diarrhea was with blood, but now it is just stool. We give boiled chicken and kitten food (ROYAL CANIN). And sometimes yogurt and boiled rice. I asked the Vet but he says change the cat food. It is the same cat food that he suggested me during de-worming. So I bought 2kg bag. I am confused now what to feed to my kitten. Is it boiled chicken? Or the kitten food causing diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-24T07:21:00.937" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T19:13:42.053" Title="Cause of Kitten Diarrhea?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18437" CreationDate="2017-09-24T14:05:49.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet to clarify what they meant by changing the cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation would be to feed only the Royal Canin kitten food. The yoghurt or boiled rice could be causing digestive issues, and are not part of an appropriate diet for a kitten or cat. Small amounts of chicken are likely not be a problem as long as the chicken is not flavoured and fully cooked, however until the diarrhea has resolved I would feed only the kitten food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are hundreds of different causes of diarrhea in kittens, ranging from the simple-to-treat (parasites) to difficult-to-treat (allergies), with every bacterium and virus in between. Some kittens will respond well to simplifying the diet, while others need further workup (bloodwork, fecal, possibly x-rays, etc) to get to an answer and appropriate treatment. Some kittens will become very dehydrated with severe diarrhea so it is important to not let diarrhea go untreated for too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-24T14:05:49.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18440" CreationDate="2017-09-24T17:06:55.857" Score="5" ViewCount="3326" Body="&lt;p&gt;The weather has changed and mosquitoes are everywhere. I am a kitten owner and I want to know, do mosquitoes attack animals? kittens/cats/dogs. If yes, is my pet in danger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-25T03:56:12.810" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T04:30:06.993" Title="Do Mosquitoes bite cats/kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18439" CreationDate="2017-09-24T20:51:50.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Do Mosquitoes Attack Animals?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is My Pet In Danger?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes and no - a common and not so common (location dependent) disease that is transmitted to cats and dogs is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/heartworm-basics&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;heartworm disease&lt;/a&gt;. Essentially when mosquitoes take a blood meal they transmit infective stage larvae into your pets bloodstream, after ~6 months they are fully grown adult heartworms. These worms cause damage to the heart and lungs, if killed too fast they can clog the arteries causing death to your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heartworm disease is more common in dogs than cats, though it is thought that veterinarians are under-diagnosing cats because the testing methods aren't adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Can I Protect My Pet?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monthly heartworm prevention during heartworm season (again, location dependent) is your best bet along with testing your pet yearly to every second year for the disease. Discuss with your veterinarian for the ideal product and duration to protect your pet. Some common veterinary approved products are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Advantage Multi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heartgard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interceptor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Revolution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep your pets indoors during peak mosquito times (dawn and dusk) and have mosquito netting or screens on your windows to prevent them from coming indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JQB9F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JQB9F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-24T20:51:50.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18445" CreationDate="2017-09-24T22:36:37.110" Score="1" ViewCount="6078" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long after being spayed should you wait before flying a dog on an international flight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10459" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2017-09-25T03:55:39.637" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T05:20:55.613" Title="How long to wait before flying after a dog had been spayed" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18458" CreationDate="2017-09-25T01:27:14.507" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am worried about the relationship between my 4 year old boxer dog and my new pitbull puppy (3 months), which I buy today, because when I take my pitbull puppy to my apartment, my boxer kept looking at him and started to bark a lot, then separate them, tie the boxer to a tube and thus could do nothing to the puppy (I was terrified that my boxer could hurt her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The boxer has always been too aggressive with the puppies, he still sees them and wants to beat them.. I really do not know how I could make them friends, my boxer and my little pit bull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could there be a good relationship between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:24.373" Title="Friendship between a boxer and puppy pitbull" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18422" CreationDate="2017-09-25T03:08:22.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spent a lot of money on getting one of these for a 29 gallon volume, for a friend whose tank I tend to when I can. He is a fire-fighter on a military base, working 24 hour shifts, sometimes 11 days in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first started helping him out he had this same problem. Thinking I wouldn't spend much time and effort at his place I bought him a UV sterilizer rated for up to 30 gallons. I didn't have much luck with it &lt;strong&gt;treating&lt;/strong&gt; the algae bloom, but it worked great &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; getting rid of the bloom in &lt;strong&gt;prevention&lt;/strong&gt;/&lt;strong&gt;preventative care&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He overfeeds his pleco sinking algae disks with the idea that if he feeds a bunch and then doesn't feed him for days while he's working that it's his best option. Although I don't agree with this concept, he still does it. &lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt;, after I turned his lights off, and covered his tank with a blanket for 3 days, the algae disappeared and now the UV sterilization has prevented an additional bloom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also has no option to move his tank (room size and space and outlets). I would say your size is adequate, you won't want to go much larger aka more powerful, but may want to try a combination of the answer above, and reduce feedings of foods with algae in it &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; keep the UV sterilization as a prevention method for future blooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this answers your question. The previous answer is very informative for &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; reader with algae issues in their tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:54:05.347" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:54:05.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18439" CreationDate="2017-09-25T04:30:06.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there are certainly mosquito-borne diseases that affect cats (perhaps most notably, as Rebecca has discussed, heartworm disease), a more common problem (or at least a more commonly-recognized problem) is allergies to mosquito bites. While it is usually impossible to tell what caused a hypersensitivity reaction, mosquitos are likely a common culprit as far as insect bites. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php?title=Mosquito-bite_hypersensitivity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mosquito-bite hypersensitivity&lt;/a&gt; for more information and images of a more severe form of allergic reaction to mosquitos. Mosquito bites usually cause focal itchiness, respond well to symptomatic treatment, and are usually not life-threatening except in rare cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rates of mosquito-borne disease will really depend on where in the world you are. Heartworm disease is prevalent in the southern US, gradually spreading northward. While very rare, mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile Virus can cause disease in cats (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/1/02-0616_article&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Austgen et al., 2004&lt;/a&gt;). While mosquito-bitten cats are no doubt commonly infected by viruses such as West Nile, Zika, or Dengue, it seems that in the vast majority of cases cats are not affected clinically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T04:30:06.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18441" CreationDate="2017-09-25T05:20:55.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most vets will want a follow up checkup in 1-2 weeks, to see how the incision looks and remove any skin sutures (if necessary). So certainly after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spays, while very routine, are major abdominal surgery to remove the uterus and ovaries. Most dogs bounce back from spays remarkably quickly, because they're usually young healthy dogs. But their bodies still need time to heal and recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no definite answer to this question – it will depend on the dog, as well as the situation. I am sure there are some who would be fine to fly the day after a spay, while others may need longer to recover before flying. Of course there may be extenuating circumstances when pets have to travel by air soon after surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is the paperwork. Crossing international borders with pets is not easy, even with healthy pets. A vet would have to sign off on a health certificate or similar before international travel is allowed, and I would hope that most vets wouldn't sign the health certificate until the patient is well recovered. While I've never run into this scenario, I think I would hesitate to sign one less than two weeks after a spay, even if the dog was recovering exceptionally well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T05:20:55.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18447" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-25T07:48:07.617" Score="6" ViewCount="3800" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I opened the front door this morning my cat was just lying there. She has been lethargic all day. She's usually very playful but today she has been lying around and sleeping. She ate with the other cats but I haven't seen her drink any water. Her eyes are very glossy and she looks so spaced out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weirdest thing just happened: When I petted her, her skin popped as though there were air bubbles under the skin. You could feel and hear it popping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is wrong with my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10463" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T16:43:52.060" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T16:00:03.000" Title="Why is my cat lethargic, spaced out, and has air bubbles under her skin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18450" CreationDate="2017-09-25T09:15:12.703" Score="5" ViewCount="13212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a type of window that lets me use a small hook to hold just a small gap open at the top and bottom corners (the window opens sideways). The gap is about 5 cm (2 in) and, if I use considerable force, I can stretch it to 7.5 cm (3 in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I determine if the cat will be able to squeeze through it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And is it likely to have enough strength to bend a double-glazed wooden window to get an extra inch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: the cat is very slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10458" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-09-25T15:28:21.253" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T05:36:56.663" Title="How to determine if a cat can squeeze through a gap?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18448" CreationDate="2017-09-25T10:58:24.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the definition of &quot;considerable force&quot; it's unlikely that the cat will be able to force the gap wider. As to whether the cat can fit through that all depends on the size of the cat. Or more specifically the cat's &lt;em&gt;head&lt;/em&gt;, their skeletal system is put together such that it has floating clavicles so that the only real limit to what gaps they can squeeze through is the size of their head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T10:58:24.667" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18448" CreationDate="2017-09-25T13:18:57.197" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;One important consideration is where the gap is -- top or bottom of the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; get their head through a small gap (and some cats -- including my little girl --can) but can't get their body through, they can get stuck and panic.  If the gap is at the bottom, they could still injure themselves but I'd be more worried about a gap at the top where they could actually hang themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is something like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_flaps_nets/window_protection&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tilting Window Protection&lt;/a&gt; available where you live and suitable for your window? Or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_flaps_nets/cat_nets&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat nets&lt;/a&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add that a cat doesn't need to be particularly small to escape through a small gap by an open window, and they don't always have good sense: I've had a medium size cat (who objected to being shut indoors overnight for his own safety) squeeze out through a narrow gap at the top of a window one floor up, and jump down onto a shed roof (lucky it was there) before descending to the ground. And another (who had two broken front legs in plaster after jumping out of a window one floor up) repeat the experiment though an-only-just-open window (and break both legs again).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastEditorDisplayName="user10093" LastEditDate="2017-09-25T13:31:58.030" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T13:31:58.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18447" CreationDate="2017-09-25T14:09:05.697" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a medical emergency, take your cat to the vet immediately if you have not already done so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description it sounds like your cat has developed subcutaneous emphysema, which most commonly occurs due to trauma to the trachea or lungs. Air can also develop under the skin from severe bacterial growth usually secondary to a wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time you observe such abnormal mentation (glossy eyes, spaced out), something serious is going on. Nobody online is going to be able to tell you the cause, or how to fix it. The cat needs immediate veterinary attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T14:09:05.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11231" CreationDate="2017-09-25T18:59:39.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats meow mostly for one reason, to communicate with humans. &lt;a href=&quot;http://aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/common-cat-behavior-issues/meowing-and-yowling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feral cats usually don't meow&lt;/a&gt;. Also, meowing is akin to a baby &lt;a href=&quot;http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cats-excessive-meowing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crying to its mother&lt;/a&gt;.  Domesticated cats retain this behavior with us, since we're their caregivers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm hinting at is that &lt;strong&gt;your cat is most likely asking for something from humans&lt;/strong&gt;. If they look at you while meowing, or are near you, it's a message for you. Otherwise, your cat might be &quot;calling&quot; for your friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your friend let the cat outside accidentally and they want to get back outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can actually be very socially oriented and &lt;a href=&quot;http://catbehaviorassociates.com/separation-anxiety-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;miss people when they're gone&lt;/a&gt;, despite what pop culture would have you believe. I personally never leave my cat alone for more than a few hours. If I have to leave town, I leave him at a family member's house. That's just me though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your cat is worried you'll leave again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My suggestion: find something to lure your cat away when they do that. Maybe a toy or something you know distracts them, not a treat / reward.&lt;/strong&gt; Don't summon them specifically. We don't want your cat to think they'll get attention for doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When they're not whining, maybe play with your cat / give them treats by the door.&lt;/strong&gt; This way we'll replace whatever bad memories there might be with good ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10469" LastEditorDisplayName="user10093" LastEditDate="2017-09-28T21:53:44.827" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T21:53:44.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18437" CreationDate="2017-09-25T19:13:42.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only have two things to add to the other answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch the cat throughout the day, make sure they're not eating something they shouldn't be (like plants or carpet fibers). If you can't do that, maybe put them in a clean room where they can't get anything bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please take your cat to get a workup at the vet! Would you like to have horrible chronic diarrhea? It probably won't be that expensive. Think of it as an investment that will pay out over 10-20 years of your cat's friendship. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10470" LastActivityDate="2017-09-25T19:13:42.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18442" CreationDate="2017-09-26T07:30:51.287" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Moving this out of my comment, because the more I think about it, the more scary the scenario sounds.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't get another puppy yet, least of all a physically strong one like a pitbull. If you can still pull out of buying him, do so now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Next: train your boxer to obey WITHOUT a leash. You already have a physically strong dog you don't have fully under control, that shows aggression towards other dogs! Get a dog-trainer, or some books, whatever helps you most, and make sure you can reliably control your boxer. By that, I mean when he is off-leash, and you call him, he comes back to you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;THEN you can add a puppy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am sorry, but the sheer physical strength of your dogs will require this, no matter what kind of collar or leash you have! If a dog this size is determined, he'll drag you along behind him, drag the leash out of your hand, or force you to use a collar-type that will actually hurt the dog and increase aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, PLEASE reconsider the idea about the puppy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T07:30:51.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-26T10:48:48.210" Score="4" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog recently developed this mania where he won't stop licking his front paws, not the thick skin under it, but rather the fur as in the &quot;back of his hands&quot; and along the legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/14Yxp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/14Yxp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's always licking the fur, and the noise of him licking it is making the entire family crazy, like the sound of a kid chewing gun right next to your ears. It's like he's bored and that's his favorite entertainment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The noise is not the only thing, the real problem this causes is that he is becoming increasingly bad-smelly because of the dry saliva that stays on the hairs. We recently took him to a hairdresser for washing and brushing, and only one week after it, he already smells as bad as before the washing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife suggested it could be the food we're giving him, so we changed, but he still does that. We also got a &quot;perfume&quot; spray for animals from the pet store, and we are spraying him to get rid of the smell, especially around the area he keeps licking (maybe the taste will discourage him), but he can't stop doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet couldn't decide a reason why he does that, so he gave us a full set of vitamins, some of which I've never heard of before (vitamin K, anyone?), and of course no help (otherwise I wouldn't be posting here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're really going crazy with this, so I come here to ask, anyone has experience with such problem? Any kind of suggestion would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T15:47:54.660" Title="My dog can't stop licking his paws" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18442" CreationDate="2017-09-26T13:47:02.083" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the answer Layna gave you would be the easiest and maybe the preferable way. But sometimes it is not possible to give back the puppy. So for this case, you have two options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Separate them&lt;/strong&gt; forever or until you can sell the puppy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Separate them&lt;/strong&gt; until your training with your boxer is so successful that you can stop him biting without a leash and without intervening physically.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The separation is recommended, because every attack from your boxer has some psychological impact to your puppy. In the worst case he will start to bite every other dog when he is older or have at least the same problem with puppies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case you want to train your boxer, keep in mind that looking for a good dog trainer is not a shame, but highly recommended in a situation like yours. Look for someone who can teach you in person. Tips given on the Internet can never be so specially geared to you and your dog, because we have never seen you for real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to train:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train commands like &quot;come&quot; and &quot;sit&quot; in every situation. Start with small steps at home and increase the external stimuli. You have to be able to have your boxer under control in any situation. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start to bring your boxer and the puppy together. Stay always calm. Call your boxer to sit next to you when you notice that he is aggressive, but &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; he starts to attack the puppy. Start with just a few minutes' training time and increase the time they are together slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you keep both dogs, take care to give both the same attention. Play with both and train with both.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having two dogs is always hard. The effort you have to spend for training is more than doubled, because dogs tend to adopt bad behavour of the other, so the owner will always have more trouble to train each of them. But well trained dogs in a pack are really nice. So think about it. Can you give your dogs these kind of intensive time and training until the problem with your boxer is solved and afterwards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be a hard and long way, if you keep the puppy. But even if you decide to give the puppy away, you should train with your boxer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:29:24.373" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:24.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18463" CreationDate="2017-09-26T15:51:51.843" Score="4" ViewCount="11843" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my seven month old kitten for about a month now. Two days ago I got new windows put in and the screen is on the inside of the window. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat now climbs through the closed blinds to get behind them and climb the screen. This would be fine if he wasn't also tearing the screen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to teach him to not climb the window screen. I've tried clapping when he does it to create a loud noise, but he doesn't seem to care. I've been pulling him off and shutting him out of the room for a bit, but soon after I let him in again he's back at it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to get him to stop this behaviour without him hating me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10477" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-27T02:42:34.120" LastActivityDate="2019-07-22T16:26:11.283" Title="How to stop my kitten climbing on the window screen" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5549" CreationDate="2017-09-26T15:57:23.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the previous answer was so thorough about snake care, I'm just going to focus on what kind of snake is best for a beginner and where to get one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General agreement is that the best beginner snakes in terms of manageable size, temperament, low cost, ease/cost of providing an appropriate habitat, and lack of feeding issues are: corn snake, California king snake, rosy boa, and milk snake. Some people might add ball pythons to this list but personally I'm a bit put off by their reputation for being difficult feeders. I know people with balls that are excellent feeders and never turn down a meal... but then again I know of some that regularly go on feeding strikes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all of these, captive bred individuals are fairly easy to find at pet stores, local reptile fairs, or local or online breeders. My advice is to avoid large chain pet stores as they often lack staff who are knowledgeable about reptiles and may not take proper care of them. A good locally-owned pet store is a valuable resource as they will be able to provide you continuing support and advice after your purchase. If you're going with a breeder, be sure to look for online reviews before choosing... there are some shady mofos out there including a few that regularly come up at the top of Google searches!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experience: I have been a reptile owner for almost 10 years. I currently own an 11 year old corn snake which I have bred several times, and a 2 year old Brazilian rainbow boa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10476" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T15:57:23.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18459" CreationDate="2017-09-26T16:28:50.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it won't harm the look of the screens it might be worth spraying them with a citrus-based cat repellent spray (test any such spray in a discreet area of the screen first!). You can either buy a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bitter-Citrus-Anti-Chew-Repellent-Spray/dp/B00IPBFWW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1506443050&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=cat+repellent+citrus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ready made one&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/Friendly-but-Effective-Cat-Repellent/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mix one up at home&lt;/a&gt;. Cats hate the scent of citrus so they will generally avoid the area but it's not harmful to them. If the window has a ledge that the cat jumps to before climbing you could try applying double sided tape to it for a few days - the sticky sensation under their paws is unpleasant for them so after a while they will give up, I've seen similar recommendations to use tinfoil but from my own attempts I've found it to be ineffective (could just be my cats though!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-09-26T16:28:50.170" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-26T18:27:26.507" Score="9" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a veterinary book that states the name given to a cat should end with a vowel. The paragraph in which I read this is here: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Naming your new pet should be fun and involve the entire family. You can even find at your local bookstore entire books that are dedicated to choosing the right name for your cat. Stick to names having two syllables; This will allow it to differentiate between its name and those one syllable commands you may choose to teach it. You can further set its name apart from potential commands or reprimands by adding a vowel sound to the end of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know if this is true? Has anybody read or heard this anywhere? If so, where?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book is called &lt;em&gt;The Illustrated Veterinary Guide for Dogs, Cats, Birds, and Exotic Pets&lt;/em&gt;. It is written by Chris  C. Pinney, DVM. It's not as if you are going to run out and buy the book just to read about this though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if cats should given names ending with a vowel, and if giving them names of two syllables would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10479" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T14:10:34.637" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T14:10:34.637" Title="should cat's be given names which end with a vowel?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pet-names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18459" CreationDate="2017-09-27T07:42:40.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my cat for 6 years now and the first hot days mean I have to worry about my cat climbing the big balcony door screens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried sticky strips and spraying with a repellent but the only solution that really worked was spraying him with water every time he climbs combined with a strong &quot;no&quot;. No yelling, no hitting or anything of the sort, just a spray in his backside or face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this requires for you to be vigilant at all times. My cat likes to climb on screens in rooms that are at the other end of house. Everything would be quiet and suddenly you'd hear that hellish noise of claws against the screen ugh! What I did with the help of my wife was to set up watches and try to spray him as much as we can, wife had morning and I evenings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After spraying him for a couple of weeks consistently, he only needed the strong worded &quot;no&quot; and then he stopped. Luckily, he didn't resume next year. I was afraid he'd forget but 1 spray was enough to remind him. We don't use water spray for anything else so the connection is strong there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T07:42:40.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18432" CreationDate="2017-09-27T08:02:01.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would first eliminate the medical aspect of this before anything else as the comments suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, I can suggest what a friend did when her dog starting peeing randomly in the house. She tried multiple things but what worked was to leave the TV on in the living room where the dog passed a lot of its time alone, left a radio on where the dog slept and also left a shirt of hers in the dog's bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog stopped peeing the next day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine she even left her laptop on the coffee table and skyped the dog at home to see what he's doing but that didn't work either (and resulted in a saliva-covered screen/keyboard) - might be worth a shot for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't imagine her electric bill though having the TV and radio run 9-10+ hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T08:02:01.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-27T13:30:49.460" Score="2" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is 5 years old and losing weight rapidly despite eating significantly. He's lost a quarter of his body weight in the last month; 2.01kg when healthy and 1.45kg this morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had a dental about a week ago to burr down his teeth as we assumed that may have been the cause but he is still losing weight. Had him on critical care for the last couple of days which he's is lapping up and always seems hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just wondered if anyone knew whether thyroid issues are present in rabbits as they are in elderly cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10484" LastActivityDate="2017-09-27T13:30:49.460" Title="Can rabbits suffer from thyroid problems?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-27T22:54:41.813" Score="7" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently switched from a corn based litter to a clay based one bc of recommendations for clumping and odor control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I read that the litter should not be flushed because they may expand in the pipes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now I'm paranoid about doing a full cleaning the litter box...I.e dumping the litter and washing the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I dump the contents there are still some damp smudgy stuff on the walls. I would scrape off as much as I can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I take it outdoors to rinse and dump the water bc I don't want to introduce a speck of clay litter into my pipes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the way people clean their litter boxes?  What about the 'bacteria' that may be left on the ground, etc. ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a safe (to pipes) and sanitary way to wash/clean the box?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7415" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-03T15:30:03.447" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T15:30:03.447" Title="How to clean/wash litter box that had clay litter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18467" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-28T06:36:57.770" Score="2" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xRBmG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a rescue and we have had him about a month now, I don't know what's going on and we really need help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He didn't have this problem when we got him but constantly laid on his back and scratched his butt on the carpet (we thought it was cute) and now he's attacking his tail and right above his tail to the point he can't sit still and he starts shaking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried medicated shampoos and recently bought a open wound spray since he can't leave it alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RECENT UPDATE: at 4:36 this morning he had diarrhea (which never happens, he never poops in the house nor have we even seen him poop period, we always thought he was private about it) he ran to our room and seemed upset that he would be in trouble or telling us he needed to go out... I took him out and as soon as we hit the grass in the lawn he tried pooping but yelped and then ran away back to the porch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10486" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-03T15:29:06.060" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T15:29:06.060" Title="Jack Russell/Terrier Mix about 2 yrs old shaking and pulling out hair?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18468" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-28T10:15:46.230" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to relocate three stray cats from an apartment complex that I used to stay in earlier. It's one mama cat and her two kittens. The kittens are about 4 months old now. I was thinking of bringing them to my new apartment complex and setting them free here. I cannot take them inside my house since I already have a cat and he isn't too friendly with other cats. I was planning on feeding them so that they wouldn't lose their way and hang around here. I wanted to get the mama cat neutered anyway but I'm wondering if the two kittens who I'm told are always with her would feel completely out of place in their new surroundings. Any suggestions on how to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T10:15:46.230" Title="Relocating three stray cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18466" CreationDate="2017-09-28T10:32:39.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just can tell you about how my flatmate has cleaned her litter box (with clay litter). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She dumped the contents and scraped off as much as she could. Afterwards she washed it. She did this using the bathtub. She used much water and flushed the pipes afterwards. We had never a problem with our pipes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a website which says the following (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/litter-box-maintenance-555200&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thespruce.com/litter-box-maintenance-555200&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Empty the used litter into a sturdy plastic bag and tie securely before discarding it in the trash. Note that although some natural litters are flushable, the &lt;strong&gt;entire contents&lt;/strong&gt; of a litter box should never be dumped into the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Next, wash the box thoroughly with detergent and hot water. Rinse completely, then spray inside and out with a mild bleach solution, about 1:32 (1 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water). If it's sunny, let the box dry outside for an hour. Rinse again thoroughly, then dry with paper towels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highlighted the words &quot;entire contents&quot;, because I think that this was meant when you read &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;that the litter should not be flushed because they may expand in the pipes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion my tip is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove as much litter as you can&lt;/strong&gt; and than wash the litter box. If you are unsure if there is too much litter remaining, wash it by using a bucket and flush it into the toilet. Otherwise there should be no problem by washing it using a sink or bath tube. Just &lt;strong&gt;ensure that you flush enough water after the washing process&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2017-09-28T10:37:47.747" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T10:37:47.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18462" CreationDate="2017-09-28T11:18:48.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bet millions of cats are named with names like &quot;Sam&quot;. Are they less well trained? I bet no (But I have no proof either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us focus on the reason Chris C. Pinney gives you for his suggestion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This will allow it to differentiate between its name and those one syllable commands you may choose to teach it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a human, we identify with our name. We do not only say: &quot;I am called Anna&quot;, or &quot;My name is Anna&quot;, but we also say: &quot;I am Anna&quot;. Our names are an identifier for our whole personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For pets this is not the same. They don't identify themselves by using a name. But they can learn that when someone calls a special command (their &quot;name&quot;), it is good to give this person their attention. They know that they may get some treats or stroke if they come to this person when they hear that command. They can even differentiate between different names. E.g. if you have two cats named &quot;Kitty&quot; and &quot;Chloe&quot;, Kitty knows that &quot;Kitty&quot; is her special command, but she does not have to react when Chloe is called.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To teach a pet a name it is necessary to always be consistent. If it is important for the owner that the pet knows its name, it is good to train it like any other command (e.g. give the pet a treat if it gives you attention after calling its name). If there are more than one pet it is important that always only the pet is rewarded which was meant and not the others, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem with names and commands which can confuse pets is the repitition of commands without being strict. E.g. when you always say: &quot;Stop Max, don't scratch...&quot;, &quot;Stop Max, don't eat...&quot;, &quot;Stop Max, don't jump...&quot; after a while Max will think that his name is &quot;Stop Max&quot; even if you trained him before to stop when you give the command &quot;Stop.&quot; And you can't prevent this confusion by using a name with more syllables or ending with a vowel. Because the cat does not care it it is named &quot;No Max&quot; or &quot;No Maxi&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because names are like commands for pets, I would suggest that it does not matter, how many syllables a name has and if it ends with a vowel or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2017-09-28T13:39:48.773" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T13:39:48.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-28T12:14:30.727" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have aquarium 32&quot; x 16&quot;, it is brand new and I am looking for some aquarium background. I am now deciding between using SelfAdhesive or Normal one? Any Advices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10487" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-03T15:29:22.627" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T09:42:27.783" Title="What kind of Aquarium background is better? SelfAdhesive or with Glue?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11182" CreationDate="2017-09-28T13:03:16.600" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are some studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pro raw food studies&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/kibble-never-a-good-option/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; which mentions two studies: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A study conducted in Stockholm, Sweden by Dr. Kollath showed that young animals fed a cooked, processed diet initially appeared to be healthy, but once they reached maturity, they began to rapidly age and develop degenerative disease symptoms. The control group that was raised on a raw, uncooked diet did not age as fast and showed no degenerative disease symptoms but remained healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately they mentioned no source for this study. For the second study they linked &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/images/LippertSapySummary.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another study out of Belgium used data gathered from more than 500 domestic dogs over a consecutive five year time period (1998-2002). The authors, Lippert and Sapy, were able to statistically show that dogs fed a homemade diet, consisting of high quality foods used from their owners’ meals versus dogs fed an industrial, commercial pet food diet had a life expectancy of 32 months longer – that’s almost 3 years!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nutritional imbalance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just reading this it seems that raw feeding is really the best. But I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3003575/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a summary of studies&lt;/a&gt; about the risk of raw food diets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hypervitaminosis A was reported in a cat fed a pork liver-based raw food. The cat returned to normal health when the diet was changed back to a commercial canned food. Feline pansteatitis was reported in 10 cats fed a homemade diet of cooked pig brain or raw and cooked oily fish. Nutritional osteodystrophy was reported in 2 litters of 6-week-old large breed puppies fed a bones and raw food (BARF) diet from about 3 weeks of age. Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism has also been reported in a litter of German shepherd puppies fed a diet of 80% rice with 20% raw meat. The diet contained excessive amounts of phosphorus. Not all puppies fed the diet experienced problems, suggesting individual or genetic susceptibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A nutritional analysis of 5 raw food diets (2 commercially produced and 3 home-made) found low calcium and phosphorus in 3 of the 5 diets. Two commercial diets were high in vitamin D. Two of the diets were deficient in potassium, magnesium, and zinc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just some individual cases so it is not possible to say that in general the raw food diets are bad. So the same article mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Supporters of raw food will argue that feeding a variety of foods will lessen the risk of nutritional imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Infectious disease risk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same article mentions a study about the infectious disease risk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are several studies that document the presence of infectious agents in raw foods and the potential for contaminating or shedding these agents in the pet’s environment. A recent study analyzed 240 samples from 20 commercially prepared raw meat dog diets (beef, lamb, chicken, or turkey), 24 samples from 2 commercial dry dog foods, and 24 samples from 2 commercial canned foods. The commercial foods were collected on 4 different dates, 2 months apart. Three samples were collected from each product at each sampling point and were evaluated by culture for &lt;em&gt;Escherichia coli&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Salmonella enterica&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/em&gt;, and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for &lt;em&gt;Cryptosporidium&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Neospora&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma&lt;/em&gt;. The PCR was performed only during the third and final sampling period. &lt;strong&gt;Almost 6% of the raw food diets were positive for &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;, while none of the conventional diets were positive&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Escherichia coli&lt;/em&gt; were isolated from all types of diets. It &#xA;  was found in almost 50% of the raw food diets but in only 8/24 (33%) dry and 2/24 (8%) canned diets&lt;/strong&gt;. There were no significant association between the type of raw meat and the agents isolated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion you should know which incredients your dog needs to avoid nutrition imbalance and you should keep the food fresh and cool in a clean environment, if you want to feed your dog with homemade raw food diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is canned food really that bad?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know what kind of food the dogs of the Belgium study were fed. In Germany dog food is handled by the German food law and the German Feedstuffs Act. That means that only ingredients humans are able to eat are allowed to used for dog food. The quality has to be the same as for humans. Indeed scrapings of slaughter are used, too, but from pigs, cows, birds, etc. which were slaughtered for human food. So the quality of the meat is very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is still the question if the meat has to be raw. To answer that it is worth reminding what is happening in the stomach of a dog. The gastric acid degenerates the proteins of the meat, so that the enzyms are able to degrade the proteins. The same degenerating process is happening by cooking meat. So for old dogs it can be comfortable to eat cooked meat, because it is easier to digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today there are many good dry or canned food diets for dogs. It is possible to adapt the food to the age and health condition of the dog. That is a big benefit as compared to homemade food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a good quality canned food is as good as a raw diet food but less risky of infectious disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end it is a question of believe if you prefer raw food diet or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may depend on the region where you live, if you can trust the dried and canned dog food. If you buy it, (if possible) take care of the quality and how much meat is in there. The main ingredient have to be meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to feed raw meat homemade food, please inform yourself about the needs of a dog. They are different to humans. Take care of the quality of the food and that it is kept clean and fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T07:11:40.163" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T07:11:40.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18466" CreationDate="2017-09-28T14:22:52.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dump the litter and remove as much as possible with the scoop. Then I use baby wipes to remove the remains. Finally I wash the litter box in the bathroom with soap and vinegar (vinegar is a disinfectant and removes odour) and let it dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I always put a thick layer of litter. This way the box rarely gets wet and there is less sticky litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10489" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T14:22:52.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18471" CreationDate="2017-09-28T16:16:20.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use tape along the edges. Using Glue and self adhesive is harder to get off if 1) you put it on crooked and need to re-arrange and 2)  Want to ever change the background completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glue and self adhesion can leave sticky residue thats hard to clean off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Downside, unless you find a very clear tape, or can hide it well, too much tape can look tacky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T16:16:20.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18457" CreationDate="2017-09-28T17:08:22.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be an allergy. My dog will lick her paws from the top side, especially between the toes. A dermatologist specialty vet took samples and found that she gets yeast growing there, and he said it is due to allergies. I clean them every morning now with chlorohexidine wipes, and that has reduced the licking by 95%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use these pads: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00G3D8JL0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Duoxo Chlorohexidine Pads&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T17:08:22.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18477" CreationDate="2017-09-28T17:54:02.257" Score="8" ViewCount="3620" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has fleas and I tried using anything short of a bug bomb to get them off the cat and out of the house.  However, all previous attempts have failed.  Now I stumble on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.perfectforhome.com/can-dehumidifiers-kill-fleas/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; idea that you can kill fleas using a dehumidifier.  Is this true or am I falling victim to the internet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10491" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:13:10.337" Title="Using a dehumidifier to kill fleas" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18476" CreationDate="2017-09-28T22:42:22.327" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, Dehumidifiers do not kill fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most effective way is to use a topical or oral chew flea product on all pets (excluding reptiles and birds) in the household for a minimum of 3 months. If you live in an apartment/condo building or a hot climate you should treat your pets 12 months of the year. Areas that get snow and stays cold in the winter months the treatment starts from March until December.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some recommended products are:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Advantage Multi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bravecto&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Revolution (southern USA this product is no longer effective for fleas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Extra tips:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash bedding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vacuum everything daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea comb pets to remove fleas and flea dirt (flea larva eat flea dirt).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bathe your pet to help remove fleas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fun flea facts&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A female can lay 40-50 eggs per day and 50% of these eggs will be female.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The female flea begins producing eggs within 24-36 hours after its first blood meal and continues to produce eggs for &gt;100 days if she remains on the host.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fleas carry tapeworm that can be transmitted to your cat once eaten.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fleas can be vectors for infectious organisms, such as Yersinia pestis (aka Plague), &lt;a href=&quot;https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2018/infectious-diseases-related-to-travel/rickettsial-spotted-and-typhus-fevers-and-related-infections-including-anaplasmosis-and-ehrlichiosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rickettsia spp.&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_bartonellosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bartonella spp.&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/c_ct_hemotrophic_mycoplasmosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;hemoplasma (Mycoplasma) spp.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt; When bathing pets do not bathe while on topical flea treatment and wait 2 days before applying a topic flea treatment AFTER a pet has been bathed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T22:42:22.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18467" CreationDate="2017-09-28T22:54:11.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skin problems need to be seen by a veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt;, anything you read online will be speculative and not concrete as test may need to be ran (i.e skin scraping or biopsies), medications need to be prescribed and an exam of the area in question needs to be in person (check for infection).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be a number of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury that is not healing from constant chewing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Back injury (spine) that is causing discomfort and making him chew (you mentioned difficulties hunching to excrete his bowels)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parasites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yeast or Bacterial infection (Hot Spot)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the veterinarian may send you home with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steroids for the itch and inflammation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Antibiotics or Antifungals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;E-collar to prevent further harm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Antiparasitic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-09-28T22:54:11.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11231" CreationDate="2017-09-29T05:15:23.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like your cat wants to go out (which probably is what the caregiver got him used to in your absence). My cat usually stands at the door and meows when he wants to be let out. The balcony to my apartment is open breezy and with lots of birds flying around. This is great entertainment for cats and he loves being there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T05:15:23.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18401" CreationDate="2017-09-29T05:31:00.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, I think you need to get rid of the notion that the Bengal might be in love with your cat. I doubt there is any definitive way to arrive at this conclusion especially when they are fixed and have no hormone secretions on that front. My boy is very accustomed to people but he doesn't play well at all with other cats. It doesn't matter that they are kittens, female cats etc. He just doesn't get along with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to keep them separate from each other but in the same space where they can smell each other. Do not let them get near each other or have physical contact. Continue this for a few days and them let them get together. This is typically the way to introduce new cats to existing ones. I think they both need to understand that they are both here to stay. Cats are territorial and usually fight with other cats because they don't like competing for resources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T05:31:00.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18448" CreationDate="2017-09-29T05:36:56.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've seen and have been told, if the gap is equal to the end-to-end distance between their whiskers then they'll get through. This apparently is the same distance in which they can squeeze through their whole body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T05:36:56.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2769" CreationDate="2017-09-29T05:50:52.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep my bunnies in the screened in porch when it’s cool &amp;amp; bring them inside when it’s too hot or cold. They have access from the porch to a small pen on the ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can eat fresh grass when they are in the pen, dig &amp;amp; run a little. They seem to prefer the pen most of the day but will also frequent the porch. I think they like having the choice to be on the porch or in the pen whenever they want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I close the pen access when it gets dark. On the porch is their hay, pellets, &amp;amp; veggies. I found that if I put food in the pen ants get it. When it’s hot I leave the door open so they can come inside, but my girl is not as outgoing &amp;amp; social as my boy. I have to force her to come inside when it’s best for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The porch has more room for them to run &amp;amp; play in the tunnels but they love digging in the dirt &amp;amp; napping in the Rabbit-sized dens. If it’s hot but she won’t come in, I’ll put a frozen water bottle beside her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/way8H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10493" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-29T22:32:21.283" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T22:32:21.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18483" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-29T12:40:43.313" Score="2" ViewCount="747" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to a neighbour lying about me and my cat, I started to think how the things they say need a firm rebuttal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paw-print would need to be taken from nylon carpet in the hall of the building where I live. They have been accusing me of letting my cat roam around outside my flat and in the hall when my lease forbids this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the matter of my cat's meow, as all cats vary, just like humans, and there is a cat in the next building along who sounds nothing like mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on cat detection? Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-03T15:28:02.963" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:53:26.517" Title="Do cats have unique paw-prints like human finger-prints and unique meows?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18483" CreationDate="2017-09-29T13:38:38.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, cats' paw prints are not unique (fun fact: Their &lt;em&gt;nose&lt;/em&gt; prints are, but that's not exactly practical in your situation) and anyway, getting a paw print off carpet is going to be very difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's meow is rather more individual, but it's going to be tricky to use for this situation. Similarly to babies' cries, the owner/parent grows used to identifying their particular cat/baby by ear. It's much less distinguishable for others, so short of getting into a full-on &lt;em&gt;CSI:Cat&lt;/em&gt; situation with recordings and voice print analysis software and lots of earnest looking people barking &quot;enhance!&quot; at the poor tech working the keyboard, you aren't going to get anywhere with that either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You actually might be better off proving where you cat was at the time of any alleged nefarious kitty antics. If your cat will tolerate a collar you could try  a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/EYENIMAL-EYE-CAT-Eyenimal-Cat-Videocam/dp/B009MKVHOC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;collar cam&lt;/a&gt; or a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weenect-Cats-GPS-collar-white/dp/B01HOEAZUY/ref=zg_bs_13154129031_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&amp;amp;refRID=861Y69P2QHD8501QFB14&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;GPS tracker&lt;/a&gt; so you can show that your cat was wandering around your apartment at the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:53:26.517" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:53:26.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9574" CreationDate="2017-09-29T17:10:44.677" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, congratulations on your new dog.  Much of what is below will also contribute to a great relationship with your lovely companion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a lengthy reply, but I hope there is something here that will be of use to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a youtube vid. on loose leash walking that is worth watching that you could practice in your house and then back yard (or basement or garage).  It does use food, but this may be where your steak can come in. (It uses a clicker if you are familiar with the use of it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSmOOcELgxU&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSmOOcELgxU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a small dog a few years back who was very fearful, even of me.  I could not touch him nor would he take any food from me and he was quite reactive on leash.  The one thing he had in common with your husky was (and still is) that he loved to smell things.  When he wasn't reacting to something, he was sniffing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, using the premack principle mentioned by Jeffaudio above, you can create a desired behaviour (the one you want) by asking the dog to do it first before being able to do the second behaviour (the one your dog wants to do).  It is &lt;strong&gt;Commerce built on Trade&lt;/strong&gt;.  (Eat your veggies all up and you then can eat that nice bowl of ice-cream).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a great article:  What’s Premack Got To Do With Dog Training?  By   Dana Scott&#xA;www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/premack-and-dog-training/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing is to rate what your dog is really valuing while you are walking.  You have already identified sniffing as a very high-level activity for him.  What are his favourite things to smell?  Fire hydrants?  Trees? Posts?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other activities he loves?  Does he enjoy meeting people while on leash?  Does he play tug? Does he think jumping on and off benches is fun?  Does he love bum scratches?   Keep tabs on all of this information because these are the things that you can let him do and/or do with him in trade for not pulling you (referred to as &quot;life rewards&quot;).  I say &quot;do with him&quot; because many dogs are very enamoured with being engaged with their people.  (If you do jog, it is a great activity.  Most dogs won't actively sniff the ground if they are moving at a faster pace).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 other points that are worth mentioning IMHO: &#xA;One is to create an activity that is all about pulling, if this is something he values.  No greater joy have I seen than when a dog is doing something he was made to do.  Teach him how to pull a wagon to help you transport things, research if there is a &quot;skijoring&quot; (a dog pulling a person who is on skis)group (if you live in a snowy area) or something else of your creation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two is to invest time inside your home teaching him behaviours he can perform for you while on a walk that he can trade for sniffing/bum scratches/greeting people/ jumping on a bench/whatever he likes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can he sit beside you for 3 seconds (yay...now &quot;go sniff&quot;)  can he do a spin (yay...now let's go say Hi to our friend) can he weave between posts (or your legs) (Yay...now we can play in this puddle).  The more he realizes how much fun you are, the more likely he will be to check in with you a little more often while walking.  He can't look at you and pull at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, he will be looking to you, waiting to do something you ask so that he can earn some sniffing time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the eating thing...my little guy would not eat a thing from my hand.  I hand fed him all his meals in the house, one kibble at a time (mixed with chicken for some extra motivation).  If he did not take any, I just put the bowl away and tried again 20 minutes later.  (This was after 2 weeks of throwing bits of chicken to him any time he looked at me until he eventually was brave enough to eat some from my hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually we worked up to his being able to eat his supper (and chicken) from my hand while my kids moved about slowly, then we graduated to while he was on leash &lt;strong&gt;in the house&lt;/strong&gt;, then when the back door was open and he could see some distractions.  From there we went to being able to eat kibble while sitting on the front porch (we still had to go into the house if another dog went by as he would get over stimulated and to be able to eat).  We then asked a neighbour if we could use their front porch and so on.  He now LOVES getting his meals while out on a walk (and earning the pleasure of &quot;go sniff&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there are some great walking aids such as a head halter (much like a horse wears) &quot;Gentle Leader&quot; is one such product.  Also front-clip harnesses &quot;Easy Walk&quot; would be an example.  You can find ways to help your dog acclimatize to both of these on the web.  Both are super in helping a dog to not pull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this lengthy reply has a gem or two that may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck and have a lot of fun learning with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10495" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T17:10:44.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18597" CreationDate="2017-09-29T19:14:38.287" Score="3" ViewCount="1064" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have juvenile discus fish(2.5&quot; to 3&quot;) and based on my online research it is said by many that three to four feedings in a day with wide variety of foods will help them grow healthy &amp;amp; to full potential. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm following below feeding routing, (6 hours split in a day)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day Feedings &lt;strong&gt;07:30AM&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;strong&gt;02:00PM&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Night Feedings &lt;strong&gt;08:00PM&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;amp;    &lt;strong&gt;02:00AM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Can someone suggest if this is a good feeding schedule &amp;amp; can i&#xA;    stick with it or any changes recommended? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Also, with my current feeding schedule I have been noticing that 1/4th of the food fed at &lt;strong&gt;02:00AM&lt;/strong&gt; is left uneaten at the bottom of the tank. I'm not sure if its right time to feed or i should skip this feeding schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appreciate any additional suggestions on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10109" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T08:27:52.253" Title="How often should I feed my juvenile discus fish to grow their full potential" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11142" CreationDate="2017-09-29T20:36:18.907" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can make urine with specific gravity of 1.050, or higher. 1.050 is about 7% sodium chloride (the majority of the solids in urine is NaCl).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/lhuston/2013/sept/reasons-why-you-need-to-test-your-cats-urine-30858&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/lhuston/2013/sept/reasons-why-you-need-to-test-your-cats-urine-30858&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brinemaker.com/TechnicalDocument/Sodium-Chloride-Table.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.brinemaker.com/TechnicalDocument/Sodium-Chloride-Table.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers here are noise; generic &quot;Merck Veterinary Manual says too much salt in the diet is bad&quot;. That doesn't answer the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10497" LastActivityDate="2017-09-29T20:36:18.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-09-29T22:00:04.797" Score="7" ViewCount="671" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 400 gallon (1500 L) pond with two oscars, two tinfoil barbs and a 10&quot; silver arowana. I've had this arowana for like 2 months and it hasn't try to jump out, yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has plenty of room to swim around ( around 3 sqm) and if it want to jump out, it is possible to do so since water is few inches below the edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me if I still need to cover the pond with a net in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10498" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-09-29T22:33:37.647" LastActivityDate="2017-10-01T13:18:26.650" Title="Is it necessary to cover the top in a pond with silver arowana?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18495" CreationDate="2017-09-29T23:43:50.077" Score="6" ViewCount="4066" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that my puppy Angie (3 months) has a little gray tooth. I don't give her candies or sweet food, I just feed her milk powder and croquettes for puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does she have a gray tooth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a cavity? Or is it normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally I could get the photo:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3V39P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3V39P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T14:08:58.997" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T14:08:58.997" Title="Why is my puppie's tooth gray?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18491" CreationDate="2017-09-30T11:16:59.567" Score="3" ViewCount="2450" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I pick up my kitten, some hair sheds (no bald spots) - is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good diet choice for a 3 month old kitten that may help it's shedding? Should he be bathed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-10-02T21:21:13.360" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T21:21:13.360" Title="Is it normal for my kittens hair to fall out? Will bathing or diet change help?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18490" CreationDate="2017-09-30T14:27:41.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hair loss&lt;/strong&gt; – It depends on where on the body the hair is missing. Is she itchy? Common causes in kittens are parasites, fungi, food/flea/environmental allergies. A vet will be able to suggest which is most likely, perform tests, and initiate treatment. Flea control would be my starting point in the absence of any other information. Avoid home remedies. Your kitten is losing hair for a reason, and it is important to identify the reason at this point before the problem worsens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt; – A 3 month old kitten needs a high quality kitten food that contains enough calories and nutrients for rapid growth. There are many different brands that would be good choices, Science Diet kitten food would be my top recommendation. Wet or dry food is fine. Homemade diets are not ideal because you cannot be sure what nutrients the kitten is receiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Baths&lt;/strong&gt; – Does your kitten &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a bath? A kitten shouldn't really need a bath unless they got into something messy and couldn't clean it off themselves. At this stage they should be grooming themselves. Give baths if needed but let the kitten do the work most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-09-30T14:27:41.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2017-09-30T20:40:53.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are more likely to need protection for the fish from raccoons, wading birds, snakes, etc , than jumping out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-09-30T20:40:53.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5616" CreationDate="2017-09-30T23:22:12.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have now got an Angora Rabbit as a companion to our other rabbit who lost a friend due to gastrointestinal stasis. The Angora rabbit was a rescue rabbit, and unfortunately the people that neglected her left her fur in such a state that it has taken us months to get rid of the dreadlocks that were pulling at her skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must admit that they love being groomed and then showing off almost like a model on a catwalk. She will happily just sit there and let us brush her. The problem is that you need special shearers to get in close to the skin to get those dreadlocks out, as it's the only way, and I always place my fingers right under the shearers to ensure her skin is not touched. There are probably a dozen or so dreadlocks left, but she gladly comes to us when she hears the shearers buzzing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once we have all the dreadlocks cleared, we will trim back her fur to be even all round and brush her at least twice a day and let it grow to a nice length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind they need more attention than your average rabbit and also the right hay to help them digest the extra fur when they groom themselves etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't spend the time for the Angora rabbit, please don't buy one, as they need a lot of attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will know if you're doing the right thing for your rabbit when it continuously licks you as you take care of them. If they tremble, you need to relax them before even combing their fur, let alone trying to remove dreadlocks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to run your fingers through their fur and feel their skin, which is very loose and stretchy (hence the reason to be careful when shearing) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that once we have finished it all we will probably never need to shear her again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read up, educate yourself, watch videos, read again, ask exotic pet vets, ask owners of Angora rabbits and make sure you understand it all before attempting anything on these gorgeous things because they need extra attention and more frequent care in grooming than your average rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10502" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:41:09.517" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:41:09.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-01T02:26:10.510" Score="1" ViewCount="687" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 year old cat and I just moved from Michigan to Arizona and now she won't quit pooping on the dinning room carpet. And now she has started to pee on the carpet too. I'm at my whit's end and I really don't want to re-home her or give her to a shelter in a totally new place. I just don't know what else to do to help her. She's seen a vet and he prescribed an anti-diarrheal (nearly all liquid poo) and probiotics to see if that will help her but other than that, he thinks it's just stress and higher elevation. I need this to stop. Please, if you have any suggestions, please reply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10503" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T12:48:15.913" Title="How do I stop my 6 year old cat from pooping outside her litterbox?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-01T19:20:12.200" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18489" CreationDate="2017-10-01T04:34:29.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like the tip of the tooth has broken off and it has been infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your dog to a vet and get the tooth extracted, so it doesn't makes problems when the permanent tooth apears in a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T14:07:56.070" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T14:07:56.070" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2017-10-01T13:18:26.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arowanas are notorious for jumping and in the wild will often &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_arowana#Description&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;jump out of water to catch some small insects&lt;/a&gt; or other prey. It's probably less likely when they're in a pond because there is nothing to spook them at the sides like there could be in a fish tank. Props to you for ensuring that it is in a reasonably sized pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the average cost of an Arowana and their propensity to jump for prey (both based on their environment and nature), I wouldn't hesitate to put a net over the top. One only needs to do a quick Google search for 'Arowana Jumping' to see examples of the fish jumping both in captivity and the wild and the last thing you want to find is the fish outside the pond. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-10-01T13:18:26.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18494" CreationDate="2017-10-01T16:50:19.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some say that cats mark out their territory by leaving their pungent poop/urine where it counts, as they see it. So you could acknowledge kitty's need for this by leaving toys or treats where it counts and talking gently to kitty about things. &quot;Bit too smelly for us...&quot;...&quot;Hey, it's your home too, but...&quot; ...&quot;We love you and...&quot; Give kitty time to settle in, might be a while, like humans need, to relax in a new home. Months, not days, in my case, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I swear our cat gets the gist of what we are saying. Confirm this by watching kitty's eyes and facial expression. Either/or.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7286" LastEditorUserId="7286" LastEditDate="2017-10-01T17:17:28.957" LastActivityDate="2017-10-01T17:17:28.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18490" CreationDate="2017-10-02T11:52:24.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This doesn't sound like a skin condition. It sounds more like a normal in-door cat. Our cat sheds his fur all year round. If you don't brush him regularly, you will end up with hair everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I would get him to a vet to make sure it's not pathogenic or allergic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding food, I have to agree with Harry V. Get him some good store brand food. I have been feeding expensive food to my cat since we found him and he's been the healthiest little bugger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for baths, I advice against it unless it hasn't learned how to clean itself from its mother. If you want to get rid of dead fur, &lt;strong&gt;brush&lt;/strong&gt; it, don't wash it. It's better he learned to accept the brush from early on or it will be hard later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T11:52:24.970" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16779" CreationDate="2017-10-02T11:57:13.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way is to train her to stay with you without a leash. When she stays by your side, you can teach her to walk away from you. When she knows both, you can let her walk on her own. If you see her walking on the road, call her immediatly and let her stay a little while with you (e.g. 1 minute).Then give her the command to go away and let her walk on her own. If you see her walking on the road, again, call her...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Staying by your side is less fun than walking on her own and if you are consequent and have a good timing, she will understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't punish her if she is walking on the road. If you want her always staying away from the road, even on 'new' ways, always be consistent and don't have any exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T11:57:13.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18457" CreationDate="2017-10-02T15:47:54.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As this is likely an allergy you should figure out what your dog is allergic to - once you figure that out you can remedy the allergy which will decrease/eliminate the paw licking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs have seasonal allergies to things like pollen, dust mites, and so on.  You can give your dog Benadryl (the dose is 1mg per pound of body weight), and this will help mild allergies.  You'll also see an effect pretty quickly, so you can try giving your dog some benadryl and see if there is an improvement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You pup could also be walking on or playing in something that's bothering his paws.  You can use a wet washcloth (no soap) to wipe down your dogs paws, or even use unscented baby wipes.  Definitely don't spray him with perfume or anything as that's likely to cause more irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be a food allergy.  You mention switching dog foods to test this, but don't provide any details about that switch.  If your dog is allergic to something like chicken, that's going to be an ingredient is many dog food brands and even switching brands won't help unless you've cut out the ingredient causing the issue.  You should read through the ingredients in all the food your dog eats and start eliminating ingredients.  Further, it typically takes around 6 weeks to see a difference once you switch food so be patient and understand that however annoying it is for you to have to watch/hear your dog lick his paws it's definitely more uncomfortable for him to be living with an allergy or irritation so bad that he's having to constantly clean himself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastActivityDate="2017-10-02T15:47:54.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18505" CreationDate="2017-10-02T17:04:34.627" Score="4" ViewCount="2337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 year old dog that has been on a renal dog food for over 8 years (Royal Canin), as she has some minor kidney issues. I was recently reviewing our budget, and was reminded how much this type of dog food costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what are some affordable renal dog food alternatives? I understand of course that my vet should be involved in any choices I make, but I'd like to be informed about alternatives when we discuss this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to prepare food myself from other sources (e.g. raw foods, cook things, etc), and am open to any suggestions. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Currently she eats &lt;a href=&quot;https://ca.miscota.com/dogs/royal-canin/renal-rf-16?r=3182550711401&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoKygyLXS1gIVF7XACh34GgRMEAYYASABEgKK-PD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin Renal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10162" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T02:51:40.707" Title="Alternatives to Renal Dog Food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-02T21:34:32.037" Score="4" ViewCount="2787" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stay in a hostel and we bought in a stray baby cat to live in the hostel as it was abandoned by his mother. Its been over 4 months and he is around same age ( 4-5 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have another pet cat ( both of them a they are kind of stray as they come to me for food and love and sometime for sleeping). She is now over 4 yrs of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is she always attack this juvenile male and recently, the encounter was so bad that he was almost going to die from the injuries. I don't understand why she is behaving like this. We have kept him isolated for his healing as well as to protect from another attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway to stop this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10507" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T05:23:21.780" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T13:19:18.713" Title="Female cat attacking male juvenile cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18507" CreationDate="2017-10-03T03:21:15.777" Score="4" ViewCount="21749" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom's dog, an 8 years old Coton de Tuléar named Henri was seen by an &quot;in and out&quot; vet, a shot clinic basically. When the vet asked whether she has any health concerns besides shots, she replied by letting him know he chewed on his feet, his back feet were red in color and she'd suspected a grass allergy. The vet gave her a spray (Allercain with Bittran) for topical allergies and a bitter taste to eliminate chewing, asked her about her food (already feeding a limited ingredient diet- so no change necessary), suggested adding salmon oil to his food daily and giving him a half of a Zyrtec pill daily, hidden in a pill pocket or treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been on this recommended combination for a month with no change, and she said it actually appears worse. His foot is now balding in some places, still red, inflamed and chewing has not stopped. It's especially darker red in between his toes, which suggests to me he has yeast on his feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experience with AND know you can use Monistat on yeast infections in dogs' ears BUT dogs can't chew on their ears. Maybe that's why it's safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know if it is safe to put Monistat on a place that may end up being licked? There's a high probability he will continue chewing until it clears up. If he can't be treated with Monistat or an athlete foot cream, she knows he will have to return to the vet (non-clinic), but was hoping to try something more affordable, without being charged for &quot;extras&quot;. She also mentioned using lemon juice, that it's a natural antifungal and would be sour in taste to keep him from chewing, but I fear it would sting pretty bad any areas he's chewed raw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has experience with this, stories of experience included with answers are appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps, I'll have her send me pics of his feet to share with the Pets Community. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also add the vet did not perform a physical examination and my mom said he didn't thoroughly examine the dog's foot (guess it wasn't part of the package - not sure), and he has no fleas, no hair loss nor redness anywhere except just back feet and one is worse than the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:43:13.367" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T23:58:24.203" Title="Can you use Monistat on a dogs paw for yeast infection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18502" CreationDate="2017-10-03T03:35:48.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, any recommendations ANYONE puts on here, especially with mine, I'd recommend you running by your vet first, just in case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let him/her know your budget may not be able to afford the current diet and see what he has for a recommendation as well! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purina Pro Plan used to make an &quot;on the shelf&quot; - without script, urinary tract/ renal diet for cats and they may also have one for dogs- worth checking your local pet stores to see if it's still available. This same company (Purina Pro plan) also has a prescription diet called NF for kidneys, (I thought it was UR - but was quickly corrected), and WITH script can be ordered either by your vet if he's willing to order for you OR on sites like chewy. IF your vet thinks this is a good option the brand is cheaper than Royal Canin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will add that Purina is not as high if a quality grade of food than Royal Canin, which I think should be considered, BUT would be a better option than switching to a diet Not specified for Urinary Tract/Kidney functioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: HERE IS A LINK WITH A LIST OF FOODS FOR DOGS WITH KIDNEY DISEASE. THERE IS A VERY DETAILED ARTICLE ABOUT EACH FOOD, AND HAS AN EXPENSIVE RATING AS WELL AS QUALITY RATING. Pics attached FROM this sited website &lt;a href=&quot;https://topdogtips.com/best-low-protein-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://topdogtips.com/best-low-protein-dog-food/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give the site community time to give you other recommendations, run any ideas you consider by your vet, and make sure when you switch to do a gradual change (mix in new food with old food slowly over time, eliminating the old diet eventually). Stopping abruptly may make your dogs tummy upset, and you'll want to make sure your dog is eating it well, tolerating the change, and that his Urinary/Kidney health remains the same or gets better instead of getting worse- is his urine darkening, smelling pungent or have blood in it? Is his stool runny or bloody? Discontinue new diet change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://topdogtips.com/best-low-protein-dog-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;15 Best Low Protein Dog Food Brands for Kidney Health&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You never want to switch your pet to one of the best low protein dog&#xA;   food brands without consulting your veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt; All low protein&#xA;  diets have a different amount of protein. Depending on your dog's&#xA;  individual needs your vet will prescribe the right food. Many of the&#xA;  best low protein dog food blends are only available by prescription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/26w3z.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/26w3z.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kidney disease in dogs is a very serious issue.&lt;/strong&gt; However, it's not the&#xA;  only reason to consider low protein dog food as other health problems&#xA;  may also be a good cause for concern with changing your pet's diet. If&#xA;  you were unable to pick a good low protein food for your dog in the&#xA;  above list, here are ten more alternatives you should consider.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vKYCj.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vKYCj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-06T02:51:40.707" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T02:51:40.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18511" CreationDate="2017-10-03T03:49:16.293" Score="3" ViewCount="2116" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I just got pet rats this last weekend, however we found out that we have to go away for the upcoming long weekend. What would be better for not freaking them out/messing with them getting used to us: leaving them alone in our apartment for the weekend, or bringing them on the ~1 hour car trip and having them stay with us over the weekend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10508" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-03T15:28:37.253" LastActivityDate="2018-06-20T04:21:59.430" Title="Leaving rats alone early on?" Tags="&lt;travel&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2017-10-03T05:49:23.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Miconazole (active ingredient of Monistat) is a commonly used topical antifungal. It is safe to apply to your dog's paws in small amount. Carefully clean and dry the paws before applying a small amount of Monistat in between the toes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously it is not ideal if he licks it right off – the medication will not have time to work, and while he is unlikely to ingest enough to cause toxicity there is always a small risk. Toxicity is more of a concern if a dog chews the whole tube, but while I have seen dogs chew many things a tube of Monistat is not – yet – one of them. If he did ingest a small amount I suspect the worst he would have is an upset stomach, but it is difficult to say for certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend the dog wear an e-collar for the time being, to prevent further damage to the paws as well as to prevent ingestion of any topical treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He might be a dog who would benefit from wearing boots in the short term, but not while his feet have yeast infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do recommend taking him to a vet (who will, please, examine the feet) since while Monistat might provide some relief it is just going to mask the underlying problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T05:49:23.703" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-03T13:42:19.907" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Betta fish in a 10gal/37.5l heated (78°F/25.5°C) tank. I tested my water and it's perfect I also do regular water changes once a week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that all my Betta does is sleep and I don't know if there is something wrong with him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have another Betta in a different 10 gal aquarium. And he's fine. The sleepy betta does eat but other than that, he stays at the bottom of the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10510" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T05:25:53.173" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:36:45.823" Title="Sleepy Betta in heated 10gal tank" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-01-10T01:36:29.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-03T17:26:26.317" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if small dogs are more cuddly than large dogs. It makes sense in terms of heat preservation, but I wonder if it's true. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10422" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T00:52:16.383" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T12:34:14.940" Title="Do small dogs cuddle more than large dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18506" CreationDate="2017-10-03T17:43:39.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the information given in the question and comments, I'd say take them on a ride around the neighborhood in their current set up. Place them in the car in the shadiest spot possible (where you'll want to also have them on your 1 hr ride or cover them if shady spot isn't an option) and see how they handle a trip around the neighborhood. If their behavior seems normal (not anxious shaking, or running around their cage in circles or trying to free themselves), I'd say their good to go! A &quot;test drive&quot;, if you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, since you're not introducing them to a new cage, separating them from each other (comfort), and will give them the same amount of attention, AND the drive isn't hours long or in an uncomfortable environment (AC/heat) taking them along will benefit them. The first few weeks you have a pet are some of the most important times to bond, especially ones who are social creatures, as rats are. They will get more attention than if left at home, and you'll be able to spot clean their cage and give fresh food and water daily, otherwise unable to if left at home. And since they're already used to human hands, you won't want that learned comfort to disappear, or revert backwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bring with you all of their comforts (same bedding, food, nibble sticks and toys etc..), and make sure when you put them in the car their water bottle is positioned in a manner that it's not knocked over or leaking. Keep a lock lid on their enclosure so they can't get out, (unless their cage is already enclosed, of course), and check on them a few times throughout the drive, without taking them out of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-10-03T17:43:39.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-03T22:28:53.603" Score="11" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Plott hound mix - rescue. He's a sweet heart. I've had him for 4 years and we've managed to smooth out most of his edges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still struggling a bit to handle the [very] sporadic meltdowns he has over cats when I walk him on leash around the neighborhood. It's once in a blue moon sporadic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've learned I can get him back on track relatively quickly if he darts after a squirrel. Even with the majority of cat sightings. But once in a great while he will see a cat and not only attempt to dart but will &lt;strong&gt;scream&lt;/strong&gt; like a banshee. To the point where people come out of their house because they think I might be hurting &lt;strong&gt;him&lt;/strong&gt;. It has only happened twice but it was really embarrassing and just came out of nowhere. I do notice a small amount of tension building up when it happens. But in 4 years it's only lead to a meltdown twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a prey drive but it's not always so intense. In fact I had a cat in my house and while in my arms, he didn't make a peep. I never let the cat down around him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to train the prey drive out of him but not sure how. Especially because when I walk him in the woods or on trails he's off leash. So I imagine it's not sinking in when in the woods he has free reign to run wherever but in neighbourhoods he can't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want him to hurt any other critter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heaven forbid I don't react fast enough or the lead breaks and he runs into traffic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want people to think I'm physically abusing my dog when he's just losing his mind over a random cat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when I say I noticed built up tension I mean: for example today he happened to be particularly fired up by the &lt;strong&gt;many&lt;/strong&gt; squirrels we were seeing in the woods and then just as we started walking into the neighbourhood. Then by the time he saw the cat it was ten times worse. And the last time it happened, he saw several cats but by the 3rd or 4th one again he had the meltdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do? I can't avoid squirrels and cats anywhere outside.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10511" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:34.763" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T07:44:34.763" Title="How do I reduce my hound's intense prey drive (towards squirrels and cats)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18513" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T00:35:50.657" Score="6" ViewCount="4064" Body="&lt;p&gt;I inherited an old parrot cage and its base needs to be replaced. The cage is pretty much a steel box, ~2 feet long and wide and ~3 feet high. The metal part of the cage doesn't have a bottom grate - it is only 5 sided, not 6. The base of the cage is made of plastic, designed to fit the steel cage and a simple plastic tray that can be lined with paper and removed for cleaning. It's a lot like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QQEyg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QQEyg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;similar looking bird cage&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plastic base is very brittle and is falling apart. As more pieces break every time I try to move it or clean it, it's increasingly flimsy and held together with duct tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some pics of the cage's plastic base which I want to replace. The tray that slides out has already broken into pieces. There's no identification on the base, just a place where a sticker once was on the inner side and a half-ripped, faded and illegible bar code sticker on the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/itAED.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/itAED.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bottom of the base&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5bI8Q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5bI8Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;side of the base&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nRchU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nRchU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;inside of the base&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I replace the base of this cage? Any suggestions on where to buy &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; the base? Is there a DIY option - I thought of building a simple open-topped wooden box for the steel cage to fit on top of, but I'm not sure if a wooden base is OK for the bird and for cleaning? If all else fails and I get a new cage entirely (maybe this is for a separate question) - what's the best way to recycle this old bird cage? Throw out the broken brittle plastic and scrap the steel cage, or is there a better way to recycle/upcycle this thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10512" LastEditorUserId="10512" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T22:07:31.867" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T15:25:28.123" Title="Replacing bottom of a bird cage" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18529" CreationDate="2017-10-04T01:20:08.017" Score="1" ViewCount="941" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I inherited a parrot a few months ago and are doing our best to take good care of him. He's a middle-aged caique. Temperatures are beginning to drop here in northern USA and we're concerned that too low temperatures, or too unsteady temperatures, will be bad for this bird's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The indoor temps the bird could be exposed to would probably be 60-65dF lowest. If it got lower, as the house might rarely down to 50dF, the bird would certainly be in a warmer, insulated area. The bird is equatorial - their natural range is tropical Brazil - so we expect him to biologically be tuned to ~75dF give or take 5dF. Outdoors where we are it can be below freezing for over a week straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We installed two space heaters designed to be in bird cages - a wall-mounted heater and a heated perch. Our bird doesn't like standing on the perch but at night he does stand nearby both the heaters. During the day he'll hang out elsewhere in his cage. We felt these heaters were safe to leave on more or less 24/7 since they are designed for that purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with these heaters, we're concerned the room he's in isn't warm enough. Our current residence is hard to keep heated but we're moving soon so that should help. Still we wonder: &lt;strong&gt;during the day, while we're away or even while we're home and if our bird is out of his cage playing in another room, what is a safe way to ensure our bird is warm enough during the winter?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We opt for space heater fans nearby him when we're home with him. That keeps the room his cage is in, or the area he's in if elsewhere, pretty warm. The space heater has a setting to shut off once the room reaches a set temperature. The concern with this method is two-fold: 1) we don't think it's safe leaving the space heater on when we're not home; and 2) we worry that the ups and downs in temperature that come from a space heater turning on and off could be bad for our bird's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10512" LastEditorUserId="10512" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T22:37:20.130" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T22:37:20.130" Title="How to safely keep a parrot's space warm through the winter?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18513" CreationDate="2017-10-04T05:09:53.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, somewhere on the cage (usually towards bottom front corner of cage), there's a brand label ex. Prevue, Ph, LM etc. Many companies have online websites where you can search for your cage type, find it's &quot;style # and name, and then order &quot;replacement parts&quot;. If their site is hard to maneuver, you can look up and call the companies consumer hotline or 1-800# and a rep should either place an order for you OR step you through how to order. Bad news is IF this is a very old cage there is a chance it is discontinued, and therefore replacement parts are too. BUT even if that's the case, being that you still have the cage bottom and it's dimensions, they most likely will have the exact bottom tray that will fit, even if it's &quot;meant&quot; for a newer model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this ends up being more expensive than replacing the cage, or too much Hassel I'd recommend finding a local bird rescue and ask them if they could use the cage. They could always slide paper towels under the grate, and use it without the tray. And you'd be doing a great thing, being that bird rescues are more overlooked when it comes to donations (dog and cat rescues get the most), therefore there's a stronger need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not have a local bird rescue, you may be able to locate a wild life rehabilitation center near by that could use is as a quarantine or travel cage for small animals and birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even some SPCA centers do bird rescue and adoptions and may have a current or future need for the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find &quot;animal&quot; use for it by donating or giving it away you could 1- keep it for your bird, just in case for travel or emergencies OR recycle it the old fashion way, in the bin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure if you donate it, you let then know the cage can only be lined with paper or paper towels or cloths. Also, sanitize the cage with bleach and a thorough water rinse before donation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wooden base is not a good idea because it will be difficult to clean and will absorb liquids and harbor mildew, molds, fungus and bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have YOU considered removing the tray completely and sliding paper towels in the empty slide? Paper towels used as a litter medium make it easier to see healthy or unhealthy fecal conditions. Also, very easy to remove and clean if everything dropped is dropped on a paper towel. If the bottom grate is missing from your cage, this may not be as great of an idea if your bird can reach and wishes to eat the paper towels, otherwise it's an option for YOU too, not just rescues if you choose do go that route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T05:09:53.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T07:36:04.133" Score="6" ViewCount="3642" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some questions regarding fishless cycling of a 65L tank I have set up 2 days ago. Please bear with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set up the tank with tap water, and added an appropriate amount of Seachem Prime to dechloronate. The tank has a HOB filter and a set of LED lights (for full details of tank set, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaone.com.au/2015-04-16-04-47-04/2015-04-16-06-00-17/aquariums/item/3157-56168&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank has some amazon frogbit and hornwort floating around, as well as tiny amounts of duckweed. I accidentally also added in a tiny dash of liquid fertiliser NOT designed for an aquarium (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.digit-eyes.com/upcCode/9300633451196.html?l=en#.WdSGv8gjH6Q&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). Will this fertiliser harm any fish I put in there in the future? Will it affect cycling? Also, will the ingredient &quot;biuret&quot; harm the fish? I tried looking this up to little success; all I know is biuret is a condensation of urea or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in Australia, and cannot add ammonia into the tank. Instead I popped in some goldfish pellets and cichlid pellets which I had lying around from years ago. The idea is for this to decompose and produce ammonia, to start the nitrogen cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I went to the pet store and was advised that I need to add Seachem Stability for my cycle to go well. I have not done this. Can anyone advise me if Stability is required or beneficial for cycling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I did a quick ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test today with an API 5 in 1 kit. All showed values of zero (I even re-tested the nitrate in case I didn't shake the bottle enough, and still zero).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone tell me why all my values are zero? I thought that nitrates should not be zero after a cycled tank. Is my tank cycled? It's only been 2 days. If my tank isn't cycled, why is my ammonia and nitrite reading zero? Are my plants sucking up all the ammonia?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing is that the water of my aquarium is cloudy. Is this bacterial bloom? Algae? I've also noticed on the fish pellets a white halo of something growing on it. Is this fungus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never cycled a fish tank before, and I really hope to get it right this time. I also have NOT conducted any water changes since setting up the tank. Please advise if this is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sum up:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will a urea-based fertiliser not made for aquatic use harm fish? Will the tank cycling properly with this? Will biuret harm fish?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I need Seachem Stability to cycle a tank or not?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why is my tank showing ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0? Does this have to do with my plants? Is my tank cycled?'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does my tank have bacterial bloom or something else?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I need to worry about white fuzz around my decomposing fish food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I need to do water changes for this fishless but slightly planted cycle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't add images at this time for some reason and Stack Exchange isn't letting me add more links which is frustrating. I do have photos to show though if anyone will find them useful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I'm planning on putting a betta in there and possibly some tank mates once things are established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10514" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:08:24.847" Title="Help with Fishless Cycling with Live Plants" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18520" CreationDate="2017-10-04T10:27:32.967" Score="3" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;An untamed cat along with 2 kittens started coming to our house often. After a month or so the cat and a kitten left but another &lt;strong&gt;kitten started staying in our place&lt;/strong&gt;.  I used to offer &lt;em&gt;milk and some meat&lt;/em&gt;. Earlier, it wouldn't come close even to eat, I used to keep the food at some distance and it used to eat it after I stepped little backward. As time passed, it started coming close but only to eat/drink but still &lt;strong&gt;runs away everytime I try to hold her&lt;/strong&gt;(&lt;em&gt;It doesn't even oblige for a tap on it&lt;/em&gt;). I thought it will take time for it to adjust to humans but &lt;strong&gt;it's taking too much time&lt;/strong&gt;(&lt;em&gt;It's more than 2 months now&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;It shows no signs of coming closer to humans at all&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm exhausted and given up and have no hopes of that kitten being friendly with me(&lt;em&gt;Even after giving it the best kitten food and attending to it everytime&lt;/em&gt;). Please help me with &lt;strong&gt;some valuable tips of getting the kitten to become closer to people&lt;/strong&gt; and not run away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:28.893" Title="How do I make an untamed kitten friendly with humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18519" CreationDate="2017-10-04T11:42:41.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great that you try to make friends with this kitten. Most of the things you described are really good (One brief note: Don't feed a cat or kitten cow's milk, if you can't watch in which way it influences the cat. Cats mostly don't tolerate milk. See this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/780/should-i-feed-my-cat-milk&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give her some privacy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving the kitten food is very helpful. But don't try to touch the kitten and never try to hold her. At the moment she thinks that it is really good to have the food, but that you are dangerous. She can't combine: &quot;This human gives me food, so it won't hurt me at all.&quot; Her experiences shows her that it is better to have some space between you and her, because you will try to touch her immediately if she stays at hand. Pets only love petting of humans if they trust them. Otherwise they perceive it as an invasion in their privacy. And every not successful try to touch her, lowers her trust in you. So just try to touch her, if you are very sure that she won't run away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make her feel comfortable in your company&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You write that she started coming close. Wonderful. You are not so dangerous for her anymore, she starts to feel good even if you are around. But don't try to touch her. Try to increase the time she is with you and decrease the space between you. You can do that, e.g. by providing her less food so that she is still a little bit hungry. And if you see that she finished her meal, throw some food to her. Lower the distance of throwing. Don't go to her, let her come to you. Try to avoid rash movements. The goal is that she eats directly from your hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make her enjoy your touches&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she trusts you so much that she eats from your hand, you can try to touch her with your other hand. Try this a few days after she starts eating from your hands. Have some food in your hand, show her but don't give it to her. Close your hands so that she comes to you and tries to get the food. Try to touch her with your other hand. Do this slowly and let her see it so she is not surprised. If she accept one little touch, immediately stop petting her and open the other hand to give her the food at the same time. Then increase the time of petting her. Keep a close watch on her. You can see at which parts of her body she loves stroking and which she does not. Don't force petting at the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give her time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two months are not too much time. It can easily take 3 to 4 months to trust a human for a lonely kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:53:28.893" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:53:28.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18510" CreationDate="2017-10-04T12:34:14.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any scientific research on this subject, and to really adequately answer this question you would need a study with a HUGE sample size and a way to objectively measure &quot;more cuddly&quot;. For example, if you measured the time the dog spends cuddling, you'd have to control for the amount of time the people in the household are able/willing to cuddle. It could very easily turn into a huge experiment and be very difficult to analyze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that there's also a huge amount of variation based on personality differences of each individual dog and the life stage of the dog (in my experience, cats get more cuddly as they age. I suspect dogs would follow a similar path).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to select a dog breed/type who is likely to want to cuddle, I suggest looking for a rescue that does home fostering. Home fostering gives the fosterer a chance to see how the dog behaves in a home, and most of these rescues will let you talk to the foster to determine if the dog will fit well into your home and lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T12:34:14.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18513" CreationDate="2017-10-04T12:49:30.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not very familiar with bird cages and how they sit in the plastic tray, but guinea pig owners have been using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coroplast.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;coroplast&lt;/a&gt; for the bottom tray in custom cages for many years (I think I first heard of it nearly 20 years ago).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefit of coroplast is that it's a surface very similar to plastic (non-absorbent, cleans with a bit of soap/water), but you can assemble it without having to caulk the seam between the bottom and sides of the tray. Because it's a DIY solution, you can size the new tray to your existing metal cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.guineapigcages.com/howto.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Assembly instructions&lt;/a&gt; are very straightforward. Essentially you score (cut through only half of the thickness) the coroplast where you want the sides to turn up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To obtain coroplast, the site &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;guineapigcages.com&lt;/a&gt; suggests calling local sign stores as it's very expensive to ship coroplast (due to its size). There's also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guineapigzone.com/supplies/coroplast&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;database&lt;/a&gt; of local suppliers to help you locate a place to buy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T12:49:30.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18531" CreationDate="2017-10-04T15:34:18.910" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbors found a tiny rodent in their garage and my kids are looking after it. They looked up on the internet that the best would be a surrogate mother (don't know of any); wildlife rehabilitators can be good but often feed rodents to owls and cats (I thought this would be a noble thing to do, but my kids were unpersuaded).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I wondered if it were actually just a small adult rodent of some sort rather than a tiny baby (as it appears). In the case of the former, it would be better to release it immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The location is Orange County, California. Attached is a photo:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zozkm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zozkm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;3cm or 1.2in body length brown rodent&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10519" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T15:46:34.253" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T23:06:35.570" Title="How do I determine if this rodent is an adult or baby?" Tags="&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18517" CreationDate="2017-10-04T16:02:55.530" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just leave it for a month or so. More than likely you will get some decaying material from the plants which will naturally kick-start the cycle. If you put food in there at all, it will absolutely kick-start a cycle as well, just don't add any more, you'll foul up the water too much at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some observations, I'm assuming you're using the test strips. These things are notoriously inaccurate, I've literally seen them never register anything. Take any measurement with test strips with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you don't need anything more than prime. Seachem Stability is a completely optional product. It &quot;can&quot; reduce the time it takes to cycle, but you don't need it at all in your situation since you're not adding fish yet. Plants will be fine through a cycle as long as they have enough light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cloudy water is most likely a bacterial bloom at this point. It's not uncommon during a cycle. If it gets really bad, do a partial water change. This should clear up as the nitrifying bacteria establish. The caveat to this statement is that if you put way too many nutrients into the tank, you may need to take care of it with water changes and mechanical filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely fungi or bacteria around the pellets. Don't add more. Take them out if it starts spreading too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, don't add fertilizers or anything else to the tank right now. I don't recommend fertilizing at all for the first few months. After the initial cycle, the tank still goes through a number of biological processes which will typically include several stages of algae. The more you mess with the tank at this point, the easier it is to get unbalanced chemistry which leads to more algae and other problems. Work on getting the tank on a routine water change schedule once the cycle is complete. Once you have a stable environment, then consider fertilizers if needed. But you really want the tank established and stable before considering them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as fertilizers in general, in a closed system like an aquarium, you have to find the balance between light, nutrients, and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. If any of these are imbalanced, you'll likely have algae issues. If you aren't dosing a CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; product or using a CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; system, I would be very cautious with fertilizers. Natural CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration in aquariums is typically very low, so plants can only consume so many nutrients in the tank. It's extremely easy to overload the system with nutrients using fertilizers in a low light or tank without added CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. Anyway, get the tank stable first, worry about fertilizers later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T10:44:50.390" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T10:44:50.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T17:35:26.967" Score="3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm used to high energy dogs (I have Border Collies) and give them plenty of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also now have a Belgiam Tervuren pup who has no prey drive, so doesn't go after balls, frisbees, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know he needs to work off some of his excess energy physically (not just mentally, which we do.) It's not practical to walk him for that purpose, nor is hiking every day up rough terrain practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to train him to chase a ball (there is a kong toy that holds treats and &quot;folds&quot; into a ball-ish shape), but that was a no go. I tried treats and praise when he even looks at the ball I throw. No go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He loves to herd my Border Collies, which I let him do, but it's not totally fair to my BCs, so when I chuck for them, I have to leash the little one so he's not overly annoying the older dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three of them get walks twice daily. I was thinking of agility-type things, but he's still too young (he's only about 4 months old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do play a lot in the house, but it doesn't tire him out like running does. And my adult dogs have taken to him beautifully, playing and roughhousing very politely (so proud!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:07:25.217" Title="How can I encourage a high energy dog to exercize if it has no prey drive?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T18:04:05.377" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs. 2 blue nose pitts (both male) and a mini dotson (female). The mini was here first and then we got the oldest pitt. They are currently 3/4 years old and we've had them since 9 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pitt had a history of being abused but has always been a huge puppy to us... great with kids and other dogs. Our other pitt is his son he is 1 going on 2 now and was the runt of the litter so he wasn't treated the best by his mother but we took him in at 5 weeks old. He was born with a weak immune system so he got very sick and we thought we were going to lose him but after a couple Shots and a lot of love from us and his dad who was excited to have him he came back to health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that everything was fine they played and loved each other his dad loved having him around and we even brought one of the other pups to see them. The son was always a little aggressive but not to the point wherr they would fight or we would be concerned and he also loves kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In june we had a house fire started in the garage but didn't spread throughout the house it was just scary and it triggered something in them. The oldest pitt almost didn't make it because he was trying to make sure everyone was out the house but luckly he got out without injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first few weeks that we had to stay at a hotel and leave the dogs at home or with a friend they were fine no fighting and were just happy to see us when We'd come home during the day. But one day a fight started we stopped it and separated them cleaning them up and then bringing them back after they calmed down and it was okay they got along again but after we started coming home and sleeping here again the fights happened more frequently and got so bad it was hard to stop them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we have them in cages by each other but sometimes a growl and tension still happens. We have to take them walking and out side at different times because we don't want them to fight. What can we do to get them to get along? They miss each other and look for each other when one is missing but they still try to fight sometimes. We don't want to give either away and neither of them have been neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10521" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T00:29:35.723" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T00:29:35.723" Title="How to get son and dad to stop fighting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18525" CreationDate="2017-10-04T18:30:57.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agility is what came to my mind as well. Perhaps you can get him into a mild start. Anything on even ground should be doable: tunnels, slalom, bridges with mild inclines, even small jumps should be fine. Once he start finding this interesting, you may get him to actually do some running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever tried dog-dancing? I am not sure if this is more practical than the walks, but it is certainly more intense than just walking - for you, too, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a lake nearby? Perhaps he will enjoy water!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option: is he interested in the ball while it is FLYING and just loses interest when it's resting? A rod with a toy attached woudl allow you to keep the target moving!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps one of these will get him tired, and congratulations on a group of apparently well-behaved dogs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T08:02:26.293" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:02:26.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18514" CreationDate="2017-10-04T20:17:39.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So there is a wrap, similar to Ace bandages that is self adhesive. See pic below. Most pet stores have it for around $4.00US in the health/supplement section, or can be ordered online. You can wrap this tightly AND lightly (too thick may reduce amount of heat given) around the slick perch, giving your bird a better grip . You'll have plenty left in the roll after one use, to replace as it gets torn up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also heat lamps made for birds and aviaries. I'd recommend going with one similar to the pic provided, instead of one that rests on top if the cage (you don't want the metal to heat up. I'd also recommend instead of putting it directly above the cage to have it off to one side, pointed downward, so if your bird gets too warm, he can still move to the other side of the cage to get away from the heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar in price, there are also snuggle warmers, which are flat heaters that attach to the sides of cages, that can be placed near a favorite perches (try a perch he regularly uses, not the heated perches). I have mixed feeling about these specifically, because I've heard the chord is quite thick, slightly resembles the figure of a snake, which may freak out some birds, being that snakes are natural predators in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also, cover the cage at night, when it's cooler. Birds seem to have better sleep when covered anyways, letting less light in and producing a &quot;night time&quot; feel, especially for those who keep lights on in their homes at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also get a snuggle hut or as I call them &quot;snuggle buddies&quot;. Birds can hide inside, or rest on top of them or next to them, depending on preference and shape. My bird sleeps on top of his, even when I put treats inside, he never goes in, but it's still comforting to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have him near any drafty windows you can seal your windows with products from hardware store specifically made for sealing OR I've heard you can seal cracks with plastic wrap, if no cracks the plastic wrap also acts as installation, holding back cool air (I've never tried this), or move his cage away from the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, just a side note: some birds aren't comfortable with blow heaters, as the heated air can get too hot OR cools on its way to the bird and is still uncomfortable- most birds don't like air blown on them- BUT yours may be handling it fine. Always have section(s) of the cage available for your bird to cool if it's ever feeling too hot. I hope any or a combination of these ideas help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ufJz2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ufJz2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pet wraps&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSgWo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSgWo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stand up Bird Lamp&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UEQnr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UEQnr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Snuggle Huts&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b06u1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b06u1.png&quot; alt=&quot;Flat/Flush Cage Heater&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-04T20:39:34.727" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T20:39:34.727" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18517" CreationDate="2017-10-04T22:37:07.490" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;After many years and many tanks, I have stayed with my original plan: Put water in tank, do NOT use additives. After a couple days put in fish. This works for salt aquariums also. I occasionally use a trace of garden fertilizer, err on the side of less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T14:08:24.847" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:08:24.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18523" CreationDate="2017-10-04T23:06:35.570" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is indeed a baby mouse (perhaps wood mouse/deer mouse), if you do not want to bring it to a wildlife rehab you can try to care for it yourself. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-Baby-Mice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikihow&lt;/a&gt; has an excellent guide to feeding and caring. This mouse looks to be 1.5 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some important points:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mice ages 0-1 week need feedings 6-8 times a day; mice 1-2 weeks need feedings 5-6 times a day; mice 2-3 weeks need feedings 4 times a day; and mice 4 weeks old only need feedings 3 times a day.[9] Space each feeding a couple of hours apart. You will also have to feed the mice during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitten Milk Replacer or Esbilac, that can be used to feed baby mice. Human formulas Enfamil (the kind without iron) and Soyalac can also be used. Whole, raw goats milk will nourish the babies as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a small syringe, small nursing bottle, or absorbent string for feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stimulate the babies after feeding so they use the bathroom. Use a cotton ball or your finger, and gently brush over their private areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the cage between 75°F (24°C) and 90°F (32°C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has juvenile features for a mouse such as delicate thin limbs, thin tail and small ears pressed against it's head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-10-04T23:06:35.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18532" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-04T23:11:19.470" Score="2" ViewCount="1976" Body="&lt;p&gt;A neighbor found a 3 1/2 week old kitten, and gave it to me. The little guy is now 8 weeks. Thriving well and making friends with my two older cats,10 years each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dilemma is, Henry, the kitten, tends to be very playful with my hands, biting, and scratching. When he gets too rough, I will repeat &quot;no&quot; in a harsh voice, which causes him to pull back, or stop. However, a few times I must admit, became concerned because he would get in pounce mode, stare at me, and attack my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure how to correct this behavior. Each time he has pounced, I automatically block his attack with my hands. Naturally, this move pushes him back on his hind legs, and I repeat...&quot;no&quot;. I tried the aloof act, and he just comes at me no matter what. Normally he is a sweet, kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is getting older, and I am fearful if this continues he may reach my face and do some damage. Any suggestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10523" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T00:15:19.460" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T09:53:32.377" Title="How to stop an 8 week old kitten from pouncing and scratching" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-10-06T12:59:51.263" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-05T00:37:47.917" Score="3" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many years ago I added some plants to my aquarium that would bubble aggressively from their leaves. When the lights were turned up high they would almost fizz. My angelfish liked to swim in the bubble stream. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ribbon-like leaves spiraled up the stem (vaguely like a spiral staircase). They were bright green and about 1 centimeter in width. The stalks themselves quickly grew to the top of my tank, so they were about a foot and a half high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never been able to rediscover what type of plant it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="344" LastEditorUserId="344" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T01:11:08.073" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T01:05:23.087" Title="Species identification: fizzing plants" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18533" CreationDate="2017-10-05T01:05:27.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most vigorous oxygenator I have seen is &lt;em&gt;Vallisneria&lt;/em&gt;, which also comes as &amp;quot;corkscrew&amp;quot;. Although other plants, like hornwort (&lt;em&gt;Ceratophyllum&lt;/em&gt;) may exhibit scattered oxygen bubbles, the vascular system of the &lt;em&gt;Vallisneria&lt;/em&gt; may concentrate it producing a steady stream of bubbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T01:01:01.040" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T01:01:01.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18532" CreationDate="2017-10-05T01:17:11.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very natural cat behaviour. Kittens especially have a lot of energy and they tend to combine this energy with their cat hunting instincts very often. He thinks your hands are play items. The idea is to associate this behaviour with something he hates. Enter the water spray bottle. My wife and I used to use a water spray bottle every time my boy would get like this. Over time now we don't actually need to spray the water. He has associated the sound of the spray bottle with not doing his scratching and biting thing. Also make sure you play with a lot during the day. All that energy needs to be expended. We used to (and still do) the chase as we call it. Here I chase him and in turn he chases me all over the house. It's actually a lot of fun for both him and us :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T01:17:11.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18525" CreationDate="2017-10-05T02:56:50.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this is a short answer, and is only an idea to add to the previous answer, as my mom has her dogs in agility and they love it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In her area, there is a group that does herding lessons. It's in Virginia, USA, called Keepstone farms if you want to check out their website, just to see what it's all about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be a similar training group, that trains working dogs and works off of their natural bred instinct, which it sounds like your dog has plenty of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the months to come, let the Pets SE community know what route you've chosen, and how he's doing, and if it has worked off some of his pent up energy. You can add your own answer later, or comment, even if it's not in the most recent feed, so others can see your outcome. I know I'd be interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:07:25.217" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:07:25.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18533" CreationDate="2017-10-05T03:24:10.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an aquatic plant called Ludwiga inclinada or curly tornado, that matches your description. I added a pic, although it may not be what you're remembering. I was originally thinking it was a type of sword, possibly Vesuvius Sword Plant, but with leaves seems wider than described, the second and 3rd pics are the Vesuvius Sword.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ByXvg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ByXvg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Curly Tornado Ludwiga&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wewp0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wewp0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Vesuvius Sword&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tdPH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tdPH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Also ves.sword&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T06:26:04.937" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T06:26:04.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18533" CreationDate="2017-10-05T03:24:36.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is a plant named African elodea (&lt;em&gt;Lagarosiphon muscoides&lt;/em&gt;). It is a good oxygenating plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another similar plant is American/Canadian waterweed (&lt;em&gt;Elodea canadensis&lt;/em&gt;).&#xA;This one does live in the wild where I live. We call it water pest (vass pest in Norwegian) as it can take over an entire pond in a short time. It is a very good oxygenating plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the Brazilian water weed (&lt;em&gt;Egeria densa&lt;/em&gt;). This is often used as an oxygenating plant in fish tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you put any of these plants in a glass jar with water and place it in sunlight, it starts to bubble oxygen within a very short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one has an algae problem these plants are the solution, but be aware these plants are banned in some countries as they can spread like wildfire if only a tiny piece of the stem ends up in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T01:05:23.087" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T01:05:23.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-05T04:33:57.580" Score="14" ViewCount="22134" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have a neighbor on my street who has a Husky/Samoyed mix (he frequently reminds me that he's a kill shelter dog but that they got him DNA tested, hoping they'd find out he was 100% Samoyed). He walks his dog 4x a day (even in rain and snow) and given that I spend alot of time gardening and on my front porch, I've become quite a big fan of Max (the dog—the owner's alright too). His dog is guessed to be 8ish years old, and has a beautiful, bright white thick coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made small chit chat with his owner one day when Max ran up onto my porch to greet me (sometimes I put treats in my pocket for his visits, and Max now expects one). I commented on how white his coat was, asked about food and what kind of shampoo he uses—curious because my Mom's white Coton Du Tulear get cruddy quickly. He goes on to tell me that Max got a flea dip and was taken to a groomer to remove mats when he was first adopted, almost 4 years ago, and that he's never EVER gotten a bath since. He gets eye drops for glaucoma, and gets monthly flea and heartworm treatment, always has a leash and collar on, and being that I'm dog sitting for him in a week and asked all sorts of questions, I now know he's UTD on vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to clean my ears out, because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Being that he looks great, and appears mat free, I'm curious what the health risks are (besides vanity) of NOT bathing your dog? I'm assuming Max's owner has no intention of bathing him anytime soon, being that Max seems alright and not stinky or dirty looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also mention, the dog doesn't stink, BUT sometimes when I give him a really good, deep back scratch I end up with an oily dirt-colored residue under my finger nails (so although his coat is gorgeous, his skin must be quite dirty under all that fur), but still no stink. He's always bright eyed and bushy tailed (literally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: please try to answer in a manner that doesn't bash his owners. If I told him that this (not bathing him) is bad, they'd be the kind of people that would walk home and wash him right after being informed, and would want to know how often they should wash him from then on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="10298" LastEditDate="2017-10-10T13:43:27.940" LastActivityDate="2018-07-09T12:50:00.920" Title="How is a dog's health affected if he's (almost) never bathed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18539" CreationDate="2017-10-05T05:54:22.747" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;When was the last time you saw a wolf showering? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've got a pure breed Siberian Husky and an Alaskan Husky for 3.5 and 2 years now. The older one was bathed twice so far (before we got him and once last year due to excessive dirt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not include the dogs bathing on their own in bodies of water such as the kids pool we bought for them or our pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both have zero health issues as expected. We only clean them with pure water if there's stuck mud or similar. Both have almost perfect fur - typically groomed once a week by us - and don't smell or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, too much bathing can be an even bigger issue, since it can and will affect the oils protecting fur and skin for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Just forgot to mention that this also heavily depends on the actual breed of the dog. The more &quot;natural&quot; (i.e. closer to original wolves) their hair is, the less likely it is to need extra attention. For example, a Poodle will have significantly more issues with dirt than a German Shepard or Siberian Husky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding the oily residue: This can be similar to human skin, i.e. old skin cells, dirt, etc. mixed with oils from the skin. It's hard to interpret from that description, but I wouldn't worry too much, especially if the dog looks and behaves healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T08:00:19.713" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T08:00:19.713" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18539" CreationDate="2017-10-05T06:36:33.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mario pretty much covered the answer, but just to add another voice to the mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a Saint Bernard's for 8 years before he passed away and we bathed him like maybe once a year when we changed some stuff around the garden he would go into a frenzy and mess with any pile of dirt he would find and get all muddy - that's when he washed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saint Bernard's are clean dogs though by nature. If his legs/feet got muddy, he would lick them clean and his legs would be whiter than his face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a bit surprised about what you said about the oily residue under the fur. My dog never had something similar but he was a short haired SB. My wife had a collie growing up and she says they didn't bathe him either unless he got really muddy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T06:36:33.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-05T10:22:26.463" Score="4" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've had Ace my male fancy mouse for a little over 5 months now. He's such a little darling and I love him dearly, he has always been very social and active, he's bit me only twice in the past but both times it was my fault because prior to holding him I had been digging in his treat bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, Ace has over 750 sq inches of floor space in his 2 bin cages. He's very happy in them, or was until my boyfriend came home with another male mouse the other day. I of course am keeping them in separate cages, but I think the smell of the other male mouse is causing ace to be aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone could tell me what they think it could be or how to stop it that would be great!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10526" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-05T12:03:08.827" LastActivityDate="2018-07-05T04:21:07.813" Title="My male fancy mouse Ace has recently started biting" Tags="&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18553" CreationDate="2017-10-05T14:15:45.560" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I adopted my conure, I was given her old cage. My conure is at least 15, and presumably she's lived in this cage for her whole life, so it's a bit dirty. When she first arrived, I rubbed the whole cage down with plain water, and that helped a bit, but I'd like something more heavy duty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What products can I use to thoroughly clean my bird's cage? I would prefer things that are commonly found in a household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T00:51:22.577" Title="How can I safely clean a bird's cage indoors?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2017-10-05T19:05:52.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm.... So I know there are a few household cleaners that are safe, but off the top of my head I can't think of them BUT most you still have to use water to rinse off. Are you wanting something to clean the cage and keep the bird in it while you do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although citrus fruits are not recommended for birds to eat regularly, small amounts are not poisonous, and many seed diets add orange oil for flavor, scent and as an acidic preservative. BUT besides that, you can used lemons, oranges and limes to clean the cage. It's acidic enough that it breaks down goopies, and leaves a fresh scent AND if your bird chews on metal or plastic that has the fruit juice dried on it, it's safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say slice up lemons into wedges, pull out the seeds and scrub away; you'll make a drippy mess, but it's an edible drippy mess vs any chemical sprays that would drip too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try it out n let us know how it goes..... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also bird poop cleaners safe for birds, that are not household items if all else fails. Ex.Poop Off and the Bird Cage Cleaner made by Nature's Miracle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T19:05:52.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11870" CreationDate="2017-10-05T22:52:04.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 13 year old cat used to have the same issues and then I found out that feeding her dry kitten food works well. I've been feeding her this for quite a few years now and she is able to digest this food much better. I would give it a try if I were you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10534" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T16:36:00.763" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T16:36:00.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18281" CreationDate="2017-10-05T23:07:37.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I think we've finally found something that fits the symptoms. Unfortunately, it's a poorly understood condition called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hyperesthesia_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline hyperesthesia&lt;/a&gt;. The start of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAzz0-i6Fo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; is pretty indicative of what our cat has been doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've got her in a cone (which has limited how much damage she can do) but the diet change hasn't stopped the ticking or attempts at self-mutilation. Still, it's good to know what this is, in some fashion. Thanks for all the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10338" LastActivityDate="2017-10-05T23:07:37.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18542" CreationDate="2017-10-06T03:47:43.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say you are right in assuming that Ace can smell your other mouse. I would do your best to wash your hands after handling the new guy, and especially before handing Ace, as rodents have a very strong sense of smell, and he can not only smell the new mouse on you, but anything else you've handled (that biscuit from breakfast 7 hours ago, even). You can keep a bottle of unscented hand sanitizer near his cage, for convenience purposes, until you get used to the pattern of constantly washing your hands. It's important to rid them of not only food smells, but lotions and scented soaps, or a co-workers scent whose hand you shook earlier in the day (that may smell like a stranger aka threat to little Ace).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you treat him, try to only treat him in his food bowl, instead of during handling times, so he gets in the habit, that handling is NOT associated with munching, and that treats are given IN cage, not by during play time. You can take bowl out, add treat, and place back- so he doesn't associate fingers as treat holders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, did you get Ace as a baby? If he WAS a baby, and is now roughly 6 months of age, he has almost finished developing all of his male adult hormones( if not all), which may also be making him slightly aggressive, possessive or cage aggressive. You can help rid cage aggression and possessiveness by eliminating giving him irresistible treats (that he may be hiding somewhere in his cage for later),or by changing things up in his habitat . You can do so, by moving his cage accessories around, one at a time (too much change can lead to stress and shock). Next time you clean his cage, after you've removed dirty bedding and replaced, move his food bowl to where he usually eliminates (he will pick a new spot to eliminate). Next cage cleaning, move his hut to a different corner or section of the cage. Etc, for each cage cleaning. Moving things around makes for a more stimulating life anyways, and I know it sounds strange, but changing it up every once in a while keeps him from establishing &quot; this is where MY food bowl is&quot;, &quot;this is where I mark MY territory&quot;, &quot;this is MY hut I hide in&quot; etc...-- possessiveness basically. It's still his and smells like him but change does help; as a change happens in the brain when he has to re-establish where his things are and what his daily movement is. Rodents tend to establish habits that lead to compulsive behavior, and you want to eliminate that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get him a small animal play pen, for when you take him out of the cage. Having a second space he can explore, and establish as additional space that is &quot;his&quot; outside of his cage, may help him feel more secure. When putting him in the playpen, offer a hut for hiding and comfort - especially until he gets used to the space. The pen I'm thinking of is made by Kaytee, and comes with a mat to put under it, that's washable, so he doesn't have direct contact with your floor (and whatever else might be on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with Ace!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-06T04:09:19.143" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T04:09:19.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18539" CreationDate="2017-10-06T06:41:00.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is quite recent that dogs [or cats for that matter]  have been considered in &quot;need&quot; of any regular bath at all. Basically, since we ourselves have started to shower/bathe on everyday basis, which is some ~40-80 years [depending on which part of the world you live in and for how long indoor running water has been available in your parts]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is any research that confirms dogs need baths generally, unless they are visibly dirty/smelly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some indications that humans shouldn't &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.lv/search?q=should%20you%20shower%20everyday&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shower as much as they seem to do, especially in the US either&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10537" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T06:41:00.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7419" CreationDate="2017-10-06T07:21:05.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two tips from my side:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be careful with the timing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop immediatly when the dog is getting faster, before he pulls. The dog has to have the same speed as you. It is possible that at first you just can do one step until you have to stop again, but your dog will learn it, if you are consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase the negative impression:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Veg stated in the comment, it can be more impressive for a dog, if you take steps back. I trained it not by taking steps back, but I turned around, which had the same effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T07:21:05.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18532" CreationDate="2017-10-06T09:53:32.377" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He thinks your hands are toys, and his instincts are telling him to hunt. Instead teach him that hands are for petting and carrying food to the bowl, not food/prey itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should stop letting the cat play with your hands and only let him pounce on or play with acceptable targets. When he gets into that mood grab one of his toys and redirect attention to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="446" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T09:53:32.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-06T11:42:12.060" Score="4" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will a couple of guppy males be happy in a community tank without guppy females? Will they harrass for example platy females or will they mind their own business?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is a Juwel Vision 450 LED with the following inhabitants:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~20 Platy (mixed sexes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 Ancistrus sp (mixed sexes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 Five banded barbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 Rummy nose tetras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 Panda corydoras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10538" LastEditorUserId="10538" LastEditDate="2017-10-08T05:55:45.590" LastActivityDate="2018-03-22T12:48:16.230" Title="Will a couple of guppy males be happy in my fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2017-10-06T12:36:58.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Safe Products&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://dawn-dish.com/en-us/dawn-saves-wildlife&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dawn dish soap&lt;/a&gt; (antibacterial) or 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Process&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I soak cages for about 5-10 minutes in a tub full of &lt;strong&gt;hot&lt;/strong&gt; water and cleaning solution, this allows any hard feces to easily wash off with a cloth. Once washed I spray &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturesmiracle.com/products/other-pets/bird-cage-cleaners/bird-cage-cleaner-and-deodorizer.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Natures Miracle Bird Cage Cleaner&lt;/a&gt; (deodorizer) and let sit for 5 minutes before doing a final rinse, once rinsed I dry it off with a towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend Natures Miracle, I started using this product a few months ago and it does &lt;strong&gt;WONDERS&lt;/strong&gt; eliminating smell (not masking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cage liners should be changed daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Base of cages should be washed once a week and the bars wiped down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cage should be disassembled and fully washed once a month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T12:36:58.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9885" CreationDate="2017-10-06T12:57:31.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bird's cage size can depend on the bird itself: your cage is on the small side, but if your bird spends a lot of time outside the cage &amp;amp; only uses the cage to sleep, it can suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your bird spends the majority of time in its cage, you need something bigger. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bird-cage.com/how-to-select-a-bird-cage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This website&lt;/a&gt; contains a handy reference for the minimum cage size for a given species:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Species | Min. Cage Size | Bar Spacing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finches | 18&amp;quot;x18&amp;quot;x30&amp;quot; | 1/4&amp;quot; to 1/2&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canaries | 18&amp;quot;x18&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot; | 1/4&amp;quot; to 1/2&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Budgies | 18&amp;quot;x18&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot; | 1/2&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cockatiels | 20&amp;quot;x20&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;  | 1/2&amp;quot; to 5/8&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lovebirds/Parrotlets  | 24&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;x24    | 1/2&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ringneck Parakeets    24&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;x36&amp;quot; 1/2&amp;quot; to 5/8&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conures/Poicephalus | 24&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;  | 5/8&amp;quot; to 3/4&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caiques/Pionus/Jardine's   | 24&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;x36&amp;quot;   | 5/8&amp;quot; to 3/4&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amazons/Mini Macaws/Coffin's Cockatoos/African Greys | 34&amp;quot;x24&amp;quot;x36&amp;quot; | 3/4&amp;quot; to 1&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large Cockatoos | 36&amp;quot;x48&amp;quot;x48&amp;quot;  | 1&amp;quot; to 1.5&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large Macaws   | 36&amp;quot;x48&amp;quot;x60&amp;quot;   | 1&amp;quot; to 1.5&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T15:16:07.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18370" CreationDate="2017-10-06T13:56:59.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, some updates for those interested or that might stumble upon the same issue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I commented to my question, I took her to the vet everyday and we have tried medication and feeding her through IV, because the chunk of string she vomited was very large. However, that seemed to be a mistake because she was not getting any better. We decided to try surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor found another huge amount of string in her digestive system, from her esophagus all the way to the end of her intestines. The surgery was complicated and a piece of intestine had to be removed due to it becoming necrotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days, we had to perform another surgery because of some liquids accumulating in her bowels. After this second surgery she started eating again and seems better now, but still weakened and prone to complications because of the things she has been through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice for fellow pet owners is: Even if nothing shows up on the X-rays, as was our case (Only some twisted intestine showed up), don't delay explorative surgery too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10410" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T13:56:59.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18380" CreationDate="2017-10-06T14:00:20.710" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main focus here is that your cat needs to trust you. You can't just expect it to do so immediately, but I suggest you work at building a rapport with him. I'll focus my answer on the flea treatment, but the principle is the same for all the other things he does not want you to do.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is based on my experience with housebreaking our two incredibly shy cats, who had lived in the wild for their first 6 months. We've had to teach them everything (other than using a litter box), starting from a position where they didn't trust any human. When out in the wild, they lived in a prison, where they survived by avoiding all humans.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Needless to say, they were apprehensive of everything we did (including feeding them, as the prison guards had tried to give them poisoned food). However, over the last 6 months we've managed to gain their trust and turn them into actual pets, so I'm confident that this method works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't listen to people like dogs do. They are incredibly independent, and tend to always do what they think is best. Since you can't command a cat to come to you, you should try to &lt;strong&gt;incentivize&lt;/strong&gt; it so that it will &lt;strong&gt;want&lt;/strong&gt; to come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want your cat to make a certain choice, then make that choice the best possible choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't expect a cat to obey you.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not one of them will tolerate us giving them any kind of treatment at all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;they would not allow us to even get them into [a harness]!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;as they know what we intend to do and run if I even pick up a towel!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They are all bad but the elder tom is a nightmare&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He will scratch, bite and struggle so hard to get away that he hurts us regardless of what we wear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these quotes, I'm starting to infer that you're expecting your cat to listen to what you want it to do. It might not like the flea treatment, but it should allow it because you're clearly indicating to them that they should allow you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are not really known for their obedience. It is possible to get them to listen, but this completely hinges on one thing: &lt;strong&gt;trust&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Playing the advocate for your cats: what have you done to show your cats that they can trust you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This isn't a personal attack on you, I hope you don't read it that way. I'm trying to show you what the cats' point of view is. What do they stand to gain from allowing you to do something to them that they don't like? Because if there's no benefit to doing so, why would they want to endure it?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The wrong way&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not overpower your cat and force him to do something against his will. This may be a quick win for you now, but it will be detrimental in the long run.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you betray his trust by grabbing him and forcing him, then you're teaching him that it's unsafe to be around you. Over time, he will keep you at a distance, or even hide instead of come to you when you call for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to lure the cat in with treats and then trap him. It may work a few times, but over time he will learn to see it coming, and will refuse to come close to you. He might even end up disliking his treats (or distrusting you when you're giving him treats).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat did this to us. Whenever she saw us handle the cat carrier, even if it was in a different room than me and her were currently in, she would &lt;strong&gt;refuse&lt;/strong&gt; to go near any humans. After a few trips to the vet, she got wise to our tricks to get her into the carrier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;they go wild at even the sight of the flea treatment package!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;as they know what we intend to do and run if I even pick up a towel!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests that the cat has bad memories connected to the flea treatment package (the same goes for the towel). Whenever he's seen such a package, he ended up in an uncomfortable situation (wrestling with whoever is trying to apply the treatment).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is essentially a Pavlovian response. The cat has identified that the uncomfortable moments are always preceded by seeing the flea treatment package, and therefore &lt;strong&gt;knows&lt;/strong&gt; that it's going to be uncomfortable soon (and will avoid it al all costs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The severity of their wild behavior directly corresponds to the severity of their (bad) experiences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;If your cat requires &lt;strong&gt;urgent&lt;/strong&gt; medical attention, then this does not apply. Medical emergencies are more important than the cat's personal comfort, or your personal relationship with him.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The right way&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doctors give lollipops to children at the end of a doctor's visit. Since this is the &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; interaction with the doctor, the child will remember the lollipop more than what came before it. The lollipop subconsciously teaches the child to be less afraid of having to go the the doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, that's what you have to do with your cat. Make the experience (in hindsight) a positive memory, not a negative one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat, no matter how wild, will always want &lt;strong&gt;food&lt;/strong&gt; when hungry. It's the most basic form of incentivization. Take away his food options except for one food bowl, and sit next to it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;From your description, I gather that he has no problems approaching you (e.g. when you're sitting next to his food), but he puts up a fight once you interact with him in a way that he doesn't like. If your cat is fearful enough that it would rather starve than come near you (we've had a cat like that), then this approach obviously will not work.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he starts eating, calmly start applying the flea treatment. Act as if this is the most normal thing in the world, don't act like you're pulling off a heist (cats sense the difference, at least ours do) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your description of your cat, I expect that he'll stop you (pull away his head). Calmly look at him, and let him continue eating. The moment he continues eating, you continue applying the treatment.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This will repeat several times, and that's okay. Most animals (and children) need &lt;strong&gt;repetition&lt;/strong&gt; in order to learn something. You're teaching him that the food and the flea treatment are a package deal. &lt;strong&gt;He gets to make the choice&lt;/strong&gt;: food and treatment, or no food and no treatment. (&lt;strong&gt;Do not starve your cat&lt;/strong&gt;, see the next chapter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few times, if he's had some food (enough to not starve, but not enough to be full) and still puts up a fight, simply take away the rest of the food and walk away. Ignore him for a minute or two. He will ask for more food at some point (whether it's 2 minutes or a few hours, depends on the cat) When he wants more food, bring the food bowl back and repeat the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may take a while, you might not be able to actually apply the treatment for the first meal or two (where he ends up eating enough in small chunks that he's had his fill).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Eventually though, he should realize that putting up a fight costs him more effort than letting you do your thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit:&lt;/strong&gt; If you feel like he's not improving, and simply coasting on what little food he can scavenge before you take it away again, then wait longer before giving him more food. Again, do not &lt;strong&gt;starve&lt;/strong&gt; him, but make him wait for food a bit longer. This incentivizes him to behave during feeding time.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do not starve your cat!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot stress this enough. The point of the exercise is not to &lt;strong&gt;punish&lt;/strong&gt; your cat for not listening to you, you're simply trying to teach your cat to &lt;strong&gt;take the bad with the good&lt;/strong&gt; (food + flea treatment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you treat him unfairly (forcing him, starving him, berating him for not wanting the treatment), then he will hold you responsible. This is the opposite of what you want, you're trying to get him to trust you. If your cat trusts you, then he will also trust your judgment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is stubborn enough that he would rather starve than let you apply the flea treatment, then you should switch tactics instead of trying to outstubborn the cat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Give him free access to (a small amount of) cat food that he doesn't really like (but will eat if hungry). However, put his &lt;strong&gt;favorite&lt;/strong&gt; food in the bowl next to you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is the same principle as before: &lt;strong&gt;the choice is his&lt;/strong&gt;, does he want the lousy free food, or the good food that comes with the flea treatment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is not a quick solution&lt;/strong&gt;. But it is the best solution in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quick fixes often end up making a dent in the cat's trust of you, which will only make future treatments more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tangential&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Unrelated to the problem at hand, but it might help you in the long run.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've mentioned that none of the cats allow you to apply the flea treatment. They're probably learning from each other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For our two cats, if the smarter one gets scared or runs away (e.g. something makes a loud bang), the other will &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt; follow suit. The smarter one usually gets over it rather quickly, but the other one can take days before she forgets it. She heavily relies on the judgment of the smarter one (we see that in everything they do, especially when investigating new things)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can have negative consequences (as you are experiencing now), but you can also turn it to your advantage: if one of the cats allows you to do something that the others don't, &lt;strong&gt;immediately reward it&lt;/strong&gt;. Even petting them for a few minutes (directly after) can signal to the other cats that they are missing out on bonuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more tip: You've mentioned that the cats already turn wild when they see the flea treatment box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have to start from a disadvantaged position, as your cat already has bad memories attached to the box/syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would first try to get the cats to forget their earlier memories. Put one of those strips in plain sight, somewhere near their food bowls (or somewhere they often have to pass by), but &lt;strong&gt;never use it&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats will be very apprehensive in the beginning (somewhat obviously). But if they see this object every day, and it has never harmed them or been used in any way, and you don't even acknowledge that it exists, then they should stop being afraid of it after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T16:29:13.877" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T16:29:13.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17960" CreationDate="2017-10-06T14:42:10.380" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that he never comes inside makes me suspect that he has a home &lt;em&gt;somewhere else&lt;/em&gt;. If the cat doesn't enter your house, then I don't think it considers itself to be living with you. Taking the cat with you might tear it away from its actual home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you don't take the cat with you. If you're worried about who will take care of him, try and get a neighbor involved while you are still there (so you can introduce them to each other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T14:42:10.380" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16908" CreationDate="2017-10-06T15:33:17.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a similar issue with the cats we had when I was a teenager. They weren't siblings, but the older one would bully and harass the younger one (to a point of denying her access to food or the litter box), and would actively hunt her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, we managed to get her to stop her bullying, but she never interacted with the little one. A truce is the best we could accomplish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading between the lines of your question, I infer that you treat both cats with kindness and softness. That's my assumption, at least, based on how you phrase a few things, e.g.: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oftentimes, he will come between Cila and our hands, claiming the touch for himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A stolen touch should not be a touch. If you allow him to steal attention, then you are telling him it's okay to steal attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not allow him to actually get pet when he is stealing from her. The moment he cuts her off, you should pull back your hand, and offer it again to her. He will likely keep trying, but you should keep pulling away your hand. Be consistent and stubborn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I tend to add a verbal cue. I would pull away my hand, look him in the eyes (blank or annoyed stare) and say &quot;No.&quot; (like a strict teacher). If you're consistent, he will associate &quot;No.&quot; with doing something bad, which should get him to understand your feedback faster after a while.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Cilek has walked away, &lt;strong&gt;do not pet him&lt;/strong&gt;. That will only teach him that he can drive her off and take the attention for himself. Instead, completely ignore him and don't even acknowledge him. This makes him realize that he ruined the moment (for both him and Cilek).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Over time, the message will become clear: If you refuse to let Cilek get attention, then I will refuse to give you attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he allows you to pet Cilek, and he does not cut her off, &lt;strong&gt;reward&lt;/strong&gt; him. Give him a pet, and make it clear that the second pet is addressed to him. Keep alternating between the cats. Whenever Muskot tries to cut in line, deny him the opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice that he has trouble understanding who you're trying to pet, it might help if you say the name of the cat you're going to pet. Even if they don't register that as their own name, he should eventually notice that he &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; gets a pet when you say that same word (&quot;Cilek&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just an example of how to deal with &quot;douchebag&quot; behavior. Don't berate Muskot for misbehaving (he might not be aware that he's doing something wrong), but attach a &lt;strong&gt;consistent consequence&lt;/strong&gt; to his misbehavior. He will learn that his behavior always leads to the same (unwanted) consequence, and should stop behaving this way if he wants to avoid the consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I get the feeling that this has gone on long enough that Cilek is deeply affected by this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cilek runs away from him and does not want to eat next to him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She struggles to go to the litter box because she has to walk past him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have to take her food to her bed, otherwise she won't eat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the same pattern as what happened to our little one. She got bullied day and night for simply &lt;em&gt;being present&lt;/em&gt;, to a point where she was afraid to live in her own home. It seems that Muskot has been doing this long enough for her to prefer leading a life of banishment (basically only being master over her bed) because of how Muskot treats her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is an abusive relationship&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the feline equivalent of domestic abuse, which revolves around controlling people through their fear of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Muskot may not be aware that his behavior is abusive, but he needs to understand that his behavior is not acceptable.It sounds tough, but the best way to stop a bully is to make them the victim (so Muskot understands what it's like to be Cilek).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to actively punish Muskot for his behavior. The punishment doesn't need to be severe, but you should punish him in a way that makes it clear to him that it's an unavoidable consequence (caused by his behavior).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always used an escalation pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Strictly say their name, to get their attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Strictly say &quot;No&quot;. (this won't mean much to them in the beginning, but after a while they will associate this word with your negative feedback)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Use a spray bottle to spray some water in his direction. You don't need to drench him or even hit him, you simply need to inconvenience him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Physically (&lt;strong&gt;but calmly&lt;/strong&gt;) remove him from whatever naughty thing he is doing (if he doesn't like being picked up, then that is punishment enough). If he walks away when you approach him, don't needlessly chase him (he already removed himself, his compliance should be rewarded by not escalating it any further)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The approach is always the same. Start from the top. If he ignores you and continues, escalate to the next step.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, you'll notice that you need to escalate less before he (voluntarily) yields to your feedback.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Our cat got the spray bottle for meowing incessantly when sitting by the window. It took him about two weeks. By then, he didn't even need the spray bottle anymore, if he heard me move on the couch (which meant I was reaching for the spray bottle), he would shut up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was the only one in our family who used the spray bottle, and there was a &lt;strong&gt;notable&lt;/strong&gt; difference in how he responded to my voice compared to those of my parents. When they called his name, he wouldn't stop (or only for a few seconds). If he heard my voice, he moved away from the window.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Note that I didn't make him afraid of me. He still slept with me on my bed at night, and played more with me than my parents. He did not avoid me just because I'm the one who told him off.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't scream at Muskot. Don't treat him like he's knowingly misbehaving. Don't overreact. The intention is not to make him fear you. The intention is to &lt;strong&gt;inconvenience&lt;/strong&gt; him, to a point where his choice (bullying) does not gain him any benefits (being the boss).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important part is that you are consistent in your approach. There must always be a negative consequence to his behavior. If you only punish him some of the times he misbehaves, he won't realize that the misbehavior and the negative feedback are connected to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-10-06T15:40:50.543" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T15:40:50.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18506" CreationDate="2017-10-06T16:34:14.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;They will be perfectly fine alone for the long weekend, I would be sympathetic if it were a lone-rat however by having multiples they will have each other for company. They are intelligent creatures, they will remember you, being gone for a few days will not mess anything up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Travelling to another new location is a stressful alternative to staying at home however if you need to bring them with you they will be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tips for the long weekend:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supply minimum of 2 full water bottles, this ensures if one leaks or runs out there will be a backup.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stock enough food for the weekend.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean the cage the night before or day of leaving to prolong it's freshness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give them an old worn shirt of yours for scent. Smells of owners can be therapeutic for animals who are stressed, this can also help with them getting use to you by being familiar with your smell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-10-06T16:34:14.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T01:24:46.577" Score="8" ViewCount="1448" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a little over a year old. He started sneezing blood. Took him to the vet and got antibiotics for a respiratory infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is an indoor outdoor cat but after the vet visit he stayed in and slept a lot. Then he felt better and went out. That was in June. It's October and he hasn't come home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought something happened until recently. I saw him once in my front yard, and he acted like he didn't know me. I then had a dead bird on my step, thinking it was him, then again today in the yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't respond when I call him. I did notice he has a new collar on. What is wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10541" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:03.860" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:02:03.860" Title="Why doesn't my cat recognize me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T05:42:04.647" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats, a male red tabby (Ed) and two black cats, father (Boo) and daughter. All three cats have lived together for the majority of their lives (13-ish years). They get along fine, aside from the normal morning batting at the food bowl between the males. They've been around each other and coexist quite well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just got back from a week-long vacation. We had to kennel all three of our cats at the vet. There were no issues reported. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon releasing all three cats back at our house, my red-tabby - Ed - started hissing at the black male - Boo. He then ran away and promptly tried to spray on a box. Both Ed and Boo have sprayed before, but it's a habit we have broken. Ed went on to attempt to spray on several other surfaces. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When separate from Boo, Ed acts perfectly normal. He tries to sniff everything - totally expected - but other than that he is responsive to me and purrs just fine. When he sees a black cat though - Boo or his daughter - he tries to get away and spray on something. If he's cornered he'll growl or hiss at them as he rushes by. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is this, and what can I do about it?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the cats separate is a temporary option, but it doesn't work too well overnight, as the cats will invariably want to roam around the rest of the house at night, and complain loudly if they can't. Not very conducive to sleeping. Is there perhaps a way I can convince Ed that he doesn't need to defend his territory from Boo (I assume that's what's going on)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, neither Boo nor his daughter have the same behavior. They are simply sniffing everything and slowly returning to normal. They exhibit no other strange behavior, and act fine around Ed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: As of the morning after, Ed is now meowing incessantly. All night long he meowed non-stop, waited 10-20 minutes, started up again, stopped again - all night. He started doing this soon after we brought him back and he got his bearings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meowing has lessened somewhat this morning, though he is still doing it frequently. He is sniffing Boo's daughter and seems fine with her. Boo has been separated all night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6785" LastEditorUserId="6785" LastEditDate="2017-10-07T17:23:17.723" LastActivityDate="2017-10-07T18:42:05.930" Title="Why does my cat act hostile towards my other cat after being kenneled for a week?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T07:26:10.333" Score="5" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old cat stopped eating, drinking, and doesn't get up to go to the bathroom. I'm taking him into the vet in the morning. Are there any suggestions on what I should and shouldn't do to help him until then? I am unsure what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10543" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-07T17:09:49.010" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T07:30:21.863" Title="My cat stopped eating, drinking, and getting up to go to the bathroom" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T10:42:47.923" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T17:25:15.970" Score="4" ViewCount="2135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old german shepherd dog with lots of bushy hair. He has been infected  with maggots for the past 1 month or more. I'm treating him with Turpentine and the vet gave him some antibiotics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is still getting infected all around the earlier site on his back. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10545" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-08T08:59:43.683" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T23:02:33.483" Title="Maggots on back of the dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18562" CreationDate="2017-10-07T18:42:05.930" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If at all possible, I put my cats into shared 'cabins' in the cattery. From experience, I know this means they don't lose the scent of one another on themselves, which is important to them in identifying who is part of their 'group' and who isn't: &lt;a href=&quot;http://moderncat.com/articles/social-glue-do-your-cats-have-group-scent/68601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Do your cats have a group scent&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/how-cats-create-a-group-scent/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How cats create a group scent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learnt this when one of my cats (who had always lived with his brother) went missing for two weeks and then had to stay at the vets for a week. Upon his return home, neither of the two cats recognised each other until they had been together for a few days; until then they fought like cat and cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I accelerated the re-introduction process by rubbing the bedding that had always stayed in the house (and been used by the cat who didn't get lost) over the prodigal cat to remove the vet smell and add a brother smell to the mix; however, if nothing else is going on apart from being separated for a while, things should settle down with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bedding technique also works if your vet will let you send bedding with the cat -- it helps the cat settle because the surroundings smell familiar, and also helps them to retain the 'group scent' for when they came home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be that the father and daughter naturally smell somewhat similar so have not 'lost touch' with each other's identity, but it will take Ed a while to reintegrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastActivityDate="2017-10-07T18:42:05.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16779" CreationDate="2017-10-07T19:28:07.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes a lot of slow, careful, consistent, patient work to teach a dog where NOT to go so that they will do this without needing to be constantly monitored. You'll need to take a few steps back and keep her on leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you should do is practice recall until it is very very solid meaning that no matter what she is doing or what she is interested in, you can call her to come back and she will immediately stop what she's doing and come back. Good recall can take years of &#xA;consistent and patient work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very important, because if her recall is not quick and consistent, then you may not be able to keep her out of the road when traffic is coming.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you work on this, also make the dog walk around the perimeter of the road to give her a sense of the boundaries of her play areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10546" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T11:08:17.717" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:08:17.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-07T20:15:47.327" Score="3" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to make an icing that hardens after I have frosted the doggie cake. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10547" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T00:08:19.113" Title="Icing that hardens for dog cakes" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18594" CreationDate="2017-10-08T05:54:28.580" Score="5" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to get Ancistrus to breed in a rock pile or do you need those eye sore pipe caves everyone is using. I really don't want to taint my fish tank with one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10538" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:31:31.283" Title="Ancistrus breeding in rock pile" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-08T06:26:07.027" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Cockatiel which is around 3-4 months old, seems to make noises that resemble &quot;Talking&quot;. These noises are often made when it is in a free mood but not in any other uncomfortable situations.&#xA;I'm worried if it is trying to convey some kind of message that I couldn't understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cockatiels. One is very active- (easy going, playful) and the other one is very calm going, (but often attacks with beak when I try to take it into hands) and only active when it needs to have fun. The cockatiel which is not always active/playful has this &quot;Talking&quot; behavior. I have noticed this behavior since not more than a month.&#xA;The other cockatiel doesn't bother/respond to these sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10549" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-08T09:13:07.100" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T09:13:07.100" Title="My 4 month old Cockateil makes some odd noises as if it is talking with someone else. Do I need to worry about such behaviour?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16473" CreationDate="2017-10-08T13:38:49.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to my mantis a while ago and since she was an adult I was worried as they no longer molt when they have their wings. After a short wait mine laid an ootheca, so I would expect yours to as well. Make sure you have loads of things for them to climb on and lay the ootheca on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10550" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-10-11T11:04:33.480" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:04:33.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18565" CreationDate="2017-10-08T15:03:16.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be a lengthy process, here are the steps &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; and your &lt;strong&gt;veterinarian&lt;/strong&gt; need to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Shave the area around the wound, it needs to breathe and be kept clean, having all that hair in the area will only make things worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Capstar is a good medication for maggots, it needs to be given rectally and &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; orally. Injectable ivermectin can work as well however there can be some serious side-effects with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) With sterile hemostats/forceps remove visible maggots from the wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Flush wound with a diluted betadine flush (betadine is cytotoxic so needs to be heavily diluted). Scrub around the wound with gauze soaked in chlorhexadine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Continue with long-term antibiotics until issue is resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) If he's an outdoor dog he needs to be relocated to a clean, indoor environment where no flies can get at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen a maggot case in years, I will update with more tricks once I get back to work on Tuesday October 10, will ask the DVM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T15:03:16.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-08T17:07:24.337" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 225 gallon aquarium. I have 10 large fish inside. The most aggressive fish is my Red Devil. He normally chases all other fish and the others will rarely if ever attempt to go after him. This has changed in the last week. He is now very shy, stays in the upper corner of the tank or hides behind the rocks. He is also eating very little. Nothing has changed in the environment. I have had the same 10 fish in the tank with nothing added and no deaths for the last 9 months. The setup itself is about 4 years running now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did notice a small gash between his eyes. I am not sure if what is inside the gash is an infection or just the way the tissue is healing. It does not look like it's full of pus or anything. But it's like white/green in color. Could anyone shed any light on why this fish has had such a major change in behavior? What can be done to get him back to his regular self?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10551" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-08T20:17:07.687" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T20:17:07.687" Title="My aggressive fish has become very shy, afraid in the last week. What changed?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18568" CreationDate="2017-10-08T22:25:48.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can mix coconut oil with either yogurt chips or carob chips, melt it down and as it dries on top of cookies or cakes, it hardens. Ratio is one tablespoon of coconut oil per 1/2 cup of chips. You may have to wait for one layer to settle, then add a second layer on for it to be nice and thick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's a brief answer, but it's the only one I know and have used before that hardened Everytime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this online along with a list of others a year or two back, and you may be able to find others that sound like something your dog likes by searching &quot;firm or hardened icing for dogs&quot; or &quot;dog baking&quot;. Here's a link I found with a recent search, simply on dog icings that dry hard &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dogtreatkitchen.com/dog-treat-icing-that-dries-hard.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dogtreatkitchen.com/dog-treat-icing-that-dries-hard.html&lt;/a&gt; there seems to be mixed results BUT are additional links on the page with other recipes, besides the one on page1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-08T22:48:25.343" LastActivityDate="2017-10-08T22:48:25.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-09T09:55:38.283" Score="4" ViewCount="1129" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, some background first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got the cat from the streets when he was approximately 1 month old. He was in an animal shelter until he was 2 month old, then came to our house, December 2016. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first months, let's say 2, we would fill his bowl and he decided when to eat, a full bowl usually lasted the whole day, sometimes even until the next morning. When he was about 4-5 month old, we started to giving him 3 meals per day, since he seemed bit anxious about eating (this whole time, he was eating kitten food, good quality, always dry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With 5-6 months we had him neutered, and started eating special food, again, good quality, dry, still with 3 meals per day, but he started meowing a lot, asking for food between hours. I can't really tell if he is always that hungry, or just bored and likes to eat, anyway, we never give him more than he should eat. This has been the norm until September.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last month approximately, he have been trying to teach him to self feed, giving him all his 3 meals together in the morning (7 am, maybe 9-10 am the weekends), but he always eats everything before 12 am. Then for the rest of the day, he keeps asking for more, yet again, can't tell if he is hungry or just likes food. He eats all of his food really fast, and he is starting to be a little overweight, more than 5 kg, approximately 5.5 kg to be exact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We always use high quality dry food, same brand (Wild Instinct). We want to teach him to self-feed himself, since it is more convenient for us, if we spend a day out for example, and I think it is better for him also (if he really learns it), but he seems a bit anxious. Also, he always tries to steal our food while we are eating or when something is left on the table (specially, bread, he loves it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is the only animal in the house, spends lots of time alone (over 6 hours per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing it right? Is self-feeding a good/viable option? I am new to cats, this is my first one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: It is this type of cat: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Shorthair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Shorthair&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT2: He eats 75 g of dry food per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10030" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:53:21.787" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:53:21.787" Title="Is 10 months late to teach a cat to self-feeding? If not, how shall I proceed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18503" CreationDate="2017-10-09T10:31:53.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Not everyone's past has been a happy one.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like people, a bad experience in the past can drive your present/future behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've experienced this first hand with the first cat we had. For her first 9 years, Pruts lived with a slightly older male cat who basically owned her (up to a point of physical abuse by the male). To make things worse, the male was the owner's &lt;em&gt;favorite&lt;/em&gt; cat, and she wasn't subtle about not liking Pruts (who we took in when the owner wanted to get rid of her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few months, we took in a second cat, Luna. 6 weeks old, still looking for a motherly presence. And Pruts &lt;em&gt;beats her up&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some cats may not get along, but this was different. Pruts would get violent whenever Luna revealed her presence. She wasn't allowed to eat, drink, use the litter box or interact with us, or she'd face a beating (unless we intervened of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we realized that this was never going to stop, we tried to see if we could find a new home for Pruts, keep Luna and add a different cat to our home. We brought in a 6 week old kitten (from a friend) to test it. &lt;strong&gt;Within minutes&lt;/strong&gt;, Luna beats up the new kitten. Luna didn't even wait to see if the kitten was friendly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She repeated the exact same behavior. Luna kept her distance from the kitten, but would actively attack her if the kitten ate, drank, used the litter box, received attention, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luna's behavior proved to me that violent behavior can be learned from past experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The past cannot be changed.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that we might never be able to find out &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; your female is beating the younger male, since cats are unable to tell us why they're doing what they're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some possible reasons might include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being abused by another cat in the past (cfr Pruts, Luna)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being jealous of anyone else getting attention from the humans (cfr Pruts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The younger male might even &lt;strong&gt;resemble&lt;/strong&gt; the cat who abused your female.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some cats just don't like other cats and prefer to be alone (stands to reason, since cats are territorial)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;But what about the present/future?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since some of these reasons (e.g. experience with being abused) can never be undone, you should also consider that it's (possibly) irrelevant &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; she is now violent towards the younger male, and we should instead focus on the fact &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; she is violent towards him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, regardless of whether she has a good reason or not, she should stop attacking the younger male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the test with Luna and the new kitten failed; we decided to keep Pruts and Luna (they were both &quot;damaged&quot; in a way that we felt bad abandoning them). Instead, we put time and effort into making their life situation bearable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This basically turns the question into &quot;how do you train a cat?&quot;, which is a very broad topic. In short, the rule of thumb is &quot;&lt;strong&gt;if you misbehave, you get punished (= inconvenienced)&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you keep this up consistently, then the cat will start to realize that the two (being naughty and being inconvenienced) are cause/effect, and they will then avoid doing the thing that always leads to the unwanted consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of consequences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a first warning, say the cat's name to get her attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a second warning, say &quot;No.&quot;. Repeat this until you feel that the cat is ignoring/not understanding you. (But even if you know she doesn't understand, it's important that you still say it. &lt;strong&gt;Eventually&lt;/strong&gt;, she'll see that &quot;No&quot; is a precursor to further escalation from you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a third response: a spray bottle, set to release a jet (not a mist). Aim it at the cat. You don't even need to &lt;em&gt;hit&lt;/em&gt; it, just make them feel inconvenienced enough that they walk away from it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they still misbehave, directly step towards them and physically (but &lt;strong&gt;calmly&lt;/strong&gt;) remove them from the room. (If they walk away when you approach them, do not chase them. They obeyed you by moving away, that should be rewarded by you not chasing her).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, you'll see that the cat picks up on the consistent pattern, and will yield to you before you need to even pick up the spray bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't treat her like she's the devil incarnate.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one more important thing to consider is that your female cat's response might be justified (in her head). If you always treat her like she's the problem, then she might grow distant from you (as you always oppose her when she does what she thinks is right).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I highly suggest you &lt;strong&gt;compromise&lt;/strong&gt; with her from time to time, to prevent that from happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, Pruts was very insistent on eating first (likely because her abuser did the same to her). Since Luna was not a picky eater, we decided to compromise and let Pruts eat first.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's not fair to Luna on principle, but in reality it removed what would otherwise be a &lt;strong&gt;daily&lt;/strong&gt; cause for starting a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took over a year, but we managed to finally get a truce. Pruts and Luna lived separate lives in the same house. They shared nothing but a litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one hand, it's sad that this is the best we could get. Everyone wants their cats to get along, especially if you consider them as family members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, a truce is at least &lt;strong&gt;livable&lt;/strong&gt;, whereas an abusive relationship is not livable for the victim. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T13:19:18.713" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T13:19:18.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17979" CreationDate="2017-10-09T11:39:11.167" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1- Why is my cat displaying this behaviour (I'm not screaming or even looking at her at the time btw, so I guess she shouldn't see it as aggression even though I'd be mad at the moment) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are able to understand that another creature needs something. This includes: keeping (feline, human or other) babies warm, comforting a crying family member, approaching someone who is behaving unusually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my girlfriend has some alone time (e.g. after a fight, or when she's sad from a movie), the cats seems to seek her out. They are not cuddly cats (they're a bit apprehensive of close contact), but they are notably more cuddly when she's sad.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, a cat I had when growing up never really sought attention, but still visited me when I was upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2- Why doesn't my cat display this behaviour to anyone else in the family (though they all get their disagreements and quarrels, and she's been with them sense birth although I was the one to take care of her sense then because she was an orphan)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can have favorites. We notice it with our cats. They are sisters, but one is clearly extroverted and the other is introverted. Correspondingly, the extroverted has attached itself to my girlfriend (also an extrovert), and the introverted one has attached itself to me (also an introvert).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat has attached itself to you and will therefore be more inclined to seek you out over anyone else. This can include responding to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; behavior but not necessarily that of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention that the environment is usually loud. If you are a relatively quiet person in the household who then suddenly starts speaking (as the mediator, it seems likely that you don't get involved until that point), that means that your involvement is &lt;strong&gt;unusual&lt;/strong&gt;, a rare occurrence. This can be an extra incentive for the cat to seek you out, because you're behaving differently than you normally do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To subtitle your cat: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hey there, buddy, everything okay? You seem to be out of sorts, is anything wrong?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:53:58.767" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:53:58.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17979" CreationDate="2017-10-09T12:26:12.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite obvious that your cat has bonded with you more than it has with the rest of the household. Our cat is the same, he concentrates 95% of his attention to me and 5% to my wife and children. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are amazing animals, they can sense when you're feeling blue, angry or any range of emotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat reacts a bit differently. When there's an argument in the house that doesn't involve me, he just chills. When he hears me raise my voice, he will try to climb on top of my shoulders and lick me or even mew repeatedly at the person I've raised my voice to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat just wants to get your attention and makes you stop yelling. Cats, as most animals, learn by trying. She has seen that sniffing or biting you will stop the yelling and she does just that. Biting in this context is meant well by the cat, a way to get your attention and show some comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your siblings treat her well. Try to make them learn that a cat is not a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastEditorUserId="10483" LastEditDate="2017-10-10T06:05:33.203" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T06:05:33.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16940" CreationDate="2017-10-09T13:00:56.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Your bed is home.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we brought our kitten home, we were instructed to put her in the litter box, and let her explore the house from there. The idea is that she always knows where the litter box is, because that's where her &amp;quot;journey&amp;quot; started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever something &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; startled her, she always fled to the litter box. She still fled to the litter box years after we moved (different house, different litter box even).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our latest two cats had the luxury of getting their own bedroom since we had a spare. Although they now live in the house and don't really use that room anymore; they still run there if something has them scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same seems to be happening for your cat. He explored both new environments starting from your bed, which means that your bed is his frame of reference (when considering the house's layout). He will have a tendency to default to this place when he is looking for a safe spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You keep him safe.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to his medical condition, you've likely been taking care of him for a long time. From your story, I also read that you take personal care of the cat (who needs a lot of care to begin with), which means that he's likely to seek you out if he needs help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty much the same reason why crying children ask for their &lt;em&gt;mommy&lt;/em&gt;, their primary care taker (forgoing gender stereotyping, most children tend to emotionally connect to their mother before connecting to their father).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is somewhat proven by the cat being happy enough to sit on your lap. He doesn't feel safe, which is why he's looking for the safest place (your bed), or someone to keep him safe (you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned the cat really doesn't take to your absence well (losing weight), which further proves that he's attached to you (in a way that his wellbeing depends on having you near).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your cat is scared and/or feeling alone.&lt;/strong&gt; At least, that's what I read from his behavior. This can be connected to moving house, although I would expect there to be more of a reason (I've seen plenty of cats move house without suffering emotional issues).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's possible that his medical situation has left him in a position where he relies on you so much that he's lost the ability to be self-reliant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Was it a sudden change?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat's behavior changes suddenly, with no provocation (such as moving house), &lt;strong&gt;consult a vet&lt;/strong&gt;. Medical issues can make changes to their behavior, and cats can't tell you where it hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description, I gather that your cat's behavior hasn't changed suddenly (or if it did, that it was related to moving house). So it seems (to me) that he's behaving consistently needy, which doesn't suggest a medical problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Then again, it doesn't hurt to have a vet confirm that it's not medical.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat's behavior is indeed learned and not just a consequence from a medical issue, then the only way to get the cat to behave differently is to train him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that the cat doesn't trust his new environment. So I would focus on making your cat understand that there's nothing to be afraid of. There's an old joke that sort of encapsulates how you're supposed to train him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A man walks up to a gas station attendant. &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Excuse me sir, how much does a drop of fuel cost?&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;A drop?&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;, the attendant laughs, &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;you can have that for free!&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The man smiles, reassured. &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Thank you sir. Please put free drops in my gas tank until it's full.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a stupid joke, but it's on-topic for your cat. If your cat is only comfortable at a given distance from your bed, try to make &lt;strong&gt;small increments&lt;/strong&gt;. Depending on how easily he learns ans gets over his fear, these increments could be measured in yard, feed or even &lt;strong&gt;inches&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit on your bed and give him a treat. But with every treat you give, throw it a bit further from the bed, and keep incrementing the distance. Gradually increasing the distance means that he has to move around to get his treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key focus here is that &lt;strong&gt;you don't force him, because it's his choice&lt;/strong&gt; to go and get the treat or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose he refuses to go any further than past e.g. your chair. Any treat closer gets eaten, any treat further gets left behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; - If he stares at the treat, clearly wanting it but being afraid to go there, &lt;strong&gt;sweeten the pot&lt;/strong&gt; by putting multiple treats there. He's clearly weighing his options, which means that it's likely that he'll go there &lt;strong&gt;if it's worth it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he keeps making progress this way, keep getting him to expand his boundaries by throwing them further and further. Try to always make it &lt;strong&gt;his choice&lt;/strong&gt; rather than your will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt; - If he doesn't stare at the treat, or he makes no attempt to want to go there, walk over to the treat yourself, and see if your presence makes him feel safe enough.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If this has a notable difference, then you should change tactics compare to A. Clearly, it's not the distance &lt;em&gt;from the bed&lt;/em&gt; that makes him apprehensive, it's &lt;strong&gt;the distance from you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;This doesn't just work for treats. This can be done by placing his food bowl, treats, his toys, ...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat seems to be more fearful than average, which means that it's going to take a while for him to feel comfortable. But keep working at it, making him expand his boundaries. &lt;strong&gt;Even if it's inch by inch, that's still progress.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep reinforcing this behavior. Some other ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hide piles of treats in the house. Make sure he doesn't see you put down the treats. The idea that you're trying to convey is that &lt;em&gt;he could have so many treats &lt;strong&gt;if he just looks around&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Amply&lt;/strong&gt; reward him when you come home. Bring him something special (e.g. a nice piece of fish). If you always come back with a present for him, he won't mind your absence as much (he'll be anticipating the treat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make him re-evaluate his own decisions. One day (without him seeing it), pull your blanket off your bed and put it on the opposite side of your bedroom. Does he now favor the blanket, or the bed? &lt;strong&gt;Regardless of his choice&lt;/strong&gt;, you're subconsciously getting him to realize that he gets to go wherever he wants to go, he just needs to decide where he wants to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once in a while, pull a Hansel &amp;amp; Gretel. When you leave for school/work, leave a trail of treats as you leave. When you come home, you'll see how far he managed to get. It's even better if the trail has a small pile of treats once in a while (e.g. behind a corner, so it's a surprise).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with teaching him to trust his environment. It's not a quick solution, but as long as &lt;strong&gt;he makes the choices&lt;/strong&gt; (and you don't force him), there shouldn't be any risk of him regressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T13:00:56.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7226" CreationDate="2017-10-09T13:40:06.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Would you like to eat the same meal every day?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our two cats are rescues who lived in the wild for their first 6 months. Initially, they were the easiest cats to feed, they would eat anything I put in front of them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Having had picky cats in the past, before I realized how easy our new cats were, I had already bought every type of cat food and checked which they liked best. As it turns out, they ate all of them with no complaints whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we decided on the brand that looked the best to us (affordable but food that actually looks good). The cats ate it for weeks. And after those weeks, we noticed that they ate less and less of it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We switched up the cat food, and they happily ate all of it again. But after a week or so, they ate less and less again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although our earlier (picky) cats never tired of their favorite food (the only food they would still eat); our current cats seem to favor &lt;strong&gt;variety&lt;/strong&gt;. We've seen the same happen to their preferred treats, and even where they sleep. They never stick with a single choice for long, and they like changing it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best approach for us now is to remove something they're not excited about, and move to something different. After they've not had something for a while, we reintroduce them to the original food, and they love it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description, it's possible that your cat has simply tired from eating the same food.  Maybe she always liked the indoor food less than the other options, but was happy enough to eat it (if she's sufficiently hungry). However, repeatedly being served the same meal (that she doesn't really like) can result in her trying to find ways to get something else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have no way of signaling that they want something else except by refusing to eat what you've currently served them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give her something else for a while. If she consistently dislikes the indoor formula faster than the other options, then she clearly doesn't like it as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless there's a medical reason for her to eat it, I'd suggest you follow your cat's feedback.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You told your parents what you did and didn't like to eat as a kid, wouldn't you prefer it if they actually listened to you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-10-09T15:14:41.670" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T15:14:41.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-09T14:15:26.770" Score="3" ViewCount="1123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has started to lick and suckle his sister, he does this on the side of her. She doesn't seem to mind, but when she has had enough she walks away. This has only just started to happen, her fur gets very wet from him. Why does he do this, is it normal, should I try and stop him. Advice please&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10556" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-02T17:31:04.953" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T22:32:29.140" Title="Cat suckling sister" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18588" CreationDate="2017-10-09T15:42:59.767" Score="-1" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;Urgent help. My cat has gone mad. She can't recognize us anymore. She is continuously running from side to side up and down as if a ghost is chasing her. If I try to hold her she is struggling to get away. Her situation is like a fish taken out of water struggling to breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She was in heat and shouting constantly. The neighbors were complaining. So I gave her Alprazolam 0.5 to make her sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&#xA;Went to vet. He said that the cat is Ok. Given antime this Friday for surgery to neuter the cat. Also gave medicine for worm, liver tonic, essential amino acids + multivitamins + DHA + arginine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-10-10T16:02:31.437" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T16:02:31.437" Title="Cat is suddenly behaving in unusual fashion" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18578" CreationDate="2017-10-09T15:46:35.683" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there's a definitive answer to this, but some things to keep in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't think 10 months is too late. It may take some time for a cat to get accustomed to a new regime, but sooner or later he will 'get it'. (When switching to daylight saving time, our two cats need about a week to get used to that)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats like regularity, so use a fixed feeding scheme. I think any scheme will do, as long as you stick to it. If you decide that one feeding per day is convenient, do that (kittens may need more feedings per day though). Ignore your cat pleading for more (this will be the hard part ;-), cats are experts at negotiating), After a week or so, he should be accustomed to the scheme and will understand that there won't be any in between snacks. If you give in, he will soon learn that meowing means 'more food'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most cats use the 'eat now, die later' rule, eating everything you give them. They can't be sure there will be any food left tomorrow. Therefore, you are the one that should decide how much your cat gets, and when. You could for instance weigh the daily amount, and give it in as many portions as you see fit. If it's gone, it's gone. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much food your cat needs depends on many factors, e.g. type of cat, age and activity. The packaging will probably give some indication (In my opinion usually a bit too much). Kittens eat more that adults. As a rule of thumb, you should be able to feel the cat's ribs, but not see them. If you can't feel them anymore, feed less, if you see them, feed more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't worry too much about occasionally leaving for a day or so, cat's can go without food longer than we. Make sure there's plenty water available though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And as always, if your not sure, go ask your vet for specifics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16880/how-many-times-a-day-should-i-feed-my-cats&quot;&gt;How many times a day should I feed my cats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7429/how-often-should-cats-eat/7435#7435&quot;&gt;How often should cats eat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9712" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T15:46:35.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16940" CreationDate="2017-10-09T15:55:21.210" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats do become very attached to their &quot;favorite&quot; human, my Birman &lt;em&gt;constantly&lt;/em&gt; wants to be with me for example and when I went away for a few days (for the first time ever in his life) he was practially glued to me for days after I returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the factors that are exacerbating this tendency in your cat are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In cat terms he's getting on a bit at 15 and at that age he probably wants to be comfy and with &quot;his&quot; human - your bed is probably quite comfy for him, add in that it will smell of you and if he can get you to come join him there then it's understandable that he is wanting you to be there with him. A friend of mine with a cat of similar age has just moved and experienced very similar behavior, their cat literally sleeps almost the entire day away under their bed when they are out. By contrast their younger cat (~ 4 yrs old) has been much more outgoing in terms of exploring the new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change of environment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you moved that took away his familiar territory, and while he might not really be scared of the new environment he probably isn't feeling the need to &quot;claim&quot; the rest of the house to the same extent a younger cat would. This will be an even stronger effect as a result of the fact that he had never moved before, the old house was literally a constant to him for his entire life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Illness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While not an acute condition he's probably aware of his thyroid issues to some extent and knows that you are the one that makes him feel better by taking care of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-10-09T15:55:21.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18585" CreationDate="2017-10-09T19:23:24.590" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's been doing this for more than 10-15 minutes then I would say you need to contact a vet ASAP. A short one off could be something spooking her (remember they can hear and smell things we can't) but if it's sustained then a professional needs to check her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following this update from the OP:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I suspect it was the human medicine that I gave her caused this. She was in heat and was shouting constantly and loudly. Neighbors were complaining. So I gave her alprazolam .5 which is given to humans as sleeping pill. And this triggered the behavior. Now she is much normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel the need to add the following (I've put this in comments as well but given the possible non-permanence of comments I felt the need to edit this in to the answer):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;DO NOT GIVE HUMAN MEDICATIONS TO NON-HUMANS!&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have no idea what effect it will have on their physiology, and even if it were to act on them in the same way as it would on a human the dosages will be massively wrong - even a pretty big cat will generally only be 5-6kg compared with an adult human that will easily be 10 times that weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While alprazolm (a.k.a. Xanax) &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be used to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petplace.com/article/drug-library/library/alprazolam-xanax-for-dogs-and-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;treat cats&lt;/a&gt; , and for similar conditions to it's uses in humans 0.5mg is &lt;strong&gt;double&lt;/strong&gt; the maximum normal dose for a cat! And while I'm not sure on the levels required I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; know that it is considered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/benzodiazepines/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxic to them in excess&lt;/a&gt;. Even though the cat seems &quot;normal&quot; now there may be underlying damage caused by the medication - a visit to the vet has to happen ASAP, along with information about how much of the medication the cat has been given taking the pills with you and showing to them to the vet may be useful also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless a veterinary professional explicitly instructs you to do so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;DO NOT GIVE HUMAN MEDICATIONS TO NON-HUMANS!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2017-10-10T11:10:49.450" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T11:10:49.450" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6729" CreationDate="2017-10-09T21:14:36.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Producing these for food is not something to &quot;stumble&quot; upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the easiest thing on your list is tilapia, and you are probably not aware that all tilapia in the USA and Canada food markets are males - the fry are treated with hormones to achieve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest starting with catfish in at least 1000 gallon (around 3800 liters) pond/tank. Look into it on the Internet. Carp would also be easy, but I understand they generally do not make a good food source.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:26:34.233" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:26:34.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18585" CreationDate="2017-10-10T06:28:11.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a chance your cat injured itself while you weren't home anytime in the last 72hours before the behavior started? This sounds neurological. If there have been no mishaps it could also be a tumor or anything else doing harm to the central nervous system (CNS is brain and spinal chord) like parasites or a pathogen. There is obviously something going on, you can't see, either psychologically, physically and/or neurologically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brain/cerebellum injuries can cause crazy behaviors. An injury to the CNS can strongly effect the cat's ability to sense it's surroundings (including it's home, furniture, people etc). This can also cause behaviors including but not limited to: pacing,  running in circles, loss of balance, loss of hearing, smell and memory which includes the inability to remember it's owner or home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parasites(even if not in the CNS) can cause a cat to go loopy, as can some medications. If you have recently changed or started new meds, you may want to discontinue use until your kitty has been seen by a vet. Not all animals have the same reaction to simple meds you wouldn't give much thought to (example- I fostered an adolescent cat that couldn't be given Advantage Multi because it'd make her stumble and lose her balance for a few days after administration, and was just how her brain reacted to one if the chemicals in it, but she did fine on Revolution).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat could have a number of sicknesses that may cause a fever. Fever can cause hallucinations in cats, or shock which would also cause a cat to act out, in the behaviors you're describing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to list a few sicknesses that may cause fever, as found on petmd (cited below for more detail) are:&#xA;Bacterial,Fungal, or parasitic infections.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Metabolic or Endocrine diseases.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Drugs or toxins.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tumors.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Viruses.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A number of inflammatory conditions.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Information provided in part from: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merckvetmanual.com/cat-owners/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorders-of-cats/nervous-system-disorders-and-effects-of-injuries-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.merckvetmanual.com/cat-owners/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorders-of-cats/nervous-system-disorders-and-effects-of-injuries-in-cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/neurologicdisorders.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/neurologicdisorders.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://m.petmd.com/cat/conditions/immune/c_ct_fever&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://m.petmd.com/cat/conditions/immune/c_ct_fever&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd check out these 3 sites, read further, and have your kitty taken to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not it's an injury or a physical health concern, or a psychological concern, a treatment plan can be put in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just something to think about: If there is a new roommate, or family member etc.. living in your house or temporarily staying (or leaving) or if furniture has been rearranged or removed a new pet added OR ANY NEW changes you can think of in your home that may be a stressor to your cat; this behavior may go away or ease up in time. BUT (even if there IS a lifestyle change you can pinpoint as a stressor) I would not risk waiting to find out. If it is physical and/or neurological, she may need emergency care, and waiting can be harmful to recovery or a treatment plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and keep us updated by comment or by adding updates to your original post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-10T06:39:04.980" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T06:39:04.980" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18249" CreationDate="2017-10-10T16:09:52.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have experienced this one before around 3 years ago, I have a 20-gallon planted tank at my desk near the window and was not directly exposed to the sunlight. Days passed by, it produces algae but the colour is green and not brown but I know it is algae because the plants I added in my tank is just Java ferns, Anubias and I forgot the other names of the plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many types of algae. There are also a few organisms that look like algae but are not algae at all. In a healthy aquarium, the algae will be green, and if left alone, will grow hair-like in appearance. Algae that is red or brown may indicate a water quality problem, such as high dissolved nitrate or phosphate levels in the water. Red and brown algae are also common in new tanks when the aquarium is not yet ecologically balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, it looks really good to have algae but sometimes it's not because it grows and spread very fast. So what I did is I clean it up and transfer to another place that won't exposed by any light that came from the sun. I just used a 40watts light for my tank. Tried observing it for a day or 2 and a week after, I didn't see any algae in my tank anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the picture before I clean my tank but I think I have deleted my pic after I clean my tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AgEv5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AgEv5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10116" LastActivityDate="2017-10-10T16:09:52.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18593" CreationDate="2017-10-10T23:41:04.730" Score="4" ViewCount="815" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our neighbor's cat visited. It has already been there for about three weeks, and it has black stuff coming out of its nose and on the sides of its eyes. It started with only its eyes, so we thought it was only eye boogers since it's a purely white cat, and we've seen that a lot in white cats. Also, the neighbors didn't do anything about it. I'm not taking it to the vet yet, because it still doesn't seem like something big now that it's been for three weeks and the cat is acting normal. I may take it, though, if I discover it needs it. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the lack of sunlight maybe. The picture will be shown below in case I'm not clear enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem here is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We cleaned around its eyes with Q-Tips, but it keeps coming back. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After around 3 weeks MY cat started getting it at the sides of its nose, which is really getting me concerned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if it was some kind of sickness and was contagious, why did my cat only catch it after 3 weeks? Can it somehow be contagious to people? What damage can it cause to the two cats? If I clean their noses (and eyes) with anti-bacterial soap (really carefully,) will it still come back? I'd most definitely appreciate the help, provided details of coarse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has been costing us a lot for some time, and it's getting on our nerves. If there are any home remedies to solve the problem I'd be working on the cats 24/7, I don't mind. I just hope to get the this done without having to pay much, although if it's necessary I may have to. I have no idea what this is and I'm starting to get worried. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, the first cat to have it had it only on its eyes, and I'm starting to think it was only on one at first but not really sure. But then got it on the sides of its nose as well. My sister told me it had a somewhat of a fever (she isn't a veterinarian or the sort) every now and then, but she doesn't feel it any more. The two have diarrhea but not major. They are happy and acting normal, playing together like nothing's there. And finally the MOST important fact, I suspect my cat is pregnant--she started having this for two days now. Can this affect her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qiISR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T10:12:29.280" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T10:12:29.280" Title="Does my cat have an infection?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18592" CreationDate="2017-10-11T05:37:44.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my cat Trine.&#xA;As you can see, she has the same type of secretions in her nostrils, and she has no infection, so this is normal. Sometimes it is more, other times it is less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should look for is if it is red (blood) or green/yellow (infection,) and if it is, you need to contact your vet for possible treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the same with eye gunk. If it is yellow/green, you need to take your cat to a vet for treatment.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fbm0k.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fbm0k.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:29:27.590" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:29:27.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18569" CreationDate="2017-10-11T06:16:39.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so first off spL144s aren't the easiest of the Ancistrus to breed BUT you will NOT want to add any other kinds into the mix, to ensure proper breeding. Hopefully both your males and females all came from the same place, to ensure this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question YOU CAN BREED THEM WITHOUT TUBES. But will need to build &quot;caves&quot; somehow, as they only breed in caves. It is genetically Incorporated into their instinct to protect themselves, their eggs, and their spawn, by breeding in caves. I will go through a short list of things you will want to use as caves, instead of the ugly breeding tubes, that you will want to have a combination of. The second portion of my answer elaborates on the best conditions you can try to make possible in your tank, to increase your chances of breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For caves, you will want slate or large flat rocks to build your own cave. Stack them, and lean them against each other in a manner that allows an opening for them to get in and out of and the inside should be snug enough that little light reaches inside. Pic below, dark blue-ish grey slate, pieces together and glued with aquarium glue (common product in fish stores that sell reef tank products). Strive for almost complete darkness. Using aquarium glue (waterproof and fish safe) may help to create that darkness- see pics. You can either make the opening on the bottom, side of the cave OR a small hole at the top (although this option let's more light in, depending on your rocks or slate this might be the easiest, although less ideal). If you choose to have the &quot;door&quot; or opening on the side, make sure you have two caves like this, one facing the back of the tank and one facing forward, so they have more options. They may feel safer going to the back door than the front, where there's more activity aka more threats. See pic of terracotta pots with front and back opening.  Put driftwood in your tank. Also lean pieces up against one another in a manner that creates a dark space for them. Normal off-the-shelf decor - if you can find a terracotta cave in your pet store, these are good options too. Some decorations are even painted black on the inside, which will help to keep lights out as well. Pics below of a few decorative cave options pre-built.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General condition recommendations: &quot;Breeder tanks&quot; aka long tanks are best for producing young. 10 gallons are difficult. The easiest are 20 or 30 gallon tanks. You can do larger but you want lots of interaction between males and females, so the larger the tank, the more of them you'd want in there - best to stick with 20-30 gals, but bigger isn't impossible. 10 gallons is just harder to offer multiple caves. These fish have a very high protection trait when breeding, which also means you'll get best results if you breed in a separate tank than with other fish. You will want at least two or three females per male. An ideal breeding situation would be two males per five females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want a sponge filter OR need to wrap netting around the intake of your filter to keep eggs and young from being sucked up (I breed fish and use the net option, because it's cheaper that buying an additional filter), but if you need to get a new filter for your set up anyways, try a sponge filter! Your tank needs high light (during daytime only) and a heater at all times, kept between 77-80°F. Use little or no substrate on the bottom.  I prefer a thin layer of substrate, either sand or small sized gravel because the reflection of the light bouncing off the bottom glass can spook fish AND because it's cleaner and prettier. BUT if you choose no gravel (so babies and eggs don't get lost or crushed in substrate) put black or natural colored paper, cardboard or aquarium backing under the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed high quality algae disks; look for one that includes spirulina, and even better if it also says it has veggies in it. Supplement with real veggies; rinse, cut into 1/2&quot;-1&quot; sized pieces, and blanche zucchini and cucumbers. Blanching them keeps them from floating. Check and keep up with tank quality. They can thrive and breed fine in hard or soft water, and a pretty wide pH (6.4-7.8), but you want your pH and hardness to STAY consistent to reduce stress and change. Keep the water CLEAN, 10-20% water changes 1-2x/week until eggs are laid, never moving caves. If you do a 20-25% water change 1/week, you'll be less likely to disturb their routine, but still keep the tank clean enough. You are not likely to produce eggs and spawn if your ammonia spikes, and is just unhealthy anyways whether breeding or not. Always turn lights off at night, and try to have regular feeding schedules too. When you start feeding veggies (especially important to give after eggs hatch) remove after 8ish hours. People say 4, but not all fish have discovered the veggies in time to get much snacking out of them. I'll drop veggies in before I go to bed, and take them out in the morning, which may work for you too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GCzq3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GCzq3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;can be purchased this way or achieved similar with slate and aquarium glue&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qIiFA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qIiFA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Terracotta cave, double door&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EpKIK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EpKIK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Do it Yourself caves built&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6A70U.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6A70U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;decorative caves/rocks&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NDh6f.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NDh6f.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;decorative and terracotta cave available in most stores&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ykd8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ykd8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Decorative cave&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:31:31.283" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:31:31.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18602" CreationDate="2017-10-11T07:02:12.467" Score="7" ViewCount="1107" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short version&lt;/strong&gt;: A neighborhood kitten has decided it likes our place. How do we teach it that it doesn’t live here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer version&lt;/strong&gt;: We have two cats. Neutered females from the same litter, about 3 years old. They are indoor/outdoor cats, but we do not have a cat door – we let them in and out on their request and often a door is just left open. They are fed wet food – again, when they request it – and have dry food available for nights and when we are not home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another family on our street used to have three cats, but over the last few years, two of them died. They have now gotten two kittens to replace them. That is, they have two new kittens and one older cat. Their cats are also indoor/outdoor cats, but they have a cat door. Their cats have food available at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, one of the kittens (female – don’t know if she is neutered) showed up at our place. Not knowing where it belonged, my husband gave it a bit of food (probably a mistake) to make it keep still while he took a picture for our local facebook page to find out if anybody missed it. The owners responded that it was theirs, but several other people replied that it had also visited them. Turns out this kitten likes to wander – and quite far, too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has since made visits to us very regularly, often several times a day. If doors are open, she will enter and go straight to our cats’ food (she will eat remaining wet food first and then the dry food after, if we don’t stop her). Even if there is no food, she will seek us out as she is very social. She will jump up and lie next to us on the couch or on the desk, if we are working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all humans involved where adults, this would not be a problem – she could go back and forth, as she pleased. However, the kids in the owner family obviously want their kitten to be at their house, not at ours, so we agreed that we would try to prevent her from getting in to our house and keep her out of our cat food. Surely, she would then go home!? Not so much… she would meow outside the windows for a while and when that didn’t work just lie there. Outside the windows. In the rain. For hours… So next we agreed that I would text the family whenever the kitten showed up and they would come get her. That is what we are doing now, but the kitten still shows up. She is super happy when her people come for her, but still goes to our house instead of going home on her own. The owners try to keep her in for a while to teach her where she belongs, but they cannot completely close of the cat door because of the older cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated, she has food available at home, and she knows how the cat door works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our own cats are not too fond of the kitten: they hiss and meow at her angrily, but they do not swat at her or bite her. If she gets within a couple of feet of them, they will simply walk away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The owners have suggested a next step would be for us to spray water at her. We have done this with our own cats to keep them from scratching the furniture, but I feel a bit bad about doing it to the kitten – I’m not sure it would understand why it is being sprayed water at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Including the first time my husband fed her, she has probably eaten here 3-4 times (the other times by simply walking into the house when the door was open). The jumping onto the couch/desk was one day – the day we realized she felt so much at home that we had to talk with the owner family to find out what they wanted us to do. Trying to keep her out of the house and texting the owners has gone on for about a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have suggestions to what else we can do to make her understand that she does not belong at our house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: please do not make this about allowing cats outside. That will not be changed for any of the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; Here, a few months later, this is how things have developed. For a while it seemed like ignoring the kitten helped (from facebook we gathered that she found other neighbours to visit), but then she started returning again. Her constant visits bagan stressing our own cats a great deal, so in the end we resorted to spraying her with water. This was actually pretty efficient, and soon she stopped coming by. We know from the owners that she has a bit less wanderlust now, but still doesn't hold back from entering the houses of other neighbours - but we haven't seen her at our house for well over a month now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10562" LastEditorUserId="10562" LastEditDate="2018-01-04T11:26:56.893" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T11:26:56.893" Title="How to make neighborhood kitten understand it doesn't live with us" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18596" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-11T07:19:56.150" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;To follow up on a previous question of mine and some information provided in an answer there (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18569/ancistrus-breeding-in-rock-pile&quot;&gt;Ancistrus breeding in rock pile&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What Ancistrus is the easiest to breed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reasoning around this would be that the cheaper they are, the easier they are to breed (hence the price). So the pet store price should be a pretty good indicator, no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10538" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T07:19:56.150" Title="Easiest Ancistrus to breed" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18486" CreationDate="2017-10-11T08:27:52.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my experience having a short time of taking care of a discus cichlid is I used to feed them at least 3 times a day with a Beefheart since they are around 2-3&quot;. After they eat the Beefheart, I will clean it up to avoid rotten food inside the tank and maintain the water quality. I don't rely on my filter. I am using a DIY filtration. I've seen them grow within 3-7months around 3-4&quot; but I sell them to a friend because I fell in love with the Cichlids of Lake Tanganyika.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing I learned from doing a research before I bought this Discus is the water quality. You need to use a high quality of water since I live in South East Asia, there are a lot of us selling a gallon of water that used people for drinking, that is the water that I used for my discus tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maintain a high quality of water, I do a water change at least 4-5 times a week with 10-15% water change but it is up to you if how do you maintain but on my side, I was kinda OC and I want to maintain a high-quality water and a clearer view of my tank with the Discus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10116" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T08:27:52.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18422" CreationDate="2017-10-11T08:49:37.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been in this case before around 3 years ago. The only thing I did before was moving it to a different location where my tank won't exposed by any light that came from the sun. I didn't have to use any items since it's kinda a waste of money if there any solutions that you can just do without spending a money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can check my answer on the link &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/18591/10116&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/18591/10116&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just try to move it to another location and observe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10116" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T08:49:37.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18601" CreationDate="2017-10-11T10:43:20.377" Score="1" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever any new person comes to home, my cat would keep sniffing the person and more so his/her clothes for several hours. Similarly if any new furniture or bag is brought my cat would keep sniffing for several hours. Why is it that my cat keeps sniffing anything new?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:44:06.287" Title="My cat sniffs any new furniture, person, bags, etc. for several hours" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18600" CreationDate="2017-10-11T11:06:40.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smell is a much more significant sense for cats then it is for humans, they have in far more smell receptors in their noses than we do &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; there is the vomeronasal in the upper mouth as well. So their olfactory view of the world is much more detailed and complete then ours is, and they use it for communicating, for recognition, for hunting, for defense, for bonding the list goes on!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if something changes in their environment or something new is added getting a comprehensive overview of it's scent is one of the first things they do and it's totally normal. As for the length of time they sniff for well depending on how complex or interesting the scent is that process can take a while. I'm not sure how accurately you've tracked it to get your &quot;several hours&quot; figure but I've seen mine give something interesting a good sniff on-and-off for in excess of an hour certainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:06:40.283" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18595" CreationDate="2017-10-11T11:26:47.973" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep on doing it the way you do it now&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion you do everything right. Just give her more time to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we agreed that we would try to prevent her from getting in to our house and keep her out of our cat food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the first and most important thing. Don't give her any food, don't let her in. If she does not get what she wants (food and company), she may stop coming to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Surely, she would then go home!? Not so much… she would meow outside the windows for a while and when that didn’t work just lie there. Outside the windows. In the rain. For hours… &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That can happen. She accepted your home as her home and does not want to give it up. Be consequent. Even if it rains very much, don't let her in. She can find a dry place if she needs to. Her real home has a cat door. And it is in the neighbourhood. Try to ignore her or call the owners (as you already do). Never open the door and let her in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Including the first time my husband fed her, she has probably &lt;strong&gt;eaten here 3-4 times&lt;/strong&gt; (the other times by simply walking into the house when the door was open). The &lt;strong&gt;jumping onto the couch/desk was one day&lt;/strong&gt; – the day we realized she felt so much at home that we had to talk with the owner family to find out what they wanted us to do. Trying to keep her out of the house and texting the owners has gone on &lt;strong&gt;for about a week&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it right that the cat was inside your house about 5 times? That is not much. She came to your house everyday in a week since you started to text the owners, right? That is not much time, too. Give the cat some time. She will learn that you don't let her in anymore. And if she did not go home when it was raining, spraying her with water will not impress her very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some general things at last:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat is a very independent pet. Their territory often stretchs for miles. They even may have more than one homes. And that is not only because of the lack of food or because they don't have a nice home, it is in their nature. Even wildcats have multiple shelters and sleeping places near to their hunting ground. So it may well be that if the cat recognizes that she can't come anymore into your house for food, company or sleeping, she still will wander through your garden and may find a new home at other neighbour houses. The owners have to accept that. It is  not possible to control the territory of a cat which is allowed to be outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:26:47.973" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18600" CreationDate="2017-10-11T11:44:06.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several hours of sniffing is more than just the time a cat needs to analyze the smell of a new furniture. But it is possible that the cat reacts to the smell of it. Every cat has smells they really like and they hate. And this can vary from cat to cat. Some cats really like the smell of solvents or glue (and some hate that). So it is possible that your cat loves the smell of new furnitures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T11:44:06.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-11T14:49:34.120" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed my dog has fleas I've noticed about 5-6 fleas running around her belly we have problems with cat in the yard so I put it down to this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used bob martin flea killer. And about to bomb every room out incase they're in my home too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I know they're gone for sure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10565" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-12T01:55:50.953" LastActivityDate="2017-10-12T01:55:50.953" Title="How do I know my dog fleas are gone" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-10-12T08:04:33.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-11T16:41:03.007" Score="2" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female dog keeps peeing inside at night, always at the same spot, in the middle of the living room, 2 meters from her own bed. I don't understand why and here are some details of the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 years old, weighs around 17kg, healthy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rescue dog, comes from Romania where the pound has probably been tough with her. Been transferred to an animal shelter here in France when she was 1 year old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very fearful, any sound or sudden move can make her scamper away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not aggressive, not dominant (humans nor dogs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has been with me for only 4 months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note :&lt;/strong&gt; She pooped/peed inside the first weeks at home, but then she stopped for months. It's been 3 to 4 weeks since she started peeing inside again. I've tried to take her out at 22:00 until I actually see her peeing, then reward her, then empty her bowl of water before going to sleep. When I wake up at 07:00 she did it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice from behaviorists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Last night I tried to make her sleep inside our room. I saw that technique on Youtube (dogs don't pee if it's too close from where they sleep). It worked so I am probably going to keep it that way for a few weeks. I'll keep you posted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10566" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:31:16.910" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T08:31:16.910" Title="Female dog keeps peeing inside at night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15297" CreationDate="2017-10-11T20:05:10.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is only 5 months old so take my advice with some grain of inexperience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, 9 hours seems like a long time to be alone for. She’s 18 months old, so in theory can hold it but that’s not necessarily the case in all dogs. My wife &amp;amp; I both work so we hired a dog walker to come in the middle of the day to feed/poop our dog. Our dog walker can play with her, tucker her out and then crate her. Then I come home a few hours later and keep her routine going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if she does eliminate then punishing her isn’t doing anything. She doesn’t know what punishment is; and all you might be doing is encouraging her to eliminate when you’re not there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure you clean your floors after your puppy eliminates. The scent might linger and could encourage her to keep going in the same spot. Dogs work off of smells!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10568" LastActivityDate="2017-10-11T20:05:10.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-12T00:12:51.717" Score="5" ViewCount="1372" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat pooped on my bed last night and a few days ago my sister noticed he vomited on the floor. He's a little over a year and usually goes out in the garden to poop. We haven't changed the kind of food we give him, but up until now there was always someone home to give the cats food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now with school starting they get food at around 6 am and then again not until 3 pm; could it just be him reacting badly to the sudden change in the feeding schedule? Or that he ate too much too quickly? Could it point to something more serious? Up until now he hasn't been sick and he's acting pretty much like usual, maybe only a bit strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10569" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T04:23:02.797" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T16:52:50.623" Title="My cat vomited and pooped in the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15297" CreationDate="2017-10-12T05:43:43.267" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I punish her by raising my voice and shwoign her to pee/poop and she knows the punishment is coming when I get home...but does it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This. Does. Not. Work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The dog knows that when you come home you will be angry. The dog knows you will show it the poop. The dog does NOT know you are angry about the poop, it just knows that for inexplicable reasons you go to see the poop with it when you come home and are angry, for reasons the dog does not understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the answers that the time alone is just too long, so: yes, a dog-walker is the way to go :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-10-12T05:43:43.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18578" CreationDate="2017-10-12T15:37:04.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I doing it right? Is self-feeding a good/viable option? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not every cat is equally adept at self-regulating their food; but I expect a vast majority of cats to be able to learn this skill if they do not already have it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because he's a rescue, he's more likely to eat all that he can, because a cat in the wild is never sure when the next meal is going to arrive. It might take him longer to learn how to self-regulate, but he should still be able to learn it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the last month approximately, he have been trying to teach him to self feed, giving him all his 3 meals together in the morning (7am, maybe 9-10 the weekends), but he always eats everything before 12am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat has likely become reliant on your suggested meal sizes. If the three meals you've been giving him have been on the small side for him (where he always wants to eat the whole thing), then your cat likely has unlearned to gauge how much they should eat in single sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is very likely to overeat if you suddenly start giving him a large bowl. Just like how a child who is given free access to the candy cupboard will eat candy at a record rate (until they feel sick, at which point they learn to not gorge themselves). Just like that child, your cat will need to learn a new skill: keeping leftovers so that he can eat them later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's normal for him to struggle with it at first. Every creature needs to make some mistakes, so that they can then learn from their mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then for the rest of the day, he keeps asking for more, yet again, can't tell if he is hungry or just likes food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact he asks for food proves to you that he hasn't learned to self-regulate. He should've been smarter and left some food in his bowl so that he can eat it now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not feed him&lt;/strong&gt;. The inconvenience of feeling hungry is supposed to be the incentive for him to learn self-regulation. If he self-regulates, then he won't feel hungry.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you feed him, you preclude him from having to learn from his mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's been a few days, and he still hasn't learned, maybe you should intervene. The problem with consistently overeating is that it stretches your stomach. If your stomach stretches, then you need &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; food in order to feel full. Consistently overeating can lead to your cat being able to easily eat the whole meal in a single go, which makes it harder for him to learn how to keep leftovers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you go back to the old feeding schedule, you're again putting him in a situation where he doesn't need to learn self-regulation, which is also not good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;If&lt;/strong&gt; you suspect his stomach has already stretched, it might be beneficial to go back on the three-meal-plan for a short while, so his stomach can get used to eating smaller portions again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Solution 1 - Free, but requires training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serve him all the food, but use two bowls, and cover one bowl so that he cannot eat it. Ideally, a transparent cover, so that your cat &lt;strong&gt;sees&lt;/strong&gt; the food and knows that it is there.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;You could also use clear plastic containers with lids, in case your cat is clever enough to lift a cover.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he asks for food later in the day, simply remove the cover from the bowl, giving him access to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It subtly suggests to the cat that &lt;em&gt;the food was there all along&lt;/em&gt;, which should eventually make them realize that they have the ability to leave food for their future (hungry) selves. How quickly he learns this depends on the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Solution 2 - Costs $20 but works well&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought our cats a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00D3NI31Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;food maze&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71LagQBO3vL._SL1500_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71LagQBO3vL._SL1500_.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that you put food in the top, and your cat needs to push the food through little holes, so that it drops down and will eventually land in the dish on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is that it costs &lt;strong&gt;effort&lt;/strong&gt;. When he's hungry, your cat will be more than happy to spend that effort to get food. However, when he's not that hungry anymore, the food will no longer be worth the effort, and he'll stop eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was apprehensive of this; I figured that any cat who is determined to finish their bowl will be equally determined to empty the cat maze. But I have to say that I was proven wrong, because it did wonders for our cats. The friends who suggested the maze to me have had equally good results with their cat (who is left by himself for a day more often, and thus needed to self-regulate).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been days where I've poured in too much food by accident, and I've noticed that a larger pile lasts for longer, so they're not eating more than usual just because they have access to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that I realized at a later stage is that when you put enough food in the maze, then the initial food is easy to get (a simple swipe will make many pieces drop), but it takes more and more effort to get food when the maze is nearly empty (because you need a precision swipe just to get a few solitary pieces).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This again incentivizes the cat to stop eating afte a while, and come back when he's sufficiently hungry (and therefore sufficiently willing to put in the effort).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-10-12T15:48:07.413" LastActivityDate="2017-10-12T15:48:07.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-13T10:23:02.390" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a pair, and they hatched 4 chicks in first clutch &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would I need to know about care of the chicks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10575" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-10-13T16:58:54.630" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T12:47:22.107" Title="My cockatiel gave birth to 4 babe in first cycle, need to take care of it, please educate me?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2017-10-13T16:33:35.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog's paw pads are in good condition, they will help prevent your dog from slipping, just like your feet do.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog's pads are hard, apply some pad wax (it's called wax, but is more like a moisturizer to restore the rubber-like quality of the pads).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the hair between your dog's pads is trimmed so the dog is not walking on hair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your dog's nails trimmed so it's walking on it's pads and not it's nails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk slowly with your dog on the laminate flooring until your dog gains confidence that it can walk on laminate without slipping.  Like skiers, your dog may have to, through use, strengthen the muscles that keep its legs from splaying on a slippery surface. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10577" LastActivityDate="2017-10-13T16:33:35.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18616" CreationDate="2017-10-13T18:42:10.780" Score="8" ViewCount="1254" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a stray cat a little over two weeks ago; she’s about a year old. She's a total house cat, but she was very skinny when rescued so we have no idea how long she spent in the streets. Now that she’s settled in and is at a healthier weight, we’re trying to figure out whether there’s a strategy to calm her food anxiety/aggression, which manifests itself in the following ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She follows me into the kitchen every time I go there and begs for food, even if she was just fed. If I’m just there doing dishes for 30 minutes, she’ll pester me non-stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She gets defensive when you pick up her food/water bowl, particularly if it’s not empty; she tries swat at my leg when I change her water because she thinks I’m taking it away. She used to aggressively guard her bowls when we first got her and would run over to them if you so much as looked in their direction, but she’s eased up on that significantly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It’s difficult to reward her good behavior with treats because she gets so obsessed with finding where the treat came from and I feel like that negates any learning that the “reward” was supposed to elicit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weirdly, she seems to be doing ok with self-regulating her portions. She generally munches on wet food throughout the day instead of eating it all at once, unless it's her favorite flavor. I free-feed her dry food and find that a 1-cup scoop lasts about 2.5 days (both wet &amp;amp; dry are Wellness). We haven’t had any issues with her eating non-food items, and if she sees us eating something she’s not interested in, she doesn’t beg. The vet found no health issues or parasites, but she’s not spayed yet. She’s the only pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our long-term strategy is just giving it time, patience and not giving in to  begging, but I’m wondering if there’s anything we should try in the short-term to help calm her down. For example, would it be more effective to just move all her food to the kitchen so that there’s always food there (she currently has all her food in her room)? Any ideas are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10578" LastEditorUserId="10578" LastEditDate="2017-10-14T15:03:02.587" LastActivityDate="2019-11-17T15:26:04.657" Title="Food anxiety in former stray cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-13T23:45:26.270" Score="8" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 year old female Pomeranian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take her out for a walk to a nearby park in the neighborhood every now and then. But in various occasions, when leaving home, she appears to be terrified even though there is literally no threat I can observe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, I walk her out anyway (sometimes I have to lift her up) - and whenever she is afraid I know it's because there are dogs in the garages of the neighborhood houses. It's interesting because you have to walk quite a distance before you can see the dogs, so it's like she can smell them from far away or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, her fear doesn't seem to be irrational either: &lt;strong&gt;every single dog&lt;/strong&gt; will bark and snarl at her from the garages. Small and big, male and female, they all seem to hate my pomeranian for some reason. And my dog knows!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes this especially weird is that I've seen people walking their dogs around the neighborhood and they don't get the same treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not just garage dogs - dogs that are being walked at the same time also seem to dislike mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Funnily, I've found two stray dogs that are not aggressive against mine and surprisingly my dog is not afraid of them either (not even her sixth sense seems to kick in). It's really weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason I have always avoided letting her interact with &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt; dogs in fear that they'll attack her or something (they look angry and my dog is clearly afraid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does this happen, and am I overreacting? Should I let my dog interact with them and see what happens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="329" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T15:34:59.733" Title="Why does every single dog seem to hate mine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18613" CreationDate="2017-10-15T09:03:52.437" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Time is the key really, if she spent long enough on the streets struggling for food that her weight had dropped substantially below &quot;normal&quot; for her then it's going to take some time for her to relax about it and trust that food really is coming on a regular basis, not &quot;going away&quot; again and she doesn't have any competition for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are doing the right things, feeding her at regular times will help and as you say not giving in to begging. Stick with it and over time (possibly weeks-months) she'll probably start to relax about it a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-10-15T09:03:52.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18614" CreationDate="2017-10-15T16:47:50.247" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may be more factors involved, but to me it sounds like you have a rather complex feedback-chain going on there. If anything here seems totally NOT fitting with your experience, feel free to ignore the advice following my explanation of what I THINK may be happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with you and your dog starting the walk.&#xA;ONE of you, either the dog, or you, possibly both, are nervous about the walk, based on past experience. If you have a sensitive dog, she will pick up even very subtle signs. Seeing the way how you described the situation, youa re observant of your dog and other dogs, so her nervousness may easily transfer to yourself, too. The result is you start the walk in a state of mild, possibly suppressed and hidden, nervousness.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You reach the first dog, and he senses our nervousness. Now, among dogs, nervousness is a danger-sign. In addition, taking the strays as an example: I have seen SO many dogs that where tense and on the aggressive side on the leash but playful and happy when OFF-leash, it is almost crazy. It may really be a matter of tension-feedback between leashed dogs and their owners goign on between all the walking-pairs involved here. That strays react well is a sign that your dog is NOT the sole problem! Strays are usually tense with humans, but especially in areas with many strays, really well socialized in dog-on-dog-behavior!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, congratulations, both you and your dog are reinforced in your nervousness by the first dog you met acting aggressively! Nervousness and fear reinforced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, if any of this does NOT ring true with what you observe, I may easily be totally off with my advice. If it all fits, try this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link up with other dog-owners. Try to find a few people who know their dogs and have them well-trained. For a bit, try to find a route that avoids the garage- and random encounters as far as possible. Make sure when you start the walk, you are as calm and optimistic as you can be.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Arrange a meeting-spot with one of your partners. If your dog seems nervous at any point on the way: ignore, make her walk, DON'T lift her up. Lure her, distract her, push her. Try to avoid pulling on the collar, a tight collar is not a pleasant thing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When you approach the meeting-spot, give your dog time to spot the other dog. Ideally, the other dog is either on leash and NOT pulling and/or under good voice-control by it's owner. Then, let your dogs meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic idea is: you AND your dog learn that approaching other dogs is not always scary and a conflict. Every time this works out, that is awesome! Happily or at least meeting another dog? You are DELIGHTED with yours, showing her in praise, treats, whatever works for her.  The more you avoid bad meeting during that, the better.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Eventually, the training should keep random encounters calm, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. I know this is a lot of planning and work, but it sounds like you can pull this off :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: this is a lot longer than I planned on it being...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-10-19T18:12:51.420" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T18:12:51.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18619" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-15T20:56:59.410" Score="1" ViewCount="2775" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to get two hamsters and I would like to know how big the cage needs to be so they have plenty of space to eat,sleep,and play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10587" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-15T23:51:06.997" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T05:41:47.043" Title="How big should my hamster cage be?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-10-16T12:01:15.750" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18619" CreationDate="2017-10-16T05:45:38.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First: Depending on the species of hamster you will keep, you may need to limit yourself to one; many species are actually solitary and you will only keep fighting if keeping them together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the cage: Ideally, we are talking about 1m² ground floor, that's roughly 10ft², for one hamster. As there are few cages supporting that, so you may need to build yourself. Luckily, that is relatively easy AND usually cheaper than a decent bought cage.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Basic setup for a hamster-cage may look like this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U7nbd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U7nbd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Simple Hamster cage&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, basically:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A wooden box, one side open. Make sure the wood is coated against urine soaking in. (Thanks Christy B.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Acrylic glass on one side (just buy grooved strips to hold the acrylic. You can then remove the acrylic for cleaning the cage, too!)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Add a lid with hamster-proof wire.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Viola, you are all set up to keep a Hamster. Cost of this will vary depending on where you live, but considering most Hamster-cages are either too small or really expansive (or both....) it's worth the effort to make your Hamster happy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a building-base, you can also use a simple Cupboard, just make sure the backside is not one of the flimsy plywood-backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If building yourself is not an option, look into decent-sized aquariums. They work, too, but are a little harder to clean (no front-side to open up). Sadly... the moment Stores write &quot;Hamster-cage&quot; on something, 90% of the time it's NOT suitable for a Hamster due to size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T05:41:47.043" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T05:41:47.043" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-16T12:01:10.170" Score="4" ViewCount="5486" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on the internet regarding how to breed &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;, with the goal of feeding them to aquarium fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of these at large expense including having whole tank set ups just for the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be an efficient and cost-effective way to breed &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10205" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T11:42:33.940" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:14:58.973" Title="How do you breed Daphnia to feed to aquarium fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18623" CreationDate="2017-10-16T15:05:07.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't really have to do anything special, especially considering &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; aren't really anything exotic (you can find them in many ponds etc.) depending on where you live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very minimalistic setup is very easy to achieve – I actually did it for a simple test, because I was also very interested in the whole concept of having a somewhat stable water tank. You can also use this if you have plants you can't water using tap water, etc. It's also an interesting experiment for kids rather than using some kind of shrimps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the initial setup is pretty straightforward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a small tank or plastic box that may take 2-10 l (size is really up to you; my experiment here was a 5 l box meant for food storage). You'll want some way to close the top so nothing escapes. :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill it with aquarium water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put it on a windowsill or another sunny place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I added one or two tiny branches of chickweed for &quot;asthetics&quot;, but that's really optional.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't have plant bits from your aquarium, let it stay a few days in the sun. This gives algae some time to grow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have beach almond leaves, add a tiny bit to avoid fungi and bacteria growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add a few bladder snails (2-3 per liter are probably enough), ramshorn snails should work as well. The population will balance itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just feed the snails once every or every second day with regular fish food or tiny amounts of spirulina. If you use spirulina, make sure to not overfeed; ramshorn snails won't like the water dirty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From time to time add some fresh water and potentially some chalk (e.g. tabs sold for shrimp aquariums).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept of the tank is pretty simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sunlight causes algae to grow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snails eat algae and other food you provide.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; feed off &quot;dirt&quot; produced by the snails.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way you won't have to directly feed the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;, but you can create a stable and &quot;flourishing&quot; tank. If you prefer feeding the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; directly, basically do the same, but skip the snails and feed them drops of condensed milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic rule of thumb: While the water isn't clear, you don't have to feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her's a quick shot of my tank in early spring – just after feeding the snails). Most &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; were still inactive at the time, hiding between the algae on the ground. I thought they didn't survive the winter on the windowsill, but all emerged a few weeks later (unfortunately don't have any pics at hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K0gn6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K0gn6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Tank picture&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank will sooner or later become at least a bit green in some way. That's completely normal. You can remove excessive algae, but I'd always leave at least some for the snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T17:19:59.160" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T17:19:59.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18625" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-16T18:05:08.217" Score="1" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I make an aquarium air pump from a leaf blower, to aerate all my aquariums at once ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am planning to cover the output of the blower with a pvc end-cap (holes drilled in) and run air line tubing to the aquariums from the holes. Will this be efficient or practical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10591" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-10-16T22:26:47.837" LastActivityDate="2017-10-20T12:43:58.917" Title="Is it possible to create an air pump from leaf blower?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2017-10-16T22:37:22.450" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Karen Pryor&lt;/strong&gt; made clicker training popular with her book &lt;em&gt;Don't shoot the dog&lt;/em&gt;.  In it, after delving extensively in what it means to shape a behaviour with conditioned reinforcement, she &lt;strong&gt;lists 8 methods (&lt;em&gt;&quot;the only ones there are&quot;&lt;/em&gt;) to get rid of unwanted behaviour&lt;/strong&gt;.  The first four are more or less cruel (to yourself, in the case of #4), and the last four are more or less humane, but she states that every method has its place (except #2, punishment, which doesn't works—even when it seems to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also lists examples of every method for common situations, like dealing with messy roommates, barking dogs, irritable husbands, faulty tennis swings, aaaaand, cats jumping on the table, which I include next to her description of each method:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 1: “Shoot the animal.” This definitely works. You will never&#xA;  have to deal with that particular behavior in that particular subject&#xA;  again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Keep the cat outdoors or get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 2: Punishment. Everybody’s favorite, in spite of the fact that&#xA;  it almost never really works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Strike it and/or chase it out of the&#xA;  kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 3: Negative reinforcement. Removing something unpleasant when a&#xA;  desired behavior occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Put cellophane tape, sticky side up, on&#xA;  the kitchen table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 4: Extinction; letting the behavior go away by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Ignore the behavior. It will not go&#xA;  away, but you may succeed in extinguishing your own objections to cat&#xA;  hair in your food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 5: Train an incompatible behavior. This method is especially&#xA;  useful for athletes and pet owners.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Train the cat to sit on a kitchen chair&#xA;  for petting and food reward. An eager or hungry cat may hit that chair&#xA;  so hard it slides halfway across the kitchen, but still the cat is&#xA;  where you want it, not on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 6: Put the behavior on cue. (Then you never give the cue. This&#xA;  is the dolphin trainer’s most elegant method of getting rid of&#xA;  unwanted behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Train it to jump up on the table on cue&#xA;  and also to jump down on cue (this impresses guests). You can then&#xA;  shape the length of time it has to wait for the cue (all day,&#xA;  eventually).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 7: “Shape the absence”. Reinforce anything and everything that&#xA;  is not the undesired behavior. (A kindly way to turn disagreeable&#xA;  relatives into agreeable relatives.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat gets on the kitchen table: Rewarding the cat for periods of&#xA;  staying off the table is practical only if you keep the kitchen door&#xA;  closed when you're not home so the cat can't indulge in the behavior&#xA;  by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Method 8: Change the motivation. This is the fundamental and most&#xA;  kindly method of all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why do cats get on the table? (1) to look for food, so put the food&#xA;  away; (2) cats like to lounge in a high place where they can see&#xA;  what’s going on. Arrange a shelf or a pedestal higher than the&#xA;  tabletop, close enough so you can pet the cat, and offering a good&#xA;  view of the kitchen, and the cat may well prefer it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Karen says, &lt;strong&gt;almost everyone resorts to #2, Punishment, even though it's mostly useless&lt;/strong&gt;, for cats or anyone else, humans included: with or without social structure, with or without ingrained fear (how effective is the war on drugs?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, &lt;strong&gt;when the punishment is applied during the act, it can inadvertently work like #3, Negative reinforcement&lt;/strong&gt;: if &lt;em&gt;every time&lt;/em&gt; you do something you &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; get an annoying electrical shock, burn, water squirt or whatever, you'll quickly and forcibly relate the act with the punishment (Freud's association by simultaneity: neurons that fire together wire together) and you'll become a Clockwork Orange, reeling away from the act (and the punisher), though not as dramatically as in the movie.  Much (most?) of our behaviour already works by association: you already know not to put your hand in the fire;  just as well, it can be hard to walk over burning coals, even when you know they are (mostly) harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Karen herself used the bottle squirt to stop a dog from scavenging in the trash, but in a more sophisticated way: she put a few drops of vanilla extract in the water, so as to make its smell identifiable (and more annoying to a sensitive nose), and fired it (with a duly noted cringe) at the dog, and also at the trash cans.  After just a few &quot;association shots&quot;, the dog stopped playing with the trash —and eating vanilla ice-cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, every method has its place (except punishment/disciplining), but &lt;strong&gt;if you value your humanity, if not your furry friends' well-being, you could start from bottom to top&lt;/strong&gt;, even though the humane methods require more effort and creativity...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or rather, precisely because of that.  If you go through the effort of training your pet with positive reinforcement, you'll find out that it goes both ways, that it'll become more playful and creative, and even demanding of her needs, now that there's a clear way to communicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I have not been consistent enough to control my dog's barking with #6, but she just loves me to try... and specially, likes to figure out new behaviours —you can see the light bulb shine in her eyes when she gets it.  So, I'm delighted with the result, even if she still wakes me up at the middle of the night... (but we're making slow progress on that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process of behaviour shaping is &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; simple (you already use it, inadvertedly, when you clap, smile or scream &quot;well done!&quot;): you associate a word, noise or gesture to stand for &quot;you're doing good!&quot;, and every time your trainee does good, you use the signal (&lt;em&gt;event marker&lt;/em&gt;) and immediately stop the game to offer a reward (always, even if you used it by mistake!).  This works for anyone, from fish to children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whistles and clickers are very practical because they are loud, clear and hard to use by mistake (unlike clapping or saying &quot;good!&quot;).  You work in short sessions of around 20 reinforcements, or whatever your friend can get through without getting bored (try to end the sessions in a high note, specially a break-through, so she stays interested).  First you associate the signal with the reward with two sessions of using it and giving a treat.  Then you reinforce easy stuff, like looking towards your face, sitting or other tricks she already does, and build increasingly complex behaviour.  Two things that are hard to do right: this is a game of warm and cold where you shape (&lt;em&gt;reward&lt;/em&gt;) every step towards the desired behaviour. You must read the situation: sometimes she will learn to do something in a few steps; others you will have to reward every little improvement, or even backtrack;  then again, other times you will fool yourself thinking something happened when it didn't —&#xA;once I thought she had learned basic math, much alike that horse that could count... but only when his owner was around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this takes me to the second hard thing:  if you're trying to communicate to someone that doesn't speak your language —any of them!— don't talk, with words, face or body, unless it's an established or developing signal.  If you do, you'll just make things more confusing for her.  So keep a poker face, and body, and use only purposeful signals (including encouragement and reward words).  And I do mean poker: you have to watch for unconscious ticks as signals, or she will read and associate them, just like the genius horse, that knew when to stop counting by some minute signal that not even his owner was aware of doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Playing games like this, you both will get loads of fun and understanding, or even a therapeutic challenge in life, which can improve the mood of confined pets immensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't shoot the dog gives&lt;/em&gt; you a good idea of how and why reinforcing works, but even though it's peppered with examples, it's no step-by-step guide, so one of those could make it easier get started, if you wanted to try your hand at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(But naughty pet or not, &lt;em&gt;Don't shoot&lt;/em&gt; is a great read to understand our behaviour at its most basic level —fav takeover from the book: &lt;strong&gt;no one should try their hand at parenting without first training a chicken&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10593" LastEditorUserId="10593" LastEditDate="2017-10-18T04:08:57.147" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T04:08:57.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18625" CreationDate="2017-10-17T00:02:51.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, aquarium pump  = 2 psi, blower &amp;lt;&amp;lt; 0.1 psi. Pressure from the blower is too low by a couple orders of magnitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="9804" LastEditDate="2017-10-17T15:11:10.620" LastActivityDate="2017-10-17T15:11:10.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-17T01:57:30.063" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came home after work today to my baby guppy tank showing signs of sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 50% of them are gasping for air. I just did a 50% water change, after using my master kit, and seeing that my ammonia and nitrites were a little higher than usual, not toxic levels, but higher than I like to keep it. I have one corydora, and he seems to be fine, but  I'm not seeing OTHER signs of sickness. I do weekly 10-15% water changes, and about a week ago completely changed the gravel. My airater, filter and heater all seem to be working fine (78°F) and I do not see film, building eyes, spots or lacerations. I'm curious if dosing with an anti-parasitic AND a fungus medication will do further harm, being that I can't figure out the EXACT issue??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's strange that my ammonia would be higher than normal because I feed the same amount daily, and I never change my filter cartridges (just rinse everyone in a while) to keep healthy beneficial bacteria. My mind is blown and I don't want to lose my babies, but don't know what else I can do. I'm also at odds as to quarantine the ones that are at the top and JUST treat them, or to treat the entire tank, if treating them IS the general recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-10-19T18:11:46.130" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T10:32:57.387" Title="Does dosing a tank for sicknesses cause harm if I can't diagnose the illness?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18629" CreationDate="2017-10-17T04:38:24.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By changing the gravel you have removed an overly large portion of the bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop feeding and angle the water outlet from your pump/filter upwards to get more movement of water in the surface (to get more oxygen in the water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use some water from one of your other tanks when you change water if this is possible to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medicating the whole tank will kill the bacteria, so it is best to avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add some aquarium salt to reduce the effects of ammonia and nitrite on your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Test the water daily and start feeding the fish slowly when the water is normal. At first, start by feeding only once a week and if the water stays good, you can slowly increase the frequency of feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little about the two types of bacteria in the nitrogen cycle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bacteria &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; are the one converting ammonia to nitrite, they grow slowly and this is the reason it takes some time to cycle a fish tank. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosomonas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More details about &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; could be found on Wikipedia.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The other bacteria &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; multiply faster, but they need nitrite to live so they start to multiply when the nitrite is availiable in the water. These bacteria produce the nitrate, which acts as fertilizer for the plants. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrobacter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More details about &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; could be found on Wikipedia.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two types of bacteria form a layer, first &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; (they use CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;) and on top of them the &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; grows (they use oxygen - O&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information can be found in the two links provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T10:32:57.387" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T10:32:57.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18637" CreationDate="2017-10-17T16:31:14.477" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog possibly has a Campylobacter infection (unsure at this point, her stool is been tested) but is been treated for it with antibiotics. Problem is is that it is the second time in a month she has got it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was just wondering if it was possible for her to have picked it up from some kids she sometimes spends time with that I know do not wash thier hands after going to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10595" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T03:45:58.217" Title="Can dogs get Campylobacter infection from humans?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-18T10:29:47.837" Score="4" ViewCount="6871" Body="&lt;p&gt;What happened with me is very similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9359/how-can-i-remove-multiple-ticks-from-a-dog-quickly&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. My dog too got spayed in an Indian Government Hospital and now has ticks all over her body. That is not very troubling since ticks on the body can be removed easily but the big problem is that some ticks have found their way into the poor dogs ear which is very scary. I am currently unable to do anything about it because I am scared I might disturb her ear in some irreparable way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T10:29:35.827" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T10:29:35.827" Title="My dog has got ticks inside her ears" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18635" CreationDate="2017-10-18T12:15:43.687" Score="4" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;We want to move our 12-year-old cat from Korea to Australia. A year and a half ago, our vet said our cat was healthy, and the person looking after her in Korea says our cat is still healthy. But my girlfriend is worried that the cat is too old for the stress of moving countries. Supposedly, they cat will need to be caged in Korea for a month, before flying to Melbourne (24 hours total) and being caged in Melbourne quarantine for at least a week. There, she'll get needles for vaccinations, which freaked her out last time she got them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the chance her ears will be permanently damaged from the altitude of the flight? What is the likelihood of our cat dying? If she doesn't die, will her life be shortened by much from the stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T20:46:28.170" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T20:46:28.170" Title="Is 12 too old for a cat to move to Australia?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18634" CreationDate="2017-10-18T13:02:29.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a tough dilemma - and not one that has an easy or straightforward answer. For most breeds 12 is relatively old but not decrepit, flying however is stressful and scary for them and for some breeds that have pug-style noses it can carry significant risk of them experiencing respiratory distress. A thorough check from a vet who knows of the intended plan is crucial and will give you the best information possible about the dangers and risks for your particular cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In more general terms..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The airline used can make a big difference - some will allow them to be carried in the main passenger cabin which I believe makes is much less stressful and safer for them as the temperature and pressure are much more stable compared with the hold. If you can find an airline that will carry her in the passenger cabin this is probably the single biggest thing you can do to make it easier on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If she doesn't die, will her life be shortened by much from the stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stress of the whole experience would be my biggest concern. While unlikely to kill her outright (unless she has heart problems) prolonged periods of stress can cause knock-on health effects such as over-grooming or cystitis. Assuming she avoids all that then the stress shouldn't have any lasting impact on long term health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the chance her ears will be permanently damaged from the altitude of the flight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty low, unless there are already issues in that area she's unlikely to receive any permanent damage to her ears from the pressure changes - it's entirely possible that they experience a similar &quot;popping&quot; sensation to humans but since they can't communicate that it's hard to know for sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the likelihood of our cat dying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to know for sure, however based on some figures I found for US air travel ~2 million animals fly on commercial flights each year and in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/is-taking-your-pet-on-an-airplane-worth-the-risk-6241533/#uSXgQpWGYlkh53DL.99&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2012 a total of 29 pets died, 26 were injured and one was lost&lt;/a&gt;, so while the number that died isn't great when you put it into context of the total number that travel it's only 0.001% which is much more reassuring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T13:02:29.653" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18633" CreationDate="2017-10-18T15:53:05.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, I would recommend a Flea &amp;amp; Tick pill like &lt;a href=&quot;https://us.bravecto.com/for-dogs.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bravecto&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way the ticks will die without disturbing your dog's ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2862" LastActivityDate="2017-10-18T15:53:05.357" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18631" CreationDate="2017-10-19T03:45:58.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Camplyobactor is usually found in chicken or poultry. Particularly if it has not been cooked well enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's unlikely to have been transferred from the humans to the dog, it's more likely to be transferred in the opposite direction. It's most likely coming from something the dog is eating or drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/health+topics/health+conditions+prevention+and+treatment/infectious+diseases/campylobacter+infection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Campylobacter infection is spread&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eating contaminated food is the most frequent cause of this infection.&#xA;  Campylobacter is commonly found in raw or undercooked poultry meat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Occassionally other sources of infection include:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;infected individuals, particularly infants&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;household pets, especially puppies and kittens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;domestic stock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;raw milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;contaminated water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check all her food and water sources and if she has access to any garbage, or carrion, and don't give her raw poultry that is past it's used by date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T03:45:58.217" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18639" CreationDate="2017-10-19T13:22:51.293" Score="29" ViewCount="7803" Body="&lt;p&gt;In India today and tomorrow is the festival of Diwali. It is the festival of light and banned firecrackers over 90 dB sound are all too common. It can be compared to war zone in Syria with constant sound of high dB bombs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my cat is very afraid because of these sounds. It is quite stressful for my cat. How can I make my cat less stressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="10607" LastEditDate="2017-10-19T18:10:15.810" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T18:10:15.810" Title="How to keep my cat stress free during periods of constant 90dB+ sound?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18638" CreationDate="2017-10-19T14:10:55.317" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the UK so our nearest equivalent would be the fireworks displays during Bonfire Night and New Year's Eve so I'll base my answer on what I advise to do during those:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the cat indoors during hours where the fireworks will be set off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep all windows shut and curtains drawn to try and muffle the noise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the cat has easy access to their favorite &quot;hiding&quot; places - and if they go to one of these don't try and remove them as this will freak them out more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be extra vigilant when entering/exiting your home - a cat startled by fireworks may panic and run without considering direction and you don't want them escaping by accident&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider using a synthetic pheromone plug-in diffuser such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feliway.com/uk/Feliway-Range/Feliway-Classic&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt;, these work by releasing synthetic versions of the pheromones secreted by mother cats and they have a calming effect on the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T14:10:55.317" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18638" CreationDate="2017-10-19T14:16:23.453" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to let her be able to hide. Maybe make her a cardboard box and cover this with some thick fabric to dampen the loud noise. Normally cats get over it quite fast after the noises have stopped (at least my cats have calmed down rapidly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat will normally be more scared the first time this happens and it can take some time before she comes out of her hiding place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some vets give medication to cats before the noise starts (here it is new years eve). My vet gave me a pill for my cat but this made my cat lose control and made it harder for my cat to cope with the stress. I am not saying your cat will react negatively to medication but mine did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the fireworks start my cat hides under my bed and usually comes out about 10 minutes after it have stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is for you to stay calm and relaxed and let your cat hide and not force her out of hiding. She will come out from hiding within 1 hour after the noise stops normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-10-19T14:57:01.003" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T14:57:01.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18633" CreationDate="2017-10-19T14:32:21.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do not have access to a veterinarian to remove the ticks or are not able to remove them yourself I would suggest getting a veterinary approved tick preventative:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bravecto&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Advantix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nexgard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind once the ticks are done feasting they will fall off on their own, your dog will most likely shake them out as they have a hard time moving once engorged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 weeks post bite you will need to run a blood test to rule out tick-borne diseases such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyme&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/ehrlichiosis/symptoms/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ehrlichia spp.&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/anaplasmosis/symptoms/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anaplasmosis spp.&lt;/a&gt; The test we run yearly on our pets in North America is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.idexx.com/small-animal-health/products-and-services/snap-4dx-plus-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;4DX&lt;/a&gt;, it may be different in India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the future it is best to Keep your dog on tick prevention during the tick seasons to prevent you and your pet from getting bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T14:32:21.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18638" CreationDate="2017-10-19T15:08:02.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the type of cat you have the best course of action is to just be in the house and make sure your cat knows you are near(from time to time try caling him/her name), eventualy your cat will come out of hiding and come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10603" LastActivityDate="2017-10-19T15:08:02.483" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18625" CreationDate="2017-10-20T12:43:58.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, you simply don't. Depending on the species in your tank, you might not even need any extra air pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are special diffusors for aquarium pumps so the clean water coming back into the tank will help increase the water surface (which is all the air pump does). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are various variations, some letting the water sprinkle into the tank to take air with it (louder) or some work more like a paint spray gun (very silent, can work submerged as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-10-20T12:43:58.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18646" CreationDate="2017-10-20T23:38:37.977" Score="4" ViewCount="3305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my cats two years ago from the rescue centre and very little was known about them, the rescue centre says they were both two-years-old when I got them, but one &quot;seems&quot; to be older than the other (a few specks of grey hair and a less smooth coat - unsure if this means anything though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have extremely similar features so I'm wondering how to tell if they're sisters or even potentially mother and daughter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JxSCO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kIPX8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10619" LastEditorUserId="10619" LastEditDate="2017-10-20T23:44:35.417" LastActivityDate="2017-10-21T05:20:52.143" Title="How can I tell if my cats are related?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18644" CreationDate="2017-10-21T05:14:21.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;i think they are siblings but to be 100% sure you need a DNA test,for me they&#xA;look like they are from the same litter(same age and same collor patterns).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;they most likely have the same mother and father and you got them from the same place and at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the rescue center did say they where two years old when you got them and they look to me like they are of the same age(it looks like it is too little difference in their age to be mother and her kitten juding from the pictures from the rescue) if your rescue was true about the age of them they are siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the small difference in their size have continued juding from upper picture taken about two years after you got them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-10-21T05:20:52.143" LastActivityDate="2017-10-21T05:20:52.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18690" CreationDate="2017-10-21T10:10:18.310" Score="5" ViewCount="405" Body="&lt;p&gt;While finding a tick on your pet can be disturbing.  The larger concern is a disease being transmitted. How long does it take for tick to transmit a disease? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-10-28T15:57:46.483" Title="How long does it take a tick to infect my pet?" Tags="&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-21T17:50:29.623" Score="2" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have many aquariums each driven by individual air pumps, keeping them on 24x7 makes it bit expensive for me complying with the local electricity charges. I would like to make a single more powerful air pump to drive all the aquariums, in hope that it would consume less power than my existing system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware of such products being available in the market, such as this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ebay.in/itm/253209303238?aff_source=Sok-Goog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RESUN Air Pump Blower for Aquarium&lt;/a&gt;, however they go beyond my budget too !&#xA;It would be really helpful if you guys could suggest a DIY project for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10591" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T22:27:58.363" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T22:27:58.363" Title="DIY Aquarium air blower to run up to 20 tanks" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-22T06:14:35.370" Score="2" ViewCount="1304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a neutered tom as well as a neutered female and a (not for long) unneutered female kitten- all three strictly indoors. Over the past week or so, the tom has been getting increasingly agitated by something outside- the first night I noticed it, he was making that low cry for help cats make when you take them to the vet, and when I went out to check on him he crouched down and crawled towards me, as though scared of something outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever bothered him seems to be sticking around the area, as the tom now lies by the sliding glass door every night waiting to see if whatever it was returns- if it does, he makes a terrible furious screech and tries to attack it through the glass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night, he was so agitated that he didn’t recognise me at first when I went out to check on him and even hissed at me before realising who I was. What could possibly be freaking him out so much? I put up a trail cam in the backyard to try and catch whatever it is on camera, and at last night’s disturbance I thought I had gotten it- except, for some reason there were 0 photos on the SD card (despite the fact that we also have dogs- there should at least be pictures of them), so I’m out of luck on that front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be another tom, hanging around the house for the kitten perhaps? Or something more wild like a raccoon? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s very worrying and disturbing to see my cat so upset over something I can’t seem to see- any ideas of what it is would be of great help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10622" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-02T17:29:52.510" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T19:49:10.260" Title="My cat has been terrified by something outside at night, what could it be?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-22T14:48:21.780" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pregnant cat, she had some kind of parasites before, worms I guess. Call me irresponsible, but I really don't know which kind of parasites she had when I got her dewormed. She's been dewormed twice, and the vet confirmed me she's doing good. I'm happy my cat's doing well but I'm not so sure about the position of the new kittens. They aren't born yet, but I'd like to be ready for when they do. I'd need to wait two weeks after they are born to get them dewormed, but I'm thinking, since the mother is already dewormed does this mean there is a chance the kittens won't get these parasites? (if I keep their environment clean and all)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not I'd love it if you can explain why they get them. I already asked the doctor about it and she said ''MAYBE''.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-10-22T21:51:38.433" LastActivityDate="2017-10-22T21:51:38.433" Title="Can my kittens get worms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18648" CreationDate="2017-10-22T17:05:48.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your aquarium setup, i.e. the arrangement in relative height and (over)flow from one to another it might be interesting to consider a trickling filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that they have their downside like slightly increased production of NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; in comparison to other filter systems which might result in higher costs for water changes or more advanced forms of denitrification, but that's another discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following is a trickle filter for freshwater aquariums. They're are or were (controversy) popular for saltwater aquariums for which exist smaller and more multifunctional systems including protein skimmers which aren't necessary for freshwater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The system is very loud and needs to be placed with thought in a bedroom. It makes sense to let &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philodendron&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Philodendron&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'s root grow inside the filter and create an excellent denitrification/fertilization symbiosis&lt;SUP&gt;1&lt;/SUP&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chamber is a PVC dirt water pipe with media container in form of half open cylinders with holes in the bottom and separators. Chose a size for the container and the length of separators like you wish or depending on the easiest way to get supplies locally. I chose 15cm for the chamber diameter and 10cm x 5cm for 4 media containers (3 in the picture) with 5cm distance between the chambers and 10cm at the bottom to increase the settling of particles. The media container have approx. 200 1.5mm holes in them and you need as many as you can drill in order to increase the contact with air. A vertical drilling machine is extremely helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The media containers are socket plugs, the separators 3mm acrylic glass, cut with a table saw (if you don't have and can't find anyone who has, you'll have to find another separator which allows to leave water trickling as much as possible and hold the containers in position so that the water from the above container trickles down into the next one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OJV09.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OJV09.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drill holes into the sewer pipe to connect the tubes from the pump and two evacuations (extra one for security in case the main one is blocked in order to avoid water running output of the filter and flooding the room). Don't place the holes too low in order to avoid drilling into the socket plug which makes fixing tube connectors very difficult and don't place it higher than necessary because water will only flow out if it stands several cm above the hole and the bottommost container shouldn't be under water (notice the extra evacuation above the main one):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JXdMu.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JXdMu.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top should be open in order to increase the oxygen level inside the tube and the tube connectors should the connected with joints. The higher you place the bottom of the filter above the aquarium the fast the water flow out of it, but the lesser pressure will be on the incoming water at the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upgrade option: Window. It's helpful to check whether water is trickling as expected on all levels and furthermore might nice to observe the filter working. Therefore drill a few holes to be able to inspect the trickling between containers and the space at the bottom if you want (25mm min. in order to be able to see anything) and glue acrylic glass from the inside with silicon which has been shaped to match the pipes form. Acrylic glass can be shaped with a hot-air blower (hair dryer won't suffice) or in an oven. I'm about to finish this feature in the next weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can cut the separators in half and put more than one on each other in order to vary the trickling distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;1&lt;/SUP&gt; They're pretty popular and you probably know someone how can give you a piece of his or her plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T22:26:30.227" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T22:26:30.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18650" CreationDate="2017-10-22T21:49:46.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens have worms until proven otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some worms (such as roundworms) can be transmitted from mother to kitten through the milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other worms come from ingesting fecal matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other worms come from ingesting rodents or small prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tapeworms commonly come from ingesting fleas – and fleas are very common in kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you know the mother has had worms, make sure to find out from the vet what kind of worms. You can then make sure all the kittens are dewormed with an appropriate dewormer for this species of worms. Unfortunately it is impossible to say how likely it is your kittens will be infected without knowing the type of worms the mother had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intestinal worms are so common in kittens which is why deworming is a routine part of your kitten's initial vet visits. There is no one dewormer that will cover for &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; worms. There is still a fair chance your kitten will get worms even if the mother was dewormed and you keep the environment pristine – but this is why kittens are routinely dewormed multiple times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-10-22T21:49:46.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-23T08:42:19.957" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;my seven year old rabbit recently stopped eating as much as usual (he picks a little but not huge amounts). I thought it might be a cold of some sort because he has a runny nose. He has lost some weight. I began putting sugar in his water to help give him energy. He hunches in a ball when I remove him from his hutch, such as to bring in the house, but behaves normally in the hutch. This morning I noticed he had passed a mucous substance in his poo. There were balls of normal poo near it/attached to it. He is drinking as usual and I have seen him pass urine. My dad doesn't want me to take him to the vets as he is worried he will be put down, which I know I probably correct as I did some work experience there. He seems to have picked up over the past few days and seems at his healthiest however it's just the mucous stools that worry me. He is a fussy eater and will not touch any fruit or veg, he has hay but he uses that as bedding however I did notice him eating some. I was thinking he possibly went into gi stasis and the mucous built up due to a lack of cecotrophs. Because he has started eating a bit more now I thought it may be being pooed out because his intestines have some food in them again. Help would be greatly appreciated. He is missing his incisors however he could still eat and maintain a healthy weight before however unsure about molars as he hasn't been checked but I don't think it's dental as he was displaying symptoms of a cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T08:42:19.957" Title="Rabbit has mucous like poo" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2018-11-09T16:17:51.313" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-23T12:53:00.153" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog does not take a single bite of his food until he is hand fed and, since yesterday, he has stopped eating anything whether hand fed or not. I'm not able to understand what to do and even the vets said that there is no alternative available other than trying changing his dog food. Unfortunately, even that did not work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10626" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-10-23T14:11:13.283" LastActivityDate="2017-10-23T14:11:13.283" Title="My pug doesn’t eat until fed by hand" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-10-30T05:29:34.210" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18667" CreationDate="2017-10-23T16:20:33.780" Score="1" ViewCount="475" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has this weird behaviour where he will rub his eyes on objects. Like sharp objects some times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does this repeatedly. Sometimes for several minutes without stopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A video of him doing it on a sharp window handle (not that sharp, don't worry) &lt;a href=&quot;https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/289068/1805450/8cLboxQairixk3m/VID_20171024_000929.mp4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/289068/1805450/8cLboxQairixk3m/VID_20171024_000929.mp4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when I look at his eyes he looks fine :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/289068/1805450/tFmikMs7LhpJuMZ/IMG_20171024_001209.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/289068/1805450/tFmikMs7LhpJuMZ/IMG_20171024_001209.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/289068/1805450/QfKQxkX8ygZdKIs/IMG_20171024_001201.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/289068/1805450/QfKQxkX8ygZdKIs/IMG_20171024_001201.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I go to the vet ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10627" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-23T19:55:27.450" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T23:50:52.740" Title="My cat rubs his eyes on objects all the time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18710" CreationDate="2017-10-23T18:54:34.523" Score="5" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFom14oxSo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video #1 of the critters&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a separate tank that I want to use for breeding. Last week, I had my gourami breeding pair in there. But, then, my angelfish laid eggs on my glass cleaner, so I took the gouramis out and put the angelfish eggs in. The temperature is around 27 Celsius. The eggs all turned grey and none hatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now, I see these other critters on all the surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think they may be daphnia, water fleas. But I'm not sure, having never seen them before. So I'm looking for verification, or information on what they actually are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, could these critters have caused the failure of the angel eggs hatching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to get rid of these before I try to breed the gouramis again, or are they a good source of food for the breeding gouramis and their fry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like they could also be ostracod, copepod, or amphipod. It would help if I could get a better view of them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://goo.gl/H58dJa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video #2 of the critters&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been dosing the tank with yeast, as per fedding &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;. The critters seem to be doing well. They're not getting bigger, but they're active. After adding yeast the water clears up in two to three days. It's still not a certainty, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confirmed, these are copepods of the cyclops variety. I was able to borrow a microscope and take a look. Pictures for the pleasure of the reader:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uMYXF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uMYXF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IrLZm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IrLZm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vodAH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vodAH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T13:36:32.580" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T19:07:09.297" Title="What are these critters in my tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-23T19:25:27.063" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found maggots and beetles in my dried meal worm package. Are the meal worms still safe to feed to the bearded dragon and turtles with the live maggots and beetles present?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10628" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T05:45:05.903" Title="Maggots for turtles and bearded dragons" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18660" CreationDate="2017-10-24T05:49:20.263" Score="0" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no idea about homeopathy. However, I have seen many of my relatives and neighbors administering homeopathic medicine to their sick cat. I am wondering if this approach is right or wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2021-05-07T20:49:49.757" Title="Is homeopathic treatment proper for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18659" CreationDate="2017-10-24T06:30:10.953" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's worth remembering homeopathy in the Indian context is a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; strange, occasionally pulling in aspects of various native medicine, and well, some homespun oddness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Any&lt;/em&gt; alternative medical system, without a solid grounding in the species in question and used opposed to, rather in conjunction with modern veterinary science is a wee bit suspect to me. I wouldn't bet the life of my best friend on it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically speaking for anything that matters, though, homeopathy is basically completely useless. Ars Technica has (well many articles but this one specifically) &lt;a href=&quot;https://arstechnica.com/science/2007/09/the-pseudoscience-behind-homeopathy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; which I'll be drawing on for my answer. It's 7 pages - and that's cause this is a complex topic, even for a pop science website and it basically points out flaws in methodology in homeopathy believers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind homeopathy is you can dilute some substance with the same effect as the illness in water, to the point where it's undetectable, and that somehow helps the body heal itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... you're basically giving your cat water. Which is &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt;, assuming the cat needs a drink.  They claim it works cause water has memory. The water you drink has been through... well, dinosaurs, maybe Romans, Greeks. It might have floated through space as a comet. This wouldn't really work unless water has &lt;em&gt;selective&lt;/em&gt; memory, or somehow the most recent thing done to it matters somehow. Of course, none of this is scientifically provable (the article I linked talks about bad science there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd consider it pseudoscience, and it's unlikely to help outside making the owner feel like they're doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-07T20:49:49.757" LastActivityDate="2021-05-07T20:49:49.757" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15387" CreationDate="2017-10-24T13:13:00.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only real way to change your cat's (fixed) idea is to either &lt;strong&gt;disprove&lt;/strong&gt; it, or put the cat in a situation where it will &lt;strong&gt;prefer&lt;/strong&gt; to use the door without guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Don't starve, force or hurt your cat.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry about the bolded text, but this is essential. The solutions I'm listing are not intended to mistreat the cat in any way. However, when taken to the extreme, these approaches may become harmful to either the cat or the cat's opinion of you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Always take a measured approach and use your common sense&lt;/strong&gt;. Never lose your cool or try to &lt;em&gt;punish&lt;/em&gt; the cat. She's only doing what she thinks is right, she's not trying to be a nuisance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to inconvenience the cat. It's important that &lt;strong&gt;she makes the decision&lt;/strong&gt;. You can't make the decision for her.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Essentially, you want your cat to think that you're &lt;strong&gt;oblivious&lt;/strong&gt; to the fact that she finds your behavior inconvenient. You play dumb, so that &lt;strong&gt;the onus is on your cat&lt;/strong&gt; to change her situation into one that is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; inconvenient to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following are some ideas, not in any particular order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treats in front of the door&lt;/strong&gt;. You've already tried this, but have you tried sweetening the pot? Our cats used to be afraid to leave their room even though they had access to the whole house. One treat would not be enough to get them out the door, but five treats worked. I also noticed that it worked more often if you let the reward grow (treat by treat) instead of immediately giving a pile of treats.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take a lesson from Scooby Doo (and Shaggy), who usually haggled for more snacks before they would do what the gang asked of them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are clever enough to milk it and never come in until they get their bargained amount. If that is the case, once in a while, add a &quot;kill-counter&quot; to your process. Set a limit (e.g. 4 snacks). When that limit is reached and the cat is not cooperating, &lt;strong&gt;remove the snacks&lt;/strong&gt; and walk away. She will learn (after a few times) that she missed out on some snacks by trying to milk it for all she could.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead of walking away, when you reach the &quot;kill-counter&quot;, you could also simply let her inside &lt;strong&gt;without treats&lt;/strong&gt;. It teaches them the same lesson, they miss out. I think they'll learn faster if you just walk away, but you may prefer a softer approach.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An undesirable guidance from the human&lt;/strong&gt;. When your cat waits for your assistance, provide assistance in the least helpful way, without scaring or scarring the cat. It's a matter of &lt;strong&gt;inconvenience&lt;/strong&gt;. If you consistently provide assistance in a way that the cat would rather avoid your inconvenient assistance, then she might decide to walk through the door to avoid your unwanted assistance.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In essence, you're trying to convince the cat that it's nicer for her to let herself in, than it is to have you let her in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat hates being picked up, pick her up before you walk her through the door.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat dislikes a certain room of the house, pick her up and take her to that room whenever she needs you to let her in. Be consistent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go sit behind your cat and push her in. Try pushing in a way that's annoying but doesn't hurt the cat (e.g. pushing with one finger = hard poke)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If she's a playful cat, &lt;strong&gt;try to see if she breaks her own rules while playing&lt;/strong&gt;. Get a laser pointer (or any toy she likes). Have her chase it outside, and then have the laser go closer and closer to the door until it's inside. She may be caught up in her hunting instinct that she forgets her own cognitive rules (instincts tends to override cognitive thoughts)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Close the door&lt;/strong&gt;. Your cat may be indecisive about coming inside (both cats and dogs exhibit such behavior). By limiting the availability of the open doorway, you manipulate your cat into being more decisive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is a common &lt;strong&gt;marketing&lt;/strong&gt; technique. Pretend like there's only a few items in stock, and people will be urged to buy one while they still can.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We used to have a cat who would sit by the sliding door, but when we opened it to let her in, she did not move. My mother would leave the door open so she could come in when she wanted. When I was home alone for two weeks, I would give her 10 seconds, then I would close the door and ignore her for the next 10-15 minutes. No eye contact, no interaction. She never really lingered in the open doorway after a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The same cat was also indecisive to go outside. She would stand in the doorway, sniffing. I applied the same tactic, the door would only be open for a limited time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See who's more stubborn, the cat or you?&lt;/strong&gt; If you &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; show up to guide your cat, will she stay outside forever? Test it. See how long she's willing to sit by the door. You can remotely interact with her (calling her to you etc.) if you want, but &lt;strong&gt;ignore&lt;/strong&gt; her request for assistance. Play dumb and oblivious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to see if weather conditions make a difference (rain, cold, ...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't feel guilty about ignoring the cat. She's in front of an open door, refusing to come inside. Unless she has mental issues (e.g. pathologically fearful) or a bad house situation (e.g. afraid to come inside because of another pet in your house), you can expect your cat to be responsible for its own wellbeing. If it wants to be inside, it should just come inside. Staying outside is a choice that your cat is actively making, &lt;strong&gt;and she should bear the consequences of her decision&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not hurt your cat&lt;/strong&gt;. None of these ideas are intended to harm or terrify your cat. The goal of the exercise is to &lt;em&gt;inconvenience&lt;/em&gt; the cat, nothing more.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Hurting your cat will make her fear you or become hostile to you, which is not what you're trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not force your cat&lt;/strong&gt;. If your cat fights you in any way, let it do what it wants. Even in the worst case, she'll simply go back to sitting outside and waiting by the door, which puts her back at square one.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Forcing your cat will make her dislike you, which is not what you're trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not starve your cat&lt;/strong&gt;. It's acceptable to let her be hungry (e.g. miss a meal). It's not okay to repeatedly make her miss meals to a point of starvation. If your cat remains outside when she's hungry to an unhealthy degree, this suggests that the cat is adamant about not coming inside, and instead of letting her starve, you should investigate &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; she is so adamant about not coming inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-10-24T13:28:56.710" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T13:28:56.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15387" CreationDate="2017-10-24T14:57:45.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Flater said she may be indecisive, but she might be doing that only because she knows you'll come to her when you see her there meowing at that certain spot. If not, if she's really waiting for your permission, or can't figure out that she's able to go alone, you can put her some treats in the space between the inside and the outside (it would be beside the door this way) and put her some more to the outside and just watch her go straight out and vise versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said before it may be just to call you out of bed or where ever you are and come straight towards her. My cat does this at the bathroom door that has the litterbox in it. And sense we come every time to let her to her litterbox, she started meowing there only to hide in and try ambushing our hands that would be still on the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T14:57:45.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18664" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18678" CreationDate="2017-10-24T17:59:44.590" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a nail grinder for my dogs because they're big with big nails and nail clippers just don't do that good of a job. I have to admit that I have accidentally nicked a little too much off a few times before while still getting user to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the last time was almost a year ago (they are 1.5 years old now) and they never even freaked out back then and barely any drop of blood came out. Obviously, since then I've been grinding off much less every time and never had another accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the past few months, I don't know what's happening, but they just started flailing more than usual and one of them started complaining (not the high pitched whimpery sad whine, but more of complainy grunts) and opening her mouth like she plans on biting me - not baring her teeth, but just opens her mouth and puts it around my arm. I don't know why - I've been more than careful and I haven't hurt them trimming their nails in a long time. I don't even get to the soft part inside the nail before I stop grinding, so nowhere near the quick. I checked to make sure the dremel doesn't get too hot for them and stuff. And I always give them treats right before and after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are they being difficult? I'm truly concerned and this is saddening me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T20:03:01.417" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:03:01.417" Title="Why are my dogs getting progressively more scared of the nail grinder?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-24T18:09:37.310" Score="7" ViewCount="7657" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 73 yr old disabled lady. My son thought it would be a good idea for me to have a kitten. He bought a cross Maine Coon, 10 weeks old, now almost 16 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a beautiful kitten, when sleeping by my arm. But he won't let me pick him up, squirms to get down. Then he attacks me. My legs are scratched all over, along with my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's good to me, I stroke him and tell him what a good boy he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say &quot;No&quot; very firmly when he scratches etc. I have sprayed his nose. I've bought him lots of toys, scratching pole, which he doesn't use. I've bought a calming plug in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at the end of my tether. So upset. I feel a failure. I need help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10633" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-28T06:10:55.257" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T06:10:55.257" Title="My cat is biting and scratching me and diving at me with claws out" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18655" CreationDate="2017-10-24T18:24:00.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could see that around his eyes it's reddish. The left and right side of his right eye that is. So is it because of the scratching or is that some kind of rash? It seems you should go to a vet. Or at least try taking him a shower and clean his eye sides real careful with cat shampoo. Baby shampoo is also fine, however whichever shampoo you use you should be very careful not to put it in the cat's eye. If you think you can't do it then you should just take him to a vet already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T18:24:00.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18664" CreationDate="2017-10-24T18:35:35.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to try and make it a positive experience again, try treating before and after each nail, and talking to the dog in a playful, calming voice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T18:35:35.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-24T19:31:05.947" Score="4" ViewCount="1524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Betta fish and he is my first fish ever. I was planing on putting more fish in his tank, but I know Betta fish are aggressive to other fish. When I did some research, however, I found out that you can place some fish with the Betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best fish I can put with a betta? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My tank is 5.5 gallons (21 liters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10634" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:02:31.303" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:08:57.947" Title="What fish can I put with my Betta?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18669" CreationDate="2017-10-24T21:01:42.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How large is your tank and how is it setup? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Betas are hardly ever aggressive with any other fish except Betas. Typically females can be kept together, but males should be kept separate. Personally, I've never had a problem keeping a single male and a or multiple females in the same tank, but I have heard of this not working for some, so it should be done with caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest issue with betas is people often keep them in small containers or unfiltered bowls and tanks. Not getting into the discussion on whether this is humane long term, but most other fish cannot survive like this long term. Betas have a different respiratory system than normal fish, it's called a labyrinth organ, and it allows them to directly breath air. They are also able to handle temperature swings much better than most other tropical fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, if you can update and describe how your tank is setup, we can more appropriately answer the question with specifics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-10-24T21:01:42.183" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18669" CreationDate="2017-10-25T04:45:36.360" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta fish are aggressive and will eat other fish - including even species classified as &quot;semi-aggressive&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard some say that &lt;em&gt;Hypostomus plecostomus&lt;/em&gt; will do OK with Bettas, but when I attempted this, my Betta began attacking my &lt;em&gt;H. plecostomus&lt;/em&gt;. These definitely will not mix well with goldfish, which do better in a slightly colder temperature of 68-75 °F (20-24 °C), whereas Bettas are a tropical fish preferring the 75-82 °F (24-28 °C) range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10636" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:05:35.860" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:05:35.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18669" CreationDate="2017-10-25T05:49:50.043" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any fish that won't fit into his mouth, except another betta. Also, no fish that can put a betta in their mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, some fish, like barbs, may nip at a bettas' long fins. You should look at a pamphlet on fish keeping; or websites (e.g. Houston fish box). Learn things like temperature intervals between 60 and 90 °F (16 - 32 °C), pH between 6.5 and 7.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But since I have read a bettas' natural home is a water buffalo's hoof-print filled with rain water, they are not very demanding. They, like all fish, love mosquito larvae.  And as I think for companion fishes, a betta would say black mollies; large, slow moving delicious babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:08:57.947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:08:57.947" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18669" CreationDate="2017-10-25T08:44:08.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a 2 main reasons why a betta can become aggressive to other fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Visual apperance&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In general, a betta will only be aggressive to other fish if he thinks they are 'competition'. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;This can happen if the other fish has some visual similarities with other male bettas.&#xA;Most important is the fin size. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;So as long as the other species has short fins it should be ok. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example: male guppies have larger fins, so I do not recommend them. But I did have a betta together with some female guppies.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Territory&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Betta's can be territorial. They need some space they can call their own. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;A betta will swim through all layers of water (top, middle, bottom), but they will make their nest on the surface. If other fish come near, they will try to defend it.&lt;br&gt; So for this reason it's best not to add other species that mostly swim in the top layer, or that will also create their nest on the surface (like other fish with a labyrinth organ, like gouramis). &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Personally, I've had a betta together with some tetra's (middle layer) and corrydoras (bottom) without any problems.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add female betta's, you should add at least 2 females. Betta's live in a harem with a male - female ration of 1:2 or 3. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But the territorial aspect is also important here. If the male has build a nest, and the females come too close, he can still become aggressive. So for smaller tanks, this is probably not a good idea anyway.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also you have to be sure the females are actually female. A while ago one of my 'female' betta's turned out to be a short-finned male. and they indeed started fighting (the short finned won, the other died :( ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ofcourse, before adding other species you also have to check if things like temperature, ph, size, water current are similar to the requirements of a betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="7038" LastEditDate="2017-11-02T11:58:20.987" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T11:58:20.987" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18666" CreationDate="2017-10-25T10:21:31.433" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Kittens are generally playful&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently got three cats. When they joined our family, they were 8 months, 8 months and 5 months old. All of them were still childishly playful, and have been for months after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 16wk old kitten, I'm expecting it to remain this playful for at least a couple of months.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've already bought toys and such for him, I assume you're aware of his playful nature and accept it. I'm going to address how to respond to the specific misbehavior, but I want to mention here that you should never make the kitten feel like it's being punished &lt;em&gt;for being playful&lt;/em&gt;, but rather &lt;em&gt;for having done something he's not allowed to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, don't pre-emptively reprimand the kitten when he's exhibiting playful behavior, even if that generally leads to misbehavior. Your feedback should occur &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; the misbehavior (and preferably immediately after).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're trying to teach your cat, it needs to understand that your feedback is a direct response to his actions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is a beautiful kitten, when sleeping by my arm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that he cuddles up to you is good. It shows that he trusts you and considers you a friend/family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you actively playing with him? Kittens need more than just love, they also need recreation. Even though they can't play with humans the same way as they play with other cats; they still prefer it over playing by themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also allows you to tire him out. When our youngest cat was new to the house, he was prone to misbehaving when we weren't around (e.g. asleep). So what we did was play with him just before we went to bed. He loves chasing the laser, so I let him run around until he was physically exhausted.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This ensures that he won't be overly energetic for a while, which makes him less likely to misbehave while you're sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He won't let me pick him up, squirms to get down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every creature has its own comfort zone. Some cats simply do not like to get picked up (our two older ones don't allow it; they will sometimes jump on our laps, only if it's &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; choice to do so).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that your kitten simply doesn't like being picked up. He's allowed to not like it. I would suggest that you listen to your cat in this regard. Don't do things he doesn't like unless there's a good reason for it (medical intervention, life or death situations, he's misbehaving, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Animals are slaves to their instincts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound obvious, but it's important to realize that anything you teach your cat is a cognitive process. &lt;strong&gt;Instincts always override cognitive processes&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially when they are young, a kitten's playfulness is instinctive. Their body gives them a burst of energy and that energy needs to manifest itself in some way. (Children experience the same thing, it's very natural)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When this happens, the kitten is liable to forget everything you taught it. It's not a matter of &lt;strong&gt;willful&lt;/strong&gt; disobedience, it's a matter of &lt;strong&gt;forgetting&lt;/strong&gt; what they know because they're busy dealing with their instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of expecting your cat to know better, try to see its burst of energy as something that needs to be dealt with. The idea is that you can't &lt;strong&gt;stop&lt;/strong&gt; the burst of energy, but you can &lt;strong&gt;steer&lt;/strong&gt; it. If the kitten sinks its claws/teeth into you, try to divert its attention to a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our youngest is incessantly playful. He even plays with the dry food if I throw him a piece. So instead of reprimanding him for misbehaving, I simply threw a piece of dry food near him. That caught his attention, and it diverted his playful behavior away from the bad thing (e.g. scratching the wallpaper).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I took this dry food straight from his bowl, by the way, so he wasn't even being fed any more food. Grab 10-20 pieces and keep them closeby; you should be able to divert his playing for a while without having to get up or even yell at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Kittens need guidance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When he's good by me, I stroke him and tell him what a good boy he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is good. Although I would mention that cats are less responsive to verbal compliments (&quot;good boy&quot;). Instead, try to figure out what type of stroking he loves most (e.g. scratching under his chin, behind his ears, near the lower back, ...) and use that as a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've bought him lots of toys, scratching pole, which he doesn't use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be a wrong inference on my part, but are you expecting the kitten to use these toys himself; or have you introduced him to them and maybe played together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're trying to get your cat to &lt;em&gt;selectively&lt;/em&gt; behave in certain ways (&lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; scratch my legs; &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; scratch the pole), you should teach him both ways. Don't just tell him off for scratching your legs, also try to get him to use the scratching pole. It's possible that he's currently unable to tell the difference between the human furniture (not allowed to scratch) and cat furniture (allowed to scratch). He can only learn from experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he likes playing with a laser pointer, have him chase it and let the red dot &quot;crawl up&quot; the scratching post. He'll sink his claws into the post, and will realize that you're not telling him off for doing so (plus he gets introduced to the scratchable material itself).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Teaching cats to not misbehave&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've dealt with instinctive misbehavior, but you should also address cognitive misbehavior. This needs to be actively taught, the cat needs to learn the &quot;rules of the house&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instinctive behavior cannot be stopped, it can only be steered (cfr the diversion tactics described above). Cognitive behavior can be stopped, but it requires your cat to &lt;em&gt;understand&lt;/em&gt; the situation. As cats don't speak English, the communication will be slow and repetitive. They won't understand it on the first try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I say No very firmly at the scratching etc. I have sprayed his nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're already approaching it the right way, although I'm not sure how you are spraying his nose. Depending on how you do it, this may not work because it's too aggressive (from his perspective as a tiny cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My approach is an expansion of this, it focuses on &lt;strong&gt;repetition&lt;/strong&gt; so that the cat understands the pattern (misbehave =&gt; punishment) and starts to avoid the behavior that leads to punishment. This is not a quick fix, but it puts him in a position where registering your initial verbal warnings is beneficial to him (thus incentivizing him to listen to you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To drive this point home, I use an escalation pattern. You can change the steps of the pattern based on what resources you have available, but this my preferred pattern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Firmly state the cat's name.&lt;/strong&gt; Get its attention, but don't (yet) suggest that it shouldn't be doing what it's doing. See if you can get him to remember how to behave without you explicitly telling him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Firmly say &quot;No&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the first explicit indication that the cat should stop what it's doing. Try to be consistent in your pronunciation of &quot;No&quot;, so that it starts to recognize the sound faster (compared to when you use a different tone of voice each time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approach him&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't be threatening. Just come closer in a calm manner, and see if the &lt;em&gt;proximity&lt;/em&gt; to you changes his behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Display the spray bottle&lt;/strong&gt;. If he's been sprayed before, this may be enough of a reminder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spray him&lt;/strong&gt;. It doesn't need to be a direct hit. You mentioned spraying his nose, but that seems a bit too much. Just a squirt in his general direction suffices. If he doesn't stop, squirt him on the back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If he is still misbehaving, he is &lt;em&gt;intentionally&lt;/em&gt; misbehaving. &lt;strong&gt;Physically pick up the cat and remove him from the room&lt;/strong&gt;. Put him down somewhere else. Don't be angry, do it in a calm but strict manner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is simple. Whenever the cat does something it's not supposed to, you start at step 1. If the cat backs off, job well done. If he does not back off, you &lt;strong&gt;escalate&lt;/strong&gt; to the next step. Give the cat another chance to back off. If he does not, &lt;strong&gt;escalate&lt;/strong&gt; again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, once you've taken step 1, the cat is locked in a situation with only two outcomes: it stops with the current behavior and walks away, or you will repeatedly inconvenience the cat in an escalating pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first few times, you'll have to do all the steps. That's okay. Your cat needs &lt;strong&gt;repetition&lt;/strong&gt; to learn that the consequences are inevitable. Once he realizes that his behavior leads to an inevitable consequence, he will try to avoid that consequence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That behavior of &lt;strong&gt;avoidance&lt;/strong&gt; is what you're trying to foster. If he wants to not be taken to another room, he should respond to the spraying. If he wants to avoid being sprayed, he should listen to your verbal cues. Etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips for this escalation approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be consistent&lt;/strong&gt;. You're trying to make your cat realize that the consequences of his misbehavior are unavoidable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can draft your own escalation steps. However, keep in mind that the end goal of every step is to &lt;strong&gt;inconvenience&lt;/strong&gt; the cat. Do not starve, hurt, force or terrify your cat. If you do any of those, you're provoking him to respond instinctively. Instead, you should try to avoid instinctive behavior, and subtly urge your cat to &lt;strong&gt;make the right decision&lt;/strong&gt; (cognitively).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always start from step 1&lt;/strong&gt;. If you immediately spray the cat, then there was no verbal warning. If there was no verbal warning, he'll never learn to listen for verbal warnings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat stops its behavior but does not walk away, and starts the misbehavior again after a slight pause, then repeat the current step. This means he &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt; got the hint, but it didn't quite stick when he got distracted again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat walks away and stops the behavior, that is the end of it. He did what you wanted him to do. Do not chase your cat, do not continue to treat him as if he's misbehaving. Just like how you're teaching him that his misbehavior leads to unavoidable consequences, you should also be teaching him that a correct response (backing off) leads to no further negative feedback. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cat should make the decision to back off&lt;/strong&gt;. You're simply trying to inconvenience the cat to help it make the decision you want it to make. But you do not make the decision for him. He needs to learn to behave &lt;strong&gt;himself&lt;/strong&gt;. With the exception of the final step, which you should only ever resort to if he is consciously and willfully disobeying you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remain calm&lt;/strong&gt;. When you're angry or loud, the cat will see you as the aggressor, and that's not what you want. Look at how a mother cat reprimands her babies: she picks them up or pushes them away. She does not &lt;em&gt;retaliate&lt;/em&gt; against her children nor hiss at them, because she doesn't think that her babies are intentionally antagonizing her. To the babies, their mother is an unavoidable &lt;strong&gt;but fair&lt;/strong&gt; force of nature. As a pet owner, your cat should see you as a similarly unavoidable &lt;strong&gt;but fair&lt;/strong&gt; force of nature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward him for not misbehaving for a while&lt;/strong&gt;. You can also &lt;em&gt;occasionally&lt;/em&gt; reward him for backing off (e.g. when you needed to escalate less than you usually do; which means he's making progress), but don't make it a habit because then you're teaching him to misbehave &lt;em&gt;so that he can get an extra treat&lt;/em&gt;. Reward him for making progress (less escalation), don't reward him for doing something he was already capable of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there are many things that he shouldn't be doing (e.g. 10 different things), don't use this pattern for everything all at once. Pick a top three, and apply the escalation pattern to the three most important things. When he becomes more comfortable with your escalation pattern, you can start using it for a larger variety of situations. If you provide negative feedback for every little thing he does wrong, that may be too much for him to understand (he may end up feeling like he's not allowed to do &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt;, which will not make him a happy cat). You need to take it step by step. &lt;strong&gt;You can only teach the cat as fast as he is able to learn.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your interactions with him are predominantly you telling him off, he will see you as a negative element. However, if telling him off is padded between nice memories of you (giving him treats, playing with him, ...), your negative feedback will not reflect on his opinion of you. Try to teach him that &lt;strong&gt;when he is nice, so are you&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't become the boogeyman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Retaliation in equal measure is allowed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then he attacks me. My legs are scratched all over, along with my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is roughhousing you, you're allowed to roughhouse him. Don't hurt him, put e.g. pushing him away is fair game. You're not a monster for responding to him in equal measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that he may be using his claws unintentionally. I tend to allow my cats to use their claws so long as they do not pierce my skin or leave scratch marks. Young kittens may be less able to regulate their claw usage. Simply cry out in pain once he crosses a certain threshold, and be &lt;strong&gt;consistent&lt;/strong&gt; about that threshold. He'll get the message after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push him away, softly smack his paws (one or two-finger tap), ... For young cats I find that &lt;a href=&quot;https://keyassets-p2.timeincuk.net/wp/prod/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2016/03/Liar-Liar.gif&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;the Claw&quot;&lt;/a&gt; works well too. Essentialy, playfully attacking him with &quot;the Claw&quot; reflects his behavior. It's not a matter of &lt;em&gt;hurting&lt;/em&gt; him, it's a matter of making him realize that when he pounces on you, then you can pounce on him. If you match or surpass him in playful ferocity, he'll understand that you can outclass him and that he maybe shouldn't be poking the bear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6. Smaller comments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've bought a calming plug in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm apprehensive of this, I don't like chemical manipulation (I'm close to calling it a chemical lobotimization). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't even heard about them, but I googled it. I don't like the idea, because it &lt;strong&gt;masks&lt;/strong&gt; the problem instead of fixing it. Furthermore, the calming fluid isn't selective. It will dull your cat in &lt;strong&gt;everything&lt;/strong&gt; it does, not just the misbehavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine if your son kept you artificially drunk because you're easier to deal with when you're not able to argue with him. I know this is an extreme example, but this is essentially what you're doing to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you'll be forced to buy refills constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may come across as offensive. I assure you it's not intended as such. But it seems counterintuitive that you'd avoid interacting with and training your pet. That's the responsibility you took on when you became a pet owner. Why else are you keeping him in your home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm at the end of my thether. So upset. I feel a failure. I need help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be upset. Your heart is in the right place. You've looked at options to deal with the cat's behavior rather than blaming him for being who he is. You're invested in him, and have been doing the right things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to think of your cat as a child. He's not trying to be annoying. He's simply unaware that his actions upset you. He needs to learn. And just like how we initially teach children softly (not strictly right off the bat), your cat should be taught the same way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only get upset with him when you know that he knows better. Just like how you would for a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat's success at become mature (which includes not doing things that it wants to do but is not allowed) is a combination of &lt;strong&gt;you and him&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're currently unable to teach your cat something; then you haven't failed, &lt;strong&gt;your current method has&lt;/strong&gt;. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Investigate why he's not getting it. Try to reinforce the point that he's not understanding. Tailor your method to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tweaked my escalation pattern for every cat I've raised. Not every cat is equal. Observe their behavior, find the flaw (= what you want him to change), then put the cat in a situation where &lt;strong&gt;that flaw becomes his weakness&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great example of this is the first cat who I trained via escalation. He had a habit of meowing while sitting by the sliding door. I sprayed him, but he never really made any progress, he needed the spray every single time and I noticed that he was almost learning to never sit by the door. That was not the point of the lesson.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So instead of making eye contact with him, I started spraying him blindly. I reached around the couch and aimed blindly. Essentially, &lt;strong&gt;I started using his meows against him&lt;/strong&gt;. Based on where the meow was coming from, I was able to pinpoint his location and hit him. Since I couldn't see him, I would be unable to hit him if he didn't make a sound. And that's exactly what I wanted. He was allowed to sit by the door, but if he made a sound, I would be able to spray him. It took a week or two for him to realize that not meowing would actually benefit him, and once he realized that, he stopped meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-10-25T10:59:21.347" LastActivityDate="2017-10-25T10:59:21.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11261" CreationDate="2017-10-25T11:06:16.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Siamese Algae Eaters are one of very few creatures that eat red algae. If you can get a few of those, that might be a way of getting rid of the pest without doing more harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things to consider with this fish, though. They grow quite large, up to 16 centimetres (6.3 in), so a small tank is not suitable for them in the long-term. I have two in my fry tank. They're about 4cm long now, and seem to be thriving. But I know that they will quickly outgrow it and have to be moved into my main tank. Another thing is that they're a schooling fish. The recommendations that I've read is to have five or more of them in a tank. Definitely not suitable for a small tank!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I enjoy these fellows in my tank. They're hardly ever still. Always zipping about. They're doing such a good job that I'm at times concerned whether there is enough food in the tank for them. So I supplement with zucchini slices every so often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yuzGQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yuzGQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Siamese Algae Eater&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/1086/siamese-algae-eater&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/1086/siamese-algae-eater&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_algae_eater&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_algae_eater&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2017-10-25T11:06:16.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10380" CreationDate="2017-10-25T11:55:49.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had six rabbits that got mixed up accidentally and one had a litter. We separated them early on, and four girls were together for 5 months. We have too many to take care of well and just gave two of the females away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the sisters left stopped eating and interacting. I tried putting one of our older girls (from first litter) in with her - she was grooming her and sitting with her. This morning, though, the little sister died. I'm devastated - this was only three days ago that we gave the others away, which is incredibly sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read online that this could occur and I wish I had asked to bring her sisters back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10637" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T15:34:19.160" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T15:34:19.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18664" CreationDate="2017-10-25T13:27:00.393" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be difficult to know what triggered a 'fear' in your dogs. It could be something you aren't aware of. It could even be that lately because they are more nervous you are more nervous and you are all feeding off each other's nervous energy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest taking it back to basics to make the experience positive for them again. Get some of their all time favourite treats - liver or cheese or something else that's a big reward. Try staying calm and patient and give treats throughout the experience. If they are too nervous to even accept a treat, pause until they are calm enough to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2017-10-25T13:27:00.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18666" CreationDate="2017-10-25T21:22:18.777" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kittens need a lot of play. Play with him until he refuses to play anymore. Use only toys, never your hands, so scratching/biting you will not be reinforced. Lure toys or laser pointers are the safest. Keep trying to play with him regularly throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clip his claws regularly. If you need to, take him to a groomer to get them done. You might want to ask for help in putting him in a carrier for the trip.  With shorter claws he won't be able to inflict as much damage. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the cat doesn't want to be picked up, then don't. Try to let the cat come to you. If you do pick him up, gently put him down as soon as he starts squirming in the least. There's a chance he'll become more willing to be handled if he learns that he's the one in control. Very young cats might not be as accepting of being handled if you're interrupting playtime. It's a good idea to play with him to tire him out before trying to handle him. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-10-25T21:22:18.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6891" CreationDate="2017-10-26T22:11:10.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that my son's dog, who works with me everyday at the office, has the same type of behavior. He has a routine, gets dropped off, I get his kibble ready and he eats and then he goes outside for a potty break. He will pee and poo for me, sometimes poo a few times, which makes me believe that my son isn't taking him enough, or he feels safer pooing for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ever notice that a dogs will look at you when they are pooing to make sure that they are covered should there be any kind of threat. Trust is a big issue because this is the most vulnerable time for any animal and they look to see if you are there to protect or shield them from a predator. Not that this is common but its &quot;PACK&quot; instinct. Look up why a dog looks at you while they poo to get the full definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10640" LastActivityDate="2017-10-26T22:11:10.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18682" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18683" CreationDate="2017-10-26T22:42:48.247" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that gravel is unsuitable for fancy goldfish, as the fish will eat the pieces whole and get sick. I installed sand in my tank, but I find it very difficult to clean, as when I siphon, the hose pulls up the sand with the garbage. This is especially troublesome as I must do very regular water changes. Is there any kind of substrate that won't make a goldfish become sick and that is still easy to clean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:39:00.013" Title="What kind of substrate is best for fancy goldfish?" Tags="&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18682" CreationDate="2017-10-26T23:25:39.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are gluttonous fish and this can definitely cause problems picking a substrate. Sand and small rocks can be dangerous if eaten, especially a lot of sand over time. I would stick with larger rock, like river rock mix 1/2-1&quot; in diameter or go with glass marbles. Rule of thumb: If the fish's mouth is big enough to fit around any rocks or gravel or sand-stones, remove those pieces. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are dirty and produce a lot of ammonia, so your concern with being able to clean your substrate is valid. You may end up having to get a gravel-vac with a larger vacuum opening in order to clean larger rock or marble substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure any substrate you purchase has been thoroughly rinsed first and any pieces with jagged/rough/sharp edges are removed for safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:39:00.013" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:39:00.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6031" CreationDate="2017-10-27T02:52:31.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried for YEARS to get my GSP to drop the ball-I shouted, tempted, left him, watched every clip out there, got a professional etc etc. One day our son realised if you squeeze the rubber chicken (or I imagine any squeaky toy) he drops it straight away!! Who would have thought of that!! genius and no more anguish! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10641" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T02:52:31.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-27T12:48:42.903" Score="-2" ViewCount="1098" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my does pulled fur and built some sort of nest. Its been 13 days but no litter yet. What is the reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another doe isn't always willing to lift her tail. She has bred before but I don't know what her problem is. I am tired of giving it a try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep both buck and doe in separate hutches/cages. I am into serious hobby-breeding because I love the newborn babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10642" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T16:02:19.657" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T12:03:15.503" Title="Unsuccessful rabbit mating" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" ClosedDate="2017-11-01T12:06:12.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18666" CreationDate="2017-10-27T16:48:04.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only thing I can add to all of this great, pro advice is, a Catio, cat runs, perches, and other cat amusements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, your kitten needs more stimulation than you are currently able to provide. Let’s give him something else to do &lt;em&gt;on his own.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A catio (cat patio) is an easy way to open up a whole new world for your kitten. It’s safe for him and will provide HOURS of entertainment for you both. Here are a couple easy-to-do installations: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/-r_0CqQm3nk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;window box&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/NJDPZJtmhSM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;catio&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/YCCj0omOmUI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DYI Cat Shelf&lt;/a&gt;  Remember, any of these ideas can be adapted to your home. Watch other videos for more ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a catio is impractical, then cat perches or cat runs, especially mounted on, below or very near windows can also give kitties something to do besides attack. Here are some examples: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mW7Ry.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mW7Ry.png&quot; alt=&quot;window perch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k4ivO.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k4ivO.png&quot; alt=&quot;Wall Perch&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o8gqv.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o8gqv.png&quot; alt=&quot;indoor cat run&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;The point is to give kitty something interesting to do to stimulate his senses, entertain him and have an outlet for all of the young energy. Here is another video with a number of products you might consider: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBHvAxlDewBQG5GwYnh6ExHn66dfMAGtf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;catastic&lt;/a&gt;&#xA; &#xA;All of these consumer goods aren’t required and any number of them can be re-created at home with a little time and effort. Perhaps a project with a grandchild or friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, just for fun, here’s a video of a couple who made the most fantastic additions to their home —just for the cats! You may see some element you can extract for your own use. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/okOVxfuSYPk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat House&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck and if you have questions about any DIY projects, let me know, I may be able to assist with info based on my own cat project undertakings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T16:48:04.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-27T16:55:18.110" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question that is pet adjacent and I figured some of you on here might have one of these for your pet and know the answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just purchased an Akoma Hound Heater Deluxe from amazon. I'm building my dog and insulated dog house to install it in. That way, I can let her out in the mornings and she'll have a warm dog house all day, no matter the outside temp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not set in stone about how I want to finish the inside, but right now, I'm highly leaning toward the following material to finish it: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.homedepot.com/p/4-ft-x-8-ft-White-090-FRP-Wall-Board-MFTF12IXA480009600/100389836&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;.090 FRP Wall Panel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This material is sold by my local big box and is .090 thick plastic material. It resists anything clinging to it and would be easy to clean on a regular basis. My question is whether or not its safe to install the hound heater directly against this surface. If I finish the interior with wood, I wouldn't question, but while this product is not supposed to get hot on the exterior, I've read where people say they've had problems with the top of the exterior cage around the heater getting too hot. That's the front, though. I've never heard anyone comment on the back of the heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone knows an answer to this question, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T16:55:18.110" Title="Can I install 'HoundHeater' against plastic FRP Wall Board?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18664" CreationDate="2017-10-27T17:12:33.313" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One reason might be that you're training them to do that. I'm not saying you are, but that you need to be aware that you aren't. If your dog whines and you stop what you're doing because of that, then you're training them to do the behavior to stop the cue, just like any other training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue might be heat build up. You say you're grinding instead of cutting, because the nails are large. Grinders build up quite a bit of heat, quickly. Even it if isn't that hot, grinding is an unpleasant sensation that they're not typically exposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd advice two things. One is to use positive conditioning. My dog doesn't like her nails clipped and never will, but she's stopped a lot of the squirming and is much more tolerant since I've started conditioning her to it being a positive situation. I do this by taking a beggin strip and tearing it into many small pieces. I call her over and just give her a few. I ask her to lay down and give a couple more. Then I may grab her foot and play with it a few times, giving a treat every time I let it go. I may tap her nails with the clipper or even move to another foot. If she tries to pull it away, I just hold it. When she relaxes, I keep playing with it, extending the nail by pushing on the pad or just rubbing it. Then I stop and treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first started, I wouldn't even do all the nails in one go. I might do one or two nails a day, or one foot. Now, I can quickly do all the way around. I just use the grinder to round off her nails. Whether you pick the grinder or the clippers, it's important to do this step, because you're associating a lot of good with a little bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she would fight me about coming downstairs to potty in the morning I realized I was getting frustrated and mad with her ignoring me and pretending she didn't know what I wanted. I thought about it and started calling her down when I had plenty of time. I had to fight with and coax her the first couple of times, but instead of putting her in the cold to potty, I gave her a treat and sent her back up. Pretty soon, she'd run down the stairs, because she associated being called down with a treat. If she had to go out and potty 1 time out of 10, she'd suffer through it. Use the same logic on yours. Make it a positive experience. They may never like it, but they'll fight and avoid it much less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing I was going to say was already mentioned. Don't feel like you need to do all claws in one session and never have a time constraint. If you have somewhere to be, then you'll hurry and you won't be patient with minor quibbles on their end. You'll be too aggressive and will increase resistance. Work on it when you know you have plenty of time and be patient. Also keep in mind that heat factor of the grinders. I really would suggest clippers if you're going to take off more than a very small amount. I take off large amounts of dead nail with the clippers, because it's super quick and they don't feel it. Then use the grinder in short burst to round it off and take it closer to the quick, so it'll die back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many good resources on the net for helping you clip a dog without hitting the quick. The best method is to take slivers at a time till you hit dead tissue and just see the tip of live tissue. That's as close as you can take it without quicking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2017-10-27T17:12:33.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18699" CreationDate="2017-10-28T01:09:34.073" Score="4" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I take my cat out for a morning walk every now and then she starts eating grass. What may be the reason behind it? Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T18:33:26.110" Title="My cat is eating grass when take out for a walk" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18647" CreationDate="2017-10-28T05:59:29.157" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, ticks can carry all kinds of bacteria and disease, but the most prevalent, commonly heard of and one of the scariest is Lyme disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although Lyme disease can take 2-5 months before physical detection in dogs, it's rate of spreading and infection is perplexing to even most scientists and veterinarians. A dog with no prevention, can be bitten with a tick carrying the bacteria (borrelia), and still end up not contracting Lyme disease. And even those that ARE infected may end up showing none to little symptoms of the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The factors that need to be taken into consideration, if you're pet has been bitten by a tick and you're worried about infection, are:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) the age of your pet. Lyme disease is more likely to produce in order dogs than in puppies.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) if your pet already has health issues. Lyme disease spreads at a faster rate in pets with a weaker immune system or a pet that has reduced kidney or liver function. Since borrelia is a blood transferred pathogen, it would only make sense that it would be more capable of attacking an animal if it's liver and kidneys were not working at a better rate to clean and eliminate toxins from the bloodstream. Any pets with an autoimmune disorder would also be at a higher risk because the body needs to produce antibodies to attack the bacteria. It's also common that once infected, your pet may have symptoms similar to an autoimmune disease because the bacteria can trigger the bodies defensive immune system to turn on itself, in an attempt to fix the problem. Once the body detects Lyme it produces antibodies that can attack normal tissues, not just infected tissues.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3) Wheres my pets location?- Lyme disease is more popular in more areas than others. For example in the US Northeastern states and Northern California are at higher risks than other states. You can find more information on the prevalence of Lyme disease on the CDC website.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4) Can you identify the type of tick your pet was bitten by, that's in question to cause disease? Specific to Lyme disease the only ticks that carry Borrelia, which causes Lyme disease are as follows (common names used for sake of easier reading): US: Deer Tick,black-legged tick, Western black-legged tick, Europe and Asia: European sheep tick and Taiga Tick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of that said, there is not a specific answer to the question but with certain factors I will do my best to answer the rate of how quickly infection is spread. In this study &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440571/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Biology of Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi&lt;/a&gt;, which I actually had to make phone calls to get better information: FOR  Humans, monkeys, dogs, cats and mice: After an infected tick has had AT LEAST 72 on it's host, animals that became infected showed proof of spread (action of bodies producing higher white blood cell count to fight bacteria and production of antibodies) was an additional 12-48 hours after that 72 hour host period, from multiple healthy host pets. But with this list of animals, most do not show signs and symptoms until months later (dogs and cats 2-5 months, humans as late as years later) and all have a slower rate of killing the infection (bacterial Infection, not Lyme disease treatment) 7-14 days, . Hamsters: AFTER 72 hours of tick on host, hamsters showed signs of spreading to multiple parts of the body, not just bite site. Within 24 hours there after, thru tissue samples, a more rapid spread comparatively than other animals BUT never showed symptoms unless injected with the bacteria directly. In both instances hamsters showed a very rapid repair after infection. Rabbits AFTER 72 HOURS OF tick on host, infection was found spreading within 24 hours after that 3 day period, and had similar reaction to that of humans do if infected, rash and fever, but could rid the infection rapidly as well, 5-9 days to clear infection. Rate of infection is based on Healthy specimens, pets with additional health problems and compromised immune systems would be at a higher risk of faster transmission of disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of this mentioned you can prevent Lyme disease and Borrelia spread by:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) tick prevention monthly, getting tested, seeing a vet for proper examination, and using a tick prevention will make this ALMOST a non issue. If you're concerned your tick prevention is not working on your pet, suggest switching to your vet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) removing not just the ticks body, but head and it's entirety to prevent spread. The longer the tick is on, the more likely the spread of disease. Sometimes a tick is not discovered within minutes of when it arrived, so do not wait. Remove ASAP.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3) Cleaning the bitten area. By thoroughly cleaning the area of bite, after removal of tick, you can kill the bacteria left behind and keep the surface bacteria from lingering and festering and entering the bloodstream.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4) Keeping your pet indoors. This will lower your pets exposure to ticks, and as you've seen, dogs and cats aren't the only pets affected. If you can keep your bunny hutch inside instead of out you lower the risk, and if you must keep your pet outside, keep its enclosure as clean as possible to make it easier to see a tick or ticks BEFORE your pet is bitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this does not totally answer the question as birds are also affected by ticks AND ticks spread a long list of diseases and bacteria, but I'm thinking with more specific questions this CAN be answered for all common tick diseases not just Lyme disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to those from the Biology Dept at ODU university who made phone calls with me to get better answers on experiments used on the Borellia bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440571/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440571/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-017-2053-4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-017-2053-4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2ndchance.info/lyme.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.2ndchance.info/lyme.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bayarealyme.org/about-lyme/what-causes-lyme-disease/borrelia-burgdorferi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bayarealyme.org/about-lyme/what-causes-lyme-disease/borrelia-burgdorferi/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And&lt;br&gt;&#xA;NC State School of Veterinary Medicine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-10-28T15:57:46.483" LastActivityDate="2017-10-28T15:57:46.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2017-10-28T12:01:06.870" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, here we go:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your first rabbit, building a newst: As always, you should consult a vet, as this is a medical matter, but it does sound a lot like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/False_pregnancy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;False pregnacny&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It basically makes your doe act as if she was pregnant, even if she is not. It it can even happen for females that are kept alone, but nearness of a buck, mating that does not cause actual pregnancy and basically anything that the does body interprets as sexual activity can promote it happening. It usually passes all by itself, but if it doesn't, you will need to check with your vet what he suggests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the second rabbit: Sometimes, rabbits just don't want to mate. It happens, possibly especially in pet-breeds (I have no sources that compare the willingness to mate between wild, domestic and pet rabbits, so it just is reported more and more openly for pet breeds).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sometimes, the time of the year, the weather, the temperature, everythign that would affect our mood as well, may be an influence, but that could be anecdotical as well. But you may want to keep an eye on that second doe as well. If it shoes an otehr unusualy behavior, have a vet check her over. I woudl think it unlikely she's got a medical problem, though; just a mood-one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-10-28T12:01:06.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18693" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-29T00:40:43.960" Score="6" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am at my wits end. My 15 year old cat has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. First she was on the mentimazole but didn't like it and peed everywhere so we stopped that and put her on the thyroid pill.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had a bad reaction to that and started throwing up everything including water, so we stopped that and put her on the Hills Y/D food. That didn't go well as she stopped eating it within two weeks and would only eat a couple bits of the kibble when she was starving.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet then put her on the Hill Y/D canned food but she had a reaction to it. After eating it, and yes, she did eat it but after eating it she could barely walk. While on both the dry and moist Hills food, she became very lethargic and slept all the time which led to her becoming dehydrated. She wasn't drinking because she was always sleeping.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a pet store food that it low in iodine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10649" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T15:19:34.637" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T10:43:28.767" Title="What other hyperthyroidism treatments are available for a cat who didn't tolerate pills or Hills Y/D?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-29T05:36:59.453" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ufzxl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U6ftg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ma0Gj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goldfish is being abnormal. It has closed upper fins, refuses to swim, is not alert while feeding. It looks stressed, dorsal fin is gravitating downwards as you see in the images. Unlike others, it's being strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the 4 fish were bought together, all of them had been doing fine for 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is 7 litres and there is no filter in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10650" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T20:14:21.047" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T22:43:38.263" Title="Goldfish strange behavior - seemingly stressed and less mobile" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18693" CreationDate="2017-10-29T05:38:44.093" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 4 primary treatments for hyperthyroidism. It sounds like you have tried two of them, the other two may or may not be appropriate or available to you based on your location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medication&lt;/strong&gt;: Methimazole or carbimazole. The former is usually a tablet, but can be compounded into a transdermal form to apply to the ear (very popular). Ask your vet about other compounding options. If the cat goes off the medication, the hyperthyroidism will return. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;: Hill's y/d diet is low in iodine, still a relatively new product and I am not aware of any other companies that have a prescription thyroid diet. The diet has to be strict (no other foods or treats). It may take several weeks before you see significant clinical effect. Clinically I have not had great results with y/d diet alone, certainly some effect but not the level of thyroid control that methimazole can achieve.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Radioactive iodine&lt;/strong&gt;: This is the gold standard treatment. The cat receives usually just one injection of radioactive iodine (I131) which kills the proliferative thyroid cells. Curative in the vast majority of cases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Surgery&lt;/strong&gt;: Removal of the thyroid gland is sometimes done (less frequently now). Risks of side effects including hypothyroidism and hypoparathyroidism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Radioactive iodine is one of the most expensive options, but you have to bear in mind that it is a one-time cost compared to a distributed cost over possibly years of medical or dietary management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats with hyperthyroidism commonly have other concurrent disease, especially kidney disease. If your cat is lethargic, very low energy, and inappetant, it is likely that there is something else going on (I highly doubt it is just the food that is causing this). Please see your vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-10-29T05:38:44.093" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17979" CreationDate="2017-10-29T06:17:55.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have preferences just like people. They can bond over several things. Mine, for instance, instantly bonded with me when we brought her home from the shelter because I was the one that came home during lunch to check on her and fed her early on. When my girlfriend and I had a massive fight and she was moving out, &quot;Gypsy&quot; actually went into the bedroom while she was packing and yelling... and peed in her purse! It was the only time she had ever acted out like that and she hasn't acted out since. In my eyes, Gypsy was saying &quot;If you are going to hurt him, here is how I can hurt you.&quot; Touching gesture, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I bring a woman over, Gypsy will quickly come smell her and size her up and if the woman fails that test, she will wedge herself between us. She may be smarter than me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10651" LastActivityDate="2017-10-29T06:17:55.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18689" CreationDate="2017-10-29T06:21:04.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is normal, cats eat grass to get rid of hairballs, as grass makes them vomit and get rid of indigestible things they have eaten like the fur of prey they have eaten and their fur after they have washed themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can also eat grass to try to get rid of parasites like intestinal worms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say cats eat grass to get some nutrients from it, but this is not likely as grass contains very little of nutritional value for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat starts looking for fresh grass as soon as the snow is gone in the spring. It is important to be sure the grass is as clean as possible, like after the rain and in a sandy type of soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T18:33:26.110" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T18:33:26.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18689" CreationDate="2017-10-29T12:08:30.100" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As trond hansen says it's a normal behavior for cats and the current belief is that they do so to aid them in vomiting up indigestible materials from their stomach such as bits of eaten prey like fur and also their own hairballs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grasses in the outside world can potentially be a health hazard for them if they have been sprayed with pesticides etc although since they generally throw it back up as part of the process the risk is relatively small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about the particular grass your cat is stopping to eat then you can grow &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/care/evr_ct_how-to-grow-cat-grass&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;Cat grass&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  at home for your cat to munch on. You can get kits for growing cat grass from most pet stores and even some garden centres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-10-29T12:08:30.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="858" CreationDate="2017-10-30T14:15:08.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you panic too much, think about this: in the wild your cat would hunt down rats, birds and probably small lizards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real hazard are the bones of the lizard (if it had any) that could harm your furry friend. If you see him/her not eating or purring all the time (cats purr when they feel pain) then go to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10603" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-10T11:56:23.090" LastActivityDate="2020-01-10T11:56:23.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-30T16:10:35.433" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5-month-old Shepherd/Lab mix who's generally very sweet -- but I've noticed that if people play with them a bit he gets a bit tense and barks at them until I tell him to stop. Not necessarily rough play but just things like dancing around him or play putting their forehead against his a few times or circling his head, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he's only five months old, I was hoping I could train him out of this. I've been attempting to expose him to as much as possible as a puppy so he doesn't get freaked out about things, so I suppose it's partially just that he hasn't been around a &lt;em&gt;ton&lt;/em&gt; of people and especially ones that play with him as opposed to just petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to expose him more to this behavior without making him more aggressive? (Also is part of this him thinking that people he doesn't know that play like this he should play with like he plays with dogs?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10217" LastEditorUserId="10217" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T16:37:23.867" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T16:37:23.867" Title="5-Month-Old Puppy Barks/Growls When Other People Play With Him" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2017-10-30T16:30:50.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your comments &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18685/unsuccessful-rabbit-mating#comment24911_18685&quot;&gt;you say &quot;I left her with the buck for few days then after some days when I saw her struggling to make nest. I separated the buck.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6581/pet-rabbits-double-pregnacies-and-keeping-the-buck-in-with-the-doe/6586#6586&quot;&gt;&quot;Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe&quot;&lt;/a&gt; leaving the buck in with the doe for more then the couple of minutes it takes for the first mounting to occur, is very counter productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double pregnancies, absorbing and/or aborting pregnancies, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;life threatening depression&lt;/a&gt;, are all very real risks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have badly mismanaged your rabbit warren, and have failed to do basic research before starting a breeding program.  That is what is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T16:30:50.563" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18708" CreationDate="2017-10-30T18:39:01.143" Score="7" ViewCount="1704" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a Syrian hamster at the age of seven weeks. Now, at the age of three months, he is not curiously nibbling me, but actually biting until I am bleeding (three times already). What am I supposed to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background story: We had a rather unpleasant first day: he desperately attempted to escape his cardboard box we got him in (see also the opening scene of Jurassic Park). Later that night I tried to reconcile and have him on my hand. Unfortunately he jumped of and we had a chase. Short story, lot of poo, lot of screaming and a trauma for the both of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z0i26.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z0i26.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weeks passed and things got better. I gave him food out of my hand, gave him treats after being in the big ball and all, and I could even pet him while he was eating. This was the moment where I thought I could try to hold him (with one hand covering him a bit), so I could have him in my hands out of the cage. But this is the point where it all changed. He became very vicious when I held him and bit me very hard. From that point on, I couldn't even put my hand in the cage without the hamster biting me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a chance that he stops this behavior, or is the possibility to bond gone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10608" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T21:39:37.010" Title="Hostile hamster - Biting hands whilst holding" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18707" CreationDate="2017-10-30T19:47:59.233" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say the possibility of bond is gone. I hate to say this, because I want to be as positive as possible, but when I worked at a pet store there were 2 things we for sure ALWAYS recommended when taking a hamster home: 1) don't hold him on the first night, so he/she doesn't associate you with the stress or become more stressed and 2) don't hand feed him because he'll associate your hand with food, nibbling and biting, and may expect the food- as he would expect food in his bowl- since that's where he's seen food before. BUT, with all that's said I think you can try a fresh start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe give him a week with little to no handling, give him a break, in a sense. Move things around in his cage so he has a change in scenery and routine, so he doesn't expect his environment to always be the same. Next time you do handle him, maybe try sitting on the floor with him with your legs forming a border and let him explore you and your scent without your hands as part of the equation (except to take him out and put him down) but try to let him know that you two can co-exist without food in hand and so he's free to move around. Anytime you hold him or interact, don't push- simply let it go if he squirms, it's a sign he's had enough and will likely bite if you fight it, just gently place him back in his cage. After testing the floor theory maybe let him on your lap and explore other parts of you- one of my hammies I had, loved to just chill in my hoodie pocket or in the hood. A dark hiding place makes them feel safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you change his bedding and give him fresh food and water, do it with him outside of the cage, in a separate box and in between feedings remove the bowl and fill it outside of the cage and place it back instead of putting your hand in and the food coming from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some time of doing this regularly, from time to time just rest your hand in his cage and see how he takes it. If he runs from your hand, don't chase him, just leave it still so it's non-threatening, and encourage him to explore without picking him up, after a few times of doing this you can pick him up by keeping your hand flat and gently lifting up when he gets on your hand. Keep these visits brief and eventually you'll be able to make each time a little longer until he's used to you taking him out and NOT getting food until he's back in the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always wash your hands well before handling him, and before it becomes a habit try Keeping a bottle of hand sanitizer near the cage as a reminder to clean off smells and residue from your day. They have a great sense of smell and you want to keep smells from food, other environments and other people off your hands so he doesn't smell you and get freaked out by a threatening or Yummy smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and update us on how things go in the coming weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there will be more bites in the future, when he does, put him back in the cage and wait until the next day to try again, to give him time to calm down and disassociate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-10-30T21:00:06.347" LastActivityDate="2017-10-30T21:00:06.347" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18694" CreationDate="2017-10-30T21:28:12.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, goldfish are glutinous fish and produce a lot of waste. As the comments above indicate, your tank size is too small. It is a common misconception that goldfish can live happy, healthy lives in small containment, like a bowl or small tank. They can live in small containers - but not in a happy and healthy way - unfortunately pop culture, like TV, movies, carnivals and unfortunately even some pet stores, show goldfish in bowls and this is only something their bodies can handle temporarily. The waste they produce causes a heavy build-up of ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, that make small containment basically a toxic environment for them, that can make them lame or depressed in personality and ultimately sick, and without proper care will lead to their death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One good thing that makes things a little easier is that goldfish can withstand colder temperatures than tropical fish, meaning a heater is unnecessary, but because of how dirty they are they need filtration and weekly partial water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rule of thumb is one gallon per one inch (around 1.5 L per 1cm) of projected growth of fish - so a 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) goldfish that gets to 8 inches (20 cm) needs at least 8 gallons (30 L) of water, and 2 of them means 16 gallons (60 L) of water, and so forth. If finances are an issue try finding a used tank at a yard sale or online, thoroughly clean it, and start from scratch by adding your existing water, filling the rest with treated fresh and adding a biological filtration additive like Cycle to Eco In a Bottle or Stresszyme and follow the instructions, sometimes daily or a week, and typically weekly from their forward for a month until your tank has gone through the nitrogen cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding live plants and a filter will help keep your water clear, and will stay much cleaner and healthier than without a filter. I'm happy to see you have gravel, as that will help as part of your filtration once you have a bigger set up. You will need additional gravel, approximately 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon of tank (0.12 to 0.18 kg per liter) and if your fish is still acting lame you may need to use this site to better diagnose an illness that may need additional treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, once filtration is in place, invest in a cheap container of freshwater aquarium salt and follow instructions on the back based on your tank size. It will help to prevent some future scale and fin issues, add electrolytes to the water, and can later be used in larger doses as a sickness cure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. If you have done a water change and he seems a little healthier or more active, this is simply a temporary fix to the problem, and has given him some relief from the built up ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, having a light that's on during the day and off at night will help simulate a natural sun cycle, also healthier for fish activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T22:43:38.263" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T22:43:38.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18656" CreationDate="2017-10-31T07:09:02.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have copepods in your tank, the type is cyclops; be aware they often carry parasites like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dinoflagellates&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are a good startup food for fish fry but have lower nutritional value than &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; (water fleas).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some additional reading in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copepod&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article about copepods&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not likely they themselves are the reason your fish eggs died, but the&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dinoflagellates&lt;/a&gt; they carry can infect the eggs; I am not saying they have, but it is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time you get fish eggs, take all the water you need for your hatching tank&#xA;from your main tank to be sure the pH and chemistry is the same, and to reduce the risk of unwanted parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T19:07:09.297" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T19:07:09.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10050" CreationDate="2017-10-31T17:40:47.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like you are missing the stand pipe for the drain. A common design out there is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dursostandpipes.com/make-your-own-durso-standpipe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;durso standpipe&lt;/a&gt;. You can make one yourself from PVC pipe or buy one from their website. There are other designs out there but this one is supposed to be one of the quieter ones(and the one I'm going to try on my new reef tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pca6M.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pca6M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10662" LastActivityDate="2017-10-31T17:40:47.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-10-31T19:55:25.837" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued a sick kitten from the street and brought it home. &#xA;She's sweet but she's sick and don't have much appetite. It accidentally bit me while I was trying to feed her...Its a tiny wound, like a needle prick but it bled.. I wash it with soap and disinfect with alcohol..  Will I get sick? :( &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10663" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-01T14:58:48.203" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T14:58:48.203" Title="Will I get sick from being bitten by a street kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18716" CreationDate="2017-10-31T21:58:34.607" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a puppy of almost 4 months who lives in the roof of the building where I live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that because of my work it is impossible for me to take her for a walk, the most I could do is take her out for a walk every 2 months. &#xA; And so it will be for at least another 2 continuous years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be good for the puppy to have a life like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there bad consequences about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I look for a home in which she can walk frequently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppy is very affectionate with me by the way and I really don't like the idea of looking for a new home with other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T02:06:17.410" Title="Is it healthy for a pitpull puppy to spend months in one place without leaving?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18715" CreationDate="2017-11-01T02:06:17.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; need a lot of engagement and socialisation - its not a toy, and walks are &lt;em&gt;important&lt;/em&gt;, they get your dog used to the environment around them and to get to know other dogs and humans, which is important, especially for breeds that get kinda attached to their owners, like pitties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog is an investment in time and energy &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; in the early days. A tired, well played with puppy is a &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; puppy, they're less likely to chew up your home (this is important!) and be socially well adjusted. Leaving your dog alone is a sure way to end up with a poor dear who has no idea what to do (just like with people! You wouldn't leave a baby all alone for 2 years right?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to give up your dog though. I know people walk their dogs at night after work. I used to wake up early (back when my dog was younger and didn't mind walking up early) to walk him - before dawn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a dog means adjustment. Walking your dog every 2 months essentially means your dog's deprived of a good chunk of its childhood. &#xA;Its also worth considering, if you don't have time to walk your dog, you'd want to see how much quality play time you have with the dog. It might be worth asking around if there's folks in your family willing to help or working out a schedule that works. &lt;em&gt;AT LEAST&lt;/em&gt; daily walks - 2's probably better. Being able to socialise with people and other dogs is also essential. Your dog isn't going to get this with bimonthly walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T02:06:17.410" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18713" CreationDate="2017-11-01T02:52:23.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd actually suggest both of you see your respective medical professionals - street kittens may not have necessary vaccinations and there's always the risk of infection for both of you. The fact that she's sick is a good reason you should take precautions for both your sakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not assuming the worst, say rabies, there's a reasonable chance of infection - cat scratch fever came to mind, but apparently something called pasturella's pretty common too. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_zoonoticdisease.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zoonotic diseases are a thing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, get both you, and your new little friend checked out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T02:52:23.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26139" CreationDate="2017-11-01T08:17:36.637" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to keep Indian Flapshell turtle along with Red ear slider turtle. Will it be ok to keep both together in one tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-01T14:58:08.457" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T12:15:57.457" Title="Can I keep 2 breeds of turtle together" Tags="&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3158" CreationDate="2017-11-01T21:49:02.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is scruffing behavior. It is partially play behavior and partially the biting cat showing / exerting dominance over the other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2017-11-01T23:38:26.727" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T23:38:26.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18655" CreationDate="2017-11-01T23:50:52.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That looks like normal scenting behavior. Cats have scent glands on their forehead and on other parts of their bodies. They will rub their heads like that on things to leave their scent and mark their territory.  Some cats scent things more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat had an eye infection you would notice redness, swelling and possibly a yucky discharge. The video of your cat was very brief but his eyes did not appear to be infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-11-01T23:50:52.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2017-11-02T00:05:27.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is pretty normal cat behavior. Cats in general are very territorial and may display a lot of aggression to any intruders including those they see close to the house through windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat hissing at you is called “redirected aggression” wherein very stressed or angry cats can sometime  redirect their aggression at innocent bystanders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat getting angry with something outside can be upsetting to owners but it is not terribly unhealthy for your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if this behavior is causing problems you can cover the bottom portion of your windows at night so the cat cannot see out and get angry at whatever is out there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat probably is seeing another cat or it could be a dog or possibly some wild animal. The type of wild animal would be dependent on where you live. There are outdoor, motion activated wildlife cameras you can buy if you are really curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2017-11-02T17:26:09.023" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T17:26:09.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18584" CreationDate="2017-11-02T00:22:02.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens with young cats that recently have been separated from their mother.  In of itself it doesn’t really hurt anything however the cat’s teat can become raw or infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can gently and quietly shoo the cats trying to nurse away from the other cat. The behavior should go away over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-11-02T00:22:02.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-02T22:25:31.690" Score="6" ViewCount="4822" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update: mass seems to be turning a greyish colour and I also managed to get my own photos:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M5EGu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M5EGu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;One&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AUNl2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AUNl2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Two&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite a while ago I noticed a white mass on one of my neon’s mouths; he's now been given a name since he has been the focus of my studies for the past month - Simon. After a quick research, I concluded it was cotton mouth and immediately popped him into a quarantine tank to prevent my other fish catching it. Tank was cleaned, water change, etc. - all other fish are still fine and dandy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first asked my question; I had already tried increasing the temperature, adding aquarium salts, using anti-bacterial treatments and acriflavine (not all at once). More recently, I've tried an anti-fungal treatment in case my initial diagnosis was incorrect, and since none of my previous methods had appeared to have worked. I think my fish's medicine cabinet is more-well stocked than my own now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a small white circular mass, approximately 3mm in diameter protruding from Simon's mouth. Upon closer inspection, the mass appears to be attached only to the bottom lip, rather than the whole mouth; which I have read is a familiar character of this particular symptom, in multiple sources (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/cotton_mouth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/columnaris-disease-in-aquarium-fish-1378480&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simon has &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; other symptoms. From looking back at those two sources, Simon doesn't have any white spots, his fins are in great shape, there are no 'saddleback' lesions near the dorsal fin, his colours are as bright as ever, and he has a remarkable appetite. I might also mention that over the past four weeks, the white mass hasn't grown in size from what I've noticed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm beginning to doubt that this is cotton mouth, but I also don't want to put Simon back into the main tank until I know for sure. How will I know when a fish has been cured from cotton mouth? Will the white mass disappear, or stay like a scar? Is Simon safe to be re-associated with his scaly brothers and sisters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note. My main tank's water parameters are checked regularly and are within the recommended concentrations, likewise with the QT. The QT is 20l and he has it all to himself, so there is no rush to get him back into the main tank; I'm willing to take my time with this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there any other illnesses/injuries which produce these symptoms?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10049" LastEditorUserId="10049" LastEditDate="2017-11-24T22:57:47.753" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T22:57:47.753" Title="Neon tetra with cotton mouth" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18731" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-03T08:38:18.220" Score="6" ViewCount="15588" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rWo7q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Betta Tail&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does my fish have fin rot or is the tail simply torn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got him a few days ago and his fins were a bit like this, I'm unsure if it's gotten worse. He is in a cycled 16L tank with a filter, heater, gravel, live plants, driftwood and a fake hollow log. His tank is the Blue Plant 16L kit which a quick Google search will give you specifications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is alone, apart from a few bladder snails that I got with the plants, and I've been picking them out as I see them. Haven't seen any in a little while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just did a liquid test and ammonia is around 0&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;0.25&amp;nbsp;ppm maybe? I have bad lighting, it's hard to tell in the evenings. I've dosed Prime and Stresscoat API and I'll do a water change tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is very active, happy, curious and eats well. Doesn't act sick at all, but I want to make sure he won't go downhill. His ventral fins are also kind of curled at the ends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your thoughts on what that is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. The gravel is quite large and not the smoothest, and his hollow fake log does have some rough bits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10514" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T12:00:01.977" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T06:39:28.753" Title="Betta fish fin tear or rot?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15457" CreationDate="2017-11-03T11:19:47.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an instinct every cat has. They only do this on soft surfaces and they do this to be sure the place can carry their weight. Out in nature, a very soft area is an unsafe area and it is not only cats that react to this. Humans do it too!&#xA;If you are out walking and suddenly step into a very soft ground you stop without thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is on a hard surface it doesn't pat the area before laying down, it only walks in a circle or two and lays down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-11-03T11:36:06.337" LastActivityDate="2017-11-03T11:36:06.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18733" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-03T16:07:53.700" Score="2" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I break a betta food feeder in half? I have a 7 day feeder but I will only be away for 2-3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10677" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-11-04T06:15:24.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:00:07.623" Title="Can I break a betta food feeder in half?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18733" CreationDate="2017-11-04T01:06:49.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess you can. It's not important. Did you check the wrapping? Fish can remain without food for 2 or 3 days. That's probably why the feeder comes for 7 days and has no break lines. 1 day per week and 1 week per year without food is recommended because it is natural for fish to not find food every day and motivates them to eat algae in the tank. They probably have a feeling of hunger, but they don't starve and adjust their body size after longer periods of absence of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:00:07.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:00:07.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-04T09:15:29.873" Score="2" ViewCount="1284" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I tell if my cat is producing milk for her newborn kittens? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat birthed 2 kittens on October 31st. One of them died yesterday morning. The other one has been crying a lot. I am concerned that the mother is not producing milk. How can I properly and accurately tell if she is producing milk or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried doing my research on the internet but did not find any truly conclusive answers. Mostly just heresay. I tried massaging and squeezing her nipples but nothing came out. Although I'm not convinced this means she's not producing milk as it might require suction to pull it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read to weigh the kitten twice a day and look for 5-10 grams of weight gain a day. I'm going to do this. But in the meantime I want to know if there is any direct way to know the mother is producing milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to go and buy milk replacement. But I would hate to ruin the natural feeding order and invest all that time into feeding the kitten if the mother is indeed making milk and I just cannot tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10679" LastActivityDate="2017-11-04T09:15:29.873" Title="How to tell if Mother cat is lactating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18733" CreationDate="2017-11-04T11:06:28.243" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can break these up but remember that if it's one you apply to the glass, you'll need enough surface area for it to stick. I've done this before with the smaller tropical tabs for shrimp and as long as there is still enough flat space to stick to the glass it will be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you already know (but it's worth saying for future visitors) - these types of food can be problematic in terms of water quality. Owing to the fact the food is exposed to the water for a prolonged time, you can get a build up of ammonia as the food starts to decompose (often accelerated by the water temperature being raised). It can also lead to some fish overeating because a lot of fish will eat any food available regardless of the damage it could do to then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with Karl Richter - your fish will not need to be fed &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; day (unless you're aggressively attempting to make a discus put on weight or something). A lot of fish keepers will overfeed their fish because they look hungry. As Karl also pointed out, in the wild, a fish is unlikely to feed every day without fail. I've personally left my tank (180L tropical community) for just under a week with no food and they've been fine. They nibble on algae and plants (if you have any).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy3MWwwPzPY&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;interesting video about preparations for leaving your aquarium&lt;/a&gt; which might help you feel more comfortable with the idea of not feeding your fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2017-11-04T11:06:28.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2017-11-04T11:53:06.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Answer: It's not easy to say&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience it's difficult to conclusively say whether fin rot is involved or not. It is, of course, possible that your fish ripped its fin on something in the tank but you would expect a single rip as opposed to multiple missing curves. My catfish occasionally rip their tails on the wood in the tank, but this is normally a few long rips up the length of the tail and these heal up pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fin rot can be encouraged by a rip in the fin, so it may have started as a single rip and fin rot has started to eat away at the fin. As with most fish illnesses, the potential for disease is almost always in your tank's water, but when they strike it can be a pointer to &lt;em&gt;other problems&lt;/em&gt; like poor water quality, fish stress or other contributing factors. A healthy fish in a healthy tank should be able to fight off fin rot before it can take hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that the gravel could have ripped the fins but the fish would have limited, forceful contact with the gravel unless it had something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyophthirius_multifiliis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ich&lt;/a&gt; and was trying to scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tail nipping can also look a bit like fin rot. However, as you said you've got no other fish in the tank, I won't pursue this option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;All is not lost!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's two things to say here: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In a clean, healthy tank environment, a fish can grow a nice rounded tail fin back. I've had personal experience where I inherited a bashed up gourami who's tail has completely recovered from being ragged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You've caught it relatively early, so you have much less raggedness to treat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of treatment, depending on your locality, you may be able to get over the counter antibiotics for this kind of thing. You can also try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bettafishcenter.com/fin-rot-aquarium-salt.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquarium salt&lt;/a&gt; which can help to treat the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, you can get very good results just by ensuring that the water quality is excellent - which means no ammonia, no nitrites, no more than 30&amp;nbsp;ppm of nitrates and regular water changes. This will also help to stop the fish having other problems in the future with similar illnesses. Providing good quality water will not stress the fish out as much as the change in water parameters due to medicines might. In some cases, just leaving the fish to heal on it's own can be the most effective solution but you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be sure that your tank parameters are up to scratch or the disease will take hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a good watch on the fin (perhaps photograph it each day so you can see the change) and if it worsens, you could take more aggressive treatment actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T12:09:34.440" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T12:09:34.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-04T18:17:08.293" Score="4" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anybody tell me how to get our 7 month old purebred german shepherd female puppy to stop digging holes in our living room carpet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She actually has dug and shredded in several spots down to the carpet pad. Its going to cost us around 5000.00 to replace the carpet now. She also digs holes outside, but we can live with that. We put poop in the holes outside but she just moves to a new spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We love her very much. We have several soft squeaky toys. Give her rawhide chews. Give her chicken jerky treats and dog bones. Lots of hugs and kisses and play time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have a huge fenced yard to play in. She has a sister that has never dug at all. They both have big soft beds inside and nice warm dog houses outside. We feed then twice a day plus keep dry avail. Throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they come inside she will be fine for about 30 minutes, but if we don't watch her 100% of the time she will sneak off and we will hear her start to dig and shred the carpet. By the time we jump up and go to her she can have a hole already started. We hate to have to tie her up in the house. Anyone have any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10681" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-11-04T19:42:18.820" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T16:11:23.030" Title="German shepherd puppy digs holes in our carpet" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18766" CreationDate="2017-11-04T19:37:00.730" Score="5" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have sound proofing/deadening material up on my walls to help acoustics, but our cats like to eat it some times, and I can't imagine that's good for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something we could make/get to spray on the foam that would deter the cats from eating it? They do this when no one is home/sleeping, etc. so we can't be there all the time to physically stop them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously taking the foam down off the walls is one option, but it would be nice to keep it up &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; stop them from eating it if at all possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10684" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T13:11:55.377" Title="How to get cats to stop eating sound proofing material" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-04T23:01:54.357" Score="7" ViewCount="709" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gave a neighbor kid a ride and she forgot her hedgehog and left it in my car. It was about 35 degrees Fahrenheit last night, and is now around 50. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hedgehog has been in the car, parked outside, from 11:00 pm last night until just now at 3:45. She's lethargic, like in torpor, but I only just barely touched her, and set the cage in a warm place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do or what signs should I look for and what should I not do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10685" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-11-05T13:48:14.940" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T18:24:32.007" Title="Hedgehog cold and lethargic, what to do?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-04T23:34:48.347" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are other posts on this, but my dog's situation is slightly different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an older dog (10-year-old chihuahua mix) and a newer child (5). The dog weighs 10 pounds and likes his space. We have a &quot;room&quot; set up for him where he can get away and not be bothered by her. We have told her &quot;stay away from the dog&quot;, &quot;never put your face in his face&quot;, &quot;leave him alone or he will bite you&quot;, etc etc. They are for the most part supervised at all times. We don't let her play with him beyond fetch (which he loves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He never provides any warning. One moment he's calm as a cucumber, then next he snaps and bites her. There is no growling or tense behavior. This makes it very difficult to anticipate. The only pattern we have noticed is he will be snuggling with my wife calmly, and my daughter comes up and gets too close to him when he feels like he's &quot;bonding with my wife&quot; he will snap. This has happened 3 times now and while my daughter has not been seriously injured due to his size, he is not providing any warnings so we can step in. No growls or even warning nips. He bites with the intention of harming her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have another non-aggressive dog who is wonderful with our daughter and they play often without any issues, so 99% of the time my daughter plays with the &quot;fun dog&quot; and leaves the other alone. However we want to correct the biting dogs behavior. Everything I have read online is about not bringing a biting dog into the home, or standard stuff we have already tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2 years we have had 3 incidents. He's not a bad dog the majority of the time, and usually just spends his time in &quot;his room&quot; where she cant get to him, and even when he's out running about she normally leaves him alone and he leaves her alone. It's not even that he doesn't like her. He runs up and gives her kisses when we get home every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has some social issues, and major fear of bigger dogs, but we have done a lot of training with him. It's difficult to correct fear based behavior with positive re-enforcement. Even my daughter has him do tricks and gives him treats. My daughter also feeds him every day to establish positive bonds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He really does not like outsider dogs either, but we have a big backyard that is fully fenced and dog door so he gets enough exercise, and we play fetch (he's exceptional at it) every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to euthanize him, and I think it could be challenging to re-home a dog with a bitting history. We want to be the best dog owners we can, but bitting is not okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10686" LastActivityDate="2017-11-04T23:34:48.347" Title="How to correct biting dogs behavior" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-05T06:18:39.767" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My home gets cold in the winter. What temperature should I heat my house to for my dog's safety and comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a small dog with tons of fur (a Pomeranian). She sleeps in a plastic crate with two blankets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be great if you an point to a reputable source. I searched online and could not find any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10687" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T07:23:12.420" Title="How cold should I let my home get in the winter for my small dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18742" CreationDate="2017-11-05T07:23:12.420" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's something you can safely ignore. If it's warm enough for you, your dog should be happy as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just offer a retreat, e.g. with a snuggly blanket or similar on an isolated bed (if the ground is colder, e.g. stone tiles) and let the dog decide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's easy to say owning Huskies but even our dogs won't just accept any temperature or condition if they have the choice. They'll hide in the couch or in my bed, if they think it's more comfortable there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T07:23:12.420" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-05T15:17:13.070" Score="2" ViewCount="2253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cockatiels one male (1yr) and the other is a female (~2yr) who have laid 4 eggs. Its been a month and a half and today I found a hole in one of the eggs. I understand that they take about 28 days to hatch, are the eggs OK or they are dead? I tried to candle the eggs but all I saw were dark spots inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10689" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-11-05T17:32:20.740" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T17:35:58.167" Title="Are my cockatiels eggs viable?" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2017-11-05T16:29:47.497" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get rid of cat urine smell most of the time: Rinse with water and dry in sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your mattress, too many layers. You will have to come up with a better solution then spending loads of money on a cleaner. Buy a new one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10690" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T16:29:47.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18745" CreationDate="2017-11-05T17:28:39.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a month and a half the eggs are dead, when the eggs are overdue the parents will break them to see what's going on (some birds will eat them). I would remove the eggs and clean the nesting area before they rot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When candling eggs the light should not disperse around the egg but focus on it to have a better view. The development of a fertile egg would look like the image below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JwdPM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JwdPM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-11-05T17:35:58.167" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T17:35:58.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18749" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-05T22:52:06.463" Score="3" ViewCount="1224" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am caring for kittens that I found last night, that the mother seems to have abandoned, that I thought were one month old. Ideally I wanted her to come back to them. They were likely fathered by one of the outdoor cats belonging to my next door neighbor who says they are two months old. My husband found online that emergency food for four weeks or younger was egg yolks with a bit of vegetable oil. They loved it. Weather forecast predicted thunderstorms last night so after we fed them we put them in a Rubbermaid style tub with small fleece blankets, tall enough that they couldn't climb out, but large enough that the mom could jump in, and set them under our back porch which is just across the driveway from where his cats hang out. Multiple litters come from his cats every year and 90% of them die. One of this group of five did die hours after I found them. These four seem strong, though I am a little concerned about the apparent runt. Neighbor says he never considers them completely out of the woods until they're a year old. Now that I know they're older than four weeks, I see that they are old enough to eat kitten food. Is it best to start with wet food? Will the cans advise how much to feed? And should I feed the &quot;runt&quot; a little more than the others? Do they need kitten milk? And what should I feed them until I can get the canned food tomorrow? Stick with the egg yolks? Can I use the whole egg? Should I scramble them?(That would be less messy). And Should I put them back in the same place tonight? Or should I just give up on her. I could tell she didn't come to them last night. I will greatly appreciate any responses. Thank-you. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gdzpr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10691" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T17:56:05.570" Title="2 month old kitten care" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2017-11-05T23:04:43.260" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vinegar and water is a very good idea. I've used it for almost all types of household cleaning and it's safe for animals. It's also really cheap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10691" LastActivityDate="2017-11-05T23:04:43.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18754" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2017-11-06T16:13:04.960" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-11-06T16:13:04.960" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T16:13:04.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18755" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2017-11-06T16:13:04.960" Score="0" Body="This is a special tag that is designed to be used only by the system for questions that have had all of their other tags removed. Do not add this tag to existing questions, it is reserved for use by the system to identify posts with no valid tags." OwnerUserId="8382" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2017-11-09T18:06:56.737" LastActivityDate="2017-11-09T18:06:56.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2017-11-06T16:28:57.467" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to establish a pecking order, one where you are at the top. Your cats need to abide by your rules, and that includes not picking on each other. &lt;em&gt;Even if they cannot stand each other&lt;/em&gt;, they need to respect your wishes and not start fights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. No picking on each other.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to consistently enforce this rule in all directions. Cats don't respond to your &lt;em&gt;intention&lt;/em&gt; of teaching them (dogs do), but cats do respond to their environment and situation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat might never stop doing something because you tell it to, but you can get it to stop doing something because it causes you to retaliate &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A retaliation by you is supposed to be &lt;strong&gt;negative feedback&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;an inconvenience&lt;/strong&gt; to the cat. It should never cross ethical boundaries. No violence, fear, or harsh punishments.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule is clear, no picking on each other. If you can't interact nicely, then don't interact. All you need to do now is &lt;strong&gt;consistently enforce it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Responding to transgressions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A real world example might help here. We have three cats: Cleo, Misha and Alfie. Cleo and Misha are sisters (about 15 months old), Alfie is a brand new addition (about 6 months old). Alfie always wants to be first, everywhere, every time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Treats? Alfie is front and center. Food? Alfie rushes to the first bowl and quickly jumps to the next bowl when his is finished. I'm giving love to a cat? Alfie will come and ask for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may be biased because I like the little bastard, but imo Alfie does not mean to undercut the girls, he's just eager for everything. He is always highly suggestible and easily distracted by anything that catches his attention. Literally anything distracts him, both in cases where it is a benefit or a drawback. He's not gaming the system, he's just incessantly eager.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, and this is key to how to respond to transgressions, &lt;strong&gt;Alfie's intent does not matter&lt;/strong&gt;. He gets punished for breaking the rules, not for &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; he broke the rules. The rules are non-negotiable, and need to be enforced as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's allowed to be highly energetic and eager. Cleo and Misha are a bit more relaxed, so it's natural for Alfie to generally be first. I don't punish him for being first if the others are slower than him. However, whenever he crosses the line and actually cuts in between me and another cat, he does get punished.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I (softly) put my hand on his side and then give him a strong push. At the very least, he'll slide to the side. At worst, he'll fall on his side. It doesn't hurt him, but &lt;strong&gt;it inconveniences him&lt;/strong&gt; to be pushed away and have to walk towards me again.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If he rushes at a treat that was clearly placed in front of another cat (I tend to also say the name of the cat whose treat it is, for further clarity) I will do everything in my power to ensure that the treat is eaten by the cat I gave it to. I will take it from Alfie's mouth if I have to (luckily, he doesn't put up a fight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core of my feedback is always consistent: &lt;strong&gt;No cat gets to bend a rule that I have made.&lt;/strong&gt; If I give a treat to Misha, no one gets to take it from her.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This also extends to unjust behavior that I see happen. If a cat drives another cat from their sleeping spot in order to claim it for themselves, I will actively remove that cat and make sure their crime did not pay. This includes dunking water on the spot (after the cat has been removed) to make it an inhospitable sleeping spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Interestingly, before Alfie joined our family, Cleo was similarly eager. It was always &quot;me first!&quot; with her, and we needed to push her aside to actually be able to interact with Misha. However, Alfie is much more energetic (and socially oblivious) than Cleo, and now Cleo is basically being treated the way she (obliviously) treated Misha. Since Alfie, Cleo no longer cuts in front of Misha, not even unintentionally.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;This sort of proves my point: cats learn to not undercut others (unintentionally or intentionally), when they themselves become the victim of being undercut. When I see a cat undercut another cat, I will interfere in a way that the offender becomes a victim to their own crime.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Patience and consistency.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people who see me interact with my cats make a comment about how much effort it must take to enforce rules that get broken constantly, since cats are not really trainable (compared to dogs).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I disagree with that. Cats are slow learners (compared to dogs) because they do not observe a human's &lt;em&gt;intent to teach&lt;/em&gt;, but that doesn't mean that cats are unable to learn something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consistency is the most important factor here. If you always apply the same rule, and apply the same punishment, then the cat will eventually see the pattern and learn to avoid it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats already learn this way. There's a rope hanging off of a bucket. The bucket is standing on a table, filled with water. Cleo jumps and tries to catch the rope. The inevitable happens: she catches the rope and throws a bucket of water on herself. Cleo made the mistake a second time, but has not played with the bucket since then. Cause meets inevitable effect. Cleo saw the pattern (play with the bucket =&gt; get drenched) and actively avoided it in the future (don't want to get drenched =&gt; should not play with bucket).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key part here is &lt;strong&gt;inevitable&lt;/strong&gt;. It's not just a random occurrence, the effect &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt; happens. I try to artificially recreate that same environment of cause and effect. Alfie takes food from another cat, and gets pushed aside (roughly but without hurting him). The more aggressively he tries it, the more aggressively he gets pushed back.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Misha sometimes walks away from treats. When she does, he's allowed to take it once she turns her back, &lt;strong&gt;unless&lt;/strong&gt; he has already tried to steal it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has taken about 2-3 weeks, but Alfie understands that now. He will eagerly &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; at the treat and Misha, but he will generally not try to &lt;em&gt;steal&lt;/em&gt; it anymore (exceptions made on days where he's much too playful to be thinking straight, he's still a kitten after all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;4. Focusing on your situation.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My situation has been a bit more relaxed. It's mostly about a social fax-pas. Your situation is more severe, your cats are antagonizing each other. You can apply the same principles as above, but you'll have to tailor it to the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The rule&lt;/strong&gt;: No cat shall be aggressive or unkind towards another cat. No cat is above this rule. As the pets' owner, you will not accept any disregard for this rule (no matter which cat is breaking the rule).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kitty's favorite activity is chasing Faith and battling with her. ... Faith is weak and old so she's the perfect target for our little bully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moment he acts out, you respond. This can be done by name calling (neutral, then angrily), throwing soft things (e.g. pillows) or physically intervening. The important part is that &lt;strong&gt;Kitty is guilty&lt;/strong&gt;, and must be appropriately punished. I'll address possible punishments further in the answer, but the general idea here is that you need to &lt;strong&gt;tailor&lt;/strong&gt; a punishment that fits Kitty's crime. Crime does not pay, and it is your job to deliver that message to Kitty's doorstep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's gotten into quite a few 'duels' with Pip (all of which Pip won) and so i think he's trying to show his dominance. He failed with Pip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see it happen, you need to intervene. Regardless of who started it, if both are actively engaging each other in the fight, &lt;strong&gt;they are both guilty&lt;/strong&gt;. Note that you should observe what is going on. If one of them is attacking, and the other is fiercely defending (but doing nothing more than defending incoming attacks), then only the aggressor is guilty. But if both of them are aggressive (even if one of them started off simply defending themselves), both are actively breaking your rule and need to be punished for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Kitty is the aggressor, and Pip consistently wins &lt;em&gt;before you can intervene&lt;/em&gt;, you do not need to intervene after the fact (as long as no cat gets hurt in the process). Kitty has already experienced the effect from what he caused: Pip dominated him. Kitty must recognize the pattern and decide: do I want to keep losing this? Or do I want to avoid poking the bear?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, if the aggressor ends up winning, then you do need to intervene after the fact and make sure that the aggressor does not gain anything from their behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've not been sure on if i should ask this or not but the final straw was when i heard yowling and hissing from outside today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to retain consistency, you should yell at the hissing cat &lt;em&gt;before you even know who it is&lt;/em&gt;. That proves the point that you're not upset with a specific cat, but rather &lt;em&gt;whoever is being unkind&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;whenever Faith comes in Kitty tries to chase her so we have to hold him down so he won't chase her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding him down is a good idea. However, maybe a pedantic niggle, but I'd make sure to only hold him down &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; he has shown to make a move. If you immediately hold him down before he has even misbehaved, then there's no lesson for him to learn. However, if he only gets held down after misbehaving, then he can learn the pattern (run after Faith =&gt; get held) and learn to avoid it (don't want to get held =&gt; shouldn't run after Faith)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid to hold a pillow and use it as a projectile to block him when he makes a move for her. If he's being &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; aggressive that you can't easily stop him, then you're morally allowed to respond in equal measure by throwing a pillow (I would aim it in front of him rather than on him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the pillow doesn't stop him, it still serves a purpose as a signal that you are telling him off. It also has the added benefit that &lt;em&gt;you holding a pillow&lt;/em&gt; will eventually become a reminder of what will happen if he misbehaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Things get worse when Faith fuels the fire. Whenever she sees Kitty she hisses and tries to scratch at him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Faith's reaction is understandable. But just like how I said that Alfie's lack of ill intent is irrelevant; so is Faith's justification for hissing. Hissing is unkind, and unkindness does not get tolerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may think that this is unfair on Faith. But keep in mind that you're also teaching &lt;em&gt;Kitty&lt;/em&gt; the same lesson at the same time. He sees that other cats get punished for the same misbehavior. This causes him to realize that getting told off isn't something that's unique to Kitty himself.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Again, you are showcasing a pattern (cat acts unkindly =&gt; cat gets told off) that the cats will eventually learn to avoid (cat doesn't want to get told off =&gt; cat shouldn't act unkindly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Things get even worse when Pip joins in though. Pip doesn't know what he's doing, he chases her very rarely and i think he only does it because Kitty does it. (Kitty is then ultimate bad role model.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the pattern is starting to be clear. &lt;strong&gt;Pip is guilty&lt;/strong&gt;. Pip gets punished. Kitty is not to blame for being a bad role model. Pip is to blame for following Kitty's example, &lt;em&gt;especially if he has also seen Kitty getting told off for this misbehavior (and should therefore know better)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've tried everything, clapping, flicking Kitty/Faith (when she starts the fight) on the forehead/nose, nothing works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I'm coming across as a general hard-ass. Keeping that in mind, I'm not a fan of physical punishment such as flicking on the nose. As I see it, &lt;em&gt;only a human&lt;/em&gt; is able to flick a cat on the nose, and thus it leaves the possibility for the cat to blame &lt;em&gt;humans&lt;/em&gt; for being flicked on the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I push Alfie, because he pushes the other cats. When he bites them (more than just horseplay), I slightly pinch him when I grab him. When he chases them out of their comfy spot, I do the same to him. Although I'm fighting fire with fire, I make sure to always respond in &lt;strong&gt;equal measure&lt;/strong&gt; and not escalate needlessly. I would rather inefficiently push Alfie instead of &quot;play the human card&quot; that will always trump Alfie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you respond too strongly, the cat will see you as the aggressor. Instead of learning a lesson, it'll learn to avoid or dislike you. If you never go beyond the cat's own transgressions, they can't blame you for something that they just did themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I expect from your cats, long-term.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just inference from what you've told us. Take this with a grain of salt, I don't know your cats other than what you've told me (and even then I could've misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Faith seems to want to be by herself. Whenever Pip or Kitty misbehave, I expect that you'll end up enforcing a peaceful atmosphere for Faith (e.g. by separating the offender temporarily).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pip seems to have no issue responding to Kitty in equal measure, so you need to &lt;em&gt;defend&lt;/em&gt; him less. But when he misbehaves like Kitty, you should punish him like Kitty. He needs to see that the punishment is directed at the behavior and not just at Kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitty is going to need the most work. He is going to have to learn how to back off. As a general rule, you can never &lt;strong&gt;stop&lt;/strong&gt; a cat's misbehavior, but you can &lt;strong&gt;steer&lt;/strong&gt; it. You can't stop a cat from scratching things, but you can redirect them to a scratching pole when they target your furniture or couch. The same is true for any other instinctive behavior.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If Kitty's misbehavior comes from playfulness (which Faith does not reciprocate), try playing with Kitty to redirect his energy. Even if he's not trying to play with Faith (but likes playing with you), you can play with him to tire him out and make him less likely to chase Faith.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If Kitty is being aggressive for the sake of aggression, then that needs to be adamantly addressed. Do not put up with that behavior, even in small bursts. Do not allow him to be unkind to the other cats in any way, shape or form. Make sure that doing so leads to an inevitable punishment that he will regret (but don't overreact either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;5. Fair punishments.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to not lengthen an already lengthy answer, I'll simply &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18666/biting-and-scratching-diving-at-me-with-claws-out/18674#18674&quot;&gt;link to an earlier answer I gave on this topic&lt;/a&gt;. Chapter 4 specifically addresses the escalation pattern that I use to teach my cats how to steer their own behavior (by making them want to avoid you steering their behavior for them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T21:31:04.077" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T21:31:04.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18749" CreationDate="2017-11-06T17:00:56.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Feeding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens learn to eat new foods over time. Generally speaking, they chronologically learn to eat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk (from birth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wet food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, they learn to eat soft food before harder foods. But this isn't an absolute. I've seen cats who refuse to eat wet food (or dry food), period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given their age, I would always keep cat milk available. If they have issues with the other food, they can always go back to the milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't yet heard of the egg yolk with oil. Based on the protein (egg) and fat (oil) content, I'm guessing that it's a substitute for milk (which is also essentially just protein and fat, suspended in a liquid).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would expect that kitten milk is just as good at the egg-oil combo. You can always try giving them both and seeing which they prefer. Give them milk for a meal, then give them egg-oil the next meal, and then make both options available. They know both options so you should quickly notice if they favor one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think in general, the best approach would be to &lt;strong&gt;let them try things&lt;/strong&gt;. Give them milk and the egg-oil combo. See which one they favor. Take note of their droppings, make sure they don't have diarrhaea more than once or twice after switching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true for the dry and wet food. When you think they're ready for it (or when you just don't know), simply offer it as an alternative. If they don't take to it, then that's their choice. If they respond badly to it (not digesting it), then take it away and try again at a later stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think they're ready for dry food yet, but you could try with wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Shelter&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like your solution of putting them in the deep box to make sure their mother finds them again. However, mid-fall and with winter approaching, I would try to keep them inside. Especially if you're already concerned about their strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can still put &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; outside that smells of the kittens (e.g. the green blanket in your picture).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you want a more effective tool, also keep some of their droppings outside (preferable in an open container but I understand that that's not always an option).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, you'll want the kittens &lt;strong&gt;visible&lt;/strong&gt; from where you leave the blanket/droppings. The mom approaches for the smell, and will then look around to find the kittens. Once she sees the kittens, she will likely stick around your house to get them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am caring for kittens that I found last night, that the mother seems to have abandoned, that I thought were one month old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're correct that the mother &lt;em&gt;intentionally&lt;/em&gt; abandoned them, it's unlikely that she'll return for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's no harm in trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T17:00:56.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18740" CreationDate="2017-11-06T18:24:32.007" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I called an Emergency veterinary hospital and asked what should be done. They said to put a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel next to the hedgehog, which I had already done. After about two hours the hedgehog appeared to be OK, and I was able to get a hold of the owner, and took it to them. The next day the owner reported that it was &quot;fine&quot;.&#xA;Since I read on the website below that hedgehogs hibernate and enter torpor, I was not nearly as worried as I was when I discovered it in my un-heated car. Of course, I doubt it would be good to let this happen often, but no harm done this time.&#xA;And I would like to thank James Jenkins for pulling my head of my you-know-what. Calling the vet should be the FIRST thing anyone does if they think they have an emergency!&#xA;hedgehogstreet.org/about-hedgehogs/hibernation &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10685" LastActivityDate="2017-11-06T18:24:32.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18762" CreationDate="2017-11-06T22:21:35.423" Score="4" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 2-year-old cats, one male, one female. They are siblings and both were fixed a long time ago. The male is very affectionate and frequently follows my girlfriend and I around the house hoping for some attention. If we sit down on the sofa, he usually jumps up to lie down next to us. The female is a more stereotypical cat: she enjoys some physical attention every once in a while, but is just as happy lying in a chair by herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I try to give the cats equal attention, but I always ended up giving the male more because, well, he was usually at arm's length. My girlfriend has a bit less patience for him (he's really needy = annoying), though, and so gave more attention to the female than I did. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I've actually left the house (doing a one-year MBA abroad), so my girlfriend is now taking care of the cats by herself. The female has now become significantly more affectionate, and the male isn't too happy about that. For the last couple of days, my girlfriend has reported that if she's lying in bed with the male and the female comes in looking for some affection, he bites her (the female). By my girlfriend's tone, the bites don't seem vicious, but are clearly a display of dominance. My girlfriend states that she has not noticed such behavior in other situations; only when the female is &quot;interrupting his affection-time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for his behavior are pretty clear. He got used to a certain (excessively high) level of attention when I was around, and now that I've left, he's feeling the difference and thinks his sister is taking up his affection-time. I can (and do) blame myself for failing to ween him off me properly before I left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what to do about this. I've seen a few other questions on this SE about how to deal with jealousy between new and old cats, or just two cats in general, but those all deal with conditions of overall jealousy, with cats attacking or sabotaging each other during the day. This, however, only happens in one specific circumstance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what should my girlfriend do next time this happens? Should she give him a slight tap on the head and scold him? Should she put him in a separate room to cool off? My concern is that this may just worsen the issue, with the male associating his sister's entrance not only to him losing affection, but to even being punished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6462" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T21:35:02.303" Title="Dealing with situational jealousy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18761" CreationDate="2017-11-07T16:48:00.207" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever you're dealing with &lt;em&gt;understandable&lt;/em&gt; cases like this (which is different from e.g. cats that can't stand each other), you need to always be aware of what the &lt;strong&gt;baseline&lt;/strong&gt; is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dispute with someone else, and cannot amicably resolve it, you go to court. As there is no amicable compromise possible, the court then resorts to the applicable legislature, which is essentially the legal &lt;strong&gt;baseline&lt;/strong&gt; of how such a conflict should be resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have no knowledge of the legal system, but your male is essentially &quot;suing&quot; the female for taking away affection that he feels is rightfully his. Regardless of whether he's correct or not, &lt;em&gt;he thinks that he is correct&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The baseline&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I use as a baseline for my three cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All cats are equal, and are entitled to equal shares of everything (treats, toys, affection, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can define your own baseline if you want. Just make sure that you are absolutely convinced about the fairness of your baseline, because you will &lt;strong&gt;enforce this baseline unilaterally&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit more off-topic, but relevant to understand why I chose this baseline:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is largely based on the categorical imperative (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;as defined by Immanuel Kant&lt;/a&gt;), a philosophical idea that I very much believe in. Simplified:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The freedom of an individual should only be limited when it (unfairly) infringes on the freedom of another individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, you are free to do as you please, but you cannot detract from someone else's freedom, &lt;strong&gt;within reason&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The reality&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The baseline defines what each cat is entitled to, but that doesn't mean that everything &lt;strong&gt;must&lt;/strong&gt; adhere to the baseline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If we sit down on the sofa, he usually jumps up to lie down next to us. The female is a more stereotypical cat: she enjoys some physical attention every once in a while, but is just as happy lying in a chair by herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male clearly wants more attention than the female. And that's not inherently a problem. It only becomes a problem when the female &lt;strong&gt;loses out&lt;/strong&gt; on attention that she wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the female is simply not a social cat, and does not ask for attention, then she does not &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; the attention. If, at the same time, the male is asking for more attention than he is entitled to (according to the baseline), then you can divert attention towards him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: There is an exception here: if the female &lt;strong&gt;wants&lt;/strong&gt; attention but is afraid to ask for it, e.g. if the male attacks her for doing so or she is pathologically afraid of engaging humans (I had a cat like that). In such a case, you need to rely more on the baseline, in order to show to the female that she deserves attention too.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I try to give the cats equal attention, but I always ended up giving the male more because, well, he was usually at arm's length. My girlfriend has a bit less patience for him (he's really needy = annoying), though, and so gave more attention to the female than I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of your approaches are valid for different reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You gave more attention to the male because he was easier to give attention to. As long as you did not allow the male to undercut the female, that is fine. It teaches the female that she's more likely to get some additional love by being around you. Otherwise, you are setting a dangerous precedent that you are required to seek out your cat in order to give her the attention she wants, and that's not right. If she wants something, &lt;em&gt;she should come to you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your girlfriend, however, finds the male's continual presence annoying. Therefore, she responded fairly by not giving him more love just because he's closeby. She effectively teaches him the opposite: he is not going to get everything he asks for, just because he's close. This too is a valuable lesson, and it subtly teaches the cat to adjust its behavior based on what you prefer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real issue here is when you cross wires. E.g. your girlfriend tells him off of being close to &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; (not her), or you start ignoring him more only when your girlfriend is around.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This sends mixed signals to your cats, they can't figure out whether you like their proximity or not because you seemingly flip-flop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency&lt;/strong&gt; creates patterns. Patterns can be recognized. Recognizing a pattern leads to understanding them. Understanding patterns leads to the ability to steer your own behavior in order to achieve the outcome you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat scratches the wallpaper, you spray him with water. You do this consistently and preferably without fail. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, the cat will understand cause and effect. Scratch the wallpaper =&gt; get sprayed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat does not want to get sprayed, but he does not know how to avoid it. Depending on how clever your cat is, it may take him a while before he realizes that he can avoid being sprayed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, the cat learns to steer its behavior based on understanding cause and (inevitable) effect. I do not want to get sprayed =&gt; I should not scratch that wallpaper then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every animal (and human) is capable of this learning pattern. It's very natural to do so, because it's a universal law of life. &lt;strong&gt;If I don't want the effect, I should avoid the cause.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tricky part lies in understanding that a certain effect is connected to a certain cause. This is where you must &lt;strong&gt;help&lt;/strong&gt; your cat. By consistently (and fairly) punishing him, you make the connection between cause and effect &lt;strong&gt;easier to spot&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The conflict&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The female has now become significantly more affectionate, and the male isn't too happy about that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where we get to the &quot;court case&quot;. The male feels that the female's increased need for attention is unfairly infringing on the attention that he's used to getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't punish him for jealousy; because he's not being malicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should do, is &lt;strong&gt;remind him of the baseline&lt;/strong&gt;. He has gotten &lt;a href=&quot;https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/too-big-for-your-boots&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;too big for his boots&lt;/a&gt;, and needs to be reminded that a lot of the attention he's used to getting was &lt;strong&gt;an extra&lt;/strong&gt;, he was not entitled to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like how the court relies on the law during a trial, you should rely on the baseline during the male's disagreement with the amount of attention he's getting.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since there is no amicable compromise anymore, you must enforce and police fairness. Try to ensure that affection is given in equal measure. It may seem childish to do &quot;one pet for him, one pet for her, ...&quot;, but keep in mind that &lt;strong&gt;cats are less intellectually developed than the average child&lt;/strong&gt;, and this childish solution is &lt;strong&gt;understandable&lt;/strong&gt; to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We had a similar issue with our first two cats. They were sisters, but one would always steal the treats and food of the other. So I enforced fairness. One treat for Cleo. One treat for Misha. Cleo would not get a treat until Misha ate hers. I physically blocked Cleo from stealing it. If she did manage to steal it, she forfaited her next treat. Cleo had two consecutive treats, so now Misha shall now have two consecutive treats. No discussion, I'm the one who makes the rules.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It took a few weeks, but Cleo got the message. She never steals treats from Misha anymore. Note that if Misha walks away (she has done so on occasion), I allow Cleo to take the treat that Misha clearly refused. But only if Misha refused it, and if Cleo had not already tried to steal it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We recently got a third cat, who is even worse than Cleo at alwayswanting to be first. I've applied the same rules. He has also understood the message by now, although he is still a kitten and sometimes is too excited to remember the rules (it's not malevolent, he's just eager).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;He will get pushed aside if he tries to steal a treat. I consistently prevent him from breaking my rules, and he has over time become less adamant about trying to get around me or my rules.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The punishment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the last couple of days, my girlfriend has reported that if she's lying in bed with the male and the female comes in looking for some affection, he bites her (the female).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  My girlfriend states that she has not noticed such behavior in other situations; only when the female is &quot;interrupting his affection-time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His actions have scared off the female. This makes it impossible for you to enforce fairness, since the female no longer wants affection as she has been scared off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot provide fairness by giving her equal amounts of affection, then the only remaining option is to provide fairness &lt;strong&gt;by giving him less affection&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He gets jealous about her wanting attention? He has now earned himself a strong negative feedback (stating a clear &quot;No&quot; while making eye contact with him) and an &quot;affection time-out&quot; (no affection for the next X minutes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He chases the female off the bed? Then he's not welcome on the bed either. &lt;strong&gt;If you can't share it, then you don't get any.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being jealous for attention is one thing. Attacking the other cat (even if only symbolically) is a crime, and you must teach him that &lt;strong&gt;crime does not pay&lt;/strong&gt;. Whenever your cat commits a (social) crime, you must ensure that &lt;strong&gt;he gains nothing from his crime&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you can't be too hard about this. When the male gets kicked off the bed, he's not sure what happened (especially the first time). He may wrongly think that you don't like him anymore. &lt;strong&gt;Prove to him that that's not true&lt;/strong&gt;. Make a point of giving him attention &lt;em&gt;at the same time as the female&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide tangible experiences for the male, both about the positive (both cats get attention) and the negative (you don't get to claim or steal attention).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some examples from my cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cleo wanted Misha's cushion. Misha was sleeping on it. Cleo attacked Misha, drove her off, and got comfortable on the stolen pillow. I picked up Misha, brought her back, shoved Cleo aside (gently but firmly) and put Misha back on the pillow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cleo repeatedly stole Misha's spot. Misha didn't want the spot when Cleo chased her off, so my previous fix no longer worked. So instead, I removed Cleo from the pillow and dunked water over the pillow, rendering it unusable as a sleeping spot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cleo eats faster than Misha. She also eats more. When finished with her bowl, she would butt in to Misha's food. I reprimanded her twice. The third time, I took away the food for 10 seconds, put it down in front of Misha, and blocked Cleo. (Note: Misha never finishes her bowl. If she walks away, I allow Cleo to eat the leftover. But again, only after Misha voluntarily stops eating).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core idea is very simple: &lt;strong&gt;You gain nothing from being unkind.&lt;/strong&gt; If antyhing, you will &lt;strong&gt;lose&lt;/strong&gt; something. Even if that means that both cats lose out (e.g. when I dunked water on the pillow), I will not allow their crime to pay at pretty much all (reasonable) costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-11-07T17:03:11.840" LastActivityDate="2017-11-07T17:03:11.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-08T06:24:59.650" Score="4" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago a sweet female cat started showing up on our patio. She took a few days to warm to us but was soon sitting in our laps and asking for pets. We were able to eventually move her indoors with our two indoor cats and she was quite happy! Unfortunately a few months ago she started regularly urinating on our couch even if we were in the room watching her, so we decided to have her go back to being an outdoor kitty. She loves being outside and regularly comes to the house for affection and food. we feed her twice a day and she’ll occasionally come into the house for a few minutes to hang out. We’re moving in about a month to a house about 12 miles away and I’m torn about what to do with her. My boyfriend is concerned that if we take her with us she won’t adjust well or she’ll run away. With the inappropriate urination it’s not really feasible for us to keep her in the house for a few weeks to start off as I’ve seen a lot of people suggest on the internet. Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10697" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T06:24:59.650" Title="moving with a stray cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2017-11-08T13:30:01.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16884" CreationDate="2017-11-08T11:00:48.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a staffy puppy and recently took her to the vet for eye discharge and this is what he told me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the eye gunk is yellow it's a general sign of conjunctivitis or infection.&#xA;This is not uncommon and generally nothing to stress too much about. Dogs can pick it up from long grass, other dogs, anywhere really.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it's not yellow it could be allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it's only one eye possibly there is some foreign body there like a hair, you could try remove this yourself but BE CAREFUL because:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There could be an injury to the eye.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it could also just be sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take the dog to the vet if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discharge is yellow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eyes are swollen or red.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog is continuously bothering their eyes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discharge occurs throughout the day, not just in the morning/ after a nap.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T11:00:48.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18739" CreationDate="2017-11-08T13:11:55.377" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try using a citrus-based &quot;cat repellent&quot; type spray. You can either buy a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bitter-Citrus-Anti-Chew-Repellent-Spray/dp/B00IPBFWW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1506443050&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=cat+repellent+citrus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ready made one&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/Friendly-but-Effective-Cat-Repellent/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;mix one up at home&lt;/a&gt;. Cats hate the scent of citrus so they will generally avoid the area but it's not harmful to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to test any such spray on a discreet area of the foam first obviously to make sure that it doesn't stain the foam as I'm guessing that wouldn't be a good look!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T13:11:55.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15967" CreationDate="2017-11-08T14:27:40.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I can say is that my 9-year-old cat likes tuna (tuna-in-water) so I sometimes give him it. He also goes mad for shrimp (grey, not red ones) so when I want to reward him I give some.&#xA;When I buy tuna I always ensure it has no salt added or that the amount of salt is less than 10% GDA (Guideline Daily Amount, for human-grade tuna).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T04:20:52.143" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T04:20:52.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2017-11-08T14:48:39.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe her bed is not in a comfortable location. Maybe it is because of the temperature (my cat sleeps at home only in winter; otherwise, he's always under the hedge) or because of a crowd (some like to sleep with everything &quot;on sight,&quot; others likes hidden places) or noise, maybe there's a pipe running next to her bed that whistles and she tries to avoid that noise (or maybe there's an ultrasound you cannot hear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My solution is to try to put her &quot;nest&quot; next to where she used to sleep, so she may try, but anyway don't force her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat took about 4 years to start sleeping in his nest, and truth be told, he still prefers to sleep outside when it is not too cold or in a box full of old clothes under my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:37:11.553" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:37:11.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16780" CreationDate="2017-11-08T14:54:43.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends, some cats will have no issues or even love to stay inside, others will loathe it trying to escape just as someone approaches the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like people, someone will spend all his life home, another simply can't stay inside more than sleep time. It's a matter of personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T22:24:22.480" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T22:24:22.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1844" CreationDate="2017-11-08T14:59:27.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put another litter box far enough from the first so a single cat can't 'monopolise' it, possibly in another room out of vision-line from the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T14:59:27.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="726" CreationDate="2017-11-08T15:06:08.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet first, some pets' meds are exactly the same as human ones but overpriced, others are animal-specific and some human meds may kill your cat so, even though I'm repetitive, ask your vet first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2017-11-08T20:15:51.683" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T20:15:51.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2017-11-08T15:12:08.583" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to put my cat into his carrier in 'reverse'. The procedure I use is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce number of places he can hide in to the minimum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close all the escapes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the carrier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the cat in that closed room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gently pull the cat in his carrier keeping his head in my hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:18.033" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T07:44:18.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16194" CreationDate="2017-11-08T15:19:00.160" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For kitties it wont cause problems (it also makes them feel 'home'). For grown up it's something to avoid as it may injure them. But in extreme cases and keeping the most weight possible not sustained by the scruff it'll be only a bad memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10700" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T15:19:00.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-08T15:29:58.843" Score="3" ViewCount="3259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use both dry and canned food. My dog (15 years old) eats the cat food, and my cat (6 months old) eats the dog food. They both eat each other's type of food. Why does it happen, and could it be doing any harm to them? The food is in different locations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10701" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:22:12.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:22:12.040" Title="Dog eats the cat food, cat eats the dog food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18774" CreationDate="2017-11-08T20:09:02.260" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not going to cause any harm. But both your cat and dog will suffer from malnutrition in the long run. It is because their dietary needs are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, an essential component of cat food is taurine. In it's absence cat can develop heart diseases and may go blind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may argue that in the streets you see cats and dogs eating everything. Well they are just surviving not thriving. Their life expectancy is much less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for your pet's well being you need to be strict. For example you can try this. You lock up your cat and feed the dog and then lock up your dog and feed the cat. The first few days may be difficult for them but they will get adjusted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T20:09:02.260" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18778" CreationDate="2017-11-08T21:29:50.433" Score="7" ViewCount="7946" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has had problems with hypersensitivity near the base of his tail.  He had fleas for a time, and I thought it was perhaps flea allergy dermatitis.  I used Advantix II for large cats (he exceeded the suggested minimum weight requirements) for quite a while, and haven't seen any indication of fleas (flea dirt, etc) in months, but he still has the spot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His fur there is filled with what looks like flakes of dead skin, and I can tell it bothers him as sometimes he will suddenly try so intensely to lick at it (I assume it itches), that he will spin around on the floor, and has fallen off my desk and bed several times, still spinning about frantically trying to lick at it.  It also causes him to seize up to an extent if I accidentally brush it while picking him up or petting him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Money is very tight, or I would have taken him to a vet some time ago.  Any ideas what this might be, and if it's something I can treat myself or will it require vet care?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further information: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is neutered&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Around 9 - 10 years old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eats dry food (normally for sensitive stomach or hairball care) and this hasn't changed recently. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is longhaired&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10705" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-11-09T15:10:08.290" LastActivityDate="2019-07-17T05:28:22.217" Title="Hypersensitivity and Flakes at Base of Tail" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18761" CreationDate="2017-11-08T21:35:02.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would define your cats’ current jealousy level as “In control.” They are not fighting or hissing or chasing or exacting revenge on each other so you are handling it well currently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are already trying to do your best to give them equal affection. Here is a trick i use to keep the jealousy levels down with my cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once or more a day place the cats next to each other, and pet both of them. The two cats don’t have to be touching, just relatively close so you can pet both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you switch hands  between the two cats so you get their scents on each other. This way they associate affection with the other cat’s scent. Give them both a lot of verbal praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T21:35:02.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18776" CreationDate="2017-11-08T21:54:47.997" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to determine the cause of this problem (and find the most effective treatment) is to see a vet. Your cat is clearly uncomfortable, so if there's any way to get him seen, that is the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Males can get something called stud tail, but he's older and neutered, so it's not likely. I would suspect this if the fur is oily and he has blackheads in addition to the skin flakes. This condition is managed by washing the affected area. If he doesn't have stud tail and you try to wash the area, you're going to cause him extra discomfort, so again, getting a diagnosis from the vet is the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may also be suffering some type of allergy, especially if something in your household (or his food) has changed. This is hard to diagnose without a vet's involvement because generally you would try to identify the allergy and remove it from his environment. When that's not possible (for example if it's a dust mite allergy), your vet can give him allergy shots. You could try assuming there's a food allergy and buy a limited ingredient food to switch him to. If that's the problem you should see an improvement in 6 weeks, but if his diet hasn't changed recently this seems unlikely to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a cat can be hypersensitive even after the fleas are gone. When a patch of skin is itchy for a long time, it thickens in response to the scratching and that thickened skin is also itchy. In those cases, a strong itch reliever is used (in cats, a cortisone shot; as a human I was given a cream) to stop the scratching and allow that spot to heal. Additionally, sometimes psychiatric medicines are used in animals (we had a cat who was resistant to cortisone and psychiatric medications; I felt awful for her). Again, all of this would require veterinary care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck. If you have access to the site's &lt;a href=&quot;https://chat.stackexchange.com/?tab=site&amp;amp;host=pets.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;chat&lt;/a&gt; (I can't remember the required rep level), you could try posting your location and folks there may have some ideas for low cost access to veterinary care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-11-08T21:54:47.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18782" CreationDate="2017-11-08T22:31:25.763" Score="7" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment with my Roborovski hamster, and my roommate has a cat. Occasionally the cat will get into my room and get close to him, and shortly after, I will notice him scratching himself a lot. Is it possible he might be allergic to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't sound like the case, what does cause him to scratch so frequently?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10704" LastEditorUserId="7980" LastEditDate="2017-11-12T02:48:31.820" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T02:48:31.820" Title="Can a hamster be allergic to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-09T02:07:03.990" Score="3" ViewCount="1453" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I bought a cage on amazon for around $70 and you can see the specs in the image&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UvObz.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UvObz.png&quot; alt=&quot;Bought hamster cage&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so anyway, it was pretty expensive and if its too small i dont think i want to give it up. If you think its too small, would it be okay to attach a bin cage or something, via tube?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10706" LastActivityDate="2017-11-09T07:32:46.923" Title="How big does my robo hamster cage have to be?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18780" CreationDate="2017-11-09T07:32:46.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going by the numbers German pet-experts give; those are numbers for &quot;this hamster will be really really happy&quot;, not &quot;the hamster can manage with this&quot;, and are way above what the average store would ever give you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Good thing about Hamsters and connected cages: they like tunnels anyway, so expansion is quiet manageable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worries me about the cage is the wheel! Could you check the size for this? The hamster should be able to run without bending it's back, and that means a 8inch-diameter at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters should ideally have at least 775 in² (0.5 m²) ground-space. So, you are below that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT: as a &quot;base&quot;, this cage is actually surprisingly well designed. My advice take would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the cage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the wheel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Split up the lower half: Partly filled with sand, partly with hay and substrate for digging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hamsters like tunnels and such: yes, you can have a tunnel/tube to another section of habitat. If your Hamster seems to dislike the tube, make it a DARK tube.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a larger habitat-part at the other end of that tube. You can build that one yourself, or try to find a cheap used aquarium (if you are lucky, you may get one that's leaky, which is bad for fish, but okay for hamsters ;))&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-11-09T07:32:46.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18779" CreationDate="2017-11-09T09:16:35.837" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose it's &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; that there's an allergy at play here but I'd be looking for a more likely cause first. Has the cat been checked/treated for fleas? Fleas, mites or ticks can transfer from cats to hamsters and that would certainly cause the scratching behavior you see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2017-11-11T07:28:26.367" LastActivityDate="2017-11-11T07:28:26.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18776" CreationDate="2017-11-09T15:04:28.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will add on to Zaralynda's answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he exceeds the requirements for the large dose of Advantix I will assume your cat is obese. We see this often that obese cats cannot clean themselves properly as they are too big to reach which may seem like why he is going crazy trying to groom or itch. Fat cats also build up a lot of dander (flaky skin) and oil because they cannot clean themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Portion Food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, portion the amount of food he gets. On average cats require 1/2 cup to 3/4 cups per day divided into multiple small meals (wet food is a must, substitute some dry for wet). Weigh your cat every 2-4 weeks to make sure he is no longer gaining but losing at a slow pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clean and Brush&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to help your cat groom in the meantime, some useful products are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.furminator.com/Feline-Shedding-Solutions.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;furminator&lt;/a&gt; for brushing and a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0002AQN2M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dry shampoo&lt;/a&gt; to help remove grease and dander. If you can get your hands on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.douxo.com/us/douxo-solutions/douxo-seborrhea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DOUXO Seborrhea&lt;/a&gt; I highly recommend it, it comes in a shampoo, dry shampoo, spot-on and a spray! By far one of the best products out there for your cats flaky situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a long haired cat doing a full shave down (lion cut) will help tremendously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-11-09T15:04:28.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-09T16:02:07.430" Score="7" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read on the Internet that olive oil is good for constipated cats. I was wondering what's the best way to give it to the cat, as I am afraid of any side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it best with dry or wet food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wouldn't wet food dampen the olive oil's supposed effect as it muddles with it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can anything bad happen to my cat if she eats olive oil with wet or dry food, for example due to some chemicals in the cat food?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And what's the best way to serve olive oil and keep it's effect at full limit?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats Friskies dry and wet food and Whiskas wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:57:44.530" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:57:44.530" Title="What's the best way to serve olive oil to a constipated cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18784" CreationDate="2017-11-09T16:30:26.310" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First question, are you sure it is constipation? Because urinary problems, colon tumor and many other things cause symptoms similar to that of constipation. Have you checked with vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that olive oil is not permanent treatment. It is a short term treatment. If continued cat will develop dependence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To administer olive oil you need to mix half to one teaspoonful with wet food and give it to cat. It should have effect within a few hours. If not consult a vet. Excessive dose will be toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If vet finds that there are no other underlying health problems then the best course of treatment would be -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving the cat a high fiber diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensuring that the cat drinks a lot of fresh water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat should get enough exercise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-11-09T16:30:26.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-10T00:43:12.240" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old Border Collie and she is very sensitive to noises. Not just loud noises, but any sort of &quot;bassy&quot; noise. These noises often occur while I'm out walking her, and when they do, she will drop everything that she's doing (any balls or sticks she's playing with, other dogs etc) and run back towards the house or car, totally ignoring my calls for her to &quot;stop&quot; and &quot;stay&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first got her, training her more on recall seemed to help a bit. I can now sometimes get her to stay in one spot if she's running away, but in general she will ignore my commands until she's run back to whatever place she considers safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what methods I should be using to correct this behaviour. Obviously I don't want to tell her off when I catch up to her, because then she will think that she's being told off for not running away. I also try to ignore her fear of the noise in order to not confirm it, and I will put her on the leash and walk her back in the direction of the noise, but she often will just sit and totally refuse to move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This wasn't a huge problem until yesterday when she ran into a road and forced cars to stop, so now it's become a safety issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10709" LastActivityDate="2017-11-10T08:14:06.020" Title="How can I correct disobedience when my dog is frightened?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18786" CreationDate="2017-11-10T08:14:06.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Treats and slow introduction into areas where these noises occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First practice the recall, always treat her when she comes to you when you call.  Then take her somewhere where the noise she doesnt like is very far away, to the point where she might hear it but not feel threatened, then treat her.  Slowly move closer to the noise and treat her as you do that.  If she stops responding then move it back to where she feels safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all about building the confidence and letting her know the sound isn't harmful.  But its a very very slow process.  I have a fox terrier who is terrified of many things, sounds, people, other dogs.  And I know how frustrating it can be when you try to control your dog in a situation but that look of fear and that low body posture just takes over and the dog bolts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need your dog to trust you and feel confident enough to know that nothing can go wrong.  What helped mine massively is to do obedience training at a local dog school, he soon learnt to focus on my voice more than outside stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and don't give up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2017-11-10T08:14:06.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2017-11-10T16:38:54.560" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't do something because you tell them to. Cats do what they want, and you have limited influence on &lt;em&gt;steering&lt;/em&gt; their own voluntary behavior. Cats don't scratch things because we buy them scratching posts. We buy scratching posts &lt;em&gt;because our cats keep scratching things&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your cat scratches the wallpaper and you want it to stop, put a scratching post (or mat) nearby. Your cat might not redirect its scratching behavior to a post that's on the other side of the house, but will likely favor the post if it's right next to the wallpaper that it was intent on scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A common trick to get your cat to stop running over your keyboard and sitting between you and the screen is to give them a nearby box:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ClxOC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ClxOC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to put that box on the other side of the room, that's too far from the hotspot (the keyboard) for the cat to divert its attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our latest addition to the household is excessively playful. Try as I might, I can't get him to stop playing and running around when we go to bed; and we can't just close the door because we have other cats that sleep with us. So instead, before I go to bed, I tire him out by playing with the laser until he's exhausted. I can't &lt;strong&gt;stop&lt;/strong&gt; his playful behavior, but I can &lt;strong&gt;steer&lt;/strong&gt; it. This has dramatically improved nighttime silence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, about the cat bed. You can't make your cat sleep in it. You can only offer her the option to do so. If you put the cat bed in a &lt;em&gt;tactical&lt;/em&gt; position, near to a spot where she already likes to sleep, she may consider using the cat bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if she actively prefers the concrete over the bed, there's nothing you can do about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although we like to take care of our beloved pets and want them to have the best life they can; you should also observe that cats are able to make decisions for themselves.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are prone to deferring to you. If you tell them to sleep in that bed, they will sleep in that bed. They'll usually only go against your wishes if they &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; hate the bed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cats won't even consider doing something that you suggest they do. They do not register your &lt;em&gt;intent&lt;/em&gt;. They behave based on their surroundings, not based on what you're trying to communicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-10T16:38:54.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-12T02:30:45.177" Score="1" ViewCount="1722" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta fish Sahpire is a female veiltail and she's dark blue normally but her color keeps fading and returning to normal in a short span of time and I don't know what to do. I already lost one to ich. Could it have to do with the water temperature? Should I change the water in her tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10715" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-11-12T14:48:42.157" LastActivityDate="2017-11-13T09:02:09.227" Title="Betta fish is a dark blue but color keeps fading and returning quickly Why?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18855" CreationDate="2017-11-12T11:42:34.890" Score="3" ViewCount="1919" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three apple snails in a 10-gallon (37.8 liters) aquarium and the ammonia stays off the charts.  I only keep seven to eight gallons (26 to 30 liters) of water in the aquarium so that the top area of the glass is available for them to lay eggs.  The snails are each smaller than a ping-pong ball.  The substrate is 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of sand.  There are no fish in the aquarium.  The tank is over a month old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ammonia tests 4.0-8.0 ppm every time I test it.  I am using the API Freshwater Test Kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a mini cylinder sponge filter that I moved from an established tank.  I do 50% water changes weekly and I add API Tap Water Conditioner each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have added Imagitarium Biological Booster twice, after water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I add Prime every few days to try to neutralize the ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8962" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:19:12.907" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:19:12.907" Title="Uncontrollable ammonia in an apple snail aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18774" CreationDate="2017-11-12T17:04:28.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why&quot; is likely going to remain a mystery, but something about the food you have is enticing the pet for whom it's not intended more than the food that they should be eating. It's unlikely anyone can give you a truly definitive answer on that question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is it doing any harm to them&quot; is much easier to answer, and that answer is emphatically &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt;. Dogs and cats are different animals, with different nutritional needs, and in most cases cannot share a diet without the health of at least one of them being negatively impacted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the United States, the organization that sets standards for dog and cat foods is the AAFCO. While most of the free content on their website is geared toward consumers, and as such very light on detail, I was able to find a pdf from 2013 on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;proposed revisions to the nutrient profiles&lt;/a&gt;. While I can't guarantee that the data is currently up to date, it still can offer some insight into the nutritional differences between cat and dog food, using the &quot;Adult minimum maintenance&quot; values, based on calorie content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crude Protein:&lt;/strong&gt; 45.0 g/1000 kcal for dogs, 65 g/1000 kcal for cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the specific listings for Crude Protein, all minimums for cats are higher than those for dogs, except Methionine, at a minimum 0.83g for dogs with no maximum compared to a minimum 0.5g for cats with a 3.75g maximum; Methionine-cystine, at a minimum 1.63g for dogs and 1.00g for cats; and Phenylalanine, at a minimum 1.13g for dogs and 1.05g for cats. Also of note that Tryptophan has no maximum for dogs, but a maximum of 4.25g for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crude Fat:&lt;/strong&gt; 13.8 g/1000 kcal for dogs, 22.5 g/1000 kcal for cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Crude Fat breakdown, while the overall minimum for cats is higher, dogs require a higher level of Linoleic acid at 2.8g, compared to cats at 1.4g. Additionally, dogs have a standard described as &quot;(Linoleic + Arachidonic):(alpha-Linolenic + Eicosapentaenoic + Docosahexaenoic) acid Ratio&quot; with a value of 30:1; on the table for cats, this line does not exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Minerals:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no single score for minerals, however, the minimum values are only equivalent for Potassium (1.5g). Dogs have higher minimums for Magnesium, Zinc, and Iodine, as well as a higher maximum on iodine; all other minerals have higher minimums for cats. Additionally, we once again see a value in the standards for dogs, &quot;Ca:P Ratio&quot; (2:1), which is not present in the standards for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamins &amp;amp; Others:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's where things get particularly interesting. In dogs, we have a higher minimum but lower maximum than cats for both Vitamin A (1250/62500 IU for dogs and 833/83325 IU for cats) and Vitamin D (125/750 IU for dogs, 70/7520 for cats); in those cases, a dog eating cat food could easily end up consuming too much or too little of either nutrient. Dogs also have higher minimums for Vitamin E, Riboflavin, Pantothenic acid, and Vitamin B12. Cats are higher on the remaining values; some values are close, but others, such as Niacin (3.4 mg for dogs, 15 mg for cats) have a more drastic divide. It's also here where we find the first entries present only for cats: Vitamin K (0.025 mg), Biotin (0.018 mg), and Taurine (extruded, 0.25 g; canned, 0.50 g).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither animal's minimums are consistent with each other. Nor are either animal's minimums consistently higher than the other. Nor are either animal's minimums even consistently measuring the same nutrients. While it would be possible for a company to formulate a food that could be balanced for both cats and dogs, unless it is labeled as such, &lt;strong&gt;a food that is balanced for dogs can not be considered balanced for cats, and one that is balanced for cats can not be considered balanced for dogs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a time or two will not cause problems for either animal, &lt;strong&gt;consistently eating the food of the other species will over time cause severe health problems due to malnutrition that can eventually lead to the premature death of that animal.&lt;/strong&gt; If they are consistently swapping bowls at mealtime, you may need to re-evaluate the diet you are offering each to find one that appeals more to them in a species-appropriate diet, or to re-evaluate when, how, and where you are feeding them. If, as you mentioned in a comment, they are regularly eating only the &quot;leftovers,&quot; then you should consider feeding only what they will eat in a single sitting and removing any food left after they have finished eating, in order to help ensure each animal is receiving complete species-appropriate nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2017-11-12T17:04:28.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-13T06:48:48.440" Score="6" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a dwarf gourami in my tank for several weeks and it was healthy, as were the rest of my fish, including regular gouramis. I decided to add another dwarf gourami. I purchased another one from the local pet megamart. My quarantine tank had an algae explosion and I hadn't dealt with it, so I stupidly decided to put the new dwarf gourami in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a few days everything was fine, but one morning I looked in and saw one of the dwarfs lying on the substrate gasping. There really wasn't anything I could do, as I still hadn't taken care of the quarantine tank. I thought, well, if he dies I can return him and get a new one. Later that day, my other dwarf was dying as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My non-dwarf gouramis were doing fine and still are several days later. I thought this could not be a coincidence and started researching online in forums and sites. It would &lt;em&gt;appear&lt;/em&gt; that the new dwarf had &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcha.com/fish-viral-disease/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dwarf Gourama Indovirus (DGIV)&lt;/a&gt; and transmitted it to the other dwarf. It is a dwarf only disease, which makes sense, as my other gouramis are fine. I tested my water and it was acceptable, so that's a plus. I brought the dead dwarfs back to the store and they refunded my money. I looked at the remaining dwarfs in the store and they looked sickly as well. This observation makes me feel fairly confident if was DGIV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If I &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; to get more dwarf gouramis (I found a better non-chain store), do I need to wait a specific period before the virus gets inactivated?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do weekly water changes of 12.5% and I have a small UV filter running. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely prefer answers with sources to back them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T13:48:58.577" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T13:48:58.577" Title="How long do viruses live in aquariums?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;gourami&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18791" CreationDate="2017-11-13T09:02:09.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most common reason for a betta chaging colour is stress, but indeed can also be caused by illness. &#xA;If your fish changes colour regularly, and is otherwise healthy and acting normal, I think stress will be the reason. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've had a female betta in the past, and I would notice the same every time I did my tank maintenance. She would get more pale, and a dark horizontal stripe would appear. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;If my male betta was chasing her for some time, same thing happened. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But ofcourse the 'stress' can also be caused by a bad living environment. So it is important to try to find out what the cause is. &lt;Br&gt;&#xA;It could also be a bad environment: Tank too small, temperature, other habitants, water chemistry (ph, nitrite, ...), is the tank cycled?, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more information can be found here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/bettas-change-color-4520.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Do Bettas Change Color?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-11-13T09:02:09.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-13T10:11:18.640" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;We rehomed an abandoned bitch (Labrador/Staff X) around 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has always been very protective of my fiancee (female) and children (2/4).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has gotten to the point that if I play even slightly roughly with my children (think chasing them and them jumping on me), she will bite my arm to get me off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although she is given a lot of attention and affection when the kids are in bed, she still seems to be overly cautious of me and my partner being close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do not know what she experienced prior to her adoption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do to help her work around this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She is walked every other day, normal response to the aggression is to turn away from here and cease play with children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10720" LastEditorUserId="10720" LastEditDate="2017-11-13T11:44:18.787" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T14:05:03.143" Title="Protective Dog or Aggressive Dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18800" CreationDate="2017-11-14T14:05:03.143" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, let's try to get your dog to back off a little!&#xA;First, it indeed seems more like protectiveness and perhaps a bit of insecurity than a serious aggression. Good for you, because both serious aggression and serious fear are really hard to handle, but what you describe sounds manageable. Also, ceasing play and turning away: Good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: Your dog will needs it's own place to lay down, wait and relax. A blanket works just fine, and once the dog made the connection, you may even be able to move the blanket to move the dog's spot! Teach her that this is her spot, and it is an AMAZING spot! She get treats there, no-one annoys her, and she need not concern herself with things happening around her. It is NOT a spot where she goes to be punished, it is her very own place of calm and peace. Teach her a command to lay down there.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The process here is technically simple, but needs patience, patience, and patience. At first, you take her to the blanket, tell her to lay down, reward her. If you can go away a few steps, and she stays, reward her. Try sending her from a distance. It if works, reward her. You get the idea. The aim is that, eventually, she knows where her spot is, you tell her to go there from anywhere in your home, and she goes right there, any lays down on her blanket.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When she is on it, you don't offer playtime or anything like that. For playtime, walks, and so on, you call her to you, OFF her blanket, and do whatever was planned. VERY important: This goes for the kids as well!!! Actually, all the rules should be used by the kids, as far as they can manage. Luckily, rules applied to dogs shoudl be very clear and simple, so teaching your kids should be very possible, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: She now has &quot;her&quot; spot. If things that happen in your house turn her protective, or nervous, send her to her spot. How does she react to visitors? Ideally, if a visitor comes, she is just calm and leaves things to you. If she tends to be protective when visitors come, send her to her spot when the doorbell rings, then get your visitor. All this is just to make things easier for her: she does not need to protect you when she is there! So, in her mind, you hopefully turn into someone who does not need to be protected at all, or at least very very rarely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third: Keep ceasing play if it goes wrong. Also: after ceasing play, let a few moments pass so she realises &quot;playtime over&quot;, get her attention, send her to her spot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this mostly leads to her feeling more secure, and you being able to end playtime without having to punish her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, Part 2:&#xA;Find SAFE games for you, your kids, and your dog. You have a young and physically really strong dog. Rough play with her will most likely always be risky. But with a Labrador in there, she may be incredibly happy to play &quot;fetch&quot; games. In this case, it means throwing whatever she likes to fetch, and teach her to bring it to you, lay it down, and wait for the next throw. She can burn off physical energy, jump around, and will have no need to jump anyone. Also, check if she may like agility-type activities!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At home, you can challenge her mentally: teach her new commands, teach her to fetch things, anything like that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When you play more physically with your kids, send her to her spot first if possible. If she stays even when people run past her? JACKPOT! Favourite treat, lots of cuddles, whatever she loves most!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, she will calm down as she ages, and you will be able to have her just jump around with the kids and you eventually, but for now, this should put you in a position where you, the kids and the dog can be happy without risking accidents.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Considering she is a rescue with unknown history and not necessarily a mix that lends itself to easy handling, she sounds like a wonderful girl who just needs some calm and security in her home :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T14:05:03.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2017-11-14T22:44:40.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Able to answer this from experience.&#xA;A 13 week old kitten can get through a gap/width of 1.5 inches (4 cms) and she's quite a big kitten.&#xA;She also proceeded to then go behind kitchen unit and climb up the back of it, not just be underneath!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite a lesson I can tell you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10725" LastActivityDate="2017-11-14T22:44:40.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-15T04:03:18.967" Score="1" ViewCount="7833" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is almost due to delivery. We expect her to give delivery withen these days. Her tummy on each side (where I assume there is a kitten on each) is hard, is this normal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the cat sets on bags in the middle of the hallway and takes the peeing possesion (legs seperated, tail up, moves her legs at first as if digging with them and then settles as if she is ready to pee) can I assume she is trying to give birth in the middle of the hallway? We have company living with us and she is not on good terms with them, can it be that she is a little stupid or doesn't have intuition enough to tell her that she should give birth in a hiding place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We already provided her with two hiding places (which we can really reach her but never did so she thinks it's a hiding place) she was sitting in one of them the day before. Can it be that she likes the hidings but does not know she should hide once she's due to giving birth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-16T19:15:37.690" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T10:21:04.753" Title="Is it normal for a pregnant cat to have a hard stomach?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-15T04:53:07.400" Score="3" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is pregnant, but I don't think it makes a difference, since she used to display this behaviour before becoming pregnant also. We have two (human not cat) 2 year olds and their mom to spend some time living with us(human family not cats). The cat is generally afraid of them all (there is no way I'd put my cat in such position with cats,only people because I can do nothing about it), but she does not feel that much once she's against one of the kids (I say kids because they are human children not kittens) alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever one of the kids comes near her, she may run at first but then she returns and stands her ground (only if she entered one of the rooms though, not in the middle of nowhere. If she's in the middle of the hallway or in the living room she'll run anyway until she enters one of our bedrooms) and stares at the kid in a threatening position with ears to the side having an upset look in her eyes. Her ears won't be to the back like when she is scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks totally different from when she's scared. She does it a lot nowadays to the point where I think she isn't scared anymore. The kid feels something is wrong and so fears to come closer. She does this when facing only one kid or as long as the two kids are gathered  at the same spot. If they separate it would be a different case. She'll just scurry and find a hiding place. She runs when she hears the mother coming, and she becomes afraid of the kids again as if she knows the mother will come to help her kids. But as long as the mom is not there, she will try to avoid the kids and if necessary scare them. It's kind of crazy how one minute she is very confident and scaring the kids off, and then the next minute when the mom comes she is afraid to challenge the kids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same family visited before when the cat was younger. The mother of the two babies was and still is a little afraid of the cat. The cat came to notice at the time that the mom is scared of her and the cat used this for her advantage two or three times. One of the times the mother (human being) called me to for help, when I arrived I found that Joury the cat was keeping the mom and her two toddlers in a tiny room(washer room). With her hair sparked(just a little though) Joury the cat looked at the mom and two kids as if she were higher or stronger or whatever than the 3 humans. With no hissing or growling, just standing her ground showing off, and when I came to pet her and move her she looked at me very calmly as if I'm in this with her, and looked back at them. It looked a little funny as the cat seemed to not care about their presence thinking she had the upper hand and when I called her she swiftly came to me to get a treat (I called her to remove her of course and did not give a treat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is considered aggressive or not because the cat never tries to hit them. She never growls and only once hissed at a kid. She is able to growl, though. She once did it to a 10 year old guest to kick the girl out of the room. It worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:34:04.343" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:35:41.753" Title="Is my cat considered aggressive?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18809" CreationDate="2017-11-16T09:12:49.690" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I buy dry dog and cat food (kibble) in large bags to save money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to preserve it? Deep freeze it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3958" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T09:30:33.773" Title="What's the best way to preserve dry dog/cat food for long run?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18808" CreationDate="2017-11-16T09:30:33.773" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do similar with the kibble for my cats and I use airtight &quot;tupperware&quot;-style tubs to store it in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how large a bag we are talking here or how long that might last you but I've never had any problems with mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there shouldn't be any problem with freezing dry food I don't think it's necessary - generally keeping it in a cool (&amp;lt;100F) dry place and avoiding exposure to the air, large temperature fluctuations and moisture is the key thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T09:30:33.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-16T15:39:17.493" Score="29" ViewCount="4186" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet is sick/injured, and I am afraid the vet bill for treatment will be more than I can afford.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I access free/low cost sources of veterinary assistance? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This a general question per the meta post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2201/is-a-canonical-question-about-free-low-deferred-veterinary-costs-would-be-a-good&quot;&gt;Is a canonical question about free/low/deferred veterinary costs would be a good idea&lt;/a&gt; Optimally there will be one answer per country (or multiple countries per answer if they share a soluition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answers for specific Countries&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options/18928#18928&quot;&gt;Canada&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/23722/14250&quot;&gt;France&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21475/13&quot;&gt;Germany&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options/18870#18870&quot;&gt;Norway&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options/18811#18811&quot;&gt;United Kingdom&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options/18869#18869&quot;&gt;United States of America&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="14250" LastEditDate="2019-02-12T16:07:21.920" LastActivityDate="2019-02-12T16:07:21.920" Title="I can't afford vet treatment, what are my options?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;community-faq&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2017-11-16T16:17:57.483" Score="23" Body="&lt;h1&gt;For the UK&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Blue Cross&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bluecross.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blue Cross&lt;/a&gt; offer's free veterinary services in cases where the owner is unable to afford vet's fees. Eligibility is determined via means testing of the owner, this is based on whether the owner is in receipt of certain government/council benefits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pension credit (not the standard state retirement pension)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Housing benefit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Income support&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working tax credit (not child tax credit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Council tax benefit (not 25 per cent single person discount)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Income based jobseeker’s allowance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Income based employment and support allowance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Universal credit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;RSPCA&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/care/vetcare&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA&lt;/a&gt; offer reduced cost veterinary services which are based on essential care. Eligibility varies and should be checked with your local branch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;PDSA&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pdsa.org.uk/taking-care-of-your-pet/eligibility&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDSA&lt;/a&gt; offers both reduced cost and free services at any of it's 48 UK animal hospitals subject to eligibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reduced cost services people in receipt of one or more of the following are eligible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Child Tax and Working Tax Credits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Universal Credit (without housing element)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pension Credit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Income Support&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Job Seeker’s Allowance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) (formally incapacity benefit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disability Living Allowance/Personal Independence Payment (PIP)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;State-retired pensioners who are householders in Council Tax bands A-D* are also eligible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The free service is limited to &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; pet only where the owner is in receipt of one or more of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Housing Benefit (means-tested help with your rent)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Council Tax Support / Reduction Scheme (means-tested help with your Council Tax liability)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Universal Credit with a housing element&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Income-based rate relief *in Northern Ireland only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Last Resort&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of the above services can help and the situation is an emergency then you can take your pet to a vet and as part of their registration with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons they are obliged to provide short term emergency treatment where the animal is suffering. This really is only going to provide the most basic level of treatment necessary to alleviate the immediate suffering and you should &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; be up front with the vet about your ability to pay (as otherwise you could be looking at Fraud charges) and I cannot stress enough that this is a last resort emergency option only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T16:17:57.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18815" CreationDate="2017-11-16T17:31:48.260" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old Husky/Shepherd (70lbs) mix I adopted as a pup.  I've had great success in training him and teaching him tricks, as he is highly food motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there has been one obstacle I can't quite master: treating his &lt;strong&gt;car anxiety&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we are riding in the car, he starts visibly trembling, making alarmed high-pitched whines/barks, and pacing rapidly between the window and the drivers seat.  He often puts his head on my shoulder or attempts to stand on the center console between the driver and passenger seats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only is this a safety concern while I am driving (as it is distracting &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; impairs my vision), but it also makes me feel bad to see him so distressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried using a 'dog seatbelt' to keep him from pacing/climbing up front, but this often results in him retaliating and causes even more distraction. Additionally, I &lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt; want to drug my dog into being asleep for car travel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else I'm able to do, or is medicating my dog the only option for transporting us both safely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-11-16T18:39:24.100" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:50:45.603" Title="How to treat car anxiety in dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18813" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-16T17:34:21.643" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a rabbit breeder in Southern CA. And recently two of my does (American Blue), and ( New Zealand White), both gave birth to litters on the 14th of this month. They are both good and experienced mothers, that  take very good care of their kits, produce plenty of milk, and prepare good nests, with plenty of fur. The bucks that they were bread with are also proven and are very good breeders. But for some reason I am loosing at least one kit every day!!! The first litter was a litter of 5( which I think is a pretty good size), while the second litter had 10( to me that is a big litter) so far we are down to 1 baby in each litter, and I am desperate to find out what on earth is going on. If the does loose their last babies( which are currently healthy, with full tummies and moving about, and warm) then I will have two does full of milk, but they will have no means to get rid of the milk which could lead to infections. Please if anyone has any idea of what I can try, or what may be wrong please let me know.&#xA;Ruth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10735" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T17:34:21.643" Title="Why are my rabbits dying?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-11-16T18:37:20.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-16T19:05:09.620" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat frequently gets cravings to munch on plants, but as I live in an apartment in a dense urban area currently, she gets less exposure to grass and is eating plant material (namely, gardenia leaves) that make her sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there specific plants I can keep around my apartment that are both better for her and more tempting than the plants I'd prefer to keep intact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10732" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T09:25:39.137" Title="What are some good plants to keep around the house to keep my cat away from other plants?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18812" CreationDate="2017-11-16T19:14:38.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried any counter conditioning or desensitization training? If not, those are viable options here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to first identify when your dog begins to feel anxious. Is it when you start driving, when you grab your car keys, when you turn the car on, or at some other point? Once you identify that moment, go back one step and start training there. So, if your dog starts to feel/act anxious when you start the car you'd want to begin training with the car off or maybe even outside the car to be safe. For this example, I'll assume your dog is fine until he gets into the car and give you a basic protocol to follow from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a bunch of high value treats (stuff like cheese or fresh cooked meat, these treats should basically be the best thing your dog can imagine).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go through the motions as though you're going to take him for a car ride - put your shoes on, grab your keys, etc. and start to walk outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you're walking towards the car, give him a treat, then another, and another one. Also tell him he's a good boy and pet him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go right up to the car and again treat and praise. If he looks anxious at all or at any point stops taking the treats then stop moving towards the car and go do something else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point here is to not push your dog over the edge. You want the training to be a positive experience where he comes away thinking that car equals treats and petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rinse and repeat until your dog no longer shows any signs of anxiety when going up to the car. Once you have had a few successful times of no anxiety near the car you can open the door. Don't ask him to get in, but treat and praise like crazy if he does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take small baby steps in this training. Open the car door, then have him get in with the door open, then move on to closing the door, then turning the car on.  All the while if he ever seems anxious at any point back up a step in the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you don't need to medicate your dog, the training might go quicker if you're able to either avoid bringing him in the car for the near future (until he's not as anxious anymore) or you're able to artificially (with medication) calm him down during car rides. Again, not necessary but may make the process go quicker. Of course, I don't know your dog so you should talk about any medication with your vet and if you feel being in over your head there's no shame in talking to a local dog trainer experienced in positive reinforcement training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog gets anxious before he even sees the car, like if he's anxious when you pick your keys up, you can use a similar protocol. Using the keys example, you'll want to pick your keys up randomly throughout the day, but then don't go to the car. Pick up your keys and then go sit on the couch and read, or pick up your keys and just move them to a table or something.  Basically you want to break the association of keys being equal to something bad being about to happen and teach your dog that picking up your keys is just a weird thing humans do sometimes and it's nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8205" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:50:45.603" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:50:45.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18807" CreationDate="2017-11-16T19:29:34.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not consider this cat to be aggressive based on your description. She is just trying to protect herself. The fact that she's pregnant will naturally make her even more cautious. However, if you do not take steps to ensure that the toddlers do not pester the cat, then someone may get injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would make sure that the cat has lots of good hiding places while the toddlers are visiting. High places will make her feel more secure, so get a cat tree or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T19:29:34.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15483" CreationDate="2017-11-16T23:25:58.910" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, as others said, you can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, try to move it in some other place. Every time I move some of my cats' scratch post in a different position (maybe just few minutes to clean behind it) my cats will fight to get on it.&#xA;They seem to like thing when they change position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can try to put it in a elevated place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10184" LastActivityDate="2017-11-16T23:25:58.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18814" CreationDate="2017-11-17T09:25:39.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try growing her some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cat-world.com.au/catgrass.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Grass&lt;/a&gt;, she may or may not &lt;em&gt;prefer&lt;/em&gt; the cat grass to the other plants however and if she doesn't you'll need to do some training to get her in the habit of directing her urges on to it. The best way to do this will vary depending on your cat's personality but some tricks would be to sprinkle some treats/cat nip over the grass to get her attention or if feasible take the other plants away for a few days to give her no choice and hope that the &quot;habit&quot; forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T09:25:39.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18822" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18823" CreationDate="2017-11-17T11:15:53.960" Score="56" ViewCount="17665" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's this cat in the neighborhood which doesn't have an owner, and I suspect she has never had one since she's very cautious and doesn't get very close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I left her food sometimes: lately for about a week, she is coming around meowing continuously. My first guess was that she is hungry, but she doesn't eat or drink; and even if she does, that doesn't keep her from meowing again. She even waits for me to leave the house and follows me meowing. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't bother me: I just feel that she wants something and I can't understand her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is she asking me for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7249" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T17:15:58.197" LastActivityDate="2021-03-08T21:11:17.733" Title="What is this street cat asking for, with continuous meowing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18822" CreationDate="2017-11-17T11:49:06.873" Score="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's not satisfied with food/drink it may be that she is actually seeking nothing more than attention. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/common-cat-behavior-issues/meowing-and-yowling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Adult cats don't meow to each other&lt;/a&gt; (in cat-world it's only used to communicate between mothers and kittens) so she's definitely trying to say &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; to you. As to &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;, well that's a bit harder to be sure on (sadly there's no cat-translator yet) as a rough meow-vocabulary usually develops between a cat and it's slave-human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general terms though you can get a rough idea from the pitch and duration of the meow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One or two short &lt;em&gt;meows&lt;/em&gt; = A standard &amp;quot;greeting&amp;quot; meow, the cat equivalent of &amp;quot;Hi&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Multiple &lt;em&gt;meows&lt;/em&gt;, especially if accompanied by a vertical tail = Excited greeting. e.g. “Great to see You!” often there's a subtext of &amp;quot;Have you got any food handy?&amp;quot; Or &amp;quot;Give me some fuss&amp;quot; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mid-pitch &lt;em&gt;meow&lt;/em&gt; = Polite request for something, “I'd like to eat.” or &amp;quot;Play with me&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Fuss me!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Longer, more drawn-out &lt;em&gt;mrrroooow&lt;/em&gt; = Demand for something, often an escalation of the &amp;quot;Polite Request&amp;quot; e.g. “Open the door. NOW.” or &amp;quot;Feed me puny Human!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Low-pitch &lt;em&gt;MRRRooooowww&lt;/em&gt; = Complaint of a wrong you have done. e.g. “You &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; haven't fed me!” or &amp;quot;The litter tray is full of poop and I need to go&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;You're ignoring me and it's making me cross!&amp;quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;High-pitched, relatively loud &lt;em&gt;RRRROWW!&lt;/em&gt; = Anger or pain. e.g. &amp;quot;You just stepped on my tail you oaf!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hiss&lt;/em&gt; = Aggression e.g. &amp;quot;Go away!&amp;quot; Or &amp;quot;Don't mess with me or I'll totally claw your face off!&amp;quot; Hissing &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; used cat-to-cat as is growling as well as to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;BRRRUPP!&lt;/em&gt; = &amp;quot;Excuse me, coming through!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PRRRIP!&lt;/em&gt; = General happy noise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chirping/Chittering = Mild frustration e.g. &amp;quot;I can't reach it (the prey/toy)&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Multiple &amp;quot;Yowl!&amp;quot; Sounds = &amp;quot;I'm in heat&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Low-pitched growl = &amp;quot;This food/toy/blanket/whatever is MINE, don't come near!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From how you describe it I think this is likely a plea for fuss or attention, and as @Mick mentions in his comment you probably want to consider carefully before going ahead as the cat may be looking to bond with you and if you aren't prepared to reciprocate then it may be inadvisable to encourage her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vocalisations do vary from cat to cat, some don't even &amp;quot;talk&amp;quot; at all. The nuances of an individual cats &amp;quot;speech&amp;quot; are something that an owner gets used to over time. That said there is substantial overlap across many cats in general terms and the list here is intended as a rough starting point for people like the OP who don't have any history with the cat they are trying to understand, it's not always going to be right but it's better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T17:23:22.440" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T17:23:22.440" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18822" CreationDate="2017-11-17T12:32:22.453" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gist of the question is how to infer what a cat is asking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I make myself available to the cat. Acknowledge their meow, make eye contact, stand in front of them, and wait for the cat to explain what it wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That seems to generally work. From experience, cats understand your silent attention as &lt;em&gt;not knowing what to do&lt;/em&gt;. Usually, I'll get an indication of what they want in absence of a response from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat wants affection, they'll approach you for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they want food, they might start interacting with your hands (where the food comes from, according to them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat doesn't respond, gently step towards it. The idea is that if it wants you to follow (e.g. my cat brings me to the couch if he wants to sleep on my lap), the cat will start &lt;em&gt;leading&lt;/em&gt; you once you move towards it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not impossible that they simply want attention. My cat has a habit of meowing when he's next to me and I'm playing a game; but he stops once I look at him (and might even refuse petting). Sometimes, he just wants to be looked at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that the cat is simply greeting you. Since you don't live together, it's possible that it knows to maintain a friendship with you, even if it doesn't currently need anything.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is similar to why some cats have a tendency to stay close to you, even if not interacting with you. Our cats always sleep near me, and if I move to a different room, so do they (yet they keep their distance because they want to sleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if the cat was previously domesticated, it's possible that they're asking to stay with you. Our youngest one was a street cat, who was &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; too young (4 months) to be out on his own (and from experience, he never got enough time with his mom to begin with).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He approached my girlfriend and meowed to her on the street. Softhearted as she is, she picked him up and walked home with him (with no struggling from him whatsoever). He was incredibly friendly and let us handle him any way we wanted to. It's clear that he had been a pet at one point (knowing about the litterbox etc), so we surmise that he was being especially nice in order to be allowed to stay with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if the cat wants something from you, it's up to the cat to explain what it wants. Make it clear that you're listening to its request, and allow for it to figure out how to communicate what it already &lt;em&gt;knows&lt;/em&gt; it wants.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like the message isn't getting across, try doing things and see if the cat engages you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think it wants to be pet, extend your hand and see is they eagerly look at your hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think it's food related, bring some food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think it was just a simple &quot;hello&quot;, divert your attention to something else, turn away, and see if you get another meow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither us nor you know what the cat wants. All you can do is interact with it and get it to reveal its intentions to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-11-17T12:41:06.073" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T12:41:06.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18807" CreationDate="2017-11-17T13:28:33.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Feedback&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;stares at the kid in a threatening position with ears to the side having an upset look in her eyes, her ears won't be to the back like she does when she is scared, it looks totally different from when she's scared&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/cats/bringing-a-cat-home/how-to-read-cats-body-language/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link about cat body language&lt;/a&gt;, ears to the side is the same as ears to the back, at least in the sense that it communicates fear and/or anxiety (which is essentially the same underlying emotion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience with cats that dislike each other, ears to the back is active fear (e.g. of being attacked), whereas ears to the side is more a sign of &lt;strong&gt;submission&lt;/strong&gt; (basically saying &quot;I don't want this conflict, I yield&quot;, which can occur without feeling afraid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If they separate, it would be a different case. She'll just scurry and find a hiding. She runs when she hears the mother coming and she becomes afraid of the kids again as if she knows the mother will come to help her kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on what you've told us, I would infer that it is the &lt;strong&gt;mother&lt;/strong&gt; who's been aggressive (or at least the cat &lt;strong&gt;thinks&lt;/strong&gt; of her as aggressive), and the other cat has learned to avoid her (and by extension her children).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combined with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have two 2 year olds and their mom to spend some time living with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I infer that the other cat lived here &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the mom and kids? Their presence in what the cat considers its home (cats are territorial) may be enough for her to consider the mother (and by extension her children) as a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But as long as the mom is not there she will try to avoid the kids and if necessary scare them. It's kind of crazy how one minute she is very confident and scaring the kids off, and then the next minute when the mom comes she is afraid to challenge the kids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that crazy. She knows that she can avoid the kids (and tell them to back off), but she expect the mother not to put up with that. It's similar to how a teenager has no issues with annoying or harassing their younger sibling (telling them what to do etc), but behaves when the parents are nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is considered aggressive or not because the cat never tries to hit them. She never growls and only once hissed at a kid. She is able to growl though. She once did it to a 10 year old guest to kick the girl out of the room. It worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing you've mentioned indicates aggression. Everything you listed can be explained by two cats who are both apprehensive of the other, and their defensive reaction is interpreted by the other as an intent to do harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;There's no malevolence here.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cornered animal is aggressive, but it's important to realize that this aggression is &lt;strong&gt;defensive&lt;/strong&gt; in nature. The cat isn't attacking because it wants to attack, but rather it's &lt;strong&gt;retaliating&lt;/strong&gt; against someone who it feels threatened by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let me play devil's advocate here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The other cat is suddenly faced with new inhabitants of its territory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The mother is naturally apprehensive of another cat, because she has babies to take care of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The mother chooses the safest approach and gets the other cat to back off &lt;em&gt;just to be sure&lt;/em&gt;. Because it's for the safety of her children, she's a bit more... insistent on getting the other cat to back off (hormonal responses are strong responses).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The other cat, already apprehensive of this territorial invader, now also sees a hostile reaction from the mother. So the cat makes the most logical inference: this is a &lt;strong&gt;hostile&lt;/strong&gt; invader.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The other cat detests this hostile invasion, but it knows that it can't win in a fight (most animals know that mothers are fierce, even if different species)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The other cat knows that it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; win against the children, as long as the mother doesn't get involved. Therefore, it tries to retain its territory from the children if the mom isn't nearby.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The mother sees this unkind behavior towards her children and develops a perpetual dislike of the other cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both cats are now locked in a never-ending spiral of hostility, even though both of their apprehensive approaches were understandable and arguably justified.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The solution&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't easy. It's possible that a lot of damage has already been done, and will take a lot of time to undo these wrong first impressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I experienced a similar thing not too long ago. We have two sister cats (15mo now); who are incredibly shy and nervous. We added a third cat, less than half their age (6mo now), who is one of the most extroverted and happy cats I've ever encountered. The girls didn't like him at first, because he infringed on their serene atmosphere, was much too energetic and didn't observe social boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you need to create some &lt;strong&gt;team building&lt;/strong&gt; exercises. Put the cats in situations where they are situational allies, so they'll start to understand that they are not mortal enemies and can be friendly to one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest one is &lt;strong&gt;breaking bread&lt;/strong&gt;. In other words, communal feeding time. Everyone is hungry, everyone is being fed, everyone is happy. No one stole each other's food, there was enough to go around.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cats don't trust each other at the moment of being near each other to eat, try and do it in a way that they at least &lt;strong&gt;see&lt;/strong&gt; each other even if there is a separator in-between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temporarily &lt;strong&gt;overfeed&lt;/strong&gt; them if you must. It's important for them not to feel like they're fighting over a limited resource. There needs to be an abundance, so that there is no feeling of infringing on each other's meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't kill them to overeat a handful of times. If anything, it might make them more complacent (arguably lethargic), which makes them less likely to act out because they don't have the energy/willpower for it. Happy and satiated cats are less likely to pick a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously don't keep overfeeding them, but make sure that their reduced meal size does not create friction between the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also &lt;strong&gt;share affection&lt;/strong&gt;. One pet for mom, one pet for the other cat, one pet for kitten 1, one pet for kitten 2, repeat. There are a few benefits here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It repeats the &quot;breaking bread&quot; principle: everyone gets love from the same hand, everyone is happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It subtly starts swapping smells between the two groups, because you use the same hand to alternate between them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you give full attention to one cat, and the next day give full attention to the other cat, they won't really understand that you're dividing it fairly, because they don't observe the long term average. But by using the childish &quot;one for A, one for B&quot; system, it becomes much more apparent for the cats (who are no smarter than a human child) that there is &lt;strong&gt;fairness&lt;/strong&gt; to the system, they are clearly &lt;strong&gt;equal&lt;/strong&gt; to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow the cats to &lt;strong&gt;showcase themselves&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our male kitten was eager to play with the laser but very haphazard in his approach. One of the girls loves the laser too, and has lightning reflexes (&lt;a href=&quot;https://petcube.com/blog/content/images/2017/05/cat-laser-pointer.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this, but lightning fast&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So I intentionally allowed her to show off her skills. I started to move the laser too erratically for him to track it, but she was able to jump in and still expertly chase it. He was clearly impressed by that, because ever since then, he has &lt;em&gt;voluntarily&lt;/em&gt; shared playtime with the laser, instead of always putting himself first. By now, he is also trying to do it her way, which is really cute to observe :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the other cat, I think you'll want to showcase how much the mom cares for her children. It humanizes (felinizes?) her, and should make the other cat realize that she's not being hostile, she's just defending her children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the mother, I think you need to show that the territory used to be the other cat's. She needs to realize that she's essentially a &lt;em&gt;guest&lt;/em&gt; (as far as the other cat is concerned).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one of the cats is notably more energetic than the other (which causes social friction), &lt;strong&gt;tire them out&lt;/strong&gt;. The male kitten was much too playful for our serene girls, so I took him to another room and played with the laser until he was exhausted (actually panting). Their interactions were much smoother then, and the girls were much more resilient to see him become energetic after a while, instead of them &lt;em&gt;starting off&lt;/em&gt; with him at maximum energy level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing, though this may &lt;em&gt;appear&lt;/em&gt; cruel (but it isn't), is to not intervene in any conflict unless one of them is clearly yielding but being blocked from retreating. As long as both are &lt;strong&gt;willing&lt;/strong&gt; participants in the conflict, that means they have some differences to settle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you stop the conflict dead in its tracks, all you've done is postpone it to a later date. You're now stuck with having to continually stop the same conflict whenever it happens.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Instead, you should try to become the &lt;strong&gt;referee&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't stop the conflict, merely observe whether both participants are willing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the things I regret doing to our male kitten. Whenever he playfully approached one of the girls (sleeping, or lying somewhere in peace), I immediately told him off and blocked him from disturbing her. I needed to do this &gt;15 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was too sick to get up, I saw the same happen. I observed instead of intervened (since I assumed the same would happen when we weren't home anyway) The first three, four times, the girl was unfairly driven away from her cozy spot. The fifth time, she &lt;em&gt;savagely&lt;/em&gt; swatted him (no claws, but a flurry of paw punches), and he immediately backed off and did not try again. One of the girls has a habit of being patient but also exploding (again, claw-free, which I'm grateful for) once her patience is gone, and he has learned to not poke that particular bear anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last point is arguably the most important:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are territorial. Currently, the two parties are unable to &lt;strong&gt;share&lt;/strong&gt; the territory because they do not trust each other. Both of them are also afraid that the other is trying to claim the entire territory, which sows the seeds of mistrust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;divide&lt;/strong&gt; the territory. Buy enough cat toys/scratching posts/beds to go around, so there's no conflict about having to share. Try to segregate their belongings, so that each cat has a personal space that is &lt;em&gt;theirs&lt;/em&gt;. They're allowed to roam around the house, but don't make them sleep next to each other, because neither of them will feel at ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, once the cats open up to each other, they'll realize that they can share the whole space, instead of each owning half of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:35:41.753" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:35:41.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2017-11-17T17:04:23.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I won't repeat the information about having the vet verify that your cat is okay, but I would like to add some new information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem seems as though there's no solution, try adding another liter box to your home.  The universal &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-behavior-and-training/litter-box-101-how-many-litter-boxes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rule of thumb&lt;/a&gt; tends to be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;One litter box per cat, plus one extra&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While some single home cats can run flawlessly on one litter box, some cats need options.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a personal note, my family has two dogs and one cat indoors.  The cat has one liter box on each floor, and tends to prefer to use the one that is &lt;em&gt;farthest&lt;/em&gt; from the dogs.  Even though she gets along fine with the dogs, their location compared to her seems to have an influence on where she chooses to go to the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T17:04:23.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18827" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-17T20:14:08.283" Score="4" ViewCount="1697" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a 4 month old Himalayan rag doll.&#xA;We got her when she was 2 months old. She was cute, nice and gentle.&#xA;But now she keeps destroying so many things whenever we're not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She would also scratch and bite us sometimes.&#xA;She would occasionally attack us as well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried spraying her with water, yelling at her, and flicking her nose, and nothing seems to work.&#xA;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10752" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-17T21:12:26.763" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:23:51.870" Title="How do we train our 4 month old kitten to stop destroying things while we're away?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18827" CreationDate="2017-11-17T20:32:14.603" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually when animals become destructive it's due to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/behavioral/c_ct_destructive_behavior#&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;lack of appropriate ways to take out their energy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article I've linked above lists these four reasons for primary destructive behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough supervision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough, or the wrong kind of scratching materials&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough daily activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try playing more with your cat to tire here down.  If you can't commit any more time than you already are, I'd recommend looking into interactive toys (toys that move or make noise without you operating them) that can keep her entertained while you are busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to how to &lt;em&gt;discipline&lt;/em&gt; cats, that's a little more difficult.  Instead of focusing on how to react negatively to teach her a lesson, focus on providing her the alternative routes to playing positively and hopefully this will lessen her need to act out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-11-17T20:32:14.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-18T02:38:02.127" Score="4" ViewCount="13958" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta seems to have recently developed little black dots on his fins on both sides about a week after moving him from a small bowl to a little Top Fin 2 gallon (7.6 L) aquarium with a heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He eats pellet style Betta food and lives with a little nerite snail named Reggie. It is possible that these dots may have just gone unnoticed until now, but I feel like they are new. Any ideas as to whether this is disease related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/benYm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/benYm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10755" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-13T00:31:07.627" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T00:31:07.627" Title="Betta with black dots on fins" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18835" CreationDate="2017-11-18T14:21:13.817" Score="3" ViewCount="820" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an older relative staying with my immediate family. At first he and our dog got along fine. It was when my relative became very ill and subsequently required temporary hospitalization when my dog started growling at him. I don’t know if the dog is picking up on some instability or something like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know if it matters but the dog’s breed is mixed but mostly a Golden Labrador and has been a wonderful family pet. The relative has late stage liver cirrhosis and many of the complications that come along with that type of disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10760" LastEditorUserId="10760" LastEditDate="2017-11-18T14:26:41.983" LastActivityDate="2017-11-18T18:51:51.070" Title="Why did my dog started growling at one person?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18834" CreationDate="2017-11-18T17:17:22.880" Score="6" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend wants to give away kittens in his house. He has already given 2 of them. I approached him to get the 3rd kitten but when I went to take the kitten,  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;it was licking and playing with its mother&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and also the mother cat was cuddling her. Seeing this I couldn't really make my mind to separate the 2 of them. The kitten is 6 weeks old. &lt;em&gt;Should I try and go &lt;strong&gt;get it after a couple of weeks&lt;/strong&gt; or just &lt;strong&gt;let it stay with its mom&lt;/strong&gt;. Will the &lt;strong&gt;cat take care of kitten always?&lt;/strong&gt; Or will both of them &lt;strong&gt;miss each other if they get separated?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Enlighten me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="10421" LastEditDate="2017-11-22T04:52:17.160" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:34:55.937" Title="Should I get the kitten which my friend wants to give separating from its mother?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18833" CreationDate="2017-11-18T17:48:38.963" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say how animals &quot;miss&quot; others, because we cannot really talk to them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what struck me is the 6 weeks and 2 siblings already being gone! Even when the kittens are weaned, they are still learning social behavior from their mother! Minimum age to separate a kitten from the mother is 8 weeks, 12 weeks is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that this is out of the way: after the kittens are old enough, it is fine to separate them, even if they will miss each other for a while. In the wild, the split would happen eventually anyway once the kitten can handle life on its own. They may recognize each other when seeing each other again later on, but cats do not tend to form any strong family-bonds between parent and kitten, beyond the motherhood phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the kitten is 12 weeks old, if you feel up to handling a little playful ball of fur that will leave chaos in its wake but will be cute and adorable all the way through it, feel free to adopt the little one. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:34:55.937" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:34:55.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18830" CreationDate="2017-11-18T18:51:51.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs rely insanely strongly on their sense of smell, including to identify people. When someone gets ill, depending on their disease, their odor becomes distinctly different. You may have heard of dogs sniffing out cancer etc. Unfortunately it is not unheard of that dogs behave differently around people who fall sick. Sometimes they become apathetic, sometimes more calm, sometimes they get aggressive. The exact reason is hard to pin down, but aggression is usually fear-based or territorial, so it may be confused by your family member smelling different or protective of its owners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10764" LastActivityDate="2017-11-18T18:51:51.070" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2017-11-18T18:52:17.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming your (elderly) cat is in relatively good health, you might consider serving the cat food at slightly above room temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not quite sure if a cat's sense of smell diminishes with age, but I found that giving a portion of (wet) cat food 2-3 seconds in the microwave before serving (to 'stimulate the aroma') made my elderly cat more interested in the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8331" LastActivityDate="2017-11-18T18:52:17.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-19T02:59:32.093" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I just got this mouse exactly one week ago today. A couple days ago after the 3-4 day period of course I started the bonding and taming process. In this period I have successfully had him come willingly onto my hand and such, but he has bitten me twice already and I don't understand what is going on. Is there anything I can do? My reaction to him biting is to put him back in the cage and leaving him alone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10770" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-11-22T09:10:12.277" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T13:48:04.850" Title="What can I do to help my mouse be more tame?" Tags="&lt;biting&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18852" CreationDate="2017-11-19T04:43:53.230" Score="4" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know what would be the best pet for me as a blind person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like dogs at all due to something bad that happened to me and my annoyance with puppies. However, I'm considering either a cat, a hamster or a guinea pig.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not overly needy;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;minimal to medium maintenance;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loves to cuddle (while I watch TV!);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has to be able to handle my occasional absence (visiting relatives, etc.);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;alternatively, a pet I can travel with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are my requirements, and I'm thinking on picking between a cat, a hamster or a guinea pig. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10771" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:06:46.967" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T10:14:45.087" Title="Best pet for a blind person" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18862" CreationDate="2017-11-19T05:06:58.243" Score="7" ViewCount="2852" Body="&lt;p&gt;A feral cat gave birth to kittens at our place. After around 2 months the mother and a kitten left, leaving one kitten. I have been feeding it since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's age now is almost 5 months, but still the kitten doesn't allow me or anyone to even touch it (forget picking it up or petting it). It comes close only to eat and then goes back into the carton box to sleep. She doesn't want to have any human contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it that so? Why is it that even after 5 months of feeding it and she still not developing trust in me nor allowing me to touch her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fear I have no hopes of having that kitten as a pet anytime soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:03:25.567" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:03:25.567" Title="Kitten still not friendly even after 5 months" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18829" CreationDate="2017-11-19T05:46:00.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may a condition called fin rot. If the fins where the dots are begin to look like they're disintegrating it is indeed fin rot. It's a fungus common in betta and is contagious. The best way to treat this is to isolate the fish in a bare bottom tank (no gravel or decorations) and perform half water changes added a teaspoon of aquarium salt to the water and refilling the tank daily. And for those saying 2 gallons is too small for a betta it is the minimum amount but still an okay amount. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10773" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T05:46:00.920" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2017-11-19T05:49:30.847" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no need to worry. If your betta was injured or had fin rot it is in the process of healing. The white finnage is a actually new tissue growing so it's healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10773" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T05:49:30.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18303" CreationDate="2017-11-19T06:07:09.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly I don't have a definitive answer for you, but the other fish in the tank may be bullying him. To test this I would put this fish in a separate tank and see if it's condition improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, I'd treat for a bacterial infection as I cannot see any signs of a parasitic infection such as ick based on the photo, but I'd also do so in the separate tank, as any unnecessary medications given to the other fish can harm their kidneys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10773" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T14:46:32.603" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T14:46:32.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17874" CreationDate="2017-11-19T06:20:17.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that using unnecessary medication on healthy fish may harm the kidneys of other fish. Also as the sick fish may have dropsy it is highly suggested that you quarantine as it can be contagious and avoid unnecessary medication as dropsy can be caused by kidney issues and as stated before unnecessary medication can harm the kidneys of the fish. I suggest (as it can be inexpensive but I kinda hate myself for suggesting it because it feeds misconceptions about betta care) is to buy one of those tanks advertised as good for betta, like 1 gallon ones, and use that as a small hospital tank.  (Edit: sorry I didn't see how old this thread was)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10773" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T06:20:17.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18264" CreationDate="2017-11-19T06:31:57.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have an answer for you other than it is most likely NOT fin rot. A fish will not develop fin rot in such a short and sudden period of time. I feel you need some encouragement. You have not failed as a fish owner. The people who failed are the people who push 'perfect for betta' products that meet almost 0 of the things betta need to live long healthy lives. You have actually succeeded as a fish owner because you have obviously researched and are working towards improving your facilities to improve the health of your betta. Don't blame yourself blame the money hungry market. I also have some tips for you. 100% water changes will stress your fish I suggest doing a 40% water change every 5 days to reduce stress on the fish. I would stop useless the conditioner with the white flakes as I'm not sure what they are. To keep waste in the aquarium down I'd only feed your fish once a day with 1 day without food. I personally feed my betta 4 pellets of food with a fast on Wednesdays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10773" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T06:31:57.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-19T09:09:01.670" Score="1" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a doberman and he has a number of issues. My parents refuse to take him to the vet but I think it's something serious. Here are the symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hair on his back has become much lighter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has growths on his nipples that itch. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's experiencing slight hair loss on his lower back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He gives off a very strong odor.( even a few days after bath)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has lost weight. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please Help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10776" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T09:09:01.670" Title="Why is the hair on my dog's back getting much lighter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18822" CreationDate="2017-11-19T09:30:57.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congrats! You have managed to start some strong bonding here... Cats in the wild usually do not meow much - it is something mainly happening between mother and kids - but for house cats it also happens between cats and owners (or slaves as the cat probably thinks)... It trusts you and wants attention of some kind, maybe as easy as food or maybe it just wants to tell you it is around - or it feels for some other kind of attention. That it is meowing to you is for me a strong indicator that it is used to live with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bjarne O. Braastad at the Norwegian Agricultural University has done a lot of research on cat behaviour, he has written a very good popular science book, but I think it is only available in Norwegian .&amp;quot;Katten, adferd og velferd&amp;quot; - Bjarne O. Braastad, &amp;quot;The Cat - behaviour and welfare&amp;quot; It is a great book, a pity (if) it has not been translated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10777" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-08T21:11:17.733" LastActivityDate="2021-03-08T21:11:17.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-19T18:59:02.900" Score="7" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet advised having an X-ray taken of my cat's paw after she was stomped upon by my reckless neighbor who I am not speaking with anymore. She is always coming to drink my coffee and take my food, but will not even watch for my dearest kitty when walking around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, after talking with my vet we concluded that my cat should get an X-ray of her paw. Initially, I said yes and made an appointment to do it, but later I started thinking about it and now I am worried if X-ray is safe for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that X-rays advanced over the course of years and that they are safe for humans, but what about cats? I read on various places like here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.felineliving.net/cat-x-ray-cost/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;X-ray for cats&lt;/a&gt; that it is generally considered safe and that pros far outweigh the cons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning what? It is safe, but there are chances that it could hurt my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are chances, no matter how small, I will be anxious to do this because the cat is walking without any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would like to hear some other opinions before asking my vet further about this, as I am afraid that I am just overthinking this and making it worse than it is... Thank you everyone in advance for your replies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10780" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T03:03:41.940" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T03:05:36.173" Title="Is it safe to get my cat on X-ray machine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18850" CreationDate="2017-11-19T19:25:17.390" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, taking an X-ray is perfectly safe, the output (radiation) is far too low to cause cancer or other dangerous changes in the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Radiation is everywhere: the Sun, the Earth, even from natural chemicals in the body. One X-ray is usually equal to or less than the amount of radiation acquired just from living on Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Harvard Health:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dose of radiation received per diagnostic scan is measured in millisieverts (mSv). We are all exposed to some amount of natural radiation from the sun, from the earth, and even from some natural chemicals in our body. The average natural background radiation in the United States is 3.7 mSv per year. A simple chest X-ray (two views) exposes a person to an average of 0.01 mSv, or roughly the amount of radiation you get in a day from the natural background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Radiology Info has a lovely &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=safety-xray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;comparison chart&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; The studies provided are based on human medicine; however, they are very much comparable to our cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat's paw was severely damaged in some way (broken bones), she would favor it, even on good analgesics. Keep an eye out for swelling and limping; if it persists, an X-ray should be taken to determine treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T03:05:36.173" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T03:05:36.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18839" CreationDate="2017-11-19T21:25:49.357" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the options you listed cat seems to be the obvious answer, they are reasonably independent and quite a lot of them will enjoy a good cuddle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to be rude or insensitive as I don't know your full situation but if you went for a long haired breed such as a ragdoll, or birman then they are like a nice warm fluffy teddy bear and you might enjoy the texture of the coat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of work load do you think you can handle the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feeding - cats will need feeding a couple of times a day, you can have then on a purely dry diet so that would mean filling a bowl with kibble a couple of times a day or a more infrequent filling of an automated feeder&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water - cats need fresh water (especially if you are feeding them on dry food) so you'll need to fill a water bowl once or twice daily. Alternatively a pet fountain would allow for less frequent fills/changes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toys - cats love to play and need some entertainment, they like to play with their owners but it's not essential, there are many simple toys, soft mice etc and even interactive ones that will keep then happy. They do have a tendency to leave them everywhere though which may present a trip hazard?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toilet - if you want the cat to be an indoor kitty then that means a litter tray, normally you'd scoop the poop once a day and do a full change once every four or five days but given the potential messiness in trying to scoop blind it may be easier to just do a wholesale change every other day and leave it at that. An indoor/outdoor cat won't have that problem but you'll be needing a cat flap really for that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Travel - some cats can travel but I wouldn't rely upon it. They are very centred on &quot;their&quot; territory. If you are travelling between a couple of familiar locations then that's better for them. If you choose to leave then then they can cope for a couple or three days on their own with automated feeders but anything longer and you'd need to put them in a cattery&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Medical care - assuming no problems then a cat will need annual vaccinations at the vet, quarterly worming tablets and ideally monthly flea treatments and claw clips. The latter three can be done at home but I imagine would require assistance from a sighted person. Especially the claw clipping.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Safety - most cats are pretty good at getting out the way, most of the time. However some cats are seemingly experts at being trip hazards. I've got one of &quot;each&quot; and little Mr Trip Hazard can materialize right under my feet at the most inconvenient times!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T21:25:49.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18822" CreationDate="2017-11-19T21:56:38.610" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feral cats don't meow at people, as a rule. I have cared for &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; ferals that eventually meowed at me after years of consistent feeding (I have a managed, TNR-ed colony). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your visiting cat has had contact with people at some point. Its shyness indicates that some of that contact has been negative/abusive/scary, or else the cat has been on its own for so long that its &quot;wild&quot; instincts have resurfaced to help it survive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that its meowing at you indicates that it trusts you. Long ago memories of having a home may have resurfaced. It may be lonely. It may be desperate for you to adopt it. Other than that, the cat may have a medical condition (pain, dementia, urinary blockage, injury, etc) that needs attention and it is begging you for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long and short of it is, the cat has bonded with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10784" LastActivityDate="2017-11-19T21:56:38.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2017-11-20T02:04:18.753" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a plain double burger. When you get home, take the bun off and pat both pattys down with a paper towel, then cut them down to the size that fits your dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10786" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2017-11-22T09:10:40.467" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T09:10:40.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18792" CreationDate="2017-11-20T04:50:29.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are the snails doing? I've found them to be fairly robust to bad conditions, but that is very high ammonia. There are reasons to be skeptical of API ammonia tests, but only on the fringes (like differentiating between 0 and 0.25 ppm). At minimum, take some water to a local fish shop, even Petco/Petsmart usually do tests for free. The fact that the pH is going haywire is consistent in my opinion with the ammonia getting out of hand. Do more frequent water changes until the tests look better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to refer to these as mystery snails since I assume that's what you have. Many people use &quot;apple snail&quot; to refer to a closely related species that gets very large (more like a baseball at adulthood), eats live plants, and is highly invasive and is regulated in the US. Mystery snails produce a ton of waste. I've spent time raising these snails and in the beginning it was very hard to give enough water or filtration to keep the ammonia at 0. You can manage 3 of them in a 10 gallon, but I would consider that a heavy bioload and one that will need careful management until it stabilizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the sponge filter is insufficient. You're going to need more water turnover to effectively process the amount of ammonia being produced. You can get a hang-on-back filter pretty cheap that will work in a 10 gallon. I bought a Deep Blue branded 100 gph filter at a local fish shop for about 10 bucks and put my own biomedia in it (I like the porous ceramic types that you can get pre-bagged for Fluval filters) and took out the included carbon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would still leave the current sponge filter since it's the only mature thing around. With that said, I believe sustained exposure to very high ammonia levels can have a negative effect on the nitrifying bacteria, so there's a chance if your tests are accurate that the sponge filter has lost much of it's bacterial colony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T04:50:29.520" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17874" CreationDate="2017-11-20T05:48:11.143" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are too many types of medication to give a general recommendation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain medications, like those that use the ingredients malachite green or formalin that are very hard on invertebrates (snails, shrimp) and are harder on scaleless fish (catfish, loaches) and softwater fish (cardinal tetras, German Blue Rams, discus). These are also tough on plants. I would advise against treating in a community tank unless it is thought the root problem affects all the fish and the fish are likely to tolerate it at the necessary dose. These two ingredients can kill your nitrifying bacteria, but they may not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antibiotics (kanamycin, erythromycin, tetracycline, others) are generally better tolerated by a wider variety of critters and under the right circumstances are relatively safe to apply to an entire aquarium. With that said, some of them will kill your nitrifying bacteria, thereby un-cycling your aquarium and making it likely that you will deal with persistent ammonia spikes that will kill or badly harm your fish. Research the ingredient carefully to assess the risk here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Copper is an ingredient that can be very effective for certain ailments but again is tough on scaleless fish and in general kills fish if overdosed. It is absolutely lethal to invertebrates and is difficult to remove from the tank. Even just trace amounts left over from treatments long ago can kill snails and shrimps. I would never apply copper to a community aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some anti-parasitic medications, like metronidazole and praziquantel, that are very mild and shouldn't pose serious risks in a community tank. I still wouldn't put them in a tank unless I felt certain that some of the fish needed it; I wouldn't put them in a tank as a purely precautionary measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, find out what the medication's active ingredients are, read through the warnings and recommendations of the manufacturer, and then research the ingredients individually to learn from other aquarists and sources. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7155" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T05:48:11.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18822" CreationDate="2017-11-20T10:47:56.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she is meowing to you then she must be used to humans, i.e. not feral. Adult cats don't meow to each other, only to humans after they learn that it gets a response. Unfortunately there is no simple way to determine exactly what she wants - it may just be some fuss and a massage, it may be she wants a home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best thing to do is find out if she already has an owner and is just looking for even more cuddles and territory to reign over, or if she is distressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live she may have a microchip. Cat charities and vets will have the equipment to read the chip and determine who the owner is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try a temporary collar to see if she is really ownerless. Some charities can supply them, or you may be able to buy them somewhere. They are made of strong paper. You write your details on them, asking the owner to contact you. If nothing happens in a few days you could consider adopting her or asking a charity to look after her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10789" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T10:47:56.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18860" CreationDate="2017-11-20T11:42:48.750" Score="4" ViewCount="3520" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 5 month old kitten still bites sometimes. I know their teeth are growing--that is why they usually bite, but how long will tooth growth take? Is this behavior normal? Secondly, its been 3 months, but the kitten is still not friendly and runs away(scared sometimes). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:52:12.393" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:52:12.393" Title="5 month old kitten, still biting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18738" CreationDate="2017-11-20T13:53:44.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought would be - your dog is bored. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an old adage - a tired dog is a happy dog. Whilst it's not the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; cause, the highest probability is that your dog is not getting enough physical and mental stimulation, and is finding their own entertainment. Which is digging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, the fix is a fairly easy - if time consuming one - interact with your dog more. Increase the amount of walkies you do, and consider going to something mentally stimulating, such as training or agility classes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also find that going to daycare if such things exist near you, also helps. I know it might sound daft, but we have made use of daycare providers who end up being a mix of 'play date' and 'extra walkies' because our dog has separation anxiety problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T13:53:44.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18858" CreationDate="2017-11-20T14:40:02.757" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats bite for many different reasons. Not all of them are a matter of immaturity or aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have a 7 month old cat, who is incredibly energetic. Whenever he plays, he goes all out (nails and teeth). He's has gotten better at avoiding the use of nails/teeth when playing with me (I stop playing when he hurts me); but once he gets excited, he still forgets from time to time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We also have a 16 month old cat, who bites as a way to show affection for humans. I let her bite me, and she nas never hurt me, nor broken my skin. She does bite harder when she's more affectionate, but her bites amount to nothing more than a pinch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our third cat is also 16 months old (they are sisters). While she does not bite us, she bites her sister on the neck when they're bundled up (cuddling, licking each other, ...). The sister likes it, and we think this is why she in turn bites us; because she knows it as a sign of affection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest looking into the biting behavior by letting the cat do what it wants to do, without telling them off. Observe what they are trying to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's the kitten's emotional state? Playful, affectionate, scared, angry, ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When not reprimanded, does the kitten bite hard enough to break skin, or hurt the recipient of the bite?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the kitten &lt;strong&gt;intend&lt;/strong&gt; to hurt the recipient? (even if they can't bite hard, they could still be &lt;em&gt;trying&lt;/em&gt; to bite as hard as they can)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this, you can change your approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;If the kitten means well, and the recipient doesn't get hurt&lt;/em&gt;: Leave it be. It's likely just a matter of giving affection or playing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;If the kitten means well, but ends up hurting the recipient&lt;/em&gt;: Tell it off for doing so. If it bites humans, then the human should stop engaging the kitten when it crosses the &lt;strong&gt;threshold&lt;/strong&gt; of what it acceptable biting. Don't tell it off before it crosses the threshold; don't engage it after it has crossed it. Be consistent, and the kitten should learn the boundaries of what's acceptable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;If the kitten does not mean well&lt;/em&gt;: &#xA;Even if it doesn't hurt now, if this behavior continues, they will eventually start hurting you.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find out why the kitten is upset. Fixing the source is the best solution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think it's hormonal, then it's likely a temporary problem (related to childhood/puberty). Tell them off for misbehaving, but don't excessively punish or ostracise them if they didn't actively choose to behave this way (it sends the wrong message when they didn't mean to be aggressive).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use general training techniques to teach them to not do it. I suggest browsing Pets.SE, there are a lot of answers that delve into training techniques for cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T14:40:02.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-20T16:06:54.697" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;my dog is a 2 years old shiba inu, male. sometimes (maybe once a month), he won't finish his meal, maybe only eat half of it, and then just look at the bowl or laying next to it. I used to just put the kibble away and he become very nervous and bites his toy, once i put the kibble away and he becomes fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;yesterday i was out of town for business, and my roommate fed my dog kibble. he was doing this again. and bites my roommate when he tries to get up from the sofa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;why my dog like this? is he don't like the food? how can i stop this from happening in the future? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10794" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T16:30:35.883" Title="my dog won't eat kibble and tried to bite my roommate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18840" CreationDate="2017-11-20T16:09:08.223" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mick's comment is on the right track here. I've experienced similar things, with cats that were arguably even worse off; so I hope my experiences can help you in approaching your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;For reference:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have two cats who were born in the wild, and lived there until they were 6-7 months old. They lived inside a prison building, which means that they grew up needing to &lt;strong&gt;avoid&lt;/strong&gt; human contact at all costs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They were taken into foster care (a home specialized in teaching cats what it means to live with humans), then another foster home (looking for adoption), then we adopted them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, they were incredibly shy when they first arrived. They snuck around, making no noise, and refused to move (or even blink) when we were anywhere near their room.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Having lived as feral cats inside a prison means that avoiding humans at all costs is ingrained in their behavior. From what we were told, siblings of theirs were caught at an earlier stage, and never to be seen from again (from the cats' point of view). This made it very clear to them that humans are dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They've been with us for 7 months now. Although we're somewhat convinced that they'll always remain shy cats, they have at least accepted us as their family, which means their fear of humans in general has been overcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can give them pets, they sometimes come for affection (but not as often as the average cat), they follow us around the house, ... But we're not allowed to pick them up, we haven't gained that level of trust yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What we did:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The core intention of bonding with them is simple. You want to teach them that &lt;strong&gt;bonding with you has certain advantages&lt;/strong&gt;. If they want the advantage (e.g. treats), then they must pay the price (socializing with you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, one of the first things you need to do is &lt;strong&gt;limit their freedom&lt;/strong&gt;. This sounds harsh, but you should keep some freedoms as &lt;strong&gt;rewards&lt;/strong&gt; for bonding with you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you already allowing the cat to eat and otherwise ignore you, then the cat has no reason to ever want to bond with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never ever deny them essentials (food, shelter, litter box)&lt;/strong&gt;. The only incentives you can use are &lt;strong&gt;bonuses&lt;/strong&gt; (extra food, treats, toys). If you're using essentials to get them to interact with you, then they aren't learning anything about you, because they are purely driven by their survival instinct.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You need to bond with them over bonuses, because they choose to enjoy the bonuses. Their &lt;strong&gt;freedom to choose&lt;/strong&gt; is quintessential to the bonding process. They must &lt;em&gt;choose&lt;/em&gt; to interact with you, while having the option to not interact with you. If you blackmail them by denying them essentials, then they don't have the option of not interacting with you, and it will detract from the bond you want to have with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, they will understand that socializing with you isn't all that bad (if they have no bad experiences, of course!), and they even get bonuses on top of that; so they have little to complain about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Territory&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our house has many nooks and crannies. If we had set them free from the beginning, they would've hid and never come out. Instead, we gave them a bedroom all to themselves (with lots of toys and sleeping spots).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Further increases to their territory would be awarded at certain milestones.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After they were at ease with us in the room, we let them explore the hallway/staircase.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After they let us pet them during food/treat time, they were welcome in the bedroom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After they had bonded with us sufficiently, we gave them access to the entire house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We currently don't allow them out, but are likely to try it once they've been with us for a year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Food&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first few days, we put food in their room, closed the door, and let them eat in peace. They needed to adjust to their surroundings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Afterwards, we stayed in the room and observed them from a distance. There was at least 3m between us and the food. They only ate while keeping an eye on us, and would scurry for the slightest move we made.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, we gradually decreased the distance between us and the food, half a meter every day. We were in arm's reach within a week.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of the girls was less eager to come close, compared to her sister. So we split her food over two bowls. One bowl (with a little bit of food) was put at a distance, but the other bowl (with the majority of food) was put next to her sister. She got to choose: shy away from us, or come and get the rest of her food. Within three or four days, she opted for getting the rest of her food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then it became time for them to get used to petting. Whenever they would eat, I would carefully approach them (in a way that they saw my hand approach them) and gently stroke the back of their neck. They obviously refused that in the beginning.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever they recoiled, I pulled back my hand and looked away, so they could eat in peace again. I let them eat some of the food, and then tried again. I spaced it out in a way that I could try it about 5 times by the time they finished the food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, they realized that we weren't hurting them in any way, and the &lt;em&gt;inconvenience&lt;/em&gt; of recoiling and no longer eating outweighed the inconvenience of being pet by us. Therefore, they started allowing us to pet them as long as they were eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the food was gone, so were they. They didn't &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; being pet, but they at least allowed it when they had bigger fish to fry (= eating).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treats are &lt;strong&gt;extras&lt;/strong&gt;. While we allowed the cats to initially eat in peace, since they need the food, we immediately put a price on the treats. They don't need the treats to survive, but they &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; the treats because they're tasty. This creates the perfect incentive for them to want to conquer their own fears, without risking them getting malnourished.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first treat was given for free. But they needed to allow me to pet their head &lt;strong&gt;once&lt;/strong&gt; if they wanted another treat. After they ate their treat, I slowly attempted to pet them. If they refused, I let my hand hang in mid-air, continually offering it (without approaching them again). It didn't take too long for them to figure out that letting us pet them gave them another treat.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They didn't understand the &quot;cost of petting&quot; initially. So I put a timer on it. Without petting, they would get a treat every 30 seconds (give or take). But if they allowed me to pet them &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt;, the timer would immediately reset and they'd get a treat. Since our visits were somewhat fixed length (due to other obligations), they quickly learned that petting means getting more treats during a visit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of them was a bit slower than the other. She did come forward and sniff my hand, but wasn't at the point of petting yet. So I allowed her to have another treat if she sniffed my hand for a while. She soon figured out that petting yielded treats &lt;em&gt;faster&lt;/em&gt; than sniffing my hand, and she switched her approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toys and playing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initially, they got a handful of toys (play mice, balls).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We introduced new toys. Whenever we appeared, we would bring a few toys with us. But we also took them back with us when we left.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to put a &lt;strong&gt;limit&lt;/strong&gt; on the playtime. If you're available for playing at any time of day, they won't always come forward quickly. But if you limit playtime to one or two scheduled visits (e.g. morning and evening), they will have to make sure to play during those limited visits, which increases the need for interacting with you (and thus being happier to see your presence);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Though we started leaving some toys behind; we intentionally kept the &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; toys (the ones they clearly preferred) with us; so that they connect the happiness of playing with that toy to our presence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good tip is to put the toys in your pocket before you enter their room. They will quickly learn that you pull them out of your pocket. Their eagerness to play with their favorite toy may override their tendency to keep you at a distance; which is what happened for one of them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Besides toys that they can play with by themselves, try to get them hooked on toys that require your interaction (laser pointer, &lt;a href=&quot;http://media11.mediazs.com/bilder/soundmouse/cat/toy/1/400/14198_PLA_Karlie_Spielangel_Soundmaus_1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fishing rods&lt;/a&gt;, ...). Ours loved the laser pointer, and quickly identified that they needed us for that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once in a while, stop playing with them sooner than usual. Try and see if they approach you as a way to ask you to continue playing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Random tips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the beginning, you'll want to put the cat in a familiar environment, where the only alien object is you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a while, try to introduce objects that are even more foreign to them; which makes you &quot;familiar&quot; (comparatively speaking). For our cats, showing them a tablet that was playing cat videos was so interesting to them, that they almost forgot about us. They absent-mindedly would come closer to us than usual, because they were focusing on the tablet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tailor your approach to the cat&lt;/strong&gt;. I listed things that worked in my experience, but your cat may have completely different likes/dislikes. See what they like, and try to manipulate the situation so that they have to bond with you in order to get access to what they like. Really, it's as simple as a &quot;carrot and stick&quot; approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This will not be fixed in a matter of days&lt;/strong&gt;. This is a very slow progression of trust building. If you take things slow in the beginning, you'll eventually see them &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; the rate at which they accept new things. That's a prime indicator for you to see that they are actually bonding with you. The fact that they accept a new thing faster, means that they trust you to not endanger them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's possible that the cat simply doesn't like socializing. Though this can be a sad realization as a pet owner, you should also understand that the cat is not to blame for it. Often, you can eventually get them to come around to it, but that's not a guarantee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In general&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general approach is always the same:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Guarantee the basics&lt;/strong&gt;. They don't need to do anything they don't want to do, you will provide for their basic needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present two options&lt;/strong&gt;. The option where they avoid you and do not get a bonus; and the option where they interact with you and get a bonus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let them choose&lt;/strong&gt;. If you force their hand, they didn't make a choice, and will not learn anything from it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward progress&lt;/strong&gt;. If they reach a certain milestone, give them an even bigger reward. Note that if they consistently achieve the same milestone, they don't get big rewards for it anymore. Don't give bigger rewards for stagnating behavior, as it teaches them the wrong thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not punish lack of progress&lt;/strong&gt;. This makes you into the boogeyman. To them, you are being unkind to them &lt;em&gt;for no reason&lt;/em&gt; (since they don't know what your expectations are).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Accept regressive behavior&lt;/strong&gt;. If they're suddenly more shy than the day before; so be it. Cats have different moods, just like humans. If they don't want to play today, that's their choice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't break the rules in their favor&lt;/strong&gt; (or yours). If they don't want to play today, that's fine. But don't try again in a little while. Stick to your schedule. Make them understand that &lt;strong&gt;they make their own choices, but suffer the consequences of that choice&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is everything I can think of right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-11-20T16:16:06.760" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T16:16:06.760" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18738" CreationDate="2017-11-20T16:11:23.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;German shepherds are an incredibly intelligent and energetic breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only will it be important for you to be active &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; your dog more frequently to wear her out (so that she doesn't have the energy to be digging at your carpet), but you will need to introduce variety into these routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old German Shepherd/Husky mix that I adopted as a puppy. Every task that I taught him to perform became &lt;em&gt;increasing easier&lt;/em&gt; for him the more times he performed it. Mental exercise can be just as important as physical exercise for intelligent breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Challenging your dog mentally (as well as physically) can be achieved in a variety of ways without costing you too much in time/resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change up your walking routes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dedicate time each night to train your dog tricks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your dog a job/task, such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/training-tools/dog-backpack-dos-and-donts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wearing a dog pack&lt;/a&gt; with weights while you go on walks (article linked actually discusses how this can help reduce the length of your walks and achieve a tired state!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visit a dog park once your dog is old enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are days you do not have time to do this and you are concerned your dog may tear up your carpet, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/lifecycle/puppies/Puppy-crate-training-made-easy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kennel her while you're unable to watch her&lt;/a&gt;.  I hate kenneling my &quot;baby&quot; as well, but it's as important for her as it is for your belongings that she not be allowed to continue repeating the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T16:11:23.030" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-20T16:23:13.243" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dog gave birth to more than 11 puppies near my house. 1 has been reported dead, walked over by a car. They are living beside the road in a place where people park cars. I cannot adopt even one of them because in my family they are considered dirty. I gave the mother some Marie biscuits. What should I feed the mother? I do not have dog food. Can I feed more marie biscuits? How can I keep the puppies safe. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-21T15:40:07.553" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T15:40:07.553" Title="Caring for a dog and its 11 puppies" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18861" CreationDate="2017-11-20T16:30:35.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe he doesn't like it. My cat doesn't like kibble either, so I try to provide him with a varied diet. It does make him a very picky eater, though. When he is at his most trying, I tell myself that I wouldn't want to live on a diet of dry biscuits and water, either. Try to give your dog as varied a diet as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T16:30:35.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-20T16:51:09.460" Score="2" ViewCount="624" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 60 l freshwater aquarium. After water changes I see plants producing gas, which raises to the top just like when I had CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; fertilization running (currently turned off since some weeks). The production goes on for up to 2 hours and seems to correlate with the amount of water changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume it's oxygen since I don't know of another gas produced by plants. Reasons for it to might be the high O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; saturation of the fresh water by the faucet aerator of the tap or the shower head, but it's unlikely since I collect cold water before warm water from the shower in a bucket which remains calm for up to 4 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be in the freshwater to be temporarily present or what could be partially removed from the old water that causes the activity inside the plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:16:42.543" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:16:42.543" Title="Why do I see gas bubbles raising from plants after water changes?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18827" CreationDate="2017-11-20T17:08:31.770" Score="5" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But now she keeps destroying so many things whenever we're not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have a habit of scratching and playing with things. It's important to understand that this is an &lt;strong&gt;urge&lt;/strong&gt; that they get. It's an instinct, not a willful decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rule is that you cannot &lt;strong&gt;stop&lt;/strong&gt; an urge, but you can &lt;strong&gt;steer it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our cats love scratching a particular spot of wallpaper. If we put a scratching post on the other side of the room, that doesn't redirect their attention. But when we put the scratching post &lt;strong&gt;near&lt;/strong&gt; the wallpaper spot, then it does redirect their attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our cats kept biting and ripping pieces of paper. Whenever we get a cardboard box now, we give it to them. They rip it into little pieces over time, and haven't messed with our papers since then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They kept asking for attention while I was working on the computer. I put a blanket next to me. They didn't stay on it. I moved that blanket next to the monitor, so I could &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; them. They did stay on it then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She would also scratch and bite us sometimes. She would occasionally attack us as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat engages with you (as opposed to an inanimate object), that's generally a sign that they want you to interact with them. Especially when they're being (playfully) aggressive, the fact that they choose to engage a living object (who can retaliate) as opposed to an inanimate one highly suggests that they want &lt;strong&gt;interactive&lt;/strong&gt; playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide your cat with ample toys, both those that it can use to play by itself (mice, balls) and those that require you to play with them (laser pointer, fishing rod). If the former isn't fulfilling her needs, and she still engages you, then play with her using the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My cat is a 4 month old Himalayan rag doll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be a wrong inference on my part, but fluffy cats such as the ragdoll are often assumed to be lazy cats (due to their fluffy and chubby nature) that prefer to lounge or sleep.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;This is not a given&lt;/strong&gt;. Though different breeds of cat will have different overall characters, that doesn't make it impossible for your cat to be unusually playful (compared to their breed's average playfulness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, it's only 4 months old. I would expect nearly any cat to be playful for the first 12-18 months of its life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We got her when she was 2 months old. She was cute, nice and gentle. But now ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly possible that the cat was &lt;em&gt;initially&lt;/em&gt; out of her comfort zone with you, in a way that you were the center of her attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that your cat was &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; very playful, but it initially didn't feel at home in its new surroundings and therefore didn't feel as playful. Now that it feels more confident, it might start behaving more like itself again (including playfulness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We tried spraying her with water, yelling at her, and flicking her nose, and nothing seems to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are all negative feedback options. What are the positive feedback options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only give her negative feedback, she will eventually start seeing &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; as the problem. Make sure that her experiences with you are &lt;em&gt;predominantly&lt;/em&gt; positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you see young children rebelling against their parents (saying things like &quot;I hate you&quot;), it's often caused by a succession of negative interactions between the child and their parent. The negative feedback may be justified for every encounter (e.g. the child actually misbehaving); but if the child exclusively encounters negative feedback, it eventually starts feeling that the negative feedback is inevitable (and subsequently stops caring about it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative feedback only works if your cat knows that what it did was wrong.&lt;/strong&gt; If your cat does something that it thinks is perfectly fine, and then gets punished by you, it won't understand that the punishment is related to its behavior. You need to make that clear to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule, I try to reserve negative feedback for cases where the cat &lt;strong&gt;willfully&lt;/strong&gt; opposed my rule. E.g. when told to get away from the food, it moves &lt;em&gt;faster&lt;/em&gt; in an attempt to steal it anyway. Or when I tell it to stop scratching something and it &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt; continues when I turn my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest an escalation pattern, that starts off mildly instead of immediately resorting to relatively aggressive responses (like the spraying). Something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;State the cat's name, to get their attention, but without telling them what (not) to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell them what to do. Usually, a strong &quot;No&quot; is what you need.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Approach the cat &lt;em&gt;calmly&lt;/em&gt;. Say &quot;No&quot; again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Push the cat away from what it's doing. Be gentle, don't hurt them, but slowly push them aside. Repeat the &quot;No&quot; when they look at you in confusion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get out the spray bottle. Display it first, it may work as a visual reminder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they still continue their behavior, spray them (not in the face).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they still continue, physically pick them up (remain calm), walk them to another part of the house, and gently put them down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is simple: stop with what you're doing, or I'll escalate. Whenever the cat ignores your request, escalate again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be consistent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The escalation must be inevitable, and must always follow the same pattern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your cat backs off, it has complied with your request. Don't punish or follow it any further. It did what you wanted it to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't get upset that you need to escalate. It's normal for cats to not understand your escalation pattern in the beginning. Over time, they'll learn to spot it quicker. &lt;strong&gt;But it takes time&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not make the steps more severe every time you have to go through the pattern. Keep them consistent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remain calm (but strict). Anger or aggressions triggers a &lt;em&gt;reflex&lt;/em&gt; in the cat, which is an instinct. Cat's don't learn from doing what their instinct tells them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always start at step one. Don't resume an escalation mid-way because the cat misbehaved not too long ago. Every transgression is &lt;strong&gt;unique&lt;/strong&gt;, and must be approached from step one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a reason for this progression of steps. Over time, the cat will learn to avoid a bigger consequence by complying with an earlier step. Chronologically, it will learn these steps, one by one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want to be picked up. I should back off when I get sprayed. If I don't, I get picked up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want to get sprayed. I should stop when the human pushes me aside. If I don't, I get sprayed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want to get pushed aside. I should back off when the human approaches me, because he's going to push me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want the human to push me. Whenever he makes that sound (&quot;No&quot;), he will approach me soon after.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, a &quot;No&quot;, or even just stating their name will be enough for them to understand the consequences of ignoring your verbal cues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about 6 weeks now, our youngest (7mo) is now at the point where he &lt;em&gt;knows&lt;/em&gt; that he's doing something he's not allowed to. He generally backs off when I state his name, even for new things that he hasn't been told off for yet. He clearly takes my verbal cues to heart, even though his playful nature still gets the better of him at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you don't flick your cat's nose. Personally, I find it a bit aggressive, it's the equivalent of shoving a dog's nose in his urine if he went inside the house. It's much too aggressive (negative for your relationship) for too little gains (not guaranteed to actually teach them anything).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since flicking is something that only humans are capable of doing, I would expect a cat to eventually realize that &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; humans can flick their nose, which may impact their opinion of humans negatively.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;E.g. if a human gets bitten by a dog, they can develop a dislike of dogs (possibly even a fear) but not necessarily of other animals. Similarly, if a cat gets flicked by a human, that can trigger a similar response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:23:51.870" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:23:51.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13820" CreationDate="2017-11-20T17:26:22.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is common to many dogs I've been with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.petmd.com/dog/general-health/5-types-dog-eye-discharge-and-what-they-mean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://m.petmd.com/dog/general-health/5-types-dog-eye-discharge-and-what-they-mean&lt;/a&gt; talks about several different kinds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the one you're talking about is the dark brown/red crust (#3)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Light colored dogs often develop a reddish brown discoloration to the fur below the inner corner of their eyes. This occurs because tears contain a pigment called porphyrin that turns this reddish brown color upon prolonged exposure to air&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10797" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T17:26:22.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2017-11-20T17:35:34.793" Score="9" Body="&lt;h1&gt;For the US&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Any State&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/trouble_affording_pet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Humane Society maintains a list&lt;/a&gt; of nationwide and local organizations that offer veterinary assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RedRover has a small grant program called &lt;a href=&quot;http://redrover.org/grant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RedRover Relief Urgent Care&lt;/a&gt;, which is designed to respond to veterinary emergencies and urgent care situations when an animal is not going to receive care due to a small gap in funding. The Urgent Care program cannot pay for treatment already rendered, and you do need a diagnosis and treatment plan in place before applying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alabama&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Alaska&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Arizona&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Arkansas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;California &#xA;Colorado&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Connecticut&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Delaware&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Florida&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Georgia&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hawaii&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Idaho&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Illinois&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Indiana&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Iowa&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Kansas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Kentucky&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Louisiana&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Maine&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Maryland&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Massachusetts&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Michigan&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Minnesota&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Mississippi&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Missouri&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Montana&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nebraska&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nevada&lt;br&gt;&#xA;New Hampshire&lt;br&gt;&#xA;New Jersey&lt;br&gt;&#xA;New Mexico&lt;br&gt;&#xA;New York&lt;br&gt;&#xA;North Carolina&lt;br&gt;&#xA;North Dakota&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ohio&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Oklahoma&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Oregon&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pennsylvania&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rhode Island&lt;br&gt;&#xA;South Carolina&lt;br&gt;&#xA;South Dakota&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Tennessee&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Texas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Utah&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Vermont&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Virginia&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Washington&lt;br&gt;&#xA;West Virginia&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wisconsin&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Wyoming &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10798" LastEditorUserId="988" LastEditDate="2018-08-06T18:58:47.317" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T18:58:47.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2017-11-20T17:53:37.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;For Norway&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sent a question about this to Animal Protection here in Norway.&#xA;The answer I got today was that there is no private or government options for free or low cost veterinary help as far as they could tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is up to the vet if he/she can provide help to you and your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional information.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets here have to help an injured animal, like an animal injured in a traffic accident but they have to fill in a form to get the expenses covered and this only covers the basics like putting down an animal or simple treatment (this is mostly for injured wildlife or for pets with an unknown owner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anybody has any better information about options for free/low cost veterinary help in Norway please post it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T18:33:36.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18866" CreationDate="2017-11-20T19:03:07.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plants will produce oxygen which normally goes into solution. However, if the water is well oxygenated, not all of the oxygen will be able to go into solution, and gas bubbles will be created. As the dissolved oxygen comes out of solution (e.g. overnight), dissolved oxygen levels will drop, and oxygen produced by the plants will again be able to go into solution, and no bubbles will be seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T19:03:07.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18864" CreationDate="2017-11-20T19:20:35.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A nursing bitch will need a very nutritious diet to produce enough milk for 11 pups, and marie biscuits will not do the job. Unless you can get a charity involved to take care of the pups, it is likely that most of them will die. The dog really needs sterilising, so that she does not have to go through this again. The same applies to any female pups that survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T19:20:35.353" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18864" CreationDate="2017-11-20T21:21:07.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As much as you want to help, 11 pups and a mother dog are likely out of your ability to provide shelter and food for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contact an animal shelter. They'll be able to provide the best care available for the animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your location, the animal shelter will likely spay/neuter the animals, provide them with food, and keep them until a permanent home can be found for each one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-11-20T21:21:07.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18827" CreationDate="2017-11-20T22:26:51.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats seem to notice that you are the source of any reinforcement. They might be trained when there's a witness, but they will often go back to their regular behavior when no one is there. Therefore, using redirection, that is, getting them to prefer some appropriate alternative, is more effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat may be getting bored. Try to tire the cat out before you leave. Also provide the cat with plenty of toys to enjoy while you are away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some cats enjoy being destructive. So give them things that are okay to destroy. Scratchers of various varieties are a must. Cats have different preferences for what material they want to scratch, so you might try a variety. I recommend cardboard scratchers, because if your cat likes the act of destroying stuff, the cardboard ones are designed to be destructible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place your scratchers right by the place they like to scratch. Sometimes it's the location they like. They may be redirected onto something else if it's at their favorite spot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make the places they like to destroy inaccessible, or less attractive.  There are various options for making an area less attractive.  Like using citrus cat repelling spray, which theoretically smells bad. You can lay down double sided tape, which cats don't usually like walking on. I've also heard of people getting those plastic carpet protectors with the little spikes on one side and laying them upside down on the surface you're trying to get the cat to avoid. They don't like walking on the little spikes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:11:10.923" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:11:10.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16305" CreationDate="2017-11-20T22:34:27.013" Score="2" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give your hamster a few days to settle in. Hamsters can behave oddly on their first few days in a new place, it is new and scary for them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your cage is large enough for your hamster. They simply are not happy in small cages. It's area should be at least 360 inch&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (around 2300 cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) but more if possible. In a tiny cage, they will spend a lot of time simply trying to escape and pacing their cage in frustration. Also make sure it has a big enough wheel to run on because they have lots of energy&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds mostly like typical hamster behavior. It is probably exploring the cage and learning how everything works/how to get around in the tubes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T23:20:13.497" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T23:20:13.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18822" CreationDate="2017-11-21T01:15:44.690" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to translate an unfamiliar cat's vocalizations.  They tend to develop a &quot;meow-language&quot; with their human companions over time, but this can vary quite a bit between cats.  My wife used to have a cat that made a certain sound to say &quot;where is everybody?&quot; after waking up from a long nap, and our current cat makes the exact same sound to say &quot;enough with the petting, you're starting to annoy me now&quot;.  Obvious vocalizations (growling, etc) aside, it's hard to decipher a cat's vocalizations unless you've been around them for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to understand vocalizations, I've found much better results in learning to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pawsometalk.com/read-cats-tail-language/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;speak tail&lt;/a&gt;.  Tail language seems to be much more uniform across cats.  When I encounter an unfamiliar cat, I'll interpret any vocalizations as simply an attempt to get my attention and then focus on body language for the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10807" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T01:15:44.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-21T09:56:21.037" Score="13" ViewCount="6396" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 3 month old kitten. He's lovely but his biggest problem is peeing on our bed. He slept in the kids' room when we first got him, to keep him separate from our dog, but they're now getting along fine so he has the run of the house. He didn't pee on the kids' bed at all when he slept in with them and he never has, but he pees far too regularly on my and my partner's bed. He's been checked and he's fine, so it can't be a health related problem. He doesn't pee anywhere else and he's absolutely perfect with using the litter trays other than this one issue. He won't pee on the mattress, only on the duvet and pillows. Although it's probably important to point out at this point that we're currently decorating upstairs so we're also sleeping on a mattress - no bed frame. He also pees on it whether we're in it or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if it's to do with the bed not being elevated at all, the feel of the duvet, the fact that he can smell his earlier accidents on there (despite the constant washing) or what. So if anyone has any insight into the cause of all of this that would be ridiculously helpful! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I've been trying to discipline this behaviour by keeping my eye out for him squatting and moving him to the litterbox - which doesn't seem to be working and I can't catch him when I'm asleep or not there. My partner has a spray bottle that he uses and he's been spraying him whenever he tries to get on the bed - this also seems to have no effect. My partner is now wanting to use a small cage to punish him like we did when we had ferrets but I'm not convinced that this will help at all. So if anyone has any advice on how best to discipline this behaviour that would be great! Also if anyone can give me specific advice on the effects of 'putting him in a cage' then I would appreciate that too. Sorry this was a bit long, I tried to include as much info as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I'd like to add that I hate the cage idea because I don't want strangers on the internet thinking I'm a monster...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10813" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:27:16.747" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:27:16.747" Title="How best to discipline a kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-21T10:11:28.470" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punishing him by locking him in a cage is &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; the answer. In fact, punishment when it comes to litter-training issues in general is counterproductive, but locking the poor mite in a cage is just plain cruel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming there are no medical issues going on (and it doesn't sound like there are, as you say you've had him checked over) then you just need to double down on the litter training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure his tray is clean, has anti-odor, non-clumping litter in it and is not right next to the area where his food is. If your house/apartment allows, consider adding another tray somewhere else in the house to ensure ready access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lift him onto the tray every time he shows signs of needing to go (look not just for squatting but also for pawing at whatever surface he is on). And every time he uses the tray, either to urinate or defecate, heap praise on him, maybe even a treat or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a recent development and litter use in general isn't affected, then I'd be wondering whether there is something that is causing him to feel territorial.. you mention a dog, how do they get on? Also, if the dog sleeps on your bed at all, there might be a bit of scenting going on here either to communicate or to compete over territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T21:20:21.720" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T21:20:21.720" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18884" CreationDate="2017-11-21T12:25:36.023" Score="14" ViewCount="5370" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet rabbit sometimes gets angry when I walk past her. She then makes a growling sound and &quot;attacks&quot; me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had her spayed and thought that this would help, but the problem still persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason for this happening? Can it be treated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10814" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2017-11-21T14:02:07.517" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T17:13:42.790" Title="Why is my rabbit / bunny angry?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-21T13:15:31.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with the other provided answer, I'd urge you not to lock up your cat. In general, cats don't really learn much from being &quot;disciplined&quot;, rather they act out because there is something they're needing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is of good health, I'd strongly suggest adding another litter box to your home and seeing if this helps. The recommended amount of litter boxes for a home with cats is 1.5 per cat (rounding up to 2 for 1 cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-behavior-and-training/litter-box-101-how-many-litter-boxes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;See this link for official documentation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the litter box you have seems clean and accessible enough, there might be factors coming into play that dissuade the cat from using it at certain times throughout the day. Providing an alternate location could help if this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T13:15:31.490" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18882" CreationDate="2017-11-21T13:35:11.743" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have two traits that can cause this behavior, they are very territorial and they have a strong grooming hierarchy.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume your rabbit enjoys getting petted, If you sit on the floor she will probably come lay next to you and let you pet her for long periods.  She may also jump up on the couch or bed to spend time with you. She is the Princess and you are required to pet/groom her on demand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, she will likely have her head low and be in the &quot;you should pet me now position&quot; after &quot;attacking&quot; you. The fault here is yours, you have failed to recognize her superior position as the Princess and provide the grooming she demands. When passing her, you should always acknowledge her &quot;Princess&quot; status by bending down and giving her at least one pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbit is not a Princess, she may have tired of you invading Her space, she it telling you to &quot;Get Out&quot;.  Her head is probably high, ears forward (if she has stand up ears), she may box at you with her front feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference in behavior between &quot;Princess&quot; and &quot;Get Out&quot; may be subtle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Princess: will usually follow you farther and put her head down, and if you reach down to pet she will lie still and let you pet her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get Out: will usually leave you alone after you pass, and if you reach down to pet will nip at you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growling. Some rabbits do growl, it is more common in the smaller rabbits, lion heads are more likely to growl then other breeds (in my opinion). It is a communication trait, &lt;strong&gt;it does not correlate with dog growls&lt;/strong&gt;.  It can have many meanings. We have a growling rabbit, if it has specific meaning we have not translated it yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="1309" LastEditDate="2017-11-21T17:13:42.790" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T17:13:42.790" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-21T15:13:25.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's more efficient to encourage your kitten to use the litter box than punish it for missing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how young he is, he might have trouble getting to the litter box, or even climbing down from the bed. Ours had maybe one accident overnight because he was still too wobbly to make it down the bed. When I got up to use the restroom in the night, and the kitten was awake, I'd take him with me to drop in the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also be the type of litter too. Ours really loves soft sand type litter and actually had a lot of fun digging in it when he was younger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But maybe try to encourage it to use the bathroom after you feed it? For us, after we fed our kitten, we'd put it in the litter box, and if he crawled out, we'd put him back in and he'd finally settle down and use it, cover it up, and climb out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband was between jobs at the time, so he was able to keep a constant watch on the kitten, and look out for signs of pawing or scratching, and we'd always just put him in the litter box at least twice when we saw the signs. (he'd always try to climb out the first time, but if we plopped him back in, he'd start squatting and using it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure to keep a close eye on it and have family help keep an eye out too and help it to the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10818" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T15:13:25.690" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18839" CreationDate="2017-11-21T16:00:36.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you do get a cat, some of your requirements point to different age recommendations, so you should figure out what in your list is a higher priority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If low maintenance/cuddling is your top priority, I would highly recommend an older cat (at least 5 years) over a kitten or young adult. An older cat is going to be lower energy and require less attention (play and cat proofing) and are usually more likely to just want to hang out on the couch with you. An older cat is generally not going to be comfortable traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If being able to travel is your top priority, then you should get a kitten. If you accustom a kitten to frequent travel (and harness/leash training), then they'll be much more comfortable with it later in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I dated a guy who was legally blind and his favorite pet was guinea pigs (he had in the past had cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs). I'm not sure that his vision had any effect on that choice, but he didn't have any problem caring for his pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T16:00:36.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-21T17:09:09.777" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What they said, but I'd add that when you carry him to the litter box to show him where to go, carry him scruffed by the neck the way his mom would. This will let him know there's something he should be learning here. He won't get that if you carry him normally cradled in your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10821" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T17:09:09.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-21T18:22:48.633" Score="2" ViewCount="650" Body="&lt;p&gt;I talked to the vet while my puppy was being vaccinated for his 3rd round at 16 weeks. She told me to wait 1-2 weeks before allowing my puppy to walk around outside. Various internet searches turn up a great deal of ranges anywhere from 5-7 days to 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched around on scholar and couldn't find anything that gives a risk curve or clear guidance on the right range of days. The difference from 1 to 2 weeks for a 25 lb puppy is a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have more concrete (science backed) guidance? I was just going to split the time difference in half aka a week and a half since that's within the vet's range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10825" LastEditorUserId="10825" LastEditDate="2017-11-21T21:00:30.817" LastActivityDate="2017-11-21T21:00:30.817" Title="How long should you wait after 3rd Parvo vaccine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18891" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-21T20:55:26.640" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 year old dog was recently diagnosed with pancreatitis.  My vet has made it sound as though this usually happens for a few reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog ate something weird/abnormal and it caused temporary inflammation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For whatever reason, the dog is more vulnerable to pancreas inflammation and it will likely happen again if not kept on a proper diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my dog hasn't had any changes in diet or gotten into anything, I'm leaning towards the latter being our reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was instructed that the best treatment is a low-fat diet, and was sent home with prescription low-fat i/d food.  However, this food is expensive for someone on a low budget, and already providing additional medication to treat the dogs epilepsy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions for cost effective, low-fat food diets for dogs?  Specifically with tendencies of pancreatitis? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edits to address comments&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our regular food regimen prior to this was Blue Buffalo: Chicken and Brown Rice, which he has eaten for the majority of his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm able to buy a 30lbs bag of Blue Buffalo for about $50, and the Hills Prescription food is about $35 for an 8lbs bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastEditorUserId="10734" LastEditDate="2017-11-22T16:41:29.370" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T13:11:54.177" Title="Recommendations on low-fat foods for pancreatitis in dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-21T21:42:44.273" Score="5" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend's cat keeps attacking my German Shepherd puppy. The puppy is 6 months old and large (65-ish lbs). They lived together from age 2 months of the puppy to age 3 months of the puppy, and then from age 4.5 months of the puppy to present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If attacked the puppy will just walk away (yes I had trouble getting him to come to the bedroom because he keeps getting attacked....). Rarely he barks at the cat and then he gets reprimanded. I also reprimand the cat (&quot;spank&quot; her with something light like a piece of clothing) - which makes her fight back....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not so much concerned about the present, as I am about the future. A large (90-ish lbs) German Shepherd vs a cat is bad news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="7980" LastEditDate="2017-12-09T10:02:47.157" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:01:08.850" Title="Cat is attacking my German Shepherd puppy (65-ish lbs, 6 months). What to do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-21T22:36:28.970" Score="4" ViewCount="2800" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a leopard gecko about a week ago, and she had some stuck shed. I gave her a moist hide box to see if it would help, this morning I soaked her in water and the shed started to peel off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stuck shed on her toes came off pretty easy, but the tip of her tail was horrible, 5 layers of stuck shed came off! I noticed she had a red band around where the stuck shed was. It looked like an open cut so I cleaned it up and let her be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a few hours now and I noticed the whole tip of her tail looks dead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do I do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will it fall off on its own? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, will it grow back?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10834" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T01:25:36.647" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T11:23:51.327" Title="Tip of leopard gecko's tail fell off, what do I do?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-22T00:01:46.490" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't punish her it won't work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the cat litter is attractive for the cat to use (they can have their standards - eg clean litter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not an experienced cat owner get an experienced cat owner to check the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T00:01:46.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-22T00:19:21.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punishment is usually ineffective in general, but that goes double with cats. At best, it will do nothing but make both you and the cat miserable for a short time, and at worst it will destroy any trust the cat has in you. Even something that seems as relatively harmless as a squirt gun can damage a cat's trust, and it varies from cat to cat how long it will take to rebuild (if ever). Never confine a cat to a small area unless it's for the cat's own good, such as a carrier for travel safety or limiting its roaming area due to an injury or medical situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need negative reinforcement for training, it needs to seem like it doesn't come from you. Both from my own experience and expert opinions, while a squirt gun might be an immediate deterrent, it will simply train the cat not to do something &lt;em&gt;while you are watching&lt;/em&gt;. On the other hand, an automated deterrent like the PetSafe SSSCAT system (&lt;a href=&quot;http://smile.amazon.com/PetSafe-PDT00-13914-SSSCAT-Spray-Deterrent/dp/B000RIA95G&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://smile.amazon.com/PetSafe-PDT00-13914-SSSCAT-Spray-Deterrent/dp/B000RIA95G&lt;/a&gt;) actually trains them that the area is off-limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most training, positive reinforcement works best. Redirect undesirable behaviors and reward desirable behaviors. Treats are a fine reward, but gentle affection and raising the pitch of your voice in praise is generally sufficient for cats. You can also do clicker training, but that's overkill for most people. Using positive reinforcement only, I trained a group of 5 cats to sit before they were served dinner. They all had very different temperaments, and some were more difficult, but even the one that had a lot of nervous energy learned fairly quickly. The 3 that are still around from that group will still sit and wait patiently if we bring out treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, however, especially litter box usage issues, the easiest solution is to determine the underlying problem and address it, or at least remove the stimulus. The most common causes of going outside the box are health issues, litter box cleanliness or location issues, territory/I'm-the-boss disputes, and retaliatory behavior. I disagree with a lot of the &quot;rules of thumb,&quot; because all cats are different. Some cats need lots of litter boxes all over the house, yet I've seen 3 cats share 1 large litter box (as long as it was cleaned frequently, preferably automatically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your particular case, you seem to have addressed health, and he doesn't seem to be responding to something you're doing. You say he uses the box regularly, and if he defecates there exclusively, it's probably not a problem with his box. That means this is either territorial/marking or an issue of box location, or just an unspecified behavioral problem. Try putting another box in your room, but not too close to the bed, such as against a wall or in a corner. If you are unwilling to do that, or it doesn't solve the behavior, you will just have to keep him out of your room for now. After some time has passed -- at least a couple months, to start with -- you can give him another chance, especially if the room changes and/or you ensure there is no chance of the smell remaining. Once he's a bit older and you have him neutered, that may also end the behavior. There are some cats who will be problematic with litter box use throughout their lives (I have one now), but it's thankfully uncommon unless they have other issues such as health problems or are particularly vindictive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note, peroxide or &quot;oxygen bleach&quot; (e.g. OxiClean) can help remove pet odors completely. I've found it generally more effective than enzyme cleaners, easier to find, and much cheaper. It's also safe to use on most fabrics. Wash your bedclothes with a scoopful of OxiClean. Spray the spots on the mattress or pillows where he's urinated, then blot them dry with a white towel and allow to air dry completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10836" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T00:19:21.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-22T03:47:16.530" Score="4" ViewCount="20590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed today that my goldfish, Thunderbolt, has a tuft of white on its head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CEpMi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CEpMim.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BeCps.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BeCpsm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; Note: Same fish. coloration difference due to camera flash &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had the fish in a 10 gallon tank by itself for about 3 years, and I have not recently changed anything. The only minor change I can think of is adding an old algecide tablet to the water about 6 weeks ago, but this growth is much newer than that.The water is also slightly cooler now that winter temperatures have arrived (the tank is about 68&lt;sup&gt;o&lt;/sup&gt;F vs 78&lt;sup&gt;o&lt;/sup&gt;F a few months ago -- but this has been a gradual decline and not unusual for this time of year). I last did a 30% water change about 2.5 weeks ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what this might be and what I can do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to lose my fish :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially gave my goldfish a salt treatment (~1.5tbsp of aquarium salt / gallon), which caused the white tuft to rescind to being only a white spot (no fluffy outgrowths). I thought my fish was on the way to recovery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, about 2 weeks later (~1 month after initial symptoms), my fish's condition worsened. The fish lost almost all control of its air bladder (which I began treating with peas, which helped) and became very lethargic. On a few occasions I've found the fish resting motionless being partially sucked up by my filter. The white tuft had likewise started growing again...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started treating my tank with &lt;strong&gt;API Fungus Cure&lt;/strong&gt; (contains Victoria Green B + Acriflavine). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm on day 4 of treatment, but now my fish looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RBXWkm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RBXWkm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spot has grown lumpy and red/bloody...&#xA;(does this suggest a secondary bacterial infection perhaps?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what should I do??....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been 6 months, and my poor little goldfish has been a real trooper.&#xA;I treated the water on 2 additional occasions with the API Fungus Cure (which  totaled 3 complete treatments in ~3 months). The spot remained red and tufty for more than a month. However, after all treatments (and time), the spot is certainly no longer tufty or red and has not been for at least ~3 months now. Instead, it's just a white looking scab on his head. I ASSUME THIS IS GOOD?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HudVH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HudVHm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fqTGv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fqTGvm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, his behavior has never been the same :(.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, his air bladder control seems to be near non-existent now, and I find him stuck upside down about 80% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Though, actually it's better than it was 2-3 mo ago -- he would purposefully wedge himself between plants or rock to keep himself from floating to the top. Now he seems to have a bit better control. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;feeding him peas 1-3x per week momentarily helps him a bit, but not as much as it used to when this ordeal first started. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing to note: the tank randomly turned very cloudy and stayed that way for a month starting about 6 weeks ago. This was more than a month after my last fungus treatment. Water changes did nothing, but finally I came home one day and the water was clear again. The fish never seemed bothered by it. I assumed it was a bacterial bloom, but in a 10 year old tank seemed strange... (I'll have to ask a new question about this one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10841" LastEditorUserId="10841" LastEditDate="2018-05-02T16:05:39.667" LastActivityDate="2018-08-08T00:57:15.510" Title="What is this tufty white spot on my goldfish's head?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18517" CreationDate="2017-11-22T09:58:36.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To address your concern about the non-aquarium fertilizer, once the tank has cycled, do a 50% water change, wait a week, then do another 50% water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to bring the 'new' water up to the same temperature as you have in the tank or at least to room temperature as well as adding Prime before adding it to the tank. This will minimize any shock to your beneficial bacteria, your plants as well as any fish that you may have already begun to add.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2 large water changes will help remove most if not all of the fertilizer without compromising your tank.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10845" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T14:05:13.393" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:05:13.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18729" CreationDate="2017-11-22T10:38:51.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if it may just be an infection due to an injury from some infighting with fellow Neons, especially when you say he has no other white spots on his body and his appetite is as it should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say to continue with monitoring him in the QT and if you have a magnifying glass, get a closer look at his mouth to see if there has been any improvement. You can then also determine if you need to treat him again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10845" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T10:38:51.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18552" CreationDate="2017-11-22T10:48:03.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the size of your tank, if you provide plenty of cover, they'll be more inclined to avoid your barbs nipping their tails. There is definitely the possibility of them harrasing the Platy's due to them being from the livebearing 'family' so to speak. Again, with plenty of cover/hiding places, that behaviour can be reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10845" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T10:48:03.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-22T14:34:51.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest seeing if there's something that could stress out your kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents have a cat that used to pee in the same place in the house. It didn't help putting the litter box there, she would just pee next to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It turned out she was wearing a collar with a bell that stressed her out. We removed the bell and bought a diffuser with a scent that's supposed to help calm her down. For example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feliway.com/uk/Feliway-Range/Feliway-Classic-Diffuser&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.feliway.com/uk/Feliway-Range/Feliway-Classic-Diffuser&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also loved to go outside. When we let her into the garden more often and she became more relaxed, the peeing stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5714" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T14:34:51.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-22T15:18:31.080" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punishing cats does not work well in general. Probably, it will result in even more adverse behavior. Cats are selfish creatures which do not care about their &quot;owners&quot;, so your cat does not care whether you feel nice when sleeping in the messed up, smelly bed. My solution consists basically of two steps: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step one&lt;/strong&gt;: close the door to your bed-room. You may haven't thought about this, but if the cat cannot enter, it has to search for another place to do his business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step two&lt;/strong&gt;: It is generally easy to train animals/humans. In your case I would search for something your cat really likes. E.g. some special kind of food. This you will not give the cat anymore for no reason. Only feet it well if it does something correct. If it still manages to do something wrong, you simply feed it with something the cat does not like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reason&lt;/strong&gt;: In your case, you will induce that the cat will do his business not in your bed. Then you feed it with something good. The cat is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_intelligence#Brain_size&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;too dumb&lt;/a&gt; to understand why you give him food he does not like on a regular basis. So it will not treat you worse. Cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_intelligence#Learning_capacity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;reason&quot; vastly simpler &lt;/a&gt; than animals with higher brain to body weight ratio. However, with some luck it connects his action with a positive feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10848" LastEditorDisplayName="user10848" LastEditDate="2017-11-23T11:54:12.967" LastActivityDate="2017-11-23T11:54:12.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18893" CreationDate="2017-11-22T15:23:37.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What do I do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave it be, use a layer of paper towel as substrate to prevent dirt from getting into the area causing infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep her moist hide always fresh, dampen it daily. Tupperware container (hole cut in for an entrance) with soaked paper towel or peat moss works great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see her in process of shedding again increase the humidity in her terrarium until all shed is removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Will it fall off on its own?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple layers of retained shed causes the ring you described, this is because at the ends it tightens, restricting blood circulation. The lack of blood circulation turns the area black (dead tissue), in time it will fall off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;If so will it grow back?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yep! Though it won't look the same as it originally did and will not be the same length either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/7563/7526&quot;&gt;wonderful answer&lt;/a&gt; on tail drop, that case is the extreme version of your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-11-22T15:23:37.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18880" CreationDate="2017-11-22T16:05:30.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;8 out of 9 cats I've had innately &lt;strong&gt;wanted&lt;/strong&gt; to use a litter box. (The 9th cat didn't do it, but she had many, many issues, including epilepsy and what basically amounts to a mental handicap.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats instinctively want to hide their droppings (in order to hide themselves), and will generally do so in the best place that's available to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever one of these cats did not use the litter box, there was usually a good reason for it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I forgot to clean the litter box and it really needed a cleaning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat couldn't make it to the litter box in time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat did not like the litter we used (wood pellets and chalk grounds were apparently not acceptable for the respective cats we used it for).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost always, the cats didn't just urinate anywhere they pleased when they didn't use the litter box. They still picked specific spots, e.g. carpets, flower pots, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that your cat uses the duvet but not the mattress suggests that it's still &lt;strong&gt;choosing the best spot&lt;/strong&gt;. Your duvet is likely more absorbent than the mattress, or it carries a stronger smell (which hides &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; smell), both are good reasons for why a cat would think that it's a good place to urinate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's still choosing the best spot, that means that it either actively thinks that your litter box is not the best spot, or that it has never considered the litter box as a viable spot (this can happen if e.g. another cat is already using it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also I've been trying to discipline this behaviour by keeping my eye out for him squatting and moving him to the litterbox - which doesn't seem to be working and I can't catch him when I'm asleep or not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good approach, but your cat may not learn quickly (and you may respond too late for it to register that its urine is well absorbed by the litter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try it the opposite way: Pour some cat litter over a spot where they urinated. The idea is the same: you're showing the cat what happens when you combine urine and litter. They'll make the connection between the two eventually. This is more uncomfortable for your case because the cat uses your duvet, but I assume you wouldn't want to &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; a duvet sprinkled with fresh cat urine anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if your cat is a slow learner (as my 9th cat was), you'll need to do it slowly. Progress through the ranks as quickly/slowly as the cat is able to keep up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Preventively pour some litter on their favorite urination spot. See if they still use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they do, put the litter in a box, and put the box on that spot. See if they still use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradually move the litter box and the duvet away from each other, but keep them in sight. Make the cat choose between the duvet and the litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat chooses the litter box, great!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat does not choose the litter box, remove the duvet and see if it defaults to the litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's still not getting it, keep using the duvet as a litter mat and buy yourself a new duvet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gradually move the litter box to where you want it to reside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that none of the steps entail punishing the cat. It generally doesn't work, definitely not as easily as for dogs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Instead, what you should do is &lt;strong&gt;investigate&lt;/strong&gt;. Try figuring out how the cat decides on where to urinate (making it choose between the duvet and the litter quickly reveals the cat's reasoning). The best way to change a cat's behavior is to &lt;strong&gt;investigate, understand and apply&lt;/strong&gt; their reasoning, so that you can design the intended location (litter box) to be the best option &lt;strong&gt;in the cat's opinion&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As a somewhat silly (but apt) example, if your cat always urinates on green carpets and never on red carpets, and you have a red litter box; you'll be better off buying a green litter box instead of trying to get the cat to change its color preference.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My partner has a spray bottle that he uses and he's been spraying him whenever he tries to get on the bed - this also seems to have no effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's because it teaches him the wrong lesson. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use punitive measures like spraying, you're supposed to use them &lt;strong&gt;directly after the specific misbehavior&lt;/strong&gt; you want them to correct. The idea is simple: when the punishment seems to be an inevitable consequence of the misbehavior, and the cat does not want the punishment, that creates an incentive to not engage in the misbehavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the trigger for being punished is &lt;em&gt;getting on the bed&lt;/em&gt;, regardless of whether he intended to urinate or not. The lesson you're teaching him is that &lt;strong&gt;he's not allowed to be on the bed&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if that lesson sticks, then he's just going to go find another spot to do his business. Trying to teach your cat all the places he's not allowed to urinate is a Sisyphean task. You're better off trying to teach where ihe &lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; urinate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if both methods are equivalent, ask yourself whether this is really the life you envisage for your cat. Consider going to school, and you get to pick the school:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A school where wrong answers are punished, and right answers reward you with nothing (except a lack of punishment).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A school where wrong answers are not punished, but right answers are rewarded.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regardless of which is the more efficient teaching method, wouldn't you lead an overall happier life in the second school?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My partner is now wanting to use a small cage to punish him like we did when we had ferrets but I'm not convinced that this will help at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a good idea. Cats do not respond to the &lt;em&gt;intention&lt;/em&gt; of teaching like dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog does something, and you get upset with it, it instinctively connects the two events. It knows that the human's interaction often related to what the dog just did; and therefore the dog knows to listen to the feedback and learn from it. Dogs look at &lt;strong&gt;intended communication&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even when they have no idea what you're saying, they still infer that it's related to their actions. Because that's how their mind works. They are social animals, and therefore have experience with the concept of &lt;em&gt;feedback&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A simple example is when you discover &lt;strong&gt;after the fact&lt;/strong&gt; that your dog destroyed something. If you get upset (hours after it actually destroyed the object), the dog will still understand that your feedback relates to his actions, because the dog understands that you only just discovered evidence of his destruction, and you're clearly pointing at it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat does something, and you get upset with it, the cat registers that as two separate events. It does not consider the fact that your interaction is related to what it just did. Cats are not social animals. They have no experience with listening to feedback.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cats don't work that way. Cats look at &lt;strong&gt;cause and effect&lt;/strong&gt;. Getting upset at the cat does nothing, as the cat isn't even remotely interested in what you're trying to communicate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Compared to the dog example, you can't punish a cat after the fact. You need to do it &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt;, so that the cat eventually understands that its a direct effect of what happened directly before it (their misbehavior). If you respond too slowly, it's not going to understand that, and your (unkind) feedback will only reflect on the cat's opinion of you without actually teaching it anything about misbehavior.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats do what they want to do. They make their own decisions, and will continue to do so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats do not listen to what you say. They do what &lt;strong&gt;they think&lt;/strong&gt; is right.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to get a cat not to do something, offer it an alternative that the cat thinks is better. Your cat is currently considering the duvet a better spot than the litter box, so you need to change the litter box (e.g. use different litter) to make it a more desirable spot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats don't respond to punishment the same way as dogs do. If you do use punitive measures, make sure to only enact them as an immediate response to misbehavior. Don't punish them after the fact because they will not understand the reason for the punishment, and they will think you're being unkind for no apparent reason.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not punish a cat for something that &lt;em&gt;could lead to&lt;/em&gt; misbehavior (e.g. jumping on the bed). Only punish them for &lt;strong&gt;actual&lt;/strong&gt; misbehavior (urinating on the bed). If you didn't catch it in time, there's nothing more you can so, you missed your shot. Taking it out on the cat is only going to diminish the cat's opinion of you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-22T01:27:42.977" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T01:27:42.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18909" CreationDate="2017-11-22T16:07:52.027" Score="9" ViewCount="7694" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two pet cats, one DSH (domestic short hair) and one DLH (domestic long hair). As outdoor cats both get fleas often, but this recent spate is proving impossible to shift on the long haired one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I've attempted so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 Oct, used &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/cats/fleas-ticks-and-mites/spot-on-flea-treatments/broadline-for-cats-(larger-than-2-5kg)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Broadline&lt;/a&gt;, a vet-prescribed anti-flea treatment to both cats (this is usually enough)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;22 Oct, sprayed both cats and all carpets, bed sheets, curtains, sofas with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/bob-martin-all-in-one-flea-spray-300ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bob Martin all-in-one flea spray&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 Nov, re-applied Broadline and fumigated the entire flat with 3x &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/cat/cat-healthcare/cat-flea-treatment/flea-bomb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bob Martin flea bombs&lt;/a&gt;, bought brand new duvet and pillow cases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 Nov, re-sprayed both cats and the entire flat with the all-in-one flea spray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with all this, I'm also vacuuming the entire flat every day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing seems to shift the fleas living on the cat. I found dead fleas everywhere after fumigating, and they seemed to subside on the cat, but never fully went away, and it's getting quite worrying: she's constantly twitching her tail (they seem to be congregating around her genitalia) and is very restless (finding it hard to rest due to the un-comfort), and has scratched and bitten herself loads trying to clear them - her skin under her fur is all scabby and sore. She hates being brushed, but I'm trying the best I can to brush her as often as possible as best I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just purchased two &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HW1GBRG/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flea traps&lt;/a&gt; and another three flea bombs, and the cat is booked in at the vets on Friday to see what they say, but I was wondering if there was anything anyone here could recommend? I'm not sure if I'm paranoid, but I feel like every time I use de-flea treatments on her she goes a little bit &quot;crazy&quot;, with nervous ticks and skittish behaviour - could the treatments be poisoning her and making her ill? I'm not going over the recommended 4-weeks between Broadline treatments, but I am supplementing them with the spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's genuinely distressing and heartbreaking to see her suffer from these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am located in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10849" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T09:06:20.160" LastActivityDate="2020-06-27T13:08:22.063" Title="How to deal with persistent fleas on a DLH cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18907" CreationDate="2017-11-22T16:48:33.757" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some breeds of fleas are more resistant to some treatments than others. It may be a case of needing to switch to a different flea treatment, which is something the vet can advise you on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas on a long-haired cat are a PITA to get rid of, as I know from personal experience (thanks, ex-flatmate!!), partly because there is more fur for them to hide in and also because it's difficult to get the treatment properly on to the skin of long-hairs (especially if they have a double coat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor to consider is that the treatments will only kill off live fleas - the eggs won't be affected and can stay dormant for up to three months, so it will be at least that long before you can be sure that the infestation is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your cats being outdoor-kitties you'll also want to be keeping up monthly flea treatments on them anyway, as this can help prevent future infestations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One option for the long-hair would be to give them a bath using a suitable flea-shampoo (this may be in place of the normal flea treatment or with it - a vet will advise.) This has the advantages of giving full coverage, and many are designed to help soothe the skin as well, so you may be able to reduce the irritation (and the subsequent scratching/biting) and have a happier kitty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Johnsons-Vet-Flea-Cleaning-Shampoo/dp/B00HCMSVCI/ref=lp_471315031_1_5?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1511368278&amp;amp;sr=1-5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsathome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/pets/biogance-fleas-away-anti-parasite-cat-shampoo-with-geraniol-and-aloe-vera-250ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; might be the sort of thing you are looking for, or your vet may prescribe a medicated shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, depending on the cat, giving them a bath might be a task fit to be one of Hercules's labors, as if they decide to object vigorously then the cat, you, and basically anything in the vicinity are going to get soaked. Don't forget to trim kitty's claws &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; you try and bathe them - this will lessen the chances of you getting nastily scratched if they go into a panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there is no way to guarantee that bathing a cat will go smoothly, there is an excellent guide on wikihow &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Bathe-a-Cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that gives you the best chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given you're specifically looking to deal with fleas here, I would recommend running a good flea comb through the cat's coat both before and after the bathing process (make sure to wash the comb in between).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:33:07.707" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:33:07.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18907" CreationDate="2017-11-23T00:20:45.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like you're already off to a pretty good start with the topical Broadline treatment and with fumigating your house.  I'm not convinced the &quot;pesticide-free all-in-one flea spray&quot; you're using is really doing anything, though, but I haven't tried it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/18909&quot;&gt;As motosubatsu notes&lt;/a&gt;, washing your cat with a flea shampoo might help.  Since you say you'll be taking your cat to see a vet anyway, I'd recommend asking them to prescribe a suitable medicated shampoo instead of resorting to over-the-counter products of questionable effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that washing your cat within a few days after applying a topical anti-flea treatment like Frontline / Broadline is not recommended, since it may reduce the effectiveness of the treatment.  For example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/veterinary/002700/WC500163991.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPAR for Broadline&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No data on the effect of bathing/shampooing on the efficacy of the veterinary medicinal product in&#xA;  cats is available. However, brief contact of the animal with water on one or two occasions within the&#xA;  month following application is unlikely to significantly reduce its efficacy. As a precaution, it is not&#xA;  recommended to bathe animals within 2 days after topical treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that bathing cats (just like feeding them pills or making them do anything else they don't like) is a game of skill. Your vet may be able to show you the proper technique, so you don't have to learn it by trial and error.  Of course, the personality of the cat also matters: some cats are quite tolerant of being bathed, others will literally fight you tooth and claw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(What worked when I had to wash my own Siberian was setting him in the bathroom sink facing left and holding him there with my left hand's index finger and thumb gently but firmly around his neck while using my right hand to bathe him with warm water from the tap. Do make sure the water really is nice and warm; nobody likes a cold shower, cats least of all. And whatever you do, &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; make the mistake of taking your shirt off to keep it from getting wet. Trust me, a wet shirt is far preferable to having a scared and angry cat climb its way straight up the bare skin on your back. Ouch. At least I never tried &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; technique twice.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option to consider would be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Shave-a-Cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trimming your cat's hair&lt;/a&gt; (or, perhaps better, having a professional pet groomer do it).  Not all the way down to the skin, mind you, but just enough to make the remaining hair easier to clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you say that the treatments you've already applied are working for your short-haired cat, but not for the long-haired one, temporarily making the long-haired cat's hair shorter would seem like a reasonable approach to try.  Especially so if, as you say, your cat &quot;hates being brushed&quot;. &#xA; Long-haired cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/cat-grooming-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;really should have their hair regularly groomed&lt;/a&gt; to keep it clean and free of tangles, anyway.  If yours doesn't like that, whether it's due to irritation caused by the fleas or for other reasons, trimming their hair might be worth considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, of course, I'd suggest talking with your vet about all the treatment options you're considering first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your observation of &quot;nervous ticks and skittish behaviour&quot;, that could indeed be a side effect of the Broadline treatment, especially if the cat managed to lick off (and thus ingest) some of the product from its hair.  The Broadline EPAR linked above says, in section 4.5 (&quot;special precautions for use&quot;; &lt;em&gt;emphasis&lt;/em&gt; mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is important to apply the veterinary medicinal product to a skin area where the cat cannot&#xA;  lick it off: on the neck, in between shoulders. Avoid animals licking each other following&#xA;  treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oral ingestion of the veterinary medicinal product resulted in common to uncommon&#xA;  vomiting, hyper-salivation and/or in transient neurological signs such as &lt;em&gt;ataxia,&#xA;  disorientation, apathy and pupil dilation&lt;/em&gt; in safety studies. Muscle tremors have been reported&#xA;  in very rare cases based on post marketing safety experience. These signs usually resolve&#xA;  spontaneously within 24 hours. On very rare occasions, symptomatic treatment can be&#xA;  required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That certainly does seem to match the symptoms you've observed.  While the most important way to avoid these symptoms is to do your best to keep your cats from licking the Frontline / Broadline off their own or each other's fur, you could also ask your vet to try prescribing them some other anti-flea treatment that might be better tolerated.  Different drugs have different side effects, and just like people, some cats may simply be more sensitive to some drugs than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you can't find any other treatment that is both effective and free of side effects, you may have to just weigh the harm from the side effects against the harm from allowing the flea infestation to persist.  Nobody likes to see their pet suffer any kind of bad effects from medical treatment, but suffering from fleas or other parasites isn't pleasant, either.  Just like with medicine for people, it's not really a question of whether there are any side effects, but of whether the side effects are worse than the illness the drug is treating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also make sure that your cat isn't getting reinfected with fleas from around your home.  The flea bombs and traps are a good start, as is regularly vacuuming your house.  (Do remember to take out the vacuum bags regularly, too, to prevent them from acting as flea hatcheries.)  I'd also recommend regularly washing (not just spraying) any clothes and bedding that might harbor flea eggs and larvae.  Machine washing, &lt;a href=&quot;http://fleascience.com/question/will-fleas-and-larvae-survive-hotter-temperatures-from-a-dryer-how-long-would-the-dryer-need-to-run-at-the-hot-temp-for-them-to-die/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;especially if followed by tumble drying&lt;/a&gt;, should do a good job of killing any fleas and their eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://fleascience.com/the-best-way-to-get-rid-of-fleas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flea Science&lt;/a&gt; site I linked to above also recommends using an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_growth_regulator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;insect growth regulator&lt;/a&gt; spray or fumigation product, which should prevent any remaining flea eggs and larvae in your house from maturing into adult fleas, and thus provides long-term protection against the infestation re-emerging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyriproxyfen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pyriproxyfen&lt;/a&gt; based IGR products can also be used for outdoor flea control, if you suspect that your cats are picking up fleas from your yard.  Typically, you'd want to target the treatment to any shaded spots, e.g. under your porch, that your cats like to hide in.  Of course, if your cats roam widely, you may not be able to effectively treat all the spots where they may be picking up fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For long term flea control you may also want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fleabitesonhuman.com/fleas-humidity-surprisingly-easy-way-control-fleas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;installing a dehumidifier&lt;/a&gt; in your home.  Fleas need a warm and moist environment to grow and survive, and below 50% relative humidity their eggs and larvae will desiccate and die.  Unfortunately they like to hide in places, like inside carpets or bedding and under your cats' hair, where the local humidity is higher.  Still, if you can keep the ambient humidity in your home consistently well below 50%, that should at least reduce the number of places where flea eggs and larvae can survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="477" LastActivityDate="2017-11-23T00:20:45.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-23T07:29:56.607" Score="2" ViewCount="5583" Body="&lt;p&gt;6 months ago I rescued two red eared sliders that had been abandoned by their previous owner. A couple of weeks ago one of my new turtles started laying eggs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After doing some quick research I've set up an area for her to lay her eggs in, with about 8 inches of soil. She seems to prefer to lay her eggs in the water though where she quickly eats them before I can get them out. She's been doing this for a couple of weeks now and I'm wondering: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How many eggs will she lay?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long will it take her to lay them?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can or should I redirect her from laying in the water to laying in soil?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I tell when shes about to lay another egg?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10855" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-11T08:55:05.010" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T10:02:45.447" Title="Red eared slider laying eggs into the water" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-23T08:20:32.173" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 20 gallon tank vivarium which is not filled with water and is only 1/5 filled with substrate, rocks, etc. I keep my tank on my bookshelf next to my window and occasionally move it to my desk where the outside air can flow into the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I noticed that a line formed in the middle of the tank casing (the black part of the tank found on the top and bottom of the tank). I believe that this line formed because of my moving of the tank around and so the pressure when I move the tank builds up in the middle of the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will my tank crack and explode if I keep doing this? I watched some videos online and read some other posts saying that the silicone may weaken if you move your tank around too much. Is this true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10856" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T11:56:51.027" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T11:56:51.027" Title="Vivarium Tank Moving" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18913" CreationDate="2017-11-23T09:38:50.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you move a tank, and hold it only on the sides, there indeed will be a lot of pressure on the bottom and it could cause damage. Especially if the tank is pretty large (like yours seem to be) and not empty. &lt;br&gt; Normally you should try to make a tank as empty as possible when moving it. Remove any big rocks or ornaments, and remove as much water as possible (important when moving a fishtank). &lt;br&gt;&#xA;And then try to put some counter pressure by holding it with 1 hand on the bottom. &lt;br&gt; But that might not be easy to do with a larger tank (I can do this with my 30 litre fishtank, but I would not do it with anything bigger than that)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even better would be to slide the tank on a wooden plank, and then carry the plank in stead of the tank. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since you seem to move it rather regularly, and your tank is already damaged, I think it's indeed important that you start doing that now to avoid further damage. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would even advice that you even put it on a nice plank permanently. It will make moving it a lot easier. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just make sure the plank is thick enough, so it won't bend either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-11-23T09:38:50.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18015" CreationDate="2017-11-23T10:01:01.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first time this happened to my cat it was because of fleas, have you checked your cat very thoroughly for fleas or other pests? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recently her thinning fur is from over grooming and dandruff, the dandruff is apparently related to her diabetes.  If you are certain that its not fleas or anything like that ( or even if it is) I would get your cat to a vet, they will hopefully be able to determine what, if anything, is wrong. Meanwhile try to discourage them from grooming the area excessively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10855" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T12:18:18.953" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T12:18:18.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18919" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-23T18:36:34.627" Score="1" ViewCount="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kitten nails are growing while playing our skin is getting scratched . Should nails be clipped ? I have heard that due to clipping , the nails grow more sharper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2017-11-23T18:36:34.627" Title="Is nail clipping a kitten any good ?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-11-23T19:53:34.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18926" CreationDate="2017-11-24T03:13:36.383" Score="2" ViewCount="5580" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I adopted a female cat, a little over a year and two months old, as a companion for my male cat. The introduction was smooth and they got along very quickly. However, this new cat would always eat anything that smells or looks remotely similar to food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, we are feeding them separately behind doors now. When she comes out to the other side after feeding time, she sniffs where the other cat ate, and she would pick up pieces of carpet and eat them. I noticed this behaviour after about a week into the adoption, it's too late because she seems to have already developed the habit of pulling random pieces of carpet out, around the whole house, and eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put down a placemat on the dining table when I have my meals. The other day, after I ate and did the dishes, my cat jumped up the counter and chewed up the corner of the placemat (which is made of plastic), while I was at the shower. Maybe it still smells like food, maybe she knows I ate there and hoping there was still food on it, I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other problems including&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- chewed up phone charger cable&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- licking blankets&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- went up the kitchen counter and licked our drying dishes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- went up the the kitchen counter, stuffed her face down the drain to try getting food out of the garbage disposal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To combat some of the problems, we put aluminium foil/tapes around the kitchen counter, but gradually she realized it wasn't gonna hurt her, so she persisted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried distracting her when she started to sniff around/eat random things, but as soon as play time is over, and I turned around, she started scavenging again, no matter how tired she was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we adopted her from the humane society, they said that she was found as a stray, so some of the behaviours are understandable. However, we made sure to feed her enough. In fact, she has gained quite a bit of weight since she got her, so she is definitely not starving, so I'm not sure how to deal with this problem anymore. It seems she is constantly scavenging for food, and if anything remotely smells/looks like food, she'll try to eat it. Any advice would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10840" LastEditorUserId="10840" LastEditDate="2017-11-24T03:20:13.100" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T12:28:26.307" Title="How to stop my cat from scavenging, eating carpet, placemat, cord, etc" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1484" CreationDate="2017-11-24T03:53:19.147" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't done it in about eight years, but I'm pretty sure my cat will still head for the hills if I &lt;strong&gt;crinkle a plastic water bottle&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because that's the sound it makes right before they get doused with water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T03:53:19.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18892" CreationDate="2017-11-24T10:04:32.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You have to fight instead of your dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not only be concerned about future fights between this cat and your dog, but also about your dog's trust in you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are the alpha of your dog, it is your task to protect him from any fights and problems. If you do that, your dog will trust you if he has problems with other dogs. It will be easier for you to handle him if he gets in trouble or is afraid of somebody or something. If you don't protect him, he will start to fight on his own. So it is absolutely necessary that you fight with this cat instead of your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may not be easy because the cat may not accept you as somebody who makes the rules at the moment. You are new and it is her territory, so she may accept but not respect you. To change that, I have the following tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be very attentive! Protect your dog from any fight. If you see the cat seeking him, make some hissing noise towards her and chase her away. Try to intervene &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; the fight starts. If that was not possible and she started a fight, immediately intervene, take her and chase her away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you see your dog starting to be aggressive towards the cat, do exactly the same the other way round.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be friendly with the cat&lt;/strong&gt; in every moment she is not aggressive with your dog. Stroke her and play with her the same way you do with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it is possible that animals which don't like each other on first sight get close and become friends. But that is not always the case. It can be possible that your cat and your dog will accept each other when the humans are around but fight when they are on their own. Don't let them alone until you are sure that they really accept (or like) each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT :&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when you protect your puppy, you have to be as &lt;strong&gt;calm and non aggressive&lt;/strong&gt; as possible. The cat protects her territory. That is a normal behaviour. &lt;strong&gt;Don't shout, don't hit&lt;/strong&gt; her, just take her and let her go some meters away from the dog. She has to understand that she can do anything in her territory like before but that the dog is a taboo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the cat it is easier if your girlfriend helps you with this task. For your dog it is important, that you do it, too. Seems to be a team effort!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:01:08.850" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:01:08.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16383" CreationDate="2017-11-24T11:03:28.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had many cats, but our latest addition is the &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; cat I've known that likes to rest his head on something (for the same reason that humans like resting their head on a pillow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He sleeps like this almost always:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IjU9e.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IjU9e.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ESXuc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ESXuc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems a perfectly reasonable explanation for why your dog chooses to do so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's comfortable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's warm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It gives affection to a loved one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know if it's his way of cuddling, if he just prefers the heat, or if it's his way of showing dominance of me to his brother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not impossible that it's related to his brother. In such a case, it's not really a matter of dominance over the brother, but rather &lt;em&gt;claiming you for himself&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same cat I mentioned before, also has a habit of claiming the spot closest to me. If another cat makes a move towards me, or he sees me petting them, he habitually moves in and (non-violently) drives them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this behavior ties into why he likes to cuddle me so much. Both can be explained by the cat/puppy having a very strong bond with its owner, and emotionally &lt;strong&gt;needing&lt;/strong&gt; that bond. At least for my case, it's clear that the cat needs a lot of physical affection, and defaults to me over my girlfriend when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T11:03:28.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1484" CreationDate="2017-11-24T11:27:07.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to teach them is through &lt;strong&gt;consistent disincentivization&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;disincentivization&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule in our house is that the cats are allowed to be on the kitchen table, but not the kitchen counter (the two are adjacent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second they touch the kitchen counter, I push them off. However, I don't just push them towards the table, but rather to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Think of it this way: If the punishment for trying to steal money (and getting caught) would be to give back the stolen money and nothing more, then there's no drawback to stealing money and trying to get away with it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;However, if the punishment consists of undoing the crime (giving back the money) and an additional punishment (paying a hefty fine or going to jail), then there is a good reason to not try and steal money.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apply the same rule to the cats. If you commit a crime (walking on the kitchen counter), I will undo the crime (pushing them off) add an extra punishment (losing table privileges).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I generally only keep them from the table for 30 seconds. Cats don't register long term punishments, I can't be bothered to police the table, and the point is made clear: overreaching causes you to lose a lot more than you stood to gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Consistency&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true of the couch. They're allowed to be on the couch, but they're not allowed to be on the tables (which we use when eating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, my girlfriend would bar them from the couch whenever we were eating. But this ended up sending mixed messages; the cats were never sure if they were allowed on the couch or not (thus making them hesitant to come to us, even when asking them to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I changed the rules. They get to be on the couch, but the moment they touch the table, I push them off the couch. Even our youngest, who doesn't quite follow rules yet, very quickly identified that it's better to at least get to look at and sniff the food (at a distance), compared to sitting on the cold floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistency&lt;/strong&gt; is incredibly important, if you want your cat to learn something. If you only enforce a rule when you can be bothered to enforce it, then the cat will not realize that the punishment is the effect of the misbehavior (cause), but instead will infer that you're a loose cannon that punishes (otherwise acceptable behavior) erratically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mood swings&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is auxiliary to making the consistency more clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're able to immediately change from happy to strict, the &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; the cat jumps on the table, and you immediately return to a happy state when the cat is off the table; you make it very clear to the cat that their actions impact the mood of the room (especially if multiple humans do it at the same time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may not help for cats who aren't bonded to humans. However, you mention that your cat is &lt;em&gt;playful&lt;/em&gt;, which suggests that she interacts with you, and is therefore also aware of (and cares about) your behavior, since she wants you to interact (play) with her.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's exactly &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; they want that interaction with you, that making yourself unavailable for interaction (by being upset with them) is a negative consequence; it achieves the opposite of what the cat wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Painting an extreme example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever your cat physically touches the table, you scream your lungs out (not directed at the cat, just in general). Whenever your cat does not physically touch the table, you are quiet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Today, the cat wants to sleep. In silence. It is aware of you consistently screaming when it's on the table, and it cannot prevent that from happening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think the cat will decide to go sleep on the table?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I don't advocate screaming; but the point of the example is that &lt;strong&gt;an unwanted yet inevitable consequence to the cat's misbehavior&lt;/strong&gt; makes it very clear that the cat should avoid specific (mis)behavior if it wants to avoid the inevitable consequences of that behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that takes time, is teaching the cat that the cause and effect are connected. And they can only learn that through &lt;strong&gt;consistent experiences&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interestingly&lt;/strong&gt;,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Notice that in the screaming example, you are not even telling the cat that it shouldn't be on the table. You are merely attaching a consequence to being on the table, and you of course intentionally picked a consequence that the cat disliked (but the cat doesn't know that).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;The cat makes its own decision&lt;/strong&gt; to not be on the table, because it is aware of the consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Getting them off the table&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The point is, she feels it's a game: when I push her down, she starts getting up again on the other end of the table with her playful look, on alert. She will continue this again and again, a dozen of times or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're undoing her crime, but not adding an additional punishment on top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to learn something, the cat must experience a &lt;strong&gt;negative consequence&lt;/strong&gt; to their misbehavior. This doesn't need to be excessive, but it does need to at least &lt;strong&gt;inconvenience&lt;/strong&gt; the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she responds to you playfully, she's clearly not feeling inconvenienced or punished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to find what works for your cat. Some cats get the message when you put more force into it when pushing them (not angrily or violently, but firmly). Others respond to a loud &quot;No&quot;. Others need a bang (e.g. smacking your hand on the table).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suggest you do it &lt;strong&gt;slowly escalate&lt;/strong&gt;. First state their name. Then say no. Then push her off. If she resists, say no again (louder) and push a bit harder. If she keeps fighting you, pick her up and forcefully (but calmly) remove her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, the cat will learn your escalation pattern. And in order to avoid the escalation (e.g. if she hates being picked up), she will learn to comply faster and avoid the escalation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Our youngest is now at the point where disapprovingly stating his name gets him to reconsider. He even listens when he's doing something that he hasn't ever done before (and therefore has no experience being told off), which proves that he has learned the inevitable consequences of ignoring my verbal feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes I will just let her on the table because I see there's nothing on the table and I don't feel like fighting (usually when I'm at the other end of the room, and if I push her down she'll wait for me to sit down before getting again on the table, again and again…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an issue of consistency. Is the cat allowed on the table, or is it not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to make sure that the distinction between these two is easy to make. The cat can't distinguish between e.g. allowing it on the table when there's random papers on the table, but not allowing it on the table when there's an important paper on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are other ways to signal what is and isn't allowed. When I was a child, our cats were allowed on the table. During dinner time, we would cover the table, but only partially (large table, small family). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enforcing a &quot;no cats on the table when we're eating&quot; rule didn't work. They were allowed on the table when e.g. I was doing my homework there, and they couldn't distinguish dinner from homework in that sense.&#xA;So the rule changed. They were allowed on the table, &lt;strong&gt;but not on the table cover&lt;/strong&gt;. They were allowed to sit on the uncovered part, and would not get told off unless she touched the table cover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we were able to &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt; enforce this rule for many years, without ever making an exception, we had solved the problem. There were a rare few cases where we didn't want the cat on the table at other times. We put the cover on the table, and the cats never even tried to get on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T21:24:03.190" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T21:24:03.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18920" CreationDate="2017-11-24T12:28:26.307" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons for this to happen, and many ways to try and fix this. I'll try to list all that I can think of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. Medical reasons&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compulsive eating (especially of non-foods) can be an indication of medical issues. &lt;strong&gt;Consult a vet&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. The cat may be stashing up&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our latest addition was a rescue cat who lived on the street and was clearly malnourished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weeks after his intergration into the household, he would eat anything remotely edible, both to fill up while he can (on the street, he can't be sure when the next meal will be) and possibly to feel full (staving off feeling hungry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other problems including&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - chewed up phone charger cable&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - licking blankets&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - went up the kitchen counter and licked our drying dishes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - went up the the kitchen counter, stuffed her face down the drain to try getting food out of the garbage disposal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While our cat didn't do these specific things, if my girlfriend were to claim that he did these things, I would believe her without hesitation. His behavior is pretty consistent with your description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At our vet's suggestion, we made food &lt;strong&gt;amply&lt;/strong&gt; available. Literally more food than he coud possibly eat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It was okay for him (since he needed to recover from the malnourishment), but the vet OK'd it knowing that it'd increase the meal size for our other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consistently overfeeding is not okay, but a temporary boost can solve more problems than it causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The newcomer could catch up on missed meals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The other cats would be happier because they get more food, which makes them more willing to socialize with him due to not fighting over the availability of food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More importantly, the newcomer would not eat food substitutes, if he has real food available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, his standards for food increased, and he now only eats actual cat food (and tries to eat our food, but at least no more non-foods).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3. Chewing exercises&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a bit of a weird one, but one of our cats has a habit of grinding her teeth. I've never seen a cat do that before, but according to the vet it's very common; except that it usually manifests as the cat biting other things, rather than grinding their teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had also noticed that both cats ate cardboard. On closer inspection, they never &lt;em&gt;swallowed&lt;/em&gt; the cardboard. They ripped a piece off, chewed on it, and spat it out. It was their chew toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We decided to allow the cardboard chewing. I've also bought them hard treats (specifically for dental hygiene), and I've noticed that they chew less cardboard when they have the hard treats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;4. Prevention&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, and you can't deal with the destroyed items, it's time to cat-proof the items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lemon juice, or any type of strong citrus, is not something cats like. You can also use e.g. wet wipes with lemon scent, it doesn't need to be natural.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats respond similarly negatively to vinegar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From experience, the smell of coffee works too. Although it intially draws their attention, I've never seen such a strong avoidance after they get a good whiff of it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also train them to avoid specific misbehavior, but this takes time, and you'll likely not want to buy a new charger cable constantly while they're learning. Training cats is possible, but it's a slow process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T12:28:26.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2017-11-24T13:56:29.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;For Canada&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every province is different&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;New Brunswick&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elderdog.ca/About/WhoWeAre.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ElderDog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Newfoundland&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heavenlycreatures.ca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Heavenly Creatures&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nova Scotia&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elderdog.ca/About/WhoWeAre.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ElderDog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;P.E.I&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elderdog.ca/About/WhoWeAre.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ElderDog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Quebec&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elderdog.ca/About/WhoWeAre.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ElderDog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ontario&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.farleyfoundation.org/who-we-help/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Farley Foundation&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elderdog.ca/About/WhoWeAre.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ElderDog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Manitoba&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Saskatchewan&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alberta&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;British Colombia&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nunavut&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Northwest Territories&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Yukon&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Currently asking colleagues and friends in different provinces for more sources - will update as I get more information.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-11-24T22:40:42.377" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T22:40:42.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-24T15:34:54.587" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always rescue my dogs and recently (1 year ago) rescued one for my parents.  I've spent the last 12 months training her.  My dad is interested in knowing what breed she is, but I am skeptical on the DNA testing?  How accurate is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/features/dog-dna-testing#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site says it's accurate, but only for determining the majority breed.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sutter says such dog DNA tests can typically identify the majority breeds in a canine with great accuracy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://dogbreedidentifier.com/dog-breed-testing-accuracy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site says they are &lt;strong&gt;fairly accurate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dog DNA tests tend to be fairly accurate, although the quality of accuracy can vary depending on the tools used to asses dog genealogy and the sophistication of the laboratory used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make the test more accurate?  If my dad's dog has several breeds mixed in her (likely) how well can we identify those?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7976" LastActivityDate="2017-11-24T15:34:54.587" Title="How accurate is dog DNA testing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19001" CreationDate="2017-11-24T16:29:45.337" Score="4" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are horses broken in when they are grown up? Wouldn't it be easier to do it when they are little?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10866" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2017-11-30T11:33:15.793" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T13:38:12.937" Title="Why are horses broken in when they are grown up?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21727" CreationDate="2017-11-24T22:36:49.447" Score="10" ViewCount="3525" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since vet stated that it might be better for them to prevent dehydration I bought a cat fountain for my girls (Catit Flower Fontain). However they seem obsessed with deconstructing it into basic parts (remove lid by tooth etc.) which, well, makes it no longer work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to weight the lid down by putting a few stones on it (that I cleaned beforehand) but now they are managing to tilt the lid anyway to stop it from working. I thought about duct tape but I don't know if it won't be toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-27T16:24:33.200" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T02:20:46.443" Title="How to prevent my cat from deconstructing cat fountain?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-24T23:06:59.743" Score="3" ViewCount="1294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about getting some Cory catfish, a couple of Kuhli Loaches, a small shoal of Harlequin Rasboras and a betta fish but I cannot find the answers to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to feed my community tank?&lt;/strong&gt; I have bottom feeders too and I only want one food to give them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much food should I give them?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often should I feed them?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-11-28T14:53:21.120" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T08:57:56.403" Title="How and what to feed my Betta community tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18982" CreationDate="2017-11-24T23:18:39.417" Score="6" ViewCount="8264" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is just over one year old; she's an ex-feral who we trapped at about nine weeks. Since then she's been 95% indoor cat with no direct contact with other cats, but occasionally she slips out of the back door and sits in the back yard for a little while before coming back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She likes to cuddle, but just in the last few weeks, I find myself coming up with itchy red bumps a couple of hours after cuddling her. They look and feel similar to mosquito bites, and they only appear in the areas where we've been in contact. I don't have any history of allergies, and I haven't had any allergic-type reaction when she's scratched me. My best guess is that she has some sort of parasite that's biting. Obviously I would like to deal with this, for her sake and for mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took her to the vet, who checked her over and swabbed her ears for mites but found nothing. (We do have birds roosting in the roof and I've seen a few mites inside near there.) My wife tried combing her with a flea comb over white paper, but nothing showed up. She is in very good health; I see her scratching occasionally but not for an extended period. She has long hair and it's in excellent condition. If it weren't for the bites I'd have no reason to suspect any kind of parasites. Some possibilities I've considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat fleas: she had a few when we caught her but she was treated at the time. It's possible that she picked up a few on one of her trips into the garden, and it would explain the bites. But neither the vet nor my wife found any fleas on her. (OTOH she does have long hair, so it might be possible for a flea to hide?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mites: the ones I've seen around the house are tiny, so they might evade a flea comb, but I'm not aware of them causing bites like this on humans. Also not sure if bird mites would live on a cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat lice: a few weeks back I did see a small white arthropod that looked a bit like a cat louse on her head, but didn't manage to catch it. I haven't seen any since, and it was large enough that I'd expect it to show up in combing, so maybe it was just a random passing bug. Also, I don't think cat lice bite humans?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I've missed, that would live on a cat for several weeks and bite humans without being easily noticeable by a vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: we're in Australia, it's late spring here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: a couple of years later, I still haven't figured out exactly what's causing these occasional reactions, but I've had them occasionally on holiday while away from my cat, so it looks as if she's innocent. Sorry for the confusion!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10868" LastEditorUserId="10868" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T03:22:36.003" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:26.790" Title="Something on my cat is biting me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2017-11-25T05:59:42.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do mention you have some birds nest in or around the house and this makes it likely that your cat might have got bird fleas. Bird fleas do search for a&#xA;host in the spring. They are attracted to the body heat of your cat, but they are not able to live on your cat so they try to find a new host. This is where you come in. They bite you to eat, so you get those red tiny spots but they are not able to live on you, so after some time they die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mites do live on waste like dead skin cells. Some eat blood, but they don't make&#xA;those red spots you have got, but they can give you a rash that itches. Bird mites eat blood, but they are not able to survive on any type of mammals. (You gave me some itch, we had bird mites in our hen house. They were hanging in the ceiling and dropped down on our heads when they felt our body heat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat lice are not able to live on humans or dogs, I don't know if cat lice can infest other types of animals than cats, but I don't think they can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat have got lice or fleas go to the vet and get a remedy like Frontline or a similar type of remedy. It works on both types, lice and fleas.&#xA;If it is bird fleas no treatment is needed for your cat, but you might want&#xA;some type of lotion if it itches where you have been bitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself gets these red spots every spring and I know for sure it is from bird fleas from my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T05:51:08.210" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T05:51:08.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2017-11-25T12:12:31.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be that you are allergic but not to the long point. This means your body is able to deal with the allergy fast or that the allergy you've got isn't serious. This explains why you get itchy skin around the area the cat touched, but if it comes to a deeper point (a scratch,) your body either deals with it quickly or recognizes that it's not a thing to worry about and so doesn't make an allergic reaction. I am the same, and sometimes an allergy appears, sometimes not. In my case it can be that my body got used to my cat. In your case it's a little different but better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to help my answer I'd need to ask a couple of things...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You say you have no history with allergies, so have you had a cat before?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No allergic reaction? Are you sure? Does the area around the wound (once scratched) swell or become itchy or red? Because this seams very likely to be an allergy, so help me out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:26.790" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:26.790" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18933" CreationDate="2017-11-25T13:50:15.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're going to have trouble finding a single food you can just drop in and everyone will have the opportunity to eat. This is not because all of the fish won't eat the same food but because of their &lt;strong&gt;feeding habits&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, Loaches and Catfish wish to feed towards the bottom of the aquarium and Betta and Harlequin will wish to feed at the top. This means that unless you have a food that can sit in the middle of the water (or a tablet stuck to the side of the tank) either option you pick won't be ideal for one group of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not to say that if you feed flakes the bottom feeders won't get anything but it is a consideration. Bottom feeders will often be much more timid in their feeding habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What can you do?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish will thrive on a varied diet and the ability to feed them a wide range of foods means that you won't have problems when you run out of a specific type of food because the fish won't be that normalised to one food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a mixture of top feeders, middle feeders and bottom feeders in a tropical community tank and I feed the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Bottom Feeders:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae wafers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cucumber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sinking Shrimp Pellets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tropical sticking tabs (rarely)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bloodworm (Very occasionally)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Middle / Top Feeders&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Various flake foods (Alage based / standard trop flake)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blanched leaves (lettuce/spinach/cucumber)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brine Shrimp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diced Scallops (occasionally)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Why are you telling me this? I asked for &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; food to feed all!&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, your fish will grow much better and be much healthier if you provide a variety of different foods. If you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; wanted to have minimum foods (which I wouldn't advise) I would at least get two separate foods - one for the regular fish and another for the catfish and loaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the issue is cost (which is understandable as a lot of fish food can be pricey) I would advise you to check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVW1-m8Aic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; which details how to make a homemade food. You'll probably want to puree the end product and think about quantity because your fish will have smaller mouths and stomachs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Quantity&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you've heard this before but it's definitely worth repeating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's better to underfeed your fish than overfeed them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is due to a number of factors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water quality - If you overfeed and there is food lying around in your tank, the food will break down and you could face spikes in ammonia which will actively harm your fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fish health - Generally a fish will eat all it can because it doesn't know when the next meal is coming. A fish that is overweight is much more susceptible to health complications such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/dropsy-in-aquarium-fish-1381806&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bloat&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/articles/how-to-solve-a-problem-like-swimbladder-disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;swim bladder&lt;/a&gt; etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Natural environment - If you try and mimic the real world, fish won't regularly find food in the same quantities every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hungry fish is a healthy fish. Most fish will be able to go a week or more without any food. A fish should always be excited to eat food in the tank. If they are apathetic (and there are no underlying health issues) you'll probably want to feed less than you currently are. If they are extremely anxious to eat, you can feed a little more. I will give a tank of about 20 fish (of various sizes) a smallish pinch of flakes and something for the bottom feeders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I regularly have a day where I feed nothing at all to mimic real world conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T14:54:29.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-24T21:31:19.867" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a test out there like &quot;23 and me&quot; except for pets? Is there even anything out there like this? I would pay top-dollar to have this done. I'd like to see if my cat has any Cheeta in her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Hunter Graham" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2017-11-25T15:16:45.673" LastActivityDate="2017-11-26T19:05:33.363" Title="Is there a genealogy test for pets?" Tags="&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18939" CreationDate="2017-11-24T22:33:50.540" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of them. Here are 3 in no particular order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catdnatest.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;catdnatest.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/cat/ancestry/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.basepaws.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Basepaws&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're looking at $100 and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tests have been around a while. Here's an article from Wired magazine in 2012: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wired.com/2012/07/cat-ancestry-test/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;New Genetic Test Reveals Your Cat's Ancestry&lt;/a&gt; and this blog post by Cherise Udell from 2013: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.care2.com/greenliving/learn-your-cats-ancestry.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Learn your Cat's Ancestry&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also many companies that check pet DNA for specific diseases, with PKD being the most important one for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other pets and animals that can be tested as well, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://embarkvet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Embark&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://dnamydog.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DNA My Dog&lt;/a&gt; for dogs, but also companies that do horses especially for horseracing pedigrees, cattle, swine, goats, llamas, etc. for animal breeding purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never used any of them, so caveat emptor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10871" OwnerDisplayName="lkessler" LastEditorUserId="10871" LastEditDate="2017-11-26T19:05:33.363" LastActivityDate="2017-11-26T19:05:33.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-25T19:39:33.687" Score="6" ViewCount="2577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a hedgehog milling about during the day. It is November, the temperature has recently gone below freezing at night, and the hedgehog looked pretty small, say the size of a large potato. These factors all add up to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hedgehog-rescue.org.uk/leavealone.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pretty bad news&lt;/a&gt; for a hedgehog, so I've decided to try and capture this little one and take it to a rescue centre, as it is pretty likely it won't survive on its own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To encourage it to come back, I bought some cat food, which I left in a sheltered place near where I saw the 'hog, and in under an hour the food has disappeared. However there are at least half a dozen cats living in close proximity to my property so it's more than likely one of them has had it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I've had an idea: Give the hedgehog something that is nutritious for it, but that cats can't or won't eat. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/about-hedgehogs/diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some sources&lt;/a&gt; suggest that they will eat eggs, so I was wondering - will a hedgehog recognise a hen's egg as food and be able to break into it? I would imagine it extremely unlikely that a cat would eat raw egg if it came across it, and even if it would, is unlikely to know how to break an egg without being taught. So I surmise that this is a neat way of ensuring that the food I provide for this little hedgehog is only likely to be eaten by the hedgehog - assuming they know what to do with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-27T15:08:41.400" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T12:59:04.950" Title="Will hedgehogs break and eat hen's eggs?" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18959" CreationDate="2017-11-25T20:32:47.163" Score="3" ViewCount="1554" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat gave delivery a week ago, and on the first day til now she lets us (6 people ages 6 to 20) touch her kittens and even carry them if we wish. Of course no one touched the kittens on the first three days even though she allowed it. We have a great relationship with her, and she is a family member.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird thing is that she's usually rude, I'd like to say, (best word to describe) and she swats or yells angrily if someone annoys her a lot. She is also nice at times, but to tell you the truth, most of the household thought that she'd become even more strict and defensive after she recieved a litter(except me, I expected her to be nice. She's usually nicer to me, I'm special ). But the point is, shouldn't she become very defensive and want everyone away? My sister literally touched them on the first day (mistakenly) and the cat only licked her finger. It happened like this, sister put her hand in the box which have the kittens expecting that Joury the cat is alone(didn't know that delivery was here), she wanted to pet her and surprisingly my sister feels a weird thing (afterwards discovers that it's the belly tube) she feels the cat had licked her, hears a kitten cry, and takes her hand out to have a look. When she looks she discovers babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to experiment with my cat's reaction if I patted her after giving a litter. I somewhat expected her to hit, but she was so nice and loving. On the same day afterwards the cat did a trick. She stood up on two feet to get food or treats and played afterwards as if nothing had happened. She gave birth very intelligently and had done the job alone. She cares for the babies very good. They are very clean and so is she. But she does not give a damn if we touch them. She's acting as if the babies are everyone's. We understand cat signs, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't care. In fact I can grab a kitten right now even if it's sleeping or nursing and she'd be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's nice and she trusts us, but shouldn't she be more defensive? Is she immature? It's her first litter. We have neighbors spending a couple weeks with us, and she hisses at their kids if the kids corner her. So this kindness she gives isn't for everyone. If we pat her feet or hip a couple of times to annoy her she hits, if we give extra love she hits, if we carry kittens, she's okay. Why is that? Is this a problem I should consider? They are 1 week old now, they look healthy, but can it be we are causing something bad to happen in the long run? Also can their be behaviour problems stay with them when they grow if carried a lot at such an early age? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: The cat tries to have them back now once they cry. Relief. But I'd still love an answer explaining about the kittens' side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:53:44.390" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:54:16.630" Title="What can go wrong if people carry 1 week old kittens a lot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18943" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-25T23:05:32.603" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately I have dogpoo on my lawn daily . I was using a mix of vinegar+water  and cayenne pepper but this does not help. Anyone know of a effective dog repellent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10873" LastActivityDate="2017-11-25T23:05:32.603" Title="What is the best dog repellent?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-11-26T11:21:53.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-26T01:31:44.407" Score="6" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;His name is Lance. He’s a 15 pound Cheweenie and he loves to play and also dig holes in the backyard. We have no grass. What can we do to stop him from digging? I would greatly appreciate any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10875" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T02:40:35.543" LastActivityDate="2018-08-05T05:01:20.047" Title="Remedy for dog digging in yard" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9514" CreationDate="2017-11-26T03:29:18.953" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s 100% normal my dog has it too. It’s just like when a human has a mole it normal just check and look up close because they could or could not be a tick right next it them and the round figure with hair growing out could also be a part of tissue with extra skin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10876" LastActivityDate="2017-11-26T03:29:18.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-26T13:13:16.487" Score="4" ViewCount="20094" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as the question says my cat has hair coming out of her butt. Human hair. Our mistake. There is poop hanging on the hair. The cat has kittens it should go back to, and I am keeping her in the bathroom until something happens. Some said I should leave the cat remove it but I don't see this happening. This is getting sick, it's making me nervous even more than the poor cat. Maybe not. It's sick. Please help. The kittens arn't crying but the mom wants to go to them. What should I do? I can't let her wipe the poop in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:21:45.037" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T14:10:09.220" Title="How to remove poop from a cat if it's stuck on some hair that's stuck in her butt?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18946" CreationDate="2017-11-26T14:49:50.707" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't overthink it. Bring scissors and cut the hair, the poo would fall down and you will be done. Don't worry about hair itself though, because it should come out once the cat uses the litterbox the next time. Also keep your house clean and make sure to always use a vacuum cleaner. Lesson learned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:18:41.757" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:18:41.757" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18941" CreationDate="2017-11-26T18:03:49.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eggs are a good source of nutrients for hedgehogs, but it is not a common part of their diet so I don't think they will recognise it as food unless the shell is broken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a small hedgehog will probably have trouble opening an egg, larger hedgehogs might be able to open it if they see it as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your idea is good if hedgehogs see it as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my opinion about it and i might be wrong, if it works please give some feedback; it can help others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T12:59:04.950" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T12:59:04.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-26T19:06:13.857" Score="4" ViewCount="1056" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mom cat has 3 kittens which LOOK healthy. Two big ones and one a little smaller in size. They are 1 week old. The mom is licking the smallest kitten's fingers and toes and it seems she's biting them. I even heard a crack when she bit the fingers or nails. The mom bit the kitten's hand, and when she did not feel satisfied she flipped the kitten in the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's like she's not trying to hurt the kitten, it's in the licking process. The kitten is also rising in the air when mom licks her tail. It wasn't like this before. It's as if the mom is licking strongly this time. However, the kitten didn't cry when this was happening, nor when the mom bit her hand. I can see blood on the kitten's fingertips and toes but not leaking. Still I'm worried for the kitten. And the other larger kittens' hands are fine. This is only happening to Avalanche. What can be the cause of this? I don't think the mom is trying to hurt the kitten because if she wanted to she would've bit her tummy or any other part in her. It's the cat's first litter. Help me out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:30:58.483" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:30:58.483" Title="Why is momma cat chewing kitten's fingers until it bleeds?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18980" CreationDate="2017-11-26T19:44:57.693" Score="1" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;this is my first question on SE, I hope I am doing it right. &#xA;My girlfriend and I have two adult cats, a 6 years old male and a 3 y.o. female, both neutered. We brought the lady home when she was just a few month old. The older cat didn't take it very well at the time, but after a while he accepted her and they have been getting along well ever since, save the odd random skirmish. Until today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were watching a video featuring two cats hissing at each other, at the end of which something funny was supposed to happen. We'll never know what it would be because, all of the sudden, our cats turned on each other with a violence we hadn't seen since we first brought home the youngest. We struggled to put off the fight, luckily before anyone got seriously injured, but the tension hasn't died out yet. We have tried to bring them together twice and both time they tried to jump at each other's throat. We are keeping them separate now, but the situation is rather distressing for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experienced something similar? Should we wait until things settle themselves or is there something we should do to bring back peace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to anyone answering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10880" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T11:11:29.900" Title="Seriously violent fights between cats that have coexisted peacefully for years" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-26T20:46:30.407" Score="1" ViewCount="482" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand separation anxiety but my Havenese only pees on the floor when I am gone.  the area can be filled with other people but if I go missing or she can hear me in another room (even with others in her area) she pees on the floor.    I am getting exhausted that its only me and I can't ever leave her even with others.   With me she is 100% potty trained and night time crate trained.  I tried putting her in crate each time I leave area but she won't go into crate during day she throws up out of anger or anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10881" LastActivityDate="2017-11-26T20:46:30.407" Title="Dog peeing only when I leave" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18952" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18961" CreationDate="2017-11-26T23:35:24.980" Score="2" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't have a high intelligence. But cats can easily differentiate between a moving car and a large animal such as cow or buffalo. It is clearly seen that cats get afraid of cows or take defensive stand on seeing a cow. But they don't care about moving vehicles. As if they know that vehicles are non living objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, given the limited intellectual capability of cats, how is it possible for them to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2019-12-26T22:50:30.877" Title="How cats differentiate between cars and animals? They are not afraid of cars but are afraid of large animals" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18962" CreationDate="2017-11-27T01:10:16.817" Score="3" ViewCount="456" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I got my first cat about 2 weeks ago! Her name is Thelma, and she is a domestic short hair who is really shy. When I first got her, I gave her the bathroom as her safe space, as my small studio doesn’t have a lot of areas for her too hide, and after a few days she finally got around to eating and drinking. She now hides on top of the fridge all day, specifically hiding under the cabinet. She finally opened up enough just two days ago to let me pet her, and she purrs a storm, but she will take my finger and lightly bite it. She will also follow my hand as I pull it back from her spot, but only if at least half of her body is hidden. Finally, when I pet her, she stretches out her paws and paws at the air, because when I pet her she usually falls to her side or on her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So back to the question, she decided to step out from the cabinet to groom herself after a long session of petting, but when I went up to use the restroom she ran back into hiding. She does this all the time, if I move around her she runs to hide. Is this normal behavior, especially after she wants to be played with? This is my first cat and I’m the type to read too much into everything, which is why I’m asking this haha. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10884" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-30T21:21:34.110" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T21:21:34.110" Title="My cat hides when I move" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18952" CreationDate="2017-11-27T02:29:57.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple answer: From experience. You think they are too stupid to think, and that's why you can't see this in them. They realize that cars usually move one way. You'd see kittens still afraid of cars due to lack of experience, yet some may learn through their mothers that cars aren't a real threat. Besides, cats have much better hearing than us, and when they meet a new living creature they'd hear its breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't ever underestimate a creature just because it's smaller in size. Even a bird knows a predator once it sees it. Also, anything you can train a dog can also be taught to a cat, whether they do it or not. They may know the request but don't have a reason to do it, and so you'd think they're stupid. Besides, any living creature knows when it sees another. Take for example babies. They'd get very excited if they see a cat or a dog, or even cheetahs in the zoo. It's just something you can't not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-26T22:50:30.877" LastActivityDate="2019-12-26T22:50:30.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18964" CreationDate="2017-11-27T05:50:14.867" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday my mom told me my dog Strawberry died. I had her from when she was very young, about 2 months old. From then until now, it's already a few years. I cannot accept the fact. Crying, I cannot stop. Today I stayed in the office with no mind to work, I miss her. Can anyone give me advice on coping with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10885" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-09T10:05:15.140" LastActivityDate="2017-12-09T10:05:15.140" Title="How can I stop missing my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18960" CreationDate="2017-11-27T06:01:34.753" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats sleep often. But how many hours of average sleep per day is healthy for a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat sleeps less than that required, then what are the side effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if a cat sleeps more than that required, what are the side effects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is sleeping pattern of feral cats the same as indoor house cats? Is there any different form of sleeping pattern in indoor house cats due to absence of natural events of a forest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T12:44:10.577" Title="How many hours should a cat sleep to be healthy? What are the effects of less and more sleep? Is it same for feral cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-27T12:17:39.553" Score="1" ViewCount="3931" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 month old kitten and she likes to chew/play eith my tv cables and wifi cables. Eveytime she does i say NO! or go snd move her but she just keeps doing it.  Im at my wits end with it. The only room im the house i dont have wires in is my bathroom so for now i have to put her in there when i go out and when i go to bed because i know she will chew through them all when im out or sleeping, i put her food water litter tray and scratcher in the bathroom with her and her bed so she has everything she needs but How do i get her to stop doing it especially when im out or in bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10886" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T17:51:03.303" Title="how do i get my kitten to stop chewing my wires?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-12-06T11:53:25.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18942" CreationDate="2017-11-27T12:43:11.470" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you have a cat that trusts you, and that is good. And your cat knows the difference between people, so you have that covert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start handling tiny kittens, do wash your hands before and after. Make sure your hands are dry and clean to make sure you don't introduce potentially harmful things to them. As they are growing, so is their immune system. At first they get protection form their mother's milk. Later it's their own system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, about the kittens. They need their mother for everything, even warmth. And they are fragile. Til their eyes are open, don't pick them up if you don't need to. But you can pet them. Might help the kittens learn your smell and touch. They will sometimes hiss at you, but this normal and will go away after a few petting sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time Line:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At about day 14 (eyes opening), you can start to pick them up. Begin with a few minutes. Take care they don't drop. Their eyesight is bad at first, and they have no clue about heights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At about 4 weeks old they are exploring by themselves. Their mother will keep an eye on them at this time. You can pick them up for longer times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By 6 weeks your little balls of fur will be very playful. You can handle them almost like a normal cat. Just a little one. They might even fall asleep on your lap!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tldr: if you are careful with kittens, nothing much. Just don't let everyone do it. By week 6 kittens can handle a lot more, then it is time to play!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:54:16.630" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:54:16.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="18960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18956" CreationDate="2017-11-27T12:44:10.577" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats average about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_sleep_so_much&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;15 hours a day&lt;/a&gt; sleeping, sometimes as much as 20! This is because they are  crepuscular creatures which means they are primarily active at dawn and at dusk as this is the best time for them to be hunting their prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of sleeping less than they need and side effects - well since cats are so good at short naps and dozing it's rare for them to have sustained periods of lacking sleep - if something has  kept them awake more than they would like they can quickly and easily &quot;catch up&quot;. When experiencing prolonged sleep deprivation the health of the cat is affected negatively (like all animals basically) and there's evidence of psychological effects as well. There's an interesting paper on these effects &lt;a href=&quot;https://sommeil.univ-lyon1.fr/articles/jouvet/picps_65/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really sure on sleeping &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt; as this would usually be a symptom of an underlying issue (either medical or mental) so it would be hard to say what this would do in isolation other than the obvious things like weight gain and loss of muscle strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is sleeping pattern of feral cats the same as indoor house cats? Is there any different form of sleeping pattern in indoor house cats due to absence of natural events of a forest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor cats are likely to sleep slightly more than a predominantly outdoor cat due to the abundance of safe and comfy places to sleep and the easy availability of food. They still sleep in broadly similar patterns though - even an indoor cat that has never even &lt;em&gt;seen&lt;/em&gt; a predator still does much of their sleeping in a &quot;dozing&quot; state that allows for quick responses to things around them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T12:44:10.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18952" CreationDate="2017-11-27T14:14:31.800" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How cats differentiate between cars and animals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you differentiate between them? I'm not talking about &lt;em&gt;knowing&lt;/em&gt; that cars exist, but rather &lt;em&gt;visually distinguishing&lt;/em&gt; whether a specific object is alive or inanimate. Can you explain to me your thought process, inbetween seeing something move out of the corner of your eye and knowing whether it's sentient or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't even answer this about myself. You just sort of &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt;. It's hard to explain. I suspect that you can't give an accurate explanation of how your mind distinguishes between the two either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The existence of phenomena such as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;uncanny valley&lt;/a&gt; indirectly support the notion that we do not know precisely how the human mind (and by extension the animal mind) works. &lt;strong&gt;We cannot logically explain the phenomenon, even though we can consistently observe it occurring&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Similarly, cats are consistently able to differentiate between cars and large animals; even if we can't explain exacly how (or why) they are able to do so. All we can conclude is &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; they are able to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats don't have a high intelligence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is in the premise, your assumption is incorrect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are incredibly intelligent. Forgoing a subjective &quot;cats vs dogs&quot; argument, cats are objectively more independent than dogs. I think both cat and dog lovers can agree on that fact at least.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats use critical thinking to support their independence. Cats will only eat food that &lt;strong&gt;they think&lt;/strong&gt; should be eaten. They won't eat something just because you tell them to.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dogs have the same critical thinking skill, but they are more likely to defer to their owner's judgment. Dogs &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; eat something because their owner tells them to (not guaranteed, they will refuse some things, but are more lenient than their feline counterparts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, wouldn't you say that dogs have more issues with differentiating between a car and a large animal?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They are generally known to bark at cars, which is futile since a car cannot hear. Even though they've never seen a car respond to their barking, they keep doing it. The only reason they stop doing it is because they &lt;em&gt;defer&lt;/em&gt; to their owner (who commanded them to not bark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is clearly seen that cats get afraid of cows or take defensive stand on seeing a cow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea where you're getting this from. I've seen &lt;em&gt;plenty&lt;/em&gt; of cats who were comfortable with large animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also interesting to note how cats were domesticated. The domestication of dogs was a willing process. Dogs wanted to be around us (for food reasons), which made it very easy to train them (for assistance/security).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compared to dogs, cats have &lt;strong&gt;domesticated themselves&lt;/strong&gt;. They have no desire to live with humans, but they can be &lt;strong&gt;convinced&lt;/strong&gt; to do so if it benefits them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Initially, feral cats preyed on mice and rats. These were abundantly found in e.g. stables, which means that cats started living &lt;em&gt;near&lt;/em&gt; (but not with) humans. When rats were identified as carriers of the plague, humans wanted cats to also prey on the rats in their (the humans') houses. Therefore, humans started making their homes hospitable to cats, and cats &lt;em&gt;independently&lt;/em&gt; agreed to this proposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats did not start off wanting to live with humans. Humans needed to actively make the environment (their home) desirable to cats, so that a cat would be happy to live there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that cats always rely on their own judgement, is a &lt;strong&gt;clear marker for intelligence&lt;/strong&gt;. Not only is the cat smart enough to make judgments, it's also smart enough to trust its own judgment over that of anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's a more interesting consideration here: &lt;strong&gt;Cats used to live (or at least hunt) in stables&lt;/strong&gt;. If your assumption were correct, that cats are undeniably afraid of large animals, then cats would not have lived/hunted in stables to begin with. Keep in mind that they chose to live/hunt there &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; they were domesticated, so they willingly chose to go live/hunt there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But they don't care about moving vehicles. As if they know that vehicles are non living objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your &quot;as if&quot; is unwarranted. You argue that cats &lt;strong&gt;behave differently&lt;/strong&gt; between inanimate and animate objects. Then it's not &quot;as if&quot; cats are able to differentiate between the two, they &lt;strong&gt;actually are&lt;/strong&gt; able to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;As if&quot; seems like a further suggestion that cats only &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt; intelligent, but in reality aren't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, given the limited intellectual capability of cats, how is it possible for them to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, the same incorrect premise defeats the question. Cats do not have a limited intellectual capability; at least when compared to any other similar domesticated animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also quite astonished by your method of reasoning, which goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;know&lt;/strong&gt; that cats are not intelligent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But cats are able to do this intelligent thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How are cats able to do this intelligent thing, since they're not intelligent?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last step is unwarranted. You're working under the idea that &lt;strong&gt;your assumption is more correct than your observation&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you should use your observation to &lt;em&gt;challenge&lt;/em&gt; your assumption:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since cats can do this intelligent thing, their intelligence must be high enough for them to be able to do this thing. I must have been mistaken by thinking cats are not intelligent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-11-27T14:51:02.927" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T14:51:02.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18953" CreationDate="2017-11-27T14:48:07.123" Score="6" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I don't think there's a problem here, just normal cat behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tangentially&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About half a year ago, we adopted two sister cats. They were born as feral cats, living in a prison building. Because the guards would remove cats when they encountered them (this happened to siblings of theirs, who they never saw again), the cats were incentivized to be quiet and shy away from all human contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, there is a lot of overlap with your cat's behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She now hides on top of the fridge all day, specifically hiding under the cabinet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ours hid in cardboard boxes, but I think their intention is the same: seeking a &lt;strong&gt;safe&lt;/strong&gt; spot that's &lt;strong&gt;out of sight&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She finally opened up enough just two days ago to let me pet her, and she purrs a storm, but she will take my finger and lightly bite it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the cats does the same thing. She lightly bites my finger/arm whenever I pet her and she &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; likes it. I have also noticed that she bites her sister when they are giving each other love.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So the message is clear: soft bites are a sign of affection to that cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, her sister shows affection through licking instead of biting. She licks her sister, but also resorts to licking us (my hand, my back, even my armpit...) when she's very happy with us. This can occur during petting, but also after we've giving them food or treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But both cats are adamant about their way of giving affection. The licker never bites, and the biter never licks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She will also follow my hand as I pull it back from her spot, but only if at least half of her body is hidden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially in the beginning, we were only allowed to pet their &quot;first half&quot;. Touching their second half would cause them to leave (initially, they were fearful; after a while, they looked uncomfortable but not afraid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That has changed by now, we can pet them on their entire back. However, they're still not a fan of belly rubs, and they will generally nudge my hand back to stroking the back of their neck instead of having me stroke their back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Finally, when I pet her, she stretches out her paws and paws at the air, because when I pet her she usually falls to her side or on her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where I need to differentiate between the sisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them was the &quot;extravert&quot; (compared to her sister). She would be the first to try something new, while her sister observed at a distance. She was the first to come to us for petting, and many other milestones.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This cat, although she asks for petting more, has a habit of keeping a blank stare. She positions herself ideally for pets (e.g. in front of my feet), and will purr, but she &lt;em&gt;looks like&lt;/em&gt; she doesn't care at all. She never shows enjoyment of the petting, it's only obvious by seeing her not walking away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one, although much more apprehensive initially, is unable to hide her excitement. Whenever she knows that she's going to get something she likes (pets, treats, toys), she makes a happy &quot;prrrrp&quot; sound and arches her shoulders, up to a point where her front paws leave the ground.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She is literally incapable of suppressing that reflex, which makes it doubly as cute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A direct answer to your question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So back to the question, she decided to step out from the cabinet to groom herself after a long session of petting, but when I went up to use the restroom she ran back into hiding. She does this all the time, if I move around her she runs to hide. Is this normal behavior, especially after she wants to be played with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two options here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initially&lt;/strong&gt;, our cats would immediately &lt;em&gt;freeze&lt;/em&gt; when we moved. This ties back into them wanting to avoid human attention (from the prison guards). Whenever one of us moved, they would stop and stare (and hide, if they weren't frozen by fear). And they would remain still for minutes afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They eventually got over that. We took some steps to improve it, but it's also possible that the problem fixed itself over time, regardless of our steps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is hiding out of &lt;strong&gt;fear&lt;/strong&gt;, you can try the same steps to make her feel at ease more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always start off with a small movement before resorting to bigger movement. E.g. before standing up, drag your feet across the ground for a second or two. It alerts the cat that movement is happening, without immediately making a big move that startles them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid eye contact. I've learned that when you look at a cat, it generally thinks that your current actions are directed towards the cat. If I make eye contact with my cat (just to say hi) when I pass her in the hallway, she will move out of the way, as if I'm coming for her. When I do the same without making eye contact, she doesn't move out of the way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secondly&lt;/strong&gt;, running and hiding may be part of playing. When our cats play together, they tend to &quot;play pounce&quot; on each other. They'll run out of sight; sneak up on their sister, and then quickly run towards them and fake pounce (landing &lt;em&gt;next to&lt;/em&gt; them instead of on top of them). This is the preferred method of playing between the sisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have a third cat, who prefers wrestling more. He doesn't stalk or pounce, he simply attacks with a flurry of paws. The sisters still try to run out of sight and sneak up on him, but he has a habit of chasing them, therefore making it impossible for them to actually sneak up on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T14:48:07.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18966" CreationDate="2017-11-27T15:09:31.197" Score="2" ViewCount="589" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our tank of 120 liters we have a starting colony of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_shrimp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Red Cherry Shrimp&lt;/a&gt;, 4 adults and a growing number of smaller ones. They all live in a big pile of (curly) java moss. There are quite a bit of other plants and some wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As tank mates they have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caridina_multidentata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Japonica Amano Shrimp&lt;/a&gt; (adults)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 Pleco's&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 Panda Corydoras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8 Cardinal Tetra's&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unknown number of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clea_helena&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Assassin snails&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking about swapping the Cardinal Tetra's for an other species, one that can preferably breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is are good tank mate for this setup?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2017-11-27T15:27:21.873" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:35:14.753" Title="Red Cherry Shrimp tank mates" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18955" CreationDate="2017-11-27T15:20:54.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost I'm very sorry for your loss, I can't even begin to imagine the wreck I would be if I were to lose one of my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question there's no magic bullet for the grief of losing a pet - just like there is none for the grief of losing a human loved one. There's no schedule or time limit on these things and different people cope with grief in different ways. What I can say though is that time is a great healer and while it's very raw right now you will feel better as time passes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T15:20:54.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18958" CreationDate="2017-11-27T15:25:24.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as your kitten needs a scratcher and toys, she (now and then) needs something to sink her teeth into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part One:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative, my favourite (and my cats): a cardboard box. Like the one you get from amazon. Cut 2 holes into it, so your little bundle of bounce can get in and out, somewhat easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, cats (and other animals) don't have same texture detection in their limbs as we humans do. So, the next best thing is your mouth. So there is a good opportunity for your kitten to just taste this cardboard thing of yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part Two:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlearn. That is a hard thing for cats. Once something is allowed, they will think they can do it always. Unless reinforced to to otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you say no, (and might need to use a water spray), take your kitten away from the thing she is biting, and put her teeth into the thing you want her to use. Yes, gently push her teeth into the cardboard you want her to use, &lt;strong&gt;gently!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part Three:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disable / displease: so your kitten has the habit of knawing on cables. Let's make those cables taste badly. A decent pet store will carry some spray that will help with this. Read instructions carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is not available, search for: 'plants cats don't like'. Or, as you can find here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/animals/cat-repellent.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Make Cat Repellent at Home&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are many products on the market to repel cats and help to keep cats out of the yard. For instance, citronella is great to use, as it’s not only safe but also works at repelling other animals too. However, you can make cat repellent at home as well. Home remedies include citrus peels, cayenne, Chile powder, rubbing raw onions on an area, and vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But use your own judgement, I don't like to use cayenne or hot peppers for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T15:25:24.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18963" CreationDate="2017-11-27T16:51:14.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a very similar setup as you have:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;180 litre tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;11 Panda corries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;17 Cardinal Tetras&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 big platy &amp;amp; some little ones (2 Platy Hawii, 2 'mixed')&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cherry shrimp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose the platy's because they have similar requirements as the other fish (e.g. regarding temperature), also because they're easy to breed, and they will basically swim in all layers of the tank (top, middle, bottom). &lt;br&gt; &#xA;Other fish I have considered are guppies, but decided not to take them because they breed too fast. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even with the platy's, I think eventually I will have to sell some, but so far I don't think my tank is overstocked. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another fish you can consider is a betta. If you want them to breed you should get a male and 2 or 3 females.&#xA;Before the platys, I also had one. But after it died (from old age), I decided not to get one again, because I've got a bit too much current in my tank.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One thing you have to keep in mind is that &lt;strong&gt;fish eat shrimp&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br&gt; If you only have 4 adults now, it's possible that they won't be able to keep the population stable or get it growing, and that you won't have any left in 6 months. &lt;br&gt; But it does sound like they have quit some hiding places, so it might work. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;I started with 10-15 shrimp about a year ago, and the population seems stable/growing (I definitely have more than 15 now). But I also have a lot of hiding places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T16:51:14.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-27T17:10:02.703" Score="3" ViewCount="1105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experimented with sustainable food sources for my shrimp aquarium which I usually don't feed since the population grows slowly with the natural algue supply, so I put in some potato peels which apparently contained a lot of oil on them which now floats on the surface for some days. How can I remove it without a special device like a skimmer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-28T14:23:55.050" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T14:23:55.050" Title="How to remove oil from the aquarium water surface?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18968" CreationDate="2017-11-27T17:14:50.630" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cleaning the surface with a vacuum turned out to be extremely annoying since the tube needs to be hold in the right position in order to avoid too much suction of air which requires to restart the vacuum every few seconds with few oil removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Laying paper of the surface turned out to be a good idea because it sucks in the oil before the water below. Remove the paper fast and let it drip off outside the aquarium in order to avoid as much oil getting back as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should work for any surface (protein, bacteria, etc.) films.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T17:14:50.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18968" CreationDate="2017-11-27T17:17:16.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a (clean) bottle and push it straight down, with the opening facing upwards, so that the opening is barely under water. &lt;br&gt; It will slowly fill the bottle with only water from the surface, including the oil. &lt;br&gt; It's important that you don't push it too deep. There's no need to move the bottle around, just keep it in one place, and everything will be sucked into it. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another idea is to use a paper towel and dip it in the oil. but again you have to do it gently so it doesn't take too much water instead of the oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T17:17:16.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-27T17:40:43.630" Score="5" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 35 pound 5 month old careering around at 30 mph can be very dangerous. I have been knocked over a couple of times, thankfully no damage to him or me. He seems not to make any effort to avoid me or my wife, who has become scared of going out when he is near bye.&#xA;Any ideas how to stop this ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10892" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-28T14:17:35.930" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T19:39:50.467" Title="How do I train puppy to avoid running into people?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18958" CreationDate="2017-11-27T17:51:03.303" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never had any success distracting my current Little Madam and Boycat from cables she wants to chew, or teaching them not to do it. Instead, I've covered everything accessible with &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000EH2I5O&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Critter Cord&lt;/a&gt; (other alternatives are available) -- I will not risk them electrocuting themselves by chewing through a power cord.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protector:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protects the cord from teeth -- flexible, but hard to chew through (even for Boycat who is a rough tough lad with very strong jaws).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smells of citrus, which deters many cats from trying to chew it. (Some people find the smell overpowering, so try just a little to begin with).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach has the benefit of working whether you're present or not, and letting you allow the cat safe access to a wider area of the house. Yuu do need to be careful to protect the end of cables as well including plugs -- tuck them away out of reach or (if they'll fit) use a cable management sleeve to cover the ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T17:51:03.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18973" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-27T18:34:52.847" Score="2" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog starts drinking water continously when he sees anybody dancing, even though he may have just drank enough water. No matter how much water he drank before , if he sees anyone dancing he runs to drink water again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am just curious to know what is causing this behaviour. Is something i need to worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10893" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T19:43:50.590" Title="Why does my dog starts drinking water when he sees people dancing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18973" CreationDate="2017-11-27T19:43:50.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that your dog is drinking water as a nervous response to not being able to comprehend why the humans are moving around like that (they don't normally move like that)! Dogs with anxiety lick obsessively, tear things up, or develop other nervous 'ticks' (such as drinking water while under anxiety).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for other signs that your dog could be uncomfortable, and verify that this behavior is only triggered by certain circumstances (like the dancing). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's possible your dog is repeating this behavior more frequently (but maybe it was only first noticed during the dancing), consider a vet checkup, as it's possible there could be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-diseases-conditions-a-z/my-dog-drinking-a-lot-water-polydipsia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more serious problem&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T19:43:50.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18949" CreationDate="2017-11-27T22:53:33.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can have mental illnesses as well as occasionally just being poor mothers. The licking you describe seems too rough but does not seem to be too serious. I am concerned about the mother biting the kittens paws and drawing blood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you inspect the kitten’s paws and they appear healthy, clean, with no abnormal growths or tumors, then there is reason to be concerned about the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue to observe them and see if the mother continues to bite the kitten or neglects it. also ensure the mother is feeding the kitten enough. Kittens should show steady weight gain and should be a little chubby including having a little fat belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to assess the mother’s fitness to raise kittens. This is a difficult judgment call. Watch the mother closely. If you think the mother is injuring the kitten and is a real threat to the kitten the kitten should be removed from the mothers care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult decision because cats take care of their kittens much better than people can easily do. If the kittens are very young then you would really have to do a lot of research on how to raise the kittens yourself. It is not easy nor simple.&#xA;Unless the mother is a very clear threat, the kittens are better off with their mother. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently i would recommend continuing to observe the mother and letting us know here if you see anything else that concerns you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-11-27T22:53:33.123" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2017-11-28T00:06:04.063" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about cat fleas which are actually a specific species of flea. They do not bite people. I am not very familiar with Australian arachnids and insects but I have read that you have biting mites like the American chigger. The bumps you describe sounds like chigger bites. Chiggers will burrow into a variety of mammals, although I don’t know if they specifically bite cats. Your cat may be bringing in some chiggers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest solution is to keep your cat inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T00:06:04.063" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-28T02:23:28.147" Score="2" ViewCount="1540" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months ago I had a male betta (separate tanks) pass away. I had him since I was 9, I'm currently 20. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So eight months ago I adopted my fifth betta. A veiltale female. Violet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom and grandma BOTH gave me bettas for my birthday (a few weeks ago). I considered doing a female sorority. All are the same breed, the two newbies got along but violet, instantly flared and would corner them. I pulled her out and didn't try again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both in 5 gallon tanks. I just got three mollys. I put her in and it was fine until one got too close. Now all she does is flare. It's been less than 3 hours. Is it okay to put her in the tank with the mollys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had her floating with them before to adjust. Both are in a new 10 gal tank. She is currently separate by a breeder, she still flares at that one molly. What do I do? Should I separate them and put her in my extra ten gal? Or try at one of my other younger bettas? I feel abusive leaving her in the breeder. Please help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10898" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-11-28T14:19:17.733" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T17:42:27.350" Title="Is my betta aggressive? Can she share a tank with other bettas or mollys?" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18950" CreationDate="2017-11-28T11:11:29.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were watching a video featuring two cats hissing at each other, at the end of which something funny was supposed to happen. We'll never know what it would be because, all of the sudden, our cats turned on each other with a violence we hadn't seen since we first brought home the youngest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine if you're in a room with someone else. You're not looking at each other. Suddenly, you hear someone say &quot;You're an asshole&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since you know that there's only one other person in the room, and you're not aware that sound recordings exist (cats aren't), you immediately assume that the other person called you an asshole. You'll likely respond by calling the other person a name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true of your cats. They likely heard the hissing, and assumed that the &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; cat (the only other creature capable of hissing in the house) was hissing at them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can quickly snowball. Cat A &lt;em&gt;thinks&lt;/em&gt; that cat B hissed at it; so cat A gives an unfriendly reponse (likely hisses back). Now, cat B sees cat A hissing at it, so it &lt;em&gt;knows&lt;/em&gt; that cat A is being unfriendly. And thus, a fight was started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it's a negative spiral. Thinking that the other cat is unfriendly towards you, causes you to act unfriendly towards it. The same happens for the other cat. In the end, they keep being unfriendly towards each other and perpetuate the issue, not understanding that neither of them started it (the video started it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why your cats are &lt;em&gt;currently&lt;/em&gt; fighting, there are two possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A. They are still responding to the misunderstanding.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the negative spiral I was talking about. This should die down eventually, but you'll need to negate the spiral (the negative feedback loop) before it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Annoyingly, you can't overdo it either. If you separate the cats (thus avoiding the negative feedback loop), they will learn to live without each other. If they are then reintroduced, it's likely that they never will have seen any redeeming qualities in each other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In essence, while trying to avoid the conflict, you've put them is a situation where they &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; experience conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal solution would be to &lt;strong&gt;separate them, but make sure they see each other&lt;/strong&gt;. For the sake of example, let's say you can build two glass cages in your house. I know it's not that easy, but I don't know your house or your resources to tell you what you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do. If you have e.g. a glass door, that's a possible solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This achieves the best of both worlds. The cats can't get to each other, so there's no point in trying to behave aggressively. They might do so in the beginning, but once they see the futility of their effort, they'll calm down and resume normality.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At the same time, the &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; cat sees them acting normal instead of aggressive. This plants the seed that the other cat isn't just an unprovoked aggressor. Seeing the other cat being calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can drive the point home even more by making them &lt;strong&gt;contextual allies&lt;/strong&gt;. Feed them at the same time, close to each other (with the glass inbetween). It may take a few tries, but the cats should eventually register that they're both trying to eat. They are proverbially &lt;strong&gt;breaking bread&lt;/strong&gt;, which causes them to bond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to positively influence the bonding is to give them a &lt;strong&gt;common enemy&lt;/strong&gt;. I achieved something similar with a laser pointer. Two of our cats both loved playing with the laser pointer, but were selfish about it. They also experienced daily social friction due to different characters/energy levels/playfulness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The laser pointer solved many of those problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It distracted the cats from each other, they were too focused on the laser pointer. This caused them to be near each other without focusing on their &quot;disagreement&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The older one would usually hate playing with the younger one because he was too energetic. However, she was experienced at chasing a laser pointer, which made her more playful than normal, thus bridging the gap between their differences in character.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The younger one was much too energetic for the older one to handle (hence why she didn't play with him). But by letting him chase the laser, he tired himself out; thus making him more approachable. This again bridged the gap between their differences in character.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After tiring both of them out, they naturally evolved a system of &lt;strong&gt;taking turns&lt;/strong&gt;. One chases, the other rests. And if both wanted to play at the same time, they cooperated (trying to corner the laser pointer).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older one was &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; better at tracking and swatting the laser pointer, and after some time, the younger one actually started learning her tricks. The two are now able to play together without needing my presence (the younger one controls his energy, the older one is more comfortable with playing around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize a few tips to ease the conflict:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you're the center of attention, so the cats aren't thinking about each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let them break bread. Give them equal treats, food, affection, ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try and swap their smells around (by petting both of them with the same hand, or swapping their toys/blankets once in a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to find ways to get them to cooperate, e.g. a laser pointer. The core idea is that they need to see the other cat as an equal party that wants the same thing (just like with the food).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If one of them is being unnecessarily aggressive, protect the other one. Make it clear that you're ignoring the aggressor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't be afraid to get physical. If one of them is actively causing problems, push them away from where they are. Make them feel like you're opposed to their current plan. Obviously, don't actually hurt or scare your cat, the intention is to give negative feedback about negative behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to lessen the chance of conflict. If you feed them together (without separation), make sure there is &lt;strong&gt;ample&lt;/strong&gt; food so they don't feel like they have to fight ove the food. Make sure there are enough toys, and enough sleeping spots, so that they don't compete. &lt;strong&gt;Competition breeds rivalry&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;B. The current conflict is based on actual fact.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: the initial conflict was based on a misunderstanding. The cats ended up in a (one-time) fight. However, &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; that fight, one of the cats may have ended up going overboard with the aggression. And now, the other cat sees them as &lt;em&gt;dangerous&lt;/em&gt;, and refuses to let them come near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That aggression is not a misunderstanding. It was clearly visible, and the other cat was the intended target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is much harder to clear up, because the &lt;strong&gt;realness&lt;/strong&gt; of it means that the other cat is likely to remember it for longer. Depending on how much of a grudge your cat can hold, this may always be a scar on their personal relationship with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The approach is the same as for option A. It's just going to take longer, and require more &lt;strong&gt;explicit proof&lt;/strong&gt; that the cats are not each other's enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T11:11:29.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2017-11-28T14:09:34.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats had &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyletiella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cheyletiella mites&lt;/a&gt;, but they also chewed bald spots into their fur from it. During the infestation, my husband and I also got occasional itchy spots, but the mites can't reproduce on humans so they disappeared on us quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our regular vet couldn't figure out what was making the cats itchy. We went through months of regular ringworm baths that obviously didn't help. He then referred us to a veterinary dermatologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an exceptionally small mite; the dermatologist got very excited to find one mite on 3 cats (he made everyone in the office look in the microscope because he usually can't find any).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment was frontline (or any topical flea treatment) so you could try that and see if it goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also our cats are strictly indoor and still somehow got the mite. Indoor cats can still get fleas or heartworm (from mosquito bites). Keeping a cat indoors can prevent most parasite infections, but it's not 100%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T14:09:34.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17944" CreationDate="2017-11-28T16:01:47.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I'm late to the party but I don't feel that the answer made is satisfying so I'll add my thoughts here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I do understand the concept of you running with the dog I'm with your second thoughts. That is:&#xA;Running with your dog will most likely make her run away more easily in scary situations. That's for one a routine that you are actively enforcing. Also it doesn't give the dog the chance to overcome the fears because you always (if it is always) run away when something scary happens. With my dog (who was very scared of all kinds of objects when I got her) I always approached the situation with her. That meant for us to approach the objects together, giving her the space she needed, me touching the object and inviting/motivating her to come with me and check it out. We'd just stay as long as it took her to sniff the object and calm down. While it's hard to see the fear in the dog and keep going it definitely worked out for us seeing as she was never scared of the same object again.&#xA;Of course this is much harder to do with noises. I'd say you either keep walking at the same pace and direction or, if the dog gets really out of control, take a moment and stop until the dog calms down. No comment, anger or fear from your side while you stop. If the dog does calm down, pet or treat as you like and proceed with the walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I want to point out is that by letting your dog make the choice to run off and tagging along you are putting your dog in control of the situation and making yourself a follower. In this scenario it's not so much a &quot;dominance issue&quot; but it could lead to your dog being even more insecure and protective because &quot;I notice dangers before my owner does&quot; and &quot;my owner cannot protect me from dangers&quot;. By running along your dog will think that you too recognize the noise as danger but won't take action until the dog does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously all of this depends on the character of your dog and the relationship you share. Generally I'd say trust your gut with this and do what you think is a good solution for both of you. As I said I see the point of running with the dog and I don't want to say it's wrong. But I do see more issues with that approach than the one I have tried to lay out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2017-11-28T16:21:06.993" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T16:21:06.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2017-11-28T20:49:22.627" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will starve the fish before the snails . I just crush the snails when I can conveniently reach them , the fish love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-11-28T20:49:22.627" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2017-11-29T06:45:30.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much about bladder snails. They're pretty much as harmless as snails could be. They can't harm your living plants or any other animals in your tank and their population usually controls itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead they'll help keep your water clean and balanced. If there are indeed far too many of them for your liking, you're definitely overfeeding your fish. There should never be a problem for the snails starving your fish, because they're typically far more agile and faster picking up food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Introducing predators such as assassin snails can help as well, just keep in mind &quot;Who watches the Watchmen?&quot;, since assassin snails might also hunt slower fish and/or other animals besides other snails (depending on species).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the amount to feed: experiment with it. Your fish should be able to eat everything within a few minutes. If it takes significantly longer, like 30 minutes or more, it's certainly too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that fishes will just continue eating as long as there is food, even if they've had enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T06:45:30.510" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18987" CreationDate="2017-11-29T07:43:32.300" Score="3" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is cold in India. Stray dogs literally shake while sleeping. I do not have enough blankets for them. What other things can Insulate cold air? Can paper do it? If not, what other things can be used? Thank You Humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T09:49:27.900" Title="What things can help keep stray dogs warm?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18986" CreationDate="2017-11-29T08:53:44.240" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you are rural or in a city, but dried plants can help as well. A lot of heat will be lost because they lay on cold ground, so a pile of leaves, straw or hay may already help a lot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cardboard-boxes can be a help, too: they insulate from the ground, and shelter from cold winds.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Paper would insulate, yes, but it has the annoying tendency to be blown away, so boxes and dried plant-stuff may be your better option.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In general, the biggest problems for heat-loss will be a cold ground and cold winds, so anything insulating the ground and sheltering from winds should already help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2017-11-29T09:49:27.900" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T09:49:27.900" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18398" CreationDate="2017-11-29T14:20:58.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised no-one has answered this already. Since you're keeping discus fish, my first recommendation is to seek out a dedicated discus forum - plenty to be found with an internet search. Regarding using Aquarium Salt in your tank, I would only do so if you have a parasitic problem or for nitrite poisoning. Maintaining quality water parameters is always more preferable than any kind of medication - even salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10845" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T14:20:58.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18150" CreationDate="2017-11-29T14:32:25.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had this worry some years ago. My solution: use a chopstick or the blunt end of a wooden skewer and run it through the substrate every other day. I never had an issue with a build up of toxic gases. By the way, small bubbles are not a cause of concern; it would have to be a bubble the size of an orange that would be and you'd smell it too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10845" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T14:32:25.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18892" CreationDate="2017-11-29T14:48:59.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't intervene, rather your girlfriend should. If you scare the cat away in her home you will be considered an enemy as well as the dog. The cat can get sickenly nervous about this, and will probably continue to scare the dog once you're gone.Your girlfriend should reprimand the cat when the cat tries to have a fight. She should show that she is still the cat's and give her extra love,play and attention, but once the cat tries to fight she should distract it with something nice, if she can't help it she should hold the cat from the collar and say ''No'' firmly. If the cat wasn't trained on this before(which is expected) she should hold her from the collar, say ''No'' firmly and then carry her softly from the belly and take her to another room(say the bedroom) and do a positive thing with the cat but only when the cat is calm again. The cat MAY fight your girlfriend if their relationship isn't that good, so let her be careful. I should also mention that the partner shouldn't act scared of the cat and it's necessary to look stronger than it. If not the cat may probably just scratch her to death and everything will fail. I'm not saying the cat would see her as alpha or anything, it will only recognize that if the women disagrees on her act she is able to stop her. And sense the women is such a joy to the cat (if she plays, gives lots of attention and feeds her) and also is willing to stop the cat once it's disbehaving the cat will not want to go against the lady.  The cat and the dog should usually stay seperated until both are calm. Play with both until tired, and then and only then let them be in the same room. Supervise everything ofcourse(you and your wife or whatever) each on it's pet. If any aggressions seems to start gently remove the aggressor. Both of you should fully realize that the cat sees the dog as a threat and most likely is afraid of it. Therefor your girlfriend should make the cat see that she is on her side not the dog's, but disagrees on aggressive behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also can you give a photo showing both in the same room, a video is better but I'm not sure you can do that. Anything would help people to judge the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T14:48:59.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18978" CreationDate="2017-11-29T17:10:46.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta are known to be aggressive. Specially two of them in one tank will fight each other to death. Although male and a female betta can live in harmony, they are still very feisty. They might live with other fishes in harmony but they are by nature territorial and very aggressive. I'll just leave them in a bowl of their own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9486" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T17:10:46.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-29T17:13:48.793" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a eight year old cat who has never shown any sign of aggression until the last six months or so. There have been no household changes during that time period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first attack happened when I was sitting on the bed and found a large spider about to crawl up my pajama shorts. I screamed. When I did, the cat hurled himself at my head three times in a row. He gouged a ding about an eighth of an inch long across the lens of my glasses. By the third attack, my husband was able to grab him, toss him (gently) from the bedroom, and shut the door. That was his first and worst attack. All attacks have taken place in the bedroom and they have all taken place in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple more head attacks like the first passed. However, last night, while I was straightening the bed covers, he attacked my hand. He punctured one of the main veins in the back of my hand with his teeth with a gruesome result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not seem to be a &quot;play&quot; response at all. I tussle with him often enough: he likes to lie on his back and he holds his claws in and he pretends to bite my hand and beat off my wrist with his back legs while I scratch his chest. This is not that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has been seen recently by the vet for a regular checkup and is well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only factor I can think of is that the cat has the run of the bedroom during the day, but is closed out at night because he disturbs our sleep. He is not lonely at night, he has a cat buddy to hang out with. I wonder if he gets aggressive at night because he knows he's going to get booted off the bed and he's being possessive of the bed somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Question:&lt;/b&gt; Why is my cat attacking me so viciously after several years of peace? Do cats get curmudgeonly with age? What is the appropriate human response, besides removing him from the scene of the crime? I would like him to stop entirely, but anything that could lessen the frequency would be welcome as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T17:13:48.793" Title="How to stop cat attacks" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18398" CreationDate="2017-11-29T20:43:16.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything I have read about discus has said they prefer soft, acidic water - minimum dissolved salts. I second the suggestion of finding a discus chat room / bulletin board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T20:43:16.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-29T21:12:28.087" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit worried for my pet Asian praying mantis. He won't eat, just backs away from the crickets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that he has gone about a month now with no sign of molting or interest in food. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10927" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-11-30T03:25:00.457" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T03:25:00.457" Title="My praying mantis has stopped eating" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11232" CreationDate="2017-11-29T22:34:07.410" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A walker would help allot!  Does WAG work in your area?? I LOVE them. &#xA;And you letting the dog sleep with you every night and not in the crate I think helps a lot for the dogs mind for being in the crate during the day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10930" LastActivityDate="2017-11-29T22:34:07.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18931" CreationDate="2017-11-30T04:23:42.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the main considerations before breaking a horse is his physical maturity. Since horses take a while to mature, and since breaking a horse eventually involves riding said horse one has to wait until the horse is mature/strong enough to be able to riden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10939" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T04:23:42.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="18999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-30T05:18:05.007" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;She is 2 months old and has a tendency to bite every bit of a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought her calcium bones but that only keeps her busy for a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to reduce her such type of behaviour.&#xA;She has spent a &lt;strong&gt;week&lt;/strong&gt; with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10869" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T06:33:29.773" Title="My pitbull Julia - The biting machine" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18999" CreationDate="2017-11-30T06:33:29.773" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies tend to gnaw on things for various reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest thing is really, they don't know better. It takes time to train a puppy to know some things are wrong. A good strong no, and seperating the pup from the thing she's chewing on (and lots of positive reinforcement) for the right sort of chewing is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might also be bored. Keep her engaged. Play with her. Puppies are high energy, destructive little creatures who need that energy redirected. My dog went from chewing everything he could reach to pretty well behaved once he realised people would play with him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, its young enough that she's teething, and that'll pass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T06:33:29.773" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18931" CreationDate="2017-11-30T11:57:09.093" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Horse shouldn't be ridden or in heavy training when they're less than two years, as it makes them more susceptible to injuries and musculoskeletal conditions. The  body is still growing and developing and doesn't need the extra weight or stress. Much like over &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7788/how-long-distance-should-i-exercise-my-husky-puppy&quot;&gt;exercising a puppy&lt;/a&gt;. Interestingly horses that are not worked (ridden, trained for domestic use) until they are older, than two are more susceptible to injury. Perhaps the body adjusts to the type of work and stretching as a two year old, while still being supple, but well developed enough to take the impact on joints. (“Young Horses in Training and Injury Risks,” 2001)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to breaking in horses is handling and human relationships. Regular handling from birth, building trust is essential for the development of a horse that is going to be worked. Getting used to wearing halters and a lead rope are easier done on a young horse, with a confident bond with it's handler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking foals onto floats, picking up their feet, grooming, worming, checking teeth, these are all things that need to be practiced to get the foal used to it. A calm experienced handler will instil security in a young horse that will take it through it's life and making the breaking in process easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days more people are turning to positive training methods, including breaking in and many people have such strong relationships with their horses, they're able to gradually put weight on their backs and when they're used to that, slip onto the horse. The use of force and fear, and things like whips, spurs, bits are becoming increasingly unpopular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A young horse that has been mistreated or not handled can be nervous around people and will more likely be more difficult to break in and handle generally, those early months and years are vital. That being said, horses do have a variety of temperaments, so there is no fool proof plan, just methods to optimise the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Geor, R BVSc, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM (2001)&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10065/young-horses-in-training-and-injury-risks&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Young Horses in Training and Injury Risks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T11:57:09.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18953" CreationDate="2017-11-30T13:48:11.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like perfectly normal behviour to me - she's only been with you two weeks, it will take a lot longer than that for her to get used to your presence and behaviour - over time you'll notice that she will get less and less nervous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a guide, we adopted our two just over a year ago, and it took 4-6 months before they were properly comfortable with us, and even now they are still settling, and we're still seeing new, closer behaviour from them - admittedly they were adult rescue cats, so it will have taken longer than with younger cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their favourite hiding place was behind the sofa - not only is it hidden, the nearby radiator means it's lovely and warm too - perfect for a cat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T13:48:11.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19003" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-30T16:35:04.377" Score="8" ViewCount="1878" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have searched this site and didn't find a question with the specific issue we're facing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried to teach our dog fetch and came across an issue we didn't know we we're having prior to this and since then have noticed it's not a problem related to fetch training itself.&#xA;Our dog (7 year old Lab mix... Or shepherd... Or anything really) will go after the ball and get it. She does then run our direction when called but takes a turn just in front of us. After that she will lay down and chew the ball making sure she keeps a certain distance to us. Most times we have to pretty much &quot;corner&quot; her to get close. We are certain that's because she doesn't want to give up the ball. However she displays no signs of aggression, anger, fear or excitement during the process. Once we get a hold of her she gives up the ball easily when we grab it (we don't pull or anything, she let's go when we touch it). Also later we noticed that when we proceed the walk and she has the ball to carry she does not respond when recalled as long as she has the ball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves chewing more than anything but that's not a suitable activity for walks and I'd like to have her running and be involved in play time when on a walk. She has a chew toy available at home that she has access to 24/7 (and I'd like to keep it that way). Giving up the chew toy is not a problem at all. However she won't fetch that either but drop it when called. &#xA;She is not obsessed with toys. She will let us know she wants the ball when we have it but doesn't do so in an excessive way and is fine when she doesn't get it.&#xA;The ball is something special for weekend walks and is otherwise out of her reach because she will chew it up and destroy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried multiple things such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reward her with a treat when she gives up the ball (after cornering her) or offering a treat in return for the ball; she won't take the treat cause the ball is more important. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't bother her at all when she has the ball (no recall and nothing); she will come closer to us and lay down there but still keeps a certain distance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;no recall but walk up to her and put her on the leash to continue the walk not &quot;mentioning&quot; the ball at all; no effect at all visible the next times we tried&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;making ourselves more interesting by backing off from her after calling her... Cheering, clapping.... The whole thing; it worked two times until she understood the concept.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actual question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get my dog to stop walking away with the ball considering the approaches we've tried? And in addition to this (same issue so probably the same answer) how do I make sure she responds when I recall her when she has the ball?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-09-01T16:34:17.373" LastActivityDate="2018-09-01T16:34:17.373" Title="Dog running away with toy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;fetch&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19003" CreationDate="2017-11-30T18:15:24.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to find something worth more than the ball in your dogs eyes and offer it as reward for giving up the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be difficult, as you've already mentioned that treats don't work, and every dog is going to be different on their preferences. You'll need to play around with other high value objects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing ends up comparing to the ball, you might need to first train her to fetch another object and reward her for bringing it back with treats or even &lt;em&gt;with the ball&lt;/em&gt;. It's plausible that currently your dog only retrieves the ball because it's her favorite thing in the world - not because she has any desire to play fetch with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final suggestion: When you're looking for other 'high value' objects to your dog, try getting another ball. A lot of dogs have a tendency to want the thing they don't already have.  If you have two balls, maybe you can prompt your dog to bring/drop the original ball in exchange for the one in your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-06T11:50:43.373" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T11:50:43.373" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19006" CreationDate="2017-11-30T18:19:08.543" Score="22" ViewCount="20123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a very bad rotten mouth with an abscess. We noticed about 5 days ago when she stopped eating, and so we took her to the vet twice. She got a shot of antibiotics and painkillers that we give her twice a day, and both visits she also got an injection of fluids since she won't drink either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet who will remove her bad teeth says that we must get her to eat to be healthy enough for the tooth extraction which is booked for 7 days away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is now at 5 days without food and I am very concerned. She wants to eat and has tried numerous times to eat soft food, but every time she will hiss and run away as if it causes her a lot of pain, even with the painkillers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering how much longer she can go without food before we need to take drastic action. I have heard that force feeding an animal is bad for them, is that true? To get a feeding tube might be more than I can afford but I don't know what to do. How much longer should we wait to see if she eats? What can we do if she can't eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit- wanted to share the results in case anyone else has a similar problem. After she continued to not eat we got her into the vet the very next day as an emergency. She had a calcified lump that was preventing her from closing her mouth fully, so that explained why she couldn't eat. She was in a bit of pain after the removal, but by the next day she was eating just fine. So it seems if a cat isn't eating because of a bad tooth/abscess in their mouth, get it removed as soon as possible. If it is really bad there is no point waiting for antibiotics. She is doing so much better especially since she was otherwise healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10804" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T10:19:47.240" LastActivityDate="2021-03-03T02:30:22.553" Title="Cat has bad tooth and won't eat but vet won't remove tooth if she isn't eating" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-11-30T18:51:26.337" Score="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone with 5 cats, one of whom recently lost a lower front tooth, I'd be inclined to get a 2nd opinion from a different vet. My reasoning is that she can't eat anything because of the pain in her mouth. She can't drink anything because of the same problem (unless you can get her to try warm water), so how is she to &quot;get healthy&quot; enough for the extraction? After the extraction, I would think your cat would be more happy to chow down and not be in pain. Plus, your vet making your cat suffer for another 7 days is very stressful for her (and you). That's just not right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10845" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T18:51:26.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-11-30T19:03:33.557" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband and I &quot;adopted&quot; a 55 gallon tank that came with a number of fish, including 2 angelfish and 7 black skirt tetras.  Unfortunately we've been having an issue with both species: the angelfish either fight like crazy (liplocking, nipping, etc.; the female had an infected eye when we took her in and is now blind thanks to him), harass everyone in the tank, or lay a bunch of eggs (they usually eat them all so at least we don't have a ton of babies, but they get very territorial with the others when this happens) and the black skirts have started aggressively fighting (they usually would play together, looked a lot like tag, but now they're actually causing harm to each other).  We have been seriously considering rehoming them and getting new fish, but we weren't sure what would be compatible in our tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other fish we have are: 4 neon tetras, 4 cory catfish, and 1 pleco.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The angels are the only ones picking on anyone outside of their own species, in fact everyone else gets along really well!  If we did switch out the angels and BST, are there any more colorful AND peaceful options we could look into?  We already plan on getting more neons since their school is so small at this time, but right now they're the only spot of color in a sea of silver and black. Thanks in advance for any advice you may have for us! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10947" LastActivityDate="2017-12-08T16:07:53.310" Title="Changing out aggressive fish species?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19007" CreationDate="2017-11-30T20:36:07.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cichlids are generally aggressive , angels are usually not so much as others.  Getting a few more angels should help ; then one fish is not always the target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T20:36:07.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-11-30T21:58:44.467" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know of force feeding being bad but I'm no expert.  I'd assume your cat would like to have something in her belly.  When my cat had teeth/gum issues and wouldn't eat, my vet recommended that I feed him using a giant plastic syringe (not expensive).  I'd take his normal wet food (pate), put it in a bowl, add water and mix it up so that it's liquidy enough to squirt out of the syringe, and heat it to warm (not too hot!) in the microwave.  Suck it up into the syringe and insert and slowly squirt into cat's mouth.  Hopefully there's a side or spot in her mouth that's not affected where you could put the syringe with minimal pain.  Hope this might help get a little bit in her system!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10950" LastActivityDate="2017-11-30T21:58:44.467" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-12-01T00:23:09.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had to force-feed several cats. It is not bad for them if done right, and certainly better than the alternative of starving. As superstar said, it's done with a large syringe, you make the food very liquidy and warm, gently squirt it into the cat's mouth. It usually takes some practice to get it into the mouth rather than all over yourself. Do a search on YouTube for &quot;force feeding a cat&quot; and you'll get all the help you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10956" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T00:23:09.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-01T02:35:21.717" Score="6" ViewCount="1901" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I adopted my cat, he only made squeaking sounds. He sounded like a kitten but I was told he is 3 years old.&#xA;Just recently (today) when we came home, instead of just squeaking at us, he started to make real meowing sounds at us.&#xA;I've raised cat's all my life, but usually around 6 months to a year old, they seem to settle on their meow. &#xA;I did some googling and all I can find are articles about if the cat stops meowing or goes from a meow to a squeak, but not the other way around. Any insight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note as well, we've been &quot;conversing&quot; with him for a while. Meaning, we meow at him when he squeaks at us. And he seems to like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10959" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T01:02:51.167" Title="My 3 year old cat's meow changed from a squeak to a meow" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19013" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-01T04:15:00.550" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1 year old Shiba has been diagnosed with Double-Chambered Right Ventricle which is a rare (in dogs) Congenital Heart Disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone dealt with this an been able to successfully operate this deformation ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am European citizen living in Asia and looking at surgeons in these two regions of the world preferably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a veterinary clinic that would be able to operate this rare condition ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advices regarding paliative care and what we should prevent our pup from doing ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10962" LastActivityDate="2019-10-02T08:39:00.510" Title="My Shiba Inu has been diagnosed with Double-Chambered Right Ventricle" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-12-01T08:49:10.610" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think forcefeeding is an option here.  Forcefeeding a cat with no mouth problems is already dicey as it is naturally stressful for them, which can lead to a further aversion to the food.  You also run the risk of the cat accidentally inhaling the food, which can lead to respiratory problems and even pneumonia.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But forcefeeding a cat with an abscessed tooth would be torture for them.  Seriously - you're likely causing them pain and you're definitely going to cause great fear, in addition to the normal stress and risk of aspiration.  In addition, it is unlikely you can get enough food into this cat by forcefeeding to make up for 5 days of not eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this cat has not been eating at all for 5 days and is also not drinking, she needs medical attention, stat.  And you definitely need a new vet.  The approach he has taken is simply awful.  The idea that you should be trying to give your cat any medicine by mouth is additionally awful (for the cat and for you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note a feeding tube is not the best option in a case like this as they often have to insert it using anasthetic (possibley a general anasthetic, depending on the type of tube), which introduces the same risk that removing the tooth would.  And the TOOTH is the problem!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, take this cat to a good vet NOW &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10966" LastEditorUserId="10966" LastEditDate="2017-12-01T10:32:57.760" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T10:32:57.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-12-01T10:34:17.667" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go back to the vet and explain the problem&lt;/strong&gt; or seek a different vet if you've lost faith in this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems mostly likely that the vet has underestimated the severity of the situation. If you're cat hasn't eaten for 5 days that is an emergency of its own that needs attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'd suggest asking for electrolytes so that your cat can get some essential nutrition by drinking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="439" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T10:34:17.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19018" CreationDate="2017-12-01T14:16:18.987" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a feral kitten(5 months old) who has been staying at our home since 3 months (&lt;strong&gt;Though she eats from my hands she still gets scared and runs whenever I try to pet her or hold her&lt;/strong&gt;) . I recently brought 2 kitten siblings(2 months old) .  Now &lt;strong&gt;when the older kitten sees these 2, she runs away&lt;/strong&gt; and doesn't come back for hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So few questions here are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i) &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do I gain that feral kitten's trust so that I can pet her and hold her?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ii) &lt;strong&gt;Why isn't she ready to get picked even when she's been staying and eating at our place since 3 months&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;She comes close only to eat and then goes and sits in the carton box&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;iii) &lt;strong&gt;How do I make her friendly with the new kittens&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T16:18:24.787" Title="How to make a kitten friendly with new kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19017" CreationDate="2017-12-01T16:06:31.710" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To cut my backstory short: we adopted two feral cats in April. They're incredibly shy. In October, we adopted another feral cat (we took him in from the street). The third cat is the most extraverted cat I've ever seen, he approached our girls immediately and they obviously did not like that.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Everything I mention is based on our experiences, which have yielded good results so far. They're socialized, and although the older ones can't quite keep up with the younger one's playful nature, they're at least considering each other as part of the same family now.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;i) How do I gain that feral kitten's trust so that I can pet her and hold her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes time. Not every cat trusts you as quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a shy cat (or person) to trust you, is the figurative variant of  dipping your toe in the water before you jump in. Start off small, make sure the experiences are positive, and you'll see their confidence grow with every new positive experience they encounter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what we did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When feeding the cat, try to pet her. Very slowly bring your hand forward, in a way that the cat &lt;em&gt;sees&lt;/em&gt; your hand approach her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she doesn't see it, abort mission. Only touch if she knows you're going to touch. Don't startle her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will likely recoil when you touch her (or even just reach for her). That's normal. In response, you disengage. Look away, do not stare at her. Let her eat in peace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a while, you can try again. I generally try to space my attempts so that I can try to pet them 5 times over the course of a meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The intention is for them to see you try the same thing over and over. Eventually, they'll learn a few key things:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're not trying to hurt them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; want to pet them (since you keep trying)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, the inconvenience of recoiling and not eating will no longer outweigh the inconvenience of being pet by you. Once you reach that point, they should at least &lt;em&gt;allow&lt;/em&gt; you to pet them, even if they don't &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If their experiences with being pet are never negative memories, then they'll eventually don't mind you petting them because they know it's a harmless action that pleases you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For food, you were somewhat required to make sure she still eats and doesn't just run away in fear. However, &lt;strong&gt;treats&lt;/strong&gt; are more lenient. As she doesn't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; treats, you can get away with refusing to give treats if she doesn't allow you to pet her (you can't take away her food).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try using small treats. You're better off giving her 3 small treats instead of 1 treat that's three times as big, because every single treat will be a learning experience. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I used to give them the first treat for free. The second treat would come at a cost:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they allowed me to pet them, they would immediately get a new treat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they don't allow me to pet them, then there was a 30 second timer, after which they'd get the next treat. When they've been making progress (e.g. allowing the occasional pet), then I would start making the timer longer, to incentivize them to focus on the petting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of them was a bit apprehensive of petting, but she did make an effort in coming forward and sniffing (and later licking) my hand. That was equally rewarded with a treat, it's the effort that counts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat until they've had enough treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are the easiest ways to get them to allow you to pet them faster. There's not much else you can do, other than trying to pet them once (and if they refuse, leave them be).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ii) Why isn't she ready to get picked even when she's been staying and eating at our place since 3 months (She comes close only to eat and then goes and sits in the carton box)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not every cat &lt;strong&gt;wants&lt;/strong&gt; attention. Humans can be introverts or extraverts, and cats are no different.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I wish I could show you my current cats, because they are as different as day and night. One of them defaults to being apprehensive of everything and observign at a distance until she knows it's safe, another defaults to coming forwards (but if something bad happens, she'll stay way from it for a looooong time), the younger one just engages whatever has caught his attention (without fear or apprehension).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also notice that if you give her everything she wants (food, a sleeping spot, solitude), and you expect nothing in return (initially, because you expect that she'll eventually want attention when she feels more at home); then the cat will settle into that agreement. If they don't really want attention, they'll never come looking for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, if you want to create a bond with them; you should put a price tag on what you provide for them. This ties into the earlier point, e.g. teaching them that they get more treats (or get them faster) if they allow you to pet them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Do not starve your cat&lt;/strong&gt;. Only put a price on &lt;em&gt;optional&lt;/em&gt; things like treats and toys. Do not withhold food or shelter from them, because that is not a positive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For our girls, we only managed for them to &lt;em&gt;allow us&lt;/em&gt; to pet them. They never came looking for attention by themselves. They did come for treats, but never just for attention.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until we adopted the younger one. Because he's an incredibly social cat, he approached us whenever he felt like it. And he would get a lot of love from us. &lt;strong&gt;This did not go unnoticed&lt;/strong&gt;. The other two cats had never even considered coming near us (unless there were treats); but after they saw the young one do it and get love and attention (with no negative side effects whatsoever), they were incentivized to overcome their apprehension and &lt;em&gt;clearly&lt;/em&gt; started repeating his behavior (they even copied his behavior such as swatting their tails in our faces; something they never did but he always does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;iii) How do I make her friendly with the new kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no guaranteed method. There are myriad reasons why cats may not get along. Some are easy to overcome (e.g. first impressions), others may be impossible to overcome (e.g. bad past experiences that have left emotional scars).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you can do is make it easier for them to see each other as friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A tired cat does not have the energy to pick a fight or get antsy for no good reason&lt;/strong&gt;. Since you have kittens, this will be the strongest tool in your arsenal. Get them to play (even if separately), and tire them out if you can. The more exhausted they are, the less they will get antsy when another cat comes near.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's a reason why &quot;breaking bread&quot; is often used to imply &quot;social bonding&quot;. It humanizes (felinizes?) both parties, they see each other as creatures that need to eat to survive. The need for eating is a shared life experience.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed them at the same time, next to each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If that's not possible, keep them further apart, but keep them &lt;strong&gt;in sight&lt;/strong&gt; of each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they are not able to peacefully eat in the same room, try putting a glass separator between them (so they feel more at ease, but still see each other eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you give them &lt;strong&gt;ample&lt;/strong&gt; food. There needs to be more food than they can eat; simply to prevent any feelings of resentment that the other cat is eating food that they'd like to eat.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Our vet confirmed that it's better to give them too much food for a short while; and have them bond more easily; compared to keeping them on a strict diet and indirectly adding social tension between them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, give treats in a round robin fashion. One for A, one for B. It may seem childish; but this is the best way to make your cats understand that they are &lt;strong&gt;equals&lt;/strong&gt;. If you give a handful of treats to one of them, and give it to another cat the next time, then they may not realize that they're getting their fair share, because they constantly see an unfair division of treats (in the short term).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get them acquainted with each other's smells.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pet them with the same hand, to transfer their smell onto each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We kept our cats separated at night (the youngling wasn't fixed yet). Sinc they each had their own toys/blankets, we set up an &quot;exchange&quot; program. We would occasionally swap some toys/blanket, just to get them acquainted with each other's smell even if they weren't in the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to find mutual interests. Two of our cats loved the laser pointer so much that they couldn't stay away from it (even if the other one was also there). Although they were selfish in the beginning, I made sure to put them on equal footing (making the older one more playful, making the younger one less energetic by tiring him out). &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It took about two weeks, but they eventually evolved towards playing with the laser in turns (so that the other could have a quick rest). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Note that I didn't tell them to play together. I just knew that they'd both want to play, which means that they forced themselves into a situation where they were going to need to get along without bothering each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cats are uneasy around each other, make yourself the center of attention. If they're both focusing on you, they're not focusing on each other.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feel free to be silly. I have a habit of singing while I'm cleaning; and I've seen the cats share looks about my weird behavior. That creates a bit of rapport between the cats (by making myself the odd one out, I make them see each other as &quot;not the odd one&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's about all we did, and we've bridged most of the gap between them in about two months' time. Although there's still some awkwardness from time to time; the cats are no longer obstacles to each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best of luck :) It may be hard and feel like it's pointless in the beginning, but I expect you'll agree that it was worth it once they finally get along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2017-12-01T16:18:24.787" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T16:18:24.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18971" CreationDate="2017-12-01T18:41:05.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the breed, some breeds mature slower than others. In either case, this is something that puppies do as they haven't quite learned how to coordinate themselves well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many times when training recall, calling a puppy to me, the puppy will be coming with such a speed that he will have trouble stopping when he gets to me and thus crashes into me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would try the same method that I use for teaching recall in those situations: Basicaly, make sure you have an immovable object behind you (like a wall) and call the puppy to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to get out of the way the first couple of times, but he will quickly learn to judge distance and avoid crashing into you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not worry about the puppy getting hurt, as they start braking quickly when they realize that there's nobody there to break their crash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10939" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-05-04T19:39:50.467" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T19:39:50.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-12-01T18:48:05.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a liquid or gel food replacement for cats (it's not even terribly expensive). Some of the high calorie gel foods only need 1 tablespoon per day for a reasonable calorie intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you need to feed this with a syringe, it will be a lot easier to feed a small volume than a larger one like with regular soft cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10372" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T18:48:05.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-01T20:12:55.370" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my hedgehog for close to a year now and she's very sweet most of the time, but she doesn't really like to be very interactive. She will get up during the night and run on her wheel, eat, and drink but won't be very active any other parts of the day. I'll get her out and she almost always hides her head in my arms and goes to sleep. I've tried to get her used to my scent by putting a shirt I wore all day in her cage, but to no avail. I want to play with her more, but she doesn't really like to do anything except at night. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10982" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T21:21:48.603" Title="How can I get my hedgehog to be more interactive?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19021" CreationDate="2017-12-01T21:16:35.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals, trying to make her play during the day would be like someone waking you up at 2:30 am to play a football match. You are disturbing her natural cycles, which has all kinds of adverse effects on her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotically, I've seen a nocturnal animal section in a zoo where they had an inverted day/night cycle by having the building in darkness during the day, and fully illuminated during the night; but I don't think you can get that one right at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastEditorUserId="2639" LastEditDate="2017-12-01T21:21:48.603" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T21:21:48.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18512" CreationDate="2017-12-01T22:02:35.257" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my dogs has prey drive too - and the second one &lt;strong&gt;hates&lt;/strong&gt; cats. They are street dogs - though we´ve picked them up as puppies, instincts are sitting deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once made an anti-prey-drive-course with the first one. So here comes what I´ve been told.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train your dog on &quot;asking before freaking out&quot;. Give him treats not for doing anything, but for doing anything and then looking into your eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with keeping him on the leash (even in the house) while training. Throw a treat in front of him - but don´t let him pick it up. Let him get desperately crazy about it if need be. As soon as he´s looking at you - good boy! He may eat it. You´ll see he´ll learn pretty fast to ask before going crazy on anything. Extend that kind of training on toys and whatever, so he´ll learn to ask you before doing nearly anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though this works absolutely great for us - she looks on us before doing a single step towards any kind of thing she wants, including deer, mice, rabbits - it has taken nearly a year to work properly. The first successes after only a few weeks have made us too confident - and she was gone in the forest again. So don´t get frustrated if there are setbacks in the first weeks or months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also we were adviced to use a clicker and even a dog whistle, with the dog whistle being the signal for liver sausage and doing this only from time to time to remember it was the greatest thing in the world if the whistle blows - as a kind of &quot;Back-Getter&quot; if she´s freaking out again despite all the training. Well, we didn´t do that as I don´t want to carry all those things around with me. We´re fine with the eye-looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course all this only works if your dog is treat-sensitive, which our little lady is. Our cat-hating male is absolutely not - so I´m looking forward on other responses myself...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8583" LastActivityDate="2017-12-01T22:02:35.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2017-12-01T22:36:50.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're successful in getting her painkillers down, try cyproheptadine while you're at it. It's an prescription-only antihistamine. It's not effective for that purpose and makes them sleepy and hungry. Here's where it gets good. It's incredibly effective at stimulating the appetite. I have first hand experience with force feeding cats, and both were successfully saved with treatment of cyproheptadine, hydration (we gave IV fluids) and force feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my first cat we went to a vet that didn't really want to do anything at all, so we went to a different vet. The other vet was kind enough to show us about about IV fluids and force feeding. We were able to 'maintain', but it was hard on us and her, and we just HAD to get her to eat on her own. The cat had not eaten or drank on her own in 5 weeks. She was generally lethargic and would leave the room when we put food out for her in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google led me to someone that talked about using cyproheptadine. I didn't know it was so readily available, so I went back to the first vet and demanded the prescription, which they relinquished and acted like I was on my own. I took it home, &amp;quot;crammed&amp;quot; 1 pill down her throat, and then gave her some food and fluids. She ran off like usual and I went about my business. 4 hours later, she climbed to her partner's empty food bowl, and demanded food. I offered her some of her favorite wet food and she began eating on her own. She continued to eat on her own and then became comfortable with drinking again later in the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My male cat's story is different, but with a similar ending and results. He hadn't been eating for about 4 days. I force fed and gave fluids for 3, then I used my leftover cyproheptadine. He was eating on his own the next day after his first dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10985" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-03T02:30:22.553" LastActivityDate="2021-03-03T02:30:22.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19029" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-03T00:35:18.407" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having a problem with my 2 week old kittens. They have been sprayed by a perfume. Suddenly, they started to vomit worms and milk, too. And the other kitten has been dropped from a height, probably of 1 meter. So I'm worried about them being sick. What should I do? Are the kittens ill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11005" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-18T00:05:57.893" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T00:05:57.893" Title="My 2 week old kittens are probably ill" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-03T01:30:14.030" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a kitten that was dribbling pee everywhere, crying and struggling when he peed, and constantly licking his groin. We noticed he rarely urinated, and that he would not drink water from bowls, a pinch test showed that he was pretty dehydrated, and he has been eating dry food. We switched to wet food, and started adding water, and his dehydration went away and he regularly voided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He turned out to have a very bad UI, he had a swollen penis and was peeing blood. We got him on two weeks of antibiotics and the swelling went away, and he stopped straining to pee, stopped licking himself...etc But the dribbling never stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet wanted to do an exam, ui, and antibiotics weekly. At the sound of $185/w ($55/exam, $65/UA, $65/antibiotics), after we've already spent over $400 on vet bills for this kitten. Something we cannot afford by any stretch. We've been feeding him urinary food, and his symptoms have not changed in the last two weeks. He still dribbles, but doesn't strain to pee or lick his groin after. He still does not drink water from bowls, so we mix a decent amount of water in with his wet food 3x a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We decided to take him to another clinic, and they did a UA and ultrasound for $130. The UA came back positive, and they want to do a culture sensitivity test for $250 to determine the appropriate type of antibiotic to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, we're already pulling out of savings for our next rent check as a result of these vet bills. We keep going around in circles with this diagnostics stuff, but with no resolution, and no end in sight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do? We really don't know what to do next, no one will want a sick kitten, and we love his personality, but he's holed up in the bathroom 24/7 because he dribbles pee everywhere. I'm not sure if a shelter will take him, and the original owner wants nothing to do with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9832" LastEditorUserId="9832" LastEditDate="2017-12-09T21:49:31.473" LastActivityDate="2017-12-09T21:49:31.473" Title="Our kitten has had constant urinary issues after an initial urinary infection, vet bills are exorbitant. Advice?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-03T05:29:44.767" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;feral kitten&lt;/em&gt; at our home who &lt;em&gt;doesn't like to get picked up or held&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;runs away&lt;/em&gt; when we try to do so &lt;em&gt;has hurt herself&lt;/em&gt;. I don't know exactly what happened but I think that something pricked her eye or so. Initially &lt;strong&gt;her eye had developed a red layer at side and it was bleeding&lt;/strong&gt;. Now it has converted into &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;puss which keeps dripping and her eye is almost closed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. She is trying to open her eye but she's unable to do it. It's really hurting to see her in that condition but when I try to hold her to take her to vet she gets scared and runs away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the questions here are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i) Is it some medical condition that has caused her this red eye and puss or is it due to some accident?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ii) Is there any way I can try to cure it without holding her ( like putting some medicine in milk or something like that)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;iii) If not, then how do I hold her to take it to vet ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T19:18:19.713" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T19:18:19.713" Title="How to cure kitten whose eye is closed and dripping with puss?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19034" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19035" CreationDate="2017-12-03T13:29:34.440" Score="10" ViewCount="4998" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I love my animals and this was in no way intentional and I have been shrouded in guilt since this happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, so earlier today, about an hour ago, I was playing with my 5 month old puppy. His favourite game is chasing his squeaky burger toy after I kick it; however earlier today when I went to go to kick it, he decided to jump towards the toy resulting in me kicking him in the mouth with the ball on the side of your feet (I don't know what it is called). He immediately ran up on top of the sofa and hid in the corner yelping for about 10-15 seconds with his mouth wide open before he stopped, he then rushed over to my mum for cuddles. I straight away ran to him and stroked him to try and say sorry, but couldn't help but think if I damaged one of his teeth or his jaw when I kicked him because of how long he had his mouth open when he was yelping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has never yelped that badly before and there is a little cut on my foot which I presume is from his canine tooth. After about 5 minutes he returned to his normal self, trying to lick me and play. I gave him one of his more hard and chewy treats to see if it hurt him to bite and he seemed fine and loved it! But I'm still slightly worried for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I was wondering if any of you had been in a similar situation and if so, what you did in that situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I have checked inside of his mouth and there doesn't appear to be any blood or missing teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11013" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:56:16.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:56:16.040" Title="I accidentally kicked my puppy in the mouth, help me please" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19034" CreationDate="2017-12-03T13:36:12.797" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;These things ... happen, especially with puppies and smaller dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is its probably fine. He's acting normal, and there's no real lasting damage from what you said. He probably was surprised, maybe bit himself and kinda decided he wanted a little attention. He also probably thought you were mad at you too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We kinda accidentally stepped on or accidentally kicked our dog a few times and he's fine so far. You'll get into the habit of being more cautious as will he as you both get used to each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-12-03T13:36:12.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19029" CreationDate="2017-12-04T10:22:41.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the mother still takes care of the kittens, the perfume will not matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, vomiting, with worms, is a problem. At the least, call the nearest vet, today! Better yet, bring your kittens to the vet. The sooner, the better. They will need de-worming. The vet will know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, de-worm the mother cat, otherwise she will pass the eggs to the kittens. And that will restart the whole worm problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, take care of the little ones! The older they get, the stronger they get. But dropping a kitten is a big no-no. Healthy adult cats can handle 1 meter drop no problem. So, do be careful. If you are not sure if other people are careful enough, don't let them handle kittens. No matter how much they want it. Young kittens can easily be hurt of killed if you are not careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2017-12-15T10:17:27.580" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T10:17:27.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19038" CreationDate="2017-12-04T19:55:38.600" Score="3" ViewCount="4521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a cottontail rabbit since he was 2 weeks old. My dog had found the nest and killed all of them except him because I got to him in time. He is now 9 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering - would he be alright to be released back to the wild? I have had him around my other pets and he is not afraid of them, can that be a problem for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T00:23:02.927" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T00:23:02.927" Title="Can a rabbit pet be released to the wild?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-07-16T12:14:54.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19037" CreationDate="2017-12-04T20:47:48.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you release your cottontail into the wild, &lt;em&gt;he will be dead quite soon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are prey animals, and yours is not afraid of predators. Not Good. With the lack of learning how to rabbit in the wild, nothing good comes from releasing your cottontail back into the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you no longer want to care for this cottontail, may I suggest you try and find some else who is looking for a pet rabbit? Do try to assess the next care giver. Some one with experience with rabbits is preferred, as yours is not fully domesticated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well done on raising a cottontail &amp;amp; good luck with finding him a good home!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2017-12-04T21:03:19.217" LastActivityDate="2017-12-04T21:03:19.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19037" CreationDate="2017-12-04T22:25:42.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live it may be against the law for you to keep a wild animal as a pet.  There are more considerations at the post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/854/can-i-make-a-baby-wild-rabbit-a-pet/857#857&quot;&gt;Can I make a baby wild rabbit a pet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best first step is to contact a local wildlife animal rescue. They can answer questions about local laws, and release protocals.  You may be able to surrender the cottontail to them, for training and release.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately: (&lt;em&gt;ignoring legal issues&lt;/em&gt;) Releasing a &lt;strong&gt;wild animal&lt;/strong&gt; near the physical location and time that you found it is always best. But there are several reasons this may not be possible. Describing the considerations for alternate release would be out of scope for a site about pets.  If the local wildlife rescue is not able to help you, I suggest you ask at one of our sister sites &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Biology&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;The Great Outdoors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-12-04T22:25:42.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18512" CreationDate="2017-12-05T04:14:44.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few things to recognize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A Plott hound is a hunting dog, so hunting is what they are supposed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some dog breeds are easier to train then others&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should resign to the fact that some dogs should or may never be walked off leash, regardless of how much you'd like to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how much systematic training you have done with this dog in the past, but the fact that he listens sometimes and seems to get worst at other times you may want to go back to square one as far as training is concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With the dog on leash, have him focus on you. Using positive reinforcement make sure you are his world. You can do this with food (if he is food focused) or toys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train recall. Make sure that he has a &lt;strong&gt;solid&lt;/strong&gt; recall. Dont let him off the leash unless he returns to you the first (or second time at most) you tell him to return. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once he is able to focus on you, introduce distractions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go back to step one as needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need patience as this can be a long process with some dogs. It is best approached in a systematic way as described above, but with enough patience you should be able to have control over the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10939" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T04:14:44.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18563" CreationDate="2017-12-05T14:13:42.913" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like sickness to me. If he is not cleaning it might be that he´s too overweight to, or just the sickness part again.&#xA;Cats are clean instinctively.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11043" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T14:13:42.913" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1381" CreationDate="2017-12-05T14:37:35.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I  believe it is a sign of affection and they lean because they like who they lean on.  I have two dogs and they often will come to me and lean together to get petted or a back scratch.  One thing that makes dogs really feel good is to rub their backs from the back of the head to the tail, something like a massage.  It makes them feel good and seems to relieve stress that builds up from their ability to hear and feel things going on around the area that we can't seem to hear or feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11045" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T14:37:35.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-05T19:20:23.483" Score="6" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently obtained a female albino hedgehog from her previous owners. They weren't that fond of the hedgehog and didn't socialize her well during the ~8 months they had her (they got her at ~1-2 months of age). They didn't take her out much, didn't play with her - basically, she stayed in the cage 99% of the time with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the hedgehog is ~10 months old, hasn't been socialized well, and is quite aggressive towards me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had her for 2.5 weeks now. During that time I took her out every evening (after she woke up) and let her get used to my presence, noises that I make, etc. She spends about an hour outside of her cage, mostly playing freely on the sofa. For about 20-30% of the time, I try to interact with her by picking her up, trying to play with her. Every time I take her out, I give her a treat that she likes and eats eagerly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although she became slightly less aggressive for that time, she is still quite easily startled by me, doesn't let me touch her at all (unless I have picked her up forcefully), and mostly curls up into a ball when I am holding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal behavior? Can I expect the hedgehog to become more accustomed to my interaction if I continue trying to socialize her? What time-frames could I expect for a change in the behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="384" LastEditorUserId="384" LastEditDate="2017-12-06T23:26:34.353" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T10:08:37.493" Title="Is my hedgehog too agressive?" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19051" CreationDate="2017-12-05T21:43:51.963" Score="7" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a month ago I bought a bag of treats for my puppy (cracker-like, bone shaped). But when I got home I discovered that the bag said it was suitable for puppies 6 months old and older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind storing the treats for some time (until he's 6 months old) but it got me thinking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What makes a treat only suitable for a certain age?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would assume nothing there would be &lt;em&gt;toxic&lt;/em&gt;, but perhaps something in the ingredients is hard to digest for a young stomach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10208" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T15:04:02.653" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T15:05:53.497" Title="What makes a treat only suitable for a certain age range?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19003" CreationDate="2017-12-05T22:30:39.287" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a fairly common problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would make a game out of fetching the ball. You basically want the dog to be in drive, have her fetch, take the ball away and get her to fetch again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do this by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build drive by getting her excited about the ball. My guess is that this should not be hard since she likes the ball. &lt;strong&gt;It is important that she is in drive, the more the better.&lt;/strong&gt; If you have to build drive, you can show her the ball, get excited about throwing the ball, fake throw the ball...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After she fetches, do get the ball back from her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But as soon as you do, build drive again and have her fetch again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat these 3 steps until she realizes that by giving up the ball she actually gets it again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are ready to stop the game, go ahead and let her have the ball for a while. Eventually, she'll learn that this game is more fun then just keeping the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10939" LastActivityDate="2017-12-05T22:30:39.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19012" CreationDate="2017-12-06T01:02:51.167" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat did something similar. When he was kitten, he would not mew at all or would kind of squeak or move his mouth as if he was trying to. When he noticed the positive effect of this, it encouraged him to continue and eventually, at around the age 2, he developed a mighty voice that knows no bounds. I believe that by conversing with your cat (which you could do in any language), they learned that you like a vocal relationship and they get more affection (and most importantly, attention!) by vocalizing back. It is very possible that the cat always could meow, but never saw a reason until he realized how advantageous it would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11019" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T01:02:51.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19048" CreationDate="2017-12-06T06:22:04.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen that before as well and couldn't find any significant reason that's directly obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only one I could come up with are indeed the ingredients: A puppy needs a different relative amount of calcium and phosphorus (more calcium) since the young dog's body won't be able to control the ratio as well as an adult dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T14:59:27.717" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T14:59:27.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19053" CreationDate="2017-12-06T12:46:32.687" Score="3" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to communicate with a cat? For example, telling it to do something or stopping it from getting into mischief? How can I understand what the cat is trying to tell me with the 'meows' it makes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T13:43:04.977" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T13:43:04.977" Title="How to communicate with a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19052" CreationDate="2017-12-06T13:08:45.553" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As regards interpreting your cat's meows my answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18822/what-is-this-street-cat-trying-to-ask-me-for/18823#18823&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is a good place to start (not that I'm biased or anything!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to you communicating your wishes to your cat this gets quite tricky, contrary to popular belief it &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; possible to train most cats to respond to commands. It's not as quick and easy as it is with dogs but it's not impossible. The most common and successful method is generally considered to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adventurecats.org/backcountry-basics/how-to-clicker-train-a-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;clicker training&lt;/a&gt; where you use a small device called a &quot;clicker&quot; that (as it's name implies) makes a small click sound when you press a button and you use clicks from it to mark when your cat performs the desired action followed with treats to ensure the cat knows that doing the requested action results in rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting that it's much easier to train cats to do positive things then it is to train them out of doing negative ones, they generally don't respond well to discipline from you and are much more likely to end up stressed out or afraid of you then they are to simply learn so creating negative connotations with an action - ideally ones that aren't seen to be coming from you directly is the best approach. There's lots of questions and useful answers on that subject here on Pets.SE already so I won't go into that here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T13:08:45.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19007" CreationDate="2017-12-06T15:54:04.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;CIchlids or Angelfish are aggressive because they are breeding or they are defending their territory. I suggest that you put the angelfish into another tank and add more angels with it and let the other fishes into a new tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Got a friend who is into Angels, most of his gourami and tetras are dead because of the Angels harassing them. In the end, his best move is to move the Angels to a new tank with different kinds of Angels and with multiple hiding spots for their territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10116" LastActivityDate="2017-12-06T15:54:04.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19371" CreationDate="2017-12-06T19:03:53.007" Score="6" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently performed some maintenance on my tank which required me to move all of my fish from one tank to another holding tank for a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most difficult part of this entire process was successfully capturing the fish before and after the maintenance. I figured I must be missing some kind of trick or technique which led me to ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to catch my fish with minimal stress for them?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used a few different techniques to &lt;em&gt;eventually&lt;/em&gt; catch them all but it took a while. The techniques I tried were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For anything with spikes / spines (Bristlenose Catfish, etc.) I used a jug to transport them in because I didn't want them to catch their spines in the net. On the whole, this worked well but would be harder with faster, smaller fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I used a largish net to catch the tetras (cardinal / rummy nose) and most were relatively easy with a bit of corralling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most difficult to catch were the Zebra Loaches which seemed both suitably fast and clever to completely outwit me. The net I used was almost as wide as the tank but they were seriously impressive in their evasion attempts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My primary concern is stressing the fish out&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't want to endlessly chase them around the tank because I don't think it does anyone involved any good. I deliberately caught the fish which is normally quite jumpy (Opaline Gourami) first, so I had the element of surprise. After a few fish had been taken out, the rest knew what was happening and upped their game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Additional Thoughts:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I could probably have drained more water out of the tank. It was still about 1 third full so there was room for them to evade me still.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I tried to balance 'sufficiently gentle' and 'fast enough' so maybe I need to go for more speed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T15:15:13.820" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T15:15:13.820" Title="How to efficiently catch my own fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19007" CreationDate="2017-12-06T19:24:06.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers have addressed the fact that the Angelfish can be aggressive so I won't go too much into that. They have a bit of a stigma in the hobby and are often very aggressive during breeding (whether successful or not), although this is also true with a lot of other fish too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing the pair may be the best option at this time. If you can't find someone who wants them, a lot of fish shops will be more than happy to take them back. Most of the time they are sold onto other people who may be better equipped to look after them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reference to your second question, your current stocking is not very limiting in terms of what you can get. As you correctly identified, you'll want to grab a few more tetras to stop the fighting for dominance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a peaceful community fish then Rainbow Fish, Gouramis (not dwarves as they are often sickly), Swordtails and Mollies are all great candidates. Even some of the larger tetras (such as Congo and Colombian) can be a really great addition to your tank. The ones I've listed are by no means an exhaustive list but these are ones which rarely cause problems in tanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, you're keeping these fish for you. If you're not that thrilled by the Angels, maybe it's time to change for something that you are really passionate about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-08T16:07:53.310" LastActivityDate="2017-12-08T16:07:53.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19047" CreationDate="2017-12-07T13:11:45.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know a lot about hedgehogs but any pet you have needs daily interaction or it will get back to being more like how it behaves in the wild, being afraid of people and predators, so it will try to defend itself against you because it is afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will probably take some time before the hedgehog starts to trust you fully. How long this might take depends on both you and your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suggest you do is get a notebook and write in it every day after playing with the hedgehog. Write down the progress of the hedgehog and include even the smallest little positive steps (you don't need to write a lot in it, just some notes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will soon see how far you and the hedgehog have come, and this can be really motivating for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T10:08:37.493" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T10:08:37.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-07T21:05:26.410" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two kittens from different litters.  They continually try to nurse off my (also not related) male adult cat.  Is this harmful to any involved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11064" LastActivityDate="2017-12-08T13:41:13.230" Title="Nursing kittens on adult male cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-12-08T13:36:29.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19060" CreationDate="2017-12-08T05:00:15.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume they are young and don't know what's what yet so I would not worry about it unless they stop nursing from their mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10939" LastActivityDate="2017-12-08T05:00:15.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-08T12:32:56.623" Score="7" ViewCount="2440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs. No idea of the breed, they're from a shelter. I live in a house with a relatively large garden, on the slope of a forested hill in the middle of town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The garden would be ideal because my dogs love to run a lot. Unfortunately as we live on a slope, the ground erodes from under the fence, leaving holes through which the dogs can leave the garden. Building a concrete foundation for the fence would be prohibitively expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The forested hill would be ideal too, our previous dogs loved to take long walks and there was no problem letting them off the leash, they would run around and return when called. These two though, they run off into the forest after 2 minutes and it is impossible to follow them. They do not return when called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they've disappeared, they usually return home after up to 8 hours of adventuring - chasing cats, entering and exploring other people's gardens, and eating huge amounts of waste food. The only method to teach them not to do this (that I know of) is violent punishment afterwards but it doesn't seem to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could I teach them to stay in the garden and stay close to me when walking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11069" LastActivityDate="2017-12-09T11:33:18.910" Title="How to teach my dogs not to wander on their own?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19063" CreationDate="2017-12-08T13:43:39.427" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Violent punishment is never a solution for dogs that run away. They combine the punishment with coming back and not with running away. (Violent punishment is never a solution at all!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only solution is to do basic dog training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start with obedience training with leash on. Train to watch you by command and to sit down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then lengthen the leash so that they can wander around for some meters. Train that they come to you closely and sit down next to you when you call them.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they do that perfectly start to let them off leash. Just one dog at once and don't let them run away for a long way. After some meters call them back to you and let them sit down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then extend the time where they can walk freely without being called back. When they obey perfectly, you can let them off leash together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-12-08T13:43:39.427" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-08T17:36:22.673" Score="3" ViewCount="3153" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should you do if your leopard gecko's tail is half way on and half way not on? Is it possible to prevent the tail from fully falling off? Can the tail reattach on its own by feeding her more and give her enough water? Shes only 3 months old and was born on 9-6-2017.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11076" LastEditorUserId="3263" LastEditDate="2018-01-08T12:25:08.647" LastActivityDate="2019-08-11T20:54:38.260" Title="What should you do, if your leopard gecko's tail is half fallen off?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19557" CreationDate="2017-12-08T23:30:15.983" Score="3" ViewCount="551" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that hamsters must be protected from injury due to accidental falls.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am starting to make DIY hamster toys out of cardboard, wood and Popsicle sticks.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that my hamster can comfortably climb onto his igloo (3 inches high) and can comfortably hop down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is a safe height?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How high can I make a second level?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At what height do I need to make little walls around a second level platform, to prevent the hamster from falling off the precipice?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen some DIY images that look terrifying, but maybe I'm interpreting the cautions too literally?  Here's an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hxkq4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hxkq4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Scary looking hamster edifice&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T17:28:48.837" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T22:14:06.093" Title="How high can an unprotected second level be in a hamster cage?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19063" CreationDate="2017-12-09T11:33:18.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There used to be - and probably still are - collars which the dogs wear. They are remotely connected to a device which sends signals out when the collar (thus dog) reaches a pre-set limit. This either makes the collar vibrate, sends out sounds, or produces a small electric shock, similar to a cattle fence, unharming. As soon as the dog is back  in its selected area, it ceases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm certainly not advocating hurting animals, but can see that this would be an effective way to stop the dogs straying. And, quite possibly, after a time, they would learn where the boundaries were, and not stray past them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As said earlier, unless the dog gets punishment at the scene of the crime, and immediately, it's ineffective - and probably so anyway. And what punishment, for how long, etc., etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11084" LastActivityDate="2017-12-09T11:33:18.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19069" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-09T15:56:24.480" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;We found 4 orphaned puppies which are 1-2 month old. We built a small home for them with water inside it. &#xA;During the time 9 pm- 7 am, no one can keep an eye on them and they wander around so we closed the entry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this okay? Will it be harmful? What else can we do? If they wander around, they will get lost or killed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T13:32:45.937" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T13:32:45.937" Title="Is it right to have puppies locked?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19080" CreationDate="2017-12-10T04:54:29.783" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (who is a street dog). Is a very active canine and frequently plays (read  shouts and jumps) at a lot of people frequently. Also he is used to night outs across the neighborhood (so the security guard and other dogs kind of hate him). But as of late my dog has become solitary and does rarely (read: not at all) venture out. I am worried about this because the dog was hale and healthy just two days ago but now whines at practically every touch and scarce interacts with anyone. Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastEditorUserId="9076" LastEditDate="2017-12-10T05:16:05.667" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T12:43:03.473" Title="An active dog suddenly started whining and staying at home for 24hrs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19098" CreationDate="2017-12-11T22:30:35.107" Score="8" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Pakistan, and we own a three months old Persian breed kitten. It had aggressive interactions with other feral cats who secretly sneaked into our house. I don't think that my cat was injured because I can't see any sign of any injury or bleeding. Moreover, there is no evidence that the cats that attacked my kitten were rabid. Cats fight with each other over places where food is available. However, I still would like to remove any risk of extremely horrible diseases like rabies. I am planning to visit a vet. But, since Pakistan is a third world country, I would like to get some advice from folks out there who live in western countries. I have the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do cats or other pets also get rabies immunoglobulin just like humans?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since I live in a third world country like Pakistan, how can I make sure that the rabies vaccination is not counterfeit? Is there any other way to find out rather than asking the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How many doses of anti-rabies vaccination would my cat get on the first visit to vet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should one trust government pet hospitals in third world countries like Pakistan?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11093" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2017-12-15T18:16:44.163" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T18:16:44.163" Title="Protecting my kitten against rabies after fighting with feral cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19069" CreationDate="2017-12-12T02:00:04.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as they stay in their small eclosure only at night they should be fine. Just realize that, depending on the breed, they will likely outgrow their enclosure pretty fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to find loving homes you can place them into as fast as you can as I doubt that you would want to keep 4 dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10939" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T02:00:04.987" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19069" CreationDate="2017-12-12T06:43:16.620" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may at least be more safe than the puppies wandering about alone. As you said you don't have an animal-shelter in your area, does anyone near you have a dog, perhaps even one who's had puppies before, or currently has any? If yes, bringing them together may be good for the socialisation of the puppies.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you can, also offer at least dry food over the day. Usually, I would say wet food would be better for the puppies, but from the impression I get, rodents and insects being drawn might be an issue if you leave out wet food. Dry food should cause less trouble in that area.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And, yes, I agree with user508439: find them a home as soon as you can, they NEED social contact and someone to teach them how to behave.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Best wishes to you and the puppies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T06:43:16.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16334" CreationDate="2017-12-12T10:37:03.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a highly interesting question. I have never trained a dog this and to be honest, I have never seen dogs who were able to do this. But I don't think that it is impossible. If I would try to do this, I started with the following steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train the dogs to come to you when you call them by name. Let them sit down in the same room, go some meters away and call each of them. The others have to stay sitting down while the called one comes to you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train them to bring you items. Train every dog seperately. Start with one item first (e.g. a ball). Throw it away and reward when the dog runs after it. Then start to reward only if the dog touches it. If it does it perfectly, start to call the dog after touching. Reward every step of the dog in your direction while carrying the item. At the end just reward the dog if he/she brings you the item. Use a command like &quot;bring ball&quot;. Then let the dog sit down, throw the item away, but it is not allowed to bring it until you send the dog.  Don't let the dogs wait too long at the beginning. Extend the time they have to wait before they are allowed to run. Always use the same item. That is important at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train them to bring a second item. Do the exact same steps as in 2 but use another command for this item.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train them to differentiate between the items. Let the dog sit down, throw both items, but send the dog for just one of it. If the dog is confused by this step, retry step 2 and 3. Throw the different items alternating and be careful with the right command. Retry to throw both items. If the dog does not understand you can throw both and send the dog to the wanted item. If it brings you the wrong one, point to the other one, send him/her and reward only when the dog brings you the right one. This step can take  long time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train to bring you a third item. If the dogs understood step 4, they will be able to learn this much easier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Train the dogs to push items with their nose. Take a treat in your hand and point with your hand to the item. Let the dog sniff at your hand. If he/she touches the item accidentely, immediatly reward them. Retry it. Start to use a command e.g. &quot;push&quot;. Don't use names for the items first. Then start to introduce names. Use the same items they know already the names for. It is possible that they mix the commands &quot;bring&quot; and &quot;push&quot; up at first. Be patient but consistent. Only go ahead if they really understand the difference. Now they know the names for items, and the commands &quot;bring&quot; and &quot;push&quot; and they are able to understand combinations of it. That is highly complex, so be proud of your dogs!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start to introduce the names of your dogs. Train with two dogs seperately. Let one dog sit down. This dog has nothing to do but sitting there (sometimes a challenging task). Take a treat in your hand, go with the other one in the near of the sitting dog, call his/her name, say &quot;push&quot; and the name of the sitting dog. Maybe they understand directly, but maybe not. Then touch the sitting dog at its back with your hand with the treat. Let the other dog sniff at your hand. If he/she touches the sitting dog, reward it. Don't forget to reward the sitting dog for sitting still. Increase the way the dog has to go before touching the other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start to call both dogs after one touches the other. Reward both when they come to you. Try to introduce the already known command &quot;bring&quot; for the combination &quot;touching + coming both&quot;. Increase the distance between the dogs. Be consistent. The dogs may try to shorten the task while the sitting dog starts to run before the other could touch it. Stop this behaviour by don't reward this and try it again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to practice situations, where the sitting dog does not see you, so he/she can't wait for your command, but have to react on the pushing of the other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start to train with multiple dogs at once. It depends on your motivation and the intelligence of your dogs, if they are able to bring just the exact dog you wanted and know another word for bringing all together or if they are &quot;only&quot; able to bring all dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a highly complex task! Not every dog is able to think about multiple steps. And it is likely that your dogs learn at a different speed. Be patient and calm all the time. Be creative in teaching them what you want. Don't want too much at once. Just increase slowly the training steps and be sure that they really understand the steps before. Be aware that this can take a long time. At least weeks up until to years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-20T10:29:49.453" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T10:29:49.453" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19072" CreationDate="2017-12-12T12:43:03.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whining at practically every touch indicates that he is in pain. The best would be to go for a vet. If there is no vet, you should watch your dog closely. Does he has any wounds? Does he walk in evenly rythm or does he limp? Are there any parts of his body swollen? Try to localize the source of the pain. Touch him at every part of his body. Start softly, increase slowly the pressure. If he is whining go to another part of his body. There should be some parts you can touch without producing pain. Localize the borders where he has pain and where not. If you recognize some health issues and there is absolutely no vet you can ask for help, try to keep your dog calm and every wound clean and hope that everything heals on its own. Ensure that he eats and drinks enough. Try to hinder him from wandering around until he is healthy. But if you can go to a vet, you really should do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is also possible that he is physically healthy but had some hard experience and got a trauma. Be calm and friendly with him and have patience. You will regain his trust after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there are countries where it is normal that dogs are roaming, but that is always a problem (e.g. health issues like hydrophobia). Not neutered and spayed dogs are reproducing and more roaming dogs without health care are produced. If you can afford it (and if it is not already done), you should let your dog be neutered, so that he can't produce puppies. If there are just three female dogs in his near and all of them get three surviving puppies each year, your dog produces 27 new roaming dogs in the next three years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T12:43:03.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19083" CreationDate="2017-12-12T14:29:43.747" Score="48" ViewCount="49741" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a beautiful Calico stray cat outside our house. We played with her one day and she just followed us home from about half a mile away. We've been feeding her every day since then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But every time I open the door to go in/come out of the house, this cat keeps trying to come in our house. She doesn't even want anything from us. She just wants to be in our house with us. It breaks our heart to put her outside, but we just cannot take her in right this minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd love some guidance on being able to bring this cat in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About the cat:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Girl Calico looks like about a year and a half old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She used to live in an abandoned house about half a mile from our house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The abandoned house has about 50 stray cats (NOT joking). Not a single one of them ever came to us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is so friendly, it makes me think she was once a domesticated cat thrown out of the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has long and SHARP claws.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She doesn't really know how to control her claws. She always pushes her claws out when playing with us. She climbs up our legs so rough, I have holes in my jeans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our problems with the cat coming in:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As I said, this cat lived with about 50 other cats. So she probably has fleas and ticks and whatever else there is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have a 16 month old who doesn't really know how to be nice to the cat. The cat is incredibly patient, but I am not trying to push it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have a 16 month old and we do not want to risk the baby getting ticks or fleas or something else from this cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We do not really have a lot of money to spare for the cat's health expenses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could I go to a department store or a pharmacy and pick something up that would clean the cat up all-around?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I HATE declawing and would not do it. Is there a less crueler process to make their claws not as sharp?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat's eyes always have some liquid leaking out of them. What could this be and what could I do regarding that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I am trying my best to bring this cat inside my house given the temperatures are dropping severely outside. She is cold. She wants to be in our house more than anything. I just need to get things straightened out first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note 2:&lt;/strong&gt; I know she NEEDS to go to the vet, we are just a bit financially tight for the time being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11096" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T14:37:36.430" Title="Overly friendly stray cat wants to come in our house" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-12T15:01:26.033" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;My comment extended itself as it was written.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, to help with at least part of the issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anti-flea-treatments are available in most pet-stores, and easy to apply.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You CAN trim the claws without declawing the cat. There are special trimmers for just that, and it should help with the issue.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For external parasites, you may be able to give the cat a bath, so pick up a shampoo for getting rid of those.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it seems you are willing to pay for a vet, but are currently just not able to go the whole mile for a whole check-up, parasite-treatment, possibly vaccinations. Many vets will accept you to pay off the treatment over several months. Just ask, worst case is they say no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is one lucky cat that found you :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T15:01:26.033" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-12T15:40:32.967" Score="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your concern for the little homeless kitty. While it's very likely the cat has fleas and intestinal parasites, the good news is cat fleas do not feed on humans. I used to rescue dirty, sad, abandoned cats and never once was bitten by a flea or any other skin parasite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treating the fleas is best done with a medicine applied to the back of the neck in my opinion. Advantage II is an example of this. These can be pricey at around $40 or $50. The flea collars are cheaper but be aware you cat will be wearing a potent poison around its neck. This is not good for cats, people who pet them, or babies in the house. If you go the flea collar route, just keep the cat away from the baby and wash your hands after handling the cat. Naturally, don't touch the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fleas are not good for the cat, but it is unlikely they will cause your cat any serious harm if you have to wait a while before treating the fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want to clean the cat up, Vet's Best No-Rinse Clean Waterless Cat Shampoo is about $5 on Amazon and very easy to use, and involves no potentially traumatic (for both owner and cat) baths in the sink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative to declawing is manually clipping your cat's nails. This requires some finesse, technique, and getting your cat used to the process, but it is not too difficult. There are also glue-one cat nail covers (think fake nails for cats), but they are a costlier solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the cat's eyes go, what you describe sounds like an eye infection. These are very common in strays and feral cats. You can try gently dabbing the eyes with a moistened cotton ball to remove any liquids or dried-on exudate. If the liquid is yellowish, greenish, or brownish, it may be a bacterial infection. This may clear up on its own or may require a topical antibiotic ointment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good vet will get you a broad spectrum ointment without you having to make a more costly office visit. Also, some stores will sell animal antibiotics over the counter. Terramycin is a good one. Do not use antibiotics sold for human use on a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is while you may not be able to perfectly care for the cat, and your baby may be a little rough with the cat, the cat will be much better off just living in your house, under your care and protection, getting regular meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The average life expectancy for a feral cat is about 4 years. Under your care she can live 4 or 5 times this or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-08T14:36:35.827" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T14:36:35.827" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19076" CreationDate="2017-12-12T19:33:36.353" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is just one shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should get the shot for the kitten immediately and then quarantine the kitten in a large box or cage. Arrange it so you can feed the kitten and change litter without touching the kitten. Don't tell the vet about the feral interaction or the vet might want to seize the kitten to murder it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the kitten has rabies, it will start acting strangely in 1-2 weeks. In the unlikely event that happens, YOU will need to get shots immediately. If 3 weeks pass and the kitten is still normal, then everything is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T19:33:36.353" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-12T19:48:05.653" Score="4" ViewCount="794" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently, boar pigs need their bits maintained &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guineapigtoday.com/2012/07/09/tips-your-male-guinea-pigs-routine-boar-cleanings/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;every three weeks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do they do in the wild?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boar-care-bits-bums-baths.135661/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boar-care-bits-bums-baths.135661/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11102" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T14:45:56.103" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T22:33:01.603" Title="Why do you need to clean a boar guinea pig's genitals?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19087" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-12T20:06:47.993" Score="3" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I house a leopard gecko with one that has lost her tail? I have a 30 gallon long tank that she’s currently in and there’s 3 hides so there’s lots of space to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11104" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T14:45:34.883" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T14:54:23.927" Title="Leopard geckos being housed together" Tags="&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13656" CreationDate="2017-12-12T20:10:13.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should separate the two of them into different tanks and if you need them to eventually share a tank then keep trying to introduce them in a mutual environment so there’s no territorial issues until they get used to each other and start liking each other. Then sl&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11104" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T20:10:13.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19096" CreationDate="2017-12-12T20:43:55.110" Score="4" ViewCount="1159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently we have purchased a dog door to allow our dog to go in and out of his own accord - however, although he will go out of the door to investigate noises he will not come back inside until someone comes out and “allows” him in; I’m not sure how to train him to know that going in and out of the door on his own is okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He can use the doggy door no problem, the issue is he will sit outside and wait for permission to go back in. We have only had this door for a few days - I have shown him how to use the door and rewarded him for coming through both ways, however when I put his bowl with food inside (after showing him I was doing so) then walked away whilst he was outside, he showed interest of coming in but seemed afraid to do so without getting permission. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be appreciated, I am afraid that he will go outside on a cold night while we are asleep and think he is stuck outside (cannot lock this doggy door due to shape of door).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11105" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T13:39:04.440" LastActivityDate="2019-01-05T17:18:02.587" Title="Dog door training: he will go out but won’t come back in!" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-12T21:25:55.643" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are fortunate, there may be a charity near you that will help you take care of the cat and/or find it a permanent home. For example, I know that Chicago, Illinois has an organization called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.crispchicago.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CRISP&lt;/a&gt; that does just that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is probably worth looking around to see if there is anybody in your community who can help you take care of this cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2017-12-12T21:25:55.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19093" CreationDate="2017-12-12T22:21:03.643" Score="7" ViewCount="17376" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the day, my cat loves to jump on my bed to groom himself there or have a nice nap. But I don't like that, because I don't like cat hair on my bed, and also as he is free to go out, he brings in some dirt on his feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time that he does jump on my bed, I rush to take him off and make some kind of threatening sound like &amp;quot;heeeyyy&amp;quot;, but this does not prevent him from doing that again as soon as I'm not paying attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I‌ have put soft cushions spots around the room, but he is uninterested. His favorite spot remains to be the bed. His next best favorite spot is my desk's chair, but that is usually occupied by myself during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So wondering, what are some simple and humane solutions to dissuade him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11107" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T20:07:46.207" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T20:10:16.863" Title="How to dissuade my cat from jumping on my bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-13T00:01:36.420" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A note about the eye discharge, if its red/brown, and eventually crusts it very well might be feline herpes (FVR). This is NOT related to human herpes and cats can only transmit it to other cats.  If she is sneezing a lot, or her eyes are red, a course of antibiotic eyedrops will get her over the worst, but it may come back someday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look into CareCredit if you think you want/need to put more money out than you have on hand, but are okay paying over time. Its a low interest line of credit made for use at doctors and dentists, but many vets have started accepting it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can learn to trim her claws, but as a feral/rescue it'll take some time of you playing with her and handling her paws that she will let you, but most vets will offer to trim the claws for you for a small fee. This might be worth it the first couple of times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your new family member!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11109" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T00:01:36.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19091" CreationDate="2017-12-13T01:10:26.880" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats like their comfort, so this is a tricky one. Also, they don't respond well to negative training, since they are not pack animals. In this regard, they are as crafty as old men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could cover your bed with something, e.g. chairs, to make it less inviting, or you could put something on it that your cat knows that it's OK to sleep on. My cat uses an old gardening jacket that I have provided. Generally, he stays on it (see photo). Oddly enough, cat hairs are not much of a problem, since he is very fastidious about grooming himself, and I normally groom him when he comes for a cuddle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a cat bed that hangs on my radiator, and is comfortably off the floor (and nice and warm when the central heating is on). He seems to like being near me during the day, and to be able to sleep off the floor. Shelves are also good places for cat snoozes, providing they are accessible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking about it a little more: my old gardening jacket does get dirty and needs washing regularly, but it attracts few cat hairs. However, a cotton winceyette blanket that he also sleeps on &lt;strong&gt;does&lt;/strong&gt; attract a lot of hairs, so it very much depends on the type of material that you use. The jacket has a fairly loose &quot;twill&quot; weave, if that is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ra02e.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ra02e.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KijdW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KijdW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canac Cat Radiator Bed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T17:43:44.500" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T17:43:44.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-13T02:31:08.320" Score="4" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to adopt an outdoor cat, but my herding dog is aggressive toward cats on our walks. I am not sure if he will get along with one as a family member. I don't want to bring an adopted cat into a hostile environment.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11110" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T16:22:40.730" Title="Getting my dog ready to Adopt a new cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19089" CreationDate="2017-12-13T06:09:01.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your concernes about the cold nights are understandable. Maybe you could use other things for blocking the door. E.g. a box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a game out of this doggy door. Throw a ball outside and your dog has to bring it back. Always reward him when coming in. Try to throw the ball as soon as possible again, so that there is some speed in this game and your dog can be so into it that he forgets the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you think that he is asking for permission, it could also be that he knows how to come in but is a little bit afraid of using the door. When he goes out, outside it is bright and he can see if there is something behind the door. When he comes in, it is darker, he sees not so well first and there is less space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always be calm, friendly and rewarding. Have patience. He will learn it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T06:09:01.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19091" CreationDate="2017-12-13T07:28:32.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats normally avoid a very soft resting area. A harder resting area is better and feels safer for a cat (from a cat's view).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to get a cat bed with a firmer surface and put your used T-shirt on it. Your cat will love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason for your cat jumping onto your bed is that it smells of you and this attracts the cat. This reaction is the same as when you come home. It rubs against you to mark you and exchange smells. Your cat has positive feelings about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The T-shirt trick does work -- just think about this. Cats do often rest in laundry baskets because they smell of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might not avoid the cat jumping into your bed from time to time, but it will do this less often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another trick I use to avoid fur in my bed is to fold up a towel and put this on my bed. My cat lies on this and not on the rest of my bed (it is best to use an old hard towel and not a new soft one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T20:10:16.863" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T20:10:16.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19076" CreationDate="2017-12-13T09:21:00.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's start with a westerners view of protecting pets from diseases. That means vaccination in the first place. And not only for rabies. And de-worming &amp;amp; anti-lice treatment second. And lastly, neutering / spraying if you don't want to breed with your kitten. Seriously, neutering / spraying is important! But do be aware that you will have to use your own digression on what to spent money on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/vaccines.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vet.Cornell (University)&lt;/a&gt; looks to have a good overview on vaccines. From this list, I think my cats have at least these 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feline Herpesvirus and Feline Calicivirus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feline Leukemia Virus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of, go to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia page on rabies&lt;/a&gt;. This will tell you a lot on this disease. The WHO has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.who.int/rabies/resources/SEA_CD_278_FAQs_Rabies.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF on Rabies.&lt;/a&gt; I could not (easily) find treatment for pets with Rabies. Prevention was mentioned. So for now, if your cat already has &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-a-Cat-Has-Rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;it, it's dead&lt;/a&gt;. So, let's get it vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you find yourself in Pakistan. The good: you have pet clinics. The bad: you don't seem to trust them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way around that is to ask around, what are the experiences of other people? Are the people running the local pet clinic trustworthy? You probably got your kitten from a breeder, he / she will know a good vet. And the vet will know the dosage needed. Use Google, but be aware that reviews can be spoofed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you might be able to import the vaccines you need. But I could not find a source on that in short order. Amazon does not carry them. And your trust problem remains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T10:06:11.700" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T10:06:11.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-13T09:51:51.510" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm posting on behalf of my mum who is looking for some advice with her 8 year old Border Collie, Jess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past 18 months, Jess has shown some pretty erratic behaviour when it comes to drinking and peeing. She constantly seeks water and will drink continuously until either there is none left or the source is removed. If the source is removed, she will actively seek more water (puddles) where she can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When out on a walk, it seems like every 30 seconds she will pee or attempt to have a pee - obviously the more water consumed, the more peeing she will need to do. On a short 10 minute walk, for example, she may pee 20 or 30 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 6 months ago, the vet diagnosed Cushings and a prescription was given for this. The first 4/5 weeks showed some improvements in her drinking/peeing behaviour but recently, having increased the dosage as recommended by the vets, it is now having no effect whatsoever. My mum is considering taking her off the medication altogether due to the fact that it is now having little effect and the fact that the medication is costly (she's retired and has only a small pension).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is entirely possible to get a second opinion from another vet but its a pretty costly exercise but I have heard on the grapevine that the present vet has made diagnosis mistakes in the past. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of this appears to be causing Jess any harm or discomfort and she's a perfectly happy dog but something just isn't sitting right. Jess also has a large lump which has developed just off-centre on her back - this is all fluid, has been tested by the vet and contains nothing nasty. The vet has categorically said that they will not remove this lump due to a heart murmur, as they won't risk any potential issues with the anaesthetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had any similar experiences with this or could offer any advice please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11071" LastActivityDate="2018-01-12T10:51:13.003" Title="Dog Drinking and Peeing Habits - Cushings?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19099" CreationDate="2017-12-13T10:06:09.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I definitely wouldn't be ignoring this - going back the vet that made the initial diagnosis or another if you lack confidence in them is the only real course of action here. The increased thirst and urination are among the symptoms for Cushings but there are other potential causes as well, either way it's definitely indicative of a an underlying medical problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your mother's financial situation she may be able to get help with the bills, you don't specify a country but there's information on how to go about this for some countries here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options&quot;&gt;I can&amp;#39;t afford vet treatment, what are my options?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T10:06:09.143" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19091" CreationDate="2017-12-13T14:08:47.630" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the best path is protection. A fitted sheet can be used on top of the bed, when the cat might have unsupervised access to the bed (new or gently used). This will keep the bed clean when you are not watching.  It is easy to put on and take off, as well as quick and easy to wash and dry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T14:08:47.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-13T15:06:55.413" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you get too far, it's just worth checking that the cat isn't microchipped.  Any vet or animal shelter should be able to do this, and (in the UK) I wouldn't expect to be charged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say it appears to have been a pet in the past; it could well be a long-lost pet, and the chip may help it to be reunited with its previous humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9693" LastEditorUserId="9693" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T09:47:30.467" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T09:47:30.467" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-13T19:31:54.667" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle fell off from the 5th floor. She was bleeding from her mouth for two days but then stopped. I saw her opening her mouth and I could not see any injured mark. The local vet she is fine, the bleeding was due to shock and that for 3-4 days she won't eat anything. I am a little worried. She is swimming and excreting as well. Kindly, let me know if anyone else has the same experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11120" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T19:31:54.667" Title="Turtle stopped eating food post accident" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-12-14T09:54:14.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-13T19:35:15.003" Score="6" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are Koalas allowed and realistically viable as pets in the EU (Ireland)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many reasons speak for them as good pets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they are cute.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they appear to be clean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they dont make noise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they are also cute.  Who wouldnt want to hug one everyday?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11125" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T21:08:10.450" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T17:33:06.313" Title="Koalas as pets in the EU" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-13T19:40:20.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a lot of experience with dogs, less so with cats.  But if the cat wants to be with you, I would suggest you let her in, and carefully clip back her claws.  If she lets you do this without shredding you, then you have a bond of trust established.  For dogs, that is key.  Probably same with cats, but each animal is different.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had two dogs, and found a stray or ran-away, very young puppy in my forest at my farm.  The puppy was a mess - but she was crazy smart and healthy. She required a couple of vet visits for de-worming pills and for rabies shots.  You &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; get rabies shots for the cat if you let her it, if you are in North America, as rabies is everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our pup had ticks and worms.  The de-worming pills will kill the worms, and you can get bug-kill collars that will destroy the ticks.  You should comb her fur to remove any other stuff (plant burrs, dirt, old scabs, etc.).  I am not a doctor, but I think that exposure to animals and natural, outdoor environmental agents - even if they cause issues - can be very helpful in preventing illness.  There are studies that support this assertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat does present risk to the child - but she may also confer benefits, which may outweigh the risks.  Our &quot;bush-puppy&quot; has brought great benefit to us all.  She acts like a &quot;Momma Dog&quot;, to keep our two male dogs from fighting, and is a dilligent watchdog and companion.  Your cat-friend has made a deliberate choice, and you might find that she brings benefits to the family that may well outweigh the costs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phone around and get several quotes from vets, and find one that is cost-efficient. We use a vet that is connected with a local vet collage.  They have student-vets, who are good, and their fees are low  (so they are always busy).  You need to make sure the cat gets basic shots and has access to someone with skills, in case an injury happens or something complicated goes wrong.  If you let her in, first and foremost, show her where the litter-box is, and if she pees or poops somewhere she shouldn't, pick her up and put her in the litter box.  She will figure out quickly that that is the place where she has to do her poop.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will probably need to get her fixed also.  We tried &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; fixing our little pup, but after a couple of &quot;heats&quot; that was not an option.  Again, phone around for quotes.  For spaying dogs, the cost is all over the place - from $1000 at a premium small-animal vet, to $85 at a special SPCA clinic in another town, about an hour's drive away.  I opted for the clinic, where they would do many dogs in one day.  I suspect you can find the same arrangement for cats - as a female cat in heat will draw toms from all around - plus she will make an awful noise, like a baby crying loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you don't have to accept the high-price vets - call your local animal shelter, and find out who they use.  They might even be able to put you onto a clinic, where the cost is often much lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having the cat (like with any pet), won't be zero cost.  But you will probably find that the benefits are much greater.  As I type this, my oldest dog (a small Jack Russel) is asleep on my lap.  He has been a dear friend, and helpful companion.  Your cat will probably be the same, especially as it sounds like she has already made the choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11126" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T19:40:20.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19105" CreationDate="2017-12-13T21:11:44.997" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Australian Koala Foundation &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.savethekoala.com/about-us/about&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;calls themselves&lt;/a&gt; &quot;the principal non-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to the conservation and effective management of the wild koala and its habitat&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/frequently-asked-questions-1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;They state&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No, it is not permitted anywhere in the world. It is illegal to have a&#xA;  Koala as a pet anywhere, even in Australia. The only people who are&#xA;  permitted to have a Koala in their possession besides suitably&#xA;  authorised zoos are, occasionally, scientists, and the people who are&#xA;  taking care of sick or injured Koalas or orphaned joeys. These people&#xA;  must have a special permit from wildlife authorities to do this work&#xA;  and the carers must return the animals to the wild as soon as they are&#xA;  well enough or, in the case of joeys, old enough, to take care of&#xA;  themselves. Because of Koalas’ unique physiological and dietary needs,&#xA;  it is a specialised job to take care of them and requires training&#xA;  from people who have experience in doing it. Koalas are wild animals.&#xA;  Don’t you think they are better off in the wild eucalyptus forests&#xA;  that are their natural home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T21:11:44.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-13T21:55:35.953" Score="3" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard someone assert that claw caps (like Softpaws) can cause infections, but I've used them for several years without any issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the risk of infection? Are there any ways to eliminate/reduce the risk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T23:05:08.087" Title="Can claw caps (like Softpaws) cause infections?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19137" CreationDate="2017-12-13T22:12:33.540" Score="7" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for input from experienced Gecko keepers that have cared for Geckos with MBD or impaction so we know what to watch and be prepared for with our new adopted Leopard Geckos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Good&lt;/strong&gt; Both look visually healthy(plump tail, clear eyes, posture and skin looks good in pics). Owners were adults who fed, cleaned tank and handled them 2-3+ times per week and really tried to do the right thing with limited knowledge. They say they have never been sick ( no runny poop, lethargy, mobility issues, cloudy eyes or poor appetite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Bad:&lt;/strong&gt; they were never given calcium and half the 20 gallon tank is sand (not always reptile sand). Help!  They seem healthy now but we are preparing for possible health issues(MBD or impaction) based on their history. What do we need to watch for, plan for and is there anything we can proactively do? If they stay healthy for a certain amount of time are they still at risk for either later in their lives?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Other&lt;/strong&gt; They don't know the temp they were incubated so genders aren't known yet, no signs of aggression to each other(we'll separate them if they are both males or if there is any sign of an issue)   Question?:If they are male/female should we separate them until they are a little older? We are OK with babies and have a lay box and are prepped for that but I'm not sure if they are too young or if we should avoid letting them bred because of the other potential health issues. Input?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Their History:&lt;/strong&gt; They are 7-8 months, found on craigslist, originally bought from Big Pet store (can I say the name?) as small juveniles and owners were not given care instructions and salesperson couldn't answer any questions. They set them up with mealworms, water bowl, sand, 1 hide, astroturf and a basking light and rock and gave no warning that if they ended up both being males that they should plan to separate them :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our History:&lt;/strong&gt; Our family, primarily my teenage son (&quot;the reptile whisperer&quot;), were educated by a reputable local reptile guy on Skink &amp;amp; Gecko husbandry and have a couple very healthy thriving Leos right now but working with ones that may have issues is new to us.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here's what we do with ours:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Tanks:&lt;/strong&gt; 10gallon for 1 Gecko, 20gallon for (2)Geckos (2 females or male and female if they get along and are healthy). Substrate we use is usually ECO earth coconut fiber or kitchen roll. Primary heat (Undertank Pad covers about 40% of tank) and we have low heat lamp(not a basking lamp!) that we rarely use - only if the tank temps are off between hot and cold side. 3 hides: 2 warm/hot (one moist) and one cold, water bowl, small bowl with a little calcium(most of the time), light controlled to promote good sleep cycles, temps on both side of the tank monitored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&amp;amp;care:&lt;/strong&gt; Fed gut-loaded crickets daily or every other day, dusted with calcium w/D3 2-3+ times per week, infrequently a Hornworm treat, and tank cleaned frequently. Moist hide and water are checked every other day. Handled 3 -5 days per week - very bonded and comfortable. Son weighs them every couple weeks sometimes more frequent when they were younger. He also makes sure if there are (2) in the tank that both are eating - when younger he separated them to eat: one was a faster hunter (not aggressive just faster).  He also has needed to help one of our females get extra shed off occasionally if she doesn't get it all after a couple days - I'm amazed she totally lets him help with no squirming and she's usually very active its like she totally gets it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow-up questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is Egg binding?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have any idea if a radiograph is common and whether it's really expensive?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We are planning on taking them to our reptile guy but just wondering what kind of cost to expect ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What about the possibility of impaction from the sand?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there anything proactive and not too invasive we can do to help reduce the possibility ? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11123" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-12-16T01:06:50.527" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T13:05:23.603" Title="Adopting (rescuing) a pair of Big pet store Leopard Geckos that were raised by uninformed - Help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-13T22:38:28.590" Score="1" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has troubles at night. She doesn't go to bed easily. Sometimes I carry her to her bed, and she tries to run off. I then pick her up again and bring her back, at which point she tries to run off again. I grab her mid-body and pull her back. She just stops and looks at me really upset. She then starts to scratch her bed before lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel really bad about pulling her back. I hope I'm not hurting her. It saddens me when she stops trying to run off and just stares at me or looks down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise me on the best way to get her into bed without forcing her (she sleeps in a closed room with me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11127" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T18:54:50.517" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T18:54:50.517" Title="Pulling my cat back to bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19105" CreationDate="2017-12-13T22:54:24.750" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, koalas are not good pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas can be aggressive.  They have very long, sharp,  and strong claws for climbing trees, and can bite. Koalas can do enough damage to send you to the hospital. (Warning for graphic images of koala inflicted injury. I'm not joking, it's pretty gruesome.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2862089/Looks-deceiving-South-Australian-woman-finds-cuddly-koala-turn-nasty-annoy-enough.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2862089/Looks-deceiving-South-Australian-woman-finds-cuddly-koala-turn-nasty-annoy-enough.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas can sleep for twenty two hours a day. Not a very interesting pet if it's always asleep.  They're also nocturnal. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas have a very particular diet of only a few species of eucalyptus trees. Have fun trying to figure out how to feed it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas spend their days climbing trees. It'd probably be impossible to make them an appropriate enclosure inside a private home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas are known for carrying chlamydia. No, really. It's a different strain from the human version, but you can still catch it if you're exposed to an infected koala' s urine.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160211-half-of-australias-koalas-now-have-chlamydia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160211-half-of-australias-koalas-now-have-chlamydia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas are raised by eating their mother's special excrement known as pap. Do you still think they are clean animals now? &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/life-cycle-koala&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/life-cycle-koala&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas, I believe, are like many other tree dwelling animals in that they do not leave the tree to eliminate. Look out below! &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/do-koalas-poop-while-dangling-from-the-tree-or-do-they-come-down-and-dig-a-hole.454917266/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/do-koalas-poop-while-dangling-from-the-tree-or-do-they-come-down-and-dig-a-hole.454917266/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas have very small,  primitive brains for a mammal of their size, from Wikipedia:  &quot;The koala has one of the smallest brains in proportion to body weight of any mammal, being 60% smaller than that of a typical diprotodont, weighing only 19.2 g (0.68 oz). ... The koala's small brain size may be an adaptation to the energy restrictions imposed by its diet, which is insufficient to sustain a larger brain.&quot;. Their brains are also smooth unlike the traditional wrinkled brain you normally think of, another indication they aren't exactly the brightest animals. I expect that would not make them easy to train.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Koalas do make noise. Imagine waking up to this at night: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ynSiIFxV1KE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/ynSiIFxV1KE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of all these numerous things that make them undesirable as pets, there is also the fact that is by my understanding illegal to keep them as a pet, and Australia heavily controls their export. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2017-12-13T23:23:23.330" LastActivityDate="2017-12-13T23:23:23.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-14T05:22:04.447" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a cat is fully grown (around 8 months) you can't tell its age by its appearance. She could be one or ten and look the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presuming the cat doesn't have an owner who is missing her, it would be great if you could provide a loving home for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Claws&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Claws are a natural part of a cat. They have no idea that they can hurt people with them. To a cat, their claws are simply a way of grabbing things. Be patient! Don't get her declawed. Declawing amputates each finger/toe at the last digit, cruelly mutilating the cat. I believe this practice is illegal in Australia and if it is an option in your country, I advise you on behalf of your cat, not to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smaller she is, the sharper her claws will be. However, larger cats are more powerful, so can still create unintentional damage. If she will be inside most of the time, get her a scratching post. You can also get a claw trimmer that snips the sharp part of the claws off. Some cats tolerate this very well. Other cats freak out. Don't trim the claws too far back or you will hurt her and draw blood. Avoid the pink area (living tissue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you trim her claws, she will still need to scratch, whether it's outside on trees or inside on a scratching post (or your furniture, if you don't provide a scratching post!). Scratching removes the outer layer of the claw when it has become loose, revealing a fresh, sharper claw underneath. The fresh claw gradually bluntens as the cat goes about her business until another one is ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Behaviour&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to apply some cat psychology. Why is she climbing up your leg? One of my cats does this when she wants a cuddle (and she won't take no for an answer!) One of my mother's cats used to do this when he wanted food (human or cat!) My mother initially thought it was cute until he started hurting her on a regular basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually wear jeans, so the claws don't hurt me, but they do pull threads on my clothes, which I'd rather they didn't. You might need to wear thicker pants while trying to discourage her from climbing up you. This will take time, and she will most likely never stop doing it completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats learn how to play as kittens. Humans will either teach them to play rough (claws out, attack immediately) or gentle (claws mostly in, no attacking). The trick is not to encourage attacking behaviour, and not to sharply withdraw your hand if attacked (this takes some doing!). If you withdraw your hand, that become part of the game, and she will enjoy &quot;winning&quot; by catching your hand, unintentionally scratching you at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she starts attacking you gently and you can bear it, leave your hand completely motionless and limp. This quickly becomes boring for her (she wants a reaction) and if you're lucky she will learn not to attack you in play. With all of my three cats, I can quickly reach down and rub their tummies when they're on their back without fear of attack! Some other cats would instantly attack, but this is mostly a learnt behaviour, not instinctive. The more she trusts you to do this and she enjoys it, the less likely she is to use her claws on you, even in play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Parasites&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many treatments on the market. Some you can get from a vet, some from a pet store. While they are expensive initially, they usually have multiple doses, so the cost is spread over many months. This doesn't help if you have very little money right now, however!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas prefer cats and dogs, but will bite humans if they can't find a furry host. Flea bites are painful. I know from personal experience! Fleas are remarkable little creatures with many survival strategies. If she does have fleas and you have carpet, depending on the season you might already have flea eggs in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flea eggs can survive for six months and are usually dormant over winter, so you will need to keep an eye on the situation. Vacuuming is a good way of getting rid of most of the eggs, the trouble is that you don't know where they are so you have to be very thorough. Even so, you might miss spots that fleas can get to and you can't. If she goes outside at all, you will need to keep treating her for fleas. My cats got fleas from a lost kitten that I rescued (before I found its home) and it took me two years to get them completely flea-free again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get free local advice at a pet store, although a vet might give you better information (depends both on the pet store and the vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Liquid discharge from eyes&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eye infections are very common in cats. Some are serious, some are less so. It could clear up by itself, or it could need treatment. She needs to be examined by a vet to determine the best course of action. Some treatments are effectively free in the less serious cases, using things you already have in your house. She might need medicine. Only a vet can advise you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Baby&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't let the cat have unsupervised access to the baby, for both of their sakes. Cats are generally good with babies, recognising that they are infants, and not fully rational. Growing up, we had the nastiest cat ever. He would not hesitate to bite you or attack you at the slightest provocation. However, he never hurt a baby, no matter how much he was provoked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this cat has some trauma, she might have triggers that your baby (or you) set off accidentally. It might take months before she gets triggered, or she might be mentally healthy and it's not a problem. She's more likely to get triggered as you all get more comfortable, and you accidentally do something innocuous you think she'd be fine with, but she reacts badly. Or she doesn't have any triggers. Only time will tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats (an ex-stray) didn't like me touching her head for the first couple of years (some unknown previous trauma), but now I have her trust and she loves it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Sterilisation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure she's sterilised. If she's already been done, then you know she's come from someone's home, which seems likely considering how friendly you've described her. Obviously, only a vet can do this for you and you don't want her to have a litter (or multiple litters) of kittens that you have to find homes for, so it's another reason for getting her to a vet sooner rather than later. Vets in Australia won't desex a pregnant cat but your country might differ (not advised).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Costs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If things go well, she will become part of your family. If your baby was sick, would you wait until you could afford treatment to take it to the doctor? Look into ways the cat can get treatment now, before any undiagnosed issues become serious. As mentioned in the comments, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18810/3252&quot;&gt;I can&amp;#39;t afford vet treatment, what are my options?&lt;/a&gt; might be able to help you. Long term, owning cats has been quite affordable for me. I guess food would be AU$20 per month, preventative treatments AU$10 per month, plus annual health checks and the occasional sickness (one per three cats per year).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! She sounds adorable and quite lucky to find a family who is willing to take her in. I hope she is a furry bundle of joy for you for many years to come!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T05:22:04.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-14T06:43:18.183" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 25 gallon tank last week i had bought a new heater with thermostat. It is 150 watts but the water seems not to be heating. My Blue Line Shark has Ich so I raised the temperature to 32 degrees Celsius immediately. Can that also cause this problem after putting it in the tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11129" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T09:45:41.497" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T08:01:50.560" Title="Heater problem in my 25gallon tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-14T08:00:52.783" Score="5" ViewCount="4442" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a new kitten, 7 weeks old. He has been in the house for about 2-3 days and has gone pee multiple times and pooped once. He is litter trained, but he has been chewing on litter. I am unsure if he has been swallowing this litter and how often he chews on it. I cannot see a vet until next month. When should I be worried about this litter blocking his system? Is this a common or does this easily occur with a few grains? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-15T18:43:46.667" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T18:43:46.667" Title="Kitten eating clumping litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19114" CreationDate="2017-12-14T09:18:49.650" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not unusual for kittens to chew on litter - especially if teething (as Mick referred to in his comment). Try providing him with easy access to something else to chew on (you can get chewy kitten &quot;treats&quot; designed for just this) and in the meantime I'd change the litter to a non-clumping variety immediately - even if he is not trying to &quot;eat&quot; the litter there remains a risk that he will swallow some and clumping litter can be quite harmful if swallowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T09:18:49.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19114" CreationDate="2017-12-14T09:24:26.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents dogs (which are litter trained) did that, too. So we changed the kind of the litter. We found a brand they did not eat, so everything is fine know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating litter is something you should worry about, especially when it is clumping litter, because it can block his system. This depends on how much he is eating. So you should observe him until you found a brand you are sure he is not eating, and stop him whenever you see him chewing on the litter. A small amount should not be harmful, so don't panic, but watch him carefully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he eat and drink enough? Is he active? Has he alternatives to chew on and enough to eat? If you see any changes in his behavior, e.g. he is calmer and stops  eating and drinking, than you have to go immediately to the vet. But if he is acting fine, you should not worry too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T09:24:26.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19113" CreationDate="2017-12-14T10:06:22.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;what is the ambient temperature in the room? try setting the heater a few degrees higher and see if that helps. In case the ambient temperature is low, the heater might not be able to help much. A higher wattage heater may help. Also bear in mind that a heater will cause loads of tank water to evaporate, which may need frequent replenishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T10:06:22.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19110" CreationDate="2017-12-14T10:32:16.890" Score="14" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Stop trying to force your cat to go to bed.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats sleep a lot more than us humans do. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Behavior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; up to 20 hours a day. And they sleep differently as well in that they are prey animals in the wild and will sleep lightly. And you cannot tell you cat when to sleep. Or where to sleep. They have mind of their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with food and toilet needs, they do their own thing. They &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; to do their own thing, as they are not herd animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads to: &lt;strong&gt;let your cat sleep when it wants, not when you want it&lt;/strong&gt;. And keep in mind that she will need to use the cat litter and would like to drink a bit and eat a little mid night snack as well. So if you want your cat to sleep in the same room as you, make sure she has access to the things she needs: cat litter, water &amp;amp; food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T18:50:25.563" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T18:50:25.563" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19276" CreationDate="2017-12-14T14:01:24.890" Score="8" ViewCount="14757" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 9 year old cavvie with congestive heart failure was just put on furosemide after a bit of a scare where his chest and abdomen had quite a lot of fluid built up (approximately 20 fl. oz. / 1.2 liters). He's back to his svelte self and he's very bouncy, chipper and affectionate. It's like the dial has been turned back - a lot of the things I had chalked up to him being an older dog is more rightly attributed to the buildup. If it wasn't for his heart condition, he'd be in perfect health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now it's alleviated, and he's been on pimobendan and enalipril with hydrocodone for his cough when it gets bad for about 2 years. He's been on furosemide for a little under a week at 50mg twice a day. My dog is ~25 lbs (around 11 kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The issue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His elimination schedule is intense and frequent. I go home from work for lunch every day to check on him, so the impact to my schedule is minimal. He's had an accident on the couch every day so far. I don't mind cleaning it up (it's a pretty old, grody couch anyway), but it looks like it happens in his sleep. There's a big, soaked patch where he had the accident, and then a less wet patch where he lay down and it transferred from his fur to the fabric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to be making it from 1:00 to 4:30 PM without any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my partner and I are home, it's no problem. He generally positions himself so he can peek at us from over/around furniture with his big eyes like O_O to get our attention so we can take him out. He has no accidents when we're awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's had an accident overnight most nights as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What we've tried&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first gambit was to ask the vet if we could reduce the dosage. He wasn't keen on the idea since the fluid buildup was so severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried playing with the dosage timing so that his most urgent need to eliminate is when we're home or before we leave. This has had mixed success. 8am 8pm hasn't really worked. Will try 6&amp;nbsp;AM and 6&amp;nbsp;PM tomorrow to see if that leaves us with anything drier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's on the way&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've ordered some doggie grass, so that we can train him to use it to use during the day when we're not home and during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do dogs &quot;get used&quot; to being on furosemide? Does the urination urgency decrease as they acclimate themselves to the drug? Does dosage timing make a difference? Do you have any suggestions that we can try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T23:20:05.207" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T01:24:12.363" Title="Managing dog on furosemide (Lasix)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;new-medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19089" CreationDate="2017-12-14T17:55:08.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest poking your head through the door with a treat and calling him to come in. Them move back away from the door but keep calling him/her to come in for the treat.... Of course once in, give the dog the treat and praise him.  Do this a couple times in a row for him/her to get use to it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11139" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T17:55:08.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16012" CreationDate="2017-12-14T19:34:33.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great topic! I love dog parks and so do my dogs. Here's a few more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do bring water to the dog park. All that playing is thirsty work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't bring food (people or dog food or snacks) to the dog park. It can result in conflict between dogs, and also you don't know what dietary restrictions or preferences the other dogs or dog owners have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove your dog if they are aggressive in the park. Perhaps they're just experiencing some &quot;bad chemistry&quot; with the crowd there, but if they're behaving aggressively, it's your responsibility to remove them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your dog's immunizations and medications up to date, and bring along the paperwork to prove it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11141" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-12-15T19:00:39.487" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T19:00:39.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-14T20:31:32.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I trained my kitten to like getting his claws clipped. I'd give him a treat per every few claws he'd let me clip. It took a few times but now he knows to come when I pull the clippers out. He gets excited (so he'll wiggle a bit for treats) but otherwise lets me clip his claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your interest in the homeless kitty! Your local rescue might be able to help you offset the cost of getting the kitty to a vet to get shots and such. I get stronghold (revolution) for fleas and ticks from the UK or Australia since they don't require prescription and it's cheaper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11142" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T20:31:32.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19087" CreationDate="2017-12-14T22:02:13.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The most important priority is to make sure that whatever stress caused her to drop her tail is identified and corrected.&lt;/strong&gt; In addition to obvious injury and health problems, Leos can get stressed by things in their environment; Remember every Leo is different and there isn't always one size fits all answers.  First thing to do is to make sure you know what caused her to loose her tail and evaluate if there is anything causing her stress in her environment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possible stressor could be how big of tank she is in, it's unlikely that caused the loss of her tail but it could be adding to it or her recovery.  A larger tank than necessary can make some Leos feel a little insecure or unsafe.  A 30 gallon tank is a little big for (2) Geckos (I use a 20 gallon) and huge for just (1) Gecko. Single Geckos only need a 10 gallon tank. A good fit tank size also is from my experience easier to keep consistent temps on each side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In regards to housing them together it depends, I need more information to answer...&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What caused her to lose her tail and how long ago did it happen?&#xA;Have the 2 leopard Geckos lived together before and was there every any aggression or bullying(chasing her out of hides, laying on top of her alot, competition over food) ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What genders are they ?  As a rule, you should never house 2 males together.  A male and female can be OK if they co-exist well and are healthy enough to withstand breeding, if it happens, and you are ready to handle it if they bred.  2 Females if they co-exist well can usually be housed together.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11123" LastEditorUserId="11123" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T22:51:05.450" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T22:51:05.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-14T22:56:21.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you need to buy yourself enough time to enter or leave your property you house use the patent humane cat trap. This consists of placing two cardboard boxes about 4 feet apart just outside you front door. The cat will approach your property, see one of the boxes and immediately go to sit in it. However, as it does so it will notice the second box and move toward that instead, when is will se the first cardboard box, again and again move to sit in that, again, when again it will see the second box and move to sit in that etc etc.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a warning, remember to tie a length of string to one of the boxes so you can remove it once you have made safe passage. Else you'll come across a indecisive feline with a sore neck stuck between two cardboard boxes when you next transit your property. Thankyou.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11143" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T22:56:21.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19065" CreationDate="2017-12-14T23:08:21.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leave her totally alone with no handling for 24 hours and see how she does.&lt;/strong&gt; It's ok to feed her but if she eats crickets don't leave extras in the enclosure once she's done hunting. Most likely she'll drop the rest of it, unfortunately the likelihood of it healing itself is extremely low. I'm sorry :(  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the 24 hours, make sure to keep the wound, as well as her enclosure clean and dry, to protect against an infection and help healing. I would replace any substrate with paper towel and change it every day &lt;strong&gt;IF the change doesn't stress her out&lt;/strong&gt;. If it does then do your best to keep the cage as clean as possible. Also you can put a very thin layer of polysporn on the wound every 2-3 days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the tail doesn't fall all the way off she may regrow a 2nd tail (it'll look like a forked tail). If she were mine, I would give it a couple days to see if it would fall all the way off and if it didn't I would take her to a reptile vet to safely amputate so she is able to regrow a new healthy tail. WARNING: Do not attempt to perform the amputation yourself - you need a vet to safely do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Send an update and pictures&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11123" LastEditorUserId="11123" LastEditDate="2017-12-14T23:51:11.390" LastActivityDate="2017-12-14T23:51:11.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T00:18:58.653" Score="4" ViewCount="3305" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kittens are starting to grow up, they are almost 4 weeks old. I'm not sure if they are supposed to start potty training or not. They have a mother (not orphans).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My issue is, they seem to have a serious diarrhea. For example, my kid grabs a kitten and kitten spills diarrheic excretions everywhere, which are very orange in color. The kittens of course do not eat or drink, but are still breastfeeding. They appear healthy and happy. They play and do not seem sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do or think. I hope someone with veterinarian record answers this, because I was planning to take them to the vet only after they become a month old, so I get a deworming as well as vaccinations at the same time. Vet is far, I don't want to make a visit too early and have the veterinarian tell me he can't give them shots because they are very young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T12:55:56.770" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T12:55:56.770" Title="Why does about 4 week old kitten have orange diarrhea?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T01:23:57.320" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;What metals cause poisoning or bad reactions in pet birds such as cockatiels, cockatoos, parrots, parakeets, finches, and such?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for authoritative sources of scientifically-known toxicity, to be considered when buying or building a bird cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T01:02:43.890" Title="Bird sensitivity to metals" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19126" CreationDate="2017-12-15T04:26:12.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deworm the kittens. Kittens have worms unless proven otherwise. It's always worth taking a fresh stool sample on your trip to the vet for fecal analysis, so the vet knows exactly what parasites to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many causes of diarrhea in kittens, but start with the easy things such as deworming and fecal, then further tests if no improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens with diarrhea can become very sick from the dehydration alone, so do not leave it too late to be treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For vaccinations it is likely too young at 4 weeks, but it depends on your location what vaccines are recommended. Each vet or practice may have their own protocol, which may differ slightly. The most common protocol is the feline herpesvirus/calicivirus/panleukopenia (FVRCP or F3) vaccine given starting age 8-9 weeks, and 1-2 additional boosters 3-4 weeks apart. In rabies endemic areas, rabies vaccine is given as early as 12 weeks. For feline leukemia I typically give the first dose at about 12 weeks and booster about 3-4 weeks later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is it may be too long to wait until they are vaccine age to take them to the vet. If diarrhea continues or worsens until then you may have a very sick kitten, even if they appear well now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T04:26:12.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-15T04:52:09.473" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to clip both front and back nails with fingernail clippers.&#xA;I have found that when young they do this thing where they don't depend on them as much. She WILL NEED to be fixed. It's $20 here at the cheap place. She will come into heat. She will need her shots, a scratching post and two litter boxes. If she is friendly she will remain so most likely. If you could do this you have rescued her from a sad life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember the most important thing for a cat is it territory so don't take re-homing lightly. She could be your child's best life long friend. Fleas... WalMart makes a pet armour based on Advantix 2. 4 pack for ex large cat then do the math and give her the same as for her smaller weight to save money. Purina cat chow and wet food 1 or 2 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You guys remind her of her first family that she seems to miss very much. I think you would in time be very pleased with what you get back from her. So many people just move and leave their cat outside and the poor cat will wait for weeks before giving up. They are not disposable. So thank you for trying to help and take time to learn cat behavior you will enjoy her more. Tail UP = Happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And get her fixed ASAP ASAP. She will come in heat and become vocal and you will not like her during this but it is not her fault. It's painful and distressing for her and she will keep coming back in heat until kittens are on the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11147" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-08T14:37:36.430" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T14:37:36.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19110" CreationDate="2017-12-15T07:56:52.457" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second the advice of the answer from Flummox - you can't control when or where a cat sleeps. It is simply not possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can't you let her roam the house and sleep when and where she wants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a case of you wanting your cat to sleep with you in your bed, she will do so if she wants to - not because you want her to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to getting a cat to regard you as a large part of his or her life and to spend time with you, come when you call (or most of the time), sleep next to you, etc. is to give the cat a reason to be near you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you provide warmth, comfort, pleasant physical contact, and show that you can be trusted, a cat will do all the things most people want them to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of our cats (we have quite a few) sleep on the bed without us. CeeCee usually sleeps under the covers with my wife. Murphy often sleeps on my arm (I sleep on my left side). Jenny often spends part of the night next to me and most of the other cats sleep on the bed, usually quite close to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are always at least two cats between my wife and myself, and sometimes three or four - we have a queen sized bed, but it still gets rather crowded at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of our cats come when called, most of the time, and some will come to me if I simply motion for them to do so. Murphy will often come to me if I lock eyes with him and raise my eyebrows two or three times - I'm not kidding, that's the sort of close relationship I have with Murphy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do our cats spend time with us, because we provide something that they want, something they need - it really all comes down to TLC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be no reason for you not allowing your cat (what is her name?) to roam the house and sleep wherever she wants, whenever she wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't force a cat to sleep somewhere, even if you think they are getting sleepy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It won't happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T18:52:52.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T18:52:52.923" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19091" CreationDate="2017-12-15T08:07:44.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't want cat hair on your bed, right. Eliminate the hair by brushing the cat often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to getting on your bed, the only sure way to prevent it is to keep the bedroom door closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog could be &quot;instructed&quot; to stay off your bed without taking it personally, but not a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I think you consider your cat to be a dog, as I said a dog could be convinced to stay off the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat, however, properly thinks that everything, every surface, place, and thing is their property and if they want to sleep on it, they well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best to keep the door closed - or get a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the chair being a favorite spot but it is occupied by you - a human's lap was designed solely as a place for cats to sleep. Let your cat sleep there - there is nothing better than a cat asleep on your lap to make the universe bearable for yet another day. Well, a cat sleeping curled up next to you, touching you is just as good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5906" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T08:07:44.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19110" CreationDate="2017-12-15T10:53:16.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is something you can do: play with your cat before bedtime, and after the play, feed your cat. This will make your cat sleepy and easier to get to bed with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is about using your cat's natural behaviour, hunting / play / eating / food / resting/ sleep. This is what cats normally do in nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T02:06:29.527" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T02:06:29.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17233" CreationDate="2017-12-15T13:06:29.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure - I would pick up something else for her to eat and quarantine those locusts until you've researched. It's safe for leopard geckos to eat hornworms but I'm not sure if the hornworms are given a special diet to make them safe for reptiles. Also if you are not providing calcium you should pick up a reptile calcium supplement to dust food with. Not sure about the locusts either - they might be ok but usually crickets and /or mealworms are the most common choices. I prefer crickets because mealworms outer casing can be really hard for them digestively, some people use mealworms but they also try only to use them right after they molt so the casing isn't as hard.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have time right know to give a full complete answer right now.  Sorry:)  I'll edit this response tonight with some good detailed suggestions and do a little research. Sounds like you're on the right track if her tall is getting plumper - that's a sign of good health (or at least weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11123" LastEditorUserId="11123" LastEditDate="2017-12-15T14:05:28.550" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T14:05:28.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19109" CreationDate="2017-12-15T13:53:18.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do we need to watch for?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs of metabolic bone disease are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lumps and bumps along their backs;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bone deformities such as kinks in their spine;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;constipation;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swollen arms or legs (Popeye arms);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lethargy and inappetence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there anything we can proactively do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes! Start with good husbandry and your regular calcium supplementation. If you are very worried you can make an appointment with your exotics vet for an assessment. There are no concrete blood tests to monitor for MBD, however, you can take a radiograph to look for any bone degeneration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If they stay healthy for a certain amount of time are they still at risk for either later in their lives?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If husbandry is correct, they have no risk of acquiring metabolic bone disease&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If they are male/female, should we separate them until they are a little older?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm always weary to house two reptiles together, if two males they will fight for territory and if male and female they will breed. Breeding can be aggressive and they can hurt each other quite easily. If you plan on breeding, keep them separate until they are fully grown, the bigger the female the better it is for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complications from breeding are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prolapsed penis (male cannot retract penis);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;egg binding;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;injuries from fighting if female is not receptive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have 2 females they typically get along quite well, be sure to have enough space for both and a few basking options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional info:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very pro-UVB for all reptiles, including our nocturnal fellas - if they choose not to sit in the sun they will hide for the daylight hours. This at least gives them the chance to naturally acquire vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful with under tank heat, be sure to have a good layer of substrate in between the heater and the geckos. We've had a number of reptiles come in with abdominal burns, who sleep in their hideouts that are above the under tank heaters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Follow-up Answers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is egg binding?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Egg binding is when the female cannot lay her eggs, they become stuck. This is mainly caused by hypocalcemia (lack of calcium in the body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you have any idea if a radiograph is common and whether it's really expensive?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Radiographs aren't overly common and can be expensive (prices vary across different locations), some people do it as a health screen for bone density if they have concerns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We are planning on taking them to our reptile guy, but just wondering what kind of cost to expect?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also depends on the region, always ask for a quote before doing any procedures to make sure it's in your budget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about the possibility of impaction from the sand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adults don't tend to get impacted, we mostly worry about the babies eating sand by accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there anything proactive and not too invasive we can do to help reduce the possibility?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always feed your geckos in an area with no sand, this lessens the chances of them getting a few mouthfulls. Keep your gecko well hydrated and have good husbandry, your average reptile needs higher temps for digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T13:05:23.603" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T13:05:23.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17045" CreationDate="2017-12-15T15:06:12.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Basics Needs:&lt;/strong&gt; 10 gallon (38 liters) tank, 3-4 quarts (2.8-3.8 liters) of ECO Earth coconut fiber substrate, Fluker's (small 6&quot;&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;11&quot;&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;15&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;28&amp;nbsp;cm) or All living things (8&quot;&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;11&quot;&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;20&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;28&amp;nbsp;cm) under tank heating pad, water bowl, Repti Calcium with D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; (dust their food 2-3 times a week for adults more if they are younger) and a hideout (I like Fluker's critter cavern, but most will work). The safest and I feel most nutritious diet are crickets that are gut loaded (fed) with a good vitamin supplement (like Nature Zone total Bites) Don't leave too many uneaten crickets in there - they can nip at your gecko. All of these things can be bought from Amazon. Heating pad should be on just one side of the tank so if it gets too warm they can move to the other side to cool down. Put the hide on the warm side and moisten the substrate under the hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional things you could add:&lt;/strong&gt; Regular light on a timer to keep lighting consistent for their sleep cycles, any additional hide so you have a moist and dry one available. Thermometer (I prefer the laser type that you can pinpoint areas and get the surface temp - that way you know exactly where the hot and cold spots are. Many suggest a small bowl with calcium in their enclosure - it depends on the age and health of your gecko, and how often your dusting their food whether this is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The best substrate for newbies&lt;/strong&gt; is something like ECO earth coconut substrate. Many experienced keepers and breeders choose plain kitchen toweling for cleanliness and ease of cleaning - but please note that it would not be my suggestion for newbie: the substrate is more &quot;mistake proof&quot; if you forget to tend to clean them daily or every other - it will hold the moisture in the moist hide and will absorb some of the mess from the poop. Make sure if you are using under tank heating that you're substrate isn't too high, because they may not get enough heat. Also, they should not be laying right on the glass over an under tank heater, as it can cause minor belly burns eventually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not use pea gravel and sand as a substrate.&lt;/strong&gt;  Leopard geckos can end up swallowing it and it can cause impaction that can kill them.  Their digestive systems frequently can't pass the sand. There are many people that keep them on sand, but they are just lucky that their pet hasn't ingested enough to cause a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11123" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-31T15:06:43.657" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T15:06:43.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T15:26:57.517" Score="2" ViewCount="629" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how to handle a cat that becomes very weak (her legs especially). She can't stand firm or long enough, can't run, and is very skinny--I can really feel her spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This started a few weeks after giving premature birth (all passed away after 1-2 days). She did not want to nurse them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not even my cat. When still in pregnancy she was trying to stay in the house. Also, this is not a street cat (I think), as she has long hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate some advice on this issue... thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11155" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:52:51.760" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:52:51.760" Title="Cat becomes weak, a few weeks after giving premature birth" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-15T18:15:44.507" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats won't take no for an answer. My gran was adopted earlier this year by (definitely this way around!) a gorgeous black and white stray cat; we noticed him sitting at the end of the driveway for a few days, slowly working up the courage to get closer, until we invited him in. We haven't been able to get rid of him since! We discovered through a vet he was indeed microchipped, and though the vet tried all the phone numbers associated with it, nobody answered. So he's become ours, and is a wonderful companion to my elderly grandmother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you're right to be cautious around strays, cats are surprisingly resilient animals and extremely clean. To treat what the cat cannot naturally, a dose of flea treatment and wormer and you'll see the difference - the gel you use on the back of the neck (Frontline SpotOn in the UK) is so effective, you can sometimes see the fleas dropping off the cat, who will be just as startled as you are! Living rough may also give the cat some dietary requirements - ours only tolerates a single brand of dry food, as wet food seems to cause allergies to flare up on his ears, which makes him scratch them until the fur wears off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stray cats sometimes have some behaviour oddities to watch out for. When stroked vigorously, our cat would often, without warning, bite and scratch, and then immediately run away. My sister describes this as 'petting aggression', where the cat is overstimulated by the attention and lashes out, and then was previously abused due to this so had learned to flee to avoid being hit. We had to be tolerant of his warning nips, but as a result, he has grown very used to affection and no longer bites. He also no longer runs away, as we've proved to him that he won't be hit. The claws issue can be addressed with a bit of cat psychology, as suggested, or if you want to train her out of climbing up on you, physically pick up the cat and move her some feet away whenever she tries it. She will soon get the message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are often solitary animals and quite self-serving. It's an achievement to find a cat who will willingly stay with you! In my experience, these kinds of cats will give back as much affection as they receive, and make great pets, especially with children. They're also very independent and very capable of looking after themselves - our cats have had very, very few vet visits. It's cars that are the main danger to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, cats and children get along very well. Supervision is, of course, required, but unlike dogs, I have not heard any stories of cats randomly attacking babies. My parents had cats all while my sister and I were babies. There's even a school of thought that suggests cats and dogs may strengthen children's immune systems by exposing them to mild microorganisms regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you say you are not in a financial position to take on the cat, it's unlikely the eye infection will be serious if she is still playful. A short course of eye drops will likely be inexpensive, and flea drops and wormer can be bought at a supermarket. She sounds very much like a cat who will give back what you can give to her, so I hope you find a way to take her in - she might make a good Xmas present to you all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11159" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T18:15:44.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T21:15:15.687" Score="4" ViewCount="707" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter got Sam when he was less than a year old and he is now 38 years old.  My Wife and I have been taking care of him for the last 30 years and we are wondering how much longer it's going to go on. Not that we don't like him but how long will this go on. Does anyone with Mustache Parakeet have any experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEOPR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mEOPR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11162" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T19:33:36.980" LastActivityDate="2018-06-06T16:31:17.010" Title="What is the life expectancy of a Mustache Parakeet?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T21:20:40.983" Score="1" ViewCount="611" Body="&lt;p&gt;She's 5 years old and very well house trained. She hasn't 'gone' inside in over 5 years and hardly ever did even as a puppy. The only negative behavior I haven't been able to stop is that she gets into the trash in the kitchen once every few months, especially if there are meat wrappers and I forget to lock it. I left her with a friend (who also had a female dog, and they get along) for a month while I had to go away. I've been back for a month and in the past week she's gotten into the trash three times AND left a puddle of urine right beside it on the rug (twice in the kitchen, once in the bathroom). Why did she start this and how can I stop it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11163" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:07:21.090" LastActivityDate="2018-09-26T03:03:39.537" Title="Why is my dog suddenly peeing whenever she gets into the trash?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19894" CreationDate="2017-12-15T21:44:28.360" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local fish store is having their every other month sale of $1 per gallon regardless of shape, and I am considering picking up a 40 gallon (around 151 liters) breeder tank in order to set up a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/understanding-dutch-aquascaping-style&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dutch style aquarium&lt;/a&gt;, which is a style I've always wanted to try. (Note: No affiliation with the link, just a decent article on the style.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will either get a 20 liters (around 5.3 gallons) tank as well and build a trickle filter into it, or get a used one from another LFS that sells used marine tank equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that style of aquarium, CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection is almost mandatory, but what I would like to know is if the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection has to be into the tank, or can it be done in the sump? I would assume that it could be anywhere, but I don't know for sure. I'd prefer having as few tubes running into the actual tank as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:19:08.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:19:08.580" Title="CO₂ injection for Dutch style aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T22:12:02.630" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is still in the process of potty training. I have only had him for a week so he is still learning the layout of the house. He has only had one accident during this time. Should I lock him up in the room with his litter box while I am at work? If so, for how long should I do this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-02-15T15:57:20.403" LastActivityDate="2018-03-17T16:15:37.407" Title="Should kitten be isolated to one room?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-15T22:27:56.937" Score="5" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 55 gallon that is currently up and running, and finally settling down after some wild spikes in the waste cycle (Accidental dump of food in the tank that was not cleaned up while I was out of town).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am considering putting in a small colony of Thorichthys meeki (Firemouth Cichlid), and my experience with cichlids tells me that they will most likely breed at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am intending on returning these fish to the commercial cycle (i.e. there is a local store that purchases fry for resale), should I worry about getting the fish from different sources? I'm only concerned that if I get them from the same source at the same time, I run a greater chance of them being from the same batch of fry, and raising the potential for inbreeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2017-12-24T03:18:42.350" Title="Should I get fish from different stores if they might breed?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18608" CreationDate="2017-12-15T22:54:28.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can be crazy sometimes.  We had a cat that would get upset with someone for some reason like being out too late or staying away too long.  The cat would get under the bed covers and poop.  Leaving a little surprise for its person.  It only did it once guess it was satisfied with the statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11162" LastActivityDate="2017-12-15T22:54:28.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19127" CreationDate="2017-12-16T01:02:43.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two main metals for toxicity are lead and zinc. From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://elsevier.ca/product.jsp?isbn=9780702028748&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;handbook of avian medicine, second edition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavy metal toxicosis caused by the direct consumption of the metal is uncommon in passerines, because they have limited capacity to damage metal objects. Lead or zinc toxicosis has occasionally occurred when galvanized wire has been used in the construction or repair of enclosures. Another source of zinc for passerine species is galvanized containers for supplying bath or drinking water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T01:02:43.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-16T07:41:46.903" Score="2" ViewCount="2084" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is 7 weeks old and I have had him for a week. He has been using his litter box just fine until yesterday. He disappeared in a corner and I find a pile of poopies. I picked it up and put it in his litter box and then put him in it. This first time I punished him (I didn't know this was bad). The next day I go to work and keep him in the bedroom with his litter box and other items. Once I get home I let him roam and he instantly goes to the same spot and poops again! This Time I put it in the box and put him in the box with it without punishing him. I keep his box clean and his food has been moved away from the box. Why would he be pooping out of the box and why would he be doing it in the same spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T09:46:33.710" Title="Kitten pooping in same spot" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19149" CreationDate="2017-12-16T09:46:33.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put a litter box in the spot where he wants to poop. There are a number of reasons he may have chosen that spot, whatever the cause, he likes it so put a litter box there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;General rule of thumb is for every cat, you should have one litter box, plus one.  1 cat = 2 litter boxes.  He is telling you where the second one should be. As he grows older you can move it to a different location if this space is not convenient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T09:46:33.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-16T10:28:30.710" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read in few places that if a puppy has an access to high places like the sofa, bed or being on our knees, it leads him to feel his the &quot;alpha&quot;, and therefore be less obedient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this theory have any evidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11164" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T17:12:16.810" Title="does one have to prevent a dog from being on the couch?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19094" CreationDate="2017-12-16T11:39:01.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, there is no other way to train your dog to accept cats than by having a cat. But some requirements should be fulfilled so it is less stressful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog obeys perfectly. You can handle him without a leash and are able to let him sit down, even if there is a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You have enough space to separate both at the beginning, possibly for a few weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat should not be afraid of humans and especially not of you. Because there would be too much problems to handle at once.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should be honest with yourself and be able to stop the training if you see that there is too much stress for one of the animals and no progress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all that is fine, you can start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take this cat to your house into a separate room. The cat should have food, drink and a litter box available and something to climb and hide. Even if the cat is an outdoor cat, you should keep the cat inside for at least a few days, until she accepts your house as home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After one or two days, start with the training. Let your dog sit and let the cat come out of the room. Let the dog watch the cat, but hinder him from hunting the cat. Stay calm, don't shout at the dog, even if he is growling. After a while, start to keep your dog busy. Train some tricks he already knows, give him treats. Try to ignore the cat. Don't play movement games--it could stimulate your dog and frighten the cat. Play calm games. The dog will have problems giving you attention. That is normal. If he is doing well, or just a little bit better than at the beginning, praise him, give him treats. Then stop the training. Do so by letting the dog sit down, go to the cat, take her and put her back into her room. Then let the dog walk freely wherever he wants to go. He will run to the door the cat is behind and sniff at the door. That is okay. Let him do that. If he starts to scratch, say &quot;no&quot; and call him. If he is sniffing fanatically, stop him, too. After a few minutes, do something very active with your dog. Go on a long walk or play an active and rough game. Give him the chance to burn off energy. He will have produced much adrenaline, and he should be able to get rid of it. When you come back, he will probably start sniffing immediately. Stop him doing that, let him sit down and cuddle him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Retrain step 2 the next few days. Be aware that the dog won't relax much the first days, even if the cat is in the other room. Try not to make a big deal out of it. Stay professional. If you get the attention of your dog more easily, increase the time the cat is in the same room as the dog. You can have multiple training sessions at one day, but don't overwhelm them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start to interact with the cat in front of the dog. It's best if there are at least two humans. One is playing with the cat, another with the dog. Don't play movement games with the cat--it would animate the dog to hunt. Start with cuddling the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't force the cat and the dog to be very close together or sniff at each other. At first hinder them from getting closer than one or two meters. When the dog is able to relax and nearly ignores the cat being in the same room, you can let them come closer. If the dog has a favorite place, always hinder the cat from going there and never let the cat eat the dog food. You don't want the dog being jealous. But don't allow it the other way round either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be prepared that it is a long way. You have to find a solution for the time when the cat is ready to get outside, but the dog doesn't like the cat, yet. Avoid every fight between them. Rather it takes longer than it should, than forcing a step and destroy all the progress they made so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T16:22:40.730" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T16:22:40.730" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19151" CreationDate="2017-12-16T16:55:42.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, that is a myth. Today science says that packs are more like family and the parents are the naturally leaders of the puppies. For more information read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dickybag.com/dog-training/pack-leadership-and-dominance-theory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part for your question is this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let’s look at the myths[..]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dogs who jump up on people think they are the alpha.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If you let your dog sleep on the furniture he will think he is the pack leader.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don’t let your dog sleep at the top of the stairs as he will be higher than you in the pack structure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of these are similar. If a dog is growling at you when you ask him to get down from the sofa, you have a guarding problem, not a ‘dominance’ problem. Most dogs like warm, comfy places and if these are at a premium for him, the dog is more likely to guard them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you allow your dog to behave like this you are rewarding unpleasant behaviour, so you will get more of it. If you stop the dog going on the furniture, you will stop the behaviour - you haven’t just made yourself more ‘dominant’ you have just stopped allowing the behaviour to happen and how you teach that will affect your dog’s future behaviour. If you want your dog to sit with you on the sofa, or sleep on the bed that is fine- it is your home, your dog and your choice, just ensure that your dog has proper manners around everything, e.g. waiting to be asked to get on the sofa and getting off when asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you don’t want your dog to share the furniture with you, do ensure that he has a very comfortable, draught free bed of his own so that he doesn’t covet yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally often refer to dog owners as alphas to remind them that they have to make rules for the dogs and if they won't make them, the dogs will do whatever they want. But I would never say that if you don't have a special rule, your dog will be the leader. Important is, that you have rules, and that you are consistent that your dog plays by your rules, no matter which ones. Dogs have different personalities and some dogs are very strong and like to make up own rules very much. To ensure that those dogs obey you in every situation it may helpful to make more rules to train obeying you, but that is not important for every dog. At the end the second to the last paragraph is worth to mention again:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you stop the dog going on the furniture, you will stop the behaviour - you haven’t just made yourself more ‘dominant’ you have just stopped allowing the behaviour to happen and how you teach that will affect your dog’s future behaviour. If you want your dog to sit with you on the sofa, or sleep on the bed that is fine- it is your home, your dog and your choice, just ensure that your dog has proper manners around everything, e.g. waiting to be asked to get on the sofa and getting off when asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T16:55:42.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19081" CreationDate="2017-12-16T18:10:27.250" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me say that I don't like cats, and I think that places like that 50 strays house your talking about are just a den of evil and should be closed down. I wanted to get that out of the way so you know where I am coming from, and my bias. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, TNVR. Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Release. Whether you keep the cat or not, get this done, if it hasn't already been done. Most places offer discounts and programs to help with the cost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to keeping the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my perspective, kept cats are fine, none of my business so long as they are kept indoors. &quot;Outside cats&quot; I feel like it should be legal to shoot on site. I get that they're cute and people like them, but they are a huge problem. I am a dog lover, and I feel the same way about dogs too. Problem is that people fear dogs more than cats. But outdoor cats are a major issue too.  So if you decide to &quot;keep&quot; the cat, then please be prepared to bring it inside, and train it to stay inside.  Do not &quot;keep&quot; the cat and let it contribute to the existing cat problem, by letting it roam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to your specific issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As I said, this cat lived with about 50 other cats. So she probably has fleas and ticks and whatever else there is.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yep, but that's OK. Have a vet check the cat out before bringing her into your home. There isn't much a cat can transmit directly to a human, but there are a few things. The good news is that the likely ones are very easy to test for and treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We have a 16 month old who doesn't really know how to be nice to the cat. The cat is incredibly patient, but I am not trying to push it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yep, you are going to have to make a call there. Most animals won't hurt most children on purpose, but an untrained, unfamiliar cat, is a risk. One I think you could manage by restricting the cat at first.  But whether that's worth it, that's your call&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We have a 16 month old and we do not want to risk the baby getting ticks or fleas or something else from this cat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fleas - get over it. I know it sounds weird but let your kid be exposed to fleas. It won't hurt them at all. It will itch, but there is no real harm there. That doesn't mean that you don't treat the flea issue, just that every child will be exposed to fleas somewhere. Your house, your parents' house, your friends' house. Even school. Fleas are very common and shouldn't be a problem as all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ticks and everything else - Yep, that's a problem. Specially if your baby is at the &quot;I want to try to eat cat poop&quot; age (sounds silly but they go through it). As long as the litter box is kept clean and away from the child you should be ok. Remember the vet visit before you bring the new cat into the home will catch 99% of anything that is an issue to you or your baby's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We do not really have a lot of money to spare for the cat's health expenses.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check with your SPCA. They usually have some kind of program. Around here there is $10 neutering, and free basic meds (within limits) and cat food if you're going to provide a permanent home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Could I go to a department store or a pharmacy and pick something up that would clean the cat up all-around?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, the best &quot;cleaners&quot; are targeted. Your vet can help with this, but a tick cleaner isn't usually going to do a lot for fleas, for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I HATE declawing and would not do it. Is there a less crueler process to make their claws not as sharp?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;File them down. Get a scratching post. Take her to a groomer. There is no reason that the cats' claws need to be that sharp, and no reason to keep them so, if you're taking her in. If you're not going to adopt, then let them alone. Don't mess with her ability to hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The cat's eyes always have some liquid leaking out of them. What could this be and what could I do regarding that?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time for a vet. It could be nothing, it could be serious. No way to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6959" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-08T02:15:26.447" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T02:15:26.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19139" CreationDate="2017-12-16T18:50:11.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a real possibility that the cat was malnourished when she was pregnant (and even before). If a pregnant cat (or any mammal) cannot get enough nourishment for her fetuses to develop, then she will sacrifice her own body tissues to support their development until she has no more to give, and the fetuses either abort or are born prematurely. Also, since the mother is severely malnourished, she will not be able to produce milk and her kittens will starve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot get her to a vet for diagnosis, then the only alternative is to provide her with as much food as you can. This will mean animal protein and fats. Vegetables and other non-meat products will not do. Neither will she be able to digest cow's milk (or other milk products), since cats are lactose-intolerant. In fact, cow's milk may make matters worse, since it will only cause diarrhoea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot provide complete (rather than complementary) cat food (e.g. tinned cat food), and preferably as much food as she is willing to eat, then a diet of mice (or other small mammals) is a possibility (providing they have not been poisoned) if you can catch them (she will not be able to). Butcher's scraps are another possibility. I'm sorry, but I don't know what area of the world you live in, so I am trying to cover all the bases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an adequate diet helps her to recover, then you need to think about getting her sterilised, otherwise she will just go through all this again if she gets pregnant and you stop feeding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is non-veterinary advice, but it's the best that I can give you. I am a cat owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone else has advice to offer, please feel free to edit this answer. Alternatively, leave comments and I will incorporate them into my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-12-16T19:32:54.280" LastActivityDate="2017-12-16T19:32:54.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-16T20:18:48.703" Score="2" ViewCount="1388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one champagne, broken hooded, Dumbo rat named Hope. She is alone in her cage but I take her out a lot, play and interact with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got her in June and she has never had a cage mate. Several rat owners, the vet and pet stores' staff have told me it is okay as long as I give her a lot of attention. Is this true or is it bad for her to be alone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really care about her, but she shows no sign of depression, just happiness and sleepiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11167" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:24.940" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T07:44:24.940" Title="Do I really need 2 rats?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19144" CreationDate="2017-12-17T01:56:08.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a big house, yes. Being young, it might just have a hard time remembering where the litter box is. Or it's less aware of when it's going to need to use it, so it hits all at once and the litterbox isn't near by.  Just like a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11171" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T01:56:08.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18368" CreationDate="2017-12-17T02:08:25.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be happy that Lucy accepted Yo-Yo so much, even to the point of defending him, which is very rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the comment above about female cats not liking women, I've never heard or noticed this. In fact, the two people that I can think of that have the closest relationship with their cat are both women and female cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just make sure when your BF gets onto Yo-Yo to make sure you're not around. And you/he should really focus on stopping Yo-Yo's bad behavior, which can often be done. In fact, Jackson Galaxy would say it can always be done, maybe unless the cat has been through some real trauma. Are you in NYC by chance? If so, you could be on My Cat From Hell. :)  There have been many episodes of cats attacking SO's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11171" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T02:08:25.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18184" CreationDate="2017-12-17T02:14:42.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like a heart murmur. There are different types of murmurs, so there's no way to say in general how it will affect your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat has one, and when we asked the vet the question you're asking (if it will affect lifespan), he said there's no way of knowing. He said to have it checked periodically to have it checked for changes, or bring him back if he shows symptoms (overly tired, out of breath, vomiting...there are others). He said they could put him on medication if at that point, but right now none are needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also he said the same thing yours did, about needing the cat to be relaxed to hear it best, but this cat is scared easily so that was really difficult on a trip to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to not stress him out anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11171" LastEditorUserId="11171" LastEditDate="2017-12-17T15:59:08.483" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T15:59:08.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19141" CreationDate="2017-12-17T07:03:19.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This bird has had a good life and has lived longer than expected. The normal lifespan for this type of bird is about 25 years; some longer like yours and some shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can possibly keep going for another year or two but this is impossible to say for sure. One day you will find it dead in the cage and this will probably be unexpectedly hard for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some information about the bird:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/moustached-parakeets-as-pets-390268&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thespruce.com/moustached-parakeets-as-pets-390268&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-18T13:59:53.050" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T13:59:53.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T07:30:26.353" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat doesn't like to eat from plate. She rather likes to eat from floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of large food such as a piece of fish she will kick the food on plate a few times. Then she grabs the piece with mouth and puts it down on floor. Then she will go on kicking, eating some, kicking again, and so on. In this process she will make the whole floor dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of solid food like tuna flavored whiskas, she will use her paws to bring one of the tiny pieces to floor. Then she will play football with it. Then she eats it. In this process lots of pieces remain lying here and there and the costly food is wasted. Moreover there is problem of red ants over here who takes full advantage of food lying here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why my cat does this? Is there any way to teach her not to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has lots of toys to play with. It is not that she doesn't get to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-12-17T10:20:45.053" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T10:20:45.053" Title="Why my cat uses paws to bring food from plate to floor and then eats it from floor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-12-06T12:10:08.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T08:09:03.507" Score="9" ViewCount="6196" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend's cat will not let me get a full night of sleep. I already have to work around our party-to-the-night neighbors and the get-up-early-with-high-heels neighbors; so this is really annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the cat will always start meowing when she comes from the litter box, and she does not use the litter box silently. She always scratches her paws on the sides, I presume for cleaning them. This takes a couple of minutes, and unfortunately our condo does not damp noises at all. This happens several times during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually our bedroom door is open, she will come in and start meowing. This wakes us up, my girlfriend will tap on the bed or her chest. Sometimes the cat will just jump on her chest and cuddle and be quiet. Most times, however, the cat will just respond with more meowing, I guess she wants to play. We don't want to play, but seems to be an alien concept for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the door is closed, she will scratch on the door. This again is loud enough to wake at least me up. We have tried opening the door a crack and then spray the cat. That does not seem to be a sufficient deterrent to let us sleep. Also when either of us goes to the bathroom at night, the cat will sneak into the bedroom. Curiously the cat will then quietly lay on my girlfriend's chest and purr otherwise quietly. After a while the cat leaves silently again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now it seems that the cat is training us. I am already indifferent to all the hair and cat litter in bed, I am almost used to open up doors for the self proclaimed princess. However, I would like to get a full night of sleep again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other questions seem to address similar points, but either I do not have enough patience or they are not compatible with this cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1440/how-to-get-my-cat-to-stop-being-annoying-at-night&quot;&gt;How to get my cat to stop being annoying at night?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answers there say that the cat is bored (which I would assume applies here as well) and one should try to make other rooms entertaining. It seems that my girlfriend's cat does not like playing with stuff much, it likes to cuddle with everyone, literally everyone. When there are guests, the cat will try to get on everyone's lap. So her toys seem to be all humans around. And they are now in the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we have guests sleeping in our condo, the cat usually stays with them in the living room. So making a different room interesting does work, but it needs other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expelling the cat from the bedroom has only lead to scratching on the door. The spray bottle has not removed that behavior, so I am woken up either way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11108/my-cat-wakes-me-up-at-night-pawing-at-my-door&quot;&gt;My cat wakes me up at night pawing at my door&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First answer says to never open the door. So not use the spray bottle but ignore the cat? That might work. The diabolical thing is that once I am woken up I usually need to go to the bathroom in order to have a chance of getting to sleep again. So then eventually I need to open the door. Should I get a camping toilet for the bedroom‽&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second answer says that one just cannot close the door. In consequence, this also means that one just cannot have a full night of sleep, a bed free of cat litter or any of those things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10977/moving-has-caused-my-cats-night-life-to-eat-away-at-my-actual-life&quot;&gt;Moving has caused my cat&amp;#39;s night-life to eat away at my actual life&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There it is suggested to play with the cat. I had done this the yesterday, actually. This cat seems to only respond to cuddling and light play. When there is hard light, she will try to catch the shadow of her tail. I played with a laser pointer (which is eye safe as determined by a fellow physicist and an eye doctor) and got her to the point of exhaustion where she was panting. But apparently that does not do a significant difference.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7973/my-cat-is-keeping-me-awake-at-night&quot;&gt;My cat is keeping me awake at night&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestion is to react in a way that the cat does not want. We certainly do not do that now. But what can I do when only I wake up and my girlfriend does not? I could wake her up and tell her to do something with the cat. But cuddling tightly is just exactly what the cat wants. And getting sprayed with water does not seem a big deterrent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving the cat away to my girlfriend's parents is what we did when we went on vacation. In their larger house, the cat usually is quiet and does not nag us to play at night. They have their own cat, a rather old male who is not very active due to back pain. They do not seem to get along too well, but sufficiently to only occasionally hiss at each other. When the cat is back in our condo, it is the old behavior. Giving the cat away to them for the whole time would fix my sleep problem, but my girlfriend would be unhappy about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another person writes that they feed their cat manually (we just have a bowl with food for self-service). The cat wakes them up to get food. Sounds like exactly the wrong direction for me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that it will take quite some time until I can have a full night of sleep again. So what do I do with this renitent cat which has already gained so much ground in the war over authority?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="972" LastEditDate="2018-11-25T19:49:10.107" LastActivityDate="2018-11-25T19:49:10.107" Title="Cat won't let me sleep at night" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T08:18:13.273" Score="1" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new 7 week old kitten and a 1 year old cat. My cat has come to the point where she will clean my kitten (when he lets her) and plays with him. My kitten has not been neutered yet. When they play their tails are either up or aligned with their body (straight) and their ears are generally faced forward. They don't actively seek each other out but they also don't play or attack every time they see each other.  Sometimes they seem to play too rough and one of them squeaks or meows or hisses, but this doesn't happen often. How do I tell if they are fighting or playing? I don't want to discourage them from playing if I view it as fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T21:45:06.783" Title="Are my cat and kitten fighting or playing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-12-18T18:29:00.293" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T10:47:38.493" Score="3" ViewCount="892" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had megacolon for 3-4 days. He was apathetic, did not eat, and when he eventually ate, he vomited. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wT1AG.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wT1AG.png&quot; alt=&quot;Cat X-Ray&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago the vet used enema that helped to empty the colon through fecal vomiting. The blood tests is ideal so for 99% it seems the problem was not caused by any illness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the cat is more happy and playful but still not very eager to eat. I gave him a bowl of Royal Canin Fibre Response, recommended by the vet for problems with constipation. Initially the cat smelled it, tried and spat it out. I added a bit of tuna sauce from a can to encourage him and he ate a few bits of food yesterday and a few today but still very little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I encourage my cat to eat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat has not pooped either since the enema, two days ago. Perhaps because he has no material to poop... or there is still some problem. Before megacolon he used to have two meals a day (48g in total) of dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11160" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-19T14:29:21.363" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T14:29:21.363" Title="How can I encourage my cat to eat after treated megacolon?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T12:02:29.287" Score="2" ViewCount="1119" Body="&lt;p&gt;When talking fresh water fish tanks, why do people recommend that fluidized sand filters have a prefilter like a sponge? &lt;strong&gt;Assume there is a separate system for removing solid waste from the tank&lt;/strong&gt;, like a hang on back filter filled with sponges that are easy to remove and clean while the system is still running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a grate over the pump intake would keep out any item too large to pass through the pump, and anything smaller is going to be fish/bacteria waste or some small part of a plant that broke off. So whatever is sucked through the grate on the pump intake needs to be broken down or physically (read manually) removed from the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that we are assuming there is a separate system for physically removing solids from the tank, it is not the job of the fluidized sand filter to do that. So we are only concerned if the solid waste will hinder the operation of the fluidized sand filtration or adversely affect the tank in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything light enough will just pass right through the sand and flow through the outlet, which should have no effect on the effectiveness of the fluidized sand filtration. Anything too heavy to flow out will remain in the sand until it is broken down and either liquefied or shredded in to small enough pieces to flow out of the filter. Any of those cases should not interfere with the filer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes I know, having things breaking down in the tank/filter instead of manually removing them will put a heavier load on the bio-filtration capacity of the whole system. But it is only a numbers game, simply buy less fish and have a large enough fluidized sand filter and that should negate the increased load issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; The reason I have set up a fluidized filter is to better utilise the powerhead I have. For not just water circulation in the tank, but for venturi, surface agitation aeration, and the fluidized filter for nitrification. I have made a DIY fluidized filter by using a drink bottle, some pipe, a tee piece to allow some flow to bypass the filter and a tap to control flow rate through the bypass.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8az5m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8az5m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;DIY fluidized sand filter&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastEditorUserId="5719" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T04:00:55.893" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T04:00:55.893" Title="Why do fluidized sand filters need a prefilter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T14:09:32.087" Score="14" ViewCount="3241" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago, I adopted a stray dog. He's a big, young (about 1.5 years) nice and very tame animal. We have two other dogs, much older (boy and girl) and inter-dog relations are good. But the new dog doesn't want to go for a walk outside, ever, either with the other two or alone. He prefers to stay at home... What should I do to convince him that walks are nice and enjoyable...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11173" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-18T18:20:21.553" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T01:11:05.017" Title="A dog who doesn't want to have a walk" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19166" CreationDate="2017-12-17T14:55:40.163" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog may think that you are going to abandon him. Since he has been a stray, he will be very pleased to have a home, and that may seem to be a far more preferable place than outdoors. Remember that to him, the outdoors is not a playground, but a place of hunger and hardship. Give him time and he may come to like walks once he knows that he will always come home again. Maybe you should take him out on his own to begin with and keep the walks short. Just take him outside the house to begin with, and then slowly lengthen the walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a mongrel bitch that my brother found tied up outdoors in miserable conditions. She was a real homebody, and would only go outside to do her business, and then it was straight back inside. Walks were out of the question. She seemed quite happy to be an indoor dog and lived to a ripe old age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-12-17T15:01:23.200" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T15:01:23.200" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19162" CreationDate="2017-12-17T16:08:05.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy a &quot;Da Bird&quot; and play with her as much as possible before bedtime, to tire her out.  Also get some toy mice for her to play with on her own. And move her feeding time closer to bedtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard but you have to ignore her meowing or she'll realize that's a good way to get attention. Get a loud fan or white noise machine and maybe you'll sleep through some of her meows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11171" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T16:08:05.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19163" CreationDate="2017-12-17T16:27:26.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's playing. You'll know when it's not. It's completely different. Ears will be back, eyes wide open, loud screaming noises, chunks of fur left behind (or stuck in their claws or mouth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if they groom each other at other times, they aren't enemies. If they didn't like each other, they definitely wouldn't be doing that, or even get within a foot of each other. And with one being so young, I don't think they would even be like that to each other yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11171" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T16:27:26.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18608" CreationDate="2017-12-17T16:52:50.623" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he does it anymore, take him to the vet. If he goes outside, he could have easily eaten something toxic (or done so in your house), or contracted something from another cat. There are all kinds of diseases cats can get from other cats.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ie. distemper:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wavy.com/2017/09/05/50-cats-dead-after-virus-spreads-through-shelter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://wavy.com/2017/09/05/50-cats-dead-after-virus-spreads-through-shelter/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want what's best for your cat, you really should keep it outdoors 24/7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11171" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T16:52:50.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19166" CreationDate="2017-12-17T20:27:34.953" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very good answer there but there are ways to help your dog enjoy a walk, especially with the others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, understand that a stray dog is very different from dog raised home from a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At a basic level, a dog is like a wolf(an ancestor) but unfortunately, due to centuries of human contacts, not as efficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A stray dog’s survival is based on his ability to find food efficiently. They usually set off at dawn and look for substance all day if they have to. If other strays are in the area, there is competition and food become scarce.  If the dog is successful, it will return to the den satisfied until the next meal which usually is in the evening before dusk. Again, success will be important there, to return to the den.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look carefully, you’ll notice that any dogs are most active in the morning and early evening, as long as they are satisfied, mimicking the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per the above answer, it’s very clear that this dog is associating being outside with bad experiences, probably because he struggled greatly and now he is content with what you are offering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could do nothing and he probably would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must ask yourself if this dog would be happy living like this? Is he true to himself, does he have the best quality of life he really deserve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have trained many dogs and it is possible to help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, a dog can get stuck in his memories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside = pain/hardship &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a leader, you must start thinking you can help, first by erasing the above. Dogs can feel what you feel. They have now been proven to be capable of reading human emotions, understanding them and replicate as per study mentioned here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/31/how-does-your-dogs-range-of-emotions-compare-to-yours/#2bd7ff113918&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog emotions study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think positive and the dog will also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next stage is to change the dog’s memory of outside and replacing it with positive associations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially you start inside. Training in basic commands with rewards is a must. It will help the relationship between you and the dog, establishing trust. The others must also be involved to create a pack unity, giving the stray dog a place and a positive purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next: play time, also with rewards. Not always food, sometimes hugs and cuddles or the usual”good dog!” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small. Small things. Little and often is best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly move towards a door, then do it with the door open or in the garden. Then do it just outside by the door. Then a bit further and so on... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes work but it’s worth it... I’ve had lots of strays in my life and if you put the work in, you’ll be amazed how great they become. It will also benefit your other dogs... it will stretch them as well and really fill their lives and yours...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes a lot of patience and effort... I am happy to help if you have more questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2017-12-18T18:01:52.983" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T18:01:52.983" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-17T21:36:05.590" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to get her to lose weight, but she acts so sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is a chi-weenie, and only eats oscar meyer's wieners. This questions is dead serious and I really need help. She is 8 years old and I don't want her dying young due to obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11175" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T20:43:32.993" Title="Chihuahua is almost 20 pounds" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19163" CreationDate="2017-12-17T21:45:06.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually they’re doing both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kitten will learn from an older cat like we all do in any species. Skills like being able to defend itself, hunt, kill a prey, social order and so on....&#xA;These play times build the foundation for your cat’s adult health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are grooming each other then all is well. However, at one point your kitten will come to an adult age and will want to mate with your older cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could cause serious problems. Neutering is the best way.  Be aware that hormones for reproduction stay in your neutered cat for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Believe me, when cats fight for real, you’ll know! It doesn’t last long!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-12-17T21:45:06.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19162" CreationDate="2017-12-17T22:14:02.313" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a room that you can put the cat into at night, along with her litter box and her bed (or a cushion that she can use as a bed, if you haven't already gotten her one)? Another bedroom, a bathroom, a garage, or something like that. Just give her cuddles before bedtime, carry her into her bedroom, and then close the door and leave her in there until the morning. She might start meowing and scratching the door when she wants to be let out in the morning, but she'll probably sleep pretty well until then once she gets used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11176" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2017-12-18T08:31:58.593" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T08:31:58.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19181" CreationDate="2017-12-17T22:47:10.093" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got this automated toy for my cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B06WP7F8YC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/SmartyKat-Hot-Pursuit-Concealed-Motion/dp/B06WP7F8YC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My female cat really, really likes the toy. She grabs onto it and carries it around, even jumping on top of her cat tree with it held in her mouth, carrying the large base by the long &quot;tail&quot; moving piece. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she is a fairly small cat, about 9 lbs, and the toy with batteries is about 3 lbs. She moves slowly while dragging it; I'm quite surprised she was able to jump with it. I'm afraid she will hurt her neck. Am I right to be concerned, or are cats used to dragging around prey that heavy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11177" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T16:47:24.557" Title="Is it safe for my cat to carry/jump around with heavy toys in her mouth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-18T01:20:11.040" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten had been pooping in a corner, so I put a litter box in that corner. It's a large box for his size with low walls and is kept clean. He walks into the box, scratches around, and then exits and goes potty right next to the box. Why is he doing this and how can I prevent him from doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T21:34:09.320" Title="Kitten going potty next to litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19145" CreationDate="2017-12-18T06:56:43.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inbreeding and line breeding have a higher chance for producing offspring with genetic deformities, no matter the species. So yes, choosing breeders from different stores should increase your chances of getting unrelated fish who should produce stronger offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People looking to produce a mutation (usually colour, size, or shape) with the above method have very high mortality rates, and/or offspring with shorter life spans, when compared with the normal population for that species. This is due to there being variations with internal organs, bones, joints, etc as well as colour, size, or shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; As pointed out, by others, that many local stores may buy from the same wholesale source. However you do what you can. You can also ask the store which wholesaler they buy from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastEditorUserId="5719" LastEditDate="2017-12-24T03:18:42.350" LastActivityDate="2017-12-24T03:18:42.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19183" CreationDate="2017-12-18T08:28:44.050" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a big family at home, due to my mother taking foster children. However when she (my mother) or my sister go on holiday or my sister to a sleepover the dog gets very &quot;protective&quot; and even kind of aggressive. She will guard for example, my sister’s bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is signifact when we go to bed: She has to go to her (kennel / cage?) where she sleeps everyday. However without them present she doesn't obey at that point and trying to pick her up has a high chance of getting bitten. Signs are that her ears go flat en her tail is between her legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is part Jack Russel and part something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When everybody is home, she is the sweetest dog there is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11181" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2017-12-18T13:37:20.857" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T19:44:34.263" Title="Our family dog gets aggressive when my mother or sister are away for some days" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19176" CreationDate="2017-12-18T09:31:32.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes, it's safe.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prey cats feed on can be up to their own weight, or so says &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Hunting_and_feeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. While dragging might go slow with heavy weights, they can do it. Same with jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T16:47:24.557" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T16:47:24.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17160" CreationDate="2017-12-18T19:34:31.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Huskies/Malamute are a very specific breed of dogs with very specific behaviours and I am not an expert in these breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I know the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These breeds are the closest domestic dog to a wolf which means you need to think wolf more than dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wolf.org/wolf-info/basic-wolf-info/biology-and-behavior/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wolf facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not go into too many details but hierarchy is very important for them, even if they are extremely independent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, in a wolf pack, you’ll have a pack leader(male) but also a top female. They work together to keep the pack fed, safe and basically alive. Other wolves within the pack have different roles as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there’s a weaker member of the pack, wolves(contrary to some beliefs) will try to help and solve the problem because they can smell it, feel it, see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your young female there is looking at the older male as a leader but can also smell/feel his problem.  She clearly wants to play and communicate with him to learn the ways of her breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would explain her targeting his legs(think of cancer dogs who can smell and point towards a tumour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can you do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be the pack leader, top dog or you can also take a role of mediator which we also find in wolf packs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to see the behaviour before the legs get touched. A dog will go through several stages before it gets to the final behaviour you’re describing which is the last stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for her licking lips, sniffing around his face then moving towards the top of his back. These are some the signs but they all have their own ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, it’s easier to correct a behaviour when it’s at level 1 rather than level 10. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well there’s lots of ways: because your dogs are closest to wolves, I would do a wolf thing.... don’t laugh!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going up in levels: growling, then touch the underside of a back leg or do both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“No” works too but you have to mean it! Without anger or any emotions... just “no!”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://shibashake.com/dog/siberian-husky-facts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Huskies/Malamute facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T19:34:31.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19180" CreationDate="2017-12-18T19:44:34.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To amplify Layna’s point, when your mum and sister have gone away, the leaders have left and dogs without leaders are lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are also in need of a leader to fill the void. They will therefore try to be the leader.... but unfortunately it takes a very strong dog to be able to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think how hard it is to be a good leader in the human world and how much responsibilities and stress it brings. The dog clearly can’t cop hence the behaviour you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to step up and be a the leader when your mum and sister have gone. The problem will then disappear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s some information and advice: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-psychology/pack-leader/how-to-be-a-pack-leader&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pack leading help&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T19:44:34.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19177" CreationDate="2017-12-18T21:34:09.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hm.... sounds like a territorial issue. with that many litter boxes, there may be a problem with the two cats and three litter boxes. Try putting a box away and moving one somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10040" LastActivityDate="2017-12-18T21:34:09.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-19T15:50:39.290" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always wanted to know why dogs chase cats. I read on the Internet, but it doesn't have any good reason or theories, except that dogs chase away anything that is running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, what if the cats just stay in their position? According to the theory the dog shouldn't do anything, but they will still fight. So why do they fight? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T12:28:07.840" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T16:35:04.580" Title="Why do dogs chase and fight with cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5481" CreationDate="2017-12-19T18:58:50.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used clean, unprinted cardboard for my very healthy 5 year old minilop Toki for 3 years now. This seems to be a good substitute for the roughage of hay. His droppings are normal and he produces plenty of cecotropes. He's a very happy bunny! Be sure the cardboard is clean, no chemical scents and no printing or glue present. Paper towel tubes are the best toys as well since Toki loves to play with them. With the botulism in the hay problems I was terrified of losing Toki for he is my only baby! Cardboard is easily obtainable, cheap if not free, and much less messy than hay and straw. And it works as the roughage substitute in every way! His teeth have never overgrown, they are straight, healthy and white. Toki does great with this substitute!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11189" LastActivityDate="2017-12-19T18:58:50.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19185" CreationDate="2017-12-19T19:07:49.573" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dogs were domesticated by humans about 12 thousand years ago (rough&#xA;  estimate). What were dogs doing before this happen? They had to&#xA;  survive on their own chasing and catching small prey, they were&#xA;  probably scavengers as well (that's why most dogs will eat anything!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The hunting behavior was very important to their survival so it has&#xA;  been &quot;wired&quot; in their brain. We call it &quot;prey drive&quot;. This means that&#xA;  the behavior is partly controlled by genetics, they will perform this&#xA;  behavior when the right cue appears (something to chase), even if they&#xA;  do not need food (because you feed them twice a day!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dog-training-excellence.com/why-do-dogs-chase-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.dog-training-excellence.com/why-do-dogs-chase-cats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They probably see the cat as prey and they chase it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to stop your dog doing this, you can simply teach them to come when you call it’s name. That way, the dog will come anytime, even if it’s chasing something important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11184" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-20T09:22:53.603" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T09:22:53.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19192" CreationDate="2017-12-19T23:09:12.050" Score="0" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat is doing something which is prohibited, I look towards my cat and speak her name in deep loud voice. But my cat thinks that she is being scolded for being at that place and run away about 2 feet away. But what I actually want is that my cat should only stop doing what she is doing. Not run away from the place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example wifi antenna of wifi box is by the side of study table and my cat starts chewing on the antenna. When I scold her she thinks that she is being scolded for being on the side of study table and will move away. But what I actually want her is to stop chewing on the antenna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to make my cat understand for what she is being scolded for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T03:48:57.480" Title="How to make my cat understand that she is being scolded for doing a certain thing but not for staying at the current place" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19190" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-20T01:07:15.673" Score="1" ViewCount="973" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I got a female guppy from a pet shop and when I put her in my tank I realised how much fatter she was compared to my other females is she pregnant if so how long has she been pregnant and if ur really clever how long has she got left of the pregnancy?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/a268c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vMEup.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46PZj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11193" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T14:10:03.713" Title="Is my guppy pregnant if so how long has she been and how long has she got left of the pregnancy?" Tags="&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-12-20T09:16:05.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7555" CreationDate="2017-12-20T02:43:00.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a &lt;em&gt;mainly&lt;/em&gt; vegetarian dog - partially cause we're vegetarian, and partially cause he had a very very bad experience with regular dog food as a puppy. He initially refused tinned stuff (and its a little awkward for us), and would drink milk from milk soaked kibble. He'd also had a tendancy to only eat kibble that had been left out for a few hours (and smelt less... kibbly). We do leave kibble out as he's been getting older, but he kinda considered that a 'treat' rather than his main food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd lean towards the soya, and well, gas, and general digestability &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Traditionally&lt;/em&gt; dogs were fed rice with yogurt or millet porridge in India , and dogs are omnivorous, so balanced vegetarian food might work. Its possible to have a dog vegan with the right mix of foods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our experience - mashed peas seem to work. &lt;em&gt;frozen&lt;/em&gt;, cooked sweet corn does as well, but you need to mash it up properly or it won't digest at all. Dogs have some issues with &quot;bulk&quot; roughage I suspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiled sweet potato seems to work, but has a tenancy to cause gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Red capsicum's ok (tho it makes his poo a rather distressing red colour) as are carrots. Never tried beets before.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've also found (fairly recently!) that probiotics help a little with bloat and stomach issues. We tend to give him a probiotic capsule (which the little fella likes a &lt;em&gt;bit&lt;/em&gt; too much) a day and it works well preventively. Might be worth trying with high protein legumes, if they're causing him indigestion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2017-12-20T02:49:03.347" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T02:49:03.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19189" CreationDate="2017-12-20T02:55:02.527" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do not respond well to negative reinforcement, and you may be doing the wrong thing by scolding her. I have not had this particular problem with my cat, but it may be worthwhile to gently remove the cable from her mouth when you see her chewing it, and not reprove her in any other way. Here is why I say this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One particular problem with our cat (who is very well-behaved) is kneading, which can be uncomfortable if he is sitting on my lap. However, my (elderly) mother finds it very painful, and does not like it at all. She tried telling him off for doing it, but as you can guess, he just ran away. We managed to stop him doing it by gently lifting his paws from our laps, and not scolding him at all, but rather petting him. He quickly understood that he should not knead on our laps, and that his continued company was still desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to adapt this technique to your own situation. Gently stop her from chewing, and give her all the attention that she may desire. Of course, give her plenty of other things to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2017-12-20T03:48:57.480" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T03:48:57.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19190" CreationDate="2017-12-20T08:29:20.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;yes your guppy is pregnant,judging from the first picture it is less than a week before it gives birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a guppy is pregnant for five weeks.&#xA;they are pregnant all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what you see is the dark spot around the anal area of your fish is the babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to see how far the pregnancy have come you look at the spot in the anal area of your fish,in the start of pregnancy it is light red/pink but as the pregnancy progress it gets darker and when it gets allmost black the babies are ready to get born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the babies are born whitout color,they are grey or yellow when born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the dark spot on the female is actually the eyes of the babies visible thru the skin of the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a single guppy can give birth to more than 20 babies at a time but the normal is 6-15,so take care you might end up with a lot of guppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;guppies will eat their young so you shuld get a breeding tank if you want to keep the babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the longer you wait to put the guppy in the breeding tank the less stress for the guppy,but when the spot on your guppy is allmost black it is time to put it in the breeding tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-12-20T14:10:03.713" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T14:10:03.713" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16334" CreationDate="2017-12-20T10:05:43.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if you did not ask the question, how to train your dogs with a whistle, the following passage of your question leads me to answer this seperately. It does not answer this particular question, but is a solution for your intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most obvious solution is a dog whistle. But there are other creatures around who are also sensitive to that (frequency of) sound and will respond to it. So whistling is not an option. I could also experiment different kinds of whistles (and I probably will), but that's not the point of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As LateralTerminal already stated, the whistle is not a magical whistle and does not attract any animal, whether it is able to hear it or not. It is a normal training process. You could use a normal whistle, too. The only difference is that a normal whistle could disturb neighbours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To train your dogs to come when they hear the whistle, you should do the following steps. Start with training the dogs seperately at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let them sit down, go some meters away, blow the whistle and call them immediatly. Reward them for coming. At the beginning reward them so much that they nearly can't wait to come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Repeat step 1 often. &lt;strong&gt;Don't reward&lt;/strong&gt; them, if they start to come to you &lt;strong&gt;before you blow the whistle&lt;/strong&gt;, just let them sit again and repeat the lesson.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch them closely. Do they already start to come when they hear the whistle, but before you call them? Try to just blow the whistle. If they come, well done, if not, go to step 1 again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a very complex training program, but you have to be carefully with the timing. With good timing they will learn it easily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T10:05:43.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-20T11:36:41.107" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I put her in my breeding tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ehBsz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11193" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-20T14:00:44.277" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T14:00:44.277" Title="When should I put my guppy in a breeding tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-06T12:11:06.207" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19185" CreationDate="2017-12-20T13:38:12.840" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a dogs' instinct and is all about resources, by chasing away cats the dog will have access to more prey to sustain itself and its pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pack of dogs will chase away other dogs too - for the same reason. It is the same with foxes - dogs will chase them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Foxes will try to chase away cats too - even if they have limited chance of success against an adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as you know, cats chase away other cats to avoid competition over the same resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog tries to chase away a cat, but the cat refuses to move, the dog will often withdraw from a potential fight (take a look on youtube bad ass cats and you will understand what I mean).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every predatory animal has this instinct to remove competition - both pack animals and the solitary ones; packs of lions chase away the young males and keep the females (they do most of the hunting), so it makes sense to have them in the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T16:35:04.580" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T16:35:04.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-20T20:18:07.117" Score="6" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat attacks whoever cleans her kittens pee or pooh. Except if it was me cleaning it. Why? What does she think of this? If I cleaned it, she'd just check the clothe and it's over. It seems shes satisfied. If anyone else comes near the pee of her kittens it's war. She allows her kittens to be handled and played with though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9713" LastEditDate="2017-12-23T23:40:18.587" LastActivityDate="2017-12-23T23:40:18.587" Title="Why does mother cat attack me if I clean kitten's pee?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19197" CreationDate="2017-12-20T21:32:19.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Predators are likely to check out urine and faeces to get the smell of their prey before they start hunting. Your cat trusts you, but not anyone else, since they might be predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T21:32:19.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-20T23:28:53.763" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;so,my 16 year old sister has a dog...A Black Peach Brown Pomeranian. So my dad would give her a sausage link, then she runs off hiding it under my sisters bed.&#xA;Then after a while she takes it outside with her then leaving it out there,leaving it through the day. Until the point it's rock hard,i don't really know whats going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11197" LastActivityDate="2017-12-20T23:28:53.763" Title="Why Do Dogs Hide Food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-05T15:52:36.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9469" CreationDate="2017-12-21T00:48:57.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drooling can be a symptom of toxicity associated with insecticides, such as flea treatment products. Other symptoms are loss of balance, lethargy, diarrhea, in serious cases, tremors.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is probably not the case here, but it is good to keep this in mind if you are using such a product, in which case you should stop it and take advice from your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11200" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T00:48:57.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7225" CreationDate="2017-12-21T00:53:50.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drooling can be a symptom of toxicity associated with insecticides, such as flea treatment products. Other symptoms are loss of balance, lethargy, diarrhea, in serious cases, tremors.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you are using such a product (or any non-critical substance, actually), you should stop.&#xA;You should go to your vet in any case, your cat is in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11200" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T00:53:50.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-21T04:07:39.327" Score="1" ViewCount="2652" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Cali, was feral after the neighbors abandoned her. I think they had abused her. She gradually worked  her way into our home after a year of being skittish and running away while we fed her outside. We lived in Hawaii where being outdoors was safe. Cali gradually became more affectionate, and seemed to want to be an indoor cat after having always been outdoors, going out for about 15 minutes daily at most. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then two months ago we moved her to California and kept her indoors. It seemed to be going well. She learned to use a litter box and started voluntarily climbing into my lap and sleeping with us at night. But as of a few weeks ago, she wanted to go outside and slipped out one day. After that, she cried incessantly, all day and all night, to be let out. I  tried to keep her in but she drove me nuts with constant, constant loud crying so I started letting her out during the day, assuming she'd come back for meals, which she did, and then we'd keep her in at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was supposed to go to the vet for dental surgery today. I let her out before breakfast yesterday since she had been crying since 5 am, assuming she'd come back to eat as always. But for the first time, she didn't come back to eat. I made a huge mistake. I went looking for her, brought food to her, and when she was eating I tried to pick her up to bring her back into the house so she'd be around for the surgery. She freaked out, scratched me, and ran off. And since then, she's been in hiding. She hid outside all day yesterday and then last night I put her food inside the door to the living room, and she slunk in to get it, but rushed out as soon as she saw me approaching to close the door. She spent the night outside and hid all day today (missed the surgery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was worried because she didn't eat all day yesterday, so I left food outside on the porch this morning and I saw her eating it, so  I know she's around,  though she's been hiding all day. I call her every few hours and she won't come, so I left food out again tonight. It's gone so I assume she ate it,  but she won't come in or show herself, even though it's getting really cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make matters worse, we're supposed to move in a few weeks. Cali was supposed to stay with a friend of mine for 8 days while my husband and I drove across country, and I bought my friend a ticket so she could fly Cali to us,  carrying her in the cabin. Now I'm  feeling like maybe I should just try to find someone to adopt her so she doesn't go through any more trauma, and also because she really can't be an outdoor kitty where we're headed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help!!!! Any advice????&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11201" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T04:07:39.327" Title="Cat suddenly scared and won't come in" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-21T06:30:27.727" Score="4" ViewCount="564" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we recently had sewer backup in our basement. It happened from the surge from outside and was not something we could have prevented or controlled. By the time we got back home and discovered it, our two cats had paws covered in sewage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned that they tried to lick themselves in effort to clean, and worried about them acquiring possible infection or anything else. Are there any preventive measures that I can take, like ask vet for antibiotics or anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11203" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-15T20:40:49.643" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T03:26:44.320" Title="Cat exposed to sewer waste, does it need antibiotic?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9998" CreationDate="2017-12-21T06:57:38.663" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure one of the reasons is because they want a different type of food. The other day I dished the cat out her regular dry food consisting of chicken and rice pellets. She stared at the bowl. Then I tried a tiny bit of canned tuna which she sniffed, stared at the bowl and then stared at me again. Usually she adores the tuna. Lastly I tried a wet chicken sachet. She sniffed the bowl and proceeded to happily munch away trying to scoop out every last bit and lick the bowl clean. I'm reasonably certain they get tired of munching on the same dry food all day, or indeed the same type of food in general. They like a varied diet much the same as us humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11204" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T06:57:38.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19197" CreationDate="2017-12-21T07:15:49.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;female cats are very protective of their kittens and the waste the kittens make do have the smell of them so this might trigger the mothers protective instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the mother trust you more than the other people around for now,but this is not positive for the kittens they need human interaction to be good house cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you do not say if the mother cat allows the kittens to be lifted and played with by other people,it is important for the kittens to have human interaction from the time their eyes open for them to be used to people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2017-12-21T14:39:30.907" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T14:39:30.907" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-21T07:37:38.067" Score="-2" ViewCount="1898" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost my place to live and found myself in my car with my kids and two rabbits. My significant other and her mom moved in with her grandparents, who wouldn't take them. I called every animal rescue shelter within 100 miles to get rid of these rabbits because no one I knew had enough room for them nor wanted to take them; I was basically told they couldn't or wouldn't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do I do with them?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both in one cage to save space in my car and I covered up the cage with a blanket. I'm going to leave them on the steps of a shelter or just let them loose. Even though they seem to have accommodated well in the car, it's not healthy for me to be in my car with two rabbits defecating because of the disagreeable smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions before they find themselves in a whole new world.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please don't say &quot;take them to a shelter,&quot; it's not as easy as people may think. Most of the time shelters are full and charge money for taking animals; they have restrictions and want things that sometimes we don't have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't been in my shoes, don't say &quot;take them to a shelter.&quot; I think I'd be doing them a huge favor by freeing them in the wild; they can't last any less than a wild rabbit. Wild rabbits don't live long. In my opinion they have just as good a chance as any other rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It boils down to how lucky they are I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11205" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T17:17:07.713" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T17:17:07.713" Title="How long can domestic rabbits live in wild" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2017-12-22T23:54:16.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19204" CreationDate="2017-12-21T07:42:32.090" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is best to wait and see, keep an eye on your cats to see if any illness is developing and if it is, take the cats to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, cats walk on the ground and they can get diseases from this too, but they do not often get ill from this (I am talking about outdoor/indoor cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats hunt and they do not often get ill from eating their prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, worms and ticks do not count as illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do understand you are concerned and it is a bad situation to have sewer flooding the place, and I really hope your cats are well after being exposed to all this bacteria and viruses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-15T20:36:54.527" LastActivityDate="2020-12-15T20:36:54.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-21T09:07:09.203" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today morning when I was working on my study table. My cat jumped on the table. She started to meow. Then she started to lick my cheeks and nose. Then she started to put her paws on my cheeks and nose. Unable to get what she is trying to convey I put some food on her plate. She kept looking at it from top of table. I brought her down and put her by the side of the plate. But still she didn't eat anything. I tried to persuade her to eat but she didn't. I started to caress her but still she didn't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After sometime I put the food back in box and went on to study. She also climbed the table and started doing the same things again. Then I started to play with her and she really enjoyed it. But as soon as I got back to work, she climbed the table and stared doing the the same things again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I asked my mom for help. She came. The moment she entered the room, my cat instantly started meowing at her at the top of her voice. My mom gave her food on plate. She jumped by the side of the plate and started making loud purring sound. But instead of eating she kept looking at my mom and kept meowing. My mom started caressing her and instantly she started eating vigorously as if she is extremely hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After eating a handsome amount she stopped eating and tried to bring down the whiskas dry food to floor with her paws. Now my mom started to place the food piece by piece on floor. And she again stared eating and again ate a handsome amount. After she had enough food and was full, she went to my bed and went to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am unable to understand any of her behaviors. Anybody got any idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T09:07:09.203" Title="What is my cat trying to say and why is she refusing food from me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19207" CreationDate="2017-12-21T13:37:45.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I would suggest closing your question as a duplicate of our exting question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1578&quot;&gt;Can I release my pet rabbit in the wild?&lt;/a&gt; but it sounds like you have done your best due diligence to rehome the rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your plight, If there are absolutely no options for rehoming them, I think the only responsible choice is euthanasia. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I knew your general location, I would be happy to try and locate a house rabbit rescue in your area.  It is sometimes possible to have a rescue meet you someplace to take them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T13:37:45.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19204" CreationDate="2017-12-21T13:41:42.913" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;No, do not use unnecessary antibiotics!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless your cat is ill &lt;em&gt;- then you should go to your vet with it -&lt;/em&gt; then take the steps to cure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT use antibiotics as a precautionary measure in pets, or even people! I do understand you do care a lot. But &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_misuse&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;improper&lt;/a&gt; use of antibiotics is very dangerous. Why? Antibiotic resistance. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;That is one very dangerous thing.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T13:41:42.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19156" CreationDate="2017-12-21T14:01:11.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely need more than one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you give her a lot of attention, you are not always with her when she is awake, you won't clean her fur like another rat would do. You won't run with her around like another rat, you won't do the wrestling, you won't answer in a ratty language when she asks... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rat needs you, but you cannot be like another rat for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T14:01:11.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19214" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-21T15:58:55.250" Score="4" ViewCount="13692" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats - both housecats and outdoor cats, and feral cats to boot - will sometimes make an eerie sound that sounds very much like a human baby crying. It can be quite disconcerting, hearing what sounds like a baby crying outside my window (following by scrabbling and squawking, often).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do cats make this sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8979" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T14:04:06.033" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T14:04:06.033" Title="Why do cats sometimes sound like crying babies?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19214" CreationDate="2017-12-21T19:53:58.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cats you're hearing are most likely females in heat. The sounds afterwards may be male cats fighting over the female, or possibly the female scrabbling with the male, possibly rejecting him, or after mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a cat's normal meow by random genetic variation, will sound more like a baby than is typical for a cat, also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T19:53:58.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19173" CreationDate="2017-12-21T20:07:58.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs, or any animal really, do not die from obesity, but symptoms that are often comorbid with obesity may shorten the animal's lifespan, like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. A checkup at your vet will determine if your dog has any of these other symptoms, and appropriate action can be taken to help with those conditions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately though, because obesity does seem to increase the risk for these conditions, and because being obese can be harder on the joints and body, decreasing the dog's quality of life, it's healthier for the dog to lose weight. Like with humans, losing weight is difficult. Consult with your vet about a diet regimen and stick to it. No extra treats or snacks, and definitely no more human food, like Oscar Meyer weiners. Perhaps more importantly, exercise the dog regularly. Not only does exercise burn more calories, but it is linked to many health benefits include reducing the risk of many of those symptoms I mentioned, like heart disease and high blood pressure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T20:07:58.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19173" CreationDate="2017-12-21T20:43:32.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your vet is going to provide you with the best solution to transitioning your dog off of hotdogs and onto dog appropriate food, and you'll probably be more inclined to stick to it after discussing it with a professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been trying to get her to lose weight, but she acts so sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sucks to feel that our pets are sad, I know, but you have to do what's best for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog was diagnosed with pancreatitis about a month ago. He was vomiting daily, usually with blood in the mix. He could no longer eat anything other than his low-fat prescription food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was a transition for us as well. He didn't eat human food on a regular basis, but I'd often feed him crusts off of my pizza, or allow him to have a small scoop of peanut butter when he took his medication for seizures.  Once he was diagnosed, he could no longer eat any of those things. He would still come and sit by me and wait for me to give him small table scraps.  Within a few weeks, he had moved on and now just lays down next to me instead of giving me his starving dog eyes while I eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be the pack leader. You need to set the tone. Do not be sad for your dog, because you'll be giving her a healthier, longer life to enjoy things other than just hot dogs. Your dog will transition and will also be happy if you are happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T20:43:32.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16379" CreationDate="2017-12-21T23:21:50.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog that is not a Great Pyr but is of similar looks, size, working class, and stubbornness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many people have used e-collars effectively &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The e-collar really has very little effectiveness for my dog. I once caught my dog running away with the collar on, and had to issue a surprising number of max-intensity shocks (which were only of minor inconvenience to him) before he would come back. Further training with the e-collar in more controlled settings produced unreliable results that had surprising and undesired behavioral side-effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;can rarely be trusted off leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for other readers, I would like to state here that not all dogs are off-leash dogs, no matter how much we the owners may want them to be, or how much we may work at it. Also , off-leash has its own dangers and unpredictabilities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;very stubborn with the recall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had two gigantic break-throughs: check-ins and scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;check-in&quot; is where you ask your dog to come to you, acknowledge him, but then he gets to go back to what he was doing before. This is instrumental in training recall, as most recall training consists of obeying the command and then the fun (say, the park) being stripped away. So, a check-in might be to get your dog to come, praise, and then he gets to go about his business. First train at home, then in gradually more distracting scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our second break-through is probably more personal, this dog loves being scratched. He loves it almost more than food itself. So, I use that as a reward. Big praise, lots of love, and lots of scratching. In some forms of advanced training, they don't use treats, but rather other forms of reward, like playing tug-o-war, a special treat, etc. So try to find something that your dog really loves (but not to the point where he loses his mind). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For added cuteness I also incorporated the child-like arms-outstretched motion into the body cue for 'come'. It works great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Levels of reward&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of owners don't realize that dogs are picky and choosy like humans are, getting tired of the same old things. Here are some tips for rewards:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;BIG praise. &quot;G'boy&quot; is one thing, &quot;GOODBOYGOODBOYOHYOURSOGOOD!!!&quot; is a whole new level&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;SMILE. Dogs read faces and your expression heightens their reward&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smelly. The smellier the reward, the better it is. This is why cheese is better than a biscuit. This is why microwaved (warm) cheese is better than normal cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Portions. Each reward should be of a good portion, not too big, not too small. Big enough so that it is actually rewarding, stimulates their appetite, but small enough so that they're still hungry. Basically, imagine the size of a ravoli for humans shrunk down in proportion to your dog's weight&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Variety. Dogs get tired of things. If the buscuits aren't working, put them away and take out the chicken. Then the tuna. Then cheese. Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take breaks. Dogs still get tired. Take a break and just have unstructured play. For a puppy, maybe 5-10 minutes of training at a time, for an adult dog, 20-40 minutes at a time. Every dog is different.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T23:21:50.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18264" CreationDate="2017-12-21T23:38:20.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's swim bladder disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/article/treat-fish-swim-bladder-disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's an article&lt;/a&gt; about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A betta with this disease will either float involuntarily along the surface or they will sink to the bottom of the bowl. Additional symptoms are a lopsided body position while swimming, lethargic behavior and swelling of the stomach. Usually caused by over-feeding and constipation, swim bladder disease is not contagious and is easy to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article goes on to explain some treatment options, like using a pea. There are other medicinal alternatives too, like MelaFix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I read online that if you do weekly 100% water changes you do not need a filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct. A filter never hurts, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also noticed that this new conditioner that I bought has white flakes in it? I have purchased this conditioner before and it did not have white flakes in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This particular brand of water conditioner is prone for this, especially if the bottle you bought is near or past expiration. Basically, the conditioner dries on the bottle - on the rim, in the grooves, in the cap, etc - and then when you pour it, the flakes get in. They are harmless. They eventually dissipate into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I recently order a new tank and am waiting for it to arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, that won't help your fish get better though. He needs special treatment, like the webpage says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2017-12-21T23:38:20.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-22T01:48:35.330" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kLuen.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/evYYS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h8ha0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Is my grey fish pregnant also when will my fish in the breeding tank give birth ? Also if my grey fish is pregnant how long has she been ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11193" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T01:48:35.330" Title="2 things one when is my fish in my breeding tank gonna give birth and 2 is my grey fish pregnant?" Tags="&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-12-22T12:07:22.567" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-22T04:22:58.000" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 y/o,  pomeranian /shi-tzu/yorkshire mix female.  She is fixed.  Over the past year, she has episodes of pulling her hair out on her back.  I've changed food, for higher omegas, switched to oatmeal shampoo, used the 8 month flea collar, had a complete check up, including blood panel to rule out thyroid issues. Everything came back great.  The vet put her on a very expensive anti itch pill.  Nothing really works.  It helps some, but doesn't stop the problem. Does anyone have any ideas.  She's definitely not under any stress.  I'm destroying my aloe vera plant trying to soothe her skin.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11211" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T04:22:58.000" Title="pulling out her hair" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-12-22T11:50:58.893" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19232" CreationDate="2017-12-22T08:41:15.513" Score="3" ViewCount="1150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I give moong dal to stray dogs? Moong dal ingredients are Moong Lentis, Edible Vegetable Oil and Edible Common Salt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T16:43:49.327" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T16:43:49.327" Title="Can I give moong dal (fried lentils) to dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19231" CreationDate="2017-12-22T10:16:15.563" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be moving to my new apartment in +/- 2 years, and I plan on adopting a cat, since I always wanted one, but never could due to our dogs (which I also love).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then I realized that his feeding times would be &quot;irregular&quot;. I leave my home to go to work at 6:40AM and come back only at 5PM. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, could I give him a reasonable ammount of food before leaving home and then he eats what he needs? Or would he overfeed himself? What other options do I have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11213" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T11:40:13.913" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T01:43:06.837" Title="Can I give my cat large amounts of food before leaving home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19226" CreationDate="2017-12-22T10:37:41.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's machines that would let you feed a cat at regular intervals. Not being a cat owner, and it being a product recommendation, I can't say a specific one, but that sounds like a option that ensures your cat is fed at the right time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; cats manage to hack em - though &lt;a href=&quot;http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?p=3023&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;needing to build an armoured cage&lt;/a&gt; around is unlikely. Its still a good way to get measured amounts of food at specific times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T10:37:41.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19226" CreationDate="2017-12-22T11:24:13.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't be an issue.&#xA;All the cats we had were given a serving of wet food when one of us came home and otherwise had a bowl of dry food that they could access whenever they wanted. Usually they should only eat as much as they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11214" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T11:24:13.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-22T12:38:47.740" Score="1" ViewCount="623" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S5QZo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pregnant guppy is pooping yellow, then black, then yellow poo; is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a sign she is going to give birth soon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11193" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T21:23:56.003" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T21:23:56.003" Title="Is this normal for a pregnant guppy, is it a sign she is going to give birth soon?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19226" CreationDate="2017-12-22T13:28:32.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, cats being small animals need several smaller feedings a day. Human normal habits do not work for them. On the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Hunting_and_feeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; you can find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] cats tend to consume many small meals in a single day [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have one that can control its intake of food, then you are golden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if your cat likes to overeat, it will get fat from that. Not a good thing! Or a cat that eats more then it can digest and then throws up. In these cases and others, you will need a feeder. Search around for a good one, should not be to hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T01:43:06.837" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T01:43:06.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19226" CreationDate="2017-12-22T13:45:29.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats will generally overfeed themselves (there are always the exception), from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://petobesityprevention.org/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Association for Pet Obesity&lt;/a&gt;, in 2016 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An Estimated 59% of Cats and 54% of Dogs in the United States Are&#xA;  Overweight or Obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large portion (if not all) of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://catinfo.org/docs/Feeding%20Your%20Cat%20-%204%20pages%2011-13.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats diet&lt;/a&gt; should be wet food, since wet is expensive most owners will supplement with dry to cut the cost. Depending on the food you choose and how much your pet weighs he should be fed a specific amount daily. When starting a new food weigh your pet every 2 weeks to ensure he is not losing or gaining weight (if a kitten we want gain of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Journeyman mentioned, buying an automatic food dispenser is great!! Cats are grazers and will benefit from being able to eat small portions throughout the day vs all at once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dispensing wet food be sure the product you use can keep the food refrigerated until use. Cats typically like warmer foods as the smell is much stronger, their &lt;a href=&quot;http://catsinternational.org/the-cats-sense-of-taste/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;taste buds&lt;/a&gt; are sub-par compared to us so they heavily rely on smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not wish to have an automatic food dispenser you can feed him twice a day, 1/2 the daily portion in the morning and 1/2 in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other StackExchange questions that may help you:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1144/how-many-times-a-day-should-i-feed-a-cat?noredirect=1&amp;amp;lq=1&quot;&gt;How many times a day should I feed a cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7429/how-often-should-cats-eat?noredirect=1&amp;amp;lq=1&quot;&gt;How often should cats eat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18578/is-10-months-late-to-teach-a-cat-to-self-feeding-if-not-how-shall-i-proceed?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is 10 months late to teach a cat to self-feeding? If not, how shall I proceed?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T13:54:39.017" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T13:54:39.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19225" CreationDate="2017-12-22T13:58:08.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lentils on their own, properly cooked are probably fine. The fact that its deep fried is probably &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a good thing. And from my recollection, deep fried moong dahl's on the salty side, and too much salt is bad for dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While indian street dogs are hardy - it dosen't feel like the best idea, even if you have a big pile of em lying around. Junk food is as bad for them as it is for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T13:58:08.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19145" CreationDate="2017-12-22T15:18:49.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a good chance that common stock in local stores all comes from the same place. This is especially true for big box stores like petsmart and petco but there's only so many wholesale fish breeders so it's possible no matter where you get them from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you aren't deliberately trying to breed fish yourself, I wouldn't worry about it. With the exception of a few species, it's almost impossible to raise from egg to fish in community tanks, assuming you can get anything to breed at all. Firemouths and other cichlids readily breed but with other fish in the tank, their fry usually cannot survive to maturity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something else to consider is, if you are able to raise fish to maturity, make sure you are able to sell or rehome them. Common aggressive fish can be extremely difficult to rehome, firemouths are a good example, they're not in high demand and it can be difficult to even give them away. Convict and Severum cichlids are another that I see far too often for free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking to deliberately breed cichlids, I recommend peaceful ones that can be in normal community tanks. Apistogrammas and Bolivian rams are great community cichlids that are relatively easy to breed. Due to lifespan and water quality requirements, I'd avoid gold and blue rams. They're beautiful fish but their husbandry requirements are closer to discus, they need pristine water to thrive and they still only live a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T15:18:49.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19229" CreationDate="2017-12-22T16:02:52.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal; you probably feed flake food and this does often have multiple colors. This is a trick the producer uses to make you buy it - however, it is not different content in the flake food - it is the same content in the food, only the coloring differs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The coloring is useless for the fish and is not absorbed by the fish, so it passes into the poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the spot around the anal area of your guppy is almost black your guppy is&#xA;ready to give birth; but be patient, it can still take some time before the fish gives birth, maybe  several days (this is one of the things we have no control over).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T21:21:43.640" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T21:21:43.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7026" CreationDate="2017-12-22T18:38:06.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different-sized needles.  For some reason, the larger ones seem to be the ones getting dispensed - maybe just for larger dogs - but regardless of the the size of your dog, at first try using the smallest needle available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does NOT need to go in that far - if it does, you are not giving the medicine properly! It goes just below the skin into the fat layer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is not 'behaving' when you try to give injection, and/or if the dog's blood sugar levels aren't improving, it's probably because you are injecting into the muscle - where it will do no good. &#xA;Try a smaller sized needle and make sure you look at the needles to compare their sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11218" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:14:20.810" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:14:20.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19238" CreationDate="2017-12-22T18:54:40.337" Score="7" ViewCount="24615" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 month old cat licked at a lemon slice but is behaving normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read on multiple websites that lemon is poisonous to cats (and dogs). However there are also some people that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/5671&quot;&gt;recommend to rub citrus peels against cords&lt;/a&gt; to prevent the cats from biting them. Indicating that lemons aren't poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That made me wondering are lemons really poisonous to cats or just some parts like the peel or the seeds? How much would cause serious problems to a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are a few links that state that lemons are poisonous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/lemon&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://allpetmagazine.com/can-cats-eat-oranges-what-about-lemons/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;All Pet Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/lemon-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wagwalking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11217" LastEditorUserId="11217" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T19:58:42.893" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T15:48:07.107" Title="How dangerous are lemons for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-22T20:07:57.977" Score="6" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved my aquarium from my desk to a shelve and missed intensive inspections for a couple of months. I noticed that I don't have about 50 (which is already much), but a few hundred red cherry shrimp; population potentially growing. Since that might be stressful for all inhabitants in a 60l freshwater aquarium, I was wondering whether it's possible to reduce the number by producing fish food for Mollies from a bunch of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd start by killing them in a -21°C saturated salt water bath which should cause immediate deadly systemic shock. Then freeze and cut them and store them into my freezer. That way, I should be able to feed the pieces over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Freeze-drying would be a good conservation, but requires industrial equipment afaik.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this approach make sense: Will the meat remain consumable over - let's say - half a year? Can I cut up the whole bodies or do I need to peal the shrimp? Are there parts I should remove (organs filtering toxins, especially fat parts which are considered bad diet for aquarium fish)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T23:35:02.663" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T15:22:02.937" Title="Can I produce fish food from overcrowding shrimp?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19236" CreationDate="2017-12-22T21:13:35.210" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, lemon is poisonous, but it requires excessive amounts before it is really harmful. A single lick isn't going to do anything noticeable. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, and contact dermatitis. I've found no references to any worse symptoms. Those symptoms, while unpleasant, aren't likely to cause lasting harm. The peels are worse than the fruit for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/article/citrus-fruits-poisonous-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cuteness.com/article/citrus-fruits-poisonous-cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T21:13:35.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16379" CreationDate="2017-12-22T22:51:12.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rescuer of a Great Pyrenees with behavioral issues that no doubt stem from his ruff past, I can say with true sincerity I feel your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I rescue dogs, so we have had to rehabilitate dogs from various states and deal with issues that most owners would have just given up on their dogs. For this reason, we tried almost any training or management technique you can imagine so please understand this when reading the rest of this - I don't want people thinking it's a good idea to use advanced forms of behavior management like remote training collars as a &quot;try this first&quot;. There have been some times that I have been able to use a remote training collar effectively, but it's a device that I find I use only for short while during handling a specific behavior then it's put away. To give some detail, I would say I've used ours maybe a couple of times in the 5 or so years we've owned it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to approach training in general&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say training to some people they think about making your dogs do tricks, to other people they believe you mean house training... the reality is, to a dog there is basically no difference between the two. To be successful at training - particularly in difficult cases, you have to learn the dog and pay keen attention to trying to discover &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; the behavior is happening. As humans we like to project our feelings on to dogs, so when we see them look &quot;guilty&quot; we think they feel guilt for doing something bad for example. The reality is, often times the dog is actually just aware that you will be upset and that is why they are acting &quot;guilty&quot;. Merely knowing that you will be upset does not mean the dog understands why you are upset, and it's very important that you understand almost every time a training failure comes down to a dog not understanding, or being medically unable to comply. If we approach training like solving a problem, it becomes much less personal and more productive. It's always best to start off with the simple proven techniques, then work our way up to more advanced techniques when the basics aren't working. We never want to go right to the &quot;strongest&quot; training technique, but sometimes the strongest technique is what's required and is best for the dog. We have to make sure that when we get there, we are doing it for the dog and we have a very specific reason for trying that technique and aren't &quot;winging it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do remote training collars work on a Great Pyrenees?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the answer is a resounding &lt;em&gt;NO&lt;/em&gt;. I don't say this because I am against the use remote training collars, used correctly they can be a very effective tool. I say this because I've used remote training collars on different dogs, and the single one that it was least effective with was our Pyrenees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great Pyrenees are -particularly- stubborn. They were bred specifically for being independent minded and strong willed, and anyone who has one can testify to that. It's completely normal for a Great Pyrenees to be difficult to recall and a training collar offers no effective tool against their stubbornness. Here are some specific reasons why I really believe you shouldn't use a training collar on a Great Pyrenees&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They have long hair, so if you're using a &quot;shock&quot; type, even with the long probes it's very likely to not contact at all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In my experience using negative re-enforcement causes Great Pyrenees in particular to shut down and stop listening to you at all, so don't be surprised if it makes the issue of not responding to a recall much worse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great Pyrenees have an amazing resilience and tolerance for any type of pain - negative enforcement is not a good motivator for this breed at all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Then how?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each case is different, but this is how we were able to overcome it. First to learn how to train your Pyr in general, you need to learn what makes him tick - what brings him joy. In our case, he likes being with our other dogs and he likes direct 1 on 1 attention. He isn't very food motivated, and he's really not toy/play motivated either which makes him a real challenge. We also know he loves going outside, and doesn't like coming inside when called. Armed with this knowledge, this is the technique we used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the other dogs away so the training session is as free of distractions as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take the dog outside for a short enough time that he would be most resistant to want to come in, in this case about 3-4 minutes. Sooner than that he hadn't gotten engaged enough that coming in was easier. After that and he may have &quot;had his fill&quot; and be ready to come back in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Call him, if he comes praise the heck out of him and give him direct 1 on 1 petting and attention - over the top, you want to feel embarrassed if you find out anyone is watching (maybe also give him a treat - in my case he often wont eat a treat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he does not come back when he is called, keep calling him until he comes to you, then gently lead him by the collar into an area of isolation (in my case, we used the crate but you can use a bedroom or anything). In the case of my dog, this is because he gets his happiness from being around others and it's merely used to give him something to contrast with his reward for doing it right. It's important to understand we're not using the crate as a form of punishment - you should never associate a crate with punishment. I would leave him there for about two minutes and then continue. Keep in mind that if you have a problem with him acting out while in isolation that issue should be handled before this training can work - you don't want to take him out of isolation while he's acting out, as it will re-enforce that behavior and make it worse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let him continue playing for another time interval and repeat the process until he succeeds 3 times in a row, or he is no longer interested in playing. If he succeeds 3 times in a row, give him a &quot;lottery&quot; reward which is like a whole bunch of treats and 3x the praise and reward as before. If he stops being interested, that's fine just try again some other time but no lottery reward unless he gets it right 3 times in a row.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Is he ready?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog isn't responding to any type of training at all, he may not be ready for it. This was the case with our Great Pyrenees for about the first 6 months after we rescued him. As is the case with many rescues, his past is completely unknown - he was found abandoned by his original owners. He also traded hands a few times before we got him, and when he first arrived at our home he was not the most pleasant dog to have around. It took us a while to learn his needs, and for him to learn that he can trust us. While this process was happening, there was very little if any productive training happening. If this is your situation, the only way to get through this is to provide tons of positive support and trust building and avoid negative encounters - even just firmly saying &quot;no&quot; was enough to make our Pyrenees totally shut down during this time. We had to just praise him when we 'caught' him doing the right things, and do our best to ignore him acting out. Now that it's behind us, we are able to treat him like any other dog and saying &quot;no&quot; doesn't make him shut down, but he's still just as stubborn as he's ever been!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for such a long reply. As I'm sure you can see, you managed to ask the very question that aligns with what was a huge barrier I had to overcome. Hopefully what I've learned from my experiences can help you and your Pyrenees out too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11220" LastEditorUserId="11220" LastEditDate="2017-12-22T23:00:56.983" LastActivityDate="2017-12-22T23:00:56.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-23T03:57:24.627" Score="3" ViewCount="1818" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aa5yn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my little red eared turtles image eating my pet gold fish which died of natural causes.  Should I be worried? Is there anything I should do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11221" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-12-24T00:11:04.887" LastActivityDate="2019-10-14T19:55:58.847" Title="My little red eared turtle ate a dead gold fish should I be concerned?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15464" CreationDate="2017-12-23T06:24:40.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Treats&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are countless treats which are safe for horses. The majority of fruits and vegetables are safe, along with some foods you might not expect, like candy. In general, as long as you aren't feeding them more than a little at a time, they'll be fine. It's hard to list every single food you could ever consider feeding a horse, so here are the most common ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do feed&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hard candy (usually peppermints but also butterscotch and other flavored candies) Don't feed huge amounts of these, since they're so sweet. I usually stick to a maximum of 3 candies at once, and they're best if not fed every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carrots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apples&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Granola&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Melons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grapes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is a bit political, but current research gives no indication that GMOs and non-organic foods are unsafe for horses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't feed&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Broccoli, cauliflower, and other foods which might give your horse gas. There's a slight colic risk.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything from a package, like something you bought frozen or something that isn't obviously a derivative of a fruit. For example, applesauce is safe, but frozen vegetables are risky. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything very sour/spicy; for example, onions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spinach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dairy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the most part, horses can handle a lot more food than you might expect. Just Google ahead of time if you're worried about a particular treat. Also, don't panic too much if your horse accidentally eats something they shouldn't. I've seen horses eat potato chips, ham, and mayo (note that I do NOT recommend any of those) and be totally fine. Of course, if you're concerned, do call the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Amounts&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of the amounts you can feed, I usually limit treats for horses to what I would be willing to eat. For example, I wouldn't eat more than one apple in a sitting, but I might eat a handful of baby carrots at once, so that's all I'll feed. This isn't very precise, but there aren't amounts that're widely accepted for all horses. Since this does vary depending on a horse's size, dietary needs, etc., you should ask your vet if you want precise limits for how many treats you can feed your horse.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11222" LastEditorUserId="11222" LastEditDate="2017-12-23T06:32:48.947" LastActivityDate="2017-12-23T06:32:48.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19245" CreationDate="2017-12-23T08:03:39.990" Score="7" ViewCount="644" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title suggests, my cat fell from a window on his side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's two stories high and there're decorative pebbles beneath with a few plants. His behaviour hasn't changed besides that when he lies he either repositions his left leg (He fell on his left, I think) or just rises to his feet and walk away. I checked his gums, and they don't appear abnormal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid he may have some internal damage. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11223" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:29:36.657" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:29:36.657" Title="Cat fell from window on his side" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19244" CreationDate="2017-12-23T11:23:15.360" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have the existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11135&quot;&gt;Should I take my cat to the vet after a big fall/jump?&lt;/a&gt; as indicated in one of the answers there, cats mostly land on their feet automatically.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cat fell and landed on it's side, there is very possibly something going on prior to the fall.  In other words you should be concerned that he fell and landed on his side instead of his feet, you should be more concerned about what caused him to not land on his feet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomorrow is Saturday, if an emergency vet visit on Saturday is an option, check to see if there is 24 hour vet in your area, and go now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-12-23T11:23:15.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19246" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-23T17:55:26.010" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a fully automated aquarium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Need an automatically timed feeder for the fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could the aquarium could automatically clean itself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A battery backup for both the feeder and the cleaning could be good too!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure whether aquariums need any oxygen system or not. Also, not sure if it's safe to leave an aquarium with fishes un-managed when going on a holiday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I turn the electricity off before leaving, so that's the main reason for the battery backup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a battery powered aquarium is not available, then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any portable aquarium that's easy to carry? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, some easier way to transfer the fishes from one aquarium to another? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried a net, and it's scary to move the fishes to another aquarium with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11226" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:30:00.060" Title="Looking for an automated aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19246" CreationDate="2017-12-23T22:20:13.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like what you need is DVD of an Aquarium.  There are several varieties at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_12?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&amp;amp;field-keywords=aquarium+dvd+for+tv&amp;amp;sprefix=Aquarium+dvd%2Cmovies-tv%2C152&amp;amp;crid=2KY3EF105R53Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&amp;amp;_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xaquarium+dvd+for+tv.TRS0&amp;amp;_nkw=aquarium+dvd+for+tv&amp;amp;_sacat=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ebay&lt;/a&gt; as well as other retailers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No feeding, no cleaning, and no worries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2017-12-23T22:20:13.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19250" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-24T04:35:27.590" Score="0" ViewCount="7559" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 8 months old and sucks on me until he is ready to go to sleep. He gets nothing from it. He seems to like my wrists the best. I have tried stopping him but he is so persistent. My question do you think he will out grow this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11232" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2017-12-24T22:21:23.647" LastActivityDate="2017-12-24T22:21:23.647" Title="Will my cat grow out of suckling?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2017-12-24T20:57:14.853" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19251" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-24T05:01:27.763" Score="4" ViewCount="4070" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that has been neutered and on occasion he will bite me for no apparent reason. I’m not petting him or anything. This almost always happens at night. Why is he doing this and how should I respond?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11234" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:34:47.950" Title="My cat bites me for no apparent reason" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19253" CreationDate="2017-12-24T15:26:21.953" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;What causes cats to land on their sides? I've a tabby who recently fell from sizeable height (approx 6 meters) on his side. I'm seeking potential causes to this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Codicil: I should add he's just above a year old, and mostly an indoor cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11223" LastEditorUserId="11223" LastEditDate="2017-12-25T10:58:52.473" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T16:43:53.600" Title="What causes cats to land on their sides?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19252" CreationDate="2017-12-24T16:07:55.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be hard to find the reason for a cat to land on its side and if your cat continues to land wrong or have problems with walking and jumping or have problems with the coordination, these are some possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be neurological.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat might have eaten something toxic, like a plant; lots of flowers and common houseplants are poisonous to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is an outdoor cat it might have been drinking antifreeze from a car's cooling system; this is a common cause for poisoning in cats (antifreeze can drip from a parked car and cats or other animals might drink it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some people use poisoned bait to get rid of pests, so if a cat eats this it might be poisoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If a cat is hunting prey and this prey is poisoned, your cat might be poisoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might have kidney problems and this might cause problems with the cat's balance if toxins builds up in your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat might have had a stroke or a blood clot in the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cat might have a tumor in the brain and this might cause it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you have to take the cat to a vet for bloodtesting and possible x-rays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you see this might be serious, but I hope it is not; a cat's balance is what they are famous for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this sounds very negative, but this is not my intention with this answer; but if a cat lands on its side after falling 5-6 meters it is obviously something wrong. In a short fall a cat might not have time to right itself, but I do not think this is the case here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T16:43:53.600" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T16:43:53.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-24T18:43:06.710" Score="1" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some one please help me and my girlfriend can't figure out wether this is a boy or a girl&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vkEZO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FONXN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11236" LastActivityDate="2017-12-24T18:43:06.710" Title="How to tell if my beardie is girl or boy" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2017-12-24T21:08:37.993" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16925" CreationDate="2017-12-24T19:57:11.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a hatchling about a month ago, it took her a good 5-7 days to get used to her new surroundings and get comfy enough to start eating.  I was getting pretty worried and then she ate one small mealworm...the next day she was chowing down on pinhead crickets and will eat every day without issue now.  A good rule of thumb is not to feed anything bigger than the space between your gecko's eyes...chances are those mealworms are too big and she'll have trouble with them.  I feed mostly crickets as they're more nutritious for her (assuming you're feeding the CRICKET quality food, aka &quot;gutloading&quot; them), but she eats small mealworms when I go out of town.  The mealworms are ok for 'emergency' or backup, but shouldn't be her staple food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI, if you want crickets, PetSmart &quot;small&quot; size seem to be the smallest, and you can get them &quot;fresh&quot; rather than pre-packaged. I prefer this as I know if I pay for 50 crickets, I leave with 50 LIVE crickets rather than some already dead in the box (and how long ago did they get the box?) Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11237" LastActivityDate="2017-12-24T19:57:11.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-25T06:37:37.370" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live on 1st floor of a multi storey apartment. My cat's favorite time pass is to lean down from balcony and look at road. However it is extremely dangerous. If the street dogs get hold of her, they will tear her apart. Moreover a fall will severely injure her. Just day before yesterday she fell down and is still limping. However she refuses to listen to us. How to prevent her from leaning down from balcony. A point to be made is that often I take her out for a morning walk. So it is not that she never gets to go outside. However it is not possible to let her outside alone because of the street dogs. The dogs over here are cat killers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T12:52:10.233" Title="How to prevent my cat from leaning down from balcony?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-25T07:16:07.457" Score="11" ViewCount="18375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am stuck with a decision of life or euthanasia for my 18 year old cat.&#xA;Should I leave her be or euthanize her now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat's kidneys are bad, but not shut down yet. My cat still drinks water and eats food. She does not eat as much as she did before. I had my cat at the vet for a 24hr IV. My cat still runs, jumps, purrs, and even rides in my car with me in the morning when I go to get coffee. My cat sits/lies on the passenger seat and if I do not take her, she gets mad (I open the passenger door of my SUV, and she jumps into my car and then onto the seat, with no help from me).&#xA;The 24hr ER vet and my cat's primary vet wrote her off 3 months ago, saying she will pass before Thanksgiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat's weight hovers around 5 1/2 - 6lbs, depending on how much she ate.&#xA;My cat does not hide or hide to sleep. There are places in my house my cat loves to sleep, and my cat still sleeps in those same places. My cat follows me wherever I go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has me worried is the amount of food she is eating now, which is less than she used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat still shows signs of life, by eating on her own, drinking on her own, running, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not want her to be in pain. I know and understand it is only a matter of time before the kidney issue takes a serious turn.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did forget to mention, she only uses the litter box when she needs to go.&#xA;My cat still comes to me when I am eating and wants some of my food and if I do not give my cat pieces of food, she will meow and pace like crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11239" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T18:33:29.993" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:50:34.747" Title="What factors should I use to decide when its time to euthanize my elderly cat with kidney disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2017-12-25T08:38:35.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a hard problem. I have been there several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to let your cat live for as long as it does have a quality life,&#xA;and I think it is a good thing to be prepared to take the decision of letting your cat go when the time comes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for as long as your cat does eat, drink and function normally, it is best to let her live until she starts to have problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the late stages of kidney failure, toxins build up in your cat's organism. This does affect the brain and she might be confused and have other problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, it is best for her to be put down and it is best for you to let her go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not normally need an appointment at the vet for this. Your vet will understand how hard this might be for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:50:34.747" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:50:34.747" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-26T01:29:35.470" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I try to get my cat on her back she kinda growls at first, but if I try it twice she will get mean. If I pet very lightly she might let it slide once or twice. I'm just worried she's in some kind of pain. Does anyone know about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11240" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-01-02T21:12:40.280" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T20:02:30.993" Title="My cat gets mean when her back is pet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-26T07:18:27.353" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 female mice one of them is mine and she is pregnant and about to give birth any day now. The other two mice are my friends, she’s going away for a month and I’m looking after them. They get along perfectly fine with my female mouse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend's two mice have been with me for two weeks now they are a little skittish but will eat from my hands. Today I went to check on my pregnant mouse like I do everyday and when I put my hand into the cage one of my friends mice started to bite my hand. Like it was attacking me and it wouldn’t stop. I’m not sure why it’s doing this, maybe because the babies are coming soon and it can sense it? I’m not sure &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11241" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2017-12-27T15:10:59.813" LastActivityDate="2017-12-27T15:10:59.813" Title="Why is the nonpregnant female mouse (housed with a pregnant female) attacking me?" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19262" CreationDate="2017-12-26T07:53:19.720" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lower back is often a no go zone when petting a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the area a male cat grabs hold on in female cats while mating, and it&#xA;can be damaged by the males claws. It often does get infected by this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats fight, they do try to protect their head and belly area, but they are not able to protect the lower back, so this area will often get hurt and infected in a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should check the lower back of your cat at regular intervals. Often the fur in this area can feel a little hard or like it is clumping together if there is some damage there. Sores in this area are almost never deep, but they can get infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My female cat is spayed. She is an indoor/outdoor cat, but she still gets hurt in the lower back from time to time by the overeager male cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your cat's reaction to being petted there is about the same with or without any pain. Many cats simply do not like to be petted there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T19:09:34.720" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T19:09:34.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19265" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-26T08:37:27.453" Score="6" ViewCount="71777" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat is about 10 months old and I noticed a strange dark spot forming in/around his nose the past couple days. Originally I thought it was simply Feline Acne, as he had some on his chin that the Vet pointed out before. His chin has cleared up, but now this nose spot has appeared. I was going to ignore it as I thought it would pass like the chin acne, but my SO thinks it looks bad enough for a trip to the Vet. It is a crusty texture like the chin acne was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts? Acne or maybe not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/L2RRNyb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat nose spot 1&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/nCCgTiC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat nose spot 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11242" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T05:34:05.160" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T05:34:05.160" Title="Strange dark scabbing near cat's nose" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19267" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-26T11:37:24.913" Score="1" ViewCount="448" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please help identifying the disorder documented on the photo, because something is not right with my dog and she is bothered by something with her skin. There's mild hair loss and flaky skin where the spots are worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Du2YG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Du2YG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T20:06:09.867" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:06:09.867" Title="Spots on dog's skin" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19262" CreationDate="2017-12-27T03:58:31.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could also be that this is a submissive position.  I have a neutered male cat who is almost five and hates being rolled over.  If you notice when cats or (dogs) have a &quot;disagreement&quot; the winner is the one who doesn't roll over.  It could be that your cat is seeing this as an attempt by you to dominate her, and she's just not having it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11247" LastActivityDate="2017-12-27T03:58:31.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2017-12-27T15:21:24.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please take your cat to the vet and express your concerns. Ask the vet directly how your cat feels on a day-to-day basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is she in pain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is she uncomfortable?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is her mental state affected?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should you look for to identify pain and altered mental status?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These answers should help you determine when euthanasia is the right time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there may be things you can do at home to help improve her quality of life while you still have her. Subcutaneous fluids often make a cat with kidney disease more comfortable (a greater volume of fluids can help inefficient kidneys clear toxins better), and acid reducing medications can help bring back appetite. Your vet should be able to help with both of these, and if not, find another vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2017-12-27T15:21:24.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23214" CreationDate="2017-12-27T16:46:36.857" Score="1" ViewCount="9329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male golden retriever and he's just over a year old. I noticed this lump on his belly near his penis. He doesn't appear to be in pain and it didn't bother him when I was inspecting it. I've never noticed him biting it or anything but he often licks down there so it's not something I'd see as unusual if he was.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gS35t.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gS35t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;spot in belly&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He sleeps indoors and he is on a lead most if the time when we go for walks. I could probably pop this with a pin but I'd like to know what it is before I do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't look sore and it's very soft almost like it's filled with fluid. He has had similar, but much smaller lumps in the past and that he usually pops and a yellow liquid comes out. The vet said they are just from nettles. This one is big and he has yet to pop this one which has me more curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11249" LastEditorUserId="11249" LastEditDate="2017-12-27T17:43:42.027" LastActivityDate="2019-08-30T02:01:41.440" Title="Swollen lump on dogs belly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2017-12-27T17:59:50.830" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the animal doesn't fear you a little, it will walk all over you. It's a dominance game with them. Punishment works, and speaking sternly works (but I'm sure most of you would consider how I do it yelling) scruff the kitten, hold it up to your face, tell it no. Set it down. Let it run away. Then when it comes back, give it love. Be consistent. Eventually you won't have to scruff it anymore, and can just say no. And by the time it's an adult. It knows what's okay, and not okay. I did that with my first cat. And it works. My girlfriend doesn't discipline the cat, gives her nothing but love and it doesn't give her time or day, unless she's hungry or wants something. I assume there's probably some room for error since most animals have some-what different personalities (to an extent, they are only animals and have limited capabilities when it comes to expressing themselves so alot of animals are the same) also, as a fun fact, this method does not work on a gold fish. RIP one eye'd charlie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11250" LastActivityDate="2017-12-27T17:59:50.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2017-12-28T01:20:41.703" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had two cats who ultimately died because of kidney disease.  In both cases, the cats let me know and the final drop-off was pretty fast.  Definitely consult your vet, but it sounds like your cat's quality of life is still good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 6-pound cat will eat less than a 12-pound cat.  There are ways to get more &lt;em&gt;calories&lt;/em&gt; into your cat even if she doesn't eat much; your vet can advise you on this.  Keeping her hydrated is important.  If you're dealing with late-stage kidney disease then you're probably already giving her subcutaneous fluids; ask your vet if you should adjust the amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I said my cats let me know when it was time.  For the first one (age 18.5), he'd been declining but was still enjoying life -- and then one morning he didn't want to get up, and when I picked him and carried him to the food dish he took a couple steps and fell.  I spent the next several hours with him in my lap and intermittently talking with my vet.  He didn't seem to be in pain, but he wasn't trying any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one (at least 16; we didn't know exactly), she started sleeping a lot and found some hiding places, and on that last day she walked very slowly and unsteadily (and didn't want to at all).  Again it was clear, especially after the experience of the first one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make your cat comfortable, let her enjoy her remaining time, make sure she continues to get nutrients and water, and consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2017-12-28T01:20:41.703" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19119" CreationDate="2017-12-28T15:19:42.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case anyone else has similar questions, here the answers based on my experience with my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do dogs &quot;get used&quot; to being on furosemide?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Explained below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does the urination urgency decrease as they acclimate themselves to the drug?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, over time, my dog seems to have learned how to hold it better during the 3-4 hour blocks that he is home alone. Urinary urgency seems to be highest approximately 2-3 hours after each dose. The remaining 6-10 hours after the first urination pass without urgency, requiring at most 2 more trips outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does dosage timing make a difference?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. We dose him at 8am and 6pm. He makes it to lunch time without incident, and sleeps through the night without any accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2017-12-28T15:19:42.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19283" CreationDate="2017-12-28T22:56:24.710" Score="2" ViewCount="2650" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have wooden flooring in my kitchen with a small carpet, which does not cover the entire room. I put my cat's bowls on the wooden flooring and most of the time he carries his food to the carpet and chews it there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am curious why he prefers doing that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, I though maybe his bowl was uncomfortable as it was deep and his whiskers touched the edges of the bowl when he reached into it. So I switched it with a flat saucer, but he still carries his food to the carpet a few steps away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I thought maybe his nose or whiskers touched other pieces of the food while he was grabbing one piece so I switched his flat saucer with a bigger saucer and put the food bits further away from each other so that he could pick up one piece without being bothered by the other pieces. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still the same behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never tried to discourage the behaviour as I don't really care much about the carpet. But I am wondering what I could do better to make my cat more comfortable eating from his bowl instead of having to carry his food a few steps away every time he takes a bite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to clarify: my cat does not eat the carpet itself. I saw this is a problem too while researching my situation. My cat just eats on top of the carpet, not the carpet itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11258" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T15:09:53.247" Title="Why does my cat prefer eating on the carpet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19259" CreationDate="2017-12-29T12:52:10.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you already pointed out: this situation is dangerous. You should secure the balcony by installing a net that will prevent your cat from falling or jumping off the balcony (a net appropriate for cats, holes not too large and the best would be a wire-supported net that cannot be bitten apart).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T12:52:10.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19267" CreationDate="2017-12-29T13:25:02.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most skin issues cannot be diagnosed online and need to be seen by a veterinarian, many things can cause what you're seeing ranging from parasites, infection, thyroid disease etc.. Some tests may need to be ran to rule out issues either it be blood work, biopsies or skin scrapings depending on what the veterinarian sees in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T13:25:02.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19279" CreationDate="2017-12-29T15:09:53.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think one of two things is happening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's a learned behaviour from &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; that's happened before, and the solution was to eat on the carpet - this could of been maybe they feel the bowl isn't a safe place to eat, or something happened to them (something dropped on them, someone trod on tail etc) when they were near the bowl so now want to minimise time spent near it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The other is maybe the bowl is slippy when they are trying to eat? Cats generally will chew food while it's in contact with the ground and use the (normally rough) ground to keep it from sliding away - this doesn't work with food in a bowl. By placing it on the carpet your cat has avoided the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how to solve the issue firstly decide if it's actually a problem - your cat appears to be happy eating from the carpet and you haven't said it's a problem more than a confusion about why it's happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Solutions maybe trying different bowls until you find one your cat is happy with, however you're going to need to convince your cat to try eating directly from the bowl again rather than bringing the food to the carpet each time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's various ways of doing this from just 'shooing' your cat back towards the bowl, to putting down plastic/selotape/foil to encourage her to stay near the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T15:09:53.247" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19240" CreationDate="2017-12-29T15:15:54.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you shouldn't keep fish and turtles together, the habitats are too different to be properly replicated in a home environment (you'll never have enough room and hiding places for them for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel you must give feeder fish, these should be kept seperately until feeding, so you can make sure they are free from infection (as many feeder fish stock are badly maintained and could possibly be medicated, which wouldn't be good for your turtle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the turtle has already eaten, there's nothing you can do now other than keep an eye on your turtle, make sure it's waters clean and you keep on top of all tank maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you can find sources which say this kind of feeding of feeder fish is fine, you can also find plenty which say it's a bad idea. My sources are largely from talking to people I trust on the subject however here are some links which I found useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/how-much-should-i-feed-my-red-eared-slider-1238367&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Food for red sliders&quot;&gt;Food for red sliders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/howmuchhowoften.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why don't captive turtles eat plants?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fishforums.net/threads/turtle-and-fish-together.263853/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can I keep turtles and fish together?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php?/forums/topic/122132-what-are-good-fish-to-put-in-turtle-tanks/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Which fish can I keep with a turtle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastEditorUserId="7759" LastEditDate="2017-12-30T12:18:16.607" LastActivityDate="2017-12-30T12:18:16.607" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19237" CreationDate="2017-12-29T15:22:02.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shrimp won't cause any noticeable bioload in a tank, especially a 60l one, and they won't 'stress out' any inhabitants other than solo fish, such as a betta, which shouldn't really have anything sharing the tank with it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for using them as food, I'm not sure it'd work - if you fish don't actively eat the shrimp currently, then they are unlikely to be bothered about eating them once they are dead either as they are likely herbivores&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you happen to have another tank that has loaches in (I know both Pakistani and Clown loaches will) they will eat shrimps and snails quite happily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T15:22:02.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18136" CreationDate="2017-12-29T18:05:39.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creating an answer based on comments under question, some of them from OP who has not returned to site in several months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More X-rays and the results of a needle biopsy would help in identifying the cause and cure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, a series of shots with steroids and antibiotics lead to the mass decreasing. Followed by oral medications as the swelling decreased, allowing the cat to swallow. Ultimately disappearing completely. The working hypothesis is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Little plant-prickle/thorn had worked its way in from outside and caused the infection which would explain why it was showing as a well-formed mass and not the usual-spread out goopy form of an infection&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has been no further contact from the OP since 3 weeks after the initial event, which was also the time the OP said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The day after we took her for review and vet said her breathing had normalised and all wheezing had gone, so then put her on further 2 weeks of oral antibiotics and steroids. After 2 weeks she had second X-ray and - JOY - the mass had completely DISAPPEARED. She went on another one week of antibiotics and steroids just to be safe and now she is completely back to normal, full of energy and actually in a much better mood than she had been the past few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T14:22:53.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:22:53.710" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2017-12-29T18:13:33.053" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-29T22:08:33.817" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest I could find was the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hearing_range&amp;amp;oldid=817287236#Mice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hearing range of mice&lt;/a&gt;, which is is 1-70 kHz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious for 2 reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To avoid possible sources of ultrasound that might startle the pet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To try recording their sounds and use &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pitch shifting&lt;/a&gt; techniques to make them audible to humans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastActivityDate="2017-12-29T22:08:33.817" Title="What's the hearing range of Djungarian hamsters?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15408" CreationDate="2017-12-30T09:55:09.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So a good sized filter for a tank will turn the water over around 5 times in an hour, or once every 12 minutes. So this should help you plan out an appropriate sized filter/pumping system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've done this, it's basically 'standard' to use 1/3rd of your filter capacity for biomass rings, this is the part which the bacteria in your filter will inhabit. The water should flow over/through this when passing through your filter - it's not enough for the rings to simply be on the bottom of the tank or such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other 2/3rds are used for sponges/filtering materials such as fibre mats / other additives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastActivityDate="2017-12-30T09:55:09.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18798" CreationDate="2017-12-30T13:50:25.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Viruses can't 'reproduce' in the water in the aquarium, they can only do this within a living cell (i.e. in a fish). However they can be free floating in your aquarium if introduced via an infected fish (which is what appears to have happened here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the site you linked said, you should quarantine for at least 6 weeks, due to this virus to make sure any new fish you've got haven't got this virus. (This means the time for the virus to show up can be upto 6 weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for should your UV lamp be killing the virus? It'd kill any free floating virus which pass through the lamp, as long as the lamp is correctly maintained - this means it's not so old as to be not working effectively anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, an algae bloom, while unsightly, is no reason not to use your quarantine tank. Algae won't harm your fish in anyway, and while ugly, it's a sign of at least semi-healthy tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why this all happened 'so suddenly' in your tank - I'd suggest that the stress of a new fish being introduced into the tank, and the stress of being introduced to a new tank, was enough to allow the virus to get a foothold on both fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly while finding sources (which are hard to find as most are commercial products claiming all manner of things about purifying your water) I found a study at a university which showed that most viruses became completely inactive after UV treatment, other than e.coli:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/01/Bacteria-Remain-Dormant-UV-Disinfection.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bacteria May Remain Dormant After UV Disinfection&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-ultraviolet-ligh/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;US American - How does UV kill cells&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastActivityDate="2017-12-30T13:50:25.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-31T03:38:31.547" Score="1" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a green tree python for about a year now. She has been eating really well with no illnesses other than constipation when I first got her. However for the past few months she has been grounding herself frequently (2-3 days out of the week) and refusing to eat any mice. It has me concerned because nothing in her environment has changed and she is starting to get skinny. I've tried force-feeding her the head of a pinky mouse but she just regurgitated it. I could stick my hand in her mouth without her biting down on my hand or fingers. There is no physical signs of any illnesses. No redness, puss, nor any weird shaped teeth or other obvious deformities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do as far as feeding so she stops losing weight? Why is she not eating for these few months?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is 4.5 feet long. Temperature averages at about 86 degrees Fahrenheit using a UV pad. I have a mister that sprays the cage 30 seconds every 2 hours. Humidity ~60 percent at all times. Been feeding adult mice. Cage is 3×3×3ft custom cage with plenty of varying perches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7232" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T13:13:46.643" Title="Green Tree python refuses to eat" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16275" CreationDate="2017-12-31T12:00:25.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 month year old cat does that as well, she was taken away from her mom at around 8 weeks, I am not sure if that's too early or not. I recently got a faux fur throw blanket and she loves to suckle on it. There's a thing called the catsifier and its a soft cat shaped thing with nipples that cats can suckle on if you don't want them suckling on anything else. Here is a link to their website: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catsifier.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.catsifier.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11269" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-01T03:25:16.690" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T03:25:16.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2017-12-31T19:02:49.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have experience in walking cats on a leash. I would say, if it doesn't work well for both of you, stop doing it. Cats can live a nice life inside as well. However, getting a young and active cat for a small apartment is not ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how to make your cat happy anyways and keep her weight under control, here are my experiences and thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats have a good feel for how much they should eat. My two cats get as much wet food as they want and are not overweighted. The male cat does eat more before winter but reduces his weight on his own when spring comes along which seems perfectly fine. Of course that only works if they don't get lots of treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat needs some activities to unleash it's energy. Get feather toys, try ropes, straws, balls, ... find out what your cat likes to play with and get her some exercise in the apartment. If you have enough space to walk in your apartment, there should be enough space for your cat to play as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the vertical space with cat trees, walkways, integrating your furniture ... there are many ideas you can find online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a second cat. Sure, a small apartment and two cats? Again, not ideal, however, it is already not great for one cat, a suiting partner (similar age and activity level, same sex / playing habits) should provide your cat with a social partner it can interact with and observe and improve her apartment life considerably. Cats are social animals, they like to play, groom each other, ... . It is important though to provide hiding and sleeping places for each cat, so that they can avoid each other if they want some time alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also provide an elevated place from which your cat can observe what is going on in the world outside through a window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the long term, you moving to a bigger apartment would be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastActivityDate="2017-12-31T19:02:49.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19300" CreationDate="2017-12-31T19:09:49.253" Score="2" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a stray cat that lives near my building, I have spent time with her before. One day, I found the cat at my door scratching it and meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as we try to open the door, the cat tries to get inside. One time, she managed to get inside, she walked inside for sometime, then I managed to guide her outside. But she keep coming back every now and then to the door, scratching it and meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't adopt the cat and we don't have shelters in here. I just want to convince her not to try to get inside. What should I do in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8788" LastEditorUserId="8788" LastEditDate="2018-04-26T19:01:19.447" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T19:01:19.447" Title="Cat is trying to get into the apartment every time we open the door" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-31T20:09:01.980" Score="3" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 Mollie fry and I have had them for about 3 months. They aren't growing and some of them have a brown line on their fins. They are in a 20 gallon tank with 2 other Mollies, 2 plecos (I'm getting another tank for the plecos in about a month) and an angel fish. I do at least a 20% water change every other day and the filter is clean. I have an air bubbler in the tank for extra oxygen and the temperature is usually around 70 to 79° F (21 to 26° C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why are my Mollie fry not growing?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11270" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T13:49:51.797" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T09:01:19.523" Title="Why are my Mollie fry not growing?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-31T21:29:27.930" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend's dog is about to have a critical surgery, and the vet hasn't seen this particular problem before. I'm hoping one of you can offer additional insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The stats...&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Species: Border Collie&#xA;Age: 7&#xA;Sex/Neuter status: Nuetered&#xA;Breed: Pure&#xA;Body weight: 50lbs&#xA;History: Rock-solid. No health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The symptoms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wouldn't eat much/at all for a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ultrasound&lt;/strong&gt; showed foreign object in gut&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Surgery #1&lt;/strong&gt; found and removed a toy squeaker, which had moved a little and done enough damage to a section of intestine that about 1 foot of intestine had to be removed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Further fluid buildup&lt;/strong&gt; shown.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Surgery #2&lt;/strong&gt; revealed that body had reacted to first sutures. Used a different type of (longer) sutures to re-patch intestines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 days later&lt;/strong&gt;, fluid build up had increased from 50ml to 100ml (I think that's the exact figure...I am sure that it was supposed to go down by half and instead doubled). Temperature up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The decision point&lt;/strong&gt;: New fluid buildup COULD be just an infection, or it could be an remaining/new leak in the gut. Can do barium to find out, but if it's a leak then there will be barium in the gut too. Can wait on it to 'heal' but it could also get worse. We decided to do a 3rd surgery to look for a leak, and attempt to patch it if found. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The dilemma:&lt;/strong&gt; The vet says that he's only seen one other case where a foreign objected resulted in a gut that was still leaking after 2 surgeries. In that case, he did another patch but the dog died.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question: It seems like we have bumped up against this particular vet's experience limit.&lt;/strong&gt; HE has only dealt with one other case like this, and did not ever discover what went wrong (and what could have been done) in his last case. He admits that he's at a loss for explaining the current situation. My hope is that one of you will have seen it before and can offer some insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any ideas for what could be going on, or how to treat it?&lt;/strong&gt; Have you seen anything like this before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Side note:&lt;/em&gt; You probably hear this a lot, but this dog means everything to his owner, who is about to get married this week. Our vet is out of ideas, but if you have any insight we would be deeply grateful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11271" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2020-02-14T19:24:46.530" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T19:24:46.530" Title="Foreign object removed, intestines patched, gut still shows fluid buildup. Going into surgery #3" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-31T22:12:04.417" Score="3" ViewCount="429" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat which has had a couple seizures, and the vet has prescribed 50 mg of zonisamide daily. It's proving quite difficult to administer the medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially we tried mixing a flavored suspension with a small amount of wet food. Normally she eats wet food with gusto, but with one lick she walked away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried squirting the suspension in her mouth. She ran off and foamed at the mouth. I've tasted a small amount of this stuff and it's extremely bitter. Yuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm told pills aren't an attractive option since they are quite large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latest suggestion is a chewy treat. We've tried some unmedicated samples and she'll gladly eat them, but I suspect they won't taste quite so good with zonisamide in them. I'm hoping to avoid paying for medication that will ultimately be unpalatable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have some experience getting a cat to take this medication? How? Or, are there other anticonvulsants which are still effective in cats but taste less horrible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11272" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:04:49.360" Title="Getting a cat to take zonisamide" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19296" CreationDate="2017-12-31T23:12:27.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cannot give the cat a home, the best thing that you can do is to ignore it. That means no feeding and no petting. The cat will soon get the message and look elsewhere for food and shelter. Giving the animal a mixed message (i.e. I love you but I'm not going to look after you) is confusing, and ultimately, cruel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I speak as someone who did take in a stray cat, but then I was able to provide for his needs (and I love him very much). Unfortunately, a second cat came calling at my door, begging for food. Since I was unable to take on another cat, I simply had to ignore it. Eventually, it went away, and I haven't seen it for some time. Hopefully, it found a home (although there is the possibility that it was not a stray).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2018-01-01T02:50:54.607" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T02:50:54.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-01T00:54:19.400" Score="4" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm going to be getting two new male rabbits (from young ages) and was wondering if it is best to neuter? I don't want them fighting and then having to separate them. Although I had an un-neutered male and he was never aggressive to me or anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he did live alone. I don't really want two females because they're harder to neuter and if you don't, they get phantom pregnancies and pyometras, also never had a female before as well, and they're often less responsive than a male. Really would like to neuter them to avoid issues. It's just not me who'll be paying for it, my dad would, so he's got to understand why it's important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any personal experiences and advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T20:18:20.850" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T20:18:20.850" Title="Buying new rabbits, unsure if they need neutering" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5923" CreationDate="2018-01-01T00:59:18.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a note, try not to hold the tail like that, they are a lizard and so can perform autotomy and deglove or 'drop' their tale as a defence mechanism and it will not grow back as it used to be, it will be shorter and more like cartilage. Males tend to show more aggressive behaviour such as head bobbing and turning some areas of the body black. Though females have also been known to blacken their beard as well as bob their head in display of dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-08-11T05:49:13.227" LastActivityDate="2018-08-11T05:49:13.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19156" CreationDate="2018-01-01T01:04:06.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you definitely need more than one, even more than two is best, they are very social and without another rat can become very depressed and ill. A human cannot be with them 24/7 and will never be the same as interacting with another rat. I studied animal management at uni so this is my source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T01:04:06.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18208" CreationDate="2018-01-01T01:18:25.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat is fine living indoors only. However, it will need to be stimulated in other ways, such as by using laser pens and puzzle feeders. A harness walk is a brilliant way of giving new exercises and bonding, and can become a fun thing as they get used to it from a young age. For those asking for citations, I studied animal management at university so that is my source &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T22:23:03.527" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T22:23:03.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7473" CreationDate="2018-01-01T01:21:46.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably best to euthanase to be honest, I had a similar experience with an emperor tetra who would swing vertically and when it wasn't swimming it would just sit at the bottom, and because I had other fish they would bully it and try to eat it. Fish don't magically dissappear, the others probably ate it before you got chance to remove the bodies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T01:21:46.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19299" CreationDate="2018-01-01T09:04:03.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use the kneel-over-the-cat technique and (gently) get them to look straight up. This allows you to put pills where the cat's only choice is to swallow. I would give the nice food afterwards to remove the taste. &#xA;If the cat is likely to claw you, you can swaddle them in a towel. &#xA;Keep the process short and sweet and reward her afterwards - as presented at this image from Google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gGA0W.png&quot; alt=&quot;imagine of a kneeling girl with a white, brown and black cat between her legs. She has one hand on its chest &amp;amp; she is brushing it  &quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T22:04:49.360" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T22:04:49.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7473" CreationDate="2018-01-01T09:16:40.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried feeding it (grated) green peas? I discovered it (Google) as a general purpose cure-all when I first got my tropical fish. I have used it with several fresh water fish- platies, tiger barb and a bronze something &quot;goldfish&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it was approximately 2009 I did the Google search I can't link to the page/thread &#xA;It is highly likely it was on www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk they have several threds of people using peas for suspected swim bladder problems and constipation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2018-01-01T13:05:26.900" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T13:05:26.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2018-01-01T13:21:28.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is see what her quality of life is, and by the sounds of it, it is still good and happy, as long as she is pain free let her have some more time, this way you can prepare for the end as well as letting her have a nice end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T13:21:28.023" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11281" CreationDate="2018-01-01T13:24:10.327" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because invertebrates are not covered under the animal welfare act 2006, there are no laws to follow in terms of how you do it. The quickest and kindest method would be to freeze them as it initially sends them to sleep then kills them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T13:24:10.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18941" CreationDate="2018-01-01T13:26:28.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They will be able to do it, however another way is to put a cracked egg out. Do not use milk, they are lactose intolerant and so ends up making them ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T12:56:56.670" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T12:56:56.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19265" CreationDate="2018-01-01T13:28:44.287" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is blood then it needs to see the vet immediately as cats should never bleed from their nose, could also be a sign or respiratory infections or parasites &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T13:28:44.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19048" CreationDate="2018-01-01T14:29:04.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other reasons could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dog needs to be old enough to eat an ingredient;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;treat is too high in calories for a younger dog;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dog needs to be older enough to bite treat, rather than slobbering the cracker into a gooey mess;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;treat is too hard for a young puppy (or old dog).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T15:05:53.497" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T15:05:53.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-01T15:48:39.090" Score="4" ViewCount="1724" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently noticed my cat has this bump on her lip. I dont know when it appeared exactly, but it's a few months at most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels very soft and the cat doesnt seem to feel pain when it is touched. It doesnt stop her from eating or drinking either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/sMBuIDc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/sMBuIDc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter link description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/JpY1TOv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/JpY1TOv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter link description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11277" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T16:45:49.413" Title="What is this bump on my cat's lip?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19322" CreationDate="2018-01-01T16:18:48.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is a large pimple or a small abcess,an infection in the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it can be painful or get painful quickly so i suggest you take your cat to a&#xA;vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the vet will make an small incision to drain it your cat will most likely not need any antibiotics after this procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this will be done under local anesthetics so your cat will not feel any discomfort from this and will stay awake the whole time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this is what i think it is it can be other tings too but a vet will know what to look for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-01-01T16:45:49.413" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T16:45:49.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-01T19:57:43.760" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djungarian_hamster&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Djungarian hamster&lt;/a&gt; has had a big, wooden house (under the wheel) where she used to happily live since we got her a few months ago. But recently she stopped using it for sleeping. Instead she just burrows under her water bottle and sleeps there, using the house only as food storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZRYku.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZRYku.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hamster terarium&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be possible reasons for this behavior? Could it be the house doesn't satisfy her needs for some reason any more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The house has multiple compartments, separated by tiny walls with holes so that she can crawl between them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/umuT6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/umuT6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;House internals&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to remove the walls, just in case, but she didn't care at all for this change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T06:03:00.537" Title="Why did our Djungarian hamster stop using her house?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19344" CreationDate="2018-01-01T22:17:18.023" Score="6" ViewCount="6712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that too much vitamin D (fat soluble) can cause toxicity in cats, but how much is too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I asked this is - When I open my vitamin D bottle, because I take it, my kitty goes &amp;quot;can I get one of those&amp;quot; - every time.  She's convinced that they must taste great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is crazy, I've caught her eating dust bunnies which I sometimes pull from her mouth, sometimes I'm not successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen her eat feathers from my pillow, biting the plastic ends off things and swallowing the plastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to cat-proof my house, but she's just one of those &amp;quot;if I can chew on it, I'll eat it&amp;quot; types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately she's gotten better. When she was a kitten she was just crazy.  She likes ear wax and more than once has pulled an used Q-tip out of the garbage and chewed on the used end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed her well. Expensive canned food and some dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wants my vitamin D. On googling I find that, some cats can be vitamin D deficient, but dosing should be done properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is 10 lb (4.5 kg). Is once in a while (or maybe just once), vitamin D supplement, a safe dose? It might be that she just wants the gelatin, in which case, maybe I'll squeeze the vitamin D oil out of the pill and give her the gel capsule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note added 11 months later:&lt;/em&gt;   While not part of the question exactly, my little kitty, now nearly 2 years old and 11 lbs (5 kg), she no longer begs when I open my (Dr. prescribed) vitamin D pill container.   I think it may have been a kitten thing, kittens having an urge to try stuff, but that's just a guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8555" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T21:10:14.417" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T14:40:37.163" Title="Is there a safe dose of vitamin D to give a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:06:14.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dose yourself up if you like, but don't give a pet dietary supplements intended for human consumption. Give your cat a balanced diet suitable for felines, not tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:06:14.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19299" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:14:43.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The towel method is good, you place the cat on a towel and wrap it up, ensuring everything is in the towel except the head. Tilt the head up and open the mouth, squirting the liquid down the throat, keep the head tilted to ensure it is swallowed. If aggressive behaviour Is shown scruff gently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:14:43.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:16:48.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some breeds are known to be 'hypoallergenic' and so create less of the irritant dander which causes the reaction, perhaps research into your breeds and check &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:16:48.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:19:16.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is after all a natural diet for an obligate carnivore however ensure there are no bones as these can cause impaction and internal bleeding. However will need to be supplemented to ensure the animal is gettyall the required nutrients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:19:16.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:21:20.250" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep the buster collar on and try to apply animal friendly moisturiser, and clean off any loose scabs as these cause irritation &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:21:20.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:26:12.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is extremely important they do not jump around as to not open the wound and cause damage to themselves and cause infection. Crating is a good and safe method however can cause stress. After sort of a week they can build up activities again &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:26:12.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="99" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:32:04.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most fish can, since tetras are not aggressive, in a pet store they usually code the fish depending on the orb aggressiveness so any amber and green fish are safe. Personally, I have kept silver and black sharks, angel fish, sucking loaches and catfish with tetras with no issues&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:32:04.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="216" CreationDate="2018-01-01T23:36:41.430" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Legally now the animal must be restrained (such as a harness or be in a crate) otherwise it Illegal and insurance is void&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T23:36:41.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-02T00:28:59.850" Score="2" ViewCount="843" Body="&lt;p&gt;We picked up our 3-year-old greyhound after she was boarded for a week at the local animal hospital. When we got home we discovered that she had the rash in the photo below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took her back to the vet where she was boarded, and they don't know what it is. They're saying that it's bruising and did blood work. The blood work numbers look absolutely perfect for a greyhound, but they're concerned about her low white count and high platelet count, low for most dogs, but perfect for greyhounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second photo is from the next day. They drew circles around the discoloration to gauge any change. The photos show that it got closer to purple in the day that passed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that rashes happen for various reasons, and the vet is calling it a bruise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something to be concerned with? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/csXEH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/csXEH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;First image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BHUDW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BHUDW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Second image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11281" LastEditorUserId="11281" LastEditDate="2018-01-02T02:05:15.127" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T02:05:15.127" Title="Greyhound rash after pet boarding" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-02T04:27:41.217" Score="3" ViewCount="628" Body="&lt;p&gt;We bought 3 small goldfish from Walmart last night. We poured some tap water in the tank and waited for the chlorine to be released. After 2 hours, we put them in with their water (initially in the plastic from Walmart). The night was very cold even in the hall, say 60 °F (16 °C). In the morning we saw all three almost dead. Although they looked alive from above, they didn't move at all. Their mouths were slightly moving, but they looked like they were dying. Finally all three were fully dead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could have been the reason? We thought maybe the low temperature? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this time of photo, the black one was probably dead.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6XUBf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6XUBf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11283" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T13:30:52.253" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T13:30:52.253" Title="Goldfishes died first night" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19340" CreationDate="2018-01-02T07:08:00.910" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, where I live tap water is unsuitable for fish keeping in part due to the chlorine( I think mine us too hard) I suggest you get a water testing kit &#xA;2) it takes 24hrs for chlorine to off gas out of water. &#xA;This link to the homebrew SE has several methods for removing chlorine from water &lt;a href=&quot;https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/3447/&quot;&gt;https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/3447/&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;3)the correct method for introducing fish to new water is to add 1 cup of the new water to the bag, wait an hour, add a second cup of tank water to the bag. Wait another hour then place fish in tank. It is not recommended that you add the shop water to your tank because of potential pathogens being present. The slow change of water is to prevent your fish going into shock. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had my pond freeze over without goldfish dying I don't think the temperature was the problem. I think it was your water and how fast you put them in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I note that you didn't mention putting Water Conditioner or Stress zyme in or cycling your water before adding the fish. I know the recommendations as adding both to the water at least 3 days before the fish, to allow it to cycle. Giving the good bacteria time to establish and a week being better. This needs to be done for new tank ecologies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While goldfish are hardy you should still provide a suitable environment with good water quality through proper preparation, somewhere to hide either under plants or plastic structure. A suitable size tank or pond. In the case of a tank it needs a back this is for the psychological health of your fish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2018-01-02T08:27:47.983" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T08:27:47.983" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19301" CreationDate="2018-01-02T08:09:54.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't comment or I would put this as a comment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Copied from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=58444&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=58444&lt;/a&gt; where someone asked about keeping breeding bucks together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Two things you can count on in rabbits is that they must have a social order, which includes boundaries, and that they can be fierce about establishing and defending it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your rabbit's interactions with your are no indicator of how they'll react to other rabbits - intact or not. My son's sweetest doe was absolutely in love with him. She also accepted any buck. But, if she had been given the chance, she'd eat alive any doe she could sink her teeth into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cage space is not worth risking injury or death...If you don't have them already, buy more cages, or otherwise change your plans.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to the above both the question poster and answerer both state they have talked to people who have kept entire bucks happily  together in the absence of females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T16:35:55.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-02T08:23:00.367" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had our male Cocker Spaniel since a puppy and he's now 8 years old. However, more recently he has become much less tolerant of other dogs, which I do kind of get with getting old. However, we have noticed something more specific. He is more than happy to greet another dog and sniff their behind but when another dog does this to him he gets aggressive (although not all the time). We are currently staying at a rented holiday home (neutral location) with friends that also have a male dog (Border Collie) and it has been a bit of a strain at times as our friends' dog is lovely. He's met this other dog on numerous occasions but he does get aggressive when he approaches from behind and tries to sniff, even when it's not a surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11274" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-01-02T08:49:11.447" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T08:49:11.447" Title="Pet Spaniel Getting Aggressive When Being Sniffed" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2018-01-02T09:10:21.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like in most terrestrial animals, humans included, sunlight is needed to produce vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not the vitamin D that is the most dangerous, but the content of vitamin A is. But your question is about vitamin D so I will focus on this here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the summer your cat will get the vitamin D it needs from the Sun and it only need about 20 minutes of sunlight daily to synthesise the required amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to find reliable sources on what dosage is safe for cats. Please take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.provet.co.uk/petfacts/healthtips/codliveroil.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; on provet.co.uk about the subject of cod liver oil and the potential toxicity of vitamin A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in essence, a cat does not need any type of additional vitamin D supplementation during the summer, unless it is an strictly indoor cat and is exposed to very little sunlight. But that is just an extreme example, please never expose any animals to this type of environment of living in the dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one lives in the far north/south, in the winter your cat might get too little sunlight to produce the needed vitamin D and the same goes for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give your cat fat fish or give your cat fish oil (fish oil is often given in the winter to avoid dry skin) your cat will not need extra vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that FISH OIL IS NOT THE SAME AS CODLIVER OIL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your cat is not given fat fish AND lives in the dark, you might give your cat one small drop of codliver oil once a week, but not any more and not if your cat gets the sunlight it needs. Please note that the dosage I mention here is what i see as safe for most cats, but i am not a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Codliver oil and the vitamin D are types of fat so it will acumulate in your cat's liver, any excess of vitamin D will acumulate and slowly poison your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, be very careful if you give your cat vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: it is mentioned in a comment that cats do not produce vitamin D from the sunlight. This might be right or wrong and is of little importance for the conclusion in this answer: cats in general do not need extra vitamin D supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, sunlight or simulated sunlight is important for the well-being of most pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T12:44:27.277" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T12:44:27.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19340" CreationDate="2018-01-02T12:02:14.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really should have had the tank water set up already for at least a month before purchase, and not with tap water, bottled water or dechlorinated is best. It needs to go through the nitrogen cycle and if it hasn't had the chance the fish would die&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T12:02:14.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19048" CreationDate="2018-01-02T12:06:40.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because a young puppy needs a much  more fat and sugar packed diet than what a 6 month old would need and so is tailored to suit the needs of different ages, similarly to an old dog needing less fat but more fibre. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T12:06:40.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19340" CreationDate="2018-01-02T13:51:27.333" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome on Pets! First of, please research what goldfish need for an habitat before you buy the next ones. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; is good starting point. Please note that common goldfish can grow larger then 16 inches (30cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Size&lt;/strong&gt;: You will find in short order that the bowl in the picture is way to small for any fish to live in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water:&lt;/strong&gt; If you know that the tap water in your country is not good enough for aquarium fishes, find out how to treat it so you can use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contents:&lt;/strong&gt; When you have found a suitable size aquarium for goldfishes, you start thinking about the contents, so the fishes will feel save. Sand on the bottom &amp;amp; plants for example. Maybe some rocks. Think about a filter, helps a lot with the water quality over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Placement:&lt;/strong&gt; You will need a place for the aquarium where it doesn't get to warm or cold. Both will kill fish, slowly or outright. It might need cooling or warming, depending on the weather of where you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fish:&lt;/strong&gt; If all is in order, you wait a bit. Around a month is suggested. This will enable your aquarium to become a stable biodome for your fishes. Then you get the fish you want. Do keep in mind that the oldest recorded goldfish was 43(!) years old. That is longer then a cat or dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;To answer your question:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, there is a lot of things wrong with your current setup for goldfishes. And with the available info you have given I cannot with certainty say what killed your fishes. What I do know is that they would have died anyway, quite soon, in your current setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your photo was taken, all 3 fishes were (more or less) alive: they are still in a good position in the water. Only when they float belly up, lose their color and stop moving you know for sure they are dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please do your research and get the right setup before you buy your next fishes. It can be a (very) rewarding hobby. But do take care of these very nice creatures. And &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;guppies&lt;/a&gt; are probably a better fish for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/how-to-care-for-guppies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;small setup&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T13:51:27.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2018-01-02T14:03:10.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;NO.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not feed your cat human food. Period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat probably thinks that a lot of things are tasty, more so if you eat it. Don't let her. It will kill her. A lot of things we humans can eat without problems, are toxic to cats. Human food ≠ cat food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, cat food should have all the nutrients that your cat needs. No need to give supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T21:13:29.847" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T21:13:29.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2018-01-02T14:08:11.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't like answering my own question, but because I came across this article below and it's slightly different than the answers above, I thought I'd post it as an alternative answer.   I also respect the &amp;quot;don't give cats supplements&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;a drop of fish oil&amp;quot; answers, too.   I don't necessarily think this is right, but it's an option to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/cats-absorbing-vitamin-d-lying-sun-10489.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Article.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It quotes a study that found that cat's, unlike people, don't get vitamin D from sunlight, even when shaved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats get vitamin D from their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food sources of vitamin D include fatty fish, such as salmon, egg&#xA;yolks, cheese and other dairy products fortified with vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion it's better to give your cat a portion of salmon or scrambled egg or dairy (my cats love cream cheese) than a supplement.   I didn't ask this question to give my cat vitamin D as a supplement, I asked cause when my cat sees me take a vitamin D she asks for one and I wondered if maybe she knew something I didn't, but I also don't trust a cat that eats dust bunnies to know what's good for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that cats that like beef and chicken cat food only might be a little low on vitamin D, unless those cans are fortified.  My cat eats a fair bit of tuna cat food, so she might be fine on cat food alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did ask the vet &amp;quot;she eats all kinds of stuff&amp;quot; and the vet's answer was &amp;quot;maybe she has a vitamin deficiency&amp;quot; - I'm not sure I believe the vet, as that's just one answer, and a natural instinct to chew on stuff is another, and the vet sounded more like she was proposing a possible answer than stating a fact, but it's possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also from the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Animal and Veterinary&#xA;Department recommends vitamin D levels in foods that vary based on a&#xA;cat’s development age. If your furry friend is a kitten or pregnant&#xA;female, she should receive 750.0 International Units per kilogram, or&#xA;IU/kg. For adults, that number drops to 500.0 IU/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and for toxicity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both age levels have a maximum daily amount of 10,000.0 IU/kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I supplement my diet with 2,000 IU per day (doctor recommended dosage) and my kitty is between 4 and 5 kg, so surprisingly, 1 of my pills is about my kitty's daily recommendation, but that doesn't include what she already gets in her diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be safe, I may give my kitty &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; pill, which, given that it's oil filled, would be measurably less than 1,000 IU with spillage and see if she likes it, not every day, just when she asks for one.   I think that's probably in the safe zone.    I still have no idea if my kitty has a vitamin D shortage (people go years with a vitamin D shortage and they don't even know it - so, it's not all that bad).   But I think a half pill (less than 1,000 IU), every once in a while, should be perfectly safe and a plate of salmon or bit of dairy here and there.   Dairy is one of those &amp;quot;should I/shouldn't I&amp;quot; things too, because some cats have trouble digesting it - but I'm sure that's covered in other questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On how much is in cat food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petful.com/pet-health/vitamin-d-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article says&lt;/a&gt; that good quality cat food contains plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good-quality cat foods already contain great levels of Vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, many of our cats’ favorite foods, such as oily fish, eggs and&#xA;cheese, are already high in Vitamin D. Giving a supplement just isn’t&#xA;necessary — and it’s dangerous to give too much of a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is unlikely to eat enough food to become poisoned with&#xA;Vitamin D. Indeed, the most common causes of toxicity are&#xA;over-supplementation or eating rodents poisoned with Vitamin D–rich&#xA;baits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also indicates that higher levels of vitamin D can help sick cats heal, but whether this means cats should have more vitamin D than they typically get is unknown.   More research is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In May 2015, the University of Edinburgh vet school announced the&#xA;results of a study showing that seriously ill cats with high levels of&#xA;Vitamin D in their blood were more likely to be alive 1 month later&#xA;than cats with low Vitamin D levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it goes on to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s easy to leap to the conclusion that if Vitamin D aids in&#xA;recovery, then giving your cat a Vitamin D supplement could improve&#xA;his health. However, it is dangerous to make this assumption because&#xA;Vitamin D is toxic in high doses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this time, in the (in)famous words of former U.S. Secretary of&#xA;Defense Donald Rumsfeld, “There are more unknowns than knowns.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How or why Vitamin D benefited the sick cats is not known, which is&#xA;just one reason the experts do not advise giving your cat a&#xA;supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and just for fun and further reading, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vitamindwiki.com/Controversy+cats+and+vitamin+D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;another article&lt;/a&gt; that discusses the uncertainty, or, as they put it &amp;quot;controversy&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to point out that the first article quotes a study that cats don't make vitamin D from sun and the 2nd and 3rd article says they do - so, who to believe?   Personally I believe the study, not the argument that because humans make vitamin D in sunlight, cats do to, but it still gives me pause when sources make contrary statements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My conclusion - vitamin D supplementing is likely not a good idea without a vet's recommendation and a blood test, because for now, not enough is known.  Cat food contains vitamin D, and supplementing with vitamin D rich foods like  salmon or other fish or dairy or even a drop of fish oil is sufficient.   &lt;strong&gt;There's no reason to ever give a cat an actual supplement&lt;/strong&gt;, unless the cat doesn't like fish, egg yolk or dairy so the diet might be a little low and even then, only with a vets recommendation, blood test and in kitty portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I never considered supplementing my cat for vitamins.  That wasn't the question.   I only asked, because she wants one, so I wanted to know, if I gave her one (or half of one), as an occasional treat, would it hurt her.   Based on reading, a half pill (considerably less than 1,000 AU with spillage) and not very often, sounds within safety limits.   I'm going to give my little crazy a half pill next time she asks because a small enough dosage sounds well within the safety range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But wow, vitamin D and cats.   To quote Donald Trump.  &amp;quot;Who knew it could be so complicated.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8555" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T21:22:15.347" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T21:22:15.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-02T14:45:52.657" Score="0" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the nitrogen cycle and how does it effect keeping fish? What is 'cycling' a tank and how is it done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:15:21.440" Title="What is the Nitrogen Cycle? What is 'cycling a tank'?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-02T17:35:03.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19350" CreationDate="2018-01-02T15:37:16.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nitrogen cycle is the cycle that waste products go through in a fish environment - this happens in both small aquariums, to huge tanks and ponds - and in the wild as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This process can take from 2 weeks to a number of months pending on various factors such as the size of the tank and the number of fish you wish to keep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is vital for anyone planning on keeping aquarium fish to understand this process and will help you to be successful in keeping fish. The best way to monitor the nitrogen cycle is to purchase an aquarium test kit that will test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nitrogen Cycle Stages&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stage 1&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia is introduced into the aquarium via fish waste and uneaten food. The fish waste and excess food will break down into either ammonium (NH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;) or ammonia (NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;). Ammonium is not harmful to fish but ammonia is. Whether the material turns into ammonium or ammonia depends on the pH level of the water. If the pH is under 7, you will have ammonium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stage 2&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soon, bacteria called &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; will develop and they will oxidize the ammonia in the tank, essentially eliminating it. This is the point at which you may start seeing a grey/green bloom in your tank water. The byproduct of ammonia oxidation is nitrites. Instead of ammonia in the tank, we now have another toxin to deal with - nitrites. Nitrites are just as toxic to fish as ammonia. If you have a test kit, you should be able to see the nitrite levels start to rise around the end of the first week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stage 3&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bacteria called &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; will develop and they will convert the nitrites into nitrates. Nitrates are not as harmful to fish as ammonia or nitrites, but nitrate is still harmful in large amounts. The quickest way to rid your aquarium of nitrates is to perform partial water changes. At first this should be as high as 50% changes, but once your tank is established it can be lowered, usually to around 30% weekly but it varies by tank and number of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fishless Cycling / Additives&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the most well known method of cycling a tank is adding a bit of fish food and allowing it to produce ammonia to start the tank cycling, this can be prone to failure for a number of reasons - if the bacteria aren't 'fed' enough or too much then you can end up with a nasty looking tank and still no where safe for fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this there have been various products created which will help speed the process along, or in some cases 'replace' the bacteria which process the nitrites with others that come in a bottle form. If using these you should always follow the instructions to the letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sources&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fishlore - Nitrogen Process&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liveaquaria.com/article/74/?aid=74&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fish Nitrogen Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/The_Nitrogen_Cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;The Fish Wiki - Nitrogen Cycle&quot;&gt;The Fish Wiki - Nitrogen Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:15:21.440" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:15:21.440" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19299" CreationDate="2018-01-02T17:45:39.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next time you are at your vet you can ask the vet or vet tech to show you their technique for giving a cat liquid medicine (meds). Next try the technique yourself right there that way you can ask any questions and the vet or techs can give you feedback / pointers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to be aware of: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats hate being force-fed things. They will clamp their mouths shut, struggle and spit out pills. The fact that the medicine tastes bad is actually not a big issue. You can try to force-feed a cat the most delicious treat in the world and they will resist you and may very well spit it out (maybe only to eat it again after they sniff it to determine it is something they should allow in their mouths).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the &quot;make the medicine taste delicious&quot; trick was easy to pull off, the pharmaceutical companies would be all over it (e.g. flavored children's cough syrup, liquid sleep aids, gummy/chew able sugary vitamins etc.) It would not be technically difficult to hide a small dose med in a delicious chewy cat treat and then charge people more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also cats generally do not like to be roughly handled or restrained. You have to be gentle and quick. Pet your cat a bit to relax it beforehand. I prefer quickly straddling the cat, but the towel method works too.  It takes time to learn how to give cats oral meds so be patient. If you spend more than about 3 seconds trying to give them meds they will catch on to your plan and you are in for a struggle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are administering medicine from a dropper or pre-filled oral syringe I have found it best to quickly insert the dropper/syringe tip between their teeth and their cheek then quickly dispense the medication deep into the pocket of their kitty cheek. The dropper/syringe should be in line with (parallel to) the cat's spine. Cats cannot spit things out with the same precision a human can but they will open their mouth and shake their heads, stick their tongue out and cough. Some foaming / drooling is to be expected and is a normal reaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is if your cat's seizures are reduced/eliminated, it is getting enough of the medicine even with the foaming/drooling etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also after you give the cat it's meds, praise the cat and give it a lot of affection. You can also give the cat its favorite treat. This will help make the whole experience more pleasant for the cat and you may even condition the cat to better tolerate medicine administration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T17:45:39.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19204" CreationDate="2018-01-02T18:20:29.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definitely clean your cats as best you can. A bath with soap specially formulated for cats is desirable. Wear thick kitchen-style rubber gloves and message and clean their paws thoroughly. If you are not adept at this, consider hiring a professional pet groomer. Make sure you inform the groomer that the cat was exposed to human sewage, and they they should give extra attention to the cats' paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is difficult to say exactly how harmful human sewage is to cats, but human sewage is definitely harmful to humans. You do not want kitty tracking sewage around the house or scratching someone and thereby inoculating them with sewage bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, cats do not get human diseases and vice versa, but there are rare and serious exceptions. So for the next week keep an eye on your cats for signs of infection such as lethargy or loss of apatite. Take them to the vet if you see any symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T18:20:29.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-02T19:01:32.610" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;i have a syrian hamster who looks to be 3-5 inchs. can you tell me what you think by looking at the picture below.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TB4q3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TB4q3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11284" LastActivityDate="2018-01-03T21:46:03.270" Title="how do i know if my cage is to small (syrian)" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-01-04T13:35:28.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2017-12-31T01:10:06.987" Score="-1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;i wonder whether you smart people can help. I've semi adopted a cute fluffy dog in SE Asia and it's Man vs Dog tick, and the ticks are winning big time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that the place is full of street dogs so the ticks are always there to be picked up. Used Raid in the apartment, which i guess works for the rooms but doesn't always kill the ticks unless you smother them with it. Will it kill the eggs and larvae? &#xA;Tried smothering him in lemongrass juice yesterday but some ticks just walked right through that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas for him and the home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user39244" LastActivityDate="2018-03-04T11:02:33.307" Title="What is the most effective least toxic thing to kill dog ticks?" Tags="&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-04T11:01:18.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19356" CreationDate="2018-01-01T07:04:41.393" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two remedies I've seen elsewhere:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vaseline, or mineral oil.  Coat the tick.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The end of a lit cigarette or incense stick. Don't touch the tick, just near by.  The heat causes it to let go.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A somewhat slower method that may work -- works on cockroaches -- boric acid crystals.  Dust on and brush thoroughly.  The crystals abrade the wax on the outer chiton, and they dehydrate.  Harmless when ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ticks rarely transfer from animal to animal.  The usual way at least here in Canada is they will climb a stem of tall grass or weed then make their transfer when brushed by an animal or bird.  When full they drop off, do their egg thing, and then find another stem for another go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if you end up with fewer ticks if you give your dog a good brushing right after he's been to the park or other vegetated area.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Sherwood Botsford" LastActivityDate="2018-01-01T07:04:41.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="99" CreationDate="2018-01-02T21:08:29.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to add some larger fish that aren't a threat to your neons, here's some of the more interesting ones. I'm listing only hardy fish, there's number of other good ones like discus, but they have specialized requirements for care and are an expert level fish only:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;freshwater angelfish (can be risky but generally considered safe, start with small, captive bred, ones for best results);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;peaceful cichlids (Bolivian rams or apistogramma's);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rainbowfish;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;most gouramis (dwarfs and smaller ones are always safest);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a single male beta (can add several females safely);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;cory catfish;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;harlequin rasboras (Most rasboras are safe);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;mollies, platies, swordtails;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;plecos (stay away from common and large ones, stick with bristlenose in my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most other tetras (Congos are a beautiful larger tetra)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you aren't overstocking and you either quarantine or buy extremely healthy stock when you are adding to an established tank. The last thing you want to do is introducing a pathogen into a display tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:47:07.697" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:47:07.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-02T21:21:43.913" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat is 4 year old, spayed female, domestic longhair, calico, part Angora. She had evidence of a past FHV infection (antibodies present), probably from before when I found her as a 4 week old kitten. History of goopy eyes, snoring, and a small infrequent lesion that appears above her left eye, presumably due to previous FHV damage to sinuses and tear ducts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past 4 days she has developed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clear watery discharge from right eye and increased closure of that eye. Eye itself does not appear irritated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clear watery nasal discharge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sneezing (messy, and apparently she gets great pleasure out of sneezing directly into my face).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clear watery drooling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Occasional wheeze (but normal breathing rate and does not appear to have breathing difficulty) even while awake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No other symptoms present, no behavioral/eating/drinking/elimination changes, no other known health issues, no &quot;traditional&quot; diseases (FIV and such).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cat in the house has no issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is winter, &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; cold outside, and &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; dry inside. I'm thinking either the dry air is irritating her sinuses or perhaps she has a sinus infection (although I've never experienced a cat with a cold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: I'm about to go out of town for a week on an emergency work trip, otherwise I'd take her to the vet tomorrow. What could be going on and &lt;em&gt;what should I tell the cat sitter to look out for&lt;/em&gt; in case she needs an emergency trip to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2018-01-02T21:27:01.300" LastActivityDate="2018-01-02T21:27:01.300" Title="Cat sinus infection? What should I tell sitter to look out for?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19362" CreationDate="2018-01-03T01:52:42.773" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up some sea lettuce attached to stones from the local beach near where fresh water was entering the sea, and have washed off the salt water, and placed it into my fresh water tank. The leaves appear to be pearling so I guess they might survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goldfish are eating it as well, as evidenced by the green feces now appearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But could this diet hurt the goldfish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/LXTlPMM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter link description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T16:46:28.413" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T16:46:28.413" Title="Can goldfish eat sea lettuce?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19361" CreationDate="2018-01-03T06:15:38.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sea lettuce might be given to goldfish, but only in a small quantity; this is to avoid it going bad before it is eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sea lettuce is not toxic if fresh and it contains minerals and vitamins that are good for your fish. Fish that are herbivores or omnivores will eat it (herbivore = plant eating, omnivore = mixed diet plant and meat eating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sea lettuce lives in salt water and is not able to survive in fresh water (it can survive short fluctuations in salt level, but not in fresh water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When sea lettuce breaks down it release hydrogen sulfide; this is very toxic and it will kill your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A truck driver was killed by the hydrogen sulfide gas from his cargo of sea lettuce, several people and animals like horses have died after being poisoned by this gas; more details about this &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulva_lactuca#Ecology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in the Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be hard to identify the edible types of sea lettuce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T16:44:24.367" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T16:44:24.367" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-03T06:16:22.360" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I help in a private cat/kitten rescue (cleaning litter trays feeding etc) we had an orphan litter of 5 five week olds come in via a 3rd party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 0 or 1 they were all distrustful of us (owner and 2 helpers) probably due to no previous human contact. &#xA;They were flea treated and wormed and put in a 3m long 1.5m deep and meter high cage in the lounge with a bed food and litter trays. Being in the lounge is policy for orphans. If they are so young they require bottle feeding the owner takes them to her bedroom at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward  to day 3; 3/5 are happy to be picked up patted etc and the 4th dislikes being picked up (hisses) but as soon as you do it starts purring and shows signs of enjoying the attention. We added some toys to.&#xA;The 5th hisses and growls.&#xA;Two weeks later it no longer growls when you get near the cage but still exhibits a fear response. I've been feeding it in my lap for the last 3 days while slowly stroking it in an attempt at  classical conditioning for positive association with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All kittens are handled by all of us through the day, obviously the 3 who ask to be picked up get more interaction but I make a point of handling the other 2 at least once while I'm there for 1-2 hours.&#xA;I can't take it to my home and invest more time/effort in it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have owned 3 cats (back to back) and Mum &amp;amp; I used to help my local (then) SPCA taking kittens home for as many weekends as necessary to socialise them (&quot;mummy it likes me, it's purring&quot;) I am aware that some cats just co-exisit with a humans but I want to maximize its adoptibility. I'm in a city and it has a low play drive so a barn cats program isn't a viable solution &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2018-01-03T17:05:50.127" LastActivityDate="2018-01-03T17:05:50.127" Title="Suggestions to expedite a 7 week domestic kitten's tolerance of humans" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-03T12:01:13.420" Score="1" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very worried even though he's happy he eat chicken breast and his cat biscuits no problem.he's also sneezing a lot and has been for months&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11288" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-03-09T18:43:33.920" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T18:43:33.920" Title="why has my elderly cat has stopped eating any kind of catfood? example felix whiskas sheba.and any type ie;in jelly or gravy etc" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7109" CreationDate="2018-01-03T17:46:20.210" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rats can drink tiny amounts of milk as long as its not the full fat milk and a bit of yogurt is good for them too, In my opinion fairtrade yogurt is the best because it can be less fatty for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11290" LastActivityDate="2018-01-03T17:46:20.210" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19354" CreationDate="2018-01-03T21:46:03.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;That looks fine, hamsters do not naturally tend to roam much and a large space can often be a lot worse than a slightly smaller space. However could do with more enrichment, maybe some tubes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10625" LastActivityDate="2018-01-03T21:46:03.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18942" CreationDate="2018-01-03T22:06:57.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add, the probable reason why your cat didn't mind your sister touching the kitten so soon after giving birth was the high levels of oxytocin in her blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxytocin is a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter. It plays a role in several behaviors such as mother-offspring bonding, the let down reflex as well as generosity and empathy. When we hug or kiss a loved one, oxytocin levels increase; hence, oxytocin is often called &quot;the love hormone.&quot; &#xA;For mammals (I don't know about other animals) sex, birth and breastfeeding are stimuli for large amounts. Hugging and kissing will also cause oxytocin to be released.&#xA;Oxytocin is the hormone that underlies trust. It is also considered an antidote to depressive feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, she was too &quot;high on love&quot; to care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:53:24.767" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:53:24.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16481" CreationDate="2018-01-03T22:07:12.643" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had 3 German Shepherd Dogs. All purebred and they all ate plenty of McDonald's throughout their long lives, including the odd soft serve cone. Never caused them one iota of an issue ever. Fear-mongering is at an all time high these days. It's a dog... it can and will eat just about anything. My dogs die from old age at about 12 years old and when I could their last meal would be a cheeseburger and a cone before going to see the vet for the final visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11291" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-03-07T14:41:42.387" LastActivityDate="2019-03-07T14:41:42.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-03T22:57:57.017" Score="7" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many books have been published on the art of training dogs for obedience and communication. What books have you read that, given your experience in the field, you believe explain the art most comprehensively, describing methods that use positive reinforcement only? I am looking for books that express the knowledge that most highly experienced trainers will agree about, even if their angles on it differ, and that may or may not also describe approaches or theoretical understandings at length that are specific to the author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: I phrased this question after reading the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask&quot;&gt;help file&lt;/a&gt;. I mean it to be &quot;&lt;em&gt;constructive subjective&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;em&gt;[inviting the] sharing [of] experiences over opinions&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and soliciting only &quot;&lt;em&gt;opinion [that is] backed up with facts and references&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11292" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T19:25:33.650" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T19:25:33.650" Title="What books explain comprehensively how to train dogs to be obedient and communicative using positive reinforcement?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19055" CreationDate="2018-01-04T03:27:28.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IMO, a clear acrylic fish trap is the least stressful method. If done correctly, fish often have no clue they're being trapped at all. It's not always possible to catch everything because some fish are extremely skittish of just a hand being in the tank, or decorations and hardsdcape get in the way, but compared to a net, it's worlds better IMO. - Jestep [in the comments]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19055/how-to-efficiently-catch-my-own-fish#comment25490_19055&quot;&gt;Link to Comment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XwOf9.png&quot; alt=&quot;Saltwater acrylic fish trap, a clear box with holes and sliding hatch&quot;&gt;&#xA;Image from Amazon.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't heard of fish traps, but have had quick success &amp;amp; therefore hopefully less stress. By using a glass jar. It was especially useful with my tiger barbs, they would swim near the surface and I could use the water rushing into the glass to 'suck' the fish in too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T16:11:42.903" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T16:11:42.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19370" CreationDate="2018-01-04T07:12:36.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jan Fennell's &quot;The Dog Listener&quot; &#xA;Published by: HarperResource, An Imprint ofHarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 2000. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a how to book on training a dog, but the history of Ms. Fennell's life with dogs and how she came to discover the work of Monty Roberts and through his efforts with horses, how she devised her system of behavior modification with dogs. It is a personal book and written in a style that is conversational and not technical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her method is called  &quot;Amichien Bonding&quot; is basically four steps. Very simple things we can do to change the relationship we have with our dogs and establishing ourselves as Pack Leaders, thus relieving the dogs of such a massive responsibility. As a result of the dogs learning to follow a &quot;true&quot; pack leader (the human), their behavior changes dramatically and training then becomes not a struggle, but quite an easy task as the dogs understand their correct place in the pack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main reason for recommending it is how well I was able to use it with dogs who had never met me before, including a very territorial, large dog I suspected to be a Maremma or Great Pyrenees. I believe any training book written by Ms Fennell would be an asset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T07:12:36.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19370" CreationDate="2018-01-04T08:24:01.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many books have been written for this subject but the one that stands out for me is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog whisperer by Paul Owens&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hS2Vj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hS2Vj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The dog whisperer &quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This book not only gives you a general approach to the training, but it also gives you details on specific commands including understanding the dog psychology behind it. &#xA;As well as all of that, it also explains the general relationship that humans can have with their best friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I knew some of this knowledge from living on a farm as a child but bought this book a long time ago after rescuing a particularly difficult dog. I have used these methods ever since with problem dogs and I haven’t failed yet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T08:24:01.783" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-04T11:36:09.687" Score="1" ViewCount="515" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently bought 2 female mice, one of which is albino and quite small; I assume she is quite young. The other mouse is a regular size. Now my albino mouse (shiemi) is very easy to handle she will walk on my hand and let me hold her, sometimes she quietly avoids being picked up but she never bites. However, bourbon; my other mouse was a lot more timid. She would constantly hide in their den when I placed food or water in yet would take food from my hand and sniff me. However lately she has started to bite, I will place my hand stationary in their cage either palm up or down and each time she sniffed and then bit me. Is there any way I can make her more comfortable around me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't always bite but is quite skittish, I held her once successfully for a few seconds but I didn't try today as I dont want to scare her too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11294" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T15:18:14.237" Title="handling pet mice that bite" Tags="&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-04T15:17:27.397" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7109" CreationDate="2018-01-04T14:47:27.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is better to give them yogurt (but rather as a treat) than milk, because yogurt is usually fine for people (or animals) even those that are lactose intolerant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically most mammals (including humans) lose the ability to digest lactose as adults. How much is OK depends on the individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I give my rats some yogurt or some white cheese even without any diarrhoea related problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T14:47:27.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-04T17:05:09.023" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed this weird behavior behavior in my cat. She simply loves any thread, whether it is cotton thread, woollen thread or plastic thread. She starts chewing and swallowing the thread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I found her chewing on a long thread of wool. I immediately scolded her and started pulling out the woolen thread from her mouth. To my astonishment I pulled out literally 3 meters of the woollen thread from her mouth. (Probably from her stomach. I had to pull the thread with force. But I did not at that time look inside her mouth.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why does she shows this weird behavior? Is this harmful? If harmful how to modify her behavior so that she no longer does this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T17:05:09.023" Title="Why my cat literally swallows whatever thread she gets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-01-04T17:20:20.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2527" CreationDate="2018-01-04T22:12:51.273" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No dog enjoys being tied up. The trolley line is only suitable as a temporary measure until you can build a fence. It is also very dangerous, as people and other dogs can come into your yard and harm or steal your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11299" LastActivityDate="2018-01-04T22:12:51.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-05T00:09:03.823" Score="5" ViewCount="5746" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just wondering - what's the difference between using almond leaves in a tank compared to banana leaves for Bettas? I have seen people commonly use almond leaves in the water for a few days to improve water, etc. But I have also seen people use banana leaves for the same purpose, what's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T07:28:17.493" LastActivityDate="2020-12-31T20:25:58.103" Title="Almond leaves vs banana leaves in an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19381" CreationDate="2018-01-05T10:17:30.070" Score="12" ViewCount="2393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in India where there are significant numbers of local dogs in need of adoption into loving homes. However many of the people looking to get a dog are instead more focused on purchasing Labradors, Golden retrievers and German shepherds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any strategies I can employ to encourage people to consider adopting a local dog instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2018-01-05T11:53:51.913" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T01:36:03.003" Title="How to convince people not to buy, but adopt" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19380" CreationDate="2018-01-05T11:41:14.177" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buying dogs is a &quot;new&quot; thing in India - most of my grandmother's dogs in the past have been street dogs. They've all been awesome in their own way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the modern context - Its all about networking, and marketing. In singapore, we have a handful of organisations - like &lt;a href=&quot;http://asdsingapore.com/wp/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASD&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://sosd.org.sg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SOSD&lt;/a&gt;, who run programs to help &quot;Singapore Specials&quot; on the street, help do trap/neuter/release programs for humane population control (so fewer stray puppies), and generally create a framework for the things you need to get people to adopt dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You noticed I used the term &quot;Singapore Special&quot; - its not a street dog. Its a &lt;em&gt;uniquely local canine&lt;/em&gt; - and quite often &lt;em&gt;expatriates&lt;/em&gt; adopted them. In singapore, there's other reasons, but its a selling point for more bougious folks. &quot;Look, even the foreigners are adopting local dogs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, the power of social networking to get folks and dogs together. I believe SOSD runs training classes. They get people to foster dogs, and find homes for them were possible. They tell &lt;em&gt;stories&lt;/em&gt; and use ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well - you advertise. And you don't play fair. Look at that widdle face. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8HS9Mm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8HS9Mm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;death by cute&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/SOSDSingapore/photos/a.219248514792432.84090.212281025489181/1712612132122722/?type=3&amp;amp;theater&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;that facebook post&lt;/a&gt; speaks for itself. Its really a process - build awareness, build a brand, replace the prejudices people have with pride in &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt; dogs, and people will be more likely to adopt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also make sure the animal's taken care of - and not turned out onto thr street(and there's no shame if it &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; dosen't work out and the dog's forever home is elsewhere) and that fostering, training and such is handled. In a sense - you need a certain degree of infrastructure in place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By actually working to humanely reduce the population of strays - we're also solving a bigger problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its also worth remembering many &lt;em&gt;purebred&lt;/em&gt; and &quot;designer&quot; crossbreeds need rehoming too, as owners with the same mindset as yours get &quot;tired&quot; of their dogs. On the other hand, there's a dog run regular who tends to adopt senior breeds that are usually hard to adopt out. &lt;em&gt;Every&lt;/em&gt; dog matters, but finding the right forever home isn't easy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-01-05T13:10:21.373" LastActivityDate="2018-01-05T13:10:21.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19370" CreationDate="2018-01-05T13:26:25.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1568692.Clinical_Behavioral_Medicine_for_Small_Animals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is our go to for animal behavior, Karen Overall is a diplomate of the  American College of Veterinary Behavior and a Board Certified Animal Behaviorist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This book is our go to for all of our client education material, she has a ton of exercises to shape any problem a dog may have. It has a veterinary medicine approach and not a dog training book that someone whipped up from their personal experiences. If you're looking for a book that goes very deep into a dogs psyche, based on research and not hearsay, this is your book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-01-05T13:26:25.583" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19301" CreationDate="2018-01-05T13:30:38.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL:DR&lt;/strong&gt; Baby rabbits are hard to tell the gender of.  If you get two, there is a 50% chance you will have baby bunnies as your first clue that you did not get two the of the same gender. If you keep them separated that defeats the idea of them keeping each other company.  The path of two baby rabbits is full of potential for unpleasantness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is yes, spaying and neutering can have positive impacts on rabbits' health and behavior, the same as it does with dogs and cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is not that simple. You are looking to acquire two new young/baby rabbits. That leads to a number of difficulties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits tend to become sexually mature (able to make babies) very early, and often before they are old enough to be spayed or neutered.  This makes keeping them together while young challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Baby rabbits are very difficult to tell the gender of, see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11064/&quot;&gt;What causes rabbits to spontaneously change gender?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6122/how-to-tell-sex-and-spay-neutered-of-rabbit/7345#7345&quot;&gt;How to tell sex and spay/neutered of rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two rabbits that live happily together are &quot;bonded&quot;; this bond is very close. If you separate them they can die.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spaying or neutering changes the behavior so significantly it can alter the bond.  It is not unusual for bonded rabbits to start fighting and have to be separated after one or both is spayed or neutered. It is generally recommended to not bond rabbits until they have been spayed or neutered for at least 30 days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Intact rabbits that are sharing a space and that do not have a bond, can and will chew body parts off of each other: ears, toes, eyebrows. Some rabbits are even killed by the fighting.  See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15722/do-rabbits-fight-each-other-to-the-death&quot;&gt;Do rabbits fight each other to the death?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario:&lt;/strong&gt; You get two baby rabbits, they are young and from the same litter, they are happy together, everything is wonderful. Then time passes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A. Turns out they are not both the same gender: This is a really, &lt;strong&gt;REALLY&lt;/strong&gt; strong possibility.  Your first clue is going to be &quot;mom&quot; making a nest, followed shortly by a bunch of baby bunnies. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5877&quot;&gt;How fast do rabbits really breed?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3108/at-what-age-can-should-a-baby-rabbit-kit-be-separated-from-its-mother&quot;&gt;At what age can/should a baby rabbit (kit) be separated from its mother?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;B. They are both the same gender: As they grow older the sibling tolerance decreases and they either live happily together or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;BA: If they live happily together, fine. It is too late to spay or neuter without putting the bond at risk. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;BB: If they don't like each other, they will start fighting. The simple solution is to separate them.  As they are not bonded, the separation should not harm them. = You have two rabbits that require separate living quarters. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:05:24.220" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:05:24.220" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19380" CreationDate="2018-01-05T16:21:41.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to get the word out (advertising or equivalent as in the previous answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd emphasize the advantages of adopting and disadvantages of buying (partially discussed by the previous post)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;adopting advantages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gives homeless animals a home&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;encourages healthier genetics of the species in question (because places selling often use breeders that have a tendency to inbreed for&#xA;standards of looks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;probably a friendlier and longer lived pet for the owner (inbred or partially inbred animals from breeders are probably less friendly and&#xA;healthy than a normal genetic mix owing to genetic defects)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reduces the population of stray animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;more humane (breeders aren't always nice to their animals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;saves the new owner money (adopting costs less)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2018-01-05T16:21:41.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19387" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-05T18:57:05.767" Score="3" ViewCount="1266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to know if my little boy Mitch (a male American short-haired) will stop growing now that he is roughly around 1.5 to 2 years old and weighs around 17 lbs (might be overfed a little) and he has been neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11308" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T21:05:14.360" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T21:13:45.390" Title="Will my cat Mitch stop growing now that he is almost 2 years old?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19388" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-05T21:55:30.617" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister has gotten a new dog, German shepherd named Juno. She has shown aggression and has already bitten 2 people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have another dog Lexi who has just had surgery. Juno has been trying to bite at where her stitches are. Also whenever Lexi is laying with me she’ll go and start growling at her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, my sister was walking the dogs and Lexi refused to come inside. So when my sister grabbed her, Juno jumped at Lexi and bite her real ugly. I then ran to the door and grabbed Juno from the back as my sister was pulling them apart then Juno bit my sister and I ran around and at the same time my sister screamed and Juno jumped at Lexi again and bit her in the throat. I kicked Juno in the face and grabbed Lexi and quick as I️ can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, why is Juno so mean to Lexi but nice to my other dogs and has been so good until recently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11311" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T20:01:57.223" LastActivityDate="2018-05-25T18:31:36.077" Title="Why is my dog Juno being so aggressive to my other dog Lexi" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19387" CreationDate="2018-01-06T08:12:30.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, cats stop growing when they are one year old; this means your cat will not get longer or taller, and the growth stop is gradual, not a sudden stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/kitten-considered-fully-grown-4251.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on pets.thenest.com&lt;/a&gt; you could find more information about growth of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat will continue to develop for another year until it looks like an adult cat, but the changes are relative small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a little concerned about the weight of your cat; a two year old cat is normally not overweight due to the normal playfulness at this age and the energy used when it plays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://cattime.com/cat-breeds/american-shorthair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article about American short-haired cats on cattime.com&lt;/a&gt; that contains some more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to give the cat a food formulated for spayed/neutered cats, establish fixed feeding times and do not feed more than the instruction on the package says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to stop giving treats to your cat, or at least only give treats once a week, and do not feed your cat foodscraps at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not saying you do any of this, so please see this as a general advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last: play more with your cat and keep him active more of the time, maybe give him more/other toys. Cats like variation when they play, so they do not get bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T21:13:45.390" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T21:13:45.390" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19391" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-06T21:30:10.150" Score="1" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay so I have a pet Rat named Hope and she seems to be violently itching herself on her sides and face. Its forming a row of individual scabs ling one side that I can see when I bathe on her back and she will itch her face when I bathe her and I see blood on her hands and snout when she does. Is this normal or should I be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11167" LastActivityDate="2018-01-06T21:30:10.150" Title="Rat has been violently itching till it bleeds, what can I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-06T22:25:04.420" Score="1" ViewCount="1043" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a kitten for over 3 weeks now he’s been perfect at using his litter tray and still using it however he is choosing to poo in another place too I have added another litter tray to the place he keeps going too now I’ve just found him in a different place weeing not far from the litter tray! It’s fresh litter every day I really do not know what to do! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11315" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T12:00:06.637" Title="Kitten suddenly won’t use litter tray" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18944" CreationDate="2018-01-07T01:09:31.890" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem, however we also have moles that create a mess of our backyard. Our Labrador Retriever digs some pretty big holes (1-2 feet in diameter and 1 foot deep) and often nearby or exactly on top of where old mole hills have been or currently exist.&#xA;My friend who is very knowledgeable about dogs (agility trains them), suggested I get a “kiddie pool” and fill it with sand. Thinking that if it’s more that the dog “wants/enjoys to dig” instead of “trying to find something”, it would give them an acceptable place to dig without destroying our yard.&#xA;I personally haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds like a great idea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T01:09:31.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-07T02:00:47.813" Score="6" ViewCount="6788" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wondering where can you put aquarium plants for a week or until you need them to plant in your aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-07T22:24:48.940" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T14:39:53.893" Title="Where do you keep aquarium plants until you plant them in an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2018-01-07T05:30:26.073" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely do not keep them in the bag, the bag will run out of oxygen, and plants should be kept upright for the most part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider putting them in a fish bowl with a micro bubbler if that's available. If a bowl is unavailable, or bubbler unavailable a vase or extra tall cup will work temporarily. You commonly see betta bowls or vases with plants in them so this will be safe. A cup, bowl, or vase may leave  part of plant exposed out of the water, but please ensure roots and bottom portion of plant are in water at a minimum- you'd hate for the roots to dry out. The plants will do better in an aquarium with proper lighting and feed, so the less time they're in temporary housing, the better for the plant. Make sure whatever temporary housing you use, wether bowl, vase or tall cup try not to over crowd (tangled plants and roots are more likely to break when moved) and always use plant safe water, by using plant/fish tap water conditioner or RO water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know the exact type of aquatic plant you have, you can look up what type of light it prefers. If it typically desires moderate to high light, consider placing the bowl, vase or cup in a window sill or part of the house that gets direct sunlight exposure. Check to make sure water is not evaporating too quickly and add conditioned water if this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T05:30:26.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19265" CreationDate="2018-01-07T05:35:08.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We took our cat to the vet and she took a sample of his skin by pressing a small piece of plastic against the irritated areas. She then ran a test on those samples and found some bacteria present within them. She believed this bacteria was due to an allergy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her guess was that he is allergic to his plastic water bowl, and the allergy spread from this chin to his nose (possibly from licking his face). The vet gave him a shot of antibiotics and we bought him a new stainless steel water bowl. It has only been a week now, but it looks like his face is starting to clear up. The vet told us to wait two weeks to see if he really cleared up, so we have one week to go. It is looking promising though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11242" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T05:35:08.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-07T06:41:39.470" Score="4" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one female cat and one male. Both are neutered. About 4 months ago for no reason our male cat started &quot;picking&quot; on our female. He chases her out of the house, pushes her away from her food and generally stalks her and attacks her most of the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have come home from work and there will be lumps of fur everywhere where he has been fighting with her. He is 2 and she is nearly 4. It has become very worrying to the point that sometimes our female will not come into the house if he is in as well. I even have to monitor feeding so that she gets some food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest how to solve this or what may be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11316" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-08T12:30:04.717" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T12:30:04.717" Title="Sudden start of agression" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19398" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-07T15:49:24.623" Score="4" ViewCount="2314" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has renal failure and one of the meds I need to give her is Azodyl.&#xA;I tried giving her the whole pill and it pissed her off and made her hesitant to come around me. She is 18 years old and I cannot force her to take a pill. I just tried a pill pocket and as she was eating it, I heard her bite into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for my cat to have opened Azodyl capsule in her mouth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've searched online and found no answers. I hope this doesn't hurt my cat, because I know everything that is in Azodyl is bacteria related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:56:42.633" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:56:42.633" Title="Giving Azodyl to my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-07T16:06:29.857" Score="1" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little background, my dog is an Australian Shepherd and we rescued him when he was 2 years old from the SPCA. He came from Virginia and has a lot of quirks, but one of the trickiest one is that he is afraid of snow plows and garbage trucks. We walk him 2 miles a day, so we come into contact with these trucks often. I was hoping eventually he would just learn that the trucks mean him no harm. He jolts at them and barks his loudest until they are out of site. I don't want to reprimand him for being afraid, but I also don't want to entice him by giving him positive attention. What is the best way to make him not afraid without encouraging bad behavior? Thank you!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11318" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T23:46:24.260" Title="My Australian Shepherd is Afraid of Snow Plows and Garbage Trucks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2018-01-07T20:26:38.040" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only can you put your plants in another container, but you should. It is always a good idea to quarantine plants in a separate container for a few weeks before adding them to your tank, otherwise you can introduce pathogens or snails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most plants will do fine (short term) in almost any food safe container of nearly any water (but you'll want to treat your tap water, if you use that, since most has chloramine, which will kill your fish and beneficial bacteria.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, probably the best water is water from your aquarium.  That used tank water is full of nutrients for your plant and will also help it adapt to its new environment. Plus it is already treated to remove any chlorine/chloramine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11319" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T20:26:38.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19364" CreationDate="2018-01-07T20:37:51.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats just stop liking a food.  It may be the cat being a cat, or it may be that the food in question changed the recipe (an all too common issue), or even that they just made a batch with slightly different ratios that the cat dislikes. Your cat may also have become allergic to something in the food, which may make your cat stop liking the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, given the age of your cat, and the fact that it is multiple foods and brands, the most likely cause of your cat's issue is medical, and you should take your cat to the vet (probably with a stool sample if you want to be proactive) ASAP.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cats need actual cat food, not just cat treats and chicken.  Without cat food, they won't be getting numerous essential nutrients and will sicken and eventually even die of malnutrition.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11319" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T20:37:51.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19399" CreationDate="2018-01-07T22:02:27.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The method I know is&#xA;You work on getting you dog to pay attention to you. &#xA;So at home work on obedience, looking at you when you say his name. I would also work on sit/walk backwards/ shake/ find the treat [in your fist] -a skill task that you can use while out. Use a treat or clicker (whatever you normally do). As always keep training sessions short and positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a week or two work on getting your dogs attention off site but not near heavy machinery. So there are sights and distracting  sounds. Again rewarding him for paying attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the end of the month You should then be able to command your dogs attention while the &quot;big scary machinery&quot; goes past. When you feel that your dog is ready for the dump truck/snow plow test, take a reward that is high value-&quot;my dog will do anything for ___&quot;  rewarding for small success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2018-01-07T22:18:07.513" LastActivityDate="2018-01-07T22:18:07.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19404" CreationDate="2018-01-07T22:25:51.767" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Days ago I went to walk with my dog (4 years and no breed) , as the place was very quiet (it was a field) I decided to release her from her leash and she started to walk freely but next to me. Later my dog found a corpse of a dead animal, I think it was an opossum, and she started wallowing with that corpse, that is, it seemed like she wanted to have that rotten smell of the animal in all her fur, I was surprised of what was doing, I do not understand why she did that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an explanation  for that behaviour ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T01:26:10.717" Title="Why does my dog like to wallow with corpses?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-08T13:20:40.820" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19403" CreationDate="2018-01-07T22:58:11.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because dogs are still predators; rolling in something stinky like a corpse will mask/ cover it's own scent. The dog can then sneak up on prey under olfactory camouflage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given K9s also smell like what they eat, carrion eaters stink. I suspect that by rolling in a dead thing a dog is communicating that they are such a successful hunter they can return to kills latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2018-01-08T01:26:10.717" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T01:26:10.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19406" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-08T01:01:25.037" Score="4" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9-month old Indian Ringneck parrot. I plan to get more parrots in the future (most likely smaller parrots). I am most likely to wait until he is 2 to get another parrot, but that is uncertain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a Ringnecks' friendliness toward other parrots affected by how old they are when they are introduced? Would 2 years be too old or too young to introduce my Ringneck to a buddy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11320" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-09T17:15:53.743" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T17:15:53.743" Title="What is an ideal age gap for between parrot friends?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19398" CreationDate="2018-01-08T07:01:44.980" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crushing the capsule in mouth is not harmful to cats. But it greatly reduces the benefit of the medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Azodyl capsules are refrigerated to keep moisture intact and prevent heating. Otherwise the bacteria will die. And the capsule is meant to keep the bacteria together until it reaches the intestine where finally the capsule dissolves and bacteria is released. If taken in crushed form, most bacteria won't reach the intestine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want your cat healthy and your cat is not buying pill pocket there is no other alternative but to force feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on whether your cat likes fish or chicken you should prepare fish or chicken soup. You should keep a syringe ready. Then you have to hold your cat in such a way that his nose points at ceiling. If your cat is not docile enough you have to take the help of another person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then open the cats mouth and quickly puf the capsule in her mouth and push it as back in the mouth as possible. Then close the the mouth and hold it so that the cat is not able to open the mouth. Rub the cat's throat to encourage him to swallow the capsule. There is gap in between front teeth and back teeth of cat. Use it to insert the syringe and push in the chicken or fish soup. It is to ensure that the capsule does not remain stuck in oesophagus and reaches stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T07:01:44.980" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19392" CreationDate="2018-01-08T07:31:02.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Trond Hansen is right - the problem could be health related, and sometimes it is hard to see it at first since cats like tend to hide their illnesses, so visiting a vet would be the best start before looking for other causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides urinary infection (which concerns rather urination) there could be other reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the litter tray could be too hard to access - it could be to high, some litter boxes have doors or covers that cats are afraid of..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the litter tray could be to small to be comfortable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the litter tray could be in a place that is not enough intimate, peaceful and the cat could be afraid of doing their things there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the cat may not like the contents of the litter tray - if you use bentonite clay - try to change the size of the grains, usually the smaller grains are preferred&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you use scented litter cats sometimes don't like it, also my cats didn't like the silicate litter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check the surface on which your cat likes to poo, for instance my cat loved to urinate on paper or soft materials lying on the floor, you could try to fill the floor of your litter box with the same material&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;constipation could be the reason - the cat can blame the litter tray for his problems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastEditorUserId="9423" LastEditDate="2018-01-08T09:46:16.027" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T09:46:16.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19397" CreationDate="2018-01-08T07:47:02.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like sexual aggression to me. By neutering you are only reducing masculine behavior of the male. It doesn't disappear. Also different males are different. Some super males retain even more masculinity after neutering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are some submissive females. They are often coerced more easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One easy solution is available. Buy male pheromone from market and rub it often on the buttock of the female cat. The male will get super confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T07:47:02.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19392" CreationDate="2018-01-08T08:06:53.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try two things simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make the litter box more attractive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try changing the litter type and use trial and error to find right litter. Make sure there is no source of noise nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make the unwanted sites repelling. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First use good cleaners to completely get rid of earlier poop smell. Then use cat repellents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try making the use of litter boxes rewarding by offering treats when used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-02-07T12:00:06.637" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T12:00:06.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19394" CreationDate="2018-01-08T14:39:53.893" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For up to 4 or 5 days, you can keep them wrapped in wet paper towels surrounded by wet newspaper. You might have some die off, but this is the way they are commonly shipped. I've had hardier species like anubias survive for weeks this way without any ill effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more sensitive plants, just put them in a container in water at room temperature. They'll last quite a while like this. Again you might have some die off depending on how sensitive of a plant they are and how long they are without sufficient light, but they should recover once they get in an aquarium with the proper conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T14:39:53.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-08T19:52:17.827" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;thanks for reading this article! I am currently treating my Betta in a 1 gallon tank that I float in his usual tank, a 10 gallon planted with a nerite snail and nothing else. He just lies flat at the bottom of the tank with one eye looking up, so on his side, he is breathing but I don’t think he will make it for long, I don’t know what it is. I am treating him for fin rot with King British fin rot and fungus control. It is heated to 26.4 Celsius and I do a 2-3 gallon water change every week. Please help, his name it buddy. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11324" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T01:27:37.540" Title="Betta lying on bottom of tank?" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-01-08T20:08:22.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-08T21:22:52.280" Score="7" ViewCount="1509" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to buy a cockatiel. I found several in our area at Petland and wanted to know if there is a more reputable breeder? Does it matter that kids have been reaching in to touch them for a few weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11325" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T20:36:24.367" Title="Where is the best place to buy a Cockatiel?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19415" CreationDate="2018-01-08T21:41:07.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for breeders that enter competitions. You can always buy a bird that is not up to competition standard, but would otherwise make a good pet. They will be happy to sell such birds, knowing that they will go to good homes. We did this for our dogs, and we were not disappointed. However, we did have to agree to two of the dogs being neutered, so that we could not use them for breeding purposes (their sire was a champion). I'm not sure if that's possible for birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2018-01-08T21:49:53.727" LastActivityDate="2018-01-08T21:49:53.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-09T08:02:07.757" Score="4" ViewCount="972" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet Lola was born of an abandoned spitz-cross stray in Feb 2012.  She had a thick white coat with brown ears and face mask, and a big brown spot on  her rump where her tail is joined.  Big deep chest and body but thin short legs (like that of the Pomeranian).  Her tail is short and lifted up in sickle formation like a JRT cross.  She had a few tiny brown spots on her legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since last couple of years (after she turned 4+) she has begun to develop small brown patches all over her white body?   Do dogs change their coats as they grow ?  Is there more to this ?   Could she be a chimera?   Her unmaternal mother tried to bury her in our compost pit soon after she was born.   Her body was shaped like a piglet and is still is big for her height.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I get her DNA tested?   Could being a chimera and not knowing it cause problems when treating for any infections ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11327" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-10T13:56:45.963" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T22:07:42.160" Title="Could my dog be a chimera (hybrid)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19415" CreationDate="2018-01-09T09:03:47.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an alternative to Competition-breeders, check out rescues if any are in your area. Often, competition-breeders, hobby-breeders and rescues are networked with each other anyway, so finding one in your area should open up a whole lot of contacts!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cockatiels are a lot more specific than, for example, rabbits, guinea-pigs and the like, but I suspect the networking between interested people is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T09:03:47.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-09T11:40:13.703" Score="3" ViewCount="29033" Body="&lt;p&gt;My and father got my mother a little leopard gecko as an early Christmas gift on the 17th of December. She is a female leopard gecko, and about 6-8 months old? We are not too sure about her age, but she is not full grown yet..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we brought her home she was scared and anxious like any new animals are, and we left her alone in her enclosure with fresh food, calcium and water each day.. She got used to our voices, but was still pretty anxious when we came near the tank to look at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we were setting up the tank, we noticed that the kit they got had the wrong types of lights. They were way too high, and would have almost cooked the gecko if we hadn’t noticed the temps tire.. We had to go and buy new and proper lights..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right after this she started shedding. We believe that it was a forced shed.. From the stress and the wrong heating.&#xA;She was never able to get the skin off of her toes.. and we couldn’t handle her to help, since she is so new..&#xA;It seemed difficult for her to walk because of the skin on her toes/hands, and she had to position her arms weird, even when she slept..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We soon found out that she wouldn’t eat her mealworms or crickets, and the only way we got food into her was by giving her living crickets.. She would drink the normal amount of water, and would eat a cricket when hungry..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not too long after all of this, she started to drink.. A lot.&#xA;I was afraid that she was trying to lay eggs, and I was right..&#xA;We think that the eggs never properly formed, or fell apart..&#xA;She cannot push them properly, and just little pieces are coming out..&#xA;Her belly looks swollen, and she is in a lot of pain.. She has no energy to push, and just sits and walks with her hind legs open, and sometimes in the air..&#xA;She would constantly crawl around her enclosure, and at a point she started to actually drag herself rather than crawl properly..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today she has started opening her mouth, and looking as if she is trying to gag, or push something up..&#xA;She started flinging herself, like she was having an exorcism, and it was terrifying to see..&#xA;She accidentally hit her jaw once or twice on her house, as we think there is blood on her mouth..&#xA;She squeaked at one point, and she has been breathing very shallow breaths, and has been heaving..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She IS in CONSTANT pain, and we have NO idea on what to do.. We are all crying, and we can’t figure out what to do..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the first leopard gecko we have ever owned, and we feel like we are horrible people.. The kit we bought at PetCo for her was labeled for leopard geckos, but came with misleading parts and pictures.. The lamp they gave us would’ve almost cooked her, and the dishes were wrong..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have done our best to take care of her, and we didn’t know she was sick until now.. She got 100% worse today, and we were unable to take her to the vet in time..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her name is Cricket by the way, and we love her dearly..&#xA;We feel so bad..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have also noticed that her tail is not getting bigger, and it is concerning us as well..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11328" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:48:35.530" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:22:43.703" Title="Leopard Gecko Dying" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-09T14:38:14.867" Score="4" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I just got two kittens a few days ago, and they have both been doing fine. I just got a new toy for them, a fish pole toy with a furry thing on it. I was pleased because the much shyer one, Truman, was obsessed with it, I mean OBSESSED. I put it on my desk and he wouldn't stop meowing till I took it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird thing is that my other kitten, Schroeder, is super playful and always attacking everything and is never shy, refuses to play with it! He is almost scared of it. He just likes to sit up high and watch his brother play with it. Is this anything I should be worried about or am I just being silly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11330" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:25:03.350" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:25:03.350" Title="Why does one kitten love his toy, but the another one is scared of it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19421" CreationDate="2018-01-09T15:03:40.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doesn't sound like anything to worry about... cats will perceive toys very differently to humans but like humans they all have their own likes/dislikes/fears and it's not unusual for the same toy or object to evoke very different responses in different cats. Sometimes watching a fellow cat play with a particular toy &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the entertainment the cat gets from something so it's all good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the kittens are very young (and your question sort of implies they are) then you may well see Schroeder gradually joining in playing with the fishing pole toy over the next couple of days but if he doesn't he doesn't and I wouldn't worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T15:03:40.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19421" CreationDate="2018-01-09T15:15:08.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Schroeder in even more younger days may have had some very fearful experience which involved some furry thing. It remains in his memory. And the current furry toy reminds him of the event. He is associating the furry thing with bad experience he once had. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest removing the furry toy completely, so that he doesn't have to always relive the horror. And give him time to forget the experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T15:15:08.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19406" CreationDate="2018-01-09T16:57:02.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very hit or miss with parrots regardless of age, as babies they are more likely to get along however once they become adults it still has a chance to turn sour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to keep in mind when introducing new birds to the flock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Testing new birds for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avianbiotech.com/diseases/chlamydia.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chlamydia&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avianbiotech.com/diseases/pbfd.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PBFD&lt;/a&gt;, quarantine is a must until you get results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a separate cage for the new member.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Birds that are planned to be housed together should be of similar size with a large enclosure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to introduce&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the new bird has been cleared for disease he/she can be placed at the opposite end of the same room. This allows the birds to see each other safely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every few days the cages can get closer together, watch each birds body language to determine if they are stressed, irritated, intrigued etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When introducing it should be on common ground and &lt;strong&gt;NEVER&lt;/strong&gt; in/on either birds cage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never force an interaction and always supervise, if they choose to be close to each other in a friendly manner than great! Always have a towel on hand in case a fight breaks out, use the towel to create a wall between the two.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward friendly interactions with praise and treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end they may never get along so be prepared to house 2 birds separately, they can still live in harmony as long as they are not forced to live close to one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** &lt;strong&gt;For a bird to truly be quarantined they cannot share the same air space as other birds.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T16:57:02.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7788" CreationDate="2018-01-09T18:53:22.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never run with your husky until they are 1 year old. Trust me I'm at a vetinary school at the moment. Their bodies need time to develop and really I would stick to 15m walks and leave them to run around dog parks etc because then your dog will decide how much exercise they get. The dog will run but it might not want to and it certainly won't be good for them, especially 5km-marathon distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11331" LastActivityDate="2018-01-09T18:53:22.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19415" CreationDate="2018-01-10T00:24:03.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several options.&#xA;(1) Check local shelters for rescued birds. (Most rescues got out of their homes and, because they had no idea what the outside of their houses looked like, couldn't find their way back home.)&#xA;(2) Check for breeders in your area. A web search for cockatiel breeders or pet classifieds-birds may turn some up.&#xA;(3) If you live in a metropolitan area, see if there are is a bird mart in your area. (Again, do a web search for bird marts and your city name.) Breeders gather at bird marts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always prefer adopting birds or getting them from breeders. In the former case, you'll be doing something very good. In the latter, you can meet several birds at once and learn about their histories. We don't understand what makes birds choose their people. At a breeder or a bird mart, though, there will often be a bird who can't take his or her eyes off of you and who keeps moving toward you. That bird has chosen you and is likely to be a great companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cockatiels on my shoulders as I write this. One is a rescue bird and the other was from a breeder and chose me. Best of luck, and enjoy the cuddles once you get your bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T00:24:03.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-10T06:51:08.967" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my cats wet food 2 times a day and they always have dry food....am I feeding them too much?&#xA;Do I feed my cats too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11334" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-01-10T07:18:02.753" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T07:18:02.753" Title="I feed my cats wet food in tthe AM and PM and they always have dry food is that OK" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-01-11T14:35:38.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19418" CreationDate="2018-01-10T12:54:21.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Chimera is an animal which has the DNA of two distinct species (normally) - It's highly unlikely your 'dog' is a chimera. (Breeds of dog aren't distinct species, no matter how different they look). Your dog is likely just a hybrid of two rather distinct breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In biology, a hybrid, or crossbreed, is the result of combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera &#xA;   -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_(biology)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_(biology)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The change in coat colour is likely nothing to worry about however if there's any change in the coat texture then you should take her to a vet in case it's cancer of some form, or a skin infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is many reasons why dog's coats can change, from genetics, to simply getting their 'winter/summer' coats. See the below link for some interesting examples of what may cause coat changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/why-has-my-dogs-coat-changed-colour.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why has my dogs coat changed colour?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't many animals a dog could concievably breed with, however some dog/wolf hybrids do exist (however there is an arguement they aren't a new species and that dogs and wolves are of one species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfdog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Wolfdog on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastEditorUserId="7759" LastEditDate="2018-01-10T18:01:47.213" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T18:01:47.213" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19418" CreationDate="2018-01-10T21:43:41.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Genetic chimera &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)&lt;/a&gt; are organisms that have cells of two different genotypes. This phenomenon occurs as the organism is developing in the womb or egg. Therefore, even if your dog is a genetic chimera, that is not the cause of the change in its coat. It at best would be an explanation for the fact that its coat has patches of color.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Genetic chimeras are a rare occurrence, so it's more likely your dog is not a genetic chimera, and its coat just happens to be patched.  It is however, still not impossible. You could only be sure through genetic testing. Genetic testing might not even give a true answer, because if the animal is a chimera, you'd still have to collect cells of both genotypes to verify it. It's possible to not sample both types of cells, and miss that the animal is in fact a genetic chimera. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can change coat color, which has been discussed here before. The causes can be environmental (bleaching in the sun, for example) or genetic. Certain breeds, like the dalmatian, are known for their coats changing as they mature. Dalmatian puppies are born white.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chimerism can have some health reprocussions, particularly autoimmune related, when cells of one genotype may start attacking cells of the other. But if your dog had this type of problem, you'd probably have already noticed by now, as autoimmune problems are pretty noticeable. I'm unaware if there are other types of health problems that particularly affect genetic chimera. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-01-10T22:07:42.160" LastActivityDate="2018-01-10T22:07:42.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-11T12:41:31.480" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a comet and shubunkin and after I feed them everyday the comet chases the shubunkin. It doesn't look nasty (no biting) and it isn't competition for food because he only does it when it has all gone. He swims into the base of her tail bumping her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought it may be what they do when breeding but they are young fish, is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11343" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T19:32:36.490" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T19:32:36.490" Title="Chasing Fish after feeding" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19437" CreationDate="2018-01-11T12:53:08.147" Score="2" ViewCount="2242" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep a male rabbit together with a (female) guinea pig in a cage. (They get along very well.) The bunny has that annoying habit of scattering everything in and around the cage with those brown liquid droplets. As a result, everything closer than a meter is dirty, and are hard/impossible to clean from the wall or the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now this issue could be somewhat solved by enclosing the cage in plexiglass and cleaning it weekly, and that's half of the plan the plan. The problem is the other half: when I take him out to walk in the room, he immediately starts marking the territority, and there're brown drops everywhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could I make him stop this? I'd like a natural way (i.e. no surgey), but every suggestion is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nor the rabbit and the guinea pig have been neutered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want to seperate them. They got used to each other's company, and especially the pig gets somewhat upset when the rabbit is missing. There's no place for one more cage too. Also, the pig needs company, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting yet another pet is something I'd like to avoid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a picture of the result. &quot;Luckily&quot; I haven't cleaned this part of the furniture behind the cage for two weeks. (The lower piece of raw wood, protecting the wall during the past months, absorbs the drops leaving the &quot;salt&quot; behind, and can't be cleaned.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kgfbNm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kgfbNm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;that&amp;#39;s my wood!&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10576" LastEditorUserId="10576" LastEditDate="2018-01-11T15:59:07.630" LastActivityDate="2018-01-11T15:59:07.630" Title="How can I stop my rabbit dropping territorial marks?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-01-16T09:26:02.700" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19433" CreationDate="2018-01-11T14:59:15.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like classic goldfish mating behaviour. When the male is ready to mate, it will chase / pursue the female and wait for the female to eventually release her eggs. Check if the male has small white spots on their gills. This can be a sign of mating maturity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, young fish often perform these same mating behaviours before they are actually able to mate (or before they understand how). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Why after feeding?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact it happens after feeding could be due to a number of things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The feeding brings them into close proximity of each other which triggers the male to begin again. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The food stimulates the male to begin attempting to mate. Often a change in environment (such as feeding schedule, water change schedule, lighting, PH etc) can trigger fish to begin mating. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might just be that you notice it when you're already at the tank feeding them and it does happen at other times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Things to look out for&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure that the male's chasing isn't to the detriment of the female's health. (Sometimes they can get a bit carried away and chase continuously). Providing hiding places can help with this. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Males can get a bit 'nippy' towards the end of the mating. Watch that the female's fins don't get destroyed by this (unlikely to happen but something to mindful of).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they are successful, you'll have more fish! Hurray! But make sure you've got a plan. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Additional Reading&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some useful articles I found which expand up what I've written here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-care/breeding/how-do-goldfish-mate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How do goldfish Mate (thegoldfishtank.com)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish#Behaviour&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Goldfish Behaviour (wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAauuOYOhF0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video of mating behaviour (Youtube)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-01-11T14:59:15.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19439" CreationDate="2018-01-11T15:12:14.230" Score="7" ViewCount="702" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked at quite some separation anxiety questions and none seems to tackle the problem we're facing. I do not think that this is a duplicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog:&lt;/strong&gt; soon to be 8yo female Lab-x (probably)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Situation:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved into a new apartment recently. We've filmed our dog when she was home alone (anything between 2 minutes and 3 hours) to see how she's behaving in the new environment when we are not around. The footage shows her walking through the apartment, whining every now and then for a bit, getting onto the sofa (which she shouldn't do) to look out the balcony door, laying/sitting behind the apartment door for more than an hour and even standing up against the wall to look out the window. Even when she lays down she has her head and ears up and is actively searching for us. She has never shown this behaviour in the two places we've lived before. She's usually not left alone for more than two hours, she's with family when I expect to leave for a longer period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we're at home she is perfectly fine and relaxed in the new apartment and she got used to the new sounds quickly (we haven't lived in an apartment building before). She sleeps in the living room by herself (health reasons) and mastered that from day one (I can hear her snore and dream bark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Settings:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both places we've lived before she was fine alone and dozed until we came back. Even now she's perfectly relaxed at my parent's place where she spends her day a few days a week and is left alone with my parent's dog during the mornings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing different now is that she cannot observe the door from her bed which she could do in the other settings. We can not put the bed anywhere else as a regular spot and we don't want to move it when we leave cause we feel it will encourage the &quot;active waiting&quot; mentality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's not necessarily walked before we leave but it's happened. The video shows no signs of a difference in her behaviour regarding this.&#xA;We have a routine with her where we tell her to lay down in her bed (if she's not), pet her a bit, say our goodbye phrase and leave. She knows exactly that we're gonna leave and seems fine with it in all settings. But as soon as I close the door she's running into the hallway. She does not do this in other settings than our apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has a Kong that she has access to 24/7 (we use it as a chew toy without treats) but she has in no setting ever engaged with it when she was alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Core of it all:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never before shown this behaviour and is still fine alone when it's not in the new apartment. We hope this is gonna wear off sooner or later but I'd like to know if there's anything we can do to help her with the situation until that happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2018-01-11T23:04:22.447" LastActivityDate="2018-01-12T08:58:51.037" Title="Dog has issues to stay home alone after move" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19434" CreationDate="2018-01-11T15:19:58.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stains look like urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits and guinea pigs can be great friends, I doubt the relationship has any bearing on the behavior.  You don't need to change anything between them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dark colored urine in rabbits is not unusual; it can vary from a light pink to a dark brown. A sudden change to dark color is grounds for a visit to the vet.  Long term dark urine should be mentioned to your vet during a regular visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately male (and sometimes female) rabbits will spray urine as you describe. This is particularly notable in young and/or unaltered (&lt;em&gt;not spayed or neutered&lt;/em&gt;) rabbits. It normally stops with in about 30 days of spay or neuter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit that has &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1320/can-house-rabbits-have-free-access-to-the-whole-house-all-the-time&quot;&gt;full access to the area all the time&lt;/a&gt; is unlikely to continue this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For occasional access: Leave some poops around. Rabbit poop is the least gross product (liquid or solid) of pretty much any animal. Your bunny most likely will feel that their property is secure if they find their own poops marking the area. This may mean harvesting poops from the litter box to place strategically before letting them roam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Related; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2237/how-do-i-discourage-rabbits-from-spraying&quot;&gt;How do I discourage rabbits from spraying?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-11T15:25:44.490" LastActivityDate="2018-01-11T15:25:44.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19436" CreationDate="2018-01-11T16:28:31.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question, brutal as it may seem, is that dogs are pack animals and should not be left, locked up, on their own all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am ashamed to say that we left our first dog (also a Lab) locked up in a kitchen, on his own, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. We never realised that this was a cruel thing to do, and it could easily have been avoided since we had our own business. Later in his life, we took him to work with us. Our other dogs were never left on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It distresses me to hear from other dog owners who are anxious about leaving their dogs on their own for extended periods of time. The simple answer is &quot;don't.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2018-01-11T16:36:50.763" LastActivityDate="2018-01-11T16:36:50.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19436" CreationDate="2018-01-12T08:53:29.593" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have dealt with separation anxiety with a lot of dogs I rescued and here is what my experience tells me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, a change of environment for a dog is a major thing, regardless of age breed or character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She has never shown this behaviour in the two places we've lived before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is that she probably has but you’ve not really notice. This time you’re noticing because it is clearly bothering her more, possibly because of an outside problem as per comments on your question. However, this shouldn’t be focused on a a primary solution unless it is bluntly obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When we're at home she is perfectly fine and relaxed in the new apartment and she got used to the new sounds quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That’s because you are at home and she feels safe within her pack. Dogs are pack animals and when the pack is not together, that’s when problems occur, brought on by the stress of the separation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only thing different now is that she cannot observe the door from her bed which she could do in the other settings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could be an issue but balanced dogs are usually not so bothered and adapt well. However, if you feel strongly about this, you’re creating a problem for your dog. Dogs have been scientifically proven to be able to interpret and mimic human behaviours: if you see this as a problem, your dog will too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's not necessarily walked before we leave &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, that’s not good. If you drain your dog’s physical and mental energy before she can be left, that’s energy she won’t have to fuel the anxiety with. In my experience, that’s at least 80% of your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs‘s ancestors are wolves. They have a specific way of functioning. A dog’s natural instinct is to have a den. Get up in the morning, venture out to find food. If the dog is good at it, it will return and sleep all day and start again in the evening. If it’s not good, it will roam all day or find a stronger dog that will help, forming a pack. In either cases, the dog is physically and mentally challenged to survive..... hence why we walk, train, work a dog.... it’s gives them balance and a purpose in life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest a new routine to snap her out of that behaviour. I have never seen a dog settling into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mimicking nature is by far the best option:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk to drain physical energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;training to drain mental energy &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breakfast for reward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tired dog means sleepy dog but more important, a content balanced dog.&#xA;Once you’ve got that, you are on a winner. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your description of her moving about in the flat is perfectly normal(apart from the anxiety bits). &#xA;Dogs can hear a lot lot more than you think, even when asleep. You will always have ear twitch and movements from one area to the next, including getting on the sofa; the sofa is a human space unless you invite the dog on it. However if the dog takes that place when you’re away, apart from comfort, this tells me your dog “takes” your place or role as the leader when you’re away guarding the place which is excellent behaviour. We have 2 sofas and a chair and my dog moves around all of them through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Kong is excellent but having it 24/7 is not necessarily a good idea: would you allow kids to play on a game console 24/7?&#xA;Instead I would make it a positive event. You leaving the dog is a negative perception for her. If you changed it into a positive it would go towards changing the dog’s perception. When I leave my dog, I leave a Kong and other treats scattered in the kitchen which is at the opposite end of the front door. The dog is given a biscuit in her crate. I leave quickly and swiftly. We’ve taped her getting out and take her treats. She returns to her crate, has a moment thinking”what should I do next!” Then settles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Change the way you leave - practise leaving:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are experts at picking up the signs. From walking to tea time to bed time and of course when they will be left. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think how you leave her. Key noises, putting shoes on, the stress of going to work, talking on your mobile..... the dog sees and feels all of that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to practise: during your day, fake leaving.... but return straight away! Or put your shoes on and stay. Make key noises... and so on...&#xA;Basically, this desensitises your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove emotions:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;if you leave the dog with long goodbyes and affection then leave, you will make the dog miss you... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog’s noises are also extremely developed. There is a new study currently going on regarding dogs being able to determine how many follicles and in what amount there is in the air. The longer you leave your dog, the less follicles of you there is in the air. Have you ever wondered how they know you’re coming home? As far as I can tell, they can’t tell the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is so much more to say about separation anxiety but it would take all day. I hope this gives you an idea. I am happy to answer more specific question if you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that you clearly care for your dog’s wellbeing. I can also tell you that your problem is quite mild and perfectly workable. I have dealt with dogs who would chew half a door, howl, destroy a sofa, poo and pee everywhere after being left for a few minutes! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastEditorUserId="8783" LastEditDate="2018-01-12T08:58:51.037" LastActivityDate="2018-01-12T08:58:51.037" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19398" CreationDate="2018-01-12T09:11:44.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem with my cat. We couldn't manage to give the pills and nothing worked, but then our wet told us to try so called &quot;Tablet Syringe&quot; (try googling it) and it was a great help for us - all problems solved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this tool even my brother who was taking care of the cat when we were on vacation had no problems giving the pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you put the pill on the top of the &quot;syringe&quot;, then you push the sides of the jaws with one hand so cat opens its mount, put the syringe (which is plastic and harmless) into the cat's mouth and shot the pill straight into the throat. You may be afraid of not shooting it into the trachea, but we have applied many pills this way and never it ended with choking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2018-01-12T09:11:44.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2018-01-12T09:59:56.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be a little off-topic, but maybe your cat has still some months to live, so please read my story :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been there two years ago. The cat was on renal veterinary food already, but suddenly began to eat less. We did the blood test and as our vet suspected it was due to the rising levels of creatinine which is the symptom of the kidneys' problems. With high levels of creatinine, besides other problems, the cat stops eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can lower the level using the right food, then the pills and finally the most powerful solution is giving the cat saline infusions, so to &quot;wash out&quot; the creatinine from the blood. Direct infusions into the veins works best, but if you are not a vet, at home you can give the cat underskin saline infusions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult your vet about this. We had prolonged the life of our cat for something like 1,5 years - he started eating more, he felt good - but we had to do the infusions every two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day even the infusions stopped working, the cat refused to eat, walk... and we had to put him down. But since your cat still feels quite OK - fight for it :) Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T18:33:23.667" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T18:33:23.667" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19265" CreationDate="2018-01-12T17:34:16.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our 4 cats gets the same crusty stuff around his nose.&#xA;Our vet thinks it is a food allergy condition.&#xA;For him, food testing appears to target chicken as a link.&#xA;When food containing chicken is removed from his diet the spots (slowly) reduce or disappear. &#xA;If he eats a lot of chicken based food the spots appear, and increase, and he eventually starts wheezing a little from congestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11350" LastActivityDate="2018-01-12T17:34:16.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19462" CreationDate="2018-01-12T17:54:32.880" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 6 month old Pitbull is incredibly friendly and well behaved (for the most part anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We like to take him on walks, and responds well to basic commands. He stops at corners with us before crossing the street and while he still lags a bit or gets ahead to sniff stuff, I believe we're close to getting it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that when he gets excited (ie: when he sees other dogs) it seems like everything he's learned goes out the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just yesterday, he tried to run to the other sidewalk when he spotted a couple of dogs behind a fence. He was totally oblivious to a car that was approaching and I don't want to delve on what could have happened if he hadn't been on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, he doesn't even respond to his name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's absolutely no indication of aggressiveness. Like I said, he's just &lt;em&gt;incredibly&lt;/em&gt; friendly, as are all the dogs we've met in out neighborhood, so he often plays with dogs we meet when on our walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this normal for a 6-month-old?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there something we can do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to make our commands more important than his impulses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10208" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T00:46:06.630" Title="Puppy not paying attention when excited" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19445" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-12T19:18:25.613" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was younger I had this cat I called Queen Bee. I had to help my mom and dad move to different houses and I brought her with to my dad's house that had a couple barns, the house, a old tool shed, a hay shed, chicken coop and a large brush pile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Queen gave birth to a litter of kittens two months before the snow of winter. I noticed that a week or two into the winter the old tool shed, that she had her kittens in and claimed as hers, had a several large fur nests in it that matched Queen's fur colors. I watched as she came in and curled up in one of the several nests and her kittens in the others and all of them had lost the tips of their ears to what I think was very bad frostbite. But what I'm confused about is that the tool shed was the warmest place on the property other than the house and the hay shed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also Queen was probably around 9 or 10 years old, so she would know better than to be outside in the cold long enough to get frostbite. And she had kittens litters before and they all were great well taught to be good cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what happened to make her and her whole litter lose their ear tips to frostbite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11308" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T14:02:50.250" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T14:02:50.250" Title="Why did my childhood cats do this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31237" CreationDate="2018-01-13T02:36:57.680" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son want a puppy like yesterday.  We will be going to an animal donation center tomorrow.  My wife is adamant that it has be be a dog that doesn't shed fur.  I don't know if such a breed exists, but I know some shed less fur than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11352" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T04:06:15.587" Title="Which dogs shed the least?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19445" CreationDate="2018-01-13T12:04:26.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of factors that cats evaluate when selecting a nesting location: Concealment, noise level, proximity to predators / competitors, temperature etc. It is impossible to say which ones are more import to a particular cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes see queens (mother cats) making poor decisions when it comes to selecting a nest.  Obviously they do not have an advanced methodical algorithm for selecting a nest and it is more of a subjective / intuitive decision. Queens will also abandon a nest if it becomes overly soiled or infested with parasites. This could have been a factor in her selecting a colder nest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is that house cats are from very hot climates. They are not necessarily the best suited animals for cold weather. This may somewhat negatively impact their ability to select good nests in cold climates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feline kitten mortality rates are also very high in outdoor cats, partly due to the challenges of finding a good nest and partly due to disease and other factors like predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, Queen Bee did her best but she she couldn’t protect the little one’s tender ears, probably due to just bad luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like she kept her kittens alive though so she was ultimately successful in the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-01-13T12:04:26.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19451" CreationDate="2018-01-13T15:56:06.560" Score="1" ViewCount="7071" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a room in my house where I do my carpentry work. That room is full of dust and wood debris and I don't want my cat to go in there because I don't want it to come out dusty and I am afraid it could get hurt on the sharp objects in there. So I keep the door shut. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that my cat would oftenly sit in front of that door and start meowing for hours and will only stop if I let it in. It does that no matter if I am in the room or not. How can I make it forget about wanting to go in that room?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11356" LastActivityDate="2020-12-09T21:07:28.237" Title="Cat keeps meowing to go in forbidden room" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-19T19:24:34.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19449" CreationDate="2018-01-13T17:07:42.640" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are highly inquistive by nature, as you seem to have found out and often won't let an idea 'go' until they find something more interesting to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest try putting a simple cardboard box (only just large enough for the cat if possible) by the door and you may find the cat is happy enough to sit in this box, instead of trying to get into the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't work, you could try leaving some toys near the door, which you can use to play with the cat if they start meowing, to distract them - however be aware you may cause them to associate meowing at this door, with being played with! ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastActivityDate="2018-01-13T17:07:42.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-13T18:49:46.770" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;So me and my friend has 7 month old male and female cat, respectively. We tried to introduce them but they always end up fighting with each other. They both belong to same mother but were separated at young age. How much time will they take and what is the best way to introduce them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2018-01-13T18:49:46.770" Title="Introducing 2 Cats Of Same Age (keeps fighting)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-01-19T19:21:02.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19454" CreationDate="2018-01-13T23:42:48.157" Score="2" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am considering getting my first dog which will be a German Shepherd or Border Collie puppy. The thing I am most worried about is effectively potty training the puppy. After doing some research, I found that crate potty training is most effective since dogs tend not to go where they sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is will the following approach work: I plan on placing the crate throughout my house where I don’t want the dog to go. I will do this in intervals of a few days per location while taking the puppy outside regularly. The goal is for the puppy to learn that essentially the entire house is where he sleeps. Would this approach be effective or can the puppy learn overtime to go outside with a permanent crate location?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7072" LastActivityDate="2018-01-14T07:30:07.037" Title="Dynamic location for crate potty training" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19453" CreationDate="2018-01-14T07:30:07.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds more complicated than it has to be. Leave the kennel where it's supposed to be, as a safe space to sleep, get some time off, etc. something the puppy can rely on. If there's something scary outside, the dog might want to hide in it while it's not right on the way in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead just make the whole house into a playground. Accidents can and will happen, no matter where you move the crate. Also remember that &quot;playing&quot; doesn't have to revolve around throwing balls or running. Just moving around with some talking and body contact can be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get training pads (which are basically like flat diapers) to place on the ground. Your puppy can use those for emergencies and you can move it closer to the door over time. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17120/how-potty-train-a-2-5-months-old-puppy&quot;&gt;For more details have a look at this related question regarding to potty training.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-01-14T07:30:07.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19113" CreationDate="2018-01-14T15:55:15.977" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything higher than 50 watts is overkill in a 25. I have found most thermostats to be unreliable ; Get an Eheim on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-01-14T15:55:15.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19456" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-14T16:23:37.157" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has this peculiar behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is boiled fish then my cat goes mad, and will accept food from any family member and eat it immediately. But if it is anybody other than family member, she will not even accept fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is my mom and food is dry cat food then she will sit guarding the food and meow at my mom to caress her. My mom will have to sit beside her and start caressing her. Then she starts purring and eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is me then my cat will sit guarding the food and look at me saying as if, &quot;Now go away&quot;. I have to hide myself. She will carefully look if I am out of her sight. Then she will start eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last scenario, she has eaten some dry food and no more hungry, but food is there in food bowl, she brings one food by her foot down to floor, play football for sometime, then eat it. And she will continue it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the thing which puzzles me the most is why my cat waits for me to get out of sight before she starts eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-14T16:23:37.157" Title="Why is it that if it is me and not my mom giving dry cat food, she will wait until I disappear from her sight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-14T20:07:56.630" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two indoor kittens which are around half a year old. We got both of them at 12 weeks old and about 1 month apart. Both of them still have their manhood intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They leave grimy stains where they spend their time. I would like to identify and possibly prevent this kitty grime. There's no noticeable smell - although I didn't pay attention to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EXTHZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EXTHZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty grime&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLa15.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLa15.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty grime&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mcxSB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mcxSB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty grime&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1R0h2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1R0h2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitty grime&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last picture might indicate that it's just saliva.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They sometimes have poopy buttholes, but not to this extent and this seems more fluid. This would not explain the last picture. (Although I'm still suspicious)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they might look like dried blood, I don't think that this is the case. Aside from losing teeth, neither of them ever had anything that would bleed that I noticed and there's nothing to prey on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Early on, one would sometimes step in his own diarrhea and spread it, but things are looking more solid now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of them ever had an &quot;accident&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not believe that these are their markings as it has been going on forever and they haven't really done that yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9607" LastActivityDate="2018-01-14T20:07:56.630" Title="My indoor kittens are leaving grimy stains on everything" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19459" CreationDate="2018-01-14T20:11:26.880" Score="2" ViewCount="5032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a wish to take a great ape as pet. The most commonly taken ape as pet is chimps. But as the chimps get adult it becomes difficult to control them and many end up in zoos. Also I have heard many horror stories of human being mauled by pet chimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But bonobos are quite peace loving. Is it safe to keep bonobos as pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-01-17T16:55:29.373" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T17:29:20.957" Title="Is it safe to keep bonobos as pet?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19458" CreationDate="2018-01-14T20:11:26.880" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WMBim.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WMBim.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who are Bonobos?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonobo belong to the genus &lt;em&gt;Pan&lt;/em&gt;. The two species belonging to the genus &lt;em&gt;Pan&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;Pan troglodytes&lt;/em&gt; (chimpanzee) and &lt;em&gt;Pan paniscus&lt;/em&gt; (bonobo)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Habitat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonobos are found only south of the Congo River and north of the Kasai River (a tributary of the Congo) in the humid forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo of central Africa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Difference between Bonobos and Chimps&lt;/strong&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Physical difference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bonobo is slimmer, with a smaller skull, shorter canines and tufts of lighter fur, compared to chimps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Psychological difference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where the bonobos differ from chimps the most. Bonobos are kinder and gentler than the chimp.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can Bonobos be kept as pets?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, well definitely, why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before going further I want to share some facts from the following article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/mans-new-best-friend-a-forgotten-russian-experiment-in-fox-domestication/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/mans-new-best-friend-a-forgotten-russian-experiment-in-fox-domestication/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/P8S0g.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/P8S0g.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dmitri K. Belyaev, a Russian scientist, may be the man most&#xA;  responsible for our understanding of the process by which wolves were&#xA;  domesticated into our canine companions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He started his experimentation by attempting to domesticate wild&#xA;  foxes. Belyaev and his colleagues took wild silver foxes (a variant of&#xA;  the red fox) and bred them, with a strong selection criteria for&#xA;  inherent tameness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In each generation foxes that were least fearful and least aggressive&#xA;  were chosen for breeding. In each successive generation, less than 20&#xA;  percent of individuals were allowed to breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The result of this breeding program conducted over more than 40&#xA;  generations of silver foxes was a group of friendly, domesticated&#xA;  foxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The domesticated foxes were more eager to hang out with humans,&#xA;  whimpered to attract attention, and sniffed and licked their&#xA;  caretakers. They wagged their tails when they were happy or excited.&#xA;  (Does that sound at all like your pet dog?) Further, their fear&#xA;  response to new people or objects was reduced, and they were more&#xA;  eager to explore new situations. Many of the domesticated foxes had&#xA;  floppy ears, short or curly tails, extended reproductive seasons,&#xA;  changes in fur coloration, and changes in the shape of their skulls,&#xA;  jaws, and teeth. They also lost their &quot;musky fox smell.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now can we apply this fox and dog analogy to chimps and bonobo? According to researcher Brian Hare, definitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIB9W.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIB9W.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to share some facts from the following article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/01/25/bonobos-the-self-domesticated-ape/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/01/25/bonobos-the-self-domesticated-ape/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Popular theory first put forward by Brian Hare -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bonobos are “self-domesticated” apes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to share some facts from the following article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tame-theory-did-bonobos/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tame-theory-did-bonobos/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rape, murder and warring neighbors are all regular aspects of chimp&#xA;  life. Bonobo societies, however, are far more peaceful. Hare thinks&#xA;  that the chimplike ancestors of bonobos found themselves in an&#xA;  environment where aggressive individuals fared poorly. By selecting&#xA;  for the most cooperative ones, evolution forged a &quot;self-domesticated&quot;&#xA;  ape, just as Belyaev produced domestic foxes by picking the most&#xA;  docile ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bonobos and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor between one&#xA;  million and two million years ago, after the formation of the Congo&#xA;  River separated one population of apes into two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both groups faced very different environments. the northern&#xA;  population, which would eventually become chimps, had more competition&#xA;  from gorillas for their food. They were forced to compete fiercely&#xA;  with one another for whatever was left. Females got a particularly&#xA;  short shrift, and were easily overpowered by males for both sex and&#xA;  resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In bonobo-land in the south, the story was different. The river would&#xA;  have protected the ancestors of bonobos from gorillas. With more food&#xA;  to go around, females could gather in larger groups, form tight social&#xA;  bonds, and better resist the advances of males. In this land of&#xA;  plenty, the least aggressive males, who opted for alliances rather&#xA;  than brute force, were most likely to mate. South of the river, the&#xA;  nicer apes thrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a result they started maturing more slowly. Many domestic animals&#xA;  evolved to become less aggressive by slowing the pace of development,&#xA;  so adults retained juvenile traits. For example, as Belyaev’s foxes&#xA;  became tamer, their minds and bodies became more like those of puppies&#xA;  than wild adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The same thing probably happened as domestic dogs and bonobos evolved&#xA;  from their respective ancestors. Their physiques changed—faces became&#xA;  shorter, skulls shrank, sex differences narrowed, teeth shortened and&#xA;  sections of their fur lost coloration. Their bodies responded to&#xA;  stress in a more muted way. They behaved differently, playing,&#xA;  grooming and mating more often. The tamer generations also became more&#xA;  sensitive to social cues. Simply by maturing more slowly, they all&#xA;  evolved the same set of domesticated traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here an important point to mention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to article :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.janegoodall.org.uk/chimpanzees/chimpanzee-central/15-chimpanzees/chimpanzee-central/28-chimps-as-pets-the-reality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.janegoodall.org.uk/chimpanzees/chimpanzee-central/15-chimpanzees/chimpanzee-central/28-chimps-as-pets-the-reality&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chimpanzee and monkey infants are irresistibly cute, and it might seem&#xA;  that raising one would be just like raising a human child. As infants,&#xA;  chimpanzees are affectionate, needy, and a delight to interact with.&#xA;  But chimpanzees grow up fast, and their unique intelligence makes it&#xA;  difficult to keep them stimulated and satisfied in a human&#xA;  environment. By age five they are stronger than most human adults.&#xA;  They become destructive and resentful of discipline. They can, and&#xA;  will, bite. Chimpanzee owners have lost fingers and suffered severe&#xA;  facial damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it sound similar? Like what always happens in domestication, the bonobos slowed down their pace of development so that adults retained juvenile traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following article mentions in great details about keeping bonobos as pets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theeoptimist.com/2014/09/chimps-do-not-make-good-pets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.theeoptimist.com/2014/09/chimps-do-not-make-good-pets.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bonobos have a female-dominated society where very little violence&#xA;  happens.  What violence that does take place tends to happen when a&#xA;  male becomes aggressive and the females gang up to put him in his&#xA;  place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead of violence, bonobos run their society through the&#xA;  near-constant exchange of sexual favors.  Bonobos are the only&#xA;  non-human animals to have been observed engaging in face-to-face sex,&#xA;  tongue kissing, and oral sex. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adolescent female bonobos have clitorises that are three to four times&#xA;  bigger than those of adolescent girls.  So large, in fact, that they&#xA;  are easily visible, and waggle while they walk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bonobos need those big clitorises.  Females frequently have sex&#xA;  with other females, usually every two to three hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a group of bonobos finds a new food source, their excitement&#xA;  often results in a group orgy.  When two separate tribes encounter&#xA;  each other, rather than fight it out like chimps do, the bonobos tend&#xA;  to mix it up with yet another orgy, swapping individuals between&#xA;  groups.  That gets everybody relaxed and on the same page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in nutshell, Chimps = violence.  Bonobos = sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a lighter note, the best part of the article -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rather than worry about your chimp suddenly deciding to rip your face&#xA;  apart, or tear your arms off and beat you to death with them, with a&#xA;  bonobo, your main worry is that your favorite pet might become a&#xA;  little too fond of you. And really, that would be kind of a good&#xA;  problem, wouldn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why not take a bonobo as pet? If we can take dogs as pet, surely we can take bonobos as pet as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-04-29T12:06:10.740" LastActivityDate="2018-04-29T12:06:10.740" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-14T21:10:08.360" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm the proud parent of two 10 month old border collie pups - Amber and Ghost, sister and brother respectively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training so far is going well. Basic commands (sit, wait, leave, stand, heel, crawl, round, paw, etc even through to &quot;cross&quot; when arriving at a pavement edge) work first time, every time. Some slight re-call issues when off the lead but this is being worked on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main issue we have at the moment is that when visitors come round to our house or we meet people on walks (who don't have dogs), their immediate reaction is to jump up excitedly and try to get the most amount of attention possible. The consequence of this, at least 9 times out of 10, is for Ghost to pee everywhere - more recently Amber has started doing so too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I absolutely want to get rid of the jumping up behaviour. It isn't aggressive in any way and they have never growled or shown aggression in any of the previous 7 months they've been with me - but I know that a lot of people do not want dogs jumping up. I am included in this and want them to stay sat with their tails wagging as fast as physically possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having tried getting the dogs to &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;wait&quot; when people approach out on walks or when the door bell rings, this lasts for only a couple of seconds before they ignore all commands from me and jump up anyway. I've tried to get them to succumb to some tasty treats but, as much as they love treats usually for their rewards, they have no effect in this situation. I've tried holding them by their collars and physically preventing them from jumping (not using any aggressive force, I may add) but this isn't practical and I don't think is the right way to do things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not so concerned about the peeing as I feel this will improve once their jumping excitement subsides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what techniques others have used in this kind of situation or if anyone could provide some advice which may help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11071" LastActivityDate="2018-03-19T06:51:34.960" Title="Ten Month Old Puppies, Jumping and Peeing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-15T00:19:04.957" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7ClkE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Been reading through everything and every site I could find my female platy looks huge now think she it pregnant as when I purchased the fish I had bought 3 that where already pregnant according to the pet store. In the picture is the platy in question is got huge and is showing aggression to the rest of the fish and she is hiding a lot as well as not coming out for food. Can anyone advice me what I should do as I've had problem in the past with fish from this store. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0ZfC9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11362" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T01:37:58.517" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T01:37:58.517" Title="Palty pregnant fish" Tags="&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-15T09:44:14.680" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19443" CreationDate="2018-01-15T00:46:06.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this problem with my crossbreed Akita/German Shepard I found that making his walks longer and making him sit and wait until there is a balanced energy between my self and him has worked great. My only down fall is that he is trained to be a police dog. But I sleeked advice from a police dog handler and this has worked as he now waits from me to approach other dogs or walk away from them. &#xA;Hope you can use this with your own dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11362" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T00:46:06.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-15T03:36:37.987" Score="4" ViewCount="1638" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just purchased a 10 gallon fish tank. I have one male betta and 3 tetras. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of the tetras swim around together but one of them stays at the bottom of the tank in the corner and looks like he's swimming but he's not going anywhere. I was told by the lady in the shop that it would be okay to not cycle the tank before adding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on why he's doing this? Or any ways to help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11363" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-09-28T08:54:10.503" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T19:37:40.660" Title="3 tetras and a betta" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-15T08:15:17.897" Score="3" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in India, alongside 30 Million stray dogs.  90% of female dogs have given birth to pups in November-December. You can see a pup every 10 m you walk here. Why is this happening? Why do all dogs are having pups at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I read on the net and found that Indian stray dog, named pariah goes into heat once a year during mating season August - Jan. Their gestation period is 2 months so November- December is when most pups are born. But why do pariahs, unlike most others go into heat once and all at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read about their mating season in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_pariah_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; or any other site. I could not find the explanation.&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="10293" LastEditDate="2018-03-03T12:43:10.210" LastActivityDate="2018-03-03T12:43:10.210" Title="Why are all pups born at the same time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19458" CreationDate="2018-01-15T09:08:37.163" Score="15" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Bonobos are NOT pets!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please, for you and the bonobo, do not try to keep one as pet. There are at least four reasons for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bonobos are not safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The circumstances of bonobo capture and sale.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bonobo care.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Legality.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Bonobos are not safe to be around for humans.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This story on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160317-do-bonobos-really-spend-all-their-time-having-sex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BBC&lt;/a&gt; debunks a few of the myths around bonobos; they do bite and are not much smaller than chimps. One of the best researched Bonobos, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.upworthy.com/an-ape-bites-his-handlers-fingers-off-waits-8-months-and-then-literally-apologizes-7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kanzi (audio story)&lt;/a&gt;, bit his handler's finger off. Yes, he apologized, but that does not make him a safe ape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you seen the enclosures in which bonobos are kept? There is a reason they are not part of the petting zoo...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. The circumstances of bonobo capture and sale.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you to be able to buy/get hold of a young bonobo, you will need to pry it from his/her mother. She will not take this lightly. The way this is usually is done is simple: kill the mother (for bush meat maybe) and sell the youngling. As these apes are quite smart and do have emotions similar to humans, you can imagine this is not a great start to have for a bonobo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And zoos do not sell to the public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Bonobo care.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All great apes need specialized care. For dogs, cats, and other small pets we know a lot of how to keep them healthy. Less so for apes. Never mind the habitat. You will not be able to provide them the necessary environment they need: their natural habitat with other bonobos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you find a way to get the right foodstuffs. Probably you don't. This is normally done by zoo workers with the special education to get this right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And never mind if your bonobo gets ill. What vet can take care of him/her? Or do you take it to your doctor? Nope, just nope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Legality.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, lastly, there are laws in place. Bonobos are an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo#Conservation_status&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;endangered species&lt;/a&gt;. You are not allowed to import one into the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/importation/bringing-an-animal-into-the-united-states/monkeys.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;USA&lt;/a&gt;. Nor the EU. (I cannot find a &lt;a href=&quot;http://endcap.eu/wild-pets-in-the-eu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; right now, but every country will have a list.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Romanticized ideal:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because bonobos look so much like chimps, they are compared to them. And compared to chimps, bonobos are sweet, caring and social creatures. But just because chimps are dangerous, that does not make bonobos safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture you paint of the bonobo almost makes for ideal pet. But bonobos are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo#Behavior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wild animals&lt;/a&gt;. They can and will &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo#Peacefulness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;harm&lt;/a&gt; you if you try to keep them as pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are doing with your question is trying to build a case why it is alright to keep a bonobo as pet. It's not. Wild animals do not equal pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a few quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For every wild animal captured and sold as a wild pet, an estimated 50 may be killed or die in transit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild animals often harbour usual and harmful diseases: including avian influenza and psittacosis from birds, salmonellosis from amphibians, reptiles and birds, and hepatitis A, tuberculosis, monkey pox and herpesvirus simiae-B from primates&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you do have several million dollar lying around, you might want to donate that to a zoo so they can build something &lt;a href=&quot;https://issuu.com/adampeterroberts/docs/arc_308_sustainability_and_environment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this&lt;/a&gt;. They probably will grant you live time access to that enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T17:29:20.957" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T17:29:20.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19464" CreationDate="2018-01-15T10:03:14.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware canine breeding cycles aren't governed explictly by time of year, however as we are talking about strays here presumably there are times of year where the environmental conditions (weather, availability of food etc) are significantly more conducive to newborn pups surviving and wuithout wanting to sound morbid there will be times when the opposite is true - and in those conditions the newborns will probably die quite quickly, so they won't be around long enough for you to see them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This affect will be further compounded by the ones born during good conditions - Since more of these pups survive (and they will all reach reproducitive maturity at approximately the same time) they will probably start breeding around the the same sort of time and over enough generations you'll start to get these synchronizing up resulting in the sorts of spikes in the puppy population that you're seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T10:03:14.793" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19473" CreationDate="2018-01-15T14:47:20.400" Score="2" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently brought a malamute puppy into our home. He is almost 12 weeks old and very well behaved generally. Also he is a fantastic fun to have. However we're having trouble house breaking him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've mostly worked out his 'tells' now, so I know when he needs to go most of the time, however, if I put him outside he will simply wait outside until I let him in and then pretty much immediately go in the house - this morning I left him outside for an hour and a half and he still held it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just got back from a trip in the car with him, walked him around from our parking space (plenty of opportunity outside) and he went almost immediately when we got inside - it was a pretty big wee too, so he'd been holding it a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tried puppy pads - he uses them about as much as he doesn't, tried standing watching him outside, he waits, tried ignoring him, he waits. I've rewarded him the few times he has gone outside but it's not often enough for him to get the message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11364" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T19:54:01.840" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T03:22:16.357" Title="Help with house breaking a Malamute puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-15T16:33:36.337" Score="0" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I held out my hand , my cat slowly approaches my hand and start to lick it. But if I let him lick or if I move my hand the slightest he will want to scratch my hand . He attacks everything that moves. Why does he behave like that? Does he think I'm a food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11365" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-15T19:49:53.220" LastActivityDate="2018-01-15T19:49:53.220" Title="My kitty likes to lick my hand/feet but then want to scratch it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-01-19T19:14:49.203" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19472" CreationDate="2018-01-15T18:17:02.973" Score="7" ViewCount="6153" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this winter my cat's favorite sleeping place is under my blanket. Even when I am not present she likes to sleep there. Since she is unable to lift the blanket herself to get inside I need to lift it so that see can get inside. I understand when she wants to get inside blanket from her act of scratching the side of blanket with her paws and trying to lift the blanket with her teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am concerned regarding oxygen availability inside the blanket. In the conditions in which she sleeps I would have suffocated to death. But if I try to lift the blanket and place it up to her neck freeing her nostrils, she doesn't like it and slips further inside to get fully covered again. I don't understand how she sleeps peacefully in such suffocating conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it all right to let her sleep like that? Is there any chance of accident?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T00:00:32.440" Title="Is it safe to let my cat sleep completely covered in blanket where oxygen supply becomes very low?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19471" CreationDate="2018-01-16T00:00:32.440" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless your blanket is a solid plastic sheet or some other gas impermeable material your cat will not suffocate. Normal woven fiber blankets still allow air to pass though the fibers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are not claustrophobic or have some unusual fear of suffocation  you can test this by laying on your side and the pulling the blanket over your head. While you may notice a difference you won’t suffocate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is common for people in cold climates to bury themselves in blankets to conserve body heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats used to sleep under the covers with me. No feline suffocation occurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T00:00:32.440" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19468" CreationDate="2018-01-16T03:22:16.357" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start telling him to go. From &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogs.kinja.com/5-steps-to-teaching-your-dog-to-pee-and-poop-on-command-511788518&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://dogs.kinja.com/5-steps-to-teaching-your-dog-to-pee-and-poop-on-command-511788518&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick the word you’re going to use that will mean “go pee” to your dog. You could use the classic “go potty”, the police dog cue “empty”, or “abracadabra!” It doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you say it consistently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;something your dog won't normally hear any other time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Figure out out when your dog most predictably goes to the bathroom. The three big pee motivators are: waking up, playing, and drinking. What goes in must come out and by setting a schedule for your dog you can predict when he/she will need to go outside. Knowing that your dog needs to go to the bathroom is key in capturing the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When your dog needs to eliminate, leash him/her up and relocate to your designated potty spot. This could be a corner of your back yard, the tree in front of your building, or the curb. If you have any fear that your dog might go before you get to the curb or wherever, pick him up and carry him there (if you can — if you have a Great Pyrenees, this will not be possible!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wait for your dog to go. Give him no attention as you pace quietly back and forth by the pee spot. When he squats or lifts his leg wait, for him to finish. As he’s finishing happily say your cue word “GO POTTY!” When he is done, give a marker (a verbal “Yes!” or the click of a clicker), then lavish him with praise and something really yummy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a week or two give the cue “go potty!” just before the pee happens but still wait to “Yes” or click until after he’s completely finished. (Otherwise, your marker might distract him from finishing his business midway.) One big tip: While you’re teaching this behavior, don’t accidentally punish the “go potty” by returning inside immediately after your dog eliminates. Give lots of praise, toss the ball once or twice, or walk your dog down to the corner and back to let him sniff his favorite spots for 30 to 60 seconds. Once your dog has mastered the behavior, start to vary your rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to put bowel movements on cue as well, pick a different cue to use. You should have two separate cues for “go pee” and “go poo” as they are two different actions. Once your dog has the first elimination on command start working on the second elimination with a new cue. Peeing and pooping has never been so fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T03:22:16.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19458" CreationDate="2018-01-16T04:04:02.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not get a Bonobo as a pet, they are aggressive and dangerous, and like with any smart animal, will use toddler style manipulation to get what they want. But I understand where you are coming from and thus recommend safer pets that hopefully meet your desire. If you want something ape like look no further than the (make sure it's legal in your state and country) American Opossum, Sugar glider, Marmoset, raccoon, or Kinkaju. If you would like something intelligent then look no further than octopus, raccoon, rat, pig, many special of parrots, and the ferret. And if your still stand on a monkey click on this link to go to Poggi's animal house to get a Marmoset &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://m.poggisanimalhouse.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.poggisanimalhouse.com%2F&amp;amp;dm_redirected=true#2717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://m.poggisanimalhouse.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.poggisanimalhouse.com%2F&amp;amp;dm_redirected=true#2717&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11167" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T08:17:19.080" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T08:17:19.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19477" CreationDate="2018-01-16T08:09:24.627" Score="3" ViewCount="3008" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a kitten when it was young (6-8 weeks) and now it is two years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever people come over it always hides under the bed. Sometimes it stays under the bed for days after the person left and won't even come out for food and so I have to feed it under the bed so it doesn't starve. When it finally does come out it is very tentative and jumps at the smallest of things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it trusts me and will come to me when it is called and is generally comfortable around me except for when I try to pick it up. It will essentially attack me and jump out of my arms before hiding under the bed again and so I avoid picking her up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make the cat feel more comfortable when guests come over and when I am simply trying to pick her up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11370" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T08:26:52.870" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T10:46:28.473" Title="How do I stop my cat from getting scared when guests come over?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19475" CreationDate="2018-01-16T08:48:32.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to be patient with cats and let them decide when and how they want to socialise. Do not try to force the issue, and make sure that your cat always has somewhere to hide when visitors call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do not like to feel trapped. If you are picking your cat up to show to guests, this may be the primary problem. After all, it doesn't know what your intentions are, or if the strangers will hurt it. Just let your cat do what it wants to do when visitors call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't take food to your cat. It will decide to come out of its hidey-hole to eat when it feels hungry. If you feel that this is a real problem, put a shelter near its feeding station. A stout cardboard box with a hole cut in it will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own cat, which was a stray, is very nervous of strangers, and usually leaves the house when anyone knocks on the door. Although we have had him for four years, he is only just beginning to get used to regular visitors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat simply doesn't like being handled at all, try holding her very loosely, so that she can easily jump away if she wants to. If she can easily jump away, she will not attack you. Never clutch your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own cat didn't like being picked up at first, but I acclimatised him to being handled using this technique. I still do this, although he is now happy to be held.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T09:21:20.597" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T09:21:20.597" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19475" CreationDate="2018-01-16T10:46:28.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why my cat gets scared when I pick her up?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At first rule out any medical condition. Your cat may dislike being being picked up because she is in pain or physically uncomfortable. Take her to a vet to make sure that this is not the case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is also a breed thing. Some breeds enjoy when picked up, some breeds remain aloof while some breeds dislike it. For example ragdoll breed loves being handled.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also it is possible that your cat was not properly socialized when she was weeks old. Very young cats when regularly handled by people later on love to be handled.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat may have a bad experience of being held. Like she was held to be vaccinated or put in carrier for taking to vet or even abused while held.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's not natural greeting for cat. Cats don't greet other cats by picking them up. They approach cautiously, sniff, lick, rub against each other or bonk heads. In fact, being picked up may make a cat feel like they are being taken by a predator.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't like to be restrained. The restricted movement may make a cat feel that you have trapped them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Like humans, each cat has a different personality. Some are timid, shy and get scared easily, while others may bold and confident.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to let a cat pick her up?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to associate picking up with positive experiences -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her treats try to pick her up for a few seconds and if she allows give her treat again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get her rewarded with new toys of she allows to be picked.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her new experience like placing her in front of window where she can watch lots of birds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you pick her up so that her bottom and legs are supported so that she feels safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put down the cat gently so that all four of her paws are on floor instead of letting them jump or drop down from your arm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why my cat is fearful of guests?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fear of strangers in cats is called &lt;em&gt;Xenophobia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be various reasons for it -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat may not have been properly socialized while kitten. Cats while 2 to 9 weeks old need to get properly introduced to a lot of people to properly socialize them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats who have mixed with people earlier may not have exposure to certain people like children or tall people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat may have had a bad experience with a particular parson which makes her fearful of that particular person.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat may have had bad experience with certain people which she has broadened to include other people as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The arrival of guests is often accompanied by other scary things such as knocking, large packages or suitcases being moved about, loud talking and laughing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Different cats have different personalities. Some cats are just timid, shy and fearful of people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may also be genetic. Cats born to fearful mother or father may also end up being fearful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to make cats less fearful of guest?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be a long process and you need to maintain patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always keep a safe place for your cat to hide.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask you guest to let the the cat approach him rather than the guest approaching the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask your guest to avoid eye contact as cats often associate eye contact with aggression. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask your guest to have a seat as many cats are afraid of guests who are tall and/or shy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the cat treats at a safe distance from guest to encourage her to come out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also try playing with the cat with her favorite toy at a safe distance from guest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you cat still doesn't come out you may try making the sound of opening her favorite food can, or shake the jar containing her favorite dry food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't push too much at a given time and each day try shortening the distance between play/food and your guest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your cat comes close enough to the guest ask your guest to throw tasty treats on the floor to encourage the cat eat food given by the guest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the cat is comfortable to a particular guest repeat the session with multiple adults each at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to introduce movement like ask you guest to walk slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many cats get easily nervous when guests make loud noise or move rapidly. If any of you visitor (adult or children) is of outgoing type you can inform them in advance that you have a timid and shy cat and request them to help by maintaining a quite presence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep an escape route open for your cat.Don't force her to stay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try synthetic cat hormones. Products like Feliway mimic cat pheromones, which may help reassure your cat that she is in a safe environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try anti-anxiety medication. This may help your cat stay calm enough during the process of socialization. A commonly prescribed medicine by your vat is &lt;em&gt;zylkene&lt;/em&gt;. Also consult your vet before giving any medication.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T10:46:28.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19479" CreationDate="2018-01-16T12:44:40.300" Score="5" ViewCount="1076" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a female Emperor Scorpion. I have heard that they have long gestation periods and are often pregnant when bought. How can I find out if my scorpion is pregnant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-16T14:59:12.017" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T14:59:12.017" Title="How to know if my pet emperor scorpion is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;scorpions&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19478" CreationDate="2018-01-16T12:44:40.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vg3Yv.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vg3Yv.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at Opisthoma of the scorpion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the ventral (meaning belly side) and the dorsal (meaning upper side or back side). On both sides there is a series of carapace, meaning hard shell. The one on the ventral side is called sternite and the one on the dorsal side is called tergite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are about 7 carapace joined one after another. They are joined by a whitish membrane called pleural membrane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The carapaces will be extended a little bit and pleural membrane will be exposed. As such you will see a little bit of white space between each carapaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the below picture -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uo65A.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uo65A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the exposed whitish pleural membrane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the sure sign that your scorpion is pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T12:44:40.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-16T17:50:10.943" Score="8" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was curious about owning a pet crow, do you guys know in which state in the US it is legal and if it is a good idea. I have seen that they are very smart and I was wondering if by using this intelligence I could train it to stay in my shoulder out in public without having to clip it's wings. So can I and would it be a good idea to have a pet crow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11167" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-01-17T16:55:00.597" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:50:53.367" Title="Are crows good pets?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19482" CreationDate="2018-01-16T20:25:57.630" Score="2" ViewCount="1508" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bought a female emperor scorpion 20 days back. But she has not eaten still now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to maintain the right temperature by placing heating mat under the tank. I try to maintain right humidity by misting the enclosure daily. So I don't think that environment is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep a gut loaded cricket at night but at morning I find that the scorpion has not eaten it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now really worried about her. I don't want her to fall sick? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T20:25:57.630" Title="My pet emperor scorpion is not eating" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;scorpions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19481" CreationDate="2018-01-16T20:25:57.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need to worry. Scorpions can live long periods of time without eating anything. And an adult emperor scorpions can stop eating for months at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also juvenile scorpions stop eating when they are about to molt. When they get really fat, it is usually the time when they will molt. They stop molting when they reach adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your scorpion is hungry it will eat. I would also stop try to give a cricket every night to see if the scorpion eats. It would be ideal if you try a gut loaded cricket or meal worm after every 3-4 days. Put the insect in the tank at night. If not eaten take out in morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T20:25:57.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19480" CreationDate="2018-01-16T20:34:25.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe, if you could get a hatchling, in other words, very young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had one for over a year. I rescued him as a very young bird that fell out of a nest, he had hardly any feathers. We tried to raise him and release him but he imprinted with people and didn't know he was a bird. When released, he followed my 10 year old son to school, hopping roof to roof. The other kids were afraid of it, so my son called it and it came to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved about 75 miles. He hung around at the new house a few months (outside) then disappeared. We had some reason to believe he returned to the old house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:50:53.367" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:50:53.367" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19378" CreationDate="2018-01-16T21:39:58.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquariadise.com/indian-almond-leaves/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.aquariadise.com/indian-almond-leaves/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://m.bettawan.com/Banana_Leaf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://m.bettawan.com/Banana_Leaf.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve found these articles/ sites among many. It appears that people are using banana leaf only when they cannot get almond leaves.&#xA;I have no experience using them, and I’m not a vet so I cannot make a good recommendation.&#xA;However, I have axolotls and many people recommend almond leaf for medicinal treatments for fungus and other infections.&#xA;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11373" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T21:39:58.750" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19487" CreationDate="2018-01-16T23:13:20.310" Score="3" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local pet store has recently brought an adult Javanese Jungle Scorpion. It is very beautiful and I am planning to buy it. Please advice me on how to set up proper environment and properly take care of my scorpion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T23:13:20.310" Title="How to take proper care of a Javanese Jungle Scorpion?" Tags="&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;scorpions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19486" CreationDate="2018-01-16T23:13:20.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Javanese Jungle Scorpion belongs to the class of tropical forest scorpions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Housing -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a fish tank of 10 gallon with lockable lead. Scorpions are great escape artists and can squeeze through very small opening. Also they can lift loosely fit light leads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Substrate -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 5 inches of substrate should be provided at the bottom of the tank. Sterilized earth can be used as substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hiding space -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scorpions are by nature very shy animals and they require some hiding place where they can feel safe from predators. Use substance that fulfill the purpose as you will. For example, pieces of wood and ceramic will serve good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Water dish -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep a sallow water dish for water to drink. The water should not be too deep that it can drown the scorpion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heating -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use overhead heating lights. Scorpions tend to avoid light and they will hide all day. Use heat mat. Keep the heat mat at one side of the tank to create a temperature gradient. Don't keep the heat mat under tank as it may lead to overheating. Use thermometer to maintain optimal temperature. About 25 degree C is ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy live cricket at pet store and keep them in a tank. Feed them with cricket food available at pet store and online. This is called gut loading (you make the cricket more nutritious). Feed the scorpion a cricket 3 to 5 days apart. Use mealworm as occasional treats. As it is nocturnal feed at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Handling -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Javanese Jungle Scorpion gives a very benign sting. So it is OK to handle it. Do it very gently and try to watch some online videos regarding handling of scorpions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cleaning -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean the food remains every 3 to 4 days. Every 3 to 4 months change the substrate completely and disinfect the tank using an arachnid friendly disinfectant. Once your scorpion molds you will also need to remove the shed skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T23:13:20.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19480" CreationDate="2018-01-16T23:13:21.903" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to get a crow it would need to be from a breeder that offers crows legal to America. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;...the only way that you can legally and ethically acquire a pet raven or crow is by picking a species that is not native to the U.S. and does not migrate to any portion of the U.S.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wild-about-wildlife.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/how-can-i-get-pet-crow-or-raven.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a link to this source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crows can be extremely expensive to own and care for and should not be confined to cages as they need plenty of room to hop and fly. If you wish to keep a crow confined you will need to construct a safe and secure outdoor aviary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11370" LastActivityDate="2018-01-16T23:13:21.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19449" CreationDate="2018-01-16T23:23:57.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot can depend on the cat, but you might try carrying your cat into the room to show them around. Often being there once and seeing what is in there will reduce the cat's desire to go there.  The space will seem less mysterious and interesting (or possibly threatening) to the cat, so it will meow less to go in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11319" LastEditorUserId="19340" LastEditDate="2020-12-09T21:07:28.237" LastActivityDate="2020-12-09T21:07:28.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19251" CreationDate="2018-01-17T03:01:43.473" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats bite for a number of reasons. The most common are probably fear or over stimulation, but that doesn't seem to be your cat(neither normally causes a cat to seek you out to bite). Age can also be a factor, with young cats sometimes biting as a form of aggressive play (if that sounds like your cat, then you'll want to look for information on a common issue called, &quot;play aggression&quot;), and older ones sometimes biting due to confusion caused by neurological or sensory issues(If this may be the case a visit to the vet is in order.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three other relatively common issues that can cause biting.  Declawing is a common cause, especially in cases where complications from it may be causing chronic pain. If your cat was declawed, you may want to take him to a vet who does restorative surgery on declawed cats for evaluation. The Other two are redirected aggression ( my guess in your case), and status aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Redirected aggression is a very tricky form of feline aggression where the cat is upset by something (often an outside animal) and then acts at at whoever is closest (frequently their human caretaker.) I suspect that may be the cause, because you say it happens more at night, when several animals are more active (racoons and other cats, for example.) Try and see what sounds you can hear when your cat attacks, and if it is other cats or racoons, you might try making your yard less hospitable to them by securing garbage cans, adding motion sensor lights, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last possibility is status aggression, which means that the cat may believe that they are dominant over you. The solution that is frequently suggested is training the cat to do tricks in exchange for a small treat. If done regularly will help to reinforce the idea that you are in charge without making your cat afraid of you ( which almost always increases feline aggression.) Clicker training is especially recommended for status aggression, but you can use more traditional methods and still get good results with effort, if you prefer. Whatever you do, don't respond to their aggression with your own, as that tends to exacerbate matters; just do the training, and, if necessary give your cat a short time out in a safe room for a few minutes to calm them if they are too aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't sure as to the cause, reducing outside sources of stress for redirected aggression can obviously be done at the same time as treating status aggression with some clicker training.  Both will help make most any cat calmer and less aggressive, and neither should cause problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11319" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T03:01:43.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19480" CreationDate="2018-01-17T03:20:56.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In theory, crows are highly social and intelligent birds, so they probably would make a decent pet.  In practice, the legal (they require a special permit) and care requirements (They need an outdoor aviary, not just a cage) are likely sufficient that you'd probably be better off having a parrot in most cases (not that parrots are inexpensive easy care pets, but they'd be easier and less expensive than a crow.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11319" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T03:20:56.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12031" CreationDate="2018-01-17T04:15:24.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost you should take him to the vet. Any change in elimination behavior could indicate an underlying medical problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you might try keeping the box cleaner. I'm sure for a young kitten not much accumulates between changes, but cats are notoriously picky about the cleanliness of their litter. Some care, some don't. Your kitten is reaching an age when he will start to have stronger feelings about what he likes and doesn't like about his environment. You might also try buying an additional box or two and placing them throughout the house so he's never too far away from one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, if he's still refusing to use the box, here's a method that I've used to train the more difficult of my cats: go buy one of those metal play pen gates &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(like this one &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/frisco-dog-exercise-pen-step-through/dp/125048?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Frisco&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMImYargJDe2AIVg7bACh3R9wb_EAQYASABEgK0XvD_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.chewy.com/frisco-dog-exercise-pen-step-through/dp/125048?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Frisco&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMImYargJDe2AIVg7bACh3R9wb_EAQYASABEgK0XvD_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make the pen small enough that only the litterbox and a SMALL cat bed fits, along with food and water bowls. You can also give your kitten some toys, etc. Basically, because he'll be forced to choose between soiling his living/eating area and the box, he'll use the box. You'll also need something to keep him from climbing out. In my experience, a 3 fold posterboard has worked well when weighed down by some books. He'll be furious but leave him in for a day or two. After that lock him in one room with his box but let him have the whole room. Then after a few days of that let him have the run of the house again. &#xA;I hope this helps!&#xA;ENU&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11375" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T04:15:24.047" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-17T08:02:36.400" Score="3" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a cat for about three years and ever since it was a kitten it would always bite me and other guests whenever they try to pet it. It only gets along with my brother and my brother doesn't even like cats. It's quite rude to me and will only rub against me when it is hungry, but whilst I'm giving it food it will headbutt me aggressively to push me out of the way and often wakes me up in the middle of the night for no reason other than to attack me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is also very prone to fighting with other cats during the day. It is rarely at home unless it is hungry and often comes back with cuts and blood on her from the other cats. She also fights the other pets in the house and I am constantly pulling claws out of the dog's nose from her. Even though she wasn't there first, she feels as though she has more authority than everyone else. Is something wrong with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11370" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-01-18T08:25:17.110" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T02:47:14.943" Title="Why does my cat attack everyone?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19480" CreationDate="2018-01-17T10:44:02.617" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Probably not&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good pet might not be the word for it. While very smart, crows need a lot of space, probably more then you can provide. And smart means they need mental stimulation. Think flying border collie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for fit as a pet, there are quite a number of stories around of people who made it work. Most of them have the crow outdoors with a good relation to it's humans. So, it can be done. This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/do-crows-and-ravens-make-good-pets&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt; has some good ideas about it, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want one, check the local laws. Where I am they are not allowed as pets. &lt;strike&gt;But would I be living in the country side, I probably could get away with it.&lt;/strike&gt; Oh, they are loud, like really, really loud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Better Yet,&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go and volunteer at the local bird rescue. There you can play (kinda) with crows, get to know what they need. Then a year later, if you still want one, you know exactly how to get there. &lt;em&gt;And not some internet strangers who might be right or wrong...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T10:44:02.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19502" CreationDate="2018-01-17T16:17:47.293" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I rescued a 25lb dog from a humane society who definitely had some papillon in him.  However, the &quot;average weight&quot; according to a bunch of different websites of a papillon is 7.5-10 lbs... so we figured he had something else in him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought my wife a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01EHX2BH0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wisdom Panel 3.0 Dog Breed Identification Test&lt;/a&gt; for Christmas, and when we got the results back it said he was 100% papillon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...This seems not possible, given he is 2.5 times heavier than the max range.  Is the DNA test inaccurate, or are weight variations of this magnitude &quot;reasonable&quot;?  It seems odd, especially since the Wisdom Panel people are willing to give us an official certificate of his &quot;pure bred-ness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11380" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T09:24:52.823" Title="Dog breed variations - can average weight be wrong?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19460" CreationDate="2018-01-17T17:54:38.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try this method while out and about and at home (you might want to try this with one dog at a time and then together after each one gets the idea of the exercise):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your dog secured&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have someone approach that the dog will be excited about and ignoring that the dog is present&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the dog starts getting excited, have the person turn around and leave the area or far enough away that the dog is calm again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat until the dog is approachable without jumping up and getting overly excited about the attention. At this time reward the dog with what it likes most (since each dog is different you may want to reward with a toy, food, or a calm form of attention). Also try with different people and random people if they are willing to help you. It is also helpful if you tell people you encounter to ignore your dog until it is calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T17:54:38.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19449" CreationDate="2018-01-17T18:34:04.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't guarantee you that once you open that door, that your cat won't want to go in and play around but the main issue here is exacly that, the door that is always shut. The cat knows that there's a barrier there, that they're not allowed in there and they want to be. They're curious and they like to be in charge. They want to see what super misterious and cool thing you could possibly be hidding from them behind that door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, it has happened to me many times with my cat. I open the door, he looks around and leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest either letting the cat in occasionally (under supervision or on your lap) or to try and distract him with things that could interest him more. Now, it depends on cat to cat, but, usually, cardboxes are a winner between felines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that it is a room where you do carpentry work makes me believe that it triggers your cat's senses a lot, making him curious/adventurous (because of smells, per instance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1072" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T18:34:04.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6406" CreationDate="2018-01-17T20:40:52.540" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what you want to get from your pet turtle. If you get happiness just from providing it with a happy habitat and seeing it go about it's day amicably, then your turtle should become well accustomed to your presence through normal interactions like feeding it and cleaning its habitat. It's just a matter of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get more happiness from interacting with your turtle it wouldn't be a bad idea to work in more handling to your routine. That way you will be able to touch and pick up your turtle with little stress. Keep in mind though that turtles have feeling in their shells, and while some enjoy being petted or scratched, others do not care for being touched at all. If you find that your turtle is one that doesn't like being touched, I'd definitely suggest refraining from touching it except for picking it up to move it as the unwanted touching will cause unnecessary stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I would suggest, since your turtle sounds timid, is to work your way up to seeing if it likes being touched. The first step is simply getting it used to your presence, and especially so it doesn't hide when you approach. You can do this by simply standing nearby when you feed it. You're goal is to associate your presence with being fed. You might have to take a step or two back at first before it comes out of hiding to eat, but over the course of several meals you should be able to inch closer until you're standing right next to the tank while it's feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your turtle is comfortable with your presence, you should be able to touch it, see how it reacts to your touch, and decide from there how much handling is appropriate in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2018-01-17T20:40:52.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-18T06:26:43.620" Score="2" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can’t tell if my guppy is pregnant. She keeps floating in one spot and rolling around on the rocks in the tank. She’s also trying to attack the other 2 fish in the tank and her 3 one month old babies. If she is pregnant how do I know how far along she is. I know they are 28-31 days gestational period. But Is There a different way to tell? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KgHOK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UEIcP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11384" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T06:26:43.620" Title="Is my guppy pregnant......? How do I know how far she is?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-01-18T07:38:32.620" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11033" CreationDate="2018-01-18T08:39:34.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat always paws and scratches the glass in a glass door of the room he is in, if left closed. And sometimes he paws at windows if he sees something interesting outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When TV is on, he is often attracted by moving images, and tries to discover them in the space behind the LCD panel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my guess is cats think that there is a hidden space behind glass-like LCD screen, like outside of a window, and paw to enter it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11386" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T08:39:34.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19495" CreationDate="2018-01-18T09:24:52.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Genetics, Yes:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The genetics test you have linked shows the following: over 250 breeds. The problem is very likely in the methodology (way they try to figure out the breed). This is because all dogs, if size would not be a problem, can breed. It is still one species. Even a wolf can breed with, say a labradoodle, and produce fertile offspring &lt;em&gt;(just not a good pets with that much wolf)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this company has taken at least 250 genetic samples from &quot;pure breeds&quot; and then tries to see if there are genetic differences between them. Of course there are. But those can be quite small: breeds are selected on mostly by two things: exterior and behaviour. Small you say? Yes: the amount of genes does not change, just the ones that get expressed: they are doing something with the dog. But they do not change the number of genes, or add a new functionality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your lovely &lt;em&gt;*&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle#Size_variants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Medium&lt;/a&gt; sized&lt;/em&gt; papillon had won a genetic lottery: some of its ancestry is a mix with papillon, but the papillon genes for exterior won out, except for size. &lt;strong&gt;Now, the other ancestry will have left its trace in the DNA of your dog, its that the company doing the testing did not test on those parts, or could not find them. But that does not exclude the possibility...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing the algorithm this company used we can only say that your lovely dog has a lot of genes from its papillon ancestry expressed. And that is about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Breed, No:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as your papillon is not within breed standards, in that way it will not be considered part of that breed. It also lacks the papers to show it's ancestry, the normal way of considering &quot;pure&quot; breed. And it seems that size is one thing that is does not varies much from its parents. It will be useful to talk to breeders of papillons about your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;Wisdom Panel official certificate of pure bred-ness&quot;. Don't think that will hold with the kennel club or with the breeders association for papillons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Poodles use at least 3 sizes: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle#Size_variants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Standard Poodle, Miniature Poodle and Toy Poodle&lt;/a&gt;. Normal papillon seems to be the size of Toy Poodles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;disclaimer: I am no breeder nor geneticist.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T09:24:52.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-18T14:51:14.167" Score="2" ViewCount="1365" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray cat adopted us a few months back. Initially, we thought it was a boy but then discovered that it's a girl and expecting kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never had a cat before and I am learning on the go about them, but she seems to be hungry around the clock. I give her something to eat and literally half an hour later she comes asking for food again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really worried. Please help me what to do? What should I be feeding her, how much, and how often? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't even begun to think what happens when the kittens come!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11390" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T01:37:31.073" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T23:43:32.040" Title="How often should I feed a pregnant cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19504" CreationDate="2018-01-18T15:36:58.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stray cats do eat for as long as there is food, so you need to limit the amount of food you give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can give about 150 grams of wet food 3 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you can give about 100 grams of dry food 3 times a day and remember to give the cat a bowl of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give more food than this, the cat risks getting diarrhea from overeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to give a larger amount of food when the kittens are born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the kittens get older the mother will bring them with her to where the food is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMPORTANT:&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;Please remember to get the cats trapped and neutered/spayed as soon as possible, several organisations can help you with this.&#xA;There is one thing the world does not need and it is more feral cats, so be responsible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T23:43:32.040" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T23:43:32.040" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-18T18:13:57.577" Score="6" ViewCount="1287" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a dog from the shelter. The shelter says that the owners did not want her anymore. She is super friendly towards people and loves getting pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we walk and she sees another dog, she seems happy (her tail is wagging) and it looks like she wants to play. Usually I don't introduce her to the other dogs since I don't know whether she is dog friendly or not. The other day I took her to my boyfriends house and their neighbor have a smaller dog. We decided to introduce the two of them. At first it seem like it was going fine; the dogs were sniffing each other, but then I don't really know what happened. My dog goes and bites her head like she was playing with her toys. As she bit the other dog her tail was wagging and she seemed happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we keep our dog away from other dogs but every time she is on the deck and sees a dog she goes crazy she starts barking and the fur on the her back stands up but her tail is wagging the whole time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know what I can do to make her more dog friendly. I would like her to eventually be able to play with other dogs without attacking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11395" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T14:16:13.393" LastActivityDate="2018-01-20T06:59:28.790" Title="Dog seems excited to meet other dogs but then attacks them" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19508" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-18T18:15:36.777" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dog-sit a 7 year old Labradoodle. He loves to play with our neighbors dog and they have gotten along great until recently. Our dog recently was neutered and since that time he has been biting our neighbors dog. At first we thought it was just play biting until yesterday when he started pulling out her fur. Our dog is a standard size and our neighbors is a miniature sheep dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their dog was always the dominate one, which was always fine with our dog. It seems things have changed now and at times their dog seems afraid of our dog. How can I stop this behavior so they can become friends again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11396" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T11:01:08.290" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T11:01:08.290" Title="Biting and fur pulling while playing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-18T18:29:52.120" Score="3" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko currently has a ten gallon tank. She is doing perfectly well, but I want her to have more space so she can be as happy as possible. I'm looking into creating a second floor for her enclosure. I would like a Tank Topper / High Rise addition such as this one &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01MYOQ1QR&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/You-Me-Small-Animal-Topper/dp/B01MYOQ1QR&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a wire topper okay for my gecko? I have solutions for any potential problems I can think of, which I will list here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heat: I use an UTH for my Leopard Gecko, and her lighting can provides any additional heat needed as well. The UTH would remain where it is and the lights would be positioned on either side of the slanted rooftop shape of this tank (I can use the lamp clips and add support to keep them in place with zip ties if needed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humidity: While I use Eco Earth on the ground floor of her tank at the moment, the second floor can be covered with some reptile carpet I have. I can cut it to fit the floor, and this will help keep the humidity in the bottom. Also, the Eco Earth holds moisture and humidity well. If needed, I could add a humid hide to the second floor of the cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeders escaping: I rarely feed my Leopard Gecko crickets anymore, and none of her feeders would be able to escape via the second floor since she eats mainly mealworms from a dish. On the occasion that I do feed her crickets, I tend to feed her in a separate area, not in her tank, because the crickets like to hide inside her tree and are nearly impossible to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Falling: The tank topper I am looking at getting has a full floor, with only one opening for the ramp, so I cannot think of anyway she would fall from the second floor. There is no reason why she would fall off the ramp, but if an accident happened she would only fall a couple inches onto her Eco Earth substrate. She would not be hurt. She is also a very strong climber and enjoys climbing on her tree inside her tank and on pretty much everything else when I have her out of her tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know what if you see any problems with this idea. I want to make sure I am making a good decision and providing a safe and happy enclosure for her with plenty of space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11397" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T08:42:06.987" Title="Wire Tank Topper/High Rise for Leopard Gecko?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-18T20:43:08.450" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is common, but my cat HATES, DESPISES, FEARS, and ATTACKS my vacuum cleaner! Why do cats do that?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10040" LastActivityDate="2018-01-18T20:43:08.450" Title="Why is my cat afraid of the vacuum?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-18T22:30:12.607" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19509" CreationDate="2018-01-19T07:20:15.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so 1) I totally agree with your idea of giving your leopard gecko more space, and I'll give you some of my input/opinion on the example you gave as a topper, but 2) you're not quite in question form, so I'm going to answer as if you asked &quot;is this topper safe for adding space for my leopard gecko&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the topper example you gave a link to is a cool concept BUT it's not actually adding that much surface space. I saw you mentioned yours isn't the exact picture, but take the following opinion based on what I'm able to see, and about wire toppers in general. Check out the actual level at the top of the ramps(of the one pictured, but also take into consideration if it also pertains to the one you're interested in) it's small, and isn't adding that much to your current 10gal. And there are pros and cons to wire toppers; the pros are that it allows good air flow for the cage, but this doesn't outweigh the con, in my opinion. The con with wire toppers is that reptiles can get their toes and toe nails/claws stuck in the wire grating and can end up hurting them, by either accidentally amputation (which can cause infection), or the nail could get stuck and ripped off (also could get infected). Any open injuries caused by grating can then get packed with feces, bedding or food bits, adding to the existing pain of losing a claw, toe or foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible I would upgrade to a &quot;long&quot; version of a larger tank... Like a 20gal long or a 30gal long. This topper is already $30ish and you could get a new or used larger tank for around the same price(if not less if used), and you will end up with WAY more surface area than a topper (plus less chance of injury).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to upgrade, you will still want a locking lid for safety. Going with a used tank upgrade, be sure to check for cracks before purchasing (find one without cracks or chips on the inside that could also injure) and make sure to clean it and rinse very well before setting it up. I'd recommend using a cleaner specifically safe for reptile enclosures. The more surface space you provide for him, sill not only gives him more space to roam for exercise and a sound mind but will give you more space to add hiding huts or decor for him to feel safe. It's also important for geckos to have one side of their tank to be dedicated for cool down, for when they no longer want/need to be under their heat lamp. This is something that is difficult to provide with a 10gal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.. If it was not the answer to your needs, please change your post into more of a question format, detailing your specific question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've added two pics/screenshots, 1) reflecting an example of a 20 gallon long aquarium in the same price range as your topper and 2) an example of a reptile cage cleaner, safe for your gecko.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/es2lK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/es2lK.png&quot; alt=&quot;20gal long&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ePIms.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ePIms.png&quot; alt=&quot;example of reptile cage cleaner&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9502" LastEditorUserId="9502" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T07:27:10.040" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T07:27:10.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19508" CreationDate="2018-01-19T07:57:44.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could redirect your dog whenever he tries to bite or when you first see the bad behavior occurring.  So for example when your dog attempts to bite your neighbors dog you could call your dog with a treat or redirect your dog with their favorite toy, make your pet sit, or lie down and continually do that so your dog begins to do it less.  If that doesnʻt work, dog classes could help. Not sure if this will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11404" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T07:57:44.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19515" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-19T16:16:11.317" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed a litter of stray puppies. A puppy was just healthy enough, but suddenly when I saw him the next day, he became so thin I can see his rib cage. What could have happened and what can I do without a vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-19T19:32:15.143" LastActivityDate="2018-01-19T19:32:15.143" Title="Puppy became very thin in a day" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19516" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-19T19:04:27.283" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 year old, spayed female chihuahua continually masturbating against my livingroom carpet and my throw pillows on my sofa. This needs to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11406" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T16:50:43.600" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T16:50:43.600" Title="How can I keep my 9 year old spayed female chihuahua from masturbating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-01-22T16:51:23.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19378" CreationDate="2018-01-19T19:48:32.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;There doesn't appear to be much of a difference&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a few reasons you'd want these leaves in your aquarium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lower the pH of your aquarium water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Releasing tannins into your water to get a more natural brown colour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medicinal benefits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Encourage spawning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, both leaves (almond leaves and banana leaves) can be linked to reducing the pH of an aquarium's water. In fact, many different leaves will provide this benefit just by being exposed to the water. Indeed, many of the places that tropical fish come from, such as lakes and rivers, will have overhanging trees which will drop leaves into them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, both leaves will naturally colour your water brown (this is one of the key characteristics of 'BlackWater Aquariums') by releasing tannins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both have been advertised as having a medicinal benefit to the aquarium by increasing a fish's resistance to pathogens and parasites. For almond leaves I was able to find an &lt;a href=&quot;https://wwwlib.teiep.gr/images/stories/acta/Acta%20678/678_25.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;interesting paper&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; on how the extract of an almond leaf, or &lt;em&gt;Terminalia catappa&lt;/em&gt;, was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the most effective in treating &lt;em&gt;Trichodina&lt;/em&gt; infection&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst many sources suggest that banana leaves also possess this benefit, I've had a hard to substantiating these claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, both leaves will encourage spawning by their nature but so would many other types of leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've personally only ever used almond leaves and I can confirm that in my experience they've lowered pH, provided food for bottom feeders and provided hiding places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would appear that they share a lot of the same characteristics. Almond leaves seem to be more prolific in fish breeding scenarios and we can say that they do have medicinal properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 - &amp;quot;&lt;em&gt;Antiparasitic, Antibacterial, and Antifungal Activities Derived from a Terminalia catappa Solution against Some Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Pathogens&lt;/em&gt;&amp;quot; - C. Chitmanat, K. Tongdonmuan, P. Khanom, P. Pachontis and W. Nunsong &lt;a href=&quot;https://wwwlib.teiep.gr/images/stories/acta/Acta%20678/678_25.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(link)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T07:27:12.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18829" CreationDate="2018-01-19T20:10:55.923" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a little bit of a mystery and my answer is a collection of possibilities that I've looked at. As you noted in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18829/bettas-with-black-dots-on-fins#comment25437_18842&quot;&gt;your comment&lt;/a&gt;, he is still healthy and active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Peppering&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Discus and some Angel fish, there is a condition called 'Peppering' where the animal attempts to camoflague itself better by 'peppering' its body with black dots. This normally happens if the substrate (or tank generally) is dark. In your picture, it appears that you do have a fairly dark substrate but it's unclear whether this condition is caused only by the 'Pigeon Blood' strain of Discus or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Cross breeding&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas are pretty popular and some fish may not be as pure-bred as others. Many enthusiasts have noted that their blue bettas have developed red fins over time. This still seems unlikely that they would be such finely defined spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;General Water Quality&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check and recheck your water parameters to ensure that you have no ammonia, nitrite and a low level of nitrate (&amp;lt; 40ppm). Water quality can impact what a fish looks like but again, unlikely that it would cause black spots. This doesn't look like fin rot (which is normally indicated by ripped or torn fins exposing the vertebrae).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Next steps?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitor the small dots and make sure they aren't increasing in number, changing in size or moving position. Ensure that your water parameters are stable and you're doing all required maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are any changes, you could update your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-13T00:10:49.920" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T00:10:49.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19519" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-20T05:09:12.100" Score="1" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one handicapped Shih Tzu.  He doesn't have much feeling in his legs or tail.  However, every since my Shih Tzu came back from the groomer's, the Silky terrier that I adopted 2 months ago has been chomping at my other dog's feet and tail.  To the point of blood.  Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11407" LastActivityDate="2018-01-20T05:09:12.100" Title="Biting my other dog's tail" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19507" CreationDate="2018-01-20T06:59:28.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sambovi is correct. Tail wagging is a sign of emotional state, generally excitement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An excited dog is not a good thing. It can send your dog into a red zone, positive or negative. The main reason it’s bad is because the dog is so focused that it’s unresponsive and therefore difficult to control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in the dog world, excitement sits very close to aggression. A rescue dog is very sensitive to emotional changes because it’s life probably rested on a few seconds decisions to survive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training is the solution. That includes you and the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You: I expect you’ve started stressing about it, especially when you’re about to come across the situation. The dog will feel that before you realise. It will feel that you’re suddenly tensing through the lead, it will “smell” the chemicals your body produces to face the situation. (After all, dog can smell cancer!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/can-dogs-smell-fear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can dogs smell fear&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your solution is to relax and get over the problem. Notice the potential problem but react calmly, relaxed but also be in charge of the situation in a calm assertive manner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog: it doesn’t know any better. That’s the only way it knows to react. &#xA;It needs to be trained. The important point here is to notice the signs of excitement before it gets to the red zone so you can have control.  There, you can stop and redirect the behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very assertive “no”, a sideways tug on the lead(don’t hurt the dog!), a disapproving noise. Enforce your command. Dogs will switch in a microseconds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food is another distraction. Keep your dog on a lead when passing another dog whilst it smells yummy food. Only give the food is you get the required calm behaviour or if you see an improvement to guide the dog in the right direction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not let the dog off the lead when excited, you’re encouraging the behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work in small steps and practise a lot. If you know regular dog walkers, ask them if you can enlist their help to practise. There are a few videos from Cesar Milan for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/walking/6-tips-for-mastering-the-dog-walk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cesar Milan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rescue dogs generally need a lot of training to be able to live well in their new found environment. It is a lot of hard work but in my experience well worth it! I have trained many rescues considered lost cases and I will always have them because it’s so rewarding for the dog and the human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best training model in my opinion is from this guy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bKuRz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bKuRz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Paul Owens training &quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2018-01-20T06:59:28.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-20T15:26:18.580" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even with smaller portions he leaves a lot behind. Next meal time he wants food from the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I suspect the quality of a portion of the food in the bag? Is dry food controlled to be completely uniform?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11409" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T16:11:01.387" Title="Is dry food completely uniform? My cat always leaves half and wants more" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19522" CreationDate="2018-01-20T18:04:24.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think so. Our cat leaves a lot of dry-food pellets (about 25%). At first, we thought that he was just being messy and dropping pellets outside his feeding bowl, but we realised that he was simply discarding the ones that he didn't like. Since he seems to like his current dry food, we just let him get on with it, and bin the discarded pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that we give our cat a varied diet. This includes home-cooked food and wet cat food. The dry food is just for browsing if he wants a snack. He is rather pampered, and that may be why he is picky about his dry food. All right, he is picky about &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; his food. He used to be a stray, and when we took him in he would eat &lt;strong&gt;anything&lt;/strong&gt; (and everything).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is also pretty good at spitting unwanted tablets (i.e. all tablets) out of the side of his mouth, but that's another story. It's a cat's life!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2018-01-20T18:04:24.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19524" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-20T18:46:57.947" Score="2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I go to college I plan on getting or bringing a pet with me, I'm trying to decide if a papillon (&lt;em&gt;dog breed&lt;/em&gt;) or a small animal (ferret, rat, sugar glider, or Madagascan Hissing Cockroach). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will either be in a dorm room or an apartment when owning these animals.&#xA;Here is a list of what I am looking for in an animal and please make sure if you suggest any other animals that their legal in the USA. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Able to be housed alone &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Able to be potty trained(at least so they know not to go on me)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Willing to spend a lot of time with me and enjoys handling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lives to at least 5 years and no more than 20&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bonds strongly to me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11167" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T16:27:32.353" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T18:42:23.347" Title="Should I get a small animal or a dog to take to college with me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-21T00:14:57.330" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really disturbed by my dog's skin condition. I took her to the vet a few months ago and they diagnosed it as an age spot and allergies. I knew they were wrong and it's much worse now. Just look at the following picture of it with her fur wetted by me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is going on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ECcbx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ECcbx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:08:02.210" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:08:02.210" Title="Dog has skin disease" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-21T03:56:10.277" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;No picture needed. :)&#xA;I have a 6-year old Weimaraner who gets anxious every time we leave the house. Crating her is not an option. We practice the normal routine of down playing leaving &amp;amp; arriving. She has started pooping on our rug despite us taking her out plenty. We've tried a lot of things but nothing is working. Any advice would be very much appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11411" LastActivityDate="2018-01-21T03:56:10.277" Title="My dog poops in the house to let me know she's mad" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T16:05:17.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19524" CreationDate="2018-01-21T11:16:33.173" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adopting a pet just prior to a move is probably not the best choice. The top two reasons for pets to be surrendered to a shelter are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/pet-adoption/dog-adoption/pets-relinquished-shelters/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Moving and Landlord not allowing pets.&lt;/a&gt; Imagine you and your pet have just created a strong bond and now must be separated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many (most?) colleges do not allow pets on campus, of those that do, there are restrictions.  There are few list of pet friendly schools, &lt;a href=&quot;https://lendedu.com/blog/pet-friendly-colleges/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is one.&lt;/a&gt; Similar restrictions apply to apartments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you selected and have been accepted to college housing that allows pets.  You might consider volunteering at the local shelter.  If you can't have pets on campus or your apartment, this provides an option to share your love and positively impact animals lives.  If you can have pets on campus you will give a variety of adoptable pets the opportunity to find the perfect match with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T13:08:52.407" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T13:08:52.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6572" CreationDate="2018-01-21T13:44:31.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wet wipes won't do the trick to remove diesases, etc, whcih have been proven to be brought in. I put llittle booties on my dogs feet now..~~I've upgraded the cleaning:)&#xA;I have a bottle with a light mixture of Dawn soap and hibiclens~~Expensive but watered down is fine~ hospital grade antiseptic.&#xA;I dunk the cloth in the water and wash her face, legs, belly and area where she's peed, etc,. She is wearing jacket, so nothing on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I use the cloth, even though it's quite watered down, I use one that is water only to get off any soap. She's light so with a heavy rain, I might pop her in the tub and rinse her off, or give her a bath, depending on when last given. She is the cleanest dog around!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11412" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-22T13:05:18.457" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T13:05:18.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19522" CreationDate="2018-01-22T16:11:01.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I know about manufacturing (but not specifically, cat food manufacturing), I would be surprised if a food that appeared uniform had enough quality variation to be noticeable by taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, dry foods are usually &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrusion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;extruded&lt;/a&gt;. My thesis work was on brick manufacturing (also an extruded product). These lines are generally run continuously (without a break). If the raw materials changed (and the change wasn't detected in quality control), you would see a gradual change in the individual pieces, not a sudden drastic change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you're feeding a food that had different shapes (maybe some gumdrop shapes and some cross shapes), those different shapes would be made on different equipment, so they could conceivably taste different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the effect you're seeing is whatever is causing the behavior in this question ( &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9998/why-do-cats-act-like-their-food-bowl-is-empty-when-there-is-still-food-left&quot;&gt;Why do cats act like their bowl is empty when there is still food left?&lt;/a&gt; ), but there's not any conclusive evidence for the reasoning behind that behavior, only guesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it bothers you, you could switch to wet food, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/4386/224&quot;&gt;which has fewer health risks&lt;/a&gt; anyway, and cats rarely exhibit this behavior with wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T16:11:01.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-22T18:19:44.570" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Small parrots poop much more frequently than large parrots. I have never had (or lived with) a dog. I would like to know how often dogs need to poop and especially whether pooping frequency is related to breed size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11414" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-01-31T14:12:53.227" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T14:12:53.227" Title="How often do different breeds of dog poop?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19531" CreationDate="2018-01-22T18:59:25.703" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience is 1-3 poops a day.  Big dogs just take bigger poops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-01-22T18:59:25.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-22T23:44:54.867" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat generally doesn't drink any milk. But she loves to drink ice cold cow milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is why is it so? And is it safe to offer so? Note that there is very little chance of food infection for milk not being boiled as it is treated pasteurized packet milk from reputable company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than lactose intolerancy I want to know whether there is any chance of toncilitis on giving my cat ice cold milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-23T15:13:43.900" LastActivityDate="2018-01-23T15:13:43.900" Title="Why my cat loves to drink ice cold cow milk and is it safe to offer so?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-01-23T13:27:10.953" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19537" CreationDate="2018-01-23T09:25:27.490" Score="9" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a ball with holes where we put cat food into. Our cats really love this, pushing the ball around to get to the food, even when food is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are other good cat enrichment (toys)? Home-made or bought - doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T23:58:01.477" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T23:58:01.477" Title="What are good cat enrichment toys?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19536" CreationDate="2018-01-23T12:32:18.287" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty much any cat toy is enriching in that it engages the cat’s mind and gives them exercise. I included the low-cost and home-made/repurposed items i have discovered over the years and also some higher-end ones as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spilt the list of cat toys into two categories: human interaction not required and human interaction required. Note that you can always play with your cat with things like balls and stuffed animals. Many experts say playing with your cat can improve your relationship with your cat. Cats can learn to play fetch with some reinforcement, without any concerted training effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that damaged cat toys should be discarded since the cats can eat the various parts (such as string, rope or stuffing) which is not good for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Human interaction not required:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ping pong balls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Small plastic balls with holes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stuffed mice&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Small plastic caps and pull tabs from beverage cartons&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Miscellaneous Toys with catnip&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Boogie mats” (small cloth mats that can be opened to add catnip)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Automated laser pointer devices&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Small stuffed animals / beanie babies&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Devices that mechanically move a small toy&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cat treat balls (you can make your own by cutting a treat-sized hole&#xA;in a small plastic bottle)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plastic strips - such as the tear off portion from the top of a&#xA;resealable bag of vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Paper grocery bag (open)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boxes with holes cut in (kitty fort)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plastic drinking Straws&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Human interaction required&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;String / yarn  /  ribbon (make sure cat does not eat)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Laser pointer&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fishing-pole type toy with feathers or other toy on  the end.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different cats like different toys so you may have to do dome experimenting to find their favorite toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2018-01-27T19:24:31.067" LastActivityDate="2018-01-27T19:24:31.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19504" CreationDate="2018-01-23T12:43:12.963" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always let pregnant queens eat as much as they like. You want a healthy well fed queen and fat little kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats will overeat and start to become obese but this is less of a risk with outdoor cats as they they get more exercise and typically have intestinal parasites. Also it is much better to have a slightly overweight queen Vs. a malnourished one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chance of complications and birth defects increase dramatically with malnourished queens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2018-02-02T12:40:21.587" LastActivityDate="2018-02-02T12:40:21.587" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-23T14:02:18.907" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19531/how-often-do-different-breeds-of-dog-poop&quot;&gt;post said:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Small parrots poop much more frequently than large parrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that actually true? If so why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-02T22:27:10.193" Title="Do small parrots poop more frequently than large parrots?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-23T15:01:41.000" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been noticing the stray puppies I feed. 3 out of 4 of them frequently cough as if something is stuck in their windpipe or foodpipe. I feed them Marie biscuits which I think aren't the ones causing problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They eat from garbage. What can I do without a vet? They are fine but once in a while they start coughting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastActivityDate="2018-01-25T19:44:15.647" Title="Puppies coughing as if something is choking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16917" CreationDate="2018-01-23T22:02:33.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically your cat has got more sense than eat vegetables passing themselves off as meat. Recently I went through all the packets of so called cat food at a supermarket and they were 4% meat derivatives. Cats know this. Some of the larger tins are about 40% and some of the very premium small packets are a little better. Cats are pure carnivores and apart from a little grass don't eat veg in the wild. &#xA;Manufactures are conning us all making the vegetalbes look like meat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11424" LastActivityDate="2018-01-23T22:02:33.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19554" CreationDate="2018-01-23T23:19:15.287" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe I may have caught multiple yawns from my dog. Is this possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can yawning be transmitted across species from pets? The setting could be a couch in the living room, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:30:28.040" Title="Can yawning be transmitted across species by pets?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19540" CreationDate="2018-01-23T23:19:55.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans have unique anatomy of the larynx in order to facilitate speech. Animals are much less likely to choke on food than a human is. The most likely explanation then, is that the puppies are ill with something that includes coughing as a symptom. I would take them for a checkup with the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-01-23T23:19:55.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18907" CreationDate="2018-01-24T00:30:54.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I firmly believe from my experiences that the &quot;nervous ticks and skittish behaviour&quot;, after flea treating your cat/cats is simply their reaction to the fleas scampering all over their bodies to get away from the poison. I have seen my 4 cats doing the same thing and I finally learned that it was my cue to grab the flea comb and and a wet paper towel to grab the little devils in before they can pop off. Frankly, I would jump and squirm too in the same situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11425" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T00:30:54.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-24T01:37:09.687" Score="3" ViewCount="3059" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have purchased a pregnant mare - she has 3 months to go. I'm wondering what wormers are safe to use in pregnancy. I will also check with my equine vet.&#xA;Picture for the interested. I haven't received her yet, she's being held by the &amp;quot;doggers&amp;quot;* who sold her to me, awaiting transport. She's not in good condition, but that's for a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L1rLH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/L1rLH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Doggers is an Aussie term for businesses that buy horses for pet food or human consumption. Many will offer some of these horses for sale to give them a last chance, in this case a heavily pregnant mare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T13:43:23.887" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T13:43:23.887" Title="What wormers are safe for pregnant mares?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19551" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-24T03:06:35.960" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have brought a Labrador Retriever puppy home 4 days back. She is 50 days old. We have not introduced her to any leash or crate or anything. &#xA;When should we start training her for it and how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have mainly 2 problem areas :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Teeth biting on hands and legs. We have got her couple of chew toys but she still prefers our hands and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we are at home, she has to be beside us all the time. While sleeping as well she will draw attention by making some sound and she will sleep only when we sleep beside her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is doing pee and poo anywhere. What is the right age we should be starting training her for this??&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11426" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T10:30:55.490" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T17:53:47.457" Title="What is a right time to start training a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-24T09:23:04.957" Score="4" ViewCount="1755" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that slow blinking is a sign of relaxation. Since most feral cats are afraid of humans, I slowly blink at them. I have noticed that many cats return this slow blink at me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are they returning the slow blink? Does this mean I can go near a feral after slowly blinking at them? I have never tried to go near them after slowly blinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: The question I mentioned - &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2281/10293&quot;&gt;Is blinking slowly at cats a way to tell them that you love them?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="10293" LastEditDate="2018-01-25T18:27:31.707" LastActivityDate="2019-01-22T07:23:02.720" Title="Why are feral cats slowly blinking back at me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19551" CreationDate="2018-01-24T09:42:01.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A full &quot;how to train your dog&quot; post would be out of scope here, so I will quickly address the three issues you mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) What works in most cases is: when you are playing, always direct to the toy to bite and chew. When he bites flesh -&gt; Playtime is over. If it continues trying to bite, redirect. How you react if that STILL does not work really depends upon your way to establish discipline. Above all, though, establish a clear &quot;NO!&quot; command! This will help in all places where you want to stop your dog from doing things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Your dog is still a baby and just got separated from it's family. Let her sleep with you for now, let her be all over you, it will be only a few short weeks until she feels secure enough for some distance. It is a good sign she feels secure enough with you to sleep when you are there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) You can start training her now by rewarding her for every poop and pee outside, but don't expect her to be fully housebroken for a few months yet. It can be up to a year, and right now, even if she wanted to, she doesn't have full control over her bladder yet! When she makes a mess, just clean up and move on, do NOT punish her! If you punish her immediately, she may learn &quot;pooping is bad&quot;, which is not really helpful -&gt; You want her to learn that pooping outside is AWESOME, so she'll do it there! If you punish her even a minute after the fact, she will have no idea why you are angry at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, some general advise:&#xA;A dogs attention-span is really short, a puppies doubly so. Any praise for something she did well will need to come immediately after that fact. Feel free to reward and praise her a lot for every tiny thing she does right, and she will try to repeat it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't forget to reward things like &quot;Waiting quietly&quot; or &quot;Stay in your sport for a few minutes&quot; or &quot;Paying attention to you!&quot;. It is those seemingly tiny things that help a LOT to make your dog behave as you want.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't overdo punishment. Establish a firm &quot;No!&quot; command, ignore bad behaviours when you can, and praise everything you want her to do.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Love her and have a lot of fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T09:42:01.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19545" CreationDate="2018-01-24T16:47:45.773" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes! There have been several studies between dogs and humans for contagious yawning. Yawning is also a way for dogs to show stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contagious yawning has also been seen in certain species of apes (i.e Bonobos, chimpanzees).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0071365&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PLOS&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first study investigating contagious yawning in dogs showed that a high proportion of the subjects (72%) yawned after observing a human experimenter acting a yawn [22]. The authors argued that since dogs are unusually skilled at reading human social and communicative signals [27] there is the potential that dogs may also have developed the capacity for empathy towards humans, and thus being able to catch human yawns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2610100/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Biology Letters&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The yawning condition elicited yawns for 21 out of 29 dogs (one example is shown in figure 1), and no dogs yawned in the control condition (p&amp;lt;.001, McNemar's test; McNemar 1947). No yawns were observed during the interval between conditions either. On average, dogs yawned 1.9 times in the yawning condition (range, 0–5; see the electronic supplementary material, table). On average, it took 1 min 39 s for the dogs to yawn (s.d., 1 min 28 s; range, 5 s to 4 min 47 s), after the experimenter had presented 4.5 yawns (s.d., 4.4; range, 1–17).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A summary of the studies can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalcognition.org/2015/04/07/yawns-are-contagious-in-dogs-too/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;animalcogniton.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T16:47:45.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19551" CreationDate="2018-01-24T17:48:27.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The right time to start is the day you got him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The night I got my German Shepherd I gave him a bit of whatever I had in the house to teach him to sit, planning to do some more serious training the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day he already knew how to sit. My training plans were ruined. I hate clever students, they make the teacher look like a moron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T17:53:47.457" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T17:53:47.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19066" CreationDate="2018-01-24T17:55:36.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the standard hamster cages out there I wouldn't worry too much about your little guy falling to his death, mainly since those cages aren't built very big and generally has a good amount of bedding at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your popsicle stick hamster fort I would not worry about it being too tall, assuming it is going in a regular hamster cage, my main concern would be the glue that holds it together if your hamster would ingest it - they love to chew, chew, chew! Try to search for a glue that is labeled pet safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are making a large enclosure for your hamster I would stay cautious and build no more than 1ft high and be sure to have a good amount of bedding. I would also incorporate a couple ramps and tubes to the structure to give him a selection of ways to get around safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall it depends on how they land from the fall, I have had hamsters fall from 3-4ft without a scratch and have seen some that died of internal bleeding or broke a leg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-01-24T22:14:06.093" LastActivityDate="2018-01-24T22:14:06.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-24T18:25:06.390" Score="3" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed a few days ago that my bearded dragon has a couple spots on her nose and mouth area. I thought that it was dirt but it didn't wash off. Has anyone got any ideas what it could be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sho2Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GKFvz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11428" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-29T11:44:12.353" LastActivityDate="2018-08-29T11:44:12.353" Title="What could these spots on my bearded dragon's nose be?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T18:50:09.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-24T19:50:27.993" Score="8" ViewCount="5923" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat only likes wet cat food that is tuna flavored. I switched to chicken flavored, as the vet said that tuna-based food is not good because this fish itself contains mercury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He turns his nose up at the chicken flavored and cries until I open a tuna one. He currently eats about 1/2 cup of dry cat food (turkey flavored, IKR) each day as well as one or two 3 oz. (85 g) cans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it truly harmful for cats to eat tuna flavored cat food, or should I keep trying with the chicken flavored cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11429" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:48:40.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:48:40.623" Title="Is it ok to give my cat tuna flavored cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19559" CreationDate="2018-01-24T23:16:36.140" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Concern for mercury?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your concern for mercury contents, this depends on the food company itself. The veterinary line of cat food tests ALL their food for heavy metals, toxins, contamination etc. before shipping out for consumption so it is safe to feed. However you need to do your due diligence and contact the company that produces the food you feed to your cat and ask them what kind of testing to they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been a few studies for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10997155&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fish-based canned diets causing hyperthyroidism&lt;/a&gt;, however I wouldn't rush to throw out all of his food in a panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Poultry or Rabbit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aim for what a cat would eat &amp;quot;in the wild&amp;quot; go for rabbit-based or poultry-based diets. Transitioning should be slow, mix old food with the new food and gradually increase new food and reduce old food over a span of 7 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike dogs, a cat &lt;strong&gt;WILL&lt;/strong&gt; starve itself if he does not like the food - try a few different brands and flavors and see what your cat will like best. If he likes the turkey dry you can try to find the canned version of that brand of dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that your cat may have a preference of chunks and gravy vs paté or prefer to have it warmed up before serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-01-25T13:56:11.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19594" CreationDate="2018-01-24T23:17:56.690" Score="2" ViewCount="6676" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a German Shepherd (7 months) and a Presa Canario (9 weeks). Both females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now they are both getting along great and I am doing my very best to socialize them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what age do I need to start worrying about dog aggression, especially from the Presa Canario?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-01-29T15:12:23.660" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:05:29.447" Title="At what age does dog aggression typically start showing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19552" CreationDate="2018-01-25T07:06:26.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The slow blink is a cat's way to tell other cats I do not want to fight you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is a way for cats to avoid trouble before it starts. If two cats meet and only one of them blinks the one blinking will retreat as this shows the cat not slow blinking will fight or protect its territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the slow blink is to tell the other cat I am not hostile.&#xA;This is the same if you slow blink to a cat, you tell the cat I am not hostile. If the cat blinks back you both have a deal in not being unfriendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this is not an invitation to come closer to the cat even if this is often possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation let the cat come to you. If you try to approach the cat it will feel like prey and run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We people have the same type of non verbal communication we do often smile to unknown people we meet because we are unsure about the person. If the person smiles back it gives a signal of not being unfriendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-22T07:23:02.720" LastActivityDate="2019-01-22T07:23:02.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19622" CreationDate="2018-01-25T11:18:12.513" Score="5" ViewCount="1523" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs seem to lick anything but that doesn't seem to affect their health. I can't seem to reconcile this with normal hygienic theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11432" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-25T11:37:54.767" LastActivityDate="2018-02-03T12:14:22.850" Title="Why don't dogs get sick since they will lick anything?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-25T17:17:21.153" Score="4" ViewCount="1036" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUFJ0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko has some type of gunk on the inner corner of his eye. His eyelid isn't shut. We used to have the ground up walnut shell bedding but just recently changed it to the felt pad bedding. I'm not sure how long he's had this gunk on his eye but I just noticed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11433" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-25T17:21:38.950" LastActivityDate="2018-01-25T17:21:38.950" Title="Is this eye gunk on my Leopard Geckos eye a concern?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19540" CreationDate="2018-01-25T19:44:15.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A number of things can cause coughing in dogs, not much you can do without a definitive diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bordetella Bronchiseptica &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fox lung worm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canine Influenza&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pneumonia/Bronchitis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fungal infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heartworm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes dogs will pick up a little viral infection that causes a cough and will go away over a course of 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about the biscuits getting stuck in their trachea, for the most part dogs can have a gag reflex from chewing sticks or bones that get stuck in their esophagus. For multiple puppies to have the same symptoms it's most likely viral or parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-01-25T19:44:15.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-25T22:48:19.180" Score="4" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our 2 cats, brothers, has lost his voice. Over the last few weeks his meow degenerated into a gruff squeak, but today it seems his voice has silenced. He is a large cat, loved his food, would always follow me to the kitchen in the hope of getting more, and he would meow at me as though he was asking for more. However, he only eats in the morning and evening now, spends a lot of time sleeping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take him to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11434" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-01-26T16:19:51.883" LastActivityDate="2018-01-26T16:19:51.883" Title="Cat has lost his meow" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19570" CreationDate="2018-01-26T10:01:21.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As James says in his comment you need to take him to the vet ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's various medical reasons why a cat would lose their meow (some serious some not):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upper Respiratory-tract Infection (URI)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a cold to you and me, cats can get infections just like we can and just like in humans they can have a sore throat and it can lead to laryngitis and a hoarse or inaudible meow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vocal cord growths&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These can be (and often are) benign - a non-cancerous tumor and polyps are all possibilities. Unfortunately while it is rare throat cancer is also a possibility. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Layngeal Paralysis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where nerve damage has occurred that is impairing the larynx (voice box) from working correctly. It's really pretty rare in cats (dogs seem far more susceptible for some reason) but it is very serious and needs treatment ASAP! Things to watch out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 Harsh breathing noises (wheezy or rattly - like an 80yr old two-pack a day man!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 Inspiratory stridor (high pitched creaking sounds while breathing) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 Coughing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 Raspy meow &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 Dysphonia or total lack of voice &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 Dyspnea (difficulty breathing), which can lead to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Intolerance to exercise (because they can't breath well enough to accommodate increased activity and because panting is inhibited)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anxiety &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Limb weakness &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lethargy&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aspiration pneumonia &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 Pulled back lips &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 Dark or purple coloration of the tongue &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9 Wide eyes &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hyperthyroidism&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds unlikely in this case - as you normally would see a significant weight loss as well but hoarseness/loss of meow is a potential symptom and if they feel it necessary the vet can test for this with a simple blood test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-01-26T10:01:21.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19846" CreationDate="2018-01-26T13:46:54.010" Score="2" ViewCount="2024" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tank with four 1.5&quot; Shubunkins, which I've had for one month. There are no other fish. It is a glass-bottom tank with no substrate (for easy cleaning), and has many floating plants for them to hide in. The tank is equipped with just an AquaClear filter and an auto-feeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever someone approaches the tank, all of the fish run into the plants, and won't come out. They only swim around when they don't see anyone nearby. I've never seen any other fish behave this way, except maybe catfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why might the fish always be scared? Is that a sign there is something wrong with the tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="10024" LastEditDate="2018-01-26T21:34:56.627" LastActivityDate="2018-03-03T05:18:12.080" Title="Why are my fish always scared?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16244" CreationDate="2018-01-26T13:47:49.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For biological denitrification to take place you need oxygen-free water, as biological denitrification can only take place if there is no oxygen present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the gravel/sand of your tank there is an area where the oxygen is depleted due to the bacteria breaking down waste converting ammonia to nitrite (this uses oxygen) and bacteria then use nitrite to produce nitrate (this happens in an oxygen-free environment) and this is the area where denitrification takes place; the resulting nitrogen is absorbed by the water and released to the air. Some extensive information could be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/4/chemistry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this is very hard to do inside your filter system; the water flow is simply too fast to have an area without oxygen for the time needed to give the denitrifying bacteria time to do their job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a filter system you have the bacteria creating nitrate, growing directly on the substrate and on top of these bacteria grows the bacteria converting ammonia to nitrite (on top the bacteria converts ammonia to nitrite and the bacteria in the layer below convert nitrite to nitrate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the simplest way to remove nitrate is to use plants (floating and underwater plants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read your links and I do understand the German text, but not completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can say the filter mentioned and how it is built have limited possibility to remove nitrates from the water, as it uses oxygenated water to some degree and this makes it uneffective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is to build a separate plant filter to remove the nitrates and this filter is very close to free to run after you have made it (the only cost is the lighting and cutting of the plants as they grow). This is what we the people having garden ponds use to get rid of nitrate in the water, but we do not need the extra lighting as it is normaly outside in the sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-31T22:58:12.090" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T22:58:12.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19545" CreationDate="2018-01-26T15:30:56.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yawning is contagious, but not in the same way that contagious diseases generally don't spread between species. Part of me feels that this is the reason you're asking whether it's possible or not :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contagious yawning is a psychological effect (in the mind of whoever observes a yawn, and then involuntarily yawns himself). Whether you observe a human or a dog yawning doesn't really make a difference. You observe a yawn, and that triggers a yawn reflex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I seem to remember reading a study that concluded that the yawn reflex even occurs by seeing the word &quot;yawn&quot;, or having the act of yawning described in text (without explicitly calling it a yawn). It's likely that a reader uses their imagination to &quot;see&quot; a yawn, and thus is triggered to yawn himself.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The proof is in the pudding&lt;/strong&gt;: I have yawned several times while writing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-01-26T15:30:56.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16917" CreationDate="2018-01-26T15:41:32.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of them is like your cat. Loves gravy, licks it off first, often skips the meat, does eat dry food. I experimented once by giving her dry food with gravy over it, and she finished the whole bowl (something she otherwise never does). So I think she simply dislikes soft meat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her sister loves gravy but does not pass up the meat afterwards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The younger one actively leaves gravy/jelly in the bowl. He eats everything else (including human food and even paper), but does not like jelly and gravy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see an issue with your cat's behavior. As long as she's eating something, it seems like it's a matter of preferring dry food and gravy over the chewy bits of wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-01-26T15:41:32.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19597" CreationDate="2018-01-26T19:34:46.010" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;If one has a cat they're pretty sure is a Manx - he has a short tail - but rescued him from the side of the road, is it necessary to when signing him up for pet insurance to tell them the breed he seems to be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was found on the side of the highway as a kitten, injured and starving, many years ago. He came running as soon as he saw a human pull over and hold her arms out to him; he seemed to have been abandoned, he seemed diseased and unhealthy then. He got good vet treatment at the time. He's now about 6, and is quite healthy overall, though has always loved food, presumably because of the trauma of not having it as a kitten, and is a bit overweight - he particularly loves bread (wtf weird cat??) and creme fresh. Food puzzles and portion control have been helping with his weight, but he's not there yet. Since he's probably a Manx, he'll probably live to about 20. He's quite intelligent and acts as the caretaker of the other two cats he lives with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'd like to sign them all up for pet insurance; but insurance quotes, if we say he's a pedigreed manx, seem to be much more expensive. Nobody has ever actually said &quot;yes, that's officially a manx cat&quot;; it's conceivable that he lost his tail while he was lost in the woods as a kitten. But even then, manxes are a healthier breed, unlike most other breeds, so you'd expect insurance to be cheaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make sense, since we don't have pedigree papers, to sign him up for pet insurance as a generic breed? Or do we have to say &quot;he's specifically a manx&quot; even though we've never confirmed that? We're obviously hoping for the former, but want to make sure it's actually ok to do before just going ahead with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11437" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-01-27T09:33:26.497" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T09:22:34.843" Title="Pet Insurance: with no pedigree for a street-rescued cat, is it necessary to disclose suspected but unconfirmed breed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;insurance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-26T19:43:49.050" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats are four years old and one of them always meows while I am using the computer, if I go to see what she wants, she just walks away, circles the sofa once and then stands there staring at me. As soon as I go back on the computer she does the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually I open the door for her to go outside but she doesn't want to go out 75% of the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to play with them regularly but they don't care for their toys, I throw stuff and jingle their toys and play with the &quot;feathers on a stick&quot; and they sit there staring at me. If they do interact with the toy, it's for about 3 seconds then they walk off. I try buying them new toys in case they're bored of the old ones but they still don't care about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to pick them up to cuddle them but they don't like it and want to get down (they are rescue kittens so they might have been held roughly in their past or something)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have plenty of food, a fresh water bowl and a running water fountain so I don't think they are complaining about the catering service either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I can't pick up my cat and they're not interested in playing, what can I do to interact with them and why might one of them be trying to get my attention all the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10619" LastEditorUserId="10208" LastEditDate="2018-01-26T21:21:37.087" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:43.387" Title="How to play with my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18907" CreationDate="2018-01-27T22:30:45.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Advantage is the best flea repellant. It goes to the fleas receptors, not your cats'. &#xA;Don't use flea shampoo, flea collars() or any product from the supermarket. There are testimonies of peoples' pets dying two weeks after a flea collar was worn. Just stay away from all OTC pet products at a regular store.&#xA;Advantage is safe, I use it, but it's not cheap. Twenty dollars per vial is what I pay. It can't be bought at a regular supermarket or drugstore. You have to go through a vet, or a pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11441" LastActivityDate="2018-01-27T22:30:45.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-29T00:24:16.807" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I clean out numerous cat litter boxes either every day or every other day.  I do what I can to avoid breathing in the dust from the litter by using cheap/flimsy masks, covering my mouth and nostrils with a sack cloth, and/or holding my breath, but it seems that lung problems (e.g., congestion, coughing, wheezing) seem to increase in direct proportion to the amount of time I've spent cleaning out these litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any good, inexpensive methods to reduce the amount of litter I'm exposing myself to (e.g., certain types of masks, litters you advise against/recommend, products that can be sprayed on the litter directly to reduce the amount of residual dust, ...)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9579" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-30T19:42:20.747" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T19:42:20.747" Title="Are there any good, inexpensive methods to reduce the amount of litter I'm exposing myself to?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19584" CreationDate="2018-01-29T01:07:15.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a proper mask - seriously. N95 rated, disposable masks are a dollar a piece (and are almost certainly good enough, and the minimum you should be getting) and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; protect you from most of the stuff that's giving you trouble - particulates and mold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be worth actually getting a &lt;em&gt;comfortable&lt;/em&gt; mask (and this depends heavily on personal preference- we tend to have N95 masks around for occational countrywide smog outbreaks) if you're using it routinely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember &lt;em&gt;fit matters&lt;/em&gt;. If a mask isn't creating a good seal around your nose and mouth, its mostly pointless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider comfortable &lt;em&gt;eye&lt;/em&gt; protection as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2018-01-29T01:07:15.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-29T02:41:44.960" Score="4" ViewCount="1154" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Morris, wanted to spend time with me in my room alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took in 5 cats from his family, including him, in the house.  They would have been feral cats otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only 2 of them love to spend time alone with me in my room, as we would cuddle on the bed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one spends a little more time with me. Some times we just nap together or sleep together. But this time he did something different. Morris started what seemed like tucking me in. Only this time I was not covered. I wore just clothes, no blanket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to know what it means when they do that. When I was not covered, he started digging at the bedding. So what does it all mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11445" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T11:03:16.337" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T11:03:16.337" Title="My cat tried to tuck me in bed. What does it mean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19593" CreationDate="2018-01-29T05:29:00.207" Score="1" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep watching youtube videos of cute slow lorises kept as pet. When they enjoy on being tickeled and raise their arms, it is so good to watch. I am planning to adopt a slow loris as pet. I want some advice as to how to properly take care of a pet slow loris?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-01-29T05:38:29.020" LastActivityDate="2018-01-29T21:53:07.780" Title="How to properly take care of pet slow loris?" Tags="&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19586" CreationDate="2018-01-29T08:03:04.787" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The behaviour is called &lt;strong&gt;Kneading&lt;/strong&gt;. There could be multiple reason for it, but I'll go with &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_knead&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bedding Down&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The wild ancestors of domestic cats liked to lay down on soft, comfortable surfaces to either sleep or give birth to their young. By kneading down tall grass or leaves, cats were able to fashion a comfy spot to lay down in, and also possibly to check the ground for unwelcome visitors lurking under the foliage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-01-29T08:03:04.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19596" CreationDate="2018-01-29T15:04:45.060" Score="5" ViewCount="4839" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to place a bird-safe plant (such as a spider plant) inside my conure's cage to give her the opportunity to hide among the leaves, since that's something she currently does with her toys. I'd want to plant the plant in a pot that could be suspended from the side of her cage. I want to make sure that this would be absolutely safe before attempting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could any problems arise from this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2018-02-03T12:13:17.220" Title="Is it safe to put a plant in a bird's cage?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-29T20:36:20.803" Score="9" ViewCount="2009" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 years ago a nursing Mama cat appeared on my porch digging through garbage for a meal. I tried to pet her, but she ran away immediately and I did not see her for several days. Gradually she started coming back once I set food out. She comes when we call her and is very friendly with us, but will run when she sees anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 3 indoor cats who we've had since they were kittens and they are not fond of our outdoor kitty. Our neutered alpha male will start peeing on EVERYTHING if we were to let her in. We need to move far away and I'm worried about trying to take her with us, I would be terribly guilt stricken if we had to leave her here. We feed her twice a day and I don't know that she hunts much anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other strays in the area that neighbors take care of, so we can't really leave her in the care of anyone else. She is NOT part of a colony of feral cats. I just want to do what is best for her without harming our 3 indoor kitties. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11446" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-01-29T23:30:23.640" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T05:54:19.127" Title="Can/Should I take a feral/stray cat with me to a new house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19587" CreationDate="2018-01-29T21:53:07.780" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, &lt;strong&gt;there is no way to properly keep a slow loris as a pet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is for several reasons: as nocturnal animals with huge eyes, the bright lights of human houses cause them pain. As animals frequently on the move, being trapped in a tiny cage is unhealthy. Even the tickling behavior you mention is not so cute--a slow loris raises its arms when it is terrified and trying to defend itself. Additionally, while you don't state your location, it's unlikely they are legal to keep where you live as many countries do not allow keeping endangered species as pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some resources as to the reality of owning a pet slow loris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/why-slow-lorises-are-not-suitable-pets?currency=USD&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Internation Animal Rescue Organization&lt;/a&gt; has good information about the dangers of owning one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Slow lorises have a venomous bite that is harmful to humans. Usually their teeth are clipped but if their teeth are still intact they mix venom secreted from a gland inside their upper arm with saliva to deliver a venomous bite. This can cause anaphylactic shock and even death in humans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/10/explore-animals-illegal-pet-trade-slow-loris/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Geographic&lt;/a&gt; has resources on the cruelty involved in purchasing one: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before [the animals are] sold, most undergo a painful process to remove their sharp teeth—and circumstances don’t improve from there. In a 2016 study, researchers from Oxford Brookes University examined a hundred online videos of pet lorises and concluded that all the animals were distressed, sick, or exposed to unnatural conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While slow lorises are adorable animals, and I understand why you'd be interested in one based on the videos online, it's important to understand that these videos actually show acts of animal neglect and that the slow loris does not make a good pet. I recommend doing research on other species instead--there are plenty of wonderful mammals that do well in captivity, and whose purchase doesn't contribute to the problems involved in the slow loris trade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11447" LastActivityDate="2018-01-29T21:53:07.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19562" CreationDate="2018-01-30T01:52:36.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inter-dog aggression occurs much more frequently in non-neutered male dogs. Usually signs start appearing when the dog reaches puberty (between six and nine months old) or becomes socially mature at 18 to 36 months- depending on how fast your dog matures. &#xA;In my experience having one dog desexed and the other entire both of the same sex also increases dog on dog aggression if they are both adults, especially if humans try and keep the desexed dog at a higher rank. As you are raising them together, they &lt;em&gt;shouldn't&lt;/em&gt; become aggressive to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard of dogs that are fine when humans are around and aggressive to each other when alone. Have heard of dogs that fight over their human and are fine alone. So you should see them fighting if there are problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some owners prefer to wait till their &lt;em&gt;male&lt;/em&gt; GSD are 2yo before desexing  to ensure that they look as masculine as possible. Aggressive females can become more aggressive when spayed so that is a good reason to get your Presa Canario spayed sooner rather than later to prevent her becoming aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:05:29.447" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:05:29.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19592" CreationDate="2018-01-30T02:31:43.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should most definitely take the cat with you. The cat is dependent on you for food since you have been feeding her. If you are concerned about your cats being aggressive towards the stray, I would suggest that you allow her to be an outdoor cat (depending on where you are moving to, if you are moving to a suburban area that has lots of traffic or large predators you might have to consider finding someone to take care of her as an indoor cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11448" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T02:31:43.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19591" CreationDate="2018-01-30T07:03:22.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Placing plants such as a spider plant into a bird cage would not harm the bird, and it is more likely that the bird will harm it. Leaves on the spider plant that may have been affected by the bird can easily be fixed if you trim it regularly. Spider plants are inexpensive and easy to look after so that is a great choice of plant to place in the cage with the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, be careful if you were to use pesticides on the plant as some pesticides can be toxic to birds. These include systemic pesticides that are often mixed with water or soil and take up the plant's structure, in turn making the plant poisonous to insects and most likely birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before purchasing the plant, ask to make sure that the pesticides used on the plant beforehand are safe. If you aren't 100% sure they are, rinse the foliage and re-pot the plant. If you are still concerned, keep the plant away from your bird and let the plant grow for a few months before placing it in there with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11370" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T07:03:22.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19578" CreationDate="2018-01-30T08:54:19.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't be sure that this cat is a 100% Manx, even if he looks like it, because there are no papers and you don't know his parents. You can suggest that he has some Manx blood, but you don't know if he is really a pure blood. No reputable breeder would admit him into his breeding program because of this. So correct is to call him an unknown breed. But you could do a genetic test. If this test has the result that he is 100% Manx, you could check if you can get some papers for him, and then you can call him a Manx. But this test is not necessary, so it is completely legal and ok, not to pay the higher insurance, because you can't be sure which breed (or mix) he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I did some research and found out that Manx are never crossed 'Manx x Manx', because if the gene for the missing tail is homozygot, the fetus are not viable. Often they are mixed with British Shorthair. In Germany and Switzerland the breeding of Manx is forbidden because of reasons for animal welfare. The Manx often have problems and pain when walking, they are susceptible for arthrosis and  have often a misbuilded pelvis and a too short rectum (seems not to be so healthy). I can't tell you the rules, when a cat is called 100% Manx, but nevertheless, you have no papers, you don't know if the tail is missing because of an accident, if it was a fetal misbuilding, if it was a spontaneous gene mutation or if he is a Manx. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2018-01-30T09:22:34.843" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T09:22:34.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10468" CreationDate="2018-01-30T11:47:38.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do that, it is ok, if there is really no way that the cat can go outside after moving. The cat can be happy inside, too, but will be happier if he can go outside. I am not a fan of inside cats! Yes, they may live longer, because they won't be drived over. But the quality of life is better, if they have the chance to wander around. It is in their nautre. Yes, todays breeds are calmer than wild cats, but they are still cats. It is the same with us, humans. We are happy if we don't have to go outside when it is raining or cold, if we can sleep long in a comfortable environment and get food without needing to hunt it, but we are not so happy, if we are not free to go outside whenever we want to. There is a reason, why prisons are punishment, even if prisoners are allowed to work, are allowed to watch TV, don't have to go outside when it rains, and have training rooms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is better to take the cat with you when you move, because he is used to you and will be fed and get veterinarian care. If you leave him behind, he has to stray again, what is worse. But the best way would be (if possible, you should keep him inside if you move to a city), to take him with you, let him stay inside for some weeks to accept the new house/appartment as home and then allow him to go outside at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T11:47:38.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19562" CreationDate="2018-01-30T16:08:09.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to suggest that the answer is simply &quot;don't&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While Sam A has a point that sex and puberty (as well as older age, some dogs do get &quot;grumpy&quot; with age) plays a part in dog aggression  it is more likely that it requires a specific incident to trigger aggression. So really, age is not the breaking point. That said, an owner (of breeds with a bad reputation in particular) should always keep a close eye on their dog's interaction with humans and other dogs to step in when it gets too rough from either side. If signs of aggression show it is crucial to be on top of it asap. That can mean addressing and correcting the dog's behaviour right in the situation and practicing the situation later on by oneself or contacting a dog trainer as soon as concerns of a reoccurring issue are raised. Aggression can be a highly ritualized behaviour and therefore must not become a default reaction or ritual in specific situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good socialization at a young age plays a big part in preventing aggression. A dog who's familiar with &quot;normal&quot; life and surroundings and has properly learned to engaged with humans and other dogs is less prone to aggression. There's simply less to stress about and the dog will not be pushed over the edge as easily as a badly socialized one. Also, just like kids dogs learn and refine their social skills through the interaction with humans and other dogs and should therefore make as many pleasant contacts with them (and other species) as possible at a young age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, worrying too much about aggression issues can become a true self fulfilling prophecy. Dogs read human body language really well and will notice if you become tense when you meet another dog/human or when your two dogs interact. When you become tense that usually means something is wrong and your dog might adjust to it by copying your state. And a tense dog is always a dog that might react with aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried about aggression just between your own two dogs you should try not to give them reasons to be rivals. This targets areas such as food (everyone gets their own share at the same time), toys (no fighting about toys unless it's in a playful way during play time), cuddles (everyone gets their fair share, no one is excluded unless there's misbehaviour),... You can see where this is going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line&lt;/strong&gt;: Aggression can always happen and socialization and a close eye are your best friends on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: I just now saw the bounty text. As implied in my answer I don't see any reason why you should separate your dogs while you're at work. And even less an age at which you should start to do so. Separating them can even lead to issues, because the separation would most likely be stressful to them if they've been kept together before and while you're at home. It's a double-edged sword of course, but as long as your dogs don't display signs of aggression when together I wouldn't see any reason to be concerned.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you thought about installing a webcam or similar while you're at work? Being able to frequently check on them while you can't be there might ease your mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2018-02-01T09:09:04.837" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T09:09:04.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18978" CreationDate="2018-01-30T19:48:21.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas are semi-aggressive fish which means that they are temperamental towards certain kinds of fish. Bettas shouldn't be housed with other male betta's since they will fight until one of them is dead. They can however live with female bettas but it's about a 50/50 chance of it working out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as other fish, they can definitely live with other tropical community fish. You wouldn't want to put them with fish that have long fins since the betta will attack the fins to the point of them no longer being able to swim. The best situation to have a betta with multiple kinds of fish would to be a bigger tank such as a minimum 10 gallon tank, put lots of plants and decorations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a huge common misconception that if there are too many plants/decor that the fish will hide when that isn't the case. The more you have, the more confident your fish will be to swim everywhere in the tank. Also bettas are turbulent sensitive so the less the water moves from the filter running or air bubblers the better, again lots of plants will help solve that problem as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish you'd like to mix with your betta would be, mollies, platys, any of the rainbow fish family, cory catfish (must be schooled at least 3 minimum), tetras. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-18T13:46:33.227" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T13:46:33.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19574" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:00:30.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that the tank does not have any substrate for easier clean up, what you have to understand is that goldfish don't have stomachs like other fish do, so what goes in quickly goes out, this is why goldfish are considered dirty fish that most put in ponds and call it a day. Like @Henders asked about your levels, they wouldn't have anything to do with your fish being scared BUT you should keep in mind that with no beneficial bacteria to grow in your tank, your levels can quickly change due to the fact of having goldfish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question has to do with the scared factor of your fish which I will answer along with some other tips that can help you on your journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish have confidence levels just like anybody else, if you give your fish what they need, they will feel no need to hide. In a normal setting whether it be a store, pond, lake or whatever, there is substrate. You need the substrate because it holds on to their waste which creates what is called the Nitrogen Cycle, in a short version, you feed your fish, the waste created by fish (poop) is then turned into Ammonia, that ammonia is then turned into Nitrites and then into Nitrate which is then removed when you do a water change. Without any substrate, I'm assuming you do weekly or daily water changes on your tank which blocks the cycle from happening. Ammonia is the #1 killer of fish, if it can't change in to the lesser toxic version of it which is Nitrite then Nitrate, your tank is just a bowl of toxins that shouldn't just be removed by water changes. If you add substrate, your tank will go through the cycles as it should keeping your levels healthy and your tank clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way if you're concerned about your tank being cloudy, its because of the cycle. If the nitrogen cycle does not happen, your tank will become cloudy going through a daily or weekly syndrome called New Tank Syndrome, it happens because ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are high. The only way to fix it is to leave the tank alone to fix it self and if it's really bad do only 10% water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should only be changing your water every month doing 25% changes or weekly doing 10%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the substrate helping with that, you need anchored plants and a lot of decorations to boost your fish's confidence and not hide anymore. Just because you have plants floating does not mean that it's enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastEditorUserId="11451" LastEditDate="2018-01-31T22:20:52.580" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T22:20:52.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19463" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:14:56.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read the answer comments to your post before writing this, I understand the first answer has a link but what you must understand is that 10 tetras is a lot for a tank of your size. 3 is too small so I'd suggest 5. When it comes to schools you'll want to do them in odd numbers. Second, you don't need to wait 30 days to cycle your tank unless you aren't adding any beneficial bacteria. To shortly describe the Nitrogen Cycle to you, the nitrogen cycle happens when you have fish, when you first get a tank it goes through what is called &quot;New Tank Syndrome&quot; during this period of time is when you DON'T want to add fish, the reason being is that beneficial bacteria is needed to start the nitrogen cycle eliminating any toxins such as Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. How do you do this?? Well you can buy beneficial bacteria to start that process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you just started your tank, set it up put all your decor and then water. Instead of putting fish in that day, you can go to your local pet store and pick up beneficial bacteria, I'd suggest API Stress Zyme, you'd also want to pick up Stress Coat which is a water conditioner. For the rest of your fish keeping hobby you'll want to use both whenever doing water changes, whatever bacteria you take out, you must put it back in. So you'll double the dose on your tanks first setup so say you have a 10 gal you'll want to treat it like a 20 gallon. You usually do both Stress Zyme and Stress Coat for the first 3 days THEN bring a sample to your pet store for testing. If all is good then get the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish is at the bottom it means it's stressed out either by being sick, not enough decorations, water conditions, or bullying. Stress Coat is a water conditioner but it also has aloe vera which puts the fishes natural slime coat back on it's body when it stresses out, eliminating any chance of getting sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest more decor, more plants, and add some Stress Zyme and Stress Coat to your tank after doing a 10% water change, you'll only need about 10ml of each instead of the 20ml if you were starting a new tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you keep up on changing your carbon every month, you should be doing monthly water changes of 25% or weekly of 10%. Aquaclear is an amazing filter that I've used for years. Make sure you don't wash the sponge in fresh water but instead wash it in the tank water that you pulled out of the tank, it holds beneficial bacteria and if you wash it with fresh water you can shock the tank. The little bacteria ball things in the bag should also never be washed in fresh water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:14:56.283" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19340" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:25:52.283" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;First: You don't need to wait 30 days to add fish if you follow what I'm about to tell you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: Goldfish don't have intestinal tracks so what goes in immediately goes out so they are really dirty and shouldn't be kept in a filterless aquarium but if you must keep them in a bowl, do 1. It is NOT true that fish grow to the size of their tanks, their outside body does but their internal organs don't, eventually their organs will get too big for the body and they will die. So it's best to do an inch per gallon. Minimum goldfish should be in a 20 gallon tank but I understand if this is your first time and you want to try things out you will get a bowl. I just want to be clear that if you want to be successful and really love having fish, go bigger with a filter and you won't regret it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To shortly describe the Nitrogen Cycle to you, the nitrogen cycle happens when you have fish, when you first get a tank it goes through what is called &quot;New Tank Syndrome&quot; during this period of time is when you DON'T want to add fish, the reason being is that beneficial bacteria is needed to start the nitrogen cycle eliminating any toxins such as Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. Ammonia is the #1 killer of fish so in order for it to be transformed into its lesser toxic state called Nitrate it must have beneficial bacteria in the tank. How do you do this?? Well you can buy beneficial bacteria to start that process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you just started your tank, set it up put all your decor and then water. Instead of putting fish in that day, you can go to your local pet store and pick up beneficial bacteria, I'd suggest API Stress Zyme, you'd also want to pick up Stress Coat which is a water conditioner. For the rest of your fish keeping hobby you'll want to use both whenever doing water changes, whatever bacteria you take out, you must put it back in. So you'll double the dose on your tanks first setup so say you have a 10 gal you'll want to treat it like a 20 gallon. You usually do both Stress Zyme and Stress Coat for the first 3 days THEN bring a sample to your pet store for testing. If all is good then get the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish is at the bottom it means it's stressed out either by being sick, not enough decorations, water conditions, or bullying. Stress Coat is a water conditioner but it also has aloe vera which puts the fishes natural slime coat back on it's body when it stresses out, eliminating any chance of getting sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish is at the top gasping for air it means that the ammonia levels are really high. Not to scare you or anything but this is the truth, ammonia burns gills which stops a fish from being able to breathe, which is why you might have seen them at the top or the very bottom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest buying a bigger tank, if it can be done get a 20 gal and a Aquaclear filter (Literally the best and will make your life so easy) Get Stress Zyme and Stress Coat, double the doses of both so 2x of 20 ml each or full cap, and let your tank run for 3 days before adding fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that can't be done then still get the Stress Coat and Stress Zyme and if your bowl is 1 gal just double that dose by the instructions on the bottle. Still wait 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you keep up on changing your carbon every month if you have filter, you should be doing monthly water changes of 25% or weekly of 10%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to get the Aquaclear filter, don't wash the sponge or bacteria blocks in fresh water if they are dirty, instead wash them with the tank water you pulled out during the water change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:25:52.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19246" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:30:00.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your budget you can pay a tank cleaning service to come to your house and do it. I used to do it and charged people $1 per gallon, I'd clean their tank, check the fish, and feed them if I was asked to. People would either have me come weekly or monthly depending on budget or schedule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:30:00.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19113" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:35:52.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm too lazy to look up the Celsius Fahrenheit difference but if your fish have ich I'd recommend bringing your tank temp up to 82F degrees and get API Super Ich Cure along with some aquarium salt. I've saved a lot of fish using that combo since I used to work at a fish store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read up on how aquarium heaters work against room temp here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/aquarium-heater-size-guide-1381033&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aquarium Heater Size Guide&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:35:52.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18897" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:39:00.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely looks fungal, I love API Pimafix for fungal infections, I used it all the time when I worked at a fish store. The ingredients are REALLY strong so you'll see improvement soon. Turning up the heater and maybe adding some aquarium salt should help too. Also keep an eye on your water readings, treating tanks with medication can sometimes screw around with the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nirates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:39:00.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18517" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:52:38.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I first setup my plant tank the first thing I did was add API Stress Coat and API Stress Zyme, Stress Coat is a water conditioner with aloe vera and Stress Zyme is beneficial bacteria. If you can get your hands on those or something close to it you'll want to double the dose of them for whatever size tank you have. It usually only takes 3 days or 5 at the most for it to be cycled. I personally don't like SeaChem and had A LOT of customers come to the fish store I worked at complaining about cycling taking too long or other issues happening when using it. Dechlorinator and Water Conditioners are basically the same thing just the difference between Prime and Stress Coat is that while they both remove chlorine and chloramines, Stress coat has aloe vera to protect the fish's slime coat and Prime doesn't have any extra stuff to help fish/plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway when I had my 75g plant tank I just added the 2 I said and 5 days later I added some fish. I also used Floramax as the substrate mixed in with some bigger pebbles to hold the roots better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:52:38.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18733" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:55:42.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your betta could survive not eating for 2-3 days since normally they are fed every other day at pet stores. Feeding blocks are great if you have a bunch of fish in the tank and awful if you don't. They create this fuzzy residu on the bottom where your gravel is that is a pain to clean and since it is food, anything that is uneaten can cause ammonia levels to rise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:55:42.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19297" CreationDate="2018-01-30T20:57:49.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would imagine they aren't eating any food since your other fish are eating it first OR the food flakes are too big. I'd suggest getting a mesh breeder that hangs on the side of your tank and really crush the flakes in your hand until it's practically dust to feed them. Or just really ensure they are getting some of the food you're feeding everyone else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11451" LastActivityDate="2018-01-30T20:57:49.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19591" CreationDate="2018-01-30T22:13:13.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please be &lt;strong&gt;extremely&lt;/strong&gt; careful--many plants are highly toxic (even fatal) to birds. Many common plants, such as philodendrons, are toxic. (Some food plants are also severely toxic to birds, such as avocado and onion.) Conures love to chew and shred, so a plant will definitely end up in your bird's mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few useful lists of safe plants and toxic plants:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15%201912&amp;amp;aid=2236&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A very good list from Drs Foster &amp;amp; Smith, including contact information for the National Animal Poison Control Center.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cockatielcottage.net/houseplants.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A solid list based on Universities of Washington and California, from 2001.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/plants-safe-for-birds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A good list of safe plants.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastEditorUserId="11301" LastEditDate="2018-02-03T12:13:17.220" LastActivityDate="2018-02-03T12:13:17.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19614" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19621" CreationDate="2018-01-30T22:25:46.910" Score="4" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have started collecting woodlice in the garden and putting them in plastic boxes (with small holes, ~ 1 mm wide) with rotten leaves, pieces of apple and earth. What are the risks associated with keeping them in the house? Could they or their offspring escape and start an infestation in my house? Do they carry diseases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11453" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T20:08:30.640" Title="What are the risks associated with keeping woodlice at home?" Tags="&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19617" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-01-31T08:15:23.453" Score="4" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have smaller brothers. One have 3 years, another have 5, another 7 and another have 11 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What dog is better for these children? Maltese or english bulldog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a small house, without garden!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-01-31T14:46:07.120" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T16:12:58.517" Title="Should I consider a Maltese or English Bulldog with children (ages 3-11 years)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19617" CreationDate="2018-01-31T13:29:07.463" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even within any given breed, dogs will have varying personalities. So, &quot;this breed works well with that range of ages&quot; is impossible to answer, especially without knowing more about the family. A family that is outside fur running and playing for at least an hour each day will need a different dog than a stay-at-home family, after all.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You need a dog with a personality that fits well into your family. With a 3 and a 5 year old around, I would suspect you need a very patient dog above all!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Rather than seeking the fitting breed, contact a dog-rescue, and seek a dog with the right personality! Chances are, you will end up with a small- to medium-sized mix :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T13:29:07.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19617" CreationDate="2018-01-31T14:38:58.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Maltese or English Bulldog&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of the two breeds you mentioned, Maltese would be a better fit. 4 young siblings would be too much for an English Bulldog. Due to their genetic predispositions they will have a hard time keeping up as well as their difficulty to be trained will be even harder with 4 young siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What could be my other options?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever will always top the list of best family dogs to have, they are energetic, easy to train and can take a beating (as in rough play with kids).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs are also very content with morning and evening walks, they do not require intense work-outs like a Border Collie or Australian Cattle Dog would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to keep a dog happy when you don't have a back yard:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hire a local dog walker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doggy Daycare&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog Sports - Flyball, Disc Dog, Dock Diving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog Puzzle Toys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With 4 kids, no doubt the dog would be loved and played with plenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T14:38:58.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19614" CreationDate="2018-01-31T20:08:30.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a short blurb from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Woodlice as pests&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although woodlice, like earthworms, are generally considered beneficial in gardens for their role in controlling pests, producing compost and overturning the soil, they have also been known to feed on cultivated plants, such as ripening strawberries and tender seedlings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Woodlice can also invade homes en masse in search of moisture and their presence can indicate dampness problems. They are not generally regarded as a serious household pest as they do not spread disease and do not damage sound wood or structures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they escape, they may get into any compost you house indoors, possibly garbage, and may identify leaks in your house :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T20:08:30.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19565" CreationDate="2018-01-31T20:20:34.990" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a higher saliva PH and helpful bacterias in their saliva that allow them to ingest bacterias that usually make humans sick, also most illnesses humans contract, animals do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note, humans can contract human illnesses from dog saliva, feces, urine, or blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ktudor/2014/jan/are-dog-licks-unhealthy-for-people-31207&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet 'Kisses': Health Hazard or Health Benefit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Benefits of Pet Saliva&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The belief in the curative power of a dog’s lick dates back to ancient Egypt and has persisted through time. In modern France a medical saying translates to “A Dog’s Tongue is a doctor’s tongue.” Recent research has identified products in saliva that indeed aid in healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Researchers in the Netherlands identified a chemical in pet saliva called histatins. Histatins speed wound healing by promoting the spread and migration of new skin cells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dr. Nigel Benjamin of the London School of medicine has shown that when saliva contacts skin it creates nitric oxide. Nitric oxide inhibits bacterial growth and protects wounds from infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Researchers at the University of Florida isolated a protein in saliva called Nerve Growth Factor that halves the time for wound healing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/dog-saliva-5-fast-facts-you-should-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Saliva: 5 Fast Facts You Should Know&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog saliva is antibacterial. “Dog saliva does contain chemicals that are antibacterial and it’s very unlikely that saliva by itself would be a direct cause of infection,” says Harvey. “You often see dogs licking wounds and that is a cleansing action and an antibacterial action to promote the healing of a superficial wound.” Of course licking won’t cure all superficial infections in dogs, so veterinary visits are still often necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog “kisses” may transfer bacteria to humans. Just because dog saliva has antibacterial properties does not mean that dog “kisses” are clean and humans should let their guard down. Dr. Edward R. Eisner, the first veterinarian to become a board-certified specialist in Veterinary Dentistry in Colorado, notes that it’s possible for bacteria to be transferred from pets to humans. One study published in Oral Biology in 2012 found that there can be a transmission of periodontopathic species of bacteria between dogs and their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="832" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-02-03T12:14:22.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15979" CreationDate="2018-01-31T22:22:53.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had cats all of my life. When my mother grew Cyperus Umbrella Plant in the porch in the sixties the cat would go to great lengths to chew this to clear fur balls. Ever since every cat has gone to great lengths to achieve this result so I keep plants indoors over winter. They will chase a cut shoot and enjoy it as a toy. No illness has been connected to this passion. My plants range from 30cm to 200cm tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11458" LastActivityDate="2018-01-31T22:22:53.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-01T13:43:14.600" Score="2" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're getting our girl at end of next week, at which time she will be 8.5 months pregnant. She's a 3yo standardbred 14 3hh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's currently on oaten hay - there's no grazing. I'll be moving her to an acreage with plenty of grass - there will be 3 other horses, I'll close off a gate, they'll have 10 acres at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hearing mixed things, so not sure what to start her on.&#xA;Apparently she hasn't lost or put on weight since this pic 12 days ago. In this pic she is 8 months pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ip0I9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ip0I9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had been intending to start her small amounts of biomare and slowly increase it. I've found out it contains grains, which are not particularly helpful and want to make up a diet for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Australian pasture is high in iron and our horses, generally, need supplementation in Copper and zinc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also going to worm ALL the horses with a equimec plus tape. The farrier will come and trim them all. I'll get the vet to check her teeth, the dentist won't be around for 6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I give her hay as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet will visit her asap after she arrives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've learnt a few lessons since &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15445/a-good-feed-routine-for-a-neglected-and-underweight-horse&quot;&gt;Cleo came to join us&lt;/a&gt; and want to make this filly and her baby's health and chances optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-04-29T09:59:15.983" Title="What to feed an underweight, heavily pregnant young horse?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7746" CreationDate="2018-02-01T14:06:00.853" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently helping my 14 yr old dog with IVD. She was prescribed the Rx meclizine 25mg 1-2x da. You can get meclizine OTC meds in the form of Dramamine. Check it out on Google. It will take some time to get through this, it has been one week for us and things have improved. You might try using a towel under the belly or harness of sorts to give your dog some stabelization. Good luck, it might take a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11460" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T14:06:00.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-01T14:14:40.933" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XI5PA.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;regular covered litter box&lt;/a&gt; that my cats use. But I've noticed that they always poop where the entrance is, and that makes sense. Who wants to walk on poopy sand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any covered litter boxes that have space around the litter? So they can walk around the litter box and poop/pee wherever they want. And it's still covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, instead of entering the litter box and being on top of the sand, it would be like a small bathroom: they go into the litter box, and then they can walk around to see where they can poop/pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:25:10.260" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:25:10.260" Title="Covered cat litter box with space?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19624" CreationDate="2018-02-01T14:20:56.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from rabbit experience, which have a lot in common with horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet changes can be difficult.  For the first few weeks I would continue to offer feeds she is used to eating.  If you can get them to deliver a couple bales of her current hay when they bring her that would be good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally, provide her historic diet as a choice, as well as more healthy options (&lt;em&gt;no idea what those might be&lt;/em&gt;).  Her old diet may be an intersting change for the existing horses, so considering how to ensure she has access to it, without causing the others to over consume it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With rabbits we usually recommend diet changes over 4 weeks, monitor health and digestion closely during transition, you may need more than a week between steps in some cases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 1 = 25% new &amp;amp; 75% old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 2 = 50% new &amp;amp; 50% old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 3 = 75% new &amp;amp; 25% old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Week 4 = 100% new&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T14:20:56.387" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19630" CreationDate="2018-02-01T15:52:21.273" Score="4" ViewCount="11032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an empty, chewed up bottle of Galliprant (20mg, maybe 20 tablets left) when I got home.  Should I do anything or be worried about an overdose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dogs seem completely normal (after 12 or more hours).  One is a Westie (16 lbs), and the other is a mutt (29 lbs), and they are both 14 years old.  The mutt likely has early stage kidney disease, a nodule on his liver, for which he takes Denamarin, &quot;gunk&quot; in his gall bladder, for which he takes Ursodiol, and back stiffness/pain, for which he is taking gabapentin, and Galliprant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11461" LastEditorUserId="11461" LastEditDate="2018-08-21T23:05:38.990" LastActivityDate="2018-08-21T23:05:38.990" Title="What happens when your dog eats a lot of Galliprant?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;new-medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19628" CreationDate="2018-02-01T18:39:02.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.galliprantfordogs.com/vet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Galliprant website&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Galliprant tested at up to approximately 15X the labeled dose for 9 months in healthy dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Studied at up to approximately 15X the labeled 2 mg/kg dose for a 9-month duration in healthy dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No clinically significant changes in liver, kidney or coagulation parameters&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No noticeable effects on food consumption, body weight, ECG, organ weight or hematology&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In most situations, gastrointestinal disturbances were mild or slight and fairly infrequent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neither treatment nor GI disturbance was associated with changes in appetite, appearance or demeanor of dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the weight of your dog he could be fine or become ill. I highly recommend calling the company as they have veterinarians on staff to direct you in the right direction for their product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ELANCO 1-888-545-5973&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T18:39:02.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-01T19:46:50.060" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a 2 month old female lab mix 1 year ago. she's always been extremely friendly toward all dogs shes met. We have a dog park at our apartment complex that she used to love playing with other dogs in. 2 months ago we adopted a 2 month old shepherd mix. Both dogs are sprayed. Sienna who is now 1 year and 4 months old is great with the new puppy, never too rough or aggressive; however in the past 3 weeks Sienna has become very aggressive towards the dogs in the dog park that she used to play with. She has started 3 fights with different dogs now. So far I am just not taking her into the dog park anymore. Any idea or suggestions on what I can do to stop this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11462" LastActivityDate="2018-02-01T19:46:50.060" Title="Dog sudden aggressive towards dogs shes played with before" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19714" CreationDate="2018-02-01T21:20:18.707" Score="7" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am preparing for an international move with my cockatiel.  The bird started brooding and laying eggs about two weeks before the travel date.  It is a 5 year old bird and it is the first time this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now she sits on her (infertile) eggs all day long and only comes out of the nest box about twice a day, and only for a short period of time which she spends eating ferociously.  While in the box, she is aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the travel I must interrupt her brooding somehow.  What is the best way to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I could think of: I can simply move her to a different cage when she comes out, and never let her back to her eggs. I do not know if the shock this would cause is harmful. I tried taking her to another room when she came out to eat last time. After a few minutes she got very nervous and chirpy, and wanted to go straight back to the box.  Eventually I &lt;em&gt;do need&lt;/em&gt; to move her into a different cage for travel ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a more gentle way to deal with the situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11463" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T17:44:58.620" Title="Best way to interrupt a cockatiel's brooding" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-02T04:00:55.077" Score="2" ViewCount="1274" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I use amoxicillin to treat a kitten who is approximately 10 weeks old?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He appears to be congested, maybe has a sinus infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's OK to do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the dosage?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often can I give it to him?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the length of time I should be giving it to him?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have money for a Vet, so taking him there is not an option for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11466" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T14:19:33.403" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T14:26:45.633" Title="Can I treat a kitten with medicine (Amoxicillin) that I already have at home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19641" CreationDate="2018-02-02T04:54:30.020" Score="5" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have older cat that is suffering from chronic renal failure. He is refusing to eat and growing thin and weak. Will he just starve to death? Is that the way a cat with this illness dies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE July of 2020&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This development was the beginning of the end. His condition deteriorated rapidly and the end was not far off. He died in my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several months previously I had a tissue culture preserved from his stomach and from the cells in this culture, a clone was made, so he lives now with me as a clone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastEditorUserId="8256" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T00:31:34.163" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T00:31:34.163" Title="My cat is not eating, will he starve to death?" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19634" CreationDate="2018-02-02T06:38:21.680" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing you can and should do is to take the kitten to a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never give a pet medication unless it is prescribed by a vet and it is for the specific animal and for the illness it is prescribed for. Giving a kitten antibiotics can be very dangerous it will often give the kitten diarrhoea which will often lead to dehydration and the kitten might die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is dangerous to medicate kittens for the reasons I have mentioned before so if you do this be sure the kitten is well hydrated by giving wet food and having water for your cat at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T14:26:45.633" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T14:26:45.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19635" CreationDate="2018-02-02T11:18:01.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refusing to eat may be the way an animal with a serious illnes dies, especially when it already has the diagnosis chronic renal failure. But you can't be sure. It is possible that another (little) illness like an inflammation in his mouth makes him feeling uncomfortable to eat. Then it is possible that this second illness can be cured very easily and your cat can have some more happy weeks/month/years even with the chronic renal failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only chance to know whether your cat is refusing to eat because of the chronical renal failure or if the reason is another minor illness is to go to your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2018-02-02T11:24:24.770" LastActivityDate="2018-02-02T11:24:24.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19579" CreationDate="2018-02-02T12:37:11.730" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have three separate issues here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Your cat does not want to play with the toys you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Your cats do not like to be picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Your cat is meowing at you and you do not know what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For #1 know that some cats are less playful than others. Also each cat has their own favorite toy. Try switching toy types. If your cats won't play with a laser pointer, string, or a feather on a fishing rod type toys, I would guess they are not that playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: Most cats do not like being picked up without some kind of conditioning. This is due to their general dislike of being restrained or trapped. You can train (condition) them to like being picked up by picking them up briefly and holding them and then rewarding them with praise and a cat treat. &#xA;Just pick them up for a few seconds at first, then slowly over time hold them longer and longer as they begin to tolerate it more. This whole process may take a month or more. Also make sure you are holding them comfortably. You can do a web search on “how to hold a cat.” If you are holding them incorrectly they will not like it and will struggle and want down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3: Cats typically meow at their humans for only a handful of reasons.  If they are not hungry or want to go outside then odds are they want some attention. Attention usually means they want to be petted or have their heads scratched. Sometimes they will lead you away to a spot where they want you to pet them. Try following them and when they stop, give them a good 30 seconds of gentle petting. &#xA;If this doesn’t work or you are having difficulties with 1 or 2 let us know and we can try something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:43.387" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:43.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-02T14:08:13.073" Score="3" ViewCount="607" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a stray mother cat and her kitten in my neighborhood. The mother is very friendly, I think the baby kitten is feral because he will run away as soon as he sees a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed both of them as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to keep them but it’s a constant fight with my family and neighbors plus I cannot give them the time they deserve. My neighbors are trying to get rid of them because they think they are nuisance, which I disagree with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taken the mother cat to the Vet and the Vet gave her flea shots.&#xA;The Vet recommended that I do not take her in (meaning start letting her live in my home) until she has finished raising/caring for her kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At times she wants to come to my home but I already have a cat and they don’t get along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What options would you recommend for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11297" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2018-02-03T21:53:23.243" LastActivityDate="2018-02-04T17:00:43.853" Title="How to help a stray mother cat, who wants to come inside" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19635" CreationDate="2018-02-02T15:45:26.613" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not eating because of his chronic kidney disease:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He feels nautious due to the azotemia (buildup of uremic toxins in the blood).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is unlikely to get better without aggressive fluid therapy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor the urine output (anuric renal failure, that is failure to produce any urine, is not a sign that cat owners commonly observe, but is indicative that the kidneys are not functioning).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With appropriate therapy your vet may be able to slow down, or at least partially reverse the progression. The underlying damage to the kidneys is likely irreversible, but the azotemia may not be. The goal of fluid therapy is to flush out the uremic toxins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When cats do not eat, it can be very serious. When not receiving nutrition, they begin to mobilize fats which deposit in the liver, causing hepatic lipidosis. You may notice icterus (jaundice or yellow skin) at this stage, and it makes treatment of the underlying cause more challenging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is unlikely your cat will just peacefully pass away due to kidney disease. It will likely be a long and drawn out period of weight loss, anorexia, and dehydration, which is why humane euthanasia is a reasonable option in those cases that are not responding to therapy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of other conditions ranging from hypertension to hyperthyroidism that are commonly also see in chronic kidney cats. Without your vet performing at minimum a biochemistry panel to evaluate the kidney values (BUN and creatinine) there is no way to predict the cause or severity of your cat's illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have stated, please seek veterinary advice as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-02-02T15:45:26.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6181" CreationDate="2018-02-02T20:47:42.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hand can be an appropriate toy for the cat &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; the cat is taught that you stop playing if she hurts you. Just say &quot;ow&quot; if she plays too rough and then  interrupt the session. In time, she will learn that playing rough ends the play time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-02-02T20:47:42.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15056" CreationDate="2018-02-03T05:13:25.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female Labrador Retriever. The frequency of her unconventional sexual behavior decreased after getting her spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At around 10-11 months old she had her first heat cycle and &lt;strong&gt;started&lt;/strong&gt; behaving quite strangely around the house, most specifically to her bedding (round bed about 4 feet in diameter). She would flip the edge of the bed up under herself and start grinding/humping it for 5 seconds, then jumping away from it while growling and repeat the process 1-2 more times. She would do this multiple times per day. The act of humping most commonly is the action of a male dog, so it was extra strange to witness this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once we had her spayed, we thought the behavior would go away completely, but it didn't. She does however do it less frequently (1-2 times a week, that we witness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been spayed for a year now, and the behavior has lessened but not completely gone away. In your case, if you plan to neuter him, it may decrease the frequency like it did for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's over 4 years old now and still continues to do this. It most commonly occurs when she is overly excited about something (wrestling, chasing, just finishing getting a bath, coming in from a walk, etc...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T18:09:55.797" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T18:09:55.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19624" CreationDate="2018-02-03T09:43:46.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Hay&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She'll be fed large round bales of hale with slow feeder hay-nets, to help prevent colic and wastage.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;She'll be started with ad-lib oaten hay - the same type that she's on now. This hay will gradually be replaced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she has to remained contained in a smaller paddock for the remainder of the pregnancy, she will be fed ad-lib grass hay (probably Rhodes), grassy lucerne (a mixture of lucerne and grass hay) or second grade lucerne (she doesn't need too much prime lucerne, it's high in protein and calcium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is able to spend time in the larger paddocks, she will be supplemented with some hay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pasture&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She'll be hand grazed on pasture a couple of times a day to start getting used to the fresh grass. She's likely to scour if she has access to ad-lib pasture after having none.  When we're confident she'll be settled with the other horses and will cope with ad-lib pasture we'll allow her the run of the larger paddocks with the rest of the herd. Beginning with a few hours a day, increasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Feed&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After investigating biomare and other packed feed, I decided to stick with the homemade recipe I use for my other others as needed, that has no grains and is low in starch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her feeds will be well wet down to aide digestion and sneak in her supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First week she will be given 1 litre of lucerne chaff three times a day, her supplements will be mixed in with this once a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Second week the lucerne chaff will be increased to up to double and she'll be introduced to sugar beet flakes that are soaked in water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Third week, she'll be introduced to small amounts of soaked lupins and copra and the lucerne chaff and sugar beet will be increased gradually. These ingredients, combined with the supplements are the basis of her ongoing diet for late pregnancy and lactation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fourth week, continue to increase quantities with a ratio of 3:2 copra:lupins (dry weight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ongoing, the feeding regime will be contingent upon her needs and weight gain/loss/stability. Her nutritional needs will increase after she's given birth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Supplements&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the chaff she'll be given salt, an equine mix with copper, zinc and selenium suited to Australian pastures and a prebiotic daily to her her gut restore to balance, daily. She most likely will be put onto lecithin daily to help with any ulcers she's likely to have. A probiotic mix will be made up using kefir grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will be given linseeds or an oil specialised for horses without access to fresh pasture that assists in balancing the omega 3, 6 and 9 ratios. This will assist inflammation and other processes. Grass loses is store of omega 3 when processed into hay. She'll stay on this until she is out with access to as-lib pasture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Worming&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To begin with she will be kept in a small dirt yard where she will be wormed, to help stop the spread of worms throughout the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Paddocking&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will be kept separate from the other horses when she's ready to foal and while the foal is young. Horses are social creatures, so it's important not to isolate them. She will still be able to have contact with the rest of the herd, but safely behind a fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, someone was concerned my horses won't come when I call them. Anyone who has experience with feeding horses knows, they will come when you call them :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before and after shots, when she first arrived and 2.5 months later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UGqB0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UGqB0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-04-29T09:59:15.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19639" CreationDate="2018-02-03T16:07:55.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Taking the mother cat to the Vet for care was a very kind thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the Vet recommended, and I would agree, if you aren't intending to take in all the cats (mother including all kittens), then you must leave the mother out to raise the kittens until they are more grown and can attempt to make it on their own. You may run into issues with this plan though because your neighbors and/or local animal-control officers might collect the cat/kittens before the kittens are more grown. Otherwise you may consider taking them to an animal control facility yourself and see if the facility can get them adopted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Make &lt;strong&gt;certain&lt;/strong&gt; that the cats are truly stray/feral. One of your&#xA;  neighbors might just own cats that spend most of their day outside,&#xA;  and finding that one of their neighbors took them, or reported them to&#xA;  animal control could cause issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you feed them and they appear stray/feral, maybe unclean, you may have already determined for certain that they aren't owned by anyone else. If they are owned by someone else and they are not caring for them, you are in a way morally doing the right thing anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention you have a cat already and it doesn't get along with the stray mother cat. &#xA;This is problematic because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are causing tension in your home for your existing pet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you are exposing your existing pet to disease that the mother and/or babies have that you aren't aware of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the tension in the home might cause your existing pet to exhibit behavior change that you might find unwelcoming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were me, I would contact a local animal control office and report the mother and kittens for pickup. You are giving them the best shot at being adopted and cared for properly. You are also respecting the nature of your existing cat and not causing undue tension and anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your comments, you mention not having animal control or shelters available in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds to me like you have three options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take them both in at the same time, and get care for them from a Vet. Deal with any stress this causes in your home for your existing pet. Know that they might try to escape from your home at any chance they can get.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Capture both of them and take them to a nearby town/city that does have animal control and see if they can help you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave them outside, continue to feed them as you have been doing and consider this you doing a good deed for these animals that are in need of a home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2018-02-04T17:00:43.853" LastActivityDate="2018-02-04T17:00:43.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-04T02:03:46.040" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I found a neighborhood stray cat (he often comes in my yard) is having an eye infection.  His right eye appears to be half closed and abnormal with white eye discharge.  His left eye looks fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am willing to take him to the vet if I can, but it's difficult because he is not so friendly to human and not approachable.  Actually I've been trying to tame and touch him for a year without any success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been observing him for these few days hoping it will be cured naturally, while I think I should do something reasonable.  What are the possible options?  I have some my antibiotics leftover (still in good condition); is it good idea to let him take small amount of it with some food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11470" LastEditorUserId="11470" LastEditDate="2018-02-04T02:23:38.290" LastActivityDate="2018-02-04T15:02:30.263" Title="What can I do for a stray cat having an eye infection" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19653" CreationDate="2018-02-04T13:18:26.397" Score="8" ViewCount="2500" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a small human, losing a tooth was a bit of an adventure. While I kinda took it for granted, I realised, about 13 years down the road that I'd never actually seen my dog's teeth when they dropped (well, we did get given a bag of teeth when he had a bunch extracted, but that's what inspired it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if they drop where do they go? I assume if they get swallowed they ought to come out the other end (but I've never seen that), or is there a difference between human and canid tooth replacement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-02-04T13:50:48.633" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T18:54:15.027" Title="Where do puppy teeth go when they drop?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19650" CreationDate="2018-02-04T14:51:40.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For our puppy, on many occasions we would hear her crunch them in her mouth (literally chewing on them) after they fell out. She would eat them but due to the crunching/chewing (they would be quite small), you might not visually see them &quot;out the other end&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other times she would lose them in toys and out in the backyard (where you'd have a hard time finding them as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told by the Vet that dogs do not generally experience pain or trauma from losing teeth like humans do. They might bleed a little but they carry on as if nothing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2018-02-04T15:15:01.363" LastActivityDate="2018-02-04T15:15:01.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19648" CreationDate="2018-02-04T15:02:30.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's a kind thought, I would definitely &lt;strong&gt;avoid&lt;/strong&gt; medicating the stray cat yourself. If by chance the medicine you give him causes an allergic reaction or worse, he may run away and end up dying because nobody can catch him to save him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a small animal carrier, you could place some sort of treat/food inside the carrier to catch him, with a towel/sheet covering the holes/windows (this is so he cannot see you when you are walking up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you put inside the carrier should not be metal or harmful in the event the cat begins violently banging around in the carrier because it is scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also call the Vet that you would intend to bring it to &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt;, to see if they would accept the cat if its too wild to handle. They will also likely provide good tips on how you might catch the cat and what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2018-02-04T15:02:30.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19650" CreationDate="2018-02-04T17:09:11.657" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Where did his teeth go?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs will swallow their teeth, if you're lucky you may see it on the floor or fall out from playing with toys. By 6 months of age, most if not all baby teeth should have fallen out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Retained Deciduous Teeth&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs will have &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/retained-deciduous-teeth-baby-teeth-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;retained baby teeth&lt;/a&gt;, this is where the animals adult teeth grow at an area that is next to the deciduous tooth. If not removed you get more tartar and debris build up in between the teeth, which can cause some complications (gingivitis, infection etc.). This is normally seen in small brachycephalics or dogs with narrow mouths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not very common in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Are teeth digestible?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to have to look into this and get back to you on Monday, my thoughts are no - they should come out the other end. I figure the reason why you don't notice teeth in feces is because no one thoroughly digs through dog poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After discussing with the DVM at my hospital he has told me that the crown of the tooth will be mostly undigested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-02-10T18:54:15.027" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T18:54:15.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19657" CreationDate="2018-02-04T22:29:42.957" Score="4" ViewCount="912" Body="&lt;p&gt;For approximately the last year, our now 2 year old Labrador Retriever has had a problem with her anal glands. We've taken her to the Vet 2-3 times to have them 'expressed', but within a few weeks the smell is back. If you haven't smelled this before, trust me it is foul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interesting thing however is that this appears to have started when we switched her off &quot;puppy food&quot; (formulated for puppies) to adult food (Turkey as the main ingredient).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also interesting that since we have switched her to a different food (Beef as the main ingredient), the frequency has nearly diminished to none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom of the can that I keep her food in still contained the turkey based food, because I decided to switch before she was completely out, and also didn't want to dump all the existing food in the garbage in the event switching didn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, we've reached the old food in the can, and now the smell is back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it plausible that switching her to Beef instead of Turkey (the same&#xA;  manufacturer of food), could have impacted the decreased presence of&#xA;  the anal gland issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2018-02-05T00:01:34.703" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T01:19:41.367" Title="Dog food change reducing the occurrence of anal gland smell" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19660" CreationDate="2018-02-04T23:07:31.057" Score="3" ViewCount="2206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought 7 Glofish Skirt tetras 3 weeks ago and today was the first time I've changed 25 - 30% water for them in 10G (38L) aquarium. Replaced water was tap water warmed for few hours and treated with API Quick Start as per water change instructions. 10 minutes after the change all 7 tetras lifted to the surface and started swimming there like gasping for air. It's been like this for 2-3 hours. Before the water change they never swam at surface, they were happy and playful. I have water filter, heater, air pump dispersing air in the water. I measured water quality with strips and all 7 parameters look good, better than it was before water change. Please advise what does this behavior mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: in a couple of more hours all 7 fish are dead. I still do not understand what went wrong. Something poisonous for them was definitely in the water that killed them in few hours, and I do not understand what exactly. Water parameters per Tetra Easy Strips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nitrites: 0.5 ppm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hardness: soft&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chlorine: 0&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pH: 7.2 - 7.6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;KH: 80 - 100&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think as it was my first water change could be something poisonous in new plastic tools that I used, like pump tube or bucket. Though I rinsed them with warm tap water, something poisonous still might had been left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3BlZx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3BlZx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11478" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T17:12:35.723" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T17:12:35.723" Title="Why do my Glofish Skirt tetras stay on surface after 30% water change?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19655" CreationDate="2018-02-04T23:55:20.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allergies cause generalized seborrhea which in the end makes the glands overproduce their secretions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any dog can develop an allergy to a food that they have been on for many years, at this point it was a good idea to try a different protein source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good bowel movements are also important for the anal sacs to empty, if your dog has loose stool it will be difficult to push out the anal juices from their sacs. Having more fiber in the diet can facilitate the expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merckvetmanual.com/digestive-system/diseases-of-the-rectum-and-anus/anal-sac-disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Merk Manual&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anal sacs may become impacted, infected, abscessed, or neoplastic. Failure of the sacs to express during defecation, poor muscle tone in obese dogs, and generalized seborrhea (which produces glandular hypersecretion) lead to retention of sac contents. Such retention may predispose to bacterial overgrowth, infection, and inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/anal-gland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Science Direct +  Small Animal Dermatology (Fourth Edition)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anal sac disease is a disease process that results in anal sac impaction, which may be followed by secondary infection (sacculitis) and abscess formation. Recurrent anal sac disease is often associated with underlying food hypersensitivity or atopy. It is common in dogs, with the highest incidence noted in small-breed dogs. It is rare in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-02-05T01:19:41.367" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T01:19:41.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19659" CreationDate="2018-02-05T05:48:50.900" Score="37" ViewCount="17036" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m looking into adopting an adult dog from a shelter. As I’m looking through some of the ones available, I’m not always thrilled with the names they are given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to rename a dog so that they respond to a new name? And if so, is that an okay thing to do with the dog, or is it better for the dog’s well-being if they continue to be called by their original name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9263" LastEditorUserId="9263" LastEditDate="2018-02-05T20:53:59.903" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T16:12:16.890" Title="Can I rename a dog I get from a shelter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-names&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-05T05:59:37.733" Score="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really matter. It's a training thing. You can make the dog respond to either name it might just take some time, especially for older dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted our second dog from a shelter and he was so conditioned on his name that he'd cower in fear hearing it, so changing it was not a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think about it, training a new name is basically just training a new command/word for &quot;hey, attention&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T05:59:37.733" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19656" CreationDate="2018-02-05T07:38:09.847" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When fish goes to the surface of the water there is some thing wrong, like&#xA;the lack of oxygen or the presence of poisonous substances in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water test you are using is not reliable and it does not measure ammonia, so it is better to use a liquid type of test kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The API Quick Start is a bacteria mix and is used when one cycles the tank, a little about this is in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article on FishLore.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The API Quick Start does not remove chlorine from the water, so you have to get another remedy for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reasons for the fish going to the surface of the water:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia or nitrite in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lack of oxygen or excess of CO, CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chlorine in the water other types of chemicals present in the water like heavy metals or if you uses air fresheners in the room (very toxic for fish and water-living organisms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toxins from plastic used in the tank or equipment used when you change the water (hot water makes plastic release a larger amount of toxins), so only use equipment made of plastic approved for food use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little about chlorine: if present in water used in your tank, chlorine will kill the bacteria so you might end up with new tank syndrome and have a ammonia and nitrite spike in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is not easy to answer, but my theory is an ammonia spike have happened in your tank, you will see a nitrite spike in your tank in a couple of days if I am right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T14:04:54.353" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T14:04:54.353" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-05T10:48:10.343" Score="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs respond to the vowel sounds more than the consonants.  If you change the name but keep the same (or similar) vowel sounds, chances are it'll be completely seamless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My uncle got a rescue dog named Sasha.  My uncle was mentally handicapped, and had some trouble enunciating, so he started off with this sounding more like &quot;Shasha&quot;.  He and my mum decided to rename her to &quot;Tasha&quot;, which he could pronounce.  The dog never noticed the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More of a problem, a number of years earlier, were the names of my gran's dog, my uncle's previous dog, and my sister.  My sister is called Jenny, my uncle's dog was called Penny, and my gran's dog was officially called Venus but was always called Venny.  My sister of course could hear her own name, so she didn't come when the dogs were called.  But if someone called my sister, you'd typically also get both dogs arriving as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or of course you can train them to recognise a completely new name, as Mario says.  That'll take a little more effort, but it's not too hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11480" LastEditorUserId="10530" LastEditDate="2018-02-12T16:12:16.890" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T16:12:16.890" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-05T11:04:17.387" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, Both Gram and Mario have good answers about changing the name a dog already recognizes &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, many of the names that shelter pets have are not the names the grew up with. If the pet was surrendered by the owner who supplied the name when the pet was brought in AND if that name was not totally inappropriate, than the pet probably is using its &quot;given&quot; name.  There is usually a surrender sheet filled out by the person who bring the pet in. Shelters that I have worked with usually let you see this, a copy of it may even accompany the pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many pets arrive at shelters without history. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pet is using a name it got when it arrived at the shelter, it probably has not recognized it yet.  You can change it without difficulty, to anything you think is most appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New life, new name, new home, happiness forever in the new forever home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T11:04:17.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-05T11:54:40.420" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience I don't think it really matters, it just matter of time for dog to get trained to respond to a new name. I have rescued my staffy that at the time was 3 years old and her original name was Didi and it only took couple of months for her to fully get used to her new name which is Luna. I've got her now for 3 years and she doesn't even respond when I say her previous name - Didi. Some dogs might be different, but in my experience that wasn't a big issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11481" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T11:54:40.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19656" CreationDate="2018-02-05T15:19:07.250" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds very much like chlorine poisoning, if only because the effect took hold so rapidly. The behaviour can be similar for ammonia poisoning, but I wouldn't expect ammonia poisoning to become a problem in the timespan of minutes as you described. Fish with chlorine poisoning suffer damage to the gill membranes, and so breathe at the surface in order to boost their oxygen consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?id=618#.Wnh0Wqhl9PY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;API Quick Start&lt;/a&gt; is not a dechlorinator, so is the wrong product for periodic water changes. What you should be using is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?sectionid=1&amp;amp;catid=19&amp;amp;subcatid=102&amp;amp;id=652#.Wnh1eahl9PY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stress Coat&lt;/a&gt; or another dechlorinator, if you're replenishing using tap water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T17:10:37.923" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T17:10:37.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19874" CreationDate="2018-02-05T16:01:28.187" Score="3" ViewCount="1500" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the stray puppies/dogs I feed keep following me. When its time for me to go home, I cannot since they are always following me. Some puppies stop at the end of their territory, but others just keep following. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched the net, which said training is the solution, but I cannot train them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop them from following me? Thank You.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T14:12:47.960" Title="How to stop stray dogs &amp; puppies from following me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19656" CreationDate="2018-02-05T22:03:17.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly it was &quot;chlorine&quot; or equal .Don't buy anything. Put tap water in containers like ( empty , rinsed -NO soap) plastic gallon milk bottles . Let them sit a couple days at room temperature . You now have suitable water, at least it has worked for me for 70 years . PS; I don't like the modern stained fish , natural fish look just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T22:03:17.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7473" CreationDate="2018-02-05T22:22:15.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult one to call. It's &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; a hard decision to make but I try and make sure that I've done everything I can to help before making a final decision. Here's my list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Water Quality&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your water is as good as it can be. No ammonia, no nitrite and nitrates probably lower than about 40ppm. Make sure you're keeping up with your maintenance. Great water quality can go a long way to healing a sick fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diagnosing the problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and work out what is wrong with the fish. It sounds from your question like your fish has some kind of swim bladder issue because it cannot keep level. Sam A suggests using peas which can help to reduce the risk of bloat but I'm not sure will really help in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Medicines&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that Melafix and Pimafix are great for a range of issues but this fish may be too far gone for this to help. Obviously, if you can its best to separate the fish and medicate a smaller tank so the others are not affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My experience&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, tetras can be quite weak because they are bred heavily for their colours which might mean that other aspects of the fish are overlooked. If you've done all that you can and the fish is making no improvement, you may wish to make a decision. It sounds like you've got a good setup going though because you've not lost any other fish. This is an unfortunate part of the hobby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T22:22:15.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-05T22:47:58.197" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 year old Chihuahua (Oli) that has been through the ringer. I got him in June of 2017 so not even a year ago. He attached to me very quickly. He was not potty trained and did not have any manners with people food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got those two issues under control pretty fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I unexpectedly ended up going through a divorce in November in which I got all 3 of our pups. They all get along so well it wasn't fair to split them. With the divorce, my husband moved out, then me and the pups were living at my parents for 3 weeks in between apartments, then we finally got into my new apartment on Jan 16th. Since we left our old apartment and moved into my parents, Oli has struggled with me leaving the house. He doesn't tear up anything, he just cries very loudly and for a long long time. I am not in a position to let him just cry with there being so many people at the new complex I am living at. Also, he is fine with me leaving first thing in the morning, but if I come home for lunch or leave after I am home from work, he freaks. Besides completely enabling him and just staying home when I get home and not coming home to walk them at lunch, I don't know what to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a thunder jacket for him that doesn't seem to help.&#xA;My sister lives there also and that doesn't calm him down quickly it's after about 30 minutes he calms down.&#xA;I get all 3 pups up and walk them before work then feed them then they go back to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be great! &#xA;Alexis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11495" LastActivityDate="2018-02-05T22:47:58.197" Title="My 2 Year Old Chihuahua cries loudly after I leave" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-05T23:04:18.460" Score="1" ViewCount="5022" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came home earlier to find that my fish had died. I wasn't expecting this to happen as he was supposed to live for a really long time. So this is a situation that wasn't thought about much. I do not want to bury him, flush him down the toilet, cremate him or give him to animals to eat. Are there any other options? At the moment he is still floating in my tank so please help.&#xA;Is there even a way of keeping him in a hygienic way?&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11496" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T10:34:03.493" Title="What do I do with my dead fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-02-06T11:02:58.613" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19672" CreationDate="2018-02-06T00:35:19.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry you lost your fishy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is still with you in your memories of him… You do not need to keep his body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However since you asked about hygienic options you could have him cremated and keep his ashes. Another option (which is rather gruesome to me at least) would be to seal him in a jar with formaldehyde.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would still advise it would be best for you, him and everyone to return him to the earth or water somehow so his death can perpetuate other life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T00:35:19.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-06T04:07:39.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The criticalness of this really depends on the dog. I currently have a lab/beagle I inherited. I trained her to be fully therapy ceritifed (P.P. B+)... but she is not &quot;bright&quot;. I love her, but she doesn't really understand her &quot;name&quot;. She -does- understand and respond strongly to a very specific whistle that I use to call her in the wilderness. Pretty sure she thinks that's her &quot;name&quot;. Which make sense as it's much more distinct than &quot;words&quot;. She also responds stronger to hand signals than verbal commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said... I have had, and known, dogs that immediately recognize thier English name. Even as young as 1 year. With a dog that smart and socially observant, if you call them something else I'm sure they will adjust shortly. Only downside I can think is getting confused when they hear thier old &quot;name&quot;. Not a big deal, in my opinion, so long as no one is still actively calling them by old name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11501" LastEditorUserId="11501" LastEditDate="2018-02-07T20:25:51.267" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T20:25:51.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19665" CreationDate="2018-02-06T08:17:53.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have made yourself a save and stable source of food for those dogs. And so you have started the process of taming those dogs into pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1 -&lt;/strong&gt; Adopt one, stop feeding the rest. Now you have just 1 dog following you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 -&lt;/strong&gt; Stop feeding the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3 -&lt;/strong&gt; Feed them in a way that does not make a connection between you and food. Not sure how to go about this, for animals are very good at this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you plan on adopting a stray, may I suggest you stop feeding them? With more food there will be more puppies and more dogs to feed. You will run out of dog food before they will run out of space to breed...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T08:17:53.553" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19707" CreationDate="2018-02-06T10:35:18.957" Score="7" ViewCount="472" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a stray female cat back in July and everything is going great, she's very lovely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she have a habit that makes me smile but I wanted to know what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, when I walk through the house and pass beside her, she gives a paw stroke on my foot (most of the time when I have slippers). No claws, just a usual cat paw stroke. It seems it's a play thing, but I wanted to know if it's something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if my question is non-sense, I never had cats before so I don't know about their behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11506" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T13:20:17.703" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T22:13:34.457" Title="Is paw stroke a playful behavior for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-06T13:20:49.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience, dogs are rather bad at distinguishing words. They spend attention to the context, intonation, body language and number of syllables. If you say anything similar with the intonation of calling your dog, they will probably walk towards you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are exceptions. Some dogs are better in that regard than others. However, the average dog doesn't really care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10848" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-02-06T14:12:29.843" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T14:12:29.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-06T13:30:44.550" Score="4" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;h2&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything that has worked for me in the past is failing miserably.  When I let her out, she knows to go but she's terrible at alerting me&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; especially if I'm asleep; nor does she seem to have an desire to hold it while we're gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;I rescued a Great Dane last summer&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I still have not been able to fully house break her.  I'm not sure of her past, but she's generally a cautious, untrusting dog.  In fact, it took about two weeks before she'd even let me casually let her in the back yard.  She seems pretty happy and adjusted here, but has some hard, seemingly innocuous triggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;I have house broken many dogs in the past&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My typical method is to vigilantly keep an eye on them, catch them in the act, calmly tell them &quot;no&quot; while leading them into the back yard&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, then wait for them to finish outside, and then praise them. This has never taken more than a few weeks; in the case of my pointer (which I still have) it only took one.  The pointer has even helped me house break other dogs letting me know the other one needs out.  Unfortunately, the second you touch her caller she kind of sprawls, start shaking, and when we first got her she would even pee herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been pretty difficult to teach anything.  I haven't been able to teach her to sit.  I'm guessing it's in part to her being 3.5 y/o and likely never worked with.  I really want to keep her&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;, but she's wrecking my carpets. Worse, I have a small child and another one on the way and I'm getting to the point where I don't want them playing on the floor.  We have made great strides with her socially, but almost none behaviorally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What I've tried so far&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To mitigate messing up while I'm away, I:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick up food/water bowls before leaving for work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take her out before bed and it's the last thing I do before I leave&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I lock her in our bedroom while we sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crate training&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She accepted the crate just fine, but is content to bomb the crate and lay in it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm still trying to introduce clicker training&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She doesn't seem to get it.  She's &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; lean and not at all enticed by treats&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprayed pet repellent on all of her usual spots.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would love to leave her outside during the day, but she just sits at the back door barking/scratching. I suspect this method may have been abused in the past.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra walks in the evening help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Deal Breakers&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;will not&lt;/strong&gt; try diapers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;don't want&lt;/strong&gt; to use pee pads&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She never alerts me herself.  I just notice her getting antsy when I'm awake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Noticed I &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; say drag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... and almost everything gives her diarrhea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is not a decision we're considering lightly. We tried to do a good thing by rescuing and the burden is becoming overwhelming.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:06:44.710" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T12:48:22.503" Title="How To House Break a Stubborn Rescue" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7193" CreationDate="2018-02-06T14:11:14.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason for not giving freshwater fish a salt water dip is this: the salt water is dangerous on a cellular level for the fish due to the change of the osmotic pressure in the cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://fishlaboratory.com/fish/freshwater-fish-vs-saltwater-fish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on fishlaboratory.com&lt;/a&gt; explaining this in the part about anatomy and physiology of the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In freshwater fish the level of salt is higher inside the cells than it is in the water surrounding the fish so the cells keep the salt inside them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you dip the freshwater fish in water containing high level of salt, the salt water will pull the water out of the cells of the fish, so the fish gets dehydrated and starts to drink water to compensate for the loss of water from the cells, but this adds more salt making the fish lose even more water until it dies from dehydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saltwater fish have about the same concentration of salt in the cells as it is in the water surrounding the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In saltwater fish, if you put it in freshwater, the cells will have higher concentration of salt and the cells will absorb water, but the saltwater fish can then simply stop drinking and thereby stop adding dangerous levels of water to the cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In saltwater the fish is drinking constantly to flush out the excess salt from its body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish that live part of their life in saltwater and part of their life in freshwater have special adaptations in their gills, as this is the organ regulating the water and salt level in the fish; the same goes for fish living in brackish water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is another &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogionik.org/salt-regulation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on blogionik.org&lt;/a&gt; about salt regulation in freshwater and seawater fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I had the transport of water to and from the cells reversed but this is now corrected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T19:38:35.053" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T19:38:35.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19689" CreationDate="2018-02-06T16:16:07.220" Score="1" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family's border collie passed away a few months ago and my brother (aged 36, lives with his wife and 6 year old son) wants a new dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 2 problems that my mum and I have raised:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nobody in the family has the time to look after a dog. We all work full time. Beforehand my mum would look after the dog on an evening and I would look after him on a weekend. We both argued that this was too little time for an active dog. Moreover, I will have even less free time, as I'll be studying part-time soon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We don't want to get a new dog whilst we are still grieving for our last dog. The situation becomes harder because my dad doted on the dog. He passed away 2 years ago&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is &lt;strong&gt;given the time constraints and grief, how can I discourage my brother from getting a new dog?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user5807" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T11:49:39.480" Title="How do I discourage my brother from getting a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19658" CreationDate="2018-02-06T21:35:48.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dog will need to adjust to you, your family, and a new home. During that period they will adjust to new name if you want a new name. Learn a name is not harder than learn a command like sit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to foster with a local adoption agency (they moved). Foster would care for the dog Monday through Friday and the dog was at the agency being shown on the weekends. A dog could be taken on trial or returned - they did not want a dog in a bad fit. I fostered a girl named Kitty that was just a mess. I had her for 8 weeks and during that time 2 trials returned her. The agency finally said would you just take her as she loves you and rejects anyone else.  I said OK but I will not foster and they said fair enough.  I gave her a stage name of Miss K and she responses to either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-02-06T21:35:48.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-06T21:51:08.710" Score="3" ViewCount="871" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a stupid habit of running up the stairs. One time I did it while she was at the top, and it was dark so I did not notice her. She started hissing at me and would not move to let me pass through until I went all the way back down and waited a few minutes. Since then, I forgot not to run a few times and ended up scaring her one more time in the same fashion. Now she is afraid of me in any part of the house, and doesn't let me approach. She stopped asking me for food, and only eats when I'm not anywhere near her bowl. This has been going on for about a month, and I don't know if I'm supposed to be doing anything other than letting her be. Is she going to get used to me again eventually?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11518" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-02-09T11:17:38.740" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T10:05:45.273" Title="I scared my cat; now she hisses and growls at me. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T10:16:59.287" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-07T00:57:36.390" Score="4" ViewCount="2335" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much water do betta fish need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e2uWy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e2uWy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11517" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-24T18:54:16.383" LastActivityDate="2020-10-24T18:54:16.383" Title="How much water do betta fish need?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19684" CreationDate="2018-02-07T01:47:55.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't about the dog - its about the people. If your brother wants a dog, and presumably he lives elsewhere &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; should get a dog, not you. Make it clear that its not your responsibility or your mom's and he (and his side of the family) would be responsible if they get a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have good reasons - &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; of the family isn't ready for a dog, either in terms of the time investment or in terms of emotional readiness but at the end of the day, its down to you telling your brother, no, not now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T01:47:55.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19699" CreationDate="2018-02-07T04:33:27.233" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy uses this duck as a comfort toy. I have tried reverse image searching for this toy with no luck. I cannot remember where I purchased it, and I already cut off the tags. I'm looking for this exact toy. Has anyone seen this toy before and know where I can purchase it? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iFzDW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iFzDW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11196" LastEditorUserId="11196" LastEditDate="2018-02-10T19:44:43.743" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T19:44:43.743" Title="Does anyone know what brand of dog toy this yellow, miniature, plush, duck toy is?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19684" CreationDate="2018-02-07T11:49:39.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Addressing questions about people is not the focus of pets.stackexchange.com and the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19684/how-do-i-discourage-my-brother-from-getting-a-dog/19689#19689&quot;&gt;answer by Journeyman Geek&lt;/a&gt; briefly addresses some of those considerations. You indicate that you have already communicated that your mother and yourself will not be available as you were previously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger question that is in the scope of our site, is the impact to the new dog given the constraints of less family support then was available for the previous dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As indicated in the related posts below, dogs without sufficient opportunities for attention and exercise tend to display undesirable behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several considerations;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A 'new dog&quot; is pretty general.  Is this going to be a new puppy or the rescue of an adult dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it is a puppy, how will potty training be addressed?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it is an adult dog, how will integration into the household be addressed? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How will the dog get out for exercise and toileting?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a fenced yard, does a pet door need to be installed? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will you need to hire a dog walker? If so is one available in your area?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What family outings will the dog be able to attend? Are there unique considerations?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What breed of dog are you considering?  We have a number of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=border+collie&quot;&gt;posts about border collies&lt;/a&gt; they fit better in some home environments then others. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Giving a pet a forever home is a big step.  Is volunteering time with a local rescue or shelter a better solution for dogs and family to mutually benifit? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related posts about dogs with limited opportunities &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12203&quot;&gt;Is it ok to leave the pup/dog alone for whole day in a one room apartment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1273&quot;&gt;My dog is destroying things and peeing inside when I am at work. How can I get him to stop?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19436&quot;&gt;Dog has issues to stay home alone after move&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15566&quot;&gt;How to exercise a dog when stuck indoors for long periods of time (e.g. during winter)?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T11:49:39.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2321" CreationDate="2018-02-07T18:40:27.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rat Bella (2 months old) bit me before. I said EEK! when she did. Something with saying EEK! that will make them stop. But you have to do it more than once. I'm still teaching her not to bite. Every time they bite you say EEK! don't be quiet about it tho or they won't think much about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11528" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T18:40:27.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-07T19:05:30.767" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this mean please someone answer and I am so nervous and might freak out because I do not know what to do. I have looked multiple time to see if it was skin, but it was not. Also this just appeared on him recently. Legs and tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11529" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T19:05:30.767" Title="I have had my bearded dragon for 5 years and dark patches appear now?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19682" CreationDate="2018-02-07T19:42:56.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can think of (if the crate doesn't prevent her peeing) is that you have to schedule it more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyone (family, neighbor, friend) that could stop by during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reality is that every time the dog pees in the house it reinforces that there is nothing &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; with peeing in the house. Which means the first, and most important, step is preventing it from happening. When you're home, take her outside every 30 minutes, or 60 minutes. Set an alarm and make it a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be really difficult when you're working though but maybe between the members of your family/ friends/ neighbors you can get her out during the day every hour or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically my point is that she needs to stop having the opportunity to pee where you don't want her to, because every time she does it's a set back to all the times shes gone outside. It's all about reinforcement and right now she's reinforcing the bad behavior repeatedly. She's thinking &quot;why should I be uncomfortable and hold in my pee when I could just pee right here like last time?&quot; If you set a schedule and never let her &lt;em&gt;make&lt;/em&gt; that choice then eventually peeing outside will seem like the only real option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is to clean &lt;em&gt;thoroughly&lt;/em&gt; where she's peed. I know you said that's a lot, but you really need to make sure you have an enzymatic cleaning product that will remove the smell so that your &lt;em&gt;dog&lt;/em&gt; doesn't smell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of household cleaners will make you think it's all fresh and clean but if your dog still smells the pee, then she'll be reminded that it's okay to pee there again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely a lot of work, but if you can be consistent then eventually it'll be 12 hours without an accident, then 24 hours, then a few days, then a week, and suddenly her peeing in the house is only a distant memory and peeing outside is the only option she even considers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not always an option... but maybe even consider taking a week off work or something? If you can be on a strict pee schedule for even a full week and never give her the opportunity for a single accident then you'll be in a pretty great place by the end of that week!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final thing I would suggest is a set of bells for the door. If you train your dog to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/bell-training-dogs-really-works-heres/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;touch a bell&lt;/a&gt; to go outside it might help with alerting you because then she understands &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; she's supposed to tell you. Plus it can be a fun little training/ bonding exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11530" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T19:42:56.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19545" CreationDate="2018-02-07T20:40:31.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just thinking about this. My cats won’t yawn after I yawn, or I haven’t gotten them to do it yet.  They just look at me like they don’t know what I’m doing.  But if one of them yawns, they all tend to yawn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been able to get even the unfriendlinest cat I’ve known to wink at me. So that’s something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have “caught” a yawn from one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11531" LastActivityDate="2018-02-07T20:40:31.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-07T21:05:30.503" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female German Shepherd, 8 months old. When she was young she was playful but also annoying. Things like chewing me so hard dthat I could not walk because you can't walk with a dog hanging on to your legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I worked hard to discourage all sort of unruly behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she is becoming a grown up dog who won't play with me. I can't get her to play tug of war with me, she won't wrestle and fetch works only halfway, she takes the ball and either runs with it or goes somewhere to chew it&#xA;She is still playful with other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I re-encourage playful behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T04:36:55.967" Title="Help: My German Shepherd has lost his spark" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19690" CreationDate="2018-02-08T03:43:23.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The toy was a Simply Fido product! Thanks, Instagram!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11196" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T03:43:23.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19549" CreationDate="2018-02-08T04:44:21.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Worming pregnant horses in the first stage of pregnancy is not safe, due to potential malformations during organogenesis. After the first 60 days, ivermectin or benzimidazole are safe to use, but always checking the manufacturers instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ivermectin wormers brands are Virbac, Equimed. Panacur is a benzimidazole wormer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the Merc Veterinary Manual:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Parasite Control During Pregnancy in Horses&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Patricia L. Sertich, MS, VMD, DACT, Associate Professor of Reproduction-Clinician Educator, New Bolton Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most anthelmintics are safe for use throughout pregnancy, but precautions and contraindications on package inserts should be heeded. In general, anthelmintics should not be administered to mares during the first 60 days of gestation (organogenesis). ../.. Pregnant mares should be administered ivermectin or a benzimidazole 1–3 days before foaling to prevent lactogenic transmission of Strongyloides westeri, which can cause diarrhea in young foals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my purposes I'm using EQUIMEC® Plus Tape. On the product information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IVERMECTIN 8 mg/g and PRAZIQUANTEL 100 mg/g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PRODUCT BENEFITS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.../ EQUIMEC Plus Tape has a wide margin of safety at the recommended&#xA;dose level. It may be used in horses of all ages.  Mares may be&#xA;treated at any stage of pregnancy. Stallions may be treated without&#xA;adversely affecting their fertility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is contradictory to the advice given in the Merck Manual regarding early pregnancy, my take on these types of contradictions, if in doubt, don't. Though that's a personal choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T04:44:21.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-08T15:05:11.707" Score="4" ViewCount="412" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a dog from a local shelter and she bumps into things at night. She is 5 and very healthy. &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; am able to see, but she evidently cannot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her eyes are very reflective blue/green. I asked my vet to look at them and he said they were so reflective he couldn't see into them when shining a light. He told me to see a specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought reflection helped with night vision! Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11542" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-08T15:41:34.790" LastActivityDate="2018-02-09T14:09:39.843" Title="My dog has very reflective eyes but no night vision!" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19704" CreationDate="2018-02-08T17:18:54.117" Score="7" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten doesn't hunt at all. It just keeps lying lazily in the carton box and when it feels hungry, it meows and we feed her. &lt;em&gt;Even when insects or rats go in front of it, she just looks at them and doesn't even try to catch them.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this behavior normal?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I teach her to hunt?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T06:03:01.543" Title="Why doesn't my kitten hunt like others?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19702" CreationDate="2018-02-08T17:38:15.543" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long ago, I had a kitten with similar behavior. I had gotten it particularly to catch mice. It just had no interest in chasing things.  I even put the kitten in a large area with a live mouse and the kitten just ignored the mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave the kitten to some friends who wanted a cat for a pet, and I adopted an adult cat who was a proven mouse catcher.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months later the kitten grew into a cat, and the family who had it now, said she grew up to be a great mouse catcher.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this behavior normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not abnormal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I teach her to hunt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep playing with her, and encouraging her to chase toys.  Rewarding chase behavior with treats will likely help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T17:38:15.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19708" CreationDate="2018-02-08T21:22:12.687" Score="6" ViewCount="3131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a new fish owner with 4 tetras and 1 pleco. My tank is 10 gallon (37.8 liters) with an Aqueon QuietFlow LED 20 PRO Aquarium Power Filter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank has been running for over 3 months and it gets a 40% water change (approximately) every three weeks with distilled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tetra EasyStrips 6-in-1 Aquarium Test Strips for Fresh/Salt Water give these values:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH: 6.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Total alkalinity: 40&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chlorine: 0.4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hardness: 80&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrite: 0.80&amp;nbsp;ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrate: 30&amp;nbsp;ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I bring this tank into balance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11545" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:13:39.870" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:13:39.870" Title="Best way to adjust fish tank water chemistry" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19688" CreationDate="2018-02-08T21:39:43.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't keep a betta in anything under about 20 litres. The shops will often tell you that 5 litres is enough but it's really not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to have at least 20 litres for a few reasons. Firstly, as the fish is always creating waste, the more water you have per fish, the more diluted the waste is in that water. More water, less toxic ammonia (or nitrates) hanging around in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, small volumes of water are notoriously difficult to keep at consistent levels (of pH, KH, temperature, etc.) Even 20 litres is still a very small amount of water. Anecdotally, I had a a 20 litre tank initially and it was &lt;em&gt;far harder&lt;/em&gt; to keep at consistent levels than my 180 litre tank. Get the biggest one you can realistically stretch to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, getting a fish is like getting any other pet except you also have to provide the environment for it too. If this is your first fish or you don't know what the nitrogen cycle is then &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;do your research&lt;/strong&gt;. This hobby can be incredibly rewarding but it can also be incredibly upsetting if you get it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Further Reading&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/19351/6826&quot;&gt;Nitrogen Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18933/how-and-what-to-feed-my-betta-community-tank/18938#18938&quot;&gt;Betta Feeding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/15046/6826&quot;&gt;General Care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/uarujoey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Useful DIY Fishkeeping Videos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T05:56:57.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19680" CreationDate="2018-02-08T22:13:34.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have scent glands at strategic locations all over their body. The pads of the paw are one of them. When your cat touches you with their paw they are putting their scent on you marking you as something familiar in thier territory, or as some people refer to it as “marking you as their property.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is also marking you when he rubs up against your leg or rubs his head or face on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little paw swipes are a playful gesture as well. It is also a way to get your attention so that you might pet or interact with them. I have a cat that puts his paw on me when he wants to be fed. Odds are the pawing behavior achieves all of these ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see cats do this to each other a lot. Sometimes its playful other times it is “hey, move along, this is my spot.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don’t worry: You are in the right place for people to not think your cat behavior questions are nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-02-08T22:13:34.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19705" CreationDate="2018-02-08T22:13:45.973" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I'll go for my old refrain &quot;&lt;em&gt;consistency is key&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. It's better to have consistent water parameters than changing them continually to 'chase the perfect conditions'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, your nitrite should be 0 if your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/19351/6826&quot;&gt;tank is correctly cycled&lt;/a&gt;. Secondly, you haven't got a reading for ammonia there (which is one of the problems with the test strips). Ammonia, as I'm sure you know, is lethal to fish even in small amounts. Check your ammonia reading and ensure it's also 0 which should allow you to see if your tank is cycled. In all honesty, after 3 months it should be cycled but you can trigger 'mini-cycles' if you change all of your filter material or rinse it in tap water etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nitrate is not bad and you can reduce that figure with more regular water changes. There is &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of discussion on the perfect amount of water changes. Personally, I do 25% every week (&lt;em&gt;every week&lt;/em&gt; against all odds) but so many people have so many different views, I'll leave you to read all of those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're changing your water with &lt;em&gt;pure&lt;/em&gt; distilled water you'll want to be careful. Distilled water has no minerals in it (like reverse osmosis (RO) or RO/DI). You need to re-add the minerals to it, or your pH could crash. If there are no buffers in the water, the pH can swing wildly and kill the fish. Remember that pH is a logarithmic scale, so even the smallest change can have a big effect. Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6565/6826&quot;&gt;a great answer about RO and distilled water&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consistency will help your fish adjust to your water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your ammonia reading.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you remineralised your distilled water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the temperature consistent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your maintenance regular.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:09:17.207" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:09:17.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16379" CreationDate="2018-02-09T11:03:58.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gSpBi.jpg?s=128&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gSpBi.jpg?s=128&quot; alt=&quot;Babou, aka &amp;#39;My Patou&amp;#39; ... &quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;My Patou&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do I hear the Skippy whistle?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/99i3L.png?s=128&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/99i3L.png?s=128&quot; alt=&quot;Make no mistake ...&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr/&gt;&#xA;I'm the (proud) owner of an amazing &lt;em&gt;Great Pyrenees&lt;/em&gt; also, for over 12 years already, and yes they are known to be very stubborn (so is &quot;My Patou&quot;, aka mine). However, to do what this question is about, you may want to experiment with an approach that I started over a decade ago, and which worked extremely well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I had noticed that whenever I went to feed the chickens (in the back of my garden), My Patou would often follow me after about 5 mins. She would be waiting for me to return, and sometimes I would reward her then with some tiny piece of old bread (that the chickens seemed to not want anymore).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes however, she wouldn't be waiting. Simply because she hadn't noticed (I guessed) that I went to the back of the garden. But in case I did have some old bread left, I wanted to discretely &quot;call&quot; her (without shouting too much, e.g to not disturb the neighbors). So I thought about &lt;strong&gt;the sound of the whistle&lt;/strong&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByob-5pPEs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Skippy the Bush Kangaroo&lt;/a&gt; (checkout the first 10 secs of this video if you don't know it) and whistled something similar (no tools needs, just a short whistle with 3 variations in the tone of it). And sure enough, each and every time My Patou would react to it. I.e. come find me near the chickens (and of course she'd get the bread-reward).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a little while (about a week or so when I first tried this whistle), I started to use the same whistle in other variations/occasions. As a sample, when she (not me) was in the back of the garden (without a leash of course), and I wanted her to come to me (e.g because I was leaving the house), I just used the very same whistle (without calling her name or anything like that). Whenever she heard the whistle (rarely I had to do it twice ...), she would show up (= come back, as in the question here ...) and at least come to about 10 meters from me (the back of the garden is over 50 meters or so). And if I would then lift my hand (with or without bread in it ...), she would come to me (and even sit in front of me if I would then ask her so). Of course, so now and then I had prepared some (old) bread then also (to ensure that she would keep doing so).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly enough though, about 8 months ago 1 of her legs (front) was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. To give her a &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; (2, possibly 3?) more months, the recommendation was &lt;em&gt;amputation of that leg&lt;/em&gt;. Guess what: it must be because of her stubbornness that these days she is still &lt;em&gt;jumping&lt;/em&gt; around in our garden (with my support as an alternative for the missing leg), about 3 times a day. Often times that jumping reminds me about Skippy, though I rarely use this whistle-trick anymore ... But if I occasionally do, her ears/eyes still react in a similar way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr/&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3754" LastActivityDate="2018-02-09T11:03:58.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19701" CreationDate="2018-02-09T14:09:39.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;the light reflecting cells in the dogs eye do send light to the light sensitive cells one extra time giving the dog better nightvision than we humans have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but just as in humans dogs can have eye problems and many of these problems can be treated by medication if they are diagnosed early if you wait the dog might be totally blind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is a link to some of the eye problems dogs might have &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/condition/vision-problems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://wagwalking.com/condition/vision-problems&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so please take your dog to the specialist as soon as you possibly can to get this diagnosed and treated.it is important for your dogs future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-02-09T14:09:39.843" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-10T09:38:21.677" Score="4" ViewCount="1018" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little info about my tank, I have various soft reef, beginner reefs. The tank is 55 gallons in size. A couple months ago I bought a Yellow Tang. Upon purchase the Tang was an adolescent. I also bought a Coral Beauty the same day. In the tank at the time, there were around 30 snails and 20 hermit crabs, along with 3 or 4 Emerald crabs; a Scooter Blenny. The Tang and Coral Beauty fought over territory and ended up becoming friends within the first week. The Coral Beauty died weeks later by somehow swimming into the power jet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Present day - the Tang and the Blenny still remain. They get along. I have attempted introducing several fish, 2 Lawnmower Blennys and a Six Line Wrasse. The Yellow Tang has killed every new fish I have introduced in the tank. I have also caught him killing snails and eating hermit crabs after pulling them out of the shell. There are some peppermint shrimp on the list too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed the Tang once, mid-day. There is plenty of fresh algae for him to eat in the tank, also. Most is grown in my refugium. Is there anything I can do to prevent the Tang from killing new fish I put in my tank? Is there something specific causing this? Is he just a jerk?!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11556" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-10T10:51:56.767" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T20:32:58.040" Title="Yellow Hawaiian Tang Bullying and Killing Everything in the Tank!" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19632" CreationDate="2018-02-10T15:36:16.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did not receive an answer here, so I wanted to post my own experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of days later the bird became less aggressive, came out of the nest box more often, and stayed out for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the time came to move her to a new cage, she was upset and kept screaming for a while.  I put the nest box in the new cage, but she would not go and sit on the eggs anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day after that she was back to normal, the brooding behaviour is entirely gone, and she seems completely fine (behaviour-wise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, other birds may react differently. I thought it may be useful to share my experience that my bird shows no bad effects (such as depression) from interrupting her brooding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11463" LastEditorUserId="11463" LastEditDate="2018-02-10T17:44:58.620" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T17:44:58.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-10T17:35:33.547" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a wire or something else that can be used to stop ferrets getting into aviaries? One ate my mum's owl over the weekend, and I want to keep them out so no one else gets eaten. (It could have also been a large rat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I keep the birds in my aviary safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11516" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-02-12T21:24:03.657" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T21:24:03.657" Title="How do I keep ferrets out of my aviary?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-10T18:15:30.853" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; year old marginated tortoise still has a soft shell. Also he hasn't grown much since I got him, he is still 4&amp;nbsp;cm long. I'm pretty sure I'm giving him the correct nutrition because I've researched really well. As for lighting, I live in Greece so this is the lighting he would get in the wild. Any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of his enclosure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gxRcG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11558" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T19:25:31.727" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T19:25:31.727" Title="Why does my marginated tortoise have a soft shell?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19723" CreationDate="2018-02-10T20:32:52.887" Score="6" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two cats recently had microchips implanted. The vet, however, lost one of the cats information (entire envelope of information).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet scanned the microchip and wrote down the number associated (15 digits) on a card and said that's all we need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other cat came with sterility expiration + some extra number + stickers containing the barcode + various cards etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I missing any important information at this point, and if so, is there anything I can do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11559" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-02-12T21:23:13.420" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T16:23:51.927" Title="Vet lost cat's microchip information" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19717" CreationDate="2018-02-10T21:34:28.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The chip number is important but so is the name of the company who stores the microchip information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If ever you move you will need to contact the company to change the information, it is also good to have a copy of the paperwork in case mistakes were made when registering your pets. It will give you the opportunity to fix any errors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-02-10T21:34:28.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19719" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19743" CreationDate="2018-02-10T22:57:05.517" Score="2" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought two goldfish last summer and they've been doing great in my 10 gallon tank, but I am starting to wonder about one of the goldfish. I don't know if he is sick, in pain or what. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I bought these goldfish, one looked normal with skinny body and the other had a bloated or ballooned stomach. I thought this is how these goldfishes suppose to look and never really gave it a second thought, but now I am thinking he is sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloated goldfish doesn't look or act like he is sick. He is swimming all over the tank, foraging for food. At feeding time both of them swim really fast to the top of the tank and eat all of their food, he is pooping regularly, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I regularly change the water, clean and replace the filter. I would like to know whether he is sick, and if he is what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J2xcz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/J2xcz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zo34d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zo34d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8394" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T13:28:58.643" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T20:14:59.627" Title="Fantail goldfish looks bloated - Does this mean he is sick?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19721" CreationDate="2018-02-11T07:11:29.667" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a male 9 month old 'Turkish Angora' kitten. He is very aggressive, yowling all day, doesn't want anyone to be closer to him; when anyone goes closer to him or touch him he leaves the place where he is sitting. We visited vet and another person told us that this can be fixed by neutering, as there is no female cat in our house. Is neutering the right choice? Is it the right time? We are really annoyed by his yowling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-29T22:23:32.907" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T22:25:33.600" Title="Neutering a kitten at 9 months of age?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19720" CreationDate="2018-02-11T07:56:20.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, a cat will normally calm down after neutering, and neutering is a normal thing to do for every responsible cat owner. It will keep your cat from getting into fights with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, why did you not get this done when you last visited the vet for vaccinations and health check?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering is done in about 15 minutes at the vet and it saves you from a lot of trouble, like spraying-fighting-screaming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A neutered cat have a tendency to gain some weight, so you will possibly need to change the food to one formulated for neutered/spayed cats; most major food brands have this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a 9 month old cat will normally not need special food until it gets older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-29T22:25:33.600" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T22:25:33.600" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-11T08:08:16.757" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has recently been making a nuisance of himself by fighting both neighbouring domestic cats and feral cats.  Not only has he made himself unpopular with my human neighbours (most of whom seem to dislike cats) with cat fighting noise, but he has also been scratched and bitten so that I have had to take him 4 times to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to stop all this I have been keeping him indoors at night, but this is an unhappy solution as he prowls and cries and is obviously distressed even after 6 weeks of this regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is normally affectionate with me and gets much attention as I live alone, but this fighting problem is disturbing and is a new phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11560" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-11T11:32:17.707" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T11:32:17.707" Title="How to get my spayed 4 year old male cat to stop fighting the neighbourhood?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19717" CreationDate="2018-02-11T08:27:13.627" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your vet will have registered most of the information about your cat on his PC, and the chip number contains information about the producer of the chip plus the unique number of the chip/cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet will have to contact the company to get a copy of the papers for the chip, but this is your vet's problem and not yours. The vet can probably download the form from the company's website and register all the needed information directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I have changed the text, as the manufacturer of a chip is often not the same as the company where the registration is kept and updated when needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T16:23:51.927" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T16:23:51.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19725" CreationDate="2018-02-11T11:22:44.187" Score="3" ViewCount="2683" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had our rabbit for just over a week, he is 15 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handling him is going well, except when I put him back in his cage. He is scared and kicks out, which I've learnt to handle by holding him firmly until he calms down. However, the final transfer to his cage generally earns me some scratches on my chest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I returned to the pet store for advice and the lovely lady showed me how to place a rabbit down, backwards with rear feet first. This was great and I even got to practice with a shop rabbit. However, getting home I realised the crucial difference - in the shop I was placing the rabbit onto a waist-height platform, while at home his cage only has two entrances, both of which I find challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/30tdU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/30tdU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;picture of rabbit cage&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right before putting him down, I'm holding him to my chest. My right hand is supporting his backside, while my left hand is cupping his skull with a finger between his ears. (This was a position the shop taught me). I try and complete a final movement by shifting my left hand under his front legs and using my right hand to deposit his backside into the cage. Due to the need to put him down and across into the cage, he panics and kicks out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly my hold is not filling him with confidence. Does anyone have suggestions for how to handle him so he feels safe during the final placement into the cage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11561" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T22:42:12.007" Title="How to put rabbit in cage without scratching me?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19724" CreationDate="2018-02-11T12:20:32.793" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting a rabbit into a cage can be difficult.  With the cage you have, the  best solution is to have them hop back in by themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even a rabbit that is extremely used to being handled can/will &quot;struggle and flail&quot; during the transition from being held to being put down. I have an 8 year old rabbit (Ruby) who will happily sit on my lap for an hour or more, If I carry her to the other room, she is fine but as soon as I start to put her down she often (&lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt;) starts wiggling/flailing, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The floor of your home, is slippery so I would put a doormat on the floor in front of the cage, then use food or a treat to encourage her to jump in herself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fold down front door can be a safety issues.  Much like wire bottom cages, crossing the fold down door can &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12194/how-can-i-tell-if-my-rabbit-broke-her-toe/13506#13506&quot;&gt;cause broken toes&lt;/a&gt;  In the image below I have converted the door to hinge at the side, more detail at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8122/is-a-bedroom-enough-space-for-a-bunny-to-be-happy&quot;&gt;Is a bedroom enough space for a bunny to be happy?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qn73z.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qn73z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Door rehinged to the side&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding a rabbit is problematic, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7876/will-i-ever-be-able-to-hold-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;Will I ever be able to hold my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to tell from your description, but there may also be cage aggression you can learn more about it at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2674/how-can-i-help-my-rabbit-be-more-comfortable-with-my-influence-on-her-cage&quot;&gt;How can I help my rabbit be more comfortable with my influence on her cage?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have also probably noticed that she is mostly using one corner to go to the bathroom.  If you take out the green room thing, and put a litter box in her bathroom corner it will make cage cleaning easier, we &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/toilet-training+rabbits&quot;&gt;have several posts about toilet training rabbits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-02-11T18:00:38.683" LastActivityDate="2018-02-11T18:00:38.683" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19734" CreationDate="2018-02-11T12:50:42.133" Score="4" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details of the dog:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female Yellow Labrador, 3 years old, gets vaccination on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would request answer to following behavior of my dog and any treatment for this:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whining when entering room, smelling the floor and trying to dig the tiles.&#xA;Digging garden soil. This started about 10 days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A few things which happened:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 15 days ago I moved to a hostel and my dog is now at home with my other family members. She obtained a toy duck from somewhere and is keeping it safe in her kennel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9010" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T06:11:12.293" Title="Dog whining digging garden" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19726" CreationDate="2018-02-11T17:21:39.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 2 year old female Labrador.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She incessantly searches for moles in our backyard when they are most active during the spring, summer and fall seasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, she is outside &lt;strong&gt;right now&lt;/strong&gt; digging into a moles mound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, she will dig up the mounds that the moles leave behind, but on occasion she will dig where there are no visual signs of activity. However, when I look closely, there is in fact a hidden tunnel where she was digging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume she is digging for an animal that has tunnel routes under the tile. Dogs have an incredibly amazing ability to find things by scent, some breeds more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it’s unrealistic for you to pull up the tiles to find out what she is after, you might go digging around in the garden to see if there are rodent tunnels there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2018-02-11T17:21:39.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17506" CreationDate="2018-02-11T21:19:07.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leaving your dog alone for that long at two months is not recommended. You should only leave your dog alone for their age in months * 1 hour (2 months = 2 hours). Once they are full grown, you should avoid leaving them alone for more than eight hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should definitely get a dog sitter/walker to play with her for an hour at least twice while you are at work. She will likely suffer from major separation anxiety over time if you keep her alone for that long this early in her life. At that age, she need lots of socialization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11196" LastEditorUserId="11196" LastEditDate="2018-02-11T21:26:58.110" LastActivityDate="2018-02-11T21:26:58.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19735" CreationDate="2018-02-12T01:48:56.647" Score="4" ViewCount="520" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took home a stray cat about two weeks ago, and she's approximately 2 months old. When she got home, she was well behaved and pretty normal. She plays and eats just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But around her 3rd and 4th day, she became very hyper. She ALWAYS scratches and bites people. She sleeps about an hour, but after that she just goes wild again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she got home, there was no sudden change around her so I'm really confused as to why she acts like this. Until this day, she's like that and I can't seem to finish some works if I let her lose, so to get things done I put her in a cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;no&quot;, hissing, or water spray doesn't seem to cut it. I have so many scratches now. This is really getting out of hand, so I hope someone can help me. I don't want to give up on her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11563" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T15:47:14.813" Title="How do I deal with my kitten's hype?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19702" CreationDate="2018-02-12T06:03:01.543" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I taught my kitten how to hunt by balling up a piece of paper and fluttering it around in her face in an obnoxious manner until she'd bite and pounce at it in annoyance. After a while it turned into play and shed come running the moment she heard a paper crinkle. I started tossing it around and she would very aggressively chase and attack it. Eventually she became highly interested in pursuing anything small and twitchy/fluttery and I haven't had an issue with rodents since. (excepting the time she decided to teach ME how to hunt and released a live squirrel in the bathroom while I was showering.)     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11567" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T06:03:01.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19726" CreationDate="2018-02-12T06:11:12.293" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs dig for a few reasons: &#xA;1: To hunt ground animals &#xA;2: To bury something they want to use later&#xA;3: To form a cool spot to lay in&#xA;4: Separation anxiety&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned that you have recently moved somewhere and the dog remained behind? Your dog may be feeling separation anxiety, just like people when dogs are anxious they develop bad habits. Some people chew on their finger nails or crack their knuckles repeatedly, likewise dogs will Dig obsessively, whine, bark, howl, or chew up furniture when stressed or anxious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11567" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T06:11:12.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19731" CreationDate="2018-02-12T15:55:33.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons why kittens behave like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i. It may have been separated too early from it's litter and it's still missing them and it's mother.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt;&lt;em&gt;Usually they keep remembering their moms when they are separated but if this is the case then this will subside in a few weeks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ii. It has not adjusted to the new home (Maybe something or someone is annoying her)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt;&lt;em&gt;Try keeping eye on it. Maybe someone's frightening her or even bad behaviour towards it can cause aggression. (Note:Kittens get very frightened even with little things. Since she is stray keep your behaviour good towards it.)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;iii. It is unhappy with the food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---&gt;&lt;em&gt;Milk is not the best thing you can give to a kitten, many of them are allergic towards it and it doesn't get digested. Get special kitten food available in the market and feed her. Kittens don't require heavy food only once in a day. Small servings 3-4 times is required.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talking about the sleeping part you have mentioned, it's not normal with kittens as they sleep for atleast 12 hours. &lt;strong&gt;You need to build trust and fill it's tummy in order to get her to sleep well and behave normally.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T15:55:33.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19731" CreationDate="2018-02-12T18:33:13.980" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on what country you live in, your first step should be a visit to the vet to rule out rabies. One of the signs of rabies is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Erratic behaviour - weird biting, odd wandering, tends to be excitable and/or irritable, or shows signs of viciousness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6288/kitten-being-weird-could-it-be-rabies/6289#6289&quot;&gt;Kitten being weird, could it be rabies?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2857/rabies-from-a-cat-under-what-circumstances&quot;&gt;Rabies from a cat? Under what circumstances?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T15:18:10.170" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T15:18:10.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19524" CreationDate="2018-02-12T18:42:23.347" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I think getting a pet right before college is a bad idea. From my experience, college apartments generally frown on having pets, with the possible exception of pets that don't make noise and are confined to a tank or terrarium (example, fish or small reptiles.) Dorms usually have similar restrictions, and are usually extremely small, with the added problem of not having any completely private space. Some colleges even require you to live in the dorm your first year, as mine did. So do NOT get any pet until you are absolutely sure you can get housing that will accept one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, to my knowledge, most of the various species you've listed don't fulfill your stated bullet point requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rats. Rats are said to have a longer lifespan in captivity than in the wild, but still they only live a maximum of three years, but it's more like an average of less than 2 years.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/amp/www.ratcentral.com/whats-the-lifespan-of-rats/amp/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.google.com/amp/www.ratcentral.com/whats-the-lifespan-of-rats/amp/&lt;/a&gt;  Rats also very commonly get cancer due to poor breeding practices which will cut this already short lifespan shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;By all accounts I've heard, sugar gliders do not make good pets. They are not domesticated, require a lot of special care, and they tend to be rather fragile, and don't do well without another sugar glider. They are also not housebreakable, and owners admit they are frequently urinated on. &lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/slavetomygliders/cons-to-sugar-glider-ownership&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://sites.google.com/site/slavetomygliders/cons-to-sugar-glider-ownership&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Madagascar hissing cockroaches are insects. Insects are simply not social in the way other animals are, and thus will not really bond with you like a dog or cat would, and as far as I'm aware, they don't play, though by accounts they don't mind being handled. They also live a maximum of five years, so there's a decent chance it won't reach your minimum five years requirement. They also might be considered an exotic animal in some areas, with restrictions on ownership. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/madagascar-hissing-cockroach-1236891&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thespruce.com/madagascar-hissing-cockroach-1236891&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets. As far as my knowledge goes, ferrets do fit your requirements, though by accounts they are another animal that suffers from cancer due to poor breeding practices that might drastically reduce their lifespan. Ferrets also have a distinct smell people might find unpleasant due to their close relation to skunks. &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/ferrets-stink-1649.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://animals.mom.me/ferrets-stink-1649.html&lt;/a&gt;. I would think the smell is a particular concern if you're trying to house the animal in an apartment, where your landlord might notice and try to evict you. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T18:42:23.347" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-12T19:45:47.460" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;tl;dr&lt;/em&gt;-&lt;/strong&gt;  I'm making a litter box and I want to design it in a way that prevents cats from tracking much litter out of it.  How could this be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm designing a do-it-yourself litter box because normal litter boxes aren't quite sanitary enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two main complaints:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can't stand the smell of cat litter or cat leavings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't like how litter can track when cats come out of a litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my solution's basically this (don't do this at home, may not be safe/correct, etc.):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get a big plastic box, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00GP74TOU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this 25-gallon Rubbermaid storage container&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cut a hole in a side of the box and insert a cat door, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B075S9ZVGN&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some commercial cat boxes already have doors, though these doors tend to let air through on purpose.  This design intentionally seeks a more air-tight door, so I figure I'll use one designed as a pet door for a house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cut two more holes in the top/upper-side of it and run air tubes with low-noise blower fans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B075333HWM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This 4-inch fan&lt;/a&gt; is rated 47 CFM (ft^3/min) with 25dB at 9W.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00EPE3XHY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This 4-inch tubing and clamps&lt;/a&gt; to go with the fan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Probably some sort of screen or/and filter to keep bugs out and kittens in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mount a block of wood in a window sill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The block'll basically prevent the window from fully closing; instead, the window'll close on it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The block'll have two 4-inch holes in it on either side for connecting the tubes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The two 4-inch holes would be on opposite sides of the window to help minimize out-going air being drawn back in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Connect litter box to window with tubes&amp;amp;blowers to continuously vent the litter box's internal air with fresh air.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that this should pretty much cover the smell part.  If too much of the litter stench still gets through the litter box's door, I might have a second-stage box that's also vented with separate tubes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, there's still the problem of the cats tracking litter.  How can this be addressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actually do the second-stage box, then put a litter mat in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;However, I already have litter mats outside of my current litter boxes, but some litter's still getting tracked out anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have the cats climb down into the litter box area such that they have to climb up to get back out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe the climbing-out process will help clean the litter off?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Narrow corridor into the litter box with web-like matting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps this would brush the cats off as they climb into/out-of the litter box?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there another way a litter box like this might be designed to minimize litter tracking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-02-12T21:13:12.207" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T21:17:03.797" Title="How to minimize litter being tracked out of a custom litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19713" CreationDate="2018-02-12T20:32:58.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once tangs establish territory, it can be very difficult to get them to accept any other fish being introduced to the tank.  A yellow tang would have zero problem claiming even an entire 90 - 120 gallon tank, given the opportunity, so the phenomenon you're dealing with is, it's the tang's tank, and he's not wanting to allow you to invade his space with any other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best bet is always add tangs or angels literally the very last of any fish in the tank. But, with a 55, it's arguably way to small for a yellow tang to begin with, so you're likely going to have aggression problems no matter what or when you add fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add more fish, get a much larger tank. Keep the tang isolated until you have all the other fish you want to have in the tank. Add the tang very last of anything. Other option which I highly recommend is sell the yellow to someone with a large tank and get a bristletooth or kole tang. They are far less aggressive and their adult size is much more appropriate for 55 gallon tank. Even said, that tank size is very small for any tang, and most any angel including dwarfs if there are going to be other fish in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T20:32:58.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19738" CreationDate="2018-02-12T21:17:03.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Folks tend to use top entry litter boxes to reduce litter tracking, but many cats get arthritis as they get older and you don't want to set yourself up for the cat not using the box because they associate it with arthritis pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, we bought a roomba and have it vacuum in front of the litter boxes each day. It's not perfect, but it's the best solution we've found (including various litter mats and forced tracking through obstacles). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, I forgot, we had the flooring I mention &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1189/224&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for awhile. It still wasn't 100% and also cleaning under it was a real annoyance so when we moved we didn't redo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T21:17:03.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19682" CreationDate="2018-02-12T21:21:12.053" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a similar problem and tried everything (including diapers to protect the carpet). Our vet said Prozac was our last resort and IT WORKED! He can wait to go out for a long time. However, his cue to go out is to look at us with what we interpret as urgency.  It has not stopped him from marking though, e.g., at the vets office or pet smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10161" LastActivityDate="2018-02-12T21:21:12.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19791" CreationDate="2018-02-13T02:54:59.783" Score="4" ViewCount="1229" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is Cystone effective against UTI (urinary tract infection)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet prescribed Cystone and Tavanic for my dog's UTI. I personally had issues with medicines labeled as herbal—like Cystone—in the past. What stood out is that it had no pamphlet with side effects, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find it on drugs.com either, only found it on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/HIMALAYA-Infection-Treatment-Prevention-Gluten-free/dp/B003EB3Q4E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing the vet again soon and would like to know more before the visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11569" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-13T15:17:21.760" LastActivityDate="2019-04-18T10:54:49.687" Title="Is Cystone effective against UTI?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19719" CreationDate="2018-02-13T12:28:05.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The egg shaped body is typical for a fan tail goldfish. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantail_(goldfish)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantail_(goldfish)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a site like &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/tank-size-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://thegoldfishtank.com/tank-size-calculator/&lt;/a&gt; to size your required tank noting you have one fancy fish and one comet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-13T12:30:55.920" LastActivityDate="2018-02-13T12:30:55.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19731" CreationDate="2018-02-13T12:33:48.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like to me that you just have an  active kitten on your hands. Your kitten is playing and learning how to hunt and fight. This is normal healthy behavior for a kitten. Naturally some kittens are more active and hyper than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also playing rough with your kitten like wrestling with it with your hand will provoke more play fighting from your cat. Also the cat will learn that hands are play things which is not a good thing unless you enjoy your hands being covered with scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to raise a calm and gentle cat be calm and gentle with the cat when you interact with it. Hunting and fighting type play yield more combative and aggressive cats in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many many answered questions here on how to deal with biting and scratching cats but the gist of it is just let them know they are hurting you by letting out a loud cry. I typically say “Owwwwwwww” loudly and scrunch up my face like i am in pain. This is a tried and true method and works for me on every cat I’ve owned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are numerous answered questions here and on the Internet about how to deal with aggressive or biting/scratching cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-02-13T12:33:48.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19722" CreationDate="2018-02-13T12:42:09.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the only way to prevent him from fighting with other cats outside is to keep him inside. While it may seem cruel to deny your cat the great outdoors, your cat will be safer and healthier if kept inside. Ultimately this is a personal decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-02-13T12:42:09.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2527" CreationDate="2018-02-13T15:02:15.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cables need to be carefully placed to avoid entanglement, but we never leave our dog on it alone and unsupervised.  It is just for when we are at home.  Also, use a harness rather than a collar to best ensure no lethal entanglement or neck injury.  Every once in a while our dog used to go airborne chasing something when she got  to the end.  Seems to have learned, but when she did that in a harness she was just fine.  A collar may have been a different result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11570" LastActivityDate="2018-02-13T15:02:15.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2018-02-14T04:33:04.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spray the cat preferably in the face with a spray bottle. They will stop coming near you when you're eating very quickly. That's also effective way to discipline the cat when they're doing other things that you rather not too. Just one small spray usually works. This is not abuse and is a effective way to discipline or redirect a cat. They might still try to test you. But mine is they even see me pick up the spray bottle moves away I don't even have to spray it anymore. Yes you're going to have to have at least three spray bottles so it's always Within Reach because you need to use it as quickly as the cat does that unwanted action as possible you can't go and hunt for it and then spray them five minutes later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11573" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T04:33:04.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19750" CreationDate="2018-02-14T08:40:47.983" Score="4" ViewCount="7214" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my first persian pet and I made a horrible mistake by washing the cat with human shampoo. After that we have never seen healthy coat and the cat has continuous hair loss. I came to know that this is something related to pH dont know exactly what. Will the pH reaction be reversed if I wash the cat with a cat shampoo ? It has been 3 months that the kitten has poor coat and so small hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:00:11.450" Title="Washed the cat with human shampoo, Help!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19748" CreationDate="2018-02-14T10:22:49.863" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You do not need to wash your cat at all unless it has come in contact with something that sticks to the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 3 months the shampoo is long gone, so it must be something else wrong with the fur/skin of your cat. The trouble with human types of shampoo is, they are made to remove types of fat on our skin, and this will dry out your cat's skin and damage it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar question to this one has been asked before on this site so you can find more information about this here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5805/can-i-bathe-my-cat-with-shampoo&quot;&gt;Can I bathe my cat with shampoo?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it can be a number of things like allergy-fleas-lice or even just dry skin. So you need to let your vet examine your cat to find the reason for the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things you might try. Get a cat brush and brush the cat twice a week and take your time brush slowly and remove the old hair as you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brushing will stimulate the blood flow in the skin and make any damages heal faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also start giving your cat fish oil (NOT COD LIVER OIL). You can get fish oil from pet shops, vets or online. Follow the recommended dosage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;fish oil can have a positive effect on your cat's skin and fur and general health by giving your cat omega-3 and other essential oils and some nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:00:11.450" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:00:11.450" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19752" CreationDate="2018-02-14T11:21:29.807" Score="4" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a friend of mine with a redneck parrot. I noticed even if I move the bird in any direction his head remains in a fixed position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common characteristics of all the birds or only in parrot family.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5980" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T12:13:59.837" Title="How do birds keep their heads in a fixed position, just like a Gyro/Gimbal?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19751" CreationDate="2018-02-14T12:13:59.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wShVq.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wShVq.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its not just parrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or Chickens &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And pigeons bob their heads for the same reasons - unlike humans, who adjust their eyes to stabilise their vision, birds shift their heads - or as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/203/5/935.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;paper I'm looking at says&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has led to the view that the&#xA;  pigeon’s head-bobbing is an optokinetic response to&#xA;  stabilize the retinal image during the hold phase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a pretty good article on the topic that I &lt;a href=&quot;https://io9.gizmodo.com/car-ad-perfectly-demonstrates-an-incredible-feature-of-1378832520&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vaguely referenced&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T12:13:59.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5743" CreationDate="2018-02-14T17:20:07.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was younger my older brother worked security for a college and the head of the department was involved with many local police departments and the DEA. My brother had a Rottweiler that the college offered to go through the DEA training, to help locate drugs on campus. This dog went through and passed with flying colors to find drugs and locate missing people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While in the program, the trainers recommended using Brewers Yeast pills to prevent fleas and ticks (since he would be searching for missing persons in wooded areas and also doing a lot of agility training outside). He started using the pills, and so I also started my Rottweiler on them (1 pill per day mixed in with food). I now have a Boxer and a Pitbull who I also treat the same way; never once have any of these dogs had a flea on them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They ultimately produce a smell/taste that the insects do not find attractive. Other benefits are that their coats are shinier, less shedding, and less skin irritations. I highly recommend using Brewer's Yeast for dogs (I also heard it works with cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I purchase my pills at either “The Vitamin Shoppe” or “GNC”. I currently am using the Vitamin Shoppe brand, cost is about $10.00 for a bottle of 500 pills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the nutritional values are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;- dairy free, soy free, and nut free.&#xA;- 10 calories per pill.&#xA;- 1.2g Carbs.&#xA;- .07 fiber.&#xA;- 2g protein.&#xA;- 470mcg of Vit B1 and 160mcg of B2 (both are very good health benefits for dogs).&#xA;- 1170mcg of Niacin.&#xA;- 3900mg of Brewers Yeast.&#xA;- No Garlic is included.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend these pills to everyone I know with pets and those who have used them say the same, they really work to repel insects, and the bonus of the health benefits. To anyone who reads this, I suggest you give them a try and see the benefits for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11577" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-02-14T18:04:27.693" LastActivityDate="2018-02-14T18:04:27.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-14T22:42:49.630" Score="4" ViewCount="1432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3.5 year old female Labrador.I have had her since she was 8 weeks old.She is extremely friendly when we meet other people and dogs.I have been taking her to a dog park for a few months now and spend about an hour every day at the dog park.She usually gets other dogs to chase her with a stick in her mouth.I am always supervising her play at the park.If she doesn't like a dog behavior (mainly humping) she will let them know politely 2-3 times and then I usually intervene and make sure that dog leaves her alone before she snaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, after about 45min at the dog park, I took her to my friend's place to meet their new puppy ( 12 weeks Akita male). I have met the puppy before and he is very calm and relaxed.My dog was excited to see the pup.This was the pup's first encounter with a dog socially(other than the vet and walks). My dog picked a toy and wanted to play tug with the pup.The pup was happy too and at that point, they seemed to get along well.They went to the yard to play.My friend was supervising them.I was inside talking to my friend.After a couple of minutes of play, the pup started whelping in pain.I didn't punish my dog at that time.I am not exactly sure what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pup has 2 bites on the ear, 1 on the muzzle and 1 on the jaw.There was some blood.The pup was scared for quite some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What steps should I take to make sure my dog doesn't do something like this ever again.I know I should have been supervising them play and probably introduced them slowly in a confined space.Should I not take my dog to the dog park? Does that make her more aggressive? She knows she is not supposed to bite humans, I have tried inculcating the bite inhibition from puppyhood.She is very gentle with kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really sad that this happened and want to make sure that I train her positively to not do it again.But I am not sure what that entails.Would really appreciate some advice and suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11579" LastEditorUserId="11579" LastEditDate="2018-02-14T22:49:02.620" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T12:09:10.817" Title="My dog bit a puppy" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-14T22:50:01.167" Score="4" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I received a donation or 4 bags of Hospira Brand Ringer's Solution (1000 ml each) and they say that they are not DPHV-free. My cat is in Stage 3 kidney disease. Is it too dangerous to trust this type of solution for even a few weeks? He must have 150 ml per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bags have already reached their expiration dates. Two were &quot;expired&quot; on Jan 1, 2018, and the other two were expired 2 weeks ago on Feb 1, 2018. The entire plastic quality is not clear like with some other brands bags, but the color is the same for the entire bag, not just where the solution is stored. Solution looks &quot;clear&quot; and not cloudy or darker than the plastic. Probably not as dark as the plastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told when given these bags that the bags should be used within the next 4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do? There is a scarcity of Ringer's Solution/IV bags right now due to the hurricane in Puerto Rico that disabled the facilities that provide most of these products to the USA. Each bag is going for $16 each in my area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11580" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-02-15T15:56:56.853" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T20:11:22.607" Title="Cat Sub-Q Ringer's Solution: Not DPHV Free?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19759" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-15T09:17:24.040" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm staying with step son who has a three month old labrador who has been kept inside all the time since owned two months ago. She's fully vaccinated but probably not fully socialized due to early separation from the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been taking her for walks and she's happy to stand on ice but when she stops walking I notice her rear is shivering. I gather the breed are cold adapted even with a short coat, and apparently little subcutaneous fat. But it's minus 13 degrees Celsius outside, and since she's shivering, does she need a coat? We don't walk for more than an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0xCpn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0xCpn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;lab puppy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="7590" LastEditDate="2018-02-15T15:03:43.223" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T15:03:43.223" Title="Does three month old labrador need a coat in winter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2018-02-15T09:40:30.063" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19754" CreationDate="2018-02-15T10:25:03.937" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you can't really tell what happened. You don't know if the puppy started the fight or if your dog did. You don't know the trigger of the bite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies often don't know the limits of fun and it is normal that older dogs start to discipline the puppies, if they overstepped the mark of polite dog behaviour. That includes some bites, too. Normally the bites are soft and there are no injuries afterwards (but it can look very horrible and the puppies sometimes cry like they are dying). A human should not stop the older dog disciplining the puppy if there is no real aggression against the puppy, so that the puppy can learn good behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The injuries you described seems to be more serious than normal disciplining. There are multiple reasons, why it went that way. I can give you three examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog was very polite, but the puppy was frustrated, because he did not get the stick, your dog was always winning when playing tug or something else, so he started the fight. Your dog was protecting herself, but because she is grown up and stronger, she won.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The puppy did something your dog didn't like and she started to show signs to tell him that. He didn't understand, because he is too young and didn't stop. She let him know that she didn't like that multiple times, but nothing changed. Normally at the dog park you would have intervened at this point. But now you was not there and your dog was alone with this situation. She was overwhelmed with the puppy's behaviour so she started to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Equally to two, but your dog was not overwhelmed and started first to discipline the puppy softly. The puppy didn't understand and didn't stop, so she bite harder.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason could be pure aggression, but I can't imagine why that should be the case. Your dog is well socialized with other dogs and was very playful to the puppy at first. Dogs are not aggressive out of nowhere, so something must have happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you are handling that in the future depends on your knowledge and confidence. If you feel very unsure and if you lost every trust in your dog, take a dog trainer. Another way is to behave like nothing has happened. You could let her play with other dogs at the dog park, but don't let her play with the puppy anymore and be careful if other puppies are at the park. The third way is to force meetings with the puppy, but observe them really carefully and intervene if you see that something is going wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2018-02-15T12:09:10.817" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T12:09:10.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19755" CreationDate="2018-02-15T18:15:11.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is yes, these IV products are safe to use. Assuming they were safe 2 months ago and have been well taken care of since, they are ok now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See these two related questions for more detail&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6220/how-long-do-subcutaneous-fluids-lactated-ringers-keep&quot;&gt;How long do subcutaneous fluids (lactated ringers) keep?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7898/can-i-use-expired-subcutaneous-fluids-lactated-ringers-on-my-cat&quot;&gt;Can I use expired subcutaneous fluids (lactated ringers) on my cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe you mean DEHP, this is part of the formula used in some plastics.  There are a some concerns about it long term use.  There are a few companies making bags without DEHP.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Several investigators have reported the finding of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) at autopsy in patients who had undergone long-term hemodialysis for renal failure due to causes other than PKD. We initiated studies to determine whether the drugs or chemicals to which patients on dialysis are exposed could be responsible for these cystic changes. Adult rats were tube fed chemical residues from an artificial kidney or phthalate esters [di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, DEHP], which are a main component of these plastic kidneys or a control solution. Rats receiving DEHP or residues showed a significantly higher incidence of focal cysts when compared to controls. Rats receiving DEHP developed a significant decrease in kidney function as demonstrated by creatinine clearance, and these animals had the highest tissue levels of measureable DEHP. We postulate that patients receiving long-term dialysis may acquire PKD secondary to their exposure to chemicals leached from artificial kidneys. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3361614&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally you would prefer non-DEHP bags that have not reached their expiration date. But assuming you are not using in the long term and the treatment is medically necessary the minor risks is probably tolerable. You will of course need to make your own final decision.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T18:15:11.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-15T20:14:52.453" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel boy and a 7-8 month old black American Shorthair girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cavvie (Excalibur) is, in general, pretty leery of cats. He doesn't interact with her on purpose very much. He doesn't antagonize her or really do anything other than give her a cursory sniff if she walks near him. The only real interaction he does is if she's hassling him while he eats. He usually whips around and barks right in her face, which makes her back off. Usually two or three times and he'll have a peaceful meal. He doesn't mind if she lies next to or on him. Cavaliers (from my experience anyway) aren't really into &quot;predator/prey&quot; games - they're all about cuddle play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat, Sombra, is young and is a bit of a savage sometimes. She's very inquisitive and is into everything at all times. She has toys, her own food and water, a private litterbox, a scratching post and lots of safe places she can lurk. She gets fed regularly, and despite eating like a horse, she's pretty waifish. Probably because she's an absolutely maniac anytime she's awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She bites and scratches, which gets her a spray from the compressed air can. She's learned over time not to get on the countertop in the kitchen from this. The biting and scratching isn't really stopping, and now she's taken to jumping on my dog's back and sinking her teeth into the back of his neck. My dog's kind of old, so he doesn't have the agility required to shake her off so he just yells out while she bites him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't always be there to separate and spray. I love both my pets, but my partner and I agree that Sombra is 100% the instigator of their squabbles. &lt;strong&gt;Is there anything else we can be doing to help her learn that this is a no-bite-no-scratch household?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9174" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T23:39:29.777" Title="Help to mellow my cat out so she stops biting my dog" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19762" CreationDate="2018-02-15T23:05:17.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that may be causing the cat aggression is the cat is jealous of the attention the dog receives. Also if the cat is not getting enough of your attention she may try to chase away the dog so she gets more attention. Jealousy and other bad experiences / hard feelings can develop into a bad pet to pet relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can repair their relationship by getting the cat to associate good things (like pets/praise or treats) with the dog. You do this through positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For training / conditioning animals, positive reinforcement works much better than punishment. You are currently using punishment to try to eliminate the undesirable behavior. What you want to try to do is to reward good behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way to positively reinforce your cat is to praise / reward your cat when she interacts nicely or peacefully with your dog. Another trick is to place them next to each other and the give both animals a lot of pets and praise. You want to pet the dog and then pet and praise the cat. This gets the dog’s scent on the cat and the cat starts to associate the dog’s scent with the reward of being pet. With cats smell is much more critical in identifying friend from foe than sight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also when ever you see the cat close to the dog and either being nice to it or ignoring it gave her a lot of praise. Dogs can be prone to jealousy as well so keep an eye on your dogs behavior and see if he disapproves of all the attention the cat receives. You may want to give the dog extra attention in private so the cat does not see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you want to make sure you were not giving your cat cause for jealousy in the first place such as giving your dog more attention and lap time or cuddle time than than cat. You may have to give your cat more attention than your dog just to keep her happy. Try it and see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So try to have 2 or more good, positively reinforced experiences between the two animals every day. (The more the better) Their relationship should improve in a week or so. If not let me know and we can discuss other strategies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure you are not hurting your cat but I don’t recommend using a compressed air can as the cold air can cause burns and there may be chemicals in the compressed air cans that are not good for cats or anyone. Sometimes a bit of punishment also helps if administered right when the cat is engaged in the undesirable behavior : I recommend good old fashion yelling with an angry tone. Cats hate loud noises and yelling should make it more obvious to them that you are upset with and disapprove of their current behavior. You can very gently scruff her with two fingers or gently place her on her side putting her in submissive position as well. You can softly growl at her and scrunch up your face a bit too. These are a couple of the ways cats communicate to other cats that their behavior is unacceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="1124" LastEditDate="2018-02-15T23:10:29.723" LastActivityDate="2018-02-15T23:10:29.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-16T17:02:01.050" Score="6" ViewCount="4897" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any known estimate of the total mass of fur shed by a cat over a year? I can find some anecdotal estimates that full regrowth can be achieved over 8 to 12 weeks, but that does not give me any answer with regards to the actual mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some precisions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The answer certainly depends on the cat size but also type of hair, and environment. Cat owners easily observe that shed amounts vary depending on, for instance, current temperature (the animal gets a lighter fur in summer, and denser in winter). It is possible that the growth rate varies with temperature. As such, there cannot be a simple answer valid for all cats, but that does not mean that the question is unanswerable, only that the answer will consist in multiple data points. It's like a question about the height of a human: not all humans have the same height, but it is not totally meaningless to talk of averages.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats are neither photosynthetic nor nuclear-powered. As such, the carbon atoms found in the fur keratin can only come from their food intake (excluding water). Basically, if a cat east 200g of food per day, then it cannot shed more than 200g of fur per day on average, or 73 kg over a year. But I really expect the figure to be a lot lower than that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I find unsubstantiated claims that an average cat may have 20 to 40 millions of hair, with an average thickness of about 20µm, and can grow back a complete coat in &quot;8 to 12 weeks&quot; (if shaved). Assuming an average length of 4 cm per hair, and that hair density is close to that of water, then the total fur weight (under these assumptions) would be 250 to 500g and the beast could produce such an amount 5 times per year, leading to a total of up to 2.5 kg over a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This estimate is based on totally unscientific figures that could be off by a large amount. Moreover, if the growth rate varies depending on conditions, then chances are that a fully-shaved cat will have a higher growth rate, and a non-shaved cat will settle for a lower growth rate and thus shedding amount.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, I am trying to find some better sources for data so as to get at least ballpark numbers. Basically, are we talking about 100g, 1kg, 10kg per year or so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11582" LastEditorUserId="11582" LastEditDate="2018-02-20T16:56:27.883" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T12:38:31.067" Title="How much fur does a cat shed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19765" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-17T00:15:36.797" Score="7" ViewCount="1479" Body="&lt;p&gt;We really want to get tropical fish but there's a problem. In the state we live in, it can get as high as low 40's °C in the summer. And worse, we don't have insulation installed in our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Would it get way too hot for the fish even without a heater?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When it gets too hot, could I even get a tank cooler for it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are fish tank coolers adjustable for temp?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Would it be possible without frying the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:56:01.493" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:59:17.767" Title="Can a house get too hot for tropical fish and what precautions could we take?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19765" CreationDate="2018-02-17T02:12:13.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are coolers for aquariums, but I would spend the money on a home air conditioner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The labyrinth fish like Bettas can easily take an air temperature of 35 °C; I expect the water to be somewhat cooler due to evaporative cooling. I keep paradise fish outside (in the shade) at 35 °C air temperature. With good aeration many tropical fish should be good to 35 °C air temperature. I keep danios, mollies and koi, under these conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:57:21.947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:57:21.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-17T23:17:44.010" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat eats from all the decoration plants in the house, and then vomits them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What common inexpensive plant can a cat eat that's healthy and that she won't throw up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it's a plus if it's a pretty-enough plant that it makes the house look nice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="8568" LastEditDate="2018-02-18T14:00:17.590" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:21:25.803" Title="Plant for cat to eat that she won't vomit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19765" CreationDate="2018-02-18T10:08:12.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a fan or squirrel cage blower to blow air onto the water surface. This will cool the water in the tank down, albeit at the cost of evaporation. You will have to top up the water at regular intervals, and also, this does not work well in extremely humid weather. But once you get it setup, the water will be cool as heaven for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3527" LastActivityDate="2018-02-18T10:08:12.617" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19765" CreationDate="2018-02-18T15:31:12.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saltwater fish are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and can not tolerate excessively warm water. The larger your tank, the easier it will be to maintain a consistent temperature. Fans can help to lower the temperature a bit, but the best bet is to use a dedicated water chiller. These use a refrigerant, and have coils that drop into the filter box. I’d recommend looking on eBay or Craigslist to find one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.marinedepot.com/Chillers_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-FICH-ct.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.marinedepot.com/Chillers_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-FICH-ct.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11593" LastActivityDate="2018-02-18T15:31:12.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19780" CreationDate="2018-02-18T17:53:46.657" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shepherd (9 months, female) is completely non-aggressive. I only saw her being protective once when a female homeless person yelled at my girlfriend from very close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All nice and fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except she barks (once) at children and dogs to get them to play with her. Dogs are ok with that. Children not so much. Parents even less. I always say no but the damage is done - the parents look at us as if we were a three headed monster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="7490" LastEditDate="2018-02-20T15:15:10.037" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T15:15:10.037" Title="German Shepherd barks non-aggressively at children" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2018-02-19T03:34:45.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My water is chlorinated from sink, my tomcat will tote food across the room in his mouth to dump in his water system. I purposely separated the food area across the kitchen from the water bowl to see if he would stop doing this. It  not only makes the water messy,  the heavy plastic  bowl also has to be broken apart every day to wash the God awful sewer smell from inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it may be the smell and taste of chlorinated water that he doesn't like. I'm going to try leaving gallon jug of water out overnight to see if that is the issue.  I will let you know how it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are a trip; but I wouldn't take a million for him. Good luck and please post if you find the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11595" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T22:19:48.810" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T22:19:48.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19768" CreationDate="2018-02-19T08:16:41.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophytum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chlorophytum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for one. There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/cats-plant-list&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more, way more.&lt;/a&gt; But this one is quite safe, or as safe as green stuff is going to be for carnivores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there is &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/evr_ct_how-to-grow-cat-grass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat grass&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. That seems to be a combination of grasses, mainly green and tender new growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why do cats vomit?&lt;/strong&gt; And why do they eat plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no better answers then the wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat &amp;amp; nutrition&lt;/a&gt;. Let me quote the relevant part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats do eat grass occasionally. A proposed explanation is that cats use grass as a source of folic acid. Another is that it is used to supply dietary fiber, helping the cat defecate more easily and expel parasites and other harmful material through feces and vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-02-21T07:19:15.157" LastActivityDate="2018-02-21T07:19:15.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-19T16:46:08.530" Score="3" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have only one light source going at a time, during the day I place the UVB light in the lamp while at night I insert the infrared basking light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is 75 °F (24 °C) where the UVB light is, though sometimes she will sit there with her mouth open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11598" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-07T23:02:32.643" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T23:02:32.643" Title="Is my lighting correct for a bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-19T18:39:13.613" Score="2" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a 1 and a half month old cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was very calm and friendly when I first brought him home and he would sleep on everyone's lap.&#xA;So I took him to the vet to get him checked and make sure he's OK.&#xA;The vet diagnosed him with a disease which he said was from the cat's mother.&#xA;So I had to apply an eye drop to his eyes every six hours or he could lose his eyes.&#xA;He didn't like it at all. I had to force him to sit stable so I could apply the eye drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, he is almost always afraid of people and me(unless he's sleepy), he never sits on my lap, never purrs and plays really aggressively and bites and scratches. When someone is approaching him, he puffs his tail and runs away(most of the time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's now at 2 and a half months old.&#xA;So my question here is, is he ever going to go back normal and show some affection and be nice, or will he remain this way? Should I re-home him or is he scared of all people?&#xA;What should I do to make him trust me again?&#xA;What should I avoid doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you and sorry for the length of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11599" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T08:03:27.333" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T08:03:27.333" Title="My cat is afraid of me and plays aggressively" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19772" CreationDate="2018-02-20T01:40:03.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like you’ve got a very normal dog! That’s a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog communicating to the other object, whether it be another dog, adult, child, etc.. might be occurring more if you are apprehensive about letting your dog visit the other object. It might be that your dog is restrained and wants to get the attention of the other object because your dog wants the other thing to come to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It actually sounds a bit better than normal that your dog doesn’t continually bark and bark and bark at the other interesting thing. Beyond some people just not having an interest in dogs, I don’t know of anyone who likes a dog that barks non-stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You’re in a very normal position however. It’s the right thing to do that you aren’t just letting your dog run after whatever the interesting thing is, while barking, because it’s going to scare the other dog, adult, or child and turn them off from wanting to play at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be that if your dog barks once or twice at the other dog, adult or child, you can verbally ease the persons mind by saying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“He/She is saying hello, and wants to play”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might get a better response from whoever it is on the receiving end of the situation. Most importantly, you are now giving the recipient the cue that it’s their turn to either let the playing happen, or show that they truly are not interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T01:40:03.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19786" CreationDate="2018-02-20T04:30:59.727" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in India and I have a semi-stray cat. We feed him daily and he goofs around in our backyard for most of the day. However, he seems to be very active nowadays and picks up fights with other cats in the mating season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one occasional scratch is fine, but last week he got beat up pretty bad and is &lt;strong&gt;missing a 2 cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; patch of skin&lt;/strong&gt; on his front right elbow and internal flesh is exposed. It looks pretty bad. I had a look at the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6005/how-can-i-bring-an-unwilling-cat-to-the-vet&quot;&gt;How can I bring an unwilling cat to the vet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19722/how-to-get-my-spayed-4-year-old-tom-cat-to-stop-fighting-the-neighbourhood&quot;&gt;How to get my spayed 4 year old Tom cat to stop fighting the neighbourhood&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17018/calming-down-feral-cat-to-take-to-vet&quot;&gt;Calming down feral cat to take to vet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem is, he is wary of my any attempts to even catch him and runs away. And I don't have access to traps. The most he is allowing me to do is to douse the area with tincture of iodine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure if this is not treated, he will not make it. What can be done now? Shall I sedate him first with some medicine, or use oral antibiotics? Will this heal by itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11604" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T22:29:29.450" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T22:29:29.450" Title="Injured semi stray cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-20T05:14:05.040" Score="1" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter brought home a shy 5 yo fixed female. At the last owner's home Chloe was really sweet and friendly. She got her in the house and without thinking she opened the crate (she was concerned as she had vomited just moments from home.) Chloe was gone in less than 15 seconds. She found a hole under the kitchen cabinet and will not come out! I know she is scared to death! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried offering treats, and she lashed out with paws and teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we set up food, water and a litter box. We are coming up on 48 hours with nothing to drink or eat, and no voiding.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I supposed to do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried dry, moist, pot roast. I am afraid she is going to die in there. She is in the noisiest part of the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11605" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-22T01:27:35.530" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T16:24:04.823" Title="New Cat stuck under kitchen cabinet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-20T06:19:04.960" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a power outage for 2 days from a storm, and since then my two aquarium heaters don't seem to be working( I know it takes a couple hours to warm up &amp;amp; the light only comes on and off when heat gets to the point...)&#xA;But  it's been like a week and I haven't seen the light come on in either of my two tanks, and I don't have a thermometer to test the heat.. and my apple snails are so slow and nearly come out of their shells.. and I have 2 pregnant guppies ready to pop- but I don't think they will at this pipnt because it too cold?&#xA;Are the heaters dead?&#xA;How can that happen?&#xA;Ps. I know I really need the get thermometers..&#xA;Plz help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T00:07:21.340" Title="My aquarium heaters don't appear to be working?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19768" CreationDate="2018-02-20T06:42:35.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only plant I know of that cats eat without vomiting is catnip &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;. This plant might grow quite large, but it can be cut and held at the size you want in your house. It is good for this plant to be cut and held at 10-20 cm, as it will grow denser by doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always have this plant in my house for my cat to nibble on or rub against, but it has a fairly strong but not unpleasant smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:21:25.803" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:21:25.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19782" CreationDate="2018-02-20T06:55:56.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for taking care of this little one. I know how bad it feels to feel helpless in situations like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are doing the right thing with the iodine. Povidone iodine is much better than tincture of iodine. If you can get a hold of a triple ingredient antibiotic cream for cats/dogs with Bacitracin, neomycin, and polymyxin that would be even better. Erythromycin is good as well.  Avoid human antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume the wound is not bleeding? If the cat is not bleeding, as long as you can keep the wound clean with the iodine, the wound should heal and the cat will be fine. Often times cats survive wounds like this without human intervention. If you can get a damp cloth and gently clean any blood or dirt that is around the wound gently, you can help prevent infection as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch for signs of infection: redness, swelling, weakness, lethargy, and see if the wound smells bad or is draining puss. If the wound becomes infected then the cat will need some antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are treating its wound, it sounds like the cat lets you handle it? If so you could quickly pick him up and drop him into a cardboard box or plastic bin. Have another person standing by to close the box when you drop him in. Wear some thick gloves if possible and make sure your forearms are covered with several layers of clothing. Once in the box you can get him to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once had to catch a badly injured feral cat with a fishing net - the smaller ones with a hoop on the end of a short pole. If you have access to one you could capture him that way if you had to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how the cat is doing and we can continue to advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T06:55:56.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19783" CreationDate="2018-02-20T07:19:55.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, get some help with disassembling the cabinet, as it is dangerous for cats to go without food and water for more than a day, and it gets progressively more dangerous as time goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat does not start eating within a very short time after getting her out, you need to take her to a vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is always a good idea to take a new cat to the vet within a short time after you get it, for vaccines and a checkup, and so the vet knows you and your cat if any emergencies should ever happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-22T01:26:15.763" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T01:26:15.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19784" CreationDate="2018-02-20T07:41:45.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aquarium heaters die all the time. Just buy new ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always keep spares in case one dies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should really get a thermometer to monitor the tank temperature as the settings on those things can be off. And even a stick on thermometer can warn you of a heater failure. The other thing people do is touch the glass whenever you walk by as an additional check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T07:41:45.027" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18605" CreationDate="2018-02-20T09:43:54.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now that it has been 4 months since I posted here, and about 3 months (roughly) without  an accident, here is how I did it :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I made her sleep in my room at night, &lt;strong&gt;door closed&lt;/strong&gt; for a whole week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every night before sleep time, I let her out and trained her to pee on demand (&lt;em&gt;you'll find out how to do it bellow&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A week later, she peed again in the living room&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I made her sleep in my room for a week again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[REPEAT UNTIL IT'S OK]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to make your dog pee on demand :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go out with your dog on a spot where you want him to pee every night (it's important to set up a routine).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask him to pee with the word/phrase you want, (eg. &quot;go pee !&quot;). Again it's important to use the same word(s) every time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay still until he does it. If your dog is not sniffing the floor or walking around anymore, motivate him by saying the words again with more enthusiasm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he does it, reward, as usual, by greeting/petting/giving a treat to him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you did it in your own garden, ask him gently if he wants to go back inside. If not, &lt;strong&gt;do not insist&lt;/strong&gt;. Let him outside for 5-10 more minutes and go back there to get him back in. If you have to go down the street to walk your dog, &lt;strong&gt;do not head back home&lt;/strong&gt; as soon as your dog is finished. This is important because if you do so, your dog will think that &lt;strong&gt;peeing = walk is over&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10566" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T09:43:54.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19777" CreationDate="2018-02-20T16:47:38.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reptiles need to thermoregulate so you should always have a daytime basking light along with the tube UVB light for the cooler end. Mercury vapor bulbs or metal halide bulbs for basking are the strongest for UV output as well as heat for basking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some metal halides have hot spots (essential areas with too high UV output), Zoo-Med products are the way to go for safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://zoomed.com/powersun-h-i-d-metal-halide-uvb-lamp-fixture/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PowerSun - Metal Halide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/solar_glo.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SolarGlo - Mercury Vapor Bulb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cooler end should have fluorescent tube lighting, this will give UV for the full length of the enclosure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://zoomed.com/t5-ho-reptisun-10-0-uvb/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ReptiSun T5 HO 10.0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these lights emit UV rays for 1 year and should be replaced. You will have to adjust distance of the lights depending on how tall his enclosure is as they need to be a certain distance away to prevent over-exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coil bulbs are not sufficient enough for UV production for bearded dragons, they need high output lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not turn on any lights for night time as it interrupts their sleep cycles, to keep his enclosure warm at night use a ceramic heat emitter or install undertank heating cables (&lt;strong&gt;only to be used with a thermostat&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on bearded dragon care you can view the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15224/diet-and-care-for-bearded-dragon?rq=1&quot;&gt;Diet and care for Bearded Dragon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2285/what-is-a-good-substrate-for-a-bearded-dragon-terrarium?rq=1&quot;&gt;What is a good substrate for a bearded dragon terrarium?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1692/why-are-red-bulbs-bad-for-my-bearded-dragon&quot;&gt;Why are red bulbs bad for my bearded dragon?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5923/how-do-i-tell-the-sex-of-a-bearded-dragon&quot;&gt;How do I tell the sex of a bearded dragon?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-02-20T16:47:38.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19742" CreationDate="2018-02-21T09:38:43.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a herbal 'supposedly' ayurvedic medicine made by a pretty big supplement manufacturer who also has a sideline in veterinary products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently there were &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3925635/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;human&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; trials and they were inconclusive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This short term study does not suggest that Cystone® affects those&#xA;urinary chemistries commonly measured and known to influence calcium&#xA;oxalate stone formation, nor does decrease renal calcium stone burden&#xA;over a 1 year period. It is possible elements of the urine were&#xA;affected that are not typically measured (e.g., glycoprotein&#xA;inhibitors). A longer term study with more patients would be necessary&#xA;to detect changes in stone events or enhanced stone passage, or&#xA;effects on other stone types. In any new study of Cystone, the&#xA;botanical authenticity of each individual herb will need to be&#xA;documented by the manufacturer using high pressure liquid&#xA;chromatography. This short term trial failed to find evidence that&#xA;Cystone® prevents kidney stone formation and growth in recurrent&#xA;calcium oxalate stone formers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Erickson SB, Vrtiska TJ, Lieske JC. Effect of Cystone® on Urinary Composition and Stone Formation Over a One Year Period. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology. 2011;18(10):863-867. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2011.01.018.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found a list of the herbs it contains on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.himalayawellness.com/products/pharmaceuticals/cystone-tablet-syrup.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Himalaya's website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Didymocarpus pedicellata&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergenia_ligulata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bergenia ligulata&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tribulus terrestris&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oddly &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of these might have an effect on their own in studies -&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17140554&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this came up searching for&lt;/a&gt; Didymocarpus but this is in a test tube apparently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's inconclusive - and it feels a little like something that's given as a 'complimentary' medicine rather than something that's proven to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-04-18T10:54:49.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-21T15:32:40.527" Score="4" ViewCount="710" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've adopted a new, 14 week old kitten, who seems to be rather skittish. He have been avoiding handling him since tends to hiss and run when picked up, and prefers to play with us from a distance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been trying to keep the noise level down, and get him used to us so we can socialise him. He also seems to cry a lot, especially at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we socialise, and help a young kitten settle in? I grew up with kittens and cats, but never one this young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11615" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-08-16T16:08:54.787" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T01:52:53.297" Title="How to befriend 14 week old kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-21T15:41:52.177" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have moved into a new house about 3 months ago. My female cat, I believe, was really stressed and ran out and did not come back for about 2 weeks or so. I later found out she was in one of the houses near ours which had a garage similar to our older place. Until one month ago, her behavior was normal as usual. But, again she goes to that house and pleads for help, so I bring her back. Then, again she runs away. What makes it worse is that her 8 months kitten too runs toward her mother. The last time, I brought her back, she had lost a lot of weight. I don't know if she's depressed or how I can help her. I'm really worried for my cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11613" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T18:39:10.663" Title="Female cat runs away thrice a week until I bring her back" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19792" CreationDate="2018-02-21T17:44:17.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to get him to play a little, so he forgets how scared he is. He cries because he misses his mother, so he needs you to help him feel safe. It does often take some time before a young cat is comfortable in a new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to pet him a little when he comes out of hiding, but do not follow him as this can make him scared of you. After some time you can lift him when he comes to you and put him on your lap, but do not hold him tight - let him be able to get away if he wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does look like you are doing things right, so you only need to give it some time; things will be ok. Some kittens need a couple of weeks to warm up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting the kitten to play is important, cats are not able to play and be scared at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a cat tree you can place the cat there on an elevated place, so he can see what's going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T01:52:53.297" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T01:52:53.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19793" CreationDate="2018-02-21T18:15:45.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When moving house it is important to keep the cat inside for some time so the cat gets used to the new place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it is time to let the cat outside try to do this in the middle of the day and leave the door open. It is best if you are outside with your cat so the cat can see you. Only let the cat be outside for a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly increase the time your cat stays outside over several days so your cat gets used to the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10503/moving-cat-to-new-house-but-keeping-her-outdoors&quot;&gt;similar question&lt;/a&gt; to yours. The accepted answer is a really good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="5085" LastEditDate="2018-02-23T18:39:10.663" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T18:39:10.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2018-02-22T11:18:31.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here I am sharing a general thing what I see in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog follows you inside because the dog is not distracted by unfamiliar smell, but outside, there is the whole bunch of different smells, because dogs recognize people and other stuff on the based of their smalls, that's why they are curious to know to whom this smell belongs to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another nature of the dogs is to put run after moving things (which they find suspicious).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; The nature of the dogs may vary depending upon the location and the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11590" LastActivityDate="2018-02-22T11:18:31.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19799" CreationDate="2018-02-22T11:48:19.057" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I when out for a walk with my pet dog &lt;em&gt;(with the leash on)&lt;/em&gt;, he just forgets about me and tries to run for different things like &lt;em&gt;(dogs, cats, car)&lt;/em&gt; and it gets harder for me to control him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to take him on a walk, but due to his behaviour, I try to avoid talking him for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone tell me how to get this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog:&lt;/strong&gt; Labrador&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age:&lt;/strong&gt; 1 and half year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gender:&lt;/strong&gt; Male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11590" LastActivityDate="2018-02-22T23:48:30.383" Title="How to make my dog walk with me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19801" CreationDate="2018-02-22T20:15:50.383" Score="3" ViewCount="3467" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat recently had a blood test that includes measuring PSL (pancreas serum level? lipase?).  This was a broader senior-cat panel, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; an fPLI.  The result was higher than what the lab considers the normal range, and came with approximately this note: &quot;In a cat with no other symptoms indicating pancreatitis, a moderately-high level is inconclusive&quot;.  (I haven't seen the report yet; my vet was reading this to me over the phone.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What they don't say is what's considered &quot;moderately high&quot;.  With a normal range going up to 26 (I don't know the units either), do they mean not to worry about 30? 50? 100?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried searching VIN and found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vin.com/apputil/project/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=17256&amp;amp;SAId=1&amp;amp;meta=2&amp;amp;catId=93555&amp;amp;id=4951457&amp;amp;ind=737&amp;amp;objTypeID=1007&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; that mentions what might be this test, but it doesn't talk about ranges of results.  A general Google search didn't turn up anything either.  (Maybe I have the expansion of &quot;PSL&quot; wrong and that's my problem.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T02:00:06.213" Title="How high a PSL is considered normal in cats with no other symptoms of pancreatitis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19797" CreationDate="2018-02-22T23:48:30.383" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice: take him on walks &lt;em&gt;more often&lt;/em&gt;, many times per week and you may find that your dog becomes much more used to the environment, thus needing to pay less attention to all of the triggers around him. Don't let it get you down, like anything with dog obedience, its often the frequent corrections and work that get you the results you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a Labrador Retriever, 1.5 years old. We do not take her on walks as often as we should, we know this very well, but we also live in a climate that rains a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt;, so it's not always the most fun taking her out on a walk and then having to dry her off (she is an 'inside-dog' for most of the day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I have found to be interesting though, and might be stating the obvious, but the more often we walk her, the less she attempts to run off and/or chase objects. She is a much better/behaved walking buddy when we take her frequently. I've also found that she is a wonderful dog to run with. Running wears her down much faster and then walking afterward becomes easier and she is less interested in other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7490" LastActivityDate="2018-02-22T23:48:30.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-23T00:47:58.157" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we got a holland lop rabbit a few weeks ago second hand from another couple. &#xA;He's been great so far, but I've been reading online about communicating with my rabbit by mimicking his own behavior, such as communicating insult by walking up to him, taking a step back, then turning my back on him, similar to what he does to me when i do something he doesn't like and he demands an apology in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also read that rabbits understand territory in 3 categories, their own personal space shared with a mate and only close personal friends - public space, shared by all, and territory owned by someone else. &#xA;I wonder, how can I mark my own territory (such as my bedroom) so he will understand this is my territory, and be less likely to wander in there and get in to things. &#xA;Rabbits mark by peeing or pooping, I'm certainly not going to take a dump on my carpet.. lol - so how can I mark my territory in a way he'll understand and respect? it's easy to be a human about it, consistently remove him from a room etc.. and he'll eventually learn &quot;if i go in there, I'm gonna get kicked out, so i wont go in there&quot; - but I want to do it in a way where his natural instincts kick in and tell him &quot;this is someone else's territory&quot; - If i can get that point across by marking it as my own in a way he understands, coupled with normal training techniques (removing him from the room) he'll get the point &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;does anyone have any advice? I've actually had some success curbing annoying behavior be acting insulted like he does to me, but I'd really like to learn more about the territory stuff&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11619" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T00:47:58.157" Title="How can I mark my own territory and communicate this to my pet rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-02-27T13:01:46.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19798" CreationDate="2018-02-23T02:00:06.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;PSL stands for Pancreatic Sensitive Lipase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pancreatitis is a challenging diagnosis to make in the cat, as there is no single good test. Some tests will have false positives, others false negatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether a sample is fasted vs non-fasted seems to make a big difference for any lipase tests. Most of the time, cats are not fasted before their blood work, which can make interpretation of results more challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The laboratory (presumably Antech for PSL) sets the reference range based on a certain percentile (e.g. 99% of &quot;normal&quot; cats fall between 8 and 26 U/L). The problem is that a fraction of normal cats will fall outside the reference range, and the ranges are based on an arbitrary population that is not necessarily representative of your particular cat's population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what Antech means by a mild or moderately high elevation is difficult to say, and I cannot find any good documentation for the test. With this particular test, I would become more concerned for pancreatitis at roughly 2-3 times the upper reference limit (so around 50-75 U/L). I have seen values for this test at 200+, which is obviously more diagnostic. That being said, the diagnosis of pancreatitis is multi-factorial. Are any clinical signs present (vomiting, inappetance, abdominal discomfort)? Is there evidence of pancreatitis on imaging (radiographs or abdominal ultrasound)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PSL and fPLI can be elevated due to inflammation in the region of the pancreas (e.g. duodenal or other intestinal inflammation). Therefore it can be useful to pursue a GI panel (folate and cobalamin levels) as well as further imaging to determine if there are pancreatic changes or visible intestinal thickening suggestive of inflammatory bowel disease or GI lymphoma (common in older cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am more familiar with Idexx's fPLI, as I run that more routinely. Commonly I see mild elevations in otherwise clinically healthy cats, and in those cases do not jump to further testing or treatment immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try not to run blood tests for pancreatitis unless there is a clinical suspicion for pancreatitis, because the results can be so subjective. With pancreatitis, it is important the vet treats the cat not the number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T02:00:06.213" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-23T05:20:16.320" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got home and my baby guppie is at the bottom of my 10gallon tank, and he seems to be having troubles to swim... i don't know what to do please help:(&#xA;( points that may help:&#xA; He is as big as a neon tetra&#xA; It's only him and a neon tetra in the tank- yes I know I need more of each kind but I haven't had time to get more at this point)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T05:20:16.320" Title="My baby guppie is having trouble swimming" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-23T08:00:31.437" Score="2" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just got a new bullmastiff puppy. He is currently 10 weeks old. The timing is great because I work from home and will only be returning to in office hours in April.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In April he will be 4 months old, is that old enough to start leaving him alone? My wife will be coming home for lunch so he will have company during lunch but for the rest of the day he will be alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we rather invest in doggy daycare until he is a bit older? I have been getting mixed messages on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Filipe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11622" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T08:00:31.437" Title="Preparing to Leave Puppy Home Alone" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-23T14:11:11.350" Score="4" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;p&gt;One year ago we adopted a small female dog that we named Lola. At that time she was 1 and half years old, so now she is 2 and a half. Lola was abandoned with her puppies before being rescued. She lived for some time on a farm with other dogs and cats, probably with a lot of space to run freely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;del&gt;She is a very afraid dog. She has fear of buses, people, leaves on the ground, plastic bags, brooms, thunders and so. She is a small mixed-breed dog.&lt;/del&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time of the adoption, the previous owners told us that Lola was taught to not pee or poop inside the house. It's been one year now and we have tried some tricks, but with no success. We tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;defining a place where she could do pee, first with journal papers, a &quot;kind-of-a-diaper-sheet&quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dropped a few drops of a special product that makes dog pee on paper;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;collected her own pee and the pee of other dogs with those papers so she could understand that she can use that space to pee;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tried to teach command words while she was outside to make her pee or poop on demand (like a lot of videos on YouTube)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing did work. Also on some days, she stays almost 10h alone at home, without peeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have other ideas on how to succeed in this task?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am removing the &quot;fear dog&quot; part because I added it as a contextualization for the question, but it didn't work as expected. The main question remains: how to make my dog pee inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11625" LastEditorUserId="11625" LastEditDate="2018-02-24T19:40:20.563" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T16:05:57.500" Title="How to make my dog pee inside our apartment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-23T14:58:44.563" Score="2" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend has a little dog, named Thor, who absolutely loves to play. He has his favorite toy, named Blue (little blue piggy) that I gave him; and Poe (Poe from Kung Fu Panda) that my boyfriend gave him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I moved in my boyfriend's apartment, his ex was living there and Thor would always play with his other toy, Squirtle; my boyfriend also got him this one. Now she's out of the picture and he never plays with that toy anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me whether I should get rid of it and why he won't play with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11627" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T06:17:56.620" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T06:20:12.803" Title="Why won't my dog play with his toy anymore?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19764" CreationDate="2018-02-23T17:12:24.110" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is much too varied to give an even halfway accurate answer. Even if we disregard differences between breeds of cat and hair length, this can vary on a &lt;em&gt;personal&lt;/em&gt; level.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Other than that, even if we were to somehow keep an eye on cats so we could count this, the fact that cats self-clean is going to throw a wrench in the numbers. You're never going to get an accurate measurement of hair loss since they ingest and digest hairs too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two sister cats. Born in the same litter, sharing the same father (guaranteed). They were both sterilized. It took one of them &lt;strong&gt;three times&lt;/strong&gt; as long to regrow the fur on their belly. 1,5 weeks versus 5 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, although both cats are now in a shedding phase, there is a notable difference in the amount of hair that sticks to your hand when you pet them. This may be related to the fact that their fur feels different (one is a bit more bristly, the other has a very silky fur).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, these cats are about as equal as you can get: same age, same parentage, all food is shared, same environment, similar lifestyle. And there is still a 200% increase in hair growth speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without trying to be facetious, I think there's only one way to answer this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Observe the cat for a while. Wait until its fur stays of a consistent length (should apply to pretty much any cat in the long-term). Call this state the &quot;equilibrium&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Completely shave the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Observe how long it takes for the cat to regrow its fur back to the previous observed equilibrium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Count all the hairs on the cat (good luck).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you can calculate an average shedding rate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;avg_hairs_shed_in_a_day = hair_count / days_to_regrow_fur&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically, if a cat is able to regrow its entire fur in e.g. 100 days, that means that it must shed an amount equal to its fur coat in 100 days in order to stay at an equilibrium.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it was shedding &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;, the cat would eventually go bald. If it was shedding &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;, its furriness would increase over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But due to the vast amount of factors involved in hair strength/hair growth; we can't really answer this question unless we perform this experiment on every breed of cat in almost every variable condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have the time for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-02-23T17:18:20.450" LastActivityDate="2018-02-23T17:18:20.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19388" CreationDate="2018-02-24T05:41:03.490" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very dangerous situation, you definitely need to seek professional trainer's help. Check out some videos here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WEFxuk1Coc&amp;amp;index=8&amp;amp;list=PLlEEuBO0SnptkAc5F47EmnxxIRPKfn2U0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WEFxuk1Coc&amp;amp;index=8&amp;amp;list=PLlEEuBO0SnptkAc5F47EmnxxIRPKfn2U0&lt;/a&gt; - there are plenty of good trainers, who can identify the reason for Juno's aggressive behavior and address it accordingly. They will most likely need to use some e-collar training, which you could try as well to curb super aggressive outbursts, this article gives some options &lt;a href=&quot;https://traindoghq.com/bark-collars-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://traindoghq.com/bark-collars-guide/&lt;/a&gt;. But make sure to introduce the collar properly if you decide to use one. And better yet, get the trainer to show your sister how to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11631" LastActivityDate="2018-02-24T05:41:03.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19804" CreationDate="2018-02-24T07:23:07.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog, a small mixed breed feared the outside when I got him. He was a rescue dog. It took time and understanding w/reassurance that it was ok. Just go to dogs level and rub both ears saying softly something soothing like its ok, youll be ok, that type of stuff. Its been 4 years and Patch is much better with less visanle fear. As for peeing in the house, try to walk her every day until she goes exclusively outside. You dont want your dog to go indoors...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11633" LastEditorUserId="11633" LastEditDate="2018-02-24T07:29:26.920" LastActivityDate="2018-02-24T07:29:26.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19805" CreationDate="2018-02-24T07:27:22.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's his toy, so keep it. He will play with it if he wants to. Maybe you can play with the toy and try to bring him in the play. It's natural for dogs to get bored with their toys, like a kid would. Just make sure you wash them every so often, so it can get fresh smells on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11633" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T06:20:12.803" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T06:20:12.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19811" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-24T15:18:02.043" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 month 30lb large breed Poopy(not real name) can hold her pee. We spent one weekend constantly monitoring her pee situation, and she didn't have an accident once in the house. Then during the week, while at work, she peed in the house. And we come home to what seems like a river of pee with poop islands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to use pee pads but it did not work, mostly because I never used pee pads before and made a mess of the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our options are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a dog walker who comes for 20 mins 3 times a day for Poopy ($60/day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teach Poopy at to go pee in a corner using pee pads, then try to correct her 3 months later as she will be tiny horse sized.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suffer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First walk in the morning is at 6:30AM. I leave for work around 8:30AM. She has the company of my 9 month female 80lb dog(potty trained), and has a dog walker coming at around 2-3PM. I come back at 7:30PM and immediately take her out.  Then, I sleep near her crate in the living room, and get up at 11:00 PM, 2:00AM and then restart the day at 6:30AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have been limiting the food intake to twice daily. My girlfriend thinks that this is not working out as there is still poop in the house, and thinks the Poopy is looking malnourished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-02-24T15:18:02.043" Title="3 month large breed puppy thinks it's ok to pee in the house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-24T19:17:37.500" Score="4" ViewCount="8805" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, 8yrs old, was fine a few days ago, then quite suddenly he has become very anti-social, is hiding under the bed, in the closet or near the window. His meow is pained and doesn't like it when I touch him. He doesn't seem to be eating or drinking - and hasn't had any water in 24hrs it seems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to take him to the vet but would be grateful if anyone could help figure out what's wrong with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He received pain medication, a water injection and medication that encourages appetite. The drugs have now worn off and he seems somewhat back to normal. I'm awaiting news of his urine and blood test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's still a bit of a mystery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11636" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-27T09:00:39.603" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T17:13:12.567" Title="All of a sudden my cat is not eating, not drinking, walking slow and hiding. What's wrong?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17166" CreationDate="2018-02-24T23:23:46.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few possibilities here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Medical problem: Sometimes cats can, for whatever reason, have a medical reason for poor bowel control.  I had a Manx who had poor pooping control most of her life.  As a result she often got constipated and needed help getting stuff out.  It can work the other way too and they can strain or have an accident just before or just after leaving the litter box.  A visit to the vet might help diagnose this.  Antibiotics, sickness, etc can cause loose stools in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Territory: If the cat (pooping outside the litter box) feels threatened by the other cat, pooping there is a way of broadcasting &quot;This is my territory&quot;.  This is a possibility but you mention the poop is wet and sloppy; unless this cat always has had wet sloppy poop I'd lean to the first possibility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Upset / Angry: This is less likely but general stress / conflict could cause a variant of 2) where the cat makes a mess.  It is less common but I have heard of cats doing this when their owners were on vacation etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2018-02-24T23:23:46.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-25T11:32:28.650" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm moving houses but I have 15 cats with me whom I want to take to the new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats are neutered cats and I'm very close to them. Right now they live with us and things are very good but I'm worried. I don't want them to try and escape and get hurt or lost!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a big garden which I want to introduce to them within 2-3 weeks after they get comfortable in their new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advise please or tips on how to handle my 15 cats :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11637" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-02-25T17:32:40.653" LastActivityDate="2018-02-25T17:32:40.653" Title="Moving houses with 15 cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-02-26T17:02:22.253" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19821" CreationDate="2018-02-25T14:19:58.780" Score="7" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a 3-year-old cute tabby cat from a local shelter 3 days ago. The shelter found her and some of her friends around a park. We don't know if she had any owner before, but she is litter trained. She is also neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that when we try to approach her gently, she runs away and finds hiding spot. If she is cornered when we are approaching her, she starts hissing. During the day she looks relaxed but we can not really interact with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems very fearful and some time might make her a bit more relaxed, but she is not even reacting to food. We put out some for her which she eats during the night. Although she ate the premium alu-packaged stuff before our eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the time being, she is only allowed to be in our living room. although she stays only in one corner and the shelves next to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have any suggestion, that we can do in order to fasten the relaxation of this poor girl? Or how much should we wait until we can pet her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11639" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-02-26T05:49:18.987" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T11:56:08.967" Title="Fearful 3-year-old adopted cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19812" CreationDate="2018-02-25T18:16:21.390" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat needs to see a veterinarian immediately. Only they can evaluate your cat to determine what is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A urinary obstruction is a major concern given the signs you have described, and the fact that your cat is a young to middle-aged male. This can be life-threatening, and will not get better without veterinary intervention. If your cat has a urinary obstruction, the longer this is left the more serious it will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-02-25T18:16:21.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19824" CreationDate="2018-02-25T22:19:03.800" Score="6" ViewCount="652" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my home some small jumping spiders as well as those small spiders with long legs hanging from from spider net are there. My cat stalks and eats them. The process goes on for half an hour. She slowly keeps on injuring and eating the spiders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spiders are poisonous so is it safe for my cat to be doing this? If it is not then how can I stop her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Location - India, Kolkata&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-26T16:07:31.767" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T18:01:32.237" Title="Is it safe for cat to eat poisonous spider?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;arachnids&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19817" CreationDate="2018-02-26T04:55:34.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spiders are &lt;em&gt;typically&lt;/em&gt; venomous not poisonous. The &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; news is for most part, most common spiders probably cannot hurt a cat, and while I can't really find an academically rigorous source, I can't find any stories of this being dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its worth looking at a few things - whether there's &lt;em&gt;generally dangerous&lt;/em&gt; spiders in your region. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_bite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;spider bites wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cat-world.com.au/spider-bites-in-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this site on cats&lt;/a&gt;, would suggest its mostly spiders that would be dangerous to people too. If you have, say wild tarantulas, or tunnel webs... well you'd want to be a little bit more careful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description - we're talking some variety of daddy long legs - which contrary to &lt;a href=&quot;http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;popular belief are not venomous at all&lt;/a&gt;. I &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; find any references to jumping spiders hurting a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally, if you see swelling or your cat seems ill... well, go see a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-02-26T08:58:28.360" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T08:58:28.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19764" CreationDate="2018-02-26T07:11:47.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A guesstimate is that a cat with medium length of fur has about 10% of its body weight as fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every hair in this fur is replaced once a year +/- two months. A long haired cat has two types of fur: a short haired undercoat made of thin hairs and a long haired overcoat made of thicker hairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer hairs do grow for a longer time, but they do not grow as dense as shorter hairs do (in number of hairs per square CM of the cat's skin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So short to medium length fur is just one single type of fur--it is just undercoat(not totally correct but close to it). Long haired cats have both undercoat and overcoat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not able to back any of this up so this is what I personally think about a cat's fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0659/4529/files/SkinCoat_WhiteSheet6-5.pdf?6678352109863082785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link about the fur of cats and dogs&lt;/a&gt;. It does not solve your question, but it is still interesting. Christy.b provided this link to another question I had, so credit to her for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T12:38:31.067" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T12:38:31.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19815" CreationDate="2018-02-26T08:34:18.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should give the cat a minimum of two weeks to start to trust you before you start to gently force the cat out of hiding. Do not use treats to get the cat out of hiding, but you can give treats after she has come out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking behind this is, if you use treats to get the cat out, the cat will learn that if I hide I will get treats, so you will have to think about what type of behaviour you are rewarding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have to force the cat out of hiding, you start holding the cat for a very short time before letting her go. This is to show her what you want and that you are not going to harm her(be careful--she has claws and teeth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe get a tetanus shot just in case the cat gets too scared :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After you have repeated bringing the cat out of hiding and holding her for a longer time each time, the cat will get more used to handling and hopefully&#xA;come out on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on the cat. It might be a stray or a feral, and it might have had bad experiences with people, so you have to be patient. You and the cat will succeed in being friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding a stray or feral cat can be a challenge, as they often eat as long as there is food available, so they will get fat if you do not limit the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to have a cat tree or a possibility for the cat to rest or view the area from an elevated place, and it is best if this is away from doors and from where you need to walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i have had a feral cat, and he was about ten years old when I got him, and it took several weeks before he came out of hiding But O used the method I mention, and it does work. It only takes time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;litter training a cat is not a thing one needs to do i took the feral cat and put him om the litterbox two times and from there he got it no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the first time i lifted him up on my lap he got so scared that he did pee on me but the next day he just jumped down and from the day after every thing was fine he became the tamest cat i have ever had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T11:56:08.967" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T11:56:08.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19815" CreationDate="2018-02-26T08:38:53.183" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;TLDR version: Let her set the pace, practice patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long(er) version: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on whether she's a stray or semi-feral will heavily influence how long this takes. With a stray expect 1-3 months of patience to be required, with a semi-feral it can take 1-6 months (or more with especially fearful cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for how to proceed: First and foremost let her set the pace for things, do not corner her, and if she shows signs of fear: back off. As long as she eats and drinks, then things are moving in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting off you might want to make sure you don't startle her, don't approach her suddenly without warning, but make sure you interact to some degree. To start with, talk with her, blink slowly at her. Then as she becomes more relaxed, push her a little bit about getting a tiny bit closer than the previous day, but not to the point that she shows sign of fear or hostility, and never corner her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually she'll become more and more relaxed, and at some point you'll be able to offer her your hand to smell (keep the hand near the ground, and try not to hover over her). Don't immediately go for a scratch, but make the hand offering a regular thing for a while before trying to give her a short scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might take a long time, so just be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My story: I am currently socializing a 20 months old colony cat that I adopted 2 months ago. It's been slow going, the first month he spent in a large cage, getting used to my other cat and I being around. For the last month he's had access to the entire apartment. In the beginning he was so afraid that he'd hide in his cat carrier for the entire day, and only come out to eat and drink at night. Slowly he'd start to spend a few minutes sitting on top of the carrier, watching us, then trying to interact with my other cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was let out he'd hide whenever I so much as moved, but now he only runs if I start walking in his direction. He's even gone so far as to walk on top of the bed covers when I'm going to sleep, to interact with my other cats who he has come to absolutely adore. I've gotten to the point that he will smell my hand without running away, but he's not quite ready to let me touch him, and any touch will lead him to run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T08:38:53.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19804" CreationDate="2018-02-26T16:05:57.500" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some lessons are really difficult to unlearn.  This is one of them. Rather then trying to unlearn don't go potty inside, teach a new lesson. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work on the reverse of my answer at the question below. Teach your dog to use a potty pad outside. Once that lesson is learned, you then transition to the potty pad being indoors and being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately there are a range of products that are 'indoor grass potties for dogs' these can be made or purchased.  And might be a better solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1277/how-do-i-transition-my-dog-from-using-potty-pads-to-going-outside&quot;&gt;How do I transition my dog from using potty pads to going outside?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T16:05:57.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19817" CreationDate="2018-02-26T16:20:32.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between poison and venom. Poison is lethal when touched, swallowed or inhaled. But not venom. For venom to be poisonous it needs to be injected into the blood stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most spiders are venomous and not poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only thing you need to make sure is that the cat has no open wound, mouth or ulcer in stomach through which spider venom can reach blood stream. Otherwise the venom will be broken down by enzymes in the cat's stomach and it will be rendered harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best thing is not to take any chance. Try to monitor your cat and throw away the kill if it is a spider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnJ4_xRfxpA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Poison vs. venom: What's the difference? - Rose Eveleth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-I-take-snake-venom-through-mouth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What would happen if I take snake venom through mouth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-02-26T18:01:32.237" LastActivityDate="2018-02-26T18:01:32.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-26T23:22:42.893" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a puppy 2 days ago. We decided to crate train her and she seems to have taken to the crate well. She goes in there for all her food and water and will sleep in it during the day with the door open. We can get her to stay in there with the door closed without a problem and she'll lie down and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if one of us isn't very close to the crate she goes ballistic. Even if you're just 10 feet away and completely visible, she starts howling, crying, and trying to dig out of her crate. We've tried everything from really wearing her out to giving her a chew stick she really likes before we move away from her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the advice I've found says things we've already done or are doing. She's fine with the crate, we don't reward the howling, we make sure she's tired, etc. A lot of advice says to go away for a very brief period, not long enough for them to start howling and then slowly increase how long you stay away. But that's impossible because you can't even get out of sight before she sets off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a real struggle. I know puppies are hard and it's all about patience, but in this case there is like 0 progress and all the advice feels impossible or already done. One of us has slept on the couch next to her crate each night and we have to take turns using the bathroom if we want to avoid a massive heachache. I've taken work from home for this week but it's a constant torture because I'm stuck in one spot until my bf gets back and can give me a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is appreciated. I want to love this puppy but she's making it very difficult right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11644" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:22:05.747" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T17:22:05.747" Title="Puppy Won't Stop Howling When 10 Feet Away" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19832" CreationDate="2018-02-27T02:47:08.467" Score="3" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an 18 month old male pug puppy, he's a very friendly, happy go lucky fella. Loves, people, and other dogs when were out on walks. We recently had the opportunity to rescue a female pug between 2 and 4 years old. She has an elongated soft palate, so she is a little louder when breathing and she can be quite 'bossy' or 'dominant' around the younger pup, even though she's new to the house. As a result, the puppy seems quite scared of her. Drops toys if she comes near, will back away if she comes near, just generally seems a little freaked when she is around. He will have a sniff every now and again but no longer than a few seconds and no further interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried a few things, but I won't mention these to discourage any bias. We really hope this will stop, we hoped they'd be best buddies but the reality has been quite the opposite. Will this change? Will she relax dominance wise and will he grow the confidence to enjoy her company?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11646" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-02-27T02:50:58.517" LastActivityDate="2018-02-28T17:53:06.707" Title="Existing puppy (18 months) scared of new rescue (between 2 and 4 years) - will this stop?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19812" CreationDate="2018-02-27T15:23:48.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hiding and not eating, in and of itself, is merit enough for a trip to the vet; that fits with a cats &quot;self-destruct&quot; pattern (cats which are in a lot of pain or think they are terminal will hide themselves and stop eating).  Not drinking normally (some cats do drink less than others) is even more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anesthetic and other drugs sometimes can cause undesirable reactions afterwards.  If your cat is back to normal now, you might want to discuss with the vet what drugs were used, and seeing about avoiding those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2018-02-27T15:23:48.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19831" CreationDate="2018-02-27T22:40:49.640" Score="-1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H63Bu.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/H63Bu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Tucker, my 4-year-old cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may have a couple guesses, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11647" LastActivityDate="2018-02-28T10:13:56.260" Title="What breed of cat is this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-02-28T13:26:12.823" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-28T10:13:26.637" Score="1" ViewCount="3688" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an almost 2-year-old spayed female cat. She was 10 months old when she came to live with us (me and my husband). She was really stressed out the first couple of months and she went into hiding most of the time until she got used to us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She went into heat as soon as we got her, and she peed all around the house beginning with our bed. The peeing continued a little while after spaying.  According to the vet, it must have been due to the hormones left in her system and it should have eventually ceased. In the meanwhile, we stopped letting her inside the bedroom. After a couple of months, the peeing outside the litter box stopped, so we decided to let her into the bedroom. But she peed on the bed again. We tried this a couple of times, and saw that every time we let her inside the bedroom, she pees on the bed. And she does it when we are in the bed. The smell is almost as bad as if she was in heat. Otherwise, there is no peeing in other parts of the house, except for some small accidents around the litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, she is more affectionate with my husband, prefers to sleep on his side of bed when allowed and loves his sweaty clothes. Both of us tend to her needs (playing, food, cleaning of the litter box), but my husband is doing these more lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know how she was raised, how she was treated before she came to us or what kind of environment she was in. We are also not sure if something is wrong with her spaying. Because she becomes more affectionate in certain days of the month as if she was in heat (minus the moaning) and I believe that this peeing thing may correspond to these periods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing has changed in the house, apart from the fact that we spend more time in the house with her lately, especially my husband. Her litter box is always clean (twice a day) and so far she's never had problem with the litter we prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to be specific as much as I could. Any suggestion about this peeing problem would be really appreciated. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11649" LastEditorUserId="11649" LastEditDate="2018-02-28T10:20:12.613" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T09:08:44.037" Title="Spayed female cat pees on bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-10-17T14:50:38.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19829" CreationDate="2018-02-28T10:13:56.260" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Domestic Shorthair Tabby&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to @Stig Tore. But that says very &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_short-haired_cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;little if any thing&lt;/a&gt; about your cat. Other than that it's a cat: domesticated from wild cats with a certain pattern to their fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you could take it to a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat show judge&lt;/a&gt;, you might get a better estimate. They do know their stuff better then some internet stanger(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, if you &lt;strong&gt;don't know the breed,&lt;/strong&gt; that is, you don't have the papers from the parents, &lt;strong&gt;it's not from a recognised breed&lt;/strong&gt;. But papers or not, that has no influence on the suitability for being a good pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-02-28T10:13:56.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19827" CreationDate="2018-02-28T17:53:06.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever you add a new member to your home (dog, cat, human, etc.) all of the animals in your home go through a re-calibration phase to figure out where they stand in the chain of authority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're seeing with your new dogs &quot;bossy&quot; behavior is her testing the waters - What can I do/not do? Who listens to me? Who do I need to listen to?  She is asserting herself to see who challenges her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus far, it seems like the puppy has no interest in challenging her. He's okay with her being above him in that authority chain - and that's okay. Some dogs are naturally more submissive while others can be naturally more dominant. In time, the two will stop &quot;testing the waters&quot; and live in harmony without fear. I can say from experience that trying to force a submissive dog ahead of a dominant dog in your authority chain is stressful for them, because it's not what comes naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do to help facilitate this transition is to try to spend time with both dogs at the same time.  Help them see how they can appropriately spend time together, and figure out what activities both dogs enjoy together (fetch, tug, sitting with you, car rides, etc). As alpha, this also puts the power in your hands to dictate which behaviors are (and are not) acceptable as they get adjusted to one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you are trying to get both dogs to play with a toy and the older one snaps at the pup in a way that you are not comfortable with (a more violent or aggressive behavior), correct her. A stern, loud &quot;&lt;strong&gt;NO.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; should be sufficient for this, along with some hand waggling and removal of the toy for a bit.  This sends her the message that although your younger dog ran off and gave in to her behavior, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; do not tolerate it as head of the house. Repeat as needed if she repeats the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again though, this is fairly natural.  I had a 8 year old husky and a 4 month old lab pup that went through this same ritual.  The older dog was the more dominant of the two, so she would bark in his face if he intruded on her space.  That's OK behavior.  She's telling him to leave her alone, she's not interested in whatever he is doing.  What &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; OK behavior is any sort of attacking, so as long as that's not happening, you're probably in the clear and things should mellow out with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10734" LastActivityDate="2018-02-28T17:53:06.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19836" CreationDate="2018-02-28T18:42:16.757" Score="2" ViewCount="8478" Body="&lt;p&gt;This dachshund's nails are cut every 2 months by a professional. Allegedly it is going to be taken to a session in a matter of days. Its owner is very confident that there there is no 'nail problem' whatsoever; 'this is a digger type dog'. It is kept ~23h25min of a day indoors, 10-17 minutes a day is the usual time that is spent walking on concrete or rocky surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple of pictures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vmIn2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vmIn2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XI8Sb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XI8Sb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bmlIl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bmlIl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do you think that the nails are way too long and should have been cut a month ago? The consensus on the internet as I've seen is that dachshunds' nails should be cut every 2-3 weeks and that their nails should not touch the ground, especially not make clicking noises. (Clicking noises are heard for a month or so...) May there be health problems in the future, or may there be already?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'd appreciate if you'd mention where where your experience/expertise from.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11650" LastEditorUserId="11650" LastEditDate="2018-02-28T19:06:48.080" LastActivityDate="2018-03-01T03:05:13.057" Title="When are dachshunds' nails unhealthily long?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-28T19:37:36.333" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a puppy - Presa Canario 3.5 months female. She does get walks every 3.5 hours. Sleeps in the crate during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not seem to understand that she is not supposed to pee inside - I take her outside, she comes back inside, half an hour later she both pees and poops. Does not seem to be getting that she is not supposed to do it inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is clean in the crate, but I can only crate her for so long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-02-28T19:43:07.530" LastActivityDate="2018-03-01T02:42:21.987" Title="Puppy does not seem to understand that she is not suposed to pee inside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-03-01T02:40:33.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19833" CreationDate="2018-03-01T03:05:13.057" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes, those nails are too long.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PIiMG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PIiMG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This example is how nails should look after you cut, if the nails grow past the paw pad then they are too long. Some dogs have long quicks which make it much more difficult to maintain at a shorter level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nails should be trimmed at least once a month, sometimes every 3 weeks. Exercise on pavement or sidewalks is great for naturally filing down nails (back feet especially).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overgrown nails can be painful, it also changes the animals gait which can cause issues down the road. It is especially hard on our old arthritic pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-03-01T03:05:13.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19837" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-01T19:27:47.907" Score="4" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a single male 5 year old parakeet. He is very tame and friendly. I know he is unafraid of dogs, as I have had two wonder up to the cage and my bird has been very curious. In fact, I was more worried that he would bite their noses! The dogs acted more uninterested or a bit fearful of him. But dogs are dogs and not cats. haha. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had dogs all my life. My dog of 12 years passed away in 2017 and my mom (who we were still living with at the time) adopted a puppy about 3 months later. Now that we’re moved into our own place I miss that companionship of a larger animal. (My bird is great but he doesn’t like to be pet, nor can he keep my feet warm at night haha). We live in an apartment and even a small dog wouldn’t fit our lifestyle right now, but a cat would (an older, laid back cat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bird is housed in a cage that is about 24”x24”x30” give or take. His cage stands on a multipurpose kitchen roller cabinet thing (about 4 feet off the ground). We keep him in our living room. It fits the base of his cage perfectly with no room on any  side for an animal to perch. The cage and stand stand with the back to a wall and one side to a bookshelf. There’s no place a cat could be near it, besides the floor. During the day, I roll him to the center of the room, closer to a window to see out of, the back still facing a wall, but sides exposed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I are looking into adopting a cat 4-6 years old, mellow and laid back. (I absolutely fell head over heels with middle age/senior cats when I volunteered at our local humane society four years ago)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a student online and may work part time, but as of right now he is home all day. (I work full time, but I am home at night on the weekends; I also come home for an hour during the middle of the day) He will be able to keep an eye on everyone. If we are both out we would like to keep the cat in our bedroom with the door closed (potentially locked) with everything he/she needs while we’re gone (2-3 hours at a time max). And keep the bird in our living room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The daily dynamic would work like this:&lt;/strong&gt; give the cat ample play time for 30 minutes or so them put him/her in our room while our bird has some fly-about time for 30 minutes. Once the bird is back in the cat will be allowed in the common area of the house again. At night I’d like to keep the cat in our bedroom with the door closed until I can be 100% certain nothing may happened during the night. However, I’m prepared to keep the cat in our room at night for the rest of its life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM NOT ASKING&lt;/strong&gt; advice on having the bird out of the cage while the cat is in the same room. That is not my intention. I am planning to &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; have the bird out of its cage with a cat in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I AM ASKING&lt;/strong&gt; will an older cat be interested in a bird at all? I assume it will depend on the cat itself. Will just the presence of a cat be harmful to the bird? I’m not sure how he will act since he his fine with other larger creatures than himself (i.e. dogs).&#xA;I am aware that both are natural “enemies” and have read plenty of horror stories, and for good reason. I want someone to level with me and their experiences with bringing home an older cat with a bird already in the household. &#xA;We plan to keep the cat fed and preoccupied to the best of our ability so it won’t be interested. Or is this whole idea of a cat in the house a bad idea all together? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your input!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11653" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-03-05T21:38:34.703" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T15:04:02.317" Title="A single parakeet and an older cat - good idea?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19837" CreationDate="2018-03-01T19:47:04.903" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are asking for trouble. Cats are &lt;strong&gt;fast&lt;/strong&gt; if they want to and if she tries a single go at the bird, years from now (a 5 years old cat can live another 10 years), you will have a dead bird and a very proud cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-03-01T19:47:04.903" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11190" CreationDate="2018-03-02T02:12:48.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Maltese and he wouldn't eat ANY Dog food at all until I found Purina Moist and Meaty. There are 3 kinds of that brand but Tucker will only eat the 2 that are tri- colored&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11654" LastActivityDate="2018-03-02T02:12:48.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-02T17:17:29.197" Score="6" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find anything online so I'm asking the question here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use distilled water for some species of crabs which should have a carbonate hardness of 0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to add plants to the aquarium and therefore CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there is a table for KH-CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-pH but it only goes to 0.1 KH while my water should have KH 0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection affect pH? I'm looking for specific numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11658" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T14:36:51.257" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T20:16:39.140" Title="CO₂ supply with KH 0 - pH effect" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19842" CreationDate="2018-03-02T18:08:01.453" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds as though you already have a good knowledge of how water chemistry works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In basic terms, KH (carbonate hardness) affects how much the pH can change within the water. The presence of the carbonic acid in the water stops the pH from fluctuating wildly when it is influenced by CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; or by other pH influencers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll probably be familiar with the classic advice given when attempting to alter your pH: Chances are, you will need to lower your KH so that the changes to the pH have more impact on the actual pH of the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your KH is 0 that means your pH can be very easily influenced by any factors that would affect your pH. In reference directly to CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; check out this picture &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/articles/co2-striking-the-balance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;from practical fish keeping&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KwBhc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KwBhc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;CO&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;2&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt; Vs KH Vs pH&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see that the mg of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; per litre that you need for the pH to fall to 6 at a KH of 0.5 is only 15mg compared to the 87mg you might need for the same pH at a KH of 3.0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;'Okay fine, but what's the answer to my question?'&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Injecting a small amount of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; into your water will have a big affect on the pH due to the low KH. This may not actually be a problem if you have very limited sources of pH influencers but there is a risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know about crabs, but generally very low KH levels are not advised with fish because the pH can swing wildly as a result of pH influences. These can be substrate, decorations and many others. If your environment is very stable (free from potential pH altering sources) carefully injecting CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; may be feasible for you but low KH and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection always make me a little nervous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T11:36:20.373" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T11:36:20.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-03T04:43:39.603" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we've recently become the new parents of a 7 month old American Bulldog. We are his second home adopting him at 6 months of age. His previous owners kept him out side with no training or interaction. Were not positive if there was abuse but neglect has been very clear through his behavior. Baxter is super smart and loving and within the span of 2/3 weeks was potty trained. &#xA; Or so we thought.&#xA;In the last 2 days he has had about 6 'accidents' in the house. He has had accidents before, we expected that, these just seem deliberate. They always happen when we are busy or when we are relaxing. I am home most of the day, he gets plenty of exercise 1 or 2 walks a day with fetch inside, plenty of attention from both of us and plenty of chew toys. We originally thought he might have a UTI and that he couldn't help it, but its seems as though he chooses when and when not to hold it. We've tried giving him water only at meal times and sticking to the schedule but he still would have 'attention potty tantrums' and I'm wondering is he too young to start marking territory or not? We need a new game plan any advice or help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11661" LastActivityDate="2018-03-03T04:43:39.603" Title="Baxter's Downfall" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-03-04T11:04:45.163" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19574" CreationDate="2018-03-03T05:18:12.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had this same issue with my Danios, and it confused me because Danios are usually all about coming up and trying to get your attention when they see you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then I realized, the autofeeder was the problem. they weren't associating the big scary noisy thing outside the tank (me) with a sudden abundance of delicious foods, but Instinct was telling them that anything that big is probably dangerous. I'm pretty sure goldfish have similar instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I'm off base in my theory, but i started feeding them by hand again and in no time they were back at the front of the tank being the little beggars that they are, whenever you walk by. I still use my autofeeder for a daphnia culture that I've had going for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to try feeding them by hand for a week or so, see how it goes! As others here have said, it never hurts to check your water parameters, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11662" LastActivityDate="2018-03-03T05:18:12.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19849" CreationDate="2018-03-03T20:35:15.350" Score="3" ViewCount="640" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if plecos will eat the poop of other fish, specifically Molly fish. I've heard they eat algae growing on the aquarium walls but I don't know about what else their diet may include.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very new with aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11667" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:47:59.527" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:47:59.527" Title="Do plecos eat fish poop?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19837" CreationDate="2018-03-03T21:27:06.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a positive story for you. &#xA;A friend has 4 cats between the ages of 1 and 10(?) an African grey AND  A 23 year old Rainbow Lorikeet- &lt;em&gt;Birdie&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birdie's cage sits in a corner back and right near walls, left open to windows views. &#xA;Different stand, but like yours the stand is the same dimensions as cage base. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm reasonably sure that, whether your cat has any interest in hunting/ catching birds will have a large impact on how well it will work. My mother has a tabby who will enthusiastically chase kibble (dry food) across the floor but that's the extent of his hunting. Josh would be the cat who tries to pat the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you be prepared to do some reactive water gun training, Classical conditioning. If/when the cat tries to get the bird then spray it with water. Less is more. I personally wouldn't punish curiosity. &#xA;Because accidents happen try to make a habit of checking the cage is locked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of Birdie she has also happy enough to bite the hand that feeds and anything else silly enough to enter her domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are enough cute pictures on the internet of birds perched on cats so it obviously works for some people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2018-03-07T17:45:42.627" LastActivityDate="2018-03-07T17:45:42.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19847" CreationDate="2018-03-04T00:11:42.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think they will try to eat fish poop unless they're starving. They are great at eating algae off glass and (smooth) rocks and wood though. I would definitely get some sinking tablet or pellet type food for them just to make sure something gets to the bottom, past the mollies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pleco would also probably love you for throwing in some frozen bloodworms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11662" LastActivityDate="2018-03-04T00:11:42.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19850" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-04T04:06:02.767" Score="4" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family is moving from Colorado to Alaska which is approximately 60 hours. We plan to stop each night and sleep at a hotel. This will allow us to set up a mini aquarium for him through the night. I understand we may upset him with switching the daylight hours, but at least he will be having an opportunity to sun bathe. I plan to transport him in a sturdy cardboard box with shredded newspaper. I am looking for suggestions on a heating pad for him. Also, if anyone has anymore information or advice to help make our turtle more comfortable through the journey, I would really appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11668" LastActivityDate="2018-03-05T08:59:59.457" Title="Traveling across country with red eared slider" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19865" CreationDate="2018-03-04T10:04:14.680" Score="2" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this Sunsun 304b canister for a few years now. It was very quiet originally but in the last few years has gotten noisy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then two weeks ago it stopped pumping suddenly making a loud rattling noise.  The intake pipe isn't clogged, and the impeller seems to be intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While trying to figure out how to repair this I've set up some sponge and k1 filters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the next step and how can I make the canister silent again? And if I use an external pump, what size did I need to drive the canister?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/1URUHm2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Canister failure&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T19:04:44.977" Title="Noisy canister not pumping" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2018-03-04T20:15:51.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is on the Hills science diet s/d, I do buy the 4lb bag and mixing it with the Hills science diet for bladder problems from petsmart which is about half the price. It's not medicated but it is formulated to keep new stones from developing. Might be an option for you. I am starting to worry because she is looking very slim. She has never been a fat cat 9.5 lbs, she sees the very again in a couple weeks so I will visit the weight issue. She don't feel lighter just looks thin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11671" LastActivityDate="2018-03-04T20:15:51.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19850" CreationDate="2018-03-05T08:59:59.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't worry much about it, a few days without basking or swimming won't really affect his health. It will be uncomfortable, that's true, but it will be the same for the whole family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardboard is not a good idea, he will tear through it in no time, and you will have to hunt him inside the car (you don't want to do that, believe me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a plastic food container, punching a few holes in the cover (smooth them, he will try to push his head through there and may hurt his skin). Cover the bottom of the container with a wet towel and place the whole contraption in the car floor. The lower it is, the less oscillation when the car moves, and dimmer light will help soothe him. Just make sure the lid is firmly secured (again, terrapin on the loose in a car is something you don't like)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what you do, this is going to be uncomfortable and stressful for him. If he likes you handling him, you may want to cuddle him at every stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's how I transport my yellow bellied sliders and so far so good. My longer trip was Madrid to London, just one day so significantly shorter than yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2018-03-05T08:59:59.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-05T13:28:27.267" Score="2" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an AW UVC 9W light bulb and I’m not quite sure if this is the right lighting for my red eared slider. The bulb can be put underwater to prevent any harm to the eyes or skin. Will this UVC light be harmful for my turtle or is it just like the UVB light for basking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11673" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T10:46:22.990" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T18:12:34.533" Title="Is it okay if I put my turtle a UVC light instead of UVB?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19855" CreationDate="2018-03-05T14:16:26.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;UVC is not for basking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UVB light allows the metabolism of your turtle to work correctly. UVC light is used to kill germs, and does not even naturally occur below the tropopause of the atmosphere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So they are totally different lights, you will need an UVB lamp.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#Subtypes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; for more details :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T10:43:01.110" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T10:43:01.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18471" CreationDate="2018-03-05T18:53:19.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I found when I was looking for a great background for my 20gal.tank, was live plants. Some of them, such as Water Sprite are very easy to grow and spread very quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may also grow above water level (depending how tall your aquarium is) and float along the top of your aquarium, unless you decide to trim off the tops and stick those back into the substrate, thereby creating more plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many others that are easy to grow plants that are great for backgrounds and the fish love them for hiding places, my fish also love scrounging for leftover food on them. You can go on YouTube to &quot;Beginner Aquarium Plants&quot; and it will pull up many videos about this subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11672" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-06T09:42:27.783" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T09:42:27.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-05T21:34:13.150" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wondering how to properly clean and disinfectant a tank that has had sick fish in it?&#xA;Kinda failing at fish keeping.. but I didn't want to give up, I kept researching medice water changes- the lot, but I went away for 4 days and things got bad... 2 fish have died and I have 1 giant pregnant, lonely, just recovering from fin rot, stressed out girl in a tank that may contain bad sickness, how do I clean and disinfectant the whole tank, from gravel to ornaments to heaters nets symphon- everything?&#xA;Please help- I'm about ready to give up fish and go back to horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastActivityDate="2018-03-05T21:34:13.150" Title="How do you empty clean and disinfectant an aquarium that contain sick fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2018-03-09T19:03:29.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19855" CreationDate="2018-03-06T06:45:54.070" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First a little about the difference of UVC versus UVB light. UVB is what makes us tanned and causes sunburn if overexposed, but we need the UVB to synthesize vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; in our skin (source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UVC is light with a shorter wavelength and it will therefore penetrate deeper into the skin and this might cause skin cancer, damage to the eyes and severe skin burns - which are not the same as sunburn, they occur deeper in the skin and are therefore more dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UVC is used by water suppliers to kill bacteria and viruses, it works by killing or inactivating pathogenic microorganisms (sterilizing) so they are unable to reproduce and perform vital cellular functions. UVC is also used on&#xA;fish tanks, garden ponds and in commercial fish farming to lower the amount of bacteria, algae, viruses and parasites in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UVC is used to sterilize surgical equipment at your doctor's office, at the dentist and in hospitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;DO NOT USE UVC LIGHT&lt;/strong&gt; on any animal or plant, and be careful when you use UVB on your turtle: a little UVB is good, but a lot of UVB can be harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T18:12:34.533" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T18:12:34.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-06T16:49:52.327" Score="2" ViewCount="475" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Euiw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I’ve noticed lately that my red eared slider is keeping her eyes closed most of the time and opening them only for maximum a minute and then closing them again. She lives in a big tank with a filter, light bulb, and a heater. The light bulb isn’t the issue because I bought her from a place that had this same tank with a bulb just like this one and all the other turtles seemed fine. I take her outside in the sun for uv light. I noticed today that when I took her outside, she opened her eyes and then when i took her back inside, she closed them. So what can be the cause of this unusual behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11673" LastEditorUserId="11673" LastEditDate="2018-03-06T17:42:31.943" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T17:42:31.943" Title="Why are my turtle’s eyes closed all the time?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-06T18:28:02.677" Score="2" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a key ring that has a long furry tail, presumably some kind of synthetic fur.  My cat loves to groom it, but I'm worried he may get a hairball from licking it, and that might be more harmful or toxic than a natural hairball he might get from grooming his own fur.  Should I forbid him from licking it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11680" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-03-08T13:17:24.683" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T13:17:24.683" Title="Is it harmful to let cat groom synthetic fur toy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19851" CreationDate="2018-03-06T19:04:44.977" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The noise from the canister indicates that the pump is still likely working but either the impeller is broken, or, that there is a blockage inside the system.  The system has a filter for the input side of things which makes it unlikely that there's a solid blockage so the other possibility is an air lock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took the canister outside and used a garden hose to force water through from the input line, and watched water exit the outflow line.  I then submerged both lines and turned the pump on.  It started working quietly just as when I had first purchased it many years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took it back to my tank, reconnected it, and again it stopped working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then dragged my garden hose inside the house, and again forced water through it, and then quickly submerged the input line to stop air entering.  It then started working though not as quietly as when I had done this outside.  So, it appears that I had an air lock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also tried using an aquarium pump to push water through the system but it was simply not strong enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the actual pump had failed I would be looking at replacing the whole unit as repairing just the pump would be too expensive.  I've seen some people on youtube successfully place pond pumps on the inlet hose bypassing the canister pump.  I'd be interested in knowing what size pond pump would work if that happens to me in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-03-06T19:04:44.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-06T21:25:27.077" Score="7" ViewCount="625" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a cat as a birthday gift (I knew about her a few weeks beforehand so I could prepare) and when she got here she stayed in my room. Immediately she used the litter tray and ate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, though she does everything in my room (eat, sleep, play, etc) she doesn't leave. She's scared of everyone else in the house except for me, since I take care of her. She follows me everywhere as long as it's upstairs, and refuses to go downstairs. She's only been downstairs once. She's scared of the dog that lives here, and I'm scared to let her near the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog has killed a kitten before and snaps at my other cat all the time, even injuring his face twice. He's not my dog, (he's lived here since before I did and I have no control over him) and his owners refuse to train him or get rid of him even though he's a blatant danger to the other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel like my room is enough for her, I feel like she should be able to live in the house and have more spots to explore and play but I can't let her downstairs because of that stupid dog that they won't sort out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems okay in my room and we play a lot, for hours each night, and she even plays fetch and brings her toys to me when she wants to play (which is the cutest thing) but I really don't feel like my small room is enough, and I feel guilty that I can't do more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11682" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-07T02:12:52.130" LastActivityDate="2018-03-07T11:29:18.677" Title="I don't feel like I'm enough for my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19866" CreationDate="2018-03-07T02:08:15.650" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you know that your cat is not safe downstairs there is no point in trying to do so. If your cat is happy in your room I see no problem in that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned that your cat is not getting enough space to play, you can buy one or two cat trees. You should try to utilize the vertical space in your room. Getting even more toys will make your cat more happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still feel that your cat should have the entire house as his own or perhaps some outdoor activity as well, you can opt for a guard dog. I recommend Great Dane. They are great for apartments as they do not need much physical activity and very little training. Despite the giant size and vicious look they are one of the gentlest pets. It is unlikely that Great Dane will ever attack anyone. Once you familiarize your cat and dog, the dog will be a great companion to your cat. And it's sheer size will scare away any potential adversary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again it's up to you. Go for Great Dane only if you want your cat to go downstairs or outdoor. Also you should be prepared for the extra expenses needed to take care of such a big dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11916/what-are-some-ways-to-increase-space-for-cats-in-a-small-house&quot;&gt;What Are Some Ways to Increase Space for Cats in a Small House?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question has good answers regarding vertical space utilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-07T11:29:18.677" LastActivityDate="2018-03-07T11:29:18.677" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2018-03-07T14:11:52.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kitten Availability&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question was originally asked in October. Rescue groups generally consider &quot;kitten season&quot; to last from spring to summer, and peak in late spring. During &quot;kitten season&quot; shelters and rescues are often overwhelmed with kittens.  If you absolutely must adopt a kitten, late spring is the best time to head to the shelter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not kitten season, please consider adopting an older cat! Cat's personalities are not 'set' until about 2 years old, so if you're concerned about training the cat to fit into your household, a year old cat is still a good choice! I prefer older cats (at least 5 years old) because they tend to be more snuggly and require less focused play time to wear them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Black Cat Availability&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the concerns about Halloween, there are stories that black cats are currently (Feb-March 2018) hard to find due to popularity of the movie &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_(film)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Black Panther&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been anecdotally reported on social media such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://gallusrostromegalus.tumblr.com/post/171304593658/unexpected-benefit-of-black-panther-my-local-pet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this tumblr post&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unexpected Benefit of Black Panther: my local pet shelters went from&#xA;  having something like 50-60 black cats between them to having NONE,&#xA;  becuase they’ve all been adopted out and named after the characters.&#xA;  “T’challa” is the most popular, but there are a fair number of&#xA;  “Okoye”s and “Shuri”s as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…and one very confused Elderly Humane Society Volunteer wondering why&#xA;  someone would name such a sweet cat “Killmonger”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen any formal reporting, but it seems logical. Adoption/purchase of specific animals often increase after they are featured in popular culture (followed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/14/us/after-movies-unwanted-dalmatians.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a boom in shelter surrender&lt;/a&gt; as folks realize that their new pet required more care than they could offer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-03-07T14:11:52.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19886" CreationDate="2018-03-07T22:59:06.993" Score="3" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Malamute puppy 4.5 months old. He goes to puppy school regularly, mixes well with other dogs and has learnt a pretty good range of commands, however, we are having a major issue with him becoming extremely aggressive over &quot;stolen&quot; food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We keep him out of the kitchen, but accidents happen and he sneaks his way in sometimes. As soon as he gets in, he makes a beeline for the rubbish bin and starts tearing into anything he can get his teeth into. Any attempt to remove him results in a lot of growling and some pretty nasty bites if he manages to get an arm or a hand. This evening he got my hand hard enough to soak a kitchen towel with blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a lovely dog all other times except when he manages to steal some human food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All training I'm doing is food reward based, mostly using small biscuits and pieces of sausage, and aside from cheekily trying to sneak extra when I'm not looking, he waits patiently for his rewards and I can retrieve a stolen pot easily in this context, he just seems to lose his head over people food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an effort to try to fix it, I've returned to hand feeding him all his meals and have started some simple boundary training but it is still early days and every slip feels like a huge step backwards. Apart from training rewards, all his feeding is done outside and he goes outside whilst we eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would really like some help with how I can address this aggression over the trash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11364" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:17:47.720" Title="Malamute puppy - aggressive resource guarding" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19872" CreationDate="2018-03-08T06:31:06.890" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all that's completely normal. We've had it too, although less aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your basic steps sound fine already.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever the dog hurts you - no matter whether it actually hurts or not, blood or no blood - make a high pitched noise, take a step back, and show the dog the wound. If the dog is healthy, you both have the proper vaccinations, and it's just a scratch, let it also treat the wound.  More sooner than later the dog will make the connection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some bigger treats the dog likes but takes some time to eat. Give it the dog, a moment later take it again, look at it, give it back. Keep repeating. Over time the dog will learn that you'll give the treat back, so there's no need to be overprotective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T06:31:06.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19665" CreationDate="2018-03-08T11:06:38.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let them follow you, but ignore them on the way home!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They don't get attention, treats, love, anything when following. They DO get all of that in the spots where you decide to feed them. Hopefully, most of them will be smart enough to realize &quot;This guy is part of our group when he is here. When he leaves, he leaves. Then he comes back to be with us again. That is great!&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastEditorUserId="3597" LastEditDate="2018-03-08T14:12:47.960" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T14:12:47.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19762" CreationDate="2018-03-08T23:39:29.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your can of compressed air seems to be working so I won't suggest you change it.  Myself, I use a plant sprayer, or an empty window cleaner bottle rinsed well and filled with water.  My cat Jorge just has to see the sprayer and he pretty much stops what he is doing (not all the time though; he is a cat, after all...) You don't even have to spray AT the cat, just the sound seems to be enough after the first few times you spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you heard of or considered a Thunder Shirt for your cat?  I have ordered one but haven't actually received it yet, so maybe I am jumping the gun mentioning it in an answer. There are some good videos on YouTube of cat owners putting the Thunder Shirt on their pet for the 1st time. Mine was around $42 with tax, and there is a 45-day money-back return policy.  Or, you can find them cheaper on eBay, without the return policy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat gets anxious when I am away or when we go to the vet or take any car trip, etc. I am hoping the Thunder Shirt will help with that. Maybe it will calm your cat down a bit, also. What have you got to lose?  Good luck with your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11692" LastActivityDate="2018-03-08T23:39:29.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2018-03-09T11:53:27.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you did was basically what kitty was doing with better equipment to clean the area a bit better than kitty. Which means the bacteria was in the blood. Antibiotics would of been the only thing that would of cleared it up unless it was feline leukemia or the other fatal viruses. Poor thing. Although it was a kitten it probably never got any shots which leads tommy things kitty could of had. The vet or like the others suggested free vets they also have at the store &quot;tractor Supplies&quot; an inexpensive vets phone number plus once a week the vet comes to the store. They do in our area. I guess check internet. So sorry this happened. I'm always rescuing anything that needs rescuing so I understand where you are coming from  I made bloopers and feel horrible because you best yourself up with could of should of shouldn't of. The works. But you did more than anyone else did you tried to help which I look at it if you would of been there kitty would of died quicker and not as comfortable  that was nice. But hind sight is 20/20 we learn from all this. I hope this doesn't discourage you from never helping the little things out there that need rescuing   God bless&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11696" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T11:53:27.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-09T17:39:34.317" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old kitten. He is mostly a indoor cat. But sometimes I would let him go out into my fenced in back yard. I have a 6' wooden fence all around. He loves to go out there and play. But he has started to climb the fence and go over into the next yards. So I was wondering if I clipped he's claws will that stop his climbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11699" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T17:50:18.927" Title="Clipping he's claws" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-09T17:49:54.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2018-03-09T19:24:13.413" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 cats have been fed the Raw Meat diet for 15 years. (You can look it up on line) Basically raw human grade chicken with supplements &amp;amp; some vitamins added, also an Organic raw egg added to the mix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are all healthy &amp;amp; have never been to a Vet, I also grow Organic grass if they want to nibble on it. Barley,oat &amp;amp; wheat grass seeds can be purchased on line. Never feed Kibble.It's the worst food for any animal. It can eventually lead to Kidney problems &amp;amp; diabetes in older cats. Also avoid dairy, contrary to what people think most cats are lactose intolerant They like it, but it's not good for them.( Dairy isn't good for anyone except BABY humans &amp;amp; Baby animals)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are Obligate Carnivores they do NOT NEED Veggies,Fruit or Grain in their diet.&#xA;When they eat prey they get a bit of what that animal ate,seeds or veg, matter but it's very little.Some cats may like a small bit of cooked veggie occasionally but they really can't digest it properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above article explained it clearly.The only reason plant matter is added to cat food is for Profit! (Not for the animals benefit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11701" LastActivityDate="2018-03-09T19:24:13.413" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19784" CreationDate="2018-03-10T00:07:21.340" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For starters, I'd recommend always having thermometers on hand. They can be quick to verify things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, at home, I can normally tell the difference between whether the heaters are working or not by simply sticking my hand in the aquarium. There's a noticeably temperature difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend starting by taking a quick look at the thermometers. Maybe they got bumped so that the temperature was lowered. I'd also recommend looking at the light held slightly above the water, sometimes when my aquarium gets some algae growth on the walls, I can't see if the light is on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try filling a bucket with a few gallons of cold water, setting the heater to max, and placing it inside. If you come back in  a few hours hours and the water's still cold, the heaters are likely broken and you probably need new ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11702" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T00:07:21.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-10T04:52:12.010" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my cat spayed now three days ago. She has been wearing a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ebay.com/p/KRUUSE-Buster-Bodysuits-for-Cats-Outfit-XXS-13-5-in/2055897354?_trksid=p2047675.l2644&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;buster after surgery outfit&lt;/a&gt; !instead of a collar. Today on the morning I noticed that she was not wearing the outfit anymore. I was very shocked as the outfit is pretty tight that how did she manage to take it off and it wasn't even open. Now I am worried that she has been licking her wound. I checked it but couldn't tell if it's swollen or infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also she haven't pooped for now 3 days and she still have ate. When should I get worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11704" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:26:16.903" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:06:29.497" Title="Spayed cat recovery question" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-10T10:29:53.587" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-10T05:27:45.780" Score="1" ViewCount="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 11 months old and I just recently got him a few days ago from the shelter the first couple days he was eating out of his bowl and then today he just wouldn’t eat so I tried showing him his food my putting my hand in it and getting a hand full and he started eating it so I stopped and walked away and he would just follow me so I tried it again and he ate it out of my hand I don’t know if he thinks it’s a game we’re playing or what but now he won’t eat at all I tried feeding him again later toda and when I set the bowl down he pawed at my hand and started licking it we have been feeding him people food out of our hand so maybe that could be it but I’m not exactly sure anyone got a solution??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11705" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T10:20:22.540" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:20:22.540" Title="My dog won’t eat unless it is in my hand" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-10T10:22:14.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19883" CreationDate="2018-03-10T06:18:43.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;you need to ask the vet if putting  on a cone on your cat is an alternative to the buster and ask your vet about the cat not using the litterbox for 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it is likely your cat have post sugery pain so ask your vet about getting some painkiller for your cat(NEVER EVER GIVE PAINKILLERS MENT FOR HUMANS TO YOUR CAT OR OTHER PETS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it is not good for your cat to stress and trying to get rid of the buster so you have to find a solution to this,maby a tighter fit will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it is best to stop your cat from licking  the wound but it is not very dangerous as cat saliva is anti bacterial,the problem is the stitches might become loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:06:29.497" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:06:29.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19872" CreationDate="2018-03-10T10:17:47.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a dog shows aggression to protect his food, it can be a serious issue. Not only is there the danger of other dogs or humans in the house being bitten, but over time it can lead to the dog becoming possessive over everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a dog pack, the alpha dogs always eat first after a successful hunt, and then the other dogs get what’s left according to their pack position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an alpha dog, showing food aggression is a form of dominance, but for dogs with a lower pack position, it can be a sign of anxiety or fearfulness. Remember, in the wild, dogs never know where or when their next meal will be, so it’s very instinctual for them to gobble up whatever food there is whenever they have it — and to protect it from anything that approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also assess your dog’s overall confidence and behavior. If he is naturally a dominant dog, then you will need to assert yourself as the Pack Leader in a calm and assertive way. On the other hand, if he is timid or fearful, you will need to build up his confidence and teach him that his food is safe with humans around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For severe cases, start off by consulting a professional until you can get the dog down to a moderate level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the source of your dog’s aggression is fear or anxiety over when the next meal is coming, then be sure that you are feeding your dog at the same times every single day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a very good internal clock, and with consistency, they quickly learn how to tell when it’s time to get up, time to go for a walk, or time for the people to come home. Mealtime should be no different. Be regular in feeding to take away the anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you even begin to prepare your dog’s food, make her sit or lie down and stay, preferably just outside of the room you feed her in. Train her to stay even after you’ve set the bowl down and, once the bowl is down, stand close to it as you release her from the stay and she begins eating, at which point you can then move away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always feed your dog after the walk, never before. This fulfills his instinct to hunt for food, so he’ll feel like he’s earned it when you come home. Also, exercising a dog after he eats can be dangerous, even leading to life-threatening conditions like bloat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pack leaders eat first&#xA;Remember, when a wild pack has a successful hunt, the alpha dogs eat first, before everyone else, and it should be no different in a human/dog pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never feed your dog before or while the humans are eating. Humans eat first and then, when they’re finished, the dogs eat. This will reinforce your status as the Pack Leader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Win” the bowl&#xA;Food aggression can actually be made worse if you back away from the bowl, because that’s what your dog wants. For every time that you do walk away when the dog is showing food aggression, the dog “wins.” The reward is the food and this just reinforces the aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you don’t want to come in aggressively yourself, especially with moderate to severe food aggression, because that is a good way to get bitten. However, you can recondition the dog until she learns that she wins when she lets you come near her while eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of the techniques you can use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hand feeding: Start your dog’s meal by giving him food by hand, and use your hands to put the food in the bowl, which will give it your scent. The goal is to get your dog used to eating while your hands are around his face, and to have no aggressive reaction if you stick your hands in or near the bowl while he’s eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat tossing: Drop your dog’s favorite treats into the bowl while she’s eating so she’ll learn that people approaching the bowl is a good thing and not a threat. You can also put treats into the bowl when you walk near it and she’s not eating. This reinforces the connection in your dog’s mind that people near her bowl is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Trade-Up”: When your dog is eating their regular food, approach them with something better, like meat or a special treat. The goal here is to get your dog to stop eating their food to take the treat from you. This teaches your dog several things. One is that no one is going to steal his food if he looks away from it. The other is that removing his attention from his food when people come around leads to a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key, is to be calm, assertive, and consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11697" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T10:17:47.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19887" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-03-10T11:10:53.083" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/toilet-training&quot;&gt;toilet-training&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/feces&quot;&gt;feces&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:10:53.083" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:10:53.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19888" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-03-10T11:10:53.083" Score="0" Body="issues related to solid waste (poop) where &quot;toilet-training&quot; is not the appropriate tag. " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:10:53.083" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:10:53.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19889" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-03-10T11:19:07.047" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:19:07.047" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:19:07.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19890" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-03-10T11:19:07.047" Score="0" Body="How to collect samples for veterinary lab analysis, like urine or feces. " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T11:19:07.047" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T11:19:07.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19892" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-03-10T12:13:35.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;About the obedience competition sport, where the dog is trained to perform a series of obedience exercices (heel work, scent discrimination, long duration downs, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:13:35.173" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:13:35.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19893" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-03-10T12:13:35.173" Score="0" Body="About the obedience competition sport, where the dog is trained to perform a series of obedience exercices (heel work, scent discrimination, long duration downs, etc.)." OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-10T12:13:35.173" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:13:35.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19143" CreationDate="2018-03-10T12:38:01.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Yes.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you absolutely can inject the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; into the sump and many people choose to do this by default because, as you point out, it means less equipment in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is diffused into the water and pumped around so that it moves past the plants then you'll have just as good rate of diffusion as if you had the injection setup inside the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find that you can actually get a &lt;em&gt;better&lt;/em&gt; diffusion rate because the equipment in the sump can be less styled and more fit for purpose. Some of the development work for products like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jbl.de/en/products/detail/7590/jbl-proflora-taifun-m10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;JBLs CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; ladders&lt;/a&gt; goes into making them look 'nice'. In the sump (unless it is on display) you don't really need to worry about that and can use whatever method works best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some products like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/JBL-ProFlora-Direct-16-22/dp/B016378EI8/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_199_t_0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inline CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; atomisers&lt;/a&gt; are designed to be fitted to your filter return hoses to cut down the amount of equipment in the tank. In my experience these work &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; well (I owned an Up-Aqua one not the JBL one linked though) but just make sure that it is fitted very carefully to avoid leaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T12:38:01.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-10T12:42:59.167" Score="1" ViewCount="2995" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've adopted, or is it been adopted by, a stray cat which frequents multiple houses in the immediete area, but sleeps on the sofa in my lounge. It struggles to communicate even though I know it is capable and trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the meow sound it creates is very high pitched, to the point that I can barely hear it. What I'll hear is the beginning or end of the vocalisation with a quiet part where there seems to be a rise in frequency. I don't have access to an oscilloscope to test this theory. I've tested my hearing and I can reliably catch sounds up to 16khz, it seems to be emitting noises around that level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At times im pretty sure it doesnt bother with the sound and just makes eye contact and opens its mouth like a meow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a neutered male, very docile. I've given it a flea collar, and nobody has removed it, but I've seen it coming out of other people's back doors and even sitting outside the front of a house across the street. Nobody I have asked says they know who it belongs to. I don't think it considers itself an owned animal. It doesnt mind being handled, and enjoys grooming, so clearly it was a pet at some time in its life. Curiously, it is terrified of the sound of plastic bags and will run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found a few questions about cats and lack of a meow such as this one &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/241/why-does-my-cat-meow-less-than-i-expect-it-to&quot;&gt;Why does my cat meow less than I expect it to?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is not the same situation. It is giving off a vocalisation but it doesnt understand that I can't hear it properly. Maybe it thinks we're deaf but has learned that the action of a meow is enough to get it attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9136" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T20:02:49.700" Title="Cat meow is inaudible" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-26T20:59:50.743" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19899" CreationDate="2018-03-10T18:15:21.140" Score="4" ViewCount="608" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Juwel Lido 200.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The black filter box was on the right side of the aquarium; but we wanted to move it, so we removed the silicone and re-siliconed it on the left-side of the aquarium instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when we moved it we weren't careful enough about the height at which we put it; and it's a little higher than before - perhaps 1cm or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heater is still submerged (and over the minimum water line on the heater); but the pump is only partially submerged now. The impeller and output are submerged; but not all of the rest of the pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the pictures on the Juwel website (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.juwel-aquarium.co.uk/Products/Filtering/Pumps/Eccoflow-pumps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.juwel-aquarium.co.uk/Products/Filtering/Pumps/Eccoflow-pumps/&lt;/a&gt;), the water level covers three of the five gratings on the black box-part of the pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know ideally these should be fully submerged; but all I can find on this online in general is that it &amp;quot;may reduce the life of the pump&amp;quot; because the water also helps cool the pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are we likely to have a problem here - should we remove the silicone, drain our tank again and move the box down? Or will it be OK, just louder/hotter/less efficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11708" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T00:20:23.033" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T00:20:23.033" Title="Juwel Filter Pump Too High?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19896" CreationDate="2018-03-10T18:46:48.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get different types of filters some of which are hang on and out of the water, or fully submerged as yours. The issue with the latter is that they take up space inside the water, and add heat to the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If fully submerged the cooling might help lengthen the life but it's still getting air cooled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it feels as though it's running very hot I'd reposition it, but otherwise I wouldn't bother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-03-10T18:46:48.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-10T21:00:36.253" Score="3" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, in my colony a friend of mine has a German Shephard - Tyson (1.5 years old) and I have a Labrador - Vector (2 years old). They both are aggressive dogs, Tyson especially. But I want to have them both as friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anytime they see each other, they snarl and snap at each other and bark a lot.&#xA;Vector is a very friendly dog and is always seen waving his tail around everyone.&#xA;Tyson, however, did try to bite me once. I still want them to be friends. Is there a way for this to happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11709" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-06-20T14:32:47.817" LastActivityDate="2018-09-20T21:45:31.343" Title="How to introduce two aggressive dogs to each other?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19896" CreationDate="2018-03-11T06:17:31.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zlbzw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zlbzw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pump needs to be fully submerged - not only for cooling, but for lubrication of the bearings in the pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the pump is noisy you need to lower it or add more water to your tank. One more thing - the bacteria in your filter are dependent on a constant flow of water to stay alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always use aquarium silicone for underwater use in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added a picture of the rotor/impeller and axle, these are the parts that need to be under water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T00:18:39.100" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T00:18:39.100" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-11T11:39:34.513" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 months ago, a friend gave me a plant (&lt;em&gt;Anacharis&lt;/em&gt; or some thing) from her plastic guppy pond. It had algae and bugs, etc. but I just rinsed it in warm water a couple times, hoping that would be enough. The plant has since died along with fish... but I have noticed tiny, tiny, a little bigger than needle point size bugs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are these parasites?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I get rid of these?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will they affect fish if I put more plants in later?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T01:53:37.800" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T01:53:37.800" Title="Microscopic like bugs or parasites in my tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19900" CreationDate="2018-03-11T14:25:49.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 99,9% of the tiny lifeforms living in freshwater are totally harmless to fish and most are actually food for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your comment you have found them to be cyclops and this is the ideal food for your fish, both big and small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a little about the dangerous types, even if it unlikely you have any of them in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the external parasites are too small to be seen with the naked eye, so the first sign of infection is often gray or red skin and increased amount of mucus on the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other part of external parasites is quite large and easy to see, like fish lice and hookworms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the internal parasites are harder to see, different types of worms are the most common in the intestines of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some parasites do attack the gills of the fish, different types of gill flukes; they are hard to see without a microscope, but one can often see discoloration of the gills in infected fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T01:50:39.340" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T01:50:39.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-12T00:46:34.490" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;The picture attatched shows the difference in size of Adso, my son's male Miniature Pinscher (Min-Pin) and Zoie my female chihuahua. They are 8 weeks apart in age. Adso weighs 15lbs and Zoie 5lbs. They both live in the same home in separate spaces (one is upstairs, one is downstairs). They are both very fond of each other and want to be together all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that within seconds of them playing together, he body slams her or runs over the top of her and down she goes, rolling several times before she can get on her feet again. Then she gets mad and starts going for his legs and ears and other areas that she can reach and &lt;strong&gt;she is not playing at this point&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just wants to move around without being slammed or jumped on or pawed so hard that it scraped hair off her head. He doesn't mean to hurt her and I know he loves her but he is unable to control himself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want her to get hurt and I'm constantly removing her from the situation even though she is not to blame. I feel like she is the one that is punished for his behavior. I'm afraid hes going to break her back if it doesn't stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What can I do to fix this situation?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Size Comparison:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gks40.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11711" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-12T18:49:03.457" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T13:32:03.027" Title="Is it safe for 15lb Min-Pin male to play rough with my 5 pound female Chihuahua" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19898" CreationDate="2018-03-12T01:04:18.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they are meeting up in one or the others environment, they may feel the other is a threat and want protect their area or owner. I dont know if the other owner is committed to them be coming friends but maybe introducing them in a neutral area  and you could use muzzles for a brief period so they don't hurt eachother and can get a good feel and smell of eachothers scent. I'm no dog expert and some find muzzled to be mean. I'm just giving you an idea that may or may not work. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11711" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T01:04:18.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19905" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-12T06:27:09.510" Score="4" ViewCount="790" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 newborn platy fry. Can I put them with neon tetras in one aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aMkGn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11713" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T11:41:53.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:41:53.920" Title="Can I put newborn platies with neon tetras?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19905" CreationDate="2018-03-12T10:09:05.137" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neon tetras will attempt to eat these. I've kept neon tetras with shrimp and they would often pursue the baby shrimp. Luckily for the shrimp, they're pretty fast and hard to see so the fish would rarely get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst the fry will attempt to hide or run away continuously from the tetras if chased, it will probably either end with the fry being too stressed (because of all the chasing) or they will be eaten. If you have a heavily planted tank then you may get away with it because there is much more cover to hide in but there is a risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would put them into a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/SENZEAL-Isolation-functional-Breeding-Incubator/dp/B073P47WBL/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1520848972&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;keywords=fry+tank&amp;amp;dpID=61Ue4pb5ygL&amp;amp;preST=_SY300_QL70_&amp;amp;dpSrc=srch&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;fry tank&lt;/a&gt; which sits in the same tank to allow the water to flow through it but the fry is unable to get out. (The one linked actually looks a  bit small so you may wish to find another). This means the fry will grow larger and then you can eventually let them free into the main tank with no acclimatisation required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T10:09:05.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-12T12:34:11.797" Score="5" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in India alongside millions of stray animals (mainly dogs, cats and cows). I have started to feed and play with the dogs near my home. They eat from the garbage. I give them clean water and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapati&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chapatis&lt;/a&gt; (Indian bread). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know &lt;strong&gt;In what ways can I help stray animals with few resources?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought of opening an animal shelter through crowdfunding but I cannot as I go to school and I have no one else who will agree to be present at the shelter when I won't be present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst some may argue that sterilising the animals is the root cause of strays and would combat the problem, I haven't got the money to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="10293" LastEditDate="2018-03-12T17:25:42.343" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T18:29:01.820" Title="Helping stray animals in India" Tags="&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19912" CreationDate="2018-03-12T16:30:35.537" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment in a large city, so I can't let my cat out because he would get lost or run in front of a car. It is a young and very curious cat, so he naturally wants to get out and explore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He spends a lot of time just sitting in front of a window, staring out, sometimes crying loudly because he can't get out. I bought him a guide, but he doesn't like wearing it (a lot). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could I do? Is there any way to satisfy the cat's curiosity without letting him out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11717" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-03-18T07:41:29.353" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T19:55:42.873" Title="Curious cat in an apartment" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19909" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19913" CreationDate="2018-03-12T18:14:37.110" Score="2" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been acting very strange today and wonder if this is normal behavior or if something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats, one is male and one is female. The male one has been neutered. So the female shouldn't be pregnant. The female has not yet been spayed. They are both roughly 8 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this morning the female cat has been acting very strange. I noticed she was lowering the front half of her body to the ground and sticking her bum into the air while tapping her back feet back and forward. At first, I assumed she was maybe going through heat or something and was trying to get the male cat to have sex with her (which he showed no interest to, obviously), but now I am starting to get a little worried. She has been doing this all day, as much as possible, while making whimpering sounds and having small tremors. It seems like she is in some discomfort. She has been very active today and even when relaxing she is still holding her bum in the air. She has also been craving a lot of attention from me, cuddling into me as much as possible, which is not like her. Normally she likes to be on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Was I correct and she is just going through heat? Her strange behavior is really worrying me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11718" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-12T22:55:37.407" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T22:55:37.407" Title="Is this normal behaviour for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-22T12:37:55.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19907" CreationDate="2018-03-12T18:29:01.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Don't re-invent the wheel!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have a tough time attempting to help stray animals by yourself and, as you pointed out, especially as a young adult. Opening a shelter is a massive commitment, not just to keep the animals but also to understand what is best for each individual case, pay for vet fees etc. Once you take on this commitment you have to follow through and ensure the animals welfare is paramount. Your passion for these animals is laudable so use that to your advantage and join other people who are trying to accomplish the same thing as you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Volunteer&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my quick search around the web (not knowing your exact locality) it appears there are multiple charities that help to tackle street animals and provide education to stop more animals having to live on the street. You may wish to research some of these and (with the appropriate level of care and supervision / permission from guardians etc) start helping out at a local centre. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Fundraise&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say that you don't have the money to put into a shelter, that's fine! Don't worry about that. What you could do is to help get more funds for the charities that can do the work. Obviously, I don't know your whole situation but I'm sure there must be something you can do to raise money for a charity. Even the smallest amount can help out so don't be disheartened! Perhaps others at your school might be interested in helping to fundraise. It's always easier to do these things with other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Research / Awareness&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have pointed out, the problem of stray animals may be mitigated by spaying and neutering but you only find these things out by reading more about the problem. There may be simpler ways to help these animals than you think. Even if a charity cannot help you directly, most of them &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; be able to give you some advice on what you could do. They are the experts, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your intentions are great and I applaud you for taking an interest in animals which need someone to help them. If you really want to help them out, make sure you investigate legitimate ways that you can help the animals first before attempting to start a shelter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Some charities I found&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://animalaidunlimited.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://animalaidunlimited.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsdindia.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.wsdindia.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strays.in/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.strays.in/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Make sure you thoroughly research the charities first and get consent from appropriate guardians before doing anything. I know nothing about these charities, they are just linked on Google.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T18:29:01.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19911" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-02-20T22:32:20.813" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I farm rabbits for pelts and meat. I’ve been wanting to get a snake but I would like to keep the pelts for my pillows and blankets. Would giving a python a skinned animal be okay or do they need that skin and hair? Is there nutrition properties they need in that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Alex" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-12T19:32:21.497" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T13:38:26.927" Title="Feeding snakes skinned rabbits" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19908" CreationDate="2018-03-12T22:40:25.020" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do a lot of things. I am sure that there will be others giving many more options but some of the options that come to mind are as follows -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your cats a lot of toys to play with and keep themselves engaged. For example toy mouse, balls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outdoor cats scratch their claws against objects such as tree bark to prevent overgrowth and keep them at size. So provide some scratching post toys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Self groomer and massager toys are available for cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use laser pointers to play with your cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use cat teasers like toy bird at the end of a rope to play with your cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indoor cats many times out of boredom develop eating disorder. They eat a lot and become overweight. Use food puzzle to keep them mentally active and prevent overeating. &lt;a href=&quot;http://foodpuzzlesforcats.com/stationary-puzzles&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Food puzzles for cat&lt;/a&gt; has excellent guidance about creating food puzzles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy your cat cat tress. They love to explore and move around the cat trees. Many have hiding places and comfortable resting places too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats love to eat. Feed them the most tasty cat food available at market (of course taking into consideration appropriate nutrition).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats love to sleep. Give them a lot of comfortable cozy sleeping places.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep some glass windows. Cats love bird watching and it is an excellent time pass for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always keep the litter box clean. Dirty litter box puts stress on them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T22:40:25.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19909" CreationDate="2018-03-12T22:51:52.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think all the symptoms point to the direction that your cat is in heat. Still to rule out any possible underlying medical condition do visit a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in heat give some difficult time to owners. If you think that you can't handle all the difficulties go for spaying your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if you have no plans for having some kitten, spaying helps a cat prevent many future medical complications that may arise. One of the most common is cats which are not spayed but are unable to reproduce after multiple heat cycles may develop cyst in uterus requiring emergency surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-03-12T22:51:52.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-12T23:24:33.247" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat food is costly and I really can't afford huge wastage of food. But the situation is becoming more and more unmanageable for me as the days progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I don't free feed my cat, she will continue to always bother me for food. When given food she will eat very little. After I put back the remaining food in container and start working or go to sleep she will beg for food again in a very short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I let her free feed and leave food in her bowl, after a few hours I notice that she has eaten very little and mostly has been playing soccer with her food. There is food lying on the floor all over the house. After playing with one food bit most of the time she doesn't even bother to eat it and instead goes to fetch another food bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have to clean the entire house of cat food littered here and there. I end up collecting a significant amount of cat food which I have to throw into dustbin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this behavior of my cat really bad. There are lots of street cats who don't get enough to eat and go hungry. And my cat is wasting large amount of food everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to modify this behavior of my cat so that after playing she at least eats her food bit before fetching another one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-13T10:05:15.207" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T19:56:07.820" Title="How to prevent wastage of food by my cat who loves to play with her food more than eating it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10353" CreationDate="2018-03-13T17:37:51.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Huskies are said to be quite tolerant of other dogs in general. They are also very energetic being working dogs, and easily escape jumping fences. So, unless you can get a higher fence in place you are always going to risk this dog jumping into your garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it might help to introduce the dogs under controlled conditions to see if they get on. If they do it might stop the barking if they play with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T17:37:51.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-13T19:42:12.200" Score="2" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the best place I could think to ask this question. I figured there would be plenty of horse people on here and this question is tangentially related to horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an area of my pasture that has basically been destroyed. The horses eat in this area in the winter and drink from nearby all year round. The ground has eroded quite a bit from them making holes in the mud and carrying it off on their feet over the year. It doesn't help that they kill the grass and the rain run off erodes it to. There is nothing to do about that. I'm not interested in feeding them in different areas as this would be a ton of extra work and the 4-wheeler and even the horses would eventually mess these areas up as well. Better to have one sacrificial area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is the depth I need to mix in sand to make the clay harder. I'm basing this off of building a footing for an arena. I don't want to use anything like gravel or concrete wash, because they'd cause more problems in the long run than they'd solve now. I was watching a tv show on how they improved the Kentucky Horse Park for the FEI games and one arena builder built the bases for these arenas by mixing 50/50 sand and clay. He said you can pack it, but not as well as mother nature can in 6 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My hope is that if I get sand and mix it with the clay where the horses eat, they won't be standing in deep mud. This reduces the risk of illness through things like scratches, it makes the horses more comfortable, and reduces my irritation in blanketing in the mud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my math. 300' of fence line, 10' wide strip, 3&quot; deep. This ends up being 750cubic/ft. There are 27cubic/ft. in a cubic yard. So 750/27= ~28cubic/yards. I figure that if you mix 3&quot; of sand with the top 3&quot; of clay, evenly, you'll end up with a 6&quot; bed, which I think would be fine. Google says a standard dump truck contains 10-14 cubic/yards of sand. So (2) dump truck loads would do the area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys think this would be deep enough to firm up the footing in a 300'x10' strip for the horses to stand on when eating. I don't need it to be like asphalt, I just want it hard enough that they aren't sinking and leaving huge holes. Could I go shallower and only do 1.5&quot; of sand, so I'd have 3&quot; of hardened base? Do I even need to mix it, or will it mix well enough as the horses walk on it and stomp it into the mud below? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help guys. If you have a question about something I've left out, feel free to ask and I'll update with the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T21:31:44.230" Title="Sand to Clay Ratio for Horse Footing" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19914" CreationDate="2018-03-13T19:56:07.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's playing soccer, it seems like you're feeding dry food. If that's the case, and if this behavior bothers you, then the best thing to do is end the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this, you'll have to commit to a feeding schedule for your cat. Then you'll have to do what is called behavior extinction. This is where you completely ignore a behavior and when it doesn't get the desired for reaction, it goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example. My cat growing up was a butt. He'd want someone to wake up in the middle of the night, and walk with him to the food bowl, because he didn't want to go check it, find out it was empty, and have to walk all the way back to get someone. He tried it on my and I ignored him. Then he'd jump up and meow in my face. Then when I kept ignoring him, he'd bite me, then start licking me. He tried to say he was just grooming me and I happened to wake up, so since he was doing me a favor, I should follow him to his food bowl. Instead I dropped a pillow on him and said, &quot;Oops, I didn't see you there. I thought it was a bug.&quot; Eventually he stopped bothering me. He'd test me occasionally, but even that quite happening. On the other hand, my father would come in from a 14hr shift, go to bed, and then get up 2hrs later when the cat meowed. The cat looked under the couch like his tinkle ball was stuck and my dad is stumbling around trying to get down and look under the couch. He runs all around the couch looking under it and then turns to the cat and says, &quot;Sorry, I can't find it.&quot; The cat stands up and he was sitting on it the whole time. I reiterate, cats are butts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, I completely and consistently ignored that behavior, because I knew it wasn't necessary for him to not see a dime sized patch of white at the bottom of his food bowl. He still wakes up my father for stupid things and my father still gets up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you completely ignore the whining and meowing, it'll eventually go away. Your cat will eat when food is provided and it won't be available for play. Having said that, you should make sure there are appropriate toys for play. Those tinkle balls with the slots are great for &quot;soccer&quot;. They can pick them up in their mouth and move them around. I'd leave some of those out and then try and play with her more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll be very aggravating and it will probably escalate before it peters out. Like I said, mine tried to bite me when I ignored him. Something like dropping an accent pillow on your cat won't hurt them, but it'll shock them and deter them from nipping. Another good avenue is if they get too aggravating, drop a blanket on them for a minute. They can occupy their mind with finding their way out instead of meowing for something they don't need. A lot of times cats just want options available. They aren't hungry, but they want food down. They don't want outside or in the bathroom, but they want the door open. Good luck and I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T19:56:07.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19895" CreationDate="2018-03-13T20:02:49.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vocalizations, like meowing at your, are mostly for the humans benefit. I was watching a cat documentary about this and it showed that cats don't do a lot of vocalizing with each other. They use more body language, barring hissing during fights. They just don't spend all day meowing about the mouse they caught. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say that cats have learned to meow to get things from humans. If the cat meows loud and the humans rush in to do something to get it to shut up, it meows louder and louder to get better results. On the other hand, your cat is like mine, when yelled loud they just told him to shut up, but when he acted wimpy and meowed pathetically, they said poor baby and gave him treats and attention. Because of that, he barely vocalizes anymore. He'll do exactly what you said and do a barely audible squeak and sometimes just open his mouth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just about how they think they're training you. Try not reacting until he meows louder, then do what he wants. I bet you it'll get louder and louder. As quiet as mine squeaks, he's fully capable of yowling when he wants to play at 3am and everyone is ignoring him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T20:02:49.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10944" CreationDate="2018-03-13T20:48:22.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a hard question to answer. There are really a lot of variables. I see it was posted in 2015, so this is probably a moot issue for you anyway, but I'll give some possible answers so anyone having similar issues can have some avenues to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing I'd do is take it to the vet. You'll hear that a lot, but that's because it's a pretty valid answer. Lots of times when pets start going to the bathroom in abnormal places, it's because of issues like urinary tract infections, bladder crystals (had that with the cat), or other issues. My Jack Russell is turning 15yrs in a couple of weeks and she's currently having issues holding her bladder, especially when she's sleeping. That's mostly musculature in nature. So it's a good idea to rule that kind of thing out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you've ruled that out, and being that you've had the dog for two years, I'd think that anything like that would probably clear up in that time. Not necessarily as it could be recurring and you didn't say if it was continuous behavior or whether it comes and goes. You also didn't say if it was male or female, since males naturally want to mark territory and I wouldn't be surprised if it tried to mark the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step I'd take is to buy an appropriate pet waste cleaning solution. You can't just use comet cleaner or grease lightning. Pet waste (poop/pee) have odors and chemical markers in them. This is how canine's and other animals mark territory and leave basic messages, such as reproductive readiness and advertise their presence. When a scent begins to fade, they naturally want to mark again to re-up on the scent and make it stronger. Regular cleaners just make the smell weak and encourage them to go again in the same spot. These special cleaning products are supposed to chemically break the scent down, so there is no scent at all. That's supposed to discourage them from going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step I'd take would be to manage the dog. I'd give it water all the time, but I'd feed it at set meal times. Leave the food down for 15min and then take it up. Your dog will probably go hungry for a couple of days, but that's okay. They're smart animals and they'll figure it out quickly. This lets you pretty much know by the clock when your dog will have to eliminate and you can schedule potty walks occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few important things to know about this subject. The times when a dog is most likely to need to use the bathroom are right after it wakes up, right after it eats/drinks, or right after play. So in them mornings, I'd feed the dog and then take it for a walk and allow a bathroom break at the end. I know it seems reversed, like you want to get up and use the potty after holding it all night, then take a shower and eat breakfast, but doing all the other first, really encourages them to go and doesn't stimulate them to go again afterwards. If you take your dog out and it doesn't go, and this is at any time, not just the morning walk, take them out again in 15min. Repeat till they go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack Russells are extremely smart, and most dogs can learn my next suggestion. Get a bell by the door or something the dog can use to cue you that they need to go to the bathroom. Use operant conditioning (google and youtube will give you a plethora of info) and teach your dog to ring the bell when they need to use the bathroom. The key to this is that when your dog rings the bell, you should leash the dog, walk them straight to a designated potty area and then stand there ignoring them till they go to the bathroom. If they spend 5-10min and don't potty, take them straight back inside and let them loose in the house. It's extremely important you handle it in this way. If your dog rings the bell and you let them loose in the yard, or even if you allow them to stop and stiff things along the way to the potty area, then you've made it into a lets go play bell and they will drive you batty ringing it all the time. It has to be a potty only, no play bell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to try is to section your dog off. For instance, it doesn't need free roam of the house. When not home, you can lock it, with baby gates or doors, on floors that are easy to clean, like linoleum. You can even contain it to these areas when you're home and not able to watch it, like when you're in the showers. If need be, you can keep your dog on a long and light leash, like a $1.50 roll of paracord from your local big box. That way, if you see your dog starting to go, you can use the leash to stop them and carry them straight outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that about containing your Jack Russell, these are extremely high energy dogs. Mine lives on a farm and I spent a lot of time when she was younger working the energy off of her. I got a very solid dog that people didn't believe was a jack Russell, because she was behaved. You have to commit to working this energy off every day, because it's not fair to the dog otherwise. We often choose to stay in small areas of our house, like our bedrooms for long periods of time, watching tv or playing games, but that's only acceptable to us because we can leave anytime we choose. A good example everyone can relate to is school. Think of how bored you've gotten in school. I know that even with occasional bouts of excitement, I was sometimes so bored out of my mind that I couldn't concentrate. Now realize that as bored as I was, there was interesting stuff going on. Kids were talking to me or interacting, the teacher was talking about something I didn't know. Even with that stimulus I was bored crazy. Your dog doesn't even have that at home. You're talking about putting him in perpetual school with the same things to look at, listen to, and smell over and over. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crate has a place, but not as general containment. No one should leave a dog locked in a kennel while they're at work. I know people might argue, but I'm strongly against it. Look at it this way. You're at work/school for 8hrs. My shortest every commute was 10min. Now it's closer to 20min and has been as long as 1hr. That's all one way. So at the shortest, if I don't stop for food or errands, I'm away from home for 8hrs 10min. Then you go to bed. These days, I sleep for about 7hrs a night. We'll go with that, since it's shorter than the recommended 8hrs. So if I locked my dog in a kennel at night when I'm sleeping and can't monitor her, and I lock her in when I'm at work during the day, she's in that kennel for 15hrs and 10min a day, with nothing to do to engage her brain and no way to burn off physical energy. She'd be batty, even at her age. That's 3hrs and 10mins over half the day. That's unacceptable and that's based on sleeping less and not having a life. I don't mind containing a dog to one room, or potentially an ex-pen, but they need lots of varying stimulus. I know leerburg kennels will recommend having toys of different types that engage the dog and they change them out every week or so, so the dog doesn't get bored. Living on a farm, my dog goes outside during the winter days when it's warm enough and is out 24/7 during the summer, so she gets tons of stimulus. I've actually built her an insulated and heated dog house and she's been given an option and usually prefers the dog house to coming inside to the kennel. My thermostat said it was 69.8 degrees in her dog house this morning when the outside temp was in the 20s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not everyone has that option, though. I'm just trying to make a point. A dog isn't a pocket book or a video game, you can't get one and don't deserve one just because you want one. I know that sounds harsh, so I want to explain. It's not an attack on you or your care in any way. From this question, I can tell you care about your dogs welfare and are trying to do the best you can for it. I'm saying that you have to think of what's best for the dog, not what you really, really want. There are a lot of dogs I'd love to have, but I'll never own unless I move. All of those are cold weather dogs. I live in SC and it gets super hot and humid. I'm not going to have a dog I have to lock up to keep from having heat stroke. There are so many dog breeds out there that do well in heat that I could never own all those, but that's the pool I'll choose from. Conversely, if I lived in a colder climate, I wouldn't have a short haired, see the freckles when she's wet, Jack Russell. I'd probably have a husky or something similar. I'd never have either if I lived in an apartment. I know myself and that I'm too lazy to provide the needed exercise for them if I had to travel to do so. Now I could take them anywhere on the farm and exercise them with little trouble. I'd also never have a hairy dog, because I don't like the required grooming. I won't do it and mats are painful to the dog. I inherited my grandmothers dog when she passed and the dog is since gone as well, but I spent several years grooming that Keeshound(look it up) and I hated it, but I did it for her sake. You just have to know yourself. Other options are to get older dogs that don't have as much energy. Dogs are also individuals and you can find even Jack Russells that are laid back and chill. Mine is, but that's mostly training as she still has plenty of energy. I'm just saying, that there are options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably too late now, but if you try a lot of these options and they don't work, there isn't shame in returning the dog to the adoption agency. If you keep a dog with problems like this, you resent them and it causes ill will in the family. It's not worth it, when there is someone that might be more capable at the time of handling it and there will definitely be a dog that you can enjoy that has minimal issues out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, something I won't mention much about as I don't have much knowledge and no personal experience with are mental issues. I know from watching 'My Cat from Hell', that animals can have mental issues like people and I've seen cats on the show get treated and loose these issue. Most of it is training related, but sometimes dogs have issues like anxiety, depression, etc... that can be treated. Again, back to my first advice, see a vet that deals with issues like this and rule them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that some if any of this has helped you and I hope you and your dog are now happy and healthy. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2018-03-13T20:48:22.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-14T01:15:47.217" Score="6" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am away at college for most of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, whenever I came back, my cat seemed to be standoffish towards me and wanted nothing to do with me. Even she would sometimes growl or hiss at me. But after sometime she used to usually come around me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, for the last 2 times I’ve come home from college, she has not even come towards me after sometime. And today when I was walking through my house, she hissed and growled at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why this could be happening and what I can do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11727" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-14T05:37:30.203" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T19:50:04.773" Title="Why is my cat so mean to me when I leave for long periods of time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-14T01:53:57.353" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried giving him a bath and keeping him moist but his skin on his head, feet and other patches will not come off. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11728" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T01:53:57.353" Title="What can I do when my leopard gecko will not shed?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-14T09:07:26.277" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16917" CreationDate="2018-03-14T03:51:35.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is like that. I put a little extra water to give her more juice but, she still only drinks it. I have tried to give her every other one in store but, the result is the same. I recently discovered lickables. Its a wet cat food similar to our stew. She loves it. She will eat the whole package it just a few minutes. I would recommend trying that if nothing has worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11729" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T03:51:35.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19926" CreationDate="2018-03-14T06:09:14.577" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very often when this happens, it is because you have picked up different smells when you have been away,and cats are very dependent on their sense of smell to recognize their owner and other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this behavior of your cat is because you smell wrong after being away. So the cat needs some time to understand it really is you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different cats have different ways to recognize their owner. Some cats depend on smell, others on look (if I put on thick winter clothes my cat no longer recognizes me and gets scared), some cats recognize you by sound and comes running when they hear you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My cat is an outdoor cat and she comes running when she hears me coming home in my car, so she reacts to the sound of my car but not to other cars. Also she comes when I call for her but she does not react if other people call for her.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-14T16:15:57.050" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T16:15:57.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19911" CreationDate="2018-03-14T13:38:26.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeding skinless animals is OK, in order to ensure that your snake is getting all their nutrients the rabbits should be fed a long-term healthy diet with nutrient rich foods. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more information can be found here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5948/is-it-possible-to-gut-load-a-mouse?rq=1&quot;&gt;Is it possible to gut-load a mouse?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1691/how-do-i-gut-load-a-cricket&quot;&gt;How do I gut load a cricket&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T13:38:26.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19931" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-14T21:14:40.623" Score="3" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I bought a baby leopard gecko and I noticed that it has burrowed a little under the substate and went to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal behaviour or should I be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11732" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-14T22:38:05.800" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T22:38:05.800" Title="Baby Leopard gecko burrowing?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-16T14:02:34.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17629" CreationDate="2018-03-14T21:19:50.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably too late to be useful for your specific case, but if someone stumbles across this question I'd suggest to try ginger root:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ginger prevents pro-inflammatory cytokine activity, making it useful&#xA;  for inflammatory conditions, generally. Recent results of a&#xA;  double-blind clinical trial indicated that ginger root was as&#xA;  effective as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).&#xA;  Additionally, ginger is much kinder to the equine digestive tract.&#xA;  Ginger is hepato-protective (liver protecting), providing a nice&#xA;  option for long-term pain control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wholehorse.com/equine-rehabilitation-with-herbs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.wholehorse.com/equine-rehabilitation-with-herbs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastEditorUserId="7590" LastEditDate="2018-04-08T21:46:08.243" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T21:46:08.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19837" CreationDate="2018-03-14T21:24:54.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible to do so but at the same time, the cat has the ability to climb and some cats are able to hold their grip to climb up a cage and therefore it is possible to get the bird, especially if your bird is a curious one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you make your final decision, see if you can foster a bird before you adopt to make sure everything goes well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11732" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-14T22:36:19.120" LastActivityDate="2018-03-14T22:36:19.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-15T03:54:46.827" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I know when my platy fish (Xiphophorus variatus) are going to give birth in the next few days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11733" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-15T09:37:49.003" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T09:37:49.003" Title="When do I know they're ready to give birth" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-15T09:38:11.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19837" CreationDate="2018-03-15T13:43:34.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want someone to level with me and their experiences with bringing home an older cat with a bird already in the household. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two relevant experiences, neither of them good news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My oldest sister's late husband kept parakeets (plural) and a cockatoo.  My oldest&#xA;sister's son wanted to adopt a cat. The &lt;strong&gt;intention&lt;/strong&gt; was that the&#xA;cat would not be unattended in the room with the birds at any time,&#xA;whether they were in their cages or out of them.  My sister was at home all day, so this should be easy. The doorbell rang&#xA;and my sister had lost track of the cat. The birds were in their&#xA;cages. When she returned from dealing with the visitor, the cat was&#xA;attempting to get into the cage with the parakeets. It didn't&#xA;succeed but one of the parakeets died from the stress of the near&#xA;miss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another sister had a very elderly cat who pottered around very&#xA;slowly and 'clearly' wasn't a threat. She bought her daughter a&#xA;budgerigar, which was not allowed to free fly but was clever enough&#xA;and small enough (it transpired) to squeeze through the bars of its&#xA;cage. They came home one day to find the cage inexplicably empty. &#xA;Some months later, while moving the furniture, they found a single&#xA;white wing under the sofa.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lessons I'd hope you'd take from this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat doesn't have to catch the parakeet to kill it, just be in a position to scare it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cat's age does not necessarily affect its desire to kill birds, and may not affect its ability as well. The reaction of a cat to a bird is instinctive not learned.  You &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be able to train a kitten out of its instincts, but not an older cat. (Ironically, the cat that lived with the parakeets and cockatoo always gave the cockatoo a wide berth -- too large, especially when it spread its wings, and much too loud and scary to take on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also add that your proposals for confining the cat to a single room for long periods of time, including &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m prepared to keep the cat in our room at night for the rest of its life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not only mean that you're going to have a very stressed bird, but you're going to have a very stressed cat as well. I won't mince my words: &lt;strong&gt;this is cruel to both of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add: I'm not saying that keeping a cat as an indoor-only cat is cruel, as long as they have plenty of stimulation and company and access to a sufficient amount of unvarying space (space which is the same at all times, so that they can determine their own routine). My own two cats are indoor only cats, but they have themselves for company when I'm out -- oh, yes, and they have learned to open every door in the house, which is another thing you might want to take into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;is this whole idea of a cat in the house a bad idea all together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the arrangements you've described, absolutely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastEditorDisplayName="user10093" LastEditDate="2018-03-15T15:04:02.317" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T15:04:02.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19936" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-15T18:13:40.520" Score="2" ViewCount="1095" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can an unvacinated puppy who hasnt gone outside play with another unvaccinated puppy ?  I just got a 2 month old puppy (unvaccinated) i was planning on going over to a friends house whos dog is also unvaccinated both havent been outside at all . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11735" LastActivityDate="2018-03-15T18:13:40.520" Title="Can two unvaccinated puppies play together?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-15T20:27:26.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19939" CreationDate="2018-03-15T22:43:37.250" Score="6" ViewCount="3973" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started renting a room from someone around 6 months ago. My roommate informed me at the time that she had a cat but that it didn't like anyone but her. It hated any roommates she's had in the past. That's fine. I like cats but hey, you can't win em all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well this cat loves me. She's generally waiting for me when I get up in the morning, when I get home from the gym, and when I get home from work. She runs up to me and meows and I'll pet her for a few minutes. She follows me around the house and meows at my door when it's closed. If I get up in the middle of the night for water I'll hear her run up the stairs and meow at me in the dark. If I'm sitting on the couch to watch TV she'll sit next to me or sometimes on my lap which apparently she does for no one else, even my roommate. She'll even let me pick her up and carry her around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why does this cat like me? My roommate is the one who lavishes her in attention, feeds her, and changes her litter. My interactions are limited to a handful of minutes when I come in the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(if it makes a difference, the cat is female, I'm male, and my roommate is female)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11736" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-03-16T06:19:13.413" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T06:19:13.413" Title="Why does my roommate's cat like me so much?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19938" CreationDate="2018-03-16T02:40:29.733" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;She may find that your personality fits hers more than her owners. Maybe the cat is overwhelmed by the attention her owner is giving her. You could encourage the owner to be less aggressively affectionate towards the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was the cat adopted as an older cat? You could remind them of their previous owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11738" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T02:40:29.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-16T03:01:05.833" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has always been good about weight. She's always been fit, incredibly active, and agile. People often guess she's like 2 but she's actually almost 9 years old. She was indoor for the first year of her life, then transitioned to indoor/out for about 3 years, and has been strictly indoor for the past 4 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just went to the vet a month ago and got weighed at 8.08 which is fine because she's a very small framed cat (like 75% the size of a normal cat I'd say). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the last 2 months I've noticed she asks for food a lot more. It's been the same food for almost 2 years so I don't think it's that. She doesn't have worms and the vet said she's very healthy, especially for her age (8 years, 9 in May). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else experienced this? Is my cat secretly playing hard while I&quot;m not home and chilling and eating while I am here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11738" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T03:01:05.833" Title="Should I feed my cat whenever she asks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-16T11:11:30.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19956" CreationDate="2018-03-16T10:23:56.990" Score="9" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray cat has given birth to some kittens in a store room in my house where no one goes. She goes in and out from a window that's broken. The window is high above the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that when she was on her way to go inside, the kittens started meowing. The mom had not made any noise, neither could the kittens see her coming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kittens, at a guess, are about 2 - 3 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did they know that mom is coming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="10293" LastEditDate="2018-03-20T08:26:50.463" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T07:19:03.343" Title="How do kittens know mom is near without seeing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19943" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-16T14:42:28.843" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Presa Canario puppy (fairly large - probably 50-ish lbs by now, 4 months). It's a short haired breed, from Canary Islands near West Africa. I live in Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's at least +5 or so outside, she is fine. Anything lower and she is heading back inside even with two sweaters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now I can drag her outside to do her business, whether she likes or not. I am concerned about next year when it's going to be -20 Celsius (sub-zero Fahrenheit) outside and she will be 100-ish lbs and I won't be able to manhandle her so easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T14:42:28.843" Title="Large, short haired breed in Canadian Winter" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;winter&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19945" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-16T19:54:07.453" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;How effective would a pitbull be as part of a livestock guardian team? Not necessarily the only dog, maybe one dog alerting and the others jumping in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-03-16T19:54:07.453" Title="How would a pitbull do as part of a livestock guardian team?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-17T02:05:34.700" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two labrador retrievers, both very socialized and outgoing. I take them obedience trials and are fully trained. I am stuck because today my neighbor said one of my dogs barks at every person walking by or making noise. My neighbor said it isn't a anxiety bark just a loud annoy the neighbors kind. The neighbor also said it never happens when i'm home just when I leave for work, the dogs can come in and out of dog door and for some reason the one girl patrols the fence all day looking for someone to bark at. I am at a loss as to how to fix this since I am not around when she does this, and in my presence she will not do it. I of course could kennel her in the house or let her have free roam of the house she is housebroken, but I would like idea's to actually fix the problem. Any advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11743" LastEditorUserId="11783" LastEditDate="2018-03-22T12:21:42.680" LastActivityDate="2018-03-24T00:55:20.780" Title="How to deal with a dog that barks at people when the owner is not present" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-22T12:54:58.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-17T12:57:56.967" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats. I got both at the local animal shelter 5 years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female was 6 years old had her shots and spayed. She is a very sweet cat and has no problematic behavior. It took her a while to start coming out in the living room during the day and be part of the family. I guess it is because we have a few basset hounds and it took her a while to become really sure of them. Now she can’t get enough family interaction. She is solid white with blue eyes but she does hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is our male T Monkey. He was a tiny little thing. He was a stray and no more than 3 or 4 weeks. He was too small for neutering at that time. After about 2 months he was neutered. He now has the whole house to play. I never dreamed this cat would get this big. I think he was from a litter of wild cats as he did have ear mites when he was found. He might be part Himalayan or Main coon cause he is huge with long black hair that is grayer on the under coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the problem is, he started stalking the female cat when he became bigger than her. He wraps himself around her and bites her. She starts making noises when she sees him walking near her. It happens multiple times a day. Most of the time we are able to run him off her unless it happens at night or when only one of us are in house and the female cat is in a different room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am starting to worry for the female. She female is at least 11 now. I am noticing that the female is starting to look and act a little frail as his attack is relentless upon her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He however is not a cat with absolute sweet behavior. He has more personality than any cat we have ever had. He is meaner than hell. Though he will reach out for you to pet him and be loving, watch out if he starts swishing his poofy tail. He will then wrap himself around your arm and sink his teeth and claws in. When anyone goes and gets a snack he is worse than a dog. To beg he reaches his paws for you and the snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He behaves weird when he has no company. When my husband and I go away for a night he will start peeing on all the beds including the dog beds. We always leave at least 1 of 2 sons that live with us here to take care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love both cats and would not dream of giving either up. But I would like to stop him from attacking her. He even attacks her when she is in her bed in the corner up on a bar stool with a chair for her access. He jumps on the chair and attacks her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11745" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-17T14:41:17.263" LastActivityDate="2018-03-17T14:41:17.263" Title="How to stop my younger male cat from attacking my older female cat? Both are desexed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-29T08:50:47.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-17T18:52:25.033" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been told that I should have as many litter boxes as I do cats. I'm wondering if this is medically-based or is it personal pet preference (as I've heard that some cats merely won't share boxes with other cats). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11746" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T17:17:23.300" Title="Is it really necessary to have a litter box for every cat? If so, why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-17T20:08:08.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-17T19:10:34.440" Score="6" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male kitten, approx 9-10 months old. It is suffering from hair loss. I think it may be due to environmental allergies. Or is it due to something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was shifted to my friend's house for approx 2 weeks and when I got it back, it was healthy with good coat and long hair. But after few days it started losing hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I visited vet but I don't think there are any good vets in my city. My vet always suggests me to change cat food brand whenever I pay a visit. Cat's diet was same when it was at my friend's place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently we are feeding him &quot;Josera kitten food&quot;. Before that we were feeding him &quot;Royal Canin Kitten food&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the cause? It has short hair from upper side and longer hair below his body. I don't trust any vet in my city. They are here just to make money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Need advice. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-03-17T21:48:10.100" LastActivityDate="2018-03-18T16:21:59.560" Title="Hair shedding from upper body while lower still have long hair" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19950" CreationDate="2018-03-17T20:12:52.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on your cats. I have never had more than two cats at the same time, and I had two litter boxes, but my cats only used one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for having one box per cat is to let a cat use it undisturbed by the other cat, and it is easier to avoid the litter being wet if you have two boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats only use one of the litter boxes, you only need one. If the cats want a private litter box, you use two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most common problems with only one litter box is a silent fight for domination where one cat starts to spray around the litter box. I am not saying this will happen, but it might happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T17:17:23.300" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T17:17:23.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-18T00:20:19.257" Score="2" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3ft tank, it's been cycling for about a week so far. We want to have a female Betta sorority(at least 5 females) and at least 2 bottom feeders (Corydras). Would this be considered overcrowding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes the tank is underplanted for a sorority and I intend to get some tall growing plants for the back. I want a fairly neat looking plant to go with &#xA;the tank. Perhaps Jungle Vallisneria?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iItvT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-20T12:15:47.050" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T08:44:22.700" Title="I'm wanting to have a female Betta sorority and Corydras- would that be over crowding?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19251" CreationDate="2018-03-18T06:03:26.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be your cat does have a lot of energy and simply does not know what to do with it. Remember, cats are most active at dusk and dawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to play more in the evening before bedtime so your cat gets to use some of the energy before bedtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:34:47.950" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:34:47.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19941" CreationDate="2018-03-18T06:29:23.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mother does call out when she returns. It is a short sound and it can be hard for people to hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally kittens have to be quiet so they do not get unwanted attention from predators when the mother is away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the mother calls to say it is safe now but also to hear where the kittens are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-22T07:19:03.343" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T07:19:03.343" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19970" CreationDate="2018-03-18T15:42:01.127" Score="4" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I'm not currently thinking of building a salt-water tank, I might do after a few years of experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a lot of YouTube videos and online tutorials that feature different coral setups in their tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They sure look nice, but where does the coral that is in stores come from? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're coming from the ocean (The biggest aquarium of all :D) and already-depleted coral reefs, it would seem a bit unethical to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that there are suppliers that farm coral? I don't know much about coral but it seems like it would take a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11754" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:53:42.607" Title="Does store-bought coral come from coral reefs?" Tags="&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-18T15:44:25.763" Score="3" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;It started a few days ago. At first, I thought he was shedding but now I see it’s nothing to do with that. What is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no reptiles vets around here. I've had dragons many times and never seen this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He’s 3 years old and was very active and healthy until now. Today he doesn’t want to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q8nyk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q8nyk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11755" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-19T12:00:43.993" LastActivityDate="2018-03-19T12:00:43.993" Title="Discolouration at the top of dragon's tail" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15608" CreationDate="2018-03-18T15:49:38.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is an old post, but you have some strange and misconceived views.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you probably want a domestic short-hair and not an American short-hair. A domestic is your run of the mill non-pedigreed cat, whereas an american short-hair is a rare cat that will cost a lot of money to get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, those cats in shelters usually have plenty of black cats and kittens, unless they put them down because no one will adopt them because they are black. And those poor cats in shelters are going to be killed unless someone adopts them, usually in gas chambers filled with other crying and screaming kittens and cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, cats should be &quot;sexually mutilated&quot; as you call it to prevent the murdering in pounds and shelters of unwanted and unadopted cats and kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Black cats are a dominant color and there are plenty of them born. You have done some things right though because your cats lived to be 17 years old. That is a great job. Also you are right about black cats they are the best, most lovable, and loyal friends you could get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11756" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-05T14:37:10.713" LastActivityDate="2020-03-05T14:37:10.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19951" CreationDate="2018-03-18T16:21:59.560" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The options of treatment in this case is not only limited but also expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is hereditary then although there is no treatment, rest assured that your cat is fine. You may want to check with the pet shop for this information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise as per information provided by you in your comments, your cat's condition is &lt;strong&gt;serious&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After ruling out other possible reasons as per information provided by you in your comments, your cat most probably has hyperthyroidism. However other diseases like diabetes, cancer and kidney failure may also be the reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it is rare condition for a 9 month old cat as these diseases mostly occur in older cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For diabetes diagnosis urine analysis, complete blood count and serum biochemistry profile is required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Urine analysis, blood tests and clinical signs are used to diagnose kidney failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blood tests, faeces test, radiography, ultrasonography and endoscope is used to diagnose intestinal cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually these three conditions are first ruled out before testing for hyper thyroidism is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enlarged thyroid gland in neck area is examined for physically. Tests like blood chemistry panel and analysis of thyroid hormone levels is done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatment includes one or a combination of medicines, radioactive iodine therapy, surgery and dietary therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; I AM NOT A VET&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See a better vet asap. Time is crucial now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-03-18T16:21:59.560" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-19T00:15:07.773" Score="3" ViewCount="4358" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today my father and I bathed my cat. He's going to be 1 year old in a couple months and this afternoon we noticed that his back (the entire back half of his body) started twitching. Sometimes the spasms are light, but sometimes they are so strong that it looks like he's going to explode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am familiar with feline hyperesthesia since it's the only thing I could find on the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he is being hyperactive (he always was, to be honest). I noticed him licking his back once (a few seconds ago); he's not running or rolling, or if he did I did not see it. My mother says he can't stay quiet&#xA;today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few hours after the bath, I noticed his skin was very warm, probably febrile, but I don't know if he was like that before the bath. I didn't see him a lot today because I have to study for tests that will take place tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will take him to the vet once we can, but I'd like some ideas of what it could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: extra information that might help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed today while bathing him that his lower belly is swollen, like there's fluid in it, my father noticed it a long time ago but because of his fur, I did not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We usually play a bit aggressively, that is I pet him while he's laid down in a playful way and he usually grabs my hand and starts licking and scratching, biting it etc, it usually hurts but not so much, after all he's not doing it on purpose. However, right now when I was petting him he grabbed my hand in a way that hurt a lot, almost like he was trying to defend himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: Forgot to mention, the spasms are constant, they stop but 3 seconds later they are back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've just noticed that he's breathing very quickly and he just jumped on my table and laid down on my mousepad (he never does this) and he's currently sleeping where my mouse should be, he closes his eyes but then a very strong spasms wakes him up (it's happening as I am writing this) he appears to be very tired but can't sleep because of the spasms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had a history of ear mites (&lt;em&gt;Otodectes cynotis&lt;/em&gt;) infestation about 2 months ago, and I noticed his ear is twitching, which was a symptom back then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I do anything to relieve him of this discomfort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 3: Guys, something's wrong, he's not moving, it's like he's very tired. I picked him up and usually he hates it, but now he's not doing anything, he just stays like I put him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11759" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-29T21:43:13.740" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T21:43:13.740" Title="Cat's back twitching A LOT for over 4 hours now" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19962" CreationDate="2018-03-19T00:19:49.860" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She could be very cold. Try putting her under blankets or something. If that does not fix it head to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-03-19T00:19:49.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19962" CreationDate="2018-03-19T06:46:55.173" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only answer is to TAKE IT TO THE VET RIGHT NOW. This sounds dangerous so you need to GO TO THE VET NOW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody on the internet can tell you for sure what is wrong. A vet needs to examine your cat to treat it GO TO THE VET.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats life is in your hands, so please, TAKE IT TO THE VET.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-29T08:55:35.087" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T08:55:35.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19460" CreationDate="2018-03-19T06:51:34.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the training-sessions for not-jumping: For a bit, have a sign at the door. Something short and simple, like:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have two puppies to train.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When you come in, please ignore them at first.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can pet and cuddle in a few minutes :).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you spring two little, excited dogs on someone, chances are at least some will go &quot;Awww, how cute!&quot;,  and this reaction from visitors is not helping your dog-training! If you give them a note like that, they will be ready for the &quot;attack of cute fluffyness&quot; and not accidentially sabotage your training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2018-03-19T06:51:34.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19966" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-19T12:12:01.193" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;In continuation of my question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18183/do-aquarium-turtles-require-basking-everyday&quot;&gt;Do aquarium turtles require basking everyday?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will purchase a UV bulb for turtles but which one should I purchase UVA, UVB or UVC?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much distance should I keep between basking area (water surface) and bulb? I don't want their soft skin gets burned. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;As of now the distance between the water surface and single CFL (8 W) is almost 12 to 15 inches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T01:39:38.930" Title="Which light is good for aquarium turtles, UVA, UVB, UVC?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-03-20T01:37:13.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19967" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-19T15:50:51.813" Score="5" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;A relative's dog, who only know's me a little, will follow me on a walk but on the way out will stay behind and then as soon as I turn back home will go ahead. &#xA;Is this simple submissive/safety behaviour, keeping escape home clear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11762" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-19T16:04:32.823" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T20:12:56.123" Title="Why does my relative's dog stay between me and home on a walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19958" CreationDate="2018-03-20T03:16:48.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The import of live rock is under the control of United States Vital Reef Task Force in the USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;International Trade in Coral and Coral Reef Species&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;International Trade Sub-Group&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Report to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In assessing the U.S. role in international trade and protection of coral reef species as prescribed by the President’s Executive Order, the international trade subgroup presents the following information:￼&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The United States currently is the number one consumer of live coral and marine fishes for the aquarium trade and of coral skeletons and precious corals for curios and jewelry. All U.S. states with coral reefs prohibit direct take of coral from their reefs, yet the U.S. is the primary market for coral and coral products. For example, in 1996 the U.S. imported over 80% of all the live coral in trade representing at least 350,000 pieces. That same year, the U.S. also imported over 90% of the live rock (reported as Scleractinia; base rock for marine aquaria consisting of living marine organisms attached to dead coral substrate) [see annex 1a]. Imports of dead coral have leveled off since 1993, however the imports of live coral and live rock has dramatically increased each year. The live trade targets different species, including many large-polyp corals that are rare and grow slowly. In addition to the direct loss of live coral, coral extraction is contributing to loss of important fisheries habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their long term aim is to assist countries in the sustainable trade in corals. But yes most live rock is taken from the ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fws.gov/coralreef/trade.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fws.gov/coralreef/trade.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T03:16:48.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19765" CreationDate="2018-03-20T11:38:50.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tropical fish thrive between 25 °C and 27 °C. They can tolerate lower and higher temperatures, but 40 °C would kill them in short time. Aquarium chillers do exist and are adjustable for temperature. There are also some homemade designs out there. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/diy-do-it-yourself-aquarium-chiller-2924600&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is one I found (on thespruce.com)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck - I hope you can set up an aquarium! They are really rewarding.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11767" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:59:17.767" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:59:17.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19953" CreationDate="2018-03-20T11:52:17.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be okay with that fish load, as long as you follow weekly or at least bi-weekly partial water changes (10-20%) and gravel vacuuming. If you want to get real nerdy pick up some test kits for nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia, and monitor their levels (all are bad for fish health...). Water changes dilute these, and gravel vacuuming removes fish waste that causes their buildup. Also - you can test your source water for these pollutants - sometimes well water (and even municipal water...) can be high in nitrates from the start, so your baseline nitrate level will not be zero...!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend having as much water as possible in the tank. The more water in an aquarium system, the more stable the conditions will be. Maybe there is a good reason your tank is a few inches shy of being full, but if not bring the water all the way up to the tippy-top. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11767" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T11:52:17.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19973" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-20T14:08:18.533" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male beta for a month now.he was in a small tank and was just upgraded to a tl2 gallon tank with a filter and I also added a heater.i knew he was unhappy in the cold dirty tank he was in so when I got the new tank I was anxious and added him in the new tank within ten minutes of setting it up.i didn't know you wernt suppose to do that.i have never owned a fish.he was very happy the first day but now he is not eating and he is literally laying at the bottom of the tank.his color is also very dull.i am afraid I am slowly killing him because of adding him to the new tank so quickly.i don't know when or how much I should change this water but all I know is my fishy is not ok.could I of put him on the path of death.?? Please help anyone... thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11768" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-20T14:16:58.650" LastActivityDate="2018-03-20T14:16:58.650" Title="First time beta owner please help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-03-20T14:10:08.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19958" CreationDate="2018-03-20T17:13:54.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some is collected, some is farmed. It would be good to a visit a large successful salt shop. It takes the same conditions to keep corals healthy as to grow them, so these shops often grow some corals. I think it is acropha coral that is most easy to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corals require a LOT of light. I suggest starting with easy fish (damsels, wrasse, gobies, etc.) and inverts (shrimp, crabs, starfish, etc.) to practice before trying corals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had salt aquarium about 20 years ago, but now I go to a good shop if I want to see salt aquariums; much easier and cheaper than having one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:53:42.607" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:53:42.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19992" CreationDate="2018-03-20T19:53:14.273" Score="6" ViewCount="4827" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 years old cat that likes playing cat and mouse with me and my girlfriend. If I walk from my bedroom to my living room, he gets playful and he chases me and tries to grab my leg with a soft bite, and after that he runs away and excepts me to run for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When playing with my girlfriend, he sometimes meows loudly at her. It sounds like he's angry because she catches him, but right after she stops he'll come back and provoke her to start an other playful fight.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now we don't understand if he gets really angry while playing or if he's meowing because he's excited to play. In other situation, he's not a really talkative cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think of it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11769" LastEditorUserId="11769" LastEditDate="2018-03-21T12:00:25.597" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T11:31:50.447" Title="Cat meowing when playing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12251" CreationDate="2018-03-21T05:10:32.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Rhodesian is 2 years and 4 months old , by 18-20 months is when he reached his peaks , or at least peaked for what we have pushed him to . He will run 8 miles while we bike from our home to the downtown of our city,  then we rest for an hour or so rehydrate , eat , and bike back 8 miles. The last two miles or mile he starts to slow down,  but keep in mind as stated in the comment above his enviorment plays a huge role (his health/condition like humans does as well). He runs on side walks,  back streets &amp;amp; there is an uphill in route and a up hill street on the way back too . We’ got our bikes in June and rode well into October . The cooler days he definitely had an easier &amp;amp; faster cool down. He keeps up with a bike pace which is faster than running . If it’s really hot it’s mean to make them do long hauls . I always pack plenty of water . Post hot runs he will get home cool down drink water jump in our lake and lay down to recoup on easier cooler long hauls he does the same cool down but could honestly probably go do another 4 mile run with me after a little rest . My boy is 110 pounds maybe bigger now healthy very lean . My girl is 8.5 months 80lbs she’s a chunkers but doesn’t do very long bikes or runs yet 2-4 miles tops Amazing breed ! Hope this helped .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11772" LastActivityDate="2018-03-21T05:10:32.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18829" CreationDate="2018-03-21T06:45:09.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Bettas age they can experience pigment changes and this includes black spots on their fins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There doesn't appear to be any fin rot looking at the ends of the fins, and no red streaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think just enjoy your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-03-21T06:45:09.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-21T11:55:21.633" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put the food in this bowl, but my dog doesn't eat his food himself until I feed him with my own hands. (I have only 1 dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't know why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change the bowl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change the level &lt;em&gt;(height)&lt;/em&gt; of the bowl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change the eating place&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11590" LastEditorUserId="11590" LastEditDate="2018-03-22T10:30:34.620" LastActivityDate="2018-03-22T10:30:34.620" Title="My dog doesn't eat food himself" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-03-21T12:18:30.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19898" CreationDate="2018-03-21T15:40:27.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some dogs will not friends with other dogs and this might be only certain dogs that they will not be friends with. It could take months of one on one training with each of these dogs so with that in mind, it sounds like a bad idea. Trying to get them to be friends could result in a terrible dog fight. Once there is one fight, it dramatically increases the chance that there could be another fight because each dog will have the memory of the fight implanted in their brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11773" LastActivityDate="2018-03-21T15:40:27.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-21T21:37:44.917" Score="3" ViewCount="3657" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shepherd male is 7 months old and has been socialized and exercised since he was 10 weeks old with trips to the local dog park (almost daily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, his behavior has changed toward one of the dogs he has played with since he was a pup (a female Husky). After brief periods of typical wrestling and chasing (the GSD chasing the Husky), my GSD will grab the Husky by the neck fur/skin and not let go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Husky will sometimes yelp, but it does not deter his continuing to hold on tight. Trying to separate them results in the GSD holding on tighter. Its as if the GSD is in some kind of zone, because verbal commands which he otherwise is good about responding to, don't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not do this with any other dog playmates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11776" LastEditorUserId="10208" LastEditDate="2018-03-22T09:26:16.070" LastActivityDate="2018-10-01T08:57:24.367" Title="Neck biting without release during play" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19946" CreationDate="2018-03-22T03:02:48.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Experience:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://petpartners.org/volunteer/our-therapy-animal-program/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Partners&lt;/a&gt; B+ Lab/Beagle mix who is 12 years old. She is great is almost every situation. That being said, she barks in the house at nonsense. A movement out the window (we are on 2nd floor of a Chicago apartment, so nothing is really a threat) and she goes off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say to avoid breaking animals of instinctive behavior. &quot;Don't try and train a raccoon not to wash its food&quot; is a saying I hear in dog training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For thousands of years, dog barking has been super helpful to people. Dogs have evolved to bark at perceived danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Advice:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't fight the dog. If you can use a &quot;close the blinds&quot; and &quot;turn up the music&quot; approach, it might work better than &quot;training&quot; on this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11501" LastEditorUserId="11783" LastEditDate="2018-03-22T12:04:05.823" LastActivityDate="2018-03-22T12:04:05.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19946" CreationDate="2018-03-22T08:03:45.070" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple options that work well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Ultrasonic Sound Emitter&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://smile.amazon.com/PetSafe-Indoor-Ultrasonic-Control-Anti-Bark/dp/B00068R98C/ref=sr_1_7?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1521705415&amp;amp;sr=1-7&amp;amp;keywords=bark%20deterrent%20ultrasonic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cheap Option&lt;/a&gt;) - $25&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually one of the most useful tools in your toolbox. It will make a harsh sound when the bark gets above a certain decibel level (customizable). The best part is that your neighbors can't hear it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Anti-bark collar&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://smile.amazon.com/PetSafe-Anti-Bark-Training-Waterproof-Correction/dp/B0002C7FHC/ref=sr_1_6?s=pet-supplies&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1521705494&amp;amp;sr=1-6&amp;amp;keywords=anti-bark%20collar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cheap Option&lt;/a&gt;) - $30&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are great for dogs that just won't stop! A slight shock is all that is necessary to create the association with Bark = Bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check out this &lt;a href=&quot;https://minihuskylovers.com/best-anti-barking-devices/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;resource&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IMPORTANT NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog learns not to bark during PERCEIVED DANGER, it will be incredibly hard to get them to learn how to bark again when there is ACTUAL DANGER. It might be worthwhile to teach your dog something called &quot;Positive Aggression&quot;, which means how to understand when there is ACTUALLY DANGER and to react correctly for this danger. This is how police and military dogs are trained. You want your dog to be a protector, as well as a fun pet. Since they are considered deadly weapons when they successfully attack an individual (and are 99.99% genetically equivalent to wolves), you should train your dog to be a weapon that is only fired toward enemies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11783" LastActivityDate="2018-03-22T08:03:45.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20037" CreationDate="2018-03-22T15:35:48.357" Score="7" ViewCount="47102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got two 6 months old brother male kittens, both neutered and vaccinated. One of the two, the smaller one Gintoki, keeps biting lightly whatever he can of my hands, arms, neck and my wife's as well. Most of the time it is barely anything and I understand he's not doing this to be mean as he is most of the time purring when he does that, that I'm not exactly sure how to react to it since I know it can create bad tendencies as he will grow older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that's not too worrying for now as we only had them since last Sunday(18-03-18), but now the issue is that Gintoki and the other slightly bigger &lt;em&gt;Jotaro&lt;/em&gt; come at night in bed and are both biting our faces: e.g. ears, nose, jaw, chin. Once more they don't sound mad again as they are purring and not especially trying to attack us. We are going to start keeping our room's door closed at night, but is there anything else we can do? Can this be something only temporary? Will it make the two kittens hate us? As you can see I'm quite worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[EDIT]&lt;/strong&gt; We haven't seen that they are biting more than before and the door was left open except for one night were we closed it for 5 minutes and Gintoki would meow loudly so that wasn't going to happen. I'll see to try what the response advised me and see how that goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; Now what I have been able to deduce is that they bite our face during sleep because they want to be fed. And that they prefer to bite my face with or without a light beard. They never really hurt me, and I have been able to sleep better by providing them a bit of food before sleeping (they will come back just a bit later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11784" LastEditorUserId="11784" LastEditDate="2018-04-13T19:49:02.107" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T19:24:19.703" Title="Cat bites my face at night and when he seems happy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-22T21:13:28.580" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in a shady neighborhood so we bought a big dog  (5 months old now) and have been training her to bark on command.  We haven't been doing this for long so she doesn't recognize the command unless I'm keeping a toy from her or vacuuming/sweeping/. . . .   However, I think we've made her a little paranoid.  We were on a walk yesterday and an elderly gentleman wanted to pet the &quot;cute doggy&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well despite my telling her &quot;No&quot; which she usually understands quite well.  our pup would not stop barking aggressively at him.  When we are in that situation again, &lt;strong&gt;what can I do training wise to get her to stop barking at the friendly person?&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like her to still bark if say some one entered our yard or home unannounced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10953" LastActivityDate="2018-03-23T00:44:53.647" Title="How can I train my paranoid dog to NOT bark at every stranger she meets?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-03-23T00:42:45.997" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20034" CreationDate="2018-03-22T23:24:41.130" Score="6" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an old cat (16 years old), since two weeks she frantically licks herself until she pulls completely her hairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I brought her to the veterinarian and he said that she is probably stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After looking for recent changes, I have found nothing that could cause this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only hint I see is that I have depression since few months, I wonder if she can feel it. Can cats feel bad emotional states? Is there a way to hide it from them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10232" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-03-23T00:39:38.903" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T05:54:31.233" Title="My cat is stressed, can it come from my depression?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19993" CreationDate="2018-03-23T02:49:36.553" Score="6" ViewCount="2210" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten just got neutered today and he has been bad about trying to lick his incision. I put a cone on him but he is able to pull it off. How easily is he able to ruin his incisions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is on pain medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T21:41:17.063" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:41:17.063" Title="Neutering incisions in cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19976" CreationDate="2018-03-23T07:44:33.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;cats do not want to be held against their will and can be quite vocal if one do so,but in your situation the cat probably want your girlfriend to let him go quicker so he can keep playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so in a way the cat is sending mixed signals it want to be caught but do not wish to be held.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it is probably an element of your cat training your girlfriend how to play in this,cats are very good at training their people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if a cat is angry you will know it it will often cause some pain to the person the cat is angry at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if a cat do yell it is often a warning to stop what you are doing or else he will hurt you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-03-23T07:44:33.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19991" CreationDate="2018-03-23T08:11:37.537" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is best if your cat avoids licking the wound for a couple of weeks as it heals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chance for the incision to be infected is not large, but it is best to be sure it does not happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need to put the cone back on and a little tighter this time; where I live the vets do often avoid putting on a cone, but do send the cone home with the cat in case it is needed, and in your cat's case it is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An incision like your cat has will heal quite fast, but this is dependent on your cat's age; if it is done on a kitten before maturity, it heals quicker than if it is an adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T21:40:05.720" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:40:05.720" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-24T00:57:19.790" Score="4" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got worms in my tank now.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The tank has got water in it, but no fish and the water has just been sitting. I've now got cyclops and weird worms. Are they deadly to fish?&#xA;I've been meaning to empty the tank and clean it, but I haven't had the time, now there are worms hanging at the surface of water; they don't swim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are they harmful to fish?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to clean tank and get rid of them and cyclops?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T23:21:27.430" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T23:21:27.430" Title="How to get rid of worms in my tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-24T05:14:40.127" Score="3" ViewCount="2864" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 16 week old puppy. I don't understand why he drinks water like he never had any. Then, he urinates half a minute after consumption. If he is out of the crate, he will try to get back in to pee inside. Lastly, he drinks his urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done everything. He won't even always urinate on a puppy mat. I'm just ready to give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T21:38:30.857" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T21:55:38.713" Title="My dog drinks water like he never got any and drinks his urine" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19994" CreationDate="2018-03-24T05:46:39.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might be wrong on this, but it sounds to me like you have got mosquito larvae in your tank; if this is the case, they provide excellent food for any fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are mosquito larvae, they will rapidly swim down from the surface of the water if you disturb the water. They inhale air with a siphon placed next to their anus, so they are hanging head down from the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the wrong type, you have to give more details in your question for me to solve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You clean the tank as normal and vacuum the gravel and clean the pump and filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cyclops are fishfood, so your fish will remove them, it will probably be a lot of living things in the gravel your fish will eat this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parasites need fish and die without them, so this is normally not a problem when you restart your tank after it has been unused for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember: before you add new fish to your tank you need to cycle it, this is to build a healthy bacterial flora to handle the waste from your fish and food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read how this is done &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;; pet stores do often not inform you about this, but it is very important to know if you want to keep the fish alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T23:17:41.143" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T23:17:41.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13618" CreationDate="2018-03-24T15:46:43.210" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the idea of cleaning up after a pet disgusts you, then for the sake of the cat, please don't get one. It's not fair to the cat, and it's like saying &quot;I'd love to have a kid, but I don't want to ever change its diaper.&quot; LITERALLY. It's EXACTLY like that. Certain responsibilities go with having any kind of pet or anything else that you have to care for, and if you are unable to meet those basic needs, you shouldn't have one. Either get over your disgust at having to perform a necessary action associated with having a cat, or PLEASE don't get one. There are predators and lots of other dangers outside, and cat poop doesn't really smell, especially compared to dog poop. As long as you keep it cleaned, there's no smell. Our cat has a scented litter that actually smells like Hawaiian tropical scents--I never smell anything like pee, ammonia or poop. But again, if you can't deal with the idea of having to scoop the litter box once a day, for the cat's sake--please don't get a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11793" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-22T17:47:50.357" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T17:47:50.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="19998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-24T18:11:30.207" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;We want buy a bearded collie {40–60 lbs (18–27 kg)} and want to have a designated dog toilet in the garden. What size should it be if we plan to scoop poop once per week? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else we should consider for the dogs comfort and to reduce odor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11794" LastEditorUserId="11794" LastEditDate="2018-03-25T19:45:18.970" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T19:45:18.970" Title="What size should a dog toilet area with weekly cleanup be?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="19999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7883" CreationDate="2018-03-25T01:41:23.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;my husband and I tag team our 2 kittens. We have to do eye drops and liquid antibiotics twice a day for 10 days. He wraps one at a time like a burrito and I administer the medicine. The vet said to do the syringe slowly but from what I read qiicker is better. Our kittens still try to squirm as soon as they see the syringe coming because they know it tastes bad. Its a daily struggle but thankfully its only for a little while and we give them wet food afterwards. Thankfully they don't stay mad at us. Sometimes they meow because they tilt their head back trying to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11797" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T01:41:23.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-25T03:29:21.693" Score="1" ViewCount="1785" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lesion appeared over the snout about a week ago. Have been applying anti fungal cream but no change to the lesion. It’s been the same size for the last few days. Does not appear to be itchy or sore. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q1veC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11799" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T03:29:21.693" Title="Is this ringworm?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2181" CreationDate="2018-03-25T04:02:15.273" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't bathed my 2 piggies in the year and a half I've had them.  They usually smell pretty good to me.  I wash their cloth sleeping pads and 'sleeping bags' - a felt purse and another cloth enclosure they can go into.  They don't seem to have any problems that would be cured with a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11800" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T04:02:15.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2018-03-25T06:42:15.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 75 gallon &amp;amp; 30 gallon tropical fish tanks have hood lights but are partially covered with a grated screen because the tops don't fit the entire surface area. If I didn't have them completely covered, the fish could possibly jump out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tFSNr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tFSNr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LxDln.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LxDln.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;On the other hand, I have 40 gallon breeder tank with 4 aquatic frogs, 6 fancy goldfish &amp;amp; 6 bumblebee catfish. The tank is about 3/4 filled with water (not to the top) and I've had the tank for many years and never had a cover on it and never had a problem. But if the water was filled to the top, the frogs could possibly jump out. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8OVwS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8OVwS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11801" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T06:42:15.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20005" CreationDate="2018-03-25T07:03:13.543" Score="3" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten had hurt herself and was &lt;strong&gt;bleeding in the neck&lt;/strong&gt; a few days ago. I'm not sure of what caused that, but I doubt it &lt;strong&gt;may have been bitten or scratched&lt;/strong&gt; by some other feral cats of street. From few days, she has &lt;strong&gt;started to lose hair&lt;/strong&gt; on the head and now it's almost a &lt;strong&gt;bald spot&lt;/strong&gt;. Her &lt;strong&gt;head is swollen&lt;/strong&gt; also. She &lt;strong&gt;isn't eating&lt;/strong&gt; properly also. I'm worried for the kitten and my family's worried for me. They say it's not safe to keep her at home anymore as &lt;strong&gt;she may have developed some contagious disease&lt;/strong&gt; as one of our old neighbors had died from a cat bite, but I don't want to send her away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's the reason for that baldness?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will even accidental scratch/bite from her cause diseases to humans?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is that bite/scratch on her neck too serious issue?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: There are no veterinary doctors near our place.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T00:48:39.850" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T00:48:39.850" Title="Kitten hurt from bite/scratch developed swelling and bald spot on head. Has she got some disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20004" CreationDate="2018-03-25T08:16:42.527" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You still need to get the cat to a vet to get this diagnosed and treated, but not only for your current problem, but to get the cat vaccinated and spayed/neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get a cat you take on the responsibility of providing all the care a cat needs for the next 20 years or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat does have an infection and needs treatment, so it does need a vet; often cats get an abscess after getting bitten and this needs to be emptied and cleaned out by a vet and sometimes the cat needs antibiotics after this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the diseases a cat can get can be transmitted to humans, like rabies and tetanus and a few others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z4U7E.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z4U7E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how it looks after the abscess has ruptured and this means the danger is mostly over, but I still took him to the vet to get it cleaned and flushed out (the cat's name is Lillepus, he was a feral cat, I had to put him down to save my other cat as he was not able to adjust to my other cat, so it was not connected to this problem, he lived for a year after this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T00:43:10.727" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T00:43:10.727" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-25T09:13:41.983" Score="3" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on the net and found that Indian stray dog, named pariah goes into heat once a year during mating season August - Jan. Their gestation period is 2 months so November- December is when most pups are born. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But why do pariahs, unlike most others go into heat once, and all at the same time?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read about their mating season in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_pariah_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. I could not find the explanation.&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" LastEditorUserId="10293" LastEditDate="2018-04-01T08:30:24.460" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T13:40:58.470" Title="Why does the Indian Pariah dog go into heat once a year?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-11-12T10:53:18.550" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-25T15:13:03.977" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking to progress my kitten on from kitten kibble as she is about to turn a year old.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to choose an adult dry food and she prefers dry but after some research many owns believe on a 100% wet diet.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment she grazes on dry all day and has half a pouch for dinner, what should I do moving forward? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11803" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T15:48:34.293" Title="Cats: Dry food vs Wet food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-26T20:58:08.120" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20008" CreationDate="2018-03-25T15:48:34.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat can be on a quality dry food, wet food, or both. In a young cat there is usually no medical reason they should have one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet food is nice in older dehydrated cats because it contains much higher moisture content. It can be easier to manage weight on a wet food diet, because they are generally less calorie dense than the dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food is nice because it helps prevent tartar buildup, and is generally better for your cat's dental health. Dry food also tends to be a bit more filling, and contain more carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutritionally, dry foods can be just as healthy as wet foods. Obviously, there are 'junk foods' out in the cat food world just as there are in the humans world, so do some research into the brand you choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fine to free-feed a cat dry food as long as they can regulate their intake. Most cats are 'naturally' grazers, but some cats have less self-control than others. She is young and active at the moment, so may be able to maintain a healthy weight. But as she gets older, watch to make sure she does not get overweight. If that happens, you may need to start measuring out the dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in most things in life, it's about finding a balance. And finding a food that your cat enjoys to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T15:48:34.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2018-03-25T17:16:02.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is absolutely ok to keep aquarium completely open and uncovered, if you do not have a specific reason to cover it. There are many good reasons to cover an aquarium - like jumping fish, labyrinth fish that need warm and humid air above water, excessive evaporation and others. But those reasons do not apply to every aquarium. For example, the evaporation can be even a benefit, if you have air too dry in your place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep most aquariums open. Aquariums in the very popular Takashi Amano style are also almost always open. In my opinion it looks better and it is very nice to be able to see the aquarium from the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the last note: a healthy aquarium should not smell awful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11775" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T17:16:02.270" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2660" CreationDate="2018-03-25T18:10:19.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course, the surgery can be successful. If the tumour is not malignant and it is located in some easily operable place, for example on a fin, the surgery is easy and will be successful with a very high probability if done by a vet or even a skilled amateur. On the other hand, a malignant tumour already grown into some vitally important tissue may be inoperable. If any trace is left, it will grow again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is based on my 30-year experience of keeping and breeding tropical fish. If you want scientific articles, I bet there are many, but finding them might be a lot of work - here, for example, a koi healthy 15 months after a malignant tumour surgery: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f1de/fb2d1effea3e64506b0e65dd8d6b28349507.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f1de/fb2d1effea3e64506b0e65dd8d6b28349507.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11775" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-04-22T17:54:19.420" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T17:54:19.420" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2067" CreationDate="2018-03-25T20:15:48.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Your cat can and probably will destroy your balance ball. I have a gaiam ball for a yoga ball chair. My cat has made it unusable. Repair is somewhat futile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11806" LastActivityDate="2018-03-25T20:15:48.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6882" CreationDate="2018-03-26T01:56:55.587" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It had turned out to be the new detergent that I had bought. I went back to the non-perfumed original detergent and washed everything and his symptoms got better almost overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3241" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-26T08:20:50.297" LastActivityDate="2018-03-26T08:20:50.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-26T12:27:16.790" Score="5" ViewCount="1225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a big farm (without animals so far) and want to get chickens. They can run freely in the farmyard and the garden, having approx. 1500 m² with grassland, sand, a dunghill and copse. I'd like to take an egg or two sometimes, but they should merely be left to their own, including the brood. As I don't want to get more than one rooster I'm worried about incest and harms I could inadvertently cause the animals by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I breed multiple generations with one rooster only? Can inbreeding have negative effects, cause diseases or disabilities? If so, is there any rule of thumb after how many generations I should get some foreign chickens – or maybe just a rooster? – to introduce new genetic material?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11576" LastEditorUserId="11576" LastEditDate="2018-03-26T22:16:02.050" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T06:28:19.230" Title="What problems does inbreeding with chickens cause?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19994" CreationDate="2018-03-26T16:06:49.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're more than likely free swimming nematodes. White and brown'ish ones are very common in most fish tanks. You'll see them on the glass or swimming. They are typically readily eaten by fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's highly unlikely they will be a threat to any fish. Almost no fish parasites are ever visible in the tank even if they have a phase where they aren't attached to a fish such as freshwater ich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do not completely empty the tank, ever! Do routine smaller water changes and make sure to use a tap water treatment to remove chlorine and chloramines. Most pests like these will go away on their own with a healthy tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-03-26T16:06:49.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-27T01:40:40.293" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta has a large black spot on him and I don't know if I should be concerned about it or if it's just a natural birth mark I don't think it is but I can't find anything online about ITV so I need professional opinions on how to treat him if it's bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11812" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-03-27T04:20:42.600" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T04:20:42.600" Title="Betta has a large black spot" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T10:43:14.003" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20016" CreationDate="2018-03-27T06:28:19.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;when you get the chickens get them from different breeders so they are not related and maby get different types of chickens(nicer to look at some variation in colors and behaviour)and it is easier to identify them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you will at some point have to give away or in other ways limit the number you have so it is best to plan for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;chickens do allready have very simmilar genes so to some degree they are inbreed when you get them &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15122-chicken-genome-plucked-bare-by-inbreeding/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15122-chicken-genome-plucked-bare-by-inbreeding/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a number of problems can arise if heavy innbreeding happens like blindness deformity and albinoes,some chikens lay smaller eggs or eggs whitout the outer shell other chickens can have changed behaviour or are more likely to die from desease but it can take many generations before you will experience this type of problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so you can successfully breed several generations with one rooster but this depends on the quality you start with when you get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T06:28:19.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19991" CreationDate="2018-03-27T10:24:59.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an easy way to prevent kitten from licking sutures - put them in a human baby onesie.  They do sell ones for kittens in pet stores, but you can do this on the cheap if you have an old, tight baby onesie.  Just make sure the opening in the bottom is big enough for the tail, and if needed, just snip a hole with scissors.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6412/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-removing-her-cone/6414#6414&quot;&gt;buy or create one from a T-shirt is outlined in this answer by Zaralynda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;yet another option is this one &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ebay.com/p/KRUUSE-Buster-Bodysuits-for-Cats-Outfit-XXS-13-5-in/2055897354?_trksid=p2047675.l2644&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ebay.com/p/KRUUSE-Buster-Bodysuits-for-Cats-Outfit-XXS-13-5-in/2055897354?_trksid=p2047675.l2644&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11782" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-03-27T17:26:59.220" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T17:26:59.220" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19995" CreationDate="2018-03-27T15:11:00.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, this is a broad topic. You should give more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you say, it could be something physical so take it to the vet just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think this is more of a behavioral concern. If the dog is in a crate, it's probably because he is disobedient in a certain aspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog lacks discipline you'll get this kind of problems, like destroying furniture and some other weird behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should train, a lot. At that age, he should be doing his things outside, not struggling to use a mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A significant amount of time, measured in lots of hours, needs to be invested in walking your dog on the streets outside and socializing it with other dogs. When a dog does not behave instinctively (and drinking urine isn't aligned with their instincts, because they love smell marks) it's because something is not quite right on his daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judge yourself and, if you can't or you don't know how to do it, contact a professional. You are probably the only one guilty of that behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T21:55:38.713" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T21:55:38.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19967" CreationDate="2018-03-27T15:21:41.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possible answer 1) Yes. Kind of what you suggested. He doesn't trust you as a partner, so while he respects your strength (following you), he keeps a escape route because a strong leader could also be a violent leader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible answer 2) Also, it could be easier. It's probably that the bond with the original owner is so strong that the dog just don't like to modify it's pack. That would explain the &quot;start at back, return at lead&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog's position inside a pack, during a walk, will always give you a lot of information about how it feels about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, if problematic, could be solved in a variety of ways depending on dog's personality. You could be more &quot;lovely&quot; if the dog is coward. Or you could be more active during the walk, because effort will make dog to change its mind and focus only in you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T15:21:41.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19988" CreationDate="2018-03-27T22:28:48.923" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat are famous for doing this. They are biting you because the want attention and they want to be pet. It is like a small child tugging on their mother’s dress for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can ignore them or gently move them away, or even gently remove them from the bed and set them on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend not giving them affection when they are biting you when you want to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give in and pet them then they will learn very quickly that they can get attention by gently biting your face and they will bite your face like this all the time. They may even wake you up multiple times at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-03-27T22:28:48.923" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19967" CreationDate="2018-03-28T13:53:29.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its purely speculative but many dogs tend to favour a fixed route, with some minor variations. If the early part of the route's unfamiliar - they might let you lead (and classic dog training is that the owner/walker leads, not the dog) - and they might find that when they're closer to home or on the way back, they're familiar enough with the route to lead, not follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depends on the dog and the walkier - but I do think its a function of how confident the dog feels, with a more confident dog leading rather than following. On the way out, they're seeing where you want to go. On the way back, they know where you're heading back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2018-03-28T13:53:29.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-28T14:24:41.437" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is, I am keeping our sons full grown e Mastiff for a while and have been feeding him 16 0z of Dry with 1 can of Pedigree in the am and 8 oz of dry and I/2 can soft food in the evening. Is this enough ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11818" LastActivityDate="2018-03-28T20:40:26.817" Title="How much Dry and soft(canned) dog food to feed 180 lb. E Mastiff?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20058" CreationDate="2018-03-28T14:39:48.550" Score="3" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to have a &lt;em&gt;skogkatt&lt;/em&gt; but am concerned that it would feel uncomfortably hot in Australia, with all of its thick fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: will a weggie be able to adapt to hot and humid climate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11819" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T21:47:57.817" Title="Will a Norwegian skogkatt (forest cat) feel good in Sydney?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20029" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-28T15:29:24.500" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just got a Jack Russel female dog from the shelter a couple of months ago. She is 5 years old. One of the annoying behaviours she has is to become aggressive all of a sudden and even bite sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happen often in relaxed scenarios where she is resting/sleeping next to us on the couch and being pet very gently. After some minutes she might just start showing her teeth and even biting without any particular reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does it more with my girlfriend and she bit only her so far. She does make noise when it happens with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't understand what happens to her nor how to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. she likes to pull on ropes and towels and would come ask us to pull it and she seems to enjoy it but we avoid it because she becomes more aggressive. But she doesn't bite at all when she does that. It's clear it's a game for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11820" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T06:19:43.570" Title="Why does my dog have aggressive bursts?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20027" CreationDate="2018-03-28T20:40:26.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much to feed has several variables.  But the quick answer is to look at the can/bag, it should have feeding instructions for dogs based on their weight for the quality of the food.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a guideline, if the dog is getting fat or skinning then you adjust the food accordingly.  Your vet should tell you what a healthy weight for your dog is during your regular visits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11182/low-quality-dog-food-what-are-the-risks&quot;&gt;Low Quality Dog Food - What are the risks?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17034/wet-food-vs-dry-food&quot;&gt;Wet food vs. Dry food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2134/is-royal-canin-veterinary-diet-for-dogs-better-than-regular-diet&quot;&gt;Is Royal Canin veterinary diet for dogs better than regular diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6958/what-does-mg-kg-in-aafcos-nutritional-guidelines-mean&quot;&gt;What does mg/kg in AAFCO&amp;#39;s nutritional guidelines mean?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3175/what-should-i-monitor-while-changing-my-dogs-diet&quot;&gt;What should I monitor while changing my dog&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1062/how-can-i-help-a-dog-to-lose-weight&quot;&gt;How can I help a dog to lose weight?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-03-28T20:40:26.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-29T04:26:14.803" Score="3" ViewCount="3630" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really worried about my dragon scale Crowntail Betta. I realised that in the last couple of weeks he has had a bump, like in the picture, on his body on both sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has started to curl his body to the side every now and again. I know he has been a bit bored since I put him in a 5 gallon tank by himself, but lately he hasn't seemed himself. He only swims at all if he sees me and sometimes I'll watch him from my doorway where he can't see me and he'll just be hovering above the gravel on the bottom of the tank, sometimes at a slight angle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave him a pea a couple of hours ago because he looked a bit big in the stomach and I've only given him a tiny bit of food the past 2 days and soaking them in water before I gave it to him, cause I thought he could be constipated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;More information:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has a stringy poo hanging out of him. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I got him during the Christmas holidays. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I haven't been feeding him the highest quality food. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is still eating eagerly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a black dot on one of his fins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't really decide if it's just me or whether his scales are slightly raised&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/p0w11.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-03-29T10:48:18.483" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T23:00:22.080" Title="I think my Betta has dropsy but I'm not sure?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2018-03-29T05:11:58.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a Betta and a snail living together peacefully for ages, then I decided to put the snail in my guppy fry tank, but later on I noticed they kept nipping at it. I think it was more out of curiosity rather than aggression since there wasn't much else to do for them as they were in a breeding container at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I put it back in the Betta's tank and he tried to kill it - so all I could was use my hand to push the Betta away from the snail and take the snail out. I think 'most' Bettas are fine with other fish, snails, etc., if they are fairly chill Bettas and that you add the Betta after you have other fish or in you case snail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because from what I've read online with Betta tank mates, that Bettas will create their own territory, so if you add something to that territory if gets territorial and attacks them. Whereas if you add a Betta to a tank that already has fish, the Betta if it chill enough (like by the sounds of your Betta, since he lived with the snail before it died) will just kind of accept the established fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if your Betta attacked the snail, but it would be weirded if they have been fine all the other times, or if it just died of natural causes - I'm no expert but just thought I'd put my opinion out there, hope it's helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:10:08.213" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:10:08.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20029" CreationDate="2018-03-29T06:19:43.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I would have a vet check her over. Sudden biting like that is often not aggression but a reaction to pain!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, you should observe closely when exactly she shows these reactions. Things to look out for:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does it happen while you pet her, or when you start petting her?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it is the latter, is she resting, or actually asleep?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does she react to being touched in a certain spot?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be a reaction to a touch she is not expecting, or in a spot where she was hurt at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last question: does she consistently show her teeth in warning first before biting? If yes: heed the warning! You can send her off the couch to some other spot, you can just stop petting, but do NOT ignore a clear warning! Personally, I would send her to whatever you declare to be &quot;her spot&quot; in the room; preferably, that is some spot out of the way, in sight of her family and in the same room, but a place where she can also lay undisturbed by people walking around.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This way, she is not excluded, but left alone, which shoudl be a perfectly fine state of things during some relaxing on the couch time. (Of course, she HAS to learn to let you touch her when you need to, but from your description, that is not a problem anyway!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any issues persist, keep observing what triggers her, and perhaps ask a dog-trainer. As she is a shelter-dog, she will have a history of some kind. But as she seems perfectly happy and friendly at other times, I doubt she does have an agression-issue, just one with being touched under certain conditions. Something to work on, but no need for serious worry :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T06:19:43.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19990" CreationDate="2018-03-29T06:53:36.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can be very sensitive to their owners' mood and feelings and do often react to this in different ways like being more vocal and some starts to hide more, but for a cat to react by start to pull hair does normally take a lot more serious stress to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in my opinion your problems are probably not the cause of the cat pulling out fur. The pulling of fur is a very strong reaction for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress for a cat is moving house or a new cat in the area and the loss of a friend (other pet in the house) or the loss of the caretaker, but I have never seen a cat pulling out fur as a result of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do say the cat is using medication for renal failure, so it might be best to start finding the reason for the fur pulling in your cat's health and take him to the vet to get the bloodwork and tests done to exclude any medical reasons for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think hiding your emotional state from the cat is a good thing. I think it is better to tell your cat about it both for yourself and for the cat, and cats are really good at keeping things to themselves. At least mine are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T05:54:31.233" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T05:54:31.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2018-03-29T07:53:50.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they do. Some bettas really love to eat snails, some do it only if hungry, some do not eat them at all (but may learn it later). Betta fish are strong individuals and they differ in their behaviour and tastes. Obviously, they can attack only small snails. Sometimes they pull them out of the intact shells, sometimes they crush the shell in the process (which can make audible noises).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11775" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T07:53:50.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19988" CreationDate="2018-03-29T11:10:30.700" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answer is correct that some cats bite to get your attention, but that's not the full story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also cases where a cat bites you because it wants to &lt;em&gt;give you affection&lt;/em&gt;, and that's how they do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the case for one of our cats. She's relatively shy, and only comes for pets once in a blue moon. When she does, she really enjoys it, that's clear to read from her behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also starts biting after you've been petting for a while. Initially, we thought that we were petting somewhere she didn't like; but observation quickly showed that it wasn't related to the location of the petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only correlation was that the biting would be more frequent (and a bit harder) when she was enjoying it more (louder purring, more forcefully pushing herself against my hand, more arching of the back)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've seen this behavior for over a year now, and it's always been the same. We've also observed her doing the same to her sister when she (the sister) washes her (the biter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to distinguish whether the cat is biting you to &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; affection, or to &lt;em&gt;give&lt;/em&gt; affection, because you should respond differently to these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting affection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sets a bad precedent. If you give in to their demands, you're reinforcing the biting behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can start by ignoring it, or (softly) pushing the cat away from you when it bites.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I'm a bit more proactive about showing my dislike for their behavior. If they misbehave on the bed; they no longer get to be on the bed. I give them a stern &amp;quot;No&amp;quot;, &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; a second chance, but then they get pushed off the bed and will not get attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take a few tries for your cat to understand that the bites are what causes your unhappy response, but they'll see the emerging pattern if you behave consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Giving affection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is relatively harmless behavior, as long as they don't bite hard enough to actually hurt or wound you.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;When our cat started off with soft bites, barely noticeable, I didn't tell her off for it. It's her way of showing affection, and telling her off would come across to her as if I were telling her off for being nice to me. I didn't want her to think that I didn't like getting her affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a line of what I find acceptable. She has crossed that line (unintentionally) a few times, biting harder than I'd like her to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she crosses that line, I act as if she really hurt me. I yell &amp;quot;ow&amp;quot;, pull away my hand (or whatever part of me she bit), and will rub my hand on it while looking at her with a questioning/upset look. After 10-15 seconds, I'd revert to petting her.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If it happened a second time in a row, maybe a third (depends on my patience), I would yell out louder, pretend to tend to my wound, and then no longer interact with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't&lt;/strong&gt; punish the cat for biting too hard. It's most likely that they weren't aware that they were hurting you (humans are relatively softskinned compared to cats). Telling her off will make the cat feel like you don't want to get affection from them, which damages your relationship.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The goal here is to &lt;em&gt;pretend that you're hurt&lt;/em&gt;. You should shy away and be afraid of the cat, not get in its face and tell it off for biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of what your cat would do if you stepped on its tail. It would cry out, distance itself from you, and observe you to see if you're actively trying to hurt them more. If it's a one time mistake, the cat should see that you mean them no harm and should let go of it after a while. If you do this repeatedly, the cat will distance itself more and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're trying to behave the same way. Your cat hurt you, but you don't understand why. You disance yourself and look at it, worried if it's going to hurt you again or not. When the cat behaves nicely, you give it another chance. But repeated bites cause you to distance yourself more and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats understand your behavior, because you're behaving like a cat. That's why they eventually understand the meaning of your behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took our cat about 10 times to register that she was hurting me, but the message did get across. Now, after she bites me too hard, she sometimes comes and licks the spot that she bit, trying to make amends.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Other times, even if I only slightly jerk my hand/arm away, she immediately gets the hint and stops biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consistent behavior&lt;/strong&gt; is key here. The cat needs to either consistently be told off (if it's about getting affection) or reprimanded when they cross a line (if it's about giving affection). If you are consistent about that line that they must not cross, they will eventually learn to not cross that line anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider here, is that cats will learn to steer their behavior based on the consequences of their actions. The same cat, when she was younger, was very playful. She would pounce on our feet for the &lt;em&gt;slightest&lt;/em&gt; movement we made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was a problem that needed to stop. But it sort of fixed itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she pounced on my feet, I would instinctively flick my foot to get her off. About half of the time, I would inadvertently end up smacking her in the face with my foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never really &lt;em&gt;hurt&lt;/em&gt; her (it wasn't that hard), but she consistently experienced the same outcome: pounce on the foot, likely to get smacked in the face.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Once or twice, she pounced really hard, and ended up shoving her with my foot (my SO saw me do it but I wasn't awake).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about two weeks in total, she stopped pouncing on our feet. She had learned the hard way that it came with drawbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same can be true of your case. If your cat is up in your face while you sleep, and your consistent reflex is to swat at things that are near your face; then they will eventually stop doing it because they don't like getting swatted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really a case of deciding where you want to draw the line, and then sticking to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't want them on the bed when you sleep; then never be welcoming to them being on the bed while you sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't want to be bullied into giving them affection, then ensure that their demand for affection ends up with a negative outcome for them (pushing them off the bed, negative response, rolling over)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't mind their presence but don't want to get soft bites, then behave apprehensively whenever they soft bite you. If they repeat the behavior, react more strongly to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't mind any of it, don't punish them for any of it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T11:20:01.603" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19976" CreationDate="2018-03-29T11:31:50.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When playing with my girlfriend, he sometimes meows loudly at her. It sounds like he's angry because she catches him, but right after she stops he'll come back and provoke her to start an other playful fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now we don't understand if he gets really angry while playing or if he's meowing because he's excited to play. In other situation, he's not a really talkative cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meowing can be a way for your cat to incentivize others to play with him. This is the case for our youngest, an incessantly playful male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His sisters are less energetic than him. The first few months, he would play with them by pouncing on them. The girls never liked it. If he kept doing it, they would eventually angrily chase him off. But about 1 times in 10, one of the girls would actually play with him because they were in the mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, he learned that pouncing on the girls before he knew whether they were in a playful mood would not be a good bet; he'd be chased away more than getting played with.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;He developed a new tactic: he would run into the room, run straight up to one of the cats, meow in their face, and then run away. He would repeat this process about five times. If they never chased him, he tried it with the other cat, and then tried it with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Months later, he has now resorted to simply running around the house, meowing loudly whenever he wants to play (he seems to pretend to be wounded, based on how he meows). But the pattern is always the same: he frantically runs, stops, meows, and then runs off again. And you can really see him check if anyone is looking at him while he does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's absolutely nothing wrong with him, he just wants someone to chase him (so he can then chase them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same may be true for your cat. Maybe he initially tried to start playtime by puncing on you guys, but you responded less welcomingly than he liked (totally understandable for you to not like getting clawed out of nowhere).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;So instead, he is resorting to a different way of starting playtime, one which does not give him negative feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially since he expects you to chase him; it seems very reminiscent of what my cat is trying to achieve. The meowing is essentially playfult taunting (&amp;quot;catch me if you can&amp;quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T11:31:50.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20065" CreationDate="2018-03-29T16:53:06.623" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About the Dog:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~3 years old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;~30lbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rescued Stray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spayed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finnish Spitz / Miniature Belgian Sheepdog / Mix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First week I had her, I worked from home for house breaking, crate training, and bonding. She is not afraid of her crate, and is now (almost) house broken. She is intelligent enough to have learned her name, as well as sit, down, up, come, and paw in the first two weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a curious dog and will follow whoever is active in the house. When there is no activity she will stay near me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She whines and barks when she &lt;em&gt;thinks&lt;/em&gt; she's alone. This does't matter what the circumstance is. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am in the bathroom making no noise (and the rest of the house is sleep or empty)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She is confined to an empty room in the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She is confined to the crate and there there is activity upstairs (However the barking is not nearly as persistent)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any sign that she is not alone, she generally stops barking and behaves well. This can be actual visual contact or noises around the house that indicate &lt;em&gt;movement in her direction&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, she has behaved well in these situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I come downstairs in the morning to let her out of the crate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I put her in the crate at night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Anyone is near the crate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found it difficult to reward &quot;silence in absence&quot; because approaching the crate (or door, or stairs, if confined to a part of the house), will cause her to stop and settle down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ignore any barking or whining when she's in her crate, and I never let her out or give treats when she's barking. I try to keep departures and arrivals as low-key as possible, so she's not waiting anxiously all day for an exciting return. I don't want to teach her that barking makes people appear, either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I handle this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional information:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crate is in the lower-level of the home. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The crate is covered with a blanket.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A radio did not seem to help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will occasionally reward good behavior with treats while I am home and she is in the crate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will claw at the crate some, but otherwise is calm outside of whining and barking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When she senses someone nearby, she will stop barking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barking lasts about 30mins from what I've been able to observe. She is quiet when I or anyone else gets home. I'm trying to solve that first 30 mins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11825" LastEditorUserId="11825" LastEditDate="2018-03-29T16:58:18.357" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T21:34:27.857" Title="Dog barks only when she thinks she's alone" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-29T18:07:10.400" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start, I am a cat person (really love them and thank god for creating cats). I had winter break from December 20 (2017) to January 28 (2018). Spring semester started January 29. Decided to spend the break at my parents country to visit my grandma and uncle. December 30 I bought 2 kittens (one male, one female) and grandma suggested to have them placed in one room and not get out. During the month together with the kittens, I spent the most time with them, while my grandma just feed them and don’t interact with them at all. At least 5 days a week, I would spend 30-45 minutes with them, playing or just being around together. So I believe the kittens recognized me WAY MORE then either my grandma or uncle. As my break got closer to an end, the kittens started going outdoors wandering around (we stayed at a big house with outdoors). Then, I had to come back home for college. So during the stay, my grandma most likely saw the cats for only 30 minutes (1 minutes each day), while I saw and spent time with them for 700 minutes. And me and the kittens drew very close as the month passed. I won’t see them again until the end of May (4 months), and probably will be cats at that time. Will they remember me, knowing that they knew me a lot better, or will 4 months be enough for the cats/kittens to forget about me? The fact that I left them as kittens makes me doubt they will remember me, but I want to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, I need serious answers. Since I’m a cat person, I got very emotional in the final days with the kittens. I really want them to remember me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11826" LastActivityDate="2018-03-29T18:07:10.400" Title="Will cats remember me after 4 months?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-29T18:22:57.687" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20049" CreationDate="2018-03-30T02:21:30.997" Score="3" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until yesterday, I had two dogs living in two different houses. A 4-month Dobberman puppy and an 8-month half black lab (we don't know his exact breed). Today was supposed to be the day when they finally met and became friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I probably started wrong right off the bat by not doing any research and putting them together immediately at the lab's house. The Dobberman was afraid at first but then they started playing. There was a little trouble as the lab is slightly bigger and would kind of tackle the Dobberman, leaving him off balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After running around for a while, they begun to play fight. I (and all of my family) assumed this was ok and let them go on. When there was growling and barking we separated them for a few seconds then let them resume. This went on for many hours. Now that it's sleeping time, we are afraid of what they might do to each other without surveillance. The first idea was to lock the lab, but it looks like it won't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, here are my questions on the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Did I do the introduction wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will I need to introduce the dogs to each other again?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should the dogs be allowed to play fight?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What should I do in times when I can't keep constant vigilance?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11828" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T12:42:00.010" Title="(Re)introducing a new dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-30T20:33:20.260" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question. I have a rat terrier / English bull / unidentified (lol) dog mutt. We got a bit of extra cold winter here on the Northeast coast this year. I bought 3 coats for him from Amazon but none of them fits him! He has a really big chest, wide neck, but learn long lower body, also short legs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just curious, for anyone who has a mutt which a unique body shape, do you guys find shopping for clothes or any any winter gear frustrating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for your feedback and recommendation! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11830" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T13:10:44.673" Title="I have a mutt with a weird body shape. I can't seem to find a winter jacket that fits him" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20048" CreationDate="2018-03-31T06:47:34.430" Score="2" ViewCount="1352" Body="&lt;p&gt;This poor guy, purportedly a lionhead, has been bloated like this for a month. He was lying upside down so I did feed him some cooked peas which might have helped but now there's a large red patch on his flank, and he's pine coning though still swimming to eat sinking pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got some clove oil today but wonder when I should do the deed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/1quopHJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sick goldfish&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-03-31T07:20:26.563" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T16:46:55.330" Title="When to euthanize a sick goldfish?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-03-31T12:14:55.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-03-31T07:05:44.850" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8C6KV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;I’m really concerned about one of my goldfish as this morning I noticed 2 marks on his body. One near the head and one near the tail. I noticed my bigger goldfish nudging him out of the way at feeding time so I’m unsure if it’s bullying or a water issue. I’ve googled a lot and can’t find a definite answer Any advice gratefully received. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11833" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T07:05:44.850" Title="Goldfish-unknown white marks" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20045" CreationDate="2018-03-31T09:46:45.507" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;when a fish is as ill as yours it is best to put it down,it is not humane to wait and let the fish suffer any longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the entire body of your fish is swollen it do probably have droopsy(ascites) and this is an illness where the chances for survival is slim,droopsy is an illness caused by virus and is common in the carp family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one way to eutanize fish is to use clove oil it is painless and quick for the fish,the reason for using this method and not using the icecold water method is goldfish and many other types of the carp family have no problem in surviving in water down to the freezing point of water.as long as the water is not frozen the fish will survive(they do under the ice in my garden pond).&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1765/whats-the-least-painful-way-to-euthanize-a-fish&quot;&gt;What&amp;#39;s the least painful way to euthanize a fish?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a little about droopsy(ascites)the illness in fish is often caused by virus and or bacteria the result is heart and liver faliure and this leads to the fluid accumulating in the tissue of the fish,when we fishkeepers see the signs it is often too late to save the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-03-31T16:46:55.330" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T16:46:55.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20042" CreationDate="2018-03-31T12:42:00.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, everything you are saying is mainly ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to keep in mind a handful of things. They are young, so playing must be cut by the leader or it will last hours, as you stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Doberman is close to the adulthood, and if they are two males, sooner or later they will get into a little argument to set a hierarchy if you don't treat them as equals on discipline and rules. If this happens, don't get frightened. Just cut the fight, punish the attacker and don't make drama with the victim because this will create a dangerous situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes. If you don't have fights right now, you've done good. Just have an eye on them and let nature do it's thing. They'll probably be very good partners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did I do the introduction wrong?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;No. Fast and lacking security measures but your dogs don't look to need them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will I need to introduce the dogs to each other again?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;No. They are having a good starting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should the dogs be allowed to play fight?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Yes. Keep an eye on them. Play fights will tell you about personality and who is the dominant one, the most excited and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do in times when I can't keep constant vigilance?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Pray. Or let them alone in increasing time intervals to get confidence. I do not recommend you to lock them, together nor separated, because youth and closed spaces are not a good combination and you could end with a pair of destroyer and over excited dogs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T12:42:00.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20043" CreationDate="2018-03-31T13:10:44.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pitbull half breed has kind of same problem.&#xA;It's likely that you wont find anything online. Almost every adjustable coat is only adjustable around their belly, but the chest and neck has to fit.&#xA;You have 2 options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) look for it locally so you can test it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) harnesses are way more adjustable. You could go on DIY and make a jacket over a fit harness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T13:10:44.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19967" CreationDate="2018-03-31T20:12:56.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's anything mysterious.  The dog probably likes you and wants to spend time with you or is curious about where you are going.  If your relative doesn't take him out much he might just like the company - terriers, although small, have a lot of stamina and like spending time running or walking out doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go for your walk, he doesn't know where you are going and so has to follow.  When you are on the way home, he knows the way, and so he can go ahead.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be as simple as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he tends to keep his distance and you would like him to stick closer to you, try carrying treats and rewarding him for coming close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3883" LastActivityDate="2018-03-31T20:12:56.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-01T16:20:27.693" Score="1" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would there be any benefit in leaving the puppy with its mother until 12 weeks even if its littermates are sold at 8 weeks? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to pay an extra fee to the breeder so he keeps the puppy an extra 4 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11840" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-08T21:48:06.993" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T21:48:06.993" Title="Puppy staying with its mother longer" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-01T21:54:57.693" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;When returning from the dog park, my puppy (6 months old) constantly &quot;goes on strike&quot; and stays in down position on the ground. &#xA;He doesn't react to treats, sticks or pulling the leash&#xA;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11164" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T14:34:43.197" Title="Dog refuses to move during walks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20056" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-02T05:07:45.577" Score="-1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a small companion, a mixed Pomeranian and Lhasa Apso breed. Don't let his size fool you, that little bugger can be ferocious at times, chewed off the head of my beloved Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe) action figure. I learned my lesson and was wondering if you guys can recommend anything? I was looking online and found a few &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petstreetmall.com/Wood-Pet-Gates/3256.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wood pet gates&lt;/a&gt;. They seem like they would be able to keep him away from the living room (where I usually keep my collection). What do you guys think? And how do  you keep your pets away from your action figures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dxW1A.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dxW1A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11843" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T07:32:29.750" Title="How do you keep your household pet/s away from your toy collections?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20056" CreationDate="2018-04-02T06:40:35.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say the best way would be training. Those are your toys and yours alone. For the time being, a gate won't hurt (assuming the dog can't squeeze through or jump over it). Also depending on the age of the dog the urge to chew on things might disappear later on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that always remember: &lt;strong&gt;Now you know, and knowing it's half the battle.&lt;/strong&gt; SCNR :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T06:40:35.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20028" CreationDate="2018-04-02T06:42:59.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat is an indoor cat and having air conditioning it will be ok, but if the cat is outdoors it will be too hot even in the shade; even here in Norway the summer heat is at the limit for the forest cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hiking and camping will often be problematic for any cat, I have often taken walks in the forest with my cats and they do overheat quite fast even if the temperature is comfortable for us; after what is a short walk for us, like a kilometer or two, the cats are totally exhausted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember: no two cats are alike, so the cat might really hate going for hikes in unknown areas, and as you probably know cats can be really really stubborn if they refuse to do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are breeds of cats that are more active than others, so it might be better to look into them to find a hiking friend for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember: any cat will eventually get exhausted and need you to carry it and the Norwegian forest cat is large, so it might be problematic for you to carry it for a long distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about Norwegian forest cat could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Forest_cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TTsyl.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TTsyl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My adopted feral cat he is probably a forest cat mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-25T21:43:29.240" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T21:43:29.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20053" CreationDate="2018-04-02T14:29:55.197" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He could be sore.  At the dog park he was just too excited to show it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I was walking my dog too much and had to scale it back. See if his muscles are sore by applying pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He could also be protesting not being at the park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T14:29:55.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20053" CreationDate="2018-04-02T14:34:43.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the the dog's response to positive stimulus, as you tried, is wrong, you can do one of the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abandon him. Not really. If he wants to stay in the park, get out of sight. This makes the dog to focus more on you as leader, even when playing or running.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Negative Leash. If strength allows it, don't pull the leash. One strong and hard pull is more effective than a continous and soft pulling. You won't harm him. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That behavior comes from two sources. First youth and a whole new world to discover. Second, you are not training the calling in a proper way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be careful. If you don't put the calling in his mind when he is young, you'll have inconstences on your adult dog, leading to probably some problems more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;STOP&#xA;COME&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are two commands that the dog should response immediately because, in some situations, you could end up in a dogfight, a car accident or who the hell knows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T14:34:43.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-02T16:47:25.803" Score="3" ViewCount="2649" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m wondering whether anyone can help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a platy that seems to have been gravid for over a month. I’m starting to wonder if she is sick, constipated, or if the male we have in the tank is stressing her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her scales appear smooth with no visible illness, but she’s been chasing the male back recently and taking herself off away from him. We have the gravid female platy, male platy and two shrimp in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only recently discovered that the place we got the fish from should’ve sold us two females to one male, I don’t know if that makes any difference, but until today he had constantly followed her around the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I’ve read, I don’t really fancy putting her in a breeding box and stressing her out, so would moving the male to a separate tank be a kinder option? Also, I haven’t got any peas in at the minute, but I do have broccoli that I can give her to see if that’ll make a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am still learning about platies and platy care, but I know from reading this and other forums that you guys are better to ask than the place we got them from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Ht4u.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jhXbA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11847" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:24:39.650" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:26:02.500" Title="Platy has been gravid for over a month" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20052" CreationDate="2018-04-02T20:19:35.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Dogs develops their &quot;dogginess&quot; with their mom and brothers. They learn what a correction is, how to behave in a hierarchy and every piece of social interaction with other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This learning can be stretched up to 5 months, where the puppy will learn a lot more from their mother, like orders, routines and even jobs she makes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the biggest problem with dogs in our days. We humanize them A LOT but they don't have a &quot;defense&quot; against that because we took them apart too soon from their families.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes. I think you are making a correct assumption here. 4 weeks, in a good condition, will make him more stable, and likely he will have a stronger behavioral base to start with than his brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://breedingbetterdogs.com/article/maternal-influence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/srep19253&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; you have some numbers. You have a lot of studies to look at. I personally worked in a study over a work lineage of Belgium sheperds. Maybe I have been too simple in my answer, leading to that &quot;opinion based&quot; comment. Sorry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastEditorUserId="8611" LastEditDate="2018-04-03T18:05:43.393" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T18:05:43.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20039" CreationDate="2018-04-02T21:08:19.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This anxiety problems are very complex and usually involves a mix between how do you treat her, previous experiences and dogs personality and physical energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you tried to be detailed about the problem so I will try to guide you too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all. This a bonding issue. Coming from a shelter, we almost can assure she had a plethora of bad experiences. So have done so well on the first weeks, fixing the owner-dog bond. But this comes with a drawback. Their owners abandoned her. Probably a shelter employee made a bond with her and just disappeared. In any case, this dog suffer from &lt;strong&gt;separation anxiety.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we deal with this? As stated in the beginning of the answer, is a very complex topic. So we have to attack it from various points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise: You have a shepherd mix and this is not a suggestion. They need to be heavily trained and disciplined because they have a great stamina and determination (which can revolve against you in the manner of compulsive behaviors). She needs to be tired, physically and mentally. With these, we are making her mind &quot;weak&quot; and she will accept new commands and situations easily. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wait order: Sit her. Go away. If she stays, call and reward her. You probably will fail badly at first. This is the first anxiety issue to domain. When the skill is learnt, do the same leaving the house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make her a place in your life: being a shepherd, you probably have a little smarty in your hands. Take it with you to the grocery store, or whatever. She will see you disappearing/reappearing constantly and soon will get used to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be a leader, not a mom: I can't put enough emphasis on this. We usually over protect rescued dogs, but that is The Wrong Way. Just be clear. Express happiness when something is ok, get mad when not. But be consistent. Over the time, she will be &quot;corrected&quot; just with your voice tone, not even your presence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Break a little the bond: Kind of related with the last one. Too much care, too much love, can make a terrible damage to a dog, because it will forget how to be an independent being. No couches, no beds, no food outside the sketch.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is hard. That's why anxiety problems are usually field of professionals, because you have to keep on hand a lot of things, and you can't fail in one or another. I hope you can find a way, if not in my answer, another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2018-04-02T21:08:19.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20066" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-02T23:13:13.950" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an unfixed male dog 4 years old, and we recently acquired a female puppy. We don't want them to have puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is if I need to fix both of them, or if I can get away with fixing one or the other, and if so, which is better. I understand that the procedure is simpler for the male. I'm more looking for information about how the animals will deal socially. E.g., will the unfixed male drive a fixed female insane (or possibly even hurt her)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to start a discussion about why the male is un-neutered. My answer boils down to not feeling great about removing his family jewels. Let's just leave it at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11469" LastEditorUserId="11469" LastEditDate="2018-04-03T16:43:29.220" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T11:41:28.920" Title="Male + female: who to neuter, who to spay" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;desexing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-03T00:03:20.833" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adult 4 year old and a puppy of 5 months that we've had since she was 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had an incident early on where the puppy went into the adult's food bowl while he was eating. The response scared the hell out of me. The puppy was so scared she dove off our 5-foot high deck, peed herself and yelped for 30 seconds solid afterwards. AFAIK the puppy wasn't actually hurt. Things moved so fast I can't really tell what happened though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now feeding time involves my wife and I standing guard at each food bowl and it's not very pleasant to say the last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is if there's a way out of this situation that doesn't involve us standing guard when they eat for the next 15 years. I've read that we should just let the animals work it out. However I'm scared for the puppy as the adult could probably kill her in an instant if he had it in him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make sense to wait until they are closer to the same size then see what happens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11469" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T20:30:03.170" Title="Problems at the food bowl" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2018-04-03T00:35:44.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 7 year old small dogs. Have had them just over 3 months and they are rescue dogs. The Rspca only fed them once a day at midday. I feed them twice a day 7am and 4pm ish. I have halved their morning feed as they seem to be more hungry in the pm feed. I have also learnt to mix their biscuits in the wet food as they were not eating the biscuits before. I was following the food guide on the so called top level kibble packet but found they were putting on weight. I am still observing and weigh them from time to time to keep their weight in check. One dog thinks of food all day the other just when hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11849" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T00:35:44.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20062" CreationDate="2018-04-03T03:35:18.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Platies, swordtails, guppies, etc. are always carrying young (gravid) once they become adults. If you want to raise platies, I think it is better to put plenty of live plants, floaters like hornwort and &lt;em&gt;Anarcharis&lt;/em&gt; and some rooted plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young platies and swordtails are pretty smart and fast, unlike mollies, so they do very well if they have plants to hide in. Getting a second tank for babies can start you on the road to addiction (I have 7 full tanks, about 6 empties and 3 ponds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T16:26:02.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T16:26:02.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="198" CreationDate="2018-04-03T03:55:41.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As commented , it is all about the oxygen , mostly. The conditions and the fish will also determine the population. I have had 5 each 20&quot; koi , when they spawn a few young often survive without help. Thousands of koi survive with help ( like a second pond). Live bearers will &quot;fill&quot; the pond ( mollies, platies, etc). My current 800 gal pond has a few hundred giant and zebra danios as my arrangement permits them to breed. Koi are very vegetarian and do not eat ( many ?) of the small fish. Never heard of sturgeon in a home size pond. So the number is very flexible . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T03:55:41.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20085" CreationDate="2018-04-03T04:24:51.717" Score="2" ViewCount="1288" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to give first aid to treat open wound in kitten? The kitten has hurt herself and is bleeding. She is feral and doesn't like being picked, so it's not possible to get her to vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T20:18:20.567" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T20:18:20.567" Title="How to give first aid to treat open wound in kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20067" CreationDate="2018-04-03T14:20:49.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure this is enough for an answer (this was going to be a simple comment), but here goes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert, but I've seen that most adult dogs are quite considerate of puppies, meaning they won't &lt;em&gt;try&lt;/em&gt; to hurt them (and even try hard to avoid it). If &quot;the puppy wasn't actually hurt&quot;, it was most likely the intended result from your older dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do keep in mind that most of dog behavior patterns are alien to us (and let's not get started on smelling and licking) but it is the way they communicate with one another and set boundaries. Some puppies even play &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; rough between themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't expect you should need to stand guard for the next day, let alone 15 years. Plus, I bet the puppy learned the lesson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10208" LastEditorUserId="10208" LastEditDate="2018-04-03T14:49:36.977" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T14:49:36.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2638" CreationDate="2018-04-03T19:43:32.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a more technical perspective: IR is a notion for a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Infrared&amp;amp;oldid=831926777#Commonly_used_sub-division_scheme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wide&lt;/a&gt; range of wavelenghts. IR vision can be in near-IR or thermal which is on the other end of the range. Near-IR vision still needs the objects to be illuminated by an IR light source, and common IR LEDs are in this range (800-1000nm). And photons in the thermal IR range carry much less energy, so it's more difficult to register them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those could be reasons why IR vision has evolved only in &lt;a href=&quot;https://biology.stackexchange.com/q/58005/1279&quot;&gt;some specific species&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_vision&amp;amp;oldid=833895287#Biological_night_vision&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Biological night vision&lt;/a&gt; rather relies on better utilizing low light intensities, for example by having a reflective tissue layer in the back of an eye, packing rods more densely and optimizing them for low light conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From practical point of view, I construct such a hamster wheel tachometer and I'm happy to share the details, if anyone is interested. The hamster doesn't seem disturbed at all by the IR light and is happily using the wheels for hours every day. Her top speed is about 1m/s (3.6km/h) and currently she runs 10km or more each night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T19:43:32.993" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9396" CreationDate="2018-04-03T20:04:17.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/9398/13&quot;&gt;great answer by Bernadette,&lt;/a&gt; it is pretty easy to train a rabbit to take metacam from an oral syringe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the image below, two days of training, has him coming to the syringe to get his metacam.  When presented with it he comes up, puts it in his mouth and I genitally squeeze the plunger.  No problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9nmDk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9nmDk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Rex taking metacam from syringe&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a rabbit to take an aspirin can be &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/3143/13&quot;&gt;much more challenging and labor intensive.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-04-03T20:04:17.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20078" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20081" CreationDate="2018-04-04T02:43:45.500" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of days ago, my dog cut the pads of one of his paws. It was pretty nasty, but really not too bad. We took him to the vet to get it wrapped up and the vet recommended that he rest and take it easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes sense. Any time he steps on the foot, it is going to reopen the wound. Running around will be worse. The problem is that we are normally out running around or playing at the dog park for an hour or more everyday. He's a husky with plenty of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My little guy is going to go nuts if he can't out for walks or for play for 2 weeks. Then he's going to drive me nuts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have any strategies, games, treats, toys, foods or something else that has helped them in the past through a similar situation? Is there such a thing as puppy-xanax? ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11855" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T08:45:02.417" Title="How can I keep my dog from going stir crazy while recuperating?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20079" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-04T05:43:18.147" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7-year-old British shorthair cat that sleeps next to me every night. I vape cannabis oil as a sleep aid a few times a week, usually while reading or watching a movie just before sleep. I do my best to exhale away from his general direction but he noticeably smells it. I usually keep the windows open and he definitely doesn't &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt; to mind it (always stays, never runs off, no obvious adverse reactions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally he will actually get up to smell(breathe?!) the vapor that I exhale. I usually shoo him away from it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How are cats affected by second-hand cannabis oil vapor? Are there any adverse effects on my cat's temperament and/or health? Should I be shooing? Am I an irresponsible cat-dad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user11856" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditorDisplayName="user11856" LastEditDate="2018-04-04T13:53:09.930" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T15:17:48.943" Title="The curious case of the cannabis cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20079" CreationDate="2018-04-04T06:53:19.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Curious cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will be influenced by cannabis even in low doses so it is best to avoid this. Many cats are curious of what you do and that extents to when you consume cannabis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cannabis smoke&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know how dangerous cannabis smoke is to cats, but I am not willing to find out. So may I suggest you keep your cat away from inhaling the vapour just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the effects of cannabis on humans are well know, on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thespruce.com/is-marijuana-toxic-to-cats-555055&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats way less&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/marijuana-intoxication-in-dogs-and-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smoke is not the big issue&lt;/a&gt;, but if your cat starts eating the oil you use, that might kill it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Luckily, marijuana intoxication is seldom fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;tldr: drugs have different effects on different species. What might be safe(ish) for humans can be lethal for pets. With many substances having unknown effects on pets.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-04-05T15:17:48.943" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T15:17:48.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20078" CreationDate="2018-04-04T08:45:02.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be tough on a dog and owner!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can recommend some things that might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mental stimulation&lt;/strong&gt;: training and training games definitely also help tire a dog out. Focus on things that get him to think - like 'guess which cup the food is under'. For training why not try teaching things like stay, bed and even roll over which keep pressure off his foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get out of the house&lt;/strong&gt;: If he is used to getting out you should try think of something to allow him to still see the outside world. Some options might be to take him for drives, to dog-friendly restaurants, just sit somewhere and watch the world go by. Probably avoid the dog park because he would get too excited.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teach him to chew&lt;/strong&gt;: If you haven't done chew-training yet now is a good time to start. Chewing is basically puppy-xanax so get some chew toys for him. Stuffing a Kong is a great way to start. I use my dogs pellets mixed with some treats, then I pour a bit of boiling water over to soften and freeze it. This is healthier than some of the other options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely watch his weight - he will be doing a lot less exercise so maybe cut down on his food intake a bit as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T08:45:02.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20067" CreationDate="2018-04-04T10:17:38.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't see aggression in other areas, it's ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs eat in a hierarchy, and the puppy jumped over that. To set a rigid eating hierarchy you should put the big bowl first and then serve the puppy. Helped by your older dog communication, you'll probably don't have any problem. Space the bowls enough, I have seen problems with too close bowls (I guess the dog logic behind this is &quot;all food is mine&quot; if bowls are too close). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid. Take an eye. If the puppy try again, and you are afraid of the older dog (you shouldn't), spank it yourself. It's the same correction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fear is a problem for you, not them. You'll change the way you live, the way you treat them, just because of fear. Take into account that the dogs (as us) have a lot of mechanisms to avoid real violence in conflicts. While that can look brutal to us, it is a very effective tactic that comes from their wild versions. Because in the wild, an open wound can be deadly, ultimately the dogs/wolves who had a more soft interaction with this mechanisms survived and got established as a social behavior. Now it's part of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T10:17:38.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20066" CreationDate="2018-04-04T11:41:28.920" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fix them both. It will mean less stress for both of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male:&#xA;Even if the female dog is spayed, often un-neutered dogs are &quot;strictly chickly&quot;. Sometimes they try to mate with spayed female dogs, are aggressive against other males or are highly territorially. That does not have to be so, some un-neutered males are very calm, but it can be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female:&#xA;Being in heat is kind of stress to a dog. Not too bad, but there are other reasons why it is good to spay your female dog. E.g. your female dog can't get breast tumor any more and you don't have to deal with other problems which appear during the time of heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally always would fix my dog, regardless of the gender. I don't want to have problems, because other dog owner do not fix their dogs, too. It always can happen that my dog or another dog sneaks out and I don't want to produce unwanted puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T11:41:28.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20072" CreationDate="2018-04-04T12:13:06.853" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are willing to pick up the bill for the vet, may I suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/centers/kitten/traveling/evr_ct_choosing_the_best_cat_carrier_crate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat travel crate&lt;/a&gt;: put it on the floor and put cat treats in it. When kitten is in the crate, close it. They will not like it, so put a blanket or large towel over it to make it dark. They still will not like it, but will not try to bolt or escape as madly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then take this package to the vet. They can handle kittens quite well. Good luck, you now have your own cat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet is not a possibly, could be for a number of reasons, try to treat it like a human wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, get heavy / strong / leather gloves that cover also your wrists. &lt;strong&gt;Seriously, use the strongest scratch &amp;amp; bite proof gloves you can find!&lt;/strong&gt; Grab the kitten in the neck, use other hand to hold the kitten down. If it starts to growl, just growl back, that way they know you are way bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then clean the wound if needed, use anti-bacterial fluids, iodine will work, to disinfect. Then you need a way to close the would. That is hard. You cannot use stickers or bandages. There is (maybe) one thing that you could do: glue the wound together. But it's a bad options. Better is to let the cat clean it herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food and clean water will help the recovery. If it is a stray, de-worming and de-fleeing will help a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning: cat bites can be very dangerous! If bitten by a cat / kitten, do go and visit your doctor!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T12:13:06.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20072" CreationDate="2018-04-04T12:38:50.980" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flummox has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20072/how-to-give-first-aid-to-treat-open-wound-in-kitten/20084#20084&quot;&gt;great answer&lt;/a&gt; and I encourage you to follow the advice there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are unable or unwilling to take the kitten to the vet, but are able to touch them occasionally. The best treatment is do nothing&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has already done a better job of cleaning the wound then you would be able to with casual contact. Any type of medication that you might apply with a touch is dependent on repeated treatments at very specific times.  Any failure to treat on the schedule, is likely to result in more harm than good, putting the kitten, and any other cats and possibly yourself at risk of &lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/cdc-drug-resistant-nightmare-bacteria-pose-growing-threat-54207019&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nightmare bacteria&lt;/a&gt; I can not stress strongly enough how much damanage incomplete treats can do!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you follow the &quot;do nothing&quot; approach, watch for any signs of infection, if you see any it becomes even more urgent that you follow Flummox's suggestion to get the kitten to a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green, Cloudy (Purulent) or Malodorous Drainage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increasing or Continual Pain from Wound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Redness Around Wound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swelling of Wounded Area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hot Skin Near Wound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of Function and Movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.woundsource.com/blog/8-signs-wound-infection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If antibiotics are required, the vet can give a long acting single inject that only requires a single visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no casual contact first aid, that is likely to have any positive impact on the outcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related posts &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17018/calming-down-feral-cat-to-take-to-vet&quot;&gt;Calming down feral cat to take to vet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17128/how-to-trap-an-untrappable-pest-tom-cat&quot;&gt;How to trap an untrappable pest tom cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8171/a-kitty-fell-down-to-a-hole-in-alley-please-help-me-with-your-ideas-to-get-him&quot;&gt;A Kitty fell down to a hole in alley, Please help me with your ideas to get him out!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17921/impossible-to-catch-female-feral-cat-to-have-stitches-removed-after-sterilisatio&quot;&gt;Impossible to catch female feral cat to have stitches removed after sterilisation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10468/how-can-i-move-houses-with-a-friendly-feral-cat-i-care-for&quot;&gt;How can I move houses with a friendly feral cat I care for?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-04-04T12:48:17.160" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T12:48:17.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20028" CreationDate="2018-04-04T12:41:12.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please do not get a skogkatt in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As trond hansen points out, those cats are not adapted to warm climates. Worse, they are adapted to &lt;strong&gt;cold climates&lt;/strong&gt;. So unless you are able to provide an air-conditioned environment for your cat all the time, I would strongly recommend against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, it's very chancy you get the temperament you want in the kitten / cat you adopt. You might get the biggest couch potato cat in Australian history. Or a shy bugger that only comes out when you watch tv.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, you will need to import the cat (probably) into Australia. Quite a bit of work and cost. For a cat badly adapted for a warm climate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, cat's are a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.nl/search?q=australia+cats&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;client=firefox-b-ab&amp;amp;gfe_rd=cr&amp;amp;dcr=0&amp;amp;ei=-MbEWt1uhNnwB96Jp-gJ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feral nightmare for birds in Australia&lt;/a&gt;. Please don't add to that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I'll assume that there are cat rescue centres in Sydney. May I suggest you visit one of those? Maybe they have a cat with the personality type you are looking for! (and for a proper cat, you don't chose the cat, the cat selects her / his butler ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-25T21:47:57.817" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T21:47:57.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20067" CreationDate="2018-04-04T20:30:03.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the issue is already resolved. I doubt the puppy will try to take the adults food again. Since they're eating together, I assume you're feeding them at set times and that it's not a free feed situation. That's probably for the best. Besides making bathroom times more scheduled, it's usually healthier in the long run and also gives you a daily opportunity to show them that you're the provider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't suggest letting animals just &quot;work it out&quot;. You could end up with one seriously hurt. I would allow them to work through it while supervised so you can step in if there is a serious issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Partially it'll depend on the dogs levels of social interaction. If a dog is removed from it's siblings too early, then it doesn't learn social interaction skills. That's why they say you can't take them till they're at least 8 weeks. When they play and fight with their siblings, a lighter version of what you indicated happens. One puppy will want to keep another one away and he'll growl and pounce on them to let them know. If he nips them too hard, they yelp and stop playing. That's how they learn when to correct, how to react to a correction, and how hard to correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example is my horses. Both were bred by my uncle. They were with their mother for the first 4 months and were adjacent to another mare. They bossed their mother and would rear on her back and bite her neck. She never would correct them like she should. When we let the mare in with them after a few months, both boys (1 year apart) did the same thing with the same results. The ran over, rear up and put their knees on her back and bit at her neck. She kicked them and ran off. They crept back up on her and started gumming at her trying to show contrition. She pinned her ears and tossed her head back at them twice in warning. They touched her butt anyway and got another kick and she ran off again. The next time they got too close, she pinned her ears and they backed off. When I weaned them and put them in with one of my horses, they respected those warnings too. So you can see how a lack of proper correction when they're puppies leads to issues later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying that this is an issue with either of your dogs, just something to be aware of. Even if they were properly socialized as puppies, it could be that the older dog hasn't been around a lot of other dogs. If this is the case, he could have only child syndrome. If you grow up with siblings, you get used to not getting your way all the time. You realize that it's not always going to be fair or go toward you. You don't get all the attention. That doesn't happen when you're an only child and dogs can be as jealous as any of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be that your dog was just correcting the puppy the way any puppy should be corrected. It could have looked vicious but all been bluff. I had UPS drivers honking the horn for us to come out and get a package, because my old lab was raising cane. However, they could have thrown her any kind of snack and she would have helped them rob the whole house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be a combination of any of these things. Here are a few options for you to try. One I'd try first is to put the bowls well away from each other and see if it happens again. I think the puppy probably learned not to try to eat our of that dogs bowl. Another thing to do is that if they act fairly comfortable, but you're worried about a knee jerk reaction, install a baby gate and feed them on either side. That way, if the older dog goes after the younger, it's blocked by a gate. If worse comes to worse, you can just feed them in different rooms. If you're not free feeding, the food bowls should come up after 15min either way, so you can put food down in the morning with them in separate rooms and closed doors in between. Get your shower or breakfast, take the bowls up and let them back together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try controlling the food. With food aggressive dogs, I've seen Cesar Milan suggest that you don't set it down on the ground. He had the owner hold the bowl of food down for the dog to eat. Then he'd have them pull the bowl away from the dog. They're much more aggressive when it's on the ground and you're walking into an area they claimed to retrieve the bowl. However, if you're offering the bowl and then removing it, it's the same as if you have a plate of food and you're giving them a pinch off your hotdog. You don't have any intention of giving them the whole hotdog and you don't. So you treat this the same way. You'll end up giving them all the food, but you act like it's a treat that you're giving them some of your intended food. You take it from one, then you let the other dog have some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last exercise to try is to provide the more aggressive dog with a better food if they let the younger dog eat. So if the younger dog goes near the older dogs food and the older dog starts to tense up, call their name, call them over, and give them some chicken. I think this could create a positive association between the younger dog coming to eat and rewards and good feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever way you choose, I don't think it'll be a long term problem. I thin if you monitor them for a week without further signs of aggression then they'll be fine. I'd also suggest that if you are, you don't free feed until you're confident that there won't be any issues. That way there won't be one while you're not watching. I wouldn't worry about the puppy either, because some dogs over react. My jack Russell has always been a drama queen. If she didn't hear me coming and I walked up and patted her butt, she'd jump forward and scream like she'd been stabbed with a kitchen knife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it might have been you that posted a question about social interaction between fixed and unfixed dogs. If that's the case, then yes there is a possibility that fixing a male dog would help with guarding issues. The testosterone probably isn't helping, though fixed dogs can guard as well. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2018-04-04T20:30:03.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20089" CreationDate="2018-04-05T03:49:10.883" Score="3" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can dogs recognize their siblings or parents if they meet at an old age, after being separated at an early age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a beagle, who was separated from their siblings and parents at 2 months old. A couple years later we ran into its siblings and my dog kind of didn't recognize its siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11864" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-08T21:44:43.747" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T21:44:43.747" Title="Can dogs recognize their siblings or parents?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20088" CreationDate="2018-04-05T11:50:39.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Opinions on this seem to differ with plenty of anecdotal information on either side. Indeed it doesn't appear that there is any concrete evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There does seem to be some consensus however that it depends on the dog and how long they were together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Steven R. Lindsay, author of the &quot;Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training,&quot; suggests they can. In his writings, Lindsay suggests that a dog can recognize his parents and siblings, and even humans from early interactions, provided they are together during the critical socialization phase from week three of life through week 16.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petful.com/behaviors/do-dogs-think-about-their-parents/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;Petful&quot;&gt;Petful&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case your beagle was separated at only 8 weeks, and then underwent a lot of new experiences immediately afterward. Most likely it was too early for them to form enough of a bond to remember.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2018-04-05T11:50:39.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20090" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-05T17:30:16.880" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;my leopard gecko come to shedding her skin is white .pass a 15 munites she have a normal skin . I dont see she shedsing before.&#xA;her body is normal. Dont have any skin from shedding&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11867" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-31T16:19:50.343" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T16:19:50.343" Title="my leopard gecko come to shedding her skin is white .pass a 15 munites she have a normal skin . I dont see she shedsing before" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-08-30T08:51:43.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-05T18:10:31.820" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a little poodle mix named Jaxon, he's about 14 years old and weighs about 8 pounds. I've had him since he was about 2 and a half. He's always been a very laid back dog, likes to be around people but very chill. He's always barked for a few seconds when somebody enters the house, and get's excited when I come back home after leaving him alone for a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last few months however, things have been getting worse. When I, or my roommate, comes home (even if he's only been alone for an hour or less) he barks at his maximum volume for several minutes and won't calm down unless I pick him up and hold him for a while. When I leave, he often starts barking immediately and (according to my neighbor) will bark for hours straight. He's getting old, and he's starting to lose his eyesight and he's almost completely deaf. I'm thinking this has something to do with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love my dog, but he's driving my neighbors and roommate crazy. &lt;strong&gt;Is there anything I can do to help him calm down?&lt;/strong&gt; I've thought about getting a cat or another dog to keep him company when I'm gone, but I'm afraid this will just make things worse. I've also considered getting a crate for him while I'm gone (he used to be crate trained, but I abandoned it a few years back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11868" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T20:14:34.113" Title="My (older) dog is driving my roomate/neighbors crazy" Tags="&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-07T01:41:09.200" Score="1" ViewCount="2083" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a male betta yesterday, and moved him into his 2.5 gallon tank today. I read multiple sites that said it was okay to move him within 24 hours of setting the tank up. The filter is working, and the heater is too. The temp says it is 78 degrees F. We put the conditioner in the water when we filled the tank up yesterday, so it sat for 24 hours with the filter on. I also checked the pH, nitrate, nitrite, and a few other factors of the tank which all came back as perfect. We moved him into the tank like we were supposed to, and he seemed to assimilate nicely to the new tank. When I sit by the tank, he usually comes straight up to me and then swims around. There's only one plant in there for him now, but I will be getting more tomorrow. I got the silk fake plants recommended for Bettas. I left the light on in the tank and turned the light off in my room, leaving him for about an hour. Half an hour in I checked on him and he was by the filter (he was just hanging out by it, it's not too strong and he wasn't stuck). Then when I came back in a half an hour later he was in the corner of the tank between the plant and wall. He was laying on the gravel between the two, not stuck though. It took him a minute, but he swam up to me and now he's swimming around okay. Is this normal for them to do? His fins look alright, and he doesn't appear to be breathing rapidly or have an ich on him. I've fed him flakes today, which he doesn't go for immediately but he will eat them. I'm getting pellets soon also. Is he just stressed from the move, or is there something more serious going on? This is the first betta I've owned so I just want to make sure he's doing okay and nothing else is happening to him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11878" LastActivityDate="2018-04-07T14:02:40.717" Title="Betta laying at bottom of the tank" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-04-07T14:02:22.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-07T06:01:40.643" Score="1" ViewCount="1404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found this kitten beside me when I was sleeping (I don't even know whose cat this is) and now I've decided to become part of the family, but I need to determine the age of the kitten. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M4PZ3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11879" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-08T21:39:54.113" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T22:26:00.160" Title="How old is my kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20095" CreationDate="2018-04-07T08:07:48.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;your cat is about 4 months old after what i can see but  this is an estimate so it can be two weeks younger or older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i base this on body shape and on how developed the limbs are and the fact that the muscles are not yet fully developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so you have a little teen cat in your house,remember to get it to the vet for a health check and to get it vaccsinated and spayed/neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you need to be sure it do not have an owner before you addopt it,some child might have lost their kitten so this is something you need to find out before you do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-04-07T12:27:38.577" LastActivityDate="2018-04-07T12:27:38.577" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20102" CreationDate="2018-04-07T15:44:06.107" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a juvenile corn snake. This is her second shed with me so far, and the first went very easily. This time, however, she seems to be unwilling or unable to fully work her skin off. On Thursday night I first noticed that she'd begun to shed, and she'd successfully worked off the skin on her head and the base of her neck. (It looked very clean, and from what I can tell both eye caps came off.) From my experience with the previous shed I assumed she'd work the rest of it off over the course of the night. Since then, however, she's made no further progress at all--it's now Saturday morning here, and she still doesn't have her shed any further down than the spot on her neck near her head. I can tell she's not completely inactive, since she's moved between her hot and cool side hides, but instead of rubbing up against the rough objects in her tank she seems to only be hiding inside one hide or the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm beginning to get very worried--am I correct that this is longer than a snake should take from the beginning of the skin peeling off to having the full shed loose? (I see lots of resources online for how long it should take from blue phase to shed, but none for how long the shed should take.) And if so, what actions should I taking here? About fifteen minutes ago, upon waking up, I made a moist hide out of Tupperware and paper towels; she's in that currently and I'm hoping it will help, but I'm not sure what further I can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further details: she ate two pinky mice last Sunday, her hot side is 84 degrees, her cool side fluctuates slightly but generally is around 70-75,her humidity is and has been at around 35-40%. Other than the usual pre-shed shyness I haven't noticed anything unusual about her behavior lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11881" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:51:13.967" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:51:13.967" Title="My snake has started shedding, but seems unwilling/unable to finish" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-07T15:56:33.323" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;my dog has something weird in its skin and i don't know what to do. The vet told me to give him a medicine called amoxil but it didn't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some photos&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UyHfE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UyHfE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0PESk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0PESk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r3v1J.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/r3v1J.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iQzNu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iQzNu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11882" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T09:14:48.173" Title="Dog skin disease" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-07T22:37:56.023" Score="1" ViewCount="1954" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has a rash on his underside and he’s crying in pain, he’s letting me touch it with a wet tissue (seems to relieve the pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can’t get to the vet how can I help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/krZdJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/krZdJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11884" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-04-08T00:37:49.583" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T08:18:32.767" Title="My 8 yr old staffie has a weeping rash on his legs and really bad under his penis" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20098" CreationDate="2018-04-08T00:58:09.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a corn snakes shedding phase you will have to increase the humidity to facilitate a shed. A healthy shed comes off in one full piece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trick that works quite well is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Grab a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snakemuseum.com/797-large_default/breeding-box-md-exo-terra.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clear container with a lid&lt;/a&gt; big enough for your snake, make sure there is air circulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Get some &lt;a href=&quot;https://static.webshopapp.com/shops/069283/files/044268120/filter-aquarium-kopen.jpg?_ga=2.37964771.1323925084.1523148686-729085006.1523148686&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cotton filter foam pads&lt;/a&gt; and place it at the bottom of the bin. Make sure there is a thick layer that covers the whole bottom. I like these pads as they are a bit rough which helps a ton with shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Add warm water to soak up the cotton with a little extra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Add a few rough objects for her to rub on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Place a heat lamp safely above (&lt;strong&gt;not on&lt;/strong&gt;) the container to ensure she stays warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place her in there and check in every 30 minutes or so, typically it comes off within a few hours. I would not keep her in there longer than 1-2 hours max.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T00:58:09.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20101" CreationDate="2018-04-08T02:57:33.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Likely a yeast infection he exacerbated by licking. Fungal infections can be difficult to tame but it is possible. Firstly, he needs a cone to stop him from&#xA;licking the affected area.  An needs anti-fungal cream is indicated:    Chlotrimazole&#xA;    •   Econazole&#xA;    •   Itraconazole&#xA;    •   Ketoconazole (has antibacterial effects as well)&#xA;    •   Miconazole&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try an anti-fungal to start as to avoid a vet visit. If no improvement within 48 hrs, vet visit is indicated.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is discharge from the penis, flushing may also be required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, let us know the outcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T02:57:33.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-08T12:02:29.900" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a little cat, aged between 2 and 3 months. He climbed the closet and jumped to the floor, started twisting his left paw, screamed as hard as he could and then he threw up a yellow tinted vomit. I live now in a place where there is no veterinarian. I just wrapped his paw in a bandage for now, but &lt;strong&gt;how to know if he got a broken paw? And how to treat him?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The height he jumped from was 2 meters / 6.5 feet. Could that have broken his bones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm planing to take him to the veterinarian when my brother returns my bike in the evening, until then I'll appreciate any help or suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11888" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:07:29.660" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:07:29.660" Title="How to know if my cat has broken his paw" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20104" CreationDate="2018-04-08T13:00:21.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a cat that young it's possible a fall from that height could have broken the paw if he landed awkwardly on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is really one for a vet, they'll be able to X-ray the paw to see if it is broken. That's the only real way to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T13:00:21.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20104" CreationDate="2018-04-08T13:26:41.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to go to the vet. Your cat's leg is not the biggest problem, but possible internal injury is. If a cat starts to throw up after a fall, it needs to be taken to a vet today. A broken leg is easy to fix, but internal injury is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not saying a broken leg is unproblematic, but it is possible for a vet to fix it. Internal injuries can be very dangerous, and you might have little time to get your cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T11:09:54.310" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:09:54.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20101" CreationDate="2018-04-08T14:47:49.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a fungal infection. Flush the area with 0.9% normal saline and apply a topical solution of 0.8% ketoconazole. If symptoms continue over the dedicated period for treatment of 48 hours consult with a dermatologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11891" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-10T08:18:32.767" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T08:18:32.767" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18561" CreationDate="2018-04-08T14:54:19.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats only remember things that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put them in danger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Benefited them in someway&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that if he was staying with another owner he may have 'forgotten' you. However, he came back, indicating he remembers 'you' but not his previous name/life/identity. He should come back in time, but if you are still worried you could take him to the vet to rule out any possible neurological/optical defections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11891" LastEditorUserId="12164" LastEditDate="2018-05-19T01:36:24.227" LastActivityDate="2018-05-19T01:36:24.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19420" CreationDate="2018-04-08T15:04:16.303" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry that this will be far too late to save your pet. Your pet was clearly suffering from leopard gecko septicaemia, also known as &quot;red-leg&quot; syndrome. When pets are stressed, their immune system becomes weak and vulnerable to infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Septicaemia is when you get an infection in your blood stream. In reptiles, it is normally 100% fatal without vet intervention utilizing antibiotics. Sadly, there is little research on the subject, but if you can afford it take your pet to your local/exotic vet. The vet can look for secondary infections and take blood tests to confirm the infection, then prescribe antibiotics for your gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps someone in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11891" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T01:13:17.753" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:13:17.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-08T20:00:55.747" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My &quot;abandoned kitty&quot; of poss under 12 months ,moved in and now has 3 adorable kittens. So what do I do. Mum trusts me and now I adore her. Help. Need to home the 3 in Orihuela Costa Spain. They will be used to being handled and house trained as mum is so loving !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11892" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-04-09T18:04:12.653" LastActivityDate="2018-04-09T18:04:12.653" Title="Homes needed in June" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-04-09T16:50:18.917" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20182" CreationDate="2018-04-08T20:25:06.353" Score="4" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, and neither of them licks each other unless they're cleaning themselves, but they like to lick any person that gets near them wherever and whenever possible. Why do they not lick each other?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Upon learning that dogs only lick each other to establish leadership, I'm now really confused since one of my dogs (a black Lab-pitbull mix) bullies around my other dog (a Black-mouth curr) but doesn't lick the Black-mouth curr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11893" LastEditorUserId="11893" LastEditDate="2018-04-16T11:41:14.223" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T11:09:49.783" Title="Why do my dogs only lick me instead of each other?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20095" CreationDate="2018-04-08T22:26:00.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to tell how old a kitten is just by looking at a photo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we can estimate, and I would agree that 3-5 months is likely the right range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most reliable way to age kittens is to look at their teeth. All the baby teeth will be present by about 2 months. The baby teeth are smaller and sharper than the adult teeth. All the adult teeth erupt by about 6 months in most cases. There will be natural variation in timing, but this gives an idea. This is a useful chart for determining kitten age by dentition (click to enlarge):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7soRJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7soRJm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weight and body condition can also be considered in aging a kitten, but we don't know if this kitten is male or female, spayed or neutered, underfed or adequate body condition. It's hard to tell whether this kitten looks rather thin simply because it is rapidly maturing or because it was malnourished. As a very rough figure I go by 1 lb per month of age, for example 4 lbs at 4 months, but there will be huge variation depending on the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are adopting this kitten, a vet will need to take a look, perform any necessary vaccinations, deworm, and spay or neuter when the time is right. They will be able to advise better on the age by fully examining the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-04-08T22:26:00.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20116" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-09T03:28:51.463" Score="4" ViewCount="2208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently set up a tank for a Betta sorority (I'm letting it cycle till we have everything) and as a substrate we have dirt. I was under the impression we just clean it like sand using a wider gravel vac but I was told you don't use a siphon  / gravel vac as it would suck it all up? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to clean soil substrate in my aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i429I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-09T10:16:39.247" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T12:56:22.173" Title="What is the best way to clean soil substrate in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-09T04:47:53.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is the things I've read about here. I don't own a dog but have always been kind and never show fear of them. The property I live on has quite a few dogs because they breed certain ones for sale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs in question are dogs that are older and of all sizes belong to the residence here. What happened the first time, I was walking past one on our property a very small dog tied up on a leash, it was night time and I had a head light on, thinking the dog thought I was an intruder. Lunged and bit my ankle. Now that I think about it the dog already knew my scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It lunged at me walking by, me thinking it would not do that but it did. Then the second time it was a very old full-size pit bull, dead asleep laying on the living room floor of a resident. The children were playing in that room, as I walked by to go in the kitchen to look to see something on the refrigerator for repair, was only there for a few seconds, as I'm walking past him to leave he wakes from dead sleep lunging at me locking on to my ankle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No adults were around to help me, I was lucky to be able to talk to him without touching him, yelling for him to let go. He kept biting down harder I starting to panic because I didn't know what to do. He let up just for split second allowing me to lunge for the door barely making out of the room with him in tow lunging at me again slamming the sliding door behind me. Even a dog needs time to wake up, I thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This same pit bull in the past with the owner right next to me talking, he lunged and locked on to my arm, on two different occasions. He was able to get him off my arm. It wasn't that easy for him either. He is a big guy too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I would leave in my vehicle this first dog would be barking like crazy when I drove by. It since died. The second dog was put down after that. The third dog still to this day, will out of the blue knowing me from being on the property for so long, still will come at me growling like she wants blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I was checking my tire by the side of the road in a residential neighborhood squatting down to look at my tire as a lady was walking very close by me with medium size dog. I may have been moving too quickly for the dog but it too lunged at me growling like it wanted blood. The lady said she was really good and it was rare she never does that, but did it to another lady once. A stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This stranger has got me thinking. Some people even a child can have this effect on dogs. A child is not threating nor am I these dogs. Something about us is sensed by them we just don't know. Maybe I was bad to dogs in another life I'm not sure but this has me perplexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when I walk by the dogs in cages they all start to go nutz with aggressions like I'm attacking someone. ty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will add this because I have no idea what I personally could be doing to make dogs react this way.&#xA;There are light and dark entities all around us in the spirit world.&#xA;The light entities are spirit guides that help some people to navigate through life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible they sense a dark entity close to me.&#xA;Dark entities feed off of our negitive emotions. &#xA;You dont have to believe this but it is something I do believe and can be the reason for this behavior.&#xA;Being ignorant of things you dont know doesnt mean they are not real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11896" LastEditorUserId="11896" LastEditDate="2018-04-09T06:38:48.440" LastActivityDate="2018-04-09T06:38:48.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15124" CreationDate="2018-04-09T06:06:25.813" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tom and queen myself. I want to spay my queen, but she is currently pregnant. My vet told me to bring her in 1 month after she gives birth to be spayed, and we are neutering the tom now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also used to face the same problem with the female cat not wanting to mate and the male forcing her to. The best solution for this is neutering or spaying. One other funny solution is to regular spray some water when the male does this to the kittens, and then he will be too afraid to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11897" LastEditorUserId="12164" LastEditDate="2018-05-21T23:28:20.410" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T23:28:20.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20098" CreationDate="2018-04-09T08:17:38.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humidity is key here. If the enclosure isn't humid enough, the shed may dry out and be hard for the snake to remove. It is essential that these stuck pieces are removed, because they may hinder the snake's future growth if they are stuck, especially as this is a juvenile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Rebecca's answer already mentions, getting the snake nice and humid for a while should help with getting the stuck shed off. I personally own a Ball python that doesn't manage to shed properly. It's always torn to pieces and never really comes off well. So in the days leading up to him shedding, we give him some nice baths. We just fill a tub with a layer of lukewarm water. Make sure that you don't fill it up too high, you don't want your snake to drown. After soaking for about half an hour should help a lot with getting these pieces off. It happens quite often that he starts shedding then and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can do in the future is to mist the enclosure a bit more than normal when you notice your snake is about to shed. When it starts showing blue-ish eyes, make sure that the humidity is a bit higher than normal, just to help them with shedding. Hopefully that's all that's needed in the future. Aim for like 60% of humidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-04-09T08:17:38.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20130" CreationDate="2018-04-09T14:36:20.600" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are getting a puppy and I'm find conflicting advice on if she should be in her crate the first night.  Some people say to have her in the crate, closed (waking her up every couple of hours to use the bathroom) and others say to leave it open.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11900" LastEditorUserId="9981" LastEditDate="2018-04-10T12:24:56.683" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T12:24:56.683" Title="Crating puppy first night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-09T15:12:40.553" Score="1" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qqu0X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;my betta fish is not eating anything and he is lying on the down of my bottle and becoming inactive day by day and found some black spots on his fins&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11901" LastActivityDate="2018-04-09T15:12:40.553" Title="My betta fish is now lying on the down of my bottle" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-04-09T15:29:52.867" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20112" CreationDate="2018-04-09T16:41:33.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contact your local animal or cat rescues. They can help you find homes for your cats. Some rescues will travel, so even if you don't have any that are very close to you, contact whichever ones are closest. If they can't help they might know another rescue who can. If the first rescue you contact can't help you, try another one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, keep them. Four cats is a lot, but doable, although the vet bills can be hard to manage when you need to get them all fixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter what, make sure you take mum to the vet and get her spayed so there will be no more kittens to rehome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7064" LastActivityDate="2018-04-09T16:41:33.617" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-09T21:37:00.960" Score="4" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought some last minute items for our tank before we started to get any fish, and one of them was a thermometer. We didn't look at it closely until we got home, and then realised we had no idea how to read it. In other words, it's not like a normal thermometer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the picture you'll understand what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Info: I am getting corydras and Betta sorority - tropical fish thriving at around 27 °C - and it is a 'Petworks glass thermometer'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rmbYM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:41:13.900" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:41:13.900" Title="How do I read my new tropical fish thermometer?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20131" CreationDate="2018-04-09T23:28:09.227" Score="4" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bathed my dog with sergeants skip-flea &amp;amp; tick shampoo with 0.10% permethrin and 0.50% piperonyl butoxide, technical. My dad then proceeded to almost immediately after apply another flea treatment to her neck, ingredients or brand unknown to me as he refuses to let me see it since he “knows what he is doing”. Essentially, I am simply worried about my dog and want to make sure that my father hasn’t potentially caused her future death or harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11905" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-04-10T12:29:51.433" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T12:39:13.687" Title="Flea treatment toxicity when mixing flea treatment with shampoo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20124" CreationDate="2018-04-10T04:54:50.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't exactly mention what your difficulty is in reading the thermometer. The scale from bottom to top reads &lt;code&gt;0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40&lt;/code&gt; (combine the digits left and right of the indicator).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how does it work? There is this red liquid in a reservoir in the bottom. As this liquid heats up, it expands. When it expands, it can only go upwards, into the scale. How much the liquid expands is an indicator for how warm the liquid is. This is what the thermometer is based on. So if you look at it from right in front, you can see how high the red liquid sits. You can then read off the scale what temperature corresponds with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T04:54:50.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-10T07:33:21.353" Score="1" ViewCount="1436" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a half siamese black cat and she loves to suckle on anything that I wear (thankfully not on my skin). I don't usually mind it as she's super hyper and it's one of the few times she's calm. She'll usually come and join me on the sofa and suckle for a little before going to sleep, which is fine. But lately I've been waking up at 6 or 7 in the morning to the kitty laying on me and suckling on my sleeve, with her claws in my arm. Unfortunately I live in a studio apartment so just shutting her out of the bedroom at night isn't an option. Is there anyway I can kindly discourage her from doing this? Usually there's no way to distract her from suckling, no toys or food will work, she's really focused on it which I why I gave in and let her suckle my tops as she didn't do it all that often and the fabric wasn't going to break off, so no harm done. But the amount of suckling has only increased ans I don't think it's wise to continue letting her suckle me when I sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11909" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T14:04:17.310" Title="My 5 month old cat suckles on me while I sleep" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-04-10T14:01:10.360" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20124" CreationDate="2018-04-10T07:57:44.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to what JAD has already pointed out, these thermometers can be difficult to read. I was in the same position when I started fish keeping. The key to being able to see where the red line appears is to make sure you are looking at the line on the thermometer straight on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Line yourself up directly in front of the thermometer with your head looking straight forwards and you should be able to see the thin red line. It may take a bit of time before you can read it at a glance but you'll soon get used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T07:57:44.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20120" CreationDate="2018-04-10T11:07:23.280" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on various factors which is probably why the advice is conflicting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Factor 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Is your puppy comfortable being in the crate open/closed?&#xA;Some puppies take easier to crate training than others. If your puppy is still very uncertain or unhappy with being in the crate with the door closed, or being in the crate at all, then rather leave the door open and cordon off an area around the crate. What you don't want here is your puppy exploring your house to find some fun chew toys/ toilet areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Factor 2:&lt;/strong&gt; How far away from you will the crate be and how easily do you wake up?&#xA;The goal here is two fold - to be able to comfort the puppy on their first stressful night and to be able to hear if they start squirming to take them to the toilet area. If you will struggle to wake up then it might be better to leave the door open with newspaper or puppy pads just out side of the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;It's your puppies first night, there is no real right or wrong here. Try make them as comfortable as possible and not to go to the toilet all over your house. If they love their crate, then crate them! If they don't then cordon off an area and let them sleep there. There is no right or wrong for the crate but there might be for the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T11:07:23.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20125" CreationDate="2018-04-10T12:39:13.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert, but to calm your fears, I do not believe there will be an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I located the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/002517-00063-20080924.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;EPA hazards notice for the product&lt;/a&gt; I did not find a warning there, nor did I find one at several other places I looked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should watch for pet for any unusual signs/symptoms and consult a vet if needed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will have been around 24 hours since the application as I write this answer.  If there have not been issues yet I doubt there will be any problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T12:39:13.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20116" CreationDate="2018-04-10T12:56:22.173" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Gravel Vacuum!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to use a gravel vacuum but make sure that the part that covers the pipe is fine enough not to let the spheres of soil through. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any gravel cleaning, you actually have quite a long time to stop the flow and let the substrate fall back to the ground. On my smaller shrimp tank, I regularly pick the substrate up in the gravel vacuum and then allow it to settle back down again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the soil breaks down and becomes less like small spheres, you may find that you will start losing more soil because the pieces are smaller and they will be caught more in the flow. So far, in a 6 month period, I haven't had them break down enough to be able to get through the grate on the vacuum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually find this kind of substrate &lt;em&gt;far&lt;/em&gt; easier to clean than sand which you &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; lose during vacuuming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-04-10T12:56:22.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-10T14:25:05.633" Score="4" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I‌ get extremely annoyed when my cat comes back home with a beautiful dead bird (as it happened an hour ago). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a flap door in our house so the cat is free to go out. We don't wish to confine the cat inside. So please do not suggest that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what are the most effective and humane ways to make hunting as difficult as possible for him? (cutting his nails short? hanging a bell on his neck? shouting at him? etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11910" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T11:11:54.103" Title="How can I make my cat less lethal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-04-10T14:45:03.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20133" CreationDate="2018-04-10T14:47:02.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never shout at your cat. She will never understand what her fault is and will instead become afraid of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat loves you and considers you part of family. This the reason she is doing this. Otherwise she would have finished her food alone. She wants to share her prized catch with you, and she thinks the sight of delicious food offered by her to you will make you happy and the two of you can together finish the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is incapable of understanding that your dietary preferences are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you have given an excellent solution in your own question. Putting a collar on your cat with a bell hanging will no longer keep your cat's movements stealthy. Prey will get alarmed before the predator can bring herself within striking distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is like a deadly F35 with a loud siren to make all air defence systems go crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-15T11:11:54.103" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T11:11:54.103" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10191" CreationDate="2018-04-10T20:23:43.150" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is based on the situation in the Netherlands. I'm not up to speed with the exact Belgian laws, but I do know that there is quite an active trade in reptiles between the two countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm adding the &quot;in Europe&quot; because I don't know if there's any anacondas being bred outside of South-America&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are sold every now and then, which seems to imply that they are also bred here. A pet store close by my parents' home had a Green Anaconda (&lt;em&gt;Eunectes murinus&lt;/em&gt;) for sale for 125 euros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For keeping snakes in Belgium, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huisdierinfo.be/welke-dieren-mag-je-houden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt;, species that can be kept as pets depend on their &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CITES&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CITES&lt;/a&gt; indication. CITES is an international organisation that determines the level of endangerment of a species. There are several levels, that dictate whether they can be kept by individuals, with or without permits, or only by zoos and other official organisations. All of the &lt;em&gt;Eunectes&lt;/em&gt; species are level II on the CITES list. This means that their trade &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; regulated, but this is a very broad definition. In practice this means that whenever you buy a snake of these species, a form has to be filled, indicating the buyer's and seller's identity and the origin and age of the animal. The important distinction here is to make sure that the specimens are captive-bred, instead of wild-caught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what are important things to know about keeping Anacondas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Species&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are four species of Anaconda:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eunectes murinus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, the &quot;classic&quot; green Anaconda. These are the massive giants that are tied with the &lt;em&gt;Python reticulatus&lt;/em&gt; for the title of biggest snake in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eunectes notaeus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, the yellow Anaconda. This is the green's little cousin. Whereas the greens can peak at 9m (but generally stay around 5m) and 100kg (but generally 30-70kg), these stay a bit smaller (3-4.5m and 25-35kg).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eunectes deschauenseei&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eunectes beniensis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, two relatively rare species. These are too rare to expect them to be kept as pets, especially in Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Big snakes&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, so Anacondas are big snakes. While the yellow anaconda is smaller than the green anaconda, they are both Big Snakes™. At adult size, these are big enough to pose a danger to humans. As such it is highly recommended to never handle these snakes alone. It is not worth the risk. This is a similar advice to handling &lt;em&gt;Python reticulatus&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;P. sebae&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;P. bivittatus&lt;/em&gt; and large subspecies of &lt;em&gt;Boa constrictor&lt;/em&gt;. Generally though, due to their sluggish form and lifestyle (more on that later), they should be relatively laid-back. This is evidenced by comparing footage of wild encounters with Anacondas with their gigantic python counterparts &lt;em&gt;P. reticulatus&lt;/em&gt;. However, they remain wild animals that could overpower a human if they put their mind to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Lifestyle&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anacondas live in the Amazon rainforest. Here they spend most of their time in the water, hunting on large mammals that live in and around the water. This is how they can become as heavy as they are. If you see an anaconda on the dry, they are really sluggish, because they have to drag all that weight along with them. In the water though, they have none of these issues. So anacondas like water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When keeping them, this can be easily accommodated by placing a large tub of water in their enclosure. Make sure it can't be knocked over, because else it will be knocked over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Recommendation&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already mentioned that anacondas are big. I wouldn't really recommend keeping either as first-time snakes. It's better to start out a bit smaller, mostly so you can learn how to read body language. With a smaller species, like &lt;em&gt;Python regius&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Boa constrictor constrictor&lt;/em&gt;, misreading it might mean a bit and some shed blood, but it won't put you in any real danger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Body language&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Learning to distinguish inquisitiveness from a defensive posture from looking for food is very important. Normally, snakes are just looking around, checking out things around them. This is perfectly fine. If they feel threatened, though, it is important that you recognise this. If not, if you push them too much, you might end up being bitten out of self-defence. This is generally not the end of the world, but it might put you in the hospital from the puncture wounds from the bite. If they are looking for food, though, this is definitely the most dangerous. You don't want them to think you are food. Most of the time, this is by mistake, either because you smell like food (if you recently handled food items for example), or something else might have triggered their food response. But that is mostly irrelevant. You don't want them to try. In contrast to a defensive bite, a food bite will mean that they &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; hold on and that they &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; try to constrict. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At that point their sluggishness is completely gone, and they will work entirely against you. 50kg+ of pure muscle is not something you can overpower by yourself. This is also why it is so important to have someone else with you at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound grave and grim, but it really is not. Snakes are generally pretty easy to read, once you know what to look for. However, starting with smaller species definitely is the more forgiving route to take there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Back to recommendations&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when/if you have some experience keeping snakes, the next step is to get experience with Big Snakes™. From here, the yellow anaconda is relatively more easy to keep, due to its smaller size, but it mostly depends on what you are comfortable with. It's really no good keeping snakes you're not comfortable handling. This only ends in a downwards spiral with them not being used to being handled because you don't do it, making them react weirdly to it, making you not handle them as much, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Some random notes&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've heard it told that anacondas are pretty messy and stinky snakes. They are used to living in the swamp, which also means that they're pretty much being used to their mess just being swept away (snakes are actually surprisingly tidy, if they pooped on their favourite spot, they will move away, so they don't have to lie in their poop. Of course this won't stop them from pooping in their favourite spot in the first place).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard that they're not the &lt;em&gt;easiest&lt;/em&gt; snakes to keep in terms of requirements and hygiene.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:36:33.820" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:36:33.820" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20219" CreationDate="2018-04-11T02:23:31.027" Score="6" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small Australian Brumby colt came to me today, he is approximately 3 months old and needed to be weaned early, as his mother was starved and lost her milk. They were recently trapped from the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His back legs are weak and seem to collapse down when he walks. His back legs also bend in towards each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting him on a milk replacer and a soybean feed for horses. He will have lucerne hay, as he's already been eating that. He will also receive special supplements for the young foal that are suitable for our pastures, plus salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am seeking veterinary help, but in the meantime was wondering if anyone had any knowledge about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture is him next to a 4-5 month old foal to give you an idea of his size. He's tiny. He will probably grow to 13 2 hh. On the small size for a brumby, but the herd he comes from generally reaches in the 14 hh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rpf8D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rpf8D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/osI8A.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/osI8A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T05:23:34.980" Title="Weak, collapsing back legs on young foal" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-11T09:08:05.437" Score="4" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I come over my boyfriend's place and my boyfriend and I hang out the dog suddenly becomes overly excited. He doesn't seem aggressive towards me because we get along just fine usually. But when, for example, my boyfriend and I sit down and watch a movie on the couch he becomes mischievous and excited. When I give him attention he gets too rough and when I don't mind him, he barks and lunges at me. It seems to me that he just wants to play with me but he gets too rough (he's heavy and he play bites) and it starts to scare me a bit as he is a big dog (american bully). I try to set boundaries but it doesn't seem to work. My boyfriend observed this behavior only when I am around. How do I solve this problem? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11917" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T16:26:21.157" Title="How do I calm my boyfriend's overly excited dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20155" CreationDate="2018-04-11T11:56:01.260" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;My black-mouth curr just refuses to poop anywhere that is not our backyard. This is weird because he is only just starting to do this (has only been doing this for a month after pooping on every walk). He is approximately 2 years and 1 month old and has only started after my black labrador has started eating poop.&#xA;Any idea why this is happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11893" LastActivityDate="2018-04-12T16:12:22.077" Title="Why does one of my dogs refuse to poop on our walk, but instead in our backyard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20177" CreationDate="2018-04-11T12:42:09.587" Score="5" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have met some cats that are highly social:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;they look you in the eye when they see you and are visibly enthousiastic, and they meow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;they give you head bumps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;when they see you outside they run enthousiastically towards you and are clearly happy with your company.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are cats that are somewhat a-social. I don't mean that they are aggressive or mean, but that they just are more indifferent towards human company and will want to be alone more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there specific breeds of cats that are significantly and visibly more social than others?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11919" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T07:16:24.820" Title="Are there breeds of cats that are more social than others?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-11T14:16:54.623" Score="8" ViewCount="5570" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog I've heard of so far has to be walked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet every cat I've heard of doesn't. They can just take care of themselves outside and you don't need to worry about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there breeds of dogs that have the cat-like trait of being able to take care of themselves, in the sense that you don't have to walk them?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11919" LastEditorUserId="11919" LastEditDate="2018-04-11T15:40:34.393" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T18:36:33.433" Title="Are there breeds of dogs that don't require walking them?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-11T14:59:42.933" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to train my small adult dog to use a litter box (or puppy pads).  Currently he is not housebroken and messes all over the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if I should use a litterbox (&lt;em&gt;like for a cat&lt;/em&gt;) or a puppy pads in the place I want him to go to the toilet.  Please indicate pros and cons of each in your answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any really experience with housebreaking a dog, so would like a detailed answer on; How to litterbox train an adult dog, that has not be previously housebroken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11916" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-04-12T12:44:28.840" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T10:20:29.697" Title="How to litterbox train an adult dog, that has not be previously housebroken?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-11T15:43:07.910" Score="2" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog was never great at &quot;come here,&quot; but now she's gone completely rogue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes &quot;come here&quot; in the house works a bit, but is stymied by her fear of the cats (she's a 50lb rough coat collie but our alpha cat is vicious). If the cat is between us, she'll shy away and I have to shoo the cat before she'll consider walking toward me. And then she usually only considers it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I think our family developed bad habits; I think she retrained &lt;em&gt;us&lt;/em&gt; to give her treats for coming in at all, not just immediately when called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that it's spring, I have to chase her around the yard any morning it's not raining until I can grab her collar and drag her in. She gets no treats for that, but I wonder if I should be praising her as she passes the threshold and give her treats to reinforce &quot;pass through back door to get a treat.&quot; We use tiny training treats, about the size of a pencil eraser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat&lt;/strong&gt;: she used to have a weekday dog walker who moved on and now she gets no middle-of-the-day activity. We are going to put her in day care as soon as my husband can drive again (severe hand injury). I think day care will help her burn off her energy perhaps make her more compliant. But I'd like to be able to prove she can &quot;come&quot; when called so I can get her into daycare at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;QUESTION&lt;/strong&gt;: How can I retrain my dog to come immediately when called and what did we do wrong so it doesn't happen again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T15:43:07.910" Title="How to retrain dog to come when called, indoors or outdoors" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-04-11T17:30:20.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20674" CreationDate="2018-04-11T17:45:43.317" Score="5" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is pretty obedient, though she has just entered the stubborn teenage years (6 months old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was doing some training at my parents house with my dog and two other dogs.  My goal was to practice recalling my dog and doing some other basic tricks (sit, jump, speak)  while she is excitedly playing with other dogs. And despite the chaos of three medium to large size dogs all wanting my attention at the same time, I felt that it was going quite well.  Then I noticed my dog bullying the other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I was training, I felt obliged to also give treats to the other two dogs who where obediently sitting and jumping as I gave commands to my dog.  Well, my dog is already bigger then the other two dogs and was using her size to push the other dogs away when I was giving them treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like this behavior.  I'm fine with them sorting out their own hierarchy when playing together,  but when I (or anyone else) is playing with/training the dogs I would like my dog to behave &amp;quot;politely&amp;quot;.    In other words, if I give a treat to another dog I want my dog to sit and watch nicely instead of body checking the other dog and nipping at the other dog to push her away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two dogs are 3+ years and do not show this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10953" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T23:00:50.723" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T23:10:22.627" Title="How to train my dog not to bully other dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20144" CreationDate="2018-04-11T17:54:26.147" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your goal is to not have to take a walk every day to get your dog the exercise it needs, then any small breed should get enough exercise running around your house/yard.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a dog that behaves like a cat,  may I recommend just getting a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10953" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-11T18:36:33.433" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T18:36:33.433" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20144" CreationDate="2018-04-11T18:13:40.693" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is clarified in the comments as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Looking for a breed of dog that will walk himself to the park and drop his feces under the bushes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the answer is Kind of...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given sufficient freedom and room to roam, almost any breed of dog will do his business out of sight, and where neither him nor you are likely to step on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to live out in the country, on several acres surrounded by forest.  I had a dog most of that time. For years I never had to scoop poop unless the dog was restricted to a small area for a long time.  In fact once I had some of the acres fenced.  I never even saw dog poop, they went out into the woods to do their business (go poop).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your problem is legal.  The term &quot;Leash Law&quot; applies here, it applies mostly to dogs, there are several posts on the internet about it but in short.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there is a law, you have to keep your dog leashed, fenced or under direct control at all times&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there is not a law, and the area is developed your dog is subject to being impounded (taken to the dog pound) if it is not under direct control.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the absence of laws or risks of impoundment, you are liable for any damage to people or property your dog does. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theoretically the same laws apply to cats, in practice cats are at less risk of having these laws applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T18:13:40.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20143" CreationDate="2018-04-11T22:31:25.083" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nature or Nurture is still fertile ground for philosophical and scientific exploration.The “temperament” question that each &#xA;personality paradigm provides, has always been a bugaboo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m of the mind, based on my personal experience and observations, that as a matter of course, both arenas figure in the “beingness” of all creatures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Internet research with the observations of others, professional and anecdotal alike, can provide rudimentary answers about sociability of particular breeds. Ultimately, it comes down to how kittens are reared and how interactive we humans are in the socialization these creatures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had companion cats for several decades. Rescues, orphans, strays, from age two days, to senior cats adopted near the end of their lives. In all of my many associations with felines, one kind of cat sticks out as “most sociable:” The Male Orange Tabby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My soulmate, companion cat was rescued by me at 12 weeks old. We spent 20.3 years together. His passing 12 years ago, stays with me. I honestly think about this cat everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Orange Tabbies are warm, attentive, independent, adventurous empathy that seem to just bring light to the planet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visit your local shelter and find an Orangeman of your own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2018-04-11T22:31:25.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="41" CreationDate="2018-04-12T02:17:54.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made a toy for her. My cat has a huge basket full of toys that she never plays with. I noticed that she likes string, feathers and things that dangle. So I put together a toy using fishing line, 2 beads (for weight), origami paper crane, a piece of wire and a small toy with feathers. I strung it all up using the techniques I used when learning how to fish. Using a hooked screw, I strung it up from the ceiling. She LOVES it! I will change it up by adding a stool underneath for an added obstacle. I frequently change out the paper crane and feather toy because she tears it apart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11923" LastActivityDate="2018-04-12T02:17:54.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20164" CreationDate="2018-04-12T15:01:49.987" Score="4" ViewCount="2606" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a pair of gerbils from our local shelter a few weeks ago. It's been 30+ years since I have had gerbils. Back then enrichment was not really common beyond some bedding to shred and tubes to chew. Among their in-cage enrichment, we got them a small sand bath similar to the one pictured below. They seem to enjoy bathing in the sand and particularly using the sandbox as a bathroom. There is almost no odor at all from the cage as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The packaging of the sand says that gerbils and hamsters only need to bathe a few times a week. We are wondering if there are downsides to leaving it in their cage all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can they bathe too often? We clean out the feces and sand clumped from urine twice a day, so it is clean most of the time and replace the sand completely each time the cage is changed. Most of the concerns about leaving the box int he cage all the time (e.g., &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twinsqueaks.com/tips-archive/tip061403.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) seem to suggest soiling the sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aMY7a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aMY7a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sandbox&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="701" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T13:24:45.047" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T13:24:45.047" Title="Can I leave my gerbils' sand bath in their cage all the time?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20142" CreationDate="2018-04-12T16:12:22.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know why your dog only does its duty in your backyard.  Any number of factors could be affecting your dogs preference including internal factors in his gut that you are unable to see.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm reading between the lines here and I think you might like an answer to the question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I get my dog to poop while on a walk instead of when we get home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train your dog to poop on command. This will be easy (haha just kidding).  To do this you will need to never let your dog outside with out your being there with him. Because you need to be there when he decides to go potty.  If you know when he usually goes potty you could modify this to just make sure you are there with him when he usually goes, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take him out to go potty and when he does say your potty command word right when he squats down.  When he is done praise him and give him a treat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After quite a few repetitions of this you can try giving him the command word for potty towards the end of the walk.  Make sure you wait a minute so that he has time to pick a spot  and relax.  If he doesn't do it, just go home and take him to his usually potty spot and repeat the word.  Eventually he should get the idea that you want him to do it on the walk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing this with my dog for several months and she will potty on demand &lt;em&gt;IF&lt;/em&gt; she needs to go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We chose a word in a different language because we didn't what to unwittingly say &quot;oh crap&quot;  inside the house and have the dog think it was time to squat. :)&#xA;Not sure if that would really be an issue but I'd rather not find out if it could be.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, don't forget to take bags so that you can pick up your doggies duty.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10953" LastActivityDate="2018-04-12T16:12:22.077" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18165" CreationDate="2018-04-12T17:00:51.487" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends very much on which family the species of snakes belongs to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there are three ways of giving birth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Viviparious&lt;/strong&gt;, live birth. Most mammals do this, and according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18165/do-snakes-give-birth-to-live-young-or-lay-eggs#comment26003_18166&quot;&gt;this comment&lt;/a&gt; some sea snakes do so, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oviparous&lt;/strong&gt;, egg-laying. Many species of snakes lay eggs. These eggs, unlike familiar chicken eggs, are soft en leathery. This helps them from drying out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t0gGVm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t0gGVm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Baby Ball pythons (Python regius) hatching.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ovoviviparous&lt;/strong&gt;, a combination of the two. The eggs are formed, but bred inside the body of the mother. At birth, these eggsacks are excreted and the babies crawl out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oZNGJm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oZNGJm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Baby Boa constrictors hatching.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;So which species do which?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't a very clear pattern. While some species of snakes that live in colder regions, like the common viper &lt;em&gt;Vipera berus&lt;/em&gt;, is ovoviviparous, other species, like the Gopher snake &lt;em&gt;Pituophis catenifer&lt;/em&gt; lay eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Colder climates make it more important for the mother to be able to regulate the temperature of the eggs, which is made easier when they are carried along, but it isn't a very strict rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry climates also have some species that are ovoviviparous, possibly to prevent the eggs from dehydrating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, it seems that being ovoviviparous is the exception rather than the norm. There are a few big families of snakes that are (generally) ovoviviparous. Most notable are the &lt;em&gt;Viperidae&lt;/em&gt;, consisting of vipers, adders and rattlesnakes, and the &lt;em&gt;Boidae&lt;/em&gt;, the boas and anacondas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter family is very curious, given its stark contract to their close cousins the &lt;em&gt;Pythonidae&lt;/em&gt;. There are some great examples here of parallel evolution, take the similarities between the Green Tree Python and the Emerald Tree Boa for example. However, in this case they differ greatly. Almost all &lt;em&gt;Boidae&lt;/em&gt; are ovoviviparous, while all &lt;em&gt;Pythonidae&lt;/em&gt; are oviparous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This mostly is an indication that climate isn't a convincing deciding factor in determining whether a species is ovo- or ovoviviparous, seeing as the climates in the South-American rainforests and South-east Asian rainforest are pretty comparable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T01:13:49.873" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T01:13:49.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-12T22:21:00.353" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S90mY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I've brought a few female guppies from the pet store today and noticed that one has a dark spot, I was wondering if it could be pregnant or of it has anything else wrong with it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11937" LastActivityDate="2018-04-12T22:21:00.353" Title="pregnant guppy?" Tags="&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-04-13T09:12:43.420" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-13T02:48:57.153" Score="4" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two rescue kitty Sisters from same litter when they were ~seven weeks old. We sadly put one of them to sleep several months ago at age 17 years, due to complications of chronic kidney disease. Her Sister showed signs of missing her even though they were not cuddle buddies, but had always been inside cats together. She searched and cried, seemed disoriented and didn't eat well for about a month afterward. She continued to be loving and cuddle close to me especially during evening and during night. But she started a new habit of waiting until I'm out of bed for the day, then digging under covers to make a nest in blankets, making a howling noise until she settles in. The howling part is what I don't understand. She has been recently examined by our veterinarian and had Senior cat lab tests. She is very healthy with the exception of minimally-elevated kidney function tests, which doesn't surprise me with her age and her Sister's history. She really acts a lot like a smart, sharp kitten. Can anyone help me understand the reason for her yowling while burrowing? I have a feeling it could still be related to losing her Sister as her Sister used to sleep right where she burrows. Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11940" LastActivityDate="2018-04-13T11:45:10.493" Title="Why Does My Kitty Howl/Yowl When Digging Under Bed Covers" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20159" CreationDate="2018-04-13T11:45:10.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats want an &quot;answer&quot; when they meow (perhaps as reassurance that they are not alone), and they will meow until they get one. In the past, her companion may have answered her. I suggest you try &quot;answering&quot; her. Just say &quot;hello&quot; or anything you like; you don't have to meow unless you want to. She probably just wants to hear a voice, animal or human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given her age, it might be hearing loss that causes her to yowl. She may not be able to hear her own voice. If the problem persists, you might check with the vet about this possibility, if the vet didn't already check for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-04-13T11:45:10.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-13T15:07:37.673" Score="9" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Important note - the dog is huge (Newfie-Bernese-Poodle) and the child is small (&amp;lt; 30 pounds). Also, the dog has a very mild temperament, is familiar with the child (same household,) and has proven to be extremely safe with this child,  even to the point of ignoring fingers in mouth and near eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that the primary risk of a child riding a dog is that the dog freaks out and/or the rider falls off.&#xA;That is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; my main question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; concerned about is the physical stress of having even a diminutive rider - &#xA;dogs were not bred as mounts (citation needed), &#xA;and I'm uncertain how well their body structure will react to a concentrated weight on the back. &#xA;I figure that time and activity level could also have an effect:&#xA;what may be fine to carry for 30 minutes could be dangerous to carry for 5 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What harm could come to a dog from having a weight &amp;lt; 1/5 its own body weight placed on its back, and is there a way to mitigate this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only halfway-credible resource I've found says that most dogs can handle ~10% of their body weight without much of a problem, &#xA;with the number varying significantly based on breed. &#xA;(Source = &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/training-tools/dog-backpack-dos-and-donts&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/training-tools/dog-backpack-dos-and-donts&lt;/a&gt;)&#xA;Making or otherwise obtaining a saddle is within reason here, so a backpack seems like a decent comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9281" LastActivityDate="2018-04-20T14:29:26.247" Title="What are the potential risks (to the dog) from having a child ride it like a pony?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-13T19:07:46.947" Score="15" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;I managed to pull 5-6 strange elastic white-translucent &lt;em&gt;organisms&lt;/em&gt; from Toby's eyes. I never witnessed them move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're definitely not hairs, and using 19x macro lens I took some pictures of them, improvising a home-made microscope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards, I took him to the vet, where we managed to pull one more worm (?) from the eye and vet examined it using his microscope. He seemed confused and unsure. I am from Europe and the only parasite here that infests cats' eyes is &lt;em&gt;Thelazia callipaeda&lt;/em&gt;, so we assumed it should be it, although the vet admitted he couldn't identify body parts (morphology or whatever), and neither was moving. I also failed to find similarity between verified (source used: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cdc.gov&lt;/a&gt;) microscopic images of &lt;em&gt;T. callipaeda&lt;/em&gt; and my own kinda-microscopic images.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, we decided to move forward with Milbemax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody please help confirm that this might be indeed &lt;em&gt;T. callipaeda&lt;/em&gt;, or at least if it is in fact a parasite, based on the pictures I took?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9f1BVm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wz6X6m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MyKDZm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nXvCLm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11944" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T00:00:14.833" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T12:51:39.160" Title="Does my cat have eye worms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20154" CreationDate="2018-04-13T23:41:07.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should be fine leaving it in the cage. I've had gerbils and dwarf hamsters where I left their sand baths in the cages with no ill effect (I replaced the sand frequently as well). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've mentioned you clean the sand daily and completely replace it from time to time, which is key. It's true they only need to bathe a few times a week but I don't think they will bathe &quot;too often&quot;. Even when they have a constant supply of sand they will still only bathe when they feel like they need to. Like you mentioned, most are concerned because they soil the sand and may run the risk of infection/spreading disease to house-mates down the road. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11653" LastActivityDate="2018-04-13T23:41:07.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-14T16:21:45.357" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I should explain my situation. I grew up on a farm, and I have a great deal of experience with animals. Having had chickens, cows, a horse, dozens of dogs, and a lot of cats, I feel as if I am prepared for a bird. I strayed away from getting birds because they're extremely smart—smart animals are a pain—some of whom live equally long as humans, and they're very vocal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ideal bird is a raven, but I refuse to get one for the obvious reason that they're virtually unmanageable under normal circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want a bird that is no larger than a Cockatoo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that I am an experienced pet owner, but completely inexperienced with birds (please pay more attention to the latter than the former), what sort of birds are appropriate for me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to be a bad pet owner, and I feel as if it's rather easy to screw up owning a bird. They seem very sensitive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I feel as if I should say this because I am sure it will be asked: I have all of the time in the world to spend with my bird. My job is as a writer and I make a decent amount of money. I can afford the time and money for most birds. So, it will not be an issue that, say, a Cockatoo will require a great deal of attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11949" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T09:14:35.457" Title="Bird breeds for beginners?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15907" CreationDate="2018-04-15T13:38:32.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons why a parrot will pluck the first thing that should be done is have a physical exam done by an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;avian veterinarian&lt;/a&gt;. When a bird has plucked for so long the follicles will become damaged, the feathers may not return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to consider at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bird needs a balanced diet filled with a pelleted diet along with fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, sprouts and grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not so long ago it was believed that parrots should be fed exclusively seed, this assumption was based on what chickens eat. All seed diets, as we now know, cause many ailments in our parrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/obesity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Obesity&lt;/a&gt; (fatty liver disease, diabetes, heart disease)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/calcium-in-the-avian-patient/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Calcium deficiency&lt;/a&gt; (egg binding, brittle bones)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/digestive/c_bd_Vitamin_A_Deficiency&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vitamin A deficiency&lt;/a&gt; (various infections, poor feather quality)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/digestive/c_bd_Iodine_Deficiency&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Iodine deficiency&lt;/a&gt; (thyroid problems)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Enrichment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parrots are highly intelligent so staying inside of a cage with nothing to do will make them go insane. Birds who lack enrichment will have feather destructive behaviors, they will over-preen, pluck and can even get to the point of self-harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 5 types of enrichment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Tactile&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be achieved by having toys your parrot can destroy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Visual&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping a tv on for your bird to watch can be delightful to them, some birds love to look out the window as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Auditory&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a tv to play all day you can simply turn on a radio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Social&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is simply being able to spend time with you or another bird (essentially what they consider part of the flock). Lots of outside cage time is ideal, having a jungle gym or play stand in another part of the house where the family spends a lot of time is also beneficial (unless you have a bird who gets anxious with high volume of traffic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Dietary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds should not be fed directly from a bowl, they should have to forage for all their food. If your bird does not know how to forage you will have to teach them, start easy then once mastered you can make it a bit more complicated. Be sure to monitor your birds weight during this time to ensure he is finding his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good starter foraging option is to use a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spunkyparrot.ca/toys/stainless-steel-bucket-2qt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stainless steel foraging bucket&lt;/a&gt;, make sure the bird see's you put treats in the bucket and fill it with assorted pieces of paper, cardboard, wooden blocks, acrylic toys etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For their fresh food use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.parrotsfun.eu/WebRoot/StoreLNL/Shops/64501741/52C0/6453/29D8/7553/5CC2/C0A8/2BB8/4E28/Buffetball20kabob_-_Copy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Buffet Ball&lt;/a&gt;, line it with a leaf of kale or bok choy (to prevent food from falling out) and insert the chop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T13:38:32.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20170" CreationDate="2018-04-15T16:38:04.483" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife dropped her dose of Vitamin D3, one capsule 2000iu. we can't find it, but for sure, our 3 yo Dachshund (13 lbs, give or take) will find it and eat it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any adverse effects we should watch for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2576" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T17:56:07.887" Title="Dropped and lost Vitamin D3: affect on dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20169" CreationDate="2018-04-15T17:50:42.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Vitamin D3 LD&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will start to see side-effects at a dose of 0.1mg/kg and above, let's do a bit of math.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog weighs approximately 5.9kg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5.9kg x 0.1mg =  0.59mg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each mg of Vitamin D3 contains 40,000IU&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog would need to ingest 23,600IU in order to reach a toxic level. With a lost dose of 2,000IU I would not worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Signs to look out for&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased thirst&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Increased urination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dark tarry in stools&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any concerns about your pet ingesting a toxin there are some helplines available as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA Poison Control&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Poison Helpline&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/rodenticide-poisoning/cholecalciferol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 1&lt;/a&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-toxins-poisons/vitamin-d-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 2&lt;/a&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;https://dietarysupplementdatabase.usda.nih.gov/ingredient_calculator/help.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 3&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-04-15T17:56:07.887" LastActivityDate="2018-04-15T17:56:07.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20171" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-15T20:50:51.610" Score="2" ViewCount="1311" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently in the process of raising my first puppy (a Dachshund). She's 6 weeks old and about to get her first vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a few dogs before and even litters from my previous pets, but never a puppy on my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I'm facing is that this puppy has a lot of energy at night and I'm having serious trouble getting sleep. We spend lots of time together (since I work from home) and she's generally calm or playful, but generally obedient during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried a few different things, like trying to tire her out a few hours before bed, not feeding her at night, etc. Even if she's exhausted she'll get restless a few hours into the night, even when not needing to pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've built a &quot;puppy safe&quot; zone in my kitchen which has a door that leads to an outside area (not really &quot;outside&quot; as it still has walls and a roof and it's technically inside the apartment) where she pees. I generally feed her in the kitchen and put her crib there (crate training is not common and frowned upon here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for all the details. My question is: can I try to get her used to spend the night in her crib here? While we get a lot of quality time during the day, I wonder if it would be bad for her health to sleep alone this young. At the same time, I'm having very rough nights and I'm concerned about my work performance / social relationships during the day (sleep deprivation gets me rather cranky and makes it hard to think at work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11955" LastActivityDate="2018-04-16T11:01:42.150" Title="Puppy sleeping on a different room" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20171" CreationDate="2018-04-16T02:13:29.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two German Shepherds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They ended up having the puppy safe zone (crate etc) in the bedroom. That made them a lot less anxious. It does help with the housebreaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't get full night sleep till they are 4-5 months old. My latest puppy is 5 months, sleeps in the crate but still wakes me up occasionally for a drink of water or a bathroom trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-04-16T02:13:29.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15365" CreationDate="2018-04-16T02:17:05.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not the answer you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to crate her during the night, and also wait till she is five-ish months old. She won't sleep reliably through the night before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-04-16T02:17:05.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-16T07:49:09.717" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two cats both have their third eyelid showing. How would I know if it's an eye infection or something else &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11960" LastActivityDate="2018-04-16T07:49:09.717" Title="Cats third eyelid showing and could it mean a contagious infection" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20165" CreationDate="2018-04-16T08:37:48.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your answer in not on the internets, stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please look up your local bird breeders or the like. Go and have a chat with them instead. They will know a lot about the care, time and money involved in keeping birds. Ask them questions, look around, get a feel for how it's done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and do check out the local laws about what kind of birds you are allowed to keep. Ravens are awesome, but you already know it's probably better not to have one as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-04-16T08:37:48.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20143" CreationDate="2018-04-16T08:52:35.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Yes and no.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats that are in a recognized breed, are among others, selected for sociability. Also known as, do they get along well, or very well, with their humans. Other cats (strays) have a more random selection. If the cat is feral that selection is often how well they can hunt or scavenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the big thing is how well a cat knows you! My cats are very friendly with me. But not so with strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Social behaviour in cats is linked to longer kitten like behaviour. Also known as: they keep traits of kittens their life long, so they make better pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to get a social cat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Easy: find someone who raises kittens well, might be breeder, might be rescue centre. Then go and play with these bundles of joy. One will stand out for you. Or better yet, one will pick you as it's butler. (pro for social: not skiddish, playful, curious and no aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Harder: go to your local rescue and find the cat that seems to like you the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-04-17T07:16:24.820" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T07:16:24.820" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20171" CreationDate="2018-04-16T11:01:42.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 6 weeks old a puppy &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; still be with their mother and siblings since developmentally they aren't quite ready to leave the nest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 week old puppies usually sleep a lot and will sleep all bunched together with their siblings. This is one of the reasons it is recommended to only separate a puppy at 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't help us in your case though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is likely that your pup is too anxious to sleep at night - particularly if she is relatively calm during the day and you give her a lot of attention. Here are some ideas to help her calm down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move her crib next to your bed. This doesn't need to be permanent but it does mean you can reach over to soothe her without needing to get out of bed. She will also be calmer knowing you are there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her some dog friendly soft toys in her crib to snuggle with (without squeakers if she is in your bedroom).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrap a hot water bottle or warm bean bag in a towel and put it in her crib. (Make sure she won't be able to chew it!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some tasty chew toys that she only gets at night which will give her a way of soothing herself if she does wake up anxious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thelabradorsite.com/collecting-your-labrador-puppy-at-five-or-six-weeks-old/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;6 weeks old - what to expect&quot;&gt;6 weeks old - what to expect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mabu1Y6iOj4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chew training 5 tips (video)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9981" LastActivityDate="2018-04-16T11:01:42.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19094" CreationDate="2018-04-16T19:15:38.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably your dog has never seen you holding and treating a cat with a nice attitude. I had a dog in the who had the same attitude when I adopt him at first time. After he saw me holding my cat and petting him over and over a number of times, while keeping a distance between them, my dog started to consider it as a member of our pack!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing goes with my cat. When he saw me petting the dog he started feeling safe toward him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(note : always keep a distance) I am not saying this method is going to work with your dog 100%. Don't trust him with your cat yet. I'm just telling you my experience that may be helpful to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This thing has to be coupled with monitoring and attendance for couple months before you can let them with each other alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in the end this depend on your dog's aggression level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an animal expert but that was just my experience. I hope this is helpful for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a good day :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11888" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T23:49:37.763" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T23:49:37.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20113" CreationDate="2018-04-16T20:04:58.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;first Dogs can recognize other dogs as they are dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been studies where a dog can pick out a dog in a photograph,&quot; &#xA;&lt;br&gt;Jill Sackman, senior medical director at BluePearl Veterinary Partners says : &lt;br&gt; &quot;They know a dog is a dog and they can identify their own species.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and upon that It's sort of a submissive gesture when they licks each other  &lt;br&gt; so the more subordinate members of a pack will lick the more dominant members and that's important in maintaining pack harmony&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because they treat each other as a pack not a family when they grow up&#xA;and if they are living in a the wild they will chose the strongest member of them and licks him as a submissive gesture to investiture him as a pack leader , like African wild dogs do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but in an environment that provides them food and protection like your house usually they dont because there is already a pack leader near to them which is you ! so they licks you most. and they lick others in your house too cause they friendly with you and they looks strong and smarter as you so they show some submission to them too . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;unless they known as an aggressive breed or one of them love to be dominant&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i'm not an animals expert i'm just giving you some studies with some of my opinions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11888" LastEditorUserId="11888" LastEditDate="2018-04-19T11:09:49.783" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T11:09:49.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15058" CreationDate="2018-04-16T21:39:13.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on the bite level. If it's lightly, he's trying to play.&#xA;If it's harder and he sways his head left and right while he does that,&#xA;it could be the cat is in a state of defensive aggression with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably activate the wildness in him by showing some aggressive looks or actions or you acted toward your boyfriend and he considers it as a danger against his pack (him + your boyfriend)! So he starts to consider you as an adversary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat does the same thing with me, because in the past I punished him with some light tweaks every time he did a bad thing. That was when I didn't know how to treat them. It was my first time having a cat then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course they don't link the bad attitude to punishment. They just think you challenged them to fight when you hit them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since that, he has that time when he wants to uproot my skin with a very hard bite. It's my fault, and whatever I did to fix it, even leaving him alone for a while, he still does the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first solution was to show him that I'm not an adversary, I'm an ally to him, because cats do not consider us as a family. He considers us as a member of his pack who hunts with and defends each other from his perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second solution was to provide many toys and light rubber balls in several colors for him to turn his focus on them, not my hands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11888" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T13:58:13.417" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T13:58:13.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15365" CreationDate="2018-04-17T05:17:08.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a few puppies recently, so I'm trying to remember if they had to go during the night, and the answer was yes, with the three of them. Sometimes to pee, sometimes to poop, but every night for a couple of weeks, then tapering off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All puppies started out at night in a crate. I fed my pups three times a day, last meal about 18:00 as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T11:17:53.613" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:17:53.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10414" CreationDate="2018-04-17T06:12:40.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 cats: 2 Persians and 2 Ragdolls. Believe it or not, the Persian cats enjoy their cat wheel even more than my Ragdolls. They all use it and enjoy it, but the Persians are just the queen and king of the wheel! :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11966" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T06:12:40.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20204" CreationDate="2018-04-17T15:19:44.943" Score="4" ViewCount="840" Body="&lt;p&gt;Little bit of background.  I just adopted a pair of 11-month old cats, brother and sister.  Up until they moved in with me, they were living in a foster home along with their mother.  Upon arriving at my house, the female cat darted under my bed as soon as I opened the carrier door, though the male hung back in the carrier for a little bit to figure out what was going on.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I presented him with food, he sniffed the air for a bit and got curious enough to come out and nuzzle my hand before going under the bed to lay with his sister and comfort her, I presume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, he has been very sociable, coming out to hang out with me and give me affection almost instantly.  The female, however, is another story.  She stays under the bed all day and comes out at night to prowl around the room with her brother, but will not let me approach her without darting back under the bed.  Last night she was squeaking and meowing quite frequently, first trying to get into my fireplace and then meowing at the door as if she wants to get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this behavior normal? I can't even really see if anything is wrong with her because I can't get close to her without her running away.  Last night, for the first time, she came out into my room at night and looked at me, which is a breakthrough, but was still meowing as if in distress.  Physically, she looks fine from a distance, but I'm not sure if I should be worried about her acclimating to me and the house, in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, in advance, for your responses!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11967" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T22:26:17.537" Title="Adopted a brother and sister cat. The sister won't stop squeaking and meowing at night" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20193" CreationDate="2018-04-17T17:17:53.383" Score="5" ViewCount="1393" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got two Roborovski Hamsters which both have good sized cages. I like to try and change their bedding frequently which obviously increases the cost of the bedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems there are two types of material required for a hamster:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Absorbent shavings to cover the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005AIPPVQ/ref=s9_acsd_top_hd_bw_bVufAN_c_x_2_w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Softer bedding to build a bed with&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buying in bulk seems to be alright for the shavings but less so for the softer stuff. In terms of price, a bag of cotton wool balls (with no additives) costs far less than the softer packs of bedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a downside or issue with using cotton wool balls (or small pieces of a larger sheet of cotton wool) as a cheaper substitute for the hamsters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Potential issues I could think of:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps cotton wool is less absorbent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe the fibres would get caught around their legs or something?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, I only want to replace the more expensive soft bedding not the shavings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-17T22:42:47.867" LastActivityDate="2018-04-20T12:25:32.477" Title="Is Cotton Wool an acceptable substitute for Hamster bedding?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3281" CreationDate="2018-04-17T20:37:45.297" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are roughly three kinds of moods you need to be able to tell apart in snakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hungry / looking for food&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scared / pissed off&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Relaxed / exploring around&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How exactly these moods look differs immensely between species and even specimens. Even snakes can have wildly varying personalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;'Essing up'&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, the &quot;essing up&quot; which my boa constrictor will sometimes do is a defensive/offensive stance, and suggests that it might strike,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. Sure, having this 'S'-shape in their body will mean that &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; they strike, they can suddenly cover a bigger distance, but that doesn't mean that always if they coil up like this they want to strike, and neither do they always coil up before striking. So all in all, it is a bad indicator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UbGYum.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UbGYum.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Boa will just idly hang down her branch. This kinda looks like an ambush position, but that does not reflect her attitude when the cage is opened, so I'm going to chalk it up as idle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Ball python will also do this as a part of their defensive posture, even when they have no intention of striking. Having their head closer to their body also means that it is easier for them to protect their head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, I'd say it isn't the best indicator for their mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Tongue-flicking&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes have very bad eye-sight. So they rely very much on scent as sense. For this they use their iconic tongue-flicking. Each time they do that, they smell their surroundings using an organ in the top of their mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way they use this is very indicative for their mood. If they are relaxed and moving around, they'll just flick lazily every now and then to take in their surroundings, to check if there is anything interesting somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they have to be more aware of their surroundings, for example if they feel that they are in danger, or that there is food somewhere nearby, they will be flicking a lot more. Mostly I would describe it as much more agitated. Many short flicks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, it is still hard to distinguish food-mode from angry-mode, but that will come with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Movement around them&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is about the situation when you are near the snake, with the cage open for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does the snake react to your movements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are relaxed, they might very well just ignore you. They'll go about their happy business, whether that is sleeping (likely) or exploring (depends a bit on species).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/OIS5pCa.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see above, she is just moving around, minding her own business, tongue-flicking every now and then and ignoring my movement with the camera :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if they are agitated, they will be much more inclined to follow any movement around them. This might be very subtle, like tracking the movement just with an eye, or they might just follow it with their head. This is a point where it is easier to tell defensiveness apart from a food-response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes that feel threatened are not likely to give chase. Of course it depends on the species and disposition of the snake, but if they feel threatened, most of all they just want to be left alone. Getting away is always a win. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the threat doesn't go away, they might bite. Some species decide to bite very quickly, some species are known for being general assholes, but most commonly kept snakes are pretty laid back. For example, my Ball python is 10 years old now, and in the 8 years I have had him, he has struck only twice out of self-defense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, if the movement has sparked their interest because they think it is food, their reaction (on top of tongue-flicking) will be more forward. They will be much more inclined to follow the movement in a forward direction, inching towards it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be seen in the gif below. This is my Boa's reaction to food in its enclosure. You can see their immediate attention. You can see her tongue-flicking and essing up. But the two most important things to take away here are that she moves her head towards any movement and actively follows it, along with creaping forward. This shows a &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; deal of interest, and her going forward towards the movement is a great tell that this is not a defensive posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/M8A2axd.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Flighty behaviour&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are handling your snake and they are not comfortable, this might also show itself in the snake suddenly trying to move away quickly, as if they are trying to flee. This should really speak for itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Experience&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of this is down to experience and really relies on getting to know your snake. Some snakes are really keen on food and will turn into food-mode on a whim. It is important to know how to recognise this and when you only just have the snake, it is never a bad idea to err on the safe side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do it right, you should never really be the target of their food-mood. First you get to know what triggers it, then you make sure you prevent that from happening whenever it is not time for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many snakes, one such trigger will be the scent of their food. This is generally easy to handle by making sure food items are only nearby when it's actually feeding time and by washing your hands afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, after a while you'll learn to notice when your snake is not comfortable and be able know when to leave them alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-04-26T06:36:01.477" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T06:36:01.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-17T21:53:02.153" Score="4" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently changed my dog's diet. He is a 2 years old labrador (weights 90lbs), and he has been eating Purina Dog Chow for that length of time. 3 months ago I changed his diet for good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cooked beef (cattle) (40%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oats (55%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carrots (5%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 raw egg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 spoons of oil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.2 lbs daily (divided into 2 meals). Do you think it is enough nutritionwise? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11974" LastEditorUserId="11974" LastEditDate="2018-04-21T22:22:18.363" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T13:00:53.717" Title="I'm changing my dog's diet, is this ok?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20188" CreationDate="2018-04-17T22:01:53.277" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, I checked my best source for small animal Keeping (German site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diebrain.de/hi-gehege.html#hazu&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Die Brain&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What they advise is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hay&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toilet paper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Shredded) paper (Make sure it has no chemicals on it, the more natural, the better)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dried leaves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hemp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cotton is explicitly NOT recommeded! Anything that the hamster can get tangled in should be avoided.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But as Toilet Paper made the list, there is your cheap alternative :). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3597" LastActivityDate="2018-04-17T22:01:53.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2018-04-18T19:07:04.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not abuse. I have a huge Australian Shepherd who does the same thing. I know where she came from, a personal close friend, and how she was raised. She has definitely not been abused. But when she sees the mailman Drop a package at the Porch, she squeezes a ball of poop or submissive pees. I know for a fact that we didn't get socialized properly because when she was at the crucial age we had a terrible ice storm and it would thaw and then before people could get outside it would freeze again... It went on for several months.  She's fine around the family but she does not like strangers. And she has not been abused. Part of this is also her breed. Certain dogs are high strung. It is just who they are.  We have worked on the hand feeding and it helped but didn't fix it. Some children are high-strung. It's the personality. Sometimes it's just the dogs personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that if anyone has any other suggestions I'm all ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11980" LastActivityDate="2018-04-18T19:07:04.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2018-04-19T04:55:27.333" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a brand new product on the market called FurZapper.  I've been using it for months and it works like I've never seen.  It doesn't stop shedding but it certainly solves the nuisance of shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11983" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T04:55:27.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20205" CreationDate="2018-04-19T06:29:59.337" Score="2" ViewCount="626" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once startled a cat at this abandoned house and then when it ran off, a kitten popped up who I think was just born. I ended up keeping it and took care of her and named her Sam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loved me, she would follow me everywhere and would even go to sleep with me when I went to bed. Then when she hit the age of (I think) 2 she started to not come in my room as often, and wouldn't love me as much. Then, all of a sudden she started sleeping with my 13 year old brother, like what has he ever done for you? I thought it was because she likes his room for some reason, but wherever he goes to sleep she's right there sleeping with him. She follows him everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's my baby girl and she doesn't even love me. I'm heartbroken. I'm just wondering, is there any reason she would become unattached from me and all of a sudden attached to my brother? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an additional note - she has been spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11987" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-04T11:38:16.863" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T11:38:16.863" Title="I raised my cat since she was born and now she doesn't like me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20186" CreationDate="2018-04-19T07:15:50.467" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like perfectly normal cat behaviour. Cats will take anywhere from a few days to a few months to get used to a new place. Young cats from active households will usually take less time than older cats or non-hand-raised cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they become more familiar they may become more or less vocal, this depends entirely on the personality of the cat. She's probably communicating both with her brother, considering his presence comforting, and learning to communicate with you. And there will of course be a certain level of separation anxiety, not to mention cats are not very fond of changes in environment. But this will pass over time as they get more familiar and confident in their new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just make sure she's healthy, fed, and hydrated, and things should settle down fairly quickly. To make things go faster try not to startle the cat with sudden moves, or by cornering her. If she likes treats try handing them out to her at a decreasing distance over a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T07:15:50.467" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20202" CreationDate="2018-04-19T08:19:44.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are extremely moody creatures however they don't stop loving someone out of nowhere randomly. Chances are you accidentally offended your cat and now she is trying to make you jealous. Me and my friend also have a cat and whenever one of us slight him he starts to act all loving to the other one especially while the offender is looking at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to regain her love you can either try to act as normally as possible and eventually your cat will forget you slighted her or just decide making you jealous is no longer an option and return to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a faster solution try to give her attention from afar through actions like putting premium cat food in her food bin and sitting next to her without touching her. Remember to never touch her unless she acts first asking for a petting and she should return to loving you within a week or two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2018-04-19T08:19:44.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-20T05:11:47.397" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat got mature and was yowling whole day. We don't want to neuter him, so we bought a female cat approximately the same age as him. Female seems to be calm after 2 days in her new house, but our male cat has started running after her and she also runs away to save herself. Our male cat is the one starting the fight and is still yowling loudly all day. His sound pisses us off. What should be done so that they don't fight? How much time will they take to mate? They are my first pets, I don't know much about behavior of cats. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T17:45:49.910" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T17:45:49.910" Title="Letting the 2 cats fight, or keeping them in separate closed rooms?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20206" CreationDate="2018-04-20T06:14:25.210" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The male sees the female cat as an invader or worse a prey. The same thing is valid for the female but the other way around. She believes she is in another cats territory so she will not attempt to fight back choosing to flee instead. As a result locking them in different rooms or allowing them to fight it out will not work as their mindset will not change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to prepare a high space for the female cat so that she feels like she has a safe spot which will prevent her from fleeing and once the female cat starts viewing your house as her home rather than feeling like an invader your male cat will follow suit and won't attack her anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2018-04-20T06:14:25.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20206" CreationDate="2018-04-20T08:58:32.257" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;chris bits a youtuber guy who experience this situation by bringing a new bengal cat in the same room with his cat and he make a series of videos about it , ill put the links down below , it was pretty useful experience you can learn some of the attitude when cats are meet in first time and what you should do , some of the requirement you should keep in your mind is you have to be there when you close them together until they accept each other and become a one pack ! or a couple since they are a female + male .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_mgXHAMDZI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKDdLAR2wFE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzoQ8xxnn-s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6pwRAPlRAo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VkVlYIbMP4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQJVlPPRUhg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wp3M4EUpEQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 7&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kwcs114gi8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video - part 8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11888" LastActivityDate="2018-04-20T08:58:32.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-05T08:46:10.607" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blue tits can do it: climbing and clinging on various structures, also upside-down, seems to be easy for this kind of birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/homesforwildlife/m/hfwwildlife/35888.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/homesforwildlife/m/hfwwildlife/35888.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I have seen sparrows that could climb/cling (also upside-down) for a short moment on something. However, I have never seen that a collared dove &quot;rock climbed&quot; on something. Is this because a collared dove has more weight than a blue tit or have blue tits special forms of the feet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be possible that someone who owns a collared dove can train it to climb upside-down (rock climbers say sometimes &quot;climbing on a overhang or roof&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="kryomaxim" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2018-05-12T21:19:10.617" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T21:19:10.617" Title="Is it possible to train a collared dove for &quot;rock climbing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T18:51:39.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20188" CreationDate="2018-04-20T12:25:32.477" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Cotton Wool Dangers&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some dangers to cotton wool such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ingestion - Intestinal blockage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limbs can get tangeled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters LOVE to burrow so having a substrate where they can dig and hide is best. It acts as environmental enrichment as well as a safe place to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Layna has added a nice list of burrowing/bedding materials however I would only use them in one location of the cage (with the exception of paper based substrates). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hay/straw/dried leaves does not absorb urine or odors well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hemp seems a bit hard and pointy, this might be a German thing - we don't see this type of bedding in Canada but it looks similar to woodchips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why not woodchips?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Woodchips have been known to cause some issues in out critters some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aspen - Bumble-foot, eye injuries (chips are hard and pointy).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pine - known to cause respiratory ailments from the fine dust particles and phenols.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cedar - A harder chip that also contain phenols.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Great bedding choices&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toilet paper, shredded paper - only downfall is it does not absorb smell very well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carefresh (like you currently use)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hagen-61262-Living-World-Bedding/dp/B0035HBGR6&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Living world Fresh N Comfy&lt;/a&gt; (my personal favorite, absorbs smell VERY well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to save money?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Litterbox for your hamster! Hamsters tend to pee and poo in a specific area of their enclosure, purchase a litter box for him to use. This will reduce the amount of full enclosure cleanings you need to do, just replace the substrate you use in the litterbox instead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Potty-Train-a-Hamster&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Potty Train a Hamster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-04-20T12:25:32.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-20T12:55:32.997" Score="6" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is about 10 to 11 years old now, and as of the recent weeks she's been trying to leave, never leaving the window, meowing significantly louder than her normal quiet meows, and she seems to barely eat and drink anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11999" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-28T13:27:38.110" LastActivityDate="2020-11-28T13:27:38.110" Title="Cat is having a freakout, what is wrong with her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20162" CreationDate="2018-04-20T14:29:26.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was not able to find anything 'scholarly'. However, I ran into enough enthusiast sites and reddits to be confident that the general guidelines are followed without problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarizing the main points of the sites I found&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10% is safe for almost any breed. &lt;em&gt;25% is safe for most breeds&lt;/em&gt;. 25+% can be reached by some breeds with proper conditioning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age and overall health condition can lower this number.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper fitting and balance (loose enough to put in a finger or two) is very important&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never put a burden on a dog that's less than 2 years old (not yet fully-developed.) Doing so risks serious joint damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be wary of over-heating. A pack or saddle will hold in some heat and increase effort, putting the dog at greater risk of heat exhaustion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not sharply increase the load - increase weight gradually.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If carrying weight in &quot;rough&quot; territory, consider getting a pack with a handle on top so that you can easily pick up your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.peacebonepet.com/blogs/news/rei-hiking-or-backpacking-with-your-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.peacebonepet.com/blogs/news/rei-hiking-or-backpacking-with-your-dog&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should also start with lighter loads. It’s safe to work to up to one-third of your dog’s weight if your dog is in healthy physical condition. For dogs who are older or in poor physical condition, consider leaving them at home with friends, They’ll be much happier… and safer, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/hiking-dogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/hiking-dogs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A maximum of 25 percent of body weight is a rough guideline, but factors like age, size and strength will alter that up or down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dogsaholic.com/training/how-to-put-weight-on-a-dog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://dogsaholic.com/training/how-to-put-weight-on-a-dog.html&lt;/a&gt; (talking about using weights as a workout tool to bulk up a dog, so the max % is in terms of starting.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally, a weight vest is not meant to stress the dog and to get him into submission which is why it should be no more than 10 – 20% of the dog’s bodyweight.&#xA;  Dogs under two years are not yet fully grown and should not be burdened with weights. Overworking dogs that are still at puppy stage can damage their joints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Talking specifically about riding like a pony&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riding bareback could pose issues with weight balance, which is a big no-no for dog burdens.&#xA;A well-balanced and well-fitted saddle shouldn't be any different than a regular pack. Standard weight limits would then apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9281" LastActivityDate="2018-04-20T14:29:26.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20213" CreationDate="2018-04-20T15:50:07.127" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the behaviour of your cat changes you need to take her to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changes in drinking/eating are a sign something is wrong with your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats can get more vocal if they have a medical problem while other cats get less vocal if they have medical problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat is in pain it will often try to avoid jumping up or down from or to places it has used before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Litterbox problems can be a sign your cat is in pain or is ill, so keep an eye on this if your cat stops using the litterbox or other changes when using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take the cat to the vet if you see any of these signs of problems in your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-28T13:27:03.180" LastActivityDate="2020-11-28T13:27:03.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-21T04:44:45.043" Score="5" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you use glycerin to help your gecko shed? I've used it on a burmese python that had not shed the caps on his eyes for quite sometime. And it helped tremendously. Do you think it would be just as safe? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12002" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:50:37.460" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T01:13:23.630" Title="Use glycerin to help your gecko shed?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20137" CreationDate="2018-04-21T16:03:04.427" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;True to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.savethebrumbies.org/about-us/australian-heritage-brumby/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;brumby form&lt;/a&gt;, this little colt has done remarkably well in a short time. The angle at his hocks is much straighter and his legs much stronger. They're not bowed any more. This picture demonstrates well how improved he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5tE6w.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5tE6w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was kept in a cattle yard for several days. Then he has been let out into a small quarter acre paddock during the day to run around and graze. The first time he broke into a canter he stumbled, but regained his step and continued to run. I have not seen him stumble since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He can still be a &lt;a href=&quot;https://gfycat.com/AdventurousCarefulChital&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;little weak to take off&lt;/a&gt;, but has strength in his &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://gfycat.com/FlawedChubbyLeafhopper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trot&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://gfycat.com/ImpressiveDelayedCony&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;canter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's still confined to this smaller paddock with his herd mate, as he needs to build up more strength before being allowed in with the larger herd, and into the larger paddocks that have gullies and the occasional unexpected dip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is on a milk replacer and was gradually introduced to supplements appropriate for our pasture. He has managed to take on his hard feeds well. Starting on a soaked soy bean type meal, with lucerne chaff and no supps, we've increased this to include copra (healthy source of fat), lupins (good source protein), soy bean, milk replacers, and supps with lucerne chaff and well soaked to make a mash. He is also given prime lucerne hay, our grasses are high in oxalates which bind calcium, so the lucerne is good for this. Plus now he grazes during the day. He gets fed twice a day. As they take there time to come and go from their feed, though the past two days, they're gobbling it down quite quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will start adding salt to their feed, but this has needed to be introduced carefully on top if the packaged feed, as a starved horse (as he and his mother were) &lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/refeeding-starved-horse/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;can go into shock&lt;/a&gt; if given additives they're not used to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was wormed 6 weeks prior to me receiving him and I've not wormed him yet. I will hold off and allow his body to adjust. He's putting on weight nicely, and has gained height, and doesn't appear to be overtly affected by a worm burden. I'm taking care that he does not become fat, but does has access to feed 24/7, whether it be hay or grass and of course fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before and after shots. 7 months later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0gIFZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0gIFZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-12-13T05:23:34.980" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T05:23:34.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20221" CreationDate="2018-04-21T19:47:29.010" Score="8" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet hognose snake (&lt;em&gt;Heterodon nasicus&lt;/em&gt;) and I just read somewhere that they are venomous. Should I be worried about getting bitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:25:35.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:25:35.997" Title="I just read my hognose snake is venomous. Should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20220" CreationDate="2018-04-21T19:47:29.010" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, Hognoses are venomous, but you shouldn't be worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's explore venom a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Use of venom&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For many snakes, venom has an obvious purpose. Killing prey. But this is not the only purpose. As venom becomes more potent, larger and larger animals can be affected by its effects. Eventually, those animals will learn to respect the snake. This turns it into an efficient defensive tool as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But another potentially understated purpose for venom lies in its origins. Venom evolved from saliva. Saliva is used generally for digestion. Chewing food mixes saliva with the food particles, so it can properly digest starches. Snakes can't do this, as they don't chew their food in the regular sense. This is where venom comes in play. Many venoms (venom has different composition between species) also have components that help with digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Fangs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within venomous snakes, there are various different ways of injecting the venom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proteroglyphous, fixed fangs in the front of the jaws. This is generally used by the Elaphidae, like Cobras and Mambas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Ophiophagus_hannah_skull.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Solenoglyphous, folding fangs in the front of the mouth. When the mouth is closed, these fangs are folded in; when the mouth opens, they swing out. This means they can be significantly longer compared to fixed fangs. Used by vipers and rattlesnakes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Crotalus_skull.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Opisthoglyphous, fixed fangs in the rear of the mouth. These fangs are further back in the mouth. This means that generally the venom is injected while chewing. Venom used by these is generally more geared towards digestion. This also means that for a single bite, the chance of being envenomated is lower. There are dangerous species that have these though, like the Boomslang. Hognoses also have these fangs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Heterodon_nasicus_skull.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And of course there is aglyphous, our non-venomous friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Hognoses&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So our Hognoses are rearfanged. Their fangs are used to subdue prey they have already caught, like frogs. These frogs have a pesky defense-mechanism: they inflate their bodies, making it harder to swallow them. This is where the fangs also serve a purpose. They help by puncturing the frogs like a balloon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because they are rearfanged, a bite is pretty unlikely to actually envenomate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is enhanced by the fact that Hognoses are huge dramaqueens, but not very aggressive. When they feel threatened, they will posture, even flatten their neck like a cobra (or at least try to), but when they strike, most of the time this will be with their mouth closed. Basically they are just bashing you with their head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;So what about their venom?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their venom is largely harmless. So much so that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toxinology.com/fusebox.cfm?fuseaction=main.snakes.display&amp;amp;id=SN1531&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;WCH rates them as non-venomous.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only clinical effect they list as something other than &amp;quot;does not occur&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;not likely to occur&amp;quot; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General: Local Effects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mild local effects possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treatment Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bites by this species are not expected to cause medically significant effects and the only risk, probably small, is local secondary infection. Patients presenting with bites by these snakes do not require medical attention, other than to check for infection and ensure tetanus immune status. Patients should be advised to return if local symptoms develop, suggesting secondary infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is less than what they list for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toxinology.com/fusebox.cfm?fuseaction=main.terrestrial_invertebrates.display&amp;amp;id=TI0004&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;wasp.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most humans won't notice any effects from a bite, but reportedly, there is a 1/5 chance to be intolerant to the venom, which may cause similar effects to a wasp-sting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While yes, they do have venom, this is mostly geared towards animals their own size and will cause at very worst some itching and swelling. And that is &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; envenomation happens, which is very unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Images taken from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_skeleton&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-04-21T20:16:59.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-21T22:53:00.230" Score="5" ViewCount="1770" Body="&lt;p&gt;My praying mantis hasn’t molted in three months. She’s only molted twice in her life. The second time she molted she molded wrong and her front hands got stuck in skin so she can’t grab food. So I’ve been hand feeding her cat food (I read online that’s what you should hand feed them) until she molted again and was able to feed herself. However, she hasn’t molted again. She’s supposed to be a giant Asian mantis. and she’s tiny. I mist her everyday. And she lives in a huge habitat. Also, she has a bunch of dried cat food on her front legs now I don’t know how to take off. I feel terrible :( What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rwIlm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12005" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-06T10:46:24.383" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T14:55:43.227" Title="My praying mantis won’t molt? It’s been 3 months?" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2499" CreationDate="2018-04-22T15:14:50.990" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was marked as duplicate to this question so I'll answer what we did here so people can try it. This is not breed specific, though breed/temperment plays an important role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We started by not waiting until she was engaged in barking at&lt;br&gt;&#xA;something to call her in. This made her much easier to call in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First reward for coming in (as she came through the door), was to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;give her her favorite type of physical affection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then we moved up to physical affection AND special treats (have the treat ready before you open the door). Now she gets a treat AND love (even if she's been barking; she can't help barking at everything, she's a herding dog and wants to alert us to everything unusual). We used freeze-dried chicken breast pieces--a rare treat indeed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most importantly, we made sure to call her in the most excited, positive voice possible, even when she's been barking and we're embarrassed in front of the neighbors. Calling her sternly or in a neutral voice made her ignore us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We worked &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; our dog's personality instead of against it. I think that was the key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2018-04-22T15:14:50.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-22T16:59:38.990" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my mantis for 4 days now it hasn't eaten in those 4 days, last night and today it's started hanging on the top of it's terrarium and it hasn't been moving much. Is it dying or molting or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12007" LastActivityDate="2018-04-22T16:59:38.990" Title="My mantis won't eat" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20248" CreationDate="2018-04-22T19:31:21.943" Score="5" ViewCount="6731" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat was spayed approximately two years ago. The fur on the area that was shaved for surgery has never grown back. There is a layer of soft downy fuzz, but nothing more. The demarcation between where she was shaved and where she wasn't is absolutely clear. It's as if she has an &quot;inverse Brazilian&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will of course ask the vet about this when I take her for her annual exam, but in the meantime I'm curious about why this might be. She doesn't groom the area excessively, and her skin and the rest of her coat are in excellent condition. The area is not sensitive or tender -- she loves getting belly rubs. She's happy, relaxed, playful, and the picture of health. I feed both of my cats Royal Canin Sensitive (because my other cat can get stressed easily). Is this just one of those things that happens to some cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-03-09T20:59:50.083" Title="Cat's fur not growing back after surgery" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-22T23:24:18.353" Score="2" ViewCount="1887" Body="&lt;p&gt;December 7th,  my two year two, beautiful grey cat gave birth to five kittens. Two of which got sick, one dying.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They all switched to dry hard cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;April 3rd,  the same mom, grey, gave birth to eight kittens. A total of four were dead when they came out, three dying later one in their own ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one still living, Rocket, acts weird, she sleeps away from it. We still have two cats from her first litter, one named Skeeter. Well, recently Skeeter has been drinking her milk again, is this harmful in anyway? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12008" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-04-23T16:41:11.060" LastActivityDate="2018-04-23T18:09:33.590" Title="My five month old kitten is still drinking mommy's milk?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20226" CreationDate="2018-04-23T11:32:50.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will not do the older kitten any harm, but it won't be helping the mother to provide milk for the younger kitten and in fact will, most likely, do the younger kitten harm, as there's clearly health problems to have so many kittens dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be concerned with the kittens that are sick and dying, and the mother's health. Take the small, struggling kitten and the mother to the vet asap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the older kitten away from the mother, she needs all her strength for the sick smaller kitten. That milk is specialised for the needs of the younger kitten and not for a five month old kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, get all your cats desexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-04-23T18:09:33.590" LastActivityDate="2018-04-23T18:09:33.590" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-23T16:51:37.030" Score="2" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently bought a female cat for our male cat. Female took 3 days to stop hissing whenever she sees the male cat. Male cat was trying to approach her since day one but today he got the chance to mate. I haven't seen him but I have been informed that after mating he is trying again and again to approach female for mating. He has already done it few times. They are my first pets so I dont know much about such behavior. What is the cause? Is this normal? This is his first mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T07:49:13.967" Title="Male approaching female frequently!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-23T17:43:21.037" Score="4" ViewCount="441" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that a dog should be willing and happy to do what you ask of them, including opening their mouth or holding onto their paw/s/.  Snoopy has learned to walk easily, but still tries to pull.  He will no longer even make eye contact with me unless he wants something.  Sure he obeys basic rules, but it has always been rare that his ears were always forward and naturally and at-peace open and extended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know after reading some more, that I was too harsh and scary to him when trying to train him to walk.  I just want to know that he might be able to respect and trust me again, otherwise what is the point of keeping him.  I have worked with him for over a year, closer to two and all along I think he has only only tolerated me.  I am re-examining my tones and body language, emotions, etc. but I just want a dog to trust and do so willingly w/o me so loudly giving a command that the neighbors windows rattle just to get his attention, like looking up at my face (eyes particularly) to acknowledge that he is with me before we can move forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how to modify my behaviors, but that is not going to do anything to regain his trust and respect.  He will usually show his belly to me, generally willingly, now he will unprompted still, but more out of fear I am thinking.  One would think that I have physically assaulted him.  I am sure I will get an answer or two, but mainly just typing out my frustrations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I regain his trust?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12011" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-29T16:57:43.327" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T13:38:50.000" Title="Dog does not respect me, like or trust me now" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20232" CreationDate="2018-04-23T19:30:39.357" Score="7" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fiancée and I adopted a Corgi mix about 8 months ago and haven't ever had her groomed and don't know much about her grooming history from her previous owner. We're going to the beach with her in a couple weeks and are worried about her overheating while she's down there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does she need to be groomed with a 'summer cut' or would a sanitary trim/deshedding/nail clipping/etc. be sufficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/breed/pembroke-welsh-corgi&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cardigan Welsh Corgi&lt;/a&gt; mix (mixed with a bigger dog, but we're not sure what, but we think &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/breed/treeing-tennessee-brindle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Treeing Tennessee Brindle&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roughly 45-ish pounds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straight hair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Double coat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12012" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T14:04:18.313" Title="Does my dog need to be groomed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20230" CreationDate="2018-04-23T23:45:28.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitley get them in for a groom, and ask them to use deshedding shampoo. Although it is somewhat rare for a dog to overheat like that, as long as you are watching her it will be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12013" LastActivityDate="2018-04-23T23:45:28.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20230" CreationDate="2018-04-24T05:07:57.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never ever&lt;/strong&gt; cut a double layered coat of a dog, unless absolutely necessary (e.g for surgery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead make sure you get all the old hair out. A groomer might be a good idea, being able to give you tips on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people don't understand how the two layers of coat on dogs work. They actually help keeping the dog's temperature down. Trimming the fur impacts this built-in temperature control and can even be harmful, e.g. by exposing the dog's skin to UV rays. (More elaborate details can be found on the internet, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pavg.net/2016/05/31/grooming-recommendations-for-double-coated-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our Huskies have no problem with temperatures in summer etc. they just need way to get water or some shadow, if they want. I bet it's similar for your Corgi. In addition, we've often met self-proclaimed experts complaining about us owning our dogs in Europe, while having trimmed down dogs that absolutely fail to withstand the hot weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2018-04-24T14:04:18.313" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T14:04:18.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20229" CreationDate="2018-04-24T07:28:11.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand you correctly, you think you can take better care of your dog than you have up to this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to suggest to you to find a dog obedience class and or dog trainer. That are the kind of people that can help you a lot to get a better relation with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T07:28:11.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20228" CreationDate="2018-04-24T07:49:13.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to having cats! Great that you are willing give your cat the best live you can think of!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wild Cats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, cats in the wild are solitary when adults. That usually means they do quite well when kept alone. But we humans are very sociable creatures and we like to keep company. And we project that to cats. We have been doing that for such a long time that cats are actually getting more social. &lt;em&gt;There has been written a lot of introducing cats to one another, I will not go into that here.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;House Cats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be great pets, but when fed well and given the opportunity to mate, will do so. And if memory serves me, can have 3 litters a year. With a litter size of 5 being normal, that is +15 cats a year from 2 parents. Now, kittens are great fun, but that much will have a problem finding good homes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That, and some other reasons mentioned below, will make it clear that neutering your cats is a very good idea. Let me quote wikipedia on cats, spayed or castrated;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can be surgically sterilized (spayed or castrated) as early as 7 weeks to limit unwanted reproduction. This surgery also prevents undesirable sex-related behavior, such as aggression, territory marking (spraying urine) in males and yowling (calling) in females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, about 80% of household cats are neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, yes, this is normal behaviour, and your female cat should be able to hold her own against your male cat. This mating will (in all likelihood) result in kittens. But please, get them neutered, preferably both!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggested reading for further cat care: (there are more, but these look good to me)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wikipedia on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Reproduction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General cat care &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/general-cat-care&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Humane Society on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T07:49:13.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20192" CreationDate="2018-04-24T13:00:53.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding my dog (60 pound Siberian) raw meats since she was a little pup. Feeding your dog anything other than kibble is pretty much always an improvement as dog kibble is notoriously bad for dogs, some of them even causing cancer. I am not an expert, but have done my fare share of research on the topics. Overall, dogs have very different requirements than us humans, as they have a higher acidity to their stomach acids. So, where we cannot eat raw meat, it is perfectly safe for them, but you must be careful while handling it. At the end of the day, the only true difference between raw and cooked meats is that in cooking the meat some of the nutrients are cooked out. Cooked meats are still a world of a difference better than kibble. I'd say good on you for switching things up for your dog, whatever the reasons were, I hope your dog is healthy and happy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should see your dogs coat get softer with the higher quality food, and if you are feeding your dog the correct number of calories they will have a healthy physique (ie: when dogs are standing on all 4's they should have an &quot;hourglass figure&quot; between their hind legs, down to their belly, then back up over their ribs towards their front shoulders. You should not be able to see our easily count their ribs, this tells you they are not getting enough food. If their belly is growing, they are eating too much). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I am not a professional, my vet was able to provide me with the correct number of calories for my dog to eat on a daily basis based on our exercise levels and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12016" LastActivityDate="2018-04-24T13:00:53.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-24T14:24:35.197" Score="4" ViewCount="7381" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a quick question I was hoping you can help me with. I have a 15yr old Jack Russell. She's having an issue that I've never personally had to deal with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know how some white dogs have those brown stains running from the corners of their eyes. She's never had that before, but has started recently. The vet said it may be allergies. I know they even make special cleaning clothes for this. She also has what I'm going to call &quot;eye boogers&quot;. These aren't dead in the corner of her eye, but about and inch down. They've hardened in place. I could probably scrape them off, but I'd take hair and probably a little skin with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a good solution. I've bathed her and it too some of it off, but just a little. My thought here, and you guys can weigh in, is to put a dab of Vaseline on both crusty areas. My thought is that it's non-toxic as people put in on their bodies all the time, it doesn't have a strong scent, and that the moisture would soften the crusties, so they'd easily peel off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good solution or is there something better. I made sure to wet them well when bathing her and it didn't make much of a difference. They were still pretty fused on. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T18:20:38.303" Title="How to soften dogs crusty eyes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2018-04-24T20:06:01.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our ferret was a Marshall Ferret purchased at a local pet store in Springville, NY in 2012. She was born October 2011 and died July 2014. She had advanced insulinoma and adrenal disease and had to be put down due to painful &quot;screaming&quot; seizures.  We were devastated by her very early death and discovered it was common from her breeder. She had to blue dots tattoo and I verified with her paperwork she was a Marshall Ferret. The vet tried to treat her comfortably but she became sick very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12017" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-29T17:00:13.653" LastActivityDate="2018-04-29T17:00:13.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20237" CreationDate="2018-04-24T20:46:01.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My older JRT has this issue. I used a boric acid eye pad recommended by my vet. I was unable to find the one I used but it was a product like this one:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5HHkQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5HHkQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;wipes&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I kept them in fridge and used as needed. Easier to remove discharge before it hardens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boric acid is a commonly used to alleviate allergens, clean and disinfect affected areas. Here is an info sheet for more detail: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/treating-dog-allergies-boric-acid.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.vetinfo.com/treating-dog-allergies-boric-acid.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2018-04-25T20:31:09.810" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T20:31:09.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-25T01:22:54.313" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 11 month male Havanese who has been neutered.  We also have a 9 month female Havanese who just went through her first heat a couple of weeks ago.  Now the male is having sex with the female. They get &quot;stuck&quot; - I panic.  What can I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12018" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-04-25T09:08:50.323" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T09:08:50.323" Title="Neutered dog mating with undesexed female" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-04-25T17:53:35.627" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20237" CreationDate="2018-04-25T07:18:09.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use hand warm water a towel and a bit of time. No soap or other ingredients needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dab a part of the towel in the hand warm water and apply it to the hardened boogers. The trick is to keep it moist. Do this every few minutes, and you will find the gunk will soften up and you will be able to get it lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vaseline might work, but I would try it with hand warm water first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T07:18:09.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20243" CreationDate="2018-04-25T14:33:23.520" Score="9" ViewCount="1383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking around and haven't find someone in the same situation as I am, so I'm making my first question here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 1 1/2 month ago my neighbor's cat gave birth to 4 kittens in my basement. We don't know exactly when they were born, but we found them 5 1/2 weeks ago and 1 or 2 days later they opened their eyes.&#xA;We took care of the mother, giving her food and water and after she started leaving the den we spent some time with her close to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This weekend the neighbor took 3 of the kittens to new homes and we had already decided to keep 1 of them the day we found them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the mother was away from the den more often than not and the kitten stayed there alone, we took it inside the house on monday afternoon.&#xA;The kitten spent the day under the bed (which I learned is common) and sometimes her mother came to the glass back door of the kitchen and started meowing.&#xA;The kitten was too afraid to leave my room and meowed back from my door, but as soon as someone moved she went back under the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the evening we sort of felt bad for the mom as she was meowing all around the house and gave back the kitten and they stayed around this back door on a covered outside area of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We left the house and when we came back at night the mother was meowing again and we couldn't find the kitten.&#xA;After searching all monday night and the mother meowing through the night, yesterday morning we found the kitten under a canvas covering some stuff on a kind of &quot;covered roof terrace&quot; that we have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fearing what could happen with this adventurous kitty we took it back inside my room again. She spent part of the day under the bed again and when her mother meowed on the door she meowed back by my door or from under the bed.&#xA;At night she started going to the glass door and meowing face to face with her mom.&#xA;As far as we can tell the kitten slept through the night in my room, only starting to meow to her mom at the early morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we let the kitten with her mom again some time, blocking the exits, basically confining the kitten to this covered outside area and inside the house (the mom can jump the blocks). She tried to drink some milk and they played and ate some dry cat food and drank water together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we never had a cat I don't know if what we're doing is right, given the circumstances.&#xA;Should we keep letting them have some time together during part of the day and separate them for most of the day and all night, even though they meow for each other and see each other through the glass? I don't know if this can harm them psychologically, especially the kitten. Will the mother eventually just &quot;abandon&quot; the kitten?&#xA;When the mother goes away the kitten comes back to my room and she has improved a lot more than I expected. She plays with a paper ball I gave her and last night she was exploring my room and even slept by my feet, played with me and let me pet her a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for writing almost a book of backstory, I really tried to trim it down a lot, but I also wanted to give as much information as possible and sometimes I'm very wordy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12019" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:02:52.233" Title="Neighbor's cat coming back for kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20242" CreationDate="2018-04-25T16:02:24.480" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main reason the mother comes back for her kitten is that the kitten is not weaned. That is, it is not finished with drinking her mother's milk and is not ready to handle the bigger world. If that world would be the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a long time it was normal to separate a kitten from its mother from 6 weeks on. It is about the time they can start to learn to eat and drink on their own. And, not unimportantly, be house trained. So it will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the last few years, say after 2000, there has been a change. People started to notice that cats (and dogs) have a time of socializing. That is, learning form their mother when they do not strictly need them for food alone. And it tends to help the kittens (and puppies) to stay a while longer with their parents. To my knowledge it is for kittens about 12 weeks. Can be longer or shorter (about 10 weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion it's a decision between giving the mother and kitten as much time together as they can get (good socializing) and / or teaching your kitten that she has a new house. I think you can do both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the next weeks you will see that your little kitten will learn to trust you and will depend less on her mother. In the end her mother might 'abandon' her, but seeing they live quite close, they might keep a good relation between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, your kitten will develop quickly and can jump about as well as her mother in at the most 8 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of all, have fun! Kittens are great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Don't forget to de-worm, vaccinate and in a while (around 3 months) neuter your bundle of joy, it will increase her quality of life and her life span!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:02:52.233" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:02:52.233" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20250" CreationDate="2018-04-25T17:56:09.523" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 year old, 13 lb (5.9 kg) little doggie named Pearl.  She seems to pee on the carpet about 1-2 times per week.  My wife and I both work, so Pearl is home alone for 6-8 hours during the day without anybody to take her out to pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife won't let me install a doggie door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some way to teach Pearl to stop peeing on the carpet and to give her some alternative place to pee?  What devices or products are out there that I can get so she can pee on those instead of my carpet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3824" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:48:04.550" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:48:04.550" Title="What options can I give my dog to stop her peeing in the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20246" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-25T20:07:49.770" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ever since my cat woke up from a loud noise of a heavy plank falling, his been acting too scared of almost any sound be it just a piece of paper moving or plastic raper sound or even a dried leaf on the floor!!! He calms down a bit when I pat him or lay down with him, but later its the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually this has happened before about two months ago too, but he became normal later say in nearly a week!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked the vet for any medicine for anxiety or fear but he told me there is no such thing...and told me to stay with Nayla to calm him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I tried homeopathy, Kali phos and argentum nitrum 30, both seems to worked last time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the reason or how I can make him understand that its OK even when he is alone !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6227" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T23:49:23.517" Title="how can I calm down my scared cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20246" CreationDate="2018-04-25T23:49:23.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats are naturally very skittish. My cat will freak out from loud talking (not yelling, just talking a bit loudly), people laughing, or even people just walking around more than she likes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she gets scared, she seeks out one of her hiding spots to hide in and reassure herself. So give your cat places that it can hide in, preferably places that are small enough that a person couldn't get in there easily. Like a small closet, the nook inside cat trees, behind or under furniture, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your cat is in a hiding spot, don't bother it. Just let it naturally come out on its own. Ignore it and do something else, quietly. If the cat sees you're waiting for it just outside its hiding spot, it may feel cornered and parodoxically it'll take even longer to get it to come out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-04-25T23:49:23.517" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20225" CreationDate="2018-04-26T07:23:57.970" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to be something that does happen on occasion, called &quot;Post clipping alopecia&quot;. However it should be a passing condition, and while it can be benign and not a sign of an underlying condition it does warrant further investigation by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet can not find an underlying cause for the alopecia it might be worth suggesting melatonin treatment to the vet (see: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/dailyvet/2009/december/15-5143&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/dailyvet/2009/december/15-5143&lt;/a&gt; ) Though this should &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; be attempted in cooperation with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short I would absolutely bring it up with the vet and get some tests done just to rule out underlying conditions, but this sounds to me to be a benign case of persistent post clipping alopecia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-04-26T07:23:57.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-27T00:35:54.647" Score="3" ViewCount="1528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a hamster and I've been reading on different types of hamsters bedding to use on it's cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm using self made paper bedding (made out of toilet paper) but it's quite time consuming to make, considering the amount needed to cover the cage. The most common and recommended paper beddings (like care fresh and cozy n' fun) doen't sell in my country. Actually, there are a very few options (I mean, very few options!) to buy hamster bedding or anything similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common one, sold in almost every petstore online (local pet store is even more scarce) is wood shavings and this is where my doubt begins. All blogs, petstores, youtube videos, hamsters owners, etc.. All of them sell/use wood shavings made from pine or eucalyptus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking on blogs, youtube videos, etc. general content from outside my country, all of them have completely banned these wood types as they are toxic to the hamsters. No one seems to be using these types and do not recommend. But in my country it's widely used and no one seems to make a deal out of it or complain about any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wood shavings here is something very very easy to obtai. Some woodshop even give it for free, you just need to go there and take how much you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not talking about using wood shaving too small or dusty, they are usually big pieces of wood shaving (considering the hamster size).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can I do in this case? Is it really prohibited to use these types? Should I keep only the paper bedding? A mix of these 2 types?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a last alternative, there is cat pellets, but they are not comfy, are usually pressed wood and do not provide any habilit to dig under.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11990" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T22:38:20.443" Title="Can I use any type of wood shaving for my hamster" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20244" CreationDate="2018-04-27T07:55:52.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let her out with sufficient time to pee before you leave.  Do not rush her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, put her in a kennel that is not much bigger than her length-wise.  Make sure it is tall enough for her to easily stand up without touching the roof.  Put towels over all the sides (on the outside as a cover) except the opening gate.  This will turn it into more of a den for her.  Put her fav bed inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can put a small hanging type water bowl in her kennel for her so she does not get thirsty.  Make sure it is the type she can use and not knock over and spill. Don't forget to put a toy in there, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main secrets to successfully using a kennel while you are gone are two.  First, teach her with treats inside the kennel that it is a safe, enjoyable place to be.  Feed her supper in the kennel if need be.  Second, do not get a big kennel.  That will only make her feel comfortable in peeing at the other end of where she lays in the kennel.  By keeping it small to her length and bed spot, she will not be able to &quot;go to the corner&quot; and pee without wetting her bed.  Dogs do not want to pee their beds if they can help it, so make it so she can't pee in there without wetting her bed.  If the only kennel you can find is too long or large, then simply place something large in there with her to block her access to the area and reduce the size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get home, first things first.  Pick her up, praise her and carry her out to pee.  Assuming no medical reasons for her peeing, she needs to re-learn her in-house toilet manners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 50+ years I have been training dogs, once trained, all of my dogs have been able to easily go 14+ hours loose in the house without ever having any accidents.    I also literally teach them all to pee on command so that I can make sure they have peed before I have to leave them alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12027" LastActivityDate="2018-04-27T07:55:52.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20264" CreationDate="2018-04-27T10:45:04.117" Score="4" ViewCount="3812" Body="&lt;p&gt;House rabbits eat leafy green vegetables and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;they eat poop&lt;/a&gt; should I be concerned about warnings of e-coli on store bought leafy green vegetables? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T17:27:38.713" Title="Can my rabbit be harmed by e-coli on Lettuce?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20251" CreationDate="2018-04-27T12:39:33.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on whether your store imports food or buys food locally. Rabbits like all mammals already have several strains of e-coli in their stomach that is native to their area so they won't be harmed by it assuming the store you got the vegetables from gets their food locally which is often the case. If the vegetables have imported tag then you should be worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an exception baby rabbits have weak immunity systems and they may not have gotten the strains from their mothers yet so if your rabbit has babies then those babies might be at the risk of e-coli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2018-04-27T12:39:33.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-27T19:01:30.690" Score="4" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an issue with my cat where he likes to eat human food. I give him plenty of food between him and my other cat. But he still tries to take food off of plates, and he'll even get on the counter to rip open packages of bread or tortillas. (He likes his carbs for some reason) I'm not as worried about when I'm eating as I police him very well but how can I stop him from ripping open bread packages? He'll even go as far as to pull it out of the toaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12029" LastActivityDate="2018-04-27T23:20:09.120" Title="My Cat Loves Human Food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20254" CreationDate="2018-04-27T23:20:09.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make the bread inaccessible. You can get a breadbox, which are designed for properly keeping your bread, you could get some other sort of sealed food container for your bread, or you could go the less optimal but less costly route of keeping your bread in the fridge. Though they say bread is best stored at room temperature, I've lived in a bread refrigerating household and never noticed any issues with the bread.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep your cat off the counter. Unfortunately, your cat is extremely food motivated, and because you will always prepare food on your counter, and your counter is well off the ground, it will always have some attraction for your cat. Try to make your counter as utterly boring as possible. Keep food off of it or in sealed containers (a good idea anyways.) Don't leave any unwashed dishes in the kitchen. Clean your counters and sink regularly to remove food smells. Put a cat tree that is taller than your counters somewhere nearish the kitchen, but not so close to the counters that the cat will be tempted to jump from counter to tree. Keep any windows over the counter covered and not cat accessible when you aren't there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could also try things to actively dissuade your cat from going on the counters. Like, put cans with coins on the counters that will get knocked over and make noise when the cat goes up there, or put things there the cat won't like stepping on, such as double sided tape or upside down vinyl carpet protectors (the kind with the little spikes that would be annoying to walk on.) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-04-27T23:20:09.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-28T12:04:46.027" Score="2" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been noticing some white spots on my red eared slider’s shell and I researched about it and it turned out to be a fungus infection. How can I treat my turtle without the help of a vet? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c2uLK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c2uLK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11673" LastActivityDate="2018-04-28T12:04:46.027" Title="How can I cure my red eared slider from fungus infection" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-28T14:27:36.190" Score="4" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have very recently adopted a very shy 2-year old cat (Vinyl) from a shelter. Since adoption I have had to take him back to the vets for special care and hospitalisation. Once Vinyl came back from hospitalisation, he started to let me tickle his tummy, was eating well and happy to spend time with my younger cat (9 months - also male and spayed - whom I found stuck in a bush at 4 weeks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vinyl has had a very difficult medical and obviously psychological past (found lost in the streets of Paris, with many medical problems).&#xA;Following his last visit to the vets, yesterday, he seems to have lost all the confidence he was slowly building up with me. And now I have to give him nose drops twice a day. He hides every time he sees me, so I'm not sure how to give him his meds without scaring the poor little boy even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12033" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-29T17:02:57.617" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T00:25:46.150" Title="How to give nasal drops to a very shy shelter cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-28T14:35:49.863" Score="7" ViewCount="3016" Body="&lt;p&gt;My snails have damage on their shells. I think they had a calcium deficiency, and ate each other's shells to make up for it. I've changed their diet, and things seem to be getting better. Now I'm concerned that their eaten shells are too weak and may leave them vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way that I can repair the shells? Something that I can put on the shells to reinforce them, or at the least, protect them from being eaten further?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NHdWC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NHdWC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ggw6w.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ggw6w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-29T02:12:23.207" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T02:12:23.207" Title="Is there a way to repair apple snail shell damage?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-28T18:55:31.963" Score="0" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes a bit of prep to make an iPad dog safe and vice versa; but after a heavy duty screen protector and a rugged case our dog has his own iPad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He loves the app, Games for Dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m hoping to find some more iPad games for dogs. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12035" LastEditorUserId="12035" LastEditDate="2018-05-02T23:39:47.690" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T13:58:32.540" Title="Good iPad games for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-29T04:12:07.273" Score="9" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my husband and I are having a discussion, our cat Cleo often joins us.  She rolls over on her back, and holds her paws close to her chin, and gives us (what we call) blinky eyes.  It's so adorable we just have to notice her.  On several occasions we intentionally tried to ignore this super cuteness, when we do, she will gently tap our ankles with her paws, or get up and move closer to us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this behavior called attention seeking?  Or is she, in her own way, joining our conversation?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have also noticed that if I am in one place, such as the kitchen, and he is the living room, she displays her belly near him.  Is she acknowledging my husband as top cat of the household?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12037" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-04-29T16:51:37.323" LastActivityDate="2018-04-30T16:57:03.533" Title="Why does our cat display her belly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20251" CreationDate="2018-04-29T12:01:12.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will &lt;strike&gt;Can&lt;/strike&gt; my rabbit be harmed by e-coli on Lettuce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably not; the majority of store bought foods are safe. While there are risks, your bunny and you have about the same risk (&lt;em&gt;assuming developed country&lt;/em&gt;) they really are not any higher or lower risk from food contamination then you are. Both you and your bunny have a gut populated by helpful bacteria including E-coli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can my rabbit be harmed by e-coli on Lettuce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are several different strains of E-coli &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Escherichia coli)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; most are harmless and can found in intestines of warm blooded animals (including people) in many cases these are helpful bacteria.  BUT some strains like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli_O157:H7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Escherichia coli O157:H7&lt;/a&gt; which is currently and often in the news is harmful.  Results of infection in rabbits is much like that in humans; starting with diarrhea in 1 to 10 days, with other complications that can and do lead to death, particularly in the very young and old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit can become infected with harmful strains of E-coli in the same ways as humans.  As with humans they can also pass it to others.  Rabbits and humans can pass the infection to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important for the health of you and your rabbit that you take the same precautions when feeding them leafy greens, as you would take if you were consuming them yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the different strains of E-coli are spread by the same several ways; water, organic fertilizer, bird droppings, human handling, etc. The different strains are not regional, there are carriers of all them all around the world. While a particular regional source is often identified in news reports for mass events, every raw leafy green vegetable is potentially infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;References&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;E.coli (Escherichia coli) at cdc.gov&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/outbreaks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reports of Selected E. coli Outbreak Investigations at cdc.gov&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/030098587801500210&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Escherichia coli and Diarrhoea in the Rabbit, PDF at sagepub.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3594591/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Prevalence in Laboratory Rabbits at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Generalities/Enteritis_en.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bacterial enteritis in rabbits at medirabbit.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/hsl_pdf/2005/hsl0512.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wild Rabbits as potential carriers of E. coli, VTEC – Final Report at hse.gov.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T17:27:38.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2018-04-29T18:05:32.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make the dog sit in front of his food until he eats. If he tries to move away put them back. My dog is spoiled because i make her breakfast lunch and dinner...so sometimes shes picky and or wants negative attention. Usually in 15 min she will eat. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/an3cA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; Lucy..sitting in front of food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12040" LastActivityDate="2018-04-29T18:05:32.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-04-29T18:48:21.657" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 1 year old cat with poor coat, I visited a vet several times but he says there is nothing wrong with the cat. His recommendation was to change the cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I fed my cat &amp;quot;Royal Canin Persian Kitten&amp;quot; his coat was average. Then the vet asked me to switch from &amp;quot;Royal Canin&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;Josera Cat Food&amp;quot;. I didn't see any improvement in his coat. Now the vet wants me to switch to &amp;quot;Royal Canin Skin and Care Nutrition&amp;quot; which is really expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I switch food again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is a poor coat the result of feeding only dry food, and wet food once or twice a month?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should I feed my cat to improve his coat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:47:42.920" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T18:51:54.043" Title="Changing cat food necessary if no better results in coat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20258" CreationDate="2018-04-30T15:28:56.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Talk to the cat throughout the process. This helps to keep your breathing even. Otherwise, it's natural to hold your breath while giving the medicine, which frightens the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow a consistent routine. Whether animal or human, the thing that frightens us most is the unknown. The routine will help the cat know what is about to happen. Even if the cat is afraid of the process, he would be more afraid if it has no idea whats coming. For example, I always give treatments in the same spot, and I show the bottle/nail clippers/whatever to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Approach the process with confidence. Try to be relaxed. Try not to feel guilty. If you're stressed, the cat will pick up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Realise that this is only a setback in building your relationship with this cat. You may find your relationship even stronger after this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Forgot some important tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I find it helpful to give the cat a treat both before &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; after the treatment. This way you start and end on a positive note. During the treatment, the cat will have something to look forward to.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the treatment is, you want to do it efficiently in order to minimise the cat's stress. To give nasal drops, it may help to wrap him up in a towel with his head poking out. This is called a &quot;kitty burrito&quot; or a &quot;purrito&quot;. It prevents the cat from struggling, making it easier for you to get the drops in quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2018-05-02T00:25:46.150" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T00:25:46.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20263" CreationDate="2018-04-30T15:33:38.827" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Above all, it is an indication that she trusts you. She may also welcome belly rubs at this time, but even cats who don't like belly rubs will lie on their backs like this to show trust. Try rubbing her belly, but be prepared if she doesn't want it, or only wants a few rubs before she grabs your hand with her claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T3mXx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T3mXx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-04-30T15:33:38.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20263" CreationDate="2018-04-30T16:57:03.533" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike dogs, cats do not display their bellies as a sign of submission. It's merely something they do when they're feeling so secure, they feel safe for a good lounging. Many cats therefore may do this in your presence, but not actually want their bellies to be touched, in fact I'd say it's more normal for them to not particularly like having their bellies touched. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, some cats may come to tolerate it or like it if they learn it feels nice or are particularly attention motivated. My cat, for example, seems to actively enjoy belly rubs, but I think mostly because she craves any sort of attention at all. I think the fact that your cat is approaching and tapping at you is more an indication it does want your attention and possibly to be petted, than the act of exposing its belly is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-04-30T16:57:03.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19113" CreationDate="2018-05-01T06:49:50.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;150 watts in 25 gallons is plenty in normal heated room. Is the heater on? Is it set correctly? There is usually some light indicating that the heater is actually heating (if not, test it carefully with your finger - is it hot?). If it is going on and off and the temperature in the tank does not rise it may be caused by insufficient water movement around the heater - point the filter outlet to the heater to increase the flow around the heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, 25 gallons is way to small for sharks. If the tank is used only for the treatment, ok, if it is their normal home, it is a problem. It may stress the fish and cause this and many other health problems in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11775" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T06:49:50.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-01T08:06:56.637" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat has a strong bond with me. But I notice sometimes he will give me a love bite when I scratch his back or pet his belly. More often it happens when I scratch him. Why does he give me a love bite when I scratch his back? Does he not like being scratched there or what is going on? Before, he wouldn't bite me at all, just purr when I pet his belly or scratched his back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5434" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T08:41:50.293" Title="Cat biting me, seems odd" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20277" CreationDate="2018-05-01T11:32:47.157" Score="10" ViewCount="42103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends' cat recently gave birth however it was later revealed that the father was the cats' son. My friend offered to let me adopt one of the kittens but I am worried that the kitten I adopt will end up having something wrong with it due to the inbreeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;How harmful is inbreeding among cats?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-01T12:18:44.803" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T14:21:31.713" Title="Should I worry about a kitten who is the result of inbreeding?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20274" CreationDate="2018-05-01T11:58:52.027" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inbreeding&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inbreeding can be a problem, but in this case it probably isn't because it's only one time. (that you know of) And non-breed cats have overall less health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breeders use &lt;a href=&quot;http://animals.mom.me/problems-with-inbreeding-cats-5105419.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inbreeding&lt;/a&gt; quite a bit to fix traits. But it can have very dangerous side effect for the health of a cat. But genetic defects need to pile up for that to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do check for health before adopting: does it walk / jump / behave like a kitten that age should? And if it has problems, are you ready to pick up the bill for that? (12 weeks of age for adoption is ideal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats with defects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you have a kitten with a noticeable defect, genetic or not, it can still be a good pet. In that case you will still want a cat that can take care of itself in these ways: litter trained, eating and drinking and simple coat cleaning. I know of one cat that really has some issues, but it can eat, drink and keep itself clean. It has severe movement issues and can't hunt but it still is fun pet to have around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do adopt a cat with genetic defects, please do neuter them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-05-01T12:22:28.233" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T12:22:28.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20273" CreationDate="2018-05-01T12:07:24.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Properly socialised cats communicate with their butlers. They want food, they will let you know. When they want to be petted, they will get it. But sometimes it can be a bit much, you know. That spot has been properly scratched and is done now. You should stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats will tell me to stop in the following escalating steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vocalise (miuow)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put offending thing in its mouth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bite softly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But claws into action, but not hard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bite hard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use everything, hard!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the note that the escalation from #5 can scale fast, in less then 2 seconds to 8. So I had better stop before that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I think your cat is communicating that you can stop scratching that spot now, thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-03T08:41:50.293" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T08:41:50.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20274" CreationDate="2018-05-01T12:09:40.550" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer this question, we first need to understand how incest is bad exactly. This has everything to do with genes and chromosomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When producing offspring, a mix of the genes of the two parents is combined in the offspring. This is a random process, which is why siblings can be wildly different from eachother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, both parents are unrelated, so their genes have at least some differences, creating a new combination of genes. When siblings produce offspring, however, their offspring's genes are practically draws from the same genepool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that there is a chance that the offspring gets two identical genes . If both mom and dad got geneA from their father, the offspring could end up with two A genes. This is where problems might occur. Small defects in genes happen all the time, and generally they are caught because of redundancy. Cats have two copies of each gene after all. In most cases, only if both versions are defect, problems arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both genes are identical, we will be certain that these defects will propagate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;However:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest reason animals are biologically programmed to prevent incest is because incest is a evolutionary disadvantage in the long run. Most of the damage done by incest doesn't happen in the first generation. However, continuous incest, generation on generation, will enhance the effect I described above time and time again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many animals, especially those kept and bred as pets, that suffer an enormous amount of inbreeding. A big example are purebred dogs. Without any new genes joining the pool, the entire population of such a breed will eventually start looking incestuous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is on a population level. For a population of animals, incest only becomes a problem after many generations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Individual&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how does this compare with your kitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at the possibilities: Let's assume your cat's parents have disjoint genes: Mom has AB, dad has CD. Their offspring have four possible sets: AC, AD, BC, BD. The father of your kitten has a 1/4 chance for any of those combinations. Each of those combinations, the father shares one gene with the mom. Either A or B. These is a 1/2 chance for the father to pass on the shared gene, and there is a 1/2 chance for the mom to do so. So in the end, there is a 1/4 chance for a duplicated gene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's pretty high, especially since this probability applies to each of the cats genes individually, so the chance for &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; duplicates is near 1, but the chance for &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; duplicates is not so high at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How harmful is this? Unless there were already genetic defects in the family tree of the parents, I wouldn't worry too much. However, it doesn't hurt to sterilize the kitten, to prevent it from getting offspring of itself. Since that is the population effect starting to weigh in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T16:51:44.397" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20266" CreationDate="2018-05-01T12:16:02.047" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no better health advice than your vet has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, if my cat was healthy otherwise, I would not change cat food for a really expensive food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, depending on where you live the quality of the cat food might not be up to what is needed. The European Union has rules on that and so even low price dry cat food that claims to be a total / complete food will be healthy for a cat. Try to find out what the rules are in your country. And there might even be some comparative tests on the available cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try a small bag of the expensive cat food, see if you find it worth your money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:45:39.680" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:45:39.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20281" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-01T15:05:23.397" Score="7" ViewCount="3703" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally feed my cat dry food in the AM and 1 small can of wet food in the PM. I also have a Catit water fountain for him, so he has a constant supply of fresh water to drink from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going away for the weekend and, unfortunately, can't find anyone to come take care of him for the two days I'll be away. His dry food is dispensed by an automatic feeder, but I have no way to give him his daily wet food. Will he be okay for two days without the wet food? Again, he will have access to ample fresh water and his normal dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12047" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T01:03:16.790" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T01:03:16.790" Title="Can my cat go without wet food for two days?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20281" CreationDate="2018-05-01T15:37:29.143" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat will be fine as long as it has food and water. The reason for giving wet food is to keep your cat well hydrated but skipping wet food for a couple of days is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be sure the automatic feeder is working so your cat gets food at the usual times each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the short answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-01T15:40:12.183" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T15:40:12.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18897" CreationDate="2018-05-01T19:36:09.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont think it's ICH.It looks too fluffy. There is a syndrome called &quot;hole in the head&quot;. You might have heard/read of it. You can tell a fish has hole the head when it gets a white puffy thing on it's head-pretty much what happened to your fish. It's either fungal or bacterial,both infections look the same. You can't treat for both at the same time and if you treat for the wrong one,the fish will get a hole in it's head and die. It is looks like your fish got this syndrome, and you treated for the correct infection.If the fish is still alive,then it just might have had a close call with hole in the head. I'd keep treating with salt and API.Disease can really traumatize a goldfish.Thunderbolt should start acting better when the disease has been over for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10479" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T19:36:09.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20284" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-01T20:46:49.660" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I breed my doe rabbit with one buck to get ovulation started then with  a different buck to finish the process?  I have a buck that wouldn't for what ever reason breed the 2nd time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12048" LastActivityDate="2018-05-01T20:46:49.660" Title="Rabbit breeding" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 3.0" />
  <row Id="20286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20281" CreationDate="2018-05-02T07:52:17.930" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat will be fine. Cats can and do live to a ripe old age on just dry food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you do mention an automatic feeder. If this is to keep him from overeating, you can make sure it dispenses over the whole time you are away. If your cat does not overeat when you give him a lot of dry food at once, you can just leave a lot of food for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the time to shop for it, may I suggest a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0018CG40O&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;food dispenser&lt;/a&gt; that you cat has to work on to get the food? This way he will still get some activity while you are not playing with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a last note: if your cat is perfectly healthy, he can go a day without food. Just like you. He will not like it (nor would you), but if healthy it can be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T21:24:38.163" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T21:24:38.163" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20281" CreationDate="2018-05-02T08:38:20.070" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 7 year old cat that only eats dry food and is a healthy, energetic and friendly kitty. So leaving your cat without wet food for a couple of days won't kill him. Cats are very strong animals. Even if the feeder malfunctions, he will be fine without food for 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We usually have one of our parents come and feed/clean the cat, but the one weekend we couldn't find anyone, the water fountain and the feeder did the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be more worried about the litter box if it's an indoor cat. Our little prince, pooped right next to the litter box that time because he had already gone 2-3 times in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-02T11:51:12.770" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T11:51:12.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-02T12:58:40.277" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have several problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main Problem: Howling/crying bloody murder&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Howls, barks angrily, jumping up at the door of crate/barrier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes bites/gnaws on barrier/crate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compounds other problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tantrum &quot;exercise&quot; causes him to poop in the crate, makes a huge mess&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cannot clean crate until he stops tantrum either or it reinforces tantrum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He does this for 20mins to an hour or more, sound is awful obviously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cannot keep him to regular feeding/exercise schedule because cannot give him attention during his tantrums&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occurs when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The moment I close door to crate or playpen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The moment he cannot get to me readily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The moment he realizes I'm home from work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attempts to change this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stood right in front of him or in the room so he could see me (didn't work)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Often he ramps it up into full bloody murder mode (tantrum)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Covered crate with blanket, partially and wholly like &quot;cave&quot; (didn't work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added ticking clock &quot;heartbeat&quot; (didn't work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added ipod with classical music (didn't work)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Added high-value treats to inside of crate (partially works)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He will gnaw rawhide for a while after his tantrum&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compounds new problem: bitey when I try to keep the treats in the crate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He wants to take them out, dart in and out to get treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exercised him with multiple walks per day (unsure if working)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He seems to still have energy to tantrum/howl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tried clapping (only temporarily works)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only works temporarily to surprise him from his tantrum, a split second later he starts up again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only giving him attention/showing him my presence when he's quiet/calmed (unsure if working)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Due to all of the above (and below), I'm not sure this makes a difference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He howls even longer if he sees me in the room, worse if I'm looking at him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He howls if he sees me leaving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He howls if I ignore him/do not give him physical contact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second Problem: Biting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bites hands, wrists, clothes, my shoes as I'm wearing them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compounds other problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unsure how to handle him for cleaning/travel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unsure how to play with him (healthy tug games) if he keeps this up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occurs when: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I try to force treats to stay in crate, not be taken out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he gets too excited as we play tug&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I am not paying attention to him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attempts to change this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Yelped&quot; in pain, stood and ignored him for 10-30 seconds, before playing/paying attention to him again (didn't work)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, he gets startled, but he just distracts himself with other stuff or jumps and nips at my shoes/legs/jeans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growling/shouting a &quot;NO!&quot; (never works)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is unafraid of any sort of reprimand, no matter how loud or low my voice is pitched&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Flick on nose&quot; move right after he does this(doesn't work)&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Compounds problem: he just bites even more, he thinks I'm playing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Limitations: Time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read the entire AKC &quot;ideal&quot; schedule for puppy feeding/exercise/playtimes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unrealistic - I have a full time job&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Currently I take him out/play/exercise him when I can in mornings, lunch breaks, after work, and evenings before bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have lost so much sleep taking care of him. And I want to do this right, but all the information I've found is just contradicting each other.&#xA;Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I've re-organized this so it's easier to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12051" LastEditorUserId="12051" LastEditDate="2018-05-03T18:57:41.773" LastActivityDate="2018-05-03T18:57:41.773" Title="10 week Havachon menace, tantrum crying/howling in crate and playpen constantly, compounded by biting" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-02T14:58:25.927" Score="3" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I adopted a 2-year old rescue Daschsund/Jack Russel mix a week ago. She's settling in quite well but we're having trouble potty-training her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought a little fake grass potty patch that we want her to learn to use most of the time, so that when we're asleep or away at work she doesn't have to be outside in the cold. We don't have a garden, just a very small outside area with a stone floor, so she's not missing much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that she was taken from her previous owners by an animal cruelty organisation, but we don't know details. We don't know what kind of training she had or what abuse/trauma she might have experienced. I'm guessing that when she was caught peeing indoors she was punished, and as a result has merely learned not to be caught. She often pees on the floor when we're not around to see it - once even when I went outside for just 10 minutes. On rare occasions I catch her in the act of peeing or looking like she's about to pee, say 'hey!' or something (not forcefully, just enough to stop what she's doing), pick her up, and place her on the potty patch. This simply scares her and she immediately goes back to bed, not at all understanding that I want her to pee on the patch. In general it's a struggle to guide/direct her to a location, or to get her to do anything if I'm watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We regularly transfer her pee from the floor to the toilet patch so that she can take a hint from the scent of her pee. It doesn't seem to have any effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only once has she apparently peed on the patch in the night, as it was wet in the morning. Never have we witnessed her doing it, so there hasn't been any opportunity to reward her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strangely, we once found that she had peed in her water bowl. We thought maybe she had been trained to use an actual potty in the past, so we bought her a similar bowl for that purpose. She hasn't used it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We walk her every day, and she pees/poops on about half of these walks. So she seems to have some idea that this is the time to do her business but it's not strong enough. In any case we don't want daily walks to be the only time she can pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've taken her outside a few times, but she's never done anything there, nor does she ever show any signs of wanting to go outside if we don't take her there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it hasn't been long and there's a good chance that over time things will improve as she becomes more comfortable with us and we learn how to communicate with her. But right now I'm out of ideas to make concrete progress, and I'm getting pretty tired of cleaning the floor. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12052" LastActivityDate="2018-08-24T12:02:20.157" Title="How to teach my 2 year old dog to use a potty patch?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20281" CreationDate="2018-05-02T17:10:12.733" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several answers suggesting not having wet food for a couples of days is not a problem, and I have no reason to doubt them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But think about yourself, if you don't get a hot dinner, you do still want to have a cold sandwich or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would increase the amount of dry food available in the feeder.  For example make the morning feeding be larger than normal, or by adding night time dry feeding to make up for the lost wet meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Cats still need the same amount of calories per day, and would appreciate having the same number of meals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T17:10:12.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20261" CreationDate="2018-05-02T23:14:28.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could be wrong, but I don't think you're going to have success with anything but the most basic games for a dog.  If there isn't something about the game that the dog immediately finds fun, it's probably not going to be interested in it. A video game is not like one of those toys you can hide treats in, where it'll be obvious to the dog there's a reward to be had. Dogs have to be trained in types of play that don't come naturally to them and the reward isn't immediately obvious, like they have to be trained to use an automatic ball thrower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When young children play video games, they'll often become obsessed with some silly small aspect, like trying on different hats, and ignore the entire rest of the game, because the trying on hats part is fun for them, and they don't really care about other potential fun they could be having.  I imagine a dog would behave similarly. I think it'd be very hard to design a game for a dog that has some obvious thing that will immediately attract its attention, and not have the dog end up obsessed with that part, ignoring the whole other part that's there to make the game more challenging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the goal is to keep the dog exercised and entertained, you've already achieved that. Animals like repetitive games. It's less likely they'll get bored of it like an adult human would. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-02T23:14:28.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-03T00:21:02.360" Score="1" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;Judging from this photo, can anyone tell me when my momma platy is going to give birth? I’ve put her in her own 3 gallon tank because the other male fish in the community tank harass her, and I’m afraid they’re all going to eat the fry as soon as they come out. My momma platy has been hiding near the bottom for a couple of days now. I’m scared she’s stressed, and I’m not sure of what to do. Besides from gauging when she’ll be giving birth, might you be able to provide some tips on what to do once the fry emerge?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6sNFp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IdNxA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12054" LastActivityDate="2018-05-03T00:21:02.360" Title="When will my momma platy give birth?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-05-03T07:59:24.770" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20304" CreationDate="2018-05-03T10:43:11.243" Score="6" ViewCount="3587" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had adopted a feral kitten. It was very difficult to get her into our control as she would be scared if we tried to hold her, but we continued to keep her food outside so that she eats it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few months (7 months) she became friendlier. I was very attached to her. She used to stay out whole day and at night slept in our bathroom inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day even after calling a lot of times she didn't come out of the bathroom, When I went inside she was struggling to walk. She had lost control of her rear legs and was trying to drag from the front feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I immediately took her to the vet. The vet examined her. I mentioned that she had been attacked by a stray cat on her head a few months ago, but that had healed by now.  I was told that she's anemic, and the vet put her on some drips and injection (maybe painkillers) but couldn't really determine the cause of this sudden paralysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While she was still on the drips, she dilated her eyes and stretched her legs. The vet gave an answer. I couldn't digest the fact. I called her repeatedly, petted her and with my calls she again started 'meow'ing. I was happy again. She hadn't eaten anything from the day of this sudden paralysis (2 days ago) I went home, she still refused to eat, couldn't move around. She had lost her control of moving. After few hours, she was serious again (dilated eyes, stretched out legs, no response) I ran immediately to see the vet. On the way, she was trying to tell something (it was continuous movement of mouth like chewing) She called out 'meow' twice. She took heavy breaths twice and lay motionless. She just left me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many questions were left unanswered. Hope anyone tries answering to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How did my kitten who was playful and healthy suddenly become paralyzed overnight?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why was she anemic even after I fed her the healthiest of foods?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Did the attack on head by other cats affect her so deeply? But that was like 2 months ago and had already healed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How could she die in a span of just 2 days after sudden paralysis?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wasn't even a year old. How could she leave me, it's so sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T08:29:55.903" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T11:55:30.190" Title="Kitten is suddenly paralyzed, refuses to eat and leaves" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-03T20:26:31.430" Score="6" ViewCount="8957" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 18 year old leopard gecko. Due to improper care in the past years, he has lost both of his eyes. I have not had any issue removing the dead skin from his eyes until recently, and I just can't get it off. Since he does not have his eyes anymore, do I still need to remove the dead skin that is stuck in his empty eye sockets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12057" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T12:25:22.497" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T00:09:50.060" Title="Should I pull the dead skin off my gecko's eyeless sockets?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-04T08:31:25.183" Score="5" ViewCount="3548" Body="&lt;p&gt;My French bulldog has always been “itchy” and has taken medication to help, but it’s never really gone away or help take the edge off. Today it looks to have flared up even more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas what it could be? We’ve changed his diet, given him grain free treats, had a skin scrape the lot but no one seems to be able to tell us what it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be great as I hate seeing him so itchy and frustrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DyQ9Y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZvJD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12060" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T13:14:17.207" Title="French Bulldog very itchy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20302" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-04T16:28:46.337" Score="1" ViewCount="788" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 week old tabby kitten who is rather furry and i'm trying to figure out whether or not he'll have a long/short coat in the future. He's really small for his age so I thought as he's so small all his hair is poofing instead of growing out along his body lol! His mum is short haired however the dad was unknown and most of his siblings looked fluffy too, but i just thought all kittens were furry when they're so young. I googled it and he doesn't really have tufts of fur on his toes which most people are suggesting, l'll post some photos of him :) &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aBQCo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Mxpi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here]![enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12063" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T16:28:46.337" Title="Is my kitten long or short haired?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-05-04T19:11:26.503" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9265" CreationDate="2018-05-04T19:09:19.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gold standard for evaluating a treatment is to look at meta-analyses. This type of research paper looks at multiple studies and judges the experimental design, sample size, and other factors that may influence results to determine the overall outcome of multiple studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A meta-analysis for lysine supplementation as a treatment for FHV-1 was published in 2015.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bol S, Bunnik EM. Lysine supplementation is not effective for the prevention or treatment of feline herpesvirus 1 infection in cats: a systematic review. BMC Veterinary Research. 2015;11:284. doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0594-3. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4647294/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This paper reviewed 7 studies on lysine and FHV-1 (5 on cats, 2 on cell cultures) and 10 studies on lysine and human HV-1 (7 on people, 3 on cell cultures). They concluded:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is evidence at multiple levels that lysine supplementation is&#xA;  not effective for the prevention or treatment of feline herpesvirus 1&#xA;  infection in cats. Lysine does not have any antiviral properties, but&#xA;  is believed to act by lowering arginine levels. However, lysine does&#xA;  not antagonize arginine in cats, and evidence that low intracellular&#xA;  arginine concentrations would inhibit viral replication is lacking.&#xA;  Furthermore, lowering arginine levels is highly undesirable since cats&#xA;  cannot synthesize this amino acid themselves. Arginine deficiency will&#xA;  result in hyperammonemia, which may be fatal. In vitro studies with&#xA;  feline herpesvirus 1 showed that lysine has no effect on the&#xA;  replication kinetics of the virus. Finally, and most importantly,&#xA;  several clinical studies with cats have shown that lysine is not&#xA;  effective for the prevention or the treatment of feline herpesvirus 1&#xA;  infection, and some even reported increased infection frequency and&#xA;  disease severity in cats receiving lysine supplementation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We recommend an immediate stop of lysine supplementation because of&#xA;  the complete lack of any scientific evidence for its efficacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T19:09:19.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20295" CreationDate="2018-05-04T21:32:16.327" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am so sorry your lost your little friend. I know how bad that can hurt. Outdoor cats (and all animals) often live very harsh and short lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of diseases such as FIP that can affect a cat’s nervous system causing paralysis, spasms and convulsions. They can catch these diseases from other cats, other animals or just the outdoor environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them can effect the cat in as little as one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat contracted one of these bad diseases they often stop eating, which can cause anemia. These diseases can be fatal. Cats are also not tolerant to starvation at all. They can rapidly rapidly develop kidney disease and failure after just a few days of not eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take comfort in the fact that you helped this little one survive, and not feel the pain of hunger every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-05-04T21:32:16.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20297" CreationDate="2018-05-05T20:43:02.573" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though he no longer has eyes it is still ideal that all shed be removed. Retained shed can cause avascular necrosis which can lead to sloughing of the skin and osteomyelitis of the underlying bone (mainly with digits). There is a chance that the retained shed may come off during his next shed cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime provide a humidity box with peat moss and a Tupperware container as well as some rough surfaces for him to rub his face on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z7nS5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z7nS5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A few ways to remove shed from eyes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use saline to flush the eye - the constant pressure of the water rinsing the eye can loosen the retained cap.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apply mineral oil to the eye and gently roll a q-tip to the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never pull off retained shed as you can damage the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A visit to the vet!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some shedding problems can be caused from medical reasons as well (i.e systemic disease, fungal), if you notice a pattern of him always having problems shedding it would be worth going to an exotics vet for a work-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2715/my-leopard-gecko-sometimes-has-trouble-shedding-how-can-i-help&quot;&gt;My leopard gecko sometimes has trouble shedding. How can I help?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/presenting-problem-dysecdysis-in-reptiles&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 1&lt;/a&gt;) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avianexoticpetclinic.com/petcare/SheddingReptiles.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 2&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-05-05T20:43:02.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28221" CreationDate="2018-05-06T14:58:30.993" Score="3" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djungarian_hamster&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Djungarian hamster&lt;/a&gt; is apparently getting hot when temperatures reach about 25 °C. She then sleeps outside her house, in a corner of her terrarium, leaning on the glass and looking annoyed. She also tried to dig deeply, probably an instinct to make a hole deep enough to get into colder regions of soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the weather will get even hotter during the summer and we don't have air conditioning, what could we do to make the hamster feel better? Would it help to add some small fan (like a computer cooling fan) to circulate air in the terrarium? Or add some rocks or other objects outside and inside her house with higher thermal conductivity, so that she could cool herself down by leaning on them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ol56R.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ol56R.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hamster sleeping outside her house 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Iq5Zp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Iq5Zp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Hamster sleeping outside her house 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T20:46:38.997" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T20:46:38.997" Title="How to cool a dwarf hamster in hot weather" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;cooling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-06T17:07:04.883" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Picture below shows Maya, my lab rat, my friend.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fmoOk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fmoOk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But something must happen. She seems to be rather sad, have bad coordination and appears to be somehow weakened. She refusing her favorite food and losing weight. Do someone knows what it can be and how to cure whatever it is ? I know it is not much informations i giving you but it is all what i know. Please.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Animal abuse note : Small cage she is in is used only for sleeping. She is with me every time I have time for her.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12068" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T08:25:25.010" Title="Can my laboratory rat be ill?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20318" CreationDate="2018-05-06T18:32:13.663" Score="4" ViewCount="5731" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 questions to ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was looking for fleas and found this. What is this called? Is it related  to fleas?&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/33JvQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/33JvQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The condition that the cat has good coat on his lower / belly / heart side and poor coat on the upper back, related to fleas? how can a cat have poor coat at the one side and better and long coat on the other side?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-08T09:18:45.393" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T09:18:45.393" Title="What is this weird pimple on my cat's skin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20311" CreationDate="2018-05-07T07:51:53.697" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to get a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy. However the breeder that is expecting to sell soon said that the puppies will be from a mother who will have her very first litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just would like everyone's thought on this. Is it OK in terms of risk to puppy health etc? Is it better to get a puppy from an experienced bitch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please assist&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T08:20:14.133" Title="Is it good or bad to get a puppy from a mother who has had her first litter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20310" CreationDate="2018-05-07T08:20:14.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it better the be the first child, the second or the third?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it might matter, other things are way more important: a safe and clean home to grow up in with loving parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For puppies these things are more important: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;healthy parents with no behaviour problems. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No known health and genetic defects. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A clean and safe home to grow up in. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And then some proper socializing and training. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then, and maybe then, a first time mother maybe matters. (it probably will not)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T08:20:14.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20308" CreationDate="2018-05-07T08:25:25.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your laboratory rat can be ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there is a very good change that the illness is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/lab-rats-cancer.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;form of cancer&lt;/a&gt;. Being a laboratory rat does not mean a clean rat, it means they were bred for a purpose. And became friendly pets in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To know what is happening to your rat, please take her / him to the vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T08:25:25.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16708" CreationDate="2018-05-07T13:11:49.490" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably a very bad idea to give sweets to dogs! it can cause tummy upsets, obesity, and a whole range of issues here is a great article &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/6-reasons-why-your-dog-shouldnt-have-sugar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/6-reasons-why-your-dog-shouldnt-have-sugar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the breed, life stage of your dog you should calculate the right  amount of food to  feed. This  article &lt;a href=&quot;http://shihtzuexpert.com/best-dog-food-for-shih-tzu/#DogFoodBuyersGuide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://shihtzuexpert.com/best-dog-food-for-shih-tzu/#DogFoodBuyersGuide&lt;/a&gt; presents a scientific way to figure out how much to feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11956" LastActivityDate="2018-05-07T13:11:49.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-07T23:19:51.707" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2beL0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OTgPZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I just adopted this little cuty here and i’m just curious if it’ll have short hair or long hair it seems to me that’s it gonna be long haired Any help i’m thankful i want to know if mine is from the pictures i posted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12070" LastEditorUserId="12070" LastEditDate="2018-05-08T21:27:04.673" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T21:27:04.673" Title="Will my cat have long hair or short hair" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-05-08T12:43:21.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20309" CreationDate="2018-05-08T05:58:15.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost all mamals do have nipples just like it is in human female/males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of mamarian nipples in cats are normaly 6 to 8 but it can vary from 4 to 10 and the numbers are not always even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More about this here:&lt;a href=&quot;https://kittyclysm.com/cat-nipples/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://kittyclysm.com/cat-nipples/&lt;/a&gt; if you google cat nipples you will find a lot of information about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer to your question is this is not related to fleas it is just mamarian nipples and both female and male cats have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(mamarian nipples are the same as breast nipples)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-05-08T08:12:18.093" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T08:12:18.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-08T12:21:45.547" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had babies 2 weeks back and now whenever she sees me she starts to meow, giving me a sign that she is hungry.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But after eating, 5 to 10 minutes later she starts to meow again. She is a normal sized pet cat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't know what to do about her hunger. She did eat a lot in her pregnancy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I usually give her meat &amp;amp; chicken, but now when I feed her the same amount she vomits.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What should I do to not keep her hungry and not make her sick? A special diet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12073" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2018-05-08T17:08:39.483" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T20:57:45.213" Title="My cat always hungry" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20319" CreationDate="2018-05-08T20:57:45.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely take your cat in for a checkup. Any time you notice a change in your cat, you should take her in. A lot of the time it's very hard to tell if a cat is ill, so any change at all should be checked out, to be safe.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you're there, ask what your cat's diet should look like while she's nursing. Producing milk takes a lot of calories, so it's likely she should be eating more anyways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, vomiting soon after eating is relatively common in cats. One of the reasons this might happen is if the cat wolfs its food down too fast. If your cat is the kind to not overeat, then it could make sense to just leave food out for her all the time. That way she can eat at her leisure, rather than when she's so hungry she'll wolf it down. It may also make sense to feed her this way while she's nursing only, and go back to the normal routine when she's no longer nursing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-08T20:57:45.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-09T15:14:22.193" Score="3" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at trying to breed earthworms, specifically Nightcrawlers (&lt;em&gt;Lumbricus terrestris&lt;/em&gt;) also called dew worms. Part of the reason I'm specifically interested in keeping nightcrawlers as opposed to the smaller species of earthworms called red wrigglers (&lt;em&gt;Eisenia fetida&lt;/em&gt;) is the red wrigglers produce a defensive slime that stinks and can make snakes sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's easy enough to keep nightcrawlers in a container of organic soil in a cool place, as it's commonly done when keeping them for fishing bait. But I've seen on television the nightcrawler &quot;farms&quot; that collect them to sell for fishing bait just collect them from a big empty field. I'm not sure if that's a logistics issue of how many they need to collect, or if it's an issue with breeding them in captivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was hoping to keep and breed them in a container kept in my basement. Like most live food they can get pretty expensive to continuously purchase from the store, and I don't really want to collect them from my backyard in case of exposure to pesticides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to breed nightcrawlers, or is there a reason it isn't something people do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T17:20:52.083" LastActivityDate="2018-05-15T05:43:08.857" Title="Is it possible to breed nightcrawlers (Lumbricus terrestris)?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18291" CreationDate="2018-05-09T18:24:44.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answering this question as it may help someone else too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitten diarrhea was fixed by stop feeding boiled chicken daily and feeding dry cat food as a regular diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the blood was stopped by deworming the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T18:24:44.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20307" CreationDate="2018-05-09T19:11:50.340" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Enclosure Type&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Air circulation is very beneficial to any animal, having an enclosure that can provide this will help with air quality and temperature. Glass terrariums do not provide adequate air circulation and tend to retain heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u4UXD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u4UXD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cooling Options&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61%2B7M1gJxOL._SY355_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Granite stone plaque&lt;/a&gt; - stone is generally cool, it's not a long term solution but will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Keep cage out of direct sunlight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Use black out blinds to prevent the sun from warming up the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Purchase a portable air conditioner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T19:11:50.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-09T19:27:13.040" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have brought in a female kitten from a busy railway area into my apartment building compound but I don't keep her at home, since it's too small. I and my friend feed her wet kitten food and is well taken care of most of the time. We have noticed she meows silently most of the time, is disinterested in playing with anything (balls, strings etc). She eats fine but is skinny and walks weirdly, it looks like she lacks strength. She sits on my lap and likes to sleep and knead me but bites a lot when you stretch out our hand to her, especially fingers. Rarely licks but definitely bites a lot. &#xA;Also she keeps rubbing her head against a lot of things and even with people she isn't familiar. &#xA;Her pupil of one eye is normal but the other is misshapen and probably doesn't constrict in bright light. &#xA;Overall she is not interested in anything and her behaviour does signal towards some neurological issues. She is a few weeks old, not sure though since I found her on the street. She is a really young kitty and most her age are often quite agile and playful but she seems to be having a very different behaviour in almost every aspect. I am very confused. Please help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12077" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T19:27:13.040" Title="Does my stray kitten have neuro issues?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-09T20:18:42.513" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I was given a sick baby leopard gecko because I was the only person that the owner of the pet store know that would take good care of it since I already have 3 leopard geckos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The baby leopard gecko is extremely skinny and has stick tail I believe. It won’t eat and looks very weak. Is there anything I can do for it to start eating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It’s currently in a 10 gallon with paper towels. I put in the bowl of small baby mealworms mixed with calcium just in case if it’s interested.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12078" LastActivityDate="2018-05-09T20:18:42.513" Title="Sick Baby Leopard Gecko" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-08-30T11:56:52.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20330" CreationDate="2018-05-10T01:42:22.057" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a 5.5 gallon fish tank and am curious about the quantity of animals I can have in the tank. I currently own six fish. I don't know their proper names, but I own one bottom feeder fish(the black ones that clean the tank) and five smaller fish that won't grow past two inches, as well as one snail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious, would 2 frogs and/or a couple shrimp live comfortably inside a tank of this size? What are the limits when adding other types of animals to a fish tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12079" LastActivityDate="2018-05-10T13:31:21.143" Title="How many pets can I keep in an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-10T11:09:03.897" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, is there a significant difference in the prevalence of pet dog ownership in the United States among the white, black and Hispanic populations, or in Britain among the White British, Black British and British Pakistani populations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I am asking only about pet dogs, not about dogs kept principally for personal protection or other work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user11804" LastActivityDate="2018-05-11T00:45:06.280" Title="How does pet dog ownership vary (if at all) in western countries by ethnicity?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20328" CreationDate="2018-05-10T13:31:21.143" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are close to the max number of fish as it is now so you should not add any more fish to your aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to how many fish you can have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howmanyfish.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.howmanyfish.com/&lt;/a&gt; and please read all of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please remember the numbers given in the link is just an estimate so you need to have fewer fish in your tank as there is many variables like How good are the filter-The amount of decorations in your tank-Temparature in your tank-How often you do maitenance(changes water and clean your tank)-The amount of food you give the fish and lots more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A larger aquarium takes less work to keep running than a small one so it is best to go for the largest aquarium you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-05-10T13:31:21.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-10T20:36:04.007" Score="4" ViewCount="715" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I have a friend who needs to place to stay for a while and I've offered to let her stay with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is, last time I had friends spend the night at my house, my cat refused to leave from under the couch. She did not eat (until I eventually put her bowl under the couch) drink, or use the litterbox until they left. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that it was because I had to keep her out of my room/away from me (one of my friends is allergic to cats, and took the bedroom), but I'm anxious that she might stress out again with my friend she's never met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind her hiding or not wanting to interact with my friends, but when she doesn't eat or drink, it concerns me greatly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love my cat with all my heart, but I can't just not help my friend when she needs it, and I need to know what I should do to help my cat bear with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12085" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-05-12T11:58:18.930" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T11:58:18.930" Title="Problems with cat hiding and stressing from overnight guests" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20329" CreationDate="2018-05-10T22:07:11.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the United States, it seems that &lt;strong&gt;the rate of pet dog ownership is more than twice as high among white people than among black people, and nearly twice as high as it is among people of Hispanic ethnicity&lt;/strong&gt;. A survey of 3014 respondents conducted by Pew in that country in 2005 (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2006/03/07/gauging-family-intimacy/63-2/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/10/Pets.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;full report&lt;/a&gt;) found that the percentages of respondents with each of the three ethnicities who had a dog were as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;white    45%&#xA;Hispanic 26%&#xA;black    20%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The differences do not seem to be explicable purely by income inequality, since the figures for income brackets were as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;$100000+       50%&#xA;$50000-$99999  44%&#xA;$30000-$49999  42%&#xA;$0-$29999      29%&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the researchers asked specifically about pets, not about dogs kept exclusively for other purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user11805" LastEditorDisplayName="user11805" LastEditDate="2018-05-11T00:45:06.280" LastActivityDate="2018-05-11T00:45:06.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20331" CreationDate="2018-05-10T22:28:21.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to guess that part of the reason why your cat was so bad when your friend visited is because it had no place that it felt truly safe from your visitor. I'm guessing, based on the fact that your cat was hiding under the couch, that your cat had no hiding options that didn't force it to possibly cross paths with your friend if it were to come out, since couches are usually located in the living room, and the living room is usually a central place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think if a monster (not that your friend is bad, but that to a cat, strangers are very scary) were tromping around your house. Would you feel safer in the central room where it kept going in and out, or in a room off to the side where the monster never came close to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I think you should not have your friend stay in your bedroom. The bedroom is a common place for cats to hide, they often spend a lot of time sleeping there so it would feel more comforting to them than in a random room they don't normally go, bedrooms are normally not centrally located, and it has a lot of hiding places.  Your cat is probably much more comfortable there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not the bedroom, pick another room away from where your friend is likely to go, and try to make it up into a pleasant den like area that the cat will like.  Give it hiding places and comfortable things to lie on. I recommend doing this before your friend arrives and see if you can convince your cat to use the room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in preparation for your friend staying, it might make sense to move the box and food and water (or place additional ones temporarily) in that room, so the cat will know to expect them there, and it doesn't have to go far too use these things. But any rate, while your cat is hiding, make sure the food, water, and box are as close to its hiding spot as possible. Just be careful if you do move your cat's necessities beforehand, to make sure the cat has figured out to use them. Some cats don't like their things being moved, so you might have to do it gradually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it might even make sense to shut the cat into the room while your friend is there, so that there's a barrier between it and your friend. If the cat is hiding all the time, shutting it into a single room isn't so bad, because it wasn't going to move around anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is potentially a long stay, then I recommend trying to acclimate your cat to your friend's presence very, very slowly. If you are closing the door, after some days, if the cat seems more calm, try cracking the door, for instance. Give the cat the opportunity to come out and investigate, but do not cut off its access to its safe spot. Your friend should only come close to the cat if the cat chooses to approach them. Otherwise, they should give the cat space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the stay is expected to be shorter term, there are other possible options, such as boarding the cat. But boarding the cat can also be very stressful, so I don't really recommend it unless it's the better of bad options, such as giving up your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-05-10T22:41:43.720" LastActivityDate="2018-05-10T22:41:43.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15202" CreationDate="2018-05-11T14:01:02.810" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a fish do that after hitting a rock. Sounds like the swim bladder was injured. He lived a couple years just fine but then a blue heron showed up :(. He was easy prey since he liked to rest on top of the rocks because he couldn’t float. So just keep that in mind for protection. Now this morning, my favorite koi was injured by a heron. It dropped her but she has a big injury. Trying to research what I can do for her. She seems to be swimming ok right now but only time will tell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12087" LastActivityDate="2018-05-11T14:01:02.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15202" CreationDate="2018-05-11T19:05:59.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To treat wounds on koi you can use surface painting (applying it directly on the wound of your fish). This is first aid to your fish to avoid infection of the wound; in addition to this, you have to make sure the water parameters are good to be sure you give the fish the best chance of surviving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy potassium permanganate solution in any pharmacy and use a Q-tip (cotton bud) to apply this directly on the wound of your fish. Using this is the best solution in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potassium permanganate is a powerful antibiotic and antifungal remedy and it has a natural part in every first aid kit for both human and for use on pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do google potassium permanganate, you will find lots of information about the use of it - everything from desinfecting garden ponds to treating wounds in people and pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very little can be done if it is an old wound, but try talking to a vet and ask if it is possible to put in an suture to close the wound. Try to keep an eye out for signs of infection in the wound and try to keep the water parameters as good as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-30T09:01:40.810" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T09:01:40.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7123" CreationDate="2018-05-12T01:33:20.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, dogs do not only see in black and white.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans' colour perception is trichromatic (our eyes have cones sensitive to each of the colours red, green and blue); dogs' is dichromatic (theirs have cones sensitive to each of yellow and blue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their ratio of rods to cones is higher than ours, but the conclusion that they do not perceive colour as brightly as we do may not be accurate. Researchers in Russia &lt;a href=&quot;http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1766/20131356&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;found&lt;/a&gt; that for eight previously untrained dogs colour was more informative than brightness when they were choosing between stimuli that differed in both brightness and colour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not convinced that it would be right to conclude that dogs cannot perceive red as a colour or at least cannot distinguish it from green and yellow (which would in humans be a form of colour blindness). I have a friend whose dog treated all red vans, and vans of no other colour, as if they were post vans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user11805" LastEditorDisplayName="user11805" LastEditDate="2018-05-12T01:41:55.710" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T01:41:55.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-12T03:11:41.243" Score="2" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Peach, had her first litter of kittens on May 9th. The first two were born together with one placenta and two umbilical cords attached to that placenta. She had 3 others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The twins seems great at first glance. The first one to come out is sucking wonderfully and progressing very well. The second will not suck for longer than two minutes and only if I put it's nose to the nipple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's began to get cold even though it's being warmed up by mom and other kittens. It doesn't meow hardly. It's half the size of the other kittens. I've been doing nutrical, bottle feeding, stimulating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12089" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-05-12T21:17:16.013" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T21:17:16.013" Title="Newborn kitten, cold and won't nurse" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-12T12:06:07.697" Score="1" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months back my gecko lost his tail, as of recently his behavior has changed. He used to climb high up and stay there, now he is now on the ground and digging himself in the soil. He has even started to eat mouthfuls of dirt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spray him regularly and feed him often, what could be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12092" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-05-12T21:36:23.867" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T19:53:23.440" Title="Why is my crested gecko is trying to burrow and eat soil?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-12T12:19:02.673" Score="4" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently use half Reverse Osmosis (RO) water, half tap water &amp;amp; dechlorinator for my aquariums (probably closer to 75/25) but it takes a lot of water to generate enough RO to do water changes every week. For each unit of RO I create, I throw away at least 2 units. I know that I could use it for other purposes (such as water plants etc) but I still have to pay for that water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the UK so there's no shortage of rainwater falling out of the sky. As I am removing the total dissolved solids and, I think, the bacteria, there should be no reason that I cannot generate RO water with rainwater that I can see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I safely make RO water using rainwater as the input and is my reasoning above correct?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-16T11:26:57.100" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T16:33:42.700" Title="Can I Use Rainwater to Generate Reverse Osmosis Water for Fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-12T12:39:25.023" Score="3" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering wooden worktops when in replace my kitchen, which will need regular oiling with this or something similar: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rustins.ltd/rustins/our-products/indoor/danish-oil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rustins Danish Oil.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'm pretty sure it will be safe when dry, I can't find any information about whether it's safe for cats while it's drying (inevitably my little monsters will walk across it and it's not possible to exclude them from the room).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10093" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T21:32:21.470" Title="Is wooden worktop oil safe for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-12T14:04:16.537" Score="4" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a senior cat who is 24 years old. Very frail and small. She was a very happy cat until we got our new little guy which I should say is not so little. He is about 3 times her size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that he attacks my muffin about 3 to 4 times a day! She walks around in fear all the time. I want her to feel comfortable in her last few years, but instead I'm afraid she will soon die due to the trauma he causes her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a 3 bedroom apartment with no upstairs space. I don't know how to handle the situation. Of course we love our new cat I'm just to the point of re-homing him which I know is shitty for him, but what else can we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just hate finding patches of her fur all over the house! She now is limping and walks around in fear. She has been with us her entire life. If she had her way she would just relax and sleep, but when this happens he jumps on her back bites her neck until she screams bloody murder and he refuses to get off her back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12093" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-05-12T21:18:28.207" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:10.850" Title="3 year old male cat keeps attacking 24 year old female cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20342" CreationDate="2018-05-12T14:35:31.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think he's just trying to dominate his new territory so he starts showing her that he's the boss. Usually male cats do not do that with females, but in your case the female is too old for him, so he feels like she's the old owner of this territory and he needs to fight her to win the territory crown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to bring them two in the same room, then close the door and put the old cat in your lap. Treat her well in front of his eyes to show him that she's a member of your pack and not an enemy, then put her down and do the same thing with him so he doesn't feel that she has special pack hegemony over him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the same thing too, many times, and be aware that he may try to attack her while she's on your lap, so you need to be ready to stop him immediately if he attempts to attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this treatment will not cure his attitude in one day or two. You have to do it many many times till you feel the change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11888" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:06:10.850" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:06:10.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20341" CreationDate="2018-05-12T21:32:21.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be best to not allow any pets in the kitchen while it's drying, you may just have to isolate them in a room (with all necessities) until drying is complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rustins.ltd/images/files/1135-SDS-DANISH%20OIL%201_SDS.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MSDS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most important adverse effects:&lt;/strong&gt; Repeated exposure may cause skin dryness or cracking. Contains cobalt 6, methyl ethyl&#xA;  ketoxime, 2-octyl-2h-isothiazol-3-one. May produce an allergic reaction. Flammable&#xA;  liquid and vapour. May cause drowsiness or dizziness. May cause an allergic skin&#xA;  reaction. Toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this is for people it is better to err on the side of caution, mammalian skin can react fairly similarly to products like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-05-12T21:32:21.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-13T05:35:09.737" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a shiba. He is now 16 months old. We live in a hot region in Brazil. This is our first pet, therefore we don't know how to address many suspicious behaviors. Unfortunately, some of these symptoms have lasted for most of his life now, and the vets we have seen so far in the city were unable to effectively help us. The symptoms I'm talking about are related to pooping. He only poops during walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two symptoms have lasted for most of his life now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He always takes a long time, that is, he seems to need to walk a lot, before he can seem to be able to poop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For most of the minutes before pooping, he gets agitated, like he needs desperately to get free of some pain --- even though this lasts!... as I said, he takes time!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next two symptoms have occurred before (not always), but are especially strong lately (for many weeks now), making me even more concerned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Immediately after pooping, he vigorously licks his anus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While walking, he suddenly (very suddenly) sits down with his anus on the ground, or walks strangely with his anus down (a little, not touching the ground), as if something suddenly started to ache.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what about his feces? They have (almost) never been hard and dry --- rather the contrary: they used to be (seemingly unhealthy) soft most times. This has changed a few weeks ago, after a major dietary change (we are trying things out): before, he used to eat raw meat exclusively; then he started to be fed just cooked meat, rice and potatoes. After that change, his feces seem to be always healthy (neither hard nor soft). However, that dietary change didn't seem to affect the aforementioned symptoms. Not yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the problem here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12096" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T12:05:08.197" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T21:03:45.303" Title="Dog strange behavior before pooping" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20345" CreationDate="2018-05-13T06:01:32.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Might be the anal glands. They might be overfilled or agitated. Nothing to worry about, just a short visit to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally they should be emptied while pooping, but there might have been not enough pressure applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-05-13T06:01:32.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-13T09:41:58.527" Score="2" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 month old German Shepherd puppy which had a wound on her head and maggots inside her wound. I have consulted with a vet and they treated her with injection and a spray. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is fine now and the living insects are dead inside wound. They are black in colour now and the dog is playing and feeding well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are those dead insects inside wound dangerous to the dog or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12098" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-13T13:20:22.503" LastActivityDate="2018-05-13T13:20:22.503" Title="Are the dead maggots in a wound dangerous to the dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2018-05-13T16:35:42.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All previous provide good advice. But if none of those measures work, do not give up trying to help your dog. With mine, I went through all those steps, and nothing had worked. When we got to the medication step, Alprazolam did not reduce his anxiety while made him lose his motor coordination in such a way that he could hurt himself. It was when we tried Tranxene that it worked. He finally could sit through a storm without freaking out and could still play although his eyes seemed like he was definitely under the influence. See this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcoach.co/article/clorazepate-dipotassium-tranxene/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petcoach.co/article/clorazepate-dipotassium-tranxene/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12101" LastActivityDate="2018-05-13T16:35:42.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-13T18:05:07.613" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta fish does not want to eat and has developed a discoloration under his chin. He is acting sick. Can someone help? Attached is a picture. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8LO3k.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8LO3k.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12102" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T08:00:57.283" Title="Betta fish question" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5939" CreationDate="2018-05-14T10:28:13.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has alot to do with genetics. How we domesticate an animal is basicly picking the most docile of the group and mate it with the second most docile and keep this selective progress going on. Cat being docile in Japan is really important and while breeding they probably paid more attention to this property more than others as in other parts of the world they really did not care. As a result cats are more docile in japan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12104" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T10:28:13.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20353" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-14T10:46:03.727" Score="4" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a week ago, I found four baby crows which fell down from a broken tree. I raised them until they started to fly on their own. I expected them to come near me when they became adults, but they don't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any particular reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12105" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T12:50:36.760" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T12:50:36.760" Title="Why do the baby crows I raised not approach me as adults?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20353" CreationDate="2018-05-14T12:02:15.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most, if not all, wild animals have a fear of humans. It's very good for survival. We humans have been the apex predator on earth for about 50.000 years or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now birds do have a period of attachment very early on. As in minutes to hours at the most after hatching. In that time period you may attach to you and think you are it's parent. Imprinting it's called. Quite cute how they follow you around when that happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you were too late for that process and their survival instinct is strong. While they probably will recognize you and be more friendly to you then towards other people, &lt;strong&gt;you were just too late and their instincts are too strong to become really friendly&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-14T12:48:06.613" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T12:48:06.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-14T15:03:52.710" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that I live in a very hot place where the temperatures get extremely hot (especially during the summer) and I have a 55 gallon (around 210 liters) tank with a few angelfish, an aquarium chiller is highly necessary. I want to prepare beforehand and I've been on the lookout for a great chiller for a while now, did my research and all. I've been looking at &lt;a href=&quot;https://fishtankclub.com/best-aquarium-chiller/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; about chillers and I think it's all very well explained and sounds promising, but I'm still not sure whether to get one of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12106" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:28:17.847" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:28:17.847" Title="Need help choosing a chiller" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20355" CreationDate="2018-05-14T21:43:46.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can actually help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too have a 55 gallon (around 210 liters) fish tank. (actually a 54 gallon corner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing is: How hot is too hot?&#xA;Is 78-80 °F (26-27 °C) too hot and never should be seen? This means you need a chiller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is 78-80 °F ok, you should consider a small fan that can be pointed at the surface of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.marinedepot.com/JBJ_Arctica_Titanium_Chiller_DBA_075_1_10HP_1_4_HP_Less_with_a_Built_In_Controller-JBJ_Lighting-JB1111-FICHINQCBC-vi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chiller&lt;/a&gt; that runs perfectly on a 55 gallon tank (unless you are cooling a nuclear reactor ie: a faulty AC pump): 1/10th HP and I also ran/run a small fan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the verdict: unless its absolutely necessary to keep the temps very low, go with the fan first. They cost about $10 and will show you pretty quick if they are adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note on the chiller: when it runs it pulls out the heat from the water then adds its own heat (the compressor running) and expels it all into the room its in. So your room will get stupid hot without proper A/C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never keep the chiller inside the cabinet it needs proper ventilation, otherwise its useless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11608" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:26:09.713" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:26:09.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9544" CreationDate="2018-05-14T22:41:24.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had two cats in my life that &quot;fetch&quot; the first I learned by accident. I wadded up a piece of paper and threw it away and she brought it back to me.  Her reward was a belly rub. She loved them. My current female cat starting playing fetch with me a few months ago. She brought the toy to me. I thanked her, threw it and brought it back (several times lol) she had kittens a few weeks ago and they are about weaned and now she's is initiating the fetch game again. We are the lucky ones to have such special kitties&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12110" LastActivityDate="2018-05-14T22:41:24.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20376" CreationDate="2018-05-15T01:25:44.240" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a concept in Chinese that baby bats are easy to be unrecognizable to their parents. The idea is that after baby bats molt, even their parents won't be able to tell who they are. Not only that though, it is said that because their parents cannot tell who they are they will just ruthlessly eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of bats eating their young, and there is very little info about it online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which makes it seem like its a misconception more than anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any truth to the idea that bats eat their babies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T09:01:33.190" Title="Do bats eat their babies?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2018-05-16T09:01:42.737" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20362" CreationDate="2018-05-15T04:48:32.787" Score="38" ViewCount="8526" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 kittens outside our house, only a few weeks old (perhaps a month) but their Mom died in an accident. Now there is no one to take care of them. We have decided to step in and take care of them but I don't know what to feed them as they are very young and may not have teeth to chew kibble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question, should I give them a bath, they are very dirty as they were outside in dirt. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-15T11:27:37.763" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T13:19:11.110" Title="What to feed kittens that are only a few weeks old? (Their mother died)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20361" CreationDate="2018-05-15T06:39:55.740" Score="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this young age the kittens still require milk, you can probably get some kitten milk from a vet store, a quality pet store with a knowledgeable staff, or make your own (only if not available elsewhere, as it is extremely hard to get the nutrition correct, but should be safe for a few days until you find a commercially available one). They will have to be fed with a bottle or tube of proper size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you have a vet available, please get in touch with them as soon as possible as they will be able to give you advice and help you with the supplies you will be needing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the first article linked below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Emergency Kitten Milk Replacer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 oz condensed milk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 oz water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 oz plain yogurt (not low fat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 large or 4 small egg yolks - &lt;strong&gt;no whites&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important to accurately age the kittens, as they may not be able to properly urinate or defecate yet, which is something they are able to do at about 3 weeks. If they are under three weeks, you can take a cotton ball or piece of very soft cloth moistened with warm water, and gently rub the anal and genital area; within one to two minutes the kitten will urinate and/or defecate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Washing: Most washing should be done with a damp cloth, to also teach them to groom themselves, but if they are very dirty it's ok to use warm water under a faucet to clean dirt out. Be careful not to get water in their noses, mouths, and ears. If these areas need cleaning use a dry or moist cotton swab or cotton ball, or a clean piece of cloth. It's important to not leave them wet for too long, as this is a sure way for them to get too cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Links to help you along:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-raise-orphan-kittens/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-raise-orphan-kittens/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/centers/kitten/adoption-getting-a-kitten/evr_ct_orphaned_kitten_care&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/cat/centers/kitten/adoption-getting-a-kitten/evr_ct_orphaned_kitten_care&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://kittenrescue.org/2017/03/raising-orphaned-kittens/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://kittenrescue.org/2017/03/raising-orphaned-kittens/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T05:04:21.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20452" CreationDate="2018-05-15T07:52:08.040" Score="6" ViewCount="1480" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to build a wall-mounted wood playground for my two indoor cats, almost 2 years old. They aren't that much into chewing, but they do enjoy biting leather shoes and tearing apart sisal ropes and cardboard boxes. I would like to build wooden bridges with a rope material they aren't going to chew away easily, so that I can build the bridges only once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I considered these alternatives for the ropes material, but each has its pros and cons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leather rope: it seems sturdy, but I fear not enough to withstand the bites. It's soft enough to be knotted;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sisal or hemp rope: they are sturdy indeed and, like leather, can be knotted. I notice (and read online) that cats tend to chew on it with fervor, and straws of sisal could be ingested causing potential troubles in the cat's interiors;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rubber wire: elastic and cheap, but I have no references on the internet about how cats deal with them. I fear rubber pieces are nasty if ingested;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(plastic coated) iron wire: much sturdier than the other alternatives, but more rigid. My window protections are metal wire webs and they hold well against weight, claws and teeth. I'm more worried about the cats' health if they tried to chew metal and ruined their teeth. Not sure about how plastic coating affects this last point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative is to coat whatever wire I decide to use with those anti-chewing sprays, but I would rather not if I manage to.&#xA;Another alternative would be to avoid &quot;ropes&quot; altogether and go for a fixed wooden bridge, which could be feasible but is not an answer to the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any chewing experience on any of these material? Can you give advice on these concerns (and possibly other ones I didn't consider)? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12114" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T17:28:33.153" Title="Chew proof rope for cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20361" CreationDate="2018-05-15T10:07:44.307" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I helped raise a pair of infant kittens last year (my wife found them abandoned at 3-4 days of age). We gave them kitten milk replacement from a vet. Because the milk replacement wasn't very high quality I tried giving them meat at a very young age (I can't remember exactly how young, but they they were too young to chew anyway, probably ~3 weeks old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I started them on very small slivers of raw chicken heart, they would suck the sliver of meat into their mouth and suck on it - I think they wanted to suck it in, but it would get caught on their tiny teeth. After a couple of days they learned how to eat it properly and pretty quickly lost interest in the milk replacement, at that point I also started feeding them a wet food for kittens to ensure they got the nutrients they needed. They gained weight much faster once they were eating food. Overall they were &quot;weaned&quot; from milk at a significantly younger age than kittens with a mother would be, but they still thrived and are both now very large and healthy cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tangentially related we also found a severely emaciated young kitten at about the same time (probably 4-6 weeks old), which I also initially fed slivers of raw chicken heart. It seems to be particularly tempting for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If/once they are big enough to chew you can try giving them raw chicken necks or wings (in pieces too large to swallow whole), even small kittens are remarkably effective at chewing the meat from bones and it will help them with teething and jaw development. They also make adorable growling noises while chewing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final thing to note is that the first few months of a kittens life are extremely formative in terms of what it grows up believing food is. While cats can be fussy, a young kitten will try eating almost anything and it will tend to remember what it ate as a kitten. Since I didn't intend to keep any of these kittens, I fed them all a broad range of food: raw meat, raw bones, wet food and kibble, so as adults they would eat anything their forever owner deemed fit to feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This conditioning also makes it easier to give cats medicine or special medical diets, a concrete example of this is that these kittens were extremely hard for the vet to handle (being hand-raised by humans made them uppity) and he couldn't give them squirt-in-the-mouth oral medicine due to all the squirming and wriggling. I asked for pills instead and just stuffed a pill into a chicken heart, which the kitten would swallow whole, oblivious to just being fed medicine. We have another cat who obviously only ever ate kibble as a kitten and she is a nightmare to give pills to as she never mastered the art of snaking down whole pieces of meat and is suspicious of things that smell funny. So this is your chance to condition the kittens into being easy to feed and medicine cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10124" LastActivityDate="2018-05-15T10:07:44.307" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20363" CreationDate="2018-05-15T10:56:59.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe look at tow rope. This is sturdy enough to pull vehicles. I'm sure it will be hard/take a while to chew through. Like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bearmach.com/tow-rope-ba-3008?glCountry=GB&amp;amp;glCurrency=GBP&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwubQmMeH2wIV5BXTCh20LgLvEAQYAiABEgL__PD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://bearmach.com/tow-rope-ba-3008?glCountry=GB&amp;amp;glCurrency=GBP&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwubQmMeH2wIV5BXTCh20LgLvEAQYAiABEgL__PD_BwE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's thick and sturdy, but I'm sure you can get different thicknesses. It may be good for their claws too, for scratching, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T11:17:13.497" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T11:17:13.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20386" CreationDate="2018-05-15T13:32:29.533" Score="6" ViewCount="1915" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today we were gifted with a budgie from an elderly extended family member who is no longer able to care for her along with a cage containing a couple of mirrors. She seems quite transfixed on them and my understanding is they recognize the reflection as another bird instead of themselves. I did some further research and a few posts I've found such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Why-should-I-put-mirrors-in-my-budgies-cage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why should I put mirrors in my budgie's cage?&lt;/a&gt; seem to suggest that mirrors are sometimes not such a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment she's in her original cage with mirrors and we thought we'd leave her that way a few days until she gets used to the new surroundings. But at some point we'd like to place her in a large cage with four other budgies and I'm wondering if maybe the mirrors should be removed for a week or so in advance so she's more likely to socialize with the other birds after being &quot;alone&quot; for a while or if that's likely to cause her any stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-05-17T15:28:45.883" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T15:28:45.883" Title="Should a mirror be removed from a budgie cage before socializing it with others?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-15T13:32:36.343" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is mourning like never before, this is compeltely new behavior (he is 16 monsths old shiba). Not much, like once a day, while lying down, he cries like a weak howling, at low volume, without opening his mouth. It sounds very, very melancholic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been wearing an Elizabethan collar lately, and I think he's probably stressed and sorrowful because of it. Do you agree with that or do you think I should suspect of other cause? That's the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this sounds silly, but this is our first pet, and sometimes it is hard to know what to do. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JR9h6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JR9h6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Elizabethan collar&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kelpie_wearing_an_Elizabethan_collar.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image source&lt;/a&gt; as used on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_collar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikipedia article.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12096" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-08-14T14:56:40.927" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T14:56:40.927" Title="Is Elizabethan collar likely to cause very melancholic mourning or should I suspect of something else?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20361" CreationDate="2018-05-16T00:43:07.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't give them solid food until they are 4 weeks old. Eyes and ears open at 5 to 10 days. Regardless of age, they probably need feeding every 3 hours. If you can get wet kitten food that might be easier, or you can dampen the kibble with a little water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-04-15T13:19:11.110" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T13:19:11.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-16T03:41:03.860" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our oldest male cat (Bear just turned 2) and our younger male cat (Jr. will be 1 in July) keeping grabbing our youngest female (Callie was born Feb. 22, 2018) by the back of the neck &amp;amp; climbing on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do have two older females. Mittens (Bear's sister and she just got fixed a few weeks ago) and Princess (Jr's sister). Bear doesn't try to mate with the two older females and never tried before. Jr. does try to mate with both even with Mittens after she got fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do have Callie's sister which are from Mittens last litter. We also have Princess's four kittens from her first litter which where born March 29, 2018. We are confused on why both male cats are going after Callie. We are only keeping the 5 cats we named. We are planning to get the other 4 fix asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please help us figure out what is going on please. We have tried keeping the males away from the females, spraying water on them, and yell at them. We don't know what else to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also with our two older females we are having an issue. Princess keeps going after Mittens aggressively and acts like a bully at times. Other times she cleans her, rubs against her, and will even lay with her. Princess is from Mittens first litter. We love all our cats very much but they are starting to stress us out. They always have fresh water (5 bowls) and food (6 bowls). When we give them can food or treats, we places it down so they all can eat at the same time. They all get along with no issues while eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12136" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-05-16T04:04:57.257" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T04:04:57.257" Title="What to do about our two male cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20374" CreationDate="2018-05-16T04:01:10.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal behaviour for tomcats. They will try to mount spayed females, intact females, other males, sometimes inanimate objects. As much as wanting to breed with them it is a display of dominance. It is also worth noting that cats will mate with their siblings, their parents, their own kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No amount of yelling or water spraying is going to dampen their instict to mount or mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your answer is really in the question – you need to get everyone spayed and neutered as soon as possible. I would start with the males if costs or time is a concern – neutering is a quick and inexpensive procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime you must keep the unneutered males and females separate. I would keep them separate at all times, including meal times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A female cat can become pregnant as early as 4 months old. If you are not careful, you will end up with more kittens than you can find good homes for. There is nothing wrong with responsible breeding, but be aware that there are thousands of kittens out there that deserve a good home and will never find one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T04:01:10.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20360" CreationDate="2018-05-16T09:01:33.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Any truth to the idea that bats eat their babies?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/biodiversity/loe/page_222.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meat-eating and fish-eating bats&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Yellow-eared bat (Phyllostomus hastatus) even &lt;strong&gt;feeds on other bats&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not members of their own species (&lt;a href=&quot;https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Phyllostomus_hastatus/#food_habits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ADW: Phyllostomus hastatus: INFORMATION&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greater spear-nosed bats have been documented eating mice (Mus musculus), birds (Cyanerpes cyaneus), and even &lt;strong&gt;other bats, such as Hemiderma perspicillatum&lt;/strong&gt;. (Brosset, et al., 1996; Dunn, 1933; Raíces, et al., 2008; Willig, et al., 1993)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that (&lt;a href=&quot;http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Phyllostomus_hastatus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ADW: Phyllostomus hastatus: INFORMATION&lt;/a&gt;) goes on to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When pups fall from their roost, they are retrieved by their mother. Females from the same social group as the pup and its mother will visit the fallen pup, their presence &lt;strong&gt;providing protection from females of a different social group that may attack fallen pups&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is possible that bats eat baby bats (but not their own offspring).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8063" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T09:01:33.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20361" CreationDate="2018-05-16T16:05:11.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;KMR to start, from a bottle, easy to buy, google it, until they reach solids then moisten dry food, put on your finger and try to get them to eat it, put some in their mouth,  same with wet kitten food on a finger, once they take to it, and they will off your finger, then getting them to eat from plate then a bowl is simple.  Call your local rescue, they will coach you.   They love people willing to step in and do the work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12144" LastActivityDate="2018-05-16T16:05:11.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20340" CreationDate="2018-05-16T17:35:23.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your pre filters too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My RO/DI unit has a sediment filter -&gt; carbon filter -&gt; RO membrane -&gt; DI resins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the carbon filter you should be ok filtering rain water through your RO unit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also keep in mind Ro filtering works if you have proper pressure: 60 PSI is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you will need a booster pump for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article might shed some more light on the bacteria removal (paragraph 5):&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.purewaterproducts.com/articles/carbon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.purewaterproducts.com/articles/carbon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems between carbon and the RO membrane you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems like a good choice:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-universal-carbon-block-filter-1-micron.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-universal-carbon-block-filter-1-micron.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11608" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-17T16:33:42.700" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T16:33:42.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-16T19:23:58.700" Score="4" ViewCount="1133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got home tonight and found my gourami injured.&#xA;She's in a community tank, with, amongst others, five large male angels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've taken her out of the tank into a hospital tank. I don't know if she needs any medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JpyCh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JpyCh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TyodQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TyodQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XBTS4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XBTS4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&#xA;After two nights and  day in the hospital, she's looking much better. The fluffiness of the wounds have subsided. I'm fairly certain she's being bullied by the other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="10413" LastEditDate="2018-05-18T11:48:39.070" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T21:37:04.763" Title="What's wrong with my gourami? Has she been bitten, or is she ill?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20383" CreationDate="2018-05-17T10:20:52.653" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have a pet, but every other day a cat comes to us for food. This has been going on for a month now. In our part of the world (subcontinent), the stray cats/dogs will eat just about anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently give her a cup of milk 2 times a day and she drinks it without much fuss, and occasionally I give her some pieces of meat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that adult cats should not be given milk or wheat products such as bread. Is this valid for all cats or just the house cats. Meat is quite expensive, and if milk is not to be given, then what other food could be the option? Could I give her raw or boiled eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen her catch mice, so she isn't completely dependent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12149" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-05-17T14:47:25.537" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T14:47:25.537" Title="How to feed stray/wild cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-17T12:33:02.813" Score="3" ViewCount="876" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a video of a vertical dog seatbelt that led through to Zugo Pet at &lt;a href=&quot;https://zugopet.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://zugopet.com/&lt;/a&gt; these things would clearly help in an accident and could stop the dog jumping around but can they otherwise harm the dogs?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNNVA.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNNVA.png&quot; alt=&quot;This link is not playable follow the url to zugopet&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning:&lt;/strong&gt; The play button does not do anything it was a screenshot from the website to help for the purpose clarification. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10459" LastEditorUserId="10459" LastEditDate="2018-05-17T22:03:58.800" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T22:03:58.800" Title="Are vertical dog seat belts safe" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20381" CreationDate="2018-05-17T13:46:47.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not give any milk to any animal(Not only cats but all animals will get ill if you do give milk or milk products)It is better to give clean water and dry cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding dry catfood is safe for most of the wildlife like birds-rodents-foxes-dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat do  hunt it will only need catfood as a supplement to the prey it eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get the cat spayed or neutered so you need to talk to animal protection in your area to get this done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15674/cat-and-cows-milk-whole-milk-a-feral-cat-knows-whats-good-for-it-right&quot;&gt;Cat and cow&amp;#39;s milk (whole milk) -- A feral cat knows what&amp;#39;s good for it, right?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-17T14:46:01.810" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T14:46:01.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-17T13:53:30.860" Score="6" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from the UK and I was wondering if I can get terrapins. i have looked on all the websites of close by pet stores and none of them know where to get them from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-05-17T15:29:45.253" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T14:27:22.310" Title="Are Terrapins sold in the UK?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20382" CreationDate="2018-05-17T14:40:20.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Car Safety&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Care Safety is a necessity for any animal whether it be by carrier or seat belt. Since there are no regulations for car restraints for pets many companies can make false claims on their products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.centerforpetsafety.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Center For Pet Safety&lt;/a&gt; is a non profit organization who does crash testing on the current seat belts and carriers in the market. Only a few products have passed the test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;ZuGoPet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.centerforpetsafety.org/cps-certified/zugopet-rocketeer-pack/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ZuGoPet&lt;/a&gt; are one of the VERY few seat belts that have been certified as safe, they have even contacted a Veterinary Orthopedic Surgeon to conclude that there will not be any injury to the pet for long-term use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Letter to be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.centerforpetsafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Dr-Harari-Ltr.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T14:40:20.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20366" CreationDate="2018-05-17T15:26:29.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Bye Bye Mirror!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few reasons why most do not recommend mirrors, mainly because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can prevent obtaining a good relationship with your budgie.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The budgie can over bond with the mirror causing sexual frustration or reluctance to bond with other birds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aggression towards mirrored bird (though not your case)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is recommended and safe to remove the mirror, budgies are fairly smart and should still have plenty of foraging activities to keep them busy and happy. They may go through a &quot;grievance&quot; period and that is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mirrors do have their place&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a great technique to convert a bird from seed to pellets. By laying the mirror on the ground and sprinkling pellets on it, the bird will see his mirror companion as competition and will try to &quot;out eat&quot; the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend to check out the related links to ensure a safe introduction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19406/what-is-an-ideal-age-gap-for-between-parrot-friends&quot;&gt;What is an ideal age gap for between parrot friends?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15012/male-and-female-budgies-fighting/15013#15013&quot;&gt;Male and female budgies fighting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-05-17T15:26:29.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20384" CreationDate="2018-05-17T19:20:37.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like this breed is banned in the UK and EU, so there is no legal way to get this type of turtle in a pet shop, and it is not legal to breed red eared terrapins either: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petgazette.biz/11350-red-eared-sliders-banned-uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petgazette.biz/11350-red-eared-sliders-banned-uk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T14:27:22.310" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T14:27:22.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20395" CreationDate="2018-05-18T00:20:40.057" Score="4" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats just jumped in my lap and I started petting her like usual. She turned and faced away as she was getting comfortable, and I had a strong whiff of what I can only describe as acid. There's no poop smell or typical cat urine smell, and their litter box is normal. She looks like she might be a little wet in that area, but she's not dripping or anything like that. The other cat is fine, only one has this issue, and the other cat is treating her normally as though nothing is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked around my apartment and there's nothing abnormal around, she didn't sit in anything. My apartment isn't very large, so I'm confident that I didn't miss anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this be? My nostrils feel like they're actually burning from the acid-like smell, it was &lt;em&gt;incredibly&lt;/em&gt; strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7585" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditDate="2018-05-18T13:24:49.627" LastActivityDate="2018-05-18T16:32:04.673" Title="My cat's rear end smells like acid" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-18T01:41:03.713" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;My nine year old pit bull keeps barking and peeing in the house while my husband and I are outside doing yard work. She is not crate trained and is usually well behaved. Please help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12156" LastActivityDate="2018-05-20T21:33:14.257" Title="Dog peeing in the house while we are outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-05-20T21:28:58.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-18T02:56:58.417" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like arthropods a lot and enjoy keeping them, but most seem to be indifferent to humans or hate them, so are their any species of pet arthropods that enjoy interacting with humans and will bond with humans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11167" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-18T14:01:50.240" LastActivityDate="2018-05-18T14:01:50.240" Title="Arthropods That Bond" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20398" CreationDate="2018-05-18T12:55:19.027" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently realised that my black Labrador keeps licking my other dog's face when we give our other dog attention. This is causing no problems as it isn't hurting her, but I was just wondering: what may it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T00:53:19.287" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T00:53:19.287" Title="My dog licks my other dog's mouth" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-18T13:05:15.677" Score="-2" ViewCount="669" Body="&lt;p&gt;my goldfish tank's water is crystal clear and the filter is working fine but goldfish creates a lot of waste so their manure collects on the bottom of the tank(which is bare), is it okay or will it create ammonia spikes? I know that you can siphon out the poop but then you will be doing that every other day, is there any alternatives to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;btw my tank is a 40 gal with 2 goldfish and 2 pangasius(and 2 red neon lobsters), I'm planning to add more...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12157" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-10T02:57:50.913" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T02:57:50.913" Title="how do i keep my goldfish tank's bottom clean?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-05-20T03:39:46.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20392" CreationDate="2018-05-18T13:28:49.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frequent water changes are necessary, no matter what you do. You could get an under-gravel filter and some gravel, which will hide the poop, but not get rid of the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. The water will eventually become toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/water-changes-1381886&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thesprucepets.com/water-changes-1381886&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short version, change out 15-20% of your tank's water weekly with dechlorinated (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aqueon.com/products/specialty-equipment/siphon-vacuum-gravel-cleaners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aqueon.com/products/specialty-equipment/siphon-vacuum-gravel-cleaners&lt;/a&gt;) water. A great way to do this is using a gravel siphon (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aqueon.com/products/specialty-equipment/siphon-vacuum-gravel-cleaners&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aqueon.com/products/specialty-equipment/siphon-vacuum-gravel-cleaners&lt;/a&gt;). That will help you get the water and the poop out at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-05-18T13:28:49.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-18T15:50:37.930" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a new kitten and am having troubles at introducing the new kitten to my old resident cat Mitch. I have already tried the door and cat carrier ways and neither worked I have had her for about 24 hours now and they still hate each other I know its to soon to be asking for help but it is really worrying me and I really want my two cats to get along. PLEASE HELP ME OUT!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also my kitten isn't interested in drinking water... I dont think she drank anything since I got her last night. What should I do to get her to drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11308" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T14:45:06.240" Title="Kitten Worries and Questions" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20388" CreationDate="2018-05-18T16:32:04.673" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the vet today (they had an opening, it wasn't an emergency appointment). Hew said it's just the anal glands and nothing is wrong, they're not impacted or infected. He expressed them (squeezed them, I guess) and sent me on my way with info about some pet sprays that I can just spray directly on the cat if I smell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7585" LastActivityDate="2018-05-18T16:32:04.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-18T17:46:43.383" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can an aquarium which was used originally for a spider habitat, be repurposed for creating a fish habitat? Is there any particular way it should be cleaned, if it can be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12158" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-06-12T02:09:45.297" LastActivityDate="2018-06-12T07:56:36.083" Title="Can spider habitat be repurposed to be used as an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-06-12T18:11:48.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-18T18:58:14.783" Score="3" ViewCount="4755" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife got a goldfish from our pre-school. It came in a &quot;fishbowl&quot; the size of a large coffee cup and a tiny ziplock with fish food. It was severely stressed: fins clamped at his side, sunken belly, gulping bubbles at the top of the tank, flashing, drifting sideways, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a used 3 gallon fish tank, but had no time to set up or cycle. So, I put the &quot;fish-cup&quot; in the center of the empty tank and over the period of days, added maybe 4-6 oz per hour of sink water to the fish-cup (I have a RO filter) until the tank water level exceeded the &quot;fish-cup&quot; and he could escape into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He did experience some shock (lethargy), but the flashing and side-drifting stopped. I kept adding RO water and removed and replaced the majority of the water almost daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago I started running the filter for about 4 hours during the day (on a timer). He's not happy about the water-current, but he is alive. He explores (I think he's looking for a way out) and hides in his cave when people are around. He's eating, resting, actively swimming. No flashing, no lethargy. His major stress comes from me exchanging water. He freaks out, but the water needs changing. Right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to start the kids with aquatic plants then eventually add ghost shrimp. Maybe a betta for Christmas. For all the prior neglect, this goldfish is in much better shape now. I know the tank is too small for the goldfish. I feed him twice daily. I exchange about a half-gallon of the water daily with a pinch of baking soda to offset acidity. But I am not going to do much more. I might add a plant, but I worry anything new might stress him. I've had him for a week now and he seems ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had a goldfish before, so I don't know how they act. He seems to pace the tank like a caged tiger. Back and forth, up and down, front and back. After I add fish food, he waits... then stalks like a deep-water shark zipping up from the bottom and attacking at the surface. Is all of this &quot;goldfish behavior&quot; and him really needing a huge tank? Am I doing enough for his survival? If he lives a year, I might reconsider getting set up with a much larger tank. I just want to know if I'm giving him a sufficient minimum to survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12160" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-05-21T23:40:05.807" LastActivityDate="2020-02-24T02:16:35.250" Title="Help. A common goldfish living in 3 gallon tank" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20391" CreationDate="2018-05-18T20:01:25.553" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a sign that the recipient of the licks is higher in the pecking order. The licks are a sign of submissive behaviour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12161" LastActivityDate="2018-05-18T20:01:25.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-19T00:51:35.077" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I got a new tank, I upgraded from a standard 10 gallon tank to a 29 gallon. The ten gallon was over populated so I decided to try and move my fish over as soon as I could. The ten gallon tank had sand as substrate that was a pain to clean so I decided to get a more coarse gravel. I had an aqueon 10 quiet flow filter, the new tank came with the same filter but bigger (rated for up to 30 gallons). Because I removed the original sand I figured it would be smart to run both the new and old filter because of all the bacteria in the old one. I moved all the decorations to the new tank. I took out about 7-8 gallons from the 10 gallon tank to put into the 29 gallon, the rest of the water got too gross from moving stuff, and I filled it the rest of the way up. I slowly moved the fish over from the 10 to the 29, making sure to properly acclimated them first. Now today some of my fish seem “out of it” my red tail shark is very resilient and seems totally fine, but my sword tails are all in the top left corner of the tank hiding near the filter. Is this normal for the circumstances? Is it ok that I moved the fish over in this manor?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KLCeo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12165" LastActivityDate="2018-05-19T00:51:35.077" Title="Is the way I moved my fish to a new tank ok?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-19T04:54:06.940" Score="3" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is almost a year old. I got her when she was just between six and seven weeks old. She has been the perfect cat.  She loves me to pieces and she is great with the kids. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved about two and a half months ago and about a month ago she started to show some, I'm not sure if I should call it aggression, it seems like she's scared all of a sudden. She has been jumpy lately as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is still very social and wants to be held all the time but silly things seem to scare her now. Even me setting my phone down next to her if she's not totally paying attention and she's laying in my lap will scare her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like it's not me because she always wants to be around me and cuddle and have her belly rubbed. Just randomly she will freak out and scratch me for no apparent reason. She can be in the other room doing her own thing and she will just run in here to scratch me and then run away.  I don't know if it's the move or what it is.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just now she was in the living room looking out the sliding glass door, she started to walk this way and out of the blue she got spooked and scratched me. My arm was dripping blood. Any ideas?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this be just adjusting to a new home? Did something happen that I just haven't noticed? I love my cat to pieces but if she starts scratching the kids like this I don't know if she will be able to stay. My arms and legs are covered in scratches.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IDelK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12166" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-05-20T23:42:26.940" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:51.670" Title="My cat is acting strange" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20422" CreationDate="2018-05-19T12:27:11.383" Score="8" ViewCount="1458" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some 12 week old kittens that just met. We kept them separate for a couple days so that they could play with each other under the door, then we propped the door open just a bit. They liked playing with each other through the door and did it a lot. We recently put them together, and their behavior is hard for me to categorize. I had cats when I was younger, but not recently, and I haven't seen cats meet (at least not much and not recently). Anyway, here are some behaviors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behaviors that make me think they're playing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No growling nor hissing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ears generally up and forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No tense standoffs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No hair raised nor arched backs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No injuries: no favouring of limbs, body parts, etc., no blood, no fur being removed, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They were able to stop playing at eat within a foot of each other without attacking again. One of them did growl quietly sometimes while eating, but they generally seemed amicable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both cats engage in play; neither tries to run off and end the play session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behaviors that make me think they might be fighting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They never stop. It's obvious they're both really tired; they won't go for a toy at all, but any time they see each other, they go at it again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't allow each other breaks. There is a slightly bigger male, and he generally pins the other (the female has a defensive style and assumes a position on her back preemptively). But, any time the male walks away, the female comes and gets him from behind again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They do make a little noises. The female doesn't like when he bites her back legs, so she calls out (not loud, but in frustration it sounds like), and the male doesn't like being attacked from behind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They're pretty intense. It's not a slow, relaxed play session like I see on youtube: we let it go for two or 2.5 hours last night, and they nearly never let up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The signals seem really confusing to me. It seems like whether they're being aggressive or playful, they need to take a break. The female was sick a couple weeks ago, so I would think she needs her rest. They slept &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; well last night! And we can't detect any injuries anywhere. In case it helps, they're ragdolls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any recommendations? Should we split them up seeking for an easier, calmer relationship after a while?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11618" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T08:25:32.663" Title="Kittens Playing or Fighting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-19T13:53:53.057" Score="5" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 days ago a baby parrot was found in my garden, we are not sure from where this bird came from.  We soon discovered that he cannot fly, at this time we are trying to keep him safe from predators. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His flight feathers look to be cut with scissors, we entice him to fly but he doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have much experience with pets. I'm looking for advice as to what we can do to help him thrive in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we visit a veterinarian for the clipped feathers? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read they get back feathers, how much time does it take?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: There was one more thing, may be leas important here. Next day one more baby parrot came to my home, we kept both of them together in open. This one stayed one day and night and flew away next morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding Image as requested in comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qtIPg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qtIPg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is picture of the other bird I was referring, you can compare and see this one has wings.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kEriQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kEriQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit2:&#xA;Today parrot flew away, I am happy for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is no more a question for me but answer will still help others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="12167" LastEditDate="2018-05-22T16:58:15.493" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T16:58:15.493" Title="How to help a wild baby parrot who cannot fly?" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20405" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-19T16:10:46.970" Score="-2" ViewCount="866" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6zVZL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6zVZL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my 160l/40gal tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this tank overstocked? There are many baby Goldish and a couple of adults (some not visible in the dark area). According to some people it should be OK, others say that goldfish need 40gal (80l) per fancy goldfish, so I used to keep two fancy Goldfish and 2 Pangasius fish, but my dad buys me a lot of goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And many people said that the growth will be stunted, but the local fish store said that it is okay and they also kept a lot of goldfish in a small aquarium for sale. Not to mention my local fish store kept an adult Flowerhorn on a 2.5 gal tank without a lid, and it's not even for sale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: there are 9 baby goldfish, 7 adult goldfish,2 pangasius , and 2 common pleco, the first day i got the baby goldfish 3 got sucked into the filter, after that i cover the intake with sponge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12157" LastEditorUserId="12157" LastEditDate="2018-05-26T13:17:39.210" LastActivityDate="2018-07-08T03:13:09.087" Title="Is my tank overstocked with Goldfish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20670" CreationDate="2018-05-19T19:20:52.047" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to adopt an adult dog that is already housebroken. Everything I read about crate training says that it is very helpful for house training puppies, but I can’t find anything about adult dogs who are already past that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to not have a crate for adult, housebroken dogs? I’ve read about how dogs have an instinct to create a “den” and that a crate can satisfy that, so if I put their bedding in a secluded area to address that, do I need to bother with the expense and hassle of a crate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9263" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T08:18:32.643" Title="For an adult, housebroken dog, is it okay to not have a crate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20406" CreationDate="2018-05-19T19:58:50.763" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, crates aren't necessary. I had 4 different dogs while growing up at my parents house and we never owned a single crate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal dog that I have now has his own crate, and I love it for the peace of mind that he can't &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; get into the garbage or anything while I'm out or while I'm sleeping. But That kind of stuff rarely happened with my dogs as a kid, so it definitely isn't necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not the &lt;em&gt;dog&lt;/em&gt; would prefer having one? Who knows. I know my dog loves his crate now, and often spends time in there even if the door is open. It's a useful tool, but not a requirement by any means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11530" LastActivityDate="2018-05-19T19:58:50.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20408" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-20T00:50:56.357" Score="2" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mum bought 2 small (baby) juli eye corydra a from a pet shop on Monday. On Friday when I came to hers for the weekend, I noticed that one of them was missing like 2 whole barbels and it looks a little white (not cottony) and a little swollen (just a bit). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mum said he's been eating but I don't think he has as he isn't eating at all now and his sides are on the skinny side. Not sure what to do, never had this before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-21T15:56:21.420" LastActivityDate="2018-06-21T15:56:21.420" Title="Corydra with injured barbels stopped eating?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-21T02:06:06.623" Score="8" ViewCount="1447" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a dog lover. Just lost my two dogs. Stolen by my ex, unlikely to ever get them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for now I got a kitten (2-3 months old. Fits in the palm of my hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to train my cat to go on walks/hikes on my shoulder? She will be on a leash in case she decides to take off, but will travel on my shoulder. I won't walk her on a leash like a dog, I've seen people do that and it's just painful to watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-05-21T14:53:11.673" LastActivityDate="2020-07-05T00:52:28.250" Title="How can I train a cat to walk/hike with me on my shoulder?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20404" CreationDate="2018-05-21T13:48:27.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for or post lost/found bird notice in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trimmed flight feathers imply the bird is a pet who escaped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;flight feathers look to be cut with scissors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look for a leg band, Many pet birds (depending on country) will have a ring on their leg indicating breeding program info.  This may help you identify the birds owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a bird expert this could be a parakeet or baby parrot.  If neither have wild cousins in your part of the world, it would definitely be an escaped pet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are wild cousins in your area, and no leg band.  You might want to contact a local authority. There could be legal issues associated with caring for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T13:48:27.320" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20394" CreationDate="2018-05-21T14:45:06.240" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly don't panic just yet.. 24 hours is no time at all in terms of two cats getting to know each other. It can take &lt;em&gt;weeks&lt;/em&gt; for a cat-cat relationship to settle down, when I got my second kitten it was nearly two months before peace broke out completely and now they are practically inseparable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now if you can try and keep the new kitten in one room with all the necessities (food, water, litter tray, somewhere to &quot;hide) and keep the established cat out. You probably want to do this for 24-48 hours to give the new kitten some time to settle down where she won't have to worry about Mitch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are happy that the new kitten is eating, drinking and toileting bring some items into &quot;her&quot; room that smell of Mitch (blanket, toy etc) and give her chance to get a safe sniff of him. If you can, try and do the reverse as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can try letting them &quot;meet&quot; each other again, make sure each has their own &quot;safe space&quot; to retreat to if they want. Keep food and water plentiful and ensure each has access to a litter tray and you'll want to be fairly prompt on keeping the litter clear as well until they get settled with each other as I've known some cats to refuse to use a tray if it contained the..erm..&lt;em&gt;output&lt;/em&gt; of a &quot;strange&quot; cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-05-21T14:45:06.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-21T17:25:22.897" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two-year-old dog seems to only be able to hold her pee for about six hours, which is unfortunately less than the amount of sleep I need to get in a night. We'll potty her before we go to bed, but she'll still consistently wake up an hour or so before I do, no matter what time we go to bed. As in, I tried going to bed earlier and getting up earlier to take her out, but she only got up even earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that she's been doing this for a little bit, she'll also start whining for her breakfast. I hate giving it to her because I know it's only training her to get up early and eat; but I also can't deal with her whining for a half hour while I'm trying to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we train her to be better at waiting for us to get up in the morning? For example, not giving her water after a certain time? I'm hesitant to try that on my own because I already worry we don't give her enough water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from this, she's otherwise house-trained pretty well. I don't think she's had a daytime accident for a few months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12175" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T19:00:29.173" Title="My dog consistently wakes up about an hour before I do" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20417" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-21T19:09:11.170" Score="5" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a koi fish pond with about 14 to 15 inch (around 37 cm) koi. The neighborhood kid threw a piece of gum in the pond and one of my koi ate it;  how harmful is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12176" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T00:24:52.097" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T00:24:52.097" Title="My koi fish ate a piece of gum" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20417" CreationDate="2018-05-22T05:33:32.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the water is cold then it can be a problem, chewing gum will start to get soft at temperatures above 20 °C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the water is warmer than 20 °C it will pass through your fish - slowly, but it will pass. The warmer the water, the faster it goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your water is cold you might have a problem, but not always as the fish are able to regurgitate and spit it out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen koi eat and spit out objects that have been in my pond, like styrofoam and plastic pieces, sometimes after quite some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your koi are large, so I do not think they will have any problems passing the gum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T00:22:03.337" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T00:22:03.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20408" CreationDate="2018-05-22T06:59:12.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aquarium fish can go a few days without food. Overfeeding tends to be a bigger problem anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, without barbels Corydoras will have a hard time eating. You should always have a soft underground where Cordydoras cannot hurt their barbels. For if they lose their barbels they will have a very hard time finding food and will very likely starve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Without a picture it's hard to tell what is going on. Only time will tell if they are hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T06:59:12.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20397" CreationDate="2018-05-22T07:08:10.960" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are trying to do well by the goldfish. But 3 gallons is still very small for a fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best steps now would be to get more information about fishes and aquaria. While the bigger the aquarium the better they are for fish, they also become expensive. So find out if this is a thing you want to put your money into. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you want to take care of fishes for the next 10 years?&lt;/strong&gt; If not, find some one who provides the right care for this goldfish. If you do want to take care of fish, again, please read up on aquarium keeping. It will answer a lot of questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cold water plants will be helpful for your gold fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't mix warm water species with cold ones. Beta's and shrimp have no place in the same aquarium as a gold fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T07:08:10.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20412" CreationDate="2018-05-22T07:20:20.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can. But the hard part is not the cat sitting on your shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you need your kitten to be perfectly comfy sitting on your shoulder / backpack. You can do this indoors, where it does not matter when / where she jumps off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem probably will be the new surroundings you take your cat into. So socialise your kitten and bring her along as much as you can. Start doing that today if you can. Your cat needs to know, in its bones, that it can trust you and be save on your shoulders. Else it will not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I suggest wearing something where your cat can get a good grip but will not hurt you? Leather vest of a think woollen sweater?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the end is it something your cat will enjoy? Some do, some don't. Hopefully you are lucky with this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats likes to sit on my shoulders, well, drape himself, being fully grown and about 6 kg. But he gets really scared going outside. That ends up being no joy for the both of us...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T07:20:20.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20403" CreationDate="2018-05-22T08:25:32.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to the wonderful world of kittens, this sounds like completely normal kitten behaviour and will probably keep going - only interrupted by naps - for the next year or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the play is two sided, neither of them get injured, or really hurt (you will hear when that happens!) there is absolutely nothing to worry about. This is basically how kittens form bonds, and these early bonds will often be stronger and less problematic than bonds formed as adults. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add some variation and help them bond even more strongly you could try adding some cooperative play sessions with some human-controlled toys, letting them chase the toy together and teaming up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kitten, noun: A small homicidal muffin on legs; affects human sensibilities to the point of endowing the most wanton and ruthless acts of destruction with near mythical overtones of cuteness. Not recommended for beginners. Get at least two.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T08:25:32.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20439" CreationDate="2018-05-22T11:43:32.223" Score="8" ViewCount="897" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to create a 'natural' looking hamster cage. I want to create as much enrichment as I can by using rocks, moss, wood, leaves, sand, dirt and other elements that would be natural to a (dwarf) hamster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen cages with plants in them but I'm not too familiar with plant species so I have no idea what would be safe for a hamster if he decides to eat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of herbs would be safe but I know my hamster dislikes the smell of some herbs (mint and basil) so I don't want to annoy him with that constant smell in his cage. The plant does not need to be tasty/likeable for him but I'm fine if it is, I don't mind replacing it from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next to that it will not be in constant direct sunlight as I do not want to expose the hamster to constant direct sunlight. There is natural light in the room and cage however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9418" LastEditorUserId="9418" LastEditDate="2018-05-22T14:01:16.870" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T12:56:25.533" Title="Plants suitable/safe for a hamster?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20405" CreationDate="2018-05-22T11:48:53.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Probably overstocked.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/amount-of-fish-and-aquarium-size-1378335&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; keeps to 1 inch of fish per gallon. That sounds about the advice I tend to hear while I live (1cm of fish per litre).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as the article says, there a many a thing that could change that number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more fish per aquarium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plants&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;good filtration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good water replenishment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For less fish per aquarium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The opposite of the above.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more precise way of knowing if your aquarium is overstocked, please visit this &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/tank-size-calculator/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; and fill in the numbers. That will give you a better answer then we can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-05-22T12:31:55.213" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T12:31:55.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-22T20:13:25.687" Score="3" ViewCount="1461" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a very ill leopard gecko and we would really appreciate if anyone with experience with leos could share some thoughts/help/guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a long story so strap in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;December&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Around mid-December we discovered that our leopard gecko had, what appeared to be at the time, something 'stuck' under her left 'lip'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took her to the Herp vet who informed us it was pus from the start of a mouth rot infection. Since it appeared only minor, they removed and treated it and we were told to treat the mouth area for the next few days with a diluted solution of iodine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;January&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mid-January - A second appearance of mouth rot but this time on the right side of her mouth. We removed the pus ourselves this time and continued with the iodine treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;February&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;28 Feb - There was a re-appearance of mouth rot on the left side. We took her back to the vet who prescribed a 3-week course of antibiotics via injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;March&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;21 March - Gave her the last injection. We had to leave for a family holiday and left her in the care of a reputable reptile 'pet hotel'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;April&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7 April - We returned from our holiday and picked her up from the pet hotel. We noticed a difference in her behaviour and her tail was a bit thinner. No signs of mouth rot. Her appetite wasn't amazing and the pet hotel informed us that she wasn't eating that well during her stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;23 April - Back to the vet as the mouth rot returned and was pretty bad this time. Vet prescribed second course of antibiotics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;May&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6 May - Infection flared up for the fifth time. Continued with antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8/9 May - Over these two days we noticed her left her was a bit closed and then both eyes were closed. She hasn't been able to open them since. We're using vet prescribed eye drops to prevent infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11 May - Last injection of the antibiotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;14 May - Back to the vet for a follow up appointment. During this visit they informed us that the mouth rot infection had cleared up pretty well but an infection had spread to her throat (hence why she wasn't eating). The sides of her throat were enlarged. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During this visit, they noticed her liver was swollen. They tried to take blood from her tail for tests but unfortunately during this attempt she dropped her tail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet prescribed a different course of antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have been trying to feed her vet prescribed cat food thats very liquid with vitamin A. She's had very little of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 May - We noticed a weird patch on her back which over a few hours looked very raw and burn-like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;22 May - Took her to the vet for help with the injection. More of her skin has become red, looks sore and started peeling off when they picked her up. She's very lethargic and doesn't move around much but drinks a lot of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet thought it was Vitamin A toxicity because of the dry, burn-like nature of the skin but said this only happened from vitamin A injections and shouldn't be caused from the Vitamin A supplement we lightly dusted with the cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General notes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has the appropriate terrarium with heating at the right temperature (27˚C on the heat mat side, 21˚C on the cool side). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appropriate lighting with day/night cycles. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She had two hidey-holes, one humid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terrarium felt lines the bottom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It gets cleaned regularly and disinfected.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food supplier has never changed and worms are gut loaded.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not sure what's wrong with her or why she's declined so rapidly. We've obviously sought professional help throughout this process and are at a loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our leo is very dear to us and want her to recover. We'd appreciate if anyone can share knowledge or experience with us that can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12181" LastEditorUserId="12181" LastEditDate="2018-05-24T06:31:13.577" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T06:31:13.577" Title="Sick leopard gecko declining rapidly - Mouth Rot, irritated skin etc" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18015" CreationDate="2018-05-22T21:43:15.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed a similar problem with my female cat. She generally has a soft and fluffy coat, but the fur along her spine has become coarse and is significantly thinner than the rest of her body. As you described, I can brush her hair to the side and see her bare skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually just brought her to the veterinarian today (for an unrelated issue) and asked about this. We came to the conclusion that, in my cat's case, it is most likely either a seasonal allergy-related issue or an issue with the transition from her winter coat to her spring coat. She is an indoor cat, but still goes through quite a seasonal transition. She had the same issue last spring, but I assumed it was from &quot;over-grooming&quot; at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the first spring that you have had your cat and you live in an area that undergoes seasonal changes, then it could be the same problem. In which case, you just have to wait it out for a couple of weeks and you should see some improvement!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12162" LastActivityDate="2018-05-22T21:43:15.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17481" CreationDate="2018-05-23T00:50:26.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male Himalayan cat is very independent, but he tolerates my hugs and has become more affectionate with with age.  He splits his sleeping time between my bed and my walk-in closet.  Yesterday, I had a monster headache almost all day and barely got up to do anything other than to feed him and clean up his litter box.  As soon as he woke up in the morning and saw me, he immediately jumped up on my bed and stayed with me until I felt better.  He snuggled up to me and when I switched sides, he immediately relocated in that direction.  He looked up at me constantly and I could really see the concern in his little face.  I rarely feel unwell, so it was very easy to notice the change in his demeanor.  And I should say that being 16 1/2 years old, he has his own aches and pains, which he put aside for my benefit.  He is my first and only pet, and I cannot imagine ever being able to replace him or having this much of a close bond with another animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12182" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T00:50:26.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20432" CreationDate="2018-05-23T08:21:33.367" Score="2" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister's housemate recently got two male desexed rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They claw and bite at each other, more so one on the other, to the point of bloody ears. It's so bad, they've had to be separated into different hutches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of this before (aside from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&amp;amp;v=0Fk6-3f_mqU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;killer rabbit on Monty Python - WARNING NSFW&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this usual behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T13:05:22.097" Title="Aggression between desexed male rabbits" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19953" CreationDate="2018-05-23T08:44:22.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume for that size it's about 150-180 litres? &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;If that's the case, I don't think that you're overcrowding. You might even want to add a few more corydoras. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;They like to live in groups, so 2 is a bit too few. Try at least 6...&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Betta's also like to have some floating plants the hide under. I've had some Riccia fluitans floating in my tank. But other plans are also suitable.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Good job on cycling the tank first. And like Paul mentioned: don't forget to test the water before you add the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T08:44:22.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20430" CreationDate="2018-05-23T12:55:08.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is completely normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gender of the bunnies has no bearing on the outcome.  Desexing at least 30 days before attempting to bond is important. Each bunny has a personality, personality conflicts between rabbits tend to be the rule.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunnies are extremely territorial, the fights and damage is often more severe then you would expect with cats or dogs.  The bunny in the photos below was housed with several others, you can see that ears have been chewed off, eyebrows are missing their noses are misshapen. Some rabbits in this rescue died. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the rescue many of these bunnies made friends and now live happily together. Others bonded with new friends, some remain unbonded and live alone with their people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d3M9c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d3M9c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l3iQR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l3iQR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15722/do-rabbits-fight-each-other-to-the-death&quot;&gt;Do rabbits fight each other to the death?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making rabbits live happily together is hard work, it can take months and still not succeed.  In other cases, a couple of weeks will result in a successful bonding.   There is an article at &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/faq-bonding-multiple-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbit.org about bonding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of posts about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bonding+rabbits&quot;&gt;rabbit bonding here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-23T13:05:22.097" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T13:05:22.097" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20440" CreationDate="2018-05-23T16:29:12.290" Score="6" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16951/13&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; and saw this comment, I have not heard about this before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-stick cookware must absolutely not be used as the fumes emitted are fatal to birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How or why does non-stick cookware harm birds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is any non-stick cookware bird-safe?  What do I look for in bird-safe cookware?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T22:27:14.220" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T22:27:14.220" Title="How/why is non-stick cookware fatal to birds" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-23T16:32:12.063" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took my bunny out of his cage so he could run around, and he somehow got under my fists when I was leaning over the cage to clean it. My bunny flailed around wildly, and part of his fur and skin got ripped out on top of his nail. Help!!! What should I do!!???&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12186" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T16:32:12.063" Title="My rabbit is bleeding!" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-05-24T02:46:07.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20434" CreationDate="2018-05-23T16:48:04.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beautyofbirds.com/topbirdkillers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.beautyofbirds.com/topbirdkillers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teflon / Non-stick Coating&lt;/strong&gt;: Non-stick cookware and other household items possessing a non-stick surface made from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are toxic to birds. The gas released is extremely dangerous to birds and can result in death within minutes. It does not have to be overheated either, even with normal usage, some fumes may also be released and you will never smell anything. Anything with a PTFE coating should never be used around birds period. &lt;em&gt;Remember virtually &quot;ALL&quot; non-stick cookware, indoor cooking grills, drip pans, self-cleaning ovens, clothes dryers, new hair dryers, space heaters, irons, ironing board covers, waffle irons, deep fryers, heat lamps and other small appliances or their components may be coated with PTFE. If anything says “non-stick” be aware and leery.&lt;/em&gt; Unless the manufacturer can verify, in writing, that the product in question does not contain PTFE producing elements, assume it has them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T16:48:04.090" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-23T17:01:53.890" Score="8" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat really wants to get outside, he sits by the door meowing and has been chattering at all the birds outside as well. The problem is that I live in a heavily wooded area, and know that there are coyotes and fisher cats among others that live out here with me. We’ve had outdoor cats in the past, but they’ve all ended up disappearing and not coming back whatever the cause was. So, if I’m going to let my new kitty (named Beebo) out, I want to make sure it’s with a harness and leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I put the harness on him, he just drops to the ground and doesn’t really seem to function anymore, so it clear that he does not like it. It was my dog’s harness when she was younger, and when it’s tightened all the was it’s still just a tad too big for him, so the problem isn’t the harness being too tight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions on how I could make him more comfortable in the harness? I keep telling him “if you want to go outside, this is how we have to do it” and each time we try he doesn’t like it, but continues to meow to get outside throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to be a reasonable father to the little guy, so I'm open to all suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12187" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T04:15:33.180" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T04:15:33.180" Title="My cat stops functioning when I put a harness on him. How can I get him more comfortable in it so that I can take him outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20437" CreationDate="2018-05-23T17:12:21.410" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Time and patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are not dogs; they don't adjust quickly to harnesses or leashes, and every cat I've known will &quot;shut down&quot; the first time (usually the first several times) they're put into a harness. The solution is to give them time to acclimate to the feeling of the harness on their body, and to get used to the idea that yes, they can still move while wearing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with letting your cat wear it under supervision while indoors. Give him a limited time to be in it, then take it off and put it away. Do this regularly until he starts to adjust himself to wearing it, then let him walk around the house (with supervision so he doesn't get caught on anything, as harnesses--for good reason--do not break away like collars do) for a little while. Once he's used to moving in it, add the leash, but keep him indoors while he continues getting used to the whole setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before taking him outside for the first time, make sure there's no way he can get out of the harness. Some cats can figure out how to &quot;slip&quot; them and get free, particularly if they start to panic. Be sure to continue to monitor your cat's behavior on the harness even after you start going outside, as he may learn over time how to &quot;slip.&quot; My previous cat rotated between multiple harnesses; each time he'd start to learn or remember how to slip the one he was using, I'd swap to one with a different design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't naturally take to walking on a leash as well as dogs tend to do; it's a very slow process (my last cat took a couple of years to get comfortable on a leash), and it's entirely possible he might not ever adapt to it. If that ends up being the case, you may wish to consider a &quot;catio&quot; (enclosed outdoor space intended to give cats a safe space where they can still have some outdoor exposure) instead of walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-05-23T17:12:21.410" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20423" CreationDate="2018-05-24T07:20:58.037" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do know very little about hamsters but i know dandelions and cat grass/wheat grass is safe for hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this information on the net &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/hamster_plants_flowers.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/hamster_plants_flowers.asp&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alyssum&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Asters&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bramble leaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Blackberry leaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Burnet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chickweed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Clover&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Coltsfoot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cornflowers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cow Parsley&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Crosswort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dandelion leaves and flower&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dock&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Groundsel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hawthorn leaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hedge Parsley&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knot Grass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mallow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Marigolds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Michaelmas Daisies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nasturtiums&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nipplewort&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Phlox&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plaintain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Roses (i am not sure this is safe but it is mentioned as safe on the&#xA;  website)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Salvias&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shepherds Purse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sow Thistle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sweetpeas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Trefoil&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vetch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wallflowers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Watercress&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Young grass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/hamster_plants_flowers.asp#FU5RGt5wzDlMMJmj.99&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/hamster_plants_flowers.asp#FU5RGt5wzDlMMJmj.99&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are safe plants but in the linked page there are a list of dangerous plants too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-05-24T12:56:25.533" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T12:56:25.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20434" CreationDate="2018-05-24T08:57:33.893" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;By googling &lt;code&gt;PTFE toxicity to birds&lt;/code&gt; you will get a good number of hits. There seems to be a consensus about the lethality. As in, get those PTFE coated pans out of your house if you love your birds!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;PTFE toxicity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When PTFE is heated, or worse, over heated, it will produce toxic fumes. It seems the higher the heat, the more and worse fumes. The reason for this toxicity for birds have an high efficiency of their respiratory systems. That also means they are more susceptible to airborne toxins. This does not mean it does not impact humans, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/other-pets/teflon-bird-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;it does&lt;/a&gt;, just not as much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In people, the disease has flu-like symptoms and is known as &quot;polymer&#xA;  fume fever.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best piece I could find on PTFE toxicity was this report on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3276392/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Polytetrafluoroethylene Toxicosis in Recently Hatched Chickens&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What is bird save cooking ware?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove all Teflon / Non-stick Coating!&lt;/strong&gt; Period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay with stainless steel and cast iron stuff. Do research on your food prep setup. Find out what that non-sticky layer is made of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T08:57:33.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20441" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-05-24T11:52:20.953" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-24T11:52:20.953" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T11:52:20.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20442" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-05-24T11:52:20.953" Score="0" Body="Enclosed outdoor space intended to give cats a safe space where they can still have some outdoor exposure" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-24T11:52:20.953" LastActivityDate="2018-05-24T11:52:20.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20443" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-24T12:58:36.763" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;but doesn't find anything interesting to her. I have bought many new toys, recycled old toys that she used to love, wands, da bird, mice, catnip, laser and more. I am talking about playing with us, not solitary play. she is constantly &quot;talking&quot; a very, very lot, and will roll on her back, asking for play, but then won't play. she is 4. she loves being brushed and will ask for it and get it, 4 or 5 times a day.&#xA;any suggestions?&#xA;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12189" LastActivityDate="2018-05-26T00:59:08.977" Title="my cat wants to play" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-05-26T00:58:34.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19388" CreationDate="2018-05-25T18:31:36.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your main concern should be safety.  German Shepherds are a very large breed, and one that's been known to have aggression problems as well. The fact that Juno had bitten people as well as dogs is a very serious concern. This situation should not be taken lightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Juno needs to be separated from your other dogs until you get a handle on this. As long as Juno is being aggressive to your other dog, she is more dangerous to humans as well, as they could very well could caught up in between them, like what has already happened.  Therefore not just for your dogs' safety, but also for yours, Juno needs to be kept away from them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, you need to hire a trainer experienced with handling aggressive dogs. I don't recommend trying to deal with this on your own. While you're on your own trying to learn how to deal with it, another person or animal could be injured. Better to have the supervision of someone who can intervene if something goes wrong, and you don't know how to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though normally I don't advocate rehoming, I make exceptions for cases where the current home might not be able to properly care for the animal. It might be that it's impossible to ever fully trust Juno to be around other dogs.  It may be better for her to go to a home with no other animals and an owner very experienced with difficult animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-25T18:31:36.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20447" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-25T20:48:16.763" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female shepherd a little over a year.  I have been pulling my hair out on trying to figure out what will work with the same situation.  I’d like to note that she doesn’t sleep in the bedroom, she’s not allowed on furniture and I eat before her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved away from family at 4 months into an apartment.  The trouble started right away.  Had I known then what I know now things might be different.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pulled her away from people because I didn’t want her to jump and she took that as I need to be worried.  I placed her in front of me. I made all kinds of mistakes not knowing I was making them and encouraging the behavior.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a behaviorist come out. He gave me a prong collar and no follow up. That costs me $300.00. If she really wants something she will pull on that prong it has no effect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next trainer was one day of the week only and training was wait in the car then come out to the field and chase the ball on a whip and get treats at the end.  She learned to become barrier aggressive in the car.  It’s no longer fun to transport her anywhere. That costs me another $300.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a trainer come out to my apartment with his dog.  He worked mine for an hour weaving her back and forth while never actually letting her sniff his dog. That was 175 and then the group lesson in the park.  A bunch of lack of mannered dogs walking thru the park. It taught mine to pull even more and to stay very focused on that dog in front.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we go out early morning and late at night. We get a pee break in the afternoon. My dog has knocked me down in petsmart while wearing a muzzle.  We were trying to get to the groomer with out incident.  I was going broke trying to find a trainer that would help me with the distractions outside and listen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inside I couldn’t ask for a better dog.  There’s no chewing, barking, no potty, she sleeps while I’m away but the minute we go outside she’s in a panic.  All over the place.  I’ve tried ecollar.  Again not effective if she really wants something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We walk in morning.  We train and train and train.  Loose leash, sit, stay and I drop the leash and walk away.  People at a distance or even dogs it’s a look of focus but it’s not crazy and I can redirect her.  Let one of them enter her invisible boundary and it’s hang onto your seat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there’s a scent on the wind when we walk out the door she’s in a reactive state.  She doesn’t even have to see the dog.  It’s hard to catch her in the moment in an apartment.  There are things that come out of nowhere that she senses and I don’t.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m learning to watch her ears and brace for impact. I do know without a doubt she’s not aggressive besides all 3 trainers telling me.  I had 2 girls walk into the little park with puppies.  Amidst my shepherds I’m going to kill you behavior when they brought them closer she got curious and they eventually played on the ground with her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s manners she’s lacking and I’m just not sure how to fix this because most people won’t let their dog nor themselves near her when she’s acting as a furry monster.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I get another dog and risk her turning that one into a nightmare? Oh and I did get her a treadmill. I’m just at my wits end on what method I need to take now to break her of this reaction. I’m tired of walking in the dark and I don’t want to fall again.  I’m old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12195" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-05-26T01:12:43.723" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T17:30:04.853" Title="Outside reaction to dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-26T01:25:15.273" Score="11" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've put together a &lt;a href=&quot;https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/21741/&quot;&gt;ventilation system&lt;/a&gt; for a  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19738/&quot;&gt;custom litter box&lt;/a&gt; that constantly flushes its internal atmosphere with outside air using a fan system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;        /|                         +--------------+&#xA;        /|-------[clean air]------&amp;gt;|              |&#xA;window  /|                         | [litter box] |&#xA;        /|&amp;lt;------[dirty air]-------|              |&#xA;        /|                         +--------------+&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm trying to figure out if the box should be opaque or transparent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vendors like Amazon.com seem to have examples of both (e.g., &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00E1XP8B8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;transparent hood&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000HHO9QW&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;opaque hood&lt;/a&gt;), though I imagine that human preferences weigh in on buyer selection, whereas I'm primarily concerned with my kittens' comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found a few articles (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fundamentallyfeline.com/litter-boxes-get-scoop-many-kind/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) that claim that cats prefer transparent boxes so they don't feel like something could be sneaking up on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other factors that might go into this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The litter box can have gentle LED lighting so it's never really dark.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The litter box can have multiple doors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;  All else equal for a covered litter box, would cats tend to prefer for the litter box to be transparent or opaque?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastEditorUserId="9137" LastEditDate="2018-05-26T01:32:02.510" LastActivityDate="2018-06-05T12:04:04.233" Title="Do cats prefer transparent or opaque litter boxes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20449" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20450" CreationDate="2018-05-26T11:23:26.803" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I must admit (a bit shamefully) that I was not aware of the fact that volume is on a logarithmic scale and thus following sentence (&lt;a href=&quot;http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/cirrus-sr20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) surprised me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The back seats are closer to 87 dBA, which is good for transporting dogs. A Honda Accord at 70 mph subjects its occupants to around 65 dBA of noise, or about 1/30th the noise level of Cirrus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what actually shocked me, is the last part of the first sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is good for transporting dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we assume that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a Honda Accord at 70 mph (65 dBA) is quite noisy (quite very noisy?),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;22 dBA (87-65) difference is &lt;strong&gt;thirty times more&lt;/strong&gt; (so quite very, very noisy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then we may conclude that sound level inside this light aircraft's cockpit offers circumstances that are very not comfortable, if not dangerous, to humans. In fact they actually are dangerous since most sources and organisations, that I reviewed, requires ear protection equipment for environment with sound level at or above 85 dBA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can such conditions be good for transporting dogs? Are they much less sensitive to (quite extremely) high noise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3471" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-29T00:53:36.087" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T00:57:46.327" Title="Are dogs much less sensitive to high noise than humans?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20449" CreationDate="2018-05-26T15:24:59.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, dogs are not more or less sensitive to sound than humans (dogs in general do hear about the same sound frequency range as we do), but their hearing is better so this is not about the sound level, it is more about the type of sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the rumbling sound made when you are driving on the motorway that can have a calming effect on your dog, it does have the same calming effect on babies if they refuse to sleep, many (desperate) parents do take their child on drives if they are having a hard time falling asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog or baby will relax from the constant rumbling sound of the car moving, if you are at home you can even start your vacuum and let it run for some time until the dog or baby falls asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link about sound &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.earq.com/hearing-loss/decibels&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.earq.com/hearing-loss/decibels&lt;/a&gt; so as you see 65 dB is not very loud, so it is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to say I do have some doubts about the sanity of a person exposing a dog or any other living being to a sound level of 87 dB over time, as this is very destructive; not only physically, but mentally too (I have lost most of my hearing as a result of loud sounds where I did work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-08-29T00:57:46.327" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T00:57:46.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-26T19:05:50.440" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, will there be any consistent difference between a Beagle / Cavalier King Charles Spaniel if the mom is the Beagle and the dad is the Cavalier compared to the dad being the Beagle and the mom being the Cavalier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12196" LastEditorUserId="12196" LastEditDate="2018-05-27T15:05:17.413" LastActivityDate="2018-05-28T10:16:29.267" Title="When breeding two purebred dog types, does it matter which parent is which breed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20363" CreationDate="2018-05-27T10:28:19.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats will chew and swallow many varieties of even marginally ingestable strings and ropes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats swallowed about half of a meter-long silk ribbon. When I say half, I mean the other half was hanging out of her mouth and she was running around the house mildly alarmed. The incident was probably more traumatic to me as I had to very gently pull the ribbon out of her upper GI tract. If it was not smooth silk I probably would have had a veterinarian do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years later, one of our cats was acting a bit lethargic and generally not himself. We took him to the vet and the vet x-rayed him and saw nothing. A few days later, the cat threw up a 6 inch piece of 1/2” sisal rope he managed to chew off a scratching post. Sisal rope often seems to be contaminated with or treated with petroleum products, perhaps from the machine that weaves the rope. This grease or oil is also not good for cats to ingest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all this we have a new rule of no unsupervised play with string or rope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being said, I would recommend a very hard inedible material; something like 1/4 inch steel cable or wide metal or plastic chain links--large enough links so they can’t get their claws caught in them and small enough they cant get their paws through the links. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you don’t want something they can get a paw or claw stuck in on the bridge. If they then fall off with a paw through a binding point they could injure themselves or be stuck hanging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go with the metal cable make sure the ends are metal capped or otherwise protected because stray metal wires can be very sharp. I think if you use the insulated wire that you mentioned they might chew on the insulation because it is a bit rubbery. Another possibility would be something like a heavy duty cable tie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T17:28:33.153" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T17:28:33.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20448" CreationDate="2018-05-27T10:53:03.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to say if they would like transparent or opaque. Go with transparent though since if you think they don’t like the transparency you can cover it up or paint it etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offering some extra free unsolicited engineering device - I would recommend ensuring your ventilation system is very quiet as cats do not like loud noises, particularly when doing their “business.” Also ensure the vibrations in the litter compartment are negligible as this may disturb or deter them as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn’t worry about the lighting the compartment as cats night vision is about 100 times better than a humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2018-05-27T10:53:03.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-27T15:38:24.407" Score="7" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just got a rescue cat (my avatar) in March. When I try to pick her up and cuddle her on my lap, she grips with her nails and causes puncture holes on my skin. How do I teach her not to do that? I cant even clip her nails, our vet said the only way in her case is to sedate her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that the only way? Should I give her back to the rescue? We can't even pet her without being attacked. She loves to cuddle when she wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12199" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-30T13:37:01.427" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:17.763" Title="How do I deal with my cat puncturing my skin when I pick her up to cuddle her on my lap?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2018-05-28T07:38:21.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an old question, but people needs to understand how this is done properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to keep an open, ice-free area in your pond but this does not need to be large. One way to do this is to use an aquarium heater and a sheet of styrofoam, you simply make a small hole in the styrofoam and put the heater here. (Note: the styrofoam is to keep the heater floating in the surface of your pond).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to keep the pump and filter running during the winter, you need to move the pump away from the deepest part of the pond. This is to keep the water at the bottom of the pond undisturbed - in other words, this is to avoid your fish having to swim and use energy constantly during the winter as they do not eat at this time of year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information about overwintering pond fish could be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plantsgalore.com/ponds/fish/02_overwintering.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt; (source: plantsgalore.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the winter starts, you will need to clean your pond and filter. This is to remove the plant matter and waste from your pond because when waste decomposes, it produces toxic gases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The temparature in the water needs to be above 2 °C for your fish to survive, but this is normaly not a problem if the pond is deeper than 1-2 meters. But if you live in an area where it is very cold, the pond needs to be deeper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, the oxygen content in cold water is higher than it is in water of a temperature of 20 °C, so in winter the only concern is to get rid of the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (this is why you need to keep an ice-free area in your pond).  It is the concentration of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; that is dangerous to fish and if the concentration of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is low, the fish need less oxygen. On the other hand, if CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration is too high it will block the fish' oxygen uptake by binding to the red blood cells). A helpful article about importance of dissolved oxygen in the water &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fondriest.com/environmental-measurements/parameters/water-quality/dissolved-oxygen/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;could be found here&lt;/a&gt; (source: fondriest.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:36:14.370" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:36:14.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-28T13:20:49.290" Score="5" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got two of these recently, and they killed my Kissing Gouramis. The shop owner said that they would be compatible.  I don't know what kind of fish it is, nor what would have caused them to kill my Kissing Gouramis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8o0nE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8o0nE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Fish in question&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12204" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-05-29T09:40:53.890" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T23:02:26.030" Title="Why did this fish kill my Kissing Gouramis?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19830" CreationDate="2018-05-28T14:24:26.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a VERY similar situation. The only variances are: she ( francie) was about 5 months old (vet was actually off by 2 months on age), she's still very skittish  (we have 2 toddlers to add to the equation,as well) - she's been in the house for almost 6 months now, and I am lucky if she will let me pet her..our other male cat  (sherman)is very affectionate, and she will let me pet her, briefly, while I'm engaging with him. She has never urinated when we were in bed...thank god. Lol. It seems as though, she may choose my side of the bed to mark on as well..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We found that a cheap shower curtain works...tacky, yes, but it works. We lay it out every morning. If I forget, I usualy have surprise waiting !! I can't help but wonder if she dislikes me bc I am the one who took her to the vet to get fixed, vaccinated, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also noticed that Francie has several small balls of pee, in the litter box. Where my Sherman has one large ball. (I use clumping litter) no idea if this is in relation, but it is definitely different from any other cat I've owned. Heck, she's different from any other cat I've owned. Lol. I often wonder if the vet would have spayed her right away (going back to the fact that our vet improperly aged her and wouldn't fix her) , before she went into heat, if the problem would have gone away all together!?!&#xA;I've read about cats being spayed, while in heat, and the difficulty it causes in removing all tissue, etc....&#xA;Uggh. I keep saying I'll give her 6 months, but I dontbthink I can part with her... my heart is too big... I am a sucker. I am thankful it's only once in a while and it's only on my bed.&#xA; Not sure if any of this helps you any, but I'd be happy to hear any updates from you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12205" LastActivityDate="2018-05-28T14:24:26.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20448" CreationDate="2018-05-28T15:58:46.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first guess would be opaque. But that is wrong, according to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/litter-box-problems-ask-a-behaviorist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat's like to be able to see around when doing their toilet thing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enclosed litter boxes may be perfect for people, but not so much for cats. They are setups for ambushes. Kitties, instinctually, do not want to be in places where they can potentially be trapped. Even if there are no other threats or resident animals, instinct wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not into the privacy thing, either. People are. Felines prefer being safe in an uncovered box so that they can see potential threats and escape them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-05-28T15:58:46.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-28T17:57:18.553" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a new dog who has a strange trigger: she gets really upset and starts barking wildly when there is motion on the television, even backing out of the room in fear. I did a number of tests (spaced out across several hours to not stress her out too much) and found the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Things that don't bother her&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nothing is displayed, but TV is on (ruling out being bothered by the TV making a high pitched sound that humans can't hear)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A menu or other static screen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Static pictures of an environment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Me watching a show on an iPad with the volume up or playing a computer game with the volume up (ruling out that it's a noise issue)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Things that do bother her&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cartoon with motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A live action scene with motion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both of the above when the volume is muted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I found especially interesting was a video of someone doing a close up of some electronics. She was fine when the shot just showed the electronics sitting on a table, but as soon as a hand came on screen, and especially if the presenter manipulated the electronics (like opening a panel to reveal additional buttons), she started growling. I tried to comfort her, an eventually she deliberately tried to ignore watching the TV, but still seemed a bit on edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7124/9263&quot;&gt;Do dogs see television and computers the way we do?&lt;/a&gt;, dogs don't see screens like we do. Still, the motion seems to bother her and I'd hate to give up TV watching entirely. My apartment is kind of small, and so far she's preferred to stay within sight of me. How can I desensitize her to the television so that I can watch it normally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9263" LastActivityDate="2018-06-01T21:45:30.617" Title="Dog gets upset with any motion on the television. How can I desensitize her to it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-29T01:46:30.383" Score="3" ViewCount="925" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a juvenile leopard gecko, I will be going on vacation soon for 3 days. I don't know if he'll be okay while I'm gone? I will feed him before I go, but I usually feed him 10-15 crickets every other day. But, I wont be there for 3 day and I'm scared he'll be starving while I'm gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12207" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-05-29T05:19:14.737" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T00:43:47.003" Title="What do I do with my juvenile leopard gecko while going on vacation?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2018-05-29T03:33:02.530" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you catch your cat with a animal in its mouth yell at them and take away what the animal they caught this has worked for me with 2 cats after chased and yelled at them for it they stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12208" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T03:33:02.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20249" CreationDate="2018-05-29T07:19:31.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wood chips are fine to use! I typically have the majority of the cage in about 2 inches of ASPEN chips (any kinds of softwood are harmful to their delicate respiratory systems, this includes pine and cedar) and I give a 6 inch deep side of paper bedding like Kaytee Clean and Cozy or anything unscented for burrowing. Deep bedding is important! Only use aspen chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12209" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T07:19:31.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20384" CreationDate="2018-05-29T08:52:22.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found out that there are many species which you can purchase legally in the UK, it was just the pet stores around where I live do not have them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T08:52:22.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18100" CreationDate="2018-05-29T17:23:47.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just one of the natural prey drive behaviors that comes naturally to many dogs. It's a behavior more typical of the retriever group of dog breeds, which are selectively bred specifically for the job of following their master when they go hunting, then retrieving and carrying the kill back. But due to natural variation, it seems your Greyhound has turned out with more of the desire to retrieve and carry than is typical for a greyhound, which are normally bred for a strong chase instinct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T17:23:47.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20462" CreationDate="2018-05-29T17:54:40.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your dog needs gradual exposure. It will help you if you're able to show things on your television from YouTube, so you have available a very large selection of free short videos to work with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, the task becomes to search out short, very mild videos to put on your television. It should be one that has some movement, but very little. Perhaps scenery with some slight wind going on, or something like that. Play that for your dog, and if your dog does not seem bothered, then reward it with attention or treats. Very gradually, over the course of days or weeks, work up to very slightly more and more intense video, rewarding whenever the dog doesn't show a reaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog gets too scared or upset, then stop and take a break. In general sessions shouldn't be too long, because you don't want your dog to get too stressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-29T17:54:40.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18124" CreationDate="2018-05-29T23:24:35.240" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 cat was vomiting regularly because he ate too fast. I ended up giving him 6 very small meals and so far this appears to have worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female is fine but I can't leave food for her because the male will eat it instead. I give them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;about an 8th of a cup, 5 times a day &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a tablespoon of wet for dinner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering getting rid of him but then I tried this and it seems to have worked. I know there will be occasional hairballs but the vomiting was driving me nuts and he became overweight. Now there is no vomiting and he is losing weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12211" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-05-30T08:19:06.787" LastActivityDate="2018-05-30T08:19:06.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-30T12:56:04.057" Score="0" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I´ve seen alot of talking about walking one dog or not, but this question is more about cultures where dog are simply not being walked because their function is a bit different than what is usually assumed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I´m referring to villages in The Philippines that I´ve visited a couple of times - and probably many other places on this planet where dogs primarily are kept to alarm against burglars.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On an early sidenote, I always wondered how people would even know that there´s a burglar, cause the dogs are barking allover the neighborhood the whole night long, nonstop!   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the dogs pet function is there as well - more for some than for others - but they´re never being walked, period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I´ve noticed that a lot of these dogs are not cuddly and very interested people, and even the cuddliest one I met who came and put its head on my lap while looking at me, would be very confused about what the idea was of throwing a ball that it could catch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good thing is that the dogs can come and go as they want. They may be staying over at other peoples (with dogs) places for weeks, causing great frustration of their owners of course. In such a case, I knew that the dog was never mistreated or not given enough food.. I think it simply just liked another certain dog at that other place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So summa sumarum, they are given the same freedom as cats, who are also not being walked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know cats and dogs are not the same kind of animals at all, but I guess that when it comes to socializing they live a much better life than their counterparts that are being walked every day, because they get to meet other dogs whenever they feel like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, they don´t get much exercised this way but actually don´t suffer from obesity at all. Probably because their diet is different, or maybe their kind (ascals, they´re called) has a higher metabolism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you people think? Is it in a dogs DNA to only be happy when walked 3 times a day, or is this something we teach them to appreciate? Can they not have a good life without that, when actually being left to do what a dog wants to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12217" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-05-30T13:18:08.523" LastActivityDate="2018-10-14T02:00:11.120" Title="Cultures where dogs are not being walked" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-30T13:07:26.173" Score="7" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have one cat and are bringing in two more.  Our resident cat is 10 and will have the run of the house for about a week to 2 weeks while we continue to switch out bedding and make sure that our resident cat can smell the new cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will eventually introduce all the cats and all will be able to roam the full house, but the room I have to separate the new ones in is a smaller bedroom that is used as an office.  We will move out the computer and desk, allowing more room, but I don't want the 2, 3 year olds to be angry because of a too-small space while working to introduce the cats to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How small is too small for this &quot;introduction&quot; space? We will have toys, food, water, litter boxes, and a cat tower for them. There are also windows - and we will come in and spend time with them during this transition period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12218" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-05-31T15:12:35.877" LastActivityDate="2018-07-05T11:58:12.750" Title="How large of a space do cats need before being introduced to full house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20454" CreationDate="2018-05-30T13:15:24.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All cats have different personalities as well as backgrounds (when coming from a shelter, it is hard to know a cat's background).  It seems like your cat just prefers to not be picked up.  We adopted a cat that is this way as well.  She is now, 9 months later, very cuddly and always comes to us, but she still prefers to never be picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If necessary (to administer meds or something) I grab her by her scruff area, which is calming to a cat, and she will not have an issue being held, or held down, etc.  I would recommend leaving your cat to come to you when she wants. All cats have very different personalities but if necessary, try to hold her scruff (back of the neck area)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12218" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:17.763" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:17.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20473" CreationDate="2018-05-30T15:33:04.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All animals need some amount of exercise to maintain their health. The ancestor of the dog, the wolf, normally has a quite large territory it wanders in -- as big as 1,000 square miles! They are also used to sudden bursts of extreme activity on the hunt. So they are quite athletic animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breeding has made dogs that perhaps aren't quite such amazing athletes as wolves, but still there are many dog breeds that require quite a lot of exercise. The walk multiple times a day is one way to accomplish this health requirement. The walk also gives the dog a chance to do some of the normal dog behaviors it might not do otherwise, such as exploring and making territory and meeting other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it absolutely necessary to take your dog on walks? Not necessarily, if you are meeting your dog's needs for enrichment and exercise some other way. Most dogs naturally look forward to walks because it's a chance to do the things they like doing. I think though for dogs where they normally get these things another way, a walk would not seem quite so exciting. It used to be the case, and perhaps in some areas it still is this way, that dogs were just allowed to run loose. It was not the case that their owners would also take them on regular walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-30T15:33:04.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-30T21:30:00.133" Score="7" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our female cat is not spayed yet, she is going to be tomorrow. She has two female kittens too, they're with her all the time (they're going to be spayed as soon as they reach the minimum weight for the procedure). The mother sleeps and protects herself and the kittens in a small cave-like space in our large garden (it is a common space for multiple residences).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, I have been observing at least 6 different tomcats waiting just under her nose in the entrance of her little cave. She and her kittens are naturally extremely disturbed, they cannot even get out of the cave unless I am around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to take them to the vet tomorrow for spaying (mother) and a general check. But after the mother recovers I don't know how I can put them back in the garden again. I already gave multiple ads to find home(s) to them. There has unfortunately been no return, and I have to move to another country two months later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions for us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12221" LastEditorUserId="12221" LastEditDate="2018-06-01T09:31:31.443" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T18:09:18.077" Title="How can we protect our female cat who gets harassed all the time by at least 6 tomcats in our garden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-30T21:36:47.480" Score="5" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two dogs, my ex stole them, now I am considering my legal options and also looking at buying two new dogs if things don't go my way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten, I got her to keep me company till I get my dogs (and after :) ). I am also considering getting a husky puppy as one of the two dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can this work out? Can I teach the husky to leave the kitten alone? My tolerance for random cat body parts in the living room is rather low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T08:09:10.340" Title="Husky puppy if I have cats: Yes or no?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20463" CreationDate="2018-05-31T00:43:47.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Good to go!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing a feeding before you go is plenty, your gecko will survive the 3 day vacation without any worries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their tails are made as an energy reserve, they can go many weeks without a meal by utilizing the fat &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25935709&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stored in their tails&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A Few Tidbits&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure he has plenty of water &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure temps stay at an adequate level to prevent him from getting too cold or too hot.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17045/how-do-i-keep-my-leopard-gecko-cage-warm&quot;&gt;How do I keep my leopard gecko cage warm?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible have his lighting set to a timer so it can automatically turn on/off at the appropriate times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T00:43:47.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20479" CreationDate="2018-05-31T08:09:10.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there might be an argument made for yes, I go with a strong&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;NO, don't do it if you love your cat!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to multiple websites it is not a good idea to have a dog with a high prey drive and other pets in the same house. Those dogs will kill those other pets if they can. And husky's can have a very high drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it can be done, having a husky and a cat live together, you can find quite a number of those success stories online. Here is the thing, if the husky (or other dog with high prey drive) decide it's time for fluffy to die, fluffy is dead. Only thing left is a little time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use some sobering quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So if you have cats that you love dearly, I’d avoid having Huskies around at all costs. And that goes for all high prey drive breeds. It is possible to train prey drive mostly out of an individual dog, but it’s hard to do, and personally I’d still never trust the dog around cats or other “prey-looking” pets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Are-huskies-cat-killers&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jeff Tawater, Professional dog trainer.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No, they will kill cats unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://iheartdogs.com/knowledge-base/breed/huskies/does-your-huskies-get-along-cats/?pageNum=1&amp;amp;totalAns=46&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The predatory sequence in dogs involves searching, stalking, chasing, catching, biting, killing and eating. In a simple chase response, your husky might not carry out the whole sequence. He may just run after, and then play by gently mouthing the kitty. Whether your husky chases Fluffy just to play or to actually cause harm and pursue the whole sequence, will depend on a variety of factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://foreverhusky.org/husky-101/huskies-and-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Diane Morgan&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T08:09:10.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20454" CreationDate="2018-05-31T08:39:24.183" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try a different approach to lifting your cat. In my experience some cats simply will not allow themselves to be lifted, but a large number just has issues with how they are lifted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to, instead of lifting the cat, providing a lift for the cat. What I mean by that is instead of grabbing the cat around the midsection and lifting you &lt;strong&gt;put one hand under the back paws of the cat, while at the same time putting the other hand under the front paws, or if the cat feels unsteady standing like that: around the front legs (index finger in front of legs, thumb just barely supporting, and other fingers holding the chest).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this does is give control of the lift to your cat, if the cat wants to get away the back legs are fully free for use. It also keeps the chest of the cat facing downwards and protected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat that is being lifted by the former method would have to grab and wiggle out of the grip to get away, while in the latter method they simply have to push with the back legs and slide out of your grip (which is also a very safe way to put them down again without an oddly angled impact upon landing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2018-05-31T09:04:49.860" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T09:04:49.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20931" CreationDate="2018-05-31T09:11:50.990" Score="4" ViewCount="559" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had a cat for 5 years in my home. It is a male cat adopted from the streets when he was barely 3 weeks old. Recently we introduced a new cat, which is a male Ragdoll that is 9 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We initially do the &quot;getting along ritual&quot; to make these two cats to get along:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Initially kept them in separate rooms, but they could sniff each other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Made them eat together but only sniffing each other; then seeing each other until they eventually got confident enough to be in the same room without hissing etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything was fine, they even played together without hissing or growling for a week, then the problems started. The main problem is that the ragdoll one is too playful, wants to play all the time and that eventually makes the other cat upset, so the older cat starts biting him harder, until a point the ragdoll cat meows because of the pain. We then proceed to separate each other to avoid further damage to the ragdoll (the ragdoll can't do any harm, their &quot;bites&quot; are so soft you can't even notice sometimes and he never uses his claws).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while we try to join them together again, so currently the situation is like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the ragdoll doesn't want to play, there isn't any fight whatsoever, they ignore each other and can even casually touch one another without fighting. They can even sleep as closely as minimum 50 cm apart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the ragdoll wants to play most of the time it results in a fight because the ragdoll &quot;surprises&quot; the other cat by hiding and jumping into the older cat. The older cat usually takes this as an offense and bites the ragdoll. The ragdoll thinks he is playing so he plays with him &quot;fighting&quot; too, until the older cat bites him so hard that the ragdoll meows in pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After the fight, they are separated in different rooms. After a short while, the older cat starts meowing because he wants to go out, and the ragdoll meows because he wants to play with the other cat (already forgotten the fight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When we open the door, sometimes they ignore each other, and sometimes the ragdoll starts licking the other cat in the head and in the back like he is giving some affection to him. The older cat most of the time thinks the ragdoll is attacking him again and after a bit of licking (not instantaneously) he bites the ragdoll again. Then we go again to step 3 and repeat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We already tried to play with the ragdoll to make him not want to play with the other cat, but he eventually wants to play with him (the ragdoll has energy for everybody I guess) and he ignores us to play with the older cat, eventually fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do so these fights won't happen anymore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12224" LastEditorUserId="12224" LastEditDate="2018-05-31T13:51:26.323" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T10:57:44.427" Title="Two cats get along but end up fighting when playing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-31T15:32:38.897" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd be really thankful if anyone who owns any of the air pumps mentioned in this article &lt;a href=&quot;https://fishtankclub.com/aquarium-air-pump/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://fishtankclub.com/aquarium-air-pump/&lt;/a&gt; could tell me which one is the best, from either personal experience or an estimation. They all sound promising and I'm clueless and don't know which one to go for. My only requirements are that the air pump has to be on the cheaper side, isn't complicated to install and fairly easy to maintain (although I'm new to the world of aquariums, I don't want to invest in a weak air pump). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12226" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T15:32:38.897" Title="Air pump selection" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-05-31T16:56:49.173" Score="3" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten, will get / recover two dogs (I used to have two dogs, stolen by my ex. I will either get them through courts or buy two new ones). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out whether I should have one or two cats. What are the implications of having two cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do cats need socialization with their own species like dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a risk of the two cats not getting along and having to be kept separated like extra-small pitbulls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-06-01T13:37:57.810" Title="What are the implications of one cat vs two cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20485" CreationDate="2018-05-31T20:50:43.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are not generally social in the way that dogs are social. Occasionally, you might come on a pair of cats that's so bonded that they constantly cuddle, play, or groom each other, but I think it's more status quo for the cats to mostly just tolerate each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can also not get along at all. They could outright attack each other.  Adult male cats even have a reputation for killing kittens, though that is more common for unneutered males. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also less extreme but still undesirable dynamics, like one cat might bully the other by hogging access to necessities, or playing too rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With kittens though, their territorial behavior is less established. They're more likely than adults to actually get along and want to play with each other. Some people even advise adopting kittens in pairs, especially if you have no cats in your house already. With most adult cats, being alone is perfectly fine, as long as they get enough attention from their owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-05-31T20:50:43.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18893" CreationDate="2018-05-31T23:16:30.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gecko's tail recently did this. Her shedding process didn’t go as planned and her shedding skin stayed on half her tail for two days. I noticed an open flesh wound, so I grabbed her tail and she just looked up at me. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, but I started to bend it and it came off. Alza seemed very happy that I did this. She was in much less of a crabby mood afterwards. I’m surprised it went so well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, it seemed like the better option. I have never had this happen before - she’s only ten weeks old and was too skittish to let me wrap her tail in damp paper towels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this could help anybody who finds oneself in the same situation as me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12228" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T11:23:51.327" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T11:23:51.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-01T08:23:44.563" Score="7" ViewCount="2417" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note&lt;/em&gt; : There are a lot of questions about can and toilet issues but I didn't find any matching my personal issue (same spot every time, cat still uses the litter box). Here are some questions that I found that don't match my question :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7192/why-does-my-cat-pee-on-the-rug-outside-the-toilet&quot;&gt;Why does my cat pee on the rug outside the toilet?&lt;/a&gt; : This question is about a cat that doesn't pee on the toilets anymore, while my cat still goes to his litterbox. My cat also acts on a specific spot only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3127/how-do-i-stop-my-cat-from-peeing-on-rugs-and-linens&quot;&gt;How do I stop my cat from peeing on rugs and linens?&lt;/a&gt; : This question is about a cat that had bad habits and has a hard time forgetting them, which is not the case with my cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17918/my-cat-is-peeing-around-the-litter-box&quot;&gt;My cat is peeing around the litter box&lt;/a&gt; : This question is about a much older cat with possible kidney issues, which I don't think is the case for my kitten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10095/how-can-i-stop-my-cats-from-urinating-in-the-pet-carrier&quot;&gt;How can I stop my cats from urinating in the pet carrier?&lt;/a&gt; : This question is about fear-related events&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since last month, my almost 4 months old kitten peed 4-5 times outside of his litter box in a specific spot on my bed. I adopted him when he was 2 months old, already weaned, and he has been very clean apart from those accidents on my bed. He still does pee and poo in his litter box. Every time it happened, we were on the bed and not sleeping (watching TV).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time it happened,  I washed the sheets and made sure there was as little odor as possible, but he keeps peeing on the same specific spot of the bed. We (my girlfriend, him and me) sleep together on my bed but this doesn't seem to happen at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said it may be some kind of revenge, but I didn't manage to identify any pattern of why he would pee on my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is otherwise completely healthy and we have a good relationship (we cuddle, we play together, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why does he keeps doing this, and what can I do to help him stop?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12229" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:30:04.627" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:33:32.323" Title="My kitten keeps peeing in a specific place outside of his litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20488" CreationDate="2018-06-01T10:01:26.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am assuming this only occurs when you are not in the bed.  If so...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: The question was updated to expand that this only occurs when the people are in bed and awake.  The answer below does not apply to the specific scenario.  I will leave it here for others who it may apply to.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get up put a litter box on that spot on the bed.  This should be a second litter box, not his normal litter box. He should start peeing in the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has two positive impacts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You won't need to change the bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He should start associating peeing in that spot with the litter box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some time (depends on how much he uses it) when you believe that he is associating the new second litter box with the place to pee, start moving its position on the bed towards a better place like a corner of the bedroom. You are slowly modifying the behavior much like &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/971/how-can-i-train-my-cat-to-use-the-toilet/973#973&quot;&gt;training a cat to use a toilet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the litter box is not on the bed, you have two choices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put it someplace he cannot see or get to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put it in the corner (or wherever) you want it to end up at the end of the training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should finish the training with a second litter box in the bedroom and no more wet beds. Alternately you can continue to move the litter box until it is in a different room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also assuming there are no other cats in the house. If there are other cats, the basic rule is: there should be one litter box for each cat, plus one.  Thus 2 cats should have 3 litter boxes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:33:32.323" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:33:32.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20488" CreationDate="2018-06-01T13:27:28.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the litterbox near your bedroom? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the kitten very affectionate (does it follow you around, does it hound you for attention, ...)? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be trying to stay close to you. I'm basing this on you mentioning it doesn't happen when you're asleep, or not in the bed. It seems to be connected to &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; more than the bed itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try providing a (temporary) litterbox near the bed, and see if it opts for the litterbox then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-06-01T13:27:28.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20485" CreationDate="2018-06-01T13:37:57.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a risk of the two cats not getting along and having to be kept separated like extra-small pitbulls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, but usually this is a case of either cat having had bad experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a 9 year old cat, who had lived under the rule of thumb of a very dominant male before we adopted her. She was beaten and generally forced into submission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We soon added a kitten to the household, and the old one &lt;em&gt;hated&lt;/em&gt; her. She turned violent, and after she realized that I'd intervene on the kitten's behalf, she resorted to more passive aggressive actions like claiming the litter box, or sitting by the food because the little one was too afraid of going near her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't let that scare you off, it's not all that common. Most cats are known for their generally indifferent attitude, and this extends to their social interactions as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We now have two sister cats, and added a kitten into the mix. Here, you can see the difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One sister is very passive. She likes sleeping and loafing around. The little one tried to play with her. She would go and lie down somewhere else, but after he pestered her too many times, she would chase him out of the room. &lt;strong&gt;Result&lt;/strong&gt;: These two mostly ignore each other now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The other sister is more playful, and used to try and get her sister to play (unsuccessfully). She actually plays with him more often. But he has more energy than her, and she wants to loaf around at times too. &lt;strong&gt;Result:&lt;/strong&gt; These cats interact much more. When he gets too playful or she isn't up for playing, she will hiss at him a few times until he gets the hint. But they don't ignore each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you're getting two unfixed males or cats with emotional baggage, the odds of them violently disliking each other is minute. Even if they do, they will generally resort to ignoring each other instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're trying to put two males together, only put them together after they both been neutered for some time (so the hormones have left their system).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-06-01T13:37:57.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20488" CreationDate="2018-06-01T21:39:50.230" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is peeing in one specific place outside his or her litter box, try moving the litter box on top of that area, or try making that place somewhere he or she would not want to pee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12186" LastActivityDate="2018-06-01T21:39:50.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20462" CreationDate="2018-06-01T21:45:30.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try making the video you are watching super-slow so that your dog barely even notices. Then speed up the video gradually over the next few days and see if she is any more used to it by then. If not, refrain from watching TV in the same room, or hold her while watching, give her treats and make her feel as though not being afraid of the television is a cause for treats and extra attention.&#xA; Just guessing, i'm not an expert! Hope you find this useful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12186" LastActivityDate="2018-06-01T21:45:30.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-02T18:12:53.510" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I let a stray cat sleep on a chair on my balcony.&#xA;After it got up, I saw it left dozens of blood filled parasites on the chair, but I'm not sure of which kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are tiny (1-2mm diameter), very slow moving, some are black and some red-ish from blood, they pop easily and leave a bloody splatter, it's hard to see their legs, but they have small antennas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm attaching a photo, but it's not great, as they are too small to easily photograph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yBCmG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yBCmG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;parasite&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you identify it? Does it transfer to humans? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12236" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-06-02T20:28:52.447" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T15:43:37.370" Title="Identifying a cat parasite" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17481" CreationDate="2018-06-02T18:28:35.487" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats definitely can sense when we aren't feeling well. My girl is extremely affectionate anyway, but she takes it up to 11 when I'm sick. Over winter break, when we were staying at my parents' house, I got the stomach flu. She stayed laying across my chest with her paws near the side of my neck (essentially so she could give me a warning with her claws if I tried to get up). The only point where she left the room was when I called for my mom and my mom didn't hear me. My cat then sprinted out of the room and bit my mom's ankles until she would follow her back to my room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12237" LastActivityDate="2018-06-02T18:28:35.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20494" CreationDate="2018-06-02T19:55:42.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a tick. They do transfer to all animals living on land. They need blood to live and reproduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can make you and your animal ill, they can transfer serious disease and even kill you or your animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to remove it as soon as you see one, to limit the possibility of serious infection in you and your animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to buy tick repellent for you and your pet, but they often do not last for more than a few weeks at most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the short answer, but ticks can be really dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T15:43:37.370" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T15:43:37.370" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-03T10:22:36.907" Score="0" ViewCount="595" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few months I got my kitten and she was of course the typical shy, skittish kitten that would hide. I kept her in a room and would just sit with her, she would even hiss at me. She was only 10 weeks at the time. After a month, she finally got the courage to come out of the room and come to the bed but she wouldn't let you touch her or she'd run off. I called the lady I got her from and once I told her how the kitten was acting, she told me that she probably traumatized her because she had been remodeling her home and the litter of kittens had got into a wall/cabinet and she didn't want them to go further so she panicked and blocked the area off, made lots of noise and kept reaching out for them. I mean, can you imagine how that may have looked for them? After hours of doing this, she said she still couldn't get them out so she waited until the mama cat came around and the kittens finally felt safe enough to come out, at which point she also blocked the area off so that they couldn't get in again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward to today and my kitten only lets me touch her if I'm in the bed or sitting in the living room. When I reach out (I underhand pet her so that it doesn't look like I'm trying to grab her but it doesn't work) to her from any other part of the house, she runs from like she's never seen me before even though she rubs on me all the time when I'm in one of her favorite spots. I don't chase her but sometimes if she gets stuck somewhere I can't grab her because she's so terrified, and now that she is older, she uses her claws and she hisses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought this behavior would stop but she will fight if she feels like she's being touched or if you have to grab her. It's like she doesn't trust me outside of those two areas she hisses and she runs off like she's never had human interaction. She will also run if you walk past her in an attempt to get away from you even if you're not trying to get her. She is always on high alert when she isn't in the bed or on the sofa - she runs from everything. When I give her treats and wet cat food, she won't come to me. I've waited 10-15 minutes with her and she just looks at me. Instead, she prefers that I drop off the food under the table or in a corner where she can be alone. How can I stop all this awful behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12239" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:55:23.177" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:55:23.177" Title="Skittish, hissing kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-03T10:34:27.453" Score="5" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking into tracker devices for my cat. Something that I can put on it's collar to help track it down if it gets lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat weights about 5kg.  The tracker weighs about 10g. Is this too heavy for the cats neck or will it be ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat doesn't seem to be showing any discomfort wearing it, but i'd like to be sure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12240" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:36:07.963" LastActivityDate="2019-02-10T15:07:14.077" Title="Are cat tracker devices too heavy to put on a cat's collar?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gps&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-03T15:06:40.933" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is suffering with splayed legs. Both her front legs are splayed. Could u please suggest me how to get him to normal position. What treatment or any supplements / vitamin doses ?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lVPM8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12223" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T15:06:40.933" Title="My rabbit is suffering with splayed front legs" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-06-04T12:19:55.013" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20502" CreationDate="2018-06-03T17:21:46.850" Score="8" ViewCount="779" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read it somewhere, maybe as a Facebook photo of some Tumblr or yahoo a long time back (hence not a reliable source) that the user found it's pet snake (which was not eating food for quite some time) lying completely flat next to it on the bed one night and found it amusing and happened to ask the vet who said that it was measuring the user's height to see whether the user was suitable to eat or not. Can someone verify? It's creepy and I want to know the truth. (as I said, I don't remember the complete contents but just the context) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12242" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T17:35:34.067" Title="Does a pet boa/python measure the owner by lying straight?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20501" CreationDate="2018-06-03T17:30:32.273" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, snakes don't do any kind of measuring their prey before attacking like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically they can see whether they can eat what they see. Similarly to how you don't have to bring out a tape measure to check whether something is bitesize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually not unheard of that snakes try to eat something that's too big for them to swallow, or to mistake an owner's hand for food, but this is just not how they respond to food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3281/what-forms-of-body-language-can-be-identified-in-snake-behaviour/20190#20190&quot;&gt;a post here about body language in snakes&lt;/a&gt;, here you can also see how a snake responds to food. If they think something is food, you'll know it. They won't lie down beside it first to check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also think about it, would this strategy work in the wild? If I'm an antilope or something, and I see a snake doing that, I'm out of there. Snakes are mostly ambush predators. They lie in wait, waiting for food to come by. When it does there is no time for hesitation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-06-03T17:35:34.067" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T17:35:34.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20488" CreationDate="2018-06-03T17:58:09.460" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try putting a plate with some food on it in the spot where the cat pees. Cats do not like to eliminate in areas they associate with food. When the food is gone, leave the plate there for a while to reinforce the association. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise that leaving a plate in your bed isn't exactly convenient, so perhaps it will work if you simply give your cat treats in this spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T17:58:09.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20488" CreationDate="2018-06-03T18:23:22.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same happened to my 4-month-old kitten. Now the pee goes down to the box spring. I'm locking him out of the bedroom so the litter box is literally the only place he goes to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couple of potential reasons from my pet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He can still smell it on your bed. Did you try removing the smell totally with Fizzion or something like that? Sometimes even if you can't smell it anymore, he'll smell it and consider it as a litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try taking him to the vet to check on urinary infections. Drastic change of food, change in food pH, stress, and a lot of other reasons will lead to a cat peeing outside litter box because he is in pain and associates the pain with the litter. especially if he's peeing in front of you (while you are watching tv, he may try to tell you that he's not feeling well.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's too young to control it, and you just need to train him more. I even noticed some incontinence from my cat, and the vet wanted me to wait until he's older. Try blocking him from the bedroom for a while until he knows that the litter box is the only place to go to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12243" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:29:52.547" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:29:52.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20498" CreationDate="2018-06-03T19:04:29.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat tracker weighing 10 gram is not too heavy for your cat,but cats in general do not like to have objects hanging around their neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is better to get your cat microchipped to avoid it beeing lost,but this is probably something you have done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat do spend his/her time in your garden you will probably not need to use the tracker there,but if you bring the cat with you to unknown areas using it might be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat of normal size have no problems in carrying 50 grams around the neck for the whole day,but they will need some time to get used to it dangeling around the neck,and they might get scared at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-06-03T19:04:29.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-04T04:12:38.953" Score="2" ViewCount="864" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is always scratching at the doors and windows. He's around 3 years old and is in inside cat, we've had him for about a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought it might be because he wanted outside so I've got a harness and tied him up for an hour or so a few times but that only seems to make him crazier when he's inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts on this problem? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12244" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T06:09:13.097" Title="How can I get my cat to stop scratching my window screens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20497" CreationDate="2018-06-04T09:35:27.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a long road ahead of you with this cat. Your kitten has been traumatized and did not learn to trust humans in the very important first 3 months. That takes a lot of patience to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first 3 months are important for socializing. Kittens need to learn that humans are good and can be trusted (and some other things). If they do not learn that lesson in those 3 months it (can) take a very long time to change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Steps forward:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have as much positive interaction as you can. You say you have 2 places where your kitten feels safe. Play with her there, give her snacks there. Make those her happy places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My next step would be petting and picking up. Small things in the beginning, just a finger stroke. Find out the ways she likes to be petted. With picking up it's a toss up. Some cats love to be picked up, others merely learn to tolerate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that (almost) every interaction with you is going to be a good thing for your kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, do find a good book on cat behaviour, so you can learn her body language and know how you can communicate back that she is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:52:31.340" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:52:31.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20508" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-04T12:47:55.543" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;How feasible is it to have a Malinois in an apartment if given enough exercise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am joking that my dog will be &quot;exercise equipment&quot; - I think that an hour of biking in the morning plus some training/free play in the evening would be about right. He probably will also have a second dog to keep him company in during the day :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can this work out? Or am I setting myself up for failure and I should get a German Shepherd instead? (I had German Shepherds before. I am tired of wondering about problems with the hips, especially with lots of exercise.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T23:38:38.253" Title="Malinois in an appartment with enough exercise: Feasible?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-04T12:53:02.667" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a gun dog and she loves shooting, when she hears the shots it gives her a buzz and she gets excited, but with fire works and thunder she gets scared. How can she like gun shots but not the sound of thunder or fireworks? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastActivityDate="2018-06-04T12:53:02.667" Title="Why does my gun dog like gun shots but not fire works or thunder" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20506" CreationDate="2018-06-04T13:16:30.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does indeed sound like he wants to go outside. It sounds like you have access to outside space, so the best solution would be to let him go outside. Remember that cats are not naturally indoor creatures, and that they have a pathological hatred of closed doors!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2018-06-04T13:16:30.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-05T00:00:18.373" Score="6" ViewCount="645" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cousin was feeding the leopard gecko a cricket which was dusted with calcium. Some of the calcium got in her left eye. Could this cause any health problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12247" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-05T08:19:50.753" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T11:11:08.000" Title="Leopard gecko got calcium in eye" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20508" CreationDate="2018-06-05T08:15:24.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can handle German Shepherds in your apartment, you can handle &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malinois_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Malinois&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if the dog is not some kind of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/about-dogs/breeds/have-we-overbred-bulldogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inbred couch potato&lt;/a&gt;, they will &lt;strong&gt;NEED&lt;/strong&gt; the exercise. Dogs are a big commitment in time, if not money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for an anecdote, the one Malinois I have run into, that dog did not stop playing fetch or any other game. The whole day long. Think puppy energy levels. Think border collie energy. With focus. Select yours carefully for the energy level you think you can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-05T08:15:24.333" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20512" CreationDate="2018-06-05T08:26:25.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the main component of the calcium powder is Calcium Carbonate, a common chalk-like salt, you can take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/750/calcium-carbonate-toxicity&quot;&gt;this question on ChemistrySE.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They link to its MSDS, the safety sheet outlining potential dangers of chemicals. In eye contact they mention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eye Contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check for and remove any contact lenses. In case of contact, immediately flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15&#xA;minutes. Cold water may be used. WARM water MUST be used. Get medical attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best would be to 1) spray loads of water on the gecko to rinse their eyes, either by using a fine mist, or by dripping water into the eye directly (depends a bit on your willingness to restrain the animal) and/or 2) bring them to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-06-05T08:26:25.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20474" CreationDate="2018-06-05T11:53:08.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;It depends on the cat.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, we took in two very shy cats who had little experience with being a house pet (they were freshly retrained feral cats - but &quot;feral&quot; is really not descriptive of their character). The main focus for putting them in a single room was to prevent them from hiding away from us. The house is rather big with lots of nooks and crannies, and we feared that they'd never come out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a two weeks, we gave them the staircase (the adjacent space). They couldn't be bothered to check it until after another week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we eventually opened the house to them, it took them months to actually live in the other rooms and not just eat their food there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question really depends on your cats. If they're very active and playful, give them enough space. Ideally enough space to run in a straight line, but not many houses have rooms to accommodate that so it might not be feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats were shy and calm. We gave them an above average bedroom and it was more than big enough for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later, we also housed a younger cat who was (and still is) incessantly playful. We initially gave him the same starter room, but later moved him to a smaller room specifically to get him to &lt;em&gt;stop&lt;/em&gt; running around nonstop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the cats suffered from any of the other rooms. Especially if you let them out once in a while (we would shift the spaces by giving the younger cat the hallway for a few hours every day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will have toys, food, water, litter boxes, and a cat tower for them. There are also windows - and we will come in and spend time with them during this transition period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as they have everything they need (food, water, sleeping spaces, hiding spaces, toys, preferably a window, visits from you), they should be fine. Seems like you've got everything covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got some, cardboard boxes are &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; a nice addition to a room (for a cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a smaller bedroom that is used as an office. We will move out the computer and desk, allowing more room,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you need it, you might want to keep the desk in there. It increases floor space by adding the desk's space to it, plus it gives some verticality to the room, which cats will generally like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't want the 2, 3 year olds to be angry because of a too-small space while working to introduce the cats to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking their feelings into account is commendable, but &quot;angry&quot; isn't really an expected outcome. Cats don't have societal expectations. As long as they have enough space to satisfy their needs (which mostly relates to playing), they'll be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prove the point, we'll be taking our cats with use once we move abroad. The cats will be in travel boxes for 12-15 days (quarantaine). While it will be stressful for them, it's not harmful to them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Comparatively, the room you're providing them will be massively more luxurious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good that you care, but you should be allright. Unless that room is excessively cramped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-06-05T11:53:08.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20448" CreationDate="2018-06-05T12:04:04.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it matter, or if it does, it's going to be a matter of personal preference (not every cat will like the same thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 3 cats and 2 litter boxes. Different litter boxes, different characters, different litter box preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The observant cat prefers the black litter box and faces the door hole.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The unbothered cat prefers the white litter box (not transparent, but lets in ambient light) and faces away from the door hole.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The playful cat uses whichever box he prefers, and I've seen him in every orientation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, none of the cats refuse to use either litter box. They may have a preference, but only having the other option (or if their preferred box needs a cleaning) doesn't deter them from doing their business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-06-05T12:04:04.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20520" CreationDate="2018-06-05T20:47:29.587" Score="4" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I have a a 7/8 month old puppy who does not like to be left alone at all, which for the most part she never is. We've trained her to be calm while we are at work but the real challenge is when she is left alone while we are in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This rarely occurs, we have a special dog room where we keep their toys and feed them and have a few beds lying around, and whenever I take a shower and step out for a minute to empty the trash or something like that I'll put her in the room(which has a see through gate) just to keep her out bedding, wires, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now whenever she is left alone here, she'll poop! Not only poop but eat it as well likes she's trying to hide the evidence. I literally have no clue how to stop this, obviously I can crate her when im in the shower or something like that, but it seems excessive. Mainly I am just concerned she's defecating in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12250" LastActivityDate="2018-06-06T06:35:08.173" Title="My dog when left alone in a room while poop and eat it. Even after walk (with #2)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20519" CreationDate="2018-06-06T06:35:08.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behaviour is usually associated with separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, before addressing the behaviour, I strongly suggest a visit to your vet to eliminate any medical conditions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are excellent watchers. They learn new behaviours all the time on how to react to human behaviours to please us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, they are first triggered by something, see your behaviour, acts accordingly: Picking up a lead is a trigger for walk and fun, usually excitement!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, sometimes, they learn ‘negative’ behaviours without us realising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety is one of them. Dogs are pack animals and if the relationship with your dog is correct, you should be the pack leader and the dog a follower. If yes, when you leave, the dog is lost and can not cope.&#xA;[pack leader advice][&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety comes in 2 parts: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The triggers&lt;/strong&gt;: putting your shoes on, key noises, sudden activity, unusual routines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to find out what these are and get your dog to think these triggers are not always associated with being left alone. For example, you could go find your keys (which could be a trigger) but instead of leaving, you come back and sit down and wait until the dog settles. Only reward the dog if it is in a calm state. When in a calm state, praise the dog simply, quietly in a short appraisal. If the dog gets up, ignore. You must practise over and over again until the dog is bored with it and desensitised.  My dog now knows we are leaving and goes in her crate by herself in a very calm manner. She enjoys being left alone. I can explain a typical dog’s life in the wild if you wish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The actual state of being alone.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to ‘teach’ the dog to be alone. As I said, they are pack animals and must be educated or in fact empowered to be left alone by using a natural behaviour. Most dogs will have a guarding behaviour and I always use that one with separation anxiety. If you give a job to a dog and passively occupy it, it won’t feel the anxiety.&#xA;Practicality, you need to distance yourself from the dog. Start in one room. Get the dog to sit and move away as far as the dog can take staying calm (you and the dog). If the dog moves or display negative behaviour you’ve gone a step too far, literally! Work from room to rooms. Get the dog to get use to be alone for length of times when you are in different rooms. Then work the garden, always challenging the distance. The dog’s guarding behaviour will eventually take over when left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of things to be said about how to tackle this including many books on positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also think of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your dog mentally and physically challenged enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the house too big? Dogs don’t usually deal very well with large amount of space. When I leave, the only rooms open are lounge where the crate is and kitchen where the water is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of a Kong and distracting behaviour can be used to change the dog’s perception of you leaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on for pages as this is not an exact science and varies depending on the dog...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would to know what type of dog you have. I am happy to answer more direct questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8783" LastActivityDate="2018-06-06T06:35:08.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20524" CreationDate="2018-06-06T16:33:43.533" Score="22" ViewCount="24495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use coconut oil to moisturize my skin everyday. If my cat happens to be around me by the time I'm using the coconut oil, he goes nuts and tries to lick it from the jar. Occasionally I give him just a tiny bit (around the size of a pea) but he eats it and wants more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The coconut oil I use is extra virgin, organic and cold pressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to give him coconut oil everyday? If yes, is it good for him somehow? And how much and how often should I give him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12252" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T17:11:45.117" Title="My cat loves coconut oil. Is it safe to give him some?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20522" CreationDate="2018-06-06T17:25:22.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think giving your cat some coconut oil is dangerous in any way, and it does have some medical uses in pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is a type of fat, and you need to keep this in mind so your cat does not gain weight, so please limit the amount you give your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the positive effects of giving coconut oil is a softer stool, and it can help your cat to pass hairballs a little easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use coconut oil on the cat's paws if they are sore, and it can be used to treat the cat's dry skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about this could be found in external articles: &lt;a href=&quot;https://bostonstreetvet.com/2014/12/12/10-uses-for-coconut-oil-for-pet-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one at bostonstreetvet.com&lt;/a&gt; about usage of coconut oil for pet health and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.organicfacts.net/coconut-oil-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;another one at organicfacts.com&lt;/a&gt; about usage of it in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that only clean, unaltered, food-grade coconut oil is safe for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T17:11:45.117" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T17:11:45.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20522" CreationDate="2018-06-06T17:31:09.410" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coconut oil is safe for cats, if given in moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potential side effects include:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Upset stomach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diarrhoea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pancreatitis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight gain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergic reaction to coconut oil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've been letting your cat have small amounts without any allergic reactions, I would think it is safe to assume that he is not allergic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coconut oil has many benefits for cats and can be used internally or topically for a wide range of reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Topical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treat allergies, eczema, and other skin irritations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moisturise dry skin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relieve itchiness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve overall coat health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Act as a barrier against environmental allergens and chemicals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleaning skin folds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Internal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treat allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aid in passing hairballs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce arthritis inflammation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve bad breath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treat mild gingivitis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relieve constipation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve stomach health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fight bacterial infections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Improve brain energy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The research that I've done suggests &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;8&lt;/sub&gt; to &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; teaspoon once or twice daily. Here's the catch, extra virgin coconut oil contains 92% saturated fat, or 117 calories per tablespoon, 14g fat and 12g saturated fat. This is a high-calorie supplement. If your cat has existing weight issues, or if he gains weight, it may become necessary to cut back, or reduce his caloric intake elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with anything, if you see any side effects, stop immediately and consult with your local vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/coconut-oil-cats-it-good-idea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/coconut-oil-cats-it-good-idea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bostonstreetvet.com/2014/12/12/10-uses-for-coconut-oil-for-pet-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://bostonstreetvet.com/2014/12/12/10-uses-for-coconut-oil-for-pet-health/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.organicfacts.net/coconut-oil-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.organicfacts.net/coconut-oil-cats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T17:00:22.827" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T17:00:22.827" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-06T18:53:19.423" Score="3" ViewCount="514" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is a 4 month unneutered male pomernanian. He seems to have a lot of energy and wants to socialize and play all the time. He isn't trained the way he should've been. I have had him for a week now. The first day, he did not whine nor cry. He isn't potty trained and had numerous accidents. The second to fourth day he gotten use to me and started interacting. He's much more shy and &quot;serious&quot; with my boy friend. He is very addicted to treats, that I noticed. Every time I reach for one to start training him he goes into an absolute frenzy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fifth day, I noticed he is whining now, when left in the playpen and crate, when left alone, when I leave for work. He doesn't whine with my boy friend or very minimal. I started seeing some aggression, anxiety and isn't eating as well. He still has accidents, but is a little better than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sixth day, I am distraught. He has chewed on the floor board, peeing everywhere, doesn't want to go in his crate, or play pen. He isn't eating his kibble, only wet food. Nipping at face kind of like rushing at it. Biting hands (probably from teething) and cries whenever not in my presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did I give him too much attention or not enough? Should I leave him alone not free roamin in my sight and to the minimal interactions (walk, play, feed, potty, train) and have him crated? I could use some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12254" LastEditorUserId="12254" LastEditDate="2018-06-06T21:20:39.950" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T14:55:36.327" Title="Recently adopted 4 month old pomeranian puppy, I am concerned about his behavior" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20447" CreationDate="2018-06-06T19:09:10.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing I would suggest with a dog like this, if you haven't been doing it already, is the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clickertraining.com/look-at-that-making-the-trigger-the-target&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Look at That&lt;/a&gt;&quot; game. Basically, you reward them for experiencing the reactive trigger when you're far enough away that they don't react, and then gradually move closer as they get better at remaining calm. There are a couple of books in that link that my wife has used to help our reactive BC/GSD mix. But LAT is very useful because it encourages the dog to look at you instead of what it's reacting to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dealing with reactivity is kind of a life-long battle, but it should get easier over time with training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9121" LastActivityDate="2018-06-06T19:09:10.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8125" CreationDate="2018-06-06T20:23:12.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a vet.  My labs have had bumps like that.  I trim around it with hair clipper and clean the area with alcohol.  It dries up and goes away.  If it does not get better in a couple days then see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably should not squeeze it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-06-06T20:23:12.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-07T01:41:04.743" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit recently got fleas and we have a lot of cat and dogs in my neighborhood. I’m really worried that they can breed on her. So can cat or dog fleas breed on rabbits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12260" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T01:41:04.743" Title="Can cat/dog fleas breed on rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-06-07T12:11:17.220" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20525" CreationDate="2018-06-07T02:46:47.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m not an expert but I think maybe he is calling for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I babysat a dog with this problem once and we trained her not to bite. One thing you can try is to put him on a leash and tie it to a tree. You need to put you hand out and let him bite you. If he does, then you go somewhere he can’t see you. Return to him after a minute or until he starts whining and keep putting ur hand in front of him until he doesn’t bite you anymore. And when he bites you, yelp like a dog really loudly like you are in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And he might be more submissive around your boyfriend because he sees him as dominant. I don’t really have a solution for the peeing issue but I hope this helps. I forgot to add that you should try tying him somewhere out in the open and that this should be a place he isn’t familiar with, like out in the driveway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12260" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T14:55:36.327" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T14:55:36.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20506" CreationDate="2018-06-07T06:09:13.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your cat's nails too long? Do you have any scratching post in house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A natural behavior of cats is to keep their nails in shape by using scratching posts. They are readily available in various pet shops and online shopping sites and do not cost much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you can try clipping your cat's nails with a nail cutter. Do see a youtube video about how to do so before doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T06:09:13.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20535" CreationDate="2018-06-07T08:38:34.140" Score="24" ViewCount="11459" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my sister wants to adopt a little kitten that is roughly 3 weeks old. My fear is, our cat is somewhat of a murderer. He just kills for fun and not eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may see him hunt a rat, slash the back, make the rat run, then slash the hind legs and make the rat run again, until he cuts off the rat's legs. He will then finish off by opening the skin of the rat, but you can actually see that the rat is still alive, but bloody. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example is a chick. He cut off the wings and one leg of the chick and watched the bird die, then walked away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat kills anything that he can from rats to birds to lizards as big as 2 inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took the murderous cat when he was a baby, and the only friend that he has is our 12 year old shitzu. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is 4 years old now. I am thinking that the kitten might be mistaken as a rat and the cat might kill it. Or the cat might kill it because he might become jealous. But my sister insists on adopting the kitten even with my warnings. With this kind of cat in our house, should we adopt the kitten or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12262" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:14:22.180" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T18:16:51.840" Title="Is it ok to adopt a kitten if you have a murderous cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20525" CreationDate="2018-06-07T08:50:24.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go and find a dog trainer near you. They can help you a lot better then some internet stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T08:50:24.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20533" CreationDate="2018-06-07T09:02:23.940" Score="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, step back and read up on best ages for kittens to leave their mother. (The best age to adopt a kitten is around 10 weeks.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 3 weeks of age a kitten is completely helpless and will need help with every thing from keeping warm to drinking (it cannot eat yet) and relieving itself. Till 6 weeks you are just fostering a kitten, let the mother take care of the kitten, please. Weeks 6 to 12 are needed for socializing from the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat seems to have no problem with a (very) small dog. So I think you can introduce an other cat into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then becomes the question: how to introduce a new cat into your home? That can be done, but it will take time. Experiences vary, mine was about 2 months before my 2 cats could safely be in one room...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good reads on this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3183/9546&quot;&gt;How can I tell whether adopting a second cat is a good idea?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/83/9546&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2544/9546&quot;&gt;How should I react to two fighting cats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T09:02:23.940" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20538" CreationDate="2018-06-07T12:32:41.963" Score="5" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a spayed 4 years old female cat with me since she was a kitten. During these years I was pretty much the only living being she endured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward to this week; one of my friends decided on a lengthy (two months) vacation and asked me to take care of her own 10 months old spayed female cat. We live pretty far apart so going over to her house is not an optimal solution. Hence the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know a great deal about introducing all kinds of cats. I have an empty room where the guest cat will stay with its own things/furniture. I might let them free inside the house unsupervised if everything goes well for the first couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it be awkward/bad for my cat after the guest returns to her owner? Or will she be relieved and will return to her previous self quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that while I appreciate the answers containing scientific experiments and results, I'm mainly looking for anecdotal evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: both cats are mixed breeds and somewhat shy individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6180" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T10:55:09.683" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T10:55:09.683" Title="Temporarily housing another cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20537" CreationDate="2018-06-07T13:46:22.043" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(For my own sanity: A is your cat, B is the guest cat)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will it be awkward/bad for my cat after the guest returns the her owner? Or will she be relieved and will return to her previous self quickly ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That depends entirely on their interaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If A is afraid of B's presence, she'll be relieved when B leaves (even if it takes here a few days to understand that she's gone).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If B really grows on A, A might miss her. But I doubt that it'll be to a degree of heart ache, I expect it to be more a case of looking for B for a while before realizing she's not there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If A and B are rather indifferent to each other, I doubt B's departure is going to have any effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Edit: Both cats are mixed breeds and somewhat shy individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breeds shouldn't matter too much, unless you've got two breeds with extremely different character traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shyness can swing either way. It can be positive (neither cat is very assertive) or negative (very territorial cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have an empty room which the guest cat will stay with its own things/furnitures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know a great deal about introducing all kinds of cats. I might let them free inside the house unsupervised if everything goes well for the first couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you might have a slight benefit here: if you and your friend have visited each other regularly, you have probably brought each other's cat's smells home.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Swapping smells is one of the better approaches to getting cats to accept each other, and since they may have smelled each other on you/your friend before, introductions might already have been made (partially).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note that while I appreciate the answers containing scientific experiments and results; I'm mainly looking for anecdotal evidences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two anecdotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; We have two sister cats, about 16 months old at the time. Very shy, very quiet. We adopt a 5 month old cat (initially we were a rescue home to him but then we decided to keep him). They were introduced gradually, not much fuss occurred.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The girls were interested, as was he. Social friction began when they realized that he's incessantly playful (and full of energy), whereas the girls were not as active. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One sister, the one who never plays much, ended up getting him to back off (after he bothered her repeatedly, she'd chase him out of the room, but was not violent about it). He learned from that and they mostly ignore each other now (after 10 months of living together). He learned to not engage her, he eventually got the hint.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The other sister, who is prone to bursts of energetic playing, is happy enough to play with him but sometimes still has to get him to back off. While he's still not great at finding the line between acceptable and too much, he does listen when &quot;told off&quot;. These two don't really ignore each other except &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; after he's been told to back off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while, even the least active sister played with the others (very occasionally). I've seen them hunt spiders together and so on. It's a peaceful household, maybe a bit overly playful at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; When I was a kid, we had two cats. A 9 year old and a kitten. The 9 year old was very sweet, but &lt;em&gt;hated&lt;/em&gt; the kitten. She was violent to her, intentionally sat next to the food (because she knew the little one was too afraid to go near her), ... While she herself had been abused by a male cat for years, she reversed the roles when she met the kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We decided to test if we could give the older one away to friends and get another second cat. So we put her upstairs; and got a friend's kitten to visit for a day. This was only a few weeks after we brought our kitten home.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Our kitten &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; imitated the older cat. The guest kitten was harmlessly interested in her, but she hissed at her if she came close, tried to be violent, and blocked her from using the litter box.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We decided to keep both our cats, since getting rid of one of them wouldn't even solve the issue anyway. While they never got along, they eventually learned to avoid each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second anecdote isn't meant to scare you. It's a very extreme scenario, mostly caused by the older one's history of being abused (she trusted no other cats anymore). The point of the story is that you can't always accurately predict interactions between cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worst case scenario, you've got separate rooms for them. Best case, you have two pets for a while. If you hadn't had the separate room option, I would have been apprehensive of taking the cat in. But given the availability of that room (an your apparent experience with cat introductions), you're as prepared as you're ever going to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T13:46:22.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20533" CreationDate="2018-06-07T16:23:12.660" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that the old cat is friendly with the Shih Tzu means that there's good hope that he will tolerate the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by bringing things that smell like the kitten into the old cat's space, like towels and bedding. Later, when the kitten is old enough to be separated from the mother/family, bring the kitten into your space in a locked carrier, so that old cat can get all of the sniffing and hissing out of the way. That's normal. Keep the kitten physically safe and make lots of friendly noises, and the old cat will start to acclimate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware: the old cat will teach the kitten. You will have two murder cats. This is normal cat behavior. If it distresses you, don't get the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12276" LastEditorUserId="12276" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T18:16:51.840" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T18:16:51.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20533" CreationDate="2018-06-07T19:13:28.663" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats view other cats differently than they view prey animals. While cats aren't the socialization machines that humans are, cats, like humans, form social groups and bond with other cats. Also like humans, sometimes cats just hate each other and there's nothing you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from the above advice of &quot;wait till the kitten is old enough to ethically re-home it&quot;, you should be willing to give it a whirl and see how things play out. Your cat might be a complete love to other cats. Your cat also might be an anti-social jackass. The best you can do to determine this is introduce the cats to each other in a supervised and gradual fashion. There are lots of guides online, but essentially you want to introduce their smells to each other, then sight/sound of each other, then physical access to each other. Don't move to once stage until the cats no longer care about the previous stage - that is, if they're giving each other the Hard Stare through a fence, don't let them physically access each other, they'll get stressed out and just hiss at each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, all five of my cats will routinely leave murdered mice around my house - sometimes intact from a blow to the back of the neck, sometimes a literal pile of gore. (Somehow I've managed to not step in those yet...) They are all various degrees of social but I can occasionally find all of them snuggling with each other on cold days, despite them being murderhobos to anything small and not-feline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12122" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T19:13:28.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-07T20:53:03.977" Score="4" ViewCount="858" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has a cotton allergy. It began by seeming like mange. The vet gave steroids which worked for a couple days back during the mange diagnosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lowering the immune system with allergy shots seems a bit much. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12280" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T15:16:50.790" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T15:16:50.790" Title="Dog's cotton allergy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20541" CreationDate="2018-06-07T21:33:58.347" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you have much choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allergic reactions occur when body's immune system attacks foreign substance, here cotton tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So either you have to be careful to keep your dog completely away from cotton or give treatment of lowering immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-06-07T21:33:58.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17939" CreationDate="2018-06-08T00:34:01.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are so many types of collar that produce a shock. Normally people utilize this static shock just to make the dog behave and also a common device for the dog trainer. Some people prefer this kind of collar as an anti-bark collar as well. This is because it will make the dog stop barking, I mean of course with the certain amount of acceptable static electrical shock and also suitable training. We do not want to hurt our dog. It is not intended as a punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For whatever reason it is, there is always, the pro, the cons and the ugly side of the shock collar. We know the best our pet and no matter what kind of function that you intend to do, here I am going to suggest a few shock collar. For an example, you can try the SportDOG Rechargeable Collar with the 10 level of shock that works best for your dog and the training session. Furthermore, you can see the wide range of other &lt;a href=&quot;http://petcomments.com/best-bark-collar/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;collar brands here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12285" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T00:34:01.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20541" CreationDate="2018-06-08T05:08:14.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, when an allergy is found to be present, more tests are needed to see if any similar allergens do trigger the immune response (the body often reacts to other plants in the same family); in your dog's case, cotton.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing is to try to avoid the allergen. This can be hard in your case, as cotton is very common in the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If avoiding the allergen is impossible, the vet might give steroids for short time relief. However, this is not a lasting solution so you might need to start giving systemic allergy medication. Your vet will help you finding the right type and dosage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, try to keep the floor and furniture clean to limit your dog's exposure to the allergen. Carpets and fabric do trap a lot of dust, so try to keep them clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T15:16:09.847" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T15:16:09.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20533" CreationDate="2018-06-08T11:19:11.087" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might sound awful but your cat does what his instincts tell him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rat is a dangerous creature. It's smart and can bite quite severely. Attacking it from behind, weakening it, and making it almost die from blood loss is a safe approach for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bird is also a dangerous creature. It has claws and a hard beak that can do a lot of harm. It can fly (or at least try to). Again, weakening it is the strategy to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are against such approaches but these are natural mechanisms. Also, a cat's instincts work regardless if it is hungry or satiated. A satiated cat can actually be more deadly since it has sufficient energy to hunt efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't mean that a cat will treat other cats as prey. That's not what cats do, so other instincts should be at work here. The kitten will act as a cat does (especially if it is grown enough) so the two will be able to communicate in the same &quot;language&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway. your cat might want to show the kitten its place in the herd, so the introduction of a cat at home should be gradual. Start with scents. Then your two cats should be physically separated (but hear, smell and preferably see each other). A large cage for the kitten is a good idea. It can stay in such a case for weeks without much harm. Socialise the cats with each other only when you have full control over the situation (and do not overestimate your capabilities - cats are extremely agile and smart too so they can fool you). When the older cat no longer poses a threat to the kitten, you might start leaving them alone (again, at first just mock it and monitor situation), then gradually leave them together more and more unattended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general having a second cat is a good idea. It channels some of older cat's energy (sometimes fights might look violent but that's also normal. You have to learn how to recognize if cats are playing or really fighting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for age, 3 weeks is way too little for a cat to be taken away from its mother. Unless there are serious reasons to do otherwise (the mother was killed, has a high risk infection or is aggressive towards its litter or specific kittens) the kittens should stay with mother until they are 12 weeks old. 8 weeks is the absolute minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the age of 12 weeks kittens no longer psychologically suffer from being detached from their mother. If it happens earlier, they may suffer from orphan disease, negatively affecting their behaviour (among other things increasing a risk of aggression).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the age of 8 weeks kittens are fully transferred to eat solid food and do not need a supply of mother's milk. Taking kittens earlier negatively impacts their immune system and at an earlier stage it is a life threat as you can hardly replace the mother's milk with any substitute. Specifically don't try using cow milk. It can cause diarrhea and lead to dehydration and death of a kitten. Moreover, such small kittens should be fed every 2 hours. Can you do that (at night as well?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earlier kittens are detached from their mother the larger are the negative effects. Be a responsible pet owner. Resist temptation to have a nice cuddly kitten and take it until it's really ready. If you really want to take a smaller kitten, adopt one that really &lt;strong&gt;needs&lt;/strong&gt; it (for reasons given above). Still I would avoid taking kittens smaller than 5-6 weeks unless you really know what you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please, rethink the idea of taking so small a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12288" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:02:07.153" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:02:07.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17972" CreationDate="2018-06-08T15:41:38.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is that for dogs the baring of their belly is no small thing -- it's their most vulnerable area, so they only do it with people/other animals that they trust and feel safe letting their guard slightly down with, or in the case of a dog goading someone/thing to play, when they want to show they mean no harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that whatever sensation you caused on your dog's stomach made them uncomfortable/unsure and you unwittingly breached that trust. If this is the case, your buddy is just going to need the time and gentle exposure to you to get past it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6596" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T15:41:38.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18891" CreationDate="2018-06-08T16:34:04.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing comes into my mind when I think about the low-fat food for pancreatitis in a dog is Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat. You can probably go to their &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-canine-gastrointestinal-low-fat-dry-dog-food/3932&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;official product site&lt;/a&gt; and see for yourself what are people saying about this product and how it is good for their dog in treating some illness especially that pancreatitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think, it will be probably out of your budget. I assume that your budget is around $50 because of you said you are able to buy the Blue Buffalo for that price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For whatever reason it is, I do a quick search and find something related to the low-fat dog food product, I mean it is in range of your budget. It might not exactly the same as the Royal Canin ingredient, but it is specifically made for low-fat food. The list of the brand like Wellness Core ($36), Eagle Pack ($37), Natural balance ($50) and so &lt;a href=&quot;http://petcomments.com/low-fat-dog-foods/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;much more&lt;/a&gt; in line with your budget range and it is also formulated to meet a low-fat standard. You just need to compare the ingredient that most suitable to your dog condition as suggested by your personal veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12285" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T16:34:04.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20488" CreationDate="2018-06-08T17:02:09.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have other pets, or do you, your girlfriend, or the kitten, encounter other animals regularly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Peeing in someplace strongly associated with you or your scent(like a bed, clothes, a favorite chair) can sometimes be due to anxiety about other animals and a need to mark territory. If that's the case, you'll have to look into what is the source and if its something easily manageable like washing your hands after you pet the neighbors dogs, or whether you'd have to see about the various treatments/products to reduce anxiety in your kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11109" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T17:02:09.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20533" CreationDate="2018-06-08T17:05:49.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been around literally hundred of cats in my lifetime.  To answer your question directly I will say that there is almost 0% chance your cat will kill a kitten as I have never seen it happen.  I can also say that there is a 90% chance that your cat(s) will be very mean to the new kitten.  It my mind it is a way for existing cats to say this territory is taken, move on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worst I have seen this is from a female cat, especially one who has had at least one litter.  An existing female to new male is the worst I seen.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a slight chance that the new cat will be 'adopted' given its young age but I have only seen that on TV or videos never in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your cats personalities there is a chance the new cat will be tolerated if it does not try to attack 'play'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I wouldn't worry about the murderous aspect.  In my experience many cats will treat prey this way, especially females.  I always believed that was because mothers are in teaching mode, disabling but not killing prey is good for training kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for not eating the kills, if your cat was not well fed you would find that the kills would indeed get eaten.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10120" LastActivityDate="2018-06-08T17:05:49.273" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-09T04:43:33.597" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat when I was a younger early teens. He didn't live particularly long, died of a heart attack around 5 years old. A previous girl friend convinced me to get a cat and it was just a horrible experience, was nothing like how I remember my cat being, it was skittish, hated to be around people, would just hide under crap whenever anyone came over. I can't seem to remember the specific breed my old cat was but he was half something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To describe his personality is kind of hard. If I was to say what he was most like I'd say a dog ... whenever I called his name he would come running immediately no matter where we were (he was once 80 ft up a tree in our yard, so I called him cause everyone was worried that probably he was stuck and he just turned and leapt out of the tree sprung snapped on the ground and ran over to me immediately like nothing had happened). Whenever you were around he'd follow you around like a dog, whenever you were doing something say under a car working on it he was right there beside you staring at whatever you were doing. Now my grandfather hated cats but when he got me from my mother he got the cat too and even though it met him when he was nearly 2 years old the cat was the same with him. Whether he was working on car shovel, snowing off a roof, going fishing at the creek beside our house in the pouring rain, he could find the cat under the closest tree standing at attention watching. Our neighbour was redoing his floor and left the front door open halfway through. While installing the floor he decided to take a break and looked over at his chair to find my cat sitting there at attention intently watching him working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would often go fishing from our place and he would frequently hop into the boat and come with me, he wasn't afraid of anything, even my grandfather doing bodywork (smashing metal with big hammers and welding). The cat wouldn't be far away watching him and when the loud noise stopped he'd be inches away from whatever was being fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moment anyone walked up to him he would purr as loud as a two stroke motor roll onto his back and wait to be petted. When I say anyone I mean literally any random stranger, he'd just roll over onto his back and purr away. He loved to be picked up and held for some reason. He liked to be held like a baby on his back which was quite odd but would happily purr away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though he could meow I think I only heard him do it twice in his life once when he got a fishhook in his tail and we had to get it out and the first day he was away from his mother when we got him he meowed once that night. He was also quite large not fat but just well big like really big for a cat some of it was his really long fur but he was also well built. And whenever I would pet him, he liked to need but mostly just with his claws in but he'd put much effort with paw really pushing hard down with his front legs over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this behaviour something that's normal for a particular breed of cats or was he just a miracle cat? I am asking because I am considering getting a cat but would like one that likes to be around people and being petted if possible curious and likes to know what I'm doing. I realize I am asking for a dog that happens to be a cat but ya never know maybe something like that exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: to make it abundantly clear i was asking what kind of cat he could of been based on the behaviour above. though there are actually a couple options based on above the fulfill many of what i listed but only one to my knowledge fulfilling all of them additionally given his appearance there was only one choice from the possible candidates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastEditorUserId="12294" LastEditDate="2018-06-11T01:01:59.337" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T01:01:59.337" Title="Cat behaving like dog, is it of any particular breed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-09T20:46:12.567" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20553" CreationDate="2018-06-09T06:02:34.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will never get the perfect old cat back. It was one of a kind. But this does not mean your next cat will not be as good or even better than the previous cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there is no reason for you to get a kitten only. It is possible to get an adult cat from a shelter, and it is often easier to see the personality in an adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fear of the cat dying is a natural one, but it is a lot easier for a vet to examine an adult cat to listen for heart problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your time in finding the right cat for you. And cats can have totally different personality even if they come from the same litter. You will find the right cat but do not rush it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-06-09T06:29:39.500" LastActivityDate="2018-06-09T06:29:39.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20553" CreationDate="2018-06-09T20:39:40.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I did some googling and eventually found out that he was probably half &quot;ragdoll&quot;, one of the pictures on the internet could be literally of him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently this particular breed of cats tends to act in that way. The going limp on being picked up, the over friendliness to strangers and other animals. Even the puppy-like curiosity in everything its owner is doing. They also don't have a tendency to vocalise in terms of meowing often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprised no one knew of this breed of cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-06-10T22:55:56.933" LastActivityDate="2018-06-10T22:55:56.933" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20541" CreationDate="2018-06-09T21:04:07.980" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;A few things to consider&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your veterinarian suspected Mange you would need an anti-parasitic such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4394402/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bravecto&lt;/a&gt;. Steroids will not kill parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To rule out food allergies your dog will need a diet with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/centers/nutrition/evr_dg_best-dog-food-for-dogs-with-food-allergies&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;novel or hydrolyzed protein&lt;/a&gt;. A veterinary diet is best when determining food allergies as there is no risk of cross-contamination. It can take up to 12 weeks to see a difference, the pet cannot have any other food items while doing the trial (no treats allowed!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Treatments for Allergies&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot determine the source of your dogs allergies there are a couple options for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/steroid-treatment-long-term-effects-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Steroids&lt;/a&gt; - the cheapest and highly effective way of getting rid of that inflammation. It is safe short-term however being on steroids long-term is hard on the body and can bring out illness in your pet (such as diabetes, cushings, obesity).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.apoqueldogs.com/Assets/pdfs/Dogimonial_Dog_Owner_Info_Sheet.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Apoquel&lt;/a&gt; - This medication targets the &quot;itch&quot; receptors in your pet, it is an expensive drug but is much better tolerated for long-term use. It is VERY effective and our go-to if the owners can afford it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diphenhydramine or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC548625/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cetirizine&lt;/a&gt; - these over the counter medications work great for low-grade allergies. We recommend Cetirizine first as it can be given once a day and does not make your pet drowsy. &lt;strong&gt;Contact your veterinarian for a proper dosing&lt;/strong&gt;. Be sure that whichever you choose does not contain any other medicinal ingredients besides Diphenhydramine or Cetirizine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Allergy injections - We use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetallergy.com/vet/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spectrum Labs&lt;/a&gt; for this treatment. Essentially a blood sample from a pet is taken and sent off to the lab, they run a test on the blood sample to figure out what your dog is reacting to. Once the test is complete they create a serum specific to your dogs allergies which will then need to be injected subcutaneously into your dog over a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetallergy.com/vet/allergy-treatment/injections/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;set amount of time&lt;/a&gt;. The &quot;medication&quot; works through hypo-sensitization towards the allergens. Typically allergy testing in dogs isn't overly accurate and is only recommended when doing the allergy injections.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.douxo.com/us/douxo-solutions/douxo-calm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Douxo Calm Shampoo or Sprays&lt;/a&gt; - This product works great when it comes to strengthening and soothing the skin barrier by having Phytosphingosines and Pseudofilaggrins in the product. There is a protocol that needs to be followed and that will depend on your dogs state.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-06-09T21:04:07.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20380" CreationDate="2018-06-09T21:33:59.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very difficult to tell from the pictures what the damage is but after your update it looks like it's a case of bullying as you said. The white patches look like missing scales which may have been lost during an attack or, what I normally find, they were lost during the escape (bashing against decorations etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Angel fish are well known for being quite aggressive and nippy so I could well believe that they attacked the Pearl Gourami or at least chased it so it felt the need to escape. You'll definitely want to keep an eye on this. You could add more cover in the tank to break line of sight which will stop the angels spotting the other fish so quickly. This isn't a long term solution though because they'll always find it again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In relation to the healing process, you did the right thing by separating them. To heal the missing scales you just need to make sure your water quality is great and they'll heal up on their own. If there are any worse injuries than missing scales you may wish to look into something like Melafix or Pimafix for medicines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-06-09T21:33:59.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-10T11:36:29.073" Score="3" ViewCount="6603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m at my wits' end and need some help as to what to do. My 5 year old cat has always been timid, but will come up to us and socialize and everything.  Lately he’s been peeing on my bathroom rugs.  Unfortunately, I cannot pay for vet bills right now, so I was just trying to handle it.  He did it one day and I got mad (I am pregnant and have a 3 and 2 year old as well) and made him scared of me.  Now when he sees me he will start howling.  His location of choice to do this is usually the kids' room when they’re asleep.  If I touch him, approach him, yell at him, ANYTHING, he pees.  I really cannot have this cat peeing everywhere and don’t know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12301" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T23:38:46.557" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T23:38:46.557" Title="Cat keeps peeing out of fear" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20563" CreationDate="2018-06-10T15:12:30.660" Score="4" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;I measured my pH last night. One tank was &amp;lt;6.2. Another, &gt;7.4. And the last one was 6.8. This morning, about 12 hours later, they're all measuring &amp;lt;6.2. I've added nothing but food to the water since last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that kind of fluctuation normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be normal fluctuations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be causing these fluctuations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How dangerous is this for the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T11:49:25.467" Title="What are normal pH fluctuations, and what could be causing extreme fluctuations?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20562" CreationDate="2018-06-10T16:49:56.180" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pH should not change more than 0,2 during 24 hours. If it is more, it can stress your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to have a neutral pH of 7,0 for most fish, but this is very dependent on the type of fish you have. Some need alkaline water, other acidic water (so just about now is a good time to read about your fish and their needs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason for large swings in pH is a lack of minerals in the water - minerals in the water help keeping the pH more stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the water is soft (lack of minerals) then it will have little buffer effect, so if you add a drop of acid to your water the pH will drop a lot. And the same: if you add a drop of an alkaline solution, the pH goes way up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information could be found in relevant articles on Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one about soft water&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one about pH scale&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By adding minerals to your water - mainly calcium and magnesium - you give the water a larger buffer capacity, so you will need a larger amount of acid/alkaline solution to change the pH up or down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason for changes in pH during the night/day cycle is the photosyntesis stops at night, so the carbon dioxide is not removed. And it creates carbonic acid in the water and this makes the pH drop (low pH equals acidic and high pH equals alkaline).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the normal swing in pH is less than 0,2 and this is within the normal range for most of the life we have in our fishtanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful when adjusting the pH in your water. Adjust it slowly and not more than 0,2 pH per day; this is to be sure your fish can adapt to the changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The content of minerals in water is often measured in German degrees of hardness GH or in parts per million; to convert degrees of hardness to ppm, you take GH and multiply it by 17,8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A GH of 10-15 is good for most fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T11:49:25.467" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T11:49:25.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-10T19:05:09.810" Score="0" ViewCount="2126" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8OQ2d.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8OQ2d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This picture was taken June 10 at about 3 pm, this was almost an hour after the water change and the second day he&amp;#39;s been like this.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; My male betta fish is about 1 and 3/4 years old. He is normally more active, but it's been 2 days now since he's started lying at the bottom of the tank and only coming up for air. He lives in a 5 gallon tank with a cycled filter and a low flow, temperature at 79 Fahrenheit, and a heater. There is no other animal in the tank or any live plant, just fake decorations. I recently did a 100% water change because yesterday his water was cloudy and even a little yellow. Now his water is clean (I used a water conditioner too) and clear, but he's still lying by the bottom. He is not constipated, but I did notice a small bump under his chin (I do not know what it is, maybe a tumor...?). I think he is sick, but I do not know how to help him or what to do. I try to feed him but he won't eat, even when there is food right in front of him. I'm getting worried he's going to starve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12304" LastEditorUserId="12304" LastEditDate="2018-06-10T19:13:07.033" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T03:47:06.000" Title="Why is my Betta fish lying at the bottom of it's tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-06-10T21:54:18.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7977" CreationDate="2018-06-11T02:08:12.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Id like to add a bit about whats been discussed in the comments, there is really not a lot you can do other than tire the cat out. if you put a bell on him he will probably do exactly the same as my old cat make a wonderful sound when hes wandering around but the moment its time to hunt lock down his chin on the bell and make his approach. The only difference it made is you could hear it jingle every time he hit his prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the other answering yelling at the cat is the worst possible choice, the cat is bring you the food because it loves you a lot and wants to help take care of you, yelling at it for doing this will defiantly offend your cat and it certainly won't understand why. the only difference it will make is the cat will bury its excessive prey instead of bringing it to you; well and it will also think your an a**hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T02:08:12.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20561" CreationDate="2018-06-11T08:08:00.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is something wrong with your cat, as other have pointed out: please, please visit a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18810/9546&quot;&gt;Western countries&lt;/a&gt; might have a fund or non-profit setup that can help you with vet bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other thing you could do is gently take your cat and feel if there is anything wrong in their intestines. Feel for lumps that are hard, there should be nothing hard there. Do be careful, if there is something wrong, it might be painful for your cat when you touch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have neutered male, he might have problems with his kidneys and or bladder / bladder stones. If that is so, he will pee a lot, that will smell different from normal cat pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T08:08:00.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16959" CreationDate="2018-06-11T08:21:05.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats can go through depression and the death of a companion (especially close one) can cause that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My currently oldest cat, Pralinka (female cat) joined us when we already had our first cat (Shila, also female). Pralinka was 10 years younger than Shila and always treated Shila as a sort of a mentor. When Pralinka was 3, Shila passed away. Last week of her life she spent under a drip (at home), under close care from Pralinka. You could see their bond then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After Shila died, Pralinka went totally blue. She was hiding and avoiding playing, and she barely ate. She didn't want to be stroked too much and didn't come to sleep with us as she used to do. We were so anxious that we decided to try and take in another cat to give her some distraction. We actually took in two cats but it didn't change Pralinka's behaviour a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, exactly one year after Shila's death, Pralinka came to us and started requesting her normal stroking. Everything went back to normal. Believe it or not, she just had to go through her grief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; what you describe seems more like cats' behaviour while mating. At the age of 9 months a male is already sexually fully developed so he'll look for a female cat in a heat. He will stay out longer, cry and whine, might have reduced appetite. That's all normal behaviour, yet it might be a good idea to consider neutering your cat. You'll avoid this kind of problem in the future (not to mention excessive amount of unwanted kittens as well as your cat coming back with visible signs of cat fights).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12288" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T14:30:48.403" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T14:30:48.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20561" CreationDate="2018-06-11T10:54:36.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, taking your cat to the vet is really the only option. Cats don't tend to urinate in odd places &lt;em&gt;purely&lt;/em&gt; out of fear - there's almost certainly something else at play - probably something renal or bladder related. he is possibly in some sort of discomfort and the panic sets him off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my usually well-trained 15 year old cat started peeing in weird places (a corner in the bathroom, the shower tray, etc) we took him to the vet and it turned out he had diabetes and needed to go all the time due to his body not processing water as it should have been. He also had a massively heightened thirst - is this an issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, you should really get the cat to the vet as soon as you can, as it sounds like the poor guy is in pain which is being exacerbated by anxiety. He probably knows he shouldn't be urinating everywhere and can't help it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T10:54:36.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-11T11:17:24.313" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog uses the bathroom while in the crate.  Sunday it was pretty bad, as he was walked around 8 AM, and then was taken out to go to the bathroom at 10 AM.  He was then put in the crate.  We arrived home at noon to find that he had urinated in the crate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He often also poops in the crate when left there for a short time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a dog that is house broken, and pretty well trained.  He was a rescue dog and knew a bunch of tricks when we got him from the pound.  There was a long time he was very good about being house broken, just an occasional accident here and there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With his last checkup he had no issues, except a bad back, which has been an ongoing problem.  He is a fixed male papillon at 9 years in age.  I think he is a bit of a mix as he is a bit bigger and looks a bit different then the standard papillon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife is his favorite person and he is not allowed on the bed.  However, the last time he was left out of the crate when we were not home he peed on her side of the bed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just seems very odd that a dog would use the rest room in their crate after such a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also say that this dog is clearly smart enough to use his various waste products to express his unlike of people and other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12308" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T20:46:11.837" Title="Adult &quot;house trained&quot; Dog Using Bathroom While In Crate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12170" CreationDate="2018-06-11T17:23:09.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pom is that way too. It used to bother me until I realized that was his way of saying &quot;Hello. Pet me!&quot; Once he makes friends with the stranger he never barks at them again, he just runs up to them to get petted. We just moved to a new apartment complex full of new people, and it has really been evident lately. Fortunately he is getting settled in now and making friends with our new neighbors. Now if I could get him to stop being aggressive to other dogs (he is 5 pounds and less than a foot tall but thinks he is 10 feet tall and bulletproof) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12310" LastActivityDate="2018-06-11T17:23:09.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20579" CreationDate="2018-06-11T19:58:20.870" Score="4" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two year old Bengal who, since she was a kitten:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't cover her pee or poop in the litter box after she is done. Meaning, if she comes back to a littler box with uncovered pee/poop, she'll &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; cover it then if she needs to use the box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't clean her butt - obvious signs of fecal matter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Occasionally pee's on the carpet, usually on the stairs or upstairs in areas of the house where she may often be unsupervised and where family doesn't hangout. She sleeps in my room on the first floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pees in corners or against the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've done to try and correct the matter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regarding butt cleaning, take a damp paper towel and spot her butt softly with it to induce cleaning. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Had multiple litter boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Changed multiple litter types&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change litter box positions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change type of litter box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change depth of litter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frequently test for UTI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clap my hands loudly or raise my voice when I catch her squatting. This is increasingly difficult to catch as she picks times when people aren't upstairs. I usually know when she's peed by her slinking downstairs and scurrying to nest in her cat box in my/her room. I'll go upstairs and sure enough get hit with the smell of pee. She's not a skittish cat, even around strangers, unless she's just peed on the carpet. So I suspect she knows better. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy enzyme cleaners to remove the original smell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at a moment in my life where I'm about to move out of the house and into an apartment. I am very hesitant to accommodate for her situation (looking for apartments with hard flooring) and find out that this will never stop while also having the stench of urine throughout an apartment; it's bad enough as it is in this large house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any last tricks or recommendations? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12311" LastEditorUserId="12311" LastEditDate="2018-06-11T20:04:19.110" LastActivityDate="2018-06-12T18:55:40.150" Title="Cat: Sanitary Issues and Peeing Outside The Box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-11T21:59:16.540" Score="6" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;My in-laws had bought a puppy, of the breed Staffordshire Bull Terrier, to replace an elderly Staffordshire that died some 6 months before. They never had a puppy before and had little dog training experience. The dog, now about 6 months old, has some problematic behaviours which are largely because the my in-laws whole household (3 adults and a child) haven't dealt with the behaviour in the right way from a young age. I think they liked the idea of having a puppy, but didn't do the research before they got her and failed to apply consistent training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm no dog training guru myself but I have adopted a problem dog from the dog's home in the past which had behavioural issues which  I had to overcome and I have assisted in training dogs when I was a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My in-laws have reached the point that they are seriously considering giving up the dog for to its behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog's issues I believe are centered around play aggression that they have inadvertently encouraged by rewarding the behaviour with attention. This had led to some situations with my own children and the 11 year old becoming scared of the dog, she bites and jumps at their faces. Unfortunately this behaviour is then re-enforced through her getting attention, or being lured away with dog treats. It hasn't yet turned into any dominance type aggression, it is mostly just over exuberant play at this stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like the issues are easily solved so long as disciplined and consistent dog training practices are employed, they are going on holiday for two weeks soon and I'm considering looking after the dog for that time to try and make some improvement with training while they are away, but I have some worries as follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have a dog, mentioned above, he is now a docile 8 year old, Collie Beagle cross. The staffy puppy would be coming into our house for two weeks and while the two dogs have met on a few occasions, it could cause tension between the two dogs if they are living in the same house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the puppies play aggression comes out when my young (2 and 5 year) kids are around, so bringing her into our house would place her into that trigger environment every day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm used to dog training and being the assertive alpha male, if I was able to make an improvement after two weeks, I'm worried that her then going back to her home may just confuse her, make her behaviour worse and she may just instantly revert to her old ways once under the charge of the in-laws again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I have one question. Is adopting her for two weeks and trying to 'fix' her behaviour in that period a terrible idea and could it result in more behavioural issues? Or is it worth while to prevent them giving up the dog permanently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12312" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-06-12T02:20:16.697" LastActivityDate="2020-03-14T00:23:58.117" Title="Temporarily Adopting a Problem Dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-12T01:56:17.037" Score="6" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat Bhutu was earlier my pet but now she stays with my mom in our ancestral home in country side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to life threatening conditions over there outside the security of living room, (house is very big, there are killer feral dogs and eagles, poisonous insects, venomous spiders, scorpions, snakes, and death traps in the form of open wells with mouth covered with dense herbs) my mom keeps her on leash 24/7 with other end of the leash always tied to her hand. So basically Bhutu always remains attached to her and moves wherever she moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this has led to a problematic psychological development of Bhutu. She cannot stay calm even for 10 minutes without seeing my mom and starts crying. As a result my mom is never able to go outside house. And it is not always practical to move with Bhutu in her carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, recently she had to visit the the doctor as she was suffering from some ailment. She had to leave Bhutu at home for about 5 hours under the supervision of my grand mother and house maid. She kept crying the whole time and refused any food. She calmed down only when my mom returned home and Bhutu could see my mom again. She complained to my mom in her own language for some time, licked her and settled down calmly by the side of her leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my mom is finding it difficult to deal with Bhutu as she cannot move outside the house. Bhutu will instantly start crying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notably Bhutu was my pet earlier and spent the whole time with me. She still remembers me. And when I am present she does not cry when my mom leaves the house. Instead she keeps herself busy by playing with me. Interestingly her behavior towards me and my mom are completely different. She treats me like her litter mate and plays biting, chasing and hide and seek games with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I live in a city far away from my mom's place and it is not possible for me to every time go and baby sit Bhutu so my mom can go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any solution over here so that my mom can leave the house when needed, I don't have to travel there to baby sit Bhutu, and still she won't cry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T20:10:45.900" Title="Why my mom's cat starts crying if my mom is out of her sight even for 10 minutes and is there any way to pacify her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20577" CreationDate="2018-06-12T02:48:01.623" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Materials&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;several 750ml cylindrical glass containers (with and without top cap) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;different types of substrates: gravel (small to mid-size grains), sand and fertilized soil for aquarium (neutral pH)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;different types of plants: low maintenance and fast growth  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;different types of water: tap, filtered and &lt;strong&gt;distilled&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;different types of fertilizers: soluble, solid and ammonium hydroxide 25%  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;different types of light sources: 0.2 to 10W, 3000K and natural sunlight  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experiment&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the experiment consist of trying to find a configuration and a proper amount of light and fertilizers that would increase the lifespan of the plants. However, as much as I've tried (for example: 0 to 50ppm ammonia, 4 to 24hr/day light, ...), nothing seems to change the following pattern:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 1: bubbles whenever there is enough light  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 2-4: less bubbles, plants, as a whole, are less green  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 5-7: leaves falling, first signs of algae  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 8-12: almost no bubbles, some parts of the plants are rotting &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;day 13+: the plants are probably dead and algae blooms  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I missing? Any idea of what configuration might work?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Of course, the point of this experiment is to minimize the mistakes when going to a full tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12314" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T01:17:21.973" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T01:17:21.973" Title="Planted nano-aquarium experiment" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20396" CreationDate="2018-06-12T07:56:36.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;No, it's not worth the risk.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any aquarium needs to be watertight. With 100% certainty that is will hold said water for 20+ years. For that they use glass that will hold the pressure of the water without any problems. And use special kits to seal the edges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you can go to sleep without worries about &quot;when will that &lt;a href=&quot;https://gifer.com/en/E9LR&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fish tank&lt;/a&gt; break?&quot; 20 liters is very small for an aquarium, but will mess up your floor big time. Not to mention, if you are late to discover the leak, your fishes might be dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you probably can do the conversion. I don't think it's worth the risk. And if you think it might be a good way to keep the costs down, small aquaria are not that expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-12T07:56:36.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20575" CreationDate="2018-06-12T09:25:19.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is maybe a bit too broad to ask as a question, since there probably isn't 1 answer to fix your problems. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;But I'll try to give some idea's... &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Plants&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some plants are difficult to keep, other ones are more easy. So first of all, start with the easy plants, like Java fern or anubias. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Stay away from plants with red leaves. Most bottom plants (that cover the substrate) are also more difficult to keep. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Also check the requirements for planting. For example the plants I just mentioned don't want their roots in the soil. Instead they need to be tightened on a rock or some wood.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;The smaller the container, the more difficult it will be. 750ml is very small, and I assume you also don't have any filter/heather in there? Some plants do have some temperature requirements. And the filtration also helps to distribute the nutritients across the tank. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Light&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to prevent as much natural sunlights as possible. If the tank is exposed to sunlights, you'll get algae a lot faster. Place it in a dark corner with the artificial light. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Around 10h/day exposure to light is generally more than enough. If you expose it longer, they will also require more fertilizer and Co2. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Co2 will be beneficial for the plants, but it's not a requirement (for most plants). So you don't have to start with investing a lot of money in equipment for this. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Algae&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Algae is caused by an imbalance of nutrients. And not (as often mentioned) by an excess of eg Nitrates or phosphate. &lt;br/&gt; I've had some good results with trying to follow the 'Redfield Ratio': &lt;a href=&quot;https://buddendo.home.xs4all.nl/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://buddendo.home.xs4all.nl/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Now I'm trying to follow the Estimative Index method: &lt;a href=&quot;http://greenleafaquariums.com/glanews/planted-tank-fertilizer-estimative-index-ei-fertilization-method/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://greenleafaquariums.com/glanews/planted-tank-fertilizer-estimative-index-ei-fertilization-method/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Also with good results (and easier to do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2018-06-12T09:25:19.990" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-12T15:56:55.140" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a european shorthair. I'm able to comb my cat's right side hair successfully, but when I try to comb his left side, I perceive he doesn't want because he throws himself laying on that side, hence he gets combed on the right side only! Could that is an issue, or just it's a strange behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12316" LastEditorUserId="12316" LastEditDate="2018-06-13T15:04:41.080" LastActivityDate="2018-07-18T17:57:10.620" Title="Half-combed cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20572" CreationDate="2018-06-12T17:53:19.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you have already ruled out health problems, and your cat has had this issue from when she was a kitten, and most likely ever since you got her, it sounds like she simply may never have learned proper litterbox habits in the first place. Cats are naturally drawn to the litterbox, but they still need help to figure out to use the box exclusively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-behavior-and-training/cat-litterbox-training/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-behavior-and-training/cat-litterbox-training/&lt;/a&gt; the advice for &quot;He Uses the Box… Sometimes!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Use close supervision or confinement to train the cat to use the box and ONLY THE BOX. All previously soiled areas must be cleaned and treated with an appropriate odor neutralizing product. Whenever possible, visually change the areas most frequently soiled. Add a chair, an end table, a garbage can or umbrella stand! If it doesn’t smell or look like the ‘old bathroom’, he will be less likely to return. If you see the cat sniffing or scratching around a forbidden area, gently but firmly direct him towards the litter box. If your cat has infrequent or predictable (‘he always does it when I come back from vacation’) accidents, this may be stress related behavior.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation for confinement training is to use a very small room with no absorbent surfaces, like a bathroom, where you confine your cat with its box for a while until it becomes used to using its box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure while the cat is confined that the space is still comfortable for the cat and that you still make sure to visit and interact with it so it does not become lonely.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the cat has been consistently using only the box for two weeks, then start allowing access to other rooms one at a time, and make sure to keep an eye out for it regressing into bad habits, and then if it does, stop the cat (no shouting, but clapping to get its attention is probably fine) and put it back in its box. Do not let your cat roam freely when you're not at home during this period. Put it back into its room with the box when you need to go somewhere. Once you're fairly confident it's using its box you can gradually decrease the level of supervision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try not to leave food out all day, as that could increase its need to use the box, though I know with some cats that can't be helped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure the box is kept clean. Many cats will not use the box if they think it's too gross. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the interest of keeping the box clean, I recommend clumping or crystal litter. Both these types help deal with the waste, so the box will be easier to be kept clean.  The crystal litter especially is a desiccant, so it reduces the smell quite significantly. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since your cat does not even bother burying its waste, a common technique with kittens is to actually take them to the box and gently move their paws in a scratching motion through the litter. This could help encourage your cat's natural instinct to dig in the litter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-06-12T18:55:40.150" LastActivityDate="2018-06-12T18:55:40.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-12T22:37:29.387" Score="8" ViewCount="2226" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been to a pretty good vet. We know the symptoms, but we just can't figure out what might be going on, or a cause. The vet says its serious and possibly life threatening, but he's at a loss what else it might be as well. I'll write what we know - any ideas, insights, suggestions for uncommon causes, weird or exceptional toxins, ideas sparked by the information, or anything else, would be helpful, to prevent recurrence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is about 10 years old, spayed female rescue, lived with us 5+ years, 5kg, rude good health apart from occasional bouts of stress cystitis (urinary stress diet + extra soup/water + cistaid given to counter this). Also pathologically misanthropic - her general view on humans is that apart from opening doors and providing food, they should all go away. But we love her anyway :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;First episode &amp;amp; vet visit&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 2 months ago (25 April 2018) she had an acute episode of some kind of poisoning. She vomited a lot, but otherwise seemed fine all day. The next morning, over the course of 12 hours she went from &quot;off her food&quot; in the morning, to pretty much laid down and indifferent to everything waiting to die by afternoon, to the point of not even hissing, avoiding or clawing at human fingers near her face. Serious stuff for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We contacted the emergency vet hospital, who gave us some tips, and did some online research, and watched her a long time. She had no confusion, when pushed off the bed she didn't fail in co-ordination, no dilated pupils, tongue was very pale though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took her to the vet (well known to us, and competent). They identified a significant heart murmur (usual feline myopathy) in passing, did ultrasound and bloods, which confirmed no liver tumour or masses, no sign of internal bleeding, but general signs of gross insult/damage to the liver, some anaemia (25 on whatever scale is used in the UK) and off the scale for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alanine_transaminase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ALT&lt;/a&gt; (Alanine aminotransferase, an enzyme related to liver cell necrosis/toxicity: the level was 6000+ according to independent lab they asked to retest it. I gather usual is &amp;lt; 100 ish?). She was so gone that the vet could take a blood sample from the neck without protest or sedation (when she recovered next week, the same vet couldn't even palpitate her stomach without risk of injury!). The conclusion was liver toxicity, and indeed the next afternoon she noticeably regained her appetite, and suddenly began to recover, and the episode ended. She was put onto beta blockers and thinners (Atenolol + Plavix) for the heart condition, and tolerated them, and all was well. A retest a week later showed ALT level had dropped to ~ 600 and the anaemia had &quot;resolved&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Today's episode &amp;amp; vet visit&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning (2 June 2018) she was off her food. There hadn't been any vomiting, but she remained off food all day and by 4pm was once more showing the same signs as before - laid down, lethargic, and so on. We decided the risk was too great to leave overnight, and took her to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We arrived at 7pm, and he said at once it was serious and probably life-threatening. He expressed concern it might be internal haemorrhaging or a missed tumour, and redid the ultrasound, but there's no evidence of leakage or pooled liquid or other issues internally, and no masses in the liver or anywhere else he checked. Yet again ALT levels are sky-high - his machine goes up to 2000 and ALT is off the scale (he said done by a lab it could easily be 6000 or whatever), and anaemia is lower than last time, just 18 now, and the tongue is very pale. Most other levels are normal-ish, I gather. He didn't want to use a drip to address blood pressure as that would accentuate the anaemia issues, and said to stop giving the blood thinner until we know more, as well. We finally left about 9pm. In all, he saw her for almost 2 hours, compared to the usual 10-15 minute consultation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We went through a bunch of possibilities but he said that the symptoms looks most like paracetamol poisoning - but that it doesn't fit that either. It could be an infection, except there's no other evidence and why would it go then return? It seems most likely she ate something - just inhaling even dust from a tablet wouldn't be enough, she would need to eat quite a lot to have this effect, and there just aren't any tablets around, and in 5 years we've never seen her scouring the floor for anything. She's in a flat (apartment) so she's isolated from any other cats and probably all/most pathogens they could carry. She has access to a terrace with some plants, but this doesn't resemble any plant poisoning he could suggest. The household products used aren't normally spilt, and those we do use he said would cause irritation, diahrrea, or vomiting, which we didn't see this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;And.....&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're at a loss, and so is the vet. I'm staying up all night to watch her breathing, in case it worsens and she suddenly needs to go to the emergency hospital. I'm about 60/40 that she will be OK, but the fact it's happened twice and we can't think how, even after taking all the precautions we can think of against odd eventualities, is really a worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said at the start - any thoughts, insights, suggestions or things missed, that this narrative sparks off, or that might be worth checking or considering, would be very welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Updated information&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are the actual lab/test results, maybe they help suggest ideas. I've highlighted anything marked as outside &quot;normal&quot; ranges. All units are metric (we're in the UK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First visit (25 April, weight 5kg):&lt;/strong&gt; heart 190, total protein 58, alb 26, glob 32, A:G 0.8, Na 144, K 4.2, Na:K 34, &lt;strong&gt;Urea high 16.4&lt;/strong&gt;, creat 146, &lt;strong&gt;ALT high 6462&lt;/strong&gt;, alk phos 21, total bilirub 9, &lt;strong&gt;gluc high 7.2&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;red cells low 4.2&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Hb low 6.3&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Hcrit low 22%&lt;/strong&gt;, MVC 52.3, MCH 15, &lt;strong&gt;MCHC low 28.6&lt;/strong&gt;, Retic'cytes 55, &lt;strong&gt;platelets low 17&lt;/strong&gt;, white cells 8.3, neutrophils 4.1, lymphoc 3, &lt;strong&gt;monocytes high 1.2&lt;/strong&gt;, eosinoph 0, basoph 0.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Urine normal:&lt;/strong&gt; LEU+NIT+KET+BIL+BLD (blood?)+GLU (glucose?) all negative, UBG/URO normal, Pro(tein?) +, pH 7.5, SG 1.005, refractometer s.g. 1.040, JG.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lab additional comments:&lt;/strong&gt; occasional reactive lymphocytes, occasional neutrophils have small dohle bodies, mild anisocytosis, occasional/mild polychromasia, mild echinocytosis, occasional Heinz, rare metarubicytes, occasional macroplatelets, minimum manually estimated platelet count 30, quality EDTA good, RBC agglutination RT neg @ 1.5 dilution, no azotemia, in saline agglutination included. Possible options include (for ALT): liver disease/trauma/neoplasia, (for anaemia) possible chronic disease? CBC: thrombocytopenia, anaemia - mild regeneration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Followup to first visit (1 May, sedation):&lt;/strong&gt; cardiac: HCM diagnosed. 3/6 gallop, thickening/enlargement, no thrombus though. Liver scan: no masses or cystic lesions, heterogynous echogenicity throughout, granular appearance. Options: diffuse inflammatory reaction? toxicity? infection? ALT down to 600s, anaemia resolved. Options: likely toxicity? Heart meds begun: Atenolol 6mg, Plavix 19mg, both in the form of 1/4 of a tablet once daily&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second visit (12 June, printout hard to read some letters, sorry for any typos):&lt;/strong&gt; ALB 31, ALP 13, &lt;strong&gt;ALT high [off scale] &gt;2000&lt;/strong&gt;, AMY 365, TBIL 5, &lt;strong&gt;BUN high 11.2&lt;/strong&gt;, Ca 2.1, &lt;strong&gt;Phos low 0.82&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;CRE high 192&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;gluc high 12.1&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Na low 137&lt;/strong&gt;, K 5, &lt;strong&gt;TP low 52&lt;/strong&gt;, Glob 22, QC (quality?) OK, HEM 0, LIP 0, ICT 0, &lt;strong&gt;Hcrit low 18.5%&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;HGB low 5.6&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;MCHC borderline low 30.3&lt;/strong&gt;, WBC 14.2, ?GRANS 11.7, %GRANS 82%, L/M 2.5, %L/M 18%, &lt;strong&gt;platelets &quot;extremely low&quot; 15&lt;/strong&gt;, retics 2.7%. v pale mm, heart 200, very (vv) weak pulse, no respiratory distress, well hydrated, no free fluid in abdomen/chest, liver darker than normal/granular pattern, signs of regen(eration?) with reticulocytes, no reaction to jugular blood, concerned re depressed appearance. Plavix on hold due to anaemia.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-06-22T18:10:11.030" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T21:30:33.173" Title="Cat has acute episodes of extreme ALT levels. Vet and we are at a loss as there's no obvious toxin access, looking for weird or uncommon ideas" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;liver-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-13T00:27:22.757" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vciQi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I purchased this female guppy about a week ago and I think she’s pregnant. If she is how far along do you think she is? Is it true they will eat all of their babies? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12320" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T00:27:22.757" Title="Is my female guppy pregnant? About how far along if so. I just bought her a week ago" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-06-13T08:07:41.570" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20581" CreationDate="2018-06-13T04:36:37.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the information in your question – and I haven't evaluated the cat or seen the full lab work or diagnostics – I am less inclined to think this is an acute hepatopathy as would be caused by toxin ingestion. The repeated episodes point towards more of a chronic condition, and I would be concerned that there may be an underlying cancerous process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The anaemia in itself is in my view more immediately concerning than the ALT elevation. I hesitate to speculate on the cause of the anaemia without more information, but it seems this is likely one of those anaemia of chronic or inflammatory disease that is hard to pinpoint. It could be due to inflammation in the liver, cancer, and any number of other causes. Blood loss seems fairly unlikely given the normal ultrasound. Was a reticulocyte count run to assess whether it is a regenerative anaemia, to help rule out causes? Or better yet was a blood smear done? A hematocrit of 18% is getting to a point that is quite concerning; if it gets to 15% then a blood transfusion has to be considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption is that all the other liver enzymes are normal, with no evidence of cholestasis (elevated Alk Phos, elevated bilirubin, etc)? With only ALT so elevated, there is certainly hepatocellular injury occuring, but the cause is more challenging to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ALT can come from other sources, such as red blood cell destruction, muscle disease, etc, however given the degree of elevation it is unlikely to be anything other than hepatocellular injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you have no identified tumour on ultrasound is good, but does not rule out cancer. Cancers can hide, they can be disemminated throughout tissue, there could be metastatic cancer from another organ which has not yet formed tumors visible on ultrasound. Lymphoma can look strange, and show up in strange ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible causes are a flare up of cholangiohepatitis (usually not just ALT, but possible), or pancreatitis. The latter would sometimes show up on ultrasound, and can cause surprisingly severe ALT elevations. Then there are the causes of infectious hepatitis, which are more challenging to test since there are many. Outdoor cats are more likely to pick up these sorts of infections, but they don't have to go outside to the get them. With this sort of liver disease the infection that comes to mind is toxoplasmosis. Your vet could run toxoplasmosis titres if wanting to rule this out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the liver I would recommend sampling. This is not usually indicated in acute toxic episodes, but I am concerned that there could be something more chronic occuring here. The liver can be aspirated with a needle under ultrasound guidance. This is useful to assess for things like lymphoma, which may not appear as a discrete tumour. There is a risk of bleeding, which is always of concern especially in an anaemic cat. I would usually give a vitamin K injection prior to this type of sampling to minimize this risk. Really the best way to sample the liver is by exploratory laparotomy (abdominal surgery), but your cat is not presently a good candidate with the anaemia. It would however allow full evaluation of the liver and to take large samples of the liver, and other tissues if needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your cat, I hope you find an answer soon. Please keep us updated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T04:36:37.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20584" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-06-13T04:40:11.070" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-06-13T04:40:11.070" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T04:40:11.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20585" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-06-13T04:40:11.070" Score="0" Body="For questions about diseases of the hepatobiliary system in pets" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-06-20T18:19:13.297" LastActivityDate="2018-06-20T18:19:13.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-13T13:04:42.877" Score="4" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some toy mice that are infused with catnip so the cats are really chewing on them. The toys are soaked through with their saliva.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I wash the toys when they are done? I understand that washing it will definitely reduce the effectiveness of the catnip, but I'm not overly concerned with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am however concerned that using detergents or soaps may leave harmful chemicals. Also, soaps may leave smells that cats dislike and that would render the toy completely ineffective regardless of catnip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kinds of soap can/should I use? What are the chemicals in soaps that I must most definitely avoid? Can I use baking soda since it's odourless?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9576" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T20:31:37.303" Title="Washing cat toys made of fabric/absorbent material" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-13T15:31:49.733" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each time I eat lunch there is a cat in my lap demanding attention. It's not hunger, her bowl is full. She definitely prefers people food (at least meat, cheese and sour cream) over canned food or kibble. I am afraid that if I feed her what she likes she will get some sort of nutritional imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much people food can I give her without causing health issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T19:18:01.823" Title="My cat prefers people food. How can I feed her people food without leading to nutritional imbalances?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20587" CreationDate="2018-06-13T18:00:27.590" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will not cause a nutritional imbalance by giving &quot;people food&quot; on top of her regular food. My only concern at this point would be that she becomes over-weight or obese by having more calories than needed a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Unhealthy Food Items&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/truth-about-dairy-products-and-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lactose intolerant&lt;/a&gt;, it would be best to stay away from the cheese and sour cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other unhealthy items include but not limited to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;onions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chocolate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;garlic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;coffee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avocado&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Home Made Diets&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the time and patience, making a balanced home made diet is a great way to satisfy his needs for the real deal. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.completeandbalancedforcats.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hilary's Blend&lt;/a&gt; is our go to, the recipes have been shown to be completely balanced, each have had a full nutrient analysis as well. You need to buy her supplements to compliment the recipes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-06-13T19:10:45.390" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T19:10:45.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20587" CreationDate="2018-06-13T19:18:01.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pets bugging people for food is not usually a pet problem, but a people problem. By giving them food, you are reinforcing the behaviour that it is OK for them to ask for it. The more you do it, the more pesky they will become. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I learned through various sources, including Cesar Milan's &quot;Be the Pack Leader&quot; is that in animals, in Milan's case dogs, but I've found it applies to cats as well, the dominant members eat first. You can see this in a pride of lions, when the lionesses do the hunting, but wait for the lions to eat first, and then the cubs eat after the lionesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do in my home, is not feed the animals until I've eaten. While I'm eating, I don't acknowledge them at all, and I will reprimand them with a gentle &#xA;push or a snap of my fingers if they try to interact with me. If I have some scraps, leftovers, or treats that I want to give them, I keep it aside and give it to them, in their food bowls, when I am done eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have learned to not disturb me, or my guests, when we're eating. This makes for an overall more enjoyable experience around them, rather than being embarrassed and fight with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T19:18:01.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20586" CreationDate="2018-06-13T20:31:37.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using &lt;a href=&quot;https://dreft.com/en-us&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dreft&lt;/a&gt; baby liquid detergent for my puppy's soft toys. It has been working fine. I would think any baby clothing detergent would be suitable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10481" LastActivityDate="2018-06-13T20:31:37.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20599" CreationDate="2018-06-13T20:48:52.487" Score="3" ViewCount="1663" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our male cat was yowling several times a day. It was really annoying. According to vet it was due to heat cycle. We have been facing his loud yowling for months now, so vet asked us for neuter or anti heat injection. Today we took him to vet for anti-heat injection, but the cat is still yowling. May I know how much time it will take to start having an effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-12T13:15:54.327" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T13:15:54.327" Title="Cat - how much time do anti-heat injections take to start having an effect?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-13T23:17:09.533" Score="1" ViewCount="1471" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/42efR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is about the length of my pinky nail and it looks like it’s leaving an open hole with no blood. Please help me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12322" LastActivityDate="2021-01-31T02:47:06.583" Title="What is this? I just pulled this out of my cat almost like a pimple" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20604" CreationDate="2018-06-14T00:29:35.973" Score="4" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started dog sitting, and am really enjoying it. One thing I'd like to know is the best way to check that a client's dogs are vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can I ask for the phone number of their vet, and expect the vet to tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do I have to ask for documentation and check it myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;what documents / vaccinations should I ask for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;how do I tell the paperwork is up and up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12302" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T14:40:35.047" Title="How do I check if a dog is vaccinated?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20595" CreationDate="2018-06-14T07:43:19.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EU regulations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to travel with pets in the EU you need a &lt;a href=&quot;https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/pet-movement/eu-legislation/non-commercial-non-eu_en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Health Certificate and Declaration&lt;/a&gt; (might be know locally as: Pet Passport). This will let you know if and when pets were vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;USA regulations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are less centralised, could only find things (on short notice) for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel/bring-pet-into-the-united-states/pet-travel-dogs-into-us&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;International Travel&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you might just have to go on people's word. But I, as being a EU resident, would prefer the proper Pet Passport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T07:43:19.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20593" CreationDate="2018-06-14T07:56:24.583" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note, this is not a direct answer to your question, but will address the yowling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you have a male cat and do not intent to breed with it, please neuter him.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/spay-neuter-cats-debate&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pro's and cons of neutering.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I assume there is a female cat somewhere near that your cat would like to mate with. As long as she is in heat, he will yowl for / at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T07:56:24.583" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-14T10:31:48.003" Score="5" ViewCount="678" Body="&lt;h3&gt;TL;DR&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like tips on getting my cat settled into a routine of not sleeping in the bedroom, given that we have just moved house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;History&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a 9 year old neutered female rescue cat who we adopted just over 5 years ago. She's very affectionate, including with regular visitors, and likes nothing more than to sleep in a lap and have her belly scratched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first adopted her we lived in a flat and would shut her out of our bedroom at night, however when she developed kidney issues she got quite distressed so we let her sleep in our bedroom. She disturbed our sleep a little, but less than she would if we shut her out, and she seemed happier, so we never managed to get her sleeping outside the bedroom again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The Situation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago we moved into a house which has much more space, and many more comfortable cat-sleeping spots, such as the eves of the loft where it can get quite warm, and where she had taken to spending a lot of time in the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have recently started to suffer with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and so have been finding the disturbance to my sleep especially difficult. With this in mind we decided to use the process of settling her into to me house to bar her from access to the bedroom at night, as it seems less cruel given how much more room she now has and given by health problems, but this seems to have resulted in an amount of separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually I'd like to move the food, water and litter into a split between the kitchen and dining rooms which would mean she would have a reasonable bit of space shut in those two, potentially with a cat-flap or open window for outdoor access, but we're having some work done and we don't want to let her out for a while until she's truly settled so she doesn't run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What we've done so far&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first few days we gave her access only to the lounge, where her food, water fountain and litter tray are, as well as a sofa on which we have put blankets and cushions from our old flat. Next we opened the lounge door but closed all the others except the spare bedroom which acts as a home-office where we spend a lot of time in the day, but this also gave her access to the loft where she seeks quite happy, then a few days later we gave her access to the rest of the downstairs, followed by the bathroom, where we've put a water bowl for her. Until about a week we shut her in the lounge at night so we could keep an eye on her in new places and watch out for any stress reactions, but she would cry for attention in the mornings and we were worried about her being under-stimulated, so have given her night-time access to the rest of the house save for the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a few nights this was ok, and she'd maybe cry at the door for a minute or two when we went to bed, and then as soon as she heard one of us up in the morning, but now she has become somewhat relentless, and it's affecting our sleep again. The other day she darted into our bedroom in the morning as one of us went to the toilet, and so now we've been giving her access in the day, but I'm not sure what's best for getting her settled into a routine that works for everyone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12325" LastEditorUserId="12325" LastEditDate="2018-06-14T14:42:22.263" LastActivityDate="2020-05-09T08:04:30.507" Title="Trying to get a good night's sleep with an overly affectionate cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20593" CreationDate="2018-06-14T11:56:47.063" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not clear from your description which drug was used for the &amp;quot;anti heat injection&amp;quot;.  But some of them can be partially effective for male cats.  I would imagine it could take several weeks to become as effective as it can be, and it will need to be given repeatedly to have a long term impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best solution may be neuter &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/20597/13&quot;&gt;as suggested by Flummox&lt;/a&gt; even the surgey may not be 100% effective see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6003/will-a-neutered-cat-continue-to-mount-a-female-in-heat&quot;&gt;Will a neutered cat continue to mount a female in heat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) is a synthetic progesterone. It is commonly used in humans as a form of birth control, and it may also be used in pets to suppress heat cycles. It can also be used to treat behavior problems such as aggression, spraying or marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progesterone is a sex hormone found naturally in pets. At high doses, synthetic progesterone can prevent the ovaries from producing eggs. At smaller doses, it may slightly alter your pet’s behavior. &lt;strong&gt;It reduces sex drive in males&lt;/strong&gt;, making them less likely to be aggressive towards other males. Also, if you have a male pet that roams in search of a mate, MPA can prevent this behavior. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/medroxyprogesterone-acetate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T11:56:47.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20355" CreationDate="2018-06-14T12:49:32.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you'll probably want to ensure that there is no other way for you to cool your tank before you buy a chiller because an aquarium chiller unit represents a reasonable investment. Indeed, the cheapest reputable chiller I've found was about £100 but they can range vastly some of which are over £600.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Have you tried the alternatives?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So before you grab yourself a chiller, you'll probably want to try some of the cheaper methods before you fully invest. Okay, so what are these alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Keep the room cool&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many aquarium hobbyists will choose to heat or cool the room their tanks are in if they have multiple tanks that require the same temperature. This means you don't have to buy individual heaters/coolers for each tank. You can simply heat the room to the desired temperature. In this specific case, this will require you to get a unit to cool the room but if &lt;em&gt;you are&lt;/em&gt; too hot as well, then that may be something to consider instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Create more surface agitation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An agitated surface helps to increase the surface area of your aquarium which helps evaporation (see below). Adding an air stone or adjusting your filter to create a more disturbed surface will aid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Use evaporation!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can get a fan that will move air across the top of the aquarium, the evaporation can help to cool the water down. Obviously, if you're using evaporation then you'll end up with more topping off because you'll lose water from your aquarium at an exaggerated rate. This is not always possible certainly for tanks that need enclosed lids. You can also get specially designed aquarium hoods to extract hot air from inside but there is a cost associated with these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Float frozen water bottles&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, this one isn't bullet proof. You'll obviously need the frozen water first and you'll need access a bunch of them. It is worth mentioning though simply for emergencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alright, none of those work for you? Let's talk chilling units.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you'll want to do is think about how each chiller will perform and how easy it will be to live with. For me, we can split this into a few categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Ability to chill&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most chillers will have a volume that they claim to chill successfully. There will also be limits on the temperatures that they will effectively chill at. For example, if your water is 40 degrees, the unit will be less effective than if your water is 30 degrees. Some will also have a watt rating which should also give you some indication as to how good they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Heat produced&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of chillers will produce heat in the room they are working. Mainly the heat they produced can only be worked out by other people's reviews but perhaps power consumption will give you a point in the right direction. If your chiller is going to heat the room more, you may find limited ability to chill your water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Power Consumption&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might not be a problem for you but some of the chillers I've seen out on the internet will use a lot of energy to power. If you've got to run this continuously, this may be a factor worth considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Size and Operating Volume&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this tank is going to be in a room that will need to be quiet (such as a bedroom) you may wish to find figures on how noisy the units are. You may struggle to find these metrics from the sellers but reviews should highlight any potential issues. Some of the units I've looked at are pretty bulky, so if you're looking for a tidy finish to your tank, make sure it fits in a cupboard somewhere!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Cost / Quality&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you'll obviously need a reasonable budget to be able to buy and run one of these units. There are a lot of cheaper non-brand products out there but I would steer clear of these. Often they can exhibit poor workmanship and for a product which will heavily utilise power and water(!), you don't want to discover they skimped on the safety aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cheaper DIY Version?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If money is a limiting factor and you're interested in a DIY solution, then there's a fantastic video which will help to explain the process to you. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5s8Cu59-NM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; to see how to build your own aquarium chiller using an old fridge, pump and some hosepipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T15:19:41.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20602" CreationDate="2018-06-14T13:27:33.303" Score="9" ViewCount="3249" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my normally indoor cat mates with a feral cat, is it at risk of getting any diseases?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has all of its vaccines up to date, so I suspect the only concern would be a sexually transmitted disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inspired by a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20593/cat-how-much-time-does-anti-heat-injections-take-to-take-effect/20597#comment27993_20597&quot;&gt;comment&lt;/a&gt; at the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20593/cat-how-much-time-does-anti-heat-injections-take-to-take-effect&quot;&gt;Cat - How much time does anti-heat injections take to take effect?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-14T14:51:48.797" LastActivityDate="2018-06-23T07:59:38.520" Title="Can a cat get a sexually transmitted disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20601" CreationDate="2018-06-14T14:20:32.543" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this is yes this do happen but sex is only one way cats can get infected other types of close contact can spread diseases too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feline herpes can be transmitted by body fluids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FIV cat aids can be transmitted by body fluids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feline chlamydia can be transmitted by body fluids,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Panelukopenia virus can be transmitted by body fluids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Calcivirus can be transmitted by body fluids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catflu can be transmitted by body fluids&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabies can definitely be transmitted by body fluids and not only to other cats but to all types of animals including humans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume there is several other types of illness that can be transmitted by body fluids not only from intercourse but from bites too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source for some of it &lt;a href=&quot;http://wtvr.com/2013/04/30/cat-stds-on-the-rise/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://wtvr.com/2013/04/30/cat-stds-on-the-rise/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source two my cats vaccination card the standard vaccines given to cats here in Norway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-06-23T07:59:38.520" LastActivityDate="2018-06-23T07:59:38.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20605" CreationDate="2018-06-14T14:34:00.227" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be moving to a new apartment in a few weeks. I have an indoor-only cat who has never been outside. I understand how to acclimatize her to the new apartment by slowly introducing her to new areas. However, I'm concerned about the logistics of the move itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My apartment is not huge, and there is no good area to put her where there won't be movers. I'm concerned about her getting out if they leave a door open, that she might get stuck somewhere while they're moving, and that she'll be generally uncomfortable and on edge for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering taking her to a cat hotel (such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catsonlyboarding.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.catsonlyboarding.com/&lt;/a&gt;) overnight during the move. While she definitely doesn't like getting in her carrier and going in the car, I thought it might be better to have her in a safe and comfortable location during the move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any suggestions on the best way to handle this? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12327" LastActivityDate="2018-08-24T07:24:19.223" Title="Keeping cat safe and comfortable while moving" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20595" CreationDate="2018-06-14T14:40:35.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Core Boarding Vaccines&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 3 must have vaccines when boarding dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/respiratory/c_dg_canine_distemper?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canine Distemper&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_canine_hepatitis?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hepatitis/Adenovirus&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_canine_parvovirus_infection?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parvovirus&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/respiratory/c_dg_canine_influenza?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parainfluenza&lt;/a&gt; (All in one DHPP Vaccine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_multi_rabies?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/respiratory/c_dg_canine_tracheobronchitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bordetella&lt;/a&gt; (Kennel Cough)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being vaccinated helps prevent spread of disease, it would be awful for one animal to infect the rest of the pack. These viruses can be fatal (though unlikely with kennel cough) and spread like wildfire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note: the vaccine protocol can change depending on your location globally, this is specific to Canada&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I ask for the phone number of their vet, and expect the vet to tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes and no, depending on where you live there can be privacy laws where the owner of the pet needs to give permission to the hospital to release records on their behalf. This can make things complicated as not everyone is compliant with calling the hospital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do I have to ask for documentation and check it myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the best way to do it, hospitals generally give out vaccination certificates (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pascovets.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/vacc-stmt-example.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) which are also signed by the veterinarian who has done said vaccines. Ask for a signed certificate and make a copy for personal records (liability).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Insurance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan on making this a full time gig I highly recommend getting insurance to cover for any potential lawsuits, damage to your property, injury to the animal etc. Having insurance gives a peace of mind to the client.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also have a lawyer create a document for your for the client to sign (i.e Client states that all the information provided was correct etc..) this is to cover your butt in case of forgery of certificates causing illness in other pets etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T14:40:35.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20603" CreationDate="2018-06-14T14:43:00.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's extremely important to keep your cat confined while the movers are at work. Her escaping the apartment is not the only hazard; she could also be stepped on by a worker, or something they are moving could be dropped on her, causing severe injury or death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats don't care for carriers, but consider that one brief period of discomfort is better than loss, injury or death. If the apartment is extremely small, consider confining her to the bathroom (and letting the movers know that they are not to open the door--taping a sign to the door would not be a bad idea). Make sure you don't open the bathroom door unless the exit to the apartment is fully closed, with no one coming in or out of it. She won't be happy, but she'll be safe, and she'll get over it in a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not comfortable that the bathroom can be closed up sufficiently to keep her contained for the entire time the movers are working, a cat hotel would be a good substitute. Again, she may not be happy right away (most cats don't like being put in their carriers or in the car, as it's typically a prelude to the vet for them), but she'll be fine in a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: I have moved with my own cats several times, they're always fine after a day or two of settling in, even when being left in &quot;scary&quot; (to them) rooms during the move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T14:43:00.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16912" CreationDate="2018-06-14T14:44:41.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any 100% answers to this, and a lot of my original question was written out of grief-related anxiety, but it's been over a year so here is the (happy) follow-up info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unfortunately, we never did an autopsy on V, so the precise nature of his illness was never found.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I did have C tested for every possible communicable feline disease we could think of. She was negative on everything except for signs of a past FHV infection. This surely happened before I found her (I rescued her from a trash can at ~4 weeks old), and neatly explains the tear duct and sinus problems she has had her entire life (permanent damage from FHV).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The discharge problems appeared unrelated. Worth noting that V tested negative for FHV.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I also had C tested for various metals due to water quality issues but everything was in normal range. I have been using a water filter since which has completely resolved quality problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C is doing fine, completely healthy. I believe a lot of her immediate issues following V's passing were due to loss of V, who, along with me, had essentially been raising her since she was 4 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have since brought another cat into the family, and everybody is healthy now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite the fact that there was ultimately no connection, I believe that testing for communicable diseases and water quality problems, and keeping C and V isolated in the presence of the unknown, were good decisions and would do the same again if a similar situation arose. So, that is my advice to others here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T14:44:41.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-14T15:36:18.990" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other day I came across a cat that was missing about 20% of her tail, just the last part of if. It does not seem to be a problem with balance, but how (much) does a cat communicate with their tails towards other cats? Does a shorter tail introduce social problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_lemur&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ring-tailed lemur's&lt;/a&gt; need their tail for communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T22:38:34.317" Title="Cat missing part of tail, is that a problem with communication?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16409" CreationDate="2018-06-14T19:36:26.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no specialist with regards to cat health. Among the best methods to make certain ticks and flicks keep off your beloved pet is via utilizing an easy but efficient flea collar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT, pet cats are incredibly sensitive to chemical substances, therefore they could be specifically sensitive to flea collars. You can see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://petcomments.com/best-flea-collars-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of collar here&lt;/a&gt;. Perhaps you can decide on something organic and natural rather than standard insecticides. Organic flea collars consist of substances may prevent fleas via scent or poison fleas without posing a harming risk to cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ultimate way to avoid fleas in cats is through making use of prescription flea preventatives created for them. Maybe certain breed of cat will not suitable to attach a flea collar or maybe it depends on how your cat will react to the certain chemical. Your veterinarian can assist you to pick which product is most effective for you as well as your problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12328" LastActivityDate="2018-06-14T19:36:26.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20610" CreationDate="2018-06-14T20:24:12.350" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1 year old male cat has poor coat and is shedding excessively. We feed him dry food and often wet food - twice a month. I don't know what is lacking, we feed him good quality dry food. Our vet always suggests to change cat food whenever we pay a visit. We changed cat food twice, but I don't think that is the reason. We sometime see progress in his coat and after a few days coat again becomes dull and dry. Is wet food necessary for coat? Is the dryness caused by feeding only dry food? Temperature reaches 40&amp;nbsp;°C in our city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For testing purpose, I have started feeding him a little amount of wet food daily. I need your suggestions, as I am tired of visiting vet that suggests change of food only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T10:39:06.753" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T10:39:06.753" Title="Cat - fix poor coat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20609" CreationDate="2018-06-15T04:57:32.870" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knowing from your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20593&quot;&gt;other question&lt;/a&gt; that your cat is not neutered –&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have your cat neutered.&lt;/strong&gt; The coat will likely improve and there will probably be less shedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unneutered males in particular can shed a lot because they are anxious. They are constantly looking for a mate, but – in your case, presumably – not finding one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unneutered males also have more important things...females...to think about than grooming. They often simply don't bother. They develop unkempt and greasy coats especially around the tail base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brush your cat daily.&lt;/strong&gt; This will do wonders for the coat, by removing dead hairs and debris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet helps maintain a good coat, but it is not so much a question or wet or dry, rather what is &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want a balanced diet of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Specifically, you want a diet that is high in omega-3 fatty acids. You can supplement the food with omega-3s as a separate product (such as Welactin) if you so desire. But be careful with &quot;fish oil&quot; products, as they are generally very poorly regulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T04:57:32.870" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20594" CreationDate="2018-06-15T07:10:29.533" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have asked several people about what it might be, and it has to be a cutaneous horn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cutaneous horn is made of keratin - the same material as in your cat's claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cutaneous horn and the formation of them can be an autoimmune reaction and is in the same family of reactions as psoriasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php?title=Cutaneous_horn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php?title=Cutaneous_horn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/cfoot.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.vetinfo.com/cfoot.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to see a vet for diagnosis and treatment of this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credit to Rebecca for her input to my question about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-31T02:47:06.583" LastActivityDate="2021-01-31T02:47:06.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-15T15:15:57.930" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is usually really social. Is all over you at night meowing and wanting attention. For the past few days, he spent the nights sleeping under the bench at the foot of the bed and doesn't come out, even for food and treats. Typically he eats so quickly that we have to keep him away from the other cats food!He doesn't want to go outside anymore, where normally he would cause havoc to be let out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, he is about five years old, an indoor/outdoor cat. I took him to the vet a few years ago and they noticed that he had a slightly enlarged heart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Is this a wait and see situation, or a call the vet in the morning one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12333" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-06-22T18:09:55.343" LastActivityDate="2018-10-11T06:25:48.277" Title="What does it mean if my 5 year old cat isn't eating and has changed behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-15T16:06:05.507" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I appreciate when my kitten comes looking for attention. Except when she walks on the keyboard. Then it's trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I discourage her from walking on the keyboard, while encouraging her to come sit by me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T00:38:47.933" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T00:38:47.933" Title="How do I keep my cat off my keyboard while not discouraging her from seeking attention?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20616" CreationDate="2018-06-15T21:59:43.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I usually do is kinda waggle my fingers in front of the cat's nose, and if they keep coming they run into the waggly fingers. Most cats don't like it and will back off. As soon as they back off, some petting is in order. That is also a good time to relocate kitty to a more acceptable location like your lap or a handy cat-sized box. I keep a small pet bed within reach, and my cats get attention when they settle down on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:35:44.690" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:35:44.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20615" CreationDate="2018-06-15T22:01:16.273" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time your cat stops eating it's something to be concerned about. I suggest a trip to the vet to figure out what is wrong. There are a lot of possible causes, and your vet is your best resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T22:01:16.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20607" CreationDate="2018-06-15T22:38:34.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat with half a tail for many years. She seemed to have no problems with communication with other animals in the household. Cats use many kinds of body language in addition to the tail, such as whisker position, ear position, fur standing up, body posture, and vocalization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T22:38:34.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20570" CreationDate="2018-06-15T22:44:32.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try crating the dog at night, until she becomes comfortable with it. She is likely to be upset about it for a few days (or a couple of weeks). Once she stops being upset be being crated, the crate will be her &lt;em&gt;den&lt;/em&gt;, and she will be less likely to soil it when left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T22:44:32.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20473" CreationDate="2018-06-15T23:18:44.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;House dogs need walks to get exercise and to relieve themselves. The dogs you describe have free access to go where they please, rather than being locked up in a house all day. As such their needs are very different. House dogs don't have the same options for self exercising that dogs with free access to the outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-06-15T23:18:44.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20631" CreationDate="2018-06-16T20:08:12.840" Score="7" ViewCount="660" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one 8 week old female kitten and one almost 9 week old male kitten yesterday. They are both very temperate but when they are introduced to each other, every time they make eye-contact the female hisses at the male. He doesn't like the female hissing so he goes away and hides under something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often he will come up to her like he is curious but she just hisses at him. It isn't like full blown hissing but she does the same thing when she's playing with her cat toys and there was no aggression on the car ride home. They were both scared and climbed onto my lap and slept on top of each other facing different directions and slept for the car ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All night, the female laid on top of me guarding me from the male. He would meow and if I meowed back he would climb up onto the bed and try and come close, realize she was there, and walk around me on the bed, then go back down to side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of them are skittish and also both have refused to eat or drink anything since I got them at approximately 6pm yesterday. It is 1pm now and I am getting worried they just want to play and explore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I take them to the vet?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; the male just started eating dry food on his own and I managed to get the female to eat some wet food. I am not sure why she was being so picky but she devoured a large amount of it mixed with her dry food around 36hrs after I got her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop them fighting I used their favorite toy on the bed and each time she hissed at him I picked her up immediately and put her on the floor and let it be the other one's turn. At first she seemed to think that the toy belonged to the other cat and not her, but eventually she figured out she could play with it as much as she wanted if she didn't hiss at the other kitten. They have been playing and chasing the other's tail, etc., since. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:26:59.533" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:59.533" Title="Kittens not getting along" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16367" CreationDate="2018-06-17T14:18:39.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Staying active is such a necessary thing for your cat’s health. Playing games that are stimulating, help to reduce anxiety, stress levels and can help to eliminate behavioral problems. Because they are natural predators, from time to time they will need to turn on their natural problem solving instincts. The games that can help to do this, will build your cat’s confidence; especially games they are able to walk away from feeling like a winner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12336" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-06-18T08:38:47.797" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T08:38:47.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20628" CreationDate="2018-06-17T14:57:45.193" Score="6" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, my computer has it's main ventilation hole situated on the top. Warm air comes out of this hole, which my cat absolutely loves to sit on. Once it does this, my computer is at risk of overheating since animal fur is an excellent insulator for heat. Moreover, the cat's fur can easily penetrate the small ventilation holes, which can cause damage once a sufficient amount is accumulated within the computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/9531/how-can-i-keep-my-cat-off-my-keyboard&quot;&gt;putting a box next to the computer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;throwing him away every time he tries to jump on the computer,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;threatening it with one of those &quot;water sprinklers&quot; (without actually sprinkling water on it of course),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but to no avail. The sweet warmth of the computer makes it keep coming back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to keep him off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12337" LastActivityDate="2018-06-19T07:06:43.773" Title="How to keep my cat from sitting on my computer ventilation hole?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15828" CreationDate="2018-06-17T16:30:22.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try using double-sided tape where you don’t want your cat to scratch. I've researched that cat’s don’t like to step on or touch sticky surfaces, so this should act as a great deterrent and guard against your cat’s usual scratching routine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12336" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-06-18T13:09:57.747" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T13:09:57.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6986" CreationDate="2018-06-17T20:35:22.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should when you are able to pick them up also hold them for a few seconds and then give them a treat. Once you give Them the treat put them back in the cage. This associates you holding them with treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12339" LastActivityDate="2018-06-17T20:35:22.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20624" CreationDate="2018-06-17T21:15:43.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most effective way to deal with this would be to get a new desk that has a slot to put the computer in. The cat won't be able to sit on it if the computer is competely enclosed by the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to get a heated cat bed and put it close to your desk. The heated cat bed would probably be more comfortable than the computer, and it would help satisfy your cat's desire for more heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the computer off when not using it, so it won't be warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option if you're tech savvy enough, is to replace the computer's case with one that ventilates out the back or side. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-06-17T21:15:43.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15828" CreationDate="2018-06-18T08:34:39.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to train your cat to scratch where you want:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Make a scratching post available, at least one that is available at all times for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Establish a correction word. I use the local variant of &quot;No!&quot; for my cat. So every time he does something I want him to stop, I just say &quot;No!&quot;, sometimes quite forcefully. He does get the message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Every time your cat starts to scratch where you don't want to, you say your correction word, take the cat and put their claws to the scratching post you want them to use. Do not get angry, or violent. Just show your cat where you want it to scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Make the old scratching points less enjoying to use. Dubble sided tape, strange and unpleasant smells. Google cat anti scratching stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T08:34:39.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20622" CreationDate="2018-06-18T08:57:16.497" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Your kittens will get along, very likely.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens this young will get along together. They just need to get to know the other. What you want to do is try and make their interactions with each other as pleasant as you can. So cuddle them both, give them treats together. Stuff like that. Make: together = better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Now for drinking and eating.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are hungry and thirsty now. Make water available to them all the time. Like a little bowl somewhere. Keep it at the same place so they can find it when they want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go to your local pet store and get kitten milk if you can. Also get wet kitten food. You seem to have normal (kitten) food already, so that is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now take the wet food and mush it (take a fork and stamp it so it will become fine and easy to bite into). Add a little bit of kitten milk to it and work it into the wet food. Kittens don't eat a lot in one sitting, but they do need to eat often, so a dessert bowl size amount should do for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place this very moist food in two small bowl on the floor where you want your kittens to eat. Bring them close to the food. They may start to eat, if they don't, do one of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Put a bit of the moist food on your finger and put it into their mouth. They will resist a bit first, but they should start eating it if its tasty enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Push their nose (very, very!) gently into the mush. You want them to lick it of their nose and get a taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should learn them that this is indeed good food. They will eat a bit clumsy, but that is half the fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Note: have food and water available for them at all times. They are still very little and need to eat and drink often (every 2 to 4 hours).&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while we are on the subject, while having kittens sleeping in your bed is a great joy, but think about it, having cats sleep in your bed might impact the amount of sleep you get. My recommendation is to have your 2 bundles of joy sleep in the living room, preferably in their own basket or such. That way you have a good night rest and they learn things the right way from the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T08:57:16.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-18T13:44:46.107" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about trying catnip on my anxious, non-neutered male cat. I found an alternative (Valerian root) that is available at a very low cost compared to catnip. The Valerian root that I found cheap is dried one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it have the same effect as fresh root?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T15:21:42.923" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T15:21:42.923" Title="Can dried Valerian root be used as a substitute for fresh root?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20578" CreationDate="2018-06-18T17:37:44.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Signs of illness/discomfort in your cat includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;change in eating habits or not eating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;decreased activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hiding in places for a long time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sleeping for a long time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the skin on the left side for any irregularities or lesions. If you suspect there is something internal to the cat that may cause it to favor one side, I guess the only way to know for sure is to let the vet run some scans on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no medical issues, it could be that he just really prefers the combing sensation on one side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9576" LastActivityDate="2018-06-18T17:37:44.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20635" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-18T20:59:17.427" Score="4" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I keep my 40 gallon dog pool free from insects and swimmers whilst keeping it safe to drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried dawn, but do not know if that is safe for the dog to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12342" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-18T21:13:28.177" LastActivityDate="2018-06-19T08:45:39.257" Title="How to keep a dog pool insect free and safe to drink?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-19T00:44:30.127" Score="4" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a time when we did not have any trouble with our dogs. We had a very responsible alpha male dog. One snarl would have ended any fights before they started. He had a friend, a gay dog. We found out he is gay because he loves to get humped on, and does not hump on a female dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gay dog and the alpha male were both old buddies, so it's no question the gay dog thought she was female, and the alpha male humped him. Even though we adopted 2 strays, 1 male and female. The alpha male and the gay dog were in control, there were no fights whatsoever even when food was concerned. And even though the female dog became mature, there were no fights still. No one mated the female, not even the alpha male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last month the alpha male died of sickness. The gay dog went to a serious depression, and we did too, because the alpha male was the best dog that we ever had, but we have to move on. We showed the dogs that we can make it through even without the alpha male, so we went on every day normally. Now we did own a stray male dog, didn't we? Right now it's like he stated himself as the alpha male and then all hell broke loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That dog and the female became partners, starting last month, they hate baths when there was a time they didn't mind them at all. We watched Ceasar Millan's videos on how to approach them, because we thought they became like that because of our action, maybe we are hurting them physically during bath time, so we tried to use gloves with soft cotton, but we just received snarls and even bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not all, during the time when the female was in heat, that alpha male dog becomes a hell hound. He bites the gay dog so hard, he even goes to the jugular vein. We use chokers to detach them, but when we all leave the house, we always return with the gay dog bruised. If you want to know what did the gay dog do to deserve such punishment from the hell hound? Absolutely nothing, the gay dog just sits there, then the attacks happen, there was even a time when the gay dog was just sleeping, then he was attacked!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caging the hell hound is dangerous because there was a time that my mother tried to cage him and the dog bite my mother's hand, almost detaching the finger. She had to have stitches and operations to get the finger attached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you will think we are hurting the dogs during caging, we do not. Our procedure to put them in the cage is simple, open the cage, call their names and they should go inside the cage, we don't force them to go inside the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, right the family is deciding what to do with this dog, we are a family of 6, 2 of us agreed to kill the dog (Mom and I), 4 of them says no. But the dangerous dog keeps on rampaging the gay dog and us every day, so how do we deal with such dog? Are we right to think that we should put it down for the good of everyone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we did:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Normal discipline - back then, when they snarl we say no. It somehow stops them, but now, even loud noises cannot stop the dog from snarling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Throwing cold water during the fights - I think we saw something alike to detach two dogs that are fighting, and discipline a dog, a bucket of water can be used so that we may not harm them physically, but that does not work, chokers do the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;No physical harm is done to the dogs (yet) - because we know it is illegal, but if something ever happens to my mother again, that's another story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12262" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T23:24:24.197" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T23:24:24.197" Title="How to deal with a &quot;hell hound&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20635" CreationDate="2018-06-19T05:31:51.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just get a small net to catch any dead insects or leaves and you should be fine. While not necessarily fully hygienic, that's perfectly fine for dogs (and in theory humans as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are living insects in there... ignore them, unless they're in some way toxic or so. I'd also recommend exchanging the water like once a week depending on temperatures etc. If you change it regularly, the number of insects should decrease as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always remember there's nobody out there to &quot;clean&quot; lakes or rivers and animals still bath and drink in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-06-19T05:31:51.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20638" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-19T05:46:24.923" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in getting a Rhodesian Ridgeback. The registered breeder has both black and liver nosed pups. I would just like to know if there are any future health concerns I should know about if was to to get the liver nosed one's such as cancer etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastActivityDate="2018-06-19T05:46:24.923" Title="Rhodesian Ridgeback Liver Nose Health" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20624" CreationDate="2018-06-19T07:06:43.773" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although you've accepted an answer, I'd like to share my experience but it's probably not a solution and it might work for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have that issue too and one time by accident I left my old headset on the case till I put it away and I saw the cat struggle to find a way to sit. He tried it a few times and then stopped sitting on there for good. Although I removed the headset a few days later, he never returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So placing something over the exhaust that won't block it but also makes it impossible for the cat to lie down might help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2018-06-19T07:06:43.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20635" CreationDate="2018-06-19T08:45:39.257" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Make it a small pond.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;40 galons is quite a bit. And to refresh that much water seems a bit wasteful. Why not make it a small pond with a balanced eco system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best would be to match the local wildlife. A few water plants for keeping the pond clear and a few fishes to keep the water bugs in check. Heck, if you are in central America you might even use guppies as mosquito control. You would still need to replenish / filter the water, but you will need to do that anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-06-19T08:45:39.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20641" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-19T12:57:06.090" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are cats that sleep with their owners at night in the bedroom a good idea? What are the pro's and cons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not looking for anecdotes, but more health related. Aka, can it harm the owner or the pet, and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-06-19T17:25:34.687" LastActivityDate="2018-07-09T18:49:38.150" Title="Sleeping cats in the bedroom" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-19T14:35:41.373" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am dealing with a bit of a paradox in my green cheek Conure. She constantly wants to be in contact me and is very affectionate, but nips constantly whenever my hands go near her to move her, get her to step up, or even pet her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am frustrated as I feel I must be reinforcing this behavior somehow and I am not sure how to extinguish it. I realize that when I want her to step-up she often doesn't want to leave my shoulder, or enjoys the &quot;chase&quot; if she is running around on a table. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I just need to reinforce the good behavior with treats each time I ask her to get on my finger? I have had a green cheek Conure in the past who was not nearly so nippy, so I am trying to figure out my new bird's personality and adjust my expectations and interactions with her. She is about 6 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12345" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-21T15:59:02.040" LastActivityDate="2018-06-21T15:59:02.040" Title="Nippy conure wants lots of affection" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-19T18:42:26.277" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our new three month old kitten has decided we are okay and loves us. Head bunting, snuggling, purring and napping on us every day. However with me (mommy) she loves to nuzzle my neck and face, lick my hair and then bites me on the chin or neck when I get home and at bedtime. I put her down, out of the room, or give her a little spank and a firm &quot;NO&quot;, but she keeps coming back to the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think she loves me and just gets excited, but it hurts. How can I change this behavior? She loves to sleep on the pillow next to me or accross my neck or snuggled under my arm. But the biting part has to stop. Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12346" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-06-20T14:16:53.333" LastActivityDate="2018-06-20T14:19:04.497" Title="Changing behavior help" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-06-20T14:17:44.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-20T01:10:34.617" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience giving Phosphoethanolamine for dogs? Ferreira et alli mention a concentration of 35 and 70 mg/kg in their &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22213293&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;study&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would translate into 2 capsules for a dog weighing 20 kg. Does anyone know of potential side effects or contraindications for canines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12101" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-06-20T14:47:59.573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-08T20:10:16.130" Title="Phosphoethanolamine for dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18506" CreationDate="2018-06-20T04:21:59.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When leaving rats alone for a few days I only think about 2 big things. Will they get bored? Will they get sick? Personally, I do not worry about foodstuff, it would be just an easy task to leave food or water in their cages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rats actually are intelligent animals that need exercise and also stimulation, by giving a new toy they will get not bored if they bored so many things could happen. They could chew through the wall, ingest something harmful, fighting with each other, or anything could happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need to rearrange their cages setting, build mazes or fort, change new toy, or anything that you could think not to make the rat bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is just for the weekend, I mean 2 or 3 days, then it is just good, but if you are going for a week, you just need to make a plan ahead, not just leaving like that. The best thing you could do is to have a sitter to look after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the rat is getting sick while you are away, nothing much you can do, but you can give the best dry food for overall well being and also nutritionally balanced. It totally depends on your rat age, whether it is adult pet rat or young-active have different dietary needs and certain nutrients. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://petcomments.com/best-dry-food-for-rats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;more info here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12328" LastActivityDate="2018-06-20T04:21:59.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-21T07:18:08.453" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 12 year old cat has been losing a lot of weight all of a sudden. She behaves fine, but she is always hungry. As soon as she finishes eating, however, she goes straight to her litter box and has been having diarrhoea every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been giving her canned food because she acts like it is hard for her to eat hard food, which I did because of her age. I thought that maybe she had worms, although I've never seen any in her stool. I went ahead and gave her the exact amount it said to give her, then I repeated dosage again in 2 days. This has not helped her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I changed her food to grain-free food (both hard and soft) which has helped her diarrhoea to thicken up just a bit, but she is still getting extremely thin. You can feel all her bones everywhere on her body. Her hair has also been getting very knotted. She is a long hair cat and I brush her regularly, but lately it's been badly knotted to the skin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still eats like crazy and drinks water regularly, but today she has just  been lagging. I don't have the money to take her to the vet, but I can't stand the thought of not trying to help her either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone have any idea what could be the problem?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/efrOU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12351" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-11T00:23:49.290" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T00:23:49.290" Title="My 12 year old cat is very sick" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20647" CreationDate="2018-06-21T09:58:43.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is still eating and drinking and this is a good sign, but it still needs to go to a vet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several of the things you mention in your question are signs of possible serious illness. For example, the knots in the fur mean your cat is having problems cleaning herself, which could suggest your cat is in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other problems do also need you to take her to the vet. Call the vet and tell them like it is: that you are short of money, but your cat needs help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a question about this subject: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options?noredirect=1&amp;amp;lq=1&quot;&gt;I can&amp;#39;t afford vet treatment, what are my options?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diarrhoea is very dangerous for cats because they can get dehydrated very quickly, so it is important to get help as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-11T00:10:03.367" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T00:10:03.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2162" CreationDate="2018-06-22T00:27:16.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female cricket which I found in my room by surprise. My daughter wants a reptile so I thought I'll keep it for the reptile. So, I led it to my room, but it lost a leg and so I put it in a bin with eggcrates, paper tube and a small deli cup with a salad for food inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Days later I saw her in the deli cup and I saw very small beige eggs looking like rice. I seems that males and female crickets come together in a small container with an egg crate for the owner for mating for a bigger feeding colony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12353" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-06-22T18:10:21.813" LastActivityDate="2018-06-22T18:10:21.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20654" CreationDate="2018-06-22T09:27:46.500" Score="6" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QFod2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QFod2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jt7eK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jt7eK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;He/she recently appeared in the bush of a semi-rural place in Spain. It has been 15 days since my first encounter. He/she was very vivid and did not escape from people. 10 days later, I discovered that there were some pustules in the eyelids and ears. The bunny seemed to be suffering. (Maybe it's also due to the warm weather). I tried to capture him/her but it was really difficult.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LUwqx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LUwqx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Tick-free 5 days later... Not sure if someone went to help or it's just nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the situation keeps on changing, I have updated my question and here it is:&#xA;Given that local rescue organizations are not quite responsive and the bunny seems enjoying the wildlife, I don't know if I should just keep an eye on him/her or there is some more proactive method. &#xA;(e.g. maybe there is some antiparasite/disinfection medicine that can be mixed with feed. Recommendations, please. What I am doing right now is holding a disinfection spray and chasing the bunny...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12184" LastEditorUserId="12184" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T16:52:21.453" LastActivityDate="2018-06-30T10:54:36.377" Title="Pustules in ears and eyes of an abandoned rabbit (appearance and dissapearance)" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20653" CreationDate="2018-06-22T10:11:00.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a domestic rabbit, it was someone's pet it, has been released in the wild to die a long painful death. Even in areas where the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20696/how-do-you-tell-a-wild-rabbit-from-a-release-domestic-rabbit-in-southwestern-eur&quot;&gt;European rabbit are native, if it looks domestic, it is a released pet.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'pustules' are difficult to see clearly in the image, but the one on the ear may be a tick.  The rabbit needs urgent medical attention, if you can take them to a vet today that would be great!  Alternately contact a local animal shelter or rabbit rescue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all animal shelters take domestic rabbits, if yours doesn't, or if they will not come out and pick it up.  Check &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbit.org/&lt;/a&gt; for your nearest rabbit rescue, not every rabbit rescue is listed at rabbit.org if the nearest listed is far away from you, contact them for info about one closer to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related posts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17584/how-to-kill-ticks-on-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;How to kill ticks on a Rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1578/can-i-release-my-pet-rabbit-in-the-wild&quot;&gt;Can I release my pet rabbit in the wild?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1214/are-rabbits-really-the-third-most-popular-pet&quot;&gt;Are rabbits really the third most popular pet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1240/what-should-i-know-before-i-decide-to-adopt-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What should I know before I decide to adopt a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;How do I get rid of fleas on my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/13581/can-wild-cottontail-rabbits-interbreed-with-domestic-rabbits/20655#20655&quot;&gt;Can wild cottontail rabbits interbreed with domestic rabbits?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7252/one-of-my-three-pet-bunnies-jumped-out-of-the-hutch-and-we-cant-catch-her&quot;&gt;One of my three pet bunnies jumped out of the hutch and we can&amp;#39;t catch her&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updates after edits and other posts by OP.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description of interacting with the bunny, it lets you get close enough to spray meds on it's ears, but is not ready for you touch it yet. There are a couple of references above with help for catching a skittish pet bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer he/she stays free the more likely he/she will die. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/easter/flyer/food-not-free.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A loose pet rabbit is not 'Free' it is 'Food'.&lt;/a&gt; Unlike Cats, domestic rabbits do not have long periods getting over being feral, they re-domesticate very quickly. If it is truly a released pet then the sooner you can capture it the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are very territorial. It is likely it will stay in the same general area.  They will be more active during the early morning and late evening (Dawn and Dusk).  I am guessing from the photos that the rabbit is near a walking path.  I suggest using a live animal trap as pictured below, you have been feeding treats for a couple of days now.  Start putting the treats in the trap, in the same place.  These traps can often be borrowed from local rescues, or purchased relatively cheaply.  It is best if you can stay in the area of the trap while waiting for the bunny. If you don't catch it in the morning leave the treats, take the trap and come back in the evening to try again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PVww8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Live animal trap&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-06-30T10:54:36.377" LastActivityDate="2018-06-30T10:54:36.377" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13581" CreationDate="2018-06-22T12:12:03.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Ask a Biologist: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers/viewtopic.php?id=3250&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers/viewtopic.php?id=3250&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Although the domestic and cotton tails may attempt to breed, the embryos will usually die before birth due to the difference in chromosomes. Domestic (European) rabbits have 22 pairs of chromosomes, cottontails have 21&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is technically yes, it could result in hybrid babies, though it's very extremely unlikely any offspring will survive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As note, there are hybrid animals with parents with a different number of chromosomes that are common, as the mule is the offspring of a horse and the donkey, for example. The horse has 64 and the donkey has 62.  The mule ends up with 63 chromosomes. Due to the odd number, the mule is usually sterile, but a very few cases have been recorded of one managing to reproduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There also has been a recorded case of animals so distantly related that they were different genuses (one degree farther removed than species) and still bred to produce living offspring, as there were offspring produced from a mating between a babirusa and a domesticated pig when the two were put in a zoo together. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macroevolution.net/babirusa-domestic-pig-hybrids.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.macroevolution.net/babirusa-domestic-pig-hybrids.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, there's always a chance for an exception, but by far the most likely outcome is no viable offspring would result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-06-22T12:12:03.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20660" CreationDate="2018-06-23T15:07:26.227" Score="4" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what symptoms in a cat indicate it should be immediately seen by an emergency vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know obviously if the cat has an injury, or is in obvious distress, but are there any less obvious ones? Like, for instance, I know head pressing is a sign of a serious neurological problem. Does that kind of thing warrant an emergency vet visit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was hoping for a decent list, so I have some idea in advance of an emergency when exactly it's time to go to the emergency vet versus just you can wait until the regular vet the next day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-06-24T23:03:09.780" LastActivityDate="2018-06-24T23:03:09.780" Title="When to take your cat to an emergency vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-23T16:41:46.457" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occasionally I look after 4 chihuahuas. 3 of them are always 100% fine, but the 1 dog is timid/anxious/fearful. When the owner is there, she is ok though still timid/shy, but as soon as the owner is away, she stays practically glued to her bed and hardly eats, and usually won't go out, and I can't touch her since she'll try to snap/bite me. I can sit or stand near her though. She is not very food/treat motivated though I have tried winning her over softly softly that way and by sitting near her and avoiding eye contact etc. She's often not interested in a treat at all. When her owner returns she is like normal and far happier again, as if she just instantly snaps out of it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the owner leaves, she does not bark or get visibly anxious or whine like a typical dog with separation anxiety, strangely she'll &quot;accept&quot; that, but then soon goes to her bed where she stays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas for what I can try except telling the owner to get a trainer? All I can think of so far is to try to experiment with getting her more comfortable with me when the owner is still at home, when she might be feeling more safe or trusting. - and possibly to suggest trying a thundershirt, anti-anxiety medication or these dog relaxation pheromone sprays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12359" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2018-07-02T18:08:04.740" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T20:01:36.767" Title="Issue with fearful/anxious dog I occasionally petsit" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-24T00:48:22.593" Score="1" ViewCount="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two and a half male free roam in our home rabbit named Rusty.&#xA;Our pets stores offer limited types of tree sticks to chew to keep his teeth work down.&#xA;What other kinds of wood can I collect that are not poisonous and or unhealthy for him to chew on ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12364" LastActivityDate="2018-06-24T00:48:22.593" Title="What types of wood and leaves in Southern Ontario Canada can my Rabbit eat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-24T03:12:00.907" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kittens occasionally don't play with there toy together very well the girl will hiss at the boy if she feels its her turn. oddly she waits patiently when its his turn but gets very annoyed when its her turn and he jumps in. so my idea was simply to play until both of them had enough of playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly it didn't work the cat that instigates the problem was playing so hard that after 1.5 hours he couldn't keep his eyes open it looked like he was blinking every couple seconds cause he was so tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i stopped at this point cause i know some animals can actually exert themselves to death dogs,horses and bears for example. is this the same for cats? i would of liked to kept going cause the other wasn't down for the count yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastActivityDate="2018-06-24T03:12:00.907" Title="Can my kitten die from playing too hard?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20656" CreationDate="2018-06-24T03:15:07.033" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is by no means an exhaustive list, but things you would not want to wait to take your cat in for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;collapse or paralysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inappropriate mentation or unconsciousness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;suspected pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;severe bleeding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;injury or trauma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;suspected toxin ingestion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;suspected foreign body or string ingestion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;suspected allergic reaction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repeated or acute vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;male cat straining to urinate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;difficulty breathing or choking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that if you are concerned enough to be asking should we go to the vet now, you probably should go to the vet now. If in doubt, take your cat in – better to be safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-06-24T03:15:07.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-24T15:16:01.967" Score="2" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a 4 months old black cat (female) named Friday. Bold and adaptable. Long-ish haired unknown breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just got a 2 months old Siamese kitten. Kind of skittish, male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older kitten is bullying the younger one. Chasing her around, staring at her, hits her with the paw (no blood) etc. Nothing serious happened yet, and I don't expect to happen. Younger cat is scared all the time, doesn't eat much, didn't see her in the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I handle this? I want to keep both kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-06-24T23:01:06.643" Title="Older kitten (4 months) bullying younger kitten (2 months)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-24T22:58:38.143" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-24T19:32:59.297" Score="5" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Ylaya had her first babies two years ago. All of her kitten until now were/are inbreeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her first litter was two cats, one of them was very sick and died. The other one (Yrwana) lived but died half a year later, the reason is not known. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About two weeks ago she had two babies, both premature, both died. Yesterday she got a baby again (Mini-Moi). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is: She won't care for her baby, she hasn't done that with her first child either. I don't know what the problem is. Maybe Mini-Moi is sick and Ylaya knows that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have another cat (Mornie), who has just given birth to a beautiful healthy kitten (Namira, possibly inbred). Ylaya took care of Namira, because Mornie has lost a tooth and can't carry her child. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to keep the newborn cat alive? How do I get Ylaya to care of her kitten. How can I tell if the kitten is dying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Mini-Moi died last night, as we expected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12372" LastEditorUserId="12372" LastEditDate="2018-06-25T06:06:38.627" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T06:06:38.627" Title="Mother cat won't care for her newborn kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20664" CreationDate="2018-06-25T03:49:46.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a mother cat senses that the kitten has little chances of survival, she usually neglects them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said that the kittens are inbred, inbred kittens have higher chances of congenital birth defects, as well as being born underweight and with anaemia. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A classic case is that Ylaya is taking care of Namira, neglecting her own litter. It is because Namira has been born healthy and has higher chances of survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make sure that the neglected kitten survives, you need to take it to the the vet, who can diagnose the diseases and prescribe treatment. You need to use kitten milk replacement formula and hand feed the kitten. Also you need to keep them warm as kitten are not able to regulate teir body temperature up to 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to prevent such cases in future you need to stop the inbreeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T03:49:46.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-25T04:39:29.493" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O2G7X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a hard time figuring out what my kitten is !? Any help would be greatly appreciated &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12374" LastEditorUserId="12374" LastEditDate="2018-06-25T05:00:11.513" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T05:00:11.513" Title="Gender of kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-06-25T12:20:21.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-25T08:45:41.623" Score="4" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're moving to a new house in about a month.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The house has a white Labrador living there at the moment - I have no idea of the age, gender or temperament.  I don't know where in the house the Lab sleeps, but her bed was in the garage when we've visited for open days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog Pete is a 6 year-old Bearded Collie crossed with Huntaway.  He's a neutered male, and while he used to chew things and dig as a puppy, he hasn't done that for a long time.   Pete sleeps on a low mattress in our combined living/dining room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; What do I need to do or prepare for when we move in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try to reduce any scent from the previous dog by excessively watering outside and scrubbing down inside?  Or am  I anticipating non-existent problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related but not dupes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6039/how-do-i-help-my-dog-adjust-after-moving&quot;&gt;How do I help my dog adjust after moving?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7695/dog-is-crying-and-barking-every-morning-since-we-moved-in-a-new-house&quot;&gt;Dog is crying and barking every morning since we moved in a new house&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9141" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T01:11:57.877" Title="Moving to a house where a dog lived?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20636" CreationDate="2018-06-25T09:15:30.097" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would strongly advice to search for professional help. Reading through your text displayed a multitude of red flags and showing a lack of proper understanding for your dog's behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, assuming your dog is &amp;quot;gay&amp;quot; because he humps other dogs is such a &amp;quot;red flag&amp;quot; because it shows your misconception of your dog's behavior. It's because dogs don't function as we humans do in terms of sexual orientation. Humping other dogs is more likely a dominant behavior or a sign for a lack of socialization with other dogs. It's nearly impossible that you ended up having a &amp;quot;gay&amp;quot; dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, keeping multiple male dogs and a female dog unneutered together in one place is certainly a recipe for disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, letting your dogs fight over the hierarchy in your home shows me that you couldn't establish yourself/or someone in your family as a pack leader, leaving the position to be taken by one of your dogs, who are now fighting over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, reading in the comments, that your dogs don't leave the house is quite shocking to hear and hard to believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all together, you have sexually frustrated dogs, who are assumably badly socialized, who are lacking leadership and are stressed over being pushed into that role against their will, on top of being most likely unbalanced due to missing exercise and undrained energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First and foremost, walk your dogs, drain their energy, physically&#xA;and mentally. Dogs always follow their pack leader without&#xA;hesitation, without being asked to leave or anything. If they don't&#xA;leave the house when you do, you're probably already perceived to be&#xA;on the lowest end of their hierarchy, which is an unacceptable&#xA;situation, that might get dangerous for everyone in your house in&#xA;the long run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neuter your dogs, immediately. In your described situation there is no valid argument against it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Establish yourself as pack leader, don't allow the dogs to be aggressively dominant and fight over the hierarchy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get professional help to get a grip on how to interact with your dogs and fill your role as pack leader.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't put your dog down as an easy exit, just because they ill behave over the unbearable situation you've put them in. Show some dedication to fix it and get a balanced pack through exercise, leadership and compassion; they deserve it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T23:15:46.430" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T23:15:46.430" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20406" CreationDate="2018-06-25T10:29:33.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't need a crate but it's OK to have one if you wish. Normally there are two reasons to have a crate for your dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is to help you control your dog when you're not around for a longer period of time (i.e. being at work). Not as a substitute for training your dog to behave in the house when unsupervised, but rather for situations in which unforeseen things might happen (thunderstorms, fireworks or other events that might scare/trigger your dog while you're not around). Or, if you travel a lot, you need a dog who is used to staying in a crate when traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other reason is when you have a fearful or insecure dog, you can use the crate as a den, where he can retreat and feel safe. It can be one tool to help you deal with such an insecure dog, but it's not mandatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both case it's completely up to you to decide if you want a crate to help you in your day to day life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T08:18:32.643" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T08:18:32.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20289" CreationDate="2018-06-25T11:25:46.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Train her the command to pee or poop outside on the walks, so you can transfer it to where ever you like. Every time she pees/poops on the walk, praise him, give him treats and/or affection. Then introduce a &quot;code word&quot; (remember to choose one you're comfortable to use when around other people :-) and as soon as he learned to associate it with the action, you can use it where ever you like. Overall it will make your live easier since you don't have to wait on your evening walk until he decides to to his business on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also try to clean the places he accidentally peed/pooped in the house with vinegar or special dog products removing smells, to prevent further peeing. Dogs will choose the same place again, if it smells like a dog toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally I wouldn't recommend it at all to let your dog pee/poop inside, no matter if you have a &quot;special place&quot; set up. It's very hard to understand for a dog and therefor to train your dog to distinguish between the right and wrong place. Dogs normally don't pee or poop near their den (in your case your house) and it might prevent him from seeing your home as a place of rest and relaxation. An adult, medium sized dog should be able to contain it for up to 12 hours (don't know exactly about smaller breads) and therefor it's absolutely OK to have him do his business outside three or even only two times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T11:25:46.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20261" CreationDate="2018-06-25T13:58:32.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a dog shows such a fixation for a technical device, it's either a sign of mental underload or he's being (un)consciously trained to do so by you. However, I would even call it an abnormal behavior for a dog. Normally dogs don't need artificial distraction other then doing regular dog stuff nor do they have any natural interest in electronic devices. I would assume the fixation you're dog is showing is the result of the positive reinforcement you've given him, consciously or unconsciously, watching his interaction with the iPad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of searching for more Apps to further drive your dogs unnatural behavior, you'd be better advised to channel it onto dog typical activities. I don't think it is harmful, but I don't think it's a healthy behavior either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T13:58:32.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20147" CreationDate="2018-06-25T14:25:03.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you gave the answer yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like this behavior. [...] In other words, if I give a treat to another dog I want my dog to sit and watch nicely instead of body checking the other dog and nipping at the other dog to push her away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the behavior you're expecting, so it is on you to enforce it. In such case, order your dog to stay back and also lay down while you give treats to the other dogs. Use your body language to show him to respect your personal space, even when allowing other dogs to enter it. This forces her into a submissive state. If he obeys by waiting politely, he can have a treat as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog used to get between me and other dogs whenever I showed other dogs affection. He didn't bully the others, but push himself between me and the other dog with full force, which looked funny and hilarious at first, but nonetheless it's disrespectful to me as a pack leader. So I showed him that I don't want him anywhere near me when interacting with other dogs. He doesn't like it, but he has to take it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T23:10:22.627" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T23:10:22.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20668" CreationDate="2018-06-25T14:57:39.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure you're anticipating a problem where there is none. The scent of another dog is just one in a million unfamiliar scents your dog will be exposed to when moving into a new home, beside tons of other new impression the dog has to get used to. As long as the two dogs don't share some negative experiences with each other, the scent of the other dog will be neutral to him as it is with the scent of another dog at the lamp post in front of your house or on your clothes if you've interacted with another dog during the day. The most I would anticipate is your dog is sporadically looking for the other dog for the first few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that might cause an unwanted behavior in your dog is, when the other dog used to pee inside the house. This could lead to your dog also peeing at the same spot. You might ask the previous owner about it and eventually cleaning that area with vinegar or a special spray to remove scents. You can find such sprays in pet stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further information:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2571/how-can-i-eliminate-set-in-dog-urine-scent-from-a-carpet&quot;&gt;How can I eliminate set-in dog urine scent from a carpet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastEditorUserId="12377" LastEditDate="2018-06-25T17:59:51.100" LastActivityDate="2018-06-25T17:59:51.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19903" CreationDate="2018-06-25T17:58:59.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your last paragraph already mentions the core problem you're having. You punish her for his wrongdoing, which won't solve the problem, since the weaker dog has no way to change the behavior of the dominant one, or she would have done so already. Her only option would be to avoid the situation all together, which is the normal behavior with two strange dogs who engage in different play styles, but since they're trapped together, it's on you to moderate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intervene with a short verbal command every time the play gets to rough and if this doesn't help give the &quot;aggressor&quot; a timeout, while interacting with the other dog in the meantime. This will teach him that unwanted rough play ends up in an unpleasant/boring situation for him. Also establish a &quot;no-play-zone&quot; for the smaller one (i.e. around your feet) where she can escape to in case she needs a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-26T13:32:03.027" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T13:32:03.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20668" CreationDate="2018-06-26T01:11:57.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One answer that came up at work was &quot;be wary if moving a puppy&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently Parvo virus can hang around outside, and its viable for many years.  So if a puppy or an unimmunized dog moves to a new house, best to get on with the immunizations/shots beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider it the same as taking a 3 month old puppy to a park when the innoculations have not had full effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9141" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T01:11:57.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7695" CreationDate="2018-06-26T13:24:07.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We eventually opted to let her loose in the house during the night, with a large cushion in our bedroom on which she now sleeps every night, and since she stopped crying. However, we never found out why she had this behavior at first when her cage was in the basement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3676" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T13:24:07.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-26T15:41:33.927" Score="2" ViewCount="28709" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my wife has recently got a male 9 weeks old kitten. It comes from a good house, so it's already been treated for fleas and (most importantly) litter trained. According to its old owner, it used to eat pretty much any brand of wet and dry food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the first days we had it it refused to eat anything at all we gave it. It didn't seem stressed or scared, just refused to eat even though it was begging for food. Then I tried putting some canned tuna in his wet food and, lo and behold, it ate the whole lot in a jiffy. In the meantime we also managed to find a brand of dry food it eats, so now he has that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I know that you shouldn't feed a cat just canned tuna because of mercury accumulation and supplement deficiency, but the latter shouldn't be a problem as it's mixed with regular cat food. So, my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much canned tuna can a cat eat per day? We're using Lidl (UK) branded tuna in spring water, &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/ZEN8sae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's some pictures of ingredients and nutritional values&lt;/a&gt;. It eats approx. between 10g and 15g of tuna per day (I've actually weighted it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind adding tuna to its food for the rest of its life, as long as it's safe for it. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12387" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T16:47:02.157" Title="How much tuna is safe for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2018-06-26T16:22:07.357" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20682" CreationDate="2018-06-26T16:41:11.030" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mercury is a cumulative poison, meaning that if you eat it even in small amounts but on a regular basis, it will build up and cause harm. As a result, generally speaking, the higher up in the food chain the fish is, the more mercury its likely to have because it accumulates it from the prey its eaten. Tuna are top predators, and as such, canned tuna is particularly bad for mercury. The FDA recommends at most one serving of canned tuna (8 to 12 ounces) for a HUMAN once a week for this reason. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.epa.gov/fish-tech/epa-fda-fish-advice-technical-information&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.epa.gov/fish-tech/epa-fda-fish-advice-technical-information&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing the math, what you're feeding your cat is at the higher end, as much as about 3.5 ounces a week. Cats being so much smaller than humans, I can only conclude then what you're currently feeding your cat is probably too much in the long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to cut out the tuna entirely. If your cat is still being reluctant to eat the cat food, make this transistion gradually over the period of a few days. Add less and less tuna each day until the cat accepts the regular food. If that doesn't work, you may have to accept the cat will only eat the kibble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-06-26T16:47:02.157" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T16:47:02.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-26T18:05:53.790" Score="3" ViewCount="1714" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a giant veil tailed betta. Two days ago I moved him from a 2.5 gallon tank (filtered and heated) to a 10 gallon tank with a divider. One side of the divider has him and there is another male betta in the other side. At first they noticed each other and were mad but they don’t seem to care anymore. Both very active. In my giant betta, he has developed little black dots all over his fins since he was moved into this new tank. I read something that it is rare but when you move a fish into a darker environment then they could develop these spots. Could this be it? I would really appreciate any help. This new tank is filtered and heated. Each fish has 5 gallons.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JLsdW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;black dots shown on fins&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4WacK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12388" LastEditorUserId="12388" LastEditDate="2018-06-26T18:11:16.507" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T07:49:38.923" Title="Black dots on betta fins" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-07-02T13:47:31.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-26T18:13:10.440" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is often important to include a photo of your fish in your question. Based on some of the photos that have been provided this is not always easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the steps to get a clear, good quality photo of a fish? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T22:09:51.547" Title="How to get a good picture of pet fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-26T19:43:53.627" Score="5" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will get a cat (2-3 months) in about a month. I understand that I should vaccinate her soon, besides, is there anything else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be getting that cat from a private individual and she will stay outside (as it currently is living). I have no other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12390" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-28T09:31:07.017" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T16:08:56.420" Title="What should be done to a new young cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20686" CreationDate="2018-06-26T22:26:44.833" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;She will require 3 rounds of vaccinations before she's 6 months old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should find out which brand of food it currently eats. If it is not your preferred brand you will still need to buy some. Suddenly changing brands, most of the time, will upset their gut. You can slowly transition: 1/4 new food 1st day, half and half day 2, three quarters new food day 3. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is recommended that you keep a cat/kitten inside for the first week. &#xA;You (or another pet) will need to replace it's littermates and play with it. Safe homemade toys are fine you don't have to buy them. Piece of string, &lt;em&gt;empty&lt;/em&gt; thread spool, screwed up piece of paper or peg are all fun toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your vet you can get your kitten spayed or neutered at 1 or 2 kilograms, 2kg is the norm &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastActivityDate="2018-06-26T22:26:44.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20691" CreationDate="2018-06-27T03:30:13.520" Score="4" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is an old indoor Norwegian Forest Cat (6 years) and a bit human dependant like needing his water held. &#xA;Last time he excreted and urinated after about 3 days without urinating and only tried and succeeded after urging of my wife. He excreted previously after 2 days with urging. Urging is putting him in the toilet and discouraging him from leaving. He was rarely before this poor at toilet going. Some days very regular and some days 2 days break in excretion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nothing major has changed except we are getting Summer heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to the vet is stressful for him so we don't take going lightly. Being at the vet is no problem.     Should we worried enough to get him checked? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: He went to toilet tonight by himself- about a day since last time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="3029" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T14:30:42.550" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T14:30:42.550" Title="How concerned should I be that my cat only goes to the toilet with long breaks and at my wife's urging?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20689" CreationDate="2018-06-27T05:07:48.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, if a cat changes behaviour you need to take it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By changes I mean altered toileting. It is normal for most cats to use the litter box to pee two times a day and to defecate once a day, but many cats are poor drinkers so if they only pee once a day it is ok and not a reason to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat stops eating and drinking for more than a day, you need to take it to the vet. If a cat does not eat for more than 24 hours their liver might be at risk of damage and this can be very serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other types of change are if your cat goes into hiding and avoids being handled. This can be a sign your cat is in pain. I am not saying you need to worry if your cat wants some alone time but you know your cat and are the one who will know if something is unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little about when you need to take the cat to the emergency vet: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20656/when-to-take-your-cat-to-an-emergency-vet&quot;&gt;When to take your cat to an emergency vet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T08:15:02.073" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T08:15:02.073" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20657" CreationDate="2018-06-27T10:21:20.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to recondition the way the dog feels about you and your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time the dog stayed over it will more than likely have been in an alien  environment with lots of different scents and been really nervous and anxious. This feeling will only have replicated the more you look after it because it associates your house with those feelings now. The more you look after the dog while its feeling this, the more it reinforces those feelings and behaviour to you and your home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, introduce yourself to the dog in its own environment, i.e. the owners house, alot,  so the dog is more relaxed. Give it alot of fuss, play and attention this will make the dog feel excited. Keep doing this so the dog knows every time it sees you, it gets the same excited feeling, the same one it gets when a dogs owner picks up their lead for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, I would do that for a while, then look at taking the dog for a walk, with the owner and then eventually without. This is to build the dogs trust in you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then eventually build up to taking it to your (with the owner at first) house and doing the exact same thing you did in the owners house. Giving it fuss will make it excited, hopefully the trust you will have built up with the dog as well as the excitement will make the dog focus more on you and less on the anxiety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While looking after it, have its own toys, bones, beds, crates and food, anything that its in its routine or play to have familiar scents to make it feel more relaxed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is assuming that you didn't do this before agreeing to look after the dogs. Some may just take longer than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T10:27:52.257" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T10:27:52.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-27T15:22:03.447" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friday, 4-ish months, black long-ish haired cat, bold and adaptable. Great dog-like kitten. No problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Douglas, 2-ish months, siamese kitten (male). He is scared, does not like to be near me, does not want to be touched/picked up. Part of it is my mistake - he kept running away from me, so I tried to grab him which he did not appreciate. He was wild/scared even before though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I win the young one over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T15:22:03.447" Title="How do you win a scared/wild-ish kitten over?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-27T20:19:11.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-27T15:48:17.823" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm adopting tonight a female bull mastiff 1.5 years old. I like her, except she was very protective of her owner and suspicious of me, including some barking and growling (we met early morning in an empty street). Her job, I would guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I win her over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T15:48:17.823" Title="How do I win over a large protective adopted dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20696" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20697" CreationDate="2018-06-27T16:57:08.413" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5705/what-species-of-wild-rabbit-is-the-domestic-house-rabbit-descended-from&quot;&gt;What species of wild rabbit is the domestic house rabbit descended from?&lt;/a&gt; that domesic rabbits are decendents of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)&lt;/a&gt; they are native to southwestern Europe (including Spain, Portugal and Western France).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US wild rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottontail_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cottontail rabbit (Oryctolagus Sylvilagus)&lt;/a&gt; they have visible difference sufficient so that it is relatively easy to tell loose wild rabbit from a released pet rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any experience with native spanish rabbits.  How can I tell if a loose rabbit in Spain is wild or domestic? I suspect any that have domestic coloring are the result of domestic breeding programs but I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See related post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20653/pustules-in-ears-and-eyes-of-an-abandoned-rabbit-appearance-and-dissapearance&quot;&gt;Pustules in ears and eyes of an abandoned rabbit (appearance and dissapearance)&lt;/a&gt; for pictures of rabbit found loose in Spain that I suspect is a released domestic rabbit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T17:18:10.457" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T18:16:22.663" Title="How do you tell a wild rabbit from a release domestic rabbit in southwestern Europe?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20696" CreationDate="2018-06-27T18:04:52.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Species&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we're comparing the European rabbit with the pet &quot;version&quot;. They are actually the same species. The European rabbit is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Oryctolagus cuniculus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, whereas the pet are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. In general, this means that they are pretty similar (mostly), especially in bodysize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Breeds&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly to dogs, a lot of different breeds of domesticated rabbits exist. Because rabbits serve no real &quot;functional&quot; purpose, these variations are less extreme than the functional differentiation in dog breeds, but still. Take a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rabbit_breeds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of rabbit breeds&lt;/a&gt; to find the extent of breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Colouring&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The European rabbit is generally brown, for optimal camouflage in grassy and sandy areas. This is boring of course. As a consequence you'll see that many of the different breeds differentiate in colouring. As a result, the colouring is a decent discriminator between wild and domesticated rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Oryctolagus_cuniculus_Tasmania_2.jpg/220px-Oryctolagus_cuniculus_Tasmania_2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Ears&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of domesticated breeds have floppy ears. This is something that you're much less likely to see in wild rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_rabbit#/media/File:English_Lop_Rabbit.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/English_Lop_Rabbit.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Size&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One specific breed jumps to mind (pun intended) that does have brown fur and standing ears, which is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_Giant_rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flemish giant&lt;/a&gt;. These get significantly bigger than normal though. Whereas wild rabbits grow to about 40 cms in size and 2kgs, big Flemish giants can grow up to about ten times that weight, sizing over 1m. Take for example this photo taken from the Wikipedia page (link above):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Runt_and_Paxie.jpg/1920px-Runt_and_Paxie.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Behaviour&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another perhaps obvious distinction is their behaviour around humans. Rabbits are very flighty. Their only defense is being able to outrun threats towards their nests, beating them there and hiding undergrounds. Wild rabbits will generally use this when approached. Domesticated rabbits are less likely to run away. Of course this should go with a grain of salt, as domesticated rabbits that ended up in the wild might show this same behaviour, but I did want to mention this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even wild rabbits living in contact with humans will be flighty. Maybe even especially, I don't know. There were rabbits around my university, making their nests under the buildings only a couple of meters away from the lunch areas outdoors. Even though they came in daily contact with humans that did them no harm, they still wouldn't allow anyone to approach them without making a run for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-06-27T18:16:22.663" LastActivityDate="2018-06-27T18:16:22.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-27T23:46:25.023" Score="4" ViewCount="577" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has never growled. At first, she was always happy to see guests and has wanted their attention. We moved and there was really no behavioral changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my stepbrothers friends come by, she welcomes them warmly, same with any guests of my stepfathers. However, when my great grandmother comes by, the hair on back stands up, she growls, starts to let out small barks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never done this before and I'm now concerned as I don't want her to flip a switch and attack my grandmother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12395" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-06-28T09:47:50.210" LastActivityDate="2018-10-05T16:46:12.827" Title="My Dog Has Started Growling at Specific Guests" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20732" CreationDate="2018-06-28T02:28:03.823" Score="2" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking after my friend's dog for the summer and he's staying at my house. The kitchen is entered from the living room, and does not have a door that I can close. Whenever I'm in the kitchen to cook, he doesn't dare enter the kitchen because I told him not to a couple of times. However, even if I go to the office for an hour or two, I come home to realize he has been in the kitchen. Once or twice I had forgotten to take the trash out in the morning, and came home to realize that he destroyed the trash into tiny pieces, presumably eating what he could find. Is there any way that I can train him so that he never enters the kitchen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12397" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T06:43:39.437" Title="How to stop dog from entering kitchen" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-28T06:36:10.273" Score="9" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some help with my caterpillar. I have two young caterpillars which hatched a while ago and I have one big one that doesn’t want to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He/she stopped eating 5-6 days ago which I know because I always take the bad leaves out and put the new ones back in. Anyway there are no pieces of frass (excrement) or any bite marks. Sometimes I look for them and they will be under the soil and this started after they moulted. The little guy turned a darker colour then he/she turned back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if the cap on its face is still on stopping them from eating or even losing their memory as I have heard that can happen. I'm really worried about it. I want to do whatever I can do about it and know what it is. Also he is too small to be turning into a butterfly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12391" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T13:15:23.103" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T13:59:00.333" Title="Caterpillar has stopped eating - what can be done?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20686" CreationDate="2018-06-28T09:13:39.657" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take her to the vet when you get her. What we needed to do in that situation was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vaccinations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check and (if necessary) treat her for fleas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check and (if necessary) treat her for worms and other parasites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also propose to get another kitten. Now it should be easy for them to get used to each other. A kitten is very playful and needs a playmate. We had a single grown cat at first and thought it would be fine. That cat was looking like a loner, but after a few months, he became crazy.  After getting another cat he really calmed down. With a kitten that's even more important, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12392" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-07-30T16:08:56.420" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T16:08:56.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-28T14:08:17.173" Score="1" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year I found a tiny kitten (about 4 weeks old) stuck in a bush. He is now a healthy, castrated adult and very loving (named Alfie).&#xA;I decided to find him a companion and adopted a 2-year male, castrated cat from a rescue shelter (Vinyl). At home, I set up a room for him with litter box, cat tree and food before introducing him to Alfie. Vinyl didn't eat for 3 days or even urinate or do his big business. He was ill (Corysa) and I had to take him regularly to the vet and he even was hospitalised for a few days (I later found out from the shelter's vet that he had a long record of illness). But he did let me tickle his tummy and caress him. When his health had stabilised, I wanted to take him back to the vets for the vaccination the shelter had forgotten to do - impossible to get Vinyl into the carrier and since then he won't let me touch him although he does sleep on my bed ! Vinyl and Alfie have become the best of friends and Vinyl now eats etc. with a good appetite.&#xA;My question is how do I regain his confidence in me or was it just because he felt so poorly that I could touch him ?. Vinyl now moves around my apartment without any problems and seems to be enjoying his new life (apparently he never left his bed in the shelter to join all the other cats). He does come closer to me and I think touched me last night for the first time. I suppose it's a matter of patience (love the little critter), but if anyone has a way of regaining the confidence of Vinyl, would love to hear about it.&#xA;Thanks so much,&#xA;Marion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12033" LastEditorUserId="7980" LastEditDate="2018-07-19T23:21:27.727" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T23:21:27.727" Title="My rescue cat is afraid of me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-28T16:27:53.607" Score="4" ViewCount="412" Body="&lt;p&gt;My camponotus queens eggs are turning brown. Does anyone know why, or if it is good or bad, and if it is bad how do I fix it? Her eggs have been brown for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Camponotus is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_ant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Carpenter ant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12400" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-06-28T16:48:18.993" LastActivityDate="2018-07-04T12:44:00.907" Title="Camponotus queen ant eggs turning brown" Tags="&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20709" CreationDate="2018-06-28T22:15:24.663" Score="2" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend gave me a queen for breeding with my tom. They were having fun last night and now the queen has disappeared. I looked around my house and then I also look into neighbor houses but I can't find the queen. Is there any way the queen will come back as my tom does, though the queen has stayed in my house for only two days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9705" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:51:52.463" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:51:52.463" Title="I lost my friend's queen" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20739" CreationDate="2018-06-28T23:53:22.823" Score="5" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I adopted my conure about a year ago, many of her feathers were in poor condition: their edges were ragged and they were discolored. I had hoped that she would replace them all during her yearly molt, but she still has many of these feathers. She does have many new healthy ones, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do conures only replace some of their feathers each year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T18:35:22.680" Title="Do conures replace all of their feathers when they molt?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15791" CreationDate="2018-06-29T14:49:41.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like he had a few issues with his shed and irritated the toe.  Give him nice warm water soaks daily until it clears up.  A dab of neosporin should help too.  If it gets worse, take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12404" LastActivityDate="2018-06-29T14:49:41.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-29T15:11:31.913" Score="4" ViewCount="2139" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I have two three-year-old cats: Napoleon (male) and Josefine (female). They are siblings from the same litter. I have been studying abroad for the last 9 months, so currently my girlfriend's the one taking care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two cats get along just fine for the vast majority of the day. They eat together, the female frequently bathes the male (though baths usually become a small fight for some reason, and she really doesn't like it when he tries to bathe her), and my girlfriend sends me pictures (&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/NINRL_I7O9c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;and videos&lt;/a&gt;) of the cats sleeping cuddling together in the most adorable ways at least once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, whenever the two play together, Napoleon seems to have a hard time understanding the boundaries of acceptable behavior and takes things a bit too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't help that Napoleon is significantly larger (1&amp;nbsp;kg = 2&amp;nbsp;lb heavier even though they're the same age) than Josefine, and that she sometimes honestly seems to ask for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a representative example, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/hZaPHGjAkEc?t=15s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;watch this 45-second video&lt;/a&gt;. Josefine waits to ambush Napoleon as he leaves the bathroom (where we keep their sandbox) and gives him a light tap on the head (I interpret this as a play-ambush). He gets seemingly startled and then the situation momentarily escalates (but not severely), followed by Josefine becoming slightly submissive (hunching down) and letting out long, trembling meows as both seemingly vie for an opportunity to strike. Napoleon then lets out some meows of his own and Josefine becomes very submissive, lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The video ends there, and my girlfriend says that's when she interrupted the fight by calling their attention. In similar situations when she hasn't stopped them (she usually lets them solve things out for themselves), Napoleon will go for a bite or something of the sort, Josefine will bat him away and run away, at which point Napoleon will sometimes give chase. If he does, the fight continues with more jabs and some biting. Nails always remain sheathed and the bites don't seem to be meant to injure (no one's ever come out bleeding, shall we say).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes we just see the chase and don't see the instigating incident (or whether there was one), but Josefine seems to be the usual initial instigator. Other times the cats play &quot;tag&quot;, running around the house with no issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the fights are over, the cats don't seem to avoid each other or anything indicating lasting animosity. That being said, one time (and only one time that we're aware of) Napoleon did end up with a tuft of Josefine's hair in his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since neither cat seems very affected by the fights, my girlfriend usually doesn't interrupt them. That being said, we'd rather stop this behavior or at least understand it better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this actually just normal play-fighting (and the time Napoleon got a mouthful of hair was then just a one-off accident/escalation) to be shrugged off? Is our interpretation of Josefine's behavior incorrect, and she isn't play-fighting at all? Or, if we are correct in our diagnosis that Napoleon simply doesn't know how to play-fight, is there some way to teach him to turn it down a notch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some further context into our cats' recent history and how their behaviors changed (quite significantly) after I left to study, please see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18761/6462&quot;&gt;this other question I asked 7 months ago&lt;/a&gt;. This type of fighting also only started after I left, so that context might be relevant. (Also note that the issue raised in that question has passed)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6462" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T16:18:19.383" Title="One cat doesn't understand the other is just play-fighting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20705" CreationDate="2018-06-29T16:24:49.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let your friend know immediately what happened, so that they can be involved in the search, perhaps by walking around the neighbourhood and calling for the queen. They will also know the queen's favourite food or treats, and you can use that to help lure the queen back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-06-29T16:24:49.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-29T20:53:38.400" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got the idea into my head to create an entirely self sustaining aquatic environment in a (large) sealed jar. I'd like to include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A layer of soil and gravel at the bottom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A large number of plants for natural chemical cycling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algae&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brine Shrimp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Copepods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe a few larger shrimp (enough to create a self sustaining colony)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What ratios of Algae to Brine Shrimp to Copepods to Shrimp biomass should I establish in the environment? What minerals/chemicals should I ensure are present before I seal the jar shut? What plants should I use? Am I crazy for thinking this could actually work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12406" LastActivityDate="2018-06-29T20:53:38.400" Title="Completely Self Sustaining Aquatic Environment in a Sealed Jar" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;algae&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-30T03:22:27.197" Score="4" ViewCount="4084" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am still experiencing unresolved problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shortly after 5/1/2018, I lost all of my koi due to a huge ammonia spike above 8.0ppm. I did multiple water changes to no avail, including a 100% water change. For the past 3 weeks, my filter has been up and running with no fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I  discovered that my municipality went from chlorine to chloramine as a  disinfectant for the water.  The problem became worse because I used a dechlorinating product, which in actuallity stripped the chlorine and left free unbound ammonia in the water, hence the cause of the huge spike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my fish died, I have  scrubbed and cleaned my pond, started with one week  of running the filter, loading the filter with microbes (Microlift) the next week adding the UV light and the following week adding additional water.  This past week I inserted two  3 year old koi into the pond and all went well until today.  Mind you I tested the water two times a day and all was good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I returned home this eveing from work and discovered my new fish dead in the bottom of my pond.  The water again tested well within the limits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low pH 7.0, high pH 7.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrates 0.0 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitrites 0.0 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia 0.25ppm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water is clear and my koi once again dead! Can anyone help me out with this issue?  I am annoyed and frustrated.  I had some of my koi for more than 7 years and I hate the fact that my pond remains empty and every time I try I seem to kill my fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12408" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T20:32:55.743" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T07:15:31.080" Title="Massive koi death in pond, without an apparent reason -- need help!" Tags="&lt;death&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-30T05:57:23.483" Score="6" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 20 gallon (70 liters) freshwater aquarium with two comets, which are now about 2 inches each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aquarium gets dirty with algae covering the glass and all the plants very quickly after cleaning. This is nothing like the freshwater tank (same size) I had before, where I'd have up to 20 smaller fish (guppies, mollies, platys, rasbora) and really never having to deal with algae due to healthy plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed them flakes once a day using just a pinch. I've tried to plant out this aquarium densely with all different sorts, but many of the plants die off. I used to have 20 watt lightbulb, but doubled to 40 watt to help the plants. I had this same problem before doubling the light wattage. The light sources are new so the light spectrum shouldn't be an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water quality is tested and readings are all fine: pH 7.8, ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate was around 20ppm last time I checked. Tank is in a garage outside of direct sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any plant likely to do really well in this situation and keep the algae at bay (by consuming excess nutrients). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12409" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T12:27:16.723" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T12:32:58.573" Title="Plants for dirty/algae ridden goldfish aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-06-30T18:49:42.167" Score="1" ViewCount="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat just recently moved from being an out-door cat and living in a house to being an in-door cat in a apartment, he hasn't been eating from what I've seen although he does drink water. He hides all day when usually he likes to be out on the couch and hang with me. He also isn't meowing as much as he used to as he was a talker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take him to the vet or do you think its stress. He has lost weight I can feel his spine now which I never did before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12414" LastActivityDate="2018-06-30T18:49:42.167" Title="Pet not eating and lost weight" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-06-30T18:59:48.010" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20712" CreationDate="2018-07-01T05:07:38.667" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I think might have happened before your koi started to die is this. As the temperature in your pond got above 20&amp;nbsp;°C, the koi eggs started to mature, and after some days of temperature still rising, the koi might have spawned (releasing the eggs into the water). Koi eggs are light green, so they can be really hard to see in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As these eggs are eaten/broken down, they release a large amount of organic matter. This matter breaks down to ammonia, creating the ammonia spike you had (this is what happens in my pond some years, but not always).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish died and you did what you could to bring the level of ammonia down by changing the water. The problem is that by doing so, you added water containing chloramines (I say chloramines, as this is a group of chemicals that is used in treating drinking water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a relevant article on Wikipedia about chloramines&lt;/a&gt;. It contains some useful information about how to remove it from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the problems is: the remedies we normally use to remove chlorine from the water in our ponds only removes the free chlorine, but chloramines keep on producing chlorine so it is harder to remove it. The only remedies that effectively removes chloramine are the ones containing &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiosulfate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sodium thiosulfate&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your question I can see you register some ammonia, but no nitrite or nitrate. If you can measure ammonia, you should see some nitrite in the water after a week or so, and later some nitrate should be present in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia is produced by a multitude of bacteria and some of them can tolerate some chlorine, but the rest of the bacteria in the nitrogen cycle cannot tolerate chlorine at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all this ends up in getting rid of the chlorine (chloramine) and after this you need to replace the bacteria and let the pump and filter run without the UV light for a week or two, before you slowly start to add some fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really hope this solves your problem. Having a garden pond is meant to be relaxing and fun and not stressful like it has been for you lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some water suppliers use CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to adjust the pH of the water, but this is released from the water in your pond within a few hours, so I do not think this is a factor when it comes to the death of your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T07:15:31.080" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T07:15:31.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17564" CreationDate="2018-07-01T17:15:44.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a pinch with nothing else available why not use sand for now?  It beats them using your carpets or bedding as a toilet. Chewy.com and Amazon can deliver litter right to your door, chewy within 2 days usually.  Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12420" LastActivityDate="2018-07-01T17:15:44.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-01T23:10:19.363" Score="4" ViewCount="951" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of getting an American Eskimo dog (most likely toy size). I live in an apartment (in Stuyvesant Town, New York City, New York, U.S.A.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the usual weekday, all 4 people in the family go to work or to school. The earliest leaves at 6:45 a.m. (or, will, next school year), and the latest leaves at 7:50 a.m. The earliest comes back around 3:00 to 3:40, with the latest coming back later than 7:30 p.m. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the dog would most likely be alone for 7 hours a day, and would only be walked twice a day [at 6:30 am and 6:30 p.m.] for half an hour at a time (the hour a day part seems ok for this breed by what I've read). Is this ok for an American Eskimo? If not, why not, and if not, is there any easy way for me to make this better without letting an outside person become attached to the dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that if a dog (no matter what breed) is used to a schedule like this from puppyhood, then it will do fine. Is this true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: If I leave my dog in dog daycare or training for 8 hours, how attached will the dog become to the people there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12421" LastEditorUserId="12421" LastEditDate="2018-07-03T15:31:01.360" LastActivityDate="2019-03-22T04:55:18.700" Title="Leaving an American Eskimo dog at home regularly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20684" CreationDate="2018-07-02T07:49:38.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my knowledge this is normal. This is a common occurrence in blue betta or blue fish in general. It is just the fish maturing or like you said just a change in the environment. As long as he is acting normal, I wouldn't worry. The only thing I am unsure on is the very end of the tail from the first picture it looks like tail rot but the second it doesn't; regardless the black spots are normal and there is nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12423" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T07:49:38.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20350" CreationDate="2018-07-02T08:00:57.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its really hard to tell but it could be a fungal infection. If this is the case, all fish in the tank need to be treated as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this you would want to do a full water change and treating the water with a fungus eliminator( I'm sure you could find one at the petstore). You should do this process every three days until the symptoms are gone, than use bettafix or something stronger to zap the water the kill any remnants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is ich ( which looks like little white spots all over the body) than all fish in the tank should be treated with ich medication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said in the beginning it it hard to tell but these are two possibilities, I hope it helped !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12423" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T08:00:57.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16697" CreationDate="2018-07-02T12:10:50.860" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ugh ticks are terrible!!! I tend to try and treat my animals as naturally as possible. SO far this summer I have been using Dogs Naturally's all &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/why-flea-and-tick-products-are-a-bad-idea-and-4-natural-repellent-recipes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;natural tick repellent&lt;/a&gt;. I can say that so far is it has worked amazingly well. I would recommend trying some of these recipes before you give anything from the store to your dog. These are gentle and you can rub them into your puppy without scaring him with a spray or a pill. The essential oil is what I use and my dog loves it., &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that you avoid the harsh chemicals for flea/tick preventatives like &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogthusiast.com/2015/04/30/examining-insecticides-afoxolaner-and-fluralaner-as-used-in-flea-and-tick-preventatives/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nexgard&lt;/a&gt;. A lot of people have experienced bad reactions from their dogs and even death. The good news is that there are so many natural tick repellents that actually do work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12424" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T12:10:50.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16697" CreationDate="2018-07-02T13:05:49.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to apply flea/tick treatment to skin and I suggest Frontline plus&#xA;every one month &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;FRONTLINE Plus has 2 secret weapons: fipronil and (S)-methoprene. Once&#xA;  FRONTLINE Plus is applied, this combo stores itself in the oil glands&#xA;  in your pet's skin. It then self-distributes continuously for 1 month&#xA;  to your pet's hair and skin through the hair follicles. Fleas or ticks&#xA;  that come in contact with your pet are dead meat.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://frontline.com/plus/Pages/Faq.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source - frontline.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: many youtube videos describe how to use the topical treatment on pets its very easy &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet may suggest using an annual dose of Ivermectin &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;6 ug/kg for heartworm prevention 300 ug/kg for treatment of sarcoptic&#xA;  mange 400-600 ug/kg for treatment of demodectic mange. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2013/jan/toxic-ivermectin-and-safe-use-of-ivermectin-29671&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source - petmd.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is very important to protect your puppy from another infection which may come with ticks and fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: &#xA;As requested, a reference from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/ticks-lyme-disease-dogs#2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt; pet section topical treatment as mentioned above is recommended and it's easy to be applied by pet owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;reference for a well-known brand name topical treatment &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merck-animal-health.com/species/companion-animals/index.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MERCK Animal Health&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12422" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-03T08:16:33.953" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T08:16:33.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20712" CreationDate="2018-07-02T16:23:23.687" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I would do/ have done : Fill pond, run filter /aerator, no additions. After a day put in water plants ; hornwort, anancharis, etc, and any surface plants that are legal in CA. Water lettuce, salvinia and duckweed work well ( the koi will eat the duckweed as soon as they are put in). Water lillies work very well, the floating plants will shade and lower the temperature. I am in the Houston TX area so get a lot of sun. My pond is in about 65 % shade but enough sun that the lillies bloom well, my temperature is 80 F while swimming pools are 90 F.  After a few days put in some inexpensive fish, swords, platies , mollies, etc. If they are OK in a few days , your water is tested and you can put in koi . The koi will not eat the small fish but the small fish will eat the mosquito larva which the koi will not eat. You may get a green water algae bloom until the floating plants out-compete the algae for nutrients ( do not use algeacide).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T16:23:23.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20416" CreationDate="2018-07-02T18:23:27.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems I had misdiagnosed what was causing her to get up so early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The culprit seems to have been the sunrise sneaking earlier and earlier. Bringing her into the much darker bedroom made her sleep in later. She'll even sleep through the alarm now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12175" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T18:23:27.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-02T18:35:59.983" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of purchasing an American Eskimo dog. My family and I travel a lot (especially during the summer), and I'm sure there will be times when we will not be able to take the dog with us. Is it ok to leave it (for 1-3 weeks) at the home of a person who comes about once a week for 3 hours at a time? This person currently lives alone 1.5 hours away, is quite good with dogs, and has no pets. Assume that he will walk the dog as often as we would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this happens not to be a viable option at the time because that person is also away, can the Eskie be left with a dogsitter (that it has never seen before)? Some of you will go &amp;quot;duh, that's what dogsitters are made for!&amp;quot; but I have heard that American Eskimos are very wary of strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20721/leaving-an-american-eskimo-dog-at-home-regularly&quot;&gt;Leaving an American Eskimo dog at home regularly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason I used &amp;quot;it&amp;quot; as opposed to &amp;quot;he/she&amp;quot; is to avoid confusion (some people, when seeing &amp;quot;he/she&amp;quot;, will assume I am talking about a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12421" LastEditorUserId="12421" LastEditDate="2021-02-02T22:42:46.703" LastActivityDate="2021-02-02T22:42:46.703" Title="Leaving an American Eskimo dog at home with another person while on vacation" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19108" CreationDate="2018-07-02T23:05:08.087" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Mama has been using them for a few months and one of her claw caps has become embedded in her toe causing an infection. She doesn’t appear to be in any pain and she walks on it fine but her toe has turned black around the affected area and the cap won’t come off. I’m scheduled to take her to the vet this week, as we just noticed it recently. But I will probably never use them again unless the vet advises we were applying them wrong (we followed the instructions and it’s pretty self-explanatory) or something indicating it wasn’t the claw caps fault. I wish you luck in finding answers! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12428" LastActivityDate="2018-07-02T23:05:08.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20700" CreationDate="2018-07-03T06:34:58.020" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry, but there is no easy possibility to train the dog not to enter the kitchen when you are not at home and there is no training which will work at 100 %. You already trained the dog not to enter when you are around, the dog respects you, but you have no possibility to control his movements when you are not there. A dog does not understand if you punish him when you come home and find out that he was in the kitchen. You can't explain it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training problems - an example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try to &quot;catch&quot; the dog. Leave the dog alone, and wait in front of the door. Use a camera to watch if the dog enters the kitchen. If he does, immediatly go inside and rant. But there are three problems with this kind of training: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The timing.&lt;/strong&gt; Likely you are not able to open the door fast enough before the dog recognizes you and leaves the kitchen to welcome you. If you then shout to the dog, he won't associate your behaviour with him being in the kitchen, but with welcoming you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wrong association.&lt;/strong&gt; Even if you are fast enough, the dog may learn something wrong. He may associate: &quot;If I go into the kitchen when 'my master' is not at home, he/she will come back immediatly.&quot; You don't want this, because then the dog may entering the kitchen more often and may get frustrated, if you are not coming immediatly and may destroy something, because of frustration (depending on the character of the dog).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dogs are not stupid.&lt;/strong&gt; Even if you have the perfect timing and the dog does not associate unwanted things, he will learn fast enough, that you won't catch him all the time. Dogs are masters in having a feeling of the time when owners leave or coming back regulary, in interpretation of mood and situation. He will learn if you are leaving for work or for training very soon. It is highly possible that after a while you think that he won't enter the kitchen anymore, because of your training, but he still enters the kitchen when you are away for a longer time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another possible solution&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some other possibilities, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.invisiblefence.com/how-it-works&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;invisible fences&lt;/a&gt;. The dog gets an electroshock if he enters the kitchen. The advantage is, that the dog is training himself even if you are not at home. But this kind of &quot;training&quot; has some disadvantages, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Costs.&lt;/strong&gt; This solution is not the cheapest one and needs some effort to install the cable. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unwanted caging.&lt;/strong&gt; The dog may enter the kitchen and gets a shock. He is scared and jumps. But not back, but into the kitchen. Then he wants to leave the kitchen. He is more cautious, gets a shock and jumps back. The dog does not dare to leave the kitchen anymore. Not exactly the result you wanted to have. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you try it more often, the dog may learn not to enter the kitchen. You could give it a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My personally preferred possibilities&lt;/strong&gt; are to have a physical barrier like a fence or to make the kitchen boring for the dog. Don't leave unwashed dishes or food lying about and always clean the kitchen, so that the dog has nothing to feed and lick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2018-07-03T06:43:39.437" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T06:43:39.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20728" CreationDate="2018-07-03T08:14:00.083" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to never leave a dog with a complete stranger. This will increase anxiety and nerves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to board it with someone, make sure that they are very well introduced to the dog sitter. Any good dog sitter will ask this to happen anyway before taking him/her on. Meet the sitter a few times, get them to make a fuss with the dog, play with them. This builds a connection and relationship with them so it's less nervy when they go with them. Take it around to the sitter's place and do the same too so they are familiar with surroundings. It gives the dog a familiar scent, and the more it recognises it the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking a dog to unfamiliar surroundings with a stranger could potentially be unnerving for them so the more you can introduce them the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the duration, I've found a week is enough, but 2-3 weeks may be asking a lot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use an app called &lt;a href=&quot;https://uk.dogbuddy.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DogBuddy&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm not sure this is available in the US yet, but there may be an equivalent, might be worth reading on. But this is something to aim for if you can get something similar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T13:59:29.893" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T13:59:29.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20699" CreationDate="2018-07-03T08:24:13.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are still too less information to tell you exactly what is going on. The best would be to let a dog trainer visit you and watching her behaviour towards the friends and your great grandmother. The dog trainer may ask you additional questions and can see if your dog is afraid or aggressive. I have some additional questions for you with possible reasons for the behaviour. You can think about it and may find out, what matches your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did your dog met your great grandmother before the movement, too? If yes, how was her behaviour then?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When exactly changed the behaviour of your dog? Can you remember the first situation when it happened? What was the exact situation, atmosphere, etc.? Is she really the only person your dog does not seem to like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How often do the friends and your great grandmother visit you?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the friends more like familiy, because they come daily or weekly and your great grandmother just visit you once in a month? Then it could be a territorial behaviour. Directly after the movement the dog didn't feel home in the new house. The friends could come and go, there was no territorial behaviour, bevause it was not her territory, yet. Then she started to feel home and the friends were still ok, because they come frequently. But your great grandmother may be kind of a stranger and so she behaves aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How is the atmosphere when the friends visit you in comparison to your great grandmother?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you more stressed, when your great grandmother is visiting you? Do you like her visits or is it something stressful for you and your familiy? Are there conflicts? Your dog may react to the atmosphere and wants to defend her family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do the friends and your great grandmother act and react towards the dog?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is your great grandmother afraid of dogs? Or does she hate dogs? Does she stare at the dog and avoid contact with her? Or is she completely the opposite and wants to pet and stroke her all the time? Your dog may react to her fear, or your great grandmother harass her and she does not like it. She wants to defend herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;!!! What to do: !!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure if you can handle your dog, take a dog trainer! The trainer can watch the situation, analyze it and help you to find a solution and training for your dog. Before your dog starts to bite or to fight, take somebody professional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sure that your dog obeys you, you can try to train it on your own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please be honest to yourself! Better taking some help than creating a&#xA;  disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following steps train your dog to trust and obey you, no matter if she is afraid or territorial. A more indidvidual training would be preferrable, but it is also necessary that your dog obeys you in extreme situations. So this kind of training can help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important part is that you stay calm and be the boss. Your dog has to be sure that you can handle the &quot;dangerous situation&quot; all on your own and that she does not need to help. If she trusts you that you are able to handle your great grandmother, she will be calmer and more relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Her special place&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog does not already know, you have to train her to go to &quot;her special place&quot;, when you tell her. Install &quot;her special place&quot; at a place where she can see everything, but where she can feel sheltered a bit. It should be a place where she is not disturbed and not be able to bite somebody which is passing the way. She has to be able to watch the scenes and be with you, not in a different room. If you change between different rooms, install multiple places for her. &quot;Her special place&quot; should be comfortable. E.g. a blanket and recognizable for her. Train her to go to her place and lay down in a stressless atmosphere. Never use &quot;her special place&quot; as a punishment, but as a place, where she can rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please do not disturb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell everybody, even the people your dog likes, not to disturb her at &quot;her special place&quot;. No petting, no stroking, no cuddling. She has to be sure that at this place, she is not touched. (If everything is working fine with guests at the end, this rule can be relaxed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please ignore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell your great grandmother to ignore the dog when she visits you. It does not matter if she is afraid and therefore she stares at the dog and try to avoid contact or if she loves the dog with all of her heart and always wants to pet her. She has to avoid eye contact and should not talk to the dog. This is not bad for your dog. Your dog does not feel like a human, which may feel neglected when being ignored. She will be more relaxed, because she has not to deal with the guest. But not only your great grandmother has to ignore your dog, you have to do so (most of the time), too. When your great grandmother visits, before you open the door, tell your dog to go to her place, lay down and stay there. Then let your great grandmother in. If your dog stands up and leaves her place, tell her to go back. If she does so, praise her (but not too much, you want a calm atmosphere), and ignore her again. Even if you think your dog is afraid of your great grandmother, don't try to console her with petting and words, because your dog will understand that it is ok and necessary to worry about the guest. Be friendly and calm and optimistic. If your dog starts to growl, ignore her first. If you have the impact that she obsesses about it, say a loud and firm &quot;No&quot; (or a command you teached her to stop). When she stopped, praise her gently and calm and then ignore her again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take some visits until your dog understands that you deal with everything on your own, that she is save at her place and that it is your territory where you welcome everybody you want to. It may be easier if you understand why your dog is behaving like this: fear or aggression. And in case of fear, the reason for the fear. Then you could train more individual and it would be easier. But always keep in mind: Stay calm, relaxed and defend your dog from your guests and your guests from your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9794" LastEditorUserId="9794" LastEditDate="2018-07-04T05:52:03.223" LastActivityDate="2018-07-04T05:52:03.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20705" CreationDate="2018-07-03T17:19:53.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you think she is outside, put her crate outside. If she came with a towel of anything in the crate, put that out too. Leave food and water as well. If you're lucky, you will find kitty curled up in the crate in the morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T17:19:53.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19539" CreationDate="2018-07-03T17:26:25.763" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, little birds poop more often than big birds.There are several reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The smaller the bird, the faster the metabolism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smaller birds have have faster transit time though the intestines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Little birds have a smaller 'holding tank'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T17:26:25.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20742" CreationDate="2018-07-03T17:31:23.030" Score="3" ViewCount="2712" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Persian male cat. He has many hairballs at his lower part (near the tail). I have searched for solutions from Google, and got some solutions, like: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 &quot;Give specific cat food which is specially used for hairballs.&quot; For nearly four months I have been giving him Meow Persian cat food for hairballs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 &quot;Not properly combing can be another issue.&quot; I am setting his hair daily but still no improvement!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have cut the large hairballs (which I can). But some are remaining, at the lower part. And it is very painful for him when I touch those for cutting. Because those are attached to his skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly show me the way to get rid of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDITED: I had confusion between hairballs and hair matting. So actually my pet has hair mats, not hairballs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T14:09:28.693" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T14:09:28.693" Title="How to get rid of matted hair in cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13470" CreationDate="2018-07-03T17:40:03.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of factors at play here;&#xA;1: African Grey parrots reach sexual maturity at ~4 years of age. Your bird is sexually mature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: African Grey females feed their young by regurgitating into the babies mouth. Males feed females mates in the same way, while the female is brooding a clutch (sitting on eggs) and while the chicks are very small.&#xA;When the chicks are very small they can not thermoregulate on their own, and the female remains in the nest to keep them warm. During this time the male feeds her. Once the chicks get bigger and sprout feathers, the female will be able to leave them for short periods to forage as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3: African Grey parrots form heterosexual monogamous pair bonds. Your female bird is bonded to you, and anyone else is a challenger. Especially your wife. You may notice that she reacts in a more strongly negative way to all females, not just your wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4: If your parrot spends all or most of her time in her cage, all of the above behaviors will be markedly stronger than if she comes out of her cage to socialize with the family. It adds a strong element of territoriality to the equation. To decrease the agression and feeding behavior, bring her out of her cage regularly to socialize with the family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T17:40:03.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20706" CreationDate="2018-07-03T18:35:22.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your conure is over preening. While molting will replace the damaged feather, the preening behavior patterns will make the new feather look tattered pretty quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over preening can be cause by a number of issues. Here are some of them, along with mitigation strategies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boredom: If you bird is bored, she will preen to keep herself busy. Try adding some more toys, especially ones that are 'preenable'. Getting her out of her cage to socialize can help as well. Basically, the busier she is, the less time she has to obsess over her feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Itchiness: If her skin is dry, she may be itchy. Try giving her more frequent opportunities to bath. A lot of birds like to take showers as well. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parasites: Feather mites will also cause itching and discomfort. If you suspect that she has mites, consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Frustration: Some birds turn to over preening and/or self mutilation as a means of relieving frustration. Much like boredom, adding more enrichment to her environment and routine can help alleviate frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, consult an Avian Vet. It's important to go to a vet that specializes in birds. You can search for an Avian Vet near you on this site: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aav.org/search/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aav.org/search/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7101" LastActivityDate="2018-07-03T18:35:22.680" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20741" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-04T03:16:07.210" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fish, Dylan Marie is believed to be a girl. However, I’ve been noticing some bubble nests in her bowl! (Just an FYI the bowl is bigger than in the pictures and she does seem to enjoy her bowl. I also clean her regularly) so the question here is. She my Dylan a boy or girl!! She is about four, five months old. Thank you!!!&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LwIo9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x1lSX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q7Ett.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12430" LastEditorUserId="7038" LastEditDate="2018-08-09T11:34:39.443" LastActivityDate="2018-08-09T11:34:39.443" Title="Betta Fish. Girl or boy" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20737" CreationDate="2018-07-04T05:05:54.473" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To fix matted fur you need to get a cat brush. The one I use is similar to this one.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LXZzk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LXZzk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to brush the cat a couple of times a week after your cat has gotten rid of the matted fur to avoid it coming back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you brush your cat, do not force the cat to stay. It is better to brush the cat for a short time and repeat it after the cat has had a break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a lot of fur that is matted, you might take the cat to a vet or to a cat groomer. The fur might need to be removed by shaving or cutting the affected area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats really like to be brushed, but take it slow and gentle and be careful when brushing the belly area or you might get hurt. It is often best to let the cat stand on all four legs with you reaching around from above while brushing the belly area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will be amazed at the amount of fur that comes off in a short time, but your cat will love to get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T12:56:13.177" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T12:56:13.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20704" CreationDate="2018-07-04T12:36:43.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing photos I suspect the reason they're turning brown is the eggs which start start out very small and white have progressed to the pupa stage and what you are seeing are cocoons rather than eggs. The following article from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/fl_carpenter_ants.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;University of Florida&lt;/a&gt; is worth a read and a photo from that page shows some of the life-cycle of a Camponotus  / Carpenter ant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MQZla.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MQZla.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Florida Carpenter ant&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the color reproduction doesn't appear ideal in that photo if you do an image search on &quot;carpenter ant pupae&quot; you'll see a lot of images that depict a brown color. If that's the case it's nothing to worry about and I'd guess in a month or two they should emerge from the cocoon given a few references I found said they normally progress from egg to adult in 6-12 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="112" LastEditorUserId="112" LastEditDate="2018-07-04T12:44:00.907" LastActivityDate="2018-07-04T12:44:00.907" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-04T13:53:21.763" Score="4" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the foal misses out on the mother's colostrum, they may miss out on immunity from the mother. In this case the foal didn't get colostrum and her IGG tests were poor. She had two plasma infusions to help her immune system. The vet wanted her to have her vaccinations earlier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the safest  earlier age a foal can be vaccinated against tetanus and strangles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can one be given more safely earlier than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;note: I will go with the vet's instructions, I find it an interesting question to understand the why&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-04T18:41:54.740" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T21:50:19.240" Title="What's the safest earlier age a foal can be vaccinated against tetanus and strangles?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-04T14:57:15.820" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adopted black cats that doesn't trust me much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He stays at least 2 meters from me when in the same room and he usually stays in the same room as me only if I'm laying down. If I stand up he runs away at top speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However he meows a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since cats only meows to communicate with humans I'm quite confused!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what's happening. Should I give him attention or not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Not looking for answers to how keep him from running or getting him to trust me. I know that this will take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is why does he meows so much since I'm the only human in the household and he runs when I get near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12433" LastEditorUserId="12433" LastEditDate="2018-07-05T02:10:56.693" LastActivityDate="2018-07-05T02:10:56.693" Title="Meowing and running" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-07-04T15:22:47.843" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20744" CreationDate="2018-07-04T18:20:34.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where I live, the first vaccine is given when the foal is 5-7 months old and it is given twice. The second vaccine is given 4-6 weeks after the first one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mare is unvaccinated, the tetanus vaccine can be given when the foal is 3 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this, the tetanus vaccine is given every 3 years and the flue vaccine is given every year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how it is here in Norway, but it can be different where you live; the types of vaccines given might differ, too - but a vet will tell you more about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-04T21:50:19.240" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T21:50:19.240" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-04T19:03:31.773" Score="6" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may sound like an odd question but I will be dog sitting for a friend for 2 weeks. The dog is 8 months old, very active, and hates parting with his owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be best for me to go meet the dog in his own home and then take him with me? Or would it be better for his owner to come to my house with the dog for a bit and then leave?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m just wondering what dog owners think would be easiest for the dog to handle. I see pros and cons to both. I don’t want the dog to think I stole him away, but I also don’t want him to think his owner came to my house and abandoned him or forgot him. Any thoughts on the psychological/behavioral side of things here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-02T18:55:25.977" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T18:55:25.977" Title="Dog Sitting: drop-off vs pick-up" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15120" CreationDate="2018-07-04T19:13:31.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said in the comments, you'll need to test your water quality to get a good idea of what the problem could be. It's very difficult to guess what's wrong with your fish (be it water quality, parasite or any number of other factors). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first steps for debugging, however, is to gather information about the situation you're in and check it against a known formula that works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your tank is sufficiently sized for your fish (at least 20 litres for a Betta). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your tank is heated to 23-27 degrees Celsius.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure that your filtration is sufficient to turn your water over a number of times per hour (normally filters are rated for tank volume (in litres)).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check that your levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are acceptable (use a freshwater test kit for this).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The erratic swimming can be a sign that something isn't right with your fish. This behaviour can also be exhibited when the fish is 'spooked' by something in the environment it is in and begins to panic. Often, these triggers can be sudden changes in the tank surroundings - someone entering a room, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fish could injure itself by hitting the walls of the tank but more likely is that the injury will result from gravel substrate or a pointy decoration. Remove any sharp decorations but ensure you replace it with soft cover so your fish doesn't panic. You could use java moss or another soft plant. You may also wish to turn your tank light off to relax the fish more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ultimately&lt;/strong&gt;, you can't know what is causing this unless you're in possession of the facts. Testing your water is the first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T05:48:52.523" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T05:48:52.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16120" CreationDate="2018-07-04T19:29:01.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish can be fussy eaters. As rémi mentioned in the comments, the fish are not used to eating the shrimp as food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Good News!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to note is that this is probably nothing to be worried about. If they are happily eating the regular pellet food then there should be no risk to their life. When you get a new fish from a shop, it is often worth asking them what they feed it so that you can get the same food for them (even if you intend to swap it at a later date).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;A hungry fish is a healthy fish&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is true and can be a stumbling block for new fish keepers. I regularly have a 'starve day' where you don't feed the fish anything at all (When I first started, I fed them twice a day! Doh!) Why is this relevant? Well, if you want to swap the food a fish is eating, make sure it is hungry first. A fish which is hungry (hasn't been fed for a few days) will be much more likely to try a new food put into the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Anything else?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These fish have been raised on flake food their whole life. If you &lt;em&gt;really want&lt;/em&gt; to get them to eat brine shrimp then just limit their intake for a few days. Obviously, have a fish that is not picky means that if you run out of a different type of food then there will be no problem feeding them something else for a few days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A balanced diet will improve a fish's health but that doesn't mean you have to feed frozen shrimp. There are many different flake foods on the market that you can rotate between &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; you could even &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVW1-m8Aic&amp;amp;t=1s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;make your own!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-07-04T19:29:01.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-05T04:38:14.153" Score="4" ViewCount="3710" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 month old mastiff/pit male puppy who, for the most part, is an exceptionally well behaved pup. However, his persistent whining is getting out of hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was only 7 weeks old when I got him and he had already been taken from his mother before that. He was potty trained with in a week, learned all the basic commands and is a really good dog. However, he seems to suffer from separation anxiety with me as well as developed a persistent whining in last 2 months. I'm home with him 90% of the time and give him lots of love and attention as well as tons of playtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand why all the whining now and I am wondering if it could be a possible later affect of being removed from mother to soon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BTwha.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BTwham.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12438" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T21:48:39.763" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T21:48:39.763" Title="Why has my 8 month old puppy started to whine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-05T04:41:25.520" Score="7" ViewCount="1642" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs that are brother and sister from the same litter (that's what I was told at the rescue shelter) and have always been together.  A couple of years ago I noticed the male dog with a rabbit in his mouth.  He would not let me approach him and just kept running off as I got close.  Eventually he dropped the dead rabbit and I disposed of it.  No other significant signs or actions from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 6 months ago as I went out to feed my dogs I noticed that the male dog was laying on the ground eating a rabbit.  He was going to town on it and the female dog was not interested and just laid on the ground 15-20 feet away resting calmly.  As I opened the door to go feed them he got up and walked away with the rabbit.  Normal feeding process is she eats first then him because since they were puppies he would finish first then take her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I put her food down for her he dropped the rabbit and came to the feeding area.  I was not concerned as I thought he was just coming to wait for his food.  He did not sit in his normal place and had an aggressive look on him.  He attacked the female in attempt to take her food.  I broke them apart and separated them for a few days as I struggled with what had just taken place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reunited them after a few days and no problems until yesterday.  Found a dead coyote in the backyard that he was staying close to while looking protective.    I was closing the gate to secure them in the back yard and they both approached as I closed the gate.  As I looked at the dead coyote he attacked the female and when I yelled at him he withdrew.  I separated them again then let him out into the front yard which is also fenced and gated as I disposed of the coyote.  I did not see any signs that he attempted to eat it just that it was dead and already pretty stiff.  It was not a very big coyote so i presume it was pretty young.  Attached is a photo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is his aggressive state of mind after a kill and how he is lashing out at the female dog.  As a note, I live out in the country on a gated property where there are rabbits, squirrels, gophers, rats, possums, coyotes, bobcats and even mountain lions.  All of which I have personally seen on my property.  My dogs are watch and guard dogs that have not been socialized much with other dogs or people except me and my family.  Both are pit mix must and are pretty awesome besides this.  Any info, advice or recommendations would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12439" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T22:09:24.520" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T22:09:24.520" Title="One of my dogs attacked my other dog after killing and eating a rabbit and again after killing a coyote" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20705" CreationDate="2018-07-05T10:04:06.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat that is new to your home &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hallplaceveterinarycentre.co.uk/clinical-information/moving-house.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;should not be let outside within the first 3-4 weeks&lt;/a&gt;. So if you have a cat over at your place for just a few days, it is best to not let it get outside at all, since it doesn't know that this is the place she is supposed to be (and it doesn't even have a strong bond with you!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we are already past that point. It frequently happens that cats &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hallplaceveterinarycentre.co.uk/clinical-information/moving-house.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;run to their old home after people moved to a new house&lt;/a&gt;. Therefore maybe Queen is running home to your friend's house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions of what you can do now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As mhwombat suggested: get your friend involved as soon as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure someone stays at your place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure someone stays at your friends place to be available in case Queen returns home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the paths between your two houses. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she doesn't return soon, put up search posters in the area around your house and between your house and your friend's house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck finding her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T08:03:11.513" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:03:11.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20737" CreationDate="2018-07-05T11:11:26.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Persian cats are notoriously high maintenance with regards to their coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They need daily, or at least weekly grooming.  If the cat was not trained to accept/appreciate this from a young age you will need to coerce them slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once mats have developed, they need to be cut away before normal grooming can start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a cat with a severe case of matting, it may be necessary to take them to a vet to sedate the cat and clip the entire coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the time to start grooming the cat on a regular basis. Make him feel comfortable, and associate this activity with positive attention. If the cat is not happy, keep the sessions short. Do keep the cat in your lap and pet it/stroke it until it is relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="799" LastActivityDate="2018-07-05T11:11:26.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20512" CreationDate="2018-07-06T02:02:01.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For future feedings, you might want to consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/raising-crickets-to-feed-pet-1237273&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gut-loading&lt;/a&gt; (or a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Gut-Load-Locusts-and-Crickets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wiki how&lt;/a&gt;) your crickets first. Gut loading is the practice of having a food item, like mice or crickets in this case, eat the supplements for the pet. This way the supplements reach the pet in a nice &quot;packaging&quot; instead of on the outside of the food item, where this kind of accidents can happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crickets will eat practically anything, included powdered milk.  If you want to introduce calcium to your gecko's diet, then you could feed the crickets some powdered milk 12 hours before feeding them to your gecko.  This will prevent the need to dust crickets, which will prevents accidents such as this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12441" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-07-15T11:11:08.000" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T11:11:08.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20761" CreationDate="2018-07-06T03:53:19.923" Score="3" ViewCount="6974" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dog who is on pimobendan, and our other dog who weighs about 13 pounds (5.9&amp;nbsp;kg) accidentally got 0.625&amp;nbsp;mg of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will he be okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12442" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T19:43:24.410" LastActivityDate="2020-08-06T16:49:49.067" Title="Our dog accidentally ate pimobendan" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-06T06:42:37.277" Score="2" ViewCount="2667" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you please help me out on what is to be done? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12444" LastEditorUserId="12444" LastEditDate="2019-02-04T21:51:01.843" LastActivityDate="2019-02-04T21:51:01.843" Title="Why does my pet dog bite and drag my other dog’s neck?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20759" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-06T09:57:53.770" Score="-2" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know if I can use a &lt;a href=&quot;https://goo.gl/y76Vq6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flush valve&lt;/a&gt; as part of a water change system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could pair this with the floating thing that automatically fills up the tank, and this can also act as an overflow, so I can change the water in a press of a button.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12157" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-09T13:02:01.580" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T13:37:54.333" Title="Can I use a toilet flush valve as a water change system?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-06T14:29:19.663" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;A year ago, I adopted a conure that had lived with her previous owners for 19 years, her whole life. They apparently did not put much effort into hand taming her, as she shies away from most attempts to bring her out of her cage to socialize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently asked &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20706/do-conures-replace-all-of-their-feathers-when-they-molt/20739#20739&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; about her appearance: since I have had her, some of her feathers have been discolored and had ratty edges. I thought her yearly molt would fix the issue, but it persists. Over-preening due to boredom seems like the likely cause, partially because it is difficult to socialize with her because she does not like leaving her cage, and partially because she is rarely interested in new toys I try to introduce to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that because she is old, she is already set in her ways and there is not much I can do. How can I help her explore her environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="10108" LastEditDate="2018-07-09T13:30:04.137" LastActivityDate="2018-07-09T13:30:04.137" Title="How can I encourage curiosity in an old bird?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20757" CreationDate="2018-07-07T03:10:24.200" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always call your vet as soon as possible when something like this happens. By the time someone on the internet answers, if it was a problem it will likely have resulted in serious effect by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, 0.625 mg of pimobendan is even a low dose for a 13 lb dog (roughly 0.1 mg/kg). Typical therapeutic doses range from 0.2 to 0.5 mg/kg per day (per &lt;em&gt;Plumbs Veterinary Drugs&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toxicity is therefore not a concern at such low dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all likelihood, it will not be a problem. Pimobendan works to increase heart contractility, and in a healthy dog a single low dose will not be a problem. The concern comes if your dog has heart disease or other conditions which may make reaction to the drug less predictable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Close monitoring for 24 hours is a reasonable option in such a case; if any doubts or concerns then immediate evaluation by a veterinarian is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-07-07T03:10:24.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-07T03:12:48.833" Score="4" ViewCount="1224" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aZpJr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s2LCz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clover is almost a year old now and she randomly gained weight and feels heavier, she also is getting a lot of mucus over her “lady parts”. I just recently adopted a male rat from a coworker so I don’t know if she could have possibly gotten out and is now pregnant or if it’s something like pyometra or even something else. I read something where if it was an infection she would have a funky smell down there but she doesn’t. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12446" LastEditorUserId="12447" LastEditDate="2018-07-07T03:37:46.397" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T08:02:15.357" Title="Female rat suddenly having vaginal discharge" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10076" CreationDate="2018-07-07T04:38:33.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a 61 year old person and have had 5 Maine Coons kitties at various times through my family’s life.  I tried to lay a foundation of love, distraction if necessary (kinda like kids....rather not scold, but let’s enjoy something new and fun! Like a catnip homemade sock). I now have an 11 year old Maine Coon heavyweight who has been endulged and adored by my family since we brought him to his Old Orchard home at 8 weeks old. He fit in one hand when we brought him home. Now my lap on nail-trimming day is a snuggle of a fit he and I respectively attend to every month.&#xA;Now, he pets me awake every morning. He pats my hair while purring, and pets my eyes and cheeks and chin. I typically “play possum” while my 21 pound mouser cat gently wakes me up. Cats can actually gently pet their beloved family with love. He dispatches any varmints quickly! But he pets my eyes and face exactly the way I pet my sweet Coonie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be gentle and loving with your cat or kitten. They have a great capacity to return kindness and love. Please don’t ever swat, hit or yell at a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My “pet” goal on my bucket list was for one cat to have a beloved life. Too many animals are unloved or abused. A beloved pet petting you back every morning on your face is, for me, a sign Heaven exists on earth. My daily gratitudes begin with a Maine Coonie wrapping his big paws around my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12448" LastEditorDisplayName="user12448" LastEditDate="2018-07-07T04:47:24.370" LastActivityDate="2018-07-07T04:47:24.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-07T06:23:06.957" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay so today, I was moving my baby to a different location. I had him in his smaller travel tank, I set it in the sun so he could bask while I set up his big tank. While I was doing this I took my eyes off of him, and my uncles dog had snagged him out of his tank  and I am not sure if he chewed or whatever on him. But I rescued my turtle as soon as I realized. I checked him over and he doesn’t have any external injuries. Like no, chew marks, no punctures, no blood, nothing raw looking. So on the outside he looks perfectly  fine... I mean aside the fact that he’s in complete shock. Which was another question, could he die from shock... I’m just so worried and I feel awful bc he’s my baby. I just need some words of advice. What to watch for from here on out... what to expect if he does have any internal injuries. Anything. Like has this happened to anybody before me and their turtle survived? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12449" LastActivityDate="2018-07-07T06:23:06.957" Title="How easy is it for a baby yellow bellied slider to obtain an internal injury?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2018-07-07T07:17:16.363" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I like to use is shredded paper, because even though it is nessicary to clean it often, it has proven to be the more comfortable option for my mice. It is very easy for them to burrow in, and they can move and rip it as they please to build up on theirs “ house”. It is also really cheap. I can get many months out of one 3 dollar bag, it is also very obvious when I need to clean it because I can see the pee because the paper is white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12450" LastActivityDate="2018-07-07T07:17:16.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20641" CreationDate="2018-07-07T11:32:43.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats and most days at least one cat sleeps in my bed at night. So here are some observations and research conclusions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pro&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat is shy/new letting the cat in the bedroom could help it to get used to the owner since many cats find humans that lie down less scary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are away from home for work during the day the cat may enjoy several hours during the night being close to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat wakes up in the morning before you get up it might be bored or hungry. Some cats would start scratching on the bedroom door at that point. You could/should train them to stay patient but it is probably nicer for them (and could be nicer for you too) to just join you in bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats can act like a small heater in bed, which is very comfortable during winter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waking up in the morning and seeing your cat curled up on your bed, petting it while slowly waking up, is a gentle start in the morning and feels very good for the soul.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Con&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are sensitive or allergic, having animals in your bed is not a good idea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are pregnant you should be careful about close contact with animals. Cats, especially outdoor cats, can transmit a disease that can seriously harm the unborn baby if the mother gets a first-time infection during pregnancy.[1]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You never know what happens between a baby and a cat while you are asleep, it is not save to let cats sleep in your bed if you have a baby there sleeping with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cats are used to sleeping in the bedroom and a reason comes up to shut them out (e.g. a newborn baby) it can be hard for them to get used to the new restriction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some cats wake up their owners during the night or in the morning when they are hungry. Although behaviour can be trained, some cats might not learn or the owner might not manage to teach them. Sleep deprivation is unhealthy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the relationship between the owner and the cat is not good or if the cat is old (cats can get dementia[2]) or sick it could be in pain or disoriented and scratch or bite the owner during the night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think for domestic, tamed, healthy cats it is more likely that they would get seriously hurt by the owner during the night than the other way around. However, (grown up) cats are not so fragile and if they got kicked out of the bed by an owner's nightmare they might simply decide to sleep somewhere else (with their hurt ego). (Assuming that the bed is on level ground, bunk beds might be a different story...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/cats-alzheimers-7612.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.thenest.com/cats-alzheimers-7612.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-07-09T18:49:38.150" LastActivityDate="2018-07-09T18:49:38.150" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-07T20:29:01.360" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 12 year old chihuahua that keeps peeing in the house. It's mostly on the linoleum, but sometimes on the carpet. I have no idea why he keeps doing this. There is a doggy door, which he used to use, but not anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things have changed since he used to use the doggy door. We had a second child (now 4 years old). We took in a stray dog, lab mix. The new dog definitely holds it to do her business outside. The new dog has her own bed inside, but spends most of the day outside. The chihuahua pretty much has his own couch to lay on. If we mop the whole floor, he will pee several times, in different places. I woke up to 4 pee spots this AM, after mopping yesterday. It's like he's trying to mark territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the chihuahua pees inside, sometimes we put down paper towels to soak it up before cleaning, and sometimes he will pee again on the paper towels. If we can't get him to use the doggy door, what can we do to get him to at least pee in the same place? Possibly on the &quot;go here&quot; pads?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really pissing me off (pun intended), how can I mitigate this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest appropriate tags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12451" LastActivityDate="2018-07-07T20:29:01.360" Title="Dog peeing inside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6204" CreationDate="2018-07-08T22:39:00.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had 6 kittens, and then after a 6 week period together we reached the end of the school year and I went home to see family for a month. During this time friends watched one of the kittens that I planned on keeping for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I came back after being gone for a month, with mama cat and baby being separated for a month, at first she was a little awkward around her baby, but within 4 hours she was cleaning him and playing with him and teaching him how to play and eat and hunt, etc. So I would say if the baby is still a kitten, the mother would be able to recognize them, but after a year, most likely not, as the other person said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12454" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:01.313" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:02:01.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18934" CreationDate="2018-07-08T22:45:05.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat fleas wherever you live are very rarely found on the cat unless it's infested. I've combed all my cats and dogs I've had over the years with a nit/lice comb daily. The best way to find out if it's fleas is wet some toilet roll or kitchen roll and dab it onto the cat;s skin and fur, behind the ears and on the back of neck and tail. If you see blood spots, that's flea feaces. Best way forward is Front Line plus flea treatment spot on, then change the brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advantage is another good one, then hot wash anything you can your cats been near, Hoover regularly and empty the Hoover or taperhaps up the pipe if using a cylinder vacuum,  thenlet your cat go where it normally goes and you won't get infested. If you read the cycle of the flea, it's impossible  to kill the larvae. You have to wait for it to hatch. They're really hard to get rid of and much easier to control. If birds are nesting you might have rodents coming and going and they're full of fleas. I hope it is just fleas and nothing wrong with your cat, as it's hard work but prevention is much better than treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People think indoor cats can't catch fleas. They jump on you on your clothes then travel into your hood that way. They don't only live on dirty animals; they live on any feeding host. I have always always bathed my cats then let them dry off then put the spot on the back of their neck. Read instructions--I've made mistakes. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12453" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:23.323" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:23.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-09T02:05:15.857" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my betta fish for around a week and he seems to like to lay on the bottom of his tank. He is in a 5 gallon heated and filtered tank and he occasionally swims around but usually goes right back to the bottom. There are no signs of illness and I bought him from a trusted breeder. He has very long fins, could this be the issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12455" LastEditorUserId="12455" LastEditDate="2018-07-09T06:25:12.117" LastActivityDate="2018-07-09T06:27:02.323" Title="Betta fish lying at the bottom of his tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-07-09T06:26:28.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20741" CreationDate="2018-07-09T06:09:47.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;She looks like a female to me. Although I’m not an expert, she has a shorter, stubbier body, shorter fins, and female bettas can blow bubble nests too. If you want to be sure, could you attach a picture of her flaring. The difference is more noticeable then! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12455" LastActivityDate="2018-07-09T06:09:47.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20936" CreationDate="2018-07-09T18:20:49.253" Score="7" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had a cat since he was a kitten about 8 years ago, about 4 years ago I adopted another male cat of similar age hoping they would play together and be friends when I started my job. They mainly ignored each other but do sleep near each other and seem to in general just exist in the same space. About 3 years ago I moved from a 2000 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (186 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) house into a 800 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (74 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) apartment and then 2 years ago I moved into a 800 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (74 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) condo. Through all of this my two cats seem to have been fine with me and each other. About a year and a half ago my girlfriend moved into my condo with her much smaller younger female (2 years). Things went OK, mostly the small female stays up on a network of shelves we built for the cats, but she can come down to eat, drink and use the litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been using Feliway since the small female moved in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a month ago things have gotten significantly worse, with my cat's attacking the small female when she tries to go to the litter on her own. We recently went on a trip and when we came back, there was a large number of fur piles from one of the males and the female and one of the shelves where the female hangs out had both urine and poop on it (it seems like she wasn't able go down to the litter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas about what might have changed? Why it got worse all of a sudden? Does anyone have any ideas on trying to make it better? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12461" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:56:20.947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:56:20.947" Title="Male cats attacking female after 1.5 years of relative calmness" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-10T04:23:31.943" Score="1" ViewCount="2234" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zsH99.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was told my kitten was a boy but the vet isn’t quite sure. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12464" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T04:23:31.943" Title="Is my kitten a boy or a girl?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-07-10T12:21:27.180" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20779" CreationDate="2018-07-10T07:39:19.797" Score="4" ViewCount="506" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've got a situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We wallpapered our corridor and our 8 month Labrador Retriever decided to scratch off one part of that wallpaper (it's next to the door to bathroom).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've fixed it couple of times and she repeatedly does it over and over and does scratch off that exact part only, nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's got a crate and is left there for up to 5 hours when we're working. However this time she scratched it off when I was showering and she was not in the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally she gets a quick walk in the morning to do the business and an exhausting walk in the evening (sometimes twice a day depending our working schedule), at least 4 walks per day in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, she always tends to follow me and my wife at home, if we'll go to bathroom, she'll go to the door and lay there, if we're making food, she's going to lay next to us, etc. Doesn't beg for attention, but is a follower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot figure out the reason why she would do it. Is it (&lt;em&gt;faked&lt;/em&gt;) separation anxiety? Attention seeking? Boredom? Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5381" LastEditorUserId="5381" LastEditDate="2018-07-10T09:28:32.430" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T14:32:49.710" Title="Dog destroying wallpaper at one exact place only" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20778" CreationDate="2018-07-10T09:29:29.330" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say she's a follower, so it's possible that when you're gone, she believes that you're in the bathroom and she wants you to come out again when you don't return after a certain amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how you normally leave her to go out, but it might be worth making sure she knows what door you've exited (i.e. you've gone out of the house).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8 months might be getting to be too old to be kept in a crate for long periods of time.  Is it possible you can use a set room for her to relax while you're out (our 18-month-old Lab has always been happy enough in the kitchen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T09:29:29.330" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20781" CreationDate="2018-07-10T09:33:36.473" Score="1" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog tends to stare over our backyard wall an look at my neighbours the whole day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its just weird because he will randomly be looking into their yard even when we call him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its not like my neighbour has any dogs or anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any solutions or explanations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. He is just over 1 year old&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: It just seems weird as he doesn't pay much attention to anything happening in my yard and he takes more interest in looking into their yard. Even if we are playing, he will randomly go to the wall and look that side&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12465" LastEditorUserId="12465" LastEditDate="2018-07-10T09:47:21.603" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T10:10:30.497" Title="My Dog stares into my neighbours yard" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20780" CreationDate="2018-07-10T10:10:30.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a better sense of smell than we do and better/different hearing (in my dog, it's selective, but that's another story).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chances are that there's something that smells different in your neighbour's yard, or there are critters in there that are making sounds/smells that are attractive to your dog, but you don't notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be anything, but I'd guess it's critters that have set up home over there.  You might want to speak to your neighbour and see if they have a problem with pests/rats/whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T10:10:30.497" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-10T10:48:08.687" Score="7" ViewCount="557" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have surprise fry in one of my tanks (I've counted 8 or 9 so far). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've removed all the adults into a separate tank, so the fry won't be eaten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have apple snails in the tank as well. These guys create a lot of waste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've removed the filters so that the fry don't get sucked into it. I can't use a sponge filter because the snails eat it. Now I have waste accumulating on the substrate. I don't want to vacuum it, because I don't want to suck the fry out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't remove the fry from the tank to clean, because they're difficult to see and I could not be sure that I got them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other methods are there that I can use to remove the waste?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="10413" LastEditDate="2018-07-11T13:08:05.147" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T21:05:59.337" Title="How can I remove waste from a tank with fry?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11475" CreationDate="2018-07-10T13:33:46.967" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having the same problem with my one-year-old maine coon male. It stopped for a while, but anything can set it off and breaking the cycle is difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try Cat Attract cat litter. You can mix it with your existing litter to stretch it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feliway difusers. These really help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you changed your cat's diet lately? If so, go back to what you had before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And try rescue remedy drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Know your cat. Does your cat like high places or tuck away underneath things. Make sure they have a place to go to feel safe. (Yes, I know your place is safe, but cats aren't necessarily the most rational.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my cat got stressed by a lot of things. The pet store stopped carrying the dry food I've been feeding, so there was a change. My house guests left and so he lost some buddies that he bonded with. I'm moving furniture around the house -- just bought a condo and am trying to figure out where things go -- and that's a huge change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poor baby. It sucks, but it's his only way of telling me he's upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12466" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T13:33:46.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20778" CreationDate="2018-07-10T14:32:49.710" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obsessive behavior can be difficult to diagnosis.  You may or may not be able to define the cause and change the behavior.  While you are working on that, make your life easier by protecting the area that is the focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a piece of 'clear plexiglass' that is larger then the area.  Drill holes in the corners and possibly other places along the edge (depends on size).  Put &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_(fastener)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Molly Fasteners&lt;/a&gt; in the wall where the hole are in the clear plexiglass and cover the area, with the clear plexiglass.  It will look nice until the plexiglass gets scratched up again, but it will be much easier to replace the plexiglass, than to fix the wall.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google 'plexiglass wall protector' for lots of products and ideas for application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-07-10T14:32:49.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-10T22:47:31.177" Score="1" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I brought in a wild eastern cotton tail rabbit 2 days ago and I can't keep it as a pet. I was wondering if I keep it until it grows a little bigger that I can release it back into the wild where I found it? Or would it domesticate by then? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12468" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T10:05:01.450" Title="Help: Wild Rabbit" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-07-11T10:14:27.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18348" CreationDate="2018-07-11T06:22:55.730" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The summary is not a rule book.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question seems to assume that every cat must be following the summary to a tee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tongue in cheek, I want to point out that cats can't read.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And even if they could, not every pet owner will share this link with them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And even if they do, there are no repercussions for refusing to follow the guidelines anyway, so there's no way to make them follow the rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cats usually follow their instincts.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They then dig for a short time, turn and squat near the area of digging, turn (perhaps also smelling their waste) and dig once again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do cats do that? Simply put, they try to hide their presence in their environment. Part of that entails making sure that you can't smell their droppings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Contrast this to dogs, who have no habit of sneaking around. They bury their food and belongings (to keep it safe from others) but they have no reflex to bury their droppings (because they're not trying to hide).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an instinct that cats have received from their ancestors. Most cats retain this instinct even if they live in an environment where the behavior is not necessary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, as the drawback to failing to do so is no longer applicable (at least for house cats), there is less incentive to keep this instinct. Over time, cats may lose the instinct, the same way that human ancestors lost their tails over many generations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 3 cats, all of whom are rescues that were initially raised in the wild. To my surprise, all three of them have &lt;em&gt;excellent&lt;/em&gt; litter box manners without us needing to teach them. It seems like living in the wild has reinforced their &quot;must hide smells&quot; instinct.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If we've forgotten to clear the litter box, they stop using it at some point. However, they still hold it for as long as they can and don't just do their business elsewhere. I've seen them sprint to a clean litter box after holding it, and they've on occasion even &lt;em&gt;fetched&lt;/em&gt; us to clean the litter box for them (similar to how they lead you to an empty food bowl).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Some cats don't.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either because they lack the instinct, they go against it, or there's a more pressing reason for them to do things differenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of our cats are sisters, M and C. C is clever and very pedantic about pretty much everything, including burying droppings. M clearly does not understand the purpose of burying droppings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, M did not bury anything, and C would actually go in after M to bury it for her. After a while, C started reaching in the litter box while M was still doing her business, clearly trying to teach M how to do it herself. You could see her try to set the right example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M understood that C wanted her to do something, but she still doesn't understand what the goal is. So she has actually ended up learning the wrong lesson. When she uses the box now, M swipes her paw at everything inside the box: the walls, ceiling, even the door (which flails around as she does it).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She clearly doesn't understand the necessity of hiding her business; but she does acknowledge that her sister wants her to perform a swiping movement with her paw. But, as I see it, she thinks it's a matter of cleaning the box, not hiding the droppings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tangentially, even humans can't agree on toilet habits.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even humans have differing toilet habits. Read &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3s0cj9/reddit_do_you_wipe_standing_up_or_sitting_down/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these responses on Reddit, when they were asked whether they sit or stand when they wipe after using the toilet&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how everyone swears by their own method, and thinks that the other side of the discussion is clearly doing it wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans have the benefits of spoken conversation and a strong reliance on teaching each other, yet we still all do it our own way. It will be no different for cats, they simply do what works for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-07-11T12:43:40.027" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T12:43:40.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20785" CreationDate="2018-07-11T10:05:01.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's healthy, I would take it back to where it came from as soon as reasonably practical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domesticating a wild animal as cute as a rabbit is a nice romantic thought, but in reality, you're running the risk of bringing whatever diseases the animal has into close contact with you and other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if it's an adult, you may not be able to tame it enough to be petted.  If it's a young animal, then it obviously needs its parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T10:05:01.450" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-11T10:51:39.353" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a relatively elderly Miniature Schnauzer (11 years old now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she was younger, she used to pretty much ignore other dogs when on and off the leash.  She's not really one for socialising, she'd much rather do her own thing, and this has always been the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually over the past few years, she's been more yappy at other dogs while on the leash.  It started off with being aimed at smaller dogs (Jack Russells and the like), but now she barks at anything with four legs, and at any noise coming from the footpath behind our yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's healthy for her age, but the vet said she might be showing early signs of joint pain, although she walks/runs just fine and without reluctance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could try distracting with treats, but she often sees/hears other dogs before us, so offering treats while she's yapping might end up reinforcing unwanted behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T16:43:03.670" Title="What can we do to encourage our elderly dog to be less yappy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20759" CreationDate="2018-07-11T13:37:54.333" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the question, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Can I?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; the answer is probably, &quot;Yes.&quot; It would physically work to remove water and automatically replace it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, there is another question hidden here, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Should I?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; And the answer to that is most definitely, &quot;No.&quot; Here's why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Flush valves are designed to empty the cistern completely. You would need a way to make sure that you don't leave your fish dry while your tank fills up. Your heater would also not survive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You would need a way to ensure that you don't flush your fish with the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the advantages of siphoning water out of the tank manually, is that you're able to target the areas from which water are removed, and in so doing, target the waste that is in the tank. If you were to use a flush valve, the waste would still be lying on the bottom of the tank. That would mean your water change would not be effectively removing the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Using the float valve to fill the tank would kill your fish. Tap water needs to be treated to remove chlorine and other chemicals before going into your tank. The tap water would also be cold, and the temperature drop would, without a doubt, shock the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Making holes in your tank is risky. It is easy to crack the glass and ruin the tank. Even if you get the holes made successfully, you're adding weak points to that tank where leaks could develop.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you could overcome all of these challenges, then maybe it will work, but the effort required to achieve this would probably outweigh the benefit that it would provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T13:37:54.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20789" CreationDate="2018-07-11T16:43:03.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What works for me in these kinds of situation is, first, issue a correction. I use a snap of my fingers for this. It's a sound that I only make towards my dogs when they do something unsavoury. It could be a sharp verbal sound, &quot;NO!&quot;, or &quot;PSH!&quot;, or a dog whistle. Find something that works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I put myself between my dog and the object of interest, and issue a SIT command. When he sits, and calms down, and focuses on me rather than the object, then I reward with a treat, or a click of the training clicker. Reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct, refocus, reward. It works for me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T16:43:03.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20397" CreationDate="2018-07-11T22:16:46.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Update if you're interested: A week ago I found a 20 gallon tank at a thrift store. The kids (and fish) are thrilled. For days now the fish has been foraging excitedly around all the new things in the larger tank (i.e. playing in his new playground). His basic survival in the small tank had depended on daily vacuuming while swapping out a gallon of water, and paying close attention to his mood (jumpy vs. lethargic). If something wasn't right with him, the variables were adjusted (food variety, fresh water, removing substrate, changing filter-timing). This kept him alive, and he was basically ok. But the real solution was a bigger tank. Normal goldfish behavior is constant exploration and foraging in and around everything. They inspect new things and are curious. If they're not doing that, they're either sleeping or something is wrong. Now that I know what to look for, I have never seen a happier fish. Thank you again to all who took an interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12160" LastActivityDate="2018-07-11T22:16:46.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-12T03:18:30.080" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've been considering getting a Pacman frog, but have a question / concern regarding the the ideal temperature of the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most resources I've read online specify that the temperature for that particular breed of frog is around 75 - 85 during the day. Now, it tends to get rather hot in the summer where I live and occasionally, I'll turn the AC off when I'm not home, to save power, and my apartment is well insulated enough that it generally peaks around 86 - 87 by the time I get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am curious, however, that since that average of 86-87 is a few degrees above the cap of the animal's ideal temperature, whether it is safe. It doesn't seem like two degrees that much, and I have read the 75-85 figure as &lt;em&gt;ideal&lt;/em&gt;, but I was curious as to how much deviation from said ideal is safe when dealing with amphibians. Could I get away with a +2 deviation, or is that unsafe? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12474" LastActivityDate="2018-07-12T03:18:30.080" Title="How much deviation (if any at all) is acceptable when housing amphibians?" Tags="&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20828" CreationDate="2018-07-12T13:37:49.263" Score="32" ViewCount="27856" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitty has been waking me up early every morning begging for wet food. He has dry food available but obviously prefers the wet. I've tried ignoring him, but he will meow for over an hour straight and I eventually must get up in the morning and feed him or I'll be late for work, so the lesson isn't learned and I'm afraid I'm just reinforcing his begging. I'm not sure how to best address this issue. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12476" LastEditorUserId="988" LastEditDate="2018-07-14T09:10:17.433" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T17:48:19.453" Title="Cat meows for wet food in morning despite dry food being available" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20795" CreationDate="2018-07-12T14:39:50.260" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Change the time of feeding him the wet food.  Right now, the cat knows if he meows enough, he's going to get the wet food.  The only way to stop the behavior is to not give into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cat stops meowing in the morning, you can go back to feeding him the wet food in the morning.  Otherwise, you have to deal with the meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10233" LastActivityDate="2018-07-12T14:39:50.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20795" CreationDate="2018-07-12T16:47:39.670" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Set a time for feeding him the wet food, and stick to it. This doesn't have to be an actual time on the clock (your cat does not know the difference between 7:59 and 8:00), but rather a &quot;cue&quot; in your schedule. My cats know they will not get their morning food until I've gotten up, used the bathroom, and cleaned their litter box, so they don't start bothering me for food until I'm out of the bathroom. They get their afternoon food when I get home, and their last feeding is after I have gotten ready for bed, so again, they have a cue of when to expect their food. These are cats fed only on wet, who never have kibble available, and yet they have learned when to expect food and only meow when I'm actually preparing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't give a good reason for withholding the wet food until he annoys you enough, and by withholding until he annoys you enough you're definitely reinforcing the behavior you don't like. If you're withholding the wet food because you think it's a &quot;treat,&quot; consider the health advantages from feeding wet, which is much closer to their prey than dry (when's the last time you saw free-range kibble out in the woods?), and start giving it to him on a schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-07-12T16:47:39.670" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-12T17:31:18.267" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a dog, he's been run over by some vehicle. His leg is most probably broken, his skin has been badly damaged. I'm worried that there's no veterinary hospital nearby, he might develop maggots eventually due to open wound. Please guide me through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12479" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-21T10:54:48.243" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T10:54:48.243" Title="Treatment of wound" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20803" CreationDate="2018-07-12T18:58:12.360" Score="4" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog Jamie (no breed) had 4 puppies on July 8th. They haven't opened their eyes as of yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to this,&#xA;Jamie dug a hole in the ground in the yard and there she gave birth to her puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's true that in the hole they are 'safe' so that my other dog (boxer of 5 years) can not hurt them, I think it is not healthy for the puppies that live there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I took one of them out of the hole and I realized that the puppy had 3 pebbles in its mouth, and I took them out. The puppies are directly in contact with the land and hence they practically breathe nothing but dirt, I mean they get no fresh air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Is it healthy that puppies live there? Could puppies get an allergy because of being in the dirt constantly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take them out and 'build' them a little house (so they would be in a cleaner place) and where they would be protected as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I leave them in the hole?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastEditorDisplayName="user10233" LastEditDate="2018-07-12T19:58:44.087" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T03:31:43.863" Title="Is it healthy for newborn puppies to live on direct land?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20795" CreationDate="2018-07-12T19:35:01.923" Score="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had the same problem with our cat. Here's how I solved it (and @Nova did too, once). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he first came to live with us, he was fed in the morning when I got up and left the bedroom. But one day he became emboldened, and he decided he’d be fed when he wanted to be fed, which was earlier than my regular wake-up time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accordingly, he’d wake me up to make that announcement. I found that I didn’t agree with this new policy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, starting on the second day of his new behavior, when he'd meow in the morning for his food, I responded by getting out of bed &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; and spraying his face with water from a squirt bottle. The immediate nature of the response was critical because it never allowed him the opportunity to meow repeatedly, which would have reinforced the unwanted behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I went back to bed. If the meows repeated (which they did for a few more days, gradually tapering off day by day) I'd respond in kind with another squirt, sometimes chasing him down to ensure he didn’t avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He soon understood that the result of this early morning meowing wasn't food, but water to the face. Within four days, the meowing had stopped completely. Now, more than a year later, he just waits quietly, and when I open the door he greets me happily and gets his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don’t mind the dedication to getting out of bed &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;consistently&lt;/strong&gt; (along with the somewhat enhanced level of corrective action) this may do the trick for you. Good luck, and remember YOU are the boss, not the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12482" LastActivityDate="2018-07-12T19:35:01.923" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20802" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-13T01:58:07.583" Score="6" ViewCount="477" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pictures I have are too large to upload but there are large patches of fur shedding to the point where there is just thin short hair left. Brought her to the vet today and they said there was likely nothing wrong since she isn't itching and there are no sores on her skin. Is this kind of shedding normal for a husky? We are used to her shedding but it's never been this much before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12487" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T21:54:54.587" Title="Is it normal for a husky to shed large patches of fur in the summer?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20800" CreationDate="2018-07-13T03:25:28.890" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds a lot like how wolves and other wild canids build a den&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this is 'natural' behaviour - you're almost certainly going to be better off setting up a dedicated, indoor area. Puppies tend to get in trouble, they're at risk from outdoor critters - both insects and other, larger threats and it gives them better opportunities to socialise with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog's clearly acting on her instincts but moving them indoors is probably a great idea. You're probably looking for something like a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whelping_box&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;whelping box&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with many situations like this - you might want to have a word with your vet about the best course of action to take&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T03:31:43.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20795" CreationDate="2018-07-13T05:16:12.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice is stop with the wet food altogether and start only feeding dry in the morning and at night (just a handful each time). Don't let him have food in his bowl all day or he'll ignore it. That's what I do with my Russian-blue cat and I've never had a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat will sometimes try to wake try to wake me up just before my alarm goes off but I never get up until I want to because training goes both ways. (They're very clever if you reward a behavior once they keep doing it so only reward the behavior you want.) I get up, make a coffee and feed him, his dry food is always completely eaten up and his bowl empty. So he gets a fresh batch (just a handful no more, and he's a big tall lad, cats are very efficient). In the evening he gets his second bowl (just a handful of dry food). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did once try wet food, but weaned him off it after trying it a few times when he was a kitten. As he's an indoor cat it means his litter tray is much less &quot;whiffy&quot; and easier to scoop (the dry food I give him is also &quot;low odour&quot;) and he drinks his water bowl because the dry food makes him thirsty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other advantages: he wont suffer from dental disease at the same rate as other cats as wet food is more damaging to teeth and gums. I took him to the vet a week ago for his yearly vaccinations and he got top marks for health and they praised me for the dry food only diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are like kids, they need rules and discipline to thrive. It will make you happier too. He may complain for the first few days but stay strong and he'll adjust in a week. Their survival instinct is strong and they learn quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12490" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T05:16:12.020" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20802" CreationDate="2018-07-13T07:30:06.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would believe so. Huskies are used to cold weather so the hot weather would result in them losing the hair to cool off. And if the vet says its nothing to worry about, then I really wouldnt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12465" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T07:30:06.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20806" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-07-13T08:15:45.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many topics would benefit from having a great up-to-date source of information. If you feel that a topic may make a useful subject of a community FAQ, consider bringing it up on meta. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than being a replacement for more specific answers, a community faq aims to bring together solutions to common problems in a single, easy to find place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-13T08:51:28.677" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T08:51:28.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20807" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-07-13T08:15:45.237" Score="0" Body="These questions have been selected by the community as high-quality posts with generalized answers to questions which come up frequently on Pets.Stackexchange.com. They are more canonical answers which can apply to many different variations on a topic.&#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-07-13T08:51:47.673" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T08:51:47.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-13T08:19:45.547" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my two cats are trying to dig trough the floor when ever she's drinking water from her bowl. I have wooden floors, and what used to be a adorable behavior has turned in to something really frustrating. living in a very poorly noise isolated apartment, she wakes me up at night clawing the floor when she's drinking water. Can I do anything at all to get her out of this cute but stupid behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12494" LastEditorUserId="9546" LastEditDate="2018-07-15T10:51:47.507" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T10:51:47.507" Title="Cat pawing for water" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20798" CreationDate="2018-07-13T12:34:08.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask a doctor / nurse to treat him. The basic anatomy of a flesh wound and broken leg should be similar enough to a human that the dog does not have to go without any treatment. Put a muzzle on him, try to calm him and hold him still during the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience I know that you can give him Aspirin against pain and infection in a dosage appropriate to his body weight. That is half or a quarter of a pill, depending on his size and weight. Ibuprofen is poisonous for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-21T10:54:11.507" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T10:54:11.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20753" CreationDate="2018-07-13T13:08:34.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to diagnose such a behavior remotely, but a possible reason for the attacks is dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, it seems that both dogs accept you as the pack leader and the most dominant individual around. Make sure it stays that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a wild pack of dogs, the most dominant dog is always the first one to claim a prey and start feeding while defending the prey against all other members of the pack, sometimes even long after he is full and cannot eat any more of it. The rest of the pack sits nearby, but no too near, seemingly calm but excited on the inside. Then the other members of the pack start feeding, in order of their rank. In this behavior domesticated dogs actually differ from wild wolves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By feeding your female dog first, you unintentionally set their rank. After killing and claiming a rabbit, the male dog expressed his dominance over the female. Shortly after, you prepare their food and the female starts feeding first, disregarding the dominance of the male. From his point of view, he had to reclaim his dominant position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the same could be true for the situation with the coyote, but I'm less sure. He claimed a prey (even if he didn't kill it) and protected it against a lower ranked member of the pack. Your reaction seems to have been correct, since &lt;strong&gt;you asserted your dominance&lt;/strong&gt; over him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I propose you either separate them when feeding or (maybe the better solution) you turn feeding into an exercise of obedience. For that you assign spots for each dog (not too close to each other) where they have to sit / lay while you prepare their food. They have to stay until you put both bowls on the ground and give the command to eat. Should one start a fight, you take the food away for at least a few hours (even denying food for a whole day will not harm your dogs, but maybe their mood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an article about the difference between wolves and dogs (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wolves-out-score-wild-dogs-when-it-comes-cooperation-180965293/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here's the link&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To compare the two species, Sarah Marshall-Pescini of the University of Vienna tested dogs and wolves at the Wolf Science Center in Austria, which houses a pack of 15 mutts and seven small packs of wolves. All of the animals are raised in semi-wild conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scientists tested how well dogs and wolves cooperate to get foot as a reward for teamwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though dogs seemed engaged, they approached the food one at a time, “very respectfully waiting for one to finish before the other started,” she says, which prohibited them from testing out teamwork. Meanwhile, the wolves cooperated well, working together on the level of chimpanzees, according to Helen Briggs at the BBC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T22:07:53.320" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T22:07:53.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20808" CreationDate="2018-07-13T13:23:37.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this when I give him food that he doesn't like: He will stand over his food bowl and scratch the floor with his front paws. Basically, he is trying to bury the food. He used to do the same with his drinking water until I changed his metal drinking bowl for a ceramic one. Now, all is sweetness and light as far as watering is concerned. He is still picky about his chow, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T13:23:37.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20752" CreationDate="2018-07-13T13:35:30.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, observe &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt; he whines. Is it when you stop petting him? When you stop playing with him? When you are eating? When his favorite toy is not available? In the case of my dog, it was sexual frustration. He designated an object as his &amp;quot;humping toy&amp;quot; and whined when we took it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you found the cause, you absolutely have to &lt;strong&gt;stop giving in&lt;/strong&gt;. I've heard of several dogs constantly whining to be pet. The owners always gave in because they couldn't stand the noise for more than a minute. This only reinforces the unwanted behavior. Use ear plugs if you have to, but don't give in or it will get only worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note: The dog has lived with you for several months now, but developed his unwanted behavior only 2 months ago. This behavior is not caused by separation from his mother. Something in the way you interact with him caused it. You should probably consult a dog trainer or read some books to correct his behavior before it becomes worse and maybe even compulsive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T21:42:19.840" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T21:42:19.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20748" CreationDate="2018-07-13T13:48:30.297" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's much difference between either method, but I'm inclined towards the drop off method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should realize that dogs don't think in terms of &quot;being stolen.&quot; They mainly think in terms of &quot;good&quot; and &quot;bad.&quot; Food, petting, playing is all good. Being with the pack (the owners) is good, being separated from the pack is bad. So no matter &lt;strong&gt;how&lt;/strong&gt; you separate the dog from his owners, it will always be categorized as bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think introducing a dog into a new environment with the owners is better than without, so the dog can discover his surroundings without being stressed from the separation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T16:13:09.873" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T16:13:09.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20802" CreationDate="2018-07-13T15:22:29.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is fairly normal, Huskies (among) are double coated dogs. Breeds like German Shepherds, Akitas, Malamutes, Newfoundlands etc also have them, mainly working dogs bread for harsh working conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means there is an additional coat you don't normally see, unless you go looking, it is shorter than the common white/grey/black coat you see, this is what youre seeing remaining when your dogs fur is falling out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double coated dogs shed the longer outer coat leaving the undercoat. It is common to see large amounts of hair fall out with ease in the summer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend brushing your dog a few times a week it will remove dead hairs and make your dog feel very comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some additional reading: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petguide.com/petcare/dog/what-is-a-double-coated-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petguide.com/petcare/dog/what-is-a-double-coated-dog/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2018-07-13T15:28:46.023" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T15:28:46.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-13T15:58:59.913" Score="1" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted two cats together, a brother and a sister, about a year and a half ago from a rescue organization. They are both spayed / neutered and are probably about 1 year 8 months old. The sister is ~ 2lbs lighter than her brother&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About six months ago we noticed that when they would play the female cat would begin hissing, yowling, and taking swipes at him. Sometimes this happens because the male cat is harassing her - chasing her around, biting at her heels a bit when she runs away until we separate them.  But it also happens when she instigates and it seems like they're playing normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's never any 'puffing up' or back arching, but she's clearly upset and claws at him to get him to back off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently we came home after about four days away (we had a cat sitter visit daily for a couple hours, but they obviously weren't getting as much attention as when we're home full time) and found that the male cat had a small scratch by his ear, so it seems like it has escalated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why she's getting so upset? Is hissing normal during play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is our stopping the male cat from chasing his sister inadvertently encouraging him to continue doing it, since he gets attention for it? If so, how can we make sure she feels safe without giving him attention? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12505" LastEditorUserId="12505" LastEditDate="2018-07-13T17:32:00.047" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T17:32:00.047" Title="Male cat harassing his sister, causing her to hiss" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-13T16:55:35.550" Score="8" ViewCount="1001" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three years ago, my wife and I adopted a cat from a coworker's relative. She's a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; small calico/manx, and she was about 1 year old when we adopted her. We have no reason to believe she has ever been abused, either directly or through neglect. We were told when we took her in that she was shy, especially around guys. We've since discovered that was quite the understatement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have another cat, slightly older, also female. When we took in the calico, we kept her in our bathroom for a few days to help her get acclimated to her new environment before introducing her to our older cat, and she was &lt;strong&gt;terrified&lt;/strong&gt;. She yowled, jumped around the bathroom, then eventually settled in the best protected spot in the room (which in this instance was behind the toilet), trembling the &lt;em&gt;entire time&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days, we let her explore the whole apartment, but she didn't move until we were both at work, and even then it seems all she did was resettle under our bed. At no point did we force her out from under the bed, or encroach on her hiding place. Our plan has always been to wait until she feels comfortable enough to approach us on her own, but it's starting to look like we aren't approaching this correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, it's been 3 years, and there's been next to no progress. In these 3 years she has taken up residence under the bed, behind a pile of boxes in the closet, behind the washer, behind the dryer, inside a chair, and inside our couch. This diminutive little creature can squeeze into every nook and cranny in the apartment, and seems resolute on living exclusively inside them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exception here is at night, if things have been calm and quiet for a while, she will occasionally jump up on the bed next to my wife (she feeds the cats in the morning, so their relationship is a little bit better). If we're slow and deliberate, we can pet her a little (and she purrs when we do), but she'll stare at us &lt;em&gt;the entire time&lt;/em&gt; we aren't touching her, and if we make any move beyond slowly moving an arm towards her, she'll dart off to her current hiding place. Likewise, if we sit on our couch for long enough, on rare occasions she'll come out and stare unblinkingly at us from across the room, but if we move at all it's back to the hiding place. She started doing both of these a few months in, which we thought was progress, but that's the last improvement we've seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also leaves her hiding places at night when we're asleep (we can hear her playing with our older cat). Our two cats get along well, and we don't think the calico feels threatened by the older cat. If she hears either of us move though, she'll &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; hide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand calicos are shy, but we also don't think our cat is happy like this (and personally, I'm pretty sad my cat is so scared of me...). We know she prefers being in the open, as she is almost every time she hasn't heard my wife or me in a while, but she ends up spending most of her life hiding. She's currently living in our couch, and on a typical weekend, she'll spend the entire day, every day, inside it, sprinting out occasionally to go to the bathroom then sprinting back (on weekdays the hiding starts the &lt;em&gt;instant&lt;/em&gt; one of us gets home).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do to help her feel more comfortable? We've bought her a cat tower taller than us so she might not feel so exposed, which we've seen her in, but she doesn't seem to feel any safer in it. We've also taken her to the vet for regular checkups, and she's always been healthy. We're perfectly happy being more patient, but it seems like we haven't made her feel safe enough with the status quo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't think this is a duplicate, since in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18953/my-cat-hides-when-i-move&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; they'd only had their cat 10 days, and in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6487/how-can-i-keep-my-cat-from-being-scared-any-time-he-sees-or-hears-a-person&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, their cat was &quot;further along&quot; than ours. That Q/A seemed focused on making each encounter build more trust, but at this point we just want to encourage more encounters)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12484" LastEditorUserId="12484" LastEditDate="2018-07-13T17:47:12.537" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T16:34:43.350" Title="My cat is terrified ALL THE TIME. How do I fix this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20795" CreationDate="2018-07-13T20:35:06.310" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wet food is the preferred diet for your feline kitty.  Dry cat food was developed as a kind of &quot;fast food&quot; alternative for pet owners.  It was intended to be used sparingly but has unfortunately become the default for many pet owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The feline gastrointestinal system is highly specialized, unlike our own and that of canines.  They process protein for energy almost exclusively.  Protein digestion requires a good amount of water, making wet food ideal.  There's also the taste to consider.  Cats don't have the same taste buds we humans do and generally prefer the experience of eating wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some kitties are more vocal than others.  Breeds like Siamese, Tonkinese, and Burmese are extremely vocal and social.  These breeds, and others, will wake you up in the morning regardless.  Cats are also schedule based and perform the same routines regularly.  It can be difficult to change them, but with consistency and patience it is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are brands that sell single serving (wet food) products which are ideal for pet owners with only one cat.  I'd make a recommendation, but that's not what this site is about.  Talk to your veterinarian who will recommend healthy and affordable products for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12511" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T20:35:06.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-13T20:44:24.250" Score="4" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My painted turtle escaped his outdoor dry enclosure I walked inside for 5 mins and somehow he was in the middle of a super busy street, he isn't bleeding and the only damage to his shell is some nicks and scrapes on the edge of his right side. What's got me worried is he won't come out of his shell and he won't open his eyes, I'm pretty sure he's swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have him inside on a heating pad, someone please give me some advice on what to do or what to watch for.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i883x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12512" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-07-17T00:22:49.863" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T00:34:21.980" Title="Painted turtle hit by car!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20752" CreationDate="2018-07-13T21:28:11.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's go down the separation anxiety route assuming that's what it is as there's nothing else mentioned.  What worked for me was distraction/diversion in the form of a kong toy with a frozen treat (wet frozen dog food in my case) whenever I would leave.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of that given a basic understanding of &quot;yes/no&quot; verbally correcting the whining works too by saying &quot;no&quot; when the dog whines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12477" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T21:28:11.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20802" CreationDate="2018-07-13T21:54:54.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the husky &quot;blowing&quot; their coat.  Twice a year (spring + fall) they go through a more serious fur regeneration effort that can create these tufts of fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frequent and thorough brushing during this period is the way to keep your house clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12477" LastActivityDate="2018-07-13T21:54:54.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-13T22:32:27.067" Score="6" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend babysat my 6 month old bulldog puppy and used a DIY dog bath wipes. The recipe was 2 to 3 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of &amp;quot;my pet's friend&amp;quot; oatmeal enhanced deodorizing shampoo, &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; cup coconut oil organic and 1 drop of pure tea tree oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is licking himself after she wiped him down. Should I take him to the vet? Will he get sick? Is this DIY toxic? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12514" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-20T15:59:33.430" LastActivityDate="2021-03-20T16:00:48.827" Title="Is this DIY doggy bath wipe safe?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8027" CreationDate="2018-07-14T02:52:12.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. They can be completely submerged. They grow slower, though. Get a substrate created for planted aquariums. Remember get now I have 8 stalks and have had them completely submerged 4 for a year, 3 for 2 years, and 1 for 3 years. I haven’t had one die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qWOZF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0tFbh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4b0hc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12518" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-07T09:33:37.340" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T09:33:37.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-14T03:47:11.217" Score="3" ViewCount="2097" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pug and it's usually very active and we don't feed anything apart from Drools Focus Puppy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, it got a Skin Rash&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TmTm3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TmTm3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Skin Rash&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; on the top neck region and gradually it started expanding. We had taken him to doctor for 3 times already and every time we visit, he gives an injection but the skin rash doesn't go off.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we started worrying about it and thought of asking here as I'm losing trust in my vet because the rash has been there for more than 2 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, my Vet has given an ointment&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIC4c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIC4c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pic&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and asked to apply twice a day and I haven't seen any change in that and I feel like it's growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Bath - once a week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12519" LastActivityDate="2020-03-04T05:27:33.627" Title="Pug Allergy - Skin Rash" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20859" CreationDate="2018-07-14T12:18:47.183" Score="6" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had a discussion with a pet owner and he claimed that non neutered male cats shed more hair due to anxiety. Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding him high quality food but within a few days his hair grow and shortly afterwards he starts shedding too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T00:38:25.423" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T00:38:25.423" Title="Do non neutered cats shed more hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20795" CreationDate="2018-07-14T17:48:20.010" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give in, feed him, then go back to bed. He's happy because he gets food, you're happy because he's not meowing anymore. Learn to live with waking up a bit early and then going back for a lie-in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a timed feeder as mentioned by @Valorum in the comments. An excellent investment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0yz72.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0yz72.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat feeders&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 3:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be determined. Get some earplugs. Ignore your cat when he meows. It will take determination but eventually he will learn that he doesn't get breakfast until later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can reinforce this by providing special treats with the breakfast like a bit of raw chicken. Perhaps even alternate between getting up and feeding him but not giving him chicken and lying in bed for longer and giving him chicken with is breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A guide provided by @dexgecko from the 'American Association of Feline Practicioners' (henceforth AAoFP) supports this option. From page 30:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The easiest passive intervention is to absolutely ignore  the &#xA;  undesirable behavior&lt;/em&gt;, as long as medical problems that might &#xA;  cause this behavior have been ruled out or treated. If the &#xA;  client’s response to the cat’s behavior has contributed to the&#xA;  problem, the behavior may fade if the response ceases. For example,&#xA;  if the cat meows to be fed at 3:00 AM and the client complies, the cat&#xA;  is inadvertently rewarded both with food and attention. This&#xA;  teaches the cat an undesirable  behavior  that may also contribute&#xA;  to obesity and decrease the quality of the relationship between pet&#xA;  and client. Clients  must ignore the cat completely when it &#xA;  meows in the night, even  if this means banning the cat from &#xA;  the bedroom until the habit is  broken. A few initial rough &#xA;  nights may prevent a prolonged behavior concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Said guide can be found here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catvets.com/public/PDFs/PracticeGuidelines/FelineBehaviorGLS.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.catvets.com/public/PDFs/PracticeGuidelines/FelineBehaviorGLS.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Importantly, &lt;strong&gt;do not spray your cat with a water bottle&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squirt bottles cause cats stress and teaches them to not trust you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spraying the cat in this situation you are punishing the cat for perfectly natural behaviour. Cats naturally wake up earlier than most modern humans do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats respond better to positive reinforcement than to punishments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again referring to the AAoFP's guide, this time from page 29:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Animals—including cats—learn best by being rewarded. Punishment does not teach the desired behavior.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some references detailing the possible negative effects of the squirt bottle approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thecatsite.com/ams/5-reasons-to-never-spray-water-on-your-cat.33819/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://thecatsite.com/ams/5-reasons-to-never-spray-water-on-your-cat.33819/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/the-squirt-bottle-controversy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/the-squirt-bottle-controversy/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ilovepets.co/spraying-cat-water/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://ilovepets.co/spraying-cat-water/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.felinebehaviorsolutions.com/stop-spraying-cats-with-water/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.felinebehaviorsolutions.com/stop-spraying-cats-with-water/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option4: (last resort)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really must use a 'punishing' approach to solving this problem, consider using sound instead. There are lots of different sounds that cats do not like and it's easy to rig up a device that can play sounds remotely. You can either use a remote control (but be careful the cat doesn't see it), a motion sensor (but remember to turn it off when you get up so your cat isn't permenantly afraid of going in your bedroom) or perhaps a microphone with some AI software set up to detect your cat's meow (if you're technically inclined enough to be able to pull that off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful about what sound you choose. Certain sounds can actually be painful for the cat's sensitive ears, especially high-pitched sounds.&#xA;A safe bet is the sound of a snake hissing or a plastic bag rustling (which sounds similar to a snake's hissing). Cats don't like hissing noises because they hate snakes and instinctively know that hissing noises are something snakes do to scare other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you get good quality sound that encompasses the full audio range though. Certain sound formats strip out the frequencies that humans can't hear, but cats depend on some of those frequencies. If those frequencies aren't there, it's more likely to confuse the cat than scare it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience, some cats jump at the sound a toaster makes so that might be another suitable one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure that the sound only plays in the morning and not during the day so that your cat learns your room isn't safe only at certain times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article about sounds that cats do not like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalwised.com/what-sounds-do-cats-hate-1512.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.animalwised.com/what-sounds-do-cats-hate-1512.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5878" LastEditorUserId="5878" LastEditDate="2018-07-16T17:48:19.453" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T17:48:19.453" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-14T19:18:42.417" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are moving from Texas to Wisconsin. It is a 1330 mile trip. We will be stopping at 2 hotels along the way. Do you have any advice for traveling with a Boxer, a kitten, a Betta fish, and a 4 year old in a car-seat? As you can see we will have a full vehicle. I saw somewhere about people letting their cat travel loose with a litter box in the car. We got a carrier for safety and will need to make a few potty breaks along the way. Just looking for more input. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12524" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-08T13:38:34.540" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T13:21:17.210" Title="Moving with pets: boxer, kitten and betta fish (1330 mile trip)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20819" CreationDate="2018-07-14T19:42:24.583" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get her to a vet. You are asking strangers on the Internet for medical advice here, but you should actually ask a veterinarian. They have the knowledge and equipment to diagnose and hopefully help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; got hit by a car, would you ask the Internet to treat you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T00:34:21.980" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T00:34:21.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20822" CreationDate="2018-07-14T19:50:32.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doesn't sound very toxic to me, but not very pleasant either. You could simply wash the cleaning product out of the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I wash my dog (not very often), I also use whatever shampoo I use for my hair, but I rinse it out as best I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the dog eats, plays and behaves like always, there is no need to see the vet. If he pukes, doesn't eat or drinks much more than usual, you should see a vet. If he licks himself more often or more intensely than usual, simply rinse the residue out of the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-20T15:58:44.003" LastActivityDate="2021-03-20T15:58:44.003" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-14T13:37:49.817" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I am a student and I have almost no knowledge of Dogs and Cats' Anatomy, Biology and Nutritional Needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know how eating meat is bad for the environment and most animals. So we should try to find ways to reduce meat consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said before, I have no knowledge of the topic, but I have seen many dogs who live healthy and happy on a vegan/vegetarian diet. (Vegan is basically vegetarian minus milk for them which is even better)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the oldest dogs to live was a vegan as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more doubtful question is of cats. I have seen healthy vegan cats in FaceBook Groups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know more about this topic, so please share your knowledge, information, opinions. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10293" OwnerDisplayName="Ram Keswani" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-09-01T16:31:24.070" LastActivityDate="2018-09-01T16:31:24.070" Title="Vegan dogs and cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2018-07-15T17:08:03.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20832" CreationDate="2018-07-14T14:19:14.053" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are obligate carnivores. They are unable to synthesise taurine, Argenine and many other nutrients. I mean, in theory I guess you could, very carefully, create a soylent style suppliment with all the things your cat could need from artificial sources, or... realise that cats are basically perfectly adapted for a hunting/meat eating lifestyle, and just accept it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With dogs, it depends. While traditionally, in india, dogs are vegan, they weren't treated so well. In my experience your classic indian street dog was much more adaptable as are dogs in general. So, if you know what you're doing, and consult with your vet, sure. An &lt;em&gt;omnivorous&lt;/em&gt; diet does feel like a smart compromise, both reducing the environmental footprint, and well hopefully maximising the flexibility you have in feeding your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd end by saying though that its a matter of balance. A pet really isn't going to be environmentally 'perfect' If you're going to let 'human' ethics,ideology and culture affect how you support your pets  - you might want to pick a vegitarian pet rather than getting a cat or dog, and trying to find a diet that works for both of you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" OwnerDisplayName="Journeyman Geek" LastActivityDate="2018-07-14T14:19:14.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20843" CreationDate="2018-07-14T21:49:17.270" Score="2" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently got a pet toad, and I am wondering at what point after feeding meal worms do the worms die? &#xA;I noticed that they are definitely still squirmy when in his mouth and he swallows them whole. Worms can also survive for several weeks under water provided there is sufficient oxygen in the water to support them, which means the only way they are dying is via . So how long does it take the worms to be sufficiently digested to the point where they stop moving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12527" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T11:27:44.363" Title="How long does it take for a worm to die after a toad eats it?" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20836" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-15T02:28:20.573" Score="3" ViewCount="568" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 month old intact male Border Collie. I got him when he was ~4 months. I live with three other roommates and close to my family. When I first got him, he was timid around people and would spend most of his day in the basement instead of out and about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that his timidity has transitioned to aggression, he now barks and growls at my roommates whenever I am not home. He does the same when I visit my parents and leave briefly. When I am home, he barks at my roommates but ignores my parents when I visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to remedy this issue by having them provide him with treats and make him do things he understands (ie, telling him to sit and rewarding him). This worked for a little bit and he didn't bark at the roommate that I did this process with when I was home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my roommates (understandably) feels uncomfortable around the puppy since he's acting so aggressively and would prefer that I keep him in the basement when I am away. Naturally, I would like to avoid this outcome. Especially since two of the roommates will be leaving at the end of the lease and I will need to find new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to alleviate my dogs anxiety/aggression towards other people while I am gone? I have him crate trained, but I don't think it's fair to keep him crated up when I am away for 8+ hours each day during the workweek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it's relevant, but he seems to be just fine around my sister even when I'm not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sincerely appreciate your help, thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: As of the time of this edit, he has become significantly better. I think the reason is at least partly because I moved out of the house. He may have had a poor experience with one of the roommates while I was not home which caused him to be anxious and stressed. Now that I live in my own home, he has calmed down quite a bit. Even in public and with strange people / dogs, he's doing so much better. Granted he's still nervous. But he is no longer aggressive or (too) fearful. He was also neutered and is older now which probably played a big part in calming him down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional measures I took to ensure his success were feeding him exclusively through puzzle toys and something called a &amp;quot;Foobler&amp;quot; which keeps him occupied when I am not present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what combination of these things is responsible for him calming down so much, I am unsure. But I do feel strongly that removing him from that house played a big part in that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12529" LastEditorUserId="12529" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T00:49:14.560" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T00:49:14.560" Title="7 month dog growls/barks at anyone in the house when I am away" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20832" CreationDate="2018-07-15T06:33:29.083" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated in other answers, cats are obligate carnivores.  This means that their entire biological design has been hyper-optimized for consumption of meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore#Obligate_carnivores&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore#Obligate_carnivores&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is different for dogs and humans.  Humans are full-on omnivores, able to eat almost anything.  Wolves, and therefore the related Dogs, are also omnivores.  As long as you hit the right nutrition level, both humans and dogs will happily survive on an vegan diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of this has to do with where our species came from, evolutionarily.  Humans are hunters and gatherers;  we have large caloric needs and developed over time the ability to subsist on meat as well as vegetation.  Agriculture provided us with stationary food sources, and animal husbandry allowed us to do the same for animal products.  We no longer needed to hunt or gather, but here's the key part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As far as evolution is concerned, we have the same digestive systems as our hunting and gathering generations.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evolution is a very, very slow process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs joined the Human circle when wolves, who were already omnivorous, teamed up with omnivorous humans.  We humans were way more effective at our hunting and gathering with wolves around, and wolves found themselves provided with plenty of comparatively easy nutrition.  As humanity moved from roving bands to agriculture, wolves were selectively bred into various useful breeds;  but at the core, the dog you see on a leash in Paris is the same family of animals that traces back to the omnivorous wolves they came from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats have a different history.&lt;/strong&gt; While dogs joined the tribe back during the hunting and gathering era, cats joined us only after the agricultural revolution.  The problem was mice.  Humans would spend massive efforts growing and storing grain, only for those little critters to sneak in and eat or spoil it all.  Humans needed a solution, and nature had one specifically designed for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have always been the obligate carnivores they are now.  We hired them for a specific job which required them to be obligate carnivores.  They are finely tuned machines designed for eating the critters trying to ruin your vegan diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like a few ten thousand years worth of breeding didn't change the underlying biology of dogs, a few thousand years worth of husbandry hasn't changed cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It all comes down to intestines.&lt;/strong&gt;  Plant based foods require more digestive work to get the nutrients out than meat, because meat is already almost in the exact form your body needs it;  the protein composition is exactly what you need.  With plant based foods, you either need complex chemistry to break them down or more work in the gut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans and dogs have relatively long intestines.  They're all coiled up inside to pack it all in.  Cats don't have this at all.  The entire digestive apparatus exists between the back legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wQeSa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wQeSa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;You&amp;#39;re looking inside me again, aren&amp;#39;t you?&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's literally not enough linear space for cats to digest plant based foods.  The foods they eat must be easily digestible by their hyper-optimized-for-hunting-meat digestive systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you can get close.  Engineered cat foods based on plant proteins, specifically provided with synthesized molecules required for their diet can fill the niche.  Basically, much of the chemistry that happens in your digestive system has to happen in a food laboratory or factory to get food to the point that kitty can eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be careful doing this, and be really good friends with your vet, so they can keep an eye on your cat's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heck, most off-the-shelf cat foods are made with tons of plant fillers, so we know cats CAN eat vegetation.  But they don't get much food value from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're an &quot;environmental&quot; vegan, you also need to consider the energy inputs required to convert plant based foods into something your meat-optimized buddy can consume.  Because there's a lot of scientific and engineering work required to convert purely plant base stock into something your cat can eat.  And those vital molecules required in their diets, the stuff they can't synthesize like taurine, must be assembled in a factory as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final thought:  unless the entire population of the planet completely converts to veganism, there will ALWAYS be meat production.  No matter how you feel about it, as long as there's one person out there who likes steak, there will be animals butchered for it.  And much of that butchered animal isn't top quality meat from the steak-eater's perspective.  But all that &quot;waste&quot; is perfectly palatable for kitty, with a minimal amount of preparation and processing.  It hits all the checkmarks of what your cat's biology needs, and hits all the taste and quality of life metrics you cat's brain is looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because that waste exists &lt;em&gt;anyway&lt;/em&gt;, and your choice to feed your cat biologically compatible food isn't the cause of the animal being butchered... I would make the argument that letting kitty eat the waste is way better than that waste just being wasted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm not saying you should go to the local butcher shop and get a sack of scraps and process it at home.  Most cat foods on the market, however, use this perfectly-acceptable-to-a-cat waste to generate kibble that your cat can eat.  Just don't get the high-end brands that advertise using &quot;human grade&quot; meat, because that basically is just feeding kitty a steak.  And I would personally avoid tuna, because tuna has a hard enough time as it is, and there's not much waste in tuna.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a middle value off-the-shelf cat food will provide your cat with everything it needs, give it the proteins and molecules it needs from animal sources, and fill the rest of it with plant-based ingredients.  Your cat will be healthier, and you won't be having to become a Ph.D. in veterinary chemistry to make sure your cat gets all it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, cats are &lt;strong&gt;not omnivores&lt;/strong&gt;, and therefore they will not survive on a purely plant based diet without massive engineering effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12533" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T06:33:29.083" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-15T10:49:43.307" Score="3" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, both are cross Beagle and Cavalier. The older one, a male, is 2 years old and the younger one, a female, is 1 year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 months ago, my younger started attacking my older when he was near her food or when we gave him more attention. He doesn't retaliate and is scared of her when she does that. She even takes his bones and he lets her. Going near her would make her growl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe my younger has self-esteem issues and wants to be loved, and we do love her. I give her first priority when I go outside (they stay outdoors) kissing her, hugging her all sorts of stuff, then my older. But she seems to want &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of the attention. When I go to my older and give him attention, my younger goes near me. My older immediately leaves and does something else. A week ago I gave my younger half a treat, and was going to give her the rest, but gave it to my older. She became very aggressive and started biting him. Every time I have to hold her down very tightly or she'll slip out and start attacking him again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The telltale signs of her anger before she strikes is that she looks at my older with complete focus, then attacks. She is smaller than my older. He has always been a passive dog, never biting. Even when someone hassles him, he bites but not very hard and only to get me to stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I fix her behaviour? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T21:07:41.473" LastActivityDate="2020-10-21T22:00:50.123" Title="My dog gets aggressive to her brother" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20829" CreationDate="2018-07-15T11:09:09.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good luck on that trip!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sure you want to take them with you, do so. It is a long trip and a bit of a hassle to move pets over these kind of distances. If you decide not to take them with you, you can always try to get them a nice new (foster) home before you move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;For Dog &amp;amp; Cat:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train both in using a harness. You need to be in control. Your cat will not like it. But not much choice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a good travel crate for each of them. That way you can drive without distraction or worry to your destination. Nothing worse then a cat or dog loose while you are traveling. If possible, introduce these to your pets and make them a good place to be. Due to cat claws I recommend a hard cover travel crate for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At each stop give them a change to drink, eat and relieve themselves. That means having kitty litter available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know they are of a nervous disposition, visit a vet, explain the situation and ask for calming meds for the trip. A calm pet is a good pet for a trip this long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Travel crate examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog crate &lt;a href=&quot;https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/a8e0119e-1fbb-4d16-9e72-57d49635485e_1.3b25bb01e97eeca2bcaab5e4936a4d8c.jpeg?odnHeight=450&amp;amp;odnWidth=450&amp;amp;odnBg=FFFFFF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hard cover&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog crate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.callingalldogs.com/ProductImages/dog_crates/ZA42031-MedSC300.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Soft cover&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat crate &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ferplast.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/480x600/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/7/3/73006799W1_1_21.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hard cover&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Betta fish:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see two options. Betta fish are not that expensive most places. And if yours were, you would probably know better then me how to transport it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First is to just try and take it with you. A plastic container with 5 liters of water (~2 gallons) with some water plants and a lid will go a long way. Oxygen replenishment is a issue with water proofing. Open every hour or so? Food or oxygen in the water are not the problem here. If it doesn't get too warm or freeze, it might make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second is to give it away to people who know how to keep one. And buy a new one at your destination. That long travel is not that good for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;4 year old:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know that better than I ;) have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9546" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T13:21:17.210" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T13:21:17.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-15T11:10:18.990" Score="6" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I‌ have a ~4 years old male ginger tabby cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted the cat about 2 years ago and have no idea where and how he was brought up. He was found in the street, according to the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I wake up, he quickly jumps on my chest and presses his forehead under my chin and starts purring with a low voice while I‌ caress him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ritual goes on for about 10 minutes and always ends up with him yawning and leaving my chest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering how common is this behavior, and what does it signify?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-10T11:56:29.677" LastActivityDate="2020-01-10T11:56:29.677" Title="How common is this cat pressing forehead under human chin behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20835" CreationDate="2018-07-15T11:27:44.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A toad has no teeth to chew on worms, so they are alive when swallowed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The toads stomach is not filled with water, but with acid. As soon as the acid dissolves the worms skin / shell, its body cannot keep life functions going. Since meal worms don't have an internal skeleton and are more like a fluid than tissue inside, they will simply flow appart and die.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how long the acid takes to dissolve a worms shell. You could search on google or do some gross experiment, but I doubt it takes longer that some minutes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fun fact: Toads cannot swallow with their eyes open. They cannot transport the food into their stomach with their tongue and throat like mammals do. Instead they pull their eyeballs down into the skull to push the food into the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T11:27:44.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20836" CreationDate="2018-07-15T11:47:14.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often and how long do you walk him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; hope you realize that a Border Collie is an absolute workaholic. If he doesn't get a chance to &lt;strong&gt;burn a lot of energy every single day&lt;/strong&gt; he is simply going stir crazy and attacking people out of frustration, boredom and not knowing where to vent his energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping him in a crate for 8 hours a day is not a solution, but outright abuse and will certainly not improve his behavior. Keeping him in a basement alone for 8 hours will probably result in a destroyed basement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another problem is the obvious lack of respect for your roommates. Your description sounds like he accepts you as the pack leader, but he is right below you in rank and everyone else is below him. In his mind, he has the right to tell everyone else how to behave (by barking and growling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, consult a dog trainer and take a training course if available. It is not the dog who has to learn human behavior, but &lt;strong&gt;you have to learn dog behavior&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get new roommates, introduce them to your dog. Be the active party by bringing a guest into the &amp;quot;territory&amp;quot;, don't let them be the ones entering first and approaching your dog first. You are the pack leader, so you decide who is welcome and when you introduce them. Should your dog growl or bark, correct him immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to &lt;strong&gt;teach your new roommates&lt;/strong&gt; how to interact with your dog to avoid future aggressive behavior. Try explaining what you learned in your dog training course to them. Watch a few episodes of &amp;quot;The Dog Whisperer&amp;quot; or a similar show where your roommates can learn to interpret dog behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your roommates should probably do some obedience training with your dog as well. That way they are integrated into the &amp;quot;pack&amp;quot; and the dog learns that these people rank higher that him. Play sessions are also very good opportunities to build a friendship between dog and human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And most of all you have to give your dog a chance to burn energy. Train him to run next to your bike, walk with him using skates or do Dog Agility with him. Throwing balls is a nice game, but bears the danger of developing compulsive behavior in him. Again, ask a dog trainer for suitable activities for Border Collies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T18:53:42.880" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T18:53:42.880" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20840" CreationDate="2018-07-15T12:34:15.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to tell her in her own language that her behavior is not accepted. Dogs do that by snapping (that is biting without actually biting). You as a human can do that by making a snapping gesture with your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lDwGz0XaM0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;short video&lt;/a&gt; about it and famous &quot;dog whisperer&quot; Cesar Millan also explains it often in his shows, but I couldn't find a short video clip of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already see the signs on an impending attack. You must react as fast as possible and &quot;snap&quot; at the side of her neck or torso with your hand before the attack starts. Tell her loudly and angrily &quot;no!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she tries to displace the other dog when he gets attention, physically (but gently) push her away from you and the other dog. That tells her that she is not allowed to approach and chase the other dog away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-15T12:34:15.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-15T15:42:29.663" Score="1" ViewCount="565" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is two picture of the same Dog I got and I have asked to determine its gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lsd9C.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lsd9C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;2 Month Old&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e2s19.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/e2s19.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;present&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any possible way that logically determine its gender? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12537" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T19:32:16.240" Title="Is there any way to determine dog gender by face?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-15T15:49:26.010" Score="3" ViewCount="12603" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had kittens who are now 6 months old. We re-homed all but three, and all three are still nursing even though they eat solid food and they catch mice, moles, rabbits and eat them too. I had someone come out and take a look at my cat and he told me that the kittens are taking all her nutrients and will end up killing her if I don't do something soon. I don't want my cat to die and I do what I can to stop them from feeding on her, but I just don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like anything I do doesn't help or stop them. I have tried separating them and punishing them with a water bottle. I make them stop when I can. I have tried to re home them, but no one wants them right now. We have no animal shelter where I am, and I refuse to call animal control because they will just put them down, so what do I do? They are extremely active kittens. They eat A LOT and I hold and pet them and they sleep on me all the time, so I don't understand why they are still nursing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12538" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T17:41:58.320" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T17:41:58.320" Title="Kittens won't stop nursing on mother, and it's killing her. What do I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20847" CreationDate="2018-07-15T19:18:49.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some thoughts to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you giving them special kitten food? There are more calories and more protein in kitten food than in &quot;normal&quot; cat food. If the calories in their food are not enough, they might feel the need to nurse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you sure your cat is still producing milk? I once had a cat that &quot;nursed&quot; on a blanket for comfort. This could be social behavior without any milk involved. Carefully stroke your cats belly or observe the kittens and see if there is milk flowing. If there is none, you shouldn't punish them with a spray bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she still produces milk and actually lies down to nurse instead of getting up and shaking her kittens off, you could try bitter apple. This is a natural extract from sour / bitter apples that doesn't harm the kittens, but they will loath the taste. It can be found in most pharmacies and sometimes in well-equiped drug stores or pet stores. Wet a cotton ball, squeze out excess water and but a few drops of bitter apple on it. Swipe the mothers teats with the cotton ball and the kittens should stop suckling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution is to cover the teats of your cat with a flexible bandage. You could even try cutting off the foot of a large sock and pull the remaining sleeve over her stomach. Take care not to move the covering against the direction of her fur or the discomfort will cause her to remove it. This method has the advantage that the kittens can still &quot;dry nurse&quot; on her for comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I advice you to consult a vet. If mom is still producing milk, medicine could help her more than spray bottles. Maybe she would benefit from some vitamins as well. In any case, a healthy cat will not increase weight in a matter of a week or two. Give her time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-12-29T16:00:28.140" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T16:00:28.140" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20846" CreationDate="2018-07-15T19:26:55.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not that I know of. Even with humans, it's mostly possible because of fashion and hair cuts. Shave the heads (including beards) of random people and put them into identical wide clothes and you will have a hard time accurately determining their gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the evolution of wolves and dogs, there was never a need to determine gender by looks. Dogs have their noses for that purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some people claiming to determine a dog's gender by the overall build and gait, but this applies mostly to exceptional cases of certain breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T14:20:59.807" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T14:20:59.807" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20842" CreationDate="2018-07-16T04:47:04.673" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it just signifies that your cat loves you! The forehead on chin part could be a variation of head bunting and could be his way of saying &quot;good morning&quot;. Head bunting is very common. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, since you are paying him attention and caressing him, you are reinforcing this behavior (which is adorable, so who wouldn't reinforce it?), that's why he keeps doing it. Enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;p.s. am not a vet or cat behaviourist, but am a cat owner and have read many books and scientific articles on cats (in the quest to understand my own cat).&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12541" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T04:47:04.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20829" CreationDate="2018-07-16T05:07:57.617" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can't pitch in on advice for dog/beta fish/kid, but can throw in my 2 cents for the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the cat, if your cat is accustomed to car rides and frequent outings, and in fact likes it, this long journey may not be a problem for him. You mention that it is a kitten, how old is he/she? Kittens (but not extremely young ones) are more amenable to new experiences (and in fact kitten-hood is a good time to get them used to things they would otherwise hate in the future, like teeth brushing, going into the carrier, walking on a leash, being picked up, going to the vet, etc.) So depending on how old your kitten is, it may or may not be a good idea altogether to travel so long in the car with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, indoor only cats who are NOT used to car travel simply won't pee/poop even if you make pit stops during the drive. They will hold it in until they couldn't. And even once arrived at the hotel, the environment might be too foreign for them to feel comfortable enough to go to the bathroom. Same with eating/drinking. Cats are creatures of habits, I really can't emphasize how stressful venturing outside the home is for the cat. Obviously, there are some intrepid and well-adjusted cats that are the exception (and likely have been exposed to these kind or experiences since kitten-hood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think your alternative has to be giving up your cat. Since you are traveling inside the US, perhaps as your family drives to your new place, you can board your cat or leave your cat with relatives/friends. Once you are all settled in your new house, AND have moved all your cat's old stuff (bedding, rugs, toys, bowls, etc. anything with his/her scent on it) in the new house, you could fly with your cat to your new home (yes, I'm aware this means you will have to fly back and then fly with your cat again, and it can be costly). Domestically you can fly with your cat in-cabin for about $100 on most airlines. This will dramatically shorten the journey for your cat, and once he/she arrives everything would have been set up for him/her. So the whole trip would be less traumatic for the cat, and fewer unfamiliar places with unfamiliar scent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, getting some Feliway (a spray /  diffuser of cat pheromones) may help calm your cat while traveling. It doesn't work 100%, some cats don't respond to it, but it is something to try. A trip to the vet prior to long travel (in any form) may also be a good idea, just making sure that all is okay.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12541" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T05:07:57.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20840" CreationDate="2018-07-16T10:02:49.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is alot to dissect here, so here goes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;my youngest started attacking my oldest when he was near her food&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is perfectly normal behaviour for dogs, but food is the biggest escalator of problems and conflict. Feed them separately. Different rooms or areas of the house until they are better around each other. A sign of maturity now the youngest is getting older, they are becoming less tolerant and setting boundaries for the older one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;or when we give him more attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, normal behaviour, you need to give both equal amounts of attention or the other will get jealous. Equal attention and walk them separately for a while. If the other tries to wade in or attack/snap, a firm &quot;NO!&quot; should do it, if not send it away to its bed etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He doesn't retaliate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the last thing you want, a power struggle, retaliation will cause fights and issues, you need to stop it before it even gets to that. Making them comfortable around each other will help this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She even takes his bones and he lets her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where you need to step in, as soon as it takes the bone off the other one, walk over, remove the bone and a firm &quot;NO!&quot; and give it back to the other. If it persists then send it to its bed/crate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Going near her would make her growl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, normal, just being possessive of its bone, but follow the above if its taken it off the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe my youngest has self-esteem issues and wants to be loved,&#xA;  and we do love her. I give her first priority when i go outside (they&#xA;  stay outdoors) kissing her, hugging her all sorts of stuff, then my&#xA;  oldest. But she seems to want all of the attention. When i go to my&#xA;  oldest and give him attention my youngest goes near me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say this behaviour is establishing it above the other in the pecking order, give both equal attention, not more or less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A week ago i have my youngest half a treat, and was going to give her&#xA;  the rest, but gave it to my oldest. She became very aggressive and&#xA;  started biting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This needs to stop as it is causing friction and jealousy, both dogs are equal, you are the pack leader in the scenario. You need to treat them equally, no favourites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every time i have to hold her down very tightly or she'll slip out and&#xA;  start attacking him again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Restricting may cause the dog to get more worked up and defensive as it is out of control of its own body, and it will feel vulnerable. Instead of distraining them, toys, food, play, attention, be fun, high pitch voices, you are more fun than what they are about to do this will focus their attention to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get them comfortable around each other, this takes alot of time and persistence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T10:02:49.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15365" CreationDate="2018-07-16T10:04:43.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We simply shut our Labrador puppy into the kitchen overnight and cleaned up the pee and poop every morning and took it as part of the routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, the discipline gets better and they do their business where they should do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be a good idea to move the last feeding time earlier in the evening to help minimise night-time doings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T10:04:43.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20846" CreationDate="2018-07-16T10:12:13.583" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think this is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who know a specific breed inside out will know what to look for, in size and build, but this won't be 100% accurate. It will still be a guess, maybe an ever so slightly more accurate one, but a guess nonetheless. Not to mention there are always edge cases. It would be too inaccurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only sure way is to check underneath and see what's there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T19:32:16.240" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T19:32:16.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20829" CreationDate="2018-07-16T13:51:52.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can speak from experience for driving with cats, but not  for the other pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having made many (20+) round-trips between Atlanta and Orlando (450 miles each way) with between 3 and 6 cats varying in age from 1-2 months to 2-3 years, there's a lot which depends on the capacity of the non-driving partner and the temperament of the cat and other pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you will &lt;strong&gt;definitely&lt;/strong&gt; want to make space for a litter box - preferably the one your cat is used to (if you have the space for it) and be prepared to make a sudden pit-stop to empty the litter if kitty drops a bomb.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's entirely possible that he won't want to use it, as other answers have indicated, but in my experience some cats tend to find their bowels loosen 10-15 minutes after the journey starts, so if that happens you want it to happen in a litter box which you can easily clean.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also strongly recommend that you load kitty into the car in a crate which he is familiar with (so if you don't already have one I'd suggest you get one) and leave it with the door open (or detached) in your house for at least a few days (preferably a week or more) so that he can become familiar with it. It would probably be a good idea to place a blanket or pad inside during this time (with the hope that it'll pick up some of his scent) and leave it in for the journey to offer some small amount of familiarity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You could also move his litter box into the crate during this time to get him used to the space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the journey has started, and if he seems reasonably calm (don't expect a settled, happy cat - just not frantic), your non-driving partner could open the crate and let him out, but be prepared to make sure that he doesn't interfere with the driver.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It would also be a good idea to pack you car in such a way that little spaces (like under the seats, etc) are blocked off and that you'll be able to recapture him if &amp;amp; when necessary without having to search &amp;amp; dig too much.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Most of our cats quickly became settled on my wife's lap (sometimes taking turns, other times 3 at once) or they would find a small 'safe' space to curl up in.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You just need to try to make sure that any cat-accessible 'safe' spaces are also easily accessible by you, because you don't want kitty to be able to dart out of the car when you open the door at a pit-stop.  Make sure that you either have a very firm hold on him, or put him back in the crate before opening a door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always tried to keep a bowl of water available in the crate (when we used one) - a large-ish bowl (to prevent tipping) with a little water (to prevent it sloshing over) with occasional top-ups throughout the journey seemed to work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You could also offer a smaller bowl with some dry food, but he might not be interested in eating while the car is moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10852" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T13:51:52.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20826" CreationDate="2018-07-16T14:26:54.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats shed the same amount of fur after they are spayed/neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had cats that have been unneutered and unspayed and I have not seen any difference in the amount of shedding after they have been spayed/neutered. Not even when the cats have been exposed to the stress of getting a new home where another cat was living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do normally shed some fur all the time, but the amount of shedding does increase in the spring when the days are getting longer, and again when the winter comes and the days are getting shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does happen in both indoor and outdoor cats, so it is controlled by the duration of daylight hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can lose fur as a result of stress, but this is more pronounced if the cat starts over-grooming itself, or as a result of illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do mention your cat starts to shed more fur after changing the type of food you give your cat, and it is possible the composition of the new food can induce more shedding simply because it contains nutrients your cat has been in short supply of. If this is the case, your cat will soon be back to shedding normally again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T00:37:25.833" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T00:37:25.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-16T16:26:58.180" Score="3" ViewCount="1153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been giving my Holland Lop a lot of carrots without thinking about how that can be bad for her. She was making what sounded like farting noises and I don't know why. I think she was scared because of the thunderstorm but I don't think rabbits do that when they are scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody help me and Nesquick?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TQIYH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12550" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-07-17T00:16:19.327" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T01:07:19.930" Title="Will too many carrots make my pet bunny fart?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19724" CreationDate="2018-07-16T16:32:45.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;At first pet rabbits will scratch you when you put them in a cage. The trick is to not move them around a lot when you pick them up and to do it quickly. I lower my bunny and allow her to jump down from my hands when she is close to the ground (1 foot or 30 cm) to insure the safety of both of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12550" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-17T22:42:12.007" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T22:42:12.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20817" CreationDate="2018-07-16T16:34:43.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &quot;cat shelves&quot; change shy cats behavior in unimaginable ways. You simply install narrow shelves with a rough texture in positions where the cat can access them (jump on them, walk on them). Extra points for incorporating existing furniture like the tops of closets or actual shelves (that have to be empty, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind them is that cats ostensibly feel safe on high vantage points. Since they can move over the shelves very conveniently, they don't feel the need to hide. Of course, you have to install them in a way that is convenient to the cat and enables her to reach places in your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After installing the shelves, ban the second cat from the room for 2 days and let the shy cat explore them first. Hopefully she will leave her own scent on them and feel safe on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-16T16:34:43.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-16T17:12:23.350" Score="6" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;So recently we took in an older family pet - a 5 year old cat, named Spartapuss. He couldn't live with my parents any longer, so he came to live with me and my fiancé in our flat. He was essentially my cat for 3 years and when I moved out we decided not to upset the balance he had with our other family cat, so left him behind. He moved on Saturday and he seems to be adjusting well so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only issue is that we have two 1 year old cats, a boy named Drogo and a girl named Khaleesi. Both are outdoor cats and we fitted a cat flap so they come and go as they please. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither has taken well to Spartapuss invading their territory, understandable. For this reason, we set up a safe area for them in the spare room, where they spend most of their time - and Spartapuss has his area in our bedroom for now. We've let them get small glimpses of each other (apart from Drogo and Spartapuss' first meeting which happened unexpectedly, lots of sniffing and curiosity before the defence mechanisms kicked in). We open and close the safe spaces to allow time for each one to roam the flat and get used to the scent of the others regularly. Rotating every few hours, provided the kittens aren't outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drogo has no real issue with Spartapuss, they can be in the same room and, bar from some small confrontation, they generally leave each other alone or just avoid each other. However, our girl Khaleesi - every time Spartapuss see's her, he moves towards her and she runs a mile. It's unusual behaviour from him, especially given how passive he is towards Drogo and having lived in a multi-cat household before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to let him out to roam as he is an outdoor cat, but we're terrified he'll scare away Khaleesi so she won't come back, or otherwise hurt her. There's only one door (our own private front door that leads directly outside) so they are guaranteed to meet and we're worried that if he scares her away from the house entrance, she won't want to come back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be welcome.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12551" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:33:44.433" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T07:06:07.437" Title="New 5 year old cat being introduced to 1 year old siblings" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20863" CreationDate="2018-07-16T17:36:31.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have a similar situation at home, only that a cat that went missing returned after one year and now there was another cat in the family. The returned cat is male while the new one is female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's only natural that the male shows interest in the female. Unfortunately our female has no interest in the male and hisses at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, we found no solution to make them like each other. But given that both have sufficient places to avoid each other, there is no problem and they simply walk a wide arc around each other. The only potential for problems is the door where they cannot see each other from afar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats already have separated rooms, are accustomed to their home and have smelled each others scents. The next step would be to open the doors and see what happens. You should probably have a spray bottle at the ready to stop a fight, &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; one occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T07:06:07.437" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T07:06:07.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-17T00:13:04.203" Score="6" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta, Neptune, lives in a BiOrb FLOW 30 tank which has a spongy filter material sitting on top of charcoal pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was changing it monthly but got behind and the current filter is going on 3 months. I also got behind on water changes (don't judge, I just had a baby) and, to my surprise, the water tests showed 0 ppm ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and a pH that's 7.8, which is the same as the tap (so, it's been stable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that everything is so stable, it feels like a filter and water change aren't necessary at this point, but that just feels so &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question is: given this stable environment, is a water and filter change necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12553" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T19:45:01.777" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T19:45:01.777" Title="Is the filter change necessary?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20819" CreationDate="2018-07-17T00:31:11.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hit by cars, on any animal, need to be seen ASAP. A pet may look fine at first glance but there is a high chance of internal damage that may only be apparent when it's too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your veterinarian will want to do radiographs to check for any broken/displaced bones or ruptured organs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the outcome of the exam, pain medicine or anti-inflammatories can be prescribed to allow your turtle to be comfortable during the healing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you get him to a vet keep him warm and in a quiet place, the less stress the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T00:31:11.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20866" CreationDate="2018-07-17T03:17:07.417" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say at 3mos. its now a good time to keep the good environment going. Yes when I had this type of setup, actually as well as the other 1-piece complete filters, I found ways of stretching them. As a kid with not much money, it hadda be done at times. But with all pets we wanna do whats right, right? So, as I said after 3mos. I believe a change is needed.&#xA;But in btwn time or if u MUST go longer: change the spongy stuff (if its the kind that comes in a big bag of it) and help reactivate the charcoal by giving it all a good wash &amp;amp; rub under cold running water for several mins. Always make sure b4 u do anything with ur tank/fish u rinse off hands &amp;amp; arms well without using soap. And continue the good habit of regularly testing the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12554" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T03:17:07.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20866" CreationDate="2018-07-17T05:05:42.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you do not need to change the filter material. But what you need to do is remove the charcoal and replace it with new filter foam (filter sponge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The charcoal is only needed if you are removing medication from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you can see the water flow from your filter is reduced you need to clean the filter foam; to do this, you take some water from your tank and use this to clean the foam from your filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to change 10-20 % of the water every week, this is to remove the nitrate that builds up in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A waterfilter functions by giving the helpful bacteria that break down waste from your fish a place to live and work. So if you remove all of the foam from your filter, you remove the helpful bacteria, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bacteria living in your filter converting waste to plant nutrients are called nitrifying bacteria and what they do is called the nitrogen cycle; more about this here could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article about the nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T19:42:10.060" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T19:42:10.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20866" CreationDate="2018-07-17T09:05:00.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The filter sponge is where the beneficial bacteria live which help to take ammonia, turn it into nitrite and then finally convert it into nitrate. These bacteria can also live in the substrate (gravel, sand, dirt etc). In a well established tank, which is what is sounds like you have, your main concerns will be the nitrates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of debate about changing filter material. You don't want to throw away your existing sponge because you're basically throwing away your bacteria with it. Whilst you may find much of your bacteria lives in the substrate, you don't want to get rid of any more bacteria than you can afford.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clean your filter sponge, take it out, squeeze it a few times in some tank water to remove detritus and then replace it in your filter. As Trond alluded to, you may wish to do this once you notice the flow rate in your tank drop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The main thing I would be concerned about&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a tank which is only 30 litres, you need to ensure you keep a good water chemistry balance. With less water, a small change in the environment can have much bigger consequences on the fish. A larger system is much more stable which is often why you see beginners with small tanks struggling to balance their tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would double check your reading on Nitrate to make sure it really is 0. Admittedly, the bio load in your tank is not high, but just double check anyway. Consistency is key and ensure that you do your weekly water change will help your fish thrive. Just ensure that in a lower volume system, the water you're putting in is as close to the parameters in your tank as possible to avoid big spikes in your water parameters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;More generally&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen 'no maintenance tanks' thrive. This is predicated on the idea of balance and normally only works in planted tanks. The plants in the tank will help to keep your water quality high anyway by using the nitrates. This means that there is not really a need to change the water as long as the plants get everything they need to grow. The balance is often a little tricky but it sounds as though this could be what is happening in your tank. Even a 'no maintenance tank' should be monitored closely though to ensure that no levels become harmful to your fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T09:05:00.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-17T18:24:12.500" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual advice is &quot;Don't hike off leash with a Beagle, she'll find a squirrel trail and you'll never see her again&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However that's exactly what hunters do. They hunt with their dogs off leash, and they expect very much to come back home with the same number of dogs they left home with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:44:41.847" Title="How do hunters control their beagles, terriers etc while working?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;recall&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20873" CreationDate="2018-07-17T18:59:13.533" Score="0" ViewCount="1562" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Persian male cat. Its age is 9 months. I have arranged the potty pot for it. And I change its soil in every week. Also I have put a soft towel type material for pee. Almost from One month, it pees everywhere!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's really hard to clean everything else. It usually finds soft material like bed, sofa, clothes, towel etc for it. When I put clean soft towel for its pee, then it uses it 1-2 times hardly. But after that, it didn't use the same.. Or even, sometimes it didn't use that towel!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly tell me any solution for this or any reason? That why such change occurs from one month. Its really annoying and unbearable in front of others!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your help will be appreciable, thanks in advance..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T09:27:19.940" Title="My Persian cat pee everywhere at home!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-07-17T23:58:24.297" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20872" CreationDate="2018-07-17T19:35:19.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility is spraying. You might want to neuter your tomcat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually starts happening after he is sexually mature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2018-07-17T19:35:19.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20872" CreationDate="2018-07-17T19:57:28.643" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cleaning the litter once a week is definitely &lt;strong&gt;not enough&lt;/strong&gt;. You have to remove out the &quot;waste&quot; &lt;strong&gt;every day&lt;/strong&gt; and replace the litter once a week. If it smells like pee, the cat does not want to pee there again. Towels are no good option for cats, because their natural behavior is to dig a hole, drop their waste inside and bury it until the smell is hidden. Sand or cat litter is more likely to be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spraying is another possibility. If the cat makes a puddle below its body, it is urinating. If the cat makes a wet spot behind it (prefered on walls and furnitutre), it is spraying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering might help against spraying, but it's not guaranteed.&#xA;If the cat is actually urinating, it might have a urinary disease like bladder inflammation or urinary stones. You could check it up with a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But from your description it sounds like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't change litter often enough! A cat will not pee on the same litter / towel if it smells like urine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat learned that peeing everywhere is ok. As soon as you change the cat litter &lt;strong&gt;every day&lt;/strong&gt;, you should punish it with a water spray bottle if it tries to urinate anywhere outside the litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-19T09:27:19.940" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T09:27:19.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20871" CreationDate="2018-07-17T20:08:35.630" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because they trained their dogs much more than the average dog owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual dog owner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trains the basic commands (sit / no / come here) in a calm environment without distraction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stops most or all of the training once the dog is juvenile or adult.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has little to no control over the dog when it's distracted or too far away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The professional dog owner (including shepherds, police officers, rangers and hunters):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trains the basic commands and things like &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;retrieve&amp;quot; or similar commands, which control the dog from a further distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't stop training. Ever. Dogs deployed in certain jobs have to be trained every single day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uses positive reinforcement instead of punishment. That way the dog feels happy during training and real service.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the same could be applied to other service animals than dogs. The horses of mounted policemen have to be trained not to panic in chaotic situations, circus animals have to be taught their tricks, I've even seen the Mythbusters train goldfish to swim through a labyrinth... All done by constant repetition and positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T01:44:41.847" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:44:41.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20860" CreationDate="2018-07-17T22:39:53.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Farting is normal. Carrots are bad and potentially fatal, if your bunny eats too many of them.  The photo of your bunny shows the bottom of her back feet, and they are clean.  If her butt is also clean and if you have not seen any cecotropes then she is probably going to survive this episode.  If you have been seeing uneaten cecotropes or if her but is messy, you should get to a good rabbit vet as soon as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farting is a normal part of being a bunny.  See related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1503/can-rabbits-fart&quot;&gt;Can rabbits fart?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carrots are not healthy for rabbits see related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1816/are-carrots-a-healthy-part-of-a-rabbit-diet&quot;&gt;Are carrots a healthy part of a rabbit diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;Do bunnies eat their droppings?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10616/bunny-suddenly-kicking-litter-and-stinking&quot;&gt;Bunny suddenly kicking litter and stinking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-07-31T01:07:19.930" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T01:07:19.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20836" CreationDate="2018-07-18T06:44:38.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I would advice against using &amp;quot;The Dog Whisperer&amp;quot; as reference material (episodes themselves have warning that you should not try things from them at home, and Cesar has mixed opinions, and methods he came up with himself). Also, &amp;quot;pack behavior&amp;quot; is not really true (at least to my knowing and from what I've read), so there is no 'alpha', and dog is not trying to be your boss. For example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/dog-behavior-and-training-dominance-alpha-and-pack-leadership-what-does-it-really-mean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/dog-behavior-and-training-dominance-alpha-and-pack-leadership-what-does-it-really-mean&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest reading into Positive training methods and watching videos on Youtube. One of that kind of channel is made by Zak George, and in my opinion has really good advices and tips about how to deal with dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link to his channel: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzFRKsgVMhGTxffpzgTJlQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzFRKsgVMhGTxffpzgTJlQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While keeping dog in crate (big enough crate) in itself is not something bad, but 8h+ can be to much for young dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wrote that you play/walk a lot, that's good thing; what about training? You wrote in one of comments that he's halfway through intermediate training, but how much you train with him outside of what's there. For example, I have 3,5 month Border puppy, we're in middle of puppy kindergarten (really basic training, and socialization), but what's there is very limited. We teach him a lot at home (he knows around 12 tricks, and around half of them he can do only with Frisbee gesture, no voice command). From what I know, Border Collies need a lot of mental stimulation because of how intelligent they are. Another example: my puppy learned that growling (playful growling) with toy in mouth is his signal &amp;quot;I wanna play&amp;quot;, and keeps switching toys until he finds one that will get me play with him (and he knows names of 3 of his toys). I'm yet to know the potential in learning of 7 month Border, but you surely can get really creative with teaching him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But back to issue, if dog is fine when you are with him, and not when you are not, perhaps he is scared, and because of that he tries to drive others away from him by growing, and barking. The idea I have using positive training is to get him understand that other people are fine, even if you are not here, but since issue of him growling/barking already occurred you need to take really small steps to show him that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First thing to do is ready treats, something that your dog loves, maybe it's boiled chicken or something similar? Make it something that you can split into pieces not bigger then pea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You need to start really small. If dog is really fine if you are near, I would go for either walking near family members/housemates, and give him reward every time you walk past someone or you can sit with your dog, and have someone sit/be near dog. The point is to give the dog idea, that others = treat = something good, so you can be creative and do something else, but make it as easy for dog as possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time to take step, but again it should not be too big. Tell him to stay (if he knows command to just lay peacefully, it will be even better) near someone else, make step back, and give him treat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue on distance if dog is fine, pays attention to you, and doesn't mind someone around him (you can make person move around him a little, so it's not just static post standing). Then you move to next room so your dog can't see you for a brief moment, and back to him to give him reward. If dog is fine wherever you are in house be it near or far from him, you can change room, to going outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Once you start going outside, increase the length of time you are there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time the dog shows signs of discomfort, take step back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not including giving treats from others, as they can be busy and not have time to help you. But you still can make training of it by making dog be near them (unless that will bother them), but if they have time to help, they surely can help and give treats to dog. And remember, first should be &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot; and then treat when dog does something good, but you probably know this already&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those steps are just idea I had, if you have a way you should also try to find what makes dog growl, because it can be being scared as i said, but it also can be border herding instincts or even something else. The trainer you going to should also be a great help with this issue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T19:15:58.157" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T19:15:58.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-18T17:04:00.340" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a shih tzu that is about 7 years old. He keeps getting these weird little buildups of white stuff in his fur that clump together and stick to his skin. He does itch at them and if they get left there I noticed his skins does get a bit red on the spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally when he goes outside he stays in the shade and only for about 5-10 minutes so I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have hot spots. The things that he gets is just kind of weird, it's not really a scab, it's almost like a white sticky powder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has had frequent yeast infections in his ears before, but the spots aren't black where the issue occurs. I did buy some anti fungal shampoo thinking it would help him, I haven't used it yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just trying to figure out what it could be before I take him to the vet. The closest vet that we have isn't always honest to me, so I normally take him to one about 45mins away. So I'm just trying to get some info, I looked it up online and I couldn't find anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12563" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-19T09:28:56.293" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T18:26:50.223" Title="Shih tzu skin problems" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2018-07-18T19:33:04.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same issue with my guy. My aunt started hand feeding also, to get him to eat. Turned out he didn’t like the sound of his tags clinging the bowl. I switched to paper plates and it solved the problem. If u have noticed ur your dog being interested when u empty the dishwasher, it may me sensitive ears keeping him away from bowl eating. I also got him a new tag that weaves onto his collar, but he still won’t eat out of his metal bowl. Hope this helps frustrated fur parents &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12566" LastActivityDate="2018-07-18T19:33:04.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20880" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-18T22:52:46.913" Score="3" ViewCount="1959" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got two kittens, a generic black kitten and a white Siamese kitten. I've got the black one about two months ago, the white one about a month ago. I don't know the exact ages but they were both young kittens, around the normal age for giving them away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The white one is way too thin. The vet will do a parasite test as soon as I get some poop.She is also trying to suckle from the black one (definite behavior, no room for mistake). Maybe she was weaned early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on how to fatten up the white one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-07-19T15:29:42.363" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T12:46:35.653" Title="Kitten is too thin - what can I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20703" CreationDate="2018-07-19T16:35:38.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long have you had your cat Vinyl? rescued cats (especially rescued adult cats) can be shy and slow in trusting their new human (due to past trauma). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the best strategy is just to go slow and be patient. With time, you should regain his trust. Take slow and small steps. For example, sit from him 5 feet today, 4.5 feet tomorrow, 4 feet the day after, and only move closer if he doesn't move away. Also try to spend more time with him if possible. Even if just sitting at the desk working on your laptop. Be in his presence calmly (no sudden movements), he will learn that you mean no harm and that he can trust you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although keep in mind that, because cats have excellent long term memory (but bad short term memory), they likely won't forget the past trauma they've experienced (esp. with rescue cats you don't know their history), so it's likely they will always be a little cautious, a little shy, a little timid. With time and patience your relationship with Vinyl can definitely improve but just don't expect that he will turn into a gregarious cat. Cats, after all, do have their own personalities. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12541" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T16:35:38.253" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20885" CreationDate="2018-07-19T17:00:08.587" Score="3" ViewCount="601" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my kitten is leaving me. I want to put either a name tag or a GPS tracker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I fear that a collar may get him &quot;stuck&quot; on some places or even killing him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that there is a harness or something. Would that work? Would that be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:35:42.200" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T18:51:59.700" Title="Besides collar where else can I put name tag on my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gps&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20884" CreationDate="2018-07-19T17:22:26.573" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is wandering and you don't want it to, &lt;strong&gt;keep it inside.&lt;/strong&gt; House cats live longer, healthier lives, and are perfectly happy living safely in their homes as long as they have sufficient stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not willing to keep your cat inside, put a tag on a &lt;strong&gt;cat-safe breakaway collar&lt;/strong&gt;. Cats are naturally going to get into tight areas, and a tag hanging from a non-breakaway collar will result in a trapped, and possibly dead, cat. Collars approved for cats are made with clips that will pull apart with sufficient force, allowing the cat to pull itself free easily if the collar or tag become stuck somewhere. The cat will no longer have an ID tag at this point, so an &lt;strong&gt;implanted ID chip&lt;/strong&gt; is a highly recommended backup to identify the pet if picked up by another individual or animal control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not turn your cat loose while wearing a harness.&lt;/strong&gt; Ever. The same hazards to a caught collar will apply to a caught harness, and while cats can often figure out how to twist their way out of a harness, the cat may be stuck in a position where it is unable to do so, or may not be able to figure it out. &lt;strong&gt;A harness is meant for supervised time on a leash only&lt;/strong&gt;; a cat should never wear it while not being supervised. It is designed to be difficult to escape from because it is designed to keep the cat under control while leashed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T17:22:26.573" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-19T17:57:57.370" Score="0" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't neuter my cats. There were 6 of them: dad, mom, 4 kittens, 3 tomcat kittens and 1 tammy kitten. I neutered the tammy one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mom gone one day when I was about to abort her babies, the dad followed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the kittens seems to be the strongest and my house is like &quot;his area&quot;. At first, the tomcats were playing with each other like brothers should do, then, the strongest kitten fought dad and fought his brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, daddy was gone too. I have no idea why. Then, another kitten (now one year old) was gone too. There were 2 tomcat kittens (now cats I suppose), and 1 tammy kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tammy cat stays in the house most of the time and the only one that can climb windows to get in and get out of my house. I have built a bridge, then one day the weaker cat was missing for days. Sometimes it comes back and grabs some food and then is gone again. I have no idea why does it happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day it came for food, I caught him, gave him his favorite wet food and put him in my room like the way we used to. He just wants to get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is like avoiding me. I followed him quite far and he just keeps avoiding me. And then I tried to lock him out in my house again, but he somehow managed to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then he's gone again. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the weaker tomcat loses fights against his own brother. But the other cats are around my area and do just fine. They get along just fine. It's as if the weaker tomcat had another territory and just came back for food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is my tomcat leaving me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:36:42.977" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:36:42.977" Title="Why are my tom catsleaving me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20878" CreationDate="2018-07-19T18:26:50.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It ended up just being a sever case of doggy dandruff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave him his first treatment bath last night and gave him a light brushing to remove the dead skin. He seems to be less itchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just wanted to share this information just in case someone in the future has a similar issue with their dog. Was kind of worried at first it was something worse. But it ended up being something small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12563" LastActivityDate="2018-07-19T18:26:50.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20886" CreationDate="2018-07-19T20:00:30.993" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because that is the natural behavior of cats. A cat family will not live together after the kittens grow up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is that every cat wants to have their own territory, especially the male cats. A tomcat will allow a female in his territory (he wants to make his own kittens), but not another tomcat, because he could steal his lady.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mother will chase her daughters away after they grow up, because if they stay, the father might make kittens with his own daughter. This is incest and can lead to mutations and disabilities. So evolution made cats chase away their offspring when they become mature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have a male and a female live together, or neutered cats. If you want more cats to live together, they have to be from different families (and should be neutered). Lions are the only cats in the world that live together in their family. And even with lions only the females stay in the family, the males are chased away. All other kinds of cats leave their family when they become adult. They can smell who is part of their family and who is not and chase away family members. It's the natural way of cats and the only thing you can do against that is neutering them. But now they don't like each other it may be too late for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Locking a cat in your house is not a good idea. The cat smells his brother and knows exactly that he is in his brothers territory. He is afraid of a fight and cannot enjoy your company because he only wants to get away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-07T04:46:30.033" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T04:46:30.033" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20889" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20891" CreationDate="2018-07-20T02:50:45.510" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 year old male boxer and, as for now, I still have not found him a partner to reproduce with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could there be negative consequences of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the upper limit of time duration of the boxer's abstinence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a very healthy dog, he still likes to play a lot like if he was a puppy. I have not noticed anything weird in his behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T22:54:24.760" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T22:54:24.760" Title="What could happen if my 3 year old boxer does not reproduce?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21238" CreationDate="2018-07-20T04:57:20.943" Score="6" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have a female border collie of 5 or 6 years old. I have lived with my parents (and the border collie) up until recently. I have my own place now. She’s visiting while my parents are on vacation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She knows how to ask to go to the toilet. She nudges you with her nose and walks a few steps to the door. The problem is, she shows exactly the same behaviour or similar enough behaviour that I can’t tell the difference if she wants to go home. She does this nearly constantly, even waking me up in the night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get her to show me a clear difference between asking to go home and asking for the toilet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few clarifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She loves walks. And she loves the sea. I live at the beach, my parents live further from the sea. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She gets walked regularly, for half an hour to an hour. Before I leave for work, when I get back from work, after dinner and before bed. She gets quite a bit of exercise and playtime too. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She gets dinner once a day, at the same time as I have dinner, as the vet recommended. She has clean water available at all times. My parents have fresh running water, but she's used to just having a bowl too. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She actually peed inside on the first day. She was sick after swimming in the sea. She's fully aware that is not okay, though. She walked towards me and submitted immediately, without me having to say anything. She had been showing signs that she wanted to go out, but I ignored them since she had been out two hours before. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has lived with my parents and me for over 5 years and I moved out. I think she wants me to come 'back to the pack'. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has never been in my house before, so this place is unfamiliar to her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is happy when outside, but restless when we stop. At my parents' house she'll sleep most of the time she's not walking or playing. She doesn't appear to be up for playing as much right now as usually.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't have a garden or other space she's allowed to do her business that I can leave her in. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I do have a conservatory. It's not too bad if she does her business in there, but not prefered. She knows it is not okay to do her business indoors. My main concern is that she doesn't do her business on the carpet, outside is secondary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I actually locked her in the conservatory overnight, because she was constantly disturbing my sleep. I felt really bad about that. My parents have a house with stairs that she doesn't climb, so they never get disturbed in the night. She would wake up people sleeping on the sofa, licking their faces. She never gets on the sofa or bed unless invited.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She seems to like the conservatory, though. She insisted on sleeping there. The floor in there is quite cold and there's a breeze, which is nice with the current heatwave.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12491" LastEditorUserId="12491" LastEditDate="2018-07-20T08:00:59.953" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T11:24:42.607" Title="How can I make my dog guest show that she needs the toilet rather than that she wants to go home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20889" CreationDate="2018-07-20T06:38:25.597" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no limit on how long a dog can abstain from intercourse. It can cause some frustration, especially in spring time during the natural mating season, but as far as I know there are no negative health impacts. The macho behavior during mating season is more likely caused by hormones and not influenced by whether or not the dog mates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if dogs (formerly domesticated, wild dogs or wolves) live in a wild environment without human interference, only the alpha male and alpha female mate and breed. They will actively punish any other male who tries mating. Male offspring is cast out of the pack when they mature. Those who don't join a new pack and cannot sneak in a secret rendezvous with a female of a rivaling pack never have the chance to mate in their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The supression of mating behavior was observed in several studies, one of which is 249576166_Male_and_Female_Mating_Competition_in_Wolves_Female_Suppression_Vs_Male_Intervention/amp&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] the authors observed an increase in general aggression and in the frequency of interventions during the mating season. Separative interventions were observed predominantly in males and were directed against male-female sexual interactions, while such interventions by females were less apparent. Males showed a high frequency of intrasexual aggression but only during the mating season. Females showed less intrasexual aggression, and instead, showed a high level of intrasexual dominance display, especially the alpha-female, and they did so both in and outside the mating season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T22:34:43.040" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T22:34:43.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20894" CreationDate="2018-07-20T09:50:17.667" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriver that goes everyday of the week to a dog-kindergarden. So the whole day stays with other dogs, plays, sleeps and whatever dogs do there. However, when we are walking on leash and he sees other dog he just pulls at max force thowards that other dog and becomes aggresive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is out of the leash, then he starts to sniff the other dog and in 1-2 minutes he starts to ignore the other dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may have also a leash problem, he likes to be always in front, but he also listens when I say to him on foot, then he stays closer. I plan to follow some instructions from here (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7419/dog-knows-to-stop-on-leash-but-still-pulls&quot;&gt;Dog knows to stop on leash but still pulls&lt;/a&gt;) to improve this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: He has also a problem with skateboarders, I tried to make him confortable with a skateboard by riding one. At the beginning he barked at me, but then started to get used with it. When I went faster, he started to bark again, but I can say that even if now he doesn't have any problem with me riding a skateboard, it's when he sees other people riding that he gets aggresive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice how can I improve his behavior? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12574" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:22:01.880" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:26:15.927" Title="Dog goes crazy on leash when he sees other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20893" CreationDate="2018-07-20T12:52:03.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dog can get aggressive on leash because their movement gets limited and start feeling uncomfortable, which makes them attack to protect their space. Which I bet is case, because your dog is fine with other dogs unless he is on leash. I would suggest watching videos like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bkAzgqKRyk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Training to Help Calm a Dog Who Barks and Lunges on Leash&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTmc6fjM_y4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to teach any dog not to bark at other dogs and people on a walk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuEPBcePu80&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Teach ANY Dog to Walk Nicely on Leash!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBN2_YuTclU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Train Your Dog to not pull on the Leash!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRApwBzVD9A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Get Your Reactive Dog Under Control While on a Walk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find video exactly about leash aggression and I didn't watch every video I linked, but they still are relevant both to issue of aggression and if he pulls leash. You will probably need to start from making a dog pay attention to you in spaces he knows without dogs etc and slowly move to bigger more distracting spaces. He can't get aggressive and bark on other dogs if he pays attention to you and not them (Something similar and detailed steps will be in videos I linked).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would advise against using any types of choke/electric collars, because they can harm the dog, and only work when dog has them. Instead positive training makes dog think, and learn how to behave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since you go to dog kindergarten, I would also suggest asking for tips instructor there. He should have knowledge and experience about dog issues (but if he suggests stuff I wrote above to not use, you should consider changing instructor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:26:15.927" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:26:15.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20890" CreationDate="2018-07-20T13:02:04.367" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it'll be hard, since wanting to got to toiled and wanting to go back looks really similar. If you can tell a difference, or if begging to go back occurs only at night, I would go with rewarding(probably something which she loves a lot) her when she tells the need of going to toilet, and nothing when it's the other thing. Borders are really intelligent and there is chance she will understand that toiled it OK, but just wanting to go back does not yield reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not for long period, you can also try with special mats for dogs, and show here that she can pee there, but you would rather not have that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastActivityDate="2018-07-20T13:02:04.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20976" CreationDate="2018-07-20T16:36:20.457" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Kong classic for our 1 year-old dog. She loves the Kong and spends plenty of time with it, but there always ends up being about half of an inch of peanut butter stuck at the very bottom of the interior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean that the Kong is too small for her tongue? Should she be able to clean out thoroughly an appropriately sized Kong, given enough time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12576" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T10:23:29.563" Title="Should my dog be able to clean out an appropriately sized Kong?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20897" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-20T16:49:22.067" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm playing with the idea of getting a house gecko and letting it live in my basement to feed on any insects it may come across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to keep a small controlled habitat for it but leave it open so it can come and go as it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the winter however, the basement isn't fully heated. Some but not all and not to as high temperatures as the gecko would prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would the gecko know to seek out the warm habitat or might it just wander off, get lost &amp;amp; potentially die?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same question applies for food &amp;amp; water. If I keep a small supply of water &amp;amp; mealworms (or other non-traveling bugs), will the gecko know to rely on that area for sustenance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would have access to miscellaneous spiders, beetles and other random household insects (some flying - moths, etc) - Nothing all that large gets in unless let in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would have sunlight through windows as well as many dark hiding places. The basement also gets regular visitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Came across this as well: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/reptiles-amphibians/Lizards-for-Bug-Control&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pethelpful.com/reptiles-amphibians/Lizards-for-Bug-Control&lt;/a&gt; - doesn't seem to be a new concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2018-07-20T16:49:22.067" Title="House gecko for sustainable basement insect control?" Tags="&lt;lizards&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20900" CreationDate="2018-07-20T17:46:14.740" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/m4U9z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We just got a new puppy 2 days ago. Since we got her she has barely moved. Inside she lays around scared but outside she is a completely different dog. She plays she runs but she is still very shy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was outside in a pen since she was born, so I know this is a new experience for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She won’t walk around the house I have to carry her everywhere and even carry her outside. We have an older dog that she loves but won’t follow her around like I was hoping she would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that I could possibly do to help the transition from dirty pen to loving home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12577" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T00:53:23.357" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T00:53:23.357" Title="Inactive and scared inside, rambunctious playful outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-20T18:04:19.783" Score="3" ViewCount="1935" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy ate some dish soap mixed with water in the form of bubbles, is she ok or what are the symptoms of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12578" LastActivityDate="2019-01-02T22:08:50.497" Title="My puppy at some dish soap mixed with water, is she OK/ what should I do/ what will happen (symptoms)?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20898" CreationDate="2018-07-20T19:51:04.257" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your first instinct of bringing something positive from outside to the inside is very good. But I think you should stop carrying her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put her water and food so close to her that she can eat and drink without moving.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sit close to her for 10 minutes but ignore her at first. If she comes to you, reward her with your voice and pet her. Then offer her a toy she likes and play with her. Gradualy move your play away from her blanket.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold some pieces of sausage or cheese in your hand. It has to be a scent she cannot ignore. If she moves her head towards you, give her one piece, then move a tiny distance away from her. Let her move towards you and reward her for it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't carry her outside. Carry her to the door, go outside and call her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should make the typical &quot;play bow&quot; gesture. Dogs  jump with just their front legs stretched far forwards. As a human you should bow forward, clap hands in front of you and nod to her. See an example on youtube: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/fzAX65hpyXY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/fzAX65hpyXY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When she starts to trust you, let her stand up and gently push her forward. Reward her for every few steps she takes with sausage or dog treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-20T19:51:04.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-20T20:43:05.730" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;My oldest pet dog (male, 2.5y/o, shih tzu/bichon mix) has had a little bit of a problem lately, he will not stop licking his thighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've done this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;given him small doses of dog benadryl (we thought it might be allergies)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;given him pain medication (we were told from an emergency clinic that his knees might be graded, but the chiropractor and his vet seem to think he's healthy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tried to rub his thighs for him and stretch out his leg a bit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/QCVwacQ.gifv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a video of how &quot;extreme&quot; it is&lt;/a&gt; (he will do this for upwards of 5 minutes at a time), and here's a picture of the aftermath:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uHznp.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uHznp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things we think that it may be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;this summer was his first time getting a summer cut that trimmed off almost all of his fur (normally we leave him a little bit, but this summer was warm). Maybe it's itchy? We have a second dog, one year younger, exhibiting no such issues though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he's bored (he used to lick his paws, so we started letting him take a bone to bed, etc), but this seems to be going on a bit long for boredom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he's allergic to something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he's actually in pain (he does not express pain with yelping like our other dog does)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or, the worst case, his knee &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; actually in a bad situation and needs to get surgery or some such.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, we're genuinely at a loss of what could be wrong with him, since we're getting conflicting information from the professionals that take care of him. Is there anything I'm overlooking that &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12579" LastActivityDate="2018-07-20T20:43:05.730" Title="Dog continually licking thighs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20616" CreationDate="2018-07-20T21:19:32.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does the same thing. This is how I solved my problem. I cleared my desk so there's ample space. Then I placed one of my cat's favorite scratchers/loungers on the desk. So now when my cat wants my attention/to be near me, she would jump on the desk and settle down in her &quot;assigned seat&quot;. This keeps her off of my computer while I work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caveat: it doesn't work 100% of the time. If she &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; wants something, then she will stand on my keyboards. But this only happens if I neglected to do certain things (like late to feeding her). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible solution, which I've read in many places, but hasn't worked with me, is to walk away and ignore your cat as soon as it stands on your keyboard. The idea is to discourage this behavior (i.e. you stand on keyboard = I ignore you). But when I did this my cat just decided that she will settle down into a cat loaf and out-wait me. Having said that, my cat is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; patient, so if you have a less patient cat, this might work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12541" LastActivityDate="2018-07-20T21:19:32.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20616" CreationDate="2018-07-20T23:49:11.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what has worked for me (with several cats): I keep the space immediately to both sides of the keyboard clear, so there's enough room for a cat to sit or lie down.  If the cat starts to walk across the keyboard (so, moving from one side of the desk to the other), I pick it up and put it on the other side.  If it turns around and heads for the keyboard again, I pick it up and put it back on the first side.  Do this enough and the cat gets the message that walking on the keyboard isn't ok -- although it &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; gets the message that the human is available for transport.  For me that's a small price to pay to defend the keyboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reduce the need for this, I have a basket on the corner of the desk (like in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/20902/31&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;) that is suitable for feline lounging.  As I type this, my cat is lounging in that basket, within reach for petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; lock my keyboard when I step away from the computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2018-07-20T23:49:11.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20904" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-21T01:11:52.283" Score="4" ViewCount="2815" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had my female dog neutered a couple of days ago. Since the first day, the skin on her belly has been looking red, I though that it was because of irritation. It has started to become more red and scabs have formed, plus the stitches have not been absorbed yet. It doesn't smell bad and she does not look sick. I mean, she is as playful as has always been. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something else I should be checking to make sure the incision heals properly? I am worried because of the time the stitches have taken to be absorbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ekMiU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ekMiU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11067" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T22:49:26.853" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T22:49:26.853" Title="How do I tell if my female dog's neuter incision is healing properly?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20904" CreationDate="2018-07-21T03:15:07.907" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She needs to see the vet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From the photo provided, that's not normal from desexing and she needs a follow up with the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scabs are a normal part of healing, though the scabs and redness in the photo are not normal (she needs to see a vet). No bad smell is a good sign, as is no pus like discharge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For future reference always take her to the vet after surgery if she:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loses her spark  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;becomes dull or listless    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;runs a fever  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has pus like discharge  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swelling around the wound  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;her pain increases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If she is playful and alert that is another good sign. Although be mindful that she needs to take it &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/513/6796&quot;&gt;easy for a while&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As for stitches.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It takes &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/accidents-first-aid-and-treatments/how-long-will-my-stitches-sutures-take-to-dissolve/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;dissolvable stitches&lt;/a&gt; between a minimum 1-2 weeks to start dissolving or up to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20904/how-do-i-tell-if-my-female-dogs-neuter-incision-is-healing-properly/20905?noredirect=1#comment28461_20905&quot;&gt;4-6 months&lt;/a&gt;  for them to completely go, depending on the type of stitches used. Ask the vet how long the stitches should take to dissolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-22T18:22:58.823" LastActivityDate="2018-07-22T18:22:58.823" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-21T06:18:47.287" Score="2" ViewCount="1539" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog recently had surgery to correct his luxating patella. Poor boy's only a year old...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The surgery was only 3 days ago and his bandage has already started to slide down his leg, exposing part of the incision and two staples.  The top edge of the tape now appears to be putting a lot of pressure right in the center of his incision and he's begun to avoid moving more than usual; I am assuming it is pretty painful. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it too soon to cut off the bandage for him? Should I wait until Monday to bring him to our vet and have them examine him then? I don't like thinking he could be in such pain for 2 days...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not see any oozing from the wound yet, but he has started licking at it on rare occasions (we have a Cone of Shame, but have not yet used it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12581" LastEditorUserId="12581" LastEditDate="2018-07-21T06:41:34.493" LastActivityDate="2018-07-21T13:01:45.757" Title="When can I remove my dog's bandage?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20909" CreationDate="2018-07-21T07:43:32.953" Score="6" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I have 3 year GSD female. She's very healthy. She's not spayed. &#xA;I want to know that is it true that if my dog doesn't get mated/reproduce a baby she will have cancers. Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't want puppies, well the fact is I can't take care anymore. I don't want to be inhuman and sell the puppies to someone. She haven't mated never yet. Please tell me will she have cancer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12582" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T23:19:24.710" Title="GSD Female cancer when not mated?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20906" CreationDate="2018-07-21T13:01:45.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the bandage has no stabilizing effect on the joint, you could probably remove it. Either wrap a new (sanitized) bandage around the incision or put on the cone of shame. The goal is to keep the dog from removing any staples before the incision could heal. And believe me, they do try to pull them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-21T13:01:45.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20907" CreationDate="2018-07-21T13:14:18.753" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unspayed female dogs are actually at a higher risk of mammary tumors (breast cancer) than spayed dogs. As with any type of cancer, there is no guarantee that an unspayed dog will develop it or that a spayed dog will never develop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you can read more: &lt;a href=&quot;https://m.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cancer/c_dg_mammary_gland_tumor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://m.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cancer/c_dg_mammary_gland_tumor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benign and malignant tumors of the mammary glands occur fairly frequently in unspayed female dogs, in fact they are the most common type of tumor in the group. Spaying can largely reduce the risk of developing this type of cancer, especially if the dog is spayed before it has an opportunity to go into heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A genetic basis is possible in some breeds, and there are frequently some genes that can be identified in dogs that are predisposed to cancer of the mammary glands. For example, [...] German shepherd dogs, Maltese, and Yorkshire terriers have been reported to have an increased risk of developing breast or mammary tumors compared to other breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mario is right, the actual act of mating or reproduction has no influence on the risk of cancer. Dogs in heat produce a lot of hormones. In females these hormones often cause the production of milk, even if she didn't mate. That is probably what causes the breast cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spaying a female dog prevents the production of hormones, so she doesn't go into heat anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T23:19:24.710" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T23:19:24.710" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20947" CreationDate="2018-07-21T15:42:56.510" Score="4" ViewCount="5054" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a new guppy yesterday who was living a tank with a young koi, 4 tetras and one guppy. The old guppy seemed to like the new member of the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next morning the new guppy was gone! I looked around the tank in the gravel and filter, behind ornaments and plants but he was nowhere to be found. My old guppy, who was living in the tank for three months, seems very distressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two weeks earlier I had a guppy stuck in the filter. He was a Tuxedo guppy and half of his body was white. He was tiny and is about half the size of the other guppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12583" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T07:31:24.130" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T07:31:24.130" Title="New guppy disappeared from tank overnight" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20922" CreationDate="2018-07-21T17:31:45.160" Score="4" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it normal that 13 days old puppy's stool is liquid and with foam (little bubbles) ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I notice that one of the 4 puppies made that kind of stool and at the same time the puppy screamed loudly  like if someone were hurting the puppy. So the puppy felt pain while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take the puppy to the vet? Or is something passenger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eaEZP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eaEZP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T06:03:14.437" Title="Is this kind of puppy's stool normal?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-21T18:27:26.310" Score="3" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a wound on top of his head and keeps scratching it with his hind claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He keeps getting the soft cone collar off even though it is tied tightly and knotted.  How can I keep this collar on.  How can I prevent him from scratching at the top of his head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12584" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-07-23T00:02:44.387" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T12:26:12.910" Title="How can I prevent a cat from scratching the top of his head?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2603" CreationDate="2018-07-22T02:53:53.020" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 gallon of bleach &#xA;4 cups of laundry soap &#xA;10 gallons of water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this post is old but my kids are all really young and I have had to deal with pee soaked mattresses and sofas for the last 8 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this happened to me. I would drag that thing outside and soak the entire mattress. Get it dry and stuff it in a bed bag (the kind you get when you are moving. The thick ones...)with about 4lbs of baking soda.  I would duct tape that completely shut and that would be the mattress home until I was able to but a new bed. &#xA;And/Or&#xA;Me and my couch would be best friends for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12586" LastActivityDate="2018-07-22T02:53:53.020" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2018-07-22T09:42:31.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absolutely the best thing I have ever found it works like a miracle my York’s mix has severe yeast problems it cleared up so fast I’m such a believer i bought the generic version miconazole 7 at Walmart I put it between her toes and her ears arm pits every where and used an antibacterial shampoo it took about a week and she’s completely healed up please everybody that has a yeast problem in dogs use it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12589" LastActivityDate="2018-07-22T09:42:31.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-22T15:29:20.800" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several months ago, I moved to new city and had to drain my 20-gallon tank and give away my fish. The tank sat empty (aside from the gravel) for several months. Last week, I decided to fill it back up, add some bacteria (Tetra brand, I think), and let it run for a couple days before adding fish. The day after I filled it, everything looked fine when I went to work. But when I got back, the water was like pea soup. I changed about 50% of the water and waited a few more days...it's still green, though not as much. Today, I changed about 25% of the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can't figure out is, why did this happen and what do I do about it? From what I've read, free floating algae is caused by a) too much light, and b) too many nutrients. But, the tank is in a dark room and the light wasn't even on that day. I've also kept the light off since this happened. I don't know where any nutrients could be coming from since there are no fish in there. My only guess is that maybe algae that had dried on the gravel is decomposing. Could that be it? And if so, do I just need to keep changing the water until it goes away? Also, is it safe to add fish, or should I wait until this is resolved?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12593" LastActivityDate="2018-07-22T15:29:20.800" Title="Green water after refilling dry tank with no fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-22T17:07:24.953" Score="4" ViewCount="5230" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is Himalayan pink salt okay to use in fish tanks? I have read that aquarium salt is good for conditioning water but I was curious if pink salt would do the trick as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12592" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-22T19:49:51.963" LastActivityDate="2019-12-07T16:31:43.897" Title="Aquarium Salt and Pink Salt" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20904" CreationDate="2018-07-22T18:24:02.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the image provided, this is not the normal healing process. It looks as though your dog has been licking excessively at the incision and flank, or has been too active after the surgery. However it is hard to tell exactly what is going on just based on a photo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sutures themselves take weeks to months to dissolve, depending on the suture type. It takes 1-2 weeks for the skin and the body wall to heal to a point where the sutures are no longer needed. Absorbable sutures should all be subcutanous (under the skin), so you should not be able to see them. If you can see them, that is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She needs to see a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some severe cases where the incision has become infected, she might need to go back to surgery to debride infected tissue and re-close the skin. At minimum she will likely need antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, if you are not able to take her to a vet right away:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep her rested, no rough play, only very short walks to toilet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put an e-collar on her to stop her from licking at the incision. If you do not have one, you can use an old t-shirt on her to try to prevent her from getting at the incision.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2018-07-22T18:24:02.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20911" CreationDate="2018-07-23T06:03:14.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never had contact with such young puppy as the fastest you can get one is 8(or 7) weeks old, but if it's stool is different from the rest of puppies, I would contact vet, just because of how young the dog is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for older dog, that kind of stool is not normal. My puppy got that kind of runny stool after 3rd dose of vaccines, but we gave him overcooked rice, with a little bit of coal, and next day, overcooked rice,chicken and carrot, and it went back to normal. Though he was 12 weeks old. And I'm not sure what kind of food very young puppies can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T06:03:14.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20896" CreationDate="2018-07-23T06:22:47.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have appropriate size buying bigger kong would make it much easier to lick first layers of filling, If you want to avoid leftover filling on bottom, you can put dry food or dog cookies first and then close kong with peanut butter or wet food. Sometimes even with dry filling my puppy doesn't eat everything that is inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what breed is you dog and what size of kong do you use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T06:22:47.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20896" CreationDate="2018-07-23T07:46:36.627" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is why we stopped putting peanut butter into Kongs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we do (in the warmer months) is put some kibble into a bowl and pour over some hot water.  After it's soaked for a while, we load the paste into Kongs and put them in the freezer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day, the dog has the Kong and can happily spend half an hour or so licking at it and gradually melting the paste.  Invariably the Kongs come back mostly clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other plus point is that it takes a long time to eat, the dog is actively engaged, and doesn't get frustrated because there's always a (small amount of) reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, we take this kibble out of the dog's daily allowance, so we're not in danger of over-feeding whenever there's treats on offer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T07:46:36.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20907" CreationDate="2018-07-23T10:18:13.773" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to know that is it true that if my dog doesn't get&#xA;  mated/reproduce a baby she will have cancers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no guarantee she will, but like everything there are risks to both sides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risk of mammary cancer is small, but increases with every season if left in tact after 30 months old. But... spaying opens the door to a host of other cancers and issues. So there is a risk either way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also its worth noting that there is a lower risk of a bitch getting pyrometra if she has a litter. There’s only a 1% chance of a dog dying from pyometra though. I wouldn't condone having a litter as the risk isnt reduced enough to warrant it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further reading on long term health risks associated to spaying &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/long-term-health-risks-benefits-spay-neuter-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T10:18:13.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20912" CreationDate="2018-07-23T12:26:12.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try making a padded cloth cap with a collar. He might still get it off as easily as the cone collar but there's still a chance he won't. Or you might try using nail caps. They might still do some damage to the wound if it hasn't scabbed properly but at least they're not sharp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T12:26:12.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20880" CreationDate="2018-07-23T12:46:35.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should ask your vet for possible age of your kittens. It's possible to get it more or less accurately by teeth development and such. Then your course of action will depend on the age of your kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she was really weaned way too early you'll have to discuss giving her pro-/prebiotics and possibly immunity boosters with your vet. The diet is also something you should discuss with your vet, and it also depends on exact age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, young kittens should eat often and in small portions. If she's a hungry baby, keep track of how much she can eat at a time without getting sick and don't give her more -- no food will do any good if she pukes it right back. If she manages her portions well enough, give her as much as she wants. If she's under 3 months old she should eat at least 5-6 times a day. 3-5 months old -- 4-5 times a day. 5-9 months old (unlikely considering what you've posted but still) -- 3-4 times a day. 9-12 months old -- 3 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2018-07-23T12:46:35.653" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18623" CreationDate="2018-07-24T04:10:20.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; (and infusoria in general) can be found almost anywhere in the UK in the wild. I spend ages looking for it, which is sad. Most infusoria are a bit smaller than &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt;, so they would be eaten first by the koi or carp larvae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the year &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; give birth to live babies from about spring onwards (temperature related) about every 5 days. As winter approaches, they then change from live birth to laying eggs, which sink to the bottom and stay there till the next spring, when the temp increases. Absolutely billions hatch out almost all at once, so its possible to see huge clouds of it. I have caught over 8 kg of it before now, then the next time zero! In lakes or ponds where there are fish there is less likelihood you will find it compared with other ponds too acidic for fish to live in. My favourite spot at the moment is completely devoid of water, due to the drought we have in the UK at the moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know if &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; have the ability to change from live birth to egg laying when the water dries up/when there is not a temperature trigger. As they have been around for millions of years, my guess is they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Catching &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; from water that holds fish runs the risk of introducing parasites to the koi fry. Large fish can live with parasites, but not fry.&#xA;Parasites can swim from one fish to another, and will not survive without fish. It is wise to leave the &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; in a tank for a week to be sure there are no parasites amongst them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12597" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:14:58.973" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:14:58.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20944" CreationDate="2018-07-24T06:14:30.137" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Indonesia, I have to register SIM card with government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 4 cats. I have no idea how should I have 4 sim cards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I wonder if there is a GPS tracker without sim card?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:33:08.897" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T18:21:00.957" Title="Are there any GPS tracker that doesn't require simcard?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;gps&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20483" CreationDate="2018-07-24T10:57:44.427" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having two very shy sisters, we adopted a third cat. Barely 4 months old  and excessively playful. The story is exactly as you describe it. One sister has never been very playful. The other only on occasion. He, however, would play with anything that moved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was oblivious to the girls wanting to be left alone. This also manifested in other ways, e.g. where he'd try to sleep next to them and they'd get up and find a new private spot. Rinse, repeat, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For us, the problem fixed itself. While he had the energy and agility, the girls were bigger than him, stronger, and could gang up on him. What ended up happening is that if he took it too far, the girls would strongarm him out of the room. And then he'd leave them alone for an hour or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while, he learned to not force play/cuddle with them. Instead, he now meows and tries to get attention. If he does, he has a playing buddy. If he doesn't, he goes and does something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once in a while, he still takes play fighting too far. The other cat hisses, but he's way too happy to notice. I would end up intervening. After many occurences, he has now learned to assess the situation when I yell his name or clap my hands, and you can see that he figures it out then. He just needs the reminder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the &quot;victim&quot; cat is either incapable of standing up to the &quot;assaulting&quot; cat (either by size or lack of assertive behavior), you will need to intervene on their behalf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the same pattern of escalation that you use for other cat misbehavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Call them by their name.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yell their name.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clap your hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the spray bottle out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aim it at them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physically (but calmly) remove the misbehaving cat from the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between every step, give them the choice to listen to you or ignore you. Whenever they ignore you, take the next step. Eventually, they will figure out the pattern and you'll notice that you need to take less steps in order to get them to stop whatever they're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case specifically, make sure that you direct your punishment at the &quot;assaulting&quot; cat, not the &quot;victim&quot; cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T10:57:44.427" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20930" CreationDate="2018-07-24T12:17:44.100" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would only be sensibly possible if you were only able to get a log of locations/routes after physical retrieval of the tracker, ie.you have got your collar back. If you want 'real-time' tracking, then the GPS position data has to be transmitted to a server, and then to you. The cellular networks are the only pervasive, cheap-ish, power-effective means of providing that link, and the service providers need to provide a SIM card. Does your government restrict you to registering only one SIM card per person? Seems a bit harsh:(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10207" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T12:17:44.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20930" CreationDate="2018-07-24T12:50:55.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would that tracker report the location of your pet if there were no functionality to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is exactly why that SIM card is needed, to connect to a cellular network so the tracker can send its (and by proxy that of the pet that's wearing it) to a server and from there to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, it's highly unlikely to find one that doesn't require this, at least not one that's in any way useful outside the confines of your own home (where you could have it connect to your home wifi for example, something not universally applicable as there are no city wide (let alone nation wide) open wifi networks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically it's possible to use other communications technologies, but they're far more expensive and both power requirements and weight of the device would go up a lot, think satellite phones (which no doube are restricted where ever cellphones are restricted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3125" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T12:50:55.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20934" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-07-24T13:34:17.877" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:34:17.877" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T13:34:17.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20935" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-07-24T13:34:17.877" Score="0" Body="Global Positioning System (GPS) as used to track or locate pets. " OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-07-24T13:34:17.877" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T13:34:17.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20775" CreationDate="2018-07-24T14:38:06.780" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of things can cause a shakeup in the social hierarchy of a group of house cats and lead to new or worsening fighting.  Some examples are, a change in health status of one of the cats, moving to a new home (or even new/rearranged furniture), a change in living conditions (like number or type of litter boxes, humans getting busier so attention is more of a scarce resource), or stress.  Possibly even having the routine of the house changed by your trip could trigger the cats to try to renegotiate the terms of their cohabitation.  A free roaming, stray or feral cat moving into the area can also cause a disturbance if your cats can see it through a window or glass door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bickering may settle down on it's own in a few days, or may be the new normal for your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing to maintain peace between cats is to have all the cats fixed (de-sexed), and to reduce resource competition as much as possible, by having plenty of water bowls, toys, scratching posts, litter boxes, high resting places, sunny resting places, etc.  If you have a ground-level unit and outdoor cats nearby, using deterrents to keep them away from the windows can help reduce the stress to your house cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 cats in 800 sq ft is going to remain something of a challenge, since there's only so many places to put cat gear, but ensuring that the female can always get to important resources (litter box, water, scratching surface) without being cornered will help to at least alleviate the symptoms of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If fighting persists, you can also try getting the cats checked by your vet to rule out health issues (I would at least take the female, since eliminating in the resting place is really not normal, and may be a sign of illness) and adding more shelves to provide her freer above-ground movement and escape routes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also make sure that all the cats are getting plenty of active, interactive play time.  Tired cat is a happy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T14:38:06.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15062" CreationDate="2018-07-24T18:19:30.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;is your fish the one in the picture, I presume so? If so, how long was it taken before the fish died? It is swollen, as a female would be with eggs. Were the scales protruding a bit, like a pine cone when it opens? Your photo is not clear enough for me to really judge. If they were it could be dropsy, or the pine cone disease. It is caused by a bacteria eaten by a fish. It could be a dead fish or frog that she has eaten, and the bacteria can linger for a long time, until the fish is stressed in some way or other. If it died of dropsy, when the scales protruded it was already too late. There is absolutely no cure for it, unless science has progressed to test the fish before it's scales are raised, before the fish shows signs of sickness. It looked a good quality kohaku. It is virtually impossible to be sure by a photo; imagine going to a doctor and him/her taking a photo to see what is wrong with us. regards gary      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12597" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T18:19:30.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20941" CreationDate="2018-07-24T22:05:27.473" Score="36" ViewCount="11404" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend is interested in getting a puppy. We have been doing some research before getting one, and the book &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/you-get-your-puppy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Before you get your puppy&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; says on page 9 of the linked PDF:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you test drive several adult dogs of your selected breed or&#xA;type before you make your final choice. Test driving adult dogs will&#xA;quickly teach you everything you need to know about a specific breed.&#xA;Test driving adult dogs will also pinpoint gaps in your education&#xA;about dog behavior and training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on page 26:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is vital that you know what and how to teach your&#xA;puppy, before you get him. So in addition to this&#xA;book, read other books, watch videos, observe puppy&#xA;training classes, and above all, test drive as many&#xA;adult dogs as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is less clear is how we can find a dog to &amp;quot;test drive&amp;quot;. I've done some searching and haven't found anyone offering that kind of service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are good options for &amp;quot;test driving&amp;quot; dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any information on what a test drive should consist of, and how long it should last would also be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that we are located in England, and the breed we would like is not a commonly available one here. Unfortunately we don't have any local dog owning friends that could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12603" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T19:41:12.350" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T19:41:12.350" Title="How can we find a dog to &quot;test drive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-24T23:15:11.040" Score="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fostering is a great way to see if you're ready to commit to a dog, contact your local rescues to see what kind of dogs are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The perks with fostering are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) You're helping a dog in need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) You do not need to keep the dog or find it a new home if you decide it's not for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Shelters typically provide all food and vet care, no cost to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) You may end up falling in love with the dog you foster and keeping that one instead! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-07-24T23:15:11.040" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-25T00:29:51.993" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many foster agencies will let you let you take a dog for Monday - Friday and then decide.  They want to place the dog in a good fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within a breed personalities differ.  I would base the decision more on the dog.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-07-28T00:03:43.160" LastActivityDate="2018-07-28T00:03:43.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20943" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-25T01:57:47.357" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is an appropriate way to keeping gerbils quiet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They make to much noise and I live in a small space I am not sure what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It keeps me from sleeping.  Are there soundproof cages maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1122" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T13:24:24.027" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T13:24:24.027" Title="Keep Gerbils Quiet" Tags="&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20930" CreationDate="2018-07-25T05:03:23.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are projects like &lt;a href=&quot;https://getfindster.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Findster&lt;/a&gt; providing similar functionality based on 1kHz radio frequency, which is open to the general public in most countries. However, it's important to note that the range is limited to around 1km (at least on the original model; don't have any experience with the newer revisions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-07-25T05:03:23.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-25T05:46:45.827" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know specifically about England, but here in Germany, many pet shelters are looking for volunteers who (regularily) take dogs for a walk. Even if they might not have your specific breed available, interacting with different dogs will teach you a lot about them, and it will allow you to check if you're really that enthusiastic about the daily care a dog needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12606" LastActivityDate="2018-07-25T05:46:45.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-25T10:14:07.803" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have already stated, you'll definitely want to look at organisations that are looking for volunteers for both fostering but also dog walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, The UK's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bluecross.org.uk/volunteer&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blue Cross have a scheme&lt;/a&gt; which allows you to walk their dogs for them. I would definitely look at this option &lt;em&gt;even if&lt;/em&gt; you think you're already set on your dog breed. I was absolutely set on a specific breed but then fell in love with another one just by meeting it. Don't rule out the option to change your mind. When you walk the dogs, you'll get an opportunity to meet many different ones for a short time (as Guntram Blohm pointed out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/latest/blogs/details/-/articleName/Blog_A_guide_to_voluntary_dog_walking&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this RSPCA blog suggests&lt;/a&gt;, while you're searching for a new dog, you get the opportunity to help &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of the dogs that you regularly walk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By helping the dogs to become sociable and trusting, this means they stand a much better chance of finding their forever home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's got to be a win-win for both parties. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, fostering has been mentioned already but specifically for the UK, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.battersea.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Battersea Dogs Home&lt;/a&gt; have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.battersea.org.uk/dogs/fostering-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;great explanation of the process&lt;/a&gt; to see if this might be something you'd consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-26T08:19:04.383" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T08:19:04.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20910" CreationDate="2018-07-25T10:44:50.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Your fish was probably eaten.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned in the comments, your fish was probably eaten. As soon as a fish dies in your tank, chances are you'll have other fish pecking at it immediately (sometimes even before it dies). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have bottom feeders, they'll probably destroy all trace of your fish but in this case, my money would be on the Koi. As you say, they can also get stuck in filters or even jump out of the tank if your lid doesn't fit or is absent. Check behind the actual tank on the floor, you may find it there if it has jumped out. Whilst some fish naturally jump, you'll always want to check your water parameters after something like this happens anyway to ensure there are no problems because jumping out of a tank is behaviour fish can exhibit if the conditions are poor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My guppy who was living in the tank for three months seems very distressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is another reason to check the parameters. Grab a test kit and find out what's going on in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;As a follow up point, you need to make sure that the koi is healthy at the temperature the guppies are living in. Whilst they're pretty hardy fish, you may find it will have stunted growth or health issues if kept in inappropriate conditions. You may also find that the koi will eat the guppies once it gets to a reasonable size. &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-07-25T10:44:50.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20962" CreationDate="2018-07-25T13:27:33.843" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog always tends to eat his food really fast, and right after finishing he all of sudden starts to lose breath and does something like gasping. When it calms down this stops, but I find myself very worried about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this really a thing to worry about? I heard that this can be an issue with small dogs, but is there a way to deal with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12611" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:17:51.520" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:17:51.520" Title="Maltese gasps after eating fastly, is that something to worry about?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-25T14:01:30.337" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.borrowmydoggy.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.borrowmydoggy.com/&lt;/a&gt; is a website that allows just this - you can get matched with local dog owners to give their dogs walks. It's potentially a simpler starter than fostering. I've not used it personally, but some friends have (as dog owners) and love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12612" LastActivityDate="2018-07-25T14:01:30.337" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-25T14:17:22.173" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 year old English bulldog who is generally very happy and playful with people and big dogs, but she always tries to pick a fight with smaller dogs. We also have a Labrador at home, so I'm assuming she thinks she's a big dog (she's actually smaller than a typical bulldog at around 19kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we run into a small dog during walks or gatherings, if the small dog is close enough she will chase it and make LOUD noises that we don't normally hear. I can usually control her fairly good on the leash, but it's like her internal instincts kick in and any training goes out the window. I don't think she ever bit another dog, but it freaks out everyone involved and makes it completely awkward to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I handle this? I feel like correcting her on the spot does nothing. Walking away immediately somewhat works, but doesn't feel like an actual solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12613" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T16:08:00.750" Title="Bulldog hates other small dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-25T15:01:42.803" Score="4" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat box sits on top of a big shallow tray. We put that there to catch loose litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our 12 year old cat now pees outside of the box (on the tray) 95% of the time. The other times she’ll pee in the box. I would have to clean up the tray with paper towels, which is pretty annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She’s taking antibiotics to treat a UTI. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do to encourage peeing in the box? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I get a shallower box so that she can easily go in it to pee? The current tray that the box sits on is too shallow to hold litter. Otherwise, I would just put litter in the shallow tray, because she pees in the tray anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m basically trying to change her behavior...and if I can't, I'm trying out Ng to find a way to make it easier to clean up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7415" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T08:36:16.050" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T22:38:31.063" Title="Cat pees outside of litter box while being treated for urinary tract infection" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20952" CreationDate="2018-07-25T15:35:52.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's certainly possible a shorter lip could help, but it's also possible the UTI is just making it harder for your cat; cats can be finicky about peeing in &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; situations, and this situation is harder with the UTI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were me, I'd try a shorter box, and see if that works; but I'd also get some puppy pads and put them where the cat is actually peeing.  That should make it much easier to clean up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2018-07-25T15:35:52.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-25T16:28:22.583" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other answers are good. One thing you might not have thought of is to go on a walk for an hour every morning and an hour every evening. See how you feel after doing this for a month. Don't allow yourself to miss a session. Can you see yourself sticking to that regime for the next decade rain or shine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12510" LastActivityDate="2018-07-25T16:28:22.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-25T17:25:13.463" Score="4" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Marty, is a real fraidy cat. He doesn't like most new people, but eventually he'll grow to like them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently moved into my grandpa's house a city over from where we used to live. Currently, my cat is hiding under my bed. Usually at night, he'll come out from hiding and come downstairs when he knows it's just me, my sister, my brother and my mom downstairs, but sometimes when he's hungry he'll come out during the day, but only if one of us comes down the stairs with him. He's gotten pretty used to my uncle, he lets him pet him for a while, but he hasn't gotten used to my grandpa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also at night when we all go to bed he'll follow us upstairs, and he'll always sleep on my bed with me. He's not interested in sleeping on anyone elses bed, even if my sister picks him up and puts him on her bed, he usually just jumps right off and jumps onto my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12615" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:24:12.410" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:24:12.410" Title="My cat still hasn't adjusted to the new house after 2 weeks of living here" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-25T23:30:29.737" Score="3" ViewCount="2113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adopted ginger tabby male cat who was found somewhere and his age was estimated by the shelter to be about 4 years old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may notice that when your cat was young, their whiskers were white. As a cat ages, their whiskers can begin to change color. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://iheartcats.com/6-fun-facts-about-your-cats-whiskers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, he has just got his first black whisker. I'm wondering if it can be an indication of his true age? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-07-26T08:37:03.997" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T15:07:00.887" Title="At what age do ginger cats start having black whiskers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-26T00:22:44.177" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest looking for your local dog park. Whether you find a &quot;test&quot; dog or not, it'll give you a chance to see a large variety of breeds and how they will interact with other breeds and humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking my girlfriend's dog to the park has taught me a lot. For example, she usually isn't very interested in small dogs her size, unless they are some mix of terriers or corgis (also A-Type personalities). Large dogs get harassed into chasing her. She stays away from adult humans. Children are fair game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I find her hilarious, but some people might not want an A-Type chihuahua-terrier chasing after everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12617" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T00:22:44.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20940" CreationDate="2018-07-26T09:51:53.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't get too hung up on specific breeds especially if you are looking to foster. The act of looking after a dog in itself is key to knowing if it's right for you. I tend to think that you need to fit your life around a dog, not the other way around, every animal has its own quirks, issues and anxieties, and you need to work with those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are new to dogs, so I would recommend fostering/adopting an older dog as a first step, they tend to be easier as they generally speaking, like to just have a good place to rest and it's a good snapshot of life (12-18 years) with a dog in the space of a couple of years, where as a puppy is a ball of excitement and energy for the first few years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ease yourself into younger dogs over time. Puppies and rescue dogs alike are both wonderful, but they are a full time commitment like children and so many get returned or dropped off at rescue centres as people jump into something they were just not prepared for. It's great you are doing the research and willing to do what's right to prepare yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are dead set on a specific breed, then look to foster dogs with similar personalities and sizes, puppies are also available, but they tend to get snapped up quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T15:22:21.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T15:22:21.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20956" CreationDate="2018-07-26T15:07:00.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Color of whiskers isn't set in stone, nor is their transition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats start black, other cats start white (one of our current cats has blakc whiskers at age 1, the others have white whiskers at age 1). I've had a cat who kept white whiskers to the day she died (age 21).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's likely no guaranteed answer here, only an average approximation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T15:07:00.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20955" CreationDate="2018-07-26T15:10:04.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two weeks isn't all that long. Our first two cats were incredibly shy (they lived in the wild in a prison, where they had learned to stay quiet and out of sight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took them &lt;em&gt;months&lt;/em&gt; to just be out in the open in the living room. We had kept them in a single room for the first two weeks. We then also gave them the hallway, and it took them over a week to actually want to go into the hallway. The same happened when we opened the door to the living room. And for two more months, they would never go downstairs without us, or during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is by itself, getting to meet several new people, and also shy. I would give her a few extra weeks (if not months) before you see full integration into the household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T15:10:04.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20949" CreationDate="2018-07-26T15:33:54.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like he may be eating so quickly that he chokes on his food. If this is the case, try feeding him smaller amounts at a time. Instead of giving him his entire bowl at once, give him a couple mouthfuls at a time and make sure he's gotten them down before giving him more. This will make sure he eats more slowly and carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you mentioned you heat his food. You might be making it too hot for him. Try letting it thaw to room temperature rather than heating it and see if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12623" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T15:33:54.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21146" CreationDate="2018-07-26T17:02:45.117" Score="4" ViewCount="2019" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edit with what actually worked] I found out that the fleas were in the slop sink. Once I scrubbed that daily, my issue was soon a thing of the past. The key for me was to scrub all areas thoroughly where they may be. I used a rough thin green sponge and threw it away after each scrubbing. I got 5 for a buck at the dollar store and they worked great. I didn't have to deal with carpet, so I can't speak to that, except that a beater bar seems to work for others as long as you clean the canister/or throw away the bag after each vacuuming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Original post - Spoiler alert: It was not the accordion exhaust tube for the washing machine, it was fleas in the actual slop sink that the tube emptied into.] The water exhaust hose from my washing machine is the accordion type and is harboring fleas. (I only figured this out three days ago.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought I was getting to this end of my flea ordeal, but they kept popping up. It dawned on me that the washing machine exhaust hose had a build in trap (u shaped loop) and so I put some flea killing shampoo,diatomaceous earth, and water in there and got a bunch (30 or so) when I did the next wash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the last place I have them (I think), so I am looking for a way to eliminate them from this hose. For the past 3 days, I've filled it with my flea killing shampoo,diatomaceous earth, and water concoction and closed off the end of the tube with some saran wrap and a rubber band, but I still get a few when I do a wash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else faced this? Any ideas on how to put the final kibosh on these last few remaining fleas? I also one or two creeping up from my slop sink and they keep coming back despite my concoction and best efforts (but only in the &quot;slop sink&quot; that I use as an exhaust for my washing machine). Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12624" LastEditorUserId="12624" LastEditDate="2019-02-06T23:14:02.380" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:25.640" Title="Fleas in washing machine water exhaust hose and fleas in pipes" Tags="&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18476" CreationDate="2018-07-26T17:11:11.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been fighting these for a month now. I used a dehumidifier for years and turned it off when I found fleas in it. Do NOT use a dehumidifier to get rid of fleas. They do not care and they will love the water it sucks out of the air. Persistence is the key. Do not give up. Do not give in! Do all the things others have said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can stay dormant for up to 8 months until they sense a meal (warm body), so vacuuming is crucial as the vibration from a beater bar gets them going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12624" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:13:10.337" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:13:10.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20963" CreationDate="2018-07-26T18:02:35.673" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start your machine at the highest available temperature (usually 95 or 65°C). This should reliably kill all fleas and their eggs. I advice against washing with only 40°C, since the water pumped out already cooled inside the machine and continues to cool down in the hose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adult cat fleas die in temperatures colder than 46.4°F (8°C), and hotter than 95°F (35°C).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  To kill fleas on clothing and bedding, it’s recommended to wash the items for 10 minutes at 140°F, and then dry at the highest heat setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://fleascience.com/flea-encyclopedia/life-cycle-of-fleas/adult-fleas/how-long-do-fleas-live-for/at-what-temperature-do-fleas-die/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://fleascience.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the hose for living fleas for the next several days. If there are still living fleas, you have to repeat the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-26T18:02:35.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20955" CreationDate="2018-07-27T02:20:53.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he has something he likes: toys, bed or even litter in another litter box, placing it out in the open where you want him to be could help him feel more comfortable. If your kitty likes treats you could encourage him by putting some treats where you want him to be. You could also try this with catnip instead of treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12632" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:22:29.337" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:22:29.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20943" CreationDate="2018-07-27T02:27:10.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What noise are they making? If it is the wheel they have you could get a silent spinner. You could also try using another sound to drown them out. Maybe some light music. Or a fan. &#xA;Also if the cage is light consider moving the location of it at night. Maybe place it in the bathroom. So you don't have to mess with their sleep pattern and they won't mess with yours.&#xA;Even a clear safe space in a closet for night time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12632" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T02:27:10.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20969" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-27T03:39:38.037" Score="4" ViewCount="705" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been very weird lately. She used to lick my hands when she was a puppy, but doesn't do it anymore. This past week or so, she does it all the time! She also never had gas, but this past week or so it's every time she sleeps. She is not a big dog, so she sleeps a lot. The weirdest thing is that she is always, &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt;, wanting to be petted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has always been a bit needy when it came to massages, but now it's crazy! She wants her jaw kind of massaged and rubbed on. She likes the chest, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have this thing where if I pat her side and said &quot;okay&quot; it means I'm done. She usually understands this. But now she will shove her nose in my hand to get me to keep going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it's because she is a little old. She is about 8 years old, but she is expected to live up to 16. Her teeth are messed up pretty badly. She is missing the front ones and the back ones are gross looking. Maybe they hurt or something like that, I don't know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm scared that something may be up with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you please help me and tell me what possible reasons there might be for her recent changes in behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12634" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:42:42.340" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:46:28.927" Title="Why does my dog want me to, basically, massage her jaw?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20969" CreationDate="2018-07-27T07:25:12.387" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog's teeth are &quot;gross looking&quot;, then it's likely there's a build-up of plaque and maybe tooth-ache.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd really suggest taking her to the vet and getting her teeth looked at and get some general advice in what teeth care you can provide her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T07:25:12.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20973" CreationDate="2018-07-27T08:55:38.477" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Edinburgh many people seem to have these massive dogs, they look as big as a fully grown lion (at least to my 4 year old son).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This picture does not do justice to how big this dog was but it really was a large dog. There were others too which were in darker colors but equally big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which dog breed is this and is it local to Scotland? Would you please kindly add some links so i can study about them before trying to import one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MszJg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MszJg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12636" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T09:14:42.407" Title="Really large dogs in Scotland; Which breed are they?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-07-27T12:28:17.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-27T09:11:04.643" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks as though one of my horses has &lt;a href=&quot;http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/pests-diseases-and-weeds/animal-diseases/horses/information-of-the-control-of-strangles-in-horses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;strangles&lt;/a&gt;. I'm not looking for a substitution for veterinary care, I'm wanting to know of any home made remedies to relief the symptoms and help her cope with the illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T09:11:04.643" Title="What are some good treatments to help a horse with strangles?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20971" CreationDate="2018-07-27T09:14:42.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not 100% sure, but this looks like a St. Bernhard breed of dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia describes them as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The St. Bernard or St Bernard (UK: /ˈbɜːrnərd/, US: /bərˈnɑːrd/) is a breed of very large working dog from the western Alps. They were originally bred for rescue at the Great St Bernard Pass on the Italian-Swiss border, and Little St Bernard Pass in the Italian-French border,[2] located close to one another. The two hospices were built and run by the same monk brotherhood. The breed has become famous through tales of alpine rescues, as well as for its enormous size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bernard_(dog)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pictures seem to fit the bill quite well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SaXPf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SaXPf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7487" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T09:14:42.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20969" CreationDate="2018-07-27T10:10:27.353" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Snow's (user8045's) reply, please get the dog to a vet if the teeth are bad!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for other possibilities, it could be that you did it to them once and they enjoyed it, so keeps going back for more. I have a dog that loves to bury his head in between your legs or the sofa, or paw the side of his cheek to get you to pet them. I also have a cat that will headbutt your hands (or feet) to get you to pet him on the face. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would liken it to a pleasurable experience, much like why we humans pay to have head massages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:46:28.927" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:46:28.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20896" CreationDate="2018-07-27T10:23:29.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have multiple size kongs and it seems to us its really down to your dog and its ability to &quot;get in there&quot;. We have a 50kg American Bull/Rotty/Shep and a Rotty/Staffie (25kg) and the bigger dog has a smaller tongue than the other one, but he can clean out any of the Kongs, the little one struggles or is less experienced at it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The largest size they do (XXL?) is huge and has a big opening, i would recommend going for those, if they cant clean it out, you can pick it up after and easily push the stuff out for them once they discarded it... plus they easier to clean. I also agree to put dry on the bottom as mentioned by Shirru&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, the large dog destroys ANY toy in minutes or seconds, our Kongs are years old and still in good shape&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T10:23:29.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20402" CreationDate="2018-07-27T10:31:26.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds very much like cat behaviour, and nothing too alarming, although the excessive scratching is a bit of a worry. Cats do vary a lot and do strange things. Mine will sit in a corridor and stare at the wall a few inches away, sometimes he will dart in and out of the room, sometimes he will scratch me as he wants food. I walk him to his bowl (which is full) and he's fine and eats--he just wants a chaperone? &lt;em&gt;shrugs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats like to choose when they interact, too. Are they scratching you after you play with them too much? Cats like a bit of attention but will tell you when it's too much. Mine will softly nip my hand to say &quot;hey back off dude&quot;... if I continue I will get swiped. If I touch his belly more than a couple times he will swipe me as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could very much be adjusting to a new home. If you have anything that makes her feel comfortable and at ease such as an old blanket she used to sit on, then give her that? I would also say you could try some of the pheromone products like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feliway.com/uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway cats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:38.230" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:38.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20402" CreationDate="2018-07-27T13:25:53.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior shows that it got scared by something. It can happen while playing, or of a noise, or if it got hit (or hit itself). Before you start worrying, don't. My cat hit himself as he tried to run through a closed door when he got scared while playing. The vets assured me it will take time for this to pass. He started to avoid the room and place where it all happened, but now (one month after) he is back to normal. Still a bit jumpy but that is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Showing signs of affection, letting her be petted, not hiding in dark places is a good sign. If she plays that means she is OK.&#xA;She should eat and drink water. She should also user her litter box. If you notice she stops doing any of those, consult a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is not spayed, she may also become a little aggressive. It is rare with females, but possibility. After six months to a year, you can speak with your vet about the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, give her time. She will get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12639" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T12:20:51.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T12:20:51.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20955" CreationDate="2018-07-27T13:40:04.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats, unlike dogs, are teritorial creatures - they get used to the place. They do not take well when moving. Two weeks is normal, it may take months. I would suggest you do not force him. He will explore when and where he feels comfortable. As long as he eats and drinks water, uses his litter box he will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is normal for him to become more active during the night, that is when they hunt and explore. Cat's are curious by nature. Hiding makes him feel safe, so let him be, and don't try to force him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toys, treats, cat nip may motivate him but that depends a lot on the breed and character of the cat, it won't hurt to try. Just don't put his food, water and box at a place he cannot find it or doesn't want to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12639" LastActivityDate="2018-07-27T13:40:04.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2018-07-27T20:45:36.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean hornwort (&lt;em&gt;Ceratophyllum&lt;/em&gt;), it won't stay down long. It grows so fast under good conditions that it will soon be near the surface, and it never grows roots. (Java Fern is about the only other plant that will never grow roots). Most others can be weighted and pushed into sand. I use a small band of lead; heavy, soft and ductile. I got the idea many decades ago when &lt;em&gt;Anacharis&lt;/em&gt; bunches came with lead bands (I know, it is not politically correct today, but it worked so well for so long I still do it). In the right situation I use aluminum wire and rubber bands; I see rubber bands used often to hold coral frags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T06:51:15.717" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T06:51:15.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-28T17:59:52.553" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents have a 10-year-old female German Shepherd that has hip arthritis, which is especially bad on one side. She limps pretty much everywhere, and even has trouble getting up off the floor. The vet has already provided medication, but it's still quite an effort for her to move around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real issue comes from her having to walk down 2 steps to get outside. She has slipped a few times and hurt herself. Though she hasn't broken anything, her pain was clearly worse for several days after each incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we get her down the stairs more easily and comfortably? I have a feeling that in a year she won't be able to make it down them at all unless we do something... I have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7318/2650&quot;&gt;this question about a cat with arthritis&lt;/a&gt; but there was no helpful information pertaining to this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the stairs, for clarification:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9mhsL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9mhsL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;stairs&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2650" LastEditorUserId="2650" LastEditDate="2018-07-28T18:43:31.220" LastActivityDate="2018-07-28T19:56:42.960" Title="My German Shepherd has arthritis, how can I get her down the steps?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20982" CreationDate="2018-07-28T18:58:22.947" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Build a ramp. After looking at your picture, I think it would be best to build it facing the side (right side of the picture) rather than lying over the steps. It could probably be a very simple design of a long board with legs on one side. Maybe you can even find a reasonably priced portable wheelchair ramp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As shown in this picture, the ramp doesn't have to be as steep as the stairs themselves.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MiMJw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MiMJw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;example of dog ramp&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you should have in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, the top of the ramp should be at the same height as the top stair. That way you don't build another stair and possibility to stumble.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There must be no gap between the staircase and the ramp. A dogs paw is small and can be caught in small gaps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ramp has to be topped with a material that provides grip. Dogs slide easily on raw wood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Considering the age of your dog, the ramp should be sturdy enough to not swing when the dog walks over it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, considering the age of your dog, I would make the ramp at least 3 times as wide as your dog is. That eliminates the risk of falling should she stagger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, a portable wheelchair ramp has all these properties.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h2bY1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h2bY1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-07-28T19:56:42.960" LastActivityDate="2018-07-28T19:56:42.960" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-28T21:18:07.253" Score="8" ViewCount="2189" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a small feral cat that keeps coming into my backyard and attacking my 65lb dog. Our yard is fully fenced and we have a dog door, so our dog goes in and out as he pleases. I usually don't see the attack, but hear it (horrific yowling and crying by our dog--he's clearly afraid of it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the last cat encounter (we've had 6 or so), my dog hurt himself coming through the dog door as fast as he could. To make matters worse, now the cat seems interested in getting into the house through the dog door. I feel like I have to secure the house from this cat; I really worry about the cat somehow making it inside (through the dog door, a window, bolting through the door).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is not afraid of people.  I go out and shoo it with a broom, but it often comes right back.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been going on for months.  No kitties in our yard and if s/he had rabies, s/he's be dead by now. I've tried (unsuccessfully) to trap the cat, but there isn't much that's humane I can do with it anyway; local shelters won't take feral cats. And trap/neuter/return wouldn't help my problem in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12648" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-07-29T14:08:47.563" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:57:00.373" Title="Feral cat keeps attacking my dog in our backyard, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20984" CreationDate="2018-07-29T13:05:18.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on how big your garden is, you can plant a flowery line of defence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleus_Canina&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Coleus Canina (&lt;em&gt;Plectranthus caninus&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;, sometimes called the &quot;piss-off flower&quot;, was bread for the sole purpose of keeping cats off your property. It's easy to grow, looks quite nice and spreads a strong smell if you touch its leaves. Only drawback is that you have to put it into a greenhouse during winter or buy new ones in spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruta_graveolens&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ruta graveolens&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, aka the common rue, also repels cats with its strong smell. You can even eat its young leaves as a salad if you fancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helichrysum_italicum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Helichrysum italicum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, aka the curry herb plant, is said to irritate cats with its coarse texture and smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_balm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lemon balm (&lt;em&gt;Melissa officinalis&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; is also said to repel cats, but seems to be less sure-fire than the other ones listed above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to plant these plants on your property, you should keep some of them in pots to quickly move them to the points of penetration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't get any ideas about perfuming your dog with these smells. Dogs have very sensitive noses and are probably repelled just as much as cats, which is concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:04:02.377" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:04:02.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-29T21:22:20.397" Score="2" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my pond for 8 years and have never had any problems until a hail storm a few days ago.  I went out and found them all dead.  I then googled it and think it was due to the change of temperature and then it depleted their oxygen.   Does anyone know or have a cover that would work for hail?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12654" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-07T21:59:56.387" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:17:39.423" Title="Koi deaths after hail storm" Tags="&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20987" CreationDate="2018-07-30T00:28:52.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pond with koi. We have had two hail storms (in ten years) that required replacement of our roof shingles twice which the insurance adjuster authorized; so serious hail. No problem with koi or the tropicals (mollies, danios, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have inadvertently killed koi by covering most of the pond, slowing oxygen exchange. Hail hitting the pond would increase dissolved oxygen content by agitation and cooling the water. I strongly recommend using no cover. I also doubt it was temperature change, as my tropicals would be much more sensitive to cold than koi. The only thing I can think of is a very fast temperature change and that is hard to accept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about a lightning strike on the pond (grasping at straws)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:17:39.423" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:17:39.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-30T01:46:44.340" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 cats and 4 boxes. They're all good animals but one has anxiety and temperment. 3 cats will use any box, don't care , she will only use her box and once another cat uses it she will no longer use her  box; she will do her business wherevever . I was really sad for a moment thinking that she would never use a box again from how she was acting for a long time but I fixed that by putting her in a room by herself with a new/cleaned box. This works well because she started using it again and No one else has access to the box. Problem is... I don't want to leave her in a room all day by herself &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12655" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T02:47:06.490" Title="How to stop one cat from using another cats box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20989" CreationDate="2018-07-30T02:47:06.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, your one cat, being anxious, sounds like it'd be happier as an only cat, but hopefully you can make it as happy as possible in the situation by continuing to give it privacy with its box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So continue to keep your cat's box in that room, and the other cats out of that room. But give your one cat outings from the room. If you're concerned the cat might try to eliminate during one of its outings, try to only let the cat out right after it has used its box, and keep an eye on it. If you catch it about to eliminate, try to distract it by either making a loud noise (clapping is good) or throwing a toy in its direction, whatever gets its attention, or whatever you find that works, as long as you don't do something that is rewarding it.  Then quickly put the cat back into its room until it has used the box.  Obviously don't shut the cat out of its room for very long periods of time, so it has plenty of opportunity to relieve itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T02:47:06.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20997" CreationDate="2018-07-30T03:15:36.807" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are beginners but have ended up buying a fairly large (4 foot) fish tank and have some questions about setting it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we are worried about making sure it is level, as a lot of videos say this is very critical and we could get leaks if we don't get it right. the tank has built-in foam on the bottom but seems very thin, and also you can see the gaps between the foam and the cabinet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UjMTI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UjMTI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal/will solve itself once there is water in the (200 liter) tank? Or do we need extra foam to be safe? We also noticed that the water doesn't seem completely level when we put about 2cm of water in the tank, so we used a kit from aldi underneath the cabinet that we believe makes it more level. Is doing it like shown in the photo acceptable or is there more to making sure our cabinet is stable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0BU2q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0BU2q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rTvaU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rTvaU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other concern is position as we've heard again and again that you don't want direct sunlight on your tank or could end up with algae problems. We're limited in where we can place this size of tank, and have a lot of windows and light in our house. We thought that in the corner although next to a window that has shutters and a glass door that has curtains would be OK, but really want to get it right before filling the tank and making it hard to move anywhere else. will this position be meeting the requirement of &quot;no direct sunlight&quot; enough, or are we likely to have problems? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GQ79H.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GQ79H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks so much in advance for your patience and attention!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12657" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T20:01:45.440" Title="questions about leveling and positioning a 4 foot fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2018-07-30T08:40:31.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it be she is burying something. Is she doing this with a toy or item? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted a dog that &quot;buries&quot; stuff into the chair not long after you give it to her (she also digs in the garden too and buries things in bushes, dry grass... you name it), it could be this new dog has caused her to be concerned that they will take her stuff so shes trying to hide it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have blankets on the chair so she just digs into that now and i built her a sandpit with soft sand so she isnt digging harsh areas as much. While you begin to solve the psychological issue (which i think the answers above would do) then try covering the chairs with some old blankets when you go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We only give them treats when we can keep an eye on them and we brought loads of cheap stuffed toys which now strewn the garden and house and have made toys less of a valuable resource... she no longer buries toys!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T08:40:31.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="20996" CreationDate="2018-07-30T08:43:17.360" Score="4" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been getting our dog used to water for the past 2 years and have made great progress. She now goes in to fetch sticks and toys but only as long as she can stand without getting her belly wet. This is a bit of a problem because we lose toys when they drift out of her reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to make her swim we've liftet her into deeper water a couple of times and she can swim very neatly. But when she has to swim for more than a few seconds she stops paddling with her hind legs, which pushes her chest out of the water and her back sinks. She panics when this happens (can't blame her really) so we started to support her chest and belly when we want her to swim for a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can we help her to properly use her hind legs when she's swimming?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10126" LastEditorUserId="10126" LastEditDate="2018-07-30T10:22:56.867" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T10:22:56.867" Title="Teaching dog to swim" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20995" CreationDate="2018-07-30T08:47:56.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might want to try a flotation jacket for the dog, they are not too expensive and might give her a bit more confidence in the water (should certainly support her in the water) and allow her to learn how to use her legs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T08:47:56.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20992" CreationDate="2018-07-30T20:01:45.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;4 feet long is very likely named (in US )) a 55 gallon ( nominally 48&quot; X 12&quot; X 20&quot; ) , very common size. I have 3 aquariums that I specifically put in front of south windows to maximize light for plants. Algae is generally not a problem in a planted tank because the plants absorb nutrients better than the algae. I have no experience for tanks without plants. Artificial will also encourage algae growth. The thin layer of foam is good to accommodate small variations in the stand surface; I have been doing it for years but I never saw a tank that came with foam. Level floor is good but not critical, I have a 75 that is 1/2&quot; deeper at one end because of the concrete floor. However , for your frameless style tank , I think it would look best if level.  Good Luck !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-07-30T20:01:45.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-30T23:51:53.213" Score="4" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I brought my 18 year-old cat to the vet because she was getting a little thin.  She was otherwise just as affectionate, playful and voracious as she had always been. The vet diagnosed her with hyperthyroidism and prescribed 2.5mg of felimazole twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Approximately a month after starting this treatment, my cat's lower body suddenly became paralyzed and she now completely refuses to eat. I immediately went back to the vet. She said it had nothing to do with the treatment and recommended I euthanize or, if I refused, that I should continue the treatment supplemented with pain-killers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The official sources I found for this treatment don't list paralysis as a side-effect although I did find pet-owners who had the same experience on related forums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I first got my cat when I was only 10 and I care very deeply for her. I know she doesn't want to live in pain but I also know she doesn't &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to die. She wants to play, chase after strings and climb on my shoulders. I want nothing more than for her to be healthy again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I discontinue the treatment against the vet's recommendation? Is there any way for her to recover?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12662" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-07-31T01:09:59.683" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T11:12:10.753" Title="Cat suddenly became paralyzed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="20999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-31T01:23:10.837" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;We prepared an Eheim canister about a week ago and had also put some tank water in it but, because of a series of setbacks, we haven't been able to start the filter in our new tank. We are still not sure when we will be able to start it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The filter is second hand but we washed the pads and media then put in some tank water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it best to empty/clean the filter again, or can we just start it and let it run once we are ready?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12657" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-06T16:16:09.480" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T16:16:09.480" Title="Starting up a canister filter that has been off for a while" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-31T09:09:25.083" Score="2" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;my 10 year old shiba is a perfect angel at home.  Never chews on anything create messes.  However, every time I pet him he first wants to kiss me, then he starts getting a bit mouthy with your hand, but before he does anything he runs for his chew toy.  it's almost like &quot;i am gonna bite you soon so i am getting up to chew on something else.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;anyone with a similar experience?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12663" LastEditorUserId="3921" LastEditDate="2018-07-31T16:48:13.097" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T16:48:13.097" Title="My Shiba goes for his toy after 30 seconds of petting" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21000" CreationDate="2018-07-31T09:21:57.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Labrador is the same.  He'll be ok with a few seconds petting and then he'll want to play with a toy or chew on a bone instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We just interpret it as a preference on being petted (he's perfectly happy to be petted while he's fully relaxed and dozy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to combine the biting and petting, I'd just offer a bone or NylaBone and hold it while he chews on it, it's a nice way of reinforcing the bond with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T09:21:57.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21000" CreationDate="2018-07-31T10:03:42.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog has their own personality, just like every human has. Not every dog enjoys being petted to the same extend. For some, it's the best reward ever and could continue all day long, for others it's merely tolerated or outright loathed (especially when strangers try to pet them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your dog feels that you want to reward him by social interaction, but that playing is the better reward for him. He communicates his preference by discontinueing the petting and offering a toy instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T10:03:42.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21479" CreationDate="2018-07-31T13:00:29.640" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;A recent question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20998/cat-suddenly-became-paralyzed?noredirect=1#comment28553_20998&quot;&gt;Cat suddenly became paralyzed&lt;/a&gt; has a cat with sudden onset paralysis, after starting a new drug.  The companies drug literature does not list this as a side effect, but the OP found that several pet owners had seen paralysis after administering the drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;although I did find pet-owners who had the same experience on related forums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;User comments suggest that as the side effect is not listed by the manufacture it could not possibly be related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20998/cat-suddenly-became-paralyzed#comment28551_20998&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20998/cat-suddenly-became-paralyzed#comment28553_20998&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've done the research and there really isn't any reason to think there's a link between the felimazole and your cat's new symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm referring to the listed side-effects from studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the actual legal requirements for pet medications?  Does the vet or the manufacture need to report this possible side effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-10-12T16:46:38.467" Title="In the US what are the requirements for drug manufacturers for pets, to list side effects" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21021" CreationDate="2018-07-31T16:46:39.193" Score="3" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a Husky puppy just over week ago, she is now nine weeks old (her name is Nova). She has several bad puppy habits I am attempting to train, and her living situation could be improved but I can't decide on the best plan of action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have own a few dogs before, but they were all shepherds, easy to train, and easy going dogs. I knew Huskies were independent and energetic before I got one, I just had no idea &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; independent and energetic they were until experiencing it first hand. I live in the city, but I have an extremely large backyard (roughly .8 acre lot) for the pup, and I take her to the park almost everyday after work. I have done a lot of research on training and handling huskies, and spend 2-3 hours a day on training and playing with her. On top of that I just have her around me while I do things around the house for the remainder of my day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her Behavior&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note: the positive negatives I chose to teach her first are &quot;good (girl)&quot; and &quot;no&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is extremely energetic, despite running her at the park, walking, and playing with her she often is not ready to lie around at the house when I get home, or even go to bed. She takes a short nap and is back at it. She bites everything, I have been training her not to bite since the day I got her, but it seems to be having little affect on her. She will stop biting my shoes about 70% of the time when I say &quot;no&quot;. She has several toys/bones/chewy-bone-snacks but will often only play with them for short bursts before chewing on the leg of the chair or the rug unless I give her direct play attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She often bites my hands (and has bitten my nose once to the point of blood) in a playful way when I go to pet her. But I know this is a bad habit, and she can't control how hard she bites when she gets to excited, so I have tried several methods to get her to stop and only lick/nuzzle. this includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;saying &quot;no&quot; firmly and stopping play with her until she pauses to think about it, then resuming when she has quit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;whimpering/yelping to make her think I'm hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;walking away if she plays to rough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I expected, for a puppy, she needs pretty much 24 hour supervision accept for when she falls asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have been trying to off-leash train her, I know it is extremely difficult for huskies so I'm starting early, but she only comes to me during backyard practice on command %30 of the time. She gets quite distracted, and usually won't come unless she is sure I have a treat. This is mostly to help her stay close when she is on-leash when I am walking her and teaching her how to walk next to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her living quarters&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I start, please don't hit me with negative comments about my ability to take care of this dog as far as living quarters, I'm looking for feasible solutions for a good environment. I work full time, as does my wife, so the dog is in the crate during the day and let out during lunchtime by family. I &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; this isn't good and contributes to her energy, but she is 9 weeks and I can't just let her roam. all my previous dogs potty trained quickly and used a doggy door, so they were autonomous until I got home to take them for a walk and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Like I said we have a large backyard, but each idea I have has setbacks:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let the dog live in the backyard during the day&lt;/strong&gt;: I would puppy-proof the yard, replace a couple broken fence pieces, and put chicken wire in the ground along the fence to prevent her from digging out. Also, buy a dog house for shelter from rain, and put a blanket in there for comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;negatives:&lt;/strong&gt; she scratches at our back glass door if I just let her out without going out with her. I feel this also doesn't contribute to her learning how to behave indoor/outdoor and knowing the differences.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get the dog a play-pen indoor&lt;/strong&gt; they have metal play pens that connect to her cage, I could make room for it on the hardwood floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;negatives:&lt;/strong&gt; she will probably go to the bathroom inside, she will probably whine when put in the pen, and may be able to push it around/escape. Also, does not re-enforce or teach good behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Build a dog run outside&lt;/strong&gt; same idea as 1, except I build a fenced in area so she doesn't have the whole yard, and won't scratch the door.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Put in a doggie door&lt;/strong&gt; Install a doggie door through my wall and let her be independent. This is my ultimate goal, I just think it will take a really long time to get there along with training. This would allow her to get a lot of energy out during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;negatives:&lt;/strong&gt; she will chew up my house because bite and chew training are &#xA;going poorly, and sometimes tracking mud into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know she is a puppy, so some of this stuff just takes time. But what could I be doing better to speed things up, or help our relationship as a whole? Based on my post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q: How can I improve my relationship with my puppy husky? How can I improve her reckless behavior? How can I give her a better and more sustainable living environment?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12665" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-07-31T18:09:14.323" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T11:12:30.940" Title="How can I improve my relationship with my Husky, and it's living situations" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21007" CreationDate="2018-07-31T17:12:09.590" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 year old husky was as happy and [seemed] healthy as could be yesterday morning.  She needed her rabbies vac so around 3 i went and got it done at my vet.  After about 4 hours she became very lethargic and had labored breathing.  I took her to the emergency vet and after some ultrasounds they said she had pericardial effusion.  In the end I had the dr put her down :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dr said there was no link to the rabbies vac, but she was soo normal yesterday morning.  I googled a bit but didnt find anything. Is anyone aware of any correlation here (between the rabbies vac and the pericardial effusion)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12666" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T20:26:04.787" Title="any links between rabbies vac and pericardial effusion" Tags="&lt;vaccination&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21004" CreationDate="2018-07-31T17:47:58.800" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your husky is still a puppy. She will most likely grow out of some of these habits, such as the biting. She could be just teething. My puppy used to do that, too but eventually grew out of it as she got older. My best piece of advice would be to not expect her to grow out of these habits right away. As for the outdoors part, I suggest trying to take her outside in increasing amounts of time. Start with a short while, then gradually increase how long you leave her outside until she feels comfortable doing so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12664" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T17:47:58.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21005" CreationDate="2018-07-31T20:26:04.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm not a vet and this is pure speculation, but based on research.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericardial_effusion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pericardial effusion&lt;/a&gt; can have a number of causes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Various infections such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tuberculosis&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Coxsackievirus&lt;/a&gt; infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Various inflammations such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericarditis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pericarditis&lt;/a&gt; (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart), &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_lupus_erythematosus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lupus&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheumatoid_arthritis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rheumatoid arthritis&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressler_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dressler's syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kidney failure &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common negative side effects of rabies vaccines include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fever (hinting at some kind of inflammation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;muscle aches &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inflammation of joints (incidence not known)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shortness of breath and tightness in chest (incidence not known), which might hint at cardiac insufficiency but don't have to be related in this case&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain%E2%80%93Barr%C3%A9_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guillain-Barre Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; (rare side effect)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sources: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/rabies-vaccine-intramuscular-route/side-effects/drg-20069868&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rabies/vaccination/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NHS&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-5134/rabies-vaccine-pcec-pf-intramuscular/details/list-sideeffects&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my honest oppinion, all but the Guillain-Barre Syndrome are not fast acting enough to have caused the pericardial effusion in your dog. It might have been a very rare side effect. But it could also have been an inflammation he had for some time that was pushed to become pericardial effusion by the vaccine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should inform the vet who administered the vaccination about this incident. If this was a new vaccine, he should report the incident to the manufacturer.&#xA;Also ask him whether he examined your dog before the vaccination (but keep in mind that it's not a must). Pale oral mucosa would have indicated a blood circulation problem. This is important information to determine whether the pericardial effusion developed in very short time or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, I'm afraid noone will give you a clear answer what caused the pericardial effusion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm sorry for your loss and express my heartfelt condolence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-07-31T20:26:04.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-07-31T21:07:13.367" Score="8" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a few outdoor cats that like to roam freely along the street sometimes. I've just learned that lilies are poisonous to cats and I don't have any in my garden, but there is a lady nearby who grows day lilies in her garden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I can't ask her to remove them (because she won't, I tried) so I was wondering if there was another way to stop them from going there? I had these cats for years and I've never had problems with lilies before so I was wondering do cats maybe know by instinct that lilies are not good for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12667" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-01T08:10:14.737" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T08:10:14.737" Title="Are cats aware that lilies are toxic?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-01T00:19:24.940" Score="4" ViewCount="1505" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 9 months old and I know him only from the past 3 months. He was pampered and loved by my mum and dad. He was very friendly, he loved me and he used to sleep with me all the time. He allowed me to touch him, but now recently, we had to leave him in boarding for 6 days and he became very aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is OK with my dad, he feels safe, but he bites me and he barks at everyone else except those people he knew when he was child. I feel shameful because I'm the one who feeds him. He has bitten me before going to boarding and after coming from boarding he bit my dad. There was small pattern change when my mum had to go to work for 3 months in another city. So, it's only my dad and me who are taking care of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12668" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-02T15:58:01.207" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T17:46:57.340" Title="Aggression in my 9 month old golden retriever" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-01T00:34:30.490" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko, Marley is over a year old and we have had him since he was a baby. From the day we brought him home he would eat every time we fed him and was very healthy. We recently moved, 5 days ago. He was in a 40 gallon tank (yes, very spoiled) and when we moved we changed him to a 20 gallon enclosure for practical reasons. He ate the night we moved. The following day, he had runny poop and the day after that, dry white poop which did not look normal. Yesterday, he pooped normally which made me happy but he still hasn't eaten. His tail looks the same, thick and healthy and he is moving about his enclosure. So his behavior is normal, but no eating at all. I have tried everything i think of. I dont know what to do. I spoke with a reptile store over the phone, and she said not to worry but i cant help it. From some angles, his tail looks a bit ashy which makes me believe he may shed but not anytime soon. I am asking for some advice, i am desparate to keep this little guy healthy but i dont want to rush to a vet far away if there is information people can help me with online. Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12669" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T00:34:30.490" Title="Why won't my leopard gecko eat?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-08-03T13:20:42.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21008" CreationDate="2018-08-01T06:59:41.833" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's some good advice on &lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/poisonous-plants&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats given free access to the outside world tend to have other things to occupy their minds than sampling unfamiliar vegetation. But even free-roaming adult cats may accidentally ingest needles or seeds that have become entangled in their coat during grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's unlikely that this will cause a problem for your cat.  Many people have free-roaming cats, many people grow lilies and other poisonous plants, and not many cats suffer as a consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Free-roaming cats have access to many gardens so it will be impossible to prevent all possible contact with potentially harmful plants. You can, however, remove the most toxic plants from your garden and make a note of any in your neighbours’ gardens that are potentially dangerous. List common and Latin names. This list may help your vet if poisoning is suspected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, take a note of what the variant of lily is and in the unlikely event that your cat shows signs of illness, you have the right information to hand over to the vet (of course, not all illness will be lily-related, and there may be other plants around that you don't know about).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, don't worry about it too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T06:59:41.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21029" CreationDate="2018-08-01T07:16:39.317" Score="5" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;When searching for hypoallergenic wet cat foods often I see single protein foods appearing in the results, which don't feature the term &quot;hypoallergenic&quot;.  I wonder if this is a design flaw in such sites use of &quot;synonym&quot; search terms (grouping anything that's a special diet together), or if the terms are genuinely synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5921" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-08-04T05:50:48.970" LastActivityDate="2018-08-04T05:50:48.970" Title="Is hypoallergenic food the same as single protein food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21015" CreationDate="2018-08-01T15:15:11.710" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The goal:&lt;/strong&gt; Design a habitat suitable for a hatchling/juvenile blood python.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main issue:&lt;/strong&gt; Controlling temperature and humidity &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Progress so far:&lt;/strong&gt; What I've got so far (all theoretical at this point) is a 36&quot; x 12&quot; x 12&quot; (91 x 30 x 30 cm) glass tank with a cypress substrate. There will of course be a water bowl, hideouts and things in there. I'm planning to use a Raspberry Pi connected to a thermometer/hygrometer to control the heat source/fogger. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/18jYC.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/18jYC.png&quot; alt=&quot;simple diagram here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem details:&lt;/strong&gt; I am having trouble coming up with a suitable heat source. A heat lamp would be simple enough, but most of the research I've done suggests blood pythons don't like/need a lamp. Plus this would dry out the tank faster, I'm not sure if the fogger would have problems keeping up. I've thought about under tank heaters, but am worried that it wouldn't supply sufficient heat through the substrate. I've thought about a &quot;side of tank&quot; heater, but looks like that would just be an under-tank heater taped to the side of the tank, I'm not sure if that would present safety hazards or not. Any thoughts would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T22:10:24.657" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T22:10:24.657" Title="Suitable heat source for young blood python" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21014" CreationDate="2018-08-01T15:54:56.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Disclaimer, I linked a few example products. These were the first items I found, I do not own or sell these specific products, or am in any way affiliated with them.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are roughly four ways to heat your tank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heat lamp. Has a few problems, one of which is that it suck humidity from the air, but also an aesthetic one. If you are regulating the temperature by a thermostat, doing that with a light bulb will turn the light on and off. This is troublesome for both the visibility of the tank and the day-night cycle in the enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/TAMAYKIM-Infrared-Terrarium-Ceramic-Tortoise/dp/B0772GB4NB?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&amp;amp;tag=duckduckgo-ffab-uk-21&amp;amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;amp;camp=2025&amp;amp;creative=165953&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B0772GB4NB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A ceramic lamp.&lt;/a&gt; These lamps are screwed in &lt;strong&gt;ceramic&lt;/strong&gt; light fixtures, but don't glow. They only create heat. This solves the aesthetic problems with the heat lamps. I'm not sure what exactly it does with humidity though.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/KOMODO-Advanced-Heat-Mat-276x274mm/dp/B00B99OU9S?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&amp;amp;tag=duckduckgo-ffab-uk-21&amp;amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;amp;camp=2025&amp;amp;creative=165953&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B00B99OU9S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Heat mat.&lt;/a&gt; This is a mat placed underneath the enclosure to heat the substrate. If you make sure the table or whatever the enclosure stands on is decently isolated, most of the heat should go into the tank. You should be able to regulate the heat with this quite easily.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reptile-Vivarium-Models-Available-Metres/dp/B015ON3X7Y?psc=1&amp;amp;SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&amp;amp;tag=duckduckgo-ffab-uk-21&amp;amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;amp;camp=2025&amp;amp;creative=165953&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B015ON3X7Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Heat cable.&lt;/a&gt; This is somewhat similar to the heat mat, except that it is a cable. It is often used at the back-side of rack-like stacks of enclosures. I don't use them personally, but I know of many people who use thermostats to regulate a great number of enclosures (mostly in tub racks) that use heat cables at the back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize: Heat mats and cables are often used to heat enclosures without lighting, especially with thermostats. Mats generally go under the tank, cable on the side. Make sure that you always have a gradient in your tank. It should always have a warm side and a cooler side, so the snake can thermoregulate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Random remark in parting: I have no experience with foggers, but when working with a plant spray, the spray wins against the humidity drain of a heat lamp, so it shouldn't be &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; big of a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T15:54:56.173" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21018" CreationDate="2018-08-01T18:52:05.037" Score="4" ViewCount="583" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat, which is 12 years old, has been ill for around 2 months now. However, we don't know what the &lt;strong&gt;real&lt;/strong&gt; disease or problem actually is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;problem&lt;/strong&gt; during these 2 months is that our cat lost a lot of weight, is not drinking and eating like he was used to, and that he produces way too much slime in his nose and throat. The mucus is literally hanging on his chin. Therefore he is coughing and sneezing a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The steps that we have taken so far are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It all started when we started to see some signs of a common cold. So we started visiting a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the first place, the veterinarian was thinking of a strep throat, just like we did. He gave the cat some antibiotics, which didn't resolve the problems. After that he got other antibiotics. They seemed to work, but after all they did not either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We decided to visit another veterinarian. He was thinking about some bacteria or some kind of fungus inside his nose. Another antibiotics was used, but that didn't work as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since the whole problem is inside his nose and mouth, we started to check his teeth and mouth. Since the veterinarian was thinking of a gum disease, the two side teeth of the cat were removed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the removal of the teeth, our cat got prednisone, which is now one week ago. However the problems persists.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The last known antibiotics are &lt;strong&gt;spiramycin&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;metronidazole&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that during this time, our cat stopped eating and drinking like he was used to. The only way to feed him, is to use liquid food. Think of meat products and a lot of recovery food cans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can also notice that our cat is not drinking water enough. He used to not drink a lot of water, however, now we need to force him to drink using a syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading all this, you might say we should stop the cat from suffering. However, the cat is still showing all of his original signs like cleaning himself and responding to people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to wrap it all up, the veterinarians do not have a real answer to the problem. So, are there any veterinarian around here, or people with a similar problem which can help finding the cause of this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12678" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:07:05.363" Title="Cat produces way too much mucus/slime" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21017" CreationDate="2018-08-01T19:45:48.950" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a vet, but if three different antibiotics didn't work, your vets need to look for a different cause of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PetMD states in their article about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/respiratory/c_ct_nasal_discharge%20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Runny Nose in Cats&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The source of a nasal discharge is typically in the upper respiratory organs, such as the nasal cavities, sinuses, and postnasal area. However, if the cat has a swallowing disorder or a digestive tract disease, secretions may be forced into the postnasal area. If the secretions are coming from the eyes, it may be caused by nerve damage to the middle ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/chronic-nasal-discharge-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VCA&lt;/a&gt; lists similar causes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some fungal infections can cause chronic upper respiratory tract disease; these infections are more likely in certain geographic areas. Cancer (neoplasia) affecting the upper respiratory tract is rare, but may need to be ruled out in certain cases. In a few cats, non-cancerous nasal polyps may cause chronic sneezing and discharge. There may be occasions when your veterinarian will need to rule out other causes such as trauma, foreign bodies trapped in the nose, or even dental disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms you listed in your comment point in the direction of a swallowing disorder or chronic infection. That's why it's important to know the color of the discharge. Red or yellow hints at a bacterial infection while transparent, colorless discharge can be caused by anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By opening the mouth (and with some luck) you can see the throat of your cat. Reddened or swollen tissue would be a sure sign, but since someone removed some teeth from him, they should have noticed if it was so obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some object could be stuck in the esophagus (like the barbed little hairs protruding from the ears of wheat). Or worse, he might have swallowed something vitriolic that damaged his esophagus. Maybe cats can have tonsillitis? But again, I'm no vet, this is pure speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the vets should examine him thoroughly and maybe analyze a sample of the discharge to prove the involvement or lack thereof of germs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note to easy your mind: Since you feed him &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt; food he doesn't have to drink as much as if you fed &lt;em&gt;dry&lt;/em&gt; food. As long as he regularly makes puddles in the litter, his liquid balance should be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:07:05.363" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:07:05.363" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21004" CreationDate="2018-08-01T20:23:09.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;: It takes time. Work through each and every issue. Keep at it, be firm, be patient, repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told (I believe it comes from Cesar Millan) that a dog takes 15 repetitions to learn something. Most of the times, that's 15 days. Some times, that's 3 work-weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't just wait for it to get better though. A lot of people think that they have to sit back and wait for their puppy to &lt;em&gt;grow out of it&lt;/em&gt;. But you shouldn't just sit back. Work on those issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you'll have to dedicate a lot of time to her. Tell her time and again what you like in her behavior and what you don't. But the sooner you get going the more effective your training will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10208" LastActivityDate="2018-08-01T20:23:09.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="427" CreationDate="2018-08-02T10:01:10.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It definitely is breed dependent too. My huskies cannot have food switched on them randomly or they get sick to their stomachs with runny diarrhea. This makes things particularly difficult when dealing with my older husky (she will be four in September) who gets sick of her food after a week or two. My younger one who is only six months old can only have hills science diet for puppies or she is sick with diarrhea nonstop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12682" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T10:01:10.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21004" CreationDate="2018-08-02T11:05:08.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I think you are doing great with training and playing with your dog. The thing with puppies is that they are like little children, it takes time to teach them. For some it will be few days, for other few weeks. But with stuff like biting you can slowly reduce how often it occurs, and probably won't eliminate it full until all teeth are changed. All methods you listed are good ways to teach puppy how and if it can bite, but it takes time to learn fully that. You should also have some toys dog can chew on, so you can switch you hand for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for keeping the puppy when you are away. Cage is perfectly suitable for that if it's big enough and you put water there. Leaving the puppy for 8h alone is something you should not do. But you said, that someone is letting her out during the day, and that is okay. Buy something like kong toy, and fill it with ex. wet food, and give it to dog every day you are leaving in morning. It will keep dog occupied at the beginning, and she will start liking to be in cage. You also should let her go to cage etc. during day, put treats there from time to time, so she likes it there, and won't associate it fully with you leaving her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly advise against leaving her outside. There is to much stuff from outside your yard that can get there. Starting on leaves, dusts to insects which can be really dangerous for her. Imagine if she gets bitten by wasp when you are away. It could be deadly for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also energetic dogs can get overexcited/overtired, and will need help to settle down, or they'll keep running until they drop exhausted. With this cage can also help. My border collie puppy gets often overexcited after nightwalk/play and start running around bedroom, instead of lying down. Putting him in cage for 2-3 minutes usually helps him settle down (even if he tries to get out by whining/digging on doors) And don't forget water!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; - i did not notice part about off leash coming &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for coming to you off leash - it also takes time and a lot of practice. for start you need to find the point when she always comes to you. And make distance smaller and be more and more exciting for her until you find that point.  You should also start indoors (the less distractions the better at the beginning) and slowly work your way up to bigger distances, and more distractions( yard) but you should minimalize times when she won't listen to you. And if she won't come, take step back. But try to avoid adding distance and distractions at the same time, make it as simple, and easy as you can so you ensure here chances of success are very high&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastEditorUserId="12556" LastEditDate="2018-08-02T11:12:30.940" LastActivityDate="2018-08-02T11:12:30.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21009" CreationDate="2018-08-02T16:02:54.540" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Behavior is always hard to analyze remotely, but I'll try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is now 9 months old and is pubescent. As a puppy he was automatically low in hierarchy, but as an adult, he needs to find his place in the ranking of his pack (that is your family).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was pampered and loved by my mum and dad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That reads like he was always allowed to do whatever he wanted and was never scolded for anything. In a dog brain that translates to: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No one establishes or enforces any rules. No one is the leader of this pack, therefore I must become the leader of this pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a leader in our human world is extremely difficult for dogs, because it's so different from the wild. Dogs who have to be leaders make rules that are not logical to us, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Human walking around is chaotic&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Human sitting on couch is calm&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I bark at the human as soon as he tries to stand up from the couch to keep my surroundings calm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To change his behavior, one of you has to become pack leader. That &lt;strong&gt;does not mean&lt;/strong&gt; you should beat or punish your dog. It means you make rules he has to obey. Good examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He may not sit on the couch. If he is on the couch, send him down. If he walks to the couch and looks at the seat like he wants to jump on it, tell him &quot;No&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You eat first! The dog gets his food only after all of you have finished with the meal. That includes no treats during meals! You can put aside morsels for the dog, but you actually feed them to him only after all of you finished eating.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He may not sit at or under the table while you eat. Place a pillow or blanket a few meters away from the table and let your dog sit there while you eat. This will be difficult at first and you often have to send him back to his place at first. He has to sit or lay on the pillow, don't accept him sitting next to it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You go first through &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; door. Gently block his path to assert the claim to go first. The dog must not squeeze by to be first out the door. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make no exception. Ever. These are very few and very simple rules. The dog must always obey them. Don't punish him if he tries to avoid obeying, correct his behaviour until he obeys. That means sending him down from the couch again and again, returning him to his pillow during meals again and again, and turning around and going through the same door again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-02-26T16:15:16.120" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T16:15:16.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-03T06:21:40.090" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pit/boxer mix. He’s a year old and I rescued him a month ago if not longer. I take him to the dog park frequently in my apartment complex. He’s very submissive most dogs. I have an issue with GSD , two actually and cane corso ganging up on him. One of the GSD always bites at my dogs neck and at first it was playfully but has progressively gotten more aggressive to me .  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today he was biting my dog to the point I could hear him wheezing. I pulled my dog away and let them calm down let him go and then the other GSD and Cane Corso ganged up on him poking at him while the other GSD again was bitting my dogs neck meanwhile my dog just lays there rolling around and kicking . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short I got into with pet parent because I slightly pushed her dog away from mine because I grabbed him again and the dog was nipping at my dog and I had enough.  She said they are playing but in my eyes they are being to aggressive with my dog who has scratches all over him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try my best to Protect my dog because of his breed and people don’t understand that , I don’t want him playing a certain way or picking bad habits up because if my dog was to do those things they would be the first people to say my dog is aggressive &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12685" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-08-04T05:49:03.870" LastActivityDate="2020-08-23T17:14:42.503" Title="Dogs being bullied?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21024" CreationDate="2018-08-03T07:28:01.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your problem is not your own dog, but the &amp;quot;gang&amp;quot; and their respective owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog submits to another, he shows typical dog behavior and there is nothing wrong with it. If the GSD doesn't stop biting his neck even after he rolled over and clearly showed his submission, the GSD is behaving badly. Pushing him away from your dog was IMHO the right thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the owners don't see anything wrong with how their dogs are bullying around, there is not much you can do but avoid being at the dog park at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She said they are playing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Letting dogs play around in dog parks unchecked and without correcting overly dominant behavior, unfortunately, leads to some dogs becoming bullies. It's not in your right to correct someone else's dog, but if you show the owner the scratches on your dog, maybe they realize the behavior was not as playful as they thought. But don't get your hopes too high...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t want him playing a certain way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, you should let your dog &lt;strong&gt;play&lt;/strong&gt; like all dogs play. You're right to not want him to pick up bad behavior (like the bullying), but playing is not bad behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-23T17:14:42.503" LastActivityDate="2020-08-23T17:14:42.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-03T08:40:20.633" Score="7" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are any breeds of domestic cat bred primarily for their intelligence? If so, which breed(s)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;Intelligence&quot;, I mean problem solving ability.  This would include such things as the cat attempting to open doors using the handle  where other cats would simply miaow to be let through, or turning lights on/off, or learning by example by watching another cat or human perform a task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;primarily&quot;, I mean that after consideration of the health of the kittens, the parents are selected first for their intelligence and their appearance is only considered after that, unless it is a matter of the breed's health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware that breeds like Abyssinians, Bengals and Siamese are known for their intelligence, but is the intelligence of any of these or other reputedly intelligent breeds accidental, secondary to that of appearance, or primarily selected for? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12687" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T20:47:59.747" Title="Are there any breeds of domestic cat that are bred primarily for their intelligence?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21012" CreationDate="2018-08-03T09:50:03.923" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term 'hypoallergenic' is a marketing strategy. If a cat is really allergic to many proteins the best would be a single protein food without any dairy, grains, potatoes, sugar ... &#xA;And then feed only that for a time before deciding if the cat can tolerate this protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because the food label says: hypoallergenic, does not mean that the content is really healthy or has low amount allergy risky content. Some companies just use nice labels like that to get people to buy their low quality food. (I don't say all of them do, but better look at the contents of the food than at the name !)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;HYPOALLERGENIC DIETS FOR DOGS AND CATS ARE GAINING POPULARITY, AND DO OFFER SOME HEALTH BENEFITS,&#xA;  but some of the marketing hype can mislead pet owners because pet food allergies are entirely specific to the individual pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A food that is ‘hypo-allergenic’ for one pet may still trigger reactions in others, and sometimes additional measures are needed to unearth the true cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since different pets are allergic to different ingredients, there obviously can be no such thing as a food that is hypo-allergenic or non-allergic for every pet on the planet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The key is to find out what ingredients your individual pet can and cannot tolerate, and choose or make his food accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/blog/hypoallergenic-pet-food-myths-and-facts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-08-03T10:57:08.557" LastActivityDate="2018-08-03T10:57:08.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-03T16:08:08.707" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a pitbull from the spca a few months ago. He was originally surrendered due to financial issues but his second surrender was due to the person being unable to handle him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a few other issues like wanting to attack the cats and the sheep and he bites severily when I sometimes pull him at the collar (usually when he doesn't want to go outside or through the gate or when he chases the cats or sheep), but other than that I have not seen any aggressive behaviour, not even with other dogs or complete strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other day I wanted to spray him with fly spray and spray wound spray on his ears where the flies got to him, and he went absolutely crazy. He growled and snapped at the can as well as bit it a few times and his eyes went crazy, like he was a different dog. He became vicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have hosed him down before and he only cowered a little. I don't know if he's ever been fly sprayed and if he's just deathly afraid or if something happened with his first adoption, but this is an issue for me as I don't know what other &quot;vices&quot; he may have that could be dangerous to family members or friends. I also don't want him freaking out when the need for a vet visit arises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to correct or eliminate this reaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12691" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T07:36:34.267" Title="2yr old pitbull becomes demonic for fly spray, how can I stop this?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15841" CreationDate="2018-08-03T18:44:02.700" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is yes and no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are using UVA light (black light) then this is safe for your fish; most of the light sources used on fish tanks do emit these wavelengths to some degree, but the black light sources are coated with a material that filters out the other wavelengths from red to blue light so it radiates only near ultraviolet and infrared light (heat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dangerous types of ultraviolet light are UVB and UVC; UVB is what gives you a tan or a sunburn, while UVC is the most dangerous type of ultraviolet light - this is used to kill bacteria and algae in water and to sterilize surgical equipment, among lots of other uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UVC radiated from the Sun is stopped by the atmosphere so it does not reach the ground, but it can be measured in Antarctica due to the ozone hole there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More information could be found in this Wikipedia article about ultraviolet light&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oOj5T.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oOj5T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Near UV = UVA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle UV = UVB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Far UV = UVC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-02T23:07:55.867" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T23:07:55.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2018-08-03T22:37:26.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I give it to him in his neck,but a couple of times while injecting insulin I put the needle in,and some came out of the needle while injecting him.I guess he moved ,not sure but i don't know if i got it in.I don't know how to pinch in a triangle on his neck.I don't know if i am doing it right.It is a scarey situation. I wish I could just inject into his thigh because I can do it fast and with no problems.But they do not recommend that.&#xA;                                        Thank.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;                                         Deb&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5P34m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12694" LastActivityDate="2018-08-03T22:37:26.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-04T07:22:29.033" Score="3" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where we live our state is going through the worst drought in decades. Livestock are dying from starvation. Pasture has died and crops are not producing. Hay, legumes and grain is being trucked in from other states. It's leading people to feed their animals anything alternative feeds they can utilise. For example bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note this is not to replace hay, legumes and/or grain, it's to supplement feed to help keep horses from starving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What types of fruit, vegetables and other food can horses eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-08-05T11:53:53.067" Title="What alternative feeds to hay, grain and legumes can horses eat?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21031" CreationDate="2018-08-04T09:22:25.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm honestly concerned about the way you describe his biting you as if it's nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and he bites severily when I sometimes pull him at the collar &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should absolutely not happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's concentrate on the question at hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spraying his ears&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You probably startled him and he felt threatened by the can of spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to spray your dogs ears, you have to hold the can by or behind his ears. This is a vulnerable place where your dog cannot see them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spray cans make a hissing sound&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They &quot;spit&quot; at him (he is suddenly wet when he didn't expect it)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid aggressive reactions, you could wipe him instead of spraying. Wet a cotton ball in tap water and squeeze the excess out. Then add the fly spray to the cotton ball. Wiping your dogs ears with it will feel to him like another dog licking him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addressing his aggression&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One thing that worked with our dog was to offer him a crate as his &quot;calm place&quot;. He should sleep in the crate and generally accept it as something positive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he growls at or bites you, put him in the crate, close the door and ignore him  for 10 - 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potentially dangerous situations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Train your dog to wear a muzzle. There are several instructions on how to do that, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/jCnuZZ2HEsg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;. It's important to let him wear the muzzle not only in negative situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your dog is used to the muzzle, make him wear it when you visit the vet, when you take him to the sheep or when you have visitors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-04T10:55:01.390" LastActivityDate="2018-08-04T10:55:01.390" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21035" CreationDate="2018-08-04T10:41:54.883" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know much about a horses diet, but I once saw a documentary about war horses in WWI. Keeping the animals healthy and fed was a big problem, so people noticed that horses who recently had dental care needed much less food (up to 30% food reduction if I remember correctly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://equimed.com/health-centers/dental-care/articles/4-top-reasons-for-making-horse-dental-care-a-priority&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; lists among the benefits of dental care for horses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improved feed efficiency with a reduction in horse feed costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any scientifical papers on the matter, but I'll keep looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The explanation for the reduced food intake was this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Horses wear down their teeth which may form sharp edges that hurt while chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The better a horse chews the food, the more nutrients it can extract.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Removing all edges and spikes from the teeth allowes the horse to extract the maximum amount of nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-04T10:41:54.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-05T05:33:26.290" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're at our wits end with our dog's barking – he barks aggressively (meaning that if I didn't know him I would feel like he might be a threat if he got out) at pretty much anyone who goes by. He really goes crazy if they are walking a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far we've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consulting with a dog behavioralist who suggested a positive reinforcement regime (see @Mario's answer below for a good description of the strategy). After months of trying we haven't seen any appreciable change in his behavior. I'd really like for this to work, it seems like the &quot;right&quot; approach – but we've had almost no success with this approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using ultra-sonic &quot;birdhouses&quot; that are supposed to make an unpleasant sound in the area around a barking dog (the fence line in our case). It was really hard to tell, but the change, if any was very minor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a collar with a citronella spray. He smelled lovely but it had zero impact, we could see it spraying as he went charging at the fence in full voice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a Garmin Bark Limiter Deluxe shock collar (this model was recommended by a friend who found that it worked very well with her dogs). This works – he has stopped barking &quot;cold turkey.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we've noticed other changes in our dog's behavior that make me think that the message he's getting from the collar isn't &quot;stop barking&quot; but something more like &quot;stop getting excited about life.&quot; That's not what we want – he's a funny dog with a huge range of expressive vocalizations (a moan for when he sees something he wants but can't reach, whines, a very soft &quot;just so you know&quot; bark, growling when he plays, etc.), he used to get &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; excited when his people came home, he also seems less engaged and energetic when playing with dog friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads me to think that his barking at passers by was motivated by something in common with the other behaviors (e.g., not by defending his territory) and that he's suppressing all excitement (and thus not barking) rather than learning that extended barking is not a &quot;socially acceptable&quot; way to express his excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does anyone know of a bark collar that allows &quot;fine grained&quot; control of when it shocks? For example, I'd like to be able to:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust triggering based on bark volume/attack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust triggering based on bark frequency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set a audible or tactile warning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be able to select the type/intensity of correction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a correction &quot;ramp&quot; (increasing intensity of correction with frequency or volume of barking – decaying during silent intervals).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does anybody have ideas about how to help the dog understand that the behavior we are trying to correct is the barking (as opposed to suppressing excitement)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastEditorUserId="5614" LastEditDate="2018-08-05T07:18:40.940" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T11:18:07.450" Title="Bark collars and &quot;shock therapy&quot;" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21040" CreationDate="2018-08-05T06:33:34.060" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try to avoid collars in general. While negative enforcement &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; work, it's hard to transport the message. Does the dog really understand the shock is due to him barking (might improve behavior) or is it due to someone passing by (making it worse)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some treats the dog really loves, maybe even stops anything else just to get it. Make it exclusive to these exercises for a while.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the help of a &quot;stranger&quot; for this. This can be a relative, a coworker, etc. Basically someone the dog would bark at.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let them pass your yard, talk in a calm way to both the dog and the &quot;stranger&quot;, while you try to get the barking to stop &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; using tools.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you make advancements, the &quot;stranger' might even bring some of the treats with them. In this case it would be ideal for the dog waiting for your approval, but for the given situation this might be secondary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you know the dog won't bite and just bark, the &quot;stranger&quot; could later on also enter the yard with you and try kneeling down or even sitting on the floor signaling no threat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you make advancements, try replacing the &quot;stranger&quot; to teach the dog this isn't exclusive to that one person.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always keep in mind this will take some time and you won't fix the issue in a week or two.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The basic idea is to tell the dog using this positive reinforcement that strangers aren't necessarily bad and there might even be something good waiting for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should never do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get angry at the dog out and shout at them. They might actually think you are barking at the strangers as well, further supporting the behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give up. Always remember the dog most likely doesn't have any malicious intentions. They just want to protect both their pack and territory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-08-05T06:33:34.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21035" CreationDate="2018-08-05T10:25:00.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience is mostly with house rabbits, who have similar dietary needs to horses. The issue is not trying to meet the energy and nutrition requirements of the animal, the issue is meeting the fiber requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, no animal can digest fiber on its own. Animals don’t produce the enzymes needed to break the beta bonds of polysaccharide fibers and make the nutrients within available for use. Fortunately, horses, like most other animals, have an almost invisible ally–a population of intestinal bacteria, resident in the cecum and colon, that are specially adapted to digest the fiber that horses cannot. Through a fermentation process, these gut flora produce the necessary enzymes to convert fiber to volatile fatty acids (VFAs), which the horse can absorb. Not only do the bacteria benefit (making this a truly symbiotic relationship), but the VFAs they create provide 30-70% of the horse’s total digestible energy needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we often provide grain and supplemental fats to our domestic horses to give them the energy to do hard work, it’s important to remember that it’s fiber that horses were meant to use as fuel–and fiber remains the first and most important ingredient in every equine diet. It provides all the energy horses need for everyday maintenance metabolism–ordinary stuff like breathing, walking, grazing, and sleeping. Without adequate fiber, the horse’s digestive system doesn’t function properly–it loses the ability to move food particles efficiently through the gut, and its ability to conserve water and electrolytes also is compromised. Without fiber in the system, high-carbohydrate feeds tend to &amp;quot;pack&amp;quot; in the gut as well. The result is a horse at risk for dehydration, colic, and laminitis (not to mention stable vices like cribbing and wood-chewing, which often develop when a horse’s fundamental urge to chew is not satisfied). &lt;a href=&quot;https://thehorse.com/14711/fiber-facts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a rabbit is sick we will often provided some high food values foods like banana, but for any event lasting longer then a few hours we will also supply high fiber foods like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxbowaustralia.com/critical-care%E2%84%A2-information-for-pet-owners/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Oxbow Critical Care&lt;/a&gt; which can be force feed by syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a rabbit has significant dental issues (&lt;em&gt;no teeth&lt;/em&gt;) than canned pumpkin (&lt;strong&gt;plain pumpkin NOT pie filing&lt;/strong&gt;) is a cost effective long term solution (&lt;em&gt;as compared to Critical Care&lt;/em&gt;).  We have had rabbits live several years with canned pumpkin as the primary food.  Squash baby food is another alternative. You would need to check specific to horses, but most &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;squash plants&lt;/a&gt; are probably appropriate grass/hay replacements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Except&lt;/strong&gt; you are in a drought, and it takes more water to grow a squash then it does a grass.  Which leads us back around to trying to find a source of large volumes of fiber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again specific to rabbits you would need to do more research around horses... Clean cardboard is a favorite fiber of most rabbits.  Pretty much every toilet paper tube is given to the rabbits for toys, they play with them, they chew on them and they eat them.  Plain cardboard boxes without shiny print are used for hiding holes and also get eaten and need to be replaced regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt; cardboard is a viable solution for Horses!  You are going to need a source of high volume clean cardboard.  Most of the fruit and vegetables your local grocery store gets come in cardboard boxes, which they throw out. Cardboard appropriate for transporting human food is probably going to meet or exceed any processed animal feed contamination requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again cardboard as your source of fiber for horses is speculation, wood fiber in cattle feed is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thegazette.com/2013/02/25/northeast-iowa-cattle-herd-thriving-on-sawdust-based-feed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;not an uncommon practice.&lt;/a&gt;  Rabbits, Cattle and Horses have similar but also very different digestive requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-08-05T10:25:00.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-05T11:30:19.953" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always wanted to have a husky but I need to work during the day and they need much exercise so I'm not sure if I should get one.&#xA;I would be able to go for a walk or jogging in the morning and evening and play with the dog a little in between but when I'm at work he would have to be a long time alone at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a garden where he could run or something but I don't know if that would be enough exercise or maybe I should pay someone to go for a walk with him during that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the weekends I don't have to work so I would have a lot of time to exercise with him then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think should I rather not get a dog or is it fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12704" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-08-05T11:58:56.493" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T15:40:41.220" Title="Exercise needed for a husky" Tags="&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21035" CreationDate="2018-08-05T11:51:01.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was common in the past for farmers where I live to feed leaves to the farm animals when food was in short suply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaves from these trees was used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Willow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rowan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hazel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farmers did feed horses-sheep and cows leaves on the branches. The branches are important for the fiber they contain so the animals can digest it properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The leaves and branches can be dried for storage if this is needed. It is best to harvest leaves in the spring before the leaves develop the bitter taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-08-05T11:53:53.067" LastActivityDate="2018-08-05T11:53:53.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21044" CreationDate="2018-08-05T19:25:47.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend another breed. Please avoid dogs bred for high energy work like Huskies, Border Collies and other herding dogs and hounds. There are several (mostly smaller) breeds that don't need as much physical activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because your dog has a big garden doesn't mean that it will run laps or entertain itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend either adopting an adult dog or taking at least a week off when you get a puppy. Puppies need a lot of supervision and could develop bad behavior if left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T15:40:41.220" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T15:40:41.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2108" CreationDate="2018-08-06T00:18:05.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish that are purchased locally have already cleared one hurdle — acclimation to local water parameters similar, if not identical, to what you will have available from your own tap. This is a consideration because fish are sensitive to pH swings, which can result in losses. In contrast, when you purchase fish online you have no idea what they are acclimated to (i.e. much softer or harder water). In addition, you cannot be entirely assured that the ideal/safe temperature range will be maintained through shipping (the temperature stability of which may vary depending on time of year). Moreover, the longer the journey from the point-of-purchase to home, the more stress the fish will have to overcome. For these reasons, I would shop for fish locally if that is at all an option. If your local, independently-owned fish store does not carry what you want, you can always ask the owner if the fish you are interested in purchasing can be special ordered and/or if they will put you on a wait list to be notified in the event the fish is later offered. Regardless of where you obtain your fish, it is key to quarantine all new fish for 2-3 weeks so as not to introduce disease into your display tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12707" LastEditorUserId="12707" LastEditDate="2018-08-06T00:29:18.543" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T00:29:18.543" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-06T14:07:28.257" Score="5" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to view the image as I don't think stack exchange is letting me; &lt;a href=&quot;https://ibb.co/ndO3Oz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://ibb.co/ndO3Oz&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is not mine but is my neighbours unfortunately the neighbour is not in town and I fear quite neglectful of the cat. The cat has a wounded tail from a suspected cat fight. She is constantly licking it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she is not my cat I can't afford the vet bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12708" LastEditorUserId="12708" LastEditDate="2018-08-07T19:15:03.650" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T19:15:03.650" Title="Is this an abscess on this cat? What to do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21040" CreationDate="2018-08-06T14:15:43.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was there no remote control to the collar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you correctly guessed, the collar activates too often and punishes your dog for actions he should not be punished for like being excited when visitors come and playing with other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The description of the collar says something about measuring vibrations in the dogs throat and activating when these vibrations are too strong. But barking, yapping, growling, whining and all the many sounds a dog makes when playing all cause vibrations. You dog cannot comprehend that he is punished for making sounds, he thinks he is punished for having fun or for his usual vocalizations. I honestly think this is a dangerous thing and can lead to depression. Therefore:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please don't use your current collar any more.&lt;/strong&gt; It either doesn't detect &quot;real barking&quot; very well or just doesn't fit the personality of your dog. Maybe read the manual carefully to see if you can adjust the threshold of the shock activation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use a device that punishes your dog for something, you should have more control about it. I saw the same kind of collars equipped with a remote. The collars either punish by vibrations or by electro shocks, both adjustable in intensity and only activated by pushing the remote button.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intensify the effect of the punishment by blocking him from his barking spot (if he has such a spot and you can access it without problems):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog runs to the fence and barks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While he's still running, you loudly call a warning word like &quot;Don't you dare&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he doesn't stop, you activate the collar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the same time, you walk swiftly, but without running, to the fence and stand in the place where your dog wants to stand and bark&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at him and tell him &quot;no&quot;, send him back to the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he tries to stand in his barking spot, push him away with your leg (please don't kick him, pushing is enough).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At no point is there any running or chasing around involved. Stay calm, strong and stubborn. If your dog runs around, stay in the most intense spot and don't budge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you claim the barking spot for yourself and in a figurative sense the right to bark. You tell him &quot;This is not your spot anymore and barking is not your job anymore&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you don't need a collar at all after the last &quot;shocking&quot; days for your dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-06T16:23:03.070" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T16:23:03.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21048" CreationDate="2018-08-06T16:29:05.597" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note: &lt;strong&gt;I'm not a vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wound doen't look badly infected, so there should be no need to rush to the vet. Flushing the wound with antiseptic is a good idea, but please be aware that the sudden pain can lead to the cat attacking you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honey has been used for thausands of years as antiseptic. It creates a germ-repelling barrier like a band aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some experts recommend that cats avoid honey altogether, but others argue that there is no clear toxicity to cats, and honey does have a number of potentially beneficial nutrients [...] Despite the potential risks to your cat’s digestive health, it is likely safe to give your cat 1/2 teaspoon of honey per day, particularly when using it for medicinal purposes. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.organicfacts.net/can-cats-eat-honey.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats seem to dislike the taste, but you should take into account that she could lick it off very soon. Also have in mind that the sweet smell might lure flys, bees and wasps to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest flushing the wound with antiseptics, then (if she didn't run off) take a few drops of honey out the jar, dip your fingertip in it and nudge her wound with the honeyed finger. Don't smear the stuff all over her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-06T16:29:05.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-06T19:02:51.540" Score="1" ViewCount="1354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got 6 kittens. Mom, dad, 3 tom kittens and one female kitten. They are now 1 year old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female one is neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Dad left me, then another kitten. Why is obvious. One of the kitten, a big one, terrorize all his brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally another 1 year old kitten is gone and I panicked. Now, every day, I got to travel 400m, calling that &quot;lost kitten&quot; and pretty much bring it back to the house. Which is kind of silly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All because my biggest kitten is mean to him. Yet, there are plenty of other kittens that do well and just stay outside my house just fine without picking a fight with my biggest kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? They are brothers and used to play together. I mean, I am nice to my own bro, we hunt for mates together. Why is my tom cat so different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically I want to ask why one of my tom cat is much more mean to his own brother than to other tom cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-15T06:55:15.033" LastActivityDate="2018-09-14T07:00:33.493" Title="Why does one of my cats attack his siblings?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21058" CreationDate="2018-08-06T19:37:57.030" Score="4" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 9 months Labrador.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We'll go for a one hour walk once or twice a day and play with a Frisbee. She's crazy about it, really loves it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So because she likes it so much I use this to exercise her both physically and mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally I'll ask her to do a command and if she does it fine - I'll throw the toy so that she can run after it and bring it back. Boy she enjoys it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I don't really know how to teach her to give it back to me. She'll come back and will stay couple yards away from me and won't give it back. Usually she'll want me to run after her and take it away. I understand this is another game for her but I dislike it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm quite patient and tried various snacks, sausages for a &lt;em&gt;trade&lt;/em&gt;, but she's not really into it. She might do it for a piece of sausage once in a while but that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So basically I'm looking for an advice how to teach my dog to give her favorite toy back to me so that game is fun for both of us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5381" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T11:09:03.750" Title="Teaching dog to bring Frisbee back" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-06T22:38:02.127" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is finicky. He has only a mid-priced preferred wet food, 'Whiskers,' which smells disgusting to me and does not seem very healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not eat canned sardines either but loves tuna fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to give him a better food quality for a lower price, I often oven-bake frozen Alaskan pollock and then smash it to pieces by fork to make cat food. But the cat hardly eats that supposedly healthy food after the first day or two of cooking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I add tomato paste, dried basil, or a bit of salt, hoping to make the fish more appealing, but they don't seem to help much.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth mentioning that the cat has had upper respiratory disease, and has frequent dark discharges from his nose. So maybe his sense of smell is not great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I'm wondering if there are some ingredients which are particularly liked by cats that I can add to his fish food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T19:56:37.147" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T19:56:37.147" Title="How can I make cooked fish more appealing for cat?‌" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cooked-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21055" CreationDate="2018-08-07T00:01:05.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to do very careful research if you want to feed your cat homemade cat food. All animals have particular nutritional needs that might not be met if you aren't careful. A mistake could result in serious malnutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the current diet, tomato paste is not really recommended due to the fact that the tomato plant and green tomatoes are toxic to cats, though they can eat a &lt;em&gt;ripe&lt;/em&gt; tomato fruit without ill effects. Also any vegetable from the allium family should be avoided, which includes all variety of onions, garlic, and leeks for these are also toxic to cats, so absolutely do not give your cat any tomato paste that has those ingredients added. Feeding a cat exclusively on fish is also not necessarily recommended, due to the possible mercury content. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, the safest bet really is to keep your animal on commercial cat food which has been designed for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be able to convince a picky cat to change food brands by slowly mixing in a bit of the new food to the old every day, gradually working up until its eating nothing but the new food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T00:01:05.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21053" CreationDate="2018-08-07T08:18:50.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of videos showing how to teach a dog to bring a toy back. For example, you can look at Zak George's YouTube channel and search for his 'fetch' videos. Here are two of them I found with quick search but I bet there are a few more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CozW9Mpfmns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 Easy Tips for Teaching your Dog a RELIABLE Fetch!&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdFka56hAtM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Teach your Dog to Bring You Things&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason your dog isn't bribed by food is probably because, for her, food is less fun and nice than the toy she's playing with. I would really suggest watching some videos. I think it will be shown in one or a few of the videos for sure, but after the dog grabs the toy, you can start to run a little away from it. Usually this makes the dog come closer to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to start with smaller distances and keep increasing it as she keeps bringing the toy back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12556" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-07T11:09:03.750" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T11:09:03.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21061" CreationDate="2018-08-07T09:15:38.337" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that is at an older age (we don't know her age, we only know she is older than 12 years). She always liked to eat and would eat anything you give her. The last two months this changed. She doesn't want to eat her food but asks for it. Every time we give her food, she smells it and starts to ask for food again without touching the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We went to the veterinarian and she said that nothing was wrong with her health. She looks good and there didn't seem to be a problem elsewhere. She said to try different foods. Most of the time if we give something new, she eats from it, but two days later she doesn't like it anymore. You'd think she would eat if she was hungry enough but she went from 4 kilos to 3 kilos so she is losing a lot of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is now for a long period very warm for Belgium, normally we don't have such warm weather for such a long time, could that be a cause? It is not that she can't eat, she seems just to be very picky. The vet also said that all cats love cat food with tomatoes in it, but that also doesn't work...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone has some tips and tricks to try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12712" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T10:53:15.973" Title="My cat is extremely picky" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21044" CreationDate="2018-08-07T10:43:32.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A husky is a great dog, but they are a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Working Breed&lt;/a&gt; (e.g. Huskies, German Shepherds, Border Collies, Spaniels etc), a dog bread specifically for a job or performing tasks and are normally high in energy and drive. Which is a huge commitment. Huskies where bread as sled and guard dogs. This remains in their genes to this day. Which is why they have high energy and require alot of exercise, if they had a choice they would be out for hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they are puppies it is recommended that they are exercised for 5 minutes for every month of age, e.g. 1 month = 5 minutes, 6 months = 30 minutes and so on. This is because until around the age of 1 they rapidly grow and their bones are still soft due to growth. Until the age of 1 where they are almost fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking and jogging in the morning will be great (over the age of 1), this will tire them out for some of they day (most of it when they are younger), as they get older they will need more. So a walk or jog in the evening will be advantageous. I always aim for at-least 1 hour 30 minutes, an hour of highly intense activities minimum. I took my 2 year old German Shepherd out for a 5k Bike ride where she was constantly jogging at a quick pace and she still had energy for more! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical and mental activities and tasks combined will help, obedience work, tracking, running, chasing etc all are tiring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being home alone and being able to entertain themselves is something that needs to be trained in any dog. Being able to be comfortable in their own company is vital if you are out at work all day. I would recommend atleast 2-3 weeks off if you get a puppy to let it settle and start to teach it to be alone for long periods of time. Even then there is no guarantee it wont get bored and will need entertainment. Something like toys, bones, food that can last a day will keep it entertained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be warned puppies need &lt;strong&gt;constant&lt;/strong&gt; supervision, even more so if they are working breeds and are borderline like having children. They see anything as a toy or something to chew so you need to be training it from a very young age, puppy classes are great too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Big gardens are great but it doesnt mean dogs will utilise them, they have to be taught to and be entertained in them by you, working breeds especially. If working breeds are not entertained and exercised they become bored and destructive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is off putting I would look at a different breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T10:43:32.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21059" CreationDate="2018-08-07T10:44:50.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is now for a long period very warm for Belgium, normally we don't have such warm weather for such a long time, could that be a cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also from Belgium and had already considered a similar thing for our cats. One of them is incessantly ravenous and never refuses food (he used to live on the street so he values any meal he gets), but he's refused to eat for two days now even though he still asks for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you should consider is that heat facilitates smell. The warmer food is, the more of a smell it releases. Maybe the cat food you're giving was &lt;em&gt;borderline&lt;/em&gt; okay in the past, but it currently smells too bad for your cat to want to eat it. (Our cat seems to specifically decide to not eat the food after smelling and investigating the food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially considered if the cat simply feels unwell due to the heat, but it doesn't make sense that they hound me for food then outright refuse it. He's clearly hungry, and intends to eat the bowl I'm putting down, but then suddenly refuses after inspecting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whenever your cat refuses to eat&lt;/strong&gt;, if you want to make sure that it's not a medical issue, give them their favorite food (a treat, human food they love, ...) and see if they eat that. If they don't even seem interested or are unable to actually keep it in, it's time to go to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a cat that is at an older age (we don't know her age, we only know she is older than 12 years). She always liked to eat and would eat anything you give her. The last two months this changed. She doesn't want to eat her food but asks for it. Every time we give her food, she smells it and starts to ask for food again without touching the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are also some different considerations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older cats are more set in their ways. They're more likely to have standards and might be very inflexible about them. However, since you mention that she was easy going a few months ago, this may not be the case now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, our 3 cats were all rescues from the street. They were initially happy to eat &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; meal provided. Because I used to have an older cat who was very particular about the food she'd eat, I've intentionally tried to prevent a standard from forming with our 3 cats. I never buy them the same brand food in a row, and I switch between most brands that seem good enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can clearly see their preferences, I am intentionally refusing to cater to them because you're going to eventually pain yourself in a corner with the food options that your cat will accept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you replaced meals when your cat didn't eat? Because that can implicitly teach your cat that it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; ask you for a replacement meal. You need to be hardheaded here. Refuse to replace the meal. You can't make your cat eat the food, but you can get them to choose between having a mediocre meal or not having a meal at all. It's up to them to decide.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Similar to children, I give my cats no treats unless they're reasonably finished their meal, so they don't get a substitute snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Safety warning&lt;/strong&gt;: don't be hardheaded enough to ignore a cat who's willing to starve itself. Medical needs come before training.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you using plastic bowls? Plastic bowls often have microscopic pores, which can over time get clogged with food remains, which start to give off a bad smell after a while (and no amount of normal washing will clear this). It's possible that the smell has accumulated on the bowl enough that it ruins your cat's appetite. Try feeding them from a new container and see if that changes anything.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In regards to a long term solution, favor metal bowls over plastic ones. They accumulate less food remains because they're not as porous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The vet also said that all cats love cat food with tomatoes in it, but that also doesn't work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a spurious assertion. Our cat's don't like Felix in general, but they still eventuall eat it. However, the &quot;beef in tomato sauce&quot; Felix (which smells and looks like actual raw tomato was used) is notably left more than any other Felix meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats hound us for pretty much anything we eat. But not vegetables, including tomatoes. I'm well aware of what they like/dislike/try, and one of our cats eats pretty much everything (including non-foods). Never have I seen him interested in tomatoes (or any vegetable) in any shape or form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-08-07T10:53:15.973" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T10:53:15.973" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21040" CreationDate="2018-08-07T11:04:34.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Does anyone know of a bark collar that allows &quot;fine grained&quot; control of when it shocks?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest a manual trigger (remote) instead of an automatic one. Find the right automatic trigger for your dog's particular volume is going to be tricky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine bought a collar on amazon with 3 settings: beeping, vibration, shock. It's not an automatic collar, you simply use a remote to give the appropriate response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen it used on 3 dogs, one of whom was willfully disobedient (as a matter of making a point to ignore its master). Vibration always worked as well as shocks, my friend never needed to resort to shocks for any of the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Does anybody have ideas about how to help the dog understand that the behavior we are trying to correct is the barking (as opposed to suppressing excitement)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog identifies the collar as a punishment. He's actually taking it too far, considering that he's being punished for being who he is, rather than what he does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you need to reframe the message. Don't make him wear the collar non-stop. Take it off, and only put it on &lt;em&gt;directly after&lt;/em&gt; a barking incident that crosses the line.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Eventually, your dog will put two and two together and realize that the collar goes on after he barks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would suggest the remote-controlled collar. It retains the possibility to give &lt;strong&gt;instant&lt;/strong&gt; feedback (when he charges the fence), as opposed to you &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;having to run after him&lt;/a&gt; to put the collar on.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It also allows you to selectively punish him. For example, if he barks (once) because you stepped on his tail, you shouldn't punish him. However, an automatic collar would not be able to distinguish context and would unfairly punish the dog for something it didn't cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-08-07T11:18:07.450" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T11:18:07.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16492" CreationDate="2018-08-07T11:06:30.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your kitten isn't a short-hair cat because of its &lt;strong&gt;dense&lt;/strong&gt; and long-hair coat. If the mother or/and father of it has/have long hair, the possibility is higher. Also, some kittens have the medium-long but &lt;strong&gt;thin&lt;/strong&gt; hair that would shed gradually since the fourth month. After that, their real coat-short hair- will appear soon. &#xA;I also have a long-hair cat, I adopted him when he was five months old. At that time, he already had a white and dense and long fur. However, I adopted another short-hair kitten (about 4 weeks). His hair was shorter and thinner than your kitten when I first saw him. After 3 months, I can certify he is a real short-hair cat!&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BFe4c.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BFe4c.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This is the first cat I mentioned above.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pq1zh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pq1zh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12633" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T11:06:30.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21027" CreationDate="2018-08-07T11:58:05.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are notoriously hard to train. Not because they lack the cognitive ability, but because they tend to not seek out social contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog &lt;em&gt;wants&lt;/em&gt; your attention, and it is therefore naturally attuned to reading your response. While that is mostly so it can figure out how to get even more attention from you, humans have learned to apply negative feedback to steer the dog away from bad behavior as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a cat doesn't have the initial desire to interact with you, and therefore has not learned to take feedback (at least not the same way dogs have).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I am oversimplifying. There are apathetic dogs, and there are cats who do seek contact. But the point remains that cats don't have an &lt;strong&gt;innate&lt;/strong&gt; desire to interact with humans and learn from it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And because of that, it makes little sense to breed cats specifically for their problem-solving ability, simply because we can't reasonably expect to utilize it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T11:58:05.927" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-07T18:23:54.210" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;My younger siblings secretly gave food to a cat that lives nearby, (belongs in the area but not to an immediate neighbour.) Once I found out, I realised this needed to stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the cat has taken a liking to our garden and spends all its time there. It's heartbreaking when it begs for food and we don't want to give it any, and when it has been in our garden for hours and hours the entire day, we realise it must be fed and give in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how to undo this cycle. We have carried the cat away many times from our house and closer to its own so it would just go eat at its own house, but it refuses! It just hops back to our house!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(We have made some observations to suggest that the cat is trying to 'adopt' us because its owners don't give it the attention it needs, and obviously it bonded with my younger siblings because of their feeding and loving it, as you know some cats more than others really want human interaction and love. I have messaged the owner back and forth a few times, as the cat collar has contact info, to ask if it was okay that the cat had been in our backyard for like 9 hours and it was now 1 or 2 am. The response was always nonchalant. Our garden is also more easily accessible to this cat. We don't know the owners personally but had seen the cat at its real property before.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I want to know what I can do. It may be stupid to feel conflicted observing that the cat is much happier with my siblings. I know that is very selfish. That's why I want to resolve what we have caused, but the cat doesn't seem to leave!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12708" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T00:43:49.873" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T00:43:49.873" Title="Younger siblings fed cat that is not ours and now the cat won't leave" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21055" CreationDate="2018-08-07T18:58:11.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike dogs, cats need meat to survive and don't like carrion (old dead meat/carcass). That's probably why he doesn't like cooked fish and won't touch it if it's older than a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their wild ancestors would hunt and eat small birds and chicks, mice, rats, hamsters and other small mammals and only occasionally a fish.&#xA;If you want to offer your cat the most natural diet possible, you should feed fresh whole chicks or rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative is to feed raw chicken meat, including innards, bones, skin (with feathers, if there are still any) and feet. You won't be able to give your cat all the nutrients he needs like that, but you can go with less canned food. If you have a butcher who actually butchers the entire animal, you can ask for cheap parts that cannot be sold otherwise. Apart from that, some shops sell chicken wings (unseasoned!), hearts or stomachs for cheap, and some Asian shops actually sell frozen chicken feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep the meat fresh, you can freeze daily servings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.felineliving.net/can-cats-eat-chicken-bones/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Never feed cooked bones&lt;/a&gt;! As soon as it's cooked, the bone becomes brittle and might shatter into pointy shards that can injure your cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Raw bones don't shatter like that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A word to seasoning&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The only greens cats eat naturally is grass. Unripe tomatoes, like many other usual ingredients in human food, are actually toxic to cats, like Kay wrote in his answer. Salt is very bad for cats because it's dehydrating and they generally drink very little and often suffer from urinary illnesses. The best seasoning for a cat is no seasoning at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T23:29:02.517" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T23:29:02.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21067" CreationDate="2018-08-07T19:51:42.567" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't feed the cat. It will go home when it's hungry enough. It would be better not to give it any attention at all. It will eventually realise that there is no point in visiting you, unless it has a comfy spot where it likes to sun itself. If you keep petting it, it may think that it will get some food if it stays long enough, since it will associate allowing itself to be petted with a food reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be cruel to be kind, and it can be heartbreaking if you really like the cat. I had a Norwegian Forest cat that used to visit me &quot;on the scrounge&quot;. I would have loved to take it in, but I couldn't afford to. The last time I saw it and called it, it just meowed &quot;No&quot; (as close as damn it), and walked away. I suppose I deserved it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2018-08-07T19:51:42.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21027" CreationDate="2018-08-08T09:06:52.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, no. Cat breeds are bred primarily based on looks, then health, then mental stability. Intelligence doesn't come into the picture at all. That being said, the Siamese/Oriental class seems to be generally the most intelligent, although they aren't specifically bred to be smart -- they just happen to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, intelligence as you're describing it is more based on training/experience (it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible to train cats, you just have to understand their needs/instincts and work &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; them instead of just giving a command and demanding for them to comply without question), so it'd be logical to presume that a regular stray who has to problem solve to get every meal would be a lot more intelligent than a pampered cat who's been living the whole live in a protected, controlled environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, I've had a lot of cats in my life, mostly moggies, but I'd also been breeding Siberians for a couple years and took part in quite a few cat shows, including as a steward/judge assistant, so I have a bit of experience with purebred cats, too. And the most intelligent cats I've ever had to deal with were moggies who used to be strays. Which is not as fun is it might sound, especially if you can't lock a room from a cat even for a little while because said cat easily opens door bolts. Or when a cat regularly raids your fridge no matter what you do to protect it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2018-08-08T09:06:52.663" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20741" CreationDate="2018-08-08T19:07:07.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fin length shows it is a male .  Although not as long as the usual commercial fish. The young need to be separated at an early age, about one inch length as they start fighting and nipping fins. This one was not separated soon enough , maybe it was 1 and 1/4 inch and had lost some fin. Females do not make bubble nests. I have raised them and it is a hassle for an amateur to maintain a few dozen individual containers for males. I sold the remaining &quot;females&quot; to pet shops , likely with 10 to 20 % males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-08-08T19:07:07.820" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-08T21:54:16.760" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 9 year old female cat that has been hitting, spitting and being very verbal towards our 4 (almost 5) year-old Male cat. Both have been neutered, so they can’t breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had Willow since he was old enough to leave his Mum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tinkerbell (our female cat) took a few days to accept him, but then mothered him (Tinkerbell hasn’t had kittens) and told him off if he was being to naughty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can’t figure out what’s causing her to be like this for the past few weeks. I don’t know what to do to help. Willow can just be walking past her and she will go for him! He could even be fast asleep and she will hiss, spit and hit him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s starting to affect Willow. He’s always been a jumpy cat, scared of his own shadow. Now, though, he’s even more jumpy and has been licking and pulling his fur out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To take Tinkerbell to the vets is very stressful for her (to the point that she starts foaming at the mouth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has mothered him for 4 years, it did take her a while to get use to him, but once she did they where fine. If he’s been naughty she will tell him off. Now, though, she is always hissing and hitting him. He does wind her up sometimes by trying to jump out on her, but they have played that game since he was a kitten, as he’s younger than her and bigger she sometimes gets peed off with him and will tell him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone advise me on what’s going on and how to help stop this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12717" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user10093" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T23:50:55.553" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T23:50:55.553" Title="Cat behaving badly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-09T09:10:45.807" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a 5 year-old leopard-gecko from a family friend and I don't think her enclosure is warm enough. It usually reads between 80-85°F and my house is normally around 72°F. I use both a heat pad 24/7 and a heat lamp 12 hours a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how much the past owner heated the enclosure, but I'm using the same materials he did so I'm sure she is fine. I'm not sure if she is okay with this 80-85°F heat so I want her enclosure to be at least 90°F.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read online sometimes leopard-geckos are less active if it’s not warm enough in their enclosure and she sleeps a lot. I'm not sure if this is heat related or just because she’s still shy and not used to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12719" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-16T16:11:12.633" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T16:11:12.633" Title="Is my gecko's lethargic behaviour due to a heating issue or something else?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21163" CreationDate="2018-08-09T11:17:49.283" Score="4" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;My border collie puppy (3 months) likes to chase my cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think cats do know this is play. I only saw the puppy scratched once, and I don't see claws out while the puppy is chasing the cats. On the other hand I am not sure if the cats really enjoy being chased. They do complain every once in a while if the puppy is being too rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of limits, if any, should I put on their play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-08-09T11:23:40.657" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T20:34:36.177" Title="Border collie puppy chasing cats: how much is too much" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20741" CreationDate="2018-08-09T11:34:15.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on those pics I think you won't get a definite answer here. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;But just from the looks of you betta I would actually say it is male:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's still pretty colourful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's making nests&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fins are not that short...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the best way to check if it is a female is by looking for a white spot (egg spot) between the front/side fins and their bottom fins. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;A few other steps to do identification are mentioned here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Determine-the-Sex-of-a-Betta-Fish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.wikihow.com/Determine-the-Sex-of-a-Betta-Fish&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Keep in mind there are also short finned betta's: betta plakat. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;A pet shop once sold me one of these saying it was female. &#xA;After a couple months it got bigger, more colourful and also became aggressive towards my other male betta (spoiler: it did not end well for my other betta :-( ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2018-08-09T11:34:15.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5888" CreationDate="2018-08-10T11:09:53.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can register your cockatiels as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.supportdogcertification.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Emotional Support Animals&lt;/a&gt;. They are allowed to travel with owners under the US law. However, it's best to contact the airline to confirm whether or not cockatiels are permitted before you book air tickets. Then you have to notify the airline company you will travel with your birds and ask them whether birds are allowed in the cabin. (at least 48 hours before taking off)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12633" LastActivityDate="2018-08-10T11:09:53.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21098" CreationDate="2018-08-10T17:40:40.677" Score="3" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an outdoor cat that my neighbors refuse to feed. Now I have to be absent for one month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I feed my cat during my absence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12725" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-10T18:01:15.073" LastActivityDate="2018-08-13T13:43:50.263" Title="How to feed outdoor cats when you're away for a month" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21052" CreationDate="2018-08-10T17:47:00.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some good resources to read about cat behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/stop-cats-fighting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to stop a cat fight and why they happen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-behavior-problems-tips-cats-aggressive-aggression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reasons why cats become aggressive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cats.org.uk/uploads/documents/The_Cat_Mag_extracts/Behaviour_-_feline_bullies.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bullying in the household - Despotic behavior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this answer I will recite the article &lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/understanding-your-cat/social-structure-cat-life&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The social structure of cat life&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A cat’s territory consists of a core area, or den, where it feels secure enough to sleep, eat, play and potentially enjoy social interaction. This forms the hub of the territory which is the area beyond the core area that the cat &lt;strong&gt;actively defends against invasion from others&lt;/strong&gt;. Beyond this lies the home or hunting range that constitutes the extent of the area over which the cat will roam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means every cat has their own territory and will fight off any cat comming into their core territory. From your description, I'd say your tomcat has declared your home to his territory and fights off all of his brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Feral cats (cats which live without help from man) can and will form small colonies based around available food sources. This does not inevitably happen, and some will live singly, but it is not uncommon for small groups of co-operating &lt;strong&gt;females and kittens&lt;/strong&gt; (matrilinear colonies) to develop.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Male cats are not commonly part of the small colonies, and they tend to exist on the periphery with large territories that may overlap several groups of females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that female cats sometimes live together, but male cats usually don't. If they are neutered, they don't produce as much male hormones anymore and act more like a female, so neutered male cats may live together in a group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aggression most commonly occurs as &lt;strong&gt;male kittens reach sexual maturity&lt;/strong&gt; and are excluded from the group, or between males and females as the tom ‘patrols’ his territory. [...] &lt;strong&gt;Mature males interact differently, and this is usually characterised by agonistic interaction, avoidance or tolerance, and not by friendly interactions&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what happened with your cats. One (the troublemaker) probably has more male hormones, so he is more dominant and aggressive to his siblings. He decided that he doesn't want to live with his family anymore, but that your house is his territory. Instead of leaving the house and letting the other cats live with you, he makes everyone else leave the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-10T17:47:00.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21073" CreationDate="2018-08-10T18:24:48.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some good resources to read about cat behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/stop-cats-fighting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to stop a cat fight and why they happen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-behavior-problems-tips-cats-aggressive-aggression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reasons why cats become aggressive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikivet.net/Feline_Social_Behaviour&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline Social Behavior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/understanding-your-cat/social-structure-cat-life&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The social structure of cat life&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first article states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Male cats are often involved in inter-cat aggression, which most often occurs when a cat reaches social maturity between two and four years of age. Although this type of aggression is usually seen in males competing for mates, it can occur between cats of any sex when territorial conflicts occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one possible reason is that the younger cat is now mature, produces pheromones and the female cat doesn't like an adult male around. This is further confirmed by the last article in the list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Feral cats (cats which live without help from man) can and will form small colonies based around available food sources. [...] Male cats are not commonly part of the small colonies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible reason is that the female decided the male sleeps in her territory, so she chases him away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats are by nature territorial, even if the territory extends no further than the end of your couch. [...] Or, establish new separate “cat spaces” in your home. Set up a decorative panel screen in the corner of a room, or reposition your furniture to break up a large space, carving out more smaller “territories” for your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-10T18:24:48.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21076" CreationDate="2018-08-10T18:58:43.630" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Border Collies are a working and herding breed and extremely energetic and intelligent. The motion of the cat triggers their herding instinct and they start to chase. The cognitive connections of &amp;quot;cat = chase&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;chase = fun&amp;quot; are not at all hard to establish. So the puppy acquires a habit... The longer this habit exists, the harder it will be to break, so you want to start training as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/stopping-puppies-from-chasing-cats-2805087&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; provides several great techniques to break the habit of chasing in a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place your kitty in a protective carrier while the puppy is in another room. Provide a cat toy or catnip to help keep the cat calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bring the puppy into the room and give him favorite treats one after another to keep him focused on you and to reward him for behaving calmly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ask the pup to practice a sit, to follow you on the leash in a heel position or to stay on command. Practice obedience commands your puppy knows very well and reward him for obeying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Offer the BEST treats for moving or looking away from the cat. The idea is to teach your puppy he gets better attention and rewards by ignoring the cat than by pestering her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one, including clicker training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ensure the cat’s safety by keeping your dog under leash control and prevent ANY chase from taking place. Most puppies prefer cat-chasing to any other reward so don’t allow your pup to get his first taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have plenty of smelly, tasty treats handy. These should be irresistible and something the puppy ONLY gets for this exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don’t confine the cat at all. Allow her to move around at will while you keep the puppy’s attention on you as much as possible by teasing with the treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each time the cat makes an appearance, moves or otherwise draws the puppy’s attention, give a tiny taste of a treat—partner this with the CLICK cue of the clicker if you’ve clicker-trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be consistent. Offer this treat-CLICK reward every single time whether your puppy is calm, excited, looks at the cat, barks or anything else. The equation should be: CAT’S PRESENCE = DOG TREAT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use the leash to keep your puppy safely out of paw-reach of the cat, but not to force his attention. You want the puppy to choose to look at you for the treat, not be forced to do so. Given time, his puppy brain will connect the dots and figure out that when he sees the cat, he should look to you for a treat—and he can’t chase when he’s accepting that yummy treat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue to reinforce this behavior for at least a week or more. With consistency, most dogs will get it within only a few sessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the dog stays leashed and the pets separated when not supervised until you're confident the new canine response has become ingrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T20:34:36.177" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T20:34:36.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-10T19:51:12.757" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep my room at about 68 degrees all year round, i have a heating pad for my gecko but what type of lamp should i use? He never really comes out of his cage. He is an albino Tremper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12726" LastActivityDate="2018-08-11T07:29:54.550" Title="What kind of heating lamp?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21085" CreationDate="2018-08-11T07:29:54.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Roughly three things are important when considering lighting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Day-night cycle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;UV&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three of these can be provided by heat lamps. However, they can also be substituted by something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your room temperature and heat mat provide sufficient heat for the Gecko, that's fine. Also, if the light in your room follows a day-night cycle already, you don't need to add that either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most heat lamps have some UV light in their spectrum to emulate sunlight. Animals need a bit of UV light to synthesize some specific nutrients. This is harder to substitute, but might be doable with food supplements, but I'm not sure about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to consider are whether the heating you provide now gets the tank to a sufficient temperature. If so, you could get a heat lamp with a low wattage (25W-ish), so it doesn't give too much heat, but does provide the light (daylight and UV) for the other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-08-11T07:29:54.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21088" CreationDate="2018-08-11T21:15:39.297" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I’ve got a Bichon Frise which is a breed prone to certain skin conditions. Sometimes she suffers from hot spots which must be irritating and she scratches a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet last time and they just said keep it clean, however she keeps scratching and it’s now making the scab come off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to stop her scratching it? I’d usually put a small jacket on her but with the hot weather in the UK at the moment I don’t want her to get too hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12729" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:18:31.403" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:18:31.403" Title="My dog keeps scratching hot spots" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21087" CreationDate="2018-08-12T06:43:38.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had good experiences with food supplement oils you can mix into the food. Our dog liked it so much she would lick it directly out of the bottle. Ask your vet for a dietary supplement for skin and fur problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A natural supplement is an egg. Mix one raw egg into the food up to twice a week. It makes the fur very shiny and soft, but I'm not entirely sure how much it helps against itchy skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also apply oils on the rashes like a cream. Most itching is caused either by an allergy or by a lack of moisture. Oil will keep the skin moisturized naturally. Argan oil is traded as the &amp;quot;best oil in the world&amp;quot; (which I can confirm). It's save to eat and softens the skin if applied externally. You can use less expensive oils, but make sure they're safe to be eaten by a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:14:23.363" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:14:23.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21089" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-12T14:24:57.183" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Adult Female RES fell on the floor from the sink. Her shell has a very small crack and bled. The bleeding stop as I put medicine and did some first aid. I'm contemplating if I should still take her to the vet because we don't even have a vet for reptiles here. I really need an advice on how to take care of her at home. And what should proper care I need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12730" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T08:21:33.783" Title="My Adult RES climbed off the sink and fell on the floor. I need help. :(" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-07-03T08:22:59.450" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21090" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-12T15:10:55.503" Score="2" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CiF6z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi all. Apologies in advance for the long post. Looking for any help I can get please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cleaned my goldfish tank last night and went to bed early, this morning when I went to feed him I found he is just floating as in the picture. He’s definitely still alive (gills moving) and when I go to the tank he starts smacking his lips (always has for me and often bangs into the tank in a way that seems like excitement), but he’s not moving around or swimming, just lying limp, he will occasionally flick his body to get away from the edge of the tank and he is only using the fin that is still submerged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I’ve seen online he’s probably suffering from swim bladder? Although I didn’t notice any changes in his behaviour the last week. I’ve tried to feed him peas but he’s just spat them straight out, he’s always let me feed him by hand and even likes to be petted gently on the head (I say he likes it as he never swims away and comes up to my finger and bops it with his head), he loves his food and hasn’t pooped or eaten since I cleaned him out last night. He usually instantly poops in his new water. I always just use water to clean the tanks as I’m terrified of chemicals sticking on the tank, and I check the water in his tank, always making sure the pH level is right as he’s old now, everything was normal last night, I also do water changes daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far today I have panicked a lot then followed steps I found online to create his hospital tank, increasing the water temperature and adding the salts, I’ve also put some of his disease medicine. It’s early days but I’m just wanting to make sure I’m doing everything right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little history of him: I’ve had him for 5 years now but he’s about 8-9 years old, he was my ex’s and I took him in. He lived in a bowl for the first 3-4 years of his life, which was so sad and depressing (with the ex), and when I took him in I got him a proper tank, I didn’t know much about goldfish then but I immediately started noting problems that he never had in the bowl, I was never sure if the move is what has caused this all. He started to get that cotton wool skin and red blotches every time I cleaned his tank, he always reacts well to treatment and has always made a full recovery and since monitoring the water for nitrate and pH levels he hasn’t had it as much, but still every now and then. He has suffered with some sort of imbalance before, I saw him slightly veering off to one side and so I immeditaly put him in fresh water and I was given a “disease safe” solution to treat him with, this helped and he recovered pretty quick, within a day. He’s normally a very lively fish, he started banging on the tank and smacking his lips as soon as I walk into the room and he darts all around his tank as though he’s excited, I really do love him so much. I guess people will say he’s just a fish but I never knew fish could have so much personality and Mr. Fish really does, which is incredibly adorable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been out for most of the weekend just popping home to feed him, he’s usually fine when this happens, but shamefully because I’ve not been in very much I don’t know if he’s been having symptoms for the last few days, I didn’t notice anything wrong last night or when I’ve popped back though.&#xA;I’m just so worried about him now and I don’t know what to do? I’ve seen so much conflicting advice on the internet, advising to just euthanise, so I’m not sure at all. Also worried that it looks like he’s got a bruise on the side that is exposed? I’ve been gently encouraging water over it to make sure he doesn’t dry up on that side. He looks so bloated and stuffed up, he’s obviously not pooped all night as there’s none in his tank. If this were a cat or dog I’d massage the stomach but I obviously can’t do that for him. So I’m not sure if this is constipation either. Which leads me to not knowing whether I should fast him for two days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help much appreciated, and if I’m doing anything wrong please tell me. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: Mr. Fish comes up to the surface of his water whenever I come near him, and he does what I call a bark (smacking his mouth and flapping about, very noisily) till I give him some attention, he usually does it wanting food and then swims off and stops if I don’t give him any. I wasn’t sure if he’s been swallowing air when doing this? And I’ve always fed him flakes as my ex did and the vet told me not to change the diet as he was already 4-5 when I asked. I'm so confused, please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12731" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T13:36:15.753" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T13:36:15.753" Title="Goldfish swim bladder disease? Please help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-12T16:07:41.953" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 100 gal tank I had 4 small turtles and 1 turtle that was a little bigger than the 4 small ones 1 gold fish that was large and some other fish. The one larger turtle ate the head off of 1 small turtle. And ate all of the other turtles and ate half of the gold fish. How can I stop this turtle &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12734" LastActivityDate="2018-08-12T16:29:00.923" Title="My Demon turtle" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21091" CreationDate="2018-08-12T16:29:00.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you can put other animals in the tank with this turtle and expect him to not eat them. Turtles are wild animals, and you shouldn't expect them to feel compassion for smaller animals, even of the same species. If an animal thinks something might be food, you're going to have a hard time convincing them otherwise, and from what you tell in the question, the turtle has determined that the smaller turtles and goldfish are food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-08-12T16:29:00.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21081" CreationDate="2018-08-12T22:38:40.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any friends or family that could help? I’m sure you’ve already tried that but i can’t think of any other way. The cat will need water and food daily so if you can’t get anyone to watch him/her, maybe a kennel? Shame that your neighbours won’t help out &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12731" LastActivityDate="2018-08-12T22:38:40.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-13T05:21:51.987" Score="3" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm new to keeping fish. I picked up 3 comet goldfish a couple of months ago. They've been living in the same tank and one is getting bigger, way bigger than the other 2. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it pregnant? How can I tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12737" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T19:18:51.580" Title="How do I tell if my goldfish is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-13T05:35:00.043" Score="7" ViewCount="18658" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occasionally my cat will go from cuddling with me on my bed, to pawing at the sheets, like he is digging. At first it seemed to correlate with him discovering the option of crawling under my sheets so I thought the digging action was his way of asking permission to go under the covers. I would lift up the sheets for him and he would curiously look in and hesitantly go under. But now even when I lift up the sheets, he doesn’t go under, and as soon as I drop the sheets back down he starts pawing/digging again for a little while until he loses interest just as randomly as it started. Any ideas what this behavior means?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12738" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T10:02:52.460" Title="Why does my cat paw at my sheets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2018-08-13T10:19:50.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does he dig-dig or does it look like he's kneading the sheets? If it's the latter, it's an artifact of when he was a kitten. Kittens knead their mommy's breasts to get the milk going, and some grown up cats do the same when they're very content. Just let him do that if it isn't making you uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2018-08-13T10:19:50.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21081" CreationDate="2018-08-13T12:52:56.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of automatic cat feeders available. Some are fairly high tech, and if you spend enough money you could conceivably supply 30 days of food for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that it is outdoor cat, most of the automatic cat feeders I found are not cat specific, there are a few, but it would get very expensive and problematic to ensure that only &quot;your&quot; cat got the food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neighbor cats, racoons, mice, rats, etc. Are all going to want some of the cat food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;30 Days is a long time to leave an animal without direct supervision, even if it is only casual supervision now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the very least you would need to hire someone to come do the feeding and provide whatever assistance the cat may need. This might be daily or every few days.  Alternately you could bring the cat to a cat boarding facility, they would keep it indoors and take care of feed, water and cleanup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly if you are not able to adequately arrange for care of the cat in your absence you should, take it to a local shelter and ask them to find a new home for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-08-13T13:43:50.263" LastActivityDate="2018-08-13T13:43:50.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-13T13:57:04.280" Score="4" ViewCount="831" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbit died yesterday and I had him for 5 years. I noticed the rabbit was full of poop (&lt;em&gt;poop stuck to his bottom?&lt;/em&gt;). He had been attacked by flies and the vet removed the visible maggots. The rabbit was not obese. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet told me he was injecting the rabbit with antibiotics and some other medicine to kill any remaining maggots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Took the rabbit again to the vet for follow up and he found more maggots inside the testicles and this time the bunny had an operation and his testicles were removed because the maggots were inside the skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 days later I took the rabbit back to the vet for a follow up and also the vet said he was going to put laser on the rabbit to speed up the drying of the wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I was in the waiting room the vet technician, came out with my bunny dead. He said my rabbit died from a heart attack. I do not understand. Can this be possible? Or could it be something went wrong with the laser?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to get some sense on what happened. The rabbit supposedly did not have anymore maggots. He had even undergone an operation. The rabbit was very skinny but was still eating  how could he die when I took him for a follow up and laser?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He died 3 days after his operation at the vet's office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe the vet.  Something went wrong when my rabbit was inside while I was waiting for him outside in the waiting area. Or maybe there were still maggots inside that kill him and it was a coincidence that he died at the vet's office?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rDBnE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12741" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:10:30.893" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:10:30.893" Title="My rabbit died yesterday not sure if its Heart Attack or maggots" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-13T15:03:11.550" Score="6" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at adopting a dog. A shelter had removed most or all of the teeth from the dog's lower jaw (there may be a couple of teeth left). Some teeth may be missing from the upper jaw as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kinds of problems might this cause for the dog? What accommodations should I plan on providing the dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is a six year old Pomeranian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12744" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-08-14T01:00:02.697" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T01:26:29.320" Title="Accommodations for a dog that is missing teeth" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21100" CreationDate="2018-08-13T16:12:45.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can speak from my own experience in having a toothless elderly cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They adapt. My cat eats dry food still, as he did before. He has no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet advised me that if I do see him encountering problems, I could change him to a wet-food diet, or soak his dry food in water, to soften it, before feeding him. I would recommend speaking to a vet about this, as the breed may have specific dietary requirements, foods available from supermarkets may not be sufficient, and you may need to get a specialised diet from the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue they may encounter would be in defending themself against attackers. But, this being a Pomeranian, I doubt that not having teeth would add much to the existing size disadvantage they already have against other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I don't see the missing teeth being an obstruction to adopting this animal. They can live a full, healthy, and happy life with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-08-13T16:12:45.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20822" CreationDate="2018-08-14T00:48:28.527" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Product Itself&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing in the ingredients list looks to be toxic besides the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2014/january/tea-tree-oil-safe-pets-31282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tea tree oil&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tea tree oil contains various types of chemicals called terpenes. These are the chemicals that make the oil effective against bacteria and fungi. They are also the toxic agent. Terpenes are rapidly absorbed into the body whether taken orally or on the skin. This means topical application of concentrated oil can result in the same toxicity as accidental oral ingestion. Given the tendency of pets to groom, especially cats,  the toxicity risk of topical applications is amplified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the concentration of tea tree oil in the mixture risk seems low of your pet to get sick, however I would refrain from continuing to add tea tree oil in the recipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its popularity has resulted in so me veterinary skin care products that contain small amounts of tea tree oil. In small concentrations (0.1% to 1%), tea tree oil is tolerated and safe for cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tea Tree Oil Side-Effects&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drooling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weakness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Difficulty walking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tremors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last few listed are fairly extreme, typically resulting from ingesting 100% tea tree oil. If you see any of the side-effects above I would seek immediate veterinary attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-20T16:00:48.827" LastActivityDate="2021-03-20T16:00:48.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21100" CreationDate="2018-08-14T01:26:29.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;A toothless dog is the best kind of dog!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not be dissuaded from adopting a near toothless dog, all it means is that you have a lot less teeth to brush!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a common occurrence for this breed to have dental work done as they age, most people are still unaware that dogs, cats and even lizards need to have their teeth brushed daily (lizards can go once to twice a week for brushing) or provide oral chews (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vohc.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;preferably with the VOHC seal&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Does a dog with no teeth need a special diet?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course a diet recommendation depends on each individual dog however to generalize a toothless dog can still eat hard kibble without any issues, many will swallow the kibbles whole or &quot;chew&quot; with their gums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Future Dental Work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are, by the sounds of it, the dog has &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/mouth/c_multi_periodontal_disease?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;periodontal disease&lt;/a&gt;. It is an irreversible process that can require more teeth to be extracted in the future. This is something you can and should budget for considering a dental was just done at the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T01:26:29.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-14T01:34:53.970" Score="2" ViewCount="2589" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is a male cat, neutered, 20 years old. The other cat is male, neutered, 10 years old. They are both still eating, drinking and peeing, just not pooping. I started them on some new soft food, could that be the reason&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12747" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T01:38:05.930" Title="My cat hasn't pooped in two days what should i do." Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-08-14T01:36:27.740" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-14T02:52:56.350" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a domestic rabbit that we have raised - we have a large, gated backyard. He has since lived in the backyard for months, somewhat free. We feed him daily. He has become hard to catch. I bathed him and brought him in because my rooster and him have been fighting (both adult males now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can my rabbit carry a disease? He only goes under the shed to sleep then out in the day to layout and eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12748" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:23:09.157" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:24:50.687" Title="Can domestic rabbits carry diseases if left outdoors for too long then brought in?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21105" CreationDate="2018-08-14T03:46:08.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of infectious diseases that domestic rabbits can get and carry if they are outdoors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Myxomatosis and viral hemorrhagic disease are fatal viral infections with available vaccines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Encephalitozoon cuniculi&lt;/em&gt; is a common parasite that may cause serious harm but could also be sub-clinical, infecting areas that don't destroy significant tissue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snuffles is a respiratory infection caused by &lt;em&gt;Pasteurella multocida&lt;/em&gt;, a bacteria that can be treated with antibiotics but can become severely dangerous if left untreated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/rabbits-infectious-disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/rabbits-infectious-disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of those listed, I believe only &lt;em&gt;E. cuniculi&lt;/em&gt; is zoonotic (transmits between rabbits and humans). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:24:50.687" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:24:50.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21099" CreationDate="2018-08-14T12:43:31.260" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a lot going on here.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: There are 3 kinds of vets when it comes to rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets do not see rabbits at all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets do see rabbits, but not might not be skilled at rabbit care&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets see rabbits and are VERY GOOD at caring for rabbits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally you only want to visit a vet in group three.  There are a number pet rabbit organizations and rescues that will help you find a good rabbit vet in your area. Contact a local rabbit rescue in your area or there is a list here &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of this answer I will assume you visited a vet in group 3, who is skilled in working with rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poop on the rabbits butt is a symptom of digestive and/or diet issues. The picture of bunny makes him look a bit skinny.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15121/what-is-fly-strike&quot;&gt;Fly strike&lt;/a&gt; is also hard on the bunny.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, it is possible that your rabbit died of complications for all that is going on while being treated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a question about how the rabbit died, you would need to have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/necropsy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;necropsy,&lt;/a&gt; but this would need to be done by a vet that is in group 3, who might recommend it if the cause was unsure and there was a reason (other pets at risk, advance science, give closure, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5736/what-antibiotics-should-not-be-given-to-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;antibiotics that should not be given to a rabbit&lt;/a&gt; if they were, it could have added to complications.  Additionally &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/anesthesia-protocols-for-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anesthesia can have risks for the rabbit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Circling back around to the poopy butt, in my experience the number one cause of health issues in young rabbits (&lt;em&gt;up to 8 years old&lt;/em&gt;) is diet and digestion related. If your rabbit is not making good poop, there is a problem that needs to be addressed (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1157/should-i-worry-that-my-rabbit-is-leaving-connected-poops&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;some pictures and descriptions in the post&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) For the most part this is controlled by diet, See related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551/why-is-adding-hay-to-a-rabbits-diet-important&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt; If the diet is not properly balanced it creates issues with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/617/do-bunnies-eat-their-droppings&quot;&gt;the rabbit eating cecotropes&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In closure, it is really hard to say what the cause of death was.  It is unlikely that any one thing was the cause.  Your rabbit had multiple complications from multiple issues. The most positive outcome in your scenario, would have come from earlier correction of the rabbit not making good poops. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-08-18T09:40:38.923" LastActivityDate="2018-08-18T09:40:38.923" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19792" CreationDate="2018-08-14T13:50:42.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just had the same problems. &lt;strong&gt;This is totally normal&lt;/strong&gt;, he misses his mother and probably his siblings too. I also couldn't sleep well for a week because of the crying. Now, after 2 weeks, my kitten is much more used to me and doesn't cry like before. Today I woke up terrorized because I slept too well and though she escaped somehow! Turns out she found a new hiding place behind the bed's head.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I strongly advise you to do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't be anxious. It will get better really fast if you put some patience in the process. I was very anxious the first week, thinking about her having health problems or that maybe she was too small to be taken from the mother. She wasn't!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't be scared of him, kittens are usually defenseless and need reassurance by their human (yes, &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; human).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Enter the room, DON'T look at him, especially in the eyes. Do some stuff, like moving things around the room, clean, eat, drink, make a bit of noise, everything ignoring her. Repeat this process several times a day. The more you do this the faster he will get used to you entering the room. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buy or make yourself some toys. Even a bunch of keys will work. Then, with much patience, try to capture his attention. It's normal if he doesn't start right away hitting the toy, he needs to learn that. His instict will soon take over when he'll be fully relaxed in the new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to get closer very slowly and silently. Keep using the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bring some treats like a chicken sausage (avoid eveything that has fat in it) and try to feed him. At first he won't take anything to you, in this case put the food ahead of him, he'll eventually eat it. Make sure he sees you leaving/giving the food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When he accepts your food from your hand, it's time to pet him! Ignore the hissing, at this point it's unlikely he'll hurt you (perhaps he doesn't even know how to do that yet. My 12 weeks kitten really is still clueless about how much her paws can be sharp).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When he lets you pet him, pet him. Eveyday, all the day, for as much he let you do that. Peeeet him veeeery much, and give food from your hand. Those two are the most effective ways to create a bond between you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At this point after a few days, invite friends and family to your house and ask them one by one to pet him. He'll quickly associate humans to cuddles after a few &quot;petting invitations&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there is a lot more to know especially in the future and depending on certain conditions (will he go outside? are there other pets? Etc etc) but for the beginning I think those tips work (they did for me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12390" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T13:50:42.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-14T14:36:27.473" Score="21" ViewCount="9329" Body="&lt;p&gt;This kitten doesn't want to drink from her own bowl but seems to prefer running water, namely the waterfall of a hang on filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this safe for the kitten? The aquarium is occupied by a terrapin which is as far as I know. And if it isn't, how can I persuade her to drink from her own water bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GZuRy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GZuRy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8yym3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8yym3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IHoG9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IHoG9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="7590" LastEditDate="2018-08-14T23:39:19.413" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T11:01:24.327" Title="Safe for cats to drink from the aquarium?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21110" CreationDate="2018-08-14T15:25:34.693" Score="35" Body="&lt;h3&gt;This sounds like undesirable behaviour to me.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the main problems in my mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat could fall into the tank, damage the terrapin, tank, splash water on electrical items etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terrapins are known for being nippy. If it nips your cat you could open yourself up to any number of issues for both parties.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The water in your fish tank may not be suitable for your cat. For example, you could need to use medications in the future which might harm your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat could transfer bacteria to the tank which could adversely affect your fish tank and endanger your terrapin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Okay, but what can I do?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd first put a lid or covering on the tank to stop the direct access that the cat already has. If this isn't possible because the filter would still be exposed, you can try &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/281/how-can-i-train-my-cat-to-not-jump-on-the-kitchen-counters&quot;&gt;training your cat not to go there&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat really only likes running water you can also get it a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mate-Fresh-Water-Drinking-Fountain/dp/B001NYGB8W&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;drinking fountain&lt;/a&gt; (This is the first one I found online - YMMV). The cat will be able to drink from a running water source without needing to disturb the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T15:25:34.693" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21110" CreationDate="2018-08-14T16:16:02.880" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat might also like the taste of the water. Some animals are quite the connoiseurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog prefers to drink &quot;old&quot; water from a big basin standing outside, one cat enjoys licking up the water puddles beneath my flower pots and the other cat prefers fresh tap water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chemistry of tap water differs so much from aquarium water that even you could probably taste a difference. Temperature and the material of the container also influence the taste of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiment with different containers (glas, plastic and metal bowl) and fresh and tepid water. The drinking fountain mentioned by Henders is also a nice try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T16:16:02.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21110" CreationDate="2018-08-14T19:02:07.890" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;They sell fountains for cats. Basically, it's a water bowl (or basin) for the cat to drink from. The bowl is hooked up to a circulating system that keeps the water flowing. This is why your cat is attracted to the aquarium. Though many cats will drink still water, it's not uncommon for individual cats to be turned off by the idea. In the wild, still water could be stagnant or impure, so your cat's instincts may be leading it to seek out moving water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat fountain can be purchased at most pet stores and will run between 30 and 80 dollars, depending on how fancy you want to get. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5465" LastActivityDate="2018-08-14T19:02:07.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21129" CreationDate="2018-08-15T00:26:31.697" Score="4" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if ear infections are more common in large dog breeds; chiefly in Labrador Retrievers, likely owing to their hanging ears and inherently small ear canals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine is scratching, rubbing at the ears and head shaking only recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5993" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-04T21:47:59.127" LastActivityDate="2020-11-04T21:47:59.127" Title="Are Labradors predisposed to ear infections?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-15T00:59:53.827" Score="2" ViewCount="3951" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (pit mix) recently bit my daughter (1yo) in the face and in anger and I suppose fear I grabbed her by the scruff and hit her with my open hand like three times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I should not have hit her in anger, in case anyone feels the need to address that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not seeing any overt signs of damage to our relationship, she still comes when called, licks me in the face lovingly, etc, but I want to make sure that any damage I did I amend as best I can. I’ve had this dog for about 4 years now, since she was a young pup and I’d be heartbroken if I ruined the relationship we had. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12754" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-08-17T11:20:52.107" LastActivityDate="2018-08-17T11:20:52.107" Title="How can I regain my dog’s trust after losing my temper with her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21121" CreationDate="2018-08-15T05:04:00.347" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently got a family of goldfish and I want to encourage them to be interactive. Can they be trained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 3 comet goldfish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the transition to their tank, I must have scared them. It seemed like they had PTSD for a few days, always swimming away from nearby humans and &quot;cowering&quot; in the far corner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want them to love me, and I figure food is the best way. My plan is to hold my fingers over the water for a little while before and after feeding so they associate my fingers with food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In time, they will come to me and follow my fingers around the outside of the tank, even if I'm not holding food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12737" LastActivityDate="2018-08-15T18:11:35.130" Title="Can goldfish be trained?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-15T05:50:08.323" Score="3" ViewCount="1301" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 cats - one male and one female, which are 8 months old now. Both are siblings and they were very attached to each other as we separated them from mom when they were only 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently neutered my female cat around 15 days ago. In the whole process of neutering, we kept both cats in separate rooms. Now my male cat is attacking female cat. What would be the reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are still using medicine on female cats stitches, could that smell be what's provoking male cat's attacks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know how to solve this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12755" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:26:58.590" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T15:03:40.383" Title="Male cat attacking female cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-15T06:21:59.870" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;My start tortoise doesn't poop since last 8 days. He eats well and tries hard to get the poop out but no luck. Kindly suggest something so that I can help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12757" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-18T04:21:17.113" LastActivityDate="2020-04-18T04:21:17.113" Title="My star tortoise doesn't poop since last 8 days" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21118" CreationDate="2018-08-15T06:29:11.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's possible to train goldfish to a limited extend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYibcUYAX4E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Mythbusters did an experiment&lt;/a&gt; where they trained groups of goldfish to swim through a very simple labyrinth. The goal was to let the fish swim from one end of the tank to the opposite. They placed up to 3 clear walls successively in the tank with brightly highlighted holes as passages. After several weeks of training, one group of fish was reliably able to pass the labyrinth in less than a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want to do is basicly a desensitization and your approach sounds valid. But you should start your training without food involved. If your fish are too scared to approach the food, it will rot and impact the water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you stick your finger into the water 5 times a day without anything bad happening for the fish, they will eventually realize that your finger is no threat to them. If you then add food to the stimulus of sticking your finger into the water, your fish will associate your finger with food. This is classical positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find an interest in the theories of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Skinner&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pavlov&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-15T18:11:35.130" LastActivityDate="2018-08-15T18:11:35.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21702" CreationDate="2018-08-15T09:02:38.897" Score="6" ViewCount="477" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Golden Retriever is 1.5 yrs old. He lost his fur in the back and tail recently, and vet suggested it might be bacterial infection. For a week we gave anti-bacterial medication and looks like the shedding slowed down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now his tail looks like a Labrador. Will it grow back to golden style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9431" LastActivityDate="2018-11-02T17:34:45.970" Title="Golden retriever: will fur grow back after infection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21117" CreationDate="2018-08-15T09:06:35.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pit bulls and pit bull crosses have dominant personalities. Hitting her will have far less effect than hitting a whippet or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16898/my-yorkie-is-dirtying-the-house-what-should-i-do&quot;&gt;most other breeds&lt;/a&gt; (it would take years to recover). That's in your favour. Pitties, like rottweiler's are hardy and cope  well with strict discipline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many ways it's a natural response to grab the dog and chastise it. Grabbing her by the scruff of the neck and showing your aggression is not a bad thing. I'm not endorsing hitting, but not sure it's necessarily bad for such a potentially head strong breed in an extreme circumstance. Biting a child is an extreme circumstance. It depends on how hard you hit her. The aim is to show a clear sign of disapproval rather than harm the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She needs to know it's not on and she will be jumped on.  That's how dogs communicate when there's a serious infraction. They understand the emotional of the owner being angry and if the reaction is instant to the cause of the behaviour the dog will link it to the event of biting the child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's being her normal self with you, it doesn't sound like there's much, if any, harm done to your relationship. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Definitely making a habit of hitting a dog on the face will cause it to fear you and cringe.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's never the dog's fault if they bite a child, it's the adult's responsibility. Dog's should not be left alone with small children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog cannot be trusted with any children again. She must not be set up to fail. By that I mean put in a situation where she has to tolerate small children. She doesn't enjoy it. She may be unsure of the child, her status and she hasn't done it in malice. Animals are pure in their motives, she did what she thought she was supposed to do. She was communicating with the child in dog language. Acceptable family situation? Definitely not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your priority is to you child's safety first, followed by pet ownership. You clearly love your dog. Keep them separated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a rottweiler when our children were young. He grew up with our eldest and loved and protected him. The next two he didn't like so much and would growl when he heard their baby noises. He viewed them as some small animal (I'm guessing). He was also getting older and probably had aches and pains from being a large breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I kept them separated. The younger children were never allowed in the same space as the dog. There was always a gate, a fence or a door between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally he snapped at my toddler, luckily there was a gate between them. He was a 55 kg dog and he was getting older for a large breed. I had to make the difficult and heart wrenching decision to have him put to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't in good conscience rehome him, as there's a responsibility to other children that he may meet. The vet concurred. He could have killed my son. It was the hardest and saddest decision of my life. I still grieve it many years later. I remind myself, it would have been a far harder grief if he had bitten off my sons face or killed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-08-16T01:43:42.810" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T01:43:42.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21116" CreationDate="2018-08-15T15:07:05.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not that I've heard about.  We have one and wasn't especially warned about it, although it is advised to periodically inspect and sniff at your dog's ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason why you're especially concerned about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2018-08-15T15:07:05.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21128" CreationDate="2018-08-15T17:26:04.863" Score="8" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can an owl be tamed and deliver letters? If so, how could it be trained and what would be its responsiveness towards us? Also, is it legal or is it too dangerous due to its talons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5993" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-01T21:18:46.217" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T21:18:46.217" Title="Can an owl be tamed and deliver letters?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21127" CreationDate="2018-08-15T20:05:15.227" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Delivering anything to a remote place is an extremely difficult task for any animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mammals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could find evidence of &lt;a href=&quot;http://doglawreporter.blogspot.com/2011/06/messenger-dogs-soldiers-in-great-war.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;messenger dogs&lt;/a&gt; and the occasional &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Reckless&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;horse&lt;/a&gt; used in several wars to autonomously deliver messages and provisions to and from the front lines. &lt;strong&gt;What they actually did was return to a trainer&lt;/strong&gt; they were very closely bonded with. One soldier had to take the animal to the front line and keep them there, then attach a message and send them off to their bonded trainer. Some dogs could be bonded to two trainers, running errands between them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A liaison dog, which took about twice as long to train, recognized two handlers, and could be directed by either to return to the other. These dogs could be sent back and forth continually between the front to battalion headquarters. Although Richardson trained some liaison dogs, he noted that this “more difficult system” entailed “a considerably greater wastage of life, both among the men themselves and the dogs, as the position of the keeper in the front line is fraught with risk, and the dogs are also required to run a double journey over the danger area.” (&lt;a href=&quot;http://doglawreporter.blogspot.com/2011/06/messenger-dogs-soldiers-in-great-war.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Carrier Pigeons&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_pigeon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Carrier pigeons&lt;/a&gt; have been used by humans for hundreds of years, but they don't deliver anything either. All they do is &lt;strong&gt;return home to their loft&lt;/strong&gt;, finding their way by visual, auditory and olfactory clues and even navigating the Earth's magnetic field. You have to take a pigeon away from home, attach a letter to it and let it return home, hoping that someone will retrieve the letter from its loft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Owls&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast to dogs and pigeons, owls are undomesticated animals. You have to get an owl used to humans from a very young age to even be able to handle one without it flying away. There are reports of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.newsweek.com/owls-attacking-humans-pets-cold-weather-778673&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;owls attacking humans and pets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Owls can be trained to fly to a falconer / trainer and land on their arm. This only works because the trainer offers food every time the owl lands on their arm. The owl has no other reason to fly to the trainer. Without food, no owl. They don't get attached to humans, they just learn that landing on a specific human yields an easy meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, owls do not have a loft or nest they reliably return to. Take an owl too far away from its home and it will simply find a new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other animals&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Popular movies and TV shows depict owls and ravens delivering messages, and there have been attempts to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://mentalfloss.com/article/64025/time-cats-delivered-mail-belgium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats for mail services&lt;/a&gt;. But all these are either spectacular failures or no more than imagination. Despite ravens' widely recognized intelligence, humans have not managed to make ravens deliver anything to anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that to deliver messages, an animal needs to be very tightly bonded to the person or place they're supposed to deliver to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T06:14:11.370" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T06:14:11.370" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21116" CreationDate="2018-08-16T02:01:59.953" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Floppy ears tend to catch water, which results in more infections. Our vet taught us to dry out our dog's ears with gauze, and there's a few commercial options for regularish ear cleaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Floppy ears are adorable, but a little more work and its worth bringing the dog to the vet for a proper examination and basic cleaning if you suspect infection&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-16T10:32:17.800" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T10:32:17.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21090" CreationDate="2018-08-16T13:14:46.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid I think you're doing everything correct, but your fish might just be at an age where age-related illness comes into play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've kept goldfish (or fancy goldfish) for over 16 years now and I still have one of my originals. I lost two old timers last year, I think they were 9 and 11. One had a fairly obvious infection which I treated to no avail (ok, maybe she survived a few more weeks than she otherwise would have). The other had what I can only describe as a stroke - mouth stopped working and she couldn't swim properly or eat and she didn't seem to recognise me - she died within a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things worth mentioning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be afraid of chemical water conditioners or dechlorinators. I don't know what the water is like in your area but in mine, there's chlorine and chloramine in it. Dechlorinators get rid of chloramine. I use it at every water change/tank cleaning. A friend told me her local water plant changed their chemical composition regularly enough that she periodically lost some of her tropical fish even with a water conditioner. I haven't noticed that problem with my goldies. Given that Mr Fish has lived happily without water conditioner all this time, it's unlikely it's a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The photo shows some red streaks on his fins. As far as I can tell, this might be down to ammonia spikes. Local fish shop keeper said that you can get ammonia spikes overnight, but the water can still test good. In my experience, the red streaks in the fins didn't bother my fantail. There's also some black on his scales. This can be a sign of an encounter with some strong chemical - it's like a burn. It can also just be natural colouring, or as you say, it could be exposure to air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the photo, you've covered his/her vent. That's how you tell if he's a she. Think of it like a belly button, girl fish have &quot;outies&quot; - you can see the egg tube sticking out (but beware sometimes it's poo!). Boys have innies and once they're mature they'll get white breeding tubercles (white spots) on their gill covers and the front of their pectoral fins (&quot;hands&quot;) Round about the age of 3 years, girls seem to mature, which means they get eggs sometimes (and they get chased). They look a little round round the belly at that point in time. I have no idea if they stop getting eggs late in life, but my old boy still gets his breeding tubercles in summer, so the round patch you highlight in the picture might be swelling due to being egg bound (if he's a she). The eggs don't always come out, just get re-absorbed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, it's been a few days since you posted, so I hope you're all right. If it's bad news, know that you did everything correctly for your fish. And it's never &quot;just a fish&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T13:14:46.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6819" CreationDate="2018-08-16T13:36:01.647" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lizards defently know. My Uromastyx loves to walk around the house and im the only one who takes him out. whenever he sees me he comes out of his rock and in the open and scratches at the tank so I just let him run around till he gets tired. Same goes for my mom but with his food and he only eats his food if my mom gives it to him he wont take it from anyone else. He either knows who he deals with day in and day out or hes got one hell of a personality &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12776" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T13:36:01.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11550" CreationDate="2018-08-16T23:45:08.673" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I installed an invisible fence 3 months ago and placed flags all around the border about 10' apart. It took my dog a few vibration warnings from the collar to learn that she shouldnt cross the flags. She hasn't worn the collar since a  week after installing the fence and she has never crossed the line since. I trained her every day by walking around the flag border. I just got her a bark collar and hoping she will learn just as quickly so she won't have to wear it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12779" LastActivityDate="2018-08-16T23:45:08.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21105" CreationDate="2018-08-18T09:59:47.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the can also also get parasites if only &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7327/does-snow-kill-fleas&quot;&gt;outdoors for a short time, even on a snowy day, personally we treat with Revolution Flea &amp;amp; Tick&lt;/a&gt; to address most parasites. We also take them to the vet for annual well bunny checks.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One risk is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2212/13&quot;&gt;Encephalitozoon cuniculi occasionally called 'EC' which I discuss in this answer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving a rabbit outside unsupervised has a lot of risk if &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126/will-owls-attack-small-dogs/8129#8129&quot;&gt;Owls will attack small dogs&lt;/a&gt; then rabbits are also at risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally the best place for your &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8122/is-a-bedroom-enough-space-for-a-bunny-to-be-happy&quot;&gt;rabbit to live is in your bedroom&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-08-18T09:59:47.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-18T19:06:25.430" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a group of wild rabbits who hang around in my girlfriend's backyard all the time. Her mom leaves out lettuce and such so that's probably what attracted them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They recently had baby bunnies and over time they've become quite endearing to us. We really want to provide food and shelter for them. Especially now that there is so much rain here in the East coast. Neither of us have the time (or expertise) to build something good for them so I was hoping to get a large hutch off of Amazon that has multiple entry/exit points (for them to escape when needed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two ones I found that have possible escape routes are these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00FN3ZVTY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;First choice option as it seems safer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00DE6KQUG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Second choice one due to price and reviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We really want to keep them in our backyard because they mean a lot to us and we want to provide proper shelter for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't know much about rabbits so any advice would be really appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12786" LastEditorUserId="12786" LastEditDate="2018-08-18T19:30:49.470" LastActivityDate="2018-08-18T19:30:49.470" Title="A nest of wild rabbits pretty much live in our backyard. Can we get a hutch for them?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-08-20T15:09:04.633" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-19T05:39:47.367" Score="6" ViewCount="1012" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in Hanover, PA in the USA and we were renting. They gave us notice to move. They are selling. We are moving in two weeks. I have been feeding for three feral cats for four years. I have asked everyone I know to take them. No one can. I'm afraid they will die now that they depend on us. I bought them little houses and I put a tent up all winter. I'm sorry I ever started. I feel so sad and if anyone can help me, please direct me to anyone who will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T21:44:46.737" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T21:44:46.737" Title="I have been feeding three feral cats for four years" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-19T21:02:13.177" Score="11" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything I've read says you shouldn't tap an aquarium because it startles the fish, and that's bad for their mental health.  I've been satisfied by that argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of late, my toddler has started tapping and even slapping the glass of one of our tanks.  Obviously I am intervening to stop this, but now I have a funny balance to strike: how strict should I be with my toddler?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously only I can answer that one, because it's my child, but I realized I'm lacking in some information.  How much are fish actually impacted by this sort of acoustic stress?  Is this the kind of thing you worry about in a doctor's office where kids might bang on a tank all day long, 5 days a week?  Or is it something where problems arise more rapidly with occasional tapping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4019" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T11:49:07.860" Title="How stressing is it for fish when someone taps/slaps their glass?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-20T00:31:13.810" Score="4" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 month shepherd mix Rooney has been in puppy class since he was 5 months. He started out being the star of the class. These last few weeks he seems to be showing aggressive behaviour toward the other classmates. Now when the other dogs enter the ring it's all lunging and high pitched barking. It's like Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde status. He sometimes tries to nip at me if I try to avert his attention or hold him back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the kicker, HE DOES NOT ACT LIKE THIS IN PUBLIC. We go on long walks in different places, visit dog friendly restaurants ect. and he passes by and meets and greets other dogs and people/children just fine (although he hasn't been to a dog park yet). But something about the puppy class sets him off! I should mention that I have him in a petsmart puppy class so the area we are in is pretty small with four other puppies in the class who sometimes physically/verbally show their excitement but none are aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We play fetch so hes tired before we go to classes but this doesn't seem to make a difference. I was just in public with him yesterday and he was fine passing other dogs on walks sometimes he would wander towards the dog and we would keep moving past them without any lunging high pitched barking or nipping. Went to the last class this morning and we couldn't even take it bc he started behaving badly. He even nipped the instructor for trying to avert his attention. Trainer doesn't really know what's going on with him. Eventually I can get his attention with treats but it is short lived&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have good insight into what's going on? Beyond frustrated with the little one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12792" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-10-23T08:37:52.600" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T12:02:25.450" Title="Puppy great in public but bad in puppy class" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11307" CreationDate="2018-08-20T10:34:17.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Copper is just a puppy and curious about anything naturally. And Lucky is an old dog and have a fixed character and disposition; he is also afraid of losing his status in your mind. Those are instincts depending on the ages. And Rusty's interfere may largen the gap of Copper and Lucky. The only thing you can do is to shorten the gap between them and reduce the alert to cupper in Lucky's mind. Let them stay alone without Rusty and play some games with them fairly. Do not bias anyone. If Copper is too naughty to clam down. Try to lock them in the cages separately. If it's possible, you could send Copper to a puppy training class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12633" LastActivityDate="2018-08-20T10:34:17.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21148" CreationDate="2018-08-20T15:29:55.530" Score="4" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are often allowed to roam outdoors unsupervised where a dog would not be.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently saw a craigslist ad about a cat missing for 8 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My boy has been missing almost 8 years now and were not giving up. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/laf/d/missing-gray-grey-male/6660609813.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8126/will-owls-attack-small-dogs&quot;&gt;birds of prey will attack and consume small dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt; so part of me thinks that the outdoor cat ran our of luck and instead of eating small birds, gotten eaten by a large bird, in his outdoor adventures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any solid statistics or studies about the number of pet cats lost to native predators?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. This question is not limited to birds of prey, land predators included also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:55:31.097" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:55:31.097" Title="What percentage of &quot;lost&quot; cats are actually eaten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20963" CreationDate="2018-08-20T16:01:11.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks, @Elmy. Yes, this helped. I also ran the washing machine on &quot;deep wash&quot; or something like that to access all possible areas and ran it as hot as possible, but for anyone fighting this here is what really worked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For testing, I tore up a paper towel into about 16 pieces and laid them all over the room. They love paper and seem to go to it. This is how I found them in various parts of the room and knew where to concentrate my efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scrubbing the slop sink with thin layer of borax and a brush.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;This was answer number one.&lt;/strong&gt; After plugging both the exhaust for the washing machine and the drain for the slop sink, I still had fleas in the slop sink. It dawned on me that the larvae were growing in the slop sink. I scrubbed it with borax and &quot;Vet's Best Flea and Tick&quot; spray and only one flea since in the sink.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scrubbing the bottoms of any detergent bottle. I had bottles of washing machine detergent on the dryer and I kept having fleas on the dryer. I finally scrubbed the bottoms of the bottles and the top of the dryer and that seemed to get rid of the rest of the larvae.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Borax in the slop sink - thin layer applied after each wash. This probably was not necessary after scrubbing the sink, but I did it anyway just to kill any I might have missed before they could get out of the slop sink. From my research, the borax is eaten by the fleas and it rips them to shreds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plugging both the slop sink and the exhaust for the washing machine when not in use and using hot water and the &quot;deep wash&quot; cycle when running it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spraying the entire perimeter inside and outside of the house with Raid Max Bug Barrier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After spraying, I applied a 3-4 inch thin layer of borax along the perimeter of the room. This was in the basement and behind shelves, so it did not interfere with daily living. It killed most of the ones that spawned from the deep dark recesses that were missed by the bug barrier. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I had several filing cabinets that I put on 1X4's to elevate them and be able to spray around and under. The favorite spot for the larvae was under the filing cabinets. It took several bottles of the &quot;Vet's Best Flea and Tick&quot; spray, applied at morning and at night, to clear them all as well as a little borax around the base of the filing cabinets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Running a dehumidifer in the room set to 40%. I had to empty it twice a day. Do NOT use an exhaust hose for the dehumidifer. I did this at first and they crawled into the dehumidifier basin through the tube. That took some nugging to figure out. A damp environment is perfect for fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Removed all carpets and Paper products from the area. Anything on a shelf seemed not to be bothered, so I left all files in place. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're here, I feel for you. All I can say is to be persistent and do not give up, do not give in. You will have doubts and want to bomb the entire place. I don't think that would have helped as I had them in tubes (dehumidifier, washing machine, and drain). I can't imagine how the bomb would have penetrated them all. Nothing wrong with a good flea bomb in a pinch. If we had carpet, I'm pretty sure that would have been a necessity. Thank God I didn't have to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12624" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:25:25.640" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:25.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21141" CreationDate="2018-08-20T17:10:24.640" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take them with you when you move see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10468/how-can-i-move-houses-with-a-friendly-feral-cat-i-care-for&quot;&gt;How can I move houses with a friendly feral cat I care for?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19592/can-should-i-take-a-feral-stray-cat-with-me-to-a-new-house&quot;&gt;Can/Should I take a feral/stray cat with me to a new house?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you owned the house, you could leave the cats and a message for the new owner, but that is probably not an option for you as a renter. There have been some cute stories shared on social media about this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could ask a neighbor but that is not always an option &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21081/how-to-feed-outdoor-cats-when-youre-away-for-a-month&quot;&gt;see example&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could contact a local cat rescue (this may or may not be a shelter). There are groups of people who specifically volunteer to help feral cats.  If they are made aware they can check on the cats, after you are gone, and if needed rescue them and rehome them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in some areas, feral cats are spayed and released, See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1699/why-are-cats-released-as-part-of-spay-and-release-programs&quot;&gt;Why are cats released as part of &amp;quot;spay and release&amp;quot; programs?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-08-20T17:10:24.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21145" CreationDate="2018-08-20T18:53:07.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very hard to find any numbers, but it seems that most lost cats lose their lives to dogs and cars rather than to predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toronto’s Animal Services report &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/05/25/road_kill_3000_raccoons_1300_cats_and_more_are_casualties_of_city_streets_annually.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about 1,300 cats&lt;/a&gt; killed annually and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thepetstech.com/blogs/the-pets-lounge/14446241-over-6-000-000-dogs-cats-were-killed-on-us-roads-last-year&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Pet's Tech&lt;/a&gt; estimate annual casualties in the USA at an approximation of 5.4 million. &lt;sub&gt;(The Pet's Tech seems not very reliable since it promotes glowing LED products for pets and hast the casualty numbers for cats marked with a * without actually giving a reference)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Great Britain the reported number of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.confused.com/press/releases/2018/carnage-on-the-carriageway-thousands-of-roadkill-victims-in-2016-2017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats killed by cars in 2016 and 2017 combined was &lt;strong&gt;340&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thousands of animals fall victim to Britain’s roads each year, with almost 4,000 found by local authorities in 2016 and 2017 alone, according to new research. [...] Sadly, common domestic animals such as cats and dogs also ranked highly, with 340 (9%) and 286 (7%) deaths, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/roadkill-statistics-april-to-december-2017&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this official statistic&lt;/a&gt; states the number of cats found as roadkill between April and December 2017 as &lt;strong&gt;143&lt;/strong&gt; (which extrapolates to 215 killed cats annually).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only numbers of cats killed by dogs I could find is from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animals24-7.org/2016/01/31/pit-bulls-killed-24000-other-dogs-13000-cats-in-2015/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Animals 24-7&lt;/a&gt;, seems highly exaggerated and is an &amp;quot;approximate, projected from media reports&amp;quot;. They claim that pit bulls alone are accountable for killing 13,000 cats in the USA in 2015.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The approximately 3.5 million pit bulls in the U.S. appear to have killed more than 24,000 other dogs in 2015, [...] nearly 13,000 cats; perhaps 9,000 hooved animals; and between 30,000 and 45,000 small mammals and poultry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I couldn't find any official (or even non-official) numbers of cats killed by undomesticated animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And during all this research there were more sites reporting animals killed by shelters and their organisations than by cars or other animals... Numbers differ greatly between countries and states but it's a sad fact that your runaway cat might have a better chance surviving if s/he is not found and brought to a shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T13:09:03.217" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T13:09:03.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-20T22:02:31.160" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;we are fostering a dog with the intention of adoption. We have had our first dog for a year and a few months. She is somewhat dog reactive but has gotten along with my parents dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our new pup is very calm. Every time he attempts to move to a new part of the house, our first pup lunges, growls, and barks at him, almost like she is snapping at him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just a territorial thing? How can I help stop her from doing it? Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12794" LastActivityDate="2018-08-20T22:02:31.160" Title="Old pup lunges at new dog" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21151" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-21T10:23:01.253" Score="3" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet warned me about giving him too much sodium. Per cup the bone broth I am considering has 95mg of sodium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12797" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-08-21T13:18:23.557" LastActivityDate="2019-11-02T22:51:17.340" Title="My dog has congestive heart failure and I am considering feeding him bone broth. Is this a bad idea?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-21T17:18:07.503" Score="6" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several weeks ago I was outside working in the yard when I heard our border collie mix barking like crazy. I immediately went in to see what was going on. I found our 11-year-old beagle mix lying apparently dead on the floor in the basement with scratches on her neck. Our border collie was barking at her and had apparently scratched her neck. Our beagle looked as if she had died peacefully in her sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had gallbladder disease &amp;amp; was generally slowing down. The scratches did not appear deep enough to have caused the death of our beagle, but I just curious about our border collie's behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever heard of this happening before? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12799" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-24T13:32:48.313" LastActivityDate="2018-08-24T13:32:48.313" Title="Border Collie mix reacts to death of other family dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-21T20:46:57.753" Score="3" ViewCount="5119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shepherd (2.5 Years old) is a bit obsessed with looking at lights/shadows. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lights I am referring to are for example when my watch or phone reflects the sun light and shines a small dot of light around the wall/floor. She chases the light, which doesn’t bother me, but once it’s gone keeps standing looking for it. She stands there for a very long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also is a bit fixated on people’s shadows. For example on the evenings when we move around and our shadows change and move she comes running over and stares at the floor watching them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently she has taken to standing in places around the house staring at the floor or wall, whether the reflections are there or not. This happens almost every evening now. She spends the majority of the evenings staring like this, fixated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we stop her from doing this? Any tips or advice to help would be appreciated as it’s a shame to watch her do this silly behaviour. We try to play with her or train her with treats, which does often help but she will still go back to staring later. And with kids etc I do not have the time to entertain her all evening as I have other things to take care of as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to note that we try to minimise the light reflections as much as we can and we have never played with one of those laser pointers with her, as I am aware they can often start this kind f behaviour. We never used one with her. She seemed to just notice these things on her own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7111" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T16:13:22.190" Title="Dog won’t stop looking at light reflection/shadows" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21152" CreationDate="2018-08-21T23:04:06.843" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only speculate about what happened. Border Collies are &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; intelligent dogs. They were bred to herd sheep, and as a result, they can be very concerned about animals that appear to be in ill health or trouble. Perhaps when your collie realised that his beagle companion wasn't moving, he tried to wake her up. He may have tried to move her as a mother dog moves a pup, picking her up by the scruff of the neck. This might have caused the scratches. Or he may have simply pawed at her to try to wake her up, and caused the scratches that way. Or perhaps the beagle scratched herself because she was having difficulty breathing or feeling pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that the scratches are likely not the cause of her death. You know your collie best. If he has never been aggressive before, then even if he did cause the scratches, it would have occurred after the beagle died, and as a result of the collie's concern or grief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-08-21T23:04:06.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21153" CreationDate="2018-08-21T23:21:36.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds to me like your dog is bored, and so getting entertainment when she can. I would try getting new and different toys for your dog. Since you're busy, hopefully something that will keep her entertained even when you don't have time to pay attention. For example, food puzzle toys, of the type where you put food in, and the dog had to work a while to get it out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately though, I don't see why chasing watch reflections and the like is a problem. Your dog thinks it's fun, and she's not destroying anything, or any other inappropriate behavior. You could go with the flow and get your dog an automated laser pointer toy.  I suggest the automated one because it can move around even when you're too busy to play. It may even be that if you get your dog a toy laser pointer, she will stop paying such attention to light beams and shadows, because the laser pointer is probably more fun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-08-21T23:21:36.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-22T06:32:14.440" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that my cat always has a particular order of taking her kittens. I don't know why this is. Does it have something to do with Weight, fur color or birth order. Is it just random??&#xA;Is there an Evolutionary reason for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12802" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T12:17:31.913" Title="Is there an order in which a mother cat takes Kittens when she is relocating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21153" CreationDate="2018-08-22T09:15:51.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your GSD is sat doing nothing and sees something (in this case a light) move across the floor and chases it, this is natural, GSDs are naturally have high levels of prey drive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is noticing these more it is because it is fun to chase. Which suggests she is not being engaged and entertained enough. GSDs need alot of engaging, they need to be very well exercised physically and mentally. This behaviour indicates that isnt what is happening or she isnt getting enough engagement/excercise and she is bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can we stop her from doing this?Any tips or advice to help would be appreciated as it’s a shame to watch her do this silly behaviour. We try to play with her or train her with treats, which does often help but she will still go back to staring later. And with kids etc I do not have the time to entertain her all evening as I have other things to take care of as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Engage her, play with her, train her. Mix it up, use toys or rings instead of treats, tug and fetch, obedience work, tracking work etc. You need to be the source of her fun and not anything else so she will come to you to be entertained. What type of training do you do? Look at something different like bite work or something more demanding. Obedience and heel type training for half an hour wont cut it with GSDs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't silly behaviour, its boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you dont have time to entertain her i.e. work etc give her marrow bones or food puzzle toys like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/KONG-Puppy-Teething-Stick-Medium/dp/B0009YWM0I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;. I found both of those god sends for my two GSDs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily she isn't actually doing anything bad, bored GSDs are often destructive ones so you're lucky she is actually focusing on light movements. Its not bad or silly behaviour she just wants to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T09:15:51.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15408" CreationDate="2018-08-22T10:31:18.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biomax = 1 ceramic ring per gallon (3.78 L). As stated numorous times that's just a rough estimate but to be safe, at a very minimum one per. 1 biomax ring = at least 100 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (9.3 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) so that's a lot of area per little ring. I use about 3 per gallon, but I'm always like that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T15:17:11.640" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T15:17:11.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-22T10:31:56.957" Score="16" ViewCount="11248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very anxious about my cats health especially because one of them died last week and there was not much I could do to save him, he wouldn't eat or drink, he'd threw up when we gave him food through a syringe and he'd go to the litter box several times and couldn't do anything. The vet told us that it might be something to do with their stomach which is why I'm worried about my other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I have a six year old female cat and 5 year old male cat. We're currently going through a heat wave so they've been really lazy laying on the floor the whole day but what really worried me was getting home and seeing that one of them not sure which, had vomited a big piece of plastic I got really scared and started paying a closer eye on them. I noticed they haven't been eating and today my female cat threw up again but no plastic pieces found. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided to give them some wet food and they ate it really well, they seem to be acting normal but I can't help but worry because what if they have the same disease my other cat had?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12805" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-22T14:14:12.980" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T16:27:59.953" Title="My cat vomited a big piece of plastic" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21159" CreationDate="2018-08-22T10:58:35.820" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't good. You need to see a veterinarian ASAP or his health could worsen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12390" LastEditorUserId="12390" LastEditDate="2018-08-22T13:51:04.193" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T13:51:04.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-22T11:40:38.127" Score="2" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horses are supplemented with a standard mineral mix combining Zinc, Copper and Magnesium compounds that help supplement the feed here, as it tends to be deficient in these minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The copper and zinc require a smaller amount of volume to add to the feed and so can be packaged and delivered easily and adds less bad taste for the horses to adapt to in their feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for natural sources of magnesium so I can reduce the supplementation in the form of a powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T01:41:54.490" Title="What types of feed are naturally high in magnesium for horses?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21156" CreationDate="2018-08-22T12:17:31.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I am aware, there is no particular rule cats follow. There's no evolutionary purpose to using a particular criterion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a benefit to sticking to the usual order, and that's a simple memorization technique. This isn't unique to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I asked you to list the 26 letters of the alphabet, you will instinctively list them alphabetically, which is the order you're most familiar with.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I asked you to specifically list them in a random order, it'd be incredibly hard for you to (a) not fall into a pattern and (b) make sure you didn't forget a letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the same reason, it makes sense for a mother cat to want to ensure (b) that she doesn't forget any of her kittens. So it makes sense for her to use an internal checklist. Since she cannot move her entire offspring at the same time, this logically means she has to do it one by one, thus enforcing some sort of sequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the likely answer here is that we can't know why the mother's checklist is ordered the way it is, but we can assume that it's done for the express purpose of &lt;em&gt;not forgetting someone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T12:17:31.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21076" CreationDate="2018-08-22T12:40:53.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I only have cats, I see a similar thing happen here. The youngest (male) is incessantly playful and is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; up for some playtime, whereas the two older girls only occasionally play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's sometimes hard to figure out if a girl is &lt;em&gt;fleeing&lt;/em&gt; from him, or playing with him. We observed for a long time, and found that we often interrupted genuine play time because we thought the playing was getting too rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's relatively easy to see when a cat is genuinely distressed. Some cats gets fearful, others get aggressive (well beyond playfulness). Specifically look out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hissing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Long drawn out meows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High pitched fierce meows (think of the sound you hear when two cats are fighting outside - often used in TV and movies)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arched back, raised hairs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to find higher ground where the chaser cannot reach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat doesn't look like it's either ready to attack (with anger) or fearing for its life, you can usually consider it playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our youngest was a bit oblivious as to whether the others were interested in play time or not. As they were still getting to know each other, we helped &quot;save&quot; their relationship by making sue that he didn't ruin his relationship with the girls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a pattern of escalation here. Whenever he took it too far, he would subsequently encounter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yelling his name and telling him to stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loudly clapping my hands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physically separating them by putting the offender in a different location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used the spray bottle for most other things but didn't use it in this case, because we wanted to avoid hitting the girls. The negative feedback needed to be clearly directed at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Interestingly, distracting him would often reveal if it was playing or fighting/harassing. If the girl made a hasty retreat when he was looking at us because we called his name, she clearly wasn't enjoying herself. If she stared at us as much as he did, then we had apparently interrupted genuine play time.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the feedback you give your dog is likely different from the feedback I gave my cat, the same principle applies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think it's bordering on harassment, interrupt the interaction and see if the alleged victim escapes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell the attacker off for taking it too far (but allow him to resume normal play if he's able to)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeated offenses get punished more severely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, the offender will be put in timeout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you get better at distinguishing between playing and harassing, try to avoid interrupting playing. If you're consistent (and correct) about your negative feedback, your dog will understand the line between playing and harassing better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T12:40:53.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-22T14:10:21.203" Score="4" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putter my fish is two years old. Yesterday while cleaning out his bowl, he jumped out and landed in the sink and fell down the disposal hole with freshly cut potato skins. I managed to get him out within 40 seconds and got him in his holding tank.  I did not want to stress him any further so I left him there overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has some fin damage and a small scrape on his body which is very shallow. He has been swimming since and this morning he also ate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shall I leave him alone and transfer him back to his regular bowl? Shall I be pro-active and treat him for fin rot in case it happens because his fin is damaged?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12808" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-08-22T14:17:55.157" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T18:01:48.623" Title="Fish's fin got torn in garbage disposal" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21159" CreationDate="2018-08-22T14:11:57.970" Score="20" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Immediate Advice:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Cris says, you'll want to take your cat to the Vet right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, you don't know the scope of the problem and although a single piece of plastic has been vomited, there could be more. You &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; get a professional opinion to rule out any hidden internal damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Follow up:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your cat has been seen and the vet is confident that there is no additional problem there's a few other things you can look at. It isn't uncommon for cats to eat plastic (although often softer bags and packaging rather than rigid plastic). For example, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cathealth.com/behavior/how-and-why/2348-why-does-my-cat-eat-plastic&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cathealth.com lists a few reasons for cats eating plastic&lt;/a&gt; including nutrient deficiency, stress or an underlying medical condition. You might hear people throw around the term '&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pica&lt;/a&gt;' which concerns eating things which, normally, aren't considered to be nutritious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You noted in your question that they were not eating correctly and it has been very hot. These are things which could stress your cat. Generally, I'd suggest taking your cat to the Vet if they stop eating for periods of time and vomit if there is no visible cause. There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/356/6826&quot;&gt;really great answer here&lt;/a&gt; which discusses why a cat might vomit and when to take them to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing to note is that if the cat has been spending more time doing very little (because of the heat) you might find that they are generally less interested in food because of this. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/13786/what-are-the-ways-to-help-my-cats-feel-better-during-a-heatwave&quot;&gt;this question about helping cats during heatwaves&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Finally&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It probably goes without saying (and the vet will offer better advice than I can) but you'll want to keep a close eye on your cat for the next few weeks and ensure that there aren't any other problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T14:11:57.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21188" CreationDate="2018-08-22T14:57:29.363" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to add a few drops to the water I use to mop my floors but I'm not sure if it would be harmful to my cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't plan on using it on their toys, just on the floors (they do lay on the floor though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that using essential oils directly to the cat is harmful, but this is not at all my intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan on using around 5 drops to about 5 liters of water. It could be tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender or lemon. They are organic, if it is important (and no mlm!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe or is it better to avoid essential oils completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12252" LastActivityDate="2018-08-25T09:44:19.797" Title="Can I use diluted essential oils to clean my house without causing harm to my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2018-08-22T18:05:29.597" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my years of experience, I find it better to keep the roof closed. This way the water evaporates slower, and it keeps the water clean. But nowadays I see more and more people leave it open with just LED lights hanging on top. I have never tried, but their tanks seem in good condition too. So maybe there are other ways to maintain the tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes to a lot of the answers here, a healthy tank shouldn't smell awful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12814" LastActivityDate="2018-08-22T18:05:29.597" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21153" CreationDate="2018-08-22T18:20:11.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As other answers already explained, your dog is bored out of her mind. She is developing &lt;strong&gt;compulsive behavior&lt;/strong&gt; or has already developed it. You must stop this as soon as possible! What looks like silly behavior now might gradually develop to a state where you close all shutters and keep your dog in constant darkness because she gets so focused on any sparkle that she cannot relax, eat, defecate or sleep anymore as long as there is any shadow or light. This is not silly, it's dangerous for your dog's mental and physical health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/kMpgnZNe87Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;have look at this video&lt;/a&gt;. The dog is obsessed with his own shadow. He's highly agitated, stressed by the constant stimulation and probably has muscle and joint aches from his constant jumping. The woman finds it highly amusing and even animates the dog with her voice. &lt;strong&gt;What she actually does is torture.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop compulsive behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Engage and entertain your dog. She will not play on her own, she needs you as a partner. (You might get the idea that a second dog would be a suitable play partner. It is not! The second dog will adopt her behavior rather that stop it)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;DO NOT under any circumstance use a laser pointer toy or a flashlight to play with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If she fixates on a light or chases her shadow, immediately distract her with a different game or toy. Do not allow her to act out her compulsive behavior, but do not punish her for it either. Offer her an alternative that is more fun.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desensitize her. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/PQ4MAZAVnNY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a video&lt;/a&gt; that explains how it's done.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a list of useful information on how to desensitize and train your dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/behavior-problems/ocd-behaviors/light-chasing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Light Chasing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/11_10/features/Dogs-With-OCD_16069-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Help for OCD dogs&lt;/a&gt; (scroll down to the chapter &quot;Modifying OCD behavior&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/training/stop-chasing-shadows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to train your dog to stop chasing lights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:56:35.453" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:56:35.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-23T08:56:56.077" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1year old cat has started to chatter makes a weird movement with his mouth, mainly when hes doing nothing!  Not like hes seen something to catch, the total opposite!&#xA;Could this be anything to worry about? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12820" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T08:56:56.077" Title="Chattering weird noise!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21142" CreationDate="2018-08-23T11:49:07.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only speak from the point of view as a goldfish keeper, and only from my own experience. Bear in mind that goldfish are pretty much domesticated, fancy goldfish even more so and they'll have certain behaviours associated with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Banging on the tank is probably akin to noisy neighbours. From loud music to extensive DIY, depending on the extent of tapping/slapping/banging on the tank. Fish definitely respond/startle to loud noises outside their tank, and can act scared afterwards. It does depend on the fish, though. Conversely, they can also be &quot;trained&quot; to respond to a feeding bell (which makes monitoring individual fish in a pond or complicated tank setting easier). So if loud noises mean good things, then it's not necessarily bad for their mental health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some goldfish are also quite able to recognise different people and respond differently to the person that feeds them and the person that bangs on the tank. Some of my own goldfish can also recognise the net (which they despise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sad to say, but in places like a doctor's office, the fish who really can't stand the tank being banged on probably don't last that long. With a reasonable population turnover, you probably get left with a few very hardy (or insensitive) fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, essentially, how much do you want your fish to like your toddler? How fond of individual fish are you? How noisy a fish-neighbour are you willing to be? And (IMHO most importantly) how &lt;strong&gt;stable&lt;/strong&gt; is your tank? Tank damage was my main worry when I had toddlers. (Pre-children) I'd previously had a pane of glass smash under the gravel and noticed when the tank leaked a little. I rehomed my fish quickly, it could have been much, much worse. I'm led to believe that small weaknesses in brittle glass can rupture under a little stress, and that would be one big mess. We ended up using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.babydan.com/page1073.aspx?recordid1073=191&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Baby Dan baby den&lt;/a&gt; (other brands are probably available) which cordoned off the fish tank, the fire place and the TV until our children were less feral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T11:49:07.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21159" CreationDate="2018-08-23T16:27:59.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh dear...wishing you the best. I'd recommend an x-ray if the problem doesn't improve soon. My 2 year old kitty would eat any plastic wrappers or sheets she could find. One ended up getting stuck in her small intestine and she needed surgery to remove it. It went fine and she's totally back to normal but we've had to adjust by keeping all plastic away from her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this doesn't worry you! I did wish they had screened her sooner as the IV treatments they did were expensive and wouldn't have fixed the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12825" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T16:27:59.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21164" CreationDate="2018-08-23T18:01:48.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since he's in a holding tank already, I might just put a bit of Melafix and let him chill in there for a little while longer before transferring him back to his main home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really your call, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend a dose of the Stress Coat, since he was in a yucky place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T18:01:48.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20890" CreationDate="2018-08-23T18:17:24.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your parents are on vacation right now and she is living with you, why not just ignore all requests to go back to your parent's house and treat them all as wanting to go outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feel bad about leaving your dog in conservatory. She feels safe and happy there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T18:17:24.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16898" CreationDate="2018-08-23T18:25:05.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The amount of destruction that is happening is beyond what is tolerable. I would recommend kenneling your puppy during the day. As your dog is still a puppy and cannot hold it for an entire workday, either drop by to let it out, have a neighbor come, or hire a dog sitter or dog walker with services like Wag . A dog walker will let your dog go potty, and also get the puppy a walk to let out all of that energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not want to kennel your dog all day, take the same approach but with a larger, but still small area. Confine the dog to that area, such as using baby gates, and provide plenty of things to play with to keep the dog busy. 10-12 toys at least, and try to rotate out older toys. For example, you can put all of the dog's food in a toy that they have to roll around or figure out, thus tiring as they eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T18:25:05.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-23T19:22:14.070" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've owned a cat for about 2 1/2 years now - the cat's fur has never aggravated my allergies before.  I do get aggravated allergy symptoms at work, but I have always attributed this to poor air quality (I am allergic both to pets and dust).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently, we took in a new cat with longer hair, and while my allergies have not been aggravated at home, they seem to be getting worse at work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be because of an unseasonable drop in temperature kicking the heat system on instead of the cooling system, but I want to rule out pet dander first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that my pet's dander is causing my allergy symptoms to trigger several hours after I've left the house?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastActivityDate="2018-08-23T19:22:14.070" Title="Is it common for pet allergies not to be aggrivated until after you've left the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-08-24T14:38:42.820" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2018-08-24T03:27:15.167" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I am a bit late to the party but a technique I have found helpful is to give a stern forceful command, such as &quot;NO!&quot; when the demand meowing starts, if it continues, repeat the command but add in an additional discipline of a squirt of water. This can be a small water pistol or a spray bottle. Just plain tap water, It will not hurt the cat but will discipline them &amp;amp; teach them that the demanding is not tolerated. After a few times, the command alone will be enough to silence them or the sight of the spray bottle will cause them to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can reward polite meowing or request with whatever the cat is looking for (outside-time, food, attention, praise) This will let the cat know what is a more acceptable way to ask instead of demanding. I really do not know what you consider acceptable meowing, neither will the cat at first but it will learn tone, pattern, etc. Whatever constitutes as acceptable behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12828" LastActivityDate="2018-08-24T03:27:15.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20603" CreationDate="2018-08-24T07:24:19.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw many owners moved to their new home where haven't installed the net on the window, they would buy a big &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B019OQ14LE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat cage&lt;/a&gt; and put all the cat supplies in the cage, including a food bowl, water bowl, litter box, cat hammock bed, and toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you will live in the new apartment when the movers work, I suggest you put your cat in a cage and settle the cage in a peaceful place. She will feel nervous and timid in a new place, so you should usually comfort her and distract her attention. Unlock her after making sure the window and balcony have been netted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, she would also feel nervous in a cat hotel due to a strange environment. Therefore, living in a cage may benefit to apply to the new home in advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12633" LastActivityDate="2018-08-24T07:24:19.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21143" CreationDate="2018-08-24T07:38:53.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did he experience something unhappy during training? I suggest you should communicate with the trainer. Ask clearly when this situation happens, so as to find the direct reason. Puppy is just like a kid, he is sensitive and needs your care and comfort. Most of the shepherds are gentle and docile, I believe he can be trained to be a good dog or even a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.supportdogcertification.org/FAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;service dog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12633" LastActivityDate="2018-08-24T07:38:53.067" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21182" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-24T23:47:42.513" Score="4" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my 'issues' is the need to move my cat's paws or head off of my keyboard. He just loves to sleep on my 'affairs!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I even had to take off the 'Screenshot' key (because it caused so many unwanted incidents. Imagine having to close 42 windows!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering about the frequency and intensity of cats desire to lie on keyboards and if there's any possible cure for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T17:37:25.393" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T18:33:20.947" Title="How common is cats' love for computer keyboards?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21209" CreationDate="2018-08-25T00:33:01.557" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wondering what is the average distance that an average cats prefers to sleep from 'the ownser'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:12:32.980" Title="Do most domestic cats prefer to sleep at arms length of humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-25T01:20:42.770" Score="2" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean do cat have theories of beliefs, desires and intentions of human owners, as we have about other human beings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2018-08-26T15:54:55.223" LastActivityDate="2018-08-28T13:46:21.667" Title="Do cats have a theory of mind?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-08-29T08:32:03.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-25T01:24:10.517" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1A89t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I adopted a leapard gecko yesterday because the people caring for it could not get it to eat. The gecko is very thin. And will not eat. The skin around her eyes has not shed and she can’t open them. She does not move around a lot, and I would like her to get better. I bought a appatite  stimulant that is supposed to help reptiles gain weight. Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12832" LastActivityDate="2018-08-25T09:26:11.790" Title="Sick gecko who won’t eat" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-08-25T09:25:24.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21110" CreationDate="2018-08-25T01:25:20.173" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked for fountains but couldn't find any locally that were suitable. I wondered what she was being attracted to as she didn't always drink from the waterfall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So maybe it was the large body of water, the plastic, and no interference with her whiskers. So I tried a large stainless steel pan filled with tap water. Success!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to stop her from jumping out the 13 floor window onto the ledge :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7aw8i.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7aw8i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastActivityDate="2018-08-25T01:25:20.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-25T01:47:35.860" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just recently got a beta and some tetras and all is going okay but we are still a bit nervous because we dont want the tetras to be killed, the betta will just swim up to one and take a look and not attack then the tetra will swim away. Is that a sign he might attack or feel stressed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12833" LastActivityDate="2018-09-05T10:52:42.240" Title="Betta aggressiveness" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-09-24T15:58:35.507" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21166" CreationDate="2018-08-25T09:44:19.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/dangers-of-essential-oils-555089&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; indicates that lavender oil is the only oil of your list not toxic for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/blog/essential-oils-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Pet Poison Helpline&lt;/a&gt; is of particular intetest because it lists the different ways cats might come in contact with essential oils (touching, ingesting, breathing in) and how it affects the cat. They also have a list of symptoms to watch out for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind that cats absorb toxins over the soles of their feet and lack a certain enzyme to break down those toxins, causing them to accumulate ovrr time. So you don't want to use any toxic oils in mopping, even in small quantities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the reason for adding essential oils to the mopping water is to have your rooms smell pleasant to you, I suggest using a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.diffuseressentials.com/passive-diffusers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;passive oil diffuser&lt;/a&gt; instead. Don't place it too close to your cats favorite spot or cat tree. If you block direct access to the dispenser, you could even try using oils toxic to cats &lt;em&gt;in small quantities&lt;/em&gt;. If the cat shows any negative symptoms like coughing or heavy breathing, remove the oil immediately and air the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind that a cats sense of smell is much better than that of a human. Fragranting the air too much might cause your cat discomfort, no matter if the oil is toxic or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-25T09:44:19.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21182" CreationDate="2018-08-25T11:12:33.080" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might sound strange but cats do not love keyboards or laptops or books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is you that causes the cat's behaviour. You are giving the computer or the book a lot of attention, so in your cats mind this must be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat sees you sitting relaxed reading on screen or in your book and the cat thinks this is a good time to get some attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat does walk in front of my monitor for a short time before she lies down on my PC table. She likes to sleep/relax close to me (she is lying by my side right now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T18:33:20.947" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T18:33:20.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21195" CreationDate="2018-08-25T17:23:07.043" Score="3" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Context&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our family has four cats.  Some details about &lt;strong&gt;Pepe&lt;/strong&gt;, the most relevant one to this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 years old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Orange tabby&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exclusively indoors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Properly fixed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extremely friendly and affectionate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last fall we discovered, fostered, and then adopted a trio of stray kittens.  At the time Pepe was scared of these kittens, often hiding in our rooms at the expense of his own well-being.  &lt;em&gt;That problem has since been resolved and he now gets along with the triplets very well.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently another male cat, whom we'll call &lt;strong&gt;T'Challa&lt;/strong&gt;, has been walking around our neighborhood, including on our front porch.  He's friendly, but we otherwise know very little about him; we're not even certain that he's stray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The Problem&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When T'Challa prowls around our yard or our porch, Pepe starts to get very defensive, even trying to attack him through the window.  &lt;em&gt;What confuses me is that this is extremely unlike him.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more facts about Pepe's behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He gets riled up to the extent that he'll force the triplets out of his way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he calms down, he's friendly and affectionate again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; behaves this way with the triplets.  He plays or cuddles with them all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's not ill or in pain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their first interaction was apparently cordial, but I wasn't there so I couldn't tell you much more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: &lt;strong&gt;what happened?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastActivityDate="2018-08-26T07:07:03.237" Title="Cat who is normally docile freaks out when a neighborhood cat comes onto our porch, despite getting along well with our other cats. Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;territory&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21200" CreationDate="2018-08-25T18:13:11.220" Score="7" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two lovely kittens Moe and Joe. they are sister and brother.  I buy them &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zooplus.fr/shop/chats/boites_sachets_barquettes_chat/whiskas_boites_chat/sachets_whiskas_adulte/658254?utm_medium=google&amp;amp;utm_source=shopping&amp;amp;product_id=658254.17&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMI--jdqeWI3QIV5TLTCh3ZIAjIEAQYASABEgIDCvD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;whiskas&lt;/a&gt; brand for wet food and Purina for dry food.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oxwCB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oxwCB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The funny part is that sometimes when they finish eating whiskas wet food their instinct kicks in and they act as if they took a poop and trying to cover it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I change the food? Did you ever have this experience with your cats? Did you change the food? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12471" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:40:25.663" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:40:25.663" Title="My kittens treat whiskas wet food as poop" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21194" CreationDate="2018-08-25T21:36:11.840" Score="9" ViewCount="2550" Body="&lt;p&gt;When looking for snakes I often see the term morph flying around. What does it mean exactly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T06:57:46.647" Title="What are snake morphs?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21193" CreationDate="2018-08-25T21:36:11.840" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Within the snake trade there is a lot of effort going towards breeding animals with different coloration. A well known example of this is an albino mutation. Albino means that the animal is missing all (or most) colour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of snake species that have a very active breeding community for creating morphs. Most of these species are commonly kept as pets as a result (or is it cause?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ball Pythons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corn Snakes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boa Constrictors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Burmese Pythons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;King Snakes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reticulated Pythons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carpet Pythons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leopard Geckos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bearded Dragons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How are morphs created?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the basis, morphs are discovered. A specimen is found, usually in the wild that just happens to have this mutation by chance. If it is found, someone could decide to import it (generally for quite a lot of money) and hope (gamble) the difference in patterning is caused by a genetic factor. If it is, it can be bred and reproduced. More exact genetics are covered in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5506/what-does-het-mean-when-talking-about-reptiles&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Combining morphs&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is to combine morphs. If you have a snake with a reduced pattern, and another that misses all black colour for example, these can be crossbred, and way down the line this might produce animals that are both missing black, and having a reduced pattern. This can go quite extreme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Examples&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples with Ball pythons. First the wildtype (normal colouring), taken from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2hEO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2hEO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Piebald morph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wTb9P.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wTb9P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Prices&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These animals can go for very high prices. Due to the randomness involved in genetics, odds for specific combinations of morphs can go very very low, making the more &quot;exotic&quot; morphs very rare. Babies can go for several thousands of dollars, up to tens of thousands when a new morph is found. In contract, more common morphs - morphs that have been on the market for a while - can go for only a few bucks more than the wildtype.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Controversies&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of controversies around morphs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are a couple of morphs that appear to affect the snake in other ways than just in color. An example is the Ball python's Spider morph, which appears to cause neural defects, exhibited by weird movements of the head. Another example is the Carpet Python's Jaguar gene, which also appears to cause various neurological defects.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are morphs that alter the physique of the snakes as well. A big example of this is the scaleless mutation in both cornsnakes and Ball pythons. These snakes don't have scales, relying on their skin underneath instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With these genetic crossings, the increasing amount of inbreeding is always a concern. Most morphs originate from one specimen after all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="12202" LastEditDate="2018-09-04T06:57:46.647" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T06:57:46.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21190" CreationDate="2018-08-26T07:07:03.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;T'Challa is a tomcat and therefore a competitor for territory and females. Pepe is just defending his territory. Tomcats are generally more territorial than females and protect their territory more aggressively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be that Pepe and T'Challa met before and had a fight. Pepe remembers the cat and the fight and prepares himself for another fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-26T07:07:03.237" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21182" CreationDate="2018-08-26T11:24:12.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats love warm places and they love to be the center of attention (as trond hansen already remarked). A laptop keyboard combines both characteristics and is twice as interesting for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to keep your cat off your keys, teach him that he's not supposed to sit on it by pushing him off. Offer him a more intetesting and comfortable alternative like a carton. Cats love cartons because they have insulating properties and feel warm to them. (This is also the reason why cats sit on books or papers.) Move the carton close to your screen but conveniently out of your way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-26T11:24:12.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-26T21:36:19.187" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;My beta has always been pretty active but for the past couple of weeks he’s been In a funk. He was floating at the top of his filter for a few days now he’s laying in the bottom of his tank I though he was dead. He’s in a five gallon tank with a snail, a java fern and a moss ball. He had a filter and a heater and I changed out his water thinking maybe that was the problem but nope he’s still acting weird and no he’s not eating well at all even though he’s normally excited about his bloodworms. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12838" LastActivityDate="2018-08-26T21:36:19.187" Title="Sick Betta fish whyyyy" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-08-27T13:55:27.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19142" CreationDate="2018-08-27T03:01:37.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trash-diving is a self-reinforcing behavior. Unless it’s hunger, in which case more or higher-quality food may help, it’s likely that your only option to prevent trashcan raids is to take the trash out more, or otherwise make the trash physically inaccessible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for urination, once you’ve ruled out physical problems with your vet, you might consider whether:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your dog was punished for making messes by your friend, and now urinates as a submissive gesture after dumping trash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your dog is marking her treasured trash as a mild resource guarding behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, check for health problems and prevent physical access to the trash Then see if the urination stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2459" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T03:01:37.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21205" CreationDate="2018-08-27T06:28:51.337" Score="4" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Previously I asked &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21118/can-goldfish-be-trained&quot;&gt;Can goldfish be Trained?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and the answer was yes. But my plan is to train my fishies to jump out of the water get food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a Google image search and it looks like goldfish can jump out of water, but the photos seem... fake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my question is two-part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can goldfish jump out of water? To get food that is an inch or two out of the water?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone trained their goldfish to jump out of water?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12737" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T18:54:15.003" Title="Can goldfish jump out of water?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21191" CreationDate="2018-08-27T06:45:36.207" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not about covering feces, your furballs actually try to hide uneaten food by burying it. That's a pretty normal behaviour for cats and mine also does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reading: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/why-do-cats-bury-food/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Do Cats Bury Food?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12261" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T06:45:36.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10364" CreationDate="2018-08-27T07:42:05.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a myth.  Years ago we had a dog -- Sam -- that was very obedient.  Always came when she was called.  Never wandered off or ran around.  But when she got old and it was obvious that the end was near, she took off.  Because it was so out of character for her, we immediately figured she was going off to die.  And sure enough, we never saw her again.  We scoured the area and never found her.  Mind you this was back at a time when the laws weren't so stringent and it was more common for dogs to wander.  Nowadays dogs are always penned in or leashed and never allowed to roam freely.  I'd imagine that's why people think it's a myth.  Dogs just don't have the opportunity to do it much anymore.  But if they could get away, they would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12841" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T07:42:05.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10364" CreationDate="2018-08-27T14:24:40.533" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember these two incidents very clearly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once my dog Sonu was very severely ill, So severely that even the vet had given up whatever little hope he had left. So my parents (I was rather young back then) left him in a far away place (some 10-15kms possibly farther). I was understandably very depressed. However as it turns out three days later we were in for a surprise. Three days later early morning it was in the distance there was the silhouette of a dog walking towards our house. I couldn't believe my good luck my beloved dog Sonu had returned. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the above story proves that my dog could return home from afar and was very capable of returning home if left at some place far away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fast forward,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sonu wasn't in the best of his spirit and basically was old and tiring. One fine night I wished him good night and went to sleep  never knowing that this was the last time I would ever see him. From the next morning after that till this date I never saw Sonu again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt; apparently dogs do leave our homes when they are about to die How they sense it and do it is a mystery to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T14:24:40.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21199" CreationDate="2018-08-27T18:47:13.687" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, obviously there is a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; you can teach a fish ... &lt;strong&gt;I wouln't believe this myself if I didn't see it!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEAqBNIa2mA&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's a video&lt;/a&gt; of a fish doing 10 different tricks in 4 minutes. Although, technically it's not a gold fish, I'm honestly impressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Star [that's the name of the fish] is a Pseudotropheus socolofi cichlid, most commonly known as a snow white socolofi cichlid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks like you can &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlQY1nvZA_Q&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;teach a betta some tricks&lt;/a&gt;, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5eeBxXs6Bo&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;In the next video&lt;/a&gt; you see a goldfish jumping through a hoop. Not sure if it's really a gold fish, since it looks rather pale, but I'm the farthest thing from an expert you could imagine...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and once I got started in my search, suddenly &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PEs_qvU-n4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;another performing fish&lt;/a&gt; appeared, this time even I can tell it's a gold fish! &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4d-ztNwmlw&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;And another&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Xi-IUKj7A&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;HOLY GOLDFISH&lt;/a&gt;! THEY EVEN DO &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jXWS1syYt8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;FORMATION FLIGHT&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least, the only video of a (kind of) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTHje_yRS5Y&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;jumping gold fish&lt;/a&gt;. Applause!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, you're not supposed to feed gold fish right at the surface of the water, so letting one jump after food sounds like a bad idea. You should start practicing with a target stick and an underwater loop to swim through. Then move the loop further out of the water until the fish has to jump. Might take some months...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And before I forget, thanks for broadening my horizon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-27T18:54:15.003" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T18:54:15.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10364" CreationDate="2018-08-27T22:23:23.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Older dogs can be prone to behavior changes, such as impulsive behavior and cognitive dysfunction (dementia) &lt;a href=&quot;http://caringforaseniordog.com/behavior-changes-in-older-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(see here)&lt;/a&gt; , and that can contribute to a dog's suddenly running away. Also see separation anxiety, where animals can hurt themselves when the owner is gone, including trying to escape their home. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossroadsvetcortland.com/node/50&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(see here)&lt;/a&gt;  Separation anxiety is also a part of senior dog behavioral changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that there's human contributions to the dog running away - for example, many owners will believe that their senior dog is less capable of bad behavior or less likely to run away and take fewer precautions to keeping their dog safe. I don't have a link for this one but many of the answers share this sentiment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T22:23:23.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20299" CreationDate="2018-08-27T22:30:38.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see little swollen bumps, especially around the armpits. I also see the red on their chest. These areas are not typical for seasonal allergies, and combined with the bumps, I think you have something else on your hand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xfxLB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xfxLB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eastshorevet.com/10-signs-dog-seasonal-allergies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 Signs Your Dog Has Seasonal Allergies: East Shore Vet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has always been itchy, my guess would be a food allergy. I know that you said that you've changed his diet, but depending on what he is allergic to, those new diet changes may still have had the allergen! For example, I recently discovered that one of my dogs was allergic to poultry. So when I switched from food to food to grain free, the allergy remained because pretty much every commercial brand of dog food and treats had that ingredient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when you are giving your dog treats, this includes more ingredients into your dog's diet, making the issue of finding the allergen more complicated. It can take months before your dog's immune system calms down after a change in diet to notice the change. So if you are looking for a food allergen, it's best to keep the dog on an extremely, extremely strict diet, so you don't have to repeat the process of weeding out ingredients longer or get bad results (say, your dog had a chicken allergy and you fed it a chicken jerky strip while on a chicken-free food, so the allergy remained). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.organic-pet-digest.com/very-red-slightly-raised-dog-skin-rash-in-armpit-with-hot-spots.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this webpage&lt;/a&gt; with a dog that has a skin rash that seemed to have similar spots to yours . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastEditorUserId="495" LastEditDate="2018-08-27T22:37:08.220" LastActivityDate="2018-08-27T22:37:08.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21183" CreationDate="2018-08-28T12:59:13.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on many circumstances. There is no universally applicable answer to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat preference&lt;/strong&gt; - Some cats like snuggling up for heat. Others don't. Others only do it when it's &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Human sleeping habits&lt;/strong&gt; - Humans who often roll/move while sleeping are difficult to sleep next to; cats may prefer to stay at a safe distance so they don't have to move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wanting to be petted&lt;/strong&gt; - There are clear times where my cats want or do not want to be petted. Depending on that decision, they choose to lie next to me or slightly further away from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other reasons may still exist. I have listed the ones I actively know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T13:12:32.980" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:12:32.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21184" CreationDate="2018-08-28T13:46:21.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is very vague. &lt;em&gt;To some degree&lt;/em&gt;, cats can read human behavior. But that understanding is limited to what cats understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem here is how we perceive intelligence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my cats had an innate skill in running to the window before I even enter the street when I come home. We couldn't explain it, and while I'm a skeptic at heart, it was hard to debunk my SO's assumption that cats &quot;sense&quot; their owner's presence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;As it turns out&lt;/em&gt;, at some point they lost the ability to know when I was coming home, which happened when I had the brakes on the car replaced. Presumably, my car was making a high-pitched sound that they could hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know what a cat thinks. We don't know how it decides to act the way it does. All we can do is distill an &lt;em&gt;assumed&lt;/em&gt; logical thought based on multiple observations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do cats have theories of beliefs, desires and intentions of human owners?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned the boundaries of your question are very vague. But I'll list some outliers that I have noticed in the cat's I've had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To rescue a cat who had gotten stuck, my father (not a cat lover by any stretch) pulled her by her tail. She fiercely resisted this but he continued anyway. The very same day, &lt;strong&gt;she urinated on his bed pillow&lt;/strong&gt;. A few years later, he stomped on her tail (intentionally). The same day, again cat urine on his bed pillow. Other than these two cases, she was perfectly housebroken and never urinated anywhere but the litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't mind cats coming to ask for my attention when I'm at the computer, but I dislike them sitting in front of my monitor. I gently nudge them away from the region I don't want them to sit in, and only pet them when they are next to the monitor. All three cats have very quickly learned this and &lt;strong&gt;will no longer sit in front of the monitor&lt;/strong&gt; (but still walk in front of it though).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, I have told them off for walking on my keyboard, and they've quickly learned to not touch my keyboard again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91%2BRbclYHZL._SL1500_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;food maze&lt;/a&gt; to give our cats dry food. The last few pieces are very hard to get out (that's the point of the maze, to limit them eating it all, unless they're &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; hungry). When the maze is completely empty, you know that they're very hungry. The interesting part is that they have learned &lt;strong&gt;to push the empty maze into the door opening&lt;/strong&gt; so that we see it in the morning and give them more dry food. It only happens whenever the maze actually empties (e.g. we forgot to add more the night before).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We eat dinner in front of the TV off of small white tables. The rule of the house has always been that cats get &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; told off for touching the white table (regardless of whether there's food on it). The youngest has figured this out. He now leans &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; the white table, taking great care to not touch it, and he will blatantly try to reach my food. What's remarkable is that he often shows a guilty conscience when misbehaving (he basically knows he's doing something wrong and will pretend like he wasn't breaking the rules when I approach), yet he openly does this because he seems to know that it &lt;em&gt;technically&lt;/em&gt; doesn't break the rule of &quot;no touching the white tables&quot;.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comparatively, we have the same rule about the kitchen counter. No touching, you get told off immediately. Whenever I hear him on there (his collar clings against the dishes), by the time I reach the kitchen, he will have jumped off and either hid out of sight or pretended to be eating from his bowl on the ground. I have video footage of him doing this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I leave the house wearing my indoor slippers, the cats wait for me to return by the window. If I put on my shoes before leaving, they do not wait for me by the window.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many pet owners can confirm that their pets get very excited when they do something that often precedes something the pet likes (e.g. taking a leash before going on a walk, or opening the cat food cupboard before giving them a treat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these things are &lt;strong&gt;repetitive observations&lt;/strong&gt; that the cats make. We've done these things so often, that they are able to &lt;strong&gt;predict the pattern&lt;/strong&gt;. Pattern recognition is a skill that extends far beyond humans. We actively use this in order to train animals (including cats), because we &lt;em&gt;game&lt;/em&gt; their pattern-seeking behavior.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a certain action (be a good boy, wake up the owners when you're hungry, give the owner some love) often leads to a positive outcome (treats, positive feedback), then the animal will eventually learn the habit of always performing the action. The opposite applies to negative feedback (the animal will get into the habit of avoiding the action that often precedes the negative feedback).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All intelligence is based on learning from positive/negative feedback. This includes human intelligence as well.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sense, cats are no less intelligent than humans (as to &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; they learn), but they simply don't have the cognitive capacity to learn as much as humans are able to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-08-28T13:46:21.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21212" CreationDate="2018-08-28T20:05:18.477" Score="3" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Kiwi was born in November 2011, I lived with him for 3 years with my father and my sister in our apartment. In 2013, my father met my future stepmother who is really, really obsessed with cleanliness. In 2014 we all moved in to our current house and here is the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my stepmother is obsessed with cleanliness, she can't stand any dirt in her house (she vacuums nearly every day to give you a clue), and as a consequence, she can't stand any hair falling from my cat. And you guys know how much pets lose their hair... Finally, in 2014, my cat was expelled from our place and since, he lives exclusively in the garden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say the garden is small, he can run within 8 meters easily and jump over some little stuff, there are 2-3 trees and some grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, each winter since 2014, my cat disappears at the coldest time of the year, when it snows. My father put a small heater last year in his hut for him, but it sounds it's not enough. We don't see him for 1 to 3 weeks, and I'm very worried at this time of the year, hoping I'll see him again. The worst moment as a pet owner was the first winter when he left our garden for several weeks before the vet called my father as someone dropped him there as he had a broken paw !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, what are the odds that my cat is happy despite his situation, it has been a large subject of argument with my stepmother and a little bit with my father too, as they really reject him, shouting at him when he tries to enter the house and so on. I also know cats are more used to live outside than we, humans, so I guess he's not as sad as a homeless human can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would finally finish my question by telling you guys, I won't, unfortunately, be able to move into my own house before 6-7 years left, as I'm still a student.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12852" LastActivityDate="2018-08-29T13:24:20.927" Title="Is my cat happy, expelled by my step-mother and living in the garden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21211" CreationDate="2018-08-28T22:02:25.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are susceptible to cold just as a person is. By genetic analysis, we have determined house cats originate from the Middle East. They are not particularly adapted for the cold.  Their ears, for instance, are if anything, designed to shed heat, with sparse and short hair, and jutting quite far from the head, with no particular adaptation to help cover them when it is cold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general rule of thumb is if you're uncomfortable with the temperature, they're uncomfortable. The space heater might not be good enough if its shelter is not very well insulated. The heat from it would quickly disappate in that case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the least, I recommend researching into creating or purchasing a cat shelter for him, one that is intended for winter. There are designs available to shelter feral cats from extreme weather, and so you can be more reassured that he has appropriate shelter. Some shelter designs are very cheap and easy to make. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how-to-tnr/colony-care/feral-cat-winter-shelter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how-to-tnr/colony-care/feral-cat-winter-shelter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, more ideally, I'd try to convince your step-mother and father about the fact your cat will suffer from the cold, and so he should be let inside when it is too cold outside for it to be safe to leave him there. You could even sequester the cat to one room of the house where cleaning won't be as much of an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-08-29T13:24:20.927" LastActivityDate="2018-08-29T13:24:20.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-28T23:07:11.847" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to make a several hundred dollar donation to a dog charity based in Texas. My goal is to make the money go as far as possible in helping abandoned or rescued dogs find new and hopefully permanent homes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the above, what are the main criteria I should consider in looking for a charity to donate to? And are there any gold-standard organizations local to Texas or that area of the states that I should consider first? (Please remember, the specific goal I have in mind is doing the most I can to help dogs get a permanent home. I definetely don't want to start a &quot;whose charity is best&quot; competition here, just get some good leads and figure out how to evaluate choices as evenly as I can.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12302" LastActivityDate="2018-08-28T23:07:11.847" Title="How do I find a good Texas-based dog charity?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17359" CreationDate="2018-08-28T23:10:17.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Short answer; Using bleach to fight flea infestation is not worthwhile your effort especially when cats are involved. You must get every surface, nook and cranny which is not possible in a traditional home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long version: Most household or yard insecticides are very toxic to cats, they often contain a variation of pyrethroid under many confusing trade names. These will destroy a cats liver, period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When dealing with an active infestation, you need to use a combination product for about six month such as frontline plus (fipronil+S-Methoprene) or nitenpyram (capstar) and S-Methoprene (hartz ultragard). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you have to use the medicine 6 months continuously is because fleas can form a cocoon in a dust ball or in a lint and hibernate up to 6 months embedded in carpet or under seat cushions. Vacuum all you want, you can't suck them all. However frequent vacuuming helps a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't confuse the flea cocoon with flea eggs or larva. When conditions are right, fleas jump out of their cocoon and resume their activity and the cycle begins all over. This is why you need to use a combination product with hormone disruptors like S-Methoprene. It acts like birth control pill for fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2 chemicals nitenpyram and S-Methoprene have been in use for a long time with good safety and efficacy there for they are one of the safer combinations to both cats and humans. Keep in mind, even table salt can be lethal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reduce exposure to fleas by keeping cats indoors. Vacuum frequently. Apply S-Methoprene during warm season and when there's an active infestation supplement with nitenpyram for a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12854" LastActivityDate="2018-08-28T23:10:17.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-29T05:07:20.713" Score="3" ViewCount="5317" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 baby corn snakes and I fed them both about three days ago. I went to check on them today and I found one of them dead with only his head buried. I don’t know how this could have happened and I feed them frozen pinkies so they don’t get fed live. It also looked like he still had a lump in his belly from the mouse so he might’ve died the night I fed him. Any suggestions on how this could have happened?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12855" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-29T08:07:18.800" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T14:18:33.840" Title="My snake died suddenly" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21233" CreationDate="2018-08-29T13:50:00.000" Score="7" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've checked the scope to make sure this is on-topic as it sort of involves product recommandations and medical advice. Feel free to let me know if I am overstepping! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My old cat has kidney disease and is not crazy about her kidney disease food. She also tends to be persistent in begging for table food but the vet has warned me that it interferes with treatment and to not give her any. She's a very small cat (2kg) and has recently lost weight due to a bladder infection that is currently treated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried grinding her kibbles to mix them with water and make it more wet but she eats little of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can I feed her that is supportive of kidney disease treatment? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We currently buy Hill's Prescription DietMD k/d + Mobility from the vet but I would be open to ordering something online if there are other alternatives so that she gains a bit more weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked my vet for some alternatives. I didn't ask specifically for other brands of kibbles since this is the only one they sell for that purpose but I did ask for types of table food and was told to just not give any. Though from what I've read online, some foods like egg whites can be useful because low in phosphorus and high in protein. I sort of felt like the vet took the easy way out, which is why I'm asking here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little update: I had to go back to the vet because my cat started reacting to antibiotics given for a bladder infection so I inquired more about what other foods I could give her. I ended up buying a variety of cans: 4 kinds of Hill's Prescription Diet and 2 kinds of Royal Canin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized after that my issue was that the cans don't have the &quot;mobility&quot; added in them (which I assume is glucosamin) and it does seem to make a difference for my cat. I asked the vet if I could add anything to make up for it but they didn't really have an answer so I might just add some of her ground kibbles in the can. Now my cat has been vomiting and I think she did a negative association with the cans so she won't touch them anymore. So right now I'm feeding anything that she will take to avoid dehydration and more weight losss until she hopefully comes around!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10055" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-09-15T21:04:15.253" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T05:13:38.717" Title="Alternatives for kidney disease food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9544" CreationDate="2018-08-29T14:22:50.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tortoise shell kitten plays fetch with plastic caps and my tuxedo does it with himself...chases a piece of plastic down the stairs after dropping it on the side wood runner, and tries to beat it to the bottom :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12861" LastActivityDate="2018-08-29T14:22:50.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6379" CreationDate="2018-08-29T17:03:42.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our company has a few fish and we actually saw a fish regrow its tail from a bloody stump. We didn't think that was possible. It is a stunted tail but irrefutably better than 3-4 months ago. Will provide pictures of the fish if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12862" LastEditorUserId="12862" LastEditDate="2018-08-29T18:07:04.513" LastActivityDate="2018-08-29T18:07:04.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21215" CreationDate="2018-08-29T17:11:51.787" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to hear about the snake. There's a pretty large array of things that could have happened. You might already know a lot of this, I tried to be thorough. I also tried to rank them in order of likelihood, but other may have different opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shedding complications - You didn't mention anything about shedding, but stuck sheds can be very dangerous for young snakes especially. Any stuck sheds should be dealt with promptly. Additionally, shedding in patches is a sign of illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Illness/infection - It's entirely possible that the snake was sick or got an infection. Something like snake mites that's less serious for an adult snake could pose elevated risk to young ones. If you haven't already, i recommend removing the live snake, and completely disinfecting their enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improper environment - While corn snakes aren't too particular about their environmental needs, babies are more susceptible to lapses in husbandry. Heat in particular is important for digestion. Apologies if this sounds accusatory, but it's worth mentioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Genetic defects - If you got the snakes from a pet store or mass breeder, they could have had some genetic defects that were completely out of your control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food poisoning - While not very common, it's possible that the pinkies you used were contaminated. Most of the time, the prepackaged ones are safe, and the fact that the other snake is still alive suggests this isn't it, but it's still a small possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure would be to shell out some money for some tests. I would just keep a close eye on the remaining snake to see if you spot anything out of the ordinary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-08-29T17:11:51.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-29T19:08:22.693" Score="4" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Pennsylvania and I was wondering if I could own one? I am willing to pay whatever amount and age does not matter. Any info would be amazing, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12864" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:07:45.160" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T23:05:41.687" Title="Can I own a Galapagos Giant Tortoise?" Tags="&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;legal&gt;&lt;cites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21222" CreationDate="2018-08-29T20:48:08.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise#Modern_conservation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;They are on the CITES appendix I list&lt;/a&gt;. This means that the trade is heavily regulated and export is prohibited. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, nope. Not going to happen, unless you are a zoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also consider the age these tortoises grow to. They can reach 200 years. This means that they will very likely outlive you, should you get your hands on them. With that, you are no longer able to guarantee the wellbeing of the animal for its entire lifespan. That's not ethical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T06:26:28.467" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T06:26:28.467" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2018-08-30T02:15:37.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm dealing with this right now. I have a cat I recently rescued, and he and my cat I've had for over a year aren't really getting along. They like to stalk each other. If one of them takes off running, the other will chase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been using the pillow method. If one of them starts to go after the other, I insert a pillow between them and shake it at the aggressor. This seems to be working. I also hiss at him/her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to train my female cat &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to run after she walks past the rescue, because he will always always chase her if she runs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty stressful, but until they understand from all this reinforcement that lunging at each other is not appropriate, I can't really leave them in the same room unsupervised. It's tough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12866" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:39:38.190" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:39:38.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21225" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2018-08-30T08:20:33.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;CITES, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is an international treaty that defines whether animals and plants are protected or not. Depending on the level of protection as defined by CITES, the species can be freely traded, with various levels of restrictions or not at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three Appendices defined by CITES. These three are lists of species. Each has a different level of protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appendix I: This is the list of endangered species that are threatened by extinction. Trade of wild-caught species on this list is prohibited. Keeping these species, by zoos for example, requires permits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appendix II: These are species that are potentially harmed by trade. Trade of these species is strictly regulated. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appendix III: These are species that are not harmed by trade world-wide necessarily, but rather they are restricted in certain specific countries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information can be found on CITES' website: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cites.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cites.org/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:43:48.060" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:43:48.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21226" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2018-08-30T08:20:33.180" Score="0" Body="CITES is an international treaty that protects plants and animals. Use this for questions about the keeping or trading protected species as pets." OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-08-30T08:50:20.047" LastActivityDate="2018-08-30T08:50:20.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21217" CreationDate="2018-08-30T16:19:36.823" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with your vet: &lt;strong&gt;a cat should not get any table food&lt;/strong&gt;, for several reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All table food is seasoned, almost always with salt. Salt binds fluid to it and could impair the cat's health even more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Common ingredients for human meals are actually &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/e_ct_human_food_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxic for cats&lt;/a&gt;! Most prominently chocolate, onions, garlic, grapes and tuna that is not processed into cat food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friends of mine had the same problem as you. Their cat had urinary stones and lost a lot of weight. The vet recommended feeding 2 portions of instant mashed potatoes a week and the cat really loved it. Do look at the ingredients though! Buy pure dried and powdered potatoes without seasoning like salt or onions. &lt;sub&gt; I couldn't find any evidence that potatoes a are recommended food for cats with urinary / kidney disease. It was probably just a calorie-rich, grain-free coddle up food suggestion.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As pointed out by Harry V. there's a difference between kidney disease and urinary tract disease, so I deleted the rest of my answer to not confuse people and give wrong advice.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T05:13:38.717" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T05:13:38.717" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21230" CreationDate="2018-08-30T17:07:56.647" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know to which site this question belong, I'll try here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As humans we can have very special relationships with some animals (dogs, cats, horses, etc...). For example my cat is very happy when I get back from work, he is sometimes sad when I'm leaving home, he always looks at me in the eyes, he sometimes understands and &quot;answers&quot; when I talk to him, etc... And I'm wondering if this is because they feel we are living beings (e.g. they feel we have a consciousness, or even that we are made out of flesh) or if a robot programmed to take care of an animal could have the same effect on him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12868" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T05:56:07.997" Title="Could a robot fool an animal?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21229" CreationDate="2018-08-30T19:54:22.343" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could an animal establish a relationship with a robot programmed to take care of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very interesting question. And I think the answer depends on the type of animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Social birds (like chicken, ducks, geese) imprint on the first moving thing they see after hatching. So it's very likely you could have a robot take care of a batch of hatchlings. Scientists have even tought &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows#t-408825&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;crows to use a vending machine&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sub&gt;(the interesting part starts at 7:00 minutes)&lt;/sub&gt;. In a certain way you could argue that this is a machine taking care of the food needs of an animal...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently we had some very interesting questions about fish and I'm sure that fish could associate a feeding robot with positive emotions and swim to it. You could probably place robotic fish in a tank with real fish and have them happily coexist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small mammals living in family groups (like mice, rats, gerbils, guniea pigs and rabbits) would probably adapt their behavior if there were no other conspecifics around or if the robot imitates their anatomy and social behavior very well. Is this &quot;taking care&quot; of the social needs of an animal? It might be an acceptable substitute, but it's not the same as a living partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, cats are generally not the most social animals. They can live quite happily on their own with only social interactions during mating season. They socialize with humans for food and pettings and often strike along furniture to pet themselves. A robot might be able to provide petting and food, but cats are much more intelligent than birds and most rodents, so they would probably realize that it's no living thing. &lt;em&gt;Would the cat care, though? Who knows...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, on the other hand (and probably horses and other herd animals, too) have complex social behavior and many, &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; mimics and gestures to communicate with each other. Some robots are built for films to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfJUciAxxyo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;imitate animals&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sub&gt;this one is pretty good&lt;/sub&gt;, but their range of movement and gestures is very limited, because a motor is bigger than a muscle, especially in the face. Also note that this robot was remote controlled by a human and did not act autonomously. So with current technology we cannot fully imitate a dog. We don't even fully understand the social behavior of dogs and there are so many misconceptions, so the programming would probably be wrong and the robot wouldn't act like a real dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, intelligent creatures can feel empathy, like demonstrated by lemurs in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaIH5tLmC8U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sub&gt;again with a remote controlled robot&lt;/sub&gt;. So maybe a care robot wouldn't have to imitate them perfectly. Dogs are quite happy living with humans after all and there are numerous examples of animals nursing offspring of different species. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xS-wB6NvYo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In this video&lt;/a&gt; the maker of the Spy in the Wild robots explains that animals seem to think the robots are alive and are quite accepting once they convinced themselves that the robots are no threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, I think a robot can only be a poor substitute for a human taking care of and interacting with an animal. The actual looks of the robot might not be as important as the behavior, and that is still lacking very much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-08-31T05:56:07.997" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T05:56:07.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21217" CreationDate="2018-08-31T04:39:34.303" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prescription kidney diets are beneficial for cats with chronic kidney disease (CKD) for many reasons, but the primary reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;protein restricted&lt;/strong&gt; (cats with CKD struggle to filter the protein out of the blood)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;low phosphorus&lt;/strong&gt; (hyperphosphatemia, or high blood phosphorus levels is damaging to the kidneys)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;high potassium&lt;/strong&gt; (cats with CKD commonly develop hypokalemia, or low potassium)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;high nutrient/calorie&lt;/strong&gt; (CKD cats are often losing weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If choosing or making your own cat food, these are the things to watch for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are products to mix with the food to help manage these things. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;phosphate binders (e.g. aluminium hydroxide) helps bind up phosphorus in the food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;potassium can be supplemented with a product such as Renal K&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, few cats – least of all kidney patients – like to have things mixed with food. So the easiest way to manage these things is to find a kidney diet they like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other options than Hill's k/d. Consider Royal Canin Renal diets (six flavours currently), or Purina NF (Advanced Care). They do require prescription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-09-03T15:09:08.253" LastActivityDate="2018-09-03T15:09:08.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22140" CreationDate="2018-08-31T05:08:46.283" Score="5" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;The frequency range of human hearing is roughly 20 Hz to 20 kHz, while the frequency range in which speech sounds occur is roughly 250 Hz to 6 kHz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know dogs hear in a much higher and broader range of frequencies than humans (one figure suggests from the high 60 Hz range into the 40 to 60 kHz range). In what frequency range can dogs produce vocal noises of communicative value?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I understand that canine vocalization is not speech and consequently dogs don’t necessarily have the same discriminatory ability in the same frequency bands as humans. I promise this isn’t a question premised on some odd misconception of how speech and hearing work.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12871" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T13:20:10.463" Title="Frequency range of dog vocal sounds" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-31T08:59:05.487" Score="15" ViewCount="3123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog loves eating yoghurt. I'm wondering if this is good for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can dogs eat yoghurt, is it good for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any dangers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I be looking for when selecting a yoghurt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T14:27:08.293" Title="Can dogs eat yoghurt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21235" CreationDate="2018-08-31T09:47:05.220" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;My concern in feeding human food to animals is that animals are more sensitive than us to some of the ingredients. Commercial yoghurt contains emulsifiers, sweetners, flavourants, colourants, and preservatives. Those are just off the top of my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another concern is the animal's ability to digest lactose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, what exactly is lactose?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, lactose is a kind of sugar. Not just one single sugar, but two&#xA;  sugar molecules chemically linked together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In order for a dog to digest milk, the lactose must first be broken&#xA;  apart into its two basic, easy-to-absorb sugars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And in order to do that, a dog’s body must be able to produce a&#xA;  special lactose-splitting enzyme known as lactase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And that’s one thing most dogs can’t reliably do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much lactose does yoghurt contain?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One cup of yoghurt contains 5 grams of lactose. Compared to one cup of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whole milk (11g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Skim milk (11g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ice cream (12g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sour cream (8g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cottage cheese (6g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I know if my dog is lactose intolerant?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you’ve ever noticed your dog tends to develop gas or loose stools after having milk, there’s a good chance your pet may be suffering from this condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To overcome the unwanted ingredients in commercial yoghurts, you could make your own yoghurt. It's easy, cheap, and takes very little time. All you need is milk, and a yoghurt starter. For a starter, you can use a few tablespoons of unpasturised plain yoghurt. Add the starter to the milk and keep it at about 40°C overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The probiotics in the yoghurt would certainly be beneficial to your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dogs-milk-dairy-products/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dogs-milk-dairy-products/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T09:47:05.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21235" CreationDate="2018-08-31T10:11:27.597" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Actual&lt;/em&gt; natural yogurt's something that dogs in India have had as part of their diet for ages. Its worth remembering there's bad things about it - its milk based, and somewhat fatty (and if your dog is lactose intolerant, very bad things can happen) and good (it has lots of good, natural probiotics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of store bought yogurt is terrible. The stuff with fruit is high in sugar (not good) and you'd need to check if the specific fruit and any additives in it are dog friendly. Avoid anything that's got artificial sweeteners &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; xylithol. In fact, avoid anything that doesn't contain anything but starter culture, and milk of various skimmedness. Avoid anything with starch since it is &lt;em&gt;obviously&lt;/em&gt; made by people who are not spending the time to do it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Home made yogurt is... actually pretty easy but out of the scope for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-03T14:27:08.293" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T14:27:08.293" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20890" CreationDate="2018-08-31T11:24:42.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now the dog is safely at my parents again, I can write up what worked and didn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking the dog for scheduled walks only, but slightly more often than she gets walks with my parents, not when requesting and telling her off for requesting to go after coming back.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rewarding doing her business immediately after the fact, up to once per trip. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Making sure that the conservatory was &quot;her space&quot;, much like her dog cage at home. I put her pillow in a corner, her food in another one and left a toy in there. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reinforcing sleep-time by putting my pyjama's on before putting her to bed in the conservatory that I then locked. I remembered my mother putting on her pyjama's before putting her to bed and by putting her in the conservatory, I mimicked my mother's behaviour of closing her cage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Letting her run at the beach while relaxing myself, mentally and physically exhausting her, while I could have a bit of time mostly to myself. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Closing the door between the hall and the living room and leaving the one to the conservatory open while we were in the living room (not sure why that worked, but it did)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What did not work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taking her out at every request. She loves walks and would not stop asking me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No single step was a perfect fix. All the steps together made the weekend bearable for me and the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12491" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T11:24:42.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21243" CreationDate="2018-08-31T12:33:30.547" Score="8" ViewCount="6937" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three weeks ago, I adopted a 9-month-old female cat, Kira. On the ride home and for a little while after, she seemed pretty calm, though withdrawn. She's set up camp in my bedroom and has food/water/litterbox there. When I'm awake in the room, she stays under my bed almost exclusively. Sometimes my roommate can coax her out, but I never seem to be able to. Typically, I'd go under the bed to retrieve her, which I've now learned is the very wrong thing to do. Now she's terrified of me, and sprints away whenever I approach her, desperately searching for a place to hide from me. She still doesn't do this to my roommate. Did I screw this up beyond hope of repair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12873" LastEditorUserId="12873" LastEditDate="2018-08-31T14:45:25.247" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T21:01:55.437" Title="My cat is terrified of me, can I repair the relationship?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21242" CreationDate="2018-08-31T15:38:20.143" Score="8" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you tell me what these on my cat's paw are and what was the cause? It looks like dried blood, but I don't think this is what it really is. As you can see, there's no hair on this place as the cat bit it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is only on this thumb of this paw. I can't tell how it looked like before, because he wouldn't let me. There's no other symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SrCsZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SrCsZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12875" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-09-06T08:14:13.727" LastActivityDate="2018-09-06T08:14:13.727" Title="What are these things on the paw?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21235" CreationDate="2018-08-31T16:01:28.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never give anything with Xylitol to a dog. It is extremely poisonous to dogs. A lot of foods, including some yogurts, contain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/6-dangerous-and-surprising-items-contain-xylitol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petmd: 6 dangerous and surprising items contain Xylitol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12876" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T15:04:16.157" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T15:04:16.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21240" CreationDate="2018-08-31T18:50:07.540" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to answer these things definitively, particularly online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given there's no other symptoms and it's isolated to the one place, it appears to be a scab your cat had scratched (or bitten) off. The scab could have formed from an insect bite, scratch or cut from a thorn or various other sharp things in the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scabbing is always a good indicator that the wound is not fresh. So if there's no pus, inflammation or other signs of infection or toxicity, the cat should be fine, as these types of symptoms generally show up over the first few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If ever in doubt, take you pet to a qualified veterinarian, as they can offer immediate expertise and care that we cannot online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T18:50:07.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21239" CreationDate="2018-08-31T21:01:55.437" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be more going on that might deteriorate your relationship with your cat. Looking directly in their eyes for example means a threat in cat language. Moving directly towards her &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; looking her in the eyes is the equivalent of an attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repairing the damage might take some time. Start by offering good smelling, tasty treats in a passive way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move calmly into the room&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit down on the floor. Lean sideways and prop yourself up on one ellbow if you can hold the position for some time. This broadcasts relaxation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place a treat at arms length beside you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close your eyes to narrow slits, do the lazy cat blink occasionally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Completely ignore your cat until she (hopefully) ate the treat and went away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this first step was successfull, you can step it up by placing the treat in front of you, then closer, until you hold it in your hand or place it on your lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to not look directly in her eyes, but close your eyes a little and blink slowly instead. That way you tell your cat &quot;I'm calm and relaxed, don't be afraid&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-08-31T21:01:55.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-08-31T22:58:05.977" Score="3" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to ask the community about a cat's attitude I have yet never seen before. So a couple of months ago  I got introduced to my  boyfriend's family. I noticed they had two beautiful bengal cats. My boyfriend told me that they are mum and daughter and are 13 and 12 years old. I tried to approach the mum cat and as soon as she saw my feet she escaped. My boyfriend explained to me that she is a very skittish cat.and she doesn't let anyone approaching her. I asked how this was possible. He explained to me that when she was little, she witnessed her brother getting killed by a car and since then she is traumatised and doesn't let any human approaching her. The only time where they managed to catch her after the accident was when she needed to get sterilised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then she has never interacted with a human. The cat never enters the house and stays in the garden. What is strange to me is that I have noticed that she doesn't interact with other cats either . She doesn't play at all, and mostly sit in a corner. I thought it was due to her age but my boyfriend told me that she has always been like that except when she got her babies and was acting normally with them. She feels that everything and everybody is a threat: I tried to play with her by throwing her a ball in a very gentle way and she got scared and hid under a car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend's family seems OK with the situation and gave up on trying to make her more sociable. Basically they just feed her and that is all. He did say that they asked for advice and solutions  from vets but no-one seemed to know how to help this poor cat &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone heard anything like that before? Is there a way to help this cat?&#xA;I am looking forward for your answers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12880" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-09-01T02:56:02.800" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:52:54.760" Title="Cat's family of my boyfriend has been scared of everyone for 13 years" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9544" CreationDate="2018-09-01T01:51:24.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats, Patches and Pepper. Patches has been retrieving these new toys I bought a grew weeks ago.  She even brings them to me when I'm not playing . Funniest thing ever.  Never knew cats to do that.  Now Pepper is doing it as well.  So it's true that tuxedo cats are super smart and other cats around them will get smarter as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12881" LastActivityDate="2018-09-01T01:51:24.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21244" CreationDate="2018-09-01T05:28:24.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen this happen to a cat before. A neighbour of mine shot a cat while his other cat was watching (the cats were brothers). I do not know the reason why my neighbour had to shoot the cat but it was probably due to some illness in the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traumatised cat did never return to his previous owner but lived as a stray in my area, he was fed by me and my neighbours for many years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this happened in the late 90s. And in 2004 the health of the cat was so poor it had to be taken to the vet and put down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat did never enter anybody's home and he did not eat if people was close by. I live in an area where the winters are cold so the cat did live a hard life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think if a cat have been seriously traumatised the cat will carry the trauma for the rest of its life, and there is very little we can do other than trying to give the cat support and care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after all of this being said, do not give up you might be able to connect to the cat if you sit down on the floor and let it come to you. Treats might be one way to get the cat interested but take it slow. Building trust will take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really hope this will be successful and maybe you can change the life of the cat in a positive way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take a look at the answer to this one &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21239/my-cat-is-terrified-of-me-can-i-repair-the-relationship&quot;&gt;My cat is terrified of me, can I repair the relationship?&lt;/a&gt; to see how to connect to cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:52:54.760" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:52:54.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18281" CreationDate="2018-09-01T16:35:19.620" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just going to add a few words to the Feline Hyperesthesia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has this problem since I know her (about 10 weeks old). When she got 6 months old she started showing symptoms of back twitches. She would look at me as if I am doing something to her back.. then run around the house to get rid of something on her back (imagination). Then after 1-2 min sit somewhere and start licking her belly. She would chew spots around her nipples (probably higher sensitivity) and damage her skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried, changing food, changing behavior, feline calming diffusers sprays, topical skin care agents, anti allergy medication. I am not yet certain about using steroids and psychotropic agents. I am trained in medicine and I think that it is not at that point yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the cones that you mentioned. I tried using a cone on my kitty and the poor soul was more stressed and unhappy with the cone compared to the pain of actual licking herself raw. SO just make sure that you are not stressing the 12 lb soul even further. Usually these things dont create too much of an issue. They come and go in phases of damaging and healing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VarEX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VarEX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;here is a peaceful kitty with the problem&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12883" LastActivityDate="2018-09-01T16:35:19.620" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2018-09-02T03:57:25.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Redirect...show her to her own food when she attempts to eat yours. Same as for scratching on furniture, move her to her scratching post. This way they know you’re not saying “no food” or “no scratching” which are natural instincts and can be confusing to reprimand, just redirect her to what she is allowed to eat/scratch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12885" LastActivityDate="2018-09-02T03:57:25.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-02T08:09:05.973" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a female cat that has already had a litter of kittens and we decided to keep one of them. He is about 4 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, mommy cat got pregnant again and just had 2 babies (I don't know how many she'll have through the night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I found the male kitten we kept either playing way too rough, or just straight up trying to kill one of the kittens because it has blood and wounds all over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what to do about this situation and since I don't think they're safe I put him outside for the night. Has anyone ever heard or witnessed anything like this? I have no idea what to do and if I should stay worried &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12888" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:44:34.010" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:44:34.010" Title="Is this territorial or harsh play?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2018-09-02T13:40:55.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does this on my floor too. I think it's not something to worry about, their instincts tell them to dig even if it's not possible/useful. Just let them do their stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's ruining furniture/making you uncomfortable then you can always train your cat not to do that with negative reinforcements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12390" LastActivityDate="2018-09-02T13:40:55.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-02T13:57:03.703" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our elderly terrier has a swollen back foot - one of his pads seems to be the issue and he has trouble walking. We've been keeping it clean and dry and trying to help him on rougher ground where possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should we be doing - would putting booties on him help or be a problem? considering its foot pads, should we be bandaging it? Is there anything we should be doing in the short term that can help with the swelling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2019-05-30T02:02:00.213" Title="How do I help a dog with a swollen paw" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21249" CreationDate="2018-09-02T14:05:18.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep the mother cat and her babies separated from the other cat at all times, by sequestering one or the other in separate areas of the house. Keep one in a single room if you have to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not matter what the male cat's intentions are, he is hurting the kittens, when he should be leaving them alone at this age regardless. When they are newborn, they cannot play at all.  It is clear he cannot be trusted with them. Therefore, for the kittens' safety do not let him near them, at least until you judge they are at an age where he can no longer severely injure them. Though seeing that he has already injured one, I'd probably wait at least a couple months, until they are quite big. Then you can try the normal, heavily supervised, cat introduction techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend getting your female spayed. Having kittens every few months is very stressful on a cat's body, and you would avoid situations like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-02T14:05:18.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-03T06:50:38.557" Score="6" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our neighbour from across the road moved away to a big city this weekend and the short story is that we've taken in her 2 year old cat, Dottie. Now we're very much within Dottie's known territory and I've kept her in for just over one week so far. She's clearly upset with me and she's desperate to get out. What I'm worried about is how long to shut her in for but also more worrying is her behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She isn't vicious in the sense that she's snarling, growling etc but she frequently snaps to bite and swipes at my feet/legs and hands. It's completely unprovoked - like sitting on the sofa still and she'll just go to bite my toes. I chalked this down to her being irritated at being shut in and that it’d pass but chatting to a neighbour yesterday she said &quot;Dottie has always been a bit bitey...it's on her terms...have to give her space&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well that is all well and good but I have two small kids who are ever so excited about her coming to live with us and want to stroke her and play with her but every time they do she bites them (reiterate that it is like the motion of biting more than biting down to cause pain) but it's causing them to develop a wariness which I'm worried will develop into a fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone tell me what I should do?! I'm worried I've made a mistake bringing her into our home and whether when I do let her out she'll not associate us with home as we're struggling to bond when we can’t really get near her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12894" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-09-06T08:18:37.907" LastActivityDate="2018-09-06T08:18:37.907" Title="Taken in neighbours cat - behaviour and keeping indoors" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21254" CreationDate="2018-09-03T09:41:12.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;One small step to make Dottie more comfortable is to give her a &quot;calm place&quot;. This could be an entire room, a certain area like &quot;on this carpet&quot; or her cat tree. The rule is that Dottie is completely ignored whenever she is in her place. No speaking to her, no petting her, no looking at her and no luring her out of her place. It's beneficial to have this &quot;calm place&quot; somewhere out of the way where Dottie can truely relax and where you don't usually sit, work or play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might take some time to take effect, as not only your children have to learn these rules, but Dottie as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind, that outdoor cats are usually much more active than indoor cats. She might be bored and playing hunting or catching games with cat-appropriate toys could be a nice way for your children to interact with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20817/my-cat-is-terrified-all-the-time-how-do-i-fix-this/20862#20862&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; usefull as well, where &quot;cat shelves&quot; are proposed as a way to give your cat additional space where she feels safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-09-03T09:41:12.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21257" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-04T09:38:25.270" Score="3" ViewCount="1041" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats brother and sister . The female sleeps in my daughters bed every night. Recently we adopted a new cat which has been stressful for all. Yesterday i found a poop in my daughters bed. Would this be the female cat showing dominance and scenting her spot or stress or could it have been the new cat who pooped there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12899" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:31:10.923" Title="Is my cat pooping on bed stress or dominance" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-09-05T10:18:29.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-04T09:42:13.323" Score="6" ViewCount="669" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 6 year old cat to which we have tried, since he was little, to give treats but he ends up always swallowing them whole and throwing up a while later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried different brands and different kinds of treats but the story is always the same, eat em whole and throw up a few minutes later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to make him chew the treats and not just swallow them? He eats only dry food so he knows he's supposed to chew it but doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T17:56:47.390" Title="Is it possible to break a cat's habit to swallow treats whole?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2018-12-23T22:12:02.490" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21257" CreationDate="2018-09-04T17:19:30.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is caused by stress. My cat did the same thing but she peed in my bed. It happened twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to take care of the new cat after my mother died. My old cat was afraid of the new one and did pee in my bed, but this happened only two times and never again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was some hissing the first week but they became friends and did sleep on the same bed at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two cats had lived in the same house but on different floors, and this made things easier for them (both cats were outdoor cats so they were not strangers to each other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it easier for your cats, you can feed them in different areas in your house until they get to know each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do try to show dominance by rubbing against objects and marking the area as &quot;my&quot; territory and sometimes by not hiding the poo in the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pooping or peeing around the house can signal stronger and more serious stress in your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T08:31:10.923" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:31:10.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21258" CreationDate="2018-09-04T17:56:47.390" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are specialized for eating meat, more so than many other carnivores such as dogs. Chewing food is more a necessity when eating plant matter. Cats, being such specialized predators, even have fewer premolars and molars than dogs, because they don't need to chew so much.  So swallowing pellets whole is pretty typical for cats, and not necessarily the reason for the vomiting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vomiting after eating is also relatively common in cats, and can be caused by a variety of things. Some common causes are, the particular food simply doesn't agree with them, or that the animal is wolfing its food too fast. It's possible that even the lack of chewing is an indirect cause, in that actually chewing the food slows your cat down. The latter can be solved by either doling out the food in smaller portions more frequently, or figuring out some way to prevent the animal from eating at maximum speed, such as putting the food in a food puzzle toy, or getting a dish designed to make it a little harder to get its food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of what's available by Amazon search:  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/slp/puzzle-feeder/283z7xrmcy386pz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/slp/puzzle-feeder/283z7xrmcy386pz&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option is to simply not give your cat the treats, since they are not a necessity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T17:56:47.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21254" CreationDate="2018-09-04T18:23:44.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like Dottie is the type of cat that bites or swats when over-stimulated. It can happen if the cat is petted for too long, or if there's a lot of movement around it, for example, you're walking back and forth in front of the cat too much, sometimes they get the inclination to bite or swat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats even have a disorder known as hyperesthesia, which is often worse when the animal is stressed, like in the situation it's been rehomed, that can cause them to get over-stimulated and bitey.  Hyperesthesia is also known as &quot;rippling skin disease&quot; as the most easily noticeable sign is the cat's back will start twitching. Other symptoms include suddenly licking itself, kicking or shaking the hind legs, and suddenly jumping up and running, all as if the cat has a sudden itch or something has bit it. If the cat is showing these sorts of signs, best to let it be until the behavior subsides. Hyperesthesia is pretty common, and mostly just an inconvenience, although there are also medications for it, available by your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the cat does not have hyperesthesia, there may be signs in its body language to indicate it's getting over-stimulated. If the cat puts its ears back a little, or tensely squints with its eyes, or gets a twitchy tail, these are all signs its had enough.  If you see any of these signs, simply back off to give Dottie some space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the chance that Dottie is trying to play inappropriately. I recommend trying to play with Dottie more, with toys that are interactive, but you won't be in danger of getting bitten or swatted. Examples are wand toys or laser pointers. There's also a variety of motorized toys you can try to keep her from getting bored if you don't have time to play at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last possibility I can think of is that Dottie is nervous about being approached because she is not used to you yet. Rather than just walking up to Dottie and petting her, I would approach, but leaving some feet of space in between and gently try to coax her to approach you, with food, or a toy, or gently calling her. And if she does not approach, then let her be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-09-04T21:05:54.673" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T21:05:54.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21222" CreationDate="2018-09-04T23:05:41.687" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  If you like the galapagos tortoise so much, you'll leave it where it belongs, seeing as it's an endangered species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, as according to Wikipedia:  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galápagos_tortoise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Slow growth rate, late sexual maturity, and island endemism make the tortoises particularly prone to extinction without help from conservationists.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Individual animals of long lived, slow breeding species like the Galapagos Tortoise are much more important to the overall survival of the species than an individual animal of a short lived, fast breeding species. In other words, every individual Galapagos Tortoise is very important, and should remain in the overall population. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, also as mentioned in the article, the Galapagos Islands are owned by the country of Ecuador which has passed a law banning removal of any species from the island, including the Galapagos Tortoise. It is basically impossible to acquire one legally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-04T23:05:41.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-05T03:13:53.867" Score="4" ViewCount="1759" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a white factor collie mix by the name of Shea, he is approximately 3/4 Collie and 1/4 Australian Shepherd (and 6 years old). These details my prove to be unnecessary however I am including them nonetheless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is &lt;em&gt;the most&lt;/em&gt; relaxed dog I have ever met. I have two younger brothers, one of which is a baby and he lets both of them crawl all over him--and not once has he complained, at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he has one &lt;strong&gt;major issue with the swings.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has happened many many times, that when either myself, younger brothers or anyone else he &lt;em&gt;recognizes&lt;/em&gt; decides to get on a swing he becomes a completely different animal, barking and attacking whoever is on the swing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been the case for 6 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important details to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It seems as if it is the case he &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; attacks people he knows, which led me to believe that he was concerned for our safety--thinking we were being hurt by the swing. I do not let him get near anyone on the swing however it has happened a couple times that when walking past a random person on the swing, he pays no attention to them whatsoever. &lt;em&gt;After&lt;/em&gt; spending some time with a friend of mine, he started attacking him on the swing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am able to hold him when people he knows are swinging, he tries to get loose but does not act aggressively towards me when I am holding him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The actual &lt;em&gt;swinging&lt;/em&gt; seems to be what bothers him. If I am merely sitting on the swing he is not as bothered by it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have tried holding and consoling him when he's watching someone he knows swing, it calms him down a bit but if I were to let go he would still go after and attack the person on the swing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My Main Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there even anything to be done about this, or is this simply just my dog, and changing this behavior is impossible for this specific situation?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Was my initial thought that he is doing it out of concern accurate?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone else dealt with swing-terrified dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12903" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T08:28:16.120" Title="Dog Attacks People he Knows on the Swing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21187" CreationDate="2018-09-05T06:13:07.943" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male betta and 8 tetras in my 10 Gallon tank and my observation is that tetra's are quick enough to escape when  betta tries to hit. Though betta sometimes flares and tries to hit them, I did not see any tetra getting stuck by betta. They just escape in a second. I am happy that I added tetras with my betta in the tank, no worries at all and need not monitor as the tank is big enough for all the fishes to stay happily together. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9265" LastActivityDate="2018-09-05T06:13:07.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21265" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-05T06:40:32.053" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;we are struggeling with our lovely cat for almost half a year now so I just try to give a brief history of what was going on in the past, what happened to explain the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We received our cat 'Mango' over 3 years ago when he was 6. He was caponized, lived with another friend of us mostly alone, sometimes with other pets around. He is and was a home staying cat.&#xA;Everything is great. He is a british short hair cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last december in 2017 we received another cat, Mimmi. A female cat of age 2.5 years, also a home staying cat.&#xA;the first days were like crazy but soon it all went smooth - of course they hunt themselves on a daily basisor she wants to play a little roughly with him, but really from what we can see not really mentionable. They can lay next to each other - no touching - but no problems on the couch or on the bed. No matter if we are at home or not. She is a european short hair cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After around 3 months we thought everything is great - they are not lonely - it looked really good for us.&#xA;But out of heaven - Mango started to stop using the cat litter box. In fact what he started was peeing right in front of the litter box.&#xA;We had two boxes at that time and it did not matter which one.&#xA;We did not exchange the insides or anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just some weeks more he also started to poop right in front of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought an additional litter box and placed it at the other side of the flat.&#xA;But nothing changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we achieved is, that sometimes we take him to the litter box, put him inside, and it works for that moment.&#xA;We also have the situation that in very very rare cases he uses the litter box by himself. But around 98% of the time he ignores it.&#xA;After a while he also started using the bathtub or shower to pee or poop inside it (well at least its easier to clean..) but in my opinion the same situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter box is always clean - we clean it in the morning and evening.&#xA;We exchange the insides like cat litter and clean it completely every 3-4 weeks like we did it before that situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have no idea what we can do to help him or to identify a problem we cant see yet.&#xA;The vet says he is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12904" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T12:41:26.253" Title="Cat started peeing/pooping in front of toilet 2 months after new cat was brought in" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-16T12:38:16.493" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21187" CreationDate="2018-09-05T10:52:42.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta's and tetra's are often kept together without any problems. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;In general they only become aggressive against fish with long fins (like a male guppy), or if the tank is overcrowded,  especially with fish that also swim in the top layer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at the answer here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/19602/7038&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/19602/7038&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastActivityDate="2018-09-05T10:52:42.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21275" CreationDate="2018-09-05T20:00:39.610" Score="3" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;When were animals first used strictly for companionship? I can’t find the answer in my usual places for information (I.E. books) I also figured that other people might find it interesting as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastActivityDate="2018-09-06T19:02:00.000" Title="Animal companionship?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19420" CreationDate="2018-09-05T22:28:46.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gecko, named Plinxton, did the same thing, but she never flung herself. She died only a week after having these symptoms. We thought she was laying her eggs. Whenever we picked her up, she would go limp, and one night she passed away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: we were trying to get her to a vet, but they said &quot;don't touch her, it'll make it worse&quot; so I couldn't. But the last thing I ever did was to say &quot;I love you Plinxton, guess what - I have a surprise for you! We're taking you to the vet!&quot; and stroke her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12908" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T01:21:04.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:21:04.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-06T01:52:33.613" Score="1" ViewCount="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking to get a hamster, but  don't know how big an aquarium has to be for one dwarf hamster. Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12910" LastActivityDate="2018-09-06T01:52:33.613" Title="One Hamster Needed Cage Size" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-09-06T08:02:39.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21263" CreationDate="2018-09-06T08:43:47.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The breeds your dog is mixed with are all working breeds. This could make your dog have a more heightened prey drive than normal, I suspect this is the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure that your dog is 'attacking' per se, I think that this is play/prey drive kicking in. If this was attack behaviour your dog would not be displaying what you're describing. A dog that is attacking will be rolling up their lips to show their teeth, growling/barking, they lower their head and body, pin their ears back and raise their tail in some cases, and a play bite is different from an attack bite. Does it do any of these things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a working dog sees something moving similar to prey (swinging moving side to side) their prey drive kicks in and they want to either play or latch on. Given that it does it to someone it knows, I'm inclined to say its play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have tried holding and consoling him when he's watching someone he&#xA;  knows swing, it calms him down a bit but if I were to let go he would&#xA;  still go after and attack the person on the swing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Holding/restraining may either calm or have the opposite effect. You need to distract him, show that you are more fun than them, and he will ignore it. Like when you encounter other dogs you move away, call their name, tug, etc. This is the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there even anything to be done about this, or is this simply just&#xA;  my dog, and changing this behavior is impossible for this specific&#xA;  situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Distract him, show you are the source of his fun and nothing else. He will look to you rather than be as hyper-aware of other things. He probably still will want to go and engage, but when you give the command to stop and come, he will/should, as you are more fun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Was my initial thought that he is doing it out of concern accurate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you have described it doesn't sound like an attack or fear. It sounds like he wants to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T13:59:20.367" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T13:59:20.367" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17005" CreationDate="2018-09-06T15:43:42.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently encountered the same thing with my cat, suddenly running away if I walk too close while he is eating.  Through my personal experience (having had many kitty cat pets since I was about 4) and through recent research, the best plausible reasoning and conclusion I have come to is this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats are, by nature, prone to feeling vunerable when eating (this stems from their natural instincts of &quot;staying alert&quot; whilst in a &quot;vunerable state&quot; in the wild, from any predators) even when they are primarily indoor cats. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are for some reason associating that particular time or situation with something bad, scary, or threatening. So now the problem is figuring out what that &quot;something&quot; is. This can be tricky, because it could be a number of things, from a loud noise being made when they were eating, to something you did personally (unknowingly) that has them nervous and wary of you particularly when they're eating (due to reason No.1). The fact that even if it wasn't something you did while they were eating, they still feel more nervous and vunerable during this time regardless. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12914" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-09-18T11:22:44.400" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T11:22:44.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="698" CreationDate="2018-09-06T16:45:17.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If looking for a strong sealant, try the silicon sealant at West Marine. I have used the general type with the West Marine labeling (red and white tube) which is strong and has no toxics. I am not sure about the other types they sell which have varying hardening times and degree of hardness. You can also find the standard GE silicon seal (without fungicides) at Walmart for about four dollars per tube, which has been used by many who repair aquariums. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12916" LastActivityDate="2018-09-06T16:45:17.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21267" CreationDate="2018-09-06T19:02:00.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be impossible to answer the question without doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found evidence of close bonds between humans and dogs &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4LkiMtRtSc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dating back to 10,000 BC&lt;/a&gt;, but noone can say for sure whether this dog was kept purely as a companion or for a practical use like a guard dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1978, at a late Paleolithic site in northern Israel, for instance, a tomb was uncovered where about 12,000 years ago a person had been buried with a dog or wolf puppy. The hand of the dead person, who was around 50 years old, was placed on the animal’s shoulder. It is likely that the dog was sacrificed when the person died in order that it could accompany the person onwards in his or her spiritual journey (Davis &amp;amp; Valla, 1978). (&lt;a href=&quot;https://veteriankey.com/history-of-companion-animals-and-the-companion-animal-sector/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same source states later:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[T]here is ample evidence from ancient Greece that people kept a number of bird species in cages for company, and according to Kitchell (2011: p. 19) next to dogs, birds ‘may have been the second most common type of pet in ancient Greece’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first animals with no other task than to be a companion might be lap dogs. These are several breeds of dogs selected and bred for their small size and  friendly disposition. DNA test revealed that Pekingese dogs are one of the oldest breeds of dogs and one of the least genetically diverged from the wolf.&#xA;There is evidence of Pekingese lap dogs as early as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-pekingese-dog-195234&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;700 CE in China&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A (for me) very interesting sidenote is that the phenomenon of companion animals seemed to be much more prominent in &quot;primitive&quot; societies than in Europe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Serpell, 1996: Chapter 4). Among these peoples, keeping some animals for company, not food, seemed to be the norm rather than the exception; humans were unwilling to sell or give away their animals, and became distraught with grief when the animals were taken away from them by force (Serpell, 1996: Chapter 4). These attachments are seen as strange by the European authors who write about them, and who express amusement or astonishment at the degree of affection so-called primitive peoples expressed towards animals (Serpell, 1996: Chapter 4). These accounts themselves suggest, however, that while attachments to animals were not widely accepted in Europe, they were nonetheless widespread elsewhere. Keeping animals as companions seems to be a widely practiced part of human life; &lt;strong&gt;it may be the European failure to do so until relatively recently that requires explanation.&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://veteriankey.com/history-of-companion-animals-and-the-companion-animal-sector/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;; unfortunately the link to the original source is broken)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That implies that keeping animals purely as companions might date back furher than the earliest evidence but we lack objective evidence from these &quot;primitive&quot; people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-09-06T19:02:00.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-06T19:02:20.117" Score="3" ViewCount="11729" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a recent issue exacerbated by the fact that I'm allergic to cats. We adopted a cat ~4 years ago, and she took a liking to me. These past couple years I'm her &quot;favorite&quot;, she ignores the other people in the house, and enjoys spending as much time as she can either curled on me or near me. She is needy, almost too needy for me. She will completely ignore someone else's offer for pets and attention and will spend almost all her 'social' time trying to get my attention or at least lay against me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had an old problem where she would randomly attack people. Over time we learned that this was generally overstimulation and we just weren't paying attention to her &quot;Done&quot; signals when she wanted out. Usually this would be her attacking the arm or hand of whoever was petting her. However with some (people) training, this isn't a problem we have really had this past year or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, she attacked my face. As far as I can remember, I had just laid down in bed ~3am, and she was begging for attention (she loves pets on the bed). She laid down near me, I pet her for a bit, passed out, then woke up to her mauling my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just today she did it for a second time. She was sleeping on my lap, went off to eat, then came back laying on my lap. I'm working, so I didn't really give her much attention beyond when I welcomed her on my lap. She's usually fine with this, and is perfectly normal. Randomly she leaps up and again mauls my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common things I know that lead into this is eye contact (was staring at the screen), and overstimulation (I was not touching her). I'm concerned there's some signal I'm missing out on, and more concerned that it's somehow understimulation (she's mad that I'm not giving her attention) since I frankly cannot give her as much attention as she often wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other coincidence is that both attacks happened the day after my girlfriend took off for a trip, though it's too few times to really know if that's at all a factor. She does give the cat some attention, but the cat usually ignores her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on why this might be happening? Any ideas on what I can do to prevent this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user2579" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-09-23T08:19:32.100" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:46:37.920" Title="Why is my cat attacking my face &amp; what can I do to stop it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-07T01:31:11.353" Score="5" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read about people using empty pill capsules to give cats Atopica. Our cat needs to take .35ml of it. Just wondering what size pill capsules people are using?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12917" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-09-21T09:28:30.630" LastActivityDate="2019-05-28T01:38:38.083" Title="Using pill capsules to give cat Atopica?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-07T01:49:29.563" Score="7" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;She will meow directly at me only (2 people in the house) and will have me follow her to her food bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does this even if the bowl is completely full. She stops meowing once she starts eating and if I leave while she’s eating she doesn’t start meowing again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to always do it right after a nap, if I’ve been petting her for a while, or completely random times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean anything? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12918" LastActivityDate="2018-10-09T22:32:55.460" Title="Why does my cat need me around to eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-07T11:52:13.977" Score="6" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boys apparently got in a fight today while I was gone and I came home to a decently bloody sight. I discovered the wound at 3:29 AM and it’s currently 4:46AM meaning that the vet doesn’t open for another 3 hours. I cleaned the wound as best I could but he just wanted water, food and to go to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have separated him into another enclosure with clean blankets and a hide to sleep in along with a bowl of water and some food. He’s gone to sleep without much of a fuss as I think the whole ordeal has put him into shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wound isn’t actively bleeding but I haven’t removed the dried blood/huge scab looking piece as I am sure that is what has closed the wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he’s comfortable enough to sleep, eat and drink will he be okay for three hours while we wait for the vet to open?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I would take him to emergency but they charge $150 to just be seen while my vet only charges $75 to be seen.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been checking on him since he settled down and he seems to have relaxed but I am just panicking. They are my first set of rats and they are both usually very calm and relaxed... I don’t know why they got into such a fight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12922" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T12:09:21.963" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T15:00:50.077" Title="Face/Eye injury on a male adult rat" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21282" CreationDate="2018-09-07T12:20:09.367" Score="4" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to setup my first aquarium, and in the process I've been reading all about the nitrogen cycle and properly cycling a tank to ensure there are bacteria present to work on the ammonia and nitrites that end up in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been looking at different kinds of biofilters, and it seems like it doesn't take anything particularly elaborate for the bacteria to live on. Some of the best rated ones are little more than a couple of ribbed sponges on a plastic pipe like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cc0Ub.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cc0Ub.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm wondering is, if I use something like this to act as a biofilter, do I need (or is it even a good idea) to use a regular filter (with carbon or a cartridge filter or whatever) &lt;em&gt;in tandem&lt;/em&gt; with the biofilter? Is it better to decide one way or the other, and then stick with it, or should I use both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just concerned that the bacteria on the biofilter will somehow be adversely affected by the presence of another filter that's pulling ammonia and waste products, etc. out of the water, too. I don't know if they work well together, or are mutually exclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12921" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T23:48:06.167" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T23:48:06.167" Title="Is a carbon or cartridge filter necessary in an aquarium with a simple biofilter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21281" CreationDate="2018-09-07T13:15:15.027" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, thank you for reading about the nitrogen cycle before getting fish! That's a +1 straight away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biofilter is a bit of a funny term, really, because all filters technically become biofilters as long as they have media that would allow beneficial bacteria to grow on it. A lot of your beneficial bacteria will also live in your substrate, if you have any, so you'll gain some that way, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because this is quite a big subject, I'm going to break this down into a few sections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What do you actually need for beneficial bacteria?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like it doesn't take anything particularly elaborate for the bacteria to live on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exactly correct. Indeed, many people just &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/2WBo3u9arUo?t=2m23s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;use pot scrubbers&lt;/a&gt; because they're cheap and readily available.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/leAcf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/leAcf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because all the bacteria really need is a surface to hold onto and enough oxygen to do their work. Some people argue that in order to cultivate the most beneficial bacteria you can in the limited space you have is to get something that has a reasonable surface area like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500g-1-1lbs-BIOHOME-ULTIMATE-FILTER-MEDIA-BEST-FILTER-MEDIA-EVER-/321214079406&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BioHome Media&lt;/a&gt; because it is so porous. There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of readily available information out there about the merits of this type of media, but I've got some and it seems to work slightly better than, for example, ceramic rings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Carbon&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Activated carbon is used to absorb particles from the water. It is primarily used to keep water clear, remove odours and generally remove dissolved organics in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it that necessary? Well, I've often used it to remove tannins from water (brown discolouration that normally occurs because of bog wood) and it's been very effective. It's also great for absorbing old medicines from the water. Necessary? No, probably not. It's pretty inexpensive if you buy it in bulk and then you can just put it into a filter bag and you're done. Once the carbon is completely saturated with organics, you'll want to swap it out for fresh carbon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Cartridge filters?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These normally just have bio media (like &lt;a href=&quot;http://evolutionaqua.com/acatalog/K1_Micro.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;k1 micro&lt;/a&gt;) inside them and some cheap foam to grab the large particles. These allow you to just swap out the cartridges every now and again. They're pretty common in small aquariums because they're compact. These will also harbour beneficial bacteria because as long as they can hold onto something, they'll be able to detoxify the ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What else do I need beyond the beneficial bacteria from a filter?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things spring to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy to maintain (I've had some cheap filters, but they're always a pain to clean and break more easily).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enough filter sponges (So they'll take out any bigger particles that might clog up your bio media).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A high enough flow rate (You need to turn your water over a couple of times per hour, so check out the flow rate).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Finally, can you have more than one filter?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer is that you should try and calculate your bioload based on the fish you'll keep and your maintenance schedule (water changes, filter cleanings, etc.) and tank size. Then you can match the bioload to a filter. In reality, this is a pretty complex calculation based around the amount of ammonia bacteria can process and a guess at how much bacteria you've got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've got a relatively normal bio load in the tank, a single filter rated at the size of your aquarium (e.g. filter for 100 litres on an 80 litre tank) will be perfectly adequate. You could happily &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; another filter in there to further increase your filtering capabilities and flow rate in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your filter is too big, like a pump rated for a 500 litre tank in a 30 litre tank, you'll might run into problems because the flow rate could be too high for the fish and the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing to remember is that the beneficial bacteria are what converts the ammonia to nitrite and then into nitrate. If you have enough beneficial bacteria, you won't have ammonia in your system anyway. Another filter will only add the ability to cultivate &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; bacteria and process &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T23:45:16.650" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T23:45:16.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21278" CreationDate="2018-09-07T16:32:03.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats are just &quot;social eaters,&quot; that is, they for whatever reason want company while eating. It could be also that they aren't as food motivated as they are attention or play motivated. In this case, the cat might not eat if their owner isn't in the room because they want to know what the owner is doing more than they want to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-07T16:32:03.040" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21284" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-08T07:11:45.220" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept budgies for over a year. Budgies fight often. One baby budgie was hurt badly by another adult budgie. His beak was badly hurt and completely torn from one side. I have taken him to a vet and got the wound cleaned up. My question is whether the beak will grow back after some time? The vet told me its not scientifically proven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12923" LastActivityDate="2018-09-08T07:11:45.220" Title="Budgies Beak Injury" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-08T11:12:39.953" Score="3" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat, Gato who went away five days ago and returned two days ago (which is a very long time for a cat as they return at least once per day when they get food). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After returning back he just slept the whole day, didn't eat and all in all looked very &quot;depressed&quot;. We thought he just needed some sleep as he was walking very long. But he didn't stop and he didn't sleep anyway. He is just sitting there next to the water, looking into it and doing nothing. Yesterday he almost fell into the water, he can't walk on straight lines sometimes and he doesn't eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't look sick, his eyes are normal, his fur is a little bit messy (probably from his adventure) but he doesn't look good either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what could be wrong with him and how can I help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already asked my parents to take him to the vet but they don't want to and say that everything's ok with him. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12372" LastEditorUserId="12372" LastEditDate="2018-09-08T21:31:56.207" LastActivityDate="2018-09-08T21:31:56.207" Title="My cat behaves very strange and apathetic and doesn't eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21285" CreationDate="2018-09-08T15:09:25.473" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vet - now!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As trond hansen says in their comment any cat not eating for &gt;24hrs is vet-worthy. You add in the difficulty walking, general lethargy and nearly falling into his water and this all sounds potentially quite serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-09-08T15:09:25.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21293" CreationDate="2018-09-08T20:25:00.057" Score="4" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is now 19 years old and on his last legs; completely deaf, nearly entirely blind (cataracts so bad you can see them) and occasional unsteadiness when walking, neither I nor his vet have noticed signs that he's in pain so I don't want to have him put down yet, but still he acts scared of me: not looking at me (which makes getting his attention difficult) and sometimes even shaking when I approach him. I understand this is because he thinks I may eat him like a pack would when he gets to this stage but it's quite distressing for me, he's always been a &quot;lap dog&quot; and never been abused so I don't know why he feels this way, is there anything I can do to convince him he's still safe with me and make him more comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3050" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T19:00:23.740" Title="My dog is old and dying, how do I convince him not to be scared of me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-08T20:38:00.423" Score="6" ViewCount="2388" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my mom just brought home three snails home. One for me, and two for my brothers. I set the bag in the water for 20 minutes, and then put the snail into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My female betta fish has been in this tank for about 2 months, once the snail was in the tank, my betta (Emmi) paid close attention to it.  A few Minutes later she starts nipping at its shell, I use the net end to push her a way but she goes right back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I'm not sure if I should take out the snail or just keep it in and keep  observing. Please tell me what I should do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12928" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-09-09T23:06:47.837" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T04:58:39.087" Title="Can snails and betta fish cohabitate?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13467" CreationDate="2018-09-09T11:10:27.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Catnips completely safe for cats. There is a site posted recently on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cancateat.com/can-cats-eat-catnip/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;catnip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Catnip is safe for cats. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are not toxic for cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are a good way to deal with the depressed and upset cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12931" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T11:10:27.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21287" CreationDate="2018-09-09T12:31:12.680" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be heartbreaking to feel like you're scaring your own pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe wait until he comes looking for you? If you can read what signs indicate that he's looking for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep everything as routine as possible. Don't move any food or water bowls, that way he will know where to find them and you don't need to take him to them. Either keep feeding him at the same time/s each day or leave kibble out for him at all times, so he knows he can come and snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do well with smell. When you do approach him, try and crouch down (not so easy for everyone as they get older) and put the back of your hand slowly towards his face, but low. Keep it under his chin level, so it's not as threatening. This will give him time to sniff your hand and minimise any chance of him harming you  if he bites in fear, as it's a more flat surface place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd avoid wearing strong perfumes or aftershaves around him (unless they're worn all the time), as it will mask who you are to him and make him more frightened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep everything as constant for him as it has been the past year or so, so it is familiar as his senses fail him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's already been allowed on furniture. Another thing is to introduce ramps or steps to help him get up onto furniture  he may not be able to jump onto, so that he doesn't have to be picked up as often. That way  he can then hop onto a lounge chair you're sitting on, on hop onto the bed and have a cuddle. If he hasn't been allowed, it would be another stress doing this, although you mention he's been a lap dog. There's ways of creating steps and ramps that would be safer for a sight impaired dog to use, we don't want him falling off the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's not suffering, there's no reason to put him to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T12:31:12.680" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21288" CreationDate="2018-09-09T16:08:13.740" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/fish-aquariums/tankmates&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; has several good suggestions for potential betta tankmates. It also mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please remember that the ideas below are suggestions. Your betta may get along just fine with all of these new tankmates, or he might kill and eat them. Every betta is different, and these are just general guidelines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your betta is potentially aggressive, so please don't try to socialize her without supervision. My betta has never tried to eat his tankmates of several months, which are a zebra snail and four ghost shrimp in a five-gallon tank. It seems like more information might be helpful: What size tank do you have, and do you know the species of the snail you're trying to introduce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12549" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T16:08:13.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21287" CreationDate="2018-09-09T17:38:51.917" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs rely very much on their sense of smell and sound. Imagine for a moment that your dog has completely lost these faculties and can no longer comprehend who is approaching him. Maybe he is still learning to adjust to these losses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s perhaps also worth mentioning that dogs don’t “think” the same way humans do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with some of the other comments... your dog may be shaking with excitement at your approach. Fear would manifest other behaviours such as growling, barking and/or showing his teeth in a snarl. Does your dog demonstrate any other behaviour apart from shaking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t believe your dog would expect to be eaten by you especially when you’ve spent so many years taking good care of him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I can confirm, after many years of experience with dogs, is that they develop an intuitive capability to understand, at some level, the physical, emotional and mental states of their “pack” humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’re feeling anxious for your dog, he will know this and, maybe at his age, will respond with anxiety? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions from me include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;identify which of your dog’s senses still function and use those to alert your dog to your presence (e.g. touch/vibration- tapping gently on the floor as you approach, smell - take his favourite treat to him in your hands); &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as difficult as it may be, attempt to enjoy the time you have left together - rather than feel sadness at what is lost, feel happiness for what still remains - this may alleviate anxiety for both you and your dog. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. Any questions feel free to ask. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T17:38:51.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2018-09-09T17:47:04.497" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My greyhound Missie YoKo is fed at 7.15am 1 hour before a 30 - 45min walk, she has another walk 30 - 45min in the afternoon and is fed again at 5.00pm.I feed her a raw food diet. Only one treat a week 1 single scoop of Yogurt ice cream. She is shown constant love and affection and responds positively to what is asked of her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12933" LastActivityDate="2018-09-09T17:47:04.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21287" CreationDate="2018-09-09T18:54:02.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's concentrate on the symptoms. You dog is &lt;em&gt;looking away from you and sometimes shivering&lt;/em&gt; when you approach him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You interpret this behavior as fear, but there are other possible explanations.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhdFe3evXpk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cesar's Way&lt;/a&gt; list as possible reasons for shivering:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excitement&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Have you ever experienced a dog tremble or shiver in the middle of a game of fetch or while offering affection? It may look odd, but it’s nothing to worry about. Shaking when excited is completely normal and healthy for dogs — it just a way of lowering that excess energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sickness or pain&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Often, dogs will shake or shiver if they are in pain or suffering from some kind of sickness — just like we might tremble due to a cold or fever. Canine illnesses associated with trembling include distemper, generalized tremor syndrome (GTS), kidney disease, Addison’s disease, poisoning, nausea, seizures, and inflammatory brain diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stress&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Just like people, dogs can get stressed out and become anxious. Also just like people, there are many reasons why this may happen: riding in a car, beeping alarms, fireworks, trips to the vet, and so on. Worse, different stressors can develop over time based on negative experiences. When faced with these stressors, many dogs may tremble or shake, and some even engage in bad behaviors such as chewing on furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Old age&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As your dog gets older, you may notice that he develops tremors in his legs. While a certain amount of age-induced shaking is to be expected, don’t simply assume that everything is proceeding normally. Shaking in senior dogs can also be a sign of pain, particularly joint pain and discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep an eye on your dog; does he only shiver if someone approaches him or also when he's alone or when he's walking or standing up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shivering when he's alone&lt;/strong&gt; might be caused by feeling cold, a sickness or generally being in pain. An arched back (much like cats do) is another sign of pain, mostly in the chest cavity, digestive tract or kidneys.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Shivering when standing up or walking&lt;/strong&gt; is a rather clear sign of pain in the spine, hips, legs or joints.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Shivering when approached&lt;/strong&gt; might be excitement, anxiousness, fear or pain from moving a certain way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's actually fear, it might be increased by his overall state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Due to his deafness he cannot hear your voice and cannot derive your mood from it. Dogs are very good at reading our intentions from our voice, but your dog doesn't get those clues anymore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His cataracts make him see shadows instead of sharp forms, So he doesn't recognize you from your look and cannot read your body language. To him it might look like a dark shadow approaching and he doesn't know what that shadows intentions are. I've witnessed a recently blinded dog become angstly-aggressive towards anyone but her owner because she couldn't read body language any more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just like humans, dogs and other animals can get dementia. He might honestly have forgotten you (at least partially) and getting to know you again is difficult because his senses fail him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To alleviate his fear, you should&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always&lt;/strong&gt; let him sniff you before touching him, like others already wrote in their answers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit down next to him to appear as small as possible. Don't tower over him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try offering him a little treat every time you approach him. It should be something good smelling like a small piece of sausage or cheese.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't pet him on the top of his head. Many dogs feel intimidated by something touching them in this vulnerable place where they cannot see it. Instead stroke from his cheeks sideways to his neck. From there you can continue upwards to scratch behind his ears.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't put any weight on him while petting him, you might hurt his joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he growls when you touch a specific area (like his hips) it's a clear sign that he's hurting there. Avoid touching such areas at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T19:00:23.740" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T19:00:23.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-10T12:43:45.900" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been given Bravecto triworm by my vet for my puppy during vaccinations. Both times that I have given it to my puppy has led to him vomiting after 3-5 hours. He is just 4 months old now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have since been told by a friend to try Milbemax. I am a bit sceptical to try anything I am not sure about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had similar problems with Bravecto triworm. Is Milbemax recommended? Or is there better dewormers out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastActivityDate="2018-09-10T12:43:45.900" Title="Best dewormer for puppies" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-09-18T11:39:41.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21278" CreationDate="2018-09-10T15:58:25.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answer is valid, some cats just having you nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another reason: &lt;em&gt;forgetting there was already food&lt;/em&gt;. I've seen my youngest cat do this often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's so eager for a treat that whenever I even vaguely move in the direction of the kitchen, he will try to guide me to the cat treat cupboard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he enters the kitchen, he passes the bowls. If there is still food in there, he turns towards the food instead and no longer tries to guide me, nor does he prevent me from leaving. I suspect he simply forgot that there was still food, or assumed it was eaten (we have 3 cats so the others may have eaten it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you say it happens right after a nap, it might simply be that your cat has forgotten about any leftovers, and has gotten in the habit of asking for food before checking is there if any available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution to that? Teach the cat to look for food before asking. I can think of two ways to do so. It depends on your cat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignore the request for food. When it's adequately hungry, the cat will go looking for food anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the food next to where the cat naps. Gradually move the bowl back to its starting position. Move the bowl a few inches/feet every few days, so that it's always in sight when your cat visits the &lt;em&gt;previous&lt;/em&gt; position of the bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-09-10T15:58:25.467" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2018-09-10T17:07:51.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, the quality of water in different places is always different. To determine if your water is suitable for aquarium usage, run a battery of tests with the water, from pH, KH, to chlorine. You should determine what chemicals are present in the water, the water's pH, chlorine levels, and whether the water is hard water (mineral rich) or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word about hard water - hard water is extremely difficult to control in tanks &amp;lt; 50 gallons and most hobbyists won't use it unless they have a massive system. The problem is that you need to use a lot of buffer salts to get the pH to the appropriate levels, and even then it can still bounce around, killing its inhabitants. The more water, the less severe the spikes and dips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide to use tap water, first condition the water on the side - say, in a bucket. When you are first starting out, you want to monitor the chemicals, but later on when you have the process down, you just want to monitor the pH. Let the water sit for a while to ensure that it is stable and has held its properties, then do your 10% change. If you have a way to keep the water from evaporating, you should be able to condition larger batches of water at a time and keep them stable until ready for use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-10T17:07:51.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21276" CreationDate="2018-09-10T17:13:51.093" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are neurotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes there is a reason why they are doing something hidden in their feline language, and sometimes they are just following whatever thought happened to follow into their brain. When cats are little, their mother teaches them manners and which behaviors are correct or not. Compounded with cats who were taken from their mothers early, this can lead to a cat who is unusually mean or violent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, I would take to correcting the cat that this behavior is not acceptable, perhaps with a puff of air or a water squirt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also decide not to let the cat fall asleep on you anymore as that's when these situations have arisen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-10T17:13:51.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21304" CreationDate="2018-09-10T18:02:15.087" Score="2" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watched YouTube video:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK9s67TsICs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK9s67TsICs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 5:59&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said black cat is hard to get adopted.&#xA;Is black cat ugly or something?&#xA;Actually, where I live, some people do not like black dogs and cats, especially elder. It's because they believe they will bring them misfortune.&#xA;But I don't know how do people think in Western culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12935" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T14:12:13.337" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T14:12:13.337" Title="Is black cat hard to get adopted?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21302" CreationDate="2018-09-10T21:25:24.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;People will say that black cats go unadopted more often anecdotally, but from articles on the subject, it seems to be not necessarily the case that black cats are less wanted than other colors of cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/is-it-a-myth-that-black-shelter-pets-are-less-likely-to-be-adopted&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/is-it-a-myth-that-black-shelter-pets-are-less-likely-to-be-adopted&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Weiss found that, although euthanasia numbers for black animals are at&#xA;  or near the top (both black and white dogs were near 19 percent; black&#xA;  cats were at 30 percent, with gray cats and white cats coming in just&#xA;  under that, at 28 percent and 26 percent, respectively), their total&#xA;  adoption numbers were also the highest of any color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Black is simply a common color for cats, probably in part because it helps camouflage them from predators in the case that they are a stray or feral cat.  As a result, people observe that there are many more black cats not being adopted, and don't consider that they are just plain more of them, it seems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea of black cats being less wanted is also something of an urban myth. People will very, very commonly repeat this information without stopping to check whether it is true or not, probably in part because they've heard it said so often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People in western countries also are commonly aware of the superstition that a black cat will bring bad luck, which most people assume is the reason for the claim that black cats are not wanted as pets. However, despite the awareness of the superstition, nearly everyone in Western countries do not actually believe it. I think people would find anyone who said they actually believed it to be very odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think if there is any truth to black cats being less wanted, it's because black cats are common and, though not considered ugly, it's not particularly striking compared to certain other coat colors or patterns that a cat might have either. That is to say, a black cat might seem boring compared to another unique looking cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-09-11T13:16:29.923" LastActivityDate="2018-09-11T13:16:29.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18239" CreationDate="2018-09-11T08:55:53.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had five dogs over my lifetime with joint issues in old age.  I have tried dasuquin for all of them.  Only two of the dogs responded, but the response was miraculous, and definitely not something I could attribute to anything other than the dasuquin.  The dasuquin with MSM definitely worked better than the dasuquin without MSM.  I tried going without dasuquin at all, and using other supplements on the first dog with whom it was successful, and she gradually reverted back to the same problems she had before the dasuquin.  As soon as I resumed the dasuquin, within a few days - less than a week - she was markedly improved.  The other three dogs never responded to the dasuquin, nor to other medications that I tried, including other glucosamine/chondroitin supplements, some with tumeric, some with MSM.  I am not a vet, and I can only report my observations on my limited sample size of five dogs.  I can say that the results were obvious very early on in using the medicine for the dogs that received a benefit.  The first dog that received a benefit began taking the dasuquin at age 10, and lived to age 15.  Even at age 15 she was walking better than she had been at age 10.  I am not going to name brands that did not work, but I did try three other cheaper supplements with similar ingredients.  Although none contained the ASU powder, they otherwise matched ingredients in dasuquin. As for finding the best price on dasuquin, I recomment eBay.  That has been the consistent cheapest source for the drug that I can find.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12940" LastActivityDate="2018-09-11T08:55:53.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21277" CreationDate="2018-09-12T10:22:07.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://capsuline.com/collections/capsules-for-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;purpose-built pill capsules for cats&lt;/a&gt;, even the smallest size should easily fit a 0.35 ml dose. Although you have the choice between different flavours, an additional &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mikkipet.com/?mikki_care=pill-gun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pill gun&lt;/a&gt; might also come in handy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12261" LastActivityDate="2018-09-12T10:22:07.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-12T13:09:11.487" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 8 month old working line  springer spaniel bitch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I have noticed that while playing fetch she seems to suddenly become totally lame in the same back leg for about 2 or 3 minutes, then appears to walk it off and be fine again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I originally thought just a pulled muscle or cramp from sprinting after the ball and turning quickly to jump/fall and grab it. However it keeps happening to the same leg which makes me think maybe it's something more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had any experience of this or advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously you hear horror stories of early arthritis or hip dysplasia (her parents have good hd scores though) but I'm thinking maybe something like panosteitis given her age? I also think she might be about to get her first season, not sure if that's got any relevance but including in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12944" LastActivityDate="2018-09-12T13:09:11.487" Title="Springer spaniel short term lameness after high intensity workout" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21280" CreationDate="2018-09-12T19:14:14.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope it's OK with your boys right now, but for the future and possible other people with a similar problem... You haven't told us how old are the rats and how long they know each other. The most likely case is that they were trying to establish which one is the alpha one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can find in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_rat#Social_behavior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Particularly with males, there can be some fighting in the beginning,&#xA;  but once an alpha rat has been determined, the rats should get along&#xA;  well. Within two weeks to a month, the rats will most likely have&#xA;  adjusted and become friendlier with each other. Rats are generally&#xA;  very friendly to other cage mates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should observe your boys if that was an accident or one of them has a really nasty character, because usually the fights shouldn't be bloody, since they usually don't want to hurt each other but only to determine who is the alpha one, if that's the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2018-09-12T19:14:14.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21317" CreationDate="2018-09-12T22:51:43.850" Score="4" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live along with a roommate and two of us have a cat though the cat is particularlly attached to my roommate. My roommate sometimes goes on trips and the cat goes on top of my roommates bed and starts meowing his lungs out. I want to help my cat feel better so how can i do that? If i can't help him then how can i prevent him from meowing at 2 am?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2018-09-13T21:25:51.987" Title="How can i prevent my cat from missing my roommate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2018-09-13T17:43:41.063" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use corn oil, the oil soothe the kittens ears and the oil suffocates the fleas and ticks in ear use cotton ball with oil on it. Don’t fill up cats ear with oil it just take the funk/ bugs down into ear canal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12948" LastActivityDate="2018-09-13T17:43:41.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17918" CreationDate="2018-09-13T18:17:05.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Updating to answer my question after a year has passed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it does seem like my cat had a stress reaction or something along those lines. We did a really thorough clean using a specialized cleaning product, used the black light to be sure we covered everything and kept at it if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also bought a new litter box that is a little wider and lower in case it was arthritis like Zaralynda had mentioned (she doesn't seem to specifically prefer it nowadays although I do believe she has some arthritis, thanks for the pointer!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also made sure to give my cat more attention which was a bit scarce with a newborn. The behavior has completely stopped, thankfully!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10055" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:30:04.490" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:30:04.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21313" CreationDate="2018-09-13T21:25:51.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like your cat is going through separation anxiety when your roommate leaves. To help with that, you want to enrich the cat's environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provide new things to do, to play with, and to go. Make new high perches or boxes, provide new toys, and provide more stimulation to the cat's activity, such as playing with him. You can even get a toy that releases his food as the toy is played with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-13T21:25:51.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11905" CreationDate="2018-09-13T23:41:45.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no &lt;em&gt;known&lt;/em&gt; cure but I believe I helped my dog with Distemper with &lt;strong&gt;Vitamin A&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently Distemper is similar to Measles. Measles can be treated in children with Vitamin A. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;vitamin A megadoses (200,000 international units (IUs) on each day for&#xA;  two days) lowered the number of deaths from measles in hospitalized&#xA;  children under the age of two years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cochrane.org/CD001479/ARI_vitamin-a-for-measles-in-children&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source: cochrane.org&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog was so bad that she was walking into walls and skinny from not eating. She's a little under 50 lbs but was closer to 40 lbs. I was sure she was going to die and was trying to get my vet to do the chicken virus treatment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave her &lt;strong&gt;10&lt;/strong&gt; 8000 IU vitamin A pills with some peanut butter (so she wouldn't spit them out) twice a day for a few days. After about 48 hours, she was looking better and eating. Less than a week later, she was normal again. She now has a facial tick but no other signs of being sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing else, the treatment is low cost (about $5 for a bottle of 250 vitamin A pills) and low risk (dogs have no know toxicity level for Vitamin A).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use my 8000 IU for 40 lbs as a ratio for dogs weighing more or less (i.e. 4 pills for a 20 lb dog and 16 for an 80 lb dog). And give it to them twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12950" LastActivityDate="2018-09-13T23:41:45.493" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-14T11:39:44.527" Score="1" ViewCount="1024" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my boyfriend has an almost ten-year-old pom/Yorkie dog. Before moving in with him he did tell me that she didn’t really like females but she seemed to like me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, when he lived with another girl the dog was potty trained and has been her whole life. He told me he never really had to train her. She just used to let him know when she needed to go out and she's using a pee pad if no one was there to let her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he started living alone and going to work he’d leave the dog with his mom and then according to him he doesn’t know when she started peeing in the house. She just kind of started and (in his words) “I guess she just thought it was the new normal to soil the house” because no one stopped her or got onto her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are about to move into an apartment with carpets and I told him I want her potty trained before we move in. He says he can’t potty train her because he’s at work but he refuses to let me get on to her when she soils the house he wants me to just leave her alone and let her do her thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me and her have never had a problem and I give her pets and love all the time. She just kind of ignores that I exist like if I call her she just ignores me and even when I pet her I feel like she’s just ignoring that I’m there she won’t even play with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided I was going to potty train her anyways. I started getting onto her this week when she would soil the house and I try to get her to go outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Well this morning I wake up about 3 am because I feel wetness under my side I get up and she peed on the bed all the way down from my waist to my feet. The mark she made clearly showed the puddle where she started and then the line going down the blanket (where I was laying) where she was walking while she peed and the small puddle at my feet where the pee line ended.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was so ticked I woke him up and told him the dog peed on me and he insists that she didn't do it on purpose and that she just must have really needed to pee (yeah I’m not buying that). And then he stated that there’s no way she did it on purpose because she never did anything to the other girl and she hated her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of this, she won’t do her business outside unless my boyfriend is here. If I take her out she tries to leave the property instead of doing her business. When I asked him why she tries to leave he said that she’s trying to go find him and that she will do that if she is taken outside while he’s not there.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I noticed she is very sneaky about soiling the house. For example, there have been a few times where the dog will be laying in the same room as me and I will change the babies diaper and I notice she will leave the room. I try to be quick with the baby but by the time I’m done the dog has already come back to the room and sure enough, she’s left a mess in the house. Or when I go to use the bathroom or get something to eat I will come back to a mess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess my question is &lt;strong&gt;did the dog pee on me out of anger or was it an honest old dog accident or other things that could be wrong with it?&lt;/strong&gt; And if it was anger how do I make it stop before it’s another problem? And how can I potty train this dog or is her refusal to go outside just her age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12952" LastEditorUserId="11590" LastEditDate="2018-09-23T08:21:11.817" LastActivityDate="2018-09-23T08:21:11.817" Title="Boyfriend's dog peed on me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-14T13:18:02.180" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a daschound puppy that we bought from a family friend that breeds them it was the last puppy there and has been outside since day one. When we got her she used the bathroom in the house and we figured it was just nerves and she might have been confused because she has never been inside. Well we have had her for almost a month and I still can’t get her potty trained. I will take her outside multiple times a day and every time she refuses to use the bathroom (except for when she has been in her dog crate all night long she will use the bathroom when she is let out. We started keeping her in a crate because we didn’t want her peeing and pooping everywhere during the night). And even sometimes she will run somewhere and immediately starts using the bathroom as soon as we come back inside. She will get scolded for this and taken outside again but she just doesn’t seem to understand. Even when I keep her in a crate all day I will take her outside a few times and she refuses to use the bathroom, she has never peed in her crate but she has pooped in it. I will take her out at night before I go to bed and she will still refuse to use the bathroom so I’ll put her back in (after a full day of not peeing) and then the next morning she will finally use the bathroom the next morning as soon as I let her out and she will pee for the longest time. I did this for a week and every time she used the bathroom in the morning I would praise her and give her a treat. Well I let her stay out of the crate after that week hoping she learned where to use the bathroom but she immediately started going in the house again. I am completely confused as to why she won’t go to the bathroom outside when that’s where she was using the bathroom before we got her, and since she’s been outside from day one I thought it would have come naturally. The house we are currently living at does have other dogs but they are in a different part of the house than us (except for a few of them that belong to someone that just moved out we are holding them until they save up the money to move each one in with them since it’s quite a bit per dog but those dogs are kept in crates and get let out twice a day outside where they use the bathroom they don’t use the bathroom inside and our pup doesn’t really acknowledge that they are even there. The dogs in the other part of the house though are not potty trained outside they are trained to pee on towels that the lady lays down for them (she is to lazy to take them outside) but I don’t think that would confuse our dog since she’s not even in the same room as them. There are also dogs outside But our dog doesn’t have a problem with them they just do the occasional sniffing and then the outside dogs go on their way sometimes they play a little bit when they don’t my dog will just sit down at me feet/on my feet if I try to move away she runs to me and sits back down. I’ve even tried just walking and spent hours at a time outside and she still doesn’t go she will hold it until we are back inside (I’ve learned to carry her back inside and straight to the crate because if I don’t she will immediately run somewhere to use the bathroom before I can get her). If anyone knows why she is having such a problem using the bathroom outside I would love to know and anyone that has pointers on how to train her or if I’m doing something wrong please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12952" LastActivityDate="2018-09-14T13:18:02.180" Title="House breaking a 3 month old daschound that has never been in a house before now" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21325" CreationDate="2018-09-14T19:08:00.147" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably a silly question but I’m new to professional pet care, working as a dog sitter and walker, and generally an anxious guy for my own dog. Today I visited a dog with large tumors all over its body, as well as vestibular disease. I pet him, fed him, assisted him to his litter box, cleaned up after him, etc. I have heard that some dog cancers are contagious, are there any precautions I might want to take before I greet my own dog at home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12302" LastActivityDate="2018-09-14T23:21:22.880" Title="Should I take any precautions after touching a dog with cancer?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21322" CreationDate="2018-09-14T23:21:22.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's actually EXTREMELY rare for cancer itself to be contagious, with only three known examples in the entire animal kingdom. One of those examples is Canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT), but as I'm sure you can guess from its name, this is normally sexually transmitted, or by direct contact with the tumors, and therefore, as far as I am aware, not a risk of spreading to other dogs through contact with a human.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are, however, possibly diseases that may greatly increase the risk of cancer that may be contagious through human contact, which could have contributed to the dog's condition. It really depends on the disease in question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, as a pet sitter, you should be taking precautions to prevent the spread of illness, and this would reduce the risk of any of those diseases that could lead to cancer as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogflu.com/professionals/pet-sitter-and-dog-walkers-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.dogflu.com/professionals/pet-sitter-and-dog-walkers-tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basics are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insist on vet certification that the animals are up to date on their vaccinations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash your hands, and change or disinfect your clothes between contact with dogs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disinfect any equipment you use between dogs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not put dogs together that seem sick or do not have up to date vaccinations. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-14T23:21:22.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-15T00:56:06.387" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Could I condition them?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm gone for 10 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are toys laying around. I play with them once I'm home &amp;amp; through the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could I effecively condition them to not fight, in a way that doesn't require me and my girlfriend (who is also gone for the same 10 hour timeframe) to be home for it to work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Details&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One is male (Fearless)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One is female (Fatty)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same age (same litter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both fixed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They lived with 4 other cats. Once we moved, they were the only cats in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fatty &amp;amp; Fearless now altercate. The reason seemed clear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fatty &amp;amp; Fearless dominated the other 4 cats. Now, with the lack of competition, they're trying to claim dominance over each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;If your think the aggression is caused by something else, please mention in your answer&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can be near each other without fighting, however it's common for them to be chasing each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small scratches have been seen on both cats, including on the nose. Fearless seems to be the one chasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Fatty seems to be winning the fights, as Fearless tends to have more visible scratches, especially on his nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-09-15T03:12:18.533" Title="My 2 cats never faught each other. When we moved, fighting was common. How could I resolve this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-15T13:53:02.143" Score="3" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fourteen-year-old Weimaraner. He's mentally doing very well and still loves to play.  He recently stopped using one of his legs. He had been slightly limping on it for a while, but one day he stopped using it all together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of his advanced age, surgery isn't an option for us.  He spends most of his days laying down now, and I can tell it hurts when he walks around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We aren't 100% sure it's an ACL tear, but that was our vets best guess &lt;em&gt;(other than something untreatable like bone cancer)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had any experience putting leg braces on dogs for ACL tears?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7470" LastEditorUserId="11590" LastEditDate="2018-09-23T08:21:28.503" LastActivityDate="2018-09-23T08:21:28.503" Title="Do leg braces help with older dog ACL tears?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21302" CreationDate="2018-09-15T17:43:31.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some shelters also suspend or limit adoptions of black cats around Halloween for fear they will be tortured, or used as &quot;living decorations&quot; for the holiday and then abandoned&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cat#Superstition,_prejudice,_bringer_of_good_or_bad_luck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wiki - Black Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Delegated from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www-m.cnn.com/2014/10/31/living/black-cats-irpt/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CNN - To be a Black Cat on Halloween&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems there exist cases where black cats explicitly have lowered rates of adoption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as already mentioned, superstition isn't the only factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a previous answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it seems to be not necessarily the case that black cats are less wanted than other colors of cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was backed by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;total adoption numbers [for black cats] were also the highest of any color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And followed with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Black is simply a common color for cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be why the supersistion was conjured (don't take my word for it). With a higher amount of black animals, there's higher chance for an unwanted situation to occur while being around a black animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also tend to associate the color black with darkness. Darkness tends to be associated with evil. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dog_(ghost)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Even black dogs have their own lore.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without enough proper concrete data, it'll be hard to truly answer this question. Black is extremely common, and the reason for someone adopting an animal differs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, there do exist systems that prevent the adoption of black cats during certain times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2808" LastActivityDate="2018-09-15T17:43:31.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-16T07:09:18.830" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Golla, our 5 months old stray kitty was refusing food for about a week and has been having diarrhea. Yesterday evening he finally asked for food! we were really happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning he was in our bed and suddenly acted like he was going to vomit but pooped instead. Now he is not able to move, seemingly paralyzed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a vet appointment in the evening, what can we do now to make him feel better in the meantime?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12959" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-09-21T09:36:26.950" LastActivityDate="2018-09-21T09:36:26.950" Title="Why does my kitten seem to be paralyzed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-16T11:03:34.070" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two months ago I started dating my partner and his dog, a 6 year old Labrador. When I first met her she was excited, happy, and licked me all over. She was happy around everyone; we took her on trips where she met strangers and loved them.&#xA;One day at random she barked and growled at a male friend (a stranger to her), which was out of the ordinary for her personality. I thought she was just moody.&#xA;Then she's herself again, happy and loving&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real estate came to show new tenants the house and she wouldn't let the man into her yard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, a few weeks later, she's moved to my house on some land with my partner and I.&#xA;Suddenly, she wont tolerate anyone; she growls at my parents, my sister, and my friends. She acts scared and growls and runs away.&#xA;This is totally not like her.&#xA;I'm frustrated because of her dramatic attitude change, five weeks ago she was playing with strangers. I know moving can be traumatic. Can someone please give me some advice and tips and tricks? It would help me out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12961" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T18:57:13.230" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T18:57:40.737" Title="Female dog suddenly timid around men, scared of everyone after moving to a new home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21333" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-16T17:39:46.333" Score="3" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have ciclids and guppies and African frogs in a 30gal tank. I'm new to this and didn't realize I was supposed to quarantine new fish before introducing them. I introduced a ciclid with ich without knowing it. Now my other ciclids have ich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that a combination of ick medicine and heat (84F) can solve ich. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Can these fish and frogs survive 84F? In general, which common fish can't survive 84F? I assume I just heat it up slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Should I treat the 30gal tank, or transfer the fish to a smaller tank (filled with water from the larger tank) and treat them there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) In future during quarantine before introducing a new fish, do I just monitor it? Or can I put a small chemical cocktail (like some ich medicine) in the water for a few days to kill any bugs? If the latter, what chemicals/medicines do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12963" LastActivityDate="2018-09-16T17:39:46.333" Title="Saving fish from ick/ich" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-09-17T09:31:40.617" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21335" CreationDate="2018-09-16T17:47:50.140" Score="11" ViewCount="1078" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Question&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is about a tame goat, which is not mine and over which I have no long-term control.&#xA;The goat wears no sort of halter, but is completely bare.&#xA;This goat somehow managed to get into a double-door system intended to contain it.&#xA;I wanted to gently nudge that goat back to where it belongs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qUrG0.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qUrG0.png&quot; alt=&quot;Sketch of situation (top view)&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that goat being as stubborn as, well, a goat, this turned out to be quite a hassle.&#xA;Luring the goat with food did not work (though it instantly ate it as soon as it could reach it without moving).&#xA;I eventually succeeded by moving it sideways, but it was still tedious. I thus wonder whether there is a better way.&#xA;I want to avoid hurting or enraging the goat or myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Background&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my son’s favourite zoo, there is a goat-petting area with such a double-door system.&#xA;Often due to some careless visitors one or more goats get in between the doors.&#xA;As there often is no staff around and I have nothing better to do, I want to solve this issue myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5968" LastEditorUserId="5968" LastEditDate="2018-09-16T18:02:03.597" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:32.980" Title="How to efficiently move a goat?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;goats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21334" CreationDate="2018-09-16T18:35:30.283" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the goat isn't used to you, there's no guaranteed way to move it, but you could try sneaky ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Open the gate!&lt;/strong&gt; The goat will not want to walk into a corner of the fencing. By opening the gate you risk more goats following, but you show this one the way it should go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lure it with food (I know you tried that, just listing it for completeness). Since the goats are regularly fed by visitors, your chances are low but not non-existent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk side by side. This is very effective with most animals that are used to being led by a halter. You simply walk up closely to the goat from an angle behind, gently (!) pull it by the neck or beard and keep on walking to your destination. Avoid pulling by the horns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tap its body. You often see this technique when donkeys are used to pull a cart and the driver taps its behind with a stick. Since there are small children around you that love adopting bad habits, forget the stick. Just slightly slap its behind with your bare hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Block the path forward. That's most effective if the goat is moving, probably does nothing at all if it's standing still and might cause aggressiveness in extreme cases. You simply square your shoulders, spread your arms a little and block the path or move slowly towards the goat. Most animals recognize that as a dominant gesture and retreat (the alpha male might get aggressive). Leave one arms length of space between you and the animal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things you should avoid:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't push from behind. Humans make this mistake over and over again and goats, donkeys and sheep just shift their balance without moving a single hoof forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't pull them by the horns. The horns are their weapons and aren't used for friendly social interactions. Would &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; follow someone voluntarily who grabs your weapon and pulls you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't cause them any pain. Kind of obvious...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't ignore signs of aggressiveness. If the goat turns to face you directly and lowers its head (pointing its weapons towards you), stop immediately. If the goat takes a few steps back with a lowered head (taking a run-up to head-butt you), leave and close the gate immediately! Warn other visitors and inform the staff. (Again, this is just listed for completeness)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:06:32.980" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:32.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21276" CreationDate="2018-09-16T18:49:52.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is the hunting drive of your cat. It could be that you twitched in your sleep and triggered the attack of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she attacks people's legs or toes when they're walking by and dashes for any moving toy, she might have a strong hunting drive. Some cats simply have a stronger instinct than others, and it's a personality trait like in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's the case, you should offer more entertainment like toys and actual playtime (don't let the toys lie around, use them to play with your cat). Toys formed like fishing rods are very practical because you can let the cat run around a lot without moving too much yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T22:46:37.920" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:46:37.920" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-16T21:19:28.310" Score="6" ViewCount="1306" Body="&lt;p&gt;She could have just nestled down to nap and I’ll pet her gently. Even if it’s for a few seconds then she gets up and wants to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope she doesn’t take petting as a cue to play. How could I break the habit and let her continue resting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play with her every day for 5-10 minutes every few hours. She has no siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12918" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-12T16:09:34.510" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T15:14:29.983" Title="Why does my cat want to play when I pet her" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21366" CreationDate="2018-09-17T14:59:10.633" Score="8" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read several times now that cat's can't taste 'sweet' because they don't have the appropriate taste buds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one of ours seems to love sweet things - whenever we have cakes, biscuits etc she will be rubbing up against us or sniffing round hoping to find some crumbs she can eat. We're always careful to keep anything with Chocolate or raisins away from her as we know they're bad, but is there any problem with a few crumbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not the sugar, is there something else in cakes and biscuits/cookies that she's attracted to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2018-09-21T18:03:51.597" Title="Cat eating sweet things" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21331" CreationDate="2018-09-17T16:23:48.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I think that a vet trip is in order, just to make sure that everything is okay and that she is healthy and not in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, I think it would be wise to examine the dog's living conditions. Is the dog an inside dog that has now become an outside dog? Is the dog still being played with? Is the dog getting an amount of exercise that's right for it, and leaves it happily tired out? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-17T16:23:48.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21329" CreationDate="2018-09-17T16:24:56.557" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take the cat to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no other answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-17T16:24:56.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21320" CreationDate="2018-09-17T16:40:21.177" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a complicated situation with lots of aggravating factors!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 1: Vet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, a trip to the vet is in order for your 10 year old dog to make sure that she is okay and doesn't have a medical issue that is causing her to have issues. If your dog has a medical issue and you just try to house-train again, it will fail because of the issue and the dog will be all the sicker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 2: Get on the same page&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, you and your boyfriend need to be on the same page with the dog training, or else your boyfriend will undo all of the training that you have done. It sounds like your boyfriend might be sleep-deprived and feeling hopeless in the situation, so try your best to outline a plan and the both of you stick to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;100% of dog owners who go to work still have house-trained animals, so his excuse is absurd. It is not okay for the dog to go to the bathroom inside, especially when you have a young infant. It's really gross to have animal waste on the floor everywhere like an episode of animal hoarders! If your boyfriend does not care about the dog anymore, it would be better to give the dog up for adoption. I would also try to alert him or have him clean the messes every time that one happens so that he is aware of how big a problem that it is - he may think that it only happens once a month when this is a once-a-day issue. House training a dog is not that hard, it just takes 100% consistency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 3: Clean the messes with special cleaner&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, all of the spots where the dog has fouled the house need to be cleaned with a special pet cleaner that contains Pet Enzymes. If it doesn't say that it contains those enzymes, even if it says &quot;pet&quot;, then the cleaner isn't good enough. Now, if the dog keeps going in the same spot each time, that means you need to have a professional carpet cleaning crew come out and treat that spot, because the dog can still smell that an animal has gone potty here (herself!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 4: Potty training - again!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, the dog needs to be re-potty trained all over again, so this is going to mean several months of the dog either being in a safe spot, or being actively watched. I strongly suggest getting a large kennel that will be like the dog's &quot;room&quot;. This will also give you a break when you need to go to work, or to take care of something with the baby. Personally, I have found even that trying to actively watch my dog, I forget, and it wanders away, so I got a long leash that gave the dog access to water and everything else, but not long enough to go find a place to hide an inside potty-accident. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step 5 : Making it easier to go outside&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later, when your dog is house trained again, the next step is to make sure that your yard is escape-free, so you can let your dog out. Maybe even you might want to get a doggie door. Maybe you want to get a flood light that turns on automatically so that dog won't have to be in the dark. But if you simply do this now, your dog will continue to have accidents because it has forgotten its house training and it's nicer to poop inside on the nice clean floors, rather than outside.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the dog hides its business inside because she knows that she will get in trouble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-17T16:40:21.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-17T21:56:27.403" Score="2" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;my Bengal cat got out onto the balcony.  I didn't even know he got out.  The next morning we couldn't find him in the house and I remembered I had the door open to the balcony for 10 minutes.  We went to look for him and found him in the front under bushes.  This was Saturday morning and it's Monday afternoon now.  He's eating a little and keeps licking his paws.  He walks fine and can jump.  He just isn't the same.  He's not playful, no more crazy zooming sessions. He used to meow when I got home and greet me at the door.  I know when cats get stressed it takes a day or 2 to get better but it's day 3.  I have an apt. with the vet for tomorrow just in case.  thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12968" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T06:29:41.000" Title="My cat jumped from the balcony!!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-09-19T08:13:13.023" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2018-09-17T23:18:18.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You 'know' if a cat is in pain because it will hide and cry. If you would get fluids from your vet, you could give your cat fluids to ease the strain on the kidneys. Your cat is not eating much because she probably feels nauseated sometimes - this is symptomatic of kidney disease. I have been through this several times with elderly cats, it is a common problem in the aging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was give my cat/s fluids subcutaneously - you can start with 10ml a couple of times a week, then increase dosage frequency to every other day.  Maybe every day, depending on how advanced the kidney disease is. Believe me, it will help your cat a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and change vets! You need to go to someone who can help you 'manage' your cat's kidney disease, not write it off as if she was a goner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do this, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12969" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:12:14.477" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:12:14.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21344" CreationDate="2018-09-18T06:29:41.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking him to the vet to have a check is always a good idea after a bad fall like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until then what you can do is gently check for any unusual hardness in the soft tissue, especially around the stomach. Don't put too much pressure on it, though. Also keep an eye on whether it seems painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can gently put some pressure on the joints, especially the legs, by holding them in your hand and just kind of gently apply a little bit of pressure. What you are looking for is a pain response, or any unusual lumps. Do the same for the entire legs to check for lumps, pain response, or possible breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is the neck and spine, gently running your fingers along the top and sides from ears to tail (can easily be done with three fingers fairly quickly), then along tail by simply running it through your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check the mobility of the joints (wrists, knees and shoulder/hips), mainly if there is any pain response (be extra careful here, it's both uncomfortable, and has the highest chance of making any damage worse). And along the ribcage and jaw, again looking for lumps or pain responses. And lastly checking the skull for lumps, damage, fractures, or pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; important to be gentle, you shouldn't need to use much if any pressure. This should avoid making any injuries worse, and will help your vet when you drop by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do keep in mind that pain is something cats are naturally conditioned to hide, so signs can be subtle. But you should note a reluctance to be touched in painful areas, signs of discomfort or annoyance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: This is stuff you should be doing regularly on your pet, for example very discreetly during cuddling sessions. It will keep you familiar with how your pet should feel, and will alert you early to most issues that are common in cats. This will also give you a very good baseline to determine if any reaction to touch is just annoyance, or if it's painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T06:29:41.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21337" CreationDate="2018-09-18T13:51:21.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best guess (and it is just a guess) is that your cat is bored, and jumps at the chance of any kind of active interaction with you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5-10 minutes once or twice a day is not likely to satisfy the needs of most normal young to middle-aged cats, so unless yours is &quot;elderly&quot; is likely that she's starved for attention and/or play time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Typical lifestyles today don't often allow us a lot of time to play with our pets (and perhaps that's why you have a cat instead of a dog?), but often the easiest way to satisfy a cat's need for more play and attention is to have a compatible playmate around.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I were you I'd strongly consider getting another cat, and perhaps look at the option of &quot;fostering&quot; one for a period of a few weeks to see how they get along before making the commitment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10852" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T13:51:21.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21350" CreationDate="2018-09-18T18:41:21.727" Score="4" ViewCount="1203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was walking near a park around the neighborhood and encountered a cat. It approached me, meowed, laid on the ground and stretched in front of me and I continued walking without petting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I was curious about its tail- as it walks, its tail lines up against its back (pictured in my masterpiece below)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When it laid on the ground its tail did move around but once it got back up its tail went back to &quot;sticking&quot; against its back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vIeG9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vIeG9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat with tail stuck to back&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is the cat's tail doing that?&lt;/strong&gt; I found a helpful diagram on Google but I didn't find what I was looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GtMGq.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GtMGq.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12971" LastActivityDate="2018-09-21T18:14:56.923" Title="What does this cat's tail mean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21349" CreationDate="2018-09-18T19:37:57.393" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is not a normal tail position for a cat. In fact, I don't think cats normally can lay their tails on their back like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the cat you saw may just have a kink in its tail that is causing the strange position. This can happen from normal genetic variation, or from a break in the tail not healing correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T19:37:57.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21334" CreationDate="2018-09-18T21:29:47.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a goat owner, and someone who has owned horses and donkeys, the best way (if food does not motivate) is to get behind the animal and wave your arms up and down (like in a &quot;stop&quot; manner if you were on a road and needed someone to stop) while verbally (loudly) commanding the goat to move toward the open gate. Keep your eyes trained on them. This has worked for years for me. Not that the animal understands &quot;move&quot; but they know you are upset and commanding them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also what food were you using for enticement? If goat feed doesn't work, then try some super green leafy alfalfa. You might give some to the goats on the other side first so the goat you want to move gets &quot;jealous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10481" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T21:29:47.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21329" CreationDate="2018-09-18T21:40:16.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened to my cat once; in her case, she was stung by a scorpion. The vet initially said she had a stroke, but later we knew it was a scorpion sting. RLB is correct. You need to take the cat to the vet because she needs medicine for what her body is dealing with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10481" LastActivityDate="2018-09-18T21:40:16.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1856" CreationDate="2018-09-19T09:40:36.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not impossible nor even slightly hard to remove black algae. I've had it in all of my tanks mainly because of scheduling. I leave my aquariums running 24-7. I've even bought used tanks with that are covered in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fill the tank, let it cycle and drop in some of my snails. I'm aware most people hate snails, but they're actually a really great cleaning crew. For instance, I picked up a 20 gallon tank a few moths ago. It was loaded with black algae. It took the snails about 7 to 10 days to clear the tank and I'm now using it for gourami.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12978" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-09-20T09:54:16.727" LastActivityDate="2018-09-20T09:54:16.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17005" CreationDate="2018-09-19T09:59:28.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, is there anything else that's different with your cat? perhaps a trip to the vet can at least clear up any possible health concern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the issue is not medical, to test @Melanie's theory, you could try feeding your cat in a different location? perhaps move to a smaller and more secure place (like the bathroom). And see if she will start eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you didn't mention whether you have other cats in the house, they could be threatening her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the &quot;old&quot; way of you feeding her is not working, perhaps now it's an opportunity to get her to eat by herself? (honestly, I admire your patience to hand-feed her for 3 years!!). Same thing with my suggestion above, leave the cat and the food in a small, safe (by her standard), and quiet space and leave her to eat by herself. Check on her after a few moments to see if she eats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12541" LastActivityDate="2018-09-19T09:59:28.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21357" CreationDate="2018-09-20T07:58:27.760" Score="6" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a kitten that's about 5 months old and has been diagnosed with FIP (Feline infectious peritonitis) 12 days ago. Since then she's been on treatment with Prednisolone, antibiotics and, for the last 8 days, feline interferon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had the fluid in her abdomen drained 8 days ago, and yesterday the veterinarian tried to do it again, but it was too viscous to drain with a syringe, so they said that it couldn't be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone encountered this situation before and knows a solution? I'd really want to have the fluid drain to improve her survival chances and comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12983" LastEditorUserId="12983" LastEditDate="2018-09-20T13:07:20.193" LastActivityDate="2019-11-21T14:15:19.377" Title="FIP fluid too viscous to drain" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21356" CreationDate="2018-09-20T14:52:24.070" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet would have to make a bigger hole. Usually a 19G butterfly catheter is big enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The downside, especially in a kitten that has lost weight and muscle, or does not like to hold still is that when using a larger gauge needle there is a much higher chance that the hole will not close up immediately when finished. Kittens with FIP start to lose muscle diffusely, including abdominal muscles which will not contract back as well. This means that peritoneal fluid could start to leak into the subcutaneous tissues or directly out of the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to say that with effusive FIP you and your vet need a very frank conversation. Repeated draining of the abdomen does provide short-term relief but the effusion will come back again, if not worse. The prognosis is grave, and the chance of survival even with aggressive treatment is very poor. Euthanasia, as terrible as it is to consider in a young kitten, is often the most humane option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your treatment for this little kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2018-09-20T15:09:02.587" LastActivityDate="2018-09-20T15:09:02.587" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-20T17:54:43.757" Score="2" ViewCount="11878" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3-year-old non-fixed male dog has randomly started to lick anything with dog urine on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His fixed 4-year-old male dog brothers paws, penis, the floor where he walks after coming in and trying to hump him. I left today and when I came home he has peed on his brothers face and the kitchen floor &lt;em&gt;(believe to be humping his brothers face)&lt;/em&gt;. Has never done anything like this and I'm wondering if its health issue because I'm due with our first child in 2 weeks and want my boys to be healthy before baby arrives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't seem to be in any pain eats, drinks, pees and poops outside regularly and also sleeps his night without issue but will constantly follow his brother around trying to lick anything with pee smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12988" LastEditorUserId="11590" LastEditDate="2018-09-23T08:20:33.793" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:45:15.030" Title="Dog randomly trying to lick pee" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10391" CreationDate="2018-09-20T18:59:24.530" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A vet here in the Philippines recommended 6 months after having kittens. That would be 6 more heats to go through, and does not agree with all the other experts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12989" LastActivityDate="2018-09-20T18:59:24.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21358" CreationDate="2018-09-20T21:31:32.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be any number of things but I suspect that it is some combination of :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the 3 year old being the leader and exerting dominance (humping) on his brother, especially if the 4 year old is submissive or if they are meeting at your (the 3 year old's) house/territory. Sometimes once dogs gain confidence, they begin humping a lot, and it can happen like a light switch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the 4 year old having some sort of health issue and the 3 year old trying to &quot;help&quot; out and/or hide/cover his smell&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some sort of dietary deficiency in the 3 year old causing him to find what he needs in his friend's urine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the changes in your body and hormones as your baby gets ready&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dogs will also act unpredictably when a bitch in heat is nearby&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like sending people to the vet unnecessarily but I think a vet trip is in order for both dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-20T21:31:32.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19898" CreationDate="2018-09-20T21:45:31.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, and it's not worth it to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like people, dogs have other dogs that they are or -aren't- friends with. It can have to do with their energy levels to doggie manners to memories of other encounters with other dogs. If they act this way when they are afar, you can be sure that getting them closer will result in a dog fight. Keep in mind that once a dog fight starts, it's likely not going to stop on its own, which means that a human has to intervene and it's especially easy to get bit breaking up a dog fight. Dog fights can and have resulted in dead or fatally injured dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are rules and laws in different countries regarding dogs who have bitten humans, for example, in some places dogs must be surrendered for destruction on their second bite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are absolutely dead set on these dogs becoming friends, I would hire a professional dog trainer to come help you. At their level of violence, and with both dogs being aggressive and one dog nearly having bitten you before, I would not trust the internet or a book or youtube video to help, I really think that you need a professional. It may be that both dogs may need professional rehabilitation and help to become non-aggressive dogs, first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see from this long reply, this isn't a casual affair. It would be better for passing fancies to be put to rest here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-20T21:45:31.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21339" CreationDate="2018-09-21T18:03:51.597" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My research so far indicates that cats indeed &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-cats-cannot-taste-sweets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cannot taste sweet&lt;/a&gt;. Many types of cat food contain sugar nontheless, mostly as preservative and to give it a (for humans) tasty looking brown color. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your post lets me assume that you are well aware that some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/e_ct_human_food_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;common ingredients in human food are toxic to cats&lt;/a&gt;. Avoid feeding any of those, even in small quantities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the protein that influences the taste of food most for cats. Since cookies usually don't contain meat, I doubt it's the taste attracting your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There could be a number of different reasons why your cat wants some of the cookies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might be simple curiosity. You are putting human-kibbles into your mouth and your cat recognizes that you're eating them. So she wants some, too. Especially the crunchy sound of cookies might wake her interest, since it sounds quite like a cat munching on a mouse, including bones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She might be expecting different food. Cats are very intelligent and know that people sitting at tables and the clatter of cuttlery on porcelain means that there's food nearby. Maybe she hopes for a piece of meat and gets sweets instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She might like the texture of those foods. Cakes and cookies have very different textures, so I'm not sure about this one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The act of sharing food is a sign of love for cats (That's why many cat owners find half-eaten mice or birds parked on the doormat). She might expect the same gesture from you, even if your gift doesn't taste as good as hers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She might not be asking for food at all, but for pets. Maybe she associates your eating cookies with being caressed and with social interactions in general. If you usually sit down to eat any of these, she has a perfect opportunity to interact with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe there actually is something in those cookies that tastes good to her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-09-21T18:03:51.597" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21349" CreationDate="2018-09-21T18:14:56.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was able to dig up some more information. The cat I encountered may have been an &quot;American ringtail cat&quot;. Like Kai has mentioned in the other answer, the tail bend may be caused by a genetic variation or mutation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T4Lbz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T4Lbz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;American ringtail cat&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The American Ringtail Cat (also known as the Ringtail Sing-a-Ling) is a fairly new experimental breed that started with a rescued cat named Solomon in 1998. When Susan Manley found him, he was a 2-day-old kitten who needed to be bottle-fed in order to survive. As he grew and reached the age of 4 weeks, she noticed that he had a unique tail that would curl over his back.&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  After having Solomon examined by a veterinarian, it was determined that there was no underlying medical issue or deformity that caused his tail to curl. The cat seemed perfectly comfortable and content, holding his tail curled over his back when relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this chart outlines the Ringtail tail range in the blue box below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZMO5U.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZMO5U.png&quot; alt=&quot;Cat tail types&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petguide.com/breeds/cat/american-ringtail-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petguide.com/breeds/cat/american-ringtail-cat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://messybeast.com/curly-tailed.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://messybeast.com/curly-tailed.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12971" LastActivityDate="2018-09-21T18:14:56.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21358" CreationDate="2018-09-21T18:34:00.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This behavior might be caused by the hormones your body is producing during pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalwised.com/why-does-my-dog-lick-urine-of-other-dogs-1647.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AnimalWised&lt;/a&gt; explains that dogs have a special sensory organ:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[T]he vomeronasal organ, also known as Jacobson's organ. This organ is located in the vomer bone, between the mouth and the nose of the dog and is responsible for transmitting information to the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jacobson's organ is responsible for analyzing large molecules, such as pheromones and other compounds. This plays a crucial role in hunting, reproduction, the perception of environment or the social relationships of dogs. It is therefore a fundamental organ for dogs to decipher information related to other dogs such as their food, &lt;strong&gt;sex or estrous cycle.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Urine has a strong smell, especially for dogs. A female dog would excrete high amounts of hormones with her urine when she gets into heat. Male dogs would examine the urine with their Jacobson's organ to check whether the female is conception ready. This automatically increases the hormone production in the male as well, making him more dominant and ready to fight for the big prize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might be reacting to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; hormones or pheromones and constantly checking the urine of your female dog to see when she is conception ready. &lt;strong&gt;This all is perfectly natural and instinctual behavior.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you keep an eye on both dogs during the next days and weeks. Check their weight to be sure they're not loosing weight and keep an eye on how much they eat and drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your female loses weight or drinks much more than usual, she could have diabetes&lt;/strong&gt;, which makes her urine taste sweet. If you see any unusual behavior or weight loss, please see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T21:45:15.030" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:45:15.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21331" CreationDate="2018-09-21T19:22:00.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21340/12501&quot;&gt;answer from rlb.usa&lt;/a&gt; that she might be in pain. Additionally, she might be unsettled by the change in &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; relationship with her owner caused by &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; relationship with her owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are basically a new member of the pack, so the hierarchy was disturbed. You boyfriend might interact with her differently or maybe less than usual, which unsettles her more. Then add the move into a new house. That's all very stressful for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a dog, our human world is very complex and chaotic. If she has the feeling that her owner is no longer asserting his dominance, she might feel obliged to become the pack leader herself. Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21022/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to get an idea why this might cause aggressive behavior and what to do against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I advice you to buy a crate for the dog, if you don't have one yet. The crate must be big enough for her to stand up and lay down comfortably in and it must have a pillow or blanket to be a comfortable place for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This will become her safe haven&lt;/strong&gt;. Her crate is her place alone, you don't go in there. The crate should always be associated with positive feelings, so you may sit down and pet her in the crate and give her treats. She must never be scolded or reprimanded while being in her crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then start training with her:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get her used to being locked into the crate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She should sleep in the crate every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train with her to send her into the crate by command.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever she growls at someone or shows bad behavior, send her into the crate and lock her in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Invite your neighbors onto your property but explain that your dog might growl. If she does growl, lock her into the crate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on her behavior, you can let her out of the crate after 10-20 minutes (give her time to calm down) or after your visitors left.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach was recommended to us by a professional dog psychologist / dog whisperer. Our dog was mistreated as a puppy and badly socialized. He is extremely insecure when interacting with humans, which often turns into aggression. It's a great way to give him time to process what's going on around him and see that the visitors are no danger to the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T18:57:40.737" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T18:57:40.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-22T03:40:11.033" Score="7" ViewCount="551" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Coleonyx gecko dropped her tail yesterday and I thought it could have been my cat or a cricket that scared her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(9/21)&#xA;Today I came home and checked on her and I thought she was dead. Her mouth was open slightly, her legs were all back and straightened.&#xA;She felt stiff but then I saw she would blink and she was breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her out and held her for a while and I put her in a carrier tank and she squeaked, kind of lunged forward, and I think she had a seizure and a clear liquid and some yellowy white chunky liquid came out pretty fast, so I assumed she just peed and pooped. This would be her first time seizing too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been expecting her to lay an egg soon and I realized later on that she's been having contractions and trying to push. She becomes tired and stops for a while. She's tried again 2 more times and the last time some more liquids came out. But now she's holding her tail up and she pushes for a bit and then her legs start to shake and she's been spreading them far from her body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's become pale (I realized later she was shedding) and the egg doesn't look like it's moved at all. &#xA;I don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't take her to the vet due to personal circumstances that can't be changed.&#xA;And I'm just really worried for her that I've even been depriving myself of sleep so that I can continue to see how she's doing. Any advice would be very useful. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;9/23&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to be doing better. She's sleeping a lot. I can't touch her at all right now because when I was going to move her back to her tank last night she froze and started seizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10/4 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked her a bit ago and her stomachs smaller and wrinkled. There're no eggs in the tank. A week ago I noticed her jaw is a bit crooked now and today she seems dizzy when walking. I tried to feed her a meal worm and she tried to eat it, but she's not able to catch it or keep it in her mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11/17&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been doing pretty well now. She laid her eggs last month and hasn't had any more. She's been shedding nicely, but now she won't eat. I would bring her mealworms and she'd be excited, but now she closes her eyes when I show them to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11/24&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She hasn't opened her eyes for 3 days. She looks around when there's noise but won't open her eyes. She won't eat and now I think I have to try force feeding, since she hasn't tried eating for about 2 weeks. I'm really worried about her. I never wanted to force feed, but I can't let her starve herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11/25&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fed her today and she seemed to be doing okay, but now Im worried I did something wrong. I didn't open her mouth. I let her lick from the syringe. She did something like a death roll a night ago after dropping her face into some food I left for her, and now shes been spitting up some clear mucus. She opens her mouth and I've looked inside and nothing seems to be blocking her throat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12996" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T16:41:26.417" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T16:41:26.417" Title="Something's wrong with my gecko" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2018-09-22T18:04:17.327" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ny silky terrier stopped eating so vet took test and found his blood test chemistry showed beginning of a kidney problem. He lost his appetite because kidney seems to affect the smell and taste.  I'm not saying your furpets have such a problem just mentioning it for my petbaby.  Sometime they just don't like the smell of certain bowls or pick up on what it's on or just don't like the smell anymore .... it could be anything.  But a clean had is much better than a bowl anyday from whoever it is that loves them.  (:(:  P.S.  He's okay now but sometime wants the hand....!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12998" LastActivityDate="2018-09-22T18:04:17.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21374" CreationDate="2018-09-22T19:48:17.870" Score="3" ViewCount="389" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am hoping to eventually buy some land (at least 4 acres) outside the city, and I plan on adopting a bunch of &amp;quot;undesirable&amp;quot; (seniors, &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; breeds, ugly, unfriendly, etc.) dogs. They would be indoor pets, but I would have a doggy door for them to come and go as they please when I am not at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I would likely poop scoop close to the house, but I don't want to have to worry about most of the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the minimum amount of land I would need for 1 average sized dog, to not have to poop scoop? Is half an acre (roughly &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of an NFL field) per dog enough?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few sub-questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How would your answer change if the land was forested vs if it was dirt or grass?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about climate? I live in Northern Virginia; we have &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; seasons.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would their diet change the equation?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: Ignore any laws you might know of regarding poop scooping, or any environmental impact from poop. You can assume I will follow all local laws, yadda yadda yadda...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12999" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T00:19:50.153" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T00:19:50.153" Title="How much land is required to not poop scoop for average sized dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21373" CreationDate="2018-09-22T21:12:31.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could put 6 dogs on a quarter acre and not have the poop take over.  It dissolves into the soil after time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My two dogs have 6' x 20' and I only clean it out a couple times a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-09-22T21:12:31.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21376" CreationDate="2018-09-22T22:01:29.987" Score="7" ViewCount="2198" Body="&lt;p&gt;My beautiful cat Kisses was with me for 10 years. She was probably 12ish. I found her outside when she was a young adult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Monday she was diagnosed with renal disease. She had thrown up 20 times the night before I took her to the vet. They ran lab tests and gave IV fluid for 3 days. Her creatinine levels and BUN both went down and she started to eat very small amounts but it was at least something. I gave subcutaneous fluids at home for 2 days along with a plethora of medications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, not even a week after diagnosis, she didn't eat or drink at all. She hid under the bed and didn't move much. I was going to take her to the vet once they opened. I kept checking on her and she seemed okay, still hiding under the bed, but not in distress. Then 30 minutes before I went to take her to the vet I went to check on her again. She had moved to a dark corner in the closet. She was breathing fast. 70-120x a minute. She barely had any strength but would stand if I made her and take a few steps and lay down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rushed her to the vet before they even opened. Her body temp was 97.1. The vet (of 36 years) recommended euthanasia. She thinks maybe her heart was failing. I told her I'd do anything to save her. She said I could take her to a 24 hr emergency vet and have mute testing but she thought anything I would do was futile. I made the roughest decision in my life to let her go peacefully. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone ever had this experience with a cat going so fast? I mean she was healthy and then diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease and then less than a week she was in real bad shape. Did I make the right decision? I feel terrible guilt. She is my soulmate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13000" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-01-29T03:17:48.570" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T03:17:48.570" Title="Cat euthanasia. Kidneys shut down" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21375" CreationDate="2018-09-22T22:33:48.903" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I hear, it's typical for a cat with kidney disease to have their health go critical very suddenly, and when that happens, then it is definitely time. With a human, you could put them on dialysis, or give them a kidney transplant, but these are not available for cats, nor do I think they would be very good treatment options for them if we could do that, because cats are not sentient enough to cooperate with such treatments.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it is worth, I also had a cat that had the beginnings of kidney disease, but it was stable, for years and years. But then all of sudden, the kidney disease went critical, and in a couple days she went from normal to being unable to move.  We, of course, had to euthanize her too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you made the right decision, and you should not feel guilty about it. There is only so much you can do, because kidney disease is always eventually terminal. It sounds like it was, unfortunately, just her time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very sorry for your loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-09-22T22:33:48.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-23T05:07:51.603" Score="1" ViewCount="873" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, about a month ago my gecko of three years died i'm still devasted to this day..It was a heart breaking moment...she was not eating at all nor drinking my dad said she was laying her infertile eggs so I relaxed a bit (my dad talked to a vet) and her stomach started to swell a lot she had dead skin stuck to her hands which made her put her arms a weird way when she slept. She also started to not move at all, all she ever did was sleep and it started concerning me. She had lip and eye infections. Her name was Plinxton. We were going to take her to the vet but sadly the night before we were going to...she passed away I know y'all are going to say &quot;how do you know she was dead?&quot; well, for starters she wasn't breathing anymore. She was even limper than what she was. She had no heart beat. Lastly she was pale. She was in so much pain she couldn't lift her lower part of her body. I miss her soo much. Does anyone of you know what my gecko had? please and thank you for reading this..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12908" LastActivityDate="2018-09-23T05:07:51.603" Title="Why did my gecko die?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21373" CreationDate="2018-09-23T10:25:37.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the general climate and soil condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does the poop go? It has to be dissolved by water and absorbed by the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In freezing temperatures, poop freezes as well (kind of obvious) and won't break down at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In hot, dry weather, the poop dries out. It's less dangerous to step on it, but it won't go anywhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There has to be enough rain to dissolve the poop over time. Depending on how much rain you usually get, it takes 1 - 3 rainy days to dissolve a turd completely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the soil is very compact, muddy or loamy, it cannot absorb the dissolved poop. You may not see any turds lying around, but the smell and bacteria are still there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, dogs like to designate a certain area as their toilet that has light vegetation. But they avoid the smell of their own excrements, which leads to turds spreading out over the toilet area if you don't scoop it up or it doesn't dissolve fast enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T09:04:48.427" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T09:04:48.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15730" CreationDate="2018-09-23T20:58:31.227" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a Sebaceous Cyst. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sebaceous cyst is a blocked sebaceous gland. Sebaceous glands secrete sebum around hairs.The sebum helps to guard agaist infection.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/sebaceous-cysts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/sebaceous-cysts&lt;/a&gt;)&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_gland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_gland&lt;/a&gt;)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10479" LastEditorUserId="10479" LastEditDate="2018-10-06T21:51:32.207" LastActivityDate="2018-10-06T21:51:32.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-24T00:38:51.100" Score="4" ViewCount="1292" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my adult dog (Mabel) is being purposely scared off by my new kitten. We have another kitten (Mezzy) we got a few days ago but has a few more days at home than New Cat. But Mezzy is well mannered and gets along just fine with Mabel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mabel has been with me since 2014 and she was a rescue. She was always skittish/nervous but she's gotten better about it since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, I don't want Mabel to run to me because New Cat is purposely threatening her and hisses at her to get out of his way whenever he walks past her. He purposely runs after Mabel when she runs away or is near him even though she doesn't want to hurt New Cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want Mabel to show her dominance as she did with Mezzy when he tried biting her tail/jumping on her in order to scare her. But Mezzy never hisses at her and they're okay around each other. But she's so scared of New Cat and refuses to scare him off properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want her to feel unsafe in my household because she's very important to me. I don't live at home and I'll be heading back to college in a week. I don't wanna leave her here in fear or severely stressed in her own environment!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13004" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-09-30T10:35:15.123" LastActivityDate="2018-09-30T10:35:15.123" Title="New kitten is scaring off my dog" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21382" CreationDate="2018-09-24T13:01:07.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is Mabel considerably larger than New Cat? I assume so, since New Cat is a kitten. There's an interesting phenomenon I've noticed: in absence of actual evidence people are statistically more likely to blame the bigger dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My grandmother had a miniature pinscher, my aunt had a big muscular labrador. Whenever they played and it got rough, the labrador was &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; told off for being too rough.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It took me ages to convince my family that the pinscher was the aggressor. It was actually biting and fighting, whereas the labrador merely pushed the little one away. Nonetheless, the labrador was told off for interacting (nicely - relatively speaking) with the pinscher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, the labrador was afraid of small animals, because it was so often punished for even kindly interacting with them. Unsurprisingly, the pinscher was a real asshole for most of its life. It was basically spoiled and always given what it wanted, and allowed to be aggressive when it didn't get what it wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same may be true for Mabel. Maybe you inadvertently taught it, maybe it's from a previous owner; but if she's been told off for interacting with smaller animals (through what I jokingly refer to as &quot;sizeism&quot;), then she might have been trained to not interact with small animals (and by extension yield to them when conflicts arise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are known for their ability to learn from positive/negative feedback (trainability is one of their major traits). Less well known is the fact that dogs can also learn &lt;em&gt;as a third party&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. when they are not the recipient of the negative feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, if you give negative feedback to New Cat &lt;em&gt;as if you were talking to a dog&lt;/em&gt; (so Mabel understands what you're saying), then Mabel will learn that New Cat is at fault for the interaction that caused Mabel to run away.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;New Cat is likely not going to understand your feedback (although I have had success with my cats, it took a long time to take root), but the focus is to make Mabel understand that she's not in the wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously don't overdo it in a way that you paint New Cat as a villain, because then Mabel may take it too far as well. Simply point the blame at whoever is to blame, and make sure to have the wronged party &lt;em&gt;observe&lt;/em&gt; that blame is pointed at the other party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T13:01:07.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21382" CreationDate="2018-09-24T14:53:55.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say the cat is the aggressor here, but from the cat's point of view, it may also feel threatened. The dog is likely bigger than it, since you say the cat is a kitten, and one way cats react to being threatened is to try to look threatening themselves. Therefore I think the goal shouldn't be to make the dog stand up for itself so much as to try to calm BOTH animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest separating the two, by keeping them in separate areas of the house, then trying a gradual re-introduction. Find a distance at which the two can be in the same area, and not have any bad reaction, then reward them. Very slowly decrease this distance. Keep sessions short, so the animals don't get too stressed.  If there is any bad reaction, you need to slow down the pace. Unfortunately, a week is probably not enough time to do this, so you will need to enlist the help of whoever is taking care of them while you are away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be that some specific thing is triggering the bad interactions, like the dog is accidentally blocking the cat's access to food, water, its box, etc. Try to think of if there are any possible triggers, and possible solutions you can do to mitigate them. For example, in the case of the dog being in the cat's way, it might help to make up a room the dog can't get into, and put the cat's things in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it may turn out that the animals are simply incompatible, in which case it is best to keep them separated. It is not always the case that you can convince them to get along. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-09-24T15:01:48.337" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T15:01:48.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-24T17:53:04.020" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am buying a bearded dragon and have never had a reptile before I wasn't sure what to use on the bottom of the tank I was just gonna use reptile sand only but i wasn't exactly sure what to put.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13005" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T17:53:04.020" Title="I wanted to know what all i should put in in the bottom of a bearded dragon tank" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-09-25T13:50:50.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2018-09-24T18:18:58.783" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the situation is more that your dog doesn't like to eat under certain circumstances, and that he wants to eat when everything is calm, quiet, and still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it is time to feed him, recreate a calm, quiet, and still situation. Perhaps play some games on your phone with the volume low. Try doing this where he can see you and eat at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also see if the hand-feeding is tied to other preferences around his eating circumstances, such as the cleanliness of the bowl, preferring a different material of bowl, or preferring a raised bowl rather than the bowl being on the floor. Many pet stores will let you try their products with your dog in-store, but if you aren't sure, you can ask an employee if it would be okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest concern in hand-feeding situations is that it can be covering up a health alert that the dog doesn't want to eat his food at all. But this doesn't sound like your situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a dog that is both picky and sensitive, and we had to investigate all of their preferences in order to get the most consistent eating as possible. Your situation is uncommon, but not unheard of, and the take-away is that it isn't the hand-feeding but something around it that your dog is preferring more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T18:18:58.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21382" CreationDate="2018-09-24T18:44:04.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try confronting them in a controlled manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sit down on the floor and start petting New Cat. Calm him down and make him comfortable. He should at least lay down on his side, even better if he purrs. Then call Mabel to you and pet her as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important part is that &lt;strong&gt;you are the buffer between both animals&lt;/strong&gt;. Have each of them on opposite sides of you and keep them at (both) arms length apart. If Mable wants to go to New Cat, hold her back. If New Cat wants to chase Mabel, he has to go through you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch New Cats body language when you call Mable. He will most likely lift his head, fix Mable with his gaze and whip his tail around. This is acceptable behavior. If he sits or stands up, he's getting ready to fight Mable. Then you must be very carefull and should stop Mables approach immediately. Be aware that you might be scratches if you try to hold New Cat back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've pet them enough (just a few minutes is enough), first send Mabel away in the opposite direction of New Cat. Then stand up and walk away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By this method you demonstrate to both animals that they can be close to each other without fighting. Repeat the controlled confrontation every day to get them used to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-09-24T18:44:04.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-25T05:48:23.613" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am 12 and my favorite plush yoshi started getting chewed on.&#xA;The puppies are 2-3 months old and we havent been able to train them at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13007" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T09:08:53.193" Title="How do i stop my untrainable puppies from chewing on plush toy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21392" CreationDate="2018-09-25T09:08:53.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that you're not going to get a 2-3 month-old puppy to not chew things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a phase that they all go through. Human babies go through it as well. We call it &quot;teething&quot; and we have many safe things that we give our babies to gnaw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're going to need to do is, firstly, make sure they can't get to your toys. Second, get toys that they may chew. These are easy to find at pet shops, vets, or many supermarkets. If you find them chewing something they should not, take it away and replace it with something that they may.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not scold, spank, or reprimand them in any way. It won't help and you'll end up with fearful puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2-3 months is very young for a puppy. I would not expect a puppy of that age to be trained. It takes time to train them. Patience and consistency are key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a book which I have used to train many puppies. It is Complete Puppy School, by Dr. Quixi Sonntag (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1845371739&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Puppy-School-quixi-sonntag/dp/1845371739&lt;/a&gt;). I would recommend that you get a copy and work through it. You and your puppies will learn a lot from it. If you can't get your own copy, you could look for it at your local library, or you could look for other puppy training books at the library, second-hand book stores, etc, or find a puppy training web-site. Or, come chat to us in The Litter Box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no such thing as an untrainable puppy. Some just take more patience than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T09:08:53.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-25T12:15:01.927" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CVmXi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these eggs and if so what should I do with them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13009" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-09-26T12:36:28.260" LastActivityDate="2018-09-26T12:36:28.260" Title="Are these fish eggs..and if so what should I do with them?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21394" CreationDate="2018-09-25T13:33:55.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are snail eggs. I had a snail lay eggs at the top of my tank once too. If you leave them alone they will eventually hatch into dozens of tiny snails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13011" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T13:33:55.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21371" CreationDate="2018-09-25T13:48:15.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seizures in geckos are often caused by a lack of calcium. Being that she is due to lay eggs, this could be the reason she is calcium deficient. It pains me to say it, but I have read that once they reach the stage that they are having seizures, death often follows. You can potentially avoid this by having a vet give your gecko a calcium shot. However since this isn't an option for you I would advise a calcium supplement until she passes the eggs and is feeling better. Don't try to handle her right now. Once she is better you should include the calcium supplement in her usual diet as advised on the supplement label. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13011" LastEditorUserId="13011" LastEditDate="2018-09-25T13:54:05.053" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T13:54:05.053" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21397" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21398" CreationDate="2018-09-25T14:15:02.230" Score="6" ViewCount="2592" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took my cat to the vet for 30 minutes. When I got her back home, her brother started to hiss on her and he looks aggressive. she tried to touch his nose but he still doesn't like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I leave them alone? Can they resolve the problem? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is causing that problem? do you have an idea? Is it maybe the perfume of the vet? or he doesn't recognise that smell?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12471" LastEditorUserId="12471" LastEditDate="2018-09-25T14:46:21.883" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T17:42:28.343" Title="Why is my cat hissing and growling at his sister after just 30 minutes of separation" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21397" CreationDate="2018-09-25T14:47:37.797" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why does this happen?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is fairly common and is termed &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/feline-non-recognition-aggression/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Non-Recognition Aggression&lt;/a&gt;, cats rely on scent to recognize each other. Her visit to the hospital has changed her scent to the point where her brother can no longer recognize. A few theories behind it are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat expressed his/her anal glands or is emitting pheromones associated with stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat took home scents of other animals who were previously at the clinic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a good idea to keep them separated in the meantime for each others protection. A few things that can help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving blankets with each others scent to opposite cats (i.e brothers blanket goes with sister and vice-versa)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feliway.com/ca_en/Products/FELIWAY-FRIENDS-Diffuser&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway Friends&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 24 hours try to gradually re-introduce them, either by opening the door a crack for them to sniff or to have a gate in between. It does self-resolve after some time you just need to make sure the conflict is over before putting them in the same room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How can I prevent this?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time, if possible, bring both cats to the hospital - they won't lose sight of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T17:42:28.343" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21394" CreationDate="2018-09-25T20:10:26.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Likely &quot;mystery &quot; snail. If so, they must be in a very humid atmosphere but not submerged to develop; Like above the surface of an aquarium with close fitting top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-09-25T20:10:26.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16697" CreationDate="2018-09-26T18:52:14.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to follow up for anyone else looking to cure a puppy from ticks. Since most tick repellents could have adverse effects on a puppy it might be a good idea to use a topical agent such as diatomaceous earth. Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fact sheet&lt;/a&gt; and this article by &lt;a href=&quot;https://draxe.com/diatomaceous-earth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dr.Axe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13016" LastActivityDate="2018-09-26T18:52:14.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-28T06:24:45.647" Score="4" ViewCount="913" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spencer is my rat and he's about 5 months old, I fed him and his new buddy a few hours ago and I usually let them out to play for a few hours before bed. However, normally when I come in Spencer is usually running around the cage or crawling up it to be petted or for food. This time he was lying on the floor in a carpet square I have. His belly is sunken in and he was gasping and dribbling all over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am freaking out and I tried to grab him but he was hesitant and I gave him some fresh air which helped a little. I brought him to the bathroom and tried to help him but he did not want it so I snuggled him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been about two hours since I noticed he has been acting this way. He also has a bite under his chin from his older friend (which I've now had separated for a while) and it was bleeding. I'm just really worried he won't be okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13021" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-09-28T08:48:15.900" LastActivityDate="2018-10-07T00:00:50.207" Title="Rat is gasping and lying on the floor after being fed" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21402" CreationDate="2018-09-28T08:42:13.773" Score="8" Body="&lt;h2&gt;You need to take him to the vet now.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no quick answers we can give you on the internet and by the sounds of it, the rat needs attention now. I would always be concerned about issues involving gasping or laboured breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to act fast and unfortunately, this platform is not built to accommodate emergency support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-09-28T08:42:13.773" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21405" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-28T15:56:54.877" Score="9" ViewCount="2719" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is kind of urgent - I'm watching someone's dogs currently because that is what I am experienced in but they also have an aquarium. I have little to know experience with fish and I did warn the owners. I don't have 100% of the information, a lot of it is guesswork but I really need help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to feed the fish, I dissolve krill in ice into a cup of water and distribute it. I feel so dumb, but for the first 4 or so meals, I used about 3 cups of Crystal Springs water from a water cooler to feed them. I'd say this tank is a little smaller than 125 gallons and I'm fairly sure it's saltwater because of the breeds of fish. Since then, I've fed them about 4 or 5 times just using the tank water (I feel bad for not realizing that at first, I know virtually nothing about caring for fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The owners come back in about 5 days, is there anything I can do to fix this? How harmful will this be to the fish? I've already noticed the gravel is dirtier than before. I also haven't been able to contact the owners because they have no cell connection where they have traveled to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13025" LastActivityDate="2018-09-30T10:35:41.227" Title="Would a small amount of bottled water mixed in with an aquarium harm the fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;algae&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21405" CreationDate="2018-09-28T16:39:22.097" Score="13" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Don't panic, it's probably okay!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing here is that you caught the error and asked the question. I'll cover both bases here and try and explain a few things (forgive me if you already know them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, this is a good sized tank, so if you've only added a small amount of water, it probably won't make much difference. The dilution of the bottled water in the tank will be pretty high. Bottled water is also &lt;em&gt;unlikely&lt;/em&gt; to be an issue to the fish because it normally contains less contaminants than regular tap water does - it's hard to tell unless you provided the chemical composition of the tap water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Temperature&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally aquariums for Marine and Tropical fish need to be kept at a reasonable temperature for the fish to survive. Adding cold water (especially chilled) will lower the overall temperature of the tank. Again, this is mitigated by the fact the tank is 125 gallons so very little change will be felt by the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;As a side note - It is normally temperature extremes or &lt;em&gt;sudden change&lt;/em&gt; which is most problematic for fish.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Saltwater Dilution:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a salt water aquarium, it will have a specific salinity. This means how much salt is dissolved into the water. By adding freshwater to the tank, you've likely adjusted the salinity level of the aquarium. However, (have you spotted the theme yet?) the larger volume of the tank means that you have a much smaller effect on the water chemistry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Dirty Gravel:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about the gravel. Most fish keepers will do a water change every week (somewhere between 10-25%) and the gravel will be cleaned. Likely, all you're seeing is the accumulated dirt since the tank was last cleaned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Don't feel silly, why would you know?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caring for fish is tricky, you shouldn't feel silly for adding water to the tank. The most common cause of fish dying while owners are away is overfeeding. In reality, fish only need a very small amount of food. When I go away for less than 5 days, I would just let them use their reserves (not that I'm advocating it in this case). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm doing frozen food, I'll always use tank water to defrost the food. Just keep doing that and let the owner know when you can get hold of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-09-30T10:35:41.227" LastActivityDate="2018-09-30T10:35:41.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21405" CreationDate="2018-09-28T20:51:44.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, as Henders says, this is almost certainly not an issue at all.  But I would continue to use tank water to thaw the krill from here on out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I'd go a step further: you can put the tank water and krill in a small tupperware container and float that in the tank for several minutes.  This not only thaws the krill, but gets it to the same temperature as the surrounding tank water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wanted to add that the dirty gravel (if dirty means algae covered) could be an indication of overfeeding (which is very common for people who aren't in-the-know when it comes to aquariums).  Uneaten food decomposes into nutrients that algae just love.  It's &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; that the fresh water you added contains &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/phosphates-in-the-aquarium-1381884&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;phosphates&lt;/a&gt;, which are another thing that algae loves, and that this is the cause of the dirty gravel, but my money would be on overfeeding.  For comparison sake, I feed my aquarium once or twice a week at most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12827" LastActivityDate="2018-09-28T20:51:44.793" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-29T04:30:50.293" Score="4" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small Lhasa Apso. I give her dry dog food mixed with mashed potatoes for breakfast and just dry food for dinner. She doesn't like dry food when it's not mixed with something tasty. So she eats just enough to kill the hunger. In the off chance I forget to remove her bowl, she'll munch sometime during the night or early morning. I don't want to encourage this system of 'free food' - eat whenever you feel like. I need her to eat on time so I can remove the bowl knowing she ate adequately. Should I be removing the bowl every night or let it be so she can eat later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This problem is absent with breakfast. She'll gobble the entire bowl. She loves potatoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12895" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T21:05:35.620" Title="My dog doesn't eat her dinner on time munches early morning" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21413" CreationDate="2018-09-29T15:01:04.267" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;In early November I'll be moving from Brazil to Stuttgart (Germany) because I've found a job there. All the documentation has already been taken care of and the dog will be allowed to enter the EU in November 2nd. Also, I'm already aware that it will be kinda hard to find an apartment to rent with a dog, even a small and quiet one as my 1 year old, 5.5kg Shih Tzu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told that Germans tend to be very annoyed by the smallest amount of barks, and I fully understand that. But I've been told that Germans find it &quot;almost criminal&quot; to leave a dog 8 hours a day alone at home. As I'll be working from 9-to-5, that's what will be happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this going to be an issue, considering that the dog is well used to this, because it already happens here in Brazil? I mean, do neighbors really care about how much time my dog spents alone at home as long as he doesn't bark?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13032" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:25:13.883" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:24:23.587" Title="Taking care of a dog in Germany" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21410" CreationDate="2018-09-29T17:39:28.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no law forbidding you to leave your dog alone for any amount of time, as long as you care for it and provide food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some common rules when owning dogs in Germany:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In some areas in Germany dogs must be leashed in public spaces. Please research the local rules (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stadtwiki-stuttgart.de/wiki/Hundehalter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.stadtwiki-stuttgart.de/wiki/Hundehalter&lt;/a&gt; if you understand German).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;People walking their dogs have the great chance to get to know other people. It's more common for strangers to start small talk when there is a dog or a child involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should take tiny garbage bags with you when walking your dog to dispose of your dog's turds. In some places there are public turd bag dispensers, but those are most often empty. Leaving your dog's turds lying around might result in angry reactions. You can buy turd bags in grocery stores or drug stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Excessive barking can be a reason to terminate the lease. But for that the barking must be truly excessive. Find more information at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.stuttgart.de/item/show/52190&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.stuttgart.de/item/show/52190&lt;/a&gt; (again in German).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T22:24:23.587" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:24:23.587" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21409" CreationDate="2018-09-29T18:31:14.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as she's not underwheight or has some medical issue, removing her food after feeding time is no problem at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's true that constant access to food &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; make a dog more dominant, since only the pack leader eats whenever he wants and controls when the lower ranking pack members are allowed to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give her about 20 minutes to eat, she will regulate herself. She'll eat faster when she's hungry and slower when she's full. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-09-29T18:31:14.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1352" CreationDate="2018-09-29T20:06:12.960" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet and some breeders too have said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... that it is best to wait two days (or longer) after a bath before applying the Simple Guard 3 and to wait a minimum of two days after applying the med before bathing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons... a slightly dirty coat has oils in it that results in better absorption so a &quot;squeaky clean&quot; dog doesn't get the full benefit...wait two days or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After meds are applied it takes a couple of days to get the full absorption. So again...wait 2 or more days before you bath your pooch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is generally true for most similar products. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13038" LastActivityDate="2018-09-29T20:06:12.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21417" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-09-30T18:02:50.930" Score="8" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my first horse and he is an Appendix (thoroughbred/quarter horse cross). He has a long slim athletic build much like a thoroughbred. I came out to feed him this morning and he was shivering horribly. I stalled him for the morning to dry off by I have questions. I've decided to put him on grain to add some weight to him since his skinny build doesn't seem to provide much warmth. I bought him a blanket but when is it appropriate to take it off/keep it on? Should I stall him at night and turn him out for the day as the temp drops? And what grain do you suggest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13043" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-10-05T08:31:51.953" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T03:49:46.870" Title="Is my horse too cold?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-01T14:36:07.820" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to buy a cat (my first one) and I checked her for inbreeding and here are it's parents - &lt;a href=&quot;https://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&amp;amp;ids=3:1340035;2:1340037&amp;amp;g=5&amp;amp;p=sib&amp;amp;o=ajgrep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&amp;amp;ids=3:1340035;2:1340037&amp;amp;g=5&amp;amp;p=sib&amp;amp;o=ajgrep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is it safe? Because with 4 generations there is 0% and with 5th generation 2.34% and then continue to raise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for replies,&#xA;David&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13045" LastActivityDate="2018-10-01T14:36:07.820" Title="Is this cat safe of inbreeding?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-02T09:19:50.173" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21420" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21424" CreationDate="2018-10-01T20:24:20.093" Score="4" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a male dog, 1.5 years old. His behavior drives me crazy. It all started with the maturation of his urination habits - it was 5-10 times per going out in a first time. And now, I'm not sure when he does ~30 times whether it is all out or there are still some urine remaining (in fact, I'm 99% sure there are).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, when I get out with him, he is &lt;em&gt;not doing it at all&lt;/em&gt; for the some time (5mins or so). I occasionally have to walk at the less common paths so he can be motivated to urinate. He is approximately 3 times per day out, never less than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you can imagine the problem - cold and windy evenings, time shortage in the morning... Is there something that could be done? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13047" LastActivityDate="2018-10-02T11:20:10.863" Title="Is it possible to train a male dog to urinate either all at once or by only a few shots" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-01T22:43:19.203" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kdYnf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I’m &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BWUm1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uQc1O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for bad pictures they wouldn’t stay still, need help&#xA;ASAP. Thought it was a boy and girl but I think I’m wrong and I don’t want to give them away not knowing for sure &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13049" LastActivityDate="2018-10-01T22:43:19.203" Title="Are these kittens boys are girls ? Need to know asap (sorry for bad pics they won’t stay still)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-10-02T09:20:05.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-02T01:14:37.997" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sons pet  African dwarf frog  Developed these weird pink spots. Is it bacteria or  parasite ?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O5sdj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13051" LastActivityDate="2018-10-02T01:14:37.997" Title="Pink spots on African Drawf Frog" Tags="&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-02T08:02:26.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21420" CreationDate="2018-10-02T11:20:10.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to understand the difference between urinating just to empty the bladder and urinating as a form of communication for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Communication&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What your dog does is communication. He takes a nice walk, smells the urine or feces of other dogs and puts his own smell out there for other dogs to smell him. For a dog these smells contain information about the individual dog that left it there, its health condition and sex. Covering another dogs urine with their own is also a sign of dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This urinating in small amounts and smelling the urine of other dogs is like reading the newspaper in dog-style. Who was here with whom and was there a nice girl around?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lifting a leg even if there's no urine left is a very common behavior as well, especially in males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the natural behavior of dogs and you should not reprimand your dog for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Do his buisness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want your dog to do his buisness quickly in one go, walk to the nearest tree or patch of grass where he is allowed to pee or poo. Wait there until he finished his buisness and return home afterwards (or after 10 minutes if he doesn't). Always go to the same spot and don't walk any further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few times your dog will realize that this is not a walk to let him &quot;read the newaspaper&quot;, but to let him relieve himself. He will learn that this spot is his toilet. &#xA;It's also a good ides to do this &quot;toilet walk&quot; always at the same time (e.g. first walk every morning or last walk every evening) so your dog doesn't get all excited over taking a walk only to be dissappointed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't cut his walk time short just because he learned to do his buisness quickly. Taking a walk is a very important and happy part of your dogs every-day life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-02T11:20:10.863" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-02T13:02:07.787" Score="4" ViewCount="3136" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Max, has been hiding under my grandma's steps since the 27th of September. We had to drop off all of my cats at my grandma's temporarily, so we can move into another house. We didn't want them there when we were bringing in our items, in case they walked out the door when we weren't watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have never gone to my grandmas house before. Two of my cats were fine, one was very cautious and alert while Max was just petrified. Max has moved before, it shouldn't be new to him. He didn't move out of his carrier, so we had to pick it up and literally dump him out. This wasn't easy because of his size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had to leave, so we left the cats in the basement thinking they would come upstairs eventually. We first put them in the basement, so we could show them the litter boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next time we came, which was yesterday, we were ready to take them to the new house. We got three of my cats in their carriers easily, while Max didn't budge from under the stairs. He wedged himself under the very last step. We thought he was stuck, but he wasn't. Eventually, we pushed him out and blocked the bottom steps with shoe boxes so he couldn't get trapped there and we could grab him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He moved to the side of the steps wedged between the wall and the steps. He sat up so his head was actually between wall and stair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We gave up after about an hour of trying to get him out and put him in his carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hasn't been coming out to eat or drink. We are even giving him wet food in his bowl to try to get him out. The only time he MIGHT be coming out is to go to the bathroom because there is no pee or anything by his hiding spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we found him a little ways away from the stairs under some headboards and other junk. How can we get him to warm up to us again, so we can take him to a new home? I know moving can be stressful for a cat, but is this normal? The fact that he isn't eating really worries me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Max is a male orange tabby and weighs around 20 pounds (9 kg). We have never seen him like this. He acts like the head of the house usually, we didn't expect him to hide like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever since we found him by the stairs we've been trying to push him out. I stupidly tried to pull him with my hands and he bit me. Not a warning bite, but a real bite. He is just an animal, and it worries me that he thinks we would put him in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13052" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T15:17:43.043" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T15:17:43.043" Title="My cat is hiding and won't move" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21425" CreationDate="2018-10-02T16:48:35.727" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; carrier with &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; blanket or pillow or whatever he loves to lie on in the dark corner under the stairs and hope he likes to hide in there more than where he is now. It's important to put an object in the carrier with his distinctive smell, so he recognizes it as &amp;quot;home&amp;quot;. If his favorite pillow is already at the new house, go get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave the grate to the carrier open and leave him alone for an hour or two. If he went into the carrier, close the grate and put a light blanket or pillowcase (with the smell of &amp;quot;home&amp;quot;) over it to reduce sensory input for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he didn't go in, go to your vet and ask for a tranquilizing spray. These are often used for pets that get panicked by fireworks and they calm the pets down instead of putting them to sleep. Explain the situation, that the cat didn't eat or drink for days and that you cannot approach him. If there is no vet nearby, go to a pharmacy. When you got the spray, follow the instructions of the vet or pharmacist. Don't spray him directly, but put a few squirts around him, then give it time to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Please do go to a vet or pharmacy to get the tranquilizers. There are different kinds and some take several days to take effect. Let a professional select a quick acting product.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Max &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; didn't go into his carrier, gently and carefully steer him there with a blanket. Don't do it with your bare hands! Even better if you can hide your face behind the blanket. He will probably hate you for a few days anyway, so don't pour oil into the fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want to repeat the application of the tranquilizer for the next few days in your new home. Make sure that he has wet food, water and his litter box &lt;strong&gt;really&lt;/strong&gt; near by so he can eat and drink without moving much. Give him several days to rest and calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T15:13:07.990" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T15:13:07.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-02T20:21:11.870" Score="3" ViewCount="1683" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shes been acting crazy, trying to get out of her tank and being a picky eater. I just started reading about her symptoms and discovered that she could be eggbound. Until now, I had no idea that this was even a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first got her Google wasn't a thing, I just bought books about red eared sliders and felt pretty confident and competent. Shes never even seen a vet before, shes always had a healthy appetite, sleep patterns. Never felt the need to take her. Have I been neglecting her for 16 YEARS?! When I got her, I literally took her off of a tweakers porch. They had her in a cut off gallon jug outside in December. She was about the size of a 50 cent piece and now she's 11 inches long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has laid eggs in the past, in her tank, and she has always eaten them. Please help! I feel so bad, do turtles have changes in hormones like menopause? I just assumed she outgrew it and now I'm freaking out! Is she egg bound? She hasn't laid eggs in years. Do turtles become infertile with age like women do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13054" LastEditorUserId="481" LastEditDate="2018-10-05T20:27:16.737" LastActivityDate="2019-08-03T06:01:30.210" Title="My 16 year old red eared slider hasn't laid eggs in years" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-03T04:24:52.507" Score="5" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat. It's 8 months old. I decided to put a female in the house. She is his age. Both are neutered. Ever since the female arrived she has been trying to hide. I need to put her in a room but she keeps hiding under the sofa where neither I nor my cat can get to her. She hasn't been eating nor drinking. I'm really struggling... please give me some tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13055" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T23:46:48.717" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T23:46:48.717" Title="How to care for scared cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21429" CreationDate="2018-10-03T09:34:26.630" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initial shyness is normal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats often rely on knowing their environment. Bringing them to a new environment will have them on edge until they find their bearings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more importantly, cats are territorial animals. Your new cat will &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; smell your first cat. Add onto it that it's a male (they can smell the difference), and that strongly incentivizes the new cat to not want to intrude on the other cat's territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Provide a safe space.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It's too late for that now, but you should have prepared this room before her arrival, and only set her free in the room.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon arriving, you should put the new cat in a separate room, all by themselves. You can visit her regularly so she gets used to you, but if she's not taking to you yet, don't overly intrude on her safe space. Just be there to give food, so they know that you mean well (since you give them what they need). Don't force them to interact with you, simply have them tolerate your (distant) presence as they eat. You can try to get them to eat closer to you day by day if they're still willling to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this room should have hiding spaces, but try to avoid any hiding spaces which you cannot reach when you need to reach the cat. I use cardboard boxes for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, provide amenities (litter box, water bowl, blankets, toys, hiding spaces such as cardboard boxes, ...) that have not yet been used by the previous cat. The idea is to remove the other cat's smell as best as you can. You can't negate it but you should try to at least minimize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the cat, this can take days or weeks. If she's getting her bearings, you can visit more frequently, see if she's interested in interacting with you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, you can start swapping out blankets/toys between the cats. This familiarizes them with each other's smell, without yet having to deal with the other cat directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When all those boxes are ticked, you can let the new cat come out if it chooses to. How you approach this strongly depends on how your cats behave:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he is interested and enters the safe space, and she is not into it, then you need to stop this from happening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he enters the safe space and she doesn't make a fuss, neither should you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they are both apprehensive of crossing the threshold and interacting, you can simply leave the door open so they get acquainted by seeing each other at a distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she's eager to explore outside of the safe space and he's less than welcoming to her, you temporarily remove him from the equation (put him in a room of his own). This has a double benefit: she gets to explore the house without interference, and he is punished for being unwelcoming to the newcomer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If either of them show &lt;strong&gt;repeated&lt;/strong&gt; aggression, that means they're going to need training. That's a whole new chapter that I'm not going to go in here. It will require changing their behavior which is not an easy thing to achieve with cats (compared to dogs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;However, don't mistake a single aggressive response (which may come from a feeling of needing to defend yourself) with a consistent pattern of aggression. It only becomes a problem if either party refuses to let go of the aggression in the long term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not (initially) worry about not eating/drinking.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very possible that she is &lt;em&gt;consciously&lt;/em&gt; deciding to not bother with drink/food because she's rather not run into the other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More often than not, you can wait this out. Eventually, they will be hungry enough to change their initial decision (it's like how a child won't eat their vegetables but a starving man will happily eat anything that remotely looks like food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it becomes a medical problem (malnutrition)&lt;/strong&gt;, you need to address this. The safe space should preclude her reasons for not wanting to eat/drink; she should figure out relatively quickly that she can safely walk around in the safe space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If she still refuses to eat/drink in a safe space&lt;/strong&gt;, then it's time to take her to the vet. This can be indicative of a medical problem, or maybe she is in shock from having to live in a new and unknown environment. Don't guess, have a vet give her a checkup. At an absolute minimum, the vet can provide the needed hydration/nutrients to give the cat more time to find her bearings in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Also, if she doesn't like going to the vet, she may realize she likes your house more than she initially thought - simply by merit of it not being as bad as being at the vet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-10-03T11:41:57.027" LastActivityDate="2018-10-03T11:41:57.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2159" CreationDate="2018-10-03T21:53:51.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep a golden bristle nosed pleco in my tank along with two Axolotls. They have lived together for almost a year now with no problems hardly ever. I would only keep these types of Plecos with Axolotls because they are a lot shyer than most plecos and they live in colder conditions than all other plecos. Other plecos aren’t great though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13062" LastActivityDate="2018-10-03T21:53:51.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2018-10-04T01:38:15.953" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've only began the process of trying to adjust the cat's behaviour, but I've already began to see signs of effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I was giving a firm &quot;no!&quot; or &quot;stop!&quot; command, and never really sticking to one command - just vocalizing my frustration, which to the cat must have only seemed like I was recognizing her behaviour, not requesting it to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I've been mostly ignoring all meowing, which shows the cat that meowing lacks effectiveness. When it comes time to go get her food in the kitchen, I have a different approach. If she meows on my way to her food, I immediately turn around and return to where I came from. I'll sit back down on the couch or in front of the computer for 30 seconds. Then, I will get up and start the process again. This requires some patience, as you may do this several times. I sometimes give a little hiss as I return to my couch/computer. Eventually, she kept quiet the entire time while I prepped her food. Now she has been much less vocal about getting the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've said, I've only began doing this a few days ago. But it seems that ignoring her bad behaviour and rewarding her good behaviour is setting things in the right direction. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13064" LastActivityDate="2018-10-04T01:38:15.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21438" CreationDate="2018-10-04T18:10:48.257" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an AKC-registered Bloodhound with one front paw that is about half white. I mention her pedigree, because she doesn't have anything else in her, and I know that usually, when the admonition 'white feet - don't treat' is given, it's for certain breeds. I have had her on Moxidectin, but I'm thinking of going to Heartgard, and I wanted to make sure it's alright to do so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13070" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-10-04T19:44:27.447" LastActivityDate="2018-10-05T17:12:10.607" Title="AKC Registered Bloodhound with one partially-white foot. Can she take Ivermectin-based heartworm medicine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21417" CreationDate="2018-10-05T03:36:15.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Shivering&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shivering is a way to protect an animal from the cold. It generates heat. This is fine when you have a horse that is nicely rounded from plentiful feed over the warmer months, as shivering uses energy and use up fat stores. If a horse is underweight they are likely to feel the cold more, plus have less reserves to combat that old through shivering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nutrition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best source of feed to help a horse cope with the cold is roughage. Pasture (which is often in less supply over winter) or hay are good ways to fee roughage. Ensuring your horse has a plentiful supply of hay is the first thing to consider. This combined with a hard feed regime if they're struggling to keep weight on may be necessary. Grain alone is not a good idea. It can cause hind gut acidosis, plus rev the horse up. Large amounts of grain can be eaten quickly and get pushed through the gut without being adequately digested. Abundant roughage helps prevent this. The horse will be more prone to ulcers also. As horses need feed in their stomachs around the clock to prevent acid from hitting the top of the stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rugging&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the horse is thin or doesn't have shelter, then rugging may be necessary. Older and very young horses may also have different rugging requirements to fit healthy adult horses. The issue with rugging, is overheating can cause dire health problems for horses. So horses left with rugs on during the day, if the temperature rises and there's no shade (even with shade) can cause a problem for the horse. If the temperature is rising during the day and you cannot take the rug off in the morning and put it back on at night, it may be preferable to leave rugs off altogether. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's various research on the temperatures to mind when rugging horses. Note, these are not hard and fast rules, there's considerations, such as rain, snow, wind, shelter, horse condition and health. If it drops below 5 degrees C overnight, pop a rug on. If it's getting to 15 degrees or higher during the day, take it off. Horses need sunlight, even during winter they absorb the sunlight into their skin through their winter coats, so it's a good idea to try and avail horses some rug free time during the day. I have an old horse, if the temperature drops to 11 degrees C overnight or lower, I rug her. She's 27 and has trouble keeping weight on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be mindful of the rug heaviness/thickness and whether it's waterproof. Canvas rugs are preferred by many horse owners, as they are breathable. Synthetics are lighter weight, but horses are also more likely to sweat and not get relief from the damp caused by sweat under a synthetic rug. Where we live it doesn't get below 5 degree C at night. I use a combos 200 and 100 gsm rug when it's bitter and my old mares had limited shelter and on a young foal without a mother (the other horses remained unrugged). When it wasn't so cold I used an standard rain sheet, no neck no padding to help my older girl cope with the rain and the cold. Now the nights are dropping to 14 degrees C and it's raining, I'm not so concerned, she has shelter and the days are reaching 22 degrees C. Too hot for rain sheets and winter rugging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pic of combo for older mare and rug for young foal without mum&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qme8J.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qme8J.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pic of rainsheet on older mare for the transition weather&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yf84m.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yf84m.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pregnant mare paired with young foal (with no mum). Mare is not rugged, foal is. Winter here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cHXv2.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cHXv2.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stalling&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses naturally stay warm by moving around. They're also social creatures and require the company of other horses. They will naturally find shelter and shelter as a group. If there is no shelter, possibly stalling overnight would be good. But ensure there is a plentiful supply of hay and fresh water. If the temperature is dropping within the stall, rug him. He cannot move around to get warm in a stall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-10-05T03:41:31.680" LastActivityDate="2018-10-05T03:41:31.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-05T15:22:39.110" Score="0" ViewCount="966" Body="&lt;p&gt;My indoor-only neutered male adult cat is always peeing in the same spot. I've tried all kinds of litter boxes, and he pees and poops in the box, but he's now getting into this habit of peeing in a very specific spot in the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something (a product or a mixture) that I can spray in the area so that he stops peeing there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are there any plants that I can put there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm including a pictute of my cat's pee. Someone asked me if he was spraying, and I don't think he is. It's a puddle on the floor, and the odd thing is that there's a small crack on the floor next to where he pees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, I've clearly identified the urine.&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Trogb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Trogb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="8568" LastEditDate="2018-10-05T20:51:55.813" LastActivityDate="2018-10-06T00:06:36.797" Title="Cat pees in the same spot. What can I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-06T00:04:20.160" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20699" CreationDate="2018-10-05T16:46:12.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans often do the wrong thing when our dogs misbehave. She growls at Grandma so as we pet them to comfort/reassure them we say &quot;it's okay sweetie! She's not going to hurt you/us! It's Grandma! It's alright. Grandma is alright! Blah blah blah!&quot; Dog hears &quot;good dog. You're doing the right thing! You're right to growl at Grandma! (as you pet her). Dog is inadvertently getting rewarded for unacceptable behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No coddling the dog. No reassuring the dog. No trying to reason with the dog. No petting her to tell her it's alright. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is unacceptable behavior. UNACCEPTABLE. The reason why she is doing it? She is getting something out of it. I'm not there to tell you what that is, but it doesn't really matter. We can analyse this dog's bad behavior until the cows come home. Whatever the answer is, it doesn't matter. Maybe Grandma wears a certain perfume. Maybe she looks threatening as she bends over her cane as she walks. Maybe she scares the dog, which is what her reaction sounds like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When Grandma visits, put the leash and collar on her (the dog, not Grandma) and when she starts acting like an idiot growling barking hackles up you need to correct her immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog is not the one who can say which guests are welcome and which ones aren't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog should never be allowed to act this way. She must be told &quot;NO!!&quot; and there is no room for her to disobey your command.  She must have a correction that will teach her not to ever  growl at your guests again. The longer it is allowed to happen, the worse it's going to get. And if she isn't corrected for such naughty behavior, she will continue this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too many dog bites and aggressive dogs are created due to poor communication skills with dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work with aggressive dogs all the time and this is a minor problem that can be fixed quickly. If not corrected, this is the kind of thing that becomes a major problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13074" LastActivityDate="2018-10-05T16:46:12.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21434" CreationDate="2018-10-05T17:12:10.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hadn't heard this phrase before so I had to look it up. In short, it seems to be a sort of wive's tale based on an understanding that some collies are sensitive to certain medications, and in turn associated with those collies having white feet. I don't know if there's any supporting evidence that the gene that produces white feet in dogs is related to the mutation of the MDR1 gene that causes the drug sensitivity. And with other breeds being identified as having the mutation it seems more unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the MDR1 gene?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MDR1 (Multi-Drug Resistance 1) gene exists to facilitate in proteins that move toxins out of the brain. The cases we're worried about here is when a mutation in the MDR1 gene occurs that inhibits those proteins from moving certain toxins out of the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm not well-versed in genetics, but my understanding is that all dogs have the MDR1 gene and the mutation is passed on through breeding in the same way other traits are. With each parent passing on a copy of the gene to their offspring, and whether one or both parents pass on a mutated copy decides whether the child also has the mutation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MDR1 mutation and white feet?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems as though herding breeds are more susceptible to this mutation than other breeds because it was unintentionally selected for during their breeding history. The gene was only just &lt;a href=&quot;https://news.wsu.edu/2013/07/08/researcher-recognized-for-drug-reaction-discovery-in-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;identified as the cause of the reactions to medication in 2001&lt;/a&gt;, so they were being bred long before the gene was identified as the root cause, and well before gene testing was a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the white feet correlation is just a false correlation built from anecdotes of which dog's have shown symptoms of the mutated gene. So many herding breeds have mottled coats that it's easy to put together anecdotes of the ones with white feet showing signs of drug sensitivity. I've not found anything that defines a link between genes that define coat color and/or pattern and the MDR1 mutated gene. And with other breeds of dogs being identified as having the mutated gene, it seems unlikely that it's a good indicator of your dog having the mutation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should you get your dog tested?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's recommended that you get your dog tested for this gene mutation if they're a herding breed, or mixed with a herding breed. Since herding breeds are known to have a higher chance of passing on the mutation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally suggest getting mixed/unknown breeds tested just in case, since they could have history with the mutation. With purebred non-herding breeds it seems like you can get away with not testing as the risk of the mutation is comparatively low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume all veterinarians can facilitate in genetics testing, but there are some other resources available as well. You can order test kits from websites like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalgenetics.us/Canine/canine-test-now-canine.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;AnimalGenetics.us&lt;/a&gt; where they will test and send you the results directly, or universities like &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcpl.vetmed.wsu.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Washington State University&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References an more reading:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalgenetics.us/Canine/Genetic_Disease/MDR1.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Overview from AnimalGenetics.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetfolio.com/pharmacology/adverse-drug-reactions-in-herding-breed-dogs-the-role-of-p-glycoprotein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VetFolio.com article on P-Glycoprotien&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://todaysveterinarynurse.com/articles/mdr1-genetic-testing-what-you-need-to-know/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TodaysVeterinaryNurse.com on MDR1 testing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/multidrug-resistance-mutation-mdr1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VCA.com on the MDR1 mutation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2018-10-05T17:12:10.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-06T05:38:52.810" Score="6" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my cat for about two weeks now, the Vets estimated that he is around 6 months old (i rescued him from being feral) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has had some medical issues already with his bowel that he is making progress with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first had him, i started noticing that after he ate, he had a dirty face which i assumed was due to him being a messy eater, he had a very faint black moustache appear after eating in the morning that would stay during the day but be gone by the next morning before he had his breakfast but now it's gotten bigger, darker and moved up from just his mouth to under his nose, but it's not coming out of his nose, I try and rub it off and nothing comes off at all. I'm kinda worried about it but it doesn't seem like any type of infection or anything and with his other issue, stress will undo all the progress he's made so far if i take him back to the vet to get it looked at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lson8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lson8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13075" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-10-06T07:31:20.913" LastActivityDate="2018-10-06T07:31:20.913" Title="Strange black marks on cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;marking&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-12-11T18:46:49.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21402" CreationDate="2018-10-07T00:00:50.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn’t know any of that but much appreciated, He’s doing fine! I had switched him from little cotton pieces of bedding to clippings and he had eaten some and it was stuck around his teeth and all in his mouth so I had to rinse his mouth out and try and brush his teeth with a cotton swab. After I cleared it I left him be for a little bit in his own cage and he was fine and running around when I went to check! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13021" LastActivityDate="2018-10-07T00:00:50.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-07T13:42:29.937" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats that are brothers, Tai and TK, and they are 13 years old. They have always gotten along very well. They groom each other, play-wrestle, and have no problem sleeping in the same rooms and sharing space, litter-boxes, and food. The big one, Tai is about twice the size of his brother TK, and is usually dominant. He always ends up on top when they wrestle. Lately, Tai has been chasing TK around the house. It doesn't seen like friendly play. What could be causing this and what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13079" LastActivityDate="2018-10-07T13:42:29.937" Title="After 13 happy years together, one cat has suddenly stared chasing the other cat. Why is he doing this and what should I do about it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-08T11:52:06.330" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21446" CreationDate="2018-10-07T13:56:10.793" Score="8" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a 21 year old female university student and I'm currently living at a dorm. There are a lot of cats here that have been living here since God knows when. I have loved cats since I was a kid but I tried to resist all of this since I came here. These cats can be really demanding and they sneak into your dorm room and leave cat hair everywhere and even eat your food so I usually stay away from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend and I were on the rooftop drinking tea with some other women too. This female cat came towards me, turned her bottom towards me and sprayed on me! I have always heard male cats spraying but this was a female and I'm sure she did not urinate but a spray. I jumped up and my tea was ruined, I ran to wash myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was really odd. Cats hang around me often, cuddle in my feet and they also poop in the bathroom stall that I usually use. They urinated on my bed and pooped on it a few times too when I was new here. My friends say cats love me but I don't know what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T23:45:46.847" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T23:45:46.847" Title="Cat at the dorm sprayed on me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21443" CreationDate="2018-10-07T22:34:05.050" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like territorial behavior. Contrary to common belief, female cats will spray territorially as well as males, but it is less common. Cats spray more when they are stressed, like when they are in a new territory, or their territory is being disrupted, like if there is someone or something in it that wasn't there before. So it's very likely related to the fact that it's in a dorm where new people are going in and out constantly. It's hard to say why cats pick the particular spots they do to mark. It may just come down to personal preference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend to continue keeping the cats out of your room. Another thing that might help is to get cat pheromone spray, known as feliway, which sometimes helps calm cats when they are stressed and marking territorially. It is also recommended to thoroughly clean with cleaners designed to remove cat smell, to discourage the cats from getting the habit of marking that spot due to the smell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-10-07T22:34:05.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-08T12:47:19.750" Score="14" ViewCount="10341" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can the rabies virus survive outside the host animal? Like if a rabid animal drools on grass, can it still remain infectious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13086" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T21:38:54.313" Title="Can rabies virus survive outside host on grass or leaves under sunlight?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21429" CreationDate="2018-10-08T14:24:12.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same with my cat a few years ago. For me, I had my own ways how to handle my cat and I hope can help your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years ago, unexpectedly my cat looks like weird, and I think it's no problem, because he's growing up. But, I think it's not his growing up when the cat doesn't want to eat and sleep together with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I discussed with mom and dad about that and finally found the way out. Many factors make him looks weird and one of all is &lt;em&gt;his experienced trauma with another cat before&lt;/em&gt;. Need to train your own cat to not be scared if it meet the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7317" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T09:18:21.160" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T09:18:21.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21448" CreationDate="2018-10-08T16:10:20.363" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first: &lt;strong&gt;Rabies is an extremely dangerous infection and regular vaccination (every 10 years) is the only sure protection!&lt;/strong&gt; As far as I know there are about 15 - 20 people who have ever survived an acute rabies infection in the history of human medicine,  none of them without severe neurological sequelae and most of them died a few months after. The first reported case of a survival was Jeanna Giese in 2004.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Technically&lt;/strong&gt; viruses are not alive in the biological sense, so medical scientists speak of viruses being &lt;em&gt;active&lt;/em&gt; (alive, infectious) or &lt;em&gt;inactive&lt;/em&gt; (dead, destroyed, unable to infect a cell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, the rabies virus can stay active outside of a host body&lt;/strong&gt; for a limited time, depending on environmental factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lifeline.de/expertenrat/frage/Expertenrat-Infektions-und-Reisemedizin/Tollwut-Urin-Gegenstaende-und-Spritzwasser?threadId=15043984&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This German veterinary&lt;/a&gt; gives the following information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The virus occurs in the body fluids like saliva, blood, urine and milk of infected animals. To infect a new host, a certain number of viruses has to be transmitted and infections seem only possible by direct contact of infected saliva to mucosa or fresh wounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indirect contact (an infected animal leaves saliva on an object which is then touched by a healthy human) is very unlikely but not excluded to cause infections.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The virus becomes inactive within one day in dry conditions and under UV light (natural sunlight).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can be inactivated by temperatures above 50°C / 122°F in a few minutes of time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can stay active and infectious for several days in a dark, humid environment around 23°C / 73°F.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, the safety data sheet of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdsonline.com/resources/msds-resources/free-safety-data-sheet-index/rabies-virus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MSDS Online&lt;/a&gt; contains the following information about the virus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabies virus is inactivated by exposure to 70% ethanol, phenol, formalin, ether, trypsin, β-propiolactone, and some other detergents.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabies virus does not tolerate pH below 3 or above 11, and is inactivated by ultraviolet light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This virus does not survive well outside its host (in dried blood and secretions) as it is susceptible to sunlight and desiccation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3125654&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this scientific study&lt;/a&gt; (Matouch et al, Vet Med (Praha) 1987), which was &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2012/07/articles/animals/dogs/rabies-virus-survival/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;summarized here&lt;/a&gt;, comes the longest recorded activity time of the virus outside of a host:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the virus was spread in a thin layer onto surfaces like glass, metal or leaves, &lt;strong&gt;the longest survival was 144 hours&lt;/strong&gt; at 5 °C / 41°F (that's 6 full days!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At 20°C / 68°F, the virus was infective for 24h on glass and leaves and 48h on metal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At 30°C / 86°F, the virus was inactivated within 1.5h with exposure to sunlight and 20h without sunlight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T21:38:54.313" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T21:38:54.313" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21452" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-08T16:48:31.807" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a savannah cat that is 6 months old. She keeps jumping on our kitchen counters and kitchen table. We’ve sprayed her with water mixed with vinegar and it doesn’t do anything. Today she licked food I had cooked that I put aside to cool. We are first time cat owners and I’m done with her but my husband and kids refuses to give her away lol. Plz help!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13088" LastActivityDate="2018-10-08T16:48:31.807" Title="How can I stop by cat from coming on kitchen counter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-08T17:34:25.720" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21409" CreationDate="2018-10-08T18:31:04.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah, free-feeding becomes an issue if you've got perishable food in the bowl. There's no problem with removing the bowl except for meal times. It may take a day or two to adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With mashed potatoes, I'm worried that what the dog is really liking is the butter and oil or other additives, which generally aren't healthy for the dog, and are really just masking the bigger issue of your dog not liking its food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is a picky eater, you can go to the petstore and see if there are any trial foods that you can try, or ask about returning mostly uneaten kibble. There are also kibble brands and styles that are specifically made for picky dogs. Or, you can look into doggie food toppings that are specifically made for your issue and are much healthier and safer. The realm of picky dogs is actually quite large, so I would suggest reading up on it more to find out if it's an environmental factor or something mundane such as needing a bowl-raiser, if your dog being spoiled, or if there is another kibble that it prefers better. Some dogs will give up and eat their food after a few days, it is very rare for a dog to actually starve itself for more than 3 days because it doesn't like its food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-10-08T18:31:04.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-09T04:34:04.523" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was no animal nearby and the grass was moist. The weather was hot. It was 35° C&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13092" LastEditorUserId="13092" LastEditDate="2018-10-09T06:32:57.810" LastActivityDate="2018-10-09T06:32:57.810" Title="Am I at risk of rabies? I touched a wet patch of grass but I didn't see any animal nearby" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-10-09T07:53:24.000" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21468" CreationDate="2018-10-09T08:08:13.220" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been thinking about getting a dog (a medium or large breed - most likely large), as I have always wanted one, and my daughter wants one. I live in north-central Florida, where we have hot summers, warm springs and autumns, and cold to warm winters, in case anyone is wondering what the outside conditions would be. The issue lies in that I work &lt;strong&gt;12-hour graveyard-shifts on a rotating schedule&lt;/strong&gt;, and my daughter is with her mother on days I work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from &lt;strong&gt;7pm to 7am&lt;/strong&gt;. If we look at my work-schedule on a bi-weekly basis, the first week I work Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The second week, I work Wednesday and Tuesday, and I am off the rest of the days that week - Mind you, I would be getting off at 7am on my first &quot;off-day&quot;, and then probably sleeping until about 2pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My idea is that my dog would be both an outside and inside dog, but &lt;strong&gt;while I am at work, she will live outside&lt;/strong&gt;, and while I am home, she can come inside. It would be about 12.5 hours by the time I leave the house to go to work and the time I come back, so that's far too long to let her stay inside having to hold in her movements while also seriously increasing the risk of an accident caused by an inability to hold in said movements or from her simply getting bored and tearing up the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While she is outside, she would have about half an acre of fenced in yard to frolic in. I would obviously build her some type of kennel with access to plenty of water, and food for the night. The house is located in a rural area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days that I am off and home at night, though, I would like her to be able to sleep inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, my questions are:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it too long of a period of time to be leaving her alone and outside? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this schedule too crazy for her to understand that she can only come inside and/or sleep inside while I'm home, and the opposite while I am away?&lt;/strong&gt; (This is the main question I am seeking an answer for.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kinds of affects would this have on a dog if my daughter and I take the time to love her while I am home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13093" LastEditorUserId="13093" LastEditDate="2018-10-10T04:48:10.400" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T18:19:47.837" Title="Would my work schedule rule out getting a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21456" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-09T11:43:11.713" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 year old English bulldog who gets along very well with people and other dogs. One behavior I noticed is that she tends to be aggressive specifically towards small submissive dogs, so usually schnauzers, shih tzus, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What typically happens is that they'll approach each other, then my Bulldog stands stiff for a moment and side stares at the small dog. Then the small dog will show some disinterest and back away. Suddenly my bulldog will lunge at the small dog with aggressive growling noises while the small dog tries to run away with high pitched squeals. This only happens with timid small dogs. When a small dog approaches with confidence and wants to play then there's never any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has already happened a few times and luckily she hasn't bit anyone yet. I usually let her go to play with big dogs around, but now when someone adds a small dog in the mix I feel like I have no choice but to leash her back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something that can be done to introduce her to small dogs and control her aggression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user12613" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T08:24:20.463" Title="Bulldog aggressive against small submissive dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21278" CreationDate="2018-10-09T22:32:55.460" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since it sounds like she's not a cuddling cat I think she's asking for attention rather than food and you may have inadvertently trained her a little.  She meowed at you, you ignore, she continues, you finally &quot;reward&quot; her by walking, looking at, paying attention to her, finagling it with a food bowl. Have you tried just answering with play? Cats like to hunt, and work &amp;amp; catch their food too.  As all animals, they may eat &amp;amp; play more on their own if it requires some challenge before getting to a food reward. I have trained both domestic and wild animals and cats are interesting creatures!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13099" LastActivityDate="2018-10-09T22:32:55.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6572" CreationDate="2018-10-10T00:30:56.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used a white vinegar and water solution to wipe my dog's paws and underbelly. It disinfects and deters fleas/ticks that may have come aboard. The solution is one part vinegar to four parts water. I soak a towel and wipe my dog after coming home from a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13100" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2018-10-10T04:17:34.857" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T04:17:34.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-10T03:19:21.750" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just got a female kitten and my fixed senior boy kitty isn’t too happy. I bought a cat pheromone plug. Gonna try it tonight but still keep them seperate. Any suggestions on other products that may help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13101" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-10-18T07:41:56.077" LastActivityDate="2018-10-18T07:41:56.077" Title="Introducing old cat to new kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-18T08:00:45.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="281" CreationDate="2018-10-10T03:23:46.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If saying no in a stern voice and picking them up and putting them down doesn’t work, then try putting tin foil on your counter tops. The noise will scare them and eventually they won’t even want to attempt it anymore. Whatever you do, don’t spray them. It’s cruel and cats don’t understand why you're doing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13101" LastEditorUserId="22" LastEditDate="2018-10-10T04:16:33.210" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T04:16:33.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21456" CreationDate="2018-10-10T08:24:20.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can train your dog and teach her that her behavior is not accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already understand her body language and see her intimidating small dogs (the stiff posture). This is the exact moment when you should intervene, don't wait until she barks at the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, stand close to her when a smaller dog approaches. The moment she stiffens up, you prod her in the side of her torso or neck and tell her loud and clearly &quot;no!&quot;. For the prodding gesture form your hand into a maw (like playing with a sock puppet, just without the sock) and &quot;snap at&quot; her with your hand-maw. You should not grab her and cause her pain, just prodding her with this gesture is enough to reprimand her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gesture imitates the natural reprimand of wild dogs and wolves. Contrary to popular believe, they don't bite each other as chastisement, they snap without causing injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she doesn't stop intimidating, grab her by the collar and physically turn her around so her rear faces the smaller dog and her head faces you. (I do not mean putting her on her back, but facing her around)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you (as the highest ranking pack member) put her into a submissive position, since the higher ranking dog sniffs the rear of a newcommer first while the lower ranking dog presents its rear to be sniffed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After she calmed down a bit you should be able to let them play. But stay close at first in case she takes the opportunity to start intimidating again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to repeat this a few times until she learned that she's not allowed to intimidate smaller dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T08:24:20.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-10T10:44:30.670" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, approximately the same age, 7 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last 6 years I gave them the same food, Royal Canin indoor adult cat food (those dry pellets / croquettes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, over the last month or so, I have one of the two cat vomiting daily, the other one has no such problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before that, that cat would sometimes vomit but it would be fairly rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I tried to give food little by little to avoid him to eat too fast but seems to have no effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to change the food with those meat bag (similar to can food) and he does not throw up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I then changed to another brand of this dry food pellets, and the cat is vomiting again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides that, the cat seems healthy and I did not see any change in behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what could be the reason and how to solve it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13105" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:11:43.577" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:11:43.577" Title="Cat constantly vomiting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21465" CreationDate="2018-10-10T11:41:16.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend having a vet check him cat out. There could be an obstruction, or something else wrong with his digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat a few years ago who also started vomiting, while my other two cats were fine. A visit to the vet revealed that she had intestinal cancer. By that time, it was too late and there was nothing that we could do for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very good at hiding illness, so by the time they start visibly showing symptoms, the condition may already be in advanced stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet will also be able to advise you on dietary changes which can be made to ease his symptoms. It may be as simple as soaking the pellets in warm water before feeding him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T11:41:16.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21467" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-10T16:09:01.833" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a puppy outside my home.he is in miserable situation having maggots on his whole body..I want to help him but how..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13107" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T16:09:01.833" Title="How to rescue a puppy having maggots on his body?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-10T17:52:00.500" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21455" CreationDate="2018-10-10T16:49:47.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;12 hours is not that bad if you give them attention on both ends.  You are going to get off shift tired but give them a  few minutes if not 20.  Most dogs really like to go for walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breed matters.  Not going to list off what you can get from a Google searches &quot;dogs that need a lot of attention&quot; and &quot;dogs that are independent&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to a dog house have an overhead roof for rain and shade.  Consider a dog run even with a fenced yard. The can be time you want them in the run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many way two dogs is easier than one.  If they are young they will play with each other.  Not as important in an older dog.  I would not have an age difference of more than a couple years as the problem is when the older dog gets old and frail they can get knock down by the younger dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is cold and they have built up a winter coat then don't rotate in and out. They will get too hot indoors.  You can bring them indoors for a couple hours. You can even have them sleep indoors but it might not be comfortable for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dogs sleep indoors in temperate weather and indoors in summer and winter.  They adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2018-10-10T18:19:47.837" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T18:19:47.837" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-10T20:40:40.950" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best friend is 14 yrs old and she's uncomfortable and crying and yelping all the time practly. I've taken her several places and all they want to do is give her pain pills I'm so distraught myself by her suffering. I want so much to stop her pain and suffering. She's my ride or die best friend we have been through so much together. All I want to do is give her what she deserves. To stop suffering, how can I do this myself. Please help me end her suffering and pain. Yes I know it's going to be hard for me, but its harder for me now watching and hearing pain and suffering now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13110" LastActivityDate="2018-10-10T20:40:40.950" Title="Being able to stop you long time best friend's suffering yourself?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-10-10T23:06:12.247" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9205" CreationDate="2018-10-10T21:23:41.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have a 75 gallon (around 280 liters) tank that loses pH drastically. It is also a bare bottom which I did about a month and a half ago and has some plants. My water comes out of the tap at 7.6 pH and two days later it's 6 or less. After testing everything possible, my tap also has low KH and GH, which also lowers pH. I never had a problem with keeping a high pH for my goldies when I had a thick gravel substrate but removed it as my fish are now so large one actually had gotten four pieces stuck in his mouth and I had to pull them out. I just added &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B000ELY1YQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a bag of crushed coral from amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put a smaller bag of it in each of my filters a few days ago with no raise in pH. So I added a larger bag inside the tank today hidden in a ship ornament. Will keep increasing the coral until I see some changes. The bare bottom thing has really throw me for a loop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13111" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:21:25.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:21:25.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20615" CreationDate="2018-10-11T06:25:48.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a 5 year old cat that had gotten to be 20 pounds. He was very active and acted normal. Then he hid from me and didn't eat or drink anything for one day and night.  The next afternoon I took him to the vet.  He was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis and they kept him and tried everything but he died 2 days later.  I was devastated.  Don't wait 2 days to take a hiding cat that is not eating or drinking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13112" LastActivityDate="2018-10-11T06:25:48.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6900" CreationDate="2018-10-11T14:52:36.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this post because my friends just tried breeding for the first time and their other female dog has killed 2 of the 3 puppies the same way. Pierced lung when she picked them up. I do not know whether the dog is trying to hurt or take the puppies but it seems to me that it doesn't matter. Clearly this is a known phenomenon and a natural behaviour. It doesn't seem to be limited to stray vs pet dogs. These three (1 male and 2 females) live very happily together as cherished pets. I've always bought dogs from breeders and I notice that they keep the mother and puppies in a separate room with a door and do not allow contact with any other dogs. Maybe this is why. If you have space maybe changing your logistics could prevent this. Good luck to you. You are clearly an animal lover who is trying to do good for these dogs. I wish the vet would have warned you about this just as I wish they had warned our friends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13115" LastActivityDate="2018-10-11T14:52:36.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21474" CreationDate="2018-10-11T15:15:38.530" Score="0" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Rottweiler pup who is about 12-13 weeks old. About Tuesday he became uncharacteristicly lethargic and wouldn’t eat. We took him to the vet and he received some fluids and an injection to help with digestion and we were told to monitor him. It is now Thursday and I’m becoming increasingly worried about him. He still refused any food we tried to give him, even treats. He will drink water now, which is an improvement, but he has white colored diarrhea and yellow throw up. We currently do not have the money to afford for the vet to run extensive tests but he’s getting thinner by the day. &#xA;Does anyone have an idea of what illness this could be or what could’ve caused this? How can I help him? How can I coax him back into eating without irritating his stomach again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13116" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T10:21:51.463" Title="My Rottweiler puppy is sick" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21473" CreationDate="2018-10-11T19:11:16.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you need to get some nutrients into him. There are special powders to feed malnourished dogs, but there are natural alternatives, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order of best choice, try to get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one whole unseasoned chicken (fresh or frozen doesn't matter) or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 - 4 marrow bones of pigs or cattle, preferably with some meat (usually cut into thick slices) or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unseasoned chicken wings or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 pigs feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you got a chicken or chicken wings, break the bones in the legs and wings by smacking them with the blunt edge of a sturdy knife or cleaver. Put it into a pot and just barely cover it in water. If there are intestines with the chicken, put them in as well. Add no more than &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; of a teaspoon of salt and let it simmer on low heat for several hours. Some people cook it for 12 hours, but 4 should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's finished and cooled, first give him a bowl of the broth. For the next meal, add a little amount of meat or marrow to the broth and blend it very fine. For the next meal, add a little bit more of the meat. If there is no meat because you got clean bones, cook some unseasoned rice and blend it with the broth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breaking the bones lets the nutritious marrow dissolve into the broth. The salt helps normalize the mineral content of your puppies blood, but it must not be too much because he isn't drinking enough. The smell should help his appetite. Broth is very easy on the stomach but contains lots of nutrients that your puppy needs right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he starts eating again, add &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of his normal food to the broth, the next day &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, next day give him a normal amount and soak it in the broth. It's important to switch slowly back to normal food to not upset his stomach again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never feed cooked bones to any animal! They become brittle and can shatter while being eaten, causing severe injuries or choking.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your puppy doesn't eat the broth-meat-soup you need to see the vet again. Small bodies are vulnerable to imbalance of minerals in the blood and your puppy is already weakened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T10:21:51.463" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T10:21:51.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2018-10-11T20:36:33.043" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;In Germany&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no government option for free veterinary treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://magazin.mydog365.de/wissen/tiertafeln/#wo-finde-ich-tiertafeln&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tiertafeln&lt;/a&gt; in most bigger cities that offer pet food for free or a low price to people depending on social welfare. These often deal with people who cannot afford a veterinary treatment and might know a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking shelters run by animal welfare organizations for help is another promising option. These might offer you help to prevent you from having to bring your pet into a shelter due to unaffordable expenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cities have a free veterinary service for homeless, but you might face rejection if you are obviously not homeless. Search for &amp;quot;Obdachlosen Tierarzt&amp;quot; and the name of your city to learn about the times and places of consultant hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-10-11T20:36:33.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-12T01:30:05.743" Score="3" ViewCount="691" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my leopard gecko a month ago. I love her to bits, her name's Frankie. The vet said she was around 6 months old. Maybe I'm just worrying too much, but I figured I should get input anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To begin, I have a hot side and cool side in the tank; the hot side is 87 °F and the cool side is 70 °F. The hot side is powered by a heat lamp, which also powers the heat mat underneath because otherwise it can't maintain its heat. The substrate is reptile carpet, which I clean at the end of the week together with all of her hideouts and the whole tank. I feed her 3 crickets every day and I switch between calcium spray and multivitamin. As for calcium, she also has a powder in a bowl to eat whenever she needs it. I also have a UVB light set up that I put on during the day so she can bask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a weird one; she's constipated and it worries me. I feel like she doesn't defecate as much as a leopard gecko should, and when she does it does have its white and brown component and it looks like a literal bean. It's also a bit wet. Unfortunately, she seems to always defecate whenever I'm not around, so it gets dried out by the heat lamp and therefore can't be tested; also  her defecations are so rare; I'll try and get a sample this weekend if she does. In addition, she sometimes makes noises out of the blue. I know leopard geckos are capable of doing so, but with that and the constipation, something seems off. She's also an unstable walker. Yes, she can run, but when she walks slowly, it's always very shaky. Today she had a head spasm for a few seconds and that worried me even more. I wonder, maybe she was swallowing? This happened after eating, but the crickets are pretty small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats regularly. Sometimes I see her drinking water. Although today when I finished feeding her, she tried lunging for a rock. She bit it too, and when I took them away, she kept looking at them as I moved them back and forth. I did this to test if they were interesting to her and they were. So no more rocks in the tank. I then changed her water and after putting in ReptiSafe®, she looked at the bottle the same way she looked at the rocks. I think she wanted to eat that too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet on Monday. After an exam (which consisted of looking at her stomach for signs of impaction, her gums, and her eyes) she was fine, however her feces couldn't be tested since they'd dried out. The vet said (at least for the constipation issue) to use a UVB light (which I had just started) and to maybe try a bath. I know that Frankie will hate it; she doesn't like me holding her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was... a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The question: why is she constipated and what can I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ever since I started the UVB light, I feel like her constipation's gotten worse. It's been a week since she's defecated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13117" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:01:41.903" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:01:41.903" Title="Leopard gecko's odd behavior" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-12T16:15:20.767" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My local house rabbit community is concerned about a recent outbreak of RHD2.  This virus has 90% fatality rate.  In the US It seems to only affect domestic rabbits, in other parts of the world the domestic rabbit and the wild rabbit are the same species and it can be devastating. In those countries there is a vaccine available, the vaccine is not available in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Sept. 19, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHD2) was detected in a domestic rabbit in Medina County.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbits at this location were housed in horse stalls and ran free in those stalls. They have been on site for several years and there has been no movement of rabbits on or off the premises recently. The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will work with state and federal partners to conduct surveillance of wild rabbits near the location. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ohiovma.org/news/?p=5182&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very contagious, it can be transmitted between rabbit colonies, in feed, bedding, or human clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD), also known as rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) or viral haemorrhagic disease (VHD), is a highly infectious and often fatal disease that affects wild and domestic rabbits of the species Oryctolagus cuniculus. The infectious agent responsible for the disease is rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), or rabbit calicivirus (RCV), genus Lagovirus of the family Caliciviridae. The virus infects only rabbits, and has been used in some countries to control rabbit populations. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_haemorrhagic_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked at all the available information, and can not find the route of infect for these rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would be very interested in finding the source of this infection, so it can be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the source of RHD2 found in Medina County, OH?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit Feb 18, 2019&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Dec 7, 2018 there was an outbreak in Clover Township, PA of type 1 (&lt;em&gt;different strain than the type 2 cases in Ohio and Canada earlier in 2018&lt;/em&gt;).  The best single source reference currently available is at &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/vhd/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbit.org/vhd/&lt;/a&gt; Of the US 2018 outbreaks no sources have been identified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T13:57:28.920" Title="Source of RHD2 found in Medina County, OH?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21003" CreationDate="2018-10-12T16:46:38.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, reporting is completely voluntary.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The FDA &lt;strong&gt;encourages&lt;/strong&gt; veterinarians and animal owners to report adverse drug experiences and product defects associated with animal drugs or animal devices &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm055305.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;souce&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;emphisis mine&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no requirements for drug makers or veterinarians to report side effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't prove a negative, so this remains an open question.  I will happily modify or delete this answer if reputable sources for mandatory reporting are found.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-10-12T16:46:38.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-12T21:36:17.787" Score="0" ViewCount="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our little Betta fish has been laying at the bottom of the tank for a couple days. It will move spots from time to time, but is not swimming around like before. I don’t see any signs of sickness on its fins&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We are into day 2 of fasting it. The tank had a filter system and a heater that keeps the water at 78 degrees. I have done a 50% water change. Anything else I can do for the little guy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a photo: &lt;a href=&quot;https://m.imgur.com/sHRottI?r&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://m.imgur.com/sHRottI?r&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13122" LastEditorUserId="13122" LastEditDate="2018-10-12T22:12:31.277" LastActivityDate="2018-10-12T22:12:31.277" Title="Betta laying on bottom" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-18T08:06:05.757" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-13T06:28:12.407" Score="4" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve trained many cats and kittens, but I recently adopted a new challenge, that’s proved to be, well, a bit of a challenge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve adopted two kittens, brothers, and one is a special needs cat: he is blind. They are currently 5 months old. The not-blind one is learning quickly, but the blind one is proving more difficult to train, especially when it comes to clawing and biting. The kitty does not discriminate between toys, hands, toes, other body parts and objects. Everything has to be explored by chewing on it and feeling it (with claws). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve tried the technique mentioned in the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/16/12491&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; but it doesn’t work, probably due to his handicap and his need for exploring. Still, I don’t like being bitten/clawed. How can I teach a visually impaired kitten the difference between living things and objects and that it’s not okay to bite them, without punishing him for trying to explore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12491" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:24:45.613" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T14:19:29.793" Title="How do I stop my blind kitten from biting/clawing living things?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;sight&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2936" CreationDate="2018-10-13T08:09:20.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a persistent rumor (at least where I live) that all hollow bones (like those in legs) are harmful to dogs and all non-hollow bones (like ribs and shoulder blades) are safe. &lt;strong&gt;This myth is wrong&lt;/strong&gt;. It's rather correct that all raw bones are safe for dogs and all cooked ones are harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw bones are no danger to dogs because they're part of their natural diet. The digestive tract is built to break down raw meat, bones and hide. What it &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; cope with is too much calcium at once, which happens if you feed cooked bones. The dogs often become constipated and you can see all the calcium in the white poop they leave behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The teeth are the hardest material in any mammal's body and thereby harder than bones. Chewing bones also provides calcium for healthy teeth. Of course you should feed bones relative to your dog's size, but in theory even a small dog can chew a big bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A raw bone&lt;/strong&gt; is constructed of organic material that makes it elastic and minerals that make it rigid and hard. Breaking it down takes time and the digestive tract can cope with the amount of minerals that are ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cooking&lt;/strong&gt; breaks down most of the organic material in a bone and leaves only the mineral structure intact. That makes the bone brittle and easier to break down. It can splinter while being chewed, causing injuries or choking. The amount of minerals ingested is much higher than naturally possible and the digestive tract cannot cope with it, causing constipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have had a meal and want to give some waste to your dog as a treat, &lt;strong&gt;give them the cartilage&lt;/strong&gt;. It's easy to cut from cooked bones and has some health benefits for your dog's joints. It's a much better and safer alternative to feeding cooked bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T21:50:17.683" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T21:50:17.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21509" CreationDate="2018-10-13T08:24:12.690" Score="0" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;this question always pop in my mind that what my pets would be thinking or do they also think like we do. i know animals also feel emotions but i dont know if they also have ability to think or not. Have you ever wondered what goes on in an animal's mind? What kinds of thoughts it has, or whether it can be sad or happy? Do they think like people do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T21:40:58.847" Title="Have you ever wondered do animals also think like we humans do?" Tags="&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-10-18T08:07:30.733" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5905" CreationDate="2018-10-13T19:39:19.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;DNA testing of more than 6,000 dogs has revealed that a duplication on canine chromosome 18 is strongly associated with blue eyes in Siberian Huskies, according to a study published October 4, 2018, in the open-access journal PLOS Genetics by Adam Boyko and Aaron Sam’s of Embark Veterinary, Inc., and colleagues.”  As explained in the article out of the estimated 6,000 dogs they tested all of them had blue eyes. They explain if a husky doesn’t have blue eyes that could mean the genes weren’t transferred correctly and the dog is missing Chromosome 18 which could cause some minor to major problems in the dog’s eye health. Some of these problems could be blurry eyesight discoloration around the pupil and even being blind in one eye with the risk of being blind in both. The way the genes become messed up is, the male dog that holds the eye color gene can have different health problems that can cause a cell that helps assemble proteins is missing or weak. If the cell is missing, the gene that hold the eye color can’t create the needed cell that makes it blue. These health problems usually have something to do with the dog’s stomach. There aren’t any symptoms that can help the owner know if this issue is present. Scientist and doctors still aren’t sure what causes these problems within the dog’s stomach. If your huskie is female you don’t have to worry about these issues unless her eyes aren’t blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13128" LastActivityDate="2018-10-13T19:39:19.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21486" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-14T02:31:47.820" Score="4" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat is very lovable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently had a bad flea infestation in the house because of construction. I mean we had everything bad. So about a week ago I noticed that he had fleas, we had given him the treatments and combed him. He was still hiding a lot but usually came out to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of recent days he stopped eating his dry food, and isn't using the bathroom. He sits in his own filth, has lost a ton of weight, and doesn't move from that spot at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked him again, he has the fleas still. So I panicked and thought what if he had them all this time? So I give him a treatment, waited a day or two and nothing, he's still not eating unless it's wet food and still doesn't use the bathroom or move. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just gave him a bath today with flea treatment shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't afford a vet, but I need help, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13132" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-10-31T11:29:16.833" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T15:00:26.017" Title="Am I losing my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-14T11:38:58.277" Score="2" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which species of parrot are the smartest and make the best pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-10-14T12:30:12.143" LastActivityDate="2018-10-14T12:30:12.143" Title="Which species of parrot learn things fast and make a great pet?" Tags="&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-10-18T08:06:39.583" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1422" CreationDate="2018-10-14T20:27:42.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wire bottom cages can be bad for guinea pigs. They get a condition called bumblefoot. Also if the bars are too far apart their feet can get stuck in between and injure them. Also rabbits shouldn’t even have wire bottom cages because they get sores on their back feet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13137" LastActivityDate="2018-10-14T20:27:42.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2018-10-14T21:53:43.577" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use spring water it’s what betta live in in their natural habitat if you use another  kind of water your fish could die. if you do you can use the conditioner to treat it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13138" LastActivityDate="2018-10-14T21:53:43.577" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21491" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-15T01:49:51.597" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with my family and we have had this cat, Tilly, for several years but she still seems to be terrified of everyone other than me (including my family). She is very comfortable around me but when anyone else comes near her, she runs off. How can I get her to be more comfortable with other people? Thanks for any advice you can give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13142" LastEditorUserId="13142" LastEditDate="2018-10-16T15:16:23.563" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T14:00:55.147" Title="My cat is terrified of everyone other than me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7517" CreationDate="2018-10-15T02:41:59.807" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK for me I had a rat who had a &quot;wound&quot; behind the right ear.  I assumed it was because of fighting.  In the end turns out it was because he had mites and so would scratch himself there, eventually drawing blood.  Fix for us was to wash them and apply some cream or other.  FWIW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7707" LastActivityDate="2018-10-15T02:41:59.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-15T02:43:27.907" Score="4" ViewCount="487" Body="&lt;p&gt;My stepdaughter had a young (less than a year old) parakeet that was in a cage. She allowed her cat into her room and the cat toppled the cage off of her nightstand, making it flip over once with the bird inside. The bird got out of the cage and the cat had access to it, but we found the bird alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put the bird back in the cage (stepdaughter was at work) with some food and water and assumed it was ok. We checked on the bird the next day to find that it had gotten out of the cage and was dead on the floor, across the room from the cage (several sliding doors on the cage were open about an inch, but were very hard to see that they were open). The cat did not have access to the bird at this time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could shock have caused this? Can a young bird last less than 24 hours without food and water? 24 hours would have been the maximum time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any answers. We're the parents, not the caretakers of the bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13143" LastEditorUserId="13143" LastEditDate="2018-10-15T19:48:58.813" LastActivityDate="2018-10-15T19:48:58.813" Title="Parakeet sudden death, trying to figure out cause" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-15T03:25:40.710" Score="2" ViewCount="908" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my turtle for a very long time now and thought it was a male the whole time. I was told by a vet it was a male. Anyways about a month ago she laid eggs outside while I was cleaning her tank. So how often does this happen for her? I would like to be well informed to help her out. Please help. I've tried researching it but no solid answers yet. Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13145" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T13:04:30.560" Title="How often do female redeared sliders need to lay eggs?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-15T18:33:10.347" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a new rabbit about 2 or 3 weeks ago from his previous owner. After about the first week I noticed he wasn't drinking, so I changed his water bottle to one with a bigger sized nozzle and he has been drinking very frequently, especially at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been also scratching the bottom of the cage at night, he does it occasionally throughout the day, but not as frequently as he does at night. I noticed this morning that he started sneezing and he has been laying spread out on his stomach closer to the front, whereas he would usually lay towards the back where it is darker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After he sneezed for the 6th or 7th time, I picked him up and sat on my bed with him. I noticed he was breathing very fast and loud compared to my other rabbit. I might just be overreacting, but I've had rabbits before and I have never encountered this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed him Wild Harvest Advanced Nutrition Diet for Adult Rabbits, and I give him these mini rolls of timothy hay. I use Purina Tidy Cats cat litter the Glade tough odor solutions one, I just recently changed their litter because it was cheaper for me to buy it in a bigger size than by a 3 dollar bag and use it in one day. I use these for both of my rabbits and he is the only one showing alarming symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbits are different breeds, my female is a lionhead and the male, whom I am concerned about, is a giant sable mini lop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13148" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T19:08:13.623" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T19:08:13.623" Title="Is my rabbit potentially sick and I need to see a vet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21493" CreationDate="2018-10-15T18:39:38.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a great chance that the cage toppling over scared your bird and even though at first, it seemed fine it could've had a heart attack. There is another possibility that after you set the cage upright and fed and watered the bird that once it got out it hit a wall or dresser to hard because it was just recently scared and might have resulted in its death. When you picked the bird up did its neck seem broken like its head was really loose and would move around easily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13148" LastActivityDate="2018-10-15T18:39:38.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-15T20:18:20.610" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has a female cat and she gives birth every year (maybe 3 times a year although I'm not sure). I wanted to take one of her kitten this time although I have some questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it cruel or bad taking her kittens?    &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I take her kitten in the day they born? or should I wait until&#xA;they open their eyes?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How hard is taking care of first day born kitten?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13149" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:53:09.303" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T14:09:59.013" Title="taking care of newborn cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21498" CreationDate="2018-10-15T21:57:54.377" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is extremely ill advised to try to hand raise a newborn kitten. It should only be done if for some reason the mother is unable or unwilling to properly care for it, so that your options are either care for it yourself, or let the kitten be neglected.  I would even say it is cruel in that caring for a newborn kitten is very difficult, and if you fail to do it completely right, the kitten could become ill, malnourished, or even die, and even if you do manage to do everything exactly right, you have taken an unnecessary risk to the kitten's health, rather than acting in its best interest by leaving it with its mother until a suitable age to be separated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one, mother's milk will always be best for the kitten. Mammals pass on antibodies through their milk, and they have evolved to produce the most optimal milk for their young. Any substitute just won't be as good.  You should only use formula designed to be fed to kittens, as you cannot be sure that they will not become malnourished if you feed them some other substitute. And even then, the kitten will probably be more susceptible to disease, as it will miss out on important antibodies it would have received from its mother's milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For another thing, newborn kittens need around-the-clock constant care. Like with newborn babies, they must be fed every few hours without fail, even thoughout the night, and their milk must be carefully prepared, all bottles carefully sterilized. They also must be stimulated to eliminate after every feeding.  The constant chores of cleaning and disinfecting all equipment you use, plus any time spent actively caring for them will mean you will have very little time to do anything else until they are weaned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please, do not separate any kittens from their mom until at the minimum they are weaned, which is around 8 or 10 weeks. Some experts recommend waiting even longer, until they have had to get more socialized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-10-15T21:57:54.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21496" CreationDate="2018-10-15T22:00:57.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try and get to the vet.  What you are describing may or may not be a problem. As prey animals rabbits are very good at disguising sickness.  I have rabbits in my home with similar issues as you describe. But I have also seen rabbits with similar issues suddenly stop doing well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you think the rabbit is going to be fine, you should go for a healthy visit within the first week or two. to establish a baseline with the vet if there is a future emergency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat litter highly discouraged for rabbits. It can be dusty which is bad for their lungs, if they eat it can be bad for their digestion. Personally I prefer a wood pellet litter like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tractor-supply-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this 40 pound bag that runs about $6&lt;/a&gt; we also have post about rabbit litter &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2230/what-do-i-need-to-consider-when-buying-litter-for-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What do I need to consider when buying litter for a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-10-15T22:00:57.563" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21498" CreationDate="2018-10-15T22:02:22.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I&quot;m going to try to answer your questions in reverse order because my answer will probably make more sense that way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How hard is taking care of first day born kitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard. It's a pain in the you-know-what.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;New-born kittens need to be bottle-fed every 4 to 6 hours with a suitable milk-replacement formula - no, not 'normal' cow's milk as that doesn't have the right nutrients for a kitten and could actually do more harm than good. There are kitten milk powders (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?ei=mAbFW4TpF6Wm5wLtgK_gDA&amp;amp;q=kmr+for+kittens&amp;amp;oq=kmr+for+kittens&amp;amp;gs_l=psy-ab.3..35i39j0i7i30l3j0i5i30j0i7i5i30j0i5i30j0i8i30.13474.14530..15050...0.0..0.82.139.2......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.JvHVLA3ywOw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;KMR&lt;/a&gt; for example), but they're not cheap.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then once you've fed them, you need to &quot;poop&quot; them. If they were with their mother then she would lick their behinds to stimulate the reflex which makes them poop and/or pee. Ok - so even though the actual licking bit isn't critical, you still need to do something similar like gently rub those bits with a warm damp cloth while waiting for the kitten to do its business onto said cloth.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now remember - you're doing this 4 or 5 times a day for at least a few weeks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I take her kitten in the day they are born, or should I wait until&#xA;  they open their eyes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, following on from above: No you shouldn't take the kitten the day they're born, because their mother is far better equipped than you are to feed and care for new-born kittens.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In addition to this, your description of your friend's situation where their cat is having up to 3 litters a year for some number of years running, leads me to believe that these kittens are very likely not going to be in the best of health to start with and there is a very high chance that some (or even all) of the litter may die despite your/your-friend/mommy-cat's best efforts.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The longer you wait, the higher the chance that any genetic defects or general health problems will have shown themselves, giving you a better chance to choose a more healthy kitten from the litter.&#xA;Trust me on this - if you have even the tiniest shred of compassion in you, you really do not want to be holding a kitten as it dies if you don't have to.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Leaving the kittens together and with their mom for a while also serves another purpose - it helps to teach them how to socialize together and develop healthier personalities.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Kittens are naturally very playful &amp;amp; sociable and they learn &amp;amp; grow far better together than they do alone.&#xA;With this in mind, I'd strongly recommend that you wait even longer than when they start to open their eyes (typically 7-10 days). You really want to wait until they're comfortable eating solid(ish) food on their own and don't need to rely on mom's milk, and this is really 8 weeks to 2 months at the absolute earliest, preferably longer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it cruel or bad taking her kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well - that depends.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In my opinion, taking them too early is cruel and unnecessary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But in the long run they'd leave their mother on their own anyway, so it comes down to when &amp;amp; how you take the kittens.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When thinking about the kitten, you need to know that you are able to properly look after the kitten at the age you take it. Take it early and you need to be prepared for bottle-feeding &amp;amp; pooping multiple times a day, and (particularly if it's alone) you might end up raising a cat which isn't really well-adjusted and might show odd behavior issues sooner or later.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When thinking about the mom, it's probably better for her to not take the entire litter all at once, since not only is she still producing milk for them and she'll become very uncomfortable if there are no kittens to drink it, but she will also still have all of the hormones &amp;amp; instincts driving her to look after her kittens - so letting them grow up a little and then taking one or 2 at a time over the space of a couple of weeks will leave her less distressed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been assisting with cat rescue volunteer groups for a few years and there's one more thing which you haven't asked, but I feel strongly about.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please encourage your friend to get their cat spayed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is not good or healthy for a cat to be giving birth to 2 or 3 litters of kittens year after year.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Her life will be significantly shortened and stressful as it is now, and we don't need any more stray/feral/neglected kittens than we already have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10852" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2020-04-15T14:09:59.013" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T14:09:59.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21505" CreationDate="2018-10-16T08:44:00.343" Score="4" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5-6 month old GSD who constantly barks at me for attention, how do I discourage the barking aspect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;For background and context.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am completely aware that German Shepherds are working dogs (especially ours as they are from working lines) and im fully aware of what we bought as we already have one that is 2 years old so I know that they need alot of upkeep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My partner and I have a second GSD who has developed a habit of barking at us for attention, whether it be play or strokes, same thing. Something our other GSD doesn't do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She gets 1 hour intense walk at 6am every morning where I work her and try to make it as engaging (and tiring!) as possible but not too much as she is still young. I do all sorts of things, ring work, bite work, tugging, fetch and obedience, bits of everything really. Which does tire her out for the most part, she may have a play with our other one when we get back but more often than not she settles down and we go to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also goes to a working dog club on a weekend to work on aspects and do fun stuff like obedience and protection work etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we get back from work she wants &lt;em&gt;constant&lt;/em&gt; attention which is great to engage with her and keep us the main interest. But she barks when we don't give her immediate attention. This is the aspect I want to discourage. I want her to be able to part entertain herself and also come to us, just not demand attention by barking. Our other GSD isn't as demanding and is happy to entertain herself, play with us or sleep, she isn't as vocally demanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any advice anyone can give?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T11:39:24.053" Title="I need advice on a vocally demanding dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18148" CreationDate="2018-10-16T09:21:58.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An update after a year&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got very strict with his feeding times, only 2 full meals a day with only the occasional small dry food snacks periodically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also only fed him food which had a high meat content or was totally grain free - such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/hi-life-its-only-natural-the-tuna-one/546836-611485-611485?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6sTchM-K3gIVyLHtCh3xow3JEAQYAiABEgJWIfD_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&amp;amp;dclid=CKmvrIjPit4CFasC0wodsWQP1A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hi-Life - It's Only Natural (The Tuna One)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/wellbeloved_catfood/wellbeloved_cat_senior/108759&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;James Wellbeloved - Senior Turkey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/encore/pouches/693949?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImuKBv8-K3gIVguR3Ch33cAwREAQYAiABEgJL1vD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Encore Cat Food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all much more expensive than ordinary cat food like Whiskas and Felix, but the results have been very satisfying. I also bought the cat some cat grass, which he enjoys eating after meal times, although I cannot be certain this has been a contribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, his blood sugar ranges gradually fell, from around 28mmol-12mmol last year, to between 7mmol and 11mol - results so incredible that he no longer requires insulin at all. I check his blood sugar every two weeks or so to make sure, but he is always well within an acceptable range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T09:21:58.120" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21503" CreationDate="2018-10-16T11:39:24.053" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem here is not her work schedule, it's that you react to her barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a very simple line of thought:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attention (petting or playing) = good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barking = gets attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barking = good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to break this cycle by not rewarding her for any barking. Whenever she starts barking for your attention, &lt;strong&gt;turn away from her and don't react to anything she does until she is quiet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should turn away to signal her that she actually looses your attention instead of getting it. Turn away exactly once, don't turn it into a game of peek-a-boo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignoring her will be difficult at first. She will be loud, she might jump at you or start whining in ear-splitting pitches. Don't look at her, don't move your arms or legs, don't speak to her. You must completely ignore her until she hasn't made a sound for 20-30 seconds. Then reward her exuberantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat until her behavior changed. Every member of the family must ignore her barking. You probably need to repeat this treatment several times and she might develop substitutional behaviors. You should treat your other dog in exactly the same way so both of them understand that barking for attention is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that barking &lt;em&gt;during play&lt;/em&gt; is natural behavior and should not be punished. It's the equivalent to children laughing and screaming while playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T11:39:24.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-16T16:03:11.970" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 16 year old Lhasa has a collapsed trachea. She weighs 21 lbs. Ideally , she should weigh 20lbs. How much raw meat and what supplements should I give her daily ? She has no other health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13154" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-17T17:26:24.213" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T17:26:24.213" Title="My 16 year old Lhasa" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21507" CreationDate="2018-10-16T21:29:16.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question has a lot of potential to be loaded...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to say that many dogs with a collapsed trachea are able to eat kibble just fine. You may have other reasons for wanting to switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're on the right track that dogs need additional vitamins and minerals that are not found in a diet straight from the butcher's block. And some breeds have additional, breed-specific requirements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's an additional complication in the meat itself - most meat, especially meat from the grocery store - is graded and rated to be safe when it is cooked. Eating raw meat always has a risk of parasites, and eating a diet purely of it is vastly increasing that very small chance. If you do decide to feed raw meat, you have to take extra care on this subject and where your meat comes from, especially with an elderly dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figuring out what meat to get, what to add to it, how much to give, breed specific requirements... all of this is very time consuming and likely just as costly as alternative raw dog food that you can buy. Before you decide on making your own dog food, check out the different raw dog foods that you can buy online and have shipped to your pet. These foods will be safe from parasites, have all the nutrients and minerals, and have feeding guidelines already figured out. Most of these companies even have breed-specific foods and feeding guides, also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not certain on the guidelines for providing links, but a simple google search for &quot;raw dog food online&quot; should point you in the right direction to these companies. See if any meet your needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T21:29:16.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21483" CreationDate="2018-10-16T21:40:58.847" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they do think in a way that is similar and comparable, but not quite the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life is very vivid to animals. In many cases they know who they are.&#xA;  They know who their friends are and who their rivals are. They have&#xA;  ambitions for higher status.  They compete. But many animals express&#xA;  empathy for each other. There are documented stories of elephants&#xA;  finding people who were lost. In one case, an old woman who couldn’t&#xA;  see well, got lost and was found the next day with elephants guarding&#xA;  her. They had encased her in sort of a cage of branches to protect her&#xA;  from hyenas. That’s seems extraordinary to us but it comes naturally&#xA;  to elephants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150714-animal-dog-thinking-feelings-brain-science/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150714-animal-dog-thinking-feelings-brain-science/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... Grandin examines the surprising similarities between an animal’s mind and an autistic mind—her own. “Autistic people,” she writes, “are closer to animals than normal people are.” This may sound like a cruel judgment, the sort of thing a cold-hearted clinician would say, but it isn’t. It’s an acute observation, all the more important because it comes from an autistic person. Her autism, Grandin suggests, puts her somewhere between normal human mentality and animal mentality, not as a matter of IQ but as a matter of perception and emotion. Being closer to animals isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, that’s what makes Grandin such an uncanny translator of animal behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://discovermagazine.com/2005/may/what-do-animals-think&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://discovermagazine.com/2005/may/what-do-animals-think&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;These data suggest that not only do some animals have a subjective take on the suitability of the option they are evaluating for their goal, they possess a subjective, internal signal regarding their confidence in this take that can be deployed to select amongst different options,&quot; he wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171101151206.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171101151206.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2018-10-16T21:40:58.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2982" CreationDate="2018-10-17T05:16:12.140" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interacting with the outdoors, dashing across a field or climbing a tree (a real tree) are not experiences with indoor substitutes. I can stimulate my cats with toys. But when they go out they really come to life. For cats like them an indoor life is life half-lived. That may be the best choice, but it's a sad one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The outdoor dangers are real but there are ways to overcome some it. First, you only need to worry about cats running away if it is an indoor cat that slipped. Outdoor cats establish territories which they hang out in. Cars are scary, but i taught my cats to cross streets. Also i let them out where traffic is very light, like 2am. Heartguard is effective in protecting them from fleas, ticks, and heartworms. You should get to know your neighborhood like what kinds of feral or pet cats are there, are their rats that can make them sick, are there people who see cats as pests and may hurt them? Your neighborhood may turn out to be unsuitable for your cat, but there is mo need to assume that. Just go find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said, letting your cats go out def adds work to you. You will need to monitor their health more closely, looking out for injuries, skin breaks, etc. i think all this is worth it for cats to fully live. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13159" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T05:16:12.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-17T08:37:09.877" Score="7" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 months old blind kitten is a normal cat in most aspects but has a few blind-cat quirks. He instinctively knows how to use a litter box. More or less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes he does his business next to the litter box instead of in it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He never digs in the litter box like other cats (including his brother) do. Instead he claws the wall or any object near the litter box. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His butt is not always clean after doing his business. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have two litter boxes and two cats. We recently replaced the litter boxes and pellets. They are both open and without a door (PeeWee EcoMinor) and use wood pellets, because they smell less. His (sighted) brother took to the new litter boxes immediately. The peeing next to the litter box problem started after getting the new boxes, the other problems already existed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried: different litter types. He eats crystal litter, do I stopped using that. The clumping litter works okay-ish, but smells horrible. The wood pellets seem to work best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I teach him (potentially using his brother that does know) to use the litter box properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12491" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:24:31.530" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:24:31.530" Title="How can I teach my 5 months old blind kitten to use the litter box properly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;disability&gt;&lt;sight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21515" CreationDate="2018-10-17T12:33:16.190" Score="8" ViewCount="5179" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats (2 years old) loves can food and goes crazy once a fresh can is opened. However if I put the can in the fridge for the next meal it seems the scent has gone away and she wont eat it unless shes quite hungry and will whine for a new can and start licking me. Is there a way I can keep this fresh scent of a newly opened wet can food? I have tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting the can in a container then refrigerating, this seems to help but still loses the scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13164" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-10-17T12:48:05.020" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T13:08:15.927" Title="Cat loves to eat newly opened can food, but after a day or two hesistates to eat the food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21513" CreationDate="2018-10-17T16:23:38.100" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats register the presence of food by smell; when food is refrigerated, it has far less scent than when it's fresh from the (room temperature) can, and for many cats, the comparative lack of scent from refrigerated canned food will make it unappealing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have the right idea that the (lack of) scent is the issue, but not on how to bring it back. While it's important to keep the food covered to retain the moisture, temperature is the real key to solving the issue. Before serving the food, microwave it lightly in bursts of just a couple of seconds to warm it back up. You don't want it hot, only around room temperature to lukewarm--roughly the temperature of freshly caught prey. Take it slow and give it time after removing it from the microwave to make sure it's not overheated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try transferring the food to a different container, if warming alone isn't sufficient. Depending on how picky your cat is, the food could be picking up a metallic odor from the can during the time in the fridge that she dislikes. I personally use a plastic container for my cats' food, but you can use a glass one, too, as long as it has an air-tight seal. If you're still having trouble, consider a &quot;stinkier&quot; food that will retain more smell when refrigerated, and thus when warmed back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T16:23:38.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21513" CreationDate="2018-10-17T17:29:32.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get plastic lids for the cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you transfer to a glass jar just big enough for the left over.  With less air it will hold its scent better and less oxidation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set it on the counter with lid on for 10 minutes to come to room temperature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1Dra5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1Dra5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;glass jar&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastEditorUserId="5552" LastEditDate="2018-10-17T17:39:33.853" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T17:39:33.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-17T17:31:56.940" Score="2" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have a fish and I don't have the skills and/or supplies to test the water in my fish tank, can I take a sample from the fish tank to the fish/pet store to get tested?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If yes, what if any special considerations are there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-19T10:25:16.750" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T10:25:16.750" Title="Will pets stores test my aquarium water?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21511" CreationDate="2018-10-17T17:48:17.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are unique individuals when it comes to their litterbox habits. Scratching to bury their waste comes from a desire to be clean, and many cats, depending on their personality, will do it if there is something they object to outside the litterbox, even on surfaces where it's impossible to actually dig. Therefore, if your cat is doing it around the litterbox, and even eliminating outside the litterbox, it's a possible indication it doesn't like the litterbox. Sighted cats will do this as well, so this is probably not being caused by blindness. The fact that this started after you changed the litterbox seems to extra support the theory that it simply doesn't approve of the new box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box could be too small, or too deep or too shallow. Of course cats prefer the area to do their business to be as big as possible. They also want only about three inches of litter, just enough to bury their waste. If you cannot find an actual litterbox of acceptable size, there are plenty of box-like things you can use instead, such as big plastic storage containers. I would just make sure the box is lidless with fairly shallow sides, to make sure the cat can figure out how to get into it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It might not like the litter you are using. While it's tempting to use a type that most appeals to you, you should use whatever is most appealing to your cat.  If you end up switching, gradually replace the old litter with the new, so your cats can gradually become used to it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box might simply not be clean enough. It should be cleaned at least daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are more obsessive at scratching than others, however, so it may be that your one cat will always have some habit of scratching around the box, even if you manage to lessen this habit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-10-17T21:49:13.547" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T21:49:13.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21518" CreationDate="2018-10-17T18:43:45.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a good fish store, they will most likely provide basic water testing for free or for a nominal charge. Look for privately owned ones with good reviews and call them to see what they offer. If you have any local aquarium clubs, I'm sure you can get this answer for your area or even get a member to help you out. I would stay far away from big box pet stores, petco and petsmart, if you want quality service, knowledge, or livestock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T18:43:45.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15980" CreationDate="2018-10-17T20:03:38.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wheel bugs primarily consume other slow-moving insects, like caterpillars, for example. You may want to consider that as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13120" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T20:03:38.557" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20478" CreationDate="2018-10-17T20:08:42.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to consider getting one of those KittyWalk enclosures. They're small enclosures that would enable your pet to be outdoors without being harassed by those tomcats. They're like industrial strength, fishnet weaved dog houses, but for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13120" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T20:08:42.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20259" CreationDate="2018-10-17T20:15:22.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may try this, a very effective way to patch the shell is to use a fast drying Marine Epoxy. You want to get the fast drying kind since the shorter the time the snail is out of the water the better. The brand I got has a set up time of 15 minutes with total dry time of 1 hour. I went to my local hardware store and bought the kind that looks like play dough in a tube green outside with white inside you simply blend it all together until it is solid white and gently put in on the bad spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13120" LastActivityDate="2018-10-17T20:15:22.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6022" CreationDate="2018-10-17T22:10:04.093" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many reasons: a few of the most common ones is that they don't have the best amount of WET mud they need. You should have 28 gallons of mud per pig. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one is that they move too much while they're still babys. You should rub the muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, they have an infection on their muscles and need to be taken to the vet very soon. The medication is about 500 dollars per 200 pills and you'll need to give them every 1 month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13166" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-11-07T13:26:06.793" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T13:26:06.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21526" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21528" CreationDate="2018-10-18T04:20:03.843" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a cat come to my house. I knew nothing about cats at that time. After an hour or two, she started having kittens. It's been about 2 days since then and I am not able to find her owner. I checked the footage of the security cameras in my house and it showed that the cat had visited my house a couple of times when I was out for work. Recently, a friend of mine who knows a bit about cats told me that cats who're having a baby seek refuge in other homes mostly if they're abandoned by their owners. Is it true? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13167" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:14:42.907" Title="Is it true that cats having a baby seek refuge in other homes if they're abandoned by their owners?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20259" CreationDate="2018-10-18T04:52:50.793" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simplest and easiest way to repair the shell is to make sure your water contains calcium in the right amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most snails living in water need hard water (water containing dissolved minerals and calcium salts); one way to do this is to add GH salt, another is to add crushed sea shells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mineral content of your water is good the snails will repair their shell damage by themselves - and this does not take long, you will see great improvement within a few weeks. This is the case if the damage is at the opening of the snail's shell, so if the damage is in the older part of the shell in an area where the snail cannot reach it, you need to do the repair yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://applesnail.net/content/care.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;More information can be found here&lt;/a&gt; under the section &amp;quot;water&amp;quot;. Be sure the water have a low content of metals, as they are toxic to snails and most other life in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is damage to the older part of the shell or at the top of the shell, you need to do the repair yourself by cleaning the area and then applying some form of clear nail varnish or fast hardening epoxy glue. The important thing when you do this is to avoid the chemicals coming in contact with the snail's body. This can be done by putting a part of an eggshell on the snail shell before you apply the epoxy or nail varnish on top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find more information about this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/broken-shell.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. This link was provided by James Jenkins; credit to him for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-29T01:45:39.677" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T01:45:39.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21526" CreationDate="2018-10-18T07:47:59.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are much more independent and less social than dogs. It's true that abandoned cats might seek a new place to live if their owners don't provide food or abuse them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pregnant cats have an instinct to seek a calm and safe place to make a nest for their kittens. Newborn kittens are blind and helpless and the mother wants to find a place where the kittens are safe for several weeks. That's why you should provide several places for your pregnant cat, like cartons and boxes with soft blankets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The instinct to find a safe nest is so strong in cats that sometimes they walk around and seek a new nest while the contractions have already started and the birth is imminent. Then they must give birth in the next best place they find. This might have happened in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that there are children or other pets in the home of the cat and she felt that her kittens would be disturbed by them. She was not abandoned, but was looking for a calm place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:14:42.907" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:14:42.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-18T21:12:14.537" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 month old leopard gecko has had his front left leg turned inwards for the past 2 weeks. He also stays in his hide a lot and rarely comes out. Is there anything I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13173" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T17:08:33.793" Title="Possible case of MBD in a leopard gecko" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-19T01:10:41.960" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta fish has white patches on his fins. One of the patches has a small whole in the middle. There are no signs of dulling scales, red/bulging eyes, or any other signs I found that could mean he is sick. The only other possible symptom he seems to have is that he like to sleep a lot but he has done that for the past one and a half years that I've had him. Is he getting old or is he just sick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13177" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-19T10:26:30.490" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T17:02:45.457" Title="Is my betta getting old or is he sick?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-11T18:49:02.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21532" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-19T03:51:50.907" Score="4" ViewCount="943" Body="&lt;p&gt;About noon yesterday, my 5 month old cat threw up what seemed to be pieces of a fake succulent plant I had in my kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had thrown the plant away 2 weeks before this. He threw up about three time in that day. He seemed fine and all, but now he won't eat at all. I've seen him act like he's hungry but when I give him the food, he just smells it and walks off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other cat is perfectly fine and eats his food. I want to take him to a vet, but I'm afraid me and my mom are very short on money at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, any advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13178" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T11:54:40.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T11:54:40.760" Title="My cat threw up after eating a fake succulent plant" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21532" CreationDate="2018-10-19T08:09:15.490" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While vomiting isn't always a sign that something is wrong in cats, it sounds like he has eaten something which disagreed with him (the succulent plant) and now he is put off food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you take him to the vet, try him on some very plain food, such as plain chicken, or tuna from a can. See if you can feed him with your hand. It might be something to do with the bowl he eats from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he still won't eat, you need to get him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8894" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T08:09:15.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21110" CreationDate="2018-10-19T11:01:24.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat likes the fact that the water is running, you can always look for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://miaustore.com/uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat water fountain&lt;/a&gt;. I use this one from Miaustore as it looks nice and is REALLY quiet, but there are quite a few out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13179" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T11:01:24.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16512" CreationDate="2018-10-19T12:52:03.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's normal for dogs to be tuckered out after boarding. When my dog comes home from the kennel, she goes right to her 'place' and sleeps for hours. Playtime is hard work!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13181" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:55:23.010" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:55:23.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21513" CreationDate="2018-10-19T13:08:15.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a couple of thoughts on how to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Although I'm sure you're doing this, I'll say it just in case: make sure you have the food enclosed in the fridge. I have tins that plastic covers won't fit, so I pop the tin in a ziplock baggie before putting it in the fridge. Otherwise her for with get hard and gross, like pizza when you put the box in the fridge overnight. Ick!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try taking out the food you want to feed her a half hour early (ONLY what you'll be feeding her, as in take it out of the tin and put the remaining food back in the fridge). Let it sit in a covered container somewhere she can't get to it. Then feed it to her once it's room temp.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If that doesn't work and she's okay with it, try mixing a bit of water in to make it a bit soupy. Sometimes that helps. I had some Alaskan Salmon oil designed to hydrate cats that I'd mix in with one cat's meal when she wasn't eating to get her to start.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start feeding her less at meals. I have 3 cats and 2 were getting really picky, so I put them on a diet (just a tiny bit less than normal). They immediately stopped being picky. I think they just needed that bit of extra hunger so they wouldn't think &quot;I'm not hungry so why eat this? I need something that tastes GREAT if I'm going to eat.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T13:08:15.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21491" CreationDate="2018-10-19T13:35:01.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats learn by action-reaction, or association. In other words, if something hurt or upset her and she was with a human, she may have assumed it was the human that caused it. She feels safe around you because she trusts you, but that doesn't remove that association in her mind about others. If she was a rescue, she may have been abused by humans previously. I had a cat who had a painful procedure by our male vet, causing her to hate men. You can't rewind the past or even know what caused it, but you can help her attempt to reassociate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first tip is to keep her indoors or within your yard (if you ever let her out). Who knows, you could have a neighbour who hates cats that you don't know about. My Nana used to throw ice at stray animals (I stopped that!) so you never know what could be happening when you aren't around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell your family and people who come by frequently that you're trying to help her trust again. If they don't understand, try making a possible back story for her from before you got her that might explain the fear, and share it with them to help them understand what might have caused it. A little understanding goes a long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have people walk softly and speak softly and positively when they're around her. Cats understand tone and she will instantly feel safer if people act nice and safe around her. This is important: if someone tries to interact with her and she hesitates or bolts, &lt;strong&gt;do not be disappointed&lt;/strong&gt;! She will feel it and it will only make it harder. I know that's hard, but every little bit is progress!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have friends and family sit at her level when they interact with her. When they look at her, make sure they don't open eye stare at her, because that's a sign of a threat for cats. Instead, have them slow blink at her when they look at her. When they go to interact with her, they should always offer a hand to sniff (palm up, middle finger lower than the others, arm outstretched). Let her sniff and choose the next move. Make sure they're patient, as she may take a few minutes to want to move forward more. When she does get closer, have them say &quot;good job!&quot; Softly, with a lot of over cheer in their voice. Give them treats to place in front of her when she gets closer (make sure they don't throw them at her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with all that, she still may only warm up to the specific people that do this. That's okay though, she may have had a very strong association that will take a long time to break, if ever. Just keep up the slow blinks and encouragement! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last thing, if you have someone else living with you, get them to give her her food dish (with you right beside them). That's a very good association for her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2018-10-19T13:35:01.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-19T14:13:45.540" Score="6" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat's nose is perpetually dry, and he will get &quot;boogers&quot; with moderate frequency (similar to eye boogers, dry clumps of something or other with no associated mucous that come free if I pick at them). He is half Persian but his nose is just small, not squashed, and apart from occasional (brief) sneezing fits and a spat of flea dermatitis years ago, he is a very healthy and happy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is not so much that he's sick as whether or not I'm doing the right thing in response to his nose issues. I am a bit of a compulsive groomer with my animals and there are basically two points on which I can't tell if I'm helping or just being fussy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As with eye boogers, I will immediately take out nose boogers if I notice them. He lets me but he's clearly not happy with it and will squirm. Since he is part Persian and does have occasional sneezing fits, I worry that these things could obstruct his airway, but I also know that with humans, nose-picking sometimes just makes the problem worse. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm increasingly tempted lately to try to put something on his nose to help the skin. He loves to sit in front of the heater, which I'm sure is most of the reason, but his nose will get flaky and hard sometimes and it bothers me. I worry it might be uncomfortable. Is there something that would be cat-safe (like coconut oil, even) that I could put on it, and is this even a good idea in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all stuff I could easily leave alone if I knew it was detrimental, but it's hard to find anything specific. Help &amp;amp; info is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Here's a picture - the white is not camera glare but a dry patch, and you can see a little bit of gunk on the left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R6AdQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;close up of sleepy black cat&amp;#39;s face&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13155" LastEditorUserId="13155" LastEditDate="2018-10-20T03:11:43.117" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T18:47:21.970" Title="My cat has perpetual dry nose - am I making the problem worse?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21538" CreationDate="2018-10-20T05:15:50.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small amount of eye gunk and nose boogers is normal. It is how the nose and eyes clean themselves. What you do will not change this, so if you want you might remove it or leave it to your cat to remove it himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this is not something you really need to remove. But you should keep an eye on it to see if it is bloody or green. If it is you need to take the cat to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your cat's dry nose, you need to be very careful if you apply something to it. So I think making sure the air in your house is not too dry is probably better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By being careful if you apply something on your cat's nose, I mean be sure your cat does not inhale any of it (oils or fat is very dangerous for the lungs if it gets in there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is related to yours: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18592/does-my-cat-have-an-infection/18593#18593&quot;&gt;does my cat have an infection?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T18:47:21.970" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T18:47:21.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21541" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21566" CreationDate="2018-10-20T05:22:08.933" Score="7" ViewCount="372" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Catalina is 7 months old, pretty healthy and playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried because the temperatures are dropping now and the inside of our house isn't really warm during winter at night (15 degrees Celsius, 59 Fahrenheit). She sleeps on the sofa, and when I wake up, her fur and ears are cold, so I got her a fancy fluffy house about 50x50x50 cm in size, and it looks good relative to her size. She can move inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the issue is she doesn't sleep in her house, she keeps sleeping on the sofa and sometimes on the table. Should I worry, or are cats smart enough to use shelter if it is too cold for them? Can I do something so that she feels like using her house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She isn't scared of her house or anything, she plays around it during the day and sometimes goes in randomly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13184" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T12:16:12.883" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T12:16:12.883" Title="How can I make my cat use her house during winter cold?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21546" CreationDate="2018-10-20T13:16:04.887" Score="4" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which feed is suitable for an African gray parrot. Also mention name of that feed and other edible foods for parrot if that specific feed is not available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T01:05:52.590" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T02:22:42.327" Title="What food should I give to African gray parrot?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16512" CreationDate="2018-10-20T15:24:58.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My opinion is that it is not normal buf it does happen a lot to dogs and I would stop. Taking him to that kennel &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13187" LastActivityDate="2018-10-20T15:24:58.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21542" CreationDate="2018-10-21T01:02:18.237" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Old Train of Thought&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are slowly but steadily making progress on diets for our captive parrots, the old train of thought was comparing parrots to chickens in the sense of only &lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/the-nutritional-content-of-pet-bird-diets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feeding them seeds and nuts&lt;/a&gt;. This has led to many many health issues such as fatty liver disease, &lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/omega-3-fatty-acids-and-atherosclerosis-in-birds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heart disease&lt;/a&gt;, vitamin/mineral deficits, egg binding and more..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pellets, pellets, pellets!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a few wonderful companies who dedicate their time to studying parrots and creating diets that meet their nutritional requirements. It is important that parrots get some pellets as a daily staple, these pellets contain essential vitamins, minerals, proteins, sugars and carbohydrates to keep a parrot happy and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few reputable brands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Harrisons Adult Lifetime&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zupreem.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zupreem Naturals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.roudybush.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Roudybush&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lafebers&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fruits &amp;amp; vegetables are a must!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is ideal that a parrot gets a large variety of fresh vegetables and some fruit, the more variety the better! A parrot can survive on pellets alone (with the exception of some species) however they will thrive with added fruits and vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few good choices of vegetables/fruits to buy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kale&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bok Choy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Broccoli&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parsley&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chili Peppers (parrots are not affected by spice)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squash (Zucchini, butternut, spaghetti)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sweet peppers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carrots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cranberries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blueberries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bananas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ground flax seed (Omega 3)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/seeds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://lafeber.com/vet/obesity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-10-21T01:13:00.200" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T01:13:00.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21542" CreationDate="2018-10-21T02:22:42.327" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 25 year old Grey . They are omnivores, they eat a wide variety.In addition to standard commercial food we give her some fresh fruit and vegetable each day. One of her favorites is the end of a bell pepper with the seeds . Another favorite is chicken leg bones although she likes any meat bone where she can get marrow. She loves nuts but we limit those to a couple per day. She likes any breakfast cereal with milk  also ice cream.  Probably a better question is &quot;what shouldn't&quot; I feed them ? My wife believes tomato and chocolate are bad.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T02:22:42.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-21T04:46:18.000" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Got a new 30 gallon aquarium ~1 month ago.&#xA;The seller told me to use tap water (no conditiner), run the pump for a week (to get rid of chlorine), then bring a sample for test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did that, didn't use any soap/detergents for cleaning. All the rock/plants are from the same LFS. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One week later, brought the water sample for test, they said 'perfect' (1), gave me 6 tetra pristellas. Dummy me, came home, dumped everything in the aquarium. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One week later, 4 out of 6 still alive, another water sample, another 'perfect' (2) from LFS, a new group of fish (mollies, guppy, 1 gourami, 2 plecos - 9 total). Dumped them all again (really stupid). Mollies were really happy initially, one of them even gave birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another week later, 9 fish dead, coming sad to the LFS, with another water sample, another 'perfect' (3). This time they sold me another 5 tetras (the remaining tetra 'is very sad, let's add compay') as well as 3 otocinclus, to keep raving algae in control. This time I made sure that the bag temperature is same as in aquarium, did partial water changes in the bag, topping it with the aquarium water. About ~45 minutes before releasing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another week later, 4 tetra and 1 oto dead. Come to the same LFS, the water is 'perfect' (4) again, they even tested for P, PB and copper. Nothing. The readings were as previous: &#xA;Nitrate &amp;lt; 5, Nitrite = 0, Total hardness - hard, Total chlorine - 0, KH - 40, pH - ~7.4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides this, I have a liquid test at home, pH is always ~ 7.4, amonia/Nitrate/Nitrite - lowest value on the charts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now I have 2 tetras and 2 oto, still alive but not very happy. Pump is rated for 50 gallons, always running. Temperature measured by 2 different thermometers - 79, maintained by 2 heaters rated for 25 gallons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for long preamble - but what should I do now? I finally conditioned full aquarium (using stuff that's sold by LFS), thinking about getting a RODI filter - maybe the tap water has something not showing on the tests? Paying $250 for a full water test is a bit expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Fish was always fed once a day, but all of them stopped eating after a days or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13190" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:49:57.937" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T20:18:01.690" Title="Freshwater aquarium - many fish batches dead, LFS keeps claiming that water is 'perfect'" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21531" CreationDate="2018-10-21T15:35:16.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When this happened to mine, I was told to treat it for &quot;ich&quot; short for Ichthyophthirius, if the treatment didnt work she was probably just getting old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine, was just getting old, she lost almost all color. Changed from bright blue with red fins to almost a gold fish color all over. She live a year to a year and a half longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you have as much luck as I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13191" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T15:35:16.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21550" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-21T15:53:31.797" Score="2" ViewCount="1217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog is diabetic. We were told to inject insulin twice a day in 12 hr intervals. We do 8am and 8pm. If we wished to have an evening out would 7 pm cause a problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13192" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:51:18.747" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T13:51:18.747" Title="Diabetic dogs insulin injection intervals" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21550" CreationDate="2018-10-21T16:31:33.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you inject your dog twice a day it's probably a slow-acting insulin. It shouldn't be a problem to give an injection earlier once in a while, but I wouldn't give it more than 1,5 hours earlier. Make sure to give the usual amount and continnue with your usual schedule the next morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans usually use fast-acting insulin right before eating. If you were told to feed your dog right after (or 30 minutes after) the injections, do so when injecting him/her earlier, too. Fast-acting insulin can lower the blood sugar to dangerous levels if you don't eat the required amount of carbs after injecting. So add a little treat to the early meal to make sure your dog eats at the right time relative to the injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-21T16:31:33.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-21T19:16:43.320" Score="3" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up two wonderful Norwegian Forest Cats from the breeder two days ago. Two weeks ago they were sick with a Giardia infection, as confirmed by the breeder's vet's lab checks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last symptoms were seen almost 2 weeks ago, last Tuesday (5 days ago) was the last medication dose. They have not shown any signs of illness, digestion is clean and solid, they play like wild and are happy and active. No signs of illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will get them tested again, but for the sake of short-term peace of mind i wanted to ask: how safe is it to assume that the parasites are gone for good? I was afraid they would be carried in, so i did not use the breeder's blanket and cat utensils, despite her recommendations. So the only way the parasites could have come in externally is via the fur, basically. They have not been shampooed or washed – not by me, nor by the breeder. (I wonder if this should have been done).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any input is appreciated. Many thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13193" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-10-30T16:27:50.790" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T16:27:50.790" Title="Giardia infection, how long until safe beyond incubation" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21557" CreationDate="2018-10-22T13:03:38.940" Score="6" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people let their pets, such as a dog, lick their face and lips. Is this safe or are there any serious problems with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-10-22T15:57:59.887" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:13:37.733" Title="Is it safe to let a pet lick your face?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-22T14:13:28.167" Score="2" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taken a photo of her wound today (see the first figure below). You can see there is a dark pink thing. Does anyone know what it is? Is it pus or a scab?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This wound has already been there for almost a month. I had taken her to a vet for consultation since I discovered it. The vet offered me some cream and iodine to apply at home and asked me to take her back for antibiotic injection every three days for about two weeks. After all the things, the vet told me it is healing and no need to go back but I doubt it. I have a picture of the wound a month ago (see the second figure). Can any tell me if the wound is really healing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MLQPS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MLQPS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Current condition of her right leg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mhcBa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mhcBa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Her right leg a month ago&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13196" LastActivityDate="2018-10-22T14:13:28.167" Title="What is that in my red-eared slider's wound?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-22T14:23:19.957" Score="1" ViewCount="2373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out why a person would choose one of the breeds above over the others. Any way I look at it the Rottweiler looks like the better option for about any task I can think of - smarter and more energetic than the other breeds yet just as big and protective as any of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And still people choose the other breeds sometimes, they are nowhere near going extinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What am I missing here? What are the advantages of the other breeds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="10831" LastEditDate="2018-10-22T23:36:47.487" LastActivityDate="2018-10-22T23:36:47.487" Title="Rottweiler vs Presa Canario vs Cane Corso vs Bull Mastiff: How to choose?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-11-12T10:53:39.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-22T17:55:56.493" Score="2" ViewCount="674" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dog the pulls his hair out all over his body and he is almost bald. He has also chewed his toenails of on his back leg plus pulled all his hair out there to he is so miserable and we don't know how help him. We tried giving him some Benadryl for allergies and it's not stopping any of this. We are at a loss on what to do to help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13197" LastActivityDate="2018-10-23T12:18:19.303" Title="Pulling hair the all over the body" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-23T12:14:25.787" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21553" CreationDate="2018-10-22T18:25:51.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That completely depends on what was in your pet's mouth. If your cat can never eat a mouse because she's an indoor cat and if your dog can never raid the trash can, having them lick your face is absolutely safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they do get out and have access to potentially germ-ridden chewing toys like feces, rodents, trash or carcasses (I mean the dead bird on your neighbor's lawn), they shouldn't lick people with a weak immune system. You should also not let them lick any wound (like a scratch, rash or burn).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog or cat has particularly bad breath, you can assume there are tons of germs in its mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For otherwise healthy people, the chance of getting an inflammation or infection from a pet licking their face is relatively low but not zero. The most common diseases transmitted by dogs licking their owners are diarrhea and parasites. A dog bite has a much higher chance to get infected, and the infections differ from those transmitted by licks. Outside cats might carry germs and parasites from rodents or birds in their mouths, and they can cause severe infections when scratching or biting someone (which might result in amputations or even death).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DogMD states in their &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/dog-saliva-5-fast-facts-you-should-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article about dog salva&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog saliva is antibacterial&lt;/strong&gt;. “Dog saliva does contain chemicals that are antibacterial and it’s very unlikely that saliva by itself would be a direct cause of infection,” says Harvey. “You often see dogs licking wounds and that is a cleansing action and an antibacterial action to promote the healing of a superficial wound.” Of course licking won’t cure all superficial infections in dogs, so veterinary visits are still often necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog “kisses” may transfer bacteria to humans&lt;/strong&gt;. Just because dog saliva has antibacterial properties does not mean that dog “kisses” are clean and humans should let their guard down. Dr. Edward R. Eisner, the first veterinarian to become a board-certified specialist in Veterinary Dentistry in Colorado, notes that it’s possible for bacteria to be transferred from pets to humans. One study published in Oral Biology in 2012 found that there can be a transmission of periodontopathic species of bacteria between dogs and their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rather seldom but very dangerous bacteria transmitted from dogs to humans is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capnocytophaga_canimorsus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Capnocytophaga canimorsus&lt;/a&gt;. National Geographic writes in their article &lt;a href=&quot;https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/dogs-cats-clean-licking-bacteria-health-science/?user.testname=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Dog and Cat 'Kisses' Can Turn Deadly&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 10 to 15 percent of dog bites become infected, as do up to half of cat bites. Sometimes the consequences are deadly: In one study, 26 percent of people with confirmed C. canimorsus infections died.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;[...]&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;In a puppy’s mouth, C. canimorsus is no big deal. At least a quarter of all dogs and many cats carry them. Humans normally don’t&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what makes this bacterium so dangerous. It's no more aggressive than other bacteria, but humans usually don't have antibodies against it. It can reproduce unhindered by the immune system and cause a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septic_shock&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;septic shock&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same article later states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for dogs and their full-face slobber-fests, they’re usually not harmful — as long as your immune system is strong and you don’t have any wounds on your face or mouth that would let bacteria into your bloodstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to allow your pet to lick you without risk of infection, simply guide them to lick your chin, jaw and cheeks and avoid any wound as well as your mouth, nose and eyes. That lowers the chances of infections because the germs don't come into direct contact with your mucous membranes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:13:37.733" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21555" CreationDate="2018-10-22T20:07:49.447" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's like saying &quot;I don't like brunettes. Why aren't they extinct yet?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People have different tastes and prefer different looks in dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All these dogs originate from different regions and are traditionally used in those regions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of them declined in numbers quite drastically until they found a new field of application in wars or police service&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are enthusiasts trying to maintain a healthy population&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The different temperaments of these dogs makes some more appropriate for certain tasks than others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottweiler&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rottweiler&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Originates from Germany&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used for herding and driving cattle and as police dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some growers have found that Rottweilers are especially suited to move stubborn stock that simply ignore Border Collies, Kelpies, and others. Rottweilers use their bodies to physically force the stubborn animal to do its bidding if necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good natured and placid temperament, very devoted, obedient and eager to work, but high need to control&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perro_de_Presa_Canario&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Presa Canario&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Originates from the Canary Islands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used as watch dog, for protecting the herds (as opposed to &lt;em&gt;herding&lt;/em&gt;), dog fighting, hunting wild boars (catch dog) and even as war dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More agile than the other dog breeds in this list&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Requires early socialization and obedience training and can be aggressive toward other dogs and strangers, although they tend to display their agressiveness rather that act on it and bite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Corso&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cane Corso&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Originates from Italy and Sicily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used as guard dog for herds and families&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very affectionate and protective towards owners, loving with children and family, and easily trained&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extremely protective, which might manifest in agressiveness towards strangers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullmastiff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bull Mastiff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Originates from England&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used as guard dog for people (as opposed to homes and herds), hound and police dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Signales danger silently (frowning) and is therefore not suited to protect herds from wild animals or strangers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Training and socialization is of high importance, as the breed can be independent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very calm and self-confident, even in hectic situations or when provoced&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-22T20:07:49.447" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9544" CreationDate="2018-10-23T02:03:51.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes my kitten who’s now nearly 8-months old enjoys playing fetch &amp;amp; I believe with the same toy that you described a (Bed Spring) shaped plastic toy that he all of a sudden out of no where started bringing to me &amp;amp; giving to me waiting in excited anticipation for me to throw it so that he could chase after it &amp;amp; bring it right back over &amp;amp; ovet again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13201" LastActivityDate="2018-10-23T02:03:51.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21679" CreationDate="2018-10-23T03:20:18.567" Score="7" ViewCount="526" Body="&lt;p&gt;Older cats gain bone and arthritis problems that are exacerbated by hard landings after a jump.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have an older cat in this place, and want to give them the best of both worlds: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a multi-stage tower with various landings to suit their whims that day, and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a series of ramp that go from floor to top.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see the cat's mannerisms are to jump up to landings, and also to leap down from them.  The jump-ups are not that much of a risk, provided they keep their footing. The jump-downs are a risk with the arthritis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with making cat towers that have ramps that &lt;em&gt;disincline&lt;/em&gt; the cat from jumping down?  The cat will always jump-up if they have the will, and we don't intended to inhibit this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would like to know what slope and arrangement of ramps will naturally incline a cat to take the ramps down rather than leaping down.  I have seen this with some elder dogs, but I think that dogs have a different temperament to jumping up/down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally someone has experience with this or has built it.  Target height is 4-5 feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13203" LastEditorUserId="13203" LastEditDate="2018-10-23T17:59:27.830" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T19:50:32.397" Title="Is there a slope of ramps that a cat will walk down, instead of jumping down from a high landing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-23T21:16:58.153" Score="1" ViewCount="6074" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I’m wondering if anyone can help me because I’m at a serious loss and I don’t know what to do. It’s really frustrating because I have been to the vets constantly over the past two years, to three different vets and nobody can tell me what’s wrong with her :(. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe after researching online that she’s participating in something called mowing. But all the pictures I’ve seen are no where near as bad as hers. She began grooming her back leaving bald patches like the mowing but she’s now moved to her belly and it gets so bad that as you can see in the picture, she will bite and cut herself. I have literally tried everything. She does not have fleas. Mites. Ringworm. Anything like that. The most recent visit to the vets ruled out any infection or parasites. They gave her steroid tablets but it’s done nothing to help her grooming. I’ve changed her food several times from when this started (although someone suggested wet food so I may give this a go). We’ve bought a special brush to help remove dead hair and skin so she doesn’t feel the need to groom as much but that hasn’t helped. Although we get little flakes of skin that look like dandruff come out, has anyone had an experience with this? Maybe it’s like a cat eczema or something? She’s settled, gets on with our other cat and there’s no reason she’d be stressed. We have treated her for this in the past, we were given meidication and it’s still happening. We’ve now had to result in putting a cone on until it scabs over and settles but it’s so horrible to see her like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I literally don’t know what else I can do. Every time I go to the vets they either don’t know, don’t find anything or subscribe her medication thats innappropriate and I don’t want to keep medicating her when it’s not an accurate diagnosis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions advise or experience would be HUGELY appreciated   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cku6n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13207" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T11:18:18.910" Title="Why does my cat lick her belly until sore?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-24T11:16:22.653" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9544" CreationDate="2018-10-24T01:29:49.167" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, female, white with light brown highlights on face, back and tail, age one and a quarter loves to play fetch.  We did not train her, she just demands with happy meows for us to get her toy she drops in front of us to throw it for her, over and over again.  It is actually a top from a champagne bottle, the threaded metal that she can easily grab and retrieve.  Happy fetching!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13209" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T01:29:49.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-24T02:37:33.880" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YfgV9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2fMZE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I know she is prego but I don’t know when she will drop her fry help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13210" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-10-24T08:53:16.250" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T08:53:16.250" Title="Does my fish look like she is ready to drop her fry?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-24T10:46:50.593" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2018-10-24T04:20:34.370" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My comment on this subject is that up until a couple of years ago I owned 2 cats who killed all kinds of wild animals outside on the grounds of the house where I lived : Squirrels,  birds (occasionally), rabbits (once even a huge jackrabbit!); it was for her kittens, possum, whatever else...one cat lived to 19 yrs old, the 'mother' cat til age 17. My point is that I feel that in these times we live in now there is a sort of 'hysteria' about catching every kind of disease -even bubonic plague ! The danger is Not that realistic.Maybe a 1 in 100 chance or less. I took my cats to a Vet but not even that often. Cats have a great immune system &amp;amp; are good survivors. Eventually though most succumb to a type of cancer (dogs too) in old age like humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13211" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T04:20:34.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-24T07:06:46.717" Score="2" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;After having my beta for two weeks I noticed that his tail was curled in on itself, and when I had to net him to move him i noticed it got worse. He seems to swim fine but its just constantly curled in on itself, even partly when he's flaring. Was it damaged when i netted him or something else? There don't seem to be any visible tears. Here are some pictures: &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/qAPhZvo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://imgur.com/a/qAPhZvo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13213" LastEditorUserId="13213" LastEditDate="2018-10-28T01:23:30.490" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T01:24:56.463" Title="Half-Moon Betta fish tail-fin is curled in on itself, what could be the issue?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21541" CreationDate="2018-10-24T11:59:54.813" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do enjoy warm surfaces and there are a few options to entice her into her house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on what her house looks like, you can add a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.farmcareuk.com/user/products/large/Heat%20Lamp%201.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heat lamp&lt;/a&gt;, just be careful the lamp does not touch anything as this poses a fire hazard. I have seen outdoor cat houses in Canada with these to keep feral cats warm during the winter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/Manufacturing-3093-Extreme-Weather-Fleece/dp/B0009YWJRE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet heat mats&lt;/a&gt; - these mats typically don't get too hot for direct contact, read reviews on whichever products you see and contact the manufacturer if necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511p0key9gL._SL1047_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Snuggle safe heat pads&lt;/a&gt; - the downsides to these are that you need to microwave them daily to keep their heat, as well as the need to add a thick blanket on top of the disk to prevent thermal burns. These disks can get &lt;strong&gt;very hot&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://assets.marthastewart.com/styles/wmax-520-highdpi/d32/window-bed-for-cat-0918-4e7cc88e/window-bed-for-cat-0918-4e7cc88e_vert.jpg?itok=AI6d1zeo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Window perch&lt;/a&gt; - I know it's not related to the house, but cats really enjoy sitting in the sunlight to warm up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with the warming equipment, insulate the house with either foil insulation or foam to retain the heat inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being said, 15&amp;nbsp;°C is not too cold for a cat. If she thought she was cold she would start to seek a warm place to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T12:09:33.403" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T12:09:33.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20297" CreationDate="2018-10-24T13:46:10.680" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should still remove the shed no matter what. Put the gecko in some thing really moist to loosen the shed and then take tweezers and peel the skin off slowly don’t pul down super hard pull down nice and easy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13216" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T13:46:10.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6250" CreationDate="2018-10-24T14:04:27.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I homecook (and meal prep) for my dog, who seems to really like the variety. I do give her a VetIQ &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.samsclub.com/sams/multivitamin-180-ct-22-2-oz-soft-chews/prod21428063.ip?xid=plp_product_1_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canine Multivitamin (Sam's Club)&lt;/a&gt; to make sure I don't miss giving her something nutritionally vital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the primary concerns about homecooked foods is providing enough calcium. You can solve this with the multivitamin, or by crushing dried egg shells (in a clean coffee grinder), or providing a &quot;Tums&quot; antacid tablet. And cottage cheese is always a welcomed treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem I have is giving enough (but not too many) calories throughout the day. Too many treats has meant a 1.5 pound increase - so now we are on a diet. Whick oddly enough is worse for me than for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-10-24T14:04:27.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21571" CreationDate="2018-10-25T13:34:07.473" Score="7" ViewCount="1309" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom says her parrot's beak is too long and she wants to get a clipper to trim it. I'm not so sure about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is his beak too long, and if so, what can we do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NtSdK.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NtSdK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:48:23.177" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T22:07:44.310" Title="Is my African Grey's beak too long?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21570" CreationDate="2018-10-25T17:42:23.207" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://m.petmd.com/bird/care/overgrown-beak-birds-trimming-your-birds-beak&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://m.petmd.com/bird/care/overgrown-beak-birds-trimming-your-birds-beak&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If an owner suspects overgrowth of his or her bird’s beak, the bird should be checked by a veterinarian as soon as possible to rule-out underlying illness as the cause of overgrowth and to safely have the beak trimmed. The blood supply in an overgrown beak tends to be even longer than it is in a normal beak. Therefore, there is a significant risk of inducing bleeding when an overgrown beak is trimmed. As a result, owners really should never try to trim their birds’ beaks at home&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please, take your parrot to the vet to ask their opinion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-10-25T17:42:23.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21572" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-25T21:18:11.113" Score="6" ViewCount="4673" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my dog always sit BEHIND me? His bed is about 3 feet (90 cm) away diagonally from my gliding chair, but he will always sit behind my glider. If I leave the room, he will sit in his bed or just follow me around and ALWAYS BEHIND me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13219" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-27T13:29:31.710" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T00:09:45.310" Title="Why is my dog always behind me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21574" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-26T11:10:58.597" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, who I can best describe as an unpleasant character, has perfected the art of knocking plates/glasses off tables and shelves, eating my food when I'm not looking, running around at insane speeds and miaow-ing as loud as possible as soon as it needs the slightest thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As any other cat owner, I punish it when it goes over the line with one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;water spray &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grabbing it by the scruff and verbalizing it,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;giving it the good ol' shout.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this worked for my previous cat, it does not work for this one. In fact, my cat is extremely &lt;strong&gt;forgetful&lt;/strong&gt; due to its age and a lifetime of running into doors. It will &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; forget that it received punishment and carry on its mischievous acts like nothing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, last night I caught it drinking from my glass of water, then knocking it over (the glass broke). I then applied the water spray treatment, then went back to sleep. Few &lt;strong&gt;minutes&lt;/strong&gt; later, it comes back and knocks over my &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; glass of water in the same manner. Grabbed it by the scruff, threw it outside the bedroom and closed the door. This morning, I poured myself a glass of coffee, and ... you get the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can I do to effectively punish a cat who is both very mischievous and very forgetful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12337" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-28T10:19:22.133" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T10:19:22.133" Title="How can I punish my forgetful cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-10-26T11:53:22.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-26T11:16:11.977" Score="59" ViewCount="69961" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is 7 month old, and I... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Content Warning: Descriptions of animal abuse behind spoiler]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; ...critically abused her the last month (including throwing her hard on ladders and hitting her hard, many times, with almost no apparent reason).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she won't move around me, being highly cautious to every move and every sound. I feel so bad for what I did to her. Is there any way to fix her and our relationship?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever reasons I had, I had no excuse in the world to treat her the way I did, but I definitely want to change my behaviour and regain her trust. I've grown attached to her, and when she started to be distant, I've been abusing her even more. But again, I know now that whatever I'll tell myself is unfounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm 17, just in case it matters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13224" LastEditorUserId="13286" LastEditDate="2018-10-29T02:12:26.040" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T17:24:36.727" Title="How can I fix my relationship with my 7 month old cat after I've constantly abused her the past month?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="19" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-26T11:52:56.637" Score="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, it sounds as though &lt;strong&gt;you shouldn't have a cat&lt;/strong&gt; right now. There is never any excuse to needlessly hurt an animal and, whilst your critical write-up of your own behaviour is a start, it certainly doesn't help the animal that has been abused. From the incidents that you've described, the cat could have sustained substantial injuries and &lt;strong&gt;needs to be seen by a vet immediately&lt;/strong&gt; especially as it is young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What concerns me most is that after having this epiphany about your behaviour, &lt;strong&gt;you then continued to abuse the animal when it didn't do what you wanted&lt;/strong&gt;. I can't help you with changing your own behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst you may be able to change the cat's feelings towards you, it sounds as though your own behaviour is going to be the limiting factor. Training and imparting knowledge to any animal is a difficult, repetitive and frequently frustrating endeavour. If you cannot rely on yourself to provide this level of care and kindness, the best thing to do is to &lt;strong&gt;give the cat to a rescue centre&lt;/strong&gt; where it will receive the treatment it requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Just for context – I don't know where you are located – if you were caught doing that to a cat in the UK, you would likely be prosecuted for animal abuse.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T11:52:56.637" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-26T11:58:37.813" Score="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in human cases of abuse, if you genuinely want to repair the relationship, the first and most essential thing to accept is &lt;strong&gt;you may not be able to&lt;/strong&gt;. Especially with a young kitten, it's entirely possible you've scarred her for life. Even if she can recover in general, she may never be able to respond to you without fear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second most essential thing is the need for accountability. You know now that you are a person capable of abusing a kitten. You don't have the luxury anymore of assuming you will just not do those things. You need to involve at least one person that can hold you to account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would honestly recommend that you give her to someone else who does not live with you. Give her a clean break and allow her to re-establish trust with an uninvolved human being. If this person reports to you that she's stabilized emotionally and acting like a normal cat towards them, then you can attempt a supervised visit with her. &lt;em&gt;Do not&lt;/em&gt; push interaction on her - you should treat her like a feral cat, at maximum extend a hand and invite her towards you. Do not approach her or take any action that could conceivably be considered threatening. Accept that it could take numerous repeats of this before she is willing to approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If after several tries of this you see no improvement, or if the person caring for her reports that she backslides significantly after your visits, refer to point 1: it may be a hopeless case where you are concerned. Accept this and let her go. If she begins to warm back up to you, however, you could consider taking her back &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; if the following conditions are met:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You allow your accountability partner(s) to continue checking in on you regularly and confirm the cat's wellbeing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have actively worked on the factors that led you to abuse her in the first place and have shown considerable improvement in the opinion of at least one relevant professional&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recovering from being an abuser is possible (especially as you're still young), but it is a very serious matter and you cannot treat any part of this lightly. It is vitally important that you address the original abuse and commit to changing anything and everything that contributed to your behaviour. Do not accept responsibility for &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; animal until point 2 has been satisfactorily achieved, and even then, tread with caution. People criminally charged with animal abuse can be legally barred from owning animals again in the future; in the end this may be the sentence you have to impose on yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13155" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T11:58:37.813" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-26T15:05:33.190" Score="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your attachment to this cat is irrelevant. It's what's in the best interest of the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best interest of this cat is to be away from you and in a caring and stable home. The cat will unlikely trust you anytime soon and maybe never. My biggest concern is that you are capable of repeating this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot own any pets until you have some intensive psychiatric help. The way you've treated this animal is not ok, never will be ok and there is no justification for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the cat to recover and heal, please find a good, caring and loving home for it. With people who are stable and don't abuse sentient creatures when they lose control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are under 18, you may be living with your parents, ask them to rehome the cat. I don't know what situation you have to be living like this, but I urge you to get help now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only commendable thing about this question is your willingness to be honest and desire to make a positive change. It's just too soon and too far gone at this stage to repair things between you and this cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T15:05:33.190" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-26T16:18:13.437" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a parrot community, do Crimson Rosella male parrots learn quicker than their female counterpart?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:47:26.787" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T17:47:26.787" Title="Do Crimson Rosella male parrots learn quicker than their female counterpart?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-26T16:59:08.370" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is still young and learning. You want to unteach it that moving and making sounds are potentially dangerous by encouraging the behaviours you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally there's a type of food it likes, like a cat treat or catnip, that you can use to reward the previously-punished behaviour. Spend a lot of time being as non-threatening around it as you can, re-train it to see you as a source of positivity, rather than a looming threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, research ways to rehabilitate a cat who's been abused in the past. Your actions have likely had an impact, but you still have a chance to positively affect the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each thing that had been done to negatively impact the cat, like the ladder, make sure there's a new positive reinforcement associated with that thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, so long as you make a &lt;em&gt;constant&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;consistent&lt;/em&gt; effort to absolutely not harm the animal again, I believe it can re-trained to not associate you with the misery that has been caused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T16:59:08.370" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-26T17:07:04.937" Score="4" ViewCount="584" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adult cat named Rizzo. Not entirely sure of age/breed. He's very affectionate, an absolute sweetheart, very loud, and despite being an indoor cat he's very interested in the outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's also very interested in my room. A little over a year ago I would allow him in there freely, but I stopped due to keeping indoor plants in my room. There isn't much in said room except for a couple of plants and a leopard gecko in a terrarium in an inaccessible spot. Every time he comes in, all he does is jump on the back of my bed and stare out the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He tends to scratch to come in a lot, but over the past week, he's been absolutely obsessed with it. He meows, he scratches, he keeps me up at night. My door is a bit faulty, too, so with enough pressure, it opens and lets him in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble sleeping due to his behaviour and I'm constantly worried about my plants. How can I get him to stop, or at least prevent him from getting in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13228" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T17:51:47.160" Title="How do I get my cat to leave my room alone?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21530" CreationDate="2018-10-26T17:08:33.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently caring for a leopard gecko with MBD. I'd suggest taking him to the vet and increasing the calcium in his diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13228" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T17:08:33.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21581" CreationDate="2018-10-26T17:24:34.993" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep your door closed, then do whatever you can to prevent the cat from noisily scratching at your door. Some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put two sided tape on the door. They even make some specifically to keep cats from scratching at objects. Cats usually don't like the stickiness, and so stop touching the area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hang a scratcher from the doorknob, or cover the one side of the door with some sort of scratching material. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to cover the door with those vinyl carpet protectors with the little spikes on one side. Attach it with the spikes away from the door. The surface will now be annoying if not impossible to really scratch at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your door opens into your room, then another option is to simply place vertical scratchers blocking your door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also fix the door so it is no longer faulty, because that will also encourage the cat, since it will figure out the door will open if it's persistent enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-10-26T17:51:47.160" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T17:51:47.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-26T20:22:34.763" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;People tend to annoy their cat, as they react in a funny way. But, you should know the right and a loving way to do it. It is also a trick to keep your cat active and playful. But, you must understand the cat's feelings to know the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abusing the cat shows you do not understand how to treat animals. So, educate yourself. You may get more matured feelings towards animals in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the cat, it definitely will never trust you in the future, no matter how hard you try. Cats have a tough ego making it hard to gain their trust, even for a professional. It takes years and lots of love to heal a cat, especially if it is young. It is much harder to deal with an adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give up the cat to a rescue or a farm, where it will have other cats or animals for company. A rescue is easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13239" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-10-30T13:58:38.950" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T13:58:38.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20782" CreationDate="2018-10-26T21:05:59.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience with guppy fry, I didn't have any issues vacuuming around them (in a 20 gal planted tank). I just have a simple siphon vacuum and got it running out of the tank, then &quot;paused it&quot; by plugging the outlet tube with my finger, then positioned it in the tank low to the ground and let it flow again. They fry stayed away from my hand and the tube and I just kept it low and had no issues!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T21:05:59.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-26T21:46:17.080" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a great opportunity for you to experience regret, patience, and the humbling power of forgiveness. Cats are incredibly robust animals, physically and mentally (at least the common European breeds, I have no experience with the &quot;fancy&quot; breeds). I have wronged my cats a few times, and I always found out that, whenever I got ashamed of my actions, regretted them and was ready to apologize to the cat, it would forgive me and allow love to manifest itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that you make a sincere commitment to yourself that you want this relationship to work. It's YOUR mental health at stake, the cat will recover much faster than you will, if you don't REALLY TRY to make it work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a lot of patience (a resource that is scarce at 17, I know..), because a long period of abuse will take a long period of &quot;apologizing&quot;. In no way force your cat into the relationship. Don't keep her captive, don't forcefully keep her close to you, don't even touch her if it's obvious that's not what she wants. Just let her know that you are interested in fixing the relationship, by giving her attention whenever she's ready to get some. Don't stare at her, as this may be interpreted as a sign of aggression, but look at her and slowly blink to her. If she gives back any attention, show you're interested but let HER initiate any contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sincere in your desire to fix the relationship, and don't do anything dumb (like hitting her again), I'd say that it should take the same amount of time you did the abusing (a month), till she'd be comfortable with you again. If I were in your shoes, I'd try for 3 months. No results for 3 months means you're doing something wrong and it's not worth it, for the cat's sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But otherwise, fixing this relationship is very important for your mental health firstly, and the cat's secondly. In my experience, people or animals I've wronged at 17, and did nothing to fix it, still hurt and keep me up at night a little, now 20 years later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is also the case the other way around. It's much better for your cat to regain trust in humans through YOU and YOUR penitence. The world will make much more sense to her this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 2 cents (I'm neither a psychologist nor a cat expert, just a guy that did a lot of dumb stuff at 17 and slowly learned to deal with it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13250" LastActivityDate="2018-10-26T21:46:17.080" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-27T00:18:18.617" Score="3" ViewCount="763" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have young curious large breed dogs who make using mouse traps and poison difficult and/or dangerous.  We also have a ball python who lives in his terrarium, not free roaming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All information I have found about electronic repellent devices say they are OK for dogs but to keep hamsters and other rodents away.  I can't find anything about the affect on snakes. Google just gives me a long list about using/preventing/pros/cons of snakes eating mice and rats.  Is this a viable option for iur home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13254" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T21:40:31.227" Title="Are rodent repellent devices safe for snakes?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-27T11:52:53.543" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some garden snails in a big dark container and I place some water for them in a little jar. Recently, one of them was laying eggs inside the water jar, so I took it off there (while it was laying eggs), but it had laid like 30 eggs already. I put it on the soil in the container and took the water off the jar, then dropped the eggs softly on the soil!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what to do now? Did I ruin the eggs or did I harm the snail? Help me please, thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13258" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-03T19:55:31.757" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T19:55:31.757" Title="Snails eggs accident" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-27T16:41:00.683" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have four cats that all have different personalities (like people). Sometimes one or more can be frustrating, but cats (although some would argue) are not capable of the same level of learning or action-response as humans. Cats do not need us like dogs do, and once you understand that you will understand how a cat may or may not react like you want to your actions or behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think the important questions here that have not been mentioned are three fold:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) at 17 you should be living with one or more parent(s). If they have a similar violent behavior, the kitten must be removed from the home. Period. Learned behavior of a child can only be changed once out of the oppressive home environment, and with the support of another person or therapist;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) If you are a 17 year old male, you are of an age that unfortunately most of us males have tendencies of rage, violence, and stupid behavior that we need to work through with loved ones around us who can guide us - and hope and pray that you will grow out of it;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) It appears in your post that you are looking for affection.  Some cats will never meet that ideal we expect from them. You need somehow to include yourself in external activities that bring you in contact with others of your age that are good natured and can provide a sense of inclusion and hopefully affection (that all of us want and need). Please focus your efforts for affection on other people for the near term. The kitten needs to go to a new home. There will be many more cats in the future that would love a safe home with you when you are more mature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13262" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-10-28T10:16:59.163" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T10:16:59.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-27T20:24:53.617" Score="3" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I partially work with dog sitting and have a little pack of a handful dogs that I take care of a couple of days a week (that is, typically I have each dog 2-3 days per week, sometimes they are alone with me, sometimes I have a couple of them, but I have limited it to 3 simultaneous dogs because more than that is impractical when I take them for a walk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of these dogs is a 4-5 year old neutered male shelter dog that very much looks and behaves like a jack russel terrier. Let's call him B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B was the second dog I started to take care of, before him I had A, a eurasian bitch that I have had since she was 4,5 month old (A is now 1.5 years old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unsurprisingly A was submissive to B and everything was fine (A is very submissive when meeting dogs in the dog park, spending most of her time on the back, never causing any troubles). After a couple of month A and B had a one or two fights, nothing serious (i.e., no blood or so but some growling, baring the teeth and some attempted bites). Suddenly A was dominant and B was submissive to A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After these incidents, B suddenly become very affectionate towards me and my girlfriend. Sometimes we deliver B to his owner somewhere outside (rather than she comes by here and pick him up which is the normal procedure) and he always refuse to walk away with his owner on these occasions and show all signs of unhappiness when I leave (he is very happy to see his owner, it is just that he can't bear that I leave).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while I also got a male pomeranian, C, that is of approximately the same age as B. Still no problem. C is quite reserved and doesn't care about me nor other dogs. C is chemically neutered. Only time he shows happiness is when he is picked up by his owners in the afternoons. Still no problems. A, B and C get along well as long as I serve them their food a bit apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, recently I got two more dogs, a male shiba puppy, 4-5 months old, D, as well as a female dachshund, 1,5 years old, E.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem started: D and E are submissive to B but he is not satisfied with that and harasses them so much that they are scared of both him as well as going through my door when their owners leave them in the morning. Especially D suffers from severe bullying by B and B frequently snap at him, which, not all the time but at least once a day, makes D scream and show all signs of being very scared (shivering, hiding in a corner near the door, focusing all his attention on B and so on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, B has not (AFAIK) &quot;punched hole&quot; in D's skin when he has snapped him. Of course we have examined D after these attacks but &quot;squeezing&quot; D, moving his joints, examining face and ears and similar has never revealed any wounds or painful spots, although he has been limping for a short while once or twice after such an incidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I roar at B immediately after every incident which makes him roll over on his back, avoiding eye contact with me and show all signs of being submissive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally B has no problems with other dogs when we are in the dog park. He doesn't play that much with other dogs but when other dogs run around in groups he kind of herd them by running behind, barking and trying to snap their hocks (but there has never been any incidents where he has injured the playing dogs he chases like this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, during the year I have had B has three times bitten humans. Twice men in their 60s, once an lady in her 80s. B's owner says he has a problem with slightly overweight men in their 60s and both of the male victims above matched that description. Remember, B is a shelter dog. It wouldn't be surprising if he has been abused by men matching that profile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these three attacks has been at the heels or calfs. Twice the person wore jeans, once the victim had bare legs. The bite didn't punch hole in the jeans and the man with bare legs only got a very shallow scratch on his skin (like you can do on yourself with your nails). Of course, biting humans, even though the bite is not very severe, is not acceptable behaviour from a dog but he doesn't seem to bite to injure the victim. However, these attacks has all completely unexpected. We have been walking down a crowded road and he just ignores everyone we meet until he suddenly attacks (we frequently go by public transport and he has no problem with that, he mostly sits or lays around my feet ignoring everyone around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, B's owner told me, after I told her about the first incident with D, that B doesn't like puppies. But obviously all puppies are not a problem - A was a puppy when they first met and B has no problems with most puppies in the dog park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to E, B is not physical towards her, he just dominates her and forces her out of his way into a corner somewhere. When I have B, D and E together, unless I intervene, D and E end up in a corner near the door clearly very tensed and nervous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried going out somewhere where we are alone in the nature and release them all together to give them plenty of time and space to figure out their hierarchy but nothing &quot;happens&quot;: B just hangs out quite close to me waiting for us to be &quot;done&quot; while D and E take the chance to sniff around and play with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is behind B's aggressive behaviour towards D and E? And how can I make them get along?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Response to @Elmy's very well written comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your views. Especially the first one made sense. We had kind of interpreted the situation as B, when A raised in the hierarchy, wanted to be &quot;on good footing&quot; with us since he was lowest in the rank. Does that make sense? If B is below A we thought he felt us humans could protect him from A if the need arose and to achieve that he become affectionate towards us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, yes he probably guards and protect us when around other dogs. But, when we are in a dog park, he is not as close as you suggest: typically he is a few meters away but he is very attentive to when we are about to leave and immediately follow us when we start moving. He clearly does not want to be left alone (maybe due to his life in a shelter). The other dogs act more &quot;natural&quot; here and want to stay and have fun and therefore have to be called in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you elaborate on how I tell him to stay behind [me]? Do you mean when he is on leach or when he is off leach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I don't justify his biting, especially not when he attacks humans [1] . However, the shelter dog information seemed important to include when analyzing the situation. A dog that has always been treated good and bites is different from a dog that has been abused and bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you mean by &quot;too late&quot;? My reaction is within a few seconds, the attack might still be ongoing when I react. However, I don't spend my days watching every step my dogs take so, unless I provoke an attack, it would be sheer luck if I could see it beforehand. Your suggestion seems unrealistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That doesn't mean being mean to any dog and constantly putting them on their back. It means setting the rules and controlling that everyone followes the rules. Make it a rule that noone is allowed to overly dominate someone else.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I achieve this? When B is with A and C he is very nice and calm, both to them and to me and has no problems if I play with A and C or they are in my knee, I serve them food or something. And B is still very nice towards me when D and E are around so I am not sure how I can construct a situation where B and I would have a &quot;dominance competition&quot;. The only thing I can imagine is if I play with B and give him something to pull and drag. I always end these games by &quot;winning&quot; and taking the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the last advice: yes, I always &quot;double&quot; the leach (= the length is halved) when walking around among people but sometimes unexpected things happens (The last attack on a human happened when we had been swimming from some rocks. I had him in his leach when we climbed out of the water on some slippery rocks but fell and lost the leach.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] In between dogs some biting is acceptable, isn't it? The other dogs in my pack sometimes tumbles around playing and everyone is content and happy. Afterwards you can see that they are all greasy around the neck from &quot;soft&quot; bites in each other furs. One of them is white and has &quot;flappy&quot; ears and from time to time you can even see a small pink &quot;stains&quot; in his fur on the ears, probably a minuscule amount of blood when someone by mistake scratched him a little too hard. I have never heard him scream or anything like that so I guess it is just accidents that doesn't bother him that much. Anyway, this has nothing to do with B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13265" LastEditorUserId="13265" LastEditDate="2018-10-28T20:24:41.390" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T20:24:41.390" Title="One of my dogs harass my other dogs, even though they are submissive" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-27T21:01:18.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a 17 year old, it may be a large responsibility to own a cat without making some mistakes. Because this was probably impulsive abuse to the kitten, don't blame yourself or the animal. It's best to know that you may not be able to obtain a healthy relationship with your cat once more because of the abuse. However, if you try to look back to before the abuse began, were you a better owner than you were last month? If so, you could try to regain the trust in your relationship to the point where it was before. Even though the kitten is young, it could have memories of back before the abuse started. If you can, try doing things the cat enjoyed in the past. That way, it may be able to remember how it's been treated before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helped a bit. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13267" LastActivityDate="2018-10-27T21:01:18.880" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-28T01:41:43.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if you've abused a kitten, or any animal at all, then you are taking your upset out on them.  It would be best to find a new home for this pet.  It does not deserve what you did to it, and it will always remember...wouldn't you?  In any case, do the right thing and let it go to someone who can care for it with love.  If you can go to someone and talk about what has happened to you to make you upset like this, then it will help you so much.  You deserve to be loved and this is a good time for you to reach out and take care of yourself.  Having a pet is not a good idea.  Let it go to a loving home and you can focus on healing and feeling better.  Give it a try.  Sending you much love&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13272" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T01:41:43.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-28T03:20:06.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask yourself two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did you treat the cat like an object, or just an individual you took out your anger on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Was there more to the relationship than the abuse?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you realise you have been making a big mistake for a long period, it is easy to feel like you are a terrible person and overestimate the damage you have caused. Some cats are simply anxious about being around humans and obviously will avoid humans that are rough with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was young I showed my cat affection but also did some things that were were cruel. When I realised this, I felt terrible, and decided to change. Looking back I overestimated how much damage I had caused. He did show me affection after all and was upset when I wasn't around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, once I changed my behaviour my cat gradually started trusting me more and showed me much more affection. He was far more comfortable being around me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have been treating your cat like an object more than occasionally, she will know, and the right thing for her is to be looked after by someone else. But if not, you may be able to repair this relationship if you are capable of completely changing your behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13273" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T03:20:06.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2018-10-28T04:47:59.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats who sometimes use the litter box but sometimes go to the bathroom in a different and specific location are generally trying to tell you something. It frequently is in a bed or a specific location in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that it commonly occurs around the time that she is meowing at you repeatedly seems to reinforce this idea.  It sounds like she may be doing it when she feels like she isn't getting enough attention or is otherwise upset about something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be many things, like perhaps she doesn't like her food or litter. One of the first things I would try is swapping out the litter for a different kind. You may try a very plain litter that's pretty much just clay, or you could go the other way and try one of the attraction litters. You may try switching her to different food. If she's mostly eating dry food you will also want to be careful about dumping out and refilling her water bowl, and cleaning it from time to time. If the bowl feels slimy when you touch it, it should be cleaned. My cat doesn't care what her water is like when she has been eating mostly wet food, but will quickly get angry with me if I don't swap out her water when she's been eating mostly dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also try giving her more consistent attention. I've noticed with my cat that she will often act like she doesn't want attention, but if I (gently) insist then she quickly becomes very docile and cuddly. This usually consists of picking her up and starting to pet her, and then when she jumps away I gently pick her up again. (I usually try to very softly restrain her while still allowing her to leave if she wants. Wrapping my arms around her so that she has to climb over them to get out works well). If she doesn't settle down after a few times it usually means she doesn't want attention and I leave her alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I don't pay enough attention to her over time she will start freaking out completely every once in a while and just start tearing around the house and running wild. I think this may be her form of pooping on my bed. Reacting to this with firm but gentle affection completely stops this behavior. Generally this consists of me yelling her name once in a loud and firm tone to get her attention, followed by affection and sometimes kitty treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I've noticed that is very counter-intuitive with cats is that negative reinforcement does not normally work very well. Your cat probably knows that you don't like poop on the bed - that's why she hides. Negative reinforcement in this scenario will not teach her anything. You may think that giving her extra attention when she's being bad will encourage bad behaviors - but in my experience it actually does the opposite. Positive reinforcement will help reinforce the bond between you and your cat and make her more likely to avoid behaviors that she knows you do not like. Negative reinforcement seems to make cats act much more combative as they will rebel against being controlled in this fashion. You want to convince her that she does not want to poop on the bed as opposed to convincing her that you don't want her to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had litter box issues with a cat, but this is how I train my cats not to use their claws as I can't be bothered clipping them. My cat, who lived on the streets for most of her life, used to pop her (very sharp) claws out any time I did something she didn't like such as brushing her fur the wrong way, picking her up when she didn't want to be, etc. She even clawed my eyeball once and scratched my schlera pretty badly when she didn't want to be brushed. Now she never uses her claws, even when I'm drunk and insist on holding her for way longer than she wants to be held ;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never punished her or yelled at her for clawing me, she just doesn't want to because she knows from my reaction that I don't like it and we're now very close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of this is scientific at all - this is just my own personal theory on interacting with cats. It seems to work well for me but it probably doesn't apply to every cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13274" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T04:47:59.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-28T06:59:37.903" Score="2" ViewCount="454" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I walk my dogs I frequently meet other people with dogs that say that my dogs can't greet their dog because their dog doesn't like other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This claim always baffles me. Dogs are pack animals and live their first weeks or months of their lives with, typically, a handful of siblings that they play and interact with, expressing a lot of joy and happiness over the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How come they suddenly forget that experience and start going against their nature and dislike other dogs? Or are their owners projecting their own fear and nervousness on their dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, they grow up and are not as playful anymore (one of my dogs mostly ignore other dogs but if a dog come up and sniff him he justs ignores the sniffing dog and moves on with his business, no harm done) but going from there to actively disliking other dogs is quite a big step. How and why does this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13266" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-11-01T14:41:12.333" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T17:54:32.030" Title="When and why do dogs &quot;stop liking other dogs&quot;?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17714" CreationDate="2018-10-28T07:10:08.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barking in itself is not a sign of aggression, dogs bark when they play, when they want attention and so on. So to determine why they bark you have to take the rest of their body language into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some breeds (e.g., terriers) just bark more because of their genetics. They are bred to be very attentive and barking is just normal behaviour for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13266" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T07:10:08.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25545" CreationDate="2018-10-28T12:38:40.157" Score="4" ViewCount="778" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the parent pigeons are lethargic because while building their nest in our home gallery, they did not take proper care. They just made round in the nest. There is no bed for babies. Shall I put cotton as a bed for babies? Any idea would be appreciated to take care of the babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The green stuff is called tarpaulin (heavy-duty waterproof cloth, originally of tarred canvas). I put this at the bottom of the nest when the babies were in the eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am living in India. Current climate is starting of winter season. It is 24 to 30 degrees Celsius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wbM1E.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wbM1E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;birds&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12958" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-08T16:44:25.257" LastActivityDate="2021-04-08T16:44:25.257" Title="A pigeons' nest doesn't seem to have a &quot;bed&quot; for the chicks, should I add one to it?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-28T12:39:02.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can somewhat relate, when I found my stray cat I didn't immediately get attached to it. It took months and it was hard to not lash out when he peed in the kitchen sink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to understand is that right now the cat associates you with violence. When you approach it it has no way of knowing if you are going to hurt it again or not. You need to gain it trust by always petting it and being kind with it. If it behaves badly, does things you don't approve of - don't hit it, just take it away to some other room/whatever to stop the behavior. When you approach it always be kind. It would take a while, but it's possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if the cat is distant - you need to give it some time. You may cheat my bringing treats and toys, but don't force your presence. The cat is in a very dependent position - it can't truly escape your company if you force it - it can't leave the house/appartment after all. So be polite and respect it if the cat wants to be alone. Give it freedom to do as it pleases - unless it does damage to the house - and the cat would slowly come out of its shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, realise that cats display affection differently from dogs - the small gestures mean much for with them. The dog would wag its tail and bark, but a cat would simply prod you with its head and sleep in the same room with you - its the way they display their sympathy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13281" LastEditorUserId="13281" LastEditDate="2018-10-28T12:45:01.810" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T12:45:01.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21592" CreationDate="2018-10-28T13:29:17.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it, your problem is B's dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with his behaviour towards you: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After these incidents, B suddenly become very affectionate towards me and my girlfriend.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  B just hangs out quite close to me waiting for us to be &quot;done&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B is probably protecting and controlling you. If he's always following you around or sitting close by (in most extreme cases even sitting right on your feet), he's protecting you in a dominant way. He is in control of who may approach you and when.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He should not be allowed to do so.&lt;/strong&gt; Simply tell him to stay behind if he wants to follow you or to sit away from you to make it clear that you don't want or need to be protected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to the biting. &lt;strong&gt;This is absolutely not acceptable and you have to stop his biting humand and dogs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Remember, B is a shelter dog. It wouldn't be surprising if he has been abused by men matching that profile.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The bite didn't punch hole in the jeans and the man with bare legs only got a very shallow scratch on his skin...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  So far, B has not (AFAIK) &quot;punched hole&quot; in D's skin when he has snapped him.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]  but he doesn't seem to bite to injure the victim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this sounds like you more or less justify his behaviour by his past as a shelter dog. You must understand that unless a dog is completely traumatized, they live only in the present. And presently he is not allowed to bite anyone. You should train him to understand that without being too soft on him for fear of him recalling his past abuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of course, I roar at B immediately after every incident which makes him roll over on his back, avoiding eye contact with me and show all signs of being submissive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's too late. You must stop the attack before it happens or in the moment it's happening, not after. There are a few tricks to do that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Throw a rattling bottle after him immediately when he starts attacking. For that you put a hand full of screw-nuts into a small, empty plastic bottle. Don't throw the bottle directly at him, but let it skip over the floor directly towards him. You can have several bottles standing around to always have one at hand when needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead of a bottle, you can throw any rattling object like a short length of chain, but these might damage your floor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a shock collar on him. There are different types and some can transmit vibrations instead of electric shocks. Be sure to get a model with remote control and carry the control with you at all times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could have a carrier box or cage for B. It's his alone (no other dog should go in there) and he should sleep in there and be able to relax. He should be trained to go into his box on command. If he shows unacceptable behaviour, you put him into his box and close the door for 10 - 20 minutes to let him cool down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't want to invest money into such a transport box, put B into another room and close the door. Seperate him from the pack as punishment for his behaviour. Ignore his whining and scratching the door or he won't stop his behaviour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not tolerate his openly dominating other dogs to the point where they don't feel safe around him. &lt;strong&gt;You must be the pack leader and the most dominant member of the pack.&lt;/strong&gt; That doesn't mean being mean to any dog and constantly putting them on their back. It means setting the rules and controlling that everyone followes the rules. Make it a rule that noone is allowed to overly dominate someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last piece of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have been walking down a crowded road and he just ignores everyone we meet until he suddenly attacks ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a dog who was abused as a puppy as well and he will attack very suddenly and unexpectedly as well. You might never be able to train him not to do that, so you must be vigilant when walking him and always expect an attack, even if it happens only once a year. You can love your dog from the bottom of your heart, but you cannot trust him in certain situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T13:29:17.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21601" CreationDate="2018-10-28T13:44:41.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a dog owner asks you to not let your dog interact with their own, you should comply with this wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can be various reasons why a dog &quot;dislikes&quot; other dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sexually mature (non neutered) male dogs tend to be more aggressive towards each other because they compete for the favor of females.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a dog was raised without much contact to other dogs (not socialized well), they are insecure in their behaviour towards dogs. This insecurity is very often expressed as aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs - like humans - treat family members and strangers differently. This dog may be very protective towards their owner, which may cause aggression towards strangers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog might pull at the leash when wanting to interact with another dog. This sometimes changes the posture into one interpreted as aggressive by other dogs, provoking attacks and leading to the impression that &quot;all dogs dislike mine&quot; when actually the leash and halter are to blame.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The owner might be afraid that your dog is the aggressive one. They might simply not wish that their dog interact with yours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T13:44:41.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21614" CreationDate="2018-10-28T14:32:52.273" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;How i can stop my parrot bad habbit to not cut my shoes or sandal stones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T22:08:53.247" Title="How i can stop my parrot bad habbit to not cut my shoes or sandal stone?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21603" CreationDate="2018-10-28T14:42:36.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should leave the nest as it is. Looking at pictures of pigeon nests, it seems absolutely normal that they don't have a soft and fluffy &amp;quot;bed&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, you should not interfere with the way wild animals live or raise their babies. If the birds decided that this nest is enough, you should trust them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;worst thing&lt;/strong&gt; you could do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leave your smell on a nest or newborn animal (even if you don't &amp;quot;smell&amp;quot; at all, wild animals have far better noses than humans). Many animals abandon their offspring if they smell like humans. Your wish to help condemns the animal to die.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put anything unnatural into the nest. The chicks might swallow a cotton ball or any material you put in the nest and either suffocate or starve because their stomach is full of cotton and they cannot eat any food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note: you should not have put something waterproof in the nest. Nests are built out of twigs or grass to let air and water flow through. Waterproof canvas could be very bad if it rains and the water cannot drain. But please leave it in there now and don't interfere with the nest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-08T16:39:59.923" LastActivityDate="2021-04-08T16:39:59.923" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2018-10-28T16:30:14.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the accepted answer. I also wanted to suggest a few things that may be helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) In my experience with my sister's cat (we babysat him for several years) he would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; go in the litterbox if it had a &lt;em&gt;single&lt;/em&gt; deposit in it - number 1 or number 2. We finally gave up and bought an expensive (but worth every penny) litterbox that has a motion sensor in it. You use clumping litter, and 10 min after the cat is finished, an automated arm rakes through the litter and deposits any waste into a closed box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) My friends co-owned a cat for several years as roommates. They noticed that the cat pooed on the bed of only one roommate - the who snuggled and picked up the cat even when the cat squirmed to get away. They put two and two together and the cat stopped when the person stopped the unwanted snuggling! Cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) My roommate's cat was terrified of the sound and movement of the sump-pump in our basement. She didn't poop there for the days it was raining and the sump-pump was active. Are there any strange noises, smells, movements or sounds in the new place you've placed the litterbox that might make your cat uncomfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12478" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T16:30:14.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-28T18:46:17.157" Score="6" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an elderly cat who has a history of digestion issues. A couple months ago he started having severe constipation, which he alerted me to by pooping on the floor in front of the litter box instead of in the litter box itself. It took a little while to readjust his diet to fix the constipation issues, which have cleared up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I know this because he's still pooping on the floor, and now it's a bit harder to clean up after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He still urinates in the litter box, and I suspect that he's just gotten used to pooping on the floor or associates the pain of constipation with the litter box or the like. I've tried replacing the litter box with one that's easier to get into, as well as changing the kind of litter in use to see if that breaks the association, but that hasn't helped either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there isn't anywhere else in my home that would be suitable for his litter box, so changing its location isn't a possibility (and anyway, he &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; going to the right room).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can I try to stop having to mop my bathroom floor every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; For the first time ever I actually caught him in the act of doing it. He started out by standing in the box, started clenching down, and then &lt;em&gt;walked forward&lt;/em&gt; as the poop came out. So clearly he's &lt;em&gt;starting&lt;/em&gt; in the litter box; the challenge is getting him to &lt;em&gt;stay&lt;/em&gt; there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9067" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-31T17:04:32.133" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T00:44:52.230" Title="Retraining elderly cat to use litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21611" CreationDate="2018-10-28T21:14:00.633" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Replacing the litter box with one that's easier to get into was a good idea, as was experimenting with different types of litter. For many cats, one of those would have solved the problem. But it sounds like your elderly cat associated the pain with the location, rather than the box or the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least temporarily, put a second litter box on the floor where he's currently pooping. Yes, that will probably mean you have a new litter box right in front of the old one. Once he's pooping in the new litter box consistently, you can probably retire the old one, and then s-l-o-w-l-y move the new one where the old one was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T21:14:00.633" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21587" CreationDate="2018-10-28T21:40:31.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The elecronic repellers appear to work by making a high-pitched sound. Snakes don't hear all too well. I haven't seen mine react to any loud noises, like music or fireworks. If there's anything they're going to hear, it'll be the lower vibrations through the ground. I wouldn't worry in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the dog-safe poison Elmy suggested, be advised that snakes would most likely be able to enter them if a rat or mouse can. Or at very least too close for comfort. So be advised if you let them free-roam for their exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T21:40:31.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21608" CreationDate="2018-10-28T22:08:53.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the nature of most parrots to chew and tear stuff up. We provide various toys of wood and leather, etc. Ours love to tear cardboard.  &quot; A busy beak is a happy beak &quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-10-28T22:08:53.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-28T23:44:03.820" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, from OP's description of his/her behaviors toward the kitten even AFTER the awareness and realization of the wrongness and abusiveness of her/his treatment toward the kitten, i.e., continuing the abuse, it may well be that the OP has a psychiatric condition which results in uncontrollable outbursts of rage, aggressive and even explosive, assaultive episodes, poor impulse control, which may even be beyond her/his control. Even though s/he did have the 'awareness' that the reasons s/he had told him-/herself to justify her/his behaviors toward the kitten were &quot;unfounded,&quot; they still continued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other aspects of his/her life, including school/academic performance, socialization skills, presence or absence of friendships as appropriate for a 17 year old, vs. being a &quot;loner,&quot; her/his relationships with parent or parents, siblings, etc., may be significant diagnostically. As noted by others, these physical, abusive reactions to disappointment if unchecked may extend to human relationships later. S/he should consider meeting with an Adolescent Psychiatrist, enlisting parental assistance to arrange to do so since s/he is a minor (if in the USA), to be evaluated to ascertain whether or not there are significant factors that can, and should, be treated, whether through therapy, and/or medication management, based on the outcome of the evaluation of the 'bigger' picture. More specific diagnostic possibilities would be speculative now without further assessment and not appropriate to include here. (Posted by an Adolescent Psychiatrist, MD, JD.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13291" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-10-29T02:11:57.630" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T02:11:57.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21618" CreationDate="2018-10-28T23:58:57.317" Score="1" ViewCount="6756" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone tells me they have got a pet dog, I am always interested in what kind, whether that means which breed, or what overall group (terrier, sheepdog), or what mixture if he is a mixture. But there is a danger of offending people, of conveying an impression of snobbery (with &quot;What breed is he?&quot;), perhaps with condescension (with &quot;What breed is he? Or what mix, if he's a mix?&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a polite and respectful way to ask?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13292" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-03T13:51:29.343" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T13:51:29.343" Title="What is a polite way to ask &quot;What breed is your pet dog? Or what kind of mixture if he's a mixture?&quot;" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-30T16:23:08.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-29T01:12:01.240" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people would say you're on your way to being a psychopath, but I can tell you you're not, because of the compassion you display, remorse even; true psychos do not display such qualms. You have an unresolved issue, traumatic, maybe childhood based, maybe an unresolved state of 'learned helplessness,' and you may have simple rejection issues due to one or some broken relationships, but be aware you need to address yourself quickly or the situation with the cat will manifest itself into something a lot more severe, for you, and for the cat. You have been advised, this is from research and self-experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't get past these actions, re-home the cat, and don't be an animal carer again. And be sure not to let this behaviour slip into your mainstream life. In relationships with others, you may have unconscious anger issues again, most probably an incident in childhood or adolescence. I've tried to be honest here and I'm not a flake, your obvious desire to change this behaviour IS VERY encouraging but there is a little danger here for you and possibly others close to you. You won't automatically link the anger from the cat incidents to the REAL underlying reason why you actually chose to act out in this way. Please live with peace and love in your heart, and project this in the things you choose to do in life from now on, and if you start to confront this you will feel, and will be, a better human being for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm jazzeroo and I fought my way back from a similar place many many years ago, in similar circumstances, and the rejection is a TRIGGER. You have been advised. I wish peace, love and light in your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13293" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-10-29T15:24:28.150" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T15:24:28.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21616" CreationDate="2018-10-29T01:52:17.653" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the easiest way to ask what kind of dog someone owns is to ask exactly that, ie:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Oh, you have a dog? What kind?' (or 'What kind is he/she?' if you know the sex.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask what 'kind' of dog it is you're not seen to be asking specifically about breed, pedigree, or anything like that. That way the owner can just as easily say 'he's a pure-bred Irish Wolfhound. Cost me an arm and a leg and eats like a sumo wrestler, but I love him' as 'she's just a mix I got from the pound. I don't know what's in her, but I just had to have her!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13294" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T01:52:17.653" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-29T03:11:53.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than showing considerable improvement in the view of independent knowledgeable observers, which is a very helpful suggestion by @AlanT, you must have reached an understanding of just how despicable a behaviour the abuse of an animal is. I say this because you write that you want to change your behaviour. Wanting is not good enough. Many abusers want to change their behaviour and then they go on to abuse again. You must know in your heart that you will never do this again, or anything similar to it, whatever the circumstances. Achieving that understanding and knowledge is paramount and comes before learning whatever you need to know to stand a chance of fixing your relationship with this cat (which may not be possible) and to get this cat or any other animal to trust and like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13292" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T03:11:53.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21620" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-29T05:17:15.363" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a male cat who is about 1.7 years old. Neutered 5 months ago. Just recently, he has started climbing on cabinets and knocking everything off that he can. He has now reverted to knocking anything and everything off of any surface he can find. Help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13300" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-10-30T04:38:51.663" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T12:39:39.510" Title="Knocking everything over" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-10-30T13:33:55.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-29T09:41:24.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should give that poor lil kitty away and never get a new one. I cant write here what I really want to say to you.  &lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; You can not regain the trust of this cat and this is good. Cats tend to remember things pretty well. You should give her away to someone who love her and who take care of the wounds you have done to that innocent soul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13302" LastEditorUserId="13302" LastEditDate="2018-10-29T15:43:30.227" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T15:43:30.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-29T11:00:08.790" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 month old Yemen Chameleon, she is doing well and is perfectly healthy. In my enclosure I have a large log that goes diagonal from one corner to the other. I then have leaves wrapped around them. I also have a water bowl at the bottom (even though I've seen online that they don't need one but the shop keeper insisted). My enclosure is 1.5ft by 3ft, it seems pretty empty and I want to add more stuff in but I don't know what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess what I'm trying to ask is, what else could I add to my enclosure without it being crammed? What do chameleons like in their enclosures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastActivityDate="2020-04-18T04:05:15.507" Title="What should I have in my chameleon enclosure?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;chameleons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21665" CreationDate="2018-10-29T12:25:22.940" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my chameleon for around a month now. When I first got her I was told to leave her in her enclosure for two days before handling her. After the two days had passed I went to pick her up and when I got close to her she started breathing heavy and even hissed at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a while since I tried picking her up as I don't want to stress her out. How can I make her more comfortable with me to the point where I'll be able to pick her up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Forgot to mention that this is a Yemen Chameleon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12151" LastEditorUserId="12151" LastEditDate="2018-10-29T14:04:03.657" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T22:00:21.840" Title="Handling my chameleon" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;chameleons&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21590" CreationDate="2018-10-29T13:26:17.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I love snails, I will try to write an answer. &lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Did you mean &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_snail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;common land snails&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's said that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each brood may consist of up to 100 eggs. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Garden snails bury their eggs in shallow topsoil primarily while the weather is warm and damp, usually 5 to 10 cm down ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's hard to predict if the eggs are damaged or not. Normally, in about four weeks you should see babysnails coming out of the eggs. So you should try to keep the container warm, e.g. not too cold. And with some luck, you should get some cute babysnails soon&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13302" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-03T19:53:08.043" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T19:53:08.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-29T13:39:28.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are not some one who at this time in life should be responsible for any animal, my suggestion would be to take it to a rescue centre and let them know what you have done. A lot of animals come into rescue after being abused and it takes years for them to trust ... or even never. I have two rescue dogs, one only trusts certain types of men (generally older or less &quot;Alpha&quot; type men) and even that takes time, its been 3 years and this wont change, but he is totally fine with kids and women... and the other is just plain scared of every human she meets, she will just piss her self and cower every time she meets a new human, we have had her 4 months and she is improving, but if i touch her in the wrong place at the wrong moment or say the wrong thing in the wrong tone she will piss her self. Its really sad to watch and breaks my heart every time. She is learning, but its taking time and love...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to go away and learn about positive reinforcement with animals, then volunteer at a rescue centre, find a centre that uses this method and give them full disclosure on what you have done and you wish to learn and atone for what you have done, they will most likely be wary of you and shadow you for months, but what you will learn is how to respect animals. Having an animal is a privilege and not a right, you dont own it, but you are responsible for its happiness and well being. Perhaps seeing and helping animals that have been abused (some perhaps far worse than what you have done) will help you make amends for what you have done and at least you will find peace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please dont hurt the cat again, it is a living breathing animal that just wants to live, just like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12619" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T13:39:28.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-29T14:17:57.343" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've had my Betta for about 7 months now. He was doing great up until about a month ago. Now, this was the first ever time I had a Betta (or any pet for that matter) so I was a little late to realize there was something wrong. Basically, my Betta has become very lethargic recently; he has also been itching himself on the wall of the tanks, but the itching has gone down after treating the tank with Prazi Pro for 2 weeks; his fins are also ripped. I thought it was fun for but there are no white markings on the edge of the fins or tail. I tried treating the tank with kanaplex (separate from Prazi) but nothing really changed. I've been worrying and have no more ideas on what to do. Any help is much appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13308" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T14:17:57.343" Title="Betta fish has become lethargic, his fins are ripped, and has some itching." Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-12T10:58:52.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-29T16:12:59.167" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since this is Pets.SE, my answer is solely concerned with the welfare of the animal in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me be absolutely direct and clear - you are in &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; position to be looking after this cat and it's absolutely in her best interest that she is removed from you and re-homed in a suitable environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as pointed out, she most likely needs immediate veterinary attention and the onus is on you to make sure she gets it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do what it's right and find a caring home for her and do not adopt any animals in the future as you are not a suitable carer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2585" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T16:12:59.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-29T21:58:57.063" Score="2" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it’s been 4 straight weeks since my puppy, Molly has had a broken leg. So during that time she had a cast on which made eating difficult. We decided to had feed her which was fine. Only when she had problems. The cast was then later removed and we found out she had an infection from the cast that ate it’s way into her skin. So, here comes the cone. Now, the cone made it harder on her since it’s too big and wide. Consuming food was a challenge. So we started to hand feed her as usual. She was happy with it. Then, she had her cone removed and her leg is starting to heal. Before my mom came in, she was eating properly only for a little while. Till my mom started to hand feed her and she’s adapted to a habit of being hand fed. I feel like this is an unhealthy habit as it seems she’s being slacked off on being a normal puppy with natural and normal eating habits and patterns. But no. I fed her today, and she refused to eat. She’s way too skinny still and letting her starve till she’s forced to eat I’m afraid is out of the question. I then went into an argument with my mom about stopping hand feeding her but instead, she just thought I’m pissed off at her not for that reason. But I am. My dog is not gonna grow up not knowing how to eat on it’s own. I’m not gonna allow that. Anybody out there have any methods I can try or have been through the same situation please reply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want some results. Cause if this goes on, I feel like when I take her to college with me, she won’t eat on her own like I’d expect. Even if they allow animals on campus, I’m still afraid she won’t be a Normal dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sGfRX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sGfRX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of my puppy. Don’t be deicieved by her look. Under all that fur, you can see her ribs. After her shower, we can see how much of a skinny dog she is. Also, that little dark area around her skin on her right leg, that’s the infection in its healing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13320" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T22:52:24.763" Title="My dog adopted the Habit of “Hand Feeding”" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21611" CreationDate="2018-10-29T22:35:27.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I took him to the vet, who suggested all the things I've already tried – changing the litter substrate, going to a lower-lipped litter box, and so on – and she suggested that the issue might actually be due to his arthritis, and perhaps the act of squatting in litter is what's causing his pain (which is mostly in his lower back as far as I can tell).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to try putting him on a glucosamine supplement, although it will take a while for that to make any difference at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9067" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T22:35:27.673" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21630" CreationDate="2018-10-29T22:52:24.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;don't worry about the weight loss of your puppy.  Even though significant, as long as the dog eats, they can loose quite significant amounts of weight before it becomes pathological.  (the latter would be when your puppy would be unable to sit or stand up)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;regarding the hand feeding, simple stuff:  hold the food in your hand inside the bowl you would like to feed him from, put some extra bits in the bowl but only release when it is touching the bowl, later you will be able to put food inside the bowl and eventually your hand will not be part of the feeding process at all, you catch the drift!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8524" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T22:52:24.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21620" CreationDate="2018-10-29T22:56:36.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;probably, every time he knocks something over, you are giggling, telling him off, shouting, saying he shouldn't do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he is loving the attention from you and finding it a wonderful game!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;solution: put only invaluable things on the surfaces and ignore him completely when he knocks these things off.  Give it a week or two and he will have become pretty bored by doing it:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and let him go out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8524" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T22:56:36.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-29T23:22:33.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;All animals are pattern matchers.  We all look for patterns in the world and use them to modify our behavior.  Cats are no different in this respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A key thing to realize is that cats are both predators AND prey; in order to survive they MUST pay close attention to the threats in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can fix this&lt;/strong&gt;.  My next door neighbor while growing up was absolutely horrid to his cat growing up, but he fixed it and is a well adjusted adult.  A cousin of mine was known for making his cat uncomfortable, and yet when he stopped doing it his cat has become a dedicated companion.  It can be fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to realize, though, that you've imprinted a series of threats against a prey animal... It's not going to be easy or fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You will need to leave the cat alone&lt;/strong&gt;.  Feed it, water it, clean it's litter box, and leave it be.  &lt;strong&gt;Step one is letting the cat realize that the environment is no longer a threat.&lt;/strong&gt;  Remove any item, like the ladder, which was part of your abuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let the cat make the first move.&lt;/strong&gt;  Once it feels secure it'll interact with you.  One of my cats is completely uninterested in petting and such... She likes to watch from the edges.  Maybe this cat is a people watcher.  You'll discover this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You absolutely must not make the first move.&lt;/strong&gt;  You are a threat right now, so approaching the cat or trying to interact with it causes the cat to go into survival mode.  You will have to be nonthreatening and just &quot;there&quot; until the cat regains it's confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use treats and toys but, again, don't expect the cat to instantly trust you.  Put a toy or treat out, let the cat see you do it... Then go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat will learn new patterns.  You aren't always a threat.  The house is safe.  Sometimes you mean treats.  Give it time and you can fix things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reset your expectations.&lt;/strong&gt; For my cats, I consider it a success that they feel comfortable and safe in my house.  Like I said, my big cat is not a cuddler.  But seeing her lazily watching the goings-on in the house from the corner of the room makes me happy, knowing the cat is safe and comfortable.  And, sometimes, rarely, the cat invites petting.  And on cold nights, sometimes, she'll even cuddle, as long as you ignore her.  &lt;strong&gt;Your goal shouldn't be for the cat to cuddle with you or play with you right now.  Your goal should be to make the cat feel safe.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is going to take time, but it gives you time to reflect on why you scared the cat.  &lt;strong&gt;Something isn't going right in your life, and while you are letting your cat heal, you need to heal too&lt;/strong&gt;.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing a psychologist; they won't tell anyone you were there and they can help you talk through your troubles.  As you fix the things going wrong you will naturally become less of a threat to the cat, which will be a feedback effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In fact, a psychologist is way more likely to help you resolve the problems between you and your cat than random people on the internet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't get your parents to help you find a psychologist, ask the school nurse or somebody like that.  They want to help, and they don't have to tell anyone what you say to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had anger issues... My cats have helped me go through them.  They give me something to focus on.  No matter show bad my life is, seeing my cats feel safe gives me something to be proud of.  This cat can be a companion IF you fix yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;. You cannot fix the cat.  There is nothing wrong with the cat.  You can fix the environment and yourself.  Hell, fixing the environment to be safer for the cat might make it safer for you too.  &lt;strong&gt;You cannot force the cat to like you... You can only make an environment where the cat comes to like you.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You need to be honest with yourself&lt;/strong&gt; (and this is something that a psychologist can help you with).  If you really want to fix yourself and the environment, if you really want to do all the above and spend the months maybe a year to fix things... You can.  And you'll be both a better person because of it... And the cat can help you do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't willing to do all that, if you still think you can force the cat to love you... You can't.  Surrender the cat to a friend or a shelter ASAP.  Because if you don't, you'll regret it forever.  The landlord made us &quot;get rid&quot; of my cat when I was 12, I had no control over the action, and I feel bad about it to this day.  In your case, you are the causitive agent, and it will haunt you forever.  This is not meant to be a threat, but a warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a process.  You can fix it.  But you will need to let the cat become comfortable, and you need to fix yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, please take care of the cat, one way or another.  Don't ever hurt it again.  If you ever do please do the right thing and give it to a safe home.  You can fix one bad pattern... You cannot possibly fix multiple bad patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, please, let us know what you are doing to resolve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12533" LastActivityDate="2018-10-29T23:22:33.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21616" CreationDate="2018-10-30T01:38:42.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a high end Labrador Retriever and mutt from rescue.  I am happy to tell either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not the question but ask if you can pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T01:38:42.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-30T02:19:37.993" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of detail below, but here's the main question: &lt;strong&gt;Assuming that a cat has a large hairball and is repeatedly trying to throw it up but failing, and assuming that laxatives have been used but not succeeded, what options are there to help the cat vomit up the hairball?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Way more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack is an orange tabby rescue, about two years old. I've had him for about his whole life. Historically he has sometimes (once every couple weeks) made a wheezing sound as though he was going to vomit up a hairball, but then expelled nothing, often swallowing at the end. He has never thrown up a hairball in these two years. I assumed hair was being expelled in feces, so I wasn't worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack is very overweight. He clocks in at 18 pounds. My other cat, a male, two year-old Bombay rescue, has the same diet and exercise but is a healthy weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three and a half days ago Jack started repeatedly (several times an hour) retching loudly, as though he was trying to vomit a hairball and failing. I took him in for a veterinary appointment about 24 hours after this began (earliest I could get). The vet couldn't discover evidence of a blockage and I reported that Jack was still eating, drinking, urinating, and defecating, so the vet gave me Amoxicillin for Jack (in case the sound was actually an upper respiratory infection) and laxative paste (in case it was a hairball). I've been using these faithfully since receiving them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack did indeed vomit one hairball up later on Saturday, the first I've ever seen, but it was only a normal size where I was expecting something huge. After this Jack's retching reduced to about once an hour, a third of the frequency it had been previously, but it did not stop. Jack seems to me to be tired or lethargic and to be unhappy. He's less prone to purr and I think he's eating less, but he definitely is still eating. Fat aside, he seems bloated to me. I'm planning to take him back to the vet for an x-ray asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have more than enough money for surgery if he needs it, but I would very much like to avoid putting him through that if at all possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13325" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T12:56:59.040" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T12:56:59.040" Title="How can I help my cat throw up a stuck hairball?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21639" CreationDate="2018-10-30T10:46:08.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there’s no medical condition that’s causing Jack’s problem, some of the preventative remedies found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.canidae.com/blog/2017/04/9-surprising-home-remedies-for-cat-hairballs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;on this page&lt;/a&gt; may work for you. There’s no way for anybody to diagnose this problem from afar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important is to brush Jack, if he lets you, that is. This helps remove fur that would otherwise fall to the ground or get ingested. It also stimulates and reinforces the bond between you. This doesn’t work for every cat, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is a small amount of olive oil in their food every few days. I’ve never tried butter, only because cats are somewhat lactose-intolerant, and I don’t want to cause problems at the other end of the cat, if you get my drift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dab of petroleum jelly on a paw works, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T10:46:08.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21620" CreationDate="2018-10-30T12:39:39.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is bored, and so it is figuring out fun games to play. If you don't like it, make the thing it's doing less fun, and figure out some other more fun activity for it to do instead. I suggest putting away as many items as you can from your tables and counters, so it has a minimum to knock off. For more appropriate activities, try playing with your cat, or giving it new toys. Experiment and figure out what engages it. If nothing else, try getting it a cat tree and placing it in the area where the cat is climbing on counters, and place toys and such on it that it's allowed to knock off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T12:39:39.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-30T14:08:12.590" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently my cat (1 year old) started actively chewing and tearing soft, squishy things when nobody's home or when out of sight. She particularly enjoys socks (many pairs have been destroyed, she literally tears big holes in them. Clean or dirty - doesn't matter, she'll steal any kind of sock available) and different kinds of sponges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is well fed and has many toys laying around, some of which are soft and squishy balls made from similar material as sponges, but shows no interest in them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13333" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T19:51:09.973" Title="How to stop cat from chewing socks and other soft objects?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21575" CreationDate="2018-10-30T15:18:49.703" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been very close to a situation very similar to this, where a person spiralled really (=very physically abusively)  badly with a new pet, came to their senses and felt horrified after a few months, and spent years doing all they could to put it right and undo it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So first thing to say is, I believe you, when you say how bad it was, and that you want to fix it, and I hope for your and the cats sake, you truly can and do. If you can't, or it ever happens again (even briefly and uncontrollably, then get help and make the cats safety the priority &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt;. As it has &lt;strong&gt;already happened again&lt;/strong&gt;, you need to look at what that means. I'll try to cover a bit about both aspects - you, and her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Overview&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs are often very much more able to forgive than humans can be. It takes time, but gradually it will work. But abuse can leave lifelong emotional scars and changes to behaviour, so some traits and safety habits may take years to fade, if they ever do, and you may be able to see them at odd moments or &quot;under the surface&quot; for her entire life, long after she has forgotten it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me tell you about the case I know. A friend had a cat, and they were in a bad mental state (meds issue), and the cat - about a year old - took the brunt of it for 4 months until the meds issue was fixed, at which point the friend was horrified and confided in me, asking what to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Trigger warning: details of abuse]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; The cat had been chased around and &quot;forced&quot; to interact. When the cat reacted by seeking privacy/corners the friend had tried to win the battles and ever more extreme physical actions to &quot;dominate&quot; and &quot;win&quot;, and not allow the cat to &quot;win&quot; or &quot;get away&quot; with undesired behaviours even though completely normal. The cat was stressed beyond belief, had no &quot;safe places&quot;, was hypervigilant and overgrooming, expected an attack behind every interaction and distrusted people, and had learned to attack in self defence, making it hard to be sociable with. It had just spiralled, and got worse from there with physical throwing out of rooms (bodily midair into whatever was there), using cushions to pin her down, and you probably get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The owner restarted their meds, and a while later reflecting on it, broke down crying, which is where I got to hear about it. The answer we followed was basically, a lot of respect for the cat and the cats experience, and reestablishing a new norm. But I also needed to be sure it wouldn't happen again, not least to decide whether the safest advice was to give the cat up entirely, for his own good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'll start with looking at your own position, then move onto the question you ask about the relationship with your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that's the right order - if you aren't safe for her for the rest of her life, your only valid, ethical relationship with her is one that starts at home and ends up at a rehoming centre or shelter within the next 2 or 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;First thing - it's about you as well&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your post says you want to fix things, but it's not clear if this might (or will) repeat, or if it is completely and forever in the past. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's scary is that &lt;em&gt;even after you realised you did it&lt;/em&gt;, you then did it again. I think you ought to be scared at that, and I hope you are worried about yourself and other people and animals, not just thinking &quot;how do I repair things&quot; and ignoring the risk it happens again - perhaps worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the first thing is, something I can't advise on - you need to think, what you want for yourself. Whatever led to this, is it possible it could happen again? To people or animals? Worse? Is this something you need help with (for example, to avoid a criminal record as a violent abuser in future, or to learn anger/mood management?) Should you seek help now, before worse harm/trouble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't comment much on this as your question is mostly about rebuilding a shattered relationship with your cat. A lot depends on what led to these awful events, if you know what it was. But it should be a real question in your mind, and maybe a question in its own right - &quot;I abused my cat badly, should I seek help, if so what kind?&quot; There is a very good chance the answer should be &lt;strong&gt;yes! quickly!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that, let's turn to the puss. If you are safe for her, then your question &quot;how to rebuild things&quot; is a good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Respecting her needs and experience&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat I mentioned was emotionally scarred, distrusting, and traumatised. So she needed that respected. When she said no, it needed to be understood that this wasn't petulance but learned self defence. When she was nervous of people, it wasn't antisocial-ness but learned safety. So she needed to be given that space. We let her have the safety and reassurance things first, and tried to win trust later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical example - owner enters room, cat hides under cupboard and hisses when approached. Before, he would have offered her food, been angry when rejected, and forced her out into the open to have it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead &lt;strong&gt;we let her hide there&lt;/strong&gt;, so she knows she has safety and can begin to explore beyond crisis and survival stuff. We ignore her, not looking, so &lt;strong&gt;she can feel a sense of agency and control&lt;/strong&gt;, and watch us as she chooses without us &quot;doing&quot; anything related to her. Then we offer a treat maybe a metre away from her, quietly, hold it to sniff if she wants, and when she rejects it (which we expected and she did), we &lt;strong&gt;quietly put the treat down on the floor, and left the room, closing the door&lt;/strong&gt;. If she ignored it, we quietly picked it up later, and maybe tried again that evening. After a couple of weeks, &lt;strong&gt;she learned it was safe and there was no comeback, and began to trust it was OK to come out and take it&lt;/strong&gt;. 30 mins later we'd come back in, minimising her stress and &lt;strong&gt;giving her lots of time to not worry about humans nearby&lt;/strong&gt;. We recognised that for her, even &quot;human offering food&quot; is a stress, as she can't be sure what their intention is or what will.follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can build on things like this, but you need sensitivity to her needs, anticipating what will give her emotional space to start moving beyond the past. If you can do that, your cat probably will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Safe spaces&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also ensure she has &lt;strong&gt;plenty of safe spaces available&lt;/strong&gt;. A safe space is one where she can go, and you don't intrude or constantly tread over, but she can relax and you respect it is &quot;hers&quot;. Somewhere she can feel &lt;strong&gt;safe from surprise attacks, and see what's going on&lt;/strong&gt;. My partner's cat has this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O6TML.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O6TML.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its a shelf over the foot of the bed, high enough that we wont accidentally knock it, with a cupboard door removed to make a &quot;cave&quot;. There's a cat bed warmer under some towels, too. We made it after we realised that she kept trying to find a place to watch from where people didn't tread round and over her, and everywhere she chose was somewhere we went. This stressed her. So this gave her a raised viewing point, a &quot;cave&quot;, and a place she could be sociable but also a bit &quot;to herself&quot; too. She quickly took to it and often sleeps there. We take care to make sure that she feels safe on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She likes to have 3 or 4 places, including a cardboard box under the bed, a space under the hall table, and a kitchen  chair. The point is, she has spaces where she can go, and chill, and feel safe doing so. They are, in a sense &quot;her spaces&quot;, we can intrude on them, but we try to ensure she knows its fine to go there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Establishing a new norm&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is, respecting where she's at, does not mean &quot;everything now on her terms&quot;. You might need to check her collar, or flea-treat her, or comb her, all of which she may not like, and may trigger self defence. You'll need to &lt;strong&gt;make these as unscary as you can&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offer a favourite food once a day, and when she is ok with that,  and will accept it from your hand (it may take a long time sitting until she gets sufficiently brave to go for it), you can try to gently introduce whatever else is needed, like a combing. Maybe just stroke her once really lightly with the back of the comb, it does nothing but shows nothing scary happens, with luck she isn't put off her treat next day. Try to &lt;strong&gt;build it up really slowly enough that she doesn't gets  huge &quot;OMG&quot; and stay away next time&lt;/strong&gt;. Watch her reactions and behaviour, and &lt;strong&gt;be guided by those only&lt;/strong&gt;. Allow that it may take 10 or 15 minutes, or a specific mood or time of day, for her interest to peak enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Summary&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Above all, be patient. It could be a lifelong endeavour&lt;/strong&gt;. But you'll get there with care and love - and so, eventually, will she.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7227" LastEditorUserId="7227" LastEditDate="2018-10-30T17:24:36.727" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T17:24:36.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-30T19:36:02.700" Score="3" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goldfish has been the lone fish in her tank for a number of months now, and quite recently, has begin to behave differently and remain in one small area on the very bottom of her tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could loneliness be partly to blame for this change in behavior? Would adding an additional fish cause any potential harm or negative effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13340" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2018-10-31T13:42:22.670" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T21:02:30.467" Title="Does a goldfish experience feelings of loneliness?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21643" CreationDate="2018-10-30T19:51:09.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply keep your socks away from your cat. Make sure to always keep them put away. When dirty, put them in a hamper. If the cat can get into the hamper, purchase a different one that it cannot get into. You could even use things that are not meant to be used as hampers, as long as they have some mechanism for keeping it closed that the cat can't get into. When clean, similarly, keep them in a drawer or container that the cat cannot get into.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, with sponges, either use some other type of thing instead of sponges (for example, if you're using them to prewash dishes, dishwasher safe bristle brushes are better anyways, as sponges tend to get very germy), or put the sponges out of reach of your cat, like in a cabinet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the cat really prefers socks as toys, as long as you don't have reason to think the sock is a danger (like, if the cat is eating parts of the sock, that would be bad), let the cat have the socks it has already damaged. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T19:51:09.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-30T20:40:28.270" Score="2" ViewCount="537" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both my dog (2 years old, female) and my cat (6 months old, male) eat premium-class dry pet food (Hill's).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason, the cat prefers the dog's food -- even though it's harder to eat (bigger pieces). &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/18795/13343&quot;&gt;I'd rather they stick to their own food&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only give the dog her food at given times -- but even then, the cat gets there before she does and starts eating, I have to physically take him away so she can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas for how to prevent them from eating each other's food are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13343" LastActivityDate="2018-10-30T20:40:28.270" Title="Dog and cat eating each other's food, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20163" CreationDate="2018-10-30T20:48:14.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/nkEkDHOQTLs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Removal of &lt;em&gt;Loa loa&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This clip shows the removal of &lt;em&gt;Loa loa&lt;/em&gt; from a human eye. The description in the video gives much detail. It’s possible this is what has affected your cat. A veterinarian visit is a must.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T12:51:39.160" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T12:51:39.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-30T20:54:11.290" Score="13" ViewCount="1022" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when there is a thunderstorm or fireworks my dog will become restless and scratch at the front door or back door. If I open the door he doesn't move, but if I walk away he will begin scratching again. What can I do to make him feel more comfortable during these moments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13344" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:41:51.000" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T10:01:43.520" Title="My dog scratches at the floor during fireworks. What can I do to make him feel safe?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T02:25:03.897" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 month foal has a broken leg and requires stable rest for 3 months and we need to wean her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to keep her and mum in the same stable without risking mum getting &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.equisearch.com/articles/help-cast-horse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cast&lt;/a&gt;. Mum had already been cast once when bub was a newborn foal. Now she is a 12 hh 4 month old, there would be little room for mum to navigate to get up from lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bub cannot be taken in and out of a stall, as it's vital in these days to rest her leg. So the decision was made to wean her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we go about weaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T11:34:32.077" Title="How to manage weaning a 4 month old foal?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21651" CreationDate="2018-10-31T02:25:03.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Logistics&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We started by putting mum and foal in stalls next to each other. This way they could see each other through the bars, sniff each other and talk. Bub would poke her head through the bars of the gate to look at mum. during the day when people were around. Which may or may not be advisable, as there's a risk of injury. At night the bars were closed off with a horse rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stall next to each other, with the gate bars open for bubby to look at mum. They could also see each other through the bars at the top of the stall divider.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gJNFj.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gJNFj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bub did try to crawl under the stall dividers. She had her head in mum's stall. Luckily she and mum were calm and there were no injuries. The bottom of the stall divider was secured with bolted timber to stop her from repeating this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After nearly a week, mum was moved to a stable diagonally opposite bub. So they could still talk, and see each other. This way they were getting used to being further apart. The foal was settled. At this point the front of bub's stable was secured with strong rubber, so she could not poke her head through the bars to try to get to mum and possibly cause an injury. She could see mum over the rubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bubby trying to look out through the rug. The pic shows the rubber covering the stall gate and the timber bolted to prevent her from sticking her head under the stall divider.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h8A0D.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h8A0D.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some days later mum was put into a small paddock adjacent to the stables during the day and brought into the stable at night. The top of the stable gate was covered to stop bub from attempting to jump up to look for mum and further compound her injury. To put it into perspective, if she doesn't heal or the fractures displace, she will need to be put to sleep. So the motivation to keep her quiet is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days on, mum stayed in the paddock during the day and was put into a separate stable at night, not in the same stable block as bub. There were other horses stabled with bub overnight. (same building separate stalls)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days later mum was moved back home and bub remains at the stables. This transition went surprisingly smoothly. We continued to cover the top of the stall gate for some days to discourage bub from jumping up. This is gradually being left off for longer periods, as she is calm and less inclined to want to look for mum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Foal feed&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As bub had already been on hard feed and hay with mum, she would eat with mum from a few days old, picking at mum's feed, the feed continued, but increased in ration. A foal and calf milk replacer was gradually added into her feed and will continue until it's used up. This may not have been necessary  at 4 months, we wanted her to have her full nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is also given feed that has a higher protein ratio to adult feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is always kept with a fresh water and hay supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The protein ratio in mum's feed and her rations have been gradually reduced. She is now on a similar feed to a non-lactating mare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Udder&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mum's udder was and is still checked to ensure there is no mastitis. It was a little engorged the first day of weaning, but settled down surprisingly quickly. She still drips and will let down and stream milk. It's because of this her nutritional needs are taking into account that she is still using extra energy and nutrition and this needs to be replaced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Emotional needs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both mum and foal have needed to be closely watched for depression and to best minister to their emotional needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bub it's also having company, being stalled for so long. Chickens will come into her stable to peck at her bedding. Other horses come and go from the shed during the day and there's always horses there at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bubby with some chicken companionship. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nf2zR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nf2zR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People come and go throughout the day and there's also children who pay her visits to pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is groomed everyday and the stall is kept clean of urine and faeces so her environment is as healthy as possible. There's plenty of air circulation, and daylight, as the stall is at one end of the shed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mum is back home with her herd. She is in a paddock on her own, next to the herd. Not ideal, but she is food aggressive from being starved and has kicked 3 of the other horses, injuring two, including her own foal. So until she is recovered from this, she needs to be paddocked separately. She is next to two other paddocks and the horses usually often hang out near each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is managing better than I anticipated. I stayed with her for some hours when she first returned, until she was well settled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did notice she didn't eat her feed the following day. She would only eat it while I was standing with her. So I'm spending the time with her while she eats. Not demanding anything of her. Just hanging out. She gets scratches where's she's itchy and we hang stand together so she has company and can relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's early days, so I will be keeping close watch on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T11:34:32.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9918" CreationDate="2018-10-31T03:01:27.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a set up with 9 tetras, a male Betta and a couple of Kuhli loaches and I just trained my Betta to go to my hand when I have it near the water, so I’m able to keep the tetras and Betta separate when they feed, and the Kuhli just eat the leftovers that fell to the ground and pieces of pleco wafers. I think even if I didn't keep them sort of separate in their tank they would be fine.  It all just depends on how you introduce your fish and and the fishes' personalities ^_^.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13348" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:29:55.163" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:55.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21650" CreationDate="2018-10-31T03:51:54.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like an anxiety reaction that your dog is having to the loud noises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog has several anxiety reactions that he trots out and my response to them is all the same: distractions and affection. Fireworks are one of the more difficult ones to distract him from because the noise is persistent, but at a minimum I try to make it a point to hug him and pull him into a family cuddle pile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lets him feel safe regardless of the cause of the anxiety. Sometimes I think he's anxious that he'll be hurt, other times I think he's worried that either my spouse or daughter will be hurt. Regardless, the family cuddle pile is my go-to for fireworks since everyone is happy and content, regardless of the external noises and it does seem to help bring him down again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog's anxiety doesn't respond to positive reinforcement techniques like this, it might be necessary to consider sedative treatments from your vet instead. If you go this route, just make sure to give them to your dog sufficiently in advance that they don't suffer through the entire anxiety-inducing event and then fall asleep afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13349" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T03:51:54.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T05:44:50.900" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took custody of a rat snake a few weeks back - I got him off Craigslist. I can tell he has been badly neglected -- the vivarium was stinking. I don't think that it had been cleaned for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a beautiful, docile snake and I love him to bits. He seems to sneeze a lot and I thought it would pass but he's still doing it. The sneezing doesn't particularly worry me but what does concern me is that his upper lip protrudes over the lower lip, beneath the eyes. (His mouth does not close properly). If you look at his head from underneath, you can see the protrusion on either side where the upper lip fails to meet with the lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like it could &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; be a swelling or perhaps he was just born that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone imagine what this might be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LRSey.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LRSey.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7219" LastEditorUserId="7219" LastEditDate="2018-11-01T05:58:22.147" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T05:58:22.147" Title="Ratsnake with mouth deformity" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T06:32:40.423" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is huge and he hasn't had a bath in 3 years and he smells awful and I keep telling them it's bad for his health but they aren't listening I mean he smells like unbelievable disgusting the whole house smells like it and they get so mad when I tell them about it but it's disgusting and he is constantly iching and scratching and he is aggressive and just moody as hell and I believe he has ear mites and they won't even take him to the vet because he is aggressive and the vets have to put a muzzle on him please help me what could be the health issues&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13350" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T06:32:40.423" Title="My step mom has a American bull massive and Rottweiler mixed dog and he smells awfully disgusting" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-10-31T11:23:09.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21655" CreationDate="2018-10-31T07:27:17.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely have a vet look at this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes normally don't sneeze, so that's red flag number one. That along with the mouth not closing properly sounds a lot like the snake might have troubles with their respiratory tract. You could compare this with a cold in humans, but snakes being cold-blooded, this is more serious. Possible causes could be that the snake was kept too cold or with the wrong humidity by its previous keeper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't go over by itself (at least not in the way you want it to), so go to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T07:27:17.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T11:46:16.610" Score="3" ViewCount="3838" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got a 7-month old calico cat named Milù, who is very active, mischievous and loves to play - with toys or with us. She loves playing hide-and-seek, stalking on us, attacking our hands and feet, chasing us and being chased by us and doing her high jumps when playing with her da Bird toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milù is not a very cuddly cat but she's sweet in her own way. She loves following us around, squatting on the floor to trip us and meows if she doesn't see us. She's a purring machine at night and loves to knead and cuddle with us while we sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from home and as you would know, cat + work at home = disaster. My cat simply wouldn't let me work, intentionally or even unintentionally. She's a very active cat and needs constant attention and play. She usually brings me her toys as if telling me &quot;let's play&quot; and I just don't have the heart to tell her no. Sometimes, when I ignore her, she lightly bites my legs and hands to show she's upset with me. Other times, she would stare at me for so long and God only knows what she's thinking. I just melt and give in. I tried locking myself in the room so I could concentrate on my work but she meows at the door or stays and waits there for me even for hours.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I convinced my husband to get another cat for our calico so she won't feel alone when I work. Many people say two cats are better than one and I got encouraged by this. After all, when we went on a vacation with our cat, I saw her very much interested with other cats and dogs visiting us at our rented apartment at a farm. We thought she wouldn't be hostile to other cats.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I called a local shelter and I told them I need an active and playful cat for my calico. They told me they have this 4-month old and already spayed female tabby cat who is a purring machine and loves playing. They also said she had lived at some point with older cats in the streets. She looked like a perfect match to Milù and we decided to get her and named her Violetta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Violetta is the sweetest cat I've ever met. She purrs loudly to everyone, loves sitting and kneading your lap, and she will do this for hours at any time of the day. She's also full of energy. She never gets tired playing with toys. She's got some flaws too, though. She's not good at cleaning herself, always has claws out for everything (so it hurts when she kneads, so I trimmed her nails) and she complains a lot even over small things. She's also so eager and has a me first attitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did the usual cat introduction ritual for a week - separate rooms, gradual introduction of scents, site swapping, cats eating behind a door, etc. Everything went quite well. Initially, there were some hisses from my resident cat but then she started to feel more comfortable each day. When there were no more hissing and they could eat their meals together, we decided to completely open the house for them. I was so happy to see them sleep almost close to each other and when they started to play. However, this is where the problem starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When finally, Milù felt comfortable around Violetta, she gradually went back to her real self - she started zooming around the house again, something she didn't do on the first few days Violetta was introduced to her. And she started playing with Violetta, and she seemed so eager to having her as a playmate. At first, she was a bit of a bully to Violetta, probably to establish dominance over her, and Violetta was fine with this. Then she started chasing Violetta around, something Violetta didn't like at first and she would whine. Then probably Violetta understood that Milù didn't want to hurt her and they started chasing each other around - i.e. literally running around, Milù runs after Violetta then vice versa. Until here, everything was fine. But Milù doesn't want to just run around, she wants a real cat play, - i.e. more physical - swatting, wrestling, biting, etc. And I think this is just normal? But Violetta doesn't want any contact at all, and whenever Milù swats at her or even lightly touches her tail, Violetta would whine and sometimes screams as if she is being murdered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried telling Milù to be more gentle with Violetta, and she did this. When she corners Violetta, she turns around and leaves Violetta alone. But as soon as she has her back on Violetta, Violetta would jump and chase her, and the play begins again, Milù becomes a bit physical, then Violetta whines, and so on. This went on for a while and we thought Violetta would then figure out how to confront Milù.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they're not playing though, they behave really well. Milù has stopped hissing completely and has accepted Violetta in her home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, during playtime, Violetta's whining became worse, then she started growling, then hissing, and I think this frustrated Milù. All she wanted was to play with Violetta. I observed her during their play, and she doesn't seem to have her claws out. I can even see her restraining herself but Violetta continues with her whining. Every time Milù corners her, Violetta would lie on her back in defensive mode and whines and growls at Milù. But if there's aggression on Milù's part, I don't understand why Violetta would come running back at Milù for more play once Milù has turned her back on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago though, somehow things went out of hand. During these plays, Milù, strangely, didn't back down as usual and continued swatting at Violetta. Violetta was screaming and growling, Milù pounced and wouldn't listen to me. My 8-year old daughter was crying and yelling at Milù while she watches the scene inches away from her feet. It was surreal! I had to sprinkle water on Milù to separate the cats. And we put them in separate rooms the whole day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my husband came back from work, we tried to put the two cats together again. Everything looked fine. The cats were acting as if nothing happened. Then they started playing! And everything went upside down. They ended up in a serious fight with fur flying around. Milù didn't look worked up, but Violetta was so mad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we tried concentrating on Violetta and have made some observations. When we're playing alone with Violetta with a toy, she's so pumped up with adrenaline and even has more energy than Milù does. However, she seems to know how to play with toys only. Other than that, she's unresponsive or doesn't know what to do in other kinds of games. Laser dot - no response, playing with hands - no response, stalking - uninterested, hide and seek - uninterested, us surprising her - no response, she just looks at us, chasing with us - no response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But these are the things Milù loves doing! And now I'm at a loss! &#xA;I don't know much about Violetta but it seems she grew up completely isolated from other cats that she doesn't know how to interact with them, and every move another cat makes is a threat for her. So I think this is why she suddenly assumes a defensive stance when Milù plays with her. And somehow, Violetta's unpredictability has frustrated Milù.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my situation is this: I've got two cats who both need attention, one is in the living room, the other in the bedroom. I can't work because Milù is with me and wants attention, while I hear Violetta meowing at the door in the living room. And it's driving me crazy. Now that Violetta has known the whole house, she isn't fine with being confined again in a room and is constantly meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm seriously considering re-homing Violetta. First, because I don't know how to deal with her situation. Milù is my first cat and I have her for only 6 months so my experience in cat is very limited. Violetta needs to know how to be a cat, but only a cat could teach her how to do that. And honestly, I'm not sure if I'd like to sit and wait 'till she learns from Milù. What if they end up hurting each other seriously? I've got an 8-year old daughter and it breaks my heart seeing her cry and yell whenever the two cats fight. What if they end up hurting my daughter in one of those fights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really think Violetta is a perfect cat in a household with no other animals in it. I wish they had told me more about Violetta's upbringing before they gave it to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13357" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:39:26.933" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T16:45:59.857" Title="My second cat doesn't know how to play with my other cat and thinks that she's being attacked" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21658" CreationDate="2018-10-31T14:26:22.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me it sounds like Milu is bullying Violetta. Even if your perception is that Milu is only playing, that is not Violetta's view. She has given Milu the cat-language for &quot;leave me alone&quot; in the form of yowling and hissing, and yet Milu persisted. A bully type of cat may even be encouraged to be a bully when they see the victim showing signs that they are intimidated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a fight, keep your cats separated for a day or two, and then very cautiously attempt a re-introduction. If the cats still seem aggressive, then re-separate them, and very slowly re-introduce them, in the same fashion as you did when they were first introduced.  Repeat this whenever they get into a fight. I would also recommend keeping the cats in separate rooms when they will be unsupervised, unless you manage to get to a point where you are confident they are no longer fighting. Make sure these rooms have everything they need to be comfortable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think back to those times that Milu and Violetta got into a spat. Was there any specific trigger, or reason why they would end up confronting each other? For instance, they could have been trying to access food or water at the same time. If the answer is yes, then you can think of solutions to try to minimize anything in the house that may be causing the fights. For instance, if it is the food and water, start placing additional bowls in different locations, so that they don't have to go to the same place to get them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest playing more with Milu, so she will hopefully be too tired to play with Violetta. Also, if you observe the two with each other, try to get them to go away from each other, so that they will not get into fights in the first place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I would try contacting the shelter to get any advice on your situation, and also an animal behaviorist.  Perhaps by actually observing your pets, they will have a better idea of what is causing the fighting and how to stop it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct though that some cats are simply incompatible. However, I would not consider rehoming until you have at least tried these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On an unrelated note, the shelter likely did not inform you of Violetta's behavior with other cats because they did not really know. It is often the case that they do not know very much about their animals' history. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-10-31T14:35:42.510" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T14:35:42.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T15:45:27.463" Score="4" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat in question is a female. She is probably 5 or 6 years old, maybe older, outdoor farm cat. She has always lived outside but is super friendly and loves to be petted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I let her in I put down a small bowl of dry food and water. She checks that first. She seems calm and loving. But then she pees in my bed. Can I get her to stop this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have prepared an outside shelter for her as well. It is 1.5' x 3' and has heat from a light bulb and a heated water dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wants to come in and be petted and I oblige! But I understand if I must just keep her outside to protect my bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea or suggestions about what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13363" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-30T16:11:05.157" LastActivityDate="2020-10-19T04:36:57.123" Title="Outdoor cat comes in and pees on my bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21660" CreationDate="2018-10-31T15:50:27.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, have you provided her a litter box for when she comes inside? If you've given her food and water, but no bathroom facilities, then she's likely identified your bed as the best substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you don't mention it in your question, I'll assume you haven't offered her one, so start by providing a litter box and making sure she knows where it's located (ideally not too close to her food and water). Next, you'll need to clean your bedding and mattress with an enzymatic cleaner designed for cleaning up pet messes. While you may think your bed is clean, her sense of smell is much keener and thus it'll still smell like a place to eliminate to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn't sufficient to curb the issue, we have a large number of additional questions on solving litter box issues, and you may very well be able to find your answer there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T15:50:27.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T16:36:08.593" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;My roommate has a dog (say, Rex) that I sometimes take out to the dog park. I am not the owner of the dog but he does seem to listen to me in our interactions. Also, he is quite obedient and friendly-to-dogs and -to-people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took him today and he fought with a pup over a ball. Sometimes this happens and the fighting is friendly. However, this time, would I not interfere, I think Rex would have gone to blood-shedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, from now on, I will pay much more attention to his behavior to avoid such escalation in the future. However, it did raise a point in my mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&gt; How would you treat the dog after such incident?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did was being stern with him. I.E. I took him right out of the park, talked stern with him, shortened the leash (which I generally do not do), and not giving him attention once we came back home. I refuse to hit the dog for such stuff because I have seen methods like this and I do not think they work. They tend to make the animal more aggressive in the long term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: the dog is not fixed and I, and the owner, are of the belief that he should not be fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13366" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T15:46:15.927" Title="Calm Dog became agressive towards a younger pup" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-10-31T18:13:00.993" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two ducks and a drake. Ten days ago, I found an egg on the ground, out of the hen house. Today, I found another one, somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Has the duck laid other eggs during this ten days? The run is very large and I cannot find anything there. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can I do anything, so that she lays in the box?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13367" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-01T17:14:37.853" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T17:14:37.853" Title="How can I make my duck lay in the box" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21645" CreationDate="2018-10-31T20:26:06.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only give you my anecdote as evidence, but yes, I believe they nap when bored. In my experience, napping either looks like suspended animation or else they lie on the gravel. Some of them have a preferred &quot;bed&quot;. I’ve even seen a fish who went to bed under the filter at 7pm every evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a goldfish who is 16 years old. The year before last, we lost his two tank mates (both female, aged about 10 and 12). He’s been &quot;old&quot; for a while and naps on the gravel a few times a day, but right after we lost his other tank mate, he started napping a lot more often. I got a couple of new fish (babies) and although I can say he looked pleased, his nap frequency dropped. He started looking a bit more interested in things. If the tank was in a room with more activity (it’s in the dining room), I might have left him on his own, but it looked like he was mourning, so we got him company. The tank is big enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the science. Check your water quality. Your local fish shop might do it for you or you can buy kits, but as a minimum, I’d check nitrates, ammonia and pH. Nitrates in particular, IIRC, can make fish sleepy. Ammonia will make the fish slimy or cause red streaks on the fins. Check your filter circulation, too - sometimes a change in currents can help. I’d recommend buying a real plant or two because eating it gives them some stimulation when you’re not there. They will eat it, though! If it’s all fine, consider another fish. But remember to check if the tank is big enough first. I think surface area counts more than volume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, it might be worth considering how old the fish could be. Old ones nap. 3 years is maturity but for some fancy fish, 5 is elderly. My old one is a plain goldie, and he’s not a particularly clever fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T20:26:06.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21624" CreationDate="2018-10-31T22:00:21.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, a couple of things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two days probably isn't enough. This will vary with each animal, but for most reptiles, you want to wait a week minimum. Make sure they are eating and have had a couple of meals before you attempt to handle. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't try to handle her too frequently. This is almost sure to stress her out, especially if she's not used to her new surroundings yet. ~3 times a week is probably a decent starting point. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't pick him up from above. Chameleons are hard wired to hate that as there are predatory birds in the wild that will snatch them up given the chance. Hold your hand down next to her and see if she will walk out on to it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure your husbandry is on point. Chameleons can be kind of tricky to care for, and if they are being stressed by their environment, they are not likely to be amenable to handling.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T22:00:21.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21650" CreationDate="2018-10-31T22:17:35.760" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried a thundershirt? They are relatively inexpensive and provide a sort of &quot;hug&quot; for your dog in moments when it is anxious. I have a very reactive dog to people coming over to the house, and this seems to keep her calmer. I also know friends who swear by the Thundershirt for their dog during fireworks or lightening storms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastActivityDate="2018-10-31T22:17:35.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21611" CreationDate="2018-11-01T00:39:00.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you will find a solution to this problem. But... given that your cat is elderly and has arthritis, there's a chance that this may be something you have to put up with for whatever time he has left. In that case, it may be easier to focus on changes that will make clean-up easier for you. Perhaps you could put down several sheets of newspaper, so that when he poops, you only have to pick up the top sheet and throw it away. It may be a little frustrating, but it will probably be a lot easier once you figure out a good system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I went through this myself with a beloved dog years ago. I started collecting bits of plastic wrap from packages. That made it easy to pick up the poop and toss it away without having to wash my hands 20 times a day. (I have eczema which is exacerbated by dry skin.) One I figured out a system for dealing with the poop, it became easy. I knew at the time that my dog didn't have long; it was about a year. I still miss him terribly and I'd be glad to pick up the poop if he was still with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2018-11-01T00:44:52.230" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T00:44:52.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21660" CreationDate="2018-11-01T01:20:23.627" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that will do that when I get out of bed to go to the bathroom. For him, it's a way of claiming the prime spot and establishing dominance over his feline sister. Because he only does it in one place, a place that's socially very significant, I'm confident that it's not related to a health issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's how I deal with it; this may give you some ideas. First, when I get out of bed now, I invite him to the bathroom with me. (Often I carry him, because he loves being carried.) In the bathroom, I give him lots of attention. There's a special battery-operated cat toy that I bring out on occasion as a special treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, when I leave the bed, I remove the pillows and fold the sheets and duvet down so that most of the fitted sheet is exposed. My cat won't be tempted to pee on the bed because he can't pull anything over it to cover his pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, I figured out when he was likely to pee in the bed and distracted him at those times, and I made the bed less attractive for peeing in. You should also get a waterproof mattress cover to put under your sheet. A litter box in the bedroom, at least temporarily, may be helpful too. But certainly make sure the litter box isn't too far from the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T01:20:23.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15624" CreationDate="2018-11-01T06:04:06.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I train feral cats to use a litter-box is to use an open litter-box without any lid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most kittens learn from their mother how to use a litter-box if they live indoors. But your cat might be born from a feral mother and simply does not understand the concept of a litter-box and that it is supposed to do its stuff there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put the cat in the litter-box and show it how to dig a little. While the cat sees you, you might have to do this several times but the cat will understand what you want just be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best if you put the cat in the litter-box right after it has eaten. Another thing you can do is to move some of the stool or pee into the litter-box from where you don't want it and leave it there for a short time not long but only to make sure your cat can smell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter-box has to be in a quiet and undisturbed place of your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once had a kitten, it was too young to be an outdoor cat, so it had only lived indoors. And he was only used to use a litter-box. We did take this cat on vacation on an island full of sand. My cat did not know where to do his toileting, so he held back for almost two days until I made a square in the sand and put him there and this solved the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-05-30T16:59:09.303" LastActivityDate="2019-05-30T16:59:09.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21681" CreationDate="2018-11-01T07:45:39.103" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat is recovering from a bout of pancreatitis (Feline SAA maxed at 21 or so) and this week when my wife took him to the vet for a fluid top-up (vet recommends daily injection of three large syringes of some liquid or other for dehydration) the vet said there's been a lot of it about this year, which she blamed on the number of strong typhoons that hit here (Japan) this summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had strong winds and quite heavy rain, but my town is a good 40 km away from the sea and has had no significant flooding, so it sounded like nonsense to me! Is there any connection between pancreatitis and the weather?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="757" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T19:47:59.113" Title="Do typhoons cause pancreatitis in dogs and cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-01T08:35:32.320" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog swallowed a plastic bag of strawberry pie. It seems to be a 10×10cm square. He swallowed on Monday morning, and today is Thursday. But he hasn't vomited or pooped it out yet. He is big dog, labrador retriever, and he is eating and pooping well now. But I'm worried about how plastic acts in the body, and I want to find the bag in his poo. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13377" LastEditorUserId="13246" LastEditDate="2018-11-04T01:31:13.787" LastActivityDate="2018-11-04T01:31:13.787" Title="My dog swallowed a plastic bag of pie. What can I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-01T09:44:14.933" Score="4" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've had my pet rat for 2 months now and when we first got her she had a tiny scab on the back of her neck. It wasn't a big deal, but now she has a huge scab that I constantly see her biting and scratching at, along with 2 or 3 other scabs that she's constantly picking at. She's in a cage by herself, so I know it's her doing it and I'm really worried that one of the cuts will get infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13380" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T09:42:03.047" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T09:42:03.047" Title="My pet rat keeps hurting herself and I don't know what to do" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21560" CreationDate="2018-11-01T11:57:26.563" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the shelter where I volunteer, we don't use ramps for older\overweight cats but we do give them &quot;stairs&quot; wherever possible. I put it in quotes because sometimes the stairs are a scratching post against a higher scratching post. We also have jungles that are built as stairs that they use to get to and from the ceiling. It seems to me that if a cat thinks they can manage the landing, they'll jump and there's not much to do about it. Moreover, they might feel insecure by the slop of the ramp. By providing them with stairs, we can at least try to encourage them to jump lower. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Sorry it took me so long to provide a picture, but here it is, more or less:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KsP0A.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KsP0A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This is an example of using jungles to create &amp;quot;stairs&amp;quot; for cats. We&amp;#39;ve also put smaller jungles next to windows for the same reason&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11019" LastEditorUserId="11019" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T19:50:32.397" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T19:50:32.397" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21676" CreationDate="2018-11-01T12:09:00.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should contact your vet, to make them aware.  The potential for emergency surgery is real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in this Q&amp;amp;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5959/big-hound-has-eaten-corn-cobs-what-can-i-do-to-help-him-pass-them&quot;&gt;Big hound has eaten corn cobs what can I do to help him pass them?&lt;/a&gt;  as long as he keeps having bowel movements and is not gettting sick, he should be fine.  But if anything changes you will need to get to the vet as soon as possible.  Your Vet should give you more direction when you call them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T12:09:00.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21675" CreationDate="2018-11-01T12:15:16.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dehydration in cats is a significant health issue.  We have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=%5Bcats%5D+dehydration&quot;&gt;several posts about it&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I am not an expert a quick google search indicates that dehydration &amp;amp; pancreatitis are often related. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recent reports have documented the potentially catastrophic consequences of dehydration induced by vigorous exercise in otherwise healthy individuals. A case of acute pancreatitis secondary to exercise-induced dehydration is presented, and the literature of dehydration-induced syndromes, both research and clinical, is reviewed. The goal of this case report is to heighten awareness of dehydration as a potential cause of acute pancreatitis.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10551761&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T12:15:16.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9295" CreationDate="2018-11-01T12:18:04.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My slider managed to climb over his enclosure. He had the same bloody bulb hanging from his tail, there was so much blood but no visible cracks on his shell, which was strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily, I had already taken those precautions, but it was horrifying. It made him cranky being out of his tank, but occasionally I splashed him with water. I didn't want to risk infections and figured he'd heal better out of it. He was back in his tank 3 days later, hyper as ever and eating again. I'm so relieved to have found this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13384" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-01T15:23:14.670" LastActivityDate="2020-06-01T15:23:14.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21686" CreationDate="2018-11-01T14:17:35.880" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an indoor cat that I want to provide fun, interesting experiences for as I imagine my studio apartment is a bit small for a full grown cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she's a kitten she's always sat by a window we leave cracked open and looked out at the streets. I recently bought a cat harness and leash and have been putting it on her, tying it to something sturdy, then opening the window next to my fire escape to let her stick her head out, smell the air and get a better look at the outside world. I sit near and supervise the whole time. She usually spend 10-15 minutes sniffing and peering out, watching cars go by, etc at which point she'll walk inside and I'll close the window then remove the harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time so far she's run under the bed after and hid for about 5-10 minutes. There's no other odd behavior following it, she's usually back out and about as long as we wait a few minutes and call her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems pretty happy to be looking out as she stays there on her own, doesn't fight the harness (except for the expected fussing when putting on/taking off), and has not ever had any accidents that I would associate with fear except for the bed thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is two-fold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any reason not to allow a cat out on a window that is leashed, harnessed and supervised?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the bed thing anything to worry about?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13388" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T15:47:45.057" Title="Leashed Cat on Windowsill above fire escape" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21683" CreationDate="2018-11-01T14:32:37.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any reason not to allow a cat out on a window that is leashed, harnessed and supervised?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can't see anything to worry about there - it would be a strangulation risk if the leash was attached to a neck collar but a properly fitted harness is no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is the bed thing anything to worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say so - unless she's showing other signs that indicate distress it's probably nothing more than a quirk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T14:32:37.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21663" CreationDate="2018-11-01T15:37:25.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try purchasing some fake ceramic eggs and put them in the nest box, which may encourage her to lay there. I've never had ducks mixed with chickens, but this is what I did for my chickens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T15:37:25.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21683" CreationDate="2018-11-01T15:47:45.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be a case of overstimulation. If she's used to looking out a closed window, she's used to the visual input alone and very muted sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that the window is opened, she gets the usual visual input accompanied by much louder sounds, many different smells, the sensation of airflow and probably much more sensual input than we humans are aware of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as she can decide when she's had enough and you close the window, I don't see any problem here. She will probably get used to the additional input and start enjoying her &quot;window time&quot; for longer periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: There are special nets you can put into a window permanently to allow your cat  some &quot;window time&quot; without harness and supervision and without the risk of her jumping out. These are installed like a fly net inside the window, but are much more loosely woven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T15:47:45.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21663" CreationDate="2018-11-01T15:58:18.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience domestic ducks are not good mothers.  I suspect this is because there tends to be a lot of egg incubator use in domestic duck breeding. Darwin does not weed out the poor mothers so, they get more prominent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ducks also tend to lay fewer eggs than chickens.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the duck hen is laying eggs, keep them (as you have 3 I would keep them all together all the time) in a smaller area that you can check easily. Gather the duck eggs and put them under chicken to hatch.  You will want to put them all under the chicken hen at the same time without any other eggs.  You may need to use additional 'fake' eggs to satisfy the chickens egg sitting needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a bunch of complexities in the above that I have not fully addressed. Maybe we need more related questions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T15:58:18.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21601" CreationDate="2018-11-01T17:54:32.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to what Elmy wrote, quite a few people adapt shelter/rescue dogs - we don't know what kind of life the dog had before - they may have been poorly socialized, mistreated, bullied, or otherwise traumatized.  Since you can't counsel a dog to help it work things out, you can just try to give it the best chance of recovery.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's not possible to stop a dog from reacting aggressively towards other dogs.  Even if it might be possible, a lot of owners are reluctant to get other dogs/owners involved in the process. There are some people who are less patient or forgiving. On top of that, the possibility that the dog might cause real harm, or just enough harm to warrant being put down could be enough to make it seem like the best option is to avoid the situation entirely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T17:54:32.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20884" CreationDate="2018-11-01T18:51:59.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a microchip.  They are very inexpensive at Petco or other shot clinics.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breakaway collars are great, but they can get caught on things kitty walks past and end up on the floor or in a bush outside.  Cats like to mark objects with their cheek, so it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest a harness, then you can take your cat for a walk.  Less complicated is better, as cats often hate clothing and wearing stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13393" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T18:51:59.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21425" CreationDate="2018-11-01T18:55:18.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A live trap may be worth it, if you have a deadline.  Or, use a cage suitable for a giant dog, and put wet food at the back.  My cat walks right in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13392" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T18:55:18.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21486" CreationDate="2018-11-01T19:08:28.440" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be severe illness, having the veterinary see your cat is urgent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet examination does not have to bind you into further payments due to an expensive treatment, if such is needed. You may even find out that there is a simple remedy to your cat's condition costing little or nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13390" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T19:08:28.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21692" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21701" CreationDate="2018-11-01T19:43:08.600" Score="3" ViewCount="1035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got two 20 gallon fish tanks. One has a bristlenose pleco and 5 tetras, one has 4 corycats and 4 nannostomus and a ton of plants. I am thinking of merging the two tanks as keeping both clean is a lot of work, but I am afraid the pleco will eat all of my really nice plants! The tank he is in now has some big anubias that aren't doing great, and no algae--I think because he is taking care of all of that. My other tank has Java moss, small anubias, java ferns, an amazon sword, and a val. It has some algae here and there but I have 3 nerite snails that keep it pretty much in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T14:27:12.227" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T15:07:39.613" Title="Will my bristlenose pleco eat aquarium plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21675" CreationDate="2018-11-01T19:47:59.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scientists are not entirely sure what exactly causes pancreatitis in animals, so there is a lot of debate. One possible reason is that pets have access to food waste when the winds blow open some garbage containers or knock them over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dietary indiscretion, such as eating rancid fatty scraps from the garbage, can also lead to pancreatitis, particularly when a dog accustomed to a low- or normal-fat diet ingests high-fat foods. That’s why canine pancreatitis incidents are thought to increase after Thanksgiving, when people may feed their dogs a meal of turkey skin and drippings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/news/Pancreatitis-Causes-and-Treatment-21579-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whole Dog Journal: Dog Pancreatitis Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same article hints at another possible cause: Typhoons usually bring heavy rain that can wash out toxins and other harmful substances that aren't usually encountered in such high concentrations. We humans put on waterproof boots, but our pets soak their fur in this water and later lick it to clean themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toxins, particularly organophosphates (insecticides used in some flea control products), as well as scorpion stings and toxic levels of zinc, may also lead to canine pancreatitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/endocrine/c_ct_pancreatitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt; makes a clear statement that pancreatitis in cats is not related to their diet, but again we find insecticides as possible causes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are several possible causes of inflammation to the pancreas. Some of them are:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - Exposure to organophosphate insecticides&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unlike with dogs, inflammation of the pancreas is not related to nutritional factors in cats. In many cases, no underlying cause for pancreatitis can be determined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-01T19:47:59.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21697" CreationDate="2018-11-01T20:18:42.200" Score="1" ViewCount="1156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 kittens, 3 from one mother (5 months old) and another from a different mother (6 months old) and recently we noticed that these younger three kittens keep trying to feed from the 6 month year old one, which happens to be a male? The mother has been feeding them regularly for about 3-4 months (she is still here but she started to avoid them during the 4th month so they would stop feeding). &#xA;Is this normal cat behavior or should we be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They get food and water regularly and they appear to be in good health. The kitten they keep trying to feed from doesn't seem to mind and purrs when they do it. I don't know, I've never encountered this before so I don't know if it's ok or if we should od something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12667" LastActivityDate="2018-11-02T07:58:11.403" Title="Kittens drinking from a male cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21694" CreationDate="2018-11-02T07:58:11.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nursing feels soothing to babies and kittens. That's why our babies suckle on a pacifier even though there's no milk comming from it. Your kittens do a similar thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The teats of a cat are all in one place and when the kittens nurse, it puts them all togehter into a compact bundle. The body contact and warmth feels good to them, so they try to recreate the feeling without their mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had cats nursing on blankets and a (male) dog before. Some become independant sooner and stop nursing, others need the contact a little longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-02T07:58:11.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-02T10:10:59.963" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have about 2 acres of woodland set in a larger (15 acres) wood. I regularly take my dog with me when I visit the wood. She is a 4 year old Vizsla / Staffie cross approx. 19 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The woods are a mixture of well spaced planted trees and more scrubbier trees such as hawthorn and blackthorn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves to run in the woods, chasing squirrels etc (without success) however when I check her over at home she occasionally has scratches on her muzzle or deeper cuts on her chest or legs. I treat the deeper cuts with a very diluted TCP and water mixture and they heal nicely over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will my dog eventually work out how to avoid the thickets of the thornier trees so she picks up fewer scrapes and cuts ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11113" LastActivityDate="2018-12-02T12:01:50.390" Title="Will my dog learn to avoid trees with thorns?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21698" CreationDate="2018-11-02T11:56:13.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on how much these thorns actually hurt your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Envision the thoughts of a dog in very simple categories: &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;bad&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playtime = good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reprimand = bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food = good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain, injury = bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chasing squirrels = playtime = good&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running into thorns = pain = bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, dogs are not stupid and thoughts are not as binary as displayed here. She probably knows very well that the risk of injury is higher in certain areas or with certain types of vegetation and tries to avoid them. But chasing squirrels is so much fun that she either forgets in that moment or just doesn't care because the reward (good feeling) of a chase is much bigger than the penalty (bad feeling) of a few scratches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-02T11:56:13.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-02T12:36:29.863" Score="3" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a nearly 2 year old Norfolk Terrier who is very casual about cleaning his genitals. The fur becomes matted and we need to carry out some grooming to clean this up. When we had his coat cut for the first time this year ahead of summer he seemed to take a lot more interest in cleaning this area but now that his coat has grown back fully he is taking a lot less interest in cleaning himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is happy enough to clean everywhere else (in fact he's a martyr to his feet) so how can I encourage him to clean his bits ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11113" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T14:30:42.277" Title="How to encourage my dog to clean his genitals" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21692" CreationDate="2018-11-02T13:54:28.453" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they won't eat plants. And generally, nothing will eat &lt;em&gt;Anubias&lt;/em&gt;, the leaves are too thick; there are some exceptions, though. Bristlenose plecos will eat some film algae but not actual plants. Because of their size they're one of the safer plecos for plants, as some of the larger plecos can damage plants that get algae on them, even if they aren't deliberately eating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T15:07:39.613" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T15:07:39.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21123" CreationDate="2018-11-02T15:32:00.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often if a dog gets shaved for surgery or something like that, the hair won't grow back until the next &quot;shedding cycle&quot; (I'm sure there is a more scientific word for that). I think this is only for dogs like retrievers that have fur, compared to something such as  poodle that has to get hair cuts all the time. I would be patient and I am hopeful it will grow back for your pup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastEditorUserId="13246" LastEditDate="2018-11-02T17:34:45.970" LastActivityDate="2018-11-02T17:34:45.970" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21662" CreationDate="2018-11-02T15:46:44.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am not the owner of the dog but he does seem to listen to me in our&#xA;  interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a really great start so keep it up if you are to continue taking him out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I took him today and he fought with a pup over a ball. Sometimes this&#xA;  happens and the fighting is friendly. However, this time, would I not&#xA;  interfere, I think Rex would have gone to blood-shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, this is a little unclear and vague as to what happened so im going to give some summaries or what it could be based on what you have said, these will however be different. But i suggest you improve on the description of this as it will affect answers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This could have legitimately been play fighting that happened to be quite vocal (GSDs are renowned for this, lots of noise and teeth when it is really just playing).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is play fighting that perhaps went to far and developed into a bit of a scuffle. In which case, you need to be able to distinguish that this is the case. This comes with getting to know your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was an actual fight. This could have been a show of dominance or possessiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly i cant really gage which one it is as its a bit vague in how you have described this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How would you treat the dog after such incident?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The honest answer... in exactly the same way in the long term (after a minute). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Immediately after the misbehaving however (under a minute): it &lt;strong&gt;needs a correction instantly&lt;/strong&gt; to show that that specific behaviour it has just displayed is not ok and it will be corrected/punished. Anything after that short time is borderline pointless as the dog will not make the connection between the behaviour and the correction and will continue with the same misbehaving action and be confused as to why you are correcting it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I say correction, this can be anything you have chosen to do to correct your dog i.e. sharp tug on the lead, a stern shout of 'no', putting it back on the lead, or a combo of those etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What I did was being stern with him. I.E. I took him right out of the&#xA;  park, talked stern with him, shortened the leash (which I generally do&#xA;  not do), and not giving him attention once we came back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything that isnt immediately after the missbehaving is borderline pointless as ive said the dog will not make the connection for something you are punishing it for half an hour ago. It needs to be instantaneous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-01-29T15:46:15.927" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T15:46:15.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21662" CreationDate="2018-11-02T15:57:41.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you did the right thing by quickly interfering and separating the dogs before it escalated beyond a bit of shouting.  I don't think you need to continue ignoring the dog when you get back home because by then he won't still be associating the punishment with the incident.  Dogs don't link cause-and-effect to such an extent, so he may not even know why you are ignoring him by that stage which is a) confusing for the dog and b) not teaching him anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer to your question:  Treat the dog with calm authority after an incident like this, which seems to be what you have done.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a further suggestion though, to prevent future issues and reinforce good behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to start as you did by separating the dogs.  But from this point, rather than walk away from the park, walk them slowly away from each other until they calm down.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they have calmed, ask the other owner if you can walk a bit with them.  Explain that you want their interaction to end on a calm positive note so if they meet again they won't instantly have a negative association and reaction to each other.  Hopefully the other owner will be co-operative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk them together, parallel to each other, and both on lead, with no balls or toys or treats to argue over.  Leave as much space as you both feel comfortable leaving, but aim to make sure the dogs are close enough to know this is a joint activity.  Walk them together for a while, and if you feel comfortable let them get closer to each other.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't have to be best buddies by the end of this walk, it could be less than 2 minutes and you can then go on your way.  Or you can continue as long as you like to eventually let them off the lead to play together again if you judge that it's the right time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speak in low, soft tones, keep everything calm.  Praise them both gently but only if they both remain nice and calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this way, they will have forgotten the incident and next time they meet it will be a positive association.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, you won't have to continue the punishment of ignoring or being stern for longer than it takes to walk home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:  I believe the above will only work if the scuffle did not turn into a bloodbath.  If it had been a true fight with real biting (sometimes called red-zone) your dog could be high on adrenaline for days.  No amount of correction or positive reinforcement will sink in, and it's best to just take him home and avoid over-stimulating his senses for a few hours / days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3883" LastActivityDate="2018-11-02T15:57:41.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21706" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-03T01:39:58.783" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I built a barred owl house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I painted it with an exterior white oil primer initial coat to protect the wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the NorthEast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to camouflage paint it?  Paint it brown like a tree trunk? Of just leave it white?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I am trying to attract a local owl I've seen to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11545" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T01:39:58.783" Title="What color should I paint my barred owl house?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11374" CreationDate="2018-11-03T13:50:58.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be because he's trying to smell her pheromones for when she goes into heat, as some male dogs will show sexual interest in even fixed female dogs (or if she is not fixed, many male dogs will have particular interest in her). Many animals, including the dog, have an organ on the roof of their mouth called the Jacobson's Organ. This is used to &quot;taste&quot; pheromones in the air that are not detectable by the normal sense of smell. Animals with a Jacobson's Organ typically use it to detect when females go into heat or estrus by smelling, or even seemingly tasting, their urine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T13:50:58.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21712" CreationDate="2018-11-03T19:29:34.227" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few days ago, when it was Halloween event, I used to play with my sister’s cool balloon and when the dog saw it, he jumped and barked at the ballon( I didn’t know why, but I never thought of what consequences he’ll have). So I put on my sister’s desk and at night he tried to jump to the balloon and when he jumped, something wrong has happened. An accident. I felt very bad for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has also had a crotch neck due to the fact that, a girl unintentionally when she raised him in her arms, he accidentally escaped and fell, and that caused him to have a crotched neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if he will never heal up, I would feel the most miserable being because I didn’t know how to take care of him. And he has become my responsibility until the death comes upon him( in a natural way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Can someone please tell me if, my dog will be healed? Because, I’m very worried about him. I do not want to feel as if I have wretched the poor dog’s life. Because, simply it is not in my intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE:&lt;/strong&gt; If I have asked in a wrong site, can you please immigrate how to the right site?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11916" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T22:16:42.917" Title="Will my dog’s leg be healed if he has damaged his leg?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21711" CreationDate="2018-11-03T22:16:42.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case you want to use that as an answer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sprain should heal.  If the dog is still limping in a week you should see a vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A torn legitimate will not heal and surgery is not cheap.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fractured bone will not heal correctly without a cast.  It is &lt;em&gt;typically&lt;/em&gt; obvious on inspection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lightly squeeze the leg section by section and look for pain.  Last compress the hips lightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a vet but I did ski patrol did a lot of injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-11-03T22:16:42.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-04T01:01:53.923" Score="7" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last summer my one of my female rabbits bonded with a male cottontail rabbit. Before I was able to catch her, they would hand out nightly in the neighbors driveway. This went on for a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I call him Peter...Any way Peter will come into my fenced yard to see doe in her enclosure. He is risking his life to come see her as my dogs have a doggie door. We see him often. And she has been back for at least 3 months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, would it be a kindness to try and capture him and reunite him with his girl friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the USA, central Iowa&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13415" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:37:44.963" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:09.513" Title="What to do with a bonded domestic rabbit and a cottontail" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21717" CreationDate="2018-11-04T01:48:09.797" Score="3" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I go out without my dog, she takes my pillows and other things off my bed and places them around her dog bed in the living room. She has even removed doonas off the bed. She will take my dressing gowns. She will sometimes put them on the couch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some background, she's a greyhound, she sleeps with me and is allowed on the lounges and beds. She also cries when I leave the house without her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was bred to race and spent her first two years at a greyhound trainers. When she didn't run fast enough she was taken, with her sister, to the vet to be put to sleep. There's a big problem with the greyhound racing industry where we live. She wasn't used to human companionship. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17419/issues-with-their-hound-growling-when-theyre-disturbed-when-sleeping&quot;&gt;Some more info about her here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is never left alone. There's always someone home with her. I make a habit of closing my bedroom door when I'm going out without her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what I can do to help her stop this, apart from closing the bedroom door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bed building villain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ogjeV.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ogjeV.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-04T02:25:01.803" LastActivityDate="2018-11-04T14:37:21.597" Title="My dog builds a bed out of my pillows and other things off my bed when I'm out" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-04T02:16:49.200" Score="1" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LpCIq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what is up with this guy. He’s been very lethargic and we can’t seem to figure out what’s up. We’ve check ph nitrates etc with test strips. He’s in a 3.5g filtered tank with bubble rock, heater, 2 plastic plants and a plastic hose. Every now and then he swims around and seems to eat. But 95% of the time he is laying on the bottom... thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13417" LastActivityDate="2018-11-04T02:16:49.200" Title="Not sure what’s going on... betta help please" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-11-04T10:49:54.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21714" CreationDate="2018-11-04T14:37:21.597" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is so adorable! (If annoying.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try giving your dog its own soft things, so maybe it will prefer those instead, and leave your bedroom alone. I've heard that greyhounds in particular get attached to plush dog toys, and sometimes carry them all around the house, so you might try giving your dog those too. It could be that your dog isn't actually trying to make a bed at all, but it is bored and gathering up its plush &quot;toys.&quot; So you might also calm this behavior by having it played with while you're gone, or playing with it to tire it out before you leave. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, I'd also keep the door closed. Once it's gotten used to these alternatives, it may prefer them, and then you might be able to leave your door open. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-11-04T14:37:21.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21677" CreationDate="2018-11-04T22:08:08.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She probably has fleas or a skin problem bothering her, I would 100% bring her to the vet and get that checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13424" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T09:40:49.753" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T09:40:49.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-05T02:35:03.313" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is rather large for his age. He sleeps out of his crate at night, is up at 9 am, put in the crate at around 2:30 pm for me to go to school, let out of the cage at 9pm when I get back. That's six of his waking hours a day spent in the crate. I take him for about a thirty minute walk every morning unless it's downpouring and on weekends I take him to the park sometimes twice a weekend for an hour or so and he gets high energy exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My room mates say I neglect him. This may be because when I go to school they are just getting home from work and he is in the crate until I get back. But sometimes they really make me feel terrible about it and I don't know if maybe I am neglecting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what my parents did with our dogs and I thought everyone else did too. Once he can handle being out of his crate with the upstairs neighbors home I'll let him roam around all day, but as of now he can't handle more than two hours out and about and that's only if no one is upstairs to make noise. idk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13426" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-05T02:39:44.327" LastActivityDate="2018-11-05T02:39:44.327" Title="10 month old large breed crate time" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21725" CreationDate="2018-11-05T12:01:05.443" Score="7" ViewCount="1679" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the past few months I noticed that my dog has developed an incredible fear around football (soccer) fields or when he is in a room with a TV playing football. At first I thought the shouting and loud people are the issue, and to some extent this already freaks him out; but by far the worst is the whistle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A single whistle sound from the referee makes him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run like crazy in the opposite direction (or at least try to; fortunately I usually notice in time and put him on a leash first)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shake uncontrollably&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;incredible heartbeat and heavy breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he refuses to obey almost any command&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he even refuses to eat his favorite treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...in otherwords he is just in absolute panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried twice to play a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; soft Youtube video of whistles thinking that in a safe environment and with a healthy dose of treats he can be desensitized. But this too failed - even at the lowest volume from a phone he exhibits the same panic, same refusal to accept treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a rescued dog, around 8 years old, and obviously has some sort of trauma. He may have already had this issue before to some extent as it also took a few times of this occuring before we could identify what his exact fear was. But now it is surely much worse. He's otherwise a pretty well-trained dog, still capable of learning new stuff, but with this I am out of ideas as to how to even &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; improve the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it is also not so easy to avoid football - I live in Germany and lots of nearby parks have football fields and he can hear the whistle from far away. It is also quite common that football games are on in cafés or restaurants where (at least previously) I could take him without any issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, my research online has failed too - very few dogs seem to be affected by this specific fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13359" LastEditorUserId="13359" LastEditDate="2018-11-06T11:26:13.350" LastActivityDate="2021-01-01T19:57:22.383" Title="My dog is really afraid of whistles" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21724" CreationDate="2018-11-05T13:29:08.533" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Desensitizing was the right idea, but either you didn't see it through or you didn't do it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Correct your own behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll take a wild guess and predict how you react to a whistle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You walk with your dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You hear a whistle somewhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You instantly look at your dog to see how he reacts. Maybe you even stop in your walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You talk to your dog in a calming manner to tell him he shouldn't be afraid. Maybe you offer him a treat to calm him down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's run through the same scenario from your dog's perspective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I walk with Aron&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I hear a whistle. I'm highly alerted because I learned that this is a warning sign. (Maybe something bad happened in the past)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aron's body language gets rigid, so he must be alerted by the sound. He stops as well and looks at me. He confirms that I have to be alert. &lt;em&gt;He wants me to protect him!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aron talks to me but I don't understand what he says. He must try to convey that this is an extremely dangerous situation. For a reason I don't understand, he offers a treat, but I must stay vigilant to fight or run away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, trying to calm a frightened animal down often has the opposite effect. You reinforce the unwanted behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you should model the behavior you expect from your dog. If you want him to ignore any whistling, ignore it yourself. Don't react to it in any way and don't look at your dog. Keep your body language loose and relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Desensitize your dog&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This won't work in a day or even a week. Playing the sound of a whistle on a computer is more likely to reinforce his fear because &lt;em&gt;you are more concentrated on your dog&lt;/em&gt; than usual. &lt;em&gt;You are agitated when the whistle sounds&lt;/em&gt;, so the dog gets more agitated himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you should create a relaxed and fun environment. &lt;strong&gt;Play his favorite game with your dog.&lt;/strong&gt; When he has the most fun, blow a whistle out of the blue and without warning. Continue playing as if nothing ever happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's beneficial to not let the dog see the action of blowing the whistle. If you play with another human, let the human your dog is facing away from blow the whistle. Instead of blowing a whistle, you can play the sound from a smartphone or similar, but don't warn your dog by letting him see you taking out your phone and looking at him before the whistle sounds. An added advantage of playing the sound on a phone is that you can start with a low volume and gradually increase the volume over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with no more than once a day and low volume, but do it every day or at least every second day. Then gradually increase the intensity of the trigger (in your case: whistle several times a day and gradually louder). You can expect your dog to start ignoring the trigger after a week or two and maybe ignore whistles completely after 4 - 6 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.pet/Desensitize-Your-Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;great step-by-step instruction&lt;/a&gt; by wikihow.pet how to treat fearful dogs in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAD9MNMUYP0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video form BrightDog Academy&lt;/a&gt; perfectly sums up fearful behavior and the treatment of it (the most important part for your particular problem is the start until 8 minutes in)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;In the meantime&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your comment you mention a very important problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally (when not in panic) if he starts pulling really hard on the leash, my reaction is to correct him (sit, stay, etc). Problem is, when he is in panic-mode this means I have to correct him nonstop until we are far enough away. But ignoring such pulling also seems like an &amp;quot;unnatural&amp;quot; reaction from me. So in this case which is better, correcting him for &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; behavior or simply acting like he's not pulling insanely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No you should not &amp;quot;correct&amp;quot; his behavior when he is panicked, because there is nothing to &amp;quot;correct&amp;quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We &amp;quot;correct&amp;quot; unwanted behavior to train our dogs to act in a way we like. We teach them &amp;quot;if I say 'sit down' and you press your bum on the ground, you get a treat&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;if you pull on the leash our walk gets disrupted by obedience training&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a dog is fearful or even panicked, these rules don't apply anymore. The dog cannot think calmly and therefore cannot learn anything from this experience. He is not &lt;em&gt;misbehaving&lt;/em&gt; but rather &lt;em&gt;expressing his fear&lt;/em&gt; and this expression simply doesn't coincide with &amp;quot;good behavior&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you encounter a trigger on a walk and it's a single whistle that will not repeat, stop and wait calmly for your dog to come out of his panicked state. He can still be agitated, but he should not pull you with the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are walking and the trigger is likely to repeat (because there's a playing field nearby), change direction to walk away from the field and then stop to calm down. If (at the beginning of the training) your dog can only calm down back home, then you go home. You should desensitize him in a calm environment where he feels safe before you can expect him to stay calm on a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T19:57:22.383" LastActivityDate="2021-01-01T19:57:22.383" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11446" CreationDate="2018-11-05T16:17:54.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used a 17 gallon tub with an attached folding lid, purchased from Home Depot. I did not want to have to deal with the lid while my dog danced around me excited for food, so I chose the folding lid to address that issue. I was able to fit all of a 50 lb bag of kibble into the container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13435" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-11-05T17:22:05.397" LastActivityDate="2018-11-05T17:22:05.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18932" CreationDate="2018-11-05T17:02:16.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try a different fountain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might like the look of that specific fountain, but it's made of lightweight plastic pieces that are assembled in a way that allows them to be easily moved by a pet (a lightweight plastic lid seated on top of the reservoir).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of different styles of fountain available, in plastic, metal, or ceramic. If you're determined to stick with a plastic fountain, look at how the pieces are assembled and try thinking like a cat--how can you push, pull, or knock this object apart? If you can't find a reasonable way, try that fountain, otherwise, keep looking around. If you decide to try a different material, you may have an easier task. Cats generally don't care to bite down on metal, and the ceramic ones are frequently too heavy for them to easily move around. They're also both easier to keep clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you find a fountain that they won't disassemble, consider how they're going to drink from it. Think about how your cats prefer to drink (do they prefer the bowl, a stream coming from the sink, or something else?) and how the fountain matches that desire of theirs. When you've found a match, make it available, but keep their still water available as well in case they still don't care for it. Some cats just don't like fountains, regardless of what cats generally seem to prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that the aesthetics of the fountain should be the final consideration, below keeping it in one piece and make it appealing to the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-11-05T17:02:16.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-05T20:11:15.997" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet just saw one of my cats this morning and he had a temp of 106+ degrees.  He sounds very congested when he coughs, which is seldom.  There is no runny nose or sneezing.  Without further testing and x-rays, he says it could be the herpes virus or his heart.  What can you tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13436" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:36:20.913" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T17:36:20.913" Title="What can be done for my three year old, male, neutered cat based on the info below?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21729" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21732" CreationDate="2018-11-06T15:42:06.600" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two assissin snails in my fish tank. I always wondered if these snails have lungworms in them. If they do, what should do to prevent contracting the lungworm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8394" LastActivityDate="2018-11-06T19:34:05.947" Title="Can assissin snail carry rat lungworm?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21733" CreationDate="2018-11-06T16:43:12.670" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been administered procaine (called Novocain here in Ukraine) via iontophoresis as part of therapy for intervertebral disk disease, but I have serious doubts about this method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was widely used in Soviet polyclinics for humans, and still is as many of those polyclinics haven't really changed, but AFAIK it never helped anyone. It seems to be useless Soviet legacy alternative medicine administered chiefly to hypochondriac babushkas as placebo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or am I mistaken? &lt;strong&gt;Is there any evidence for its effectiveness?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really able to make the molecules of the drug go deeper compared to simply applying the drug to the skin without any electricity? Is it really able to 'keep the tissues saturated with procaine'? Did any researchers actually measure how much saturated it gets? Please help me find their results then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I don't want to argue with the vet because he is a surgeon with a good reputation. Most probably it'll be him who'll do the surgery if it gets needed. I'm really confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm following the rest of his instructions: giving pills (coxibs). But this iontophoresis thing is really strange to me. The vet told to come to the clinic every day to do this procedure, which costs money, and the taxi costs money. And it'll take a lot of time every day while the effectiveness of the method is super dubious. I don't want to ask other local vets because Ukrainians are used to iontophoresis since childhood and probably never really question it for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd really love to have some more clarity in this stupid situation. Even if you simply know a better place on the Internet to ask this question, I'd be glad to get a comment from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13446" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T19:27:44.600" Title="Iontophoresis: does this method have any real scientific backing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21729" CreationDate="2018-11-06T19:34:05.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Go lookup the life-cycle of the rat lungworm. It and most other parasitic organisms have very specific stages and vectors for being transmitted, in this case the rat lungworm is specifically carried through a land based snail and slug lifecycle, using rats as a carrier for one of those stages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, I still wouldn't eat snails or anything out of a freshwater home or other closed-system warm water aquarium. There's plenty of potential pathogens such as amoeba and nematodes that could easily exist in a home aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-11-06T19:34:05.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21730" CreationDate="2018-11-06T20:27:55.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Definition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iontophoresis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Iontophoresis&lt;/a&gt; is a medical procedure to administer a liquid drug into the skin and deeper tissue without using a syringe. The drug is transported through the skin via an electrical current. The administration of procaine into joints is one of the common scenarios where iontophoresis is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Effectiveness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Iontophoresis seems to be widely used to treat rheumatic, dental and joint pain and it is listed in many studies as a treatment administered to patients. But I couldn't find many studies examining the effectiveness of iontophoresis itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/491f/0119a266c611b80200cb05f6f18caf10fbad.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clinical Evaluation and Treatment Options for Herniated Lumbar Disc&lt;/a&gt;&quot; states: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of either ultrasound (phonophoresis) or electricity (iontophoresis) over the injected area may provide additional relief, although the benefits of these methods have not been proved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/10/4/204&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Selected Medicines Used in Iontophoresis&lt;/a&gt;&quot; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Iontophoresis allows delivery of about 10–2000 times more polar hydrophilic therapeutic molecules than typical application of a drug substance to the skin surface.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It was found that 2% lidocaine with epinephrine can be delivered up to 5 mm below the surface of the skin.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Dexamethasone/dexamethasone phosphate can be delivered to depths of up to 12 mm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That basically means it's more effective than rubbing a cream on your skin. &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; 5 mm is not very deep and depending on the size of your dog it might not be deep enough to numb the pain caused by a spinal disk. (To be absolutely technically correct here let it be stated that lidocaine is a different substance than procaine and may react differently, but even 12 mm is not very deep if you want to reach the spinal cord.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that iontophoresis is commonly used in pain therapy suggests that it does indeed work. There is even a study examining how effective iontophoresis is for the &lt;a href=&quot;https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011959217935&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Transport of Local Anesthetics&lt;/a&gt;, although I don't know what the result actually means for your specific case...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our results suggest that of the properties studied, the best predictors of iontophoretic transport of local anesthetics are ionic mobility (or pKa) and molecular size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Advantages&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no drug without side effects. Your dog could swallow a pain pill, but in contrast to a pill iontophoresis transports the drug to the place where it should work instead of spreading it through the whole body. You need less drugs to have the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All pain pills are rather agressive to the stomach and/or liver and can cause severe organic damage when taken over long periods of time. Coxib is known to be less aggressive on the stomach than most pills, but not significantly so. Iontophoresis has no negative effect on the stomach and is much better for the liver because the amount of administered drugs is much smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are no needles involved. You could inject the drug into the painful area, but in this case there are very delicate and fragile structures like the spinal cord right next to it. If the dog moves during the injection, it could injure itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Disadvantages&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Iontophoresis is a method to administer a local anesthetic, but it won't cure the intervertebral disk disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how well the therapy works if the fur is not shaved where the electrodes are placed. If the electrodes are not wet enough to soak the fur down to the skin, it cannot work at all. If the therapist made a mess and there is a wet patch connecting both electrodes, the current runs over the surface of the skin instead of through it and the drug is not absorbed at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one study that measured how deep an anesthetic similar to procaine can be delivered into the tissue found a maximum depth of 5 mm. This might not be deep enough to numb the pain caused by a spinal disk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternatives?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, your dog gets 2 types of painkillers: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Procaine as local anesthetic to numb the pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coxib as anti-inflammatory and well tolerable pain killer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the current condition is caused by an inflammation, it will hopefully be cured in a few weeks and you can stop the treatment. But if it is caused by a herniated disc, your dog will need painkillers over a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stop the iontophoresis treatment and observe if your dog shows more signs of being in pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask your vet for a different long-term oral drug like drops of opiates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider surgery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-11-07T19:27:44.600" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T19:27:44.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-07T12:00:36.550" Score="4" ViewCount="1416" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CQg2Im.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HIYDCm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iFpq6m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 3 Year old boy (corn snake) has come back to me after being looked after by a friend for 9 months. I'm concerned about his body shape; he seems to have a pivot where his spine is, with mounds either side down the while length of his body. I'm wondering if he is overweight? He still has full interest in food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just FYI, my friend used him to mate her snake against my wishes if that has anything to do with anything ?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13451" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-11-07T13:15:50.890" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T18:33:31.123" Title="Is my cornsnake overweight?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21736" CreationDate="2018-11-07T13:10:13.567" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slightly. The mounds you describe are indeed a sign that he is a bit chubby. It doesn't look too severe, though. The scales still overlap nicely. You shouldn't be able to see the skin between the scales unless you are are looking at the outside of a 'bend.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He still has full interest in food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a common mistake. Snakes in the wild are very opportunistic hunters. They can survive for a long time without food and are likely to actually go without food for a while, until their next meal comes by. This means that they will (generally) pounce on any chance they get to feed. They don't know when their next meal will be, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now place that snake into captivity, where they don't have to worry about predation and when their next meal will or will not come. They are fed regularly, but the snake does not necessarily realise that. They then still take any food they can get, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, not every snake is the same, my Ball Python will refuse to eat if his last meal was too close by, but Balls are known as picky eaters. On the other hand, my &lt;em&gt;Boa constrictor&lt;/em&gt;, I am convinced, would eat herself to death if given the chance. Not even an hour after a meal she is once again acting like she wants food (and I believe her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, just because a snake acts like they want food (by searching for it) or just because a snake enthusiastically eats, doesn't mean they actually &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you feel like the snake is overweight and doesn't need as much food as they currently get, don't be afraid to slightly increase the time between meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="290" LastEditDate="2018-11-07T18:33:31.123" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T18:33:31.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-07T15:44:11.040" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats. The elder one is quite polite but the younger one do not like my other cat and always tries to fight. She do not even let my elder cat to eat food or sleep. What should I do in such a case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T15:29:55.190" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T15:29:55.190" Title="How can I make my cats from stop fighting?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-07T15:52:13.807" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21742" CreationDate="2018-11-07T16:02:51.377" Score="2" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding scope, this question is about a situation that occurred in what seems very unlikely to be a private home, but rather type of exhibition or possibly breeding venue. However, according to the Meta question &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/641/is-there-a-distinction-between-questions-on-pets-and-questions-about-profession&quot;&gt;Is there a distinction between questions on pets, and questions about professional/amateur breeding of pet animals for show or sale?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; the community seems to consider this within scope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please also note that I consider defanging to be unethical and can not imagine any situation in which I would support it. I am asking this question out of curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that out of the way, I will move on to the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a video called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/YIMigVo1pyA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cleaning the Cobra Pit&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. In it, a man is moving cobras around and brushing up stuff from their habitat. He is removing all their eggs, of which there is a fair number. Most species would defend their eggs and young fiercely, and it seems &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livescience.com/43520-cobra-facts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cobras are no exception&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What gets people's attention regarding the video is that the man is getting very close to the snakes, even touching them, walking amongst them, etc, and none of them are acting aggressively towards him, attempting to bite him, etc. Well, some of them (far from all) do raise their hoods and enter a defensive position, but he is totally ignoring that and grabbing after them, and they do not actually strike. From what limited contact I have had with cobras, my understanding is that most cobras would strike in that situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snakes generally do not seem to fear the man very much. The man also seems entirely unafraid of the snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that these snakes are defanged, or otherwise &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venomoid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;venomoids&lt;/a&gt;. I can not think of any other explanation for the situation observed in the video. However, I am not very knowledgeable about the topic, so I may be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my assumption is wrong, then how can this man do what he is doing without being bitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen videos of defanged snakes behaving aggressively (or defensively, you may call it) and attempting to bite people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would these snakes not bite the man cleaning the pit? Could it be that he has raised them from their infancy, and that they are sufficiently tame not to act aggressively/defensively towards him? There is quite a large amount of snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10012" LastEditorUserId="10012" LastEditDate="2018-11-08T13:06:16.557" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T13:06:16.557" Title="Why would defanged snakes not bite?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20140" CreationDate="2018-11-07T16:26:21.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The behavior of the dog is extremely impolite and disrespectful, without trying to sound alarming, this is neither funny nor acceptable, even if it is playful and not aggressive, because it will become aggressive and dangerous if unchallenged. The behavior you describe indicates that he sees you as a playmate and not a pack member and definitely not as pack leader, which should be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest I normally tend to side with the guys, but in your case it's quite clear that it's mainly your boyfriends fault. He apparently didn't introduce you correctly to his dog as a second pack leader or at least pack member and doesn't seem to do much to change the current situation by setting the boundaries and limitations for his dog. But he's key in helping you to claim your role in the pack, because it would be quite difficult for you to change the dogs behavior on your own. I'm far from insinuating that your boyfriend doesn't respect you, but that's exactly what he communicates to his dog through his inaction/unwillingness to correct the disrespectful behavior. And why should the dog respect you if his pack leader apparently doesn't do either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, your boyfriend won't be able to establish your roll in the pack if you're not willing to fill that position. Thus it has to be a team effort. He has to put his dog in his place and support you in setting the boundaries and limitations for the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, prevent jumping and no playing in the house. Don't interact with the dog if he's overly exited, if the dog doesn't leave you alone when you ignore him, it's the perfect moment for your boyfriend to step in. If you play with the dog (outside), it's you who decides when to play, what to play and for how long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly start showing the dog that he's on the lower end of the hierarchy. He's not allowed to sit on the couch with you or sleep in your bed. This must be a strikt rule until his behavior changes significantly. I know it's hard, but it's key in your situation. He eats after you've eaten. You enter or leave the house first, you walk in front... all the Cesar Milan stuff TBH. This might confuse your dog in the beginning and he'll have to cope with the new situation where he's stripped of all of his privileges, however his behavior should change quick if not instantly, if done right. When everything is going in your favor, you can consider to let him regain some of his privileges, for example he's allowed back on the couch, but only with your explicit invitation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T16:26:21.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6004" CreationDate="2018-11-07T17:08:34.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Talking to your dog is a common practice in dog training to teach a dog to pay attention to you and your commands at any time. With the correct mix of normal talking and code words like his name and occasional commands, as well as showing him affection/giving treats when he pays attention and keeps focus on you. From what you're describing you naturally found the right way to communicate, since your dog seems to listen better than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However there's a fine line between training your dog to listen versus becoming a babbling background noice your dog tends to ignore. Besides training attention and focus, talking to your dog often helps to calm your dog down when facing stressful situations, since your voice became a well known, positively associated sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of bonding, imitating the noises of your dog (works with cats too) is more recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12377" LastActivityDate="2018-11-07T17:08:34.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21739" CreationDate="2018-11-07T17:10:03.993" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few things before I answer the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This video is not a good example of how you should keep or handle your snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Venomous snakes are unforgiving to keep. As much experience as you might have, a single moment of inattentiveness could kill you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, let's go on with your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What gets people attention regarding the video is that the man is getting very close to the snakes, even touching them, walking amongst them, etc, and none of them are acting aggressively towards him, attempting to bite him, etc. Well, some of them (far from all) do raise their hoods and enter a defensive position, but he is totally ignoring that and grabbing after them, and they do not actually strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We should distinguish defensiveness and aggression here. A defensive snake stands its ground and looks to protect itself, and maybe its eggs. As long as you keep away, you're &quot;ok&quot;. They might posture (hood up), throw a few swings to threaten a strike, but they'll mostly stay put. On the other hand, an aggressive snake will chase you, come at you and try to strike that way. Very very little species have a tendency to do that. Most snakes will stand their ground or try to actually get away from the threatening situation, instead of trying to retaliate. Most snakebites happen because someone is messing with an animal or accidentally stands on/close to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the video, we see exclusively defensive posturing. The hooding, the few threatening swings, but no chasing at all. That in itself is not that surprising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but he is totally ignoring that and grabbing after them, and they do not actually strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a closer look at the first half of the video, you can see that in the bunch of snakes, there is only one animal that's actually defensive. Only one animal that is hooding up and threatening. The rest is either unaware of what he is doing or doesn't care, I don't know which. If you watch carefully, you can see that he actively avoids the one hooding snake and just grabs the rest. Those are too stunned/surprised by the grab and throw to immediately defend themselves. All the time he takes care to keep a (small, but) safe distance between his hand and the hooding snake. Probably just enough to stop the snake from striking defensively. If it wanted, it could easily reach out further than that, but that would be aggressive, so a difference in behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, the defensive snake is brushed away with the broom, instead of being thrown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man also seems entirely unafraid of the snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either the man knows what he is doing and/or the man is completely stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am assuming that these snakes are defanged, or otherwise venomoids. I can not think of any other explanation for the situation observed in the video. However, I am not very knowledgeable about the topic, so I may be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily, and as pointed out in the video, not likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, defanged snakes don't have all of their teeth removed. Only the two venom-delivering fangs - for more about fangs, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20220/i-just-read-my-hognose-snake-is-venomous-should-i-be-worried/20221#20221&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. This means that they would still be able to bite, but it wouldn't be able to inject any venom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I'm not sure why they would even keep and breed cobras in that quantity, but one possible application would be to milk their venom for research purposes (in other words, to sell for profit). Can't do that with their fangs removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could it be that he has raised them from their infancy, and that they are sufficiently tame not to act aggressively/defensively towards him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given how they're thrown about, I doubt they harbor any warm feelings to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing about defanging snakes. It's cruel. Venomous snakes need their venom, not only to kill, but also to digest. It has evolved from saliva and is pretty much needed to properly digest prey. It's role in digestion also explains why some species' venom have such destructive properties on tissue, but I digress. Defanged snakes have a significantly reduced lifespan because of this. At the same time I don't think these people care too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did I mention handling snakes this way is stupid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to note is that Cobras, with their hooding behaviour, prefer striking downwards to the ground. Comparing their defensive posture with a Rattlesnake for example, you can see that Rattlers posture in a fashion similar to a spring, where they can quickly stretch out in any direction. Cobras on the other hand stand tall and try to make themselves big, but as a result can only really move forward and downwards. That means that if you stay high enough, you are &quot;relatively safe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-11-08T08:46:40.917" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T08:46:40.917" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2527" CreationDate="2018-11-07T21:47:24.797" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Full disclaimer, I'm the owner of Rover Roamer Aerial Dog Runs, but I think I may be able to contribute to the conversation. These points come from my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For a dog, even worse than discipline is a feeling of abandonment. They are social creatures and rely on a sense of belonging. A dog may feel abandoned if left on a dog run without some comforts nearby like familiar toys, a blanket, a dog bed, and maybe an old t-shirt that smells like you. Check in regularly to assure your pet that they are not being punished. Give them love and rewards for good behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs inherently don't like to be tied up. A quiet system is best. Cable is better if sheathed with nylon. Rope is even better; it's quieter and stretches. Using a harness helps reduce the stress of feeling tied up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use bumpers/rope clamps on the line, situated far enough away from trees so they don't get wrapped around the anchor points.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use what I call a &quot;neck-safe bungee&quot; between the line and the leash to reduce any whiplash effects from running until restrained. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Observe them on the track to make sure the bumpers are set apart correctly and that they don't chew off the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13453" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-11-08T07:48:13.883" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T07:48:13.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-07T22:40:46.877" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I got a new male lab puppy, who is living with us in our apartment. I have a few questions, I would really appreciate if you could me out here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Issue:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if the puppy has received his first shot.&#xA;I got this puppy from a friends acquaintance, who lives on a farm in PA and had a litter. When asked for medical records he showed me the vaccination record for a female puppy, but not for the one we got and said that our puppy got the exact ones. No document makes me anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can I take him out for a walk or to potty train? Is there a risk of catching viruses?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let's assume he has been vaccinated.. then if I take him to the vet&#xA;and they vaccinate him, is that safe for the pup?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He does not poop on the wee wee pads .. how do I get him to do this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any family members who have ever had a pet. I've never had a pet. please help... Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leo the good boy:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/gallery/lSj9mLg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://imgur.com/gallery/lSj9mLg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13455" LastEditorUserId="13455" LastEditDate="2018-11-07T22:50:34.357" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T00:44:31.047" Title="Got an 11-week male lab puppy. We live in NY city apartments and I am not sure if he has received any shots. I have a few questions" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21746" CreationDate="2018-11-08T00:44:31.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;owner,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congratulations on the new pupper, first of all! Good luck with those male labs, mine is a chewer but I love him more than anything. Anyway.... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In my opinion I would get him to the vet asap and get their opinion. I think that it really is a judgement call as far as who your friend is because there really is no physical records. What I mean is, if he seems like the guy that would cheap out and not get the vaccines for all of the puppies, see what I am getting at? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We switched vets for my guy after his first round of shots and they had trouble confirming with the old vet just exactly what he had. They pretty much told us that anything that wasn't dangerous to double-up on they would give him. We were just extra cautious for anything that they couldn't get him which was something about water-borne bacteria so no standing in puddles, keep the water bowl clean, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And I am sorry, but LMFAO. My pup (Oscar) hated those things, pooped next to it then shredded the pad. I ended up getting what was called a Wee-Wee Patch which is sturdier and washable so he didn't chew it and every time he began to have an accident my partner or I quickly dragged him over to it and rewarded him for staying on it. (Yeah, pee got EVERYWHERE), but he's fully trained now after transitioning form the pads to outside when he began to pee on them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;EDIT&lt;/em&gt; Just saw the pic of Leo on Imgur and gahhhhh so cute! And hope I could help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13456" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T00:44:31.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21752" CreationDate="2018-11-08T12:07:54.927" Score="2" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three feral cats at my father's house, and a black little cute kitten at my apartment, and I love all of them, and I love dogs too and so much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I want to start helping dogs and cats in my city, but I don't know how can I do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone provide me with tips of how can I help, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Things that might be important about me&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;- I have a humble paying job&#xA;- I live in Iraq&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in Advance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7893" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T17:39:04.940" Title="How can I help Dogs and Cats in a place without animal rights" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21750" CreationDate="2018-11-08T14:51:18.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I googled around and only found a couple of organizations in Iraq.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did find &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nowzad.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nowzad Dogs&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americandogrescue.org/nowzad-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nowzad Dogs(American Dog Rescue)&lt;/a&gt; that is focused on Afghan and Iraqi animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reaching out to them would be a good start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T14:51:18.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21750" CreationDate="2018-11-08T17:39:04.940" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find a professional organization that helps feral animals, there is really not much you can do, but much you can do wrong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Things you can do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can offer a container with clean water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can offer old towels or bedclothes to make a soft bed to sleep on. Keep in mind to not attract too many animals to your house (see below).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk about them in a positive way. If you say &amp;quot;these cats are suffering, we should help them.&amp;quot; some people might think that killing them is the easiest way to end their suffering. If you say &amp;quot;These cats live with us in harmony and keep rats away from our homes. We should help them&amp;quot; it sounds more positive and might convince people to help. Maybe &amp;quot;they are the creation of Allah&amp;quot; works well in your case?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can buy anti tick collars for animals. These are not very expensive but keep parasites like ticks and sometimes even fleas away from the animal. Be aware that you must &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; put a tick collar for dogs on a cat! The chemicals in the collar for dogs are toxic to cats. A collar for a cat should be a little bit elastic so the cat doesn't get cought on the collar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Support local animal aid organizations. The best solution for feral animals is to neuter them so they cannot produce offspring. As a single person you don't have the money to neuter a lot of animals, but these organizations do and know the best veterinarians for the job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Things you should NOT do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not offer food in large quantities to feral animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attracting a whole pack of feral dogs can become a physical danger to you and your neighbors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animals that are fed regularily produce more offspring. You &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; you help them, but in the end there are just more and more feral animals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You make animals dependant on you. If you cannot feed them anymore or you move to another city, these animals will suffer even more because they relied on you for food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not invite feral animals into your home. The same reasons as above apply. But additionally, a feral animal is not used to going into a house. If you invite it into your home, it learns that there is food and shelter in houses. If the same animal later walks into another house, it will be beaten or killed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be extremely carefull if you want to help an injured animal. Get yourself vaccinated against rabies and similar diseases. Wear thick protective gloves when you try to touch an injured animal or hold it down to be treated. If the animal bites or scratches you, clean the wound with alcohol or iodine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never buy an animal out of pity! In many countries young cats and dogs are bred to make money. It's the same problem as with feeding animals: you &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; you help them, but the more you buy, the more they are bred (intentionally). You don't help anyone, there are just more and more feral animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't take baby dogs or kittens home! The mother needs to find food for herself and this can take hours, but she will return to her offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many countries like Greece, Italy and even USA animals are killed in shelters because there are too many of them. I don't know if there are animal shelters in Iraq, but giving them money might not help a single animal. If you want to give money, give it to animal aid organizations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to wash your hands after touching feral animals. They often have fungi or parasites and some of those can infect humans as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T17:39:04.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21798" CreationDate="2018-11-08T19:00:35.690" Score="7" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one year old border collie who has kennel cough. He is vaccinated, I'm not sure how he got it, but here we are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is confined to the house/yard, and he is losing his mind. He normally goes to doggy daycare twice a week that sort of relaxes him, but he hasn't been able to do that since he got sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He plays fetch poorly, maybe for about 5 minutes max, so it hasn't helped in exercising him. I've been using a laser pointer to take the edge off, but he gets bored of that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do about an hour of clicker shaping/training in the evening, which I think mellows him out a little. But not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things I've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frozen Kongs - he will eat the easy stuff off the top and leave the Kong until it defrosts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bully sticks - actually pretty good, buys me about 20 minutes of free time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bones - also about 20 minutes worth of entertainment at a time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snuffle mat - we do this for about 30 minutes, but I don't know if it does too much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Find it&quot; game - he doesn't seem to get the idea. He gets the easy ones and lays down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flirt pole - gets bored after about 5 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RC car - works great, but he barks and herds and it gets kinda loud. Plus I don't want to encourage the barking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for ideas for entertaining a high energy dog that doesn't require me to spend all of my free time after work doing it. Games? Fun toys? I want to avoid high-calorie activities because he also isn't exercising too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8486" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T02:16:09.133" Title="Entertaining a house-bound high energy dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19842" CreationDate="2018-11-08T21:18:32.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Distilled water and CO2 will kill fish and I expect crabs. I have more or less done it twice by accident. I would never use distilled but our tap water has fairly low mineral  content : I put water in an empty aquarium ( no gravel, rocks or plants) for several hours  while working on their home tank . A few hours later most were dead , pH tested below 6.2  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-11-08T21:18:32.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-08T23:57:13.980" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;How fast does a rabbit get attached as a pair? I’d like to separate but not lose a bunny due to loneliness. They have been together in two groups. One having two bunnies and one having three bunnies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got all five together. Some were siblings to each other. So I paired together two siblings. And of the remaining three two were siblings to each other. The third one favored one of these two siblings. So I paired the three together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first they were all five together.  Then maybe a week went by and I separated them into the above said two groups. Then I wanted to maximize the kennel cages to give them more space and separated all of them except the one set of smaller bunnies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have them in four cages. Three cages having one each and the fourth cage having two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have been separated now for two days. I got these bunnies a month ago. And they had been paired for three weeks before I separated them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will they be okay, happy and not lonely now? Right before the cold, is this wrong to do as well? Or would they rather snuggle together to stay warm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13463" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:32:25.167" LastActivityDate="2019-09-29T09:01:50.280" Title="How fast does a rabbit get attached as a pair?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-09-30T13:07:34.050" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-09T01:45:27.197" Score="1" ViewCount="784" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 week old kitten that has one of it's eyes stuck shut. It Looks like the feline equivalent of pink eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some gentamicin sulfate eye drops from when one of my other cats had an abscess in the eyelid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for a kitten of only 4 weeks old to receive these drops?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I should see a vet to confirm this, but I won't be able to take it to a vet for a whole week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10679" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T01:45:27.197" Title="Gentamicin drops safe for 4 week kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16214" CreationDate="2018-11-09T06:30:14.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's a throaty or guttural meow and it sounds somewhat anxious&quot; this is the sound of a cat in heat! I am the OP and although I didn't recognize it at the time, because I didn't know what a cat in heat sounds like, I now recognize it. Since making this post I have adopted another cat from the SPCA. The new cat isn't spayed and she makes these noises when she is in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples from YouTube of what a cat in heat sounds like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovrM71dLA4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovrM71dLA4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb24B2Y-51M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb24B2Y-51M&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real answer though, can't be that he was in heat, because he is a neutered cat and was years before I moved. So, I guess the best way to interpret it is to suppose that he was socially frustrated (maybe?). I'm sure it had something to do with the large empty basement that he was not accustomed to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8748" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T06:30:14.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-09T07:40:08.190" Score="9" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a shelter cat a year ago and from the first day I brought him home he has washed his feet in water, not to assist in drinking but getting his front paws soaked up to his elbows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After cleaning up spilled water too many times I put his water dish in the tub. I watched him spill his water and dance all over the water. I also intentionally left the toilet lid up and there he was with his front feet in the water splashing like he was swimming. After he's wet enough he licks his feet and is happy but repeats this often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something I should worry about? Other than his foot washing he's a wonderful, happy cat. I couldn't have gotten a better cat. Teddy is 2 years old and was in the shelter for 3 months. I saw his picture online and fell in love with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13464" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:39:22.457" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T20:28:27.033" Title="Foot washing cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2018-11-09T12:29:50.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the temperature in your house gets above 23-25C it is normal for most cats to lay on a hard surface to cool themselves down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely all cats in the world do this, both the big cats in nature and the small ones we have in our homes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For small house cats living both inside and outside our houses, it is normal to hide in the shade in bushes if the day is too hot with their belly flat on the soil to keep cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-09T12:41:08.760" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T12:41:08.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10142" CreationDate="2018-11-09T12:48:12.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Feline Obesity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free feeding is never advised as most cats will eat more than they should, cats who are bored are also prone to consider &lt;a href=&quot;https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1098612X18791877&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;eating an activity&lt;/a&gt; and will indulge way more than they should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to better guide you on how much to feed your cat it would be good to know how much he weighs, what he should weigh and the type of food he is on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catvets.com/public/PDFs/ClientBrochures/How_to_Feed_Client_Broch_Final.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feed multiple small meals a day&lt;/a&gt; in various locations around your house (to promote hunting) as well as using &lt;a href=&quot;http://foodpuzzlesforcats.com/homemade-puzzles&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;puzzle feeders&lt;/a&gt; (environmental enrichment). Cats prefer to eat alone and in high places (reduce stress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rule Out Disease&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are feeding the correct amounts already and your cat is still losing weight it would be advised to see a veterinarian to rule out any medical issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related Question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17927/can-i-feed-my-cat-whenever-she-wants&quot;&gt;Can I feed my cat whenever she wants?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-11-09T12:54:44.537" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T12:54:44.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13513" CreationDate="2018-11-09T13:03:43.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately due to the fact that it's a mixed breed it is difficult to assess if she is at her healthy weight without physically seeing the pet. We have a few clients who have Bernadoodles (Bernese Mountain Dog Crossed with Poodle), they were both bred with miniature poodles and have both came out to be 90-100lbs fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feel the ribs without seeing them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See a waist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;See an abdominal tuck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is always a good idea to check with your veterinarian on the growth of your puppy, they are the best to guide you with any concerns you have. The photo below is a good guideline for healthy and unhealthy weights (click to enlarge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/elXiZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/elXiZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T13:03:43.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7472" CreationDate="2018-11-09T13:42:36.363" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry I missed answering this question sooner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several things that could be causing the issues you are seeing, unfortunately seeing a vet is the first best choice.  If the vet visit is purely a money issue see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/i-cant-afford-vet-treatment-what-are-my-options&quot;&gt;I can&amp;#39;t afford vet treatment, what are my options?&lt;/a&gt; if not check for a local rabbit rescue in your area, they may be able to help as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description there is not enough hay in your rabbits diet, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/551/why-is-adding-hay-to-a-rabbits-diet-important&quot;&gt;Why is adding hay to a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet important?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flea treatments is covered in our post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/925/how-do-i-get-rid-of-fleas-on-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;How do I get rid of fleas on my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue could be fighting, see this post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20430/aggression-between-desexed-male-rabbits&quot;&gt;Aggression between desexed male rabbits&lt;/a&gt; if so seperating them should fix most of the issues. But use caution as separating bonded rabbits can be hazardous see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they are &lt;strong&gt;fighting&lt;/strong&gt;, they are &lt;strong&gt;NOT bonded&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they are &lt;strong&gt;not fighting&lt;/strong&gt;, they are &lt;strong&gt;bonded&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly and sadly, if issues out of your control (&lt;em&gt;i.e. parents&lt;/em&gt;) are keeping you from caring for your pets as the deserve, consider rehoming them.  If there is a rescue or shelter in your area, you could volunteer to work there, as well as surrender your pets to the rescue.  Your pets will get the care they need, you will get to spend time with them and similar animals, and hopefully you will be able help many animals stay happy and healthy until they find their forever home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T13:42:36.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21765" CreationDate="2018-11-09T13:58:30.387" Score="1" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently hit the bottom of my bag of hamster food and ran to the store to get another bag. After searching the shelves I learned that they may not carry the kind I previously used, and because I had no food I bought a different kind. Will this have negative effects on my hamster? I am concerned because I had a friend switch hamster foods and shortly after her hamster passed away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10704" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T15:51:26.613" Title="Changing Hamster Food" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-09T14:53:01.470" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta is losing its colour from its head. This seems to be progressing daily. Please see pics. What is the cause and is there any cure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KlnwO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KlnwO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oKrCX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oKrCX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ehuE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ehuE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13466" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T14:53:01.470" Title="Betta losing colour" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-11-09T15:53:04.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21763" CreationDate="2018-11-09T15:51:26.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is always best when switching food to do it gradually.  My answer at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1451/13&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; goes into detail about changing rabbit food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point you don't really have a choice, but to change.  Hopefully you have been feeding hay and.or greens (i.e. lettuce) regularly and continuing this will allow you to keep some consistency in the diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, change to a new food that closely resembles the old food.  If you still have the empty bag of old food, take it with you to compare ingredients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, feed the same total amount of hamster food. (&lt;em&gt;assuming similar replacement, you made need to adjust quantity if there is a drastic change in quality&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch the hamster for changes in eating or pooping, and if significant take them to the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-09T15:51:26.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-09T15:56:03.597" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My orange tabby is a happy and friendly indoor (&lt;strong&gt;ONLY - THIS IS IMPORTANT AS SHE NEVER GETS A CHANCE TO HUNT ANYTHING&lt;/strong&gt; - bugs, birds, or anything else) middle-aged female. I have a glass slider in my kitchen that leads to a deck. I had put up an acrylic see-through bird feeder on the outside of the glass with the included suction cups. Eventually the birds started showing up and cat was &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; interested. She would stalk and hunt as the birds came and went. She would jump up to try and attack (feeder was about 5 foot above the deck) -- obviously never succeeding at the catch but often making a huge racket as she careened through the vertical blinds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't speak cat, so it's hard to tell but it almost seemed like she would be stressed during/after these &amp;quot;hunts&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this stressful to her? To be able to see all these critters; to stalk and jump at them - coming within the thickness of double-pane glass from success to no avail time and time again? She has plenty of toys inside - scratch pads, fake mice, balls, towers. It really seemed to be a big interest while it was up, but I am concerned that the fun/excitement of the hunt might be outweighed by never making the catch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I just anthropomorphizing this or is there any evidence that this might actually be harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Update&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fact is that I adopted her when she was at or around 2 years old. Her history prior was/is unknown so it is possible that she survived by hunting for most of the beginning of her life. I suppose it is possible that having this memory could be cause for stress if were able to hunt/watch but never get a kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13467" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T15:03:37.753" Title="Is it stressful for cats to be able to birdwatch/hunt from inside but never actually be able to make a kill (indoor only)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2018-11-12T10:55:15.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-09T21:21:57.220" Score="8" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like camping, and I am seriously considering winter camping with my puppies, weather allowing. I am not concerned about mysef in the least as I've slept comfortably multiple times around -9 °C (15 °F), crappy and cold around -15 °C (0 °F). I usually camp without a tent, with my sleeping bag, a waterproof overbag and a tarp in case it gets really rainy or windy. December in Toronto is typically between -3 to 3 °C (25 to 40 °F), says Google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am fine with that for myself, concerned for the puppies. I will have by then a 5 months old German Shepherd and a 8 months old Border Collie. They might get wet during the hike (they will definitely find something to roll in). Both are indoor dogs. No significant fire because rules (I am not going far from the city, safety first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it too much? Not sure that puppies can handle the cold if they are wet from the hike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would a tent help? Not sure how the puppies would behave themselves in the tent, or if I'll end up with well-chewed pieces of tent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:18:13.413" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T02:18:35.213" Title="Camping with two puppies in December" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-10T04:44:53.580" Score="7" ViewCount="5734" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female kitten that is almost 8 months old. We've had her for about a month now. &#xA;We've noticed that she absolutely loves pats, and comes up to us constantly to ask for them. However, whenever we try to pick her up, she struggles and wiggles until we let her go. &#xA;Not sure how to get her used to being held - it's clear that she liked human contact, but seems to not like being picked up and carried around. Can anyone give some advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13471" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T18:50:48.327" Title="My cat loves to be petted, hates to be held" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21766" CreationDate="2018-11-10T04:49:28.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female kitten does a similar thing - we have netting over the balcony, so she watches birds but can't catch them. It doesn't seem to cause her any stress, and I think she views it as more of a game. I'm not a vet, but I believe it's similar to toys - they run after them, and sometimes catch them, but sometimes don't. I don't think it's stressful for cats, more just interesting to watch!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13471" LastActivityDate="2018-11-10T04:49:28.093" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21771" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21774" CreationDate="2018-11-10T06:13:04.190" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to aquarium fish. Could anyone help me identify these species? I found it in local aquarium store in Chengdu, China, where I am visiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is about 6 inches long, it has a black body with a couple of white stripes on the tail. It has a very long wavy fin on the bottom and can easily rotate in water as well as swim upside down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for advice or resources to use in case of finding unknown fish species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9i1X0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9i1X0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black long fish that can swim upside down&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13468" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:19:20.530" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:19:20.530" Title="Black long fish that can swim upside down" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21768" CreationDate="2018-11-10T08:11:17.290" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be very careful and not overdo it. If your puppies have been exclusively indoors, their fur differs from an outside dog. Outside dogs have greasier fur to protect against moisture and they get used to the lower temperatures gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should at least put up a small tent for all three of you to bunch together at night for warmth. That also strengthens the bond between you. Put an insulating mat or thick blanket on the ground, so your dogs don't sleep on the cold floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take one or two old towels with you if you expect your dogs to get soaking wet. Make sure their lower back and abdomen are as dry as possible when you rest. If a dog arches their back and makes a hump, return home and see a vet to exclude an infection of the kidneys or bladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both German Shepherds an Border Collies have long enough fur to survive in such temperatures, but if your dogs are shivering, consider retreating into the tend for an hour or two to warm up. Dog coats (as stupid as they might look) are a good way to keep your dog warm and dry, but are no must have for these breeds. In the worst case, cut your trip short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-24T19:25:31.813" LastActivityDate="2020-10-24T19:25:31.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21771" CreationDate="2018-11-10T15:01:17.387" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're called knife fish. There are several varieties, the ones in your photo are called black ghost knife fish. The common varieties such as ghost knife fish are fairly easy to care for, but they need tank-mates who aren't going to pester them. Some of the larger species such as clown knife fish are completely unfit for the all but the largest home aquarium as they can reach more than 36in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-11-10T15:01:17.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-10T16:08:58.990" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have been feeding 2 feral cats (truly afraid of humans) for almost a year. We already trapped and fixed both. We are moving and want to know how to successfully move our feral cats (in the same city).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13474" LastActivityDate="2018-11-10T16:08:58.990" Title="Moving Feral Cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-11T00:38:52.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21777" CreationDate="2018-11-10T17:29:53.550" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, help me identify this fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After going through some local aquarium &amp;amp; pet stores in Chengdu, China, where I am visiting, I was able to identify most of the fishes I saw. Except this one. It has white silvery body with a redish spot on head, partially red eyes and fins which seem to be glowing with blue neon color. The fish is about 1 or 2 inches long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kANeX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kANeX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Silvery fish with red eyes and neon fins&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess, this is a relative of the Electric Blue Ram, but I am not sure. I am new to aquarium hobby, so would be thankful for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13468" LastEditorUserId="13468" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:29:51.313" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:29:51.313" Title="Silvery fish with red eyes and neon fins" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21776" CreationDate="2018-11-10T21:30:27.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a gold ram, or some hybrid with an electric blue ram, but the lighting makes it a bit difficult to identify. But, basically the exact same care as German blue rams, but the color is different. Both types have very short lifespans and require very high quality water, similar to discus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2018-11-10T21:30:27.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10468" CreationDate="2018-11-11T06:32:09.270" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never let your cat wonder around outside, it’s too dangerous. My husband built our retirement home on a lake. There were woods all around us. Many feral cats would get into our covered garbage cans. We eventually started feeding this one tuxedo kitty, he was adorable yet very timid and scared. We TNR’d him. He was scared after that and we didn’t see him for a few days then all of a sudden he appeared by our pool and palapa down by the lake again. Well, turned out the property and home was too much for us to care for so we sold it within 1 &amp;amp; 1/2 years. WHAT TO DO WITH TOM, OUR FERAL KITTY!! We had 45 days before we had to vacate our sold home so we brought him in that night and put him in our large laundry room, with food, water and a litter box. We put a box with a blanket for him to sleep in. He has turned out to be our best friend keeping us laughing all the time. BTW, we also had a Persian show cat in which Tom sleeps by every night. We have relocated to another state  and do not regret bring our little friend with us. We love him so much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13478" LastActivityDate="2018-11-11T06:32:09.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-11T10:20:22.213" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old border collie is lovely natured and loves a fuss from people but 6 months ago she started being aggressive when they stop fussing her and move away especially when she is in her cage in the car. She invites them to stroke her, she loves it, then the minute they turn to go she becomes really aggressive and tries to get to them from inside her closed cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At about the same time ,although she has always come to coffee shops and eating places and always without exception curled up and laid under the table while we eat. She now acts aggressive when the waitress leaves the table after taking our order and also when they clear the table. Even if they often fuss her she is aggressive when they turn to leave. It’s as though she doesn’t want them to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very confusing for us as she is a lovely natured border collie and very good with the small children. Any thoughts would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13479" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-16T02:31:27.473" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T02:31:27.473" Title="Why does my dog invites affection and then acts aggressive when the person turns to go?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21769" CreationDate="2018-11-11T11:59:00.193" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 points that I think may help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Work on your holding. From what I read and my experimentation with my cat, apparently a really firm grip would be better than just letting them hang. I use both hands, and pick him up in way that my hands wrap around him in different directions (one hand under him, one over), so he won't feel pressure on any parts of his body. He usually won't nag about it as he does when I hold my hands under his front paws.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you want to put her down, do it slowly; like you are not paying attention to her nagging. I found that this way, my cat won't feel like he has to run away from me, he just know that I'm done holding him, and I'm NOT letting him go because he is making me do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13480" LastActivityDate="2018-11-11T11:59:00.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21769" CreationDate="2018-11-11T15:21:08.943" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Struggling and wiggling is how the cat lets you know it doesn't want to be held. &lt;strong&gt;As soon as you sense the cat is starting to wiggle, put it back down.&lt;/strong&gt; That way, the cat will begin to trust it can get down any time it wants, and it will help towards getting the cat to accept being held longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I think it might help to try to &lt;strong&gt;slowly work into being picked up and held&lt;/strong&gt; over a long period of time, rather than trying to hold the cat straight off. Start off with, as you are petting the cat, putting your hands on it as if you are about to pick it up, but do not actually pick it up. Just gently restrain it for a second. If the cat wiggles at all, let go. Keep doing this until the cat seems at ease with being held this way for a reasonable amount of time. Then work into partially lifting the cat, but not entirely, then immediately setting it back down. Eventually you can work towards fully lifting the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It may also have to do with how you are holding the cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Many cats, if they do not feel secure in the way they are being held, will start struggling to be let go. You need to pick the cat up with confidence, and fully support the cat. Make sure you have one arm well securing its back end, with a seat on your arm for its butt, and even get a hold of its hind feet. It's front end should be held by your other arm. If you can get the cat's front paws on your shoulder, that is ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also be the case that &lt;strong&gt;your cat simply just doesn't want to be held&lt;/strong&gt; no matter how much you try to acclimate it to the idea, in which case you should respect what the cat wants and keep holding to a minimum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-11-12T18:35:01.747" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T18:35:01.747" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-11T16:46:44.507" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am moving house and on visits to inspect the property before moving in, the neighbours dog would bark very aggressively whenever I went out to the back garden. The dog does not bark when I am inside the house. There is a big fence between the houses so the dog can't see me and I can't see the dog and the dog can't get through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to stop this barking? Is it just a case of &quot;introducing&quot; myself to the dog and how to ask the neighbour to arrange this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I hope to get a new dog too so should I do something similar with this new dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't be accepting any answers though until the occasion has passed and this could be a while in the making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13482" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:35:40.717" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T17:35:40.717" Title="Moving into new house, neighbours have sensitive dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-12T10:19:43.830" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have recently moved house (first time in his life). He is going into other quiet  rooms in the house to do his business.  Although he is an older cat he is still very astute and understands directions.&#xA;However we've done all the suggested things.  We take him outside regularly including after meals. We have sat out with him whilst he explores areas to per or poop  in (he has ALWAYS been very private when doing his business)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He has no interest or experience with a litter tray.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We've done the deodorising routines but it continues.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can anyone help us with other options.  PLEASE!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13486" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-14T17:18:10.110" LastActivityDate="2018-11-14T18:17:47.907" Title="We have an 18 yr old male cat who has ALWAYS done his business OUTSIDE. We have recently moved house and he will now not pee or poop outside" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21787" CreationDate="2018-11-12T12:52:23.043" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the habit of dogs and cats that they smell their waste material and then pass their poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So wherever you want your cat to pass his poop take a piece of paper, put his poop on it and put it there. After two or three days your cat will start to poop over there after smelling.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13487" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-14T17:10:02.250" LastActivityDate="2018-11-14T17:10:02.250" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21769" CreationDate="2018-11-12T12:59:47.503" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you carry the cat have a treat and let it smell it through your hand. Don't let her see it though. When the cat focuses on the food scent put the cat on a surface different from the one it was on (to implicate that you take her somewhere, not returning the cat to the same spot it was on) even if it's just half a meter away. Then open your hand and give the treat. The cat should associate carrying with with something good. And this shall make her tolerate human handling and recognize that transporting via human hand isn't very bad. You can then do the same thing with petting or play. Take her a little distance, even if it's a tiny distance, then pet,play or give a treat. Don't play with her with your hand though because this will probably make her associate you carrying her with stress, as it stresses any creature out if someone kept holding, pushing, not letting go or even stalking him or her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9713" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T23:44:37.757" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T23:44:37.757" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-12T13:28:58.657" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long-haired dog who always picks up little worms in his fur (difficult to pull them off), what should I do to overcome my problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13489" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-11-16T12:32:09.233" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T12:32:09.233" Title="what precautions should i do to protect my dog from little worms and ticks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21769" CreationDate="2018-11-12T14:24:08.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've couple of cats at home too, some of them want to be held while others don't. It's difficult to determine what causes this - some cats might have experienced traumas and they get scared even from their owner who takes care of them all the time. Give it some time and I'm sure it will be fine soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13490" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T14:24:08.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21785" CreationDate="2018-11-12T14:27:31.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usually is the case with very 'protective dogs.' They feel you're a traitor to the territory of their previous neighbors because you are a stranger to them. It will take some time until the dog gets used to you. You should talk to its owner so they can slowly start introducing you to the dog. Once you're familiar to the dog, it would (and should) stop barking aggressively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13490" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T14:27:31.683" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-12T14:38:50.400" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to give away some of my cats, but they are already settled in in our house. How should one proceed with this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13490" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T17:35:07.150" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T22:03:41.817" Title="How can I give away my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-12T15:04:25.380" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oczjk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oczjk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;I want this fish tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being metaphysically impossible) what is the level of effort to start and maintain a salt water tank with coral and fish (like the picture) for an amature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently have a 10gal fresh water tank with tetras.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondary question: Can a fresh water version be created?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11545" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T15:04:25.380" Title="What is the level of effort for this fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-12T15:36:32.443" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21753" CreationDate="2018-11-12T16:33:05.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had something similar with my 2 year old GSD, she had a toe infection and had to be rested for around 3-4 weeks, which for a working line GSD is incredibly difficult, she was climbing the walls! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all honesty &lt;strong&gt;he needs more&lt;/strong&gt;, he is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;working dog&lt;/a&gt; (he has more energy and drive than other dog breeds), he will go crazy and hyper until he can go out, he needs more than chasing a laser pointer and indoor fetch. Working dogs need a lot of mental and physical stimulation. You have a dog that was essentially bred to have a job and to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do some more interesting and mentally demanding tasks, get him to use his brain. Hide and seek with treats (or you), puzzle games that dish out treats when he gets them right - things like this will mentally (and physically) wear him out. Given you say an hour only wears him out a little, this indicates he needs more. Do it for longer and a couple of times a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More physical things like Tug where they use their entire body to tug on something works, general obedience works too, 'speak' works too, getting your dog to bark on command is also physically demanding and will wear them out quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Find it&quot; game - he doesn't seem to get the idea. He gets the easy&#xA;  ones and lays down&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like these are probably the best you can do, make them incrementally harder and tell him to &quot;find it&quot;, walk around the house with him, re-enforce that command as he's looking for. Do more things like this. Persevere with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;RC car - works great, but he barks and herds and it gets kinda loud.&#xA;  Plus I don't want to encourage the barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because its what he is bred to do, herding. Perhaps look into local working dog clubs or trainers too that could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am looking for ideas for entertaining a high energy dog that doesn't&#xA;  require me to spend all of my free time after work in doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working dogs command a lot of time and effort to keep them entertained, they are bred to work so they have high prey drive and energy, more so than other breeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-16T02:16:09.133" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T02:16:09.133" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21785" CreationDate="2018-11-12T18:25:13.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could introduce yourself to the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have some treats or little pieces of sausage or cheese in your pocket. Go to the fence and gauge whether the dog is protective (barking without snarling) or agressive (snarling). If the dog is snarling, talk to your neighbor but don't approach the dog any further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog isn't snarling, stand relaxed at the fence, turned sideways and ignoring the dog for a short while. Let him sniff you to become farmiliar with your scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you turn to him and talk to him like &quot;Hey you, are you guarding you fence?&quot;. The content doesn't matter, what's important is to sound friendly. Offer him your hand to sniff, but don't touch him during this first encouter. That's a way to show your respect to the dog and a great foundation for your mutual friendship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the procedure whenever he barks at you (even if you don't have treats with you). Calmly walk to him, talk to him friendly, first let him sniff you and only then pet him if he lets you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T18:25:13.483" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21753" CreationDate="2018-11-12T18:25:13.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not going to be a one size fits all answer to this, as each dog is unique. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the question and existing answer have some good ideas, here are a few more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Television:&lt;/strong&gt; Animal and educational channels often have sound and pictures that some dogs find interesting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mirror:&lt;/strong&gt; That strange new dog that does not have a scent, can be a distraction.  Be sure it is securely fastened so there are no accidents&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wildlife soundtracks:&lt;/strong&gt; I have seen this work for short times, if you have one I would try it, but would not go out and buy one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stuffed animal:&lt;/strong&gt; These can make good friends.  Stay away from eyes or buttons that might get swallowed. Consider the risk (to your dog) if the stuffed animal gets eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T18:25:13.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-12T18:27:26.063" Score="4" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9-month old Cava Tzu (a Shih Tzu mix) is perfectly pad trained. As a baby, she learned to go on a pad in our kitchen. When we moved apartments, she nicely adapted to going in our new laundry room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when we go away overnight (more than 20 hours), she will go on the floor of our friend's house. She will go in a random place, when nobody's looking. I would like to train her to go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that my dog is &quot;too good&quot;. She won't go in front of people. Additionally, she can and does hold it in for up to 8 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried moving her pad towards the door. Once I move her pad more than a few feet, she goes on the floor where the pad used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried giving her to drink and then waiting. But she will wait and wait and wait till she has access to her pad AND I'm not looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried giving her a cue to go potty. She stares at me blankly. I've tried catching her in the act - but then she waits till I walk away from her. And as I've said, she's very good at waiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas of how I can train my dog to go outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13491" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T20:32:36.633" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T20:32:36.633" Title="Outdoor training my &quot;too-good&quot; dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10633" CreationDate="2018-11-12T18:33:49.317" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cavalier king charles spaniels are often used for therapy dogs to work with children, the elderly, and people with special needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are small, playful, loving, and totally non-aggressive. These characteristics make them ideal for working with the young and the vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13491" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T18:33:49.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="348" CreationDate="2018-11-12T18:42:11.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends won't take them even if I  paid them. I have got a whole lot of hatchling that I am stuck with at the moment . Only  way may be  to separate the females that you will only know at about six months . They are generally darker and are smaller than males which have longer dorsal and ventral fins. Sexually mature males also begin to form a hump on the forehead and coloration and stripes are lighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13492" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:54:09.883" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:54:09.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21799" CreationDate="2018-11-12T19:03:29.013" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect she does not identify it as &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably need to start over with crate training at the new house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-11-12T19:03:29.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-12T20:48:45.943" Score="9" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats in my house, both Ragdolls, age 6-7 months each.&#xA;The older one of the two has recurring eye discharge which you can see in the images: &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/NjC5CTF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://imgur.com/a/NjC5CTF&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Video: &lt;a href=&quot;https://streamable.com/ql1t3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://streamable.com/ql1t3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First he had this issue with the right eye, after treatment with Aureomycin (chlortetracycline hydrochloride 10mg/g) for 5 days (morning and evening) it passed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think at that treatment both cats got treatment for 10 days for herpes as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then it started in the left eye, he had 1 treatment that made it go away for a week, then it came again. Now after the second treatment (of the left eye) it's back again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been to the vet, he gave me the Aureomycin, so before going back to the vet I could use any help to understand what he got and why it keeps getting back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13493" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T23:05:25.540" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T23:05:25.540" Title="My cat has a wormy eye discharge" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21799" CreationDate="2018-11-13T09:06:41.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have actually had a similar issue recently moving house Ive had to retrain my two dogs to go to the loo in an unfamiliar place. It seems she is associating the pad with the bathroom, this may then switch to associate the command with it as apposed to the pad as mine did for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I did hopefully it could help you too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Firstly, choose where you want the dog to go, room, mat, garden etc&#xA;(we have a paved yard which is ideal). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then its about spotting when your dog is going to go to the bathroom, noticing the signs, walking around sniffing the ground,&#xA;randomly disappearing etc, escort them to your chosen place and&#xA;encourage them to go. When they do, put a command on it, (I use &quot;go&#xA;finish&quot; or &quot;go wee wees&quot;) so they associate that command with the&#xA;bathroom and will eventually go in that area. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward them and highly praise them &lt;em&gt;ALOT&lt;/em&gt;, high pitch voices strokes, treats etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE:&lt;/em&gt; If you catch her in the act, clap, or make a loud noise to shock in order to stop her and take her outside with a pad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To go outside I would move the pad outside and at first shut both you and her outside until she goes on the pad. The scent of the pad will be associated with the bathroom and she may go on it. Then use the above. Take her outside alot with the pad too to encourage her to go to the bathroom.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overtime this will start to build the garden/outdoors with the bathroom and she may even hold it until she goes outside. Perseverance is key, its not an easy task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I say, this is what I did and it worked the past few times Ive had to toilet train my dogs while they where young and with moving houses. Hopefully this works for you too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-11-13T09:06:41.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-13T15:37:28.347" Score="2" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I’ve had my hedgehog for almost a year and he’s just stopped eating. If I hand feed him meal worms he will eat them but not his actual food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He’s started acting funny. He’s slower that usual and he seemed to wobble when I picked him up this morning. It took him a lot longer to uncurl then usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason for me to worry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13497" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-16T02:26:37.430" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T02:26:37.430" Title="My hedgehog won’t eat" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21713" CreationDate="2018-11-13T17:21:25.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be a kindness to try and capture Peter and reunite him with his girl friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short Answer: No&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long complex answer:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbit bonding has several considerations, we have &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bonding+rabbits&quot;&gt;several posts here.&lt;/a&gt; The short version is that separating bonded bunnies can cause them to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;die of loneliness&lt;/a&gt;. The highest risk is in the first few days.  Your question indicates that it has been several months.  While they can see each other, they are not able to interact. I believe you are past this hurdle. Neither is going to die of loneliness without the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't say if your female rabbit is spayed. I will assume she is not.  Most importantly, in the US, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/13581/can-wild-cottontail-rabbits-interbreed-with-domestic-rabbits&quot;&gt;wild rabbits and domestic rabbits can not make babies.&lt;/a&gt; But the hormones they make can affect each other.  If you have female rabbits that are not spayed, the hormones are probably what is causing the male wild rabbit to visit.  Getting the females spayed should sharply decrease his visits. It can take up to a month before the existing hormones are gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caging any rabbit for the long term is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2769/is-keeping-a-pet-rabbit-in-an-outdoor-hutch-a-kindness&quot;&gt;probably not a kindness&lt;/a&gt;. Rabbits live 8 to 12 years and need &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962/how-much-space-does-a-rabbit-need-to-live-comfortably&quot;&gt;a lot of room&lt;/a&gt;. Personally I think &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8122/is-a-bedroom-enough-space-for-a-bunny-to-be-happy&quot;&gt;at least a bedroom&lt;/a&gt; size area.  Rabbits are easy to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-required-to-house-break-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;toilet train&lt;/a&gt; so moving her into your bedroom could be the best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outdoor rabbits, particularly those who interact with or are in the same area as wild rabbits, can get [diseases and parasites].(&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21105&quot;&gt;Can domestic rabbits carry diseases if left outdoors for too long then brought in?&lt;/a&gt;) You will probably want to contact your vet about treatment options. Use care in choosing a treatment as some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/17584/how-to-kill-ticks-on-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;can be fatal to rabbits.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly there are a number of issues with making a wild rabbit into a pet.  They are addressed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/854/can-i-make-a-baby-wild-rabbit-a-pet&quot;&gt;Can I make a baby wild rabbit a pet?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL:DR&lt;/strong&gt; The kindest thing would be to get your female rabbit spayed, move her into your bedroom, and leave Peter outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:29:09.513" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:09.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-13T19:30:23.613" Score="8" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, I have a planted 30gal tank with a male betta and a few shrimp/snails. I'm very attached to my fish, and enjoy the ability to give him a tank much larger than the average pet-store betta fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I am now facing a series of significant moves over the next few months/years, including some weeks of loosely structured car travel. These moves will involve spending several days at a time traveling (mostly by car), with occasional long stops. While I can set up a full tank whenever I stop for a few weeks, my 30gal takes up a ton of space in my vehicle, and it's nearly impossible to transport without draining. There's also the matter of getting set up at each new location and ensuring the water continues to cycle properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I think my life is going to be way too stressful for my fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I cope with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In past, I have traveled with him in a large pickle jar. While I can't really heat or filter the water, it at least gives him somewhere safe to travel when we're in the car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had success creating some kind of &quot;travel tank&quot;? Something that you can easily transition from house to house without introducing extreme stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13371" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T21:52:38.043" Title="Streamlining Aquarium for Frequent Travel" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-14T11:47:44.470" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is given compulsive licking attacks.&#xA;And It produces wounds in legs and testicles.&#xA;He needs Elizabethan collar 24/7 but now he has learned to take it off.&#xA;This behavior comes from abuse but the abuser is no longer.&#xA;what can I do to stop this and go back to being like before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT&#xA;I want correct the attacks and the dog does not back sucking compulsively. &#xA;I want to take the E-collar off forever. &#xA;Now he sleep, eat, all with the collar and is so bad for him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13496" LastEditorUserId="13496" LastEditDate="2018-11-14T14:06:39.167" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T19:32:44.780" Title="My dog hurts himself" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21816" CreationDate="2018-11-14T17:39:19.837" Score="4" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that some cats eat plant leaves and then vomit it to clean their digestive track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in case of my cat she is behaving almost as if she is a goat. I often see her eating young leaves and stems of flowering plants in garden. It is to such an extent that some herbs are without leaves in their lower portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my astonishment, if I tear a young stem with young leaves and hold it in front of her, she ends up eating it fully. This behavior is almost akin to a goat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also she never vomits anything. She is in fine health. And in her litter box I never find any plant material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally don't stay with my cat and she stays with my mom. She has been shifted to this new house 7 months back. Here she has access to the garden where there are lots of flowering plants with young leaves and stems. And my mom says that this behaviour of her is going on for the past 7 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what exactly is happening?  How can an obligate carnivore end up eating plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2018-11-23T19:03:35.907" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T19:03:35.907" Title="Why is my cat eating so much plant leaves and young stems from the garden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21787" CreationDate="2018-11-14T18:10:07.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When dealing with litterbox problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure it isn't a medical issue, by taking the cat to the vet. In this particular case, since there was a really obvious change, this is likely not the problem, but it doesn't hurt to make sure. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure there isn't something the cat doesn't like about the litterbox, or if there is something that is stressing out the cat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the general case, it usually helps if you can think of some change that may have caused the cat to stop using the box. Like a change in the box or the room where the box is located, or a change in the cat's routine, and so forth. In your particular case of course, the change is obvious, which is that you just moved, and the cat's entire environment has been disrupted. But because the cat has never used a box before, it may also be the case that there is something about the box that it finds less than appealing, and you simply don't know it's preferences. Some different things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box's location. It may be in a place that's too busy for the cat, or in a room it normally avoids. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The type of box. A simple pan type box with low sides is usually the most appealing type for a cat. If the box has a lid, or high sides, or is top entry, and so forth, all those make it that much less easily accessible. Self cleaning boxes may also deter cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The type of litter. Texture is the main issue. Some types may be unpleasant to walk on, and others may seem more like obvious digging material to the cat. Some types may help reduce smell, which might help, as cats don't like smelly boxes either. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size of the box. Bigger is always better. If the box is too plain small for the cat, it may not use it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Litter depth. Neither too shallow nor too deep. About three inches is optimal. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cleanliness. The box should be cleaned at least once a day. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Smell. Make sure to use pet odor removing cleaning products around any places the cat had used that it shouldn't. There are also cat attractant sprays that might help attract your cat to the box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not enough boxes. If your house is very large, it might make sense to have multiple, so that the cat doesn't have to go too far. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Litterbox problems can also crop up after moving, as the cat is not used to the new territory. So it's generally a good idea when you move to introduce your cat to the new house one room at a time, so you can be absolutely sure the cat knows where its box and things are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I think it's likely you will need to retrain your cat by reintroducing it to your new house. Start out by keeping your cat in a very small room, like a bathroom. The room should of course have everything the cat needs, but also be small enough that it doesn't have many options than to use the box. Cats don't like to eliminate in areas they use for other things, like eating or drinking, so a small room will help encourage proper habits.  Make sure while doing this process to spend time with your cat in its room as well, so it's not getting too bored and lonely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the cat had been eliminating in the box for a while, about a week, then you can re-introduce your cat very slowly to the rest of the house. Give it an additional room to explore, but only let it out while supervised. If you happen to see it about to eliminate, distract the cat by clapping your hands at it, throwing a toy by it, etc., and then take it back to its box.  Put it back in its room when you cannot supervise it. Once you are satisfied with the one additional room, give it another, and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continue this process, and over time, as you feel more confident, you can supervise it less and less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are satisfied the cat is now trained, you can do things like attempt to, very gradually, move its box to a new location, or let it outside, and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-11-14T18:17:47.907" LastActivityDate="2018-11-14T18:17:47.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-15T10:22:31.417" Score="4" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;As my cat is growing up, she is becoming so lazy. She just eats and sleeps. She does not even play with her toys anymore. She is 3 year old. Please help me. What should I do to make her active?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:58:24.800" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:58:24.800" Title="What should I do to make my cat active?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21814" CreationDate="2018-11-15T14:43:22.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly normal for cats to lose their playfulness as they age. Human adults don't spend their afternoon running in the garden the same way a child does either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there can be medical/ulterior reasons for a cat's behavior to change, including playfulness; your question doesn't give me any reason to assume that this is the case. 3 years sounds about the right age to no longer be playful the way a kitten is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the change in behavior was incredibly sudden, you can take her to a vet to make sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, try to provide toys and playtimes that you know she used to like (or buy new ones - depends on the cat's personality), but in the end it's the cat's choice whether she still wants to play or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T14:43:22.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21811" CreationDate="2018-11-15T14:52:43.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right that cats are obligate carnivores. &lt;a href=&quot;https://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-what-exactly-is-an-obligate-carnivore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cats must eat meat, it is an absolute biological necessity&lt;/a&gt;. However, that does not mean that they can &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; eat meat. It means that they can't sustain themselves on &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; a vegetarian diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are perfectly capable of eating things other than meat, as long as they receive the needed nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know that some cats eat plant leaves and then vomits it to clean their digestive track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting to note here is that the instinct to eat grass is not (consciously) connected to the need to vomit. Cats simply have an instinct to eat grass, which is a trait they've received (evolutionarily) to help them deal with digestion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Therefore, even a cat who doesn't need to vomit is liable to eat grass because their instinct tells them to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, some cats have learned to eat many things. One of our cats was rescued from the streets as a young and &lt;em&gt;severely&lt;/em&gt; underfed kitten. Unsurprisingly, he is the exact opposite of a picky eater: he tries everything at least once, and unless he really doesn't like it, he will always eat it when presented with it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever he sees me eat something, he knows that it is food, and therefore will ask to have some or at least try it when offered. This applies to medication too, which sort of proves the point that he's open to &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; that he thinks must be edible.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I obviously don't offer my medication to the cat, but have actually tricked him into having his own medication by pretending to eat some of it myself.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T14:52:43.987" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21769" CreationDate="2018-11-15T15:04:25.163" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats is exactly the same, possibly even worse. She's incredibly shy and hides from everyone except me and my SO. It has taken over a year for her to realize that getting pets is nice, and she now &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; likes them, but picking her up still makes her feel uneasy, we're clearly violating a personal space boundary for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to draw a clear line: if that's your cat's personal comfort line, and the cat refuses to learn to be held, so be it. You can't force this. You can only &lt;em&gt;suggest&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, she actually became a bit overattached at times, never leaving me alone (blocking the tv, pushing against me while eating, ...). So I decided that I would pick her up and continue to pet her whenever we got to a point of her having had plenty of &quot;normal&quot; petting. Doing so creates a win-win scenario:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either she doesn't like it and leaves me alone for a short while, thus learning to not incessantly beg for pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or she learns to deal with being held if she really wants even more pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has done wonders for her acceptance of letting us pick her up. She still doesn't really enjoy it, but she sticks around as long as you pet her. The moment you stop, she immediately jumps out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: Never stop your cat from jumping out. If they clearly indicate they want to leave, put them down (preferably on the surface they were looking at). This teaches them that being held is not a punishment, and they can choose to leave at any time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For us, it was important that we were at least able to pick her up when it would become necessary (for whatever) reason, and we've reached that point with her, so we left it at that. She has still become more and more accepting of being picked up, but doesn't show any indication of &lt;em&gt;liking&lt;/em&gt; it, she only tolerates it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T15:04:25.163" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21337" CreationDate="2018-11-15T15:14:29.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be a number of reasons for the cat doing so, but none of them are really indicative of a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some cats prefer playing to cuddling, and will always try to play with whoever gives them attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some cats get playful when they're really happy, even if they're generally not that playful. One of our cats is not big on playing but a playful side emerges after petting her for a long time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe she was lying down out of sheer boredom. Your petting indicates that you're interacting with her, and if she would rather play with you than cuddle with you, she will start playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you stop that? Maybe. I don't really see the reason to. Simply respond genuinely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're happy to play with her, then play with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're not interesting in playing, then don't and continue petting her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she's that playful that she makes petting her impossible without playing, then simply stop petting her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, she will learn that you are not always available for playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, because they would wake us up when playing in the bedroom, we stopped playing with them in the bedroom. Only petting. In other parts of the house, both playing and petting happens. In a matter of days, they stopped trying to play with us (and sometimes even each other) in the bedroom. Because they recognized the pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be genuine and the cat will adjust itself to your behavior. Don't cater to the cat's whims and then possibly end up resenting them for having those whims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T15:14:29.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21810" CreationDate="2018-11-15T19:32:44.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. You must be aware that the Elizabethan collar cannot ever cure this disorder. The trigger causing this disorder is no longer around, but the behavior is already ingrained into the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer: I'm not a vet or dog psychologist and don't have the competence to cure OCD in dogs.&lt;/strong&gt; You should speak to a professional dog trainer (not a puppy trainer, but one training problematic dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you must treat the raw skin or the itching will trigger more licking over and over again. You can rub the skin with coconut oil or special skin products for dogs to keep the moisture in. Feeding one raw egg every second day helps with the regrowth of skin and fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try the anti-anxiety wrap on your dog and see if it helps. Here's a very good &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/N83oXBZy0KM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video about how to wrap your dog&lt;/a&gt; and here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.k9ofmine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/diy-thundershirt-1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pictured instruction&lt;/a&gt;. Depending on the size of your dog you can use a scarf, a bandage or cut a strip from an old bedsheet. The wrap should be slightly elastic and as tight as a comfortable hug. Take note that the front wraps around the chest, not the neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you must start &lt;strong&gt;behavior adjustment training&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the hard part where you need professional help, preferrably in the form of a professional dog trainer, alternatively invest some money into a well-written book about canine OCD and watch many, many &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dog+OCD+adjustment+training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Youtube videos&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should engage the brain of your dog to distract him from his obsessive licking. If your dog is bored, he is constantly reminded of his obsession. If you distract him, he can slowly start to ignore his obsession. You could do this by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aborting a bag filled with treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teaching him tricks like sit, stay, roll around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scent games. Let him sniff out where his treats are hidden&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just play his favorite game with him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should select a distraction suited for your dog. Try different methods and find out what works best. Train him daily to teach him the desired behavior so he can switch to this trained game when he has a licking attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must always encourage the desired behavior (calm, no licking) with positive reinforcement, but you must never punish your dog when he relapses into the compulsive behavior! Punishment causes more anxiety and reinforces the compulsive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-15T19:32:44.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21814" CreationDate="2018-11-16T02:05:27.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are most active in the company of other cats where they can play with one another. The most common form of play that even adult cats like is playful biting and playful wrestling using paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even my cat is 1.5 years old and no longer is as active as she used to be while kitten. Only playful biting and playful wrestling stimulates her to become active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I have no second cat, I myself play with her. I myself wrestle with her with gentle force so that she doesn't get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I keep her claws trimmed so that I don't end up having scratches. She never bites me hard. She bites me lightly in a playful manner so that I never get bruises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I this way we can keep on playing for half an hour continuously at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also she gets quite a bit of stimulation on seeing bird feather. The toys, where there is a wand with a string at one end and a bird feather tied to the other end, are her favorite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also her her favorite pasttime is sitting by the window side and watching birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try all these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there must be other things which your cat liked as a kitten. You can try those or innovate new techniques on your own as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit like trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T02:05:27.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-16T13:40:38.353" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat feels so scared of bath. And whenever i give her bath she tries to attack me and acts so aggressive. So i want to know how often should i give her bath and what should i do to make her feel less scare of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T15:02:13.973" Title="How often should i give bath to my cat? She feels so much afraid of water" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-11-16T16:07:37.773" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21822" CreationDate="2018-11-16T15:02:13.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are well-known for having a natural dislike of water (with some exceptions); they don't like to be wet and aren't going to stay in a situation where they're getting wet, so it should come as no surprise that your cat is attempting to escape when you submerge her in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nice thing about cats is that &lt;strong&gt;it's generally unnecessary to bathe them&lt;/strong&gt; at all. Unlike dogs, cats are self-cleaning creatures who don't require regular baths outside of certain exceptions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your cat has been skunked, soiled himself, or rolled in some indescribable source of nasty;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your cat is a hairless breed, in which case(because of their unnatural physiology and production of excess oils) they’ll need to&#xA;  have a bath once a week;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your cat is a recent rescue from the street and is exceedingly filthy and/or covered with fleas;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your cat is either elderly and doesn't groom much anymore, or is obese and can’t effectively clean themselves.(In either case, they can be wiped down with a baby wipe.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blog/how-often-should-i-bathe-my-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blog/how-often-should-i-bathe-my-cat/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people may also choose to bathe their cats to control allergies or because they have some other issue preventing them from grooming themselves, but for the most part, you do not need to give your cat baths. Instead of thinking about how to change something that's fundamentally part of how cats think, ask yourself why you're bathing your cat so often. And if you don't have a very strong reason like the ones above, I would suggest you stop putting her through the stressful experience of bathing and just allow her to take care of cleaning herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T15:02:13.973" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-16T18:42:28.460" Score="10" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry cat lovers, you're gonna hate me for this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind cats (or dogs, birds, etc.) but I very specifically don't want a pet in my household. Yet I have a problem that I'm unsure of how to deal with &lt;em&gt;in a reasonable way&lt;/em&gt;. This is all in Denmark, so US laws and customs may not apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This year, a cat has been pooping in our garden and ripping out grass, or whatever else was around the scene of the crime, to cover it up. I obviously don't want this to continue as I would like my garden not to be ripped apart, and my two small daughters would also prefer it not to be contaminated by feces. It also has been leaving little vomitting residues around our cars in the drive way, which are quite disgusting too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how do I stop the cat? I have tried planting supposedly cat-repelling plants whose smells were supposed to discourage cats from coming near, but they didn't work. I have also tried putting down metal webbing in the flower beds (because I heard that they don't like to step on such things and/or can't dig in it), and while that worked, I can't extend that practice across my entire lawn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Local law says that it's the responsibility of the pet owner to make sure that one's pet does not annoy others. This means I should go talk to the owner of said cat and ask them to keep the cat out of my garden. To which I would object:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(a) I am convinced that &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; cat owner would agree to confining their cat because it roams in places that other people don't want it to;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(b) I don't even know whose cat this is! I have caught a glimpse of one cat, and followed it to the garden of a neighbour who has a cat door in their front door -- I am aware that this says absolutely zero about whether it's their cat or not. I have obviously not been able to read the chip or tattooed number in the cat's ear either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am considering ways of capturing this cat, so that I can either have a proper talk with it, or drive it to a shelter. How would I do that without breaking too many rules and laws?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;, as more info about (my relationship with) the homeowners’ association was requested. We are 37 households, and only we and 2 others have (small) kids -- the rest are pensioners. We are talking with only two other households; there is not a lot of communal spirit here -- the first homeowners’ association meeting I attended, about a week after we moved in, made it clear to me (in ways I shall not go into here) just how hostile, ludicrously infantile, and petty these people are (even towards each other, not just &quot;newcomers&quot;). Later, I requested that the run-down communal play area receive a bit of maintenance, only to be shot down rather rudely. I am decidedly not in good standing in their minds, and that is why I cannot think they would be very inclined to help me avoid their cats' poop in my garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; I did not want anything water-driven, as just tonight the temperatures went to 6 degrees below freezing. But I've now installed a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Pest-Scarer-Ultrasonic-darkgreen/dp/B00K19S8HC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1542656762&amp;amp;sr=8-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;these&lt;/a&gt; ultrasonic cat repellers, hoping they would work. There's a number of such devices, and common for them all is at least 40% one-star reviews and a minority of 5-star reviews; these ones are one of the few models with the &quot;best&quot; (which does not imply good) reviews.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13510" LastEditorUserId="13510" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T13:05:35.047" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T13:05:35.047" Title="Neighbourhood cat poops and vomits in my garden and driveway" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21825" CreationDate="2018-11-16T19:44:42.887" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you're &quot;convinced that no cat owner would agree to confining their cat,&quot; and so you won't even entertain talking to your neighbors. &lt;strong&gt;You should talk to them.&lt;/strong&gt; Consider that in many places, indoor-only cats are already extremely common (and tend to be healthier and longer lived than their indoor-outdoor counterparts), and are becoming moreso. Perhaps, instead of assuming the worst about your neighbors and stealing their pet, you could instead try looking at the benefits of indoor-only cats and approaching them with information on how to protect their pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your neighbors are not convinced to keep their cat indoors, your best bet would be to look into &lt;strong&gt;animal-proof fencing&lt;/strong&gt; that will discourage the cat from entering your yard. Keep in mind that, whatever you choose, it will need to be tall enough to prevent the cat from clearing it with one jump, and that you'll need to avoid storing anything near it (waste bins, etc) that could allow the cat a &quot;boost&quot; to jump over the fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Capturing the cat won't help you&lt;/strong&gt; in the long run. Abandoning it somewhere is inappropriate and possibly illegal, and taking it to a shelter will get it returned to its owner if it has any kind of ID. Furthermore, if any of your neighbors see you capturing the cat and hauling it away, you can expect any cat-loving or cat-owning neighbors will not be particularly amenable to any requests coming from the &quot;cat hating pet thief,&quot; regardless of whether those future requests have anything to do with their pets or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've already given yourself your own answer in your question: &quot;This means &lt;strong&gt;I should go talk to the owner of said cat&lt;/strong&gt; and ask them to keep the cat out of my garden.&quot; As mentioned in my first paragraph, do some research, and approach your neighbors in a friendly manner. Think about how you would want to be approached if, say, your child was digging up your neighbor's garden--you'd want your neighbor to be polite and friendly when asking you to control your child, and similarly they will be far more receptive if you are polite and friendly while asking them to control their cat. If you are concerned that your own feelings may lead you to come across as hostile toward them, practice the conversation or request that your spouse or another family member who is less upset about the situation have the conversation. If you just aren't sure how to approach them, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Interpersonal Skills stack&lt;/a&gt; could be a very good resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-11-16T19:44:42.887" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21825" CreationDate="2018-11-16T20:04:26.323" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of your options is to use a motion detector connected to one or more water spray devices, but this only works when there is no frost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess this is mainly a problem in summer for you and your family. If you google cat repellent, you will get a lot of tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/best-cat-repellents-4153850&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link to some options&lt;/a&gt;. There are a lot of possibilities to find a solution to your problem on the net. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIKsufahY0w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a test of seven water sprinklers&lt;/a&gt;. I have not tried any of them I have no connection to any of the suppliers in this video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link two: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4feEceifGMU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scarecrow test and review&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the short answer, but  hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:32:56.240" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:32:56.240" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="470" CreationDate="2018-11-16T21:09:13.760" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some cases when dogs eat excrements in an almost compulsive way. You can recognize these cases because the dog spots every single piece of poop lying around and actually hurries to get there before you do. It can sometimes feel like racing a petulent child to the candy store that is always faster and always swallows treats without chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These cases have nothing to do with nutritional needs and chances are high that although you try to prevent your dog eating poop, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are actually reinforcing the behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me give you an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some time, long ago, you witnessed your dog eating poop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A while later you see poop lying around. Your dog walks towards it because it wants to sniff it. You remember the poop eating event and think &quot;Oh no, not again&quot;.&#xA;You stiffen up, pull the leash or even try to take the poop away before your dog can reach it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of two things happen: In your dogs brain the stimulus of &quot;poop&quot; is connected to either &quot;something valuable&quot; because &lt;strong&gt;you always steal the poop&lt;/strong&gt; or to &quot;something bad&quot; because &lt;strong&gt;you always react negatively&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If &quot;poop&quot; = &quot;something valuable&quot;, your dog will actually hurry up, snatch and swallow it down just to get &quot;something valuable&quot; before you take it away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If &quot;poop&quot; = &quot;something bad&quot; your dog will swallow it to make it disappear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way out of this cycle is &lt;strong&gt;behavior adjustment training&lt;/strong&gt;. Basically you train a desired behavior with your dog (like obedience training or a certain game) and every time  you encounter the stimulus, you initiate the desired behavior instead of the undesired poop eating. Unfortunately the topic of behavior adjustment training is too broad to discuss here, but there are many sources like books, blogs and videos out there to help you. A talk to a professional dog trainer can be very helpfull, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-11-19T19:31:56.877" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T19:31:56.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-17T03:45:20.893" Score="12" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be the case the dogs can drink cows milk, but is almond and/or soy milk bad for your dog? Is it only bad in excess? I typically allow my dog to clean my breakfast bowl when I'm done, but I haven't seen harsh side effects as of yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13344" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-17T12:02:54.913" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T20:50:31.527" Title="Can dogs have almond milk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20824" CreationDate="2018-11-17T13:17:54.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem with my pug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him to several vets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we do to reduce this skin problem is using a 2% ketoconazole ointiment everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have to clean the apartment floor every day because he lives inside the apartment with us (we use products to clean the house that are proper to pets to avoid alergies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use a proper dog shampoo or dermatological one because if you use any different one it will increase the skin problems. Normally the shampoo has a neutro pH. During summer we wash him once a week.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use cold water while bathing him. Regular water temperature or a little bit warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean his bed everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brush him everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean his eyes, nose and ears with proper dog medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't go out with him because he can get fleas or ticks from other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use Elizabethan colar while he is in treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That procedures will reduce a lot this problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13514" LastActivityDate="2018-11-17T13:17:54.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27387" CreationDate="2018-11-17T22:36:41.453" Score="1" ViewCount="2053" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat weights 10 pounds. I am reading the feeding guides and it says that a cat of that weight should eat 1/2 - 2/3 cups per day. I do not have a scale, but I do have a vase with millilitre marks on it. How many millilitres should I give him per day? A quick conversion would say 236.5 millilitres. However the guideline also says: 4008 kcal/kg (443 kcal/cup), which yields 110 grams per cup. I have found on the internet that &quot;A 44 pound bag of dog food would contain 176 cups of dog food in each bag&quot;. Is there any Kirkland user that could corroborate that 236.5 millilitres of Kirkland food matches the 110 grams? Thanks!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the feeding guideline:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fRZQ8.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fRZQ8.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13516" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T21:29:21.053" Title="Feeding guides help Kirkland for cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-18T03:35:51.350" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I recently gotten a male pet mouse, and I left him alone for 3 days, before I started to try and tame him. He is able to take food from my hand, and is willing to sniff my hand, however, he has been biting me whenever my hand is nearby. If I'm cleaning the cage for example, he will bite a lot until I move my hand away. I know its not mouse biting as in him trying to find out if I'm food or not, because I felt those bites initially, and it wasn't painful, as in, it almost caused me to bleed. I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to stop him from biting, as I don't want to return him where I got him, since he gotten a lot of bite marks from the other mice he was with before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13519" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T03:35:51.350" Title="Pet Mouse is Biting" Tags="&lt;biting&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-12-03T16:37:54.900" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21829" CreationDate="2018-11-18T20:50:31.527" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer: I’m not a vet or animal nutritionist etc.&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;This is only from what I’ve read having my own dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In small doses cows milk is fine, the lactose can horrible effects for dogs and can cause upset stomachs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is unsweetened almond/soy milk it’s probably fine, sweetener can contain Xylitol which is incredibly poisonous to dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Xylitol is an artificial sweetener and can be found in lots of food products like milk and peanut butter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-11-18T20:50:31.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21841" CreationDate="2018-11-19T04:41:39.843" Score="4" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope the title makes sense.  Essentially what I need is to use a single air pump to aerate multiple small tanks.  To do that I can't have the first few valve/air-stones in the entire line use up all the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a type of non-electronic valve that automatically closes and stays closed for set intervals to allow air pressure to build further down the line?  If not how about electronic ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13526" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-11-19T07:36:48.600" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T09:43:56.470" Title="What's the name an air-valve that automatically closes for a set period of time to allow air to pass down the line to other valves?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21839" CreationDate="2018-11-19T05:57:04.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name is a solenoid valve or a magnet valve. An air valve is called a pneumatic valve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are normally operated by an electric current AC or DC and connected to a timer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to search the net to find a type that you can use in your setup, they are often expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-19T09:34:58.493" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T09:34:58.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21839" CreationDate="2018-11-19T09:43:56.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As trond says, you're looking for a solenoid valve. Whilst it will do what you want, you may be better off with a simple flow control like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aquarium-Tubing-Connector-Control-Valve/dp/B00W93J31S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;. Instead of using an expensive valve to turn on and off flow, you can just balance the whole system once and let it run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just like a hot water heating system where each radiator takes some heat out of the system. If the first radiator it hits takes all of the heat, the next on in the chain won't get hot. If you adjust the flow of all of the radiators correctly, you can balance the system so &lt;em&gt;all radiators&lt;/em&gt; get warm at the same rate&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is definitely not as good a solution as using some kind of automated valves but it could be a much cheaper alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; I can't vouch for this product, it is the first I found that demonstrated what I meant&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; Okay, it isn't as simple as this in real life because the water can bypass a radiator but it's the same kind of idea.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T09:43:56.470" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21758" CreationDate="2018-11-19T13:52:33.463" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like perfectly healthy, though odd behaviour. Most cats have some weird stuff they like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would make sure his paws feel fine, aren't dried out, and don't feel abnormally warm or cold. Other than that I'd try to keep him out of the toilet bowl (for sanitary reasons) and put a large bath mat under his water bowl, so he dries off &#xA;a little when he's walking away from it. Also try to replace the water in the water bowl often, to prevent nastiness building up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: how about making a daily or weekly event out of water playtime with your cat? Get a large area like a bathtub filled with a few cm of water, and see if he'll play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T13:52:33.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21844" CreationDate="2018-11-19T15:46:12.820" Score="1" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a cat owner for many decades and knowing much about these enigmatic creatures, my new rescue kitten (about a year old), has the strangest behavior: After eating, he scratches the floor, multiple times, from different directions; exactly like he’s covering waste in his litter box. Any ideas why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-11-21T17:26:01.907" LastActivityDate="2018-11-21T17:26:01.907" Title="My cat buries his food. Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-19T18:42:30.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21843" CreationDate="2018-11-19T16:10:06.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats have a stronger burying instinct than others, and will scratch to bury at surfaces that are completely unsuitable to burying, sometimes even to only cover up a smell, as there is no physical object to bury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat, for instance, is a enthusiastic bury-er that scratches at his litter, the sides of the box, around the outside of the box, and any nearby objects will end up in the box. He will do this sometimes even if he's not just used the box, but because he's so fastidious about burying. I've also seen him attempting to bury nowhere near his box, at nothing.  Apparently a rogue smell is enough to make him want to bury. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I have the impression that your cat still smells the food after it has eaten it, and is trying to cover up the smell by burying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-11-19T16:10:06.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-19T16:56:15.733" Score="4" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby leopard gecko but my heat lamp just broke and I will have no money for a new one for about a week or two how can I keep her warm until then?? Is a floor vent heater okay? I’m panicking about this because I do not want her to pass away. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13528" LastEditorUserId="13528" LastEditDate="2018-11-20T17:33:06.947" LastActivityDate="2019-02-14T16:35:40.890" Title="How can I keep my 3 month old leopard gecko warm" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-19T20:59:29.757" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 7 month old GSD (German Shepherd Dog) bitch seems to have developed what looks like a habitual and impulsive hump after cleaning herself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instantly or even during when cleaning her nether regions she starts to hump while sitting or laying (how ever she was cleaning herself). She isn’t jumping anything she’s just doing the motion of jumping on the spot. The only way to stop this is to distract her. Then she forgets it’s ever happened and goes about her business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have another GSD bitch who is already firmly established the hierarchy and herself as top dog and the 7 month old has accepted her place, no fights or grapple for power etc, they get along and cohabit very well and are practically inseparable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has not been spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could the cause of the hump be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-20T09:16:30.243" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T09:16:30.243" Title="Impulsive and habitual hump in a GSD bitch, what could it be?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1409" CreationDate="2018-11-20T04:46:36.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made the mistake of keeping Kouli Loaches in a 55 gal heavily planted tank with Amano shrimp.  I added several shrimp 3 times and they would just disappear.  I thought they were just finding good hiding places until late one night I was watching and one of my loaches attacked and ate an Amano shrimp.  They might be compatible at first until the loaches grow large enough to eat the shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13530" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T04:46:36.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21853" CreationDate="2018-11-20T09:21:32.417" Score="5" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/1781830375284963&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; recently in which a golden retriever was trying to prevent a human from taking or touching its puppy. Some are saying this is normal and cute (wagging tail and such), while others say this is actually very abnormal and a sign that the dog is threatened, likely because this is the last puppy in the litter that may be taken away by humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really know dogs, but I don't want to share videos like this if what they're showing is threat or harm to animals. So I was wondering, which one of these is more likely to be accurate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13534" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T19:03:03.160" Title="Is this protectiveness a sign of feeling threatened/afraid, or is this video just normal/cute?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21851" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-20T11:52:09.117" Score="1" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Q6BO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone tell me what these discoloured patches are on my adult bearded dragon. She is not shedding. Thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13535" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T11:52:09.117" Title="Bearded dragon skin discolouration" Tags="&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-20T14:34:09.800" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can dogs really die if they eat too much chocolate? Is there a scientific reason why puppies do that head tilt thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13058" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T14:34:09.800" Title="Can dogs really die if they eat too much chocolate?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-11-20T14:37:06.793" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21850" CreationDate="2018-11-20T19:11:42.700" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't be sure from the short clips, but to me this looks like a combination of trained behavior and stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;First scene&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right at the beginning, she moves her whole body to the side and tries to pull her puppy with her. This is avoidance and can be a sign of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then something distracts her for a second and the owner grabs the puppy. Notice how she repeatedly licks her lips when she notices (sticking the tongue out just a tiny bit). That is also a sign of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way she holds her puppy between her paws is either protective or possessive. She controls where the puppy goes (nowhere) and who takes her puppy away (no one). It doesn't look like she feels threatened or abused, but a little stressed. If she was afraid that the owner would hurt her puppy, she would have given clear warning signs by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her owner tells her to give her paw, which she does without hesitation. That's another clue that she's treated and trained well and trusts her owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her tail-wagging (as &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; tail-wagging) speaks of excitement. It could be positive excitement like joy or negative excitement like nervousness, you can never tell the difference by looking at the tail alone. But again, her behavior speaks of trust and maybe a need to control everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Second scene&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is clearly trained behavior. Her owner said something and she performed the corresponding trick. But again, there is stress involved here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that she licked the front of her lips and averted her eyes in that instant. That's the same sign of stress we saw in the first scene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look closely at her mouth when she licks her lips and when she pants. She draws the corner of her mouth back into something resembling a smile. This is another indicator of stress that is often misunderstood by humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/68aaw.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/68aaw.png&quot; alt=&quot;dogs facial expression&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right at the end of the video, she more or less jumps away from the door. It's impossible to interpret because the video is overlaid and ends right then, but it's a rather sure sign that she doesn't feel threatened. It could be another iteration of avoidance (stressed), but she surely wouldn't leave her puppy when she felt threatened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T19:03:03.160" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T19:03:03.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-20T22:01:20.950" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought Jill - my crowntail betta less than 2 days ago and he already had the black spots. I don't know if its normal. Can you please let me know if there's some kind of problem here? Please see picture&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fX4Jv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fX4Jv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13537" LastActivityDate="2018-11-20T22:01:20.950" Title="Black dots on my Crowntail Betta" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-21T13:46:50.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-21T04:50:24.843" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so my cat is literally my favorite “person” in The world. We both absolutely love each other. So my cat was getting a little on the heavy side so I switched to a healthy food a year back- she hated it so I mixed it with he normal brand. She will always eat around the healthy stuff and eat the bad stuff first, if she had her way she would never eat the healthy kind. But I try to not give her any more until she finishes all her food or at least eats a lot of it. In the last day I found that she would not eat her healthy food. She like would not eat it. So I just didn’t give her any new food until she finished if. All day she was trying to get me to feed her the good food. Keep in mind this has kinda been a struggle for a year now. So I lock her in tvs room that her food is in for like 30 minutes. I comfy bsck in a d let her out not really thinking about.... I come back in that night to get in to pjs (which are in laundry basket) to find that she Peed in them!  She has pooped to show me she is mad at me a couple times but she has never peed. I’m pretty mad... please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-21T13:44:40.257" Title="My cat peed on my clothes!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-11-21T13:41:51.323" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-21T12:51:48.730" Score="2" ViewCount="399" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard Gecko dropped her tail over a year ago and she still has not grown it back. &#xA;It has healed and there is a stump there but it doesn't seem to be growing anymore. &#xA;The stump is about the size of her head so OK but not back to it's original size. &#xA;She is a bit retarded so I never know what to expect. &#xA;Is this normal? am I missing something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13542" LastActivityDate="2018-11-21T12:51:48.730" Title="Leopard Gecko Tail drop 1+ years ago not grown back" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21870" CreationDate="2018-11-21T19:09:03.197" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LDWEa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LDWEa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Babu’s mouth&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 1-year-old male Sphynx cat has what look like symmetrical grey ulcerations on his bottom gums, just behind where his upper canines align with his lower jaw. Is his orthodontia damaging the tissue of his gums? He eats and drinks normally and seems to be generally happy and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also own his younger sister (same parents, different litter), who is ~4 months old. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LsziZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;She has similar protrusions in her lower gumline that are a lighter color&lt;/a&gt;, which makes me alternatively wonder if these are normal-looking submandibular glands in the Sphynx breed that naturally darken over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12549" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T17:54:27.777" Title="What are these discolorations inside my cat’s mouth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2018-11-21T23:48:10.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of my cat as if it were a two-year old. Most effective for me is to take the cat (scratching a chair, on counter, etc)and place it on the sofa. Of course, as soon as I move away he jumps off. I have to repeat this about 4 times when (I guess) he gives up and leave the chair or countertop alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13543" LastActivityDate="2018-11-21T23:48:10.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-22T11:04:08.733" Score="0" ViewCount="755" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat always behaves so well and listens to me. But when someone comes to my home she starts acting so stupid. She runs here and there and get out of control and do  every possible weird acts. What should I do to control this behavior of him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:01:02.403" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T20:51:14.997" Title="Why does my cat acts weird and undisciplined in front of guests?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-22T14:11:04.657" Score="0" ViewCount="1164" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be a challenging situation, especially if you have one cat that's more of an &quot;eater&quot; than the others.so what should i do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13551" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T11:24:32.067" Title="there an easy way to feed multiple cats? How do I keep one cat from eating the others' food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-11-23T11:19:22.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21867" CreationDate="2018-11-23T10:56:04.687" Score="2" ViewCount="725" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small toy poodle that just got neutered yesterday. She's already fully awake and acting mostly normal, just a bit slower. At first she wasn't moving much so I took the cone off, and she immediately sat and walked around a bit. So I am keeping it off and keeping an eye on her to make sure she wont lick the incision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, in the 30 seconds that took me to go get some water, she had jumped in my bed (she always sleep there). I let her rest there and took her down when it looked like she wanted to get down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, how long I can let her jump up and down by herself until the risk of tearing her stitches ends? Right now I just keep a close eye on her 24/7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13554" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:36:43.783" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T14:12:09.383" Title="How long to keep neutered dog from jumping?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21866" CreationDate="2018-11-23T11:00:20.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stopping a dog from jumping and running is always going to be hard to do. So just stop her as much as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ive seen people say 1-2 weels but to be safe I would recommend not until the stitches are removed only then can you 100% guarantee the incision has healed. This will make sure nothing serious can happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T11:00:20.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21865" CreationDate="2018-11-23T11:18:43.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Scheduled meal times&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your question, I infer that you're making food available during the day - thus giving the big eater the chance to overeat and unintentionally steal food from the small eater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest that you feed them at particular times and aim to have them eat during those times. This gives you a simple system: one cat cannot eat from two bowls at the same time and thus cannot hog all the food.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it still tries to claim both bowls, simply move the bowls further apart so they can't actually guard more than one bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, you may want to actually restrict eating times to particular times and take away the bowls after 10-15 minutes. This isn't a permanent solution, but it is a lesson to the small eater that they shouldn't just &lt;em&gt;hope&lt;/em&gt; that food will be available later in the day and should instead come and eat the food when it is served.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When that message has sunk in, and the small eater eats when you put the bowls out, you can leave the bowls out. If the cats decide to leave some food for later, that's their responsibility and &quot;fair game&quot; for the other to eat it first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Limit freely available food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggested to take away the food that's available during the day, but there are compromises here. What we did is buy a cat food maze:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OkM0m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OkM0m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal of this maze is to add a threshold to wanting to eat. When the cat is hungry, it won't mind going through the bothersome task of getting the food out of the maze. When the cat isn't all that hungry, it can't be bothered to go through all that effort and thus it doesn't overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: The more food there is in the maze, the easier it is to get it out. The less food there is, the harder it is. We use our food maze as an indicator for how hungry the cats are. When they've cleaned every scrap from it, they must be really hungry and will get a meal (even if it's not their scheduled dinner time).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dealing with selfishness during meal times&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've struggled with this problem. We have three cats with distinct (clashing) eating habits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One cat (A) is perpetually hungry and has a (non-aggressive) &quot;me first&quot; attitude&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One cat (M) lets herself get pushed out by the others, but has a habit of overeating if food is available during the rest of the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One cat (C) eats reasonably but has an insistent habit of eating from all three of the bowls. Also, due to A's &quot;me first&quot; approach, C has become a bit more pushy about getting her fill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have been many approaches to solve the issues we're having, each with their own benefits and drawbacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Provide ample food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that when there is more than enough food to go around, there is no reason for the cats to compete for food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is good, but it doesn't work for us, as both A and M will end up massively overeating. However, it may work for your cats if they are able to self-portion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Provide less food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was only done for a short period, we were mostly testing to see if A and C would always make sure that M had something to eat as well. They did leave her some, although it would be less than a third of the food that was given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we returned to normal portion sizes, the same behavior stuck around for a while; they left enough food for M. However, that didn't last longer than a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Let them sort it out.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds uncaring but it actually works. The idea is that if M &lt;em&gt;chooses&lt;/em&gt; to yield, then it's M's choice. You end up with a self-correcting system: in cases where M actually was hungry, she was much more assertive and didn't let herself get pushed out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When A learned that M will get pushy when she's hungry, he became more aware of sharing food with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: we could do this because M is notably bigger and stronger than the other two. If M is unable to push in, then it wouldn't be fair to let her get pushed out.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Pull the bowls away when food is stolen.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initially, we only had C and M. Back then, C had a &quot;me first&quot; attitude and would push out M. What I ended up doing, whenever I saw C push out M, was take away the bowl for 10-15 seconds, and then place it back in front of M.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It didn't take long for C to figure out that pushing in meant that &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt; of them would get to eat, and thus she learned to wait. M would hardly every finish a bowl, so C would patiently wait for M to walk away. I allowed C to eat the rest as M had clearly yielded it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This did not work for A, however. He was too eager and too young, he would just always push in at all times like a hungry eager zombie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Figure out what they like.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats like different foods, you have an easy way of controlling their portions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, A loves wet food but only begrudgingly eats dry food. M, on the other hand, massively favors dry food and only eats wet food when there's no other option. C slightly prefers wet food but doesn't really refuse to eat dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-11-23T11:24:32.067" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T11:24:32.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21878" CreationDate="2018-11-23T17:13:44.580" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small dog. She is infested with so many ticks. I have done everything to get rid of them. I even hand picked all the ticks by hands, which took hours, multiple times. But they come back after 3 to 4 days in the same numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to a vet, he said that an injection will help with that problem. But he said that there is possibility of small dogs dying due to that injection. So I cannot do that. He gave me a powder to mix in water and give him bath. But that did not help either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want some solution for that problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13555" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:43:32.817" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:29:58.320" Title="How can I permanently get rid of ticks from my small dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21857" CreationDate="2018-11-23T17:54:27.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;After too much nervous pet-WebMD-ing, I turned on my research brain and tried to find evidence for my more rational explanation (that my cat’s oral mucosa is just naturally pigmented, since his sister has similar anatomical morphology in that region without the hyperpigmentation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=95cnDwAAQBAJ&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PT6&amp;amp;dq=pigmentation+of+feline+gums&amp;amp;ots=eo7B6BBmiQ&amp;amp;sig=iTrO0GdqOkBHNib0TOIMxUxUdr0#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Atlas of Feline Anatomy for Veterinarians&lt;/em&gt;, Hudson &amp;amp; Hamilton&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YY4aF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YY4aF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Gum quote&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until his next annual appointment at the vet, I’ll stick with Occam’s razor and assume that he’s just naturally pigmented in his oral mucosa and the alignment of his canines isn’t damaging the tissue of his gums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12549" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T17:54:27.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-23T18:39:47.000" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked all over the net, but I couldn't find the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats sometime do this weird nose without using their lips. it's cute and funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sound comes out from the throat as if they are humming. It's like the &quot;pigeons&quot; voice but sharper (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF9Me96KMU4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pigeons sound&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13465" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-23T19:08:01.683" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:13:44.920" Title="What do you call the cat sound that comes out from the throat like &quot;pigeons&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21871" CreationDate="2018-11-23T19:01:58.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &quot;purring&quot; I guess. Not only domestic cats but many other cat species do it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is most commonly done when the cat is feeling special by you, like you are giving her care like a baby, the cat is very happy with you at the moment, and she expresses that she is very happy with you by &quot;purring&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all cat do it, also some do it less, some do it more. It also differs from one cat breed to another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is an excellent youtube video about &quot;purring&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_zKkBKu1fs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_zKkBKu1fs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also scientists say that cat &quot;purring&quot; is an excellent anti-depressant and a medicine for general mental health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://medium.com/the-establishment/cats-are-the-unsung-heroes-of-mental-health-2a78398f9f3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://medium.com/the-establishment/cats-are-the-unsung-heroes-of-mental-health-2a78398f9f3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-23T19:01:58.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-23T22:24:11.357" Score="0" ViewCount="19485" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 year old long-haired cat and for the very first time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it is an absolute mess!  She Will NOT tolerate a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always had dogs. So this is new to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PLEASE HELP!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13556" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:40:51.273" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T11:06:52.853" Title="Long-haired cat has poop caked on butt" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-27T11:25:35.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21871" CreationDate="2018-11-24T01:42:06.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the sound you mean. My Tortie cat makes the sound too when she's happy that I'm home. I call it &quot;chirping&quot;. But I don't know if it has a more official name. I think the pigeon sound is called &quot;cooing&quot;. So you could call it &quot;cooing&quot; when your kitty does it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13557" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:13:44.920" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:13:44.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21863" CreationDate="2018-11-24T01:50:59.570" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your cat has some anxiety about there being a stranger in his or her living space. Cats react strongly to unfamiliar scents, especially, if your human guest has pets of their own. Your cat could be reacting to that. When I come home from the house of a friend who has cats, my cats sniff my jacket and shoes for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats just aren't outgoing and only want to be around the humans who love them and feed them. My friend Abby has to close her cat in the bedroom when certain friends come over, because her cat has a strong and sometimes violent reaction to certain people. You could try having your friends offer a cat treat to your cat; sometimes bribery works. But it's not a sure thing the way it is with dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13557" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-24T04:04:19.370" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T04:04:19.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21873" CreationDate="2018-11-24T01:56:53.193" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will she let you wipe her with unscented baby wipes? They sell &quot;pet wipes&quot; too, but they're the same thing only more expensive. Unscented is the key. If she won't let you do that, either,  you may have to take her to a groomer or the vet to trim the fur on her hind-quarters.  When my long haired cat was older, she didn't have the flexibility or energy to keep herself clean, and trimming the fur was a big help to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13557" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T01:56:53.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21869" CreationDate="2018-11-24T14:10:14.790" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several different ways to get rid of ticks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Flea / tick collars&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They smell bad and have to be replaced regularly (I think once a year for most products), but they are an inexpensive way to keep ticks away from your dog. Ask your vet or buy one online, but make sure it repels ticks as well as fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Garlic&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Garlic repels ticks by its smell and has been used for centuries to keep dogs free of fleas and ticks. You can buy foot pallets with garlic extract or feed fresh garlic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that it takes a few weeks before the garlic takes effect and that the effect will be lost if you bathe your dog with soap or a detergent shampoo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s best to finely chop or crush the garlic clove, then wait a few minutes to allow the chemical reaction to occur. Here are some guidelines for daily feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;div class=&quot;s-table-container&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;table class=&quot;s-table&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Dog's body mass&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Amount of garlic&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;10 to 15 pounds&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;half a clove&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;20 to 40 pounds&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;1 clove&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;45 to 70 pounds&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;2 cloves&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;75+ pounds&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;2 and a half cloves&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;/table&gt;&#xA;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/garlic-friend-or-foe/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that garlic becomes harmful for dogs if they eat vast amounts of it (5 grams of whole garlic per kilogram of the dog’s body weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Powders or sprays&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several commercial powders or sprays available that can be put into the dog's fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Diatomaceous earth&lt;/a&gt; is a non-toxic powder and consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled protist (chrysophytes). While non-toxic to humans and animals, this powder is lethal to ticks and fleas. &lt;strong&gt;Do not use diatomaceous earth for swimming pool filters on your dog&lt;/strong&gt;. It is extremely dangerous to humans and pets and can cause internal bleeding. &lt;strong&gt;Always use food-grade diatomaceous earth&lt;/strong&gt;. Do not use if your dog has a wound or rash, because the powder can irritate the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One body spray you can do on your own is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/natural-solutions-tick-season/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cut a lemon into quarters and put into a pint jar. Cover with boiling water and let steep overnight. Put the solution in a spray bottle and spray all over the dog, especially behind the ears, around the head, at the base of the tail and in the arm pits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the active component of this spray is the oil contained in the peel, you can probably use lemon or orange peels instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I don't like to put citrus on a dog because most dogs find the smell just as repellent as ticks do. Make sure your dog doesn't get any of the spray into his eyes, nose or mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Apple cider vinegar&lt;/strong&gt; is also recommended by several sites as tick repellent. Add some of it to your dog's bathing water or rub or spray diluted vinegar into his fur. You can also add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the dog’s water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Essential oils&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eucalyptus, peppermint, citrus, tea tree, citronella, lavender and cedarwood oils are all either repelling or killing ticks. You can rub a few drops of them onto the collar of the dog or into the fur (especially behind the ears, in the armpits and at the base of the tail, where the skin is soft and ticks love to bite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to replace the oil regularly. If you rub it directly into the fur, dust and dirt might collect in these spots and you may need to bathe your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to remove ticks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab the tick by the head or mouth parts right where they enter the skin. Do not grasp the tick by the body. Make sure you don’t crush the tick, which can force harmful bacteria to leave the tick and enter your pet’s bloodstream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Without jerking, pull firmly and steadily directly outward. Do not twist the tick as you are pulling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using methods such as applying petroleum jelly, a hot match, or alcohol will NOT cause the tick to ‘back out.’ In fact, these irritants may cause the tick to deposit more disease-carrying saliva in the wound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After removing the tick, place it in a jar of alcohol to kill it. Ticks are NOT killed by flushing them down the toilet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean the bite wound with a disinfectant. If you want to, apply a small amount of a triple antibiotic ointment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash your hands thoroughly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T00:29:58.320" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:29:58.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21866" CreationDate="2018-11-24T14:12:09.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can lower the chances of a dog jumping by providing any kind of step or ramp. Use sturdy cardboard boxes, foot rests, bottle crates  or whatever you can find that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;won't slip over the floor &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has a non-slip surface and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;won't give under the dog's wheight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-11-24T14:12:09.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-25T05:45:01.757" Score="4" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rat has this big bump on his shoulder that he made into a wound and he won't stop reopening it. He's 2 years old, so I'm scared to stress him out too much with excessive treatment. What to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13562" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-10T22:44:09.390" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T22:44:09.390" Title="My pet rat won't stop reopening his wound" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-25T10:07:06.067" Score="17" ViewCount="7887" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know some cats would be very miserable if they couldn't go outside. But I was wondering if there is such a thing as an &amp;quot;apartment cat&amp;quot;, where a cat would be perfectly happy to live in a small flat (20~30 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, some kind of studies or &amp;quot;scientific evidence&amp;quot; would be appreciated as answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13563" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-25T21:34:55.737" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T21:34:55.737" Title="Can a cat, who only lives in a (small) flat, be happy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21884" CreationDate="2018-11-25T10:59:38.913" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a few existing posts about how much space a cat needs, I have included some below. Your area is large enough for a cat. But even a larger space will not be sufficient without enough enrichment, so having toys, and things to climb on will make a big difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each cat is going to have a unique personality. So you need to consider the cats personality when choosing your pet. A cat with a history of living on a farm, is not going to do as well as one who spent their entire previous life in a small apartment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cities that have small flats are also going to have cat rescues or shelters.  Contact a cat rescue near you, should give you opportunity to find a cat that is good match for you and your apartment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7709/13&quot;&gt;How much space do cats need when living indoors?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/17970/13&quot;&gt;What is the minimum space to keep a cat in an outdoor enclosure?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/11916/13&quot;&gt;What Are Some Ways to Increase Space for Cats in a Small House?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-11-25T10:59:38.913" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21884" CreationDate="2018-11-25T12:16:20.783" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is totally dependent upon the age at which you adopt the cat and current environment of the cat if the cat is an adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are adopting an already grown up cat habituated to outside life, it will be very stressful for the cat. But if the grown up cat was previously habituated to a small closed environment it should not be a problem. You only need to give the cat some time to get habituated to the new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you take in a kitten who has never experienced outside world, it should not be a problem at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are some cat breeds who are more adapted for living inside small apartments than others.&lt;br&gt;Check out:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.realtor.com/advice/rent/best-cat-breeds-for-apartment-living/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Best Cat Breeds for Apartment Living&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They say Ragdoll, Main Coon, Siamese, Bengal, and Sphinx breeds do well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also a key to overcoming limited horizontal space for cats is utilizing vertical space. Cat trees are excellent for this purpose. Search for cat trees on e-commerce sites or go to the nearest pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lots of cat toys is also key to cat happiness for cats living in small apartments.&lt;br&gt;Check out:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/different-types-of-cat-toys&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Treat Your Cat to … Different Types of Cat Toys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They include Tunnels, Exercise wheels, Climbing toys, and laser pointers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further reading, check out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/enough-room-for-a-cat-555294&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is Your Apartment Big Enough for a Cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-care-behavior-tiny-small-apartment-cleaning-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Living with Cats in Apartments: How to Make It Work in a Tiny Space&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-a-small-apartment-more-fun-for-a-cat-237990&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How To Make a Small Apartment More Fun for Your Cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T15:04:54.947" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T15:04:54.947" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2018-11-25T15:12:13.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As well as the other recommendations, I would be sure to wipe down your work surfaces after working with lead solder, so that the cat can't get lead residue on its paws if it walks across your bench.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just an extension of the safety rules we humans follow when working with head solder: don't eat, drink or smoke.  Or put your paws on the bench and then lick them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not pet the cat when working with lead solder, to avoid transferring any lead from your hands to its fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7856" LastActivityDate="2018-11-25T15:12:13.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-25T18:20:05.040" Score="1" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has this strange behavior which I think is extremely rare among cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her favorite sleeping place is by burying deep inside my mother's lap. If my mother is not there, she sleeps either on my arms or my grand mother's arms. This touch factor is compulsory for her to get a good sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we are awake and are unable to stay still at a certain place, she tolerates that as long as she feels our presence and goes to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if she can't see anyone of us she starts suffering from terrible anxiety and starts to cry loudly as if she has seen a ghost. She calms down only after someone of us comes to her and pets her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what is the reason for this strange behavior of her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="13246" LastEditDate="2018-12-05T06:30:22.210" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T06:30:22.210" Title="Why can my cat not sleep anywhere else other than my mother's lap?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21889" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-25T21:11:23.547" Score="7" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NaAt8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every now and then, I find my turtles going to the highest point in their water container with one climbing the other and fully stretching out their heads.They stay this way for quite a while. It is cute but looks weird as I have no expertise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They stay still all the time and are misaligned for copulation. So it is not that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are they doing?&#xA;Scouting? Sea nostalgia? Daydreaming about being celebrities and Posing for camera? Ventilating? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l2bkq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13565" LastEditorUserId="13565" LastEditDate="2018-11-26T06:30:31.433" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:25:56.403" Title="What are these turtles doing?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21884" CreationDate="2018-11-26T05:09:41.763" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only give you an answer from personal experience. I adopted two kittens from an animal shelter when I was living in three storey townhouse that had three floors: the main floor, upstairs, and a basement. I raised them to be entirely indoor cats. When they were 13, we moved to a small bachelor apartment. They seemed to do just fine there despite having much less space to roam around. But they never really took advantage of the space in the townhouse anyway; they mostly hung around with me. And slept a lot, as cats always do. They had no desire to go outside and didn't even spend a lot of time in the windows except perhaps to bask on a very sunny day in either the townhouse or the apartment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the question of one cat or two, I deliberately chose to have two kittens for the same reasons others have given: so that they would have company of their own species, even on the occasions where I wasn't home. In hindsight, I'm not sure that was a great idea. They were initially unrelated strangers and my male kitten decided that he wanted to be the boss; the female didn't defy him so much as try to do her own thing. He got quite aggressive with her to the point where they fought quite a lot of the time and he made her quite miserable with his dominance games. After several months, she decided to give in to his will and from that point on, they got along quite well. They would lie together every day for at least a while and groom each other. (He would also try to mate with her, with her apparent consent, although nothing could happen since both were fixed.) Despite the improved relations, I rather suspect at this point that she would actually have had a happier life if she could have been the only cat in the house. I think she always wanted to be a lap cat but she only finally dared to do that once the male had passed away; before that, she didn't seem to have &quot;permission&quot;. Sleeping was much the same; she always deferred to him and let him sleep by my chest; she was effectively restricted to sleeping no closer than my knees. After he died, she moved closer. Sadly, she died a few months after he did so I really didn't get a lot of lap time with her (and he had never tried to sit on my lap.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see comparable issues in my current environment. I'm sharing a house with my brother and he has two cats, also an unrelated male and female. They were a little older when he got them: the male was around 18 months old and the female was only about 9 months old when he got her a few months later. She is much more aggressive than he is and he seems to walk on eggshells when she's around. He's never tried to climb into my lap but I think that's because she's decided that my lap is for her only. The two cats had some pretty vicious fights when she first joined the family - to the point where she had him bleeding - but they eventually settled things after he apparently agreed to submit to her. Quite frankly, I think both of them would have been happier if they had been the only cat in a house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Age difference is probably a major factor in having two cats or kittens. One of my friends had a 9 year old female, then got a female kitten. The older cat DESPISED the kitten from the first day and never stopped hating her until the day the older one died, 9 years later. The older one wouldn't even let the younger one ON my friend's bed: she was banished to sleeping UNDER the bed. In retrospect, I think my friend regretted having those two cats at the same time; she loved them both but could see that they weren't very happy to have another cat in the house. When the second one died, she got a new kitten and this time made a point of having only one. Last time I saw her, that was working really well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course having two kittens or cats from the same litter is somewhat different. I've experienced that too and that seemed to go somewhat better, although even they sometimes fought. (And despite both being males, the dominant brother tried to mate with the submissive brother on occasion.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my two cents worth....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7875" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T05:09:41.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19825" CreationDate="2018-11-26T07:24:09.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two things could make a dramatic difference in situations like this. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) Sleep in an old Tshirt a few nights, then allow the pup to have it in their crate. The shirt will &quot;smell&quot; like you and be comforting for the pup. Trade shirts every couple of weeks until the little one outgrows this need.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) Drape a blanket or towel over the crate to create a dark cave-like &quot;den&quot; for the pup to sleep in. It will feel instinctive to your pup, somewhat like what a dog would do in the wild. Even if the pup hears you move about, the dark environment should be soothing and calming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T07:24:09.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-26T09:08:05.553" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a free-roaming (no cage, potty-trained) ~5y old pet rabbit. I would love to adopt a cat from the shelter, but I'm worried about them getting along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbit is very calm and happy bun, he mostly is just lazying around nearby and is very friendly towards people (licks hands, gets in a lap, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbit did not accept a female bunny friend - she was too bossy, and it upset him greatly. However, he gets fine with parents' cats and dogs, when we visit. He lets dogs lick him and prefers to lie nearby. He is scared of oldest cat, but has mutual interest towards the other one. They lie together in bed and my bunny takes initiative - comes to the cat first, sniffs him, etc. Cat is generally just ignoring him. They are always supervised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a studio apartment and work from home, but I would still be scared to leave them unsupervised at night / when not home. I could lock bunny up in his old hutch, when I'm away (it's forever open, he hangs out in it), but I feel it would be injustice against him, even though he sleeps there most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My idea would be to call shelter and look for an adult, calm cat, that is not displaying an agression/without hunting experience. I would ask to foster a cat for a few weeks and see how it goes. But I am still not sure it could work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid my bunny can get hurt at some point, without warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a bad idea to keep cat and rabbit together? Maybe somebody has experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13569" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T09:08:05.553" Title="Can rabbit and cat live together?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-11-26T13:14:19.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21922" CreationDate="2018-11-26T13:41:52.280" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the 2nd winter of his life this time and he is really suffering. Just today morning he defecated and threw up all over the veranda. Recently, he has been rather dull and inactive. Earlier I had put on him a T-shirt but he tore that a week later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is this related to winters: well a similar thing happened last year too. Winter usually brings a period of dullness and inactivity in my dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit by Trond Hansen this is where the OP is located : &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagpur&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagpur&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9076" LastEditorUserId="13592" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T04:31:43.657" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T04:31:43.657" Title="Dog cannot tolerate winters" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21902" CreationDate="2018-11-26T15:48:28.067" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thoroughly enjoy rough play with my cat, and I encourage her to play rough with me. But everybody else in my home dislikes it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It often happens that while I am in a rough play session with my cat, and another human passes nearby, she jumps to that human and starts playing rough, only to get severely scolded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when she is not deeply engaged in a play session she perfectly knows that she is allowed to play rough only with me and nobody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is there any way to ensure that, even when the cat is deeply engaged in a play session with me, she does not forget that she is forbidden to play rough with anybody else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T10:42:02.557" Title="How to ensure that while in a rough play session with my cat, the cat never gets distracted to any other human and starts to play rough with them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-26T17:02:00.213" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed the second &amp;quot;skin tag&amp;quot; on my (adult) dog. I pet, stroke and massage my dog regularly and these seem to pop up suddenly - out of nowhere. They resemble rice and appear to be fatty skin. They seem harmless enough and are not in an area that bothers her. Still... it concerns me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had similar issues or inquired about it with a veterinarian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: the rice-shaped skin tag has fallen off. What's up with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T16:43:19.733" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T15:11:40.947" Title="Concerned about skin tags" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2018-11-26T19:08:55.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta fish was continuously bothering my snail, so I decided to do a quick Google search, which brought up these links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/my-betta-ate-my-snail.267901/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/my-betta-ate-my-snail.267901/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquascapeaddiction.com/articles/do-bettas-eat-snails&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aquascapeaddiction.com/articles/do-bettas-eat-snails&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettafish.com/102-betta-fish-compatibility/69520-my-betta-ate-my-mystery-snails-antennae-help.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.bettafish.com/102-betta-fish-compatibility/69520-my-betta-ate-my-mystery-snails-antennae-help.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.myaquariumclub.com/will-bettas-eat-snails-24408217.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.myaquariumclub.com/will-bettas-eat-snails-24408217.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/bettas-eat-snails-278502.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/bettas-eat-snails-278502.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading them, my conclusion is that it really depends on the betta fish. Some are actively vicious and will attack snails and eat them. Others are totally fine around snails or particular types of snails. It also seemed like some of the cases were similar to yours, in which the betta seemed to live peacefully with the snail for a while, but then suddenly the snail was gone (in that case though, I believe the snail might have been sick and the betta only ate it when it was close to being dead.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, yes, bettas can attack and eat snails, but they don't always do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13574" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:11:51.263" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:11:51.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21899" CreationDate="2018-11-26T20:10:15.720" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was dealing with a lengthy illness and wasn't caring for my tank besides the minimums, and this plant has overgrown everywhere in my salt water tank. It's a very green plant (not sure why the picture looks so yellow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What species of plant is this? Is there a type of fish that would eat this plant, but also be coral friendly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUXFw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUXFw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13575" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T22:56:15.457" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:56:15.457" Title="What plant is this?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21898" CreationDate="2018-11-26T21:44:01.560" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;Caulerpa&lt;/em&gt; algae, although it has roots, stems and leaves (may be &lt;em&gt;C. prolifera&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;C. floridiana&lt;/em&gt;). Tangs, Moorish Idols and other fish eat it. It grew very vigorously in my aquariums and so can shade or choke out corals IF not trimmed. In a 75 gallon and a 55 gallon tanks I grew enough to supply a couple independent pet shops.  As you note, it should look very bright green.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T22:52:58.207" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:52:58.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21570" CreationDate="2018-11-26T22:07:44.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably too long; I just looked at my 2 Greys and their beaks look slightly less long. It is probably worth going to the right VET for a trim. Not all vets can handle parrots , you need to find the right vet. I use the local university vet department ; the vet clinic is part of the education program. It is not something for an amateur as there is a blood supply in part of the beak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-11-26T22:07:44.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-27T08:56:16.570" Score="3" ViewCount="398" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a German shepherd pair. Female gave birth to 5 puppies very first time. But she ate 3 of her puppies and killed the other 2. Why did she eat her puppies? What should i do next time she gives birth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13555" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T02:46:46.523" Title="Why do the mother German shepherd eats her newborn puppies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21895" CreationDate="2018-11-27T10:42:02.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats will learn the behavior of humans they often interact with - but they learn through trial and error. Not every cat will learn as fast, some may need a lot of repetition before they get the hint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are always open for rough plays and the others always tell her off (or refuse to engage her), it will become apparent who does/doesn't allow for rough plays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can intervene here too. When you see the cat move on to someone else, catch their attention to redirect them to you. They may fail to do so initially, but the added reminder may speed up the process of them learning to only play rough with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very young cats may simply be too excitable, to a point where they're not really able to adapt their playstyle to the human they're interacting with. That's not really misbehavior on their part, but rather an inability to assess the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T10:42:02.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21888" CreationDate="2018-11-27T10:54:09.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She calms down only after someone of us comes to her and pets her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you respond to her meowing by giving her attention, then you are teaching her to meow for attention. This is a negative feedback loop of your own creation. You're rewarding her when she meows for attention while you're hoping that she eventually stops meowing for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a clear incentive to stop doing so, the cat will never learn to not meow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a simple example, we had a cat who would meow by the sliding door. Telling the cat off didn't work and we tried this for months. So I devised a lesson that the cat could learn. I would squirt some water in his direction whenever he meowed, but I would do so sitting on the couch, where I did not have direct line of sight to the cat (the back of the couch block my vision).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The only way I would know where to aim (it was a wide sliding door) would be if the cat revealed its position by meowing. Without any meowing, I would be unable to aim it at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first few days, he made it a game of sitting in a new spot and trying to meow then, but he quickly learned that I could home in on his position by his meows, and once he realized that, he stopped meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to do the same for your cat. Create a situation where meowing is either a &lt;em&gt;drawback&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;wasted effort&lt;/em&gt;. In your case, it seems better to go for the latter, and simply ignore the cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're worried that something might actually need your attention when it first meows out of nowhere, feel free to go and have a look but do not interact with it. Don't greet it, don't talk to it, nothing. When you see that there's nothing wrong, walk away and don't come back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At best, you can call the cat from where you are, to make her come to you. She will eventually learn that there's no need to meow first if she can just walk up to you anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her favorite sleeping place is by burying deep inside my mother's lap. If my mother is not there, she sleeps either on my arms or my grand mother's arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats like warm spots, that is well known. Body creases (armpits, elbows, hips, knees) are literal hotspots on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, cats can have favorites. All our cats have a clear favorite between me and my girlfriend - and it's not always the same person. For example, as I tend to watch TV (without moving) more than my girlfriend, the cats favor lying with me during the day (even when my girlfriend is sitting next to me). However, at night I have a habit of tossing and turning whereas my girlfriend doesn't, and thus the cats favor sleeping on her side of the bed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;These aren't absolute statements, but we can clearly see a general tendency to be around me on the couch and around my girlfriend in bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see nothing weird about your cat's behavior. She seeks warm spots, likes affection, and has an ordered list of preferred sleeping spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-11-27T12:02:32.927" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T12:02:32.927" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21873" CreationDate="2018-11-27T11:06:52.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She Will NOT tolerate a bath. I've always had dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats generally don't like water - especially not when it's not their own decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are able to defer to humans and do something that the human tells them to do. Cats generally don't and rely on their own decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats generally also don't need baths, they are self-cleaning animals. The poop getting stuck in their fur is something that needs to be addressed, but I suggest not using baths as a solution as it will lead to an unhappy cat, it may start to avoid coming near you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dealing with the poops getting stuck in her fur is an annoying problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the short term, I suggest cutting the hair in which the poop is stuck to fix the issue. Just focus on the hard to get bits. Simple cleaning can be done by the cat herself (and I'm pretty sure it would prefer doing it herself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long term, if your cat reasonably allows you to (or you can get her to endure it), I suggest trimming/cutting the hair on her posterior to prevent poop getting stuck in it. It doesn't need to be shaven off but keeping it to a reasonable length (like short haired cats) will prevent the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our long-haired cat used to have this issue once in a while, and her immediate reaction would be to drag her butt across surfaces to get it off. I think you can imagine the poop smears we can home to in those cases.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So what we did was get a very bristly floor mat (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.americanfloormats.com/content/product/description/large/Bristle%20Brush%20Entrance%20Mats%20Grey%20Scrape%20600.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) and put it next to the litter box. We had to replace the mat once it a while as it would get disgusting but it was considerably better than having to clean poop streaks off the floor and furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T11:06:52.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11916" CreationDate="2018-11-27T20:45:03.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shelves and the like have been huge for my cat. I live in a townhouse, and while my cat has plenty of space to roam around, increasing the amount of space for her to play on was one of my first priorities. Mounted or hanging shelves that go directly into the walls can be a cost-effective option (just make sure you install them securely and correctly so they, and your buddy, don't come tumbling down!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't mind your cat &quot;counter-surfing&quot;, that can be a huge help to making more space out of what seems like a smaller area. Make sure that if your cat is a bit bigger, that he can safely hop up on the counter (I've had some luck with making stairs out of old shoe boxes-- spend an afternoon with the hot glue gun and it can be a fun way to make a project out of some stuff you were going to throw away anyway!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13581" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T20:45:03.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21863" CreationDate="2018-11-27T20:51:14.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can get anxiety around new people! Chances are, this is her way of telling you that she doesn't like this person, who, in her eyes, is an intruder. She doesn't know that they were invited by you; in her eyes, this person showed up out of nowhere, and is going to be staying for God knows how long in &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, not a whole lot can be done to tame these anxieties-- in my experience, I've found that for relatively short visits, shutting the cat in the bedroom can help give them some peace. Make sure they have food, water, and a place to potty while they're trapped, or you could find yourself on the receiving end of a very stinky &quot;gift&quot; on the floor in retaliation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the guest is someone you want to have over frequently, or even potentially move in (like a roommate or significant other), then it's a good idea to try and get the two acquainted. Use treats, grooming tools that she fancies, new toys, or catnip as an incentive to try and get close to the new person-- then hand those tools over to your guest! Have patience, and your baby might end up warming up to this person after a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13581" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T20:51:14.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21794" CreationDate="2018-11-27T21:00:27.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had to rehome several cats/kittens through the years. By far the best method was to put a flyer in my office breakroom with pictures of the cats/kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I created flyers for vet offices and the local feed store but those were not successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had tiny success with a Petfinder type of website. I recently acquired a puppy through a Facebook group. So, the web definitely has options for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, it has always been my office, and word of mouth among friends who assisted me the most in rehoming my cats and kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10481" LastActivityDate="2018-11-27T21:00:27.407" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-28T00:25:19.410" Score="3" ViewCount="710" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few hours ago my cat got my gecko and scratched it in the neck, ear, back, and hands. She seems to be alive and moving well, but her jaw is just the tinniest bit of crooked, and she does take a while to swallow. Is my leopard gecko going to live any longer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has no trouble walking, but I don't know how she's doing. I already cleaned up the wounds, and stopped the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13583" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-28T04:53:22.730" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T06:50:24.707" Title="My cat attacked my pet leopard gecko and the gecko is probably injured, what to do?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21901" CreationDate="2018-11-28T02:46:46.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly I would get her Vet checked as it may be a medical problem, research calcium supplement for dogs during birth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also consider not breeding her again if she has it in her to kill/eat the pups. It can be a hereditary trait, if you are going to do it again seriously do some research on calcium supplementing a whelping bitch, get her health tested and make sure she has all her nutritional and behavioural needs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13584" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T02:46:46.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21650" CreationDate="2018-11-28T02:55:53.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is your dog crate trained? If not look into crate training. Give your dog a safe, secure and positive place with the crate. When your dog feels unsafe or insecure they will automatically go to their safe space which will become the crate. Also work on some sound desensitisation, it doesn’t work well with artificial sound but it’s something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play thunder sounds just at a normal level and play with your dog, give the dog treats. If the dog is comfortable turn up the volume a bit and repeat, continue this making it louder and louder remembering it’ll take time and to take it slow, if your dog seems worried by the sounds then turn it down a bit and take a step back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you feel your dog is comfortable enough start to take the dog outside during a storm and play with the dog, make sure you stay upbeat and excited and make it the funnest most exciting thing ever! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change your dogs mindset about these things rather than masking it with medications or other techniques and you’ll have a happier and more secure dog in the long run. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13584" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T02:55:53.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21915" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-28T03:30:47.037" Score="4" ViewCount="5032" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a three month old kitten three days ago. She is very cuddly and purrs every once in a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first day we brought her home she mostly slept but played a little bit. The next day she slept all day and the day after that she has not gotten up or played at all on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time she gets up is if I get her up to go to the litter box or eat. Other then that she goes straight back to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to play with her but she will run away or hide every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13585" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-28T05:01:47.190" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T22:24:54.670" Title="My kitten is constantly sleeping or shutting the eyes. Is the kitten alright?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21912" CreationDate="2018-11-28T05:21:11.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree a vet is your best option. I’m a qualified veterinary nurse and I can tell you even a qualified vet cannot diagnose online. They will only tell you to take it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it may have a broken jaw and even the scratches can be life threatening as cat scratches have a high chance of infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! Let us know what the vet says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13584" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-28T07:09:21.893" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T07:09:21.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21915" CreationDate="2018-11-28T05:23:07.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;She may just be overstimulated from the new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she’s looking like she has any discharge from her eyes or nose, isn’t eating properly or seems otherwise unwell then I would get her checked by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she’s just sleeping a lot it’s probably just she’s overwhelmed with the new home and tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13584" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-28T05:41:27.460" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T05:41:27.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21915" CreationDate="2018-11-28T05:39:43.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal for a three month old kitten to sleep most of the time. She probably slept less in the first day because she was uneasy of a new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As given in the site - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/petcentral/how-much-sleep-is-normal-for-kittens&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Much Sleep Is Normal For Kittens?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;A newborn kitten’s daily routine is made up of sleeping 90 percent of the time — that is almost 22 hours of shuteye!&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Though it may not appear so, while your new kitten has peacefully nodded off, his body is hard at work. Development of his brain and central nervous system is dependent upon these frequent catnaps. Time spent snoozing in young kittens tones and strengthens the muscles and bones that give this species its athleticism and grace. Sleep even keeps your kitten’s immune system in tip-top shape. Without enough sleep, your kitten will become irritable and even at risk for infections and illness.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, according to this article you should let your kitten sleep peacefully and not always try to wake her up and try to play. She is running away probably because she is extremely sleepy and you are forcing her to keep awake and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;While the number of hours kittens sleep may seem excessive to new kitten owners, oversleeping in kittens is usually not cause to worry.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only cause of worry is probably &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/fading-kitten-syndrome-symptoms-and-treatment-options&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fading Kitten Syndrome&lt;/a&gt; where among various symptoms gradual increase in sleep is one. But as mentioned here it is mostly common among neonatal kittens and possibly not possible to happen in a three month old kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As given in the site - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/ask-a-vet-foster-kittens-die-fading-kitten-syndrome-cat-health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What Is Fading Kitten Syndrome and Why Do So Many Foster Kittens Die From It?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Profound lethargy, low body temperature, pale gums, low respiratory rate, and failure to root and nurse or eat are nearly universal signs of the syndrome.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as I mentioned, it is probably not possible for a three month old kitten to have &lt;b&gt;Fading Kitten Syndrome&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still it is always a good practice to have your pet fully checked up by a vet after you get a new pet. So if you are worried get the kitten checked up by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-28T22:24:54.670" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T22:24:54.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-28T14:27:57.230" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone with two dogs will probably tell you that dogs definitely feel jealousy. Is it true? Will it be harmful for the dog's owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13551" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T03:52:22.603" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T09:12:49.793" Title="Do dogs get jealous?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21894" CreationDate="2018-11-28T19:04:08.543" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This doesn't sound to me like a behavior problem, it sounds like a serious health concern. Talk to your vet about it as soon as possible and see what they have to say. My instinct is that there is some toxin at play, but I am not trained in vet medicine at all and may be wrong. Still, it's at least worth testing for and thinking about before ruling it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there currently salt or other ice-melting chemicals on the roads or outside your home? If so, is there any way at all that your dog could be ingesting some of them? Does he go for walks on salted roads? Do you walk on a salted sidewalk and then bring your boots inside? This issue is quite common and would likely cause the problems that you described. The solution is mostly based in awareness and vigilance- you can wash his paws in warm water after a walk, remove your boots before coming inside or clean the floor thoroughly if there are any traces of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it can't be outside chemicals, is it possible that your pup is eating, chewing on, or licking some winter-time item that you have in your home? My family used to decorate with fake styrofoam berries that attached to various surfaces with twist ties. They were subtle and beautiful and we put them everywhere and when they started disappearing we assumed the cat had stolen them and lost them under rugs/the fridge. Until we found my dog chewing on them. She liked the texture of the foam, but the paint was toxic and made her quite sick. Is there any decoration that your dog could be licking when you're not looking? Do you have pine scented things in your house that your pup could be allergic to? Is it possible there is chocolate or other toxic foods lying around in easy reach? Do you have houseplants that he could be chewing on or licking? (Poinsettia is toxic to dogs, for example) Do you have clothing items or something else that might be coated in toxins (e.g., fire starting logs, waterproofing on boots)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next time your dog has diarrhea or vomits, save some of it in a plastic baggie or air-tight container and take it to the vet. They can do an analysis of it and find out if there is anything suspicious that could be causing the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My second guess would be allergies, although this is not the most common manifestation of them in dogs and most things that dogs are allergic to are not present only in wintertime. But as I mentioned above, it is possible that there is a reaction to scents or decorations that you have out this time of year (candles, plants, woodsmoke, etc.). Think through things that are in your home now that are not typically present. Your vet can give you advice on if allergy testing might be something you would want to look into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final thought would be food. Are there any dietary changes that happen in winter for your dog? If you feed a consistent diet of one brand of dog food, then this is likely not the issue at play. But if you feed raw or homemade food, then it is worth thinking through where the meat is stored, where it comes from, etc. Is it possible that it is going bad? Alternatively, do you feed your dog table scraps? Holiday food tends to be rich and complex, moreso than food the rest of the year. If you allow your dog to chew on animal bones, there could be small sharp pieces breaking off and being ingested (although you would likely see blood in the feces and/or vomit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best of luck in figuring this out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T19:04:08.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-28T19:54:13.720" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before neutering my bunny was obssessed with mating with the cat, Neutered male, and now he is still keen to be near the cat, but is also peeing on the couch right in front of where the cat sleeps. Bunny has a large litter box in his enclosure which is about 4ft by 8ft.  I just learned about keeping other animals out and keeping the boundary secure. I want him to romp free in bunny safe rooms of the house but don't want to give him more chances to mark.  What can I do? I do get him back in his enclosure as soon as he pees, but he is also hard to pick up :( and I hate stressing him out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13593" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T19:54:13.720" Title="Neutered bunny is marking the couch near the cat, help?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21920" CreationDate="2018-11-28T21:28:24.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no way to answer questions about what dogs do and don't feel since we can't ask them like we can ask humans. What we know about dog emotions comes from brain scans and mapping. For example, we know that when dogs see or hear their owners, their brains light up in the same places that human brains do when they see people they love. So we say that dogs &quot;love&quot; us, although that emotion is likely quite a bit different from the way humans experience love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Side note: Jealousy is an interesting emotion in humans because it's not really a true emotion at all. Instead, most people experience it as a side effect of fear, anxiety, insecurity, or unfulfilled desire. If you haven't thought about that idea before, it might take some time to sink in, but I bet that if you think back to times you've been jealous, you can deconstruct that feeling into some combination of those other emotions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, so no one knows if dogs feel something like what humans describe as &quot;jealousy.&quot; We do know that some dogs will present certain behaviors in situations where a human might feel jealous, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jumping or barking at two humans hugging or cuddling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;offering a toy when humans are not paying attention to it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barking, lunging, or offering a toy when other dogs are playing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs request human attention in a variety of ways. You can call it jealousy if you want, or you can call it something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that sometimes behavior is ascribed to &quot;oh, my dog is just jealous&quot; when the dog is not seeking attention at all but is anxious or nervous with the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the first case that I mentioned above, where a dog barks when her owner hugs another human. The dog might be seeking attention but might also be nervous that the other human could hurt her owner. This sort of behavior is frequently presented by dogs that have seen domestic abuse, although it is also done by dogs who have only seen healthy human relationships (so don't assume that the owner was or is being abused).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases, behavior that is listed as &quot;jealous&quot; is not an issue for dog owners. It might be mildly annoying at worst. However, in some cases, it can get out of hand. A dog that brings a toy and tries to play when the humans are busy eating dinner is easy to ignore until the dog starts barking incessantly or jumps on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have I fully answered your question? I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T21:28:24.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-28T21:37:32.367" Score="4" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a used aquarium from my cousin. It's dry, but there is black stuff on the sides, and I'm not sure how to clean it off. It's completely disassembled, but the parts are inside. Everything except the gravel is open. I can get a picture if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13586" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T00:51:44.173" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:51:44.173" Title="How do I clean an aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20758" CreationDate="2018-11-28T22:35:06.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because they are both female, they are going to have to work out the pecking order. Right now the Terrier is being assertive and trying to be top dog in the household. The Terrier is engaging in dominant, agressive behavior. Something to consider: the pup is 6 months and this is the fall, so your new pup may be heading into her first heat. (You didn't say if either dog was spayed.) It doesn't excuse her behavior, but it might be part of the explanation for it.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;The Poodle is demonstrating submissive, frightened behaviors. Possibly due to the difference in size, the aggressive play by her new sis, or it just might be a personality trait. Typically the older dog would be established as the 'ruler'. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;It's hard to say if they are actually fighting or not, primarily because dogs tend to play like this, &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; I think dragging the Poodle around by the neck is a bit much. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;I'm not sure what you meant by &lt;em&gt;interferring&lt;/em&gt;... but, you are the parent, they are the kids. Turn and say, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;(Terrier's name) NO!&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, in a firm no-nonsense kind of way. This should give you a few seconds to seperate them and make sure the Poodle will be alright. Try to avoid calling the Terrier a 'bad dog', instead focus on 'good dog' comments to encourage proper behavior. Please make a conscious effort to teach/train the Terrier not to be so rough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-11-28T22:35:06.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-29T05:25:24.097" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to bring a cat to university as an emotional support animal, the school is requiring me to keep the cat in a cage while I'm not in the room. I don't think this is fair to the cat, but since I have no choice, I'm wondering:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is the best way to make a large cat cage that I can take apart and put back together if need be? Would it make sense to get a couple of cat cages (read: the black metal wire ones) and put them together with some duct tape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13596" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T05:25:24.097" Title="Large DIY Dissassemblable Cat Cage?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-29T05:56:33.373" Score="3" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Situation:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two kittens (originally three in litter, one died recently) are extremely aggressive around food and in pursuit of food. Their behavior includes slashing, biting, growling, and hissing at anything that gets within approximately 4 feet of them while they are eating. They aggressively try to steal food directly from people's hands while they are trying to eat it. One of them recently slashed the other's eye to the point where fluid started oozing out after it tried eating with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have a lot of cats (15+) living around our farmhouse (rural midwest USA). Many have also displayed aggression towards other cats when feeding, swatting and hissing occasionally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During the times we let the kittens in the house and they are so frantic, there is still food in the bowls we put outside, and they are clearly willing to eat that kind of food inside (it's the same food they're so defensive about). I know that at least one of the kittens has eaten from those bowls before. I do not know how much they have been eating from it recently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The kittens are both at least a month old, likely older. They are roughly the size that they can be comfortably held within two hands. I believe they have stopped nursing recently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is not practical for us to feed all of the cats separately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Question(s):&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it possible / likely that this behavior is the product of a couple generations of inbreeding? Or is it more likely that this behavior is due to them being denied access to food by the other cats when we aren't looking?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the underlying cause of the behavior is not a lack of food, is there a way for it to be corrected? I have friends and family that are interested in taking care of these two kittens. If the behavior persists as they grow up they will become a genuine threat to safety.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the underlying cause of the behavior is a lack of food (due to it being denied), is there a practical way to resolve it with rather limited manpower?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13595" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-23T13:13:44.457" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T13:13:44.457" Title="Highly aggressive kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21920" CreationDate="2018-11-29T06:32:25.480" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girl definitely gets jealous when I pet my older boy.  I have to pet them both at the same time. She will paw at my hand if I don't pet her. I think they still like each others company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T06:32:25.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21925" CreationDate="2018-11-29T06:54:52.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clean an used aquarium, you need to get some kitchen sponges similar to the ones &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Sponges-Kitchen-Cleaning-Tools/s?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;page=1&amp;amp;rh=n%3A15754811%2Cp_n_location_browse-bin%3A3530187011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure they do not contain any soap or detergents. Be sure to use only clean water when cleaning inside the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to empty the tank of all of the equipment and gravel before you start cleaning it. Moistening the algae and dirt makes them easier to get off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pump and filter need to be cleaned, too. You need to put them in a bucket with water to moisten the dirt and remember to clean it both inside and outside. Use Q-tips for the hard-to-get-to spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the filter sponges is in good shape, you need to clean them by rinsing them and squeezing out the dirt. If you are in doubt, just replace them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glass on the heater needs to be cleaned, too. Use a kitchen sponge for this; be careful, it is made of glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clean the gravel/sand, use a strainer and fill it half-full with gravel and rinse it in clean water. It will take some time, but it needs to be done. Even if the gravel is brand new, you need to rinse it to remove the dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When all is nice and clean place the tank where you want it and install every thing. Fill with water, add dechlorinator, and start the pump/filter and heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is now time to cycle your tank; take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt;; it is very important to do this before you add any fish. Plants can be added as soon as the water is heated to the temperature you want in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T00:51:01.777" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:51:01.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17255" CreationDate="2018-11-29T11:43:32.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to pick the smallest size/shape that will keep cats from using it as a toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can't give you a precise measurement. This is highly dependent on the cat. Some cats are easily deterred, others not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much better approach here would be what I refer to as the &quot;lightning rod principle&quot;. In short, lightning strikes lightning rods (instead of other nearby things) because it's the path of least (electrical) resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, cats will do their business in the &lt;em&gt;best available nearby&lt;/em&gt; option. The trick isn't to find gravel that is unsuitable for cats, but rather to provide something &lt;em&gt;better than the gravel&lt;/em&gt; so the cats will favor that instead of the gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a very simple solution, you could have a small sand pit nearby which the cats are allowed to use. They won't bother with the clumsy gravel if there's a nice sandy spot closeby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, when your cat keeps scratching the same spot on the couch, put a scratching post next to that spot. You'll see that they will redirect themselves to the scratching post (if it is indeed better). Over time, you can move the scratching post towards where you want it to be. But be aware that if you put it too far away from the couch, it may stop acting like a lightning rod because it's too far away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't really go into more detail than this, as it heavily relies on your cat, your layout, and what you find acceptable that the cat uses as a litterbox. This requires much more information than your question currently contains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T11:43:32.607" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20708" CreationDate="2018-11-29T11:59:24.633" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a representative example, please watch this 45-second video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my reading of this video:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J is playing. N is genuinely annoyed. J makes herself small to goad N into playing with her. It's not so much a matter of submission as more giving N the high ground so he's more inclined to actually pounce.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;N, on the other hand, is making himself large to show that he is unhappy with her ambushing him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a clear miscommunication. J reads N's behavior as being goaded into playing, when in fact he is scolding her for ambushing him. N reads J's behavior as admitting she made a mistake, when in fact she is trying to urge him to play together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Josefine will bat him away and run away, at which point Napoleon will sometimes give chase. If he does, the fight continues with more jabs and some biting. Nails always remain sheathed and the bites don't seem to be meant to injure (no one's ever come out bleeding, shall we say).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their actions here are consistent with a cat that actually chooses to join in the playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see this happen all the time in our house. The youngest of the three, incessantly playful, used to pounce on his sisters to start a play session, but they did not like that (and he would be driven out of the room). After a while, the youngling learned that instead of pouncing, he instead made himself look weak and thus lured his sisters into playing with him. If they responded, that means they wanted to play. If they didn't, then they don't want to play but at least he didn't upset them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that there are no nails or hard bites, how sure are you that Napoleon is fighting with her and not play fighting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be on a cat-by-cat basis, but we've noticed that it's only a fight when someone hisses. Anything before that is fair game. We can gauge this by the cats' reaction when we call out. If both of them stay there, it was a play session. If one of them makes a hasty retreat, they were an unwilling participant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If N genuinely can't handle J's playfulness, you should provide J with more toys or playsessions with you so she can get her energy out. But otherwise, just letting them solve it themselves is the better solution as long as no one gets hurt or aggravated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2018-11-29T11:59:24.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-29T12:05:44.207" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My coleonyx gecko stopped opening her eyes about a week ago. She's opened them about 3 times in that time but its only been for a few seconds and then they're shut again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's not able to eat because of this. I've tried feeding her meal worms and she walks over them, turns her head, and now closes her eyes.&#xA;She's starving now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried force feeding her a liquid mix but I got scared when she started coughing. The next day she was really skinny. I don't understand how she couldn't lost half her tail fat overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I tried researching and I'm accepting that she's dying but I really would like to save her or at least know why she's been the way she is. She's over 5 years old, I don't know her exact age because shes wild caught and the average span for coleonyx was 5-8 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been having issues for the past few months, I've posted before about them with a better order of events and better grammar. I can't get her to a vet, We don't have the money to drive her there and pay (I don't know how much it costs but my mom says she can't afford it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12996" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T10:21:35.230" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T10:21:35.230" Title="My gecko won't open her eyes" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21936" CreationDate="2018-11-29T15:28:28.980" Score="4" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I give candies to my gray parrot? He like candies and cookies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T01:21:59.527" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T20:52:27.607" Title="Is it safe to give candies to my parrot?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21935" CreationDate="2018-11-29T20:27:11.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, many animals, including parrots, should not be given foods very high in sugar, fat, or sodium. It is not technically toxic, but too much of these things can cause various medical issues. There are also a variety of foods that are toxic or possibly toxic to parrots that can be found in sweets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chocolate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;licorice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;xylitol - a sugar substitute that can be found in sugar free candies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;peanuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dairy (not toxic, but parrots are definitely lactose intolerant)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also other foods that are toxic that are less likely to be found in sweets. The following is not necessarily a comprehensive list of all things that are poisonous to parrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avocado&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mushrooms (generally of the varieties not safe for human consumption either)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fruit seeds and pits such as apple seeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plants from the allium family (garlic, onions, and so forth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plants from the nightshade family (not including the fruit, as in tomatoes are okay)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comfrey, the herb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leaves from the rhubarb plant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T20:52:27.607" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T20:52:27.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21937" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-30T04:33:55.270" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my beta fish for about a year and a couple months ago I noticed its fins were turning a blackish colour and appear to look &quot;fried&quot; at the edges. Now my fish doesn't eat and I think its becoming very sick. I tried doing 50% water changes and adding water conditioner but she keeps getting worse by the day. She doesn't move often. What should I do? Please help, any advice is appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13603" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T11:19:16.023" Title="I think my beta fish is sick, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-11-30T11:18:00.573" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21946" CreationDate="2018-11-30T06:26:58.717" Score="6" ViewCount="621" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves creamed spinach which I buy frozen. He eats that more enthusiastically than normal wet or dry cat food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently I've learned that spinach is high in oxalate which is a main ingredient of kidney stones. I've also read that urinary tract obstruction is a main cause of suffering and death among cats. So I'm wondering if I should stop giving the cat spinach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12536" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T09:32:00.330" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T18:31:09.393" Title="Is spinach bad for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21928" CreationDate="2018-11-30T07:36:48.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the underlying cause of the behavior is a lack of food (due to it being denied), is there a practical way to resolve it with rather limited manpower? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two ways to solve misbehavior: fix the underlying problem that causes the misbehavior, or tell (force) the cat to stop behaving this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former is much preferred. Since its behavior is usually a consequence of the environment it finds itself in, if you don't fix the environment but do force the cat to stop their (in their mind justified) response, then they'll see you as the bad guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, kittens are impressionable. If they've grown up in a hostile environment, even when you remove the problematic situation, they may stick to doing what they know because they've never known anything else. In that case, you will have to retrain them even after fixing the underlying problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the underlying cause of the behavior is not a lack of food, is there a way for it to be corrected?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the cause of the misbehavior is (food seems a good first bet but it could be something else), you should first fix the issue so the cats no longer &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to behave this way in order to survive. Once you've done that, if their behavior persists out of sheer habit, it becomes time to retrain them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to do so is to use negative feedback, just like how you would with a dog. Cats will eventually learn from your feedback but it takes much longer than for dogs because cats don't have the innate instinct to listen to their owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many ways to do this, I tend to apply these responses based on what's best in context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raise your voice. Call them by their name and follow up with a clear no.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take away the food. Either give it back after a short while (it's enough to send a message), or give it to the cat that was being victimized (which sends a clear message that you will favor the victim over the aggressor - crime does not pay)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the cats get physical, get physical back. &lt;strong&gt;Do not hurt your cats&lt;/strong&gt;. The goal is to send a message. A soft push to bring them off balance is more than enough to send the message. I tend to push their butt to the side as they are less able to dodge that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a plant sprayer and take off the cap so it squirts streams of water. It's a very effective ranged tool to get cats to stop doing what they're doing. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sidenotes about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The general approach in all of the rules is to &lt;strong&gt;inconvenience&lt;/strong&gt; the cat rather than full on punish them. When you punish them, they are liable to see &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; as the aggressor, and then you're just adding to the hostile environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When two cats engage each other in a fight, &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt; should be punished, regardless of who started it. When one cat is only defending itself from the aggressor, only the aggressor should be punished.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For long term training, always start with a verbal warning, and only resort to physical/water responses when that verbal warning is ignored. Over time, they will learn that ignoring the verbal warning means a stronger response is coming, and they will back of when they hear a verbal warning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remain consistent&lt;/strong&gt;. When you've decided to punish a certian behavior, &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; forbd it for &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; cat. This sends a clear message of zero tolerance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick your fights. If your cats have many misbehaviors, don't address them all at once. Pick 3-4 topic and prohibit those. When they make progress, add remaning topics. If you punish everything all at once, the cats might end up seeing you as getting upset about literally everything and your message will not reach them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is not practical for us to feed all of the cats separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can understand that, there may be a lot of benefit gained from &lt;em&gt;sometimes&lt;/em&gt; splitting them off. For example, if one cat becomes needlessly aggressive, putting them outside while the others are being fed inside sends a &lt;strong&gt;powerful&lt;/strong&gt; message. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't starve your cat, give them some food in a short while or let them back in so they can still have &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of it. But that short period of missing out on food right after being violent with others sends a clear message that violence does not pay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many ways, you can teach a cat the same way you teach a child that chooses to not listen to what you say. Since cats don't speak your language, they should be treated just like children who refuse to listen: learning through practical experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it possible / likely that this behavior is the product of a couple generations of inbreeding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't say it's impossible but I do consider this highly unlikely. Aggressive behavior isn't a genetic defect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or is it more likely that this behavior is due to them being denied access to food by the other cats when we aren't looking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is much, much more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have friends and family that are interested in taking care of these two kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If friends and family are willing to train the cats, it may be easier to train them when they're young and in a new environment. They will already have to adapt to the new environment, might as well make them adapt to new house rules (no violence etc.) at the same time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may also solve an issue of cat overpopulation. Cats are territorial, and having 15 cats in the same place is likely adding to the social friction between the cats. They don't have their own domain and that's going to cause issues such as not putting up with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the behavior persists as they grow up they will become a genuine threat to safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring cases of cats that were egregiously abused by their owners, I have yet to come across a cat whose behavior cannot be adjusted by proper training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spare the rod, spoil the child&quot; is a good general approach &lt;strong&gt;when used figuratively and not as a justification for corporal punishment. Never EVER resort to physical abuse.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used what can be considered classic child raising methods for cats with great success. This includes the punishments I've mentioned before, but also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Escalating punishments. When you're implementing a rule that didn't exist before, start with soft warnings. As the cat keeps breaking the same rule over and over, the punishments escalate as they &quot;should know better&quot;. But it goes without saying that you need to remember that cats do not speak English (or your language) and non-verbal communication can take much longer to pass the message along.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repetition and consistency is key. Never allow something because you can't be bothered to punish it. Don't send mixed signals. Make sure all humans in the house are aligned on what's allowed and what's not. For example, if your partner lets the cats on the couch but you don't, the cats are going to end up confused and not getting a clear message.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timeout room. Cat misbehaves, goes in the timeout room. For warnings, I take them to the timeout room but do not close the door. Merely being carried to that room is enough to get them to realize they need to stop whatever it is that they were doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Understand that your cat is not trying to refuse your authority - it simply doesn't comprehend the idea that you wield authority over them. Cats tend to act on their own decisions, and thus will always be &lt;em&gt;genuine&lt;/em&gt;. Never punish a cat without first trying to understand why they're acting the way they are (but physically assaulting others is something that you can respond to immediately, of course).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot more to be said on the topic of cat training, more than I can put in a single answer. I suggest you browse the cat questions on this site as this has been addressed before in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18666/my-cat-is-biting-and-scratching-me-and-diving-at-me-with-claws-out/18674#18674&quot;&gt;This is an answer I gave a while ago which goes more in-depth as to how you train a cat through negative feedback.&lt;/a&gt; Chapter 4 is the most relevant for your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T07:43:36.133" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T07:43:36.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1885" CreationDate="2018-11-30T07:41:04.053" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a common misconception that house cat and other cat species (read lions, tigers, etc.) don't need green food. Although being obligate carnivores with 95% of dietary requirement being meat, they do need green food. But in wild they don't need to eat green food separately. They hunt and eat herbivores. Their digestive tracks have some half digested green food. And that is enough for the cat species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources claiming that cats do eat digestive tracts of prey -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Lions, for instance, often tear open large prey right away to get at and eat the internal organs before they start eating the muscles (meat) of the animal. Depending on the hunger and fitness of the lion in the pride, they will also eat the intestines -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Do-carnivores-eat-the-digestive-system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Do carnivores eat the digestive system?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Although cats are meat-eaters, when they hunt and eat their natural prey, they eat the vegetable matter in the prey’s gut. -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/feeding-vegetables-cats-4252.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feeding Vegetables to Cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Cats tend to consume the whole of a small prey animal like a mouse, with its tiny amount of fermented stomach content. I have seen cats eat the stomach content of larger prey like rabbits - &lt;a href=&quot;https://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-the-stomach-contents-of-prey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Answers: The Stomach Contents of Prey&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in case of house cats, unfortunately most are fed commercial cat food which is totally void  of green food. So house cats do need to consume some amount of green food separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although cats will not be able to digest the green food, still it is very beneficial. Some of the benefits are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats don't need to break down the starch to absorb vitamins and minerals from plant leaves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Adding a few select vegetables to her diet is a great way to give her more selection, while sneaking in a few additional (essential!) vitamins and minerals as well. -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/petcentral/nutrition-pet-diet-tips-6-best-vegetables-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;6 Best Vegetables for Cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;common lawn grasses like St. Augustine offer fiber and trace minerals -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green foods helps in weight control of overweight cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;If your cat is overweight, adding some veggies to her diet can help keep her weight down. -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/feeding-vegetables-cats-4252.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feeding Vegetables to Cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green foods boost immune system and lessen the effect of ageing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Feeding your cat vegetables can also boost her immune system and can lessen the effects of aging. -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/feeding-vegetables-cats-4252.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feeding Vegetables to Cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vegetables, especially those obtained from gut of prey are the main source of useful bacteria in cats. As such house cats have to be fed probiotics separately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The stomach content of an herbivore, such as a mouse or rabbit, contains fermented vegetable matter which is a mix of symbiotic bacteria and volatile fatty acids.¹ The VFAs become the energy source for the herbivorous animal and the symbiotic bacteria. In turn, the symbiotic bacteria keep the intestinal mucosa healthy.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, for a cat, the consumption of fermented gut content from a mouse or rabbit aids in the management of the cat's own intestinal flora. The intestinal flora in turn maintains the integrity of the mucosal surface. It is likely the VFAs contribute little as an energy source to the cat, but the bacterial load is likely very beneficial.² The microorganisms perform a host of useful functions: preventing the growth of harmful bacteria, producing vitamins for the host such as biotin and vitamin K and maintaining the integrity of the mucosal surface of the gut.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;-- &lt;a href=&quot;https://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-the-stomach-contents-of-prey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Answers: The Stomach Contents of Prey&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grass is a great source of folic acids in cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The juices in grass contain folic acid, a vitamin essential to a cat's well-being. Folic acid, also present in the mother cat's milk, aids the production of oxygen in the cat's bloodstream. A folic acid deficiency may lead to anemia, and a young cat's growth can be stunted if she doesn't get enough of it. -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/why-do-cats-eat-grass/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why do cats eat grass?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green foods remove waste and detoxify the colon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green food helps a cat to expel hairballs by either pushing them into the digestive track or enabling vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;It may add fiber and bulk to their diet, helping them pass worms or fur through their intestinal tract. If broader-leafed varieties offer a laxative effect, thinner-leafed grass induces cats to vomit. -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/why-do-cats-eat-grass/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why do cats eat grass?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some green foods detoxify liver and urinary track&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Dandelion greens are packed with nutritious compounds that detoxify the liver and urinary tract -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some green food like kale and chard helps prevent constipation, fecal impactions and spastic colons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fiber in green food helps prevent the buildup of gas and waste in colon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green leafy vegetables can prevent cancer of digestive tracks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Human studies have demonstrated that leafy vegetables can even prevent cancers of the digestive tract. Considering the cancer epidemic among companion animals, this should not be overlooked or underestimated. -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some green foods can ease the pain of arthritis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;the proteolytic enzymes found in some leafy greens are anti-inflammatory, and may ease painful conditions like arthritis. -- &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding claims of detoxification,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As given in &lt;a href=&quot;https://moderncat.com/articles/detoxify-your-cats-body-increase-longevity/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;moderncat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food that help detoxify the body of a cat are -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk Thistle - It helps in regenerating and protecting the liver, the organ responsible for detoxifying the whole body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin E - Many plant food are rich in Vitamin E, which seeks out and destroys free radicals. Free radicals cause cancer, skin problems, infectious illness and ageing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin C - Yet another nutrient which is abundant in many plant food, It boosts immune system, relieves bowel problems, prevents cancer, gum diseases and skin diseases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green Tea - It is high in anti-oxidant which eliminates free radicals, remove carcinogens and thus prevent cancer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zinc - A mineral that is abundant in plant food, it reduces inflammation and speeds up healing process. It also helps liver to produce detoxifying enzymes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SAMe - S-adenosylmethionine, known as SAMe for short, is another supplement that helps to clear the liver of toxins. It is present in Milk Thistle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dandelion - It helps strengthen the liver and clear out toxin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Support the Lymphatic System - Lymph contains white blood cells, and helps get rid of toxins in the body. Red clover support the lymphatic system.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Support the kidneys - Kidneys are also important for detoxification. Marshmallow, corn silk, and cranberry are good for kidney health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;Support the immune system - &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Echinacea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Astragalus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Garlic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short the answer is &lt;b&gt;YES&lt;/b&gt;, cats do need to eat a certain amount of green leafy vegetables in their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However always consult the vet before giving any green leafy vegetable to a cat so as to ensure that the particular vegetable has no harmful side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;RELATED:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21942/what-are-some-green-vegetables-that-i-can-safely-feed-to-my-cat/21943#21943&quot;&gt;What are some green vegetables that I can safely feed to my cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21944/how-to-prepare-vegetables-to-feed-a-cat/21945#21945&quot;&gt;How to prepare vegetables to feed a cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T16:46:30.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21928" CreationDate="2018-11-30T07:54:39.950" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an addition to Flater's answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not practical for us to feed all of the cats separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding many animals from one bowl or in one tight spot creates stress because the weakest are forced to wait for the strongest to finish before they can eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should put out many small bowls of food and spread them over a larger area so even the weakest have the chance to eat while the strongest are still eating. This reduces stress and aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same principle is used in many zoos today to prevent stress and additional work for zookeepers. In the past, they had to separate individuals during feeding time, now they can feed the whole group at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-23T13:10:20.957" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T13:10:20.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-30T08:27:10.000" Score="4" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see cats eating green leafy vegetables on youtube. So I was wondering what are some green leafy vegetables that I can safely feed to my cat without the risk of negative side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting proper sources would be  helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T11:19:52.920" Title="What are some green vegetables that I can safely feed to my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21942" CreationDate="2018-11-30T08:27:10.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although being obligate carnivores cats can't digest green leafy vegetables still it is essential part of their diet. See my answer in the post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1885/is-there-benefit-to-feeding-my-cats-cat-food-that-incorporates-fruits-and-vegeta&quot;&gt;Is there benefit to feeding my cats cat food that incorporates fruits and vegetables?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming to your question, below are some of the green leafy vegetables that can be safely fed to a cat -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steamed Broccoli&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steamed Green Beans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steamed Asparagus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;Spinach &lt;i&gt;(Spinach has Calcium Oxalate which can form crystals in the urinary track and kidney. So spinach should not be fed regularly and not to cats with history of urinary and kidney problems)&lt;/i&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fresh or frozen peas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However some cats can be allergic to certain vegetables. So do consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;SOURCE&lt;/b&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://moderncat.com/articles/11-people-foods-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;11 People Foods for Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://moderncat.com/articles/8-more-people-foods-cats/68598/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;8 More People Foods For Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/clearing-the-air/2016/08/human-food-for-cats-a-basic-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HUMAN FOOD FOR CATS: A BASIC GUIDE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://mom.me/pets/17929-10-people-foods-cats-can-eat-too/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 'People Foods' Cats Can Eat Too&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/best-fruits-and-vegetables-for-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Best Fruits and Vegetables for Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;RELATED&lt;/b&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21944/how-to-prepare-vegetables-to-feed-a-cat/21945#21945&quot;&gt;How to prepare vegetables to feed a cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T11:19:52.920" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T11:19:52.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-30T08:59:30.333" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that feeding some green vegetables is good for cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following post -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21942/what-are-some-green-vegetables-that-i-can-safely-feed-to-my-cat&quot;&gt;What are some green vegetables that I can safely feed to my cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;mentions some vegetables that are good for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't find enough information on internet about the preparation of vegetables before feeding it to cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know whether I should feed them raw or should I cook them and how to cook them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-11-30T16:55:37.980" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T16:55:37.980" Title="How to prepare green vegetables before feeding a cat? Should they be served raw or should I cook them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;vegetarian-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-07T22:05:17.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21944" CreationDate="2018-11-30T08:59:30.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As vegetables upon cooking loose many enzymes and nutrients effort should be made to serve them raw and fresh whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If cooked steaming is preferable as it retains more nutrients than boiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also dark colored vegetables should be chosen over lighter ones as they have a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can chop, mince the vegetables or make a puree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can mix the vegetables in small amounts in your cat's food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember not to overfeed vegetables to your cat and also daily feeding is not needed. For a cat not habituated to eating vegetables start slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are allergic to certain vegetables. Also not all vegetables are safe for cats. So do consult a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;SOURCE:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://animalwellnessmagazine.com/leafy-green-vegetables-for-healthy-pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens for dogs and cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;RELATED:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21942/what-are-some-green-vegetables-that-i-can-safely-feed-to-my-cat/21943#21943&quot;&gt;What are some green vegetables that I can safely feed to my cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1885/is-there-benefit-to-feeding-my-cats-cat-food-that-incorporates-fruits-and-vegeta&quot;&gt;Is there benefit to feeding my cats cat food that incorporates fruits and vegetables?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T08:59:30.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21938" CreationDate="2018-11-30T09:26:56.187" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spinach is low in calories and has high concentration of many minerals and vitamins. Spinach also contains glycoclycerolipids which helps protect the lining of the digestive tract from damage due to inflammation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, spinach also has small amounts of calcium oxalate which is known to cause stones in urinary tracts and kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consumption of spinach sporadically and in small amounts should not be a cause of worry. It is rather a healthy diet if consumed in small amounts. But regular consumption should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also for cats with history of urinary and kidney problems, no consumption of spinach is advisable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also do consult your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;SOURCE -&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://moderncat.com/articles/11-people-foods-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;11 People Foods for Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://mom.me/pets/17929-10-people-foods-cats-can-eat-too/item/can-cats-eat-spinach/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;10 'People Foods' Cats Can Eat Too&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;RELATED -&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21942/what-are-some-green-vegetables-that-i-can-safely-feed-to-my-cat/21943#21943&quot;&gt;What are some green vegetables that I can safely feed to my cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1885/is-there-benefit-to-feeding-my-cats-cat-food-that-incorporates-fruits-and-vegeta&quot;&gt;Is there benefit to feeding my cats cat food that incorporates fruits and vegetables?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21944/how-to-prepare-vegetables-to-feed-a-cat/21945#21945&quot;&gt;How to prepare vegetables to feed a cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T09:26:56.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21928" CreationDate="2018-11-30T10:43:44.790" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to add something to the excellent answer given by @Flater&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inbreeding&lt;/a&gt; may actually result in aggressive behavior in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was referring to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-disadvantages-of-inbreeding-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What are the disadvantages of inbreeding cats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned by &lt;i&gt;Jennie Balfour&lt;/i&gt; about his/her cat Tigger&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;He’ll snuggle up to them &amp; should they wake &amp; try to wash him, he’ll tolerate it for a few seconds &amp; then attack them.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;He’ll eat any type of cat food that’s put in front of him &amp; if there’s not enough on his plate, he’ll attack the other 2 cats, drive them away from their food, &amp; quickly gobble it up.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;To this day, he’ll target any cat that dares to cross the property line &amp; fight them.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;You can’t pet him for too long since it overstimulates him &amp; he’ll bite.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;He also has a very different personality from any other cat I’ve owned (&amp; I’ve been a cat owner my whole life). He’s more animal-centric than he is human-centric. How much of that is due to coming from a feral colony &amp; how much is due to being inbred, I can’t say for sure.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I can see many similarities between the behavior of Tigger and that of your two kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the site &lt;a href=&quot;https://animals.mom.me/problems-with-inbreeding-cats-5105419.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PROBLEMS WITH INBREEDING CATS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is mentioned that inbreeding may result in mental problems for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The Cat Fanciers Association of America notes that &lt;b&gt;inbreeding&lt;/b&gt; may lead to immune deficiencies, more &lt;b&gt;congenital abnormalities&lt;/b&gt; and cats that don't grow to their potential.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/can-cats-be-mentally-retarded-554004&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mental Retardation in Cats&lt;/a&gt; also mentions that inbreeding may result in mental disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/article/retardation-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Retardation in Cats&lt;/a&gt; is a cause of mental illness in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;All cats can inherit diseases if both parents have the same gene mutation, but the likelihood is greater among &lt;b&gt;pedigree&lt;/b&gt; cats bred from a restricted gene pool&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a &lt;b&gt;SIDENOTE&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned in your question that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;One of them recently slashed the other's eye to the point where fluid started oozing out after it tried eating with it.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So regular trimming of their claws is definitely advisable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-11-30T10:43:44.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-11-30T23:12:08.180" Score="3" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m cycling a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank and I have 3 mollies currently. As the tank is done cycling, I want to add more mollies and glofish! How many of each do you recommend? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13607" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:16:49.077" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:19:00.210" Title="How many mollies and glofish can be in a 20 gallon tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21948" CreationDate="2018-12-01T00:03:06.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While a 20 gallon (76 liters) aquarium is a great place to start, most species of molly fish would thrive in something larger. This is especially the case if you plan to own a significantly larger number of molly fish, or if you wish to mix molly fish with other fish breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read, 4 to 6 mollies is an optimal number in case of a 20 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13609" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T15:19:00.210" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T15:19:00.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-01T01:55:09.777" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, I moved into my first apartment. I brought my two outdoor cats with me. They were indoor cats, but my mam had a baby years ago and decided she didn't want them in the house anymore. I knew they hated being outside and so was delighted to bring them in. They are 12 and 15 year old respectively, and they love it here! They won't even look outside, just follow me around all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is at night my 15 year old, male cat (named Mylo) is perfect during the day and would originally sleep in the living room/kitchen. He started to pee outside the litter box, so I got one with a cover and it went well until he started to pee on the counter! I knew putting him in a different room at night was a bad idea because he cries out non-stop for hours, really loud! We tried having him in our room, but he cries to be in the living room and walks on our faces at night. I know he loves the bed being beside the radiator at night and thought that would be a reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just can't stand the peeing on my counter near appliances. I know he's slightly deaf and very confused and also goes around with his tongue out most of the time after hours of over grooming. I don't like listening to him cry in the bathroom because it breaks my heart. I don't even want to wait until he gets used to it. I just don't understand what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Scwqg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13610" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:00:11.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:00:11.027" Title="Does my cat have anxiety?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2018-12-01T02:07:32.937" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta fin tissue usually heals easily on its own. If you're keeping your betta in a vase or a fish bowl with no filter, you should already be on a weekly water changing schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13609" LastActivityDate="2018-12-01T02:07:32.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21950" CreationDate="2018-12-01T03:21:03.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would do is get Mylo checked out at the vet. There could be several reasons for him peeing outside the litter box. He could have a urinary tract infection, for example, and has learned to associate the discomfort of peeing with the litter box. He could have arthritis, making it difficult to step over the lid of the box. (Although, if he is jumping up on the counter, that might not be the case.) Given his age, a check-up is probably the best place to start. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, do you have enough litter boxes? Ideally with two cats there should be three litter boxes, but definitely at least two. Put them in different locations -- perhaps Mylo feels that the litter box is too far away when he needs to pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps Mylo doesn't like the litter. Cats generally prefer litter that is similar in texture to sand. It should be unscented. Try a different litter in each litter box to see which they prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the other cat perhaps ambushing Mylo at the litter box? Another reason to have more than one litter box.  Cats tend to prefer open litter boxes, because they can see if someone approaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible reason that Mylo is peeing in inappropriate places is that he feels the need to mark his territory. Are there perhaps stray cats outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overgrooming could be stress, or it could be a skin problem (another thing to ask the vet about.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-12-01T03:21:03.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21975" CreationDate="2018-12-01T03:26:57.307" Score="2" ViewCount="459" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a peculiar issue with my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got her from a shelter, and it seems like she has had some poor experiences in the past (very skittish, doesn't like humans approaching). Over a few years, however, she has warmed up to us and let us play with and even pet her in the living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the office (where I spend most of my time), while she is fine coming in for treats and playing with a distant feather toy, she is very skittish (much moreso than in any other room). If someone approaches the door, blocking her exit, she will zoom past and run out. If the door closes behind her (which it has on a few occasions), she gets extremely agitated and claws at the door until it opens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to make her warm up to the room? I have a feeling that it is because early when we got her, she explored into this room and then got trapped for a few hours, and so perhaps that fear remains. I do play with her a lot in the office and give her treats, but she still seems skittish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13611" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T17:00:22.467" Title="How do I convince my cat not to be scared when the door to my room is closed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-02T13:44:51.357" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I loved cats so I take special care of them. A few days ago my uncle gifted me a Persian cat but the problem is that she do not eat as normal cats eat their food. I'm a little bit afraid that she may have got ill and winter has arrived so it is more important to take special care of her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13503" LastEditorUserId="12151" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T11:58:48.910" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:57:42.557" Title="As different kinds of cats needs different kind of food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21560" CreationDate="2018-12-02T18:32:46.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We ended up buying a modular cat condo that includes stairs, given the idea from @lpytel  They use it just at intended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vJrw6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vJrw6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Armacat modular cat tower&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13203" LastActivityDate="2018-12-02T18:32:46.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19539" CreationDate="2018-12-02T22:27:10.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience, the answer to your question is yes. As fmorales mentioned within their answer, the smaller the bird the faster the food gets digested. I have also read and know for a fact that a budgie will usually poop every 15 mins and while an amazon can poop around 30-45 minutes. I have taken care of a Red Lored Amazon Parrot and multiple budgies(american Parakeet) within my life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13623" LastActivityDate="2018-12-02T22:27:10.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-02T22:58:47.693" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Siliconizing glass makes it non-sticky.  Does that or something else prevent algae from sticking to glass so I won't have to scrape the front pane all the time?&#xA;I want to treat the tank before setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13624" LastActivityDate="2018-12-02T22:58:47.693" Title="Can I use hard surface protectant to prevent algal growth on my aquarium front glass? Is there something else that will prevent them sticking?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-03T00:18:24.070" Score="2" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a 9 month old female doberman mix dog. She is the sweetest thing, however she seems to have very high stress and anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to be terrified of the stairs which is the only way in and out of my home. Going up seems to be less of a problem and she negotiated going down relatively easy the first time. However now she will not even approach the front  door/landing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I'm a bit concerned because I would like to be able to take her out for the bathroom. I have carried her down which seems to only exacerbate her fears. I have tried patiently waiting and encouraging with treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really very unsure of what I should do? I think I may be having adoption remorse. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13626" LastEditorUserId="12151" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T15:41:00.400" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:50:49.727" Title="I live in an upstairs condo and my new dog refuses to go down stairs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18373" CreationDate="2018-12-03T02:32:28.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Takashi Amano is arguably the most influential person of modern-day planted aquarium keeping. It is said that he put carbonated water in his tank and noticed flourishing growth of his aquatic plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that you are probably fine with pouring soda water in your tank! Just without flavoring of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, it may seem inexpensive at first, you will probably go through cans of the stuff in no time and spend more money over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should consider a setup such as this pressurized $100 setup from this guide: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thegoodalgae.com/guides/the-co2-paintball-system-for-planted-aquariums/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://thegoodalgae.com/guides/the-co2-paintball-system-for-planted-aquariums/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm almost positive that in the first year it will be much cheaper than soda water of the same duration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13628" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T02:32:28.087" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21961" CreationDate="2018-12-03T03:34:40.293" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would encourage you to be patient with her. But also to evaluate the staircase and landing area from her point of view. Can you provide us with more information? &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do the stairs and landing offer &quot;secure footing&quot;? Are there a lot of stairs or a few? Are the stairs steep? Is there a glass doorway on the landing? All of those things could potentially 'freak out' your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T03:34:40.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21967" CreationDate="2018-12-03T10:28:01.923" Score="12" ViewCount="8792" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is four years old now. Someone told me that cats do not have a long life span. This made me so sad and worried. I want to know what is the approximate age of cats if they are fit and healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T15:41:06.257" LastActivityDate="2020-06-18T02:00:31.210" Title="What is the maximum age of cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21966" CreationDate="2018-12-03T10:38:02.517" Score="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current Guinness World Record for longest-lived domestic cat belonged to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/oldest-cat-ever&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Creme Puff&lt;/a&gt;, who lived to be 38 (1967 - 2005). &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_in_cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The typical lifespan for indoor domestic cats is estimated at ~15 years&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="358" LastEditorUserId="358" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T18:48:06.060" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T18:48:06.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21889" CreationDate="2018-12-03T15:25:56.403" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are basking in the light at the top of the tank.  Basking is a normal and important turtle behavior that is involved in temperature regulation, Vitamin D production, and just drying off for reasons of shell health maintenance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles tend to go to the warmest and brightest place in the enclosure to bask, and the timing and amount of basking depends on temperature, light level, and season. For a pet turtle that means generally -as close to the heat and light source as possible-.  So your 'top' turtle here is taking advantage of his buddy as a stepstool to get just a little closer to those sweet, sweet UV rays!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article describes basking in more detail and provides a photo of turtles in the wild basking in a stack: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesuperfins.com/why-do-turtles-bask-in-the-sun/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.thesuperfins.com/why-do-turtles-bask-in-the-sun/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:25:56.403" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21961" CreationDate="2018-12-03T15:50:36.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it interesting that carrying her down them seems to trigger the same fear. That makes it seem less like the fear is the stairs themselves (fear of falling, etc.), and more like it is something else. Is she afraid of being picked up in general? Does she have the same response to being carried if it is just around your home and doesn't involve the stairs/going outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the process of going downstairs like for her when you carry her? Is there a point where she becomes less or more afraid? Could there be one specific scary item on the path? Or is it possible that her fear is of going outside/leaving the safe space of your home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an experiment to try. Carry her outside and let her do her business, sniff around, give her treats and praise, etc. When she seems calm, start to head back inside. Before you climb any stairs, turn around and walk back away from the house. Is she happy to follow or is there any resistance? What about if you climb one stair with her and then have her turn around and go back down? Two stairs? Three? Is there a specific point where the fear starts to show up? What if you get all the way back to your front door?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the fear does show itself, have her still go back to the outside and wait until she is calm before taking her back in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, this will help give you a better idea of what the specific problem is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways for you to move forward. I highly recommend you look into a professional dog trainer who specializes in fear and anxiety. Dealing with fear is hard and your pup is young enough that any accidental mishandling of the situation could have life-long effects. A professional would be able to guide the process safely and help you make a plan for solving the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If professional help isn't possible right now, I recommend doing some research on curing fears in dogs. Once you have a clearer idea of what the core of the issue is, it should be easier to come up with a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:50:36.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21961" CreationDate="2018-12-03T15:50:49.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few thing you should try to discover before you decide how to move forward.  First, does your dog fear all stairs, or only the particular ones at the entrance to your home?  If she resists all steps of any kind, it may be worth taking her to the vet to rule out physical pain, such as a joint problem, as the source of her fears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's just your front stairs, consider what about them might be scary.  Has she had a bad experience there or fallen?  Are the stairs slippery hardwood, or do they creak loudly?  Try to correct any obvious deficiencies that have a simple solution.  (i.e. add non-skid runners or remove a disorienting large mirror from the bottom of the stairwell, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, once the source of the problem has been dealt with, the fear my well remain, and is best dealt with by counter conditioning.  This is a pretty good simplistic description of the process: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Help-a-Dog-Overcome-Its-Fear-of-Stairs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.wikihow.com/Help-a-Dog-Overcome-Its-Fear-of-Stairs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you can very slowly teach your dog to associate steps = food and praise, and replace the steps = scary association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:50:49.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21957" CreationDate="2018-12-03T15:57:42.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best simple bet is to ask your uncle what the cat was eating before it was given to you and buy some of that.  Many cats have a hard time with change, and the change to a new home and new food at the same time is likely too much for her to process all at once.  Besides, changing foods or feeding schedule suddenly can cause stomach upset in some cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try returning to whatever food she was eating before, and then once she's been eating normally a while, gradually transition to the food you want her to eat long term, by replacing a little more of the old brand of food with the new brand each day.  You should do this slowly over several days, or even several weeks if the cat is very sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If going back to her original food brand doesn't do the trick right away, you should have her checked by the vet; cats can go only a short time without eating before they get very ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T15:57:42.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21845" CreationDate="2018-12-03T16:10:38.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try some of the 40-hour heat packs used for shipping reptiles, which you can get in a pet store or online; you would still have to buy it, but they are not very expensive.  Using a floor vent heater in the room is a good idea if the house is cold, but it's a dangerous and tricky game to have it blow right on the tank as a primary heat source-- there is a very good chance you could over- or under heat your gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T16:10:38.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21966" CreationDate="2018-12-03T16:32:34.190" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Life expectancy depends on many things, including one important factor - whether your cat is an indoor-only cat or an outdoor cat. Indoor cats generally live from 12-18 years of age. Many may live to be in their early 20s. The oldest reported cat lived to be an amazing 28 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13634" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T16:32:34.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21953" CreationDate="2018-12-03T17:00:22.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That explanation of the fear makes a lot of sense. My first piece of advice would be to make sure that it can never happen by accident. Make sure that the door is propped open or that there's something blocking the latch so that she couldn't accidentally be locked in again. This is important through the next steps as you work to desensitize her to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, if she's comfortable going in the room so long as the doorway isn't blocked, I suggest setting up space so that you can feed her in there. While she's eating, make sure that nothing happens that would trigger her fear. If you can, consider moving her litter box into that room as well. The goal is for her to spend enough time in it that all the previous negative associations are overridden by the boring-ness of the space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitor her behavior in the room for a few months. Hopefully, she will start spending more time there and you will see increased comfort without any other changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she seems quite comfortable in the setup, start very gradually pushing on the fear. You mentioned that if someone stands in the doorway, she will bolt. Some days as she's eating, start coming and going from the room, pausing for a just moment in the doorway. The goal is to find the spot where she notices and just starts to tense up before you remove the threat. You never want to push her to the point of bolting, as that will strengthen the fear response. Instead, you want to habituate her to the stimulus so that she stops even noticing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she doesn't seem bothered by brief pauses in the doorway, start making it scarier. Lengthen the time that you wait, take up more space, have someone else briefly block the doorway, etc. Again, you never want to push her to the panic point. Be prepared for that &quot;panic point&quot; to change day to day. If your work is helping, it should slowly get better; she should slowly be able to handle more and more. However, some days it may seem worse than the day before and that's okay. It will depend on her mood, how rested she is, if she's had enough exercise, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she's okay with people in the doorway, start introducing objects blocking it. You might put a chair in the way, or a baby gate, or a box. Anything that you have lying around that she can jump over/climb through and that won't cause a safety hazard for the humans that have to step over it or move it when they need to enter. When you introduce an object like this, keep it there for a few days at the beginning. Make sure to put it there when she is out of the room so that she can investigate while she enters. After she understands the object, you can take it away and put it back periodically while she's inside. Watch her response carefully and make sure that she doesn't reach the panic point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she's okay with miscellaneous objects, try leaving the door partially closed. Follow the same slow process as before where she gets to explore entering with a door that isn't fully open before she has to leave through it. Eventually, you should be able to close the door while she's in the room without her panicking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T17:00:22.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="21977" CreationDate="2018-12-03T18:15:23.127" Score="27" ViewCount="18724" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to measure the weight of my cat in order to see if he is healthy according to his BMI. So I want to know how can I measure the weight. What is the correct way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2018-12-03T22:15:33.927" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T15:56:16.167" Title="How can I measure the weight of my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21976" CreationDate="2018-12-03T18:18:32.613" Score="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have a bathroom scale? If so, weigh yourself. Now pick up the cat and weigh yourself holding the cat. Subtract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="358" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T18:18:32.613" CommentCount="17" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21976" CreationDate="2018-12-03T18:27:01.667" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a pet carrier and a digital fish scale. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the cat, small dog, rabbit, etc in the pet carrier weigh with a digital fish scale. Hang the carrier by the handle on the fish scale hook. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let the animal out of the carrier and weigh the pet carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subtract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO This gives a more accurate weight for medications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/251/putting-a-cat-into-a-carrier/344#344&quot;&gt;Putting a cat into a carrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-04T11:17:23.830" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T11:17:23.830" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21976" CreationDate="2018-12-03T18:59:03.567" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned about healthy weight (not medication), the cat's weight in pounds or kilograms is less important than the amount of fat they're carrying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/healthy-weight-for-your-cat#1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pets.WebMD&lt;/a&gt;, and the image shown below, the shape of the cat is a good gauge of your cat's healthy weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Cats should have that hourglass figure when you’re looking down at them, they shouldn’t have a saggy belly hanging down, and you should be able to feel their ribs,” [Melissa Mustillo, DVM] says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nXC8U.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nXC8U.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is overly fluffy or otherwise hard to visually assess, its weight can also be determined by feeling the spine and ribs, as described on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/cats/health-and-nutrition/exercise-and-weight-management/assessing-your-cats-body-condition&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purina's&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;Assessing Your Cat's Body Condition&amp;quot; page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideal Cat Weight(5)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A well-proportioned body – you should be able to see a waist behind the ribs; ribs can still be felt but with a slight fat covering. There will be a small paunch of fat on the abdomen. This level is a healthy weight for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an underweight cat, &amp;quot;[r]ibs can be felt with a minimal fat covering&amp;quot; at the least severe level, down to &amp;quot;[r]ibs will visible on shorthaired cats, and they will not have any obvious fat.&amp;quot; If the cat is overweight, that ranges from &amp;quot;[r]ibs can be felt but are covered with a slight excess fat covering&amp;quot; up to &amp;quot;[r]ibs and lumbar area are hidden under a heavy covering of fat, and heavy fat deposits are also present on the face and limbs.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may take some practice and discussions with your veterinarian to get the hang of checking your cat's weight, but as it becomes routine to feel along it's ribs and spine, you'll begin to notice shifts in your cat's weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the &amp;quot;saggy belly&amp;quot; may not always be the best metric for determining the weight of a cat; while it is present in overweight cats, it is often also present in cats who are not and have never been overweight, as addressed in the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10200/why-does-my-female-cat-stomach-area-hang-so-low/10209#10209&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Why does my female cat stomach area hang so low?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;average&amp;quot; weight for a domestic cat is about 10 lbs, however, this varies depending on breed and build. Anecdotally, of my two adult cats, one would be underweight at 10 lbs, while the other starts edging into overweight at the same size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have concerns about your cat's weight, before making any changes to his or her diet, you should consult with your veterinarian to be sure the cat is indeed over- or under-weight and develop a plan to get your cat to the ideal weight for his or her size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T15:56:16.167" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3142" CreationDate="2018-12-03T20:23:02.763" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a netherland dwarf bunny &amp;amp; he had nerve damage before. I took him to a vet &amp;amp; they showed me how to do bunny PT &amp;amp; what medicine to get him. They also said to cut an 81 mg of aspirin into 4th’s, put it inside a blueberry &amp;amp; feed him it. It worked &amp;amp; within a month he was fully using his arm again. As of right now he lost a nail. He jumped down &amp;amp; landed wrong causing it to break off. Seems as though he’s in a lot if pain &amp;amp; that it’s helping. He’s eating &amp;amp; pooping regularly(:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13638" LastActivityDate="2018-12-03T20:23:02.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21966" CreationDate="2018-12-03T22:17:49.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had cats all my life, they are family pets lived to the age of 16 to 18 years old. We have never had a cat live past 20 years, although it is definitely not rare. I recently got a full-blooded Egyptian Mau. I was told his lifespan is over 20 years. I've also got just a little more information on a possible difference in mixed or full blooded. It mostly lived inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13640" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T23:02:53.943" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T23:02:53.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-04T07:49:35.360" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;How old can cat be a kitten to a mother cat given that they would have both have to be sterilised? If not sterilised they either try to breed or co-breed. Is there a record old kitten? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T07:49:35.360" Title="How old can cat be a kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2018-12-04T13:05:43.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-04T09:27:58.107" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I scratch my cat in certain places she tends to go “crazy”. Crazy as in: she’ll bob her head up and down or side to side quickly, she’ll open and close her mouth quickly, and she’ll start licking the closet object to her face aggressively. I’ve also noticed that there are little bumps in the certain areas I scratch her. She stays in place and goes crazy, when shes going crazy it seems like she has no control over herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13642" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:50:42.180" Title="Why does my cat go “crazy” when I scratch her in certain places?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20031" CreationDate="2018-12-04T10:06:00.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is a few months old but I did want to chime in on a few things :) &#xA;Dropsy can look like a very bloated stomach, it is not always pine-cone'd scales which are commonly referred to as pineconing. These are both symptoms of organ failure and is not always anything that the owner did or could have prevented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The area circled is a muscle/organ-it looks like the swim bladder and is perfectly fine and normal. He could use some fattening up, however. Frozen foods are the best-Hikari and cobalt make some decent stuff. Fluval bug bites, Northfin pellets, omega one are all good brands of pellet or flake food as well. New Life Spectrum is also pretty decent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best parameters for these guys are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, ~20 nitrates, and 7.5pH or so. Stable pH is more important than trying to fix it. They enjoy their water temperature to be around 80-82F. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish naturally have 'stringy' fecal, if it is white then I would be concerned. Also, if the habitat is small it is best to do more frequent water changes to prevent ammonia or nitrate poisoning. Epsom salt baths help with swelling and drawing fluids, and that is about it if there is nothing to draw out then it won't do too much good to do it. For Dropsy, some folk have tried Furan 2 and Kanaplex but it is almost always a temporary fix if it even helps. Dropsy-or organ failure-is fatal and shortens the lifespan greatly. Please do not let it discourage you from the hobby, tho!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13643" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T10:06:00.367" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21976" CreationDate="2018-12-04T10:53:54.337" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Locate a bathroom scale that is continuous reading (either mechanical, medical or externally powered type) and place it under the litter box.  If your cat is happy with you snooping when doing its business then peek at the scale and wait for the cat to jump out and determine the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find a bathroom scale that is continuous reading you can probably get a mechanical fish or bag scale that you could suspend the litter box from but your cat may get a bit irritated with you for making their toilet shaky and take feline revenge by not using it so use only as a last resort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cat prefers privacy when in the toilet you can use a Go-Pro or other &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=cheap%20timelapse%20camera&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cheap clone recording/time-lapse digital camera&lt;/a&gt; to record the scale display for a day and then look for the min and max value before a visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an added bonus you can vicariously monitor how large the number one and two are to monitor eating habits and general condition of your cat.  You can monitor multiple cats continuously if you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously you can locate a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=USB%20data%20logging%20scale%2010kg&amp;amp;tbm=isch&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;scale that has a built in data-logger&lt;/a&gt; or communications port and it will save you the trouble of watching boring cat toilet videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13646" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T10:53:54.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21984" CreationDate="2018-12-04T10:57:10.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is intense pleasure you know the feeling of having an itch you can not reach and the feeling of getting help hitting the right spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats react like yours when they are getting brushed too. They lose control and can start licking you and start kneading you. Some start to bite and are chewing on your hand and fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I think is going on and many cats react like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little warning: some cats really hate getting brushed. If this happens you need to brush your cat for a shorter time and give your cat a break before you  try again. Most cats will get used to brushing after some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:50:42.180" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:50:42.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21984" CreationDate="2018-12-04T14:36:29.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, there is no universally accepted word for it, but many cat owners have discovered &quot;That Spot&quot; on their cat and come up with their own word for it.  The term that seems to be the most prevalent that I've heard is &quot;lick button.&quot; It seems to be a point that somehow causes an automatic reflex in cats when touched there, similar to the spot just below your knee that a doctor will tap to stimulate a kicking reflex.  As far as I can tell, it's been little researched, and so I cannot say if this &quot;reflex&quot; is caused by the same mechanism that causes the kicking reflex, however. An example of &quot;the lick button&quot; can be seen in this video &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpG1xKN4ofo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpG1xKN4ofo&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On &lt;a href=&quot;https://ask.metafilter.com/21558/Why-does-my-cat-spaz-out-when-I-touch-her-in-a-certain-spot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://ask.metafilter.com/21558/Why-does-my-cat-spaz-out-when-I-touch-her-in-a-certain-spot&lt;/a&gt; a former breeder claims that this spot is &quot;is an &quot;accupressure&quot; spot connected to the cat's sex response system,&quot; and that breeders will apply pressure to that spot to get their queens out of heat faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-12-04T14:51:34.873" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T14:51:34.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21976" CreationDate="2018-12-04T19:27:34.817" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we had a failing cat that we needed to put weight on, we actually bought a digital deli meat scale on eBay and that way we could accurately track his weight gain/loss.  It works really well as long as the cat doesn't move around too much.  And as I like to joke with our healthy cats, as a benefit, if the cat gets to be too much trouble, this method is accurate enough to determine how much I'd get if I ground up the cat and sold him for dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cats that squirm too much (especially kittens) a new approach we've taken is to use our hand-held luggage scale.  Normally you attach this to the handle of a piece of luggage and lift it up and the scale registers the weight of the luggage.  In this case, you can simply use a reusable cloth shopping bag.  Plop the cat in the bag and lightly tie the handles so the cat can't escape, and weigh the bundle with the luggage scale.  To be most accurate, you'd want to tare the scale with just the bag then weigh the cat, but to be honest the shopping bags we use are so flimsy they don't really have any weight to speak of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13656" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T19:27:34.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22002" CreationDate="2018-12-04T20:22:39.800" Score="20" ViewCount="10681" Body="&lt;p&gt;All in the title, really. Over Christmas, my puppy will have had his first vaccination. I want to bring him to see family over this time, but a dog he will meet hasn’t had yearly boosters, only her initial 8 and 12 week vaccines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for them to meet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13658" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-02T18:57:39.493" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T18:57:39.493" Title="Should a puppy with its first vaccinations meet a dog that’s not fully vaccinated?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21992" CreationDate="2018-12-04T21:14:49.580" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry but the answer is no, you shouldn't have them meet yet. In fact, non-vaccinated young puppies should be kept away from other dogs as much as possible until they have received all of their vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risk is that the other dog, who is an adult and has a stronger immune system, could be carrying some illness without showing symptoms. Your young puppy would have few protections and could possibly get quite sick if this was the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the odds of this happening are fairly low. However, it is probably not worth the risk. If you had a 1/1000 chance of your puppy dying because you wanted to show him off, would you take that chance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T21:14:49.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21808" CreationDate="2018-12-04T21:52:38.043" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the exact situation going on, but I had a great deal of success using bait buckets. You can make your own media bags by getting the filter bags at your local pet store, along with some filter floss and ceramic rings. Just fill a bag up with the floss and another with rings or do both half and half with the rings on the bottom :) You can seed it in the established tank for a while and then tie these onto the bubbler in the bait bucket, I put an air stone at the end of it personally so the media I tie onto it does not just slide off and also to diffuse just how much air was being put out at once. This helps keep the bacteria alive for the cycle as well. I typically have an entire sump full of media just ready to go because I like to have it on hand. You can also get adapters for your car, so you can get a plugin heater for the bucket as well :) This makes traveling much less stressful on the fish and easier on you-I keep API StressCoat+ on hand as well and just do a couple drops each day in the bucket. I hope this gives some insight or help. I have moved across the united states twice with this method and all my fish survived. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13643" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T21:52:38.043" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7100" CreationDate="2018-12-04T22:00:13.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without the gas exchange across the surface, the water will lose its oxygen rather quickly. He would be alright depending on how long the trip is, but quite a few things happen in that water while he is being transported. The fish will make waste and respire which creates ammonia and nitrates. When the ammonia concentration increases in this container it'll bring the pH down slowly, which will eventually neutralize the ammonia. However, once the jar is open it will rapidly come back up and the ammonia will become toxic again - which is why when shipped fish are unbagged, most people immediately net them to prevent that shock from happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, these guys have labyrinth organs which they use to breathe air just like we do :) So he draws from the water and air. It's best to find something you can give a few holes to safely, or remove the lid during the trip now and then to allow that gas exchange to happen. Betta can easily go a few days to a week without eating; while not ideal, they will be alright. Some folk also set up timed, automatic feeders for their fish as well. I hope this helps and gives you some leads for what to do with your small tropical fish friend. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13643" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-04T01:38:25.567" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T01:38:25.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20459" CreationDate="2018-12-04T22:07:11.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot depends on how they were kept, as to what happened to your gourami. They are tropical, as prior commented while these shubunkin goldfish are cooler water fish, as also commented :) Most goldies prefer 72-75F for their waters, so many lower state residents don't have to use heaters that often unless they get into colder climate seasons. These guys are also considered pond fish and need quite a bit of room to grow-growing to the size of their tank is a bit of a myth, wherein their body will become stunted and their organs will continue to grow till they cannot handle that anymore. They are fun, funky little fish that are lots of fun. You can check out Solid Gold Aquatics on youtube, Jenny has some outstanding videos on their care and needs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, fish will start picking at the slime layer of other fish and this can lead to sickness and/or death. It's not completely unusual for goldfish to become curious or nibble at another fish, but it often varies per the species and even then.. they all have their own personalities lol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13643" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T22:07:11.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20685" CreationDate="2018-12-04T22:09:51.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it is just pure luck! A lot of times it is patience or bribing them with a treat, luring them with a mirror, end of a pen, pencil eraser and so on. The best method that many breeders, friends, professionals and hobbyist alike tho, are taking videos and screenshotting moments in that video :) I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13643" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T22:09:51.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="21999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5655" CreationDate="2018-12-04T22:57:56.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious as to why you move the turtle around so much? A few things would also be helpful, such as the size habitat that it has, the diet of the animal, and if it has any 'docks' that it can go up onto to bask, rest, and the like. You should not have to move them for them to bask, just make a dock or buy a dock for them and mount the light over the docking area, they'll take care of the rest. As for the food, you can make a feeding area as well for them or make a little salad pile or a bowl. :) As stated in the comments, retracting means they are spooked. Give them time, let them settle, each animal goes at their own pace, especially reptiles/amphibians. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13643" LastActivityDate="2018-12-04T22:57:56.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21845" CreationDate="2018-12-05T01:43:41.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few options at hand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Increase the temperature of your room, can use your regular home heating system, space heaters (do not use unsupervised) etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Use hot water bottles (wrapped in a towel to prevent thermal burns)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Place tank in a room with lots of natural sunlight beaming through the windows, you can try to place part of the tank in direct sunlight but be cautious as there may be a chance for the tank to overheat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Your body heat, can have him in contact with you when you are home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Heatpacks or handwarmers at a sporting goods store, place these UNDER the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) Ask a local reptile group if someone can sell or lend you a light for cheap, check with the local SPCA if they can house your reptile until you get a new heat source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) Check with friends and family to see if they can lend you money to buy a light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to not feed your reptile during this time as they need heat to digest their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T01:43:41.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22003" CreationDate="2018-12-05T01:46:49.137" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I now have a 10 year old (female) Border Collie and a 15 month old (male) Belgian Tervuren. To say they are different is the understatement of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I had two BCs, I would exercise them in the 20+ acre field in the middle of the development I live in. They were so good and so obedient that there was never a problem with doing that. So, no yard tearing-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My BT is a dog of a different color. I thought Border Collies were intelligent and energetic; this BT makes them look like laid back bananna slugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because he had/has issues, I cannot exercise him anywhere but in my back yard. Walking him is out of the question, and they (both BC and BT) need and want more strenuous exercise than a long walk or two. So, I chuck balls for them in the yard several times per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My BC is fine. But my Belgian Terv thinks he's Lou Gehrig or something. He doesn't just catch a ball; he charges at it and slides (honestly) like he's running for home base. Every time. Low ball, high ball, ground ball, whatever, it's the same. And the lawn in a &lt;em&gt;disaster&lt;/em&gt;; we all come in with terribly muddy feet. (Well. my BC and I have muddy feet. He's muddy from the belly to the tip of his toes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ground doesn't reliably freeze/stay frozed where I live, so waiting for it to freeze isn't the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His claws are kept short. He is exercised until he's so tired, he doesn't want to go for the ball anymore, or he's getting too hot (he'll walk up to a kiddie pool of ice water, wade in and stand there cooling off.) But every time he &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; go for a ball, he does it with his entire being!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dear boy doesn't do well with negative reinforcement. I wouldn't know how to do that for ball catching anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any good ideas on how to get Max/Lou Gehrig to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; tear up my lawn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;I do do a lot of indoor exercises with them both, and he doesn't tear up my carpets, thankfully. But it isn't nearly enough to tire him out for more than 5 minutes. We do a lot of mentally challenging things as well. But he loves him his yard.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited for update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did what Yvette suggested and put down two layers of plastic mesh (the green, open one in her examples) on the worst areas of the yard. Max quickly caught on that it was more comfortable for him to slow down when he got to the mesh. It worked wonderfully! Thank you, @Yevette Colomb!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="3246" LastEditDate="2019-01-18T05:52:34.543" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T05:52:34.543" Title="Can I prevent my dogs from tearing up my yard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21992" CreationDate="2018-12-05T02:40:28.143" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to wait 2 weeks after the final vaccination to allow your puppy to mix with dogs that haven't been fully vaccinated. For socialisation it's good to find dogs who have been fully vaccinated or other puppies that are similar age and are also starting their vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For yearly boosters, it would depend when the dog had its last yearly booster. Some vaccinations provide immunity for a lifetime, or many years. Kennel cough is the main concern for dogs that are not having booster shots. It's impossible to know if the dog is immune or not without a titre test. Also the puppy does have some immunity with the commencement of their vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could always ask them to get the dog's booster vaccinations. Or one for Kennel cough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless or course the other dog doesn't go into public places or have other dogs visiting. In which case it's unlikely the dog would have any disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be on the absolute safe side, it would be better to keep them separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.innersouthvets.com.au/dog-vaccinations-annual-or-three-yearly/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.innersouthvets.com.au/dog-vaccinations-annual-or-three-yearly/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might have read about the changes to canine vaccinations in the media over the past few years. Research has emerged that the core vaccinations against parvo, distemper and hepatitis viruses (C3) may not need to be given annually as previously thought. Once the dogs are adults a booster vaccination every three years for parvo, distemper and hepatitis viruses may be sufficient to protect your pet. (This is NOT the case for Kennel Cough vaccination however). This is quite similar to the changes that we see to human vaccination schedules from time to time. As science evolves, so too do the schedules recommended to protect our beloved canine family members!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petbarn.com.au/petspot/puppy/medical-vet-services/when-can-i-take-my-puppy-outside&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;When can I take my puppy outside?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets recommend waiting until one to two weeks after your puppy’s last vaccination booster – usually at around 14–16 weeks of age – before introducing them to the wonders of local parks, beaches and walking trails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by introducing your puppy to known ‘safe’ dogs – dogs that you know have a good temperament and that have been fully vaccinated. It’s best to do this in a safe environment such as your backyard. You can also try socialising your puppy by introducing them to lots of different people and by giving puppy school a whirl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bowwowinsurance.com.au/pet-community/pet-talk/puppy-dog-vaccination-schedules-and-vaccination-costs/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Puppy and dog vaccination schedules and vaccination costs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last decade there has been increasing debate about the over-vaccination of pets. Depending on the vaccine used and the individual animal, immunity can last significantly longer than 12 months. Some pet owners worry about vaccinating their pet whilst its immunisation is still sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are concerned about this, and would like to test if your dog’s immunisation is still sufficient, an antibody titre test may be an option to consider. In this process, a small amount of blood is taken from your pet and a laboratory test is used to determine the level of antibodies in your dog’s body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8572826/ns/health-pet_health/t/still-vaccinating-your-pet-every-year/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Still Vaccinating Your Pet Every Year?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;We know that for [canine] distemper and parvo, for example, the immunity lasts a minimum of five years, probably seven to nine years, and for some individuals for a lifetime,” says veterinarian Jean Dodds, founder of Hemopet, the first nonprofit national blood bank program for animals, located in Santa Monica, Calif.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“For cats, so far we have challenge data out nine years showing that immunity is still protective,&amp;quot; says Dodds. And with rabies vaccine, new data indicate the immunity lasts for at least seven years, she says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T02:40:28.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22001" CreationDate="2018-12-05T04:47:59.530" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm faced with this issue constantly with horses. They have an incredible wear and tear on the areas they frequent (usually where they're hand fed). It requires a degree of dedication to keep grass looking good when faced with high wear and tear. The most useful way of preserving lawn is to rest it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've offered a few suggestions here, that can be mixed up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Resting the grass&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend splitting part of the yard (farthest from the house) as suggested in the diagram. Creating Area 1 and Area 2, that can be rotated for ball catching play. It's not vital to keep them out of the resting area at all times, but at play time. So the only secure fence you need is between the areas, as you can simply toss the ball into the area being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With horses it's a good idea to rest paddocks for 6 weeks. I'd recommend trial and error with the dogs. You may find one week on and off stops the lawn from being too damaged. As it sounds like there is already a bit of damage, you could even try 3 areas to rotate until it's repaired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9mBVx.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9mBVx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such I've recommended a cheap and easy fencing type to separate the areas and another temporary fence that can be used to fence off the resting areas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using star pickets, star pickets caps (for safety against injury) and dog wire. You can always grow a vine on it (it is survives). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use electric fence Poly Tread in Posts for the temporary fence, with polytape strands to fence off the resting area (without it being electrified!) to cordon off the resting area. You can also use an electric fence to fence off the resting are, but these means tolerating watching the dogs get shocked. They soon learn. A type of electric fencing that would be useful is the one suggested or poultry netting. It depends how vigorously you want to rest that area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;star pickets&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UBfgh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UBfgh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;star pickets caps&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YfcXR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YfcXR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;dog wire&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UeZce.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UeZce.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Poly Tread in Posts&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DwOPW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DwOPW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;polytape&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FBZOy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FBZOy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;poultry netting&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vtiHt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vtiHt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Mesh&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also lay down mesh over the grass - plastic not wire (so paws are not hurt). There's two types. One that would allow grass to grow - a shade cloth type. One that wouldn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plastic mesh that would allow grass to grow.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ll221.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ll221.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mesh that will stop grass from growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7b3TR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7b3TR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Crusher Dust or gravel&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you could do is put &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com.au/search?q=crusher%20dust&amp;amp;newwindow=1&amp;amp;rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU750AU750&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;source=iu&amp;amp;ictx=1&amp;amp;fir=r_DmXSPKtGnfDM%252CI2NsrRb_l7HPgM%252C_&amp;amp;usg=AI4_-kQ9Bj8lCD-xHdJDrmmycs-eCz1daw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwiuhb3c7YffAhWDV30KHVooByYQ_h0wIXoECAUQBA&amp;amp;biw=1549&amp;amp;bih=718#imgrc=r_DmXSPKtGnfDM:&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;crusher dust&lt;/a&gt; or some time of fine gravel  onto the high wear areas. Though this may wear on the dog's paws. Grass can still grow up through it, but generally there won't be a lawn there. I use it for my horse paddocks where there's mud problems and wear. It packs down nicely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before crusher dust:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Tx3Q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Tx3Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After crusher dust:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bl5c6.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bl5c6.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vLynj.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vLynj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Artificial grass&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If push comes to shove you could use artificial grass in a designated area you throw the ball. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be you only need these fixes while he is young. Once he matures, you may find the acreage is an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T04:47:59.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2018-12-05T10:05:41.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Zaralynda points out cats don't really understand punishment, but they do understand not getting what they want. So for example if you are playing with your cat and it bites you, you can stop playing immediately and leave. The cat will soon come to understand that biting results in a negative outcome, the end of play, and stop doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is trickier to arrange for things like jumping on counter tops. The cat is looking for a good vantage point so you could try to figure out what area it wants to observe and block its view somehow, or as @Zaralynda suggests just offer something better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10789" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T10:05:41.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21992" CreationDate="2018-12-05T17:43:33.637" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Summary: in contrast to the other answers, I would not worry too much about the infection risk - although explicitly finding out that the other dog has not shown any signs of disease lately is a sensible precaution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; turns out the puppy is much younger than I thought - it will move to Tom just a few days before Christmas, presumably at the usual 9 - 10 weeks age. Regardless of vaccination, for a puppy of 2 1/2 months ca. 4 days after moving into the new home is IMHO too early to expose it again to a change of places and lots of new people - I'm not thinking infection risk here but stress and anxiety. At that point, the puppy needs calm and reliable surroundings, and OP to look after it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(end of update)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some initial thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How old is the not-boosted dog now and when did it get is 1st + 2nd shot (i.e. if you speak of the 8 and 12 week vaccinations was the dog actually 2/3 months old or did it possibly get the first 2 shots later)? If the other dog is not very old yet and it got its shots when somewhat older (e.g. at 3 + 4 months age or 4 + 6 months) the risk that this dog carries one of those infectious diseases will still be much lower than with a totally unvaccinated dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your question sounds as if you already have your puppy. If so, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what's the reason it did not yet have its 1st vaccination? Over here, the first vaccination is usually done ca. 1 week before the puppy goes to their new owner. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The 1st vaccination is usually followed up rather quickly by the second (4 weeks later) is that when vaccinating early 8 (= before they leave their litter) mostly because there's some risk that the 1st vaccination isn't very effective as the puppy still has maternal antibodies (via milk). If the puppy is with you already, that  should not be a concern in your case. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other than that, the 1st vaccination does give immunity - it just won't last very long. However, we're talking about 2-4 weeks after that immunization and at that time your puppy should be fine with other dogs. Also, a level of immunity that is not sufficient to totally prevent infection often still helps in keeping the infection less severe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What's the alternative? If you stay strictly at home with the puppy instead, that's clearly lower risk of meeting infections. But already if you treat yourself and the puppy to some short walks in the forest, that may come with a much higher risk compared to having the dog play with a single individual (whos vaccination status may be much better than you fear).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the dog would have to go to puppy daycare instead the risk there would probably be much higher than meeting &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; other dog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As you know of the other dog's vaccination &quot;habits&quot;, you probably know a bit more about that dog. Personally, I'd not be worried about a dog that occasionally meets other dogs on the walk - but would be more careful with a dog that, say, regularly goes to dog pension.  And, maybe you could explain that your puppy will only have a recent 1st vaccination and ask the owners of the other dog to tell you whether there were/are any signs of illness recently - knowing that the dog is and was healthy cannot totally exclude disease, but the risk is obviously much lower. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you wouldn't think of bringing your puppy into contact with the other dog unless you consider the other dog's owners in general trustworthy and reliable (e.g., the other dog is not a recently illegally imported feral dog from some other country). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's go through the list of things dogs are vaccinated against (here in Europe). I'll start with the scary stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rabies. Definitively something I want my dog as well as other dogs to be vaccinated against (and btw we even had a wildlife vaccination campaign over 25 years in order to get rid of rabies [not the bat version, though]). However, in the last 10 years, AFAIK we had 3 cases of rabid dogs that were illegaly imported (vaccination is required on import) and 1 case of human rabies (dog bite in North Africa). Also, while a recent rabies vaccination is officially required for dogs crossing borders around here, the boosting recommendation is every 2 - 3 years.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Frankly, if the other dog has rabies, your puppy is your least concern. If you live in a country where rabies still occurs, the other dog in the family is also most probably of far less concern than wildlife/feral dogs your puppy meets when leaving the house. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Canine distemper. That's measles for canides and it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; dangerous (4 out of 5 infected puppies with clinical symptom &lt;em&gt;die&lt;/em&gt;, surviving puppies may have lifelong disabilities and may have to be euthanazed due to long-term consequences). I read up on distemper when I got my dog/puppy 2 years ago because we had canine distemper in the wildlife - and fox, racoon &amp;amp; Co. do come right up to our house. I learned that if there's a really high danger of distemper for the puppy, a shot with human measles vaccine does help: that vaccine is not disactivated by dog maternal antibodies but it causes sufficient immunity to prevent severe forms. Once the basic vaccination is done, the recommendation here is to have boosting shot every 3 years - yearly is not necessary. In my region I'd consider wildlife to pose a much higher risk. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parvovirosis: another nasty one. However, also caused by a virus keeps alive under environmental conditions for &lt;em&gt;years&lt;/em&gt; and it can be spread via human (transporting it) from an infected dog to another dog. Not only canides but also e.g. cats and IIRC martens can get/have/spread it. Again, everyday occasions are likely to have a higher overall risk than the single well-known family dog, boosting recommendation every 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leptospirosis: again tons of other animals ranging from mice over rabbits, hedgehogs, deer, cow, sheep, pigs, raccoons etc. all the way to humans are the relevant reservoir. Moist urine is infectious, and so is contaminated soil and water. This is the only of the core dog vaccinations where annual boosting is recommended: even after infection, immunity doesn't last very long and there are various serotypes around (meaning also that properly vaccinated dogs can have and spread leptospirosis).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sounds like things you/your puppy meets everyday?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Infectious canine hepatitis is fortunately rare nowadays around here. Another one where the virus may survive for months, boosting recommended every 3 years. &lt;em&gt;(Have to run now - will update when I have time)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kennel cough is very infectious. Its main cause, &lt;em&gt;Bordetella bronchiseptica&lt;/em&gt; is closely related to the bacteria causing whooping cough in humans. Another one that lasts long under environmental conditions. Not only canides but also cats, pigs, rabbits can get it. Vaccination against kennel cough is recommended only for dogs who have an elevated risk of exposure (dog pension), but it is not considered necessary for every dog. &#xA;Again, if you puppy got kennel cough, chances are it wasn't the other family dog but rather picked up on the walk. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.openagrar.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/openagrar_derivate_00002247/Impfleitlinie_Kleintiere_2017-03-03.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommendations of the German veterinary vaccination commission (in German, though)&lt;/a&gt; which I used to look up boosting recommendations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="13672" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T15:49:27.313" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T15:49:27.313" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22007" CreationDate="2018-12-05T18:48:20.113" Score="1" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German shepherd puppy is fine in the house and is a friendly happy dog but when I take him out he becomes a nightmare. He barks and lunges at other dogs and chases cars constantly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I stop this behavior or is it to late?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He is a 6 month old male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T07:34:54.397" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T07:34:54.397" Title="My German shepherd puppy is out of control" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22006" CreationDate="2018-12-05T19:33:49.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This kind of behavior can have different causes but it's never too late to change it. Unfortunately, I cannot diagnose the cause of this behavior remotely and you might not recognize the signs to analyze it. That's why I propose you contact a professional dog trainer (not a puppy school but someone who analyzes dog's behaviors and trains even problematic dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among possible causes are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't assert any dominance over the dog. In a pack of dogs there always must be an &quot;alpha&quot; or dominant dog (can be a male or female). If you aren't the alpha, your dog feels the need to fill this role, but is overwhelmed with it in our chaotic human world. He attacks any moving object to ward off danger from his pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is bored out of his mind and seizes any opportunity to have some mental and physical stimulation. Shepherd dogs are a working breed and need to burn off energy on a daily basis. Chasing dogs or cars satisfies his instinct to hunt and offers some change from the boring indoors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is actually insecure or afraid of these things or may be overwhelmed by the noise (of cars). When dogs don't know how to approach something strange or frightening, they often react with agression. This stems from their evolution from wolves and is a healthy behavior in the wild, but problematic in our civilized world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the real cause of the problematic behavior, you need a different approach to correct it. Choosing an approach not appropriate for the cause may even intensify the problem. That's why you should speak to a professional dog trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before hiring one, you can interview them about their approach. If one proposes to medicate or even punish your dog, walk away and never speak to them again. If they require you to participate in group trainings (like puppy school), they won't have the means and time to correct individual problems. If they answer that they have to observe your dog first, you can assume they are trustworthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-05T19:33:49.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9394" CreationDate="2018-12-06T11:27:44.800" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, I see three distinct questions/topics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pawing your face.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stalking behaviour. And clawing your daughter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with number 1: This is not a very common, but not unheard of cat behavior. He is simply asking for attention. As long as this does not become bothersome, or he uses claws, I'd simply allow it as an odd little quirk your cat has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 2: Feral cats only use meowing to communicate to kittens, or kittens to talk to other cats. However, domesticated cats have figured out that humans are vocal creatures, and almost all will meow at their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of meowing varies &lt;strong&gt;greatly&lt;/strong&gt; between individual cats, some will almost never shut up, others will be nearly mute. Most fall somewhere in-between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start paying attention to the differences between meows, and you'll start to kind of build a language between the two of you. Things cat may meow about includes, but are not limited to: empty food bowl or unacceptable food brand, dirty litterbox, empty or dirty water bowl, wanting to be let out, wanting attention, wanting cuddles, feeling lonely, wanting to play, informing you about prey in the room (flies, bugs, spiders, rodents, roaches, etc), having noticed prey outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question 3 is a bit more complicated, so I'm going to split it into two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part 1: Stalking. This is completely normal cat behavior, cats have a need to train their stalking skills. &lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; you need to redirect it away from your (and others) body parts, it is important that the cat knows that your body is not a plaything (more on this in part 2). I would highly suggest (insist actually) that you get some toys for your cat. At minimum few mice for him to play with alone, and some kind of toy you can play with him with, like a feather on a string. Use these to distract him when he's stalking you, then play with him until he's out of energy. This should also help with part 2. I would also suggest getting a cat tree for climbing training, and to get some height to scope out the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part 2: Biting your daughter. This &lt;strong&gt;needs&lt;/strong&gt; to be dealt with, as it can lead to serious injury, or could lead your cat to attack strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that was very &quot;bitey&quot; as a kitten, and this is how I dealt with it, and I suggest your teach yourself and your daughter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever the cat bites you (even if you're playing) loudly say &quot;OW!&quot; (or a cat version of it if you can pull that off), go limp in the limb he bit, and then completely ignore him. This first tells him that he hurt you, then you show that you are not interested in playing, then you are &quot;punishing&quot; him by not wanting to engage with him. It also means that if you were touching him or interacting with him in a manner that was threatening, felt uncomfortable, or hurt, you stopped by going limp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, if kept consistent should show results already in a few weeks, but the key is keeping it consistent with all individuals in a household, but it also requires redirecting his attention as advised in part 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T11:27:44.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16203" CreationDate="2018-12-06T12:07:38.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you start trying to treat the illness you need to work out what the problem is. I wouldn't recommend throwing Melafix in and seeing if it fixes it immediately. I'm going to make some assumptions because there is little to go on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to note is that fish of these sizes need very little food at all. I have some zebra danios and I feed them sparingly, sometimes not at all on some days. If you think about how big their stomachs could possibly be, they probably only need a flake to fill them up. Be careful with overfeeding. This is classic mistake by new fish keepers. Your fish will &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; look hungry even when they aren't and &lt;strong&gt;a hungry fish is a healthy fish&lt;/strong&gt;. If they aren't that excited by food, they're probably overfed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, you need to test your water to ensure there aren't any problems with it. Buy a test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and check all of the levels. The first two should read 0. If they don't, your tank is &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/215/how-does-one-effectively-cycle-an-aquarium&quot;&gt;not cycled&lt;/a&gt;. The nitrate should be less than about 40ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure you're doing your maintenance. Your tank needs to be heated to the correct temperature, receive regular water changes and have a filter to keep the water circulating and ensure the bacterial cycle is working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T21:25:02.007" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T21:25:02.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-06T12:08:24.747" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog likes grapes. I give her just few at a time. Will this harm her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are grapes toxic to dogs? Can it be fatal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-12-09T03:33:24.087" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T03:33:24.087" Title="Can dogs eat grapes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-06T12:49:17.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2018-12-06T12:15:24.170" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way to do this is to cut back the oldest leaves if it is possible. This depends on the type of plant you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is impossible to do, you have to rinse it in cold water and fully submerge the plant for about 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to remove the soil from the roots of your plant and replace it with a 50/50 mix of sand and unfertilized soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small amount of fertilizer in the soil will probably not be harmful to your frog. I think pesticides in the food pose a larger risk to your frog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T16:42:09.440" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T16:42:09.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22035" CreationDate="2018-12-06T13:30:43.627" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is 14 weeks old and was diagnosed with tapeworms four days ago. The doctor prescribed 1/2 tablet for a one time consumption. He is doing well and full of energy. I have been checking his bowels and I don't see any more visible signs but I'm still scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe for my puppy to sleep in my bed even though it had tapeworms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-12-09T03:32:18.610" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T03:32:18.610" Title="Is it safe for my puppy to sleep in my bed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22025" CreationDate="2018-12-06T14:12:15.743" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a hairless cat. It's winter though and its really cold outside. It's also cold inside as we don't have thermostat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that the cat is often shivering. I try to put blanket on it but it needs to walk sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there leg warmers or something just for cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T15:08:32.973" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T16:47:45.583" Title="My hairless cat is cold and shivering" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20713" CreationDate="2018-12-06T14:35:38.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Underwater plants in the &lt;em&gt;Elodea&lt;/em&gt; genus do grow fast and absorb lots of nutrients. They are good oxgenating plants that absorb CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and this is positive for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish will probably eat some of this plant, so you will have the added bonus of free food for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other plant you might try is watercress. The stems of this plant are air filled so they will float in the surface of your tank and you and your fish can eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It grows fast, but it might shade the other plants in your tank if you let it grow too large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T12:32:58.573" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T12:32:58.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="802" CreationDate="2018-12-06T14:53:25.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;DOG&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grapes, raisins (dried grapes), sultanas (another type of dried grape) and currants(another type of dried grape) are &lt;b&gt;HIGHLY TOXIC&lt;/b&gt; to dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinary criticalist Dr. Nathan Lippo, DVM, DACVECC, says that -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;“The toxin in the fruit is unknown, but we do know it’s in the flesh of the grape — not the seeds, not the skin…. It affects them pretty badly,” &#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petful.com/pet-health/how-toxic-are-grapes-for-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Toxic Are Grapes for Dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Grape/raisin toxicity can even be fatal. Ingesting the fruit could potentially lead to acute (sudden) kidney failure in dogs. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/news/leahs-close-call-handful-grapes-nearly-cost-one-dog-her-life&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center&lt;/a&gt;, they received a total of 3,722 calls involving grapes and raisins in 2016.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/can-dogs-eat-grapes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Are Grapes Bad for Dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the book &lt;i&gt;Small Animal Toxicology&lt;/i&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Michael Peterson&lt;/i&gt; about toxicity of grapes and raisins in dogs-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Grapes:&lt;/b&gt; Dangerous doses begin at about 1 or 2 grapes for a 10-pound dog, and 3 or 4 grapes for a 20-pound dog.&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Raisins:&lt;/b&gt; Just 0.7 ounces of raisins may be toxic for a 10-pound dog, and 1.4 ounces for a 20-pound dog.&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petful.com/pet-health/how-toxic-are-grapes-for-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Toxic Are Grapes for Dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms of grape toxicity in a dog -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyperactivity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdominal Pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fluid cessation (will not drink water or urinate)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tremors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dehydration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing Difficulty&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;Followed by &lt;b&gt;Acute Kidney Failure&lt;/b&gt; and even &lt;b&gt;Death&lt;/b&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petful.com/pet-health/how-toxic-are-grapes-for-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Toxic Are Grapes for Dogs?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as grape has to processed and absorbed by the body, death is not instantaneous. Here time is precious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Immediate treatment at home - &lt;b&gt;Induce Vomiting&lt;/b&gt; to remove all unabsorbed grapes still remaining in stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offer you dog some food. It may help in vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure 1 milliliter (ml) of 3% hydrogen peroxide per pound of the dog’s weight, using either a syringe (no needle) or teaspoon (one teaspoon is approximately five ml). The maximum amount of hydrogen peroxide to be given at any one time is 45 ml, even if a dog weighs over 45 pounds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squirt the hydrogen peroxide into the back of the dog’s mouth using a syringe (no needle) or turkey baster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If vomiting does not take place within fifteen minutes of the first administration, you may try again, using the same amount. This method should not be used more than two times, spaced apart at fifteen minute intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Call &lt;b&gt;Pet Poison Helpline&lt;/b&gt; or &lt;b&gt;visit the vet ASAP&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/digestive/e_dg_grape_raisin_toxicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grape and Raisin Poisoning in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;However, do not induce vomiting if your dog is -&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unconcious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is having trouble breathing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is exhibiting signs of serious distress or shock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or if you are unsure of what your dog may have eaten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/digestive/e_dg_grape_raisin_toxicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grape and Raisin Poisoning in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;CAT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grape is not known to cause toxicity in cats, however to be on safe side, it is advisable to not offer grapes to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Although there is no current scientific evidence that grapes are toxic to cats, this fruit is known to cause severe harm to dogs including acute kidney failure. Because many foods that are harmful for dogs can also harm cats, it is important to keep grapes away from your kitty.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/13708936/can-cats-eat-grapes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can Cats Eat Grapes?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;b&gt;Grapes and Raisins&lt;/b&gt;- Cats are not likely to eat these, and there are no reports of cats becoming ill from these foods.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/e_ct_human_food_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human Foods that are Dangerous for Cats&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;there is no concrete evidence that grapes are dangerous to cats&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;-- Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/cat-food/can-cats-eat-grapes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can Cats Eat Grapes? Here’s What to Know About Cats and Grapes&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T14:53:25.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-06T15:07:38.037" Score="2" ViewCount="619" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog just had puppies 2 days ago and there are so many flies around them. They are mostly around her tail. Is this bad for the puppies? What can I do to get rid of them besides taking them inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13551" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-06T15:15:52.073" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T18:42:34.820" Title="How do I get rid of flies around my dog and her puppies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-06T15:43:35.090" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new born 6 week old puppy. He is fine with all aspects but he can't open his eyes full. Is it due to infection or by birth issue ? Please suggest me what should i do? Should i worry for this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13691" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T16:21:06.527" Title="Why my dog can't open his eyes full?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T10:44:56.750" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22015" CreationDate="2018-12-06T16:47:45.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several possible warming solutions, including putting a coat or sweater on your cat (purchased or homemade), an electric warming bed or heating pad (use the type intended for humans with caution-- they may get too hot and burn your cat), or an enclosed hideaway like a box, enclosed bed or cat house with warm blankets within.  It should have a smallish opening and be not much bigger than the kitty to maximize conservation of body heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also possibly improve the indoor comfort by reducing drafts-- make sure that windows and doors are well sealed, or use any kind of calking, draft stoppers, or heavy window drape that makes sense for your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be sure to place as many as possible of your cat's important resources (like litter box, resting places, water bowl, scratching surface) in the warmest and least drafty parts of the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T16:47:45.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22020" CreationDate="2018-12-06T18:42:34.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a potentially dangerous situation. Think for a moment where flies usually collect... it's around rotting biological matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are feces or waste from the birth clotted in the fur of your dog that attract the flies, carefully cut the soiled fur away and clean your dog. Clean the surrounding area as well if there is any biological matter lying around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no feces or other obvious causes for the flies, you have to take her to a vet. She might have an infected wound or her womb didn't clean out all of the placenta. Something must attract the flies and whatever it is, it's not healthy for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind to take the puppies with the mother to the vet. They should not be seperated for too long to avoid stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not spray insecticides or anything similar. The flies are just the symptom, you have to find and remedy the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T18:42:34.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6396" CreationDate="2018-12-06T18:48:52.193" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly the issue is not a litterbox issue.  It's an overall health and mental health issue.  A cat that is regularly and preferentially sleeping or laying in the litterbox is generally a cat that is experiencing &lt;em&gt;overwhelming stress&lt;/em&gt;.   He is surrounding himself as much as possible with his own scent in a last-ditch attempt to comfort himself, find security and solace. It's a sign that your cat is suffering horribly, physically or emotionally. It could be that he's experiencing intense pain, or extreme levels of fear and insecurity.  Based on what you said about his leg, I have to assume it's probably mostly pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to be harsh, as I am sure you are doing the best you can for your elder kitty, but the current situation is not sustainable.  I am afraid you can't just leave an untreated broken leg and 'hope for the best', even with a very elderly pet.  Imagine what your experience would be like if you broke a leg and your family refused to give you medical treatment or even a couple over the counter pain killers.  He is suffering, and there is no at-home treatment for this magnitude of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please find a vet, a vet school, a clinic, etc, and get your poor old guy the pain relief he is desperately asking for with his actions.  You might be able to get care credit or find a low-cost vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right that this might mean making a final act of care in the form of having him humanely euthanized.  It's a very hard thing to lose a beloved pet, and a difficult decision, but I believe that you care about your pet enough to be willing to go through hard things for him and take on the pain in the interest of relieving his.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T18:48:52.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21288" CreationDate="2018-12-06T20:33:06.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas love to eat snails.  You don't say how big the snail is.  But if the Betta can physically eat the snail, it will.  Bettas are actually good additions to tanks that have snail infestations, and will keep them in check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T20:33:06.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2018-12-06T22:23:14.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats usually prefer a soft, cool blanket or comforter to sleep on, and they are comfortable at around 75 to 85 degrees fahrenheit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13703" LastActivityDate="2018-12-06T22:23:14.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22034" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-07T00:14:56.130" Score="3" ViewCount="636" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xfKsN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xfKsN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E9AZd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Heidi's toenail (Zoom in if you need to)&lt;/a&gt;I woke up to trim my guinea pigs', Heidi(female), toenails, and noticed that her skin was getting really big and swelled up around it. I tried trimming it, and it really hurt her. I don't know if I should trim it, or go see a vet. If this is a bad thing, I will most definititly see a vet without risk of hurting my piggie, but I need to know if I could just buy medicine, or trim it and give Heidi some sort of attention or care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. For all of you guiinea pig lovers out their(I am one myselfC:)Don't worry if you think Heidi is lonely! She has a sister, Hazel, and they live together in a spacioius and happy cage. No need to worry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13706" LastEditorDisplayName="user13706" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T13:42:11.593" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T22:13:44.833" Title="What do I do if my guinea pig has a swelled toenail? Is this rare?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22014" CreationDate="2018-12-07T02:39:53.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call your Vet and ask how long it will take to clear all of the tapeworms out of his body. Meanwhile, let him sleep on his own bed (or in his crate) until you know he has recovered. Cover his bedding with a sheet, then examine it in the morning and look for signs of the worms... and wash the sheet in hot water.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsandparasites.org/dog-owners/tapeworms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tapeworms on Pets &amp;amp; Parasites&lt;/a&gt;: now I'm convinced that there's a website for everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T02:39:53.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21288" CreationDate="2018-12-07T03:03:35.597" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a betta with nerite snails successfully, but as Bruce said, everything is a &quot;recommendation&quot; and each betta is different. My betta was pretty chill and never bothered the snails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep observing Emmi's behavior and if he really isn't leaving the snail alone, even if he doesn't kill the snail outright, he may be stressing it out to where it might not be best for it stay in the tank with him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T03:03:35.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22042" CreationDate="2018-12-07T04:54:56.907" Score="8" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to dye my dog's fur with a color for part of a costume, and it has to be his whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read online about using food dye or chalk and am willing to try that but am unsure. I obviously want to use the most humane method something that won't harm his skin or fur, but I also want to make sure that whatever I dye him with will not bleed (rub off on my hands when petting him or get on his bed) and can come off with a bath or two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with dying dog fur and have advice on what I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T05:01:56.620" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T20:44:00.113" Title="What should I use to dye my dog's fur?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22037" CreationDate="2018-12-07T05:36:26.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't do this. Your dog didn't ask to have their fur dyed. This is animal abuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T14:18:38.497" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T14:18:38.497" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22037" CreationDate="2018-12-07T06:22:05.647" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the things you commit to when you get a pet is to take as good care of it as you possible can for the entire life of your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finding later that it has the wrong color is simply not an option,And changing the color of your pet because you think it will look funny/cool/nice is not a thing that can be seen as a part in taking good care of your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a look at what you want to do and ask your self will this gain my pet in any way and is it helpful for my pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember a pet is not a thing so please do not treat it as one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still want a pet with an other color you buy one with the &quot;right&quot; color,But do not forget you are responsible for giving as good care as you possibly can to all the pets you have in your care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T06:22:05.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-07T07:21:49.543" Score="31" ViewCount="9979" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a 7 year old female cat several weeks ago through an organization at a pet store. She had a litter of kittens when they found her who were adopted and she ended up at the pet store to get more exposure after that. She was there in a cage for several months and then I adopted her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She did none of the hiding or lack of eating they mentioned might occur, ate wet and dry food, drank water and used the box all on the first night. She was hesitant with me a bit at first, and maybe still is to some degree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But its been 3 weeks now and she's since then started sleeping in the bed a portion of the time, sat on my stomach once for long petting and plays regularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the energy for play she has has become more than I can control. We play for maybe even an hour at a time, and it feels like I stop before she wants still. I have tried to make sure she's on a regular feeding schedule, and play several times a day to good various lengths each time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But if I try to go off and do my stuff she seems to get upset or put. She doesn't want to be petted at those times and wails from the other room to get my attention. She doesn't spot or wreck things, but will get up on things and knock cards off a table or go where she thinks I don't want her to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also seems to think I only require the naps that she does. I love the little girl, but I feel exhausted and like I've given all my time and thoughts to her when I'm not at work. The wailing stops after a few moments but is such a grating noise , especially when she's fine and I'm supposed to ignore her at those moments according to some experts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've made some good progress, but this hitch of play depending on me and waking me up or getting annoyed when I won't or am just too tired is making me feel like giving her back so someone else better suited can take her in. But I swear I don't want to do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if someone out there has had similar issues or can offer encouragement. Thank you for reading this until the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13709" LastEditorUserId="10613" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T18:37:51.247" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:37:57.100" Title="My cat demands a lot of attention" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22040" CreationDate="2018-12-07T07:55:19.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, how to deal with this is going to vary a bit from cat to cat. Some of it might work, some might not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in my comment, I'd experiment with automatic toys, and specifically toys designed for high energy breeds like Bengals and Savannahs. This could take a lot of experimentation. Maybe look into cat furniture to allow her to basically traverse the entire room at a high level (from the floor up a cat tree, and around the room from shelf to shelf).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that you seem to be mostly handling it as it should be. A few tips might be to set aside scheduled playtimes, and ignore play at other times. And as you mentioned: Ignore her meowing for more play when playtime is over. This should make the meowing less severe over time, and should be helped even more as you figure out some toys to assist you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This part is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; dependant on her mood and inclination: You might want to look into possibly getting her a friend to play with. &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt; you definitely want to try before you buy with this one, as the cats (or other species) will have to get along very well for that kind of high energy play to be acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as mentioned it's basically going to be about getting an acceptable setup for toys, and setting and following rules and schedules. Also try not to worry about her not wanting cuddles after finishing a play session, this is perfectly normal. It usually takes cats a little while to switch gears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T07:55:19.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22037" CreationDate="2018-12-07T08:11:06.963" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this is part of a costume (I hope you mean like a Halloween costume and not a permanent change of fur color), you should put your dog in a costume as well instead of dyeing his fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some people suggest using food coloring, but you have to research whether every single ingredient is safe to be consumed by a dog. Be aware that the color might bleed, get sticky (if it contains sugar) or get licked off by the dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog's natural color isn't white or very light, you need to use more agressive chemicals to dye it in the desired color.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hair dyes for humans is absolutely toxic to dogs. There are specialized hair dyes for dogs, but even they contain dangerous chemicals and cause skin irritation or allergic reactions. Even &quot;organic&quot; and &quot;herbal&quot; dyes for dogs are not safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chalk isn't toxic, but keep in mind that the dust may irritate his eyes and airways. Since you need to cover his whole body in chalk, he cannot avoid the dust by walking away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about the bizarre trend of dyeing dogs in neon colors and the negative effects of it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsworld.in/blog/purple-colored-dog-fluffy-manish-arora-have-outraged-the-animal-activists-in-india-i-pet-news.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article from Pets World&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://vetconm.com/dont-dye-your-dogs-do/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article from Vetco&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if this is part of a Halloween costume, you could wrap your dog's torso in some cloth resembling the desired color. With some basic craft skills you can easily sew a little dog costume. Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sew-a-dog-coat-pattern-2977690&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this easy instruction&lt;/a&gt; and this very detailled &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Dog-Coat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;step-by-step instruction&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to change the color of your dog permanently, you should reconsider and accept him as he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T20:44:00.113" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T20:44:00.113" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22040" CreationDate="2018-12-07T08:18:21.157" Score="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat has been on an emotional rollercoaster ride in the pet shop, and possibly before this, too. She's been meeting lots of people and having little stability in her life, so you need to give her time to put this behind her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you make some elevated spaces where the cat can see you, she will most likely start to calm down and start to relax more. Cats in general like to have places where they can see what is going on and where they feel safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to create some fixed routines where you engage the cat in play first and then you feed her. Food will make her tired and more relaxed; this will mimic how cats first hunt, eat their prey, and then sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat needs you to be there for her and she needs to feel she can trust you. How long this might take is up to your cat and you (I have had cats that needed two months to fully settle down in a new home).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The play is a good way for your cat to get the stress out of her body, and she will calm down. Just give her the time she needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T22:37:57.100" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T22:37:57.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-07T08:40:45.557" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;we give the pet as a gift to someone and owners don’t know how to look after them or didn't really want them in the first place. Don’t add to the death toll by giving the wrong gift to the wrong person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13711" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T09:12:40.093" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T09:12:40.093" Title="what do i need to consider when giving someone a pet as a gift" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-07T09:16:01.950" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22040" CreationDate="2018-12-07T10:03:49.123" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;the answers provided already are spot on information, but I got to thinking...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat sounds like she used to be an outdoors cat, and now she is predominantly indoors? This can cause cats to go a little &quot;stir-crazy&quot; where they can be over demanding and act up a little bit. The stimulus of outdoors is a very hard thing to make up for inside the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple toys can be a good idea. Balls and small plush mice with feathers - things she can throw around and chase at her own leisure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure things like mint and catnip are kept away from your cat. (mouthwash/toothpaste smells send my cat into a troublesome rampage)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thought I had: Has she been &quot;snipped&quot;? Cats can go into season as short a period as every three weeks. With females this can cause them to become VERY demanding, affectionate, aggressive, they can also make that awful wailing noise you described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, cats don't hold grudges. If you want to do something else, gently picking her up and placing her on the floor beside you with a little pet to the head enough times should tell her you don't want to play right now. She might get the grump on, but she'll get over it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13713" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T10:03:49.123" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22040" CreationDate="2018-12-07T12:47:28.620" Score="32" Body="&lt;h2&gt;You have a happy cat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarizing the current state of affairs, I would categorize your cat's behavior as happy, but overreaching into dependent/entitled behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you did a good job, it's clearly a happy cat. You shouldn't change the good things you do for her, as she clearly likes you and your interactions with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you're going to have to set some boundaries here. And these boundaries can only be &lt;strong&gt;enforced&lt;/strong&gt;, which requires you to stay strong and not fold/cave to the cat no matter how much it pleads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll address the separate misbehaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meowing for attention&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only solution here is to ignore the cat. Don't respond, don't pet her. Pretend as if you are incapable of hearing the meowing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're unsure whether the meows genuinely require attention, you can check in on the cat the first time. Again don't engage other than looking at her in silence, and if nothing requires your attention, walk away and ignore subsequent meows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you'll initially have to endure meowing sessions without being able to stop them. But eventually, the cat will understand that you are not going to change your mind because she asks you to (by meowing), and thus her meowing is &lt;strong&gt;wasted effort&lt;/strong&gt;, which will lead her to no longer bother with meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can take a long time, depending on how stubborn your cat is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not punish the cat for meowing&lt;/strong&gt;. While I generally advocate minor punishments for misbehaviors (e.g. telling them off, spraying some water in their direction, ...), I strongly suggest that you don't do this when asking for attention. If you do, you run the risk of teaching your cat &lt;em&gt;not to come to you with problems&lt;/em&gt;, which may be detrimental in cases where you need the cat to come to you (illness, danger, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Interrupting your sleep time&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to ignore the cat. If her behavior is too intrusive for you to ignore and she physically wakes you up, then you have to &quot;be grumpy&quot; (mind the quotes, it's acting) whenever your sleep is disturbed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be done by (softly but assertively) pushing them off the bed, throwing something (soft!) near them, spraying water, calling their name, or potentially placating them by letting them cuddle with you. This depends on what you're willing to put up with, and what the cat responds to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, I state their name in a particular tone of voice, and they are all well aware that his means they've misbehaved and they tend to correct their own behavior then. To prove that point, I was recounting past events to my girlfiend, I quoted myself stating the cat's name in an annoyed fashing, and (at the time of telling the story) the cat immediately stopped what it was doing at the time; he &lt;em&gt;clearly&lt;/em&gt; understood my tone of voice correctly even though he wasn't actually misbehaving at the time. When I state his name with a happier tone of voice, he doesn't actually stop what he's doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;More play energy than you can handle&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also something you shouldn't punish, as this is either the cat's natural behavior or something you've taught her. In either case, it's not her fault.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer here is that you don't have to play with her if you don't want to play. It takes two to tango, and if one party is unwilling to play, then the other party can't force them. This works in either direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is provide alternatives for playing. Because our cats &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; the laser and will never stop playing until they're physically exhausted, we bought them an &lt;a href=&quot;https://img.chewy.com/is/catalog/70843_PT2._AC_SL1500_V1449781280_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;automatic laser toy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The toy is not as good as us (because it goes is a relatively predictable circle), but it suffices for &lt;em&gt;extra&lt;/em&gt; plays. We still have to (and want to) play with them, but if we tire of playing and they do not, the automatic toy can pick up the slack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should provide highly depends on what your cat likes. For example, one of our cats absolutely loves hair ties. If you throw a hair tie once, he will pounce on it, thus moving it, and pouncing on it again. The cycle repeats until he is tired of playing or loses the hair tie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, having a second cat is one of the better options here but obviously not necessarily feasible for you. If your cat is the only pet in the house, you'll need to direct more attention to them not being bored whenever you're not available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Going where she's not allowed to go&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should be responded to consistently, regardless of whether it's because you're refusing to play with her or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, there are a few places the cats are not allowed to touch. The kitchen bench and the tv dinner tables are the two big items here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the kitchen bench, we always respond by dropping whatever it is we're doing, stating the cat's name a few times (incrementing in volume), and physically removing them from the counter. We don't pick them up, but rather &quot;sweep&quot; them off by pushing them sideways so they have to jump off themselves.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They still get up on the counter once in a while but they tend to walk away when they've been caught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the tv dinner tables, the rule is that they cannot touch the tables. End of discussion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They're allowed to sit besides me and look at the food, they're allowed to lean in (but not over the table) for a sniff, but the moment any part of them touches the table, they are no longer allowed on the couch either, and the odds of me giving them a taste drop to zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This creates an interesting punishment strategy: if they respect the &quot;no touching&quot; rule, they are able to at least observe and sniff at a distance. If they are particularly good (not needing me to stop them), they often get a bit of the food as a reward for following the rules.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If they disrespect the rule, they lose access to everything, including observing, sniffing, and potentially getting some of the food.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has worked, the cats now tend to only look at (and silently stare at me, asking for) food, but they do not touch the table or badger me for food unless I offer it to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T12:53:42.687" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T12:53:42.687" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22037" CreationDate="2018-12-07T13:43:41.170" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of your objectives are not compatible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I also want to make sure that whatever I dye him with will not bleed (rub off on my hands when petting him or get on his bed) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and can come off with a bath or two.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I previously did a lot of research on human hair dye and found there is nothing available that both will not come off easily and will come off easily with washing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an extensive Q&amp;amp;A about human shampoo for dogs here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1938/13&quot;&gt;Can I use human shampoo to wash a dog?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we assume similar concerns with hair dye, which is going to stick around much longer the a quick wash and rinse. It seems that chances of significant harm to your pet from a poor dye choice is likely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/22042/13&quot;&gt;Elmy points out in their great answer&lt;/a&gt; you would need to choose between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something that comes off easily and has potential health issues related to eating or breathing.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something semi permanent that will require harsh chemicals to apply, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seventeen.com/beauty/hair/a39687/gross-things-that-happen-after-you-bleach-your-hair/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;almost certainly causing harm.&lt;/a&gt;  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your scalp will burn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might have scabs on your scalp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All around your scalp will be red&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your scalp will itch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your hair will look puffier and a little cray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your hair will feel much more dry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You'll have some breakage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not under any circumstances use hair color intended for humans on your pets. The chemicals in the hair color are toxic, and an animal’s first instinct is to lick off anything foreign they come in contact with. Also, the pH level of your pet’s skin is very different from a human’s, and your pet could have an adverse reaction. Really, don’t do it. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sheknows.com/pets-and-animals/articles/1080926/how-to-safely-dye-pet-hair/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of pet hair dyes available on the market, (&lt;em&gt;I am not listing them, google for yourself 'dog hair dye'&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These claim to be pet safe, but as with human products you have to choose between semi permanent and come off easy. Also unless your pets fur is a very light color it not going to show well. Most of the examples I found online where on pure white standard poodles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“What most people don’t know is that dyeing a companion animal’s fur can cause the animal stress and can lead to complications or allergic reactions that endanger the animal’s health,” PETA’s statement against dyeing animals. “Our dogs and cats love us regardless of how we look; why not extend the same kindness to them?” &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sheknows.com/pets-and-animals/articles/1080926/how-to-safely-dye-pet-hair/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL:DR&lt;/strong&gt;, Never user human products or bleach to dye a pets hair/fur.  If you absolutely must do it, and your pet is very lightly colored (i.e. white) use a pet specificat product.  Realize that even the safest choice will likely to cause them psychological  trauma. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T13:43:41.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22034" CreationDate="2018-12-07T13:46:22.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should go to the vet, that looks like swelling from an infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T13:46:22.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18162" CreationDate="2018-12-07T14:10:05.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you've already resolved this by now, but my solution for a dog that just makes some noise at night but is fine in the room otherwise- earplugs! They don't block out so much noise that I can still hear unusual household noises that I need to be alerted to from sleep (or my morning alarm), but it blocks just enough noise that I don't hear the dog shifting, licking, etc... at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13717" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T14:10:05.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22068" CreationDate="2018-12-07T15:20:56.200" Score="6" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a big ol' St Bernard well actually I have 2, but the newest one is having a big problem he won't stop taking things off of counters and tables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first one I just used negative reinforcement where when she'd grab something I would put her in time out in a room and when she looked and just walked away I'd give her a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach does not work with him, instead he's learned to do it when nobody is looking. It doesn't matter what it is he takes pans you name it. So I try to put everything away but there has to be a way to teach him as timeouts and positive reinforcement don't seem to be working&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is 8 months old and big enough to rest his head on the table without jumping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So any suggestions would be appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8398" LastEditorUserId="8398" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T19:17:01.320" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T19:58:55.017" Title="Keep the dog off the counter" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22040" CreationDate="2018-12-07T17:49:41.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to increase the energy she uses up playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said she liked the laser pointer, this is good, but make her really RUN after it. If you can clear a place in a hallway or something to create a really long area to run in, that would be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said she also likes string toys, also good, but if she mostly likes to grab them and then sit and &quot;disembowel&quot; them she's not using much energy. Instead, try and make her really work to catch the toy in the first place. More running is a good start, but also climbing and crawling into confined spaces (think climbing up the cat tree, jumping off, and going through a low-cost cat tunnel). Climbing will use up a ton of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brain puzzles. If you can put her food in a &quot;cat food puzzle&quot;. Here is a huge list of really simple examples: &lt;a href=&quot;http://foodpuzzlesforcats.com/homemade-puzzles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Food Puzzles for Cats&lt;/a&gt; From a cardboard tube (toilet paper tube) with the ends blocked and a few holes cut in it so that the cat knocks it around and the food falls out, to putting food in a confined space (ice cube tray) so that the cat has to pull each piece of food out individually. Sometimes even when the cat is physically tired, they are mentally bored, so this keeps them entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forgot to add, &lt;em&gt;this too shall pass&lt;/em&gt;. Are you sure about the 8 years old age? Some of this kind of sounds more like a young adult cat (1-2 years old, and yes, they can easily have kittens at 1 year old), but they usually calm down by around 3. Even if you have an exceptional cat who is still super active at 8 years old, I suspect she will start slowing down with age in a year or two. But the time you spend bonding with her is yours forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more: It's sometimes possible to teach a cat to fetch (and also other tricks, like &quot;sit&quot;, &quot;high five&quot;, etc.). Trick training is a great way to use up some mental energy, and training a high-energy activity like fetch is a double win. If she already had a litter of kittens in the wild, then fetch is a natural behavior since mom will bring back food for the kittens when they are old enough to start solids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10372" LastEditorUserId="10372" LastEditDate="2018-12-07T19:42:25.787" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T19:42:25.787" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6002" CreationDate="2018-12-07T17:59:26.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on experience and research, I believe the answer is she swallows it as soon as the pieces are the correct small size.  This seems to be a continuous process like a conveyor belt, with large pieces going in the mouth and small pieces going down the the throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much like a wood or paper shredder, one end of the lettuce leaf or hay stalk is fine, and the rest is getting chopped into tiny pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fully understand this process, starting at the beginning will help. The rabbit uses its prehensile lips to grasp the plant and then bites off the plant with its front teeth, also known as incisors. Once in the mouth, the plant is pushed back to the molars where it is chewed into very small pieces and mixed with enzymes from the rabbit's saliva. Then the rabbit sends the food down the esophagus by swallowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once passing the esophagus, the food will enter the stomach. A rabbit's stomach is relatively large in reference to the size of a rabbit. In the stomach, the food is sterilized by acid and then enzymes begin to break down the food for digestion. &lt;a href=&quot;https://owlcation.com/stem/How-the-Rabbit-Digestive-System-Works&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first part of a rabbit's digestive system is the mouth.  The rabbit uses its lips to grab food and pass it back to the teeth to cut and grind the plant material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rabbit has 16 deciduous (baby) teeth and 28 permanent teeth.  Its adult teeth consist of four upper and two lower incisors (front teeth) as well as 22 total premolars and molars (back teeth)...  Incisors function to tear and grab the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, rabbits utilize saliva secreted into the mouth to moisten the food to help with lubrication and movement through the gastrointestinal tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once food is swallowed, it passes through the esophagus.  The esophagus is essentially a tube that transfers food from the mouth to the stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have a relatively large stomach to allow for holding of large meals because they are crepuscular, meaning they eat primarily at dawn and dusk.  Once food is in the stomach, it begins to be broken down through hydrolytic and enzymatic digestion, which means acid and enzymes are used to break down the compounds to a smaller size.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://articles.extension.org/pages/61402/the-digestive-system-of-the-rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T17:59:26.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22058" CreationDate="2018-12-07T18:15:43.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using Brandon McMillan's &quot;Lucky Dog Show&quot; as a source: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set up a video feed with a home system, or a baby cam, or 2 cell&#xA;phones (like a skype call).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toss some pennies (or coins) in an empty water bottle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step out of the room and observe the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the dog snatches something off the table, start shaking the penny bottle and step inside the room saying &quot;No&quot; and removing the object from his grasp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat (again and again)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should probably expect to spend a few hours doing this. But the approach should work...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T18:15:43.637" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22058" CreationDate="2018-12-07T19:58:55.017" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's the possibility that he is spoiled in the sense that he doesn't need to follow rules. In some dogs this lack of rules results in them compulsively eating anything they can chew, even if the items are not edible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog knows exactly that he isn't allowed to take things from the table. He does so anyway because he learned that there will be no (immediate) consequences for him when he takes things &lt;strong&gt;while no-one is there&lt;/strong&gt;. For negative reinforcement to work, you must reprimand him within 3 seconds of him misbehaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have rules in your house he has to follow every day, he is not used to following rules even if no-one is watching him. Since he's male, his general tendency to dominance makes him ignore rules that are not enforced strictly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some very good rules are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The human always walks first through every door. He is not allowed to squeeze through.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When humans eat, he must wait at a respectful distance. That means lying at least 2 meters away from the table. The best way to enforce this rule is to place pillows, blankets or bath mats in a spot and sending your dogs to wait on them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; gets food directly from the table or while humans are still eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is not allowed claim a high resting place like on a sofa or bed. If you want to allow him on a sofa, he can only jump up after being invited by you. If he jumps up without your invitation, send him down again immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are very simple rules that enforce your own dominance without ever punishing or hurting your dog. You must treat both dogs absolutely equally and enforce the same rules for both. When you start enforcing your own dominance this way, you should notice a change in his behavior within a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that your dog is actually bored and takes the things just for fun. This also has the potential to develop into a compulsive eating disorder called &quot;Pica&quot;. You could play different games with him to entertain him more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scent games: (this works like thimblerig) let your dog sit down and wait. Place 3 - 5 dessert bowls upside down on the ground. Put some treats under one bowl, but pretend to put treats under all of them. Your dog has to sniff out the bowl with the treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Search games: send your dog into one room and let him wait there. In a different room where he cannot see you, hide 1 - 3 treats in different places he can (and is allowed to) access. Call your dog and let him search for the treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balance games: teach him to balance a treat on his nose or head and only eat it when you give the command. This is a great way for him to gain control over his impulses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Object recognition: teach him what a &quot;ball&quot; is and what a &quot;plushy&quot; is. Send him to retrieve the object you name. (Please take into account that dogs cannot recognize speach as well as humans, so choose names that are clearly different from each other. &quot;Flower&quot; and &quot;power&quot; are too similar for a dog to recognize the difference.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offer him a toy like a Kong or a kibble dispensing ball.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T19:58:55.017" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20031" CreationDate="2018-12-07T23:00:22.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;thankyou both so much:)&#xA;i had no idea what i was doing back then and got lazy with water changes-the source of all my problems. he was unhappy in his new tank ( he was in a small community tank before and loved it) then i got lazy and water quality must have been horrendous, i didnt have the experience, medications, and money at that,as well as the water test kit( which i have the API master test kit now:))- plus he was on really crappy food...unfortunatly he died not long after i posted the last post ages ago. thankyou heathan fatalis when you said not to be discouraged as i was going to give on fish keeping so many times.. and thanks for heling me understand more of dropsy as in the end he did have slight pinconing, but his body wasnt large like most fish with dropsy have and what the bump/lione on his sides were, noticed alot of fish have it at pet shops..i have guppies at the moment and am planning to get another betta soon- really well planted, tank mates depending on aggression level of the fish, and variety of good frozen, pellet and flake food- i will make sure im more prepared this time:) im also looking at putting some pothos plant cutting in the filter to help with ammonia- i heard that can help too:)&#xA;once again thankyou both.&#xA;-janayah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10731" LastActivityDate="2018-12-07T23:00:22.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22080" CreationDate="2018-12-08T14:58:56.947" Score="2" ViewCount="1841" Body="&lt;p&gt;The condition is like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am lying in bed and Bhutu (my cat) is sitting on my chest. If I make eye contact with her and keep it for 2 minutes, she starts getting serious and suddenly slaps me. Then she again sits down on my chest and starts looking here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the reason behind this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T18:50:10.867" Title="If I make eye contact with my cat for a long time from close distance, she slaps me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22075" CreationDate="2018-12-08T16:37:00.960" Score="2" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 1 yr old Labradors that keep jumping to my neighbors backyard. I installed a fence on top of the wall and now they're jumping to the next door backyard. I can't find any training exercises to teach them not to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T17:02:10.503" Title="Any tips for dogs jumping fence/wall?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22072" CreationDate="2018-12-08T16:45:58.093" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For cats, making long direct eye contact is a sign of aggression. Your cat is probably getting stressed out by your making such long direct eye contact, and acting out because of it. Instead, either avoid long periods of direct eye contact, or slowly blink and turn away, which for cats is a relaxed posture, that will make your cat be more relaxed in turn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T16:45:58.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22073" CreationDate="2018-12-08T17:02:10.503" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pup and I would pass by a home where an English Springer Spaniel lived when we would go for our walks. The ESS would jump over his fence and walk with us as we went. When more agressive neighborhood dogs would approach, the ESS would do circles around us to protect us, and then jump back into his yard when we passed his home again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jumping fences just seems like a way to break up the day, but there are three possible solutions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can build up the entire fence so that he isn't able to continue jumping it. This is not going to teach him anything. He is still going to look for ways to get out of the yard and explore.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can put an invisible fence around the inner perimeter to teach him to stay a foot or two away from the fence (thus hindering the jumps). You could actually do the back and front yard and give him access to the backyard when you are out and both yards when you are home. I have seen many a dog who are completely content inside an invisible fence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can keep an eye out and use a very firm, &quot;NO!&quot; when you see him in action. This is what I do anytime my dog(s) are doing something I want them to stop doing. You really do have to catch them in the act, but it works. My lab, Zelda, was forever digging under the fence to roam. Saw her digging under it one day, opened the kitchen door, &quot;NO!&quot;. She never did it again (whether I was home or not).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T17:02:10.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22077" CreationDate="2018-12-08T17:21:54.627" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do hairless cats need bath? How often? Do I need special hairless cat soap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-08T17:31:33.440" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T17:36:51.063" Title="Do hairless cats need bath? If yes then do they need some special hairless cat soap?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-12-11T18:40:26.470" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22076" CreationDate="2018-12-08T17:36:51.063" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do not need a bath at all unless they get something on them like grease or oil and potentially toxic substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless this is the case you do not need to give any cat a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving cats a bath will remove the natural protective oils in the skin of your cat and may cause serious skin problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T17:36:51.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-08T17:59:52.917" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I was wondering if someone could help me I have a rabbit I brought from pets at home and she is lovely and now I am getting a male rabbit from a breeder I was wondering how do I tell if my female has been spayed because she isn’t aggressive never bit me and doesn’t spray &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13726" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T12:21:50.220" Title="Is my rabbit spayed or not" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-10T11:03:29.223" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22082" CreationDate="2018-12-08T18:08:43.073" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to put lavender oil on my dog's skin? If so, please tell me the best way to dilute it to help fight fleas. I use advantage plus and want something extra and heard it repels fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13674" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T01:53:59.080" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:55:35.947" Title="Is it safe to put lavender oil on my dog's skin? If so, how should I dilute it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22072" CreationDate="2018-12-08T18:50:10.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost all mammals perceive direct eye contact as a threat or provocation. Humans are a very rare exception from this rule and it often creates problems in their interactions with animals. The reasons lie in evolution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almost all predators have their eyes on the front of their skull to have better spacial vision. They fixate their prey with both eyes right before trying to kill it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almost all herbivores have their eyes on both sides of the skull to see more of their surrounding at once. They are physically incapable of staring at anyone with both eyes like a predator does.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Humans are both predators and very social. They express emotions mostly with the face, so looking directly at each other is nessecary to understand non-verbal communication.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This fundamental meaning of being stared at is so deeply ingrained into nature that some animals have a better chance of survival because of patterns that resemble eyes on their bodies. (For example the spots on the wings of peacock butterflies or on the head of spectacled cobras)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Staring &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; halfway intelligent animal &lt;strong&gt;directly into the eyes&lt;/strong&gt; for a prolonged time will &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; create suspicion, stress, fear or provoke an attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-08T18:50:10.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22079" CreationDate="2018-12-08T19:15:30.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lavender oil is safe for dogs, cats and humans and does indeed repel fleas and ticks. Since it's the smell that repels fleas, you don't have to spread the oil over the whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very easy way to apply the oil is to rub a few drops onto the collar or bandana of your dog. The advantage is that the fur won't get oily and collect dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, rub the undiluted oil directly into the fur, one drop at a time. For small dogs one drop in the neck should suffice. For bigger dogs, add one drop to the top of their hips or the back of their hind legs, where they cannot lick it off. If your dog has very long fur, use more drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the treatment every few days when the oil has evaporated and your dog no longer smells like lavender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T01:55:35.947" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:55:35.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22126" CreationDate="2018-12-08T20:59:08.627" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog got infected with a cough and the soonest I can bring him to a vet is in 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I know for certain that this is an infection but I don't know the exact bacteria / viruses that caused the infection. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is coughing and gagging and quite regularily coughing up white slime.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is eating and drinking as usual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He doesn't have a fever as far as I can tell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to improve his symptoms until I can go the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-12-09T08:39:15.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T22:42:15.703" Title="Home remedy for coughing dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22079" CreationDate="2018-12-09T01:28:45.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lavender oil may be an &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_disruptor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;endocrine disruptor&lt;/a&gt;.  More studies are needed, but I would be wary of applying it to people or pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/lavender-tea-tree-oils-may-cause-breast-growth-boys&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NIH&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), confirmed in laboratory studies what a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Science Center’s School of Medicine suspected after diagnosing three of his young male patients with prepubertal gynecomastia. The researchers found an association between the use of products containing these oils and the rare disorder, but cautioned more research is needed. At this point, the findings are only applicable to young males with unexplainable enlarged breasts who are regularly using products containing these essential oils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7856" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T01:28:45.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22078" CreationDate="2018-12-09T12:21:50.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because spaying is an internal procedure, you likely won't be able to easily tell by yourself. However, a vet can tell you at your rabbit's next checkup. Before bringing a new bunny into your home, you should have your rabbit looked at by a vet anyway. They can check for common parasites and illnesses to make sure that your new rabbit won't be in danger of catching anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T12:21:50.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22093" CreationDate="2018-12-09T13:12:45.260" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is always scabing on its skin. Little lice type insects are present on its hair. I use some insecticides, but it cannot effectively remedy this. Would you please tell me some other suggestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13732" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-15T13:59:51.907" LastActivityDate="2020-11-15T13:59:51.907" Title="My dog is involved in scabies disease" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22089" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-09T14:39:02.887" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which type of cats learn fast? Persian or any other? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest me any one so that I can buy one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13134" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-10T14:48:02.290" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T14:48:02.290" Title="Which type of cats learn fast? Persian or any other?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T10:17:17.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22089" CreationDate="2018-12-09T18:22:50.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you want to teach a cat, but you should be aware that cats are harder to train than dogs or even horses. You cannot say &quot;sit down&quot; and expect the cat to actually sit down. That will never work. &#xA;And as with humans and any animals, there are always differences in personality. Even in breeds that are supposed to be clever there will always be animals with higher and lower intelligence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, there are animals more ore less ready to &lt;strong&gt;cooperate, and that is what you actually want&lt;/strong&gt;. What's the use when your cat understands what you want to teach her but doesn't care about actually doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So first, you need to think about what &lt;strong&gt;exactly&lt;/strong&gt; you expect from your cat and then research about different cat breeds and their temperament. I won't do that for you because I don't know what your requirements are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you work in a circus and want to teach your cat tricks for the shows, select a high-energy breed. A female is more likely to cooperate than a male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a cat as a pet for your home and &quot;just&quot; want to teach her not to walk over your coffe table, the breed doesn't matter. &lt;em&gt;Every&lt;/em&gt; cat is able to understand that. If your cat still does forbidden things, you didn't teach her in the correct way or she just doesn't care about your rules. That's the thing with cats, they have a mind of their own. If that bothers you too much, you might think about having a different animal as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-09T18:22:50.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22092" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-09T19:25:20.560" Score="4" ViewCount="1884" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium and keep peaceful fishes together like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Angel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Guppy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shark&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hypostomus plecostomus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are pictures of my fish in aquarium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PokjF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PokjF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ccQpK.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ccQpK.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fish living together peacefully, &lt;strong&gt;but I intend to buy a type of shrimp&lt;/strong&gt; and keep it with my fishes in one tank. A type of shrimp that attracted my attention and I love to have it with my fishes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JCogU.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JCogU.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: can I have a lobster with my fishes? Would it be peaceful with my &lt;strong&gt;guppies&lt;/strong&gt;? Please help me how can I do it? Is it possible to keep them in one tank together? I love this lobster type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think they are dangerous for my fish, which is concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12775" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T09:25:51.883" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T09:25:51.883" Title="Can I keep crayfish and guppy fish together in a tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22088" CreationDate="2018-12-10T07:21:32.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can see something on the fur of your dog, it is very unlikely scabies. Scabies are a tiny mite living in the skin of animals (including humans).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.petsandparasites.org/dog-owners/scabies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a link to help you identify the problem&lt;/a&gt;; on the right hand side of this page are links to different parasites that are common on pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might have lice. You can identify this by holding your hand on one spot on the back of your dog for 20-30 seconds; if your dog has lice, you will see it when you remove your hand (lice are attracted to the heat of your hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I mention lice is because it is not on the list on the web page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lice that dogs can get are not the same as the ones humans get, and the lice that cats can get do not infect dogs or humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common remedies against fleas are effective against lice too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this can point you in the right direction to solve your dog's problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-15T13:56:45.723" LastActivityDate="2020-11-15T13:56:45.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-10T08:06:45.567" Score="-1" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BtB1P.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt; Noticed these bumps on my dog. Not sure how long they have been there... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13740" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T16:52:11.913" Title="Notices these bumps on my dog. Not sure what it is?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T16:20:43.150" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22083" CreationDate="2018-12-10T11:47:00.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wet coughing in dogs is potentially &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; serious, this really is a no mucking around get them to the vet ASAP thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mean to scare you but causes of wet coughs go all the way up to Congestive Heart Failure! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T11:47:00.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22098" CreationDate="2018-12-10T14:21:08.450" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend and I moved to another country with our dog, Jack. My friend left earlier and, after 2 months, I brought our dog to a new place. Now our dog doesn't recognise my friend after 4 weeks even though my friend has been with him for almost 9 years. He only remembers me now and follows me all around. He used to chase my friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing has changed with my friend's appearance such as beard / hair etc. He is recognisable as the same person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone has any ideas to help our dog retrieve his memory? I read so many amazing stories from the forums that dogs have a long lasting memory about their owners. Hope our dog can get his memory back too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13690" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T11:27:24.813" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T11:27:24.813" Title="How to help my dog remember a long term human friend after just 4 weeks apart?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-10T15:17:16.377" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever there is any movement of any kind Bhutu (our cat's name) instantly gets excited. It may be our legs, arms, any vegetable, water bottle, TV remote everything. And she instinctively tries to bite whatever thing is moving. Also she tries to grab it with claws. Although if it is our limbs she doesn't apply pressure of jaws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of distant objects, she is usually unable to figure it out until it moves. This includes birds and other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the reason behind this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T09:45:21.997" Title="Why my cat responds instantly to any movement?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22096" CreationDate="2018-12-10T16:04:38.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just treat the pup normally. Jack's been through a lot in the last couple of months. Your friend left, you moved, he probably went into quarantine for a little while, and instead of going back home, he's in a new home and the friend is back. He's probably a little confused and still getting used to his new environment. He is favoring you because you didn't leave, so you are his &quot;rock&quot;. Act &quot;normal&quot; around Jack, as he becomes more comfortable in your new home/country, he'll open back up to your friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T16:04:38.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22094" CreationDate="2018-12-10T16:52:11.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to tell from the picture, but I agree that they look rather like nipples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they aren't nipples, they might be the cysts. Older dogs often get benign (non-cancerous) cysts that are basically deposits of fat. Definitely have your vet take a look at them to make sure that they aren't cancer, although the likelihood is low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T16:52:11.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22092" CreationDate="2018-12-10T21:23:03.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different types of aquarium crayfish, that have different levels of activity, aggression, size, and feeding habits, as well as different individual personalities, so its hard to say exactly if this would be ok or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general answer, I think you are correct in thinking they would be dangerous for your fish. Guppies are not great swimmers, and have long fins/tails that make them easier for other creatures to catch. It doesn't look like your tank has a lot of hiding places for them either, so that would likely cause a lot of stress and more risk from the crayfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13246" LastActivityDate="2018-12-10T21:23:03.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-11T01:38:11.807" Score="2" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a severely traumatized puppy in front of my home, two days ago. Brought her home and found two bite marks on the sides of her head. Upon asking around the locality, we realized she had been bitten by an aggressive dog the day before. The next day we found the perpetrator dog convulsing and dying in front of us. Some people say he died of rabies, some say he was hit on the head by a man that caused brain injury. We can never be too sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now about this 25 day old puppy who has been bitten. Because the perpetrating dog has died, and that too showing symptoms of aggression and convulsion, we can't take a chance. One vet told she can't tolerate a post exposure prophylaxis course and die in a few days. Another told she can well tolerate it. The third one said she can only be administered 3 doses of 0 - 3 -7 and no more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have an adult dog at home (vaccinated). Will he require a prophylaxis too because he sniffs the affected puppy and licks her urine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to do now? We administered her with one ARV 1ml SC yesterday (60 hrs after exposure), but will she die? She is ostensibly OK till now after 12 hours.I'm very much confused whether to continue the prophylaxis course or not give her anything due to high death risk by vaccine at such young age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3CORx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3CORx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13744" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T01:38:11.807" Title="Can I give anti-rabies vaccine (PE Prophylaxis) to a 25-day-old puppy because he was bitten by a symptomatic rabid dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-11T02:07:17.843" Score="-1" ViewCount="1369" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five-gallon freshwater fish tank with 3 guppies, 2 ghost shrimp, 7 nerite snails, 1 mystery snail, and 3 dwarf catfish. 2 catfish and 2 guppies have disappeared completely. There are 0 bodies at the bottom or floating. What could have happened?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13745" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T07:29:40.583" Title="Fish disappearing in small tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-12-11T09:17:46.857" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-11T03:26:22.377" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four pairs of budgies. The cage is kept outdoor. Now its winter. I don,t know what to do to keep my birds warm and cozy. The cage is big and I can,t move it indoor. I cover the cage every night with cloth. But I think it is not of much help. My question is what is the best way to keep my budgies warm and cozy in winter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12923" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T00:57:01.730" Title="How can I warm up my budgies cage in winter?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-11T05:29:53.200" Score="39" ViewCount="20409" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been three days since one of my kittens died. And since that day my other cat is not eating or drinking anything. I am afraid that he will get weak and ill. Please suggest to me what to do to make him eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: The vet said that it may be because my cat is in grief and sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13124" LastEditorUserId="1051" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T18:38:04.157" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T09:20:36.383" Title="My cat is not eating or drinking anything after the death of the fellow cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22105" CreationDate="2018-12-11T07:07:40.983" Score="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a cat isn't eating it's &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; time for the veterinarian!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Trond points out, make sure he is drinking water. And until you can see a vet keep the cat properly warm (not hot, but make sure he isn't cold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be a disease he caught from the other cat, or it could be a severe case of grief, but when a cat isn't eating veterinary intervention is needed urgently!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Since a vet has (hopefully) ruled out diseases it's time to go into caregiver mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try the following, roughly in order, until the cat is eating again:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wet food, first in a bowl, then trying to get him to lick it off your finger, make sure to try both chunks in gravy, and the pasty stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Treats, either hand fed, or mixed in wet or dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try warming the wet food in the microwave, to make it more smelly. Fed in bowl, or by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chicken (careful not to include bones), or cooked fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuna, &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; make sure it's high quality, and &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; more than a little. It smells really good to cats, and I've never met a cat who will refuse it. But it does contain some traces of mercury, which will build up in the body and could cause issues in larger amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of the above works, it may be time to look into force feeding, I'd get back in touch with the vet to get instructions on how to do this, and with what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important during all of this to give your cat extra attention, lots of cuddles, maybe having him in your lap on a warm blanket whenever your lap is available. And trying to get back to normal by playing with him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T07:42:54.660" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T07:42:54.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22102" CreationDate="2018-12-11T07:29:40.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes small fish get sucked into the water filter and cannot escape on their own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent that, you could wrap a piece of fine tight around the suction opening of your filter, securing it tightly in place. If the fabrig gets sucked into the filter, it might block it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T07:29:40.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22097" CreationDate="2018-12-11T07:50:27.587" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have evolved in nature and food is often in short supply in nature. So a cat that hunts anything that moves will have an advantage over cats that don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few generations of &quot;domestication&quot; will not change the fact that cats are hunters and  good ones too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We think cats and kittens play and even if there is an element of fun in this the main goal for the cats is to hunt and kill. Cats are totally dependent on their hunting skills to survive and we can not change this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats first came to the human settlements they came not to find people but because humans do attract rodents. Humans allowed the cats to stay because it was of mutual benefit for cats(they got prey) and for humans(less food was eaten or spoiled by rodents).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T09:45:21.997" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T09:45:21.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2018-12-11T10:30:02.563" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A general answer for several countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you happen to live close to a veterinary school you might ask there if they can use your pet in the education of new vets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is mostly for surgery and injuries and less for emergencies,and this is very often free or close to free for you,You only pay for the medication and for the materials used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T10:41:27.097" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T10:41:27.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22123" CreationDate="2018-12-11T12:02:09.717" Score="5" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every week, about our entire family meets at grandma's house for coffee and chatter. My aunt has the habit of bringing her dog to those meetings too. He's not too well behaved, begs for food and attention, and has this one habit that I really dislike: He begs by rubbing, or standing up, against someone's legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I'm getting pretty tired of having to clean off quite a large amount of dog hair after each visit to grandma, or having my nylons destroyed by little nails, I'd like this to stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually try to ignore the dog altogether, I don't pet him, but I do sometimes take his collar and guide him away from me, making him sit next to me, when he's being annoying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As aunt isn't going to leave the dog home or make it behave better (trust me when I say that better people than me have tried achieving that), &lt;strong&gt;what can &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; do so the dog will hopefully learn to ignore me?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11575" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T12:04:14.147" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T18:32:02.653" Title="I don't want to be petted. How can I get someone else's dog to ignore me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22112" CreationDate="2018-12-11T12:20:25.720" Score="10" ViewCount="4063" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a Labrador schnoodle cross and he is almost one year old. I want to know how much water I should allow him to drink because I don't want him to have too much in case its bad for him and gets kidney problems or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13691" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T14:58:49.673" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T14:58:49.673" Title="How much water should I let my dog drink?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22111" CreationDate="2018-12-11T13:05:01.023" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;As much as he wants! There are very few instances where you should limit the amount your dog drinks. An example would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog is vomiting - better to offer small amounts of water several times a day instead of him engulfing large quantities at once. If vomiting persists your pet should be seen by a veterinarian as frequent vomiting can lead to dehydration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to monitor how much he drinks as an increase can be an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/urinary/c_multi_polydipsia_polyuria?page=show&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;indicator to illnesses&lt;/a&gt; such as diabetes and kidney disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T13:05:01.023" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-11T13:06:45.367" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of my kittens seem to have developed some sort of skin disease. Some of them have these little bumps that break when you scratch them. I have posted the link to some pictures, if anyone has information regarding this disease, then please enlighten me.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/EzprJ4nUR4S6moZq8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kitten pics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12149" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T14:11:51.833" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T17:13:16.787" Title="Strange hairless spots on my kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22113" CreationDate="2018-12-11T13:39:57.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cats have most likely ringworm. This is an fungal infection in the skin of your cat. To be sure take a look at each of the bald spots and see if they have a thin dark line around them. This can be hard to see if the skin of your cat is dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be several other skin problems too. You can take a look here &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-skin-problems-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-skin-problems-in-cats&lt;/a&gt; and take a look at the pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to take your cats to the vet to get it diagnosed and treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might take months before you see any improvement after the treatment have started so be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T17:13:16.787" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T17:13:16.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22105" CreationDate="2018-12-11T14:05:27.557" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not eating properly even for a few days is likely to cause the fatty liver syndrome for a cat, which is usually &lt;strong&gt;fatal if left untreated&lt;/strong&gt;, but has a good recovery rate, if treated early. You should take your cat to a vet immediately for an examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a cat is more willing to eat if you can feed him things like small pieces of fresh meat from your hand. Adding liquid to his food may help, if you can get him to eat but not drink. Some cats may prefer running water. In any case, &lt;strong&gt;you will need to take your cat to a veterinarian immediately&lt;/strong&gt;, preferably one that is specialized in felines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet thinks your cat is not eating because of grief. Did you vet offer advice you on how to get him to eat again? A professional should be able to give you the best answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet may also be able to prescribe medicine for stimulating the appetite of your cat, if you cannot get him to eat even by offering treats. You may need to consider giving him food with a syringe, if nothing else works. Humans can survive a long time without food, but even a few days without food is dangerous for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13753" LastEditorUserId="13753" LastEditDate="2018-12-11T18:49:14.860" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T18:49:14.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22117" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22127" CreationDate="2018-12-11T14:23:06.507" Score="5" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally I fill up her food bowl all the way and it will last her 3-4 days. When it's starting to look empty she will come find me and I fill it up again. It's hardly ever completely empty by the time I refill it, so it's not like she's starving, but she does seem anxious and needy when it needs to be refilled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually within a few hours of her food being refilled she will vomit on the floor. Then she does not puke again until I refill her bowl again. She is otherwise healthy. Perfect weight, shiny hair, happy, energetic. She is about 5 years old.I have tried food that is intended for sensitive stomachs and she still vomits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this happening and is there anything I can do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13691" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-27T16:53:03.173" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T16:53:03.173" Title="Why does my cat vomit almost every time I refill her food bowl?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-11T15:40:33.873" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 13-year-old dog constantly chews the bottom of her paw or sucks on blankets and articles of clothing. How can we stop this behavior? Is it dangerous to her health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13058" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T15:40:33.873" Title="Our 13-year-old dog constantly chews the bottom of her paw or sucks on blankets" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22110" CreationDate="2018-12-11T17:36:21.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most, not all, dogs understand simple commands: &quot;no&quot;, &quot;lay down&quot;, &quot;off&quot;, etc. Perhaps the best thing would be to teach the dog to interact with you differently. I'm not saying that you need to spend hours working with the pup. But on those social occasions, when the dog leans against you, look down at him, nudge him with your leg and say, &quot;off&quot;. If you are seated and he comes up to you, say, &quot;sit&quot;. After the commands, return to your conversation and ignore him. It shouldn't take long for him to understand that he isn't going to get what he wants from you -- and he'll go on to greener pastures. (theoretically)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T17:36:21.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22129" CreationDate="2018-12-11T18:04:25.960" Score="1" ViewCount="1035" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partners dog always shows me his teeth when I come into the house or when I come onto a room after being gone for a while. He seems to be happy to see me, wagging his tail and loves pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a good dog and he usually listens to me whenever I give him a command. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also does this when presented with poison (alcohol, cigarette smoke, spicy foods). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if this is aggressive behaviour, or if it is just the way he greets me, and if there is anything that could or should be done about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13757" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:36:06.587" Title="Dog shows me his teeth when I enter the room" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22110" CreationDate="2018-12-11T18:32:02.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to tell him that you don't like his behavior &lt;strong&gt;in dog language&lt;/strong&gt;. That means, you don't tell him &quot;no&quot; (that's human language), but use gestures and timing to communicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt; I'm taking all the information given in &lt;a href=&quot;https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/q/19866/17850&quot;&gt;this question by the same user&lt;/a&gt; into consideration, so the answer covers more scenarios than in the question posted here.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Gestures&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most appropriate gesture in this case is to gently &lt;strong&gt;push him away from you&lt;/strong&gt;. Use either your hand, arm or leg for this. This is especially effective if he tries to sit on your feet or rub against your legs. You can also extend your leg into the direction of the dog to keep him from approaching you or food on the table. Just let him walk against your foot and don't give any room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be rude! Excert just enough force to make him understand that he is supposed to move away from you, but don't shove him around or even kick him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you can &lt;strong&gt;pull him away by the collar&lt;/strong&gt;. Simply grab the collar, extend your arm sideways and let go at the maximum extension of your arm. There's no need to make him sit down or otherwise interact with him. You just force him away from the object of his desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, use the appropriate force to move him away without yanking or choking him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If his behavior is &lt;strong&gt;rude&lt;/strong&gt; (like jumping or scratching people or putting his head on a table to steal food), you should &lt;strong&gt;prod him in the side&lt;/strong&gt; like described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21463/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;. The most effective place to prod is the flank between the ribs and thigh, but if that's unavailable, any place at the side of his body will suffice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gesture is the equivalent of smacking the hand of someone who steals a cookie, so it's appropriate to chastize rude behavior, but not minor transgressions. If you cannot reach down to prod him with your hand, you can use your food instead, but please don't kick him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A light tap to the side (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aHh5R7aSvQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like demonstrated here&lt;/a&gt; at 0:35) is efficient to interrupt behavior like barking without punishing the dog. It can be as light as when you pet him, but is just a tap instead of a petting stroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Timing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The timing is of utmost importance when training dogs. You must correct unwanted behavior within 3 seconds or it becomes futile, but it's most effective within the first second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also set clear rules with the dog and every family member involved. If &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; chastize him for scratching your legs, &lt;strong&gt;your grandma&lt;/strong&gt; shouldn't allow the same behavior. I know from your original question that the owners won't adhere to those rules, but the rest of the family should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog initiates unwanted behavior, react immediately with the appropriate gesture. If you can read his body language good enough to know that he will do something unwanted in a second, that's the best moment to correct him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to break it down a little bit...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You sit down to talk to your grandma. Dog looks at you - nothing happens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog walks up to you without touching you - nothing happens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog walks in front of you to sit down on your feet - &lt;strong&gt;you push him away from you with your feet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog sits besides your legs but doesn't touch you - nothing happens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog lays his head onto your leg to beg for food - &lt;strong&gt;you push him away with your knee&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog lifts his paw to scratch at your legs - &lt;strong&gt;you prod him&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog jumps on your lap - &lt;strong&gt;you gently shove him forward until he has to jump down&lt;/strong&gt; (jumping up and being shoved down should be one fluid motion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No dog understands new rules at the first try. You'll have to correct him over and over again, but with some patience on your side, he will learn. Even old dogs can still learn polite behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Offering an alternative&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The optimal way to correct this behavior (almost seems hyper-active to me) would be to offer an alternative that can calm the dog down. The best solution would be to place a pillow or blanket in a corner of the room, a few meters away from the people talking. You would teach the dog to go to this place and stay there during the meal or until he's calmed down. As mentioned above, I don't see any chance of this happening with the dog's owners...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative is to keep him busy with slow games. There are toys like a Kong (filled with a food paste) or kibble dispenser balls that keep the dog entertained for a while, but if he gets treats thrown at him every 5 seconds, his interest in actually &lt;em&gt;working&lt;/em&gt; for his treats will be zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Probable outcome&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start correcting the dog's behavior, you make yourself less interesting for him. If his owners don't change their behavior, they are still as interesting as before. The dog will probably interact with them all the time (and vice versa) and the humans can talk with each other if they manage to ignore the dog and owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to be so pessimistic, but the real problem here is not the dog, it's his owners. If you cannot change them, you cannot fundamentally change your family gatherings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T18:32:02.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22105" CreationDate="2018-12-11T19:42:47.270" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the others have said, do involve your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, any animal that can make a friendship bond, and cats are certainly included, can feel some degree of sadness and grief at the loss of a companion, whether by death or otherwise, and it is not uncommon for pets to experience a kind of depression after a major loss. Make sure to give your cat lots of attention and reassurance; in particular, make it easy for him to be near you physically if he wants to (a nearby box or chair to sit in, able to curl up in your lap or pocket). Cats as a species are less physically affectionate than dogs or ferrets, but especially at this time, he may appreciate extra love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6604" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T19:42:47.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22083" CreationDate="2018-12-11T20:07:12.050" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to the vet with my dog and he gave me the following information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/22095/12501&quot;&gt;motosubatsu&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;coughing can be a symptom of very serious ailments&lt;/strong&gt;. If you're not sure why you dog coughs, you should get to the vet as soon as possible. (In my case I knew exactly where he got infected, so I was sure it wasn't something serious.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AVOID INFECTING OTHER DOGS! Don't go to crowded places and warn approaching people not to let their dog come into contact with yours. One touch nose to nose is enough to infect a dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let a veterinarian have a look at your dog to exclude that your dog has a serious medical problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the dog warm. Let him sleep in a warm place. If it's cold outside and you have a short-haired breed, use a dog coat when walking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid strenuous activities. A walk through the woods is OK, but don't play fetch or let him run after you on a bicycle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure he always has water nearby.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cooled tea like cistus or camomile with a dab of honey can help a dog as well as a human (meaning: not much but better than nothing). &lt;strong&gt;Make sure the tea you want to feed is not harmful to dogs!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T22:42:15.703" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T22:42:15.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22117" CreationDate="2018-12-11T20:11:15.173" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;A prior cat of mine had similar issues with binge-eating right after a refill, resulting in barely-digested food gracing my carpet. The two most effective fixes I found (and combined):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food dishes that slow down eating. These can be puzzle/interactive feeders (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B004G9L1H2&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;food maze&lt;/a&gt;), or something as simple as a wide and shallow dish (instead of a deep bowl)--I even had success with an empty icecube tray.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feeding the cat smaller meals more frequently. If your refilling excites them into a feeding frenzy because it's so infrequent, perhaps doing it more often will calm them down. Additionally, you may find that the smaller amounts of food provoke less upsets. I found 2 meals a day to be the ideal timing for mine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13763" LastActivityDate="2018-12-11T20:11:15.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20508" CreationDate="2018-12-11T20:25:08.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It helps if you have a forest nearby where you can have the dog run free. Keep in mind that these dogs are ready to bite, protect, sniff and put their life on the line - for a toy. This means they are sharp, smart, do not tolerate nonsense from you as a handler and require a lot of time. 4-5 hours per day is ok. This does include going out to defecate, but 1-2 two-hour sessions of training every day is what it takes to get the dog tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to be able to get the dog tired - then it sleeps and you can do other things. It does not matter as much if it is an apartment, a farm, or a cardboard box - as long as you can get the dog completely exhausted every single day, then you are doing your part of the deal and everything will be fine. Of course the benefit of a farm is that you can let the environment do the work - in an apartment YOU have to take the dog out and do the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13764" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-19T23:38:38.253" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T23:38:38.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22122" CreationDate="2018-12-11T20:58:07.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different ways of &amp;quot;showing teeth&amp;quot;. Some dogs adapt an artificial smile from humans that has nothing to do with aggression. Some dogs are rather insecure, which often leads to warning signs and, if these are ignored, to aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently had a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21850/12501&quot;&gt;question about a &amp;quot;cute&amp;quot; video&lt;/a&gt; of a dog that was actually stressed. The signs are hard to recognize if you don't know what to look for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical warning signs of stress and aggression are (ordered by seriousness):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Averting the gaze and peering at you. You can often see the white part of their eyes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yawning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Panting with drawn back corners of the mouth. That creates typical &amp;quot;smile wrinkles&amp;quot; as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21853/12501&quot;&gt;shown here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rapidly licking the lips with the tongue coming out only a little bit at the very front. This is a serious warning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growling with and without showing teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snarling with furrowed, drawn up nose, baring the fangs and upper gums. This is one step short of being bitten.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog smiling:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/psiH6m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/psiH6m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dog smiling&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog snarling:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/glGKt.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/glGKt.png&quot; alt=&quot;Dog snarling&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know a dog that is insecure and displays a behavior that can be best described as &amp;quot;shy&amp;quot;. If your partner's dog is like that, you could simply give him some time to approach you on his own terms. That means when you enter your partner's house after a long time, you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greet the dog verbally with a friendly tone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't approach him directly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sit down where he can reach you and ignore him completely (don't even look at him). Don't move hectically or gesticulate wildly. You can use this time to talk to your partner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wait until he comes to sniff you. If he's actually insecure, he might approach you from behind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T00:36:06.587" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:36:06.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22103" CreationDate="2018-12-12T00:57:01.730" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use a gentle heat lamp (ensuring the actual heating elements, which can burn, can't be touched by animals), or use rubber hot water bags or heated socks full of rice (you can microwave these) covered with cloth in a way that is safe and appealing to them! Online you may be able to find heat pads that hold heat better than water/rice, and there are electrical-powered heat pads if you have an outlet nearby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T00:57:01.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21882" CreationDate="2018-12-12T00:59:39.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The canonical way to prevent reopening is an e-collar (these exist for rodents) that will prevent him from licking. You could also use a bandage, but rats are fastidiously clean and he may try to remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T00:59:39.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T03:18:54.757" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat urination behavior issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start off, I used to feed a cat who avoids fighting with other cats and doesn't fight for food if another cat tries to steal from her. So I decided to take her in so I could take care of her when I was moving to another location. She is a year and 5 months old now, and I started feeding her when she was about 3 months old, so she's very used to being around me, and turns out to be a really friendly, loving house kitty. But she doesn't get along with one of my sister's 2 cats. She hisses and avoids the cat everytime she comes close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get started on the main question, my cat is very lovely and all but she pees on soft things randomly every now and then. She pees mainly on carpets, blankets, laundry, and basically anything soft and with cushion. However, she pees in litter boxes too and she never does the poopoo business outside of the litter box, meaning that she does know that that's where she takes care of her business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried changing the litter sand, location of the litter boxes, and putting on a Comfort Zone diffuser, and did different things like adding nature related things in the litter box too, but she still pees on soft things. I think she does not like litter sands in general and I think she might be peeing somewhere other than litter box because she smells the things of my sister's cat in the litter boxes... does anybody have an idea how to fix this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13767" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T16:21:17.460" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T16:21:17.460" Title="Cat urination problem" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T16:19:56.607" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T04:20:42.970" Score="4" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know how to make a cat go to sleep? I have to take her on a long drive and I want her to sleep so she doesn't get too stressed. I tried using the calming spray but it doesn't work on her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have an advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13767" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T09:18:36.843" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T13:26:57.310" Title="How do I make a cat fall asleep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22133" CreationDate="2018-12-12T07:31:07.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drives can be very stressful for cats, especially if they've been medicated. &#xA;It is highly recommended that cats in a car, in boats, or on planes remain unmedicated during the trip, both for comfort, and safety reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to have her sleep, I would rather look into getting her a comfortable enough cage, and making sure she has a view during the drive. I'd also look into pheromone spray to make it feel less alien (the spray is basically artificial scent marking, so it smells more like her own territory.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T07:31:07.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22133" CreationDate="2018-12-12T10:21:46.890" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to make sure is that you take your cat on small trips in your car so that she gets used to it. Start it with a trip for a few minutes and then return home. This is to show your cat that nothing bad happens and for her to get used to the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to use a fairly small carrier for your cat. Cats do feel safer in small spaces. You will need to put a towel in the carrier and it is best if you use one on which the cat has rested upon. If the towel smells of her she will feel more at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you take the cat for the long drive you will probably try to limit feeding and drinking right before you leave so your cat can go for some time before she needs to eliminate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to bring food and water if the drive is long. She will probably not eat but try to get her to drink a little during the drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think she will be able to sleep during the drive but she will hopefully be able to relax a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T13:26:57.310" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T13:26:57.310" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22105" CreationDate="2018-12-12T11:45:16.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As your vet said it may be because of grief, you should try to cheer him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play some cat videos on Youtube for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a mirror for him and give something to play with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible get another companion for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, sometimes cats will eat grass, when they avoid other food items. Mostly they will eat only when they have some digestion issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VfP4O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VfP4O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following type of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyperus_rotundus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;long blade grass&lt;/a&gt; is what I gave to my kitten when it had some digestion problems. Don't force feed though, they will eat it if they are in need of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13781" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T09:20:36.383" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T09:20:36.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T12:19:11.707" Score="8" ViewCount="3809" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 7 month old Husky.  This morning, she caught a rabbit in our back yard.  She was out going to the bathroom and I was getting her food and water when I heard screaming coming from the back yard.  I grabbed a flashlight and discovered she had a rabbit.  She wouldn't release it, so I chased her around the yard until she dropped it and I could get it from her.  She was very aggressive and growled at me, which I figure it normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is whether or not this might make her more aggressive towards us, or towards the other little dog in our household.  You always hear stories about once a dog tastes blood, that they have a taste for more, but I don't know if those are old wives tales or if there's some accuracy to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13782" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T12:32:42.047" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:07:24.550" Title="My 7 month old Husky killed a rabbit today in our yard, will that make her aggressive going forward?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21234" CreationDate="2018-12-12T13:20:10.463" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question about the frequency range of &quot;vocal noises of communicative value&quot;, we would have to test not just what sounds the dogs make, but how other dogs interpret them. I'm not aware of anyone who's done exactly that. There are a number of studies on acoustic properties that carry information (e.g. Taylor,Reby, McComb. 2010. Size communication in domestic dog, Canis familiaris, growls. Animal Behaviour), but not on the upper frequency limit of communicative content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, it's fairly clear from casual inspection of a lot of recordings that prominent variation in formants extends at least to 6 kHz, and probably beyond. Whether or not dogs attend to that, I don't know. Riede &amp;amp; Fitch wrote a useful study in 1999 in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Vocal tract length and acoustics of vocalization in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13171" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T13:20:10.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22133" CreationDate="2018-12-12T13:22:10.540" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know about other cats but I can answer based on my experience with my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a journey, if we put her in a cage she gets too stressed and constantly calls for our attention. If we cover the cage with a towel she gets even more stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a complete lap cat. The only thing that can relax her is lying on our lap with our assuring hand on her. She can even calmly go to sleep then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding elimination, she knows that she has to inform us about her need to eliminate. We can understand it and act accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T13:22:10.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22105" CreationDate="2018-12-12T14:01:40.593" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats grieve. Like most if not all mammals, and many birds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat lost his brother (hit by a car), he sat under the tree where they used to play all the time for 4 days, barely moving. It still hurts – even for me – to think about it, 8 years later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you can do is show him lots of love, and keep his food &amp;amp; water dishes fresh, full &amp;amp; inviting. And don't be afraid to show grief, too, if you miss the lost cat. He will understand. We must learn to respect grief - it isn't a disease, it's a proof of love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13785" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T14:01:40.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22092" CreationDate="2018-12-12T14:10:04.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, crayfish would be an inappropriate fish to keep with your current selection. As an alternative to crayfish you might want to look at giant fan shrimp. They look almost identical except these have fans not claws at the front. They don't grow as big as crayfish and they are not predatory. In fact, they're more likely to be attacked by the fish than the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZULG1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZULG1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;http://www.web.forumacvarist.ro/african-giant-filter-shrimp/&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to avoid keeping them with anything too large or aggressive but they might be a good alternative to crayfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-13T16:45:44.480" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T16:45:44.480" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T16:17:17.090" Score="7" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone got dogs taking gabapentin, particularly for back pain, who have noticed any behavioural changes? My 12 year old Canaan dog has been on gabapentin for a few months now for spondylitis (stiff vertebrae), but it's hard to detect any changes over such a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been slowing down over the last year or so, and the vet thinks back pain may be the cause. But I can't really say whether the medication is having any effect on his activity. Tiredness is a side effect of the drug, and I'm happy for him to be tired and in less pain, but I'm wondering whether others have had similar experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13171" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-12T17:00:42.293" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T02:25:57.560" Title="Dog behavioural changes on gabapentin" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T17:36:51.827" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3(-ish)-year-old indoor cat. She used to be an outdoor cat, but that stopped when she was about 1, 1-and-a-half, or so. We used to live in a high floor of an apartment, we now live in a basement suite that is quite smaller than the apartment (for about 2 months now). I do my best to play with her when I have time, however I work a lot (even when I'm home) and I worry that with the reduced space, she's not getting enough stimulation and might be very bored. She has toys - mice and catnip pillows and such, in addition to one of those plastic tracks with a ball inside - but rarely plays with them, and I find her sleeping in my bed most of the time, which she never used to do at the old place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I worry that she might become apathetic or listless. Is there anything I can do to try and help keep her engaged and energetic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9977" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T22:16:02.783" Title="How can I make sure my cat is getting enough stimulation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-12T18:40:59.450" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T19:35:32.587" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle, Tyler, has recently been getting really sad. He is perfectly healthy. But he is eating slower, and sleeping more - thus he seems sad, which makes me sad!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there toys that I could buy, or different foods that I can give him? It might be his food. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:27:36.730" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:29:23.830" Title="How do I make my turtle happy?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18941" CreationDate="2018-12-12T19:53:53.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live on a farm and have chickens, and my friend came over for me to pet sit her hedgehog. We were at breakfast and I saw this question. I took a raw chicken egg, and the hedgehog ended up being a little bit afraid of the egg. He soon realized he could push it with his nose. I guess they don't destroy the eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T12:56:12.583" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T12:56:12.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20701" CreationDate="2018-12-12T20:07:56.130" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with this, but I think that you may be able to offer it a warmer environment, and some fresh leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T20:07:56.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22153" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22163" CreationDate="2018-12-12T22:14:45.267" Score="5" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat attacked my sons small dog when he was a puppy.  I am now living with my son and his little dog is terrified of my cat.  How can I get them to live together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13795" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T00:24:11.437" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:24:11.437" Title="Small dog is scared of my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22146" CreationDate="2018-12-12T22:16:02.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have done a good job so far of providing basic opportunities for engagement. I have two tips that you might not have thought of yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Enlist Help&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you live in an apartment complex or neighborhood, there might be older children around who would love to hang out with your cat for free or very cheap. 10-15-year-olds are ideal for this, especially if you know their parents. College students are another great option. You might be able to enlist a young neighbor to come over while you are doing some work, making dinner, etc. or even before you get home once you trust them. They can spend half an hour playing with and generally spending time with your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bringing in guests has a few benefits. Obviously, this solves the issue of not having enough time to play every day. But additionally, a new person brings new smells and new ways to socialize. Their presence is stimulating in and of itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Trick Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People don't often think of training as a fun activity for the animal, especially for a cat. But really, training your cat to do tricks or behaviors can be a fun game for everyone. From the cat's perspective, it's a puzzle where they get to figure out how to get you to give them the thing they want. From your perspective, you get to teach your cat to do cool, funny, or weird things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to persuading a cat to play this game is to figure out what motivates them. For most animals, food is a good motivator, although you have to find something that they &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; want and that they don't get the rest of the time. There are lots of cat treats for sale in pet stores, but some cats aren't enthusiastic enough about the dried ones. Bits of fresh meat often work, or tiny pieces of hotdog or fish. Think about your cat's favorite foods and figure out which inspire your cat to come running. That's what you want to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the right motivator, you can train most cats to do almost anything a dog could learn and then some, although many cats will need to be in the right mood to follow directions. But 15-minutes a day of playing the &quot;how can you get me to give you this tasty snack&quot; game adds a lot of mental variation to your cat's life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-12T22:16:02.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T22:34:52.883" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that chinchillas are NOT allowed to come in contact with a large amount of water, so how do I bathe them in their dust?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-12-13T07:36:08.533" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T08:26:50.523" Title="How do I safely bathe a chinchilla in their dust?" Tags="&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;chinchillas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-12T23:06:59.717" Score="4" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a 4 month old, male, rosy boa 5 days ago. His warm side (temperature taken at surface) fluctuates between 85 and 94 °F (29 and 34 °C). I have a heating pad stuck under the cage and an UV warming light coming from the top. Right from the start he would go on the cold side and curl up against the glass. He was out of sight for 2 days/nights, so I went in search and found him under his cedar shred flooring. He was very cool to the touch. I brought him up to the surface and put him in the warm side. He had laid there for maybe 15-20 minutes and then went to the cold side and back up against the glass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't fed him yet, and with him continually seeking cold, I'm worried that he won't be interested in eating. Any ideas why he's doing this and how I can get him interested in warming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13797" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:25:13.750" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T22:17:17.660" Title="Rosy Boa keeps seeking the cold. Why?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22149" CreationDate="2018-12-13T05:56:28.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is that you could create a basking tank with an UVB lightbulb. Also, you could add a few feeding guppies in the water you could add a few feeding guppies to keep him active and happily chasing guppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also get another turtle to keep company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13799" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:29:23.830" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T13:29:23.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22156" CreationDate="2018-12-13T08:26:50.523" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to take care of my sisters chinchilla, and I used a small-ish plastic box with the dust inside of it. As to &quot;how&quot;, all we really had to do was to let him loose in the vicinity of the said box and he would get down to business, he knew well enough what the dust is for and I don't think I ever had to teach him how to bathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your container must be big enough to accomodate the vigorously rolling chinchilla and to contain the dust that's flying everywhere. It also has to be heavy enough prevent the chinchilla from flipping it over. You don't need a lot of dust, just enough to make a layer. You can reuse the same dust more than once, just make sure to pick out any kind of debris that ends up in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13800" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T08:26:50.523" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22157" CreationDate="2018-12-13T08:32:55.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't keep Rosy Boas myself, but I can give some general advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Temperatures&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Rosy-Boa-Care-Sheet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this caresheet I found on Google&lt;/a&gt;, the temperatures in your tank are on the high side:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Temperatures should be between 80 and 85 °F (27 and 29 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;a href=&quot;http://reptilerapture.net/rosy-boa-caresheet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this other source&lt;/a&gt; says the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The hot side basking spot should be at 88-90 °F (31-32 °C). Put one hide there and another on the cooler side. This cool side can be between 75-80 °F (24-27 °C). At night, it can drop down to 72 °F (22 °C) ambient temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the temperatures in the hot spot might be a bit on the high side. More interesting is the temperature on the colder side of the tank. If this is still too warm to the liking of your snake, they might try to cool themselves down by lying at the far end of tha tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes thermoregulate. This means that they move around to a place where the temperature is just right to their liking at that time. That doesn't necessarily have to be the hotspot. So just the fact that they go to the cold side doesn't really worry me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second link I posted mentions minimal temperatures of 72 °F (22 °C). If the snake is this temperature, they will feel cold. That is because your hands are much warmer than that. That alone is not something to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally haven't really found a correlation between whether the snake is on the hot or the cold side of the tank and whether they take food or not. So I wouldn't be worried for now and just offer him food as normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hiding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snakes in general like to hide and Rosy Boas do that by burrowing. So the fact that they did that is nothing to worry about. Also that they immediately after moving again tried to hide is the same thing, expected behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:55:22.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:55:22.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22139" CreationDate="2018-12-13T09:49:34.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The situation was certainly not desirable, but all things considered not out of the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, in comparison to other breeds, Huskies have a more feral temperament. This quality was highly valued by the Inuit who needed strong and independent dogs for their sleighs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to keep the situation in mind: the rabbit triggered her hunting instinct, her adrenaline was running high, she had made prey and then you came around and wanted to steal it from her. All but the most timid dog would have reacted that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you did wrong was chasing her around. That only adds to the excitement of the situation and triggers her instinct to protect her prey. Instead, you should call her to you, take hold of the rabbit and hold onto it until she lets go. Do not pull it or yank it around, but make her understand that she should let go. That way you &lt;em&gt;claim&lt;/em&gt; the rabbit for yourself instead of &lt;em&gt;stealing&lt;/em&gt; it. Of course that is disappointing for her and she'll try to prevent you from taking hold of the rabbit, but it's better than pushing the adrenaline up even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My question is whether or not this might make her more aggressive towards us, or towards the other little dog in our household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to be afraid of that. Wild dogs and wolves regularly kill prey to survive and learn to kill from a young age. The easiest prey would be their own pups or injured family members, but they know exactly who is part of the pack and who is suited to become the next meal. The only situations in which a dog would kill a pack member are severe starvation and illnesses like rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't treat her any differently or even separate her from the smaller dog. All of you are one pack. Keep it that way and there shouldn't be any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to avoid playing with toys that make squeaking noises when the dog bites into them. They simulate the death scream of a small prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:07:24.550" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:07:24.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22153" CreationDate="2018-12-13T10:28:56.617" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should show him that nothing bad happens when he's close to the cat. One approach that worked well for me was to sit down with the scared animal (in your case the dog) and pet it. Then call the second animal to you and pet both at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you have each animal on either side of you. You are the safety wall that makes your dog feel protected while that cat is near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This won't change things over night. You have to repeat the procedure every day to let your dog learn to not be afraid. Over time, you can make them come closer to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might never feel comfortable playing with or snuggling up to your cat. You should respect that. But your dog shouldn't feel afraid in his own home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T00:23:35.167" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:23:35.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-13T14:13:46.863" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I let my guinea pigs run around my room a little bit, and normally my dog will walk in the midst of them playing. I would expect it to be a cute little duo, but I am afraid that my dog may be a precaution. His breed is a mix. He is part Schnauzer and part Italian greyhound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T16:15:18.900" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T16:15:18.900" Title="Would my dog want to harm my guinea pig?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2771" CreationDate="2018-12-13T14:50:43.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so sorry for your loss, I know that she will stay in your heart forever. C: I would recommend to wait until you are ready to get another guinea pig. Your other piggy may feel sad for at least 1 month. She will sleep where the other piggy has slept, and may even yawn mournfully. It is sad to see, but I think you may want to wait until you think that you are ready, and your other piggy. I guess it all depends stability. I hope you feel better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T14:50:43.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-13T15:22:35.427" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 month old German Shepherd who is VERY interested in our cats. We have had him since he was 11 week old and the cats have been there since the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He killed a kitten in our backyard about a month and a half ago but he is crazy for our cats. When he comes out of his crate from over night he searches the house to find where they have been so that he can sniff and/or lick where they were but sometimes if it is a blanket he grabs it and tries to tear it apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am afraid he is going to hurt one of them and currently they are locked in our laundry room (with access to the house) but that is no way for them to live.  They do have a cat door and he is ALWAYS trying to get in there with them. He was subjected to training for two weeks but that did nothing to curb this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could I do to resolve this problem?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13803" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T06:33:03.997" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T06:33:03.997" Title="10 month old German Shepherd is aggressive/excited toward our cats" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22171" CreationDate="2018-12-13T16:25:16.587" Score="8" ViewCount="2796" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, so recently my dog has been chewing everything outside which I'd presume because she's teething but she is 6 months and I don't know how long teething will last in dogs. I don't know if this matters, but she's a German Shepherd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's a way to train her not to chew or play with things I don't want her to play with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I got tired of it and is tied up in the backyard due to school meaning I'm chaining her to a small area outside close to her house, food, and water is this a good idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like it's not, but on the other hand I feel it's needed she's been doing it for months and told her and showed her once a day not to play with something which has been effective, but recently went back to playing with things I told her not to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T01:02:45.140" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T22:15:48.380" Title="How to stop my dog chewing on everything?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22167" CreationDate="2018-12-13T16:35:16.473" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever she does chew on things, have a small and somewhat harmless water spray bottle. Limit their dependability and give slight discipline. Buy a lot of chew toys too! Dogs have a lot of habits like this when they are a puppy. Chewing things for puppies can sometimes be uncontrolled, for I had the same problem with my schnauzer. Avoid products that have toxic ink or ingredients towards dogs, especially plastic food bowls! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastEditorUserId="13790" LastEditDate="2018-12-13T18:41:51.620" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T18:41:51.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22169" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-13T16:50:07.127" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going to mow my lawn, when I heard a eally high pitched squeal from my tree. I went over to examine, and their was a small blue bird. I don't really see blur birds, and they aren't exactly what you can consider your common bird. I want to do anything I can to help the birdy heal. It doesn't seem exactly hurt, and I need to know what to do because it will not climd back into its tree, and is so scared. I feel so bad for the poor guy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:45:35.373" Title="How do I help to heal a bird that has fallen from its nest?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-12-14T13:20:47.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22166" CreationDate="2018-12-13T17:52:29.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm conflicted here, because in his current state, your dog poses a real threat to your cats. At the moment, I wouldn't let him out of my sight even for a second if there was a cat nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he actually &lt;em&gt;wanted&lt;/em&gt; to kill the kitten, or if it was the victim of too rough play.  In either case, boredom could have been a reason. Shepherd dogs are a working breed and need to burn off energy every day, both in walks and in play. A bored dog is prone to developing compulsive or destructive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next question is how obedient is he? Can you reliably make him wait even if he really wants to run after the ball? Can you make him sit down even if he sees something exciting? If the answer is &quot;yes&quot; then you have a chance of teaching him not to attack your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I strongly advise you to have him on the leash and maybe even muzzled for the confrontation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's as simple as sitting down in the room adjacent to where the cats are and letting them come inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will be excited and want to sniff at the cats, but he's &lt;strong&gt;not allowed to run free! The cats must come to him&lt;/strong&gt;. Since they'll be curious as well, this shouldn't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you have to gauge his reaction. If he snarls, stop immediately and bring the cats to safety. I don't think you could let both the dog and cats live with you safely. (Barking is OK, though. It's a sign of excitement as opposed to aggression)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then he may interact with the cats (while you hold the leash and can intervene immediately). Sniffing and licking is allowed, but scratching, pushing them around or biting is not! If he goes for the throat of a cat, it's not safe for them to live with him (and that's the reason for putting a muzzle on him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must reprimand him strongly for being too rough with a cat. Tell him &quot;No!&quot; in a loud and angry voice, pull him away from the cats and make him lay down. You can be a little rough with him, but don't hit or kick him or otherwise cause him pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remove him or the cats from the room after a few minutes. Repeat the same procedure every day at least once to get him used to being together with the cats. Depending on how he interacts with them, you can leave the muzzle aside after 2 or 3 days and unleash him when he understood that he isn't allowed to be too rough with them. Always keep an eye on him until you are certain he won't harm them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2018-12-13T19:19:04.683" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T19:19:04.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22167" CreationDate="2018-12-13T18:12:18.477" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chaining a dog is not good in general and might increase the problem in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is young and full of energy. If she's bored, she entertains herself by chewing on things. Playing with her and taking long walks is a better way to entertain her. With some training, you could ride a bike or skateboard or roller skates and have your dog run with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most young dogs prefer to chew on things that smell, especially shoes or leather products. Offering her a toy like a rope or hard chewing bones may satisfy her need to chew on things without destroying your stuff. But it's totally normal for young dogs to chew on things. They don't have hands to feel objects, so they take them into their mouth and chew on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to the discipline.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You must discipline a dog within &lt;strong&gt;3 seconds&lt;/strong&gt; of doing something wrong. When you come home, show her a chewed-on object and scold her, she won't even know what you mean. She cannot understand why you are showing her the object and are so angry. She cannot understand that the chewing she did an hour ago makes you angry now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want her to chew on things, you should put those things in a place where she cannot reach them. You should entertain her by playing with her or taking walks, then she won't be so bored anymore. Putting her on a short chain is even more boring and could make the problem even bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-18T22:15:48.380" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T22:15:48.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22169" CreationDate="2018-12-13T18:17:54.940" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are able to put the bird back into its nest, there is very little you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is sad, but true; sometimes the strongest chick in a nest pushes its siblings out of the nest. This is nature's way to be sure the strongest chick survives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the chick is almost ready to fly you can try to feed it back to health, but this is very hard to do. First of all, you need to give it the right food and you need to feed it about every 20 minutes; and second, you need to keep it warm and this is hard, hard to do; it needs a temperature of about 39 °C (this is the body temperature of many birds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can ask a vet if there are any organisations doing bird rescue in your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T00:45:35.373" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:45:35.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22169" CreationDate="2018-12-13T20:27:32.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep it in a warm place and feed it , the first thing it needs is water.  If you can put back into the nest that would be good.In the states it would likely be a bluebird but they are not nesting in winter. You should be able to identify it and find out what food it needs on the internet, feed it soon. Vets are not likely much help ; for our parrots we must search to find a vet that knows much about them. I raised a crow , its nest was 80 ft high so no help. It was very young. I was able to feed it but mostly by luck ( before the &quot;net&quot;). It left the following spring although it was loose outside the first summer and fall, it hung around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-12-13T20:27:32.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2018-12-13T22:07:13.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try petscanner a new app which uses mobile phone. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petscanner.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petscanner.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: As other answers mention, a standard smartphone's NFC reader would not read the chip, so you also need to purchase some hardware.  This company's device is, however, fairly inexpensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13808" LastEditorUserId="5921" LastEditDate="2018-12-16T11:45:54.130" LastActivityDate="2018-12-16T11:45:54.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="22179" CreationDate="2018-12-14T01:23:31.563" Score="2" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some rodents in my house recently. As usual my cat, Bhutu, is excited about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But she prefers to play with the rodents. When the rodent freezes with fear she sniffs the rodent and then pushes it with her paws. Then as the rodent starts running again she starts chasing it again. She continues doing this until the rodent escapes. She never gives the death bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is she not giving the death bite and how to teach her to give the death bite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T01:38:58.370" Title="How to teach my cat to give death bite to rodents?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22178" CreationDate="2018-12-14T01:38:58.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While cats usually enjoy chasing rodents, my understanding is that cats aren't particularly fond of eating them. Most cats would rather play with them than eat them, and I don't think there's any practical way for you to teach them to kill. And not that you suggested it, but it would be cruel to deny her food to try to get her to kill them. I think that would be like forcing someone to survive on nothing but lima beans or brussels sprouts. ;^)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she ever does kill a rodent, you can give her lots of praise, and maybe she'll be motivated to keep doing it. But then you're likely to be presented with rodent corpses when you least expect it... like when you're sleeping. Be careful what you wish for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T01:38:58.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22167" CreationDate="2018-12-14T08:45:49.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy a couple of butcher bones and after meals give the pup a bone to chew on for awhile - Maybe half hour to hour. Then their jaw will be too tired to chew on anything else! Instead of buying new bones all the time, refill the empty butcher bone, I used high quality chicken strips, softened 5 seconds in microwave and cut in three then stuffed in there so they are hard to get out. Assuming your dog is a puppy, this is a normal phase  you can help them get through while not chewing up your stuff. I did it from about 7 months to about 14 months. Also crated him when we went out, with the bone to chew, very happy dog, and owners!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13813" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T08:45:49.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6181" CreationDate="2018-12-14T11:10:21.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I let my cat grab and bite my hand. I tease her a little by rubbing her belly and she will try to attack my hand. But when she hurts me I say &quot;a-a-a-ah&quot; loud enough. At first it was not intentional, I just screamed because of pain and noticed that it made her stop. So whenever I show that I'm hurt, she will leave my hand alone and can even start to lick it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got is as she understands that she must be gentle with my hands. Don't know how, but she also figured herself that attacking my feet or legs must be done without claws. Maybe because she learnt that my hands don't like to be scratched. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if I'm just lucky to have a clever and caring cat or that I've found a good way to teach her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13818" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-14T11:14:31.240" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T11:14:31.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15313" CreationDate="2018-12-14T15:25:26.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A kitten the age of 1-6 months will probably not remember you after 4 years. They are a little like human babies before the brain is fully developed. The memories might get lost or not stored the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat at the age of two years+ will remember you, the owner, if the cat has bonded to you. Tests on the long term memory of cats show cats to have a long term memory span of 16 hours, but as a cat owner, I can definitely say cats remember for way longer than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an adult cat gets lost, it will remember you for several years given it has bonded with you before it got lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are examples where cats have been found after many years, and they have jumped straight into the owner's lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat's memory do not function like the human memory. The cat remembers places and dangerous or safe areas. So if you take a cat to a place it has been before and it gets scared, it might run to the tree you removed last year because it was a safe spot the last time it was there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link #1 &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_intelligence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_intelligence&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link #2 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/article/cats-remember-owners-after-years&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cuteness.com/article/cats-remember-owners-after-years&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T15:21:31.710" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T15:21:31.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9332" CreationDate="2018-12-14T15:50:50.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it will work but,yes there is a but it will not work in the long run herons learn over time so you can not be sure of the effect over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try an motion activated sprinkler one bonus with this is it works on more types of predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try to put up one of the fence solutions used around flowerbeds close to your pond to make it harder for the herons to reach the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T15:50:50.473" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T17:02:49.660" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad wanted me to help out on his farm every once in a while, and one of my jobs is to get the 2 pot belly pigs into out trailer. How on earth do I get these fat pigs into the trailer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T19:27:03.040" Title="How do I get a pig into a wagon/trailer?" Tags="&lt;farm-animals&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23223" CreationDate="2018-12-14T17:42:25.830" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scenario&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a college campus, where stray animals are not hurt as compared to outside so even peacocks can be friendly. So there's no question of the dog biting me (I also pet only interested dogs.) Also my hostel room is too small to keep the dog inside or in my sight, so I keep losing the dogs I petted or fed in the past as they wander quite a lot - although they recognise me and get very excited to see me as compared to others standing there. There's no vet inside the campus, but there are some groups working on vaccinating stray dogs and most of them are vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Suggestions required on&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How to bring them to my room on 1st floor? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Winter has come and it's like 8 to 9&amp;nbsp;°F (-14 to -12&amp;nbsp;°C) at night. I don't know where do the dogs go at night. How can I bring them at my room at any time of the day and keep them as regular or permanent visitors? Campus is huge and likewise, they also wander a lot and settle in the most beneficial location, which is not always in my comfort zone &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I feel bad about separating a pup from the parents?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I have seen, female dogs normally belong to outside campus and leave after breeding and I have never seen a family together. Also, males just live together for a few months and then babies live on their own. So is there a sentimental perspective I should take care of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13824" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T22:49:07.433" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T22:49:07.433" Title="How to take care of community dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T18:35:00.397" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had found a post on facebook of a dog that looked exactly like my dog. I had friended her, and turned out that we had gotten our puppies from the same litter. We were hoping to meet up, and I was curious if the dogs would remember each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastActivityDate="2019-01-20T07:01:35.300" Title="Will my dog remember his sister from 6 years?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T18:39:17.727" Score="3" ViewCount="978" Body="&lt;p&gt;My platy was showing all the signs of being pregnant, so we had it checked and she was. But when it came to the day, she had eggs in a sack and it took two days for them to come out completely. However, we were told platies had live birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13825" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T19:48:44.837" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T19:50:14.533" Title="Why has my platy fish - which is a livebearer - laid eggs?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22189" CreationDate="2018-12-14T19:05:26.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, platys give live birth, but this only means the eggs hatch inside the fish, before the babies and the broken membranes are born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think might have happened is the embryos inside the eggs died, so the fish released the dead eggs. This does happen from time to time. It can be because of stress or as a result of bad water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T19:50:14.533" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T19:50:14.533" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22149" CreationDate="2018-12-14T19:09:46.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sad turtle behavior is usually a result of a turtle being too cold, lacking UV light, or going into a semi-dormant state (brumation), which can naturally happen when the days are shorter and nighttime temps are lower in fall and winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replacing your heat and UV bulbs can help perk him back up, and if you don't have a thermometer already, you may want to check that the tank temperature is proper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think he's bored and needs enrichment, live food is a good way to go, or you can hide treats for him to forage for (make sure you take out anything he doesn't find promptly, this can get messy).  Anecdotally, some turtles seem to enjoy a natural looking background image taped on the outside back of the tank to look at.  I can't vouch for that making a difference to my turtle, but it can't hurt!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T19:09:46.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23213" CreationDate="2018-12-14T19:18:55.583" Score="2" ViewCount="2488" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 2.5 years old male, mixed breed dog. We believe his ancestry is mainly cocker spaniel, with a fair amount of poodle and maybe some other thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is in general good health, he is quite obedient, he runs a lot he runs off-leash by the bike every day and he is a happy dog. His eyes have always been the source of slight concern though. A year ago, in the mornings, he sometimes had mildly red eyes that seemed to be a bit itchy. Both eyes were typically of similar concern. It seems to have been mainly resolved now. One time, very early, when he was only 9 weeks old, he got a weird eye infection, during which the left eye was red and quite severely swollen (I posted &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15142/eyeball-going-crazy-in-a-cockapoo&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; when this issue happened). He typically has a little bit of dry eye discharge in the morning but it is not much to other dogs I've seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a picture of my dog's left eye today&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vj5zg.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vj5zg.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the corner of his eye, on the lower eyelid, he has a black stain. To my partner and me, it seems that this black stain has been growing throughout his whole life. I am not aware of a family history of cancer or anything like that but I don't know his parents very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this black stain of medical concern or is it just a harmless patch of melanin? Should I bring the dog to a vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7833" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T16:53:45.740" LastActivityDate="2021-02-01T13:04:54.983" Title="Growing black stain in a dog's lower eyelid" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22185" CreationDate="2018-12-14T19:27:03.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that pigs are roughly as intelligent as dogs and as stubborn as mules. Coercing them is easier than forcing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should call them to you, lure them with food like cheese and block their way backwards in case they change their mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you &lt;strong&gt;should avoid&lt;/strong&gt; is pushing them from behind, pulling them by the ears and causing them pain or panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T19:27:03.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T20:09:16.850" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a black kitty from the pound she had been there almost 6 months after being taken by the human society from a crazy cat ladies home. She is affectionate when she is out. But on any strange street sound she hides and we can't find her. She had a brother and a sister there to. But we only adopted her should we have adopted the brother also to make her comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13826" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T22:28:38.913" Title="special needs kitty! Hiding and won't come out. Should I have adopted her brother to" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2018-12-17T09:59:11.860" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T20:56:19.110" Score="-1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best friend's lab is sick. She is vomiting, will not sleep, nor eat. I am really worried! She was just recently pregnant with 4 pups. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13790" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T16:28:04.913" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T16:28:04.913" Title="Need tips for my friend's sick lab" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-04-23T17:17:08.700" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T21:00:35.810" Score="4" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;My indoor, neutered, male cat, probably age 10-12 (shelter adoption so unsure), sometimes suddenly starts meowing very loudly and plaintively while wandering around the house.  At times when I've seen it start, he's previously been sleeping or otherwise relaxed.  It happens most often in the hour or so to either side of when I go to bed at night.  I've had him for six years and this behavior began in the last year or so.  My vet has found no clinical explanation; she said that it can be a sign of dementia in much older cats but doesn't think that's the case here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't made any environmental changes and his behavior is otherwise normal.  Because his pupils stay dilated all the time and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catclinicofroswell.com/2012/07/feline-hypertension-meowing-dilated-pupils-restlessness/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;I read pupil dilation and excessive vocalization can indicate hypertension&lt;/a&gt;, we checked his blood pressure.  While three readings (in one visit) were a little inconsistent, my vet did not consider it excessive and it was a little lower in another exam a few months later.  An ophthalmologist we consulted (because of the pupil dilations) found no vision problems and thinks the dilations are age-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had one other cat who did this loud meowing starting at around age 17, and three other cats who never did.  Is this just normal behavioral variation, or is there something else I should be looking for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditDate="2019-04-09T20:59:10.420" LastActivityDate="2019-04-09T20:59:10.420" Title="What can cause a senior cat to have episodes of loud plaintive meowing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22196" CreationDate="2018-12-14T21:41:07.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility is hearing loss. The cat may not be able to properly hear his own meows, so he meows more loudly. I'd ask your vet about that possibility. Depending on the cause, perhaps it can be treated. If not, it may be something that you have to live with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T21:41:07.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23232" CreationDate="2018-12-14T21:58:02.683" Score="3" ViewCount="1538" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a betta a few years ago who was the most active and happiest fish I've ever seen. He enjoyed hide-and-seek, watched me work at my desk, and constantly swam around his 5 gallon tank. He was a strong swimmer, a big eater, and lived a relatively good, long life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, I decided to pick up betta-keeping again, expecting similar results. I re-did all my research again to make sure I gave him the best environment, but he's a weak, lethargic little dude. I don't know if I've done something wrong, or if he's old, it's his personality... you name it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's Odahviing's tank specifications: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 gallon, carbon filtered tank (I have to turn the filter way, way down, because he has a hard time swimming in any sort of current, so the filter is more of a dribble). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heat maintained around 76-78 °F (24-26 °C).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decor: 2 moss balls, 1 zebra plant and 1 madagascar lace plant (my plants thrive and I make sure to remove spent leaves), 1 fake log, black sand substrate at the bottom. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;25-50% water change every 2-3 weeks, treated with conditioner. I test pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc. levels generally each change. All are appropriate, except ammonia is slightly higher than 0 (just barely). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fed betta pellets 2 times a day; 3 pellets before noon and 2 pellets past noon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a month ago, I moved him to my desk, where I spend a lot of my time when I'm home. He seemed to get a little more chipper, being closer to the action, but only a little bit. He spends more and more of his time lying still in the plant leaves, since they're big enough to support him, or sitting at the bottom of the tank. He does occasionally take a lap or two around the tank, and still enjoys chasing falling food pellets (he prefers chasing them to the bottom than to eating them at the top). He does eat less now, and much slower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I'm a paranoid fish owner, but I'm always worried he's sick and/or dying. Any advice on why my fish is so slow, weak, and lethargic? Is he just really lazy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T23:16:40.413" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:18:17.227" Title="Can Bettas have lazy personalities?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22198" CreationDate="2018-12-14T22:20:00.623" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I cannot answer whether your fish is sick, I am not a fish owner myself, but if you think it might be sick, talk to a vet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But for the question of fish personalities. It is a topic that has been researched over the past few years and the general conclusion is that the multiple species researched had personalities. This was mostly done in the area of 'shy' and 'bold', generally looking at how much risk a fish dared to take in presence of a predator. The conclusions of these studies were that: yes, fish have personalities. Some of it can be found here for example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://phys.org/news/2017-09-fish-complex-personalities.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://phys.org/news/2017-09-fish-complex-personalities.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I cannot easily access the research papers anymore but as far as I'm aware activeness in fish can be related to personality. But whether that is the main reason for your fish being inactive I cannot say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13003" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T22:20:00.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22195" CreationDate="2018-12-14T22:24:30.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your friend needs to take their dog to a vet immediately. If their regular veterinarian is not open, they should go to an emergency vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T22:24:30.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22201" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-14T22:26:45.960" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I brought a traumatized little pup who had been bitten by an aggressive dog, seven days ago. The aggressive dog died, convulsing, the day after biting. The dog didn't show lack of coordination, jaw paralysis or salivation, though. Some people of the locality say he was killed by people due to aggressiveness, when he was hit on the head and he suffered a concussion. But no one will ever know what killed the dog actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pup is receiving rabies post exposure prophylaxis. She is on day 5 and is quite active and healthy as of now. Her mother was never vaccinated so no maternal rabies antibody in her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, we have an adult dog in our home. He is vaccinated every year for rabies. His rabies vaccination is due in March. He plays with the pup and licks her. Do we need to re-vaccinate the adult dog right now, or will he be protected adequately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked three vets. One said we need to administer full 5 course post exposure prophylaxis to the adult dog. But two other said we need not administer anything. I am confused. Could you please help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13744" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T22:39:14.943" Title="Do I need to re-vaccinate my dog for rabies after possible exposure to an infected animal?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22194" CreationDate="2018-12-14T22:28:38.913" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long has it been since you adopted her? It can take some cats up to a year to adjust to a new home, new people, new sounds and smells. when I adopted my cat, she spent the entirety of the first month at home hiding under the dresser, leaving only to eat and use the litterbox and only when she thought no one was in the room. Now, she is very friendly almost never hides. So my recommendation is just to give it some time and see how she does&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T22:28:38.913" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22201" CreationDate="2018-12-14T22:39:14.943" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/veterinarians/potential_exposure.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/veterinarians/potential_exposure.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dogs, cats, and ferrets that are currently vaccinated with a USDA-licensed rabies vaccine should be revaccinated immediately, kept under the owner’s control, and observed for 45 days. If the animal under observation develops any signs of illness, it should be evaluated by a veterinarian. Any illness in an animal under observation should be reported immediately to the local health department. If the animal under observation develops signs suggestive of rabies, it should be euthanized by an animal health professional and its head submitted to a diagnostic laboratory for testing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, since you have had one vet who said yes, I would listen to him, because rabies is for all practical purposes one hundred percent fatal in humans, and highly fatal in dogs, and so all precautions should be taken when there is a chance of exposure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-12-14T22:39:14.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23208" CreationDate="2018-12-15T01:09:42.500" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really need some advice please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am picking up a French bull dog puppy a few days before Christmas. The day after I pick her up, I have to go to family's house for a family meal, which is about 90 minutes away. I can't skip it, as one of the family members we only see once every few years has come over this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to bring the puppy with us for the day to our families house. We have a pet carrier we can travel with. OR she could sit on a family member's lap in the of the car to feel more comfortable, as we wouldn't of had time to do crate training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did request to pick her up a week later and the breader said she can't hold her for me for that long, as someone else will probably purchase her by then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a bad idea to take a puppy I have just purchased to see family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you, any advice would be greatly appreciated, as this would be our first pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13829" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T19:51:05.693" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T19:51:05.693" Title="Taking a new puppy out" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="22205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-15T08:22:31.190" Score="1" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat keeps eating centipedes! He was rescued on the street and remains an outdoor cat and occasional hunter. Indoors I've seen him eat centipedes more than once and each time I wonder if I should intervene or how much I should worry about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep an eye on him afterwards and both times I've seen it, he acts normal...though each time he seems to have a little hard time chewing it up, seemingly swallowing it ASAP instead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aren't centipedes poisonous? Looks like these kinds: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata&lt;/a&gt; He's a pretty tough cat, at 18lbs. and not far from feral, so it seems he's fine. Are centipedes in general dangerous for cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10512" LastActivityDate="2018-12-15T08:22:31.190" Title="Is it OK for cats to eat centipedes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-15T11:19:58.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-15T14:13:06.630" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hsQuT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;Its been like a few days since it showed up, how do i treat it, &#xA;Im tight on budget, also my red fish passed away today, and yesterdaay i bought this aquarium with filter, the capacity was 6l on old one now its 40 i think?&#xA;Edit: That was just a water reflection. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/192bv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13831" LastEditorUserId="13831" LastEditDate="2018-12-16T18:08:31.550" LastActivityDate="2018-12-16T18:08:31.550" Title="What is that white spot on my goldfish?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2018-12-16T11:47:21.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22204" CreationDate="2018-12-15T15:43:10.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the comment that gave some advice on talking to the breeder. I think it's worth asking if you could pay the breeder a down payment before picking up your puppy. Explain your situation and that you don't want to overwhelm the puppy on her first day with you. See what the breeder says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not possible to avoid, it should be okay to take her to the party as long as there are no other animals there that she could get sick from since she is young and not yet fully vaccinated. You should also talk to the family members hosting the party and make sure that they are okay with a puppy coming over who won't be house trained yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do have to take her, here are some tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find a quiet place where she can lie down and make sure it is comfortable. Her crate would be perfect for this if you can set it up in a corner. Take the door off of it for the evening so that there's no chance of it hurting her accidentally. Make sure it has plenty of padding and something that smells like you or (even better) her mom. When you first get there, set it up and show her where it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take her outside more than you think she needs. Young puppies may need to go to the bathroom as frequently as every hour, especially if they are excited or nervous. Make sure she pees and poops before your car ride, and plan to stop in the middle of the trip to drink some water, eat a snack, and then wait 20-30 minutes for her to need to use the bathroom again before getting back in the car. When you get to the party, make absolutely sure that she pees before going inside. And set timers for yourself so that you take her out every hour and a half or so throughout the party. When you take her outside, don't give up even if she doesn't seem to need to go. Instead, offer her some water and then walk her in a small area until she pees. This will reduce the likelihood of an accident in your family's house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bring cleaning supplies. Even with the most careful strategy, she is probably going to have at least one accident while she's there or in the car. Bring your own cleaning supplies in a bag and know where they are so that you can be on top of cleaning up the mess (you don't want your great aunt stepping in it by accident).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find out if there's a good place that she can be kept in the house, and if it's possible to get baby gates or a small pen to keep her there. If she can stay in the kitchen or even a bathroom when you aren't able to be actively watching her (such as during dinner), that would be helpful. Don't close her in a room by herself, but set up a baby gate in the doorway so that she can't wander around and get into trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch her like a hawk. She should never be in a room without you or someone else who is actively supervising her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch for signs of stress or overexcitement. Barking, shaking, jumping, or panting could all be signs that it's time for her to take a break from the action. Bring her to her quiet place in the corner or take her outside for some calm snuggle time out of the noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! And congratulations on your new family member!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T19:45:28.573" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T19:45:28.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22204" CreationDate="2018-12-15T17:54:44.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything is going to be new to the puppy.  A car ride is not much different than a new home.  I brought my puppy home on a 4 hour ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try and get a blanket or rug from the litter for her to smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give the puppy a safe place to sleep and do not wake her up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5552" LastActivityDate="2018-12-15T17:54:44.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22198" CreationDate="2018-12-15T21:18:30.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas are not active and do not want moving water as you correctly concluded. They get active for another betta or some moving food like mosquito larva. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2018-12-15T21:18:30.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22192" CreationDate="2018-12-16T05:57:06.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a chance that your pup came into contact with a branch while he was out and about, leaving a small bruise by his eye. There is also a chance that this is a birthmark which went unnoticed -- he was much smaller then and the mark would have been as well. I don't think you should obsess over it, but if you notice any changes, ask your Vet for their opinion (and show them this &quot;before&quot; pic so they can see the change for themselves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-16T05:57:06.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19273" CreationDate="2018-12-16T09:05:27.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We asked the vet last time he had a checkup and the vet said it's his belly button. It's a minor umbilical hernia but it's not worth doing surgery on. The vet didn't seem to concerned it would cause the dog any health problems.  it shouldn't cause any problems but if it starts to grow it needs to be addressed right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11249" LastActivityDate="2018-12-16T09:05:27.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23230" CreationDate="2018-12-16T16:59:51.833" Score="1" ViewCount="630" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 small fish in my aquarium (two Zebra Danios and 2 others which are a similar size but I don't know what they are). Every few days a lot of small bubbles appear at the top of the aquarium. When removed they reappear within 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aquarium is a 15-20 litre one. It is cleaned every few months and has no filter. They are usually fed the right amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bubbles were there for a few days and a thin dark layer formed on top:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4RGyj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4RGyj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;layer&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A photo from the bottom view of the tank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JO9Kb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JO9Kb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bottom view&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water below is clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this harming the fish? What can be done to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13836" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-16T17:49:17.407" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T19:40:22.160" Title="Bubbles on top of fish aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22105" CreationDate="2018-12-17T00:45:10.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm glad to hear your cat started eating again. My cat is currently sick and did not eat much anything, so I will share what worked for me in case it helps other people in the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cooked some plain chicken breast and cut it into bite-sized cubes into my fridge. I fed my cat small portions many times a day, brought the food to his bed and let him eat from my hand. Before feeding, I take hot water from the tap and put the pieces into the water for a minute. This warms the food up so it is roughly equal to body temperature which seems to make my cat more willing to eat and also adds water into the food, which helps the cat to stay hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13838" LastActivityDate="2018-12-17T00:45:10.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23236" CreationDate="2018-12-17T02:27:43.137" Score="4" ViewCount="2333" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I just got two gerbils on the 16th. They have a four story cage with clear plastic in the front, and so far, everything seemed pretty normal. I put a sand bath in for them to bathe in, and then took it out after they were done. However, after I removed the sand bath, one of my gerbils ran to the top of the cage and started scratching like crazy at the corners and floor of the cage. He sometimes stops and relaxes a bit, but then he runs back up and starts scratching again. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next night, both of my gerbils started gnawing at the cage walls and scratching at the ground in the same two corners. I tried putting chew toys at the corners they scratch at, but they just find a way to move the toy so the can keep scratching. &#xA; I've looked up a lot about gerbil behavior, and I know that digging is normal and natural. I can't help but wonder if all of this scratching and gnawing is normal, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13839" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T11:18:20.407" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T13:12:19.500" Title="My gerbil is scratching like crazy at the corners of his cage. Is that normal?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-17T17:58:00.987" Score="4" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;We were trying to pick out a border collie puppy and met the puppies’ mom. She looked fearful, gave us the death stare, barked, and snapped at us and was extremely distrustful. Her behavior was a bit erratical, after a couple of minutes at some point she was comfortable enough to lie down show her belly, but then while treating her, she snapped again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe we made a sudden movement she didn’t like? The puppies are 3 weeks old. We are not sure if this is just maternal aggression or the personality of the dog. In any case, we are a bit worried that the new puppies will take on this personality, e.g. fearful/aggression towards strangers. The breeder commented that the dog has made a huge travel in the last months, and she might be stressed out and hasn’t adjusted well. But it also sounded like she doesn’t do that well with strangers. We need some advice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think it’s still a good idea to get one of the puppies if the puppy mother shows this much aggression? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13841" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T01:07:34.720" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T01:07:34.720" Title="Picking a puppy when the dog mom is aggressive" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23220" CreationDate="2018-12-17T20:48:20.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not choose a puppy that comes from that mother.  Defensive or protective maternal behavior is one thing, but that sounds like fear aggression to me.  Not only does it potentially predict a puppy with a similar reactive personality, but it may point to other husbandry and care problems with the breeder, since it seems that the mother is not well socialized, and/or not adaptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally a pup will start to be socialized to humans before it is ready to leave its mother, which is probably going to be difficult or impossible for that litter.  Sorry to tell you, but personally I would look for a different litter at least, and probably a different breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-17T20:48:20.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23220" CreationDate="2018-12-18T02:27:44.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motherly instincts were affecting &quot;Mom's&quot; behavior. She didn't know you and here you were picking up her babies and examining them. Seriously? Who said you could do that? Do you see her point? The breeder probably should have had you wait until she had weaned the pups (4th week) before inviting you in to handle them. Go back next week and check the pups out again. This time say hello to &quot;Mom&quot; first and ask the breeder to separate the boys from the girls before you look at the potential pups. I'm sure you'll see a different attitude from &quot;Mom Dog&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-18T02:27:44.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22186" CreationDate="2018-12-18T06:07:22.510" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't put yourself in a position to lose your bed over a pup. Talk to whoever is in charge about the situation. Discuss whether your concerns are about getting the dog out of the cold for a night or two, or if you are planning on &quot;keeping the dog&quot; long term. How it will affect other people who also live there?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are a lot of things to take into consideration. If you bring this dog inside... it will begin bonding with you and look to you for the things it needs. Every night. Animals are living beings. They become attached and dependent on their people. Are you in a position to give this dog everything it needs? This can be a difficult thing to answer -- especially when your heart is involved. Be honest with yourself. Are you the best person to care for this pup? &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since you mentioned a group that is vacinating the dogs, is there a way for them to provide shelter for these pups? Does your area have a &quot;foster family organization&quot; for the strays? Or is there an animal group that can get them out of the cold and make sure they are fed? &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That is such an amazing thing, that compasion inside you. Just make sure that you take care of yourself first. Because you can't give that pup a home if you lose the one you're in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-18T06:07:22.510" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23225" CreationDate="2018-12-18T19:06:25.497" Score="47" ViewCount="25136" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I received a kitten last night from a neighbor whose cat had a litter. It's my first cat (first interactive pet), but she's had experience in the past. According to our neighbor, our kitten is a little over a month old (approximately 6 weeks), and was starting to eat dry food and learning to use the litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we received her she was crying and cried when we got her home. We comforted her and she eventually fell asleep on me. She woke up a few times and cried a bit, but went back to sleep (we let her sleep in our bed). She seems to like our fluffy, furry blanket, and has been sleeping in it all day, and cries when you move her off of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just a bit concerned because she's been asleep all day, except for a few minutes where she woke up and let out a couple of cries and snuggled back under the covers. I've read about cats, kittens especially, needing to eat and drink often and having voracious appetites. I do understand that it's only been a day, and pretty stressful for her having changed environments and all. I just want to make sure I'm not missing any early signs of sickness or anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gut is telling me that she just needs to adjust, and is missing her mom and familiar environment, as the cries don't sound like an animal in pain, and she looks healthy, with no sign of injury or infection, but I want to see what the more experienced folks might think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Wow, I'm overwhelmed at the amount of views and replies I've received. Thank you all, this is definitely a learning experience. I wanted to give you all an update on our kitten's status. She's been eating wet food very consistently(she has quite a little appetite now), and is warming up to us. To assist in hydration, I mixed in a bit of water with her wet food for a few days, and today I caught her actually drinking a bit from her water bowl. She's getting a bit bolder and does some exploring on her own, and she follows us around the apartment sometimes.  as well. She's been having bowel movements and urinating, but she doesn't seem to be litter trained, so we're working on that by providing positive reinforcement when she has accidents, and putting her in the litter box a few times per day and helping her to scratch the litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still cries(we're getting a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; better at knowing whether she wants something, or is just being cranky) and sleeps a lot, but she's definitely on the right track. We took her to the vet over the weekend, and he gave her a clean bill of health, minus some ear mites, which I've been administering medicine for. She cries a bit when given medicine(as would any baby, kitten or human), but she's been mostly cooperative, and is very tolerant of handling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I definitely think 6 weeks is too early to separate a kitten from her mother, for future reference, I think 8-10 weeks should be adequate though. She has a fluffy blanket that's been her sort of &quot;home base&quot;, and has been suckling on it, and kneading it. She seems to be revealing more of her personality every day, so we will continue to be patient, and loving, and nurture her development and socialization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13844" LastEditorUserId="13844" LastEditDate="2018-12-24T15:15:58.087" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:47:47.670" Title="Is this normal first day home behavior for my kitten, or should I be concerned?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-18T20:18:34.527" Score="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems pretty standard for a kitten that was separated from her mother and siblings maybe a bit too young. 6 weeks old used to be the standard age to send kittens to new homes, and it won't hurt your kitten long-term, but it can produce this sort of mourning period. These days, 8 weeks old is the recommended age for re-homing, after they are independently on solid food and independently using a litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, there's nothing you can do about it now, and you didn't know beforehand, so there's no use in worrying about an early separation. Instead, watch the kitten closely and be as hands-on as possible. Snuggling and petting will help her adjust to you. You can put hot water in an old soda-pop bottle (or any other container) and wrap it in a towel for her to snuggle with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that the food you're offering her is the same as the food that she was getting before, and make sure that it's very close by to the nest she has made with the blanket. You might also try hand feeding her a few bites to pique her interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if you can get her to drink a little water. You might even dip your finger in water and then gently put it in her mouth a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that she is using the litterbox. If you think she hasn't peed or pooped in the last 24 hours, you should stimulate her by gently rubbing a damp, warm washcloth over her abdomen. Her mother used to do this with her tongue when the kittens were younger, and although a 6-week-old should be able to do her business by herself, she might be having some difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If more than 48 hours pass without her eating, drinking, or passing waste, take her to the vet right away. But it will likely not get to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2018-12-22T23:04:58.290" LastActivityDate="2018-12-22T23:04:58.290" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-18T20:31:35.020" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned about her eating habits, you could try feeding her soft kitten food and see if she'll eat more of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the constant sleeping, I've had a few kittens who I've gotten at about a month or so old, and they've all slept quite a bit. Not all day, however, but a good chunk of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They all whined and cried for about a week, getting more and more used to my family and I, and gradually, they stopped crying. After about 1.5 to 2.5 weeks, they were completely used to us. They're now adult cats, who are doing great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, if after a few weeks your kitten still hasn't gotten any more comfortable with you, still sleeps all day and barely eats, you might want to check in with a vet to make sure everything's okay. Especially if she becomes very skinny and/or shows other concerning signs. Or, if you just feel like she could use a checkup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're very concerned and feel like you should, taking her to the vet might not be a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13839" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:47:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T21:47:47.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-18T22:26:00.547" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a site I reference frequently for pet questions, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/how-often-should-cats-be-fed-554372&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;The Spruce Pets&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &#xA;kittens of that age should be fed an average of 4 times a day...with moist kitten food or dry kitten food moistened with cat milk replacement formula.  Weighing the kitten frequently will also give a good gauge on their development.  If they are the sole cat using the litter box, monitoring of their pee and poo frequency should be fairly easy to do.  Any unusual gap in cat box usage frequency or feeding is probably worth a call to the vet because cats' systems are very sensitive to not eating or taking water...they can get direly ill in a very short time for lack of food or water.  As others have said, the crying should lessen quickly as they adjust to their new home and family.  Best of luck! :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13828" LastActivityDate="2018-12-18T22:26:00.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23229" CreationDate="2018-12-19T01:09:47.447" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my first time hiring a pet sitter for my cat. I found her on Rover with good reviews. Is there anything I should be aware of, since I will be giving her my house keys? Should I get her ID just in case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13845" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T03:54:00.897" Title="Pet sitting best practice" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23228" CreationDate="2018-12-19T03:54:00.897" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several things I would do, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gather all of your important papers, good jewelry, and anything of true sentimental value. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure information about your finances are not accessable. (bank&#xA;accounts, credit cards, loan agreements, your lease or house&#xA;payment, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lock these items up (in a file cabinet, in a closet, in your (bank's) security deposit box) or leave them in the care of someone you trust (a parent, or sibling) to hold until you return. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write down basic instructions for your cat's care. Feeding schedules, medicines, favorite treats, how many treats/day are allowed, favorite games/toys. Is your cat allowed in and out of the home? If not, what should the sitter do if the cat gets out? And your Vet's information and location in case of emergency.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emergency number of a friend or neighbor in case they cannot reach you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rules of the house (no smoking, shoes come off at the door, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything else you can think of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you don't want to leave anything around that you would regret losing. You want to make sure that the sitter has all of the information they need to properly care for your cat. You want the sitter to have more than your number to call if there is an emergency. And you want to avoid lying awake in the middle of the night because you forgot something.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At that point, you should be able to relax and know that kitty will be just fine.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;p.s. I am not suggesting that your pet sitter is going to steal from you. I am just saying that I would lock up important stuff (like my rings). Call me paranoid. Now go enjoy your vacation. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T03:54:00.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23216" CreationDate="2018-12-19T04:51:08.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish take in oxygen through their gills and 'exhale' CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; just like every other animal, so they may just be CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; bubbles from their respiration.  If those are real plants in the picture, it may be O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; bubbles from the plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You really should have a small filter in there. The danios won't mind, they like current.  There are lots of small internal filters you can get for tanks of that size.  In addition to filtering the water and keeping ammonia down, as Trond mentions in the comments, it will agitate the surface, which better oxygenates the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also danios are fast swimmers, so 20L (around 5 gallons) is pretty small for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T19:40:22.160" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T19:40:22.160" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22198" CreationDate="2018-12-19T07:32:03.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've kept many bettas over the years.  And can say they all have their own personality. And some are certainly more active than others.  But based on his decreased appetite, I'd say he isn't the healthiest betta.  What you describe - eating less than before, prone to picking at food on the bottom - is often what I see in older and unhealthy bettas.  Healthy bettas are hungry bettas, even if they aren't very active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, I'm not suggesting you need to change anything or you are doing anything wrong.  It sounds like he has a sweet setup.  And moving him someplace where he will see more movement around him was a good idea.  But just like people, some are just more healthy than others.  Or he may have been much older than you thought when you got him.  If you get an adult at a pet store, he's probably already a year old, possibly even more.  So there may not be much you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only things I might recommend are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Since you are seeing some ammonia, reduce to feeding him once a day.  Basically half of what he is getting now.  That ammonia may be from uneaten food.  Its possible thats making him more stressed.  Though I doubt that's his underlying problem, it may be making it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) If you can adjust the heater, bump it up to 26&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;27&amp;nbsp;°C (78&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;80&amp;nbsp;°F) to see if that livens him up. If the heater is a fixed temperature one, you can cover the tank with something (make sure it doesn't fall in) and that may help raise the temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Research those plants to make sure they aren't known to have problems with fish.  I doubt it (especially moss which will be safe), but it never hurts to check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T20:18:17.227" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:18:17.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23216" CreationDate="2018-12-19T07:43:47.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After changing the water I realised what the problem was. It was over feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bubbles rise to the top and don’t pop because there is too much protein present in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting to feed them less now and is far it is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user13836" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T07:43:47.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-19T08:50:01.977" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;6 weeks is &lt;strong&gt;way too young&lt;/strong&gt; to be separated from her mother. Unless there is an emergency reason, I strongly suggest returning this kitten to her mother for at least another 6 weeks. Good breeders typically give kittens away at around 14 weeks. There are many important things she still needs to learn from her mother, and she is clearly distressed by the separation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet food is definitely the way to go. You can also mix it with a bit of additional water to make it more liquid. There are different philosophies regarding food. In general, cats do not overeat (unlike dogs), so having food always available is something that a lot of people do (me included). Simply have a bowl of food, always in the same place, and whenever it is empty or near-empty, add a little bit. With time you will figure out how much to add so that not much spoils. You will have to show the kitten a few times where it is, but then she will understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that cats are picky about food, and that most cat food sold in supermarkets is of low quality. Some research into good quality cat food available in your area is a good investment, and it is usually not much more expensive. Some people also swear on raw feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, your kitten has been separated from its mother too early. She is most likely crying for her mother, and even if she is not in physical pain or ill, she is most likely distressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to compensate for the mother, contact breeders in your area and ask for advice. They know quite well what a mother teaches her kittens in which week about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10115" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T14:20:10.400" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T14:20:10.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-19T09:36:36.193" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Act soon on hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration is a big worry - they don't have much in the way of reserves.  We nearly lost two after taking them home at barely 6 weeks (we were told 8 but I believe the vet rather than the seller). They ended up needing IV fluids and the early illness could have contributed to the health problems one of them had later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of sleep is normal for cats at all ages, and babies of most familiar mammal species sleep more than adults (and at odd times), so that's less of a worry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get special milk for kittens (in all big supermarkets as well as pet shops round here) which might be worth a try to give it fluids and nutrition.  If you can't get it to take appropriate liquids soon, reckon on getting it to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9693" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T09:36:36.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23218" CreationDate="2018-12-19T13:23:49.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a gerbil expert, but boredom is an issue that impacts many animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/20154/13&quot;&gt;leave the sand bath in their cage all the time&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can increase the number of toys (and change them occasionally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can exercise them before bedtime (i.e. a run about ball).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It mostly comes down to enrichment, if you can keep their mind and body more active they will be happier and less destructive/annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have some related questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/gerbil&quot;&gt;tagged gerbil&lt;/a&gt; that might also help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T13:12:19.500" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T13:12:19.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21532" CreationDate="2018-12-19T15:00:17.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat has eaten plastic and this is really dangerous so, for this reason alone, you need to take the cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat isn't eating and this is an emergency so you need to take your cat to the vet as soon as you can. Failing to bring the cat to the vet puts your cat's life in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the reason why you need to get your cat treated: If a cat does not eat for more than 24 hours, the body of the cat starts to move the body fat to the liver where it will be converted to energy. The problem is a cat's liver is not able to do this at the speed needed. This means more and more fat will build up in the liver tissue and damage the liver cells. This will be deadly if not treated in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link to more information: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_hepatic_lipidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_hepatic_lipidosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does look like skinny cats can go longer than fat cats can before fatty liver syndrome develops so if your cat is fat you will have less time to get it treated before it gets deadly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T15:32:21.610" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T15:32:21.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13669" CreationDate="2018-12-19T16:18:28.320" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind (breed) of cats are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some breeds are known to pick a &quot;favorite human&quot; and bond with them, while being much more distanced to other members of the family. Our Bengal cat (they are such a breed) is very affectionate to me, with headbumps, eye blinking and falling asleep in my lap, while almost never showing the same behaviour towards my wife - she can stroke her and play with her, but I've seen her sitting on her lap maybe once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same cat also runs away to hide when we have visitors, despite not being frightened or shy with us at all (on the contrary, she's quite the talker!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a lot of this behaviour can just be that cats character. It could also be that she was hurt, maybe unintentionally. What is strange is the day/night behaviour change. About that I would definitely ask a vet or breeder at the nearest opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10115" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T16:18:28.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-19T16:45:50.013" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs, Radar and Zuko are adjusting to our moving a little strangely. I got them at 8 weeks old and they had been living in our old house with me as their “parent”. I walk them, trained them, feed them, I am their sole care giver and favourite person for their entire lives, without being separated from me for any significant amount of time because of health concerns I haven't working properly for the last 6 years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved on December 1st to a new home, I brought them here a few times before the move but they just seemed keen to leave, now they are here they are eating well, playing well, even exercising better because of a dog friendly oval just around the corner but at night when I put them out to sleep, (they sleep on old dog beds from the old house on an outside old futon bed, they are brothers from the same litter and generally never separate) after I go through the same good night routine I always do they bolt off their beds! They run and separate, Radar heads for an old table we brought with us and hides under in and Zuko runs around to the other side of the house to lay under my bedroom window. I really don't know what to do, it gets cold here at night but they don't seem happy on their beds unless I sit with them. Any tips on getting them better adjusted or is it just gonna take time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that's a bit different, their old yard was bigger and they could see through a gate to the road outside, here they can't see out and are totally fenced in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13856" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2018-12-31T11:16:42.207" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T11:16:42.207" Title="Dogs adjusting to move strangely" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20478" CreationDate="2018-12-19T17:44:19.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spaying her will help the tomcats leave her alone. &lt;strong&gt;You should spay/neuter the kittens as well&lt;/strong&gt; - these days vets can do it as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/15929/13&quot;&gt;young as 6-8 weeks.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is sad that you might have to leave them behind when you move, many cats live outdoor lives happily and may find another family to live with on their own after you're gone. It is good that you're trying to find them a home, and you may still have success before you leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13794" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-19T18:09:18.077" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T18:09:18.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21938" CreationDate="2018-12-19T18:31:09.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't give him a human-sized portion of spinach for the same reason the other poster stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I will say that he probably just likes the cream. Most cats love the taste of anything dairy-related. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, cats are lactose intolerant, so if you wanted to give him a special treat you could give him some goat milk every now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13794" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T18:31:09.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22040" CreationDate="2018-12-19T18:42:38.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what others have said I will recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000F9JJJE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Da Bird&lt;/a&gt;, the single best cat toy I have ever used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really does look just like a real bird if you wave it back and forth at a medium speed so that the feathers twirl. My cats go absolutely nuts for it, and they don't love other toys nearly as much. They will do great leaps and flips, sprint as hard as they can, etc. It tires them out quite well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13794" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T18:42:38.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23240" CreationDate="2018-12-19T19:22:37.813" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are probably real reasons for them to seek a different place to sleep. Some that came to my mind are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their bed gets wet at night from fog or dew and they found themselves a dry bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their beds are in an unprotected place and your dogs found a place that stays warmer at night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are animals like cats, racoons or badgers visiting at night. Your dogs don't want to be disturbed by them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are rodents, martens or similar animals living on your property. Your dogs want to protect the house from them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A neighbor has installed a sonic rodent repeller and your dogs are disturbed by the sound. Dogs can hear much higher pitches than humans can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is something in the bed (like ticks or a bad smell) they don't like. My own dog always acts strange when he notices a tick on himself or in his bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They act up to get more attention from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I propose you have a closer look (and sniff) at the beds to see if anything's strange. You could also install a wildlife observation camera to see if they return to their beds at night or if there's anything that could disturb them. If you don't have such a camera, a hidden webcam could do as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no objective reason for them to avoid their beds, don't fret. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...  they are brothers from the same litter and gernally never seperate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are dogs and they are adult. It's perfectly fine for them to be seperate or to have an own will to seek their own sleeping place. Don't project your human emotions onto dogs, that almost always hurts the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, put their beds where they choose to sleep to make it more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T19:22:37.813" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-19T22:01:04.667" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of things to be aware of with a meowing kitten: 1) If they are an oriental breed like a siamese, they will be very chatty with you.  My oriental shorthair has a large vocabulary of meows at this point, so if the meowing bothers you and it's an oriental breed, you should keep that in mind.  2) Cats meow for the same reason that babies cry: food, water, to use the bathroom, to find you, and because they can.  As long as she knows where the litter box and her food are located, she probably only needs attention at this point.  Keep the food near where she is sleeping and the smell will help her remember to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding food: Absolutely stick to wet food for a cat.  Cats evolved as desert-dwelling obligate carnivores.  They naturally have a low thirst drive for that reason--standing water would be scarce, so their kidneys became super-efficient allowing them to get all their needed water from prey.  They also evolved to be dependent on their prey for certain nutrients like vitamin E.  Humans can make their own vitamin E, but cats have to get it from their food.  Cheaper foods will try to use plant-based sources for these nutrients, but cats' bodies can't digest plant matter all that well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all that in mind, it is easy to see why dry food is a bad idea.  The &quot;glue&quot; holding dry food together is carbohydrates which cats really don't need a lot of, and which is a big reason why cats get fat.  The top 3 killers of cats are diabetes, intestinal diseases like cancer, and kidney failure.  A meat-only wet food diet got my diabetic cat off insulin and solved two cats' kidney issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13861" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T22:01:04.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-19T22:48:21.320" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my cat were really close but I was walking up the stairs with my cat in my arms and I slipped at the top and fell with him. He didn’t hurt anything and he’s still fine- he still plays and jumps around and does everything normally- but when ever I go up to him with my arms out to stroke him or play with him, he always tried to run away or bite me like he’s scared. How do I make him stop being scared of me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13863" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T10:39:11.733" Title="Can i stop my cat being afraid of me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-20T10:38:54.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23248" CreationDate="2018-12-19T23:04:28.040" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long has it been since that happened? If it hasn't been very long, my advice would be to just give it time. Don't try to pick up your cat for now. And let him take his time coming to you. Reach out one hand to offer it. If he sniffs it and doesn't move away, then you can pet him. But don't try to carry him. Once he is comfortable with being pet again, then you can start working toward picking him up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2018-12-19T23:04:28.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23253" CreationDate="2018-12-20T09:53:25.060" Score="2" ViewCount="1231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a small two rooms apartment (living room + bedroom) with my girlfriend. We adopted a &lt;strong&gt;two-years-old rabbit&lt;/strong&gt; in September and, after the first two weeks, he is a very easy-going rabbit: he doesn't chew things he is not supposed to, poops in his litter, has good appetite and he is friendly (not playful, but definitively not scared) even with guests. The only problem that we did not manage to solve, as you can guess, is that he often pees on the bed during night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is allowed to wander in the apartment during night, because his favourite place to sleep is under the bed, but he often jumps on the bed to sleep with us. Unfortunately, when this happens, one out three times he pees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we tried to teach him not to do that are these approaches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the moment in which he does that, we strongly (not shouting) say &quot;No + his name!&quot;, and we take him and put it down from the bed. Sometimes, we close him in the living room (so, free to wander everywhere but the bedroom). Unfortunately, &lt;strong&gt;sometimes when he does that we don't wake up, so we cannot do that immediately.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When he pees in the litter, we give him a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's months now, but we don't see any improvement. &lt;strong&gt;Is this the right approach and, if not, what is an effective approach?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7004/how-should-i-discipline-my-rabbit-for-inappropriate-toileting&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, in my case this happens &lt;strong&gt;at night when we sleep&lt;/strong&gt;, so two problems arise: sometimes we cannot wake up and so cannot be constant, and second of all we cannot make loud noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13865" LastEditorUserId="13865" LastEditDate="2018-12-20T13:48:35.230" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T15:06:42.027" Title="Bunny pees on bed" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23252" CreationDate="2018-12-20T13:10:46.253" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;So,I got a pair of baby chickens.They are not too small though, they have beautiful yellow feathers and flap their wings, occasionally sitting on my leg. When we got them,the guy  gave us some special food.During the first few days, they ate it. Afterwards, when I noticed they couldn't eat the food  properly, I crushed it into smaller bits,which seemed  to work.But nowadays,they're SUPER hyperactive. They  run  like crazy and don't get into the cage on their own. But most importantly, they eat rubbish. They throw away the special food the guy gave us and try to eat random stuff like black threads lying here and there.They like to eat anything but proper food. I tried my best to keep them away from that but what is the problem and solution here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13867" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T13:37:10.857" Title="My baby chickens are screaming and not eating normal food" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23251" CreationDate="2018-12-20T13:37:10.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chickens are browsers, the like to walk around trying different foods.  Normally they would follow mom for a few weeks and learn from her.  But even without mom around they will just try different stuff.  You should try to limit how much artificial stuff they can eat (like string).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are outside, the can eat all the bugs, grass, rocks, etc that they want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also get a new bag of feed, the other may have gotten damp, or otherwise been contaminated.  You can leave feed out for them all the time in a feeder, that is protected from rain (like inside the chicken coop).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chickens can be noisy, so screaming is not normally a bad sign. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T13:37:10.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23250" CreationDate="2018-12-20T14:11:23.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have several existing questions with answers about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rabbits+toilet-training&quot;&gt;litter box use and rabbits&lt;/a&gt; the two most related are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7004/13&quot;&gt;How should I discipline my rabbit for inappropriate toileting?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3/13&quot;&gt;What is required to house break a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; neither of them really address the issue you are seeing.  The following is based on 10 years of rabbits living in our house, with one in the bedroom for most of that time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am going to assume that you have a litter box in both the livingroom and bedroom, if not you should consider it.  Also if not present put in a nightlight, jumping off the bed at night in the dark can be challenging so he might be just doing this at night to lighten the load before jumping down. These two things might solve the issue, if not...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is to keep him out of the bedroom at night for a few months. You can use a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/8130/13&quot;&gt;baby gate like in this answer&lt;/a&gt; to limit access during night time. He might pout about it but should accept the change well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w8iQ1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Baby Gate&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect he is not really sleeping on the bed but coming to visit you in the night.  Beds are kind of soft and squishy and for the most part bunnies prefer to have a semi solid place to sleep so the can sprint away if they wake started.  Our bedroom rabbit (Ruby) was up and down on the bed up to several times per night (getting older now, so not so much). Normally the nighttime visits are for pets, when they are lonely are have had a bad dream.  Unlike cats the don't do well if accidently pushed off the bed in the middle of the night, so the tend not to stay unless you are actively petting them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best rabbit litter box habits are made when the rabbit is restricted to a small area with the litter box for the first couple of days. Then as the space is expanded they tend to come back to the original location more reliably.  This is mistake we made with our first rabbit and it took years to fully overcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a litter box he is using in the bedroom during the day, and if he is not allowed in the room at night, in few months the old habit should be broken.  When you let him back in all should be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/11633/13&quot;&gt;Rabbit making the bed, how cute is that?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last option is to make him not want to be on the bed. A very fluffy comforter might be a good deterrent, alternately make it slipper (bunnies don't like slippery) but not sure how you would do that safely for him, and comfortably for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-20T15:06:42.027" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T15:06:42.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-20T17:55:28.700" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a Belgian Malinois female dog (she is 4 months now) and I've been wondering some things. I also have an 12 years old female German Shepherd, they get along, even though sometimes the Belgian puppy gets on her nerves they are alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that my German Shepherd is very aggresive to strangers and defensive, she's only very friendly with my family, and I never took her outside beacuse she always lived on my yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that I want something different with this Belgian Malinois, and I've been wondering if it's alright to take her outside for walks, but also have her aggresive with strangers when she's on my yard ( I live in a pretty bad neighbourhood and things happens around here, so I also want her for guarding, my German Shepherd showed her respect and people usually avoid my house hahah)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is very active and very different to my German Shepherd and I have a lot of activities with her on my yard but I don't want her to be sad or something for staying only here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know if it's possible to walk her outside (at least once or twice per week), without attacking any stranger unless she's on my yard, or do I need a professional trainer for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm trying to say is that I want to walk my Malinois outside and teach her to not attack anyone, but I also want her to protect my yard and jump on anyone who tries to get in and it's not family. She knows everyone who needs to know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8676" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2018-12-21T11:31:42.900" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T21:19:59.650" Title="Belgian Malinois training" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22196" CreationDate="2018-12-20T20:29:17.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There might not be anything wrong. Possibly just lonely. My cat also does this, she will go around meowing loudly. It isn't consistent and there is nothing wrong with her health-wise. Most often she will pick up a certain toy in her mouth and carry it around while meowing. We will find it in the morning outside our bedroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13871" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T20:29:17.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5655" CreationDate="2018-12-20T21:32:55.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The turtle should of already settled in, I think the problem is that you move the turtle around a lot more then needed, the turtle should be able to eat in its cage and shouldn't have to be moved to do so, letting the turtle out for sunlight is a good thing, but isn't really needed, the turtle could survive well in the cage without the needed sunlight but it is good to let them out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13872" LastActivityDate="2018-12-20T21:32:55.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23266" CreationDate="2018-12-20T22:19:10.507" Score="2" ViewCount="7081" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (~7 year Lab mix) is mostly well-behaved on leash, though he still has a few triggers that we're working on (mostly harmless, but can seem intimidating to other dogs and/or their owners). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of these actions is laying down when he sees another dog, paws in front of him so he can quickly jump to his feet. It only seems to happen when the other dog is a bit of a distance away but headed in our direction, and doesn't seem to matter the size or breed of the other dog. Unless I intervene or the other dog changes direction, he will always jump to his feet and dash towards the other dog. It's always been in a playful (if intimidatingly energetic) manner, but given the intensity of his focus on the other dog while this is happening, I'm concerned that it may not always be harmless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen this behavior in other dogs, sometimes towards my own dog and sometimes with other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2967" LastEditorUserId="2967" LastEditDate="2018-12-20T23:13:12.007" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T17:32:57.723" Title="Why does my dog lay down when he sees another dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20840" CreationDate="2018-12-20T22:35:53.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up with dogs.  As I'm the pack leader,  any of my dogs attack the other dog, the attacking dog gets put on his back (&quot;Alpha Roll&quot;).  This lets the dog know he's doing something wrong. The dog understands this,  by the way, this is also something Cesar Millan does as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware this is not a first resort tool, use it if nothing else works. Roll the dog on his or her back, hold the dog down by placing one hand on the collar bone (you don't want to cut off the dog's oxygen supply). The dog will eventually yield by spreading his forelegs and rear legs out . When that happens, you let the dog back up. Cesar Millan uses this for aggressive behavior and it imitates what an alpha dog would do to a misbehaving member of his pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13862" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T21:10:37.420" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T21:10:37.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23257" CreationDate="2018-12-20T22:50:34.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs lay down to show submission, when they do this, it looks like a bow, the head will be low, the forelegs stretched out, the back raised up.   From your description, it sounds like play pouncing.  Young dogs do this in play with each other.   Can you give some more specifics, like what breed of dog this is, as some dogs have a high prey instinct and &quot;play pounce&quot; to get ready for the real thing later on in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13862" LastEditorUserId="13862" LastEditDate="2018-12-21T17:32:57.723" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T17:32:57.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23260" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23307" CreationDate="2018-12-20T23:41:08.603" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weeks ago the leg of my 5 years old boxer  was very swollen and he even walked a little limp, time later a kind of wound was formed and until today it has not been removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thought my dog does not complain about anything, does not cry, or anything, keeps eating well, runs without any problem now, and everything normal. Although from time to time I've noticed that he licks his leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could it be? Is it a disease? Could it be dangerous, contagious, ... ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take him to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or will it heal with the passage of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the picture (apologies if it looks really bad)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pUN0b.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pUN0b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Update&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you have mention in the answers to take my dog to the veterinarian and I do really want to take him asap but vet is on vacations and won't be here until January. So please tell me what can I do to help my dog for now? Should I bandage his leg? Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took him other photos recently. Does it looks better? Please help me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;2nd update&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I luckily could contact the current vet and told me it is a skin fungal infection. And vet recommended a cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xURvv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xURvv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vFX2S.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vFX2S.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T21:20:34.273" Title="What is this wound on my dog's leg? Help me please" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23260" CreationDate="2018-12-21T04:10:48.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well it could just be an abrasion, a scrape from falling down. Or it could be cancer, worst case.  Or probably a dozen other things (none of which are that risky to a healthy human - but wash your hands). One can't really say for sure from a visual inspection. &#xA;Given that it has been there for weeks, if it was just a scrape then it may be infected.  You might have to cone the dog if it licks the wound a lot and makes it worse.  Could also try Neosporin antibiotic ointment.  A veterinarian is the way to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog currently has a long lasting wound and getting it checked cost about $150 :( Vet did a biopsy, we put some creams on it.  Still not 100% sure what it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13874" LastEditorUserId="13874" LastEditDate="2018-12-22T14:17:18.113" LastActivityDate="2018-12-22T14:17:18.113" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2616" CreationDate="2018-12-21T04:44:56.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fun idea. Good start by Spidercat. But from what OP said - I think the platform, resting above the chair armrest, might be too high. I was picturing something that is more like an extension of the seat surface (maybe a bit higher) - extending forward and to the side, next to the human's near leg. Also the clamping mechanism on to the chair arm may need to be customized per the shape of the arm.   For my small dog I was imagining more like a small sidecar bassinet that I could tie on to the arm - it would be softer, but the walls would make it hard to be in both lap and sidecar... Maybe a plastic basin with a pillow.    But wood platform would be stiffer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13874" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T04:44:56.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23269" CreationDate="2018-12-21T06:04:25.403" Score="1" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all my apology to those readers who have little or no experience with cats and don't know the meaning of a numerous numbers and types of cat vocalizations and gestures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound absurd but I am quite curious, here I find lots of questions about how to make my cat not do this. And there are lots of suggestions. But what if we can say a cat NO in cat's language, by mimicking warning sounds and gestures that cats make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today morning I was working on my laptop but Bhutu (my cat) was not letting me to work. I don't know the reason but she was growling at me. She was biting my hand. Hitting my hand with her paws, and constantly growling at me. But I have done nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I said, NO, again NO, ....., then NO in a stern voice. But no impact, my cat was completely ignoring me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I did a gnawwww sound, like that of cat's growling, and phasssss, like that of cat's hissing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Immediately Bhutu stopped, her ears went back, her tails below her tummy, and she sat down like a good girl by the side of my laptop. And I started to work peacefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like I am making her realize who is the ALPHA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is even more odd, as cats do not have any alpha, it's dog who has it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here Bhutu is not like moving away after defeat, she is accepting my dominance and sitting back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;NOTE:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be noted that I brought my cat when she was one and a half months old, and she is now almost two years old. Ever since I brought my cat, I have played with her like a kitten plays with her litter-mate. And she does all her cat like things mostly with me. To others she behaves like a normal cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether this information is of any significance or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-21T09:19:06.593" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T15:30:17.400" Title="Can cat understand if we try to communicate in cat's language by mimicking sounds that cats make in different situations to communicate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22188" CreationDate="2018-12-21T06:55:06.317" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's possible that they will.  You see it a lot in Mothers meeting their pups again after a long separation. I'm sure littermates would be similar. They might not go bonkers in that first moment, but after they smell eachother, they may be reminded of their earlier relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T06:55:06.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23257" CreationDate="2018-12-21T07:27:30.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're misinterpreting this. Our two Huskies show the very same behavior and it's not being aggressive or getting ready to pounce. Quite the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Kosh mentioned, it's to show submission to some extent and signal &quot;get over here, I want no harm&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following &quot;jump start&quot; is more some kind of over-anticipation and the dog no longer wanting to wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall I wouldn't try to change this behavior as it's basically a positive one. As for the dashing portion: I usually try to hold the leash firm and tense so there's little to no room for the dog to jump forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T07:27:30.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23264" CreationDate="2018-12-21T07:55:19.763" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to mimic cat sounds is not effective for me (I do not understand the full meaning of all of the cat sounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I communicate with my cat I use my normal words but I try to keep it simple for my cat to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like do you want (I get her full attention by saying this) food/treats/to go outside/to go to bed, simple things that a cat can understand the meaning of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen cats will have problems when words sound the same. So this is something you need to be aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training a cat to understand what you mean is something that will take time, but during this time you will learn a lot from your cat too about what she/he thinks is important and what she/he likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat will often give you vocal feedback by answering when you talk to her/him and this can be helpful as you know you have the attention of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do only need to say the name of my cat and she comes running to me, so she knows her name and she has the need to see what I want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This training and learning never stops and it might feel slow at times but you need to know a cat will never forget what she/he has learned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will learn that a cat uses different sounds to answer yes or no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-21T09:08:16.917" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T09:08:16.917" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-21T11:40:20.877" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal, but you need to give her a lot of care.  A young kitten is very different from a not so young one.  You will have to spend a lot of time with her for the next 2 to 6 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We ended up with an abandoned 3 or 4-week old kitten.  Cats are not that independent of their mother until 6 to 20 weeks (varies by breed, circumstances and individual cats).  While they are dependent on something, that something becomes you when removed from their mother.  When they mew they are signalling a need for something. It could be something urgent, or it could simply be they want attention to know you are there to keep them safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things that very young kittens need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Comfort and attention; kittens know they are prey and that without a mother to defend them they are helpless.  If talking back to her (your choice of human voice, mew or whatever) and giving her a little fuss does not silence her then try something else.  Our now 2 year old cat still responds to her name with a mew, as we would talk to her using it as a kitten.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Food; young kittens are growing fast and have little stomachs.  We were feeding our very young one every 2 to 4 hours for the first couple of weeks.  Thankfully, as she came from a farm, she seems to already have been happy eating wet kitten food and not just kitten milk.  Note that there are special kitten foods and kitten milk.  Cows' milk is not good for many breeds of cat and causes... gastric distress.  If the kitten has not eaten for several hours, you may have a problem. If it has been a day you almost certainly do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toilet; young kittens may not pass waste unaided.  The mother cat signals that it is time to go by licking the kitten's stomach and rear end.  I suggest you use a wet towel, flannel or cloth with lukewarm water and try rubbing gently.  If the kitten has started to go regularly by itself, you can stop doing this.  If the kitten does not pass waste, it is a very serious issue that will need medical attention. Depending on the age of the kitten, several hours without going at all may be a very bad sign.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water or fluids; little bodies have little stores.  If you are feeding milk or wet kitten food, then the kitten may need little extra water.  If you are using dry food, you will need to give a lot more water or kitten milk (our friends had a kitten that would not touch wet kitten or cat food. We now have this cat and it only ever eats biscuits. They are fussy creatures).  If the kitten refuses to drink any water, you have to try offering kitten milk (of cat milk if you must or, at a stretch, cows' milk).  Kitten and cat milk is often goat milk based, so that might be better than cows.  If it gets difficult, seek veterinary advice, as kittens do need fluid levels kept high.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warmth; as they cannot regulate their own body temperature well.  Give the kitten a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel or let her sleep on you.  Cats' body temperatures are roughly in line with ours, so you are better than a cold floor.  Just try not to fall asleep and roll on her, as they are quite small and delicate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all of the above, if you are not sure, seek help (which you have done by coming here).  Your neighbour might be able to offer some advice if they have raised kittens before.  There may be pet charities in your area that can offer advice.  There may be a local vet, and at some stage, you are going to need one, so you may as well involve them soon if you can afford to do so.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens do get more independent over time.  As ours grew, the frequency of feeding could go down as the portion sizes went up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now there is something to watch with hand-raised cats: they are often horrible to you later.  Mummy cats just gave them a bop on the head or a hiss when they misbehave and bite when they should not do something.  Human mummies and daddies tend to coo and think such things are cute while they do not hurt.  You need to encourage her to play with toys and not to attack your hands and so on soon.  If you do not, she will always attack your hands.  I now have an 8 kg cat that loves to be held way up in your face and on your shoulder as when he was a kitten this is how we held him.  They learn behaviours very early. Consider if you would be happy with a fully grown cat doing something and act accordingly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, enjoy it!  They are so cute and adorable, and ours turned out to be a very devoted and friendly cat.  She is still very loud around meal times, or any time you go near a good bowl, or when she wants you to do something.  The other 3 cats are mostly silent. It is all normal, as cats vary a lot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13875" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T11:18:56.350" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T11:18:56.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23264" CreationDate="2018-12-21T13:25:52.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've made bad experiences with this approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats are not allowed to jump or walk on tables, but it takes time to teach them. Usually we would use a water spray bottle, but when it wasn't at hand, I looked our cat directly in the eyes and made a hissing sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She understood and didn't walk on the table, but she connected the negative experience with &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; and not with &lt;em&gt;the table&lt;/em&gt;. Since I took my role as teacher seriously, I hissed at her several times, which lead to her not liking me much anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In retrospect, I would have prefered to reprimand her in a neutral way (water spray bottle) so she doesn't connect the negative experience with me in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T13:25:52.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23224" CreationDate="2018-12-21T14:02:32.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we brought our kitten (now cat) Thor home, he struggled to adjust to the new environment for a bit - he wanted to cuddle a lot and would go to sleep on my shoulder, but didn't eat very much. We took him to the vet when he wouldn't eat for 48 hours; this is very important, especially for kittens, as cats can get ill very quickly when they don't eat, unlike some other animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet kept him in overnight, and managed to get him eating by using a special high-calorie tinned wet food. We then went through a lot of effort for a few days to encourage to eat this as much as possible, and he recovered very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, if she won't eat for a couple of days then definitely get her to the vet ASAP as they can sort this out more easily, the earlier you do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13876" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T14:02:32.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-21T15:44:56.407" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 neutered male cats one is Leo he's 1 &amp;amp; 1/2 and smokey is 9 years he was a outdoor cat until recently (2 weeks ago) when his brother got injured. I have 3 cat boxes and Leo has sprayed inside everyone they are all covered cat boxes but now Smokey will not go inside any of them (he used to use them until leo clearly sprayed) and keeps going anywhere he wants in the house. Ive moved the boxes to where he goes and he just moves somewhere else. I even have a uncovered box but they do not like it i assume they want privacy. The boxes are as far apart as they can be, what else should i do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13877" LastEditorUserId="13877" LastEditDate="2018-12-22T04:31:01.403" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T05:01:50.363" Title="2 male cats only one uses litter boxes" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23272" CreationDate="2018-12-21T16:34:46.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forcing two cats that are used to sharing a large outdoor territory suddenly into a much smaller area can lead to territorial marking outside the litter box and general stressed-out behavior.  It's very possible that this is at the root of the problems. The fact that he's actively avoiding boxes when they are moved to his soiled areas somewhat points to territorial insecure marking.  (Leo has already 'claimed' all those boxes by spraying, so Smokey feels that he can't use them, and thus needs to set aside some potty spots of his own.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have success with using stress-reducing options like feliway diffusers, more interactive playtime, and adding more high up resting places and other resources (water bowls, beds, scratching posts, etc) to reduce territory competition.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cat with the litterbox issues was an outdoor cat, it may be very helpful to mix some outdoor dirt or sandy soil with the litter (preferably unscented litter), which should help him know &quot;this is where to go&quot;.  Start with about half dirt.  If it solves the issues, you can start very gradually reducing the about of dirt to litter over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try various other kids of boxes and litter.  Cats are incredibly opinionated about their boxes in terms of the type of litter, the amount of litter, the amount of privacy they require, they size of box they prefer, location, etc, so you may also have some success in changing up these variables.  Almost every cat prefers the box very clean, and not too close to eating or sleeping areas.  There are lots of other questions which cover this in more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure to clean any previously soiled areas WELL with an enzyme deodorizing cleaner for pets to reduce the chance of reoffending in those spots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T16:34:46.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23280" CreationDate="2018-12-21T19:00:37.923" Score="6" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;I moved apartments with my 2 year old cat. And after 3 days he got outdoors and went exploring. And suddenly disappeared.  I've searched and called up and down the streets, put flyers, contacted local vets and all the neighbours. I've searched as many of their houses as I could. I've looked into any nook or cranny that I can imagine a cat hiding in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its now been 3 days without a sign of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read that cats that are displaced will usually hide and not respond to calls or come out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will he come out when he's hungry / desperate enough?  Will his survival instinct kick in and force him out? I will keep searching for weeks if I have hope to find him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can I try to find him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13879" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T16:50:44.157" Title="Will my runaway cat come out when he gets hungry enough" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23260" CreationDate="2018-12-21T21:28:22.187" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an untreated wound that should be seen by veterinarian. Only a licensed vet can reliably diagnose what kind of wound this is. If the dog continues to pay attention to it it clearly still affects the animal and further long term damage or harm should be mitigated as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10985" LastActivityDate="2018-12-21T21:28:22.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23275" CreationDate="2018-12-22T10:59:23.107" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you did not move too far from your old apartment, it is very likely you will find your cat there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an adult cat gets lost in a new area it will stay put for some time. Normally for 1-3 days after this he will try to find the way home to the old home of his.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think you will find your cat and the sooner you find him, the better for both of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some experience in this, I once adopted a feral cat and he got lost one of the first days I let him outside. I started in a new job so I had to leave him outside and the poor cat misunderstood the situation. He did probably think I had left him, so he was alone again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found the cat at the area I got him from, this was 6 km away from where I live; the cat had crossed two main roads and a river to get to his old area (he did not have a home). It did take him 7 days to get there, but he came running as soon as he did see me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not want you to give up until you find him and I hope you will find him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is probably scared right now, but the hunger is a stronger feeling, so your cat will come out of hiding soon if it have not already done so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T16:50:44.157" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T16:50:44.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16084" CreationDate="2018-12-22T13:14:08.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good trainer can teach you how to work with her. It will entail you putting her on her back with you above her until she submits. You will need to do this frequently, at your discretion. You will know she is submitting once her front paws are floppy and she turns her head away to the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When training my dogs I do it many times when I can speak lovingly. On those occasions when there is a behavior I don't like they are used to it and they recognize the change in my voice and demeanor. They are more easy to work with.  Doing it during undisciplinary times builds our bond so that the discipline times are more effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned this technique when I had a Rhodesian Ridgeback.  They tend to want to be dominant, he was the best dog ever, 116 lbs of gentle protection, lived to be 12.  Invest the time in this technique, it works great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13882" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-10T12:32:14.420" LastActivityDate="2019-01-10T12:32:14.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23275" CreationDate="2018-12-22T13:41:51.767" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can try to return to their old home if not settled into the new one yet and they get outside.  Cats also travel as much as 3 miles, possibly more, when surveying &quot;their&quot; territory, looking for a mate, hunting etc.  The biggest concerns are traffic and humans, sometimes people will take them in as pets, among other things of course.  This is why signs with photos, calls to vets and shelters as well as asking neighbors can be helpful.  They can be gone for quite some time and return unexpectedly but because of the move, it could be difficult for them to find their way back so doing the above things was wise.  Many places will take a description and watch out for the cat.  They will come back when they get hungry if they know where to go but since they are hunters this can take some time as they eat birds and rodents they come across.  Hope your cat comes back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13882" LastActivityDate="2018-12-22T13:41:51.767" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23286" CreationDate="2018-12-22T14:27:31.090" Score="2" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dogsit sometimes and just took on a new client yesterday. She's a mostly sweet two-year-old poodle, except for the peeing (and sometimes pooping) inside thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've now walked her three times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First time: 45 minute walk about 4 hours after she was dropped off, she doesn't pee or poo (she had already pooped inside right after arriving.) Get inside and she has dinner then wants to play, then while playing squats down and just starts peeing... while jumping around. Ok, maybe put that one down to over-excitement... if it hadn't kept happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second time: Another 45 minute walk, she does poo late into the walk and then I stand with her in my back-yard for an extra 10 minutes waiting for her to pee. Get back inside, she goes to her dog bed and lays down... then as I'm watching she gets up and squats down to pee in/around her bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third time: Just walked her for over an hour, no pee or poo... so tied her up in the back-yard and stood there waiting over half an hour for her to go. Still nothing... right now I've just got her &quot;locked&quot; in the kitchen since the linoleum is a little easier to clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't understand this though, every other dog I've ever owned/watched pees immediately when going outside... especially in the morning! It doesn't seem like a medical issue... she's not having trouble controlling her bladder. She goes hours just fine, and even asks to go out when one might expect it's time for her to potty. No accidents overnight even. It's just that when we walk, she seems to think she should potty inside after the walk...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas why a dog would act like this? Or how to correct her behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13883" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T06:54:00.177" Title="Dogsitting: 2-year-old dog refuses to pee outside, then deliberately pees inside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17095" CreationDate="2018-12-22T15:27:52.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for you to give a temperature reading on humidity and heat? He/she looks to be very hungry and could be starving. It's fat levels have clearly depleted due to the tail size and it needs to get a few good days of eating to fix that issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also change its water every day and dust the food with calcium maybe every day except Sunday, and dust the food with ONLY multivitamins on Sunday. Take him/her to a Herp vet ASAP and keep a close eye on it for a while. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good for you with getting help and I hope you the best. Also if your leopard gecko is on sand I would look into changing the substrate because the gecko could have ingested sand and it could have clogged up their digestive system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13885" LastEditorUserId="13885" LastEditDate="2018-12-22T15:33:46.403" LastActivityDate="2018-12-22T15:33:46.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22157" CreationDate="2018-12-22T15:45:16.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the temperatures are too hot - you should have a warm spot and a cool spot. If your snake is seeking out cooler temperatures, you should either move the heat pad, or remove the heat emitting bulb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13885" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T22:17:17.660" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T22:17:17.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23281" CreationDate="2018-12-23T01:44:14.547" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the dog is getting enough exercise, but you still might consider taking her to a local dog park for an hour or two of playtime. It should give her plenty of time to &quot;get it out of her system&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I agree that it doesn't make sense for a 2yo to not understand that they do some things outside, not inside. Perhaps she is put in a crate (at home) when she comes inside. Or, she doesn't understand that she is only staying with you for a short while and she is misbehaving so you will send her back home. (I'm convinced my dog would be try something like that!) &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For now: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her food after you return from the first walk and the last walk&#xA;of the day. All day access for water only.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strenuous play (whether it is at the park or in the yard) is outside only.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure she is getting the same food at your home that she eats at hers (or at least a 50% mix) so she doesn't have an upset stomach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit treats, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorten one of her walks for time to train on the basics (sit, come, etc.). Not because she doesn't know them, but because it will give you a chance to praise her. I'm guessing you don't call her a &quot;good girl&quot; for her current behavior issue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She misses her family. You aren't expected to replace them, but if she has more variety to look forward to, she might be less upset (physically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-23T01:44:14.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23290" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23292" CreationDate="2018-12-24T07:10:02.007" Score="6" ViewCount="6282" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be spending several days at my parents house this coming weekend.  They've been encouraging me to bring my cats with me, but so far I've been reluctant to do so.  But this coming weekend my regular cat sitter will be busy (It turns out that other people also make plans during the holidays - who knew), so I'm considering the possibility more seriously than I have in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this trip likely to help my cats get used to strange environments, or is it likely be a stressful &lt;em&gt;cat&lt;/em&gt;astrophe which will make all their hair fall out?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats are about a year and a quarter old - littermates that I adopted 10 months ago.  I live alone and they've only met a few people so far.  When my parents came to visit the other day the brother warmed up to them almost immediately, but the sister hid away for the entire visit.  (On the other hand, when I first brought them home, it was the sister who first acclimated to my apartment).  She &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; warmed up to other people, it just tends to take longer.  They are indoor only cats, with full run of my 1 bedroom apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They complain nearly constantly in the car, but on the other hand the only place I've ever taken them is the vet, so perhaps they have reason to complain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The trip&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents live about an hour away.  The trip would be three nights, and they can stay in my old bedroom the entire time.  I will be able to spend much of the first day in the same room as them, and I'll be in the house (but distracted) all of the second day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could bring the cats home on either of the first two nights if it proved necessary, but I'm not sure how to judge what 'necessary' is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents have a dog - an ancient (and frankly rather sad) but friendly chihuahua terrier.  He can be kept out of my bedroom entirely, although he does have a tendency to whine at my door when we do so.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13897" LastActivityDate="2020-10-30T12:40:28.417" Title="How will my cats feel about a weekend vacation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23290" CreationDate="2018-12-24T07:50:24.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will be best for your cats to stay at home, but only if you can provide water and food for them for the time you are away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your cats are free feeding or you have an automatic feeder, it is best for them to stay at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you know, cats will be stressed in a moving car, and they will experience stress by coming to an unknown place, and the dog there might add to this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very dependent on marking a new place with their own scent to be able to relax, and I think 3 days is too short for them to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you leave them at home, you will need one litter box per cat plus one extra, and you need to fill a little more litter in them than you normally do to avoid them being soaked. Three days is at the upper limit of how long you can leave the litter unchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T11:17:22.260" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T11:17:22.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23290" CreationDate="2018-12-24T09:47:42.607" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cats will probably hate the drive...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a good &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2839/13&quot;&gt;answer here about options for cats on 3 day trips&lt;/a&gt; taking them with you is an option. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While automatic feeding is an option, 3 days is a long time to be alone for the first time. It is also the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/2541/13&quot;&gt;window of time that is dangerous&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each cat is an individual. There are no absolutes. There is at least an even chance that when you get there and they are in your old room, they will adjust quickly and be happy to settle in.  Obviously you want to bring their litter box(es) and bedding with you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will hate the trip home as well, but they will be glad to be home.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/10635/13&quot;&gt;risks with traveling&lt;/a&gt; and risks of leaving them home alone.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are traveling for the holidays and some are staying home alone, and some people are choosing not to travel and stay home with their pets instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with choosing to travel with your cats. It sounds like you are in tune with their needs and personalities. Continue to pay attention to them and adjust as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T12:07:09.797" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T12:07:09.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-24T10:17:11.693" Score="1" ViewCount="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the summer I purchased a leopard gecko and have managed to keep her cage within the recommended warmth range, though recently I've noticed her cage becomes a little colder due to the winter season, specifically at night. The thermometer lists her cage to average 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the night. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on ways to heat her cage other than the heating pad I have for her currently. So far she doesn't seem too bothered by the slight coolness of her cage, but I would like to fix this problem before it becomes something bigger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13898" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T10:17:11.693" Title="Leo Gecko Too Cold During the Winter?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2018-12-24T13:03:11.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23290" CreationDate="2018-12-24T15:16:06.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all really depends on how well the individual cat deals with this sort of situation. From personal observation, the ones that do the worst are very timid cats and very territorial cats versus the type that are more adventurous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sign your cat is very terrorial is if you've noticed the cat seems adverse to any change to its territory, like if you move a piece of furniture or something like that.  Another is if your cat seems timid of the area outside the door to your apartment, versus you have to be careful when going in and out or else they might try to escape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can show a variety of stress behaviors when in a new territory, and adult cats seem to get more distressed about it than kittens. Hair falling out is indeed one of them. Hiding and refusing to come out is also one. There's also rather undesirable behaviors such as failing to use the litterbox, spraying, or vomiting. Cats with certain chronic medical issues, hyperesthesia for example, might have flare ups. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their behavior when going to the vet is probably a good relative gauge to tell how stressed they might get, and how badly they react to stress. Of course for most cats going to the vet is even more stressful than going on a trip, but it does have many things in common, such as a car ride, and arriving in an unfamiliar place, with the smell of strange people and animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible data point is how well the cats deal with strangers. Do they hide and not come out when the cat sitter comes, or do they come out and let them pet them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That all said, leaving them completely alone for the weekend seems overly long to leave them, although it might be doable. It certainly would be a less stressful option for them, but you might have problems like them refusing to use their box when it's not been cleaned in the past day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2018-12-24T15:40:59.643" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T15:40:59.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2616" CreationDate="2018-12-24T17:29:33.003" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been a couple years, and I tried a few different things.  I the end I decided on the &quot;pedestal&quot; solution (&lt;em&gt;because she is goddess on a pedestal, just ask her, she will confirm it&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an old milk crate with a relatively smooth bottom, it is turned upside down with a towel folded on top/bottom to make it comfy.  This puts her at an optimal height for getting pets. She is able to get up and down on her own easily and frequently. As well as reach up to nuzzle if the has been a prolonged petting deficiency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pedestal moves around as needed.  In fact I am now using it at the bedside, as getting up and down is getting harder as she ages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a towel on my chair, because when I am not in my chair it is good place for cecotrope consumption, and the towel goes in the washing machine nicely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WXLtx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WXLtx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uBDTf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uBDTf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T17:29:33.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23254" CreationDate="2018-12-24T21:19:59.650" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually rather simple in the grand scheme of things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you have are two working dogs, which inherently have a strong guarding instinct (particularly your shepherd), malinois tend to be more prey drive based but will guard if trained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malinois and Shepherds can be very high energy breeds that need exercise once or twice a day, not just once or twice a week. If not they do tend to be very hyperactive, tense, have a lot of excess energy and drive which can be channelled in many ways, including destructiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walking a dog is incredibly important from an environmental perspective. A dog learns the differences between normal and abnormal behaviour in their surroundings. They learn to deal with loud noises and stresses that can’t be found in the home. This builds the foundation of a protection and guard dog. This will allow a dog to recognise in the future the difference between a threat and something that is not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can’t stress this enough: &lt;strong&gt;you need to walk those dogs more than once or twice a week&lt;/strong&gt; that is simply not enough for those breeds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to build dogs to do both. Generally if you keep these dogs in a yard it will either be incredibly territorial or incredibly nervous and the majority of dogs (irrespective of breed) without the due training and groundwork put in place, will more often choose to flee than fight when forced into that scenario. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog needs to emotionally mature before learning to guard/protect. This is usually around 12-14 months. I personally would be engaging a trainer to help with mainly scenario based training when the dog is strong enough mentally (if you have chosen a puppy that has a suitable attitude for this work). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until this point I would be walking the puppy regularly (but careful not to do more than 5 minutes per month of age) until the dog is 10-12 months as this can be physically damaging. I’d be focusing on obedience for control work, and bite development with an appropriate trainer to help lay the groundwork when the dog is emotionally ready to be pushed into scenario training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2018-12-24T21:19:59.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23321" CreationDate="2018-12-25T07:21:07.097" Score="9" ViewCount="15728" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen my kitten-cats drinking much water lately.  While they get hydration from their wet food, I'm not sure if it's necessarily enough for optimal health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm considering just adding a bit of tap water to their wet food to make it a tad more wet, but I'm not sure if that'd be helpful, or if it might cause the food to spoil too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should cats receive more hydration than from wet food alone?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Could it be beneficial to add additional water to wet food?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If additional water might be beneficial, how should it be added?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should tap water be mixed with the wet food before serving?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or would a supplementary gravy or broth be better, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0169I8M0Q&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Purina Fancy Feast Broths Adult Wet Cat Food Complement Variety Packs&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastEditorUserId="9137" LastEditDate="2018-12-25T11:48:00.330" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:21:12.193" Title="Should I add water to wet food to provide extra hydration?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23297" CreationDate="2018-12-25T08:54:53.243" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your questions one by one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats need to have clean water in addition to the water contained in their food.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adding water to the wet food is not something you need to do. It can reduce the smell of the food and make your cat eat less (a cat's nose is better than its sense of taste).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want you can add some water to the dry food you give your cat. But this too might make your cat eat less.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is right of you to keep an eye on the amount of water your cat drinks. Many cats do drink too little but it sounds like your cats get the water they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add it is not possible to see how well hydrated a cat by looking at the solid waste it produces. It is normal for most cats to pee 1-2 times a day (if it is only once a day it should be a generous amount each time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One tip to get your cat to drink more is to put the food and water in separate places (in nature cats do not eat and drink at the same spot this is due to the fact that meat attracts other predators so a cat might be vulnerable while drinking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:51:00.410" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:51:00.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23297" CreationDate="2018-12-25T11:34:13.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As to question 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not feed gravy or other seasoned foods to your cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do not eat any salt or spice naturally. Especially salt can increase the risk for urinary diseases, which cats are prone to anyways. If you want to add liquid to pet food, always use plain water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-25T11:34:13.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23297" CreationDate="2018-12-26T06:42:54.840" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fresh water should always be available to dogs and cats at all times, thus making it unnecessary to add water to the food. However, if you add water it isn't harmful. Food spoils when it's left at room temperature. Bacteria prefer room temperature, just as we do, therefore that's where they proliferate the most. To prevent food spoilage, keep soft food refrigerated up until you're ready to serve it to your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13905" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T14:21:12.193" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T14:21:12.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21920" CreationDate="2018-12-26T09:12:49.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There actually is absolute, quantitave proof that dogs get jealous. It is not just personification. Emotions are certain chemicals that are electrically stimulated and then are fired across these &quot;arms&quot; of our brain cells which are called axons and dendrites.  As the ends of the dendrites receive this stimulation, and this is all that feelings are.  With MRI's we can see where this occurs in the brain and by how much. We also have confirmed that those exact same chemicals which are the ones responsible for emotion do exist in dogs through examination of cerebral spinal fluid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By putting dogs in MRI machines, we then proved, they do actually love us. They also confirmed that they feel joy, hate/anger (biochemically they're the same), fear, and loss. Also, they did studies with dogs where they compared them with toddlers. The behaviors were identical, and observation is the first step in the scientific method. Whether it's the behavior of two substances in a chemical reaction, or the behaviors of two different microorganisms together, or a comparative study between human three-year-olds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13905" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T09:12:49.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23260" CreationDate="2018-12-26T09:43:08.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does he naturally have black skin? It looks like he does but it is difficult for me to tell. I was worried about necrosis, but which would occur from a spider or infected wound. However, for it to be that, it would have to be infected a long time. The bite does resemble that which are left by the chelicerata of a spider. It also could be an allergic reaction. If he's licking at the irritated area a lot, that would account for the hair loss. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13905" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T09:43:08.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-26T10:48:06.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is true that not knowing, doesn't make something not be real. But also, believing in something doesn't make it real either. Although we may not know if it's ghosts, there are other things that it may be which are worth considering. For one thing, more often than not, people who claim their dog is never aggressive when it lunges at you, are lying to avoid getting in trouble. The dogs may smell something that is setting them off like certain colognes. Not to scare you, but some dogs can smell skin Cancer. If it's always toward your ankle, it might be worth getting checked. I knew a lady whose Schnauzer kept nipping one spot and sure enough, and she had a doctor check it out and it was. Dogs look at body language different than how we do. Point being, it could be a lot of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13905" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T10:48:06.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20998" CreationDate="2018-12-26T11:12:10.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your cat had a stroke. This isn't an uncommon at that age. I had that happen to a dog and a parakeet. The parakeet was paralyzed from the neck down and yet he still ate, drank, sang, and enjoy his neck pets. Just because he's paralyzed doesn't mean he's not happy. I'd keep giving him his pain meds and not worry about euthanasia until he looks unhappy and suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13905" LastActivityDate="2018-12-26T11:12:10.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-26T21:59:46.913" Score="-1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently got a new kitten. She's boisterous, very loving and gets on with our 1 year old very well! However, she's got a fair bit of bloating in her lower abdomen. She's got a ravenous appetite and diarrhea but no vomiting. The vet thinks it's worms (as did we) and we've given her a deworming tablet (albeit we had to crush it up, as she refused to take it whole!). The tablet seems to have done nothing, as she's still got diarrhea, and there's no signs of worm debris in the poo. Apart from this, she is active and seems to be in good health. Any ideas as to what the bloating could be caused by?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13911" LastEditorUserId="20192" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T16:17:03.343" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T16:17:03.343" Title="Bloating in my 4 month kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-27T00:19:17.253" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be going on vacation for 4 days so I'm looking for a way to feed my cats during this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering something like this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/cat-mate-c3000-programmable-dry-food/dp/103151?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Cat%20Mate&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMItr2zj92-3wIViwOGCh1FKghxEAQYAiABEgIIMPD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;automatic dry cat feeder&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm not going to spend $60+ for just a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there ant DIY or cheap alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if there isn't an alternative, anything I order would arrive too late. Finding a cheap alternative qould be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:42:48.130" Title="Alternative for automatic dry cat feeder?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23314" CreationDate="2018-12-27T00:56:43.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my [Basenji] dog a tiny amount of pure pumpkin on a daily basis. She's just over 20#, I give her about 1/2 teaspoon a day. It acts like a pre/probiotic and keeps her having &quot;regular&quot; bowel movements. No diarrhea. No constipation. It's safe for cats, too. But a kitten, I'd start out with maybe 1/8 teaspoon... Just make sure you are using Pure Pumpkin -- &lt;strong&gt;not Pumpkin Pie Mix&lt;/strong&gt; as that has spices that would harm the little one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://throughadogsear.com/surprising-health-benefits-of-pumpkin-for-dogs-and-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 Surprising Health Benefits of Pumpkin for Dogs and Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T00:56:43.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23318" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-27T07:23:00.713" Score="2" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I came up with one of the red ear slider turtle that has its one of the legs swallowned up . It is so worse that he is suppose to keep the leg out of the shell. Is there any treatment I can provide to him. My vet says its case of ganagarin and there is no treatment for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T13:15:53.407" Title="Swollen leg of red ear slider turtle" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23318" CreationDate="2018-12-27T13:15:53.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common treatment for gangrene is surgery to remove injured tissue. Generally this is by amputation of the leg. It is followed up with antibiotics and normal post surgery treatments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the gangrene  has traveled into the body, it is usually fatal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you vet is saying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;its case of ganagarin and there is no treatment for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume this means that it is past the point were amputation might be effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a second opinion, from a different vet is probably a good idea. If the second vets says the same you may want to discuss &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/euthanasia&quot;&gt;euthanasia&lt;/a&gt; options with the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T13:15:53.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23297" CreationDate="2018-12-27T19:56:09.170" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you've listed off three questions about adding hydration, the first question you should be asking is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is my cat dehydrated?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very easy to check this yourself at home by using a pinch test. As described by PetMD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you take a pinch of skin over the cat's shoulders and pull up gently, the skin should snap back into place when released. As the cat gets more dehydrated, the skin goes back in place more and more slowly. If the pinch of skin stays up (the &quot;tent&quot;), it is a sign of severe dehydration. The cat should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/common-emergencies/e_ct_dehydration&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should a cat receive hydration from only wet food?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. While cats are designed to get most of their water from food, you should always provide clean, fresh water for them as well; you may find a benefit to trying different types of bowls or fountains to increase the appeal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a benefit to adding water to wet food?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, if your cat regularly suffers issues with dehydration, adding water to their wet food can help keep them more hydrated. I've seen this used (on veterinarians' orders) with a cat with chronic urinary crystals to help flush them out before they became large enough to cause problems. For most cats, there won't be much need to do this, however. Your vet can offer more input on your specific cat's case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to add the water?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just mix it into the canned food. This tends to work best with &quot;pate&quot; style foods, making them into a thinner mush or even a &quot;soup,&quot; and not as well with shredded or &quot;chunk&quot; style foods. There's no need for any special &quot;gravies,&quot; which provide very little benefit for their price, and may very likely contain extra ingredients that are not ideal for cats to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will it spoil faster?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No faster than wet food on its own will. They should be eating it promptly; you should not be leaving it out for long periods, with or without added water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it necessary?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats are already getting sufficient hydration, then it's not going to provide much if any benefit to add even more water to their diets. Just because you aren't seeing them drink water, that doesn't mean they aren't drinking it. Start by checking whether they're at all dehydrated, and consult with your veterinarian if you have concerns about their hydration levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T19:56:09.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21794" CreationDate="2018-12-27T22:03:41.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look into local rescue organizations or humane societies/no-kill shelters. These places will frequently be able to take over the work of rehoming the cats for you, and at a bare minimum will be able to provide you with resources to help you safely rehome them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the cat's welfare, it's important that the home where they're being placed be evaluated to some degree. With rescue organizations, this is often through a combination of an application, interviews with the potential adopter and one or more references, and sometimes a home visit or interview with the potential adopter's veterinarian. There is also a fee connected to the adoption, which both helps to fund further rescue work and helps to reduce the risk for the cat--if the adopter is willing to hand over $100-$200 to take the cat home, they're going to be far more likely to take care of that animal than someone who takes it for free. Additionally, a typical rescue contract will have clauses that the pet must be returned to that rescue (for safe rehoming) if the adopter can no longer care for it, and that if it is learned that the pet is being abused or neglected, the rescue has the legal right to seize the pet and return it to the rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals that are given away as free often end up as &quot;bait&quot; animals (for dogfights), fed to other animals, used in laboratory testing, resold for a profit, abused, neglected, or may end up in a hoarding situation. There's no checks in place to ensure the person taking the animal will provide veterinary care, or hasn't been legally barred from pet ownership (which happens in cases of extreme animal cruelty or neglect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2018-12-27T22:03:41.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23315" CreationDate="2018-12-28T00:42:57.540" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;$60 would seem steep to me as well, but it beats the heck out of the comparable cost of boarding your cat. And yes, you would spend about the same for the automatic feeder as you would for a kid to help out... &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you get the feeder, is your cat going to be freaked out by it? Does it make noise(s)? Is it going to fit in the same spot as her bowl? What about water? Can you be sure she'll have enough water while you are gone?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you have a friend (and their kid) help you out, they can make sure the litter is freshened up, the water bowl is full, that your cat is eating, and maybe even visit long enough for scritches behind her ears. If this is an adult friend, then there's a good chance that they would do it out of freindship. If so, @Berend's idea of a small thank you gift would be appropriate. If your friend's kid does it, then pay them based on their age. $5/day for a grade schooler, $15/day for a high schooler.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-28T00:42:57.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23378" CreationDate="2018-12-28T12:27:48.850" Score="3" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyday my cat eats sweets with us at tea time and she likes it very much. So I decided to give her more sweets today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that she has drunk one bowl full of water in an hour. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X54sI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X54sI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It contains water equivalent to that of 1 standard size tea cup, not the big coffee mugs.  About 4 ounces or 120ml.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2018-12-28T14:08:43.580" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T03:36:16.513" Title="My cat just drunk one bowl full of water in an hour, is this normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-28T23:13:55.957" Score="0" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fish lines in a 2.5 galling tank with a automatic heater and a thermometer. I got it yesterday (after my first one who lived for 2.5 years lived there) I cleaned it thoroughly and made sure no traces were left (of salt used to clean it). My other fish swam around a lot when I first got it but this one just lays with its head pointed up. I do weekly 100% water changes with tap water + conditioner + aquarium salt and feed it bloodworms and pellets, it also does not eat the food. It looks like the water is pushing him down, he is struggling to get up. What am I doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z4Sr1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BfP6y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gHBOj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13923" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-12-29T07:14:47.417" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T07:14:47.417" Title="My betta is laying as the bottom of the tank with its head pointed up, why?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-01-03T18:59:52.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23392" CreationDate="2018-12-29T01:26:19.017" Score="2" ViewCount="1632" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen different versions of this question on here, but it's usually about male and female dogs - not dogs of the same gender. I'm curious if this is related to pheromones or due to increased exercise (or whatever else people think is the reason). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a malamute/German Shepherd mix and a lab/boxer/pitbull mix. The malamute rather aggressively drinks my lab-mix's pee every time they go outside to the &quot;bathroom&quot;. Literally laps it up mid stream and doesn't stop until my lab-mix stops peeing. Both are males, both are neutered. Also, he doesn't drink excessive amounts of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these dogs get a great amount of exercise. The malamute gets 10-15 miles of running a day and both dogs chase me all day while backcountry skiing a few days a week. They are very well loved. They both get joint supplements and are free-fed. The malamute's appetite is usually good. He eats around 6-10 cups of food depending our activity for the day and is very lean at 104 lbs, which is around 47 kg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do you think is going on? Is this actually a pheromone deal or maybe he is trying to get electrolytes? Should I be concerned?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13925" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T15:55:29.037" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:55:29.037" Title="Why is one of my male dogs drinking my other male dog's pee?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19119" CreationDate="2018-12-29T04:22:46.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Cavie is 10-1/2 and he's been on 30mg of furosemide twice a day for almost a year. I have a dog door so he goes outside whenever he needs too.  However, when he's sleeping, I'm also finding big soaked areas where he's had accidents or dribbles when he's attempted to make it outside. He's 26lbs. I have also thought about reducing the dosage.  He's also on a 1/2 tablet of Temaril P twice/day for cough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13926" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T04:22:46.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23333" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23380" CreationDate="2018-12-29T04:49:02.327" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, in the middle of grooming, my cat goes crazy and starts to bite his hind legs ankle and also kicks under his chin with his legs, for no obvious reason. And he wiggles so erratically that he almost topples my monitor if I don't interfere.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens only when he is at an arms length and I'm watching him. I've never seen he does it when he is grooming away from me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He exhibits this strange behavior is recently much more frequent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, he is a gentle and wise 5 years old ginger tabby European cat. I've adopted him at the age of 2.5 from a shelter and I know nothing about his early life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what might cause this behavior, and how to deal with it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="7501" LastEditDate="2019-01-03T19:05:38.253" LastActivityDate="2019-01-03T19:05:38.253" Title="Cat goes crazy while grooming" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20951" CreationDate="2018-12-29T14:38:12.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say your dog fights with other dogs and yet you say she doesn't display aggressive behavior like showing teeth or stiffening up.   Sounds to me like this might not be aggressive behavior, especially since she isn't showing this type of behavior to just any dog, but small dogs.   What's her tail like, is it wagging, or down between her legs? Is she growling? She may want to play with the other dogs and may be too forward about it, since you say she's a playful dog.  Please provide more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13862" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T14:38:12.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18569" CreationDate="2018-12-29T21:02:35.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original question specifically described clay breeding pipes as &quot;eye sore pipe caves,&quot; implying the asker prefers a natural look. Use driftwood!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All a male ancistrus needs is a concave or hollow piece of driftwood, or even a flat piece of driftwood stacked or slanted to form a hollow. I prefer concave pieces, allowing the large male fish to dig holes in the gravel without collapsing the cavity. Most ancistrus benefit from having driftwood to chew or scrape, so providing a natural wood cave delivers two benefits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can often find a small piece of hollow or concave driftwood between 6-8 inches long (15-20cm) for low cost in a fish store, because the pieces are sold by weight and you only need a small piece. You can even hide it in a corner, but it is more fun to point the opening toward the glass so you can see the eggs inside. Be cautious of using wild wood, as you don't know what toxins it may have absorbed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13932" LastActivityDate="2018-12-29T21:02:35.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-29T22:28:24.700" Score="4" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had two male rescue cats for about 4 years. They were together at the shelter which wanted to keep them together, so we adopted both of them. They have tons of aggravating behavior issues:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They scratch the furniture and have ruined many items. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They eat everything and can open cupboards, climb on high shelves, etc. We have awakened many mornings to chips, cookies, or bread torn open and scattered all over the floor. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They figured out how to open the trash can and would open it, pull it over, and scatter trash all over the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They can open doors, including exterior doors if they try hard enough, so they’re difficult to contain. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While playing they sometimes jump right on people’s laps, shoulders, or even their faces, terrifying my elderly parents and guests and leaving lots of bad scratches. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They refuse to drink from a water bowl, preferring to tip it over onto the floor to drink. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The older one exhibits various nervous behaviors. He “humps” the younger one all the time. He hates stuffed animals and will “drown” them in the toilet if he ever reaches them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And of course as cats they push things off counters and shelves all the time. We gave up on Christmas trees. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried everything the vet suggested to try to train them (redirection, treats, scratching posts, play time, squirt bottles) but nothing really helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then we started letting them go outside at night. (They were often most problematic at night when we couldn’t intervene.) This made a world of difference. They stopped scratching and terrorizing the house and seemed much happier. I began to think they just had too much energy to be indoors all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They did take up hunting, mostly birds, and would eat what they caught. We try to keep them from eating but it usually happens at night. We just find the carnage on the patio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently my neighbors on both sides have sheepishly confessed that our cats have started entering their homes through the pet doors. They occasionally take food from their pets, or even from their kitchens. Both neighbors insist this doesn’t bother them much but it is obviously not ideal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recently one of the cats has become somewhat aggressive. He fights with the other cat occasionally, chasing him around the house and hissing and batting him. The other cat often has scratches on his face in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally just last week my neighbor said the cat started attacking their own cat in their house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been causing some family strife now. My wife thinks the cats simply need to go. She’s afraid if we start keeping them inside again they’ll return to their more difficult ways (and they are frankly still pretty difficult). She has no more patience for thousands of dollars in damage to our furniture and household items, and she’s tired of living in fear of the cats, keeping everything in the kitchen on the highest shelves, never leaving a water cup out, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My daughter, of course, thinks if the cats go she will die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure at this point if there’s anything that can be done to keep them from terrorizing my house, my neighbors, or both. We’ve had cats before but never cats that acted like these two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do we have any hope of keeping my wife from divorcing me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13929" LastActivityDate="2019-01-05T17:03:55.830" Title="Save my family from my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7225" CreationDate="2018-12-30T03:53:13.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;just had our cat put down on these sympthoms, turned out to be cat aids of some sort and the tounge just looks like its falling apart therefore no eating or grooming. witch started only 2 days ago then the drooling started today and we took him to the vet who made the diagonosis. if your cat has any of these symptoms please take it to a vet immediatly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13935" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T03:53:13.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-30T06:32:54.333" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;One tenant girl had bought a huge teddy bear and came to show it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bhutu, my cat, reacted as if she has seen a ghost and ran for her life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is usually a very cheerful girl always trying to play with me and my family. She shows all shorts of circus the whole day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then as the tenant girl went away, she even forgot to meow for 4 to 5 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, whenever Bhutu sees that girl she gets terrified and runs for cover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That tenant girl loves Bhutu very much and comes to play with her everyday. Bhutu seemed to like the girl. She has known this girl for about 6 months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, how to make Bhutu comfortable with that girl again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is it possible to remove Bhutu's fear towards teddy bears?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T12:54:08.670" Title="How to make a cat comfortable towards a person with whom she relates a terrifying experience?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23337" CreationDate="2018-12-30T06:42:55.877" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main underlying issue is that your cats were getting bored inside. Letting them outside has almost certainly helped in large part because it's keeping them entertained. Here are other things you can try to keep your cats entertained:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try a variety of toys. Rotating which toys are currently available also may help, to keep the toys new and fresh.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puzzle feeder toys.  Make them work for their food. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Automatic toys, such as an automatic laser pointer. Most cats don't find these as interesting as a human controlled laser pointer, but they'll often still watch it when they're bored.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat trees, especially when placed by a window. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plenty of human playtime, to make sure they're getting tired out. It sometimes helps to have playtime right before they eat, which encourages them to sleep afterwards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try taking the cats on walks outside. Most cats need to be trained to accept a leash, but outside is much more stimulating than inside, and will keep cats more engaged. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some very dedicated owners have built a cat patio, that is, a fully enclosed area located outside that the cats can access through some sort of cat door, but there is no way for them to escape from it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of your other problems can probably be addressed by cat proofing your house. Many items used for child proofing can also be used for this purpose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Child proof locks for cabinets, which make them only openable using a magnet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Child proof doorknob covers. These will slip instead of allowing the knobs to turn, unless you grip the knobs just right through the small holes. Also change latches and knobs if the door is too easily opened or the latch is too weak. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the trash cans in cabinets or some other inaccessible spot, or buy different cans that cats cannot get into. Heavy metal cans with a wide base and butterfly lids that open out seem pretty difficult for cats to get into.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I recommend the Neater Feeder as well, which is a tray and bowl system designed to prevent spills. Any spills are supposed to be caught by the tray system.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as for scratching, you'll have to be persistent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Observe what they scratch, and try to figure out based on that, what kind of scratchers they might prefer. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place these scratchers so they are physically blocking the area they like to scratch. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make any areas they like scratching less suitable. Double sided tape works for discouraging many cats. Also, simply covering the furniture in a fluffy blanket works. Cats generally don't like scratching soft things. Of course, blankets can be removed if you want the place to look nice when guests come over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things like the spray bottle don't generally work unless it's some behavior the cat ONLY does while the human is there. Otherwise, cats are smart enough to realize the human is the source of the water, so just don't do it while the human is there. Simply cat proofing your house is much more effective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be perfectly honest though, having any sort of pet means accepting that you must keep vigilant of its behavior, and modifying your own behavior to accommodate or correct it.  If your wife is not willing to do these things at all, then you will be at an impasse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T06:42:55.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2018-12-30T08:44:19.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to add that there has been some research about laser pointers which puts light on the negativity in it. Cat prefer the feeling of some real hunt. Toys are perfect for this purpose. The cats, like they have sense receptor whiskers, on face, they have at the bottom back of their front paws. They like it when they get the feeling of prey. In case of laser pointer they can never physically feel it. This results in a frustration in them making their behavior somewhat odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;REFERENCE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://petcube.com/blog/is-it-bad-for-cats-to-play-with-laser-pointers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Are Laser Pointers Bad for Cats: Pros vs Cons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-behaior-cats-laser-pointers-good-toys&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Are Cat Laser Pointers Actually Good Toys?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gopetplan.com/blogpost/cat-whiskers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;what your cat's whiskers are trying to tell you&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://catingtonpost.com/why-laser-pointers-could-be-bad-for-your-cat-its-not-what-you-think/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Laser Pointers Could be Bad for your Cat (it’s not what you think!)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2018-12-30T11:56:49.930" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T11:56:49.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-30T09:40:33.963" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has only eaten once in this time when it ate 10 mealworms and has defecated twice. Its faeces are about half the normal size. Its behaviour is normal apart from it has started scratching at night for about an hour at a time every other night. Any advice is welcome.&#xA;Thankyou&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13937" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T09:40:33.963" Title="My 8 month old unsexed leopard gecko hasn't been eating properly for 2 weeks what should i do?" Tags="&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23337" CreationDate="2018-12-30T18:12:54.177" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You (almost certainly) adopted two feral cats. Let them be outdoor cats. They are adept at it and appear more comfortable with free roaming. Offer them kibble but don't obsess. They are satisfying their prey drive with birds, insects (and possibly mice). One cat is clearly displaying dominance behaviors (humping and fighting the other) which could be an indication that there is a female in heat (somewhere nearby). You will not be able to curtail his instinct to mate, and that doesn't go away with nuetering. It is, after all, survival of the fittest. If you are in a cold climate, it would be considerate to create something like a doghouse where they can get out of the weather if they want to, but cats are pretty good at finding nooks for that purpose.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The neighbors: purchase pet doors that lock with a magnetic strip for your neighbors (and install it for them - if they are agreeable) as a way to appologize for your cats breaking into their homes, and to hinder it in the future.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The wife &amp;amp; daughter: Discuss this with them. Everyone should be on the same page. Propose keeping the cats, but keeping them outside. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The house: Start taking inventory of what needs repaired and replaced from the damage they've done (inside). And work it into your weekends and budget. Oh! Then close the cat door so they don't have indoor access anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T18:12:54.177" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23351" CreationDate="2018-12-30T18:38:28.077" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just discovered that my kitten has FeLV. Because this is no longer a death sentence for her, I decided to keep her. She is an indoor cat with no external feline contact, and she is otherwise healthy and happy. But the bias on FeLV is to euthanize around here. It got me thinking, are there places like the old sanatoriums for tuberculosis, consumption, etc., or even leper colonies, but for sick but happy cats or other pets? Where they can live out their lives without being a contagion threat, and with the needed extra care? Anywhere in the world, I ask out of pure interest...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T20:13:11.680" Title="Do cat / pet sanatoriums exist?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2018-12-30T18:43:48.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently added new plants to my 20 gallon (76 liters) betta tank, in which only the one Orange Devil Crowntail CT #1105 lives. He is one bad mojo and does not tolerate anything else in HIS tank. There are some small snails that came in with the plants and anytime he sees one, he is flaring at it. I suspect he will clear out the snails soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zZ46V.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zZ46V.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;spoiled brat in HIS tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13940" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:16:11.977" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:16:11.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23371" CreationDate="2018-12-30T20:12:56.043" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my cat Bhutu's case, neither my mom or I feeds the cat. It is the two maids who feed the cat. Yet she showers all her affection on my mom and me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is just friendly towards the two maids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this natural cat behavior? Also, does it happen in all cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:34:23.727" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:34:23.727" Title="Why does our cat love us most even though our maids feed her? Is it natural animal behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23348" CreationDate="2018-12-30T20:13:11.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In german speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and probably the Netherlands, too) there is the concept of &quot;Gnadenbrot&quot; (literally &quot;bread of mercy&quot;). It stems from medieval times when old people who were too old to work but had worked well in younger times still received payment in the form of bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This concept is now applied to farm animals who are too old or ill to work and would usually be slaughtered. These farms are called &quot;Gnadenhof&quot; (farm of mercy) and are usually quite small, ran by environmental or animal rights activists and absolutely dependant on donations. There are extremely few of those farms in Germany.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there is the fact that animal protection laws in Germany forbid any shelter to kill animals for any other reason than a severe, incurable illness or abnormal behavior that causes suffering for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2018-12-30T20:13:11.680" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23356" CreationDate="2018-12-30T21:09:00.063" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking through a documentary about animal welfare and I was wondering what are reptile caves made off and who is controlling the elements used in their conception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked mine and can't find any indication on what materials are used in the making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13941" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T17:35:23.207" Title="What are reptile caves made off?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21252" CreationDate="2018-12-31T01:22:00.653" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A swollen paw can be an indication of an allergic reaction. Check out this site for more information on symptoms and (other) possible causes: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/condition/inflammation-of-the-paws&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Inflamation of the Paws in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T01:22:00.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="220" CreationDate="2018-12-31T04:42:55.960" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://petcareguide.net/cat-care/learn-how-to-trim-cat-claws/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Trimming cat nails&lt;/a&gt; may help you from gettings scratches by your pet. You can do it one a week or daily as per your pets growth rate. Cuddling will be a lot easier if there is not sharpen claws of your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13942" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T04:42:55.960" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23352" CreationDate="2018-12-31T15:30:34.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caves for reptiles can be made of lots of materials and the one you buy is often made of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plastic often molded into shape and covered by sand or other materials to give a nice surface.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Styrofoam that is cut and shaped by hand and covered by spray glue and some surface material.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plastic resin and fibers(glass fiber or wood fiber) molded and cut/shaped by hand with some surface material glued/sprayed on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Papier-mache made into the shape you want and covered with spray paint and some sealer on top.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wood is used,Often cut into shape and glued,Often in multiple layers painted and with some type of glued on surface material.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger or more complex caves are often made of a combination of materials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about what types of quality/safety control these products undergo,Many of them are made in low cost countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you google diy reptile cave you will find lots of tips on how to make them yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2018-12-31T17:35:23.207" LastActivityDate="2018-12-31T17:35:23.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2018-12-31T20:06:15.697" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted an older cat earlier this month. She was quite shy to start with and gradually started coming to us to be stroked etc. We started moving her bowls out of the room we set for her, as our hope was she would start going outside to use the toilet, and she seemed fine with that. We have another cat, and their interactions have not been particularly friendly so far, but no huge fights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago I carried her downstairs and she seemed fine having a bit of a nosey - she hadn’t been down on her own, but we had showed her the downstairs area when we first got her. Our other cat came in from outside and the new cat went back upstairs - she walked up, didn’t run. Since that point she’s been VERY skittish. Won’t come to us to be stroked and if we go and sit by her she is looking for an escape almost. She will come on our bed at night but other than that doesn’t want to be around us. She’s eating fine and using the litter tray fine, although she sometimes goes over the edge. She does have a scabby bit around her chin/cheek which we aren’t sure where it’s come from too, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering her - no scratching/excessive cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experienced anything like this? We are worried she’s stressed living with us and would love to get her more comfortable again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13946" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:51:57.117" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:51:57.117" Title="New rescue cat behaviour change" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-01T03:07:22.937" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a new cat a bit over a year ago now and he moved in with my other 7 year old cat just fine, but the other day he (the newer cat) was misbehaving and hissed at me, which caused my older cat (living with me since a kitten) to run and &quot;defend&quot; me and attack the newer cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she won't stop doing it. She's constantly on alert to sounds and movement and will harass and attack the newer cat on sight, bullying him into a hiding place then she will return to her bed or my lap and resume napping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been going on for a few days now, she has a history of attacking other cats but there wasn't really a precedent that set that off like this event has. How can I get them to reconcile?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13948" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:36:00.700" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T06:02:25.213" Title="Overprotective cat wont stop attacking other cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23357" CreationDate="2019-01-01T13:45:54.493" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the best thing to do is to give her time to explore the area on her own, not to carry her to new places in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can call her but try not to force her to explore the house. Just do your usual things and I guess she will get curious and come to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be overwhelming for a cat to come to a new house and even more so if there is another cat there. The scent marking of the other cat is everywhere in the house, and she can not smell her own scent until she has rubbed against objects, and often (multiple times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good thing is she comes to you at night and she eats and uses the litter box, so she is adapting to living there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not unusual for a new cat to get scared, but this is just an experience for her, and she will get over it in a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my cat gets scared by a dog outside, she will be careful the next time she goes outside the house. If she has been very scared, she will wait a day or two, but she will not stop going outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things you can do is to give her an elevated resting area so she can see what is going on in the house and still feel safe from the other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did adopt an adult feral cat, and it did take a month before he came out of hiding in the daytime. He was only out at night eating when I was sleeping. I had to teach him to use a litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat was more than ten years old when I got him and had never lived in a house, but he ended up being the most loving cat I ever had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your two cats do hiss at each other, they are only giving a warning to the other cat. It does not mean they are about to fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-06T06:51:51.043" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T06:51:51.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23364" CreationDate="2019-01-01T16:31:59.200" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;My SO and I recently adopted a pair of six month old kittens, and we're trying to work out how much to feed them.  (We have an older cat, but she's not relevant here, yet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, we're feeding them a half cup of dry kibble four times a day (total: 2 cups), with occasional canned wet food.  When we feed them, they both gobble it all down quite happily (every last piece of kibble), and a few hours later are mewing at us for more.  It's extremely rare for them to actually leave any food behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we be feeding them more (within reason), to the point that they seem to have sufficient food?  Should we just ignore the mewing for more feeding?  Experiment to see how much they actually want?  We don't want them to become overweight, but we don't want to keep them constantly hungry, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T20:11:42.327" Title="Older kitten feeding schedule" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23363" CreationDate="2019-01-01T17:45:42.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;younger Kittens will not be overweight with all the play they do there is no risk for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By free feeding them when they are young you will teach them to self regulate the food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat does not learn this at a young age you will not be able to start free feeding the cat later,And you will need to keep an eye on the amount of food you give to avoid your cat  being overweight as an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must warn you at the age of six months cats are young adults so it might be too late to start free feeding them now,But to know this you have to try to free feed them for several days and if they over eat you need to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats play-eat and sleep in this order so if they skip the play part repeatedly you need to stop the free feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the older cat is not free feeding you will have big problems even if it is possible to free feed the kittens as the older cat will steal their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-01-01T17:52:59.627" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T17:52:59.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23363" CreationDate="2019-01-01T20:11:42.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually run an animal rescue and take in kittens regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens will need to eat more often than adult cats.  If you don't feed them and ignore them, you'll be doing yourself and them more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest feeding them a moist food (like canned food) in the morning as the first meal of the day and dry food in the middle of the day.  Then a moist food as the last meal of the day, if at all possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically a mother cat will nurse kittens every 2 hours.  As they wean off the mother, they are still used to feeding often during the day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already mentioned above, kittens need space to run and play to develop properly.  They're growing and more active than adult cats so they need more fuel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that putting a lot of food into their bowl is counter productive.  I put enough food in the bowl to satisfy one feeding.  You'll get to know how much they can eat in one sitting by watching them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also keep a steady eating schedule so they know what to expect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Younger cats and kittens will display food aggression/growling to keep other cats away from what they claim as their food and this is normal.  I deal with this by making sure that each cats has their own bowl that they can eat out of, every time a meal is served.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13953" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T20:11:42.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-01T20:51:41.057" Score="3" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been overweight ever since. He had to lose weigth for a surgery, so I put him on a diet in 2017. He got less of his regular wet food mixed with water and &quot;food cellulose&quot;, some kind of Slim Fast for animals with 0 calories and 0 anything - just dietary fiber. &#xA;His weight went down from 8.5 kg to 7 kg in a few months and he's been visibly thinner than before. He kept his lower weight for more than a year, and we kept mixing his food with food cellulose and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, he started gaining weight again, although he gets less than the suggested daily ration, still mixed with cellulose, plus we cut the dry food to a total minimum because it's unhealthy and we didn't want him to become fatter. &#xA;But still, he's back to 8.3 kg. This happened through the last 3-4 months and we can't explain it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the food can, a 5 kg cat's daily ration is 245g,so the ration for a 7 kg cat would be about 350g of food daily. We give the cat 260g for 7kg plus the cellulose, and yet he gained 1.3 kg of weight in the last few months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked in an online forum and they told me to dismiss the cellulose and feed the cat more wet food, calculated to his actual weight, because he's gaining weight from lack of proteins, or that his metabolism is messed up because of the diet. Can someone approve this or has another idea? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: the cat is 8 years old, neutered and healthy. He's an outside cat and goes for long walks, catches mice and seems fit and normal, but inside the house, he doesn't move much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13954" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T21:48:00.203" Title="Why has my cat gained weight although he's on diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23366" CreationDate="2019-01-01T21:48:00.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always the possibility that he found a new friend, maybe an old lady or a child, who feeds him.&#xA;There's also the possibility that he eats pet food left outside for dogs or other cats without you knowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there's the possibility that he has an illness that makes him gain weight or store water in his tissue. You should let your vet check him up just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T21:48:00.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5475" CreationDate="2019-01-01T22:51:29.183" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some snakes develop different patterns as they grow, does it look like a pattern or disease? My snake is a type of Amel, or Albino. She has a light yellowish tint to her in certain places that are a patternings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, make sure you are using the right substrate. Aspen shavings are the correct substrate, not Cedar or Pine. Make sure your snake doesn't have mites too, and check in with the vet for any scale rot that could be forming if you are worried about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13956" LastActivityDate="2019-01-01T22:51:29.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23350" CreationDate="2019-01-02T19:09:31.630" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Food is just part of the story with a cat's affections. Although some people say cats &quot;don't feel love&quot;, this is not particularly true, and they can bond deeply with people who are kind to them. If you and your mother have spent time with the cat, shared your affection with her by petting, grooming, talking and playing with her, or allowed her to rub against your legs or sleep on or near you, you've formed a bond that goes beyond being a mere source of food, and she considers you part of her family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats will bond with people who they share lots of positive social interactions with, so if your maids are around a lot and play or cuddle with the cat, she might start to share her love with them as well. If your cat has negative interactions with the maids, even accidental ones (like for example, if they don't notice she is asleep in the room and turn on the vacuum, scaring her), she will probably continue to be more distant with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also some truth to the idea that cats just love who they love, and may choose a favorite person in the family with no obvious reason, even if everyone in the household equally feeds and pets them.  Anecdotally, some breeds are more likely to be 'one person cats' than others, and this mainly comes down to personality of the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-01-02T19:09:31.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-02T21:04:54.010" Score="-1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 adult cats that were declawed. I just adopted 2 feral kittens found while raking. I feel badly that declawing is considered almost abuse now but I want to be fair to my 3 older (10+) cats. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13960" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2019-01-02T22:25:37.863" LastActivityDate="2019-01-02T22:25:37.863" Title="What’s the consensus" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-01-02T23:28:59.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23372" CreationDate="2019-01-02T21:59:22.360" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I'm sure you've read/heard, declawing is increasingly seen as inhumane. Many vets no longer agree to perform it because of the large set of problems that it can cause, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bone and joint pain at quite young ages&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inability to properly exercise due to an inability to jump and climb in many scenarios&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;increased risk of obesity due to the combination of the above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inability to perform self-expressive and soothing behaviors such as sharpening claws, stretching on a vertical surface, and kneading&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inability to practice self-defense in case it is needed (such as if a cat got out of the house and became lost). In addition to safety concerns, this can lead to emotional issues like chronic fear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;emotional and behavioral problems due to trauma from all of the above&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all real, proven concerns, and chances are that your older cats have suffered from at least one or two of these. You should certainly not subject your new kittens to such things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your concern for your older cats. Since they are not able to defend themselves, you need to be prepared to protect them from rambunctious kittens that still have claws. You have a few options in this regard:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Trimming Claws&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people with indoor cats prefer to regularly (every few weeks) trim their claws. It can be an easy way to make the claws do less damage on human skin, furniture, and other pets. With trimmed claws, what would otherwise be a serious scratch might not even leave a mark. It really does help. You can google or ask another question if you want tips on training your kittens to allow you to trim their claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Separating Adults from Kittens&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will likely depend on how your home is arranged, but you may be able to provide a space for your adult cats that your kittens are kept out of when you are not around to supervise. This might include putting the kittens upstairs while the adults stay downstairs or closing the kittens in a large room when you are not home. Make sure that both groups of cats have access to all needed items: water, litterbox, food, toys, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do this for a time and find that the kittens do not seem to be harassing the adults, then it is likely fine to stop separating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Rehoming the Kittens&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that you just found and adopted these kittens recently, but there is no shame in finding them a new home if that would be best for your older cats. You might call around and find an animal shelter that would let you foster them until a permanent home is found, or maybe your vet knows someone who is looking for new cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helped, good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-01-02T21:59:22.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20899" CreationDate="2019-01-02T22:08:50.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The severity of problems depends on how much was consumed, how diluted it was, and what brand soap was involved. And, of course, how big your pup is. &lt;a href=&quot;https://dawn-dish.com/en-us/dawn-faqs/dish-soap-safety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dawn Dish Soap&lt;/a&gt; recommends (people) drink additional water (which is probably going to be difficult to get a puppy to do). But some soaps are more dangerous than others. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;More on the subject:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/condition/detergent-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Detergent Poisoning in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/909/what-harm-will-soap-water-do-to-my-dog&quot;&gt;A Similar Question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-02T22:08:50.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-03T02:12:25.627" Score="0" ViewCount="1466" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ENDa4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;My little buddy ran away from me yesterday and ran next to a little statue of the Statue of Liberty and it fell and hit his tail. He dropped the tail and that was a clean snap. There's this bit left over that has the same little fleshy pieces as were on the end of the tail. This doesn't go around and it looks like just a part is open. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question, do I need to worry about necrosis? He doesn't have a sandy substrate. Currently it's sterile paper towel but I'm just being overly cautious. No discharge or bleeding. The drop happened last night (January 1, 2019).&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h12Bc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13963" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:33:26.977" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T22:03:20.317" Title="Leopard gecko tail injury question (harsh pictures)" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-03T11:48:09.293" Score="2" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom is her late 60's and lonely. She has found as if her child in my cat, Bhutu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She keeps Bhutu on a leash with the other end of the leash in her hand 24 hours. She even sleeps with the leash in her hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bhutu is a 24 hours lap cat for her. Bhutu mostly sleeps in her laps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in winter she and Bhutu sleeps under same blanket with Bhutu under her belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In dawn and dusk she takes Bhutu out for a walk for 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And indeed it seems Bhutu is very happy and contended in her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it is extremely unlike for cats to adapt to such environment as it is very dog like thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is my cat mentally and physically healthy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:30:09.710" Title="Is it both mentally and physically healthy for my cat to be kept like this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23376" CreationDate="2019-01-03T16:35:34.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong about taking the cat for walks but cats do need to take some breaks during a walk. As long as one walks slowly and keep an eye on the cat and stops if it gets tired, there is no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One should never force the cat to take walks, so if she resists, you need to stop doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is an indoor cat and she might like to get some of her energy out of her system. Some exercise can only be positive and the cat will be a lot more calm after the walks, so this is good physically and mentally for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should take the leash off when it is not needed inside the house,A ad if the cat likes the walks she will understand that when she see the harness she will be taken for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T08:30:09.710" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:30:09.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23325" CreationDate="2019-01-03T17:30:02.340" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One instance of a cat drinking 4oz of water in a sitting is not really alarming, but if you are noticing a pattern of your cat drinking more water than usual, repeatedly emptying the bowl in one sitting, or other unusual patterns of excessive water drinking, that is a reason to take your cat to the vet.  It can indicate diabetes or kidney disease, or a number of other conditions, most of which are well treatable if caught early, and much less so if ignored until they are showing more severe symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that the extra sweets made her extra thirsty, but I am inclined to think that the drinking after eating a sweet is likely a coincidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-01-03T17:30:02.340" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-03T17:53:53.600" Score="9" ViewCount="15265" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat climbs on my chest when I'm sleeping and licks my face.  She does this several times a night.  It's not just in the morning and it's not because she's hungry (she still has food when I get up). She's driving me nuts and I can't get a good nights' sleep! Why is she doing this?  She's not a very affectionate cat otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13966" LastEditorUserId="10461" LastEditDate="2019-01-04T11:27:34.817" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T05:44:58.573" Title="Cat licks face while I'm sleeping" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23333" CreationDate="2019-01-03T19:02:20.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a possible case of hyperesthesia, which is a fairly common disorder in cats. Symptoms include the cat very suddenly twitching its back or grooming itself, thumping its back paws, suddenly scratching itself, or jumping up and running as if it were stung by something. There are some other possible symptoms also, such as unusual vocalization, uncontrolled urination, or drooling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not exactly certain what is the cause of these symptoms. There are various hypotheses such as an obsessive-compulsion or a type of seizure. These explanations sound serious, but from all appearances hyperesthesia usually seems pretty harmless, though it might be annoying to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyperesthesia is often exacerbated by stress or anxiety, so it helps to prevent episodes by minimizing any sources of stress. There are also some drug treatment options if the cat seems too distressed. So talk to your vet if it seems concerning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend talking to your vet anyways to confirm this diagnosis is correct. Taking video of the cat during an episode and showing it to them would be very helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-01-03T19:02:20.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23375" CreationDate="2019-01-03T23:13:30.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can see right away this is most likely infected. If this is the case, you should consider getting your leopard gecko checked out by a local vet, whether a herp vet or just your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like a blood clot but if it wasn’t bleeding at all then it’s unlikely. I would keep him on sterile paper towels and keep an eye on it so things don’t get out of hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you give him/her a wash &lt;strong&gt;with distilled water&lt;/strong&gt;. I don’t think you have to worry about necrosis if you keep a close eye on it and give him/her a bath every other day. Good luck to you and your gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13885" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-04T14:20:51.153" LastActivityDate="2019-01-04T14:20:51.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19545" CreationDate="2019-01-04T16:55:09.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to come back nearly a year later to add this self-answer, because of how I happened upon the information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E1QBwm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E1QBwm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also kind of have to wonder if it's possible that someone from that company (Snapple) read this thread before creating that bottle cap trivia? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T02:30:28.040" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:30:28.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23388" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-04T17:18:53.960" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for suggestions and what kind of experience people might have had with dealing with a situation like this and worked and what didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two 3 year old, 80+ lb (36+ kg) dogs and my new job requires me to travel 75% of the time, which is a new experience for me. I've looked around at boarding places and it seems like that'll turn into about $18,000/year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think just having a person come over once a twice a day would be sufficient. It would probably be better if they had other dogs to play with, such as the case with boarding. I don't really know what other options there might be short or getting a roommate since I'm new in town and don't have friends who would be willing to watch my dogs for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any dog boarding hacks, they would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:12:24.133" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:12:24.133" Title="What to do when you have two large dogs and travel a lot for work?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;boarding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23376" CreationDate="2019-01-04T20:05:53.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being on a leash isn't necessarily bad, but I'd be concerned that a cat kept on a leash all the time would not be able to take care of its needs. Like any other animal, it needs to be able to eat, drink, exercise, and relieve itself freely. I'm especially concerned about drinking and relieving itself because cats can be prone to UTIs and kidney problems, which are made worse if the cat is not taking care of its basic needs as it should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the question of staying on her lap most of the day, cats in the general spend a great portion of their day sleeping, and cats of certain temperaments will be content to even laze around all day. It's very unlikely that the cat could be made to do this if it weren't already inclined to. Cats would generally squirm and try to escape if they didn't. However, some attempt should be made to play with the cat even just a small amount every day, as all animals get many benefits from exercise. In the end though, this may not be very possible for some cats who are too much of a couch potato to get moving, and you can't exactly force a cat to do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, I think it's likely the cat is probably happy with this lifestyle as long as it can freely take care of its other needs, and as long as it's getting some decent exercise in the form of walks, it is probably okay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-01-04T20:05:53.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23331" CreationDate="2019-01-05T01:18:36.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading a book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://insideofadog.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Inside of a Dog&lt;/em&gt;, by Alexandra Horowitz&lt;/a&gt;, which provides unique insignt into these creatures that are loved by so many. On page 94 (see below quote), she relates information about canine hormones and the increased interest in another dog's urine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...a regular observer of dos will notice an often very intense interest in the urine of other dogs---sometimes an interest with lures them right . . . up . . . into . . . wait, gross!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to confirm your pheremone theory. The increased interest could be an indication that your Malamute may be looking for a mate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-05T01:18:36.620" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-05T06:55:17.233" Score="5" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3K45z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xSOea.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I saw it this morning and started researching because I am dealing with an ich outbreak due to recent overcrowding. It hasn't changed or gotten worse but I don't know if it's infected or a disease. If you can't see my koi has an orange yellow colored scale that looks like it's been pulled away from his body there is no blood, I recently received a decorative pirate ship and it's the only thing that could have hurt him. I want to ask would it harm him if I did try to treat the ich or will the medicine help if so is there a specific brand I should use? &#xA;I have two small gold fish and one koi about 3 inches long In a ten gallon tank it used to only be five but my last fish was a surprise and I usually have it at 75-80 degrees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13978" LastEditorUserId="13978" LastEditDate="2019-01-05T16:28:55.043" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:55:04.087" Title="My koi has an odd scale that my be infected but I can't tell??? How do I fix it?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23325" CreationDate="2019-01-05T16:52:11.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;She my be dehydrated from the sweets and dry cat food so switching to wet food and giving her cat treats may be better for her health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13978" LastActivityDate="2019-01-05T16:52:11.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23337" CreationDate="2019-01-05T17:03:55.830" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats did a ton of the same things and nothing worked but they hadn't been spayed or neutered we had to give them away in the end but sometimes that is the only thing you can do if you do give them up DONT GIVE THEM TO A SHELTER they will be separated which could make them go through separation anxiety so place an add specifically stating they must be taken together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13978" LastActivityDate="2019-01-05T17:03:55.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23393" CreationDate="2019-01-05T18:01:36.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all your tank is way too small. The minimum tank for one baby koi is 100 liters and this is for the first year you have it. Goldfish need about the same amount of water for one fish but they grow slower. If you start with a 100 liter tank for one fish you add 50 liters for each new fish (this is for both koi and goldfish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get the medication against ich try to get one that is only treating ich or you will get problems if it kills the good bacteria in your tank and filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the koi have a wound you need to add some aquarium salt and the dosage to use is 0,3% this is a safe concentration for long time use. The salt will neutralize the effect of nitrite in the water and stimulate the healing of your fish by increasing the blood flow in the skin of your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now I think the only thing you need to do is to keep an eye on the injury on your koi. If you see it getting red or it becomes infected by fungi you need to start treating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common treatment for small injuries in the skin of koi is potassium permanganate dissolved in water you can buy this in any pharmacy. It is a liquid and you apply this by a q-tip directly on the wound of your fish twice a day for a week. And try not to spill any it makes everything purple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember not to buy the powder but the premixed low concentration potassium permanganate the type used to treat wounds on pets and people and now fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to keep the temperature around 25C=77F it is best to cut back on feeding for the time you treat against the ich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish in the carp family are seen as dirty, they produce a lot of waste so you need good filtration of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And please get a larger tank for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:55:04.087" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:55:04.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23388" CreationDate="2019-01-06T12:27:42.313" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some work travel scenarios, you can change to full time RV living.  You and the dogs live in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_vehicle#Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Recreational Vehicle (RV)&lt;/a&gt; as your only home, and travel to where ever you need/want to.  Be aware that if your dogs bark while you are gone, this is not going to be feasible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternately a full time roommate/dog sitter may be the solution. Everyone's situation is different, but if for example &lt;strong&gt;IF&lt;/strong&gt; you live near a college campus, there is going to be a student who loves pets and needs discounted housing.  You offer low (free?) rent in exchange for dog sitting duties.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2838/13&quot;&gt;How should I accomodate my cat if I travel for work?&lt;/a&gt; discusses options for leaving cats alone for a couple days.  While that might work for some cats, I don't see it working for dogs.  Dogs need hours of people time every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you may need to decide between a different job, or re-homing your pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-01-07T15:35:56.170" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T15:35:56.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23403" CreationDate="2019-01-06T14:09:59.770" Score="8" ViewCount="292" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a few months I will be moving across the US with 2 cats (The female is introverted and will slink away to hide when the unexpected happens. The male is a lot more outgoing, but can be unexpectedly skittish.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am debating between flying and driving them.  My assumption of the pro's and cons of each type of trip are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pro: Shorter duration: 2 flights over 7 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Con: Higher stress environment: noisy, bustling airports and planes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Con: Once the trip starts, it cannot be stopped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Con: More expensive: Need 1 booked person and $125 per cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pro: Lower stress: It's just like a really long trip to the vet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pro: Can take a time out from traveling if needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pro: Cheaper: Just Gas and hotel rooms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Con: A much longer duration: 26 hours of driving spread over 3 days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption is that the driving will suck for me (but I have the time to do it), but will be better for the cats (they can better handle the lower level but longer duration stress).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a valid assumption about the levels of stress of each type of trip, and in general how cats react to such stress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that while &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5641/13984&quot;&gt;Travelling with cat by plane&lt;/a&gt; is great for tips on that mode of transportation, my question is more about comparing flying with driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7629/13984&quot;&gt;Is it feasible to take cat on a 1400 mile, 21+ hour road trip?&lt;/a&gt; is great for the driving part.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After speaking to our vet (who knows our cats and their personalities) we have decided to go with the flying option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our vet will also prescribe anti-anxiety drugs for the trip (even though the airlines say not to dose the cats up), and has recommended that we do multiple trials of the drugs well prior to the flights in order to gauge how much of the drug is needed on the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13984" LastEditorUserId="13984" LastEditDate="2019-02-02T16:49:16.850" LastActivityDate="2019-02-02T16:49:16.850" Title="Would flying stress my cats more than driving?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23402" CreationDate="2019-01-06T16:14:59.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It essentially depends on your cats personality, I traveled quite a few times with mine and it was always a big deal by plane but fine by car(almost no stress as she had more space and we could more easily interact with her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plane was really noisy and the personel always asked to put her on the floor but when she had no eye contact with us it was always more stressfull&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13985" LastEditorUserId="13985" LastEditDate="2019-01-08T07:23:11.443" LastActivityDate="2019-01-08T07:23:11.443" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23414" CreationDate="2019-01-06T19:05:54.903" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 40 gallon (150 liters) tank with an established nitrogen cycle.  We went several months with just 1 three-striped cory and 3 gold dust mollies.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank has its own filter that came with it rated for its size, a heater, gravel substrate, 3 large rocks, a piece of driftwood and half a dozen or so live plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I purchased 6 more corydoras as they are meant to be kept in shoals.  In the past three weeks 4 of them have died without any indication of stress or disease.  They were all dark, not too thin, foraging and swimming regularly. Water parameters have been tested regularly and nitrogen cycle has been in expected levels, pH and KH are ideal, and the water is just a touch hard (due to the area). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recently added 4 more gold dust mollies and 2 tangerine mollies, and after about 5 days one of the tangerines died, again with no signs other than little fits of wiggling (possible symptom?).  One of the female gold dust mollies from the original bunch is roughly 3x the size of any of the others and very aggressive in hunting down both flakes and pellets at feeding time, and we're worried other fish may not be getting enough to eat.  Is this possible?  How might we get food in so the corys can forage without her eating it all?  Is there something else we might consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Measured Using API 5 - 1 Test Strips&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrate - 20ppm &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrite - 0ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH - 7.0&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;KH - 120ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GH - 180ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10705" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T00:57:00.030" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T00:57:00.030" Title="Fish dying despite apparently fine water parameters" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23409" CreationDate="2019-01-06T21:31:36.823" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats unexpectedly started limping about 2 weeks ago.  She was fine one day, then the next day she was heavily limping on her left hind leg and within another day or so she would not even attempt to step on it, simply jumping on one hind leg keeping the other close to her belly. If it's important, she is around 12-13 years old (she's a rescue, so nobody really knows for sure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it was Christmas, it was impossible to get to the vet on the day, so I took her to a vet as soon as I could a couple of days later. They did an x-ray and afterwards the vet told me that from the x-ray it's most likely that she had a torn ligament in her knee.  I took the cat home along with 2 weeks' worth of anti-inflammatory medication. They said a surgery could be considered, but only after the cat would lose some weight. Otherwise, just give her a lot of peace and quiet, make sure she doesn't need to jump/run/etc - and it would heal on its own over a period of a couple of months or maybe a bit more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days later I got a phone call from the vet that they were reviewing the x-rays again with another vet and that other vet commented that there may be a bit of bone loss in her leg, which means that she's got a bone tumor and her leg would need to be amputated to spare her constant pain. The vet emphasised that such a tumor is usually benign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this doesn't seem to add up for me. If it were bone loss caused by a bone tumor, it would be gradual; instead, the limping came on abruptly: everything was perfectly fine one day and she was not stepping on the leg the next day. Also, she doesn't seem at all to be in pain.  Her behaviour hasn't changed other than less movement.  She is still happily eating and drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm taking her to the vet again tomorrow - they want to do a biopsy of the tissue.  Yet, I'm now suspicious about the whole thing.  Obviously, if there's no other way to save the cat, we'll go for the amputation, but I don't want to do it just because &amp;quot;whatever&amp;quot;. The vet stated it almost in passing, the same way I would state that I need to buy some cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: how likely is this really to be a bone loss due to tumor vs. what else it can be? Even if this is a tumor, is there any way to avoid amputating the leg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regards to her weight, for her size, the ideal weight is about 5 kg. She is currently 6.7 kg. She was abused early in her life, then taken away from her owner by RSPCA and I adopted her from RSPCA. When I brought her home, she was under 3 kg.  Despite trying to control her diet, she quickly gained weight (she'd go outside and catch mice or birds and eat them) and got to 8.5 kg within a year.  We've managed to lose about 2 kg since then.  Overall, she's lived with me for about 10 years or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13987" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:36:18.490" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:36:18.490" Title="Limping cat - bone tumor?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23420" CreationDate="2019-01-06T22:36:26.323" Score="4" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got lazy and didn't clean my aquarium sand, what bad can happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I used &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0778SV6MZ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;camp=1642&amp;amp;creative=6746&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B0778SV6MZ&amp;amp;linkCode=as2&amp;amp;tag=aventureaquar-21&amp;amp;linkId=2f3f283ede469c3162c6748c7804c6a7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;gravel link on Amazon&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far everything is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13985" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:39:17.360" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:40:33.933" Title="What could be the impact of unwashed aquarium sand?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1533" CreationDate="2019-01-06T22:42:57.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some thing that happened once was our smallest goldfish jumping in the filter and being stuck &gt;_&amp;lt;'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thankfully we cut the pump and took it out with a fishnet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13985" LastActivityDate="2019-01-06T22:42:57.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23405" CreationDate="2019-01-07T01:09:07.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a Veterinarian, but it might be worthwhile to get a second opinion. You should be able to pick up the x-rays to take to another Vet (along with your cat) for their opinion.  I would think that they should be able to tell the difference between a tumor and bone loss before they perform surgery. Wouldn't you? How crushed would you be if the leg was amputated when it didn't need to be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T01:09:07.207" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-07T04:19:55.323" Score="3" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to put my fish back in the tank after I've cured the silicone but it still smells a little of vinegar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13988" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-07T09:32:54.180" LastActivityDate="2019-01-17T14:55:21.333" Title="My fish tank still smells a little of vinegar" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23406" CreationDate="2019-01-07T06:20:42.603" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely nothing will happen, the reason for washing the sand is to get rid of the dust (this is for the sand you buy in bags and labeled aquarium sand); this type of sand have been washed and dried using heat, so it is almost sterile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you make your own sand/gravel, it is very important to clean it to get rid of bacteria and organic waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gravel/sand that has been used before or comes with a used tank needs to be cleaned and sterilized to avoid any diseases in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T20:40:33.933" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T20:40:33.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23415" CreationDate="2019-01-07T06:53:20.817" Score="3" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a an aquarium with normal glass, in the next couple of months we move to another city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Detail&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Size of the aquarium is 90 x 40 x 30 cm, it has so many plants that I use CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; capsule and filtration. I have shrimp, fish, snails, and the plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The floor is well built-up with aquarium specific soil (around 5cm) and some branch to which I stick some of my specific plants on top of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to move it to have minimum loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to move the aquarium without break the glass, in a acceptance way, or acceptable weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;EDIT&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added images:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BgPne.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BgPne.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Aquarium Image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q84CG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q84CG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sample Aquatic Plant 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AuxXu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AuxXu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sample Aquatic Plant 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vA6oa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vA6oa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sample Aquatic Plant 3&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3YSLm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3YSLm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sample Aquatic Plant 4&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gSyFn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gSyFn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sample Aquatic Plant 5&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7494" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T16:59:23.233" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T16:59:23.233" Title="How to move a plant aquarium, to another house, city?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23404" CreationDate="2019-01-07T15:43:17.973" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems you've put a good amount of effort in making the tank parameters ideal, but not every home aquarium and LFS tank have the same parameters. How did you place the fish in the tank? The most common way is to place the fish bag in the tank to help livestock accumulate to the temperature, but there are other factors as well. &#xA;Another way to place the fish in the tank is through the drip line method. This method slowly mixes the tank water the water the fish was in the LFS, making sure it becomes used to other parameters like PH. You should try this with the next fish you buy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor could be water changes. You mentioned your local water is a bit hard, and your tank water has a ph of 7. What methods are you using to decrease your PH? Since it seems your corydoras are a bit sensitive, I recommend making small water changes at a time. If you want to be extra careful, change the PH of the top-off water before you add it to the tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned a problem with one molly eating all the food. With the flakes, just try something different. If the molly is also eating the pellets for the corries, maybe you should try distracting the molly with flakes first. Otherwise, buy some veggie tabs for the corries since they can't be eaten in one bite and usually shared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be too worried about the death of the first molly. They're weak fish and bound to have one die out of a batch. I also don't recommend using test strips. Just get the API master freshwater kit and you're set for half a decade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13991" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T15:43:17.973" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23413" CreationDate="2019-01-07T17:32:18.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on who will move it . I assume you don't want to disturb the plant roots.  If you are going to put it into a car yourself it should be alright. Put fish and shrimp into a bag or other container. Remove any rocks , wood , or other decorations, remove the water to about 1 cm, lift it carefully by the edges of the bottom ( not the center) and set it somewhere flat .It will still be heavy , about 50 # or about 25 kg. You may be able to leave the branch. Put plastic film over the top to maintain humidity for the plants ; they should be good for a day or two. If it will be moved by others , &#xA;I think you will need to empty it completely. When empty the glass itself is very strong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-01-07T17:32:18.810" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12100" CreationDate="2019-01-08T04:27:53.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is &quot;it will depend&quot;... on what the dog is fed (how much, how often and at what time of the day) and on exercise (how much, how often, and what type the dog is given) and on the dog (both age and health will play a part). It just isn't one thing, but many things to evaluate and take into consideration.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have a Basenji. Her winter schedule includes ~1 hour of playtime at the dog park, where she can wrestle with the other pups and run full tilt in games of tag, and at least one other outing. She does well with this routine. Most of her toiletting is done at the dog park (activity naturally expedites this). She does well with this and sometimes has to remind me that it's time to go play.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The schedule your Mother has for her ESS should be fine. It is considered a typical day for thousands of loved pups. I'm certain that your Mother's dog has a way to communicate if she needs an extra trip outside. An ESS is a high energy dog, so it would be ideal if their walks were around 30 minutes each, but two &quot;outings&quot; a day shouldn't create any health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-08T04:27:53.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-08T08:10:00.867" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested to learn how to train a dog (of course of specific breeds) to herd (ducks, other animals). Is there a guide, book, or research results available? I already made a cursory search in google. The popular search results are wikihow and blogposts. I am looking for a more scientific approach, hence I am asking if anyone knows research papers, or journals, or books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested to know what methods are used to train: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are dogs given commands, rewards?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During the training process, are dogs shown a demonstration? (which they can imitate later?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or are dogs 'left to figure it out'? (and given a series of punishment/rewards for tasks that are not done/completed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any definitive sources are well appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13995" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-09T13:03:15.377" LastActivityDate="2019-01-09T14:18:07.313" Title="training a dog to herd" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;herding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-08T10:59:14.740" Score="6" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two baby tortoise (twins - from the same egg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently we went on holiday for Christmas and left both Elmo and Leon at a pet boarding (which had good reviews). When we came back yesterday Elmo looked very weak and puffy, he didn't opened his eyes at all. The vivarium in which they were kept was soaking wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since yesterday Elmo has barely been moving, he refuses food, he doesn't react much when you touch him, and his eyes are closed. We have given him 2 hot baths yesterday and one this morning, but not much reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have an emergency vet appointment later on today, but unfortunately we couldn't get a reptile vet appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of you has been in a similar case, or know how we can help our tiny Elmo, that'd be highly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have added pictures, before (eyes opened -- less puffy) and after (eyes closed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LIPFT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LIPFT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Elmo Healthy&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MrmH2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MrmH2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Elmo all puffy&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13941" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T00:21:05.517" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T02:03:55.250" Title="Indian Tortoise all puffy" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23406" CreationDate="2019-01-08T11:07:38.913" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As trond points out, the dust is the only real problem you get from non-rinsed sand. Even when I've washed sand you &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; get a small amount of dust because it's very difficult to remove completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, be aware that all of this dust has to go somewhere. Once your tank has cleared up you'll want check your filter to ensure that the dust isn't clogging it. Most likely, the sponges or filter pads in your filter will have a lot of the dust stuck inside them. Due to the fact the dust is extremely fine, it can really limit flow rate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst I'm sure you'd pick this up at your monthly filter maintenance, it's definitely worth checking a day or so after you've put in the new substrate just to head off any potential issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-01-08T11:07:38.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-08T14:09:05.567" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am facing some challenges and need your help and advise. In my country, unfortunately, I don't find Aquarium safe sealant except 2 types. Only what I have seen in local stores are DAP and Loctite Aquarium safe small silicone tubes BUT they have clearly written that I can use for maximum for 30 Gallon and aquarium maximum height should be 45cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly advise me shall I still go for DAP or Loctite Aquarium safe small silicone tubes for my 95 Gallon (356 Liter) Fish Tank ultra clear crystal glass 12mm thickness which &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had purchased from a local glass factory and still have to build/assemble as new very first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dimensions of my Aquarium will be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;L= 121 cm&#xA;H = 55 cm&#xA;W= 55 cm&#xA;Thickness= 12mm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not then kindly advise me what shall I use. Other than small tubes, I have below options only for Caulk silicones in my local market and this is what I have seen our local &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet shops also using below to make their Aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soudal &quot;Fix All&quot; Crystal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soudal &quot;Silirub 2&quot; Universal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GE Silglaze N10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bison &quot;Poly Max&quot; high tack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DAP &quot;Kitchen, Bath &amp;amp; Plumbing&quot; Clear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DAP &quot;Window, Door &amp;amp; Siding&quot; Clear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DAP &quot;Kwik Seal Ultra&quot; Clear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13996" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-08T15:01:13.157" LastActivityDate="2019-01-08T15:01:13.157" Title="Kindly help me choosing right silicone from my mentioned list" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23402" CreationDate="2019-01-08T18:21:32.550" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My skittish cat tolerated both a cross country drive and a cross country flight similarly.  So, I'd pick the one that works better for you.  If you include car wear-and-tear the two costs might be similar. A couple ideas if you choose driving: Give the cats a perch to look out the window and give them a cozy hiding spot like a foot well.  For safety keep them away from the drivers feet.  If a cat hates your motel or friends house then them stay in the car overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3368" LastActivityDate="2019-01-08T18:21:32.550" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23418" CreationDate="2019-01-09T14:18:07.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid your approach to this topic is wrong. You are interested in &quot;a more scientific approach&quot;, but a dog is not a machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In science, chemical A + chemical B equals chemical C.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In dog training, dog A + training method B must not always equal behavior C. Every dog is an individual with an own personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, people who train dogs to herd have years of experience and have to adapt the training to the individual personality of each dog. That's why you find more general information and anecdotal stories than &lt;em&gt;scientific&lt;/em&gt; training manuals online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the precise questions you asked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Herding training usually starts when the puppies are a few weeks old. They don't have to do any work at that age, but they have to be socialized with the animals they're supposed to herd. If you want your dog to herd ducks, it has to be familiar with ducks as &quot;friends&quot; as opposed to &quot;prey&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The puppies are taught basic commands like &quot;sit&quot; and &quot;stay&quot; with positive reinforcement (reward wanted behavior, ignore unwanted behavior).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once they know the basic commands, they're taught more complex commands for herding like &quot;go left / right&quot;, &quot;go further away&quot; and &quot;come closer&quot;, again with positive reinforcement. Most people use whistles instead of spoken commands and use different commands for each dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The young dogs are often taken to the herds to watch adult dogs herding. They are given very short and simple tasks at first. Herding is a very strenuous activity, both physically and mentally, and the young dogs have to adapt to more complex tasks slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs must be absolutely obedient before each further step in the training. They become the remote control tool of the shepherd, but the shepherd cannot control the herd if they cannot control their dog/s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training must be done very regularily (at least twice a week) for a long time (I think at least half a year, probably longer). That's one of the reasons why many shepherds buy trained herding dogs instead of training them themselves and why those trained dogs are extremely expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Positive reinforcement (only rewarding good behavior and ignoring wrong behavior) generally works better than negative reinforcement (punishing wrong behavior) because the dogs need to have fun while doing their job. If a dog is afraid of punishment, it'll rather do nothing than risk doing the wrong thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-01-09T14:18:07.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-09T16:55:07.693" Score="2" ViewCount="1258" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a mutt with many breeds that we aren't really sure about.  She is fascinated with rabbits and points, so I assume she has some hunting instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relatives of mine have a cat.  When we go over there the dog whines and pulls on the leash in a way that's unusual for her.  She is very interested in the cat.  I fear that she might kill the cat if she gets off the leash there, but two things make me wonder if she just wants to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing is, I've pet the cat around her, while holding her leash, and she became more interested in the cat's food than the cat itself.  The second thing is, she did get away and get to the cat once (we didn't know the cat was inside).  I found the cat growling at the dog, and the dog simply sitting and watching it from a few feet away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to take a chance, but I'm also interested in hearing what experts say about the behaviors I've described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7890" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T23:31:04.987" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T23:31:04.987" Title="Does my dog want to play with the cat, or kill it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23426" CreationDate="2019-01-09T17:52:21.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you describe is not a wish to kill. As you correctly guessed, it's a natural interest in another living creature and maybe a wish to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Signs that your dog wanted to kill the cat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She wouldn't whine. She would either charge at the cat silently or bark very aggressively with a gurgling sound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She would probably have a very stiff posture and the hair on her neck would stand up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She would pull madly at the leash.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Signs that your dog wanted to play / interact with the cat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She didn't kill the cat when she had the chance. On the contrary, &lt;em&gt;she sat down&lt;/em&gt;, which is the opposite of attacking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She whines to make the cat notice her in hopes that the cat would come closer and interact with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she wanted to play, she would dance in front of the cat with loose limbs or do the &amp;quot;play bow&amp;quot;.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DS6h9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DS6h9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;play bow&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/a-new-look-at-play-bows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;image source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note: tail wagging alone is not a clear sign of playful behavior. It's a sign of excitement that can be positive (joy, playful mood) or negative (insecurity, stress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T23:24:09.097" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T23:24:09.097" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23432" CreationDate="2019-01-09T18:30:41.417" Score="3" ViewCount="801" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bought a property that has a tiny decorative pond with waterfall and sizeable filter.  It looks as though a larger pond use to be in its place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to install this product:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.primrose.co.uk/500l-mayfly-preformed-pond-p-67263.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.primrose.co.uk/500l-mayfly-preformed-pond-p-67263.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then plan to plant a mix of oxygenators and decorative plants (lilies) and then stock very lightly with some small, hardy goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend what I should line the floor of the pond with? i.e. should I have part gravel, part soil, then let it settle?  I am guessing that common garden soil and then small gravel to a thin depth is all that's required and then let the water clear before planting and adding fish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13999" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T04:48:48.333" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T04:48:48.333" Title="What substrate/base should I use for this small fish pond?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23429" CreationDate="2019-01-09T19:34:41.640" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can forget about any layers with goldfish or Koi because they will mix it. Generally plants are put in pots, often with large gravel on top to try to keep the fish from digging. The liner in the figure is generally too shallow for water lillies; about 2 + foot (60 cm) is minimum depth; except for some special miniature types. I put no gravel in my pond system, that has worked for 20 years. Often there is an algae bloom / green water in a new pond, which I do not try to fix as it has not lasted long. And, I suggest some floating plants like hornwort, &lt;em&gt;Anacharis&lt;/em&gt; and duckweed. I suggest getting a book or two on home ponds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T04:47:26.610" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T04:47:26.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23441" CreationDate="2019-01-09T21:30:16.170" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 6 yo Pointer Mix has gone out on her own for the last year and a half or so. She was always very good about staying in her yard, doing her business and then coming back to the front door when finished. She would do this both day and night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last couple of months she's been taking off from our yard. She likes to run to this other dog's house up the street as well as down the street in either direction. She will not come back when called even though she knows the command Come. We have to run after her and get her. Sometimes even running further when we get near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're a little dumbfounded as to why she started doing this and continues to do it. I realize the simple answer is to take her out on a leash every time she goes out. But even so, I'd like to figure out why she began to and continues to run off and how we can get her to stop and stay in her yard like a good girl again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11998" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-10T09:24:09.120" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T00:12:17.123" Title="Why has my dog started running out of our yard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23429" CreationDate="2019-01-09T21:41:47.863" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep it bare bottom and use pots for any plants that you add to it. Unless the pond is permanent like concrete and I would still be hesitant to suggest it, using a substrate in a pond is unnecessary and can be a complete pain to deal with. There are pots specifically made for pond usage that have slats or holes in them. IME, these are by far the best way to setup a pond with plants in it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2019-01-09T21:41:47.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23429" CreationDate="2019-01-10T05:47:47.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is best to keep the bottom of a pond as clean as possible. You will need to do a spring clean every year to remove the waste like leaves and other stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are known to dig and to eat plants, so even the flower pots need to be covered by heavy rocks or other types of covering. Also, you need to expect some loss of plants during the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to use sump plants in a small pond like yours; underwater plants are at risk of being eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The maximum number of fish you can have in a 500 liter pond is 4-5 goldfish or 5-10 of smaller types of fish and you will need to have filtration of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T04:42:59.080" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T04:42:59.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23444" CreationDate="2019-01-10T16:17:22.707" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat gave birth to 3 kittens 3 weeks ago. They are doing well. But one of them is a female and is smaller than the other one. Can I give her some kitten replacement milk (kitten formula) even if she continues to drink her mum's milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She is drinking less than the others it seems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14003" LastEditorUserId="14003" LastEditDate="2019-01-11T12:06:30.577" LastActivityDate="2019-01-11T18:53:56.700" Title="Can I give kittens kitten replacement milk even if they are drinking milk from their mum?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23431" CreationDate="2019-01-10T17:16:08.230" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most simple answer is that your dog is bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't walk her enough and she's inside the house all day, she might simply grasp the opportunity to have some fun and excitement when she's just supposed to do her business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will not come back when called even though she knows the command Come. We have to run after her and get her. Sometimes even running further when we get near.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's fairly clear that she is not interested in coming back and is even running away to stay outside a little longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware though, that she might still run away even if you walk her all day and tire her out. She has learned that she's able to leave the yard and this cannot be unlearned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T00:12:17.123" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T00:12:17.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23431" CreationDate="2019-01-11T01:33:21.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever heard the saying, &quot;A tired dog is a good dog&quot;? It's true. Dogs that don't get enough exercise are prone to bad behavior. Well, they aren't trying to be bad, but they generally start doing things that their owners find &quot;undesirable&quot;. Like running out of the yard and deliberatly ignoring your calls to come, even though you know the dog can hear you. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If Doggy Day Care is no longer an option (scheduling, cost, whatever), then perhaps you can work in a half hour walk in the morning and evenings with occasional outings to a local dog park. Or time playing fetch in the back yard. Obedience training to stimulate her brain. Fit some time in your schedule to do something together during the weekends: hiking, or swimming, or a longer walk than usual.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As for the jaunts through the neighborhood... perhaps an underground fence for the property.  The collar doesn't actually shock them, it's just a vibration that allows them to learn where their boundaries are. But really, all of these suggestions are geared towards her learning just that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-11T01:33:21.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3213" CreationDate="2019-01-11T01:33:22.797" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed and pondered this as well with my cat. It's not that animals don't get music. We know that is simply not true (look at videos of elephants enjoying music, and there is &quot;cat music&quot; to help cats relax, etc.),&#xA;but the conclusion I came to is that it's the hollow sound in acoustic instruments. Cats' ears pick up a lot of stuff and maybe the sound of the hollow instrument moving around bothers them. My cat is terrified of my acoustic guitar. But not when I play electric. It's weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14005" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T09:35:55.773" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T09:35:55.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23436" CreationDate="2019-01-11T17:27:32.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that mum cat is ok with you handling the kittens, I don't see any issues with giving supplemental replacement kitten milk.  Be aware that there are special products you should use.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1715/13&quot;&gt;Kitten Food in an Emergency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3250/13&quot;&gt;Can you bottle feed a kitten?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/20664/13&quot;&gt;Mother cat won&amp;#39;t care for her newborn kitten&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21498/13&quot;&gt;taking care of newborn cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: There are potentially some duplicate questions here, I did not attempt to identify or address the duplicate status of these questions when listing the related &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-01-11T18:53:56.700" LastActivityDate="2019-01-11T18:53:56.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15359" CreationDate="2019-01-12T07:07:41.810" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If feathers are from a toy, you mustn't let your cats eat them, because they are full of chemicals (and maybe avoid to buy them, and make a diy one)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, ingesting feathers is a normal diet and instinct for predator like cats, they ingest everything, fur and feather, especially the soft feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ingesting feather can be dangerous when the feathers are not soft, but big and spiky, it can make some trouble to the stomach. If a cat has a weak digestive system, it's a thing to monitor. Some cats may caugh, but usually when the feather can't be digested, is eliminated by caughing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the nature, feathers are not boiled or clean or bacteria-free. Except if the feather comes from a particularly dirty bird, like a diseased one, it shouldn't be a problem, and rather reinforce its immune system. Things don't have to be too clean.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The danger is rather the chemicals in feather toys, and you can't wash that kind of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You talk about &quot; bleach, soap, borax, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, etc.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's really &lt;strong&gt;more dangerous&lt;/strong&gt; and hurtful than natural microbiote on feathers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To have natural feathers, don't buy them, collect them. If someone you know has birds or chickens, just take the natural feathers (not too spiky or attach them very strongly), and clean them with only water, but anyway, you must choose clean feathers, found in a clean place (not in the poo by example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling feathers is the only thing you can do if you are very paranoid about the natural microbiote. Remember, cats are natural animals, a too dirty environment and a too clean environment are both nocive. &#xA;And just remember that chemicals that can be released when you boil or heat a feather that has been dyed or chemically treated, is more nocive than the virus and bacteria found on normally healthy animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no 100% riskless way to decontaminate feathers, feathers can't be sterile or stay sterile for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8519" LastEditorUserId="8519" LastEditDate="2019-01-13T18:02:16.360" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T18:02:16.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-12T14:54:20.640" Score="2" ViewCount="583" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 29 gallon fish tank with 3 snails, 3 shrimp and 3 catfish. We also have moon fish that I read like to eat algae. We have had the tank a couple of weeks and it looks really clean.  I also read I should do a partial water change every two weeks.  With all those bottom feeders, I was wondering how often I should clean my tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14012" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:29:35.217" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T19:29:35.217" Title="How often to clean fish tank with bottom feeders" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23446" CreationDate="2019-01-12T22:42:20.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think cleaning is a personal choice. But water changes are important for a healthy tank. I once had a 55 gallon tank that I changed 2 gallons each day (for reasons not related to the aquarium). It was likely the healthiest tank I ever had; angels spawned in it every few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:28:16.763" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T19:28:16.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-12T23:31:10.430" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitchen tap is filtered with a Pentek 20 micron filter which reduces chlorine taste and odor (completely removes chlorine taste); it is a granular activated carbon filter. My question is, can I use it for water changes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14015" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-06T20:42:45.830" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T20:42:45.830" Title="Filtered water for my fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19420" CreationDate="2019-01-13T01:20:48.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately your gecko might have little time left as “red-leg” syndrome might have gotten to her before help was given. But it isn’t dead yet - take it to the vet IMMEDIATELY and get him/her checked out. Try feeding her more often and keep a very very close eye on it until you find out whether it will survive or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible answer is that she is egg-bound and can’t get the eggs out. If this is what happened then your gecko has little chance, unless surgery is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck to you and your gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13885" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T01:22:43.703" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:22:43.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23457" CreationDate="2019-01-13T03:30:33.267" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a sight hound, small (22#) female, spayed, not quite 2 1/2 years. We go to the local dog park regularly so that she can run and play. I usually take her to the small dog side, but have taken her into the large dog pen when no one her size is there to play.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On the large dog side, she is sometimes intimidated by the larger breed dogs. As a result, I try to watch and I am teaching her to come to the picnic table (where I am) if she becomes anxious about the rougher play. Today she went running to the gate to tell me she was &quot;done&quot;. On the small dog side, she will taunt the other dogs into a game of chase (or tag). They mouth eachother, but there are not any displays of agression. No growling or posturing, they just act like they are (pretend) biting without actually biting (no punctures, no blood). She plays best with dogs her size, but she tends to be persistant about getting them to run. She loves to run, especially if the other dog is chasing her (she's so fast!). &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yesterday she was playing rough and tumble with a smaller dog. One of those fluffy things that might weigh 15 pounds. The owner and I spoke and she confirmed that her dogs play like that in their home, no foul, just rough housing. Until... my dog started tossing the smaller one onto his back. That concerned me. But I got really upset when I saw my dog start to shake her head (while holding the smaller one's throat). I prompty stopped her and we left the park shortly afterwards.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Everyone has the right to take their dog to the park, the problem is that there isn't a &quot;medium dog&quot; area. Small, five pound dogs come in to &quot;play&quot; with 40# dogs, and the large dog side has everything from smaller dogs to Great Danes. &#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have considered that roughhousing with the smaller dog kicked in a latent prey drive and her (hunting/hound dog) instincts took over. Despite appreciating that she wasn't intentionally trying to hurt the other dog, it still horrifies me. And it's... &quot;inappropriate behavior&quot;. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I teach my dog that she can roughhouse with some dogs, but not other dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T16:49:43.010" Title="How do I teach my dog to &quot;play nice&quot; with smaller dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23451" CreationDate="2019-01-13T15:23:45.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check to see if your city uses chloramines and not chlorine to treat the water. But even so, I personally wouldn't trust a micron and carbon filter alone. If you have a 4 or 5 stage RO/DI system with an ion exchange resin as the final stage it should break everything down, but home systems rarely remove all of the chlorine and never completely break down chloramines. I would still treat with a chlorine remover after you refill your tank during a water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T15:23:45.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23453" CreationDate="2019-01-13T16:49:43.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a tricky situation specifically because you are fine with her rough play when it is with a dog more similar in size. Teaching dogs to distinguish when a behavior is acceptable given external factors (like the size of the playmate) is hard, and it is not clear whether all dogs even have the intelligence needed to understand something like that. Some certainly do, but likely not all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is another solution that will likely solve the problem just as well. My recommendation is to work on reinforcing her basic commands, especially her recall (&quot;come here&quot;). If her recall is stable in all situations, then it won't be an issue. You can interrupt play at any point by calling her to you. If you just need to let her cool down a little, you can then work through a series of commands (sit, down, stay for increasing intervals, tricks, whatever) to fully shift her focus to you. When she is no longer overexcited, you can release her to continue calmer playing. Essentially giving her space to take a &quot;time out.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging from what you've said, I would suspect she already knows a basic version of recall, at least one that she'll obey in low-intensity, training specific situations where she knows that you have treats. If not, it's easy enough to teach and you can either ask an additional question or google for the basic steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, lots of dogs have difficulty with recall when they are overly excited and lots of things are going on. In some cases, a dog may have not even connected the spoken command that you issue during calm training sessions with the word that you shout in an entirely different setting. Teaching a dog to know a command in all settings is called &lt;em&gt;proofing&lt;/em&gt;, and you can google checklists that give you ideas of what sort of things should be covered to &quot;proof&quot; any command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the basic steps for expanding the effectiveness of recall are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some tasty, special treats. These shouldn't be used for anything except recall, and they should be her absolute favorite if possible. Hot dog pieces work well for many dogs, or non-spicy turkey or beef jerky. Or maybe there's a special type of store-bought treat that she really, really loves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice all the time. Start incorporating recall into everything you do (make sure to always have your special treats on hand). In your home, on walks, when you take her out to pee, at the park, at the pet store, etc. If she's on a leash, you can practice by letting her go to the end of it and then calling her back to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set her up for success. She'll learn best by doing it correctly and quickly, so start by practicing in situations where she's bound to succeed (already right next to you, very close and going to come anyway, few distractions, etc.) and slowly work up to situations that are &quot;harder.&quot; Practice makes permanent, so you want to avoid situations where she is going to ignore the call.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Practice in low-risk situations. As she starts to get better at it, practice her recall when you are at the park but there isn't rough play happening. Practice when she's sniffing something interesting, when she is first meeting another dog, when she is playing lightly, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T16:49:43.010" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-13T18:45:54.893" Score="1" ViewCount="9727" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend and I have a 1 year old (or slightly younger) orange tabby that we adopted a little over a month ago. He is a good, easy-going cat overall, but he sometimes bites my girlfriend, either on the hand or face, for seemingly doing nothing. She’ll be petting him and he’ll want to bite her hand. Or, he will willingly come to HER while we’re laying in bed, cuddle, be loving, and then bites her face hard. He NEVER does this with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should point out that I work from home, so I spend the most time with him. I feed him, I clean out his litter, I play with him. She will occasionally play with him and pet him when she comes home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking maybe this is the reason why he bites only her. She has recently started to feed him and give him his treats whenever she is home but, so far he is still biting. Almost every day. I hope she just needs to continue to feed him and play with him for his behavior to change (We just started, afterall) But I worry it may be something else? Anybody have ideas or suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14018" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T15:50:07.503" Title="Why does my cat only bite my partner?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-01-15T16:47:38.990" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2019-01-13T20:14:16.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog too has just been diagnosed with diabetes and I am injecting him  twice a day 12 hours apart. I find it better to inject whilst he his eating and then he is distracted . I gather up the scruff of skin on his back below his collar, push in  the middle to make a pocket and inject here (our veterinary nurse taught me this) to date its working well and he is tolerating it.  Talk to your vets and get some advice . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14020" LastActivityDate="2019-01-13T20:14:16.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-13T21:04:14.770" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a leopard gecko about 3 weeks ago and I thought it needed a friend, so today I got another and put it in the terrarium. They are both pretty young. The new one went into the hide my old one was in, and he started fighting my new one! What do I do? They are too young to figure out if they are male or female. The guy at PetSmart said it was fine to put them together but I don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14021" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:07:09.573" LastActivityDate="2020-02-26T05:02:50.377" Title="My new gecko is fighting my old one!" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-13T21:27:58.120" Score="0" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a cat in the middle of the path, a man walked past it with his dog on the lead and it was fine. So i put my youngest dog on the lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;next thing i see, the cat runs at my oldest dog and scratches her, she yelped and ran forward - terrified. She then tried to get to me but is scared and skirts round the edges. She was 4/5 metres away and not going any closer - when the cat charged at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As i get to her picking her up, my other dog is still on the lead touching my foot - my daughter is behind me screaming as it shocked her, and her dog was hurt. &#xA;She'd left her scooter and ran at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the cat charges at my dog on the lead and scratched her across the face, making her mouth bleed!!! While Im holding the two dogs, my 6 year old is leaning behind me and i was watching so it couldn't come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The man with dog who was there says &quot;sorry, thats my cat - these two are best mates, no idea whats going on!&quot; He didn't care and didn't ask if my dogs or daughter were ok. Just went and patted his cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14022" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T00:02:25.237" Title="Is there anything I can do about a cat attacking my dog?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11688" CreationDate="2019-01-14T03:52:54.523" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with any product that you would put on your carpet, flooring, or furniture, please test for colorfastness. To test for colorfastness, mix a small amount of the solution and place on a hidden area of your carpet. Wait 24 hours or until carpet is dry before proceeding to full treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We recommend extreme caution when treating fine fabrics and upholstery. You must be extra careful in checking for colorfastness. Do not skip this step, thinking, &quot;Oh, I'm sure it will be fine.&quot; It may not. You must test a hidden area and wait 24 hours before proceeding to a full treatment.&#xA;Odor Remover&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;16 oz. (2 cups) hydrogen peroxide&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 tsp. baking soda&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 small drops liquid dishwashing soap (Dawn, Palmolive, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place all ingredients in a glass jar or bowl. Gently stir do not beat or shake, until baking soda is dissolved. If urine is fresh, be sure to blot up any excess urine with dry paper towels or a dry washcloth before the next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pour mixture over urine spot, making sure to cover the entire spot. Allow mixture to completely soak the area being treated. Do not rub or scrub. Let sit for 24 hours without disturbing. After 24 hours, take clean paper towels or a clean, white washcloth and blot up any remaining liquid. Again, do not rub or scrub. Allow area to air dry completely. If you are treating carpet, you can vacuum over the area when dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Makes 16 oz. (2 cups) of solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is most active for one hour after mixing. Be sure to apply the solution within this time period for maximum effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not enclose the mixture in an airtight container, or you could have a big mess on your hands. The reason for this is because when the ingredients are combined they release oxygen (Remember making &quot;volcanoes&quot; out of baking soda and vinegar when you were a little kid? Similar principle here.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two alternate methods of applying the solution are using a spray bottle or a garden watering can. A spray bottle works best for applying the solution to hard surfaces like concrete or linoleum, or to vertical surfaces like walls or shower tile. This is not the best method for carpet. Just be sure to thoroughly spray the area you are treating. A garden watering can is best for medium to large areas, indoors or outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For really tough odors, you may have to treat the area more than once. Carpet, furniture, and mattresses typically require 1-2 treatments. Concrete, wood, tile, and other hard surfaces usually need 3-5 treatments (1 treatment per day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For concrete and other hard surfaces, you want to make enough of the recipe to completely cover the stain. Pour or spray the solution on and let it soak. Do not mop or wipe up. Let it sit for 24 hours (depending on the humidity level, it will usually evaporate during this time). Repeat the treatment once a day for 3-5 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For mattresses, the best thing to do is to make a double, triple, or even quadruple batch of the recipe, enough to completely cover the stain and then really pour it on. Don't be afraid of saturating the mattress. The urine has gone deep into the mattress, so you need to make sure that there's enough solution to go deep into the mattress as well. The solution has to reach the urine to neutralize it. We recommend treating the mattress in the morning so that the solution can work through the day. The mattress will often be dry enough for use by bedtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or use an ENZYME based pet odor and stain remover. I've used a few brands, they all have worked. You can read reviews Best Enzyme Cleaner for Dog Urine On Get Cleaning Done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you can use a blacklight to find stains on your dark carpet. The urine will fluoresce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14023" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T03:52:54.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23458" CreationDate="2019-01-14T04:17:40.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible that your cat is biting out of excitement, or a little bit of jealousy(?). If the cat bites her hand, have her push her hand forward into the cats mouth. It's a bit counter-intuitive, but the cat cannot bite down if it's jaws are being shoved open and naturally release the hand. The cat will, in turn, forget about biting altogether. No solution for the face bites, except to say that the cat may automatically stop that behavior once it finds biting the hand is pointless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T04:17:40.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23463" CreationDate="2019-01-14T04:21:36.113" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, carry a water bottle, preferably with a squeeze stream top. The next time you come across that cat (or any other), squirt it (or splash it) with the water. The cat will not want anything to do with your group and will (most likely) go off into the bushes to clean itself up. No harm to you, your dogs, or your daughter. And no harm to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T04:21:36.113" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23458" CreationDate="2019-01-14T12:03:58.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She’ll be petting him and he’ll want to bite her hand. Or, he will willingly come to HER while we’re laying in bed, cuddle, be loving, and then bites her face hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Counterintuitively, this may mean that he likes your partner more than he likes you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats shows love by biting. Whenever we pet her and she's really happy about it, she will resort to biting extremities (toes, fingers, nose, wrist, arm, leg, ...). Based on her behavior, you can clearly see she intends it as an act of love. She does the same to her sister when they cuddle up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She tends to never break the skin, so I allow her to bite softly. I appreciate the loving intention more than the biting inconveniences me. If she ever bites too hard, I pull back, say &quot;ow&quot; and stop petting her. That seems to very quickly teach her where I draw the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not impossible that your cat's urge to bite comes from a similar intention of reciprocating love, but he's simply oblivious to how forceful he's biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to fix this, the first question you need to answer is where you draw the line. Are you going to forbid any (loving) biting; or is there simply a particular pain threshold that he must stay below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The principle is the same: act like you're hurt and don't want to interact anymore. The cat will (after a few times) learn that it did something to ruin cuddle time, and thus will stop the biting.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Depending on where you draw the line, you should act more/less offended. If you want to institue a zero-tolerance, act more offended and immeditaly end cuddle time (make them leave the bed/couch). If you're okay with soft bites, be less offended: pull back, tell them off, enforce a short break (5 to 20 seconds), then resume cuddle time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T12:03:58.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23458" CreationDate="2019-01-14T15:50:07.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds likely your cat is getting over-stimulated when she's petting him.  This is a frequent problem in cats, where they come to you wanting petting, everyone's happy, and then all of a sudden the cat lashes out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to observe if there are any differences in the petting technique between you and your girlfriend.  Especially in how long you continuously pet the cat, and if there are any areas she tends to pet that you do not.  Over-stimulation is most likely to happen if you pet the cat for a very long time, or if you pet it in an area that seems to be particularly sensitive, in front of the tail, for instance, is a common spot for a cat to get over-stimulated if you pet it too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When petting cats, you should generally keep an eye on the cat to try to observe its body language for any subtle changes that may be an indicator it's getting over-stimulated.  Don't pet the cat if you are not observing it, because that's the most likely time for you to accidentally do something the cat does not like.  Signs the cat is getting over-stimulated include if the cat is twitching the skin on its back, if its ears go ever so slightly back, if the cat generally is seeming to tense up, especially in the face.  If you observe these signs, simply stop petting the cat and leave it alone.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a common problem, it's probably best to just limit the time of petting sessions in general, so the cat does not get over-stimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that the over-stimulation is happening because the cat is getting frisky, especially if it associates your girlfriend in particular with playtime.  In that case, it's probably best to make sure the cat is played with before petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T15:50:07.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-14T17:33:06.873" Score="4" ViewCount="2710" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/23469/13&quot;&gt;recent answer&lt;/a&gt; said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;as an alternative source of fiber, you can also give your rabbit banana leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a quick google search and found a few blog posts by house rabbit parents who have feed their bunnies banana leaves. A couple of posts suggest that it should be limited do to high levels of some thing that may not be good for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I looked for scientific references I found a diet with 40% banana leaves can be feed for 105 days without adverse effects.  But this is for production rabbits not pet rabbits.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Abstract : An experiment is described in which 40 rabbits, 12 weeks old, were fed on diets containing 0, 20, 40 or 60% banana leaves (DM basis) for 105 days. Growth rate was highest for 40% banana leaves while DM intake was reduced on 60% banana leaves. It is suggested that rabbits can be fed up to 40% banana leaves without adverse effects on growth, feed intake and physiology. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20003035319&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly they can eat some banana leaves, but is at a healthy form of fiber in the long term (&lt;em&gt;8-12 years&lt;/em&gt;)? Do banana leaves contain any substances that should be moderated? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T16:06:10.687" Title="Can rabbits eat banana leaves?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23856" CreationDate="2019-01-14T19:09:07.740" Score="6" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a neighbourhood which is inhabited by a fairly large number of cats. One in particular, a smokey grey female around 3-4 years old, is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; friendly, to the point where she casually strolls into mine and other neighbours' home without much care for other pets. She also gets along well with other neighbourhood cats, she was on good terms with my cat and they'd often playfully chase each other around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly we lost our cat to a road collision at the beginning of December. The regular visits and attention-seeking from this smokey grey cat played a huge part in helping us to grieve and feel better over the Christmas period. However, I'm starting to feel that she's starting to make herself a bit &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; welcome in our home. We let her in for about 5-10 minutes at a time, during which she's rubbing her head against any corner she can find (claiming the house as her own), and wanting a big fuss from us. Whenever we return home she hears the jingle of our keys and immediately rushes to our door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're currently looking to rehome a new cat (not her, we know where she lives and who her owners are :) ) and we're very unsure as to how any new cat would react to this neighbourhood cat inviting herself in. We'd be keeping any new cat away from the front door, we wouldn't be letting him/her outside until s/he's settled in and willing to return home. However it's inevitable that the two will meet indoors at some point, so should we start to discourage her from marking her scent in our house? Or should we use a gentle introduction plan for her and our new cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13792" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T13:53:21.573" Title="Neighbourhood cat claiming our home as her territory" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-14T20:35:19.230" Score="2" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a beautiful veil tail Betta who I unfortunately noticed has fin rot. We spoke to the aquatics place I got him from and got our water tested and everything was perfect, leading us to believe he had it when we bought him. His fin rot looked quite severe to me as I woke up on morning and he had lost quite a bit of his tail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shop recommended to me Myxazin in which I gave him the correct dosage for 5 days. He appeared to be improving. I was a bit apprehensive to take the carbon filter out as really I didn't want to ruin the water quality of my tank, but did as I was aware the Myxazin wouldn't work otherwise. The plants in my tank and a bit of the side of my tank has brown marks on which I'm presuming is from the Myxazin but it seems easy to remove. After the five days I waited a few more to put the carbon filter back in and do a water change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All was going well until I woke up yesterday morning to my Betta's tail being gone again, however this time it was much worse, and even a bit of his top fin was on the bottom of the tank. I panicked and have started him on the Myxazin again, and though there are signs of improvement, I'm worried that if I stop the treatment and do a water change after 5 days and put the filter cartridges back in he will just deteriorate again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14030" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T10:21:07.300" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T10:21:07.300" Title="Betta with fin rot" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23463" CreationDate="2019-01-14T21:58:06.403" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carry a can of compressed air with you.  If the cat gets aggressive, give her a blast of the compressed air.  It does not leave her wet, as water would, but it does make a hiss that she won't like, and the puff of air will discourage her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is especially good if the cat has an owner.  Even though water won't harm the cat, it might annoy the owner to see her wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used compressed air in the past for cats and it works very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10233" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T21:58:06.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23478" CreationDate="2019-01-14T22:48:00.953" Score="4" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;quite a funny question for your, as I couldn't find anything on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everytime I scratch myself our 9 months neutered male cat stops whatever he's doing, points at me and will run towards my hand, sometimes nibbling it, some other times patting it, as if he's trying to scratch it without using claws. He doesn't actually hurt me nor it seems like he wants to, it looks like he can't understand the concept of a human scratching himself and is curious about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So much so that I sometimes do it on purpouse. Has anyone ever seen a similar behaviour with a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, I don't scold him for that. It's just too funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12387" LastEditorUserId="12387" LastEditDate="2019-01-14T23:15:08.270" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T23:40:29.660" Title="My cat nibbles me when I scratch myself" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23476" CreationDate="2019-01-14T23:40:29.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He probably just want to play and is attracted by your hand, try scratching the ground and he will probably do the same&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13985" LastActivityDate="2019-01-14T23:40:29.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2019-01-15T00:43:13.827" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going to be out for 9-11 hours a day then your sleep time will be around 7-8 hrs a day. It means the dog will be alone for almost 16 to 18 hours. Add the time you will do household chores and ask yourself if you are going to be able to give your dog even 3-4 hours a day, which according to me is very minimal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would request you to not get a dog if you don't have time for it. I own a pug and know how affectionate they are and happy to be with people. They will sleep 12 hours in total but when a pug is awake it wants you awake to play with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14033" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-01-15T16:34:44.390" LastActivityDate="2019-01-15T16:34:44.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23473" CreationDate="2019-01-15T11:29:57.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ideal way to treat sick fish is to use a separate tank for the treatment. You take the water from your original tank and fill this in the tank where you want to treat your fish and add the medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for doing this is to be sure the bacteria in your tank (where you normally keep the fish) will continue the nitrogen cycle and keep the water clean and free of toxins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will mean that when the treatment of your fish is over and you put the fish back into the aquarium it will have a better chance of surviving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things you need for a quarantine/treatment tank is an air pump and an air stone plus an aquarium heater. You will need to cut back on the feeding of your fish during the time you treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do know I have not answered the main part of your question and that you are treating the whole tank. The problem is by treating the whole tank you have killed the bacteria needed to convert waste into nutrients and this is a big problem so even if your fish is healed from the illness it might die from the toxins produced in the tank as a result of the lack of the bacteria needed to keep the nitrogen cycle going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of a carbon filter in a tank is only useful for removing medication or chemicals. It does not remove ammonia-nitrite or nitrate from the water (carbon filters do waste space in your filter that had been better used to grow useful bacteria in your filter) so unless you are removing medication from the water you do not need it. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/activated-carbon-in-the-aquarium-1380929&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thesprucepets.com/activated-carbon-in-the-aquarium-1380929&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user3482" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:55:32.570" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:55:32.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23485" CreationDate="2019-01-16T04:10:55.740" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any pet food recipes from yesteryear that can be applied to today’s pets? I think it’ll be a good thought exercise if nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastEditorUserId="7980" LastEditDate="2019-04-12T02:15:33.757" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T02:15:33.757" Title="Historical pet food recipes" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23483" CreationDate="2019-01-16T05:32:41.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a large portion of dogs were fed table scraps. Litterally, scraps off the dinner plates that the kids didn't eat. I should also add that Vets had different philosophies as well. Other than that, I remember feeding my dog Hills Science Diet back in the early 80's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T05:32:41.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23483" CreationDate="2019-01-16T09:26:26.390" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know there was no pet food &quot;in the yesteryears&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All herbivores (poultry, ungulates) were supposed to feed themselves and additionally got hay, unprocessed grains or leftover bread.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pigs were fed any and all leftovers or spoiled food, acorns and chestnuts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats were supposed to kill rodents and vermin, so they weren't fed much at all. The tradition of feeding milk or cream to cats stems from old times, but now we know it's not good for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog's food depended on their jobs and their owners. A farm dog got leftover food and any part of an animal humans deem inedible. A police dog (in Germany in the 1950's and probably earlier) got raw meat 6 days a week and no food at all once a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were exceptions for the pets of the rich and noble. They probably got real cooked meals like humans, which (as we know now) are not healthy for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting read: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfoodinstitute.org/pet-food-matters/nutrition-2/history-of-pet-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;History of pet food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-16T20:10:05.770" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T20:10:05.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23491" CreationDate="2019-01-16T09:33:07.103" Score="4" ViewCount="634" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is quite a funny and also adorable trait that our seven year old cat has developed over the last year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I laugh loudly, when friends are over or watching something on TV, the cat rushes from whichever room he's at and looks me in the eyes and starts meowing loud. If I continue he even tries to climb on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't do it with anyone else in the house, just me. I feel like he's more attached to me in general and probably assumes something bad is happening to me and wants to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what could be causing his (adorable and funny) reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T17:36:17.687" Title="Why does my cat meow at me when I Iaugh?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23451" CreationDate="2019-01-16T16:27:51.513" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That won’t make much of a difference to your water changes, but continue doing it. Maybe you could discover a new technique in aquarium care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13991" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T16:27:51.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23451" CreationDate="2019-01-16T16:50:45.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Jestep's answer is right. It's a little tricky to say but 20 micron is really pretty big in comparison to anything that an RO/DI filter would remove. Check out the diagram below to see what I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lAlkA.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lAlkA.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also note that if you're filtering out trace elements you need to make sure you add them back in or your water can become unstable. This is probably irrelevant in your case because it sounds like this filter is more for dragging out larger particles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Can I use it?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You absolutely can use it but I'd treat it as normal tap water and take the appropriate measures to ensure you remove the chlorine from the water as you normally would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T16:50:45.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23486" CreationDate="2019-01-16T17:36:17.687" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are very interesting because naturally they are almost never vocal with other cats. Cats almost never meow at each other at all, instead they use body language and more subtle cues to communicate. However, they have learned that humans communicate via loud vocalization, so many cats will mimic their people by &quot;talking&quot; to us in &quot;our own language.&quot; In general, cats meow because they know that people prefer to communicate that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is your cat doing specifically? Here is one theory, although you will likely never know for sure. I would suspect that your cat has noticed that when you laugh, other people laugh too. Cats have noses that are sensitive enough to smell human hormones and emotions, so he has likely noticed that when people laugh together, it makes you happier. My suspicion is that your feline friend is trying to be a good friend and &quot;laugh&quot; with you to be social and make you happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sure is cute :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-01-16T17:36:17.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-16T17:59:15.560" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions for helping my dog get over her leash reactivity towards people? My newly adopted rescue dog gets triggered by dogs and people on walks. We've been working on this for a couple months, and she's slowly getting better about dogs (she can almost always handle them across the street now) but seems to be getting worse about people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, she's fine with about 95% of people, and then will randomly get stiff at random people. If she were just reactive towards people with hats, or elderly asian folks or bald men or something, it would be easy...get her around a bunch of those folks, and show her they're good. However, it seems completely unpredictable who she'll react to. She reacts to people equally across all genders, colors and atire. She's a bit more reactive near our apartment, but other than that there's no discernible pattern. I fear my strategy of asking her to sit, sweet talking her and giving her treats when a person approaches might actually be contributing to her people reactivity since because I can't find a pattern, I do this for all people, even though she likely won't react to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas for helping my dog who's only reactive to occasional random people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: By reactive towards people/dogs I mean:While I'm holding the leash and walking her posture will stiffen. She then lunges at them barking loudly and without pause. When her posture stiffens she'll stop responding to my 'look' command that she follows very well when not triggered. She'll sometimes sit if i ask her while she's lunging and barking, but she'll still bark aggressively&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3012" LastEditorUserId="3012" LastEditDate="2019-01-17T08:53:23.257" LastActivityDate="2019-01-17T08:53:23.257" Title="Suggestions for a leash reactive dog who reacts to random people" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;reactivity&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-16T20:38:00.063" Score="4" ViewCount="638" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Maine Coon which was a rescue.  She was wild for about five months before the shelter picked her up.  I got her at about 5 1/2 months, just over 3 years ago.  I figured she'd remain near-feral, but she has become extremely affectionate, esp over the last year.  She meets me at the door, jumps up in my lap, licks my face, never wants to be in a different room than I am, and is generally a sweetheart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing is that she will suddenly go into attack mode.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I don't do anything to provoke this.  She will jump up on my lap, or on my chest when I'm laying down, meow at me, and demand to be petted.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, in the middle of being petted, she'll attack my hand and arm SAVAGELY.  Now, I know that this isn't malicious on her part, because if I put my face near her, she goes back to cuddle mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, she's a BIG KITTY and can actually break the skin with her teeth, and I'm sure her claws could cut steel if we let them get sharp enough. (we have the vet trim them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone know why she might be doing this?&#xA;Is there anything I can do to discourage this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10233" LastActivityDate="2019-04-17T14:00:39.457" Title="Kitty goes from cuddly to murderous without warning" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23411" CreationDate="2019-01-16T22:14:45.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the chemistry of condensation curing of silicone, that vinegar smell is literally coming from a chemical bond being formed -- the smell is a byproduct. You have to remember, acetic acid (the stuff in vinegar) can either evaporate or solublize in water. There's also a special salt in the silicone that is necessary for it to form a solid structure, and this salt is also soluble in water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any vinegar smell, that means it's still setting/curing/evaporating, so by no means should you add your fish just yet (unless you're ok with acidic water for your fish and potential holes in the silicone)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picked up at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/silicone-cure-time.159538/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FishLore Forum&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, silicone takes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1-2 hours to get a 'skin' (go off)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;24 hours to set and seal (safe for showering)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;48 hours to set, seal and bond (safe for immersion in water)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;7-10 days to be fully cured, ready for use in a full fish tank. Most tank builders will require the tank to stay 'still' and clamped for 7 days before moving it. After 7-10 days, the silicone is strong enough to handle the pressures and movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I recently bought some silicone, and it had a clear guideline on the back &quot;If using for an aquarium, allow 7 days before filling&quot; or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14042" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-01-17T14:55:21.333" LastActivityDate="2019-01-17T14:55:21.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23497" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-17T16:31:25.283" Score="4" ViewCount="2059" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted an old boxer that sleeps with one eye a little open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This part of the eye is red and I think is because it get dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any nutrient or solution so he close his eye while he sleeps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/96Lfq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/96Lfq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My dog with the red eye&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This photo has two months. I think his eye is still the same.&#xA;His nose is much better: I put on it mometasone cream for some days, then vaseline and then milking cream. The milking cream was the best:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UNSYw.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UNSYw.png&quot; alt=&quot;Milking cream Nortcrem&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translated to English: &lt;em&gt;Milk cream with Aloe Vera. Healing - Lubricant - Moisturizing. For milky cows.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was in the street without food and eating from the garbage. But now he is very happy with me, the veterinary and real food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BN7gA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BN7gA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The dog&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Ac13.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Ac13.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The Dos in the fields&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1034" LastEditorUserId="1034" LastEditDate="2019-01-18T12:04:06.337" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T12:04:06.337" Title="Dog with red eye because sleeps with eye opened (photo)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23497" CreationDate="2019-01-17T17:38:28.390" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like his nictitating membrane (the &quot;third eye lid&quot;) is inflamed. You should go to the vet for several reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get some antibiotic or anti-inflammatory eye drops to treat the current inflammation. Eye drops work better than antibiotic pills, because the active substances cannot be transported very well from the blood stream into the eye.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think vets put special eye drops with vaseline into the eyes of animals they put under anaesthetic to prevent the eyes drying out. Maybe you can get some of those for your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His eyes look somewhat bulging and he may be unable to completely close his eyelids. In this case his eye may get infected again and again. Ask the vet if this can be corrected with an operation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And I only now noticed that his nose looks really dry and flaky. A healthy dog should have a cool and moist nose. While this is by no means an indication that he is somehow ill, it sure looks uncomfortable. Doesn't hurt to do a general health check while you're at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-17T20:49:01.127" LastActivityDate="2019-01-17T20:49:01.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-18T01:44:42.343" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we have three dogs of ages: 5, 3, and 7 months. We take the two older dogs outside to go potty at the same time and take the puppy separately because she gets distracted to easily. Whenever we take the puppy out our 3 year old starts jumping on the gate and screaming as loud as he can and absolutely freaking out. We tried switching it up and taking him out with the puppy and taking the 5 year old out alone, and he did the same thing. Is this some form of separation anxiety? Is there anything we can do to stop it? I’m at a loss as to what to do at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Grxun.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14051" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T00:22:38.660" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:22:38.660" Title="Anxious dog howls and screams when we take our other dog out" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23499" CreationDate="2019-01-18T04:42:12.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried just 1 of you walking the pup and the other staying behind to comfort and console the other? The 3 year old for sure has anxiety. Have some one stay back with him and pet and talk to him in a calm voice over time he should adjust. Say things like its ok, calm down ect and as he starts to calm down reward him with a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14052" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-18T05:26:31.083" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T05:26:31.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23497" CreationDate="2019-01-18T06:19:03.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many stroke patients or folks who have contracted Bell's Palsy lack the ability to close their (affected side) eye completely, and it does lead to problems with dryness, irritation, and at worse, ulceration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment is to put a small amount of a minimally medicated opthalmic ointment in their eye every night at bedtime, then closing their eyelid manually, to  move it around, rubbing/spreading it around the globe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It probably wouldn't hurt to use a lubricating eyedrop a couple times a day until the redness diminishes to equal that of the unaffected eye. (Some redness is not necessarily a sign of pathology. One of my dogs had red conjunctiva for 13 years for no apparent reason.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T06:19:03.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23507" CreationDate="2019-01-18T13:42:27.103" Score="1" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, to start off, I have seen this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1757/5-month-puppy-first-day-at-home-guarding-couch-growling-biting&quot;&gt;Guarding couch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which deals with a problem that occurred in the one incident, but it seemed more related to guarding than anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am about to have a new puppy around the house and will probably be posting / seeking much help from this community in the process. She was just born, so will have her after some weeks before the transfer, so my wife and I are trying to be as informed as we can before hand.  We have both owned dogs before, and dog sat many times, but we have one disagreement so I wanted to get some thoughts from people who have more experience and actual evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it bad to let a new puppy up on furniture, such as our couch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will have a separate crate / bed always left open for her so she has her own space, so does allowing her as a puppy up on the couch initially create the thought that it is her space as well and she can come up whenever she wants? I have seen where people say to let the dogs up only when they are invited and then they should obey when you tell them to get off, but isn't it easier and more repeatable to simply not let them up in the first place? For me I find it confusing for the dogs that sometimes they are allowed but other times they are not, so seems harder to enforce the not allowed part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T21:36:06.603" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T21:36:06.603" Title="Allowing puppy on couch" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23508" CreationDate="2019-01-18T15:05:45.537" Score="4" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love dogs and all other animals, and have a 4 year old Lab. The place where I live, there are 5 stray dogs. I love all of them and feed them everyday thrice when I take my kid out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them is really, really bad. He bites, and even urinates on the other 4 dogs who are unable to retaliate when he attacks. He does that without a reason, he just doesn't like any of them, probably out of a fear that they eat food that would otherwise be given just to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever he sees any other dog out in the sun, he attacks him/her mercilessly. I've feeding that attacker dog from very beginning, ignoring his activities as childish, but in recent months he has become much more vicious. He is biting the other dogs really hard, sometimes on the leg, crotch, or ears, and urinating on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am so damn angry seeing all this and willing to kill him, but something is stopping me, perhaps my love towards them. What should I do so all this stops and those other 4 dogs can live without fear? (Obviously, I can't really take all 4 into my house.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14056" LastEditorUserId="8774" LastEditDate="2019-01-19T19:07:51.527" LastActivityDate="2019-01-19T19:07:51.527" Title="How to deal with violent stray dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23499" CreationDate="2019-01-18T17:31:15.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog is indeed very anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/23500/12501&quot;&gt;answer of user14052&lt;/a&gt; has the potential to solve the problem, but depending on how you interact with your dog, it could make it so much worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me explain: &lt;em&gt;For the sake of simplicity I'll refer to the 7 months old dog as &amp;quot;Puppy&amp;quot; and the 3 years old as AD (anxious dog).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;quot;Puppy outside&amp;quot; is a stimulus that is connected to negative feelings. AD expresses these negative feelings by yowling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eventually, Puppy comes back inside while AD is still yowling. He connects his action (yowling) with the positive outcome that Puppy returns. This is a self-amplifying behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you talk to and pet AD while he's yowling, you actually &lt;em&gt;reward&lt;/em&gt; his yowling, which amplifies the behavior even more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you could use the same mechanism to change and eventually stop the behavior in a process called &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Classical conditioning&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;. (This is actually the foundation on which any type of pet training is based.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Stimulus&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We already established that AD reacts to Puppy going outside alone. Fortunately, you are completely in control of when and how long AD is subjected to this stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The New Reward&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to analyze what is the best possible reward for AD. Most dogs react best to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food. Almost all dogs react positively to treats. For the training, you should choose a &lt;em&gt;very special&lt;/em&gt; treat that smells absolutely, irresistibly delicious and he &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; gets outside of the training (like a hotdog wiener or cheese).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play. Some dogs won't accept treats when they're too excited, but a short play session is always welcome. This works best for dogs that are very focused on toys, like the typical &amp;quot;ball junky&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad choices are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Verbal praise. Since AD is very verbal and loud, he wouldn't perceive your praise as a reward, but probably as you joining him in his yowling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Petting. Most dogs love to be petted in a calm situation, but in a training situation, petting was proven to be inefficient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Conditioning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The training is simple in theory, but will most likely require several weeks to change the behavior of AD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One person goes outside with Puppy, one stays inside with AD&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Before Puppy goes outside, you prepare the reward (get the toy or food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When Puppy is outside, you distract AD with the reward. Be absolutely blunt and hold it right under his nose. He must notice the reward over his own anxiety. &lt;strong&gt;It's absolutely vital that AD sees Puppy go outside first (his stimulus) before you introduce the reward.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you caught his attention, move the reward slightly away, so that AD has to &lt;strong&gt;turn his back to Puppy&lt;/strong&gt; in order to get the reward. If he's too focused on Puppy, you can skip this step for the first few training sessions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward AD intensely for a long time to make &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; reward better than his yowling. That means: play with him enthusiastically until Puppy returns or feed him one tiny piece of treat after another to stretch it out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the third dog wants some of the reward as well, either share it or lock him into another room for the duration of the training if he's disrupting too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually this will connect the stimulus of Puppy going outside with positive feelings. After a few weeks of training, you can start to decrease the reward in small increments until, eventually, you can go outside with Puppy while ignoring AD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T00:21:23.760" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T00:21:23.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-18T19:10:24.843" Score="1" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has this infection and when it sees food it go for it (it doesn't refuse the idea ) but it tries to smell it and then Nothing .. It have been 4 day till now .. anybody tell me what to do t make it through this period until the infection and the antibiotic course end and get to be effective  .. and is ther any ways to make it eat or to get its nose cleaned &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14057" LastEditorUserId="14057" LastEditDate="2019-01-18T19:20:34.573" LastActivityDate="2019-01-18T19:20:34.573" Title="My cat have respiratory infection and it cant eat? it want to eat but cat smell it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-01-18T19:14:32.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23503" CreationDate="2019-01-18T20:36:27.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, all dogs like to be on furniture because it satisfies their instinct to be in a heightened place where they can overlook their surroundings. The physical height can also be an indicator of their rank (I'll come back to that later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it bad?   No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as humans are concerned, there are very different reasons why people don't want their dogs on the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dirt and hair&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs step into dirt, dig through mud and trash, sometimes roll in poop and constantly shed fur. It's no surprise some people don't want that on their couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your concern, you can put a blanket or towel on the couch and teach your dog that she's only allowed to sit on there. The blanket can be washed or replaced and the couch stays clean. Depending on how obedient your dog is, it can work so well that she doesn't hop onto the couch at all when her blanket isn't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Damage to the couch&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs scratch at soft surfaces to make a bedding for themselves. You could protect the couch with a blanket or scold the dog for doing this. As long as you don't ignore the problem, it's easy to correct this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs don't get walks or playtime and start chewing up pillows and furniture out of pure boredom. That's not the fault of the dog, but the owner. If you don't entertain your dog, your dog'll find entertainment all by herself. &lt;strong&gt;And you won't like that.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Damage to the dog&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, very small dogs have very delicate bones and joints. Some vets recommend not letting small breeds like Chihuahua, small Terriers, Basset Hounds or Dachshunds hop down from a couch because it could lead to increased joint wear in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply provide a ramp or a dog stair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dominance&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be a real problem but is more likely to happen with male dogs than females. As mentioned before, the height of a dog's resting spot may indicate this dog's rank. If a dog has the tendency to dominate the family, allowing him free access to the couch can make the situation worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not letting the dog sit on the couch (or bed, or chair) at all is the most simple way to avoid dominant behavior. Having the dog &amp;quot;ask for permission&amp;quot; and sometimes denying this permission is another way that works, but may look for an outsider like a human bullying the dog on a random whim for no reason at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own (male) dog has different phases when he is more or less dominant. Letting him hop on the couch whenever he likes noticeably increases his dominant behavior and has led to aggression against us when he didn't want to go off the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Denying him the couch completely has changed his behavior from &amp;quot;dominating all of us&amp;quot; to almost timid in 3 days. But it also decreases the amount of social interaction and petting he gets by a great deal. We opted for the compromise (asking for permission and sometimes being denied) to give him the affection he needs, but making sure he knows his place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Her space?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, your entire house will be &amp;quot;her space&amp;quot;. She won't be sad if she's never allowed onto the couch and she won't start terrorizing you if she's allowed to. The couch is just one aspect of your shared life. Whatever you decide, you should both agree to follow the same rules. If one partner never wants the dog on the couch and the other secretly allows her up, it will be the dog who suffers the scolding and confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T21:32:59.827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T21:32:59.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23504" CreationDate="2019-01-19T03:10:52.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a strong possability that the &quot;mean&quot; dog has begun to view you and your home as &quot;his&quot;. If so, then his behavior may be his way of protecting his territory.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As sweet and noble as that might be, he's physically hurting other dogs. And that makes him dangerous. If he's attacking other animals as viciously as you indicate, there's no way to tell if he'd attack a neighborhood kid, or you. You might think you are safe (yourself) because you are the one feeding him, but there is still a chance that the dog might lunge for the food you are trying to give to another stray.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do not put this dog in your car. (First of all, I cannot picture you dumping this dog in the middle of nowhere. Second of all, this dog doesn't deserve that.) Do not handle this alone. Call your local Animal Countrol office, or a local Dog Rescue, or a Veterinarians' office. Let them deal with this. Be somewhere else when they come and let them know a) there are 5 strays - not just one, and b) one of those strays is dangerous.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't feel bad about this. Those dogs need to be in a better environment and you cannot expect yourself to give that to them. The best thing you can do is to try to get them the help they need. There's no shame in that. You can only do what you can do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-19T03:10:52.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-19T22:55:43.617" Score="1" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've scoured the internet and found lots of similar questions, so I know the answer is just to give it time. But if anyone has any suggestions and reassurances I'd love to hear them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a rescue cat just under a week ago. She's just over a year old and was being fostered in a home with several other cats. The woman who fostered her said she had become significantly less timid in the few months she'd been there, eventually seeking out pets and affection, and thought she might one day be a lap cat (obviously no guarantees). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made the mistake of not confining her to one room when I first brought her home (though I have a small apartment and not a lot of rooms with doors that aren't my bedroom), and she's since been hiding most of the time. She occasionally creeps into whatever room I'm in to hide there, but only in the evenings. I've tried to give her space, although I think I pushed too hard one day and set us back a bit. She tends to squirm backwards, further under the bed/couch, if I approach her slowly with a treat in my hand. She's eating well and using the litter box without any issues. She does tend to explore more at night when I'm asleep, because she wakes me up meowing (is she anxious?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the issue is that I'm impatient and worried that she'll never warm up to me. It's only been a week, but she's a darling and I'm eager to pet her. Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable, or anything I shouldn't do? I assume it's too late to confine her to one room. Has anyone had experience with a rescue cat that took a long while to get comfortable? How long did you wait? Any assurances would be greatly appreciated. She's my first solo pet and I'm anxious about doing the right thing. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14062" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T15:28:14.490" Title="Hiding rescue cat will get comfortable one day?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-01-21T15:12:27.217" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-20T01:15:02.853" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grandma is moving into an assisted living facility. She currently lives on a 10 acre farm with her outdoor cat that's about 9 years old. A family member is going to be moving into the farm house. My grandma loves the cat very much, but can go either way in terms of keeping him or leaving him on the farm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is which would cause the cat more stress, losing his owner or moving from a farm to a small urban apartment complex?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14063" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:25:51.023" Title="Which causes more stress for a cat, losing its owner or moving?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23518" CreationDate="2019-01-20T01:50:17.790" Score="2" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mix of Border Collie with Australian Shepherd. Recently we moved to a country house and now he has a 24/7 access to big green fields and almost 24/7 human attention. Happy dog. But I'm worried about him going over his limits for his love of playing. Looks like even when tired he just continues to find stuff to do, run, catch, bark.&#xA;Is that ok? Or should I put some limits? My other dogs are not that crazy and I never had that worry with them, even though they had the same benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14064" LastEditorUserId="14064" LastEditDate="2019-01-20T01:57:08.117" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T10:15:01.727" Title="My dog won't get tired" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-20T04:49:15.010" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today one of our tenants was on the rooftop. She had her huge teddy bear in hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time I went to roof to have a walk with Bhutu (my cat). By seeing the teddy Bhutu was frightened to hell. She ran for her dear life into our rooms. Then she started drinking water insanely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that when cats get frightened, they tend to drink a lot of water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, I want to know the biochemical reactions that go inside the cat's body and resultant behavioral output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also then my cat has gone to deep sleep by my side and is snoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T12:59:17.580" Title="Does frightened cat drink a lot of water?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23511" CreationDate="2019-01-20T06:52:45.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much. If the dog is able to stop or slow down whenever it feels like it, it's fine. When you read about overexercising it typically means small breeds or puppies are taken on too long walks and they'll just have to follow on leash no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2019-01-20T06:52:45.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-20T07:38:40.080" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My water conditions aren't the best, yet, my fishes are doing their best so far. I want to put a fungus and fin rot remedy in the fish tank but none of them have it (at least  I don't think so). &#xA;Two-three fishes each have a tumor/lump. One-two fish have a dark red area on their gills and two fishes has a swimming bladder disorder (one is permanent). I have 6 fishes in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my water conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pH - 6.6-7&#xA;Nitrate - 200+ppm (may be due to poor filter)&#xA;Nitrite - 0-.5ppm&#xA;Hardness - 300+ppm&#xA;Chlorine - 0 ppm&#xA;Alkalinity - 0-40ppm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14068" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:33:39.760" Title="Is it safe to add medication in a fish tank if there is no sick* fishes?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-03-22T17:02:38.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23511" CreationDate="2019-01-20T08:15:10.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Border Collies and Australian Shepherds are both rather extreme working breeds, so a mix of both is an equally extreme high energy / high maintenance dog. Giving your dog the opportunity to burn off most of that energy on his own is actually a good thing. Don't forget to walk with him and do basic obedience training to keep a personal bond with him and keep him under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only instance when I would worry is when the dog develops obsessive compulsive  behavior. Common OCDs in dogs include hunting either shadows or speckles of light, constant barking, constant repetition of certain movements (like running in circles) and obsession with toys to the point that they ignore food and sleep as long as the toy is in sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OCD in dogs is almost always caused by boredom. If you suspect or notice that your dog has OCD, you have to train &lt;strong&gt;much more&lt;/strong&gt; with him to stimulate his brain and distract him from his compulsive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="14064" LastEditDate="2019-02-01T10:15:01.727" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T10:15:01.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23510" CreationDate="2019-01-20T08:33:50.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either situation will cause stress to the cat. The more important question should be: What is the best for the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer depends on the personality of the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If he is used to roam the farm every day and goes stir crazy if confined to the farm house for a day, you should leave him at the farm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the cat snuggles with your grandma or sleeps inside the house all day and doesn't care too much about going outside, move him in with grandma.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the cat roams the farm and is very affectionate, you should ask yourself: Is the new apartment big enough? Will he find enough entertainment to be happy? Most problematic behaviors in pets are caused by boredom. If your grandma cannot play with the cat anymore due to physical constraints, she might become overwhelmed if he develops problematic behaviors. The safest choice is to leave the cat at the farm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-01-20T08:33:50.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23521" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-20T12:21:11.067" Score="7" ViewCount="529" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs need to be entertained and physically and mentally stimulated to feel happy. Many behavioral problems are either caused by boredom or could be treated by engaging the dog in different games and trainings. The most obvious entertainment is a walk with the dog, but sometimes the weather is too bad or health concerns don't allow for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are different ways to entertain a dog besides walks?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to collect different ideas for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High maintenance dogs who have more energy than can be burned during a walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternatives to a walk for days with bad weather or for pet owners who cannot or don't want to walk their dogs regularily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Activities for injured, disabled or old dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This a general question per the meta post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2256/12501&quot;&gt;General question about different ways to entertain dogs&lt;/a&gt;. Ideally, each answer should contain the instruction for one specific game or training and categorize for which dogs it's best suited (for example: small / high energy / disabled / intelligent dogs).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T12:07:44.400" Title="Alternatives to walking a dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23524" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-20T14:07:24.463" Score="1" ViewCount="2326" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just had my cat neutered and he does not seem to be adjusting to the cone well at all. Feeding time is also difficult because he's very animated with his eating motions so it's nearly impossible to hand-feed him but it's also a massive chore to get the cone back on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What alternatives to the cone can I use so that he can feed and drink more easily but also keep him from irritating his injury? For full context, I also have a small dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14072" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:21:06.840" Title="Alternatives to cones?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-01-24T07:30:04.090" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-20T18:16:31.200" Score="6" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Obedience training&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; all dogs of all ages&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time requirement:&lt;/strong&gt; max. 10 minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the classic &quot;Sit down&quot;, &quot; Come here&quot; and &quot;Stay&quot; that is fun for your dog (if done right) and gives you a tool at hand to control him in dangerous situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/pHKOra47fsQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clicker&lt;/a&gt; can be used for this, but is not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All dogs crave social interaction and most dogs love to please you. Use this to teach your dog important commands and give him praise and recognition for his work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You first teach your dog what action is expected after which command, then reward him if he did the corresponding action after hearing the command. Most dogs react best to either treats or toys as a reward in addition to vocal praise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going into ways to teach each individual command would be too much for this site, but there are more than enough tutorials online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the basic commands, there are much more tricks you can teach your dog, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lay down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;roll over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;turn in a circle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sit up and beg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nod your head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high five&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jump up / over my arm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What seems like training to us can feel like play to a dog. You should repeat the commands regularily, even after your dog understood and learned them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-11-16T09:27:01.700" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T09:27:01.700" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:27:01.700" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-20T18:41:46.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Single Dog Sledding&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; big, strong breeds with a need to run&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time requirement:&lt;/strong&gt; differs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirement:&lt;/strong&gt; some wheels for you and a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.windchill.com.au/Measuring.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dog sledding harness or weight pulling harness&lt;/a&gt;. Never ever let your dog pull you by a collar (that can permanently crush the throat) or &quot;normal&quot; walking harness (that constricts the rib cage and suffocates your dog)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This in an alternative for dogs who have way more energy than their owners. You need to teach your dog to follow the commands &quot;left&quot;, &quot;right&quot; and &quot;stop&quot;. Professional dog sledders use sounds like &quot;kie&quot; and &quot;ha&quot; that are easier to discern for the dogs while running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You let your dog pull you on a stable vehicle like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a bike&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a little cart, trolley, bobbycar, soapbox or the like&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a sled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skates or a skateboard, if you are stable and confident on them (only for advanced riders, since braking is difficult)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-11-16T09:28:00.230" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T09:28:00.230" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:28:00.230" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-20T19:01:06.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Scent games&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; physically less active dogs, tracking dog breeds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time requirement:&lt;/strong&gt; 3 - 5 repititions, 5 minutes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different variations of this game, but for all you need a treat with a strong, delicious smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shell / hat game&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let your dog sit down and wait. Place 3 cups or dessert bowls upside down on the ground where your dog can see them. Put one treat under one bowl, but pretend to put one under each bowl. Call your dog, let him sniff at the bowls and lift it if he lingers at one (even if it's the wrong one) until he found the treat. Moving the bowls between each repitition helps dissipate lingering scents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Muffin tin lottery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take an old muffin tin or similar object with several indentations. Place treats in some of the indentations, then cover each of them with a tennis ball, small plushy or similar. The dog has to sniff out where the treats are hidden and how to get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Credit for the idea goes to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wideopenpets.com/10-games-keep-dog-mentally-stimulated/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wide Open Pets&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Track the treat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let your dog sit down and wait. Move a treat closely over the ground where your dog cannot see it, then hide it (or just drop it). Call your dog and let him find the treat by the scent trail you created. Choose a new location for each repitition because each subsequent trail makes it harder to find the newest one. Hiding the treat above ground level also makes it harder to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T18:57:11.240" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T18:57:11.240" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:27:28.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-21T08:14:00.360" Score="-4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;At times I am so deeply engaged in a play session, that even when the cat wants to stop and rest I keep prodding her for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also sometimes when I feel too bored and my cat is sleeping, I wake her up for a play. She sheepishly plays on for a minute before dozing off again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want my cat to have bad health. So am I doing it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be noted that cats dislike persons who are cruel to cats. In contrary me and my mother are closest ones to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no play toy. Here the mode of play is gentle wrestling. The same as between two kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here even the bed is my lap and not any sofa and couch, usually I am working and my cat is sleeping on my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat's general routine is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping. She sleeps the rest of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not even 1% crepuscular. She is awake only when we are awake, sleeps with us under blanket in night and in deep sleep at dawn when we all sleep together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is always on leash. The reason being otherwise her life is in threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is sometimes taken out for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T12:14:04.197" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T12:14:04.197" Title="Is it bad for the cat's health if I keep prodding my cat to play when she wants to rest or sleep?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23533" CreationDate="2019-01-21T11:31:13.783" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats aren't toys!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are living creatures - and like (most) living creatures they need a sufficient amount of sleep in order to maintain their health, and cats in particular sleep quite a lot (16-20 hours a day depending on their age) and are naturally awake on a different rhythm than humans are (they are crepuscular so are most alert at dawn and dusk).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 75% of their sleeping time is quite light sleep - intended so that they can wake quickly in response to danger etc. They can wake briefly and return to such a state relatively quickly and easily, so you don't have to walk around on eggshells to avoid waking them - but prodding them awake &lt;em&gt;and keeping them awake when they want to be asleep&lt;/em&gt; is another matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavior you describe is not only (potentially) detrimental to the cat's health it's also downright cruel. &lt;strong&gt;Stop it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T11:31:13.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23514" CreationDate="2019-01-21T12:43:24.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like humans, animals can have their own personal reactions to stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a simple example, we adopted two sisters who are prone to anxiety when strangers are nearby. One is a stress eater, the other is a stress faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that your cat drinks when stressed. It's also possible that she e.g. assumed the teddy bear was going to come in and claim everything for himself so she finished off what she could. We can't really know what goes on in your cat's mind. As far as I'm aware, water drinking is not a known universal feline reponse to stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; There may be an indirect connection in that the scary event caused her to run very fast, which then caused her to need to drink afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T12:59:17.580" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T12:59:17.580" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23342" CreationDate="2019-01-21T12:54:08.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trick is not to let the girl approach the cat, but to let the cat approach the girl. You need to get the cat to consent to interacting with someone she currently does not want to interact with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple solution can be found via treats. If the girl holds treats, without being too forward towards your cat, the cat has two choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Face her apprehension and get treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refuse to interact and get no treats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probable that she'll refuse to engage the first few times. However, every time nothing happens, is also a (silent) interaction between the girl and the cat which does not end negatively for the cat. Over time, the cat is going to realize that this girl has not harmed her the last 10 times she saw her, so why would she now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll see that she'll inch closer, and eventually will take the bait and go for the treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: It's also possible that the cat refuses to interact with the girl, end of discussion. Some bad memories stay bad memories; and you're not going to fix it by forcing the cat into an interaction she does not want. Sad as it may be, if she does not want to reconsider interacting with the girl, then you should respect that decision. All you can do it give her a benefit to voluntarily interacting such as treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T12:54:08.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23524" CreationDate="2019-01-21T14:53:52.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had to cone all my cats at one point or another, and none of them were fond of it. Here's the two best solutions I found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://allfourpaws.com/comfy-cone/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Comfy Cone&lt;/a&gt; is an example of a softer cone, and way better than the rigid ones my vets give. The plush material seems to bother the cats less, and it's less rigid (so they can work around it easier to eat) while still keeping them safely contained. I own a Small (a bit too big for my small cats, good on medium-large cats) and an X-Small (perfect for my 7-8lb cat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat, small dog, or baby clothing, like hoodies, sweaters, and button-up shirts. As long as your pet isn't the kind to flail and struggle until they get it off, these have worked really fell for me in stopping them from grooming over wounds. Note that sizing is important (too small and they'll be uncomfortable, smidge too large and they'll slip a front leg off and get out)--if buying online, get 2-3 different sizes right around your pet's to be safe, since they're cheap.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0725C5JGL&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Inflatable cones&lt;/a&gt; are another alternative. While I have no experience using them, they seem like a decent alternative if the field-of-view restriction of soft/hard cones are too much for your cat, and they can't be put into protective clothing either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13763" LastEditorUserId="13763" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T16:21:06.840" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:21:06.840" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23509" CreationDate="2019-01-21T15:04:31.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A week is not much time to acclimatize. We adopted two sisters who, when visiting their foster home, did not show their face to us. At all. The foster mom said that they do come out for food, but they will wait it out if any strangers are present. We adopted them anyway because our mind was already made up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We kept them in one room for two weeks, visitng every day. We even got to give them treats after the first week, but whenever either of us moved (even wiggled a foot) they'd back off. The only movement that didn't startle them was playing with toys or giving treats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After two weeks we opened the staircase to them. It took them over a day to even &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to explore that room. When we eventually opened the whole house to them, they weren't particularly interested in going downstairs. They would only go there when we were down, but they wouldn't go together with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it took them two months to want to walk around in the house, and maybe six weeks more before they actually used the downstairs as a living space rather than a rarely visited &quot;outside&quot; area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, your cat may be much quicker. Ours still shy away from visitors (or cars coming near the driveway) and that's after two years now; so I'm aware our cats are more shy than the average cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you didn't confine her to a room, you've given her ample room to not deal with you if she doesn't want to. That's okay, but it means it might take a bit longer before she has enough experience in dealing with you that she starts trusting you more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She uses the litter box, she eats, she explores when unsupervised. You have a healthy, functional cat&lt;/strong&gt;. Just give her time (and maybe lure her with treats) so she can figure out that you're not a competitor but a friend. Try to avoid instigating interactions, as this can cause them to back off and trust you less. Not so much because you risk permanently breaking something (you won't unless you take it to extremes or you have a pathologically terrified cat), but rather because regression means it will take longer overall for her to get used to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on already having pushed the topic with her in the week she's there, I think you're either being impatient or have misjudged the timeframe it takes for them to adjust. I would give her a month, up to three if you have a relatively shy/anxious cat, before I'd worry about them not opening up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's only been a week, but she's a darling and I'm eager to pet her. Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable, or anything I shouldn't do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to safely approach a cat in this situation is to let them make the first move. This means you ensure that they consent to the interaction and thus won't blame you for approaching them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest way is by offering treats. This gives the cat a choice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay in my comfort zone and have no treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Approach the human and get treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if she doesn't go for it initially, you're creating a rapport. The cat observed you and noticed that you weren't a threat or too imposing for her. The longer this goes on, the more that the cat will subconsciously forget &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; it's choosing to not come closer for the treat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Essentially, they will eventually think &quot;they haven't harmed me at any point. Might as well go and get the treat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she does, keep this schedule up. You're not there yet. You've broken the first layer of ice. Now, what you do is repeat the ritual to reinforce the &quot;Marie = giver of nice things&quot; habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you can start using the treats to get them to do what you want. For example, I gave them half of their treat (3 pieces of sausage). The other three pieces, they only got after petting them once.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This repeats the same pattern: they were initially unwilling, but eventually realized that &quot;getting a pet isn't so bad and hey, we get some treats!&quot;. They took it far enough to come to me to offer pets (pushing themselves into me) because they assumed that would also give them treats. And for a little while, I did (because I wanted to reinforce it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you feel like you've sufficiently reinforced the behavior that they needed to learn, you can move on to another step, e.g. putting a treat on your lap so they come closer. But whenever they hesitate, make sure that the old deal is still valid, so they don't feel like they've lost the previous deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2019-01-21T15:28:14.490" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T15:28:14.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23510" CreationDate="2019-01-21T16:25:51.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's more likely that moving to the living facility will be more stressful for the cat, although there should be other things about the situation you might also consider. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats generally don't become so attached to people they become obviously despondent in their absence, unlike dogs. However, a cat will definitely miss the familiarity of their person and their routine. But her cat's routine will be lost regardless, as your grandmother's routine will certainly be disrupted by transitioning to assisted living, and worse, in an assisted living situation, there will be strangers bustling in and out, which most cats will not handle well.   Meanwhile, the fact that the cat is an outdoor cat means that it probably is already used to her not being where it is all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, cats come in a wide variety, so it may be the case that her cat is unusually attached to her, and so moving it might make more sense. In the end, it is up to you to assess if the cat gets unusually stressed from the absence of its human. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think there are other things to consider. What your grandmother wants very much matters. Does she want to keep her pet? Losing your autonomy is obviously very hard, and holding on to particularly treasured things or beloved pets helps ease a very tough situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I would consider the other factors of this particular situation, such as the fact the cat is used to be an outdoor cat on a farm. If it were allowed outdoors in an urban area, I'd be very worried it would be hit by a car. Therefore moving the cat may be an issue of the cat's safety. As for the alternative, making it an indoor cat, that would be another disruption to its routine, and as a result, and yet another source of stress. Many cats do not adjust well from being an outdoor cat to an indoor cat as well, sometimes even developing behavior issues due to the boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-01-21T16:25:51.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20355" CreationDate="2019-01-21T17:07:13.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Amazon area, where angels are native, the water temperature is often 86 °F (30 °C). This is from a quick look at H. Bleher's Discus book. He has collected fish throughout central and south America and lists water parameters (temperature, oxygen, conductivity - salt, etc.) from hundreds of locations. Water movement/aeration is more important at higher temperatures. So unless your tank is very crowded and over 86 °F, I wouldn't worry.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:24:03.203" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:24:03.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-21T18:57:41.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Unpack the Treat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; small dogs, physically inactive dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirements:&lt;/strong&gt; the tube of an empty roll of toilet paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Press the empty toilet paper tube flat, then push the upper rim towards the center to close one end of the tube. Place a treat inside, then close the other end of the tube. Give it to your dog and let him unpack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6tas9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6tas9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;fold toilet paper tube&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://food-and-community.tesco.ie/home/our-little-helps/how-tos/toilet-roll-tube-gift/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;image source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be prepared to clean up shreds of paper tube. You can use other empty containers for this game, but the paper should always be free of plastics or prints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T14:12:59.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:12:59.067" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:28:28.007" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-21T19:35:51.013" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Food Dispenser Balls / Kong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; disabled, injured and physically inactive dogs and dogs who gobble up their food way to fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirement:&lt;/strong&gt; a dog food dispenser toy (can be DIYed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These toys are empty balls that can be filled with treats that slowly fall through a small hole in the ball when it's being rolled around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one example, but these types of balls are made by many companies in many sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5HsEz.jpg&quot; height=&quot;300&quot;/&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should buy a food ball that is &lt;strong&gt;too big&lt;/strong&gt; for your dog for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the opening for the treats is always very small. You won't be able to fit treats of the &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; size for your dog into a ball that has the &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; size for your dog;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog should not be able to take the ball up in his snout. The seemingly easiest way to get all the treats is to break the ball, but that could seriously hurt your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can craft your own food dispenser by cutting 3 - 4 holes that are double the size of the treat into the walls of an empty plastic bottle or plastic container, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lnYQD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lnYQD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;DIY food dispenser bottle&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetFinder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another variation of food dispenser is the Kong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/60bLk.jpg&quot; height=&quot;300&quot;/&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You fill the inner cavity with any dry or wet food and let the dog lick it out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.k9ofmine.com/how-to-stuff-kong-dog-toy/#what%20to%20put%20in%20a%20kong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The homepage of the producer&lt;/a&gt; offers a promotion video of how to fill the Kong and a list of possible fillings that includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peanut butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cottage cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yogurt (related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21235/12501&quot;&gt;Can dogs eat yoghurt?&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canned pumpkin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mashed banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog’s usual meal (great way to feed dogs who inhale their meals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog biscuits (cram one or two into the Kong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheez whiz or other spray cheese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A mixture paste of 1/2 wet dog food and 1/2 dry dog food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should choose the length of the Kong according to the length of your dog's tongue. Most dogs get frustrated if they cannot reach the last bit at the very and of the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-29T12:07:44.400" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T12:07:44.400" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:26:42.717" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-21T19:44:07.467" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Object recognition&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; very intelligent dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirements:&lt;/strong&gt; various toys and plushies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you teach your dog the name of a toy (like ball, bone, teddy bear, rope) by showing him the toy and saying the name. Then you throw the toy and ask your dog to &quot;bring the [name]&quot;. Since the motion of the thrown toy catches the interest of your dog, he will further associate the name with the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few repetitions of the learning phase, you can let your dog retrieve the right object from a selection of toys or from a different room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T14:13:45.590" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:13:45.590" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:27:51.750" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2019-01-22T00:23:33.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He could have bladder swim disease. He may have a bloated stomach if you look close. It common if you purchased out of pet store. The cups they come in are not heated and they do not have space to exercise. If they are too cold and do not have space to move they stay at rest. This causes them to eat more then they burn off. You can try not feeding him for three days and then feeding a quarter of a boiled frozen pea. Also, you can buy a seven dollar water heater. If he is warm he is more likely to move around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14079" LastActivityDate="2019-01-22T00:23:33.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23511" CreationDate="2019-01-22T02:31:26.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't ignore the fact that you just moved and now he has this huge yard to protect. Give him some time to explore. And remember, just because you think he is going non-stop doesn't mean he is. He may very well have found a favorite spot on your land where he lays in the sun and naps before coming back home.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;p.s. You might consider getting hime a &quot;bear bell&quot; so he can avoid (the less) friendly wildlife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-22T02:31:26.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-22T04:10:37.540" Score="2" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dragon is a hatchling from the pet store. I've got him in a 10 gallon tank for now which stays 95 °F in hot end and 75 °F in cool end. He surfs glass a lot. I have checked all the sites on this subject to find out why and I even covered inside tank on three sides so he can't see reflection. He eventually goes in his rock a little after I switch to night lamp but when I pull him out and put him on chest he wiggles in between chest and blanket and goes to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: is this normal or is there something I'm doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14080" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:39:52.640" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:39:52.640" Title="Dragon scratching glass a lot" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-22T05:24:58.710" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been browsing probiotic solutions for horses. I was wondering if it's safe for horses to eat yoghurt with live cultures&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21235/can-dogs-eat-yoghurt&quot;&gt;Can dogs eat yoghurt?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-01-22T05:24:58.710" Title="Can horses eat yoghurt?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23550" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-22T10:15:17.420" Score="3" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse has &lt;a href=&quot;https://kb.rspca.org.au/how-can-i-take-care-of-my-horse-with-queensland-itch_481.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Queensland itch&lt;/a&gt;. I'm looking for a range of options to treat it. I'm concerned about the use of poisonous chemicals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UVkw4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UVkw4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-03-04T02:51:42.017" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T02:51:42.017" Title="How to treat Queensland itch?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-23T06:34:06.667" Score="2" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband built his own fish tank via sealing it himself and building the frame. Should it make a chirping noise all of a sudden?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WfpMi.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WfpMi.png&quot; alt=&quot;wooden fishtank, large &quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14089" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-03T16:17:23.367" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T16:17:23.367" Title="My husband built a 98 gallon (370 L) fish tank. Is it normal for it to make a chirping noise?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23555" CreationDate="2019-01-23T08:41:45.793" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water is heavy! A tank like this can easily contain hundreds of kgs of water. That is a lot of weight. That means that a fishtank needs to be structurally sound in order to keep all that water inside, out of your living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a project like this, where you have a wooden cabinet around your fishtank, it's important that the pressure of the water isn't put on weak spots, like those long thin wooden supports. To do this, you could have the glass panes of the tank, seal them together so that they act as a standalone tank that can support the water inside it. And then build the wooden cabinet around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to tell, but it looks like that is not the case here. It looks like the glass panes are fitted in between the supports. That way, all the pressure of the water will end up on the supports, pushing it outwards. It's very possible that this pressure is straining the wood, making it make the sounds you describe. This is not a good sign. It means that your structure is not up to the task of keeping those thousands of kgs of water in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2019-01-28T10:30:12.807" LastActivityDate="2019-01-28T10:30:12.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23555" CreationDate="2019-01-23T16:37:23.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is very attractive but you should make it terrarium. Filled with water it is about 850 lb  (400 kg) ; the frame is strong enough but not stiff enough. I think it is too tall for the size of the wood . The wood will flex more than the glass putting high strain and stress on the sealing compound. A friend built a similar size tank but with different proportions and thicker  wood; it was very successful.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="9804" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T19:14:53.733" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T19:14:53.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-23T17:57:22.787" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is 11 weeks old now and huge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was told his dam is german shepherd/timber wolf mix, she looks like classic german shepherd to me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His sire was a husky/anatolian shepherd mix, but I did not see him. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His ears are beginning to straighten out and more often then not are fully up, his snout is also longer lit a shepherd. 3 of his siblings were blonde like the one in the picture, 2 were just like a German shepherd. There was one who closely resembled a catahula markings and then him...all the litter had medium coats, he still has his as well. Also his facial coloring have not changed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any idea on what could cause this type of coloring in these breeds? I see the German shepherd, but I'm so confused on where the coloring comes from...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2mu0b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T1kub.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14092" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-01-23T18:16:26.167" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T14:42:16.277" Title="Mixed breed puppy, unique facial coloring" Tags="&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-23T18:42:06.670" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Frisbee&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; physically active and toy/object oriented dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;material requirement:&lt;/strong&gt; at least 2 fisbees suited for the size of your dog. I recommend dog frisbees made of rubber or textiles so your dog cannot hurt himself while catching. (My own dog hurt humself once and never wanted to play frisbee again)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The game itself is simple: you throw the frisbee, your dog catches it and brings it back to you. But no master frisbee player has fallen from the sky yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First training session:&lt;/strong&gt; Play some tug of war with your dog using the frisbee to show him that it's a toy. Roll the frisbee over the ground on it's edge, like you would roll a coin on a table. This gives your dog the chance to get acquainted with the frisbee and how to snatch it up. Once your dog has the frisbee, call him to you and bait him with the other frisbee you have. Roll the next frisbee only if he is close enough that you can pick up his (first) frisbee comfortably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beginners training:&lt;/strong&gt; Once your dog understood that the frisbee is a toy, start throwing it weakly in a straight line close to the ground. Make your actions very obvious so your dog knows where the frisbee will fly before it leaves your hand. Always throw the next frisbee only when your dog brings his caught frisbee close enough. The goal is to minimize the distance you have to walk to pick the frisbees up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should stop the training as soon as your dog shows first signs of exhaustion. That way you stop while it's still so much fun and keep your dog interested in playing the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced training:&lt;/strong&gt; Start throwing the frisbee stronger, in a high arc or a curve. Change the directions of consecutive frisbees. If you want to, you can teach your dog &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS-X0qmlAi4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;different tricks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-01-23T18:42:06.670" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:27:38.580" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-01-23T19:17:07.307" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Digging box&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; dogs who dig up your garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirements:&lt;/strong&gt; a (preferably) wooden box, longer / wider than your dog and some fresh sand either for gardening or for children's sandboxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have an ingrained instinct to dig. This idea gives your dog a dedicated area where they are allowed to dig so they leave your garden or lawn in piece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either buy a basic gardening or sandbox kit from a hardware store or build the box in a DIY project. Place it on the ground and fill it with fresh sand. I propose digging out the upper layer of grass below the box so the sand doesn't trickle out. The soft sand animates your dog to dig there and not anywhere where the sand is hard packed. Hide a toy or treat in the sand for extra fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w0eBJ.jpg&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be warned that cats might like to use the box as a toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credit for the idea goes to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://itsdogornothing.com/how-to-stop-your-dog-from-digging/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;It's Dog or Nothing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T14:16:03.807" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:16:03.807" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-11-16T09:27:17.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23560" CreationDate="2019-01-23T20:09:50.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog's face markings are so cleanly split down the middle, even cleanly breaking patches of various color, which isn't really a normal thing for markings. It makes me wonder if it's a genetic chimera, which is a phenomenon caused by two different zygotes merging in the womb. The result is an animal showing two distinct phenotypes in different areas of its body. This is a phenomenon that's known to rarely happen in pets, or even human beings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I've seen many images of chimera animals split down the middle, this is not necessarily how an animal that is a genetic chimera will look. Sometimes they have random areas of different phenotypes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to know for sure if this hypothesis is true is through genetic testing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of a genetic chimera dog:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jrQGf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-05-05T14:42:16.277" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T14:42:16.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23564" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-24T02:51:05.900" Score="2" ViewCount="4505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a new rescue cat who is slowly settling in - she's very timid, but getting braver every day. This question is about her eyes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she is falling asleep/already asleep and her eyes are half-closed, her pupils kind of roll back into her head. I know this is because of the third eyelid cats have, but I keep seeing online that it could be a sign of serious illness. I've only ever seen it when she's falling asleep, and when she is deeply asleep her eyes are closed all the way and I don't see anything. I've never seen it happen when she is awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly worried because I saw that it could be a symptom of dehydration, and I immediately started wondering if she was getting enough water. I've never seen her drink, and I haven't been monitoring the water level in her bowl closely enough, I guess. She eats a small can of wet food in addition to dry food every day, and there's urine in her litter box every day. I can't really speak to lethargy or not, because she mostly spends her time hiding or sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd take her to the vet, but since she's been here less than a week I can't really get close to her yet, so the effort of catching her and putting her in the carrier would be fairly traumatizing. I will probably call the vet in the morning regardless, to be on the safe side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone seen this before? Do I just have a cat with weird sleep habits, or is it something worse? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14062" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T08:02:15.457" Title="New cat's third eyelid showing when asleep" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-24T03:45:42.147" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle is suffering from same cause which is red blood bubble in his tail which is sacred me thereof. I am living in India where there is no vet facility so please advise me about home remedies which I can do this to my turtle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning&lt;/strong&gt; - Graphic images:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C7OSA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C7OSA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OXh5a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OXh5a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14096" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-25T12:13:00.873" LastActivityDate="2019-01-25T12:13:00.873" Title="Turtle has red blood bubble in his tail" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-24T04:36:19.933" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just learned that my dog is allergic to Pinto beans, beef, milk and liver.  I am at a loss of what I can serve her to eat.  She has episodes of diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14098" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T05:01:57.743" Title="Allergic reactions to food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23564" CreationDate="2019-01-24T07:13:37.380" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm not a vet, so take this with a grain of salt.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen similar effects on several cats and dogs. When they start falling asleep, the muscles relax one after another, not all at the same time. The nictitating membrane (&quot;third eyelid&quot;) tends to close sooner than the external eyelid because the muscles of the eyelid relax later. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've even seen my dog open his eyes during sleep (he was dreaming). His nictitating membrane was fully closed but his eyelids fluttered open. You could clearly see the moment he woke up because only then did his membranes open as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you see the nictitating membrane only while your cat is sleeping or falling asleep, it seems fairly normal. Seeing the membranes when the cat is awake and active is not normal and you should consult a vet. Should your cat ever stop eating, drinking or using the litter box for a whole day, treat it as a medical emergency and consult a vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T07:13:37.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23566" CreationDate="2019-01-24T15:27:36.647" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pinto Beans, beef, milk, and liver&quot; is a very short list, half of which is not truly species-appropriate anyway. There are myriad other options available, whether buying commercial dog foods or preparing your own. Chicken is the most obvious, but there are also foods using lamb, salmon, venison, and other protein sources. Take the initiative to read labels if you are purchasing commercial dog foods, and select an option that does not include the list of foods to which your dog is allergic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T15:27:36.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23555" CreationDate="2019-01-24T17:15:40.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the sound is coming from the filter, the problem is may be very minor; there may be some debris caught in the impeller or elsewhere, or some part may need to be replaced.  Turn off the filter for a few moments and see if you still hear chirping.  If it turn out to be the filter, start with a thorough cleaning and inspection of the filter's parts and look for anything cracked, debris stuck anywhere, or anything else that looks out of place.  If that doesn't resolve a noise coming from the filter, you may need to have it professionally serviced or replaced, depending on the costs involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also rule out sounds coming from any other equipment like bubbler, light fixture, heaters, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the sound is not coming from the filter or equipment, but the tank or stand itself, you may be in much bigger trouble.  You may try to trouble shoot by reducing the water in the tank (maybe while doing a partial water change anyway) and see how that affects the chirping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T17:15:40.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23494" CreationDate="2019-01-24T17:29:04.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key here is the fact that she was wild/feral from 6 weeks - 5.5 months. This means she was likely getting minimal human contact during a good portion of the prime &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/your-guide-to-socializing-a-kitten&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;socializing window&lt;/a&gt;, and the behavior you describe (with it not being malicious) sounds very similar to how cats interact with each other. Affectionate grooming can swap to play fighting/chasing in the blink of an eye and just as quickly switch back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also will bite other cats harder than humans (our epidemis is way thicker than a cats but is less flexible and takes longer to replace itself - so to them small pin-prick bite is barely even worth noticing) whereas cats socialized to humans at young age can easily learn that &quot;play&quot; or affectionate bites to humans need to have less pressure applied (they have remarkable control about how much to apply).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case then given her age I think this might be a difficult one to break - and you might have to settle for quickly defusing it by signalling the desire to return to &quot;cuddle mode&quot; as soon as she flips that switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try training it out you could do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as she &quot;attacks&quot; saw &quot;ow&quot; in a clipped, high pitched voice (essentially like a kitten mewling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;calmly&lt;/em&gt; disengage, place her on the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leave the room as slowly as is practicable to prevent her following. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Return ~10-15 mins later and rinse/repeat as consistently and as often as possible to see if it &quot;takes&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she goes through  a petting session &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; doing this give her a small treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leave quickly - that would likely be read as in invitation to chase.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kick the cat out of the room - the goal is to make it boring not to punish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shout or display any aggression to the cat - you'll either scare her or make her think you want to play fight, neither of which will be productive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional things to try:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think there may be an underlying excess of energy or hunting urges you could try redirecting onto a toy (fishing rod type is generally best for this) as soon as she flips - you're still playing with her but she has a healthy outlet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potential clues in may be an annoyed response&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't sound like it is but watch for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any tail swishing (even if just the tip) - unless you know your kitty does this as contentment this can be a big warning sign&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flattening or twitching of the ears (when you aren't petting that area)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T17:29:04.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23574" CreationDate="2019-01-24T17:59:08.367" Score="7" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend's friend asked us to watch over her cat for a few days, and this will be the first time I will have a cat staying an extended amount of time at my house, with just me as my girlfriend will be working some nights and one day on the weekend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a little bit nervous for this, as I don't have a ton of experience with cats. Is there anything in the house I should have as off-limits by keeping doors closed, etc? Just any advice is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14103" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T18:46:05.807" Title="First time cat sitting - what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23573" CreationDate="2019-01-24T18:46:05.807" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat is staying at your house (which is not the ideal situation), you should keep it confined to a relatively small area, for instance, a guest room or similar smaller space. You'll want to prepare the room as though you were child-proofing it for a guest with a small child, but one that can jump like a professional basketball player (so simply putting dangerous or fragile items &quot;high&quot; will not be sufficient). For some ideas on how to handle the cat during its stay, look at information about adding a newly adopted cat to the household. Your friend's cat will be in a similar situation, and should be handled similarly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal situation is for the cat to stay at your friend's house, so that it remains in a familiar space. Cats do not care for changes in their territory, so by leaving the cat in its current territory, you will save a great deal of stress on it. If the friend is expecting you to be around the cat any time you aren't at work, this would require you to stay at your friend's house. You and your friend will have to agree on this type of situation, however, but you should bring it up now so it can be sufficiently considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the cat, constant supervision by a sitter won't always be necessary; they're more independent than dogs (or children), and can be left unattended for longer periods of time. You'll want to consult with your friend on whether there are special circumstances requiring more continual supervision that would require you to share living space with the cat, as well as specifics for its care and feeding. It's often sufficient to have the &quot;sitter&quot; stop by a couple of times a day (sometimes more, depending on the specifics of care; for me, it's three times per day) to feed the cat, clean the litter box, and possibly spend a little time around the cat (if it likes the sitter) to be sure it's doing well and no accidents or illness have come up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is your friend's first time leaving their cat with a sitter, they'll want to leave instructions for feeding (what, when, and where), water changes (bowl, fountain, etc), litter box cleaning (when, where to discard the waste), any medications, and the numbers for both their regular vet and the nearest emergency vet. As you have minimal experience with cats, I would also suggest having your friend walk you through everything so you are more familiar with all the steps before having the cat's care turned over to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-01-24T18:46:05.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23579" CreationDate="2019-01-24T22:08:05.660" Score="7" ViewCount="499" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was given 3 kittens by a friend whose cat had a litter. Not wanting to separate them, I took all 3. They were great kittens, they played, they loved the house and they seemed healthy. 2 boys and 1 girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, fully grown, the top cat is a big healthy beast of a cat. More than one person has told me that he's the &quot;biggest cat I've ever seen&quot;. About 17 lbs (7.7 kg) but not fat. He rules the house. He's not mean, he just sits there and watches everyone. His name appropriately is Panther, but sometimes I just call him &quot;Boss&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The little one, the only girl, grew up picked on by her brothers. She's soft, cuddly and cute as can be. Despite being basically a twin, she's 11 lbs (around 5 kg) of fluff, but on occasion when she gets spooked, she'll grab you and you get a sense that there's some real muscle behind her fluff.   Growing up she was the smallest and I think she got used to being the smallest. Her name is Peaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The middle one is the one I'm asking about. He and his brother as kittens were equals, but as they grew to full size, Panther added more weight to a more solid frame and Pepper, the middle cat, stayed skinny and he weighs about 14 lbs (6.4 kg) and is visibly skinny. All 3 are currently about 2 years and 8 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to give them treats. Turkey was a favorite but when Pepper started to only want to eat turkey and nothing else, I stopped giving them that. All 3 cats went cold turkey as they say, because I know it's not healthy for a cat to only eat meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, Pepper doesn't seem to like cat food. He eats it sparingly and he's growing skinnier. He's stopped grooming himself as well as his brother and sister and his fur is growing a little bit oily and clumpy. I know that there could be several causes for this, but I'm also wondering if perhaps he just doesn't like cat food and if I can try making him turkey or chicken based meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that some places sell &quot;raw&quot; cat food, but I've tried that in the past and my cats didn't like it. It's also quite expensive, no cheaper than turkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, here's my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is experimenting with feeding him turkey again a bad idea?&lt;/strong&gt; I am asking that in context of feeding it with proper supplements (there's a specific amino acid I think that cats need to be fed that they get from cat food but not from meat), but I don't remember what it is. Is that worth trying or would I just need to make him go cold turkey again if I did that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And can canned and dry cat food be bad for some cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT - Update a couple months later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat who went on the self imposed &quot;I just want to eat sliced turkey&quot; diet has adapted to eating cat food and he's back to being about the same weight as his slightly bigger brother. No longer skinny. He still begs sometimes when I open the fridge, but he's eating cat food again. I have a soft heart and I want to feed him cold cuts, but I don't. I haven't bought turkey slices in nearly 3 months and he seems to have forgotten that they exist. Other meats don't have the same pull on him, so he's good now. So, long story short, the cold turkey with sliced turkey experiment worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick now for me, as they're approaching 3 years old, is that all 3 are slowly putting on weight. I have to ease them into eating less now, but that's another question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MI2WX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MI2WX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8555" LastEditorUserId="8555" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T15:57:11.837" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T00:45:36.977" Title="Is it possible to feed a cat a healthy meat diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-25T02:42:13.153" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago my dog started taking one antibiotics pill a day for a mild otitis. Then he started to cry a lot at night, always next to the house frontgate, as if he had a desperate need for walk. And he never seems to have it enough, as he keeps constantly crying for more all night along. He has even destructed a net we had attached to the frontgate. Also, during walks, he obsessively sniffs the ground, and doesn't want to go back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know for sure, but gases medicine seems to have helped. We would like to be sure. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12096" LastEditorUserId="12096" LastEditDate="2019-01-28T04:40:06.763" LastActivityDate="2019-01-28T04:40:06.763" Title="Is that true that taking pills causes stomach discomfort or pain?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23575" CreationDate="2019-01-25T08:07:15.130" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible to give your cat a homemade food diet. However, you will need to understand exactly what nutrients your cat needs, so you will need to read a lot about what a cat needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only will you need to understand what a cat needs, but also you will have to understand what a cat needs in different stages of his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to add different supplements to the food you make, like &lt;b&gt;taurine&lt;/b&gt;. It is found in meat and fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you will need to add vitamins and minerals to the food. You will have to mix foods from different sources to balance the composition of the food you make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as you can see, making cat food is a science in itself, and even experienced people will have problems in doing this right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are asking about experimenting with giving your cat turkey and I think it is fine to try feeding turkey to see if your cat wants it, but you need to give him other types of food to keep him healthy in the long run. Turkey meat does only cover a part of the diet a cat needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving your cat turkey as a treat is fine, but he will need other types of food to get the nutrients he needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to commercial cat food, I want to say it has taken several decades to develop and improve it to the point where we are today. When development of commercial cat food started, lots of errors where made and the needs of cats were not well known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you buy a good brand of cat food, all of your cat's needs for the different nutrients will be met. If the can/container is marked 100% complete food for cats, you can rest assured the your cat is getting what he needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both canned and dry cat food are safe for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only potential problem is that if your cat drinks too little water when given only dry food, there are chances of developing kidney and urinary tract diseases. However, this can be avoided by providing some canned food so that your cat gets all the water he needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T00:29:20.387" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T00:29:20.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23581" CreationDate="2019-01-25T12:07:35.740" Score="2" ViewCount="2213" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are white patch/spot-like marks on my betta fish's gill and body, which were not there when I bought him from the store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is his usual active self and is eating properly. The spots seemed to have appeared after I have done water change. I use Seachem water conditioner to treat tap water that I use for the aquarium. The only decoration in his tank is an artificial plant and a tree log for hiding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have attached the photos. I am not sure whether he is ill or injured from decorations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/thnYZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14106" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T16:27:05.070" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T16:27:05.070" Title="White patches/spots on my betta" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23580" CreationDate="2019-01-25T13:12:49.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the photo isn't conclusive the most common cause for &amp;quot;white spots&amp;quot; on a Betta is &lt;a href=&quot;https://bettafish.org/diseases/ich/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ich&lt;/a&gt;, it's exceptionally common in Betta, and if left untreated can be fatal. Fortunately however it's relatively straightforward to treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Move the betta to a hospital tank if there are other tank mates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increase the temperature slowly in your tank to 81-86 degrees fahrenheit for up to 10 days. Ich parasites prefer colder water, with colder temperatures leading to prolonged life cycles and increased reproduction rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warmer water holds less oxygen, so consider adding an airstone. Increased oxygen can boost a betta fish’s immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow the directions and administer the recommended medicine for treating Ich: (Rid Ich Plus) which contains malachite green and formalin. It is strong and highly effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perform daily water cycling of 25-50% to reduce high medication levels and remove Ich trophonts and tomites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Continue medication according to the directions and do not stop early. Ich protozoan are only vulnerable to medication two days out of their seven day life span, so continue even if they appear to be gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-01-25T13:12:49.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23580" CreationDate="2019-01-25T13:39:45.923" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This doesn't look like Ich to me. In my experiences, ich generally seems to manifest in several places on the fish's body as small white granules rather than a single place in a larger white patch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What's the mark then?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks like a missing scale or damaged scale which was probably caused by the wooden decoration log you talked about in your question. I have had frequent incidents where a fish (especially in a community) has been spooked by something and has caught themselves on drift wood or a decoration. They normally lose a scale but as long as your water quality is good, it should heal up no problem. Indeed, the only way to keep a fish in a pretty pristine condition is to keep them in bare aquariums with nothing in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What to do next?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With anything like this, you'll want to test your water quality &lt;em&gt;just to check&lt;/em&gt; everything is okay. If there is any ammonia or high levels of nitrate then @motosubatsu could be right. Ich is normally caused by poor water quality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After testing your water and finding 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and lowish nitrate, I would observe the fish for a few days. If this mark doesn't change or starts to fade, chances are it was just an injury from hitting a decoration and nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-01-25T13:39:45.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23575" CreationDate="2019-01-25T20:09:04.573" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can give your cat a homemade diet based on raw food. Though in order to be balanced you cannot feed only turkey meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to feed a variety of meat, offal, raw meaty bones, and supplements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A raw food diet is healthy if done correctly, and can be dangerous if not properly balanced. I advise you to make research about it before starting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here two links with two different way to balance a raw diet. &lt;a href=&quot;https://perfectlyrawsome.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Perfectly Rawsome&lt;/a&gt; that explain how to make a “prey model” diet. And &lt;a href=&quot;http://rawfedandnerdy.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Raw Fed and Nerdy&lt;/a&gt; on how to make a raw diet following the National Research Council nutrient recommendations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14107" LastEditorUserId="14107" LastEditDate="2020-06-08T10:11:51.663" LastActivityDate="2020-06-08T10:11:51.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23580" CreationDate="2019-01-25T20:27:15.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the pics,it doesn't look like ich.Looking at the pic,I do see a light blotchy on his head,is this what you were describing? That spot looks as if it's an injury and should heal up.Like those have said,check yr water parameters  and best to keep a steady temp in the water.Keep an eye on the spots and see if it spreads or doesn't go away.Its a good sign if he is still active and eating.Ick makes a fish flash alot and makes the fish's breathing become labored..just monitor him as ya go&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14112" LastActivityDate="2019-01-25T20:27:15.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23580" CreationDate="2019-01-26T00:24:23.510" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's 100% not ich. I had a betta that started showing patches like that which eventually spread until it took over the entire body. I did a lot of research and the only thing I could find close to what it looked like pointed to a fungal infection. I did several salt dips as recommended with no success. During the 6 week period from the start to taking over his body, he did not lose his appetite surprisingly. The fish eventually perished, I assume as a result of this &quot;disease&quot;. Maybe try a more agressive treatment labeled specifically for fungal infections, although I can't be sure that is what was in my case.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14113" LastActivityDate="2019-01-26T00:24:23.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23608" CreationDate="2019-01-27T00:52:54.287" Score="4" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm moving to a new location that uses geothermal water. Generally, when I top off/replace water for my betta, I get my water to the correct temperature, add the stress coat + to remove chemicals, and add it in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am struggling to find any information on geothermal water and chemicals I should watch out for. The cold water is your usual tap/city water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I can potentially make sure it's &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; cold water, and let it warm up by the radiator before I add it to his tank. I'm worried about how much residue of whatever is in geothermal water will end up in the cold water. Or, I can buy pre-treated water (which would be a hassle). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I'm overthinking and my little dude will be just fine! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:07:12.907" Title="Betta and geothermal water" Tags="&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17564" CreationDate="2019-01-27T05:59:09.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use sand as litter for my cat and have had no problems. He actually does better with the sand then with store bought litter. What I do is I get the sand and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shift it with colander that has larger holes to get any sticks, leafs, or other debris out &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry it by placing it in a large pot and placing it on the stove with the burner on high. It need to reach a temperature of 165 to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat will kill any bacteria it may have in it. Stir it every 5 minuets or so until all moisture is gone. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shift it with colander with very small holes so that I only have sand that is almost as fine as sugar.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14117" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-01-27T11:21:47.093" LastActivityDate="2019-01-27T11:21:47.093" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23550" CreationDate="2019-01-27T06:05:20.530" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made use of what I had in hand for the first day. &#xA;I've used calamine lotion on the first day to help relieve the itch. Combined with a homemade fly repellent and antiseptic remedy consisting of baby oil, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil and citronella. I then rugged her with a combo rug, to cover her neck and body. It's also important to rug over the oil application as it can cause the skin to burn in the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought and then applied a diluted solution of a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;permethrin&lt;/a&gt; based insect repellent. Continued with the home made oil based fly repellent as an antiseptic and to soothe the skin. I also applied a zinc based lotion to help protect the open sores. I also applied a fly mask to protect her ears and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_(livestock)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;poll&lt;/a&gt;. I've ordered her a complete combo rug with a hood to completely protect her from midges. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will continue with the permethrin solution daily for 7 days then apply weekly to help keep the midges off her. I'll continue to apply the zinc cream mix while there's open wounds and keep her rugged while the weather is hot and insects are out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll re-apply the baby oil insect repellent twice a week. Concentrating on her mane and tail where she is particularly irritated and the skin has been rubbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her condition has cleared up immensely with the treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improvement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vCaSv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vCaSv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applying zinc cream mix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/13H81.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/13H81.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working the zinc through the mane to reach the skin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ns3AI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ns3AI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleo in her new rug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TIv0O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TIv0O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Note the loose strap under her belly was tightened after taking this pic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next season I will try and catch any signs of Queensland itch early and rug her. I don't like to rug them unless absolutely necessary as rugs increase the likelihood of accidental injuries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T09:38:22.333" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T09:38:22.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11020" CreationDate="2019-01-28T04:25:07.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat does the exact same thing. In the morning he would start licking, purring and kneading me. It’s a sign of love and he wants to cuddle you. Don’t worry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14121" LastActivityDate="2019-01-28T04:25:07.320" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23379" CreationDate="2019-01-28T04:34:19.663" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat licks you maybe she wants something from you like food or attention. Have a scheduled plan of when to feed her and when to play with her. Add time to play and eat when you’re about to go to bed. Also try making her sleep later then she will get up later. The more you play the more she’ll sleep. If not try consulting a vet about this problem when you go for a vaccination or check up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14121" LastActivityDate="2019-01-28T04:34:19.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-28T05:01:45.503" Score="4" ViewCount="3214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted 2 kitten sisters and they are 3 months old now.&#xA;They play together everyday, with toys and each other, chasing each other or play fighting, climbing and other activities. However, for the past 2 weeks I've noticed that one of them gets very possessive of certain toys or objects in the house and will growl at her sister. It happens even if her sister isn´t near her, but still in sight; although it does keep her sister at a distance, so she just sits and stares at her playing and growling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I fear this might lead to a fight between them if her sister comes too close or just distance them from each other, because she won´t play with her sister when she has those toys or objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I´d greatly appreciate your help with this matter to maintain a happy feline home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14123" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T20:09:49.460" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T20:11:37.053" Title="Is my kitten growling at her sister while playing with toys?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23607" CreationDate="2019-01-28T19:44:04.297" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two indoor kitties have stayed with me in a second floor, 540 sq ft apartment for two years, and enjoyed watching birds outside safely from the balcony. Perhaps letting them get used to a bit of the outdoors via balcony was my mistake, but they &lt;em&gt;loved&lt;/em&gt; it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm moving to a single-level, 330 sq ft cottage in the next week, however, and I worry about their restlessness. The windows are not as ideal for bird watching, and they'll no longer have a balcony to go outside on. I also worry about restlessness in the significantly smaller space (although I am very good about playing with them every day... otherwise I don't sleep, haha). I'm thinking it would be cool to  harness train them so I can take them into the yard with me for an engaging experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one boy and one girl cat, both 3 years old decently active and at ideal cat-weight. I have put them in harnesses a few times and, while it's not their favorite thing (boy-cat forgets how to move normally), they don't do too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is &lt;strong&gt;If I begin harness training for walks when I move into the new space, will that be beneficial or disadvantageous when trying to teach them?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically - In my head, I imagine that if I start  harness/leash training them immediately when placing it in the new space will &quot;normalize&quot; it for them. &quot;Oh - this is a new space and these things happen when I'm in this space.&quot; Alternatively, maybe doing so will make them &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; the new space, which would be the exact opposite of what I'd want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts on if this is a good or never-do-this-ever type of idea? Any experiences? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T04:42:51.433" Title="Introducing harness/leash training to cats in a new space" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23595" CreationDate="2019-01-28T19:53:10.220" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitties, while not related, were adopted at the same time and rarely share toys or play together (they used to, and the decided they didn't want to anymore). They've each picked out their favorite toys and don't like to  share (which they've learned). Alfiq loves strings and sticks, while Kynareth loves pompoms and paper stars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's disappointing they don't share or play together, they do get along just  fine. They have their bickers from time to time, but that's not surprising for any two cats who live together. Cats are fast learners, and each cat will eventually learn to not play with certain toys. Of course, cats being cats, one might play with the other's toy because she wants a reaction from her sister. So, they may fight, but it shouldn't be bad. Just  let them fight it out, or make a loud, distracting noise (like a clap), which will usually disperse the cats. Just remember, it's just a little sisterly love ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T20:11:37.053" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T20:11:37.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23597" CreationDate="2019-01-28T22:39:46.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can of course be harness trained. My own cat is harness trained and happily moves around with us while on harness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it can depend a lot upon cat persnality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had the same situation. We moved to a new place where harness was necessary and our cat easily adapted to his new lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it was my cat.  Different cats have different personalities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just try to understand what your cat wants while on harness,  as the harness will restrict it's movement. For example,  it may want to drink water or relieve itself. You have to take your cat to the place,  like drinking water bowel,  as the cat doesn't have free movement at that time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over all I don't think that leash training a cat is a bad idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2019-01-28T22:39:46.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23632" CreationDate="2019-01-28T23:02:01.607" Score="3" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clinic case:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Argentinian Dogo, 6 years old, from Argentina. Presents generalized muscle loss, pale mucous membranes, persistent fever at 40 degrees, weight loss, seizures, hyporeflexia and ataxia. Severe case of arregenerative anemia, hematocrite at 7% presenting erythropenia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blood analysis confirms canine erlichosis. Marrow puncture reveals chronic myeloid leukemia. Begins treatment with doxycycline and hydroxyurea for erlichia and leukemia, respectively. The patient got better for a few days but a week after started the treatment had a relapse which resulted in death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In its chronic stage, canine erlichiosis its hard to manage. The hematological alterations affected both bone marrow and blood. If erlichia activates a leukemia the case is more severe and hard to reverse. The appearance of neurological symptons only makes the case even harder, unless they are detected earlier which can prevent dog's decease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aveaca.org.ar/compromiso-neurologico-en-caninos-con-ehrlichiosis-presentacion-de-un-caso-clinico-esarte-ms-et-al/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Original article in spanish&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 6 months old female dog has a similar case, but havent manifested any neurological symptoms yet (that is the only difference from the presented case). I wanna know if I should have my dog's veterinarian check for leukemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14130" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-01-31T14:25:36.683" Title="How can canine erlichiosis develop into leukemia?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-29T00:23:36.157" Score="1" ViewCount="5164" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please help! My Betta fish has been laying at the bottom of the tank for a while now, and I have no idea why. I’ve tried changing the water to warmer water and cleaned the water. He did fine before but now he’s just changed. He only moves up when I try to get him to move with my finger.(outside of the tank of course.) I have no idea if he’s sick or dying. He doesn’t even go up to  get food anymore! The past week I thought he was doing better, he was swimming up but then he just went down again. Please help! I don’t know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14131" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T10:40:07.560" Title="Is my Betta fish dying?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23603" CreationDate="2019-01-29T00:40:45.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks for providing details! It's hard to say exactly what's wrong with your fish, but I have some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider getting a larger fish tank, 5 gallons is the recommended minimum for fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also get a heater. The water in a 1 gallon tank will cool/heat a lot quicker than a larger tank, so even though you added warm water, it would cool down quickly (think about forgetting your mug of tea for an hour after you've just boiled the water). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you do a great job with water changes. Remember that the smaller the tank, the more frequently you should do larger water changes (try 50% once a week). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't change your filter each week, once a month is best (though I've waited up to 3-4 months). The filter will grow good bacteria that is healthy for your fish. So, replacing is each week is also &quot;resetting&quot; that cycle. Instead, rinse the filter out in the water you remove during the water change, and place it back in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, get some strip tests to test different chemical levels in your water. Strip tests are not as accurate as other tests, but they're affordable and will give you a good idea where you pH, nitrates, nitrites, and so forth are at. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope these suggestions help! Bettas are super resilient little dudes, so I hope he gets better soon. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T00:40:45.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23597" CreationDate="2019-01-29T04:42:51.433" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you only have a week before the move, I would wait until after your cat has been completely settled into your new place before you begin leash training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats aren't very good with stress, and, besides being obviously uncomfortable for them, can develop undesired behavior from too much stress like spraying, vomiting, excessive shedding, and so forth. So it's best to keep it down to one thing at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One week is not enough for the cat to become completely comfortable with the leash (unless you're lucky enough to own one of those few cats that naturally don't mind the harness.) So it is better to hold off on stressing your cat out right before a move. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T04:42:51.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23588" CreationDate="2019-01-29T05:40:51.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, water conditioner will not work in this water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is use the cold water. Fill the containers with tap water, add the water conditioner and let it stand overnight so it gets heated up a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to avoid using water that is too cold when you do the water changes. Fish have no problems with a slight drop in temperature as long as it is gradual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful not to use water that is too hot (hotter than the water in your tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to change a large amount of water at once. It is better to change about 10% each day over five days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T22:07:12.907" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:07:12.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23595" CreationDate="2019-01-29T07:41:08.047" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have two options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first option is let the cats sort it out, as mentioned by @Gwendolyn and @trondhansen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your second option is to intervene and personally I will always advice you to intervene, but that's just me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do decide that you have to intervene then you have to invest a lot of time. So first ensure that you have ample spare time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When kitten A, the stronger one, starts growling at kitten B, start petting kitten A. This will distract kitten A's attention towards you. Also don't forget to allocate some petting to kitten B. Otherwise, this might have negative mental impact on kitten B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If kitten A starts relaxing, give her a treat, her favorite one. If not continue trying other methods to relax her, and then offer the treat. This is a type of positive reinforcement which your kitten understand as, if she doesn't growl at her sister a pleasant thing is going to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes remove all the toys and put the two kittens in close vicinity and be alert so that no hostility breaks out. Don't play with them. To pass time read some book, listen to some music or do whatever is your favorite thing to do in past time. Don't let yourself to get bored. But let the cats get bored. Even if they nudge you don't play with them. Instead trying pitching up the kittens  together. Use you hands to hold   their body and simulate play fight among them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they don't show interest continue reading your book and don't play with the cats. Ultimately, the patience of one of the kittens will break, and the kitten will start play fighting with the other kitten. Continue this under your observation for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then give them back the toys. But ensure everyday, for at least 1 hour, the three of you must play when toys are not present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever, other than play time, hostility breaks out, take preventive actions. Like during meal time, if hostility breaks out, stop feeding them and pat them calm. Then start feeding only when they get calm. This is yet another positive reinforcement. They get the message that, when something as pleasant like eating food is going on, if they show hostility, they will get the food no more. But when they calm down the peasant experience will start again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do this type of positive reinforcement, whenever hostility breaks out. Like at sleep time, whose bed is which one, etc. Try to constantly improvise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T07:41:08.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-29T07:56:16.150" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Dalmatian Female who is 11 years and 9 months old. Recently she started vomiting. All the tests were done and her Creatinine Serum is 2.8 mg/dl &amp;amp; Potassium Serum is 5.94 mEq/l. She has been getting saline/DNS since 31st December 2018. The level has not come down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the 21st of January 2019, we have started her on AZODYL 2 capsules in the morning and 1 in the evening. She was put on renal food which she dislikes. Since yesterday she is dull, not eating food and there is swelling in her leg. The doctors were talking in terms of Dialysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you suggest what should be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14134" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-29T09:16:52.943" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T09:16:52.943" Title="High Creatinine level in female Dalmatian" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-29T15:54:58.040" Score="19" ViewCount="13887" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been having an issue where she is clearly agitated and looks like she is trying to run away from her own fur. It will start with appearing very agitated, meowing, and twitching her tail and her back just in front of her tail. She will begin to run around like she is frantically trying to get away from it. She doesn't have fleas or any other topical irritant that we can identify, and the other cat in the house has no similar issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is dry in the house being winter in a northern climate and we thought it may have been a static issue. We have tried wetting her fur, which irritates her in the short term but ultimately seems to calm her down. We do have humidifiers running in the house, so we're not sure what the issue may be. We don't believe it is feline hyperesthesia as she doesn't self mutilate, but she is clearly unhappy about something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14138" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-01-29T23:45:03.517" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T13:35:41.553" Title="My cat has uncontrollable twitching on her back near her tail" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23611" CreationDate="2019-01-29T17:34:56.730" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I would take your cat to the vet to see if there is an obvious diagnosis. Take video of your cat during an episode, and show it to your vet also. It could be helpful for diagnosing your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if no other specific cause can be found, your cat could very likely have feline hyperesthesia. While severe cases could lead the cat to self-mutilation, that is not the case for the less severe or more average case. You may see frantic licking, scratching, or biting without actually being at the level of self harm. Or it could be as mild as getting suddenly twitchy, especially the skin on the lower back, and jumping up and running, just like you describe your cat doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As quoted from &lt;a href=&quot;https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2018/03/25/feline-hyperesthesia.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2018/03/25/feline-hyperesthesia.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In kitties with hyperesthesia, the skin on the back ripples from the shoulders all the way to the tail, and sometimes up the tail to the tip. The movement is clearly visible in some cats, but more difficult to see in others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What many pet parents notice instead is the kitty suddenly jumping and turning toward her tail as though something back there is bothering her. This can even happen during sleep. The cat might also try to lick or bite at the area. Kitties with hyperesthesia also have muscle spasms and twitches, and tail twitching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as regarding self-mutilation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In severe cases of feline hyperesthesia, cats will self-mutilate by biting, licking, chewing and pulling out hair. These poor kitties suffer not only hair loss, but often severe skin lesions and secondary infections from trying to get relief from the uncomfortable sensations they experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since if your cat does have hyperesthesia, it appears to be a mild or average case, I think it's more likely your vet will just tell you to try to prevent the cat from having episodes rather than resorting to drugs, although I should note that I am not a vet, so you should take their word above mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyperesthesia is made worse by stress, so minimizing stress will help. Episodes can also be triggered sometimes by touching the cat in certain areas, especially the lower back, so if you observe these episodes are happening after you touch some area of the cat, refrain from touching that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-01-30T10:01:14.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-29T18:14:57.103" Score="1" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raja, my pup, and I just moved back to college and she won't eat. When I give her her food she just noses it until its everywhere and keeps nosing it until it's wedged behind my desk. There was another dog where we were staying, could she be depressed? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14139" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T04:08:30.897" Title="My 8 month old puppy won't eat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23611" CreationDate="2019-01-29T23:39:43.410" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my personal experience with the disease I would not rule out feline hypersensitivity syndrome/FHS/hyperesthesia because she doesn’t self-mutilate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat several years ago developed the rolling back skin thing and although she seemed bothered by it I ignored the problem for months because it wasn’t causing any problems at the time. However one morning I woke up to a huge bloody mess because she had chewed up the base of her tail completely out of the blue. I of course took her to the vet but the problem with FHS is that it is not always obvious what they are sensitive to. My poor kitty did suffer quite a bit during this ordeal, things got so bad that she had to wear a cone and baby clothes 24/7 because she was so neurotic and was even having seizures. The vet said that flea bites are usually the cause but it can be literally any environmental variable that could be triggering the neurological syndrome. I highly recommend the seresto collars to eliminate he possibility of flea bites (the only flea treatment I have found 100% success with my cats). My poor kitty wasn’t sensitive to fleas though, we ended up discovering that she has severe food allergies and putting her on a special diet solved all of her symptoms and has made a full recovery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would keep a close eye on her and not rule out the possibility of this disease. I cannot recommend enough getting a full allergy panel done if her symptoms get worse and you are 100% sure it is not fleas. I delayed getting the blood work on my kitty done because I didn’t have very much money at the time but I really wish I had it done sooner because she really suffered from it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14143" LastActivityDate="2019-01-29T23:39:43.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-30T01:01:48.317" Score="3" ViewCount="1565" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted two kittens (both are siblings) and since having them I've noticed they are extremely nervous and scared. They only come out when nobody is home, and I'm trying to get them used to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've set up them up in one room with their cat bed (its a hooded one for some shelter) some litter box trays and water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to feed them about twice a day, and when I do, I try to get really low to the ground (sometimes I'll just lay down on it) and either have different food bowls around the room so they can explore the room with me in it. Or, I'll have the food in front of their bed and just lay away from them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the kitties, will eat with me in the room. He will get out of his cat bed, and he'll even travel across the room to use the litter box or sniff things when I'm around. However the other kitty will not budge from the cat bed. I tried to place the food bowl as close as possible to the bed and she will still not poke her head out enough to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I'm just so worried and I want her to eat something. But I'm unsure of how to get her to eat. I had to grab them once out of their bed and I know its really bad to keep doing that and so I'm trying to avoid that at all costs. But, if I just place more food bowls near the bed, eventually the braver kitty will eat the food instead. If anyone has any suggestions, I'll be glad to hear it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14144" LastActivityDate="2019-01-30T05:01:33.473" Title="Shy and nervous kittens are too scared to eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23613" CreationDate="2019-01-30T02:59:58.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try offering her absolute favorite food, or a couple hot dog pieces (which dogs seem to find irresistible). Then take her for a &lt;strong&gt;really long walk&lt;/strong&gt;. Keep her moving for at least a half hour. The movement will help her &quot;do what she needs to do&quot;.  If nothing happens after a half hour (or more) of activity, talk to her Veterinarian about your concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-01-30T02:59:58.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-30T03:05:19.827" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can’t tell if it’s a fungal disease, but he lost all of his color. My sister never cleaned his tank so I think that might be the reason behind it, but I don’t know what disease he has so I have no idea of treating it. I put him in a separate tank with clean water, will he just get better on his own? He won’t eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oldj5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NpjSq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14145" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-12T23:30:08.567" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T23:30:08.567" Title="What’s wrong with my Betta fish?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23619" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-30T03:59:50.063" Score="3" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 36 gallon tank with an Aqueon® QuietFlow Aquarium Power Filter 55/75. as of now there are 2 red minor tetras and 4 neon tetras. I had another red minor tetra and 4 more neon tetras that all died over the last week. (There were a couple more that died the week before). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have the 30 gal version of the filter, but it didnt seem to be able to keep up and the algae got out of control. I did a 50% water change, upgraded the filter to the 55/75 version and soaked all the decorations in bleach (and rinsed them off well after). It cleared up the water very well and the new filter seems to be working well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a week after I did the cleaning I got the new fish and since then they seem die off about 1 per day. Within a day of putting them in the tank, I notice that a couple of the neon tetras seem to have bits of their tails missing. Then about once a day I see a dead fish (almost always a neon tetra) thats sucked up against the Is this a case of an overagressive red minor tetra and they only get stuck by the filter after they die, or could my filter be too powerful and they get sucked up into it and not being able to swim away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: One thing I forgot to mention is that I got a water test done at PetSmart and they mentioned that the only issue is the Ph seems a bit low and I should do a 25% water change, could that be the issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14146" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T21:49:34.887" Title="Fish keep dying, rogue homicidal fish or is my filter too powerful?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23616" CreationDate="2019-01-30T05:01:33.473" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The new kittens are getting used to their new surroundings. Follow their animals instinct...hunt, kill, eat, groom, sleep. Get them playing and &quot;hunting&quot;, try to wear them out, then give them some food. If they are hungry, they will eat. Try different foods too, maybe they aren't interested in the food you are offering. My two cats love bonito flakes on top of their wet food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens need to play a lot. They have lot of energy, so invest in some fun toys, or make toys (a ball of tin foil and shoelaces go a long way). Get them climbing, running, pouncing, etc...They will gain confidence and feel safer in the space, and, gradually, they will explore more of your house. When they are hungry they will eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play, eat, sleep repeat!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user14148" LastActivityDate="2019-01-30T05:01:33.473" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23619" CreationDate="2019-01-30T06:18:05.460" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using bleach is the first and most serious problem in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even trace amounts of bleach will kill the bacteria - the good and the bad ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get a new tank and/or a new filter, you need to cycle it to build up the good bacteria that break down the waste products. In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a relevant article about nitrogen cycling on fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt; you could find how this is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not put fish in your tank before it has been cycled properly. You will need to buy a water test to see when the tank is properly cycled. Please see the mentioned article for the details about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A larger filter will not be a problem for your fish - quite the opposite, a larger filter will provide a larger surface for the good bacteria to grow on and will be able to handle more waste from more fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now, you need to add the double dose of dechlorinator/water treatment (Aqua Safe or similar products).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not add any more fish before the tank is in biological balance (cycled properly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do learn how to do the water testing yourself - it is not complicated and you will need to do it weekly in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T21:49:34.887" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T21:49:34.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2551" CreationDate="2019-01-30T09:56:20.573" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;edited&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cats meowing when they trying to communicate something to you, whether just want to inform you that she wants something, or not comfortable with something, or curious. first thing first, make sure shes meowing not because shes uncomfortable about something, because if it is, you need to get rid of her uncomfortable things first or she wont stop meowing no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;they said my answer is not specific yet, so i edited it (i'm a total rookie thanks for the comments). having a pet means its a deal between you and your pet. normally a cat will meowing if get left behind in the house when youre out, they dont like to be alone, so add a friend for the cat so she has another cat to play with. my guess, there must be something outside thats not in the house. whether she thinks shes cant run freely like in the outside maybe not enough space for play (several cat types love to play actively), or there's a certain things outside that she usually plays with (you can bring this home, or find something similar), or another cat that she's interesting with(when shes in heats, cat just want to do it no matter what, and if she cant she keeps madly meowing, its your decision then). i can't give a single answer cause living things really complicated, it's your part now to take a look closer to the characteristic of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14150" LastEditorUserId="14150" LastEditDate="2019-01-31T02:23:21.700" LastActivityDate="2019-01-31T02:23:21.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23611" CreationDate="2019-01-30T16:18:50.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went through these episodes as well with my pet, lasting over a year. I approached multiple vets. In aggregate they presented three likely possibilities, in order of probability:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Presence of fleas or mites + hypersensitivity = erratic behavior, excessive scratching and licking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seasonal allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food allergies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 5+ vet visits, no veterinarian was able to locate a single flea using flea combs. I had also tried multiple times to no avail. All vets were clear though that some cats would aggressively eat and destroy fully grown fleas, but without medication their lifecycle would rarely end on its own. In addition, most skin mites are only visible microscopically and there aren't many commercial prescriptions that can kill them (we attempted some safe but natural alternatives).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One vet suggested the possibility of allergic reactions to the environment or food, and prescribed cortisone shots as a way of testing for the presence of irritating allergies. In the end, for us I believe he was spot-on assessing the conditions as due to food allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention this in your post but our cat would have temporary rashes and scaly skin near his tail combined with the above symptoms of twitching, sensitivity and erratic behavior. After treating for fleas and mites and exposing the cat to cortisone shots our problems never really disappeared. We recently totally adjusted our cat's diet to be virtually devoid of commercial ingredients and we have not observed any skin conditions or irritations since. Best of luck to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14158" LastActivityDate="2019-01-30T16:18:50.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-30T18:34:49.540" Score="4" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;While brushing our 5 year old Schnauzer-Poodle we found a bald spot. We have not noticed him trying to lick or rub this spot. It is completely flat, and looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jYa7E.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jYa7E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any ideas on what this could be?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14159" LastEditorUserId="14159" LastEditDate="2019-02-01T16:24:52.953" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T16:24:52.953" Title="Dark Hairless Spot On Skin" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23618" CreationDate="2019-01-30T20:24:16.737" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's always hard to identify when a fish is doing poorly. But what I always recommend is making sure they have the right environment. That's always key to having a healthy fish. Once they're in the right environment, if they still don't get  better, then you can look into further treatments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fish needs at least a &lt;strong&gt;5 gallon (19 L) tank&lt;/strong&gt;. Think of it this way: You could live in a box if you were given food and water, but would you be happy? No. Your fish needs space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, make sure you have a &lt;strong&gt;water heater&lt;/strong&gt; to keep his tank a constant &lt;em&gt;warm&lt;/em&gt; temperature. Make sure when you add new water, it is as close to the same temperature as possible. You mentioned you use drinking water - is it distilled? Because sometimes distilled water is missing some important nutrients needed by fish. If you use tap water with a water conditioner, he would be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Filtration!&lt;/strong&gt; Trond Hansen posted a link to the Nitrogen cycle above. Fish waste and discard food cause high ammonia levels, which are extremely harmful to fish. Filtration will help with this (though you still need to do regular water changes), and it also encourages good bacteria to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure you're &lt;strong&gt;testing the water&lt;/strong&gt; for all those chemicals. This can help you identify if it is incorrect levels causing your fish's illness. Check pH, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, and water hardness. If your sister never cleaned his tank, it's likely the ammonia levels were too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you are able to transfer him (slowly! acclimate him first) to his new environment, keep a close eye on him to see if he improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you and your fish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-12T23:26:04.967" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T23:26:04.967" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23619" CreationDate="2019-01-30T22:52:11.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though I think Trond's answer mostly covers this, I feel compelled to answer as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, just slow down here, in fact just stop. Don't change anything. You have so many factors contributing to what's going on here, you need to step back and take some stock in the whole situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop going to Petco, Petsmart or any other big box pet store, period. Find a good, locally-owned fish store and use them to get information and for where you get fish. Any person telling you your pH is off and suggesting you should change water as a result, should never give aquarium advice ever again, they should be doomed to clean up dog feces because they have no understanding of aquarium chemistry. Everything affects pH. You can open an door in your house or turn on a ceiling fan and measure the change in pH as a result. Unless you are deliberately adding something to change pH, like running CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, or trying to breed a super-sensitive fish like discus, completely ignore pH. It's a 10,000 ft measurement and completely meaningless for 99.9999% of home aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, make sure you fully understand the nitrogen cycle. Cycle your tank before adding anything. It is the bacteria that you build up during the cycle in the filter and the substrate and in the tank itself that actually keeps the water livable for fish. The initial cycle takes roughly 30 days under normal circumstances, but research it. You're trying to keep live animals, you owe it to them to understand how to setup a tank and keep them alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, algae are natural in a home aquarium. However, it thrives when there is an imbalance in the aquarium. The 2 main things that contribute to algae are nutrients (nitrate and phosphate primarily) and lighting. You control lighting with the type, quality, and the overall photoperiod the lights are on over the tank. You control nutrients through limited feeding and stocking and water changes. All of this is a balance specific to each individual tank. You overstock without increased water changes, you get too much algae. You overfeed, you get too much algae. You have either poor quality or too much lighting, you get too much algae. It's all a balance that every tank and keeper has to figure out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bleach is fine if you need to sterilize things. However, you need to fully dry those things, in the sun for a few days is ideal, or use a chlorine remover, before re-adding them back to the tank. Do not put bleached things back into the tank without doing one of these first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T14:19:23.687" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T14:19:23.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-31T05:32:22.803" Score="-5" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have three bedrooms. Me and my mom share one bedroom and for various reasons Bhutu(my cat) is allowed only in our bedroom, and not the other two, during night time when we all sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I often have nightmares and shout in dream. My mom says that at that time Bhutu gets terribly afraid and runs for cover under my mom's belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how to take care of my cat and ensure that she doesn't get afraid anymore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;NOTE:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have only three bedrooms. The occupants of the other two bedrooms won't allow the cat in night. And if kept alone in the living room, the cat will keep crying all night. The cat can't stay alone, it is in her mentality. And she is a NEVER been outdoor cat, other than being taken out for a walk on a leash. And given the hazardous wild life here, she won't survive outdoor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only solution is somehow make the atmosphere in my room more comfortable for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like if provided with something before she goes to sleep, or making her sleep in a particular place so that she may be less startled by sudden loud noise. Or if there is some helpful scent available to soothe the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or may be I should make a particular change in behavior when I am awake to give the cat more assurance. And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-01T12:13:11.180" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T12:13:11.180" Title="How to help my cat in this situation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2019-01-31T14:22:24.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23630" CreationDate="2019-01-31T11:37:04.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry, but it sounds a little bit strange ;)&#xA;As I understood, you have some mystic relation with your cat?&#xA;So, I see only two variants here:&#xA;1. You sleep with your cat in another bedroom;&#xA;2. Or you improve the quality of your sleep. Nightmares can be because of stress, you freeze during the night and many other reasons. Try special hormone for sleep - melatonin. It should help to sleep you better. And your cat won't be feared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14164" LastActivityDate="2019-01-31T11:37:04.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23602" CreationDate="2019-01-31T14:25:36.683" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am not a vet and have limited knowledge of infectious diseases. If in doubt, you should consult your vet or get a second oppinion from another vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canine Ehrlichiosis is an infection transmitted by ticks that can cause severe damage in dogs. Much like HIV, C. Ehlichia &amp;quot;hide&amp;quot; from the immune system and cannot be cured without antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For canine ehrlichiosis, tetracycline (22 mg/kg given every eight hours) or doxycycline (5 mg/kg every twelve hours) administered for four weeks is the recognized treatment. Most dogs recover from the acute and subclinical phases when treated with doxycycline or other tetracyclines at appropriate  dosages  for  an  adequate  period  of&#xA;time. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cvbd.org/static/documents/digest/CVBD_Easy-to-digest_no_7_ehrlichiosis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1939-1676.1999.tb02178.x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study of 62 dogs infected with Ehrlichiosis&lt;/a&gt; reports that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antibody  titers  generally  remain  positive  for  3  to  9 months after therapy and may remain elevated for up to 31 months. [...] The persistence of serum antibody titers does not reflect the presence of a CMI response or clearance of the organism. Clinical recovery and amelioration of laboratory parameters often  precede  declines  in  serologic  titers.  However,  the presence of persistently elevated antibody titers could imply the  presence  of  the  organism  with  concurrent  stimulation of immune system, suggesting failure to completely eliminate  the  infection.  For  this  reason,  whether  the  length  of medical  therapy  should  be  based  upon  clinicopathologic signs or on serologic titers is still not clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: it may take a long time to completely cure the dog and vets cannot say for sure when the animal is completely free of pathogens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to that a predisposition for other diseases that may infect your dog due to the weakened immune system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In  this  study,  there  were  also  a  number  of  concurrent diseases that may  be associated with ehrlichiosis as either a  direct  result  of  the E.  canis infection  or  secondary  to immunosuppression.  These  include  DIC,  sepsis,  pneumonia, hemolytic anemia, uveitis, cutaneous pythiosis, mycotic pleuritis, and disseminated phaecomycosis.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;[...]&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The  response  to  therapy  in  this  study  was  variable,  yet the majority of deaths were presumably caused by unrelated disease processes. However, it is important to note that 18% of the mortality rate was presumed to be secondary to ehrlichiosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest being very considerate of your dog's health for at least several months. Don't put her under physical stress and avoid places like dog parks where she might catch more illnesses. Only after she recovered fully from the infection should you think about more tests and diagnoses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the acute phase of Ehrlichiosis, changes in the composition of the blood may seem like leukemia but return to normal later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cvbd.org/static/documents/digest/CVBD_Easy-to-digest_no_7_ehrlichiosis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This presentation&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granular lymphocytosis can occur occasionally during the acute phase&#xA;and lead to a misdiagnosis of lymphocytic leukemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this article &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetfolio.com/infectious-disease/lymphoid-leukemia-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lymphoid Leukemia in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; by VetFolio states: (emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Differential Diagnosis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diagnosis of ALL [&lt;em&gt;acute lymphoblastic leukemia&lt;/em&gt;] or CLL [&lt;em&gt;chronic lymphocytic leukemia&lt;/em&gt;] in dogs is straightforward in advanced cases with extremely high lymphocyte counts. However, in less severe cases with solely marrow involvement or mild to moderate lymphocytosis, the diagnosis can be quite challenging, and associated nonspecific clinical signs and mild hematologic abnormalities may be difficult to interpret. Lymphoid leukemias must be differentiated from other diseases, such as lymphoma, AML, and chronic ehrlichiosis. Lymphoma and AML are the two most common rule-outs for ALL, whereas &lt;strong&gt;chronic ehrlichiosis more closely resembles CLL&lt;/strong&gt;. Because therapeutic protocols and prognoses vary tremendously not only between the differential diseases that mimic lymphoid leukemia but also between subtypes of the disorder itself, an accurate diagnosis must be made when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You must treat your dog for Canine Ehrlichiosis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You must continue the treatment for 4 weeks, even if your dog seems to recover much faster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is useless to test your dog for leukemia now. On the contrary, the stress of the procedure might be harmfull in the weakened state your dog is currently in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-01-31T14:25:36.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23379" CreationDate="2019-01-31T17:06:25.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who does this routinely, each night. She will paw at me until I roll only my back so she can sit on my chest and like my nose. If I tolerate it and let it happen, she will eventually lay down on my chest or return to her bed. She is not a very affectionate cat, but asks for affection on a fairly regular schedule. I'm convinced this is one of the times she wants attention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you're giving your kitty lots of attention during the day, and play with her a lot, especially when you're getting ready to go to bed. I find this wears my kitty out  and she is more likely to sleep through the night (or, at least not bug me). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-01-31T17:06:25.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-31T17:11:25.363" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;One evening while walking my dog he jumped at a moving truck and was nearly hit. The truck run over his leash but luckily missed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he is scared of going out for walks (previously he was very enthusiastic) and is constantly fighting to go back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned that this may even be impacting upon how frequently he can urinate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get help him get over this fear?&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3exMs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14166" LastEditorUserId="14166" LastEditDate="2019-01-31T18:40:21.293" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T14:01:25.170" Title="Dog scared after near miss with traffic - how to get him used to going out for walks again?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-01-31T20:25:54.783" Score="4" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to set up a big (150 x 65 x 50 cm) tank with lots of small colorful fish and shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want the tank to be heavily planted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want the tank to be very colorful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to keep a few species of colorful shrimp &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to keep a few species of colorful fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want the plants to be destroyed by the fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't want the shrimp to be eaten by the fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about some small shrimp species that won't interbreed (form &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/r/ShrimpTanks/IiIHTu4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chart&lt;/a&gt;)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fcwva.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fcwva.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the fish, I was thinking about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some nice species of a guppy (single species to avoid interbreeding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neon tetra (&lt;em&gt;Paracheirodon innesi&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Boraras brigittae&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hatchet fish, to fill up the surface&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some &lt;em&gt;Pangio kuhlii&lt;/em&gt;, to add variety to the bottom (not too many though, because they'll probably harass baby shrimps a bit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe a single &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; male&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This still feels not enough for a 400 l tank. What else do think I could throw in there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14168" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T22:20:04.683" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:12:58.257" Title="Which nano fish for a big, colorful, community tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23634" CreationDate="2019-02-01T01:02:55.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend walking in areas where there are no cars. Perhaps a park trial, would be more comfortable for him. Pay attention to where your pup is (when loading and unloading from your own car). And talk to your pup while you walk so he will hear your calm voice and be reassured that everything is ok.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another thing you could do is work on his training skills. It would be a great distraction (or maybe a trick) so that he doesn't realize he is being &quot;walked&quot;. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Neither of these things are likely to cure his fear right away. The primary objective should be to help him relax and enjoy the walk or training time. Don't forget to teach him to &lt;em&gt;heel and to sit (or stay) next to you when you stop&lt;/em&gt; so he won't be close to car tires and get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-02-01T01:02:55.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23640" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-01T17:00:32.233" Score="1" ViewCount="2196" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's generally accepted that it's good to get the temperature of your new water to match the temperature of the tank water before introducing it.  You don't want to change the temperature of the aquarium too much when you add the new water, or you risk a temperature shock that can kill fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there quantitative recommendations as to how much the temperature of the water can vary before and after the water change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own research shows plenty of individuals declaring &quot;0 temperature change is the only acceptable answer.&quot;  Others argue that a sudden rainstorm drops the local temperature of water, so fish are used to some change.  The aquarium wiki has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Temperature_Diseases#Temperature_shock&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;uncited claim&lt;/a&gt; that you want to avoid instantaneous changes greater than 5&amp;nbsp;°C (8&amp;nbsp;°F)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any studies which have shown quantitatively what the effects of instantaneous thermal changes on a reasonable order of magnitude have (I'm thinking like 0&amp;nbsp;°C to 8&amp;nbsp;°C changes).  I've seen studies which covered the effect of 20&amp;nbsp;°C changes, which are obviously dramatic, but nothing on the smaller changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm particularly looking at freshwater tanks, but saltwater numbers may be useful for others.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4019" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T18:56:14.660" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T18:58:16.103" Title="Acceptable temperature shock for aquarium water changes" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23640" CreationDate="2019-02-01T22:31:57.400" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I manage to keep mine to 1-2&amp;nbsp;°C temperature change when doing up to 50% water changes. That is, the new water is warmer than the existing, and I add cold until it's at least within 1-2&amp;nbsp;°C, normally and then siphon it into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can get it down to 0.5&amp;nbsp;°C without too much difficulty. I'm unsure why you'd subject a fish to anything more than this, to be honest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I set up a new tank for my daughter about a week ago, for fish that were listed as being in a temperate tank at the store (with the same fish also in a tropical tank else where in the store). The store couldn't give me an accurate temperature at the time, somewhere around 25&amp;nbsp;°C they said. We had them in a tank at home around 24&amp;nbsp;°C for two days, before I started bringing it up to the 26&amp;nbsp;°C that I tend to keep tanks around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increasing just ~0.2&amp;nbsp;°C, a day, and we ended up losing half the fish anyway. It may of been for other reasons, but I'm sure the slow temperature change still upset them somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7759" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T18:58:16.103" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T18:58:16.103" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23634" CreationDate="2019-02-02T12:21:17.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The recommended way to help a dog over a fear is to grasdually approach the frightening situation while the dog is in a positive headspace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Preparation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choose a game your dog loves most, like fetch, tug of war or abort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog doesn't like to play that much, you could wake his interest in a prey dummy or tread pouch that is filled with treats. First let your dog eat from the pouch, then throw it a few meters (can be done indoors) and let him take a treat from the pouch when he brings it back to you. If he doesn't bring it to you at first, let him make the experience that he cannot open the pouch on his own, but don't let him walk away and destroy the pouch. He must learn and understand that fetching the pouch means he gets a treat, but that &lt;strong&gt;only you&lt;/strong&gt; can open the pouch to get the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train this game for about a week until your dog understands the rules and has fun playing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Desensitization&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start playing the game in an environment where your dog feels safe. This could be your living room, your yard or garden. Play with him for a minute or two, then slowly and gradually move the game towards the environment where he doesn't feel safe anymore. Stop as soon as your dog gets nervous or distracted by the street and take a step back into the safe territory, continnue playing for 5 - 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, it's enough to move from the living room to the front door, from the back of the garden to the front gate. Don't overdo it and be happy for every small step your dog takes. Repeat this training for another week or more if your dog still shows clear signs of fear when approaching the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then start stepping out of your &quot;home territory&quot; into &quot;street territory&quot;. Put your dog on a leash for safety, but continnue playing with him like before. Start playing at home, then move out onto the side walk. It will probably take another week or two until your dog looses his fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-02-02T12:21:17.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2019-02-02T12:39:40.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We looked after a dog for 8 weeks some years ago and he was a nervous wreck in the car. My animal practitioner advised giving him a slice of brown bread before a car ride because his gastric juices would have something to work on (digest) instead of them creating more nevous nausea. This worked perfectly well with that dog. Also my 4 dogs get fed at varied times each day because according to advice I got many years ago if dogs have a regular feeding regime their digestive juices are active some time before their dishes are put on the floor. Those juices are acid and can be damaging to the stomach lining unless busy with food digestion. If you feed at varied times then dogs do not learn this digestion regulating habit and therefore run less risk of problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14176" LastActivityDate="2019-02-02T12:39:40.280" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6494" CreationDate="2019-02-03T00:28:48.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My siamese cat would have episodes of running amok through the hallway and jump on the couch.  I gave her a tennis ball to play with and that calmed her down..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14183" LastActivityDate="2019-02-03T00:28:48.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-03T17:20:33.930" Score="3" ViewCount="2072" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats and I recently got a new litter robot. Per the websites suggestions I put the litter robot next to the old litter box and stopped cleaning it to entice my cats to use the robot instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats has began using the robot but the other ended up pooping in my bathtub instead of the robot. I tried keeping him in the room for an hour with the robot so he’d be less afraid of it but he still wouldn’t go inside it. I left it switched off for about 3 days and I added their old litter to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m afraid if I clean out the old litter box that both cats will go back to the box, but I’m also afraid that if I take away the old litter box completely my one cat will continue to poop in the shower or in the corner somewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-04T12:01:20.053" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T02:28:08.240" Title="Why does only one of my cats use the 'Litter Robot'?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23650" CreationDate="2019-02-03T22:12:46.840" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got the litter robot too and my cat took a few weeks before using it. It may take some time for the cat to realize it’s a litter box, up to several weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you leave the litter robot turned off at the beginning to not scare them when it turns? Another tip is to add a bit of the old litter to the robot so he can recognize that it’s a litter box. You can also place treats near it to get your cat accustomed to the litter robot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s better that you leave the old litter box in place to not stress your cat, and so he doesn’t get used to pooping in the bathtub.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14107" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-21T11:46:24.733" LastActivityDate="2019-08-21T11:46:24.733" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23650" CreationDate="2019-02-04T14:15:41.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the one cat hates the litter robot. You may have to accept that you won't be able to use it. Cats have preferences just like humans. You wouldn't force a human to use a thing they absolutely hate, and so too, if the cat hates it that much, you should relent. On the positive side, by all accounts I've heard, the self-cleaning boxes aren't all they're cracked up to be. Sure, you don't have to scoop all the time, but the mechanisms get disgusting, and it's a difficult and onorous chore to try to clean those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to use both, but keep the robot far from anything the one cat needs access to. That way, you could be saved some work, but the one cat will still have the box it wants. The other cat will likely use the litter robot when the other box is not clean, because most cats prefer clean boxes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-02-04T14:15:41.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23547" CreationDate="2019-02-04T16:44:12.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen this countless times. Beardies are fairly social with their people. He wants out, give him some cuddle/play time and see if the behaviour reduces after you put him back. If you pull him out after bedtime, it makes sense that he just wants to go to sleep. It's great that he's comfortable enough with you to do so. Keep up spending time with him, he'll learn that scratching glass means he comes out.&#xA;Downside: You spend so much time playing with beardie, you get nothing else done ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14191" LastActivityDate="2019-02-04T16:44:12.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23664" CreationDate="2019-02-05T00:24:40.633" Score="6" ViewCount="797" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, today I found out my cat needs insulin needles twice daily. The vet showed me how, and I'm pretty confident I can do it, but...when I was there and tried it, they were holding the cat for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home, it's just me and Norbert-cat and the needle. It's a tiny gauge needle, and he didn't seem too fussed over the whole thing at the vet's, but I worry anyhow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know how they want me to pinch the skin to draw it up in the injection site (kinda around the scruff area), but...how do I hold the rest of the cat, because I'm gonna have one hand full of cat-skin, one hand with the needle, and I am not entirely convinced my cat is going to hold as nicely still as he did there, because he's home and not in the scary place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have any good ideas on how I might hold him or the like, to keep him still long enough to get this done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2019-10-27T16:58:40.873" Title="What's a good method to give a cat a shot without assistance?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2019-02-05T01:49:23.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a canopy on my tank because I like to keep the cat out and the fish in. But apparently my Western blacknose dace enjoys headaches. He continually jumps and bangs his head on the canopy. Several times I have seen the dace and my central stoneroller minnow with the skin peeled on the top of their heads. The spotfin shiners seem to be a bit smarter. Below are my jumpers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, a canopy will not affect the aeration of your tank unless you've sealed it tight. It's best to have a canopy to keep jumpers in the tank.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ny79Q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ny79Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14192" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T01:49:23.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-05T02:38:59.373" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been diagnosed with diabetes. Today he will not let me pet him he just starts yelping. When my husband came near him he climbed on my lap but when I touched him he started yelping. I know he has anxiety issues as well. Could this be that he is telling me he does not want any more injections. I do not know what to do he is breaking my heart and I do not know what to do to comfort him. Or could this mean there is something more going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14194" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T02:38:59.373" Title="Diabetic and anxiety" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2019-02-05T09:09:01.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One solution I saw recently was ice, but rather than mixing it with the tank water, you add icecubes inside a sealed plastic bag like a sandwich bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This drives down the temperature while the ice melts, but doesn't introduce anything unexpected - our local water supply has become chlorinated recently, and its quite disgusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another useful point is the little air in the bag keeps it floating, which is easier to fish out, and you can re-freeze it well enough if you're mindful of leaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus tip - add a water thermometer inside the bag so you can see when its no longer effectively cooling and due for replacement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9141" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T09:09:01.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23658" CreationDate="2019-02-05T11:29:12.843" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not tried this, but it is what I would try first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your supplies set up on the kitchen table, have your insulin drawn and ready.  Have your cats favorite finger food treat on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Call the cat to your lap, pet the cat until you are both calm.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lightly grab the area you are going to tent up for giving the shot.  Do this a couple to a few times. Ensure you both stay calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are both ready, tent up the area again and give the shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put the used needle on the kitchen table and give the cat the treat. Lots of love for all.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related posts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6218/13&quot;&gt;Where on a cat should one inject insulin?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18148/13&quot;&gt;What is the recommended food and insulin timing for a diabetic cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/7026/13&quot;&gt;Canine insulin injection -- what am I doing wrong?&lt;/a&gt; (how to give shot, applies across sepcies) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-05T13:55:14.287" LastActivityDate="2019-02-05T13:55:14.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23669" CreationDate="2019-02-05T20:19:17.283" Score="4" ViewCount="589" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is obsessed with eating thin plastic. For example, the plastic from bulk food bags and thin grocery bags. I will actually find large holes in the bags, but he's yet to have bathroom issues or vomiting from this. I have not found plastic pieces in his excrement, but there are large holes in the bags, so I'm sure he's not just licking the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm able to keep the bags in cupboards and hidden, so this is not a huge issue, but I'm curious as to &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; he does this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it about specifically thin plastic that he likes? I don't think he has &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/pica/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pica&lt;/a&gt; as he only eats thin plastic, nothing else (not even chewing cardboard). He is very healthy and eats well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read the answers on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/3227/how-can-i-stop-my-cat-from-eating-plastic&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; but none of them address the 'why' element of my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14196" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-06T12:09:58.703" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T12:09:58.703" Title="Why does my cat eat thin plastic?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23672" CreationDate="2019-02-05T21:46:18.470" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet recommended getting a kitty toothbrush, but when I went to the kitty specific pet store to get one, they said to give them freeze dried turkey neck. The idea is it's more natural, less invasive, and the cat will salivate and the chewing will clean their teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my cats will eat the turkey neck, but the other will not. I am able to brush their teeth using my finger to get them used to the feel (as recommended by vet). I'm torn between the two suggestions, as both seem reasonable. Suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14196" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-06T12:57:49.187" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T17:16:56.270" Title="How should I brush my cat's teeth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23658" CreationDate="2019-02-06T00:11:21.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;James has given you good advice on technique, so I'm going to focus on the psychology part -- your psychology, more than Norbert's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I'd like you to realise that this will be much less of a big deal for Norbert than it is to you. I'm not a nurse or vet or anything, but in the course of my life I have given injections to humans, cats, dogs, and even alpacas. Animals seem to be relatively unfazed by shots. Although they occasionally object to being &quot;caught&quot;, I have never had an animal react to the shot itself. I think animals find shots far less stressful than pills. So try not to feel guilty and worried that you will cause Norbert pain; that's very unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Norbert will take his cue from you. If you're calm, he will be more relaxed. Keep your breathing steady and relaxed. I find that the easiest way to do this is to talk to the animal while you give the injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to make a ritual of the whole process, so that the animal knows what's coming. That may sound counter-intuitive, but the unknown is scarier than the known. Norbert will be more relaxed knowing that a shot is coming than if he has no idea what's up. So I say &quot;time for your shot&quot;, let him see the bottle, etc. Give lots of affection during the process, and Norbert may not even notice the shot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One technique tip: try holding Norbert under your arm, using your elbow to push his hindquarters against your side. This will help keep him still while you grab the sking and give the shot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T00:11:21.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23665" CreationDate="2019-02-06T04:44:56.947" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is pica, as pica is just a term for &quot;eats stuff that isn't food.&quot; Pica can mean eating all types of inedible things, but it can also be eating just one particular inedible thing. In fact, in humans, there are &quot;subtypes&quot; of pica based on what type of thing the person feels compelled to eat, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take your cat to the vet to double check it doesn't have some sort of underlying issue that might lead it to attempt to eat plastic, which is sometimes the case with pica. You should especially take it to the vet if it is a recent development. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, sometimes pica really is just an inexplicable compulsion. The only treatment then is to make sure you keep the object the cat wants to eat, in your case plastic, away from the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plastic, especially plastic wrap from packaging, or plastic bags, are actually pretty common targets for cats with pica. Many cats are attracted to the crinkling noise these plastics make, try to play with the plastic, and then end up eating it. Therefore, it may also help to find other things to entertain your cat with, to distract it from attempting to eat plastic. You could even give your cat toys that are made to make that same crinkly noise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-02-06T04:50:27.587" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T04:50:27.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-06T05:35:33.437" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I got a cat about 2 months ago. They were not specific of the age as they found her outside fairly young. I don't think they had her long, I'd imagine she's like 5 months old now. She's great with us minus the whole must sniff hand thoroughly before petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is what else can I do to convince her the lottery box is the place to go?&#xA;This is what I've tried so far. &#xA;Can't seem to get her to poop in the litter box though. Everyone says it's all about the box. So I have 2. They all have an unscented litter because I've found she'll pee on that, but hates scents. Both boxes are in Her room. Her food is opposite side of her room. We leave her in her room at night because that's when she poops at like 3 am to 5 am I can't always be up at that time. The internet says putting her in a room with less options would encourage her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she poops on the carpet and it's still fresh I pick up the cat and with toilet paper pick up the poop, put it in the litter box, then set her next to the litter box, (she's offended if I put her in it).&#xA;I've been trying for awhile now and the next step is to add catnip to the litter. I'm kinda broke right now but I'm going to try and get go here litter soon.&#xA;I've also thought about putting chili powder down where she's been point most recently. I normally move the boxes to where she pooped last after cleaning it, but she'll just poop on the other side of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14200" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T10:40:43.833" Title="It's not the cats fault it's mine" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-02-06T11:43:07.193" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23670" CreationDate="2019-02-06T10:40:43.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wellcome to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do is to take the lid off of the litter box and take your cat and put her in the litter tray and show her how to dig,take her paw and use it to dig in the litter if she resist use your own hand and show her how to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might have to do this a couple of times.Do not put the lid on the litter box until she starts to use it correctly teaching a cat can take a little time but when she understands she will remember this forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is a bit short but we have several simmilar questions on our site and i think this one will be closed as a duplicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T10:40:43.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23666" CreationDate="2019-02-06T13:31:03.633" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turkey neck isn't the only non-brushing method - there are various dental care treats available so you could see if another is more to the second cat's liking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest I'm not really convinced on the use of toothbrushes - cat's mouths are small, have lots of delicate soft tissue and they aren't the most reliable creatures at staying still. Unless you have a particularly compliant cat there's going to be a non-trivial risk of hurting them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are cooperative with the finger-brushing you could try using one of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lintbells.com/collections/dental-care/products/yucare-tooth-cleaner&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;microfibre brushes&lt;/a&gt; that you fit to your finger (it's like a sheath) and brush them that way - this way you significantly reduce the chances of hurting them - although your finger is of course in the line of fire so to speak (cats' teeth are &lt;em&gt;sharp!&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T13:31:03.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23666" CreationDate="2019-02-06T17:16:56.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not surprising that your second cat refuse to eat turkey neck are the turkey bones are far too big for a cat. A good sized bones would be for example chicken neck. Moreover dried and cooked bones are not recommended as they easily splinter. Raw chicken neck would be better for teeth cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible to &quot;brush&quot; your cat teeth with an adapted cat toothbrush. My tips is too find a cat toothpaste that taste very good to them and let them bite the brush with the toothpaste. This way the cat will be happy to have a treat and it will clean its teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14107" LastActivityDate="2019-02-06T17:16:56.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-06T21:50:35.240" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two male kittens (brothers) were born under my kitchen deck almost 5 years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One allowed himself to be held for long periods of time. The other not as much, but follows me when I am outside.  They mostly stay on my deck but do travel to my rural neighborhood.  Both of them have been neutered.  They both know their names and understand a good amount of my language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I will be committed to their safe passage and will help them establish themselves in a neighborhood much like where they are now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So can it be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14206" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T05:28:36.290" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T05:28:36.290" Title="Relocating two outdoor cats from New Jersey to Florida" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23675" CreationDate="2019-02-07T00:37:09.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feral and Outdoor are two different types of cats. One is &quot;wild&quot;, and the other is a pet. I'd be hesitant to move feral cats, but if they are your pets, don't abandon them. I don't know you, these cats, or your daily interactions, but hopefully these help you understand the decision better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are moving any cat from it's space, you need to not only guarantee it's safe passage to the new location, but also it's well-being for the remainder of it's life.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It  sounds like you have named these cats, and that you care about them. Do you feed them now? Do they always hang around your home? If you consider these animals your pets and want to give them a loving family, take them with you. But some preparation will be in order for the move if you are committed to these cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interact with the cats daily. Try to get them more used to your presence so &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are home. They need to be comfortable when you are there and know that you mean safety.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide food and shelter for them (if it's cold, build a heated outdoor shelter).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start crate training them. Entice them with treats and food and love. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider taking them on car rides to get them somewhat established to the sensation. (Potty breaks will need to be considered if they've never used a litter box.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's great they are neutered, but make sure they are also vaccinated and such. They could interact with new cats carrying potential diseases. Outdoor cats are especially at risk for developing health issues. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do what you think is best for the well-being of these cats. As I tell all potential pet owners, don't commit to a pet if you can't commit to giving it the best life possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T00:37:09.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20218" CreationDate="2019-02-07T01:13:23.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;if this is a leopard gecko, I find keeping the skin moist is enough and personally never tried glycerin. Water does seem to run straight off the skin on its own but keeping them moist for a while helps a lot, try a warm takeaway container with damp paper towel. If they're stressed out after and don't let you hold them, rubbing the toes (if those are problem areas) with cotton buds while they're standing still can help pull it all off like a sock. Be really careful around the eyes and tail though, it's less risky to simply raise the humidity in the tank for a few days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14207" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T01:13:23.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23681" CreationDate="2019-02-07T03:49:01.440" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 4 months old now. He always takes his toy off the bed, and once he doesn't want to play, he leaves his toy somewhere and just forgets it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And when he wants to play with his toys, which I completely have no clue where they are, he meows loud at me, and even at night he would jump like a husky dog on my belly, blaming me why the toys don't automatically appear on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to let my cat remember where he left his toy? Would intelligence improving toys help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13014" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-27T00:40:57.103" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T00:40:57.103" Title="How to make a cat remember where he placed his toys?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23679" CreationDate="2019-02-07T07:42:35.150" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For you to get a good night's sleep and for your cat to find the toys you need to break the connection that the toys appear where you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you can only find the toys for your cat when he is not looking and for you to stay in bed if your cat wakes you to get his toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If and when your cat finds his toys and comes to you with them give him some attention and positive feedback; positive feedback is very effective when you want your cat to do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a cat to stop doing something, negative feedback (as in telling the cat no) is not effective. It is better to give the cat attention when he does what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intelligence improving toys can be very helpful for stimulating your cat to learn new skills, but remember to change them after some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will learn to find his toys on his own. It will take time so you need to be patient and do not give in to your cat. Let him find the toys himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-02-07T14:39:53.117" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T14:39:53.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2019-02-07T21:03:55.027" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can place your egg sacks in the refrigerator.  Place them inside a brown paper bag with a damp napkin. When you are ready for them to hatch, simply take them out and be sure to keep them spritzed with mist unless placing them outdoors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14213" LastActivityDate="2019-02-07T21:03:55.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23689" CreationDate="2019-02-08T00:56:13.637" Score="4" ViewCount="2661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there are some health risk associated with feeding cats with human grade raw pork? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is quite picky about foods. I've tried pork several times and the cat definitely prefers it to dry or wet cat food or even low-grade microwaved fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only downside that I've seen is that the cat's fur smells like pork and a bit sticky after feasting with pork. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T04:19:27.320" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T18:04:57.907" Title="Is raw pork bad for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23688" CreationDate="2019-02-08T05:36:23.740" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several years ago a smoke alarm inside my house went off and my dog started to shake and hyperventilate. Since then she does this after various beeping type noises, such as a computer booting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last few weeks she has started doing this for no apparent reason as far as I can tell. It is mainly in the evening or at night. She seems okay during the day. She calms down and gets better if I let her outside, but then she refuses to come back in and I have to go grab her and carry her inside. This can last for several hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be affecting my dog, and how can I fix it? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14218" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T05:41:03.467" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T09:48:22.797" Title="Dog keeps hyperventilating" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23685" CreationDate="2019-02-08T06:29:03.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raw pork meat do  have a risk for trichinosis the risk do vary after where you are located but the risk is not zero anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is better to feed other types of meat where the risk is lower,And pork meat do contain an higher amount of fat,Cats do not need to eat fat many cats will refuse to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is best to avoid feeding raw pork to your cat,Raw or under cooked pork is not safe for humans to eat and it is not safe for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No single meat contain all the nutrients a cat need so you need to give other types of food to your cat,So you can be sure it gets a balanced diet with the nutrients it need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link for more information: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-02-08T08:21:34.513" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T08:21:34.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23686" CreationDate="2019-02-08T09:48:22.797" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a typical case of trauma and the treatment won't be easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What happened?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must remember that dogs are less intelligent than humans. They think in simple categories like &quot;good&quot; and &quot;bad&quot;. Getting food, playing and cuddling is good, fear and the smell of smoke or fire is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the smoke alarm went off back then, your dog experienced the smell of smoke (which triggers a natural flight instinct) and your fear / panic in combination with the loud noise. This is a traumatic experience and &lt;em&gt;very bad&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What happens now?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog has forgotten the initial event that caused his fear by now. But he has not forgotten the connection &quot;loud beeping noise = very bad&quot;. Your behavior during the last years has reinforced this connection to &quot;any beeping = very bad&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reoccuring error is that you &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; you do your dog good by allowing him to leave the house when he's afraid, but what you &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; do is confirm that your dog has a valid reason to be afraid and reinforce his behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to treat?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; must treat the trigger (beeping noise) as the most normal thing in the world. Yes, there was a beep, but it doesn't scare you, you haven't even registered it. &lt;strong&gt;Don't look at your dog&lt;/strong&gt; as if to tell him &quot;Did you hear that, too?&quot;. No, nothing's happening, everything normal, carrying on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you should &lt;strong&gt;desensitize&lt;/strong&gt; your dog. Because the fear has been reinforced over years, some approaches might not work for your dog and you have to try something different. Unfortunately, describing every step and variation in detail would be too much for the scope of this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please research the topic online or use the services of a professional dog trainer. Since your dog is triggered by a sound, you can find instructions with the search terms &quot;desensitize dog fireworks&quot; or &quot;desensitize dog loud noises&quot;. Video tutorials tend to be better for learning because you see a dog reacting to the training rather than reading information alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What desensitization does in general is either teaching the dog that the trigger doesn't precede any bad consequences (thereby removing the mental connection &quot;beeping = very bad&quot;) or - even better - teaching the dog that the trigger precedes &lt;em&gt;positive&lt;/em&gt; consequences (thereby overwriting the trigger with &quot;beeping = good&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T09:48:22.797" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23685" CreationDate="2019-02-08T14:26:15.797" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three things to take into consideration when feeding raw pork:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Trichinellosis&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a concern for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trichinellosis is eradicated in most European countries and in the USA. (In Germany, for example, it's common for humans to eat &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;raw pork&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats won't show any symptoms, meaning it's not harmful to them. &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/trichinellosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Aujezky's disease also called pseudorabies&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much less known but much more a concern. It's less know as it's not transmissible to human and much more a concern because it's fatal to cats.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorabies&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, now domestic pigs are free from it and regularly tested in Europe and the US. Though it's safer to not feed free-range pigs, and don't feed wild boar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that you check the epidemiology in your country before feeding raw pork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Balanced diet&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, pork meat alone isn't a balanced diet. If you want to keep feeding, look for a &lt;a href=&quot;https://perfectlyrawsome.com/cats/prey-model-raw-pmr-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;prey model diet&lt;/a&gt;, which is a way to balance a meat-based raw diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your country is free from Aujezky's disease and you provide a balanced diet you can feed raw pork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14107" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-02-08T14:26:15.797" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-08T20:59:49.077" Score="4" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a baby bunny, around 400 grams (1 pound or so). He has a bed of hay and pellets in the cage and we feed him greens in the morning and evening. &#xA;However, it seems that no matter how much parsil or lettuce we give him (e.g. 2-3 handfuls), he is still hungry. He keeps following me around and lick my feet until I give him more. Eventually, when I think he is full, he starts exploring, running and jumping around.&#xA;So how much greens should he eat without overfeeding him?&#xA;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14116" LastActivityDate="2019-05-27T07:22:52.030" Title="How much food is too much for a baby bunny?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23690" CreationDate="2019-02-08T21:27:45.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are experiencing is that your bunny just really, really likes his greens.  Lettuce is especially palatable for many bunnies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 1 cup of greens per 1-2 pounds of weight is usually the recommended minimum amount.  Some sources say 1 cup per pound, some say 1 per 2 pounds, I fed my rabbit on about 1 cup per 2 pounds, plus a small amount of other veggies like carrots, apples, pear, cabbage, etc, and she did well.  Note that while you can overfeed fruits and vegetables easily, rabbits can safely eat almost an unlimited amount of grass hay (timothy, orchard, or other grasses). You should also limit so-called 'high oxalic' greens like parsley and spinach, but you can give your bunny more than recommended minimum of low oxalic acid greens if desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some rabbit owners allow young bunnies under six months to have unlimited pellets as well, but it doesn't seem like there's wide agreement on if this is a good idea or not.  Adult rabbits should not be free-fed pellets in most cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is more detail about feeding your rabbit greens and vegetables: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastEditorUserId="12600" LastEditDate="2019-02-11T14:28:46.833" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T14:28:46.833" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-09T09:54:32.567" Score="5" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I moved south just over 2 weeks ago with my 2 cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now know that the place is not for me. So I am moving back within a week!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are my cats still familiar with their home and territory back there? Will they properly settle down over there after this short gap? I can understand that they are not happy here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14224" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-10T05:04:54.837" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T21:43:13.937" Title="Will my cats properly settle down after taking them back to their old home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23694" CreationDate="2019-02-09T13:56:32.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are moving back to the old house with your cats they will remember it. There is absolutely no doubt about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have an excellent memory of places where they have been before. There are lots of examples where a cat has been lost for years and when they return, they know where every tree and bush is like it never was gone at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T09:14:17.330" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T09:14:17.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-09T18:17:40.283" Score="8" ViewCount="14871" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing various articles on the web claiming that silica sand may be harmful to humans / cats, especially when inhaling the dust it creates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quartz silica (sand), the other ingredient in most clumping litters,&#xA;  is a known carcinogen for both humans and household pets when inhaled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Source:&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-dangers-of-clumping-cat-litter.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-dangers-of-clumping-cat-litter.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question was posted in 2010, so 9 years old already, maybe there's more literature on the subject by now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sometimes worry about breathing in the dust from cat litter. Have&#xA;  there been any studies or are there any health concerns on the danger&#xA;  of breathing in litter dust, either for me or my cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;– April 15, 2010&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/balanced-living/pets-pet-care/is-kitty-litter-dangerous/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/balanced-living/pets-pet-care/is-kitty-litter-dangerous/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one says research has shown without pointing to the actual research:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sadly, silica litter puts our feline counterparts at risk whenever&#xA;  nature calls. Silica dust can be kicked up and inhaled by both cats&#xA;  and humans. what’s worse, silica crystals often stick to cats’ paws,&#xA;  and the dust frequently settles on their fur, leading to ingestion&#xA;  whenever a cat grooms itself. And while many clay litter users still&#xA;  aren’t fully aware of the dangers associated with crystalline silica,&#xA;  the research is decidedly more certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.swheatscoop.com/the-dirt-on-dust-the-dangers-of-crystalline-silica-and-silica-dust/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.swheatscoop.com/the-dirt-on-dust-the-dangers-of-crystalline-silica-and-silica-dust/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one from a somewhat more reputable-looking site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Crystalline silica cat litter is one of the newest types of absorbent&#xA;  litter on the market. It works by absorbing your cats urine and&#xA;  &quot;drying&quot; it eliminating the smell and keeping the litter dry. This&#xA;  type of litter is quite popular due to it's ease of use. However, some&#xA;  health concerns exist. Silica dust contains&#xA;  silica particles and is a known human carcinogen according to the&#xA;  International Agency on Cancer. Breathing in this silica dust may pose&#xA;  a health risk to you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prolonged exposure to crystalline silica dust has been associated with&#xA;  silicosis (a non-cancerous, sometimes fatal lung disease), bronchitis&#xA;  and tuberculosis in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In cats, inhaling the silica dust can cause respiratory infections. If&#xA;  your cat ingests the silica while cleaning its paws, the silica may&#xA;  accumulate in your cat's intestines over a period of time causing&#xA;  health problems. When ingested, the litter will expand and absorb&#xA;  moisture in the intestines preventing the absorption of nutrients as&#xA;  well as cause dehydration and blockages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetinfo.com/silica-cat-litter-toxic.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.vetinfo.com/silica-cat-litter-toxic.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat litter I bought for our new kitten contains silica sand, it's very convenient as it controls odours and lasts for almost a month before having to replace it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GvtJn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GvtJn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any truth to silica sand based litter dust being hazardous to human or cat health? I'm assuming clumping clay is just another word for silica sand or is that actually a different type of cat litter, is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14226" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T13:48:43.403" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T21:23:33.390" Title="Is silica sand cat litter dangerous to use?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23696" CreationDate="2019-02-09T20:26:42.207" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most &quot;sand&quot; is primarily silica sand. The common tan or beige color is typically caused by a few percent of iron oxides. It is up to you to decide if beach sand or desert sand is too dangerous for your cat : Personally I doubt it would be a problem . Silicosis can be a problem where silica is ground under dry conditions producing airborne dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-02-09T20:26:42.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-09T20:29:15.220" Score="4" ViewCount="1663" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CkK7v.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my leopard gecko Luna is impacted. Her belly is black and purple. I started warm baths today. She ate some large crickets and just lays around all day. Not eating or drinking or pooping. Is she impacted or is this more serious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14228" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-14T11:39:15.847" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T02:55:13.777" Title="I think my leopard gecko Luna is impacted - how can I tell?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23708" CreationDate="2019-02-10T03:00:16.683" Score="3" ViewCount="1600" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to fish keeping as well as this website. I have just recently recieved a 10G tank with previously owned keepers, all of which came with its fair share of troubles. The tank came with a betta, two Mollys (which I have since then moved to a 15G tub),and 4 corydoras. Not only did the betta look super depressed and mainly stuck towards the bottom, but had virtually no color and hugged the sides of the glass where the plants are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I removed the Mollys, changed the substrate to an active substrate, added a heater, and added several other plants such as red root floaters and Hornwort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I now deal with the issue that my betta may be suffering from fin rot. Because of the amount of jagged rock and two large fish that were in there before (which he strangely never fought), I could see why his fins may be jagged but I am not 100% sure. He is very active now, eats well,shown some iridescence, as well as begun to create new bubbles. There is also a small part of his fins at the very bottom that are malformed and look very strange (looks as though part of his fin is attached to another part). Here's the best picture I've taken of him so far&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lvY1q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lvY1q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;as you can see near the bottom, his tail does this weird thing where it looks malformed. I'm not sure if this what clamping is but it looks like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just like to know how to cure his sickly fins. My betta is acting PERFECTLY normal besides the fin rip/rot. Please help Leon&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hA73T.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;![enter image description here&quot;&gt;]&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hA73T.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is another picture, although not as clear u can see the jaggedness better&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z2KkA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z2KkA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14233" LastEditorUserId="14233" LastEditDate="2019-02-10T17:11:15.643" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T10:21:30.640" Title="Betta tail- Rot, ripped, or clamping?" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-10T05:23:50.303" Score="8" ViewCount="690" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is really puzzling for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is comfortable with any depth and has never shown any problematic behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not even concerned with the company that makes the sand, and any sand is OK with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the sand depth is too much, it gets difficult for me to clean the litter box. This is because my cat has the habit of digging a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if the depth of the sand too little, the solidified clump of urine often gets stuck at bottom over plastic surface of the litter box, because my cat digs so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the depth is more, my cat has this tendency to sometimes just go and sit over the sand to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: it is not that there is lack a of comfortable material at all. There are different heights and places for my cat to relax. It is just that she sometimes thinks that the litter box sand is the ideal bed for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am wondering how much depth is ideal for a cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T08:36:28.710" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T14:05:21.233" Title="How much depth of sand in litter box is ideal for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2019-02-10T21:24:46.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact, that you have decided to ask this question shows that you have doubts about whether this is a suitable arrangement and that you are inclined to be a responsible owner. This is an admirable approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As descendants of wolves, dogs (pugs included) are instinctual pack animals. What you are proposing is highly irresponsible and likely will lead to separation anxiety and behavioural problems; with the dog being &amp;quot;destructive&amp;quot; by chewing on furniture, shoes and so forth. You will also force this dog to be able to hold urine for 9-11 hours straight. That's a long time; even during the night when metabolism slows down 11 hours is an absolute maximum a dog can usually hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more scientific opinion please refer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/697953/pb13333-cop-dogs-091204.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Code of practice for the welfare of dogs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; published by the &lt;em&gt;Department for Environmental Food &amp;amp; Rural Affairs (UK)&lt;/em&gt; which on page 8 reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are sociable animals that need, enjoy and value company.&#xA;Consequently, many dogs do not like being left alone and may suffer if&#xA;left without company, or with nothing to do for long periods of time.&#xA;Some dogs become distressed and suffer if they are left on their own,&#xA;even for short periods. &lt;strong&gt;Experts recommend four hours as the maximum&#xA;time period.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are not getting this dog to cause him/her distress and stress for yourself but to enjoy this one and unique bond that human beings have been able to form with dogs. However, this doesn't come without effort. As much as some breeds may predisposed to handle loneliness, no dog was designed to be alone for a full day, day after day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6553" LastEditorUserId="6553" LastEditDate="2021-04-03T18:26:30.783" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T18:26:30.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23700" CreationDate="2019-02-11T07:27:47.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to be honest - I do not see signs of fin rot in your betta. It can be very hard to see this in bettas, as a result of the natural variation in how the edge of the fins are shaped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot see any tear in the fins. The only area that looks a little strange is on the top fin of your fish, but I do not believe this is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fins do not look clamped to me. The back of the dorsal fin might be a result of an previous injury that have healed up a little strangely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to keep your fish healthy is to provide good water quality,in an established tank you need to do regular water tests once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The readings you need to keep an eye on is pH-ammonia-nitrite and nitrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pH is the least important part, it is in the interest of your water supplier to keep this at about pH 7-7,5 - if it gets lower, the water mains will corrode (shorter life time) and if the pH is higher, material will be deposited in the water mains (less water flow = higher cost to deliver the same amount of water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia is very toxic to fish (and other life), so this needs to be as close to zero as you possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrite is toxic to fish (and other life), so this needs to be as close to zero as you possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrate is toxic if the concentration gets high, but you keep this down by regular water changes (nitrate is plant food so your plants will remove some of it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrate in the water is a sign that your filter are functioning properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last, the two main reasons for fish to get ill is poor water quality and overfeeding of your fish. Overfeeding leads to poor water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information on how to make sure the water quality will be good in your tank please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;take a look here&lt;/a&gt; BEFORE you buy the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T10:21:30.640" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T10:21:30.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23696" CreationDate="2019-02-11T18:00:27.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Potentially yes it is.  For both you and your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is crystalline silica?&#xA;  Crystalline silica is a basic component of soil, sand, granite, and many other minerals. Quartz is the most common form of crystalline silica. Cristobalite and tridymite are two other forms of crystalline silica. All three forms may become respirable size particles when workers chip, cut, drill, or grind objects that contain crystalline silica.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the hazards of crystalline silica?&#xA;  Silica exposure remains a serious threat to nearly 2 million U.S. workers, including more than 100,000 workers in high risk jobs such as abrasive blasting, foundry work, stonecutting, rock drilling, quarry work and tunneling. Crystalline silica has been classified as a human lung carcinogen. Additionally, breathing crystalline silica dust can cause silicosis, which in severe cases can be disabling, or even fatal. The respirable silica dust enters the lungs and causes the formation of scar tissue, thus reducing the lungs’ ability to take in oxygen. There is no cure for silicosis. Since silicosis affects lung function, it makes one more susceptible to lung infections like tuberculosis. In addition, smoking causes lung damage and adds to the damage caused by breathing silica dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3176.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source: osha.gov&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this related question for other options &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2199/13&quot;&gt;What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a safflower seed litter box with my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-02-11T18:00:27.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6805" CreationDate="2019-02-12T02:13:56.027" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a non-ultrasonic humidifier, which I have used and never got even a curious glance at it from my cat. Recently, I purchased a new fancy ultrasonic one, which from the moment I turned it on, (making no discernably irritating noise to my human ears) attracted the curiosity of my cat such that I have never seen before! She spends a lot of time staring at it after I turn it on, tries to jump on the nightstand to investigate it, and I came in the room to find that she had knocked it off the nightstand onto the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it just be a coincidence? Possibly. Probably. Who knows, I'm not a scientist. But I'm pretty sure it must be making some noise that I can't hear that is driving her (destructive) curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14243" LastEditorUserId="13194" LastEditDate="2019-02-13T14:11:41.897" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T14:11:41.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-12T06:54:47.640" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat (neutered, 13 y/o) fell while I was away two weeks ago. I don’t know how he fell or where. When I came home after being gone for only a few hours he had a noticeable limp and couldn’t lift his tail. We took him to the ER vet who did X-rays, and then to my regular vet the next day (he was injured on a Sunday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;X-rays were all clear as far as breaks/fractures, but there was some swelling and he was vocal when the vet poked around his left hip/hind leg. He was given anti inflammatories and pain meds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s been a little over 2 weeks. The limp is gone (I tried to limit his activity as much as possible in the first week or so) he’s not vocal about any pain and everything else about his behavior is totally normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But! I am SO confused about his tail. He couldn’t lift it at all the first few days; it progressively got better and it’s now not exactly totally lifted but a billion times better than it was; however, he is holding his tail completely to the right. When he walks, if I pet him on the back and he does the happy tail lift, it’s still completely to the right. He flicks the end back and forth and isn’t in pain when I touch it, and I don’t feel any lumps or irregularities when I feel it. The photo shows his tail shifted to the right, but it’s actually far more right than that most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What in the world would cause this? Is it possible it will return to normal with time? (I did follow up with the vet, and he said he has no idea why his tail would be like that and we could do more X-rays but there wasn’t much that could be done).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5kFtZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14247" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T02:52:02.437" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:52:02.437" Title="Cat’s tail only goes to the right after fall" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15261" CreationDate="2019-02-12T07:33:47.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do is talk to your vet about this. Ask about what the vet thinks is the best treatment, maybe a treatment with low dosage of antihistamine for the season when there are mosquitos out (or continuous treatment all year if you live in a place where mosquitos are active all year).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment will depend on how serious the allergy is. I think your vet should take a blood sample and get it tested for other types of allergy as allergy for only one thing is rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, try to avoid using steroids to treat the cats; steroids have all kinds of adverse effects on the body. If there is a need to use steroids, be sure to use it for as short a time as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plant catnip, it will help keep the mosquitos away (and many of the other insects that are annoying for cats and people). And for some strange reason, the useful insects will still come to your garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The active substance in catnip is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepetalactone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nepetalactone&lt;/a&gt;. Nepetalactone has been shown to be a very effective mosquito repellent and it is not toxic to people or cats. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;It is up to ten times more effective&lt;/a&gt; than &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DEET&lt;/a&gt; commonly used to repel insects (DEET is toxic to all life).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T16:00:22.727" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:00:22.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23714" CreationDate="2019-02-12T08:07:51.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So the bones in the hip and tail do not have any fractures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means there must be an injury to the soft tissue, most likely to a muscle. If this is the case, it will heal up nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be an injury to a tendon connecting the tail to the the hip of your cat; if this causes your cat pain, you might need to get it treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely this will heal within a couple of weeks; if not, you need to contact your vet and get an MR taken to see what exactly is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a vet, so you have to take my answer for what I think might be wrong. I have seen several cats with the same tail to the side type of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T02:38:47.910" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:38:47.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23696" CreationDate="2019-02-12T15:02:23.113" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;While many sites cite &amp;quot;claims,&amp;quot; I have so far only found one actual scientific study of whether silica particles from cat litter and respiratory disease in cats are linked, which concluded &amp;quot;maybe.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interpretive Summary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inhaled silica dust has been implicated as a cause of lung cancer and other respiratory diseases in humans and several animal species. Electron microscopy and x-ray spectroscopy were used to identify and characterize dust particles from seven brands of commercially available clay cat litters and to identify, characterize and quantify particles in the lung wash fluid of six cats with and six cats without signs of respiratory disease. &lt;strong&gt;Dust particles from clay cat litter have an identifiable appearance&lt;/strong&gt; and elemental ratio (primarily aluminum and silica) and &lt;strong&gt;the same pattern was observed in particles obtained from lung wash fluid.&lt;/strong&gt; Significantly &lt;strong&gt;more silica particles were obtained from cats with than without respiratory disease.&lt;/strong&gt; This suggests an association between presence of silica particles and respiratory disease, but &lt;strong&gt;it is unknown whether silica dust particles contribute to respiratory disease or accumulate because of interference with normal lung ciliary function.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.texasanimalguardians.org/respiratory-disease-study-silica-dust-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Detection of Silica Particles in Lung Wash Fluid From Cats With and Without Respiratory Disease&lt;/a&gt; (Emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there may not be definitive proof at this time as to whether or not silica dust specifically from cat litter is harmful to you or your cat, there exists a much broader range of studies demonstrating the risk of silica dust in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mentioned &amp;quot;clumping clay,&amp;quot; which is sodium bentonite. It absorbs moisture very well, but if your cat tends to get litter stuck to its fur and lick it off, it could cause issues different from the inhalation risks of the silica dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you wish to avoid silica clay, a wealth of alternative litters currently exist, using materials such as wood (chips/shavings/dust), paper, and plant products (corn, wheat, nut shells). A column on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/green-friendly-cat-litter-options/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scientific American&lt;/a&gt; lists a number of these products by brand name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-02-12T15:02:23.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2019-02-12T15:55:29.093" Score="6" Body="&lt;h1&gt;For France&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In France, we have the SPA (&lt;em&gt;Société protectrice des animaux&lt;/em&gt;), a national-wide association, recognised by the government as of public interest. The SPA maintains a network of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.la-spa.fr/faq/quest-ce-quun-dispensaire&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;dispensaries (&lt;em&gt;dispensaires&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;, where people with financial difficulties can take appointments for their pets. However, there are only 11 of these structures, unevenly spread on the territory (see the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.la-spa.fr/refuges&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;official map&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The veterinary schools (&lt;em&gt;Écoles vétérinaires&lt;/em&gt;), which are &lt;em&gt;grandes écoles&lt;/em&gt;, also offer medical care with more affordable prices. There are four schools, located in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.envt.fr/menu-og-33/les-cliniques&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Toulouse&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://chuv.oniris-nantes.fr/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nantes&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetagro-sup.fr/clinique-veterinaire/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyon&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vet-alfort.fr/services-cliniques/hopital-des-animaux-de-compagnie/infos-pratiques&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Maison-Alfort&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many local or regional animal care associations are located in the whole country, and might also help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to complete this answer, as I may have missed legal aspects, as well as important associations. Also, I did not provide anything for the overseas territories (&lt;em&gt;DOM/TOM&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14250" LastActivityDate="2019-02-12T15:55:29.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23701" CreationDate="2019-02-12T17:40:14.207" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats don't seem to have a preference, so I personally am never exact. Most litter companies recommend anywhere from &lt;strong&gt;2–4  inches&lt;/strong&gt; (5–10 cm), depending on your cat's habits. I usually err on the side of less, to save litter and thus money. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is inevitable to  have clumps of urine stuck at the bottom. I've never had a litter type or depth that's prevented it. Just get a solid and sturdy litter scoop. If the clumps you encounter are too hard to scrape up, consider a different type of litter. (I find clay litters are harder to scrape up than wood or walnut based litters.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recommend cleaning the box every (or every other) month. As in, full on, dump all the litter and take your hose, spray it out, and scrub it with non-toxic soap (making sure you don't leave any residue on the box). I find this helps make the box easier to scoop because there's less residue that allows new clumps to  get  stuck to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat likes to  rest  in the litter box, make sure they have enough comfortable beds to call their own. If she likes how sand feels, maybe get her a little bean bag to sleep in, since that shifts and feels like sand. Keep it close to the box at first, until she starts choosing that over her litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:11:02.317" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:11:02.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23730" CreationDate="2019-02-12T23:04:30.097" Score="2" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got two gerbils yesterday, and they can't seem to use the water bottle. If I tap the end of the nozzle, they will come and drink all the water that drips onto the platform. Then they just sniff around the nozzle, not knowing what else to do. As I write this, one of them is periodically coming to the bottle and searching all around it, and I'm hoping she'll figure it out somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no way of knowing if they're dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried demonstrating how to use it, but they're too shy to stand there and watch me tap the nozzle. They run and hide if I reach for the bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get them to drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14252" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T22:42:41.600" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T22:42:41.600" Title="My gerbils don't know how water bottles work" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23619" CreationDate="2019-02-13T00:59:41.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not likely your filter.  I would never use bleach or any chemical on anything aquarium related.  To clean, I've boiled loads of ornaments, rocks, wood and plastic plants, etc; I've melted a few plants but that's better than dead aquarium inhabitants.  I've also invested in a set of dedicated brushes to clean small areas in the filers, tubing, et.  Pipe cleaners also work. And I WASH HANDS &amp;amp; ARMS BEFORE I GO IN THERE.&#xA;It was v. hard for me but I learned, from the day you start your aquarium nothing is going to be pristine clean. &#xA;Brushes link: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B07DYQ21C4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DYQ21C4/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14253" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T00:59:41.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-13T02:40:26.090" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 female and 2 male rabbits and I want to breed them. The thing is, I only want to breed them one time and then get them all fixed, but I'm scared that if I wait and breed them afterwards, I won’t be able to slowly and eventually put them all in the same cage. Is it possible to slowly bond the rabbits, or is it impossible due to hormone changes and stuff that have already developed? I read that after hitting puberty, rabbits become more aggressive. Will this change if I get them fixed later on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14254" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:29:36.337" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:36.337" Title="Wanting to breed my rabbit once and then get them fixed, but is it possibly to then later slowly intergrate them all back together?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-13T04:52:01.190" Score="3" ViewCount="2383" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 year old female cat whom I have to put in a crate (a large dog crate) at night or when I leave the house, because otherwise she'll tear up cords and get on the counters inside the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This peeing in crate started about a year and a half ago. We started to put puppy training pads in her kennel to help with the mess, and we still have to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We learned that she had a Urinary Tract Infection after taking her to the vet, but since it's been treated. Yet she continues to do this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that the use of the puppy pads in her kennel (we've tried unscented and scented ones) has trained her to think that it's okay for her to pee there. As soon as I put her in her kennel to go to bed or out, she's urinated on the pad within 5 minutes.&#xA;I don't know if this is a training issue or if I need to take her to the vet again, but it's getting quite frustrating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know its unsanitary for her, even though her bed is raised and we keep the pads in a large litter pan to contain the mess. Not only that, it often leaves a smell in the kennel and I don't exactly enjoy cleaning it out twice a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt; can offer any advice on what to do, I'd greatly appreciate it. I don't know what else to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14255" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2019-02-14T14:45:34.230" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T20:04:23.323" Title="How do I stop my cat from peeing in her crate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-13T06:59:15.700" Score="1" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;The area where I live is extremely lethal for a domestic cat. There are scorpions, tarantulas, poisonous snakes, dogs, foxes, eagles, vultures, larger wild cat species, and even sometimes leopards. My cat (Bhutu) only has experience being outside back in the city where the streets only had weak and unfed stray dogs as the only danger to cats (which still was a significant danger).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our house is a huge two storey house in which we only live in a part of first floor. Very recently, Bhutu managed to get onto a sloping, slippery metal roof. Had she fallen from this height, it could have been fatal. We always keep all windows closed and most of them are the olden days wooden windows with no glass. So the light always has to be on, resulting in an increased electric bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, there is no door at the front entrance of our part on first floor. Instead there is a huge collapsible gate through which a cat can easily pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past we've always kept her on a leash to restrict her free movement but the cat doesn't enjoy this. We have also tried other methods like putting a large object that the cat is fearful of (like teddy bear) next to the entrance but she always has the tendency to venture outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I ensure that my cat will stay inside without the requirement for a leash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-13T12:43:13.777" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T12:43:13.777" Title="How to ensure that my cat always remains indoor, no matter what?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23724" CreationDate="2019-02-13T07:17:23.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very important to always provide them with water, so you should tap the nozzle yourself to let water collect in the bowl below until they figured it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, they will understand that water is always found near the bottle. When they become less shy and explore their surroundings more, they will probably tap the nozzle by accident. Thant's the moment they learn how the water bottle works. Until then, you must provide the water for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T07:17:23.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23729" CreationDate="2019-02-13T09:53:24.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not a lot you can go behaviorally speaking that's going to give you any level of surety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;teddy doorman&quot; approach is likely to be highly hit-and-miss - she's afraid of the teddy not the outside, so may be inclined to try a quick dash &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; the fearsome teddy and end up precisely where you don't want her to be!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Far better to physically prevent her getting out - I've had good success with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.streme.co.uk/pet-screens/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImoaOiLW44AIV7ZXtCh2aAQigEAAYASAAEgIUGfD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;screen doors&lt;/a&gt; of pet-resistant mesh (UK link but hopefully there is an equivalent in your locale)  in the past. They stop the cat getting out but let air and light in (which gets you around the closed window issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the downside is that it's not cheap and if you have a lot of windows and doors to cover off the cost mounts quickly - but it is a one-off cost at least!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T09:53:24.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23729" CreationDate="2019-02-13T11:50:03.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you should trust your cat some more. You write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just two days back, Bhutu had escaped to a part of roof which is slippery and has slope. A fall would have meant sure death and I had to risk my own life to safely bring her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was very dangerous for you, but a cat has claws so they don't slip as easily and can climb very good. When you fall down from a roof, you'll probably get badly injured, but cats can rotate during falling and land savely on their feet without hurting themelves. There are reports of cats surviving falls from 10 meters high without breaking any bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no way for Bhutu to leave the house, you should think about allowing her to go to the part of the house you don't use. Think of it as her playground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to going outside. Most cats love going outside because there are so many interesting things to see and do. But many cats cannot go outside for different reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could put nets in the windows to let the light and fresh air in but keep Bhutu inside. There are different types of nets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mosquito screens: Keeps insects outside as well. Cats cannot squeeze through, but can easily scratch it apart. Can be glued to a window or added in a second window frame.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Commercial pet nets: They look like a fishing net, but small enough that a cat cannot squeeze through. A cat can bite it apart, but not scratch it. Some are complicated to install in a window.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An actual fishing net: You need to choose one with small enough holes. The head of your cat must not fit through the holes. You must find a way to install it in a window.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can install a similar net in a door. It's basically a second door right inside your &quot;real&quot; door, but with a net instead of wood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a place in the house where you never go and you don't want Bhutu to go, you can block the door with such a net as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T11:50:03.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2019-02-13T12:44:17.357" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a little over a year old and she spits on me from occasion. In fact, she literally just spat on me a few minutes ago. I was in bed and she was on the headboard above me and all of a sudden, I fell water on me and I look up and there she is, just staring at me. I believe it's just a sign of affection because this cat and I have a great bond with one another. I wouldn't worry about it too much...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14258" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T12:44:17.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2019-02-13T15:32:01.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have to leave any dog for up to 9 hours on its own please do not get one. I am a pug owner and I know pugs like to be around people playing and socializing. Also 9 hours is a long time for a dog to not be able to relive itself and you will end up having a dog that soils in the house. We got our pug from a man who was an estate agent and was often out of the house for 8 or more hours, we noticed a significant difference in our pug after a few days of not being left alone for hours on end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14259" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T15:32:01.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23728" CreationDate="2019-02-13T16:12:19.133" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't keep your cat any place for many hour periods without at minimum access to water and the litterbox. One of the ways UTIs can develop is by holding in urine rather than eliminating it, or not drinking enough water. Therefore, your cat may have developed the UTI due to you keeping it in a crate overnight. Cats in particular are prone to UTIs, and so you must be careful to prevent them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, UTIs increase the urge to urinate, which may have led to the first incident. Once that happens, the cat may start thinking it's another spot where it can eliminate. It can help to thoroughly clean the crate with cleaners designed to remove pet smell, but unfortunately, the association is there now, so that may not be effective, and retraining may be necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of a crate, if you really must keep your cat contained overnight, I suggest shutting it in a room that has all the things the cat needs to be comfortable: water, a litterbox, toys, and a place to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also take the cat to the vet again to make absolutely sure it does not have a UTI again. As I said, cats are prone to it, and it actually can be quite serious for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T16:12:19.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23727" CreationDate="2019-02-13T16:44:04.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is fairly complex.  We have several existing posts that talk about some of the specific issues you will face. For the most part I will include links to our existing posts for more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question does not indicate the current age or living arrangements of the 4 bunnies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you want to have baby bunnies it is important that you keep the girls and boys separate. Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6581/13&quot;&gt;Pet Rabbits, Double Pregnacies, and Keeping the Buck in with the Doe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbits are 6 months old or less, it is really hard to tell the girls from the boys, so hard that some people suggest that they can change gender.  Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/11064/13&quot;&gt;What causes rabbits to spontaneously change gender?&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6122/13&quot;&gt;How to tell sex and spay/neutered of rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have 4 young rabbits living together now, you need to separate them, but at the same time that can be hazardous to them as well.  Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/10380/13&quot;&gt;Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand if you don't separate them, putting aside all the health issues for the mother bunny mentioned above, they are still likely to hurt each other. Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/15722/13&quot;&gt;Do rabbits fight each other to the death?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best case,&lt;/strong&gt; Currently, you have all 4 bunnies living separately.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will bring a male and female together for a couple of minutes when ready to breed, then keep them separated. Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18685/13&quot;&gt;Unsuccessful rabbit mating&lt;/a&gt;. Additionally you are not going to want the two girl bunnies living together when they have babies, or they are likely to harm each other's kits.  Which is further reason you need to keep the girls separate from the beginning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After everyone is spayed/neutered/fixed&lt;/strong&gt; You need to wait at least 30 days before attempting to bond them.  All of my bunnies have been rescue bunnies and most were fixed at around 2 years old.  With one exception they have all formed bonds with other rabbits.  So it is very possible you can have them living together in at least 2 groups of 2.  Getting all 4 to live happily together is possible, but would likely take months of work, to be successful.  Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/20430/13&quot;&gt;Aggression between desexed male rabbits&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/9451/13&quot;&gt;Rabbit integration tips &amp;amp; tricks?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt; Yes it is possible &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;to breed my rabbit once and then get them fixed, but is it possibly to then later slowly intergrate them all back together?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the path is very difficult.  Read more at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bonding+rabbits&quot;&gt;rabbit bonding posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:28:42.483" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:28:42.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23728" CreationDate="2019-02-13T19:45:22.627" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat is not a crate animal. (I also don't believe dogs are crate animals, but that's a different issue.) Yes, it's true cats sleep all the time, but they still have frequent periods of activity, especially at night. Cats are independent  creatures and trying to contain them for long periods of time is going to make them upset. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, cats don't like to pee where they eat, and often are even picky to  drink where they eat. (Instinct tells cats that food and water are in different places, so some will not drink from a water bowl near their food.) You need to give her space, things to climb on, activities to hold her interest. I agree with Kai's suggestion of keeping the cat in a safe room at night, like a bathroom, if absolutely necessary (though you can train her to stop the bad habits which make you crate her to begin with). Cats require elevation and multiple options of places to sleep, play, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many suggest she may have another UTI (do take her to the vet again, to be safe), no water, or no access to litter. &lt;strong&gt;I would suggest she is urinating because she is unhappy.&lt;/strong&gt; It is common for a stressed and/or upset cat to urinate, and since your cat is in a crate, that is the only place she can do so to express her frustration. I've seen it before, and it can be a hard thing to destress a cat. It will take time and patience, but it can be done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your first step is to &lt;strong&gt;get rid of the crate&lt;/strong&gt;. Crates are for taking a cat to the vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure her litter, food, and water are separate and easily accessed. (Consider putting her litter where her crate was kept, since she is used to  urinating right there.) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give her &lt;strong&gt;plenty to climb on&lt;/strong&gt; so she has options besides your counters (make sure they are higher than counters, like a 3-4 story cat tree). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give her things to scratch (cardboard scratch boards are amazing!) and things to chew and play with, to train her to stop destroying cords. (A suggestion, because my cats used to  do the same - don't yell or physically punish the cat, they don't understand that. Instead, if you catch her being naughty, give her a toy to draw her attention away. Wiggle a string toy, for instance. She will begin to understand that it is more fun than your headphones.)  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you own an animal, you are agreeing to invest your time to their happiness, livelihood, and habits. Picture this: you could survive in a box, if someone fed you and gave you water... but would you be happy? Take the time to provide the best living situation for you cat while keeping &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; living situation ideal, too, through training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T19:45:22.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23742" CreationDate="2019-02-13T20:39:46.157" Score="2" ViewCount="557" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone posted a question about the noise the cats in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqyVIGSRc8Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt; video were making, between their regular meow-type noises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They wanted to know what that noise meant when the cat communicated with them like that. I realized my cat makes the same noise when I speak with her, so I started doing some googling! Cat communication is fascinating to me, so I was excited to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd almost finished my answer when the question was deleted, so I'm re-posting the question to the best of my memory (I hope that's okay!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, the question is - what  is the loud, mouth closed noise these cats are making, and what does it mean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T20:41:57.300" Title="What does it mean when my cat makes this noise? (re-post)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23741" CreationDate="2019-02-13T20:39:46.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats make a variety of noises that people call different things. I'm not sure they're generally one thing or another, and lots of people have categorized them into many different types. Because science! Here's my speculation, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/71wuT.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/71wuT.png&quot; alt=&quot;cat purr&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, okay, all jokes aside - I'd call that noise a chirr or trill. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_communication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; has a great amount of information on cat communication, condensed for easy understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Schötz categorised vocalizations according to three mouth actions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sounds produced with the mouth closed (murmurs), including the purr, the trill and the chirrup,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sounds produced with the mouth open and gradually closing, comprising a large variety of meows with similar vowel patterns, and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sounds produced with the mouth held tensely open in the same position, often uttered in aggressive situations (growls, yowls, snarls, hisses, spits and shrieks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I reason it’s a chirr because it’s more intense than a regular purr. (Fun fact: no one really knows how a cat purrs!) It’s a friendly, greeting-type noise, so you should be happy your cat communicates with you like that! I know mine often does when I talk to her. She responds in chirrs. The Wikipedia page linked above says this about chirrs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chirr or chirrup sounds like a meow rolled on the tongue. It is commonly used by mother cats calling their kittens inside the nest. Kittens recognize their own mother's chirp, and do not respond to the chirps of other mothers. It is also used by friendly cats when eliciting the approach of another cat or a human. Humans can mimic the sound to reassure and greet pet cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitty talks to  me like this all the time, in &amp;quot;response&amp;quot; to my questions. I'm happy to know it's a friendly noise!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-02-13T20:41:57.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23698" CreationDate="2019-02-14T11:09:25.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately although stack exchange is full of knowledgeable people, we're not a very good substitute for a qualified vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is impaction, you're doing the right thing with the warm baths, although unfortunately they often don't work - keep it up just in case. Impaction can be very serious and can be deadly so I really would suggest finding a nearby reptile vet and taking Luna to be checked out as soon as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14191" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-14T11:38:23.280" LastActivityDate="2019-02-14T11:38:23.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2019-02-14T15:00:15.580" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 existing neon tetras and have a bag with 6 juveniles suspended in tank, slowly adding water. The existing tetras have been very curious about them and have been swimming alongside the bag with the juveniles mirroring their behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14264" LastActivityDate="2019-02-14T15:00:15.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21845" CreationDate="2019-02-14T16:35:40.890" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put my oven on warm which is 170 degrees and then set him in the temporary cardboard box carrier (out of the habitat) on the stove.  It vents the oven so it was super toasty back there in the middle of the stove, but cooler on the outside so he could move sides of the box if needed.  Obviously this was just for two days till I could get another heater obviously you are not supposed to leave your oven on like that either.  But it worked.  he was toasty and seemed happy.  I put some papertowels in there with him so he would feel secure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14266" LastActivityDate="2019-02-14T16:35:40.890" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-14T23:38:24.727" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog screams as soon as my husband and I start to drive.  She wants to go and is upset when she is left at home.  But, when she is in the car, she starts screaming.&#xA;I bought a Thunder Shirt but this only made her worse.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My husband says that once he lets me out to work and starts home, she quiets down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14270" LastActivityDate="2019-02-15T12:55:43.837" Title="How do I stop Screaming while riding in the Car" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23751" CreationDate="2019-02-15T12:55:43.837" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she stops screaming when you get out of the car, it would seem to be related to your presence.  The two most likely scenarios are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are nervous and she picks up on that and reacts with the screaming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is learned behavior, she expects while you are in the front seat, she should scream and you should pet her.  This is reinforced because that is they way it always is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is not going to be a &lt;strong&gt;'this always works solution'&lt;/strong&gt; you will need to try different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing I would try is, you get in the back seat and ignore the dog completely.  The dog rides in front with your husband.  Do not talk to the dog, if possible she should not even know you are in the back seat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, you will just have to try different things.  Like maybe your husband takes the dog for a ride around the block before you get in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-02-15T12:55:43.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-15T16:18:13.373" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sweet girl is nearing 17 and has been suffering with hyperthyroidism for several years.  Just last year she was also diagnosed with terminal small cell lymphoma in her bowel.  She has previously been on the Hills y/d diet, and it did successfully bring her T4 levels down and eliminate her need for medication, but I've always been pretty upset over the high corn/carbohydrate content of that food.  I was trusting my vet, though, that it was the best course of treatment for her.  However, now with the cancer diagnosis, I was advised to feed her a diet with very low carbohydrate, as carbohydrates apparently &quot;feed&quot; the cancer, so she went to a carbohydrate-free diet and back on the thyroid medication.  However, now her thyroid levels are off the charts even with the medication and I was advised to put her BACK on y/d.  OR, only now, when my cat is very old and sick after being hyperthyroid for YEARS, has my vet told me about the curative radioactive iodine treatment being an option.  I would do it without hesitation except that it is VERY expensive, and my poor old girl would have to endure the stress of an hour-long car ride to another city to receive the treatment.  I can't bear to put her through all that when I'm worried the stress alone might do her in at this point.  I don't know how much longer she has, I was told probably less than a year, but I want to do the best I can for her while she's still with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, my question is this:  since curative treatments aren't really an option for my cat, is there a way to feed my cat a low-iodine, low-carb, high protein, high fat diet?  I've been researching homemade cat food options, but I don't know how to ensure I'm feeding my girl as little iodine as possible.  I've found several websites advising making your own low-iodine cat food instead of using y/d, but I can't seem to find any recipes or specific information on how to do that.  Is it even possible?  I'd appreciate any advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14272" LastActivityDate="2019-02-15T16:18:13.373" Title="Feeding Geriatric Cat with Hyperthyroidism and Cancer" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23761" CreationDate="2019-02-15T17:50:40.780" Score="1" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I notice my 5 years old boxer had something weird on his gum (right hand side of his mouth). At the top of this weird piece of extra gum has many little red dots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boxer does not complain about anything, I haven't notice an unusual behaviour like if he felt pain, he eats good and normal as always also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just an inflammation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it something dangerous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help me please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right hand side&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3niee.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3niee.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Right hand side&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right hand side&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ErGNG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ErGNG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Right hand side&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Left hand side&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wvc4B.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wvc4B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Left hand side&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Update&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We notice that the little piece of extra gum (RHS) has decreased a little. Today the&#xA;veterinarian said there are two little tumors in the RHS that can be treated with antibiotics for 4 days. And we'll see what happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10461" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T21:29:32.363" Title="What could be this on gum of boxer?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23756" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-16T05:24:56.673" Score="3" ViewCount="8399" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the following tanks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 gallon, 2 months old - housed betta and shrimp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 gallon, 2 weeks old - used established media to seed aquarium alongside cycle and beneficial bacteria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.5 gallon - currently seeding with established media&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the 3.5 gallon, I understand the 0 reading on nitrates, but not on both of my other tanks. (0 nitrites, 7 pH, heated to 78 °F / 26 °C), the rest is neutral on my tests or in the right parameters.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do my nitrate readings always come out as 0?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do weekly water changes at 30% with dechlorinator and add beneficial bacteria every other week. In addition, I vacuum gravel every other change. I've had no ammonia spikes, no dying fish, no cloudiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why do my nitrates stay at 0?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14128" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T02:01:12.720" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T02:01:12.720" Title="Why does my nitrate level always read 0?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23760" CreationDate="2019-02-16T11:14:27.240" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the way home today I saw a stray cat crossing the road so slowly, it seemed like it didn't care if it was hit. I pulled over and tried to pick the cat and take it home but it refused and jumped off. I could feel its bones and it was very thin and feeble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming it became weak because of lack of nutrition, I went home and brought some milk in a cup but when I tried to feed it, it kept turning its face away. My second thought was to get some meat for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what could be the reason it refused the food? What should be done in such a situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14275" LastActivityDate="2019-02-16T21:39:05.613" Title="What's wrong with a cat who appears weak and refuses food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23603" CreationDate="2019-02-16T17:17:29.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my betta got sick, I implemented many of the changes mentioned in Gwendolin’s answer (which I believe were the most effective measures), and I also gave him some medicine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/api-bettafix-antibacterial/dp/121928&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.chewy.com/api-bettafix-antibacterial/dp/121928&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a link to a sort of catch-all medicine that can be used to treat most illnesses in bettas and also as a preventative when introducing new fish to each other. Just be very careful not to overuse this, and also be sure to follow the instructions on the package.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your betta is not eating, you could also try a variety of food. When my fish was sick, I crushed up the pellets to make it easier for him to eat, and I also introduced blood worms into his diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14277" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T10:40:07.560" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T10:40:07.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23758" CreationDate="2019-02-16T21:39:05.613" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reasons for such behavior can be so many that only a vet can diagnose and treat the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your idea of feeding it some some milk was nice, but absolutely detrimental! It's actually good that the cat refused to drink it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all adult animals (with the notable exception of humans) are lactose intolerant. Feeding milk or cream to cats is a popular myth, but it would cause them diarhea and discomfort. If the stray cat was malnurished and weak, diarhea would cause even more harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you find the cat again, please take her to a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're ever in a similar situation, please offer clean water and pet food (either wet food or kibbles soaked in water),  &lt;strong&gt;unseasoned&lt;/strong&gt; cooked meat or &lt;strong&gt;unseasoned&lt;/strong&gt; mashed potatoes. There must be absolutely no onions or garlic in the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-02-16T21:39:05.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23754" CreationDate="2019-02-16T22:07:31.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me this looks like tissue with pathological changes and you really need to see a vet as soon as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire gums of upper and lower jaw look swollen. At first glance I thought this was a puppy with milk teeth because only the upper half of the teeth is visible above he swelling. The &quot;second&quot; gums look like an ulcer - a mutation of tissue that needs to be treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are predators and in the wild predators survive only as long as they're strong and healthy. That's why most dogs don't show pain and discomfort that is tolerable to them. But this tissue looks at least sensitive...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please note that I am not a vet&lt;/strong&gt; or even a doctor, but I work in the production of medical devices and gained some medical knowledge in my line of work. The red dots you see are a possible indicator of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysplasia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dysplasia&lt;/a&gt;, a pathological mutation of tissue that can develop into &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplasm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;neoplasia&lt;/a&gt; (better known as cancer) if untreated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These terms are related since they represent three stages in the progression of many malignant tumors of the epithelium. The likelihood of the development to cancer is related to the degree of dysplasia.[10]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Dysplasia is the earliest form of precancerous lesion which pathologists can recognize in a pap smear or in a biopsy. Dysplasia can be low grade or high grade. The risk of low-grade dysplasia transforming into high-grade dysplasia, and eventually cancer, is low. Treatment is usually straightforward. High-grade dysplasia represents a more advanced progression towards malignant transformation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Carcinoma in situ, meaning &quot;cancer in place&quot;, represents the transformation of a neoplastic lesion to one in which cells undergo essentially no maturation, thus may be considered cancer-like. In this state, epithelial cells have lost their tissue identity and have reverted to a primitive cell form that grows rapidly and with abnormal regulation for the tissue type. However, this form of cancer remains localized, and has not invaded past the basement membrane into tissues below the surface.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Invasive carcinoma is the final step in this sequence. It is a cancer which has invaded beyond the basement membrane and has potential to spread to other parts of the body. Invasive carcinoma can usually be treated, but not always successfully. However, if it is left untreated, it is almost always fatal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why it's easy to say &quot;it's cancer&quot; at a glance, but what stage of cancer has to be determined in a laboratory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand it, the cause of dysplasia is constant stress on a cellular level. Some cells grow bigger than normal, some have a much bigger nucleus, others divide too early. All this can be examined in a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;histological examination&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xpn7X.jpg&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Kb5j.jpg&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysplasia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the blood vessels are stressed as well, they grow longer and thicker and become visible in a &quot;punctuation&quot; or &quot;mosaic&quot; pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VoYZ7.jpg&quot; height=&quot;350&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jomfp.in/article.asp?issn=0973-029X;year=2014;volume=18;issue=3;spage=403;epage=410;aulast=Ohri&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Journal Of Oral &amp;amp; Maxillofacial Pathology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what causes this cellular stress, I honestly don't know. I do know that it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be caused by certain viruses or constant injury (like biting the same spot of your tongue over and over again). I &lt;em&gt;assume&lt;/em&gt; that an allergy &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; cause this kind of stress, but I honestly don't know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please ask your vet for the probable cause and a treatment plan.&lt;/strong&gt; Maybe a treatment with antibiotics or other medication can help. Maybe a different brand of food and using stainless steel bowls for water and food can help if it's caused by an allergy. There are some cases where pets react allergic to plastic bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you treat the cause of the dysplasia, your dog can live without major problems for many years. If the cause cannot be treated, chances are high the pre-existing dysplasia gets worse and develops into malignant cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T08:29:43.670" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T08:29:43.670" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23812" CreationDate="2019-02-17T05:29:43.897" Score="5" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat turns 13 next week! He’s super active, normal weight, eats a quality wet food diet. Every 6 months he goes for routine lab work and at the last check he had everything was normal. However, I've been reading about how Kidney failure affects a large percentage of senior cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly looking for a supplement that could be added to his food to support kidney function and possibly prevent any kidney problems from appearing later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a supplement to do this &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; another way to reduce the risk of kidney issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14247" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-22T17:00:42.017" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:13:08.610" Title="How to prevent Kidney Decline in Cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;supplements&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-17T14:24:17.063" Score="3" ViewCount="3149" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko has only shed once and I got him on May 19th, 2018.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes he goes pale but nothing happens, he always has wet moss, I give him baths. He seems healthy, there's nothing wrong with him, he's active, eats perfectly fine and has calcium powder in the tank which he eats from time to time. I just want to know what can I do to help him shed because I tried everything that I know of.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N47n8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14279" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:25:06.677" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T05:09:14.547" Title="My leopard gecko won't shed" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-18T02:21:47.463" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not doing this, nor do I plan to (due to the aggressive nature of male bettas). But I was wondering if it would be possible to house multiple male bettas in a 200+ gallon tank?&#xA;I definitely imagine it would be a lot of work, and a lot of plants with hide spots. But is it doable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opinions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14284" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T02:10:42.323" Title="Multiple Male Bettas in 200+ Gallon?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-18T13:40:59.177" Score="1" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pretty aggressive Betta, ever since I did a full water change because it was getting too dirty. He got more aggressive than before, he flares up whenever he sees me, I've been wanting to get maybe some bottom feeders, would that be alright? I'm not sure whether or not he would kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14289" LastActivityDate="2019-02-19T20:28:25.557" Title="I have a pretty aggressive Betta" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-18T14:15:55.077" Score="9" ViewCount="2101" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the diabetes diagnosis for my cat, we got a whole new routine. I used to feed him his wet food at 6-7 am (basically whenever I got too annoyed by him trying to wake me) and then he would free feed dry food the rest of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, he is on a much more controlled diet. He gets wet food and a bit of dry at 9 am and 9pm, when he also gets his insulin dose. They have to be at the same time because he needs to eat directly before the insulin, and I can't change the times I do the insulin as it has to be a 12 hour spacing and with my work schedule, 9pm is the earliest I can do it in the evening as that's literally a few minutes after I get home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, this makes him...frustrating in the mornings. Now he wakes me up, and I have nothing I can give him to placate him so I can go back to sleep. I don't want to have to lock him out of my room, that's not the point here. I just want to figure out how I can make it clear that I am not getting up. I tried telling him no and putting him on the floor, I have tried spraying him with water, I have literally tried everything. I am hoping he will adjust eventually, but in the meantime I am kinda frustrated with the sleep I am losing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help both me and my cat adjust to our new reality? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T14:30:58.413" Title="How to help my cat adjust to a new routine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23770" CreationDate="2019-02-18T14:23:39.143" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately and as you probably suspect, the only thing that is going to help with the adjustment is time...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was on the old schedule for a long time, getting used to the new schedule is going to take a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to replace the 6-7AM feeding with something else, I recommend grooming. A daily brushing, petting and massage, should keep his interest for a while.  After a while he we learn that waking you up at 6AM leads to grooming not food.  Food happens at 9AM.  He will adjust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T14:23:39.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23770" CreationDate="2019-02-18T14:30:58.413" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I haven't handled a cat with a diabetes diagnosis, I've handled routine changes many times with multiple cats (including sleeping schedule changes and switches from free-feeding to scheduled feedings), and ultimately &lt;strong&gt;what you need to do is out-stubborn your cat&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say your cat is waking you up in the morning. He's become accustomed to being fed at that time, and you need to now break that cycle. He knows he can get you out of bed, and that his chances of getting fed are improved when you're out of bed; what you need to do is &lt;strong&gt;stay in bed and ignore him&lt;/strong&gt;. It's going to be difficult, especially at the start, but to break the habit you have to stop responding entirely. No telling him no, no moving him, no spray bottles. Pretend you're still asleep. I've had solid, repeat successes in fairly short periods of time getting cats to stop waking me up for food using this technique. It does take longer with an adult cat with an established routine, but once you're able to establish this new routine of &quot;I will get up when I want to, not when you want me to,&quot; future routine changes will be much more straightforward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If or when he starts begging for food at other times, you similarly have to be more stubborn about it than he is. This should be easier to resist, but similarly, &lt;strong&gt;ignore him&lt;/strong&gt; if he gets insistent about the lack of food in his bowl. With time, he'll start to learn the regular feeding times, and will start reminding you of them when they're coming up, but he'll stop begging the rest of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-02-18T14:30:58.413" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25688" CreationDate="2019-02-18T15:35:20.373" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased a brand new rubber mat to use inside of a pet carrier.  The mat is easy to clean and provides a non-slip surface. But it stinks like new rubber.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled around and found several suggestions to soak in vinegar water for at least 30 minutes, I tried it and did not seem to make a difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other suggestions are to leave it out in the sunlight. But winter is not the best time for that solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the mat sitting on a rack so it gets good air circulation. This should work but it could take weeks or months, so is about as effective as waiting for the summer sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get the new rubber smell out of the rubber mat, in timely fashion, that will not harm the rubber or my pets? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-02-19T14:42:09.207" LastActivityDate="2019-11-24T19:02:20.333" Title="New Rubber Mat Stinks" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23756" CreationDate="2019-02-19T20:22:00.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nitrates are the the not-so-toxic part of the nitrogen cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The decomposition of fish waste goes like this: Ammonia -&gt; Nitrite -&gt; Nitrate, with the two transitions needing a different bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the bacteria that decomposes Nitrite into Nitrate is not present in sufficient numbers in your aquarium. In this case you would observe a presence of Nitrites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your Nitrates are all eaten up by some live plants if you have any. The other way to get rid of Nitrate is through water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reading of 0 Nitrate means either the tank is extremely clean, or completely without a functional cycle. Or maybe a tank without any live animals. If you want a cycle you need someone pooing in there. If you don't have build-up of the toxic ones, Nitrite and Ammonia, you should not worry too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep doing regular water changes they are very important anyway. You could do smaller, more often also, which is more safe. Never completely clean the substrate or the filter media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you detail what are the &quot;beneficial bacteria&quot; that you add? I would recommend letting them make a population naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 weeks is also very young for a tank so it's possible the cycle is not yet stable. The 2 months old should definitely have &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; in it. If not Nitrate, then nitrite. If not nitrite, then ammonia should be present. Consider that your test-kit might be defective, try another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bit of unasked-for advice: Betta would be a lot more happy, active and colorful in the 10 gal. Everything under 10 gal is extremely small, I would only approve it for shrimps or snails. Not even sure what's the point of a 3.5 lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wish you to have fun with your aquariums !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastActivityDate="2019-02-19T20:22:00.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23769" CreationDate="2019-02-19T20:28:25.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost everything is at risk of being attacked by or attacking a betta. &lt;strong&gt;The best tank-mates that I found for a betta are snails.&lt;/strong&gt; Ramshorn snails. Maybe Malaysian Trumpets would be ok too. Shrimps will be eaten by betta, colorful fishes with beautiful fins will be atacked by betta. Tough or agressive fishes, or animals with poor eyesight might attack bettas because bettas are slow moving and have long waving fins that look like food. African dwarf frogs will try to eat these fins when they are in front of their nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails will clean your glass and clean the floor, although they also poo. They will help to recycle and decompose the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snail population numbers is a consequence of food available to them. If you overfeed your fish you will have more snails. Feed the minimum for the fish and you will have only a few snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changes in water quality can affect a betta's coloration, health and behavior. Keep your tank clean but never change 100% of the water. Do regular 10-25% changes and don't clean the filter media or the substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps and your betta can have a cool life !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastActivityDate="2019-02-19T20:28:25.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23766" CreationDate="2019-02-19T20:34:49.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you say 200+ without upper limit, I will say &lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt; if the tank is big enough (I cannot provide a number unfortunately) to allow for a different, defendable territory for each betta. And like you say a lot of places to hide or swim away. Every betta has a different personality. Some of them might insist on killing the other one unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also matters which fish is introduced first. If a fish already decided that the whole aquarium is his, the new one has more chance to be bullied. Likely a newly-arrived betta might be more timid with fishes that are already at-home. It might be better to introduce both at the same time, with the lights closed. Don't leave the lights open for too long, you will reduce aggressivity like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T18:22:37.197" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T18:22:37.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23603" CreationDate="2019-02-19T20:39:20.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may be affected by a disease or dying of old age. Being lethargic and sinking are definitely symptoms that something is wrong, so you are right in searching for advice on this. A fish that ate too much food might behave like yours. He could be constipated also. Maybe the water is too cold or too hot, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do first for a fish that is not feeling so well is to make sure to keep him in very clean water and feed it a strict minimum. Fishes like betta can go several days without eating. The water can be raised by a few degrees without exagerating. Also a small spoon of aquarium salt (not table salt) can help, it will act like a disinfectant. Don't add aquarium salt everyday, it doesn't evaporate, it stays there until you do water changes. Consider checking the ingredients in your fish food and checking online if it'S good or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One gallon can be a good tank to try to nurse your fish back to health in controlled water, but for living its life, it is far far far too small and sorry but it might be impossible to establish healthy conditions or good water chemistry long-term for a fish in such a small space. The first step would be to rehome him somewhere suitable like a 10 gallons with substrate and a filter, and cycled water (you could add the water and filter from your 1gal to help start the bacteria population). &lt;strong&gt;The small bowl is very likely to be the cause of the lethargy of your fish in my opinion&lt;/strong&gt;. Also in a bowl shape, some bettas have difficulty to reach the surface, needing to manoeuver a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T01:44:38.107" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T01:44:38.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-20T02:58:57.703" Score="4" ViewCount="1033" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is still nursing her kittens that are 8 months old . She recently became pregnant again and delivered 4 kittens that were stillborn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could that be a cause of her still nursing the kittens from her previous litter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14301" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T14:25:59.887" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T14:25:59.887" Title="My pregnant cat is still nursing her 8 month old kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20721" CreationDate="2019-02-20T04:02:11.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many dogs adapt well to two meals and two walks a day, especially in an active family environment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix in family outings where the dog joins your family. Consider longer walks, hikes, day trips, overnight camping, trips to the dog park. Weekend activities that include everybody will support stronger bonds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Amp up some of the walks with jogging/running. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spend time training the dog to behave, based on your families needs,&#xA;on a regular basis. Training should include healthy dog/human games. Fetch and frisbee activities help satisfy the dogs exercise needs. Some games, like &quot;Tug of War&quot;, may be too agressive for younger children. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teach your children to care for the dog and help them understand the&#xA;dog's commands. It's important that they learn how to control the dog&#xA;if you are not there. And it's equally important that the dog knows&#xA;to obey those commands, even if the children are giving those&#xA;commands. Naturally, you need to gauge this with age appropriate expectations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no doubts that you would provide proper Veteranarian care. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you picture your families life with a dog?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What decision make sense for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: I understand that Toy, Miniature, and Standard sized breeds have different needs. Please adjust my suggestions according the size, energy levels, and needs of your (future) dog.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T04:02:11.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-20T05:53:56.637" Score="2" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just found that a pregnant cat got an emuslion paint on its leg, it is a street cat that stays around my house and sometimes I let it in, also, I feed it and pet it. I saw her shaking her leg, maybe because she is annoyed of the paint and want to remove it. So, how to remove that paint?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14302" LastEditorUserId="14302" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T06:17:03.103" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T19:15:52.707" Title="How to remove an emulsion paint off a cat's leg?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-20T07:08:40.803" Score="4" ViewCount="3047" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title tells it all - my cat found some dried daffodil flowers in my flat and I couldn’t catch him before he managed to ingest one (it’s not the type of daffodil with huge flowers but rather small ones, so it wasn’t a huge amount). Upon googling I’ve found it is indeed toxic, but I’d guess this amount won’t cause any problems (also maybe the fact that it wasn’t fresh also matters), but you can never be sure with poisonous stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should I rush to the vet or it’s probably fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: since the ingestion (about an hour ago) he already vomited. But just before the daffodils he ate some dry pasta that he found on the floor as well, and I suspect it was those pasta pieces that made him vomit, not the daffodils (he did vomit badly chewed dry food in previous occasions). However I found the daffodil pieces in the vomit too. Not too much, but definitely some amount. I’m getting worried :/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14303" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T12:38:44.350" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T12:23:01.343" Title="Cat ate small amounts of dried daffodil flower, should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23785" CreationDate="2019-02-20T09:13:30.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is several ways to remove toxic substances from a pets fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use food oil to soften the paint and use a pet safe shampoo and water to remove this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better way is to shave off the fur on the affected area but you need to let a vet do this as a cat's skin is so loose you might hurt the cat and end up at the vet anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the paint is water based you can remove it with lukewarm water and gently rub the area if the paint is fresh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T09:40:45.033" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T09:40:45.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23786" CreationDate="2019-02-20T10:03:48.140" Score="6" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Why take the risk?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be right that the amount of daffodil consumed is small enough that it won't affect the cat but on the other hand, you might not. The red flag for me is the throwing up that you mentioned and, as TrondHansen points out, this is one of the symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/narcissus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;ASPCA have to say about Narcissus (Daffodil)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toxicity: Toxic to Dogs, Toxic to Cats, Toxic to Horses&#xA;  Clinical Signs: Vomiting, salvation, diarrhea; large ingestions cause convulsions, low blood pressure, tremors and cardiac arrhythmias. &lt;strong&gt;Bulbs are the most poisonous part&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  &lt;sub&gt;(Emphasis mine)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you've already got one of the symptoms and perhaps you are right that it was caused by the dried pasta but again you just don't know. The bulb being the most poisonous part is encouraging because you've said they only ate the flower but &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/e_ct_poisonous_plants&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a plant is poisonous, assume all parts of the plant are poisonous -- though some parts of the plant may have higher concentrations of the toxic principle than others. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll notice I've said 'might' and 'perhaps' a lot so far and that's because it's very difficult to tell over the internet. If this was my cat that I knew it had ingested even a small amount of a poisonous plant and was now throwing up, I'd be taking it straight to the vet to make sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Disclaimer - I'm not a Vet&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T10:03:48.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23786" CreationDate="2019-02-20T12:10:27.483" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I called a vet and put up a webcam to be able to monitor him. The vet said over the phone that it's probably not a big deal since it came out pretty quickly and there was not much time for it to be absorbed and that the vomiting was most likely caused by the ingestion of plant matter not it being daffodil specifically. But I'll be on the lookout. Nothing suspicious over the webcam so far either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14303" LastEditorUserId="14303" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T12:29:15.793" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T12:29:15.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-20T18:22:33.897" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I stop my dog (3 year old) from barking and running at my nine year old daughter when she comes down the stairs or gets up from the couch, talks or if I talk to her?  The bark sounds mean but the dog has never bitten her, but I don't want it to turn into that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has started over past couple months. She has always barked at people coming into the room from time to time, but now it's always.  She's always been a very nervous dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14309" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T12:57:11.837" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T23:10:08.487" Title="Stopping bad behavior/aggression" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23785" CreationDate="2019-02-20T19:15:52.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest concern seems to be preventing paint ingestion from the cat trying to clean itself.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;If I understand it correctly, emulsion paint is water based which means a kitty bath might solve the problem. Dawn dish detergent has always been animal friendly... they used it to clean up Pelicans after the Valdez Oil Spill, so I imagine it would work for water based paint. This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Paint-from-a-Cat%27s-Fur&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wikiHow page has more information&lt;/a&gt;  about potential options. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T19:15:52.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-20T20:01:48.183" Score="7" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 3 cats who have been part of the same household for several years and are all friends. Age 10, 6 and 6 (the two 6 year olds are litter mates who we have had since they were kittens)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We sometimes take overnight trips at the weekend i.e. leave late morning Saturday, stay somewhere overnight, return Sunday afternoon/early evening&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the cats have &quot;more than enough&quot; food and water left for them during this time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;we have security cameras covering inside the house so can keep an eye on them (and could abandon the trip and return early if anything was wrong - it's just recreational trips, or call our neighbour to drop in on the house) (For various reasons I don't want to impose on the neighbour to make regular visits unless we have to)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cats have been fine with this and act normally when we get back&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;litter boxes are cleaned out just before we go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cats have outdoor access but usually spend most of their time asleep in the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they do not take any medication etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;whether they could be left on this basis for a 2-night trip&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; e.g. leaving lunchtime Saturday, staying somewhere overnight Saturday and Sunday then returning lunchtime Monday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My biggest fear is that they will 'give up' on the idea of us returning and run away somehow. I'm hoping that our overnight trips reinforce the idea that &quot;the humans do come back!&quot; but I'm not sure if cats think like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14310" LastEditorUserId="14310" LastEditDate="2019-02-20T20:12:53.733" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:51.070" Title="Could I leave 3 cats alone during a trip of 3 days/2 nights" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23694" CreationDate="2019-02-20T21:43:13.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They will remember it&lt;/strong&gt; and there's probably still some traces of 'smells' in your old place that they recall which will help them to feel back at home. They'll probably feel just like cats who have been on a &quot;holiday&quot;/&quot;vacation&quot; to a cattery (for boarding cats while you go on holiday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be (but unlikely) that a new neighborhood cat has established their territory in 'your' back yard. They will resolve that between themselves quickly. Especially as you have a 'team' of 2 cats (my experience is that cats who are friends will back each other up in these conflict situations).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14310" LastActivityDate="2019-02-20T21:43:13.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23763" CreationDate="2019-02-20T23:41:29.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He/she looks to be full grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give him/her a bath regularly and have moist moss in there and it isn’t shedding it is likely full grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy your gecko!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13885" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2019-02-21T10:45:47.863" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T10:45:47.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23794" CreationDate="2019-02-21T00:49:34.723" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you really ensure the best care for your cats. &lt;strong&gt;It's safe to say they would be more than fine alone for two nights.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just give them enough food, extra water, and clean litter. Water is key, a cat can live without food for a long time - I always leave the toilet lid open for a large source of water just in case. I would maybe just suggest closing them from the outdoors to reduce any fear of them running away for your own ease of mine (your enjoyment on your trip is important too!) But, honestly, cats are independent creatures. They love you, I'm sure, but... they're cats ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example - I have two kitties, 3 years old, and they've always done well when I'm gone. Once I left my key with a friend to check on my cats every other day while I was gone, but he was for some reason unable to ever unlock my door (I had no cell connection). I had not prepped the cats with extra food assuming they'd be fed. They were alone for 3 nights and were understandably hungry and extra affectionate (for about 5 mins) when I returned home, but happy to see me as always, as if I'd just returned home from work for the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, You'll have an extra wonderful cuddle time post trip to help relax! :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T00:49:34.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-21T03:32:37.980" Score="2" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I inherited an almost 2 year old male Bearded Dragon, He's awesome but I've only had him a few days and I've noticed a weird brown/black color on him. It looks a little crusty. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it look normal because I'm not sure? He eats and drinks water, seems healthy.  &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KYcnz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14313" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-21T10:11:25.997" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T10:11:25.997" Title="What is this brown spot on my bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16755" CreationDate="2019-02-21T03:46:52.033" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My father was a thoroughbred horse trainer he always taught me to let your horse be natural no blanket because they must get used to the cold and a blanket will cause the horses coat not to grow in properly ...but he would allow blankets if it was well below zero only during the coldest part of the day ...or night ...so we always followed his orders and my horse is now 30 years old her winter coat is sooo THICK she looks like a wooly mammoth haha lol its going to take a lot of curry combing to help her shed that coat in the spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have the horses in as barn at night and paddock with outbarn during the day so they have protection from wind snd weather at all times but if its snowing that old mare wants to be out in the snow she loves the snow she actually chooses to go in the snow instead of protection of a roof and walls And she's 30 years old....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14314" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-02-21T03:53:11.000" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T03:53:11.000" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-21T12:35:47.080" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a six-year-old greyhound who started to pee/poop upstairs when I'm not home, even for a short time after he has been taken out. He goes from 7:30pm to 7:30am without an accident and the door to the bedroom is open. He never goes upstairs when we're home, even when coaxed. He weighs 80 lbs (36 kg) and I cannot physically carry him up, so I can't reprimand him at the spot. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14317" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T04:31:59.760" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T04:31:59.760" Title="Six-year-old dog peeing/pooping when alone at home" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23800" CreationDate="2019-02-21T15:16:11.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since this is only happening when he is alone at home, it may be difficult to remove the behavior through direct training. My first recommendation is to prevent your dog from going upstairs when you are not home. Baby gates are often useful for this, or just strategically placed objects blocking him from going upstairs. See what happens when he is not able to go upstairs at all. Does he do his business in the rest of the house? Or is he successful at holding it? That will give you some more information about what the issue is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he does not have accidents in the rest of the house, then my recommendation is to keep him restricted from the upstairs for a few months and then try taking the gate away. See if the problem starts again. By that point, the habit may have been broken and it may not start again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he does have accidents in the downstairs area, then it means that he likely does need to be let out during the day and that he is using the upstairs area since that is less strongly associated with &quot;don't pee or poop here.&quot; It is not unlikely for a dog to need to go out more during the day than at night since at night he is mostly sleeping and probably isn't eating or drinking much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, there are a few things you can try. If you feed in the morning, make sure that you are feeding early enough for your dog to go out at least half an hour after eating. If you are currently free-feeding at all (e.g., leaving dry food out all day for him to snack on), transitioning to set meal times may help. You should also talk about the issue with your vet to make sure there are no health concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-02-21T15:16:11.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23792" CreationDate="2019-02-21T17:54:09.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult situation and I cannot offer you an answer that's guaranteed to work. &lt;strong&gt;It's best to contact a professional dog trainer and ask for their help.&lt;/strong&gt; By that I don't mean a puppy class, but someone who analyzes your dog's behavior at home and then tells you what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give you a starting point, I want to refer you to some answers to different question that might help you. Maybe one of them works for you. But again, without analyzing the cause of this behavior it's impossible to tell what will actually work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train your dog to not be agressive. It's simple in theory, but might be harder than it sounds. Basically you start &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; small, just walk with your dog to your daughter, who calmly sits on a chair. If she doesn't bark, you give her a treat. Over several days, you make the training harder. Now your daughter should stand up, walk slowly, then walk faster, then talk to you. Every time your dog doesn't bark, she gets a treat. Be aware that this cannot be accomplished in a day or two, but probably takes weeks. Read more about this approach in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/20877/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a crate for your dog. This is her safe haven where she can go if she feels intimidated or stressed. Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21369/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; for more details. You need to get her used to the crate and train her to go in on command. Then you send her into the crate whenever she misbehaves or when you have guests in the house. The crate should be in a calm place where the dog can relax, but is not isolated from the family.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be a leader and tell your dog not to bark at your daughter. From your question I have no way to know if you have rules the dog must follow or if she's always allowed to do what she wants. If it's the latter, she might feel that you are not the leader of the family and she must fulfill this role. This is extremely stressful, especially for nervous dogs, so they often bark whenever anyone moves. Read more about the problem and how to be a leader in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21022/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T23:10:08.487" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T23:10:08.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23800" CreationDate="2019-02-21T18:26:54.913" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds a lot like separation anxiety. He doesn't deliberately misbehave to annoy you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First things first:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If you want to reprimand a dog (or any animal), you have to do it within &lt;strong&gt;3 seconds&lt;/strong&gt; of the unwanted behavior. Dragging your dog to his poop upstairs and yelling at him is not going to change a single thing. Your dog doesn't understand why you are angry at the poop because he doesn't connect the reprimand with his earlier action of pooping there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to his behavior. If he poops in the house even after he was outside (and had the chance to do his business) because you're away for a short time, he probably has separation anxiety. Unfortunately, this is very hard to treat and I cannot give you a simple solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's best to contact a professional dog trainer and ask for their help.&lt;/strong&gt; By that I don't mean a puppy class, but someone who analyzes your dog's behavior at home and then tells you what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blocking the way upstairs like &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/23801/12501&quot;&gt;Eager to Play suggested&lt;/a&gt; is a good start, but might not have the desired effect. Providing a potty pad upstairs is an alternative, but it just deals with the symptom, not the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Classical music or talk shows seem to reduce stress in dogs, as discussed in this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/521/12501&quot;&gt;How effective is leaving a television or radio on to comfort dogs when away?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; solution that comes to my mind is to play or walk with your dog before you leave the house to make him tired. We have a list of different activities in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;. Hopefully, he will be somewhat exhausted or tired and use his alone-time to either relax or sleep. But even that is not guaranteed to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best chance is a professional dog trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T00:52:54.113" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T00:52:54.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-22T04:13:30.030" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u8CuH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea what that is on her face? Should I be concerned that it might be something serious?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HVtML.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added another picture. I hope it helps.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o2rX6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6j53C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14325" LastEditorUserId="14325" LastEditDate="2019-02-23T13:06:35.597" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T13:06:35.597" Title="What is this on my dogs face?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23794" CreationDate="2019-02-22T12:06:57.897" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My biggest fear is that they will 'give up' on the idea of us returning and run away somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 3 cats, all rescues. One of them we picked up off the street at a young age, the other two were living in a prison, when captured were taken to several foster homes, and eventually ended up being adopted by us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year, we took a 6 week trip to the other side of the world. I specifically chose to hire a catsitter so the cats could stay in our house. I feared that if we were to take them someplace else, they (especially the prison cats) would basically assume that we were just a transit station just like their foster homes. It took a lot of time and effort to build a relationship with the cats and I didn't want that to be undone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm hoping that our overnight trips reinforce the idea that &quot;the humans do come back!&quot; but I'm not sure if cats think like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had the quirky idea to always come back with a bounty. After our 6 week trip, I came back with several fish, which I gave to them. The idea was to suggest to them that we are only absent when we are &quot;hunting for food&quot;, and that message seems to have gotten across. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time we both spend at least one night away, we bring back some sort of bounty for them. You can see the excitement when we get back (compared to coming back from a normal work day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cats have outdoor access but usually spend most of their time asleep in the house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the one difference, as we don't (yet) let our cats out. However, I don't particularly think that 48hrs is anywhere near enough for them to forget about their home. Going away for 6 weeks, with cats that had been living with us for less than 6 months, that's a different story. But you're not gone long enough for them to actually reconsider their housing situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it differently: if your cats were inclined to &quot;move out&quot; that quickly, then you probably would already be dealing with cats who don't always come home even when you're home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-02-22T12:06:57.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4351" CreationDate="2019-02-22T16:41:08.300" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another fairly good way to tell (going with species generalisations here - individuals can differ!) is by looking at your snake's habits.&#xA;You've had it long enough that you'll probably have a feeding frequency worked out. Does the snake cruise around, very active and 'zippy' on feeding day and launch itself at the food as if it had never eaten before? (possibly kingsnake)&#xA;Also look at activity levels when it's being handled. Again this is dependent on the individual but in general, corn snakes are more docile when handled and often sit still nicely whereas kingsnakes often want to be exploring and moving around while they're out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I can't vouch for other kingsnake species, but californian kingsnakes will grow slightly bigger than your general adult corn snake. So when it's fully grown, that's something to have a look at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, your snake could fit all the above generalisations for one species and in fact be the other! There's no real way to know without vet tests and considering how similar the care requirements are, there's not really anything to be gained by knowing (except to satisfy your own curiosity!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14191" LastActivityDate="2019-02-22T16:41:08.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23762" CreationDate="2019-02-22T17:00:36.737" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is true that kidney diseases are a major cause of cat deaths. In senior cats who are more than 15 years old, at least 80% are suffering from kidney disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, responsible and caring cat owners can prevent or at least delay the onset of kidney diseases in their kitties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kidney failure falls into two main categories –&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Acute&lt;/b&gt; -&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a sudden kidney failure due to toxin consumption, infection or shock and can occur in any age. If detected in time, it can mostly be cured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Chronic&lt;/b&gt; -&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It mainly occurs in older cats. It is due to damage to nephrons with old age. If two-thirds of the nephrons get damaged, it results in kidney failure. It may be due to earlier cases of acute kidney failure, genetic reasons, infection or long-term inflammation. If detected early, its progress can be slowed down but is generally non-curable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention of kidney diseases –&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your cat away from toxic substances -&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevent using ethylene glycol based anti-freezing agents. It is most commonly used in car coolants. But it is highly toxic if ingested and often results in kidney failure. Instead use propylene glycol based anti-freezing agents as they are non-toxic in nature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Human medications for pets should be avoided without consulting a vet. It may be potentially toxic. For example, Ibuprofen is extremely toxic to cat kidneys. So, keep such medicines out of your cat’s reach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lily plants are highly toxic to cat kidneys. So, don’t keep lily plants in the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep pesticides out of your cat’s reach. Besides being poisonous, they are linked with kidney failure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep household chemicals like cleaning fluids, firefighting foam, wax, polish, etc. out of your pet’s reach as they are toxic to kidneys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is always beneficial if you can keep your cat indoors, as outdoor cats gets exposed to many toxic elements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physical injury like broken pelvis and burst urinary bladders should be treated on emergency basis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevent dehydration. For example, due to blood loss, extremely hot weather or diarrhea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep blood pressure in check.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep diabetes in check.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetic susceptibility of your cat breed –&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abyssinian and Persian cat breeds are more prone to kidney diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every few months visit your vet for your cat’s health checkup. Early detection of the diseases can go a long away in treating the disease.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep watch for early signs of kidney disease -&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change in drinking pattern or that of visit to litter box.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decreased appetite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad breath.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changes in cat diet and lifestyle that help prevent kidney disease –&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incline more towards weight food than dry food and make sure that your cat drinks a lot of water.&lt;br&gt;See - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-checkups-preventive-care/7-creative-ways-encourage-your-cat-drink-more-water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to encourage your cat to drink more water&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optimal condition of litter box as it is linked with proper elimination of urine –&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The golden rule for multi-cat household is one litter box per cat and one extra.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most cats prefer non-scented cat litter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deep bin-type litter boxes should be avoided for older cats with arthritis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularly clean the litter box as a dirty litter box deters many cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High phosphorous levels in blood can damage cat kidneys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your cat egg white and lean meat like chicken and small fish, which are low in phosphorous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid both animal and fish liver as it is high in phosphorous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid sardines as they are high in phosphorous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid cereal grains as they have higher phosphorous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slowly introduce fresh vegetables in your cat’s diet which are high in nutrition and very low in phosphorous. Some vegetables to consider are – watermelon, apple, banana, green bean, carrot, broccoli, zucchini, blueberry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your cat Chitosan –&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chitosan is a naturally occurring molecule which binds to phosphorous. Thus if present in cat food it will leave less amount of free phosphorous molecules to get absorbed by cat intestine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chitosan is present in high amounts in the shells of crabs, prawns, lobsters and shrimps. Separate the shells, dry them and ground them. Store the grounded shell as source of chitin. Add in small amounts to cat food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some over the counter pet medicines have chitosan too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Obesity is known to cause kidney problems –&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The best way is obviously to make your cat exercise more. Play with her and give her a lot of toys to play with. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjust calorie levels in your cat’s diet. Older cats require fewer calories, even if very active, compared to younger cats. Pregnant cats require many more calories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limit the treats and your own food you give to your cat as they are for pure taste and not cat specific food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check with your vet for any underlying disease for sudden increase in weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your cat D-mannose –&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most Urinary Tract Infection occurs by E-Coli bacteria. In the urinary tract, E. coli bacteria latch on to the walls, grow and cause infection. D-mannose works by latching on to E. coli bacteria which in turn is not able to attach itself to the urinary tract and gets eliminated through urine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Naturally occurring food rich in D-mannose – black currants, red currants, cranberries, apples, peaches, blueberries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over the counter food supplements are also available which are rich in D-mannose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your cat Omega-3 fatty acid (although this is not prevention, rather treatment, still it is worth mentioning) –&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uremic itch is a common skin condition in case of renal failure. Red spots appear over the skin throughout the body and these spots are itchy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Omega-3 fatty acid is known to provide a relief in this condition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Naturally Omega-3 fatty acid is found in fish oil.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over the counter food supplement rich in Omega-3 fatty acid is also present.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prevent a diet that is high in calcium as it may result in formation of kidney stones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don’t give your cat bone meal as it has calcium hydroxylapatite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don’t give your cat milk as it has calcium lactate. (Moreover most adult cats are not able to digest lactose resulting in diarrhea)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;REFERENCES -&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt; ethylene glycol toxicity &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://biotechtimes.org/2017/09/08/study-suggests-kidney-disease-linked-pesticide-exposure/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kidney disease linked with pesticide exposure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.webmd.com/kidney-stones/news/20180914/household-chemicals-tied-to-kidney-problems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Household chemicals are toxic to kidneys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/ibuprofen-poisoning-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ibuprofen poisoning in cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/health-threats-from-high-blood-pressure/how-high-blood-pressure-can-lead-to-kidney-damage-or-failure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kidney failure is linked with high blood pressure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-health/tips-preventing-kidney-failure-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tips for preventing kidney failures in cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/kidney-failure-uremia-symptoms-cats#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat kidney failure symptoms and causes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-diseases-conditions-a-z/10-common-causes-kidney-disease-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Certain cat breeds are more prone to kidney diseases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nomnomnow.com/learn/cat-nutrition-training/low-phosphorus-cat-foods-for-kidney-disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Low phosphorous cat food for kidney disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/phosphorus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link between phosphorous level in blood and healthy kidney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldkidneyday.org/faqs/topics/obesity-kidney-disease/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link between obesity and kidney health&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcoach.co/article/preventing-obesity-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Prevent obesity in cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Natural-sources-of-chitosan_fig3_237080941&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Naturally occurring chitosan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/vetoquinol-epakitin-supplement-dogs/dp/102188&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Over the counter chitosan rich food supplement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clinicaladvisor.com/home/features/alternative-meds-update/d-mannose-an-effective-antibiotic-alternative/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Naturally occurring food that are rich in D-mannose&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlandvetsupply.com/p-5037-cranberry-d-mannose.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;D-mannose as pet food supplement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.healthline.com/health/d-mannose-for-uti&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Science behind D-Mannose&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/petcentral/what-you-should-know-about-feline-urinary-and-kidney-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feline urinary and kidney health&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5241408/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Omega-3 fatty acid provides relief in uremic itch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/secondary-hypertension/symptoms-causes/syc-20350679&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hyperthyroidism causes high blood pressure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/the-importance-of-calcium-supplements-in-homemade-cat-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat food having high calcium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T06:13:08.610" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T06:13:08.610" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-22T18:40:59.253" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three Yorkshire Terrier girls now, various ages and we want to get a male Yorkshire Terrier pup and a Goldendoodle male pup. Will they fight for dominance down the line? I am worried about the male Yorkshire Terrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14328" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T16:50:45.540" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:46:02.543" Title="Will 2 male dogs fight for dominance?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-22T21:10:04.357" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I’ve recently set up a small 5 gallon tank, planted heavily, and started a fishless cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got stuck on my nitrite stage as a result of overdosing ammonia, but it finally came back down 3 days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As recommended to me, I did a big water change and then dosed ammonia back up to 2.0 ppm to ensure that it would be processed down to nitrates in 24 hours. My little ammonia eaters have been doing their job really well (back to zero in no time), but much to my surprise my nitrites are once again stuck somewhere between 2.0 and 5.0 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What’s going on? I was so sure that my nitrite eaters were finally ready to go, but now they seem to be slacking and/or disappearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14329" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T20:08:29.007" LastActivityDate="2020-12-12T21:31:15.227" Title="Relentless Nitrites" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-23T04:06:15.280" Score="3" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought three GloFish at PetSmart and put them in a tank I had ready at home. One of them stays at the top, sometimes it's two of them. The others stay near the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Petsmart said that my chlorine, nitrate and nitrite levels were fine. I have been running my tank before getting the fish for about a week. I have no algae in the tank, and everything I have is by TopFin. I have a 10 gallon tank. My filter is running fine (I think, the indicator is blue, not red), and my heater runs at 78 degrees Fahrenheit (around 26 degrees Celsius). I have not fed them, as they were fed at the store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am scared, as another account said all 7 of his GloFish died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do? Should I replace the water? Should I increase the tank water volume beyond 10 gallons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Sadly, they died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14333" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:43:14.840" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:43:14.840" Title="New GloFish are staying at top and sides of tank, not swimming around" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23794" CreationDate="2019-02-23T04:50:35.603" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly that depends completely upon how the cats have been brought up by you from kitten to adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By nature cats are independent animals. They are solitary animals. They like to be left alone. They also don't need the company of other cats. In fact in nature, cats are territorial and when one cat crosses into the territory of another cat, a fight breaks out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, cats domesticated themselves. When we became farmers in ancient times and settled down, we stored our grains for future use. The rats started to come to eat the grains. And the cats came to eat the rats. So there started a mutually beneficial relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A long time passed and slowly cats started to get domesticated. They started to have fondness for humans and more tolerance towards each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then started the phenomenon of cats taking birth in human homes, with no exposure to nature. And such cats' behavior is bound to be much different from their distant wild cousins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now coming back to your cats, their behavior completely depends upon whether they were born in a human house and grew up with humans or they are rescue cats and later adopted by humans, irrespective of the love and care they are currently getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also cats not fighting doesn't necessarily means that they are friends. It can very easily mean that they just get along. They get access to food, water and a clean litter box. So they know that if they get along, it is beneficial for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cats sit or sleep side by side, even as adult they play with each other, they groom each other, these are signs that they are friends, and not just getting along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now coming back to your question, cats have excellent memory. They mark their territory well and they will never get lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if they are with humans since kittens, they don't have much idea about outside. So other than satisfying their curiosity, they will mostly stay home, eagerly waiting for you. And since there is enough food, water and clean litter box, you need not worry. As they have little idea about outside, they will be always wary of outside and will never be eager to leave the comfort of home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, if they are rescue cats, they will always spend some of their time outside, as they have grown up being completely aware of the whereabouts of outside. They will show little willingness to always stay at home. But as I said, cats have excellent memory. They mark their territory and never lose their way. They will always come back. It is because they know that at home they have abundant supply of food and water which is not there outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So either way you are not going to lose your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only cause of worry may be how safe is your outside. If you live in a rural region, then are ther wild animals outside, and if you live in an urban area, then is there dangerous vehicular traffic outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:26:51.070" LastActivityDate="2020-01-12T17:26:51.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23815" CreationDate="2019-02-23T06:16:26.630" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main problem is that the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate do multiply very slowly, and this is the reason for why the cycling of a tank takes a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrobacter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a Wikipedia article about &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; do multiply by growing and dividing itself and this takes about 24 hours, so one single bacteria divides itself in two in 24 hours and four in 48 hours and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bacteria &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; that convert ammonia to nitrite do multiply by shooting buds of themselves and this takes a very short time, so they can double their number about every two hours or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://%20https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosomonas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a Wikipedia article about &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both types of bacteria are equally important, so you need to be patient; your tank will reach biological balance, just give it time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different species of both &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; around the world and each of them have differences in growth rate and how effective they are and in their needs of nutrients, so my answer must be seen in the light of this it is a general answer for the types of bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-12T21:31:15.227" LastActivityDate="2020-12-12T21:31:15.227" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23762" CreationDate="2019-02-23T06:50:31.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the suggestions here were excellent. I like to believe I’m always doing my absolute best to keep Enzo in the best shape but every year that passes I get more concerned about possible health conditions. He’s by all accounts quite healthy. His weight is optimal, he gets Miralax to help with occasional constipation, he has filtered fountains that he drinks from daily. Litter box habits are normal. He eats a limited ingredient diet because he has IBD and a bunch of food sensitivities. He gets an Omega 3 supplement daily, as well as probiotics. So, I’ll stick with the 6month labs at the vet and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know we all can’t live forever, but I don’t ever want to feel like I could’ve done something to keep around longer. So in summary, what I’ve taken away the most from this is: Any wet food is better than even high end dry foods. I’ve done a bunch of research on the effects dry food has on cats and it honestly makes me sad that it’s allowed to be sold to unsuspecting pet owners. Fresh, moving water is ideal, and I’ve even read that leaving a faucet drip could attract cats that aren’t willing drinkers. Omega 3’s are huge, because they also act as an anti inflammatory. I don’t know  if I’m breaking any rules by naming it, but Nordic Naturals makes an Omega 3 supplement that is liquid and can be added to food. It’s important to not give too much Omega 3’s because it can affect vitamin e levels. The Nordic naturals comes with a dropper so you know how much you’re giving. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I’d like to add that my vet said to me recently, was that aside from the basics which have been listed here, a happy, enriched life is really the best medicine for an animal of any age. And I guess I like to think that if I keep him happy and as healthy as possible he’ll stick around for awhile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you all so much again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14247" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T06:50:31.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23816" CreationDate="2019-02-23T06:58:51.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Replacing the water is not the way to keep your fish alive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is change about 10% of the water once a week and be sure not to over feed the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might feed a little every 3 days until your tank is in biological balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to buy a water test and test the water every other day for the first week,You will probably get an ammonia or nitrite spike whitin a week or two and if you do cut the feeding and replace 20% of the water every two days until the nitrite or ammonia spike is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is some reading you have to do &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&lt;/a&gt; to understand how and why the cycling of your tank is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-02-23T19:20:10.957" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T19:20:10.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23816" CreationDate="2019-02-23T19:03:11.007" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to hear about your fish. Please don't despair, a lot of shops set you up to fail. From the sounds of what you've written in your question, you did everything right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, make sure you read &lt;a href=&quot;https://fishkeepingadvice.com/the-nitrogen-cycle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;about the nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt;. If you read an understand one thing about fish, this probably the most helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, get yourself a test kit. You can either get &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/API-Aquarium-Freshwater-Master-800-Piece/dp/B000255NCI/ref=sr_1_1_sspa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a liquid one&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/API-Freshwater-Saltwater-Aquarium-25-Piece/dp/B000HHOAIY/ref=sr_1_1_sspa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the strips&lt;/a&gt; but beware, whilst the liquid one is much more expensive, it lasts a lot longer and gives better readings. The liquid one gives you the &lt;strong&gt;most important reading&lt;/strong&gt; for a new tank which is 'ammonia'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What happened?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From reading your question it sounds like ammonia poisoning - it's a little tricky to say exactly over the internet but this is normally the most common stumbling block in new accounts. Running the tank for a week won't necessarily ensure it is cycled because if there is no source of ammonia, there will be no bacteria to convert it and it may just run clean for a week. Check out this guide on cycling a new tank: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMgppmFyoE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMgppmFyoE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much of fish keeping is dealing with water chemistry. Any ammonia in the water at all will be lethal to fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What next?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't give up with fish. It can be an incredibly rewarding pet to keep. This time, make sure you've test the water yourself (a lot of shops don't even test for ammonia when they test it for you). Make sure you follow one of the methods in the video I posted above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do all your homework first before getting the fish because it can be tempting to do it sooner but it's definitely better to wait until the levels are showing correctly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-02-23T19:03:11.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-23T23:50:30.143" Score="9" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a yellow rat snake, we fed it a live mouse only the mouse turned round and ate the snake!  Obviously killing the snake. Why did this happen? &#xA;I have an albino corn snake now and will only feed her dead rats because of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14337" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-02-24T06:06:55.503" LastActivityDate="2019-02-24T08:25:18.963" Title="My yellow rat snake was eaten by a live pet mouse!" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-24T08:04:03.393" Score="3" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;I and my roommate both have dogs and we recently (6 months) moved into a new place. I thought the dogs were getting adjusted fine, we walk the dogs around the new area to get familiar and now have a backyard so they can play as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every morning I am the last to leave and usually leave my bedroom open so my dog can walk around. Last month, twice, I came home and one of the dogs had an accident in my room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time, I cleaned it up and caulked it up to getting familiar. The second time, I put my dog's nose in it and said &quot;no&quot; forcibly. That night my dog was so anxious and walk around the room for over an hour panting and shaking.  Now this went on for about 2 weeks and finally, I just let him sleep outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I talked to my trainer and she said I had over corrected and he didn't associate the correction with the mess, but with being in the room. &#xA;I have tried playing with him, treats and praise but whenever I get him in the room and get ready for bed, his anxiety comes up and he pants, shakes until I let him out. Now, he waits and at some point sleeps on the couch which is a no no for me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, how do I get him comfortable again to sleeping in his bed in my room and not outside and/or on the couch? Any help appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: Thanks for the answers - I am trying the praise and reward and leaving the door open so he can come and go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14340" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-03-01T15:39:22.030" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T22:25:10.393" Title="I over correct my dog and now he's scared" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23823" CreationDate="2019-02-24T08:25:18.963" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the prime reasons many keepers choose to feed their snakes dead food items. If the snake is not interested in feeding, it will most of the time just ignore the mouse (or rat). Left to their own devices, the mouse will get hungry and start looking for food. They are omnivores, that eat pretty much anything they can put their teeth in. Eventually they will find the snake, with obvious consequences. For some reason snakes, especially the docile species we keep as pets, are for that same reason not very defensive towards the mouse, not realizing before it is too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to prevent this in the future? You can either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed dead mice/rats. Those don't tend to bite back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do feed live food, &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; stay in the room and supervise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as you notice the snake is not interested in feeding (ignoring the mouse, actively moving away from it, no tongue-flicking), separate the two again. There is no benefit to keeping them together for longer. The snake is not likely to change its mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2019-02-24T08:25:18.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23835" CreationDate="2019-02-24T17:25:34.897" Score="7" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just picked up some Jade Shrimp (pretty cool, bred to be green, not dyed) and the employee (whom I'm quite acquainted with) threw in a pregnant one! Woohoo, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the question is, she is nesting and looking ready to pop...once she lays the eggs, do they need to be inseminated or are they already and she just takes care of them until hatch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No fish in the tank, just shrimp and snails, so it should be a nice little crop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14345" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T16:06:40.250" Title="Shrimp Breeding" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23825" CreationDate="2019-02-24T20:14:31.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very unfortunate situation and is causing a lot of stress for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;every&lt;/strong&gt; situation, whether you want to reward or reprimand your dog for something he did, you have to do it &lt;strong&gt;within 3 seconds&lt;/strong&gt; of the action / behavior. Anything that happens later than that might be associated with something else entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example most people misunderstand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog chews on your shoes, which is fun for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You come home and see your destroyed shoes. You call your dog, point at the shoes and reprimand him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog has already forgotten that &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; chewed on the shoes. He only notices that you are very angry and it has &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; to do with your shoes, but he doesn't understand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since you were so angry when you saw the shoes, your dog will start behaving submissive whenever you are pointing at your shoes. To you it looks like he feels guilty for doing something wrong, but in reality he doesn't understand why you're angry and tries to defuse the fight. He will &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; associate your yelling with his chewing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; did one of your dogs (you don't even know for sure who it actually was) poop in your room?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason could be that your dogs need more potty breaks. How long are your dogs alone in your new house? Could you leave them in the backyard if there's no-one at home for several hours? Please keep in mind that dogs need to do their business more often during the day than the night. &amp;quot;My dog can go all night without needing to pee&amp;quot; is no argument to not give them the chance to pee all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason - which sounds more likely judging by the strong reaction to your reprimand - is that your dog is anxious. He becomes nervous when he's left alone and poops out of anxiety. Reprimanding him for his anxious behavior is just going to make it worse. Anxiety is hard to treat and I cannot give you a sure solution, so please ask your trainer how to proceed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make your dog feel safe in your room again, you must associate your room with positive emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every time your dog goes into your room and into his bed, praise him and give him a treat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train him to go into his bed on command. Praise him and give him a treat every time he follows the command, then turn around and ignore him for a minute. The ignoring is important to tell him that the training is completed and you don't expect him to do anything after going into his bed. Train this several times each day at random intervals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he goes willingly into his bed on command, start with the next training step: When you get ready to sleep, call your dog to his bed, praise him and give him his treat. Then ignore him and go to bed. If he becomes nervous again, allow him to leave the room for today, but repeat the training each night until he's comfortable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T22:25:10.393" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T22:25:10.393" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23814" CreationDate="2019-02-24T20:36:42.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't matter if you introduce a male or female dog do the family, the hierarchy will always be disturbed and reestablished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are more aggressive, others timid while reestablishing the hierarchy. That's mostly influenced by their individual characters, but male dogs tend to be more dominant. That doesn't mean there are going to be physical fights among your dogs. On the other hand, if 2 dominant females are introduced to each other, they can fight just as fiercely as males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, pups will behave submissive until they reach sexual maturity. If you don't want to breed them, that's also the time to desex / neuter your male, which has the tendency to make him less dominant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid physical fights among your dogs, &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; should be the most dominant pack member and keep the atmosphere friendly between all dogs. If your current dogs are obedient and follow your command, and you feel confident to train and care for the new pups just as well, go for it. If your dogs often do things you don't actually want but you feel like you cannot control them, adding more dogs will only make the problem worse. In that case I would advise you to reconsider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T00:33:55.947" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T00:33:55.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-24T22:53:03.300" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a senior--My cat and I usually take a nap in late afternoon. Oreo sleeps close to me. We were not playing before the nap, but in the past playing has led to an aggressive bite--After which I yell &quot;bad cat&quot; and slap him. Therefore, Oreo must know to bite is not good. I am a mouth breather and sleep with my mouth open.While I was sleeping, My cat leaped on me and bit my lip also scratching my chin as I bolted awake. Perhaps this is just a game, but because of it, I can never trust my cat to sleep with me again!The lip bite was actually very bloody-and I am very upset, as Oreo is 8 years old and I have had him since he was a kitten.I love my furry kitty, but this is the worse thing a cat Ive owned, has ever done and I have had 6 other cats! My buddy has turned on me and I am not happy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14347" LastActivityDate="2019-02-24T22:53:03.300" Title="Cat leaped on me while sleeping and bit my lip!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-02-25T09:49:45.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23763" CreationDate="2019-02-25T12:44:41.860" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leopard Geckos shed throughout their entire lives, the reason you do not see the shed is because they &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ttFqNMk57g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;eat it&lt;/a&gt;! Once full grown they shed less regularly (this varies from species to species).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy geckos will have their full shed within 24 hours, it is always a good idea to regularly check their extremities to ensure that there is no remaining shed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T12:44:41.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23843" CreationDate="2019-02-25T14:59:11.817" Score="33" ViewCount="15177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my newest cat just a couple months.  This is a female spay DSH tortie, shelter rescue, estimated age 1.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have small tables at each head corner of my bed, holding various things on shelves at different levels, including a telephone, my alarm clock, tissues, a mini first-aid kit, books I am reading before bed, and each has a small lamp on the top.  These lamps are just over a foot tall, and maybe 8 or 9 inches diameter on the shades (about 35-40cm tall, 20-25cm in diameter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As she has become more comfortable in her new home and with me as her human, she has taken on a new hobby.  The cat has been rubbing against the shades of these lamps while I am sleeping, and frequently rubbing hard enough to tip it over onto the floor.  Fortunately in this age of plastic LED bulbs, there is really no harm done, though the shades might be getting lightly wrinkled.  The biggest problem here is the sudden jolting awake this causes for me.  Unfortunately, this means I am not really able to issue a proper corrective action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed this happens mostly in the hour before wake-up time - 5:45 AM for me, but it has happened as early as 2 AM.  I wonder if it might be a deliberate attempt to get me up for breakfast, although it doesn't work, I just put the lamp back and go back to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I considered spraying the lamps with a citrus oil, as I have used this successfully in other places.  But I find that &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; do not like that smell either, and these lamps are very near my nose while sleeping.  I also considered trying some sort of adhesive on the bottom of the lamp, but I am not sure what kind would work well, yet still allow adjusting or shifting the lamp when desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had a similar situation, and any other suggestions of things to try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updates/response to some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Screws.  This would be an absolute desperate last resort in my mind.  These lamps and tables have value as aesthetic as well as practical objects, and I can't justify ruining that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kick the cat out.  Cat has her own bed in the bedroom, and prefers to sleep there.  I have rarely rolled over to find her against my leg or around my feet. Far more often if I wake up at night, she is in her own bed.  As mentioned, this cat is still relatively new to me, so this may change as we become better friends, and if so, &lt;em&gt;I will enjoy it&lt;/em&gt;.  I also prefer the air flow with the door open- it gets stuffy when closed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted spike-y mats.  Although others swear it works, in my experience, this is a myth.  My prior cat genuinely enjoyed lying on the stuff.  Current cat totally ignores it.  Plus, the tables are small enough and close enough to the bed to keep the lamps in scent-rubbing reach even with rear paws on the bed, and fore paws just on the edge of the table.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Command brand picture hanging strips.  This was an excellent suggestion and I had some left over from, what else, hanging pictures.  I put two pieces on the base of each lamp yesterday evening, and this morning at 5:09 AM I hear &quot;rip -  clunk - crash.&quot;  Careful examination in the morning revealed the flaw - the strips have thickness, raising the lamp up by a few millimeters.  Plus, these strips have a lot of &quot;play&quot; in them side-to-side.  So when pushed in the direction opposite the axis of how I placed the strips, actually produced a levering effect making it &lt;em&gt;easier&lt;/em&gt; to tip over.  I am going to add a third strip perpendicular to the other two and try again.  Fingers crossed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace the lamps with head-board mounted kinds.  I will do some shopping and see what I can come up with.  My headboard is of the upholstered style, and rather thick.  There are some boards along the back side I might be able to get a screw into if I pull the bed out.  I'm not confident I can find anything, but I will look.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going further:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why?  Is the cat just scent marking, or is she trying to wake me up either for breakfast or simple attention?  So far, she has only done this at night, or at least, I have never observed her rubbing the lamps except at night.  And so far, only once in the middle of the night, and far more often in the hour before scheduled alarm clock time.  I really can't say for sure.  Deliberate wake-up attempt is of course a valid hypothesis, but I doubt we could ever prove it.  I think it best to begin by assuming (for now) it is simple marking behavior, and the tipping is accidental.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:55:28.887" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:55:28.887" Title="Cat is tipping over bed-side lamps during the night" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-25T15:54:25.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's only the lamp, you could try to screw the base of it to the table with an electric drill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also put the lamp directly on the floor when you close it before to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if your cat is actually trying to wake you up, I'm afraid they will find something else to throw down. In a house with cats, no fragile thing should stand near an edge.. it's just too tempting for them I think :p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T15:54:25.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23828" CreationDate="2019-02-25T16:06:40.250" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is some text from the wikipedia page of Neocaridina Davidi which is your shrimp. (bold format from me)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocaridina_davidi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocaridina_davidi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About breeding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;N. davidi shrimp reach sexual maturity when they are around 4–6 months&#xA;  old. Breeding only requires a sexed pair of shrimp, stable water&#xA;  parameters, and a food source.[10] Eggs may be observed developing in&#xA;  the female's ovaries as a green or yellow triangular &quot;saddle&quot; marking&#xA;  on her back. When she is ready to lay the eggs, which occurs after&#xA;  molting, she releases pheromones into the water to signal her&#xA;  availability to males. The male shrimp in the tank will often become&#xA;  agitated, swimming very actively about as they search for the source&#xA;  of the pheromones. &lt;strong&gt;After a brief mating process, during which the male&#xA;  deposits sperm onto the female's body, the female lays her eggs and&#xA;  affixes them to her swimmerettes. The eggs are not fertilized within&#xA;  the female; they are fertilized as they pass from the ovaries to the&#xA;  outside of the body. Therefore, it is certain that any shrimp carrying&#xA;  eggs has mated.&lt;/strong&gt; A female carrying eggs under her abdomen is said to be&#xA;  &quot;berried&quot;.[citation needed]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some report that young female shrimp carrying their first clutch of&#xA;  eggs tend to drop some or all of the eggs, possibly due to&#xA;  inexperience or small size.[11] If a berried shrimp is stressed by&#xA;  predators or poor water conditions she may also abandon the eggs.[12]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the eggs are already under her &quot;tail&quot;, fertilization already happened. The eggs still take some time to hatch. Be aware that a female shrimp that feels scared, vulnerable or inexperienced might drop the eggs. Being transported from petshop to home and entering a new aquarium can be stressful for shrimps and it's very possible that those first eggs can be abandonned. (it happened like this for me in the past) Bright lights, fast movements and loud sounds can also scare shrimps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many things matter with shrimp, safety and lots of cover and warmer water will help with breeding. Also plants and food and clean water. I advise you to google as much as you can about them. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: never put aquarium salt or anything containing copper (including medication or snail killers) in the shrimp tank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that answered your question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T16:06:40.250" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-25T16:28:23.730" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have several options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Somehow attach the lamps to the table. There's many ways to go about this, such as actual hardware, or just creative use of glue or tape. This seems the most destructive and difficult solution to me, however. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace the lamps with different lamps that the cat can't knock over, for instance, floor lamps discretely behind the table, heavier lamps that are bottom heavy so they can't be tipped, or those lamps with a bendable base that can be hooked over your headboard. Or even just get lamps that won't make much noise when knocked over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the lamps before going to sleep. Perhaps the simplest solution, but also somewhat annoying because you have to remember to do it every night. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the cat out of your room at night. Though this is a possibility, it often doesn't work out very well, because once used to going into your room, many cats will scratch and meow to get in, and you will have to accept getting no sleep until it gives up. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make the table itself unpleasant for the cat to stand on, so it won't go near the lamps in the first place. You can do this by putting double sided tape on the table, which most cats dislike as long as it's sticky enough. Or another option is vinyl carpet protectors with the teeth facing up, so it will be pokey when the cat walks on it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T16:28:23.730" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-25T16:39:44.363" Score="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are good, but I've had success with a more direct approach: outstubborn the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than trying to minimize the sound/inconvenience of the falling lamp, try to &lt;em&gt;maximize&lt;/em&gt; it. Be creative, e.g. put a bowl with glass marbles on the lamp (I used this + a metallic plate to create a really loud and startling noise). Anything that makes a racket will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to teach the cat that knocking over the lamp is not nice. As you said, there's not &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; drawback to the cat when it gets knocked over now, so make the message clearer by making the experience even less nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat did it twice after I started using the marbles, and never again. However, you will of course not enjoy the loud sounds so it requires some tenacity from your end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T16:39:44.363" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23839" CreationDate="2019-02-25T16:56:43.593" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend has a dog&#xA;He is 5 years old&#xA;We can not understand why when I'm with him he changes the behavior.&#xA;If I take the little one and put it on top of me with my belly towards the ceiling. He is calm and easily falls asleep, but my girl does the same and I am not at home, she does not want that position.&#xA;And he becomes more loving when I'm at home, but when I'm not there, he's more independent.&#xA;She is very good with the dog and trained him very well.&#xA;But with me it is the most relaxed dog.&#xA;In fact, I correct it more strongly when it behaves badly more than my girl.&#xA;How is it possible for the behavior to change depending on whether I'm there or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13496" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T17:25:59.140" Title="Why the dog of my girl change the behavior when I am with him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23838" CreationDate="2019-02-25T17:25:59.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are intelligent and can have different relationships with different individuals. This dog likes you a lot, and probably respects you, since he accepts your discipline. It doesn't mean the dog doesn't like your GF: imagine a kid that behaves like an angel at school, but is a devil with his mom, it's just different relationships and emotional politics. Dogs might behave differently with men vs with women also. Maybe your girlfriend is less attentive and the dog might not feel as confortable to sleep on her belly, for example afraid that she will roll over him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T17:25:59.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-25T19:02:25.420" Score="6" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our family has a dog and four cats.  The dog's name is Brutus, he's male, 6 years old and a Boston Terrier/Beagle mix.  The cat relevant to this question is named Smudge; he's a male gray tabby cat, and is about a year and a half old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past week, Brutus has been unusually interested in Smudge:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brutus has been whining more frequently, but only when Smudge is near him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brutus has been chasing Smudge around more.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In response, Smudge usually jumps somewhere that Brutus can't physically reach (e.g. atop furniture, or behind a futon).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brutus has been sniffing Smudge's ass more, and trying to hump him more frequently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Facts that may be relevant:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We let Brutus roam around our backyard, but we also walk him daily.  No formal limits on how long he's out there, but it's rarely more than half an hour at a time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of our cats are indoor cats, and none have gotten out recently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brutus has tried to hump the cats before, but not to the extent I'm describing now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All animals have been eating without any problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All animals have been relieving themselves without any problems.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This means that there have been no accidents, and there is nothing unusual about anyone's poop or urine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All pets are friendly towards each other, and play or cuddle regularly.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This means that none of our pets have been violent or confrontational; there has been no scratching, hissing, barking, growling, or biting of any kind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We recently had Brutus vaccinated for rabies.  He's got a clean bill of health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brutus is not fixed, but all four cats are.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brutus has never humped people or objects, to my knowledge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my question: Are my pets okay?  Might one of them have a disease?  &lt;strong&gt;Should I bring any of them to the vet?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastEditorUserId="6584" LastEditDate="2019-02-25T19:19:48.287" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T11:42:00.873" Title="My dog has been acting strangely around one of my cats' butt" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23859" CreationDate="2019-02-25T19:17:03.570" Score="4" ViewCount="1546" Body="&lt;p&gt;We own two cats - a Russian Blue female turning 7 this year, and a Russian Blue/Maine Coon Male who is 2 1/2.  Both are rescue cats from the local area, and both are very well-tempered around us.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is when the younger cat wants to play with the older cat - which is frequent.  Sometimes they will play together and neither one will make any fuss, but I worry about our older cat, as she doesn't seem as enthused by playtime as him, retreating to higher ground when it gets too rough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd rather let her relax than have my younger cat cause undue stress to my older cat - but the problem is, my wife and I are both very low-energy people ourselves, and we're not sure how to best use up this young boy's fountains of energy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how can I best burn this boy's energy after I come home from a long, rough day of work?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T19:06:47.817" Title="What's the most efficient way to burn my young cat's energy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-25T20:44:44.843" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to attach the lamp to the table, you can try either your traditional hook-and-loop type fastener (e.g. Velcro&amp;reg;), or 3M has a heavy-duty variant called Dual Lock&amp;trade; and I'm sure there are generic equivalents thereof. Put a couple of long strips on the bottom of the lamp, and a few short bits on the table, and you'll be able to remove or reposition the lamp, but it'll take more force &amp;mdash; ideally enough that a cat can't do so. A larger cat might still be able to dislodge a lamp secured with traditional H&amp;amp;L, which is why I suggested Dual Lock as an alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also 3M &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.command.com/3M/en_US/command/products/?N=5924736+3294529207+3294737318&amp;amp;rt=rud&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Command Strips&lt;/a&gt; which seem to basically be bits of Dual Lock but with the removable Command adhesive, if you want to avoid permanently sticking something to the surface of your nightstands or risking damaging the finish. I unfortunately don't know of any generic equivalents, but they do a pretty good job of holding things in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5612" LastActivityDate="2019-02-25T20:44:44.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23857" CreationDate="2019-02-26T01:26:53.363" Score="3" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parakeet is not afraid of me, he sits on the palm of my hand and eats food. Sometimes he even refuses to get down. However he bites me when I move my finger towards him while he is eating (sitting on my palm), he tries to bite and rip off the skin (but it doesn't really hurt much). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean he is trying to dominate me? Or is it something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14358" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2019-02-26T12:57:43.257" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T07:06:37.290" Title="Why does my parakeet try to bite me?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23840" CreationDate="2019-02-26T01:59:05.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like Brutus is just developing some unhealthy fixations as he is bored. Get him some new toys, take him to the dog park and completely tucker him out and all of the silliness with Smudge should disappear. You could try giving him a walk, preferably with a weighted doggie backpack to help with the &quot;wearing him out&quot; part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T01:59:05.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23766" CreationDate="2019-02-26T02:10:42.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;200+ gallons seems to approach a commercial-sized aquarium and at this point I think it would better to get in contact with an aquarium consulting company and ask them. There may be a better way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T02:10:42.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23841" CreationDate="2019-02-26T03:06:34.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest (fun) low (human) energy cat entertainment I know of is bouncing ping-pong balls off the kitchen floor. The balls are light weight with substantial bounce. Our cat loved this game. The balls themselves are relatively inexpensive and they don't hurt if you step on one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T03:06:34.553" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-26T05:47:48.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important tip IMHO is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to teach a cat. Especially with aggression. The cat will not understand it, but will be afraid of you, and, for example, attack your feet sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, it is something in cat's genetic code, to have a joy of dropping a small movable things from tables. Give a ping-pong ball to your cat and see the reaction :) The good solution is to organize the living room such that it will be impossible for cat to drop a lamp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14360" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T05:47:48.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-26T10:38:42.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither of these will work (for long) if the cat is deliberately tipping it over, but might help if it's just rubbing against it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blu tack the lamp down to the table.  You'll need quite a lot but it will hold it quiet securely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the base is hollow, the lamp may be almost top-heavy.  Ballast at the bottom will make it much harder to tip over (tape a bag of nuts and bolts/copper coins inside the base, for example).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively don't let the cat into your room at night.  If it is trying to wake you up it will just change tactics and knead you with its paws or something like that.  When I had a cat she stayed downstairs overnight, and the closed door was far enough away that I didn't get woken by her complaining&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9693" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T10:38:42.707" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23840" CreationDate="2019-02-26T11:53:01.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also think it sounds like Brutus needs more exercise and/or mental stimulation. Pay attention too to what time of day it is - that might help with timing when he needs more exercise. In addition to what @rlb.usa said you can also try teaching him new tricks or playing games where he has to use his nose (hiding treats and having him search for them, or giving him one of those puzzle toys you can put treats in.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said I'm not a vet, so if he doesn't calm down with more dedicated exercise and mental stimulation time, definitely make an appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14367" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T11:53:01.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23845" CreationDate="2019-02-26T11:57:06.617" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this behavior may be a result of 2 things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The parrot&lt;/strong&gt; is in The hallmarks of bluffing are lunging, nipping, biting, hissing, and a general resistance to interaction. Birds can&#xA;enter into this stage seemingly overnight, and generally when they&#xA;are between the ages of 4 months and one year. stated in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/bluffing-biting-behavior-in-parrots-390306&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The owner&lt;/strong&gt; is already scared of the bite and continuously withdraws his hand in a fast way from the bird. And the bird don`t&#xA;feel safe when you to touch this specific location of his body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14365" LastEditorUserId="14365" LastEditDate="2019-02-27T07:06:37.290" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T07:06:37.290" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-26T13:24:55.790" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised no-one mentioned clamps as a potential attachment mechanism. Some clamps like you might use in a workshop would be temporary and movable if you just adjusted them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like this: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l5o1j.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l5o1j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;clamp&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9691" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T13:24:55.790" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23472" CreationDate="2019-02-26T13:53:21.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answering as a follow-up. We decided to introduce the two of them slowly, firstly behind a frosted glass door, using scented fabrics such as blankets, and then slowly face to face. Our new cat seems a bit indifferent, sitting down intently and standing his ground while not making any active threats or hisses. However the neighbourhood cat has not been happy about another cat being in &quot;her territory&quot; at all, hissing and occasionally taking swipes (after which she's been swiftly escorted from the house).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat is now going out for a little bit at a time each day, so there's no doubt that they'll bump into each other again, however the neighbourhood cat has now been visiting us less and less. Probably for the best but still a bit disappointing, though at the end of the day our home isn't hers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13792" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T13:53:21.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23845" CreationDate="2019-02-26T13:59:28.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the bird's perspective, a finger (pointing, or) coming towards it might trigger safety alarms: &quot;oh no! a snake!&quot; End result: a nip or bite. Try a different approach.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; If you want the little one to climb onto your finger, present the finger horizontally and (ever so) gently allow your finger to brush the stomach or linger in front of both feet. Your bird will then climb onto your finger like it would a perch. If your goal is to pet (or stroke) your pet's head, bring your hand up from behind the bird while you speak to it. This should be less concerning for the bird and eliminate the nips and bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T13:59:28.487" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23840" CreationDate="2019-02-26T14:17:39.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's spring time, that means it's mating time for dogs. You say Brutus is not fixed, so his hormones make him somewhat more dominant and a lot more interested in finding a nice girl now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should expect him to be more restless and less obedient for a few weeks. He may hump people or objects (which is an expression of his hormones in that case, not a sign of dominance). During a walk he may become extremely distracted by the scent of a female dog. He may run away for a while if he has the chance and smells a female in heat. It's best to keep him on the leash when you walk with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As other users mentioned, some additional excercise is always nice to keep your dog happy. Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; for some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T14:17:39.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23841" CreationDate="2019-02-26T15:16:22.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To redirect your younger cat's energy from the older one, you need lots of options for where to redirect it. You mentioned in a comment that you do have a wand toy for him; get more. Offer him a variety (and if he's inclined to damaging them when left unattended, find a place to hide them that's inaccessible--I personally use heavy dresser drawers my cat can't pull open). There's lots of options of wand toys on the market--feathery ones, ribbon ones, springy ones, ones with prey toys on the end, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he likes those, look into similar toys, as well; there are bases and scratching posts with toys on &quot;springs,&quot; cat towers that have dangly toy attachments (and also have the benefit of giving him something to race up and down, or a possible refuge for the other cat), toys that hang from doorknobs, and toys on elastic that hang from door frames.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try a laser pointer with him. In spite of reports that they're &quot;cruel,&quot; every cat I've ever interacted with genuinely enjoys the chase and isn't bothered by not being able to &quot;catch&quot; the toy. It's one of the fastest ways to burn off excess feline energy, and can be entertaining for you as well, especially if you have a hardwood or tile floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try out different kinds of balls. My cats have a selection of hard, plush, crinkle, jingle, &quot;lumpy&quot; (with an unpredictable movement pattern), and pompon balls to play with. On softer ones, you can marinate them in catnip to make them extra appealing and burn off more energy. You can also get track-bound balls, which are balls locked into a larger piece, and which cats enjoy batting around as they try to knock it loose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offer different sizes of &quot;prey&quot; toys. Not just the classic little mouse, but the bigger &quot;kicker&quot; styles, in-between sizes, and different shapes. Try different amounts of catnip, different textures, and toys with or without &quot;crinklers&quot; inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Periodically, move the couch and throw all the toys that have disappeared under it back into the room to be &quot;fresh&quot; stimulation. Often, they will have been lost so long that they'll feel new to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, you'll want to do your best to overstimulate your younger cat. Give him so many choices that there's always some way to redirect him when the older cat wants to be left alone. With safer toys, you can even leave them out while you're at work and let him burn energy while you're away--though you should always make sure all parts are securely attached and there's no damage before letting a toy be an unsupervised toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T15:16:22.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2019-02-26T19:12:51.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Swiss_Mountain_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;biggish dog&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rural dog feeding strategy over here is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you need a more alert watch-dog for the night and prefer the dog to be sleepy during the day: feed in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you have a barker, and want your neighbours to get some sleep during the night: feed in the evening. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;These big dogs are at risk for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_dilatation_volvulus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;turning their stomach&lt;/a&gt;, and the recommendation is to avoid activity with full stomach, and not to give too much at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I usually feed him twice although he's now (at 2 1/2) able to do with 1 meal per day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feeding &lt;em&gt;times&lt;/em&gt; aren't that regular in the sense that the more important rule is: food just before sleeping/nap time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So if he has the regular morning bike run to the office, he gets his morning ration there and then has his office nap.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the evening, he's fed last thing I do and then usually turns into his dog house after a &quot;regional call&quot; to the neighbouring dogs and a last inspection round of the premises. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we're hiking whole day, he's fed afterwards the full day ration.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much rest after feeding depends not only on the amount but also on the type of food: If you feed, let's say, a raw lung, he may take a digestive nap of 12 h before being ready to run again. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I believe he's an exception in that he's the first dog I've ever known who rarely overeats (and he's singularly unconcerned about someone else stealing his food). Also, he signs quite clearly when he's hungry and that is not always ;-).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T19:12:51.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-26T20:50:34.677" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider that the cat may be doing this for the purpose of waking you up and interacting with you--or possibly to remind you that you're wasting prime hunting time. When she does it, ignore it. If you wake up, move as little as possible, ideally don't let her know you're awake. Definitely don't rise, and don't put the lamp back or interact with her. You may find she quits doing it...possibly moving on to some other trick. The goal is for her to just give up on you as a nighttime companion, and resolve to owning the house herself for that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14375" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T20:50:34.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23862" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-26T21:02:46.167" Score="0" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently last night my dog pee’d on my sister without her knowing. My dog was sitting on her lap and just peed on her with no warning. My sister didn’t notice until she was getting ready to go to bed. My dog is house trained and 99% of the time when she has to go she tells someone. And even if she couldn’t get outside she’s pee on the floor, not on a person. Apparently this is the second time this has happened, both times on my sister without her knowing. The first time was about 4 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14376" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T00:06:14.383" Title="Why did my dog pee on my sister?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1367" CreationDate="2019-02-26T21:30:37.093" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using simple deductive logic: If the cat is 12 years old, then this behavior most likely is not one that adversely affects the animal's health (or it would not have lived this long).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14377" LastActivityDate="2019-02-26T21:30:37.093" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23862" CreationDate="2019-02-27T00:06:14.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be terribly concerned if it's only happened twice in four months, just keep a close eye on her. Pat where she's been laying down to see if she may have leaked there too (it's easiest to notice on your lap). The fact that your sister did not notice also indicates it was probably not a full bladder because... she'd have noticed if it was. Trust me. ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a slight chance your dog has a bladder infection or something similar, which can make it hard for the dog to know or control when it needs to pee. My parent's dog pees by accident when she's played in the river and ingested too much water. If the dog starts peeing more and more regularly, definitely take her to the vet. A number of bladder issues are relatively easy to fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T00:06:14.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23833" CreationDate="2019-02-27T05:05:19.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try filling the food bowl(s) before you go to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have four cats. If we all go to bed with the cats' food bowls empty or nearly so, one or more of them will wake the humans at cat-thirty (anywhere between 0330 and dawn) by jumping on counters and tabletops and deliberately pushing off noisy stuff like keys and coins and phones. Or they will find a noisy plastic bag to chew on. Or they will start a rousing game of &quot;let's run around the bedroom until the humans yell at us.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we feed the cats before bed, everybody stays tucked in until the more civilized hour of 0630. The cats that get cold and/or need a cuddle may crawl under the covers with the humans before then, but then they go to sleep that way and stay there until the alarm goes off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14387" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T05:05:19.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-27T07:05:39.340" Score="5" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this all started at one A.M., when I usually go down to get a cat to lay with me in bed. When I opened the door to let them in, I noticed that our oldest kitty had something in his mouth, so I went to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was a mouse. A living, squeaking mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second the cat saw me look at the thing, he dropped it, and I managed to get a basket over it before my other cats could kill the poor thing. I put him outside and, after a moment, he started to move! I was really happy, but I noticed some odd behaviour, and I want to make sure that my kitty isn't in any danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, he fidgeted a bit, clearly coming out of shock, and then began to wash the saliva off of himself. As he got up to move, I noticed that he was moving in lazy circles. Not constantly, only three or four times, and he'd stop to groom himself or have a sniff at something, so I'm wondering if he was cleaning his tail? Then again, I've also seen that rabies or toxoplasmosis symptoms could cause circling. Or perhaps the shock of it all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I'm writing this, it's about ten minutes since I saw him circling, and he's no longer in sight of my window. What do you guys think? Should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My apologies, it appears my question wasn't clear. The question here is: Should I be worried about my cat catching something from the mouse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14389" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:01:25.127" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:01:25.127" Title="Could my cat catch something from this oddly-acting mouse?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;mice&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23867" CreationDate="2019-02-27T08:35:54.307" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like perfectly normal behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine you were almost swallowed by a giant beast and then suddenly put into an unknown place. Wouldn't you turn around and try to orient yourself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mouse was probably &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to assess whether the cat was still around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to orient itself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to find a way back home or at least back to known territory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the health of your cats, you should make sure they get at least the default vaccines for outside cats which usually have to be refreshed each year. If your area is known for rabies in wild animals, make sure to vaccinate your pets and yourself as well. Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-02-27T17:13:07.850" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T17:13:07.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23867" CreationDate="2019-02-27T08:37:35.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think you need to be worried about your cat getting infected with &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma gondii&lt;/em&gt;; a very large number of cats do have this and it is not dangerous for a healthy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main danger from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxoplasmosis&lt;/a&gt; is to pregnant women or animals, but only if they are infected during pregnancy (there is a risk of miscarriage). If the woman or animal is infected some time before pregnancy, the woman or animal will be immune and is no longer in danger of losing the baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rabies&lt;/a&gt;, the risk for your cat is small unless the cat has a wound where the illness can enter the cat's body. So if your cat have been bitten by the mouse, it might be infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat will not be infected by eating an infected mouse unless the cat has a wound, but this being said, you need to &lt;strong&gt;keep the rabies vaccine up to date&lt;/strong&gt; for your cat. This is done every two years, I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about rabies in cats could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/neurological/c_ct_rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article on petmd.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/cat-vaccines#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is some information about the vaccines a cat needs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you live in an area where rabies is found, your cat should get this vaccine as a part of the vaccination program your vet has for your cat. Be sure to contact your new vet if you move house, so you can keep all of the vaccines up to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T22:56:35.753" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T22:56:35.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-27T11:06:15.690" Score="2" ViewCount="1590" Body="&lt;p&gt;My nice and well behaved Siamese delivered her first litter 6 weeks ago. We had a very strong bond, she would sleep with me and I was her favorite human. She trusted me enough to go in labor lying on me which tells a lot about our relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First month after the labor everything was perfect, she was bringing me kittens or she would leave me with them alone while she takes a nap somewhere quiet. I didn't touch them too much, but they all loved sleeping on me together with mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 weeks ago when they were all sleeping behind me I turned around to check on them and mother cat suddenly jumped on my face and started attacking me viciously. She would not stop, I barely escaped and closed myself in a room. I got some pretty serious injuries all over my body. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called for help and we managed to lock her up. She wouldn't let me near her next two days and I somehow managed to get her food inside. Now she seems to be fine when the kittens are not around, she even comes for petting and sleeps on my lap, but when kittens come near me she gets upset and attacks the same way if I made any suspicious moves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem is that kittens are very active now and it's hard to keep them in one room. I thought things would get better now that they're bigger, but it only gets worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will my cat trust me again? How will she react when kittens leave in 2 weeks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14392" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T13:34:27.647" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T13:34:27.647" Title="Why did my mother cat suddenly attack me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23871" CreationDate="2019-02-27T12:08:03.797" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, it was instinct of protection, but it's more than that in the case of Siamese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As any sane human mother, the cat would protect its offspring no matter the cost, that includes attacking you. And yes, that applies even if you're her chosen person. In the case of Siamese, they attach themselves to one individual and then kind of ignore / tolerate everyone else as they would belong to the general landscape. So it would not intentionally attack you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your specific case, the instinct reaction was very quick (which it's supposed to be) and there was not enough time for logical processing to occur. Practically, the cat processing that you are the chosen person and you are no harm to the kittens takes more time than an instinctual action. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, she will trust you again and get back to the initial state after the kittens are big enough. She will make them go away at the proper age and then get back to being your friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, mine too attacked me in a similar situation, but I was trying to stop her damaging my dog (which is itself a hunting dog). I got a deep bite near the ankle, but no hard feelings after. Further, the cat did realize after the event that what she did was improper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14396" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T19:43:41.053" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T19:43:41.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23786" CreationDate="2019-02-27T12:23:01.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat should be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plant contains the toxic alkaloid lycorine. Bulbs also contain irritant oxalates. But most of the poison effects occur when getting a fresh plant. A dried one will not do that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating any part of the daffodil plant can cause symptoms including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is not something that kills. Due to the indirect effects of the contents in the plant certain bad sensations are caused (starting from bad taste to burning feeling), but again, most of the effect is from a fresh one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More severe symptoms have been reported in animals who only ate large large quantities.&#xA;A small dried quantity that has been removed from the digestive system should have no serious effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throwing up for cats it's something normal for their digestive system and the can ingest a lot of stuff without much bad effect. It's a normal way for cats to purge anything that's not good for them (hairballs included).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not against visiting a vet, but don't be over-scared of the situation. He will probably recommend good hydration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14396" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T12:23:01.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-27T13:43:54.440" Score="4" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a new rat owner, and I've gotten three rats at the moment. As a new rat owner I made the mistake of not getting my first rat in a pair or group and I got the largest one at the pet store. His name is Walter and he was put as the &quot;Jumbo rat.&quot; He had healing or healed bite marks and bruises on his tail. I had him for a few days then got all this information about rats needing to be in pairs or groups because of how social they are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I got two new &quot;medium rats.&quot; Victor and Charles (I've had the babies for five days now). I have a large tank and a carrier at the moment but no barred cages because of money issues. I've been putting the rats in neutral areas and they've been great together. I put them in the carrier for awhile and they did well in there, not fighting but just sniffing and sleeping beside each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But, whenever I have them all in the tank it all just goes down.&lt;/strong&gt; Victor and Walter seem to be the ones fighting for dominance and Charles is the calm one that always gets brought into it. Victor squeaks quite loudly at Walter. I'm not sure if it's because of how he's scared of the larger rat or it's a dominance thing? And it seems to stress Walter out or irritate him. Then a fight happens. I break it up, though. I'm not sure if I should let it go until it gets bad. &lt;strong&gt;But I think it's all because I'm introducing them wrong?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have put the carrier in the tank, so they know each other's smells. I put the lid on at night and when I'm out then when I'm at home I take it off and watch them. &lt;strong&gt;As soon as Victor or Charles steps out of the carrier a fight happens.&lt;/strong&gt; I've been checking the two for any wounds and they have scratches and bites on them. Charles even has a small bite wound on his head which worries me terribly. I don't know what I should do and it's all been putting me in a terrible mental state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I introduce my 3 rats to each other so they won't fight each other?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uDVrf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14400" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T14:03:43.447" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:03:43.447" Title="rats not getting along,rats too young?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23783" CreationDate="2019-02-27T13:44:14.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a cat expert, but with rabbits it would be highly likely to see the kits be stillborn when the mother was still nursing.   There is some related information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/12210/13&quot;&gt;rabbits here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally it looks like your 8 month old kittens could be sexual mature, you do not mention having any of the kittens fixed, so it is possible that one of the male kittens was the father of the stillborn kittens.  Inbreeding can be another cause of stillbirth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only definitive way to get an answer about why they kittens were stillborn, is by having a veterinarian look at the stillborn kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/10391/13&quot;&gt;How soon after giving birth can a cat be spayed?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6228/13&quot;&gt;How can I get my cat to stop nursing from its mother?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T13:44:14.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-27T15:25:06.530" Score="5" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am feeding a stray cat near my apartment, and each time I feed her, I fill or half fill a disposable bowl of cat food. Sometimes, even after one day the bowl is still not empty, that is, she has not eaten it all. My question is, must I lower the quantity, or can the food stay outside in the bowl for more than one day, without clinically damaging the food (and she could still feed on it)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13817" LastActivityDate="2019-03-09T00:59:11.183" Title="Can cat food stay outside for a few days?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23877" CreationDate="2019-02-27T15:40:50.970" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that you are feeding dry cat food and that it is not getting rained on, the food should be fine outside for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the humidity is very high, and the dry food is not staying crunchy then you should remove it or lower the amount you are feeding at one time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For wet cat food (canned) you should not feed more then will be consumed in a single day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/9808/13&quot;&gt;Does leaving wet pet food at room temperature for 12+ hours pose a risk for your cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-03T10:54:53.163" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T10:54:53.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-27T22:54:21.490" Score="3" ViewCount="675" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kodJU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend’s fish tank has a betta fish and yesterday when I last saw him, he said that there are two snails in his fish tank.* I am worried about the fish in there. Do you know how to handle the snails and what species are the snails? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*the two small dots there are the snails&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14410" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T00:02:55.027" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T00:05:07.537" Title="Betta fish and 2 small snails" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23882" CreationDate="2019-02-27T23:20:14.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't tell from the picture, but if you have live plants in the tank, snails will often be attached. For future reference, when you buy live plants at a shop, rinse and run your hand across the leaves to detach any snails and eggs back into the plant tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails multiply easily and quickly, so I would remove them now if you don't want lots of snails. They shouldn't harm the betta, but they can overrun the tank. This tank already looks like it's under 5 gal (the recommended minimum size for a betta), so take that into consideration if you want to  keep them or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails are not all bad. They are good for eating decaying plant matter and such things, keeping your aquarium clean. (I tried a zebra snail for a while, but my betta hated him and chipped his shell. Back to manual algae cleaning for me!) The more food the snails have, the quicker they'll grow and reproduce. To keep the snails, you'd have to  be very careful with tank maintenance (no overfeeding, manually clean up decaying matter, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-02-27T23:20:14.460" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23841" CreationDate="2019-02-28T05:58:29.027" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you mind if the cat claws the couch?&#xA;I had a suede/cloth  couch from my student days when Heddle was &amp;lt;1yo. I'm right handed and would sit on the left side with a mouse on a string.&#xA;And I'd get her to run this. &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8VpIM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pencil drawing of stickman on blue couch with arrows indicating a clockwise path,  up centre of couch , over the back and around to the front again&quot;&gt; &#xA;I mostly got her to do it in the opposite direction so she scrambled up the back of the couch and jumped off the front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 4-5 circuits stop the mouse, and assess how puffed your cat is.&#xA;Repeat till cat tired. &#xA;Literally all I had to do was move move my arm. Keep the mouse away from you, you don't want a cat in full traction mode running over you &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastActivityDate="2019-02-28T05:58:29.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23887" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23888" CreationDate="2019-02-28T11:12:27.687" Score="23" ViewCount="8260" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat comes from two home cats: an English short hair father and Russian blue mother. I live in an apartment, and he enjoys walking through the corridor and sniffing everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I have is that sometimes he wanders to another floor and goes at the wrong door there. (Same location to mine vertically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can pick him up and bring him back with relative ease, but he gets extremely stressed during the process and I can feel his heart thumping rapidly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I teach my cat to navigate between the floors and return home on his own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answers to comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am nearly certain that no feeding occurs with my upstairs neighbour as he seems extremely scared and he tends to get lost in either upper or lower floor compared to mine though I'll check on them to make sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is three years old, and he's not spayed, as I thought that it wasn't needed since he never meets with other cats, and if I remember right, I got him when he was 3 months old. (Might be off a month.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also occasionally pick him up for some cuddling, and compared to our cuddling time, his heart is much faster when I pick him up in front of another door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:40:41.643" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:40:41.643" Title="My cat mixes up the floors in my building. How can I help him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23887" CreationDate="2019-02-28T13:19:41.923" Score="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is hard to answer. I think you will have to do some experiments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has a toy or object he likes, you might try to put this outside your door so he can smell his own scent to make him recognize he is at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in general do know their area by sight and by scent, There are many examples of cats living in an multi-apartment building and not having any  problems in finding the right door to where they live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think one of the things you need to do is to visit the vet to see if your cat has any problems smelling or if it might have eye problems. This is to be sure it is not a physical problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing physical is wrong with your cat, you can try to mark your apartment by putting up a visual marker and/or a scent marker for your cat outside your door to help him locate his home. You can simply move the welcome mat from inside to outside your door or hang one of your cat's toys on the door so he can reach and smell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T05:19:39.363" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T05:19:39.363" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23841" CreationDate="2019-02-28T16:58:16.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My house has 2 flights of stairs. When I want to tire my cat out, I grab one of those rope-on-a-stick things, and run up and down the stairs until she is tired out. This does take some energy to do, but reliably works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14420" LastActivityDate="2019-02-28T16:58:16.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-28T17:11:44.287" Score="1" ViewCount="4821" Body="&lt;p&gt;How long does it take a fish to finish delivery of babies? She is a molly. I noticed two fry swimming around a day ago and haven't seen any more. Has she finished giving birth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14421" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-03-01T14:01:58.900" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T19:08:25.267" Title="How long does &quot;giving birth&quot; last for a molly?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23882" CreationDate="2019-02-28T17:18:53.563" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas generally enjoy snails; they will patiently wait for the snail to come out of its shell, then - lunch. In the US the most common are Ramshorns (dark brown to red) and pond (black). Live bearing (Vietnamese?) are getting common, fish can't seem to eat them and the shells are very hard to crush. I crush the pond and live bearing for the fish to eat. I have not found any of these snails to be a problem for plants and they do clean up debris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T00:05:07.537" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T00:05:07.537" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-28T19:14:08.203" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever the dogs hear me steam milk at my coffee machine, they come running because they know I'll give them a fingerful of milk foam from the inside of the empty milk container. This is a treat they love and since it's foam, they don't know they're hardly getting any milk at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interesting part is how they seem to relax as soon as they start to lick -- the licks are gentler and slower than when they lick or eat anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes me wonder if there is some instinctual reason for this -- maybe they are slowing down because they're trying not to be rough as if they're nursing? I read something about casein having a calming influence on puppies who nurse, but I don't know if this is the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14423" LastActivityDate="2019-02-28T19:14:08.203" Title="Milk seems to make the dog gentler and calmer -- why?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-28T20:24:54.217" Score="3" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a young female Himalayan cat (two years old, spayed). We have other cats at home too. 6 months ago she began peeing everywhere, but she always poops in the liter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Went to the vet: negative on UTI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolated her in a section of the house where she is the only cat and has her own litter box. No results. She 100% pees just outside the litter box, but uses it to poop 100% of the time. We changed the litter box sand brands a few times. Nothing changes it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are becoming desperate. What can we do? She is literally destroying our house, and we don't know what to do. We do not wish to get rid of her, but we are completely out of ideas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14424" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T14:20:26.640" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T14:20:26.640" Title="Cat poops in liter box, but ALWAYS pees outside the box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23894" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-28T20:50:17.547" Score="2" ViewCount="1284" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Annie is staring at the wall by her food bowls, so I keep changing her water every hour. She won't come out of the kitchen now. Annie and I are extremely close. I have always told her to show mommy if something is wrong and she does, but this has me baffled. I've caught her in the bathroom about three or four times lately drinking out of the toilet. I was horrified, so now I always keep the lid closed. She was sitting in there for about a week, now she's sitting in the kitchen. She has a favorite chair she wants nothing to do with. What is going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14425" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-02-28T21:02:03.820" LastActivityDate="2019-03-10T21:50:50.480" Title="Cat staring at the wall all the time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23893" CreationDate="2019-02-28T21:02:31.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, cats are generally creatures of habit, and hate change. If the cat was using the litterbox properly prior to this, then I would think on if there were any changes at all that could have spurred this change of habit. Like if the box is less clean, changed location, or even if you have changed your routine in a way that could be stressing the cat out. If it's something like that, fixing it probably won't make the cat go back to the proper habit now that it's in the wrong habit, but it will enable you to get it back to the correct habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, you say you have asked your vet about a possible UTI, which is probably the most common medical related cause for suddenly failing to use the litterbox, but it is not the only one. If you haven't already, consult with your vet about the fact that your cat suddenly started urinating outside the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've addressed those things, the only thing left to do is to retrain your cat to use the litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your cat in a small room, like a bathroom, or you can place it inside a kennel, as long as the kennel is just large enough to contain everything the cat needs:  litterbox, food, water, toys, and a bed. The point of this is to make it so it's near impossible for the cat to use anything other than the litterbox to eliminate. Cats usually don't like to eliminate on things they use for other activities. Make sure you keep the litterbox as clean as possible, so that it's maximally appealing to the cat.  Also make sure to pay enough attention to your cat while it's in this space. This is not meant as punishment, so try to keep it as happy as possible. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your cat there for some days, perhaps about a week, or until that time that you've judged the cat has been consistently eliminating in its box for some days. During this time, make sure to thoroughly clean your house using cleaners designed to remove pet odors. You want as little smell as possible, so when the cat is ready, it hopefully won't smell anything, and not be tempted to go outside the box again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once you are satisfied things are going according to plan, let your cat go into an additional area of the house. You only want to increase the size of the area it's allowed in a little, so if it's in a kennel, only let it into the room the kennel is in, for instance, or if it's in a bathroom, only let it into the adjoining bedroom. And only let it into the larger area while supervised. If you see it squatting to eliminate, try to distract the cat by loudly clapping your hands, or maybe throwing a toy at it, whatever makes it stop what it's doing. Then, immediately take it back to its litterbox.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep repeating step 3, gradually letting your cat into larger and larger areas of the house. As you come to trust it more, you can then let your cat go unsupervised. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congratulations, you have retrained your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-02-28T21:02:31.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-02-28T22:24:02.057" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a 31,7 gallon tank in which about 35 fishes live.&#xA;For cleaner fishes it is:  2 Antenna catfish (black and brown) and since almost 4 weeks now also 5 &#xA;armored catfish (others are all non cleaner fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While 1 antenna catfish was lazy to start with the other (black) was always very very (hyper)active. &#xA;Moving along the glass window constantly and cleaning / eating. Also he was within minutes on a &#xA;fodder tablet when it was thrown in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good week ago his behaviour changed almost over night. He is almost constantly only at 1 location&#xA;and ignores the fodder tablets completely. He still changes places on the glass, but not constantly like before &#xA;but more like 1-3 times per day in total. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things I noticed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fish is under 1 year in age. He is in the tank since 2-3 months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a fish gets too near and tries to bite him...he reacts as aggresively as in the past&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he moves a bit along the glass I do not notice any lack of strength with him holding onto the glass (thus as strong as always)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is nothing on his body that seems like it changed (no inflated stomach or visible fungus, ...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There was a problem with the filter 4 weeks ago which quite a few fishes their lives (I overlooked that I had to remove the filter compltely to see if it is too dirty to work any longer....lesson learnt even if it was a very sad one back then).&#xA;Aside from that and one homicidal fish in the tank there is nothing that seems to have changed or is out of order.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fishes are fed with the tablets and flake lining (same as since months).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I know from past experiences a sudden behvaioural change is almost never a good sign I'm quite a bit distressed &#xA;there, but at a loos as to what to do (or if I'm overreacting and that change is normal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is: Is there anything I can do there or look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14427" LastEditorUserId="14427" LastEditDate="2019-03-01T22:46:24.490" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T10:56:41.053" Title="Suddenly lethargic Antenna/ Suckermouth catfish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23944" CreationDate="2019-03-01T04:43:14.407" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 of my neon tetras has fin injuries...&#xA;Until they heal s/he is struggling to get to the surface to feed so I've put it in a breeder tank 3&quot; by 5&quot; &amp;amp; 3&quot; deep (it floats in my main tank) &#xA;My question is: should I add a &quot;friend&quot; or 2, as Neons are a schooling fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My tank consists of 13 Neon tetras, and a Beta. I don't normally see schooling behaviour but I'm aware choosing not to and being unable to are two different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastActivityDate="2019-04-03T20:02:10.660" Title="Does my isolated neon need a companion" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23887" CreationDate="2019-03-01T08:24:17.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat had the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had only two apartments per floor and we happened to live all the way up; so you'd think there was some visual aid to go on. Still, whenever she went exploring downstairs and eventually entered panic mode when she stopped feeling comfortable, she ran only 1-2 floors up, mistook the door, and either had to be picked up or chased up another floor, only for the procedure to repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like you describe, this visibly stressed her out. Nobody was opening the door to her presumed home, right? She wasn't very clever to begin with, though.&#xA;Regardless, the staircase was quite sterile and from a cat's viewpoint, everything may have looked the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We never tried to find a solution, but perhaps you should get a unique looking floor mat and give it a strong, unique scent - preferably something she already knows. Also, perhaps there is some way to mark the right floor at the staircase, should it be far apart from your door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14433" LastEditorUserId="14433" LastEditDate="2019-03-01T09:26:39.530" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T09:26:39.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-01T08:29:27.513" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my cat for a very long time, her behaviour towards people is antisocial but to me she is very lovable and is always sleeping by me and cuddling. for the past few days she has been eating and drinking a lot less, I have tried to give her treats ( which she loves) and she won't even touch them. I also noticed she has been hiding under my bed a lot and won't come out, whenever I try to cuddle with her she seems disinterested. This behavior is very odd she has never been like this. she often acts paranoid for no reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; for reference my cat is indoor but sometimes will go outside and she is 10 years old. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14432" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T09:26:07.073" Title="cat has been acting strange for a couple of days (very worried)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-03-01T11:23:30.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23899" CreationDate="2019-03-01T09:26:07.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do is to take your cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat changes behaviour unexpectedly or stop eating you have to take it to a vet as soon as you possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat stops eating and drinking for more than a day you need to get it to a vet as soon as you can,A cat not eating is at risk of liver damage(fatty liver desease)the prognosis for a cat is good if it get treated in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/my-cat-wont-eat#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/my-cat-wont-eat#1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T09:26:07.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23893" CreationDate="2019-03-01T13:30:00.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kai's answer is excellent. However, I'll add an alternative suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider adding a second litter box next to the one she poops in. I have found that some cats will tend to use one litter box to poop in and the other to pee in. You might try a different style of litter box for the second one, for example a top-entry litter box like the one below. The semi-enclosed may make her feel less vulnerable when peeing. If your current box is a top entry style like this, then try a more open style, which will allow her to see in all directions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a multi-cat household, I find that a variety of litter box styles (and even different types of litter) is appreciated. Each cat will have their preferred place to eliminate. She may switch to the new box for both peeing and pooping, in which case you can get rid of the old one if you want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xOE4S.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xOE4S.png&quot; alt=&quot;top entry litter box&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T13:30:00.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23841" CreationDate="2019-03-01T19:06:47.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a toy he likes. Like a wand with a feather, etc. Get him to run and jump and do flips (if he wants) to catch the toy. My cat loves this. Do this until he stops for a rest. Repeat until cat is tired. Jackson Galaxy calls this boil and simmer. Then feed him. Cats like to hunt, kill then eat, then they will sleep. Works great for my active cat. All you have to do is stand or sit in a chair to do this and it only takes like 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14440" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T19:06:47.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23875" CreationDate="2019-03-01T19:09:02.157" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe try taking everything out of their cage, rearranging it and cleaning everything so the original one isn't territorial?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14440" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T19:09:02.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2135" CreationDate="2019-03-01T19:18:01.393" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always fed my dogs twice a day at 7:30am and again at 7pm. One of my girls gets acid reflux and throws up sometimes when she has an empty stomach which is why I would feed in the evening. She even gets a little yogurt before bed to settle her stomach &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14440" LastEditorUserId="14440" LastEditDate="2019-03-05T14:08:30.543" LastActivityDate="2019-03-05T14:08:30.543" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23893" CreationDate="2019-03-01T19:43:54.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your cat doesn't like the litter box or the litter? Try getting a couple different kinds and use different litter in each one. Is the cat peeing all over the house or just in front of the box? If it's by a window or door, could there be feral/neighbor cats outside? The cat could be insecure about the other cats coming into its territory. Keep them away if so. Could there be anything else stressing the cat out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14440" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T19:43:54.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19493" CreationDate="2019-03-01T19:50:29.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it be play aggression? They are often confused for each other. Try getting a toy and getting all the aggressive behaviour out by playing with a toy. Play until she's really tired. Do this everyday. Also one of my cats gets over stimulated when I pat his back. He will bite me if I do it too much. I just pat his head now and lots of play time and he has stopped biting me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14440" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T19:50:29.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23728" CreationDate="2019-03-01T20:04:23.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe try alternate ways to fix the other issues instead of kenneling her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scratching: Get a bunch of cardboard scratch pads. I have them in every room. One of my cats loves these. I also have tall scratching trees around the house with sisal. My other cat prefers this. They also act as scent soakers so they feel they own territory and don't feel the need to pee to mark. My 2 cats have not touched my furniture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting on the counter: When you're not home, or at night time, get the scccat spray. All it does is spray a bit of air when the cat walks in front of it. Doesn't harm the cat in any way. Cat will quickly learn to stay off the counter without needing to be kenneled :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14440" LastActivityDate="2019-03-01T20:04:23.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-01T23:32:28.767" Score="2" ViewCount="1118" Body="&lt;p&gt;A male dog mounted my female dog for like 2 minutes and my brother forced the male out of the female, will the male release sperm in her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14442" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-02T12:12:08.073" LastActivityDate="2019-03-02T13:46:11.400" Title="Male dog was forcefully removed from female dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23914" CreationDate="2019-03-02T00:18:53.470" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can but of more importance is that fact that you can seriously injure both dogs. Don't ever force separate mating dogs. You can still have the female spayed and head off pregnancy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about it at our existing question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/936/13&quot;&gt;Why does my dog get stuck to the female after mating?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14443" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-02T13:46:11.400" LastActivityDate="2019-03-02T13:46:11.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-02T15:45:25.647" Score="1" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to purchase a puppy today for my family and I am hoping the puppy is purebred; now the area where I live is based on the good ol boy network and I know some are just out to make a quick buck. The man selling the puppy seems very nice and has been very informative in keeping me up to date, but if I remember correctly he said he didn’t have the papers which isn’t a big concern. However, since I am paying $400 I’m wanting a second opinion on whether the pup looks purebred. Below are the only pictures I have of the puppies and mine is the one his hand is under.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ob72W.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ob72W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LQVbD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LQVbD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eu8P5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eu8P5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been told they are seven weeks old. It’s my understanding that the ears may stand up later as the puppy grows but I’m just a little worried since I’m spending $400.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user14447" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2019-03-02T16:09:57.387" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T02:38:07.220" Title="Does this look like a purebred German Shepherd?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2019-03-03T10:58:50.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23917" CreationDate="2019-03-02T17:25:31.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;*Disclaimer - I’m not an expert in identifying breeds. But I have 2 shepherds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dog appears to be a shepherd or have shepherd in it. It looks similar to mine when they where pups. And you are correct, the ears will rise with age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However there are a couple of things: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Papers and evidence of lineage will tell, things like if it is registered with your country’s dog authority (I.e. the kennel club etc) will allow you to be sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that this breeder “doesn’t happen to have the papers” is a little red flag. Breeders worth their weight are able to provide as much information as possible, papers of atleast the parents, kennel names, health tests etc. Generally breeders get papers for the pup between 4-8 weeks and you should be walking away from the sale with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally when you’re buying puppies you’ll be able to meet atleast the mother, see any health test results, and get a kennel name to find out more about the breeding lines which will make it pretty identifiable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;$400 is rather cheap for a shepherd, in Europe a decent, health tested kennel registered shepherd will cost around £950 - £1200 ($1254-$1585) but the market maybe different in the states, but I would argue that’s cheap none the less. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you’re paying that for a pup I’d want to see papers of parents and the pup to research on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2019-03-02T17:38:29.310" LastActivityDate="2019-03-02T17:38:29.310" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23946" CreationDate="2019-03-02T18:35:22.260" Score="8" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a wild cat, which has a difficulty with breathing, it seems that her nose is blocked and a lot of saliva is coming out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beside that, we went to a vet to check this cat, blood test, temp., x-ray... so after taking x-ray we saw that her ribs have a strange shape. Local vet says that it seems that this cat suffered possible impact in that area, but he is not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her condition, beside difficulty of breathing is normal, she eats regularly, she drink water also she is happy and wants to play with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is; is it possible that x-ray is mistaken, because of a sudden movement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also second x-ray in different cat position shows different shape of ribs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain, how can I interpret it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lo0eM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lo0eM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mkXk8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mkXk8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10688" LastActivityDate="2019-03-05T08:10:02.217" Title="X-ray of my cat shows strange rib shape" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23917" CreationDate="2019-03-03T02:38:07.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another &quot;red flag&quot; is that the puppies still have their dew claws. Purebred pups typically have their dew claws removed (in the U.S.) and (if breed appropriate) their tails docked. If the breeder doesn't do these things, there is a good chance that the puppies have not been vetted. Ask which Vet's office they used and follow up. It should be reasonable to inquire if the Vet noticed anything you should know about the litter (because you are purchasing one). If the Vet dances around the quesion, there's a good chance that they never saw the litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T02:38:07.220" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11068" CreationDate="2019-03-03T06:51:38.067" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have a five month male I adopted and one and a half mos.  He's busy and can have a stinky bum.  He loves to play with water with his paws and mouth, so I wet his bottom while he does this.  Then he licks his bum, isn't scared acting, just goes on with all his playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14451" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T06:51:38.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18978" CreationDate="2019-03-03T08:57:40.700" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Facts About Betta&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happy Betta Facts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will be active(Call there name they must respond towards you)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shining Wings &amp;amp; healthy eyes not over tearing of there fins..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will Eat happily&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stares back at you whichever part of room you be...:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Like to sleep in corner or near heater and plants bush&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make Bubbles sometimes...not to much...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sad Betta Facts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Less Movement to no response in surrounding&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not eat when feed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dull Wings &amp;amp; bloaty stomach&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Routine i follow,,,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weekly water change&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed only in evening size of there eyes  only..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tempr between 75 to 78 F&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heater Supply&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tap water conditioner &amp;amp; Filtration bacteria to cut off the toxic effect and&#xA;restrict growth of bacteria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aquarium Salt used little amount&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Betta dont like company but i gave her tank buddies, Platy &amp;amp; Tetras good&#xA;company if your betta not over distressed....if continue keep them alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally always communicate with them as they are very lively and intelligent&#xA;Pets...:)) but also can be very moody,they might get depressed easily...:(&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hope above information is useful...:))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14453" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T09:03:03.910" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-03T12:50:57.267" Score="4" ViewCount="1919" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/duEwQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the cause of the swollen lip? Any ideas and tips for a cure? We would rather not give him medication for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had it about 3 months ago. He is a year old, outdour cat; has been living with us for half a year with another male cat, who is a bit older. We live in Holland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time he had it the vet gave antibiotics, that did not help, then prednisone, which did held and it went away. About a week ago, his lip started swelling a bit, swelling under his chin. I do not see any wound that would suggest he was in a fight. Hope this information will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14454" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T11:32:26.547" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T11:40:48.897" Title="Swollen cat lip" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18978" CreationDate="2019-03-03T16:28:42.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh, so you have 3 female bettas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually female betta fish get along with other species, but sometimes female betta fish can be a bit aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is okay for your female, Violet to flare at the other fish and give a warning peck or two. That's her way of saying &quot;I'm a loner! Leave me alone! I need space!&quot;. It may also be that Violet has never encountered this species of fish before (they wouldn't be found together in the wild) and is unsure of what to do. I bet you will discover that she calms down in a week or two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if Violet becomes more violent than that, say, chasing them around the tank or repeatedly pecking at other fish or their fins, then you should separate Violet into her own tank, or consider using a tank divider. This behavior is pretty rare but I've seen one or two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mollys are quite hardy and should be fine, but I would caution against getting any delicate breeds of fish (ex, discus species) with an aggressive-tempered fish like Violent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T16:28:42.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23890" CreationDate="2019-03-03T16:46:07.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fish birthing process can take 1 - 24 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your molly gave birth while you were away, but the rest of her offspring became food for the other fish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is unlikely that the baby fish will be able to survive around the other fish. If you would like to try to raise them, purchase some fry food and a breeding facility that lets water pass through, but not other fish. Catch and separate the baby fish into their new temporary home until they are big enough to be on their own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time, you can put the expecting mother in the birthing chamber when she is near time, and remove her afterwards. Then you can raise all of her babies and watch them grow. It is a fun experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T16:46:07.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18978" CreationDate="2019-03-03T17:42:27.350" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or, Violet is a male. I have raised bettas a couple times. For an amateur is is a challenge to separate the young males before they tear each others fins. After separating some males , I grew the rest ( mostly females with a few males) until I sold them to local shops as females. That was long ago ,today the US pet shop chains rarely buy fish from hobbyists but I expect there can still be short finned males sold as females.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T17:42:27.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9984" CreationDate="2019-03-03T22:25:51.197" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the food in the freezer (outside if you are in cold weather like i am now) the ants will either die or be paralzyed and fall to the bottom. Then remove the food on top to an airtight container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14459" LastActivityDate="2019-03-03T22:25:51.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-04T01:03:47.387" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom will have a surgery in a couple of weeks, and has been telling me that I have to take my cat out of the house (probably some uncle can take care of it). I wonder if there is any scientific background on why it is bad to have a pet when one is recovering from surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not the case, could you provide some articles about this issue so that I can convince my mom to keep the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13516" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T09:33:19.357" Title="My mom having a surgery, wants cat out" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-04T02:43:14.983" Score="4" ViewCount="457" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a horse who has suffered a lot during the warm seasons. It was made worse when we moved north (we're in the Southern hemisphere - so north is warmer) and there were more biting insects. I was treating her for Queensland itch as set out in this post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23550/how-to-treat-queensland-itch&quot;&gt;How to treat Queensland itch?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This helped, but it was clear there was another issue holding her back. &lt;strong&gt;Neck Threadworms.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(insert ominous music, they're awful)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have placed her on a vigorous program to treat her for neck threadworms and will share the process and our progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-03-04T02:51:49.357" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T10:13:21.153" Title="How to treat and manage neck thread worms?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23566" CreationDate="2019-03-04T05:01:57.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look into what is called &quot;limited ingredient&quot; dog food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dog foods are specifically designed to contain as few different types of ingredients as possible, which makes it easier to identify each type of ingredient. Limited Ingredient food is made with allergens in mind, so it is more likely that you will find something compatible with particular diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to understand that a fresh ingredient is completely different from a processed ingredient. For example, if your dog is allergic to foods with beef on the ingredients label, they will also be allergic to beef meal, beef trimmings, etc, because they would all be very similar. But, that your dog should be okay with a chunk of uncooked beef or even freshly cooked beef with nothing else added (say, you made it at home). This is because what your dog is actually allergic to is likely to be something involving the chemicals or production process of making dry dog food. (*)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*) Please do not go to the grocery store and buy raw meat to feed your dog. These meats are graded to be safe for human consumption only after proper cooking at certain temperatures and may contain parasites and bacteria otherwise. If you wish to eat raw meat or feed your dog it, look for special meat that has been graded for raw consumption - it is pricier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="495" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T05:01:57.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-04T05:13:19.520" Score="2" ViewCount="902" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got bitten, on my nose, by an almost 1 month old puppy. I had a scratch. I bled for sometime and then stopped. I had applied alcohol to the spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether the puppy has rabies or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my question is do I need to visit a doctor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also do I need to take the puppy to vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14460" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-03-04T07:01:50.037" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T10:29:20.800" Title="I got bitten by an almost 1 month puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-03-04T13:47:52.663" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23936" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-04T06:49:52.003" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very young cow, about a month old. Unfortunately her mother has died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two buffaloes. Will it be proper to feed the baby cow buffalo milk or should I buy cow milk from outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T06:49:52.003" Title="Is buffalo milk proper for baby cow?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23935" CreationDate="2019-03-04T07:43:01.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question that no-one can answer for sure. It depends on so many information you didn't give in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was the puppy a stray dog living on the streets? Then the chances of it having some kind of illness is higher.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was the puppy living with a family and being cared for? Then the chances of it having an illness are lower.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you even live in an area where rabies is common? Rabies is an infection, a dog cannot have rabies out of thin air, it needs to be infected first. If you live in an area where rabies is seldom or doesn't exist in wild or stray animals, there's no chance the puppy could have it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it was a stray dog you should tell a doctor and let them decide what kind of medication (if any) you need. This is not only a matter of having rabies, but other infections as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you should not forget that puppies are playful, but not as dexterous as adult dogs. It might have wanted to play with you and accidently was too rough. You write that you had a scratch, so it's unlikely that the puppy actually wanted to bite you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabies is a very dangerous illness, as detailed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21448/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. Infected animals often show strange behavior like staring straight ahead, being agressive for no reason or being very submissive for no reason. If the puppy behaved that way, you should get vaccinated as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first noticable symptoms of a rabies infection are described as a tingling sensation that starts at the bite and slowly moves towards the head. As soon as you notice this tingling, it's too late to get vaccinated and medication doesn't work anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-03-04T10:29:20.800" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T10:29:20.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23927" CreationDate="2019-03-04T07:44:37.693" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for the extra information, it was realy helpful in finding the likely reason for the swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say he has had this before, and the vet gave antibiotics to treat it and that this did not help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat was later given prednisone and that this helped your cat (prednisone is an anti-inflammatory steroid that supresses the body's immune response).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes me think your cat might have an allergy. You are living in Holland and if I am right it is early spring there now, so the trees have started to pollinate now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be hard to find exactly what your cat is allergic to, but your vet can take a blood sample and test it for possible allergens that might cause your cats reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to ask your vet if allergy might be the reason for the swelling, and ask if your vet thinks this might be something that needs to be treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is your cat has been bitten by an insect and it's the reaction to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for neutering that I've asked about in the comments - by neutering I mean having the cat's testicles removed, so he cannot reproduce and will have a lower level of testoterone in his body. Neutered males fight less and are calmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T11:40:48.897" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T11:40:48.897" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23932" CreationDate="2019-03-04T09:33:19.357" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of this is going to come from what I remember from a University assignment a decade ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is scientific evidence suggests that a cats purr can aid healing. A cat’s purr frequency is between 25 &amp;amp; 150 Hertz. &lt;em&gt;google&lt;/em&gt; the low end is a similar frequency to the one that medical professionals use in vibrational therapies to promote tissue regeneration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Known benefits of a cat purring &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Lowering stress — petting a purring cat can calm you &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*A cat’s purr can decrease the symptoms of dyspnoea (difficulty breathing) in both cats and humans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Lower blood pressure by interacting with the cat and hearing the purring sound&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Reducing the risk of heart disease (cat owners have 40% less risk of having a heart attack. Probably because of lowered BP)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Purr vibrations help to heal infections, swelling, bone healing and growth, pain relief, muscle growth and repair, tendon repair and joint mobility&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T09:33:19.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23897" CreationDate="2019-03-04T19:04:11.780" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like you added in a comment, a plant like java moss or something that floats would probably make the fish more comfortable. Snails would also be acceptable as they are interesting for curious or bored fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neons start to bite each other's fins when they are stressed. Being in a school makes them less stressed, but only 2 fishes is not enough for this effect, you would need at least 6 to make them feel safe. Actually they might bite eachother more, being 2 or 3 stuck in a small space. The other fishes don't need medical treatment, so it's not fair for them, and it could stress them for no reason, even if there is no disease here, only fin damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that you think about the social needs of the Neon, but my opinion is that your sick/hurt fish should be isolated, and we know what &quot;isolated&quot; means. If it was sick with disease, you would never mix other fishes with it. In these cases the healing process is more important that the schooling needs of the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your setup seems good as is&lt;/strong&gt;, since your breeder tank floats in the main, the fish is already sharing water with its friends and can visually see them, so that's reassuring enough. Focus on not stressing this fish too much and keeping him in good conditions, and he should heal. If the breeder tank is floating, please consider if it is too close or not to the aquarium lights, because your fish might be unable to get away from the blinding or heating of the lamps and that is stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish gets healthier, you can allow temporary test visits in the main tank, and put him back in the breeder tank later. (if you are worried it is lonely or lethargic, this would help for sure)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for taking special care of your hurt Neon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also by curiosity, how big is your main tank? You should take note that 13 (neons) is an unlucky number, in the future try to deal more with 12 (very versatile in mathematics because it's easily divisible) or with 14 (it's lucky because it is 7 + 7). Multiples of 5 are also reliable numbers. If you don't play at least a bit with numerology, numerology will play with you ! Good that you have the betta at least to bring the total to 14, but 14+1 would be more safe ! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-03-04T19:18:08.173" LastActivityDate="2019-03-04T19:18:08.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7074" CreationDate="2019-03-04T22:35:25.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will not harm your frog. It just simply means your frog is a male. It is not know what these spots (which are actually glands) are used for though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a picture!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SPvd7.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SPvd7.png&quot; alt=&quot;Image of a frog showing a pink bump behind the front leg, with the text &amp;quot;The little bump behind the arm. This shows the frog is male.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14464" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-03-05T14:36:16.677" LastActivityDate="2019-03-05T14:36:16.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23919" CreationDate="2019-03-05T08:10:02.217" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The explanation of how the first X-ray can show severely dented ribs while the second does not is a combination of the movement of the cat and the way the X-ray machine takes a picture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I had difficulties noticing where the ribs look dented, I marked them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v8yEF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/v8yEF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most digital cameras work with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;rolling shutter&lt;/a&gt;. They don't capture the whole picture at once but scan the image row by row from top to bottom. It works just like a document scanner but faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the object being captured moves, the image gets distorted, like demonstrated with both rotors of this helicopter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IQkGf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IQkGf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat probably startet moving as the X-ray machine was scanning the area around the heart, which distorted the image of the ribs there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, many (especially older) vets and doctors don't know about the rolling shutter effect because they studied at a time when there was only analogue X-ray. If the subject moves during analogue X-ray, the resulting image is blurry. If the subject moves during digital X-ray, the image looks sharp but distorted. There are high-end digital X-rays that capture the whole image at once with a global shutter, but the other ones are less expensive and therefore more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the vet should probably concentrate on what is blocking the nose of this cat than looking for proof of severe trauma to the ribs that just isn't there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-03-05T08:10:02.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-06T15:05:51.513" Score="0" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this dog in a graveyard, probably waiting to die, with a huge open wound on its backside 2 days ago. I've been feeding it, helping it regain its strength but I'm concerned, the wound may get infected. What should I do? I live in a small town. We don't have vets that tend to canines here. How do I tend to the wound without hurting the dog or getting bitten myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mnKDO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DrvsU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14476" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T21:52:16.700" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:52:16.700" Title="Dog with open wound on leg and no vet available" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15704" CreationDate="2019-03-06T19:23:46.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it seems like you might have contaminated your tank by using bleach to disinfect it. I recommend going to your local pet store and getting a side tank and some tropical fish solution (like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tetra-fish.com/products/water-care/easybalance-plus.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your fish are losing their fins, this is usually considered the disease &quot;fin rot&quot;. Read this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/fin-rot-1378481&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;quick guide&lt;/a&gt; on how to avoid this in the future. I believe they do also sell &quot;antibiotics&quot; to cure your fish, but it'd be best to ask the fish expert at the pet shop! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope your fish do end up feeling better!   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14479" LastActivityDate="2019-03-06T19:23:46.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21095" CreationDate="2019-03-06T19:36:01.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmmm, it is a little diifcult without a picture to really determine that your goldish is pregnant or not... but if it seems like it's belly is getting big, then it might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your goldfish is getting big overall in length and height, etc. that is natural since comet goldfish do end up getting pretty big!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend taking a read &lt;a href=&quot;https://petsofun.com/pregnant-goldfish/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for best practices in the case that your goldfish is bearing baby fish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14479" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T19:18:51.580" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T19:18:51.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20920" CreationDate="2019-03-06T19:39:13.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Himalayan salt is typically used for cooking.. I would recommend you go to your local pet store and buy some aquarium specific salt. Like this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/api-aquarium-salt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;. 3 bucks and you know you're getting exactly what you need! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please dont't use the cooking salt/seasoning salt, use fish salt!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14479" LastActivityDate="2019-03-06T19:39:13.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23636" CreationDate="2019-03-06T19:48:09.073" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tetras and snails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small neon colored tetras swim in groups and would swim around the middle and at the bottom of your tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails, avoid mystery snails since they do breed. I would go for assassin snails, some of them dig into the rocks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope my suggestion works out for your future colorful tank!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14479" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T09:25:59.393" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T09:25:59.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23948" CreationDate="2019-03-06T21:41:09.130" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wound is clearly &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; infected and it's only natural the dog turns it away from you. Please don't try to touch it, it may provoke a (defensive) attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also have to realize that the dog may not survive. If the tissue inside the wound dies off (called a necrosis), it cannot heal and must be surgically removed. It might already be too late to avoid a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sepsis&lt;/a&gt; due to bacteria from the infection spreading through the whole body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fight the infection and relieve the pain, I suggest you go to a pharmacy and ask specifically for one of these drugs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carprofen (Novox or Rimadyl)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deracoxib (Deramaxx)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;firocoxib (Previcox)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;meloxicam (Metacam)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of them are anti-inflammatory drugs and listed as safe for dogs by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dog-pain-medications#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;. Using human medication like ibuprofen or aspirin can lead to kidney failure in pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pharmacists may ask why you need those (at least they should if they do their job right). Show them the pictures you've taken and let them estimate the proper dosage of the pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give the dog the proper dosage twice a day (or according to what the pharmacist and packaging say) and always together with food. The stomach should not be empty when taking the pills. If the dog doesn't like the pills, coat them in something tasty like cream cheese or a soft sausage. Continue the treatment for as long as the packaging says it's safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T21:51:10.080" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:51:10.080" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-07T01:50:23.887" Score="6" ViewCount="2635" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somebody said it was fine to put the liquid on the fur around the cat's mouth and she will lick it off. I don't think that's ok. Our vet tried to mix with the medicine with canned food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know if putting the medicine on the fur around her mouth, and she licks it, is good ennough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14482" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-03-25T13:46:38.833" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T19:08:05.910" Title="I'm having trouble giving my cat liquid meds with a syringe" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23955" CreationDate="2019-03-07T07:00:15.750" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, as she would not take the complete dose that way, as she would only be able to lick a little amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I did with my puppies was to make them open their mouths, and pour the medicine quickly with the spoon. You could trick her to open her mouth by showing her some of her favorite food, or open it yourself by using just some quick force of your hands. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastEditorUserId="14484" LastEditDate="2019-03-07T10:06:23.227" LastActivityDate="2019-03-07T10:06:23.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-07T07:04:25.120" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbor's hens always nibble of our flowering plants and herbs. We've tried fencing and everything yet they still somehow manage to get to the plants. Is there some way to prevent them from eating the plants? A repellent or something that would work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastEditorUserId="14484" LastEditDate="2019-03-07T07:11:57.793" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T09:52:54.810" Title="Preventing hens from eating plants" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23955" CreationDate="2019-03-07T13:28:18.883" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, putting the medicine around her mouth is not enough for most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My elderly cat takes his mixed with his food. He dislikes the taste, but we give him a small amount of food with the medicine in it first thing in the morning, when he is quite hungry. After he has eaten that, he gets the rest of his breakfast without any medicine. He has learned to eat it quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-03-07T13:28:18.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23955" CreationDate="2019-03-07T14:32:14.570" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the medicine can be administered with a syringe (without a needle) then the easiest method is actually sliding the syringe tip along the inside of the cheek, to the back of the mouth (right behind the rear-most teeth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squirting the medication there will force the cat to swallow it (cats can't spit), without the risk of inhaling or choking on it that could happen if the medication is just dropped into the back of the mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an added advantage you will not need to open the cats mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2019-03-07T14:32:14.570" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23955" CreationDate="2019-03-07T14:36:57.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most doses are going to be far too large for fur to be an effective dosage vector, so unfortunately, no, adding the medicine to the fur around the mouth (or any other area of the cat's body) is not a good way to administer the medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that there are other options. If you're just inexperienced with administering liquid medicines via syringe, ask your vet to coach you into how to hold the cat and syringe. With a little practice, it can become a fairly quick process, and a few treats afterward can help your cat get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a new experience for the cat, you can also let it sniff at the syringe for a while before administering the liquid, or even encourage it to play with the syringe a bit by waving it around and letting them bat at and bite it. If you're lucky, the cat will bite it deeply enough that you can depress the plunger then and they'll barely notice. Additionally, you'll have made the process a little more fun for your cat, so it will resist less next time. (Please note, I have only had one cat so far fall for this tactic, and I can make no promises it will work on your cat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also speak to your vet about other options for the medication's form, if administering the liquid is just too difficult. Some can be prepared by compounding pharmacies to have a more palatable meat flavor (i.e. chicken), others may be available in a pill form that can be hidden in specially designed treats. If administering the current liquid is too difficult, it's worth exploring what other options are available to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-03-07T14:36:57.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-08T02:03:46.667" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a schnoodle and his coat changed from black to silver by his first birthday, just like other pups I’ve read in some previous threads. Now he’s aged to 14 years now and he’s starting to spot jet black more often, with bigger spots like when he was a pup, except it was silver then. Is this a generational thing that he sheds back to his original coat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14491" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-30T15:09:31.217" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T15:09:31.217" Title="Can dogs shed back to their original coats?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24002" CreationDate="2019-03-08T06:27:48.427" Score="9" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;This week, my neutered middle age male cat called Garfy brings home a 'guest', who is a much smaller cat. I guess it's very young, but not sure of the gender or origin, so let's just call it Taby. I saw Taby a couple of times hanging out in our garden with Garfy. They seem to be good playmates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that Taby often sneaks into the house through the flap door after Garfy. Then not only s/he eats Garfy's food, but also makes a lot of noise during his futile exit attempts, because opening the flap door is a bit tricky as it opens only towards inside. So I have to wake up early on and let Taby go by opening the entrance door, which is obviously not my favorite morning ritual and deprived me of sleep several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what Garfy feels about Taby's sneaking in, but I know that Garfy is so passive that he is frequently being bullied even by much smaller cats. Garfy's only line of defence against intruders is to scream. So I imagine he just tolerates Taby's entrance, or even encourages it as an act of philanthropy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it clear to Taby that it is not welcomed inside, I rush to the entrance door and make some threatening noise and gestures before letting him go. But that was not effective and I suspect s/he will be back tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering how can I deter/dissuade this unwelcome guest with the least harm/hassle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-23T23:12:15.570" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T23:14:48.640" Title="How can I deter my cat's unwelcome guest from coming inside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23966" CreationDate="2019-03-08T11:29:41.830" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you to keep Garfy indoors for a few days. Also, close any ways of entrance Taby uses to get into the house. Even if he does, force him out or try to scare him. Animals usually stop repeating the acts where they don't find any advantage for them anymore. If Taby can not get the food, company, or entertainment he finds at your house, he'll eventually stop coming. It will take a few days or weeks, depending on the nature of Taby, but soon he'll be gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-03-08T11:29:41.830" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23965" CreationDate="2019-03-08T11:32:32.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a multiple breed of dogs throughout my life, and most of them keep changing their colors with time. Your dog may or may not go back to the exact shade he was before, rather he may develop a new mix of colors. It is always surprising to see what new colors emerge on their fur from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-03-08T11:32:32.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23933" CreationDate="2019-03-08T13:00:22.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Background&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had been treated for Queensland Itch, but was a mess when I checked under her rug. She shouldn't have been such a mess, as the Queensland Itch was well treated. The areas of skin abrasion caused from itching were localised around the withers and neck area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've continued with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/23590/6796&quot;&gt;treatment used for Queensland Itch&lt;/a&gt;, as it's vital to keep flies and other insects from biting her. She is sponged (instead of spraying) with a  Permoxin solution, concentrating on the tail, mane and along the back. I do ensure her face, ears, in the crevices of her legs, tummy and entire legs are covered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Permoxin solution, I've added some iodine to help prevent open sores from becoming infected. The other products I use are &lt;a href=&quot;https://au.virbac.com/products/horse-first-aid/cetrigen-antibacterial-spray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cetrigen&lt;/a&gt;, which is an antibacterial and antiseptic and a must in any horse owner's kit. Very handy to spray on any minor wounds. I also apply a zinc cream with tea tree oil, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ranvet.com.au/products/white-healer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;White Healer&lt;/a&gt;, which works as an antibacterial, antifungal and antiseptic agent, plus provides a zinc barrier to help protect the skin. Another great product to have in a horse owner's kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throughout all of this she is given mineral supplements designed to supplement horses on Australian pasture, particularly pasture high in Oxalates. The prevent the uptake of Calcium and can cause serious health issues as a result of Calcium deficiency. Maintaining good nutrition is vital, particularly when her immune system is so chaotic and destructive to her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was treated with a double dose of Ivermectin. To kill young neck threadworm. One way of diagnosing an allergic reaction to neck threadworm is &lt;a href=&quot;https://thehorsesback.com/neck-threadworms/?fbclid=IwAR17Q3Wx8E9S45DmmjLNDfDqBnzshY8J60ZUJKgNmextXE6XPvVbOJMEaDY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;intense itching 2-3 days after an application of Ivermectin&lt;/a&gt;. There's some debate over the efficacy of double dosing Ivermectin and repeating fortnightly, compared to single weekly doses. I chose the double dose, as she has been treated with Ivermectin previously and she was suffering so greatly, it was important to try something more radical to give her relief. The horse's comfort and health is primary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what she looked like two days after treatment. She was an itchy mess in the neck, withers and base of the tail. I stood with her for a long time scratching her to help give her relief. It may not be obvious to non-horsey people, but you can see she's not happy in the pictures (following) taken on that day. You can see that the skin is irritated and raised from the allergic reaction and scratching. I actually used a metal curry comb lightly over her skin a day later to help relieve her itching. It helped removed old scabbing, and I applied a salve of a zinc mixture with tea tree oil afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BlpJJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BlpJJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Five to six days after treatment her itching had subsided. The patches in her coat from scratching are larger, but the skin is smooth and soft and no longer irritated. You can see by her facial expression that she is relaxed and relieved.&#xA;I continued to apply a permoxin solution to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aEvls.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aEvls.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to give her another double dose of Ivermectin, and will document the progress. After these two initial double doses. I will see how she progresses to determine whether she needs more Ivermectin and will only use a single dose. We are now in Autumn here and the neck threadworm lifecycle will slow. So it's vital I am on top of this again next Spring and treat her with this same process and refugular Ivermectin during the summer months. If she is coping well when Spring starts, I will treat her with single Ivermectin doses only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be noted, she cannot be rugged, as there's a minor injury on her leg, above her &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18199/how-to-care-for-a-severe-wound-on-horses-leg/18200#18200&quot;&gt;previous serious injury&lt;/a&gt;.  This poor horse has a history of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15445/a-good-feed-routine-for-a-neglected-and-underweight-horse/15446#15446&quot;&gt;terrible neglect&lt;/a&gt; and it's not surprising that she struggles with a poor immune system. She gets probiotics and prebiotics frequently and I will start her on some more, as she has a runny nose again (that's for another self answer question). It never ceases to amaze me how kind, stable and good natured this horse is. She truly is an amazing horse. I have done and will do anything and everything possible to give her good health and an enjoyable life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look forward to updating with some pics of her with a smooth healthy coat and no itches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;6 weeks later.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her skin is much better and she is more comfortable. It's not 100% recovered from the scabbing, but almost there. You can see from her coat that she is in better shape. She is partially wet in this pic from a permoxin treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note Autumn is here, so there's less bugs around. She has settled down and is more comfortable. I kept the treatment regime up and will commence it again in Spring. Today is probably the last day I'll treat her with permoxin until the weather warms up again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qqcDi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qqcDi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T10:13:21.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25488" CreationDate="2019-03-08T13:11:09.713" Score="5" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Horses are complex animals to keep as pets. They require a lot of care in ways that may not always be apparent. After many years of accumulating knowledge from research and experience, it would have been handy to have a list of what to keep in your kit when owning a horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T01:18:39.747" Title="What things are handy to have in a horse owner's kit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-09T08:34:20.947" Score="-2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, My mother is threatening to return the fish tank she got me for my birthday unless I would set the filter to waterfall discharge, I told her I wouldn't as the current is too strong for the type of fish (Betta) I have in the tank - she disagrees even though I read some articles to her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She claims that the waterfall option will clean the water better and stop cloudiness by showing me a page in an aqua-gardening book that she has that said &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;A Waterfall looks pleasing and will also oxygenate the water for the plants&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experimented with both modes when I first got it and that the surface discharge is the best for my betta as when I tried waterfall before, my betta kept being 'pushed' back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the waterfall discharge 'clean' the water better than surface discharge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14502" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-03-10T17:06:15.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:25:28.760" Title="Does Waterfall Discharge make the water 'cleaner' than surface discharge in a fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23979" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="23999" CreationDate="2019-03-09T13:45:51.613" Score="4" ViewCount="3027" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tobby is a playful cat, and while he was trying to reach his ball under the bed he got some scratches on his forehead. This happened around 2 weeks ago, and shortly after I noticed few rashes around both his ears, and few days ago I started treating it with miconazole cream. I have clipped the hair in that particular region. Can someone please give their opinions whether this is ringworm or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xGVVa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xGVVa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hiESN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hiESN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11944" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-03-25T13:46:56.380" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T13:46:56.380" Title="Does my cat have ringworm?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23981" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-09T16:05:27.007" Score="-2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a thirty gallon goldfish tank with seven goldfish in it. Is this overstocked? All but two of the goldfish seem healthy, with one sometimes bottom sitting and the other with black marks that I can’t tell if are ammonia burns or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14504" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T15:33:40.440" Title="I have a thirty gallon tank with seven fancy goldfish" Tags="&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23981" CreationDate="2019-03-09T21:41:05.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/info/aquacalc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; to calculate whether your tank is overstocked &lt;strong&gt;just now&lt;/strong&gt; or not. As a rough guide, it’s 60 cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; of water surface area per cm of fish body length. That assumes adequate filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendations for large tanks with few goldfish are needed because they do live a long time and they do genuinely get big. You wouldn’t buy a dog without considering their adult size, so you shouldn’t buy a fish without considering how big they’ll eventually be. Luckily, you might have a few years and, probably (sadly), a few natural casualties before then. Not all fish live to adulthood and fancy goldfish are particularly prone to congenital deformities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your tank is overstocked, you’ll have problems with high nitrates and maybe ammonia spikes (which you’ll work hard trying to reduce) and a steady stream of unexplainable deaths - fish just suddenly becoming &amp;quot;old&amp;quot; when they’re really not that old. If you have the right stocking level, fish keeping is much, much easier. I hope you can reduce your stocking level somehow as they grow (bigger tank, or a part exchange, some fish shops will part exchange bigger fish that have outgrown their tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the black bits, could be a juvenile. Babies often have great markings that disappear with age. And some goldfish (my own included) sleep on the gravel. They literally just bed down and go into a suspended animation. Check the fin and swimming position when it’s up and about. A healthy fish will have its fins held out and up and proud. An unhealthy fish will clamp its fins. Some of them simply don’t make the traumatic transition from breeder to shop to home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T15:33:40.440" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T15:33:40.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-10T07:24:54.043" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nTcj9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have rescued a two month old puppy after it met a car accident. It is not able to stand as it's hind legs are injured. However, we don't see signs of any severe bleeding. The dog has been resting since then and is eating properly. Has urinated twice in the last 36 hours and has not excreted. Please help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14507" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:34:09.987" Title="Injured street dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23985" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-10T11:00:42.207" Score="3" ViewCount="1137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my cat half a year ago at a rescue centre, she was very cross-eyed, the longer she has been in my home the more her cross-eyed-ness has gone. Is this normal? And what has caused this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Spb0x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Spb0x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14508" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T00:03:30.010" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T00:05:39.120" Title="My cat was cross-eyed, now she’s not. Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23984" CreationDate="2019-03-10T11:03:34.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would take the dog to a vet as soon as possible as it may be a spinal injury if it’s back legs aren’t working. Spinal injury’s are very serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14508" LastActivityDate="2019-03-10T11:03:34.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23985" CreationDate="2019-03-10T16:32:49.057" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crossed eyes is a relatively common hereditary condition in cats, most common in Siamese cats, cats with blue eyes, or other breeds closely related to the Siamese. If it is hereditary, there is no concern or treatment, and the cat can still live a normal happy life, even with vision that's a little off. But crossed eyes can have other causes as well, such as disease or physical trauma, and those things might need to be treated. Therefore, if you haven't already, consult with your vet about your cat's condition, to make sure that no treatment is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If its crossed eyes are indeed hereditary, it's definitely not going to spontaneously recover, as that condition is permanent. However, there are different circumstances in which the crossed eyes can be more or less pronounced. The condition is more or less noticeable when the cat is focusing closer or farther away, for example. There is also intermittent crossed eyes, where the eyes become crossed when the animal is tired or sick, but other times its eyes will track normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T00:05:39.120" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T00:05:39.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-10T19:49:09.943" Score="4" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I pet my cat, she purrs and leaks tiny drops of clear liquid from the base of her nose. When she's really enjoying herself she can leak a drop or two every minute. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first guess is that it may be pheromones, but it seems to leak from the vomeronasal organ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what this dicharge is? Is it normal, or is it an indication that my cat should see a Veteranarian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14511" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-03-11T14:05:56.503" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T07:10:51.850" Title="Cat's nose leaking drops when pet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24021" CreationDate="2019-03-10T23:43:04.277" Score="1" ViewCount="4013" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZbqAg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;I’ve had my betta for a month now and hes been PERFECT!! I just looked at him now and saw that his tail is SHREDDED!! I realized that he had been glaring at the filter in the back and KNEW that he’d been at the back by the filter ALL NIGHT!! I ALWAYS check to make sure he’s fine DAILY! His tail was BEAUTIFUL last night when I fed him, today SHREDDED! I’ve covered the area of the filter where he was flaring to prevent further damage, but now I don’t know what I should do! I KNKW it’s not fin rot, it’s from the flow of the filter because he was by it all night long and flaring, so PLEASE HELP!!!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14513" LastEditorUserId="14513" LastEditDate="2019-03-10T23:55:04.110" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T15:58:23.190" Title="How do I fix BAD betta fin tearing?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23978" CreationDate="2019-03-11T07:08:47.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the positive effects of a waterfall are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A larger amount of water comes in contact with the air, this oxygenates the water better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A waterfall will help keeping the surface of the water free from the protein film and dust, and it is nice to look at.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the negative effects are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A waterfall will make it harder to keep the temparature stable in your tank due to the larger surface area the water will have. Normally, the temparature in the house is lower than what you want to have in your tank, so it will cool the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A waterfall will increase the evaporation rate from your tank and if the humidity of the air in your house is low, you might lose water from your tank quite fast. (Note: this is positive for the air in your house, but not for the tank as the evaporation will cool it.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A waterfall will force CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; out of the water and this will make your plants deprived of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; which is one of the essential nutrients - so the plants will grow a lot slower and they will remove less nitrate from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Betta fish do not need the extra oxygen provided from the waterfall, and as long as the surface of the water is in motion, the water will be saturated with oxygen and the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will be removed from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The water will not get any cleaner from a waterfall than it would be from the just below surface outlet from your filter. It is the bacteria in your tank and filter that do the processing of the waste, not the splashing of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:25:28.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:25:28.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23990" CreationDate="2019-03-11T08:00:40.277" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound normal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats start to produce more saliva when being pet. The reason for this is not fully known, but it might be a response that has its origin in the brain of your cat, in the cat's pleasure center. It is the same response type as when the cat sees food and starts eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animalwised.com/why-does-my-cat-drool-when-petted-2460.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.animalwised.com/why-does-my-cat-drool-when-petted-2460.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat feels uncomfortable it will produce more saliva and lick its nose often, so this is a sign that a cat is unsure of the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat does have some problem in its mouth it will produce excess saliva. So if this happens you need to take it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-03-11T15:09:31.547" LastActivityDate="2019-03-11T15:09:31.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23984" CreationDate="2019-03-11T10:29:46.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;He could have internal injuries more than the external ones. Please keep him hydrated and take him to a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-03-11T10:29:46.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24020" CreationDate="2019-03-11T14:16:08.753" Score="5" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I simply let my dog out to use the bathroom, she will always go normally without issue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I am concerned about happens when we go on longer walks of about 2 mi. (3.2km).  She stops &lt;em&gt;constantly&lt;/em&gt; to try and poop.  The first two to three times everything is normal and I have something to bag up...  But she continues to try to go many more times after she has nothing left in her system.  This will usually cause a mucus-like substance to excrete and it looks very unhealthy.  On top of my health concerns, it can also be embarrassing for me to have my dog do the motions of going #2, and then I walk away without picking anything up - as she didn't actually go.  My dog has done this on walks for the 7-8 years I have had her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once my dog's system is empty, should I hurry her along on my walk or allow her to try multiple times to go... when she can't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14516" LastEditorUserId="14516" LastEditDate="2019-03-13T20:34:46.717" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T15:29:12.507" Title="Should I stop my dog from attempting to defecate more than needed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="23999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23979" CreationDate="2019-03-11T14:41:43.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vet confirmed that this is ringworm merely by visual assessment, and asked me to continue it treating with the miconazole cream. Nonetheless I decided myself to start treating him also with Terbinafine pills, and give it a few weeks to see if there is any improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11944" LastEditorUserId="11944" LastEditDate="2019-03-11T16:56:31.307" LastActivityDate="2019-03-11T16:56:31.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-11T17:37:15.220" Score="4" ViewCount="934" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (who was feral at first but is now a “skittish” pet) had 4 kittens. She has them sheltered but not completely hid. Around 3 weeks of age she let me touch them with no hissing or growling. She would just lay over on her side and purr while I touched/ held/ socialized them. Suddenly out of nowhere she has started hissing at me, even when I wasn’t near the kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats on our porch and she comes to the door and meows when she’s hungry. I opened the door and she hissed at me. While I was feeding her treats and petting her, she suddenly jumped back and popped my hand (breaking the skin) and hissed at me again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has since then stopped hissing at me but I haven’t tried touching the kittens because I feel like she isn’t OK with it anymore. The kittens are 5 weeks old now, and she keeps them pushed back in a corner and isn’t letting them walk around. If one starts walking towards me, or even in a different direction, she pulls them back. They’re 5 weeks old and can barely walk. They’re up off the ground in a junk shed and I knew one would fall off ... today one did. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think she’s hurt but I couldn’t get to her so I left her alone to let mom finish eating on the porch and to return to help her. It’s like she’s not letting them grow up any. I want to let nature take its course, but I feel like they’re going to live in there forever never learning cat things. They still crawl completely on their bellies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14518" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-10T11:56:26.867" LastActivityDate="2020-01-10T11:56:26.867" Title="Cat won’t let kittens grow up" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23998" CreationDate="2019-03-11T18:26:15.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consult a vet about any possible digestive concerns or other health problems, but if all is well and it's just an odd habit, distracting her by keeping her moving briskly along once she's done her business is probably the way to go.  Dogs need both leisurely 'sniff around and pee on stuff' walk time, and 'lets put some miles behind us' walk time. The exercise and sense of travel/motion is good for them physically and mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-03-11T18:26:15.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23966" CreationDate="2019-03-11T19:07:14.593" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are a few things you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Taby seems docile (sounds like it is), consider taking it to a local vet or shelter to scan the cat and &lt;strong&gt;see if Taby is microchipped.&lt;/strong&gt; If Taby has a microchip, you could then contact the owners and have them keep Taby indoors, or generally help keep her on their property (enticing with food, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an altered version of completely locking Garfy in as Bella Swan suggested (which is still a viable option), &lt;strong&gt;consider keeping Garfy in only at night.&lt;/strong&gt; Guard his goings ins and outs to ensure he's the only cat entering and exiting the cat flap. They also make cat flap doors that activate with a sensor you place on your cat's collar, so the flap will only let your cat in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my favorite option - Have you considered owning one more cat? It's apparent Garfy and Taby are friends, and &lt;strong&gt;having two kitties is always more fun.&lt;/strong&gt; They can keep each other company, and it's not that much more expensive to keep two cats over one. Some vets will give you multi-pet discounts.  Taby may also feel more comfortable in the house and let you sleep instead of panicking to get out. And consider re-naming Taby to Nermy ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-23T23:14:48.640" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T23:14:48.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24000" CreationDate="2019-03-11T19:38:35.283" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a good sign she's not abandoning her kittens, and she must be nursing them if they're still alive. They are perhaps a slower developing group of kittens.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's odd that she is suddenly being protective of them, but her feral nature likely plays into this. Her wild instincts kicked in and she has to protect the kittens at all costs. She may have even already had litter(s) if you don't know her age or her origin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/post-natal-cat-care-555416&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt; article states that a cat may develop post-partum symptoms, around the 2 or 3 week stage, right when your cat started getting protective. The same article recommends some things you should be sure you are doing for the mother:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the shed they are kept in warm? If not, that could be why she has kept them shoved in a corner, in an attempt to keep them warm. Heat lamps are good solutions for outdoor sheds, and not very costly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You mention she has to come ask for food, therefore needing to leave her kittens. Instead, you should put her food and water in the shed with her, so she doesn't have to leave her litter. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider gloving up (to prevent injury to you) and checking the mother or kittens for any symptoms described in the article and call a vet if you are concerned. Otherwise, leave her be for a while, to settle with her kittens and feel safe. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards, I would recommend getting her spayed to prevent any more ordeals like this, especially if she is not a great mother. (There are so many unwanted cats and kittens that should be adopted first!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you, your momma cat, and her kittens. I hope all goes safely and the worrying is for naught and that they just need a little extra time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-03-11T19:38:35.283" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23992" CreationDate="2019-03-13T00:52:05.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Double check that decor is all smooth. Some of that also looks like it could be fin biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healing should be easy, just keep an eye out for rot (blackening around the edges of the wounds). Within a week new growth should begin with clear fins starting to fill back in. It should color up as normal with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All you need to do is keep the water as clean as possible, maybe do a few more water changes than normal while he heals. I've heard betta-fix is good for helping keep the wounds clean too (do not use plain mela-fix, bettas are sensitive to the full dosage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14524" LastActivityDate="2019-03-13T00:52:05.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2019-03-13T03:07:02.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 Jack Russells. Only one of them is affected by a power outage. All of the above theories do not address the fact that my outage is usually off and back on again in a nanosecond (in the blink of an eye), so the &quot;absence of comforting sounds&quot; theory is not what I think is the trigger for this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a larger UPS that kicks in (and cuts off) even if only for a nanosecond. I believe it may have something to do with some type of electrical energy or &lt;em&gt;pulse&lt;/em&gt; (possibly electromagnetic) that dogs can actually &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt;. All of us know that our human energy &quot;transmits&quot; to dogs and most animals. Of course I am not sure about all of this, but that's my best guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before closing, I would like to share one small piece of advice. Do not, do not coddle, hold, console, pet or talk to your dog, as this will only serve to nurture the behavior and thus, the behavior can only &lt;strong&gt;intensify&lt;/strong&gt;. The best remedy I can offer is to go on a long fast walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an equine/canine behaviorist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14525" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T15:44:41.437" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T15:44:41.437" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-13T03:12:50.393" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog always walked at my side or a little in front of me, both positions allow me to see her clear and predict if she is sensing a dog nearby.  She used to be slightly to moderately reactive.  But after she was attacked by a large pitbull, she became super reactive, even to small dogs.  So I like to have her in my sights so I can read her body language, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also acts like she hates her harness.  I currently use a harness which is worn behind her front legs and another piece which attaches at about a little before her middle.  The harness ring is located at the bottom of her neck and attaches to the ring of her Martingale collar and the combo is clipped together for more humane control.  But I guess for the last 6 weeks to 2 months, she runs away when I try to put it on.  If I tell her to come, she begrudgingly does so but with a sad look on her face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out on a walk, she seems to fight me to sniff everything plus look around for dogs.  She continually tries to stay about 1 and a half to 2 feet behind me unless I tighten up the leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot figure out what is really bugging her or how to help her..&#xA;.&#xA;Please advise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vIQCl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14526" LastEditorDisplayName="user13824" LastEditDate="2019-03-15T15:27:27.713" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T22:39:59.027" Title="My dog after 7 years is now walking behind me; she now hates her harness" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-13T03:40:39.950" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 days before, I had seen one pigeon was walking lame in my home's balcony. I could not understand what happened to her. I put her in big box. I have been treating her by giving Arnica-30 homeopathy medicine (5-5 pills morning and evening), and Arnica ointment. But no any effect. Any expert suggestion (for exact medicine) would be appreciated. Following are the few pictures of bird. This seems as big fleshy wart at right side of wing of bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gqBMT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gqBMT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;injured bird&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2ZDw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2ZDw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ointment&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4zuKM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4zuKM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bird&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12958" LastActivityDate="2019-03-13T03:40:39.950" Title="How to treat injured female pigeon?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24007" CreationDate="2019-03-13T08:34:45.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as the harness doesn't cause her pain, she has no reason to hate it. What she &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; hates is going for a walk because she is anxious, had bad experiences and doesn't get the same satisfaction from walking as other dogs would get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest giving her more praise, treats and positive reinforcement during walks to associate walking with positive experiences. &amp;quot;Treats&amp;quot; could be either little morsels of food, or a few seconds of play, depending on what your dog reacts most positively to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as you finished putting on the harness, give her a treat (no matter how reluctant she was putting it on).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;During your walk, do very easy and short obedience trainings with her. In a calm moment, call her to you, tell her to sit or lie down, then praise her, give her a treat and continue on your walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you return home, you can give her a treat as well. But if you do so, you should &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; treat her, no matter how well behaved (or not) she was during the walk. Dogs don't have the mental capacity to connect their behavior minutes ago with the result of getting (or not getting) a treat at your front door.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That she suddenly walks behind you isn't a problem in itself. If you want to change that, though, you can do it with positive reinforcement as well. Just call her to your side while walking and give her a treat if she walks in the right spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ears are important indicators for the mood of a dog. If the bandana you put on her is purely for fashion, you should remove it or at least put it around her neck instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's supposed to calm her by muffling sounds, I'm afraid it doesn't work anyway. It might irritate her even more or increase her anxiety by narrowing her field of vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T22:39:59.027" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T22:39:59.027" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-14T04:14:50.743" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fortunate enough to be able to take my dog on an afternoon outing (nearly everyday) with the goal of wearing her out. We typically stop at one of the local grocers on the way home for any missing dinner ingredients. I have noticed that she occasionally displays somewhat anxious behaviors when I get back to the car. Some parking lots seem to upset her more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning we ran an errand and I pulled into a parking lot to &quot;get one thing&quot;. I stopped the car and my girl popped up onto the center arm rest, shaking. As if she was terrified of being there. Clearly an anxiety issue. My impromptu solution was to leave without going into the store. My pup is more important and after we drove off, she was fine again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guesses are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;someone tried to reach into the car while she was alone (to pet her, or take her)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the noise and general chaos of a busy parking lot overwhelms her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;she saw something that upset her (which could be litterally anything)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned about this. I can prevent it from happening again by never leaving her alone in the car again, but that doesn't seem very practical. Eventually I'll have to leave her in the car (for any number of reasons). Is there a realistic way to train her to not be afraid if she's alone in the car? Or some way to help her feel safer when she is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: My dog gets 1-2 half hour walks, a 1-2 hour outing, and a beef neck bone to chew on (daily average). Outings = dog park playtime, off leash on wooded trails, learning to run beside my bicycle, etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-03-14T04:14:50.743" Title="Training for Canine Parking Lot Anxiety (?)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-14T09:50:43.193" Score="1" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where I live there are some regulations about leaving your pet alone. I don't know the details but I guess it is ok to leave a dog alone for a couple of hours, while fishes probably can be left alone for days as long as they are fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I rarely leave my dog alone for more than an hour so it is not a problem anyway but I was thinking about the purposes behind this legislation and for dogs it is quite simple, they need to take a walk every few hours and they are pack animals that don't like to be left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt;, every night when I sleep I leave the dog &quot;alone&quot; for 8-9 hours. Obviously this is fine because the dog mostly sleeps during the night anyway and, here is my question: does a dog who wakes up in the middle of the night and realise that its human is in the house feel alone because there is no interaction between human and dog? Or is it satisfied by being able to smell and hear the human?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a second question: the answer to my first question is quite obviously something like &quot;most dogs are happy with being near a human during the night and don't need any direct interaction with the human to feel good&quot; but that might be because dogs, like humans, sleep during the night. However, I frequently take a 3-4 hour nap during the day when my dog is supposed to be awake and active. Is this &quot;cruel&quot; to the dog? The (sound) idea behind the legislation I mentioned in the beginning is that dogs need company and stimulation and, if I sleep during the day, I obviously can't provide my dog with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I can add that my dog usually sleeps on the floor next to my bed when I take my naps. It doesn't do anything the indicates it is sad, annoyed or something like that. It might look bored but that isn't really connected to me sleeping: it looks bored now when I write this question because I don't play with it or stimulate it in any other way. But that's a dog's life, I guess!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13265" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T18:48:26.037" Title="Leave a dog alone during night/daytime?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16335" CreationDate="2019-03-14T09:53:23.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In EU it is illegal to leave dogs alone for more than 5 hours. There is a reason for that. This question is really stupid. Dog's need to take a walk every 3-4 hours, even if it is just around the block for 10 minutes. Would you accept that someone locked the bathroom for ten hours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13265" LastActivityDate="2019-03-14T09:53:23.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-14T21:13:32.047" Score="2" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very sweet 3 year old male rag doll and I adore him. However last year was difficult because I lost a baby and went into a severe depression that I am still recovering from. Thankfully my roommates stepped in and have given him the attention and affection he craves and needs. I feel awful because prior to this he has been my constant companion. I work from home and he used to follow me around all day. Now he's following my roommates all day (totally understandable). He'll meow and ask for attention and I'll pick him up and snuggle him until he's ready to be let go from the embrace. How can I rebuild my relationship with him?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14531" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T10:36:45.463" Title="How can I rebuild my relationship with my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24015" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-15T00:14:13.170" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cyanobacteria problem. I am using PhosBan/Phosguard as a filter medium and it doesn't really work that well, shall I worry of getting a GFO reactor or am I good with how it is? How would GFO be different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;my setup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;30 gallons tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 cichlids about 3-4 inches long&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fluval FX6 running all the time (bottomfloor is clean)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 feeding a day, with 1 pinch of cichlids food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;air at high flow with long diffuser&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some sunlight in the morning for about 2 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some plants struggling to grow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plant lamp on a timer from 2 pm to 8 pm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;over the wall topfin filter with PhosGuard medium, changed every 2 months&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tap water with primer + seachem additives changed 1 time a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;problem is the green patches on the rocks and glass that are hard to scrub off, and it keeps spreading&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it used to have brown algae all over and little cyano here and there until i started using PhosGuard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;now brown algae is gone and it's just cyano and it spreads like a wildfire &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7834" LastEditorUserId="7834" LastEditDate="2019-03-15T20:22:14.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:48.630" Title="How is GFO reactor better than PhosBan medium in the filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23990" CreationDate="2019-03-15T07:10:51.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Trond mentioned, this is completely normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats produce saliva when really enjoying themselves, causing drooling. Others will release more liquid from their nasal cavities and eyes that their nose will drip. I've had one cat who drooled, and I now have one whose nose drips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as this doesn't cause any problems for the cat, such as sneezing or problems breathing, and the liquid is clear and without smell I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T07:10:51.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24014" CreationDate="2019-03-15T07:19:42.243" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He has developed a habit of your room mate's company, so I don't think that he will stop following them now. But you can spend more time with him. Try feeding him food yourself, playing with him, and not just for one day but continuously for a few weeks. And try to make sure that the time spent with him would be spent only between you two. No one else should interrupt either of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T07:19:42.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24014" CreationDate="2019-03-15T10:36:45.463" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should take a step back, take a deep breath and think about what your &lt;em&gt;actual&lt;/em&gt; goal is here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; your cat to only interact with you, follow you around all day and ignore anyone else in the house or do you want him to be happy and have relationships with the people around you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it feels a little like you betrayed your cat and are a little betrayed by him now because he chooses to follow another person around. But if you manage to view the situation from a neutral perspective your cat actually found new friends. He has not stopped interacting with you, so he &lt;em&gt;is still your friend&lt;/em&gt;, but now you aren't his &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow the advice given by Bella Swan and offer more interaction without forcing yourself on him. In time, you might notice that you become the best friend of your cat again, but I think it's good for him to have more than just one friend. He probably won't stop interacting with your roommates anyways, unless you force him to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I rebuild my relationship with him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think your relationship is broken in any way. It changed a little, but your cat still comes to you for affection, so he still likes you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T10:36:45.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23998" CreationDate="2019-03-15T15:29:12.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same problem and what I do that seems to work is that after the poo bags finish (I usually take 2-3),  I keep my dog closer to me by adjusting where I hold the leash from. This way I drive the dog and the dog doesn't drive me and it is more difficult for him to find a place that he wants to poo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that this way the dog doesn't feel very comfortable to defecate and continues his walk with you without trying to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T15:29:12.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23992" CreationDate="2019-03-15T15:58:23.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to the pet store and ask for some aquarium salt and ask for a liquid in a little bottle or little plastic fish called Revive. Put around a pinch of salt per 10 gallon tank and 5/10 drops for the revive. Don’t panic your baby will be fine! Good idea to cover up the pump or filter he was by give him about 10 to 14 days and you should start noticing a change in him. He will start flaring out again and if you put a mirror up and he gets defensive then he is still strong and he just needs a lot of love and remember they love lots of soft reeds and plants as they come from rice fields and they like longer not higher tanks! Good luck with your baby . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14533" LastActivityDate="2019-03-15T15:58:23.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-15T17:10:01.713" Score="4" ViewCount="898" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently my dog has picked up an unusual habit of eating small plastic 'doggy' bags that we keep in a basket by our front door, 2 days ago we found one vomited up on the floor and was a little off his food, and a few more have gone missing over the course of a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night he vomited up a small snack we gave him, but then proceeded to eat his entire dinner and a bowl of water, but kept this down overnight and today, no unusual changes in behaviour and has been his usual self. Does this warrant a trip to the vet? - we haven't been able to examine any stools as we have had heavy snow most days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G0HRy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G0HRy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T02:57:44.023" Title="Dog has eaten plastic 'doggy' bags" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24015" CreationDate="2019-03-15T19:07:56.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;GFO is a lot cheaper if you buy it in bulk which is why I would personally recommend it over other proprietary PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; absorption mediums. I also have to agree with @Manuki, can you describe what problem you're having and the tank setup including age, lighting including the schedule, stocking, and what you have for water movement? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't typically recommend jumping straight for GFO or any other PO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3-&lt;/sup&gt; removal medium for cyanobacteria because it's usually a combination of issues that are causing it, which may be evidenced by the fact that phosban isn't working for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:25:48.630" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:25:48.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23984" CreationDate="2019-03-15T19:30:14.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to the veterinarian. You need proffessional advice, guidance and treatment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T14:34:09.987" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:34:09.987" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-03-15T19:30:14.847" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2019-03-15T20:26:04.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine does!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a betta for more than four years and he died a few months ago.  He happily shared his 3.5 gallon (13 liters) habitat with some ghost shrimp and a zebra snail.  I recently replaced the betta and the new one will not leave the zebra snail alone - always flaring, swimming around him and nipping at his shell.  The snail (about 1.5 inch / 3.8 cm long) doesn't seem to care and will hopefully be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do to get the fish to leave him alone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:13:19.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:13:19.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24022" CreationDate="2019-03-16T11:58:03.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as the dog eats, drinks and defecates as normal and doesn't display a sudden change in behavior, it's no emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience I can say that indigestible bits pass the digestive tract and reemerge unchanged. But you should try to examine recent excrements to make sure they are actually passed through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more severe problem arises if the bits are too big to pass from the stomach into the intestines and remain there for a long time. They could clump together and give your dog a feeling of being full, reducing his food intake and causing vomiting. Or, even worse, they could completely block the intestines or injure the internal organs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, keep the bags out of the reach of your dog at all times. Then carefully watch for changes in behavior. If your dog eats less, has problems eliminating or throws up again, I would see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-03-16T20:39:39.087" LastActivityDate="2019-03-16T20:39:39.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-16T15:54:47.043" Score="-5" ViewCount="1333" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten was neuters a few weeks ago and ever since then as soon as I wake up in the morning he urinates on the bed. He has refused to use the bathroom correctly many times before for example if he is harassing his sister too much and I tell him or stop him cause shes meowing and running away he will always immediately urinate where he is not supposed to to let me know hes annoyed I stopped him from doing what he wanted to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example if my mother comes over for a short visit she sometimes brings her dog so I put the kittens in the bedroom for the the 30 minutes she is here this upsets him as he doesnt want to go into the bedroom so he will urinate of defecate on the bed etc during this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that he has had surgery he just urinates on the bed every morning immediately after I wake up for the first 2 weeks i tried to be sympathetic and put him in correct bathroom place and cleaned it up only to have him then defecated beside the the bathroom place every time while I clean it up. now im not nearly as sympathetic about it I have tried yelling at him spanking him nothing works I am finish some renovations on my place and then I need put it for sale I cant have it smell like cat urine when prospective buyers here. I love him very much and he is a very affectionate kitten except bathroom problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on how to get him to use bathroom correctly appreciated as the only option I have left is to take him to the spca but i doubt anyone will want to adopt cat that pisses on everything so he will probably be put down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone feels the need to say oh just pick him up and put him in the right place until he uses the bathroom correctly as a suggestion please don't i have tried that for almost 9 months it does not work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: i have stuck him on the deck outside its not ideal and hes certainly unhappy about it but i guess i can keep him out there until i sell the place the urine smell is fairly easy to clean off the deck if i take him with me for showing's hopefully someone can come up with a better solution for me to try as it bothers his sister that hes not here with her and she clearly has done nothing to deserve not being able to cuddle up with him to goto sleep; but at least this way he wont be put down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT2: I only stop him from playing with his sister on very rare occasions usually when she starts hissing at him and i dont yell at him i simply pick him up a couple times when he gets close to her and he gets the message which is always followed by him immediately pissing or defacting somewhere he is not supposed to within minutes and before this incident it was the only time he wouldn't use the bathroom correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-03-17T21:44:58.247" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T21:44:58.247" Title="Kitten will not stop urinating on bed after surgery" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2019-03-17T11:31:55.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6984" CreationDate="2019-03-16T23:57:18.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two walks are too little and leaving it for 9 hours is too long. You could half the long walks and then complement them with two short, 10 minutes or so, walks, during the day. Would you be satisfied with just two visits to the toilet/day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't leave the dog alone for more than 4-5 hours a time. You need to find someone who visits the dog in the middle of the day for half an hour or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13265" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T05:44:43.660" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T05:44:43.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24022" CreationDate="2019-03-17T02:57:44.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are right to be concerned. Just yesterday, I saw a pup at the dog park shredding one of these bags. The bags I use are supposed to be biodegradable, but I image that isn't supposed to mean &quot;internally&quot;.  That said, keep things like this out of your dogs reach, and remove anything the dog gets into before there's any chance of harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, provide a variety of dog-safe toys, bones, and such to entertain you dog and keep him out of mischief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T02:57:44.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24028" CreationDate="2019-03-17T10:21:24.507" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should let a vet examine him again, if possible another vet than did the surgery. If the urinating problem started right after surgery, it could be that his urinary tract or bladder was injured during it. What you interpret as him being stubborn and pissed off might actually be his cry for help because he's in constant pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the long term you should think about searching for a new home for him. You write that he is very affectionate and you love him, but the wording of your post makes me doubt. If you really love him, you won't dump him in a shelter, but find a new family for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem might be that he's living with his sister. Male cats tend to be more solitary, while female cats can live in groups as well as solitary. You can read more about it in this related question:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21052/12501&quot;&gt;Why does one of my cats attack his siblings?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your male cat feels like your female (or the dog) is invading &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; territory, he might feel like marking his territory with urine or feces. The renovations you did might be another factor. New paint, wallpapers or carpet all permeat the room with new smells. He might want to bring &quot;his&quot; scent back into &quot;his&quot; home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T10:21:24.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24012" CreationDate="2019-03-17T18:48:26.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs, just like humans and other social animals, need a sound balance between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Social interaction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mental and physical stimulation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At night the dog is obviously resting and sleeping. Dogs get used to schedules, so even if it wakes up, chances are high that it doesn't even expect you to interact with it because it's still time to sleep. Having you scent around also helps to relax the dog and reassure it of your presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going on a walk, playing games or doing any kind of training is mental and physical stimulation. On walks the dog sniffs around, during play and training it either learns or remembers the rules, reads your body language and reacts to the clues you give. It moves around and burns the excess energy that it has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Social interaction are things like cuddling or following you around, watching you eat (you know, training as a Jedi to teleport the food into their mouth &lt;em&gt;someday&lt;/em&gt;) or interacting with other pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The right balance between those 3 depends on the dog, its age, breed and intelligence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything that does not involve interaction with someone can be categorized as rest. That includes all the times you are not present, sleep or otherwise ignore the dog (for example watching TV or working on the computer). As soon as the dog has all the rest it needs, &lt;strong&gt;the additional time is boredom&lt;/strong&gt;. The dog would like to do &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;, but nothing presents itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the reason why many dogs develop problematic behavior if left alone for too long or not being mentally stimulated. They are bored, so they do whatever presents itself, including barking at everything, chewing everything, digging up the yard or garden or chasing their own shadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you would interact, play and walk with your dog all day long without a break, you give it too much stimulation and too little rest. Dogs like that can actually have burn out (mostly happens to service dogs or herding dogs). Usually a dog shows you when it had enough and needs a rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum it up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does a dog who wakes up in the middle of the night [...] feel alone because there is no interaction between human and dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably no, because night time is sleeping time. A wild dog or wolf wouldn't wake its pack to have small talk in the middle of the night, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this &quot;cruel&quot; to the dog to take a 3-4 hour nap during the day when my dog is supposed to be awake and active?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you balance this time of rest with the proper amount of social interaction and mental and physical stimulation, it's not cruel at all. Dogs are not machines that start up in the morning and power down in the evening. They do need short rests during the day as well. However, if you don't provide enough stimulation during the day, it is cruel indeed, regardless of whether you take a nap, are not at home or ignore your dog for any other reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-03-17T18:48:26.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-17T20:58:52.870" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Friends, it is kind of complicated to describe the exact problem as a person that his main language is not English, but I'm trying my best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have got an 8 years old male bulldog, recently I realized some bumps in his back, first of all, I thought that could be a &lt;code&gt;Tick&lt;/code&gt;, but I did not find anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KSc8a.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KSc8a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uoTFa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uoTFa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is like, on each bump, at end of hairs is stuck together like a scab, I asked his vet about them. Unfortunately, he was not sure about the main problem and he guessed this problem may be related to the liver.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2kRWQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2kRWQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DRQpD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DRQpD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog used to eat boiled chicken (sometimes with the skeleton), but during the last 60 days, I've changed his diet to dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone faced such this problem before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14543" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T03:43:10.103" Title="Bulldog skin problem" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-17T21:15:48.453" Score="4" ViewCount="2064" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet ball python (I’d had him for about 3 months now) was fine last night. I got him from a reptile expo back in December from a breeder. I cleaned his cage with vinegar and water solution and put him back in his cage along with a branch from an evergreen tree I’d found that I thought he may want to climb on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember having read back in December that those branches could be harmful, but I figured since there was no scent on it anymore, he would be fine. I woke up this morning and he was dead, and I have no idea why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humidity levels were fine, temperature was fine and he’d just eaten on Wednesday. He used to be uninterested in feeding until I fed him live for the first time last week. I’m so afraid that I killed him but I did so much research and he seemed so healthy last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I loved him very much so any advice on what may have happened would be greatly appreciated, thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14544" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:33:52.163" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T22:33:52.163" Title="Snake died suddenly. I have no idea what happened" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24037" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-18T00:32:12.037" Score="5" ViewCount="4703" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had a pet beetle larvae pass away, leaving me with an empty tank. Seeing the empty tank just sitting there makes me pretty sad, so I was wondering if it was a good size for anything else. It's a Imagitarium Pet Keeper for Aquarium Fish, Medium. Using the dimensions, I figure it holds a bit less than 3 gallons of water since the dimensions include the legs and the lid. Is there anything (fish or otherwise- seeing as I had a beetle, I'm good with insects and arachnids) that could live comfortably in a tank this size? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14545" LastActivityDate="2020-11-30T14:11:49.400" Title="What animal can be kept in a tank just under 3 gallons?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;arachnids&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24035" CreationDate="2019-03-18T03:43:10.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like caked on mud to me. Dogs run and play, sometimes kicking up dirt along the way. A fleck here and there can go unnoticed until you are petting them later. Once it's dried it would act just like a scab, as the hair grows it would also pull the dried mud off the skin with hairs trapped in the mess. Give the pup a good scrubdown, blow dry, spa day. And make notes if the problem repeats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. Your dog can consume and process raw chicken bones without an issue (because the bones are soft and digestible). But you should always avoid any kind of cooked bones. They often break and sharp pieces chip off, leading to serious intestinal issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T03:43:10.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-18T06:44:40.263" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 13 weeks old hybrid puppy. It's a mix between a black Labrador, Golden retriever and Australian Shepard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is very happy to meet other dogs and gets along with most of them. The problem is that she barks a lot and constantly in different situations. Mostly when...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... approaching the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... the other dog ignores her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... the other dog frightened her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that we don't know how to react to this behaviour. We are not sure whether to try to get here focus on us, scold or ignore her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think is the best approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14546" LastEditorUserId="14546" LastEditDate="2019-03-18T10:32:51.687" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T11:14:02.240" Title="Puppy barks at other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-03-21T08:19:02.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="875" CreationDate="2019-03-18T08:47:29.233" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be able to use electric clippers; I've partially shaved 4 cats. All who got their first clip as adults. Clippers work best on mats that cover an extended area such as the whole way up a leg. It is still possible to damage the cat's skin with clippers. Take care doing the top front of the leg. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bV94a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;torbie bobtail with green arrows&quot;&gt; my cat is not playing ball but I've tried to point where. There's a thin fold of skin that &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; fit between the teeth and easily be cut. I've also grazed a cat using clippers but I'm not 100% sure how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will almost certainly need a friend to hold the cat so you can access &amp;amp; see the mats. I recommend you do it in the bathroom, sat on the floor, as they are a small space and with the cupboards closed are lacking in hiding spaces.&#xA;The easiest one to clip was the semi feral medium coat. Matted chest/ belly, armpits and back of leg. Under the circumstances I had to do it alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1&lt;/em&gt; get everything you need in the room first. Comb, clippers, extension cord. &lt;em&gt;If you are using a power point outside the room make sure it is turned on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2&lt;/em&gt; remove a mat and then let the cat go or pat/stroke them for a bit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;3&lt;/em&gt; if the cat really is not happy get a professional to do it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;4 don't use clippers on a cat's head&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once I had the first few mats off Kasie was willing to lie on my legs.&#xA;The most difficult cat to clip was my friends Maine Coon cross who is super cuddly but complains and twists every time I try to scissor him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to brush/comb your cat  daily after you have removed the mats to prevent new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11273" LastEditorUserId="11273" LastEditDate="2019-03-20T00:50:41.403" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T00:50:41.403" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-18T11:01:07.150" Score="3" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goldfish was showing signs of illness, then started shredding its tail and losing its colour - I did a complete water change and cleaned the filter and tank/gravel. I purchased some Tri-Sulfa tablets. Once I added these into the tank, the fish sunk to the bottom and displayed very little movement - after 20 minutes it did two large, thick poos. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14547" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T22:10:16.557" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T22:10:16.557" Title="Goldfish behaviour after medication" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24039" CreationDate="2019-03-18T11:14:02.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs bark for a lot of reasons.For example, she may bark at other dogs or people to get their attention. If it's low pitched, short woofs, with lots of breaks, she's just being playful.  But if the bark is loud, high pitched along with growling, she might be angry, or trying to frighten the fellow dogs/people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's pretty normal for dogs to bark when meeting new people and other dogs. But if you want to stop her from doing so, you can scold her, so she knows it's a behavior that makes you angry and is not to be continued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T11:14:02.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24037" CreationDate="2019-03-18T14:24:51.603" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a 3 gallon tank you can't keep much in the way of fish.  Some people accept the idea of keeping a single betta in such small space, and while they can survive in extremely limited space, it is not particularly healthy or ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I remove my recommendation to possibly house tiny schooling fish, because there is not room for a large enough school for their comfort/happiness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could add a filter to your tank to keep tiny invertebrates like snails or shrimp (ghost or cherry are pretty good options).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a long (rather than high) tank, you might be able to do a millipede or some kind of insect, but I really think I would personally choose either snails or shrimp if I HAD to keep a pet in such limited space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another options is to grow some aquatic plants in the tank.  It's really hard to keep any living thing happy and healthy and not-stressed in such limited space, and it's easy for something to go quickly and fatally wrong with water quality or temperature when you're talking about such a small volume of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I had another thought-- some people like to keep marimo in a small tank as a 'pet'. (a moss ball-- it's actually a plant/algae colony, not an animal, but some people consider them lucky and cute, and they require a little more care and special handling than a basic houseplant.) &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastEditorUserId="12600" LastEditDate="2019-03-19T13:01:53.210" LastActivityDate="2019-03-19T13:01:53.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24042" CreationDate="2019-03-18T14:39:40.800" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Treat the fish for Ammonia poisoning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's been any length of time since you took all the gravel, filter, water out and replaced them, you need to do two things: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the ammonia levels in your tank &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Treat the tank if the ammonia levels are high&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What's happened?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By washing your filter and gravel in hot water, the chances are you've killed all of the beneficial bacteria that live in the substrate (gravel) and the filter (in the sponges / filter media) which means that there is nothing left to convert ammonia into nitrite and nitrate. You'll probably want to learn about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMgppmFyoE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;the nitrogen cycle&lt;/a&gt; here (video).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fish may have been suffering from ammonia poisoning to start with. Remember that any amount of ammonia in the water is potentially lethal to fish. You should avoid doing 100% water changes because it is normally not necessary and if the parameters of the water has changed at all then your fish will have to adapt to it very quickly which can be stressful. There's a lot of debate about how much water you should change but normally it is somewhere between 20 - 40% per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What now?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your water parameters with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/API-Aquarium-Freshwater-Master-800-Piece/dp/B000255NCI/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;test kit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider changing your maintenance routine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add some 'quick start' aquarium products to boost the beneficial bacteria levels in the tank. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be very careful removing all the gravel or filter material because these contain the bacteria which is the life blood of the aquarium.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T14:39:40.800" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24037" CreationDate="2019-03-18T16:18:04.657" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No fish should be in a 3 gallons aquarium. Please at all cost, do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; put a betta in there. Neons, guppies and other fishes that have been (suprisingly) suggested in other answers can not live in 3 gallons either. Even 5 gallons is too small for fishes, 10 gallons would be the minimum for a betta to have a decent quality of life. If you put fishes in this they will be sad, lethargic and vulnerable to stress (feeling unsafe) or diseases, and the water quality will be hard to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neon tetras&lt;/em&gt; for example should be at minimum 6 to be happy since they are social and need schooling to feel safe. They will not school if they're 2 or 3. &lt;em&gt;Bettas&lt;/em&gt; are not made to live in a small glass despite what the petshop says. I had also &lt;em&gt;african dwarf frogs&lt;/em&gt; before and they should not be in such a small bowl if you want them to live long and happily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explanation: Fishes and frogs need to swim, they need to extend their legs (for frogs), to use their full power of swimming and actually use their muscles, reaching an appreciable speed, otherwise they will become weak and ill. Same as the orcas that are kept in captivity and suffer degradation of muscles and lungs because they cannot swim as much as they should. And I don't even talk about how boring it would be for them in such a small place. They are curious and interested, they are not decorations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you CAN put: snails or shrimps would be happy in there with a big bunch of java moss or something. It should still be equipped with a filter, or the water should be changed frequently if without.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also consider other uses: fill it with dirt for a flowering house-plant. (an aquatic plant could work too). I don't have experience with insects but maybe you could do a cool setup for ants (requires a lid) or land snails. &#xA;You could keep leeches or worms of some kind also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails like ramshorn or MTS, shrimps like neocaridina, earthworms and etc can all make a sustainable reproducing colony which can be a very interesting project. Such small creatures are better suited for a small bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that a smaller aquarium requires more care and attention to maintain the quality of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-03-18T16:30:27.750" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T16:30:27.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24037" CreationDate="2019-03-18T17:49:43.620" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very hard to get a small tank to be in biological balance and to keep the water quality good, so I suggest you use this tank only for treating your fish with medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be helpful if you have to treat your fish from a larger tank because using medication in a larger tank will destroy the biological balance and create problems for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Manuki does mention using the small tank as a quarantine tank when you get new fish. If you are going to use it for this, you need to cycle the tank before you buy the new fish (you can use water from the larger tank to shorten the time this takes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good size for you to begin with is a 60 liters tank, but remember every new tank needs to be properly cycled before you can add any fish. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Please take a look here for how this is done&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, even a 60 liters tank will be too small if you want to have more than a handful of small fish of different types. To see the maximum number of fish you can have in a tank, please have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howmanyfish.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a look here&lt;/a&gt;; this is the maximum number of fish you can safely have in a well maintained tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-30T14:11:49.400" LastActivityDate="2020-11-30T14:11:49.400" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24036" CreationDate="2019-03-18T19:56:40.950" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry to hear about your snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that the evergreen branch still posed a threat. I work as a reptile keeper in a zoo, and we as a rule will not use any evergreen regardless of its age. It's also possible that the branch had been contaminated by chemicals, especially if it came from a farm area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities: Lack of adequate temperature gradient (ball pythons can be quite sensitive in my experience), impaction from substrate ingestion, difficulties shedding, food poisoning or illness. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As I'm sure you are aware, another possibility is that your python simply had a genetic defect which you could not have known about. These are sadly quite common in mass bred snakes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are able to, your best option is to ask a vet to perform a necropsy for a small fee. You aren't guaranteed an answer, but you will be able to conclusively rule out several possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14550" LastActivityDate="2019-03-18T19:56:40.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24054" CreationDate="2019-03-18T23:14:41.540" Score="4" ViewCount="865" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've finally figured out my betta must have a swim bladder issue. Luckily, he's floating at the top of his tank, so I don't have to worry about him struggling to get air. However, I'm struggling to figure out how to cure him. I've heard that this issue doesn't mean they are in pain, but I feel really bad for him (he just sadly floats on the edge of the tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I've tried so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's a bacterial infection or disease. I read if they still show interest in food, that can rule that issue out. He's still ravenous for food and will eat whatever I give him. Plus, he's still colorful and I don't see any external signs of damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been cutting back on his food (2-3 pellets a day), and have intermittently fasted him, too, in case it's bloating or constipation. He doesn't seem to produce regular bowel moments, that I can tell, but it's been like that his whole life. I have a black sand bottom and rarely see his waste, but I've had him for nearly a year now with no issues. Fasting hasn't seemed to help, he's just mad when he doesn't get fed. I've tried feeding him different brands of pellets and blood worms, but he doesn't want to eat anything but what I've always fed him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What else can I try to help my betta?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I've read about feeding him a pea, aquarium salt, other medications... but these always make me nervous because I hear both good and bad things (like easy to overdose/injure the fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank parameters&lt;/strong&gt;: 5ish gal, filtered, heated, 3 live plants, treated water with stresscoat +, 50-75% water changes every-other week (amount of water changed depends on algae levels and waste). Ammonia, pH, etc levels are checked regularly. Ammonia used to be high for a while a few months ago, but it's been better for about a month or so now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-03-19T18:44:24.500" Title="Alternatives for helping/treating swim bladder issue in betta" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24060" CreationDate="2019-03-19T12:33:31.127" Score="6" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who she is&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I will start off with who my dog is. She is a Golden Doodle of 9 weeks old so still very much a puppy. We have had her for about 3 days so I understand that a lot of training will take time but I mostly just want to make sure I am doing things correctly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of last night she has just gotten over crying for long periods of time at night and now will wimper for about 5 minutes then fall to sleep which is great! Right now we can't take her for walks until the weekend to get her vaccines because we don't want to risk her interacting with another dog and having health problems. We have started this week going to work to which we crate her. She gets our time in the morning, she is in her crate for 4 hours, a dog walker comes over for half an hour, and then 4 hours more in the crate. I mention all of this as this shows her energy level somewhat. I also hate XY questions so figured I would just give all of the information I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem we are trying to solve&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So naturally she is a puppy and wants to play play play which I know is normal. We will sit down with her and play quite often but she will start to nip and us which I understand is because she is playing but of course it hurts and we want to curb that behavior. From reading I have tried this method:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Redirection: Putting a toy in her mouth. This is usually effective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignoring: If she redirection doesn't hurt or she starts to bite something that isn't hers like the rug, couch, etc then we say no then ignore her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time out: If the first two methods don't work then we close her off in our kitchen that has two pocket doors for about 2 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So probably about 50% of the time this will work but I do get confused on a couple situations that occur..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When we leave the room and come back, of course all she wants to do is play so she starts nipping at our legs. Now when that happens we try to stop movement and ignore her but of course it hurts! So we usually pull her away. I can understand where this may be interpreted as playing so not really sure what a better method is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We do try to be super positive with her when she does stuff right.. If she is playing alone, playing with toys and not household things, we will say &quot;good girl&quot; in a positive tone, pet her, to let her know its a good thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apologize for this getting so long but I wanted to make sure any experts on here had all the information and aren't left to assume anything. She will be very sweet at times and cuddle up in our lap and realize it takes time with a puppy, but I just want to make sure we are handling her correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T14:42:58.213" Title="Attempts at stopping nipping - puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24052" CreationDate="2019-03-19T17:36:35.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have special knowledge about swim bladder issues beside what you and I can google. There are a few different possible causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all it's great that your betta is still eating, colorful and in good shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the issue is caused by &lt;strong&gt;overfeeding or constipation&lt;/strong&gt;, fasting (1-3 days) would clear it. A common laxative is a frozen pea that you boil a little bit and remove the skin. Dry foods should be soaked in water before feeding, because they can expand in the fishes stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One tablespoon of aquarium salt in your tank of 5 gallons (only one time) wouldn't hurt, it might help him get through it. Similarly you could try to raise the temperature by a few degrees for a few days. (not more than 81 Farenheit) These two measures &lt;em&gt;together&lt;/em&gt; often help a fish go through &lt;strong&gt;a disease or an infection&lt;/strong&gt;, which could indeed be the cause of the problem, and they are a lot more safe and simple than most medication. These 2 are used to treat many many aquarium problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aq. salt is very safe, just don't oversalt. Salt goes out with water-changes only, when you replace it with not-salted water. As an example I'm currently treating neons that have Ich with a bit more than 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon of water. I keep the same level of salting through water changes since more than a week now. I've seen recommendations up to 3 teaspoons per gallon. Just to give you an idea of what kind of quantities are possible. 1 spoon (tea or table) per 5 gallons is a common recommendation for many different things.. Different fishkeepers like different numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally &lt;strong&gt;water quality&lt;/strong&gt; is always important in all aquarium matters. I would recommend you to do smaller water changes but more often: once in two weeks seems very long, a lot of waste can accumulate in 2 weeks and a lot of oxygen can go out. And 75% is too much change, which can shock or stress fishes. Better 25%-35% every week. Lack of oxygen would also make the fish stay near the top of the water. You mentionned testing your ammonia &amp;amp; co. so I assume you know about the nitrogen cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, bettas prefer very slow-moving water, they cannot keep up with big current all day long. &lt;strong&gt;Exhaustion&lt;/strong&gt; (and being carried by the current) could lead to problems in the betta's swimming, including being stuck at the top or at the bottom. The water still needs circulation and filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Old age&lt;/strong&gt; is also often the source of such problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An injury&lt;/strong&gt; (maybe from using a net) &lt;strong&gt;or birth defect&lt;/strong&gt; are also mentionned online as possible causes for swim bladder issues. I read that a betta can still live a happy life, living with a swim-bladder disorder, they just need love and care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.itsafishthing.com/betta-fish-swim-bladder-disease/#how-can-you-care-for-a-betta-with-chronic-sbd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.itsafishthing.com/betta-fish-swim-bladder-disease/#how-can-you-care-for-a-betta-with-chronic-sbd&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I gave you some clues and I wish the best to your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-03-19T18:44:24.500" LastActivityDate="2019-03-19T18:44:24.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24036" CreationDate="2019-03-19T18:31:56.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, sorry about your snake. I tend to agree with Chameleonbones, but I'm going to expand a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the most likely cause was evergreen branch, though I am surprised it happened so quickly. That seems to be the biggest change/unknown and the timing is a little much to be just coincidence (though of course there could still be unknowns like genetic defects, food poisoning, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You said &quot;evergreen&quot; and though this could be a several different types of trees, one of the most common types is Pine. Pine and Cedar (and probably others that are closely related) have oils that can be very toxic to snakes and should &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; be used in the enclosure. Even if you were to use Pine to build a tank, you would need to seal/paint the wood to ensure the animal could not come into contact with these oils. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the potential risk is so high, I would recommend never using any type of evergreen anything in a reptile enclosure. If you want to provide your snake some things to climb on, please either purchase branches/decorations from a proper vendor, or buy some PVC and make your own. I know paying $15+ for a stick can seem ridiculous, but introducing so many unknowns and possible dangers to your pet just isn't worth it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastActivityDate="2019-03-19T18:31:56.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24053" CreationDate="2019-03-20T03:05:27.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies are mouthy and, similar to human babies, both go through issues while they are teething. Here are some tried and tested methods that have served me over years of new pups in the house:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can avoid nipping by spreading a tablespoon or two of peanut&#xA;butter on the palm of your hand. (Seriously. A little gross but it&#xA;will work.) The idea is that you offer your hand to the pup and&#xA;while he is licking all of the peanut butter off, praise him and&#xA;thank him for the kisses. He may spend the rest of his life&#xA;wondering where the peanut butter is, but he shouldn't bite your hand or&#xA;fingers any more.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take a couple washcloths, soak them, twist them to wring out excess&#xA;water and toss them in the freezer. When the pup is trying to chew&#xA;on inappropriate things, trade the first item for one of the frozen&#xA;tug toys. The cold will soothe their gums. (Accept that these&#xA;washcloths will come back with holes ripped in them.) Rinse and&#xA;repeat as they are used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also get some (beef) neck bones from your grocer's meat&#xA;department (they sell for about a dollar a pound where I live).&#xA;Spread them out on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Then store them&#xA;in a zipped freezer bag. Give your pup a frozen bone from time to&#xA;time. Again, the cold soothes his teething pains. He gets to&#xA;actively chew something that is 100% edible and won't hurt him. And&#xA;the bones in the meat help to clean and strengthen his teeth.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;[warning: pick up the bones when he's done... it really hurts to step on them!]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most of all, do not put your hands in his mouth. We do this all the&#xA;time with puppies, because they tend to play this way and we want to&#xA;play with them. Unfortunately it only reinforces biting in the&#xA;future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congrats on the little one. Lots of praise. Lots of patience. And you will end up with a terrific dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T03:05:27.807" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24053" CreationDate="2019-03-20T06:01:20.837" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to elbrants answer, you should make your puppy understand that nipping hurts and that you won't play with her if she hurts you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs vocalise pain in a high pitched, short yelp. You could simply say &quot;Ouch!&quot; in a high pitch to emulate a dogs vocalization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make nipping unattractive for her by stopping whatever you did with her in addition to saying &quot;ouch&quot;. If she nips while playing or being pet, push her slightly away from you and stop playing or petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way she understands the connection between nipping, you being in pain and something negative happening (you stop playing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T06:01:20.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24053" CreationDate="2019-03-20T14:42:58.213" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very appreciative for the support in the other answers but wanted to share specifically what I did that seems to be working so that others in the future may learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized a couple days ago that our method was unintentionally reinforcing bad behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here is our mistake:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puppy would nip at pants / legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We would try to substitute with a toy or ignore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignoring usually resulted in continued biting to try and get us to come down and play with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason this was failing is because we gave her a toy and played with her, in her mind, so it enforced that biting legs gets that result. Instead what I tried yesterday was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puppy would nip at pants / legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would slowly walk away so that I was in her vision but then look away with my head up (body language for dogs that says I am not interested). Slow is key. If too fast she thinks its playing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She would come over and have a little melt down (barking / whining)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She would go do something else like play with a toy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After a little bit of her playing for a bit I would reward her by playing with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my biggest learning was that in her mind me playing with her is one of the top rewards, much higher than pets or &quot;good girl&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeating this has yielded great success. I think she was getting frustrated, as were we, when we were just saying no to everything. The key difference in the ignore was walking away too.  This method has eliminated almost all nips at the legs with an occasional one today so we are continuing it and will have to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2019-03-20T14:42:58.213" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24062" CreationDate="2019-03-20T23:22:39.773" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;To sum it up succinctly, I have three cats and when I come home, I notice my house smells of cat urine. I could probably eliminate the odour if I could just figure out where it is emanating from specifically. Apparently, one (and I have a pretty good idea which one it is) of my cats is choosing to pee in some secret spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on how I might find where that spot or spots are at? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's kind of hard, because the whole living/dining/kitchen area just sort of reeks of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8748" LastActivityDate="2019-03-21T07:42:39.867" Title="How can I find my cats' secret peeing spot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24061" CreationDate="2019-03-21T07:42:39.867" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat urine glows under UV light, so you can find the exact spot with a UV flashlight shining at a wave length of 365-385 nm (that's the scientific specification of &lt;em&gt;how ultra violet&lt;/em&gt; the light exactly is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A lower rating won’t be strong enough to light up the cat urine, and a higher rating is too similar to natural light to have an effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You can find these lights online or at a local home improvement store.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You can also find UV lights with fluorescent bulbs. As long as it’s rated between 365-385 nm, this will work as well, although the LED lights tend to be stronger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wait until it's completely dark outside, then turn off any lights in the room but the UV light. The glow is too weak to be seen when other light sources illuminate the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that there are many other substanced that glow unter UV light. Urine glows yellow or neon green and you still have to smell the stain to be sure it's urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See detailed instructions and more information in this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Find-Cat-Urine-With-a-UV-Light&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;WikiHow article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-03-21T07:42:39.867" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24064" CreationDate="2019-03-21T12:16:44.927" Score="12" ViewCount="1013" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a few suggestions in answers to other questions about it. But when I look I can never find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have multiple cats in my home, how many litter boxes should I have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-04-19T05:15:03.797" Title="In a multiple cat home, how many litter boxes should you have?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24063" CreationDate="2019-03-21T12:54:49.067" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rule of thumb is n + 1 litter boxes for &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; cats where &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; is greater than 1, this ensures a plentiful supply of this particular resource - with cats behaving more as individuals than a co-operative unit (such as a pack) they are more likely to accept sharing territory with another cat if there is no competition for key resources (toilet area, food, water etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's by no means a hard and fast rule - my two get on just fine with two boxes between them but particularly during the introduction phase ensuring no or minimal resource competition is highly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="10828" LastEditDate="2019-04-19T05:15:03.797" LastActivityDate="2019-04-19T05:15:03.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24063" CreationDate="2019-03-21T19:42:27.177" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The popular answer is &quot;One box per cat, plus one extra&quot;, but I think it's a bit more complex (or a bit more flexible, depending on how you look at it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may need more than &quot;cats + 1&quot; boxes if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You live in a very large house.  You want using a box to always be an&#xA;attractive option, and if your cats can't bear to share a box, and&#xA;one cat's personal toilet is in the basement and he's on the top&#xA;floor and feeling lazy, well...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You live in a very &lt;strong&gt;small&lt;/strong&gt; space and your cats feel crowded and territorial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cats don't get along well, or are 'resource guarders'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have an older, UTI-prone, or medically compromised cat that can't 'hold it' well &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cats are prone to stress or territorial marking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't want to clean very often (less than once a day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your various cats have different litter or box-style preferences/needs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can probably get away with less than &quot;cats + 1&quot; boxes if your cats are happy to share, get along well, don't resource guard, are in a smaller-but-also-not-too-cramped space, and you clean the boxes frequently (daily or more often).  If you prefer to use very large boxes, that could also possibly reduce the number needed, as long as your cats don't mind sharing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always used 2 boxes for my two cats with good success, and they can share one box for short periods without seeming stressed, but pushing the limits too much can cause elimination issues that are much, much harder to fix than they are to prevent, so I stick with two even though odds are one box would be 'good enough' for my cats as long as I cleaned frequently enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-03-21T19:42:27.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23517" CreationDate="2019-03-22T12:04:47.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's safe in a controlled environment; when you use medication in your aquarium you need to control the parameters and use these methods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change 40 % of the tank's water volume, once a week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put activated carbon in the filter to remove the surplus medication from the water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BUT FIRST&lt;/strong&gt; try to not use medication; look for alternative methods, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Termoteraphy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aloe vera&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alimentation change (green peas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9711" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:33:39.760" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:33:39.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-23T02:51:18.610" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought two neon tetras today and added them into the fish tank with all the needed procedures. One hour I see both tetras and I come back to only find one. I've moved around every arrangement and haven't found it. What happened?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14568" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:03:56.990" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:03:56.990" Title="Neon tetra went missing?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-23T18:57:58.173" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog got her microchip implanted in Korea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we moved back to the US, I was told by a vet that I have to do the registering myself online. So I did. I used petlink.net, but it seems like they require payment to complete it. So the first question is: do I need to make payment to complete it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found a different free registry site: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.freepetchipregistry.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.freepetchipregistry.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the name of the service suggests, I registered for free, however, because I'm using a free service, I'm afraid it might somehow be lacking in one way or another compared to premium services. Would that be the case? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to register the chip in multiple services to improve my chance of finding her when lost? What's the process like? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, my question revolves around what the process is like when my dog is found, and what I can do to improve my chance of recovering her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much all you wonderful souls for answering my questions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8683" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T01:59:10.053" Title="Microchip Registry questions" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-03-25T12:19:31.340" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24072" CreationDate="2019-03-25T01:59:10.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Register your pets microchip number with your local Animal Control office. Police, Sheriff, and Animal Control vehicles are routinely supplied with chip scanners. In the event that your dog gets out and they find them, they will be able to scan your dogs chip and return him/her to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the U.S., you need to provide a record of your dog's Rabies vacination and pay for the County tags (anyway). It won't cost anything extra to give them the microchip data. After all, they are the one's most likely to come across your dog if it should get out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T01:59:10.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-25T13:03:26.810" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Critical ages for puppies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So after reading many sites, it seems that at the 8-16 week period for a puppy, it is ideal to enroll them into training classes and socialize them, however; vaccination for Parvo starts at 8 weeks and isn't completed until they reach around  16 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would think that most of the puppies enrolled would not have completed their vaccination period? Would it be better to enroll and have them socialize or to keep them safe and not risk Parvo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also FYI our puppy is 10 weeks old right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T13:28:05.957" Title="Training or Protection?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24077" CreationDate="2019-03-25T13:28:05.957" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/comments/5izmh2/help_how_do_i_socialize_an_unvaccinated_puppy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/comments/5izmh2/help_how_do_i_socialize_an_unvaccinated_puppy/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a decent number of Reddit posters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are special puppy classes for those who have had the first round of vaccines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These puppies would be deemed safe as they are not showing Parvo symptoms (lethargic, diarrhea, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are classes for next round of shots, and so forth. We will be looking for local classes that meet the above requirement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T13:28:05.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24096" CreationDate="2019-03-25T14:55:19.767" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone know some plant salt resistant for this type of tank? I need a some reference cause this tank have a bit percentage of salinity in the wate, is lower percentatge but this can harm the plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What plants can i use here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9711" LastActivityDate="2019-03-27T02:38:15.030" Title="Plants for a brackish water tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-25T15:37:07.383" Score="3" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course I'm not talking about an equal mixture of water and Dettol, just a cap full into the bucket. That's how I do it with my dogs and they've never had a problem. Speaking of dogs, I don't have bird shampoo. Can I use my dog shampoo on my cockatoo? The reason why I want to use Dettol is because I suspect my cockatoo has mites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14476" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T13:48:05.643" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T13:48:05.643" Title="Can I bathe my cockatoo with Dettol solution?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-25T16:50:28.903" Score="4" ViewCount="373" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 20 year old male Siamese has stopped grooming himself and has developed numerous hair mats.   He will not allow me to tease them out and is not inclined to put up with anyone grooming him. He does not appear to be affected by the hair mats and does not pull at them.  He is strictly indoors and not at risk for fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some have recommended getting him a lion cut and then getting him acclimated to regular grooming.  Some others say this is a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has impaired kidney function, arthritis in his elbows, and some neurological difficulties.   I'm concerned about having him sedated for grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will appreciate any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14578" LastActivityDate="2019-03-26T13:28:40.740" Title="Hair Mats in 20 year old cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23955" CreationDate="2019-03-25T19:08:05.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The success of this method may rely on you particular cat's age and temperament, but it may be worth trying my preferred method:  train your cat to willingly drink from a syringe.  I stumbled across this idea when I needed to medicate just one of two kittens, and the other one seemed curious about trying to drink from the syringe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by dipping an otherwise empty syringe in something smelly/delicious that your cat likes. I use the liquid from a tuna can (a lot of tuna isn't particularly good for cats, but it is safe to give in small amounts as a 'high value' treat), you could also use the &quot;juice&quot; from a can of with-gravy-style cat food if you and your cat prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let your cat approach at his own pace, and if he sniffs or licks the syringe, give praise and an additional small treat.  Then try getting him to let you put a drop of the treat-substance into his mouth.  Work up to putting an amount of treat-substance close to a medicine-dose amount into his mouth. The next step is (if you cat doesn't currently need any liquid meds) for him to drink plain water from the syringe, followed by praise and a treat.  If your cat does need meds when you get to this point, you should skip the water and go on to giving medicine at this point.  When you are done the course of medication, it's a good idea to periodically reinforce the trained behavior with tuna water, or plain water and then a treat, so they remember what the syringe thing is all about.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my cat does need meds, I draw up the proper amount in the syringe, and then draw in a bit of the tuna water after, so it's the first thing they taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find it helpful to designate a specific place and time to take medicine so it becomes a normal part of your cat's routine.  Once it becomes a normal thing that happens on a predictable cadence, it will be less stressful for your cat, and you may even find him already standing in the designated area when medication time comes, much as he would at mealtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-03-25T19:08:05.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-26T04:39:41.890" Score="4" ViewCount="2403" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed my cat Azula is hissing at her sister Divina a lot more than usual lately. Of course, cats play with each other and sometimes hiss but they are twin sisters, they've never been separated from each other in the 4 years they've been alive, they've never had problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got them from a woman on Facebook in Cali about 9 months ago. The lady that I got my cats from had said she was giving them away because she's always traveling for months, so she wanted to give them to someone that could give them more time and affection. I got them and moved away from Cali to Washington about 2 months after that, the traveling was perfect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last 6-7 months they've been fine, playing with each other just being kitties. I'd say I'm closer with Azula, she's always laying on me or is on my back, sleeping under my covers, looking at me while meowing and I meow back like it's a conversation that goes on for a while. Divina is also a very verbal cat, loves to bet pet and meowed at but isn't all over me like Azula is (like sleeping under my covers.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of nowhere, Azula has started being rude to her sister and hissing every single time she's close to her. I'm usually home, but I got out with friends and come home at night. I also stay at my boyfriend's place for a week sometimes, usually only 4 days, out of every 2 to 3 weeks, but I don't think that is what's wrong, because when I am gone, which has never been longer than a week or so, my friends and family check up on them in my room, feed them and play with them a lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When Azula hisses at Divina now I tell her in a stern voice &quot;No don't be mean to her.&quot; not yelling, but it makes me worried because I don't want Azula to hurt her. After Azula is rude to Divina I give Azula her space and comfort Divina because I feel she feels that she's getting neglected by her sister. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you help me find out what is going on between my cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14579" LastEditorUserId="10096" LastEditDate="2019-03-28T12:24:43.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:34:12.413" Title="My cat has been hissing at her sister after 4 years of being with each other" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23636" CreationDate="2019-03-26T08:09:33.673" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shrimp and fish is not a really good idea. The explanation is simple, the problem is the &quot;zoeas&quot; (baby shrimp). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All small fish, like tetra neon, etc. can eat them so this is a problem for the reproduction of your shrimp as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some options can be:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use only herbivorous fish, some examples can be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/otocinclus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Otocinclus affinis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/stiphodon-ornatus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stiphodon sp.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/corydoras-pygmaeus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Corydoras pygmaeus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gyrinocheilus-aymonieri/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gyrinocheilus aymonieri&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. These fish doesn't eat zoeas. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use rasboras or fish like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/boraras-brigittae/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Boraras brigittae&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/poecilia-wingei/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Poecilia wingei&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, these fish can eat zoeas so you need to put plants in your tank to make refuges for your shrimp. Other examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/celestichthys-margaritatus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Celestichthys margaritatus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hemigrammus-rodwayi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hemigrammus rodwayi&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hyphessobrycon-amandae/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ember Tetra&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hyphessobrycon-flammeus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Flame Tetra&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hyphessobrycon-haraldschultzi/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Crystal Red Tetra&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can try to put &quot;big fish&quot; in your tank, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/silver-dollar-fish/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Metynnis argenteus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, this is an herbivorous fish and is cool to see when it grows to its maximum size. They don't attack other fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surface fish like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gasteropelecus-sternicla/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hatchet fish&lt;/a&gt; can be a good option in this tank, because the shrimp are bottom dwellers of the tank. You have another great options here, just make a search and you can find some good candidates for the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad options:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Single &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/crowntail-betta/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; male&lt;/a&gt;, this is a really aggressive and territorial fish so you will have problems with other fish in the tank and with the shrimps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/puntigrus-tetrazona/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pentazona barbs&lt;/a&gt; or other barbs are a big problem, because these guys grow to a significant size and you will lose all your shrimp if they find them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you put &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/assassin-snail/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;assassin snails&lt;/a&gt; without putting others snails, assassin snails will die because they eat other snails, so you would need to feed them with other snails. They can eat other animal-based foods, but with other snails you don't need to keep feeding them with other alimentation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put fish with a large size, because you will have problem with other fish and with the shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9711" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T14:12:58.257" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:12:58.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24080" CreationDate="2019-03-26T12:20:28.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What should I use?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never use anything but &lt;strong&gt;plain water&lt;/strong&gt; when bathing your bird, even shampoo's marketed for birds are not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds have a preen gland called the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/uropygial-gland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;uropygial gland&lt;/a&gt; which secretes oils to keep feathers and skin healthy. Shampoos can remove these oils, leave soapy residues and dry their skin (which can ultimately lead to feather destructive behaviors).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How Often?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parrots should have access to a bath at minimum 3 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What do I do if my parrot has mites?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first step is to go to your avian veterinarian to rule out mites, once a diagnosis is completed then the appropriate medication will be given. Typically for mites they are given an oral anti-parasitic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If mites are the cause you will need to heavily disinfect their cages, I would throw out anything that is difficult to clean (i.e cotton ropes) to prevent reinfection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-03-26T12:20:28.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24081" CreationDate="2019-03-26T12:56:25.960" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would find a cat savvy veterinarian willing to do the trim without sedation, there are many techniques to restrain a cat that would allow them to shave off the mats. Most groomers (and many vet clinics too) do not know how to restrain a cat besides &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jedq6FGM0Pg/maxresdefault.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;scruffing&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which is an outdated and stressful technique. You can do multiple sessions or leave him there for the day so they can give him a break in between trims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't keep the mats there as they are very tight to the skin which in turn makes it very uncomfortable to the point of painful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Restraint Techniques&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myBg6tIV2R4&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Towel Wrap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/e-collars-for-cats-lampshade-collar.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;E-collar&lt;/a&gt; - using an e-collar protects the handler from bites and allows to retrain the body instead of using a scruff. Can be incorporated with a towel if the cat tries to scratch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.animal-care.com/wp-content/uploads/gauntlets-together.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Restraining Gauntlets&lt;/a&gt;  - This is hit or miss, some people have a harder time controlling a cat with gauntlets since they are so thick. You can use these for a &quot;boxing technique&quot; which is when you cup their faces from behind and &quot;box&quot; them in between your arms. &lt;em&gt;I cannot seem to find a photo of it so I will try to take one at work and post it here.&lt;/em&gt; There are other uses for gloves, many times we use one glove for doing a lateral jugular blood draw restraint to hold the face. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gabapentin is a &lt;strong&gt;very safe&lt;/strong&gt; medication that can be given 2 hours before going to the hospital or groomers. This has sedative effects to reduce the stress of being shaven.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feliway.com/ca_en/?&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Feliway&lt;/a&gt; is always a bonus and should be sprayed on the items used to restrain a cat 30mins prior to using them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never&lt;/strong&gt; use scissors to cut mats, this often leads to the skin being cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7526" LastEditorUserId="7526" LastEditDate="2019-03-26T13:28:40.740" LastActivityDate="2019-03-26T13:28:40.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24081" CreationDate="2019-03-26T13:09:26.740" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, it's not advised to give a short clip or lion cut to a short haired cat.  They need that layer of insulating fur to help them keep a stable body temperature.  However, once the fur is badly matted, if your cat won't allow you to untangle it you have limited options.  Mats aren't an immediate risk, but they can grow to the point they start pulling on the skin, causing pain and eventually sores and infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First option:&lt;/strong&gt; Talk to his vet about giving/increasing pain relief.  When a cat just gives up on grooming, it's often a sign of significant pain.  If your cat isn't on anything for his arthritis yet, it might be time. If he feels better, he may start cleaning himself again, which should help, although you will probably have to help him with the worst of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second option:&lt;/strong&gt;  Home remedies and enormous patience. You can use a cat hair detangler spray from the pet store, or little bit of a safe, edible oil (like coconut or olive).  Don't overdo this, since it can get messy, and if you cat licks up a lot of oil it can act as a laxative. Apply sparingly to the mats and let it sit for a while, then try to tease out the mats with a wide tooth comb or dematting rake.  If you choose to use a rake or razor comb, follow instructions carefully or even look for a youtube video of how to use it.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will probably need to train him to allow grooming.  Start very small. Give lots of treats and praise; start by praising and treating him for just letting a brush come near him, then accepting even one gentle stroke of a bush, etc. You should aim to work on the mats just a few minutes at a time, a few times a day until the problem is resolved.  Try to make this process as pleasant and rewarding as possible for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third option:&lt;/strong&gt;  Find a vet or groomer who can clip just the matted areas without sedation.  Your cat may have 'bad haircut' for a while, but the stress is less by clipping just the mats compared to a full lion cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't recommend trying to cut mats with scissors!  There is too much risk of hurting your cat, and it doesn't work all that well, either.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Final step:&lt;/strong&gt;  Maintain your progress with regular brushing.  A slicker brush with soft-tipped bristles works well for most short coated cats, or if he's a fan of petting but not the brush, try a grooming glove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-03-26T13:09:26.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25433" CreationDate="2019-03-26T14:25:28.160" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is keeping his right eye closed most of the day, and when he opens his eye, there is something wet coming out of it. &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/97E7c69&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a picture of him&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14581" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-03-28T12:24:30.770" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T16:43:00.593" Title="My cat is keeping his eye closed. Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24089" CreationDate="2019-03-26T14:48:19.037" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;He could have an eye injury or infection.  He could be starting an upper respiratory infection or virus (which can be dangerous for cats).  It could be allergies. It could be as simple as an irritated eye from a bit of dirt.  My long hair cat occasionally suffers from an 'eyelash' or a strand of fur falling in her eye and irritating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try -gently- cleaning the outside of the eye area with clean cotton ball and clean water (no soap or anything) to rule out the possibility of dirt/fur, but if that doesn't quickly resolve the issue, you should have a vet rule out injury or any type of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-03-26T14:48:19.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24070" CreationDate="2019-03-26T15:22:35.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, I found it stuck inside one of the decorations I bought at Walmart. It died. I already took out the decoration and I'm not putting it back into the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14568" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:03:16.393" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:03:16.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24089" CreationDate="2019-03-26T16:17:26.230" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to take your cat to the vet for this. It is not possible to tell what is wrong for any of us over the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not try to clean this your self. You do risk making the injury more serious if you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons for why your cat keeps the eye closed can be anything from an infection to damage from fighting or it might be a foreign object. You know how painful it can be to get something on your eye, so it is best to let the vet take care of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely this is something that is easy for your vet to fix, so you do not need to worry about the treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10096" LastEditDate="2019-03-28T09:29:03.283" LastActivityDate="2019-03-28T09:29:03.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-26T20:40:28.393" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time my cat box runs to clean one of our cats seem to be in an emergency to poop.. The cat box can sit all day and not clean but the minute it starts up he must poop. I normally lock him up in the bathroom so he doesn’t run around finding places to poop.  This only happens when the cat genie runs a clean cycle. I have tried to set it up for different times of the day but that doesn’t work. Nor does having it run at night he will still just poop on clothes or a pillow. Like I said he is the only one. I have another cat that waits until it is done cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14584" LastActivityDate="2019-03-27T00:44:34.233" Title="Cat poops on floor each time my cat box runs a clean cycle" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24093" CreationDate="2019-03-27T00:44:34.233" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course cats prefer their boxes to be clean. Some cats have such a strong preference that they will hold it until the box is cleaned, to the frustration of their owners who don't want to clean the box twice in a row. It may be that your cat is one of these types, and has gotten a strong association with the box being cleaned, and going, to this unpleasant result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that it is simply being stressed out by the box's cleaning cycle, and going as a result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first suggestion is that you really should have more than one box, especially if you have multiple cats. That way, a box will always be available, even if one is being cleaned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other suggestion is to simply replace the automatic litter boxes.  Owners like them because they hate the task of cleaning the litterbox, but they really aren't ideal for the cats. At best, the cats will tolerate them, but I think many cats seem to actively dislike them. And as convenient as the automatic boxes seem on the surface, they aren't really all that convenient if they discourage cats from actually using the litterbox. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-03-27T00:44:34.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24079" CreationDate="2019-03-27T02:27:24.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For brackish water, your plant selection really depends on the salinity of the tank. In general, plants need nutrients and light. Again, not knowing your light setup or your substrate is a little bit of a challenge. I'm going to assume an inert substrate like sand and low to medium light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have a brackish tank, not saltwater (which it seems you will as the species you intend to keep - carinotetraodon travancoricus &amp;amp; brachygobius xanthozona - are freshwater to brackish and would not survive in a saltwater environment) your easiest plants are plants that don't need to root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Java fern&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anubias&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These can be attached to driftwood or rock as the roots don't need to be buried. Usually you can take your wood or rock out of the tank, dab a little &lt;strong&gt;cyanoacrylate&lt;/strong&gt; superglue on the &lt;strong&gt;rhyzome&lt;/strong&gt;, stick it to the the wood/rock and spray it with a little water. The water should make the glue cure immediately and since you're using cyanoacrylate, it is chemically inert - meaning it won't react in the tank. The same can be done for Anubias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Java fern is great - you can get regular java fern, narrow leaf, trident or my favorite windelov. They all do fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For anubias, some of my favorite are anubias barteri and anubias barteri vars - nana, nana petite coffeefolia). Again these are attached the same way, or they are placed into a pot of some sort - you don't need them to root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another easy plant that's low-light will be &lt;strong&gt;cryptocoryne wendtii&lt;/strong&gt;. This will root, but it's usually not very fussy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your local plant laws -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anacharis&lt;/strong&gt; is pretty much a weed. I wouldn't recommend it, but it would do fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few others you might want to try - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ceratopteris siliquosa and thalictroides (&lt;strong&gt;water sprite&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hornwort&lt;/strong&gt; (Ceratophyllum demersum)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are reports that micro-sword (&lt;strong&gt;Lilaeopsis brasiliensis&lt;/strong&gt;) can carpet a brackish tank pretty well, but I've had trouble keeping that alive in a dirted tank before so..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet, which I've saved for last because I've never kept it, is &lt;strong&gt;red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)&lt;/strong&gt; - it does need high lighting though, but it will keep well in saltwater too. They plant and the leaves stay above the substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I haven't included all the options or the full plant profiles - you'll want to double check you have the right temperature, &lt;strong&gt;lighting, pH&lt;/strong&gt;, hardness gH, hardness kH and salinity. You'll also want to make sure you know how to care for the plants - trimming the dead as well as propagating them properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about the goby, but I know dwarf puffers love a nice planted tank. Beware though, both those fish are bottom dwellers and the puffers can get pretty territorial, so putting in a lot of hiding spots is a great idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Added Bonus&lt;/em&gt; -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get some good sized (zebra) nerite snails, the puffers shouldn't be interested in eating them and they can thrive in all fresh, brackish or salt (as long as it's not soft water) and they can take care of most unwanted algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="468" LastEditorUserId="468" LastEditDate="2019-03-27T02:38:15.030" LastActivityDate="2019-03-27T02:38:15.030" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24169" CreationDate="2019-03-28T01:35:58.667" Score="4" ViewCount="1021" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend's cockatiel is quite eager in lowering her head and neck to ask for some petting or preferable a gentle rubbing between two or three fingers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this commonly enjoyed by cockatiels, or might this be a symptom of some problem like a skin or feather condition? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is otherwise picture-book perfect looking and seems quite healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After getting a neck massage, she straightens up her feathers with a bit of fluffing with her feet, but otherwise does not scratch at herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T15:52:35.023" Title="Cockatiel wanting head &amp; neck massage?" Tags="&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18353" CreationDate="2019-03-29T01:16:45.347" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use tap water for my aquarium-bred discus. The 250 gallon tank which was my headboard has a dripper and an overflow. 24 gallons a day of untreated tap water is dripped through a carbon filter at about 45-50°. My PH is 7.2 and feed 2x a day morning and night. My fish are extremely healthy, both adult and juvenile. Aquarium is 5 years old and never lost a fish or had a sick fish(discus). I do add aquarium salt about once a month and treat with API general cure and EP ethro every 6 to 8 months to be safe. Not that anyone in this thread is wrong but definitely over board. My fish guy says discus people are crazy 90% of the time and make the hobby seem impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a lot of what is said holds validity, success with aquarium-bred discus isn't some impossible feat that only pros can enjoy. Water stability is more important than all of the above. Happy discussing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14597" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:36:08.743" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:36:08.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-03-29T22:56:43.893" Score="0" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I basically need someone to talk some sense into me. I chopped half a lemon, wiped my hands and then about five minutes later rubbed my cat's stomach. He was just grooming his stomach there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could he have ingested enough lemon to get sick through my hand touching his fur and then him licking his fur? I realise the answer is probably no but I've tried myself in knots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14601" LastActivityDate="2019-03-30T11:55:46.753" Title="Chopped a lemon then rubbed my cat, am worried" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-03-30T10:43:23.983" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24101" CreationDate="2019-03-30T01:49:43.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, mate, I think your cat will be fine. You said you chopped half a lemon, so I assume  you were holding the peel part of the lemon? Although as you chop the lemon, the rind that's being cut would produce oil (I think), there probably won't be much on your hand (the other hand I assume is holding the knife, so would be 'clean'). AND you said you wiped your hands. So I really think your cat will be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you said that you just squeezed the lemon (where the toxic chemicals e.g. linalool and limonene would come out in large quantities) then I would be a bit concerned. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;relax and play with your kitty!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12541" LastEditorUserId="12541" LastEditDate="2019-03-30T11:55:46.753" LastActivityDate="2019-03-30T11:55:46.753" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24163" CreationDate="2019-03-30T11:34:21.553" Score="1" ViewCount="3678" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 17, adopted last year. Generally lively, no obvious signs of distress or pain besides mild arthritis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She used to throw up a lot, and after a battery of tests the vet declared that she was almost certainly just allergic to something in her diet. They prescribed hypoallergenic food but unfortunately it seems she would rather starve than eat it. It is wet food, as she generally refuses dry food. I introduced it slowly with her regular food, I tried heating it a little, I tried topping it with treats; none of this provoked any interest in it. The only thing that worked a little is if I pretended to eat it, but then she only licked a little before walking off. She is clearly hungry and continues to demand food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After two days of her not eating I bought her a tin of tuna in fresh water. She loved that and ate it all immediately, and so far hasn't thrown up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did try cooked salmon and cooked chicken, but she wasn't interested in eating those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that tuna is not nutritionally complete and also contains a lot of mercury, however at 17 maybe I should just accept that my cat is on the way out. Certainly I don't want her to starve to death and it's better she eats tuna than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us assume for now that the vet is correct and she was throwing up due to allergies. Also let us assume that these allergens are in the cat food she prefers. Are there good options besides tuna?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14603" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-03-30T13:25:28.557" LastActivityDate="2021-03-21T23:31:37.807" Title="My cat is only interested in eating tuna or food she is probably allergic too" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24103" CreationDate="2019-03-30T14:57:55.307" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call up your vet and ask for alternatives to the food they prescribed. There's surely more than one kind of hypoallergenic catfood. Perhaps your cat will eat that. It's quite a common problem for cats to be picky and not eat the food prescribed by the vet, so the vet should already be prepared to work with you on this problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If no prescribed foods work, the only other route is to try your cat on different types of store catfood, and see if she will eat those, and if they make her throw up. I would check the ingredients list on the catfood you normally give the cat, and then try foods that have different ingredients.  You may be able to figure out what ingredient exactly your cat is allergic to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, if none of these work, you'll have to accept giving the cat food that makes her throw up sometimes. The plain tuna I don't consider a long term option due to both the high mercury content and the fact that it wasn't designed as a pet food, and so may also give your cat some kind of malnutrition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-03-30T14:57:55.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24107" CreationDate="2019-03-31T12:08:57.173" Score="4" ViewCount="1659" Body="&lt;p&gt;Next month I will be flying my cats across the country and taking them as cabin luggage.  My vet has supplied suitable drugs for keeping them relaxed during the trip (although I think that I should be the one talking them!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a flight I was on last week there was a baby 3 rows away and said baby was crying during take off and landing as it was probably experiencing inner ear discomfort due to the pressure change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is do cats suffer from the same sort inner ear problems that humans have when flying? (and is there anything I can actually do about it?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13984" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T05:53:58.900" Title="Pressure change when flying with cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24106" CreationDate="2019-03-31T15:08:17.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes cats can get uncomfortable as a result of pressure changes and the effect this can have on their ears. The ears of a cat are similar to ours and the pressure is equalized in the same way as it is for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://annarboranimalhospital.com/2017/05/whats-slit-cats-ear-anatomy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;picture of the cat's ear&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fairly easy to help your cat equalize the pressure difference. All you need is to give your cat some treats during the time the plane climbs up to altitude and during the time before landing, When the cat swallows, the pressure is equalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to bring some wet food you can give your cats during the trip (the air inside many planes is often dry.) The small 50-85 gram packages are ideal to put inside the carrier during the trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T05:53:58.900" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T05:53:58.900" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24109" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-01T02:54:32.723" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mommy cat has a 1 year old. She was always a great mother she weaned them perfectly. However one day recently she stopped wanting anything to do with her even as a friend. I was worried I was going to have to re-home one because of the fighting, hissing and generally cruel behavior. I left for 2 days and I came home to a loving mother and daughter relationship again and her full fledged nursing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My son said it's because they are both in heat. I'm happy they are getting along again but my question is: &lt;strong&gt;Will the mom start wanting her gone once heat is over?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14611" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-04-07T12:35:02.140" LastActivityDate="2019-04-07T12:35:02.140" Title="How does heat affect the relation between a mother cat and her child?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-02T15:47:23.980" Score="1" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 13 week old kitten, which I took away from her mama when she was 9 weeks old. She stopped nursing from her mom and started sucking on my ear lobes and neck (and sometimes the tip of my fingers). She is definitely a healthy happy kitty! She only does this when she's ready to go to sleep. I feel like I can't bond with her because I'm constantly setting her down on the floor or pushing her off my earlobes. It's like I give the Tabby more attention than I give her. (She's a Calico.) Is this normal? Will she eventually stop, or do I need to double check on her health? I don't think shes stressed, she will only fight me when she's being put down. Until I give her something to suck on, she wins every time.... How do I get her to stop sucking on me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14617" LastEditorUserId="13194" LastEditDate="2019-04-03T13:02:57.913" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T01:19:06.423" Title="13 week old kitten will not stop sucking on me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-04-07T09:22:26.083" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-03T12:39:57.357" Score="0" ViewCount="536" Body="&lt;p&gt;What house plants do cats hate? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a plant that, if I put it in a spot or a corner, the cat will never go to there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2019-04-03T17:24:09.400" Title="What house plants do cats hate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24115" CreationDate="2019-04-03T17:24:09.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's unclear if you want a plant the cat will not eat, or a plant that keeps the cat from that specific area. But here's some tips that might help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a tricky one. It will really depend on the cat and you'll likely need to do some trial and error. There are numerous plants that are toxic to cats, so be careful about what you try first. If you are not 100% certain your cat will hate a plant, make sure it's non-toxic on the chance it will try to nibble on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always do your research before purchasing a plant to place in a cat-occupied home.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats are interested in every new plant I bring into my home, but  generally are uninterested and leave the plants alone. The bigger the plant (big stems and leaves), the less likely they are to eat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are extremely sensitive to smell, and many gardeners plant specific smelling plants in their gardens to deter cat visitors. You could consider some of these plants, if they work indoors. Things like rosemary and lavender are particularly irritating for cats and they will avoid it. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.easyologypets.com/blogs/news/smells-cats-hate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt; is a link of smells cats hate (please note the toxicity), so you can also consider creating a safe spray to put on a plant (safe for both the cat and the plant). Citrus is a good option because, while it can cause discomfort if ingested, most cats avoid it because of the smell. Something prickly, like a cactus, will also deter cats for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution would be to put a plant that cats &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; in an opposite corner or other part of your home. &lt;strong&gt;Catnip&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;Catgrass&lt;/strong&gt; are easy to grow, and the cat will learn that it can eat/play with that plant instead of other plants. Plus, it's good enrichment for your cat, and entertainment for you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-04-03T17:24:09.400" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24118" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T01:25:54.887" Score="1" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is obsessed with my sump pump. This has gotten so bad that she will rush down the stairs every chance she gets and sometimes just sit at the door until someone would open it. Now it’s got to the point that if she gets to go downstairs she will rush our puppy if he even looks at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can’t imagine what has triggered this and how it has become so intense over the last few months. Also she will stay downstairs licking the ground around the pump on the floor until her muzzle is red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking I could use reverse psychology on her, sometimes when we leave the door open to the basement she will stay downstairs and run up and down the stairs to see if anyone in the house is planning on heading that way just so she can take off at a high speed beating anyone to return to the pump area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never been aggressive with any person in the house, and even our other dogs she doesn’t bother with. I’m not sure if she thinks it’s a game or what but I really don’t know how to stop her behavior. We have even blocked the area with a large console, but she has adapted and licks the ground around the stand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m desperate to figure out what is going on with her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14625" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:07:53.113" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:07:53.113" Title="Sump pump aggression" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T01:31:42.193" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my Maine Coon cat love the smell and taste of menthol, mint and camphor? When I brush my teeth, he follows me to the bathroom so he can lick my mouth to remove the toothpaste. When I apply Carmex on my lips, he proceeds to lick it off. When I rub Icy Hot on my shoulder, he attempts to lick it off as well. However, I do stop him every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14589" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T04:31:18.797" Title="Maine coon cat loves smell of menthol, minty, etc" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24119" CreationDate="2019-04-04T04:31:18.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fairly common for cats to try to lick at stuff like shampoo and the like.  It seems like it's due to the smell, but it's mostly a mystery why these things have such an enticing smell to some cats, but we have some guesses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first point of course is that cats are very scent driven animals. Not only do they have quite a good sense of smell, they (along with many other mammal species) have an additional organ, known as the Jacobson's organ, for smelling heavier molecules such as certain pheromones. It is naturally advantageous for them to be highly attracted to certain smells as well, in particular, those pheromones indicating a female is in heat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to those particular smells, there are some possible explanations. With mint, it might be because cats are often attracted to catnip, which is in the mint family. Camphor is also derived from a plant, in the form of an essential oil. So perhaps your cat is just naturally attracted to plantish smells. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for general hygiene products, it's often the case that they contain some sort of perfume. Perfumes often are derived from chemicals that make up animal scents, which can be very attractive to cats. For example, the perfume Calvin Klein's Obsession is known to sometimes attract big cats, most likely due to it containing civetone, a chemical that is found in scent of civets. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/big-cats-and-cologne-e2809cthey-roll-and-cheek-rub-and-just-look-to-be-in-heavene2809d/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/big-cats-and-cologne-e2809cthey-roll-and-cheek-rub-and-just-look-to-be-in-heavene2809d/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T04:31:18.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T05:31:54.497" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom taught my dog to beg and now I can't get him to stop. He begs for everything we eat and it gets so annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14628" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T01:11:24.127" Title="how can i stop my dog from begging for human food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15980" CreationDate="2019-04-04T05:51:14.950" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Hilton Pond Center, wheel bugs (aka assassins of the insect world) are carnivores, so my guess is they eat smaller bugs. For example ants, flies, etc. But I suggest liquefying the food since they're newborns. Please check your local pet store. I'm not an expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14628" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T20:29:56.053" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T20:29:56.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24118" CreationDate="2019-04-04T06:51:24.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This reads like a classic case of Obsessive Compulsive Behavior (OCD). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In almost all cases, this is caused by boredom. The dog is seeking any kind of fun, stimulating activity and by chance focuses on a random object, in your case the pump. It probably startet with her acting strange around the pump and you reacting to the strange behavior. Maybe you asked her what's wrong or you played with her or she perceived your behavior as play. Whatever happened, it gave her the stimulation she sought and reinforced her fixation on the pump. Over time she didn't need your reaction to reinforce her behavior, being close to the pump has become a reward on its own and her behavior continnues to self-reinforce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way I know to break this cycle is to invest more time into your dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should engage in physical activities with her to burn pent-up energy. Her obsession activates a stress reaction in her body releasing much energy. Burning this energy can calm her down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Engage her in mentally challanging activities like obedience training or other games. See below for a list of activities to try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train alternate behavior. A good and easy to learn technique is the &quot;target spot&quot; training. You train her to touch a certain spot on command (like touching your hand with her nose) and reward her every time. When she starts fixating on the pump again, you give the &quot;target spot&quot; command and reward her. That breaks her mental fixation on the object and frees her mind to other thoughts than her compulsion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a list of games and activities for dogs, have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T06:51:24.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24123" CreationDate="2019-04-04T07:02:13.717" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First you should put a pillow, blanket or dog bed in a place where the dog can see the table but that is at least 2 meters away from the table. Then you train your dog to go to this place on command. You need to start this training when you are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; eating and there are no distractions around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your dog goes his spot on command, you should introduce new rules for the whole family:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whenever there is food on the table, the dog goes to his spot. He stays in his spot until the last person is finished eating. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the dog comes to the table anyways, you send him back to his spot. No exceptions. Don't punish him or anything, just send him back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog does not get any food during your meal. You can put morsels aside to feed him later, but never during the meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are especially stubborn and try to beg at the table again and again. In that case you can think about putting your dog on the leash in his spot so he cannot walk away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="7077" LastEditDate="2019-04-09T10:46:38.317" LastActivityDate="2019-04-09T10:46:38.317" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T09:23:19.840" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rescue dog (Luna) who's a wonderful and affectionate dog inside the house but very reactive to other dogs when we're out on walks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she catches wind of another dog (even at some distance) she becomes alert, fixated, and incredibly tense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens if I try to pull her away, or if the dog comes any closer that triggers her into a fit of barking and lunging. Once we're away from the dog she takes some time to calm down and will generally make a lot of anxious whining noises and remain anxious for a while&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it hard to tell whether she is anxious because she's afraid of what the dog might do, or if she's over excited and wants to meet the dog, however when she's gotten up close to dogs (without her kicking off) then she will snap at their faces and be generally aggressive towards them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strange thing to me however is that if she meets another dog indoors, (or even in one instance, one jumping into the car next to her!) then she doesn't become reactive in the same way and is able to form a relationship with that dog, allowing her to become comfortable with them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how we could get her to behave in the same way on walks that she does in a building? Part of me feels like she's agoraphobic but that's probably me just humanising her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9819" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T12:08:08.617" Title="Dog reactive seeing dogs on walks but fine meeting dogs indoors" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;reactivity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24131" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T09:46:47.253" Score="0" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going buy a new brand dry food for my 6-month-old kittens because they don't eat their last brand - &lt;a href=&quot;http://iranfp.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fidaar&lt;/a&gt; - anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I Asked local pet shops and they have two brands of kitten dry food - Josera and Happy Cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one do you think i should buy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14593" LastActivityDate="2019-04-07T03:23:58.837" Title="&quot;Josera&quot; vs &quot;Happy Cat&quot; kitten dry food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-04-07T12:31:26.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24133" CreationDate="2019-04-04T10:21:09.383" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want to buy packaged dog foods. What meals i can offer for him? E.g spaghetti, bread, milk? I mean not specially prepared food but foods that human eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14621" LastEditorUserId="14621" LastEditDate="2019-04-04T15:40:42.667" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T15:40:42.667" Title="Which home made foods/meals can dog eat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-04-07T12:31:49.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24132" CreationDate="2019-04-04T11:18:10.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't make your own dog food without learning what dogs need in their daily diet first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;None of your suggestions are healthy dog food.&lt;/strong&gt; Especially the salt and spices in human food are unhealthy for dogs. &lt;strong&gt;There are very common ingredients in human food that are harmful or even poisonous for dogs.&lt;/strong&gt; You would cause malnutrition and illnesses in your dog if you fed him like that every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some recipes floating around the internet on how to make dog food at home, but I will not point you to any of them, because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's very easy to make mistakes, leading to either a deficit of vital components or an excess of unhealthy components.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Making healthy meals for a dog is just as expensive as buying dog food, because you need to feed lots of meat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T11:18:10.837" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24134" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T16:02:12.077" Score="-1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my boyfriend and I have a stray cat. She quickly bonded with him and then after 2.5 months she has now become afraid of him but only during the day. At night she jumps up on the bed with him and snuggles, she even bathes him. Does anyone have an idea of what to do or what went wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;She also will rub against him during dinner and if food is around. So we dont understand what is causing her to he scared&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14630" LastEditorUserId="14630" LastEditDate="2019-04-04T16:24:40.770" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T19:44:40.387" Title="Cat dislikes a person who they used to love before" Tags="&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-04-09T14:28:02.227" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24135" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T16:11:07.103" Score="4" ViewCount="985" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 3-year-old cats. They are siblings (same litter), one female, one male. They get along reasonably well, with the occasional boxing and hissing match but nothing too serious (see my previous questions for examples), but also playing and sleeping next to each other in adorable positions on occasion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curiously, the female will lick the male (especially on the head, which is harder for him to clean himself) quite often (maybe a couple of times a day) and he enjoys it just fine. In fact, he'll often then try to lick her in return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thing is, she hates it when he does that. He can't lick her for two seconds before getting boxed in the face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/why-is-cat-licking-you&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;read&lt;/a&gt; that there is a hierarchy to licking, with the most senior cat usually starting the licking party. However, that article also states that the cat may do that with the expectation of getting licked back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record, my wife and I are unsure of who's the more senior of our two cats. The male is significantly larger, so he's got a clear advantage on the physical aspect, but we also think the female is in the running (though I'm having trouble putting into words why). We usually conclude that they're actually competing for the role to this day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there anything to read into the female's behavior? Or is it probably just a personality thing (she's just not that into being licked)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6462" LastActivityDate="2019-04-08T12:28:59.733" Title="One cat licks the other, but hates being licked" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-04T19:21:08.997" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are thinking of going on a long hike. About 15 km per day for a week. Weather will be mild. We have a five month old healthy pug. At the moment she appears weary after 2 hours walking with us. I wonder with two months training could she handle an extended week of hiking.&#xA;I would appreciate any thoughts or experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14631" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T23:15:24.970" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T23:15:24.970" Title="Can a pug be trained for extended hiking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24134" CreationDate="2019-04-04T19:44:40.387" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are tricky creatures, and this could be a temporary thing, as long as your boyfriend hasn't been treating the cat any differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I've found as a common culprit is scent change - has your boyfriend been using a different cologne, shampoo, or something? I once started wearing a lip moisturizer to bed and my cats stopped sleeping with me because they hated the smell. The fact that your cat likes him at night or in the bath indicates something he could be wearing that has worn off by the end of the day, or is washed off in the bath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, just make sure he keeps treating her well, maybe taking some extra 1:1 time with treats and toys to get her &quot;reacquainted&quot;, just as you would with a new cat. Best of luck!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T19:44:40.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24136" CreationDate="2019-04-04T20:02:18.677" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you keep the pug fit and healthy, it could likely last on a decent hike, but 15km would be pushing it. Remember that pugs are small and don't breath well. Plus, the pug will be taking, like, 10x the amount of steps you're taking, and could have difficulty navigating rocky/uneven terrain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you walk it regularly and don't overfeed it, the farther your pug will be able to  walk for longer. (Obesity is common in pugs.) Smaller dogs are also more easily susceptible to heat and cold, so make sure you bring lots of water, and don't hike in extreme weather. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to keep in mind with pugs is their breathing. Unfortunately, pugs have been bred for their smooshed faces and this severely limits their breathing abilities (many pugs require manual cleaning of nasal cavities). They were not bred for their athletics, but for their looks as companion dogs to be spoiled. Their short snout also limits their panting, which is why they're not as good at regulating their temperatures as other dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to take your pug out on hikes, just be aware of the temperature, terrain, and distance. Always carry water, and consider getting a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.k9sportsack.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI66r1oLW34QIVhRx9Ch2pkwrZEAAYASAAEgJ3x_D_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pet carrier pack&lt;/a&gt; to hold your pug if it does get too exhausted (which is guaranteed on a 15km hike). Pugs can definitely be athletic and they love to run around, just be aware of your little guy's limitations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2019-04-04T21:50:54.530" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T21:50:54.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24135" CreationDate="2019-04-04T20:19:23.623" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is likely just like a personality thing, and very similar to  my two cat's situation. They aren't  litter mates, but I adopted them at the same age, at the same time, as kittens. It's unclear the heirarchy of the cats, because it always depends on the scenario - Boy cat is dominant during play time, girl cat is dominant during feeding and snuggles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girl cat licks the boy cats head if he's close enough. He used to try and reciprocate, but  has since learned she doesn't like it. Given time, I'm sure your cats will do the same. It is certainly nothing to worry about, as it sounds like they have a healthy relationship otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-04-04T20:19:23.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-05T06:02:34.647" Score="2" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6NKYW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the spot is circular and about 1 inch in diameter&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was busy a couple days ago and and when I checked on him I found this. Is this from stress? Is this a wound from over grooming? The spot is dry, hard and red. It's circular and very distinct from the skin nearby. The rest of his skin is normal. Behavior wise he is very happy, binkying around like usual. He eats normally. His droppings are solid. Does anyone know what's wrong? I want to take him to the vet but I don't know any rabbit savvy vet in my city, since rabbits are a very uncommon pet in my country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14634" LastActivityDate="2019-04-05T06:02:34.647" Title="Help! Rabbit has a circular bald spot. It's very red and has hardened" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24130" CreationDate="2019-04-05T11:48:37.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like leash aggression, whereby if a dog is on a leash and encounters another dogs they lunge toward the other dog, bark, snap and otherwise behave aggressively due to being restrained and unable to naturally control their movements towards the other dog.  As your dog doesn't behave the same way in a situation where they're not restrained by a leash, in a building etc, it does suggest leash aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an excerpt from a dog training website which describes this behaviour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Leash lunging, leash reactivity and leash aggression are all behaviours that are caused by a dog feeling restrained, frustrated and uncomfortable in a social situation while attached to a leash. In normal circumstances, an unleashed dog would be able to put sufficient distance between himself and a fear source. But if the same dog is leashed and unable to increase that distance, he will react or behave defensively in the hope that the fear source will go away&quot;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link to the website is here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/aggression/leash-aggression/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/aggression/leash-aggression/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14637" LastActivityDate="2019-04-05T11:48:37.580" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24135" CreationDate="2019-04-07T03:16:09.377" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wild, the male cats have a territories what they keep from intruders: other male cats. They allow the female cats to exist in their &quot;empire&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the female cats do the same, but they do this only with the other females and they allow the males to come in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The result is that both the male- and the female are in mutually disjunct structures, but they overlap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, your cats are siblings, thus they could accustome to eachother. You don't mention, but I strongly assume, that both are neutered. Thus, none of them has a reproductive instinct, and can't feel the odor of a male/female on the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On these reasons, I think your cats are bound by the quasi-randomly appeared customs as they were grown together, and they see eachother probably still siblings in their kitten age. This is why are they still playing with eachother. They never had any idea that things could go also very differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably there is no seniority line between them, or if there is, they don't take it very seriously. But probably the larger is the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: it is a personality thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be some chance, that the &quot;offended&quot; cat feel something in the licking, what is unpleasant for she. It is most likely an odor. What we feel extremely disgusting in the pee of an adult male cat, this is a dangerous and disgusting thing for any cat (particularly for the adult males, but even for the kittens). Except the adult females in heat, who find it attracting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, if it is not a personality thing, then she might feel some remains of the male odor of her sibling, not only in his pee, but also in his saliva, and she finds it disgusting and dangerous. She essentially says: &quot;I won't mate with you, go away&quot;, although she doesn't know, that - in the lack of an uterus - she won't ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastActivityDate="2019-04-07T03:16:09.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24131" CreationDate="2019-04-07T03:23:58.837" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both. Alternate them. How would you feel if you would need to eat always the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why they don't eat also the Fidaar. They will, just they need also some different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also, only giving dry food to cats is cruel. Give them regularly, ideally every day, some other, too (ideally, raw flesh or fish, but never raw pork).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If costs matter you, you can use anything and any organ. They eat their pray in the wild as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The like bloody hearth at most, and also lungs. Better if it is as it came from the butcher, without washing, because the odor of the blood excites them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastActivityDate="2019-04-07T03:23:58.837" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24113" CreationDate="2019-04-07T03:34:34.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allow it her. She still thinks, you are now her mom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you are very alien for her, she simply doesn't have any instinctual idea, what are you. But you seem to behave like her mommy, and now she thinks, you are her mommy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is not disgusting, allow her to play with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a crucial period for she, the negative experiences what she collects now from you, might she alienate from you for life.&lt;/strong&gt; What she now learns, will in her in her whole life. Later will she be mentally incapable to learn such things, like humans are not bad, or that you love she.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time until the cats are capable to understand causality, is 5 seconds. (This is why it is reasonless to punish a cat for anything after more than 5 seconds - she won't understand, why she got it. She will think that you attacked she for no reason.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On this reason, I would suggest: &lt;strong&gt;allow her to lick you for 5 seconds&lt;/strong&gt;. After that, take she up and put to a different location on you - still on you, but not more in a position where she could still lick you. The thinking of the cats is very location-oriented - if you move she to another place, she understands very well: &quot;My mom wants me to be here&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes around a half year (latest as she would start to heat), she will forget their kitten behaviors, including the licking, but she will still love you. So better you treated she as a kitten, so better will she love you, and this love will be eternal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastEditorUserId="10263" LastEditDate="2019-04-10T01:19:06.423" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T01:19:06.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2019-04-07T04:08:19.340" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, not neutering a cat is animal cruelty or it will unavoidably lead to animal cruelty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, not only male cats have territory, in a lesser sense, also the females have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, she doesn't know that peeing on the kitten litter is a requirement, because you can't explain it to her. She used it only because always this had already a pee odor. She doesn't know, why would be any problem with changing this place to another location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She need to understand, where is the toilet. For a while, don't clean it after all usage, do it only after all second.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be careful, while on toilet, and after a while, exclusively positive experiences should happen to she!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you find her pee/faeces elsewhere, take him to that place and move her nose to &quot;that&quot;. Don't touch it, it would be cruel, but it is important to feel the odor more strongly as she would like it. &quot;Explain&quot; here that you are now &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; angry. Push her down (don't cause pain! But you can make it unpleasant), give threatening voices, while you still hold her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you see that she needs to use the toilet, move she to the litter and give her many love, until she doesn't do her &quot;task&quot;. The thinking of the cats is very location-oriented. If you move she to any place, she understands very well, that you want she to be on that place. They see no reason to follow your wishes too long, but they understand it. If you move she to the litter while see needs to pee, she will understand very well: you want she too pee on the litter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any time &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; she uses the ordinary toilet, give she many love. (Don't touch or even near she while she is on it!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it will work, don't worry, I had never cats who hadn't understood already the first &quot;lesson&quot; very well. I've seen on them. First, they simply don't want to pee (s*) for a while. After they can't hold it any more, they start to think, what to do. They are looking for a place to pee, and they are looking to you. &lt;em&gt;It is visible on them, as they learn: peeing on the cat litter didn't lead to a bad event with you. Only peeing next to the bed. And they go to the cat litter.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing is: they don't understand, &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; is it important for you. They don't think in &quot;why&quot;s. To them, peeing beside the bed would be okay, they can't see any bad in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, honestly, already 3-4 week old kitten use the toilet from themselves, and they learn - from the odor - where is the place where they have to pee (s*).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastEditorUserId="10263" LastEditDate="2019-04-07T14:30:55.200" LastActivityDate="2019-04-07T14:30:55.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24135" CreationDate="2019-04-08T12:28:59.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to think it's a personality thing as said earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, both girls from the same litter (and born in my own home while i was taking care of their mother because her owner, a relative of mine, had an operation and couldn't take care of the pregnant cat). They were separated for two months because my relative took one of them with the mother when the babies were 3 months old, and the other one stayed with me and an older male neutered for some months before her sister came back living with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there were only the old male and babycat N, he used to lick her everytime he was licking himself and she was around. She never licked back though. But they took this habit of mutual bath. And they slept one beside the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, mothercat didn't bring much attention to babycat P and was mostly distant if not aggressive. Since their relationship became more and more toxic, and seeing that my cats were really friendly, both my relative and I agreed for babycat P to come live at my home. Things were fine with the three of them, even though babycat P were all shy and fearful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some months later, old male passed out in his sleep (he was almost 19), and after that, the two sisters being alone together changed in their behavior. No more mutual licking or together sleeping, babycat P refusing babycat N both to take the role of old cat and taking herself that role, she stopped that habit for both of them. Now they still play together and live well, turning 3 y/o next month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just proves, in my opinion, that they have their own personalities and accept some behavior depending on what they like most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14648" LastActivityDate="2019-04-08T12:28:59.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-08T13:57:47.010" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 55 gallon tank that has been giving me problems but I'm not sure if I'm just over thinking or doing to much. When does one know it's time to bleach the tank to kill anything that could possibly be the problem. I see a few youtube channels that have bleached their tank because it was infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of just using a bunch of hydrogen peroxide let it run through the filter and everything (obviously without the fish in the tank). Will this work instead of using bleach? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also been treating with General cure, Paraguard and E.M Erythromycin as my last attempt to hopefully correct the issue. The fish that have died off had inflamed gills and were flashing (scratching). Of the few I have left, one has a sunken belly barely eats and has stringy white poop so I'm thinking parasites internal and external.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also keep up with regular water changes and regular upkeep of a fish tank. My water tests come back with a PH of 8.0, ammonia between 0 and 0.24PPM, nitrite is 0PPM, and nitrate is about 20PPM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had this tank set up for a few months now after being in storage for many years. I also did a good cleaning before starting it back up using vinegar and water and a razor to get hard water marks off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My filter is a Penn Plax Cascade 1000 with coarse to fine sponge on bottom tray, middle tray de-nitrate and top tray is matrix with a Purigen pack. There was carbon but I took it out for the treatment I did. I also know de-nitrate is the same as matrix and I have biohome mini ultimate coming in the mail to replace the de-nitrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a sponge filter inside the tank as well with a pre-filter sponge on the intake for the canister filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14649" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-04-08T18:05:53.777" LastActivityDate="2019-04-08T21:59:38.203" Title="When should I use bleach to fix the issues in my fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2019-04-08T20:59:35.393" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers have it pretty much covered: gradual changes plenty of monitoring, beware of soft water and hard water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I’d add is beware of &lt;strong&gt;chloramine&lt;/strong&gt;. The advice I was given is that in some areas (where I live, UK, soft water) they add chloramine to the water because chlorine smells as it evaporates, chloramine doesn’t (because it doesn’t evaporate). You need a conditioner to get rid of chloramine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you have soft water in your area (i.e. lots of insoluble rocks like granite in your area), coral gravel is a fine buffer and will keep your pH high enough for goldfish. My pH plummeted in my first year of fishkeeping. The fish living in the (acid) water coped with the changes but new fish didn’t last until I got monitoring and buffering right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-04-08T20:59:35.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24152" CreationDate="2019-04-08T21:59:38.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Never.&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;* Okay, not &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; but almost never and here's why:&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like there's a few things going on in your tank. The first, and the most important to address in my opinion, is the ammonia. Even in very small quantities, ammonia is lethal to fish. The stringy white poo, no interest in food and inflamed gills sounds very much like either ammonia poisoning &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; an illness caused by the poor water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of the ammonia, make sure you do regular small water changes (I know you said you do the regular maintenance but you'll need to do smaller more frequent water changes to get the tank back on track). There are some products on the market which will detoxify the ammonia for you such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seachem.com/prime.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Seachem Prime&lt;/a&gt; so you can use these together with the water changes. Consistent, high quality water will not only help fish avoid diseases but they'll also help fish heal and recover when there are issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Filter&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your filter looks capable of filtering the aquarium but make sure that you &lt;em&gt;enable it&lt;/em&gt; to do its job. If there's chlorine or chloramine in your water, this will kill off the beneficial bacteria that live in your filter. Equally, if you clean the sponges or media in water that has chlorine in or at very extreme temperatures, you'll probably kill the beneficial bacteria. (Apologies for listing things that I'm sure you already know, it's just good to be thorough).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Bleach&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, this is an absolute last resort. It's rife with jeopardy and there's normally another solution. I too have seen youtubers advise bleach but I've never found myself in a situation where I &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; needed it. It's important to spot issues as early as you can so you can give the fish the best chance of survival. I've read that very diluted bleach can be used on ornaments, gravel and filter parts but there's so many caveats that for me personally, it's just never a winner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Okay, so what do you suggest then?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Address your water quality issues first (ammonia), make sure your filter is being given the opportunity to establish a large amount of beneficial bacteria (optionally using products that can assist in cultivating the same) and keep regularly testing your water until that ammonia is none existent. A classic cause of poor water quality is over feeding. Depending on your fish (you don't say what you are keeping) you'll want to feed them the minimum for a while. I regularly allow starve days for my tanks so that the fish have a chance to look around the tank for any edible scraps (reducing bio load) and because they'll be more amenable to changes in food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, try to reduce any stressful situations for the fish while they recover. Ensure there's plenty of hiding places for them and avoid sudden movements or loud noises near the tank (fish can feel the vibrations of loud noises in the water). You may also wish to turn your lighting off which also should help them feel more relaxed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-04-08T21:59:38.203" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-09T08:37:20.537" Score="8" ViewCount="1310" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a senior cat, and has lost most of his teeth.  He really wants to eat, but the food just falls out, then he gets so frustrated that he just stops trying. I have to cook for this cat and give vitamin supplements all his life; he gets boiled chicken most days, with shrimp mixed in once in a while. He has never had a problem with eating until the last molar he had got infected. After 3 days of antibiotics the tooth fell out on its own, and now my cat cannot keep the food in his mouth!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have ideas of how I can help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14655" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-03T02:24:03.400" LastActivityDate="2021-03-03T02:24:03.400" Title="My cat has lost his teeth and can't keep food in his mouth" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24156" CreationDate="2019-04-09T10:03:10.513" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several problems here that need to be addressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can your cat drink water without problems? If yes, then your assumption that your cat cannot keep food in its mouth is wrong. The correct assumption is that your cat &lt;strong&gt;cannot chew food&lt;/strong&gt;. The solution to this problem is to provide food that has the consistency of paste and can be licked up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat cannot drink water or lick paste, then &lt;strong&gt;the teeth are probably not the cause&lt;/strong&gt;. You need to let a vet check where exactly the problem comes from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The diet you provide is extremely monotonous. This can lead to malnutrition and deficits in certain vitamins and essential nutrients. The solution is:&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either you study the nutritional needs of cats and prepare the daily meals from a variety of different ingredients that provide your cat with everything it needs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or trust companies who have studied the nutritional needs of cats and buy cat food that provides your cat with everything it needs from them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that buying and cooking chicken for your cat is not exactly cheap either, the best solution would be buying canned food. Mash the food with a fork before serving it to your cat so the content is soft and can be licked up without the need to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has general problems keeping anything in its mouth, please consult a vet. If your cat has special nutritional needs, consult your vet for recommended food brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:49:44.147" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:49:44.147" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24178" CreationDate="2019-04-09T15:33:52.340" Score="6" ViewCount="2832" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats, and sadly one of them has just been diagnosed with kidney disease, and so we've got to feed him a special renal diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Luckily, he seems to like the food - the problem is, so does his sister! We've ordered a pair of microchip bowls to try and stop her eating his food (and vice versa, though that's less common), but I'd like to know if there is a risk that she could come to any harm if/when she does manage to steal some of his when we're not looking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've also bought some of the 'normal' food from the same manufacturer for her, in the hope that she'll be satisfied by that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T14:52:12.740" Title="Is it dangerous for a healthy cat to eat prescription diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-10T01:32:15.230" Score="3" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having first read some reviews of several books on canine clicker training, in the hunt for works that experienced trainers would list among the &quot;must read&quot; books on the subject, I have now finished Karen Pryor's &lt;em&gt;Reaching the Animal Mind&lt;/em&gt; and I am part-way through her earlier &lt;em&gt;Don't Shoot the Dog&lt;/em&gt;. Pryor has been a leading figure in the development of the marker method as it has been used with dolphins, dogs, and other species, including humans. In my opinion in the first three-quarters or so of her first-mentioned book she gives an admirably clear and waffle-free explanation of the marker method as it is used with dogs (and a clicker) as well as with other species (such as dolphins, with whom the usual marker is a whistle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she expounds a method that uses positive reinforcement only, it is no surprise that she criticises the traditional use of dominance and aversion. But she is also critical of lure and reward, a rival positive approach, which she views as likely to produce dogs who are overly passive even when the method is used together with a clicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish to form my own opinion on this other positive method that she is criticising. So my question is as follows. What books have you read that, in light of your practical experiences, you believe most comprehensively explain the lure and reward method of training dogs and the ideas that underlie it? Perhaps there are some books by some of the key figures who developed this approach? At the moment, I don't even know who those figures are. I know some of the popular writers, but not who the main shapers of the method have been. (For the clicker method there is Pryor and then the line goes back through at least three of B F Skinner's students.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: I phrased this question after reading the help file. It is intended to be &quot;constructive subjective&quot;, &quot;[inviting the] sharing [of] experiences over opinions&quot; and soliciting only &quot;opinion [that is] backed up with facts and references&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14660" LastEditorUserId="14660" LastEditDate="2019-04-10T16:36:29.387" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T16:36:29.387" Title="What books explain most comprehensively the lure and reward method of dog training?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24103" CreationDate="2019-04-10T08:46:51.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;So to complete the record I will answer with what did happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried 4 or 5 other brands of hypoallergenic food, the cat scorned them all. We returned to the vet and they said that short of more invasive procedures there are some medications that will treat the symptoms. Specifically they gave antacids and steroids to reduce inflammation and told us to feed her whatever she will eat. The cat still throws up occasionally but not as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14603" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T08:46:51.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24170" CreationDate="2019-04-10T15:31:45.083" Score="29" ViewCount="7094" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to move and a really promising location in a new city and it's surrounded by a large forest and bird sanctuary. That's great to me, but to my cat I suspect it will mean the beginning of his reign as a genocidal maniac against the local birds. On the one hand, regardless of where I move it seems this cat will be a bane on wildlife. On the other hand, given that this is a bird &lt;em&gt;sanctuary&lt;/em&gt;, it feels particularly wrong to move there with this cat and just let it do its thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR skipping details on bottom: 3 year old Cat is very active and violent, otherwise a good cat to us humans. Never able to keep a collar or even harnesses on him. We rescued him off the streets and he's only semi-domesticated, keeping him indoors seems like barely an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With all that in mind, &lt;strong&gt;what can we do regarding this move and this cat to minimize disturbance to the bird sanctuary?&lt;/strong&gt; Is it a no go, either we don't move there or we give away the cat? Is there any training or equipment we can use to minimize him disturbing the bird sanctuary? We could try to force him to be an indoor cat but I don't think he'll handle that well, it seems very against his nature. We could just let him do his thing, but we care a lot about the forest and know that cats can wreak havoc on its wildlife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some background on the cat: my partner and I met this cat as it meowed from under a porch as we were discussing getting a cat, an idea that we'd been considering for a few weeks. It was mid-February in a northern climate and very cold and snowy. We meowed at the cat for a bit and pretty fast he came and met us. We inspected the cat, picking him up and checking his fur and body out. He was pretty clean, no fleas we could see, seemed to be in good health. His paws and teeth indicated that this cat had been leaving outdoors for at least a few months, and he was mature but &amp;lt;1 year old from what the vet said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We've had this cat for a few years now. He was a real terror at first in terms of violence; he was mostly playful and not that aggressive but he was strong and intense in playing, would attack our feet and attack us at night if he had the chance. Over time and being neutered he's gotten better in some ways but is still an aggressive, big and tough cat. He used to go outside and disappear for days at a time when we first got him, but he'd keep coming back, even after we moved with him to new rentals locally a few times. Now he'll only go out for a few hours or a day at most, but he still begs to go out, tries to sneak out, and will even start attacking us more often if we refuse to let him out for a few days.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This cat in some ways good and maybe even trainable - extremely food motivated, will walk on a leash, never had any problems using a litter box, minimal scratching of furniture. At the same time, he can be a monster, half-killing chipmunks and leaving dead mice at our door regularly. We've tried collars and even two harnesses and he escaped all of them within days, though we do have him RFID chipped (unless he got rid of that too!)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've seen my cat with 2 sparrows he's brought home dead in the past, he does 'cat chattering' when watching birds out the window, and I saw him try to climb into a bush to catch a bird once which he probably would've succeeded had I not chased him away. He's also killed and maimed many other animals not just birds.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10512" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-04-13T10:27:34.883" LastActivityDate="2019-04-13T10:27:34.883" Title="What to do when moving next to a bird sanctuary with a loosely-domesticated cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-10T15:39:56.867" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see three possible options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Attempt to enclose the garden somehow so that he doesn't have free reign in the bird sanctuary. You'd need pretty tall fences though...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Choose a different location.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Accept that he is, by nature, a hunter. You don't mention exactly how many years you've had him (and therefore, how old he is), but he'll get lazier as he gets older and won't bother going hunting when he knows his humans will do it for him...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T15:39:56.867" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-10T17:38:07.423" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most locations have leash laws that apply to all domestic animals, in most areas they are only enforced on dogs.  In an area with a bird sanctuary, it may very well be applied to cats as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risks of moving you cat near a bird sanctuary, may not be just to the local birds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check the local laws and their enforcement, fines and loss of your cat are possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Read our post on keeping &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/containment+cats&quot;&gt;cats contained&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T17:38:07.423" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-10T18:09:36.177" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best situation for any domestic cat is to live indoors; it would have been an easier transition when he was younger, but it can still be done, if you're willing to endure a period of &quot;misery&quot; for both yourselves and for him as you retrain him. A new location may very well aid in this reconditioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're neither willing nor able to retrain him as an indoor-only cat, then your next best bet is to secure your backyard and restrict him only to this area. This should include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High fences -- too high to jump over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low fences -- cats can squeeze into some small spaces, so you'll need to ensure there is no ground clearance; ideally, you should bury a section of the fencing to guarantee the cat can't slip underneath.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dense fences -- Again, cats can squeeze into small spaces, so you'll need to eliminate any potential spaces in the fence where it could slip loose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Cat proofing&quot; at the top of the fence. This is done by stringing the top with a core surrounded by a free-spinning piece of wide PVC pipe. The pipe should overhand both sides of the fence (you can also add a slanted section of fencing below it, that likewise slants toward your yard). If the fence is too wide for a reasonable sized length of pipe, use two, one angled toward each side of the fence. The goal is to make it impossible for the cat to get a grip anywhere; the pipe will spin if it tries to grip it, and if positioned right, the roller will also prevent the cat from reaching around or under to grab the fence behind it. Keeping the roller toward the outside will prevent nosy climbing wildlife from entering your yard and becoming trapped, which could be a hazard to either them or to your cat, depending on the wildlife.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tree trimming -- Even with a high, low, dense, cat-proofed fence, the cat will still be able to escape if you have a tree with branches reaching over it that he can use to evade all these defenses. Get branches trimmed, or consider adding some cat-proofing to prevent climbing the trunks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to spend some time outside &quot;thinking like a cat&quot; as well. Imagine yourself as the cat that wants to get on the other side of your fence, and do your best to hunt down any places you might have overlooked where he could sneak out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a bonus, a well cat-proofed fence will also help keep a good amount of wildlife out, too, so while he may have less to hunt, you'll also find fewer gifts from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An additional note: A harness is not meant for long-term wear on a cat, and the vast majority of cats hate wearing them. Most cats also don't care much for collars, though can be accustomed to them with time. Cats aren't small dogs, and don't naturally walk on leashes; they're solitary ambush predators, not pack hunters who follow the lead of other members of their pack (ie. human owners). He's certainly not a wild animal from your description, just high energy. A truly feral (or even semi-feral) cat is a wild animal that can't be handled. Your cat's just high energy and could probably stand to have more toys and places to climb in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-04-10T19:02:30.343" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T19:02:30.343" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-10T20:58:16.497" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;By &quot;pure clicker training&quot; I mean a programme that keeps strictly to the cue-click-reward structure and does not involve any luring, for example with food. Rather, the trainer &quot;captures&quot; behaviours or steps in the right direction using a clicker, and the only time he uses food in the interaction with the dog during a training session is after a click and in fulfilment of the promise made by that click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lure and reward may or may not involve the use of a clicker to indicate that the reward is coming (classical conditioning) once a behaviour is established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been reading about pure clicker training and have encountered the following arguments in its favour as opposed to lure and reward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;lure and reward is worse than a clicker at communicating specific pieces of information&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;even when a clicker is used with lure and reward, it communicates the fact that the reward is coming but it does not communicate specific information that the specific behaviour called for by the cue has been offered&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;with lure and reward dogs don't use their conscious brains so much&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;lure and reward can lead to a dog focusing too much on food rather than on the behaviour, which can cause it to move around once the behaviour has been offered&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dogs trained using lure and reward tend to be more passive than clicker-trained dogs&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clicker training is faster&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly there are some overlaps in these arguments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in what counter-arguments there are: that is, what arguments can be offered in favour of lure and reward, with or without some clicker use, as opposed to pure clicker training. So far I have come across the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clicking intermediate stages during the shaping of a behaviour can delay the achievement of the target behaviour as a whole relative to when the whole behaviour is lured&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(not much else)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other arguments does lure and reward have going for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: I phrased this question after reading the help file. It is intended to be &quot;constructive subjective&quot;, &quot;[inviting the] sharing [of] experiences over opinions&quot; and soliciting only &quot;opinion [that is] backed up with facts and references&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14660" LastEditorUserId="14660" LastEditDate="2019-04-10T21:14:23.670" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T21:14:23.670" Title="What arguments are there for lure-and-reward (with or without some use of a clicker) as opposed to &quot;pure&quot; clicker training with dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24098" CreationDate="2019-04-10T21:17:20.787" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to be a pretty common behavior for cockatiels, especially when they molt. The head and neck are the most common areas they can't reach with their beak, so they use their feet to scratch these areas, or rub them against something. They also preen each: you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. I feel they also socialize to each other (and us) through scratching!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it's wise to examine the areas for red skins, wounds, mites or anything indicative of special conditions and disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9045" LastActivityDate="2019-04-10T21:17:20.787" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-10T22:03:01.187" Score="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whatever your general opinions on free-roaming cats may be, allowing your cat to hunt in a bird sanctuary definitely sounds like a highly irresponsible thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd rather not lock your cat entirely indoors, one option to consider would be to build a secure outdoor enclosure for your cat.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/24167&quot;&gt;Unlike Allison C&lt;/a&gt;, I wouldn't rely on just a fence, no matter how &quot;cat-proofed&quot;, because cats are really, really good at finding ways over, under or through fences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does work though, in my experience, is simply surrounding a suitable space on all sides with a durable net or wire mesh, and making sure there are no holes large enough for a cat to get through.  The details will vary depending on what your new house or apartment is like, but it could be as simple as surrounding a balcony / terrace / patio / veranda or any similar &quot;semi-outdoor&quot; area with cat-proof net or mesh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a practical example, here's one of my parents' cats watching the local wildlife from behind a temporary net set up to close off their new ground floor apartment's patio:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/odLKM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/odLKM.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; alt=&quot;Photo of a cat in an enclosed patio behind a net&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and here are both of them in winter (one braving the cold outside, one safe and warm inside behind the window), showing the final (semi-)permanent enclosure we built out of chicken wire:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kSdly.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kSdly.jpg&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;Photo of two cats in winter with a patio enclosed with chicken wire&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new structure extends a few meters into the back yard, so that there's room for a small garden inside, including some vines to climb and partly cover the wire fence (not yet visible in these photos).  It consists of just a few wooden posts and beams that attach to the existing partition walls between the neighboring patios and support a chicken wire fence between them, with the old nylon net now serving as a roof over it (because cats can climb, you know) and the chicken wire extending some distance underground (because they can dig too &amp;mdash; not that either of these two have ever tried).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We even built a simple lockable gate (half visible on the right side of the second photo) into the fence so that we can still get to the outside (not that there's much there, except some trees and neighbors' back yards) without having to walk around the whole building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing to remember (for your peace of mind, and the safety of any birds living nearby) is that cats can squeeze their head through surprisingly small holes if they're sufficiently motivated, e.g. by tasty birds waiting just outside &amp;mdash; and if the head gets through, the rest of the cat will most likely follow.  (For evidence, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cat+crawls+under+door&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;any of these YouTube videos&lt;/a&gt;.)  But there are limits, and something like a 1 inch / 2.5 cm mesh size is definitely too small for any adult cat to possibly get through.  Meanwhile, it's still large enough that any small birds or rodents that may unwisely enter the enclosure can also easily get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ps. I wrote most of this answer before noticing the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/458/how-to-let-an-indoor-cat-have-some-outdoors-time-safely&quot;&gt;How to let an indoor cat have some outdoors time safely?&lt;/a&gt; thread, which also has some pictures of outdoor cat enclosures.  I figured I'd post this anyway, because it's still a valid answer and shows a somewhat different style of enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="477" LastEditorUserId="477" LastEditDate="2019-04-11T00:38:20.143" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T00:38:20.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24098" CreationDate="2019-04-10T22:29:29.490" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our African Gray parrots do the same thing; I think it is a greeting as much as anything. However, I do break open the sheaths on new neck feathers . In the wild, birds will open these new feathers for each other. You can feel the smooth shafts , pinching them between fingernails releases the new feather. The bird will pull away and may bite if you get a shaft that is not ready. Both we and the vets have never seen a problem on these birds.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T15:52:35.023" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T15:52:35.023" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24123" CreationDate="2019-04-11T01:11:24.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that you are sitting at the table and the dog approaches you, sits or stands or lies down very close to you, and looks at you imploringly, urging you to give him some food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say your mother taught him to beg. Sitting up in a begging posture when asked is fine, so I am assuming that she &quot;taught&quot; him to beg for food by giving him titbits, either deliberately or unknowingly, perhaps from the table. If she has been feeding him from the table in this way, rewarding him for begging, you have to make sure she stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing you have to do is to train him to do something else instead, which you can do by rewarding him to go to a special place when you are eating. Consider teaching him a special thing like shaking hands or a high five, if he doesn't already do both of these, or you can still use one of them if he does, and reward him with a tasty treat which isn't what you're eating. Make say a hand up be the cue. It's OK to start doing this at mealtimes, a few times only, then once only, then get up from your chair at the table and take the interaction over to another part of the room, or to another room entirely, perhaps to his basket, and stop doing it from the table. He may ask once or twice for you to do it when you're at the table, but if he does, ignore him. The idea is that he goes and waits nicely, without pestering you, and then at the end of the meal, once you've cleared up, you go and shake hands with him or give him a high five, and give him a nice treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14666" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T01:11:24.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24190" CreationDate="2019-04-11T01:42:48.047" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 14 year old American Short Hair has three spots on her ears and now one on her forehead where there is light hair loss, and in the centre is a small red dot like blood congealed over an insect bite or sting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took her to the vet's last month, and even though one spot still had the dot remaining he said it was nothing in particular and just wait for the hair to grow back. Since then two more spots have appeared, so what might be the cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's an indoor cat, but hadn't recently been treated for fleas etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've since used Broadline, but that caused a 5 cm diameter bald patch at the application point!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="757" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T11:16:09.320" Title="Skin condition causing red spots and light hair loss" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-11T02:17:58.527" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get a collar with a bell.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to say that the best and easiest way to solve this problem is to get a collar and put a small bell on it.  The bell will provide enough warning that the vast majority of birds will have enough warning to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you say that you have difficulty keeping a collar on your cat.  I admit I don't quite understand this -- it's not like cats can remove their own collars.  Maybe you aren't putting the collar on tight enough?  Don't strangle your cat, but make it tight enough that it doesn't slip over the head easily or at all.  I like using a breakaway collar that the cat can get out of in an emergency but put it on tightly enough that an emergency is unlikely to arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the issue is that your cat doesn't &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; the collar and claws at it or whatever, that's a temporary thing.  After a few weeks, your cat will probably be fine with it.  If the issue is that you're using a breakaway collar and the collar keeps breaking away, just accept that you'll need to buy a replacement collar every few months or so.  You mention that a collar only lasts a few days but I suspect that was either a statistical aberration, the collar was improperly attached, or the breakaway device unlatched too easily.  Maybe try a different brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bell and collar is effective and not that big of an expense -- certainly small compared to building a massive fence around your yard or moving elsewhere or other options apparently under consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14667" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T02:17:58.527" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-11T02:30:47.457" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would encourage you to keep trying things, even if they don't seem to work or have not worked in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have suggested, try various things to &lt;strong&gt;make indoors more appealing&lt;/strong&gt;, so he has less of an urge to venture outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play with him.  A lot.&lt;/strong&gt;  No, even more than that.  Give him an outlet for all that energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's really food motivated, it should be possible to train him to accept a collar eventually - just keep at it!  And once you do, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/save-birds-embarrassing-your-cat-180954383/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the right collar can really help out Team Bird&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.  That article cites a small study where a brightly colored collar appeared to reduce Team Cat's kill count by 54%, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.birdsbesafe.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;the current website for a company that sells such collars&lt;/a&gt; cites a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989415000050&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;study that claims 87%&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even an 87% reduction is still only a reduction, and not an elimination, however.  The only surefire method to completely prevent bird killings by your cat appears to be keeping him indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14668" LastEditorUserId="14668" LastEditDate="2019-04-11T19:28:12.573" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T19:28:12.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-11T06:28:45.307" Score="1" ViewCount="758" Body="&lt;p&gt;My adult cat is 4 years old. My kitten is 4 months old. They are both female. The adult is spayed and the kitten is not (but will be soon). They have been living together for 2 months now, and were starting to get along, but the kitten won't leave the cat alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat, who is wonderful and playful, has lost all her usual temperament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She swipes at me when I try to pet her, only stays in the house to eat, and then has recently been trying to re-home herself with our neighbors (who we do not know, so that's fun). She was just gone for 3 days til we found her on a neighborhood ad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten is sweet but definitely a kitten. She won't give anyone space. She plays with everyone all the time and meows constantly every time she is in a room by herself. And if the kitten finds us, she sits on/with us, thus eliminating our one-on-one time with the cat. The cat will no longer relax in a room when the kitten is there, thus producing an endless cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have demonstrated to the kitten that she should back off and shown the cat attention, but it's not really enough if I'm away at work most of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how long to wait this out or if I should rehome the kitten, which I would really rather not do, especially since they had started bonding before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help me please!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T11:03:23.220" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T11:03:23.220" Title="Adult cat not getting along with new kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24164" CreationDate="2019-04-11T13:18:08.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do disagree with most answers posted so far, because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cats are natural predators who should have lot of physical exercise.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Locking a cat into an apartment/house in my opinion is animal abuse, &#xA;especially if the cat was/is used to be a free roaming cat most of it's life.&#xA;Cats aren't the smartest beings but imagine being locked into the same few sq. meters for the rest of your life. &lt;strong&gt;That's torture.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try different types of collars, especially ones with flashy colors.&#xA;But be sure that he does not choke himself while trying to get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try feeding him more because the amount a cat hunts and/or how far away from it's sleeping spot a cat walks is directly correlated to how much food they have.&#xA;Nevertheless cats do hunt for fun so that will reduce but not stop cats from killing birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just see how many birds your cat brings and if he brings so many that you think it is a endangering a whole ecosystem then I would take action.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;A single cat is unlikely to kill a sufficient amount of birds that the purpose of a bird sanctuary isn't fulfilled anymore.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally I do want to add, nevertheless I think cats should roam freely, that you do check whether it is even legal for you to have your cat outside if it's a proper nature-sanctuary because dogs are usually not allowed to walk freely in those areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14676" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T13:18:08.697" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24160" CreationDate="2019-04-11T14:52:12.740" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeding cats in the same household different diets is a logistical nightmare (been there, done that!) so sympathies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Royal Canin's stance is &quot;only feed them to your pet if your vet has recommended them&quot;, now this doesn't mean that your healthy cat would automatically be in for harm if they ate the prescription diet, but there would likely be problems long term if this was the only food the healthy cat had access to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dietary adaptions for cats with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) primarily involve reducing protein intake (in order to reduce the load on the kidneys), however cats typically need quite a lot of protein in their diet (for lean muscle mass, coat, etc). specialized foods such as the Royal Canin Renal varieties try and mitigate the reduced protein levels by using protein sources that aren't too hard on the kidneys but still they ultimately have a significantly lower protein content then a &quot;normal&quot; complete cat food. (RC Renal has a ~23% protein content vs the 33-40% found in their non-renal care foods) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if his sister steals the odd nibble at his &quot;special&quot; food it's not going to be a problem - as long as she is getting adequate protein through her own food. Him stealing some of her's is more likely to cause problems though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T14:52:12.740" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24176" CreationDate="2019-04-11T17:10:29.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens are, as I'm sure you've noticed, very high energy animals. They're also still learning how to hunt, chase, and wrestle with prey, much of which they tend to learn from other cats, but that doesn't mean you can't redirect some of that play-fighting energy elsewhere. Conversely, adult cats, while still sometimes playful, will tend to be lower energy in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help redirect the kitten's energy away from the older cat when she's tired of it, you'll need something on which to direct it. You mentioned in a comment that you play with her when you're home; if your husband isn't doing the same, that will also help by giving her a third playmate. Interactive toys and more direct &quot;wrestling&quot; are both good options to get her worn down; direct play with you will have a similar advantage to direct play with other cats, by teaching her more control with her claws and teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also want to make sure she has sufficient toys available, and that they're of a type she likes. Every cat has their own preferences, so if you haven't done so already, get a variety pack of toys and see which ones she goes for the most often, then get her more toys of that type. If you have furniture under which toys can disappear, clean them out more frequently or consider options for stopping toys from going underneath in the first place, to help ensure she always has a wide selection of toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also want to make sure the older cat has sanctuary locations where she can do her best to disengage from the kitten. Cat towers or higher locations are good for this, as kittens are often still learning how high they can jump and may have a hard time reaching the same locations the older cat is able to access. This will allow the cat sufficient time away from the kitten regardless of the kitten's interests; the kitten will likely lose interest in playing with the cat shortly after the cat leaves, and should redirect her energy toward her toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, the ideal solution for the kitten is actually a second kitten, but this isn't always ideal for the humans involved. Many organizations recommend adopting two kittens at once (and some will even offer a discount on the combined adoption fee to encourage it) because it gives them another animal with similar energy levels onto which they can direct their own play energy. Without the second kitten, ensuring there are as many alternate outlets for that energy as possible is the best way to help keep the peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-04-11T17:10:29.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24182" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-12T00:57:57.427" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my wife adopted a cat about a month ago. He hasn’t ate or drank much in the month we have had him. He is always hiding and just doesn’t move much at all. We have taken him to a our vet, and they found nothing wrong with him. But he is eating less and less. We have to put food in front of him, and he only eats one or two bites. We can’t think of anything else to do, and we are thinking of putting him to sleep, just to easy his pain. What is the last thing we want to do. Can anyone help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14687" LastEditorUserId="10263" LastEditDate="2019-04-12T01:03:49.397" LastActivityDate="2019-06-13T11:43:12.397" Title="I desperately need help with my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24182" CreationDate="2019-04-12T01:35:35.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't put him to sleep!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet did not find any problem with him. After a month of underfeeding, the cat should have been a dangerous health state. The only possible explanation, if you say the truth, that he eats while you are sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult cats, if they were grown up without getting many love from humans, practically can't learn that we are not a deadly danger. More exactly, they can, but it can last years long. Until that, the cat will behave to you like to a deadly enemy. These cats are mostly put to sleep, others are let off to become a stray cat. Rarely they find a human who spends that year to them. &lt;em&gt;Your cat is clearly not this case.&lt;/em&gt; Such cats are agressive and never allow a human to touch them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Handle his malnourishment.&lt;/strong&gt; You have no way to know, how did he live before you. Some cats get the same (dry) food in their entire &quot;life&quot;. These cats might have problem to understand, that they got food. &lt;em&gt;Give him multiple foods, both dry and wet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can feed a cat. I would say &quot;force-feeding&quot;, except that it is not by force. (If the cat is not agressive or fearful.) Roughly so:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qjcTc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qjcTc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works also for adults, at least if they are tame. Probably you won't need to do that by force. Put the cat into your lap, open his mouth, and push the cat food into it. If he feels that there is food in his mouth, he will gulp it. It is a reflex, his depression won't affect it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it does not work, or you fear the skin on your hands, you can also use an injection needle (without the metal part!!!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oc4ep.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oc4ep.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can inject the food with the needle into his mouth, where the red arrow points. So you won't risk your hands, the problem is that you need a big needle any many time, to feed an adult cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forget the dry food, cats want wet.&lt;/strong&gt; Give him also multiple foods: milk (cat milk! Cow milk will make him sick!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give him time.&lt;/strong&gt; A month is long, but not very long. Male cats are much more adaptive, but they need time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take him to another wet.&lt;/strong&gt; Make a blood test! Check his teeths!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leave him food every night in his tray.&lt;/strong&gt; If you have luck, next morning it will be empty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And, the final cat anti-depressant.&lt;/strong&gt; Buy a laser pointer and check if he wants to play with it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/74HBq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/74HBq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the teeth of the cats are okay, and the blood test doesn't show anything, I think he has just depression. Probably he lived with an old woman, with little events in his life, but in a very stable world. Or his life happened in a shelter until now, in a cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He needs a new, also very stable world, always with good wet food, always on the same place, some months long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10263" LastEditorUserId="10263" LastEditDate="2019-04-12T01:43:56.043" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T01:43:56.043" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-12T01:43:45.107" Score="8" ViewCount="1468" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted both cats from the shelter on the same day. The younger one was 1 year old or so and the other was closer to 2 years old the vet said. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had them for 14 years and they really didn’t play together at all with the one taking over and the other was okay with her doing that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They rarely sat or laid next to one another and even rarer played together with the most being laying in wait then chase the other for a few minutes.&#xA;However we both work during the day and have no idea what they did while we were gone for 10-12 hours of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After her sister passed 6 weeks ago now she has been constantly crying, we let her sit with us but she only sits with us for a few minutes then leaves still crying. &#xA;We don’t know what to do at this point, we tried playing with her more but she just gets bored after a few seconds, we have tried feathers, laser lights, getting on the floor with her, etc. but after a few minutes she starts crying again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We thought at first she was grieving but it’s been 6 weeks and she hasn’t let up at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She won’t let us sleep and that’s affecting our work now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions ? Not sure if she needs a new buddy or not as we’ve read that often that’s not the solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14688" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T23:31:21.927" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T23:31:21.927" Title="Have an older cat that lost her sister and now meows all the time, why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-12T02:37:01.933" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m in need of help with my cats. To preface, I’d like to consider myself one who knows a great deal about cats and behavior. I’ve read a number of books and have searched webs and watched many videos. I felt like I could answer a great deal of issues; however, until my issue finally arrived. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three cats. Nimbus, male, age 6, neutered, adopted at the age of 3 and he’s 6 now. He is the sweetest boy. Short hair cat. He’s very special. My fiancée and I would almost think he has some special needs, mentally. He loves chatting to himself as he walks around and pets the walls and does other odd behavior. But he’s always been so timid. Not around humans, just around sudden movements or sounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We added Zora, female long haired, age 4, spayed, adopted at age 4 and introduced the two in January of 2019. The introduction was rough. We did the classic introduction process, and found that when we finally allowed them to live together, she would always hiss and growl when he was around. No fights or swings. Just growls and hiss. Nimbus would run away in fright and that would be the end of it. Zora was always sweet to my fiancée and I immediately after too. We ended up moving and we think that the change of scenery helped them. They were almost inquisitive and timid together. They would search the new house together and she would hiss and growl only occasionally. By mid February, they were sitting in the window together, sunbathing and nimbus would be grooming her head. She would hiss every now and again but February was great for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, I presume the problem, was February 27, we added a 7 week old kitten, Pippin. Male, now 14 weeks, not neutered, not spraying yet (too young), adopted from the pound. He was so little. When we added him, Zora went back to territorial hissing and growling. She would growl and hiss at anyone again. Pip didn’t really understand, and just sat there. Nimbus would run. Zora continued to growl and hiss at Nimbus, when when Pip wasn’t around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read Jackson Galaxys book, Cat Mojo, where I learned to switch them to a raw food diet (which they have been on a commercial raw diet for 7 weeks now), we play with them before meals, and we have gotten an additional cat tree (2 total), 3 litter boxes (spread throughout home and in social areas) and allowed vertical space. Zora gravitates to the vertical space. Nimbus is a ground dweller, except for the top spot on our first cat tree, which Zora never touches. Pip tends to cuddle with us and tends to stay away from Zora. Pip and Nimbus do play together. Nimbus also grooms pip a couple times a day. Sometimes he will do a little cute hiss when he’s annoyed, but it generally turns into Pip getting groomed anyway. They’ve been cuddling more and more as well. At first Nimbus was timid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, after instilling these tactics above, Nimbus has perhaps gotten too confident? I’m not quite sure but several times a day he will go after Zora. Though, it seems completely harmless. He never growls, he never bites, never scratches or even uses his claws. Hell just get close to her and she’ll start growling and hissing and then she’ll walk away to a window, and then nimbus will slowly follow, and slowly try to touch her with his paw, all the while ears straight up. It’s almost as if he’s missing the social cues of Zora’s hisses. He will get bossed and growled and sometimes screamed at and he just kind of takes a step back, looks shocked, and then either walked away or backs into the wall. But in the end he often goes right back to seemingly antagonize her. But I promise it’s not malicious. It’s like a little boy who doesn’t understand. It’s been getting increasingly worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today. I witnessed Zora sitting on the ground like a loaf, and I heard screaming from Zora. I looked back and saw nimbus almost mounting her as she was screaming and running away. It looked like a sexual position but didn’t seem sexual in nimbus’ demeanor. I also couldn’t possibly think of him doing it just to be “dominate.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats share the three litter boxes, no accidents outside or any spraying. There are stray cats around Fort Benning but very very few, and I don’t believe my cats have even seen them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, Zora, being a long haired cat, tends to groom. Perhaps over groom. After hissing she will stop and groom for a few seconds. During play, she will stop suddenly and groom for a few seconds. We’ll be petting her (softly, on the head) and she will start to get her swishy tail. She’ll head butt my hand and I’ll keep going but she might do a little love bite. No pressure. I’ll keep going and then sometimes it might be a hard bite (not puncture skin or mark) and she’ll bring her two hands to grab my hand. And then she’ll go to loaf position and turn away, then of course groom for a few seconds. She’s happy in the sun, away from the others, and of course when she’s eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings me to the last wrench in the issue. Zora and Pippin are crazy over food. When cooking, Zora will be on the counters (which we’ve recently added Sticky Paws to deter) trying to get our food. Pippin will be on the ground meowing, begging for food. We only fear the day he can jump onto the counters. Sometimes he’ll jump and cling to pants and climb up to try and get food. We feed them all twice a day. They are a healthy weight. When preparing their food, they go nuts. Zora will be singing and Pippin will be screaming. When the food is ready, they will sprint to where we feed them and it’s impossible to put one dish down at a time. Both Zora and Pippin will be doing everything they can to get to the dish. Nimbus never begs and is fairly quiet. He’s very patient. When we do manage to get the dishes down, Zora and Pippin eat unbelievably fast. Nimbus very slow and gentle. Pippin literally vacuum sucks his food. But he has never puked it up. Zora normally finishes moments after. I always stand and watch to make sure everyone eats their own and only their own. Once the plates are pretty much clean, I let them go to each other’s empty dishes to lick them. Zora will be at one dish and Pippin will come over and join. This is the strangest part of all, she doesn’t growl, or hiss. She normally lets him take it and she’ll quietly go to another. Sometimes she’ll do a vocalization when he butts his little kitten head in, but she’ll just walk away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I will say Zora never uses her claws on Pippin or Nimbus. Sometimes she’ll swat at them (not the play swat) and try to get Nimbus to go away or Pippin to get away from her when he sometimes gets caught under her. It’s never seemingly harmful to the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14689" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-04-22T12:38:31.160" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T12:38:31.160" Title="My cats used to groom each other, now they are fighting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-04-29T13:39:06.040" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24195" CreationDate="2019-04-12T10:41:00.120" Score="3" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't say it is their nature and they just do it. Because then it would be a dog's nature to poop in a house (which my dog never does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have 2 parrots, for some reason the one NEVER poops on me. Worst case he will lean backwards to not hit me. I have no idea where he learnt this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my other parrot does not care about pooping on me at all. He will just poop while walking or doing anything. Any ideas? It has come to a point where I can't really put him on my shoulder (which he loves) because I am really grossed out about poop on me. And I don't want to be one of those people who act like poop on my shoulder is not a big deal. And I don't want to carry a towel on my shoulder either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14694" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T18:33:01.023" Title="How to train my parrot to not poop on me?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24173" CreationDate="2019-04-12T11:16:09.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was adopted at four and when we introduced her to a kitten a few months later, she became very stressed. She didn’t have the blood marks but she did have several scabs across her body. All in places that you wouldn’t think her paws or mouth could reach. (Back of the neck, certain part of belly, head, and mid to base of spine). There were probably 4-5 total. She had fleas before but none of my cats go outside and the kitten was flea free. So we ruled out fleas. She didn’t seem to notice the little scabs but I could feel them. We didn’t notice any hair loss to a major level but perhaps a little. We just continued to monitor her and they eventually all went away. We brushed her everyday and made sure she was getting a good diet and water. I think they were stress induced some how. I’m no vet, or student of feline science, but I do know that cats are over sensitive to everything. My girl was a long hair cat as well, which makes her even more sensitive. Look to see if there’s anything that has stressed her out. Does she itch at them? Bite at them? If this is the case it might be some kind of bug or insect. If they don’t go away, or if you notice another pop up, I would bring back to the vet. Perhaps another vet too, to get cross information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14689" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T11:16:09.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-12T11:18:32.490" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been mixing antibiotics and steroids for my dog in his food, without realising that this is often mixed in hot (almost boiling) water, to make it more appealing to him. Has this neutralised the effect of the medication?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14695" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T11:18:32.490" Title="Can I dissolve antibiotics and steroids in warm water for my dog?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24186" CreationDate="2019-04-12T11:19:14.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal cats ;-) What is the complex problem? I don't get it. Hissing between cats is just a way to say &quot;STOP IT, NOW!&quot; I have two cats - sisters. We are together 8 years now. They communicate with hissing almost every day then sleep embracing, hiss again, and one would jump out of place - never bite or scratch each other, but pretend to be tough all time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14686" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T11:19:14.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24103" CreationDate="2019-04-12T11:37:52.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I’m not to sure about hypoallergenic food. While the vet is an excellent source of knowledge and expertise, I find that they simply provide more complex answers to potentially simple problems. Cats are obligate carnivores. They need meat and bone and organs. If your cat was outside, she would resort to mice, moths, bees, birds, squirrels, etc. All of these are high protein and nearly zero carbohydrates. The vegetables they get are from whatever traces of greens that are in the bellies of their prey. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your biggest concern is her water intake. She is old and needs water more than ever. Cats need water for their organs to function. A day or two without water and their little organs begin to fail. They also naturally (are supposed to) get 80% of their water intake from food. Don’t go out and buy all these hard foods. They are high and carbs and will do nothing to help your sweet old lady. Skip the next vet trip to try a 6th hypoallergenic food. Your best bet is to feed her raw food. There are so many articles out there to help learn how to feed your cat raw food. It’s simply the best way to feed your cat. If she is healthy (other than her lack of eating), then switching to a raw diet will likely push her past a typical cats life barrier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of commercial raw diets that are super convenient and priced fairly. I use Darwin Pet Products. You can also make your own meals for even cheaper, given you have a meat grinder. There are a number of recipes online for “raw cat diet recipes.” Lastly, to help transition your cat to the raw, I would implement the tactics you did above. Use the tuna as your “gotcha” food and mix it with the raw and slowly wade off the tuna. Perhaps even use the tuna water and even less tuna to save her from the metals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alas, If this route is not the route for you, the next bet would be to try a good wet food. I found that all my cats preferred “Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers” before I switched to raw. One cat would only eat that over other cat products. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps! Take care! And give her a good pet for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14689" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-04-12T14:00:27.300" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T14:00:27.300" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24189" CreationDate="2019-04-12T15:34:43.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; birds can be effectively potty trained (although not all - it varies from individual bird to individual bird). There's no hard and fast rules to work out whether they can or not - you just have to give it a try and see if it works. That said you'll stand a better chance with larger birds (who can &quot;hold&quot; the poop longer than smaller ones such as budgies) and the younger the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before you begin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observe your bird for a few days, you should be able to pick up on some behavioral clues that they are about to defecate. Most will have a little mannerism or stance that they do  - you just need to work out what your bird's is. You should also be able to pick up on your bird's routine - some will do it at specific times of day or in response to certain events such as eating a meal. Make a note of how long they typically go between defecating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train them to defecate in response to a command - you can use a spoken word/phrase or a clicker. If going for a verbal command you want it to be something that a) isn't likely to come up in general conversation and b) you don't mind if your bird picks up to say itself (if your parrot is a talker!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when you see the cues you picked up on earlier have the bird &quot;step up&quot; to where you want them to defecate and say the command. Try and keep the intonation of the command as much the same as possible to make it easier to learn - they don't understand the language but instead will be picking up on how it &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, when the bird defecates reward it with a treat/fuss/praise - ideally you want to be giving this treat &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; for defecating on command during training or you risk confusing them and getting some unwanted pooping!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will take a few repetitions to sink in - how many will depend on the individual bird. But eventually you should be able to get them to defecate on command (rather than on their schedule) Some never get there! Some will learn to defecate on command but won't ever get the additional step of &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; doing it elsewhere - which obviously wouldn't solve your problem. This is where the time interval we observed earlier came in - if you want to have your parrot on your shoulder you can have them poop on command, then you know that you have a certain amount of time before they need to go again and can take them back to the toilet to do it in advance of them taking matters into their own hands (feathers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DO NOT&lt;/strong&gt; Use punishment or reprimands - it doesn't work with birds, and can easily have the opposite to the desired effect and lead to them defecating for attention!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T15:34:43.337" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24186" CreationDate="2019-04-12T15:38:41.687" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zora is probably stressed out. Grooming can be for stress relief. If she's doing it right after hissing at the other cats, that's almost certainly the reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think Zora might need a break. I would suggest separating her from the other cats for a while, maybe a week, and then doing a gradual re-introduction, as if you were introducing them the first time. That is, letting them be in contact for each other for gradually increasing amounts of time over a slow period, say another week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think also you should be tiring out Nimbus and Pippin more. If they're tired from playing with you, they'll not want to bother Zora as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also suggest to supervise the cats more. If you see them looking like they're going to bother Zora, try to distract them by playing with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also make sense to keep them separated for those periods where you can't supervise them for a long time, like at night. Cats often get bored at night and get up to mischief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T15:38:41.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24198" CreationDate="2019-04-12T17:39:46.003" Score="4" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;My adult male cat was treated for FLUTD and our vet recommended that I feed him &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/us/cats/products/vet-products/feline-urinary-so-dry-cat-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin's Feline Urinary SO dry kibble&lt;/a&gt; and canned food from here on out.  Both of these contain cereal grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before he was treated, I had him on a diet of whatever grain-free kibble was available near me (typically Taste of the Wild or Canidae), supplemented with canned varieties of the same brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to return him to a grain-free diet, but I am worried that taking him off of the vet-recommended Royal Canin diet will cause further urinary complications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any grain-free dietary options I can explore that will reduce the risk of FLUTD as well as (or nearly as well as) the Royal Canin SO diet?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am open to trying raw meats/offal options so long as they do not pose a risk of exacerbating struvite crystal formation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14696" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T21:55:26.320" Title="Grain-free Options for Preventing Struvite Crystal Formation" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24197" CreationDate="2019-04-12T18:01:07.507" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With urinary crystals, flushing them out before they can form to a problematic size is key; struvite crystals are primarily caused by insufficient hydration and alkaline urine. The first step is to move away from kibble, grain-free or otherwise, and &lt;strong&gt;switch to a canned or raw diet&lt;/strong&gt; (depending on what your cat will eat, some will not eat raw foods). Cats evolved to get most of their hydration from food, not standing or flowing water sources; canned cat food is ~75% water, where kibble is ~5-10%. Note that this doesn't mean you can skip out on offering standing/flowing water options; ideally, &lt;strong&gt;provide both bowls and one or more fountains for your cat&lt;/strong&gt;, so he has choices on which to drink from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grain free&lt;/strong&gt; will be the next consideration when choosing the new food options; most higher-end foods will be grain free, but as always, read and understand the labeling before making a choice. &lt;strong&gt;Higher meat content&lt;/strong&gt; foods will result in a more acidic urine, helping to prevent crystal formation; the plant matter (cereal grains, etc) in the prescription diet skew the urine pH toward alkalinity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is particularly prone to crystal formation, you may also wish to look at &lt;strong&gt;lower-phosphate foods&lt;/strong&gt;, however, this information can be difficult to find from most manufacturers, and is rarely on the labels themselves. You'll need to look up charts compiled by the company, which may not be available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While in most cases, it's worth understanding and keeping your cat on a vet-prescribed diet, unfortunately, in the case of Royal Canin Urinary SO, the &quot;secret ingredient&quot; is extra salt to attempt to provoke the cat to drink more water; it's much easier to introduce hydration to the cat via food than the feline equivalent of free bar snacks. Do &lt;strong&gt;speak to your vet about the change in food&lt;/strong&gt;, anticipate some pushback, and agree to additional monitoring the cat if needed during the dietary change. I've been in your situation in the past, with the same prescription diet, and found definitive positive results in my cat's health by moving him from SO to a grain-free, meat-based, canned diet; the results were proven out by subsequent urinalysis performed by a skeptical veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T18:01:07.507" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24189" CreationDate="2019-04-12T18:33:01.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 African grey parrots; When we take them out of the cages ( usually first thing in the morning) , the first thing is to put them on the &quot;poop stand&quot; where they almost always immediately poop. I think we started by not picking them up until after they pooped, no rewards or punishment. As I remember they picked it up very quickly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-04-12T18:33:01.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-13T05:22:18.500" Score="7" ViewCount="1910" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two stray cats (around 6-7 months old I guess) near my house. I often feed them boiled chicken or cooked egg yolk. About 10 days ago I started giving them Whiskas Dry Kitten Food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few days ago I observed a hair loss small spot on one of the cat's head (Zag). And now it has grown in size. &#xA;I tried to look for fleas or ticks but couldn't find much, as he doesn't allow me to search through his hair a lot. There's a similar small stripe like spot on his body, but it's small in size now.&#xA;I know ideally I'm supposed to take Zag to the Vet, but being a student I'm really low on budget. Also I can't take them in because of my apartment issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that he might be having an allergy to the cat food? His brother (Zig) is fine and has no such signs of hair loss. They sleep together most of the times, so if it would have been an infection it should have spread to his brother too, right?&#xA;Zag's behaviour is pretty normal he plays a lot and grooms himself too.&#xA;On the contrary, once I started feedinng Zig catfood he has become more playful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be grateful if anyone having any clue about such hair loss pattern could tell me what it could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CPlsw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CPlsw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LX963.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LX963.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4jRBX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4jRBX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zig (His Brother)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kshTA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kshTA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14702" LastEditorUserId="14702" LastEditDate="2019-04-14T08:13:48.260" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T04:48:08.163" Title="Hair loss on stray cat's head behind ears" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-13T11:43:03.020" Score="-1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone understand what is this dog's race? It looks like a pit-bull. If not what kind of dog is this? Is this dangerous when it grows for my cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rgIb4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rgIb4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14704" LastActivityDate="2019-04-13T12:54:29.653" Title="Is this dog a pitbull?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-04-13T13:04:50.307" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24203" CreationDate="2019-04-13T12:42:45.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you aren't aware of your dog's pedigree, it's pretty likely your dog is a mix, but there is no way to really know for sure without genetic testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the question of &quot;is it a pit bull,&quot; it also depends on what you are asking. There is an actual breed of dog known as the American Pit Bull Terrier. And of course, no one can tell if your dog is of that breed for sure without genetic testing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But people also use the word &quot;pit bull&quot; to mean a general type of dog rather than a specific breed. They will apply it to mixes of a specific body type, as well as multiple distinct breeds of a similar body type such as the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Your dog fits into this body type, so in that sense, yes, it is a pit bull. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the question, &quot;is it a danger to cats,&quot; that is also unknown. The breed may have some correlation towards a tendency to aggression with cats, but it's by no means the rule. Rather, it's all dependent on the individual disposition of the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pit bulls in particular have an undeserved reputation for aggression, probably because the pit bull look is associated with dog fighting, or because there are many, many dogs that fit into the class &quot;pit bull,&quot; and they are very probably more likely to have inexperienced owners, versus another breed you have to go out of your way to try to acquire. But any dog mistreated or badly trained in that fashion would likely be aggressive also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-04-13T12:54:29.653" LastActivityDate="2019-04-13T12:54:29.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-14T01:18:23.517" Score="6" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I've been told by the vet to consider spaying our almost 3-year-old Jindo dog. We haven't spayed the dog for four reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A while back, doing some light research on google (meaning I only read the first few search results) revealed that spaying brings on its own set of problems, and haven't found any article, particularly scholarly ones, that pushes the spaying from &quot;recommended&quot; to &quot;you must.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I just find it hard to that the product of evolution has resulted in a species with so many health issues. While a lot of modern dogs, specifically those from &quot;developed&quot; nations have been bred for particular traits over generations, sometimes resulting in overbreeding that results in over-elongated dachshunds or snore-y pugs, Jindo dogs, from my understanding, haven't gone through such human intervention and simply followed the &quot;survival of the fittest&quot; rule. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My dog, without much effort on my part, has been healthy: she eats well, walks well, runs well, inhibits healthy squirrel chasing dog behaviors, and stays trim all on her own. At the very minimum, I walk her 40 mins a day to up to an hour every day. So far, she's seen three different vets in three different places we have lived, and they all said she is healthy. Combined with reason #2, I find it hard to believe that such a healthy dog would just start to develop problems because such problems are inherent to the species. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lastly, I don't want to alter her in any way unless necessary. It's a medical procedure, and we're messing with biology. More than anything, it's an ethical issue; my dog may not be able to talk, but she has a right to her own body. Barring any medical emergency, I want to respect that right. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I don't come across as some fringe anti-vaxx, flat-earther kind of person by expressing my skepticism about the generally accepted practice of spaying and neutering. My view is partly tinged by the fact that I know vets and animal shelters recommend it for the reason of controlling the animal population. (my dog is leashed 100% of the time she's outside, except on rare occasions when we go to the dog park, which we don't go unless we're 100% convinced that she's not in her heat cycle). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that is to ask: where can I find some definite, credible statistics on the health effects of spaying dogs? I know it's hard to find articles on such a generic topic, so if I can get some sources on the effect of spaying on breast cancer, or some other major life-threatening issues in intact dogs, I'd really appreciate it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this article (&lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2011.01220.x&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2011.01220.x&lt;/a&gt;, in the conclusion), this issue apparently isn't as studied as much as the rate of recommendation would have you believe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8683" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T11:53:07.433" Title="Scholarly article on health effects of spaying a dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24202" CreationDate="2019-04-14T05:17:54.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The spot behind the right ear of your cat does look like an insect bite, most likely after a tick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find a tiny bit of swelling in the skin of your cat right where the bald spot is. Most of my cats have had this every summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not look infected so you do not need to treat it, but to avoid this in the future you can get &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/FRONTLINE-Spot-Cats-6-Pipettes/dp/B0014WJAOU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Frontline&lt;/a&gt; to keep the ticks away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment is effective against fleas and external parasites too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spot might be a skin puncture by a claw from another cat too, so it is good if you keep an eye on it if it gets infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T04:48:08.163" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T04:48:08.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-14T06:12:04.300" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I've been told by the vet to consider spaying our almost 3-year-old Jindo dog. We haven't spayed the dog for four reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A while back, doing some light research on google (meaning I only read the first few search results) revealed that spaying brings on its own set of problems, and haven't found any article, particularly scholarly ones, that pushes the spaying from &quot;recommended&quot; to &quot;you must.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I just find it hard to that the product of evolution has resulted in a species with so many health issues. While a lot of modern dogs, specifically those from &quot;developed&quot; nations have been bred for particular traits over generations, sometimes resulting in overbreeding that results in over-elongated dachshunds or snore-y pugs, Jindo dogs, from my understanding, haven't gone through such human intervention and simply followed the &quot;survival of the fittest&quot; rule. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My dog, without much effort on my part, has been healthy: she eats well, walks well, runs well, inhibits healthy squirrel chasing dog behaviors, and stays trim all on her own. At the very minimum, I walk her 40 mins a day to up to an hour every day. So far, she's seen three different vets in three different places we have lived, and they all said she is healthy. Combined with reason #2, I find it hard to believe that such a healthy dog would just start to develop problems because such problems are inherent to the species. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lastly, I don't want to alter her in any way unless necessary. It's a medical procedure, and we're messing with biology. More than anything, it's an ethical issue; my dog may not be able to talk, but she has a right to her own body. Barring any medical emergency, I want to respect that right. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I don't come across as some fringe anti-vaxx, flat-earther kind of person by expressing my skepticism about the generally accepted practice of spaying and neutering. My view is partly tinged by the fact that I know vets and animal shelters recommend it for the reason of controlling the animal population. (my dog is leashed 100% of the time she's outside, except on rare occasions when we go to the dog park, which we don't go unless we're 100% convinced that she's not in her heat cycle). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that is to ask: where can I find some definite, credible statistics on the percentage of vets that recommend spaying/neutering? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you'd like to comment on the health effect of spaying versus status quo, please do it in my other question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/24205/scholarly-article-on-health-effects-of-spaying-a-dog&quot;&gt;Scholarly article on health effects of spaying a dog&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this article (&lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2011.01220.x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2011.01220.x&lt;/a&gt;, in the conclusion), this issue apparently isn't as studied as much as the rate of recommendation would have you believe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8683" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T06:12:04.300" Title="Scholarly article on the percentage of vets who recommend spaying/neutering" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-04-29T13:35:55.323" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24205" CreationDate="2019-04-14T07:05:07.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my counter arguments, for what it is worth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your thoughts on points one and three. Yes, there can be problems associated with spaying. These sorts of complications are also fairly uncommon. Spaying is a very common, routine procedure. Meanwhile, there are also many health risks associated with not spaying the animal. Such as pyometra (which is painful and potentially fatal, the risk increases greatly with age, and is treated by removing the uterus anyways), mammary tumors, tumors of the reproductive system, accidental pregnancy, any complications that arise from accidental pregnancy, and so forth. These things can happen randomly to an otherwise perfectly healthy dog.    Do not take your dog's good health now to mean something couldn't randomly change later.  I would speak to a vet about the health repercussions of spaying versus not, because they, being the experts, can speak to this in much more detail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the second point, I don't mean to be critical, but you are  wrong. For one thing, all dog breeds are the product of selective breeding to some degree. You can tell by the fact that dogs have different reproductive cycles from wolves, where wolves only have one litter a year, and dogs (with the exception of the basenji) are capable of more than one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, evolution is not about &quot;perfection,&quot; but rather what works well enough. Take, for example, the fact that birth in humans before modern obstetrics had an extremely high mortality rate due to the size of a baby's head versus the strange structure of human hips in order for us to walk upright, such that giving birth is generally much more risky for humans than animals. A baby's head must even rotate ninety degrees while passing through the birth canal in order to be able to fit. Women also have a huge range of medical issues that can be the indirect result of their never having been pregnant, or could possibly be corrected by a hysterectomy, like endometriosis or pcos, though many women choose not to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the fourth point, everyone must choose where to draw their own lines, but an animal cannot consent, and furthermore, as a pet owner, you will always have to make the choice of &quot;violating the animal's right to its own body&quot; versus doing a medical procedure that is necessary for the animal's greater well being. Even taking the animal to the vet is &quot;violating its consent&quot; as the vast majority of animals very obviously hate being handled by the vet. We do these things because we are responsible for the well being of the animal, and animals are incapable of understanding enough to make that choice. There are many compelling health reasons why I think you should choose to spay your animal, and therefore, I see it as fitting into the category of &quot;violating consent&quot; for its greater well being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you should take the concern of unwanted puppies into consideration, as you would also be responsible for their well being, and where they are ultimately homed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-04-14T08:10:03.420" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T08:10:03.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-14T08:11:30.500" Score="2" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was following the progress of a pregnant dog. When she gave birth the owner said two of the pups were born dead and she ate them. I'd never heard of this and a dog breeder told me this was normal. It just sounds a little horrifying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a dog to eat it's dead puppies when giving birth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T08:11:30.500" Title="Is it normal for a dog to eat it's dead puppies when giving birth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9920" CreationDate="2019-04-14T11:20:49.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you need to pet same natural like fishes if your really want to. Ember tetras are easy to keep with bettas due to same nature plus you need a tank bigger than 10 gallon. I have 50 gallon tank and i am not facing any difficulty to pet them both together. You can research on &lt;a href=&quot;https://probettafish.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;probettafish.com&lt;/a&gt; for further queries. It has helped me a lot also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14710" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T11:20:49.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24205" CreationDate="2019-04-14T11:53:07.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Pro Spaying:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opening phrase of the study &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2000.tb01165.x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effect of Spaying and Timing of Spaying on Survival of Dogs with Mammary Carcinoma&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is the reason why most vets advice spaying female dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The risk of developing mammary gland tumors in dogs is significantly decreased by ovariohysterectomy at an early age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It furthermore states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Signalment, spay status and spay age, tumor characteristics, treatment, survival, and cause of death of 137 dogs with mammary gland carcinoma were analyzed. The dogs were classified into 3 groups according to spay status and spay time: intact dogs, dogs spayed less than 2 years before tumor surgery (SPAY 1), and dogs spayed more than 2 years before their tumor surgery (SPAY 2). Dogs in the SPAY 1 group lived significantly longer than dogs in SPAY 2 and intact dogs (median survival of 755 days, versus 301 and 286 days, respectively, P= .02 and .03). After adjusting for differences between the spay groups with regard to age, histologic differentiation, and vascular invasion, SPAY 1 dogs survived 45% longer compared to dogs that were either intact or in the SPAY 2 group (RR = .55; 95% CI .32–93; P= .03). This study reveals ovariohysterectomy to be an effective adjunct to tumor removal in dogs with mammary gland carcinoma and that the timing of ovariohysterectomy is important in influencing survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pro and Contra Spaying&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/11787155&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The relationship of urinary incontinence to early spaying in bitches&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is still controversial whether a bitch should be spayed before or after the first oestrus. It would be desirable to spay bitches at an age that would minimize the side effects of neutering. With regard to the risk of mammary tumours, early spaying must be recommended because the incidence of tumours is reduced considerably. The aim of the present study was to determine whether early spaying also reduces the risk of urinary incontinence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Urinary incontinence after spaying occurred in 9.7% of bitches. This incidence is approximately half that of spaying after the first oestrus. Urinary incontinence affected 12.5% of bitches that were of a large body weight (&gt; 20 kg body weight) and 5.1% of bitches that were of a small body weight (&amp;lt; 20 kg body weight). The surgical procedure (ovariectomy versus ovariohysterectomy) had no influence on the incidence, or on the period between spaying and the occurrence of urinary incontinence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  However, compared with late spaying the clinical signs of urinary incontinence were more distinct after early spaying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shelbymarlo.com/canineneutering.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Effects of Spaying and Neutering on Canine Behavior&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaying of the female dog removes the source of estrogen and progesterone.Estrogen and progesterone are increased or decreased in cycles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The most notable problem arises when the dog guards items maternally. Other problems can involve irritability, conflict with other dogs and energy reduction. “Guarding toys,dolls, rags, slippers or anything else that can be carried is another common behavioralconsequence of the surge in progesterone.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Female dogs are at increased risk of disease if they are allowed to experience theirfirst heat. For this reason it is often suggested that a female dog be spayed prior to 6months of age. It would appear that dogs who demonstrate control complex aggression(aka dominance aggression) toward owners prior to 6 months of age are at risk forbecoming more aggressive after ovariohysterectomy. If a dog demonstrates a significantpropensity to control complex aggression it may be wise to avoid spaying these dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Contra Spaying:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3164.2008.00652.x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spaying‐induced coat changes&lt;/a&gt; found that spaying can lead to negative changes in the fur:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although spaying can result in qualitative hair coat changes in dogs, the influence of spaying on the hair growth cycle has never been described. [...]  Spaying resulted in increased plasma gonadotropin concentrations and increased anagen : telogen ratio of hair follicles, but only 20% of the dogs developed coat changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit of general advice: If you're searching for scientific papers or articles, use &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://scholar.google.com/&lt;/a&gt; instead of the &quot;normal&quot; google search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T11:53:07.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5743" CreationDate="2019-04-14T15:33:16.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had five doggies and five cats. I gave them all nutritional yeast flakes throughout the warm months. Not a one got fleas or ticks. I walked them in nature. This included the mountains and the high desert. We did not get flea bites, either. So, anecdotally, yes, I support that nutritional yeast flakes are very helpful as natural insect repellants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nutritional yeast flakes are also tasty on popcorn and as a dip for chips and veggies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14712" LastActivityDate="2019-04-14T15:33:16.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-14T21:42:39.883" Score="0" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad and cat hated each other and now my cat isn't afraid to be in the same room as him suddenly. I'm confused by this and want to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14628" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T04:08:08.267" Title="Is it possible for a cat to trust someone again?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-15T00:41:46.430" Score="0" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Note: I phrased this question after reading the help file. It is intended to be &quot;constructive subjective&quot;, &quot;[inviting the] sharing [of] experiences over opinions&quot; and soliciting only &quot;opinion [that is] backed up with facts and references&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Target sticks are used in many zoos when e.g. moving lions from room to room, and they are also used by some dog trainers who use the clicker approach and do not use lures of an edible kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the pros and cons of using a target stick together with a clicker when training a dog, for example in the shaping of behaviour? I am not quite sure how the target fits in with the theory. After all, it is all the same and unlike a cue such as a verbal cue it is not different for every behaviour. It is akin to the clicker itself in that regard, and yet it does not have the function of unconditionally promising a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14660" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T01:43:10.927" Title="What are the pros and cons of using a target together with a clicker in dog training?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-15T02:35:12.140" Score="3" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has never happened before. My fish are in a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank, they've been fed the exact amount every day, and none of them have had problems before (other than another incident with my - now moved - pearl gourami). This came relatively out of nowhere and I'm decently new to owning fish. Should I buy another tank? What can I do to keep the molly from acting out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14718" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:43:35.547" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T19:43:35.547" Title="My molly is nipping at one of the cherry barbs in my tank. What should I do? The barb is losing colour" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24215" CreationDate="2019-04-15T04:08:08.267" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes (obviously), but it depends on what you mean by &quot;trust&quot;. It looks like your dad is no longer triggering the &quot;fight or flight&quot; response in your cat. This may be because your dad has changed his behaviour in some (perhaps subtle) way (by giving up trying to be friends, for example), or your cat may simply have become habituated to your dad's behaviour. Cats and dads tend to be creatures of habit. They may yet become the best of friends. Who knows? Give it time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T04:08:08.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24219" CreationDate="2019-04-15T06:17:33.290" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separate them immediately! If a fish is losing pigment then it is getting damaged terribly.&#xA;My grandparents are big fish people, they also said this is bad. The fish may require more food, so first move it to a different tank, but feed it more as a last resort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:40:35.240" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T19:40:35.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20573" CreationDate="2019-04-15T06:21:18.963" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's worth trying, dogs are intelligent sensitive creatures and they would suffer more emotional damage being taken from an owner then whatever is causing the bad behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T06:21:18.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20163" CreationDate="2019-04-15T06:28:03.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, please clean your cat's eye to prevent further infection. Next, comfort your cat and very lastly after making a comfy travel crate with cushions and some course of water to keep from hitting eye, and staying hydrated to fight whatever infection the cat has. Take the cat to get a second opinion like you would for a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T00:14:22.440" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T00:14:22.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20598" CreationDate="2019-04-15T06:37:42.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try mimicking what your bed is like, the cat most likely finds your sent on it too so maybe a piece of foam covered with sheet-like material along with a small pillow and make sure you wash it but not to frequently removing your sent is a deal breaker for most cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T06:37:42.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11099" CreationDate="2019-04-15T06:47:29.633" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am no expert but my grandparents love their fish and they always day fish need clean water to roam in so maybe you should filter out the chillies so they do not consume them also check all aspects and not just one. (Forgive me if this is info is incomplete or wrong I am just giving you my aspect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T06:47:29.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20361" CreationDate="2019-04-15T07:00:38.330" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued a cat named Mia and we found her with a small gross hole in her neck, we washed her in dishwashing soap and found some kitten formula from the vet. After she got back from the vet she recovered and is now 2 years old. So mainly start by bottle feeding, then wet food (kitten) to dry food (kitten), then gradually switch to adult dry food. Also you may wash the kittens in dishwashing soap or any soap intended for rescues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-04-15T13:15:40.357" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T13:15:40.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24185" CreationDate="2019-04-15T07:19:58.377" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were you I would play around with things cats know natively so that instinct will help with acceptance since cats lost more siblings in the wild than in domestication try triggering her instincts to socialize with other cats to hunt or just comfort with the occasional treat, brush or whatever she likes treat her like your own child and know what a child would go through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14720" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T07:19:58.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23875" CreationDate="2019-04-15T07:30:18.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that it is always the most difficult task with the older rats from pet stores. I think that they had to fight the longest for the food, for a good place in the cage also the rotation is quit big so every day you (rat) have to fight for domination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had similar problem with one of my rats. They say that a fight is OK until there's no blood, but there was always blood in the end. We tried everything, totally cleaning the cage, smearing the rats with something that would cover their original smells (we used vanilla oil), meeting them on neutral grounds and nothing worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was like you describe - on unknown terrain or in a small carrier (read when they were probably scared - and fight for domination wasn't so important that the thought about the survival) they were calm and not interested in fighting, but put in a everyday cage the fights started again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were fighting with the fights and blood problems for two or three weeks or so, every time taking them apart as soon as the blood appeared, sometimes we had to give them 1-2 day time to heal the wounds. We almost lost our hope that they will live together in the same cage, but then it happened. So I think it is time they need - so don't give up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also give Walter lots of good food in this period so he wouldn't think that they have to fight for food. We also noticed that they are less eager to fight when they have full stomachs and they are sleepy, so wait for this moment to make another try. You can also bring regularly some smelly handkerchiefs or other things to the young's cage so they will smell like him so they would be easier to accept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[edit]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing I forgot: in the &quot;large tank&quot; I think you should put some stuff that the little guys can use to hide for a while when running from Walter, maybe some cardboard box. But make sure that there are at least two entrances to sucht box so that Walter wouldn't catch anyone in the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastEditorUserId="9423" LastEditDate="2019-04-15T17:13:46.973" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T17:13:46.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24218" CreationDate="2019-04-15T11:55:36.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any target in training is exactly that: a target that the trainee is supposed to interact with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic forms a target can have are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target stick (the actual target is usually with a ball or similar at the end). The trainee is supposed to touch the target.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target spot (like a mat or blanket). The trainee is supposed to be on / inside the target spot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Target passage (like a hoop or tunnel). The trainee is supposed to move through the target passage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you could come up with more different forms, but those are the basic ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of a target is &lt;strong&gt;not to replace the clicker&lt;/strong&gt; as a promise of a reward, but to &lt;strong&gt;guide the trainee&lt;/strong&gt; into movements and positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The target is part of the training and draws the focus of the trainee. The trainee is supposed to actively interact with the target, which promises a reward, but not unconditionally so (prolonged interaction might be required to get a reward).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The clicker signals the successful end of a training unit and releases the trainee (physically and mentally) from a training situation or position. The trainee is not supposed to interact with the clicker, but to indirectly try getting a reaction from it by executing the desired behavior. It's tied to an immediate reward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of trainees that resist training or have difficulties recognising the desired behavior, a target can aid by making the training easier and make the trainee having a positive experience by getting more rewards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple example, often employed in zoos:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For medical procedures an animals needs to hold still and let a vet examine them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having an animal recognize that &amp;quot;staying still&amp;quot; is followed by a reward is very hard, especially for animals with lower mental capabilities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having an animal recognize that touching a target stick is followed by a reward is easier. Most mammals, birds, reptiles and even fish are intelligent enough to recognize the pattern.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the animal follows and touches the target stick, you can extend the time between touch and reward. That makes it easier for the animal to learn that staying still earns them a reward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the vet has to examine the animal, a trainer with a target stick can aid by making the animal stay or roll onto its back or get into any number of useful positions without having to train each one individually.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same principle can be applied to dog training. Many standard commands like &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; can be trained by guiding the dog into position with a treat, but if you don't want to use food as a lure, you can use a target instead. If the desired behavior is too complicated to be learned in one movement, you can start by guiding the dog into the desired behavior with a target stick while repeating the command. Once the whole movement is learned with the aid of the target stick and connected with the verbal command, you can remove the target stick and the learned behavior will be executed without aid on command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The target does not replace the clicker, but focuses and guides the trainee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pros:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can achieve different behaviors with one mental connection (follow the target).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can make training easier by demonstrating the desired behavior instead of rewarding coincidental actions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cons:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can divert the trainee from the actual training unit if the trainee is too focused on the target.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-20T01:43:10.927" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T01:43:10.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24236" CreationDate="2019-04-15T14:52:36.067" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved an hour away from my job, my 5 year old male Golden Doodle is house trained, he never has accidents when I'm home nor did he while I was at work before I moved, but now that I'm gone for 2-3 more hours at a time he sometimes pees in the house before I get home. I tried putting him in the bathroom during the day (with his bed and toys and everything... can you tell I feel bad about it?) but he would still pee on the floor in there too. It's just too long for him, of course I take him out before I leave in the morning and right when I get home but some days it's close to 11 hours that I'm gone for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to handle this? I know if he were more confined like in a crate he would likely be able to hold it (rather than pee on himself or where he has to lay) but that seems cruel. I can't have him ruining my house, it's already starting to ruin the flooring and I had to throw away my rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14724" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T17:36:23.687" Title="Adult Golden Doodle needs to stay home alone for 10 hours on weekdays, having trouble with accidents" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-15T15:55:40.300" Score="6" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a new sofa for our living room. After I buy it, I'm 100% sure my cats will also want to sit in the new sofa and sharpen their nails in the new sofa and ruin the new sofa. I've talked to them about the issue, but they seem to ignore me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my question is: What type of sofa should I buy to minimize this? Or what can I do so that they stay away from the sofa? IS there a specific material that cats particularly dislike?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The living room doesn't have a door, so closing the area off is not an option. I also prefer not having to spray the sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:39:28.433" Title="Want to buy sofa for living room. What to do about cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24233" CreationDate="2019-04-15T16:25:50.497" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best solution to your problem is to get a good scratching post for your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a scratching post for your cats, they likely will not use your sofa at all to sharpen their claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A god scratching post needs to be heavy so your cat is not able to move it. This means it must weigh 15-20 kilos or more. The scratching surface must be made of sisal or hemp rope so your cat can use its full strength when scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One single cat claw can hold the cat's weight, so they are strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your cats sitting on the sofa, you can use a folded towel for them to lie/sit on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T05:17:33.417" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T05:17:33.417" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24233" CreationDate="2019-04-15T16:37:58.747" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're unlikely to be able to make the sofa inhospitable to the cats without also making it inhospitable to yourself, but there's steps you can take to minimize the damage they'll do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure they have sufficient approved scratching surfaces; if they don't have many yet, add more before you get the sofa, so they get used to them and their locations, and are less likely to go looking for additional surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Discourage scratching on target surfaces (typically the corners, back if accessible, and sometimes the top of the sofa) with materials they don't like. These include double-sided tape (often sold under the name &quot;Sticky Paws&quot;), aluminum foil, and heavy plastic sheeting (similar to what's used for office chair mats). Depending on how clever your cats are, the clear materials are better, because they won't be able to easily see if and when they're removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally discourage targeting those areas by putting a scratching post nearby. You may also need to redirect them if you catch them scratching at an unprotected part of the sofa. By having the appropriate target close to the inappropriate one, it's much easier to redirect their attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a corner they just won't stay away from, consider a long-term solution. It may not look as nice as the untouched sofa, but it'll certainly look better than a shredded one. Look into plastic corner protectors as a way to discourage interaction, or try a sisal scratching mat (like the LURVIG mat sold by Ikea) attached to that area for a durable, appropriate scratch spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if all else fails, find a way to embrace concealing the damage; there are many examples of how to use lace, fabric, or other techniques to disguise damaged corners and surfaces on a sofa that can look quite nice when finished, and add some unique personality to your furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T16:37:58.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24231" CreationDate="2019-04-15T17:36:23.687" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right, it really is just too long. Most healthy adult dogs can hold urine for about 8-9 hours maximum. And asking them to routinely go longer is inhumane. Crating him may work in the short term, but at the risk of his mental state as he forces himself to hold it for that long- in addition to the incredible boredom and lack of access to water that would come from being crated for such a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what your housing situation is like- would dog doors to a fenced pen or yard be an option? You could lock them at night to prevent unwelcome guests (raccoons, etc.) but allow him to let himself in and out during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, do you have the means to hire a dog walker? There are lots of professional dog walking options out there, but they can be pricey. Perhaps a neighbor's kid would like to walk him after school for $20 a week? If you live near a college or university, you could advertise there as well. Lots of students are thrilled to have time with a friendly dog while making a bit of money, although you'd probably have to pay more like $40 or $50 for the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If neither of these options are possible, you may need to look into more extreme choices. It's sad to say, but maybe you will need to find him a foster home until you can move again, or even rehome him permanently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-04-15T17:36:23.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24240" CreationDate="2019-04-15T18:48:00.723" Score="-1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;We feed our 5 year old mixed breed 3 times a day (Royal Canin, gastrointestinal, 3/4 cup recommended dosage per day for her 10 lbs weight), around our own meal times. She never gets table scraps, unless it is an accident and some food falls down. Our dog stays under the table, but she does not beg for food, nor is she problematic while we eat. She may get the occasional Rice Krispies or rice, but we stop her if it's something more significant, such as meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual behaviour we notice is I come in with my 1/4 cup full of her food. The dog jumps off from my wife and will follow me. She sits or lounges closes to the bathroom's door, waiting for me to put the food in her bowl. Once I do that, I will usually tell her &quot;Bon appétit&quot; (we're French Canadian!) with a hand signal to signify &quot;OK, go ahead&quot;. She will usually walk fast/run to her food, sniff it a bit, then either look at me or start eating. If she looks at me, she will wait, and wait, until we encourage her to eat. We only encourage her vocally, not by giving her food from our hands. She has been eating this particular brand of food for at least 3.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, I will come in the bathroom, and the food from last meal is still present. In those cases, I add a kibble or two, just to make some noise, then I will return the 1/4 cup back to her bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not really worried about her health, as the dog happily welcomes guests and family members. She plays with us, and loves to sit on my wife's legs to nap the day away. We don't walk the dog enough, for sure, but sometimes manage to play 5-10 minutes throwing ball in the house with her. Our dog is also on a yearly checkup with her veterenarian, the last one less than 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure the dog was &quot;trained&quot; by us, and I'd like her to unlearn that beahviour. I've found &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1477/1283&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1477/1283&lt;/a&gt; which I've read today. The only addition to our routine is to remove the food after 30 minutes, and feed her &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; we've already eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other things I've overlooked that I should be doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1283" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T07:00:22.443" Title="Dog won't eat without an explicit order" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11099" CreationDate="2019-04-15T19:31:41.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water movement is much more effective than plants for the oxygenation of water. Your live bearers will overpopulate a small pond in less than a season. Water movement can overcome the negative affect of the organic decomposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just cleaned my small pond, which is has a surface area of 10' x 5' and 3' deep (3 x 1.5 m on surface and 91 cm in depth) after a few years it had nearly a foot (30 cm) of needles, leaves, pine cones , branches. etc. The fish were fine in that mess (about 100 giant danios and 2 large koi) because of water movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think your fish ran out of oxygen because of overcrowding and decomposition of plant material. An air pump/and/or a filter pump is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:38:34.713" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:38:34.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24245" CreationDate="2019-04-16T04:53:26.027" Score="1" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had our two year old cat for about 3.5 months. She is a 2.5 year old mother cat that we bought from a breeder, who seemed to treat her well (but more on that later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is extremely affectionate with my wife and kids. She is also very playful and active. She is a Savanah cat and I understand that these are typical traits of this breed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will let me play with her if I have a string with a ball attached to it, or some other cat toy. If I try to feed her, she will reluctantly take the food from me and run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if she ever sniffs my hand or looks at me closely she'll stop what she's doing, hiss, and swat at me. I feel like it's something about my smell because I can often pet her (briefly) if I am wearing a glove, or wrapping my hand in my wife's shirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sad and disappointed that our new cat hates me. I have a theory, but no proof, that the partner of the previous owner did not treat the cat well. Maybe he shoved and hit the cat when it got in the way. And maybe I smell or look like him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: what can I do to get the cat to treat me like she treats the other members of my family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14730" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T18:53:37.350" Title="How can I get my cat to stop hissing at me even though she is comfortable around everyone else?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24237" CreationDate="2019-04-16T07:00:22.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any real problem with this behavior. Your dog is very well trained and submissive (in a positive way) and respects your authority. That's why she patiently waits until you signal her that she's allowed to eat the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever she looks at you instead of eating, she's probably not hungry. The looking at you is actually begging for tasty treats instead of her boring old food. As suggested in your linked question, you can take the surplus away without having a bad conscience, or you can leave it in her bowl and skip the next meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommendation on the packaging of the food is just that - a recommendation based on mean values for a big number of different dogs. It's not uncommon that an indivudual dog has a different need. Some have a tendency for obesity and need less food, others are physically active and need more food. It's okay to adapt the amount of food to the individual needs of your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should not do is fuss over her or give something more tasty instead. Right now she's self-regulating her body weight by refusing to eat when she's not hungry. If you start making her food more tasty or special, she'll probably start gaining weight and she realizes that her begging is successful. She won't become spoiled over night, but she might start begging in other situations, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T07:00:22.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24218" CreationDate="2019-04-16T11:29:57.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Karen Pryor's terms, the movement of a target stick is a cue. It is more general than a specific verbal cue but it still has some specificity insofar as the stick is moved in different ways to cue different behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During initial training it also functions as a lure to elicit the behaviour that is then marked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The drawback is that not so much active thinking is required as when a verbal cue is used to name a behaviour after a few instances of clicking and rewarding, since even if the target is moved in several different ways the lesson is still the simple one of &quot;follow the target&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not convinced - although open to persuasion - that a target stick is of great utility with dogs except when teaching behaviours such as weaving under the trainer's legs and other complicated (and often very impressive to watch) heelwork show types of tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantage is that the alternative of capturing required behaviours without luring can for some types of behaviour be difficult or slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A target mat too is a physical cue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14660" LastEditorUserId="14660" LastEditDate="2019-04-16T12:26:24.203" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T12:26:24.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-16T15:35:45.110" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m looking to remove all my old gravel, ornaments and plants and replacing with new ones, including a new filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What’s the best way to do it and best way to store fish whilst doing it?&#xA;How long will fish be OK out of tank if I put filter and heater into temporary tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14732" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T23:03:25.117" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T23:03:25.117" Title="Replacing gravel plants and ornaments in fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24242" CreationDate="2019-04-16T16:06:34.277" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To do this safely, you use the water from your tank and the pump from your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best if you do not feed your fish from the day before you plan to do this. Do not feed your fish until two days after you have replaced everything you want in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to lower the temperature by 1-2 °C in your holding tank - this will buy you some extra time to finish the job in the main tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can keep the fish in the holding tank for maximum 48 hours and remember: no food during this time, let your pump run continuously for the duration of the time your fish are in the holding tank. The reason I say 48 hours max is the fish will be stressed when they have to live close to each other in a small space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not clean the pump/filter at all until at least a week after you have finished everything in your main tank; you will need all the good bacteria you have to avoid ammonia and nitrite, and feed very little the two first weeks after this job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are replacing the pump/filter in your main tank you need to use both pump/filters for a week to be sure the biological cycle keeps going in your tank, if it is impossible to run two filters you need to take out the filter media from the old filter and put this into your tank to seed it with bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T22:57:55.667" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T22:57:55.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24242" CreationDate="2019-04-16T17:22:30.853" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The most important will be to keep your beneficial bacteria&lt;/strong&gt; so you won't have to cycle your tank again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fill your temporary tank with water from the main tank and if possible the old filter, so the fishes will still feel at home. Give them some plants or decorations too, so they can still hide. &lt;strong&gt;The &amp;quot;temporary&amp;quot; tank should be as comfortable as a real one.&lt;/strong&gt; They will need a filter and a heater like back in the normal tank. It should even have some substrate, but a light is optional here. Less light will mean less stress for the fish. Be careful and quick when netting out your fishes with the fishnet, this can be very dangerous. Don't feed the fishes in the temporary tank, unless they have been there for 2 weeks or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep your water alive and cycled, you need to bring the old bacteria in the new habitat. Bacteria are present on the fish and in the water in small quantities, but most importantly they live in: the substrate, the plants and the filter media, which you all plan to replace. You need to keep as much as possible, at least something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some options to make the transition smooth and allow the good bacteria to repopulate the ecosystem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(least useful, better than nothing) Keep some water from the previous setup, and put it back in the tank after the change. This can be the water of the temporary tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(most useful, this is where most of the bacteria live) Reuse the cartridges from your old filter in your new filter, or at least some of them. Don't clean them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reuse the sponge from the filter intake. Don't clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep some of the gravel. Don't clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep some of the plants. Don't clean them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replace first the gravel (the most complicated) and the plants, but continue with your old filter so the bacteria will be kept and reintroduced to the substrate. After a week or three, replace the filter with a new one. The bacteria, having colonized the new substrate, plants and water, will now colonize the new filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T23:01:08.117" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T23:01:08.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24239" CreationDate="2019-04-16T18:53:37.350" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are picky creatures, and it's always a disappointment when one takes a long time to  warm up to you. But don't give up! It's possible she had known another male who mistreated her, so she's very wary of you. Just be patient with her and keep trying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're doing a lot of things right, by playing with her at a distance, and continuing to attempt to feed her. Partner up with a family member she likes, or join them when they're playing and snuggling the cat, so she sees they're comfortable around you too. Deeps voices are a defining male feature, so talk with her a lot, especially if you're unable to directly interact. Cats are very responsive to voices (even if they like to  ignore them all the time, haha). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really, the key here is patience and love. Keep treating her well, and, as hard as it  might be, just give it time. You haven't had her for very long, so she's still in her adjustment period. Best of luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2019-04-16T18:53:37.350" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-17T01:24:21.600" Score="1" ViewCount="747" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a nine-year-old cat who sleeps next to my pillow every night since he was a kitten. Last night, he attacked my right eye when we were sleeping. He then went on to sleep. I was lucky, my eyeballs weren't hurt but my eyelid now has claw marks.  I am afraid to have him sleeping with me again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did my cat attack my eyeball when I was sleep?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14736" LastActivityDate="2019-04-17T01:24:21.600" Title="Why did my cat attack my eyeball when I was sleeping?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2019-04-18T10:58:00.017" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24233" CreationDate="2019-04-17T06:56:50.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, some good scratching posts / cat trees and a sofa. One cat scratches on sisal only. The other scratches everything next to her whenever she feels like scratching or stretching. She does stop immediately when told so, but for sensible textiles that is too late. So far (after three years!) no scratching damage is visible on the sofa. I can therefore recommend very tightly woven textile sofas. Stay away from leather substitute or fabric where you can clearly see the threads or even move them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if course putting something to scratch close to the sofa can only help. Just make sure it is your cats preferred scratching material and shape (sisal, cardboard, high for stretching upwards...) and that you position it on a 'main walkway' so that the cat does not have to go out of it's way too much for reaching out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you want to buy the sofa: some companies offer example cloth patches, maybe you have the chance to take one home and examine it or even stick it to a surface and get your cat to test-scratch it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8218" LastEditorUserId="8218" LastEditDate="2019-04-17T07:02:39.400" LastActivityDate="2019-04-17T07:02:39.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23494" CreationDate="2019-04-17T14:00:39.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Upon having done some research, I've learned the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This cat was eventually socialized at 20 weeks, nearly double the maximum recommended.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of her litter couldn't be socialized, and had to be released&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More play time has reduced the aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's also started addressing the issue herself.  She now just walks away when she's had enough.  I think she was getting over-stimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, this is a very affectionate cat who will jump in my lap without encouragement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue seems to be that she didn't know how to communicate that she had had enough petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when she &lt;strong&gt;does&lt;/strong&gt; bite, it's not hard or fast, as in an aggressive move.  She will slowly open her mouth, and lightly bite down.  Not enough to hurt, but enough to get her message across.  Usually, she licks as well, like &quot;I still love you, but stop that okay?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user10233" LastActivityDate="2019-04-17T14:00:39.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-17T15:56:20.403" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1Nfru.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a stray puppy about 2months old. The mom was abandoned near our home our neighbor took in the mom. He likes nipping clothes and shoe ties and I'm worried if I get bitten. Can I get rabies from it? Should I get rabies prevention shot? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14739" LastActivityDate="2019-04-18T08:26:25.033" Title="Can I get rabies from a stray puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-04-18T09:09:24.977" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-18T05:17:30.193" Score="2" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our kitten uses the cat litter often, but she still goes other places as well. She pees or poops on our bed while we are sleeping in it. We have seen her do it on our 3 year old's bed when he is sleeping. She is just going everywhere, and we don't know why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have 2 other cats and they do not do this. They use the cat litter all the time. Sometimes we don't notice that she has peed somewhere for a few hours, resulting in a very bad smell. I am pregnant and can't take the smell anymore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried washing everything twice a day. I tried just throwing things away and buying new ones, but she will still go on that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we solve this problem quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14742" LastEditorUserId="12600" LastEditDate="2019-04-18T17:12:56.167" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T18:51:01.753" Title="Why is my kitten pooping and peeing everywhere?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24255" CreationDate="2019-04-18T06:31:27.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that you have two other cats makes me think the kitten has problems feeling at home in your house. Cats need to be able to smell their own scent to see the house as their home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a feeling the kitten is trying to mark the area as its own but is overwhelmed by the scent of the other two cats. The only way the kitten knows how to mark the area is to use the strongest smell it can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to give the kitten its own stuff like a cat tree, toys, food bowl and, litterbox, and you need to be sure the kitten uses this first so it can claim this as &quot;&lt;em&gt;mine only mine&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter box needs to be placed away from the other cats' litter box(es). It's best if you can place this in a separate room where the other cats do not go or at least seldom go. You need to put the kitten's cat tree in the same room so it can put its scent on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have not done this yet, take the kitten to the vet for a checkup, vaccines and spay/neuter. It is best if you get a new carrier for the kitten and put a towel inside. You can put this towel in/on the new cat tree when you return from the vet to add this scent to the cat tree or put it on the kitten's bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the kitten has started to adjust living in your house, you can move its stuff to where you want it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T18:51:01.753" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T18:51:01.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24258" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-04-18T07:04:43.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many types of pets have different breeds. Use this tag for questions about specific breeds or breeds in general. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/q/410/13&quot;&gt;Breed-identification questions are off-topic,&lt;/a&gt; so do not use this tag for such questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8382" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-12-08T16:41:54.570" LastActivityDate="2019-12-08T16:41:54.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24259" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-04-18T07:04:43.883" Score="0" Body="Many types of pets have different breeds. Use this tag for questions about specific breeds or breeds in general. Breed-identification questions are off-topic (see Meta) so do not use this tag for such questions." OwnerUserId="11248" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-12-08T16:42:13.110" LastActivityDate="2019-12-08T16:42:13.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24253" CreationDate="2019-04-18T08:26:25.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I did a bit of research on rabies.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; states that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All warm-blooded species, including humans, may become infected with the rabies virus and develop symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As rabies is transmitted in the saliva &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The virus is usually present in the nerves and saliva of a symptomatic rabid animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can get infected if the puppy is infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not adopted stray animals but I would take the puppy to the vet as fast as possible and get it checked. The vet can probably also tell you about the possible danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-04-18T08:26:25.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18281" CreationDate="2019-04-18T13:12:24.263" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having same problem. It is dry skin, dandruff. Try cocoa butter lotion or vaseline,  it's the only thing that worked! She was itching, scratching off fur and bitting off her nipples. Please try it because your cat's condition is concerning me and it's sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14747" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T16:57:05.277" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T16:57:05.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24264" CreationDate="2019-04-18T14:09:14.293" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a 13 year old cocker spaniel. I like to drive him around in my 2002 Toyota highlander. I'm worried though, because he has to jump about 2-3 feet down whenever we get out. I think this may damage his joints. He doesn't like being picked up, but he tolerates it. Should I carry him out of the car?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13662" LastActivityDate="2019-04-20T20:34:22.203" Title="Should I carry my elderly cocker spaniel out of the car?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24263" CreationDate="2019-04-18T19:00:42.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;We kept large dogs (GSDs and Labs) for many years. All of them became arthritic in their old age, and getting in and out of vehicles could be a problem. Some of the dogs didn't mind being lifted in and out, but others found that to be painful, especially if you caught a hip joint awkwardly. The solution was simple enough: a ramp made out of a piece of plywood with some carpet glued on for traction. This allowed the dog to get in an out of a vehicle in its own time, and without the risk of being inexpertly handled. You can buy pet ramps if you do not want to make your own, although a box large enough to act as a step may be all that is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mC8KB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mC8KB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Folding dog ramp&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carolina Biscuit Company&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2019-04-20T20:34:22.203" LastActivityDate="2019-04-20T20:34:22.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24280" CreationDate="2019-04-19T00:04:41.013" Score="7" ViewCount="726" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister has 2 cats and one is deaf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time the other one wants our attention (mostly when she wants to get out or she's bored), she meows constantly. It's not loud, just a little annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the deaf cat screams, literally. It's really load and disturbing. It drives me and others CRAZY--not kidding, I get evil thoughts. (I don't think she screamed the first year.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked up her behavior on Google; most sites said the best thing is to ignore them until they quit the habit. The problem is my family, they won't listen. Every time she starts screaming, somebody pets her or gives her a little push so she will shut up, but she starts again after couple minutes. The other day this went on for 5 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: What can I do besides ignoring her to get her to quit screaming every time she wants something? is there a training trick or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This cat is about 2 years old, she was deaf from the beginning and&#xA;we take her to a vet every month.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She started screaming about 4 or 6 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14751" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-04-29T13:18:51.230" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T13:18:51.230" Title="Deaf cat screaming to get attention" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-04-29T13:35:21.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-20T16:26:40.250" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had some fish deaths lately and paying attention to water params, I've gotten a little concerned about my pH levels. My tap water comes out of the tap with a pH of around 7.6. After aging it overnight it ends up being around 8.0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a week after a water change my aquarium tends to be around 6.8 - 7.0. If I then do, say, a 50 % water change it puts my pH up to around 7.2 immediately and then around 7.8 the next day as it ages, which can give me a swing of up to 1. This seems like a lot for the fish! And then from 7.8 a week later I'm back down to 6.8 - 7.0. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is planted and CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injected but the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is on very low. My KH and GH out of the tap are both around 5 drops, but after a week in the tank this also drops (down to 2 - 3 drops). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out a water change schedule or something else I can do to keep things more stable and I'm starting to wonder if the only solution is to do water changes every 2-3 days, which seems like a real hassle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14762" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:17:13.547" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T16:07:05.783" Title="Problems keeping stable pH in aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24274" CreationDate="2019-04-20T18:21:19.153" Score="20" ViewCount="3573" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been growing some tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket. About 4 days ago, I found this skink sitting there in the dirt. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kGc6V.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kGc6V.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he's been there, he's been happily just burrowing around in the dirt and (probably) eating some bugs. He's totally welcome to stay as long as he wants, I think he's pretty neat. My concern is, I read skinks aren't that great at climbing, unlike geckos. If he wanted to leave the bucket, would he be able to? Or do I need to catch him and set him free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14763" LastActivityDate="2019-04-20T18:58:35.210" Title="Found this skink in my tomato plant bucket. Is he trapped? Or could he leave if he wanted?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24273" CreationDate="2019-04-20T18:50:09.540" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it needs some help getting out of there,maybe you can put some thing in there for it to climb on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do an important job eating bugs and snails protecting your tomato plant(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to use any pestecides where it lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best if you try to avoid catching him it can have a negative effect on him some of them are known to drop their tail if they get scared.I do not know the exact type you have there &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-04-20T18:58:35.210" LastActivityDate="2019-04-20T18:58:35.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24279" CreationDate="2019-04-21T14:11:08.757" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a little zwergpinscher and we are using dry food. There is a table to identify proper amount of food for day. It depends on weight of adult dog, but it's not obvious how to detect it. I thought that it means average weight for breed, which is 6kg for pinscher. But it seems that it is to much for my puppy. Should i interpret &quot;weight of adult dog&quot; as weight of MY dog? And change daily food amount depending on it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14772" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T15:17:32.157" Title="Correct identification of &quot;adult dog weight&quot; when using dry food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-21T16:39:55.293" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to move into a brand new house with a brand new lawn and I have some concerns... First of all, I want to be able to leave my dogs outside when I go to work, but they will dig. (And I know all about waking them and playing with them and getting enough exercise and giving them toys, etc, you don't need to tell me. It doesn't matter how much I exercise them, they have a seemingly unlimited amount of energy... They're tamaskans, so they are highly intelligent and get bored easily too even though they have like a million kong toys, stuffed animals, bones, and rawhide ...). I've considered making them a sandbox, but I can see the sand slowly migrating out of the box since they will definitely be throwing it everywhere when digging... I'm thinking about putting down chicken wire. My first question is - would it be better to put it under the turf (I was told that the grass won't be rooted by the time I move in so I can lift it and place the wire if I want) or just on top of the grass? I hear it will sink into the soil and get covered by grass so it won't be visible anyways. My second question is - how much and when should I water? It gets hot in Texas. I have a sprinkler system so I can just set up a schedule. I read that is better to water deeply 2-3 times a week early in the morning (why not at night?). But because I have big dogs who will pee on the grass every day, I wonder if I should water more often but in smaller amount to prevent burn spots? But then internet also says that watering often will result in shallows grass roots that will require more water to stay alive. Any thoughts appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastActivityDate="2019-04-21T16:39:55.293" Title="What is the best way to keep lawn alive with two big dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28660" CreationDate="2019-04-21T18:59:58.383" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago I found a few snails in my aquarium. As it looks like it seems they are of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarebia_granifera&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tarebia granifera&lt;/a&gt; species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I looked them up I found quite a few things about them BUT one thing I didn't find anything about is their maximum life span.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus how old can they become?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14427" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditDate="2019-04-22T12:38:49.767" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T09:53:55.910" Title="What is the life expectancy of Tarebia granifera?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24276" CreationDate="2019-04-22T06:56:09.180" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The food amount printed on packages of dog food is always a guideline based on average values. The actual food requirement of an individual dog depends on many different factors like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The current body weight of your dog. For overweight dogs, assume the ideal weight instead of the current weight. (If you can feel the ribs while petting with slight pressure, your dog has an ideal weight. If it's just a smooth glide without feeling any ribs, he's too fat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How active your dog is. Physical activities like herding, hiking or agility require a lot of fuel, things like cuddling and slouching on the couch require almost no energy at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The seasons. Animals tend to eat more in late autumn and winter, to build up a protective fat layer. During hot summers they usually eat less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dogs age. Especially puppies need more food compared to their body weight until they're fully grown. You should also feed special puppy food because they require nutrients in a different composition than adult dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you should weigh your dog. Step on a body scale and weigh yourself, then carry your dog in your arms and weigh both of you. Dog weight = combined weight - your weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give him the proposed amount of food for 2 - 3 days and see how he reacts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there's leftover food in the bowl 20 minutes after feeding, the amount of food is too much. You can either reduce the size of a meal or remove the leftovers from the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your dog gains weight, you should either reduce the amount of food or increase the amount of physical activities like walks and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If your dog constantly begs at his bowl or gets inactive, sleepy or weak, he needs more food. (Begging at the table is a question of training and no indicator for the amount of food your dog needs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a dog who stops eating when he's full, you can keep his body weight in the ideal easily. If you have a glutton who eats everything and always, you need to carefully monitor his body weight and the amount of food you give. There are special foods for puppies, very active, overweight and elderly dogs. They have different compositions of nutrients and can help you provide your dog with the food best suited for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-10T15:17:32.157" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T15:17:32.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24265" CreationDate="2019-04-22T15:22:07.117" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;She's deaf, and doesn't realize that her 'voice' is excessively loud.  She probably screamed a few times just by chance because she couldn't hear herself, and then by understandably rushing to do whatever seemed to make the annoying noise stop, your family has inadvertently taught her &quot;the more and louder I do this, the faster I get what I want!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, punishment doesn't work very well when it comes to training cats, and since she can't hear verbal instructions and reprimand, your only really good option if this is a pure training/behavior issue is to totally ignore her when she's loud, and fuss over and reward her with attention, petting, maybe even treats, when she is quiet or using appropriate volume.  Be aware that she might get worse before she gets better, as some cats will just escalate and escalate, ramping up the behavior that 'worked before' for some time before they actually realize that it's not working anymore and trying harder won't help.  Once they hit this point of realization things should start to get better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is a big problem at night and increased after she moved to a new home, it might not just be a behavior thing.  She could be experiencing some stress or disorientation and attempting to summon help or reassurance.  Nightlights throughout the house and Feliway hormone plugins could help with this, as could an intense and energetic playtime and then a feeding right before bed, to get her on a better sleep cycle where she's more likely to be quiet and grooming or resting when the humans want to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-04-22T15:22:07.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24272" CreationDate="2019-04-22T16:53:21.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 50% change is quite big and might not allow much &quot;stability&quot;. In my opinion it's too much and indeed will be followed by a period of &quot;swinging&quot; of many parameters and bacterias. Everytime you start with pure tap water, which becomes alive aquarium water over time, until half of that &quot;work&quot; is negated at the next water change and the stable parameters of the established tank are disrupted. I would suggest 25%, the spikes in pH and other parameters will be more smooth if the volume changed is smaller but more frequent (as you already guessed). It doesn't need to be every 2-3 days. Monitor the parameters, once a week might be ok on an established tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read that aquarium water tends to become a little bit more acidic over time but I don't remember why. It has to do with decomposing matter, so that would be normal. I don't know why your tap water goes from 7.6 to 8.0 overnight, it might be normal but 8 is indeed a bit high for aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, ammonia acts as a basic substance: it wants to capture hydrogen cation to go from NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; to NH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt; and become less toxic. If you pH is already high, the water itself competes with ammonia for the hydrogen cations, so it stays toxic. If the water is a bit more acidic (giving off some H&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;) ammonia will be more easily converted into ammonium. That's not related to your problem but just something to keep in mind when you measure pH and ammonia. As you already know, stability is by far the most important thing with pH, compare it with altitude for humans: it's OK as long as it doesn't change too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of fishes are in there? And plants and filtration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:18:28.433" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:18:28.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24286" CreationDate="2019-04-23T05:45:47.247" Score="3" ViewCount="1057" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased my half moon about 3 months ago with some fin rot anddull color. This little guy’s fins grew back white and curly and just recently got color. Attached is the progress photos with time frames. I have been doing mirror time with him to try and strengthen them daily, but it doesn’t seem to help, he has a cycled tank with two 25% water changes weekly and the filter gets turned off during the day. He gets pellets every morning and brine shrimp or bloodworms for dinner during the week, pellets on the weekend and eats like a champ. I check the pH of both of my tanks weekly. &#xA;Is this normal? Will his fins ever become straight again? Is he sick? Or am I jusy being a crazy fish mom? TIA!!&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TIl4V.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14777" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T12:27:46.533" Title="Why did my betta’s fins grow back curly?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-23T12:14:32.197" Score="4" ViewCount="469" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a ~10 month old, 5 and a bit kilograms, Jack Russell bitch, &quot;Smudge&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smudge is hardly perfect, but one piece of behavior is a bit worrying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had tended to yap and feint-lunge at me/us if I give my other half a kiss, but as neither of us is remotely afraid of her and we're adept at grabbing her and reasserting authority it didn't seem a big deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until - My little niece sat next to me, held my arm and put her head on my shoulder. Smudge did the yap-yap and feint-lunge!  We quickly experimented with my partner and my mother each giving me a hug; same result, &lt;strong&gt;Smudge gets yappy and feint-lunges at whoever is showing me affection.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We want to train this tendency right out of her.  How?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appendix:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is basically great with all humans and dogs, but can be very keen to rush up and say hello.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She can get frustrated if she's decided the attention she's getting is inadequate, or she can't reach someone (or some dog) she's decided she &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; to meet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She might have a tendency to get yappy and jumpy with anyone who shows nerves around her. Or maybe who just &lt;em&gt;seems&lt;/em&gt; to be ignoring her. (She's so damn cute, this very rarely happens.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vast majority of her interactions with people and dogs are on our local meadows and beaches. We're fortunate that almost every person is also &quot;doggy&quot;, confident, and friendly with her, and every dog is at least well socialized and usually up for some chasing and/or ruff and tumble.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10816" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-27T02:15:52.120" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T00:02:34.850" Title="My dog, Jack Russell, is jealous of others showing me affection" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24282" CreationDate="2019-04-23T15:48:29.910" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks quite good to me. From your description it sounds like your beautiful betta is healthy and the progression from February shows improvements, so it means he lives a healthy life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a betta once who was, at first, kept in a small container and assumed a shy stance, not really showing off all his colors and long fins. After I moved him in a 10 gals he really started taking more place and getting more colorful. In the beginning he was all blue and suddenly found a lot of red and became bigger. He became very healthy but his fins never looked &quot;perfect&quot;. They were very long and like shredded at the tips and stayed like that until his death years later. It's just how he was. Some of the shredded tips were even rolled up at the very end, or slightly tangled. Also one of his small swimming fins (the ones that are in place of arms) was always twisted, I assume from a fishnet injury, but it didn't give him any problem, it was still functional. If a betta's fins were damaged in the past, they might forever bear the &quot;scar&quot; of deformation, while still being healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas come in many different shapes and colors, and especially these long flamboyant fins. They can be perfectly round or spiky, straight or curly, all blue or rainbow colored, etc. They are also vulnerable to damage or biting from other fishes because of them. If you don't notice the fins shrinking away, disappearing, falling off, rotting, or having fungus or fuzzy white or yellow stuff on them, your fish is probably very healthy. And from your pictures he does look healthy. If he had a problem he would clamp them near the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You keep a watchful eye on your fish and that's good. Keep doing that. By observing him everyday, you will notice easily when he has a problem: strange swimming, white spots, eye problems, redness near the gills, over-eating/constipation, lethargy, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He eats like a champ, good. But don't overfeed him. It's healthy for them to fast one day once in a while at least (maybe once in two weeks). Rich foods like bloodworms are delicious but should not be abused, they are like a treat or a candy, don't give it every day cause it's not healthy then. Once in a while. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't know why you turn off the filter in the day? If that works for you, okay.... I guess... but better to keep it on. Make sure the current is not too strong, as they like slow water, and make sure the filter intake cannot suck in his long fins. (needs a sponge on the intake)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't know how your aquarium is, but bettas should have at least 10 gallons to be able to swim/exercise properly and not become crazy or bored. If that's not possible for you, then 5 gallons, but if he's in a bowl or some very small thing, consider an improvement. Pet stores often say a betta can live in a glass of water... survive would be the right verb, and that's only because a betta can gulp air from the surface when the water becomes too horrible to even breathe. The store just wants to sell the beautiful fish to customers that don't want to invest into a real habitat for them, but a fish cannot be healthy in a small bowl in the long term.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Easy live plants like Java Moss and Duckweed. He will appreciate them a lot and hang out through them. They are also very beneficial for the ecosystem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Easy &quot;pest&quot; snails like ramshorn or Malaysian trumpet snails make the best tankmates for a betta and contribute to a healthy ecosystem. Bettas are curious and intelligent and have individual personality, but they are both extremely aggressive/territorial with other fishes, and extremely vulnerable to other fish because their fins literally look like food and they are slow-moving.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water shouldn't be too cold. If it's room temp, make sure your room temp is at least 20 Celsius.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Along with pH, test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:28:56.833" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:28:56.833" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="24287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-23T23:38:58.703" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not normal for my cat and I'm very worried about him. His pee usually doesn't smell so strong. Is this normal for a senior kitty that is diabetic? I just want know what I need to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14782" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-04-24T06:25:04.043" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T06:15:11.120" Title="Urine of my 15 year old diabetic cat suddenly stinks" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24287" CreationDate="2019-04-24T05:49:10.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to get your cat to a vet if you see physical changes. Smelly urine is a clear sign something is wrong, and this will always need veterinary help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other types of changes will also need the help of a vet, like if your cat changes eating/drinking habits (starts to drink or eat significantly more/less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat starts to hide more and withdraw from you if it has been social before, you will need to take it to the vet, as this is a sign something is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very good at hiding pain and problems, so even if you are an experienced cat owner, you might have problems recognizing the signs your cat has problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T06:15:11.120" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T06:15:11.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24287" CreationDate="2019-04-24T16:16:13.893" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said this is something to see the vet about - there's various reasons that could cause a diabetic cat's urine to smell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Musky&quot; or &quot;rotten&quot; smell - This would signal an infection. &quot;Musky&quot; could also be stress hormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Rotten fruit&quot; or &quot;alcohol&quot; smell - This would be a sign that the sugar in the urine has begun to ferment (normally you'd get this if the urine was left in the litterbox for a couple of hours)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stronger than normal urine smell - This would be an indicator that the cat is dehydrated. Are they drinking enough?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nail polish remover smell (acetone) - This would be the biggest concern as it would indicate the presence of ketones in the urine, itself a symptom of Diabetic ketoacidosis which is &lt;strong&gt;serious&lt;/strong&gt;, as in &quot;get the cat to the vet right now if you want them to live&quot;-type serious. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-04-24T16:16:13.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25293" CreationDate="2019-04-24T21:17:09.453" Score="0" ViewCount="529" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is a 13 week Goldendoodle and my wife wants to put a clip on bow clipped to her fur. Is this safe and ok for the puppy? The clips don't weigh much at all so they won't be weighing her down at all. I've seen other breeds like Shitzus with a ponytail similar to this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2019-04-25T07:45:42.583" Title="Is it safe to put a bow on a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-24T23:41:36.450" Score="-1" ViewCount="629" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just recently got an African clawed frog which I rescued from being dissected. He used to live in a large plastic bin with 3 other frogs and sometimes I'd see them nipping at each other. He keeps pawing at the aquarium glass an both ends, especially at corners, and will sometimes frantically bang into the tank over and over, almost like he's trying to get through to the other side? He does it all the time. At first I thought he was just trying to find more room to swim and wishes his tank was bigger, or that he had bad eyesight. But it's starting to worry me. He seems unhappy. Is he just attacking his reflection? Should I check for illness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15783" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T15:39:52.617" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T15:39:52.617" Title="Why does my African clawed frog keep banging into the tank glass and pawing at the corners with his front feet?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25321" CreationDate="2019-04-25T02:55:43.750" Score="3" ViewCount="2004" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two budgies (male and female).I used to keep them in the same cage. They are friendly to each other(they cuddle with each other, chirp together, etc).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But for some reason the male budgie plucks the female budgie's head feathers. The female is now almost bald. So I have put them in separate cages.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A few of my friends told me that plucking is a normal behavior, and that birds should not be separated for such reasons. What should I do (the birds are not as active as when they were together)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14358" LastEditorUserId="14484" LastEditDate="2019-04-25T07:57:58.573" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T08:03:44.790" Title="Budgie plucking feather of the other" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25289" CreationDate="2019-04-25T05:07:30.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, there's nothing wrong with putting hair clips or hair ties on dogs. They're not poisenous and the hair will not suddenly fall off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you should be mindful of the will of your dog and consider possible secondary risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might not like the hair clip and scratch it off. Make sure the clip doesn't pull any hairs or otherwise makes your dog uncomfortable. If it's just for aesthestic reasons, consider leaving it off if your dog doesn't like it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are insecure and shy or don't like to be touched by strangers. The added attention a hair tie may pull to them could make them even more insecure or uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It might fall off and your dog could chew it, possibly swallowing parts and/or injuring itself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might hurt itself if it tries to squeeze through a tight space and the clip gets caught or if a dog scratches it off during play. I'm sure you know how much pulling on single hairs can hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-04-25T07:45:42.583" LastActivityDate="2019-04-25T07:45:42.583" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-25T14:55:17.443" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a first time owner of a puppy.&#xA;I have recently taken him to the vet and today the vet called telling me he has a parasite in his poo. The vet told me that he is going to give him a powder. I was wondering if there something else I should be doing. He is currently being trained to poo in one spot (not working so far since he does it everywhere). There are also two kids in the house and they play on the carpet and floor where the dog sometimes poos. I was wondering does the parasite spread? &#xA;Any advice would be really appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15786" LastActivityDate="2019-04-25T14:55:17.443" Title="First time owner dealing with parasites in stool" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10468" CreationDate="2019-04-26T04:43:35.197" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a cat is feral, let it be feral. I have one that visits me for food. She's called &quot;Wild Thing&quot; She hisses and stuff, but she never learned to say &quot;miaow&quot;, because her mother never taught her that so she talks in hisses. She lives under my compost bin - or sometimes in my shed. We get on okay, and I kind of love her. She now answers to Pshh,pshh at dinner time. Let feral cats be free. They avoid humans, but if they trust you then just help them with food. Don't try to &quot;own&quot; them. They like their life as it is - they will always be wild - but they can be friends. Feral cats hunt and survive - it's one of the first things they learn. I do worry about my feral friend if I go away though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15789" LastActivityDate="2019-04-26T04:43:35.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24283" CreationDate="2019-04-26T10:06:03.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This situation is more complicated than you might realize, hence the answer is more vague than I'd like. But let's analyze the matter at hand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Objectively speaking your dog actively tries to disrupt anyone giving attention or physical contact to you. You interpreted this as her being &lt;strong&gt;jealous&lt;/strong&gt;, but it could also be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that she is &lt;strong&gt;possessive&lt;/strong&gt; of you and tries to defend her possession against others or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that she's &lt;strong&gt;insecure or anxious&lt;/strong&gt; (you described her as nervous) and your cuddling anyone triggers anxiety in her for whatever reason. She tries to disrupt your cuddling to make the situation return to normal. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or some completely different reason that I overlooked now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, it's hard to diagnose this kind of problem without seeing the dog and testing some triggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me warn you against humanizing her. Jealousy is a very human emotion (and yes, dogs can be jealous as well), but a dog brain works different and she could feel something entirely different than what you interpret. Expecting her to behave like a human results in a closed mindset that might not let you realize her true thought process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Could Happen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do nothing against her behavior but disengage the affectionate contact due to her yapping, you reinforce her behavior. She wants you to stop hugging. If you stop hugging (even if you scold her) she got what she wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she's the nervous / anxious type, the worst that can happen is that your hugging someone reinforces her anxiety. If she gets scolded every time you hug, she learns that hugging is followed by scolding, therefore she gets nervous and yappy when she sees you hugging, which prompts you to scold her... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way it's a vicious circle of reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What Should Happen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that you should train this behavior out of her, but since I cannot diagnose the actual problem, I cannot give you advice on how to do this. There's the risk that you could increase the problem if you misunderstand the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I reccomend you contact a local dog trainer (not the puppy school type, but someone who analyzes the behavior of and trains problematic dogs). They should come to your home and see her actions first hand, then explain the reasons for her behavior to you and advise you trainings to discourage her yapping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime I think it would be beneficial for her to experience delayed gratification. That means you teach her to sit and stay on command, even from a distance. Then you introduce short (no more than 2 seconds at the beginning) waiting periods into your play: throw the ball and make her wait 2 seconds before she can run and snatch it. Or put a treat in front of her but make her wait before she can eat it. After training for some time (several weeks at least) you can increase the time she has to wait. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not just a neat trick to show off, it teaches her control over her impulses and that she doesn't have to get everything &lt;em&gt;right now now NOW!&lt;/em&gt;, but that she can be a little bit calmer and still have fun. For her to learn that, you must always reward her patience (never let her wait only for the treat to be snatched away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T00:02:34.850" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T00:02:34.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19463" CreationDate="2019-04-26T15:43:58.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tetra is not feeling good. Likely because it doesn't have a group to school with. I'm assuming your tetras are neon tetras, but it's the same with some other tetras like cardinals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neon tetras are schooling fish, they need to be in a group to feel comfortable, the more the better. For best results you should have at least 12. For minimal requirements they should be at least 6. 3 is not enough and with such small numbers, often one of the neons will be bullied by another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway a 10 gallons is too small for a betta AND a school of tetras. It should be for the betta alone, he is enough for the 10 gallons territory, so you might want to consider giving the tetras back. Not all bettas are friendly enough to live with neons, but some are. However a 10 gallons cannot accomodate a full school of tetras.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible reasons for its behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The betta or the other tetras attacked it and he is scared. Tetras can be aggressive when stressed or not in sufficient numbers. Bettas are typically aggressive and territorial and like to fight other colorful fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The tetra is sick or injured&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The water quality is not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are my ideas on why it is acting like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for ways to help him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide your neons with an environment suitable for them: a big tank with plants and decorations and a group of more than 10 neons. With this you will witness their beautiful relaxed schooling behavior. They don't &amp;quot;group-up&amp;quot; all the time, only when they are startled. When they are calm and feel safe &lt;em&gt;because of the group&lt;/em&gt;, they will disperse swimming around the tank. As it is, this stressed fish has nowhere to go or to be in the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a 10 gallons, a betta alone is one of the best, most interesting choices. Bettas have personality and are curious and smart, AND they like to be alone. Betta might coexist with some bottom dwelling fishes like catfish. Or snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T19:37:40.660" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T19:37:40.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9524" CreationDate="2019-04-26T23:00:01.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turning sideways also brings two more claws that are much closer to their target.  It's strange that they like to fight from their back but that's so they can use their rear claws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15798" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-04-29T13:42:38.887" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T13:42:38.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25307" CreationDate="2019-04-27T05:26:36.323" Score="2" ViewCount="4220" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title should say it all, but to add to it: she hasn't been seen by a vet for a few years, but last time she was there the vet thought she was in good health and just a, &quot;larger&quot; cat and not fat. Since then she appears to have slowly gotten what appears to be either a very saggy belly or very saggy rear-breasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is spayed and has been since early youth. She quite active for an indoor cat and has a healthy eating habit (e.g. She grazes throughout the day and doesn't overeat). She has no signs of any kind of illness what-so-ever, including any behavioral or activity changes. She can jump quite high despite the extra baggage in the back and is very agile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, the baggage is right where he furthermost rear nipples are, which is large why I am having a hard time determining which it is. Also, her other breasts are totally normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15799" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-04-29T13:37:06.200" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T15:42:54.490" Title="Is my cat fat or does she just have saggy breasts?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2019-05-01T15:13:04.797" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18373" CreationDate="2019-04-27T16:00:31.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may think even little amount of carbonated water may be fine, but let you be warned here - carbonated water is more acidic than you realize, it's pH is actually between 3 and 4! So it will drastically lower the pH of your tank, giving your fish immediate gill shock which will quickly kill them. I learned the hard way, let that be a strong warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15800" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:21:46.463" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T17:21:46.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20222" CreationDate="2019-04-27T16:12:52.997" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal, just keep feeding her. My spiny flower mantis hasn't molted for about&#xA;four to five weeks (usually it's about every two) she will molt on her own time. If you&#xA;want to, you can feed her a lot of food, and that should speed it up, also keep the cage&#xA;a bit more humid when she's about to molt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15801" LastActivityDate="2019-04-27T16:12:52.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25304" CreationDate="2019-04-27T16:52:17.493" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per the Wikihow article that trond hanson posted, #5:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not be overly concerned about a saggy belly. Many cats have a saggy&#xA;  bit of flesh that hangs down between their back legs. If your cat is&#xA;  otherwise bony, this small pouch of skin is unlikely to be an&#xA;  indication of a weight problem. This skin flap is referred to as the&#xA;  &quot;primordial pouch&quot; and its purpose is to protect the stomach during&#xA;  fights with other cats. Cats often kick with their back legs when&#xA;  angry, and this flap of skin protects your cat from such attacks. Many&#xA;  cats will develop a primordial pouch at some point in their lives and&#xA;  it is not necessarily an indicator of feline obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my cat passes the other tests, this sounds like the answer since it is exactly what she has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15799" LastActivityDate="2019-04-27T16:52:17.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-27T16:59:06.137" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have been seeing two cats outside my window. They are friendly and one has a collar and is owned by the neighbors. I want to make sure the other cat has food and is ok but I don’t have any cat food. Would it be ok for right now to feed it dog food. Also any comments on what to do because I am concerned that the cat is owned but has no collar. Should I try to feed it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15802" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T13:29:04.567" Title="Can I feed a cat wet dog food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-05-02T20:53:20.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25308" CreationDate="2019-04-27T20:12:59.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are strict carnivores while dogs are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be advisable to not give dog food to cats since dog food contains grain, vegetables and (usually) only little quantity of proteins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat food, also, usually includes taurine additives since cats need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10184" LastEditorUserId="10184" LastEditDate="2019-04-29T13:29:04.567" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T13:29:04.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25304" CreationDate="2019-04-28T05:46:31.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat looks like this, it is normal. This is Trine. She is 13 years old and weighs 4,5 kilos.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GexUM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GexUM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the loose part of skin in front of her hind leg. I know she looks a little bulky on this picture, but it is a result of a cold spring day and cold wind making her look fluffy (the white stuff is snow, LOL).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say your cat has not been to the vet for some time. My advice is to visit the vet at least every two years when the cat is young and every year for older cats. And be sure the vaccines are up to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would have been helpful if you had posted a picture of your cat. It is easier to see the cat than it is to explain how it looks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cathealth.com/cat-care/weight-management/1255-cat-check-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a link on how to tell if your cat is &quot;normal&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look at the cat from above and are able to see your cat's waist, your cat is within normal weight, and if you can feel your cat's spine and ribs, it is not obese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The muscle tone and the body will change over time in cats in the same way as it does for people(gravity is not our friend).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T15:42:54.490" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T15:42:54.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-29T03:08:01.297" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 15 year old female cat is being treated for suspected UTI.  62.5 mg tablet twice daily (every 12 hours).  Despite sitting with her for 1/2 hour to make sure she didn't expel it, and I was sure she had swallowed it, I found a dry perfectly formed tablet stuck at the back of her cat blanket.  If this was tonight's, I am alarmed because today I found one entangled in her white fur on her leg.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was afraid to use that because instructions warn not to remove from foil until ready to use.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If this is not tonight's and I give it to her, would an excess dose be dangerous?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What if it is older than tonight? Is the fact it's been opened for a time dangerous?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I just continue for the rest of the prescription &amp;amp; pray the 2 missed tablets won't be too serious?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15807" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-04-29T08:35:43.237" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T08:35:43.237" Title="Clavamox possible overdose" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25308" CreationDate="2019-04-29T08:41:52.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would generally advise not feeding a cat that isn't yours. Often cats will go looking for someone else who will feed it but that's not always the best thing for the cat's health. Some cats can overeat and it's not uncommon that a neighbour is feeding the cat &lt;em&gt;as well as&lt;/em&gt; the owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would tend to avoid providing food to someone else's pet without talking to them about it first. Not least because the cat could have a special dietary condition and feeding it could result in harm for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a compromise, you could always put out some nice fresh water for them and give them lots of fussing. If you're keen to feed the cat then you should probably speak to the owner before doing this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-04-29T08:41:52.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-29T11:00:31.363" Score="2" ViewCount="673" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, it's my first time having a pet and it turns out that one of my turtles is a female. I have come to that conclusion after extensive researching and because of her behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days she has been acting weird. She showed all the signs of being gravid. Since I have put her in sand she has started to dig in it (just like I read that the females do so when they are in preparation to lay eggs). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put her in sand just today and I'm scared to move her. I also feel that I might have harmed her previously when I tried to hold her down when she was being aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently she is in the nesting area that I prepared for her. But I feel that the area might be too small for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please tell me in detail what I should do in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also scared to move her in order to see a vet. Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15808" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-30T17:53:53.180" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T23:51:52.930" Title="My female Red Eared Slider, as far as I'm guessing, is gravid" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25314" CreationDate="2019-04-29T12:08:20.463" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female turtles lay unfertilized eggs without ever having seen a male turtle. It is like chicken that lay eggs without &amp;quot;a chick in it&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they do not have chance to lay these &amp;quot;empty&amp;quot; eggs, they will become ill and eventually die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far I know, the turtle wants to make the decision of when and where to lay her eggs herself. She should be able to reach the sand location at her own volition. You must not move her there. This could be difficult, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zierschildkroete.de/pages/landteil-sonneninsel.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; you can see some examples how it could work. (Site is in German language, but all links in the pointed list show pictured solutions for sun and sand places. For example  &amp;quot;Eiablageplatz&amp;quot; means &amp;quot;egg laying place&amp;quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My own yellow bellied slider absolutely won't accept it if I catch it from the water. It is like a big predatory bird would take him as dinner...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tricky thing is the composition of the &amp;quot;sand&amp;quot;. For example if it is dry, the turtle can't dig a hole, because the sand runs back into the pit. To mix sand with soil is a solution for this. You can test the mixture, if you try to dig with a spoon in it: it should be easy to dig, but the walls of the hole should be stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The location of this place is essential, too. Your turtle is a smart one. She &amp;quot;feels&amp;quot; the water level and always chooses a place above that level, so her eggs won't become wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point, because you write &amp;quot;one of my turtles&amp;quot;:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Your turtles, like mine are &amp;quot; loners&amp;quot; most of the time. This means they stay alone until they want to match and make little turtles. Because of that it will be tricky to keep them all together. If they are grown you need a lot of place if you want to keep all together. For example everyone needs a separate sun place (basking spot) because the biggest turtle will chase the smaller one off. But this biggest turtle wants to stay at the sun place as long as possible... so the smaller in fact can't use the sun place ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To transport my turtle to the vet I use an old towel. I water it  and catch the turtle with one hand from water. In the other hand I hold the towel and wrap it around turtle. Then I put all together in a big bin and open the towel. The towel stays in bin as padding and water reservoir.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T23:51:52.930" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T23:51:52.930" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23690" CreationDate="2019-04-30T08:37:39.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general rabbits use to eat a lot of little meals over day &lt;em&gt;and night&lt;/em&gt;. They are &quot;adjusted&quot; to this style, so it is beneficial for them, if they can do so in your home too. &#xA;If they can choose their food free from an overwhelming offer, they will not &quot;eat until burst&quot;. They would choose themselves the appropriate amount of each food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We as pet owner have problems to give them this &quot;land of milk and honey&quot; because we can not guess exactly right, what nutrients the rabbit needs exactly today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But we can try...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some basic foods, which you can not feed &quot;to much&quot;, because your rabbit (if it is accustomed to this sort of food) can choose themselves the right amount.&#xA;Hay is one of this, grass and dandelion one another. But with fresh green food you have to start slow, with little amounts and increasing every day. For example if the food goes with the seasons, or your rabbit starts after a special diet for health reasons new with fresh food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to get this fresh food strongly depends on where you life. In European area, you can for example feed almost all leafs of native trees, or just cut a newspaper page big part of a wild meadow and feed this. After an period you have to take the food outside the cage again, this are the herbs your rabbit do not like (because of taste or health reasons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit became two times a measured amount of food, this will work too. But the rabbit eat all at once, because it is hungry from the last (for the rabbit long ago) meal. It will show this behavior for a small time after you start to feed &quot;more than needed&quot; anyway, but then eat more and more little meals instead of one large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my circumstances this way to feed is a good one. I like to take my time outside and every time have a little bag with me, to collect herbs and leafs everywhere I go. Benefit two: I pay only for food, if I have no time outside, or in winter season, if no green grows outside here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One interesting thing I learned as I get my rabbits is that they can learn what to eat themselves: they can learn from older rabbits and &lt;em&gt;they can try new food with a little bite, observe their own health in the time after it, and then remember this new food as &quot;good&quot; or &quot;ick&quot;&lt;/em&gt;! (Because of this &quot;try bite&quot; your rabbit seams to refuse new food first time, and next time it may love it. So a second attempt with it is a good idea.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I saw my old female rabbit eating ivy in my garden. Full of sorrow I searched resources, if it is toxic for rabbits, and learned: big amounts can be toxic, but in small dose it help with rheumatic issues (which I know she has).&#xA;Same thing with my other female: She once eats thuja and I found it helps against a chill... &#xA;So I trust them to choose (if they have variety) what they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-27T07:22:52.030" LastActivityDate="2019-05-27T07:22:52.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21660" CreationDate="2019-04-30T14:42:42.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems likely to me the cat is one of those that doesn't instinctively use the litterbox, and needs to be trained to it. Many cats will simply be attracted to the box as a place to eliminate, and so don't need much in the way of training, but other cats do need to be trained. I would imagine this is especially typical for cats that have been outside all their lives, and therefore are used to going wherever, and don't really think to look for a litterbox like indoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically you go about training cats to use the litterbox by keeping it in a very small room, where their bathroom options are very limited, and so they'll most likely use it first. Then you gradually, over the course of days or weeks, make the area they're allowed in bigger.  However, I imagine in this case that might not be a workable solution when the cat is an outdoor cat. There are several options then to deal with this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let the cat inside. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temporarily keep the cat inside for the duration of litterbox training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't train the cat perse, but only allow it into a small area of the house with a very prominently placed litterbox. If you observe the cat is starting to use the litterbox consistently, you might decide you can make the area it's allowed in bigger, but because this option is less about training and more about keeping it contained to easier to clean areas of the house, I wouldn't necessarily expect it to make progress. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to thoroughly clean any areas it's used with pet odor removing cleaners, and make the litterbox as obvious and appealing as possible. I suggest just a simple uncovered litterbox, so it will look the most obvious to the cat. The box should be kept as clean as possible as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-04-30T14:42:42.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-04-30T15:02:30.177" Score="4" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weather here is so much hot, about 92 °F. My rabbit is breathing very fast. He eats well and his removals are quite good, but he breathes very fast whole day, so what should I do with him to make him relaxed? Should he bath everyday?&#xA;Please help me, it's urgent!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15812" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:14:51.013" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:14:51.013" Title="Rabbit breathing very fast" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25292" CreationDate="2019-05-01T01:38:29.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The budgie clean the feathers mutually which is a sign of infection and important social behavior, but when they tear feathers (out of moulting period) it can be &quot;pecking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pecking is behavioral disturbance in pet birds that can last several years if there are no interventions. We do not know this behavior in wild birds. There are two categories of pecking, self-pecking when the bird pulls its own feathers and Allo-pecking when the bird tears the feathers of its congeners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pecking may be due to several factors, among them we can mention mainly boredom and stress. The causes may also be sexual frustration, the introduction of a new bird in the cage, lack of solail rays, fears or frequent disturbances (such as work in the house). Other factors may promote the appearance of pecking such as lack of bath, external parasites, dietary deficiencies (vitamins, trace elements, protein), lack of hygiene, hormonal imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, one of the factors triggers the pecking which then becomes an obsession. Pecking is therefore a psychological disorder often aggravated by poor hygiene or poor nutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is pecking, it is important to quickly intervene for the well being of your bird. The treatments are often very difficult. We must first find the causes. To stop the pecking we can start by giving a balanced and varied diet. Food of good quality that is to say by adding vitamins, minerals and some amino acids to its food.&#xA;We can also occupy instead that he tear off the feathers of his companion. We can give him branches (raw carrots, twigs, ...) and toys provided by pet shops to occupy his beak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid pecking it is important to grading impeccable hygiene of the cage and bowls of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since boredom is one of the main reasons for pecking it is important to spend a little time each day with your birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful to place the cage in a quiet and quiet place.&#xA;However, if pecking continues despite all its solutions, medical treatment is possible and even necessary in severe cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is therefore preferable to separate them at first (keeping the cages next to one another) to avoid injuring the female. Take the birds out of the cage at the same time so they can keep in touch with each other. I advise you to keep them separate until you find the cause of pecking (psychological cause or because of parasite)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-05-01T01:38:29.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25290" CreationDate="2019-05-01T12:49:28.553" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it sounds quite normal. I've kept African clawed frogs, and sometimes they go on a swimming frenzy where they seemed to &quot;claw&quot; (with their hands) at the aquarium glass. Mine also had a habit of eating whatever would fit in their mouths and I even saw one swimming into things to try to force whatever was in his mouth to fit (it was a dried tubifex cube, so it eventually softened and he could eat it then). Here are a few things you should know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have some decoration in your aquarium, preferably a cave so that the frog can lie low, and something close to the water surface so he can stick his head out if he wants to. Some plants to hide in is also a good idea and real ones are soft, so won't hurt him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your tank is covered. They can and do escape and being out of water for a long time injures them (also, they scrape their bellies trying to &quot;hop&quot; - they're mostly aquatic).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is an African Clawed Frog, they can grow to be about the size of the palm of your hand and will eat whatever fits in their mouth. Be aware that he might try to &lt;strong&gt;eat&lt;/strong&gt; any tank mates and would be better with other frogs of his own kind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, keeping them with bigger tank mates while they're small might result in them being bullied.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is a &quot;he&quot;, when he reaches maturity, he might start croaking (like a pneumatic drill, loudly and every night, you'll think there is something wrong with your fridge...!) and get black, sticky hands (for holding on to girl frogs). Mine were all males, but I understand that females get bigger but don't croak.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mine lived to about 5 years old but died from illness/escape. Lifespan can be up to 25 years according to the sources I managed to find.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-05-01T12:49:28.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24219" CreationDate="2019-05-01T13:05:40.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look for a fish breeding box as a temporary solution. You can get a small plastic container with holes in that will sit in the tank and give one fish his own private space without requiring a second tank set up. Personally, I'd isolate the trouble maker and give the injured one time and comfort to relax and establish territory (if they do that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to use a cheap breeding box to give my fertile female goldfish a break. I wasn't breeding them, but they used to get pushed around a lot when they were fertile, for about a day every two weeks for a few months in summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-05-01T13:05:40.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25319" CreationDate="2019-05-01T14:26:37.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provide your rabbit with ways to cool down.  He should always have water and shade available.  Include some high water content veggies like plenty of greens and small amounts of cucumber with his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also provide air flow, such as  fan.  Ideally this should be placed so the strong air current will not blow directly on the bunny, or at least so he has the choice to get out of the air flow to give him control over the degree of cooling.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can easily suffer from heat exhaustion, and in an extreme emergency situation this can be treated by quickly cooling the rabbit with a slightly cool bath, but you should not rely on regular bathing; it is far too stressful for a rabbit, and they are prone to become ill when washed frequently.  If the water is too cold, it can even induce shock and kill a rabbit!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easy and safe way to provide cool comfort for a rabbit is to place ice where your rabbit can lay or lean against it.  A frozen bottle of water (2-liter soda bottle works well) is less messy than ice cubes or packs.  Avoid using any commercial ice packs that contain some 'gel' or colored liquids unless under your supervision.  Although non-toxic for the most part, it's not healthy for your rabbit to eat or chew these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also make a large ice block with some veggies frozen in it for your rabbit to nibble on, or provide some ice cubes to lick or in their water.  If you are using ice while your rabbit is in the hutch/cage, there should be enough space for the rabbit to get away from the ice if he wishes. Choose a place for the ice where any leaking water can drain away and not soak the bunny or his bedding. If melting ice or condensation makes the bedding wet, you may have to change it more often-- Mold can grow quickly in hot weather and is a health hazard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, you can slightly wet the rabbit's ears to provide evaporative cooling. Just run your hands under water and stroke his ears. You can experiment with a light spritz from a spray bottle, but your rabbit may not like this.  Don't pour or splash water on a bunny's ears, as it should not enter the ear canal.  You can moisten the paws as well if your rabbit allows it, but avoid this if seems stressful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, make sure you watch for &lt;a href=&quot;https://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-health/recognizing-heat-stroke-in-your-pet-rabbit/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;signs of heat stroke&lt;/a&gt;, like red ears, panting, drooling, trembling and lethargy.  If you note these signs, act quickly to cool your rabbit, and seek veterinarian treatment as needed, but don't overdo this and 'shock' the rabbit (for example, don't place the rabbit in cold water or pack him in ice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detail about heat stroke and ways to help rabbits keep cool, &lt;a href=&quot;https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/04/22/tips-for-raising-rabbits-in-the-heat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this is a useful article.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-05-01T14:26:37.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-01T17:47:29.457" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently picked up a medium to large 5-year-old Rottweiler, and she is very well behaved. Rarely barks, loves to cuddle, quiet, timid, knows release, heel, and sit. When handing her treats she gently takes it from your hand. She isn't protective of toys or food either. She also walks next to me when I take her for walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves to play with my Jack Russel who is a little over one year old, and she &quot;tolerates&quot; my male cat. When it comes to my female Blue Russian cat though, she will stare. and stare. and stare. My Rottweiler could be laying on the bed, and the cat in the other room. She will sit on the bed for literally hours and not move. Just staring at the cat. She will not react to commands. The only way to break the focus is to close the door or literally grab her and pull her closer to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When both animals are near each other, be it on the bed or elsewhere in the house, she will tower over the cat and look down just staring at her. In this case though her focus breaks when the cat meows. Then she'll move, lay down, and just whine. We aren't sure if this is her looking for the alpha female or what. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: last night she stood over my cat while staring at her, but her tail was wagging. Once my cat meowed, she laid down and whined for a short period. She does not show any sign of aggression. It seems more like she wants to sniff the cat, but the cat doesnt let her so she simply stares at her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15816" LastEditorUserId="15816" LastEditDate="2019-05-02T13:47:59.220" LastActivityDate="2019-06-02T22:10:36.410" Title="Why does my female rotty stare down my female cat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-02T04:05:08.420" Score="3" ViewCount="1898" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had an old bunny and one day it disappeared, we don't know if it ran off or if it was stolen. Today we were wondering if our old bunny might still remember its name if we ever saw it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15820" LastActivityDate="2019-09-05T01:23:42.807" Title="Can rabbits remember from long ago" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10389" CreationDate="2019-05-02T05:18:39.450" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those of you who are using this for reference (I know this was asked years ago), please do not put glass catfish in a 5 gallon. They need to be in a school of at least 5, get to roughly 4&quot; long, and need at minimum a 40g tank. The taxonomy of these fish is relatively unclear, and fish shops tend to get them mixed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also tend to hide for up to a week when they are new to a tank, or indefinitely if they are stressed (which they would be in a 5 gallon). After a few days you should start to see the more adventurous ones come out from one of the (hopefully) many hiding places you've provided for them. I didn't see my 7th glass catfish for a month when I first got them, but clearly, he was eating because I been counting 7 ever since a month after I added them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, glass catfish are omnivorous who prefer a heavily meaty diet. They also will pretty much ONLY hunt moving food. If you feed frozen (like I do), having some current in the tank really helps the catfish get their prey drive on. It's a fine balance between having a current and not letting the food get sucked up into the filter. I also have an air stone that helps to move the food around. They're not the easiest fish to feed, but when you get it right, it can be very rewarding to watch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, mine happily accept brine shrimp, bloodworms, and a vegetarian mix. I'm constantly looking to vary their diet. I feed two cubes to my community tank every other day. I also feed them in the dark so my female bettas and glow-light tetras don't gobble everything up. The catfish are nocturnal and have a better chance of successfully competing for food when they are fed at night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that it's difficult to wean glass catfish onto flake food, and some aquarists have reported that they were never successful in doing so. At the minimum, freeze-dried food should be offered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps anyone who might be googling this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15821" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T05:18:39.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25327" CreationDate="2019-05-02T06:28:46.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched for a scientific reference, but there is not much specific about rabbits. Rats are well observed and tested, so maybe one can transfer some findings from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: &quot;name&quot; against &quot;sense&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are able to learn their name. But this is not the direct way, they remember things. They identify rabbits/persons/things by its shape, sound and its smell. So I assume they would remember the shape, sound and smell of their owners for a longer time than the sound of their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: &quot;active memory&quot; against &quot;association memory&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume rabbits have like other &quot;elopement animals&quot; (animals who run away to keep alive) a strong associating memory. There is not time to remember and reflect if you sit face to face to a predator! Horses are here well observed. They remember things (not only, but almost) just if they are confronted with same circumstances. They do not see in the future &quot;if I led to the parking place there will be the hated transporter&quot; or likewise. They remember the bad memory about last transport not until they stay at the same place as in this memory, and than act immediately (for example run away), to owners surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I came to the conclusion, the memory that will remain at last about its owner would be something like a ritual from formerly life, connected with shape/smell/sound of the owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long this memory will remain, I can not assume. But I have read some stories about &quot;owner recognition&quot; after the period of one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T06:28:46.407" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21755" CreationDate="2019-05-02T07:01:30.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One fact first: rabbits want to life in a group. In this mind, a rabbit get very very fast attached as pair...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How the owners can comply with this, depends on their circumstances.&#xA;This group could be some other rabbits, or the owner if he/she would fulfill the role as partner-rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of facts, that would affect your constellation:&#xA;Are the cages in the same room, are they side by side, so the rabbits have contact trough the grid?&#xA;How long do they stay in the cages, only night, or all times? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they were successfully paired (and breeding/no breeding is regulated) they should not be separated again (in my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then I wanted to maximize the kennel cages to give them more space &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a good idea to give them most place they could have. Rabbits can speed up to 60km/h (little more than 37 mph), so they are happy, if they have space to run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This you could do likewise, if you connect the cages with each other, than separate them. For example with a big pipe/tube or simple if you put the cages with open doors face to face. There are a lot of possibilities, to build solutions yourself. (make a picture search for &quot;rabbit home indoor diy&quot; for examples).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they only &quot;sleep&quot; in the cages it would not trouble them. But if they are all time alone, others not in sight (for example different rooms), they will (almost) not die, but life against their behavior. They feel not save (because no other rabbit look out if they rest), they may get &quot;filthy&quot; (because they have no help for personal hygiene) and  they are bored (because there is no one to play or spend time with). And as you assume: yes, they have no one to snuggle with, if the temperatures fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further information you can look at this questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1962/how-much-space-does-a-rabbit-need-to-live-comfortably&quot;&gt;How much Space does a Rabbit need to live comfortably?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you, to find the best solution for your circumstances. If you have more questions, you are welcome to ask them! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-02T08:57:16.897" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T08:57:16.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25327" CreationDate="2019-05-02T08:11:18.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can remember things for years. We had a rabbit 'Harmony', who we adopted from the local shelter.  A couple of years later we took her to the shelter for an adopted pet gathering. Her behavior was very different then other places we have taken her.  She clearly remembered the place (she did not like it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, the there is almost no chance your rabbit is alive. See our related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1578/13&quot;&gt;Can I release my pet rabbit in the wild?&lt;/a&gt; and this &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/rescue/2003NotFreeFlyer.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PDF at rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T08:11:18.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25335" CreationDate="2019-05-02T08:20:39.970" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two goldfish for 2 years named Archimedes and Nelson. They lived in an aquarium with big white gravel. I changed their soil with dark blue pebbles as a result of advice given by my breeder. A few minutes after having handed Archimedes and Nelson their aquarium with their new soils, they slowly approached the ground and they began by &quot;rubbing&quot; with their new gravel (they swam for 2 seconds horizontally by scraping the gravel) . A few hours later and the following days, I did not observe this new behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are goldfish directly aware of their environment? Can they prefer certain things to others (prefer blue gravel than white gravel) and express their preferences explicitly through specific behaviors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More broadly: goldfish (or other species) may have preferred fish (like best friends), prefer plants or soils more than others for their color, shape or texture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T15:22:30.987" Title="Can goldfish have opinions?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25333" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25337" CreationDate="2019-05-02T09:25:26.050" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to handle two rabbits in the backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What factors are important for rabbits safety and health?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm only looking for answers relating to safety and health. I have asked about happiness and life quality separately &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25338/outdoor-rabbit-how-to-increase-life-quality-and-happines&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-05-03T08:48:12.767" LastActivityDate="2019-05-08T13:27:59.310" Title="How do I ensure the safety and good health of my outdoor rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25342" CreationDate="2019-05-02T12:12:47.453" Score="3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would a tame budgie react when given to another home? Would he get sick because he is away from his previous owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11227" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T19:00:46.367" Title="Giving a Tame Budgie to a New Owner" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25332" CreationDate="2019-05-02T13:34:01.907" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Animals certainly have &quot;preferences&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The color of the substrate can mean many things to them, one thing being the fact that they can &quot;hide&quot; near it or not. A dark fish will be &quot;camouflaged&quot; if it's near dark substrate, and a pale fish will be more difficult to spot against a pale background. Fishes are aware of this and therefore may be more stressed when they are the only bright or dark spot in the area. Camouflage protects them from predators. Plants and soils, aside from contributing the the chemistry of the water, probably have something that corresponds to a &quot;smell&quot; or a &quot;taste&quot; which your fish can appreciate or not. Note that your previous substrate contained bacteria to which they were used, while the new one probably has that new car smell. (lol) Remember not only the color changed, the soil itself changed. They notice that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfishes are directly aware of their environment, they have eyes to see. Their memory is also much better than 10 seconds like some myths state. Fishes will interact with eachother and you will notice behavior differences when you introduce different fishes with eachother. Some also prefer to be alone. Some generalities can be said about a species, for example bettas will be less stressed when alone. However, every fish is unique and you might indeed notice that one has a best friend, depending on the type of fish. One might have a favorite spot in the aquarium, a favorite plant to hang around. This might also relate to the idea of &quot;territory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link provided in a comment by Trond Hansen states that goldfish have a memory of at least 3 months and can recognize people faces. &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-facts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-facts/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I know from experience that they will recognize the person who feeds them and will understand it's feeding time when you approach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ask if they have opinions is a bit of a longshot... Stress is a reality for them, but do they have ideas? As a conscious human, we cannot judge the consciousness of other organisms. Animals seem to &quot;think&quot; a lot less than humans, however they are still very intelligent. A fish will not waste its time thinking how the new soil is better or worse than the last one. However their level of comfort or discomfort with the change and with the current environment will be noticeable. Mental and physical health are very tightly related, even more so in animals than in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals and fishes can have aesthetic preferences, for example when chosing a mate. Preferring a piece of decoration based on its color or &quot;look&quot; just because it looks cool to them? Maybe. You probably heard the story of the bird that was &quot;in love&quot; with a plastic replica of its specie. They have instincts to respond to different stimuli, instincts which can be manipulated to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They can certainly have favorite foods, which can differ from one fish to another even in the same species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fishes can be depressed (lethargic) or happy (active, curious) because of their environment. Animals can go crazy with boredom in a small non-stimulating habitat. Do they feel emotions like sadness, anger, the same as us? There is no way to tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is very general and almost metaphysical so I answered with my general knowledge and experience with fish, and tried to dig up some interesting questions. I also tried to answer your question about the soil (color) change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have too much facts for you, and facts are not my goal when discussing the psychology and measurement of consciousness of animals. Very interesting question, just fun to discuss about that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-05-02T15:22:30.987" LastActivityDate="2019-05-02T15:22:30.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25350" CreationDate="2019-05-02T19:31:53.843" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 cats -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one around 10-11 years old (was a stray so I don't know exactly but not far from this)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two littermates 6, nearly 7 years old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All female and spayed. No particular breed, just &quot;domestic short hair&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if/when I should switch the older cat to the &quot;senior&quot; cat food? What are the actual benefits of that food if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible relevant information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I feed a variety of wet and dry food. Usually dry food overnight/in the morning (when I go to work) and a pouch of wet food in the evening&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stable weight over the last couple of years or so (older cat in particular did get a bit fat a few years ago due to being greedy but I got that under control!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no relevant health issues (diabetes etc) for oldest cat only a bad tooth and a fall from height a few years ago. Yearly visit to vets for vaccinations etc and all looks good, and I haven't seen anything that I found concerning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I occasionally give them tinned tuna, sardines etc but not as their regular meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they currently all eat together (side by side) and seem to be part of one social group&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;senior&quot; cat food is usually advertised as being for age 7-8+ (and I'm conscious that my 6-year-old pair aren't too far off of being 7...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know in what way &quot;senior&quot; branded cat food is different, and whether/when I should switch to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm in the UK and the main brands I buy are Felix (Purina) &quot;as good as it looks&quot; &quot;concoctions&quot; etc and a variety of dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14330" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:28:11.600" Title="Should I consider switching an older (around 10 years) cat and maybe soon-to-be-7-years cats to &quot;senior&quot; food, what are the benefits?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25333" CreationDate="2019-05-02T19:54:28.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some important factors when creating a safe and healthy outdoor living place for a rabbit include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protection from predators&lt;/strong&gt;.  This includes protection from being forced to stay in close proximity to a predator without a means of hiding.  Even if the rabbit can not be physically harmed, the stress of being unable to escape can be harmful.  Provide a nest box or house for your rabbit can hide in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protection from the elements&lt;/strong&gt;.  Rabbits obviously need protection from the cold, but heat is actually even more dangerous and likely to cause harm. When the temperature is over about 80f (a little less than 27° Celsius), you will likely need to take special efforts to keep your rabbits cool, like installing fans, providing ice several times a day, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They need to be able to stay dry when it rains, to avoid standing too long on very wet or muddy ground, and access to shade at all times.  They also need adequate airflow AND protection from strong winds or drafts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ability to express normal behaviors&lt;/strong&gt; Rabbits need to chew, need room to run and jump, and the enclosure must be tall enough for them to sit up on their haunches with ears up without hitting the ceiling.  They need a protected area to rest.  They need an area to relieve themselves that is not too close to their food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Avoid physical pain/illness/injury&lt;/strong&gt;  Rabbits need a comfortable place to sit, and should not be left to stand or sit on a wire-bottomed cage all day. This can result in 'sore hocks' (foot injury that is prone to life-threatening infection).  They also need a clean environment.  A buildup of urine or stool in the hutch can result in your rabbit getting sick or developing an infection of the skin or respiratory tract. Design the hutch so that it's not too hard to clean up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Appropriate nutrition&lt;/strong&gt;  Rabbits need access to fresh water and unlimited fresh hay. They also need fresh greens. Be aware that you need to be very careful if you store your hay outdoors, it can easily grow toxic mold if it gets damp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Appropriate socialization&lt;/strong&gt;  A rabbit that is kept outdoors gets a lot less of its social needs met by humans, so it's great that you are planning to get two rabbits.  You should get rabbits that are bonded, or socialize them so they can be housed together if at all possible.  If this is not successful and they don't get along well enough to share an enclosure you should set up their housing so they can interact but not fight, perhaps separated by a wire mesh.  Rabbits don't usually fight to the death or anything, but can potentially hurt each other, or just suffer a lot of stress over territory disputes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical Security&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Depending on where you live, or the ages of children in your neighborhood, you may want to place a padlock or combination lock on your rabbit's hutch to prevent interference, theft, even a kid opening the hutch and accidentally letting your rabbit escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastEditorUserId="12600" LastEditDate="2019-05-08T13:27:59.310" LastActivityDate="2019-05-08T13:27:59.310" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25387" CreationDate="2019-05-02T20:35:49.530" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two rabbits in the backyard, they are healthy and the enclosure is secure. (See this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25333/outdoor-rabbit-what-factors-i-have-to-pay-attention&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I shape their surrounding to offer them good life quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-07T09:49:06.450" LastActivityDate="2019-06-09T00:01:25.517" Title="How can I maintain high levels of comfort and life quality for my outdoor rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23471" CreationDate="2019-05-02T21:37:24.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like you, I cannot find references about long term effects of banana leaf diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I assume there is no difference between pet rabbits and production rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I additionally assume that if they can eat banana leaf for a third of one year without health issues, they can eat it on a long term basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The health effects should not be larger than this of food with treatment like pesticide, street's &quot;dirt&quot; (for example thawing salt or soap from automobile cleaning) and similar chemicals (for example salad from supermarket, collected greens from field borders or near streets/in the city). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe there is some chemist, who knows nutrition of banana leaf and could write about the long term effects? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T15:55:29.850" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T15:55:29.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25349" CreationDate="2019-05-02T22:32:37.330" Score="1" ViewCount="886" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there are two rabbits living in the backyard (whole garden at day, predator-safe enclosure at night), should I worry about free-roaming cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T12:14:38.913" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T12:14:38.913" Title="Should I be worried about neighbours' cats in the context of my outdoor rabbits?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25340" CreationDate="2019-05-03T09:20:53.500" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though @Elmy has a point I am going to assume that you are worried stray cats might hurt your rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is definitely something you should mind. Cats can prey on pet rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience you should keep your outside rabbits in a cat save enclosure, especially if you know there are cats around.&#xA;Something like this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ebayimg.com%2Fthumbs%2Fimages%2Fg%2FXUEAAOSwVMlbh7Ci%2Fs-l225.jpg&amp;amp;imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.de%2Fb%2FFreilaufe-fur-Kaninchen%2F63108%2Fbn_1695453&amp;amp;docid=cQhRQ7kbWBfARM&amp;amp;tbnid=IVrFh_uBpcG7nM%3A&amp;amp;vet=10ahUKEwjTkp_9gf_hAhV6TRUIHbt9AEEQMwicASgHMAc..i&amp;amp;w=225&amp;amp;h=225&amp;amp;client=firefox-b-d&amp;amp;bih=938&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;q=katzsicherer%20hasenstall%20garten&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjTkp_9gf_hAhV6TRUIHbt9AEEQMwicASgHMAc&amp;amp;iact=mrc&amp;amp;uact=8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;save rabbit enclosure&lt;/a&gt; or this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fa1%2F37%2Fdc%2Fa137dc356d368fff6e010cd0b0773d01.jpg&amp;amp;imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.de%2Fpin%2F467389267568611572%2F&amp;amp;docid=PGKYpnbmMQDiIM&amp;amp;tbnid=cnoCsjwkKmtnhM%3A&amp;amp;vet=10ahUKEwjTkp_9gf_hAhV6TRUIHbt9AEEQMwiXASgCMAI..i&amp;amp;w=600&amp;amp;h=450&amp;amp;client=firefox-b-d&amp;amp;bih=938&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;q=katzsicherer%20hasenstall%20garten&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwjTkp_9gf_hAhV6TRUIHbt9AEEQMwiXASgCMAI&amp;amp;iact=mrc&amp;amp;uact=8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;other save enclosure&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen cats hunt rabbits down and kill them and my own cats have done the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can probably not keep all animals from entering your garden you should protect your rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe also read this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-an-Outdoor-Rabbit&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Guide on how to care for outdoor rabbits&lt;/a&gt;, it in addition points out that rabbits can die of simply having to be too close to a predator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T09:20:53.500" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25334" CreationDate="2019-05-03T12:08:48.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had it in two cases where I raised birds by hand, an Indian myna, and a cockatiel. I went away from them for work. They both stopped eating in my absence and starved themselves to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I've had many more instances where we re-homed birds to us, and they were fine. They adapted quite quickly to their new environments. But they were not as tame as a hand-reared bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is near impossible to predict how the birds will respond to their new environment and owners. I would suggest getting the bird used to the new person who would be taking care of them. Also, be available to take the bird back if they don't adjust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wishing you the best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T12:08:48.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-03T13:19:17.483" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four cats.  Pepe is a male orange tabby about six years old.  Smudge, Buddy, and Pudding are male, male, and female grey tabbies about a year and a half old (they're triplets from the same litter).  I also have a dog named Brutus who's a seven-year-old Boston Terrier/Beagle, but I don't believe he's relevant to this post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last month, one of my cats peed on my bed.  I called it a fluke, washed my bedding, and moved on.  Then it happened again.  Some time yesterday, one of the cats peed on my bed for the second time.  And one of my cats also peed on my brother's bed.  &lt;strong&gt;How can I figure out which of my cats is the culprit, and what can I do about it?&lt;/strong&gt;  My brother speculates that one of them has a urinary tract problem, but we don't know which cat to take to the vet.  Here are some relevant facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;None of the cats have been otherwise behaving strangely; they eat their food, use their litterboxes, drink their water, and play with each other (and us).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The triplets &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; stray kittens that we socialized and adopted, but that was over a year ago.  They're now very comfortable in our house (though still a little shy).  They've &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; used the litter box without incident, even when they were fresh off the street.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No one has recently changed any major habits.  No moved furniture, no moved litterbox, nothing.  (We recently started feeding them in a different part of the house, but that change happened without incident.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All cats are willing to enter both of our bedrooms, and do so regularly (though not usually at the same time).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pepe is not shy in the least.  The triplets are a bit, but they don't tend to hide under furniture any more unless you make loud noises or sudden movements near them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have two adjacent litterboxes, but they're nowhere near my bedroom or my brother's.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Until this incident, none of my cats has &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; peed outside the litterbox.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We don't close our bedroom doors if we're not inside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat did not pee on the bed in our presence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All cats continue to use the litterbox.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All cats eat the same food, and have no interesting nutritional requirements.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No cat is currently taking medication of any kind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastEditorUserId="6584" LastEditDate="2019-05-03T13:34:51.140" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T13:34:51.140" Title="How can I identify which cat is peeing on my bed, then what can I do about it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25347" CreationDate="2019-05-03T15:36:21.393" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a month ago, our bunny had to go to the vet for what turned out to be a respiratory problem (probably a cold; Metacam did the trick, but that's by the bye). While at the vet, she mentioned that he was a good weight, but his teeth were too sharp and we ought to reduce his nuggets to 1-2 teaspoons per day. At the time, he was getting quite a lot of hay and the occasional fresh vegetable -- mostly parsley, spinach and coriander (cilantro), and the occasional carrot head -- but that was a considerable reduction to his dry food (which he loves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, we reduced his nugget intake -- which didn't go down well, initially -- and he's slowly gotten used to it. (It was weeks before he was flopping again!) Consequently, his hay intake has increased and we give him slightly more fresh vegetables to compensate; plus he's become a bit crazy when it's nugget time!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's not a fan of hay, so even though his consumption has increased, it's clear that it isn't as much as what the nuggets provided, as he's lost a lot of weight. For example, when you stroke him, his skeleton is now really obvious and he seems more sleepy than usual. He's happy, but we're concerned that he's not getting enough food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? If so, then I guess we'll just try to be less &quot;protective&quot;; if not, presuming it's not a more serious issue, what additional food can we supply that's good for him (both his digestion &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; teeth) that he will actually eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Mini lop; male, neutered; ~16mo. I don't remember his &quot;good weight&quot;, but it was slightly over 1kg and he's smaller-than-average, even for a mini lop.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11740" LastEditorUserId="11740" LastEditDate="2019-05-03T15:41:26.403" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T16:01:38.460" Title="Are we feeding our bunny enough?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25334" CreationDate="2019-05-03T19:00:46.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can add my particular experience with budgies. My family have kept a few budgies (alone or in pairs, kept in a cage with the door open during the day, in a room where the door is kept closed) over the years and we’ve also looked after each other’s pets while on holiday. We’ve looked after them in our homes, so temporary change of both owner and environment, and sometimes there was even a resident budgie in the holiday home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve not had any problems with them stopping eating, and my sister's budgie had no problem snuggling with me. The one thing I noticed is that they don’t like flying and landing in unfamiliar rooms - they’ll land on furniture in their own homes but prefer people or their cages in rooms they don’t know. I’d be more wary of obesity than starvation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T19:00:46.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-03T20:21:46.397" Score="4" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started with two hermit crabs, and they would run through the normal hermit crab cycle of not being out much during the day and being more active at night. Recently, one of my hermit crabs died and, as unfortunate as that is, I have begun to see a lot more activity in my other crab. I'm not so concerned, I'm just wondering why this spike of activity has happened directly after my first crab's death. Is he lonely, or is he maybe looking for my other crab?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:49:35.947" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:50:44.480" Title="Why is my hermit crab more active after passing away of his fellow crab?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25344" CreationDate="2019-05-03T20:48:45.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, that does not sound normal. Bunnies are capable of being underweight and overweight. You should not be able to easily feel his ribs/spine. Does he have bunny-safe wooden chews available to him in his cage at all times? The pet store typically sells scented ones to entice small animals to chew on them. Refrain from using wood from outside unless you know it has never been treated with pesticides and is not a toxic plant. I'd increase the amount of food he will eat (nuggets), provide some chews, and if his teeth continue to be an issue, you can very slowly, gradually alter the percentage of nugget vs hay so that he doesn't notice the change. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible reasons for being underweight are intestinal parasites or other illnesses. Consider getting a fecal test done. Hope this help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15821" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T20:48:45.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25325" CreationDate="2019-05-03T20:55:38.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like a possible dominance issue. If you've ever seen two dogs fight, there's a split moment before the fight where they are very still and intensely focused on each other. In dogs, hovering over something is an act of dominance. Does the rottie ever lunge? The most important issue here is safety. If there is no lunging, then it's mild dominance, and clicker training can be beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You stand by miss Rottie, or sit, with a bag of her favorite treats. You let her stare at kitty. The second she breaks focus, you click the clicker, and give her a treat. You say she can sit for hours sometimes, so she may need &quot;help&quot; breaking her focus the first few times until she realizes what you are doing. This is better with two people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a chance that this behavior is not a dominance issue, but it's definately better to be safe rather than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15821" LastActivityDate="2019-05-03T20:55:38.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25340" CreationDate="2019-05-04T01:54:15.517" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This experience report applies for Western Europe)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had two dwarf rabbits (one male, neutered, 4 years old and one female, 2 years old) for two years. They spend their daytime in the backyard and their nighttime in a predator-safe enclosure (no entry for predator, more than one opportunity to hide for the rabbits). We have at least one cat in the neighborhood, which is now almost 3 years old. In the backyard, there are a lot of opportunities (which we had built) to hide for my rabbits, where the cat can't come in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first the rabbits were only supervised in the backyard. We watch over all activity through the windows, so we do not influence the behavior of the rabbits and other (wild) animals. We discovered that the rabbits have enough instinct and reflex to overlook and warn each other in case of the cat enters the garden. Since there are hiding places every meter, they are safe before the cats' instinct is triggered. Only one time we have seen the cat have physical contact with the rabbits: our female was sitting with her back in the hiding tunnel  (more than one entrance) and boxed the curious cat with her front paws in the face. The cat ran away!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this situation, and considering our acquired knowledge that they could and will hide, we left them in the backyard unsupervised for almost 5 hours per day. The rest of the daytime they stay in the backyard too, but with us around. At night they live in almost 6 square meters enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We made this decision because of the following thinking and reasons:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits love their freedom. They need to explore, run and rove around to visit their favorite places. So they can bear for example temperature differences until daytime. (Search for sun in the morning, lie in the shadows while it's the middle of the day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can speed up to 60 &lt;sup&gt;km&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;h&lt;/sub&gt; (little more than 37 mph) so they need all space they could acquire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans take risks as &quot;okay&quot; in exchange for improved life quality. For example, they like to drive cars for comfort despite the fact that more people die driving than walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our rabbits wait impatiently every morning until we open the enclosure door to the backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in an environment with a lot of residental buildings, so the risk of predators at daytime is very little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We feed our rabbits &quot;ad libidum&quot; which means, in short, they always have enough &quot;no risk&quot; food to eat and can choose time, amount and additions  (like garden plants) of their food themselves. Because of this, we know, they will not eat toxic plants because of hunger. But they explore and test our garden plants and eat the ones they need. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information you can visit this site: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/haltung/aussenhaltung/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kaninchenwiese/aussenhaltung&lt;/a&gt; (please excuse me, this site is in German, but I have not found an equivalent site in English yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Once again: This experience is located in Western Europe. Other places can require other behavior).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T12:03:05.297" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T12:03:05.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25336" CreationDate="2019-05-04T05:19:03.917" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As cats gets older, their need for food changes. Older cats are often less active, so it is useful to start giving a lower energy type of food; this is mainly to avoid weight gain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older cats do often start to drink less water, so to compensate for this and the effect this might have on the cats' kidneys senior food is lower in mineral content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet senior cat food often has a higher content of water to help the kidneys function better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lowered mineral content will lower the risk of kidney and bladder stones. In addition to lowered mineral content, senior cat food often contains additives to make the urine more acidic to dissolve and remove gallstones and bladder stones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Senior cat food often contains more dietary fiber to help digestion and to help fur balls to pass more easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the things I mention here are used in food for adult cats too, for urinary tract and kidney health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/feeding-your-senior-cat#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/feeding-your-senior-cat#&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you talk to your vet to find the type of food that fits your cat best at each stage of life. No two cats are the same and older cats needs to see the vet each year, so you might as well ask when you see the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:28:11.600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T13:28:11.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25346" CreationDate="2019-05-04T06:49:56.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hermit crabs are known to fight, so this might be a result of it feeling safer now once the other one is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of crustaceans have problems living close to each other, and one can see this in crabs-crayfish-lobsters; they will fight and hurt each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your hermit crab does probably feel safer now and this is why it is more active now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:50:44.480" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:50:44.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25353" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-04T11:29:59.023" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just set up a small 23 liter aquarium for red fire shrimps. There are no shrimps in there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I filled up the tank with water from a rain collector and mixed it with some mineralised water. This was three days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guy in the shop told me to wait at least two weeks before I can put any shrimps in there. He also sold me a probing set to evaluate the water quality. Just three days in now and the water quality is now perfect according to the test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason to wait longer to buy shrimps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything happening in the next 10 days from a chemical process? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15829" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:02:45.420" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:02:45.420" Title="If the water quality is already perfect, do I need to wait any longer?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25353" CreationDate="2019-05-04T14:48:57.380" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely need to wait until you have cycled the tank properly, this means waiting until you have first measured non-zero amount of ammonia present in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When ammonia is present you need to wait until you can measure non-zero amount of nitrite in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When both ammonia and nitrite have dropped to zero and you are able to measure non-zero amount of nitrate in your tank, you can start to think about adding shrimp to your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When testing your water please use a liquid test kit and not the 5 in 1 test strips as they are not very sensitive for ammonia and nitrite (as I just found out AGAIN).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want you to read and understand what you read here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&lt;/a&gt; before you even start thinking about adding shrimp to your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have just got myself about 20 red crystal shrimp and added them to a well cycled tank. No ammonia or nitrite is present in my tank and still I have found two dead so far, so you need to be patient before you add any type of life to your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had aquariums since 1974 and until now and have gained some fundamental experience during the years. There are no shortcuts when you cycle a tank, it takes the time it takes depending on your setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shrimp are very sensitive to the water quality, so if it is possible try to buy them from a shop that has the same water supply as you have at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:50:56.177" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:50:56.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-04T14:59:22.233" Score="1" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an aquarium with a HOB filter. I tried to introduce a large population of &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; to the tank, but by the next day, they had all been either eaten or filtered out. Is there any way to maintain a stable population of &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; in a filtered tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps, I have a 55 gallon (210 L) tank with a few plants, some corys, a betta, a school of neon tetras, pom-pom crabs, and ghost shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m also a very inexperienced aquarium owner. This is my first tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is slightly different than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18623/how-do-you-breed-daphnia-to-feed-to-aquarium-fish&quot;&gt;How do you breed Daphnia to feed to aquarium fish?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am specifically interested in how to sustain a population of &lt;em&gt;Daphnia&lt;/em&gt; in a community aquarium, rather than in a separate enclosure. Maybe it is not feasible/possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15830" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T15:34:34.227" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T15:34:34.227" Title="How do I maintain a population of daphnia inside a filtered tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-04T21:24:09.730" Score="4" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just curious if I really need to incorporate hay pellets into my rabbits' diet? Since they are already eating plenty of hay and veggies on a daily basis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15833" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T11:36:46.850" Title="What's The Purpose of Hay Pellets?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25363" CreationDate="2019-05-05T04:04:34.943" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning to trim our budgies nails, they are long enough now to do this. Can I use a sharp nail clipper while someone holds them in a soft cloth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15835" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T11:13:18.457" Title="I am planning to trim our budgies nails" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3300" CreationDate="2019-05-05T04:30:15.280" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I run out of wet food I take a bit of dry food and add water or a bit of the juice from a tuna can or salmon(they like that better) mix it up. Sweet potatoes are safe to give cats as is rice, true they don't absorb much nutrition from it but it is needed for the fiber(Don't give white rice). Another good item to give them is giblets. I will just boil them in a bit of water and through in my mini food processor to mix it up so it looks like wet food...most don't have those laying around but I will pick some up on occasion when they are on sale and keep them in the freezer to use as a treat or if I need it for a few days before I can get back to the store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15836" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T04:30:15.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25359" CreationDate="2019-05-05T09:32:10.933" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not clear from you question if you are asking about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food pellets that are made mostly of timothy hay like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/our-products/fortified-food/essentials-adult-rabbit-food/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Oxbow’s Essentials - Adult Rabbit Food&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if you are asking about &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.exoticnutrition.com/Products/Timothy-Hay-Cubes__434EN435EN.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;timothy hay cubes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hay cubes are small about 1 inch square (2.5cm) compressed blocks of just timothy hay. Nutritionally they are just hay.  They are convenient if you are traveling to the vet, or someplace else as an easy to carry source of hay. Most rabbits I know enjoy eating them, they are fun to chew on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food pellets, are timothy based processed food with additives to balance the diet. If your rabbit gets a well balanced diet of fresh greens and hay, they do &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; need these.  But maintaining a balanced diet across the seasons can be difficult.  Many bunny parents provide pellets daily. The decision is complex, we have several related posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1460/13&quot;&gt;What are the basic requirements of a healthy adult rabbit&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6263/13&quot;&gt;Food Pellet - Is my rabbit eating enough?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/15026/13&quot;&gt;Am I feeding my rabbits a balanced diet? If not, how to get there?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/11808/13&quot;&gt;my rabbit absolutely will not eat hay and very little pellets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1441/13&quot;&gt;Do I need to do anything special when I change what I feed my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/48/13&quot;&gt;What are healthy treats for a house rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T09:32:10.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25360" CreationDate="2019-05-05T11:13:18.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The talon of the budgies grow continuously but they are normally filed regularly by the movements of the bird on its perches and on its toys. It is therefore necessary to have adapted perches such as perches made of natural wood or therapeutic perches made of cement or concrete (found in pet shops). If you decide to use these abrasive perches, be careful that it does not hurt the inside of the legs of the bird in the long term (these injuries are called &quot;podagres&quot; in birds of prey).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the length of the claws becomes still very long then I think it is better to ask your vet if it is the first time and ask him to show you how. The technique most often used is to wrap the bird in a towel as you said, and place the bird on the back to gain access to the legs without the budgies can struggle (and by the same opportunity to get hurt). You can use a nail clipper for human being careful to cut only the tip of the claw because talon have blood vessels in the center that can bleed a lot if cut. If this happens, stop bleeding with a haemostatic product (or flour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So normally there is no need to cut claws in budgies, but only to use good perches. However, if the length of the claws of the parakeet exceeds a quarter of a circle then claws can be cut (1. Ask your veterinarian's advice if it's the first time 2. By following the procedure above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Budgies that have the nails too long regularly despite the adapted perches, it is better to cut the talon more often to avoid bleeding. Indeed, the vein lengthens with the claws so cutting regularly will decrease its length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to use a hygienic nail clipper and adopt to cut claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-05-05T11:13:18.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-05T13:54:05.957" Score="2" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently fostering Alex, a two year old cat who was left completely blind after a car accident about two months ago. He has only recently left the vet clinic but is already quite well adjusted and fairly confident around the house where he's allowed to roam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, I am caring for a kitten that was (mostly) abandoned by its feral mother (she sometimes visits to eat) outside my building. The kitten must be two months old or possibly older (can't know). The kitten is only allowed in the house when I can supervise, otherwise he is either outside or in another room. He does not spend nights inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to get them to socialise but I'm not sure that I'm making the right progress. I've taken it very slowly, starting out with a few minutes of them being around each other at a time, and building up gradually over the last couple of weeks. Since the kitten is outside my building, I can't keep him indoors and do the whole &quot;play through the door&quot; thing regularly - though we've done that, it ended with hissing. The best I've achieved so far is to get them to take turns playing with the same toy (mouse and bell on a string) and that was going great until the older cat performed a small but angry attack against the kitten. The kitten hit back. Some more hissing ensued, then they both retreated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I have advice from anyone who's had to deal with a similar situation? Or any thoughts on whether this latest one was a positive encounter? I don't want to give up but I'm becoming impatient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15805" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:23:20.643" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:23:20.643" Title="Introducing a blind cat and a playful kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;sight&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25359" CreationDate="2019-05-06T11:24:43.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My understanding of &quot;pellets&quot;:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a material was broke up into little parts and then pressed with some linking addition into a form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If this is the sort of pellets you thinking of:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please do not feed them!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;First&lt;/em&gt;: Rabbits need fiber for a healthy digestion, but during production of pellets this fibers getting shorter and shorter until they &quot;disappear&quot;. This food is like junk food for human, and like this it cause issues like occlusion which brings your rabbits pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Second&lt;/em&gt;: the addition to link former broken parts are most times not part of a good feeding for your rabbits. Examples are: ordinary sugar and a lot of industrial oils.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Third&lt;/em&gt;: Because of differences in law for human food against law for animal foods, the producer has no commitment to inform about all included materials. So the production can add cheaper filler medium to increase their prize with ease and you can not check it. In German this filler medium is often called &quot;pflanzliche Nebenerzeugnisse&quot; (in English herbal byproduct or vegetable byproduct). This may be all vegetable waste from other industrial productions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fourth&lt;/em&gt;: Most pellets are dried until their production, so they will suck up a lot of water after the rabbit eats them. They swell and get bigger and bigger (sometimes five times of the dry pellet) and strain the stomach cover. This causes pain and weakening of this tissue. In difference fresh food do not swell any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Last&lt;/em&gt;: This pellets will not be long chewed like raw food and make full. So the rabbits do not use their teeth long enough to promote natural abrasion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/ernaehrung/futtermittel/trockenfutter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;(Source in German language)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-06T11:36:46.850" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T11:36:46.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25344" CreationDate="2019-05-06T12:12:22.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The abrasion of the teeth is a complex theme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Factors are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food with &lt;strong&gt;silicic acid&lt;/strong&gt; helps (most fresh leaves / grasses, hay also contains it but in smaller amounts).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the rabbit has to &lt;strong&gt;chew for a long time&lt;/strong&gt; it is better than food it can quickly swallow after only a brief period of chewing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food that &lt;strong&gt;makes full&lt;/strong&gt; in short time is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; good (most grains, pellets, old hard bread and likewise).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: you can help your rabbit with abrasion if you feed big amounts of fresh, natural, &quot;wild&quot; greens. (You should increase the amount slowly, one hand full of greens more every day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried that your rabbit has issues, you should meet the vet again or maybe call it to calm down and decide what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T16:01:38.460" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T16:01:38.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25356" CreationDate="2019-05-06T15:01:25.707" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommended a &quot;hang on breeding box&quot; on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/24219/my-molly-is-nipping-at-one-of-the-cherry-barbs-in-my-tank-what-should-i-do-the/25323#25323&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt; for separating grown fish. They're cheap and basically give both fish access to the filtered, temperature-appropriate water without giving them access to each other and without the need for a separate tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar vein, I guess you could try a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saim-Aquarium-Plastic-Hatchery-Breeder/dp/B01H1TQCC2/ref=asc_df_B01H1TQCC2/?tag=googshopuk-21&amp;amp;linkCode=df0&amp;amp;hvadid=241051912230&amp;amp;hvpos=1o2&amp;amp;hvnetw=g&amp;amp;hvrand=13062259952914802261&amp;amp;hvpone=&amp;amp;hvptwo=&amp;amp;hvqmt=&amp;amp;hvdev=c&amp;amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;amp;hvlocint=&amp;amp;hvlocphy=9046834&amp;amp;hvtargid=pla-487374683759&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;fry hatchery&lt;/a&gt;. The daphnia could live inside it (if the mesh is fine enough), and you wouldn't need a second tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must warn you that they sell live, frozen and dried daphnia as fish food here. My goldfish never really developed a taste for it (and the old one doesn't like his food to move on its own these days), so they didn't gorge on it but it would slowly be eaten over the course of a couple of hours. The bronze corys I had liked it well enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to grow your own fish food, far easier to &quot;fence off&quot; plants than living creatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T15:01:25.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17048" CreationDate="2019-05-06T15:18:25.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like I have to answer this, even if I am too late!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware of the differences between &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_dwarf_frog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dwarf Frogs&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_clawed_frog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;African Clawed Frogs&lt;/a&gt;. The second wikipedia article there even says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;African clawed frogs are frequently mislabeled as African dwarf frogs in pet stores. The astute pet owner will recognize the difference, however, because of the following characteristics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Dwarf frogs have four webbed feet. African clawed frogs have webbed hind feet while their front feet have autonomous digits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-African dwarf frogs have eyes positioned on the side of their head, while African clawed frogs have eyes on the top of their heads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-African clawed frogs have curved, flat snouts. The snout of an African dwarf frog is pointed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important because the clawed ones grow a fair bit bigger than the dwarf ones (the size of the palm of your hand or bigger, even though they start off the size of your fingernail!) and will eat whatever fits in their mouths. And their mouths are pretty big relative to their heads. As their name suggests, they also have claws and can perform some crazy yoga to claw at the &amp;quot;food&amp;quot; they're currently putting in their mouth. Personally, I think they could and would eat a molly once they're fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-05-06T15:18:25.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-06T21:08:30.943" Score="4" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two sibling puppies in the weekend and I'm having tons of trouble with one of them. Due to a bad first night experience, she realized that whining works and has been constantly whining ever since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm crating them and that's been working pretty well. I've progressively let them alone in the crate for more and more time and now they are already handling 45-60 minutes pretty well. However by the end of the day sometimes she starts whining and I don't really know how to handle it without showing her that whining works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I wait just a couple of seconds after she stops whining to give her attention? I realize that this is all new to her so I don't want to overdo crating, but I don't really know how to handle that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15839" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T18:37:49.757" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T18:37:49.757" Title="Puppy - how long should I ignore her whining" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25373" CreationDate="2019-05-07T05:44:01.080" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I handle two rabbits in the backyard. At night they have a 3 square meter enclosure, at day the whole garden (I assume 100 square meter, but I am very bad in dimensions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What requirements at walls/grids (and likewise) are necessary to &lt;strong&gt;prevent my rabbits&lt;/strong&gt; from being prey of predators? (Especially at night)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What requirements at walls/grids (and likewise) are necessary &lt;strong&gt;to hold them&lt;/strong&gt; into the garden?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T20:45:26.067" Title="What boundaries are necessary for outdoor rabbits?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25370" CreationDate="2019-05-07T07:28:00.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you correctly realized, whining is a call for attention and every positive experience (getting out of the crate) will be connected with it. You have no way to tell a puppy &quot;No, I don't let you out of the crate because of your whining, I let you out because you waited long enough&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, waiting until the dog stopped whining for a few seconds doesn't work either, because the dog's mind is still in an attention seeking mode. They might have the restraint to stay quiet a few seconds (or whine in a pitch you cannot hear), but they still expect you to react to their whining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What works better is to &lt;strong&gt;distract the dog from their whining&lt;/strong&gt; and put their mind in a different mode. A very good method is to do very simple obedience training with them still in the crate. Sit down, follow me, turn in a circle and suddenly the door opens. That puts your dogs into an obedient mind set instead of attention seeking and it rewards them for their obedience at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your puppies are too young to know those commands yet, you can easily teach them to follow your hand or a toy or snack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another variant mentioned by UIO is to give them a chewing bone or similar snack that takes a while to eat. That allows the dog to focus on the snack and calm at the same time. Let them out when they're finished or simply open the door while they're still chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's crucial to change the training sequence each time, even if only for a little bit. You should avoid teaching your dog that turning in circles is a substitute behavior for whining. That only leads down the road to obsessive compulsive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that a command like &quot;lay down&quot; or &quot;stay&quot; is ineffective for stopping the whining of a dog. Commands only work if they are connected to a positive outcome. If you tell your dog to &quot;lay down and shut up&quot; and then turn around and walk away because crate time is not over yet, the command loses it's effectiveness because it's not followed by a positive outcome. Your dog might eventually ignore your command just like you ignored their obedience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-05-14T11:46:51.420" LastActivityDate="2019-05-14T11:46:51.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25371" CreationDate="2019-05-07T08:05:19.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I will answer this question for the enclosure (unsupervised) only. For the daily garden movement you need the &amp;quot;rabbits stay in&amp;quot; rules and can read the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25340/should-i-be-worried-about-neighbours-cat-in-relation-to-my-outdoor-rabbits&quot;&gt;Should I be worried about neighbors' cats in the context to my outdoor rabbits?&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you should know which rabbit-specific predators are common in your area. For Western Europe these are foxes and martens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your boundaries have to hold foxes, martens AND rabbits in place (the first two at the outside, the latter one at the inside).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit: What to do, if you have raccoons in the neighborhood, you can read here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25400/racoons-what-sort-of-protection-do-my-rabbit-enclosure-need&quot;&gt;Racoons: What sort of protection do my rabbit enclosure need&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Grid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be point-welded. This means that every crossing of the two wires should be welded, instead of woven-wired. In case of woven wires it needs only one cut and as a result the majority of the grid could get ripped apart, so rabbits or predators can force themselves trough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use thin wire (more than 1 mm / 0.04 inch), the grid spacing should not be larger than 19 x 19 mm (0.75 x 0.75 inch), so the rabbits can not use their teeth on it. Bigger grid spacing have to be from thick wire (which the rabbits can not bite in pieces).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Martens are the smaller predators. It can squeeze through gaps of 4 cm / 1.57 inch, so all grid spacing should be smaller. Martens can be strong and capable of bending the wires, so the bigger gaps should be reliably surrounded. (For example, some manufactured rabbit enclosures use grid of 3 x 5 cm rectangles. This could be bent by marten, enabling it to fit through the resulting 4 x 4 cm gap.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a saying here: if a chick's egg could fit trough, the marten would be able to fit through, too. (In fairytales, martens are the chicks' killers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wire should be processed in the context of corrosion-proofing, for example galvanized, to withstand the weather (rain → rust).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The grid has to be properly attached. Attach it with full rectangles, not with only protruding wire-ends. Make a pull test.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optional: &lt;strong&gt;insect mesh&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried that your rabbits could get infested by maggots or infected with myxomatosis, you can use these special curtains on the wire.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Digging protection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Requirement: prevent rabbits from digging their way out, prevent predators from digging their way in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the enclosure foots on non solid flooring (like soil or grass), it is useful to sink stone plates ore grid horizontally between 30 and 100 cm deep in the flooring (12 - 40 inch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is to lay a 30 cm wide stone path on the inside of the fence around the enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On both strategies, one has to estimate the digging effort of the rabbits, but because the potential digging distances are long, the rabbits cannot dig an escape route without being noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More building effort regarding the next two suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could remove the non-solid flooring of the enclosure until around 30cm depth, lay grid into the ground and refill the hole. Or one could lay stone plates on the ground flooring of the whole enclosure.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Roof protection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Martens are very good climbers, so it is useful to close the upside of the enclosure (especially if they are small) with grid too (see point grid). Web does not suit there, an exception is wire-web, but this is very expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the fence of the enclosure is larger than 2 m / 79 inch, one can add a second part above. This should be tilted about 30° to the outside. One could find such things for cat-security (designed to hold cats inside) but use it opposite (to hold martens outside). This 30° part should be very smooth (in other words, it shouldn't be possible for predators to get a foothold ) or with an electric fence (like the one for horses or cows).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T20:45:26.067" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T20:45:26.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15722" CreationDate="2019-05-07T10:17:03.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like you yourself describe, the Efrafa warren and the hoarding situation are no healthy rabbit communities. General Woundworth was battered himself as a little rabbit, so one could assume his daily behavior is disturbed by this events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under normal conditions, like enough room and normal rabbit behavior, rabbits do not fight until death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if they are extremely stressed, for example if they are compressed with a lot of others, they can act &quot;not normal&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine you, living with 10 other people in a little space like a garage. Maybe the door is open but wired, maybe it is closed. You have to sleep in this room, you have to eat in this room, you have to relieve yourself in this room. There will build aggression and there are a lot of movies or books showing how one of this people go crazy and harm the others... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits will not fight with the aim to kill. They would solve the problems before: for example in make the warren bigger (what Woundworth forbid) or getting away and plant a new warren (what Woundworth forbid also). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For mother nature killing and not eating is wasting. Wasting live. So it would be the very last solution for a problem in nature. To avoid it there are fights for a rank in the group. If this order is in place, there must not be battles for &quot;daily&quot; problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my conclusion is: &lt;strong&gt;No, if they have room and show healthy behavior, they will not kill each other.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-07T10:17:03.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-08T01:41:17.777" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta has changed color and has gained some black it looks like under his gills. His color looks more foggy than before and his eyes have a grey spot on each of them. I put him in a larger and filtered tank last week as well as changed his food. I'm wondering if he is ok and how to help his gills &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/faVdi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15844" LastActivityDate="2019-05-08T01:41:17.777" Title="I can't tell if my betta is sick or not" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T15:59:30.470" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25380" CreationDate="2019-05-08T16:42:24.007" Score="4" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am eating in the garden my dog always comes near me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As one of the things that I eat frequently is fruit, I was wondering about which types of fruit are safe to feed him/add to his diet and which ones should I avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, Buddy seems to love apples (without the seeds and the core).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9258" LastActivityDate="2019-05-14T04:53:52.057" Title="Which types of fruit can I give to my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25379" CreationDate="2019-05-08T17:57:33.580" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's generally not recommended to feed your pets anything other than their own food, because even if it's not poisonous, the food could cause health problems. For instance, dogs and cats can get diabetes from consuming too much sugar too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, when it comes to fruits, the fruit itself may be fine, but other things associated with the fruit are not. For example, apples are not poisonous, but their seeds contain a form of cyanide. This is true for a great many fruits, and so you must be careful to remove all seeds before giving it to your dog. There are also fruits where the unripened fruit is poisonous, or the plant that grows the fruit is poisonous, like the tomato. Or the peels or shells could even be bad for the digestive tract even if they are not technically poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A non-comprehensive list of common poisonous fruits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grapes and raisins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avocado&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cherries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tomatoes (while the perfectly ripe fruit is technically okay, you can't really be sure all the toxins are gone, so better not risk it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-05-08T23:27:30.417" LastActivityDate="2019-05-08T23:27:30.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25386" CreationDate="2019-05-08T23:02:54.787" Score="2" ViewCount="829" Body="&lt;p&gt;My little betta passed away after a long struggle of being sick, getting better, being sick. He finally developed a fungal infection that I couldn't kick and he passed away. In the immediate moments of despair that followed, I emptied the tank, vowing to never own fish again because that little dude stressed me out, but now I want another one because fish are just wonderful little pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not 100% what type of fungal infection he died of, he had cottony growths appear suddenly on his final day alive, but I'm wondering how long I should cycle the tank before reintroducing another fish. Here are my questions, in no particular order: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much I should scrub things that were in the tank?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I replace the black sand substrate, or should I leave some of&#xA;the natural bacteria from the tank? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have 2 moss balls, 1 zebra plant, and 1 madagascar lace plant - would they have a possibility of retaining fungus? How do you clean live plants? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I already threw the existing filters away, and my filter motor has some algae growth in the tubing that I can't clean out - should that concern me, or is some algae okay?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I upgrade to a 10 gallon? This last tank had ridiculous algae growth that I couldn't control, something I did not experience with the first betta I owned. I tried a snail, but my betta killed it, so I'm hesitant to try that again. I think a 10 gallon could help this? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2019-05-09T17:28:11.163" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T12:58:07.110" Title="Betta died of fungal infection, when can I add a new betta?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2019-05-08T23:22:45.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a tank with only mystery snails in it and while I loved watching them I decided to add a beta for a bit of colour.  That beta keeps nipping at the snail's tentacles and seems to enjoy harassing them.  My snails definitely don't like it and have started hiding in their shells all the time.  My snails do not like their new tank mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15847" LastActivityDate="2019-05-08T23:22:45.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18912" CreationDate="2019-05-09T08:27:48.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female turtles can lay eggs without seen a male turtle ever (but without a little turtle in it). If they have produced eggs and can not lay them, they become ill and can die (see &quot;eggbound&quot; for more detail).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you should be happy, your turtle lay the eggs even though she had no place for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe they had no appropriate place for it at their old home too, and have learned it sadly that way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How should an appropriate place for laying eggs be?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be filled with soil, maybe mixed with sand or coconut fiber. You can test the right mix, if you dig with a spoon and the walls are stable and no soil slips into the hole. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be warm. For example you could use a lamp like this one for the sun place. (In most cases each turtle needs its own sun place, so you need a second anyway.) Additionally one can dig some heat mat into the soil at one end of the place, so the turtle can choose the distance (and so the temperature). (Important to choose a mat that suits to turtle requirements.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It must have enough room for the turtle to comfortable turn around. (For red eared sliders this could for example be 50 x 50 cm / 19,5 x 19,5 inch.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some turtles are very smart: They want a egg laying place, which is above the water level, so their eggs do not getting flooded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.How many eggs will she lay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This turtles will lay between 6 and 17 eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.How long will it take her to lay them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This point I do not know. In nature the turtle is vulnerable while she laying eggs, so she want to make it as fast as she can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3.How can or should I redirect her from laying in the water to laying in soil?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, if you can optimize the &quot;laying eggs&quot; place. You can not force her to lay her eggs in the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4.How can I tell when she is about to lay another egg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under normal circumstances one see it, if the turtle gets agitated and wanders a lot of times to the egg place. She will test to dig the soil and maybe wet it, so it suits more her vision of a good place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally you can carefully touch her skin and feel the eggs inside her belly. You should be very careful, because &quot;in production&quot; eggs have very soft shell and coud be damaged by humans. The right places to examine, you can see at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zierschildkroete.de/krankheiten/eierfuehlen.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;picture&lt;/a&gt; (The green arrow shows the right place, at the red arrows can you feel bones)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you should be aware: to touch your turtle and searching for eggs is stressful for her. So you should do it not to often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For additional information you can look at this questions too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5727/how-long-will-it-take-a-red-eared-slider-to-lay-eggs-once-she-is-gravid&quot;&gt;How long will it take a Red Eared Slider to lay eggs once she is gravid?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6278/could-my-res-be-egg-bound&quot;&gt;Could my RES be egg bound?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-09T08:34:34.560" LastActivityDate="2019-05-09T08:34:34.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24233" CreationDate="2019-05-09T08:34:52.200" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I bought my sofa, I thought, I'll get one with a resistant cloth, so in case my cat wants to scratch it, my sofa will resist it better, same with my carpets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I've discovered over the years is that my cat scratches things, because they have a good material for doing so, which means that maybe getting a softer sofa will be less appealing to your cat. Anyway, I recommend you get a sofa cover. There are lots of options for about 40-60€ for big sofas, and they last a long season.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10030" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:39:28.433" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:39:28.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6281" CreationDate="2019-05-09T09:02:35.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of people who swear their rabbits are smart as a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some training methods with rabbits you may know from dogs could flesh out this theory:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clicker training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sound of the clicker first will get paired with reward, for example favorite tasteful food. Then one can reward the rabbit with the clicking sound during an exercise and with food after the exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trick training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the video I assume take place. For example with clicker training you can learn your rabbits actions and tricks. Like trick training by dogs there are very creative tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Agility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the focus is more on sports side of the training. But also you can use clicker training to teach the actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All above mentioned methods need a good and close relationship between rabbit and owner! The rabbit should not be forced, pushed or punished to bring the actions. species appropriate is only the motivation trough rewards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Logic games&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can build or buy the same as for dogs. One example is a board with holes. This holes are covered with flaps, caps and pusher gates. You give in some of the favorite food, close them and let your rabbit solve the opening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because there are a lot of well documented cases of the above mentioned activities, I follow up the theory, that rabbits could be smart as dogs. (But because they are smaller in most cases and are not predators, they do not act in the same ways like dogs do.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-09T09:02:35.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25381" CreationDate="2019-05-09T09:58:00.103" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;You need to vacuum the gravel and do your normal maintenance of your tank&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(clean your filter-remove dead parts of plants-do a water change).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fungal infection in your fish is normally the result of elevated levels of ammonia and/or nitrite in the water. This will weaken your fish so that their immune system is unable to fight the fungi or bacteria that is a normal part of the biology in a tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing the filter media will have removed some of the good bacteria you need to have in your tank. This means you will have to cycle your tank again (this does not have to take a lot of time, lots of bacteria is living in the gravel and on the surfaces in your tank). Please take a look here on how to cycle a tank &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a larger tank the water parameters will be more stable, so the larger the tank the less the water quality will change over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having some algae on your pump or rocks is not a problem, and you do not need to change the gravel, you only need to clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a fish tank, focus on the water quality, because if this is good your fish will live a good life until they die from old age :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, read about the needs of the fish you want to get,The staff in petshops in general have no idea on how to keep the fish alive only how to sell them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add new fish only AFTER your tank is properly cycled (please see the link I have provided).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T12:58:07.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25338" CreationDate="2019-05-09T23:57:32.993" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some facts that will make your rabbits place  (outdoor or indoor) better for rabbits behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digging Box&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One for most rabbits healthy behavior is to dig. Especially females in nature have the aim to build room for their children. If there is no place with soft ground they could manage to dig on solid ground. This could aim in hurted and maybe bleeding feets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different floors &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits love to literaly overlook their space. So some floors in different highs are welcome. For example my male runs up to the top floor if I come near, so he can look me in the eyes almost. Jump up and down should be save  (no slipping ground, barriers will be noticed and included)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hiding place &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost for every rabbit in the group you can add a hiding place. Sometimes usable against predators, sometimes useful against intrusively companions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cuddly places&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example with wood flakes or straw to dive into and stay warmth. Or simulate a nest like place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Varied grounds &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general different grounds to discover and choose (Cool stone plate, wood and other rough material to cultivate the nails and so on.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a mistake to change the &quot;furnishing&quot; sometimes (same things other place or new things same place) against boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Racecourse / speedway&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after all there have to be enough free space for the rabbits to speed up and zig zagging!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-09T23:57:32.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25389" CreationDate="2019-05-10T13:18:52.763" Score="3" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have somewhat taught my border collie to do a lot of things, from Bang, Sit, Lay Down, Hug, Shake, Shake Fur, and even hold his tail in his mouth as he runs around in circles (very funny) (kinda taught himself to be honest) but I can't seem to teach him left and right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started by simply saying 'Right' instead of 'Shake', as he usually shook with his right paw, and then started using my right hand facing him, and saying 'left' instead of shake, and he started choosing his left paw when I said left, and right paw when saying right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He still tends to always forget it, and can sometimes do the exact opposite of what I ask. I heard border collies are very intelligent and I do believe so, but it would be quite amazing if I could teach my pup to be able to walk left and right, shake left and right, and other such directional tricks. Also I have trouble teaching him how to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-05-10T15:06:24.830" LastActivityDate="2019-05-10T15:08:19.240" Title="Is there a way to teach a dog a general lesson in Direction?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;welsh-collie&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25388" CreationDate="2019-05-10T13:57:29.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You definitely can teach a dog to turn left or right on command. In fact, professional shepherds and dog sledders do this to control their dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I see here is that you want to teach your dog the &lt;strong&gt;concept&lt;/strong&gt; of a &quot;left thing&quot; and a &quot;right thing&quot;. You want him to understand &quot;left paw&quot;, &quot;turn left&quot; and &quot;walk on my left side&quot;. I don't know whether this is impossible, but it's at least much more complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, you taught him &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I say &quot;Shake&quot; and you put any of your paws into my hand, you get a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And your dog learned the command &quot;shake&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now you try teaching him &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I say &quot;Right&quot; and you put your paw into my hand, you get a reward, but &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; if you put &lt;em&gt;this paw&lt;/em&gt; into my hand, &lt;em&gt;not the other one&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog certainly can learn this, but to him &quot;right&quot; would mean no more than a specific paw. He still wouldn't understand the concept of &quot;right&quot; as a direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you need a unique command for any unique action. &quot;Lift your left paw&quot; is something completely different to &quot;walk on my left side&quot; and you should not confuse your dog by using the same command and expecting different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you should make your commands sound as different as possible. A dog cannot hear the tiny differences in our language, so &quot;right&quot; and &quot;night&quot; sound like the same word to him. You can differentiate commands by pitch and emphasis, like &quot;RRRight&quot; and &quot;nIGHT&quot;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-05-10T15:08:19.240" LastActivityDate="2019-05-10T15:08:19.240" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25462" CreationDate="2019-05-10T14:55:36.097" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two small cats, one of which is a black/very dark navy furred cat that is about a year old. The other is a slightly younger and smaller white furred cat that is about 4/5ths of a year old. I simply wish to teach them how to come when I say, and sit when I say sit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried the &quot;force them to shake or sit, say the word, then give them treat&quot; and my cats are quite loving so they didn't mind me pushing their backs a bit to allow them to sit, and they do somewhat come when I tap or clap. Sometimes they just want to suckle (my little white kitten just almost relies 24/7 on suckling for stress relief as he's very shy) or they want to be pet by me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It didn't stick though. Are cats just naturally non-listeners? Some people have told me that due to their &quot;sassy&quot; prideful or completely opposite (scared) attitudes, they are very tough to teach them to do really anything. I don't think its impossible though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-05-10T15:03:15.903" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T14:59:38.060" Title="Is there a Professional Method of training a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25392" CreationDate="2019-05-10T16:18:53.207" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 3 small dogs and live in a rental home.  We recently built a dog run on the side of our house, to keep the dogs safe when they go out to pee at night and in the morning.  We have coyotes in the neighborhood and several neighborhood pets have become victims.  Unfortunately, this means that all their pee is being concentrated in a relatively small area (about 10x6 feet).  The grass is all dying due to the concentrated urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best method to keep the grass alive?  Is there anything i can put on the grass that's not harmful to the dogs that will prevent it from dying?  The grass gets a bit of water from the sprinkler system but it doesn't seem to be enough.  Unfortunately, the area where the dog run is located is very far from the nearest hose.  If more water to dilute the urine is really the only method then I suppose I can invest in a long hose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastActivityDate="2019-05-10T17:08:12.197" Title="How to treat grass to prevent brown spots" Tags="&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25391" CreationDate="2019-05-10T17:08:12.197" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are few ways to address this.  None of them include adding anything other then water to the grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can alter the urine of your dogs, there are some food additives, but there are unresolved health concerns.  The best choice here is to increase water intake.  If the dogs already have as much water as they want, not much you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Planting different kinds of grass, in this small area on a rental property that could be a problem.  If you can plant a more tolerant grass you might need to move the pen to allow the new grass time to establish itself. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replace the grass with gravel, stone, concrete, etc. on rental property this is potentially problematic.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, get a longer hose and water the area well after each dog visit to the area. You might be able to simplify this with a sprinkler on a timmer.  You would want to start it as soon as possible after the dogs pee. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-05-10T17:08:12.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2019-05-11T08:49:05.593" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dalmatian and to a lesser extent, also my American Pitbull, used to have this same issue. The Dalmatian would squirm for hours on end, trying repeatedly to come back after 20 minutes of trying at a time. Any time an attempt was made at a collar put on around the neck, she would abhor it and would move every direction. If somehow you managed to get one limb through, a quick maneuver removed your hard work. Eventually, I got a buckling harness that you place on the back, snap to the front. It's a trick she can't avoid other than to run away. Finally, I have gotten a dog walker who uses a loop around the neck. It takes seconds! My dog enjoys the lack of restraint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, go to a store and try different leash/harness combinations. Eventually, you'll find an easier method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15853" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-05-13T14:01:43.957" LastActivityDate="2019-05-13T14:01:43.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-11T13:23:52.443" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our younger cat (she is 8-1/2) started doing this about 2 months ago.  We took her to the vet and the emergency vet three times.  They took x-rays and did an ultrasound and found nothing. She barely eats and drinks anything and has lost quite a bit of weight. I know she is not using the litter box much. Her coats looks terrible. She lays in the corner of our spare bedroom.  Shes comes out occasionally.  I am pretty sure she is hungry.  She follows me into the kitchen, sits and looks up at me and meows, and smacks her lips. But when I put food down, she goes over to it, looks at is and walks away.  She may take a few licks, but that is about it.  I have purchased one of every brand of cat food I can find and does not appear to have interest in any of them.    I was thinking about buying kitten &quot;milk&quot; at the pet store and trying to force feed her with an eyedropper but I'm not sure how well that will work.  I am at my wits end.  I don't know what else to do for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15855" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T13:48:01.290" Title="8 y/o cat is not eating or drinking, is not playing, is walking slow, and lays in the corner of our spare bedroom" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2019-05-20T13:53:10.537" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-11T13:46:50.137" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to use glass pipe instead of a regular fitting for bottom drain of my aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for example 10cm of glass pipe that glued to the bottom hole of aquarium using silicon sealant and the end of it connected to a hose that can go to sump...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;am i going to have leakage problem or anything?&#xA;anyone ever tried glass pipes in aquariums?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:21:09.060" Title="Using glass pipe" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25396" CreationDate="2019-05-11T21:40:58.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would follow the routine procedures. A plastic bulkhead fitting, rubber washers, with plastic pipe. That provides a little flexibility. A glass or silicone joint would have almost zero flexibility. And you can change the bulkhead in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the many hundreds of aquariums I have seen, I do not remember seeing a glass nor silicone connection. I might mention aquarium bottoms are normally tempered glass and do not drill easily. They are usually purchased with holes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:21:09.060" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:21:09.060" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25402" CreationDate="2019-05-12T09:40:47.100" Score="4" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently gotten a (10 week old) kitten and we're trying to integrate her into the household. There is already an adult cat in the house, but we haven't arrived at the point of introducing them yet - we're just trying to get the kitten to get used to her new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's currently locked in her own room, with food, water, toys, litter, and a ton of hiding spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the first day she didn't even move from her hiding place - not even if we were in the room. She didn't eat or drink anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second day, she started moving between hiding places when we weren't in the room, and the food (we've given her 5 different kinds, it looks like a buffet in there) appears to have been touched - so I think she's eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the middle of the third day, and from time to time she does long and consistent meowing sprees. At this point we're trying to leave her mostly alone and talking to her only when when we feed her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now today, during feeding time she started meowing from her hiding place. As an experiment we meowed back and she looked interested. As the meowing continued back and forth she abandoned her hiding place, took a sniff and lay down on my wife's lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what to make of this. Is this good for her - we're making her feel more comfortable? Or are we confusing/taunting her and it'll be worse for her in the long term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is - should we continue meowing back or should we just ignore her? Should we be doing anything in response to her meowing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5587" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T15:26:49.857" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T15:29:24.390" Title="Integrating a kitten - meowing back" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25398" CreationDate="2019-05-12T11:09:42.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get the kitten out of hiding, try to get her to play. A fishing rod toy is the best because you can have some distance to the cat so it does not get scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start playing with her try to do this while you are sitting and are relaxed. Play is a good way to make her forget how scared she is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you have an adult cat in your house will make the kitten scared, so it can take some time before she comes out of hiding. As long as she eats and drinks and uses the litter box, she will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten is calling for her mother and feels alone right now, so you need to respond by comforting her and by helping her adapt to a new life with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be the &amp;quot;replacement mother&amp;quot; for her now. And this is the time the kitten needs you most to feel safe in a new environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meowing back to the kitten is probably not the thing to do, but you can answer the kitten and show her that you are there for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the time the kitten learns to know you and you learn to know her, so this is the time where bonds are built between you and the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T15:29:24.390" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T15:29:24.390" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25495" CreationDate="2019-05-12T19:38:49.510" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dwarf rabbits in an enclosure in the backyard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some time ago I heared about some rabbits catched by a group of racoons. (In a place some away. Here I havend heared about or seen racoons.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What protection do my rabbits need? (They will not come indoors.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially I need information about the power of racoons: How smart and how strong are they? And what material can resist them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Today my rabbits have an enclosure with this protection: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25371/what-boundaries-are-necessary-for-outdoor-rabbits&quot;&gt;What boundaries are necessary for outdoor rabbits?&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T14:01:05.717" Title="Racoons: What sort of protection do my rabbit enclosure need?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25390" CreationDate="2019-05-13T04:26:00.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need is that the cats feel comfortable around you. Second is to feed them a little less than what they should be eating on a daily basis, this way they will be excited for the extra treats. And don't worry, feeding them a little less than what makes them satisfied doesn't mean that they are hungry. It's actually healthier for them and YOU to eat like that. Third is get a whistle or make a special sound with your mouth instead of clapping as to not make them confused for when to come ( I'm pretty sure that you will someday clap without intending to call your cats, as people clap for multiple reasons.). Forth is always have a treat to give them when asking for a certain command. Fifth, do not give treats unless they obeyed your command &#xA;And Sixth, repeat what you are doing again and again and do not trick them by not really having a treat available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestion: Have a word that lets them know when they did good and that a treat is on its way to them, such as &quot;good kitty&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9713" LastEditorUserId="9713" LastEditDate="2019-05-13T04:31:32.017" LastActivityDate="2019-05-13T04:31:32.017" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25398" CreationDate="2019-05-13T06:57:58.330" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being taken from her family is a scary situation, even if you offer your kitten lots of hiding spaces. As &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/25399/12501&quot;&gt;Trond Hansen&lt;/a&gt; correctly stated, her meowing is her call for mommy or anyone of her old family. She doesn't want to be alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the only thing she reacts positively to is your meowing, you should do it. You goal should be to get her used to you, your smell and your normal human language. But if she needs a familiar sound (meowing) to get to the point, then there's no harm in giving it to her. Start calling her by her name and talking to her anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; look directly into her eyes when you want to interact with her. Most animals (including cats) interpret this as a threat and are intimidated by humans looking at them. Instead look at a point slightly to her side and do the &amp;quot;lazy blink&amp;quot; that's typical for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could do harm, though, are the 2 extremes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Completely ignoring her (you've done that for a few days, now it's time to give her some social interaction, affection and play)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Come running at the smallest sound she makes. That teaches her that she can control you and get all the attention she wants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to find a happy medium where you give her the love and attention she needs to be happy, but where you're not a slave to her every whim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T15:24:34.037" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T15:24:34.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-13T09:18:48.533" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta all of a sudden took a turn for the worse. I automatically thought it was fin rot as both fins look as though they've been nibbled on. I've treated the tank for fin rot and fungus, but he's still under the weather. Please refer to pics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b2EV9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cf2aq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15859" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-18T12:59:23.543" LastActivityDate="2019-06-18T12:59:23.543" Title="Betta sick; not sure what's wrong" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2020-01-31T18:18:48.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25405" CreationDate="2019-05-13T12:32:40.310" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both my Border Collie dog and my 2 cats are getting fleas, we noticed from the immense itching. I also started getting many bug bites (I counted around 20 or more) like mosquito bites, but not like ants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering, do the fleas also bite people? If so, how do I get rid of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using Raid spray in my room and kept my pets out to make sure they don't get sick, and the bites have decreased, but they still occur, I also washed my bedding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:08:08.863" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:08:08.863" Title="My dog and my cats have fleas, and I'm getting bites, is there an infestation?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25404" CreationDate="2019-05-13T23:49:40.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fleas are parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by consuming blood or hematophagy, from their hosts.&#xA;So they can bite.&#xA;To avoid their biting first of all control their origin.&#xA;In your case their origin is your pets. So first of all control fleas infestation in them.&#xA;To control, the most effective drug used now a days is frontline for dogs and bravecto. These are available in solution form for topical use.&#xA;Also wash their bedding.&#xA;Although Raid is an insecticide but that is not useful for this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference:&#xA;Veterinary medicine written by D.C. Blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14271" LastActivityDate="2019-05-13T23:49:40.053" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-14T19:31:46.480" Score="0" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten that has feline leukemia. It's sister died from it, without getting a correct diagnosis. The sister gasped for air, like someone having an allergic reaction, and the antibiotics I was prescribed (because the vet never diagnosed leukemia) did nothing to help, so she finally just died. But theother one lived, and I suspect it was because she was given something antiinflammatory, since I am told the dead one's actions sounded like an inflamed airway restricting breath. It also refused to eat, which matches. The survivor was given Baytril as an antibacterial measure, but shortly after began eating again and is now perfectly healthy (yes, she is a carrier, and is isolated indoors). So I have to wonder, was the Baytril antiinflammatory and opened her throat up? I know it is not recommended to use antiinflammatories WITH Baytril, but I can find no other information on the matter...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastActivityDate="2019-05-15T13:35:47.210" Title="Is Baytril antiinflammatory?" Tags="&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-14T20:51:41.233" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our flock has been through a lot of changes. We lost two of our oldest birds in late winter. This left us with 1 chicken and chickens don't like to be alone. We bought two pullets, separated the run beneath the coop in half for a couple weeks with grating, so they could see each other and not be aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flash forward, we are still trying to build our flock and purchased two more pullets. My husband threw away the grating in the meantime and so we've divided the two groups up (the 3 big girls and the 2 pullets) in such a way as they can't see each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, I'm trying to get them to mix and mingle in the yard, outside the coop to get used to each other, but the big girls chase the little girls together and the little girls run away and stick together like glue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get all my chickens to flock together happily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2019-05-14T20:51:41.233" Title="How Can I Get My Chickens to Integrate Into One Flock?" Tags="&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-15T07:35:09.083" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been sneezing for the last week at least once a day, but I have thought nothing of it. Today I can home and one of his eyes looks more watery than usual and the corner of his eye looks a little irritated and red. Should I wait and see if the symptoms clear or worsen or immediately take him to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:31:49.607" Title="Cat has watery eye" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1736" CreationDate="2019-05-15T10:25:16.983" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because there is no area tag in your question, I will answer for my area (western Europe). (I found the area sentence in your question, please excuse me...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can feed your rabbit bamboo. It will stay green during winter and gives a good basic food for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other vegetable which stays green for (almost) whole winter are cabbage (for example broccoli, savoy, kohlrabi leafs, unhesitating if you do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; feed grains) and parsley. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good food is &quot;Gründüngung&quot; (cover crops / green manures). You could crop it during fall and winter until the temperatures get too deep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And at last (because it is not &quot;fresh&quot; but from the garden also): dry leafs from trees like apple, pear, cherry, maple, linden/lime (lat. tilia), hazel and all, your rabbit like in fresh as well. You can collect and dry them in fall yourself, but you can search for them in winter also. They should be dry and &quot;nice to look&quot; not dirty or pulpy. It is a welcome variety in your rabbits winter diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all new food you should respect the rule, to accustom your rabbits slow. You can use the rule of thumb &quot;one more hand full every day&quot; until the amount for your rabbit is reached. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides you should know, that your rabbit will probe the food with less bites, then left it aside. This do not mean, your rabbit do not like new food. It is smart: The rabbit overlooks itself for some time after the probe, and if it feels well after this, it will consume the new food with delight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-16T07:50:22.330" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T07:50:22.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25412" CreationDate="2019-05-15T10:36:47.417" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think going to the vet is the right thing to do now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat has been sneezing for a week, so this is more than cats normally sneeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat's eyes look irritated, and while this might be normal, it has lasted for some time, so you need to get it looked at by the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The combination of sneezing and irritated eyes makes me think there might be an allergy or an infection going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So get on the phone and get an appointment with your vet and get this looked at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:31:49.607" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:31:49.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25412" CreationDate="2019-05-15T13:15:29.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should go to the vet before the condition gets worse.&#xA;It's looking like an indication of some allergic type of reaction. And the redness and irritation are because of the allergens.&#xA;But in case of problems with vets: without observing the patient, no one can say one hundred percent it's an allergic condition.&#xA;So it's better to visit a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14271" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:30:14.033" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T05:30:14.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25410" CreationDate="2019-05-15T13:35:47.210" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baytril is not antiinflammatory.&#xA;Its an antibiotic. It is an FDA approved antibiotic.&#xA;Basically it is a flouroquinolone. Its action is by inhibiting DNA of bacteria.&#xA;And using one time the therapeutic index value was not upto the mark.&#xA;But using the second dose of the tablet taken the therapeutic index and the patient get cured.&#xA;Therapeutic index is the value below which the required action of the drug does not meet.It is a comparison of the amount of a therapeutic agent that causes the therapeutic effect to the amount that causes toxicity.&#xA;Means before toxicity it gets the patient cured of the problem it is suffering from.&#xA;Reference: veterinary pharmacology by goodman and gillman.&#xA;Plumbs veterinary pharmacology&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14271" LastActivityDate="2019-05-15T13:35:47.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-15T14:49:54.517" Score="0" ViewCount="1451" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is now 6 months old but my year old cat is having kittens anyday now and my 6 month old is try to nurse on her and he’s been doing that to his older brother who is also a year old. Why is he doing this he eats cat food and brings me dead moles and alive chipmunks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15872" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T14:41:26.860" Title="6 month old cat still nursing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-05-29T08:10:05.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-15T21:48:33.877" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1 yr old Maltese Shih Tzu, Harley, keeps chewing the fur of his father Tubby. He has chewed off all his ear fur and all his chest fur. How can I stop this, as Harley keeps vomiting large fur balls? I don't want to spray anything on Tubby's fur that will irritate or harm either of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15873" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-07-05T07:46:38.493" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T00:16:41.707" Title="Dog chews the fur of its companion and vomits it later" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-16T07:33:50.020" Score="0" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my two rabbits according to the diet model &quot;ad libidum&quot;. For me it is common, but I assume for some people this is new. &#xA;I hope to collect under this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What means &quot;ad libitum&quot; and what interpretations are performed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what animals &quot;ad libitum&quot; feeding is appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You are welcome to add tags for this question too)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-05-17T06:59:09.120" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T13:30:48.487" Title="What means &quot;ad libitum&quot; related to an animals diet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-16T08:25:00.090" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am using RO water for my newly started 100 liters aquarium and it results in a pH value of 6.0 to 6.2 which is too low considering that KH is 0. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I need something to raise pH (and KH eventually). The candidates for the time being are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NaHCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; (baking soda): Raises KH and pH but adds Na&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt; (sodium ions) to water which is not very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;KHCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; (potassium bicarbonate): Raises KH and a tiny bit pH but needs to be used with care since adds K&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt; (potassium ions) in the water which is very useful in right amounts, but excessive use can be bad for fish and plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any other methods/formulas/combounds to raise pH in RO water in a controllable way without adding any unknown elements in my aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15874" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T17:12:42.533" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T17:15:17.810" Title="How to raise PH in RO water? (with chemical compounds no commercial products)" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25423" CreationDate="2019-05-16T09:03:15.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use crushed sea shells or even better egg shells (egg shells needs to be dried in your oven at low temperature 60-70 °C before you crush them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another natural thing is to use marble (crushed or chipped to make it dissolve a little quicker).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take some time to get the pH up to 7,0-7,5 about a week or so. And when this pH is reached, the calcium carbonate will dissolve very slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These things are the old way to get the pH up in a controlled way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the short answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T17:15:17.810" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T17:15:17.810" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25429" CreationDate="2019-05-16T10:11:04.987" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to make this overflow for my tank. the goal is to drain from bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in theory it will work but in real world i'm a bit worried about the noise that &quot;air in&quot; is going to make and where water level is going to be when power goes off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F1Uvt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F1Uvt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;overflow&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T13:44:31.177" Title="is this overflow system gonna work?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25423" CreationDate="2019-05-16T10:14:09.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To raise the pH value you can add baking soda, but only if the total alkalinity of the water is also low. If the alkalinity is in the proper range or if it's high, you should use soda ash to raise pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T17:13:56.313" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T17:13:56.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-16T13:26:25.357" Score="0" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a very sassy kitty at home. Shes going to be 6 in June(2019). I am also the owner of hermit crabs. She has never bothered them before. But lately shes been trying to break into the cage when I am not around. I have a pin that locks the lid on the cage, and she recentlu fell through the lid which is made up of screen. After fixing it, we have to keep something covering the screen or else she tries to get ontop of the cage again. People have said to spray her with water but I want to know if there is an easier way to teach her not to break in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15875" LastEditorUserId="15894" LastEditDate="2019-05-19T12:41:41.680" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T12:41:41.680" Title="How can I stop my cat from attacking my hermit crabs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25425" CreationDate="2019-05-16T13:35:58.383" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but there's a number of pitfalls with a system like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, it provides no redundancy, so if you clog your drain line, you're going to overflow your tank. Personally, I would never even consider running an overflow without redundancy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, because it's a bottom drain, it will have a much higher risk of clogging and cleaning out the tubing is going to be very difficult. There's not an easy way of clearing out that trap, and since you're not running using a siphon, it will not self clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, noise may be an issue depending on how much turnover you are trying to get in relation to the size of the tubing. Generally speaking, running an overflow vented, you will want to shoot for less than 25% - 35% of the nominal flow rate to have it run quietly. So, for 1.5in PVC you'll need to shoot for something like 500gph, maybe less even, even though the gravity rating is 2100gph. Otherwise, you'll get gurgling or flushing sounds or constant water noise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quiet overflow is accomplished because you create annular flow around the entire outside of the pipe with an air gap in the center. It's nice and smooth and quiet. When you push too much water in it, the air gap collapses, and you get noise as the air spaces clear. However, I do not know how water would behave when it's entering the vertical pipe at a right angle, as in your design, your flow rate may be severely limited for quiet operation, or it may be completely impossible to keep it quiet. You may be able to circumvent this by increasing the size of pipe just before the second vertical section, or venting directly above the vertical pipe instead of the vertical feed pipe, but I'm just guess at this point. Air noise would be dependent on how you vent it, if just has an open pipe of the same diameter, I don't think you'll have any air noise, if you're trying to vent with small diameter tubing, you run a higher risk of air noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think in theory the rough design would be functional, it may take some trial and error with your return pump and the tubing lengths to get the correct flow and water height in the aquarium. I think you are going to be dealing with some trial and error to get this to work the way you want it to. I would personally figure out some way to make this redundant though. Single drain systems are a insurance claim waiting to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditDate="2019-05-16T13:44:31.177" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T13:44:31.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25425" CreationDate="2019-05-16T13:38:47.833" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There should not be any noise at the point that you have marked &quot;air in&quot;, maybe just the sound of water trickling. It's vital in this design to have that unsealed air in point at the top, otherwise your tank will siphon and drain completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the event that the power goes out, the water will not drain lower than the top of the pipe that goes to the sump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern here is that your &quot;water out&quot; bulkhead has to be 100% sealed, otherwise your tank will empty. If you're able to, I would suggest rather installing the bulkhead higher up, at the lowest point that you would like the water to reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yFJK9.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yFJK9.png&quot; alt=&quot;A different design suggestion&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This design will still suck water from the bottom of the tank and won't siphon (as long as you have the air in opening). But, if your bulkhead springs a leak, won't accidentally drain your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other concern is that you will need to be certain that your drain works at least as fast as your pump, otherwise you will have overflow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T13:38:47.833" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25427" CreationDate="2019-05-16T14:33:42.857" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spraying with water is usually not effective, because cats are smart enough to realize that you are the source of the water, so they just need to wait until you aren't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better option is to make it so your cat cannot possibly break in. There's many ways you might go about doing this. Like, keeping the cat out of the room where the hermit crabs are kept. Or replacing the cage they're kept in with something sturdier, so the lid will support her weight. Or keeping the hermit hermit crabs up high enough that she can't jump into their cage. There's probably other things you can try too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also likely the cat is behaving this way because she's bored. You should try entertaining her more, so that she won't be as inclined to bother them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-05-16T14:43:12.777" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T14:43:12.777" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25420" CreationDate="2019-05-16T14:41:26.860" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like it's more a habit than to actually nurse at this point, seeing as he also is sucking on his brother. Sucking on things is actually a relatively common habit in cats, similar to the habit of kneading, although not as common as kneading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice the suckling is causing problems, or if you simply want to prevent the behavior, you can cover your other cats' nipples. An easy way to do this is using a large sock with the end cut off, if your cats are small enough. Or similarly finding some way to wrap up the cat's belly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T14:41:26.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25422" CreationDate="2019-05-16T16:36:10.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ad libitum for dogs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ad libitum means &quot;according to the desire&quot; of the animal for the food or how much necessary is it to give to the dog. So it's appropriate for the dog by checking the dog's need it is fed. For example, if dog requires 4kg of feed for it's growth, it's better to provide him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But sometimes due to some problems the dog goes overfeed or fed less than the required. In that case, ad libitum is not the quantity given to the dog then the desire of the dog is checked&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14271" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T13:30:48.487" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T13:30:48.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24089" CreationDate="2019-05-16T16:43:00.593" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry for a very late response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It turns out that this is a stress response. My cat is easily stressed by knocking, unknown people in the house, loud noises, etc. It's not painful for him whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14581" LastActivityDate="2019-05-16T16:43:00.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-16T22:15:41.880" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small 14 year old dog (chihuahua/miniature poodle mix). She has grown aggressive over the years and is to the point that she'll randomly attack my other dogs and people if they move near me.&#xA;When I am not around and my sister watches her, she almost never acts up, which has me confused. My father mentioned that she may be &quot;guarding&quot; me, but I am not sure how to get her to stop.&#xA;When she starts getting aggressive, I put her in a room by herself for a few minutes, but I don't think this is helping beyond getting her to stop before her next episode.&#xA;None of the other dogs exhibit this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice as to what I should do to train this behavior out of her would be greatly appreciated! Currently I am too embarrassed and ashamed by her to have anyone over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2789" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T15:02:25.333" Title="How do I stop aggressive behavior?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25437" CreationDate="2019-05-17T15:31:47.670" Score="-11" ViewCount="4835" Body="&lt;p&gt;I acquired my cat 1 month ago.  She is now 8 months old and substantially larger than when I rescued her from the shelter.  How can I stop her from growing larger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15877" LastActivityDate="2019-05-18T03:18:15.533" Title="How can I stop my kitten from growing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25436" CreationDate="2019-05-17T16:15:08.823" Score="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Erm.. you can't. At least not without severely harming the health of the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small living things grow into bigger living things - this is a nearly universal phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the breed of the cat however it may be that it has &lt;em&gt;nearly&lt;/em&gt; reached it's full growth - the majority of breeds have their growth slow significantly around the 12 month mark and grow significantly slower until around 18 months old where they are fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some larger breeds such as Maine Coons, Norwegian Forest Cats and Birmans can take 2-4 years before they are fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-05-17T16:15:08.823" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25436" CreationDate="2019-05-17T19:55:37.617" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not going to stop an animal from growing larger without seriously endangering their well-being. She is &lt;em&gt;supposed&lt;/em&gt; to be whatever size she is growing to. The only reasons that they wouldn't would be serious malnourishment or hormonal problems. Intentionally causing either would be clear animal abuse and would severely shorten her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let her be healthy and grow! She'll still be the same cat you know and love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15884" LastActivityDate="2019-05-17T19:55:37.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25423" CreationDate="2019-05-17T19:55:55.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried a piece of limestone as a decoration? As long as it doesn't have anything toxic in the stone it should be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15886" LastActivityDate="2019-05-17T19:55:55.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25436" CreationDate="2019-05-17T20:50:01.247" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried reasoning with it? Okay, seriously, the term &quot;substantially larger&quot; is kind of vague. So I'll consider two possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The kitten has become a cat. Not much you can do about this. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat is overweight. If this is the case, then you are probably feeding it too much. A lot of people just fill a bowl and let the cat eat it whenever, but for a fat cat, you'll have to restrict its diet. Follow the recommendations on the food you give it, and don't leave the food out all day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Posting a photo of the cat would be helpful. If you are like most people, you probably have hundreds of photos by now....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15888" LastActivityDate="2019-05-17T20:50:01.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25436" CreationDate="2019-05-17T20:59:25.600" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted, you don't stop a kitten's growth without endangering its health/life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a cat of a certain size, next time you're adopting a cat go to a shelter and adopt an adult of that size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15889" LastActivityDate="2019-05-17T20:59:25.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25436" CreationDate="2019-05-17T23:46:09.220" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is in fact a way to keep your cat how it is: Photographs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're a wonderful invention, and you can even keep cameras in your pocket now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Photos are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Guaranteed not to grow&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Easy to copy. Cats run away; flash drives do too, but you can back them up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Still cute&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instagram postable&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Convenient to store and share. Animals do not fit on Micro SD cards.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13289" LastActivityDate="2019-05-17T23:46:09.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25436" CreationDate="2019-05-18T03:18:15.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are putting your self-interest ahead of the well-betting of the poor animal. Please don't do anything to stunt its natural growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot accept the nature of an animal tip grow to a normal size,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15896" LastActivityDate="2019-05-18T03:18:15.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25446" CreationDate="2019-05-18T07:41:40.903" Score="4" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I recently got a 10-month male cockatiel, which is very happy and has very healthy feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has very good relationship with me, often climbs me and lowers his head for petting and scratching. He also has normal relationship with my female cockatiel: They are just keeping a little distance from each other, but don't fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cockatiels are not in a cage. They are free in their own room with lots of food, drinking water, and bathing water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway. A few days after I purchased the male cockatiel, I noticed something strange when he was preening: he has very little feathers on &lt;strong&gt;his body&lt;/strong&gt; under his wings. I didn't check his body feathers when I was in the shop, as he had quite healthy feathers everywhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I watched him carefully for over a week, to make sure that he does not pluck his feathers. I also noticed that there are no plucked feathers on the floor; at least nothing beyond what's usually left from preening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a reason to worry? Should I show my cockatiel to an avian vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15897" LastActivityDate="2019-05-18T12:32:36.733" Title="Cockatiel's lack of body feathers under the wings" Tags="&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25445" CreationDate="2019-05-18T12:32:36.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I’m no expert but have kept budgies. Other than a few &quot;moults&quot;, they never lost feathers in large quantities and the only bald spot I’ve seen was a large tumour on an elderly budgie (under his tail). Even when they moulted, it seemed like they’d lost a whole budgies-worth of feathers but weren’t bald.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long ago is &quot;recently&quot;? Long enough for feathers to regrow? Some types of parrot are know to pull out their own feathers through boredom. Brain on a par with a toddler but alone in a cage all day can do that. Given that your bird has company and a nice environment now, I don’t think he’d be bored now. Life in a pet shop, on the other hand, might have caused him enough stress to pull out some feathers, and they simply may not have grown back yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your position, I’d see if I could talk with an avian vet. Check the skin if you can and if it looks healthy, and the bird is bright eyed and seems healthy (flying and moving about ok - the tumour on my bird was heavy for him), go for a phone consultation. If you have any doubts at all, take the bird in person. Cockatiels are quite long lived, so he’s still very young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-05-18T12:32:36.733" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25451" CreationDate="2019-05-19T00:46:58.490" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat who is currently a four year old male has gotten Dermatitis at his neck. We took him to veterinarian and we received some medicine for him. I am not sure if it is the Dermatitis or the medicine but he insisted on scratching the infected area with his backlegs to the degree that it became a wound. In order to prevent him we went to the veterinarian again and placed a bandage around the area with medicine rubbed on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that ever since i started applying medicine my cat who normally accepts his medicine without difficulty(Under normal circumstances he understands i am trying to help him) started shying away from the medicine and he started to get nervous around me. It has gotten much worse after the bandaging and now he barely meows merely sitting around with a scowl on his face. I think he thinks i am punishing him and i want to convince him that this is for his own good rather than some punishment method. How can i do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T14:23:59.107" Title="My cat seems to think he is being punished due to being bandaged. How can i convince him it is not a punishment?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25423" CreationDate="2019-05-19T01:15:10.183" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For salt water tanks and African cichlid tanks I use either crushed coral (limestone) or dolomnite (aragonite) gravel. Most pet shops will have it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For salt tanks I have added agricultural lime (mixture of CaO and CaCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;) from any garden shop. You must have some alkalinity to buffer very clean water, not a problem with natural waters. I often throw a handful of aragonite into HOB filters to be sure of buffering. Usually a natural gravel will give the water some buffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have made the mistake of putting rainwater in a gravel free tank and put fish in it temporarily - overnight, it killed a bunch of swordtails. The fish respiration added enough CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to acidify the pure/rain water with no buffering. Yes, fish put out CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. A tilapia farm had 5 large (100 ft / 30.5 m diameter) ponds in a building to produce fish in the winter. People would get dizzy when they were in the building for a while. They found CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from the agitated ponds was replacing oxygen in the air. They fixed it with fans blowing air into building, no matter what the outside temperature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T00:59:22.197" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T00:59:22.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18281" CreationDate="2019-05-19T08:09:39.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat had this problem with pulling, biting and licking his back. We had steroid injections, anti-inflammatories, etc. Nothing worked. He’s 16 and his mobility has been getting worse, but we put this down to old age. A few days ago one of his back legs started kicking out. I took him to the vet and they checked his blood sugar among other things. Turns out he’s diabetic. He’s been on insulin for a few days and has vastly improved. One of the early signs of this is twitching and pulling/licking of the back along the spinal cord. Wish we had known this earlier. I’m posting in case it may help someone else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15899" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:32:04.830" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:32:04.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-19T13:45:18.790" Score="1" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have had Millie, now a seven-year-old ragdoll, since she was 14 weeks old. She is quirky and sweet in her own way but we think that she wasn’t properly socialized as a kitten. She doesn’t like to be touched much and is really only tolerant of me petting her and maybe a little bit from my husband.  We had another older 14-year-old ragdoll that passed away this summer that ignored Millie and they lived together fine for six years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two months ago, we adopted a neutered male retired breeder ragdoll, Teddy Bear, who is one and a half years old. With humans, he is super docile and affectionate.  I thought it would be a good match. However, I didn’t take into account that he is used to being around other cats at the breeder's house and wants to play and be with a cat often. Everything is fine between my two cats if Teddy does not try to touch Millie. For example, yesterday, Millie was relaxing on the daybed and sleeping and he was on the floor next to her sleeping and they would look at each other and everything was completely calm for a n hour or so. We have gotten it to the point where they can be in the same room together supervised and he can even go up sometimes and smell her foot if she’s on the chair etc. and she’s fine with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it doesn’t last long if Millie decides to move or walk to another spot. He then starts to stalk her and if she walks away from him, he chases her and jumps on top of her. The chase is very dramatic - she runs and he runs too and she is hissing, growling and screaming and he is very quiet but he jumps on top of her and today was one of the worst attacks - we broke it up - we didn’t see all of it - but we heard it and saw him on top of her and she ended up peeing on herself (or spraying - first time she’s done this) and on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We installed Feliway diffusers last month in every room and do play sessions with him throughout the day, keeping them separated except for visitations that are supervised. They can eat a couple of canned meals near each other just fine - a few feet apart. We are at our wits' end and really need advice how to get them to understand each other better. I just need him to ignore her and not try to touch her and then she’s totally fine. Both cats have their claws. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15900" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-30T17:08:15.667" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T19:03:55.510" Title="New male cat keeps attacking older female cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25447" CreationDate="2019-05-19T14:23:59.107" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The concepts of &quot;punishment&quot; and &quot;for your own good&quot; are much too abstract for a cat to grasp. It's much more likely your cat is behaving this way due to having something on it that it can't remove. Most cats hate having anything on them, like a leash, clothes, or a bandage, and their response is often to freeze or go limp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing really for it at the moment than to continue the treatment and let the cat get used to it.  If you had the option, it would be more ideal to slowly acclimate the cat to the bandage in short sessions over a long period of time, but that obviously isn't possible.  It might help to encourage the cat to move around a bit by holding a treat out for it just beyond reach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for treating the cat, I would start giving it its favorite treat afterwards. Hopefully the cat will start to associate putting up with being treated with something pleasant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats also sometimes start avoiding the person treating them because they hate the treatment so much. If this happens, you will have to patiently work with the cat to make yourself as pleasant as possible when not treating it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T14:23:59.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-19T17:53:23.510" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've two cats, male and female. They are twins, 2 years old, half Bengal and half Siamese. They are sterilized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The female is very nice. Never annoying anyone.&#xA;The male always tries to keep attention, often scratching furniture, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At sleep time, they are allowed to come in our bedroom. But most of time, the male does not allow the female to come with us. He acts as if it is his territory.&#xA;Even if I try to get her with us, she won't stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the little one is often alone and I'm quite sure she lacks proximity with us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Globally, the male appears to be the dominant one and I'd like to moderate that, so things can be more equilibrate between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do about that?&#xA;How to understand what they respectively really feel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cats are indoor only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We live at fifth floor and going outside is dangerous but we could give them about 60m² outside (but they could go everywhere on the roofs around, included in other apartments, so they could be trapped or they could fall)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everyday, we (my wife and I) spend about an hour and half dedicated to the cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We work at home. The cats are rarely alone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They have about 100m² inside + Hicat tower (floor to ceiling tower, climbable and scratchable) so they can climb and play &quot;vertically&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please ask any additional question needed so that I can have a solution or orientation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11681" LastEditorUserId="11681" LastEditDate="2019-05-23T18:36:25.597" LastActivityDate="2019-05-28T10:44:43.067" Title="How to moderate dominant instinct between cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25434" CreationDate="2019-05-19T18:11:21.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog needs to have rules and boundaries. Not setting any boundaries and not reprimanding behavior that crosses those boundaries often leads to aggression in dogs. Our human world is just too complicated for a dog to understand as a whole. It's better to set rules that limit the possibilities of how a dog can interact with this world (like &quot;no barking at guests allowed&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you is to use the service of a professional dog trainer. They should come over to your home, analyze the problematic behavior and give you instructions on how to recognize the signs of her aggressive behavior and how to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why this is neccessary is that you currently don't recognize what exactly caused this aggression. As you realized, you have to treat the cause, not the symptom, because this (like putting her in another room) is not effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/nlMTWZX8ZK8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; of a professional dog trainer talking about correcting a dog's behavior. At about 6:45 minutes he talks about some very hard cases of dog aggression and he sums it up like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've hat a lot of success, but [...] it's not because of me. I have a small part to do with it. It's because I have the ability to teach the owners [...]. And the owners have to change everything they're doing in their home that crated those behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sidenote: the only part of the video relevant to this question is the biginning until 8:00 minutes)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-05-19T18:11:21.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25455" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-20T02:09:11.837" Score="14" ViewCount="4278" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a common goldfish that lives in a 20 gallon tank by herself with a filter and heater. Recently she has been showing signs of swim bladder disease because she wouldn’t swim properly. After feeding her peas, she would perk up right away. The past couple of days she has been very slow and not as responsive as she usually is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, right now she is laying at the bottom of the tank and her body is arched in a 'U' shape, she is barely responsive and not moving. Usually when she does this, I feed her peas and she tries to swim around to eat and eventually goes back to her normal self. This time, she doesn’t seem interested. I don’t know what to do or how to treat her because I don’t even know if this issue is still swim bladder disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please someone help, any suggestions would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15901" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T15:50:43.683" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T15:50:43.683" Title="Goldfish unresponsive, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25455" CreationDate="2019-05-20T05:05:28.117" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your goldfish has ammonia poisoning. First aid for this is to change 50% of the water at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to change 20% of the water on day 2 and day 3, and from day 4 you need to change 10% water daily. Test the water for ammonia every day until the level is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not feed your fish until the ammonia level is safe, and after the ammonia level is safe start feeding once every 3 days and only a little food each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some important information you need to read: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean your gravel to get the bioload down but do not clean the filter unless it is clogged up or have reduced waterflow. Your filter will contain important bacteria that you need to take good care of to keep your tank in biological balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="14429" LastEditDate="2019-05-20T08:50:02.150" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T08:50:02.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-20T05:15:57.450" Score="1" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yX14t.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one common goldfish in a 20 gallon tank with a filter and heater. She has been sitting in this arch position for about 4 hours with little to no improvement (couple of little energy bursts). I have attached the water test results to get an idea. For the past 5 weeks she has been struggling on and off to swim properly and I don’t know what to do. I have been feeding her peas and changing the water more frequently with aquarium salt. I need to know what to quick because she isn’t doing so great. Help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15902" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T05:15:57.450" Title="Goldfish laying at an arch- what should I do?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-05-29T08:09:36.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25466" CreationDate="2019-05-20T11:10:04.557" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that's a tricky question to answer, so I'm going to provide lots of details.  Thanks for your patience!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl/dr&lt;/strong&gt;: I was out for a walk with all of my kids.  My dog does well&#xA;with kids (small children in large numbers visit us frequently)&#xA;but less well with grown men.  While walking by a yard full of kids, a&#xA;2 year old came up quickly and gave him a friendly scratch on the neck.  My dog&#xA;didn't seem to mind (or at least didn't react strongly).  The child's&#xA;father came up a moment later and picked up the child.  A few moments&#xA;later my dog gave out two short and low &amp;quot;howls&amp;quot; (I'm not sure exactly what&#xA;sound he was making).  I didn't notice anything off in his body&#xA;language during the encounter.  Any guesses what he might have been&#xA;communicating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;My dog and people&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is effectively my first dog, so I'm not a dog whisperer by any means, and I'm trying to understand him here.  He's an elderly (~10 years old) rescue, weighs about 75 pounds, he seems to mainly be American Bulldog, he's been with us for not quite a year, and he seems to have otherwise spent his whole life chained up in someone's back yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite that last fact, he is actually fairly well adjusted to people and does very well with small children.  The &amp;quot;incident&amp;quot; in question happened on a walk, but he mainly meets new people while at home (he definitely has a &amp;quot;guard dog&amp;quot; aspect to his personality) so I figured I'd explain how that usually goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're a larger family (5 kids, aged 0-11) and especially with the recent birth of our youngest, have had lots of people over in recent months, including many families that also have 4 or 5 young children.  He does great with our kids, and has never shown any hints of aggression towards them, even when they accidentally hurt him (which doesn't happen much).  He's always been very friendly with women and children visiting our house, although in the early days he would sometimes let out a low growl when first meeting new people in our home (typically while wagging his tail, sniffing them, and otherwise displaying a curious/excited body language).  I would scold him for the growling, he would stop (or I would put him up if he didn't), and (in my non-expert opinion) he was never considering hurting everyone.  Even during visits which started with a growl, he would be perfectly fine after a few minutes and would play with everyone - happily accepting pets and scratches from the new people just like our kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past few months especially we have had even more people over (mainly because of people coming over to help with the baby), and during this time he's stopped growling at new people all together.  The only time we have problems is with guys, which doesn't happen very often.  I had someone come over to do some work on the house and the guy's son came in first (he was probably 18-20).  For a minute our dog was fine like always, but suddenly started barking at him (I think the worker walked by one of our kids and might have made the dog uncomfortable).  I put the dog up until everyone was done so that the workers didn't have to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Out for a walk&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other day all the kids, the dog, and I were out for a walk and passed a family playing in their yard.  This happens often in our neighborhood.  Sometimes I cross the street in case I think our dog might make someone nervous (since he's on the larger side), but we're typically ignored by whoever is outside, and our dog is usually more interested in sniffing the grass, so I don't always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time there were about 4 kids, mainly playing on the sidewalk.  They went back into their yard as we slowly came up, and I didn't think to cross the street (my kids had run a bit ahead, so mainly I was just following them)  These new kids were in the grass just to the right of the sidewalk, and my dog was on the left side sniffing as he went along.  There was a very young kid (maybe not even quite 2 years old) that I didn't notice, and he &amp;quot;broke away&amp;quot; from his family and toddled up to my dog quite quickly.  The father was standing near by and told his son to stop, but of course he kept walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little ones can be surprisingly quick, and a moment later he walked right up to my dog, reached up, and scratched him on the neck.  The father came up a moment later and swooped up his son.  I don't think I would have had time to do anything if I had thought to, although I wouldn't have been worried even if I had time to think about it.  My dog just stood there calmly while the boy scratched him.  The encounter was very quick, but I didn't notice any change in my dog's body language to suggest he was upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The father looked mildly panicked so I stopped for a moment to let him know that our dog is very used to little children, and that his youngest son was never in any danger.  While I was talking my dog let out a low &amp;quot;howl&amp;quot; sound.  I'm not actually sure how to describe it.  It definitely wasn't a bark or a growl.  He did it twice.  Sort of a deep &amp;quot;how how&amp;quot; sound while tilting his head up a bit.  A moment later we continued our walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never heard him do this before, so I'm not sure what he was trying to say.  I'm guessing it was an expression of mild dislike about something in the encounter, whether it was the crowd of kids, being scratched without warning, or the father coming near him suddenly.  I figure it's hard to say for sure, but I'd like to have a good guess so I know how to act in such situations in the future (aka just cross the street and avoid them).  Any thoughts as to what my dog might have been saying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15904" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T20:24:03.147" Title="What was my dog trying to communicate with this part-howl while meeting new people on a walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18931" CreationDate="2019-05-20T13:38:12.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to Yvettes wonderful answer - the bones of a horse grow until the horse is 6 years old. Expecially parts of the spine (where the rider would sit) need time to grow fully and healthily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common handling like hoof care, vet visits, trailer loading, leading, experiencing the outside world should be taught to the horse to make it safe to work with in daily handling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Light exercising, getting used to a pad or saddle or even a small and balanced rider should - in most professional opinions - be started at age 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riding and hard work however should take the emotional, mental and physical maturity into consideration. This is also very individual, depending on the horse, the handler and the training method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slower you start training, the longer your horse will stay healthy as the sources mentioned by Yvonne and me will confirm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15906" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T13:38:12.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25390" CreationDate="2019-05-20T13:40:34.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are cats just naturally non-listeners? Some people have told me that due to their &quot;sassy&quot; prideful or completely opposite (scared) attitudes, they are very tough to teach them to do really anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs understand intention. When a human gives feedback, the dog understand that the human is conveying a message, and the dogs puts effort in understanding and learning from the experience. A dog also inherently wants to please its master because it knows that the master will take care of it when it is helpful.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A dog who listens to its master can be taught to not do something without ever having done it. If the master says no, then the dog knows to not to the thing it was about to do. &lt;strong&gt;Even if the dog doesn't understand it, it will defer to its master's judgment&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't understand intention. They are smart, but they simply do not register our voice as a message meant for them. Cats can learn, but only through practice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A cat will only learn after learning the negative consequences of the action it took, and it will probably need repeated experiences before they learn. &lt;strong&gt;A cat will not defer to its master, it only acts on its own thoughts&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why cats are much harder (but not impossible) to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I tried the &quot;force them to shake or sit, say the word, then give them treat&quot; and my cats are quite loving so they didn't mind me pushing their backs a bit to allow them to sit, and they do somewhat come when I tap or clap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this is sometimes nothing more than a theoretical difference, a dog will come because it knows that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; want it to come to you; but a cat will come because &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; wants to come to you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That is a subtle but significant difference, and it dramatically impacts how you teach your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I simply wish to teach them how to come when I say, and sit when I say sit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teaching your cat to come is quite simple. Call for them, and give them a treat. Do this even if the cat is already beside you, so you get the chance to prove to them that calling them means they get a treat. Next time, when your cat is not in the same room as you but it hears you calling, &lt;strong&gt;it will independently decide&lt;/strong&gt; that it should go to you because you're probably going to be giving a treat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do this often enough, and the cat will learn that when it hears a particular sound (its name), that a treat is likely incoming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats don't always come when I call them (I've never expected them to). But when I call all three of them (in the same order and tone of voice), they will always come, because I only do that as I'm putting food in their bowls.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One of these cats, however, is incessantly playful and always deeply interested in anything new. You cannot bring anything into the house without him inspecting it inside out. This cat &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; comes when I call him, I haven't even needed to train him for that. Because he respond to every impulse and he's just always up for some interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a cat to sit is a different thing though. Cats don't do something because they are told to. Going back to the example of calling them and giving them a treat, you are presenting them with an opportunity (a treat will be given) and it's up to them to decide whether they want that treat or not. This is exactly why my cats don't always come when I call them; sometimes they just don't want to get up out of a comfy spot (partly because another cat might take it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting on command is not an opportunity which the cat can choose to engage in. If the cat wanted to sit, it would already be sitting. The fact that it doesn't means that it doesn't want to sit.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's not impossible, but it's not going to be easy to get a cat to understand that you want it to do something and expecting it to comply just because you are telling it to do so. That is something that dogs innately understand, but cats cannot comprehend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to approach a training it to put a cat in a situation where the intended behavior is beneficial. For example, a cat I used to have sat by the sliding glass door and meowed nonstop. I tried punishing him with a plant sprayer but he wouldn't stop.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What got him to stop is that I would used the plant sprayer from behind the couch, I did not have direct line of sight to the cat and needed to arc my shots over the couch. I used his meows to pinpoint his location. If he did not meow, I was not able to figure out where he was and I could not hit him. If he meowed, I could zero in on his position and had a good chance of hitting (or inconveniencing) him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took about 2-3 weeks for him to figure out that he would be safe if he didn't reveal his position. And that is exactly what I wanted him to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't think of a way that you can use this tactic to get them to sit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2019-05-20T14:59:38.060" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T14:59:38.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25395" CreationDate="2019-05-20T13:48:01.290" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something a vet needs to look at &lt;strong&gt;immediately&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not something this community can help you with. Don't use StackExchange as a way to avoid what is clearly an issue worth investigating medically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T13:48:01.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7095" CreationDate="2019-05-20T13:53:34.313" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't particular to dogs in the sense that cats and horses respond to the same noise as well. However, dogs are more inclined to interact with a human that calls for their attention, so they do come across as more eager most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sound is just a sound you've taught them to respond to. It's also a quite clear and sharp sound that sounds notably different from environmental/background noise, so it's easy to distinguish as an intentional signal as opposed to random background noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-05-20T13:53:34.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-21T05:43:19.320" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only have a bore well in my home, so I bought an 8-stage water purifier with RA and UV, which adds minerals to the water. The final water TDS is 44. I'm keeping tropical fish, such as guppies and angel fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I use it to fill my aquarium / fish pond? Will it cause any problems for the fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15915" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T22:16:54.213" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:16:54.213" Title="Can I fill my aquarium with the water from a purifier?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25460" CreationDate="2019-05-21T06:56:54.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As so often, it's impossible to guess what you dog was actually thinking from your description alone. Dogs - like humans - communicate only in part verbally and in (a much bigger) part via body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first signs of aggression are &lt;em&gt;exclusively&lt;/em&gt; nonverbal. If a dog growls at you, you've already crossed a line and ignored several warning signs. Some dogs that were badly socialized or made some really bad experiences may skip some nonverbal clues and need to be watched more closely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Signs of aggression in dogs (roughly ordered by severity) include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoidance (looking away, walking away, hiding)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting the tail up above shoulder height (some breeds and dominant dogs have a high tail all the time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wagging the tail (yes, this can be a sign of excitement (positive) and nervousness (negative) as well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting one front paw, usually on the side where the irritation is located (this sign can have different meanings)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Putting the tail between their legs (A sure sign of fear. Fearful dogs often become aggressive if they don't know how to cope with a situation.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fixating the irritant with their gaze, staring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stiff body posture, in dominant dogs accompanied by &amp;quot;puffing up&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Laying the ears back against the skull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Erecting the hairs on the neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rapidly licking the very front of their muzzle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrinkling the skin on their nose (this is one step short of snarling)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Physically jumping at the irritant (dog or human), preferably on top of it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snarling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snap without biting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barking with a gurgling sound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verbal clues you described could have been a bark or maybe a low whine. Just like with nonverbal clues, barks can mean different things. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs that are overjoyed to see someone or play with someone often bark in a high pitch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a dog isn't sure that they actually heard a &amp;quot;threat&amp;quot; (like the postman), they might make a very short &amp;quot;Woff&amp;quot; sound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a dog encounters something / someone they are insecure about (&lt;em&gt;I don't know you or whether you're dangerous, but I bark at you to tell you that I'm guarding this garden here&lt;/em&gt;) it sounds more like &amp;quot;Wouw wouw&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the situation you described, there are several possibilities of what your dog could have thought...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He could have wanted to interact with the child more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He could have wanted you to continue your walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He could have been surprised by the sudden presence of the man, not having noticed him sooner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He could have been insecure whether the man poses a threat or not&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-26T20:24:03.147" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T20:24:03.147" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25467" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-21T11:51:47.543" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adult female leopard gecko (a year old) and a young male leopard gecko (1 month old). The older one struggled with post traumatic stress being handled but still lets me pet her and sometimes even sits on my hand when my hand is flat down in her cage. The younger male has a neurological disorder (wobbles or falls when extremely stressed) but he's doing alright with taming. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I went to try different methods of picking them up since I thought they would be ready for it but instead I stressed them out and now have to start from square one. I've done a lot of research on how to handle/pick them up but it doesn't seem to be working as they're both too jumpy once I lift them up from my hand but they act quite calm with anything else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there possibly any advice that could resolve this issue?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15917" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-05-22T09:56:50.707" LastActivityDate="2019-05-22T09:56:50.707" Title="Can't handle my leopard gecko after trying many different techniques" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-22T15:32:05.307" Score="0" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of two year old male neutered cats, Ed and George, who have lived with us since they were kittens. Until yesterday, they were on exceptionally good terms, and would play, groom, and sleep together, and generally do things as a pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are house cats, but we do give them a couple of hours of supervised time in the garden each day. It was during one of these outdoor sessions yesterday that the problems started: Ed suddenly became aggressive, and decided to chase George into the house out of our sight. From this point on, George has barely appeared from under the bed, and whenever Ed approaches, he hisses and growls. On the other hand, shortly after the initial attack, Ed returned to his normal self, and appears to be unfazed by George. He keeps attempting to make contact with his brother under the bed, but is constantly rejected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To assign human emotions to them, it looks like George is now scared, and Ed is confused about his brother's behaviour. However, I know that this might not be a true reading of their 'thought processes'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This situation has now been ongoing for around 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A theory we have as to why Ed initially became aggressive is that it was a case of mistaken identity: there are other cats on the street, and we wonder if he detected the smell or sound of another cat nearby, but then mistook his brother for a rival. We think this has happened once before, but without lasting consequences. However, it is a guess on this occasion as we never saw any other cats during the incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would two otherwise loving cats suddenly turn on each other? Is it possible that George is now too scared of Ed to be around him? Or is it more likely that Ed is trying to obtain a dominant position? And how can we return back to the status quo in this sort of situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15922" LastActivityDate="2019-06-21T18:01:35.133" Title="Cat siblings suddenly fallen out with each other" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25470" CreationDate="2019-05-22T16:25:41.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's really possible to guess why exactly this happened.  Occasionally something like this happens because of some change.  For instance, it's relatively common for cats to suddenly not get along if one of them undergoes a medical procedure such as a surgery.  The cat that underwent the procedure most likely has a weird smell which alarms the other cat.  Sometimes sudden aggression could be a medical issue also, but I don't think that is the case here as the aggressor has resumed its normal behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what to do about it, I would try separating the two cats for a little while, and then once they seem calmer, a gradual re-introduction, along similar lines as if you were introducing new cats.  Start by feeding them close together, but with a door separating them.  Then have short supervised meetings.  Gradually increase the time of the supervised meetings, and then let them be together unsupervised when you are satisfied the cats are comfortable with each other again.  I think since they were fine up until now, it is likely that they will be able to coexist in peace again after they are given time to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-05-22T16:25:41.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24185" CreationDate="2019-05-22T16:44:45.550" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do not meow at other cats, generally, with the exception of kittens meowing at their mother.  It's a form of communication they only use with humans.  Therefore, she's definitely trying to communicate with you somehow, and not say, looking for her sister. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might try taking your animal to the vet for a checkup.  Sometimes unusual meowing can be a sign of a medical issue.  At any rate, it certainly is a behavior change which may have been triggered by her sister's passing, but it also could be that the timing is coincidental, and there is actually a different cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also be the case that the cat is simply trying to get your attention.  Many cats enjoy simply the presence of a human or another animal, and will do things like follow you around the house just to be near you.  I've even heard of cats that seem to meow when they want to go somewhere, but also want their owner to come with them.  If this is the case, then inadvertently you're encouraging this behavior by trying to take care of her when she meows.  The best you can do then is try to ignore it, as long as you are certain she's not trying to communicate something else is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-05-22T16:44:45.550" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-22T17:20:48.423" Score="2" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had Winston for just about a year, we got him as a baby. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we got him we already had two grown mice (all caged separately but next to each other) and all was well. We (my son and I) held/hold our mice for an hour each day and they come straight out each time and don't want to be put back at the end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In march we lost our two older mice over the same weekend and Winston definitely noticed they were gone. We continued to hold him each day for an hour but he was always on the side of his cage and seemed to be looking for Hamilton. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago we got a new mouse Wilbur and put him in Hamilton's old cage. Winston freaked out and ever since, even though we hold Winston first and keep him away from Wilbur and his smells, he has started biting A LOT. Winston was used to other mice before but and he seems to be fine with Wilbur now when they both meet up on the side of their cages together but he is still biting me (my son is afraid to hold him). He even tries to reach around the treats to bite my finger through the bars when we give treats during non-holding times. &#xA;He seems squirly in general, he is less than a year old and this is his first spring, is it mating season or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I get him to calm down and stop biting?  Thanks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15926" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-06-07T11:41:59.870" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T13:37:13.837" Title="pet mouse just started biting" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-23T02:25:35.403" Score="3" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trim of my fish tank is leaking. Can you use super glue on outside of fish tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15927" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T23:05:46.527" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T23:05:46.527" Title="Can you use super glue on outside of fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25474" CreationDate="2019-05-23T06:26:50.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common super glue is actually harmless to use on an aquarium, but it might not yield the desired result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://aquanswers.com/super-glue-safe-for-aquariums-common/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; describes why super glue is safe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Super glue is safe for use in fish tanks because it becomes completely inert when moist or wet. The main active ingredient of the glue is Cyanoacrylate. When in contact with water it forms strong and stable bonds. Essentially, it polymerizes in 30 to 45 seconds. Cyanoacrylate is by definition an aquarium safe glue, as water is an accelerant (or catalyst) of the curing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The drawback is that superglue is brittle and might crumble with pores and tiny gaps that let water leak anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, It will be brittle and it will leave small gaps, which does not make it a good sealant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This exact property results in it being applicable to small areas only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it is an aquarium safe glue for decor, it’s only good for certain types of decor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To seal a leak you probably have to use aquarium-safe silicone because it stays flexible and can adapt to tiny movements of the side walls without crumbling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-05-30T17:06:16.013" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26732" CreationDate="2019-05-23T07:28:29.723" Score="0" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may go to Lithuania for about one year. Now I have to consider the subject of my two rabbits. Either I take them with me, or I search another person to care for them in this time. To make this decision I need more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It would be a relocation inside the EU. They do not have documents yet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What formal problems I have to solve, if I want to take my rabbits with me?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T00:29:01.323" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T13:22:14.280" Title="How to relocate my pets with me inside the EU?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25480" CreationDate="2019-05-23T11:31:41.517" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning an outside enclosure for my yellow bellied slider. The idea would be to build a fiberglass tank with a basking Island and a partly shaded &quot;beach&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial idea was to make it a clear colour and try to mimick rocks with light grey strikes, but mostly every pond I see is very dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would there be a reason to choose a dark colour over a lighter one or is it just a question of taste?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T15:02:49.993" Title="Colour for turtle pond" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25479" CreationDate="2019-05-23T15:20:22.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most liners for ponds are black or grey; this is mostly for UV protection to make the liner last longer in the sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pre-formed ponds are often black for the same reason, but they can be painted in any color you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A black pond will give protection against some predatory birds, as they will have problems judging how deep the pond is (herons and other wading birds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A black or dark color will, to some degree, hide algae growth and make the pond look cleaner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish breeders will often use a light blue or light green pond to show the colors of the fish better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no problem to use any color you want in your pond but the lighter colors get dirty quicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are making your own fiberglass pond, you can buy colored aquarium sand in a pet shop and sprinkle this on the inside of your pond by using a thin layer of polyester as glue (it makes it easier for animals to get out of the water and it looks more natural).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T15:02:49.993" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T15:02:49.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25492" CreationDate="2019-05-23T15:51:21.733" Score="2" ViewCount="707" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a quick question about crate training. He quite likes his crate and being in it, but he doesn't like being separated with the door closed, which I know is normal. I'm trying to teach him that whining and barking won't get him out of his crate, and reward being quiet. Unfortunately, he doesn't give much opportunity to reward calmness while stuck in his crate. My question is, if he's been whining/barking for a few minutes, how long of a silence/calmness is enough to reward. If he is briefly quiet for 5-10 seconds is that enough for him to associate the treat/release from crate with his calmness or will he still associate the treat/release with the whining he just got done with 5-10 seconds ago? I don't want to reinforce the wrong behavior, but I'm eager to reward silence so I can use the crate as a potty training tool more effectively when I can't watch him every second, and I'd love if it wasn't a howling match each time. Any additional advice about crate-training would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ryan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15932" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:39:23.127" Title="How long of silence/calmness to reward when crate training (9 week old dachshund)?" Tags="&lt;crate&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25487" CreationDate="2019-05-23T16:57:26.547" Score="6" ViewCount="1299" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two absolutely adorable cats who love to play each other and me. We have a few different games we play, but I'm wondering if they know &quot;tag&quot; is a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, when they're in a very playful mood or &quot;crazy cat mode&quot; they will see me then run when I step towards them. I'll chase them for a bit and boop them on the head and run away. Sometimes they chase me back or look at me all confused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think they're scared because if I chase them all the way to the couch they will just stop and no hide underneath (when they get scared they go under the couch sometimes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do my cats know this is a game and have fun, or am I scaring them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14078" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T14:45:10.560" Title="Does my cat know we're playing when I chase him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25496" CreationDate="2019-05-23T18:08:23.747" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a three year old male cat that I took in from a shelter. It wasn't long before he started bringing in mice, shrews, birds and once, a rabbit. I accept it's a part of their nature to do this but I'm not entirely sure how to ethicially(?) handle injured animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they're barely moving I'll kill them myself quickly but when he brings in a mouse that's pretty mobile albeit with a wound, I've just been taking it back outside and putting it into the field across the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way to deal with this? I feel like I'm simply prolonging the inevitable and the animal will die of injection or suffer another more prolonged death. Or do I simply accept this is nature and try not to let it bother me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15933" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T06:02:43.137" Title="How to handle pet cat's prey when they're injured" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;mice&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13527" CreationDate="2019-05-23T18:35:43.943" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't care what all the internet posts say about fleas not being in drains.  I have them.  I am a biologist.  I know a flea. These are not snow fleas or gnats or drain flies!  I have the flea bites!  I recently bathed my two dogs that were covered in fleas in our guest bathtub. I treat my dogs monthly with Advantage and have not had a flea problem on dogs OR house or yard in years!  However, they were covered in fleas.  Maybe I got a bad batch?? I don't know.  After the baths I cleaned the tub as usual - been doing this for 25 years in same tub.  One night I took a bath in there.  There were fleas on me!  I cleaned real good - didn't see any.  I noticed this again soon after.  Now when I go in that bathroom, the white tub has fleas -yes, real fleas that bite, same ones on dogs - all on the bottom only of the tub.  I have sprayed with Bengal, I have bleached. I have poured salt down the drain.  I have let bleach water stand in tub overnight. Next day, more fleas on bottom of tub. They are not on the sides or around the edge.  If I reach in to swipe with a paper towel thinking they are dead, they jump on me and bite.  The only place they can be coming from is the drain.  I am thinking from when I bathed the flea ridden dogs and let their fleas go down the drain.  I have set off two excellent flea foggers in the past week in that room alone. (Can't think of a way to fog the inside of a drain.  I did spray Bengal down the drain.) Right now I have a tub full of dead fleas.  I am not going to clean it.  I am going to let that fog residue just sit.  I am sick of it.  Just don't discount the reports of fleas in drains!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15934" LastActivityDate="2019-05-23T18:35:43.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25482" CreationDate="2019-05-23T21:10:44.963" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, unlike dogs, cats do not have a specific signal they use to indicate they want to play. However, if you observe their body language, you can figure out whether they're afraid or if they're playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are their ears laid back? A playing cat may tense up a bit, with its ears back a little, but ears completely flat is definitely a fear response.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it fluffing up? Cats usually only fluff up when they're scared. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the cat running straight for a hiding place and refusing to come out? Cats might hide during play, but usually they'll stick a head or a paw out for play fighting while play hiding. Completely hiding ruins the game.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the cat continue to run from you when you stop running? It won't matter to a scared cat if you stop, it will keep trying to get away from you. A playing cat will usually stop running away once it's become clear you've stopped. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a note, cats at play typically do it in a short burst, like a few seconds, then they stop to give the other cat a chance to reciprocate. It would probably help to make it clear you are just playing if you only chase them for a short burst. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But given your details, it sounds like your cats think it's play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-05-24T14:45:10.560" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T14:45:10.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23970" CreationDate="2019-05-24T01:18:39.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A horse owner should have some different kits that cover up.&#xA;I will mention not only those things which a horse owner renting at a barn with many other people will own, but also those, which the stable owner will find useful. During my work at stables we needed most of them and I wouldn't want to miss any of it somewhere in the stable. The list might be incomplete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;horse pass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Knife&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scissor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Halters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ropes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hoofpick&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brushes, soft, hard, ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scrunchies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some stuff of whatever kind to protect against flies and other insects&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;buckets (at least two or three, one for water, one for medical stuff, one for cleaning, ..)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sponges. i'd recomment at least 2 for the horse (genitals &amp;lt;&gt; head), 1 for medical stuff (replace after use), 1 for cleaning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hay net&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nippers (in the case of horse shoes), all kinds of tools in general that might be needed to free a horse from whatever your stable is built of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diapers (they make excellent hoof-bandages)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First-Aid-stuff for both human and horse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zinc ointment (at least i'd recommend some)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;milking grease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emergency phone numbers and addresses (!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disinfectant stuff like Iod, but also other variations that allow sewing lateron (medicine-lexicon at hand is always a nice thing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rugs. At least one, better two so you can change them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Towels (the normal cloth ones, but also steril ones)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thermometer with rope (!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gloves. all sorts of. warm ones, handy ones for work, medical ones, shoulderlong ones for breeders, ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;maybe drugs like Vetranquil (if you are experienced enough to know how to deal with that and cannot rely on having a vet there fast enough on emergencies)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;transport-related stuff in case of emergency&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;material and tools needed for repairing stuff, especially for fences.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spare colostrum and foal milk in case you are breeding. mare could die or not able to give milk for another reason. in this case, a lot of towels, and iod.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sad to mention, but in case you live far away from medical treatment, some gun might come in useful sometimes, you do not want to wait for a horse to bleed out when it tore off a hoof and vet cannot come in time for whatever reason :-/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the stable many things can be shared, but it is important to have access to all this in case of emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T01:18:39.747" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21161" CreationDate="2019-05-24T01:41:54.490" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whole oat would be the only source I can think of at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of mineral deficits I'd always consider changing the hay if you feed one. If you can, analyse it and compare with other hays. Might be that you can cover up mineral deficits with other hay as the quality differs a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you can also change the weed and gras-combination on the meadow. I am not sure what is best for magnesium as I never experienced a magnesium deficit in horses myself. There sure are tables in books and the internet that can be used to find out which weeds are best to sew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you feeding the copper to prevent a zinc-related copper-deficit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I learned a deficit must not always mean that a horse does not eat enough of the thing that is lacking. It might be that another factor is suppressing the intake of some mineral, just as the zinc does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for my english, I could explain this a lot better in my mothertongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T01:41:54.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25422" CreationDate="2019-05-24T06:45:49.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ad libitum for rabbits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ad libitum [...] is Latin for &quot;at one's pleasure&quot; or &quot;as you desire&quot; [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In biology it means &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;normal&quot; weight of an animal (opposite to this of an special&#xA;diet animal)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The free access of the animal to water and food, allowing the animal&#xA;to self regulate its intake according to its biological needs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source for all above is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_libitum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article on Wikipedia)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For my rabbits that means:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have all time access to all types of food they consume. Like in nature they can choose their intake self responsible. This applies to the time(s), the amount and the sort of food to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For me that means:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contra:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will be food that is not eaten, which I have to put away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have to &quot;clean&quot; more often (take the old food away).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pro:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I can give them access to food, I have not sorted before&lt;/em&gt;. In example: I go to the meadow/lawn and cut 1 square meter of it. I do not have to look, if there is any toxic plant on it (disregarding of almost 10 very toxic plants, almost growing as decoration in the garden but not common on a lawn/meadow). The rabbits have enough to choose, and do not eat &quot;improper&quot; plants because of hunger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am not responsible (directly) for their diet.&lt;/em&gt; Sure I have to overlook them (i.e. weight, behavior). And I have to guarantee they have access to &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; sorts of food, they need. But I have no sorrows like &quot;Do I feed them enough?&quot; or &quot;Do they have a balanced diet?&quot; or to estimate the calories they need per weight...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at day, when my rabbits jump trough the yard, I must not feed them fresh greens (except additional at winters time), but there is almost any time some in their enclosure anyway&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I solve the Contra:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not eaten food:&lt;/em&gt; This means fresh food, because this may rot. Because I take the food from nature as most as possible, I have (almost) no cost wasted at this. In winter (when I have to buy more) I choose fresh food like beet, carrots and cabbage, and give it in the whole, so it will not rot in short time. (bamboo is a nice winters fresh food, by the way)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clean more often:&lt;/em&gt; Every time (morning and evening) when I bring new food, I check the old food and take away what is not eatable no more (i.e. what I would not eat myself anymore). Approximately once in a month I use the broom to collect all crumbs from the feeding place (included in the monthly &quot;big cleaning&quot; of the enclosure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What sorts of food I give:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fresh greens most varied I can, this means in most cases &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all kinds of grass, weeds, herbage I can find on the lawn, meadow or wayside (no much car traffic nearby!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leafs of bushes and trees, for example apple, cherry, hazel, plum, oak, maple, beech, willow, bamboo ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in winter carrots, cabbage, beets and likewise &quot;bulb fruits&quot; (is there such a word in English?) and &quot;storage&quot; apples (kinds of apple which you can store during winter in the cellar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seeds like from sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, flax, rape, thistle and cumin (without grains, because rabbits who eat grains do not fit cabbage feeding, they could get ill)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pea chips (crushed down and dried peas, I buy them ready to feed), dried carrot chips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loose hay in good quality (it have to smell pleasant and should include a bright variety of grass, herbages and weeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(not as basic food) leafs of the vegetables I consume, like carrots, kohlrabi, radish, cauliflower, salads (I remove the outer leafs), sometimes the middle of an apple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in winter I add dry leafs from cherry, apple and raspberry, (explicit this, because I have them in the yard) which I have dried during summer/fall and stored dry and clean until winter (one can find them in winter under bushes and trees too, but they have to be dry and clean, &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; muddy or pulpy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To conclude, I live in Germany, so the points that apply to local flora may not suit worldwide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T06:45:49.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25481" CreationDate="2019-05-24T07:02:16.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a vital difference between crate training and obedience training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In obedience training, you say a command, your dog (hopefully) follows it and expects a reward for it. In crate training you put your dog into a place where it's supposed to stay for an undefined amount of time. The most desirable outcome is that your dog is calm and doesn't expect any interaction for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why &amp;quot;rewarding&amp;quot; silence by opening the crate is not very effective. As long as the dog expects any reward, it's loud. As soon as the dog is quiet, it doesn't expect a reward anymore. Opening the crate as soon as the dog relaxes may even be detrimental, because it teaches the dog that it should &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; relax in the crate because every time it relaxes the excitement of being let out again immediately follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better course of action is teaching your dog that crate time means being ignored. Don't react to anything your dog does, don't speak to it, don't even look at it. No reprimand for whining, no praise for being quiet. You can make this easier by offering your dog a chew toy or chewing bone and by making the environment as calm as possible (no playing children or other dogs around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/25370/12501&quot;&gt;this question and answer&lt;/a&gt; to see how to act while opening the crate to avoid whining and over-excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:39:23.127" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:39:23.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25421" CreationDate="2019-05-24T07:14:57.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a liquid called &amp;quot;bitter apple&amp;quot; which is an extract of naturally astringent apples. It does nothing more than taste bad. With a lot of luck you can get it in a drug store, otherwise ask in a pharmacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rub a few drops of the extract on the spots Harley is chewing on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even better: ask your vet for a skin ointment for Tubby. Skin that is being excessively licked is often dry and itchy. The ointment should help the skin regenerating and the fur growing back. First rub the ointment on Tubby, then add a drop of bitter apple on top. One (fresh) raw egg fed every second or third day is a natural food supplement to improve fur quality as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to treat the reason why Harley chews on his father. If you just make chewing on Harley unpleasant, but don't treat the actual cause, he will soon develop a substitute behavior (that you probably won't like as well). My guess is that he's either bored or very anxious. We have compiled a list of different activities to entertain bored dogs &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;in this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T00:16:41.707" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T00:16:41.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25483" CreationDate="2019-05-24T08:49:23.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ethically...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat bring you a mouse: this is a gift it would bring its children too, to feed them, to train their hunting behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have three ways here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;kill it, dispose of it&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;kill it, feed it&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;let it go&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First point I think is disposing of the corpse referring to cycle of nature... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second point: Your cat brings it as food, if it does not eat it itself, you can lay it in the nature and another animal will eat it (you should pay attention to not attract animals you do not want to have in the neighborhood)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third point: You give this prey the chance to stay alive, reach a secure hiding place and replicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion you should choose between points two and three. A criteria to choose could be &quot;Can this animal reach the hiding place?&quot;. If it is not moving, has fracture of a leg or anything like that, I would kill it. But if it can run away from me, I would let it go and give the decision to nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fourth way, to care for it until it is healthy again, I missed for a reason. You almost can not do that in a flat shared with a cat...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T06:02:43.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T06:02:43.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25400" CreationDate="2019-05-24T11:14:15.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I can not find any source how one can prevent that raccoons enter the rabbit enclosure, I turned my point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What let pet raccoons stay in their own enclosure?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If they can not get out, they would not get in is my thinking)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To this Question there are a lots of sources, I will give a resume:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The grid should be stable, for example &quot;10x10 dog kennel chain link fence&quot; [1] or &quot;Wire should be 1&quot;X2&quot; welded wire&quot; [2]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Doors should be difficult to open, i.e. &quot;Raccoons have almost human-like hands where they can open cupboards and refrigerators&quot; [1]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They can scratch trough wooden board: &quot;If they want in bad enough, they will scratch the door and carpet. If you are concerned about your doors, you can put some kick plates on the bottom of the door. This will prevent the raccoon from scratching any holes in the door.&quot; [1]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I will change at my rabbit enclosure:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my Question I linked how my enclosure today is build.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;padlocks at the stable doors, until today there are wooden lock bars (wooden bar screwed at the frame). Same thing at the hutch roof (able to open to clean inside).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I use proper wire yet, but I can improve the binding of it to the wooden frames. As I build it I bond the wire with a little stapler to the wood, but now I think I should screw it or at least nail it together.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I want to anchoring the enclosure better on the ground, so it can not be lifted. I have no estimation how much power raccoons have, so I have to assume, they may do it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I will check the wood daily for scratches. New wood will be thick or covered with some &quot;scratch protection&quot; like the mentioned metal plate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https://sybilsden.com/caresheet/raccoons.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Care Sheet For Racoons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.raccoonworld.com/raccoonrehab.html#4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;raccoonworld.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T11:14:15.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25483" CreationDate="2019-05-24T18:01:40.973" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no unequivocal right or wrong answer to what you asking. You simply have to decide what you think and feel is right here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people believe animal's lives have value, that they should have the right to peruse their own interests as much as possible, and that undue animal suffering should be prevented and mitigated where possible. Many view these as kind and noble sentiments, myself included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think like this then, yes, you are doing the right thing - you are doing your best to prevent suffering and needless destruction of life by euthanizing and rescuing your cat's prey. Animals are very good at surviving injury and fighting off infection so your efforts are not wasted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aspect of this thinking is to &quot;live and let live&quot; or &quot;Let your cat be a cat.&quot; Cats will hunt and kill and will even even toy with their prey in a manner many people think is cruel, but the cat is not being cruel. The cat is just being a cat. It is unrealistic, and possibly unethical, to expect other animals to conform to all of our sensibilities, or bend to our every whim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you agree with the above then, yes, you should try to accept the cat's nature. I don't know how successful you will be at trying to not let it bother you, but one thing you could try to think about is that this is the natural order of things, and when you study it closely you can see a tremendous amount of beauty in all of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2019-05-24T18:01:40.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25499" CreationDate="2019-05-24T23:01:52.523" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat usually starts yelling whenever he wants something, though it is near impossible to tell if he wants to play &amp;quot;chase&amp;quot; or wants pettings or is hungry. What I want to ask is whether I can teach my cat to touch certain objects in my room depending on what he wants, like touching the bed if he wants petting or touching the drawer if he wants to play &amp;quot;chase&amp;quot; and so on? For reference, my cat is 4 years old at the moment, so I know that I might be a bit late to start training him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T00:35:58.767" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T00:35:58.767" Title="Is it possible to teach my cat to express what he wants though visual cues?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25498" CreationDate="2019-05-25T04:48:46.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can teach your cat to show you what he wants. However, it will take some time and the cat is not the only one that is learning in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The age of the cat is not important for the learning; they do learn all their life. However, some cats are better in giving you the visual signs of what they want than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example on how a cat can show you what it wants: my cat is sitting looking out of the window, and she jumps down and comes to me, does the head bumping, she takes a few steps away from me, and she lays down waiting for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as I get up, she starts walking to the door so I know she wants to go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats give you signs of what they want, but some are better than others in doing this. And you, the owner, need to pay attention to what your cat is signaling to you to get the message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When communicating with your cat be consistent and try to use short words or sentences. I use the words &amp;quot;show me what you want&amp;quot; when my cat talks to me, and the cat I have now is not as good in doing this as my previous cat was. In conclusion, there are some differences in different cats in how good they are in communicating what they want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T00:34:39.240" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T00:34:39.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25507" CreationDate="2019-05-25T14:19:53.297" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rabbit and a guinea pig kept together in my room. (They come along very well.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also happen to have a bunch of sparrow grass in front of me that I don't have any plans to do with. Could there be any trouble if I just feed it to the little guys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10576" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T22:17:49.077" Title="Can rabbits and guinea pigs eat sparrow grass?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6895" CreationDate="2019-05-25T15:36:16.690" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an unneutered dog who gets reactions from neutered and unneutered males but he does have dominant tendencies and he is very ‘out there’. i.e he likes to be taken notice of though not in an aggressive way, just highly social.  I chemically castrated him for a year and did not notice much difference except that he mounted less (this he does normally with other males) and once he submitted to an aggressive dog by rolling onto his back, whereas he does not do this when unneutered.&#xA;I have had conversations with people who neutered there dogs because of aggressive tendencies who then regretted it because it produced no difference in behaviour and sometimes it became worse, so you may be disappointed in the result if it is purely for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15940" LastActivityDate="2019-05-25T15:36:16.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-25T16:43:07.300" Score="4" ViewCount="1980" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just noticed today that my goldfish has a lump on his head that is white around the edge with a red centre. He is eating and behaving normally. He is nine years old and has never had any other problems. The water quality is all came out fine when tested. Does anyone know what this is?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ybJv3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ybJv3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15941" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-27T02:00:21.170" LastActivityDate="2019-05-29T20:17:28.690" Title="What is this lump on my goldfishes head?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25502" CreationDate="2019-05-26T04:15:11.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your goldfish has a virus infection. This might lead to a tumor forming later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing you can do about this is to be sure the water quality is as good as possible and to elevate the temperature in your tank to 22 - 24&amp;deg;C and hope your fish can fight this on his own (goldfish are cold water fish so a temperature of 15 - 25&amp;deg;C is ideal for keeping them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not add any type of medication to your water, it will kill the good bacteria and is unlikely to help your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of diseases that carp fish can get &lt;a href=&quot;https://puregoldfish.com/17-diseases-and-treatments/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;17 Goldfish Diseases&lt;/a&gt;. It is a scary reading but it might help you and others to diagnose and treat the fish in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-27T02:10:40.847" LastActivityDate="2019-05-27T02:10:40.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25506" CreationDate="2019-05-26T15:10:07.930" Score="4" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I began trying to make my own wet food. However, while my cat is always drawn to the store-bought ones, she doesn't eat a bite of what I make after smelling it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried till now -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;baked (cooked) chicken, from raw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;boiled (cooked) chicken, from raw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;meat (defrosted and warmed) chicken tenders, from frozen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am yet to have any success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to make my home-made wet food more palatable and attractive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15946" LastEditorUserId="15946" LastEditDate="2019-05-30T01:09:55.730" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T20:41:05.317" Title="How to make home cooked food appealing and tasty to cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cooked-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25505" CreationDate="2019-05-26T17:06:57.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here you have to take a GO SLOW approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this example -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose, you are taking a highly salted food regular diet. Doctor tells you to cut your salt intake. It will be almost impossible for you to do it at one jump. You take a GO SLOW approach. You start slowly reducing the salt in your food every day. It will take time. But ultimately the low salt food too will get palatable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, returning back to the cat -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Break down the cooked food into fine pieces. Then start mixing small amounts of cooked food with your cat's store-brought food. Slowly keep increasing the proportion of cooked food in the mixture everyday. Ultimately a time will come when your cat will no longer refuse to eat cooked food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During baking process juices drip from the meat. Meat is rich in both Vitamin B and C. But both being water soluble weans away with the dripping juices. Gathering this juice and serving it with the meat may minimize loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also after boiling meat, the boiled water must not be thrown away but served for a similar reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, never give your cat frozen tender meat. It is a totally unhealthy food for a cat. It comes loaded with saturated fat putting your cat's heart at risk and is high in sodium putting your cat's kidneys at risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9934" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-30T16:03:26.470" LastActivityDate="2019-05-30T16:03:26.470" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25500" CreationDate="2019-05-26T19:14:50.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sparrow grass is the folk name for asparagus, as mentioned in the relevant &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A German source &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/ernaehrung/futterlisten/gemueseliste/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kaninchenwiese.de&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spargel kann regelmäßig angeboten werden, wenn er gefressen wird. Akzeptanz: schlecht.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which, translated to English, means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Asparagus could be frequently given to your rabbits. But in most cases, it's not well accepted and they do not like it very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The links lead to vegetable lists for rabbits (&quot;Kaninchenwiese&quot;) and guinea pigs (&quot;Meerschweinchenwiese&quot;). Most vegetables are shown with pictures and all are marked with traffic light system:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;red means &quot;do not feed&quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yellow means &quot;not optimal&quot; or &quot;not well accepted&quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;green means &quot;you can feed it without being worried&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asparagus (&lt;em&gt;Spargel&lt;/em&gt; in German) in this system has been assigned a &quot;yellow&quot; according to these criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In every case you should give your rabbit and guinea pig a variety of food to choose from. It is necessary to ensure that they would not eat some inappropriate food in case they are hungry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T15:17:43.987" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T15:17:43.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15026" CreationDate="2019-05-27T07:57:35.317" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You make yourself a lot of thoughts about your rabbits. This is a good base!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general the pet owners differentiate between &quot;ad libitum&quot; diet and the weighing diet (my wording).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common weighing diet means, you choose the rabbits amount and sort of food and give it at the time you choose too. They eat it all in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ad libitum means, they have access to a wide variety of food any time they get hungry and choose themselves the sort and time and amount to eat. (see [2]) They will spare the sorts of food they do not like, because of taste &lt;em&gt;or because of health reasons, for example self therapy&lt;/em&gt; (see [1]).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the ad libitum diet I give my rabbits hay only as &quot;back up&quot;. They have always a little (dry and clean) amount of it at their enclosure, but eat it only at winters time regularly. They love to make their sleep place of it. But after this it is not clean anymore, so they get additional hay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion the fresh (grass, herbs) is every time better than the dry (hay in all kinds). I would probably more like my vegetables/fruits/even bread fresh, than as dried chips ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information about rabbit diets you can look to this questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23690/how-much-food-is-too-much-for-a-baby-bunny&quot;&gt;How much food is too much for a baby bunny?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25422/what-means-ad-libitum-related-to-an-animals-diet&quot;&gt;What means &amp;quot;ad libitum&amp;quot; related to an animals diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25344/are-we-feeding-our-bunny-enough&quot;&gt;Are we feeding our bunny enough?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25359/whats-the-purpose-of-hay-pellets&quot;&gt;What&amp;#39;s The Purpose of Hay Pellets?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-06-03T06:44:15.757" LastActivityDate="2019-06-03T06:44:15.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-27T18:44:57.540" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beardie has a raised white patch around the shoulder area behind her head.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It doesn't seem painful or hasn't changed her eating habits.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the cause of the patch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15951" LastEditorUserId="14484" LastEditDate="2019-06-07T11:41:33.553" LastActivityDate="2019-06-07T11:41:33.553" Title="Raised white patch on the shoulder area behind bearded dragon's head" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-27T23:02:11.153" Score="4" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just about to do a water change and was wondering what's the best way to get water up to the right temperature to put it back in to my tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15952" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-05-29T08:17:50.390" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T21:57:54.930" Title="What the best way to get water up to temperature for a water change?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;water-changes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25512" CreationDate="2019-05-28T05:56:40.883" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way to do this is to get an extra aquarium heater and a large container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set the heater to the same temperature as your tank and let the water slowly heat up overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing it this way, you remove some of the chlorine in your water and the amount of other dissolved gases in the water will be reduced too if they are present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to mix the water in the container before you use it (the coldest water will be on the bottom of your container and warmest water on top).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add chlorine remover and other additives to the container before you use the water in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T21:57:54.930" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T21:57:54.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25453" CreationDate="2019-05-28T10:44:43.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This is far away from an answer, but for a comment it will be to long.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a cats person. But I would go to this problem like this: &#xA;What role do you and your cats play in your household? (What role do you want to play?) Do you all (are allowed to) be on the same level of power? Or are you and your partner &quot;parents&quot; for this cats? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that cats do not have a strict hierarchy like dogs or lions. They form loose colonies most time of females with their kittens. This female &quot;queens&quot; are at the same level like each other, but their kittens have to perform respect and would be educated from the queens. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/understanding-your-cat/social-structure-cat-life&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;International Cat Care: The social structure of cat life&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_behavior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Cat behavior&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same sources write: Male cats have larger territories than female colonies and &quot;visit&quot; the joining female territories (for example for food or replication).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How queens act to educate their kittens you can find here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/How-do-mother-cats-discipline-and-correct-their-kittens&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Quora: How do mother cats discipline and correct their kittens?&lt;/a&gt;. The first answer mentions that the time space for education could be longer than this of kittens childhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would assume two suggestions&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is, your room will become your territory, so you have the operation of law and choose your visitors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you are the parents of this cats and can snub your &quot;kittens&quot; if they do not act like you want (for example if the bigger kitten tease the smaller one). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to do so, you have to ask a cats person ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-05-28T10:44:43.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25512" CreationDate="2019-05-29T17:25:42.323" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;It depends.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This very much depends on how you do your water changes. For me, I make RO water and store it outside (which means it's cold). Then I add hot tap water and a dechlorinator solution to remove the chlorine / chloramine and any heavy metals from the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably not the most energy efficient way to do it but it allows me granular control over the temperature. It also means I don't have to prepare anything in advance (apart from the hot water) and I don't have to have another heater on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use the same concept if you just use tap water. Start with a bucket of cold and heat it up with warm. It's really that simple. Depending on the size of your tank and the percentage of water you are replacing you might not need to worry about tenths of a degree difference in water. I'd definitely suggest that the closer you can get to the correct temperature the better but if you're replacing 10% in a 300 litre tank, the difference will probably not be that noticeable if you put water in that's a few degrees south of where it should be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;This method is based on the assumption that you've got access to hot water already. If you haven't, you're better off using TrondHansen's method instead.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-05-29T17:25:42.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25502" CreationDate="2019-05-29T20:17:28.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Update on the lump: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consulted some of the notes and websites that one of my lecturers gave me (I am a veterinary medicine student) and decided to treat it with a fungal treatment. It improved almost immediately and now, 4 days later, the lump is almost completely gone! Looks like Billy had a lucky escape!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15941" LastActivityDate="2019-05-29T20:17:28.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-05-30T07:01:23.817" Score="4" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten. When I got him, he had a lot of black wax in his ears, it looked like mites. We went to vet, and he just cleaned his ears with cotton soaked in something and said that it wasn't mites, he didn't even check the wax under microscope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that I see my cat scratching ears few times a day, it has like 2-3 dots of black wax in ears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I got him, he lived in house and outside. What could be the reason for black wax if not mites? Is it possible that vet made a mistake? Should I take my kitten to another vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15963" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-05-30T09:17:11.717" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:08:04.427" Title="Dirty cat ears, is it mites?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15624" CreationDate="2019-05-30T20:34:17.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I completely understand your frustration.  Check where you’ve placed the litter box.  Does your cat feel safe there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was a rescue but never had litter box issues until we moved to a place that had a laundry room.  I thought this was the perfect place for a litter box.  The cat disagreed and peed on carpeting in a room adjacent to the laundry room.  In retrospect, I realize this as her attempt to comply by urinating as close to her box as she felt safe.  She didn’t use her litter box until I realized she had never seen - or heard - a washing machine before and was completely terrorized by it and I moved her box to the bathroom.  I never had another problem.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I also tried cat calming pheromones.  It’s a plug in device that emits pheromones over time.  Some owners have reported great success, though it did nothing in my case.  You might want to look into that, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope things work out soon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15965" LastActivityDate="2019-05-30T20:34:17.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25540" CreationDate="2019-05-31T02:13:58.047" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat recently had a cardiac arrest and, as a result of the brain damage, is totally blind (he may get it back, if not fully, partially). Two days later he is out of hospital and back at home. He also requires a special diet and monitoring of his urine output. We have two other cats in the house, so it's important he is the only cat that has access to his litter tray. We also have balconies that would kill a cat if they fell from them. In the past he and the other cats were fine walking on the balconies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What tips are there to help a suddenly blind cat adapt to his environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HCDXB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HCDXB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pic of him in hospital &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our boy is doing well and has regained his sight. Best outcome possible and we're very lucky to have him with us still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-09-11T14:55:50.453" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T14:55:50.453" Title="How to help a cat that has gone suddenly blind" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;sight&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25538" CreationDate="2019-05-31T02:19:32.430" Score="3" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat recently had urinary crystals. I've been told cranberry capsules are good for helping clear them up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence to support this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T10:20:34.990" Title="Does cranberry help cats with urinary crystals" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;&lt;new-medicine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25532" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-05-31T02:22:05.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about pets with sight issues, such as blindness. Not for humans with sight issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:22:05.610" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:22:05.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25533" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-05-31T02:22:05.610" Score="0" Body="For questions about pets with sight issues, such as blindness. Not for humans with sight issues." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T02:22:05.610" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T02:22:05.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19325" CreationDate="2019-05-31T05:09:32.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't necessarily anything to worry about.  Hamsters like to change things up sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, changing things up regularly helps prevent hamster depression.  We want the hamster to have a safe place of his choice to curl up in, but we also want the hamster to have a variety of things to explore.  So, rotate the objects in his habitat a couple times a week, so he will have a slightly different array of objects and activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I mean by &quot;hamster depression&quot;?  When the hamster doesn't come out of hiding much, and just hides in his cave like a recluse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, changing things too often would be stressful. Watch your hamster's reactions to your early experiments in rotation of objects in the habitat, and adjust your approach as needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T05:09:32.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18707" CreationDate="2019-05-31T05:17:13.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might have been a mismatch of expectations.  These two rules of thumb were helpful for me as a hamster owner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't expect a hamster to be cuddly&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters can be very interesting to watch and interact with&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T05:17:13.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6172" CreationDate="2019-05-31T05:23:56.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Respecting the minimum size requirements is indeed important, and supervision as well, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Syrian hamster I had was happy in his ball for about 20 minutes at a time.  At about the 30 minute point, he got tired of it, and then he and the ball didn't move around any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a big believer in stopping an activity before it ceases to be fun.  So, you have to get to know your hamster and find out what's right for him.  Once you know his pattern, it will be easier to get a feel for how many minutes are fun for him or her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to predict how long he'll be in the ball before he pees or poops.  So, choose the surface carefully where you will let him run in his ball.  If you don't have any bare floor, perhaps you could get a refrigerator box and cut it up, and then lay down a big piece of cardboard to protect the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After use, the ball can be washed on the inside with dish soap and warm water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you give your hamster other types of adventures besides the ball only.  For example, I made a cardboard playpen with zigzagging cardboard sections taped together.  It's fun to put a nice wide cardboard tube on the floor inside the pen, put a sunflower seed inside the tube, and then watch the adventure unfold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a young hamster, I suggest starting out with very short trial runs.  Make sure the room is warm and not drafty.  Choose a time when there's not much commotion, and you'll be able to supervise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When adopting a hamster, wait until his natural curiosity is bringing him out of his nest, showing an interest in his environment.  This would take between 3 days and a week, typically (for Syrian).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastEditorUserId="4022" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T05:29:33.147" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T05:29:33.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25526" CreationDate="2019-05-31T09:53:19.030" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mites usually don't stay more than a week or two. They bite the skin to suck blood and other fluids, but this causes the skin to scab. Since mites cannot bite through the scab, they don't get enough food anymore and either starve or leave their host to find a new one. &lt;strong&gt;This means that ear mites are contagious!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, cats often become extremely irritated and stressed by mites and often cannot sleep because they hear the mites in their own ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from mites, there are several more ways cats can have thick black wax in their ears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats and dogs excrete toxins through the skin in their ears. It could be that your cat is allergic to its food or any medication he's receiving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His ears could be infected with yeast or bacteria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There could be polyps or other tissue growth in the ear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It could have had mites in the past which now causes the ears to produce more wax in general.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, if the first vet didn't analyze the ear wax, you should definitely ask a second vet. The wax needs to be examined under a microscope and in a laboratory to find out which pathogen caused the infection or to exclude an infection as the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word of warning: Cats are very sensitive to problems with their ears. Should the wax or mites or whatever completely block the ears, your cat will scratch it's cheeks rather than the ears. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a cat who was lost for several months before coming back, teeming with all kinds of parasites, including ear mites. He scratched all the fur from both cheeks and ears. Most of the fur grew back, but he now has very thick scar tissue (because he wouldn't stop scratching, even if he had scratched himself bloody) and several polyps in his ears. He's constantly producing too much wax and we have to clean his ears regularly or he starts scratching again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it doesn't come to this for your furry friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:08:04.427" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:08:04.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25531" CreationDate="2019-05-31T10:20:34.990" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a commonly enough held belief but there's very little evidence to support this being the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cranberry supplementation can help prevent certain Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27027843&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;preventing the bacteria from adhering to the bladder walls&lt;/a&gt; (the linked study is in dogs but the same mechanism works in cats, and to a certain extent in humans as well) - but this only seems to apply for certain strains of E.Coli, and while the evidence so far is encouraging in this it's still not exactly concrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's more because cranberry contains high levels of oxalate, which is detrimental for urinary conditions where the cat or dog has oxalate crystals/stones in the bladder (there's some evidence to suggest Burmese, Persian and Himalyan cats are genetically predisposed to Oxalate crystal formation). So well meaning attempts to use cranberry as a treatment for such crystals can actually make the condition &lt;strong&gt;worse&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best method for helping with preventing urinary crystals in cats (both in terms of reducing their impact and formation) is a good diet and plenty of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For treating them the golden rule applies - take kitty to the vet and follow the appropriate treatment they recommend. There can be various reasons for them forming and only a vet is going to be able to tell you which - and the treatment will be determined by the root cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (to give urinary crystals their swanky name) can be a serious issue for cats - especially males who have narrower urinary tracts and are less able to &quot;pass&quot; the stones themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T10:20:34.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25505" CreationDate="2019-05-31T14:32:24.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your first concern shouldn't be the appeal of the food, but the nutritional completeness.&lt;/strong&gt; If your motivations for making your own cat food are to save money or make things easier for yourself, I'd recommend you go back to a high-quality commercial wet food instead. Creating a homemade, nutritionally complete meal for your cat is a lot more complicated than just cooking a piece of chicken breast and giving it to them. If you have medical concerns leading you to creating your own wet diet, it should be done with the advice and involvement of a veterinary professional (preferably one who knows a good amount about animal diets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats require animal protein, as well as a particular combination of amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals; &lt;strong&gt;just feeding plain chicken breast doesn't meet their requirements.&lt;/strong&gt; It's a good treat, but not a good regular food. You'll need to either add the supplements directly (by breaking open capsules and adding them to the food), or purchase a commercial cat supplement blend that can be added to the food. Find a proven recipe and follow it (favor vetted sites like WebMD Pets over &quot;mommy blogger&quot; recipes that may be severely nutritionally deficient).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have a nutritionally complete recipe selected, you'll want to &lt;strong&gt;choose a high-quality meat.&lt;/strong&gt; Aim more toward dark meat over white meat chicken, and use a good brand, not a flavorless one. (You mentioned using Tyson chicken tenders in a comment; Tyson, while a readily available brand, is low quality meat that tends to be flavorless and depends on breadings or seasonings to be palatable even to humans.) Try the chicken cooked plain with a little cat-friendly cooking oil yourself to see if it has a taste to it or not; if it's bland, keep it for your own seasoned recipes and try another brand. You'll likely end up with something organic or all-natural, and possibly fresh from a local meat market or butcher shop, to get something that will be appealing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also need to &lt;strong&gt;transition the cat&lt;/strong&gt;; this goes for &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; change in diet, not just transitioning to homemade. Cats tend to have sensitive digestive systems and sudden dietary changes can upset them; over 1-2 weeks, mix increasing amounts of the homemade food into decreasing amounts of the commercial food. Don't use up the end of your commercial diet! You'll want some to go back to if the cat has digestive issues from the homemade or fully rejects it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To aid in making the homemade food (or any food) more appealing, you can get &lt;strong&gt;feline probiotic powders&lt;/strong&gt; that make the food smell much more appetizing to the cat. These products are readily available through your vet, or (at least in the US) can be purchased from Amazon under the names FortiFlora (Purina) or Advita (VetOne).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you've transitioned your cat, you'll have to &lt;strong&gt;be diligent about monitoring their health&lt;/strong&gt; and maintaining the correct balance of supplements in the food, at least at the start. Again, partner with your vet during this period. You'll want to be certain that your homemade diet is in fact nutritionally complete, and that your cat is not suffering any deficiencies that can lead to serious medical problems or death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, unless this is for a medical reason where commercial foods are no longer viable, &lt;strong&gt;accept that your cat may not want to make this change&lt;/strong&gt;. Some cats are very particular about their food, and don't want to change from what they like, so if it's nutritionally complete, let them keep eating it. If this sounds too expensive or like too much work, similarly, if they like their current food and aren't having any issues caused by their current diet, let them keep eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-05-31T20:41:05.317" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T20:41:05.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25530" CreationDate="2019-05-31T16:44:28.067" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many ways blind cats are surprisingly &quot;normal&quot; but there are some adaptions that would be worth bearing in mind. Primarily this revolves around providing the cat with non-visual sensory information to allow them to navigate their world. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blind cats love to play and &quot;hunt&quot; just as much as their sighted kin so when choosing toys make sure there is something non-visual to allow the cat to track the &quot;prey&quot;. Go for toys that have noises (e.g. bells, crinkles) or smells (catnip infused).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Navigation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Touch and smell become all-important for this. Try to keep &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; things (litter box, food dishes)  in the same locations as much as possible. You mention that given the other complications of your cat's condition that it's important to for him to have his own litter box for monitoring. I don't know the layout of your home but would it be possible to place his food and 'box in a separate room and use a chip reader cat flap to keep the other cats out? It might take a bit of work to get him to learn where the flap is but using scents and something textured on the floor you might be able to do this. Obviously you'll have to do the same the other way around to prevent him from accessing &lt;em&gt;theirs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you pick the blind cat up and put them down in a different location make sure that the other location is somewhere they can recognize through touch or smell - place them near their litter box or food or onto a different textured surface (that they can recognize) so that they can re-orient themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of picking up remember to make sure they know you are there before you scoop them up - say something and give them a gentle pet. Otherwise you risk them freaking out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interaction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while we are on the topic of freak outs it's going to take some time for him to adjust to the sight loss and this might make him a bit skittish and easily startled - depending on the cat they might get scared or even aggressive. I'm guessing either would be bad for a kitty with a history of heart problems! So try and avoid sudden loud sounds or anything that might startle them, talking to them can help them orient themselves and also provide comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Balconies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume these are outdoor balconies? Sorry to say but you're probably going to have to keep him indoors - cats can learn to navigate an environment extremely well when blind but with the best will in the world some of that learning is going to involve falling off things to learn where the limits are - and with a balcony at lethal height that's not going to end well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His righting reflex should be largely unaffected as it's mostly done using the vestibular apparatus in the inner ear (&lt;strong&gt;Fun Fact:&lt;/strong&gt; this is why cats are rubbish at &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/BTkFIE_-kL8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;navigating and moving in microgravity&lt;/a&gt; - they are completely unable to distinguish &quot;up&quot; and &quot;down&quot; without the info from the vestibular system!) so he'll be fine with small indoor falls of the sort that wouldn't harm him anyway but he won't be able to see a big fall coming until it's too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give him some fresh a walk on a leash or a harness is a sensible option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-05-31T16:44:28.067" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25325" CreationDate="2019-06-02T21:58:58.313" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog wants to play with the cat.  Desperately.  To the point of whining.  Your cat, as you’ve observed, wants nothing to do with the dog.  Your biggest clue to your dog’s intent is how your cat is reacting.  If the cat knew your dog wanted to attack, she wouldn’t rest in an accessible place.  And she’d be more aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best bet is to train the dog to ignore the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once had a female Russian Blue, too.  A female black lab desperately wanted to be friends.  The cat wouldn’t have it.  So we trained the dog to ignore the cat.  You could tell the dog was really sad about being rejected and sometimes when she walked by the cat, she’d pause for a moment, look over briefly as if she was deciding whether or not to say hello, give off a feeling of sadness - maybe even let out a small sigh, and keep walking.  She never got over it completely but she learned to accept it.  We got her to focus on treats, smiles, and hugs from the family instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15965" LastEditorUserId="15965" LastEditDate="2019-06-02T22:10:36.410" LastActivityDate="2019-06-02T22:10:36.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25543" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-03T08:27:47.480" Score="1" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think my female shih tzu is the Alpha of the pack in our house. She's already 2 years old. And already had her 2nd heat this year. She's getting angry when my male dogs is humping her. Is there anything I can do, or just let it be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15977" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T05:25:57.057" Title="My female dog(shih tzu), doesn't want to mate with my other male dog(shih tzu)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25544" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-03T11:08:23.800" Score="-1" ViewCount="1252" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I just bought a leopard gecko (It's my first reptile) and last night I had turned off it's heat mat. I had read that leopard geckos could withstand temps of 70s (which is the coldest it usually gets in my house). But this morning when I went to go feed it, it was pale and cold to the touch. It's alive, and it caught two of the crickets I put in the tank, but I'm worried for it's health. It's a juvenile leopard gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15978" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:04:53.547" Title="My new Leopard gecko turned grey and is cold to the touch" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21603" CreationDate="2019-06-03T15:37:45.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have purchased one wooden nest box for them and put them in that nest box. Their parents love the nest box and use to sit on it to take care of their babies. I have also purchased dry grass as a bed for the babies. They feel more secure in that nest box now. They did not abandon their babies when I touched the babies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hkffB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hkffB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;2birds&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TQvk0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TQvk0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bird1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12958" LastEditorUserId="12958" LastEditDate="2019-06-03T15:53:55.813" LastActivityDate="2019-06-03T15:53:55.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15989" CreationDate="2019-06-04T05:36:50.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of guppies swim in the aquarium of my turtle (yellow bellied slider). The turtle is assumed to be 10 years old and does not catch them actively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young turtles of this kind hunt and eat fish, but older ones eat primarily plants. But they do not spurn dead fish, especially if these dead fish are fresh, so we haven't had any fish corpses lying around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rule we have learned: the fish should have no long flippy-flappy tail fin. Those beautiful ones, with long tail fins resembling bridal veils, swim too slow, so the turtle may eat them accidentally if the food gets them both lured to come close to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:59:22.227" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:59:22.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25544" CreationDate="2019-06-04T05:49:13.993" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know a lot about geckos, but my turtle is a poikilothermic animal too. They need the warmth to get going. If they have a low body temperature, they cannot move fast or with much power. So they need a place to warm up (for my turtle this is the sun-like light bulb on his island) to become fit, i.e. to hunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My turtle has his light shining at the daytime only, but the water has thermostat so it stays at the moderate temperature all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to let your animal choose its body temperature itself is to provide a temperature gradient over the animal's space. For example, provide the heat mat on one side of the terrarium and a &quot;cold spot&quot; on the opposite one. With such an arrangement, the gecko can choose the distance to the warmth, and thus the temperature, according to its needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T01:04:53.547" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:04:53.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25465" CreationDate="2019-06-04T12:03:03.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Germany. The water quality is measured here in &quot;Härtegrad&quot;. In our village we have 40° in the water from our water pipes. Like this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lenntech.de/kalkulatoren/haerte/wasserhaerte.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; declares, is this 712 ppm (p-arts p-er m-illion of T-otal D-issolved S-olids -&gt; TDS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use this water regularly (I assume once per month or more) to change one of three parts of the water in our aquarium (assumed 1000l). We have guppies too, but also black mollies and catfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information you could buy such a home test kit for water quality. So you can check your water for other things too, like ammonium or nitrate, which are difficult for fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-06-04T12:03:03.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25550" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-04T12:25:23.503" Score="1" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 15.5 y/o male unfixed schnauzer keeps rubbing his chin on the carpet and whines while doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is taking 1 mg thyroid tabs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has also been tilting his head. He's not eating all his food at one sitting, which is unusual for him. I shaved his beard off and I don't see or feel anything unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15982" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-04T12:58:09.363" LastActivityDate="2019-07-15T13:03:55.503" Title="Dog is rubbing his chin on the carpet and whining" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25543" CreationDate="2019-06-04T20:28:59.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the bitch isn't at the optimum point in her cycle (ovulating) she wont want to.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are ways to see if she is at the optimum point in her cycle, these are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A progesterone test (a hormone test taken from the blood) which measures for hormone surges. The test returns a number (a score) based on the hormone surge this  score it will tell you if she is at the optimum point in her cycle to breed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or a cytology test (a smear of the vaginal cells and examined under am&#xA;microscope to see if there are changes in the cells) this isnt as&#xA;accurate as the progesterone test.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend that you read on all of this before deciding to breed your dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good starting point would be &lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Book_of_the_Bitch.html?id=zi_bbk9kUNAC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Book of The Bitch&lt;/a&gt;, a very highly regarded book which gives an introduction to breeding for first timers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also ensure all of the relevant and necessary health tests are conducted, make sure the dogs are a suitable match and temperament is suitable for breeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid unwanted breeding, separate them when it becomes evident the male is trying to mate. Crate one of them away from the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2019-06-05T05:25:57.057" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T05:25:57.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25465" CreationDate="2019-06-04T22:07:47.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Theoretically, yes&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why theoretically? Well, because it relies on a number of other factors too. For example, you need to make sure that there is no chlorine or chloramine in the water because this will kill the beneficial bacteria that live in your substrate (sand / gravel) and filter. (It might be unlikely that a bore well has chlorine in but it's worth checking anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to check that the water doesn't have high levels of nitrate or trace amounts of ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, there's more to water quality than TDS but it's a good indicator. I've used water in tanks that has a TDS of 180 and I've used water that has a TDS of 7. As Allerleirauh suggests, buy a test kit and test the water you intend to put in before you add it to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-06-04T22:07:47.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-05T10:32:35.470" Score="2" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do Hermann's tortoises enjoy mushrooms, are they healthy for them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read in some forums, that mushrooms are not natural food for Hermann's tortoises. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think that it should not be true. Mushrooms naturally grow in European woods and so tortoises had must have have learnt how to enjoy them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11228" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-06-05T21:44:16.100" LastActivityDate="2019-06-06T13:51:55.610" Title="Do Hermann's tortoises enjoy mushrooms, are they healthy for them?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25555" CreationDate="2019-06-05T14:42:18.643" Score="2" ViewCount="3567" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pom, did not grew hair back after shaving for surgery. Now it has been one year after the surgery, and he got only like 30 percent of his hair back, and unevenly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I know that the poms should not get shaved like that. But is there something I can do to trigger the hair regrowth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15986" LastEditorUserId="9934" LastEditDate="2019-06-05T21:52:03.453" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T12:20:41.617" Title="Pomeranian hair not growing back after shaving" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25554" CreationDate="2019-06-05T17:00:15.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is affected by a phenomenon called “post-clipping alopecia,” which (as you acknowledge) can occur after a dog is improperly groomed. (All &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;emphases&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are mine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.harbourviewanimalhospital.com/pdf/post_clipping_alopecia.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post Clipping Alopecia, Harbourview Animal Hospital&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;This is a condition that is very common in the fur bearing breeds. The fur bearers such as Alaskan Malamutes, Keeshonds, Siberian Huskies, Samoyeds, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pomeranians&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, Chows, Labradors, Golden Retrievers,Shepherds,Shetland Sheepdogs, Newfoundlands etc. all have undercoat that needs to be brushed on a regular basis to keep shedding to a minimum and to keep the dog from getting matted. Post Clipping Alopecia comes into play when a fur bearer is shaved down. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The hair will NOT grow back to the way it was. It can come close, but it will never be as beautiful as the original coat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest of the above source seems relatively non-scientific and includes no citations, so I’ll move on. In terms of treatment, some academic literature encourages a hands-off approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://zero.sci-hub.tw/3975/f5e04563bddc82528be0abd0e5e9e895/cerundolo1999.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Symmetrical alopecia in the dog, Rosario Cerundolo, &lt;em&gt;Companion Animal Practice,&lt;/em&gt; 1999, 21,350-359.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;POST-CLIPPING ALOPECIA does not require any therapy as the hair will grow back after a few weeks or months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your description, this does not appear to be true for all cases of PCA, and other, more recent sources refer to active treatments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/focal-non-inflammatory-alopecia-diagnostic-treatment-challenge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focal, non-inflammatory alopecia: A diagnostic, treatment challenge, Michelle Rosenbaum, &lt;em&gt;dvm360&lt;/em&gt;, 2001&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Post-clipping alopecia is the failure to regrow hair for months after clipping, usually after surgery or grooming...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; The area over the back and rump is most commonly affected, and has a &quot;just clipped&quot; appearance, even months later. The reason the hair fails to regrow is unknown; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;it may be due to vasoconstriction of blood vessels in the skin that occurs with decreased skin surface temperature from loss of haircoat insulation after clipping.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Histopathology shows a predominance of catagen hair follicles. Total hair regrowth may take &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;six to 24 months&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, although most animals regrow hair within 12 months. Initially the regrown hair may be darker than normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Differential diagnoses that should be ruled out with appropriate laboratory testing include causes of endocrine alopecia such as hyperadrenocorticism, hypothyroidism, and sex hormone imbalance. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vigorous brushing of the area, massage, hydrotherapy with warm water, and covering the alopecic area with a sweater to increase skin temperature and blood flow to the skin, may stimulate hair regrowth in some cases. Melatonin 3-6 mg orally every eight to 12 hours for eight to 12 weeks and short-term treatment with levothyroxine at 0.02mg/kg orally every 12 hours for four to six weeks may also increase hair regrowth in select cases.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I’ve read, the treatments listed above are essentially the extent of your options. However, other hair-growth treatments that are effective in humans &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; be viable therapy candidates (under veterinary supervision in a controlled environment) if your dog fails all the options listed above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, a working hypothesis for the pathogenesis of PCA is vasoconstriction in response to reduced skin temperatures (from hair loss); Minoxidil, for example, is a well-characterized hair-growth agent used in human topicals because it causes vasodilation (which is the goal of many of the non-pharmacological approaches to treating PCA like massage or vigorous brushing), but it toxic to dogs when ingested so it would be a challenge to deliver in a safe manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you might also consider your values relating to your pet. Does you dog’s PCA bother you to the extent that you are willing to compromise its quality of life to meet your aesthetic standards? Most of the treatments I’ve mentioned are completely harmless and your dog won’t mind them, but if they don’t work, I’d encourage you to reconsider attempting to improve your dog’s coat and instead focus on its happiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12549" LastActivityDate="2019-06-05T17:00:15.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25553" CreationDate="2019-06-06T13:51:55.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;that mushrooms are not natural food for Hermann's tortoises&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware they aren't - their diet naturally consists of leafy-greens (lettuce, clover etc) and some vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots etc) and small amounts of fruit (apples, strawberries etc). Any diet in captivity I would expect to match their &quot;natural&quot; diet for the most part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mushrooms naturally grow in European woods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hermann's torts aren't naturally woodland tortoises in the same way as e.g. Redfoots (who will happily munch on mushrooms by the way!) so while most edible mushrooms probably wouldn't &lt;em&gt;hurt&lt;/em&gt; a Hermann's they likely wouldn't even really consider them food. Their &quot;hunting&quot; ground is generally meadows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and so tortoises had must have have learnt how to enjoy them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that simple at all. I imagine their habitat encompasses a great many things that they wouldn't enjoy eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-06-06T13:51:55.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-07T06:40:03.910" Score="-1" ViewCount="2011" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Zr1E.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Zr1E.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;brushed fur&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these white spots in my cats brushed fur flea eggs or dander? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11130" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T12:00:50.083" Title="Flea eggs or dander?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25561" CreationDate="2019-06-07T08:01:38.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not possible to say from your picture so to be sure you need to bring your cat to a vet for a diagnosis and treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be lice too,A quick way to see if it is is to hold your hand at one point on the back of your cat for a couple of minutes,This will atract the lice so you will be able to see it crawling in the fur of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will still have to visit your vet to be sure,Cat lice if this is what it is can not live on people but if you have other cats they needs to be treated at the same time to get rid of the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is only one of several things it might be so i might be wrong on this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take the cat to the vet,Your vet will look at this in a microscope and be able to tell you what it is and recoment a treatment if it is lice or if it is dander.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-07-07T11:34:24.877" LastActivityDate="2019-07-07T11:34:24.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25565" CreationDate="2019-06-07T09:16:18.677" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may relocate to another country. How can I manage a flight transport for my turtle and fish? Is it realistic to do so in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flight is approximately 3-4 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish are black mollies, guppies, welsh and goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The turtle is a yellow bellied slider with an approximately 20-30 cm carapace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-07T13:31:41.690" LastActivityDate="2019-06-07T15:53:49.680" Title="How to transport turtle and fish via airline?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25564" CreationDate="2019-06-07T14:47:16.867" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need is to find what rules and regulations the country you're moving to has for this, and you'll need to be prepared to pay first for the transport and then for the quarantine for the time determined by officials at your destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are companies that are specialized in moving live animals; you need to contact one of them. (I cannot give you the names here but there are several companies doing air transport.) These are international companies doing world wide transport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your turtle will probably need to be vaccinated and your vet needs to provide documentation for the vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Companies where I live do import live fish from Japan (mostly koi and goldfish); they have to keep the fish in quarantine for a predetermined time controlled by a vet and undergo health and safety inspections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe moving your fish and your turtle will cost more than it will cost you to get new ones at your destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-07T15:53:49.680" LastActivityDate="2019-06-07T15:53:49.680" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-07T20:42:01.590" Score="0" ViewCount="796" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a little under a year old and she usually just buries left over bits of meat we bring back from restaraunts (we don’t do it often but it used to be the only time she’d bury her food). She eats outside because she thinks the dog food inside is the cat’s but for the last two days she’s been burying all of her food. ALL of it. she’ll even save the treats we give her when we’re training and bury them later outside and inside the house. I’ve read that it could be because they’re stressed or want to save it for later, but how can I get her to eat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15998" LastActivityDate="2019-06-08T04:02:22.123" Title="How can I get my dog to stop burying her food?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25567" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-08T02:42:15.690" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tiny crabbie, Pipboy, was molting for a while. This morning I found her shell and inside was a hollow shell, but no sign of the crab anywhere! Is it possible that she’s hiding? Maybe she’s buried herself? Will my other crabs try to hurt her if she’s not in her shell? Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16001" LastActivityDate="2019-06-08T02:42:15.690" Title="Help!! My hermit crab molted but went missing!" Tags="&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25566" CreationDate="2019-06-08T04:02:22.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend not making food available all day. Make half her days portion of food available in the morning, and half at dinnertime. In addition, remove her food bowl after 30 minutes. If it's empty, fine. If it isn't empty, then so be it, she can eat the rest at the next mealtime. Your pup will learn to eat what and when she is fed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she continues to bury her food, consider cutting back on the amount that she is fed. If she is hungry when you feed her, she will be more likely to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. Fresh water should be available 24/7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-06-08T04:02:22.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-09T04:24:38.983" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 5 years old. She is a very friendly cat, playful, and seems very normal, but she is very skinny. She eats and drinks regularly, goes to the bathroom normally, and gets plenty of fresh air. She has never had kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my cat healthy and just a small cat, or is she just getting older, or should I take her to a vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16004" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-13T13:18:49.657" LastActivityDate="2019-06-18T05:12:10.797" Title="Is my cat healthy, ill, or just getting older?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25570" CreationDate="2019-06-10T04:58:22.187" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A five years old cat is middle aged, so you should not see signs of advanced age in her yet, like the cat being less active or starting to sleep more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat changes behavior, starts to hide more than normal, changes her eating/drinking habits, or changes the use of the litterbox, you need to take her to the vet to find the reason for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal weight of a healthy cat is about 4,5 kilos, but this will vary by the size of your cat breed; just as it is in people, some cats are naturally skinny and others are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat starts to lose weight, you need to take her to a vet to find the reason. One of the most common causes for a cat to lose weight is intestinal parasites/worms, but this is easy to fix with medication that you can give your cat yourself (or let your vet do it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat lives outside for part of its life you need to deworm her twice a year or more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any cat needs to be vaccinated to avoid the most common and often deadly diseases, and if your cat roams free outside this is doubly important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid your female cat getting ovarian or breast cancer, you should get her spayed. Vets often have weeks where they offer this service this at a reduced cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cathealth.com/cat-care/weight-management/1255-cat-check-weight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.cathealth.com/cat-care/weight-management/1255-cat-check-weight&lt;/a&gt; You need to take this with a grain of salt,A cats body changes depending on how old it is(the skin gets looser on older cats)So to be sure it is best to weigh your cat from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-06-18T05:12:10.797" LastActivityDate="2019-06-18T05:12:10.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22" CreationDate="2019-06-10T06:05:56.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking at pet insurance my for newly adopted adult dog, and am finding that the maximum annual coverage really doesn't make sense for me. For example, most insurers start with a $5,000 annual coverage limit, and have options for as much as unlimited annual coverage for a few dollars more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this sounds great, if my dog were to have some huge expense costing tens of thousands of dollars, all of the policies I have come across state that they only &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reimburse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; policy holders; so in order to benefit from having insurance, one would have to first completely pay the vet bill. While this would be doable up to some amount, it obviously becomes impractical for most people at some point before &quot;unlimited&quot; occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like it's possible to be insured while unable to pay the vet costs upfront, and thus ineligible for reimbursement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pet insurance model is very different from the health insurance model. I think this is worth considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5486" LastActivityDate="2019-06-10T06:05:56.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-10T19:20:05.330" Score="1" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 8 year old dog - a suspected doberman/labrador mix - has recently been diagnosed with arthritis in his back and rear legs. Our veterinarian has prescribed Rimadyl, which has seemed to help his movement some when we give it to him. However, he has had gastrointestinal problems (ongoing gurgling, diarrhea, etc.) when taking the drug. Furthermore, researching Rimadyl has us concerned about long term, irreversible effects to his GI system or liver, especially since he doesn't seem to tolerate the drug well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend suggested Rehmannia, an herbal remedy that she said is safe and effective for treating canine arthritis. My friend referred me to a website to learn more about it, but the website discusses stuff like Qi, and balancing Yin &amp;amp; Yang; stuff I don't put much stock into. My own search attempts have turned up some reviews (mostly positive, but some negative ... and some irrelevant to our situation (i.e. treating other conditions)) of the product, but no clinical studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is Rehmannia safe for dogs? Does it effectively treat arthritis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15889" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T20:36:01.047" Title="Is Rehmannia safe for dogs? Is it effective for arthritis?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25477" CreationDate="2019-06-10T20:43:23.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are part of Annex I, Part B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ANNEX I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Species of pet animals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PART A&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs (&lt;em&gt;Canis lupus familiaris&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats (&lt;em&gt;Felis silvestris catus&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ferrets (&lt;em&gt;Mustela putorius furo&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PART B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Invertebrates (except bees and bumble bees covered by Article 8 of Directive 92/65/EEC and molluscs and crustaceans referred to respectively in points (e)(ii) and (e)(iii) of Article 3(1) of Directive 2006/88/EC).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ornamental aquatic animals as defined in point (k) of Article 3 of Directive 2006/88/EC and excluded from the scope of that Directive by point (a) of Article 2(1) thereof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amphibia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reptiles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds: specimens of avian species other than those referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2009/158/EC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mammals: rodents and rabbits other than those intended for food production and defined under ‘lagomorphs’ in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For them are these rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SECTION 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet animals of the species listed in Part B of Annex I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Article 9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conditions applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet animals of the species listed in Part B of Annex I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Insofar as the Commission has adopted a delegated act pursuant to Article 19(1) with regard to pet animals of one of the species listed in Part B of Annex I, the non-commercial movement of pet animals of that species into a Member State from another Member State shall be subject to compliance with the conditions laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet animals of the species referred to in paragraph 1 may be moved into a Member State from another Member State only if they fulfil the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(a) they are marked or described according to the requirements adopted pursuant to Article 17(2);&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(b) they comply with any preventive health measures for diseases or infections other than rabies adopted pursuant to Article 19(1);&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(c) they are accompanied by an identification document duly completed and issued in accordance with Article 29.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2013/576/oj&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source: eur-lex.europa.eu&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T13:22:14.280" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T13:22:14.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25576" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-11T04:38:52.417" Score="2" ViewCount="653" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all started last week. My big koi started to spin out of control and died the same day. I went to the pond place and they gave me a parasite treatment bottle, with instructions to use it for 3 days. I used it for 2 days, then had to go away for 2 days. When I came back no one looked sick. I applied one more dose because I thought it had to be used for 3 days total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next day 2 fish died; they didn't look like anything was wrong with them. I called the pond place, and they told me not to use any more medicine until something went wrong. Today another fish died suddenly. They don't have anything on them at all. They just isolate themselves and then they die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, can I reapply the blue spectrum medicine again? And do it for 3 days again? Or is that going to harm the fish? Am I dealing with a parasite or a bacteria?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other fish are swimming kind of fast, not like normal. The pH was fine, ammonia fine, and the change water looks clear.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16011" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-11T12:54:47.073" LastActivityDate="2019-06-11T12:54:47.073" Title="My koi fishes are dying every day" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25573" CreationDate="2019-06-11T09:43:56.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like many of the substances used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Rehmannia (aka Rehmannia 8 or &lt;em&gt;Bawei Dihuang Wan&lt;/em&gt;) seems to be credited by it's proponents with being able to treat/cure a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.itmonline.org/articles/rehmannia_eight/rehmannia_eight.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;huge variety of ailments&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Nephritis (nephrosclerosis, nephrolithiasis, nephrotuberculosis), pyelitis (nephroatrophy), albuminuria, and edema.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cystitis, cystolithiasis, cystotuberculosis, senile cystoatrophy, prostatomegaly, dysuria, urinary incontinence, and nocturia.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Diabetes and urinary incontinence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cerebral hemorrhage, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and hypotension.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Neurasthenia, amnesia, nocturnal emission, uncontrolled emission, impotence, and inappropriate erection of the penis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lumbago, sciatica, deformed vertebra, numbness of the legs, and beriberi.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Cataract, glaucoma, decrease of eyesight, and keratitis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eczema, tinea, senile itching, vaginal itching, dry skin, and urticaria.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Chronic gonorrhea, rectoptosis, climacteric disturbance and related disorders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see arthritis isn't on that list and it has to be said I've never seen treating arthritis as one of it's claimed uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to have been some clinical trial work done on Rehmannia-based treatments for atypical dermatitis in dogs: &lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-3164.2006.00523.x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ferguson,&lt;em&gt;et al&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11906651&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nagle &lt;em&gt;et al&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; but I haven't come across much else. And to be honest I'm highly skeptical that it's effective for much of the laundry list of what it's claimed to be able to treat let alone things that it doesn't!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that the two trials (for AD) linked above happened and the dogs..well didn't die, suggests that it's not inherently &lt;em&gt;dangerous&lt;/em&gt; for dogs to consume (assuming appropriate dosing) but there seems little chance of it treating your dog's arthritis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; treat them; Assuming it's osteoarthritis (as opposed to something like hip dysplasia) it's basically the same as it is for humans - anti-inflammatory painkillers (specifically ones intended for dogs, don't go giving them ibuprofen as it's toxic for dogs!), diet, physiotherapy and low impact exercise - &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2014/459809/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;particularly swimming&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You (and your dog!) have my sympathies - osteoarthritis is a fecker! But it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;  be managed to reasonable degree and much quality of life can be had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-06-11T09:43:56.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5791" CreationDate="2019-06-11T11:22:16.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you can read in the mentioned article, the vaccination there only helps against one of 8 (since 2013 one of 9) kinds of botulism bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are certain it was bacteria-caused botulism, you can now assume which of them causes the botulism of you rabbit, and the other 7 (8) can cause a new botulism on the same rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another uncertainty is: The immune system of your rabbit only acts against the bacteria. It cannot act again the toxic substance itself, I think. If your rabbit eats food with toxins of this bacteria again, it will get ill again. (There may not come &amp;quot;new&amp;quot; additional toxins, because the immune system kills the source bacteria, but they made an amount toxins in the food before it got eaten).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the question, if it causes a life long immunity... This depends on a lot of circumstances. It is not linearly connected with the power of immune response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some new, additional information from lila's comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes sense that the vaccine isn't against the bacterium itself because these bacteria aren't even able to survive in our digestive tracts - and they need to be alive to produce the toxin: our natural intestinal flora and secreted bile acids make it impossible for these bacteria to colonize our digestive tracts and poison us from there. For example, honey sometimes contains spores of &lt;em&gt;Clostridium botulinum&lt;/em&gt; (spores are dormant forms of bacteria, a bit like bacterial &amp;quot;seeds&amp;quot;), but it doesn't contain the botulinum toxin and it is safe to consume (with an exception of children less than 12 months old - digestive tracts of newborns are sterile and they need some time, which is up to a few months, to fully establish the natural intestinal flora; this is why it is bad to feed honey to children less than 12 months old, botulinum bacteria having much less or completely no competition from the infant's bacterial flora could colonize their intestines and poison them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read some sources and I see that all toxins for which you could vaccinate are protein-based toxins. Proteins are gigantic molecules; for example, the chemical formula of botulinum toxin is C₆₇₆₀H₁₀₄₄₇N₁₇₄₃O₂₀₁₀S₃₂; such huge molecules don't really act like small molecules anymore, but more like complex, nano-scale objects or machines. Unlike bacteria, they aren't actual living organisms - but they are so large and complex that our immune system is still able to uniquely recognize them and respond to them as well. If we devastate these &amp;quot;machines&amp;quot; by messing up their delicate structure (technical term for this is protein denaturation), then they aren't able to harm us anymore - but they are still recognized by our immune system. Such non-harmful forms of toxins are called toxoids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Botulism vaccine contains such &amp;quot;wrecked and non-working machines&amp;quot; - botulinum toxin molecules that have had their structure completely messed up by formalin - for our immune system to safely see, prepare the response and get ready to fight in case of the harmful, functional &amp;quot;machines&amp;quot; (active, dangerous toxin molecules) being in our system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_botulinum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_botulinum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-13T03:24:56.880" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T03:24:56.880" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7135" CreationDate="2019-06-11T11:35:52.203" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One reason could be the daily drinking from water bottles and so caused habituation to a false head position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Studies have shown that a rabbit with access to both a water bowl and a water bottle will prefer the bowl. It’s much easier to drink out of, because the water doesn’t come out one drop at a time. &lt;strong&gt;Also, a bottle forces the rabbit to tilt the head up in an unnatural position, making it highly uncomfortable.&lt;/strong&gt; Even though nothing can fall into a bottle and soil the water, it is much more difficult to clean, so bacteria and algae will often develop and soil any fresh water that gets added immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bunnyapproved.com/water-bowl-and-bottle-options-for-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bunnyapproved.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; It is not a chief cause, nor the single cause for head tilt. But I think it could be the most common and one that could be easy avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-06-12T05:36:57.977" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T05:36:57.977" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11274" CreationDate="2019-06-11T11:53:41.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Turtles can lay eggs without having ever seen a male turtle. Like chickens, they produce unfertilized eggs in this case.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The attempt of your turtle I assume is to gain more room at the land part. This can be for better turn around in &quot;case of emergency&quot; if it want to get fast into the water. Or it can be the search for the best place to lay the eggs. A third possibility is the mating season, where turtles in general want to &quot;walk miles to find a mate&quot; and have a lot of energy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Case 1&lt;/strong&gt;: Better emergency exit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles in nature use places to bath in the sunlight that are very near and a little above the water (as deeper as better). So, if they notice some danger, they let drop themselves and are in safety in seconds. If they have such a place to stay in the sun (under their bulb) they feel safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Case 2&lt;/strong&gt;: Gravid, searching for laying eggs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see this question for more detail: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25314/my-female-red-eared-slider-as-far-as-im-guessing-is-gravid&quot;&gt;My female Red Eared Slider, as far as I&amp;#39;m guessing, is gravid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Case 3&lt;/strong&gt;: Want to walk miles for love&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people who let their turtle walk during this times... in their garden, in their rooms and so on. This should be done with caution (For example if turtles are wet, or in cold draught they can get cold very fast and became ill.), but it could be a solution for a happier turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T15:25:18.627" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T15:25:18.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7135" CreationDate="2019-06-11T14:51:08.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far is I found the possible causes are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Middle/inner ear infection (otitis media /interna) - treated with anitbiotics - success not sure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stroke (cerebrovascular accidents) - lots of care needed - acupuncture maybe helpful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trauma - can be treated with anti-inflammatory - succesful if trauma not severe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cancer (neoplasia) - did not find much, but it's cancer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cervical muscle contraction - only temporary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Encephalitozoonosis - parasite - treatment not mentioned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cerebral larva migrans - no known cure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intoxication - depending on the toxin, vet needs to decide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an abscess - needs to be removed with surgery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Meningitis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatments do depend on the cause (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/journal/3-8/head-tilt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read more&lt;/a&gt;). But&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While many cases of head tilt can be successfully treated, others cannot.[...]Regardless of the cause, sometimes a rabbit who survives will be left with a slight head tilt for the rest of his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/journal/3-8/head-tilt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Head Tilt: Causes and Treatment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://articles.extension.org/pages/33031/head-tilt-wry-neck-in-rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Head Tilt (Wry Neck) in Rabbits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/head-tilt-in-rabbits-4021111&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Head Tilt in Rabbits&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-06-12T12:50:26.890" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T12:50:26.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-12T01:13:52.140" Score="-1" ViewCount="2212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up with cats so I'm used to having them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However my fiance and I decided to get a kitten about 7 months ago (he was about 3 months old then). We had some minor issues when he was younger but he was so small that he couldn't get into much. Since then, he has now destroyed our shower curtain from jumping and hanging on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have many tall windows that he likes to jump onto, but ends up scratching off the paint on our walls (we rent) when he jumps up there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's knocked over several decorations either hanging on the wall or just placed somewhere, including glass ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He ripped out our curtain rod in the living room by hanging on the curtains and it left a huge hole in the wall from the screws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's currently trying to jump on our shelves that aren't very secure or big enough for him, so when he eventually does get up there, I know the shelves will break off the wall also causing huge holes and knocking heavier glass objects off that could hurt someone sitting under them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's chewed through an $80 cord and continues to find cords he can chew on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anytime I put my food/drinks or really anything on the table or counter, he goes up to it and tries to &quot;clean up&quot; as if in his litter box. This usually results in knives falling off counters, my drinks being spilled, his paws in my food, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try sleeping with our bedroom door closed so he can have the house, but he ends up scratching the paint and wood off our door and sometimes pulling carpet up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again we are renting which makes this more frustrating. Oh yeah and he tries escaping out of the house any time we open  the door. He has gotten out many times but thankfully we are able to catch him before he goes anywhere. He has a cat tower that includes a scratch post, and a scratch post that has hanging toys on it. He shows no interest in either, and doesnt play with his toys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is literally destroying our house and everything in it, he seems to always be looking for new things to get into. I understand kitty proofing our house, but at this point it seems we cant have anything on the walls, no decorations, and no curtains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do give him love and attention when he wants it, but hes honestly being more of a burden than a blessing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very frustrated, please help!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16015" LastEditorUserId="9087" LastEditDate="2019-06-12T12:36:51.630" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T16:31:23.423" Title="Why does my 10 month male kitten destroy everything?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-06-27T14:03:14.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-12T15:00:31.567" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gnube.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Broken Controller&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a fool and dropped the controller. The people at the store I bought it from didn't really have a solution on how to resolve this. Does anyone know how I should go about replacing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16018" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T22:47:23.387" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T22:47:23.387" Title="Broke my Seapora AquariumController. What are my options?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25582" CreationDate="2019-06-12T15:25:50.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Entertain your cat more.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is very young and clearly full of energy. It's taking out its excess energy by doing inappropriate things. If you tire it out more, it'll do these things less.  You say it's uninterested in its toys, but that means you need to keep trying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Interactive play with a lure toy or a laser pointer usually works the best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy a variety of toys. If the cat doesn't like the toys you have, maybe it's because it doesn't like that type of play. There's catnip, toys that make different noises (bells or crinkling), kicker toys, food puzzle toys, motorized toys, digging toys, and so forth.  You might rotate which are available too, to keep them fresh. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Figure out games for your cat. For example, many cats like bags and boxes, and they like it if you make the lure toy &quot;hide&quot; or rustle around in a bag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make windows easy to get to, and free of things it'll knock over and break. Place the cat tree by a window. For most cats windows are the go to for self entertainment. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leash training. If you can manage it, taking the cat out on a little walk often helps to calm it down. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat proof your house more.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of cat proofing is to get creative. Figure out what your cat likes and doesn't like, and then try to make the thing you don't want it doing unpleasant or impossible, and give it an appealing alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the curtains, for example. If possible, replace them with alternatives unsuitable for climbing. Hanging vertical blinds seem the most ideal. Or maybe you could use folding screens you place in the window rather than curtains. I imagine the cat might knock them over on a regular basis, but that's less worrisome. Another option is window tinting/film.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really must have curtains, you need to attach them to the wall at actual studs, so if the cat does end up climbing them, they will hold its weight. Then use either cheap curtains that you accept it'll claw up, or see if you can find some curtain that is less suitable for climbing. For example, the thin, sheer kind might be less tempting to the cat. Hopefully also cheap, so if the cat does attempt it anyways, you aren't out a lot of money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion I've seen is breakaway curtains. The idea is to hang your curtain with little threads around the curtain rod, which will immediately break if the cat attempts to climb. The cat will then learn that it's impossible to climb the curtain. You might be able to do a similar sort of thing using velcro instead. This would have the advantage of being easier to put back up if the cat makes an attempt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat may also be climbing the curtains because it wants access to the window. Try giving it another way to get up there that is acceptable, such as place the cat tree right by the window. The cat tree in general was a good thought, but I suspect that you probably did not place it in a good location, which made the cat uninterested in it. Basically anywhere the cat likes to climb up could use a cat tree. The cat will have to use the tree if it's right against the wall, blocking its normal climbing route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for chewing the wires, I've seen suggestions to use citrus spray, or even just wrap the wires in soft fabric that's unappealing for chewing. I'd be careful though, as you don't want to make a fire hazard. They also make chew toys for cats. You might try getting some of those as well and see if you can get your cat to chew on those instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-06-12T16:31:23.423" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T16:31:23.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25582" CreationDate="2019-06-12T16:19:00.053" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to be more of a boundary issue rather than needing to figure out the why of it. This answer is a collection of approaches that have worked for me in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Redirecting cats with lightning rods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the main differences between cats and dogs is that a dog listens to your commands, but a cat acts based on what's in front of it. You cannot command your cat, but you can &lt;strong&gt;steer its behavior&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has a particular spot they like scratching, try putting the scratching post there. Whenever they go to that location, the scratching post sits there as a lightning rod for the cat's attention. If it likes scratching the scratching post more, then it will scratch the scratching post instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The further away you put the scratching post from the scratching spot, the less effective it becomes as a lightning rod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, combined with consistent negative feedback about scratching the other things, is usually enough to steer a cat's behavior in the direction you want it to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Are you not entertained?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat sounds like he's bored. Just like any creature, cats have a finite amount of energy. If you redirect their energy towards (allowed) playing, the naughty playing will lessen (or cease).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with your cat. Tire him out. We don't mind our cats running around, but it's a bit annoying when we go to bed. So we play with them just before bed to tire them out, so they're unlikely to want to run around the first few hours after playing with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has a cat tower that includes a scratch post, and a scratch post that has hanging toys on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not every cat likes every toy. Maybe your cat just doesn't like the toys he has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buy some varied toys and see which one they're willing to play with by themselves. For example, our cats love the laser, but they are only marginally interested in the automatic laser toy (it doesn't move as interestingly as when I do it). Some toys are a huge hit when I play with them, but a miss when the cat is left to play by itself. Some other toys, however, are a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; hit in terms of the cats playing by themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a matter of trial and error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to train your cat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of ground to cover here, and I can't list all of it. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18666/my-cat-is-biting-and-scratching-me-and-diving-at-me-with-claws-out/18674#18674&quot;&gt;This is a more comprehensive answer of mine&lt;/a&gt; that delves into how to train your cat's behavior. Mostly chapter 4 is applicable, but I think the other points are applicable to your case as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buying a plant sprayer can do wonders for training a cat, but you have to use it correctly. If you just use that as the immediate punishment without any verbal warning, you're not teaching your cat anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What works a lot better is a series of escalations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;State the cat's name.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat the cat's name, but louder. Follow up with a clear &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take out the sprayer and restate the name/&quot;no&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray the cat. It doesn't need to be a direct hit, but it needs to come across as intending to hit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the cat persists, calmly pick them up, bring them to another room, and put them down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always start from the top. If the cat does not stop what it's doing, take it to the next level. Whenever the cat yields, you reset the clock and start from the top the next time it happens, even if that is only minutes later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to teach the cat a pattern of progression. Initially, it doesn't understand your verbal feedback. But after several experiences, it will start to figure out that these verbal cues are a &lt;strong&gt;precursor&lt;/strong&gt; to a punishment that it really wants to avoid (= the spraying). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, your cat will learn that if it does not yield when it hears the verbal cue, it's goign to get sprayed. And since it doesn't want to be sprayed, it yields, and your training has succeeded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Specific feedback&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have many tall windows that he likes to jump onto, but ends up scratching off the paint on our walls (we rent) when he jumps up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This particular instance seems to be a matter of unintended consequence. I wouldn't particularly fault the cat. Either find a way to shield the wall (we tape cardboard to the wall), teach the cat not to jump up there (more on how to train a cat later) or simply fill the window sill to a point where the cat can't be on it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anytime I put my food/drinks or really anything on the table or counter, he goes up to it and tries to &quot;clean up&quot; as if in his litter box. This usually results in knives falling off counters, my drinks being spilled, his paws in my food, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This burying behavior stems from cats trying to hide their remains of food because it hides their scent, and cats have a natural instinct to want to hide their presence in an area (which is also why they bury their droppings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't teach the cat that this is wrong because their instinct compels them to do it. At best, you can train them to know that you will get upset with them for doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's currently trying to jump on our shelves that aren't very secure or big enough for him, so when he eventually does get up there, I know the shelves will break off the wall also causing huge holes and knocking heavier glass objects off that could hurt someone sitting under them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like your house is not reasonably catproof. Cats like heights, you can't change that. If your shelves are fragile enough that a cat's weight will literally rip them out of the walls, and you put heavy glass objects on them, that's a recipe for disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't reasonably expect your cat to fully tailor itself to what you'll allow and won't allow. Cats don't care about what &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; want, they care about what &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh yeah and he tries escaping out of the house any time we open the door. He has gotten out many times but thankfully we are able to catch him before he goes anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not really misbehavior. If you don't want your cat to go out, and it wants to go out, it's up to you to prevent it from doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We try sleeping with our bedroom door closed so he can have the house, but he ends up scratching the paint and wood off our door and sometimes pulling carpet up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Closing the door &quot;so he can have the house&quot; sounds like a bit of a misdirection. Even with the door open, they can still be in the house when they want to be. There's an ulterior reason why you're not wanting him in the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat clearly wants to be in the bedroom. You clearly don't want it there. Something's got to give. You can try and train your cat to stop trying to get in, but it's not going to be easy or a guaranteed success. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be a lot easier to address the issue which is leading you to not want the cat in the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T16:19:00.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-12T18:57:03.503" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to buy a pug puppy in September, but I work for seven hours across the street. I could check on my pug every 5 hours and would provide with water, pee pads, crate and toys. But I don’t know if this would be OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me and offer your insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16019" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T16:10:37.377" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T16:10:37.377" Title="Can a pug (either puppy or adult) be left alone for 7 hours?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25597" CreationDate="2019-06-12T19:33:27.903" Score="2" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you think that 100g/day of wet food based on the following diet is enough? Taking into consideration that I feed them also dry food all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats are 1 year old, they are sister and brother and they are fixed too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joe is 5 kg (MALE)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moe is 3 kg (FEMALE)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wouafmiaou.com/terra-faelis-viande-poulet-1256.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Terra Faelis&lt;/a&gt; is composed of the following:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Crude protein 9.3%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Crude fat 7.6%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Crude fiber 0.4%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ashes 1%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Humidity 81.4%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carbohydrates estimated 0.30%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Protein dry mass 50.0%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general it has the following ingredients&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ingredients: chicken, squash &amp;amp; catmint: chicken hearts (32%), chicken muscle meat (20%), chicken stomachs (20%), chicken liver (15%), squash (5%), zucchini , watercress, rosehip powder, catmint (0.5%), organic eggshell powder (0.4%), whey, spirulina algae (0.3%), andean salt. proportions: 86.5% meat, 9.7% vegetables and herbs, 3.8% other ingredients. additives: nutritional additives: taurine (1000 mg / kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LD69q.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LD69q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12471" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-26T10:28:17.453" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T10:28:17.453" Title="Is 100g of wet food sufficient for 1 year old cats with different weights of course?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25584" CreationDate="2019-06-12T20:14:18.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much have you googled? Can you contact the manufacturer directly? I found seaporaproducts.com which is just a warranty page (but if you know the logo, you’ll be able to tell if it’s them or not). From there, I looked at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whois.com/whois/seaporaproducts.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whois.com&lt;/a&gt; and it’s registered to GoDaddy. I might be fishing off the wrong pier, though... FWIW, GoDaddy has a BigAlsOnline email address registering the domain name, and they do stock some seapora stuff, so it might be worth contacting Big Al's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, it might be worth trying your local phone-fixing shop to see if they can repair it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T20:14:18.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25587" CreationDate="2019-06-12T21:05:03.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be OK as long as you each room is safe for the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest securing any loose or dangling wires; and if you have house plants, keep them out of reach (some plants are toxic for dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16020" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T16:05:19.110" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T16:05:19.110" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25587" CreationDate="2019-06-12T22:46:14.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally to leave any dog alone takes training them for a while to be able to be alone and be ok with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start small with crate training, putting them in a crate with a treat or toy and work up from here. Progress to slightly longer absences and leave it to roam where you allow it to. Build it up say 30mins/1 hour at a time. Reward the dog every time you come back too, this reinforces that you will come back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This builds the dogs confidence to be content alone and being able to cope. It will eventually build a routine and be ok with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don’t, bored dogs, dogs with separation anxiety can become destructive without putting this groundwork in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2019-06-12T22:46:14.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-13T02:01:53.453" Score="2" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was diagnosed with congestive heart failure roughly 8 months ago. Though her breathing has been the thing we have noticed and discussed primarily with the vets, that seems to be under control with her current medication.  Her heart rate, however, has become concerning.  Her heart rate is rapid even when resting, and very pronounced when you feel her chest. It also seems quite irregular, I tried to measure her beats per minute but I couldn't tell, and my wife and I had wildly different estimates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal with congestive heart failure?  My main concern is that she not suffer. Could she be suffering with a rapid, seemingly irregular heart beat?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is slowing down significantly on walks (likely compounded by summer heat). She's overall less active.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is becoming a more finicky eater, though still eating as we are putting things like chicken / fish in her dinner now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She hasn't lost all her spunk, there are moments where she shows some playfulness, and still some moments where she'll be a guard dog, but it is definitely reduced.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She saw a vet &amp;amp; cardiologist 2 months ago, they told us to come back in 6 months.  While I understand I'll get the best information by bringing her back, it's both expensive and traumatic for her!  So I really do appreciate any advice that can be offered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16021" LastEditorUserId="16021" LastEditDate="2019-06-13T15:47:27.897" LastActivityDate="2019-06-13T15:47:27.897" Title="Dog with Congestive Heart Failure - Rapid Heart Beat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2019-06-13T08:48:48.333" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It’s Starts With Instinct&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat’s tendency to put their toys in the water bowl might seem cute at first, but there is much more to this behavior than meets the eye. According to Mieshelle Nagelschneider, founder of the Cat Behavior Clinic in Portland, cats putting their toys in their water bowl boils down to instinct! She believes that when cats continually drop toys in their water bowls, they think the toy is real prey. &lt;strong&gt;Below are a couple of reasons of why cats are wired to do this!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hiding:&lt;/strong&gt; This behavior is similar to how cats behaved years ago before they became domesticated. Wild cats often took their prey back to their nesting areas in an effort to hide it from potential thieves. This could have been how early cats protected their prey from other predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16023" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T20:59:18.240" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T20:59:18.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24182" CreationDate="2019-06-13T11:43:12.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cat may have neurological issues or may have been traumatized somehow. Not that you are frightening him - but a very scared or sick cat will exhibit this hiding / isolating behavior. Leave food and water out for him at night while you sleep and see if he sneaks out for meals at night. If he is hungry and inclined to eat he will eat. If he does eat then it could mean he is not comfortable with his home during the day. You can monitor his food intake by tracking what he eats as well and determine if he is eating enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he continues to lose weight I would try seeing a different vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2019-06-13T11:43:12.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25588" CreationDate="2019-06-13T16:06:47.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as your cats have dry food available, reducing the amount of wet food is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wet food does look a little high in fat and low in fiber, but this is only my opinion, and it is not a problem. But I think you need to keep an eye on your cats' digestion, and if they get problems, you might have to change back to the other brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When free feeding dry food, be sure to have plenty of fresh water for your cats. I have found placing the water away from the food (in another room or behind a corner) makes cats drink more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T20:28:46.857" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T20:28:46.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-14T03:32:53.423" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently rescued a kitten, and I’m having trouble telling whether it is a boy or a girl. Please help! (&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Kimv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Kimv.jpg&lt;/a&gt;)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ErwNr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ErwNr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;## Heading ##&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16027" LastEditorUserId="10413" LastEditDate="2019-06-17T12:55:46.103" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T12:55:46.103" Title="Is this kitten a boy or a girl?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-06-14T14:14:26.667" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-14T12:17:49.633" Score="-1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to know is it the doe or buck that define the size and quantity of rabbit kits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16029" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:22:41.410" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:22:41.410" Title="Which sex of rabbit defines the size of the kits and which one defines the quantity?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23446" CreationDate="2019-06-14T14:00:39.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Partial water changes are enough&lt;/strong&gt; if your water quality is good. Substrate cleaning and glass cleaning are not necessary if your tank is doing well. It would be only for cosmetic reasons, for example if the glass becomes cloudy you can brush it off to see better inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The substrate and water and everything becomes &quot;alive&quot; and rich as the tank ages, with a kind of &quot;biofilm&quot; on the surface, on the bottom, the glass and everywhere else, that's a good thing. If you &quot;sterilize&quot; it too often, you will lose your bacterial cycle. Don't really need to clean the filter cartridges either since a lot of good bacteria lives there. Most &quot;algae&quot; and microscopic life is good for your tank. Green algae spots on the glass mean good. Big volume of slimy squishy green stuff would be too much, for example if you leave your tank in the sun. As well if your stuff is covered in brown algae, it means something is wrong. In such a case, just cleaning it is not enough, you'd need to find the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a few tanks for many years. I change 25% of the water every few days, sometimes one week. Follow your feeling, and if you notice the water becomes cloudy or dirty, do a change today. 2 weeks is a bit long for me, I'm not THAT busy that I need to let it wait for so long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the snails, shrimps and live plants are your cleaning crew. Keep the water good and the rest will follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-06-14T14:24:14.517" LastActivityDate="2019-06-14T14:24:14.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23446" CreationDate="2019-06-14T16:26:31.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often you need to clean the gravel and the filter material is dependent on the bioload of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bioload is the number of animals living in your tank plus the amount of food you feed your animals living in the tank. And the plants will add to this too when leaves die and decompose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gravel will accumulate waste over time so you need to clean it at regular intervals. And if you feed your fish a moderate amount each day you will need to clean the gravel once a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cleaning is best done with an aquarium vacuum and you need to push this all the way down until it meets the glass bottom of the tank. You will see when the water gets clear at each point you vacuum in your tank (you do this in a grid pattern in the gravel of your tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take a look at the filter media each time you clean the tank and if this starts to get clogged up you use some of the water from your tank to clean it (it is important to use water from your tank when you do this to keep the good bacteria alive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You normally do not need to clean the filter media more than every 2-3 months, but again, this is dependent of the bioload in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is better to change a small amount of water each week than it is to change a lot when you clean the tank. Water changes are mostly to keep the nitrate level down, but it will lower other waste product levels too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:27:00.923" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T19:27:00.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-15T00:52:54.970" Score="4" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of several symptoms (tilted head, occasional bouts of coughing and infection around her eyes), I brought my 13 year old cat to the vet and was told that sadly she has cancer, untreatable. The vet told me the only thing to do now was to &quot;end her suffering&quot; (and not by curing her) and was very sure about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't want to do it then and there, so the vet gave me antibiotics and steroids which reduces infection and pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the more I think about it, the less I think she's in as much pain as the vet seems to think. She doesn't groan or meow as I'd expect, she eats a bit, and comes looking for food at meal times, and while she's slower and less mobile than she would have been, she can put up a decent fight when I try to give her the pills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the obvious answer is it's because of the pain killing steroids, but this isn't a change from before I brought her to the vet. Sure she's more tired more than before but I don't feel she's suffering a fate worse than death. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be obvious if she was in pain or suffering that much, or could I be misinterpreting it altogether?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13361" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T21:24:38.387" Title="How can I tell if my cat is in pain?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25603" CreationDate="2019-06-15T03:33:52.387" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, with cats it can be pretty hard to tell if they are in pain. It sounds to me like your cat is in pain. Here is a list of some (but by no means all) signs your cat is in pain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats don't typically groan or meow from ambient pain. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eating less than normal. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleeping more than normal. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not interested in things that normally interest it, like play. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does not behave normally. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moving around looks more difficult. They'll refrain from jumping, take stairs slowly, and so forth. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not to say they are incapable of moving quickly, as they may also be quick to swipe at you if some particular area is tender, and they don't want you touching it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that your cat was showing symptoms at all such that you noticed and brought it to the vet is pretty much a sign that your cat is probably already in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the caveat that I'm not a vet, I believe vets advise to euthanize as soon as cancer is discovered for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's usually only discovered once the animal has visible symptoms, but animals, especially cats, usually only have visible symptoms once the cancer is so advanced they can no longer hide their illness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cancer tends to progress faster in pets than in humans. It can be very sudden that the animal goes from being in pain to obviously really badly suffering. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-06-15T04:57:17.453" LastActivityDate="2019-06-15T04:57:17.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25600" CreationDate="2019-06-15T04:39:58.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a combination of the genes from both the male and female rabbits, so the female will give birth to babies that are a combination of both parents; some will grow up to be large and others will grow up to be smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the number of eggs the female produces that determine how many babies she will get each time she gets pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the male is a lot bigger than the female, she might get problems giving birth to the larger babies - but this is normally not a problem in rabbits, unless the male is very big and the female is very small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the female is larger or similar size to the male, this will not be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:21:51.287" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:21:51.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25550" CreationDate="2019-06-15T12:42:12.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds a lot like bad teeth. Schnauzers tend to have issues, and honestly, he's a senior citizen, and things like that happen more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case at about 13, our Schnauzer cross had very similar symptoms. Our vet put him under and removed about 7 teeth, and he's been better since. You'll also want to do annual checks and tooth cleaning daily if you haven't already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're certainly going to want to get a vet to check it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastActivityDate="2019-06-15T12:42:12.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-15T17:20:00.757" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning on getting a 20 gallon Marina fish tank (24 inches x 12.5 inches x 16.5 inches). I have already planned on getting several species of fish for my aquarium. I am most likely getting two Apistogramma cacatuoides, and 3 guppies. This will be a planted tank, most likely with Dwarf Hairgrass, Amazon Swords, and Rotala rotundifolia. There will also be some decorations that provide optimal hiding places for the Apistogramma. The one thing that I am missing is a cleaner fish. I have heard that the Apistogramma will eat shrimp, and love to claim the territory at the bottom. Are there any cleaning fish that will work with my setup?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15983" LastActivityDate="2019-06-15T17:20:00.757" Title="What cleaner fish should I include with my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25603" CreationDate="2019-06-15T19:11:51.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am so sorry you and your cat are in this difficult time. I know how heart-wrenching it can be. As you know it is difficult to tell when cats are in pain let alone how much pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bigger question you are asking is “how do i know when my friend’s suffering is so great it should be ended” I use the following as a guide:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Can you see that their illness has progressed to the point they have to be in a lot of pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Is it a real struggle for them to move around, get to the litter box or food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Are they having a lot of difficulty cleaning themselves or are soiling themselves / their bedding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Have they lost all interest in play or doing the activities they like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more these become true, the more the animal’s quality of life is approaching zero and it is time to end their suffering. Another way to think of it is when  they reach a point where they would have absolutely no chance of surviving in the outdoors as a wild animal, then it is time. Maybe think what would have to he true for you to want people to let you go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some end it a little sooner than what I suggest so the rest of the household doesn’t have suffer as well. Others wait a little longer. People have to decide what is right for them, the animal and thier household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1124" LastActivityDate="2019-06-15T19:11:51.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-15T22:41:50.363" Score="0" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;my pet had a spat on 13th of May. After a visit post op her scar was healing nicely and things were fine. Recently she has come up with a blood type blister on the scar which she has been licking and has now seemed to have popped. Is this something I should be worried about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qowEd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16032" LastActivityDate="2019-07-16T13:01:55.553" Title="Chorkie - Posy Op - Red Blister" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-16T04:33:24.223" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I keep my cat in his Thundershirt for a 5-6 hour car trip? I’ve tried it on him a few times, and he seems ok with it. He sort of rolls over and becomes quite docile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16033" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditDate="2019-08-06T05:56:52.600" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T05:56:52.600" Title="Can I keep my cat in his Thundershirt for a 5-6 hour car trip?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25612" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-16T11:50:26.463" Score="-1" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;A week ago I decided to adopt a friendly feral kitten (about 3-4 months old). He seems to be in perfect health, very playful, friendly, uses the designated toilet place, and actually tolerates baths to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as I bathed him, I discovered that there's a pretty serious bite wound on his leg. The &quot;holes&quot; due to the wound have pinched through his bones all the way into the blood stream. The wound was overflowing with pus before I cleaned it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going through a horrible financial situation now and I absolutely cannot afford to take him to the vet. Even though he absolutely shows no symptoms, I'm concerned that he may be rabid. Should I abandon him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P/S: unfortunately where I live there aren't any functional animal shelters so my only option would be to put him back where I found him (or somewhere better such as a park). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16036" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T17:01:36.810" Title="Discovered feral kitten is bitten. Should I abandon it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-16T11:54:06.283" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5yr old pitbull that I rescued from being chain up in the backyard of an abandoned house. I have had him for almost a year now and he has become a huge part of our family and has fully claimed my 11 yr old daughter and me as his. He is extremely affectionate with us both. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, although he totally loves my daughter, he seems to be very selective with his likes and dislikes of other children. I want to know if there are particular reasons as to why he is so choosy with what child he likes and dislikes. Are they certain traits in a child I could look for when he is meeting new children?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16035" LastActivityDate="2019-06-16T12:32:24.667" Title="Dog vs children" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25610" CreationDate="2019-06-16T12:03:34.753" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should let a vet have a look at the wound as soon as possible. It could be bacteria that grew inside the healing wound without you noticing until they started attacking the tissue now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a slim chance that your dog could heal without medication, but this wound is clearly infected and painful for your pet. In the worst case the bacteria will open up even more of the wound and infect the blood stream, leading to a fatal &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sepsis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet will probably clean the wound with a desinfectant and prescribe antibiotics for your dog. It's very important that you give your dog the antibiotics &lt;strong&gt;for the whole prescribed time&lt;/strong&gt; (usually 7 - 10 days), even if the symptoms are gone after a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-06-16T12:03:34.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25613" CreationDate="2019-06-16T12:32:24.667" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog - like every human - has their own individual personality. Some people claim that all dogs of a certain breed have the same personality traits (like &quot;all pitbulls are aggressive&quot;) but that is absolutely not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog clearly loves his family (or pack). He doesn't have to love every unknown child as much as that. He must understand that he cannot be rude or attack people, but he's free to like some more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whom he actually likes or doesn't like is impossible for us to say. You certainly could get a feeling for his preferences by observing his interactions with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some dogs, especially anxious ones, dislike overly lively or exuberant children. If your dog is ancious, tell the children they need to be quiet and move slowly or remove your dog from the scene if he shows signs of stress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some dogs dislike certain types of people due to bad past experiences. My own dog is afraid of every man he encountes. Watch how your dog interacts with different people to notice such a patten.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some children go straight to petting the head of a dog. This is actually rude behavior and most dogs dislike having their head pet without getting an introduction from the person first. Tell the children to hold their hand out to be sniffed at, then let them pet the cheeks or neck of your dog before going for the forehead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body language plays a very important role in a dog's life. Children with a shy and insecure body language might provoke more of a dominant behavior like jumping up. Childfen running away might provoke a playfull chase that frightens them even more. You should read the children's body language and regulate your dog's responses to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another matter concerning body language: If your dog is very protective he might react badly to certain gestures from people, like hugging you or playing with your daugter. He might feel entitled to chase the other child away and &quot;claim&quot; you. Typical protective gestures are squeezing between you and the other person and jumping at people, nudging them away from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-06-16T12:32:24.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25612" CreationDate="2019-06-17T06:50:02.333" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, it is irresponsible to adopt any pet if your current financial situation is such that you cannot afford to provide for its needs, which includes regular veterinary checkups and the possiblility of medical emergencies or other medical costs if the animal turns out to be unwell. Especially in the case of a feral cat, your first act as a new pet owner should be to bring it to a vet to get it all its immunizations, including the rabies vaccine, and a health assessment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the risk of rabies, rabies is transmitted in the saliva, and only transmissible after it is showing clinical signs. The most well-known method of transmission is through a bite by an infected animal, however, you can contract it in other ways such as through contact of infected saliva with an existing open wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you have said the animal does not have symptoms, and you have not mentioned getting bit, most likely your &lt;em&gt;current&lt;/em&gt; risk is small or none. However, that said, I still recommend you contact a doctor immediately, as rabies is for all practical purposes one hundred percent fatal once symptomatic, and therefore all precautions should be taken, starting with getting an actual doctor's advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, since we know nothing of the animal that bit it, and there is no test to determine if a live animal has rabies, it is impossible to say whether the animal has rabies or not. It is a greater than zero possibility the animal could develop rabies symptoms later.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also seems irresponsible to me to release an animal because you're afraid it might have rabies, as if it does, you are now allowing the infected animal to go around spreading it, and also leaving it to suffer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should contact your local animal control services or a veterinarian about the procedure to deal with an animal with an unknown bite wound. The normal way that the possibility of a rabies exposure is handled is to quarantine the animal. How exactly the quarantine is done can vary. Some places use a special facility, others allow the quarantine to be done at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I would say the most humane and responsible thing is to do is a proper quarantine and also attempt to rehome the cat with an owner that can afford its veterinary care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-06-17T17:01:36.810" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T17:01:36.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25611" CreationDate="2019-06-17T07:01:06.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello and welcome to Pet Exchange :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never heard of Thunder Shirt before but I looked into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a fan of putting clothing on animals but this is for certain occasions as I understand and if it helps your pet be more relaxed and calmly learn about new things I think it is worth it.&#xA;Most pet owners give very positive reviews.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their website claims that you can leave it on for up to 10 hours, but especially with the warm weather (assuming it is summer where you are or a hot car atleast) you should be aware that temperatures over 30°C can make it very uncomfortable and too hot for the pet. They also recommend removing it every couple of hours to check it still is in a comfortable position. On a car trip you could check on your cat whenever you take a break too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to the flopping over.&#xA;Their Q&amp;amp;A says that it sure can happen and it can mean that the cat is scared. But with some training and encouraging the cat to move around can make the cat get used to it. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thunderworks.com/thunderu/faq/#faq-thundershirt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Q&amp;amp;A with lots of interesting info&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thunderworks.com/thunderu/faq/#faq-thundershirt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.thunderworks.com/thunderu/faq/#faq-thundershirt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2019-06-27T07:01:43.030" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T07:01:43.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25620" CreationDate="2019-06-17T08:41:06.130" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 2 year old German Spitz. We didn't take her on any long trips or beaches. This year we're going to the beach/sea and we want to take her with us. The temperatures will be around 28-32 degrees Celsius. I know we need some shade and fresh water. She has long fur and i am scared about her well-being (heatstroke). My question is should we take her with us and if so what do i need to do for her well-being?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16040" LastActivityDate="2019-07-01T13:16:28.693" Title="Going on a Vacation with a dog, beach and sea" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25619" CreationDate="2019-06-17T10:13:44.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can definitely take your dog to the beach with you if you keep some things in mind. With having fresh water and shade around you are already on a pretty good way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.honestpaws.com/blogs/pet-care/heat-stroke-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt; to be very helpful and will list some important things they mention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As you mentioned water (cool water) is very important so having a bowl at hand would be good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shade; by an umbrella, a towel or really anything at hand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since air conditioning is not an option, you can take some ice, put it into a towel and into a shirt or blanket and your dog can cool down lying on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cooling with a towel is also an option, just wet the towel and rub your dog with it; that will regulate body temperature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing in the water is an option, of course be careful and don't stay in the sun too long or have your dog be too active&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your pet has any other health issues be sure to check with a vet on how to handle these combined with the heat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protecting your dogs paws on asphalt but sand as well, as we all have experienced sand can get too hot for us to walk on so with sensitive dog paws it is not fun either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Finally do not muzzle your dog since it can prevent him from panting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogster.com/dog-health-care/heat-stroke-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; as well as the other also explains how to treat and see symptoms of heat stroke but it is what we are trying to avoid, so check it out but I won't go in depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-07-01T13:16:28.693" LastActivityDate="2019-07-01T13:16:28.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6581" CreationDate="2019-06-17T21:03:15.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can get pregnant up to 4 days before giving birth so be careful! &#xA;I currently have 1 litter that was only 23 days old when my rabbit gave birth to her second litter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16050" LastActivityDate="2019-06-17T21:03:15.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2019-06-18T11:37:25.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thinking about it, hiding a mouse (i.e. something a cat killed for food) underwater is going to hide the smell of the dead mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have a habit of burying their food (and poops) specifically because they don't want to alert other animals to their presence. One of my cats will &quot;fake bury&quot; all three food bowls after the cats are done eating because his instinct tells him to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely that your cat is trying to dispose of the mouse after playing with it, because of the same instinct that leads them to dispose of a carcass after they've eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It isn't a problem (except maybe for the repeatedly wet toy mice), unless it's a sign of something I shuld be worrying about, but it is puzzling me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you want them to stop doing it, it might be better to leave the mouse where it is. At some point it's either going to give off a smell to the water, or they're going to have to take it out of the bowl if they want to play with it. Either case would eventually teach them that it's nicer to not put the mouse in the bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they persist even when you don't take the mouse out, then that's their decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-06-18T11:37:25.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-18T17:49:40.820" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I have 6 neon tetras in a 29-gallon tank. I noticed one of them has the left fin looking like snapped to the side and white. It swims well and eats well. No sign of discomfort from that fish. Any idea how this happened? Should I be worried and take some actions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Al3pD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Al3pD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CEEVY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CEEVY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UMHze.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UMHze.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16052" LastActivityDate="2019-06-18T17:49:40.820" Title="Neon tetra left fin looks snapped and white" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2778" CreationDate="2019-06-18T18:41:38.510" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bedlington terriers which have curly non shedding coats. I use a slicker brush in both directions and I have a stainless steel comb to check through the coat. &#xA;Even brushing well can leave mats and running a comb through against the hair growth is a good double check that you have got out all of the tangles. Important for any long haired or curly dogs. &#xA;Mats probably won't be an issue with a short haired dog but I would still use a slicker brush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16053" LastActivityDate="2019-06-18T18:41:38.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25631" CreationDate="2019-06-18T19:13:42.747" Score="3" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;Summer is approaching again. Last summer, I had a lot of trouble keeping the temperature in my aquarium at 30°C. My fish prefer 21-24°C, but I couldn't get it any lower than 30. So I want to avoid having to go through all that trouble again, and to keep the fish happy. I doubt fans are going to help enough, and I don't want to have a refrigerator or an A/C in the room. So I figured an alternative solution which involves passing the water through a heat sink (like the ones on a CPU). Heat sinks are usually made of aluminum. So I was wondering whether running water over aluminum could be harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16054" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:09:41.357" Title="Cooling aquarium with aluminum heat sink" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25629" CreationDate="2019-06-18T19:35:17.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the fish, 30 °C is generally OK if they have air/oxygen. The higher temperatures reduce the solubility of gasses in water, in particular oxygen. So an aerator and/or a filter that moves the surface water, such as a HOB type, is good and should be enough. A small fan blowing on the surface could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a tank on the deck ,in full shade, that gets over 32 °C , but it only has anabantoids (paradise fish) air breathers like bettas. Otherwise, I have many variety s of tropical fish that get at least to 30 °C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:09:41.357" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:09:41.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25629" CreationDate="2019-06-18T21:49:48.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aluminum is bad in saltwater tanks which I'm assuming is what you're running because freshwater tanks are generally fine at 30 °C. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly don't recommend any metal in the tank or a component in contact with the water unless it's titanium. Aluminum gets degraded fairly quickly and even metals that are more suitable for saltwater, such as bronze, have high levels of copper in them which is not good for aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, CPU cooling systems are not designed to cool components to a super low level unless you're talking about active cooling systems. They work great for computers, but computers don't need their operating temperatures to be as cooled down to as low as 30 °C. And, even with an exceptionally designed heatsink, you're still at the mercy of ambient temperature, and the closer you get to it, the less efficient the heatsink will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short of using an active cooling system like a chiller or cooling down the room that the tank is in, evaporative cooling in a low humidity environment is going to be the best and cheapest way to get the tank's temperature down if that applies to you. If it doesn't I would be looking at cooling the fish tank room, a chiller, or a Peltier module based cooling device if it's a small tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:07:42.780" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:07:42.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25643" CreationDate="2019-06-18T23:49:23.200" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My older cat is female and I got her from a friend. She is 3 years old and spayed. The two kittens are between 9-13 weeks old and I got them after a friend of a friend found them born under her porch so they are brother and sister. I'm getting them their shots and spayed and neutered in a month because the place won't do it this young. either way, the older cat hisses and moans at the kittens a lot. She is getting used to them but she doesn't like them. They try to be sweet but she gets kind of &quot;catty&quot; about it (lol). &#xA;How do I smooth out the tensions between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16056" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-07-10T12:16:58.557" LastActivityDate="2019-07-10T12:16:58.557" Title="My older cat hates the kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2019-06-27T14:05:08.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25638" CreationDate="2019-06-19T12:10:51.013" Score="0" ViewCount="7763" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 month old kitten is breathing quite fast while sleeping after a round of running around and playing. Currently the house is about 28.5 degrees Celsius, so its quite hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also breathes with her mouth open but only after she runs for 15 mins straight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eats regularly and sleeps well, drinks water normally and is very very active. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned? What do you guys think, is it normal given the warm weather and physical activity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://streamable.com/cm1g2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://streamable.com/cm1g2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16061" LastEditorUserId="15983" LastEditDate="2019-06-20T12:04:22.797" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T12:04:22.797" Title="Kitten fast breathing while sleeping" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-06-27T14:06:03.260" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25434" CreationDate="2019-06-19T13:18:37.580" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've grown up with dogs.   Generally, if I have a dog that's showing aggression without any cause, I'll roll that dog on it's back and hold them down (not choke ) until they yield.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals and it's pretty much in their DNA to understand certain thing, for example, if the alpha leader (the dog boss) flips a dogs on his back and holds him down, the dog knows it's doing something wrong and needs to stop immediately.  The dog responds by yielding (spreading it's arms and legs out horizontally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you're holding the dog or placing the dog on your lap and you see this behavior, put the dog on the ground first to see if that behavior changes.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely also have a trainer work with the dog too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13862" LastActivityDate="2019-06-19T13:18:37.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-19T14:02:55.637" Score="0" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couple months ago I bought two parakeets from the local pet store. I got them a cage, and for thew first few weeks they were afraid of me, but sometimes would jump on my finger (only to fly away when I pull it out of the cage). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few weeks ago I built them a nice big cage so they will have great space to jump around. Right now they are really afraid of me and would try to escape to the other side of the cage when ever I open it and try to give them a finger to jump on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did buy them millet and tried to gradually lower the amount of it in the cage - in order to attract them to my finger. But one of them simply refuses to even get close, the other one would eat the millet only if it is about 3-4 inches away from my hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there known methods to train them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7gM9U.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7gM9U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6575" LastActivityDate="2019-10-21T10:54:32.137" Title="How to make my parakeets not afraid of me?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-19T14:35:16.417" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just adopted Blue, a 5 months old female husky/German Shepherd mix who's about 40 lbs (around 18 kg), and we have Nani, an almost 5 years old Basenji who weighs 14 lbs (around 6.5 kg). They seemed to get along quite fine until yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, Blue picked up the Nani by the scruff of her neck and Nani yelped pretty loudly while she was being held and we had to physically correct her for her to let go of Nani. Once Blue released Nani, she ran towards the back door to the yard (as if she wanted to get out), sat down and was shaking. This happened again this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this is just Blue not knowing when her playing style goes too far or if this is something else, but this is quite scary for us as we're afraid that this could turn extremely dangerous and not end well for the younger dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16062" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T15:37:49.853" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T15:37:49.853" Title="5 month old dog keeps picking up older smaller dog by her neck" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25634" CreationDate="2019-06-19T14:42:25.847" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please take your cat to the vet right now.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might have heart problems or an infection so you ned to get help for your kitten as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cats breathing does not slow down after about five minutes when resting your cat needs help fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The heat in the house is a factor in this but probably not the only cause for your cat breathing this fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not unusual for cats to have periods of fast breathing during sleep but this is often after your cat have had vivid dreams so it will slow down quite fast when the dreams are over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-06-19T19:48:21.133" LastActivityDate="2019-06-19T19:48:21.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-19T23:37:26.643" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has always loved to drink from the running tub faucet...for SEVERAL YEARS.  But this doesn't help the water bill or the environment, so I bought him a stainless steel cat fountain.  He was curious and drank from it as soon as I got it ready, cleaned and set up.  He has never gone back to it since.  He ignores it like it isn't even there and will sit on the edge of the tub begging me to turn on the tub faucet.  I take him over to the fountain and he walks away.  I have had it now for several months (can't send it back for refund),keeping it filled, constantly running, and I clean it as suggested every two weeks, hoping he will change his mind, but to no avail. Do other cats do this or is mine just weird?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16063" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T10:00:51.353" Title="My cat loves faucet water, but not cat fountain...why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25639" CreationDate="2019-06-20T00:16:27.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats do not like drinking out of metal containers, possibly because they impart a metallic taste or smell. When I got him, my cat refused to drink out of a stainless steel food bowl, and would go outside to drink from puddles. As soon as I got him a ceramic bowl, he was fine. Will your water fountain accept a non-metallic bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T00:16:27.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25641" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-20T04:03:20.460" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just caught a black rat snake and all I had was an old pickle jar with small amount of juice slightly left over at the bottom. But the snake appeared to have curl up completely hiding or playing dead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16065" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T04:03:20.460" Title="Can pickle juice hurt snakes?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;reactivity&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25639" CreationDate="2019-06-20T10:00:51.353" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cats (well, two of them) initially avoided their drinking fountain because of the humming of the motor pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than the material of the bowl itself (like Mick mentioned), see if they drink from it when the fountain is not turned on, because it might be the pump that does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T10:00:51.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25632" CreationDate="2019-06-20T10:22:41.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are not social creatures, in that they don't particularly seek out social contact with other cats. In the wild, cats are solitary predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On top of that, cats are territorial. What you've changed by introducing the two kittens is that the same territory (your house) now has to be shared by three cats. Of course the original cat who solely owned that territory is not happy about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;she is getting used to them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Progress is all you can expect, so the fact that she's getting used to them means you're on track for getting them to get along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but she doesnt like them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all cats end up being friends. Some cats simply learn to coexist. This very much depends on the cats and their experiences with each other. It's possible you'll never be able to do better than coexistence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two cats I had when I was a child never got along. The older one beat up the kitten, and only stopped once she had learned that she'd get punished for it. But since the older cat wasn't willing to connect, they never interacted with each other and lived separate lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;they try to be sweet but she gets kind of &quot;catty&quot; about it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our first two cats were very shy and very protective of their cozy spots. The third cat, an incessantly playful kitten, would approach them wanting to play. But the older cats did not want to play, and also assumed he was approaching them to take their cozy spot away from them. Conflict ensued.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it settled once both sides learned to understand the other side. The older cats learned to ignore him rather than defend against him, and he learned to not approach them but rather indicate he wants to play at a distance (running around and meowing). This solved the conflict between them, and the three of them now happily live together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jokes aside, being catty is part of being a cat. It will lessen overtime as the older cat starts to realize that the newer cats are less of a threat than she currently thinks they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;how do i smooth out the tensions between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, let them find their own way. The only thing you should always immediately intervene in is aggressive behavior (not just violence, but also disproportionate responses and threats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, you can try to help them connect by finding something they both love and letting them share the experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All our three cats were once street cats, and they love hunting. They have different skills and over time have learned to respect each other's prowess. When they hunt a fly now, I see them working as a team and e.g. letting the cat who jumps the highest take the high jump.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Street cats are often on the lookout for food, so we initially provided an abundance of cat food so they didn't feel like they needed to scrap over who gets to eat what food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nice experiences with someone (even if they're not the cause of the nice experience) leads you to think of that person in a better light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-06-20T10:22:41.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-20T16:19:52.067" Score="1" ViewCount="7577" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s been exactly a week since his surgery. There has been very minimal swelling and the skin surrounding the cut never bruised or turned red. There is only scabbing over the incision but in one area it looks thick and is peeling off a little bit and underneath it looks red. Is this normal or should I take him back to the vet? Also His appetite is normal and he’s still playful as usual.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HXiB7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16068" LastActivityDate="2019-06-22T15:48:32.680" Title="Does my dogs neuter incision look ok?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T10:46:23.157" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25647" CreationDate="2019-06-21T18:06:00.080" Score="4" ViewCount="860" Body="&lt;p&gt;I still feel bad about this but let's start with a quick rundown of the incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play hockey (the field one) and was practicing a bit in my yard. My cat usually goes inside when I do this but this time she apparently did not. I hit the ball, not super hard but it did go with a speed that would make me go ouch if it hit me, and it rolled past my intended target into the bushes where apparently my cat had been hiding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as I hit her she sprinted away, I've never seen her go that fast, and hid underneath the staircase in the basement and did not want to get out or get petted for quite a while. Now that she's out she does not want to eat, not even her candies, which surprised and worried me since she has a rather large appetite or get attention and is scared quite easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she finally let us touch her she kept her paw on the same spot on her belly and did not want us to touch her there. This makes me think that I hit her there and I am clueless as to what to do now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In humans a punch to the stomach can give some serious complications and even though I would have been fine if that ball hit me in the stomach she is a much smaller and older cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My most important question is should I take her to the vet. I don't want to cause any unnecessary stress or anything but I am afraid that she might have more serious injuries than she shows. I'm mostly concerned due to the fact that she has not eaten anything since this happened, which was over 2 hours ago, and it's quite a bit past her usual 'dinner time'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you guys can help me out with this because I really don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;--EDIT--: talked to vet and he did not see a reason to immediately rush over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16073" LastEditorUserId="16073" LastEditDate="2019-06-21T19:36:26.873" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T17:49:14.180" Title="I accidentally hit my cat with a hockey ball. Do I have to go to the vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25646" CreationDate="2019-06-21T19:50:22.577" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your pet is ever hit by a object at high speed, you need to take it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not matter if the object is soft or hard. When it comes at a high speed damage might happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not be able to see this yourself. Your pet might not even show signs of pain and still have an internal injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the same with people. If an high speed impact happens, you will be admitted to hospital for observation. The cause is not the important part here. It might be a high speed object hitting the body or the body hitting an object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T17:49:14.180" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T17:49:14.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25646" CreationDate="2019-06-21T20:43:11.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see 2 possible scenarios here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You didn't actually hit your cat but scared her quite a lot. Hiding and not eating could be a sign of stress and she will eventually calm down and act normal again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You did hit her and she's injured. Cats in pain usually hide away and stop eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's OK not to rush to the vet if she doesn't show any alarm signs like rapid breathing, limping, unusual aggressiveness or vomiting blood. But you should be aware that not eating, drinking or defecating within 24 hours is also one of these alarm sings and a medical emergency for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep your cat indoors until tomorrow and observe her behavior. If she shows signs of pain, don't hesitate to take her to the vet. Cats usually hide discomfort and pain as much as possible, so even the slightest sings are reason enough to get her treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-06-21T20:43:11.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6505" CreationDate="2019-06-23T06:45:12.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is harmful, as moths have toxic powder on their wings. You should try your best not to let any animal eat bugs. They could also be sprayed with bug spray, which could also kill a cat or dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16079" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T20:01:15.727" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T20:01:15.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-23T15:48:37.017" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have many stray cats around, and there's this stray kitten I am feeding whenever I can. Is it safe to feed her boiled eggs a few times a week? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16083" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T11:27:01.787" Title="Can a stray kitten eat eggs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25651" CreationDate="2019-06-23T17:05:56.447" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can feed eggs to cats but try to limit the amount to two eggs per week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;link &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-health-can-cats-eat-eggs-ask-a-vet-food-tips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-health-can-cats-eat-eggs-ask-a-vet-food-tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed eggs you need to be sure they are boiled to kill the bacteria comonly found in eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw eggs contain a substanse that will stop b-vitamins beeing absorbed by cats and dogs so they might get a lack of b-vitamins if you feed a lot of raw eggs(the risk for this is low)if the eggs are boiled this is not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only use egg as a suplement you need to feed the kitten other types of food too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a risk the kitten might get an upset stomach when you feed eggs atleast in the beginning so start slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-06-23T17:11:26.743" LastActivityDate="2019-06-23T17:11:26.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-24T00:14:53.880" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently washed my cat with human shampoo to combat the fleas he has. I know the fleas and the flea medicine are not the problem so its most likely the shampoo (after reviewing other sources). What can I do to help my cat as he is losing hair very quickly since I bathed him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16084" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T06:53:00.410" Title="I washed my cat with human shampoo" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-06-24T14:36:50.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-24T04:19:57.593" Score="3" ViewCount="583" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 gallon tank with a male betta, three cory catfish (I cant remember exactly which ones), five black khuili loaches, and now two female guppies and one male (not on purpose they were for another tank that is now not habitable for them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The betta was hiding before the guppies were actually in the tank. The lady at Petco said it would be fine and that it might help. He's been doing so well with his fish friends; he was even racing with them. I've only had a few times where he actually hurt someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put new plants in the tank and he moved hiding spots. He stopped eating, too. And before anyone asks, I got the water tested two times and the lady said it was perfect &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16086" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-06-24T14:23:36.823" LastActivityDate="2019-11-23T21:00:39.107" Title="Why is my betta hiding?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16140" CreationDate="2019-06-24T10:51:04.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a full answer, but an assumption:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most &quot;fluorescent&quot; comes along with UV light. Human lenses filter the UV light before it come into the eye. &quot;They do not see it&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2013.2995&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; research article [1] lists dogs in table 1 with &quot;61,3% UVA transmitting&quot; lenses. (For comparison mouse is first with 81,4% and capuchin, prairie dog and grey squirrel are last with 0%)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one can assume that the mentioned colors may collect and concentrate the intensity of light, so it may be to bright for the dog. Like a human who is illuminated in the dark with a flashlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One point for this hypothesis may be the fact, that some dogs for rescue or dog sledge in the snow wear goggles to protect them from UV light, because it could issue eye cataract. For examples you can visit this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huskypower.ch/hundesonnenbrillen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; with pictures and some explanation about the reasons in German language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &#xA;The spectral transmission of ocular media suggests ultraviolet sensitivity is widespread among mammals; R. H. Douglas and G. Jeffery; Published:07 April 2014&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-06-24T11:03:16.157" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T11:03:16.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25651" CreationDate="2019-06-24T11:27:01.787" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advice against feeding the kitten, not because it might not tolerate the food very well, but because you teach it to beg or wait to be fed instead of seeking it's own food. You take over the responsibility for this cat as if you had adopted it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What happens to the cat if you cannot feed it anymore, maybe because you moved away or for medical reasons? The cat will suffer from hunger because it never had to hunt for all it's food before. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other cats might notice the food. Before you know it, you're feeding a second cat, then a third and so forth. If you don't feed all of them, they might start fighting over the food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A well-fed cat will have babies. These babies will be strays, just like their mother. If you feed them, they will have more babies... You actually want to help a stray cat, but in the end you let more stray cats be born who will suffer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, it's actually best not to give stray cats any food at all. If you want to, you can give the kitten some small treats, but not enough food to feed it for a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution of all would be to donate money to an animal welfare organization that spayes and neuters stray cats so they cannot give birth anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T11:27:01.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25661" CreationDate="2019-06-24T20:55:23.690" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is about a senior-age cat (10-11, not sure of exact age as she was a stray) with no relevant medical history. She had a &quot;fall from height&quot; ~3 years ago with fractured (?) roof of mouth but has been fine since receiving treatment then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does seem to be thinner these days despite eating enough, but this has been going on for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3 days ago&lt;/strong&gt; she was fine when we came home from work. We went out again to do other stuff and when we came back in the evening, noticed that she was limping on the right back leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is putting weight on it (not holding it up off the ground) on every step, it isn't &quot;floppy&quot;. We have examined the paw, claws, pads etc and found nothing - there isn't anything inflamed, sores, bites, abscesses, lumps or anything like that either. She is still climbing stairs (a bit more awkwardly than usual though) etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell she isn't in particular pain with it from any of the &quot;poking&quot; I tried (paw pads etc), she didn't pull the leg away or anything like that. But it must be painful to put full weight on it since she isn't doing that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is eating, toileting, interacting with our other cats normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure it is something physical rather than e.g. acting out &quot;behaviourally&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to come and go a bit in that sometimes she is limping more than others so I think it's &quot;better&quot; and then later she is limping a bit more etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions:&#xA;- would you advise taking her to the vet at this point or wait a bit longer and see if it resolves?&#xA;- what are possible causes of this given that we've ruled out the usual &quot;injury to paw pads&quot; etc. ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I waited another day and then made an appointment at the vet for the next day, so about 5 days total since the limping started. During this time it didn't change in any way and her habits (eating, toileting, amount of activity etc) were still normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet did a physical exam (but no x ray at this point) and didn't find anything so it could be arthritis or just &quot;pulled something&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We now have a Metacam anti-inflammatory to give her daily and instructions to go back after this is finished if it still continues (at which point they will probably do x rays etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet also recommended some blood tests to check for various conditions, which I'm pleased to say have come back normal!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14330" LastEditorUserId="14330" LastEditDate="2019-06-26T19:01:18.283" LastActivityDate="2019-06-26T19:01:18.283" Title="Senior Cat limping on hind leg (putting weight on it) sudden onset 3 days ago - see vet or wait? Possible causes? No signs of abnormality" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25660" CreationDate="2019-06-24T21:19:16.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contact your vet.  If it is possible, you may be able to describe the situation over the phone and ask whether you need to bring the cat in or not.  Or they may also say that they cannot tell without physically looking at the animal.  Either way, you'll get a clear answer as to whether the cat should be seen by the vet or not from the expert.  If you notice the cat suddenly in obvious distress, or any sort of other change for the worse, then definitely take it in immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-06-24T21:19:16.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25655" CreationDate="2019-06-25T14:53:50.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, Never trust any information on fishkeeping from  a petstore. This is unfortunately a sad truth where I'm from (canada) and as I've heard also in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your betta is &quot;hiding&quot; and not eating. Beside that, no health issues visible ?&#xA;Not eating is a symptom of a serious problem with the fish. Either physical or emotional.&#xA;What food do you feed and how much? Was it eating before? Are the other fishes taking all the food before it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas are calm fishes. They will not race all the time, they like to spend at least some time completely immobile, hovering there. (not floating nor sinking). &lt;strong&gt;If there is too much water current&lt;/strong&gt; in your tank, you betta might find a more quiet spot and stay only there. That could be a reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have way too many fishes in there in my opinion. The betta could be alone in there and fine. The cories.. ok.. I guess... But then you add a lot of loaches, starting to be too many fishes in there. And the guppies are not a good idea. It is well known that a betta will often be aggressive with guppies. Overall I think there are way too many fishes in that 10 gallons. &lt;strong&gt;If your betta feels he doesn't have a territory of his own&lt;/strong&gt;, yes he will hide in a small corner and become lethargic. So that might be the source of your problem too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please update us with your readings on pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, as advised by comments. Tell us what you feed and how much. And tell us how often you change water please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-06-27T17:44:57.863" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T17:44:57.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25669" CreationDate="2019-06-25T19:04:09.157" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neutered male 6.5 year old GSD/Husky/Lab developed this growth on his belly a couple weeks ago. It doesn't seem to bother him much. Any clue what it is? One source suggested it could be a mast cell tumor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kg2I1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kg2I1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16091" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T13:51:18.690" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:51:18.690" Title="Any idea what this growth is on my dog's belly?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-26T03:21:37.973" Score="8" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;My indoor cat has a (rotating) variety of toys, things to climb on and scratch, and places to run around; I'm not concerned about him getting enough &lt;em&gt;physical&lt;/em&gt; stimulation.  But I've heard that cats also need mental stimulation.  How do I best provide that, both when I'm playing with him and when he's alone in the house?  I know that there are &quot;puzzle toys&quot; that reward solving the puzzle by dispensing kibble or treats, but I'd rather not have that happening all over the house (especially where any missed kibbles could be ground into rugs).  What other options do I have for exercising his mind as well as his body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is probably 12 or 13 years old.  Getting another cat isn't an option right now because of disease-transmission concerns.  Other than being a carrier for something I'd rather not spread (coronavirus), my cat is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2019-08-16T06:39:06.217" Title="How can I provide intellectual stimulation to my cat other than through food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25665" CreationDate="2019-06-26T10:15:14.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the comment, this is your dog's nipple; if you look close you will find more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is totally normal; all mammals have them (both genders). We have had this question here before for other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware of similar looking growths on your pet and contact your vet if you are not able to make a positive identification of what you see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nipples have different shapes and colors, even in the same breed of animals, and their numbers might vary even within the same group of babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T13:49:31.977" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:49:31.977" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-26T13:40:55.847" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I get mother to stop nursing 3 month old kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16099" LastActivityDate="2019-06-26T13:45:21.427" Title="How do you stop 3 month old kittens from nursing" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-06-27T14:01:58.233" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25670" CreationDate="2019-06-26T13:45:21.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do you feel that you need to?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The kittens will either get bored with it and forget - and the behavior will slowly taper off, or the mother will get tired of the nuisance and push them away.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As long as there's no obvious harm (raw or irritated nipples) there isn't really any need for you to interfere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10852" LastActivityDate="2019-06-26T13:45:21.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-26T19:08:03.040" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 3 mo. old dachshund puppy has gotten pretty good at being in his crate for about an hour to an hour and a half during the day. We've never had any trouble at night. He'll sleep 8+ hours and doesn't whine in the morning, he just waits until we let him out. During the day I've recorded him many times while away to see how he gets on. He'll sometimes whine/bark within the first 5-10 minutes of me putting him in the kennel and leaving, but then he quiets down for at least an hour. Then he'll start whining and barking, and will continue until let out(as long as 40 minutes of barking based on my recordings). I know I've accidentally rewarded it before by thinking he was being quiet when I came home, and then realizing from hearing the recording that he was barking/whining until he heard me coming.  It's frustrating because he's so good for up to an hour and a half. I suspect he sleeps for that first hour to an hour and a half, and then starts barking and whining when he wakes up. What should I do? If I can approach quietly and hear him barking should I wait it out even if he goes on for at least an hour? I don't know yet how long before he'll stop again, or if he even will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Ryan &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15932" LastEditorUserId="15932" LastEditDate="2019-06-26T19:32:18.277" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T05:29:59.593" Title="3 mo. old dachshund puppy is quiet in crate for an hour, then starts barking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;crate&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-26T22:00:38.783" Score="0" ViewCount="757" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently got a new Shepherd Dog and now mycat. is scared to go to the litter box.  She has decided to poop under the bed.  Is there a spray or product out there that will make her stop.  she is stressd out but there has to be something we can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16102" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T06:56:20.953" Title="Cat pooping under the bed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-06-27T14:06:26.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-26T23:22:50.163" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I get a hard sided or a soft sided carrier to bring a cat on an international US to Europe direct flight (on Delta airlines)? The carrier will be under the seat in front of me during the flight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3423" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T14:19:22.197" Title="Hard or soft side carrier to bring a cat on international flight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25677" CreationDate="2019-06-27T06:45:21.437" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read through the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.delta.com/us/en/pet-travel/overview/#pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;guidelines of Delta Airlines&lt;/a&gt; and they do not have a rule for it.&#xA;But there are some things to keep in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The container must be leak proof&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The container must be ventilated from atleast two sides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It must be big enough for the animal to stand and turn around in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would do is use the container the cat knows (if it does) as long as the container fits the rules. Since this might calm the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not have a container yet I personally would take a hard sided carrier. It is more stable when queuing, when boarding and when being on the plane. It does not allow the cat to get squished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ahna.net/blog/choosing-right-cat-carrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Website (Animal Hospital of North Ashville)&lt;/a&gt; discusses the pros and cons of different carriers with the result:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Soft Carrier&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;not as bulky&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;more than one opening&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;harder to clean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;easier to escape if the cat really wants to (scratching/ opening the zipper)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hard carrier&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;might be more roomy&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;may allow for the top to be taken off&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;easy to clean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;more durable&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate the decision is up to you I will link some websites that might help:&#xA;The AHNA Website has a paragraph on how to decide&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bustle.com/p/the-6-best-airline-approved-cat-carriers-9599880&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;6 Best Airline Approved Carriers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.k9ofmine.com/airline-approved-pet-carrier/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Airline Approved Carriers (For Cabin)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2019-06-27T13:25:06.957" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T13:25:06.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25676" CreationDate="2019-06-27T06:56:20.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice here would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reduce your cats stress!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A new family member no matter whether it is a dog, cat or human can be stressful for a cat. What I think is most important:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make your cat and dog get along or atleast accept each others presence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move the litterbox to a place where the dog cannot get, maybe even get another one so the cat can choose the one where she does not have to pass by the dog to get there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe move the litterbox to the bedroom for now if it is the cats hiding place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat is house trained and suddenly goes on the floor anway it is always a sign of something being wrong. You have to make her understand that everything is ok, the dog is not a danger or bother and she will go back to &quot;normal&quot;. I mean would you dare go to the bathroom if someone put a huge, easily excited fluffball in your home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tips on how to make dog and cat get along can be found all over this forum &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/12285/how-to-introduce-a-newly-resident-cat-to-regularly-visiting-dog/12288#12288&quot;&gt;Senior cat and full grown dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1718/how-can-i-introduce-a-cat-into-a-household-with-dogs&quot;&gt;Introducing cat to dogs&lt;/a&gt; It is about getting a cat but the answer is still good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T06:56:20.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25677" CreationDate="2019-06-27T08:12:36.447" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your flight will be at the very least 6.5h long (e.g. from NY to Lisbon), so I suggest you take into consideration faeces (the cat may want to pee, and the soft carrier must be leak-proof), and stress (one of my vets recommended a mild sedative many years ago, which was supposed to help him &quot;cope&quot; with the stress).  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pettravelcenter.com/product-category/airline-friendly-pet-carriers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; lists airline-friendly carriers, including the Petmate Airline Travel Kit, several Pet Ego brand carriers (e.g. Pet Ego Boby Bag Forma Frame, Pet Gear I-GO2 Escort Pet Carrier, Pet Ego Universal Sport Bag Plus and many others), and the Pet Peppy Expandable Pet Carrier With Tunnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As everyone suggests, I would check with the airline if you're able to (in case you're willing to) book space for him, and for any special requirements they may have (they all vary from airline to airline).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16098" LastEditorUserId="16098" LastEditDate="2019-06-27T14:19:22.197" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T14:19:22.197" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9699" CreationDate="2019-06-27T08:21:54.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have first hand experience with one such device.  From a technical standpoint (and avoiding the shopping aspect of the question) most of the options seem to deliver similar features and performance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a house by the edge of town, and we're surrounded by meadows and forest.  That should have been a clear sign for me that the collar wouldn't be a great idea: the GPS trackers are &lt;em&gt;fairly&lt;/em&gt; bulky, and they stick out quite a bit from the fur.  When Max, our cat, came back home for the first time without his tracker, I had to go fetch it.  It took a long time to get somewhere in the middle of the woods, and as the device is accurate only to about 6ft it was hard to find under brushes and branches.  The same thing happened 3 times, until we finally decided not to fit it anymore, and sell it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16098" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T08:21:54.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25682" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25684" CreationDate="2019-06-27T13:14:29.107" Score="27" ViewCount="4299" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my current house, there is an active community of wild creatures in the backyard, including a variety of birds, chipmunks and squirrels, rabbits, a groundhog, and butterflies by day and lightning bugs by night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My little 2yo tortie female DSH has two towers near windows, and two glass sliding doors to look out of and observe this community going about its business in all weather, all seasons, and all times of day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A clear benefit of this is entertainment, something to see and do that isn't lying on the floor being bored.  There's also an exercise element as she runs from one vantage point to the next to follow a rabbit across the yard, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a potential down side is the frustration of the solid glass barrier.  I have seen her clearly attempting to get to a bird or a chipmunk by pawing at the edges, trying to climb onto the window border, and things like that.  Her hunting instinct has kicked in, but is being thwarted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the balance, is this situation good or bad for the cat's overall mental and emotional well-being?  In other words, do the benefits outweigh the risks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a follow-up, if the conclusion is negative, what can I do about it?  Note that closing curtains is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; viable, as that would first of all be bad for &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; emotional well-being (making my house feel like a dark dungeon) but also, the cat can simply slide behind the curtain.  This cat does have a handful of toys, and does play with them both independently and interactively with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2019-06-28T12:10:03.950" Title="Active wildlife outside the window- Good or Bad for Cat psychology?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2019-06-27T13:37:42.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put a mystery snail in with my betta when I read they are good tank cleaners and I was having an algae problem. He lasted about a week before I saw the fish kill him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snail was up on top of the little tank heater and the betta attacked and knocked him off. I’m not sure exactly what he did but it definitely caused a splash, which is why I looked over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snail never moved after that, not sure if he died right away, but after a couple days of my usually very active snail just lying in the same spot I took him out since he was obviously dead, which is sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16104" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:17:24.980" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:17:24.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25682" CreationDate="2019-06-27T15:43:56.553" Score="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard pet owners express concern before that cats get frustrated at being unable to catch prey, but the thing is, they should be able to deal with the frustration because it's natural to be unable to catch prey a large percentage of the time. In the wild, all predators often fail to catch prey, sometimes more often than they succeed. There are also any number of natural situations in which the cat will be aware of the prey, but the prey will be out of reach. For instance, the prey animal has dived into a hole. Therefore, I do not think your cat getting frustrated should be a concern. Meanwhile, as you said, being able to watch provides great benefit in keeping the cat entertained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, make sure to still play with your cat on a regular basis, and use a physical toy that it can grab onto, so that it can also exercise and take out its hunting instinct. Your cat will be less interested in actually attempting to chase the animals it sees outside if it's being tired out in other ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T15:43:56.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25689" CreationDate="2019-06-27T17:17:16.970" Score="3" ViewCount="408" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in a warm climate and have two cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the cats is local and seems fine with the heat but the other one comes from the Northern region and has a lot more fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Summer, the heat is quite high and I used to shave her to help with the temperature. The shaving would still leave about 0.5 to 1.0cm of hair vs. the 2.5cm she normally has depending on the body area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats are living indoor, but have access to the terrace if they wish; Although in Summer they are rarely there, they are usually found where the AC and shade is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told that we shouldn't shave a cat because fur helps not only with heating, but it also helps with cooling and shaving it interferes with the cat's ability to cool down its temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) is that true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) if it is the case, how does the fur help with the cooling since I always understood that the fur just creates an isolation layer to avoid loosing temperature, but in this case body temperature is still higher than outside temperature, so I don't understand how isolation can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9935" LastEditorUserId="9935" LastEditDate="2019-06-27T17:29:25.137" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:30:23.813" Title="I heard I can't shave my cat's fur because it affects its ability to cool down. Is that true?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-07-11T14:55:29.677" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23773" CreationDate="2019-06-27T17:49:21.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best solution I found to date, is hanging the mats out in the weather to maximize sun shine on them.  I turned them a couple times a week so the sun hit both sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a while.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T17:49:21.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25687" CreationDate="2019-06-27T18:12:45.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats' fur has evolved not only to keep the cat warm in the cold nights in the desert but to keep the heat out during the day in the baking desert temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the insulating fur cannot keep the cat cool, so cats seek shade and lie belly down on the hard ground to transfer heat away from the body. This is why cats often prefers to lie on the concrete or stone floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the fur of a cat does reduce how fast it gets heated by the outside temperature. If you shave the fur, you remove the insulating layer of air that the fur provides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To learn more about cats, please take a look &lt;a href=&quot;http://learnonline.cats.org.uk/content/ufo/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at learnonline.cats.org.uk&lt;/a&gt;. A lot of information about cats can be found there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:30:23.813" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:30:23.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25687" CreationDate="2019-06-27T21:03:34.377" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Animal fur is an insulator. People commonly have the misconception that insulators keep in heat. The truth is that all insulators inhibit the transfer of heat, and this works in BOTH directions. Meaning, when it's cold out, the insulator will keep heat in, and when it's hot out, the insulator will keep the heat out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding to the misconception is the fact that insulators like fur or clothes have the additional effect of preventing air circulation. Humans have evolved to naturally sweat over our entire bodies. Heat is used up when liquids evaporate, and air circulation helps to make liquids evaporate more quickly. This is why a breeze on a hot day feels cooler to us even though the air temperature hasn't changed. Cats, however, do not sweat over most of their bodies. It is theorized that one of the purposes of grooming is to act as a replacement for sweating, but the cat gets that benefit whether or not it is shaved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to keep in mind is that there will always be some amount of heat exchange between the animal and its environment, and therefore many animals, including the cat, have evolved expecting some amount of heat loss. In other words, they start feeling too hot at a lower outside temperature than their own body temperature.  Therefore, there may be some temperature at which shaving the cat, allowing for its body heat to transfer faster to the environment which is still cooler than its body temperature, would make the cat more comfortable. But if the temperature gets even higher than that, it's better again to have fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you do actually shave the cat, now you also run the risk of it getting sunburned just like a human would.  Furthermore, since you say the cats are indoor cats, and your home is air conditioned, you really shouldn't have a need to shave them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-06-27T21:10:08.767" LastActivityDate="2019-06-27T21:10:08.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-27T21:36:11.740" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is a fungal infection on my sisters west highland white contagious to my dog who is a Lhasa 13 years old but very healthy &#xA;My dog is a male&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16107" LastActivityDate="2019-06-28T06:47:32.200" Title="Sisters dog has a fungal infection on the belly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18946" CreationDate="2019-06-28T00:57:15.903" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;use a wet cloth to moisten the dried fecal matter in the fur.  Gently comb or work out with your fingers, OH YES wear gloves trim with scissors only when necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16108" LastActivityDate="2019-06-28T00:57:15.903" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25695" CreationDate="2019-06-28T04:56:02.143" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just noticed that my black lab had some swelling around his upper &quot;lips&quot;. He hadn't been out of the house for a while. Looking around the house, I found a small brown spider with a black abdomen near where he had been laying. Could this be serious? Pictures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xHg4.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xHg4.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fzYHy.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fzYHy.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V3Skx.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V3Skx.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: swelling went away a little, then came back with less &quot;severity&quot; (seemingly after chewing on a certain toy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16110" LastActivityDate="2019-06-28T06:22:12.970" Title="Black Lab SWOLLEN LIPS?" Tags="&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25694" CreationDate="2019-06-28T06:22:12.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem very severe, but you can never tell from pictures alone. Your dog's behavior tells you whether or not the situation is severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gets very inactive and sleepy,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stops eating, drinking or defecating, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;starts panting heavily without obvious cause, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vomits without obvious cause (like eating grass or unusual objects), &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;becomes very agressive very suddenly or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has pale, yellowish or even blueish gums, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you should treat it as a &lt;strong&gt;medical emergency&lt;/strong&gt; and see a vet as soon as possible. Don't waste time asking people on the internet, get help for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this particular case there doesn't seem to be a need to rush to the vet, but you should keep your dog under observation to find the cause. It could be an insect bite or maybe he bit himself while playing with the chewing toy. It could also be a bad tooth, a skin condition, allergic reaction or something completely different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First remove any new toys, pillows, snacks or food and water bowls to see if one of them caused the problem. Have a look at the teeth and gums to see if there's a problem there. If he's as active and playfull as ever and has a healthy appetite, you can wait a few days to see if the problem solves itself. If his behavior changes, you should make an appointment with a vet, just to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-06-28T06:22:12.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25704" CreationDate="2019-06-28T08:42:26.650" Score="1" ViewCount="1468" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 3 dogs - ”A” is a 10 year old Bassett Hound, ”B” is a 9 year old Bassett Hound and ”C” is a 5 month old French Bulldog puppy. ”B” is the alpha in the pack and always has been.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppy is very playful and quite full on but the other dogs have been generally accepting, particularly ”A”. ”B” has always been a bit more stand-offish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past couple of weeks, the puppy has been trying to gain the affections of ”B” by gently licking her face, repeatedly showing her bottom and showing her tummy. “B” reacts very badly to this by repeatedly snapping and snarling aggressively, sometimes even preventing the puppy from leaving the room. This aggression seems to be becoming more frequent but unfortunately the puppy doesn't seem to get the hint and keeps going back for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than this, ”B” is an extremely placid and easygoing dog who has never exhibited any aggression before, including with dog ”A”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16111" LastActivityDate="2019-06-29T05:08:03.443" Title="Older dog aggressive towards new puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25682" CreationDate="2019-06-28T12:10:03.950" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're concerned about the cat becoming frustrated by the invisible glass barrier, why not take her outside once in awhile? You can put the cat in a carrier and sit out with her, or get a harness and leash so she can explore on her own. I once met a cat/owner in a park where the cat was on a long leash and the cat was having a great time climbing trees and &quot;birdwatching&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16112" LastActivityDate="2019-06-28T12:10:03.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25697" CreationDate="2019-06-29T05:08:03.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your description, this seems to be very natural dominant behavior on B's part and simple childish naivity on the puppie's part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies are still clumsy in their social interactions and unknowingly disregard the dominant position of an adult. Compare this to a child disregarding the honorific of a doctor or officer and calling out &quot;hey uncle!&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, puppies are clumsy in their body and their play usually hurts more than that of an adult. Additionally, they never know when to stop (as any child, really). Each dog has their own personality, just like humans, and some simply don't like to play with puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's have a closer look at Puppy's behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Licking the face of an adult is either a show of submission or begging for food (it triggers the gag reflex that causes wild wolves and dogs to throw up some food for the puppies to eat).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lying on her back and presenting her belly is a clear show of submission. All puppies to a certain age instinctly behave submissive towards any adult. As they age, this instinct fades and they have to find their own place in the ranking of the pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's analyze B's behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not letting a dog leave the room seems kind of cruel to us, but this is very natural, aggression-free, dominant behavior. She's excerting her control over Puppy by deciding where she's allowed to go and where not. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snarling and snapping are indeed signs of aggression, but in this particular situation they're not unusual. I witnessed quite a lot adult dogs snarling in a very aggressive way while a puppy tried playing with them and it never escalated into violence. I think you could compare this to an adult yelling at a child to stop being so noisy instead of slapping them in the face. It's not an ideal situation, but it's still better than violence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't undermine the dominant position of B. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many people feed the puppy before the adults because the adults may steal some food from the puppy, but in the wild the pack leader always eats first. By making B wait for her food, you create tension in your pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do obedience training with your dogs or give them treats, always start with B. She should always be the first to get a treat, with or without training.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you walk with all your dogs, let B go through the door first (after you but before Puppy). The order in which dogs pass through doors represents the ranking of their pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't reprimand B for her show of dominance. It's in her instincts and she doesn't see it as something negative. If you stop her from keeping Puppy in one room, you force her to find different means to assert her dominance. These might be more aggressive than her current behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep it civilized. If B starts becomming more aggressive like biting the hind legs of Puppy, you should stop her. She's allowed to assert her dominance, but she's not allowed to bully pack members.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give B the same amount of love and affection as she got before Puppy joined you. She might perceive Puppy's presence as negative because of the way your interactions with her changed. Show her that you still love her just as much, even if Puppy demands your attention at every opportunity. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If Puppy comes to you begging for attention while you want to spend time with B, gently push her away in the opposite direction. You'll probably have to repeat the gesture a few times until Puppy accepts that she's not wanted right now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-06-29T05:08:03.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25707" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-30T01:14:20.353" Score="4" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N3dGh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friends rabbit gave birth to three healthy babies 4 days ago, but I can still see babies moving in her stomach, does she have a double litter? Or some late comers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16130" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T08:46:13.223" Title="My rabbit gave birth 4 days ago, and I can still see babies moving in her tummy, will she have a double litter" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-30T14:50:04.480" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what follows, I'd like to tell about the cat situation of my neighborhood in order to decide whether to get my own or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live on a ground floor apartment in a fairly big city. My living room has a door leading to a porch with access to a garden that belongs to the whole building and, after a small fence, you are in a pedestrian street. Other buildings around mine have similar gardens. I receive regular visits from at least three neighborhood cats, for which I leave a kibble snack in the porch. One of them -- let me call it Cat C (for cool :-) -- is more social, lets me pet it and rubs on me and, if my living room balcony door is open, on some of my living room furniture.  After six months, it started also to purr a bit and once it lied down belly up by the window but on the inside; which I understand as an act of faith.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one, Cat A, is more of an a...hole (hence the letter :-P), doesn't get anywhere close to me but still meows when it's hungry and tries to get inside. When I tried to pet it, it sometimes tried to scratch or hiss at me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm not home, I just leave the food outside and I can't tell who eats it. A few times I've seen another one, Cat B, going around especially at night, that lives with cat C,  but it's too spooked to get anywhere close. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about cats B and C for sure because I've seen then behind the window of a neighbor of mine. Down the street, there's at least another one, but it never got close to my door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats A and C do not go along well with each other, some months ago one of them pooped in the food bowl; but this can also be a message directly to me since, especially in winter, I would sometimes forget to leave a snack. Or a stronger attempt to mark the territory, as sometimes they also peed on my window's glass.&#xA;Once I saw cat C munching its snack peacefully on my porch and suddenly fleeing at the sight of cat A and a few minutes later I could hear them &quot;arguing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this long premise, here's my question. I'd like to have my own cat, but I'm more of a living-room-cat kind of person. Since there is a garden I think it makes no sense not to let it out -- either &quot;by hand&quot; or a cat door -- but I'm afraid it's gonna be beaten or killed by the others and, moreover, if I need to see it as often as the others, what would be the point of having my own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there's probably no way to predict the situation and the only one is to try it out, but I would need to get through a lot of hassle and expenses (for instance protect some expensive furniture -- for now cat C enters only under my supervision and obtain the consent of my landlord all the tenants in my building as the house regulation say), so I'd like to have an idea before starting everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16131" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T06:30:54.793" Title="possibly new cat in the neighborhood" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-07-11T14:54:18.433" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-06-30T21:35:58.767" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am experiencing a plethora of issues with my new betta. I hope he makes it out okay. I was unaware of the cycling process before putting him into the new tank. It's small (1 gallon) and temporary. I am getting a 6 gallon tank from my parents this coming week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the issues: when I put him in his tank, a few hours later, I noticed he:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;became lethargic;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;goes to the surface for air I assume too frequently;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;laid on top of the water heater so his mouth was just below the water;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;won't eat;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has a small elevated portion on his body, similar to the picture on this page (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20031/i-think-my-betta-has-dropsy-but-im-not-sure&quot;&gt;I think my Betta has dropsy but I&amp;#39;m not sure?&lt;/a&gt;);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;later, noticed white cloudy stuff on top of only one of his eyes;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed it was the water quality. I changed 50% of the water, got Ammonia Clear fizz tabs and Tetra Cleaning Bacteria and added an approximate portion of these into the tank. That didn't help much it seemed. I thought maybe the temperature was slightly too warm (81 °F / 27 °C), so I turned off the heater. He's no longer laying on top of it, but still goes up to the surface to get air, although the behavior seems less severe than it was. He occasionally makes bubbles. His nose is pointing up and his tail is pointing down. Kind of just sitting near the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was in his fish store cup, I did notice he had white stringy poop. I thought this was normal until I researched these issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what to do at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bxVaI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bxVaI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16133" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:37:01.837" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:40:42.387" Title="New betta problems - I was unaware of cycling before new tank" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25709" CreationDate="2019-07-01T04:24:44.720" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Get a water test and update your question with the readings of pH-ammonia-nitrite-nitrate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Stop feeding your fish to get the bioload down.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Keep changing water 20% each day (use dechlorinator to treat the water)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Add aquarium salt to limit the damage of nitrite.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to read &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article at fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt;; even after you add nitrifying bacteria, it will take time for the bacteria to multiply to a level where they can handle the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get the larger tank move your fish to it, but do not start feeding your fish. Take daily water tests and follow the instructions in the link I provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Follow the instructions on the aquarium salt container and do not overdose the salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish you have now might die as a result of the &amp;quot;new tank syndrome&amp;quot;, but your next one will not if you cycle the tank properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:40:42.387" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:40:42.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25715" CreationDate="2019-07-01T10:03:28.820" Score="2" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something appeared below my cat's eye. and 12 hours before, there was nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was him &lt;strong&gt;yesterday 00:00&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Si0Sl.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Si0Sl.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is him &lt;strong&gt;12 hours later on&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2j6q2.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2j6q2.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First I thought that he might have had scratched himself somewhere, but now, this is him &lt;strong&gt;24 hours later on&lt;/strong&gt;, right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vljkr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vljkr.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me it seems like it has grown a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We found out this week that he has 3 tumors, 2 in the kidney and one in the intestines. Due to this, he has been barely eating and has lost a lot of weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a doctor's appointment today, but I would like to know your comments, if you have any idea what the cause could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could be it be mushrooms? Could it be due to malnutrition? Could it be that he has cancer and it has metastasized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really have no idea what kind of &quot;thing&quot; could grow THAT FAST!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2504" LastActivityDate="2019-07-01T11:31:46.567" Title="Something appeared below my cats eye in 12 hours" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25714" CreationDate="2019-07-01T11:04:34.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two alternatives here: your cat has a bad tooth and the infection (and pain) makes eating problematic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or your cat has got a scratch that has become infected giving your cat pain when he tries to eat. The infection itself might make your cat ill so he is loosing his appetite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like your cat has got an abcess. This is very common in cats and your vet will need to open it up and flush it clean with salt water. If this is from a scratch your cat probably won't need antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it comes from a bad tooth your vet will remove the tooth and give your cat antibiotics and a painkiller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not worry, this is easy to fix for your vet. I'm sure this is less serious than you might think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-07-01T11:31:46.567" LastActivityDate="2019-07-01T11:31:46.567" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-02T01:36:57.647" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a lone male budgie. I thought of getting him a pair and got a female budgie. Initialy I had them in separate cages for a few minutes ,they seemed to like each other. So I let them in the same cage. They preen each other,cuddle,rub and play for some time but suddenly start fighting. The male budgie attacks the new female budgie out of the blue for no reason. I have a 60x30x35(length x breadth x height   format, all in cm) cage. I think the cage is large enough for a pair(because the shopkeeper suggested it for two pairs).I even have two sets of water,food bowls, separate perches and swings for each bird. This male budgie used to show the same behaviour towards a female budgie I previously had, can this be a sign of mental disorder? Please suggest me something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14358" LastEditorUserId="14358" LastEditDate="2019-07-02T01:47:22.763" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T01:47:22.763" Title="Introducing a new budgie" Tags="&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25707" CreationDate="2019-07-02T08:46:13.223" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have searched the internet for a while and could not find information about &quot;late comers&quot; or &quot;double litters&quot;. So I have to think, there is nothing common like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found some information about bradytocia, which means the muscles to bring the babies out of the mothers body do not work well or with enough power. This can be the reason for death birth of the baby and is a high risk for the mothers health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general it is a high health risk, if things which are intended to come out of the body or do not belong in it, stays inside (for example constipation through false food or contamination like splitter and thorns). They would decay and be living space for bacteria, which poisons the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I think the best you can do is bring your rabbit to a vet!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T08:46:13.223" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25719" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25745" CreationDate="2019-07-02T12:48:20.830" Score="1" ViewCount="813" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been asked to take care of our neighbors' rabbit again this upcoming summer holiday for two weeks. I also did so last summer, and I think I may have messed that up, and that it got too lonely during that time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a single rabbit and usually, it isn't lonely: They have three kids and they all spend a lot of time and attention on/with the rabbit, so when the kids are around the rabbit gets enough petting and entertainment to not be lonely. And I mean a lot of time: I hear they take turns petting/playing with the rabbit for hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it becomes a problem when I'm watching it for two weeks, I think. I've read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/10454/11575&quot;&gt;the answer here&lt;/a&gt; to 'Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness' while searching the site for information on the topic of rabbits and loneliness because I already suspected the rabbit may have been lonely last year. I noticed that the behavior described in that second warning point there matches what I've observed last summer with the same rabbit: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lethargy: An active rabbit suddenly stops playing or interacting. My only solution for this is to cuddle as much as the rabbit wants to, and try not to do anything to cause more stress in the rabbit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year, for the first few days, whenever I went to take care of the rabbit, it was lively, and came to me for a few pets and moved around its cage. At the end of two weeks though, it didn't even get up to meet me when I brought it its fresh food and water (I guess I'm lucky the rabbit didn't stop eating!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually visited it at least thrice every day, to bring it fresh food/water and a cold water bottle to lie against, switch the cold water bottle halfway during the day (it was a hot summer) and again some green food/fresh water in the evening. I did spend around 5/10 minutes each time, also talking and petting the rabbit a bit, but this is a lot less interaction than what the rabbit is used too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit and its cage are in the neighbors' backyard, so the rabbit won't see anybody else but me during that time, which of course doesn't help either. Moving the rabbit with its cage to my house/backyard for those two weeks isn't an option, as the cage isn't moveable. I can't let it run loose in our house or backyard either, it's a small rabbit and it can slip through the fence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that 'cuddle as much as the rabbit wants to' is suggested as a solution in the quote above, but I'm not sure I want to spend the entire day/afternoon cuddling a rabbit (as relaxing as that may sound).  I think I can spend a little more time petting the rabbit each day, but I would not be willing to spend more than half an hour each time I visit it. That's still a lot less than the entire afternoons playing with it that the kids would do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As our neighbors always have a bit of trouble finding someone to take care of their pet, &lt;strong&gt;I'm wondering if there's anything I can do so I can take care of the pet during those two weeks, that takes into account the limits desribed above, without the rabbit becoming stressed/lonely again?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;If the answer is that no matter what I try, it's going to be very bad for the rabbit, I will tell the neighbors to find other people to take care of their pet, or maybe even try to find something like a pet hotel for it. But as it's hard to find a someone you trust to take care of your pet, I'd like to see if I can try myself first.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11575" LastEditorUserId="11575" LastEditDate="2019-07-04T17:12:17.910" LastActivityDate="2019-07-05T06:34:07.910" Title="Strategies to prevent a single rabbit from getting lonely when its owners are on holiday?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-02T14:59:54.810" Score="2" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;My semi-longhaired cat has had frequent bouts with dandruff. He has a specific kind of dense fur beneath the longer hairs, almost like down or wool which makes grooming  him a challenge. I have been trying him on a &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of a cap of olive oil added to his kibble for one week now. I am waiting to see results. &lt;strong&gt;Has anyone tried this method for cat dandruff on their persian/longhaired cat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet sells a kind of fatty supplement in a toothpaste tube for this specific problem but I find it expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16141" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T11:46:33.890" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T11:46:33.890" Title="Will adding olive oil to my cat's kibble solve his dandruff issue?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25720" CreationDate="2019-07-02T15:52:01.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, your vet is the right one to ask about this to eliminate an underlaying problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think olive oil will solve this fully (olive oil does contain some of the essential oils your cat might need but not all of them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that it is better to buy some fish oil (not cod liver oil). Fish oils do contain omega 3 fatty acids, and this can be usefull for skin problems in cats and most other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get fish oil at your pet shop, at your vet, or you can buy it online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can not post a link to fish oil as most of the sites sell the product and I do not want to post links that can be seen as spam here. You can google fish oil for cats and get lots of hits on the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most effective way to help your cats is to brush them every week. The best way to brush a cat (if it does not like it) is to let the cat stand on the floor and you bend down from above to brush it. You might have to give your cat some breaks during this and continue later.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4wdiP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4wdiP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the types of brush that I like to use on my cat, maybe you can get something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="15983" LastEditDate="2019-07-02T19:17:57.947" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T19:17:57.947" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-02T15:52:26.220" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Mom was feeding four ferals and had them TNR’d .  She passed away last year, and a neighbor has continued to feed them daily at my Mom’s house.  I have been there on weekends for the last eight months and have gotten to know them.  They typically lay on her front porch or in the yard most of the day.  They do not come to close to you, and they won’t let you touch them, but they do seem to be interested in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I am now putting the house up for sale and cannot continue to feed them there. We have picked up the food and moved it around the corner to the neighbor’s house, based on a recommendation I received from a feral cat rescue group.  They said the cats will smell the food and will find it there.  I haven’t heard that they’ve found It yet (it’s been 3 days) and wonder if anyone has any experience with this type of situation and can offer advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I am hoping the new owners will feed them and continue to let them live on the property.  I am planning to offer to help with the cost since I know what they eat and how much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The goal is to make sure they have food and fresh water available to them in the event the new owner doesn’t put food out for them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16142" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-07-03T06:36:36.070" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T06:36:36.070" Title="Moving feral cats’ food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25720" CreationDate="2019-07-02T16:16:24.983" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should speak to your vet about identifying the underlying cause of the dandruff, rather than trying random &quot;home remedies&quot; which will do nothing about the true cause and may or may not be safe for your cat.&lt;/strong&gt; While a cat can safely consume olive oil in extreme moderation for relief of constipation and hairballs, I have found no references anywhere to using it to treat dandruff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_scaling_skin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt;, dandruff and dandruff-like symptoms can arise from nutritional deficiencies, allergies, infections, parasites, immune diseases, diabetes, and skin tumors; they recommend consulting with the vet to identify the underlying problem. None of these issues will be addressed by feeding olive oil in any quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On another page on the topic, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/grooming/evr_multi_dandruff_free_pet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD's&lt;/a&gt; top suggestion for relieving dandruff is, again, consulting your vet. Their full list of high-level suggestions is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Get Your Veterinarian’s Opinion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Look Into Changing Their Diet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Bathe Your Pet Regularly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Try a Dandruff Shampoo [Designed for Pets]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Get the Right Brush, and Remember to Use It&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once again, olive oil is not mentioned anywhere; under the diet header, fish and coconut oils are mentioned, but with the advice to consult the vet before adding them to an already nutritionally appropriate food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other sites have also recommended stepping back from over-bathing and hydration as further ways to alleviate the issue; both are good ideas in general, as cats rarely benefit from bathing unless it is truly necessary (and, as in humans, overgrooming can worsen dandruff symptoms), and are frequently dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unsure where you came up with the idea of feeding olive oil to relieve dandruff, as I was not able to find a single source recommending it, either on reputable or questionable pet care sites. It is vital to remember that our pets have different digestive systems than our own, and many things that are perfectly safe for humans to consume may be dangerous or deadly to our pets; &lt;strong&gt;never feed any human food without first verifying that it is safe.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-02T17:10:50.393" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T17:10:50.393" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25725" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-02T17:52:14.237" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding a feral cat since she was born under my neighbor's house 5 years ago. When she was younger, I hired someone to trap and have her spayed. Even after all this time, she will let me pet her when she comes to my door for food but if I pass her on the street, she runs from me. In the past, I have tried to bring her inside but she went absolutely crazy trying to get out. I am planning a move in several months and I can't leave her behind. I love her too much. I have moved twice in the last 5 years but stayed in my own neighborhood just for her. Each time, I moved just blocks from where I lived and coaxed her to the new location with food. This time I will be moving to the northern part of the state to be closed to my mother. Do you have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16145" LastActivityDate="2019-07-02T17:52:14.237" Title="How to move a feral cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-07-11T14:57:22.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-02T19:42:05.177" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought scratching posts but only 1 of my cat bother scratching it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They instead scratch my expensive furniture. So what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put Catnip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T12:08:08.670" Title="How do I make my cats scratch their scratching posts?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-07-11T14:54:39.280" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-03T03:22:43.140" Score="2" ViewCount="555" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two years ago my brother got a pet leopard gecko. We still don't know it's gender but I will say him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For two years he was fine and looked healthy had a fat tail and ate fine. The only problem was that his cage was missing a cool moist hide and only had a warm dry hide, and we rarely even put calcium on his food and mostly fed him mealworms. Besides that everything else was fine. At the time I had no idea his cage was not set up properly and he had to have supplemented crickets because he was perfectly healthy so I didn't do the research, also he was my brothers pet not mine and I was only 13 so it was really my Dad's job not mine. Anyway for the past few months he has started to scab up, get sores, lose weight, stop eating, instead of shedding all at once he is just constantly shedding parts of skin, it looks like some of his bones might be broken, or the tips of some of his fingers might be missing it is hard to tell. My dad took him to the vet and all they did was give him vitamin shots and tell us to bathe him twice a day. I also started doing my own research and made some adjustments that should help him. I built a temporary moist and cool hide for him to go in that he likes more than his warm hide, I give him a bath in warm water daily, I put a wet cloth over part of his tank to increase humidity, and since he is not eating I started to feed him this medicine that as all the nutrition and calories he needs and an appetite stimulant so he will start to eat live insects again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even after these adjustments he still shows no sign of getting better and I have no idea what to do. Should I get him euthanized because I think he is in pain or what? Also my Dad is cheap and won't take him to the vet again or buy anything extra. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Picture of my sick leopard gecko, his cage looks messy but I clean it every week it is from calcium powder and dead skin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oHYSL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;1]&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16147" LastEditorUserId="10461" LastEditDate="2019-07-08T13:39:11.440" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T13:39:11.440" Title="How can I help my sick leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25732" CreationDate="2019-07-03T06:29:27.690" Score="1" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding a group of stray cats for a while, particularly an orphan kitten because she is very skinny. I don't have the heart to part with her. She does not come forward to eat along with the cat family so I bring her just inside the door of my home so she can eat in peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's very well-behaved. She is not litter-trained, however. She shows no signs of being unwell. I would also like to mention that she disappeared once, then suddenly appeared in front of my home, and has stayed in the building by my door ever since. I don't know if she roams outdoors, especially in this summer heat, I doubt it. It seems she's turning into a pet kitten naturally compared to the other strays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am moving apartment to a slightly bigger one. I have considered allowing her natural course of stray life to continue if I bring her with me, and I continue feeding her--especially if the area is a cat neighborhood--but I don't know how a stray will adjust to a new area if cars go by. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am worried how to litter-train especially after moving house, also it's not a spacious place. I have considered expenses (vet fees, etc.) and might be able to afford to maintain as a pet, but the thought of lifelong responsibility and that I won't prevent her from a family-making future, is too much responsibility. What should I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for reading. I would very appreciate answers on what I should do, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16083" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-03T13:17:56.983" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T13:17:56.983" Title="Should I adopt a stray kitten even if it's too much responsibility?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25708" CreationDate="2019-07-03T06:30:54.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have tried researching your question a little and the most other pages I could find are other forums. I will link them anyway maybe you can find something useful on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, we have two cats and also live in a catty neighbourhood. First we just let them roam only our yard and they got familiar with it and left their scents everywhere. It was not a big deal. Now where I see the problem in your case is that you have been feeding the other cats and I assume they somewhat claimed their territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it would be good to &lt;strong&gt;stop feeding them&lt;/strong&gt; if you want to get your own cat. Maybe even stop feeding them before you get your own. I think it could help them be less jealous of your new cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now as a lot of the forums I read have stated &lt;strong&gt;introducing your cat to the other through the window&lt;/strong&gt; where they can see each other but there is no danger to either, works well, sounds like a good starting point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe if possible you can even &lt;strong&gt;schedule &quot;get to know dates&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; with cat B and C since you know they live somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first time your cats get out go with it&lt;/strong&gt;, maybe on a leash, and show it around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Supervise&lt;/strong&gt; the first times you let it out and let the cats get to know each other. Now they might start hissing or growling and that is ok, but &lt;strong&gt;break up any bigger fight&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Do not punish&lt;/strong&gt; either cat for the fight just make sure noone gets hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely go for the &lt;strong&gt;cat door&lt;/strong&gt; option, since that makes sure your cat has a fast way to retreat if it needs to. In my experience neighbourhood cats do not follow other cats through cat doors as the moment of passing makes them too vulnerable.&#xA;(there are also cat doors with collars that only open to the collar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spaying or neutering&lt;/strong&gt; seems like a way to make your cat a little less territorial and since it goes outside should be done anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now last but not least:&#xA;You can not know before hand how and if your cat will get along with the others. But cats have been seen to often &quot;share&quot; territory as long as the other one is elsewhere.&#xA;It is important that the other cats understand that this part is also your cats territory, but again in my experience they do sort it out themselves.&#xA;Cats like humans have very different personalities and what happens when they meet is not predictable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand cats and their social structure I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.paws.org/library/cats/behavior/aggression/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aggression Between Family Cats and Feline Social Behavior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120530112046AA5Xnqq&amp;amp;guccounter=1&amp;amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGj3wzsIE7Om9SvbZ1XX4NgPn5QhkCm0bfG8xcdU8F3ulYaNpWvgK_cAoEIe1DVSZceAJ8WQNa8PfcVMSRz0JQyKT9P_Qj-ysiavjj61MsvYJwLIwI4ZaKj4WjhC_xVUNJvcB8gZXBlx18I9DM4evW01ja0Upc09Wweo0CFiQaHk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yahoo Answers - Introducing cat to neighbourhood&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thecatsite.com/threads/introducing-new-neighbor-cats-any-help.36704/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thecatsite - Introducing new neighbours cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/introducing-kitten-to-neighbourhood-cats.254845/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetForums - Introducing kitten to neighbourhood cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/2h32gh/introducing_my_cat_to_the_neighbours_cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reddit - Introducing cat to neighbours cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T06:30:54.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21089" CreationDate="2019-07-03T07:34:48.080" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should visit a Vet with her. Like trond hansen wrote, there could be internal injury you can not see, but which could kill your turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this you have to prevent your turtle falling out of the sink again! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles can, whether or not you believe it, climb very well. They do so for example, if they walk miles and miles to mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fence should therefore be sleek, without ledges giving a foothold. How tall it should be depends on the size of your biggest turtle (in case you have more than one). The biggest should not could reach the top edge of the fence, if it &quot;stands upright&quot; in front of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You only have to search for &quot;turtle climb&quot; to find a lot of videos on all platforms, about turtles which climb netting wire fences or use techniques like mountaineers who climbs inside crevices.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-07-03T08:21:33.783" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T08:21:33.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25728" CreationDate="2019-07-03T13:17:33.843" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are not prepared to be responsible for an animal for its entire lifetime, then you should not adopt that animal.&lt;/strong&gt; For a cat, you should anticipate a minimum commitment of 15 years, and potentially over 20 years of responsibility. You will need to provide for food, litter, vaccinations, medical care in case of accident and injury, and end of life care during that time. You will also need to provide enrichment in the form of toys, scratching posts, and cat furniture, in addition to basic needs like bowls for food and water and a litter box. And you may find that what you bought doesn't suit your cat. You bought a small litter box, but she's a larger cat and needs more room. You bought jingle ball toys, but she prefers stuffed mice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You have made this cat dependent on humans for survival.&lt;/strong&gt; If she is left as a stray, she will likely die. If you're unable to care for her, you should contact a local rescue (if available) or find someone who would be able to take responsibility (evaluate them to ensure they will not harm the kitten). The lives of stray cats are typically short, with violent ends; even without her dependence on humans, she'll still have a better life if she's kept as an indoor cat. &lt;strong&gt;You should take responsibility, at a minimum, for ensuring she will have as good a shot at a good life as possible&lt;/strong&gt;, as the one who made her dependent on humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats will generally self-litter train.&lt;/strong&gt; They are naturally inclined to hide their waste; you can start out with a cat-attracting litter or litter additive to ensure she uses the box early on if you choose to adopt her. As long as she knows where the box is, she should have no issue quickly learning to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats do not have &quot;families&quot; the way humans do. There is no reason to not desex an adopted cat&lt;/strong&gt;, and failure to do so will result in the cat roaming (possibly never returning due to being adopted by someone else or being killed while out seeking a mate), as well as even more homeless cats that will live short lives with violent ends (and that will, during those lives, have a negative impact on local wildlife such as birds). If you decide to take responsibility for her, you should absolutely have her spayed, and keep her indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Former strays can make fantastic housecats; one of my current three was a rescued street kitten who has adapted extremely well to living in the house, and who now will never have to struggle to find food or shelter or be at risk of being killed by a car, another animal, or a cruel human. By feeding a stray, you only remove one of those struggles for them, but the rest remain. By finding that cat a home indoors, whether your own or that of someone you trust, you can remove all those struggles as well as protecting your local wildlife and helping to reduce the overpopulation problem with stray cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you choose to take her on yourself, remember that pet ownership is a give-and-take relationship.&lt;/strong&gt; You will have to make adjustments to your lifestyle, and she'll have to adjust as well. Like any relationship, you can't expect one party to make all the concessions; if she wants to sit on top of furniture, give her places to sit. If she wants to chew cords, put them away. But if she wants to wake you up at 5 am, train her not to do that. Understand where to compromise with her, and you'll not only help her have a better life, but you'll find your own enriched by her companionship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T13:17:33.843" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-03T20:07:15.017" Score="1" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that in a lot of people's minds, including my own, there is confusion over the term &quot;pit bull&quot;. I've read the Wikipedia article on &quot;Pit bull&quot; and it explains that it's not a a dog breed, but a generic name that encompasses a number of different breeds. Quoting the introductory paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pit bull is the common name for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers. The pit bull-type is particularly ambiguous, as it encompasses a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://dogbreedportal.blogspot.com/2012/02/summarypit-bull-dog-is-dog-from.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this blog&lt;/a&gt; there are two photos of dogs that the blogger has labelled the &quot;Pit Bull Dog&quot;, however after searching there is no officially recognized name of this type. In the blog it is mentioned that this &quot;Pit Bull Dog&quot; is also known as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Pit Bull Terrier&lt;/a&gt;, which indeed is a recognized breed of dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm particularly confused because of the differences in appearance between the dogs in photos purportedly of American Pit Bull Terriers. On this blog site we have these two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K94Uq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/K94Uq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xJ17K.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xJ17K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in other places these are also American Pit Bull Terriers:&#xA;From Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T4eOf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/T4eOf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Top left: American Pit Bull Terrier&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Top right: American Staffordshire Terrier&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bottom left: Staffordshire Bull Terrier&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bottom right: American Bulldog&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can see there is quite a large difference between the first two photos and the photo at the topleft of the last picture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, the following photo is the main photo at the beginning of the American Pit Bull Terrier article on Wikipedia, and although in this case I see more of a resemblance to the first two photos I posted, to me it seems there are quite significant differences. The first two photos show dogs that are much more short-legged and stocky. Also the faces looks quite different to me. And how about the ears?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BbIxM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BbIxM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming these are all photos of the American Pit Bull Terrier (for the montage image I'm referring to the topleft photo only), is it my imagination that there are massive differences between each individual of the American Pit Bull Terrier, even greater differences than one would see between individuals of most other breeds of dog? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I also found these images in an image search. Essentially they distinguish an American Pit Bull Terrier and an &quot;American Bully&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BqKpP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BqKpP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q4Aop.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/q4Aop.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wvveo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wvveo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(APBT standing for American Pit Bull Terrier)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the American Bully is, but they surely do look like the American Pit Bull Terrier from the first two photos. Can someone help clear up my confusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16149" LastEditorUserId="16149" LastEditDate="2019-07-03T20:23:07.313" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T22:44:37.697" Title="Confusion over the term pit bull/terrier" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25736" CreationDate="2019-07-03T22:44:37.697" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The final three images I posted in the question are spot-on when they say &quot;Learn the difference&quot; and &quot;Stop the confusion.&quot; As mentioned in the Wikipedia article, the term &quot;pit bull&quot; is a common generic name used by many for a number of dog breeds. Wikipedia includes the following image to show some breeds that may be colloquially called &quot;pit bulls&quot;. Here are some of them: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o4HTn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o4HTn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Top left: American Pit Bull Terrier&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Top right: American Staffordshire Terrier&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bottom left: Staffordshire Bull Terrier&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bottom right: American Bulldog&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(courtesy of Wikipedia)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand people not being able to distinguish some of these dogs, but it's strange that the first two images shown in my question are named &quot;Pit bull&quot; dogs. Although I'm not good at identifying dog breeds, the first two images are most likely of the American Bully. I had never heard of this breed, and didn't know that a Wikipedia article for this dog breed existed (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bully&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Bully&lt;/a&gt;). So it seems that now many lump the American Bully - a dog with huge differences in appearance, and only a few decades old - into this imprecisely defined term &quot;pit bull&quot;. That is, this guy or gal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WXDqE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WXDqE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I think these dogs must work out, or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sources I've checked say that the creation of the American Bully from selective breeding began in the 90s, but the Wikipedia article says that it began between the 80s and 90s. The breeding apparently began initially by mixing the American Bull Pit Terrier and the American Staffordshire Terrier, and subsequently other dog breeds. It's generally agreed that the dog breeds included in this selective breeding included the Staffordshire Bull Terrier (the English one), and various bulldog breeds (The English and French bulldogs are probably where it gets it's flat face and short, stocky body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be remembered that since the American Bully was bred partially from the American Pit Bull Terrier, and that the breeding in the United States was not a coordinated breeding program, there are significant variations in the American Bully, some of which resemble the American Pit Bull Terrier more than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting that while the American Bully looks more muscular, imposing, and (subjectively) scarier-looking, it's generally more gentle and calm than the American Pit Bull Terrier. This was an intention of the selective breeding for the American Bully, as the American Pit Bull Terrier's ancestors were bred as either hunting, baiting or fighting dogs in the 18th and 19th century in Britain. The American Pit Bull Terrier, due to either its temperament or perception thereof by certain authorities, is either banned or has strict prohibitions on it. Some American states and counties have banned owning one, alone with many other parts of the world such as in the UK, the Canadian province of Ontario, and other parts of the world.&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier#Law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Pit Bull Terrier: Law&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that the plan of creating a more behaved, calmer and family-friendly dog in the American Bully has been largely successful, as most people will attest to this. That's not to say the American Pit Bull Terrier inherently is not well behaved or family-friendly however. I just say this generally speaking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the American Bully has limited recognition as an official breed of dog. It was only recognized by the United Kennel Club (American) in 2013, but is still not recognized by the American Kennel Club or the World Canine Organization, a federation of kennel clubs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16149" LastActivityDate="2019-07-03T22:44:37.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-03T23:55:41.050" Score="2" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that in some cases when a dog is black, at least to my eyesight, they are described as being blue. Here is, I think, an example of this, in a Doberman:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/59rdV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/59rdV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This photo on Wikipedia is captioned &amp;quot;Blue Doberman Pinscher&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you might say that the colors in the particular photo give the impression that it has a black coat as opposed to blue, but I recently saw the papers of one dog that had &amp;quot;blue and white&amp;quot; written for &amp;quot;color&amp;quot; when I could swear it was black. I stood there a while, closely looking at what was supposed to be its blue-colored hair/fur, looking at it from different angles to see if the light made a difference, and either I must be colorblind or it was black, not blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why seemingly black hair/fur on dogs is called blue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16149" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T22:09:03.800" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T22:09:03.800" Title="Why are some black dogs called blue?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25738" CreationDate="2019-07-04T01:31:58.247" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blue is actually a distinct color caused by the normal black pigment called eumelanin being muted by a distinct mutation or mutations near the melanophilin gene (MLPH). &lt;a href=&quot;http://caninebreeds.bulldoginformation.com/blue-dogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://caninebreeds.bulldoginformation.com/blue-dogs.html&lt;/a&gt;. This results in a gray color that's distinct from other grays found in dogs. The blue color can vary from lighter to darker, or it can even be mottled, which is known as &quot;blue merle.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that the reason you're having trouble discerning the difference is that color perception is actually a learned skill, and can be surprisingly subjective. For instance, some cultures cannot discern between as many colors as others, when there is no biological reason for this. A really good demonstration of this phenomenon is the internet meme of a few years ago, is it a gold and white dress or a black and blue dress? The meme was a photo of a dress, which due to the very particular light conditions, made people perceive the dress as very different colors, almost half and half thinking it was gold and white versus black and blue.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also be the case that you have trouble seeing the difference when the blue dog is on its own, but you could tell the difference if you saw another dog of the same breed but black instead of blue, standing next to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-07-04T01:31:58.247" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21428" CreationDate="2019-07-04T05:37:57.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you couldn't be neglecting her for years, she would have shown some symptoms for sure. My 17 year old RES has stopped laying eggs for years too, and I haven't found a good explanation for this yet. She laid some beautiful clutches of eggs for about 3 years and then for the last 5 or more years, she hasn't. She eats well (voraciously!) and has some mood swings (wants to be by herself at times, at other times follows me around, sometimes just wants to be in her tank, and sometimes sits with me in the sun for hours) so I assume she is well and happy. But if you have found a good reason for her behaviour, or found that there was something to be done better, please do share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise I'm posting many months after your question, so I hope yours is well and wish her many more healthy and happy years with you :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16151" LastActivityDate="2019-07-04T05:37:57.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2019-07-04T17:46:12.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This article suggests that symptoms of Vitamin D toxicity can begin with doses as low as 4000 IU/kg.  I would assume that this is a very conservative estimate since this is an article written for the general public (as opposed to a veterinary study).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-toxins-poisons/vitamin-d-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-toxins-poisons/vitamin-d-poisoning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16152" LastActivityDate="2019-07-04T17:46:12.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-05T00:38:45.797" Score="1" ViewCount="1164" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have around 8-10 dogs for years. 4 female dogs usually had puppies that we'd give to people who'd love to take care of them, and keep the ones we love or no one wants. Recently, Orange (around 3 years old), started to kill other female dogs' puppies (3 dead, 2 injured), and attack other dogs (including her children, well, she never cares for her children much) even though they were just walking nearby. We thought she could be jealous, or tried to fight for territory. But why now of all the times?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't blame me or my family, I'm very sad now, we just have different culture in different country, and I only want to know the solution. We couldn't put Orange in cage (it's like imprisoned her) or let her wear muzzle everyday, or give her to other people to take care of her, that's similar to abandon her and bothering other people. In short, there is no way we could do her any harms, but she keeps hurting other dogs and killing puppies when she has a chance. We put 2 puppies in cage for now, and sent the rest of them to a nearby relative who knows their situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16153" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:19.443" Title="My dog killed puppies and started attacking other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25746" CreationDate="2019-07-05T04:02:13.303" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;The FDA &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-issues-third-status-report-investigation-potential-connection-between-certain-diets-and-cases&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;announced&lt;/a&gt; 16 brands, typically higher end lines advertising grain free foods, may be linked to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in canines.&#xA;As I am not a vet or a scientist, I am not completely sure I am parsing the announcement correctly. Nevertheless, my impression is that their statement states the food itself is not bad or dangerous, rather that feeding dogs this food exclusively may not be a complete diet for a dog and lead to DCM.&#xA;Is this assessment correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16154" LastActivityDate="2019-07-05T22:59:41.683" Title="Is the FDA's announcement on luxury brand, grain-free dog foods implying the food simply is not complete?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25742" CreationDate="2019-07-05T05:02:32.773" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, a dog never kills out of jealousy. If a dog kills another dog, especially puppies, there must be another reason. Unfortunately, there can be different reasons and we cannot diagnose your dog over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone (a dog or human) feels pain every day, they get grumpy. It's not unusual for dogs who are constantly in pain to become very aggressive. They are frustrated by being in pain all the time and they don't want other dogs to cause more pain (by certain interactions and movements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's impossible for me to say where she hurts, it could be her spine or neck, her legs, a bad tooth or any of her internal organs. If her behavior changed in recent times (like limping, playing or eating less), it could give you a hint of where the pain is situated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Inbreeding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you don't control which of your dogs breed with whom. That means sister and brother could have babies, or mother and son. This is called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Inbreeding&lt;/a&gt; and can have different effects on the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Specifically, inbreeding has been found to decrease fertility as a direct result of increasing homozygosity of deleterious recessive alleles.[69][70] Fetuses produced by inbreeding also face a greater risk of spontaneous abortions due to inherent complications in development.[71] [...] Viable inbred offspring are also likely to be inflicted with physical deformities and genetically inherited diseases.[61] Studies have confirmed an increase in several genetic disorders due to inbreeding such as blindness, hearing loss, neonatal diabetes, limb malformations, disorders of sex development, Schizophrenia and several others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inbreeding affects not only the body, but also the brain of animals. It could be that your dog is schizophrenic or has another mental illness that makes her kill the puppies. If that's the case, it cannot be cured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to avoid inbreeding is to desex all of your female dogs so they cannot have babies anymore or to separate the male dogs from those female dogs that are not desexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Malnourishment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that your dog is malnourished. She has enough food and isn't starving, but the food lacks certain components (like a certain mineral or vitamin) that she needs but doesn't get enough of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malnourishment can manifest in changes of behavior, but usually a dog starts eating things that are not food or obsessing about food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To diagnose malnourishment, a vet needs to take a blood sample and analyze it in a lab. Then you could change the brand of food or give her food supplements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Illness&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are illnesses that cause aggression. Most widely known &lt;strong&gt;and most dangerous&lt;/strong&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rabies&lt;/a&gt;, but there are many more infections, parasites and illnesses that can influence the behavior of an animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is rabies where you live and she attacks all other dogs and even you, you &lt;strong&gt;must be especially cautious&lt;/strong&gt;. There is no cure for rabies. Every dog and human that gets infected dies. The only protection is vaccination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet should analyze the blood for signs of such illnesses. If that's the case, you must separate her from everyone else in a way that the other dogs cannot come into contact with her saliva. They must not be able to eat or drink from the same dish and they must not be able to lick any item she was in contact with. &lt;strong&gt;This is not prison, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;quarantine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. It's not to punish a dog, but to protect all the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stress / Burnout&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living with so many dogs and having puppies regularly sounds like a lot of stress for a dog. Dogs can have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_burnout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Burnout&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posttraumatic_stress_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PTSD&lt;/a&gt; like humans. Maybe she is so stressed that she kills the puppies to reduce the level of stress in her environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A combination&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Life is never straight-forward and simple. A combination of different factors could have caused her to kill the puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might have had a mental disorder from birth (due to inbreeding), but only recently started to kill puppies due to stress or her age (many mental illnesses manifest or get stronger at a certain age).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or she could have been in constant pain for a while now, which caused her to eat less, which caused a malnourishment, which made her kill the puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any combination is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What should you do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you let your dogs breed like that, you risk that this dog is not the only one who suffers. I suggest you find a way to control which of your dogs breed. You could desex all of them or just a few and let them live separate from the others. Make a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;family tree&lt;/a&gt; of your dogs and make sure that no siblings or parents and children breed with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T05:29:19.443" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:29:19.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25719" CreationDate="2019-07-05T06:34:07.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure this is the perfect answer but here is what I found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain signs the rabbit could be lonely and being lethargic is one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what to do to keep the rabbit happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the bunny another bunny to be friends or companions with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also give them a different species for a friend, not a predator maybe (even though that can work) but guinea pigs for example&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Human companionship, which is what the bunny of the family is used to. This includes playing, petting and just being around the rabbit. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are very social animals and should not be kept alone unless you have humans to be their companions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rabbits are gregarious by nature and need almost constant companionship to avoid emotional suffering. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/general/one-rabbit-or-two.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;One rabbit or two? Make the right decision&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your post makes it clear that you have done some research yourself and you know rabbits get lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@James Jenkins has a point though. If the family can not find a better place, like a pet hotel or someone with lots of time on their hands you might be the best option. Two weeks is not forever the rabbit might get lonely but I do not think that the duration is too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice if you end up taking care of the rabbit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;do as you did last year, feed it regularly and talk and pet it&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;if you find some spare time maybe play a little or just cuddle extra&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;do not stress out too much, you are doing your best&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said you are not responsible for the rabbit in general. Maybe talk to the family again and suggest that they either find a suitable holiday place for the bunny for next year or that they should consider finding an animal companion for it.&#xA;The way you talk about them makes it seem like they care a lot so just bring this problem to their attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-Your-Rabbit-Is-Lonely&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to tell if your rabbit is lonely&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/rabbits/company&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Should rabbits be kept around other animals?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-07-05T06:34:07.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25743" CreationDate="2019-07-05T16:21:30.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The announcement means they have found a correlation between DCM and dogs eating these types of foods. A correlation means simply that these two things tend to occur together, but it doesn't say anything about why or how. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/science-research/vet-lirn-update-investigation-dilated-cardiomyopathy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/science-research/vet-lirn-update-investigation-dilated-cardiomyopathy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Between January 1, 2014 and April 30, 2019, the FDA received 524 reports of involving 560 dogs and 14 cats diagnosed with DCM.  The FDA additionally received many reports of non-DCM cardiac disease in dogs and cats during this timeframe.  To better understand the reported cardiac diseases, FDA investigated many of the DCM cases, as well as some of these non-DCM cardiac cases, by reviewing medical records and performing dietary and environmental exposure interviews.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means the FDA reached the conclusion there was some correlation after receiving many reports, and doing an investigation into these reports to try to rule out other environmental factors. It would take actual experimentation, or medical studies to actually discern why such a correlation is occurring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your original article states, it's not even known exactly what the cause of DCM is, so no conclusion can be made at this time why this is so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This announcement is meant to be taken as a warning that this food MIGHT be a cause of DCM, but it also might not be. If that worries you, then do not feed your dogs the foods in the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will also note that &quot;grain-free&quot; is something of a recent fad diet for pets. Dogs and cats are known to be carnivores, and so people think feeding them grain is automatically bad, and advertising has picked up in this. The truth is food for dogs and cats, especially dry food, need some ingredients other than meat in order to bind the food together, and possibly to help getting the exact right balance of nutrition. Grain-free foods therefore contain other ingredients as a replacement for grains such as legumes or potatoes, which I'll point out is also counter to what people think dogs and cats should be eating. Although any of these foods could actually be being consumed by dogs and cats on a natural diet of prey animals, as these foods will possibly be in the stomach of the animals they eat.  The FDA study simply shows grain-free foods are new enough that it isn't entirely known what kind of effect they have on pets.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, while it cannot be said if grain-free is bad for pets, it's not necessarily better for pets either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-07-05T22:59:41.683" LastActivityDate="2019-07-05T22:59:41.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25749" CreationDate="2019-07-05T23:32:50.317" Score="4" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently using my Raspberry Pi combined with a NoIR camera module as a camera to livestream my hamster's home to my mobile phone. Now, the IR-camera itself does not output any good pictures at night without an additional source of IR light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about getting something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y5ZYe.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y5ZYe.png&quot; alt=&quot;IR LED Light Ring Board&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Browsing through the web, I stumbled upon the statement that IR radiation may cause harm - especially to the eyes, but also other parts of the body (which I didn't consider before, but sounds pretty logical now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wonder, would my hamster be safe if he was constantly exposed to such an IR light source? Or would any harm, even the slightest bit, be done to him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T23:26:40.990" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T23:26:40.990" Title="Will my hamster take damage if I film him with an active IR camera?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25747" CreationDate="2019-07-06T08:15:54.330" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamsters cannot see this wavelenghth of infrared radiation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vision of hamsters is shifted more to the ultraviolet part of the light spectrum. This means they see best in the blue to green light and are less sensitive to red and infrared light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infrared LED diodes on the LED board you ask about have an output of 3 watts in the 940 nanometer wavelength. High intensity infrared light can be dangerous, but the one you have there is not harmful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt your hamsters are able to see 940 nanometer infrared light at all. But you need to keep an eye on them and if they show signs of stress, you need to remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to place the infrared light at no closer than 1 meter from the cage to be totally safe that their vision is not harmed in any way (I do not think there is any risk in using IR light to film your hamsters. But it is better to be safe than sorry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T01:21:07.480" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T01:21:07.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-07T05:44:28.210" Score="1" ViewCount="630" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vtF9B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has these scabs in one of her ears and she recently fought one of my other cats (it was play fighting but it was pretty rough) so it might have gotten jacked up from that but I want to be more sure. she also has a small wound at the base of her ear. She’s also acting strange and she’s sneezing quite a bit. Thanks for any information regarding my cats jacked up ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16161" LastEditorUserId="10461" LastEditDate="2019-07-08T06:34:29.530" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T06:34:29.530" Title="My cat has strange scabs in her ear" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-07T10:16:14.030" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to keep shrimp as a pet, but it would always be dead in about 1 or 2 days. I read lots of information and I know that it is lack of dissolved of oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to get the water full of dissolved of oxygen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16163" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T15:21:30.990" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T15:26:28.230" Title="Can a shrimp be a pet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25755" CreationDate="2019-07-07T12:19:05.200" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can keep shrimps in your tank, but you will want to keep shrimps away from predatory fish if you want them to reproduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is to set up your tank and cycle it properly. You can take &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a look here&lt;/a&gt; on how this is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get an &lt;a href=&quot;https://fishlab.com/sponge-filter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;air driven sponge-filter&lt;/a&gt;. This is to avoid shrimps or baby shrimps to be pulled into the filter, as might happen with other filter types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The filter will build up bacteria that convert waste into plant nutrition and it will oxygenate the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to have several plants in your tank; this is to provide hiding places for the shrimp and baby shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plants will use some of the waste products in your tank and convert this into additional oxygen for your shrimps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to provide good lighting in your tank for the plants to produce oxygen. Good types are fluorescent light (type Grolux in your search engine or similar) or LED lighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shrimps are very sensitive for ammonia and nitrite, so this have to be kept at zero in your tank,This is why you need to cycle your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shrimps do need very little food so remember not to feed them more than 2-3 times a week. Shrimps do mostly eat waste in your tank, which are bacteria-algae-dead plants and other organic waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to do weekly water changes 10-20% each week to keep pollution to a minimum in your tank and remember to use dechlorinator water treatment (ask in the petshop for this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these are the minimum requirements for keeping shrimp in your tank and as you can see in this answer no metallic objects are in use inside the tank as almost all metals are toxic to shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T15:26:28.230" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T15:26:28.230" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-07T17:37:18.397" Score="5" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat gave birth to 3 babies. She brought the tabby out of her nest to the house and left the other two (white one and black one). The white and black ones seemed more fragile and looked more underdeveloped compared to the tabby. I'm wondering if anyone could take a peek, as I'm sure they seem premature. Their age is approximately 48 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hMvyl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZdTmi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16164" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:03:02.003" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:03:02.003" Title="Could these two of three kittens be premature?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25757" CreationDate="2019-07-07T18:06:24.667" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;They look younger than the other kitten, and this is not unusual in a litter of kittens, as the mating of cats can go on for a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing now is to get them food/ Does the mother feed them, and do they get milk from their mother?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they do not get milk, you will need to hand feed them. You will need to ask your vet for milk and bottles to feed them if they do not get milk from the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:52:39.073" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:52:39.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25757" CreationDate="2019-07-07T19:07:52.557" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call the Vet and ask for the 2 little ones to be seen just to make sure everything is ok. A nursing cat has different nutritional needs than a cat that is not nursing. The momma cat needs more protein, fat, carbs, vitamin's ect so that she and her babies can be healthy. It's important that mom gets good nutrition because that way it can help prevent different illnesses and her babies will be healthy. Make sure momma cat has plenty of fresh water available to her. One thing I would like to add and feel it's very important. Please get momma cat fixed. If your in the US, there are organizations that can help with low cost spay and neutering. I've done a lot of online reading and asking my fur kid's vet questions about cat health, life stages, nutrition and behavior and also people that I trust who have cats. Give momma cat and her babies a gentle hug and kiss for me.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16165" LastActivityDate="2019-07-07T19:07:52.557" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2019-07-08T00:32:07.877" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Going in and altering a creature's physiology for the sake of convenience was something I had to morally come to terms with.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll assume that 'convenience' in this regard specifically applies to altering a cat that will be an indoor-only pet. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Especially&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; considering a tomcat that will be outside, neutering is the only responsible choice, reducing not only procreation, but also horribly brutal fighting and miles of single-minded wandering in search of accommodating young ladies. ; ] It should be obvious that 'fixed' females guarantee a more tightly controlled population. The element of convenience for humans aside, it's also more humane for a 'kept kitty' to be sexually altered, as the urges and behavior that attend being a naturally intact cat will not disappear simply because the animal is an apartment or house dweller that hopefully never 'escapes'. Altering a pet that an owner doesn't intend to breed is an act of kindness. A mild digression: in my opinion, breeding is an ethical failure that eclipses any quandary about having a pet spayed or castrated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exponential growth of feral cat populations is mind-boggling. It's almost inconceivable how truly rapid and prolific unchecked feline reproduction is. Within a year, having up to three litters, one female cat can equate to 24 -- maybe less, maybe more. Let's assume that roughly half of her offspring are also female and then extrapolate the numbers similarly. Imagine one mother cat who has three girls, each of whom then births three girls of her own. That's thirteen female cats, possibly all born within a year, all of which will be sexually mature within a few months of birth. This is a hypothetical scenario where the mommas have no male kittens, though there are certainly plenty of boys born. The calendar keeps rolling and the inverted pyramid keeps widening. : / Many people are aware, while many more don't care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With some help I'm currently taxed in trying to manage a small fleet of furry ones from my warehouse work site, totaling about 17. This is merely one location -- a small dot on the map. I wasn't the most responsible or proactive pet owner some years back, but I stridently insist that people have companion animals of whatever degree neutered. Letting unaltered Pom-Pom or Thunderballs roam freely -- or allowing her or him out for just one evening -- can dramatically increase the 'unwanted' cat population and exacerbate significant and substantial problems for the caring people who rather selflessly try to provide for the poor urchins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16167" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T00:32:07.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-08T08:20:00.553" Score="1" ViewCount="1053" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have 4 fish in my tank, and Gypsy is my little Black Moor.&#xA;She has been quite timid at times in the tank with the others, staying in one area at times, but will come and eat when it’s feeding time with the others, or will explore where she fits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On her left side I believe there is a little white blemish, but I don’t know if that’s her scale or if it’s something else. She doesn’t seem fazed by it but has me a bit worried. Her old tank mate (black moor named Kennith) wasn’t well a while ago; he had something quite similar to ich, but as he was so small it just took over him in a few days, and I don’t want the same thing happening here. But I’m not sure if it is me being paranoid as I removed her while he was being treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just two days ago, I moved Gypsy into this new tank with her new mates and all seems well, bar this feeling I have about that blemish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the photo below you can see a little bubble white blemish thing on her side. Might need to zoom in best photo I could get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on what I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tank temperature is at 24.8 C - just over a 100 L tank with U2 filter and two air stone pumps and heater.&#xA;Other fish mates are two other telescopes (Magma and Shark Bait) and a regular fancy goldfish (named Flash).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UvfWj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16170" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-08T13:37:50.710" LastActivityDate="2020-08-08T00:02:25.240" Title="Is this white spot on my Black Moor something I should be concerned about?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25726" CreationDate="2019-07-08T11:53:53.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Buy another scratching post, this one should be more expensive than the first one. Then he will start using the cheap scratching post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jokes aside, you can't tell a cat what to do. What has helped me over the years is, putting some catnip over the post, so it feels more appealing to the cat. Also, try scratching the post yourself and whenever he uses it, try to rub him, or give him a treat, this will help him learn that its nice to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even now that my cat uses his post everyday, I try to give him some nice words when I see him do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also help putting the post near his sleep place, at least my cat, always scratches after waking up, so making it the first thing he sees when he wakes up, makes it easier for him to reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I've read about, but never tried personally, is spraying some lemon aroma around the furniture where you want to keep your cat away. Cats don't usually like lemon and will stay away from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10030" LastEditorUserId="10030" LastEditDate="2019-07-08T12:08:08.670" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T12:08:08.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-08T15:40:44.093" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know how to make a ladder easy for my hermit crabs to climb to get to their hammock. What's the best way to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15875" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-08T16:26:02.927" LastActivityDate="2019-07-08T16:26:02.927" Title="How to make a ladder for hermit crabs?" Tags="&lt;hermit-crabs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-09T05:35:59.753" Score="0" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0NKx0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Photo&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a day, when I turn on the fish light, I see him rush to the glass. He goes up... and does what is in the pic! He keeps getting farther and farther off of the glass!! If he falls he goes back up! I am a first time snail owner too. I have 6 flame tetras, two bottom feeders, and another apple mystery snail. They are both males(cannot mate). Please help!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16175" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2019-07-09T06:48:42.240" LastActivityDate="2019-07-09T07:49:34.300" Title="What is my apple mystery snail doing? (Male)" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25766" CreationDate="2019-07-09T06:46:19.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two possible things I can think of judging by the pic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just grabbing some air.&lt;/strong&gt; Apple snails have a kind of snorkel they use to breath air from the surface. You can see it in the right of your picture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trying to eat stuff from the water surface.&lt;/strong&gt; If you look at the water surface from an angle, you might see a thin, somewhat smeary, almost oil-like looking film on the water surface consisting of algae, bacteria, and other microorganisms. The snail tries to eat off that. Smaller snails might even be able to &quot;sail&quot; right under the surface, but adult apple snails are simply too heavy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2019-07-09T06:46:19.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25766" CreationDate="2019-07-09T07:49:34.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of water living snails have a lung and gills and the lung takes up oxygen if there is too little oxygen in the water to fully suply the snail with oxygen from the gills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look from above you will see a small hole opening in your snail where the snail breaches the surface of the water(sometimes the hole is several milimeters big)this is the lung of your snail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails have this backup so they can live in water with very little oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is normal behaviour for snails to go to the surface even in well oxygenated water,If there is very little oxygen in the water they will go to the surface more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails go to the surface to look for floating food too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-07-09T07:49:34.300" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-09T10:26:27.970" Score="1" ViewCount="5601" Body="&lt;p&gt;My new adopted cat Luna hasn’t done any of the three things listed above she’s hiding under my bed and growls and hisses whenever she sees me or my feet if she doesn’t eat within 24 hours should I be attempting to get her back in the carrier and return her? Or are there some ways I can help her other than just leaving her alone &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16176" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-07-15T13:01:04.010" LastActivityDate="2019-07-15T13:01:04.010" Title="HELP my very newly adopted cat hasn’t eaten, drinkin and pooped in the first 12 hours" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2019-07-11T14:57:05.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25769" CreationDate="2019-07-09T12:59:05.633" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is scary for a cat to come to a new place and she will need some time to get over this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place food and water close to where she is hiding,but not in a corner of the room,she does not want to be cornered when she is as scared as she is now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place her litterbox in an area where she have the option to escape in atleast two directions if possible remove the lid of the litterbox(you can move the food and litterbox after she gets more comfortable in her new home).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do your best to leave her alone for atleast two hours before you check in on her to see how she is,She needs to calm dow at her own pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will most likely eat and drink when the night comes and your house is quiet,If she does not start eating and drinking by tomorrow you need to take her to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to stress her or yourself this will end well for you and your cat,just give her the time she need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-07-09T12:59:05.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-10T04:04:05.427" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4RaIz.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4RaIz.jpg&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;(click to enlarge)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been seeing these around my tank, above the waterline! They move and duplicate if cut in half. They do NOT have a triangle head. If they get in the water they are light pink and they squirm around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are not many around the tank. Just a couple above the waterline, and on the lid - that is, if I see them I get them out as soon as possible! Are they going to kill my fish? I have 6 flame tetras, 2 apple mystery snails and 2 bottom feeders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there’s a over growth of green algae, just splotches of green on the walls, I have a scrubber, but it keeps growing. Help me please!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16175" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T15:18:54.980" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T22:01:05.943" Title="What are these?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-10T08:00:24.293" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to live in an apartment with two cats, they’ve never been outdoors, do you think is wise to let them out now that I live in a standalone house with a garden ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16183" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T16:17:05.873" Title="Letting indoor cats out for the first time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25781" CreationDate="2019-07-10T08:44:54.047" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 5.5y pug had died after his anesthesia started taking effect. He was there for Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome, and seemed healthy otherwise. He had removed few bad teeth 4 months ago with all the blood test being perfectly normal.&#xA;On clinic, they did &quot;full workout&quot; testing and x-rayed his chest. All fine.&#xA;The theory is, he was living with heavy oxygen debt and anesthesia slowing him down was simply too much. But looking at the invoice and quick call back there, the clinic didn't do any blood tests. They claim it's not a standard procedure and while I understand my knowledge is limited, it's killing me that could perhaps show something and prevent him undergoing the anesthesia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How important a blood work is? Could it warn about low oxygenation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Clinic has explained a blood testing was deemed not needed according to their extensive practice and what they learned about him from other tests. Their original &quot;he seemed healthy&quot; was indeed backed up strongly when described in detail.&#xA;They did experience a few similar cases but there's still no clue what are the indicators to look for, except all were brachycephalic dog breeds.  Blood test wouldn't help with oxygen level. (see the accepted answer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3177" LastEditorUserId="3177" LastEditDate="2019-07-11T14:32:01.393" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T14:32:01.393" Title="How important is bloodwork before anesthesia?" Tags="&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;purebred&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25772" CreationDate="2019-07-10T11:08:26.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like some type of leech and there are about 500 types that live in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them feed on the body fluids of snails and others feed on body fluids of fish or other animals that live in or come in contact with water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to identify it from your picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is it might be a type of nematode. Some can be parasites of fish, while others live off bacteria and organic waste or on plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody knows how many types of nematodes there are on our planet, but it is more than 2270 types on land and in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, but it is not possible to identify it without a lot more information. For now, I suggest you remove the ones you see and vacuum the gravel every time you do the weekly water changes (to get rid of the ones living in the gravel/sand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some predatory fish will eat them, so it is possible to get rid of the problem in a natural way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-08T22:01:05.943" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T22:01:05.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-10T13:45:25.143" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently stumbled upon two litters of kittens and a couple of adult cats on my way home. The kittens are not of nursing age and some approach me without issue when I offer food. I started feeding them in the location I would find them as I headed to my own home but now I am hoping to get them to my yard for safer and regular feeding purposes. If all goes well I would even like to try TNR. How can I get the cats to follow me to my home or to recognize my yard as their feeding space when I have already started providing food in the one location? How can I be sure they will find me instead of thinking I just stopped feeding them, when I really just changed spaces? I haven't been doing this for very long so it may be easier to change spaces sooner than later. I just do not know how. My home is about two blocks over from the current spot I see the cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or advice is appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16185" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T17:08:38.760" Title="Moving Stray Cats Feed Location A Couple of Blocks Over" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-10T15:01:39.350" Score="1" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EnbHD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a young mini-pig&lt;/a&gt; (he'll be about 8 months old when we're thinking of doing this). We're looking at taking a vacation in the future that would give us a chance to take him for walks on the beach. However, we're a little worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that &lt;a href=&quot;https://americanminipigassociation.com/mini-pig-health/salt-toxicity-in-mini-pigs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sodium can be deadly for pigs&lt;/a&gt;. And what place has more sodium than the beach and ocean?! Our little guy &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; to root everything, so I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up swallowing some dirt and water--which I know will be chalk full with salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this be alright for him at 8 months? Or is it a better idea to avoid the beach entirely? Is there an age we should wait for to take him to something like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16187" LastEditorUserId="16187" LastEditDate="2019-07-11T22:02:22.537" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T22:02:22.537" Title="Can I take my mini-pig to the beach?" Tags="&lt;travel&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25777" CreationDate="2019-07-10T17:07:18.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, it's not contact with the salt that is dangerous to them, it is ingesting it. I'm pretty sure they have the sense to not drink enough of the sea water to do damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of pigs coming to harm due to proximity to the ocean. In fact, there is an island in the Bahamas that is home to pigs that swim in the ocean with tourists (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Beach&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Beach&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some things that I'd be concerned about. Such as laws which would prevent pigs on the beach. Or the piggy having adequate protection from the sun, and access to fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10413" LastActivityDate="2019-07-10T17:07:18.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25807" CreationDate="2019-07-10T20:07:21.053" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Late last night, I noticed ich on my neons. I bought medicine, but before I added it I noticed that it was not suitable for frogs and snails. I had some de-chlorinated water handy, so I dumped the frogs and snail in a vase with the water for the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, I have bought a new, larger tank. I want to put the frog and snails in there while the fish are being treated. When the fish are done being treated, I will move them to the larger tank as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, right now I have two frogs and a snail in uncycled water. How can I safely and quickly establish the new tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have a neighbor with a goldfish, I could borrow some water, but don't know what might be in their tank. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have bacteria supplement from top fin, but I think that only has the nitrite eating bacteria, not the ammonia eating bacteria.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe I just need to go buy a instant starter from the pet&#xA;store, but am not sure if I am overreacting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16188" LastActivityDate="2019-07-13T22:53:30.123" Title="ADF and Mystery Snail Emergency Tank Transfer" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25774" CreationDate="2019-07-11T04:38:41.407" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where i live bloodwork is not done before surgery unless there is a medical condition that needs to be confirmed or excluded that might affect the outcome of the surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-checkups-preventive-care/why-does-my-dog-need-blood-work-anesthesia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-checkups-preventive-care/why-does-my-dog-need-blood-work-anesthesia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bloodwork will not show low oxygen and if it does it is just a picture of oxygen saturation at the exact moment in time when the sample was taken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When surgery is done the vet will use a clip-on electronic oxygen meter to monitor the animal,This is the same type of equipment that is used on people in hospitals and it shows oxygen-saturation and heart rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oxygen meter is used so the vet can monitor your pets vitalsigns continously during the surgery and failing to do so is the main reason for deaths under anesthesia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link: &lt;a href=&quot;https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/anesthetic-monitoring-your-questions-answered/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/anesthetic-monitoring-your-questions-answered/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A blood sample can show if your pet have an allergy to any of the medication used during surgery,But the bloodwork needs to be done well before any surgery is sheduled so the vet can get the results back from the lab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-07-11T04:54:12.783" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T04:54:12.783" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25773" CreationDate="2019-07-11T14:33:41.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be fine. With my cats, we kept them in the new home for a few weeks so they could get used to the new surroundings and watch through the windows, and let them out a little later. All went fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, some cats might not want to go out after being inside for their whole lives, and they should obviously not be forced out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could start by going outside with them together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16191" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T14:33:41.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25779" CreationDate="2019-07-11T15:29:36.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the medicated water and the neighbor's water both might bring undesirable consequences, and we don't have another trusted aquarium to provide water, I will suggest that you can mitigate the effects of the new cycle by changing water very regularly, for example 50% every single day. (with dechlorinator)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way any explosion of ammonia will be managed and the water should remain clean. With a filter and some plants, some kind of cycle should start within some days, but it will take some time before it's established. You can measure the parameters of ammonia nitrites and nitrates very often also and change some water when you notice a spike. Don't overfeed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most dangerous thing you can do is to not change the water for an extended period of time, and then the water might become very cloudy very fast as there will be a bloom of bacteria or ammonia. Keep the pure, clean tap water coming in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tldr; compensate with A LOT of water changes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also a heater might be needed to keep the temperature stable in this scenario&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-07-11T18:19:59.780" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T18:19:59.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-11T15:40:53.490" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a ground floor flat. My cat has demonstrated that she is well able to come and go through any open window in my flat - even the high one at the top of the window frame. Sometimes, however, she will sit (or lay) on the ground just outside the living room window and cry for attention. If I go all the way outside, she generally bolts inside. If I go to the window and get her attention she just continues to cry at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She knows how to come back in so what is she asking for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2857" LastEditorUserId="2857" LastEditDate="2019-07-17T11:26:59.100" LastActivityDate="2019-07-17T11:26:59.100" Title="Why does my cat cry outside the window when it is open enough for her to come inside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25779" CreationDate="2019-07-11T15:44:47.050" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Manuki and I'd also add a few other things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The amount of ammonia in the water will depend on how much the inhabitants are producing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're feeding very sparsely, they'll produce less ammonia. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A snail and some smallish frogs should be relatively low impact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The more water you can put them in the better (for stability and for soiling).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you're testing the water every day too. The initial signs of ammonia poisoning can be subtle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had limited success with 'instant starters'. Best thing to do is borrow already established filter media from another healthy tank (although I realise this isn't an option for you).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finally&lt;/strong&gt;, it's worth noting that the beneficial bacteria almost exclusively live on the solid surfaces of the tank (filter media within the filter for example) and is not normally free floating, borrowing water from someone else is unlikely to yield you any results and, as noted by Manuki, more likely to cause you issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T15:44:47.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-11T18:45:30.767" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cockatiels are both pied and have tried once already to lay eggs and killed them all. Now, a new one is here and it is day 2. They stopped feeding him and hes been chirping for quite some time and I'm very concerned. What do I do to save the little guy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16193" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T18:45:30.767" Title="How do I encourage my cockatiels to feed their babies when they will just only sit on them?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-11T22:14:52.247" Score="1" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats that have lived with me for 6 years, and a third that has been with me for 2 years, all were kittens when I got them, and they each adjusted to each other well enough. A couple of months ago, I took in 2 more adult cats, who are also 6 years old, and have lived together their whole lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two new cats are ganging up to bully the youngest cat, threatening and chasing her away from the food and litter boxes. The young cat will then run away, and I have to call her for a couple days to get her to come back. When she comes back, I separate the new cats to keep them away from her, but she is scared and agitated for a day or two before calming down, and it seems like this situation is starting to drive her feral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking at ways I can keep them permanently separated, but I feel that this isn't an ideal solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some ways I can discourage the bullying, and help the younger cat feel more secure and that she belongs at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T19:33:20.013" Title="Two cats ganging up to bully another" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25788" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-11T22:24:39.077" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wild, muscovy ducks prefer to nest in tree cavities 10-65 feet above ground. From observing my domesticated muscovys, the mothers do not feed the ducklings, but take them out grazing. I would like to build them some elevated nest boxes that mimic their preferred nesting habitat as much as possible. How do the ducklings get in and out of an elevated nest in the wild?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T22:24:39.077" Title="How do wild muscovy ducklings get in and out of an elevated nest?" Tags="&lt;ducks&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-11T23:23:49.997" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;So i got 3 bonded pet rats, over the past week, 2 of the three killed and ate the smallest rat, (i had thought he escaped for 4 days)(iv had them for 7 months) who had trouble putting on weight  (fed separately) but lived in cage with them, however last night the last 2 rats turnd on eachother and one killed the other and started to eat the other before i woke up and was like WTF? anyways, the last rat, wich killed 2 of its companions and ate them. (Note that there was food in the cage when they did so) should i put him down or try bonding him to a new rat in hope ot gose well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16195" LastActivityDate="2019-07-11T23:23:49.997" Title="Should i get a new companion for my rat or? (Graphic)" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-12T06:03:20.057" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 29 gallon aquarium with 6 flame tetras, 2 smaller mystery apple snails and 2 other bottom feeders (brown, spotted, with dorsal spike and main fin spikes). Usually I see my 6 flame tetras cooped up in the low corners of my tank. The water temperature is perfect, and I am working hard to get the perfect pH level, but when I look at my fish, they’re always either low and close to the walls, or lower and in the 2 back corners! Are they OK? They sometimes swim in the open, but for a short amount of time. Please help! I love my fish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My nitrate and nitrite levels are both 0 (safe on the test strip), my water hardness is hard because I have well water, my alkalinity level is 300 (not safe on the test strip), my pH is 8.4 (not safe either); that’s why I’m using Easy Balance Plus, once a week to help keep my fish safe!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I obviously have a heater, thermometer, and filter. My filter is called Aqueon and it is only for 10 gallon tanks. I have had my tank sense March 29th. I clean my tank once a week, that includes turning up the gravel. However, once a month I will deep clean; that includes taking the decor out, and really washing all of the gunk off (I always turn up the gravel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lLScx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lLScx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16175" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T04:28:52.510" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T04:38:14.013" Title="Why are my 6 flame tetras not swimming like normal?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2931" CreationDate="2019-07-12T13:45:17.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For cats and dogs in Norway to donate blood the criteria are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cats&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Age 1-6 years old (must have started donating blood before the age of 4 years old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At least 5 kg body mass, but not overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Healthy and not using any medication (deworming and medication against parasites is OK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Preferably indoor cats only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not have antibodies against FIP/FIV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not pregnant or planning to have kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vaccines need to be up to date, needs to be dewormed regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: your cat will get a free yearly check-up, including bloodwork for the period it donates blood. The cat gives 40-50ml blood each time, is under anesthesia during this and will be kept at the clinic until awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dogs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Age 1-6 years old, healthy and fully vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Needs to be calm and well balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At least 27 kg body mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Blood values (hematocrit) above 40%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Blood preferably type negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Must not have been out of the country, not have had puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dog must not have undergone a blood transfusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: the dog gives 450ml each time and it takes 5-10 minutes, with check-up it takes 30 minutes in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources for this information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;in Norwegian: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.anicura.no/tjenester/blodgiving-hund/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.anicura.no/tjenester/blodgiving-hund/&lt;/a&gt; they have clinics in ten countries;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;in English: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.anicuragroup.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.anicuragroup.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T21:36:19.273" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T21:36:19.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25773" CreationDate="2019-07-12T16:17:05.873" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not a good idea to let your cats outdoors. Cats face a multitude of threats outdoors: FelV, FIV, other species, worms, ticks, fleas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our shelter does not adopt out to people who say they are going to let the cat outdoors unless the cat is a &quot;barn buddy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/whats-normal-indoor-cat-lifespan-10139.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.thenest.com/whats-normal-indoor-cat-lifespan-10139.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16198" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T16:17:05.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25787" CreationDate="2019-07-12T16:21:58.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing to try is to set up a private space for the cat being bullied. A box or something like that where none of the others is allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16198" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T16:21:58.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2019-07-12T16:31:31.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are usually unaware of unintentional injuries that they cause other people. A problem we frequently encounter at the shelter is cats who like to nibble. Sometimes a friendly nibble unintentionally becomes a bite (and a 2-week quarantine). Cats frequently jump to get from point-A to point-B and will land on an intervening human, causing scratches. Also, quite frequently, cats will be sitting on a lap when something spooks them. Claws come out, the cat runs, and scratch ensues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have to address the underlying behaviors. Let cats know that nibbling and pouncing are no-nos. And do the best we can to keep them from being spooked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never seen a sign that cats that cause such injuries know that they have done it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16198" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T16:31:31.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25796" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-12T17:07:25.763" Score="1" ViewCount="1551" Body="&lt;p&gt;So 2 days ago we cleaned the tank, all fish were fine. It took 24 hours for the water to clear up and all the fish were still fine, but I noticed a piece of fish poop stuck to the head of my baby oranda. It was definitely NOT an infection, it was just a floaty fish poop partially stuck on his wen and partially floating. I would have liked to remove it as it didn’t look very good but I’m not good with handling fish and figured it would just wash off on its own and went to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then, today I wake up and go to feed my fish but &lt;strong&gt;my baby's entire wen was gone! It literally looks like his head exploded!&lt;/strong&gt; It’s not just a piece as I’ve seen in other injury cases, this fish's entire wen is gone! There are fleshy bits, I see blood and basically inside his head. I will attempt to add a picture. I have never had a sick fish, I have had sick sharks but that was some kind of parasite and we put medications in the water to save them. This time there was no infection or sickness, he was fine now his wen is just GONE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called the pet store but the guy was a jerk and told me it was not fish poop stuck to his head, but it was an infection - um, sorry, no - I saw the fish all day and every day leading up to this, he had no infection. He is my favourite fish at the moment - the poop had only just got stuck to his head, which is incredibly concerning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a pretty big gold fish in the tank with my smaller guys, some of the smaller ones were actually feeder fish my son won at a fair and out of 9 we were able to keep 5 alive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think my large goldfish thought the poop was a worm and but off my other fish' wen! It was literally dancing around his head like a worm would and we all know fish accidentally bite at poop thinking it’s food. The pet store guy said he didn’t believe me and that fish will attack sick fish, well yes I do believe that but my fish was NOT SICK! And they also will bite at a worm or fish poop! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, bottom line is I NEED help! How can I help this fish, he must be in so much pain (I’m actually crying) it’s so sad just to see him, I read that I need to make him a hospital tank and put iodine in the water. But I don’t know how much and I'm afraid to stress him further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I’m also afraid to keep him with the big one now as the fleshy bits are now floating around where his wen ripped off so I’m afraid the big fish might think it’s food again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, I’m rambling, but please tell me if you have heard of this before. I have had orandas before but I have never had one with an injured wen. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated. I would even give him away if I knew someone else could give him better care, I love him so much. I’m afraid to give him to a pet shop though as they might just let him die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ysON2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16199" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T14:42:36.073" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T14:42:36.073" Title="My goldfish's entire wen is gone, please help me!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25776" CreationDate="2019-07-12T17:08:38.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest trapping as soon as possible. In the case of the kittens, the younger they start getting human interaction, the easier it will be to get them adopted—meaning the sooner they can be adopted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adoptability drops with age. 8-week old kittens get adopted before the  12-week old kittens. 9 month old kittens are old cats as far as adoption goes. The kittens will likely need fostering before they can go up for adoption. Count on 2-4 weeks for that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus, by 16-24 weeks, the kittens can start making more kittens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's rare that kittens have to be TNRed. I can only think of one kitten that was so nasty that we were going to TRN him. In that case I caved in and &quot;fostered&quot; him for two years and adopted him last week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of the adults, they may or may not need to be TNRed. That depends upon how wild they are and the resources available. We have cats that have come from colonies that are immediately ready to go into homes (after medical). Frequently, such cats are just afraid of people and can be made adoptable by getting them used to us. Then we have others that take a lot more time and patience but are adoptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As my previous anecdote suggests, my house is filled with TNR candidates.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As how to go about trapping, you need to find a rescue group that will work with stray cats. In some places municipal &quot;animal control&quot; means just that. Our shelter is a rare one that does animal control but does not euthanize viable (as in physically survivable) animals (e.g., excludes blindness, FIV, FELV, diabetes). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be able to find obtain the placement rate of a shelter. It should be over 90–95% for cats. If 1-in 10 to 20 cats not surviving sounds high, you have to considers that most litters of kittens have at least one that does not make it. (Dog placement rates tend to be higher than cat because of the lack of a TNR alternative.) Many shelters have placement rates below 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16198" LastActivityDate="2019-07-12T17:08:38.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25838" CreationDate="2019-07-12T17:30:10.780" Score="2" ViewCount="632" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1699/13&quot;&gt;spay and release programs&lt;/a&gt; cats are returned to the same location they were found in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine that in some cases the original area is undesirable.  In this case is it possible to release the feral cat in a new area, allowing it to remain feral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so what is required to keep the cat in the general area of release?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My basic line of thought is that, there are no outdoor cats in our neighborhood and I would be willing to provide food and shelter if a captured feral needed a new location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-07-18T12:59:22.513" Title="Can feral cats be moved?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-12T19:35:59.403" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So currently we have a puppy that is approaching 6 months of age and is a Miniature Golden Doodle. Both my wife and myself work jobs where we will be both be gone for about 8 hours a day so we have had a dog walker come half way during the day to let our puppy out for half an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently she does wonderfully in terms of potty training. She has never had an accident in her crate and hasn't had an accident in the house in a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So obviously a dog walker costs money so what is a good way to transition away from a dog walker and at what age? (i.e. do task A when puppy is 6 months old, task B when puppy is 8 months old, etc.) We definitely don't want to ruin our success with potty training at all or create any separation anxiety if she has to be alone for a long time such as 8 hours.  Any suggestions are welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-30T12:50:06.700" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T12:50:06.700" Title="How to transition away from dog walker?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-13T00:08:18.310" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;it’s kinda hard to see, but my flame tetras is super small! I do not know the gender of all of my fish, but 5 of my tetras are roughly the same size, but my 6’th one is really small. When I feed them, the big 5 are the only ones to get food really, but when the 6’th one has a chance, one of the big 5 nil his fin. Even when the small one gets food, he either spits it out or never eats it,(by biting it but not swallowing) I don’t want him to starve! Please help! (&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R02Vm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R02Vm.jpg&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16175" LastActivityDate="2019-07-13T00:08:18.310" Title="Why is he so small?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25798" CreationDate="2019-07-13T03:10:45.920" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If so what is required to keep the cat in the general area of release?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, it is food and shelter. If the cat can find everything it needs where it is released, it is unlikely to go very far. The new location also needs to have things that would not scare off the cats, such as other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you were to put up a cat shelter and cat food, there is a good chance you would attract ferals from your neighborhood that are already there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16198" LastEditorUserId="5831" LastEditDate="2019-07-18T01:03:55.303" LastActivityDate="2019-07-18T01:03:55.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25790" CreationDate="2019-07-13T06:19:06.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do when you do the regular water changes is to replace part of your well water with bottled water - demineralized water or distilled water (to get the pH and hardness down). You might try 50% well water and 50% bottled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to stop using Easy Balance Plus and replace this with AquaSafe or another type of water treatment (Easy Balance Plus brings the pH up and you need to get the pH down into the 7,5 range).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your filter needs to be upgraded to one that is appropriate for the size of your tank; your tank is 100 liters, so you need to get a filter for a 150-200 liters tank to be safe it can handle the waste products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do the water changes, use an aquarium vacuum to clean the gravel once a month. You do not need to clean the decorations unless they look dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your filter does only need to be cleaned when you can see reduced waterflow from it (it works best if there is some gunk in it). Use water from your tank when you clean the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When/if you change the filter to a new one, you need to run both filters in parallel for at least two weeks to seed the new filter with nitrifying bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your next water changes need to be done like this: change 10% water weekly, replace with bottled-demineralized-distilled water only (you can use rain water too if you live in an unpolluted area, but this is risky). Another option is to buy reverse osmosis water (demineralized water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have replaced 50% of the water after five weeks, you continue the changes by using 50/50% well/bottled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have lots of plants in a well illuminated tank, you can cut down on the water changes, but you will need to cut back the plants from time to time (keep an eye on the nitrate and change water if it goes up to 20 mg/l).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;REMEMBER: ALL CHANGES IN WATER PARAMETERS NEED TO BE GRADUAL so your fish can adapt to the new conditions. And you need to adjust the % of well/bottled water to fit your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not answer the fish part of your question here directly, but the thing is: if your water quality is good, your fish will be fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T04:38:14.013" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T04:38:14.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25779" CreationDate="2019-07-13T22:53:30.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Manuki and Henders have both provided great advice. I was concerned I needed to act fast, so I made an executive decision before they had responded. However, I think the decision I made is reflected in their advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a bottle of the Top Fin Bacteria Supplement. I put that in the vase to help break down the ammonia that was building up in their vase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took many hours, but I got the new 30 gallon tank set up that night. Since I figured since the tank was so large for two frogs and a snail, that if there was any nitrite or nitrate build up it would be relatively small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been testing the water daily since, and have not seen any nitrite build up. Now that it has been a few days, I will add the bacteria supplement to start breaking down the little bit of waste that is now in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps anybody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16188" LastActivityDate="2019-07-13T22:53:30.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-14T10:19:33.180" Score="0" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9737/why-did-my-established-pond-suddenly-have-a-mass-death-event?newreg=49031231881e487887c3c12980afe8cf&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; question, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10321/why-did-all-45-goldfish-and-2-mosquitos-in-my-1600-gallon-pond-suddenly-overni&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; one, about goldfish/pond life suddenly dying. These situations are similar, but not identical to my own, and so I'm not sure whether this question is a duplicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We came back from a weeklong holiday yesterday, and had a look in our pond. We were happy to see that our two adult goldfish, and their four new babies were doing rather well. We pulled out quite a lot of pond weed, and topped up the pond with water from the hose. We also sprayed some of the surrounding plants with the hose, and some of the water may have run off into the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have woken up this morning to find all the fish dead, overnight. There were several tiny fish which we hadn't noticed (they look like recently hatched eggs) which are also dead - around 7 total in all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could have caused this? Reading around, it looks as though we may have had an issue with oxygen in the water - my intuition tells me that topping the pond up and pulling out (admittedly a lot of) pond weed shouldn't have caused a problem like that, but is that right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks almost as if the fish were all electrocuted, but our pond also contains rather a lot of water snails, and they're all fine. We have in the past had several frogs residing in the pond, and there's no sign of them (either dead or alive). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pond also has a lily in it, the flowers of which were pushed under water by the filling up of the pond last night. The pond is about 1 by 2 metres. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have two cats (it seems clear that the cats didn't do this, on the basis that all the tiny fish are also dead, and the bigger fish don't look damaged physically on the outside), and whilst I don't think that they drink from the pond, I'd like to confirm that we shouldn't panic and drain the pond or anything right now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16205" LastActivityDate="2019-07-14T10:19:33.180" Title="Why did all my goldfish suddenly die?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25811" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-14T17:29:59.917" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HgNM4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bearded dragon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is Z he is in the middle of shedding but I realized a small little like black scale a couple days ago and now where that black scale was is this larger area of discoloration. Is it because of shedding or maybe because of how young (not even two months old). is it common to have an area like that for dragons or is this something to be concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16208" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T14:59:39.007" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T14:59:39.007" Title="Bearded dragon has weird mark on mouth/beard area?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25811" CreationDate="2019-07-14T18:47:36.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to a pet store and the reptile specialist said it was nothing to worry about if your bearded dragon has something like this it may have accidentally put its face in its poop or in my case gotten hornworm blood when it was eating live. If this is the case for you get a qtip (cotton swab) with warm water and try wiping it off. It may take a bit but it may eventually come off. If this doesn’t work for you I’m sorry it maybe something else. possible reason to go to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16208" LastActivityDate="2019-07-14T18:47:36.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25762" CreationDate="2019-07-14T20:27:52.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: get the readings first and fix those if needed. If it is ich, treat the tank and quarantine inhabitants for a week (preferably a month) after treatment has ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gotta confess, I can’t see the spot on the image, but I’ll tell you what I know. Meanwhile, see about getting the readings asked for in the comment above. Your local fish store might do it if you bring a sample of tank water, otherwise they’ll sell you the kits to do it yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have three other healthy fish in a properly cycled tank, there’s a good chance your water quality is ok, but do check it. Certain things (like pH) can change slowly over time so the fish &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the tank adapt but new fish cannot live there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ich (or &quot;whitespot&quot; as it’s known here) is a parasite with a lifecycle. It lives on the fish (and you can see it), then it drops off and lives in the water (leaving holes in the fish). Then it drops off and forms &quot;pustules&quot; on the ground (I’ve never seen these, just what I’ve read) which hatch and go back on the fish. You can’t kill it with the treatment unless it’s in the water (not the pustules), and that’s why some treatments say to dose on specific days. Whenever I’ve had ich, I’ve treated the whole tank, including all the older fish who, for some reason, seem immune to ich (just my observation). I’ve had instances where a new arrival gets ich and I’ve treated it and had no casualties or other instances of ich in the same tank. I’ve always quarantined for a month after treatment, and I’ve always assumed everyone was infectious even if they didn’t show symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else could it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be a bit of &quot;fish tank dust&quot; caught in her body slime. Even if she is healthy, a few tank changes are stressful, so fish will be slimy. That catches little bits of gravel or sand or plant matter. You should see that ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she’s a &quot;he&quot;, and the white is on the gill covers or on the front of the pectoral fins, then that’s breeding tubercles. They get them in summer, usually. But you don’t get these on scales. And, frankly, your fish looks a little young for these yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve seen fish get small white &quot;wen&quot; growths, but again not on scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be some other kind of parasite or fungus. A better picture would help there. But &lt;a href=&quot;https://puregoldfish.com/17-diseases-and-treatments/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; covers just about all the others that might crop up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and if you find out what it was, you can pass on your knowledge with your own answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-07-14T20:27:52.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25796" CreationDate="2019-07-14T21:01:08.123" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, breathe, it might be ok, they’re actually pretty hardy. Although it looks bad, it looks like &quot;just a flesh wound&quot; and all major organs should be intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, if a vet is an option, make a phone call and see about getting the vet to the fish. It’s often not an option, though, especially for tiny fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you want a clean, safe tank. The two biggest risk right now are infection and bullying. If you can’t have a hospital tank, the next best thing is an isolation box in your own tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if you can get a &quot;breeding box&quot; to suspend in your tank, or get a floaty plastic box and put some holes in it. I have a &quot;really useful box&quot; with some holes drilled in it as my &quot;easy isolation tank&quot;. Put the injured one in there away from any bullies (you might be able to use the box the catch him rather than net him, but minimise stress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check the water specs. They should all be good, and if not, take steps to improve them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preference would be to treat the tank with &quot;Melafix&quot; as my infection prevention of choice and save any special infection treatments for when infection actually shows up. Others on here or &lt;a href=&quot;https://puregoldfish.com/17-diseases-and-treatments/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; might be able to advise on iodine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then let time heal that. Good luck! I’ve had a fish grow back &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of fins after she was harassed by some males in the tank, so there is hope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-07-14T21:01:08.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25819" CreationDate="2019-07-15T10:50:03.927" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Situation:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We own an unneutered female rabbit, since one week she is alone because her partner died. The search for a new partner is difficult, because we want an adult neutered rabbit-man for her, dwarf, no teddy fur and no lop ears.&#xA;We have found one male rabbit, but he is unneutered.&#xA;(Searched in animal shelters and small ad) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aim:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to exclude the cause, that they absolute dislike each other, before we neuter the male. But we do not want the female to become pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question(s)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there the chance to do so? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can neutering change something, so it works before, but not after it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How big is the risk, they see and at once start to mate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual owner of the male would take him back, if the socializing do not work well. I assume neutering is not part of this. Additional I want to spare the male the neutering, if we can not keep him with our female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-07-16T05:26:58.580" LastActivityDate="2019-07-16T05:26:58.580" Title="How to socialize unneutered female and male rabbit, before or after neutering?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25818" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-15T11:22:04.307" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WELCz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please can anyone tell me if they think my platy is pregnant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16213" LastEditorUserId="16213" LastEditDate="2019-07-15T15:34:20.987" LastActivityDate="2019-07-15T15:34:20.987" Title="Can anyone tell me if the think my platy is pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-07-15T13:03:41.750" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25816" CreationDate="2019-07-15T12:19:34.007" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not put the female and male together, see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/6586/13&quot;&gt;this answer for more detail&lt;/a&gt; when the male mounts the female she will release eggs, and get pregnant. The chance of this are very high, near 100%&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are hormone changes after the surgery, it is best to wait 30 days after the surgery before introducing the rabbits to each other.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hormone change with spay/neuter can be significant, that any meetings prior to the surgery do not provide a good gauge, for future meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On occasion, brother and sister rabbits who have always lived together will start fighting and need to be separated permanently after spay/neuter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-07-15T13:03:05.143" LastActivityDate="2019-07-15T13:03:05.143" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2931" CreationDate="2019-07-15T14:07:49.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For cats and dogs in Germany:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals can give blood in any animal clinic and at most vets, the conditions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;up to date with vaccinations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no worms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;checked for ticks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no animals that take certain medication&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no animals from southern countries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no animals that have been pregnant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no animals that have received a blood donation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Age between 1 and 7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;weigh more than 25kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;patient character, has to lie still for ca. 10 mins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;will donate 250-400ml&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Age between 1 and 9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;weigh more than 4kg&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;patient character, most cats receive a calming injection though if the owner agrees&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;will donate 10ml per kg of weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think when choosing an emergency clinic, go for proximity first. If there are several close by it might depend on the time of the emergency. If they have blood at the given time or if a blood donor can come in. If you want to prepare choose a clinic and talk to them beforehand and also check out the blood type of your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.anicura.de/wissensbank/allgemeines-tierarten-ubergreifend/blutspende-beim-tier/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anicura Klinik - Blood donations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/kliniken/we20/blutspendedienst/blutspendedienst_hunde/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;University Berlin - Blood donations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2019-07-16T06:05:23.553" LastActivityDate="2019-07-16T06:05:23.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20984" CreationDate="2019-07-15T16:52:49.447" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a reason cat owners are urged to keep their pets indoors or in a secure, screened in area.  Husband and I have four cats and have a sturdy screened in porch that the cats have access to as well as the humans.  We never let our pets outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cattery owners have put cat proof tops on their fences to let their cats roam outside but not escape from the fenced area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could start with keeping your dog indoors and accompanying him on walks so that he can &quot;do his business.&quot;  This will defuse the situation immediately while you find a better solution.  Is there something in your yard that the cat wants?  Do you put water out for the dog or food?  Have you moved in recently?  Perhaps the previous owners fed the cat and now he's coming back to his old home?  Unfixed feral male cats can be quite territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best bet?  Call and arrange for a vet that will fix and vaccinate this cat, often ASPCA or Humane Society have free spay and neuter.  Borrow a trap from your local Humane Society and bait with tuna.  Catch the cat and get him fixed.  Release the cat near your house.  This might be all it takes.&#xA;If the cat returns your only options are to cat proof your yard, keep your dog indoors, or let your dog out only when supervised.&#xA;I would suggest viewing youtube videos to see how others have cat proofed their yards.  It might not have to be as secure and just a deterrent like hardware cloth attached to the top of the fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16216" LastActivityDate="2019-07-15T16:52:49.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-16T05:08:21.370" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;The guy at petsmart told me if I used the bacteria-established cartridge filter from my existing tank in the filter of the new one for a few days, it would help set up the bacteria (this is all before adding livestock of course). Problem is that my existing cartridge filter doesn't fit in my new filter for the new tank. Would transferring one of the pieces of decor from my existing tank (that has growth on it) work the same way? Or not at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16217" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T07:41:53.307" Title="Setting up new fish tank for new fish - will using decor from my existing tank help spur the bacteria growth process?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;decorations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25824" CreationDate="2019-07-16T13:56:08.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, moving some of your decorations to the new  tank will help seed the new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to use one that have as large a surface area as possible. The two types of bacteria are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrobacter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosomonas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, they live on every surface of your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; is a genus of aerobic bacteria and &lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; is a genus of anaerobic bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nitrosomonas&lt;/em&gt; live directly on the surfaces in your tank. They do not need oxygen and on top of them &lt;em&gt;Nitrobacter&lt;/em&gt; live - they use oxygen and protect the underlying bacteria from the oxygen in the water (this is why it takes time to cycle a tank, the two bacteria types are dependent on each other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the decorations do not dry out the bacteria will survive. But they still need time to spread and multiply in your new tank to be able to handle the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember to use dechlorinator before you add the decorations with the bacteria in your new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use lava rock or zeolite (for fish tanks) as decoration or in your filter, you will always have a supply of bacteria you can use to start a new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T07:41:53.307" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T07:41:53.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25824" CreationDate="2019-07-16T15:51:31.400" Score="4" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Hurray! Good advice from a pet store!&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yep, they are right. The easiest way to quickly get the cycle running in a new tank is to use existing bacteria that is already on the filter or surfaces on the tank. Unless there's any health concerns with your original tank, there's no reason not to transfer them across. After all, you did all the hard work cultivating the bacteria the first time, why not make it a little easier this time, eh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Additional Notes:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You say that the cartridge doesn't fit in the other tank but if you can get it to sit in a place of reasonable flow within the new tank, there's no reason that you can't leave it outside the filtration mechanism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remember, you'll still want to be doing regular water parameter tests in the early days to ensure that the bacteria has established itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to 'feed' your bacteria - They'll need some ammonia to chew on while they're getting established. You could chuck a flake or two in which will decompose and create ammonia.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As @trondHansen points out, the bigger the decoration! You could even bring some substrate (gravel / sand) if you have some easily to hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-07-16T15:51:31.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-16T19:11:09.137" Score="0" ViewCount="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;My chi (10yrs) developed kidney failure, and Dr's said he is a miracle because I've been keeping him alive for 3 yrs. I give sub q IV lactated ringers 3xwk, give Phosphorous reducing med, and make homemade renal diet. Refuses to eat any ready made commercial renal food. Will starve himself before he will eat it. Lately, he is finicky with any food and eating very little. He is very thin. What can I feed him? He doesn't act ill at all and Dr's are amazed with him, and he always rallies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16221" LastActivityDate="2019-07-16T19:11:09.137" Title="Help with kidney failure in dogs/not eating" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-16T19:44:43.743" Score="2" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so I bought my ball python about 5 days ago from a reptile show. He is a one month old and the breeder told me he was due to eat today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seemed very interested at first and struck, but he missed. He then would not strike again. So I left it in his cage and it's still there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very concerned this is my first snake so I've never been in this situation before. Any help would be very appreciated thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16222" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:30:24.247" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T00:01:55.167" Title="Is my ball python hungry or not?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25667" CreationDate="2019-07-17T04:58:32.343" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a bird feeder near kitty's favorite window is a great way to stimulate the mind. It gives something to focus on and get excited about, and you may even catch kitty chirping. A fish tank may also be exciting for kitty to watch, just make sure it is well secured from your furry friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16225" LastActivityDate="2019-07-17T04:58:32.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2019-07-17T06:52:47.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;h2&gt;When to start worrying?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends at bit on the animal. If they are adult, they can easily go a few months without food. At some point they might start losing weight. Even then, they should be fine until they really become thin. Snakes have a very flexible digestion system, allowing for long times without food. Once the snake becomes so thin that its spine forms a ridge (rather than being encapsulated with muscle), that's the moment to start worrying. With adults, it can easily be half a year or longer before it gets to this point. The seasonal hunger strike isn't any danger for that really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For babies, it's a bit different, because they don't have the reserves adults have, and they need the food to grow. Even then, they can survive longer without food than you might expect. I would say a month or 2 really should be the time to start worrying though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2019-07-17T06:52:47.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25837" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-18T02:24:55.390" Score="3" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 20 gallon tank is 6 months old. I haven't had too many problems with it, just a few diatoms 2 months into cycling it. I added 4 Serpae tetras, a Golden algae eater, 2 shrimp and an Assassin snail over a period of 5 months (Assassin to control the smaller snails). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I gradually added various plants, but they have all, except for a few, slowly died, turning brown then black.&lt;/em&gt; The plants surviving do grow and have roots, but they look weak and scraggly. I have an Anubis which is hanging on and Java moss (which brought the snails, thanks to the store). I had a Japanese lily which I found beautiful when it was healthy but had to remove it, as it developed spindly growth and plenty of water roots, even though it was planted in the substrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish are doing well but the plants always look yellowing, transparent and have a weird crunchy feeling to them. I have a fine, natural gravel substrate of 2 inches and add liquid plant food twice a month. I do regular water changes and trim the growth, removing dead leaves. The little white snails don't seem to eat the plants but rather the algae. I was giving my tank 10-12 hours of light a day but reduced it to 8-10 hrs given that I started to have fine hair-like algae growth on the plants, appearing to strangle them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had my parameters regularly tested at the fish store and all is in the norm. The water has a pH of 7.5. I originally had bogwood in it to reduce the pH but it turned the water a dark brown in spite of regularly changing the carbon filter, so I removed the wood. I have since added 2 clown loaches to control the snails, but my biggest concern are the plants! Any ideas would be greatly welcome as to the mystery of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could be wrong with my plants? They all tend to look mummified and sickly.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16141" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-12T17:27:20.017" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T18:06:15.680" Title="Why do my aquarium plants appear like they are mummified?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25798" CreationDate="2019-07-18T10:19:05.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several references indicate rehoming feral cats is difficult and puts the cat(s) at risk.  Rehoming should be a last choice.  Once moved, they need to be kept contained for days to weeks until they identify with the new territory and will not try to return to the old territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the most concise references I found for rehoming ferals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relocating feral and outdoor cats is not as easy as physically placing them in their new outdoor home. Cats are very territorial, and if you simply place them in a new location, they will try to find their way back to where they came from, often times killing themselves in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, feral and outdoor cats can be acclimated to a new territory fairly easy and in a short amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place the cat in a large cage or kennel within the building they will be calling home.  Give the cat a small towel lined carrier with the door held open with a small bungee cord, food and water, and a litter box.  Clay litter is better than clumping in this environment, as clumping litter can get wet or in the water bowl, making a sticky mess that is more difficult to clean up.  See diagram of rehoming cage set up here:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.carolsferals.org/setting-up-a-rehoming-cage/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rehoming cage set up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clean the litter box and give fresh food and water daily. This can easily be done by closing the cat inside the carrier (the one you have bungeed open) to keep the cat safe while you are tending to its needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After 2-3 weeks, you can open the cage door. Food and water should be kept both inside and outside of the cage. Once the cats leave, they may never want to go back into the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After two more weeks, the cats should be comfortable in their new home and the cage and supplies can be taken away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Caring for your barn cat is as easy as providing fresh food and water daily. Some barn cat caregivers keep litter pans inside their barns, but often are rarely used. Never rely on outdoor cats to sustain themselves on rodents alone, they need a nutrient rich diet to sustain a healthy life.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.carolsferals.org/free-resources-on-feline-overpopulation/rehoming-barn-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes feral cats can be rehomed, but it is a long difficult process for the people and the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.carolsferals.org/free-resources-on-feline-overpopulation/rehoming-barn-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rehoming Barn Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.alleycat.org/community-cat-care/relocation-the-last-resort/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Relocation: A Last Resort&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://resources.bestfriends.org/article/relocating-feral-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Relocating Feral Cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-07-18T12:59:22.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25844" CreationDate="2019-07-19T01:39:52.020" Score="0" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting back into hunting. Mainly as a way to more ethically source meat, my dogs love antlers too. I imagine they will love animal pelts/hides as well (which is my worry). I will be hunting elk this year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My intentions are to tan the hide of the elk I shoot this year, should I be so lucky. I'd like to use the hide as a rug in our house, and I am certain my dogs will try to chew on it at some point, if not eat portions of it. Is there a hair-on tanning method that is pet friendly? It is important to me to make use of as much of the animal as possible, so I'd like to find a way to utilize the hide, but also not hurt my dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer: Based on the answer below, I think the principles of brain tanning are likely to result in the safest tanned hide should my dogs eat a piece of it. The primary fat in the brain that is responsible for the tanning process is called lecithin. This is commercially available in a purified form, making it plausible to tan a hide without potentially exposing my dogs to chronic wasting disease (see discussion below). I'll be looking into a methodology that uses purified lecithin, instead of whole brain, for tanning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13925" LastEditorUserId="13925" LastEditDate="2019-07-19T16:12:05.207" LastActivityDate="2019-07-19T16:31:06.603" Title="Is there a dog safe method for tanning animal hides?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-08-07T10:14:59.037" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-19T02:40:17.757" Score="2" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had 15 beautiful koi, all about 5 years old. They were very healthy, but the other day I put too much Tetra algae control in their outdoor pond, and now 2-3 of my koi are dying a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I put them in another pond I’m scared I will shock them. i only have five left; they seem to be ok, but they may be a little sick. One is just trying to breathe and swimming on its side trying to get air from the pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something I can do to save them all? I put the sick one in a pond by himself just to see if he would get better. I didn’t do anything special to the water. I know I should have let the water sit a while, but I had to do something. I did put a small pump in the other pond. I’m sure I will wake up and find more dead koi. Is there any way to help them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16235" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-19T13:38:42.007" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T01:12:17.417" Title="I used too much tetra pond algae control, and now my koi are dying" Tags="&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25842" CreationDate="2019-07-19T06:31:41.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, increase aeration to maximize the concentration of oxygen in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop feeding your fish to lower the waste production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean your filter and remove waste from the bottom of your pond to lower the production of toxic gasses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do a large water change, up to 50% of the water, and remember to use dechlorinator (pond safe) or similar products before you start to fill your pond again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One needs to overdose the algae control massively for it to be toxic to fish, so I think your die-off is a result of the algae decomposing and producing toxic gasses; remove the waste and your fish will recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T01:12:17.417" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T01:12:17.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25841" CreationDate="2019-07-19T06:43:52.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The safest answer is to keep your dogs from chewing on the hide... I admit I doubt any dog could withstand the (for them) tasty smell of a freshly tanned hide, but if you want to keep the rug for any amount of time, you absolutely need to tell your dogs in no uncertain terms that &lt;em&gt;this is not food&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from that, the Native Americans &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theclassroom.com/how-did-the-indians-tan-deer-hides-12084320.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;traditionally tanned&lt;/a&gt; hides using the brain of the same animal, which might play into your philosophy of not wasting any part of the animal. After removing all the flesh from the skin, they mushed up the brain and cooked it with a little bit of water, then rubbed the mush over the skin for several hours to tan it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since raw skin and brain are safe for dogs to eat, I have no reason to assume the end product will be unsafe for dogs as long as you don't add any chemicals or plant material during the tanning process. More thoughts about a similar question &lt;a href=&quot;https://ask.metafilter.com/284672/Pet-health-experts-and-leather-dye-experts-completely-normal-question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;can be found here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skin is composed of several layers of cells, held together by organic components that decompose quickly. Tanning replaces those components either with fat (brain tanning) or with stable components that don't rot (chemical and plant tanning). That chemical tanning is not safe for dogs is a no-brainer. Plant tanning often uses tannin as the tanning agent. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v48aje14.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Some sources&lt;/a&gt; claim tannin is safe for dogs, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.livescience.com/54860-foods-cause-the-most-pet-deaths.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;others&lt;/a&gt; claim it causes poisening with feaver, rapid heart rates and seizures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest you research the traditional Native American or Canadian brain tanning, but that is outside the scope of Pets.SE. Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.native-art-in-canada.com/tanninghides.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;overview&lt;/a&gt; over traditional and modern tanning methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that chronic wasting disease is prevalent in deer and elk, and thus brain tanning using brains from these animals may result in spreading of this disease. While brain tanning is a reasonable option to consider, CWD &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be considered in resource selection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-19T16:31:06.603" LastActivityDate="2019-07-19T16:31:06.603" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-19T16:45:57.467" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our year-old golden retriever has been having a hard time going to sleep at night lately. During the day, when nobody is around, he sleeps fine. However, at night, he digs at the bed, barks, and pants like he's stressed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play with him and walk him from the moment I get home (~6 PM) until I try going to sleep (10 or so), but he usually won't actually go to sleep until after midnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He sleeps in the bedroom with us and is free to wander the house, though he typically stays in the room and will sometimes join us on the bed. Lately, he's been digging at the bed a lot and pulling on the sheets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behavior started around the time we moved to a new house about a month ago (though I don't think it was the night we moved in) and has gotten significantly worse since my wife left for vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time we took him to a vet was about 6 months ago. He's very energetic and playful — he doesn't seem sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea of what I can do to help him sleep so that I can sleep at night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16238" LastEditorUserId="16238" LastEditDate="2019-07-19T22:21:42.817" LastActivityDate="2019-08-20T04:05:30.690" Title="Why is my dog so anxious at night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9299" CreationDate="2019-07-19T21:42:57.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well cats are attracted to our shoes because that's where most of our sweat goes during the day, so they carry our scent . They like to put their heads off in the shoes and put their scent on it. Our feet carry most of our scent so your kitty is probably just showing you affection and getting some salt as well lol &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16239" LastActivityDate="2019-07-19T21:42:57.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25859" CreationDate="2019-07-20T07:14:35.017" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a yellow bellied slider which I need to transport to another country. YBS are allowed into that country, but it's red eared slider cousins are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my problem is that, when chipped, the vet wrote just &amp;quot;&lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta&lt;/em&gt;&amp;quot; in the certificate, didn't bother specifying which kind of TS it was. (YBS are &lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta scripta&lt;/em&gt;, while red eared are &lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta elegans&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The list of forbidden species for that country clearly specifies that &amp;quot;&lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta elegans&lt;/em&gt;&amp;quot; are not to be allowed. My worry is that when I reach the border and present my certificate, they will just match the &lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta&lt;/em&gt; and don't bother asking anything else, just euthanise my pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My turtle has the yellow belly with just two big dots on the top area, but it also has an orangish mark on the side of his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any sure tell that will allow me to mark the turtle as not being a TSE?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-15T21:53:35.720" LastActivityDate="2020-08-15T21:53:35.720" Title="Sure telltales to tell a terrapin is a yellow-bellied and not a red-eared" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25845" CreationDate="2019-07-20T07:23:59.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's go through a few ideas of what could have caused this behaviour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something causes your dog discomfort. It could be a stomach-ache from food he doesn't quite tolerate or there could be some sound you cannot hear but that keeps him awake, like a sonic rodent repeller or a TV or AC that runs till midnight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He is in pain and cannot find a comfortable sleeping position. Maybe your playing in the afternoon makes the pain worse and after a night's sleep it's better to a point where he acts normal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something significant happened at night and he's anxious it might happen again. Could be someone having a nightmare, a fire alarm going off, or (as happened with friends of mine) armies of cockroaches swarming in from every crack in every wall without anyone noticing for weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;His anxiety was caused by the move to the new house and irrationally spiraled out of control. This house smelled different and not like &quot;home&quot;. For some reason we cannot comprehend, the anxiety got worse instead of better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I propose you first try to find rational causes. Could there be anything in or behind the walls? Are there cars parked nearby that could have a sonic rodent repeller installed? Try sleeping with the window closed for a night if it's usually opened. Try to play more metal games than physical ones for a few days (have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; for inspiration). Maybe let a vet make a blood test for signs of inflamation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of that makes any difference, anxiety becomes more and more probable as the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try getting or making him a new dog bed. Make it as comfortable as possible by padding the bottom and offering an edge like an armrest so he can curl up and lay down. Put a worn t-shirt in it to have your personal scent make it more attractive to your dog. Position it in the bedroom where you'd like your dog to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then teach him to go into his bed on command. Reward him with words or treats every time he goes, but never reprimand him if he doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he gets restless at night, give him the command to go to bed and reward him with words. You could pet him for a few minutes, if he's close enough, but in general the mood should be calm and sleepy. If he gets back up again, give him the command again in a calm voice. You must absolutely avoid any kind of excitement or nervousness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very slight snoring is a verbal cue for dogs that everything is safe and peachy and they can relax. I don't mean the heavy snoring like a lumberjack. Just relax your throat and let the air stream become audible at the back of your throat. A heavy sigh through your nose is another such &quot;relaxing&quot; cue for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After your dog lies down in his bed, sigh very deeply and start the slight snoring to tell him that it's time to relax and sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-07-20T14:13:34.360" LastActivityDate="2019-07-20T14:13:34.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25845" CreationDate="2019-07-21T03:44:55.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to think that your pup is just having issues adapting to the new environment. Turn off all of your lights before bed tonight, then look and listen. Try to experience the house the way your dog does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the drapes are open, are shadows being cast into the room? Do the shadows move? Think tree branches outside reacting to the wind. Your dog might not understand what that is and it could spook him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about noises? When the house is &quot;quiet&quot;, can you hear the water heater? The HVAC system? The ice maker? Those are things that we tend to ignore because we can explain them. Your dog could just be unfamiliar with the new noises... and, as a result, is a bit anxious about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you determine the cause, you can reassure him. If your dog seems alerted when the HVAC kicks it, just tell him, that's ok.  If shadows are playing across the rug and seem to disappear under the bed, close the drapes. If the rooms are too dark, put a couple low led night lights in various spots throughout the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't figure out what could possibly be the issue, then consider the exterior environment. A neighborhood cat could be perching on the windowsill, looking in. A raccoon could be foraging through the trash cans making a ruckus. Not obvious to us, but things that might make your dog think he needs to protect you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel certain that your dog is reacting to something. Just take some time to try and figure out what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-07-21T03:44:55.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25856" CreationDate="2019-07-21T14:03:05.540" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mother cat gave birth to three kittens in our backyard. After the first month, I noticed one of the kittens' eyes has some &quot;rheum&quot; and is semi closed. I thought maybe it'd go away by it self (bad mistake)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second month, when they started walking outside, both the kitten's eyes were completely closed, so I took him to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(a side note about the vet; in the small city where I'm living, there is not an &quot;experienced&quot; vet which is an expert in cats or dogs. They just do cows and sheep vaccinations etc...)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet injected a dose of an antibiotic and another dose of dexamethasone and prescribed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Si fixim syrup 5ml a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prednisolone 5mg 1/10 every 12 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chloramphenicol 0.5% one drop every 12 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sterile eye drop every 8 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B-complex vitamin syrup 5ml a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the third day that I'm using those medications for this poor kitty and even though the &quot;rheum&quot; is reduced, his eyes are still closed (until I clean them using eye-drops) and still have inflammation. His eyes outside the corners are PURE RED (not visible in the picture,) and when I use eye drops, the kitten is in pain... :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that he's playful and eats well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I changed their &quot;nest&quot; and cleaned the whole backyard so they can live in an clean environment. Don't know what else to do to cure him--he's too young to become blind!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has the vet prescribed the correct medications? If yes, why isn't the inflammation going away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the medications isn't the right one, and you're a vet, please suggest another prescriptions. I can't afford to take him to another vet. it's pretty expensive in here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hI5G7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hI5G7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T05:33:14.670" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T01:15:52.137" Title="Cat eye infection" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25873" CreationDate="2019-07-21T14:39:00.013" Score="2" ViewCount="563" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet bird has her cage covered at night. If I am going on vacation, my best option is to have a friend check on her every day. This means she would be left uncovered since it would be a lot to ask for someone to check on her first thing in the morning as well as in the evening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is in a room with a window and the lights would be off, so she'd have a natural light cycle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this be harmful to her? I have seen her take naps during the day, however each night she asks me (in her own birdy way) to put her cover on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="10108" LastEditDate="2019-07-22T15:44:36.543" LastActivityDate="2019-07-24T14:00:06.980" Title="Is it harmful to leave my bird uncovered at night?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25853" CreationDate="2019-07-21T16:19:40.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 2 African Grey parrots are in the same situation . Apparently leaving them uncovered from time to time does not seem to affect them. Although one says &quot;good night&quot; every evening until they are covered; I don't know what happens when we are not home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-07-21T16:19:40.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25868" CreationDate="2019-07-22T05:13:19.383" Score="1" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;All my family members (including me) need to leave the city for a family function for 3-4 days. I have 2 red ear slider that I have to leave at my home for the duration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 2 questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can I leave them unsupervised in their tanks with the appropriate amount of food for several days?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can I give them to my neighbour who can keep them with them for the span? However I would like to have to go with option 1 so kindly guide me for the same. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-07-22T13:56:51.063" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T16:56:54.677" Title="Can I leave my Red Eer Slider turtles alone for 4 days?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25852" CreationDate="2019-07-22T07:00:13.540" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is best to take the cat to another vet if the treatment does not work in 3-4 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The medications given against an allergic reaction are dexamethasone and prednisolone, and these have an anti-inflammatory effect too, to reduce the swelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Si-Fixim is a broad spectrum antibiotic, so it will help if there is an infection going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chloramphenicol is antibacterial and the B-vitamins are probably not very important as a treatment for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment your local vet has given the cat is a good one. He has treated everything he can think of (it might be a little over the top).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T01:15:52.137" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T01:15:52.137" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25855" CreationDate="2019-07-22T07:52:06.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a yellow bellied slider. &#xA;If we have to go away for some days, we leave him with an automatic feeder in his tank. But we have a backup: our neighbors have a key for the rooms, so they look at him at least all two days. They look for old food swimming in the tank and for the pump and light still working. (They water the plants also.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the pump do not work, or the food is not eaten, the water quality falls fast and will become a risk for your animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even this controls do not protect your animal, if it fall out of the tank, suddenly gets ill  or the tank gets broken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can stand this risk is only in your decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-07-22T07:52:06.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25847" CreationDate="2019-07-22T08:02:33.927" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I (long time believe to) have a yellow bellied slider myself. They have a &amp;quot;Y&amp;quot; shaped mark on their cheek. This is what red-eared-sliders do not have! The stripe of red eared is horizontal, the stripe of the yellow bellied is vertical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly you can get a lot of hybrids in the pet shops. Maybe because of that your vet only writes &amp;quot;&lt;em&gt;Trachemys scripta&lt;/em&gt;&amp;quot;. Maybe he can not decide if it is a purebred &lt;em&gt;T. s. scripta&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;T. s. elegans&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;T. s. troostii&lt;/em&gt;. All three can breed with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-15T21:50:57.920" LastActivityDate="2020-08-15T21:50:57.920" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-22T20:09:57.950" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a rocking chair that looks like the picture below, but without the nice straw backing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, my cats literally destroyed the straw, so I would like to replace it with some material that's cat-proof or cat-resistant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you recommend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dTGer.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dTGer.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replace rocking chair straw with cat-resistant material?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2019-07-22T20:09:57.950" Title="Replace chair straw with cat-resistant material?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-23T04:48:18.717" Score="3" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my female dog gave puppies 4 months ago. One of the girl pup, that's not adopted by anyone yet, still is with us.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The thing is, she's brave and confident, but pees when scolded, or when we try to scare or shoo her. After that, she keeps wagging her tail and comes to us for us to pet her, but pees again on the first touch.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've had dogs my whole life, but haven't seen this kind of behavior before. Why is she so scared? How can we teach her not to be?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to mention, my young cousins live in the same house, they might tease or hurt her slightly in our absence, but that's happened with all our dogs before too. None of them behaved like she does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-07-25T15:13:26.667" Title="Puppy pees when touched or scolded" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25863" CreationDate="2019-07-23T05:00:53.363" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first dog I had (decades ago) used to pee every time I came home after being a work. It wasn't because she was scared. She was just excited to see me and couldn't hold it -- even though she didn't have any &quot;accidents&quot; in the house while I was gone. Try calling your puppy to the door and greeting her outside. Then you can praise her for toileting outside instead of in. Even though it wasn't her intention to do that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't seem possible, then just ignore her when you come in the door. Set all of your things down, get a glass of water (or other beverage) and &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; say 'hello' to her. You will be letting her calm herself down which may help tremendously to ease the excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please work with your younger cousins and help them understand that it isn't nice to tease and hurt other living creatures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T05:00:53.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25866" CreationDate="2019-07-23T08:41:12.657" Score="4" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother is 77 and very active but she does feel quite lonely. I spoke to her about getting a kitten and she is keen. I wanted to know if this is a good idea for an elderly woman?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16248" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-07-25T10:40:02.040" LastActivityDate="2019-07-25T10:40:02.040" Title="Is it a good idea to get a kitten for an elderly woman?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25865" CreationDate="2019-07-23T12:17:28.393" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pets and the elderly are almost always a good combination, but a kitten may not be the best choice. Kittens tend to have more energy then their elderly companions, this can be problematic.  Additionally (and unpleasantly) a young cat or dog often may have an expected lifespan greater then the elderly adopters remaining lifespan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several programs &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=seniors+for+seniors+cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;seniors for seniors cats&lt;/a&gt; Also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=seniors+for+seniors+dog&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;for dogs.&lt;/a&gt; these programs are specifically designed to address the special needs and concerns of both the animals and the people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1520/13&quot;&gt;Is there anything I should know or consider before giving a pet as a gift?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-07-23T14:33:04.697" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T14:33:04.697" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25855" CreationDate="2019-07-23T14:34:33.337" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles can be left alone for a few days, although there is some risk, so it is best to have a friend and neighbor check on your turtle in your home each day if possible.  You could also move the tank to a neighbor's house, but the amount of effort required plus the stress on the turtles by moving them twice in a short time makes this an unappealing option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to keep in mind:&#xA;If you are expecting very hot or very cold weather, more than your turtle could withstand, and something like the heater of the house broke, your turtle could be at risk because of the issue going unnoticed for several days.  Same thing if the filter got clogged or your turtle developed a health problem or got injured somehow.  In my opinion these are pretty unlikely scenarios, but something to be aware of when making your decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adult turtles are well adapted to an occasional 'lean time' as far as food is concerned, although I consider it would be cruel to let it go without food for 4 days.  Putting in four days of food at once will only foul the water and could make the turtle sick, without providing for it to eat on the last day, as all the food will be eaten or spoiled by then.  When using an automated feeder, set it to dispense a little bit less than you would ordinarily feed, to reduce the chance of leftover food floating in the tank.  A few days of relatively light meals will not hurt or overly stress your slider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T14:34:33.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25855" CreationDate="2019-07-23T16:56:54.677" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to give a somewhat dissenting answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry at all. Red eared slides are among the most resilient and adaptive reptiles, they are the cockroaches of the turtle word; the teenage mutant ninja turtles are red eared sliders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now seriously, RES survive in a broad range of temperatures and environments (they are invasive in Spain and live in snow fed rivers, barely above freezing point during the winter); and the refuse in the water will have came out of your turtles so it won't bring in anything that wasn't there in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I leave mine on his own for weeks at a time; change water before you leave, put your filter on minimum and install an automated feeder that can handle their pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will be dead bored if they are used to you playing with them, but that will be it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2019-07-23T16:56:54.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-24T00:58:03.320" Score="4" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vet said my 20 year old cat has pancreatitis and possibly parasites. Would you give her an antibiotic? How would you treat her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ALT. (sgpt). 112&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BUN. 51&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Precision psl. 42&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lymphocytes. 954&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eosinophils. 1484&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be your diagnosis and prognosis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other levels are normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16250" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-25T15:08:35.463" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T15:08:35.463" Title="How to treat a 20 year old cat with pancreatitis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25863" CreationDate="2019-07-24T02:46:40.477" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Her reaction may not be from fear. Rather, it may be &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=submissive%20urination&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;submissive urination&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/dog-submissive-urination-solutions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/dog-submissive-urination-solutions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a pack, dogs have many ways to show the leader that they accept&#xA;  their role as top dog and thus avoid a confrontation. One way is to&#xA;  roll on their backs and urinate on themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Submissive urination is common and normal in puppies, who will usually&#xA;  outgrow the behavior. But some puppies remain timid into adulthood,&#xA;  and submissive urination can become a problem in the home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9158" LastEditorUserId="9158" LastEditDate="2019-07-25T15:13:26.667" LastActivityDate="2019-07-25T15:13:26.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25869" CreationDate="2019-07-24T03:57:03.630" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to ask your vet about the treatment of this. Most of us here are common pet owners, so all I can do is give you some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antibiotics are only an option if your cat has a bacterial infection. And as far as I can see, this might not be the case in your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets do often give steroids to treat pancreatitis in cats. Ask your vet about this to find a treatment that might help your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get your cat treated for parasites; this is simple and easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put your cat on a wet food only diet to be sure she gets all the water she needs; pancreatitis makes your cat lose water and she might get dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your vet about what options for treatment there are for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T23:21:03.653" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T23:21:03.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25874" CreationDate="2019-07-24T11:22:26.607" Score="4" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the process of setting up an aquarium, and experimenting with the water flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's 100x40x60cm (60cm high). I employ an HMF in one of the back corners, so there is no well defined &quot;inflow&quot; - water is entering the HMF over a large surface area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The output is currently a relatively tight beam on the top edge of the HMF, blowing diagonally horizontally  across the water surface, then finding its way downward at the opposite side of the aquarium, while the side nearer to the HMF sees only very little movement. There is quite some motion going on at the surface, in a relatively tight stream originating at the outlet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this generally an OK approach? How would I know whether everything is fine or not? I see no immediate problems, maybe except for the fact that larger plants near the &quot;hard&quot; part of the stream will be quite impossible (which in fact could be a problem for me; I'd like to have plenty of plants in the background...). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now, since there are no animals yet, it is a good time for experimentation. I use a 3D printer to make my own pipe/fitting stuff, so am not limited in any way either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: What would be the &quot;standard&quot; / optimum way to distribute the water in such an aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The HMF (Hamburger Mattenfilter) looks like this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eck-HMF.png#/media/Datei:Eck-HMF.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eck-HMF.png#/media/Datei:Eck-HMF.png&lt;/a&gt; (not mine). The pump sits at the bottom, the outlet at the top, angled diagonally across the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16252" LastEditorUserId="16252" LastEditDate="2019-07-24T17:05:31.267" LastActivityDate="2019-07-24T17:05:31.267" Title="Preferable flows in aquarium?" Tags="&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25853" CreationDate="2019-07-24T14:00:06.980" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cage cover is a way to ensure that there is darkness so that your bird can get a proper amount of sleep. If there is enough darkness without a cage cover, then a cage cover is not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds do not do well with sudden changes to their routine, though. If leaving the cage cover off will cause a change in the number of hours of darkness each day, try to ease the change in gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some useful information about avian lighting needs from the avian vet that my birds visit: &lt;a href=&quot;https://azeah.com/birds-cockatiels-cockatoos-macaws-parakeets-parrots/providing-right-light&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://azeah.com/birds-cockatiels-cockatoos-macaws-parakeets-parrots/providing-right-light&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your bird taking naps every day, let you bird be an example for us all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2019-07-24T14:00:06.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25872" CreationDate="2019-07-24T16:05:59.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no perfect way to do this,as long as there is good movement of the surface water the tank will be well oxygenated and the gass exchange air/water will be good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will want to have the inlet of your filter as low as possible to collect the maximum waste you can in  your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal turnover rate of water in a fresh water tank is every half to one hour,So your pump needs to be able to move twice the volume of water every hour(in very large tanks once an hour is fine)Marine tanks needs a faster turnover rate(this is not my field of experience so i do not know the rate for salt water tanks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will always be areas in a tank where the water movement is low,this is the area where your fish will stand when they are resting and where the most waste ends up in a tank(it kind of makes it easier to clean the tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-07-24T16:15:53.660" LastActivityDate="2019-07-24T16:15:53.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25872" CreationDate="2019-07-24T16:09:22.133" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sound good for fresh water; Marine aquariums require more vigorous circulation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-07-24T16:09:22.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-25T07:00:13.107" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a Ivory Ball Python back in March and even though his lower jaw was a little deformed (it was a bit shorter than his tip but he still was able to feed correctly) we loved him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately he passed away tonight while in his humidity box which is alarming since he was in shed and he knows how to get out of the box easily. Anyhow he wasn’t moving and I knew at that moment he was gone. He wasn’t burned or anything but my husband and I did notice a nickel sized circle of dark green on his underbelly. I can’t find anything on google that looks like it, it was NOT scale rot. We just want closure mainly in knowing if he might’ve also had a disease along with his odd jaw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16256" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2019-07-25T09:48:38.897" LastActivityDate="2019-07-25T09:48:38.897" Title="Ivory Python Belly turned Dark Green" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25877" CreationDate="2019-07-25T08:49:35.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick google search led me to the following bit of information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think that's actually her gall bladder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's quite common to see it in deceased animals.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?133545-URGENT!-death-caused-by-internal-something!!!!!&amp;amp;s=a1d152abe1e3880c35cce13f829e260f&amp;amp;p=1462887&amp;amp;viewfull=1#post1462887&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?133545-URGENT!-death-caused-by-internal-something!!!!!&amp;amp;s=a1d152abe1e3880c35cce13f829e260f&amp;amp;p=1462887&amp;amp;viewfull=1#post1462887&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests that it's not necessarily a cause of death, but could as well be the aftermath of the animal dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe a veterinarian knows more about this phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2019-07-25T08:49:35.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-25T22:32:35.197" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small plot of land (about 10x10 feet) with soil and a few trees. I also take care of  5-7 street kitties and this is where they pee and poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can pour on this soil to “neutralize” the cats’ waste? They will continue peeing and pooping in the area, but it would be great to add something to the soil that will “manage” all of this cat waste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, they cover up their stuff pretty well, so they’re doing their part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-07-26T13:17:03.173" LastActivityDate="2019-07-26T14:42:00.750" Title="What to pour on soil where cats eliminate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-26T11:16:32.177" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the average age of carcinoma onset in shi tzu breed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried googling a bit and couldn't find an answer for the intersection of the breed and this type of cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking to understand if onset at age 6.5 is very early which might indicate environmental causes or a regular event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subject is male shi tsu with a throat tumor, suspected carcinoma (deceased).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16260" LastEditorUserId="16260" LastEditDate="2019-07-26T15:50:52.283" LastActivityDate="2019-07-26T15:50:52.283" Title="What is the average age of carcinoma onset in shi tzu breed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25879" CreationDate="2019-07-26T14:42:00.750" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably want to use some kind of  'bio-enzymatic cleaning agent' like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naturesmiracle.com/products/cat.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Nature's Miracle&lt;/a&gt; the enzymes neutralize the waste.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look for a product without perfumes. Most of these products work best when moist or wet, so you may need to spray water on the area regularly both to help neutralize and to dilute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-07-26T14:42:00.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25889" CreationDate="2019-07-26T23:46:13.320" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;So as many people I've watched the Lion King last weekend and have been reading a lot of theories about it online since then. One that stood out to me is that Simba and Nala are very close-related (they are cousins in the best case scenario, or maybe brother and sister or brother/sister in law).&#xA;Now I've read that some lion species handle this issue in their ways. Some would just kick all the male cubs out of the tribe so they can build theirs, while in other cases the alpha male would just kill all the male cubs that aren't his.&#xA;Now I'm curious about all this. Does this kind of close relationships have the same effects on lions as on humans? I know for a fact that it's not a problem with rats or sheep, which are mammals as well. I'm also not sure as to why killing male cubs solves the issue without making it harder for the tribe to grow.&#xA;Thank you for reading this, I hope I posted in the right community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16263" LastActivityDate="2019-07-27T18:21:52.227" Title="Questions about Simba and lions in general" Tags="&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-07-29T15:02:45.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-27T02:37:05.777" Score="1" ViewCount="1452" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to clarify, this isn't a nibble. It's a single, very deliberate pinch!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and he's getting quite 'long in the tooth' now. I mind him quite regularly when my sister goes away and this habit/defence thing/whatever, is very annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He just came up to me for some attention, so I picked him up (again, he's old), sat him next to me, gave him some smooths which he seemed to enjoy(he sneakily clambered his front end onto my lap), my forearm went close to his mouth, and he quickly, but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;carefully&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; got his canine teeth pressed against the skin and pinched quite painfully.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I emphasized &quot;carefully&quot;, because he makes adjustments to ensure his canines are in a pinching position against the skin before making any kind of bite motion. He makes the adjustments quickly but very deliberately. It leaves a small, circle bruise with broken skin at the centre. It can be small but on occasions, he's given me a larger, deeper bruise, bleeding slightly at the centre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related activity:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He also jumps up to nip at your face if you look at his face while fussing him. In the past(his younger days), he has bitten my lip, making it swollen and bleeding slightly. He seems to &lt;em&gt;really love&lt;/em&gt; the fuss, and also seems to know he shouldn't nip faces like that, as the fusses always end with a row. But it's like he can't help doing it; it's out of excitement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He also pinches your arm if you try to stop him doing something where your arm is near his mouth (e.g. moving him away from something). If he only did it in this type of situation, I'd understand it's to get you to move your arm away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes, if you touch his collar he will pinch you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he pinched me during that smooth, I started pinching his face (not hard at all) and he started play-biting me normally but quite gently, like he was afraid to bite down any harder, but did a little when I continued to play-fight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He doesn't always do it - I was just fussing him on the floor, smoothing quite firmly and touching my arm against his mouth and got no response, just a happy-looking dog. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a really loving dog who sleeps on my sister's bed with her when he's at home, but I really want to know why he pinches like this; is it hostile, defensive, a nervous reaction or just a fun habit for him? Maybe if I know why he does it, I can try to respond accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16264" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T15:18:39.127" Title="Why does my sister's dog pinch with his teeth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25885" CreationDate="2019-07-27T04:21:25.580" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a well functioning group of lions there will be one alpha male and one or more females and their daughters,the males job is to reproduce and to keep other males away from the territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will not kill the babies in his group but he will chase the male babies away when they get older,This is to avoid competition for resources in his territory(the female lions do the hunting and the young males are a waste of resources as the group does not get anything back from keeping them in the group)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a new male lion fight the alpha male and wins he will chase the old alpha male away and take over the group of females,He might kill the young baby lions to be sure any new babies in the group is his.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the group is small the new male might allow one or more young male lions to stay in the group but this is only to be sure the group can do sucsessfull hunting,And they will be forced to move or get killed as the group grows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-07-27T04:21:25.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25869" CreationDate="2019-07-27T06:26:24.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Blood results&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to go through the parts of the labwork you mentioned - but know that it is challenging to interpret the results without seeing the full labwork and clinical history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ALT. (sgpt). 112&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ALT is a liver enzyme, which is an indicator of liver cell injury. That injury can occur due to many reasons, one of which is pancreatitis. Each lab has its own reference range, but in any case this is a normal to only very mildly elevated value. It must be interpreted in conjunction with the other liver enzymes and bilirubin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BUN. 51&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a kidney value. It is rare to come across a 20 year-old cat with fully functioning kidneys, so a mild BUN elevation like this is not surprising. Kidney disease can be a cause of loss of appetite and weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Precision psl. 42&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a measure of pancreatic inflammation. An elevation is suggestive of pancreatitis, if clinical signs such as vomiting, weight loss, and inappetence are seen. However it is not always diagnostic for pancreatitis as nearby inflammation, e.g. in the adjacent intestine can also cause this to appear elevated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lymphocytes. 954&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell. A slightly low count like this is fairly unremarkable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eosinophils. 1484&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eosinophils are another type of white blood cell, and this is a mild elevation. In a younger cat I would consider an elevation to be almost always either due to allergic or parasitic disease. In older cats we also have to add other disorders such as hyperthyroidism and cancer to the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Further diagnostics&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly encourage an abdominal ultrasound, in particular to assess the pancreas, intestines, liver, and kidneys. This will give the vet the clearest picture of what is going on internally, and therefore best direct treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming the suggestion of parasites came from the slightly elevated eosinophils. Consider testing a faecal sample for parasites to help rule this out. Does your cat ever go outdoors? If so, then having her empirically dewormed would also be reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pancreatitis is a challenging disorder to treat but if appropriately managed can carry a good prognosis. The treatment can consist of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fluids, to make sure the pancreas is well perfused. These can be given subcutaneously or intravenously, based on the severity of the case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anti-nausea medication, such as Cerenia (maropitant) can help manage the signs of pancreatitis such as vomiting. Maropitant can also help with reducing pancreatic inflammation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pain medication, as we often think pancreatitis can be a source of significant abdominal pain which can lead to further loss of appetite. Transmucosal buprenorphine is a good option in cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Appetite stimulant, such as mirtazapine, if needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Antacids, such as famotidine, in some cases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet can help - my personal favourite for pancreatitis is a gastrointestinal diet such as Hill's i/d, however you also have to consider other concurrent conditions, and it may be that a kidney diet is more vital.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rarely turn to antibiotics for pancreatitis (it is almost always a sterile process in cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also do not often turn to steroids as a first line treatment for pancreatitis, although it so happens that many of my pancreatitis patients are on steroids for other concurrent conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease or intestinal lymphoma. Steroids such as prednisolone can be great for controlling inflammation, but they have to be used judiciously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that some cases of pancreatitis can be managed with minimal treatment, while others require aggressive use of fluids and medications to successfully treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-07-27T06:26:24.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25885" CreationDate="2019-07-27T15:08:00.730" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term is &quot;inbreeding depression,&quot; which means the reduced fitness of a population as a whole due to inbreeding. The effect comes naturally from the way genetics works, and so just about every species could be affected by it if for some reason there was a small isolated population and thus a small amount of genetic diversity. In this sort of case, if an individual has an undesirable gene, this gene is much more likely to become widespread in the population, as the gene pool is very small. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A known example of this effect is with domesticated animals. When people selectively breed animals for specific traits, the way to do this is to choose a few individuals with those traits for breeding, but it's then easy to not have enough genetic diversity and have inbreeding depression. This is why dog breeds are commonly prone to various problems, like Dalmatians are highly prone to deafness, or many large breeds are prone to hip dysplasia. Domesticated rats are also affected by this, with much higher rates of cancer than wild populations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you said, this effect also applies to humans. A well known historic example is members of the European royal families being prone to hemophilia due to their tendency to only marry other royals, which is a very small population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, while inbreeding depression is a possible risk for any species, it's not a given that inbreeding will doom the species. There are known examples of species surviving despite low genetic diversity, or species even having reproductive strategies that tend to result in inbreeding despite these problems. One example is the cheetah, which has a very low genetic diversity throughout the entire species, and it is theorized some catastrophic event happened in the past that reduced the species to just a few individuals. Cheetahs managed to not go extinct at that time, but the result was a population with very little genetic diversity. Another example is the naked mole rat, one of the few mammal species that live in colonies much like ants or bees. These colonies don't intermix much, and so they become rather inbred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how this all affects lions, right now the reality is because lions are quite endangered, with their populations quite fragmented, there are actually problems with lions and inbreeding depression. &lt;a href=&quot;http://lionalert.org/page/inbreeding-depression-in-lions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://lionalert.org/page/inbreeding-depression-in-lions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, in a more natural environment, not affected by humans, the way inbreeding is generally prevented is that male lions usually do not stay with the pride long enough for that to happen. Other male lions are constantly competing for their place in the pride, and so the rotation tends to happen quicker than the cubs can mature. Young male lions are not yet able to compete for the dominant male position, and so get chased off by the dominant male when they get old enough to start looking like competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the male lions killing cubs, it's a well known and pretty common phenomenon, but it's also not actually a prevalent an event as you might think, given how much it's discussed. It's also not to prevent inbreeding, as a male lion is more likely to kill cubs that are not related to it, as usually it happens when a new lion first takes over a pride. It's generally thought that it has to do with it not being to the male lion's advantage to put resources into cubs that aren't his, especially when you consider his time with the pride will only be a few years at best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-07-27T18:21:52.227" LastActivityDate="2019-07-27T18:21:52.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-27T15:44:35.567" Score="3" ViewCount="5045" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know when this happened.&#xA;Just a moment ago my dog started to scratch his ears kind a rough,I though it was weird so I check his ears and I see this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happened here ? I'm really worried about my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5zrVL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5zrVL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EqhUl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EqhUl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16267" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-07-31T11:58:45.410" LastActivityDate="2019-07-31T11:58:45.410" Title="Why is there brown stuff in my dog's ear?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25895" CreationDate="2019-07-27T19:57:54.773" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been having a problem lately with 1 or 2 specific male cats in the neighbourhood coming in to my house via my cat flap and scent marking/urinating on vertical surfaces to (I presume) mark 'their' territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 3 cats seem to tolerate the main culprits, I wouldn't say they are &quot;best friends&quot; but they do hang out harmoiously out the back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want the scent marking to happen any more because the smell is really noticeable and disgusting. (the cats don't seem bothered or avoid those areas or anything, though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please can you give ideas of how I can stop these guys from doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: every couple of days I clean off any existing 'deposits' using disinfectant etc. I bought a UV light to show up where any specific 'deposits' are!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: I'm particularly looking for ways that even if a 'stranger' does somehow get in the house.. how to get them to &quot;not&quot; scent mark, rather than how to stop them getting in, if possible, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14330" LastEditorUserId="14330" LastEditDate="2019-07-28T19:07:21.130" LastActivityDate="2019-07-28T19:07:21.130" Title="Ways to stop male cats (who are not mine) &quot;scent marking&quot; inside my house - they have access because my cats have access to outdoors with a cat flap" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25894" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-27T23:10:55.463" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5 months old, female German Shepherd that tries to eat or play very hard with my chickens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have this dog for a week and he is always inside my house because my chickens are around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog bit a chicken and threw in the air and then she bit it again in the air. I catched her in the exactly moment, otherwise the chicken could be dead now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a cat that lives inside the house and she tries to bite him too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1034" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T20:28:22.940" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T20:31:12.720" Title="My dog tries to eat my chickens and fights with my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25893" CreationDate="2019-07-28T00:44:29.873" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get battery-operated, electronic cat-flaps that will only unlock if they detect recognised microchips. This is a convenient method to control access if your cats have been microchipped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.surepetcare.com/en-gb/pet-doors/microchip-cat-flap&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;SureFlap&lt;/a&gt; is one such cat flap. We have one, and it works as advertised. You can also get tags with a built-in microchip that can be attached to a collar, but having your pet(s) microchipped is the better solution. The SureFlap is supplied with one such tag, iirc. The SureFlap has a timer to deny entry and/or exit if you want to curfew your cats. It will also allow unknown cats that have managed to gain access to your premises to exit at any time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7932" LastEditorUserId="7932" LastEditDate="2019-07-28T00:59:59.690" LastActivityDate="2019-07-28T00:59:59.690" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-28T08:29:09.450" Score="2" ViewCount="2051" Body="&lt;p&gt;So a little under a month ago I bought 2 kittens. Rambo &amp;amp; Simba, they're brothers. Rambo has no problem using the litter box(es) (I have 3) and he's what you'd expect from a kitten: playful, cuddly and super energetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While Simba is also all 3 of those, he has some troubles using the litter box. I have 2 litter boxes in the bathroom each placed in different spots, and I've moved each from place to place in the bathroom. Rambo has no issue with this and continues to use them no matter where I put them, but Simba, however, only -sometimes- does his duty in the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can not count the times he's done his business in the corner of the shower or on the hard floor on the balcony. He seems to do it in &quot;hidden&quot;ish spots. &#xA;The strange part however is that he has used the litter boxes many times before, so it's not like he doesn't know where they are or how to use them. Granted he doesn't cover up his poop or pee, but I don't mind that too much as long as he'd continue using the boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I've caught him getting ready to go poo in the corner or on the floor, I've gently picked him up and put him in the box and even dug at the sand with my own hands in an attempt to demonstrate how to dig a hole and encourage the use of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course he then does his duty in the box after I've put him in there, and I praise him for it, but I can almost certainly expect him not to do it afterwards, as he resorts to doing his doodoo's on the balcony floor or in the corner of the shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've put food bowls on the balcony and shower floor with some food in them, of course, but he just decided to poop beside them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for a strange part: he only poops a little in the box and poops the rest outside of the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His brother is not antagonizing him or anything, and I've made sure to let Simba do his business in peace whenever I catch him actually going to the litter box himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a matter of cleanliness, as I clean all boxes 3 times a day and the litter is supposedly meant for kittens. It's the &quot;Ever Clean&quot; brand. The previous owner used wood pellets but Simba would still not use it frequently as I noticed when I went to pick the kittens up; Simba went and did his doodoo's in the corner of their apartment in front of everybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I simply assumed that the small kitten was stressed that so many strangers suddenly barged into his home and he just got so riled up and didn't have any time to hold back his urge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well here I am now with a kitten who doesn't take the hint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It saddens me because I can't keep living with a kitten that poops everywhere except where he is meant to, because my own apartment starts smelling absolutely horrible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's currently on antibiotics and 2 other &quot;medicines&quot; that should help in case there's something wrong with his bowels which discourages him from using the box frequently, but I've seen no change in his behaviour so far. He's been on the meds for about a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the long post. Hopefully you can endure through it and give me some well needed advice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16273" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T14:16:06.430" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T06:08:50.227" Title="What to do when my nearly 4 month old kitten only sometimes uses the litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25896" CreationDate="2019-07-28T09:02:46.770" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try to put the litterbox at the spot your cat uses most often. Take the top of from your litterbox to make the kitten feel more safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not move the litterbox from place to place in your house. Wait until your cat is comfortable using the litterbox before you move it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to change the type of kitty litter you use to see if this might help. Maybe put different litter in each box and use the same type of litter for a couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using medication for an unknown illness is probably not the best thing to do. Antibiotics will often cause diarrhea, so I do not think this is good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T06:08:50.227" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T06:08:50.227" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25896" CreationDate="2019-07-28T14:49:38.470" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your cat has never consistently used the litterbox, it sounds to me like it needs proper litterbox training. Some cats will take to the litterbox naturally without any or very little formal training. Others need the help to figure out out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the training, you should also do the following things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make the box as appealing as possible. Make sure it's as clean at all times as you can get it, and the box should be a simple pan without a cover, as big as you can fit. You can try other boxes once the cat is trained, but you want the cat to think this is the best spot. Figure out a location that is reasonably quiet and litter that they like and stick to it.  The more boxes you have, the better. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In your case you mention you've already gone to the vet, but for the general case, make sure there's no underlying medical issues by taking the animal to the vet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean your home thoroughly with cleaners designed to break up smells. Cat urine in particular is difficult to fully remove. If you get a blacklight, you may find spots that need cleaning that look clean under normal light.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, as to the training, I suggest using a commonly recommended technique some call &quot;confinement&quot; training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pick a small room, like a bathroom, to keep your cat in during the training. Put everything the cat needs in this room, including the litterbox. Make sure the cat is comfortable in there, and that you give it enough attention while it is in this room. The idea being cats generally don't like eliminating in spots they're using for other things, so hopefully the litterbox will become the best spot to eliminate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the cat has been using the box to eliminate consistently for about a week, you can let it out into a little bit larger area of the home while supervised. If you see the cat looking like it's about to eliminate, try to distract it from doing so, and then put it back in its room with the box. Also return it to its room when you cannot supervise it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have success, you can gradually grow the area its allowed in and reduce the amount of supervision until you're convinced the cat is fully trained. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-07-28T15:03:20.090" LastActivityDate="2019-07-28T15:03:20.090" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25931" CreationDate="2019-07-28T18:09:49.960" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female rabbit gives noise if she is grooming her back. It sounds like her breath gets out because of to small space for air in her lungs. Like a human with a big belly making noise by getting the hands to the feets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am worried if she has pain, because I heared, rabbits gave no noise, only in big pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do rabbits make noise? Are there reasons not connected with danger or pain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-08-02T12:36:10.630" Title="In which case rabbits give noise?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19301" CreationDate="2019-07-28T18:35:40.333" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 90% of cases the male baby bunnies will start fighting if they came to puberty. They can be very aggressive and use their sharp teeth to hurt skin, ears and ballbag of each other. In the last case the injured rabbit can bleed to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baby bunnies can be neutered before this point, so you avoid hurts and the need to separate them. &#xA;If you wait until puberty/ until fighting, they can become aggressive in a way that they can not be socialized again after neutering, because of bad memories with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If male rabbits were neutered before puberty, they don't have to be separated from females (only for rehabilitation after operation, not for &quot;avoid breeding&quot;). Also their &quot;smell&quot; is not changing, because they did not lost their &quot;adult&quot; hormones - they had none before, they have none after neutering. Because of that, they will be accepted by each other as before the neutering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way I can imagine is to select two male (?) baby bunnies with an option to bring them back if they are females, take them to the vet for sex determination and make also a date for neutering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This early neutering has to take place around the 12th week of life. For a rabbit experienced vet this is a small routine operation and he/she does not even need to open the abdominal wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find more about the early neutering of male rabbits on this site called  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/gesundheit/organerkrankungen/geschlecht-kastration/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kaninchenwiese (&quot;rabbit meadow&quot;)&lt;/a&gt; in German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some parts of this website translated via google:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;Rammler&quot; means male rabbit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The early castration at the Rammler&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a rabbit-rammler is castrated before sexual maturity, then one&#xA;  speaks of an early castration. Depending on the size of the rabbits,&#xA;  this must be done with about 11-12 weeks, but no later than 16 weeks&#xA;  (larger breeds). In the rabbit usually the Rammler is castrated to&#xA;  avoid offspring, since it is a smaller intervention in him than in the&#xA;  females.  The early intervention prevents sex hormones from being&#xA;  produced, thus the rabbit never fully &quot;grows up&quot;, but experience shows&#xA;  that early neutered bullies do not have disadvantages in the group and&#xA;  in rankings and are better socialized as they are not separated need&#xA;  to be in order to prevent offspring. This is the great advantage of&#xA;  early castration. If a Rammler is castrated before he is sexually&#xA;  mature, he can directly back into the old group and grow up there.&#xA;  Later castrated ramblers are capable of reproduction for up to four&#xA;  weeks after castration and must be separated this time to avoid&#xA;  offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Rammler castration after sexual maturity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Castration after sexual maturity can be carried out into old age as&#xA;  long as the affected rabbit is vital and healthy. However, since the&#xA;  sex behavior has an influence on the position in the group and the&#xA;  whole character of the rabbit, especially in older, dominant rabbits,&#xA;  which live in a group, after castration, there may be a loss of&#xA;  ranking, which often makes them emotionally strong, especially in&#xA;  group housing added. Rabbits are very much designed to reproduce, so&#xA;  the sudden loss of affected hormones often results in a character&#xA;  change. Since in captivity, however, no natural selection (by&#xA;  predators and disease) takes place, we have no choice but to castrate&#xA;  them, because a single husbandry or permanent offspring would not be&#xA;  animal-friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabbits are fertile for a while after castration!&lt;/strong&gt;  The separation of&#xA;  the Rammlers of sexually mature females after castration must be&#xA;  strictly adhered to, as there is still a residue of sperm in the vas&#xA;  deferens, which can still be delivered. Only when these residual sperm&#xA;  have died, the rabbit is no longer able to produce. How long the&#xA;  remaining sperm are still viable, is not scientifically researched,&#xA;  the guinea pig, there is a study that has found out 7-70 days, the&#xA;  same is probably true for rabbits. That would mean that (to exclude&#xA;  any risk of danger) you would have to wait 10 weeks for quarantine. In&#xA;  practice, however, it has been found that a shorter period is&#xA;  sufficient. After 4 weeks, only extremely rare cases have become known&#xA;  in which there was still a pregnancy, after 5 weeks separation, there&#xA;  has been no single pregnancy. The first four weeks are dangerous.  The&#xA;  only exception: if the ram was castrated before it became sexually&#xA;  mature (early castration), there are still no sperm present in the vas&#xA;  deferens, i. the castrate can be left to females directly after the&#xA;  castration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T08:32:26.830" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T08:32:26.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-29T02:28:36.187" Score="2" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 4 adult muscovy ducks. A drake and hen each of blue and black. I have no idea of their lineage, so they may or may not be related, as they all came from the same flock. The black hen has a dozen 5 week old ducklings, and the blue hen is sitting on approximately another dozen eggs, due to hatch in the next couple weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What steps should I take to avoid issues like birth defects due to inbreeding? Is it necessary to get rid of all the drakes (including babies), and introduce new drakes to prevent problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="689" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T02:28:36.187" Title="Preventing inbreeding in Muscovy duck flock" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;ducks&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5777" CreationDate="2019-07-29T02:56:36.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a baby Moroccan and is also skittish as soon as I open up the tank doors he runs but am vigilant in catching him . I do this every day so as he gets used to me an eventually will know I’m not goin to hurt him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16277" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T02:56:36.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25894" CreationDate="2019-07-29T05:46:27.793" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always be aware that bringing a new pet home means work.&#xA;And it will be more work if you already have other pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to introduce your cat and your dog to accept each other, you can find lots of posts about that around this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the chickens: It is normal for a young dog to be playful and they do not know how to behave. You will have to teach him not to &quot;play&quot; with the chickens. Just like you have to teach young dogs to walk on a leash or to sit.&#xA;There are also posts about that around here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This situation is not only new to you. It is new to the dog, the cat and the chickens too. Take time and patience to introduce them to one another carefully and supervised.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T05:46:27.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6505" CreationDate="2019-07-29T06:17:13.463" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten ate one moth and two days later her eye got really swollen and yucky. I started reading up on what her eye problem could be and it is called Blepharitis. I read that if an insect bites or is inhaled caused her Blepharospasm. I would say letting your cats eat them is harmful and you definitely should stop them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16278" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T06:17:13.463" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-29T08:17:02.403" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted a terrier mix about a week ago. When I brought him home he was calm probably due to him being neutered the day before. A couple days passed and he was calm and allowed me to touch him anytime and hand feed him. He had a complication where he got a blood clot in his testicles so he was a bit uncomfortable. After the swelling started to go down he got more energetic, but the last couple days he has been growling at me and he even tried snapping at me. It’s hard for me to tell when he will growl at me since it’s usually a surprise. He seems to not like dogs and does not like it when my boyfriend is affectionate with me. He was fine at the shelter and showed no signs of aggression. I don’t know what to do because I don’t want to walk on eggshells near him all the time. I want to be comfortable near him. Please help I don’t want to take him back to the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16280" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T01:01:09.280" Title="Newly adopted dog shows aggression" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25909" CreationDate="2019-07-29T15:46:22.663" Score="3" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in DC and have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/145618/what-to-do-about-a-rat-living-in-drain-line&quot;&gt;rodent problem&lt;/a&gt;. DC has a program that allows you to adopt a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.humanerescuealliance.org/bluecollarcats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blue collar&lt;/a&gt; working cat. I think it is basically a trap-neuter-return type program, but instead of returning them, they give them to people who will give them an outdoor shelter and feed them daily. We are not looking for a pet and wouldn't want to commit to much more than a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thekittytube.com/the-kitty-tube-generation-3-with-straw-only-free-shipping/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kitty tube&lt;/a&gt; (probably a DIY one), a small sand filed section of our garden for a litter box that we would clean regularly, putting out food and water in the morning, and maybe a heated cat pad for really cold winter days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that feral cats can be a touchy subject (bird lovers seem to hate them and cat lovers love them), but I am looking for an objective answer highlighting the pros and cons of essentially habituating a feral cat that my yard is a consistent place to get a meal and sleep. How much responsibility is having a working cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16282" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:02:39.370" Title="Adopting a feral cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25908" CreationDate="2019-07-29T16:30:14.483" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the related post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/25798/13&quot;&gt;Can feral cats be moved?&lt;/a&gt; it has a lot of detail about moving feral cats.  Reading your link &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.humanerescuealliance.org/bluecollarcats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;blue collar&lt;/a&gt; working cat, they have a few words about the initial commitment, but not a lot.  I suspect they will tell you more if you reach out to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short the first couple to few weeks is going to require more work and responsibility for you.  After that the amount of work goes down a lot. Feed daily and clean the litter box a couple times per week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can handle the '&lt;strong&gt;acclimation&lt;/strong&gt;' commitment the rest is easy.  It is a live animal that you are committing to support, so if you like to take long vacations, you will need to plan for someone to provide support in your absence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, talk to the shelter and be honest about your concerns and abilities to provide support. If they don't think it is going to work for you, they will let you know.  Most shelters would rather keep an animal, than send it someplace that is not going to work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T16:30:14.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-29T17:09:42.860" Score="6" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sister site has a post &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/15740/4079&quot;&gt;Is Permethrin safe for cats after it dries?&lt;/a&gt; it has a well referenced &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/15741/4079&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; saying that cats should be kept away from Permethrin before it dries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there have been some &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/22681/4079&quot;&gt;answers&lt;/a&gt; and comments suggesting that some veterinary professionals believe Permethrin can harm cats even after it dries.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any research showing dangers to cats from dried Permethrin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T12:14:34.307" Title="Is there any research showing dangers to cats from dried Permethrin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25907" CreationDate="2019-07-29T23:08:58.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you take him to the vet regarding the blood clot?  There is a possibility that he is in pain still which would make him growl and at weird times because lots of activities will cause pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've been to the vet then it seems like he needs some help getting comfortable in his new home.  Give him space, reward him looking at you or approaching you with treats.  Throw them on the floor towards him, don't make him come to you for the treats.  Reward him going outside or getting leashed with treats.  Essentially you need to teach him that he's in a nice place and treats are the way to do it.  You don't have to give him a ton each time, just two or three smalls ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growls are warnings that the dog is uncomfortable, it's actually good that he's growling to give you a warning something is wrong, instead of biting or charging you.  Growling is a very healthy thing for dogs to do to show that something is wrong, not an automatic sign of aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16285" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T23:08:58.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25908" CreationDate="2019-07-29T23:13:31.697" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;James has a good answer, I used to work at a shelter here are a few additional things to consider.  Most working cat programs require a covered shelter for the cats so they can stay dry in rain and have a place to stay warm in the winter.  A majority of the programs also require you to take the cat to the vet on a yearly basis or if they are hurt or ill.  Cats in working cat programs are not truly feral, they tolerate some human interaction, enough that they are not TNR'd they are placed with people who need mousers because they will get some care from humans but aren't expected to be as affectionate as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16285" LastActivityDate="2019-07-29T23:13:31.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25917" CreationDate="2019-07-30T00:58:21.047" Score="2" ViewCount="2199" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a new foster dog and he's 11 months old. When he plays with other dogs at the park he grabs onto their legs with his mouth. It's not hard really (a soft bite), but enough that he'll interrupt the other dogs from running. Most dogs do not enjoy this and will run away and hide. Owners of other dogs especially hate this. How can I teach him to play in a more appropriate way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16286" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T00:36:52.330" Title="How can I stop my dog from grabbing on to legs of other dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25908" CreationDate="2019-07-30T02:45:27.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend has 3 cats. That's exactly how they live. They're not in any program and are not working cats. They're just there. One came by one day, had kittens and they all stayed outside in their yard. &#xA;Pretty much what you've said is really all they need.&#xA;There's shelters at the back, they get a bowl with fresh water and get fed. Might get some extra things to nibble on here and there if people happen to see the cats and have something on hand.&#xA;He did catch them and take them to the vet if needed. He also got them spayed. So I think food shelter and vet care when necessary. The cats go to the bathroom wherever in the bush so you don't even have to worry about that. They're likely not going to use whatever litter tray you give them. As they free roam they'll do whatever. Catch whatever they feel like in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also since they know you they'll very likely let you pet or touch them but they don't have attachments or much emotions towards you. They're not totally wild - I'll say they are somewhere between wild cat and a house cat. If I score them 0 is wild and 100 is complete house cat, they are around 60-70. So yeah he's had the mother for 14 years now and she's still healthy and strong like a young cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16287" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:02:39.370" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T11:02:39.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25914" CreationDate="2019-07-30T09:54:08.880" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is: you need to reprimand him whenever he grabs the legs of another dog. Please have a look at this related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/396/12501&quot;&gt;What is an effective way to discipline a dog?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difficult part is that any kind of reward or punishment is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787808001366&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;most effective withing a maximum of 2 seconds&lt;/a&gt; after the behavior you want to reward or punish. You need to have a direct connection with your dog to be able to reprimand him &lt;em&gt;any second&lt;/em&gt; in the dog park. If you start running to him the moment he grabs another dog, you initiate a different behavior (most likely playing) instead of discouraging his previous behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also important: don't wait with your reprimand until &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; your dog has already grabbed some legs. The moment you see him leaning towards a dog's legs or opening his snout to grab them, call his name and sternly tell him &amp;quot;NO!&amp;quot;. Don't make it a friendly &amp;quot;I'd really appreciate if you didn't do that&amp;quot; but look at him angrily and tell him &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; in a stern voice, so there can be no doubt in your dog's mind that you dislike whatever he's doing right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might need to discourage his behavior in a physical way, too. This &lt;em&gt;never ever&lt;/em&gt; means to hit or otherwise hurt your dog. Most dogs are simply so concentrated on their playing and interacting with other dogs that they ignore their owner's vocal commands. By adding a physical contact, you pull him from his previous thoughts and make him notice you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is a long leash. They come in length of 20 or even 30 meters and can become quite cumbersome. Additionally, if your dog is 20 meters away from you, you still have no chance of reprimanding him in time, even if he's on the leash. So please use a &lt;strong&gt;leash of 5 - 10 meters&lt;/strong&gt;. That gives your dog enough freedom of movement to play with others while keeping him close enough to give you a chance to interact with him at any second. A short pull on the leash at the right time can act as the physical stimulus to pull him from his playing and notice your reprimand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative is a remote controlled shock or vibrating collar. &lt;strong&gt;I strongly discourage the use of electric shock collars&lt;/strong&gt; as these are much too strong and the electrodes are situated directly at the throat. Most dog owners I know have made good experiences with a simple vibrating collar, and even those vibrations are often too strong for sensitive dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by disabling the electric shock (if the collar has one) and configuring the vibration to the lowest level. Then fit the collar to your dog's neck. It must not restrict movement or breathing, but should not sit too loosely. As a rule of thumb, you should be able to easily fit 2 fingers between the neck and the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then take a walk with your dog or observe his actions at home. Whenever he does something bad, activate the collar's vibration and see how he reacts. It's enough for him to be startled or confused and stop his behavior. That's all you really need. If he ignores the collar, the vibration is too soft, if he yelps or panics, it's too strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that activating the collar itself &lt;strong&gt;is not the punishment&lt;/strong&gt;. It's just the physical stimulus to stop the unwanted behavior and make the dog perceptible for your reprimand. You still have to tell him with your voice that you dislike what he's doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people prefer teaching their dog alternative behavior instead of reprimanding bad behavior. I honestly cannot fathom how you would implement an alternative behavior to grabbing other dog's legs without making your dog not play with other dogs anymore...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T00:36:52.330" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T00:36:52.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25907" CreationDate="2019-07-30T14:09:03.093" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lived through the same situation with my adopted dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He was taken from his home and pack. He was timid because of his uncertainty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He had time to get used to you. He accepted you as his new pack and feels accepted by you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now he is fighting for his position in the hierarchy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be as simple as that: he's trying to be your boss. Given the circumstances, pain from his complication could be an added factor. Adaption to his new hormone levels could be in play, too. Since he's from a shelter, he could have made some traumatic experiences with his former owners and maybe growls at you because his former owners treated him badly in a similar situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the background, &lt;strong&gt;you need to stop walking on eggshells and start asserting your dominance&lt;/strong&gt;. Do it in a gentle way by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing some basic obedience training with him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set rules and stick to them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never beat or otherwise hurt your dog or he might feel the need to defend himself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obedience training (like &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot;) gets your dog used to obeying your commands and being submissive, while it gives you the opportunity to improve your relationship with him by rewarding his good behavior. Whether you use a clicker, reward by voice or with treats and give commands by voice or by gestures doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Setting rules sounds oh so trivial but is so important. What's important is not the rule itself, but that every member of the household agrees to the same rules and that the dog always has to follow the rules, without exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some popular rules are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You always go first through doors and the dog may not squeeze through to be first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog must sit or lay a respectful few meters away from the table while you are eating. He may only leave his place after everyone is finished eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog is not allowed to sit on the couch or bed (either not at all or not before asking you for permission).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important to have a human as most dominant member of the pack (or &amp;quot;pack leader&amp;quot;) because dogs have the instinct to become pack leader themselves if no-one else does. Our human world is too complicated for a dog to lead a human pack, though. Leading dogs often become overstrained and stressed and react aggressively to situations they cannot cope with any other way. Read more about a similar case in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21009/12501&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By becoming pack leader, you take this stress away from your dog. He doesn't have to try understanding our world and setting rules for the pack, you took that responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loving your dog and giving him affection doesn't contradict being more dominant. You can be a gentle pack leader by establishing clear rules and correcting your dog until he follows those rules. As stated in my answer to the linked question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog must always obey them. Don't punish him if he tries to avoid obeying, correct his behaviour until he obeys. That means sending him down from the couch again and again, returning him to his pillow during meals again and again, and turning around and going through the same door again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T01:01:09.280" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T01:01:09.280" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25894" CreationDate="2019-07-30T14:39:51.670" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to be aware that German Shepherd dogs are working animals. They are bred to herd animals, protect farms from intruders and help police officers and soldiers with their duties. These are no lap dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, your dog is young and full of energy. She's like a child running around and playing on the playground without becoming tired at all. So you have a high-energy dog in a high-energy phase of her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you imprison her in a house...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's no wonder she starts attacking animals. She's simply bored and full of energy she cannot burn off. Bored dogs find the most inconvenient ways to entertain themselves, often by barking nonstop, scratching or knawing at walls and furniture and chasing anything that moves. You need to work with her, go on long walks and play games with her to make her more calm and stable at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at some ideas here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;Alternatives to walking a dog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working and playing with your dog strengthens your relationship and teaches her to obey your commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is to put her on a leash and introducing her to your chickens. This is best done after a walk or a training session so she's a little exhausted and not too excited. If you're afraid she might kill a chicken, put a muzzle on her. Go outside with her by your side and sit down on a bench or the stairs or whatever. Just be calm and feed her treat after treat with just a few seconds in between. Eating your treats must be more attractive to her than chasing chickens. Do this for just a minute or two at first and repeat the training each day. If she's too excited at first, go back inside, calm down and repeat the training an hour later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few training sessions, you can reduce the amount of treats she gets. Give her one for going outside, then let her look around and give her the next treat after a minute if she's calm. After a few more days of training, calmly walk through your yard with her on the leash. You can combine this with simple obedience training. After a few more days you should be able to release her from the leash and remove the muzzle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T20:31:12.720" LastActivityDate="2020-07-29T20:31:12.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25890" CreationDate="2019-07-30T14:51:06.227" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is excessive ear wax, probably due to an ear infection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try cleaning the wax with a moist cotton swab. There are special dog ear cleaning solutions that can dissolve the wax and some have additional beneficial properties. Most dogs are more accepting of ear cleaning when you mimic a licking motion. &lt;strong&gt;Never use Q-tips / cotton buds in a dog's ear&lt;/strong&gt; because the risk of injury is too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the ear wax returns within a day or two, your dog shakes his head a lot or rubs and scratches his ears, you should visit a vet. Ear infections can be caused either by ear mites, bacteria or fungi and the vet needs to determine the cause to give you the correct treatment. As treatment you usually get ear drops that numb the itching and fight the germs. If an infection is not treated, it can become chronic, sometimes lasting several months and in extreme cases the dogs have to get surgery to remove the focus of the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-07-31T06:33:16.747" LastActivityDate="2019-07-31T06:33:16.747" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-07-30T14:57:24.483" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a two-floor apartment and I'm trying to free roam my bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, our stairs spiral upwards and have minimum railing (only 4 horizontal poles), so it would be easy for a rabbit to fall through from the absolute top to the bottom. My bunny knows how to hop on stairs, but I worry that she could fall through the railing at the top and hurt herself, even get paralyzed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do rabbits have some sense of height and danger that would prevent her from hopping through the railings and falling, or should I just keep her in my room so she doesn't come into contact with the stairs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16289" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T08:30:24.583" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T08:30:24.583" Title="Can a bunny register the dangers of falling?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25921" CreationDate="2019-07-30T15:20:52.283" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You concern is valid.  Rabbits can and do injury themselves jumping from too high.  I suspect that besides being able to get through the rails, there is probably also space between the steps (kick plate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have some barriers in our home that a bunny could get through so we use plastic lattice as in the image below.  It is relatively inexpensive, and in our experience they don't chew on it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are other pets in the house, that might scare them and make the bun try to take a short cut and jump to far, definitely do not leave spaces that they can fall long distances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think it is possible to let the rabbit have access to the whole house without covering these spaces.  If you do go that option, go slowly and supervise as they explore, if they do climb the stairs watch that they do so safely.  If you have had your rabbit on your bed, you know how they might pace a bit and think about it before jumping.  If you see that behavior, use a loud clap and strong NO to discourage them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits don't like slippery surfaces. If the stairs are not carpetied they will likely not try them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general I would say that you should be able to make the entire house rabbit safe, and that she is going to live happier and longer with access to the whole house.  If you have specific areas of concern, please post a new question with photos of the area so we can give you an answer specific to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w8iQ1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Baby Gate&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image from post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/8130/13&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/8130/13&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-07-30T15:20:52.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25961" CreationDate="2019-07-31T05:42:30.527" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have run across several articles detailing how to teach a dog to potty on command, and I would like to teach this to my lab mix. Months ago, I chose the cue word &quot;empty&quot; and said it nearly every time I saw it coming. Then came verbal praise and pats. But even after several moths of this, the command just doesn't stick with her at all. And she's about to come on a road trip eventually and I would prefer that she fully learn the command by then, as she'll be in strange places where I'll want her to &quot;go.&quot; Any tips to help this happen? In the meantime, I'll be trying to introduce treats as a reward. . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16292" LastActivityDate="2019-08-08T12:01:40.553" Title="How do I teach my dog to go potty on command?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25924" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-01T13:18:35.147" Score="3" ViewCount="2358" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 years old shih tzu is 4 weeks pregnant. Ever since, she really loves climbing stairs and seems to be her territory. But I'm a bit worried if it might affect her pregnancy. I want to assure the best for her so I would restrict her to climb the stairs if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15977" LastActivityDate="2019-08-02T06:23:34.857" Title="Is it okay for a pregnant dog to climb stairs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25926" CreationDate="2019-08-01T13:34:51.890" Score="4" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 years old boy loves cats, but I work a full time job and of course my son would be at school at the same time that I work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to get a cat, but am concerned about how to litter train it if I'm not with it all day. Is it something easy? How long does it take to get it trained?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16295" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-01T20:54:02.263" LastActivityDate="2019-08-12T20:16:59.217" Title="How to litter train a cat if both my husband and I work away from home all day?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25925" CreationDate="2019-08-01T14:52:37.877" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To directly answer your question, litterbox training a cat that doesn't already naturally take to a litterbox is not easy, and the process can take weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, cats are not like dogs. Many cats do not need to be so formally trained to use the litterbox. Litterboxes are designed to appeal to cats' natural instincts, and so many cats are &quot;trained&quot; early on by the proper encouragement, and instinct fills in the blanks.  But this is certainly not true of all cats. Those cats that need more formalized training in order to figure out how to use one can definitely be difficult.   If you are worried about it, make sure to adopt from someone that is aware of their animals' toilet habits and only get one that is known to be trained already. Since cats are generally easy to &quot;train,&quot; a great many available animals will already know to use the litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware when you bring a new cat home, it will be very stressful for the animal, and there may be accidents or territorial marking.  It is recommended in order to try to prevent this as much as possible to keep your cat confined to one room at first. The cat can then explore its one room, and that one room will become its safe zone. Since it is only one room, the cat will definitely become aware of the location of the litterbox also. You may even try placing the cat in the litterbox a little while after a meal to try to encourage it to use it. Then, once the cat is settled, you can allow the cat into a little bit larger area more and more until it has explored the entire house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-08-01T14:52:37.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25925" CreationDate="2019-08-01T15:04:02.283" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats require little to no litter training, as litter boxes are designed to appeal to their instinctive need to bury their waste. As long as the box is of a sufficient size (larger is better than smaller) and the litter selected doesn't bother them (declawed cats or cats with sensitivities may not like many types of litter), then there should be very little effort involved, if any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're adopting from a reputable rescue or shelter, the cat should already be litter trained; the shelter and foster families aren't just letting them go anywhere they want. An adult cat will also have a set personality and behaviors, and is less likely than a kitten to develop litterbox issues after adoption. Adult cats often have a harder time finding placement than kittens, often because of a perception that they've been surrendered due to litterbox issues; a rescue will be able to help you find a cat with a suitable personality and no known issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When bringing a new cat home, a good way to help it acclimate is to restrict the space available at first, and to ensure the cat knows where the litterbox is on arrival in the strange new space (litter attractants can also help during this period). It's often recommended to set the cat into the litterbox when letting it out of the carrier on the first arrival. Let the cat have space and time in the new room; let it hide and don't harass it or try to force it out of hiding. Leave the room entirely so it can get comfortable, and it'll use the box on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, be prepared to clean up any accidents appropriately during the settling period. Don't scold the cat for them, and do clean them up with an enzymatic cleaner designed for cleaning up pet waste, or that area will begin to smell like an appropriate toileting area to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also minimize the chance of future litter issues by making sure the cat has plenty of clean water available and ensuring they are well hydrated (feeding wet food is very helpful for this); most litter issues are actually related to health problems, not behavioral, and most of them originate from urine that is not sufficiently diluted. Promoting dilute urine helps prevent these health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-08-01T15:04:02.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23547" CreationDate="2019-08-01T15:27:10.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty common &quot;I have nothing to dig in&quot; symptom. If you aren't using a substrate he can dig in, get a pot or container and fill with some loose soil so he can have somewhere to scratch his digging itch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please consider getting a bigger tank soon. 10 gal is probably ok for a hatchling, but that's going to get real cramped real quick. And having that large of a temperature gradient over that small of a tank seems like it would be pretty hard to maintain. And of course be sure there are plenty of hides all over so he can hide in a comfortable temp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastActivityDate="2019-08-01T15:27:10.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25924" CreationDate="2019-08-02T06:23:34.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with trond's comment: Let the dog decide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty much all her behavior during the pregnancy will be instinct based. If there are things she shouldn't do, she'll &quot;know&quot; that. If there's something that hurts or is uncomfortable, she'll most likely avoid it or at least show clear signs of discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't mean you can't help the dog is make things more comfortable, but overall I'm pretty sure she'll handle just fine. Just make sure she finds herself a calm corner for herself and the puppies later on that's actually puppy safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2019-08-02T06:23:34.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25901" CreationDate="2019-08-02T12:36:10.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what kind of noises you describe but my bunny makes noises when eating sometimes (and when he sees me filling his plate with food) so I guess noises sometimes come from other things and not only pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is my bunny making noises when eating:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOcedLpV8ZA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOcedLpV8ZA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7077" LastActivityDate="2019-08-02T12:36:10.630" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26068" CreationDate="2019-08-04T11:45:16.903" Score="5" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet cat has two kitten, each 3 weeks old. Suddenly I'm noticing it sometimes bites and scratches the kittens with legs when making &quot;meow&quot; like sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal? Is the cat only attacking the kittens playfully or to teach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16308" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-08-09T05:06:10.950" LastActivityDate="2019-08-26T08:24:30.453" Title="Mother Cat Attacking 3 Weeks Old Kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2019-08-05T15:38:58.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cats can eat raw meat and not get sick&quot; is not the same as &quot;cats can eat raw meat and will &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; get sick from it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People also &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; eat raw meat and not get sick, however all it takes is one contaminated piece of meat - which you would not be able to tell until after you've eaten it - to ruin your week, or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My brother's wife's uncle's friend's cousin's wife's son once gave their cat raw beef and she was just fine!&quot; is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; objective evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw meat diet poses risk to health, regardless of human or feline.  If you want to keep your pets from getting sick, cook the meat first.  Salmonella infections, among others, can be deadly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16316" LastActivityDate="2019-08-05T15:38:58.130" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-05T20:13:27.097" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last evening I found two small white worms crawling frantically across my white comforter on my bed attempting to burrow into it.. this after my roommate’s dog slept on my bed leaving copious amounts of what I presume to be flea feces (tiny curled black bits). I gathered the comforter immediately and ran outside with it. But I’m afraid for myself and my own dog. What type of worm is so very motile and frantic to burrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16317" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T04:53:48.800" Title="Parasitic worm from dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25945" CreationDate="2019-08-05T20:54:23.500" Score="0" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do cats learn how to hunt from their mothers? Do orphaned cats not know how to hunt as well or at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2932" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T05:05:28.363" Title="Do cats learn how to hunt from their mothers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hunting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2307" CreationDate="2019-08-06T04:59:26.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My alternative method involves the dog learning to present the sock owner the act of placing the sock somewhere it should be. Rather than taking a sock and putting the sock somewhere it shouldn’t be. I speak from experience - I would train my dog every time she picked up a sock to put it in my laundry basket and reward her every time she drops the sock in the laundry basket.. She eventually learned every time she picked up a sock she had to go through a boring training session and eventually just moved on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2019-08-07T10:13:59.593" LastActivityDate="2019-08-07T10:13:59.593" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25940" CreationDate="2019-08-06T05:05:28.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes kittens learn this from their mothers,But they will learn from experience too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mother will bring dead prey to her kittens first and often throw it around a little in front of her kittens,this is to get the kittens interrested so they start to play with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later the mother will bring live prey to her kittens this is so they can learn how to do the kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stalking part of the hunt is more instinct and experience so the kittens do not learn this from their mother,You can see kittens learning this from playing with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Orphaned kittens do learn how to hunt but it will often take more time before they can do this sucsessfully,A large part of how kittens learn how to hunt is by playing with their siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note when a cat brings you prey it is not a gift it is more a reminder that you need to learn how to hunt so you can feed yourself and survive(my cat brings prey into my house not to give it to me but to eat it in peace from other cats)she knows i can hunt i give her raw meat as a treat sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T05:05:28.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25886" CreationDate="2019-08-06T07:30:03.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure he &amp;quot;really loves the fuss&amp;quot;? What makes you think so? Many dogs dislike being hugged or squeezed or otherwise encircled by humans because it takes away their options to move away or avoid the contact. Most humans simply don't realize because they cannot read the body language while hugging a dog or they don't recognize the body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best indicator that his &amp;quot;pinching&amp;quot; is no friendly behavior is that he acts very different during play fights. He knows exactly how much he can close his jaws to cause pain or avoid it. He chooses to hurt you in these situations. You need to stop ignoring his behavior &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; the causes for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you should change the way you interact with him. Dial back on the fussing and don't be &amp;quot;all over him&amp;quot;. Instead, offer him simple pettings and playtime. Let him decide how much body contact he wants instead of forcing the contact on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you carry him, don't treat him like a stuffed toy. Support his body between his front legs and under his hind legs, as if he's sitting on your arm. When you set him back down somewhere, hold him very close over the surface and let him walk off your arm. Sit him down only if he doesn't move from your arms at all. This gives him the feeling that he chose to move (although you moved him where you wanted him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he pinches you again, especially to the point where you bruise and even bleed, treat it as the bad behavior it actually is. Don't beat or otherwise hurt him, but tell him in dog language, that you won't tolerate this. This reaction must come as quickly as possible. It would be best to sternly tell him &amp;quot;NO!&amp;quot; while he's adjusting your skin in his mouth and before he even pinched you. Next best is to reprimand him as fast as possible, at least within 1 - 2 seconds after he pinched you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's pinches you in the face, quickly lay your hand on top of his muzzle and close your hand as if to hold his muzzle closed, then move his muzzle away from your face so he can't pinch you anymore (&lt;strong&gt;Don't slap him in the face or squeeze his muzzle!&lt;/strong&gt; That's very important because dogs can develop a shy-away behavior if you hurt them in the face). It will need some repetitions for him to learn that he's not allowed to pinch you. My dog loves nibbling at everyone's noses and caused quite some bleeding. This way he learned that he can move his teeth over our noses but is not allowed to close his jaws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he pinches you in the arm or anywhere else on your body, you can either use the muzzle-closing gesture above or pinch back. I don't mean actually pinching (every interaction with a dog should be pain-free, even reprimanding). Form a mouth with your hand as if you used a socket puppet and quickly &amp;quot;bite&amp;quot; his ribs or flank with your hand-mouth. In most cases it's enough to just nudge him in the flank. This gesture mimics how a dominant dog would reprimand another dog in a wild pack. They either jump with their front paws at the other dog or nudge them with their mouth without actually biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-18T15:18:39.127" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T15:18:39.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25886" CreationDate="2019-08-06T08:05:10.433" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies are eager to play and in the process of learning how hard they can bite.  You need to teach the dog the right bite pressure by saying OUCH loudly then walk away from the dog. Physically correcting the dog usually doesn’t help and makes it worse. Another puppy when bit too hard doesn’t bite back,.. they yelp and avoid playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T08:05:10.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25910" CreationDate="2019-08-06T11:43:24.430" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There appears to be some claims that Permethrin is very toxic to cats.  The Wikipedia article for it links to a few sources.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/PermGen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;general fact sheet&lt;/a&gt; stated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats that have been exposed by accident to products with high (45-65%) levels of permethrin may seem anxious and can't walk normally. They may also have muscle tremors and seizures and they may die from the exposure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.consumerreports.org/pets/should-you-use-natural-tick-prevention-for-your-dog-or-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt; claims:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the pesticide permethrin, a common ingredient in some tick-prevention products for dogs, is highly toxic to cats. If you have a dog and a cat, and the cat regularly licks or grooms the dog, avoid using permethrin on your dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin#cite_note-33&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;third source&lt;/a&gt; was cited on the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; for the substance as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While these sources seem to be more about direct usage on cats, I feel that it's within ones best interest to avoid using this substance at all if you have cats.  It seems what happens most often is people who have both cats and dogs apply some of this to their dog(s) and eventually some of it could get on their cats from just &quot;getting around&quot; for a lack of a better term.  Although you asked if dried permethrin could pose a threat, I would still avoid using it or products that contain it if you have cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, the above is more about direct contact with fresh Permethrin.  In doing some additional searching, I've found the following &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/11/627843581/if-you-spray-your-clothes-with-permethrin-be-careful-around-the-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are spraying a 1 percent concentration on clothing and it dries, it's unlikely that you'll see any problems with the cat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article discussed both usage on dogs and usage for humans, mainly with regards to spraying it on clothing.  It seems most sprays that humans would typically use are far lower in concentration than that of what you would apply to your dog.  Because of this, the risk to cats is far lower.  They still recommend spraying clothing with the substance away from your cats and in an area where the cats cannot access, and to be sure it is fully dried before coming in contact with your cats again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My conclusion is then if you are using this with your dog(s), the concentration amount of Permethrin is typically far higher, thus it poses a more severe risk to cats.  As said before, it is possible the cats may come in contact with it by accident if you are using it on your dog(s) and thus it could cause harm.  In regards to the type of products humans use for clothing, it's far less likely to cause any issues especially if you let it dry since the concentration of Permethrin is usually much lower.  But if you want to be absolutely safe and eliminate all risk, then it is best to avoid it then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8484" LastEditorUserId="8484" LastEditDate="2019-08-06T12:14:34.307" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T12:14:34.307" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-06T13:48:14.927" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an older pit/husky mix rescue dog he is about 7.5 years old and recently has gone from an indoor dog wanting to be with us to an outside dog who is afraid to come inside. He has been starting to not eat unless it’s also outside. The only thing we can think of is we recently used a bug zapper inside (not on him) and he is afraid of it. Or he may of been abused in the past. Any suggestions would be helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16321" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T14:35:22.780" Title="Change in behavior" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25949" CreationDate="2019-08-06T14:35:22.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try turning off the bug zapper and see if that solves the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many bug zappers emit high frequency sound waves that are advertised as &quot;cannot be heard by most humans and house pets&quot; where &lt;strong&gt;MOST&lt;/strong&gt; is a keyword. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be that the sound the zapper makes is so annoying to him that he would rather be outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T14:35:22.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-06T18:44:42.533" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;We currently have one cat in our home. We recently fostered a kitten with an upper respiratory infection (URI) for roughly one week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were aware of the URI and we quarantined the kitten in a room during his stay, which ended about a week ago. We were also careful to wash thoroughly (and change clothes) after interacting with the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have kept our cat out of the quarantine room since the kitten left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quarantine room contains some books shelves, some upholstered furniture, and an area rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to disinfect that room so we can open it to our cat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16323" LastActivityDate="2019-08-06T18:44:42.533" Title="What is the proper method of disinfecting a room exposed to feline URI?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25952" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2019-08-07T07:14:18.407" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to nominate myself as a moderator serving this community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs, who are still alive, so that kind of proves that at least I'm doing something right when it comes to pets!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've not been active on the Pets site for quite some time, but I am an active moderator on the Workplace site.  If elected, I would naturally become more active here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm well versed in knowing how the site works and how users and moderation works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, this first nomination here will prompt other, more worthy, people to lift the hammer of nomination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastEditorDisplayName="user8045" LastEditDate="2019-08-07T07:14:18.407" LastActivityDate="2019-08-07T07:14:18.407" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-08-07T07:14:18.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25953" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2019-08-07T09:44:49.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been an active user of the site for nearly three years (I think it was my first SE account!) And I'd like to give back to the community - and I think I can do that as a moderator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a pet owner myself (2 cats) and I care about both the animals we discuss here and the users who come to ask and answer on the site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets isn't my most active SE, I think this is largely a reflection of the relative traffic of the differing sites and would step up my presence here if elected. I also think my broader SE experience (I'm an active contributor on multiple sites) is a plus here, I know the ropes as it were! And while it might sound immodest I think I &quot;get&quot; what SE is trying to do - help both those who have questions, those who might find previous questions in the future and ensure that as much as possible the experience is a pleasant one for all who visit - both askers and those who generously donate their time to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've not been a moderator on an SE site before - but I have moderated elsewhere and take the &quot;light but firm&quot; approach. Most of the time the community does an effective job of self-moderating but I'm not afraid to step in if things look to be getting of hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastEditorUserId="7852" LastEditDate="2019-08-07T09:44:49.670" LastActivityDate="2019-08-07T09:44:49.670" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-08-07T09:44:49.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25954" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2019-08-07T10:04:51.670" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been asked to throw my hat in a couple of times &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; there was an election, and well here we are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly I'm not parked on the front page - for most part I'm in your chatroom, finding stuff through the feeds, both in terms of meta and the main site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm currently a moderator on 2 other sites - Super User, and Meta Stack Exchange - but I've also had experience moderating SR.SE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While typically I'm the &quot;off hours&quot; moderator, I work strange hours at the moment, and shouldn't have trouble putting in time moderating the place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2019-08-07T10:04:51.670" LastActivityDate="2019-08-07T10:04:51.670" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-08-07T10:04:51.670" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-08T05:39:44.680" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a week and a half ago I adopted a kitten from a shelter. Within the first week he began showing signs of an eye infection. Quite severe by my standards, but I’m not a vet. I took him to the vet and she told me that to give him .25ML of clavamox every twelve hours. On the box it says  “when reconstituted each ml contains 50mg of amoxicillin and 12.5 mg of clavulanic acid as the potassium salt”. However, she also prescribed him eyedrops and I accidentally messed up the times to give them and gave him a dose of antibiotic when he was supposed to get eyedrops. This makes it a dose given 8 hours early, or 3.5 -4 hours after his last dose. He weighs a bit over 2lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am at a loss as for what to do, I cannot call my vet as it is nearly 2 in the morning. Do I give him the eyedrops? Is this a death sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16331" LastActivityDate="2019-08-08T05:39:44.680" Title="Accidentally gave dose of antibiotic 8 hours early, 4 hours after the last. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25960" CreationDate="2019-08-08T11:09:55.890" Score="3" ViewCount="2251" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister owns a Bernese Mountain Dog of about four years old, which she had since he was a few months old, and appears to be in robust health. He gets his check-ups and no red flags have been raised. The dog likes to relax in front of the fan or radiator, depending on the weather, and my sister's house is mostly laminated wooden floors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog decides he is ready to lie down and have a rest, he will lay down like any other dog but when he lowers his head to the floor, it's as if he just lets it fall without effort. It always hits the floor with a noticeable thud! It is the kind of noise that makes me think it would be painful or uncomfortable for any other dog (or a person). Even with other Bernese dogs, I have never noticed them do that. The dog has done this for as long as I have known him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister has never expressed any concerns about it. I am merely curious as to why the dog might do it. Do Bernese dogs have a high pain threshold? Or is it just simply for efficiency's sake, letting gravity do the work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16336" LastActivityDate="2019-08-08T11:41:02.907" Title="Why does the Dog let its head drop hard onto the floor when it rests?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25959" CreationDate="2019-08-08T11:41:02.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My labrador does this onto the hard wooden decking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't cause any problems, or pain - if it did, the dogs would soon learn from this and rest more gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-08T11:41:02.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25923" CreationDate="2019-08-08T12:01:40.553" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With our lab, we repeated the command word multiple times every time he went to toilet, we didn't just say the word once.  We didn't give any food reward after this, just a happy &quot;good boy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even then, the technique doesn't work all of the time and he'll do his business whenever he feels the need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep persevering, but don't expect this to be learned as quickly as other tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-08T12:01:40.553" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-08T14:55:19.393" Score="3" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently (3 days ago) got a Shiba Inu of 4 months, she's was with a breeder in the country side whilst we live in a fairly noisy city. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She got comfortable at home very quickly, she is joyful and playful at home beyond our initial expectations, however she is extremely scared of going out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are fairly certain that it is due to overload of noise and movement (of people/cars/etc) that the city has. I tried to give her treats when getting out, but she is so scared that she ignores them completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She acts fairly nervous and either runs, pulling a lot, or stops for seconds in the middle of the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can help her acclimatizing? We pet her often when we go out, but doesn't seem to help in the slightest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16339" LastActivityDate="2020-10-13T10:39:36.357" Title="New puppy very playful and happy inside, super scared outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-08T16:43:47.167" Score="4" ViewCount="476" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just gotten two cats, and I've never had cats before. My boy (3 months) is  growling? at my girl (4 months). They've always eaten together; with wet food it wasn't a problem, but I'm now putting dry food in the bowl. My boy is acting really aggressive towards the other while eating. I put their food in separate bowls, but my boy is still being a jerk. He eats his food as fast as possible, then goes and tries to take my girl's food. I've tried putting them in other rooms, but my boy doesn't eat until he comes out. I don't know what to do and to be honest, I don't really want to supervise their eating all the time. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16340" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-08-15T02:52:52.330" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T14:00:50.293" Title="Male kitten bullying his sister out of food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-08T17:38:08.403" Score="0" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CGHXD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi I have had these fish for 2 months now and was wondering if it’s pregnant or ill or just it’s shape, the others are a lot thinner but i don’t know how to tell if it’s pregnant &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16341" LastActivityDate="2019-08-08T17:38:08.403" Title="Hi I was wondering if anyone knows if my fish is pregnant or not?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-08-08T18:21:50.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25973" CreationDate="2019-08-08T18:31:12.137" Score="3" ViewCount="679" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had this goldfish for around 2 years now, and have no problems with it at all. I changed it over to a bigger tank (22 litre) around 3 to 4 months ago, and until now have had no issues. The tank has NO other fish within it, and just some standard plastic trees and gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every 2 weeks I change the water (around 25%) and also use &amp;quot;fish safe&amp;quot; water conditioner to try and remove some of the impurities within the water. I also use a manual vacuum to clean the fish gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm unsure whether I've just not noticed, or whether this has happened in a small time frame, but the back fin on my fish is starting to look a bit ragged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other fins appear to be fine; I thought the black marking may have been a sign of poor water quality, but they seem to have been like that for over a year now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, it seems to be swimming in one corner of the fish tank, which is very unusual for this fish as he/she is usually happily swimming around the whole tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have given it some &amp;quot;disease safe&amp;quot; product, but as I'm unsure whether this is an actual issue, I don't want to overload the tank with lots of chemicals it doesn't need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've attached some images below to help clarify what I'm referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would any fish/pet experts be willing to offer some advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ioaxq.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ioaxq.png&quot; alt=&quot;Close up of fish fin&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vcK00.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vcK00.png&quot; alt=&quot;Fish Image 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9j1lr.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9j1lr.png&quot; alt=&quot;Fish Image 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16342" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T00:16:00.327" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T00:16:00.327" Title="Is my fish suffering from fin rot or is this just a sign of wear and tear?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26407" CreationDate="2019-08-08T20:04:08.977" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I just got a leopard gecko about 4 days ago, it's been years since I got one. I already have a good feeding schedule, he looks happy and healthy and sometimes lets me hold him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was chatting online and someone recommended that you should always get a substrate rather than the normal soft hair-mesh that comes with the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He specifically recommended coconut substrates, like this one: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.ca/Zoo-Med-Compressed-Coconut-Substrate/dp/B0010OSIHW/ref=asc_df_B0010OSIHW/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&amp;amp;linkCode=df0&amp;amp;hvadid=293019554117&amp;amp;hvpos=1o2&amp;amp;hvnetw=g&amp;amp;hvrand=14509978232653157064&amp;amp;hvpone=&amp;amp;hvptwo=&amp;amp;hvqmt=&amp;amp;hvdev=c&amp;amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;amp;hvlocint=&amp;amp;hvlocphy=9001021&amp;amp;hvtargid=pla-311753794553&amp;amp;th=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zoo Med Eco Earth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, should I get this for him? Also I have another gecko, under the care of my sibling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if anyone has any extra advice for what to do and what not to do, feel free to post it at the bottom of your answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:27:56.093" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:27:56.093" Title="Should I get my leopard gecko a substrate?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="25969" CreationDate="2019-08-08T23:15:06.527" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs do not suffer the allergic reaction to skin contact with urushiol that we humans do.  What about ingestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine the following hypothetical&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; near-worst-case&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; scenario:  A human has walked through a patch of poison ivy, creating direct contact between the leaves of the plant and his shoes.  Further, this human steps in a small pile of rabbit pellets.  A few minutes later, he enters his home and kicks off the shoes.  Thereupon a cat, lured by &lt;em&gt;parfume du bunn&amp;eacute;&lt;/em&gt;, licks the shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What health risks are there for said cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Footnotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: If you read the edit history of this question, you will note that it is motivated by a real situation involving a very low but non-negligible probability of ingestion.  However, I realized overnight my actual question is about the hypothetical, not the real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: Of course, the full-on worst-case is a cat actually eating a poison ivy leaf.  If an answer wishes to address this, go for it, but I think second-hand ingestion as described is more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditDate="2019-08-10T11:09:10.347" LastActivityDate="2019-08-10T11:09:10.347" Title="What, if any, are the risks to a cat that ingests urushiol?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25968" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2019-08-09T04:41:27.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After considering for a few days, I will put my name forward as well - although I am glad to see there are several other, perhaps better qualified, candidates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a veterinarian, and I think it could be very useful to have a veterinarian on the moderator team. I wouldn’t pretend to be able to answer every medical question that came up on this site, but I do feel in a unique position to help make decisions on what questions, answers, and activity are good for the site going forward. In particular, it may be easier for me than most to identify bad medical advice that is harmful to the pet, and might warrant more immediate moderation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also owned by two geriatric cats, who keep me in my place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past couple of years I have been a moderator on another beta site, so I know the ropes of moderation. I am also aware of the struggle to improve our stats (primarily our questions per day) without sacrificing quality. But the quality of the questions and answers on this site sets us apart from other pet forums, and maintaining this would be a priority of any moderating decisions I might make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-08-09T04:41:27.057" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T04:41:27.057" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-08-09T04:41:27.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25967" CreationDate="2019-08-09T06:46:49.663" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As trond hansen already posted in his link:&#xA;Cats generally do not have allergic reactions to poison ivy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But hairless cats or cats with very hort hair, as well as cats with areas of exposed skin can suffer allergic reactions to poison ivy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even then the worst case then is a red itch, which you should wash or wipe gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger problem could be the cat getting in contact with the poison ivy and then coming in contact with you or your clothes, the bed or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your cat came in contact with the poison ivy, definitely wash it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about ingestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But what if your pet is an equal-opportunity omnivore, and one day decides that poison ivy is delicious? Not to worry: a pet who ingests poison ivy, oak, or sumac will only face minor consequences, if any. “As a toxicologist and a specialist, I would not induce vomiting in that situation [if pets ingest these plants],” Lee says. “Thankfully, it probably just results in some mild irritation to the intestinal tract,” which can cause a bit of vomiting or diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this article of PetMD explains, there is no big danger even if your cat ingested the urushiol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/poison-ivy-oak-and-sumac-dangers-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD - Poisonous plants&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://catwisdom101.com/cats-poison-ivy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Wisdom - Poison Ivy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/what-pet-owners-should-know-about-poison-ivy-oak-and-sumac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vetstreet - What pet owners should know about poison ivy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2019-08-09T11:37:55.220" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T11:37:55.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25962" CreationDate="2019-08-09T07:43:46.913" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Petting a dog in a stressful situation doesn't help at all. On the contrary, it can make the situation only worse because you add even more sensual input. To make her more comfortable, you should start with little steps and let her get used to the noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As commented by Snow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting next to a window with the puppy can also give the dog safe exposure to the outside world as well. When the dog is comfortable with that, open the window a little to let smell/sounds in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be best if you have a little front garden or a park nearby, otherwise find the shortest path around your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put her on the leash, as if you'd go on a walk with her, but instead of going straight out, you start playing with her favorite toy inside your home. This puts her in a positive mindset and the leash is not getting associated with a negative feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then go outside with her and take her toy with you. Go just a little way, either to your garden or the sidewalk in front of your home or a nearby place where it's safe for her to play. Once there, continue playing with her and reward her with your voice or treats, but not with petting her. In dog language, the invitation to play is the so called &amp;quot;play bow&amp;quot;. Dogs stretch their front legs forward and bow their heads down, you as a human should bow forward and stretch your arms (and the toy) towards your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice that she becomes anxious or stressed and ignores the toy, return home and repeat the training at a later time or the next day. You'll need to repeat this training every day for 2 - 3 weeks, until you notice that she's relaxed while playing and doesn't shy away from sudden noises. It's ok to let her observe her surroundings, but she shouldn't be panicked by everyday noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is to extend her playtime into a short walk around the house. Start with a little play time, like the first week, but then go for a short walk with her. If she starts to pull on the leash, either stop and calm down (maybe you can play with her for a few seconds to put her into a positive mindset) or return home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start with very short walks and go just a little further each day. Walk the same path each day to make her feel more secure. Depending on her character, this might take several more weeks or just a few days to make her confident enough to take longer walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice that she's especially nervous around a certain place, like a noisy junction, use a similar approach and come closer in small steps. Go just far enough towards the place that you notice her becoming nervous and getting a stiff body posture. Stop right there and back up a few steps. Stay in this place for a minute or two and let her observe the place, then turn around and continue your walk in the opposite direction. Next time, try walking a little closer and let her get used to the place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-13T10:39:36.357" LastActivityDate="2020-10-13T10:39:36.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-09T08:53:20.283" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hamster Luigi lives free in my room, his cage is open and he can go in there whenever he wants. I bought him 5 months ago and he never had aggressive behaviors until now. In fact, in the past few  weeks he started to come on my bed during the night and bite me aggressively on the hands and arms, and it actually hurts! I can't really understand his behavior, even because during the day he's always nice and he comes when I call him.&#xA;Do you have any idea about why Luigi behaves this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S I don't really move when I sleep, so there are no possibilities to smash him :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16345" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-08-09T10:35:42.547" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T10:35:42.547" Title="Why does my hamster bite me during the night?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25971" CreationDate="2019-08-09T09:03:54.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say that you don't move at might, but it's possible that you might be, and then waking your hampster when it's sleeping or otherwise close to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thehamsterhouse.com/hamster-info/hamster-behavior/why-do-hamsters-bite/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://thehamsterhouse.com/hamster-info/hamster-behavior/why-do-hamsters-bite/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never disturb your hamster while it’s sleeping; if you do it will be grumpy and scared, and it’s likely to bite. And never approach your hamster from behind, as you are likely to startle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T09:03:54.400" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25965" CreationDate="2019-08-09T12:27:03.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fish does have finrot. The cause for this is often poor water quality as a result of a build up of ammonia or nitrite in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a tank is not properly cycled, you will not have the useful bacteria that convert fish waste into nitrate (plant food). Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;take a look here&lt;/a&gt; on how to cycle a fish tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To kick start a tank you can use the filter from an old tank and run this for a couple of weeks to seed your new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First aid against nitrite poisoning is to add 0,3% of aquarium salt. Most fish in the carp family (goldfish/koi) will handle this concentration with no problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful in using medication in your tank as most types of medication will kill all the bacteria in your tank. This means you will have to cycle your tank again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this, you might set up a hospital tank so you can treat only the fish that is ill and not destroy the biological balance in your main tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 22 liter tank is too small for a goldfish. A minimum tank for one single goldfish is 60 liters and a larger tank will be easier to maintain with less fluctuations in water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T00:08:39.260" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T00:08:39.260" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-09T13:04:13.570" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering adopting a bunny (a small one, lionheart or minilop), the thing is that in Switzerland the law makes it mandatory to own at least 2 bunnies otherwise it's considered as a big issue for the health condition of the bunny (stress, fear etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in France (why would it be a problem in Switzerland but not in neighbors countries) it is not mandatory at all, I am actually wondering if that's a real concern or the attention and carefulness could compensate it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually consider adopting one bunny at first, see how it goes (especially in term of space and time) before deciding if I may adopt one more. But I don't want my bunny to be sad the whole day because it feels lonely or stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16346" LastEditorUserId="429" LastEditDate="2019-08-09T13:46:30.497" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T09:48:09.837" Title="Bunny alone, good idea?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25974" CreationDate="2019-08-09T13:22:42.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are animals that need lots of companionship. &#xA;They can also form bonds with humans but that requires people to be around almost constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this scenario your rabbit is very likely to form a bond with you, following you around, lying down at your feet, perhaps even sleeping in your bed.  If you work from home and/or are at home most evenings and weekends, this is enough companionship for your rabbit and being the sole recipient of a rabbit's love is very fulfilling and heart warming.  For those who cannot afford more than one or are unsure about committing to two rabbits, this is ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you are the only person around it might not be ideal for your rabbit to be alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, living in a bonded pair as free range house rabbits is probably the most ideal way for rabbits to live as they have companionship both from you and from another rabbit.  It takes more work than you might think as all rabbits are different and their relationships (like our humans ones!) are often complex.  However, if you are able to make the commitment and are prepared for the extra cost and time involved, it is a very rewarding experience.  Please refer to the links below for more information on bonded rabbits, the bonding process, rabbit bereavement and companionship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several questions concerning lonely rabbits on this site, maybe look around and make a decision based on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25719/strategies-to-prevent-a-single-rabbit-from-getting-lonely-when-its-owners-are-on&quot;&gt;Pet Exchange - Prevent single rabbit from loneliness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10380/can-bonded-rabbits-die-of-loneliness&quot;&gt;Can bonded rabbits die of loneliness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/general/one-rabbit-or-two.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bunnyhugga - One or two rabbits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-09T14:19:43.777" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T14:19:43.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25962" CreationDate="2019-08-09T14:58:56.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't join the opinion of Elmy, we've had dogs at home for over 20 years and we always pushed them a bit in this kind of situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example I can give you is my dog, a Coton de Tulear of 5 years old. My dog is very excited when we bring him outside (we live in the countryside in a house with a garden and so on so there is no concern of city noise), he especially likes to be in the car and watch outside by the window when I'm driving.&#xA;Anyway my moms owns a quad and she wanted to take him while driving in the forest, she just fixed a box in front of the quad, put him inside and went driving with the little boy.&#xA;After a few times he started to really enjoy it and now whoever says &quot;quad&quot; a bit loud makes it jump on the top of the quad to reach his box, obviously that goes with jumping everwhere and moving his tail very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying that your dog will ever like city car trafic and noise but maybe you can take it out in some less crowded place then moving to more busy places, I bet it will quickly get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the animal trusts you, it will feel safe next to you as it knows you would not bring him to a dangerous place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16346" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T14:58:56.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25974" CreationDate="2019-08-09T17:42:49.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the bunny community there are different points of view on the answer to your question.  &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/25975/13&quot;&gt;SerenaT has a great answer&lt;/a&gt; and you should consider all the points there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is that &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bonding+rabbits&quot;&gt;bonding rabbits&lt;/a&gt; is not easy.  There is a lot to be said for starting with a bonded pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand rabbits are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5806/13&quot;&gt;crepuscular&lt;/a&gt; for the most part they are going to be sleeping/resting while you are at work and while you are asleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot also depends on bunnies personality.  Just like people, they are all different.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to have a single rabbit, it will be important that there is enough to keep them entertained when you are gone. Like toys and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1817/13&quot;&gt;digging boxes.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately I think it depends less on the issue of you being gone for 9 hours a day and more on how much time you will directly interact in the morning, evening and weekends.  If you will be consistently and positively interacting with the bunny mornings and evenings and a good part of the weekend, then you and the bun can be a happy couple.  If you going out a lot of evenings and being away even longer on the weekends, definitely consider starting with a pair.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-08-09T17:42:49.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-09T20:11:53.120" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cats shed lots of hair, so I spend a significant amount of time with a broom just picking up hair. This literally destroys my back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was thinking of buying one of those robot vacuums that just move around the house, like a Roomba. It looks something &lt;a href=&quot;https://assets.rbl.ms/551951/640x364.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: will this actually help? The reason I ask is that my cats are always shedding, so does that mean that the vacuum will always be on and moving from place to place? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else do you recommend? I also bought a swiffer, but I haven't used it yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2019-08-14T23:05:38.250" Title="Roomba robot vacuum for dealing with cat hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-10T01:14:46.173" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been researching genets (particularly common and Angolan) as pets. From my understanding once they bond they bond for life and are highly intolerant to home/owner changes. I've also heard that they will get along fine with larger animals (e.g. cats and dogs; anything smaller is a snack) as long as they are raised around those animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when looking for kittens, there are various ages, from newborn up to 7 or 8 months (the oldest I've seen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, when do their bonds primarily form? How old would be considered too old to bring a genet kitten into my home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2019-08-10T03:49:24.860" LastActivityDate="2019-08-10T03:49:24.860" Title="How old is too old to rehome a genet kitten?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;genet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25980" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-08-10T01:16:59.003" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genet_(animal)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genet_(animal)&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2019-08-16T21:26:34.167" LastActivityDate="2019-08-16T21:26:34.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25981" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-08-10T01:16:59.003" Score="0" Body="Genets are cat-like mammals native to Africa, in modern times they are also found in Europe. Certain species are commonly kept as pets. They are in the same family as civets." OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="987" LastEditDate="2019-08-11T14:52:31.493" LastActivityDate="2019-08-11T14:52:31.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19962" CreationDate="2019-08-11T17:08:54.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;to anyone wondering what it was, it turned out to be the shampoo we were using on him, it didn't react well, once we stopped using it, it never happened again. Sadly he's not with us anymore but he survived many things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11759" LastActivityDate="2019-08-11T17:08:54.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-11T17:13:59.580" Score="4" ViewCount="769" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitty, just a couple months old. Once we adopted him he got ear mites or something like that, started scratching himself, losing fur, a lot of weird tiny wounds appeared on him. And his tail was always kind of weird, but it started losing fur, now the tail tip is exposed and it looks like it's necrotic or with some sort of fungus in it: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GNWPM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GNWPM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat&amp;#39;s tail tip&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We will be taking him to the vet tomorrow but i'd like to know what to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11759" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-08-15T02:52:40.870" LastActivityDate="2019-08-15T02:52:40.870" Title="Cat's tail tip looks like it has some sort of fungus or necrosis" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25984" CreationDate="2019-08-12T07:00:34.633" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;If wounds appeared all over his body, it was probably not (only) ear mites but skin mites. They are so tiny you can barely see them with the naked eye. They bite tiny wounds into the skin to live inside, which itches and leads to hair loss due to scratching. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to treat your cat for them, probably by washing him with a special shampoo or by oral medication or both. If you have several pets living with you, you need to treat them all at the same time or the mites that leave your cat will infect the next host they find. Since cats are missing some essential enzymes to break down certain organic compounds, they can be poisoned by things that are harmless to humans, like most essential oils. You should only treat him with medication approved for cats or recommended by your vet and not try any house remedies without being absolutely certain that it's harmless for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also be very cleanly for a while. Vacuum often to remove any mites that leave his body due to the medication and wash any pillow and blanket he was in contact with. If you cannot wash an item, put it into a big plastic bag and throw it into the freezer for 2 weeks to kill any mites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the tail, it might look worse than it actually is, but a vet absolutely needs to treat it. From the picture I cannot tell if the whitish stuff is a scab or a flesh wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all the prognosis for your cat is very good. Mites are a bothersome pest, but as long as he's not weakened by a secondary infection, your cat can recover completely and his hair should regrow within a month or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-08-12T07:00:34.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25988" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2019-08-12T16:21:18.507" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a lot of consideration, I'll step up for nomination as well. I tend to step back and observe unless I have solid input to offer, which has let me get a good look at how questions and answers flow on this site, particularly in areas where I have less of my own knowledge to draw on. If elected, I'd use a similar tactic in moderation, stepping back unless needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had pets and been around animals for most of my life, and am passionate about making sure the animals in my care have their best life, which has lead me to research and experiences I can contribute here. I feel I've learned a lot about how SE in general works thanks to the community here, and would love an opportunity to learn and contribute even more while helping Pets.SE to continue to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, I'm around during my working hours (USA), checking in while waiting on other processes to complete. As my most active SE site, I do regularly peek in on Pets.SE and would continue to do so whenever available, offering coverage during these times if needed, but sitting back and letting the community manage itself when not needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-12T16:21:18.507" LastActivityDate="2019-08-12T16:21:18.507" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-08-12T16:21:18.507" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2019-08-12T18:26:42.150" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a lot of complaints about my dog barking, and I've gotten that under control, so the advice I found might also work for you.  If your dog is barking due to separation anxiety, you can try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take it for a walk just before you leave.  Nothing super exciting, just a casual &quot;wander and sniff&quot; kind of walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put your dog in a smaller space.  For me, I put mine in the bedroom with a bowl of water.  It's comfy, and further away from the noisy hallway.  This has 2 benefits - her barks are less annoying to others, and also their noise is muffled, and less likely to make her want to bark.  This should be a predictable, quiet, safe space.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your goodbye minimal - just a casual pat on the head.  The reason for this is that a long drawn out goodbye could worry your dog that you won't be coming back home, but a chill 'see ya' gives the impression that this is a normal thing, and there's nothing to worry about.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also purchased a cheap Wyze camera and set a sound alarm - this helps me to know if my tactics are working.  It took a week or so before my dog settled down, and now when I check in from my phone, she's mostly sleeping.   I believe you can talk through the camera, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you've given the above a proper try, because it could cause more worry rather than helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13391" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:16:55.117" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:16:55.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25925" CreationDate="2019-08-12T20:16:59.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd definitely agree with Alison's suggestion to get a slightly older cat, which will then already be trained. In fact, as you're out all day, I'd suggest getting two (most shelters have pairs of cats they'd like to see go together), that way they can keep each other company while you're out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure they have places that feel natural to them, well away from their food and water. Our two prefer the dirt under the shrubs in our garden - one trick is that, when you're ready to let them out (after three weeks or so, depending on how quickly they acclimatize), sprinkle some of the used litter in the area you'd like them to go, so that it has their scent - then they know to go there and not in your neighbour's prize roses!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8497" LastActivityDate="2019-08-12T20:16:59.217" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25991" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-13T03:03:04.167" Score="12" ViewCount="15874" Body="&lt;p&gt;She had surgery today, spayed, we tried a cone to prevent licking. Well, she got out of it so we tightened to where we would have to remove it without sliding it on and off. Well, she got out again... Any tighter and I fear it'll be too tight, so I tried the neck brace thing. Well, same thing... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's not much left to do and I don't want to drop an extra 50$ if she tears the stitches open and nor do I want her to get an infection. Please, I'm out of ideas, tired and worried. Is there anything I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16354" LastEditorUserId="1309" LastEditDate="2019-08-14T11:48:46.983" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T04:56:37.207" Title="My cat is a houdini and keeps escaping her cone" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-08-14T11:29:03.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25991" CreationDate="2019-08-13T06:10:50.623" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cone can be tightened so it is very snug. As long as you can fit two fingers under it, the cone is not too tight, but she should also not be able to get it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For most cats, it doesn't take very long for them to get accustomed to the cone, and resigned to the fact that they can't get it off. Of course, some cats are amazingly adept at getting them off despite every attempt to avoid this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other types of cones (Elizabeth collars) which you can pick up at vets and pet stores. Some pets do better with hard collars, others better with soft collars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a short term solution, if you cannot keep the cone on and she is licking at the incision, then you can fashion something for her to wear to cover the incision, such as a small t-shirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other most important part after surgery such as this is keeping her confined to a small area. The less area she has to jump and run and rub against objects, the easier it is to control things like the cone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-08-13T06:10:50.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25991" CreationDate="2019-08-13T15:51:35.550" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem. We ended up using on of those leash harnesses that hook in around the chest in addition to around the neck, then threaded the neck part of the harness through the cone. That did the trick and she wasn't able to get it off anymore. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16356" LastActivityDate="2019-08-13T15:51:35.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25991" CreationDate="2019-08-13T16:01:37.813" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat had surgery last month, the vet sent him home in a loaner outfit that looked like a onesie made for cats. There are multiple manufacturers of these, but I found the exact one by searching online for &amp;quot;onesie for cat after surgery&amp;quot;, and I ended up buying one to keep. There are also instructions online for a DIY onesie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bkDhxm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bkDhxm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;overhead view of cat wearing onesie&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fg83tm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fg83tm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;closeup view of cat wearing onesie&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The benefits of the onesie are that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the cat can still see&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the cat is not freaked out by wearing a heavy hard or semi-rigid cone around its head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the onesie doesn't bump into doorways and bedposts and the food bowl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the onesie acts somewhat like a thundershirt by calming him down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the onesie is soft against his skin and covers most wounds and surgery stitches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The onesie I bought comes in multiple sizes (and for dogs, too), and has a snap-up undercarriage in case you need to open it for the cat to eliminate. My cat was able to do his business without needing the snaps undone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only downside of the onesie is that after about a week of wearing it, he got tired of it and started trying to chew it off, but it took a week for that to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note for those who are non-AmE speakers and/or don't know anyone with a baby: &amp;quot;onesie&amp;quot; is pronounced like &amp;quot;WUN-zee&amp;quot; and is an article of clothing typically seen on a human infant.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14387" LastEditorUserId="14387" LastEditDate="2020-09-12T04:56:37.207" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T04:56:37.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-13T19:28:47.827" Score="4" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats that can't seem to come down from their high (around 20' or 6m) perches inside a wooden barn.  How can I get them down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The frame of the barn consists of large (around 12x12 inch or 30x30 cm) vertical and horizontal beams.  The vertical beams are spaced at about four feet (120 cm).  Over the last few days, they've worked their way up near the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not certain they haven't been down, since I have another (ground based) cat running around, but the overall food consumption indicates they have not been eating and their positions haven't changed for over 24 hours now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I put boards near their perches that lead to a lower levels.  And I've put food on those boards, about 1-3 feet (30-91 cm) below their current positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ladders will reach anywhere but I'm afraid I could knock them down if I try to grab them.  I've recently put food about one foot below one of them and about three feet below the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Background:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted three feral cats from a county sponsored program (they were all chipped/snipped/clipped).  I didn't expect them to be very friendly, but two are terrified of people.  The terrestrial cat is quite social as long as you don't try to touch him.  After the prescribed three weeks in crates in the barn, I released them.  The two immediately started climbing the walls.  The other tries desperately to get stepped on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I placed food and water right next to them and they have both eaten a little.  One is looking better and getting around some (still staying 12+ feet up).  The other still seems a little lethargic but has moved to a less precarious position.  I feel like can manage it now.  I think they went about three days without food or water.&#xA;So in the end, I think both answers I received were important.  I gave them an easy way to get down via boards at a reasonable slope, and I put food right next to them, which I've subsequently moved a little further away.  It may be a while before they get to the ground again, but I think we'll get there eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another update: it turns out that the terrestrial cat is quite territorial and would not allow the others near the ground.  Moved him to a different part of the barn and one of the high-up cats started coming down to visit.  But he would chase the other high-up if she came down lower.  It's a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16359" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T00:08:44.480" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T00:08:44.480" Title="How to rescue cat from high perch" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="25998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25997" CreationDate="2019-08-13T23:08:35.203" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;They should come down on their own when they get hungry enough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one similar experience with this situation. We had to get a cat out of a tree from probably 15 feet up that wouldn't come down. I called the fire dept. who told me they don't do cat-in-a-tree rescues despite what the children's books have told me. They advised me (this was not my idea) to spray it with a hose and it would &quot;run right down the tree.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we sprayed it and after only a couple of seconds it did indeed run straight down that tree, leaping the last 5 feet to the ground. It was fine. I'm not advising this, just sharing what worked for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12482" LastActivityDate="2019-08-13T23:08:35.203" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26009" CreationDate="2019-08-13T23:47:22.730" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;While learning about how many tools are used during hoof care and to just how extensive trimming and shoeing is, I would like to know how abrasive footing achieved. According to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;, these include rubber, plastic, magnesium, titanium, or copper hooves. Moreover, I inquire about abrasive footing and wether it is beneficial for horses lifestyles or for events. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for teaching me further on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;farriers'&lt;/a&gt; routine work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5993" LastEditorUserId="5993" LastEditDate="2019-08-14T14:37:27.587" LastActivityDate="2019-08-15T07:45:40.767" Title="How is abrasive footing achieved?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25997" CreationDate="2019-08-14T11:46:24.940" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mentioned having a ladder that will &quot;reach anywhere;&quot; lean the ladder against the beam near them at a reasonable angle, brace it in place, and leave. Cats are capable of going up and down ladders and can use it to return to the ground if they truly are having trouble, and it will give you some peace of mind as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's largely easier for cats to go up than down, and sometimes they can get &quot;stuck,&quot; but generally they will find their way down after a while. Giving them an additional option for climbing down from their perch will help insure that they're able to safely return to the ground on their own time, and if they are indeed stuck it's likely they won't go back up again once they're down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-08-14T11:46:24.940" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26004" CreationDate="2019-08-14T19:16:33.793" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, as a cat owner, if pets are sensitive to the music we listen to and to what extent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed more than once that when listening to music on a computer with speakers, my cat approached and stayed close to the speakers. Then I was wondering if it was a coincidence or if he could enjoy what I listen as well as I do. Does he has preferences for some music genres? Can he hate some? Can he recognize some songs? Is it innate or does it have to be &quot;trained&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about pets in general, but if it's too broad for this site, you can focus on dogs and cats, or even only on cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12852" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:13:25.297" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:13:25.297" Title="Are pets sensitive to good music?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26003" CreationDate="2019-08-14T20:29:25.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As fun an idea as this is cats aren't really in to music, at least not &lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt; music although some early research suggests that music more tailored to cat senses &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;  appealing to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Human music is generally too loud and bass-y for cats to enjoy, and part of what appeals to humans in music is the tempo being similar to human heart beats. Cat hearing operates in different ranges to ours, and is much more sensitive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's some good info here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/cats/behaviour-and-training/understanding-cat-behaviour/do-cats-like-music&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.purina.co.uk/cats/behaviour-and-training/understanding-cat-behaviour/do-cats-like-music&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-08-14T20:29:25.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25978" CreationDate="2019-08-14T23:05:38.250" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A robot vacuum could be very dangerous. I had a cat once that enjoyed having a vacuum run over his fur. Picking up the hairs before they fall off! But the cat has to enjoy it, and you have to use the lowest setting and be very careful not to pull the skin which is very loose, into the machine.&#xA;I can see your cats taking a great interest in a robot machine, and they could easily flip it over and injure or electrocute themselves. Either that Or they'll leave home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16372" LastActivityDate="2019-08-14T23:05:38.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25837" CreationDate="2019-08-14T23:46:06.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the fish and snails are healthy then the water is probably OK. The problem is with the lighting or the substrate. Are you using full spectrum light? As much like sunlight as possible? If so it may be a little too strong.  The substrate could be too shallow, or the filter too efficient. You say organic soil. I would never use soil in a substrate in an aquarium with fish already in it. The faecal matter from the fish and snails should be enough to feed the plants. Of the hair like algal growth. It sounds horribly like sewage fungus, which suggests that you are killing the plants by overfeeding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16372" LastActivityDate="2019-08-14T23:46:06.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26003" CreationDate="2019-08-15T00:27:40.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's hard to tell what exactly is going through any animal's head, there is in fact some evidence that parrots have some understanding of music and rhythm.  On the internet, you can of course find various videos of various animals apparently &quot;dancing&quot; to the beat of music, including many of &quot;dancing&quot; parrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/N7IZmRnAo6s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video of a parrot &quot;dancing&quot; to a recording of the Backstreet Boys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result of these sorts of videos, there has been some &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/N7IZmRnAo6s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;amount of research&lt;/a&gt; into whether these movements are coincidental, or if the parrot has some understanding of the music.  The answer seems to be that even parrots don't hit the beat most of the time, but they do enough for it to seem like more than coincidence, as compared to other animals claimed to be &quot;dancing&quot; in various videos.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-08-15T00:27:40.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-15T06:50:07.783" Score="-1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background info&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is about 8 years old, male, Pekingese, but &quot;huge&quot; - unlike the rest of his family. He is very nice, until he is not. He has his own personal space, which he defends aggressively. What is worse, is that he craves for interaction / caressing, but if someone dares to &lt;strike&gt;humor&lt;/strike&gt; actually caress him, he goes to defend his personal space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He lives with my parents, which are almost always at home. He is walked several times a day, every day. He is not spayed, but vaccinated and seen by a veterinarian whenever needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good reason for this behavior might be my father, who is not at all calm, or sometimes, even reasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem description&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog bites us, or anyone who does not know and respect his boundaries. Any object fallen on the floor accidentally is hos property, which he defends at all costs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not complaining about playful bites. Those bites were almost never hurtful - except for a few occasions, when he was too enthusiastic playing. Recently he learned to only touch our hands with the sides of his lips while playing, instead of pretending to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have to be very careful to understand when he had enough play time. When we notice that, we must stop interacting with him, at the cost of punctures in out feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we cannot really change my father's behavior, &lt;strong&gt;how can we change the dog's behavior?&lt;/strong&gt; I have seen dogs in my life, where the people around them are much more aggressive / unreasonable, and those dogs are still calm and forgiving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I specified &quot;impure&quot; as an aid to understand the temperament of the dog better, in the idea that it might be relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2019-09-26T12:36:50.787" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T12:36:50.787" Title="Impure Pekingese bites us as owners" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26000" CreationDate="2019-08-15T07:45:40.767" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Abrasive footing&quot; isn't achieved as such, it's a situation that's dealt with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Abrasive footing&quot; is a ground surface that has the effect of abrading away the hoof material - so that's tarmac road surfaces, stone, gravel etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether this is beneficial for the horse or not is debatable in the same way as it is for us humans - walking on sidewalks gradually wears out our shoes, but we get to where we need to go faster (and cleaner) than walking on mud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's many resources on the internet looking at the decisions for what material to use for horseshoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elizabeththefarrier.com/horseshoe-selection-how-to-pick-the-right-shoe-for-the-job/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to pick the right shoe for the job&lt;/a&gt;  is just one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For different footings (ground materials for horses), there's other resources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whatcomcd.org/sites/default/files/farm_assist/smallfarm/Footing%20Material%20Options%20(WCD).pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example - Footing material options&lt;/a&gt; (PDF)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-15T07:45:40.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26008" CreationDate="2019-08-15T09:09:14.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds as though the dog isn't sure about what his status is and is taking the dominant role in the absence of any other indications.  Defending the floor space/items seem to back this theory up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct this by taking control.  When you feed the dog, make him sit and wait for the food and only let him eat it when you &quot;release&quot; him.  With our dogs, we ask them to sit and wait while the dish is put on the floor, and then let them have it with an &quot;ok&quot; command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they're eating/chewing bones, we sometimes calmly take the food/bone away.  Ideally, the dog should be perfectly ok about you doing this - it's your dominant role that's allowing you to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-15T09:09:14.777" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-15T17:48:06.703" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, a 2 year old rag doll who my husband says he is totally besotted with me, has been biting me. Not in play (I could understand that), but launching himself at me. The first time he bit me in the neck while I was dozing, getting over an illness, then he bit me in the arm, and just this morning he bit me on the face, again while I was dozing. These are real bites and drawing blood. I'm so upset because I adore him so much, but I have a few controlled illnesses and an infection could send me to hospital.  Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16375" LastEditorUserId="13592" LastEditDate="2019-08-17T22:04:19.307" LastActivityDate="2019-08-17T22:04:19.307" Title="How to stop my cat from biting me when I'm sleeping" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-08-23T06:53:59.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26013" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-15T22:45:50.127" Score="2" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a staffordshire terrier, essentially a small pitbull, who has destroyed every toy I've given her. She tends to swallow things (chunks of rubber, plastic etc.) so I have to take away toys she starts to damage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a toy that she won't be able to destroy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to give you an idea, her absolute favorite toy is the giant, hard plastic Jolly Egg (soda can for scale):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yjdrf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yjdrf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;jolly egg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but you can see where she was able to get her teeth into and she came inside with blood dripping from her mouth, so I had to throw it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16376" LastActivityDate="2019-08-24T23:17:59.090" Title="Is there a toy that my dog can't destroy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26013" CreationDate="2019-08-15T23:19:58.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use a brand called Aussie Dog! The guy that started it (if i remember correctly) was making toys for lions and polar bears in the zoo. He got frustrated that he couldn't buy toys his staffy wouldn't destroy so started making the toys smaller. They are designed to be super tough, especially the one they call the 'Staffy Ball.' Here is a link (&lt;a href=&quot;https://aussiedog.com.au/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://aussiedog.com.au/&lt;/a&gt;). &#xA;I'm not sure if they're available where you're located (I'm in Australia) but they are worth the money for sure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16344" LastActivityDate="2019-08-15T23:19:58.113" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25667" CreationDate="2019-08-16T06:39:06.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I've observed with cats, they tend to provide their own mental stimulation in the form of role-play.  I've seen cats quiver with anticipation at the thought of jumping onto inanimate pieces of fluff.  I've seen then dance around in imaginary play-fights with their toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats also include the environment in their role-playing.  They'll creep around furniture to sneak up and attack an unsuspecting table tennis ball, crawl behind a sofa to lie in wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you could try moving items of their environment to allow them to explore the house in different ways.  Not large pieces of furniture (although you could if you wanted to), smaller items like side tables and foot-stools might provide some variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-16T06:39:06.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-16T18:30:55.253" Score="0" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta fish isn't eating food from last week. He sinks at the bottom of the tank and color faded. What is the solution?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dx2Fc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16379" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T00:30:38.160" Title="Want to know solution of betta fish problem" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26018" CreationDate="2019-08-17T04:37:47.343" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;You and your fish are a victim of the pet shop's lack of knowledge about fish and fish keeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely your fish has ammonia poisoning as a result of not having cycled the tank properly. To cycle your tank properly please take &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a look here&lt;/a&gt; and do not add new fish to your tank until this is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank you have is too small for fish keeping, so you need to get a larger tank with proper filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using malachite green in your tank will kill all the good and bad bacteria, so never use any medication when you set up a fish tank. The only thing you need to add to the water is dechlorinator and nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not use rock salt in your fish tank, get aquarium salt from the pet shop and use this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you detect the presence of nitrite in your tank, you might add 0,3% of aquarium salt to protect your fish. You need to take regular water tests every week from your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry to say this, but the fish you have now will die soon; however, your next one will not if you cycle the tank properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T00:30:38.160" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T00:30:38.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26013" CreationDate="2019-08-17T22:01:20.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog used to be an extremely aggressive chewer before she became elderly. Our saving grace was a company called Nylabone. They make hard plastic chewing toys in a variety of sizes and shapes. We still had to check the toys frequently for dangerous, sharp bits that she had created, and we would throw them away after they became too small, but one bone would last her at least 5 months of near-daily use and she never broke one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, we would give her Kong toys. With the Kong brand, she only got to play with the toys while someone was home and able to keep an eye on her (usually while cooking or watching tv, if not actively playing with her). If we noticed that she was getting too aggressive, we would take it and switch it out for a Nylabone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she was crated during the day, she had cheap plush blankets. We were lucky that when she would chew them she didn't like to swallow the pieces, so it wasn't a problem for us to just replace them when they were destroyed and let her go to town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also had a collection of active play toys (tug ropes, frisbee, balls, etc.), but the key there was that she only got to use them with a human, where the game wasn't about her sitting and tearing it apart anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-08-17T22:01:20.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-18T02:30:56.543" Score="-1" ViewCount="914" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is around 14 Years old and has switched between outside and inside most of its life.&#xA;When we first had Our cat He was often outside.&#xA;That was until one day he got a scratch on his nose and for some reason never went out again&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My family have moved since then and we often let him out for 2 days, then bring him back and depending on what he wants, he only stays for around 2-3 days.&#xA;I always wonder now,&#xA;Why is there no sound when he meows?&#xA;He does stand at the door and 'meow' but theres no sound!&#xA;So its a guess and go, if he (supposedly) wants food, we'll bring him to the kitchen, we let the food down..And boom! turns out he wanted to go outside.&#xA;He purrs VERY loudly and often so im confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16381" LastActivityDate="2019-08-18T03:46:45.750" Title="My cat Has No sound when it meows, but puurs VERY loudly. Confusion!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-08-19T08:13:41.300" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26021" CreationDate="2019-08-18T03:46:45.750" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's actually common enough for cats to meow with no human-audible sound that there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/behavior-appearance/why-do-cats-silently-meow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;resources&lt;/a&gt; written on the subject. Some cats, like mine, will not fully voice their meows only some of the time. When my cat does it, I can actually hear his breath though. It seems cats that do this are in fact making noise; it's just not loud enough for humans to really hear it. The loudness of your cat's purr is somewhat unrelated, as the purr is produced by a different part of the anatomy from the meow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-08-18T03:46:45.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26034" CreationDate="2019-08-19T05:51:55.530" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently learned, that a vet in Germany do not have &quot;rabbits&quot; in his regular studies.  (If this is not correct, please let me know!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: How could I check, if the new vet I want to take my rabbits to is &quot;rabbit experienced&quot;, if I have no hearsay to count on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I imagine things like certificates, record of study, advanced training)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As addition it would be interesting to learn about other countries base studies and possibilities to advance) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T18:14:19.277" Title="What evidence could I check to detect a &quot;rabbit experienced&quot; vet?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-19T06:35:07.583" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend recently got 2 cats (sisters from the same litter) from an animal shelter.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They are 3 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At end of May we went on vacation, and on our return we discovered to our dismay that they started peeing on her bed regularly (there were several stains).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since then, the bedroom is not accessible to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of weeks ago we bought a tunnel with a resting &quot;pillow&quot; attached to it. 3 days later we found pee on the pillow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the intervening time period, despite being a sofa with a surface that would absorb the pee available to them, they never pee-ed outside of the litter boxes (they have 3, we clear them twice a day).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, they passed their yearly visit with the vet just before she got them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The diet has not changed, we are giving them the same food the shelter was providing, as suggested by the volunteers at the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my girlfriend and I are thinking about moving in together, we are worrying that the cats will pee on even more furniture that has a similar texture to the pillow and the cover that was on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there methods to dissuade them from peeing outside the litter boxes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10744" LastEditorUserId="10744" LastEditDate="2019-08-19T08:46:09.817" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T23:35:30.303" Title="How to teach cats to use only the litter boxes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;excretions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25974" CreationDate="2019-08-19T06:49:40.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If your concerns base on &lt;strong&gt;time&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;space&lt;/strong&gt; you should see the &quot;one or two?&quot; question under this aspects:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Space:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to give your rabbits the space for a real rabbit life, you can imagine 6 square meter (approx. 7 square yards) for one or two rabbits (there is no difference here, because two rabbits could be socialized very well, and can life &quot;close&quot; together).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indoor this means a little room, or part of a little room. (If you now ask &quot;there are so nice little cages, why 6!! square meters?&quot; I want to imagine you this: rabbits can reach speed of 60 km/h (approx. 37.3 mph) and love it to run. Think about rabbits more like about cats than mice.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional they need daily access for minimum 8 hours to a big and interesting area, like your entire apartment, or the garden (for outdoor rabbits look on this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25333/how-do-i-ensure-the-safety-and-good-health-of-my-outdoor-rabbit&quot;&gt;How do I ensure the safety and good health of my outdoor rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the afford of making this area save for your rabbits, it is not important, if you have one or two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And if you choose the &quot;nice buyable cages&quot; because you are a child (and the parents do own the money and the power), or it is really really not possible an other way (like in a shelter with comparatively small space), then you should buy this one for two rabbits have space in it, because the smaller &quot;for one rabbit&quot; is to small anyway...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I assume you think about the daily/weekly needs of your rabbits, because they affects your all-day-life more like monthly/yearly events, like the visit to the vet)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have rabbits you need time for feeding and cleaning. This times do not change between one or two rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time that would change is this: If you have one rabbit, you have to be the &quot;official&quot; partner of this one. You have to groom it, interact with it and entertain it the whole day (and night: rabbits are active day and night, they rest no longer than 2 hours at once). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have two rabbits, they groom, entertain and &quot;talk&quot; among themselves. You can &quot;visit&quot; them whenever you have time, they will be happy about any interaction. But you know also your bunnies are lucky if you are at work, or sometimes in holidays (with rabbit sitter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do all the things, you want to do with the rabbits in your free time, but you have no sorrow about the health of your rabbits if you have to &quot;cancel one rabbit meeting&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have time for one rabbit, you have time for two. And your rabbit will choose a second rabbit, if you ask it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So in conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Space afford do not differ between one or two rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time afford will be higher for one rabbit, than for two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you want to minimize time and space afford, you have to choose two rabbits than one.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-08-19T09:48:09.837" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T09:48:09.837" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26025" CreationDate="2019-08-19T06:58:45.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best you can do here is investigate local rabbit or small animal clubs or forums and ask for personal recommendations for vets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal experience is always very useful in cases like this, even when vets do advertise knowledge of different kinds of pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user8045" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T06:58:45.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26033" CreationDate="2019-08-19T10:53:54.303" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok so I have a Male Rhodesian Ridgeback who is 1 year and 3 months old. I started him in puppy classes when he was 11 months old. I have never stopped taking him for training at a school. He knows a lot of commands and is very obedient except for one situation and I honestly am struggling to get past this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog cannot seem to settle when he is around other dogs. He tenses up his body and lunges powerfully towards other dogs or if a tree is nearby he lunges toward the tree. If I take him on a simple walk and we pass trees he has no issues whatsoever. It's only when he sees other dogs that he feels the need to be territorial or so I think. I have tried so many things and am now very frustrated with not succeeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to walk my dog past houses where I know there are other dogs, I keep a variety of treats and just do heel work close to the other dogs gradually getting closer. I give the look command to try and get my dog to focus on me. I try and down my dog and make him stay but nothing is working. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been a problem for about 6-8 months now and my efforts are failing. I don't need my dog to play or contact any other dogs. That is not my goal. I just need him to be okay around other dogs and not lunge. Recently I have been wondering if what he has is not really aggression but anxiety. I suspect this because when he sees another dog he completely tenses up and corrections don't even get his focus away from the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use positive reinforcement methods. I have even gotten him neutered but the behavior still exists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a less distracting environment like my house, yard, pavement he literally is a star. He does all the commands exceptionally well and is an absolute pleasure to work with. I mentioned that we go for training every week. the instructors suggestions have not worked with this particular problem, other then that the school is really great. I train my dog everyday(Once in the afternoon, once at night [20 mins each])&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had this situation, please help me. I am willing to do anything for my dog to realize his potential in obedience competitions. However with this problem I can't proceed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T16:09:47.090" Title="Dog lunges at other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26013" CreationDate="2019-08-19T11:03:10.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried the Kong Extreme range? My do g has destroyed everything too but the black Kong toys are by far the most durable. Also try to put some organic peanut butter(XYLITOL FREE) on the kong so he/she licks. It's important to teach a dog how to play with toys IMO(that means you need to get involved in the play. Lay down with your dog and knock the toy around discouraging rip biting)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T11:03:10.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26026" CreationDate="2019-08-19T11:58:53.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Passing a general wellness exam in the past doesn't indicate that a cat is free of a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) or Urinary Crystals &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt; (or even at the time of the exam). The starting point in any case of inappropriate elimination in cats should always be a vet visit. Urination on soft surfaces is most frequently caused by discomfort when urinating (UTI or crystals), which they try to alleviate through the soft surfaces. &lt;strong&gt;Only your vet can rule out a UTI or crystals, and only through a urinalysis, which typically is not done on a basic checkup.&lt;/strong&gt; Urinalysis is an added cost and procedure, and is generally reserved for cases when it's needed, rather than done as a standard procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, you need to &lt;strong&gt;thoroughly clean all the surfaces on which the cats have previously urinated&lt;/strong&gt;, or even when they are clear of the UTI/crystal symptoms, they will continue to associate them with appropriate toileting areas due to the smell. Standard cleaning supplies do not break down cat urine sufficiently; while it may smell and feel clean to you, it's likely they'll still be able to detect the odor. You'll need an enzymatic cleaner (Nature's Miracle is a common brand), and you'll likely want a small UV flashlight to identify and target the areas that need cleaning. You can handle anything that can be laundered by using enzymatic laundry additives; everything else should be thoroughly hand-cleaned and checked with the light to ensure all traces of urine are gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above all, &lt;strong&gt;do not punish the cats for their behavior.&lt;/strong&gt; They are most likely not feeling well, and punishing them for doing their best to feel better will cause them to not trust you or your girlfriend, and may provoke behavioral litterbox problems, which are much harder to address than medical problems. Treat them with kindness and love, just like you'd like to receive if you were sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T11:58:53.623" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26030" CreationDate="2019-08-19T16:09:47.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It definitely sounds like it is an anxiety problem, and that your dog is showing extreme signs of being fear-reactive towards other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right, it will only get worse if you ignore it. My recommendation is to find a trainer who specializes in anxious or reactive dogs. You may want to also do your normal training classes, but this trainer will work with you outside of a class setting to find the root of this problem and alleviate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13592" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T16:09:47.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26025" CreationDate="2019-08-19T18:14:19.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 3 kinds of vets when it comes to rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets do not see rabbits at all&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets do see rabbits, but not might not be skilled at rabbit care&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some vets see rabbits and are VERY GOOD at caring for rabbits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally you only want to visit a vet in group three.  There are a number pet rabbit organizations and rescues that will help you find a good rabbit vet in your area. Contact a local rabbit rescue in your area or there is a list here &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Above excerpt from my &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21108/13&quot;&gt;existing answer here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbit.org page does not currently list anything in Germany, but as @snow says in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26028/13&quot;&gt;their answer&lt;/a&gt; finding and asking local rabbit owners is also a good option&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally while you are looking for the best vet, create a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1783/13&quot;&gt;Rabbit First Aid Kit&lt;/a&gt; and learn how to treat the most common issues.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-08-19T18:14:19.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9675" CreationDate="2019-08-20T01:47:17.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Onm5I.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Onm5I.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Siamese&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my 4 year old Siamese, Winston, whom I adopted from the street here in Bangkok when he was 5 weeks old. Today when I was getting him microchipped my vet labeled him Chocolate Point but I'm not sure she's correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, based on (a) whether this is the same coloring as your cat, and (b) whether you trust my Thai veterinarian, then that should help determine your cat's coloring category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16243" LastActivityDate="2019-08-20T01:47:17.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-20T16:40:22.180" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this beautiful kitten, 3 month old, super active and super healthy. The last three days I noticed that his left pupil is always slightly more dilated (and actually his left eye is always a bit less open) than the right pupil. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure he hurt somehow his face since I also noticed that the upper part of his mouth (internally) seems to have a bruise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How much should I worry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16393" LastActivityDate="2019-08-20T16:40:22.180" Title="Kitten’s left pupil more dilated" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-21T09:00:53.017" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both pictures are the same Oscar. I was hoping someone can tell me if it normal for him to change colors like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gSNry.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16399" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T17:43:05.427" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T17:43:05.427" Title="Why did my Oscar change color?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26045" CreationDate="2019-08-21T13:19:58.600" Score="4" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that betta fish can be aggressive towards other fish, especialyl brightly coloured ones. What I'm trying to figure out is if this is nature or nurture, if that makes sense...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an existing tank with 5 male endlers - all bright coloured - and a couple of snails, and 8-10 shrimp. Lots of plants. I just got a new baby betta fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I put the baby betta in there, would it start out aggressive towards the other fish, or - since it's growing up with them - would it be ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16401" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T06:00:26.907" Title="Growing a baby betta with other fish in the tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26041" CreationDate="2019-08-21T13:45:33.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, oscar fish do not change color unless the water is bad, ammonia or nitrite are present and/or a large change in pH in your water (you need to take a water test to be sure about this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some types of carp and plecos can change color if there is a change in the pH of the water. If plecos are stressed they looks almost grey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carp fish can change color in a radical way if the pH changes. Goldfish and koi can lose all of their color when the pH changes (after buying koi I have seen orange koi getting totally white in less than 24 hours), but the color will return to normal when the fish have adjusted to the new water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many types of fish can change color if they experience stress, changing temperature-pH-ammonia-nitrite or simply by getting disturbed when you clean their tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T17:40:38.693" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T17:40:38.693" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26294" CreationDate="2019-08-21T13:56:43.010" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Background&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 2 female guppies in a ~60 L planted aquarium, temperature ~25 °C, internal filter, relatively hard (but not too hard) water. They've been on a diet of standard flakes. Change about &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; water every 1-2 weeks. Until recently, they shared the aquarium with a male; all adults. There were another 3 females and another male prior to that. The females were placed into the aquarium about 2 months ago, the males maybe a month after that. One by one fish have been dying. The first to die was a female which looked to have a small white blotch, something I did not notice at the store. Another two females and one of the males died shortly after after losing weight, not always showing clear signs of the culprit disease (I assume water conditions and food were ok). I don't know the age of the fish, but the females are/were pregnant when purchased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Question&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite his small size, the surviving male had been harassing the females, following them and biting them at every opportunity. After the latest casualty of unknown cause I concluded that the stress of being chased may have been a contributing factor to the deterioration of the other fishes health, so I decided to remove the male to another container. Because some of the fish clearly suffered of some disease I presumably cannot blame the male entirely. In addition, I noticed that a fry had been born, and wished to minimize the chance of cannibalism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What has me a bit puzzled is that now that the females are not engaged in flight behavior, as they are not being chased, they seem to forage more, and I fear that they might instead now cannibalize the fry. This has left me wondering what strategy the male was pursuing in chasing the females? Might the harassment actually serve to protect the fry? I doubt that this is the males progeny as the females were already pregnant, so I am assuming the male was simply attempting to destroy the pregnant females together with any eggs or fry within, but I am not entirely sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16400" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:47:29.547" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:47:29.547" Title="Guppy male harassing females" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26042" CreationDate="2019-08-21T14:04:05.097" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Individual bettas are unique, so you should keep an eye on him on the first days anyway. You never know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, a baby will not be aggressive, I have seen many very small bettas kept in community tanks with a lot of different fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if you add the betta while other fish are already present before, the betta will not feel that it's HIS territory and that he should defend it, so that will help too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And because he will grow up with them, as you said, he might stay peaceful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's very possible that, growing up, becoming bigger, he will one day become aggressive and attack the other fishes and dominate them, especially colorful ones. So to answer your question, they are aggressive by nature, they don't need to be taught that. They see another fish that looks like them and they want to prove that they are bigger and stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your setup and idea sound very safe. How big is the tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Be aware that bettas can also be the victims of aggression. They are slow moving and have long, flowing, tasty-looking fins. Make sure the baby betta is not being bullied by faster fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to my experience: The snails will be no problem, but the shrimps may be eaten by the betta eventually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure you will have to separate the betta from the endlers and shrimps when he will be bigger, so prepare for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T06:00:26.907" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T06:00:26.907" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26044" CreationDate="2019-08-21T14:16:27.140" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normal for guppies; the males will chase the females, the only way to stop this is to remove the male guppy or be sure you have at least 3-4 females for every male guppy in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be sure the offspring survives, you need to get a floating hatchery where you can put the female just before she is going to give birth to her babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Breed-Guppies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article about breeding guppies&lt;/a&gt;; this article does contain lots of good information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:43:56.157" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:43:56.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-22T02:15:43.957" Score="4" ViewCount="466" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had our dog for at least 2-3 years now, and he started doing this at least a year ago:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6domv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6domvm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U2UOG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U2UOGm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I last took him to the vet, they just assumed irritation and that’s it. I’m getting so scared and nervous because he is constantly licking and biting his foot all day. Can someone please point out what is going on and what should I do? When I go to the vet, they are no help at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16404" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T15:08:04.413" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T15:08:04.413" Title="My dog keeps biting his feet and now he is missing hair, his feet are red, and he has bumps" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26058" CreationDate="2019-08-22T07:00:10.207" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Through this post (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26041/why-did-my-oscar-change-color&quot;&gt;Why did my Oscar change color?&lt;/a&gt; ) I ask myself, how to identify an unknown fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I look at first? Size? Shape? Kind? Color? Biotope?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: &lt;strong&gt;what strategy should one follow, to identify an unknown fish?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T10:13:32.140" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T10:13:32.140" Title="Identifying unknown fish, what strategy should I follow?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25636" CreationDate="2019-08-22T11:59:16.607" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I got my second bird (originally an aviary bird, not hand trained at all) a method that worked for me was taking the food away for a couple of hours (just to get him a bit hungry) and then using the millet. I did this once a day (I did it first thing in the morning but it would work any time of the day) and within a week he was completely fine with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16406" LastActivityDate="2019-08-22T11:59:16.607" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-22T12:56:39.820" Score="3" ViewCount="2839" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 year old Samoyed. He likes to chase squirrels and birds, sometimes rabbits. But rabbits are not as common as squirrels and birds, and he's always on a leash, so I didn’t pay much attention to that behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, when he was sniffing a bush that I thought would just be the next potty spot, he suddenly moved fast and I heard a sound like a little animal being killed. He'd caught a little rat in his mouth. I scolded him and he no longer would touch the dead body. But yesterday, when we were walking, he suddenly rushed to a corner and the sound came again. This time it was a rabbit! I never thought a rabbit could be caught, even a little one like this one. I scolded him again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a small decorative bush nearby which is really small and could not have anything to hide inside. But today, my dog went in there and caught three little rabbits in his mouth! I was shocked and yelled at him to make him open his mouth. This means the scolding has not affected him and he keeps having this instinct!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know what to do about this; he usually is quite aggressive to small male dogs too! Should I put something on his mouth from keep killing animals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16407" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-23T11:56:00.917" LastActivityDate="2019-08-28T09:41:25.283" Title="How can I stop my dog from killing wild rabbits?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-22T17:00:05.923" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a leopard gecko about 2-3 weeks ago, he seems healthy and happy, he runs about and seems okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im just seeing lots of mixed reviews online about how to take care of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like for example:&#xA;Some people say the leopard geckos need a UVB light to live (I have a UV Black light already)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And other people say it's un-needed and it makes the vivarium too hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a &quot;perfect&quot; or atleast &quot;By the books&quot; definition and advice page or place where I can be sure Im taking care of my gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I usually place my cage next to a window on the back side of my house, where no sunlight shines, just ambient light.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is this a good thing? Or should I keep the blinds shut. My sister's baby leopard gecko is far from any window or natural area, and he seems to be depressed and unhappy, Constantly hiding in his house, never really coming out, my sis's gecko also fails to eat ANY form of waxworm/mealworm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can geckos really &quot;hate&quot; some types of food? My sis's gecko has been eating them fine about until a week ago.&#xA;Now he just eats crickets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastActivityDate="2020-07-04T11:23:56.767" Title="Can I get some advice on a good setup for my leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26054" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-23T02:28:33.743" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specifically, is cholla wood safe for a lidded terrarium that will house springtails?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not going to put any vertebrates in there, just springtails and maybe isopods later on. I know cholla is reptile safe, but is it bug-safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Context: The terrarium is currently being used to root cuttings from houseplants; it's got potting soil, baby spider plants, &lt;em&gt;Philodendron&lt;/em&gt; and pothos. I'm going to be adding springtails as a cleanup crew to help eating dead leaves since in my experience isopods do a bit &quot;too well&quot; in my setups; they breed like crazy and eat the plants. For that reason I'm just gonna use springtails by themselves. I was considering sprucing it up with a piece of cholla and a rock or two, but i can't remember if cholla is bug safe and Google isn't helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16410" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T14:07:24.393" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T14:07:24.393" Title="Is cholla wood safe for a bug terrarium?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26018" CreationDate="2019-08-23T11:17:31.307" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some basic advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;learn how to cycle your aquarium at the beginning;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the advice about cycling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add some gravel - it will accumulate dirt, and create an environment where the good bacteria will grow and do their job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add plants;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be sure to have a mechanical filter;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after the first cleaning of the aquarium, NEVER wash it again; not chemically, at least;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;never throw away ALL the dirt - it is full of good bacteria;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;never fully disinfect the filtering medium in the filter; the good bacteria there is extremely important, and you need that colony there too;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;never use chemicals for cleaning;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;always use un-chlorinated water;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally, do not use chemicals to de-chlorinate water. Put the water in a covered (but not sealed) vessel, and leave it for about 1 day. The chlorine will evaporate. I used to use bottled cheap non-gaseous water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-08-23T11:17:31.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26048" CreationDate="2019-08-23T13:44:36.520" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a guess. Please note that I am &lt;strong&gt;not a vet or otherwise professionally trained in the handling and care of pets&lt;/strong&gt;, so I might be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds a lot like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;OCD&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is anxious and nervous, therefore easily stressed. Stress is the natural reaction of a creature to threats like predators or natural hazards and activates a fight-or-flight response in the body. If the surplus energy released by the stress isn't used up in physical activity like fighting or running or if the constant stress constantly releases energy, the creature develops alternate behaviors like excessive washing of hands (in humans) or excessive licking and biting (in dogs). Those are just examples, the range of OCD behavior is enormous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What your dog probably needs most is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strict order&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A better alternate behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relief from the acute skin rash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Strict order&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our modern world is extremely complicated, especially for a dog who cannot comprehend it. Structuring and ordering his daily life gives him security and assurance. This starts with simple things like timing. You should feed him every day at the same time and always walk the same route with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another extremely important thing is to do obedience training with him. Just 5 minutes each day is enough. What seems tedious to us can actually be fun and reassuring to him because he knows exactly that if he does the right thing on command he'll get a reward. It also shows him that you understand this complicated world enough to give him commands, so he can look to you for guidance if he doesn't comprehend something that's stressing him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternate behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start teaching him alternate behavior to his licking. It could be something like playing fetch, shredding a stuffed toy or aborting a food bag or something else that's fun for him. It should always involve some physical activity to burn the excessive energy released by his bodies stress reaction. We have collected some ideas in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now &lt;strong&gt;whenever you notice him licking and biting excessively&lt;/strong&gt; you initiate the alternate behavior to distract him from his compulsion. It's your responsibility to watch his actions and engage him in play whenever he relapses into his compulsion. It will probably take several weeks to months until his compulsive episodes are notably reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Immediate relief&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such red skin is usually dried out and itchy and constantly drawing his attention back to his compulsion. You should regularly apply a food-safe oil to any red and hairless spots to moisturize them. You can also feed him one raw egg twice a week as a natural food supplement that helps the hair regrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware that this alone will only treat the symptom, not the underlying cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OCD is an actual mental illness and hard to cure, especially for an untrained person. Please research the issue and different approaches and treatments. Maybe you realize that the symptoms don't fit your dog at all and it has to be something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some helpful references are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170627-how-do-you-treat-a-dog-with-ocd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;BBC: &amp;quot;How do you treat a dog with OCD?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-to-deal-with-your-dogs-ocd#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Healthline: &amp;quot;How to Deal with Your Dog’s Obsessive Compulsive Behavior&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/help-for-ocd-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Whole Dog Journal: Help for OCD Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T09:41:33.567" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T09:41:33.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26049" CreationDate="2019-08-23T15:03:47.857" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my two best techniques for identifying a fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading materials about the most common aquarium fishes. Websites or books often list the most common aquarium species with pictures. I have a book at home called &amp;quot;the bible of aquarium fishes&amp;quot; that has pages for many different tetras, cichlids, cories, catfishes, betta, guppy, platy, etc. Your fish is very likely listed there and you should recognize the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a website example: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freshwater_aquarium_fish_species&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freshwater_aquarium_fish_species&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;If you see a fish that looks a lot like yours, chances are you are at least looking at the right family of fishes. (example: catfishes are easy to recognize) Then you can check the detailed differences between the different species of that family to pin point exactly which one you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Taking a picture yourself and showing that (or showing the actual fish) to experienced aquarists that you know in real life, in a petshop, or online on a forum, imageposting board, facebook group, subreddit or any group or board dedicated to that hobby. If the picture is good someone will definitely recognize your fish. Make sure to ask more than one person to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attributes you can use to differenciate your fish from others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number and positions and shape of the different fins around the body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Colors and markings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size and shape. Some fishes have special shapes that are hard to miss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbels around the mouth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size and shape of the eyes (some goldfishes have crazy bubbly eyes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With or without scales&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swimming habits: some fishes stay near the bottom, some stay near the surface, and some in the middle. Some fishes like to stay glued to the glass.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shape of the mouth: typically, surface fishes have a mouth pointing up, like betta, while bottom fishes have the mouth pointing downwards, like corydoras. Fishes that feed in the middle of the water like tetras have a mouth pointing forward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you identify your fish you can learn about its natural habitat and its preferences in feeding, tankmates, temperature, pH, does it tolerate salt, does it need salt, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-08-27T14:17:17.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26052" CreationDate="2019-08-23T20:16:14.977" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Samoyeds are a working breed with a strong hunting instinct. Have a look at a general list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/samoyed#/slide/1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;characteristics here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working breeds in general need to be trained and walked more than most pet breeds or they might develop problematic behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to his high energy level, he has a strong prey drive. Every individual dog has their own personality, but some instincts were made more dominant by selective breeding. Simply scolding him is not enough to deactivate those instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;throw away all squeeky toys&lt;/strong&gt; and anything that makes a high pitch sound when pushed or bitten. These imitate the death scream of an animal. Your dog must not play with such toys again, or killing a small animal becomes a fun game for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you should &lt;strong&gt;keep him from killing animals with physical means.&lt;/strong&gt; Either hold the leash shorter in areas where you assume small animals live or put a muzzle on him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must train wearing a muzzle with him, you cannot just slap it on and expect him to accept it. One way is to put a little treat into the muzzle and let him put his mouth inside to eat it. Repeat this a few times before you actually put the muzzle on for the first time. Start with just a few seconds muzzle time and gradually prolong the time. Put small treats inside the muzzle so he mentally connects the muzzle with positive feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you could &lt;strong&gt;keep him from killing animals with training.&lt;/strong&gt; This is very hard due to his strong instincts, but not impossible. You need to do a lot of obedience training with him so he follows your command even if he's distracted by other things. Or you teach him to abort a little bag with food, then give him a treat from the bag every time he brings it to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to watch his body language to see when he goes into hunting mode. Whenever you see him taking on a hunting posture, you need to immediately give him a command to follow or throw the food bag. You have to do this &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; he snatches the animal up or kills it, or else you reinforce the killing with playtime or treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method bears the risk of failing, so I suggest you keep him on the leash with a muzzle on at least during the time when the offspring of wild animals is still young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-08-26T06:52:15.493" LastActivityDate="2019-08-26T06:52:15.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-23T20:59:00.180" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, we rescued our cat in February and decided to get a kitten 2 weeks ago. We have done everything the internet suggest and kept them separate. The kitten has his own room and our cat the rest of the house. At first our cat reacted badly to his scent and hated going upstairs where he was shut away. She didn't even come up to bed with us, which was unusual because she loves bed time. Over the course of the week she started coming up and stopped reacting badly to his scent and was instead rubbing her cheeks in our hands and started to come to bed again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We bought a dog cage to put in our living room to put the kitten in to get the cat used to seeing and hearing him. The first couple of times we only left him in with her (under our supervision) for 15mins- half an hour. At first the cat didnt stop growling the whole time the kitten was in the room. We read online that we should show the cat lots of love when the kitten was in sight but we couldnt as she would start to growl more and hiss at us instead. After a week of doing this she got a bit better and could be in the room without growling unless the kitting started meowing. The kitten started to hate the cage so we got a baby gate and did the same thing but through the baby gate. Things started to look better but now our cat will not stay in the house at all. She will come in at night and come to bed when she knows the kitten is shut in his room. But if we are downstairs, even without the kitten she will not stay in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We aren't too sure how old our female cat is as she was found as a stray - we estimate around 3-5 and she is neutured. The reason we got a kitten was because we had seen her acting nicely with some cats in the street. We understand that taking it slow and going back steps is good. But we can't even get our cat to stay in the house unless it's bedtime. I also understand that it has only been 2 weeks and these things take time however i am just after further advice to see if there is anything we could do to help her. We have also bought some pheromones one upstairs and one downstairs but they dont seem to do much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal behaviour? Will she ever accept the kitten? Is there anything else we can try? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16412" LastActivityDate="2019-08-23T20:59:00.180" Title="Resident cat not staying in the house when new kitten is out of safe room" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26061" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-24T03:22:02.890" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two red eared sliders. They started fighting a while ago so I had them separated so one is in the tank while the other gets to walk around my room as he pleases and then they switch. They usually just sit under the bed. I went to check on one of them when I found this weird crack or something on his head. I don’t know what it is or if I need to take him to the vet or anything because he seems pretty normal and responsive. I know this isn’t from them fighting because this just happened and I check on them everyday, plus they haven’t had any contact in a long time&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DRAOJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this is the full crack&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AhYAT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AhYAT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16414" LastActivityDate="2019-09-09T01:19:45.307" Title="What is this crack on my turtle’s head?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-24T14:21:28.620" Score="-1" ViewCount="5376" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; year old Bengal used to have a great appetite. Now she only licks her wet food dry with maybe a couple bites. Very seldom does she eat any dry food anymore. I've tried all types of wet food and even pureed food which she will lick, but not large amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She did get sick couple weeks ago (with a fever of 105 °F / 40.6 °C), but she started this behavior shortly before that . She is back to her normal personality but still very limited eating and losing weight slowly. Altogether, this has been about 2 months now.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16416" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T20:31:34.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T20:31:34.040" Title="My previously gobbling cat only licks her food dry now" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26062" CreationDate="2019-08-24T22:11:30.613" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is important you go to a vet to work out what is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat who usually has a great appetite stops eating, something is very wrong. Particularly so when this is a young cat. This may be something that can be treated but it will probably not get better on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inappetence often indicates nausea in cats, even if you are not seeing vomiting. A fever of 105 F is very abnormal - your cat needs a thorough medical workup, probably including some blood and imaging tests, to work out what is wrong. There are any number of reasons why your cat may not be eating, and this cannot usually be solved without any tests. Please take your cat to a vet as soon as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, offer a selection of diets. Warm up the wet food to stimulate appetite (the stronger you can make it smell, the better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-08-24T22:30:50.767" LastActivityDate="2019-08-24T22:30:50.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26013" CreationDate="2019-08-24T23:17:59.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ended up getting a toy called a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goughnuts.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Goughnut&lt;/a&gt; , they have an &quot;extreme chewer&quot; version that has held up pretty well so far, I'm really impressed. It seems a lot more durable than the kong extreme toys. It seems pliable enough and bouncy enough to keep her interested (unlike the horns or hard plastic toys). The toy is black and the inside is red so if she does chew through it, I know when to replace it. Goughnuts offers a lifetime replacement if you mail one back that has the red part exposed. (not trying to promote them, just an interesting data point).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I will keep the &quot;active&quot; play tips in mind. The only problem is if I try to play with her, her favorite game is &quot;keep away until the humans stop chasing me and I can rip this to shreds&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PVjXt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16376" LastActivityDate="2019-08-24T23:17:59.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-25T22:50:56.153" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat pushes the cat feeder over the counter from time to time. I have a German Shepherd that's 8 months old who would try to eat my cats' food so we moved the feeder to a counter/shelf in a hallway where they can jump up to and where my dog can't reach or jump up to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My older cat keeps pushing the food off the counter. He isn't mad and he's super loving towards us. The younger one leaves it alone and eats normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there a way to encourage the older cat to stop this or just to secure the bowl?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fDm7x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fDm7x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat feeder with similar mechanics to the one I own.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16425" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:40:14.297" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:40:14.297" Title="How can I get my cat to stop pushing his food off the counter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25934" CreationDate="2019-08-26T08:24:30.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We found out later that it was for teaching to fight. Sometimes it may get a little rough, but mother cat is always careful not to harm the kittens. Kittens sometimes not that careful but they don't have the ability to harm mother cat that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16308" LastActivityDate="2019-08-26T08:24:30.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26067" CreationDate="2019-08-26T11:30:44.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason for this kind of behavior is not always a negative emotion. Rather, he might think it as a play trick, or a way to seek attention. You could try scolding him, or taking away the bowl and giving it back a little later.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although in my opinion, it's always easier to deal with the non-living things rather than the living ones. Try pasting Velcro or some other kind of adhesive to make the bowl secure. If possible, use a heavier bowl that would not trip over, or add some weight in the bowl with the food. The cat would try to push it down a few times, but once he realizes that he's continuously failing, he'd soon give up and forget about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastActivityDate="2019-08-26T11:30:44.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26075" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-26T22:13:15.200" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with 2 cats in a quiet residential area in Tokyo.  For the past few months, a stray cat keeps coming to our house and I've been feeding him everyday.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He spends most of a day in our backyard lately, and I'm willing to adopt him if he is okay.  However, he seems to be afraid of humans and would never let me touch or even approach him.  He always moves away no matter how slowly and gently I or my wife try, but keeps coming back and watching us and meows as if he actually wants to become a member of our family. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also want to take him to a vet for inspection before welcoming him, but I'm not sure how it is possible.  Are there any steps should I take?  Should I induce him to come inside the house instead of trying to stroke him first?  I don't want to do anything against his will, but definitely he is interested in us and depending on us (in terms of food and dwelling, at least).  I consider using a trap to capture him as the last resort because it may scare him and deteriorate our relationship.  Any advice in the situation like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11470" LastActivityDate="2019-08-28T07:26:49.203" Title="Seeking advice on managing and adopting a stray cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26075" CreationDate="2019-08-27T00:19:28.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be able to entice the cat with food. Try to stay near the food dish while the cat is eating, but far enough so the cat will come and eat. Do not attempt to come closer to the cat while it is eating. Then, you can very slowly decrease the distance you are from the food dish over time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you can get very close, you might be able to start trying to hand feed the cat. If the cat is okay with that, then you might try to pet it very slowly while it's being hand fed. If you are successful, try to slowly increase the amount of handling. However, since it is a feral cat, I would put high odds on the cat always being somewhat shy and easily spooked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this method will take a very long time, I would expect weeks at minimum, and so I might look into getting a trap anyways, in the case the cat becomes injured while you are attempting to tame it, and it becomes necessary to take it to the vet right away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-08-27T00:19:28.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7647" CreationDate="2019-08-27T06:16:04.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have experience with golden fish, so I cannot help there. However, you also state:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their water looks cloudy, and they keep going to the surface for air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in the following context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I recently purchased two small goldfish for my son. We were instructed by the employee at Petsmart that the 2.5 gal (ca. 10 l) tank would be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the aquarium is not properly set, and you do not have much experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I answered shortly what does it mean to have an aquarium &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26056/16373&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important device that you need is the mechanical filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important activity at the beginning: cycle the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do the things properly, in the end you will only need to add water when it evaporates, and to clear the excess dirt in the mechanical filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the other friends here told you is true: if the aquarium is too small / overpopulated, you will never achieve a good balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-08-27T06:16:04.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26075" CreationDate="2019-08-28T07:26:49.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats - like humans - have their own personality. Some love to cuddle and are very social, others don't like to be touched. This cat seems to be the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should be aware that not every cat needs to be inside a house and sleeping on a bed to be happy. You should not try to impose your idea of a &quot;perfect cat life&quot; on him. You can adopt him and care for him while still giving him the freedom to come and leave whenever he wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also be aware that male cats are less social than female cats. We have a lot of questions on this side of cat brothers chasing away their sisters or a new male cat being aggressive towards other cats living in the same household. All your cats will need a long time and a gradual introduction towards each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the best way to catch him to be examined by a vet might not be to grab him and push him into a transport box, but to let him walk into the box himself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have a suitable transport box, simply put it into your backyard near the place where he likes to be. Let him get acquainted with it on his own terms and in his own time. To aid your efforts, you can put little morsels of foot inside to lure him in the transport box. Let him move freely in and out the box for several days before you try to trap him inside, or he'll avoid going inside after the first attempt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to touch him, use the same strategy. Sit calmly in your backyard and let him come to you. You can lure him with food, but you should give him time to trust you instead of pushing the matter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First put a bit of food near you and let him eat it without interacting with him or looking at him. Then you can offer the food in your hand. Let him sniff you and eat the food from your hand without trying to touch him, or you might scare him away. Take the next step (light touches to the front or side of his chest, where he can see you and can move away) only several days after he willingly approaches you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not look him directly into his eyes, because in cat language this is a warning signal. Do the &quot;lazy eye blink&quot; instead to communicate that you are no danger to him. You can verbally greet him with his name to show him that you are aware of and accept his presence (as opposed to sneaking up to him or chasing him away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-08-28T07:26:49.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26107" CreationDate="2019-08-28T16:57:10.993" Score="1" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I discovered my dog is pregnant after I took her to the vet yesterday for not eating for three days. Today it has been four days of no eating. I got her to take a tiny bite of wet food last night, and a tiny bite today, but nothing substantial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal for a pregnant dog? What would you do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7718" LastActivityDate="2019-09-03T23:14:06.847" Title="Dog hasn't eaten for four days, is pregnant. What to do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26090" CreationDate="2019-08-28T18:44:56.383" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live next to a farm and our house and garden is surrounded by pasture on three sides. I can simply reach over the fence and pet the cows however they don't seem to like get pet by me. They rarely get close enough (although they are often standing or walking close to our fence) and I could only pet or stroke them a few times. They seem to like my boyfriend however and he is able to pet most of them and he gets licks in return. There is even one cow that regularly visits us. When my boyfriend is outside and she sees him, she walks from the other side of the pasture just to get pet by him (it even became a joke in our neighborhood and for the farmer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to earn the trust of them and pet them too but I don't know what I do wrong. I searched the internet but didn't found anything useful on this topic, only advice for farmers that didn't really applies to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I make the cows trust me more so I can pet them a little? It's the least I can do to thank them for the milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16435" LastEditorUserId="16435" LastEditDate="2019-08-28T18:57:30.267" LastActivityDate="2019-09-03T19:40:07.737" Title="How to win a cow's trust so you can pet it?" Tags="&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-28T19:21:54.390" Score="3" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had an exclusive snail tank set up for several months, housing bladder snails, pond snails, MTS, and ramshorn snails. It has been going well up until this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I've noticed that their once long and flowing tentacles have started looking wrinkly, some of which have broken off and feature black spots at the ends. It generally starts at the tips, where they will start looking more twisted, wrinkly, and deformed before breaking off and leaving behind black spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to have affected all snails with long tentacles, including the bladder snails and ramshorn snails. Aside from them being less active and spending more time in their shells, I have not seen any other signs of illness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the black tips in this image:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4j9sE.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4j9sE.png&quot; alt=&quot;ramshorn tentacles with black tips&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only information I can find on tentacle damage is when other creatures in the tank bite them off-- Because this tank contains exclusively snails and the problem has only surfaced recently, it is very unlikely that this is the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is densely planted, and the water parameters check out fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16436" LastActivityDate="2019-08-29T17:26:56.577" Title="What's wrong with my snails' tentacles?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26083" CreationDate="2019-08-28T20:51:40.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tentacles are sensory organs (chemosensory; they have two or four depending on type of snail): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theanimalfiles.com/anatomy/aquatic_snail_anatomy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.theanimalfiles.com/anatomy/aquatic_snail_anatomy.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some types of snails can have parasites but I am not sure this is the case in your snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take a look at their diet to find the reason for the deformed tentacles and other damage to the body and shell. Be sure your snails get their need for calcium covered by adding a few seashells to your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can feed brussels sprouts and green vegetables or potatoes to your snails, but be sure to remove uneaten food if your snails do not want it (if your sails are still eating it just leave it in the tank until it is gone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I buy frozen vegetables to feed my snails; by doing this i can feed the snails small portions so the water stays clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-08-29T14:17:17.803" LastActivityDate="2019-08-29T14:17:17.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-28T21:21:13.520" Score="3" ViewCount="1399" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a new female kitten and my adult male cat had finally it comfortable with her and was nursing her and keeping beside her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However recently my kitten got out of the house and was taken in by my neighbours for approximately 10 minutes. Ever since my kitten has been home and has had our scent rubbed back onto her my adult cat has been growling at her and attacking her.Recently he has now been grabbing her by the neck and dragging her towards the hallway to the front door, myself and my husband never let him drag her too far so we are not 100% sure where he is trying to take her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me as I am unsure whether my kitten is safe to be left alone with the adult cat anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16437" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T01:35:39.980" Title="Why is my adult cat suddenly dragging my kitten around?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-08-28T22:47:27.360" Score="1" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7GDn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help please!!! &#xA;Last year we got our dog Albie, we introduced him to our cat cooper carefully and Cooper soon put Albie in his place and they got on fine, they even sat with each other and would sleep together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 4 months ago I looked after our friends dog and obviously didn’t think this through, he chased cooper and scared the life out of him. Now cooper won’t come in the house and when he has Albie has chased him only because cooper has run scared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to bring Cooper in and keep him feeling safe upstairs, even put the stair gate up so Albie couldn’t get upstairs but the moment he could he ran straight out and now won’t come anywhere near me outside thinking I’m going to drag him inside again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel awful :( it’s fine at the moment as the weather is ok but I’m so worried when winter comes. Has anyone got any suggestions please? Cooper is 12 and I really don’t want him to feel pushed out in his older years :( &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for anyone’s suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16439" LastActivityDate="2019-08-30T15:37:52.470" Title="Cat suddenly scared of dog" Tags="&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26314" CreationDate="2019-08-29T06:37:46.697" Score="8" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is grieving because my brother moved out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My brother was the cats chosen human and even though he will cuddle and play with us others, their connection was special.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my brother moved away 2 weeks ago my cat has barely eaten, seems apathetic and does not go outside much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we help him get over his &quot;loss&quot;?&#xA;I checked out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/22105/my-cat-is-not-eating-or-drinking-anything-after-the-death-of-the-fellow-cat&quot;&gt;My cat is not eating or drinking anything after the death of the fellow cat&lt;/a&gt;, but the answers are mostly focusing on food and the loss of another cat and it is not what I am after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far we have been giving him extra attention and tried playing with him.&#xA;We will take him to the vet this week to rule out any illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&#xA;We went to the vet and the cat is dehydrated and lost 700g. They gave him an infusion and gave us a pheromone spray. So sickness is ruled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2019-08-30T17:32:51.133" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T16:39:47.243" Title="How to help cat grieving the &quot;loss&quot; of a human?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26083" CreationDate="2019-08-29T17:07:15.703" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept aquarium snails of different kinds but never encountered such an issue. I will still try to tell you as much as possible, in case anything can help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible causes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water quality. This is the most easy answer. An excess of pollution could be burning up these sensitive parts. No matter what the issue is, keeping your water extra clean is your best bet, moreso until you know the exact problem and cause. I assume you know how to manage a fishtank and are aware of the nitrogen cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Temperature of the water could be wrong. You can search online what temperature each snail prefers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A parasite, fungus or disease. This seems very likely in your case, it looks like an epidemic. Maybe someone can recognize these symptoms and identify the issue. Then a medication could be recommended. I would suggest you bring one specimen or more to a specialist of snails if you can find any. Water quality will also help the healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A toxic chemical in the water. Did you add any chemical product recently to your water? New piece of decoration, new piece of filtration, a heater, new substrate, plants, anything? Think if you added something when this problem started. Snails are fragile when it comes to copper for exemple. It could be a paint on a piece of decoration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physical injury like you mentionned, fish attacks (you don't have fishes), or an uncovered filter intake or something, even some unwelcome invertebrate could be attacking them, but since it's spreading among your snails, this is probably not the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diet as Trond mentionned. Maybe they are missing something, either calcium or some vitamin. Besides sepia bone and vegetables, you could also give them actual fish food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What you can do&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the water clean, find a snail specialist or vet or hope someone here can diagnose what is happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to separate healthy and not-healthy specimens with a second tank and see what happens. It might help you discover the root of the problem. You can restart a healthy population even with a few healthy individuals in a different tank. Be sure not to mix in water from the not-healthy tank, start it completely from scratch or from a healthy tank. Start as soon as possible to isolate healthy specimens before they catch it too. You can even put them in quarantine in glasses of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be better to focus on restarting a healthy colony rather than try to heal all the current snails, considering their reproduction rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails might easily regrow healthy tentacles once the issue is resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like your concept of a snail-only tank. Wish I could help more, very original question. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-08-29T17:26:56.577" LastActivityDate="2019-08-29T17:26:56.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26082" CreationDate="2019-08-29T17:33:38.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let the cow look at you, smell you, before you attempt to touch its head or body. Move slowly not to scare her. Pay attention to your body language and learn to read hers. If she doesn't want to be touched and shows sign of anxiety, don't push it. Use a calm voice. Start small and from an distance (you don't need to touch her on the first day, just interact from a short distance) and she will trust you more and more, as long as you respect her boundaries and her personal space ! Offering food would also probably help a lot as with most animals. Cows like apples and bananas, and probably a lot more things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: I petted quite a few animals in my time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:&#xA;I once have been &quot;pushed away&quot; by a cow I was petting, nothing violent, but I felt how strong she was. If you engage with them, be aware that a big animal like this is &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; strong, heavy and occasionally fast, and that can surprise you. Also do not approach the cow directly from the back as that is a blind spot for them and it will make them nervous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a document explaining the basics of cow body language. Easy to read and with informative pictures:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://nydairyadmin.cce.cornell.edu/uploads/doc_103.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://nydairyadmin.cce.cornell.edu/uploads/doc_103.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another link with info on body language of cows and bulls here:&lt;a href=&quot;https://nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article29.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article29.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here are some quotes from that second one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cow's mood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can get clues to a cow�s mood and condition by observing the tail.&#xA;  When the tail is hanging straight down, the cow is relaxed, grazing,&#xA;  or walking, but when the tail is tucked between the cow�s legs, it&#xA;  means the animal is cold, sick, or frightened. During mating, threat,&#xA;  or investigation, the tail hangs away from the body. When galloping,&#xA;  the tail is held straight out, and a kink can be observed when the&#xA;  animal is in a bucking, playful mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how to flee them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If cornered by a bull, it is best not to move too fast, but to back&#xA;  away from the bull�s flight zone which is about 20 feet in range.&#xA;  While moving away from the bull�s flight zone, you should watch the&#xA;  bull at all times until you get to a fence, crawl space, or other safe&#xA;  retreat. Turning and running invites being chased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;threat display&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The threat display of the bull puts him in a physiological state of&#xA;  fight or flight. The threat display often begins with a broadside view&#xA;  with back arched to show the greatest profile, followed by the head&#xA;  down, sometimes shaking the head rapidly from side to side, protrusion&#xA;  of the eyeballs, and erection of the hair along the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The direct threat is head-on with head lowered and shoulders hunched&#xA;  and neck curved to the side toward the potential object of the&#xA;  aggression (Photo 2). Pawing with the forefeet, sending dirt flying&#xA;  behind or over the back, as well as rubbing or horning the ground are&#xA;  often components of the threat display&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastEditorUserId="14299" LastEditDate="2019-09-03T19:40:07.737" LastActivityDate="2019-09-03T19:40:07.737" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26086" CreationDate="2019-08-30T15:37:52.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to what happened, it sounds like Cooper has now associated the feeling of &quot;danger&quot; with every dog, including Albie. To rectify the situation, you'll have to slowly begin &quot;introducing&quot; Cooper and Albie to each other again. Cooper needs to re-learn that Albie won't begin chasing him. You'll need to do this in the same way I expect you did at the start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cooper's favourite food and toy will be excellent help. Place a fence downstairs, as far as possible from the outside door, with Cooper on the side which has open access to outside. Cats need to feel like they have an escape route. Keep Albie on the other side of the face, preferably when he has eaten and is calm and sleepy. If Cooper is outside and too scared to come very close, begin feeding him treats first away from the entrance, then gradually closer. With the same method, try to entice him to come inside, first right by the door, then further inside where he has a direct view of Albie. If Cooper is playful, you can introduce lots of play at this point too. Cooper needs to associate only good things to seeing Albie. I wouldn't recommend chasing Cooper to bring him inside and force him to stay close to Albie (fence or not), as it means he's lost his escape route and will likely be only more scared of Albie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the above, you can do other small things like always making sure there's something smelling of Albie at the place where Cooper is sleeping. Also make use of meal times, by feeding Cooper as close to Albie as possible (with a fence in-between).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, but most importantly, train impulse control with Albie. This means teaching him &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to run after Cooper (whether or not Cooper is running away), or make jumpy movements around him. Reward Albie with a treat every time he stays calm upon glancing at Cooper. You will need to repeat this very frequently throughout the day. Try not to let Albie reward himself by getting the satisfaction of chasing Cooper (i.e. fulfilling his instinct), as this will only strengthen the bad behaviour. If Albie does give chase (though have him leashed so he can't actually get to Cooper), ignore the behaviour and instead move him further away until he is calm. Don't get angry or shout, as Albie will begin associating your negative reaction with seeing Cooper, not the &quot;chase&quot; behaviour itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16448" LastActivityDate="2019-08-30T15:37:52.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26085" CreationDate="2019-09-01T06:28:38.650" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How old is the kitten? Do you have other pets? It would help to know that. You might try giving her a thorough bath with some hypoallergenic baby shampoo. Maybe she picked up a scent that your other cat finds unacceptable. Try that first and then post how it worked. Hopefully, it will get things back on course.&#xA;If the kitten is very young and small, you are wise to be concerned. It is not that uncommon for an adult male cat to kill or severely injure a kitten (sorry). That happens for a variety of reasons. If the mother cat is around, a male cat may kill a kitten to reestablish a mating relationship. Since your cat had started to take to the youngster, that’s a good sign. Get her the bath ASAP and keep an eye on them. Try giving your older cat more love and attention-a lot more. He may feel threatened. Always good when introducing a new baby in the house to make sure the older ones gets more attention for the first few weeks. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16453" LastActivityDate="2019-09-01T06:28:38.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2019-09-01T06:38:46.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, twice a week isn’t enough. It may be just that simple to fix.  I have two cats and I scoop twice daily. It is actually much easier to scoop out the hard matter everyday as well as more sanitary for everyone in the house besides the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16453" LastActivityDate="2019-09-01T06:38:46.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26098" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-01T15:20:55.407" Score="-1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we recently adopted a new cat into our household. She’s young and the only girl among three other tomcats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s been about a month or two and she wants to explore the house, but our other three cats won’t leave her alone. However, she’s really the only one expressing aggressive behavior. Two of the toms seem to genuinely want to play with her, and I’m pretty sure neither of them have done her any actual harm. They’re very gentle, but even then, she hisses and yowls bloody murder. Is it possible for a cat to be overdramatic? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, two of the toms are friendly, but the third is much more mean about it. It’s as if he doesn’t know how to appropriately play or tell when he goes too far, and that’s not just with Keta (our girl)— it’s in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, we followed all of the normal meet-and-greet procedures when we brought her in. The three boys are usually able to play with each other all of the time without a problem, so I don’t think there’s a lack of play here. I know the two nice boys are just curious, but the female is not having it. I’m not sure how to solve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had them play together before, but even if one of the other males comes too close to her, she hisses and spits and folds her ears back. She seems VERY insecure even though I feel like I’ve done everything I can to make her comfortable! All we’ve been doing right now is separating them whenever a fight breaks out, which is at least three-four times a day. It’s kind of annoying to have to stop whatever you’re doing because you hear a cat screaming at another end of the house, regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16455" LastActivityDate="2019-09-01T19:47:36.810" Title="My cats want to play with our new female cat, but she keeps hissing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11281" CreationDate="2019-09-01T16:48:56.313" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read a fair bit on this and it's better to chill them at 2-4 °C (35-39 °F) which stuns them and then to freeze them afterwards to kill them. Apparently, they show no distress using this method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16456" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T13:08:05.320" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T13:08:05.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-01T16:57:14.287" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the USA and I’ve always heard it was bad to give my dog bones/raw hides produced outside of the country due to the fact that they have to put pesticides on them to get through customs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is that still the case if they are wrapped in plastic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the bones I can find in the store are from China and Columbia, so I was wondering if it's safe to feed them to my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12666" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-09-03T11:08:47.667" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T05:52:33.247" Title="Is it safe to feed a dog bones imported into the USA?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26098" CreationDate="2019-09-01T19:16:25.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably introduced the cats too quickly. It sounds like your new cat is extremely intimidated by your other cats. The house was their established territory, and so it's very scary for her, whereas your other cats are much more confident because it's already their space. You should try separating for a little while to let them calm down, and then introducing them again, but this time, do it VERY slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The best way to separate them is to keep your female cat is her own room with all the things she needs. You might also want to use feliway in the room, which is supposed to remove cat scent. Hopefully she will claim this room as hers and feel safe and secure in there. The separation is necessary because as long as they keep getting into fights, their bad impression will be reinforced, and you won't be able to make progress. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While separating your cats, try to think on if there were any particular points of contention between your cats. Like, were they commonly getting into fights near litterboxes, food, and so forth. If so, you might consider providing more of those things in different locations in the house, so that the cats will have options, and hopefully not fight over them as much.  Similarly, it might help to give your cat more options for avoiding each other, such as hiding spots or places up high for them to climb on. If your cats are truly not aggressive as you say, they will probably not be inclined to follow her into places that are too small to comfortably fit more than one cat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After you've given them time to calm down, start reintroducing them as slowly as you can manage. The first step is usually to feed all your cats at the same time, but separated by a door, to get used to smelling each other. You do that for some days, then you can work up to very short supervised visits. The visits should not take place in your female cat's room because that should be her safe territory. Instead, it should be just outside the door, so she can go back in if she chooses (try to prevent your other cats from entering.) You should also start out these visits by feeding them treats, so that they will be distracted. If you observe your cats getting too stressed, cut the visit short. Once you feel like they are okay, you can consider slowly increasing the time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to rely on your own judgement as to when to decide that they're ready to be unsupervised again. Or, it may be the case that they never really get along. In that case, you may have to try your best to keep them separated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-09-01T19:16:25.997" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11173" CreationDate="2019-09-02T16:41:33.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that was raised with two dogs. She plays like a dog, and chases her tail like a dog. She also has trouble socializing with our two other cats. The cat belonged to my parents, and  we took her in when my dad could no longer care for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16462" LastActivityDate="2019-09-02T16:41:33.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26100" CreationDate="2019-09-03T13:59:19.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to what industries will tell you, not everything that is sold in stores is suitable for your pet (this is valid for cats also, with their respective specificities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food that is too tough will possibly hurt his gums, and maybe even break his teeth. If the bone breaks &quot;improperly&quot;, it might scratch his digestive tract, which will lead to infections and further trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are countless articles on the net written WITHOUT sponsorship, all of them bringing testimony against tough toys and tough food. The bones and the muscles used in chewing were made for food, not for crushing stones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must be aware that even bones which are not tough, are able to hurt the dog. Especially: big bird-bones (they splinter) and fish bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: all cooked / boiled bones are unsuitable to be chewed by pets - they are too tough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can successfully feed small bird-bones (phalanges, chest, head / neck), the (soft) endings of bigger bones etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;outside of the country ... they have to put pesticides ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you claiming that USA is pesticide free? They are already in everything we eat, regardless of the country, especially when talking about &quot;civilized&quot; countries. We = animals, birds, humans...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus info: pesticides are only a part of the problem. There are also hormones, medicine, heavy metals, additives ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from this point of view, domestic or imported products, it is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question to self: aren't pesticides used only in agriculture, to kill the insects which damage crops?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-03T13:59:19.993" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26109" CreationDate="2019-09-03T21:51:39.173" Score="1" ViewCount="1093" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago my wife rescued a goldfish from a public fountain. We put it in a fishtank lended by our neighbors then we installed a filter and some decorations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;after a few days the kids lost interest,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure the tank is big enough for the fish (16 liters) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't like cleaning the tank so I &quot;will do it tomorrow&quot; and the poor guy basically lives in yellow / green water&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get rid of it? Can I put it in a river?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to be clear : I asked this question to avoid any kind of animal abuse of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By chance, my aunt installed a pond in her garden yesterday. She agreed to take my fish and plans to add more of them in the next days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok it's done : I gave the fish to my aunt. She decided not to put it in her new pond but in an other one she had before but I didn't know. It's 100 times bigger than my tank, there is vegetation and other fishes. There is a filtration system and oxygenation system. The water is super clear. Some of the fishes in there are 15 years old so I think the little guy will be alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16463" LastEditorUserId="16463" LastEditDate="2019-09-15T20:22:09.003" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:21:16.780" Title="How can I get rid of a goldfish" Tags="&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26081" CreationDate="2019-09-03T23:14:06.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that it's been a while. I hope your dog is well.&#xA;In case she isn't, in general I would take my dog to a vet immediately after 1 day of not eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet's suggestions don't work you probably need to see another vet. &#xA;Does she drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I try is I cook some rice (no salt, no oil, just rice in water) and some chicken (no salt, no oil, absolutely no onions), mix them together and give it to my dog. It's easy to digest and dogs love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16464" LastActivityDate="2019-09-03T23:14:06.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-04T05:22:09.493" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two pets: one golden retriever, age 3.5 years and one Labrador, age 1.5 years. Now, we are planning to move from China to India. I read the travel documents and vaccine issues. However, the main challenge is I am afraid of the distance (there is no direct flight, two flight changes, and by road). This is the first time for my dogs with flight. I am wondering what are the possible ways to tackle these issues. My golden retriever is very sensitive, I am too worried about him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16466" LastActivityDate="2019-09-04T05:22:09.493" Title="Transfer two pets from China to India" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26106" CreationDate="2019-09-04T07:41:50.323" Score="9" Body="&lt;h2&gt;You should &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/07/exotic-pets-become-invasive-species/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NEVER release unwanted pets into nature&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons why this is the worst possible action:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exotic pets&lt;/strong&gt; have the tendency to survive better than anyone would have assumed. There are flocks of tropical birds surviving in temperate metropoles like Berlin, goldfish and turtles growing to gigantic sizes in rivers and lakes all over the world, and exotic (sometimes poisonous) snakes hiding in parks and bushes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These animals are put into their new environment by humans, not by nature. The flora and fauna didn't adapt to their presence and evolution would need hundreds and thousands of years. Even though most pets are &quot;harmless&quot; herbivores, they are a direct competition to native and endemic animals and start &lt;a href=&quot;https://earthbuddies.net/10-pets-will-go-control-release-wild/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wreaking havoc&lt;/a&gt; within a few years of release. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Released pets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat the food of native animals, causing them to go hungry or even starve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;May not be recognized by local predators as prey. While native animals are hunted and decimated by predators, those invaders can reproduce unhindered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Often breed faster than native equivalents (especially goldfish)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grow to gigantic sizes ( for example &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.businessinsider.com.au/incredible-pictures-of-giant-killer-goldfish-stalking-western-australias-rivers-2015-4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;goldfish&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/huge-100-pound-african-tortoise-found-roaming-arizona-desert&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;turtoises&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eat or otherwise kill the offspring of native animals (goldfish eating the eggs of native fishes, reptiles eating birds, birds eating local beneficial insects)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;May eat rare plants in danger of extinction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poisonous animals like exotic frogs / toads poison native predators if eaten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, pets released into nature tend to &lt;strong&gt;suppress native animals&lt;/strong&gt;, sometimes driving them to the edge of extinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even &lt;strong&gt;native animals that were domesticated&lt;/strong&gt; should not be released. Popular examples are hamsters and wild rabbits in Europe and North America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These animals depend on human care to survive. Most were born in captivity and never learned from their parents what a wild animal needs to know to survive: What is safe to eat? How to spot a predator and hide from them? How to survive in harsh seasons? Is it safe to walk on a road?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Released domesticated animals tend to suffer from hunger, injuries and illnesses or be killed by predators rather quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to get rid of unwanted pets?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a common pet like a cat, dog, goldfish or the like, you should either offer it to a pet shop or shelter. People there know how to care for those pets and they have a chance to find a better home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also ask friends, family or neighbors if they might be interested. Especially people who already have a pond or aquarium are likely to adopt another fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problematic or less common pets like exotic reptiles, snails, spiders or birds need to find a place in a specialized shelter or rescue center. Some zoos accept exotic animals if they already have some of the same species or if they can fit them in with the existing ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Can I flush it down the toilet?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. This is &lt;strong&gt;animal cruelty and the fish is guaranteed to die&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine jumping down a manhole into your local sewer and taking a dive in the sewage water. No fish or reptile can survive in this water. This is absolute torture and animal cruelty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And contrary to what Disney films claim, almost all sewers end in a water treatment plant, not in the ocean. Even if an animal could survive in the sewage, it would be caught in the sewer forever or be shredded in a treatment plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What if the fish is obviously beyond help?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please refer to this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1765/12501&quot;&gt;What's the least painful way to euthanize a fish?&lt;/a&gt; and be aware that &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/10084&quot;&gt;freezing is no surefire or painless way to kill a fish&lt;/a&gt;, especially for goldfish, who regularly survive winters in frozen lakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:21:16.780" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:21:16.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26100" CreationDate="2019-09-04T07:56:51.337" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In USA there is a government organization called &quot;FDA&quot; (from their &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-food-feeds/pet-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates that can of cat food, bag of dog food, or box of dog treats or snacks in your pantry. The FDA’s regulation of pet food is similar to that for other animal foods. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires that all animal foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances, and be truthfully labeled. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have a lot of information about the details on their website, for example labels they regulate. These labels show you, if the imported bones are &quot;good&quot; in USA standards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you should not judge all imported products with one assumption. But like virolino wrote, there are risks in general if you choose the wrong bones (too hard, prone to splintering, etc.)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T05:52:33.247" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T05:52:33.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-05T12:01:34.140" Score="4" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious if anyone understand why my cat seems to go crazy for coconut oil? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they have different ways of perceiving taste than us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tasted the coconut oil and the flavor is very mild. I don't understand why he likes it so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16470" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-09-05T15:06:52.357" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T15:01:20.300" Title="Why does my cat LOVE coconut oil?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-05T23:41:23.567" Score="3" ViewCount="899" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a pet hamster. I had previously stepped on some chocolate ice cream. As I was letting my hamster run around my room, she stopped and licked the spot of chocolate ice cream on my sock. Just one lick. I know chocolate is bad for hamsters. But will she be okay after consuming that one lick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16474" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T22:39:57.797" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T22:39:57.797" Title="My hamster ate a bit of chocolate ice cream" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26115" CreationDate="2019-09-06T09:32:53.740" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long to short: one drop of chocolate ice cream is not enough to harm your hamster.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dangerous thing in chocolate is called &amp;quot;theobromine&amp;quot; (look at this question for more detail: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/799/does-chocolate-hurt-hamsters&quot;&gt;Does chocolate hurt hamsters?&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much theobromine can a hamster eat without damage?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found an science &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0041008X79902850&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; about dangerous dose of theobromine for rats, mice and hamsters:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The daily dose of theobromine which produced retrogressive changes in weight patterns and in the morphology of the thymus in both sexes and of the testes in males was approximately 250–300 mg/kg/day in mature rats and approximately 500 mg/kg/day in immature rats. Hamsters and mice were much more resistant to theobromine than were rats. A decrease in growth and in thymic weights occurred only at the highest dose levels of theobromine and testicular and thymic changes were completely absent in hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your hamster, it is important how much of this theobromine was in the ice cream, and how much is the hamster's weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dwarfhamsterblog.com/hamster-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hamster's weight&lt;/a&gt; is between 25g (1oz, dwarf hamster) and 200g (7oz, Syrian hamster). How much is yours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quote says: for mature rats, 250mg/kg/day makes them ill. (They feed them 28 days every day this amount of theobromine.) However, for hamsters this was not a risk, they only get ill &amp;quot;on the highest dose&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;250mg/kg/day means 0.25mg per g of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, following the article, a 25g hamster can eat 25 * 0.25 = &lt;strong&gt;6,25mg of theobromine&lt;/strong&gt; (daily for 28 days) without illness. A Syrian hamster can eat &lt;strong&gt;up to 50mg&lt;/strong&gt; without risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much ice cream has the hamster eaten?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This schools chemistry &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/archive-2013-2014/ice-cream-chemistry.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A gallon (3.8 liters) of ice cream must weigh at least 4.5 pounds, making the minimum density 0.54 gram per milliliter. Better brands have higher densities—up to 0.9 grams per milliliter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One teaspoon of water approximately holds 5ml water. So one can assume that a drop of water is approximately one milliliter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One drop of ice cream (one milliliter) then has maximal weight of 0.9g = &lt;strong&gt;900mg&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much chocolate is in one drop of ice cream?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look at your ice cream box, maybe there stands something like &amp;quot;min. 15% real chocolate&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a receipt for chocolate ice cream with 300g dark chocolate in 1300g ice cream (this is under 24% of chocolate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we follow this, in a drop of 900mg ice cream are 300g/1300g*0.9g = &lt;strong&gt;0.2077g real dark chocolate&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How much theobromine is in this amount of chocolate?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the table of the above mentioned pet.SE &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/799/does-chocolate-hurt-hamsters?rq=1&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; are 25g (1oz) of dark chocolate noticed with 130mg of theobromine. This is 5.2mg theobromine per one gram of chocolate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one drop of ice cream is 0,2077g real chocolate, and with this 5.2mg/g ⋅ 0.2077g = &lt;strong&gt;1.08mg of theobromine&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Make the calculation from the other side: the most light weight adult hamster (25g) can eat 6.25mg theobromine: 6.25/1.08 = approximately 5.8 ice cream drops without getting ill).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So even with the most heavy (which means highest quality) ice cream and a high amount of dark (!!) chocolate (over 23%), your hamster cannot have enough theobromine within one drop of ice cream to get ill.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T22:37:12.207" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T22:37:12.207" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26117" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26119" CreationDate="2019-09-06T23:52:30.693" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ~47 lb Husky/GSD who is probably less than 1 year old, and was given up by an animal hoarder. Initially he was very skittish, and shy, but he has made a lot of progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My goal is to eventually take him and his 2-year-old Husky/Cattle-Dog friend Reggie out for walks together, but George has developed a problem with pulling as his self-confidence increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked online at various dog-training advice, and I have been training him not to pull by stopping every time I feel a distinct tug on the leash. I ask him to come, sit, and look, in that order. If he refuses, I step backwards and pull him back with me. Once he passes all of these tests, I give him a treat, and we start walking again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has made good progress with this, but George has started to very very gradually increase the strength of his pulling, from just enough to keep the leash taut, to being hard enough to eventually give my hand some discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't care if he pulls a little bit, but I don't want my hand to hurt, and he builds up his pulling strength so gradually, that I'm not sure how to provide consistent correction. It's hard to tell at what point his pulling is strong enough to eventually make my hand ache. I could correct him whenever the leash isn't at least a little bit loose, but I am worried he may not be able to tell, and will be confused by the corrections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I train George to stop pulling hard enough that my hand starts to ache?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13662" LastEditorUserId="13662" LastEditDate="2019-09-06T23:59:11.450" LastActivityDate="2019-09-07T06:38:53.900" Title="How to keep Husky/GSD from slowly increasing the effort he puts into pulling?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26117" CreationDate="2019-09-07T06:38:53.900" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is quite a common issue that tends to happen with dogs, especially as they reach the one year old mark. Huskies in particular tend to pull, that's why they make great sled dogs!&#xA;I would start by ensuring you are using adequate equipment. I recommend a regular flat collar (I like leather ones, they aren't as likely to break, something like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldforpets.com.au/products/71723&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;) and a 6ft leash. I would also recommend having treats on you; you could use George's breakfast or dinner to teach him what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick an ideal position you would like him to walk in. This can change, but it helps if you have an idea when you start. As an example, I would like my dog's shoulder to be in line with my legs when I am standing still on the left hand side. Where you would like him to walk is entirely up to you, but I would define it. When you are out walking and he finds that defined position, the treats come out. Teach him that food is available when you walk in that position. Use the hand above that position (I use my left) as a reward hand, and the other hand as your leash-holder. Hold the leash so there is some slack but it isn't going between his front legs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you go for a walk with him, start teaching him the moment he walks out the front door. If he pulls ahead, &lt;strong&gt;stop, turn around and walk in the opposite direction.&lt;/strong&gt; You could give him a verbal cue (ah-ah) when he walks ahead to mark the wrong behaviour, but it is not always necessary. The trick I learned to boost his understanding is to have a treat ready in your food hand for when he finds the position. Let him eat the food while you are walking; the reward should come when he is walking in that position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take him for him to learn what you want. There are a few other things I would do to ensure he learns as fast as he can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plan a duration, not a distance.&lt;/strong&gt; When teaching him how to walk nicely, you are going backwards in your training every time he is able to pull. Everytime he pulls you will need to turn around. This means that you may be on a half hour walk but not get to the end of your street. This is ok! This is where the learning is happening. I plan to go for a half hour walk, and we get as far as we go. The only condition is no pulling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be fun!&lt;/strong&gt; This is one most of my clients struggle with. The idea is for George to see walks as time for you and him to hang out. When you go walking and he is doing good, tell him! I mindlessly chatter to my dog on a walk, which helps to build engagement. If he knows you're paying attention to him, he will be much more inclined to pay attention to you. You are the most important person in George's life, so tell him when he is doing good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start easy.&lt;/strong&gt; Dog's learn best when minimal distractions are around. Start in your backyard, where is familiar and all his focus is on you. As he nails walking in the backyard move to the front. Slowly increase the length of the walks. You could even do a few random turns, just to keep him on his toes. Don't start off at your local park, as it would be similar to asking a child to learn complex maths at the playground. The easier you make it, the higher your chance of success!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't 'say hello' to other dogs on walks.&lt;/strong&gt; This one can be hard, but I try to avoid dog on-leash interactions. To George, this is the chance for reinforcement away from you. He is very likely to then pull towards every dog he sees. If he has canine friends he adores, meet off leash. Reduce the chances of him finding that outside reinforcement. Sometimes off-lead dogs may run up to you. This can always happen, so be prepared. I usually carry a tennis ball or something, and when a dog off lead runs up to me I throw the ball. They usually go after it. If not, it depends on the situation, but that's ultimately what you're training for!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Loose leash walking will take weeks or months of repetitions to learn. It is hard to learn, but it is the most rewarding. The expectation is that he knows he is not allowed to pull. He will learn, you just need to be consistent! I have taught hundreds of dogs this, and I promise that you will get there with time and consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16344" LastActivityDate="2019-09-07T06:38:53.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-08T05:05:44.817" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been with us for 14 years. He's not a pure breed but probably around 3 feet long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I woke him up yesterday to give him some food. And he could not stand up properly to eat the food. He tried his best and his legs were just weak and wobbly until he started panicking and howling but still unable to stand. After 20 mins of eating he calmed down and was able to stand. But he's having a hard time walking and a little wobbly. Is this a nerve issue or muscle issue? Can it be supplemented with vitamins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16479" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T22:49:25.820" Title="Why is my dog very weak and having difficulty to move?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-08T05:25:13.017" Score="4" ViewCount="868" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male ginger tabby cat just loves to come curl and sleep on my lap while I work on my desktop which is heart-warming most of the time. &#xA;But I've read that many cats prefer to stay/sleep at a certain distance from their owners.&#xA;So I'm wondering how common is this lap-loving behavior among cats? Is it more prevalent among certain cat breeds? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14342" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-09-08T21:17:21.507" LastActivityDate="2019-09-08T21:17:21.507" Title="What percent of cats are 'lap cats'?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26121" CreationDate="2019-09-08T15:32:25.650" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt anyone's actually bothered to actually figure out numbers on it, but it's certainly a common enough behavior that even people that have never owned a cat are aware cats do this. The other thing about sitting on laps is that it's partially a learned behavior. Cats that want to be near humans are obviously going to be more predisposed to it, but they might also decide the better place is next to the human, or top of their keyboard, or wherever.  Or they might be encouraged by a human to do it when it wasn't their first choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting on laps definitely seems to be more common among certain breeds, as people commonly make lists of cuddly cat breeds, and certain breeds are just about always on it. Some of the breeds that are commonly mentioned, but by no means exclusively, are the Ragdoll, the Scottish Fold, the Rex, the Siamese and it's cousins the Burmese and Tonkinese, the Maine Coon, the Persian, and the Sphynx. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-09-08T15:32:25.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26106" CreationDate="2019-09-09T00:59:23.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Create an account on your local aquarium club forum and post it as a free fish. I see people looking for free fish on Craigslist all the time too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastActivityDate="2019-09-09T00:59:23.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26061" CreationDate="2019-09-09T01:19:45.307" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a healing wound however the whitish film nearby could be an indication of a fungal infection. Keep an eye on the area and make sure it’s free of any debris and make sure the humidity and temp are within suggested parameters. It should get smaller. If the area or whitish film gets larger you may need to take the turtle to a vet to get medication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastActivityDate="2019-09-09T01:19:45.307" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26018" CreationDate="2019-09-09T01:30:39.707" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the others who mention cycling a tank and never cleaning the tank spotless. This will destroy the good bacteria. Beta fish have almost a set of lungs which are able to breath air and their body has adapted to thrive in murky water.  If you go to a friend or local pet shop ask for some used filter media or substrate. You can place the used/dirty filter media in your filter or substrate at the bottom of your tank and it will help stimulate the beneficial bacteria growth. Unless you are positive and confident behind your use of MG to treat an identified infection, limit your usage to dips or a short term bath. This way you won’t contaminate the primary AQ with medication.  Make sure you match temp, ph, hardness, ect or else the fish with be stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastActivityDate="2019-09-09T01:30:39.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-09T16:19:25.743" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 month old red eared slider, I observed him yesterday, if we gently press his shell, it's getting pressed, his shell became soft, it's clearly visible and we can see with the naked eye that shell goes down when we press him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, I am worried about my baby red eared slider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16483" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T00:33:03.190" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T00:33:03.190" Title="My red eared slider's shell suddenly get soft" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-09T20:22:37.300" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was suggested to me to also post this question here, originally posted here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/145509/air-travel-with-pet-budgie&quot;&gt;https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/145509/air-travel-with-pet-budgie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone has experience traveling with transatlantic (Western Europe to Mexico) with a pet bird? From what little research I did I found out that some airlines do seem to allow this, but I was more wondering about comfort for the animal and risks associated with such travel. Specifically, the birds are budgies (these ones: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgerigar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgerigar&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: we don't currently have a budgie, but we are considering getting one. But we frequently need to travel transatlantic for extended periods (1-3 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16485" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T14:56:39.320" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T14:56:39.320" Title="Air travel with pet budgie" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26132" CreationDate="2019-09-09T22:06:07.237" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We flew with an African Grey on domestic US flights. Several years ago, the bird required a ticket (traveling in the passenger area). Also a health certificate from the vet. No problem at all, she was a hit with the attendants who brought her snacks. Are you thinking of the bird being with the cargo?  Also, I would think there could be quarantine problems going to other countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T12:24:48.417" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T12:24:48.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6456" CreationDate="2019-09-10T13:14:40.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having kept and worked with cats for many years, (I am pro neutering) I have found in my experience that cats neutered before age of 1year do not grow quite as big as those neutered earlier. Not all un-neutered male cats spray,  however if they do it is extremely unpleasant. Neutering your cat is essential to curb this habit,  along with aggression issues and unwanted kittens (far too many out there) and other health issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16486" LastActivityDate="2019-09-10T13:14:40.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18718" CreationDate="2019-09-11T12:15:57.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Red eared sliders in nature live alone. They meet only to reproduce and make little turtles once a year. All other times they meet as rival. &#xA;I assume the red eared slider do not differ between another red eared slider and an indian flapshell, so I suppose to not hold them two together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T12:15:57.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-11T17:20:41.720" Score="0" ViewCount="1276" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9JeAX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9JeAX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I just recently bought this White Opal Male Betta a few days ago. When I bought him I noticed some black spots/coloring on him and just want to be sure it is coloring not some type of bacteria or infection. There is one spot on his tail fin, a little bit by his mouth and some on his front fins. He seems very happy, likes to eat and is very active.  Are the spots something I should be worried about? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OqOll.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OqOll.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16493" LastEditorUserId="16493" LastEditDate="2019-09-11T18:20:09.663" LastActivityDate="2019-09-11T18:20:09.663" Title="Black spots on new betta" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-12T13:57:44.743" Score="3" ViewCount="807" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband adopted a feral black cat a couple of days ago.  He's an absolute sweetheart, only a little over one year old, but he meows constantly.  Whether he's with us, playing, or in his room, he's almost always making noise and meowing.  The only time he seems to stop is when he's asleep or eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have him scheduled to see a vet soon to rule out any medical issues, and I've been trying to give him lots of play time and attention to see if it's a boredom thing, but he's pretty much just constantly making noise for the sake of it.  He does play a fair bit, but he also seems indifferent towards us; not really scared like most new cats I've raised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions or ideas why he may be doing this?  What can we do to mitigate it (nights have been very sleepless so far).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16496" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T00:39:14.500" Title="New Cat Meows Constantly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26145" CreationDate="2019-09-12T14:01:27.370" Score="7" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked for the answer, but didn't manage to get clear information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have a bunch of hens, but no rooster, hens will lay unfertilized eggs (as far as I know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I read, hens will brood them anyway, but then what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will they notice at some point that the eggs are not going to hatch or are going to get rotten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will they die brooding &amp;quot;for nothing&amp;quot; at some point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eggs will rot at some point, what happens to the hens then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What happens to the hens and to the eggs if I don't pick the unfertilized eggs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What happens to the hens if I do pick some eggs, but not all of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What happens to the hens if I do pick every single egg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2nd and 3rd are kind of related to 1st; I can ask other questions if necessary, but I think it's close enough so that one answer can cover every scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16497" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T14:02:25.433" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T14:02:25.433" Title="Hens and no rooster: what happens to hens and their unfertilized eggs?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26146" CreationDate="2019-09-12T16:38:32.417" Score="4" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a cat goes to the vet, they might take its blood. How big is the vial they use? I assume it can't be the same size as the vial they use for humans because cats are so much smaller and have less total blood. My cat probably has only 750 mL of blood, if that (and he is quite a large housecat) but I have about 6 L of blood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16498" LastEditorUserId="16498" LastEditDate="2019-09-12T17:00:00.893" LastActivityDate="2019-09-13T02:46:11.153" Title="What size is the vial vets use to take the blood of a domestic cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26143" CreationDate="2019-09-12T16:43:31.740" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each hen is unique (just like people)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each hen has a number or volume of eggs that will make her start sitting. It could be anything from 1 to a dozen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hens cannot count, there is one and more then one, and just enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a hen wants to sit (not all hens want to be moms) and everyday you take her egg, she will try laying them in a different nest/location&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some hens will not sit on any eggs, I have seen this most often with hens that were born in an incubator. Chicks that you buy from the feed store may have been hatched under an incubator for generations. The mother instinct is not reinforced.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to take her eggs and not have her sit, put one or two fake eggs (shaped wood or golf balls) in the nest, she will lay a third egg everyday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't take any eggs, at some point she will stop laying eggs and start sitting on them.  She will still get up to eat and drink daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the eggs hatch, she will keep the chicks on the nest for a while (hours to days) and then abandon any unhatched eggs as she moves off with the chicks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If no eggs hatch (any reason), at some point she will stop sitting and move on, some hens will get off a nest 2 days before the eggs should hatch, some will sit on the eggs, weeks past when they should have hatched.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some hens (and other animals) will eat eggs, if you leave them to rot bad things will happen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a hen once that started sitting on a couple of wooden eggs and stayed there for about 2 months, finally I had to remove the eggs, she was unhappy.  The next year I had some duck eggs that I wanted her to sit on, so I started adding wooden eggs to her nest, and got her sitting just before all the duck eggs were laid, then moved the duck eggs to her nest and took the wooden eggs.  She raised up some duck babies :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming a hen house, you should remove the eggs at least every couple of days. Very edge case, at least once a week.  If the chickens are free roaming and laying eggs under trees and bushes, well that depends, it will start to attract predators, who may start eating your hens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T14:00:17.127" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T14:00:17.127" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26144" CreationDate="2019-09-13T02:46:11.153" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vials do come in different sizes and I suspect will vary by manufacturer and laboratory. Easier to answer is the amount of blood needed for various tests. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To run chemistries (usually serum is needed), we have 4 mL tubes, in which the lab likes us to put at least 1 mL, preferably more. The amount of serum needed will depend on the number of tests you need run – to assess a few electrolytes, maybe a BUN/creatinine to look at the kidneys, and a couple of liver enzymes, not much serum will be needed, but if you want to do lots of other tests then obviously more blood will need to be taken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To run complete blood counts (CBC) for cats our standard tubes are the same size as chemistry tubes, in which the lab requires 1 mL of blood. These tubes contain EDTA to stop the blood from clotting, and the important thing with these tubes is that there is the correct ratio of blood to EDTA, otherwise the results will be skewed. As cats can be tricky to get blood from sometimes, we do also have mini tubes that only require 0.5 mL (or at a stretch 0.3 mL) on which a full CBC can still be run – but the lab can sometimes get upset if you are too stingy with the blood you submit. Some other tests are run on whole blood and in these cases additional blood may be required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other more specialized testing such as for clotting times does require other blood tubes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your &quot;standard&quot; cat bloodwork including a chemistry, CBC, and T4, the vet will need to draw at least 1.5-2 mL minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference I currently use Idexx and the details on their tubes are shown in their &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.idexxbioanalytics.com/hubfs/IBA_RE23%20ReF%20Lab%20Tube%20Guide%20Horizontal%20RE.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sample Collection Tube Guide&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-09-13T02:46:11.153" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26142" CreationDate="2019-09-13T15:39:49.250" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried talking to him when he meows? He may just want some sort of vocal interaction with you. Some cats enjoy having &quot;conversations&quot; with their humans, and a short conversation will satisfy them for a while. You don't have to meow at him, unless you want to. Speaking normally is usually all that's required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This approach can also help you learn to recognise his different vocalisations. He probably has one meow for when he wants to play, another for when he's just &quot;checking in&quot;, another for when he's hungry, another to announce an accomplishment (I just killed a bug!) and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-09-13T15:39:49.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26152" CreationDate="2019-09-13T16:31:33.353" Score="4" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a neutered, male, DSH red tabby named Playdough. We adopted him when he was eight months old and he is now almost three and a half years old. Recently, he has had two bad bouts of constipation. We took him in and they cleared him out, but we obviously need to change his diet. The vet put him on Royal Canin Fiber Response dry and recommended a little water, pumpkin, and yogurt go into his food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other issue: Playdough now weighs somewhere between 15-16 lbs. This is our fault as owners. Playdough shares the house with us, two other cats, and a small dog. Our last adoption was a kitten, and we free fed her until she was one (three days ago), so Playdough got into her food often. He's been pudgy since becoming an adult, but now it is clearly out of control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have two issues to address: the constipation and the obesity. I want to get him down (eventually) to 12 lbs. In addition to playing with him more, and keeping him from getting in any additional food sources, I roughly sketched out the following diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two meals a day, with each meal being comprised of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;52 grams Royal Canin Fiber Response dry cat food = 138 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/4 cup water = 0 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/2 tbsp canned pumpkin = 3 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/2 tsp plain, unsweetened yogurt = 9 calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total meal = 150 calories, twice a day for a daily intake of 300 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the first time I've had to do more than follow the guidelines on the packaging, so I'm feeling a bit lost. Does this seem plausible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16357" LastEditorUserId="16357" LastEditDate="2019-09-13T16:51:27.120" LastActivityDate="2020-09-03T22:54:10.767" Title="Diet for overweight, frequently constipated cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26148" CreationDate="2019-09-14T10:12:27.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The average adult cat needs from 270-320 calories a day to stay healthy. Larger cats use more energy, so if you feed 300 calories per day your cat will slowly lose some weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to follow the diet and not give any treats and you will need everybody in your household to help your cat to lose weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best if you can split the meals you give your cat into 3-4 servings per day. This will help your cat stay hungry for a shorter time between meals, so your cat does not beg for food all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to have a fixed routine for your cat where your cat plays first and then eats and finally sleeps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure your cat gets all the water he needs (a water fountain can make your cat drink more water); it is best to place the waterbowl away from the food bowl as cats in general will drink more water when it is away from the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-03T22:54:10.767" LastActivityDate="2020-09-03T22:54:10.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-14T13:04:40.103" Score="1" ViewCount="1283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am troubled and afraid of pets because of hygiene reasons but almost everyone is telling me I should not consider hygiene as a reason to avoid them and be appalled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a person that loves hygiene. I dislike and avoid physical contact with humans when dirty and/or sweaty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How clean are pets by human hygiene and human medicine standards? Can a human not allergic to them get moderately sick because of contact with their dirt, mud or anything else they bring in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had my fair share of health burdens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a cancer patient (Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma in the Pons of the Brainstem, I have right eye extremely blurry vision after scaring of a corneal ulcer due to sterile, exposure,friction ceratitis(corneopathy) because my right lacrimal gland does not produce tears. Right sided absolute cofosis. And paresis or paralysis of several nerves. My left side vision and hearing are not that much affected. I have complex partial epilepsy due to cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How clean are pets by human hygiene standards?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16501" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-09-16T08:32:17.823" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:18:32.717" Title="How clean are pets?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26150" CreationDate="2019-09-14T14:11:38.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to answer based on dogs, and in general, not considering possible extra hygiene needs caused by your health situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprise, surprise, dogs don't &quot;take baths&quot;, but it is up to the owners to &quot;help them! [Yes, esp. cats take care of themselves to some extent, though]. &quot;Common sense&quot; works here. I love my dogs &quot;too much&quot;, and try to take care of their hygiene, but, while I know many people do, I have never, will never, and do not recommend anyone to:&#xA;1. Kiss their pets&#xA;2. Eat / prepare food by bare hands after touching the pets, without washing ones hands first&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience from many vets, who supposedly know better, suggest that I may be exaggerating, though. When getting vaccinations for my dogs, I have seen vets, after having touched the animal, grabbing the &quot;cap&quot; of an injection needle, then putting the cap [with the needle inside it] into his mouth to later allow him to conveniently pull out the needle from the cap using one hand, while holding the animal with the other one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. If I understood your 1st sentence correctly, someone may be pressuring you to interact with [his/her?] pets. If, so, this is obviously inconsiderate behavior, and I feel bad if you have been exposed to such!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16367" LastActivityDate="2019-09-14T14:11:38.603" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26148" CreationDate="2019-09-14T14:37:54.627" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience 300 kcal would be too much for most cats to achieve significant weight loss. I find the feeding recommendations on most cat and dog foods overestimates their calorie needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The formal way to calculate calorie needs is the resting and maintenance energy requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RER (resting energy requirement in kcal per day) = 70 × W&lt;sup&gt;0.75&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where W = weight in kilograms at &lt;em&gt;ideal body weight&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MER (maintenance energy requirement) is a factor of RER based on growth stage, health status, obesity, activity, etc. A nice summary of MER is given on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://petnutritionalliance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MER.RER_.PNA_.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet Nutrition Alliance website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For weight loss, I use 0.8 × RER. If only mildly overweight you may be fine to use 1 × RER.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your cat, assuming a target body weight of 12 lbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RER = 70 × 5.4&lt;sup&gt;0.75&lt;/sup&gt; = 248 kcal per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MER = 0.8 × 248 = 198 kcal per day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, to achieve weight loss, based on these calculations you should be feeding closer to 200 kcal per day. Most cats will not appreciate switching from 300 kcal per day to 200  kcal per day immediately, so I would gradually taper off until you get to the desired calories (perhaps over the course of a few weeks). Gradual weight loss is wanted (no more than 1 lb per month). Adult cats do have surprisingly low calorie needs, and sometimes we find that even feeding 200 kcal is not achieving weight loss if the cat is extremely sedentary, in which case we may need to adjust further. Just keep telling them it's for their own good!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add that it is unusual for young cats to get constipated. In these cases there is always a reason, and it may just be diet-related in Playdough's case. If there are recurrent bouts of constipation on the new diet then you will have to assess whether there is an underlying medical reason he is becoming dehydrated, motility issue in the colon, stressful situation causing him to avoid the litter box, or other reason why he is not defecating regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider adding some wet food to his diet, if he will take it; the moisture content can be very helpful in constipation cases. I often recommend switching to a sole wet food diet if there are several bouts of constipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-09-14T14:37:54.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26150" CreationDate="2019-09-14T15:39:28.160" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a cancer patient, your risk may be higher than another person's due to the possibility of being immunocompromised. I would consult with your doctor to get a better assessment as to the risk. Immunocompromised people can own pets safely, but they must take much more precaution, and therefore such a person might not consider pet ownership to be worth the trouble. For instance, such a person should wash their hands every time they handle the pet, and they should not be the person that cleans up the pet's waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the more general case, there is some risk of cross species infection, but it's fairly low if you take normal levels of precaution as you mentioned: washing hands, especially after handling waste, vaccinations, and so forth. The biggest risk is in handling their waste, which can spread various parasites and bacteria. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not recommend pet ownership to someone who is very squicked by uncleanliness as the reality is that pets are messy. You'll very likely touch them without noticing they just licked themselves, they'll sneak up in the kitchen counter with their dirty feet and rears, they'll drool, they'll vomit and have accidents, maybe in the worst places. These types of things will definitely happen if you adopt a pet. So even if it is true that you can live a healthy life with pets if you take the proper precautions, it is perfectly fine to make the judgement that a pet just doesn't fit into your clean lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-09-14T15:39:28.160" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26150" CreationDate="2019-09-14T22:00:04.530" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you had a choice between a cat and a dog, go for the dog as cats that are allowed to roam outside pick up toxoplasmosis which can infect human brains. And the condition is untreatable in that the paraside can not be eliminated from the human brain.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stanleyresearch.org/patient-and-provider-resources/toxoplasmosis-schizophrenia-research/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are man's best friend since we co-evolved with them. Having some germs around is healthy as it challenges our immune systems. An unchallenged immune system leads to immune dysfunction though probably not cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to forestall any issues make sure the dog is taught bite inhibition, and gets seen by the vet regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7590" LastEditorUserId="7590" LastEditDate="2019-09-15T01:05:30.213" LastActivityDate="2019-09-15T01:05:30.213" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26150" CreationDate="2019-09-15T02:57:36.157" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;At risk of making a fool of myself...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Directly answering the question, pets are dirty. I'm avoiding specifics, you'll find reasons in the other answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself have had extreme &quot;contamination&quot; OCD. You presented a fear of contamination and a focus on hygiene that falls far, far outside the realm of reasonable; I may be wrong, but I'd argue that you have a bad case of OCD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, pets aren't clean, but that isn't a bad thing, definitely not something that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; should care about. It's easy for someone with OCD to pass it off as &quot;loving hygiene&quot;, when it's instead a painful fear of dirt; And it's easy to justify their fear by calling it a quirk or arguing that it's healthier, but it's more than a quirk and certainly isn't healthy. And the worst of it is that OCD can grow, going from manageable to crippling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I ask that you go for an OCD evaluation, as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to be clear that OCD is never the sufferer's fault, but it isn't something that should be accepted by the sufferer either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Also, from personal experience that may apply to you, I'd suggest you &lt;strong&gt;completely avoid learning about the topics that disturb you,&lt;/strong&gt; unless it's for therapy; Knowledge can be very harmful if it expands an obsession.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16504" LastEditorUserId="16504" LastEditDate="2019-09-16T08:20:45.857" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T08:20:45.857" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11381" CreationDate="2019-09-15T03:13:14.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a cat will rub their face against your hand or an object to massage their gums due to dental problems or gum disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed similar behavior with a cat who seemed to enjoy gentle rubbing around her gums. The owner didn't know that there was any problem and told me later that after a visit to the vet, one tooth was so badly decayed that the vet was able to remove it completely from just a gentle tug with their fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please note that I am not a veterinarian, I was not present, and this is a retelling. I don't know if the tooth was actually pulled at, crumbled, or what kind of treatment or procedure was performed other than it was supposed to just be a normal checkup.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her cat had noticibly altered eating habits and the problem should have been obvious in retrospect (we were both too inexperienced at the time). If someone asks you if their cat looks thinner than usual or mentions that they're eating less-- get their teeth checked out!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a previous cat owner, I can tell you that I was never able to inspect my cat's teeth well at all on my own. I don't know how vets are able to do it so casually. I think that dental care of pets is an often missed responsibility for owners who are inexperienced, do not, or cannot afford to take their pets regularly to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16505" LastEditorUserId="16505" LastEditDate="2019-09-15T03:19:02.287" LastActivityDate="2019-09-15T03:19:02.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-15T03:37:53.540" Score="-1" ViewCount="2671" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand this is all instinctual. He's a mastiff mix and he isn't cut. The big issue is it makes his hormones go crazy and he ends up bleeding (spotting, really) from his man biz. It also makes him mount our other male dog and act &quot;aggressive&quot; toward other dogs. When he doesn't lick, probably when the neighbors lady dogs aren't in heat, he does fine. No bleeding, never mounting the other dog, very friendly  to other dogs, then he gets a lick and he's dominant and stupid all the sudden. How do I get him to stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16506" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:59:16.840" Title="How to stop my male dog licking other dog urine?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-09-27T14:00:52.703" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26150" CreationDate="2019-09-15T06:39:13.920" Score="8" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can(I just need a moderate possibility of 3% or so, so as to brand them dirty) a human not allergic to them get moderately sick because of contact with their dirt, mud, dust, hair, saliva, tears, sweat, bacteria, archaea, microzoa, parasites, fungi, feces, urine , sebum, mucus? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aafp.org/afp/2007/1101/p1314.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; &quot;approximately 4 million pet-derived infections occur annually in the United States&quot;. The quoted study was from 1987, when the total population of the US was about 242 million people, about 50% of which are pet owners. So around 3% of the per owners in the US contracted diseases from their pets, according to the quoted study. Or the other way round: The average pet owner gets sick from their pets 2-3 times in their life.**&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt;, the linked article also explicitly says that &quot;most pet-associated infections are preventable with simple measures&quot; like washing your hands. So, given your behavior, your personal risk is going to be &lt;em&gt;significantly&lt;/em&gt; lower than that. There's no way to give you an exact number, but if you look at the diseases and infection vectors in the linked article, most simply won't apply to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** actually, that's a bit simplified, because the pet owner isn't always the person who gets sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16508" LastActivityDate="2019-09-15T06:39:13.920" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26162" CreationDate="2019-09-15T12:33:57.700" Score="10" ViewCount="11931" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three days ago I got a pup from a shelter home. He is 3 months old. The mum is a mixed breed with some Border Collie in her. He looks like a German Shepherd and also like he's going to be quite a big dog (massive paws). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems fast to learn things but he seems extremely lazy. His favourite activities are barking when other dogs bark in the neighborhood and chewing, anything else he won't do for more than a couple of minutes. He likes to tug but it very quickly gets tired and gets back to lying on the ground and he's got almost no interest in chasing. With a lot of effort you can tease him into a bit of a fight play (he's super gentle with play bites). He also seems super tired after a 30 min walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question: Its it normal for a pup this age to be that exhausted?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="767" LastEditorUserId="16187" LastEditDate="2019-09-16T17:53:01.787" LastActivityDate="2019-09-17T13:47:25.860" Title="Very lazy puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26159" CreationDate="2019-09-15T13:34:54.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That doesn't sound normal to me. Border collies can be calm and dignified, but I would expect even an adult one to have more energy than that. I would take him to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-09-15T13:34:54.910" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26163" CreationDate="2019-09-15T16:29:25.347" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three year old cat who recently began swallowing some of his dry food without chewing. I brush his teeth with enzymatic toothpaste every two to three days on average. I attached two photos of the only part of his mouth that concerns me. The Vets in my area charge $80 just to look at a pet, in addition to the cost of any treatment that may be necessary, so I’m hopeful someone in this community can tell me whether to schedule a cleaning or just a checkup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LVkMo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/heEEk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16511" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T04:17:25.440" Title="Does my cat need to see a Veterinarian for his teeth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26159" CreationDate="2019-09-16T03:33:55.777" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your puppies energy levels your described are what I would be expected from a 3-month-old. &#xA;&lt;em&gt;I would recommend exercising your puppy less at this stage.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Sleep&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dogs sleep &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sleep.org/articles/how-much-do-dogs-sleep/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;~14 hours a day, most puppies will sleep up to 20 hours a day&lt;/a&gt;. &#xA;Don't forget your puppy is still an infant and like you said he has a lot of growing to do! Sleep is important for the growth of your pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Exercise&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure if you look around you may find different rules for exercise. I have always followed the rule of &lt;a href=&quot;https://thehappypuppysite.com/puppy-exercise-requirements/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 minutes per month for a growing puppy at a time&lt;/a&gt; (can be multiple times per day). &lt;em&gt;i.e if your puppy is 3 months old - they should be doing at most 15 minutes of exercise at a time.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;Longer than this can be overly demanding on your puppy and some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/how-often-should-i-walk-my-puppy/#&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;vets believe could stunt the growth and create joint problems for larger breeds&lt;/a&gt;. Being part collie he will need plenty of exercises later - but for now, a lot of his energy should be growing big and healthy.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Personally,&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I have a 9-month old collie x GSP. He was very similar to your dog at 3 months when he would urgently need a rest after doing any exercise or training. From about 4-5 months he had more energy than he knew what to do with! He now gets 2x 45 min walks a day, is 30 kilos(and still growing!) and still won't stop chasing birds around the yard once we get home!&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Of course, if you are worried about any change in the behaviour of your pet - you know them the best, and it is always safest to use your own discretion when seeking professional help.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Some of these sources could be improved - I will try and update when I have the chance)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16514" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T03:33:55.777" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26161" CreationDate="2019-09-16T04:17:25.440" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is mild to moderate gingivitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be a source of discomfort? Yes. Severe pain? Probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are differing opinions as to whether brushing helps; in some cases you can irritate the gums further by brushing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A professional dental cleaning is usually recommended as a first step to remove the plaque and tartar that triggers gingivitis. It is common for the tartar to accumulate over the upper fourth premolars, as shown in your photos. However, there are other causes of gingivitis, so it may not resolve with this treatment alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best course of action is for your veterinarian to perform a thorough oral exam to determine the best treatment plan for your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T04:17:25.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-16T04:33:11.113" Score="4" ViewCount="778" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitty is 12 years old. He's indoor/outdoor. We moved a couple months ago and now either the door is left open so he can come and go freely, or he's trapped inside. He hasn't tried to get me to open a door at this place, he either goes out if it's open or seems content to stay in...except this. &#xA;He has never had issues using the litter box. Even if I forget to clean it for a few days, he's never urinated outside of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a new shag like carpet for the living room. It's beautiful. It adds color, my toddler loves it, it's soft...and my cat wants to pee on it. Not a specific corner, he's tried all over it (it's 5' x 7'). He looks right at me and squats down. I've only not stopped him once. I haven't seen him use the litter box since I first caught him, but there aren't other random places being used and it's not somewhere I would know for sure (I have two cats so it's been used but could just be my other kitty who I have seen). He hasn't tried to urinate on the carpet when the door is open to the outside, only when he's trapped in, but it's getting colder and I can't leave it open forever soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took him to the vet - no medical issues they could find. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to get rid of this carpet. I love my cat more obviously but I also can't have him urinating in the middle of the living room where my two year old plays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the texture? We've never had a shaggy carpet before. Is there a way to get him to stop? Do I just need to give up my beautiful rug?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16515" LastActivityDate="2019-09-17T12:47:32.123" Title="How to stop my cat from urinating on the new carpet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26150" CreationDate="2019-09-16T11:30:45.110" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By most human standards, most pets are &quot;clean&quot;, but that depends on their life circumstances. Humans can be infected with bacteria and parasites, but that depends on the hygiene and immune system of the human. In general, the risk of becoming ill or sick due to a pet (in Western society) is very low, unless you grossly disregard hygiene and ingest fecal matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets are never free of &lt;strong&gt;bacteria&lt;/strong&gt;, but neither are humans. We have beneficial bacteria living on and protecting our skin. No matter how much you brush your teeth, you'll never be able to remove every last bacterium from your mouth. Without bacteria in your gut you'd get seriously ill. The same applies to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course gut bacteria from &lt;strong&gt;feces and urine&lt;/strong&gt; make you ill. There's no big difference between human or pet feces in that regard. But just because pets cannot wipe their butt clean doesn't mean they're full of fecal bacteria. Evolution found a rather clean solution for this problem: the hair surrounding the anus of almost all mammals deflects the feces and lets them drop off cleanly. If the animal doesn't have diarrhea, you won't find any caked fecal matter on their behind. Of course the dog could come into contact with feces of other dogs or cats, depending on their lifestyle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets don't bathe like humans and they don't use shower gel, so their fur accumulates some amount of &lt;strong&gt;sebum&lt;/strong&gt;. Some of that is licked off again by the pet during their natural grooming behavior. Pets produce sebum at a very slow rate, so a dog that wasn't bathed for 6 months might have accumulated an amount of sebum compared to a human who washed their hair 2 days ago. This depends on the individual and their living circumstances, though. Dogs living outside all the time produce more sebum to protect against rain. Dogs living in a warm and dry home produce almost no sebum at all. &lt;em&gt;I'm not aware of any health risk associated with a dog's sebum.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, pets accumulate some &lt;strong&gt;dust and dirt&lt;/strong&gt; in their fur. As long as their fur isn't caked with mud, most people still consider this &quot;clean&quot; and don't feel the need to wash their hands every time after petting their pet because this dirt is no different from the dust and dirt in their every-day environment. &lt;em&gt;Humans who are not severely immuno-deficient, weak or already ill do not get ill from contact with pet hair and the general dust and dirt of a pet.&lt;/em&gt; On the contrary, contact with this every-day dirt keeps the immune system in working order (prevents allergies) and can even train the immune system to recognize pathogens in small traces before they have a chance to infect you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;saliva&lt;/strong&gt; of dogs is often considered &quot;clean&quot; because it has antibacterial properties, but it is not free of bacteria. The immune system of humans usually copes very well with the bacteria that live in/on pets. One notable exception is if the dog or cat can go outside and come in contact with trash or rodents. &lt;em&gt;Only people with a weak immune system should not let a pet lick their face. Pets should not lick any wounds or rashes on a human skin.&lt;/em&gt; Have a look at a related question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21553/12501&quot;&gt;Is it safe to let a pet lick your face?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common &lt;strong&gt;parasites&lt;/strong&gt; of cats and dogs are either skin parasites like ticks or fleas and gut worms. Most skin parasites can infest humans as well, but ticks don't move from one host to another and several kinds of fleas are specialized in only cats or only dogs and don't infest humans. It's also rather easy to tell if a dog is infested with fleas or not and the chances of a dog being infested is rather low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some gut worms can also infest humans, but to do so you must come into contact with the eggs contained in fecal matter and ingest those. &lt;em&gt;Cases of contamination are rare, but above zero.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As far as I'm aware of, there's no health risk involved in touching a pet's tears or mucus or other bodily fluids.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If they are so clean, then why are pets banned from most restaurants?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are 3 main reasons why any kind of animal is banned from kitchens and most restaurants don't like pets in their facilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other guests might be allergic to the fur.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pets might misbehave and annoy other guests.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A restaurant has to prepare food that's safe for any person, even ill ones and those with severe immune deficiencies. Any food scandal might be the death of a restaurant. To eliminate even the slightest risk to any customer, pets are banned from the kitchen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a pet lives with a family and is cared for, there's no reason at all for you to be afraid of catching an illness. Even if someone prepares food after touching a pet, the food is usually still safe. The only big exception is contact to fecal matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:18:32.717" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:18:32.717" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26164" CreationDate="2019-09-16T14:32:49.337" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be that your cat is getting confused by the shag carpet, thinking it's like the grass outside or something like that.  One of my cats had an accident just once inside a toy box, and it was pretty obvious that the cat confused the toy box for a litterbox, as it was box shaped and had things in it the cat could bury with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the toy box situation, we could just make sure that the box was no longer left open and obvious, but unfortunately, that is not so with the carpet. I think before getting rid of the carpet altogether, I would try making sure the carpet is as clean as possible, and then getting an additional litterbox right by the carpet.  Try to keep your cat away from the room whenever you can't supervise it, and then whenever it is in that room, and you notice signs of it going, stop your cat and place it in the nearby box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully your cat will get the hint. If not, then indeed, the carpet may have to go, as it seems to be confusing your cat. But I suggest storing the carpet away rather than getting rid of it altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other suggestion I have is to see about getting a cat door if that is possible for your living situation. Once the cat has figured it out, it will always have free access to outside, and maybe that will also get rid of the problem. If you're worried about other animals getting in, there are catdoors now that are unlocked by a key that attaches to your pets' collar. The rest of the time, when your cat isn't nearby, the door is locked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-09-16T14:38:42.347" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T14:38:42.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26157" CreationDate="2019-09-16T14:41:59.327" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dominant or mating behavior doesn't involve any bleeding in males. You should get him checked by a vet (preferably when this bleeding is showing up). He might be in pain, maybe from urinary stones or some infection. Pain can make dogs aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To rule out any infections or deficiencies, the vet should make a blood test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, if your assumption that this behavior is caused by female dogs in heat is correct, your dog seems to show very strong reactions to female hormones.&#xA;If there is no other physical cause for his behavior, please consider neutering him. Raging hormones can mean a lot of stress for a dog. He won't hate you or be &amp;quot;less of a man&amp;quot;, but more of a relaxed dog afterwards. The issues you describe won't be gone all of sudden. It's your responsibility to train and exercise your dog in order to balance his need for action (like running, playing) and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, you should consult a vet regarding his general health and hormone levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T21:59:16.840" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T21:59:16.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26169" CreationDate="2019-09-16T16:48:17.877" Score="4" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a place where there are lots of stray dogs. The number is quite high. I try to feed most of them but they are a lot in number.&#xA;I'm a minor and do not earn much, so I feed them some cheap food but it's not at all bad food and it's only one thing most of the time, &lt;a href=&quot;http://foodnetindia.in/parle-g/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;biscuits&lt;/a&gt;. They can hardly get hold of food like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some friends that help but they are also minors and cannot afford quality food because their parents and ours don't agree. It's okay. They help us to get doctors when there's a serious problem but not for everyday food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ingredients of that particular biscuit: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sugar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Salt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inverted sugar syrup.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Edible vegetable oil.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sodium metabisulfite IN 223 (dough conditioner).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wheat flour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Baking soda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk solids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of edible vegetable oils IN 472 (emulsifier).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ammonium hydrogen carbonate IN 503(ii) (raising agent).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We collect money and buy these biscuits in bulk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's been a rumor going around too, that these things damage the dog's liver. I don't know if that's true or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this harmful for them? If it is then what should I switch to which can be cheap? Please note that I'm not asking to recommend the food, not the actual question but just a hint can be very helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16520" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T22:59:30.470" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T02:50:17.737" Title="Is cheap human food for street dogs good for their health?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26168" CreationDate="2019-09-16T17:50:37.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The food you are offering these dogs is a sweet snack with little to no nutritional benefit to the humans it's intended for; it has zero nutritional benefit for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18774/dog-eats-the-cat-food-cat-eats-the-dog-food/18795#18795&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on nutritional values for cat and dog foods gives the baselines set by the AAFCO, an organization in the United States. While these are specifically guidelines for manufactured pet food, they give a general idea of what is required nutritionally for dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Protein&lt;/strong&gt;: These biscuits contain nothing that would provide any protein to the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fat&lt;/strong&gt;: While the oil will provide some fats, it may not be of a type that the dog can process, or of a type that is healthy for the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Minerals&lt;/strong&gt;: Dogs need potassium, magnesium, zinc, and iodine; it's likely none of these are present in the biscuits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitamins&lt;/strong&gt;: Dogs also need Vitamins A, E, and B-series vitamins; again, it's likely the biscuits are providing none of these&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the biscuits are providing is a lot of wheat and sugar; while dogs are able to process wheat (converting it into sugars), it shouldn't be the bulk of their diet. Similarly, they can process sugars, but similarly to humans, they will become increasingly prone to weight gain, dental issues, and metabolic issues, including diabetes, which will have an impact on pancreatic functions. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/slideshows/6-reasons-why-your-dog-shouldnt-have-sugar&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/blog/dogs-and-sugar-good-or-bad/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Honest Kitchen&lt;/a&gt; for details on these issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petcarerx.com/article/can-dogs-eat-wheat/1579&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetCareRx&lt;/a&gt; gives suggested ratios for balancing a dog's diet; no more than 1/3 of their diet should be from grains (including wheat), with the remainder coming from vegetables (max 1/3) and proteins (1/3-2/3). As these dogs are likely scavenging from garbage, if you want to offer them something in addition to their found food to help them be healthier, it should be in line with what food waste is commonly available around where they live. If this food waste consists largely of baked goods, sugary wheat biscuits are a poor choice. What you choose to feed them will depend on what is available to the dogs already, and what is available for you to purchase within your preferred budget, however, I would recommend getting away from a product that is dominantly made of sugar regardless of what you choose to feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T17:50:37.447" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26159" CreationDate="2019-09-16T22:11:57.677" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following up on mhwombat's answer...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents once picked up a &quot;labrodoodle&quot; puppy from a puppy mill, because they thought it sounded cool. I was &lt;strong&gt;sooo&lt;/strong&gt; mad at them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the most lethargic puppy I'd ever seen in my life. Quite clearly sick. I spent an entire 4th of July with it on my tummy trying to pet and cool it, and generally comfort it. When they took it to the vet's the next day, of course it turned out it was not only sick, but chock full of parasites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(little bit of space here to simmer down...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been a perfectly normal energetic pup since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point here is that this is indeed unusual enough that &lt;strong&gt;you really ought to get the dog checked out&lt;/strong&gt;. It probably won't be as bad as that labradoodle (that was super obvious), but its possible the shelter had a disease going around, or a parasite problem, and the puppy has picked that up. Either of those problems the vet should be able to get something to make the poor boy all better after a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility that occurred to me is spaying/neutering. Many shelters these days insist on doing that themselves before handing over a pet, so that they know for sure it was done. Its perfectly natural for an otherwise energetic puppy to be lethargic for a few days after the operation. Particularly for spaying, which is I understand far more intrusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10530" LastEditorUserId="10530" LastEditDate="2019-09-17T13:47:25.860" LastActivityDate="2019-09-17T13:47:25.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26120" CreationDate="2019-09-16T22:49:25.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog at 14 had a similar issue due to a problem that affected his balance. I don't remember what it was called, but he symptoms sound similar. Of course you should get him to a vet soon for a professional opinion, but it may be a similar problem. When we took our dog into the vet they told us that it would pass after about 3 weeks. He had it much worse and could not walk at all during this time without assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rec.&#xA;1. Try to get him up and moving as much as you can&#xA;2. Don't have him do much rigorous exercise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16522" LastActivityDate="2019-09-16T22:49:25.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26164" CreationDate="2019-09-17T12:47:32.123" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly you should get a black light and check all around your house. You may think he only peed on the carpet, but that could very well be false. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You recently moved, cats don't usually deal well with change. You also have a small child. Pretty sure the cat is stressed. Even if it isn't, it could be marking since the house is new, maybe even bigger than before. To feel at home, he needs scent soakers. I think this is the most likely. You probably need more cat equipment, more high-quality trees (not those cheap ones that only fit baby kittens and wobble around), more cardboard/wood scratchers, horizontal and vertical (they need to be long and unbudging, so preferable heavy), cat shelves to give the cat vertical space. You definitely need to give the cat vertical space because of your child. It will stress the cat out to be jailed on the floor together with a little loud energy monster. Temporarily you could Feliway to reduce stress. If you don't want the cat to mark/pee on the carpet, you need to give him a better alternative. He's not peeing there to spite anyone, cats don't have such human-like feelings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There might not be enough litter boxes, or not spread enough. He wants to have his scent evenly throughout the house. Did you try putting a litter box right on top of the carpet? If you &quot;hide&quot; the litter boxes, then they're usually not in good positions and not attractive to cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's old, he may have arthritis or similar, which could make getting&#xA;into the litter box painful. You could try out buying a litter box&#xA;with stairs, or a shallow one. You could also try different types of litter. If your cat is declawed, it may be in pain touching the litter. The carpet is nice and soft. You could also try products that you put into the litter box to attract cats to pee in it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something might have scared him while he was peeing in the litter box and now he's afraid to use it. You could try elevating one box, which would be safer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could get a cat door and see if that solves your problem, but I doubt it. But it is one of the easiest solutions you could try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there's more markings, find the pattern. Like close to doors and windows. Which could mean marking the home because of stray cats outside. Or places where the child is usually in, which could be an expression of his stress concerning the toddler. Or places he usually stays when he's home alone, which could mean he's anxious when left alone or has incontinence/a UTI (unlikely in your case, as you went to the vet).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should clean everything that has been marked with an enxyme-cleaner. Even if it smells fine for you, it may still smell like his litter box to the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This may not help your particular problem, but if your cat is stressed, it's always a good idea to get it into a rhythm. Feeding and playing at the same time every day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, I think it's the first point. It's usually just because there's not enough cat equipment, the cat needs to mark and may be stressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16532" LastActivityDate="2019-09-17T12:47:32.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-18T04:06:58.987" Score="1" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lpdjr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi, this is my betta fish, Aahan. I got him from pet shop on August 6th, 2019. He has no eating nor pooping problems, he is very active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m noticing some change in his fins, namely wrinkled fin edges. I placed him in a 3 liters bowl, where I change the water every 4-5 day and I feed him blood worms twice a day in the morning and evening. He only eats bloodworms and doesn’t like pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me, what could exactly be wrong with his fins? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16536" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T10:55:48.770" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T13:16:58.880" Title="Something wrong with my betta fish fins" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-18T08:50:29.287" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26168/is-cheap-human-food-for-street-dogs-good-for-their-health&quot;&gt;Is cheap human food for street dogs good for their health?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thinking about cheap foods for dogs (for example stray dogs one wants to support), if one does not have the budget to buy common dog food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which foods could I serve a dog, if the aim is to feed very cheaply and as healthy as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-09-18T12:59:30.790" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T05:02:20.390" Title="What could I feed a dog if my budget is small?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26178" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-18T17:33:41.643" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an out-of-shape jogger. I can jog about 1km, maybe (0.6 miles). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trouble is, when I jog with my dogs, they go berserk and I can last less than 500 meters (or yards). They get excited, pull, chew each other, bark, break the rhythm, try to nip at my pants playfully... you name it. I can't keep a steady pace to save my life. Oh, and &quot;NO Cesar! Hey Cesar! Leave it!&quot; doesn't exactly help with my breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a Border Collie and a German Shepherd, both around 1 year old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10831" LastActivityDate="2019-09-19T11:41:13.410" Title="Jogging with my dogs - they are killing me :-)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-19T07:18:28.290" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I have adopted a cat from a non-profit organization. It's nearly 2 months old and a little shy. How can I train her to use the toilet instead of urinate on the floor. It's frustrating to clean up. Should I lock it up for a few days? The tool I brought for her is useless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16542" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2019-09-19T17:50:54.963" LastActivityDate="2019-09-19T17:50:54.963" Title="How can I teach my cat to use the toilet?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26175" CreationDate="2019-09-19T08:15:46.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like humans, dogs also have basic food needs. They should be getting enough protein, along with carbs, iron and such.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've had dogs since I was a little kid. So did my mum since she was little. And I'm proud to say that we've NEVER given them dog food (which is obviously artificially made), and all of them lived their lives healthily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we feed our dogs is homemade flat bread, which we eat daily too, with extra of bones and meat. You can find leftovers of meat easily from a butcher's shop which are pretty cheap. If your dogs have never eaten raw meat, boil it, but not so much that the juices run out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you're thinking of being creative, you can mince/shred the meat, add veggies like cabbage, broccoli etc, and make patties of the mixture. You can also add plain rice, but it has to be freshly boiled, as old rice can cause severe food poisoning in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep one thing in mind, don't give them extra food. Just twice a day. Provide them with plentiful of water, and occasional milk if you can afford it. Avoid anything with acid (like grapes and lemon), sugar and alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get a list of the food items &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324453.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14484" LastEditorUserId="14484" LastEditDate="2019-09-20T04:24:38.547" LastActivityDate="2019-09-20T04:24:38.547" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26178" CreationDate="2019-09-19T08:49:40.280" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs, espesially the kind that you have, have different needs compared to you. Different levels of energy. And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you care about health (it seems that you care, since you jog), then think that your dogs need a lot more movement than you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the following trick: at the beginning, make them run and waste their energy. When they are pretty much done do your jogging. In this way, you will all have the same energy levels while jogging, and still have all the exercise needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training the dogs is of course the other option. But consider this: what does training mean in the context of your question? It means that the dogs only use a small fraction of the energy that they have. At the end of &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; exercise, they are barely warmed-up to do &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-19T08:49:40.280" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26178" CreationDate="2019-09-19T11:41:13.410" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult thing to teach your dogs, because playing and chasing are more fun for them than jogging with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Self-rewarding behavior&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs cannot read your mind and don't know that you want to trot along this boring path at a boring pace without playing with them. Your running instinctually triggers either a playing or chasing behavior in your dogs. Both of those are more fun than jogging. Having fun is a reward. So your dogs reward themselves for playing, but not for jogging docilely next to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To break this cycle, you must reward them for jogging with you and running next to you. Since eating treats while running is not optimal, you should reward them with your voice alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must stop them whenever they start playing and chasing you to avoid them rewarding themselves for a behavior you don't want. This means stopping your jog. It will be very hard to teach them not to play at first and you might be stopping more than jogging for several days, maybe weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Energy levels&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help you with your training, you should have your dogs play right before jogging, as suggested by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26181/12501&quot;&gt;virolino&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let them chase each other, play fetch or tug of war for a few minutes. You want them to burn through the worst of their excitement and over-abundance of energy, but not to tire them out completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are comparable to children: they are easily excited by things but this excitement abates rather quickly, too. You want to intentionally excite them before you even start jogging so their excitement returns to a normal level while you're jogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Body language&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot expect your dogs to magically know what you want, you have to tell them. The best way to communicate your intentions with your dogs is via body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bowing your upper body forward quite suddenly resembles the &quot;play bow&quot; and initiates playing behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprinting off initiates chasing behavior. Your dogs might start chasing other people or animals if they think you might be chasing those.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jogging at a slow pace might resemble a prowling or roaming. This is what you want to achieve, so avoid the other mentioned gestures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep your dogs from playing with each other, you should position yourself between them and keep them apart (on a short leash). Start at a walking pace for a few seconds, then increase the speed to your preferred jogging pace over a few seconds. Your dogs should read your body language and start trotting. If they start pulling you, nipping at your legs or playing with each other, stop your jog and their behavior for a few seconds. They need to learn that they can have fun in the constraint of your rules (keep a jogging pace, don't run right in front of me) but that the fun stops as soon as they overstep these boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest keeping the reprimands to a minimum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;NO Cesar! Hey Cesar! Leave it!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's much too much noise and doesn't mean anything to your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;NO Cesar!&quot; is all you need, if you immediately stop the fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-09-19T11:41:13.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-19T16:00:40.780" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have a Goldendoodle that is about 8 months old now and has learned many things so far. She knows that if she goes to our side door, we will open it, and she gets to go to our fenced in yard to goto the bathroom.  When she wants to come in she does the reverse, where she goes to the door and barks a few times to be let in. This is great so far!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First Problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This part is good for bathroom training but she also realizes that outside = play as well so she will constantly go by the door and bark many times a day to go play outside. The actual play itself isn't really a bad thing but more of an annoyance that she will go there so often. We can usually tell based on when she eats or drinks if she truly needs to go out for bathroom or just wants to play. If ignored at the door she will eventually go find something else to do inside.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how can we curb this so she still goes to the door when needing to goto the bathroom but not constantly all the time? Is it bad that we ignore her whens he goes there if it is just for play?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second Problem&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the same process, if we want her to come inside (like if we are heading out or something else) we will call her name followed by &quot;Come&quot;. She will come to the door and sit at the bottom (which drives me nuts). We have tried using high value treats to get her to come up the stairs which works about 50% of the time but now I think she may be waiting a the steps because she knows if she waits there, she will get a treat to come up. We do give her treats when she comes in by herself as well to try and show that she gets it either way for coming in. So I feel like she is a very smart dog here and am unsure how to get her to come in more consistently so does anybody have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2019-09-21T15:50:41.303" Title="Goldendoodle puppy outsmarting us for going outside / coming in?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26174" CreationDate="2019-09-19T20:06:41.943" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The picture is great but unfortunately we can’t say for sure how to help your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The raggedy fins aren’t a healthy sign but the good news is that they don’t look irreparable. As soon as you treat the cause, the fins should grow back. If your fish is swimming about and eating, then it’s likely they’ll get better as soon as you remove the cause of their symptoms. I’ll list some things to try here. Sorry if it gets long!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, as others have said, the bowl is really quite small. A slightly bigger tank with a filter would save you some effort and your fish (Aahan?) some stress. You’re changing the water often, which is good (and necessary) because it means that your fish isn’t swimming in his own toilet. The trouble is that it is a single big change (temperature, chemistry) all at once. Fish don’t respond well to that. It’s stressful for them and stress can cause raggedy fins. A tank with a filter could go, say 2 weeks and then you’d only change 20% of the water (not all of it). That means much smaller changes, less often. It also means less fish handling/nets. Less change = less stress for the fish and less stress for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I’m far too lazy to ever keep fish in a bowl. A biological filter makes everything far easier and it’s better for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d say that you should also check ammonia, nitrates, pH etc. You should be able to get kits to do this from your local fish shop. BUT you’re changing the water very often and these fluctuations are going to affect the results. You might test just before a water change and see high levels of ammonia which disappear after you change the water. The kits, at best, would let you know your tap water quality and if you should add coral gravel or something to adjust the pH. You could take a sample to your fish shop and they might test it for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really cannot get a bigger tank with a filter for your fish (and you really should!), then I’d recommend a few things that might make it easier for the fish:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;get a water conditioner (one that makes the tap water safe for your fish)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;try leaving the &quot;fresh&quot; (conditioned) water next to the bowl for a while before transferring the fish or doing the change. Equalise temperatures.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;minimise netting. Use a ladle if you can. Fish hate nets. Don’t &quot;pour&quot; the fish about either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The blood worms are a decent food. Make sure you’re only giving what gets eaten or the bowl will get dirty quickly. Even then, better slightly hungry and clean than overfed and dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-09-19T20:06:41.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-20T01:14:48.947" Score="2" ViewCount="3420" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went out of town on the day of my roommate's birthday. I had gotten her a balloon. Unfortunately, I didn’t know balloons scared cats so much and I feel terrible. The balloon was out from Friday to Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I removed the balloon as soon as I realized that was the issue. My cat is now absolutely terrified to leave my room. He hasn’t eaten, had water, or gone to the bathroom in DAYS. He did go to the bathroom one day, but unfortunately not in his litter box. I moved everything to my room to ease his anxieties, but that hasn’t helped. I put treats in front of his litter box to entice him and gave him tuna to try and get him interested. It did not help. My cat is two years old and is very social, lovable, and active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suddenly he’s terrified, aggressive, hissing, growling, and overall not himself. I took him to a vet and they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. He was shaking violently the whole time. I am so scared I forever messed him up and I worry every time I’m away from him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, I need help on how to get him back to normal and trust that the balloon is gone. I don’t know what to do and I’m so sad. More facts: he is not big into treats or catnip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16546" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T21:32:15.677" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T04:02:30.283" Title="Cat spooked of a balloon, he is traumatized and I’m at a loss" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26185" CreationDate="2019-09-20T02:47:36.480" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, if your cat is still not drinking, eating, or going to the litterbox, take it back to the vet. Not doing these things for so long is very serious.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless your cat is normally very skittish, nervous, or easily spooked, I don't think the problem is that it's scared of the balloon. For one thing, some cats might be scared of balloons, but it's definitely not like, say, the vacuum, which is just about universally terrifying for cats. But even with the vacuum, the normal reaction is to hide as long as the vacuum is out, and then calm down quickly once the vacuum is put away. A very nervous cat, like a feral cat, might hide for longer, but you describe your cat as being social. Socialized cats don't typically hide like that unless the thing that's bothering them is still a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such a radical change of behavior, sudden aggression, not taking care of its normal bodily functions, sounds like a medical problem to me. At the least, I would try to think on if there have been any other changes, or any other unusual things you've observed with your cat that might tell you what the problem is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-09-20T02:47:36.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19013" CreationDate="2019-09-20T03:49:28.987" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For anyone who finds this, we ended up going with a heart surgery at jasmine clinic in Tokyo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can't recommend them enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jasmine-vet.co.jp/English.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://jasmine-vet.co.jp/English.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: If anybody needs more info, please leave a comment here, and Ill help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10962" LastEditorUserId="10962" LastEditDate="2019-10-02T08:39:00.510" LastActivityDate="2019-10-02T08:39:00.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26183" CreationDate="2019-09-21T15:50:41.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start, I apologize for my bad English, as I am not native and congratulate you for getting a dog with a character that may make you change your preferences i.e. you may increasingly start to prefer not to &quot;head out or something&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fear that there are no solutions [vs. needs to intervene] to your [vs. our] problem [vs. dogs' behavior]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I, as often, am too wordy, if I was limited to 3 points, I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Congratulations for getting a dog!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes, dogs [some more than others] appear smart, and those who initially don't may eventually prove they actually are. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs and humans have their character. I understand you saying &quot;driving me nuts&quot;, but I hope you won't let that feeling influence the way way you treat your new family member!!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience with dogs is also limited, but based on private empirical observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There at least seems to be some variance between how smart dogs are, or at least appear to be. We currently have 2. Both ca 15 yrs old [ages not precisely known as both are adopted]. The one who appeared smarter is unfortunately not as smart as he was at his peak. As background to the below behavioral talk, both regularly visit vets and are in good shape considering their age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs who appear to be more intelligent also may behave worse than the other dogs. But, in general, puppies do all kinds of things. [When we adopted the &quot;smarter one&quot;, vets estimated he was 8-12 months old [At that age you can tell from the teeth]. Back then he bate [bited?] everything; I will need to check if I after a few moves can find my glasses with the tooth marks on the lenses; hopefully I won't as after he will in a few years be gone, I already have enough good memories of him. And esp the summers here in Japan are so hot that I won't any need extra dehydration through my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here on thin ice, but, our female dog recently [at estimated age 14 years] started a part of the habbit that you described, i.e. she wants to go into our garden + back quite often. For her, at least it is not due to any physical need, so for your case, if she is in general healthy and visits vets, I think there is no need to worry. For us, the biggest issue is that we sometimes have &quot;malfunction of the automatic door&quot; [ref. next paragraph], as we e.g. during dinners may forget that we had let her out, and find her staring at us through the glass door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have put great efforts to &quot;train&quot; our dogs, so they know that our [manual] doors work as the automatic ones, i.e. just getting close to the door [inside or outside], will ensure that the door opens. But, interestingly, in case of a &quot;door malfunction&quot;, the male one &quot;knocks&quot;, i.e. hits the door, while the female one simply sits next to the door waiting until the &quot;malfunction&quot; gets fixed. I believe I am in general neither sexist, nor racist, but I do admit that while both our dogs are mixed race, the &quot;smart one&quot; is probably a mixture between a Shitzu and a Maltese (Malta dog?); both dogs which, to put it nicely, are not found on the podium after agility competitions, also for reasons other than their short legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16367" LastActivityDate="2019-09-21T15:50:41.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-22T01:44:04.247" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 months old pug and at first he can roam around the house but noticed he needs to be house trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he's allowed only in my room where I can monitor him and let him go out if I'll go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now after 2 weeks, he uses my bathroom for pooping 9/10 times but peeing is a different case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wake up from night or just a short nap, I can see he uses the bathroom for both poop and pee when he needs it so I know he knows where to go by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when I'm working on my computer and he needs to go, he'd pee beside or behind me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tried to find explanations on Google but answers are generic house training articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does he do it and what should I do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16550" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T10:01:15.163" Title="Dog pee on wrong place but only when I'm awake" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26190" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-22T07:49:25.950" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago I noticed a spot on my betta's side just next to his gills. It wasn't completely white in color but definitely lighter than the rest of his body. I tested his water and there was an ammonia spike of 2 ppm so I did a 30% water change and tested again the next day and it was at 1 ppm, then I did another change and got it down to zero. I hoped maybe it was just from the stress resulting from the ammonia spike but on the third day I noticed more spots on the top of his head. Not white but definitely lighter in color, just the same as the spot near his gills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched everything and the only thing these spots resemble is ichthyophthiriasis but everything I've read said that ich spots were completely white in color. He hasn't been eating as much, isn't as active and hangs out at the bottom of his tank in his little napping spot for most of the day he wasn't even interested in the live brine shrimp and that's his absolute favorite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I treated his 5 gallon tank with API Super Ick Cure and within 10 minutes he already was more active. Once a week I skip feeding him for a day to avoid overfeeding and that day is today, so I'm not sure if he would eat more. I'm just worried that maybe the spots could be abrasions and treating him may do more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But at the same time I don't think there would be abrasions because he doesn't have anything in his tank that could cause physical harm unless he rammed himself into his hides (I have 2 small hides, some amazon sword plants and moss balls, he's also the only animal in the tank so it couldn't have been an injury from a fight I didn't see).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16551" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T13:55:48.047" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T13:55:48.047" Title="Will ichthyophthiriasis medicine harm my betta if he doesnt actually have ich?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26205" CreationDate="2019-09-22T12:19:10.763" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just been browsing Amazon's listings for dog whistles, and found the vast number of choices to be quite surprising. I'm now wondering if &quot;you get what you pay for&quot; would apply in this situation. If so, then I would spend more for a higher end product.  But, since I know nothing on the subject, have doubts about whether there is much of a difference in the performance of one product over another.  I am not concerned about durability or appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid asking a subjective question, I am hoping that someone has had enough experience over time, in situations where dog whistles were used or in conversations with other users on the subject, to say that the results produced are noticeably different depending on the whistle being used. If so, what type, style, feature, brand(!), aspect or other property of the dog whistle makes it perform the best and by how much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16552" LastActivityDate="2019-09-24T21:21:09.140" Title="Are all dog whistles created equal?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26196" CreationDate="2019-09-22T20:37:10.040" Score="4" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 week old male kitten; his mother had a litter before his, and the person who owns her kept one of them, so the son and mother bred. She only had three kittens. One passed away unfortunately, but the other two seem okayish. My male kitten has kind of a smushed face and his little legs seem to impair his movement and cripple him. I am very worried that he has more problems than I know of. Can anyone help me and tell me what all problems he can have, knowing the mother and son bred?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16557" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T20:12:49.220" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T20:12:49.220" Title="Inbred kitten -- What are the risks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-22T20:40:24.253" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;We found one dove from outside so I want to know how old this bird is and what I can do for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched the internet and, based on it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-m&amp;amp;biw=360&amp;amp;bih=512&amp;amp;sxsrf=ACYBGNSRXAQCkgDvY3UYkuXGKguM6sNRtg:1569181481350&amp;amp;ei=Kc-HXYDkFIXPwQLL8pTQCQ&amp;amp;q=bird%20find%20dove%20age%20r&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwjAnKLGmOXkAhWFZ1AKHUs5BZoQ7Al6BAgCEAI&amp;amp;biw=360&amp;amp;bih=512&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;photo shown&lt;/a&gt; below, I think it must be an adult. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ODi74.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ODi74.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-m&amp;amp;q=adult%20%20%20dove%20eat&amp;amp;oq=adult%20%20%20dove%20eat&amp;amp;aqs=heirloom-srp..&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; suggests feeding carrots:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doves should be offered fresh fruits and vegetables alongside seeds&#xA;  and pellets. These add diversity to the bird's diet and give it a wide&#xA;  variety of nutrients. Some items to give your dove include lettuce,&#xA;  kale, broccoli, carrots, and apples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The photo of this bird shown below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfqxe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfqxe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XAo9o.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XAo9o.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long does it need to stay with me and what care does it need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been better, although one week ago when I let it to try flying in my room, it's left wing has been fixed but now it has been stopped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am scared and haven't let it try flying in my room again so I put it in a cage in our house yard. Here are some pictures of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hg1jQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hg1jQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is its food (Is this enough / too much?):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HjBd1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HjBd1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would greatly appreciate it if you kindly give me some feedback on this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16556" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-10-01T12:07:39.233" LastActivityDate="2019-10-01T12:07:39.233" Title="We found a dove. How do we care for it?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26194" CreationDate="2019-09-22T21:36:54.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for taking care of this bird. An adult dove is about the same size as a pigeon. Compared to the newspaper's scale, the dove seems to be fully grown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, feeding a few fruits and vegetables can be beneficial for the animal. But the bird should only consume those types of foods occasionally as doves mostly eat dry food. Small dried fruits such as raisins are nice little treats. Seeds and pellets are fine in any quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep the bird until its able to fly on its own again. Once per day, you can encourage the bird to try and fly away by having it in your hands and extanding your arms when outside. Your own height is sufficient; do not try this from a window. If the dove cannot yet fly, they will fall to the ground and hurt themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word of caution, though. Doves are currently in their fall migration, so the bird was perhaps abandoned by their flock because of weak health. In addition, birds are very sensitive to stress and the little guy is probably quite unhappy to have been left behind. So do not feel guilty if the bird dies in the next few days, chances are it won't be your fault at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, be sure to keep the dove in a warm room with plenty of food and water. Placing newspapers was a good idea, make sure the whole room is covered to avoid stains of bird feces on your furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16553" LastActivityDate="2019-09-22T21:36:54.613" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26193" CreationDate="2019-09-23T02:34:59.233" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take the kitten to the vet. As soon as you acquire any new pet, you should take it for a vet visit as soon as you can, so you can make sure it's properly vaccinated and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your concerns that the cat is inbred, it is true the cat is at higher risk of bad genetics due to its mother and father being so closely related. If, for example, the mother has a undesirable recessive gene, the son had a 50 percent chance of inheriting it from mom. The odds then of the kitten of the mother and the son inheriting two sets of the bad recessive gene would be 12.5 percent, and the kitten would actually be affected by the bad gene, as opposed to a potentially minute chance if she had bred to an unrelated cat, depending on how rare the gene is in the population. The chances of the kitten inheriting no bad genes is only 37.5 percent, as opposed to if the mom were bred to an unrelated male, in which case the chances could be near 50 percent, depending on how rare the gene is in the population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exactly you might expect if the kitten did get a poor genetic hand is impossible to say, as we're talking about an increased chance of practically all genetic illnesses, since we do not know the mother's genes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, as you can see, the odds are still in the cat's favor of not inheriting an illness due to recessive genes, and furthermore these odds are calculated assuming the mother has some undesirable gene that works as a simple  Mendelian dominant / recessive gene. The mother could have no such genes, and therefore the odds of inheriting some undesirable trait are possibly even lower than what I have calculated. However, I should also note that odds may also be worse if mom and son are purebred cats or crosses of purebred cats, since purebred cats tend to have higher rates of genetic illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even still, in conclusion, despite all the warnings people give about the dangers of inbreeding, it's by no means a guarantee that something will be wrong with the resulting offspring especially in just one generation of inbreeding. The real risk comes in when people start inbreeding across multiple generations.  The reason people emphasize the danger is because irresponsible breeders will do this on purpose in order to make shortcuts with selective breeding, and so the chances of animals becoming inbred are pretty high due to human ignorance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that being said, it sounds like the kitten could possibly have brachycephaly, which basically means the short nose seen in certain cat breeds like the Persian. If the mother and father don't naturally have brachycephaly, it could be a sign of a developmental problem in the kitten, which may or may not be due to a genetic illness. Again, the kitten should be assessed by a vet as soon as possible to determine if this is the case, on top of the normal need to take all new pets to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T20:07:53.397" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T20:07:53.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-23T03:20:17.763" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a border collie (-ish) 8mo and two cats. He's completely fine with one of them (assertive cat, now they've got an understanding about personal space and not getting scratched), but he's completely obsessed with the other one (more timid one, didn't try to interact on her own).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog is outside, he will go crazy every time he can see that cat, start barking, jumping at patio door glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's inside, and the cat is on a table, he'll just sit next to the table and stare at her for a really long time. (hour+ easily) He doesn't even really chase her in an aggressive way. (but he'll try to follow her and she'll freak out and start running) He just can't seem to be able to ignore her. Then again, if she's sleeping on a chair, he'll be ok passing that chair a few times in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly interested in how to stop the jumping on a glass door - as he gets heavier, he may break it one day. But getting him to not be so obsessed in general would be also great. He behaves the same every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16558" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:12:28.727" Title="Dog obsessed with one of my cats" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24272" CreationDate="2019-09-23T05:56:15.590" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago, I started to drink bought water, marketed as having a pH of 8.0 - to compensate (according to my guessing) for all the aggressive acidic food and drinks that we eat. Result: in just 2-3 days, my throat became irritated and started coughing and so on. I cured this by no longer drinking that water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is definitely not good to add that water in a tank. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ratemyfishtank.com/blog/properly-maintaining-the-ph-in-a-freshwater-aquarium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this article&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; about the better way to test the tap water. Basic idea: put the water in a bucket for at last 24 hours, better 48 hours, with an aerator - to break the surface of the water and improve gas exchanges. Measure whatever you want after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a bowl with fish, less than 15 liter capacity - very small by most standards. However, the gravel on the bottom was full of decomposing matter, as well as the mechanical filter. Additionally, I had some basic stones (similar to those under train tracks, properly washed before use), some aquarium wood, and fishes. The only things I needed to do were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;feed the fish once a day;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add some water when evaporation lowered the level visibly;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wash the sponge of the filter when there was (almost) no flow possible through it - only mechanical cleaning, no chemicals; I added an extra layer of dense cloth to make it ale to catch finer dirt particles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The catch was that the water was plain bottled water, not tap. I do not trust the tap water for any health-related purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer lived fishes lived in excess of 4 years - I never took notes on their life-spans, no birthday anniversaries...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a good balance can be reached even in the so dreaded small tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: try to find another source(s) of water, at least for a while, until you understand the root cause of the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-23T05:56:15.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-23T07:33:49.350" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~10-year-old female has been venturing outside for several months, after (per unverified claim) having been an indoor-only cat. She will come inside to excrete (urinate, defecate), then go back outside. How to train her to excrete outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have lots cat experience, but have never hosted a cat who was able to go outside but would not also &amp;quot;go&amp;quot; outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In April 2018, my mother got a cat from the local pound. (I do most of the catcare as part of eldercare.) The pound folk said the cat was 9 years old, had been indoor-only, and been declawed (front only) by her previous owners (as well as spayed). She was also definitely box-trained (very quickly taking over the local box), but has some non-standard excretion behaviors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will occasionally urinate (though not, fortunately, defecate) in the bathtub. This doesn't bother me--in fact, I prefer it, since it just goes down the drain without using up cat litter. (FWIW, she will not urinate in the adjacent shower stall, though she will go in there and look/sniff around.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will not excrete outside: in fact, she will go out (unfortunately requiring someone to hold the catdoor (or another door) open--but that's a topic for another question), then come back in (which she usually does herself--i.e., she readily opens the catdoor from the outside but not the inside), excrete in litterbox or bathtub, then go back outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to convince her to excrete outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional data which may be relevant (or not):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She's the only cat in the house, and possibly the only cat in the neighborhood, though I occasionally see/hear evidence of ferals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fear does not seem to be a factor, as she readily goes out and sniffs around, or sometimes just sits outside and watches. (She's not much of a hunter--having caught only 1 of the abundant local pocket mice, of which one of her predecessors caught at least 1 a day--but when one of the local rabbits ambles by, she and the rabbit will sit and stare at each other for amazingly extended periods.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I currently let her go outside only during (or just before/after) daylight  due to her inability to climb. She very much likes to go out at daybreak and nightfall, and would probably go out later at night if allowed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has never, in my experience, gone farther than ~20 m from the house. This is not due to frailty--she's quite fast, and an excellent jumper, for a cat of her age and (rather small) size--but she's just not an exploring cat at present.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7520" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-27T16:20:06.037" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T16:20:06.037" Title="Training middle-aged cat to excrete outside" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26199" CreationDate="2019-09-23T10:32:27.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably already know, cats are careful to properly cover whatever they excrete - unlike dogs, which only make a show pretending to cover :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your cat does not have the ability to do that outside, and she knows that she can do it inside, she uses the path of least resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy solutions try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;install an additional litter box outside;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;create a sandy area where she can do her things;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that he sandy area is practically a litter box, with all the pro's and con's (including cleaning, washing, de-odorizing...). So long term it is easier to just install a plain litter box with the right filling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even cheaper short-term solution: when the cat goes outside, move the liter-box outside, and show the cat where the box is. If the behavior changes, then you can safely make the investment to buy an additional box - you will be guaranteed that it will be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-23T10:32:27.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26197" CreationDate="2019-09-23T11:56:13.047" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your dog views your one cat as a toy. If he stares long enough at her, she'll run away, which triggers his chasing instinct and is fun for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He learned that the first cat will hurt him if he tries to chase her, so she isn't a very fun toy. The second one doesn't hurt him, so she's more fun to play with. The staring is an intense fixation and waiting for the fun to begin, like a dog staring at his owner, waiting for the ball to be thrown. This tells you a lot about his personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Border Collies are a working breed and absolutely require a lot of training, play and workout time, otherwise they develop unwanted behaviors out of boredom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog is very toy fixated. His favorite games would probably be something like Frisbee, catching prey dummies or balls and recognizing and aborting toys by their names. He's probably less interested in agility courses or scent and tracking games, but that doesn't mean that these are boring or no fun for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't engage your dog in physically and mentally fulfilling games and trainings, he's at a high risk of developing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/24118/12501&quot;&gt;related question&lt;/a&gt; that demonstrates how this kind of behavior can gradually become worse and worse, but there are countless other examples where owners don't recognize the signs before it's too late.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the current stage it doesn't sound like OCD yet and you should be able to tell him that his behavior is not acceptable. If you wait much longer, this behavior gets more and more ingrained and it will become harder to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Jumping at the door&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different solutions for this problem, but most of them require you to be outside with your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; open the glass door while or right after your dog jumped at it. That way you reward his jumping by letting him reach his goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One very simple solution might be hanging a curtain on the door, so your dog cannot see the cat anymore. The curtain must cover the whole area that your dog can reach and he mustn't peek over or under it. This removes just the symptom, though, not the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're outside and see your dog jump at the door, you could walk up the door very purposefully, stand right in front of it, facing your dog and blocking his way. In dog language, you claim this spot for yourself. He obviously cannot continue jumping at the door if this spot is claimed. The disadvantage is that he might still jump up whenever you're not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution is to connect the act of jumping at the door with negative experiences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reprimand him every time he jumps at the door. Stop your reprimand when he stands with all 4 legs on the ground, then turn around and ignore him for several seconds (unless he continues jumping). If you open the door too soon after a reprimand, he might learn to ignore the reprimand because in the end he got what he wanted after jumping at the door. It just took him a few seconds longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a bottle of tap water (about half a liter) with a sports cap ready at hand. As soon as your dog starts jumping at the door, you squirt the water at him by squeezing the bottle. Don't be afraid to empty the whole bottle in one go. The first negative impression is the most effective one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog actually likes the water, fill an empty plastic bottle (again, half a liter) with a handful of old screws, nuts or washers. Shaking the bottle should produce a rumbling clatter. When your dog jumps at the door, throw the bottle at the ground near him. &lt;strong&gt;Never hit your dog with the bottle! Aim at the ground.&lt;/strong&gt; The bottle should roll up towards your dog rumbling and clattering and scare him away. This might work from inside the house as well as outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a dog whistle in a pitch that's unpleasant for dogs, you can whistle whenever he jumps at the door. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people use remote controlled shock collars in such situations. &lt;strong&gt;I strongly advice against using these collars.&lt;/strong&gt; Administering electric shocks to the throat is completely over the top and resembles torture rather than training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fixating your cat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What many people do, but doesn't work, is calling your dog to you. The dog stares at the cat, waiting for the fun to begin. You call him to you with the command &quot;come here&quot;, but what you actually mean is &quot;stop staring at the cat&quot;. If you dog comes to you, but there's no reward in it for him, he might stop listening to your commands altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better solution is engaging the dog in some game or training. It doesn't even matter what exactly you do, just offer some fun &quot;together time&quot;. This should teach the dog &quot;Staring at the cat is not fun, but &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; staring at the cat is fun&quot;. You can find some suggestions and inspiration &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (and you are welcome to add your own suggestion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can reinforce this lesson even more by applying the &quot;spot claiming&quot; as described above. When your dog stares at the cat, walk up to him and stand between him and the cat. You can build up more pressure by gently shoving him away from the cat. As soon as he focuses on you instead of the cat, praise him and immediately start playing with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T13:12:28.727" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T13:12:28.727" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26199" CreationDate="2019-09-23T12:59:49.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;An indoor-only cat has no more association that &quot;dirt = toilet&quot; than they have that &quot;rug = toilet,&quot; &quot;couch = toilet,&quot; or &quot;dining room table = toilet.&quot; These are all surfaces they can stand on, sure, but they aren't the sandy surface of a litter box that's easy to dig in to bury waste, and they certainly aren't what the cat is accustomed to. An indoor cat would have no reason to assume that she can use the outdoors to relieve herself--it's clearly not a litterbox, regardless of the opinion of the humans in her presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, even if she does start to find sandier areas that might more resemble a litterbox, digging in them may be painful due to her being front declawed. Declawed cats frequently suffer from litterbox issues (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/485/when-is-declawing-a-viable-option-for-cats/&quot;&gt;and other issues&lt;/a&gt;) due to lingering pain from the amputations making the sharp pieces of litter particularly painful (this is likely why she urinates in the bathtub--the smooth surface doesn't cause her any pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At her age, and with her being partially declawed, she will likely continue to be much more comfortable using a litterbox indoors, so unless you have a reason to force her to go outside (which is inadvisable with a declawed cat, as they lack the ability to either defend themselves or climb to escape a threat), your better option is to just allow her to continue using her litterbox, and possibly consult with your vet on options for &quot;softer&quot; litters for a declawed cat to encourage her to use it over other options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-09-23T12:59:49.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26189" CreationDate="2019-09-24T09:23:00.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same as with people / children, this is a rebel behavior (i.e. knows the rules but breaks them intentionally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rebel behaviors, most of the time, have only one purpose: to attract attention. In your case, especially that the pug is very young (only 3 months old), he wants your attention. I assume there are no other &quot;interactive&quot; attractions in your house, which he can use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possible solution is to spend more time with him, when you are around and awake. Don't forget him while you cook / use your computer / clean / ... Just take some occasional breaks from whatever you do and entertain him. I expect (no scientific measurements done) that even 5 min in an hour should do the trick. Perhaps the little one even &quot;tells&quot; you when he needs your attention more&quot; barking, showing you that he has a ball, dragging something on the floor - you will have to analyze the specifics of your particular case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I find it plausible that the dog actually understands things better than expected, because he does not expect your attention while you sleep - he uses the &quot;lawful&quot; bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-24T09:23:00.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26191" CreationDate="2019-09-24T21:21:09.140" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't claim much experience but did some research on this recently when buying my first one. There seem to be 3 basic kinds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) Fancy steel whistle with adjustable frequencies or other premium whistles etc&#xA;(2) Mid-market plastic whistles with choice of set frequencies&#xA;(3) Cheap plastic whistle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The price difference between (2) and (3) is not that much, so went with an Acme Dog Whistle which seems to be the leading brand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the dog can hear it and sometimes obeys it. Not sure if the cheaper ones would be just a good but there was only c. £2 price differnet (£4 vs £6) so didn't bother to find out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16565" LastActivityDate="2019-09-24T21:21:09.140" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-24T21:37:18.780" Score="2" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cocker spaniel has a little sore patch between two of her toes (caused by abrasion from something that got stuck between them). It doesn't seem vet-worthy but we would like to put a topical disinfectant on it to help ensure it heals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is conflicting advice on-line as to which disinfectants are safe or unsafe for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know for sure some that are OK? Advice would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Photo as requested - not that easy to see as it is right down between the toes - we only found it when she started intermitently hopping about)&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BWVdT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BWVdT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sore between the dogs toes&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a bit of something like a hard mud stuck on the hair so it hadn't come out (and I suppose was too far in for her to pull it out herself). Once we cut it out I wouldn't have noticed that she was disfavouring that leg if I hadn't been looking very hard, and 24 hours later she was absolutely normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16565" LastEditorUserId="16565" LastEditDate="2019-09-25T08:10:34.240" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T08:10:34.240" Title="Topical disinfectant safe for dogs" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-25T06:43:54.457" Score="2" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently rescued a kitten off the streets and she's about 4-5 weeks old. Whenever she's feeling sleepy she comes over to my lap and sleeps. It's cute but I really want her to be sleeping on her own bed so I'm able to work while she's sleeping. How do I get her to sleep on her own bed? I've tried moving her once she's sound asleep but she wakes up and crawls over back to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16569" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T00:03:41.603" Title="How do I get a kitten to sleep in its own bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26208" CreationDate="2019-09-25T07:07:49.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering her age, she still needs to sleep with her mother. Since you adopted her, you are now her mother :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of the following &quot;action-plans&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make her bed as soft and as warm as possible; don't wash everything on her bad at the same time; let it be soaked with her scent;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have patience for a while, until she grows a little older;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;depending on the details of the work you want to do, get used to work while supporting a sleeping cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends on the preferences of the cat. Some prefer to sit on the lap, others prefer to sit NEAR their owner, but NOT on his / her lap, while others prefer the top of the furniture or the high light appliances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T07:07:49.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17222" CreationDate="2019-09-25T20:10:52.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The activity level of cats varies widely. Some breeds are known for being extremely active, e.g. Bengals, but it also depends on the particular cat and their environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Beo commented, the key is to look for signs they're not being stimulated enough. This could be bringing you toys, running back and forth, playing with invisible toys, nipping or pawing at you like they would another cat, or anything else that may indicate they want more attention from you. Note that, to a cat, negative attention is still attention, so this can include deliberately misbehaving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, if you have two cats that get along, they will keep each other plenty busy. If two days don't get along, though, it's often because one has a higher energy level and the other is annoyed by it; playing with that cat to burn off some of its energy may help them get along better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, be aware that cats are evolved to have brief periods of activity separated by long periods of light sleep, up to 20 hours a day in total. So, just sleeping a lot (by human standards) doesn't mean they do or don't get enough activity; you have to examine the periods when they are actually awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T20:10:52.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21027" CreationDate="2019-09-25T20:47:59.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the contrary, breeding for temperament (a common goal) clearly &lt;em&gt;reduces&lt;/em&gt; intelligence.  Wild felids (and canines) have larger brains than closely related domestic ones, and they show more signs of intelligence as well. This is not surprising since wild cats need to work much harder to survive than a pampered pet or even feral cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bengals, Savannahs and other hybrid breeds are highly intelligent precisely because they bring back wild genes that had previously been bred out of domestic cats. Moreover, the continued one-way flow of genes from the wild into these breeds (unlike the fixed gene pools of non-hybrid breeds) confounds any attempt, intentional or not, to breed them back out again. Even breeding for looks, which is a much higher priority for these breeds than temperament, is quite difficult for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T20:47:59.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18401" CreationDate="2019-09-25T21:07:35.303" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grooming isn't just for comfort or hygiene; there is also a dominance aspect. You can see this when one cat &lt;em&gt;holds another down&lt;/em&gt; to groom it, as a mother would do to a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're going to have to resolve this on their own by fighting; separating them will only delay it until they're reunited because it doesn't actually solve anything. If they're comfortable enough together to groom, though, there shouldn't be any real danger (drawing blood) to either of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-25T21:07:35.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2019-09-25T21:15:44.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raw food &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be prepared properly for a cat, but unless you have researched how, it is not a good idea. Nor should it be done with raw foods you have just lying around. Most likely, he had food poisoning and needs a vet ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible the cat is allergic to chicken; as odd as that sounds, it does happen, and if so he also needs a vet ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-08-03T22:58:19.577" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T22:58:19.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26208" CreationDate="2019-09-26T00:03:41.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three main things a kitten that age needs from her mother (you): warmth, safety and food. Your lap provides at least two of those things, and her bed probably provides none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can solve the warmth issue by using a heating pad, but make sure there is a thick and/or tough layer of some type to prevent her claws from digging into it and accidentally electrocuting herself. A warm water bottle wrapped in a blanket may also work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed her in or near her bed, and if she's eating out of a dish, leave it near the bed. Make sure you're feeding her enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A covered bed works best; cats feel a lot safer when they're in dark, tight spaces. If she's already attached to you enough to sleep on your lap, then put it in the same room as you work so she doesn't have to leave the bed and go looking for you for reassurance she's safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T00:03:41.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26142" CreationDate="2019-09-26T00:39:14.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens meow to get their mother's attention, but once they leave her, their instinct is to stop meowing; that could attract other predators or scare off prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if they are around humans at the critical age for socialization (6-8 weeks), they quickly learn that we respond to meows with attention just like their mother did, so they keep doing it. The sound will vary depending on &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; they want our attention (food, grooming, play, company, etc.), but all of them are calls for attention in some form. An adult stray meowing is thus actually good news in the long run, though it may not seem like it right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to stop him from meowing at night is to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; give him attention after the lights are off—not even the negative kind. It will take a while, but he will eventually learn if you are consistent enough. (It's fine to still respond when the lights are on or sun is out; he'll figure out the connection soon enough.) In the meantime, buy some earplugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T00:39:14.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-26T02:20:00.330" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two year-and-a-half-old kitties yesterday (it's been about 30 hours). The two are a bonded pair and very close with one another. They have their own room set up with food (wet and dry), water, and a jumbo litter box. They immediately went to hide in the gap between the bed and wall and have not moved since. They have not eaten or drunk as far as I can tell. They peed on the blanket and carpet I had placed in front of their hiding spot and didn't use the litter box. I have left them alone, besides reading quietly in the same room for a few hours today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I knew they were shy cats when adopting them from the shelter. I am mostly concerned that they will dehydrate and become sick if they don't eat or drink soon. I went to the store an hour ago to get the Feliway diffuser, so we'll see if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm reluctant to take them to a vet because I feel like it will just traumatize them more. Is there anything else I should be doing to encourage them to eat and drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16575" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T13:14:54.250" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T13:14:54.250" Title="Rescue cats won't come out of hiding, eat, drink, or use the litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26216" CreationDate="2019-09-26T06:35:21.307" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you need to be patient. They will not forget their trauma over-night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things you can try - while not adding to their stress / trauma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interact with them closer; they are shy, try to make contact with them, or at least go closer to them and speak to them directly;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doing things in the same room with them (you already go there and read) is a good thing, they learn they can trust you;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to feed them from your hand; test several types of food (if you have), to help them come out of their fear;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;try to pet / caress them gently; even if they will be afraid, they will learn that you will not hurt them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do at this stage about not using the litter box. You can start training them as soon as they let the fear away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except, you may want to install a big plastic sheet under the entire area where the cats are. In that way, their excretions will not damage the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very likely that they are already accustomed to hunger, so if they did not eat in a few hours (even 30), it might not be a very bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if nothing changes &quot;soon&quot;, you should take them to a vet, at least to have some glucose fed into their veins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T06:35:21.307" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-26T09:16:42.970" Score="-1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;My roommate has a cat. He is a one mouth old kitty. He's cute but it always bite my legs when I am walking. He holds my legs and bites. Is that all cat would do that? I don't want to get hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16576" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T09:41:46.140" Title="How to teach cat stop bite my leg?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-09-27T14:00:39.170" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26218" CreationDate="2019-09-26T09:41:46.140" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The kitty is just a small baby, and only wants attention and playtime. I understand you very well, they can have a lot of energy and playfulness, and their bites hurt. Also have in mind that she is not yet able to properly control the bite force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that the kitty actually considers you friend / family so, in a way, you should be honored. Your pain does not enjoy the honor, understandably, but nevertheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might work if you dedicate some time to actually playing with the cat. Once the play needs are diminished, biting might stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, it might work against you as well, since the cat will understand that you are as playful as she is. So you will have to play often - which is not necessarily bad, if you have the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a specific training, you might want to interact with the cat and show your pain (even exaggerated, if needed), so she will understand how to bite without hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T09:41:46.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-26T12:14:13.597" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an almost 20-year old female cat cat (spayed if it matters) that was a rescue and has lived with me for the last 10 years or so. She is pretty much deaf now (this doesn't bother her really). Over the last month or two she started drooling quite a bit - usually when she's eating or right after food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She almost completely stopped eating dry food and only eats wet food pouches now.  She's also more than a little keen on cooked chicken (as she's always been). When she's eating, she's quite a bit messier now than before, with food now strewn about on the floor near her plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She still eats and drinks though and the rest of her behaviour hasn't really changed - she's just as agile (can easily steal chicken from the kitchen counter and come back from a walk through a second storey window) and cuddly (would jump on your lap as soon as you sit down, just like 10 years ago).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May or may not be related, this drooling started soon after another cat that lived in the house had passed away. The two lived together for the better part of the last 15 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have taken her to the vet, who stated that the problem is most likely due to teeth pain and gave us an estimate of about £1000, which includes all sorts of x-rays and extracting 6 teeth under a general anaesthesia. He also said that should have done teeth cleaning every few years - and completely ignored my response that they've been seeing the cat for 10 years and have done this themselves a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not completely trusting this vet, and I certainly can't afford to spend that kind of money.  Yet, I want to help her as much as I can. So, what can I do at home to help relieve her tooth ache?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13987" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T14:32:48.113" Title="Old cat drooling profusely - teeth problems - what to do at home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26008" CreationDate="2019-09-26T12:34:27.693" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since we cannot really change my father's behavior, how can we change the dog's behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can only change the dogs behaviour by changing its environment which includes your father's behaviour. It is important to realize that dogs are living beings and as such react to their environment. You would probably snap, too, if I came up in your bedroom while you are sleeping safe and sound and pinched you in the ear (just an example, I have no idea what 'humoring' means in this context). It is a perfectly reasonable response of a living being to defend itself when it feels threatened, so you have to work on building trust and removing threatening elements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a first step, try another kind of play with the dog. If normally you play with intense body contact, try something else which does not involve a lot of body contact. You can try to teach the dog to apport things or start clicker training. The key here is that all these activities should be positive, which can be achived by giving treats* during play. You can read into these techniques to see, if you like them. The goal here is to build trust and a positive foundation for your relationship. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To remove threats, make your family members aware, that the personal space of the dog has to be respected. If it lies down to rest, it is not kind to disturb it by touching. People that the dog does not know don't have to get down and start hugging it first thing when they see it. It is your right to ask people to respect boundaries of your dog. Seeing you doing this makes the dog trust your ability to defend it, so it does not have to defend itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware, and I don't say this because I want to attack you: Most of the time the problem is not the dog but the owner. Dogs are very sensitive about their environment. If you want a nice dog that follows your orders, you have to invest in this. I recommend using the 'nice' way using treats and positive reinforcement, but I know there are different approaches which might or might not work (better). It is very important, that the whole family knows about the training goals and is in the boat. This won't work if you come home once a week and train half an hour with the dog. You have to &lt;em&gt;invest in the dog to make it trust and like you&lt;/em&gt;, so it does not have to bite to defend itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing: it is probably difficult to solve this issue on your own. Maybe you should contact a professional trainer to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*One important thing about treats: be carefull not to overfeed your dog and to chose treats it likes. If the dog normally eats dry food and likes it, you can use some of his daily portion. This has the advantage, that the dog also sees you as relevant for its live, because you are the one giving out food, if you give it all of its daily ration in training or play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11685" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T12:34:27.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26229" CreationDate="2019-09-26T12:50:45.913" Score="0" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_and_My_Arrow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Me and My Arrow&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson for his 1970 album The Point!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The song was composed as the theme for Oblio, the pointless boy, and his dog, Arrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this, Arrow is just a name of the pet dog of the pointless boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I saw people talked &quot;my Arrow&quot;. Is this a analogy/metaphor or there is a dog species Arrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16577" LastActivityDate="2019-09-27T06:48:54.690" Title="Is Arrow a dog species?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26220" CreationDate="2019-09-26T13:30:09.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might seek a second opinion or the opinion of a cat dental specialist, but, with the full disclosure that I'm not a veterinarian, I think it likely this information is correct.  Having some dental issues, especially in old cats, is pretty common, and drooling and eating messily can definitely be signs of tooth pain, which may be an indication of dental disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As said on &lt;a href=&quot;https://catwisdom101.com/vet-101-senior-cat-dental-health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vet 101&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;&#xA;Dental cleaning and surgery are the only ways to resolve dental disease.&quot;  In the short term, there may be ways to address the pain, or alleviate the infection, but these do not address the root cause of the problem. As also discussed on Vet 101, not doing anything at the least will put tremendous strain on the cat's entire body. Not explicitly mentioned is that it can also lead to even worse problems such as organ damage from the infection spreading. Therefore, once dental disease has set in, there really isn't an alternative but to do the surgery, which normally is pretty costly, unfortunately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-09-26T14:32:48.113" LastActivityDate="2019-09-26T14:32:48.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-26T17:53:50.067" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is starting to act strange sometimes. His eyes will get large, and he'll start meowing loudly and trying to bite at me, if I try to touch him he just meows louder. I usually just let my arm go limp when we'd play and he'd get nippy, but now if I do he latches on and starts to pull like he wants to drag me somewhere. This comes and goes in spells, I thought he might be hurt somewhere and thats why he was avoiding touch but when he's not in a mood and I pet him he's fine. He's only 3 so I don't think he has brain problems. And he's fixed too so I really don't know whats going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16581" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T23:13:50.417" Title="Cat behaving strangely" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26222" CreationDate="2019-09-27T06:43:36.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no (official) dog breed named &quot;Arrow&quot;. Have a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dog_breeds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of common dog breeds on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; or another &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/profiles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of dog breeds by DogTime&lt;/a&gt;. They do contain different breeds, but none of them contain any &quot;Arrow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_and_My_Arrow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; you linked to states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The song was composed as the theme for Oblio, the pointless boy, and his dog, Arrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arrow is the name of the dog,&lt;/strong&gt; not it's breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow the link to the article &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point!&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Point!&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, you can read even more about Arrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oblio wins [a competition] with the help of his dog Arrow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A jury reluctantly convicts both Oblio and Arrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oblio and Arrow are sent to the Pointless Forest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the song &quot;Me and my Arrow&quot; was quite popular for a time, it's very likely that people use similar phrases as metaphors, references or analogies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-09-27T06:48:54.690" LastActivityDate="2019-09-27T06:48:54.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-27T09:41:33.943" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are moving into a ground floor (street level) flat. We have a cat flap that fits into sash windows. We could either let the cats through our door into the shared stairwell and then onto the street, or let them through the windows overlooking the nighbour's garden which is a level below our flat but there are ways for the cats to climb back up (namely, a rooftop). I'm sure if they went out the front they would find their way into the garden at the back anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on asking the neighbour if it's okay to put the cat flap there (I mean, we could equally as well just open the window, and who can blame us for opening our own window?). But if they say no to the cat flap, they might get cross at the cats going out of an open window. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do have windows out the front, which is a quiet street, but they are overlooking a `moat' as you might call it, which is too deep for the cats to jump up from. The cats would possibly be able to jump across the moat from the street, if it wasn't that there is a wrought-iron fence. It hasn't even got gaps in at the bottom: there is a kind of metal plate rising up about a foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could manually let them out through the shared stairwell, but it might lead to a lot of meowing and scratching at the door which is not good in a rented property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully the description is clear enough. Just asking for advice on (preferably convenient) methods of allowing them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16585" LastActivityDate="2019-10-27T13:01:45.343" Title="Cat flap in window into neighbours garden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26230" CreationDate="2019-09-27T12:04:05.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to look at our related posts on &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=%5Bcats%5D+garden&quot;&gt;Cats ands Gardens&lt;/a&gt; A neighbor without cats may prefer you don't let your cat into their garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you suggest in your question, talking to the neighbor is a good first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are new to the area, you will want to check on local laws and how they are applied to outdoor cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-09-27T12:04:05.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-27T16:57:56.013" Score="4" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;CAT: Male, 3-5 y/o, only cat, indoor only, above average weight, no known issues, 1 litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last three times that I have done a deep clean on my cat's litter box, he has made it a point to urinate approximately on the spot where the litter box was. The deep clean process (remove all litter, clean with soap and water, dry) takes about 10 minutes. Each time he has urinated, he's done it while he and I can see each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just down to some amount of territorial nature? I have no issues cleaning the litter box any other time. I believe by the fact that I've seen him each time, he's trying to make some sort of point; but I'm not sure what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16587" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T14:17:45.170" Title="Cat urinates where litter box was while litter box is being cleaned" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-27T17:08:32.187" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 month old cat and now I got a second kitten. They don't really like each other. My first cat hisses at the new kitten at eye contact and the kitten hides in a corner next to the closet. I have already separated them and given the kitten some time to get used to the room. Later the old cat came along and doesn't seem aggressive to her. She does her own thing as usual only as soon as she sees the new cat, the hissing starts again and the kitten hides. But from the first cat comes no aggression, only hissing and a look of death (no hump either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem now is that I can't keep the two cats away from each other any longer, because I only have one litter box and I always have to seal one off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, I noticed that my first cat also starts to hiss at my hands after my hand has taken on the smell of the new cat. My first cat also hisses at the corner where the new cat was hiding, even though she wasn't there at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;seperated, both cats are very calm. Both are female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I am still on vacation so I can with the cats but when I have to work again I am afraid that the new kitten will have to hide my entire working time in the corner next to the closet from fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question to you would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to get both cats used to each other with currently only one litter box? What do I do when I am going to sleep today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16586" LastActivityDate="2019-09-27T17:27:08.580" Title="Got a new second cat. previous cat is not happy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-09-27T17:26:11.347" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26232" CreationDate="2019-09-27T23:08:31.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat that feels secure in its environment may instinctively use the scent ot its waste to help mark its territory, in contrast to the instinct of an insecure cat to hide its scent. By washing the litter box so thoroughly, you are removing that scent and, by extension, his territorial claim. He needs to refresh his claim and, since the box is missing at the moment, he puts it on the floor in the same spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple solution is to lock him out of that room (or in another room) while you're cleaning the box. Expect him to use it again as soon as he's discovered what you've done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-09-27T23:08:31.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26236" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-09-28T02:19:27.463" Score="0" ViewCount="1914" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a lab from the local shelter about a week ago, he is about 1 year old. I have a cat at home the dog is playful by his demeanor with his interaction with my cat. I have adopted this dog for a week and just watching him closely with my cat due to his playful nature.  I let him outside my yard and my neighbor's bunny got in and my dog killed it. Should I be concerned for my cat and will this trigger some sort of change in his behavior? Should I consider returning him to the shelter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16589" LastActivityDate="2019-09-28T14:10:05.657" Title="My dog killed a bunny in my yard" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26232" CreationDate="2019-09-28T19:35:01.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, you should check to see if the cleaning products you are using contain ammonia. Ammonia is a precursor to mammals' urine. I know with dogs, ammonia can trigger the urge to urinate on the spot. This could be be either by suggestion or desire to cover the foreign “urine” smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not using any ammonia-based products, it could be a number of reasons. Cats are very different from dogs when it comes to their waste habits. Dogs want their waste to be found, pee as high as possible and will scent mark it with their paws. Cats, on the other hand, hide their waste because they are not only predator but also prey in the wild--that’s why they bury it.  Your cat may be smarter than you think... maybe your cat sees you cleaning and and is thinking... hey, while you're at it... or insecure that their spot is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's act of aggression or defiance would be more like scenting you or the area with a quick burst on your couch, rug, or somehow on top of the fridge just after peeing, unlike when cats relieve themselves.  Bring a little squirt gun and catch him in the act or have a temporary makeshift litter box to put down while cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T14:17:45.170" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T14:17:45.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-01T02:54:52.293" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if boiling my tap water would clean it for my iguanas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16598" LastActivityDate="2019-10-02T12:04:34.513" Title="If I boil tap water will it be safe for my iguana would that clear the chlorine oxide out of it" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26244" CreationDate="2019-10-01T13:53:48.570" Score="6" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;An exterminator is coming to treat my apartment. I will not need to leave for the treatment (ie it is not being fumigated). Should I remove my bird from the premises while this is happening? If so, for how long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an update, I ended up not removing my bird from the apartment. One of the two rooms of my apartment was being treated, so I put her in the non-treated room prior to the exterminator arriving, and kept her there for about four hours after the treatment. She was next to an open window in this room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-28T00:04:52.393" LastActivityDate="2020-12-28T00:04:52.393" Title="An exterminator is coming to my apartment. Should I do anything with my bird?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26243" CreationDate="2019-10-01T14:19:58.160" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;(After calling an avian vet to double check)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the bird should be removed from the premises for at least 24 hours if possible. Upon returning, all surfaces that the bird regularly comes in contact with should be wiped down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is not possible to remove the bird from the apartment, keep it as far away from the treatment area as possible in a well-ventilated room (ie air filters and windows open).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="10108" LastEditDate="2019-10-01T18:31:59.493" LastActivityDate="2019-10-01T18:31:59.493" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26257" CreationDate="2019-10-01T22:15:59.147" Score="4" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working on an outside place for my yellow bellied slider and the best location would not get direct sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's outdoors, facing south (in Europe), but it's covered by an overhang and has some trees in front of it, so the sun never directly shines on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this setup would be healthy enough for my turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2019-10-04T08:35:13.133" Title="Do turtles need direct sunlight?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-02T03:11:45.550" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago, my parents adopted a stray female tortie cat who used to hang around our backyard. She would wait at the door and beg to be let in, so they finally gave up. She's been to the vet, she was someone's pet at some point (not feral, she was litter trained) but had been out on her own for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves attention and will scream-meow at you until you pet her. She jumps on our laps and purrs like a motorboat while you pet her. But if she sees your hand, she flips out, jumps up, hisses and swipes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then she immediately throws her butt on the ground next to us and side swims (not sure how to describe it, she uses her paws and claws to push herself around on the floor in circles?) while you scratch her back. She purrs, loves it, asks for chin scratches - and then again, catches sight of our hand or even wrist and loses her mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She never really gets us and her claws aren't even out when she swipes, but it's definitely a fear based reaction. We don't know much about her history but think she was mistreated somehow. It's the quick switch back to wanting pets and the randomness of her getting set off that confuses me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We board her at a vet when we're on vacation and they love her, she has no health issues and is definitely not feral. Any thoughts on how to pinpoint what causes this, or how to get her used to seeing our hands? I don't know what she thinks we're petting her with!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16603" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T15:59:43.007" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T15:59:43.007" Title="Former stray - LOVES pets, hates seeing hands" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21009" CreationDate="2019-10-02T03:46:25.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog's aggression is in response to his changing environment. You seem like you've been moving from one place to another and you three are taking turns when it comes to taking care of him. At this point in his life, he needs to find some sort of stability. You are his pack and if no one leads, then he will--- hence, the aggression. You might find this article helpful also: &lt;a href=&quot;https://goldenretrieverlove.com/are-golden-retrievers-aggressive/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://goldenretrieverlove.com/are-golden-retrievers-aggressive/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16604" LastActivityDate="2019-10-02T03:46:25.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-02T08:06:34.243" Score="7" ViewCount="728" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat keeps washing his paws in the dog’s water bowl after going to the litter box. Never his water bowl; always our dog’s. We’ve moved both water bowls far away from his litter box yet he keeps up this pattern. He even pats his paws on the dirty laundry after. No, he is not licking his paws after. This pattern has become a serious problem and we don’t know how to stop it! Please help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16605" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-10-04T07:14:36.063" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T08:51:19.053" Title="My cat keeps washing his paws in our dog’s water bowl" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26242" CreationDate="2019-10-02T12:04:34.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you only want to get chlorine out of the water, it is enough to to add the water to a bucket and leave it there for 24 hours. The chlorine will evaporate &quot;willingly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling is very likely to accelerate the process, while killing some micro-organisms in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While chlorine is fairly easy to remove from the tap water, there might be other substances in the water which might not be easy to remove, and still be harmful for the iguana. If at all possible, have a sample of tap water tested  at a local laboratory, to understand what you are dealing with. Depending on the results, better advice can be formulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obvious caution note: be sure to let the water cool, before mixing it with the iguana :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-10-02T12:04:34.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-02T18:06:40.317" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a cat a week ago off a friend and at first it was very scared and didn’t come out from under the sofa, in the past 2 days it has come out and plays with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is a house cat and has never been outside and is only 9 months old. I opened the window slightly when cooking and it went on the windowsill and tried to open the window even more. I picked the cat up, but when I put it on the floor it tried to attack me. I left it for 5 minutes in the kitchen to cool off and went back in and it seemed fine then 10 minutes later when I went back in it went crazy again and wouldn’t calm down and was trying to attack me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been over 2 hours since it happened but whenever I go in the room that it is in it will try and pounce and attack me. I have gone in another room to leave it alone but it doesn’t seem to be calming down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16610" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T20:23:27.657" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T20:23:27.657" Title="How do I stop my cat from attacking me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-03T12:30:51.200" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that my cat's left pupil is tho very slightly but consistently larger than the other one. There's also a slight droopiness of the eyelid on that same eye. Both of these are hardly noticeable, but they are there. The cat is behaving normally and seems to be totally healthy otherwise. It is a young castrated male (about 3-4 years old). Should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14303" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T22:48:55.330" Title="Is very slight anisocoria (differing size of pupils) and also quite slight ptosis (basically droopy eyelid) problematic?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-03T17:14:19.547" Score="1" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my cat from a shelter at 9weeks old. he didn't like to be held or cuddled. he started climbing my curtains for which he got sprayed. then he liked me even less. since then he has chewed everything he can get his mouth around and has caused great damage in my house. I play with him every day, but after a while he seems to get bored. he has tons of toys but he loses interest in them. I feel that he does this for attention but yet he won't let me give him attention. I only use the spray now occasionally and he knows why but he does his damage when I'm not looking or when I'm gone. I considered a companion cat but am afraid he might beat it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16613" LastActivityDate="2019-10-05T14:48:22.567" Title="why does my cat chew and destroy things in my house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26255" CreationDate="2019-10-03T19:33:30.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really boils down to three basic techniques to getting cats to do what you want them to:  discipline, cat-proofing, and redirection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Discipline&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Discipline tactics include things such as telling them a sharp &quot;no&quot;, pointedly ignoring them when they want your attention, or the spray bottle when they do an undesired behavior.  The problem is that cats aren't wired to want to please you, so while the discipline tactic will probably work in the immediate term, as you said, they know they can go right back to doing it when your back is turned.  Therefore, discipline is generally only effective for behaviors the cat does ONLY when you're paying attention.  For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jumping on the table or counters during meals or meal preparation in order to steal food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing too rough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inappropriately trying to get your attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also motion-detecting air spraying devices that can sometimes be used to discipline cats from entering a certain area.  If the cat learns the device is always there and always startling and annoying, it may be effective at disciplining your cat even when you aren't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat Proofing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make it so the cat cannot do the undesired behavior whenever possible through cat-proofing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put smaller objects that don't need to be out in places that are inaccessible to the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace objects the cat likes destroying with ones the cat doesn't.  For example, replace furniture with fabric with wood, metal, or plastic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cover surfaces you don't want the cat on or destroying with something the cat finds unpleasant.  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;citrus scented/flavored pet deterrents&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;double sided tape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;aluminum foil (they tend to not like the crinkly sound)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;soft, fluffy blankets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vinyl carpet protectors with the teeth turned up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Redirection&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea behind redirection is to observe what your cat is doing, and then give it an alternative it wants to do even more that satisfies the same need.  In the case of destroying things, give it things it's allowed to destroy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For scratching, observe what materials your cat is scratching and its position when scratching (does it like vertical or horizontal surfaces?) and try to find scratchers that match that as close as possible.  For cats, location is also important when they choose a scratching spot, so place your scratchers so that they physically block the area they want to scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For chewing, primarily I would try to keep any objects it wants to chew out of reach.  There are also now chew toys made specifically for cats that you can try to redirect your cat to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could even give it cheap things it's allowed to destroy that aren't harmful to the cat, and it enjoys destroying.  Cardboard boxes for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dealing with Boredom&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tying into redirection, the root cause of these behaviors is likely that your cat is getting bored, and is alleviating its boredom by destroying things.  Therefore, you may be able to reduce the destruction by redirecting its energy to more desirable activities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if you can find different types of toys your cat is interested in.  Food puzzle toys can be particularly good at keeping a cat's attention when otherwise it would get bored of the toy.  If your cat seems to like new toys and then gets bored of them when they are no longer new, rotate the toys by taking them away for a while, then bringing them back out when it's been long enough the cat has forgotten about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to help your cat from getting bored is to encourage it to window-watch.  Make sure your cat has easy ways to be able to look out windows.  Place a cat tree by a particularly interesting window.  You might also install a bird feeder to give your cat even more to watch.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other activities you can try to keep it engaged are training it to go on a leash so it can go outside or clicker training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really nothing is better to most cats than interactive play.  You should see if you can tire your cat out using a feather wand or laser pointer.  Make up games for your cat, such as poking paper bags with the wand so it makes a rustling noise, or have the toys &quot;hide&quot; around corners or in nooks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-10-05T14:48:22.567" LastActivityDate="2019-10-05T14:48:22.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26246" CreationDate="2019-10-04T08:35:13.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles need to get dry once per day. They only take a sun bath at secure points. This means points, where they have the possibility to fall/drop into (almost deep) water to hide from predators. This is not the cause, if the sunspot is far from the water, so training therefor would be difficult until not possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sun place should warm up to approximatly 40°C, without direct sunlight this is difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you see the possibility to use mirror like surfaces to bring the sunlight to your turtle, like virolino suggests? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Side note: turtles are very good in climbing. Please do not use mesh wire as boundaries around the outdoor enclosure.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-10-04T08:35:13.133" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26249" CreationDate="2019-10-04T09:41:53.287" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the comments suggest there are some things you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 bowls could help your problem. Put the third - foot bath - bowl closer to the litter box than the other two. This should make it more attractive for washing feet in than the others. &#xA;For the laundry I would suggest putting a towel or easy to clean carpet under the third bowl since that would immediately dry and clean your cats paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this does not work you could put a wet cloth/towel around the litter box, this would at least ensure that his paws are somewhat clean when he tries to wash them after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least you can buy a bowl stand for your dog like this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.real-onlineshop.de%2Fimages%2Fitems%2F1024x1024%2F489af25660e866acd1c6dec8984b9857.jpg&amp;amp;imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.real.de%2Fproduct%2F320972781%2F&amp;amp;docid=AZG5DV7LggxlWM&amp;amp;tbnid=toAb9LwF49zzrM%3A&amp;amp;vet=10ahUKEwiaqdXUp4LlAhVI16QKHUJLD1IQMwiDAigMMAw..i&amp;amp;w=1024&amp;amp;h=1024&amp;amp;client=firefox-b-d&amp;amp;bih=895&amp;amp;biw=1680&amp;amp;q=hunde%20napf%20hoch&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiaqdXUp4LlAhVI16QKHUJLD1IQMwiDAigMMAw&amp;amp;iact=mrc&amp;amp;uact=8&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;High bowl stand&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should stop your cat from reaching it and unless you have a dachshund or something similar it should work fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let us know if any of the suggests work for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-10-04T09:41:53.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26255" CreationDate="2019-10-04T11:32:33.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like @Kai's answer, +1. Just some notes are worthy here, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavior can be directly to temperament. While the damage can be contain up to a point, some things might still happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they say, a mouse will never be a lion. And a bungee-jumper will not really be happy just watching birds through a closed window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More to the point: Maine Coons and Siberians are quite similar in many aspects. With one major difference: the Maine Coon will prefer the floor or the sofa, while the Siberian will prefer the top of the tallest furniture and the light appliances on the ceiling - or the top of the window curtains, for the added variety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-10-04T11:32:33.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-05T10:38:41.170" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I have one small goldfish (tiny) in a 20litre tank. I am going on holidays for 3 weeks later this year and I was wondering if I got someone to come in and feed him once every week would that be fine. I would also do i big water change the day I leave and the day I come back. If that doesn’t work what should I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16620" LastActivityDate="2019-10-05T15:23:21.393" Title="Will My Goldfish Survive?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26261" CreationDate="2019-10-05T15:23:21.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should be good, plants in the tank ( duckweed is very good) would&#xA; provide some food. Be careful about someone else feeding , unless they have their own fish. Generally a new person is very likely to overfeed. Try leaving individual food packets so they can just dump one packet instead of using food from a large container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-10-05T15:23:21.393" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26315" CreationDate="2019-10-05T16:42:31.570" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's an outdoor cat who comes to our home very often. I don't know what has happened but her fur around neck has almost gone. Even on her head and ears, the fur has started to fall out. Also she has little blood oozing out of the areas where her fur is thinning out. Is she suffering from some kind of disease? What can I do to help her out? Note that she's a feral cat and doesn't come into our hand for us to take her to vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastEditorUserId="16688" LastEditDate="2019-10-14T09:30:34.813" LastActivityDate="2019-10-14T09:30:34.813" Title="Cat is losing fur around neck and ears. Is it some kind of disease? How to cure it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26266" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26276" CreationDate="2019-10-06T22:09:35.170" Score="4" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our dogs was very badly attacked a few months ago by another dog (thankfully she survived) and we have recently been looking at methods to deter anything like this happening again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things we found was basically an air-horn, specifically the &quot;SAFETY-SPORT DOG HORN XL&quot;, which states it is approx 120dB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if it comes to a point where we have to use it, I was a little worried about hurting our own dogs hearing. Though through my research it seems short bursts of this horn won't do any damage, however to be on the safe side I wanted to purchase a Decibel Sound Meter to test it to make sure it's not any higher than 120dB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some, but then read on one of them that stated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PLEASE&lt;/strong&gt; keep in mind that this meter measures in dBA to account for the relative loudness perceived by the human ear, for more information please contact us! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I have seen others mention that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it can measure &lt;strong&gt;both A and C weightings&lt;/strong&gt; to get the right response for the human ear and can have fast or slow responses to get an ambient reading or a short noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking at these meters some mention they measure in dBA and others just say dB, I'm not sure if this is on purpose of if they are actually different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly don't expect anyone here to know the technicalities between all these and maybe I should instead be asking a sound engineer or something, so my question is more if anyone knows if dogs interpret decibels the same as humans with regards to what I wrote above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16628" LastEditorUserId="16628" LastEditDate="2019-10-06T22:47:39.847" LastActivityDate="2020-11-27T20:00:03.167" Title="Do dogs interpret decibels the same as humans?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sound&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15224" CreationDate="2019-10-07T02:56:28.777" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young bearded dragon's diet should comprise of 60% to 70% protein. Meaning you need to feed him insect such as crickets, super worms, cockroaches or dubia roaches. Another note is never feed your bearded dragon anything that is wider than the space between his/her eyes. Anything larger than this space is too large and can cause health issues during the digestion process. Here is more information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://thepetenthusiast.com/bearded-dragon-care/#Feeding-Baby-Beardies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feeding  your baby bearded&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16629" LastActivityDate="2019-10-07T02:56:28.777" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26274" CreationDate="2019-10-07T09:42:53.970" Score="-1" ViewCount="1040" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog (male, a bit less than 2 years old, not neutered) has changed his behavior for a few days now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He whines quite often, a lot more than he did before&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he eats only half of his bowl of food, and isn't interested in treats like he used to be&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he seems to want to cuddle all the time - he used to like that previously, but much less than now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're considering taking him to the vet, however&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;his nose, tongue, and eyes are just like they've always been, no fever, dry nose or teary eyes or anything&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he likes his walks like he always did&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when we let him off the leash, he loves running around, chasing birds, anything, and doesn't seem the slightest bit exhausted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so he doesn't seem to us like he was sick.&#xA;He had gut worms about 4 weeks ago, got a pill from the vet, and there haven't been any signs of worms or eggs in his poop ever since, so we can rule this out.&#xA;Also, he gets about 2 hours of exercise per day, plus time in the garden, so we don't think he's bored (and he doesn't show any signs of boredom like chasing his tail e.g.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our neighbor said we shouldn't worry, he just wants to have sex, and the whole episode should be over in 2 weeks. I know that female dogs are in heat for a while every now and then, but males? Could this explain his behavior? Or should we take him to the vet, just to make sure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12606" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:47:45.190" Title="Can dogs become lovesick?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26268" CreationDate="2019-10-07T18:04:30.350" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Germany too. I have seen this behavior by the male dog of my parents-in-law. He did not eat well, was running around a lot, wanting to get out and standing on the door whining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents-in-law said to me: one female dog in the neighbourhood was in heat. The dog could smell her a long way and wanted to get to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe one of your dog-friends from the daily walk is in heat too? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried, the vet is a good address to find help. And If it is love sickness your dog would not lose anything other than a few pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:47:45.190" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:47:45.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17605" CreationDate="2019-10-08T02:21:18.440" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was an outdoor kitty for years.  I brought him in.  He was not litter box broken.  So, He Taught Me, he used the long pile bathroom rug. It was green.  After he did this a few times and I was busy washing the rug all the time, I got an idea.  I bought the 22 x 22 doggie training pottie pads at Walmart.  I put one on the green rug.  He used it right away.  That was years ago.  You must dump the poo poo in the stool and then wrap the pad in &quot;Press and Seal&quot; and throw it in the trash.  If you don't keep it cleaned  up, he won't go in the room where the pottie pad is if he has to go again...  He will use your carpet.&#xA;A lot of trouble but my little 13 year old boy kitty is worth all the trouble.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16632" LastActivityDate="2019-10-08T02:21:18.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7917" CreationDate="2019-10-08T05:16:05.090" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love dogs. But to silence a very noisy dog that my neighbour had but neglected, I remember buying an ultrasonic gun in the UK. It worked well. Even at a distance of 100 metres, I could see the dog's reaction. He quietened down, cringed and moved away looking dazed. It did not make me feel good but neither did the loud barking all day long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16634" LastActivityDate="2019-10-08T05:16:05.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26268" CreationDate="2019-10-08T05:41:39.510" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I wouldn't necessarily call it &quot;love sickness&quot; it totally sounds like what your neighbor suspects. Male dogs - just like other male mammals, including humans - can't go into &quot;heat&quot;. They're &quot;all time ready&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it's indeed very likely there's a female in heat somewhere around. The problem should solve itself after 1-3 weeks, just keep an eye on your dog's behavior and avoid unattended time alone outside. It might sound like cliche, but with the right &quot;motivation&quot;, dogs can get rather creative and crafty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also don't worry about food: dogs don't starve to death, they can go a few days without, but will always eat, if they have to and have the chance to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2019-10-08T05:41:39.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26266" CreationDate="2019-10-08T11:30:23.270" Score="5" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The Physical Theory&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dB is the scientific symbol for &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Decibel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[A] unit of measurement used to express the ratio of one value of a power or field quantity to another, on a logarithmic scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The decibel is commonly used in acoustics as a unit of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure_level&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sound pressure level&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, that doesn't sound useful at first... but it helps us understand a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since dB are measured on a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_scale&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;logarithmic scale&lt;/a&gt;, the values are nonlinear, meaning that the difference from 50 - 100 dB is &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; more than the difference from 0 - 50 dB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What actually causes hearing loss is the pressure of the sound wave that reaches our ear. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure#Examples_of_sound_pressure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia offers the following examples&lt;/a&gt; for sound pressure and dB:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;|   Sound pressure   |                                 |  &#xA;|   in Pa    | in dB |          example                |  &#xA;|------------|-------|---------------------------------|  &#xA;|  0.02–0.20 | 60–80 | Car passing by in 10 m distance |  &#xA;|  2.00      | 100   | Chainsaw in 1 m distance        | &#xA;|  6.32      | 110   | Jack hammer in 1 m distance     | &#xA;| 20.00      | 120   | Vuvuzela horn in 1 m distance   |&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that an increase in 20 dB (from 100 dB to 120 dB) exposes your ear to &lt;strong&gt;ten times&lt;/strong&gt; more pressure. That's like the difference of lifting a 100 g bar of chocolate with one finger or a 1 kg bag of flour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The human perception of the intensity of sound and light approximates the logarithm of intensity rather than a linear relationship (Weber–Fechner law), making the dB scale a useful measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means that we humans don't perceive 120 dB as 10 times louder than 100 dB. We do notice a difference in loudness, but our perception of sound is closer to the logarithmic scale than to a linear scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The human ear has a large dynamic range in sound reception. The ratio of the sound intensity that causes permanent damage during short exposure to that of the quietest sound that the ear can hear is greater than or equal to 1 trillion (10&lt;sup&gt;12&lt;/sup&gt;). Such large measurement ranges are conveniently expressed in logarithmic scale: the base-10 logarithm of 10&lt;sup&gt;12&lt;/sup&gt; is 12, which is expressed as a sound pressure level of 120 dB re 20 μPa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Human Perception&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated above, human perception of sound &amp;quot;approximates&amp;quot; the logarithmic scale of dB, but isn't equal to it. At the same sound pressure, high pitches seem louder to us than low pitches. To factor in this deviation in perception, different weightings can be applied to adapt the purely physical measurement of sound pressure level to our human perception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most commonly used is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-weighting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A-weighting&lt;/a&gt;, which is expressed in a unit of dB(A) or often shortened to dBA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]  A-weighting, though originally intended only for the measurement of low-level sounds (around 40 phon), is now commonly used for the measurement of environmental noise and industrial noise, as well as when assessing potential hearing damage and other noise health effects at all sound levels; indeed, the use of A-frequency-weighting is now mandated for all these measurements, because decades of field experience have shown a very good correlation with occupational deafness in the frequency range of human speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This deviation in loudness perception is caused by many different factors, like the form of our outer and inner ears, the sensitivity of different neurons to different frequencies and the age of the listener (we have a tendency to lose the ability to perceive high frequencies throughout our whole lives).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-weighting#B-,_C-,_D-_and_Z-weightings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;several other&lt;/a&gt; weighting curves, but A and C frequency-weighting are the most common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dog Perception&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, dogs perceive sounds at a different level than humans, so the measurements in dBA cannot be applied to dogs. But since dogs cannot answer questions like &amp;quot;How loud is this noise?&amp;quot; there is no separate weighting curve for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1992 study &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.utoledo.edu/al/psychology/pdfs/comphearaudio/AuditoryPerception_1992.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Auditory Perception&lt;/a&gt; shows the following audiograms for the perception threshold of sounds in dogs on page 167:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbxC5.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbxC5.png&quot; alt=&quot;audiogram&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dotted line is the hearing threshold of humans (for comparison). The lower the line, the better the test subject could perceive sounds. The line of the dog (middle) is shifted to the right, which tells us that dogs hear higher frequencies better than humans, but lower frequencies worse than humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means that a dog horn with a high pitch (comparable to a whistle) seems even louder to dogs than to humans. On the other hand, a deep sound like a car engine probably seems less loud to a dog than a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Danger of hearing loss&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it gets complicated. Many tests have been conducted for decades to determine the auditory threshold of dogs (how quiet a sound they can detect), but it's harder to determine how loud of a sound causes a dog pain or hearing loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an interesting fact in the book &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://books.google.de/books?id=SpkSd__EdKYC&amp;amp;lpg=PA91&amp;amp;ots=4oZq_IOTWb&amp;amp;dq=dog%20auditory%20pain%20threshold&amp;amp;lr&amp;amp;hl=de&amp;amp;pg=PA92#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Behavioural Biology of Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the middle ear, two of the smallest muscles of the body are situated: one of them is connected with the stapes and the other one with the tympanic membrane. The contraction of these muscles decreases the transfer of vibration through the middle ear. A reflex elicits the contraction when the incoming energy of the sound is too high. This reflex is also activated immediately before a dog starts to bark and therefore offers protection to its own ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the sound energy of the barking of a dog warrants a protection inside the dog's own ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A listing in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/decibel-level-of-a-barking-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cuteness.com&lt;/a&gt; compares the barking of dogs with different everyday sounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[A] sewing machine is around 60 decibels -- the same loudness as a &amp;quot;starting point&amp;quot; bark. A child in the midst of a shrieking tantrum goes to around 110 decibels, which is the same as dog barks on the noisier end of the spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/How-loud-can-a-dog-bark-in-decibels&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Quora&lt;/a&gt; you can find the following claim:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The loudest dog in the world, as of 2013, had a bark that was 113.1 decibels. Most dogs bark between 80 and 90 decibels in volume, about as loud as a shouting human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All things considered, I guess you can safely compare the effect of such a horn on a dog's ear to &lt;a href=&quot;https://hearsmart.org/what-problem/decibels-and-damage/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a human ear&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It will cause pain to the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It will cause temporary hearing loss after very short exposure (a few seconds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It will cause permanent hearing loss after short exposure (more than 2 minutes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you want to measure the actual loudness of this horn, don't forget to wear hearing protection yourself.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no experience with the effectiveness of such a dog horn against attacking dogs. I presume it emulates a &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; loud bark to deter the attacker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an emergency measure it should not cause any permanent damage or hearing loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-27T20:00:03.167" LastActivityDate="2020-11-27T20:00:03.167" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-08T16:32:44.690" Score="4" ViewCount="839" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently noticed several spots on my black cat's nose. At first I thought they were just dust spots, but they don't wipe off and have a slightly raised texture. He seems to have developed a few more since I first noticed them. They are not filled with an kind of pus. They are small and just slightly discolored from his normal black nose, probably around 10 bumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be concerned about these spots? What might they be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16636" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T19:43:23.343" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T19:43:23.343" Title="Spots on cat's nose" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-09T05:41:53.377" Score="22" ViewCount="16604" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5 month old puppy who's pretty much attached to my hip and feels super comfortable around me. However, I have noticed recently that he seems to get agitated sometimes whenever I try to pick him up and he ends up running around and peeing (which I heard could be something called submissive urination).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, I had to give him a bath, cut his nails, and give him his ear medication for a yeast infection that he has. When I cut his nails, I got sort of got rough with him trying to hold him down which made him tense and he had an accident. After 2 hours, I finally cut all his nails and then went to give him a bath; I tried to be as gentle as possible, but he was shaking and kept trying to leap out which made me have to hold him down again. After that was over, I tried to give him the medication which was insanely difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth mentioning that I'm a first time dog owner and I had to hold him down HARD to give him this stupid stuff which resulted in me coming off aggressive when he was trying to escape (the poor little guy was squealing and whining and was in visible discomfort with this crap in his ears).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I gave him some treats towards the end of the night and he's asleep right now but I want to know if I did any long term damage. Also if anyone can recommend methods for keeping him calm during stuff like this, it'd be great because I don't want him to get anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16637" LastEditorUserId="3921" LastEditDate="2019-10-10T07:01:54.560" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T10:45:19.913" Title="Did I Traumatize My Puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26278" CreationDate="2019-10-09T06:21:05.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you beat the puppy hard, there is no really big damage done long-term. Some ideas to keep in mind in similar situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be calm; make sure to be calm for the entire duration of the event;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;remember that 5 months means that the puppy is still a baby, treat him accordingly;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;each of the activities you mentioned might be traumatizing (nails trimming, bath, medication...); try not to associate them in a sequence;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the puppy might be extra-sensitive or moody because of the infection; take that into account, and read again the first line: be calm :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to do the easy / pleasant things at the beginning. Leave the &quot;fighting&quot; for the end. In this way, he puppy will not associate the pleasant things with the anger generated by something else - turning the pleasant things into unpleasant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might give him a treat after (each?) unpleasant experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2019-10-10T13:37:13.383" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T13:37:13.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26278" CreationDate="2019-10-09T09:44:54.600" Score="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;That was probably a little too much in one go for a puppy. Puppies learn natural dog behavior from their mothers and rudimentary human behavior from their mother's owners (that's called socializing). They are most trusting and confident in situations they experienced in a positive way during socializing. Everything above and beyond makes them insecure until they learned how to cope with the new situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After such a negative experience, you need to give your puppy much love and, if possible at all, repeat the same or a similar situation in a much more positive way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First there was cutting the nails. This is not an activity you usually do with a puppy during socialization and holding the feet of a dog is not part of the natural behavior. Almost all dogs get nervous during nail cutting at first and need to be trained to endure the procedure in a calm way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should train &amp;quot;holding hands&amp;quot; with your puppy. He can be sitting up or lying on his side (to hold the feet). Just pet him a little, take one of his feet in your hand, look at it and move it a little bit for 5 - 10 seconds, then release it and continue petting. This connects the experience with positive emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you should include the nail clipper in this training. Let your dog sniff at it, then do the &amp;quot;holding hands&amp;quot; training but instead of just holding his feet, touch his nails with the clipper. You don't need to actually clip his nails, just touching is enough. Continue petting after that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time you need to cut his nails, repeat the same training, this time actually cutting his nails. Pet him after every single nail that was cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next the bath. Many dogs are afraid of the bathtub because they cannot see the shape of the surface clearly, it makes a metallic sound that most dogs aren't used to and amplifies sounds and on top of that, they get wet. You could compare the experience with a ghost train for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some simple tips to make the experience less frightening are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A very simple solution is to put an old towel or bath mat into the tub, to dampen the metallic sound and make it easier to discern the bottom from the walls.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kneel down next to the tub so you don't tower over your dog (which is perceived as a dominant or threatening gesture).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start the water at low water pressure and let your dog sniff / lick at it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start wetting his feet, then tummy, then shoulders and hips.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not let water flow over his head or ears. If he's dirty there, cup water in your hand and wash him that way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk to your dog and praise him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting water into a dog's ear can cause ear infections, so avoid that at all costs. Even plain, clean water without shampoo will significantly raise the risk of an infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always use a shampoo designed for dogs. Shampoo for humans shouldn't be ingested, can dry out a dog's skin for several weeks and cause itching or rashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you're done, either let your dog jump out of the tub or lift him out. Offer a towel in your open hands and call him to you. Rub him dry in a playful manner. Our dog loves to rub himself on the towel and squirm around on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, the ears. I share your fate in that regard. Any ear infection is extremely unpleasant for a dog, and so is getting any liquid into their ears. Our own dog whines as if he's being slaughtered every time we treat his ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't grab your dog by the snout&lt;/strong&gt; and force his head into the position you'd like. &lt;strong&gt;Don't clamp his head between your legs.&lt;/strong&gt; This is not only a form of violence, it also means a rather severe punishment in a dog's natural body language. That way you connect treating his ears with very negative emotions and he will fight harder and harder against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you need to have more patience and outsmart him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start massaging his ears with your non-dominant hand. In case of an infection, it's best to massage from the cheek (inner ear) towards the neck (outer ear) to dislodge any accumulation of ear wax. If there is excessive ear wax, it's best to wipe it out with a moistened cotton swap before applying any medication. &lt;strong&gt;Do not use Q-tips / cotton buds in a dog's ear.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then move your dominant hand (holding the medication bottle / dispenser) to the same ear and quickly squirt some of the medication in the ear. Continue massaging the ear to spread the medication. If the medication is very liquid, you don't even have to aim. It'll flow into the ear while you massage. If it's more like a gel and your dog won't let you aim in his ear, squirt a dose onto your finger tip and gently push the finger as deep into the ear as you can get, then massage. Be careful not to hurt your dog with your finger nails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After each treatment, give him some &lt;em&gt;very special&lt;/em&gt; treats he doesn't get every day and praise him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-10-27T05:37:18.820" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T05:37:18.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19087" CreationDate="2019-10-09T10:58:34.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can co-habitat your leopard geckos. The general rule of thumb is the best size tank for one leopard gecko is a ten gallon tank and +5 gallon for each gecko you want to put into. That means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 gecko = 10 gallon tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 geckos = 15 gallon tank &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 geckos = 20 gallon tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is more information about &lt;a href=&quot;https://thepetenthusiast.com/leopard-gecko-habitat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;providing captive leopard gecko habitat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16629" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-09T14:54:23.927" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T14:54:23.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26278" CreationDate="2019-10-09T14:48:34.523" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the experience was just as traumatic for you as it was for your pup. You will both &quot;get over it&quot; in time. Don't coddle the pup and act like you have to compensate for the way you treated him while you were doing those parenting things. He won't understand what's going on and he could become insecure from the apparent mood swings.  Instead... let's see if I can help you learn better ways to do those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nail clipping:&#xA;Bring your puppy into your lap while you are watching TV.  Lay his back against your belly and slowly (gently) stroke his belly.  As you do this he will become more and more relaxed. After he is relaxed, gently examine his paws and clip a nail or two.  Then after a bit do another...  (there is no rule that says you have to do every nail in one sitting)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bathtime:&#xA;Since your little guy is a puppy (I assume this means small), pick him up and put him in the sink. Most kitchen sinks (that I know of) have sprayers that you can pull out and use to soak down the pups fur. Just make sure that the water is warm (not too hot or cold) and that you hold the sprayer close to his skin (which also prevents splatter). There are several advantages to washing your dog in a sink including your own comfort, control, and the convenience of having everything you need within reach. Naturally, this might be far-fetched for larger dogs, but it's perfect for pups and small(er) breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ear Meds:&#xA;Let your puppy get used to you inspecting &quot;it&quot; all over. Puppy Mom's will nudge their offspring, toss them on their backs, smell their ears, etc. So puppies come to you with some level of handling. Still, getting your puppy used to you lifting up their ears and putting something inside them is... different. I think the name of the game here is that you are calm, prepared, and efficient. Lift the ear, look inside, snif (dogs sniff other dogs ears), add meds, then rub the back of the ears for a few seconds. That way the medicine will work it's way into the dog's ear canal and it helps make the experience more positive for the dog. Done without drama.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Congrats on your pup. I hope you have a long happy relationship!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13194" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T14:48:34.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26278" CreationDate="2019-10-09T15:16:21.247" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I give my dogs a shower instead of a bath. They're much calmer standing &quot;in the rain&quot; than in a pool of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16641" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T15:16:21.247" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21009" CreationDate="2019-10-09T16:55:45.467" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've trained two dogs now, a pitbull and a goldendoodle, without using domination techniques. My dogs are my friends and family. Specifically, I followed the Zak George school of training.  I'd invite you to consider his philosophy and consider his insights here for puppy biting: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRl1FhIBeKc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRl1FhIBeKc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am nowhere near experienced enough to extrapolate what the dog is feeling or what happened to him while being boarded, but the most effective way I've found to train my dogs is to find their favorite &quot;currency.&quot; Does your dog enjoy treats (&quot;food currency&quot;) or playing (&quot;play currency&quot;)? (My pitbull is food, my goldendoodle is play!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it may have also been Zak who described the dog's mouth as his &quot;hand;&quot; the dog's teeth are very sensitive to pressure and texture. They know the texture of human skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my doodle was a puppy (though I am sure this will work at any age), if he got too excited and bit my skin, I would let out a loud &quot;OUCH&quot; &lt;strong&gt;and play would immediately stop&lt;/strong&gt;, restarting a short ten seconds later. After reinforcing this behavior over several weeks, my doodle was very careful with playing and the puppy biting stopped. The &quot;OUCH&quot; technique then transitioned to stop the doodle from biting at my fiance's clothing.  If he leaped and tried to bit at her sleeves, she would exclaim &quot;OUCH&quot; and the doodle understood it as a cue to stop.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I transitioned from &quot;OUCH&quot; into &quot;NO&quot; in his training.  Those are in CAPS as instead of using a high pitched praising voice, it is a more firm lower pitched tone.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would invite the OP to please consider not using dominating techniques; as documented here: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33mLzcOU5wM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33mLzcOU5wM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explains how the scarcity of dog information before the advent of the internet helped perpetuate the dominate training myth.  Explains that Dogs are not Wolves.  Begins to explain that biting and bad behavior; has nothing to do with dominance.  Explains how biting is attributed to fear!  Argues that there is no scientific evidence to advocate the actual existence of &quot;dominance&quot; in a domesticated animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEXQsYEaYcI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEXQsYEaYcI&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trainer's most important video posted.  Explains that dogs are significantly different from wolves.  Goes into deep detail regarding the &quot;dog jumping on you&quot; as form of dominance.  Incorrect, according to the author.  Dog jumping on you is a learned behavior, and excitement.  Use positive reinforcement to perform proper training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcGvbVTN4yk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcGvbVTN4yk&lt;/a&gt; (specifically this one)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Covers the debunking of the debunking of positive reinforcement.  Covers the reason why the myth of dominance is perpetuated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16643" LastEditorUserId="16643" LastEditDate="2019-10-09T17:46:57.340" LastActivityDate="2019-10-09T17:46:57.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26313" CreationDate="2019-10-09T19:14:46.783" Score="4" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any statistics / findings on obesity rates in strictly indoor cats as compared to outdoor cats? Does giving a mostly indoor cat some time outside often result in noticeable weight loss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14312" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T13:58:34.133" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T20:27:49.247" Title="Obesity in indoor cats compared to outdoor cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26278" CreationDate="2019-10-10T01:42:01.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from what everyone else has mentioned for a smoother experience, try to remember: a dog is an animal, and have evolved from creatures that have lived in much harsher conditions than grooming and medicating your dog ever was or will be, and are more resilient than you're giving them credit for. As long as you're not intentionally harming it, it should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16648" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T01:42:01.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-10T15:09:14.773" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten of 4 months old just started scratching at the wallpaper.&#xA;So I thought I buy some extra scratching things which she can destroy if she wants.&#xA;But it doesn't help. I place them all around the room (as well as a scratching post and scratching tree thing) so she has a lot of choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think she is really bored either. She has a lot of toys to play with. We actually play fetch with some toymouse which I throw around the room, she then chases it and parades it in her mouth until she brings it back and drops it in front of me waiting for me to throw it again. She has easy access to some windows to look out of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is also pretty affectionate, we cuddle, she likes being around me, she chases me to every corner of the house if I move around. She only goes outside when I come along with her even though she is allowed to go explore on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing is that she scratches the wallpaper, sometimes just next to the approved scratching places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to make those places more attractive to scratch at?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16115" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T16:25:15.607" Title="How can I redirect attention of my kitten to scratch boards" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26296" CreationDate="2019-10-10T16:03:52.193" Score="7" ViewCount="7766" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first cat is now 4 1/2 months old (female) and has always meowed briefly &#xA;when I leave the room or when I go to sleep and lock her out of the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now she's meowing much more. Since I can't sleep with the cat in the room, because she's always romping and purring very loudly, I always lock her out of my bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the cat spends most of her time in the hallway, because that's where her cat tree is. But now she starts meowing very loudly when I lock her out. This sometimes goes on for up to 15 minutes. At night, when I go to the toilet and lie down again, she meows again for almost 10 minutes. Furthermore, if I have locked her out during the day for a short time, she meows again, but after I open the door, she comes in only briefly and starts to romp without me, that is, she runs through the whole room and starts to wreck it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same thing happens when I close the door in the bathroom, meow loudly and after the door is open again and I am still in the room, she goes out again after a minute and actually wants nothing to do with me. I have the feeling that she doesn't want to play with me, but only in the same room. I have been treating the cat this way since she was little and this is not a change that she cannot sleep with me or always be with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I break the habit that she always starts to meow out loud as soon as she can't come to me anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16665" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T13:58:21.313" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T11:23:10.363" Title="Cat meows very loudly when I lock her out of the room" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26044" CreationDate="2019-10-10T16:23:32.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guppy males harass females quite aggressively, and it is therefore recommended that you have multiple females per male.  Males will also flaunt each other and harass each other.  Males exhibit this behavior, because reproduction in guppies works like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Males tire females until they are slow and cannot avoid them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Males then make swooping passes with their genitalia to basically stab the females with sperm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe why this evolved is to ensure the strongest males are the ones which pass their genes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ensure the fry survive, you will need areas which they can hide easily, such as in high density plants where adults cannot go, or roots of other plants.  You do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; need to separate fry unless you want to make 100% sure that every-single one lives.  Typically guppies have more than one fry (4 -&amp;gt; 30), so if you see only one, it means that your fish were stressed, the babies died, or your guppies ate the others.  Guppy mothers can also hold off on giving birth for months, and continually use the same sperm to produce new broods over an extended period of time (again, multiple months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T00:45:26.113" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T00:45:26.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26292" CreationDate="2019-10-10T16:25:15.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scratching is a natural territorial behavior.  Cats may scratch more if they're bored, but it's something they'll do anyways as part of the normal routine.  Cats have different preferences for scratching material, scratching position, and location.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a specific spot the cat is scratching, physically block it with a scratcher, so it has no choice but to scratch the scratcher.  In the case of scratching the walls, there are actually wall-mounted scratchers you can buy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also experiment with various scratchers and see if you can work out what scratching material and position your cat prefers and see if you can replicate that as closely as possible.  In the case of scratching the walls, it may be that your cat prefers harder surfaces, rather than the more carpet-like types, and therefore I would try out scratchers made with sisal or cardboard.  Scratching at the walls also seems to indicate your cat might prefer a more vertical position while scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try to make areas that you don't want the cat scratching less appealing for scratching.  Those areas that it particularly likes scratching, you might try applying double sided tape, or covering it with aluminum foil.  Cats tend to dislike these textures and therefore may be dissuaded from scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T16:25:15.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26293" CreationDate="2019-10-10T17:11:23.707" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't mention any other people or cats living in your house. Assuming that's accurate, you are her only family. She's just a baby who wants to be near someone else, and the only other living being in her home is shutting her out. I bet you'd cry in her position too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of locking her out of the room at night, try locking her in with you. You may think this is counterproductive, but at her age, training her to sleep through the night will go much more quickly than it does with an adult cat. Let her in and keep her there; minimize the stimulation available (few toys, no noisy ones) and maximize the ability to remain in the room (water, litter box). Give her some comfortable places to sleep, and allow her the bed as an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before bedtime, spend some time playing with her. Use something she can chase and pounce like a wand toy; you want her to burn energy. After a good play session, head into the bedroom, give her some food, and go to bed. Give her some calming attention (pet or cuddle her, but don't play even if she tries to initiate). Once you turn off the lights, ignore her. Even if you're still awake, pretend to be asleep and ignore her. Again, in the morning, don't let her get you out of bed; make sure your alarm is the reason you're getting up, not because of anything she's doing. It will take very little time before she learns that she can't get attention from you, and starts to either sleep, or quietly occupy herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Counter to most people's perceptions, cats are not actually nocturnal; they're crepuscular, active at dawn and dusk when their prey is most likely to be active. They spend a great deal of their day sleeping, and it's fairly trivial to condition them to overlap those sleep hours with those of the humans in their household. The key is consistently ignoring their efforts to wake you. That means no yelling at them, no spray bottles, no noisemakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exception should be if they are doing something truly destructive, in which case you will want to get up, stop the behavior, briefly scold them (a sharp &quot;no!&quot; is generally sufficient), and then get back into bed and pretend to go back to sleep. If you get up, focus a lot of time on stopping them, and then stay up, they will continue that destructive behavior--it got you out of bed and paying attention to them, after all. If you don't give them what they want, they'll abandon that tactic fairly quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within a couple of weeks of consistent behavior, you should see her start to sleep through the night with you; if you keep it consistent, it's very likely you'll be the one who is awake first and be waking her up in the morning, rather than the other way around (this is currently the case with all of my cats). As long as her basic needs for water, toilet, and companionship are being met, she should be perfectly content to quietly sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-10-10T17:11:23.707" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-11T02:30:47.467" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it'd be a good idea to cool an aquarium with an external source of water, e.g., pool water. Because my tank runs hot in summer (~30C) and needs to be brought down to 25C, I was thinking if it'd be a good idea to have the extra (plastic?) storage cooled by circulating a ring of (salt) pool water around it. Will this likely be effective? Plastic storage probably won't be ideal since it's an insulator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16672" LastActivityDate="2019-10-11T02:30:47.467" Title="Efficient aquarium cooler" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2019-10-11T08:35:52.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-11T04:30:20.750" Score="3" ViewCount="2913" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a 4 year old Sphynx cat 6 days ago. He’s been sleeping a lot and shaking constantly when he’s awake. I took him to the vet and he said he thinks this is nothing to worry about. I’m concerned as he is drinking quite a bit too. Any ideas of what this could be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16674" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-10-19T13:34:03.917" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T13:34:03.917" Title="Cat is shaking and sleeping" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26362" CreationDate="2019-10-11T09:05:40.150" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a cat and I wonder what breed it is, how can I identify the breed of my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T21:23:42.133" Title="How can I identify the breed of my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26299" CreationDate="2019-10-11T09:20:44.773" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal for cats to sleep up to 20 hours a day see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/3074/13&quot;&gt;How many hours a day is it normal for a cat to sleep?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats normally don't drink much water see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1881/13&quot;&gt;How do I motivate a cat to drink more water?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prolonged shaking is not normal in any mammal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't mention the vet doing any lab work, so I have to assume he did not do any.  Take your cat to a different vet and request lab work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other considerations; you don't say where you got the cat, but if the cat was poorly cared for in its previous home.  high fluid intake and nervous shaking could be related to previous experience and poor care.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-10-11T09:20:44.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23379" CreationDate="2019-10-11T15:25:47.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If not a cry for attention, this is most likely a sign of affection. Our rescue cat was immensely grateful when we took him in. Other than cuddling, at night he would curl into me and start grooming my beard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish breath was disgusting, but I appreciated the kind gesture and didn't feel like telling him off for it (your mileage may vary). He eventually stopped when he matured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same thing happens between our other two cats (sisters), and occasionally the three of them. It's a sign of affecting that they help groom each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want it to stop without punishing your cat for it, simply suggest alternate affection. Move your face away, pet the cat and softly nudge her to lie down next to you. If you keep doing this, you're going to get what you want. If the cat doesn't like it, it won't approach you anymore (because it knows you're going to try and force it into a cuddle), if it does like it, then you've successfully redirected it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not an overnight fix as you're trying to retrain a cat's natural reflex. It takes time and consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-10-11T15:25:47.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6665" CreationDate="2019-10-11T16:27:03.767" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wet meat chunks, that the cat has to chew on are far better at cleaning teeth, than canned or pouched wet food. Dental kibble fed in conjunction with this helps. Raw chicken necks (chopped into bite size chunks) and chicken wings are also good for teeth but cats with gingivitis are not keen to eat them. Probiotics are also a must as it supports the immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16679" LastActivityDate="2019-10-11T16:27:03.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-11T21:14:25.090" Score="8" ViewCount="1253" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm driving home from some place and my dog is in the car, he always knows when we're close to home (say, a minute from home) as he gets all excited. My question is: how does he know we're almost there? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's a very small dog on the car floor, so he doesn't see out of the windows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think smells are to rule out too because this happens with all the windows closed and even if there's food in the car, the smell of which should cover any subtle hints. And I don't see how the vicinity of my house should smell differently than the rest of the small village I live in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He could have memorized a set of turns on the road to the house, but there are at least 3 different roads we could be coming from, and I doubt he's smart enough to have memorized and recognize all of them just by feeling the turns.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what's my dog's secret sixth sense? Either I'm underestimating dogs' sense of smell or their ability to memorize routes from just feeling acceleration in turns, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16680" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T12:38:48.363" Title="How does my dog know we're almost home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20222" CreationDate="2019-10-12T05:19:42.100" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend feeding her live insects. Her developmental problem may be due to her lack of essential nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16684" LastActivityDate="2019-10-12T05:19:42.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-12T13:42:37.567" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently got a 4 year old Sphynx cat and I was looking for any recommendations for good quality food for him. I read that the food needs to be high in meat and preferably wet food so he gets a higher water intake. Also any recommendations for a shampoo that will be gentle for his skin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16674" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-10-23T12:22:17.943" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T12:22:17.943" Title="Good quality food for Sphynx cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-12T20:19:39.530" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 16.5 pound cat who is neutered and is out in the daytime.  He is in at night but seems to get into scrapes with neighborhood cats who come into &quot;his territory&quot; in the daytime when he is out.  My vet usually prescribes clavamox liquid and I asked her for some tablets to keep on hand in case he got hurt after hours or on weekends so I could get him started on antibiotics asap.  He is FIV positive which is why he can't be inside all the time with my other two cats and also why I want to get him on antibiotics quickly after getting bitten.  She gave me 125mg tablets which is equal to more than the 1.5 ml liquid he usually takes.  Can I break these tablets and give him only 3/4 each time then discard the 1/4 leftover.  Of course it is the weekend now and I can't call her. I've heard you shouldn't divide tablets that are not scored but I am afraid of overdosing with the whole 125mg tablet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16686" LastActivityDate="2019-10-12T20:19:39.530" Title="dosage of clavamox for a large cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-13T08:42:43.363" Score="0" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1 and a half year old Male Rhodesian Ridgeback and in the past 2 months his lip and gum is changing color from black to a whitish-red. I have taken him to his vet but the vet just said it's pigmentation. I am not sure about that and am considering a second opinion from another vet. It just doesn't look right. I have read articles which suggest taking away rubber/plastic toys and bowls which I have done for the past week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see the below picture &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o4Ijd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before(approximately 4 months ago)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CF5rE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had this with their dogs or have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5956" LastEditorUserId="5956" LastEditDate="2019-10-13T17:44:03.307" LastActivityDate="2019-11-12T18:02:05.427" Title="My dogs lips and gums are changing color" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26311" CreationDate="2019-10-13T13:32:19.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely does not look a pigmentation due to the swelling. What your original veterinarian suggested would be vitiligo, which is gradual and does not generally happen within a week. My best guess would be that it is an allergy because of the swelling, I would get a second opinion on it from another veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16688" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T13:32:19.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26286" CreationDate="2019-10-13T14:13:17.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a really interesting question. Here's what I found online.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.friendshiphospital.com/friendship-news/cats-indoor-versus-outdoor/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.friendshiphospital.com/friendship-news/cats-indoor-versus-outdoor/&lt;/a&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a result, outdoor cats have a lower risk of obesity and stress related disease processes such as Feline Idiopathic Cystitis, among others. Despite these benefits, most studies have demonstrated that urban cats who remain indoors can live up to 2 years longer than their outdoor counterparts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any specific studies, but I hope that helps with part of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16688" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T14:13:17.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26088" CreationDate="2019-10-13T16:39:47.243" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I will post my experience with how we dealt with our cat as an answer. He is fine again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly if this is happening to your cat and they do not drink or eat for an extended period of time you have to take them to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said our cat was lethargic and just not doing anything and there was no way for us to get him out of this state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we assume got him out was the visit to the vet which he hates with passion. That time he was even more angry than usual because of the infusion. He hissed and clawed and was completly out of it. When we took him back home he just went to being normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am not saying take your cat to a place they really hate and make them all angry. But maybe surprise them in a good way. If there is a place your cat really likes, an activity he likes but generally does not get to do, a very special treat or food that you can get or maybe just a person that does not belong to your household but the cat adores - go there, do it, give them or get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this well help someone in the same situation. Just generally be there for your cat and support it as you would a grieving person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T16:39:47.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26263" CreationDate="2019-10-13T18:19:27.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever heard of &lt;em&gt;Trap-Neuter-Return&lt;/em&gt;? (in your case, it would be &lt;em&gt;Trap-Heal-Return&lt;/em&gt;). It's a method of catching a feral cat in order to either neuter it or getting it the medical care it needs, then releasing it back into the wild. If you can invest in it, I recommend using this method to take it to a vet. Some local animal organizations can also do it for you, if you have any nearby. Here's a good video on how to: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF_omFE7Etc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF_omFE7Etc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When choosing a vet, please be sure it's a vet comfortable with taking care of feral cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have to see a photograph, but my best guess would be a bacterial infection, which is common in feral cats, causing inflammation and hair loss. This is only a guess, though, so your best bet is to use the method described above and take the cat to a vet! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16688" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T18:19:27.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26252" CreationDate="2019-10-13T18:25:57.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is generally normal cat behavior. Imagine your cat as a lion, resting and sleeping. When it senses movement, like an animal in the distance, it perks up and pounces. This is a sign that your cat is bored and wants to play. The cat is not being malicious, unless there is signs of hissing and your cat seems tense. (Which doesn't seem like the case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it sees you moving, it thinks of you as that animal in the distance, much like it does with its toys. To avoid this, when the cat tries to attack you, get a toy instead and give it something funner to play with. That way, it learns to avoid attacking you and instead plays with toys on its own and reinforces the idea that you're not a toy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16688" LastActivityDate="2019-10-13T18:25:57.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26252" CreationDate="2019-10-14T14:03:14.537" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason it's regularly recommended to adopt kittens in pairs is because they are extremely active and looking to play; as you have only a single kitten, you are now the target of that play activity. Knowingly or not, you assumed the role of &quot;playmate&quot; for this kitten when you took it in. Unless you're willing to get a second kitten (and go through a proper introduction between the two of them), you're going to have to fulfill that role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get some interactive toys (toys attached to strings on wands are good for this, or a laser pointer with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/8158/laser-pointer-does-a-no-win-situation-risk-psychological-harm-to-cats&quot;&gt;proper consideration to how your cat may respond to it&lt;/a&gt;), and play with your kitten. You'll both find it fun, it will be a good way for the two of you to bond with each other, you'll help it burn off some of its kitten energy, and you'll help it redirect attention toward toys instead of your ankles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-10-14T14:03:14.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-14T18:15:49.047" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently returned my fish to my main tank, a 65 g, after treating two weeks for ichthyophthiriasis. Two days after treatment ended, I transferred my larger fish home to a fully planted tank and the flashing symptom was relieved. I left the 9 guppies to cycle the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I handle the sky high counts (nitrites 0.5 ppm, nitrates 80 ppm, no ammonium, measured with heavy Prime), and how long before I know my fish are totally clean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also cooked my 65 at 80 for two weeks, the first 5 days at 89.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16699" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:16:15.550" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:16:15.550" Title="Ichthyophthiriasis control in tanks, nitrites and nitrates" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19240" CreationDate="2019-10-14T19:55:58.847" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turtles and fish are always a bad mix. &#xA;Goldfish are dirty and turtles are dirtier. Fish cannot survive in an environment high in organic waste.&#xA;Fortunately, turtles have cast iron guts and can eat just about anything.&#xA;Still, keep an eye out for both parasites and illness, just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16699" LastActivityDate="2019-10-14T19:55:58.847" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26320" CreationDate="2019-10-14T19:59:57.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I keep goldfish and the tank is not heated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ich, as far as I recall, has a lifecycle, and it’s called &quot;white spot&quot; in the UK. The copper-based medicine I used recommended treating over a 6 day period because Ich lives on the fish, then drops off and forms &quot;pustules&quot; which then burst and the new ich goes back on the fish. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyophthirius_multifiliis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; actually explains it but uses much more technical terms, and also with a temperature variation far outside the regions in my tank. The ich cannot be killed on the fish or in the &quot;pustule&quot;, so the Ich treatment schedule was timed to maximise dosage at the best points when it was in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that is a pretty complicated way of saying you should know they’re clear in about 6 days. But you’ll be worrying about it for weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I always got the feeling the older goldfish developed a certain resistance to Ich because when it came again (after buying new fish, no matter how careful I thought I was), only the new fish got it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your chemistry. I don’t &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; your numbers are deadly but they’re not perfect. Water change to dilute them, 25% seems to be recommended. Add more filter bacteria. Keep cycling the tank. Check you haven’t lightly sautéed your plants (decaying plant matter can mess up the chemistry, too). Living, healthy plants will eat nitrates, decaying plants will produce ammonia (to nitrites, to nitrates if your filter is working). Watch the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. There are some better fish experts on here than me, so hang tight and hopefully a tropical fish expert will give a more specific answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2019-10-14T19:59:57.007" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-15T02:32:27.557" Score="33" ViewCount="17033" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently (3-4 weeks ago) adopted this cat and she was incredibly scared at first. With time she warmed up to me, but she is only happy if I'm sitting down or lying down. As soon as she notices I'm standing up, she runs and sometimes hisses at me. Nevertheless, when I'm lying down it's like we are best friends. She even lets me rub her tummy, something that not even other cats I've owned let me do. She also approaches me to pet her when I'm lying down. What can I do so she knows that me standing is just like... well... me, but sitting down? As I type this, I'm lying down and she's lying on top of me and I need to stand up :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, she is 1 year old and unspayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16700" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T22:10:13.953" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T22:10:13.953" Title="My cat gets angry and scared at me if I stand" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-15T03:27:56.957" Score="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat may be interpreting your standing up as an aggressive posture, as cats will arch themselves up to make themselves as tall as possible when they're being scared or aggressive. Or, it may be that your cat is very jumpy, and dislikes the sudden movement, whereas if you're sitting or lying down you're bound to be pretty still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it might help if you try to give it positive reinforcement while you are standing, so it starts to associate your standing up with good things. For instance, toss the cat treats while you are standing, or try to play using a feather wand while you are standing. It's important to also try to get the cat to come to you, rather than trying to approach it, so it feels in charge of the situation and not cornered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-15T03:27:56.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-15T12:19:32.077" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She's probably just nervous. Alert the cat that you're about to stand up. Pet her or make a sound so she knows you're aware that she's there and not about to step on or attack her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16702" LastActivityDate="2019-10-15T12:19:32.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-15T16:14:45.383" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do your cat a favor and get her spayed. It will definitely help stop her from feeling so nervous and jumpy. Was she feral? That could contribute to the fear, as would abandonment. If a human abused her or hit her, or even accidentally hurt her when in a standing position this could cause her reaction as well. There's even reports that show that if a cat saw a human abusing another animal, that they would react in fear to anyone who looked like the human abuser - even if they were not the same person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puffing out their fur and arching their backs is what cats do when they are being confronted - they want to make themselves seem bigger towards a potential foe. This is a fear based reaction but it's also a dominance reaction. If it were totally fear the cat would run away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your standing may make her think that you are confronting her and being dominant. She runs away, and hisses sometimes, letting you know her displeasure with the fact that you are suddenly posturing yourself in a position of dominance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that you start working with your cat to get her used to you in a standing position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following series of steps should be done painstakingly slowly and with great patience. You must be consistent and you should do this daily. Start at five minutes and expand as you go along. Daily time with your cat is time well spent. Having a vertical perch, with different levels for her to sit on, may be helpful during the entire process, with that goal that eventually she would climb it and be beside you when you stand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step One: Start by lying on the floor with her. Slowly get to a sitting position on the floor. The goal is to get her to the point where she sits on your lap. Your movements should be slow and gentle, and if at first she runs away, speak to her with a calm voice while you sit. Don't force her to come to you. Use treats to get her to come near to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use toys as well, a paper bag, or play the &quot;underneath&quot; game. If that's too much and she's too timid for that, just consistently sit on the floor until she gets to the point of being able to approach you and get into your lap and/or rub all over you. If you have a multi-tiered perch, getting her to be on the same level as you are would be helpful. This might take a few weeks, but it could be quicker - but do this daily until she's accustomed to you sitting on the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step Two would be to go from lying to sitting to kneeling. This might be killer on the knees but see if you can use a pillow. It would be the same thing - patiently get her to the point of being with you. Use a calm voice, treats, play - whatever you can to get her to the point where she doesn't run away - but plays with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step Three would be sitting - not in a chair - but on a footrest or something like it - again, getting your cat to slowly get used to you in this position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, each step slowly makes you taller and bigger but non-threatening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Step Four is the last step, and this would be standing. You can absolutely play with her while standing with the right toys, and with a multilevel perch you could encourage her to be with you at every level.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that patience, taking as long a time as she needs, a calming voice and not rushing or forcing her will be the key to getting her to learn that you are not a threat. Otherwise she may always live in fear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, making the time to be with your cat will give you the chance of creating a great relationship between the two of you, which, in my opinion, is priceless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9139" LastActivityDate="2019-10-15T16:14:45.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-15T16:42:54.210" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fear of a standing human hints at the behavior being conditioned e.g. by previously having been kicked. It's the very same trigger situation as traumatized humans with anxiety disorder might display.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to avoid this trigger situation as much as possible - this can only be deconditioned by establishing trust (as @ahavoc already described it). Once had a hunting dog who reacted similarly whenever she saw green military cloth (similar to a hunter's outfit). When the pupils turn large and the eyes are fixating on you, when hissing, this means fear - if not, then it might have another cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing her with some kind of cave (with a roof), where she can hide, might also curb the defensive reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16707" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T23:24:08.523" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T23:24:08.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-15T17:38:11.137" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cat when I was younger that my dad accidentally stepped on when she was a kitten and resulted in some trauma. She fully recovered and became a total sweetheart, and actually lived to be quite old. If you were sitting down she'd hop up on the couch and curl in your lap like a normal cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you stood up or were walking around the house she would panic and run for safety. Even having the cat's full trust she still couldn't quite shake the fear she had of people's feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the point? If she's adopted you may not know all of the cat's history and something like this could have happened. I've known several adopted cats and it's pretty common for them to be skittish initially, but if you are consistently kind to them and avoid threatening behavior, they usually will come around. But sometimes they still might have some residual fear of some kind that sticks around. If the cat is otherwise friendly to you, Don't worry about it too much, and just try avoid &quot;startling&quot; it with whatever behavior they don't like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16708" LastActivityDate="2019-10-15T17:38:11.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26330" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26331" CreationDate="2019-10-15T21:07:08.890" Score="3" ViewCount="412" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse was eating and jumped back from her feed bowl and wouldn't go back to it. I thought she may have been stung by the electric fence, but thought that was strange as she was well aware of how to avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I took some feed in to put in a tyre feeder that was on the ground and I could move it away from the fence. She wouldn't come near it. So I pulled the tyre feeder away from the fence (only a foot it was heavy) and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQZFKfWuPjs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;found a red belly black snake curled up under it&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The horse knew the snake was there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone told me they thought their horses were being killed by red belly black snakes and it got me thinking. Red belly black snakes are venomous, but they're not aggressive, they avoid people. I don't know much about their interactions with horses. Interestingly the snake moved very slowly. It was something my son and I commented on. It was later in the day and there had been plenty of warmth and sun (it's Spring), so either the snake was scared or possibly injured, although I could not see any visible signs of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-bellied_black_snake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;red belly black snakes&lt;/a&gt; venomous to horses?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I tell is my horse has been bitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-10-16T06:30:57.020" Title="Can a red belly black snake kill a horse? How would I know if my horse has been bitten?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26330" CreationDate="2019-10-16T06:30:57.020" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can a red belly black snake kill a horse?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably not. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-bellied_black_snake#Venom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; lists its venom as having a LD&lt;sub&gt;50&lt;/sub&gt; in mice as 2.52 mg/kg, with an average of 37mg administered in a bite. I'd expect horses to be a lot heavier than 15 kg, so they should be in the clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean a bite can't cause some nasty symptoms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bites from red-bellied black snakes can be very painful—needing analgesia—and result in local swelling, prolonged bleeding, and even local necrosis, particularly if the bite is on a finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely place for a horse to be bitten would be the legs. They are the closest to the ground and are most likely to threaten the snake (by accidentally or purposefully stepping on the snake). A visual inspection of the legs should go a long way, since most of the symptoms listed should be visible on the outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other remarks based on your video:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the snake seems sluggish, most likely cause is being cold. While the weather might have been warm, they were hidden beneath something, so not in direct sunlight. Another option would be counting on their camouflage, but I'm personally not impressed by the camouflaging features of their colouring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the snake looks very well fed. At the timestamp 1:11 in your video, you can easily see the space between the scales, pretty much over the entire body. It seems that it's doing some useful pest control ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11248" LastActivityDate="2019-10-16T06:30:57.020" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-16T10:27:32.897" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get up slower!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a sudden idea pop in your head, and you decide to get up instantly with no warning, it may catch your cat off guard and scare her. Try first making a noise or creating movement, like a wiggle in your seat. This might wake her up a bit so she's more tuned in to reality. After that, slowly lean forward as if you are getting up, then get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild, when big cats are all sitting down, it's because they're relaxing. If one big cat suddenly jumps up, it's because there is danger nearby and everybody must be ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your cat is responding to her natural instinct, so you could be scaring her thinking there is danger nearby. Get up slowly, assuring her there is nothing alarming nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16714" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-22T01:26:27.123" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T01:26:27.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26277" CreationDate="2019-10-16T10:42:56.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they are small (roughly 1mm in diamater), are flat and they don't hurt your cat (he doesn't recoil or otherwise seem to be in pain if you touch them) and your cat is not actively scratching them due to itchiness, your cat probably has &lt;em&gt;lentigo simplex&lt;/em&gt;, AKA &quot;cat freckles&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are 99% harmless and more will appear as the cat ages. However, if your visibly feels pain if they are touched, or they grow large (more than 2mm in general), check with your vet. You can take your cat to the vet right away to confirm that they are just cat freckles, if you want to be sure and rule out anything serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastActivityDate="2019-10-16T10:42:56.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26306" CreationDate="2019-10-16T13:23:01.270" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe his nose is probably telling him. Even with the windows closed, you will have air flowing into the car through the ventilation system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have an incredible sense of smell; hundreds of times more sensitive than ours. Bomb-sniffing dogs are trained to detect dozens of separate ingredients that may be combined into explosives. When you walk into a house and smell beef stew cooking, your dog smells beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, etc. Dogs are being trained to sniff out cancer cells, drugs, specific human scents, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your neighborhood may have a familiar array of scents that your dogs recognizes as you approach. I see the same reaction from my dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2019-10-16T13:23:01.270" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26360" CreationDate="2019-10-16T17:00:15.967" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since our dog was badly attacked a few months ago we have been investigating many many different techniques and products to help stop attacks in progress (on top of preventative measures) and one I recently stumbled upon was a product called &lt;em&gt;Sentry Stop That!&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It states that it has a Lavender chamomile fragrance as well as pheromones (I have been told it contains 0.1% Pheromone); but the main point of it is it's &quot;hissing sound&quot; it makes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The product can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sentrypetcare.com/products/sentry-stop-that-noise-and-pheromone-spray/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.sentrypetcare.com/products/sentry-stop-that-noise-and-pheromone-spray/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140824213155.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;info&lt;/a&gt; found in @elmy's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26360/16628&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; it appears this spray uses Pig Pheromones; what &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.depts.ttu.edu/animalwelfare/Research/Pheromones/Pig.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;type of pig pheromone&lt;/a&gt; it uses is unclear however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the to the root of my question, when our dog was attacked, she was attacked by another dog that was on heat (or just coming off heat); so my question is, would a product that contains Pheromones make dogs that are on heat/coming off heat more horny/wild - because obviously that is the opposite of what we want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess because it is a pig pheromone it shouldn't be an issue as it comes from a different species, but something that stood out to me from the article was this part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Having shown its effectiveness, McGlone was able to classify androstenone not only as a pheromone but also as an intermone, a term developed by him and his team that refers to a product that is a &quot;pheromone in one species and has a behavioral effect in another species, &lt;strong&gt;but we do not know if it is a pheromone (naturally produced) in the other species.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have asked the supplier but it seems they didn't really want to directly answer the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16628" LastEditorUserId="16628" LastEditDate="2019-10-19T12:59:39.193" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T05:49:15.993" Title="How will dogs on heat react to &quot;Sentry Stop That&quot; spray contaning pig pheromone?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-16T18:49:41.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get the cat familiar with your walking behaviour. Stand up facing sideways and ignore the cat. Don't look at the cat while you stand up, ignore him and pretend he doesn't exist, especially if he feels threatened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Play with him with a thingy on a string while standing, or food on a string, and whatever gets him used to you standing. Cats understand calm eye movements, so if you look at him and away, like you just stepped out of a bored movie when he is anxious, it will chill him out a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eye contact is sure to aggravate an annoyed cat. Casual movements and actions like manicuring your hand and looking at something like a curtain and messing with it will calm the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16722" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T23:22:21.420" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T23:22:21.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-16T22:02:43.073" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 week old kitten that is biting alot. I had my brother stay with me for a few weeks and unfortunately I think he was mistreating her. I noticed her hiss at him when he would approach her which I had never even seen her do before! He would hold her and not put her down when she clearly wanted down until I would say something. I think it is crazy that he would seriously do little things to her that she did not like even after I had told him not to. because of these kinds of things he was told to leave my home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now my kitten is biting a lot. I believe she still trusts and loves me. She nudges my face with hers and my lap is her favorite place. We bonded from the beginning of me having her and she clearly knows I'm her human.  But she has been biting alot when we play. She is also biting blankets, the corners of shelves etc and I'm concerned. I wonder if it could also be pain and or teething, possibly inbreeding causing aggression? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to do a couple of things to correct the biting. I try to devote time everyday to play with her so she gets her kitten energy out. And I try to show her that I don't like it when she hurts me by stopping playing and ignoring her. But she gets so aggressive at times it cannot be ignored. I just want her to be ok and not to grow up biting people. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T06:36:40.200" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T09:03:23.370" Title="Kitten is biting please help" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-16T22:18:14.590" Score="0" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EYKfm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog started becoming very itchy and had tiny bumps on her skin so we assumed she had mites like she had in the past , we are working on getting her into the vet but now recently she’s developed these bumps on both of her back legs , could this be from the mites or is it something else ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16724" LastActivityDate="2019-10-16T22:18:14.590" Title="Bumps from mites or something else?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26323" CreationDate="2019-10-17T06:59:16.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;She likely has some bad history with standing humans (being chased, kicked, stepped on, etc.) and thus is nervous about humans standing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted two cats myself about a year and a half ago, and one of them has a rather nervous disposition. Most of the time he hides behind the sofa, and whenever I come walking he runs away (though after a year or so he simply cowers and keeps a careful eye on me as I walk past). However, as soon as I go to bed he comes and wants to cuddle, often ending up spending the night sleeping on the pillow next to my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16726" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T23:23:19.980" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T23:23:19.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-17T08:44:13.707" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;After having blood in vomit, I had veterinarian to make a (costly 120 euro) blood test of my cat. &#xA;The vet him/herself was not present when we got the cat, and according to the receptionist, they were not sure what was wrong with the cat: everything in their test seemed ok apart from a bit higher than normal white blood cell count and a bit of fever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bfDWy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bfDWy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ECLO8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ECLO8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prescription is a drug called &lt;code&gt;Emeprid&lt;/code&gt; which I have to administer to the cat twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm wondering what major diseases have been ruled out by the blood test and what possible causes of the bloody vomiting may be hidden from the blood test?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="7501" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T17:55:57.847" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T17:55:57.847" Title="What health problems can not a cat blood test reveal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26337" CreationDate="2019-10-17T09:03:23.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Your kitten is teething&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your kitten is 9 weeks old, which is roughly the time when they start losing their baby teeth and start growing their adult teeth. This causes the kitten to chew on a lot of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are special teething toys for kittens that are safe to bite on and won't harm their teeth (as opposed to say.. chewing on the furniture) , but this is perfectly normal cat behavior for this age, and doesn't automatically mean she'll grow up to bite people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the kitten bites you, gently put her away and don't continue playing. This will teach her that biting during play isn't allowed and it will stop play time. Give her something else soft to chew on instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A visit to your vet could tell you if perhaps the kitten's teeth are growing too closely together, which might be causing her discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10272" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T09:03:23.370" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-17T09:05:07.430" Score="2" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I ask here the opposite of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/26306/16373&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/26008/16373&quot;&gt;My dog&lt;/a&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;at home&lt;/strong&gt;. A few minutes &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; I arrive home by car, he gets excited that I arrive (I know because the parents tell me so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He keeps his excitement all the time, while I park the car, and enter the door - when he greets me personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smell, noise and other &quot;standard&quot; senses should be pretty much useless. The distance is too big, and the interferences too strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be related to the question: how do animals sense danger (e.g. earthquakes, storms...)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in these cases there are vibrations or sounds in the ground (transmitted through the building walls) or specific changes in air pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans are too insensitive to feel these, but animals are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Schematic of the area:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n8bOP.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/n8bOP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;red line: my path with car (on normal streets);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cyan areas: buildings taller or much taller than the car;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;purple square: wild estimation where I am when the dog starts to be excited;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the green-ish stuff - lots of vegetation: tall bushes, trees, tall trees...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in the anonymized white area there are also tall buildings and vegetation;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T13:31:45.340" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T15:01:10.137" Title="How does my dog know that I arrive home?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19830" CreationDate="2019-10-17T09:08:44.037" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great post, you guys! One of my 2 cats (both neutered males) had taken to painting all of my walls, furniture, and anything else he could reach. I was horrified when I got a UV light. He never did that in all of the 9 years I've had him and didn't when I got him a buddy (they love each other and did so right away) but when a strange black cat started showing up outside both of my cats went nuts and the older one (9) started his wall painting, as well as the curtains out in the kitty room. I couldn't keep up with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats are indoor cats so it's not like the stray is actually going to get in here but they both hate him (and he is weird...my neighbor's cats hate him too). I've tried cleaning with a pet urine enzyme and then spraying some &quot;No More Spraying&quot; but that hasn't worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a sneaky little bugger too; he waits until he thinks I'm not looking and then does it. He's learned that the minute I see him backing his butt up to something he gets yelled at. It wasn't until I found &quot;Cat Spraying No More&quot; that I was able to finally get rid of this tiresome behavior. Now my house doesn't smell like a litter box anymore :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link the their site if you're interested in checking it out, I highly recommend this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://nomorecatpee.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;nomorecatpee.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nabil&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16728" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T09:08:44.037" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26349" CreationDate="2019-10-17T10:27:24.257" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;A neighbour's cat occasionally visits me (spayed tom) and while I enjoy his company, he has one habit that is somewhat antisocial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to really like physical contact, but will often have a significant amount of kneading behaviour coupled with excessive salivation. Sometimes the cat will swallow the salivation (you can see and hear him gulping). Other times, he won't. He will also use his claws for kneading at the same time, which can be distinctly uncomfortable if he's on one's lap. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I previously had a cat who never expressed either of these behaviours (but that cat wasn't a massive fan of physical contact, so the occasion never arose I suppose). I remember reading that this type of behaviour has a connection to a cat's memory of being a kitten (kneading and suckling from its mother). Is there any way to gently curb this behaviour? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16730" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T14:59:26.430" Title="Kneading and drooling in cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26345" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26358" CreationDate="2019-10-17T12:39:34.053" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two dogs (~2 years old) which have lived with me in my apartment since they were 3 months old. There are certain boundaries that I want to teach them (no putting the paws on tables, no eating from tables, definitely not eating from the kitchen counter!). One of them seems to get these boundaries just fine, and even enforces them himself every now and then (&quot;scolding&quot; the other dog when he trespasses). The other one, more anxious in general, doesn't seem to get them (or more likely, gets them but doesn't care, since he will stop the behaviour when he hears/sees me approach him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;naughty&quot; dog will constantly put his paws on the kitchen counter and try to eat whatever he can get (bread crumbs mostly), and although he normally respects my table, will eat whatever I leave there if left unattended for a couple of hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the key to correcting certain behaviours is not so much a harsh punishment but a consistent one (he should get corrected every time he does X behaviour, instead of just once every few times). My problem is that I usually can't catch the behaviour: I live in a studio, so I can't physically restrict access to the kitchen (which is also where he eats and drinks); this means that he has unsupervised access to the kitchen counter, so I probably catch 1 out 10 times he puts his paws in there and licks it. Same goes for food left at the table: I notice when something obvious is missing, but I've often caught him licking crumbs from the plates, which I wouldn't have noticed had I not caught him red-handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I teach my dog that he can't eat/lick stuff from tables and counters if he has unsupervised access to tables and counters every day?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16732" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T20:31:37.353" Title="How do I teach my dog that certain behaviours are off limits when I can't enforce it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-17T13:53:53.030" Score="6" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://media.giphy.com/media/RibDTSXnvGUfyvW5d1/giphy.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a ~5mo (mostly) American mini-pig/potbelly mix.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The little guy &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; to snuggle. We have a ramp up to our couch that he'll use whenever we're sitting up there. He'll come up, climb on our laps and oink angrily at us until we put our hand on him and give him scratches. Same thing if we sit on the floor by him (he'll hop on almost immediately).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's the thing--if we walk over and squat down, he'll come up to us to check if we have food. And if we reach a hand out and start to slowly pet him or give him scratches, he hates it. He always squeals and runs off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have a backscratcher that we'll use to scratch him and he &lt;em&gt;loves&lt;/em&gt; that. Even if I'm standing over him using it, he's happy with it. It's when I reach down and use my hand that he freaks out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things I've tried:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'll feed him out of my hand often, which he loves. And he'll come up to me now when I squat down, but he still freaks out when I bring my hand up to pet him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've started following him when he runs until I get him to a corner where I'll gently pet and scratch him to try to show him that I mean no harm, but he's still squealing the whole while--he's not a fan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get him more used to being scratched and pet when he's not in our laps? It's confusing to me why he'd be okay with it and willingly hop on us and ask for scratches/pets when he won't let us do it other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16187" LastEditorUserId="16187" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T14:42:02.123" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T05:21:44.370" Title="My pig doesn't like being pet" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15141" CreationDate="2019-10-17T14:05:54.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try ‘slow blinking’ (which is closing your eyes for several seconds, say 4 or 5 seconds or even longer, then opening them again for say one or 2 or 3 seconds and then closing them again, and so on. Just make sure your eyes are closed for longer than they are open each time.) All felines sleep a lot - which makes them vulnerable to being attacked and also they tend to avoid other cats, unless they think the other cats are a part of their group or family - and so slow blinking at any cat (or human or other animal) is their way of saying, “I trust you and you trust me enough that we can go to sleep without having to worry that one of us will attack the other.” Maybe it has something to do with ‘mirror neurons’ - I’m not sure, but such neurons do apparently have something to do with mirroring back/empathising with? what others do - but I know it works. My adopted cat was returned to the RSPCA by his two previous adopters as he was too aggressive. And although he has very occasional regressions, 99% of the time now he is beautifully behaved and very relaxed and happy with me. I have had him for 3 yrs now. One of the techniques I use with him (as a daily routine thing, as well as if he is having a regressive episode, which he sometimes does) is the ‘slow blinking’ technique of building trust and fostering relaxation. He will start to slow blink back. (If the cat you are trying to help, doesn’t respond at first, just persist.) It seems to have a fairly immediate hypnotic effect on my cat now ... but also it has an accumulative effect over time of just making him calmer overall. (I also combine it, as soon as he starts to slow blink back at me, with something in a gentle tone of voice and repeating it a few times, which also seems to add to the relaxing effect, eg ‘’sleepy cat, good cat, sleepy cat, good cat ...”) Hope it helps. Also, I don’t think the way the cat hisses at you, but not your family, is a bad sign. On the contrary, the cat WANTS TO be friends with you (as shown by her coming forward) But is just afraid to do so (as shown by her hissing.) The two opposing reactions just means she is conflicted and trying to decide. With the other people she is not trying to make up her mind; she already knows it is best to flee from them! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(But still it would be good if you could encourage even one of the other members to also make friends with the cat ... but only after you already have, I think. For example, after you get the ‘slow blink’ communication going with the cat, you could ask a child to come and sit and slow blink at the cat too. Do it in a way that helps them to be fascinated by ‘the complexity of life and relationships’ for example and how that extends to how animals relate too. Help them to marvel at some aspect of life’s complexity, rather than it be something they want to control, or are, themselves, afraid of. But make sure it is someone who YOU trust will not get the cat’s trust and betray it for some reason. If that is likely to happen, just befriend the cat yourself. Otherwise, if you introduce her to someone else and then something bad happens while that person is with you and the cat, the cat might end up up not fully trusting you either.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16735" LastEditorUserId="16735" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T14:32:19.400" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T14:32:19.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-17T14:13:51.063" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Border Beagle (6-7 years old) who is just the sweetest thing, and although I give her all the attention I can while at home and she's as happy as can be, we have to keep her in a crate while we're at work because when we first got her, she displayed some destructive tendencies, such as ripping up paper towels and other things around the room, peeing on the carpet, and even once or twice pooping, despite having been walked right before we left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't hate her crate, as she will often trot off to nap there even while we're home. However, I feel bad that all she can do while we're at work is sleep. I'd like to make or buy something for her, maybe for her crate, that can keep her entertained. I had planned a while back to make an automatic food dispenser I could trigger remotely to give her some of her morning / evening food throughout the day, but haven't gotten to it yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also thought about attaching a small screen to her crate so she could watch Netflix or something while we're away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any idea what I could do to help her have a better day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16734" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T18:07:00.660" Title="Keeping a crated dog occupied while I'm at work?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26344" CreationDate="2019-10-17T14:59:26.430" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you describe is completely normal for some cats, though admittedly it can be annoying for any person it decides to sit on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat is the type that likes to stand while kneading, you might try to convince it to lie down, and it will probably cease the kneading behavior. You can do this if the cat particularly likes being scratched on the chin or ears, as many cats do. Cats have a tendency to start lying down naturally when you scratch them in these places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tactic is to simply pick up the cat and gently put it on the floor when it gets to be too much. Affectionate cats will probably return for more in not too long, and then you can repeat it if the cat gets to be too much again. Then you might be able to teach the cat that too much kneading means it will get put back on the floor, which is not what it wants. Or at the least, it stops the behavior temporarily, which from personal observation, seems to get more and more so the more the cat does it, so interrupting it means that it will take the cat a little while to get back to the level of kneading that is annoying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T14:59:26.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9675" CreationDate="2019-10-17T15:42:14.397" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is a Seal.  Chocolates have a cinnamon-pink nose. The Thai vet is wrong.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://cfa.org/Portals/0/documents/breeds/standards/siamese.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CFA Siamese Point scores&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SIAMESE COLORS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;SEAL POINT:&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body: even pale fawn to cream, warm in tone, shading gradually into&#xA;lighter color on the stomach and chest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Points: deep seal brown&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nose leather and paw pads: same color as points&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eye color: deep vivid blue &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;CHOCOLATE POINT &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.we-are-siamese.com/pink-nose-siamese.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Picture of a Chocolate siamese&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body: ivory with no shading&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Points: milk-chocolate color, warm in tone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nose leather and paw pads:cinnamon-pink&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eye color: deep vivid blue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;BLUE POINT&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body: bluish white cold in tone, shading gradually to white on stomach and chest. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Points: deep blue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nose leather and paw pads: slate color&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eye color: deep vivid blue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;LILAC POINT&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Body: glacial white with no shading&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Points: frosty grey with pinkish tone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nose leather and paw pads:lavender-pink. Eye color: deep vivid blue. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16738" LastEditorUserId="16738" LastEditDate="2019-10-17T16:23:21.530" LastActivityDate="2019-10-17T16:23:21.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-17T17:31:25.033" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is around 2 years old. Its Persian male cat. He has no any partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what's the problem with it! It is not playing at all, also it is not responding to my voice (except there is something which he really wants like food, opening door when he wants to go outside). Also, it is very aggressive when we try to play with him, few times he has attacked me with a horrible voice. I was so scared.!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help him to get normal again? And what can be the causes for such problem? He is with me even when he was 3 weeks old! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I need to spend more time with him? Or he really needs a partner? Or he wants to go out? Or he is bored from me and even don't want to be with me?   :( or there is some other issue with him? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your help will be highly appreciable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T09:54:37.253" Title="Reasons of aggressive cat and even not playing at all!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26306" CreationDate="2019-10-17T21:18:17.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a very good orientation (and humans have used that for 1000s of years e.g. in sled dogs), but their eyesight probably plays much less of a role in that compared to us humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;@jalynn2 has already explained that being in a car doesn't fully exclude smell (actually, unless you have a very good and new filter cartridge in your air inlet, smells will be a bit delayed and maybe a bit diluted, but they'll arrive). As smells are always dependent e.g. on wind and are not as location-precise as human sight, such a delay and dilution should be quite a normal occurrence to the dog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Note also that a few distinctly smelling places that happen to be somewhere in the vicinity of your home would be sufficient to mark the place for the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nor does it exclude particular noises, which may be from the surroundings or from you/car behaving in certain ways at certain places.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://absolutek9.com/senses-in-dogs/#hearing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This website&lt;/a&gt; suggests that dogs are much better than humans in identifying sources among mixed sounds - although they unfortunately don't give a source. Together with the dog's ability to hear substantially into what is ultrasound for us, your dog may either detect distinct sounds/noises in the vicinity of your home and/or the characteristic sequence of sounds your car makes in the approach. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maybe obvious, but dogs have &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;proprioception&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vestibular sense&lt;/a&gt; as well. This allows the dog to sense acceleration (just like we do).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This may allow your dog to detect they are close after exit roundabout - speed bump after x m - right turn or the like.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There's even some discussion whether dogs do have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-9994-10-80&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;magnetic sense&lt;/a&gt; (though that would be hampered inside a car which is mostly a steel cage).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs use their eyes, of course. But sight for them is far lower in terms of sensory importance than it is for us. The dog not being able to see (much) out of the window doesn't hamper it as much as it would us. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's probably going to be difficult to distinguish which sensory input is of how much importance to the dog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One thing you can try, though, is to deliberately drive in a different style (or have someone else drive) towards home and see if he recognizes the approach as well (though you driving differently usual may cause it to concentrate on what is going on with your driving style, so no recognition is going to give much information, but recognition would) - recognition based on smells should still work as usual then, but recognition based on sequence of acceleration and sounds of the car should not work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Another opportunity would be deep fresh snow - many sounds are then changed, and so is your driving style (accelerations, speed =&gt; timing). But at low temp, also smells diminish due to lower vapor pressure, so again, so good separation of its sources of information. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do you expect your dog &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to be able to learn the &lt;em&gt;3&lt;/em&gt; ways you usually take when going home?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Not so long ago, at least in rural areas many dogs were roaming rather freely (and in many regions many dogs do that still) - and them getting &lt;em&gt;lost&lt;/em&gt; and not being able to find their way home was not a concern at all compared to: doing mischief in general,  being run over, shot, caught by someone else. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That your dog is able to recognize the approach to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; home doesn't mean that there aren't homes where the smell/sound/acceleration profiles aren't sufficiently distinct for a dog to reliably recognize the approach - we just know that the approaches to your place happens to be sufficiently distinct.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="13672" LastEditDate="2019-10-20T12:38:48.363" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T12:38:48.363" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-18T03:24:36.673" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am watching TV or walking in my house, she jumps up and bites me. I locked her in the cage as punishment. But after I release her, she is still doing the same thing. Why does she like biting people? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16744" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-10-18T14:11:08.467" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T14:11:08.467" Title="My cat recently bit me, what should we do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26354" CreationDate="2019-10-18T05:24:48.820" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's a good idea to lock a cat in a cage as a form of discipline. For one thing, as long as the cat is in the cage, it's not free to take care of its own needs, such as drinking or using the litterbox, which could be harmful to the cat. For another thing, I don't think the cat will understand it as a punishment. Cats generally like small spaces, at least for short periods of time, and so it might not even be motivated to try to avoid being in the cage. Additionally, putting a cat into a cage takes a bit of time, and therefore probably won't be viewed as an immediate cause and effect relationship by the cat. It'll probably just seem to it like you've randomly put it in a cage for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guess given the details is that your cat is bored and attempting to initiate play, but inappropriately. If this is true, I would expect that trying to punish it by putting it in a cage would be even less effective, because it does nothing to help with the problem that the cat is bored. The cat will come out of the cage and still be bored. The better solution is to try to entertain your cat more, and redirect it to more appropriate forms of play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to play with your cat regularly with a feather wand or laser pointer, so hopefully it will be tired out and not want to bite in the first place. Also try to pay attention to your cat, and if you notice it trying to stalk you, get out the feather wand or laser pointer, and play with it before it tries to actually bite you. I also recommend cat kicker toys, which are stuffed toys that are big enough the cat can wrap its arms around to wrestle. Some cats really like play wrestling, so it can also help to toss its kicker toy towards it when you notice it seems like it wants to wrestle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T05:24:48.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26354" CreationDate="2019-10-18T08:02:45.153" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The indoor cats usually like to play with moving objects. Its the sign that your cat wants to play with you. This can be the reason, that it is trying to catch you when you are walking etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@kai has already explained the reason, but I want to share some additional things which I have observed so far. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep some objects with you, and give those to your cat when its getting bored. You can use small balls, feather, catnip stick, shopper, crushed card etc. And try to play with it. She will surely like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this issue will not be handled in time, then your cat may leads to misbehave in future, because you didn't attend it properly when it needs you, and it can be the cause to change its behavior. I have personally observe the same, but was unable to identify the reason on time. And I was too strict with it by providing it punishment (as you are doing now). But it leads her to be aggressive, and not responding on my voices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T08:02:45.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26351" CreationDate="2019-10-18T09:54:37.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow I'm sorry to hear that and can relate in a way with my kitten right now. Is there any way she could have been attacked ? Or abused? I've seen similar situations where the cat was attacked and I felt like he no longer felt safe. And I also know that abuse can def cause similar issues . It could have been a situation where you were completely unaware . Things  like a small child holding him down , throwing him etc . Those things can really break trust with a cat. I find it interesting that he is being so aggressive and I feel like something must have happened. Can you think of any time around the change where he got outside and may have attacked ? Or had family in town and the niece that does not get disciplined stayed over night ? Anyways I hope it helps and I wish you luck!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16723" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T09:54:37.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26345" CreationDate="2019-10-18T15:11:16.103" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs do things that feel good to them. Being scolded by you feels bad, so your dog doesn't eat from the table if you're around. Licking up bread crumbs is tasty and feels good, so your dog does it whenever you're not around to scold him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step is to change your own behavior:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both dogs don't get any kind of food or treat directly from a counter or a table. Never. If you have scraps for your dogs, save them until everyone is finished eating, then put them into their food bowls. They must unlearn that food comes from counters and tables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measure as exactly as you can how far your dog can reach up the counter. Mark his reach with painters tape or other means that are easily removable later. Never ever store anything (not even a bread crumb) in the area your dog can reach. Push every single item behind the line. Jumping up the counter will no longer feel good if there's nothing to gain from it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't let any foot item stay on the table if you're no longer in the room. Either put everything back behind the line on the counter or put it into a container your dog cannot open (like a cupboard, drawer, stoneware or Tupperware container).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without this first step, you'll never reach your goal. To aid you (and make your dog behave better in general), you should train &amp;quot;leave it&amp;quot; with your dog to improve his impulse control. Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YytBgEfsho&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; that shows 3 stages of the training: Basic understanding of the command, training in unusual situations and redirecting attention towards trained behaviors in real-live situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that still isn't enough to completely stop your dog, you can make his behavior no longer feel good. It must happen automatically and every time. Different dogs react different to certain things, so you need to find what works best for your particular dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with these methods is that they may affect your interactions with the kitchen furniture (by being sticky or standing in the way) and that if they fail only once, the whole training was utterly useless because your dog was once more rewarded for his naughty behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs tend to dislike the smell and taste of lemons and tabasco sauce. Draw a line of lemon juice or tabasco sauce along the edge of the counter. When your dog tries to lick up bread crumbs, he'll taste lemon/chili instead. Don't overdo it or your dogs might avoid their water and food bowl because of the smell.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lay pieces of adhesive tape around the edge of the counter, sticky side up. When your dog puts his paw up there, he'll notice the tape sticking to it. Most pets (works well with cats, too) are either scared or annoyed by the tape and run off. Be aware that you need to be able to remove the tape from the fur. Use something like painters tape, which releases easily and don't even think about using duct tape!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tie several small empty soda bottles or cans together with a long string. Leave a few inches between each can and a bigger gap right in the middle. Tie some food to the center of the string and set it all up in a long line on the counter, then leave the room. When your dog tries to steal the food, he should be scared by the rattling cans. Immediately return to the room, take the food away but don't interact with your dog otherwise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are several commercial products available that sound an alarm if anything touches it (alarm mats) or moves in front of it. Google for &amp;quot;pet counter alarm&amp;quot; if you're interested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it absolutely clear: You won't reach your goal by going for the alarms / countermeasures first and ignoring the training and putting things out of reach. Dogs are natural scavengers. Leaving food around is an open invitation to take it. Even if only 1 attempt out of 20 is successful, your dog still knows that your counter is a possible food source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T20:31:37.353" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T20:31:37.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-18T19:07:45.563" Score="2" ViewCount="459" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently adopted a rescue dog from Houston and we live in Colorado. He's never experienced a cold winter and for sure not one like Colorado gets. Given that adopted him so close to winter will his body know to adjust and develop his winter coat?  Or will that be a change that happens next year after he's adapted to living in Colorado?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16747" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T14:07:45.280" Title="Moving dog from warm to cold climate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;winter&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26335" CreationDate="2019-10-18T20:00:42.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Short answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This product is intended to stop over-excited behavior in dogs like barking and jumping. I couldn't find any information if it could stop a dog fight.&lt;/strong&gt; It seems to have an immediate effect, but I couldn't find any information about it being used on an attacking dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Long answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please ignore my rant&lt;/em&gt;. The information provided by the manufacturer is zero. Null. Nothing. You even have to create an account just to able to view the Material Safety Data Sheet. There is no list of ingredients or any other technical information. They claim that it's &amp;quot;Clinically shown to provide quick, effective results without causing harm to pets&amp;quot; without even a hint of proof. This kind of marketing would be absolutely illegal in the EU and I cannot fathom how or why this is still possible in the US. &lt;em&gt;end of rant&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By pure chance I stumbled over &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140824213155.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; which explains how this product was invented:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, McGlone is not like most dog owners in that he is a professor at Texas Tech University who just happens to specialize in animal welfare and behavior. And, in that capacity, he just happened to have a product on hand at his house from a previous research study called Boar Mate, an odorous concoction which helps farmers with swine breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, he gave one little spritz to his dog, Toto, and immediately the dog stopped barking. Right on the spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;McGlone said Boar Mate contains a pig pheromone [...]. In this case, the pheromone produced is androstenone, which, when secreted by male pigs, is picked up by female pigs in heat and ready to breed. It is a foul-smelling odor for humans and also affects dogs through their olfactory system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having shown its effectiveness in curtailing bad behavior, the product was developed and hit the stores as Stop That for both dogs and cats [...]. But, McGlone warns, it's not an end-all, beat-all to stopping dogs from barking, as the effects last just about a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;scientific research&amp;quot; they conducted had a sample size of 100 dogs, which is not representative at all. They have no clue why and how this pheromone affects dogs and what possible long term effects it could cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, McGlone and many product reviews state that after just 1 - 2 days of &amp;quot;training&amp;quot; the dog will immediately stop the bad behavior after being shown the can. This makes me suspect (without having any means to confirm or refute) that the effect of the pheromone is extremely unpleasant for the dog, but without causing pain or any other feeling they can vocalize or express in body language. Maybe it's like a really bad dope for dogs. Who knows? The manufacturer sure doesn't...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the equivalent to saying &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;I only hit my dog with a stick for 2 days and now he stops barking and cowers whenever he sees a stick. I'll market my stick as a magical dog trainer.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; This product feels as bad to a dog as being hit with a stick, but since we humans see only a harmless spray can instead of a stick, we ignore the rather blatant signs of discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only positive aspect I could see is that it's effect sets on immediately. If it could deter a dog fight (which is not proven) it would probably work quick enough to prevent further injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-07-28T05:49:15.993" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T05:49:15.993" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26286" CreationDate="2019-10-18T20:27:49.247" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about any specific statistic or method, but there are some facts through which we can get some points regarding this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have assumed that: &#xA;From Indoor cats, you mean the cats which we keep with us, and don't let them go outside. And From Outdoor cats, you mean the cats which we keep with is but let them go outside, to spend some time there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This can be the reason because at home, cats got limited and same place. That is why, they simply less explore and walk as compare to outdoor cats. That's why they are slightly obese than those.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats feel safe when they are at home, but at the same time, some wants to go outside (just to visit or explore) but when they are tired, they come back to home for relaxation. That is another reason, that cats don't feel safe outside so they don't sleep or take rest there. So this activity is considered as extra as compare to the indoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is believed that the outdoor cats, which we keep with us are more active and healthy as compare to the indoor cats. Because they have observed and seen multiple environments and are aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@akuminari has also catch the correct point, that the outdoor cats have low risk of obesity and stress. Most of the internal function and system of cats are similar to human. Like: loving nature, attract to those who care, digestive system, they are having emotions, etc. The scale of sensitivity is different! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for healthy, stress less, active, and normal weighted human some visits, activities etc are necessary. The same case is with cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have shared such views, based on my experience. I had two cats, one was indoor and other was outdoor. I have personally felt that outdoor cat was not obese as compare to indoor one. And outdoor cat was more active than other one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may feel some difference in the weight when you decide to go out with your cat in few months or weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T20:27:49.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26301" CreationDate="2019-10-18T21:23:42.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pedigree Papers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you got your cat from a registered cattery, then the breeder should have provided you pedigree papers establishing its breed.  If sold as a kitten, the breeder may withhold the papers until you provide proof of spay/neuter; see your sales contract for details. This is the only &lt;em&gt;certain&lt;/em&gt; proof that a cat is of a particular breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breed Rescues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many breed-specific rescue organizations exist, especially for unusual breeds.  Some cats surrendered to these groups do come with pedigree papers (see above).  Some do not, but due to these groups' tight focus, it is reasonable to rely on their experience to determine whether the cat is, in fact, of that breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shelters and Vets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many well-intentioned shelters will advertise stray cats as being of a specific breed (or a breed &quot;mix&quot; or &quot;cross&quot;) to make them more attractive to those looking to adopt. Shelter staff may apply the below general techniques, but any claims of uncommon breeds should not be considered reliable due to the staff's limited exposure to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinarians may use the same techniques, and their determinations may be more reliable because they have no hidden motivations (you already have the cat!) and because they are more likely to examine uncommon breeds that simply don't end up in shelters, e.g. because they have breed rescue organizations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Native Regional Breeds&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your region has a breed named after it (e.g. American, British, Norwegian, Siberian, Abyssinian, etc.), most stray cats in that region are likely to be of that breed, either partly or wholly. In fact, breeders from other regions may seek out such &quot;found cats&quot; to diversify a natural breed's gene pool without diluting its distinctive characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breed Standards&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Determine how best to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2030/13&quot;&gt;describe your cat's color and pattern&lt;/a&gt;, and then check breed standard documents from organizations like &lt;a href=&quot;http://tica.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The International Cat Association (TICA)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://cfa.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Cat Fanciers Association (CFA)&lt;/a&gt; to find breeds that allow that color/pattern.  Many colors/patterns are allowed for several breeds, so while this may narrow the list, you will still need to examine the other qualifications (e.g. head shape, ear positioning, size, etc.) for each possible breed to determine which one best applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mixed or Cross Breed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not meet any breed standard perfectly but one clearly better than all others, you may describe it as a &quot;mix&quot; of that breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it meets two breed standards equally well, you may describe it as a &quot;cross&quot; of those two breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-10-18T21:23:42.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-19T09:55:28.447" Score="4" ViewCount="809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am taking care of an elderly Maine Coon who can't really groom himself well. He enjoys being brushed and he changes his lying position to indicate where he wants to get brushed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats doesn't like brushing much so I brush them as long as they let me. However, this cat never resists being brushed, unless it is back of his hind legs. I can brush him every day he will be happy with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for me to overbrush him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T15:25:38.690" Title="Is it possible to overbrush a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23379" CreationDate="2019-10-19T12:06:59.737" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I personally observe is, it is the way to show love and affection. That is the reason cat is licking your face (when no one is around). Nothing is bad in this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the small Kittens do that. Even I have a kitten who usually do this. All I need to do is, I give it some space, and it sleeps with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May be it wants something from you. (As you said that there is food and litter etc) but may be some space to sleep with you! Or your massage etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T12:06:59.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26363" CreationDate="2019-10-19T12:13:26.763" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not every cat hates brushing, even my cat loves it. It simply lies down and feels so comfortable and happy in that process. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all okay with your cat. But you can simply switch his attention or mood when you have brushed it properly once. You can use some toy or feather to switch his attention. Because now, it is loving it. But once its habitual to this, then it will come wherever you are and will simply lie down or sit with you for that. Possibly it stops sleeping except that. Because it will learn that, its all Okay with that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And at that time, if you are busy or not giving it complete time as you are doing now, then it will be upset. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T12:13:26.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="196" CreationDate="2019-10-19T13:13:56.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rescued a Pomeranian, they had shaved his hair two days before and had flees.  My other dog a maltipoo, I had bathed him for a year every week; so I started bathing the Pomeranian too. I did not know that they had so much hair problems at all. I only read about the maltipoo. Anyway the Pomeranian came home at 1 and a half years, and in very bad hair condition. He was always tired and looked sad. After a month 4 baths at home and all the brushing; just as the maltipoo.  He stoped scratching, no flees and his hair is soooo pretty now; very happy too. I felt it changed his whole personality the maltipoo was always jumping and playing with toys. Now they both play and are very active and happy. I took my Pomeranian to the park today and someone asked where I have him groomed, because they need someone that leaves the hair like mine. I have not taken him anywhere that is why we I started reading about them. I do not even know if I want to stop bathing him so much, I feel it really helps him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16751" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T13:13:56.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26359" CreationDate="2019-10-19T14:11:16.813" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Congratulations and thank you for adopting a dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kindly tell us if you plan to keep your dog inside your home, or outside.&lt;/strong&gt; Assuming inside, I think your dog will tell you, and no need to worry, especially if anything close to a Collie! Just put special notice to the &lt;strong&gt;paws!&lt;/strong&gt; - if your dogs, unlike mine, are OK with &quot;shoes&quot; please put them on during walks when it is really cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I am now in Japan, with two circa 15-year-old mixed-breed abandoned dogs adopted in Shanghai. When living in Finland in between, one of them (probably mixture between Shih Tzu and Maltese) had trouble as his personality did not allow the shoes which was funny, so during the winter walks I often had to stop, take away my gloves, and carry him while warming up his paws with my hands.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16367" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T14:07:45.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T14:07:45.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26363" CreationDate="2019-10-19T15:25:38.690" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, yes, it is possible to overbrush cats, though it also depends on what kind of brush you are using. The Furminator, for example, actually tends to pull out hair (which mind you doesn't hurt cats like it does humans), but it can actually thin out a cat's fur if used too much. If you use a more regular kind of brush that doesn't happen so much, and so it's probably fine to use on a regular basis. If you're really concerned, try to make sure you don't brush one area over and over, and keep an eye on your cat's fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T15:25:38.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26359" CreationDate="2019-10-19T15:50:09.890" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I moved a Shepard mix from Houston to northern IL. It is a house dog but she loved outside walks and her fur grew thicker quickly ( moved in Jan.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-10-19T15:50:09.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26376" CreationDate="2019-10-19T16:59:56.933" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iDako.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iDako.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Stray cat image&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this stray cat outside my home with yellowish liquid running down its eyes. I'm not sure if it's pus from an infection or a bad wound from a fight. Tried to  offer it some food but it didn't seem interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have an idea what's afflicting it? I'd like to know if it is serious and what can I do immediately to help it. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14275" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T17:09:14.840" Title="Cat looks wounded, what is wrong with it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-20T03:52:50.403" Score="8" ViewCount="1472" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (a 2 year old female Bengal) has a few issues related to the litter box; one of the strangest is that she can't seem to figure out how to properly bury her poop. She'll go to the litter box, do her business, and then scratch at the plastic sides of the box rather than the litter. Usually she'll bend down to give her poop a sniff, and then give the wall of the litter box another try before leaping out of the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her brother sometimes comes by and buries the poop for her when he does his own business, but in the meantime it stinks to high heaven. She's clearly operating on some kind of instinct (&lt;code&gt;while(poop_smell == true &amp;amp; tries &amp;lt; 2) {dig(); tries += 1}; leave()&lt;/code&gt;). Is there some way I can teach her that she needs to dig at the &lt;em&gt;litter&lt;/em&gt; in order to make the poop smell go away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: As several answers suggested, I got a larger litter box. It's a huge 1.5&quot; x 2.5&quot; plastic storage tub. And yet... She still scratches at the side of the tub instead of the litter to bury. Previous owner tried to train them to use a human toilet for a while when they were kittens, and maybe they got the thought in their head that they had to scratch at something hard like porcelain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16755" LastEditorUserId="16755" LastEditDate="2020-03-30T00:04:00.207" LastActivityDate="2020-03-30T00:04:00.207" Title="How can I teach my cat how to properly bury her own poop?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26373" CreationDate="2019-10-20T04:45:53.283" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know of a way to teach your cat to bury properly if it doesn't do it already. However, there are things you might try to accommodate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing I recommend is getting a larger litterbox. After all, the cat IS attempting to bury, it's just not having success because it's scratching at the sides of the box. This might be because the cat is trying to drag material from farther away than the box is big. I've even seen some recommend using something other than a litterbox for cats that seem to prefer really large areas to do their business. Litterboxes don't usually come that big, but just about anything box shaped and about the right deepness will do, such a shallow storage bins with a large surface area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you can try is changing the litter, as some litters are better at eliminating the smell than others. Crystal litter especially can help, as it's a desiccant. The waste gets dried out quite quickly, so it's not nearly as potent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last option is to simply clean the box as soon as possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, when making any changes to the litterbox configuration, be careful to introduce the change gradually, so the cats have a chance to adjust and hopefully avoid accidents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T04:45:53.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-20T12:10:46.933" Score="2" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clearly, animal shelters inspect dogs before taking them in. I also imagine there being quarantine areas for newcomers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do smaller for profit doggie hotels/day cares or grooming shops deal with this? Some of these can be pretty posh and I don't imagine well off customers would tolerate getting back a flea infested dog. However, if there are multiple dogs on the premises, one of them could easily bring in such pests.&#xA;Or is the detection rate of an experienced handler good enough to rule out such problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that especially dogs from wealthy families are unlikely to have such issues, because they will likely be given preventive treatment (collars, powder etc). I just want to know how business owners protect themselves from an irresponsible minority of dog owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16748" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T12:10:46.933" Title="How do dog daycares/hotels protect from pests?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26372" CreationDate="2019-10-20T15:04:41.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is definitely serious, looks like it could be a major infection and there are definite signs of fleas. Bring it to the vet if you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16688" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T15:04:41.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26372" CreationDate="2019-10-20T17:09:14.840" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems serious problem for cat! Because eyes are the most sensitive part of their face. And if the liquid is running down from its eyes rather than any side area (not sure), then its serious issue. You should go to vet as soon as possible. But if it is not possible for you immediately then use some ointment or cream till that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't define or state any sure reason, but it seems like the cat is fall down from some spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T17:09:14.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-20T17:58:44.773" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;2 weeks ago I adopted 2 dog puppies (sisters). Before adopting them I only went to the shelter once and didn't really ask many questions about their character, thinking that puppies couldn't have those many behavioral problems, and the shelter volunteer steered clear from the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppies are 18 weeks old, I don't know much about their history except they lived without a mother for some time and in a shelter for about a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that the puppies don't want to be touched, unless I bribe them with food, in which case they allow humans to touch them only as long as there is food. Except for this problem, the puppies are fine, they play together, although not with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 2 weeks the situation hasn't improved much. During these 2 weeks I followed all the rules I could find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I never forced them to do anything or never touched them against their will&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never scolded or screamed at them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Left a part of the house just for them to retreat when uncomfortable or scared&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hand fed them once a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;positively reinforced when they wanted to be touched&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone faced the same situation and has any suggestion.&#xA;I'm afraid that by staying at home and not experiencing the outside world they will have other problems when they grow up, but clearly they won't allow me to put them a collar or harness on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I'm planning to call a dog trainer this week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.P.S. could adopting an adult stable dog help the situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I talked to a dog trainer who is also a vet. She said the dogs are probably second or third generation strays, and after some generations without contact with humans they become wild again. The key issue she said is that they shouldn't have been rescued because they didn't need to be, they were probably just fine in the wild. Anyway, she said that with a lot of patience and the right training techniques (i.e. positive reinforcement done right) they can learn anything, they are just unlikely to become kuddly puppies. It will take some time. I'll update with the progresses in a couple of months. Thanks again everyone who helped or just took the time to read the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16757" LastEditorUserId="16757" LastEditDate="2019-11-01T20:35:30.200" LastActivityDate="2019-11-01T20:35:30.200" Title="Rescue puppies don't want to get touched" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26373" CreationDate="2019-10-20T20:35:53.557" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;By reading the situation, which you have described in the question shows that your cat as already taught that how to hide their poop! (As naturally every cat does this). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But simply, it doesn't get enough space to hide or cover its poop! Because according to the nature of cats, they don't want to touch their leg or foot to the waste (their poop). So, some needs a bit larger space to hide it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best suited solution for you is to change the litter box, and put another one with larger size than existing one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T20:35:53.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24185" CreationDate="2019-10-20T20:42:47.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ahh! That was enough time which your cat has spent to its sister. And she was never alone! But now, as it's sister is dead, so she feels alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to give her a partner. Because she was living with her sister since long. So, it can change its attention and mood and to become normal again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From other point of view, it can be psychic or mental issue for cat as well. A vet can help you to figure it out and also deal with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this will help you! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastActivityDate="2019-10-20T20:42:47.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-21T10:04:57.027" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 month old German Shepherd dog. This morning I found a tick in his ear, a bit deeper than usual. I got out a tweezer and carefully got it removed. However it seems the tick has fallen into his ear as he struggled when it was removed and it fell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take him to a vet as soon as possible or will it be fine and will the tick walk out of his ear? This was a reindeer tick, not a engorging one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16759" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T08:56:24.417" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T08:56:24.417" Title="Tick fell into dog's ear" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25636" CreationDate="2019-10-21T10:54:32.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I can understand from reading you is that your parakeets are not tamed and fear human contact. It should be known that the taming of parakeets requires an investment of time and patience on the part of his human, in a regular and motivated way. You have to listen to his parakeet and follow his rhythm. I think you went too fast and too &quot;violently&quot; in the training of your parakeets. I think you went too fast compared to the rhythm of your parakeets since you have to 'starve' them a whole day before they dare to come a little bit near you so as not to starve ... taming can last weeks or months before they dare to approach you. To have parakeets requires a real work of patience if one wants to obtain good results based on the confidence and not on the deprivation of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parakeets (and also for many other animals) must have a time of adaptation to their new environment. (especially if you've changed cage for a short period of time, it's even more stressful to the bird, it takes them all the more time, but it's a good choice to give them a bigger cage ). The time of adaptation can be quite long if they come from a pet shop (because of the rough of the pet shop, passages of person, ...) moreover they are not very young which can also lengthen the time of adaptation to their new owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, what can hinder the domestication of a parakeet is the wrong choice of the place of his cage. Place the cage in a quiet place with one side against the wall because having to watch the movement coming from all sides at once can make them nervous. For the same reason, avoid placing the cage near a door or a high traffic area. From what I can see on your photo the cage looks to be well placed.&#xA;What could increase the fear in your bird and complicate his taming, is to take the bird against his will. It could create fear. And he will be afraid to be seized at any time when you are near him. I do not want to deprive them of food. Because the bonds of confidence are created in abundance and not in deprivation, according to my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To tame a parakeet will require patience and perseverance but also the consistency and diligence! To start your taming well, it is important to always talk calmly and quietly and always have calm and controlled gestures when you are in the same room so they can associate you with some things of calm and confidence. Spend a few times near the cage talking softly with a warm voice (a sharp voice awake their attention). When you go, do not put your fingers in the cage, or between the bars, it's an invasion of home, his cage must be a place where he feels safe. From the moment he is no longer distraught when you approach, talk to him gently giving him millet through the bars at first. They need to associate your visit with some nice things (and not intrusion and stress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once these first steps have been put in place, and your passage near their cage is no longer a source of stress, then you can proceed to the second step. With a hand holding millet, you can put it near him in his cage (if he gets out of you do not try to follow him, wait for him to come to you). If he is not comfortable, a good trick is to look away always keeping your hand with millet in his cage, without moving. (The bird being a prey, it can be uncomfortable when it is watched with attention). Several attempts may be necessary for several days before being able to touch it. When they seem accustomed to millet (even if they do not devour it with voracity) you can try without millet, approaching your hand gently. Stop when he walks away and start moving again when he stops. Once you have managed to get close enough to him you can slowly start to touch his belly (no more than 2/3 seconds to start) and then withdraw your hand slowly. And repeat it several times a day over several days. They will see that your visitors in the cage are not dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the bird is on the finger:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not go too far from where the bird was perched (cage, perch, playground);&#xA;Keep the parakeet on your finger for a few seconds then let it go down to return to the perch or cage;&#xA;Repeatedly exercise the bird on the finger and place it where it feels safe.&#xA;To speak gently to the parakeet, it is necessary to congratulate it every time it goes up on the finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first attempts, the bird will probably rush on his perch or on the cage. Then you should notice that the bird is climbing faster on the finger and may even stay there longer before trying to leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a paying exercise, because it proves to the bird that he can trust you. He will understand that when he comes to you, he can always go back to his house or to a playground he likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One must never attempt, in any way, to compel a parakeet to stay on one's shoulders, it must feel that it has the freedom to come and leave when it sees fit.&#xA;Little trick, the back of the hand is more reassuring than the palm. So you can start by presenting your fist as a first approach.&#xA;Courage for your taming. sometimes you can get discouraged because of the slow progress but with a lot of patience you will be happy with the result!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-10-21T10:54:32.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26388" CreationDate="2019-10-21T12:02:48.937" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ~5 week old male kitten. I've been raising him well and he gets a lot of attention. He purrs every time someone touches him and is a generally happy kitten. However, I am wondering if I should be allowing him biting my fingers. He enjoys a 'game' where he lays on his back and I tickle his stomach and he tries to grab my fingers (with his claws extended) and if he succeeds he ends up biting them. He is definitely aware that this could potentially hurt, as he never extends his claws nor bites my face, even when touching it, but he does do so with my fingers. It doesn't really hurt since his teeth are only just growing in, but should I be stopping him from doing this? Will this lead to a bad habit, and leading him to potentially painfully bite people/me when he is older and has stronger teeth? If so, how do I show him this is not ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16760" LastActivityDate="2019-10-21T17:12:25.733" Title="Should I be allowing my kitten to bite my fingers?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-21T12:28:05.077" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Persian cat who is free to go out into our yard:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days ago when he was out there, I heard some sounds from afar and saw another cat with smaller body size than him. When I reached them I saw that the other cat was in this position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bVDfA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bVDfA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat crouched low to the ground, ears back&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was afraid of a fight between them and try to shoo the other cat, but it went to another corner of the yard and again mine followed it. Its position was similar to the above, so this time I tried to scare the other cat and it ran away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like what is the reason for this kind of interaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it better to let him go outside (any time in the day or in some specific times)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible my cat (boy) could find a girlfriend by himself in this contact, if yes, what months are better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16556" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-21T13:22:50.127" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T14:07:53.177" Title="Is it ok for persian cat to go to home yard" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6930" CreationDate="2019-10-21T14:43:20.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;OP: &quot;they must travel in the Luggage Compartment, what must be an extremely traumatic experience for them.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This assumption that the cargo area is a bad place for dogs is simply not true. Usually it is the humans who experience anxiety from not knowing how their dog is doing. The cargo area is always pressurized along with the rest of the plane. Usually it is comfortably warm as well; just ask to be sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the dog is used to the crate and has used it many times before the trip. I would suggest using it in the house and in the back of your van or car. If the dog is comfortable (not anxious) with the crate then the cargo area will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petrelocation.com/blog/post/five-common-misconceptions-about-pet-travel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petrelocation.com/blog/post/five-common-misconceptions-about-pet-travel&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  Many air travelers have trouble with the idea of separating from their pets and placing them in the cargo area, when in fact this part of the plane is actually preferable in many ways. Temperature and pressure-controlled and offering less commotion and confusing noise than the cabin, the cargo hold of a plane that's operated by a pet-friendly airline generally offers a better flying experience for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not affiliated with Pet Relocation but I found their blog posts on transporting large dogs to be really helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petrelocation.com/dogs/transporting-large-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petrelocation.com/dogs/transporting-large-dogs&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petrelocation.com/blog/post/facts-about-pet-transport-safety&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petrelocation.com/blog/post/facts-about-pet-transport-safety&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petrelocation.com/blog/post/pet-cargo-myths-and-facts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petrelocation.com/blog/post/pet-cargo-myths-and-facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16763" LastActivityDate="2019-10-21T14:43:20.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26383" CreationDate="2019-10-21T17:12:25.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's generally not a good idea to encourage cats to play with your hands.  Some few cats are gentle enough that this can be done without your getting scratched or bitten, but most cats aren't that good about it.  As a kitten it might not hurt you, but if the behavior keeps up into adulthood, it probably will.  It's really difficult to teach a cat how rough is too rough, so it's probably better to just exclusively play with toys.  The cat might still attempt to play with you rather than its toys, in which case you should attempt to redirect it by drawing its attention to a toy instead.  For instance, waving a feather wand at it, or tossing one of its toys towards it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-21T17:12:25.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26391" CreationDate="2019-10-22T01:09:01.357" Score="4" ViewCount="358" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother has 2 rescue cats that were abandoned by the mom. The one that bites is about 1 year old and really lovable, patient, doesn't mind being taken in your arms, doesn't run away when a stranger tries to take her, basically she's really relaxed. She's not afraid of large dogs and often follows them, curious. She also often goes into neighbors' house all along the street and stays by the fridge, hoping they will give them food (even if she still has snacks in her bowl here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now hopefully this will give everyone an idea of her kind of personality to explain the following. Sometimes my gf goes to the bathroom at night and the cat comes in at the same time and licks my face while I sleep, waking me up. Other times she walks on our face and explores around then slowly gets close to ears, nose, chin, fingers and bites for no reason when we're not even touching her. Not hard enough to hurt, just an annoying pinch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read about cats biting on internet, how it can be because they're annoyed when they're tired of you petting them or want to assert dominance, however everyone seems to say it depends on the cat. From the info I gave, does anyone have experience with cats and has an idea what is wrong with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&#xA;she does this all the time, day and night&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16766" LastEditorUserId="16766" LastEditDate="2019-10-22T12:12:27.693" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T12:12:27.693" Title="Why does our cat keep biting our face in bed, out of the blue?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26390" CreationDate="2019-10-22T02:52:07.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like it might be a grooming behavior because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat also licks your face at night. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat does it pretty lightly, so it's probably not from aggression or play.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat is doing this at night while you are in a prone position, giving it easier access to your head than at most other times. For some reason, many cats seem to be attracted to the smell of various hair and facial products, and may try to groom your face or hair in particular. It may be that your cat is one of those cats. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's normal for cats to sometimes bite at the fur while grooming it, and sometimes cats fail to understand the difference between fur and bare skin and attempt to bite that too while grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not a grooming behavior, than my next guesses would be either because the cat is bored and learned that biting gets your attention, or because you are accidentally rolling on it or near or, and it's biting as a warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course trying to deal with any of these behaviors is hard because it's happening while you're asleep. If possible, you might try keeping the cat out of your room at night. It may also help to keep the cat more entertained at night.  One possible way to do this is by giving it a food puzzle toy before you go to sleep. Another possibility is there are a few motorized cat toys that will turn on at random intervals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T02:52:07.327" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26381" CreationDate="2019-10-22T07:39:56.230" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the tick is still inside the ear today you need to take your dog to your vet to get it removed,it is very uncomfortable for your dog to have a tick inside the ear and it might stress your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not try to remove the tick yourself as the risk of injury to the inner part of the ear is too great,one wrong move from your dog and you will have to go to the vet anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T07:39:56.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23958" CreationDate="2019-10-22T09:52:54.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a little trick that helps push hens. You can sprinkle the soil and your plants with spices because the spices have a strong smell that can keep hens away. You can make a spice mixture with curry, cinnamon, paprika, black pepper and salt. Garlic powder can also be effective.&#xA;Another method can also work it consists of spreading lemon peel or even whole piece of lemon on the ground near your plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T09:52:54.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-22T14:29:03.623" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://media.giphy.com/media/kH66z7rfbxAcHn1reM/giphy.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a ~5mo (mostly) American mini-pig/potbelly mix.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's starting to get a little colder where I am, and already the little guy is getting hesitant to go outside (and shivering/running back in when he does).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got him a dog sweater &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B07VC64LX8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;similar to this&lt;/a&gt; that fits him well. However, whenever we put it on him, he starts walking funny and jumps around until he manages to slip his legs out of the holes (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DInnx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). From there he walks around a bit until he slides out of the sweater entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't blame him for not liking the feel, but it's only getting colder outside and we do still need to take him out (to go to the bathroom at least, but hopefully for walks too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ordinarily, I'd just leave it on until he got used to the feel like a collar or harness, but since he slips out of the sweater almost immediately after we put it on and let him down, that doesn't seem to be an option. &lt;strong&gt;How can we train him to keep it on and get used to it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm imagining the solutions will probably be pretty similar to what you'd do with a dog or cat in the same situation, so I'd be open to hearing those kinds of answers as well!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16187" LastEditorUserId="16187" LastEditDate="2019-10-22T18:21:04.770" LastActivityDate="2019-10-22T18:21:04.770" Title="Sweater training my pig" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-22T20:16:49.250" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a small pond set up in current location for about 9 months. I transferred my koi from another pond. Some of them are 10-12 years old, others are only 5-6 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 weeks ago, two of my koi (one older and one younger) died suddenly. Last week, another older one died. Yesterday, a younger one died and today one older and one younger will be dead within the next 2 hours or so. I have not sprayed anything on the lawn. I changed 50% of the water after the first two died. I use well water, so chlorine not the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Weather was in low 80's °F (around 27 °C) when first 2 died. Now in mid 50's °F (around 12 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I filter and have a small waterfall running constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have any ideas why my fish are dying off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16769" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T19:06:49.567" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T19:06:49.567" Title="My koi started dying and I can't seem to stop it" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26386" CreationDate="2019-10-22T20:20:52.747" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is my understanding and experience of your questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;1. I'd like what is the reason for this kind of interaction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer:&lt;/b&gt; I am not sure that whether another cat was trying to jump over him to attack, or that was actually the female cat. Cats make noise while mating. They also meow while fighting, but the voice while mating is a bit different and irritating (for humans). And if that was very first time for your cat at home yard, then it would probably be a sign of attacking or fighting with other cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. Is it better to let him go outside (any time in the day or in some specific times)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer:&lt;/b&gt; There is nothing wrong in allowing your cat to go outside, or letting them go to home yards. You should go with him to show him the streets and paths few times, as he must be aware of the way back home. And it would be more secure and safe to keep your cat at home at night, and allow him to go out at day time. But keep one thing in your mind that when indoor cat is allowed to go out, then there are also some wild cats there, some of them are always ready to fight and attack. So, you may face some injuries of your cat (as it is normal condition, if there are such cats). and also you are having the male Persian cat, therefore it is in the nature of male cats (outdoor), that they generally don't tolerate another male cat in their area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;3. Is it possible my cat (boy) could find a girlfriend by himself in this contact, if yes, what months are better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer:&lt;/b&gt; Most often, the male Persian cat is sexually matured at the age of 7-12 months. So, it is also possible that your cat has got or found its partner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12429" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-23T13:45:32.317" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T13:45:32.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26396" CreationDate="2019-10-23T02:21:23.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't show the size of pond, number and size of koi, or amount of pond circulation. A &quot;small&quot; waterfall is good, but I would add an aeration pump, you can never have too much oxygen. If the well water is used by people with no treatment it is likely good. However, well water can have pretty nasty stuff in it. Another possibility is bleach or soap; I never use household buckets, etc. for the pond, I have even heard of people bleaching wood and decoration to be used in a pond. My pond temperature goes from the 80's to 50 F with no problem, so it is not temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2019-10-23T12:21:33.070" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T12:21:33.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17247" CreationDate="2019-10-23T03:27:07.060" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;yes it’s okay. if your roof isn’t far from the ground and you’ve supervised for a while before letting them go out alone. i have two cats and they both love going on the roof. they’re outside cats but when it’s dark outside and dangerous, i don’t like letting them roam the neighbourhood. instead i let them on the roof where they like to sit and smell the outside. they’ve both safely been going on my roof for about a year and a half and nothing has happened. Another tip is to be 100% sure you know where they are before you close the window to the roof. if you don’t, there’s a chance they’ll be stuck on the roof for who knows how long and may resort to jumping off which could injure or kill them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16771" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T03:27:07.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26346" CreationDate="2019-10-23T05:21:44.370" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is still pretty young. When my Berkshire pig was young he was the exact same way. Just give him some time and keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t force the petting. He’ll come around with time. The fact that he will come over to you when you’re sitting is a good sign. With time and as he gets older this should get better and correct as long as you stay interacting with him. You also have to remember that some animals just do not like to be touched when it’s not on their time or choosing. I find this to be the case a lot in pigs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16772" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T05:21:44.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17275" CreationDate="2019-10-23T05:30:50.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this is cage is not suitable for any breed of hamster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters of all breeds need a minimum of 450 square inches (2900 cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) of continuous floor space. A good choice of cage is a 40 gallon (150 liters) long aquarium or bigger with a DIY mesh lid. Remember, bigger is always better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters really should have 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) of bedding in at least a portion of their cage to make room for burrowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dwarf hamsters (excluding robos) need at least an 8 inch wheel to prevent back damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters need lots of different toys and wood chews for enrichment!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16772" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T22:59:36.440" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T22:59:36.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26378" CreationDate="2019-10-23T05:35:42.493" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many shelter dogs can take weeks and even months to get fully comfortable. Keep doing what you’re doing and being patient. They will come around. A dog trainer might help but honestly if they are just nervous I don’t think that will help much. This is not a behavioral issue, but just them being nervous and unsure about their new environment. You have to remember that they could have been treated horribly before being taken in. I’m not sure adopting another dog would help much either. I think just keep doing what you’re doing and give lots of TLC and they will come around eventually. It’s just going to take some times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for choosing adoption! I hope this helps &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16772" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T05:35:42.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26406" CreationDate="2019-10-23T08:52:04.130" Score="4" ViewCount="493" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat came last night with some blood stains on his jaw and head, apparently been injured during a cat fight. Since then he has not eaten and just curled at his bed. I'm wondering what is the worst case scenario? How likely is it that he's got FIV from the wound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T10:27:53.377" Title="Can a cat get FIV from a fight wound?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26405" CreationDate="2019-10-23T09:01:40.200" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry to hear that your cat is not well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your cat is not eating for an extended time, take him to the vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also if the wounds look serious do the same.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FIV is mostly transmitted by deep bite wounds, which allows the infected cats saliva to enter the tissue of the injured cat.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_immunodeficiency_virus&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia - FIV&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally cats that can go outside and especially males can get into territorial fights with other cats. Some slight scratch wounds are normal from my experience and heal without a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may just be tired from the fight. If he keeps up not eating and seems sluggish to you, take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about FIV in general you can consult your vet since there is a vaccine but you should know about the effects before you vaccinate your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let us know how he is doing and what course of action you took.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2019-10-23T10:27:53.377" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T10:27:53.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25966" CreationDate="2019-10-23T10:22:18.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most breeders raise geckos on tissue but it is not very aesthetic. Since the gecko comes from Pakistani countries so relatively desert environments can be reproduced using a clay substrate. There is also the substrate &quot;desert bedding&quot; (LUCKY-REPTILE-Substrat-Desert-Bedding) which is a mix with sand and clay. This substrate is well suited because once well dried it is still compact and the gecko will not eat it and I think it's beautiful in the terrarium. You just have to avoid the fine sand because the gecko risks confusing the sand with calcium and thus eating it to eventually create occlusions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T10:22:18.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26415" CreationDate="2019-10-23T13:32:30.813" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here on Saturday, I'm heading into the town to get another leopard gecko. My sister already has two and I wanted another one - my lizard is rather happy, but I feel like he's kind of lonely, or maybe it's just my interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, I'm planning on ordering a female (mine is almost an adult male) to prevent potential fighting incidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I do get a male, should I keep them separated? Please note that there are cage 'halvers' I can use to split it in half and keep them separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my sister got the second one, they just slept in separate hideouts for a day, then started sleeping together the next day, and so far no fights have occurred, so I'm not sure what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any further help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:49:56.033" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:49:56.033" Title="Should I keep my new lizard separated from the main one?" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26386" CreationDate="2019-10-23T14:07:53.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A posture like the one shown is not a sign of a friendly interaction&lt;/strong&gt;; typically a cat who is feeling threatened by another will crouch back like that and give a warning growl. In this case, if it was the other cat crouched like this, your cat was the aggressor, likely defending his &quot;territory&quot; of the yard from another cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is not a good idea to allow your cat outside&lt;/strong&gt;, particularly if the cat is unsupervised. &lt;strong&gt;Cats face a large number of risks when they are outdoors&lt;/strong&gt;, including but not limited to injury from fights with other cats, death from larger predator animals and birds of prey, death from vehicle traffic, injury or death from animal cruelty, poisoning (accidental and deliberate), severe (often fatal) illness, injury or death from traps set for other animals, and parasites. An indoor cat lives, on average, about 17 years, while an outdoor cat lives, on average, only about 5 years (per &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/should-you-have-an-indoor-cat-or-an-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt;). That's less than 1/3 of the lifespan of their indoor counterparts. On top of that, &lt;strong&gt;outdoor cats&lt;/strong&gt;, including &quot;well fed pets,&quot; &lt;strong&gt;can devastate local wildlife populations&lt;/strong&gt;. In the US, the &lt;em&gt;conservative&lt;/em&gt; estimate of impact on birds is over 1 million killed by domestic cats per year; they also impact local small wildlife (rabbits, squirrels, etc), serve as an additional vector of disease transmission, and transmit toxoplasmosis to wildlife, which may make small prey animals more vulnerable to predation by other local wildlife (per &lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.nwf.org/2011/03/new-studies-highlight-impact-of-outdoor-cats-on-birds-and-other-wildlife/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;National Wildlife Federation&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats are not monogamous. Your cat doesn't have a &quot;girlfriend,&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; but if you have not desexed him, &lt;strong&gt;he is likely roaming over large distances to find any and every female cat in estrus to mate with them.&lt;/strong&gt; Overpopulation of domestic cats is a problem in many areas, and an intact tom will roam very far from his home &quot;territory&quot; to seek opportunities to mate, contributing to this overpopulation issue for a fairly wide range. The average male cat will roam more than three times the distance of a female cat, covering a territory of around 153 acres (a radius of around 500 meters/1500 feet), with intact toms likely to roam even farther (per &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pet-happy.com/how-far-from-home-do-domestic-cats-roam/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetHappy&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-10-23T14:07:53.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-24T03:16:39.000" Score="3" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any idea as to what this is? it started happening about 3-4 days ago. we think it might be something in his kennel so we have been making him sleep in a different room, but it keeps getting worse over night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2dNSjl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16777" LastEditorDisplayName="user13824" LastEditDate="2019-10-24T15:14:20.797" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T15:14:20.797" Title="What is this wound on my dog's nose?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26408" CreationDate="2019-10-24T04:58:34.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No matter the gender, leopard geckos should never be housed together. They are a solitary species. They could end up killing each other or even if that doesn’t happen, it is very stressful for them to be enclosed with another gecko. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16772" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T04:58:34.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26411" CreationDate="2019-10-24T05:00:36.600" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take to vet immediately. You don’t want this to get infected and it needs to be taken care of so it doesn’t get any worse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16772" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T05:00:36.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26424" CreationDate="2019-10-24T08:47:54.447" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a mutt - part hound and part water dog would be the best. But are there any known purebreds that are good at both? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For context, by running I mean 10k+ on trails and swimming I mean 1k+ in open waters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastActivityDate="2019-10-25T13:57:58.637" Title="What dog breeds are good at both running and swimming?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26408" CreationDate="2019-10-24T09:07:12.053" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The gecko is a solitary animal so he will be very happy to live alone. So it is highly advisable to raise him alone.&#xA; You must never put two males together or they will fight and kill each other. If you want to raise a couple you must take 2 females for 1 male because if you have only one female, the male may overly sexually solicit the female which may exhaust it! By cons you need a larger space to raise 3 geckos. Some raise 3 geckos or more together but I will book that to more experienced breeders because you have to have some experience. If this is your first gecko I really advise you to take just one.&#xA;Do not forget that the size of your terrarium must be 60 × 45 × 45 per gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T09:07:12.053" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-24T14:39:36.537" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I keep the air pump of my fish tank on all the time? What is the rate of oxygen absorption in water at 25 degrees Celsius? I have a primitive type of aeration system where a thin tube is suspended in water with its other end connected to the air pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16781" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:09:27.210" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:09:27.210" Title="Aeration of fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25966" CreationDate="2019-10-24T14:43:27.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I use layers of paper towels as substrate. You just have to make sure you layer them up so the undertank warmer isn’t too hot for them. It’s easy to change out and your gecko can’t inject it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16772" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T14:43:27.357" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-24T16:18:28.723" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet rat Luna has a tumor so I know she's dying but she also has scabs all over her body that hurt her. Would it be kinder to put her out of her misery now or wait until she dies on her own? Rat's and other small rodents do not have the exact same anatomy so I would like a rat based answer. AND SHE'S NOT A CAT EITHER!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16782" LastEditorUserId="16782" LastEditDate="2019-10-25T14:48:06.133" LastActivityDate="2019-10-25T14:48:06.133" Title="My rat is going to die... but when?" Tags="&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2019-10-24T18:08:24.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6673" CreationDate="2019-10-24T21:29:27.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Huskies were bred to survive on little food and water. As puppies they eat 3 times a day and wean themselves to twice a day. As adults they mostly eat once a day but will often skip meals. They only eat when they’re hungry which is not often at all. I used to work in a daycare and experienced this finicky behavior often. I currently have a 1 year old husky who eats 2 cups maybe every other day. I offer at the same time everyday and let her decide if she wants to eat or not. If she doesn’t I simply put the food away and offer it the next day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16786" LastActivityDate="2019-10-24T21:29:27.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26416" CreationDate="2019-10-25T01:04:38.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why bother to turn aeration on and off ? It can't put in too much oxygen . And I just saw the info on a small vibrator type aerator ( the most common type) and it used only 2 watts , so power use is negligible. I don't think I have seen the type you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2019-10-25T01:04:38.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26416" CreationDate="2019-10-25T08:38:14.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you need to keep the airpump running 24/7. It is the most important to keep the pump running at night to keep the water oxygenated when your plants are not producing oxygen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day your aquarium plants will produce more oxygen than your tank uses so the oxygen saturation will stay at 100%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you keep the water moving your water will be close to the saturation point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing with keeping the water moving is to get rid the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; that builds up in the water from your fish' respiration. It is not the lack of oxygen that might kill your fish, but it is the build up of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; that blocks the uptake of oxygen in your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of dissolved gasses water can hold is largest at low temperature and falls rapidly with increasing temperature (I do not have the numbers but at 25+ °C you need to keep the water moving to increase the gas exchange to keep your fish at their optimum health).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T04:31:20.897" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:31:20.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26348" CreationDate="2019-10-25T13:38:34.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you have is an ultimate working dog mix breed of two highly intelligent and highly driven working dogs. So the destructive behaviour is likely boredom. And sadly dogs dont watch Netflix :P. Also keeping a dog crated in the day will likely make them alot more active when you get home because theyve been in it all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things that you could do for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, chances are she is active or wants to be, so a larger pen would be advantageous so she can move around and has space to play with toys or have bones etc and maybe space to wonder around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can buy &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/TAHA-Extra-Enclosure-Welping-Playpen/dp/B07QMKPNTW/ref=asc_df_B07QMKPNTW/?tag=googshopuk-21&amp;amp;linkCode=df0&amp;amp;hvadid=340043329878&amp;amp;hvpos=1o2&amp;amp;hvnetw=g&amp;amp;hvrand=11038353924089310579&amp;amp;hvpone=&amp;amp;hvptwo=&amp;amp;hvqmt=&amp;amp;hvdev=c&amp;amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;amp;hvlocint=&amp;amp;hvlocphy=9041110&amp;amp;hvtargid=pla-763575171313&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;large dog pens&lt;/a&gt; or even multiple sets of these to link together for extra space, we have these for my GSDs and they havn't jumped them yet. We have their crate in them too so they have their own room as such to sleep in and scatter toys, bones etc in them to keep them entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, mental stimulation can tire a dog out more than physical stimulation. Food games or food toys to keep them busy are great. Things like &lt;a href=&quot;https://fetch.co.uk/kong-classic-red-large-dog-toy-85817011?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1ai1i7-35QIVibTtCh06OQO4EAQYASABEgKuJfD_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kong balls&lt;/a&gt; with peanut butter or meat pate in them are great. Or more &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outward-Hound-Ottoson-Brick-Puzzle/dp/B0711Y9XTF/ref=asc_df_B0711Y9XTF/?tag=googshopuk-21&amp;amp;linkCode=df0&amp;amp;hvadid=309842998506&amp;amp;hvpos=1o10&amp;amp;hvnetw=g&amp;amp;hvrand=14657233233768971584&amp;amp;hvpone=&amp;amp;hvptwo=&amp;amp;hvqmt=&amp;amp;hvdev=c&amp;amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;amp;hvlocint=&amp;amp;hvlocphy=9041110&amp;amp;hvtargid=pla-349361985826&amp;amp;psc=1&amp;amp;th=1&amp;amp;psc=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;complex games&lt;/a&gt; that test the mind where she has to work to get the treats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, routine. A good routine will set the dog up to be active when you are home and sleep when youre out, easy to do if you work 9-5. My GSDs tend to just sleep in the day and are awake when I get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2019-10-25T13:38:34.623" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26414" CreationDate="2019-10-25T13:49:56.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your response above, I'd definitely recommend a working breed and make them big so they can handle the distance elements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;German or Belgian Shepherds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Siberian Husky&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alaskan Malamute&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Border Collie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vizla&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weimaraner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rhodesian Ridgeback&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Malinois &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A medium drive german shepherd would be perfect, enough drive to want to work/run but not to much to be switched on all the time. I have one medium drive (and one high) and she loves runs, swims and bike rides. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For swimming this is down to each individual dog some dogs just don't like water at all. One of my GSDs would live in it if possible, the other hates it. So getting the dog used to water from a young age helps in the future, playing with a hose or in a paddling pool when they're young are good ways of introducing them to water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also to be able to run with these types of dogs you need to let them grow and develop so you cant do any running until atleast 14 months old when they're almost fully grown. This is due to their size, because these big dogs grow so rapidly it means their joints are very sensitive to over exercise and if not looked after carefully can cause issues later in life. The recommended maximum exercise until 14 months is 5-10 mins MAX per month of age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also look for a good breeder which can provide documented past lineage of the pup and look for any evidence of joint issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2019-10-25T13:57:58.637" LastActivityDate="2019-10-25T13:57:58.637" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-25T21:09:17.197" Score="4" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a cat a little over a month ago. She is one year old. At first, I bought a small bag of Purina Indoor dry cat food to make sure she liked it before buying a big bag. I also bought some Friskies cans of wet food. During the first month, she seemed to like the dry food and did not have any problems with it. When I ran out of the small bag, I gave her only wet food for about 4 days before I could go get a big bag of dry food since she seemed to like it. The cat has been vomiting since eating from the new bag. For the moment I just switched back to wet food while I figure this out. I read that cats have to get used to eating dry food if they spend time without it. Is 4 days enough to make a cat not being used to dry food? What could it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, she started leaving coin-sized puddles. I could not identify if they were vomit or from coughing up fur balls since the puddles were so small. I could also notice she was spending more time in the hunched up loaf position with her head down. For the next two days, I noticed she was eating almost nothing. Then, I saw her vomit a lot of bile and some undigested food. This was shortly after eating. Later that same day, she vomited a more solid chunk of semi-digested food. This was also relatively shortly after eating. Like a big log of paste with pieces of dry food. (I am just being specific since I read that different kinds of vomit mean different things with cats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are going to the vet just in case, but I am uneasy and wanted to know if I should be very worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it might not even be the food, but I have no idea what else might cause it. Since I stopped giving her dry food, she seems to be acting normally, and I have not seen any more vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16700" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:30:47.027" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:30:47.027" Title="I stopped giving my cat dry food for 4 days and after 4 days she started vomiting with dry food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26479" CreationDate="2019-10-26T14:56:34.763" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;N.B.: I'm not living at the same location as my fiancée right now, so I can't take action directly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fiancée has a Shih Tzu who'll soon be 5 years old. He had a habit of refusing do his business outside (when it's cold, raining, etc.), and did it inside the house instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But lately, he doesn't want to get outside at all, and is doing his business in spots where he usually doesn't do it (below a table for example). Sometimes, he does it barely 2 minutes after refusing to go outside, despite the weather being warm and it's not raining. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, he even did his business in front of my fiancée, despite yelling at him. He stopped only when he was done. We initially thought it was linked to the death of a recent family member, but he started acting like this months before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fiancée considered using a repellant, but she changed her mind when she realised the product was a health hazard for pets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although they (my fiancée and her mother) are yelling on him (the dog), clapping their hands or hitting the ground, he still refuses to do his business outside. For a while now, he's being stubborn and refuses to obey (for example, when he's jumping around or chew softly and we tell him to stop, he's not listening either). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been to the veterinarian 3 months ago, and they didn't find anything weird about the dog (his health is good, and his behaviour wasn't out of the ordinary). He usually is an excited dog, but he's not a bad one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can she get the dog to start obeying again, and do his business outside in the garden? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13240" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:33:46.050" Title="How can I get my dog to obey and do his business in the garden instead of inside the house?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-27T04:32:16.740" Score="4" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to travel for one week and couldn't take my cat with me, so I left him with the lady who helps me at home. She took him home with her. I gave her all the necessary food, litter box, and everything she'd need. I was asked her to send me daily pictures of him. She told me he was very happy, but had less appetite than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After coming back, I noticed that my cat is not as happy as before. He is more afraid to love freely, and sometimes squints with one eye. I'm scared that these are signs of being traumatized or hit for any reason. How can I tell if he's been traumatized or mistreated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16795" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-11-03T05:45:00.493" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T05:45:00.493" Title="How can I tell if my cat is traumatized?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26428" CreationDate="2019-10-27T05:26:42.657" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's more likely your cat has gotten some sort of infection from being at a strange house, or maybe it is some unrelated illness. Your cat giving a vague impression of being unhappy, and having less appetite are both common symptoms of some sort of illness. So you might want to schedule a vet appointment if it continues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible that the cat is simply stressed out. It's pretty stressful for them to go to unfamiliar places, have their familiar humans disappear for a period of time, and be forced to live with an unfamiliar human. If it is just stress, I wouldn't expect it to last too long now that it's back home, maybe a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert in the signs of trauma in cats, but it doesn't really sound to me like your cat is afraid. My understanding is they will either cower and hide, or become aggressive because they think they need to defend themselves. I do know especially in animals that have experienced a pattern of abuse, they might develop abnormal behaviors such as being very defensive of a particular area of their body. They might seem okay with touching, until you touch that area, and then they will suddenly pull away or even attack you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-27T05:26:42.657" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-27T14:17:32.130" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have outdoors cats that eat a whole lot of mice, voles and shrews (and other animals) and with some regularity end up with white worm-like parasites of about 1cm length leaving their intestines and sticking to their fur until they get lost.  Obviously, by that time a deworming is called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wanted to identify the parasites in question in order to know what particular danger they pose to humans when left by cats somewhere.  It's basically always this kind even for cats that have never met, the cats are common house cats, the location is Western Germany.  What I found in Wikipedia does not differentiate according to commonality and I've not found a good image match either, possibly missing the right maturity stage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is one exemplar (usually they are stretched a bit more, and they do move so I don't think it is a mere tapeworm tail segment but might be wrong):&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZSD2h.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZSD2h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dropped cat parasite on quilt&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16798" LastEditorUserId="16798" LastEditDate="2019-10-27T14:25:41.143" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T07:59:26.143" Title="What kind of cat parasite is this worm?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26432" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26439" CreationDate="2019-10-27T18:03:17.480" Score="4" ViewCount="524" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in an apartment with a garden shared by 2 houses, there's usually 2 or 3 cats spending their days here while my neighbors are at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently a cat was in the entrance (a common entrance, with a direct access on the garden) and asked for petting every time I came back to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday night (at 10 PM) I came home and he was there, I petted him a bit then went to my apartment but he followed me all the way and tried to enter in my apartment. I didn't let him in but he meowed behind the door for 5 minutes, and started again 1 hour later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I make him understand he can't come in my apartment ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16801" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T21:56:41.093" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T21:04:00.600" Title="What should I do when a neighbour cat wants to come with me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-27T19:02:23.557" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night my beagle started trembling and could barely stand on its legs. It urinated on the sofa as it happened. This was over in about 10 minutes and the dog returned to normal, but it looked tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems this has happened three times in its seven-year life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing we could do was to treat it with gentleness. Is there anything more we could do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16802" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-28T13:27:15.457" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T13:27:15.457" Title="It looks like my dog had his third epileptic seizure. Should I do anything about it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26434" CreationDate="2019-10-28T03:27:34.743" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine it was you having the seizure. Would you see a doctor? My guess is you would. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog &lt;strong&gt;needs&lt;/strong&gt; to be seen by a veterinarian. This could be an easily correctable condition or a life-threatening one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be a good human and take proper care of a life that depends upon your good judgement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8774" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T03:27:34.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26425" CreationDate="2019-10-28T07:04:29.677" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is to get your cat to the vet to get it dewormed and examined, and if/when your vet tells you nothing is wrong, you can take a look at how your cat is eating the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats eat the dry food too fast and drink water only after they have eaten. This can lead to the food swelling in the belly of your cat leading to the cat throwing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help your cat you can give a small portion of wet food (in gravy or gel) before you give the dry food. This does help my cat to keep the food down, and it might help your cat too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats eat grass to throw up if they have intestinal parasites. This makes cats throw up a clear/lightly colored liquid. It is not dangerous in itself, but you need to find the reason for it, to exclude other intestinal problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat throws up less than once in a week or twice in a month it is normally not a sign of problems as long as your cat eats and drinks normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T06:29:27.120" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T06:29:27.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26425" CreationDate="2019-10-28T07:25:21.397" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26436/12501&quot;&gt;Trond's answer&lt;/a&gt;, she might have a sensitive stomach, like one of my cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was lost for quite a while but returned home again. At first we gave him what was left of his usual dry food and he ate it for several weeks without noticeable problems. Then he started vomiting small amounts of his food after eating and it gradually got worse over some weeks. Our vet said he might have a sensitive stomach that was more and more upset over time. He suggested a certain type of dry cat food that is very oily. We didn't have any problems with upset stomachs ever since we changed food brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-28T13:33:31.100" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T13:33:31.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26430" CreationDate="2019-10-28T07:59:26.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like a segment of a tapeworm. But to be absolutely honest, the identification of the worm is irrelevant for your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the common intestinal worms in central Europe can infect humans and other household pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; worm infection, put a sample of the stool into a tightly closable container (like an empty glass jar or a cleaned, empty food container) and bring it to your vet. The vet will identify the parasites and prescribe the correct medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general note: you should preventively deworm an outdoor cat at least every 3 - 6 months, even if you cannot see any worms. Intestinal worms weaken your cat long before you can see them, cause weight loss, shaggy fur and sometimes anemia. Some parasites cause health problems and organ damages but don't leave the body, so you won't see them. And as soon as you notice worms on the fur of your cat, they might as well be on the couch or even in your bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T07:59:26.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26432" CreationDate="2019-10-28T08:17:42.087" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to have a petulant cat screaming in your entrance at night, it is absolutely vital that you ignore him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat wants something (entering your apartment) and is now trying different things to reach his goal. Yesterday, meowing at your door didn't yield the desired result. If you open the door, even only to reprimand him, he'll learn that meowing brings him one step closer to his goal. He might be even more persistent in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; open the door, he'll learn that meowing doesn't bring him any closer to his goal and stop after a few days. So the best reaction is no reaction. Don't open the door, don't speak to him through the door, don't do anything you don't want to do in the future in reaction to his meowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-25T18:40:24.963" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T18:40:24.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26197" CreationDate="2019-10-28T19:36:17.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have written your answer. He respects one, because it teached the dog how to respect it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be the claws of your shy cat. Collies are very obsessive with almost anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to cut this behaviour right now or you will have a problem for life. Use your hands. It's not a pretty solution but it's the only one, If you say this doesn't happen with one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8611" LastActivityDate="2019-10-28T19:36:17.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-29T09:38:42.947" Score="4" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;After the loss of my three babies, within a 6 month period, I was finally ready to adopt. I adopted a 6 month old kitten from a well known rescue that I used before. I have had him 8 weeks now. The first 2 weeks went well, then out of nowhere this kitten starts suckling/kneading with claws on me and viciously attacking, all four paws, teeth, kicking kinda attacking!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I try to disengage he bears down harder. Whenever I move, make my bed, open the blinds, etc. he attacks. He tries to escape constantly, climbs the screens, jumps on counters and table, and when I pick him up to correct the behavior he attacks. He attacks people that come over. I have tried everything the vet suggested, searched the internet for suggestions, and nothing has worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have play time four times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will have a good day and then the old behavior shows up. I am disabled and this behavior is impacting my health. I don't enjoy my new guy, walk on eggshells and dread coming home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kicker... when my grandkids come over and the house is crazy he is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My apartment is small but I have made all types of accommodations for him. At what point do I say I surrender and take him back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**The rescue knew nothing about this kitten. Adopted him out before finding out his personality, good with other cats,  etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16811" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-29T13:27:39.093" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:28:35.303" Title="Rescue from hell or just doesn't like me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26448" CreationDate="2019-10-29T13:26:11.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens are high energy; there's a reason why it's frequently recommended to adopt two kittens if you plan to adopt one, and that's because, in pairs, they can burn off each other's energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You adopted a single kitten; you're now the only target he has for playtime, and he's attempting to play with you the same way he'd play with a companion kitten. You say you're playing four times a day. Based on his behavior, that's clearly not enough--one of the keys is that you say &quot;when my grandkids come over and the house is crazy he is good.&quot; He's getting more engagement with them than he can with you, and therefore doesn't have to direct his energy onto you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're able to bring home a companion for him, that will be the best way to both improve his behavior and keep him in your household. Cats under one year old are generally more accepting of new cats than older ones, though you'll still want to take some time to introduce them properly. If you can't bring home a second kitten, then you and he may be better off if you do surrender him back to the rescue and adopt an adult cat instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-15T14:28:35.303" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:28:35.303" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-29T16:57:19.347" Score="-6" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be a dumb question... I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I was reading this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/politics/trump-baghdadi-dog-conan.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The NY Times article&lt;/a&gt; about a military dog participating in last week's ISIS raid that killed al-Baghdadi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm thinking... this must be a bad-ass military dog. He's such an awesome dog that I only knew he was &quot;Conan&quot; because his name was declassified by the Pentagon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, what are the differences between my dog and &quot;Conan&quot;? Does &quot;Conan&quot; pee and poop like the rest of them or is he more disciplined?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do dogs like &quot;Conan&quot; suffer from PTSD where they wake up in the middle of the night and attack their owner? Do they play with regular toys like regular dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my dog enjoys bacon, plays with a sophisticated electronic toy, and only drinks filtered water. Would &quot;Conan&quot; scoff at these luxuries knowing that he only played with sand in Syria or would he be ecstatic &lt;em&gt;because he can play with these great toys&lt;/em&gt; and he's not in Syria anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example: my dog gets sad whenever I cut myself while cooking. Would &quot;Conan&quot; feel sadness also? Or will he just ignore me because he knows it's not a bullet wound or a commando raid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen military dogs at airports, and they look very serious. He didn't even make eye contact with me when I started making silly sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-10-29T17:20:33.667" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T15:46:44.093" Title="Difference between regular dogs and Conan?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26450" CreationDate="2019-10-29T17:12:18.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Conan' is whats known as a military dog or personal protection dog assigned to a dog handler in the army. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs go through extensive and precise training in order to subdue, disable or in some cases kill a target. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They need the right character, confidence, drive, toughness and ability to carry out these tasks and go through the training. So only certain working breeds are considered, and even then its down to the character of the dog itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These dogs are not typically kept as pets and will likely live in a kennel at a base or outside the home of a serving handler, and in rare cases in the handlers home. These dogs will be high in drive making their defence and offence nature strong which can lead to aggressive or destructive behaviour in some cases if not kept suitably occupied. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But these dogs are incredibly well trained. Trained to only respond to their owner or handler. Chances are you wont even know what the commands are. They tend to avoid the conventional 'Sit' etc. So this is why it didnt respond to you making noises. Because it is essentially waiting for its owners interaction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will likely have toys mainly used for training purposes or for stimulation when not being utilised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs as far as im aware can suffer PTSD like trauma but as always it can manifest in various ways, but these dogs are highly scrutinised when selected for this training so chances of dogs like 'Conan' suffering from this are slim to none. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-01-29T15:46:44.093" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T15:46:44.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26373" CreationDate="2019-10-29T22:36:37.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll be happy to hear that I have a cat who does exactly the same thing. She has the &quot;swipe&quot; reflex but hasn't realized that she's supposed to bury the poops, instead wiping the sides or pummeling the cat flap. Her sister buries the poop for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is a bit slow in other ways too, not just the burying. I say this with love but she's a dummy. She often follows cues from the others without knowing what's going on, sometimes doesn't notice that she has gone from washing herself to washing the pillow she's lying on, and seems to learn slower than the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they were new (fresh rescues), the sister was adamant about making sure it was buried. After a few years now, they've all grown lazy about it and poops don't get buried as much anymore as they should by any of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there some way I can teach her that she needs to dig at the litter in order to make the poop smell go away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really. Cats bury their poop to hide their presence in an environment (so prey/other predators don't catch on). If your cat has lost that instinct, there's not much you can do to bring it back other than release a bunch of prey/other predators in your house which is clearly insane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes sense for them to no longer need to hide their smell if they provably know that their territory is not inhabited by anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2019-10-29T22:41:57.067" LastActivityDate="2019-10-29T22:41:57.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26448" CreationDate="2019-10-30T14:49:16.497" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My impression is the cat is probably trying to play inappropriately. You can tell the difference between play and attack by body language. A cat's eyes will dilate when it's afraid. A cat play-wrestling, not so much. Ears back, spitting, fluffing up, generally looking tense, are all fearful sort of body language. Cats might show some of these kinds of signs while playing, but generally during an attack they're much more intense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is play, first and foremost the cat needs even more playtime and things to help entertain it. Since it's jumping up on tables and climbing screens, it probably needs alot more things that it's allowed to climb. Get cat trees and cat shelves. Arrange them so hopefully they will now be more interesting to the cat for climbing. Position them by windows especially. Climbing cats like to be high up, so you can help encourage it to climb the cat shelves instead by making a series of shelves that lead up even higher than your tables.  Have some of these things in every room that you tend to spend a lot of time in. Socialized cats often like to follow their owners around the house and hang out where you hang out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also discourage random pouncing by taking away locations that are fun to the cat for ambushing you. Like, if there's some piece of furniture it likes to hide under, and then jump out and pounce on you, block around that piece of furniture somehow, so it can no longer hide under it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also help to carry a laser pointer with you at all times. When you observe the cat looking like it's going to pounce, get out the laser pointer instead to distract it. Or you can preemptively use the laser pointer to distract it if, for instance, it tends to pounce you right as you come into the house or leave a room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides just doing as many play sessions as possible, you can also try other activities to keep it engaged. These can be things such as giving it better things to watch, like a bird feeder outside its favorite window, clicker training, or even walking on a leash. It's all about being creative to come up with lots of different ways to keep your cat entertained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-10-30T14:49:16.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26456" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-30T17:12:55.423" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one baby red eared slider. I got it a month ago. It's color was green when I got it, but now the shell color has starting become darker and also blackish. I understand that the color changes over time but is it normal to happen within a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I noticed that shell is relatively soft at the top and bottom of the shell. I can press it down at the both edges. Is this softness normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The turtle is very active and no signs of the illness. It eats normally and always excited for food whenever I feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have ordered the UVB bulb and may get it soon. But is the MBD develops in a single month's time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gtGph.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16822" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:57:20.840" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:57:20.840" Title="Shell of the turtle is progressively darkening" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-10-30T19:25:46.270" Score="2" ViewCount="12634" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat started off as a cute, nice cat but just after a month, she started misbehaving a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem is that she keeps stealing food no matter what! I leave my food on dining table to go wash my hands and when I come back, my plate is empty! I keep all kitchen counters clean at all times but obviously I can not keep them clean when my mum's cooking food or she puts dirty dishes in the sink to wash them and these are the best opportunities she sees to steal food! I tried banging loud noises and spraying her but she still does this again and again! The biggest problem is, I once lost my temper and hit her really hard in anger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, she makes sure she steals food when I am not around. Turns out, even my parents and my brothers lost temper because she just sneaks and steals food when absolutely no one's around. As I said, she licks dirty dishes and eats raw chicken left on kitchen counter ready to be cooked but before that can be done, she's already done eating. If that's worse, well something even worse happened - she has a kitten who is double torture in case of stealing food. Somehow, they both are able to open shelves with clip locks that have cat food in them. They tear the hell out of it and then grab the packet in their mouth and climb a wall from where I cannot get them down and so they eat every last bit before coming down. No matter where I hide the packet, they find it and manage to break the clip lock somehow!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, they stay near the fridge all day. The moment someone opens it, they jump inside and steal as much as they can. They somehow once even managed to open the fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot even do anything about this, I surfed all over the Internet and came up with as many solutions as possible. Clip-locks, high noises, sprays, clean counters and I even used one of those puzzles. But still no use. I feed them completely enough. Used to feed them 3 times a day and now extended to 5. I am unable to catch them doing something wrong because I already lost my temper on them and hit them. I took them to the vet 6 times and he says they are completely healthy and fine, they are just greedy and that's my own problem to stop them. I am crying while I am typing this, I really need help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some PLEASE HELP ME!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16825" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T18:46:37.417" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T11:09:53.200" Title="I am sick of my cat's stealing habit!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26458" CreationDate="2019-10-30T20:41:52.190" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat seems to be very food motivated. Do not expect any negative reinforcement to ever work to keep it from stealing food, because as you said, as soon as your back is turned it will do it because it's getting a huge reward. That means don't bother spraying, yelling, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest thing is to never leave food unattended or unprotected. All food needs to be stored in places that are inaccessible to the cat. If it figures out how to open drawers and cabinets, then you may be forced to get child proof locks on your drawers and cabinets. Use breadboxes and Tupperware and so forth for food that does not need to be refrigerated. Do not thaw food by leaving it out on the counter, but rather thaw it by transferring it to your refrigerator, which you should be doing anyways for food safety reasons since the outside of the food will thaw before the inside if simply left out, and dangerous bacteria could grow on the outside of the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely do not ever leave food unattended. If there are multiple people in your household, you can request for them to guard the food if you really must leave it unattended for some reason. If there is not, you just have to be more strategic about how you go about preparing your food. If you know you're going to want to wash your hands before you eat, leave your plates in the kitchen, wash your hands at the kitchen sink, and then bring your plates to the table for eating. Then if your cat attempts to steal food, simply gently grab the cat and place it back on the floor. That should be enough to demonstrate that there's no point in attempting to steal food while you are there, because you'll always intercept it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dirty dishes, you'll just need to clean them as soon as you can rather than leave them to sit and attract the cat. You could even have one person in the household prepare the food, and another person in the household help out by cleaning as dishes are being dirtied. Then there will be no chance at all for the cat to try to lick dirty dishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is, if your cat just sits by the fridge all day, that is probably a sign it is very bored, and because it is so food motivated, it is alleviating boredom by trying to eat. I recommend you trying to entertain your cat a lot more also. Do more interactive play with it, encourage it to look out windows by placing cat furniture by them or getting bird feeders. Instead of one of its regular meals, you could give it that meal inside a food puzzle toy, so it has to work for its food. Be creative and do what you can to get it doing something else other than staring at the fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last advice I can give you is that you can also give it it's meals at strategic times, for instance, feed it right as you're about to sit down to eat. That way it'll be distracted by it's own food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-10-30T20:48:22.133" LastActivityDate="2019-10-30T20:48:22.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-01T14:53:23.513" Score="7" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone told me that surgically removing these organs negatively affects their hormone profiles, and that people started vascectomising male dogs and cats for this reason, but I don't know if a similar technique has been discovered for those with uteri.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that humans usually take medicine and or hormones to prevent the onset of osteoporosis if they've had their hormone-producing organs removed for whatever reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16831" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-11-07T15:26:04.937" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T15:26:04.937" Title="If sterillising dogs and cats deprive them of sex hormones, does that not cause the likelihood of osteoporosis the way it does in humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26456" CreationDate="2019-11-01T15:42:07.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The greenish colour of your turtle is a sign of algea growing on the shell. This happens if the turtle could not get dry once per day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The soft shell is sign for not enough UV-B light. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like trond hansen wrote, most turtles go to a warm dry place in direct sunlight once per day (for some hours if not disturbed) to dry and warm up. The drying protects them from algae and bacteria growth. The sunlight enables them to produce some vitamins, which in turn enable the hardening of the shell. These vitamins aren't present in food. In food there are only the &quot;building blocks&quot; to build these vitamins of. In general, the warmth helps to use all parts of the food in stomach and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sunlight/basking light enables your turtle to produce vitamin D and some &quot;feel-good&quot; hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vitamin D is important for your turtle and helps with the uptake of calcium from the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your turtle hasn't enough vitamin D it will start losing calcium from the body, even if the food contains the right amount of calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Common-Diseases-Of-Aquatic-Turtles/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Common-Diseases-Of-Aquatic-Turtles/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T14:54:41.537" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T14:54:41.537" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26464" CreationDate="2019-11-01T15:56:21.953" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clarkforkvet.com/dr-chat-articles/2018/1/2/deciphering-the-current-neuter-debate&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.clarkforkvet.com/dr-chat-articles/2018/1/2/deciphering-the-current-neuter-debate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Osteoporosis, a common problem in women with lowering estrogen levels, has not been shown as an issue in neutered males or females, dogs or cats.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-11-01T15:56:21.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7647" CreationDate="2019-11-01T20:03:05.953" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm gonna get yelled at by online people but I got two small goldfish (an inch or less each at the start) and kept them for 12 years. First couple of years they were in a 3 gallon tank, then moved to a 5 as they grew, finally a 25 as they were both about 4-5 inches at the end. They were active and happy and never had any health issues at the end. I even consulted vets. Just saying you don't HAVE to have 10 gallons per inch of goldfish, that's what I read a lot on unaccredited websites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16832" LastActivityDate="2019-11-01T20:03:05.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26535" CreationDate="2019-11-02T00:38:04.763" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I  have been doing research into keeping mice and I know that there are numerous calculators out there but they do not take into account the different levels and thought I would ask the experts about this cage &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been given it and would love to be able to use it and was wondering how many mice you guys would recommend keeping in it&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/rosewood-pico-hamster-home-extra-large-teal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/rosewood-pico-hamster-home-extra-large-teal&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16835" LastActivityDate="2019-12-10T21:02:00.273" Title="How many mice can I keep in this cage?" Tags="&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1580" CreationDate="2019-11-02T01:45:49.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in Germany the professionals learn a thumb rule stating that a horse of half a ton weight (which is a rather small standardbred) needs roughly 1-1.5 hectare per year for food supplement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when it comes to food, roughly multiply the number of horses by 1.25 hectare (which is 10,000 square metres). It depends on the ground, the soil, the plants, the moisture, weather and all, though. It also depends on whether you keep them outside all the time, or stall them up. The ideal for sure is using stables as little as possible (there are some cases where that might be appropriate, though). Most stables have far too little land; even most professional stables cannot afford the recommendations. So, a good thumb rule is: The more, the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses love to run and walk long distances, so if you have the choice of a long, narrow pasture, your horses might like that more than a square one, especially if they can get out of sight of their stables (I observed they do like getting some miles between, even though they'd never miss a meal and will come back for food ;D)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you supplement hay, you can hold the horses in smaller spaces. Even then, the ideal would be above 100,000 square meters per herd, depending on the herd's size. They may also be happy with 1,000 meters per horse, though. When you supplement them, they will stop moving far distances, as the hay supplement usually has a stationary place. Feeding them solely from grass changes the movement situation &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oftimes what is best for the horses will be very costly in time and money for the humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some factor that many forget is to look at how the horse grew up. If it grew up in  a narrow stable, it might have problems adjusting to wide spaces. If it had the luck to grow up in an open stable with small pasture, it will love the open spaces, but it would still be happy with smaller areas. But if we are talking about a horse that is not used to fences, e.g. a mustang, then even the widest pastures might be too small. Take that on the example of stables. Horses that never lived in a stable will freak out after short amount of time when they are put in one. Horses that were born in stables are less likely to show this behaviour (though even then there are some that will freak out, can't blame them for that!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment, some stables have started building a path surrounding the pastures, which is available to the horses at all times, as a compromise between having not enough pasture to be able to allow horses to graze in winter, and wanting them to have some large arrow to move in. I grew fond of this system in places, where you just have not the possibility to even buy large enough meadows. I observed they will use these paths to play and race from time to time and like to use the possibility to have their time off when they need some time alone - yes, sometimes even horses want to be left alone, so best give them enough space that they can take their time off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the final answer is: It totally depends. Best thing before taking care of horses yourself is to go explore the country and observe as many pastures and stables as possible. Watch the horses, analyse their behaviour, their needs and expression. If you want to take care of a bunch you will need to have good horse observation skills, anyway. Compare. A lot. Compare changes in behaviour that occurred after the horse was moved to some other place. This might sound time-costly, but it is the only way to get a good idea of one individual horses need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-11-05T14:48:47.177" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T14:48:47.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26474" CreationDate="2019-11-02T20:39:17.310" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play with both my cats using a wand with various toys on the end of a string (never hands), but they do so very differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Bengal likes to stalk the toy until it stops moving (usually just out of sight) and then pounces on it. If I pull it before he jumps, he stops and waits. If I pull it during his jump, he will chase it for a second at most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Savannah likes to chase the moving toy contiuously until he needs a break to catch his breath, then he will stare at it until it starts moving again so he can resume chasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, they usually stop when they catch the toy and walk away until I hide it or move it again, respectively, though occasionally both will carry it off to a corner to lick and chew on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a difference in how they play with balls, though I can't as easily describe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this difference just an individual personality thing, or does it have something to do with their different wild ancestors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T02:05:29.267" Title="Why do my cats play differently?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26472" CreationDate="2019-11-03T01:57:03.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your descriptions, I think it's mostly just a personality difference than having to do with the species they were hybridized from. Bengals are hybrids between Asian Leopard Cats and domestic cats, specifically the Egyptian Mau. Savannah cats are a hybrid between servals and domestic cats of various breeds, sometimes even including Bengals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both Asian Leopard Cats and servals are ambush predators by nature, preferring to wait while hidden, then jump out and pounce at a good opportunity. Hunting is also a partially learned behavior, so some cats are definitely better at it than others, which may also explain the difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one sort of oddity with servals is that they are known for jumping up high and landing on their prey in order to stun or sometimes even kill, and they can jump as high as ten feet in order to catch birds.  The unusually long legs in the serval cat is possibly to help with jumping. If you're noticing your savannah is particularly into jumping, that's likely due to it being a serval hybrid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-11-03T02:05:29.267" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T02:05:29.267" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25799" CreationDate="2019-11-03T05:35:23.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When working full time with a young dog at home and trying to avoid the expense of dog walkers, it becomes necessary to tire the dog before you leave for work.  I know, it can be exhausting, but prevents behavioral problems.  I learned the hard way when my dogs ate their entire dog house.  So, I spent 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at days end running the dogs on a leash.  You will reap the benefits as the dogs will not adopt bad habits from excess energy.  I've raised labs for most of my adult life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16839" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T05:35:23.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21263" CreationDate="2019-11-03T06:16:48.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;An early reference entitled &quot;Life-Saving Dogs&quot; by Hugh B. Philpott from 1905 stated &quot;dogs are capable not only of being the faithful companions of man, but on occasion rescuing him from deadly peril&quot;.  We see many examples of dogs rescuing humans from dangers such as drowning, avalanches and attacks. These are mostly instinctual behaviors which are difficult to alter by training.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best dog knew it was his job to protect people. Anytime anyone did something the dog perceived as dangerous, this dog would jump on them barking.  He jumped on our sledding children actually dumping them from the sled.  We solved the problem by anticipating activities that would stimulate the dog's protective instincts and keeping the dog under leash control to avoid injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16839" LastEditorUserId="16839" LastEditDate="2019-11-07T17:48:55.653" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T17:48:55.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14955" CreationDate="2019-11-03T06:52:23.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a ranch in the Rocky Mountains and kept three of my own labs.  They were secure.  Stray, scared and sick dogs somehow found us.  They wouldn't come near the humans.  So, I put them in a large dog pen and simply sat alone reading a book about 15 feet from them.  Even the most frightened, sick or aggressive dogs are very curious.  After days of allowing the dogs to investigate me, we began to develop a trusting relationship and worked from there.  My philosophy is that you &quot;can't make the river flow&quot;.  The less active approach, for me, was the most successful.  It sounds as if you are making great headway!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16839" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T06:52:23.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26427" CreationDate="2019-11-03T07:12:57.407" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son and his wife asked me to babysit their two Shih Tzu dogs for one month.  The dogs were over 3 years old and were not house trained.  I accepted the babysitting dog and told the &quot;parents&quot; that their dogs would never mess in my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the first day they came, I walked them 4-6 times.  They were spoiled and acted like they wouldn't leave the house.  I simply put on their leashes and walked out the door as if in a hurry.  Each time, they peed, I praised them.  From that point on, they never had an accident again.  Once they went home, the &quot;parents&quot; were astounded when the dogs refused to go inside the house and cried at the door.  Those lovely little dogs had not learned to enjoy outside walks and the concept of peeing, pooping and vomiting away from where they ate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was an easy success as they were happily introduced to a new routine with no arguing or excuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16839" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T19:33:46.050" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T19:33:46.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-03T07:40:02.440" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've adopted a 4yr old recently neutered lab with no training.  Was found living wild in the desert.  His training is going well.  However, his prey drive is like a wild animal.  He is 90lbs and has broken away from me to kill 3 rabbits.  It took 45 minutes to pry a live, suffering rabbit from his mouth.  My question: Will he make a mistake and kill a small dog?  I've been socializing him and he is kind to small dogs but what happens if one runs from him.  I need help as I am a small woman and may not be able to retrain him for his and my safety.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16839" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:05:55.147" Title="Adult lab just neutered came from the desert with strong prey drive" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26483" CreationDate="2019-11-03T13:23:14.943" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background: I have a 2 year old, sterilized female Siberian cat. My mom's taken care of this kitty for weeks on end in my apartment while I've been on vacation and they love each other a lot. There's never been any issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So today I brought the kitty to Mom's place and it didn't go too well. Initially the cat explored the apartment and gradually got more confident, even eating some treats from my hand and sitting in my arms calmly. She also let my mom and girlfriend pet and lift her. But then my mom opened a cupboard to take out a water bowl. The cat instantly wanted to go inside the cupboard, but Mom lifted her out and closed the door. So the cat meows loudly, growls and hisses, then backs Mom into a corner. No claws or bites involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this Mom couldn't get close to the cat without the same thing happening again. We brought the cat home and now she's relaxed again. So my question is what happened here anyway? Never had this kind of reaction from the kitty before. Any steps I should take to not lose my best catsitter? =P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16840" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-11-04T07:38:57.387" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T07:38:57.387" Title="Cat's suddenly became very aggressive when brought to Mom's place" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26482" CreationDate="2019-11-03T14:49:00.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say, but I'll guess it's because the cat was very stressed out that it acted hostile. Going into a new territory is very scary for them. A couple hours, or however long your visit lasted during the one day, is almost certainly not enough for the cat to feel safe and unstressed. It may have even been that your mom surprised it by grabbing it out of the cabinet, when it was probably hyper focused on exploring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, after the first incident, it's pretty likely your mom was a bit scared of the cat after that, and acting more tense around it, but acting tense can also make cats even more on edge. It may be because cats tense up when they're being aggressive or scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usually less stressful for cats to be able to stay in their own home during cat sitting, and seeing how this incident happened, you should probably stick to that arrangement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you should do is make sure your mom is not being tense and hesitant when interacting with the cat now. If she seems tense, get her to interact with the cat in ways to help build up confidence again. For instance, get her to play with the cat using a feather wand, get her to give treats to the cat. I imagine that once they have some good interactions again, she will probably relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really must introduce your cat into a new territory, the best way to do it is to start out with a single room, and then bring as many of your cat's own things as you can to put in that room. Bring its food and water dish, its beds and blankets, its toys.  And though it sounds gross, the next level is to even bring its litterbox. All these things will have the cat's smell, and it helps a lot with it feeling more secure in the new space. Then, after a couple days, and the cat seems quite confident, then allow it into an additional room. Move some of the cat's things into the new room as well. Keep repeating this every couple of days until the entire area is open to the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-11-03T14:49:00.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-04T00:11:03.120" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, from a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26177/two-pet-cats-suddenly-fight&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt;, has not gotten less aggressive. If anything, she's more aggressive. It has been over two months since the incident in that question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been working with my vet and my cat is on prozac to help with the aggression. I use a pheromone diffuser as well. I have separated them, reacquainted them, incentivized friendly interactions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has never, ever been friendly towards others in all five years of her life, and I can't have visitors over anymore. She's made a lot of people bleed. She is even become very aggressive towards me, constantly lashing out. I know how cats can react to human emotions, so I'm doing my best to be calm. But she terrifies me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing with their living situation has changed. I don't have new habits. I don't treat them any different than I have in all five years I've had them. I could rehome her, but she's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a good cat. &lt;em&gt;hi do you want my cat? She’s a terror.&lt;/em&gt; And I can't bear the thought of giving up my other sweet cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is enough, enough? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2019-11-04T02:57:12.587" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T04:37:55.783" Title="Aggressive cat - when is enough, enough?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26484" CreationDate="2019-11-04T04:37:55.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds as though you and your vet are working hard to solve the problem, but not making much headway. It is clearly not acceptable that she causes injury to your or others. Cat bites and scratches can be dangerous - not so much the injury itself as the risk for infection. Aggressive cats can cause serious injury to young children and elderly people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to understand the cause of the aggression is important; addressing that underlying cause is the only way you will solve the problem. Is there a trigger? Is it territorial, or other inter-cat aggression? Is is fear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think setting your expectations is important at this stage. For example, some reasonable goals and expectations might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will probably never be a cat that will sit happily on your lap. But can you get her to sit peacefully on the same piece of furniture with you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you safely touch her? Not to pet or brush her if she doesn't like that, but just to be able to do the basic things you might need to do such as get her in carrier, or take her into another room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you get her to live with the other cat without causing him injury? She doesn't have to like him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She will never like strangers, and there is probably little you can do to change this. Can you get into a routine to shut her in another room such as a bedroom whenever you have visitors?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you can't expect to achieve these things overnight, but if these or other basic expectations cannot be met then you really have to consider other options. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly I think there is little that a veterinary behaviorist will be able to add that your vet already hasn't tried - although it is always a good idea to get another opinion in these cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly consider trying to rehome her. It sounds as though she is a cat that would do best as an only cat. Cats are solitary creatures. We humans like to get cats in pairs, and usually they will adapt just fine to this, but some will not. You can talk to your local shelters or rescue groups to see if they have any suggestions for rehoming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T04:37:55.783" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26543" CreationDate="2019-11-04T09:04:44.610" Score="4" ViewCount="797" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that the easiest way to identify the gender of a dog is to look between the hind legs, but that doesn't always clarify the gender of a dog, and sometimes (like on the below picture) it's not immediately obvious to the untrained eye. I can't tell whether that black spot between the hind legs is just dirt or is indeed part of the dog's genitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OK6bX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OK6bX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dog with a gender that&amp;#39;s difficult to identify&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this dog is sitting in a position where you can actually see between the hind legs, but that's not always the case. Sometimes the dog is walking towards you or away from you and you can't look between the legs at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the most reliable ways to identify a dog's gender?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="890" LastEditorUserId="890" LastEditDate="2019-11-08T10:56:56.103" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T23:46:51.993" Title="How can I tell the gender of a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-04T15:07:18.610" Score="3" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;We gave our domestic short hair cat (a neutered male rescue cat) an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/johnsons-one-dose-wormer-for-cats-and-kittens-2-tablets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;off the shelf dewormer tablet from a petstore&lt;/a&gt; the active ingredients were &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.drugs.com/sfx/pyrantel-side-effects.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pyrantel embonate&lt;/a&gt; 230mg, &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/praziquantel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;praziquantel&lt;/a&gt; 20mg.&quot; Both of those ingredients &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; cause diarrhea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;36 hours later he now has diarrhea, not bloody, but serious enough for him to foul himself in his sleep. He may also have taken a rat last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are wondering is this just the dewormer working or should we be concerned about another cause? Is 36 hours too long for this to be linked?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16842" LastEditorUserId="16842" LastEditDate="2019-11-04T15:17:03.050" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T16:50:22.663" Title="How long does dewormer take to cause diarrhea in a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26488" CreationDate="2019-11-04T16:50:22.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the diarrhea is still going on when you read this you need to get your cat to the vet right now,It takes a very short time before cats get dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats get diarrhea after getting dewormed but it is not a very common side effect for cats,the next time you deworm your cat you might try an other brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat gets diarrhea from deworming it will often get better in less than 6 hrs,if it lasts longer you need to get your cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not feed dry food to your cat if it has diarrhea it will make the cat more dehydrated,Feed only wet food and water until your cat gets back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T16:50:22.663" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15359" CreationDate="2019-11-04T17:33:23.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find natural feathers during the summer, which I take home and clean by first making sure all the rough stuff (if any) is off the quill part. Then I wash them in Dawn dishwashing detergent, soak them in clean water, rinse them well, and air-dry them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only give the feathers to a cat when I am around to supervise, and if they break one, I take that feather away and give another. If they try to eat them or tear off pieces, I take them away and wait another day before offering a new feather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also make sure I am giving a large feather like hawk's, turkey's and on occasion an eagle's, never a small bird feather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16843" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T17:07:27.053" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T17:07:27.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-04T19:16:48.687" Score="2" ViewCount="8809" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning to have a cat or even a pair. I really don't like the smell and look (and noises during &quot;producing&quot;) of cat in the litter box and what it lefts behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have an idea to put the litter box on balcony and train the cat to use it. I live in area where in winter it happens to be down to -10°C occasionally. Normal temperature is around 0°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is is possible (i.e. techn-ically because water freezes; and cat-ically because it can be not comfortable for the cat) to do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may heavily depend on the instance of cat, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2695" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-11-07T15:18:39.160" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T16:31:03.120" Title="Is it possible to keep cat litter on balcony during winter (down to -10°C)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26492" CreationDate="2019-11-04T20:34:29.770" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not fair to the cat to demand it does his/her pooping/peeing outside in the cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are you going to do if the cat refuses to go outside for its pooping/peeing and does this inside your house; cats can be a lot more stubborn than you can ever imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and all other pets come as a complete package so you will have to take both the good and the bad part of it. If you cannot take it, you do not get a pet; it is as simple as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry; all this might sound hard, but it is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2019-11-06T06:55:00.680" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T06:55:00.680" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26492" CreationDate="2019-11-04T20:54:04.360" Score="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The short answer to this is yes, &quot;technically&quot; it's possible to put a litter box on a balcony in winter, but it's not at all realistic and will not work out in any way.&lt;/strong&gt; You can, after all, put anything that physically fits on a balcony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing the issues in no particular order, we'll start with &lt;strong&gt;weather&lt;/strong&gt;. The cat will need to access it, not only in the cold temperatures you're asking about, but in hot weather, humid weather, wet weather, windy weather, any conditions you may encounter. That doesn't mean the cat will want to access it, however. If it's raining, if the litter box is buried under several inches of snow, if it's overly windy or overly hot, you're far more likely to find the cat has availed itself of your laundry basket, rug, or bed instead of going out in lousy weather. Similarly, if it snows, the litter box is now buried. If it rains, the litter box is now either a waterlogged mess, one large clump, or some combination of both. Plus, with the open door, you're probably still going to be able to smell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have &lt;strong&gt;safety concerns&lt;/strong&gt;. Again, you're going to have to leave the door open; I expect you aren't living in a situation where a cat flap can be installed in the door, so the door itself needs to be left open, leaving you with an unsecured apartment. You'll also have a risk of the cat being injured, either by falling if the balcony is at a dangerous height, or by traffic below if it lands safely. Even if the cat departs the balcony for outside with no injury, it's very unlikely now that it will be capable of returning to it, and will be subject to all the risks of harm that affect any outdoor cat. (Additionally, you may be in violation of adoption contracts, depending on the terms set out by the rescue agency.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You aren't avoiding anything; regardless of whether the cat uses the litter box or your pillow, &lt;strong&gt;you're still going to have to clean it up&lt;/strong&gt;. An outdoor box is not going to magically clean itself, and with it being &quot;out of sight and out of mind,&quot; it's likely to be much dirtier than a box kept inside and regularly cleaned; with frequent cleaning and a good quality litter, there's minimal odor associated with a properly tended litter box. If you dislike the idea of cleaning up a few clumps once a day so much that you're trying to find some way around it, either get a self-cleaning litter box, or get a fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your neighbors will hate you.&lt;/strong&gt; They'll also be able to smell it if they open their windows. Any time the wind kicks up, it'll blow dirty litter at them. If it rains hard enough to overflow the box, it'll ooze out onto both your balcony and anything that it can drip through to (and you are the one responsible for cleaning that mess, as well). If the cat kicks litter up, it'll land on the balcony below. You'll be forcing neighbors to deal with your mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you want to adopt a pet, that means accepting all parts of adopting that pet, including dealing with proper disposal of its waste. If you're unwilling to responsibly clean up after your pet, then you absolutely should not adopt a pet at all&lt;/strong&gt;; if you express your disgust with cleaning up after it to a rescue, it's likely they won't approve you for adoption, as you would be giving a red flag that you would not be a responsible pet owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-11-04T20:54:04.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-05T00:19:10.333" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs usually fight when there’s food around but only growl at each other never bite each other. But recently my male dog keeps randomly biting/ attacking her. He does this maybe once everyother day. I know it hurts her because she cries when he attacks her. I don’t know what to do about it or what causes him to do it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16844" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T00:19:10.333" Title="My male dog is aggressive to his sister" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-05T01:42:45.060" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently started renting a room from a homeowner with multiple pets which I'm allergic to. The entire house is full of dander, my clothes, carpet, etc. are already covered in it. What are the best ways to get rid of it all? What steps can i take to keep my room dander-free?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16846" LastActivityDate="2019-11-15T22:06:42.267" Title="How can i get rid of pet hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26496" CreationDate="2019-11-05T06:32:01.710" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally, that should not be such a big problem, if the owner of the pets would take care of them properly - including grooming and trimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the homeowner does not care about cleaning his pets and his house, you are in a place which is dangerous for your health. Additionally, you are likely to start a &quot;full-time job&quot; caring for the pets and for the apartment. Are you going to be paid for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best answer on this case is: find another place to live. This one does not sound worth living in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For particular / exceptional cases, you can use a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lint_remover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lint remover&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. It is a device to which the hairs will stick. If it is paper-based, you just peel the used paper to release a new fully working one. If it is plastic based, just wash it and dry it, before using it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T06:32:01.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26516" CreationDate="2019-11-05T08:44:37.050" Score="3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read I could transport animals in transport boxes the size of hand luggage with me near my seat on an airplane. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not imagine a transport-box-like piece of luggage with the right size. One problem I see is that it should only be approximately 25 cm in height. How could one transport a rabbit (or two) within this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Background: We want to visit parents at Christmas time, but have no one to care for our two dwarf rabbits. The flight would be about 2 hours. Could there be a possibility to &quot;grow and shrink&quot; such a transport box, so the time in the car and airport is more comfortable for them?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I want to know what sort of crate matches with the luggage-size-rule. Exambles for crates, or methods to match the allowed size. (One answer mentions &quot;foldable&quot;: How?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-11-06T14:20:45.103" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T17:17:39.360" Title="Rabbits as hand luggage in airplane" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26499" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-05T14:33:09.133" Score="-1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;So recently, our family bought 2 more leopard geckos for the current 2 ones we already had... My sister's gecko is &quot;supposedly&quot; a girl, and her new young girl/boy got along nicely. They separated but soon started sleeping together more often then not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My lizard is a bit older than my sister's. We believe he's a large fat-tail male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I placed my new baby in the cage, and Hammy bit him on the first night right in the face, I immediately separated them, but later on, they started &quot;Getting Along&quot; and slept in the same hide for a couple days. About 3 days after buying &quot;Chicki,&quot; as we called him, he lost half his tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried figuring out what caused it, I have a healthy semi-humid environment, I feed them often, give them a large clean water-bowl, and I block out very bright lights, all the crazy stuff. Then he still lost his tail, so I guessed Hammy ate it (I couldn't find it anywhere). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few days later, they are sleeping in the same hide again. Finally just yesterday, he lost a bit more of his tail. He's got maybe 3/4ths of a centimeter left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that Hammy is hurting him at night, because I never see them fight during the day, and in fact, if I go to grab them both out, Hammy actually seems to &quot;protect&quot; him, and the two huddle up together sometimes, but at night, they go to opposite hides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what I should do? Hammy hasn't hurt him any way else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please do keep in mind, we named Chicki, well, Chicki, because hes a bit of a chicken. Everything scares him and makes him stick his tail in the air and wag it like a dog. Its' possible he just dropped the tail and Hammy ate it, as Hammy is normally never violent.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T14:06:19.360" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:06:19.360" Title="New lizard lost tail 2 times already, worried about his/her safety" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26492" CreationDate="2019-11-05T14:49:19.517" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add on to what Allison C said, putting litter in weather is a horrible idea; I've experienced it, it's not very enjoyable at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Litter can be a simple thing as long as you plan to deal with it efficiently and sufficiently enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly: Find a location that isn't directly exposed to the weather, or isn't in your house. (In our home, our cats go outside to &quot;do business,&quot; but we have emergency litter boxes in the garage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly: Find a scented litter that clumps, i.e., find one that promises to cover the smell, or at least remove it, and also clumps the fluids and things into rocky material that's easy to clean and remove quickly and easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Many of today's cheaper litters do come complete with scented clumping types, so finding some shouldn't be a problem. However, if you continue to have a smell problem (if you do even get cats), find a plug-in deodorizer, which can lightly remove the smell over time.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly: Get the right cleaning tools and bags for the jobs, and also, if you have the time, build a slide holder for your litter, so it doesn't sit on the ground, and you can hide it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recommendations: Buy in bulk: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=buy+cat+litter+in+bulk&amp;amp;rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS864US864&amp;amp;oq=buy+cat+litter+in+bulk&amp;amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.7087j0j7&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;google search&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, here's the one that we use: (We usually buy bulk from Purina) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/tidy-cats-instant-action-immediate/dp/105875&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chewy.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that link, we buy the 20lb kitty litter, but if you plan on having it for a long time, like over winter and spring, get a 35lb or 40lb, which should last you about 5-9 months, depending on how much you have to fill and replace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-11-06T16:18:53.920" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T16:18:53.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26498" CreationDate="2019-11-05T16:38:20.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This varies a lot by airline. Some &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; allow cats or dogs and &quot;service animals&quot; (whatever that might include), some (eg. Westjet) allow rabbits and birds in addition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most require prior notification and registration and maybe a health certificate, and they limit the number per flight usually. They may not want to allow two pets with one passenger, but some (Turkish Airlines for example) are okay with it provided they're known to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expect them to be a bit nosy and maybe check that the pets have enough room to be reasonably comfortable etc. Obviously the carrier will have to fit under the seat and you'll want to book a seat that has such a space in front (eg. not a bulkhead seat). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a fee is charged (as much as $200). &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tourradar.com/days-to-come/pet-friendly-international-airlines-ranked-top-20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's&lt;/a&gt; a bit of a round-up, &lt;strong&gt;be sure to confirm&lt;/strong&gt; with the airline before you book tickets. Things change and such surveys are seldom 100% accurate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was on an international flight a couple years ago and the girl next to me had a very small dog under her seat, the pup was happy as a clam and kept quiet the whole ~5hr flight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16849" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T16:38:20.267" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26498" CreationDate="2019-11-05T16:49:26.577" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming your chosen airline follows nternational Pet and Animal Transport Association (IPATA) standards, pets must travel in a crate/carrier that allows them to &lt;strong&gt;stand up and turn around without touching the sides or top&lt;/strong&gt;. There are additional rules for two pets (of the same species only) traveling in the same crate/carrier if they are small enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To carry them on board as hand luggage, the carrier must fit under the seat in front of you and remain there for the entire flight. Soft carriers are allowed, provided they compress down to the required size and the pet still has sufficient space (see above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, they must travel as checked luggage or cargo in a hard-sided crate that meets IPATA standards for durability, security, ventilation, etc. Some aircraft types are limited in the crate sizes they can handle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How rigorously airlines enforce these rules is another matter. It is not difficult to find pictures of cats and dogs out of their carriers on planes and clearly large enough that the allegedly required carrier size couldn't possibly fit under a seat. I've never done it, but I've seen plenty of others firsthand. The key factor seems to be keeping them calm and quiet, which I assume isn't much of an issue for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, you can try it and may get lucky if the folks you encounter either don't know or don't care about the rules, but you should have a backup plan in case you're turned away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T16:49:26.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26508" CreationDate="2019-11-05T17:32:51.700" Score="0" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog barks all the time and it gets very annoying. He is a Jack Russel Terrier mix. Is there a way I can train it to never bark?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank You&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16683" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T23:12:53.240" Title="Is it possible to train a dog to never bark" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26492" CreationDate="2019-11-05T18:50:22.157" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the dangers Allison C mentioned are true (plus the fact that leaving your balcony door open is likely to make your home much colder in the winter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are other options that might help address your concerns about the litterbox: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;authuser=0&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sxsrf=ACYBGNT-pb6nHEWX5rTHiqq73iGuYu8BFA%3A1572979617673&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;biw=1707&amp;amp;bih=1209&amp;amp;ei=ocPBXdXCJoXcwQLF86jAAg&amp;amp;q=litterbox%20cabinet&amp;amp;oq=litterbox%20cabinet&amp;amp;gs_l=img.3..0.13226.14818..14923...0.0..0.266.2754.0j15j1......0....1..gws-wiz-img.....10..35i362i39j0i10j0i10i30j0i8i10i30.8Gh3Ftt4HPE&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwiVl-Ta3dPlAhUFblAKHcU5CigQ4dUDCAU&amp;amp;uact=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;litterbox cabinets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally have had mixed success with small-ish cabinets (the cabinets need to be pretty tall and spacious inside for my cats to use them consistently, otherwise they seek out other options), but people that I know have had good results with even smaller cabinets for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They keep the litterbox and cat waste out of sight, and also can do a lot to control sound and odor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16853" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T18:50:22.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26511" CreationDate="2019-11-05T22:19:44.627" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Labrador retriever that is two and a half years old. He has some odd aggression when he is put in his crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;90%-95% of the time, he goes in his crate with no abnormalities. He even goes on the command &quot;In your crate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every now and then, about 5%-10% of the time, when we put him in his crate, he becomes slightly aggressive. Specifically barking at us and chewing on the crate. He seems to also trigger into this aggressive mode if we drop something (a sock, phone, keys, etc..) near his crate and have to pick it up. Also rubbing the carpet near the crate seems to agitate him into this mode.(Cleaning up the carpet if he has been muddy, etc..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon leaving the room and letting him &quot;calm down&quot; for 10-15 minutes or opening the door and letting him out of his crate he is &quot;back to normal&quot; and shows no aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that we could be doing to put him into this mode?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other information about him that may be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As he has gotten older we typically have left him out of his crate more. When we leave the house he is typically left out unless we know someone is coming over, we need to clean and have him out of the way, or we are at my parents house where he stays in a crate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We do not feed him in his crate. He was fed in his crate as a puppy but this stopped around 5-6 months.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11684" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T11:54:53.910" Title="Dog Aggression In Crate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26342" CreationDate="2019-11-05T23:08:44.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a relatively regular schedule, your dog knows you're coming home from scent. As the day goes on after you leave your house, the scent of your presence reduces at a very regular and predictable rate. Your dog starts to get excited when it smells like you've been gone for around the amount of time you're usually gone for. I saw this on a TV show that might have been a NOVA episode several years ago, so I have no source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16857" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T23:08:44.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26503" CreationDate="2019-11-05T23:12:53.240" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely train a dog to never bark. The simplest way is to yell at it every time it barks. I do not recommend this method, but a college friend did this with his dog and in adulthood the dog still never barks, it just makes weird whiny noises instead. Usually positive reinforcement is a much better way to train a happy dog, so I would start with training it to stop barking on a command and then use that command CONSISTENTLY every time you hear the dog bark. Clicker training can be very useful for this. If you're not clicker training for other things I would suggest starting with training your dog that every time it hears a click it gets a treat, then work to clicking and giving a treat every time it stops barking when you say &quot;quiet.&quot; Consistency is the key here, as you're trying to train your dog not to do something that is at its very core. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16857" LastActivityDate="2019-11-05T23:12:53.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26506" CreationDate="2019-11-06T11:54:53.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Barking is not always a sign of aggression. First and foremost it's a communication tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand what your dog is trying to communicate in those &quot;abnormal&quot; instances, you need to interpret the vocal clues and body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Vocal language&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog's barking is almost comparable to a human's shouting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs bark to welcome people that matter to them like humans squee when greeting friends&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs bark while playing and having fun like children scream in play&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs bark to warn off intruders and agressors like police officers shout out to people during an operation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many dogs bark if they're insecure or don't know how to act in certain situations. This can escalate to real agression if you harass them, but most dogs try to move away and avoid a conflict rather than attack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A happy barking is often done in a higher pitch and might be accompanied by whining.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;An aggressive barking is often accompanied by visual clues and a gurgling sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Body language&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The face of a dog tells a lot about whether the bark is agressive or not. Have a look at these examples. Can you tell which dog is agressive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PS2WQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PS2WQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;aggressive bark&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XVhOS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XVhOS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;non-aggressive bark&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body language of the dog in the first image is aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's pulling up his lips and wrinkling his nose to display his teeth as much as possible. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His ears are pulled back and close to the head.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second picture the body language is not aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can see the lower canines, but the upper canines are hidden behind the lips&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ears are pointed forwards, indicating alertness or interest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Your dog's behanvior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of what you describe indicates that your dog barks for attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chewing at the crate most likely means that he doesn't want to be in the crate. He wants to interact with people or play and is frustrated at being sent into the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same thing when you drop an object near his crate. Falling / moving things are always interesting and he probably wants to at least sniff it, maybe even play with it. But he cannot reach it through the crate and barks either because he's frustrated or to prompt you to give it to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cleaning the carpet can trigger a playful bark (because of the movement) or an insecure bark (our dog always barks at the vacuum, but it's not agressive and he wouldn't attack it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What you should do&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Analyze the body language of your dog. If he's actually agressive, you should do regular obedience trainings with him to assert your dominance over him. Under no circumstances should you cause him pain as punishment, because then he might learn to strike first before you can hurt him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If his barking is not an expression of aggression (which is much more probable), you can choose to give him a toy like a Kong or food dispenser ball or a chewing stick to entertain him. Not every single time, but for example if you put him in the crate while having guests. This is like a consolence: you cannot play with our guests, but have a treat / toy instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise simply ignore his antics. If his barking doesn't yield the desired result, he'll stop soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T11:54:53.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26513" CreationDate="2019-11-06T11:59:52.130" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small pond, about a meter deep with some regular gold fishes in it, nothing fancy.&#xA;The fishes look healthy, they have a really good color, they are active and they recently reproduced, so I have also some baby gold fish that I'm trying to give away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in northern Italy where temperatures in winter often go down to -10 °C, water in a container above ground usually freezes for about 10cm from the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have means to not let the water freeze too much, in a way to always have some liquid water exposed to the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Do low temperatures affect the adult fish? What about the babys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish health is my priority so if I need to get something special to ensure that my fishes are healty, I will have no problem getting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16863" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T10:42:21.897" Title="Gold fish survivability in winter" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26512" CreationDate="2019-11-06T12:49:03.940" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goldfish do not have any problems surviving the winter as long as the water at the bottom of your pond stays above 2 °C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I have seen, young fish are not more sensitive to the cold than the adult fish are (though they might lose a little bit more body mass during the winter than the adult fish do, but this is not a problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several things you can do to be sure your fish survive the winter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be sure not to feed your fish if the temperature is below 10 °C&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop the filtration/pump when the air temperature is below about 6 °C to limit the cooling&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep an open hole in the ice (you can use a piece of Styrofoam with an aquarium heater in the middle to keep a small area open); this is to let the CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; out of the water and to let some oxygen into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to know the spring will be the hardest time for your fish; this is because the immune system of your fish will be less active until your water temperature gets above 10-12 °C (so you might experience the loss of a few fish when the spring comes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live close to Oslo, Norway and have had my pond for close to 30 years. It is impressive to see the fish in the spring and that they have not lost weight during the winter even if they have not eaten in several months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T10:42:21.897" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T10:42:21.897" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26492" CreationDate="2019-11-06T13:28:01.870" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your case, this is a terrible idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, and the litter box is on my balcony, with a window I always leave open for them. However, I'm in South Africa and the temperature never drops that low, so I also leave the balcony door open when I am home. It also never snows here. It does rain though, which necessitates moving the litter off the balcony. When cat litter gets wet, it's like an aromatic amplifier for the urine, and you'll be amazed how far that smell travels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be messy, and will kick up some small amount of litter regularly, which must be swept up. Apart from that, the litter must be cleaned regularly and changed every few days. Cats dislike dirty litter, and that's without even considering sub-zero temperatures. Your idea won't work because your cat will in all likelihood refuse to use the litter box, as others have pointed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16865" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T13:28:01.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26548" CreationDate="2019-11-06T13:39:27.437" Score="5" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl/dr: My dog seems spooked by my baby crawling around the house.  The&#xA;dog runs away anytime the baby gets even remotely close to him.  We&#xA;make sure that the baby never actually bother's the dog, but I feel&#xA;bad everytime the dog &amp;quot;runs away&amp;quot; from the baby.  Is there anything I&#xA;can do to help the dog be less jumpy around the baby?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is a rescue that we've had for about a year and a half.  He's an elderly bulldog (~70 pounds or ~30 kg), and is a great family dog (he gets along wonderfully with our older kids, who range from 3-11).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our baby is about 7 months old.  He was perfectly fine with the baby when he was first born, and they first met when the baby was less than a day old.  However, the baby has now started to crawl (enter dramatic music).  This, I'm afraid, makes my dog very uncomfortable.  In my dog's defense, the baby would probably cause some pain if allowed to - the baby's current MO when he crawls up to me is to grab a hold of whatever he can on me and try to pull himself up into a standing position.  This can hurt if he gets hair/skin.  My dog in particular has a large number of issues with joint pain and arthritis, so I'm sure he would not appreciate my baby manhandling him.  This has never happened though - We've always been careful to make sure the baby doesn't harass him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this doesn't stop my dog from fleeing the room if the baby comes within 10 feet of him.  It makes me sad because sometimes my dog has a hard time getting up (due to joint issues), and I'd rather he not have to move around every time the baby comes near.  Our house has a very open floor plan, so other than the bedrooms, it's pretty much just one big room and the baby can get from one corner to any other pretty quickly these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately the dog isn't even comfortable laying in &amp;quot;his&amp;quot; chair (more like a recliner than a chair) with the baby around, even though it is high enough that the baby can't even remotely reach.  Recently this resulted in him hastily jumping off the side of the chair (nearly landing on one of my other kids and walking away with a pronounced limp) because the baby came up to the front of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog has a couple bedrooms he can hide in that the baby isn't allowed in, and he also spends a good chunk of the day outside.  Also the baby only spends a small fraction of the day crawling around.  As a result the dog is by no means being scared away all day long, but him &amp;quot;running away&amp;quot; from the baby happens at least a few times a day.  The baby is not actually very interested in the dog, and so 95% of the time when the dog runs away, the baby is doing something completely unrelated and had no intention of bothering the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarifications:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog doesn't seem to be actually scared of the baby (based on my own hopefully correct understanding of his body language), but he clearly doesn't want to be near the baby.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm not worried about the dog hurting the baby.  He has never shown any signs of aggression towards him.  We don't let the baby crawl around the house unsupervised, so we always have a close eye on the situation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to help my dog be less jumpy around the baby?  Again, we've never let the baby actually get a hold of the dog, so he has no specific reason to be afraid of the baby.  I wish I could tell my dog that he has nothing to worry about (both because the baby isn't actually very interested in him, and because we wouldn't let the baby hurt him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15904" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T01:27:07.167" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T01:27:07.167" Title="How to help my dog with his &quot;fear&quot; of my baby" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26498" CreationDate="2019-11-06T14:17:08.790" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I travel with rabbits over long distances, mostly by automobile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When driving we stop about every 4 hours and set up an exercise pen for them to use the bathroom, eat and drink for about 30 minutes.  Eating hay or grass is most important.  Sometimes they don't drink, but always give them enough time to eat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, rabbits normally prefer a somewhat snug travel carrier.  So two dwarf rabbits in hand luggage (i.e. a soft carrier) on an airplane is probably fine for a couple hours. Potty, water and hay, breaks as you enter and exit the airport would be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some rabbits will not eat while in a moving vehicle.  This makes it more important that you have stops to eat hay, also have hay in the carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit has to travel in the hold of the plane &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26498/animals-as-hand-luggage-in-airplane#comment33897_26498&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(as looks like is required in your case per the comment by SerenaT)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; it will be very stressful, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1862/13&quot;&gt;stress kills rabbits&lt;/a&gt; so I would &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; recommends this option.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your bunnies are getting hay breaks, and not getting overheated. They can stay in snug travel carriers at all time there is movement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your rabbits are bonded (live together in the same space without fighting) they should always travel in the same carrier.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are not bonded, it depends... If you are traveling long distances with unbonded rabbits and thinking about keeping them in the same carrier ask a new question just about that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;foldable&quot;: How?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to find a foldable carrier that works as a playroom and carrier is going to be challenging. For times where you have room to stretch out but are not at home google for 'soft foldable rabbit pen' I have seen several different versions of these in operation, they work well if you are there to supervise.  There are several price points, and they fold small for travel. I have seen rabbits spend several hours in them, while people were around.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2019-11-06T17:17:39.360" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T17:17:39.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25830" CreationDate="2019-11-06T21:46:27.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ball pythons take some time to get adjusted to their new environment before they feel comfortable eating. Remove the food, avoid handling your snake for a few days and try again. Remember, it isn't uncommon for pythons to go quite some time in between feedings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, ensure that the food you're feeding it is small enough for it to actually consume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://funwithlife.org/ball-python/food-list/#Help_My_ball_python_wont_eat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;funwithlife.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16869" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T23:33:22.167" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T23:33:22.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26499" CreationDate="2019-11-06T21:55:49.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like he lost his tail due to stress. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://funwithlife.org/leopard-gecko/hideout/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://funwithlife.org/leopard-gecko/hideout/&lt;/a&gt;, leopard geckos aren't particularly social creatures and housing them together often times won't work. For sure, though, you'll need different hides for each gecko (ideally two: one warm hide and one cool hide).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'd separate them into different vivariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16869" LastActivityDate="2019-11-06T21:55:49.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26522" CreationDate="2019-11-07T04:51:23.140" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have kept a ~50 lb Husky/GSD named George for several months now. He was originally kept by an animal hoarder with 50 other dogs. Although he was initially very timid, he became moderately reactive as he grew to become more self-assured while living with me. I was ignorant about how difficult and expensive even a relatively low-key reactive dog could be and promised to adopt him. I really like George, but I realized he isn't a fit for my lifestyle, and needs to be returned. I let the agency know that I wanted to return him to them on October 14th, however, they still haven't found a foster home for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a problem for me, because I don't have the time to give him the minimum hour of exercise per day he needs and deserves because I adopted a female Husky/Cattle-dog named Ginger from the same agency that needs the same amount of time. George cannot be taken to the dog park or walked with the other dog because he nips new dogs that approach too rambunctiously (so far, never hard enough to draw blood) and will constantly lightly pull during walks, just light enough his martengale collar doesn't choke him (he will escape a normal collar). I tried to leash-train him for several weeks, but my college work got unexpectedly hectic and I had to stop.  So, I've been prioritizing the exercise of the dog I actually own while assuming that George will have a new foster home in a short amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also seen George kill a juvenile robin, and eat a mouse. He is probably responsible for killing two wild rabbits as well, but I am not completely sure that they weren't victims of Ginger.  I haven't seen her hurt anything, though she is big enough for it, and used to be a stray. I had promised to foster George until he was adopted, but since he and Ginger have escaped my fence several times, I felt like I couldn't provide a safe home for him. I have fixed the issue with my fence, but I still can't  exercise him enough, and this is what I think caused the escape attempts in the first place. I assume Ginger just went along because he is part of her pack, and I'm sure she enjoyed it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;George is a really playful, and clearly wants to be loved even if he is anxious about people or other dogs hurting him. I have paid for his collar, leash, and food out of my own pocket. I know the agency does a lot of good work, and I don't want to get in the way of that. However, I am unsure of how to approach this situation. I have asked how the search for a new foster is going twice. The first time I was asked if he was completely house-trained and needed another dog in the house (both no), I asked again about a week later last Sunday, and haven't received a reply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the agency is probably busy, but I feel bad for George. I want him in a home that can meet his needs. I want him to be able to run around and enjoy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I approach this situation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13662" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T12:52:09.573" Title="Foster Agency Not Taking Back Dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;&lt;reactivity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26481" CreationDate="2019-11-07T12:43:46.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: He seems to be aware of the distinction between dog and prey, but there is never a guarantee for what might happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the dog was born and raised in the desert and lived there for all of his juvenile live, there is no chance to somehow &amp;quot;deactivate&amp;quot; his prey drive. The most optimistic outlook is that you can distract him from his instincts before he can do any damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs are very well able to distinguish between prey and fellow dogs (regardless of their size), but I will not give any guarantees that he'll never attack a small dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He'll probably never be able to ignore a wild rabbit or other prey animal. You always risk that he dashes off full speed, rips the leash from your hands and kills again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly advise you to employ additional security measures like always putting a muzzle on him while outside. There are different types of muzzles, including ones that are padded for prolonged use and allow the dog to pant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also advise you to hire a professional dog trainer to help you with your efforts. This shouldn't be a weekly puppy school, but a one-on-one session every 4 - 6 weeks to review your progress and plan the next steps in your training. When you feel confident enough, these sessions won't be necessary any longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What won't work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people are quick to use choking collars or electric shock collars on dogs that pull on the leash or misbehave. If you're afraid he might attack a small dog, these collars won't stop him at all. Once his prey drive kicks in, he's pumped so full of adrenaline that he simply ignores the collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What might possibly work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best approach is to avoid triggering his prey drive. You can do this by training an alternate behavior with him that he can act on instead of hunting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The underlying concept is that you establish a special reward for this alternate behavior that's more rewarding to your dog than the reward he feels while hunting. With sufficient training he should choose to rather follow your command and get his special reward than to hunt and kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Motivation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you should find out what motivates him the most: food or toys?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's food, try different things like cheese, hotdog sausages or cooked chicken to find the one he reacts best to. Make sure it's not dangerous for him, like foods containing &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/796/12501&quot;&gt;onions and garlic&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18010/12501&quot;&gt;chocolate and certain other spices&lt;/a&gt; and that you can transport it during walks.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Have a look at some &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/12215/12501&quot;&gt;irresistible dog treats&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's toy motivated, buy or make a new toy that has a different form from anything he has right now. Just another ball won't do it, it must be &amp;quot;special&amp;quot; in the sense that this toy is unique in his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to make this new toy as valuable as possible. Perform a little soap opera by admiring the toy in front of your dog and praising it without ever letting him have it (the only time he can have this toy is during training). Do this several times a day for just a minute to establish it as a valuable object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you choose, let's call it &amp;quot;his reward&amp;quot; from now onward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above, you simply cannot suppress his hunting instincts. The best way to keep him from killing is to offer an alternate behavior. This is where his reward comes into play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It must be a very special reward and he &lt;strong&gt;must only&lt;/strong&gt; have it when you train this alternate behavior with him, never at any other time and never without working for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exactly you choose to train as alternate behavior isn't very important. It could be &amp;quot;come here and sit&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;fetch your reward&amp;quot;, but it must be &lt;strong&gt;a unique word or command&lt;/strong&gt; that you don't use for any other purpose. Bonus points if the chance of other people saying the command is very low, like &amp;quot;beetlejuice&amp;quot; or a distinct word in a different language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Train this behavior with his reward daily, but only for a short time. You must stop the training before your dog had enough to keep it interesting and valuable. If his reward is food, don't train just after he ate. If his reward is a toy, don't play until he's tired. Stop the training while it's the most fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;During walks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have trained your dog to react to the new command, you need to take his reward with you on every walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should continue training during walks regularly to keep it fresh in his mind. Train in different situations (like when he's distracted or meeting another dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as you perceive a dangerous situation (like a wild rabbit sitting somewhere or your dog suddenly lifting his head, ears pointing forwards, fixating on something you might not have noticed yet), give the special command and his reward like you trained with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The underlying concept is that the special reward for this special command is more rewarding to your dog than the reward he feels while hunting. With sufficient training he should choose to follow your command and get his special reward rather than to hunt and kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:05:55.147" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26520" CreationDate="2019-11-07T12:52:09.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Talk to the agency.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of variables, but in most/many cases the agency legally owns the animal that you are fostering.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the eyes of the law (&lt;em&gt;again in many/most cases&lt;/em&gt;) the animal is property like a car.  The liability for actions is similar.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimally they will find a new foster home, before your date.  If they can't they are still obligated to take possession of their property.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they have a facility (like a county animal shelter) take the dog to them.  Let them know ahead of time that you will be delivering the dog at a specific date/time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is harsh to talk about animals as property, but sadly that is the legal case in most places. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the agency does not legally own the animal and/or refuses to take the dog on your date.  You are left with no alternative but to begin rehoming tasks as the owner of the dog.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T12:52:09.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26524" CreationDate="2019-11-07T14:02:52.853" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-swiss-scientists-develop-vaccine-for-cat-allergies-20190817-2trdtfxitvefla6ioujwqjliuq-story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a post&lt;/a&gt; early this morning when I did a Google search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of this sentence doesn't make sense. It says that it works by immunising them against their own allergen. If they are not immune to them, why don't they get sick from inhaling their own dander?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16831" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T14:56:57.947" Title="Why do dogs and cats produce allergens, and how will these shots work to prevent it from stimulating the immune system in humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-11-18T16:25:10.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26523" CreationDate="2019-11-07T14:56:57.947" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Allergy symptoms are caused by the immune system reacting to something that's harmless. People that don't have the allergy don't have an immune reaction. Pets don't get sick from their own dander because of course they wouldn't naturally have an immune system reaction to their own bodies (well, unless they had some autoimmune disease.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The immunization is training the pet's immune system to have an unnatural reaction to the allergen that causes the immune reaction in allergic people. It's more surprising to me that doing this doesn't cause the animal to have some sort of symptoms, as having the immune system react to your own body is the root cause of autoimmune disease. I can only conclude the allergen is non-essential to the animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T14:56:57.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26492" CreationDate="2019-11-07T16:31:03.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, don't do this. But to solve the XY problem, which is dealing with the smell and look of cat litter, don't get the disgusting clumping/clay/fine-particulate stuff. Get &quot;crystal&quot; (silica gel) cat litter. It's just a dessicant, absorbing urine and rapidly dessicating feces. It's odorless, and mostly mess-free, unless your cat decides to kick some of it out of the box onto the floor, in which case it's unpleasant to step on with bare feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12121" LastActivityDate="2019-11-07T16:31:03.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-08T23:56:31.227" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta was exposed to insecticides over the summer and became very ill. He is still with us 4 months later but hardly moves at all and lays at the bottom of the tank. I significantly reduced the water because he was having trouble getting to the top. Initially, he improved a bit but there’s been no progress since. I feel so bad for him. Thanks for any useful advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16882" LastActivityDate="2019-11-08T23:56:31.227" Title="Sick Betta fish - insecticide exposure" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-10T06:03:50.760" Score="3" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our red eared slider (RES) fell down from slightly above table height, not sure when she fell exactly, might have been a few hours ago. There's a small crack on her bottom shell near where the tail is and she bled quite a bit. She was sitting in a puddle of blood when we found her, but has stopped bleeding now. She can walk fine, is acting normally and doesn't try to bite us when we touch her or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We wanted to bring her to a vet, but we can't find a vet open for reptiles near us at this time. We hope to bring her to one tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put her back in her tank, is it safe to do so though? She's sitting in her tank now and looks fine, doesn't seem bothered by the water or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit : We put her outside of the tank for about 6 hours, she mostly sat there and slept, but it seems like she still bled a bit. We put her back in the tank and she's still bleeding there. She had stopped bleeding earlier but seems to have started bleeding again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2 : I managed to find a 24 hour vet hotline but they had no vets available that could deal with turtles at the time, the vet did call us and suggested using super glue to seal the crack though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16888" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:38:30.323" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:38:30.323" Title="Caring for a red eared slider (terrapin) that fell from a height" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-10T13:51:06.087" Score="2" ViewCount="26747" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 7 months old and I've only got her for 2 weeks. She came with symmetrical bald spots on both sides of her face that ran from her ears to her eyes. What might have caused this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She rarely grooms those spots, and I haven't been seeing her scratching those areas either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pkx5U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16884" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-13T15:08:26.747" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T15:08:26.747" Title="What causes bald spot between eye and ears on a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26551" CreationDate="2019-11-10T14:01:56.060" Score="2" ViewCount="548" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to get a dog, and I want to be well informed before doing so. Are there books for aspiring dog owners that could help me? I need to know what I am getting into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried browsing relevant categories on Amazon, and the most recommended books seem to be for people who already have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a &quot;canonical&quot; book for aspiring dog owners out there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16889" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:02:26.567" Title="What book(s) to read before getting a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26531" CreationDate="2019-11-10T14:53:08.177" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phenomenon of hair loss in that area is called facial alopecia, and it's a normal pattern of hair loss when cats age. There are also scent glands around the face area, which cats enjoy rubbing on things, which may contribute even more to the hair loss in that area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should note though that sometimes hair loss in that area can also be related to some medical issue. But if it's medical related, there will probably be other symptoms like lesions in that area, or the cat is scratching that area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Facial alopecia is said to typically appear in cats 14 to 20 months old, so your cat is a bit young to be showing it, but I wouldn't be too worried unless you notice any other symptoms. It very probably is the case that like humans, some cats just lose their hair unusually young without any other negative effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2019-11-10T15:00:08.150" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T15:00:08.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26470" CreationDate="2019-11-10T20:18:17.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you seen this one? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cagecalc.de/simple.py?lang=eng&amp;amp;conf=mice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.cagecalc.de/simple.py?lang=eng&amp;amp;conf=mice&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It includes levels. I'm not a mice keeper so I couldn't tell you without using the calculator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16688" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T20:18:17.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15145" CreationDate="2019-11-10T21:41:43.780" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats bring me cat toys from around the house, such as fuzzy balls, fake mice, fake feathers, etc. They also get into my hair ties and bring those to me too. This is their form of indoor hunting. Maybe if you get your cat some toys, she will naturally collect them and bring them to you. It may not give you the satisfaction of having your house littered with corpses(!!!), but it will give the cat the satisfaction of hunting even when she may not be hungry enough to hunt an actual edible creature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16886" LastActivityDate="2019-11-10T21:41:43.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26531" CreationDate="2019-11-11T01:51:20.367" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats naturally have thinner fur in that area, and if you look at the head at just the right angle, it can look almost bald like the photo. On some cats (especially those with darker fur, because of the contrast with the paler skin underneath) it's more noticeable than others. If you look at the cat from another angle, the fur usually looks fairly normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the skin looks irritated, or if the cat is rubbing or grooming that area excessively, do consult a vet. Otherwise, it looks pretty normal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2019-11-11T01:51:20.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25963" CreationDate="2019-11-11T12:41:21.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same thing with my cats, also a boy and a girl. What I ended up doing was putting the feeding bowl in a separate room with my girl and the door closed so the boy couldn't get in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my queen had finished eating, I would put out food normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Competition is normal, however, and this is still going on between them now that they are 5 years old. My female has accepted this and waits with eating until my male cat has finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes though, when she's really hungry, I have noticed her pushing the male out of the way to eat, and at other times, there's growling and some hissing, but never fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As some have already suggested, spaying and neutering is really necessary and will improve behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2886" LastActivityDate="2019-11-11T12:41:21.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-11T16:41:14.477" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was sterilized a few days ago. The vet advised to pull the band-aid/plaster off in 5 days. How do I do this? Especially how to keep the cat calm enough to let you do stuff to her stomach? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's also in a protection suit right now so not only I have to remove the bandage, but I'll also have to re-attach the bodysuit after removing the band-aid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16884" LastEditorUserId="6606" LastEditDate="2019-11-14T14:21:09.897" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T10:06:14.503" Title="How do I keep my cat calm while removing a band-aid from her stomach?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-12T20:58:38.733" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have adopted a cat about two years ago.  He is scared of me and my family, but not of my other cat - he loves my other cat.  He eats his food, treats, and uses the litter box.  He loves to be entertained with a laser pointer.  We cannot pet him.  We may be able to touch his nose.  He runs and hides when we are about sometimes.  But sometimes he will sit there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know what to do, please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16898" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T23:04:38.700" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T23:04:38.700" Title="Scared cat what should I do" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26540" CreationDate="2019-11-13T13:33:19.337" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't reason with an animal the same way you can with a human, and this creates two problems: it's hard to figure out why the cat is scared, and it's hard to explain to the cat that it shouldn't be scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is the cat is scared?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's hard to answer. It's possible that your cat has always been scared since birth. It's also possible that this is due to an past experience which has left a scar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He loves to play lazer. We may be able to touch his nose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually quite good. Playing means that your cat isn't paralyzed with fear, as that would mean it's unable to relax and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Touching his nose is also quite good. The nose is a quite sensitive area and if he lets you touch it (even if it is because he's sniffing you), that means he doesn't fear you're going to hurt him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We cannot pet him. He runs and hides when we are about sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that you can touch his nose but cannot pet him, this strongly suggests that the cat is unusually caught up on being pet. This may be a past emotional scar that the cat is unable to get over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, two of our cats were rescues that were caught from the wild, and we adopted them a few months later. Years down the line, with the cats turning from shy cats to loving pets, one of them still refuses to let us touch her belly (we suspect she holds a grudge after having been sterilized, but it's just a guess).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That is her hard line. She will come for love in many forms, but trying to touch her belly will end the affection and she will walk away. There's nothing you can do about that (directly), you can't (or shouldn't) force your cat to do something against its will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to tell your cat it shouldn't be scared?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is much harder than it is for humans. You can't talk to a cat, or convey information, all you can do is ensure that the cat feels safe and protected in your house and around you.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes in many shapes and forms: don't startle the cat, make sure they have private spaces if they don't want people around, build a relationship of trust, ... Just be a loving pet owner and don't give the cat any reason to mistrust you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there is no surefire way to guarantee that your cat is ever going to like being pet. Some emotional scars may never heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat will never be happy letting you pet him; evaluate your options: do you want to pet your cat, or do you want your cat to be happy? I hope you choose the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2019-11-13T13:33:19.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26550" CreationDate="2019-11-13T23:50:08.087" Score="3" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;h2&gt;About me&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am around 20 year old student and live in college provided hostels. I share room with one person who hates stray dogs while having some at his home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started getting familiar with dogs about a 1 year ago. I know almost 15 dogs around the campus and most of them are vaccinated, sterilised and localised in their respective areas. I sometimes take some dogs on walks, without leash, 3-4 in a group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be leaving my college soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;About Ben&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a white, around 2 year old male dog. He is friendly with lots of packs and wanders around the college but is stable in 2 hostels nearby. He is very energetic; not so keen for food as he is for playing, running and walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He knew my old room. When I changed it, he sniffed and found out the new one too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Issues&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He recently started jumping onto me, in addition to licking my hands. I cannot handle both in public. I used to dodge his mouthing somehow, but pushing him down makes him more aggressive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when I am on a walk with him and some more dogs, he doesn't stop, like them, in the territory. He follows me to my room, even shows up randomly in the night at my doorstep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I want to reduce his attachment with me as my time to leave comes closer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not be able to take him with me to my home/ job location. Also, I am looking for behavioural training which can help reduce his excitement when he sees me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16902" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T21:46:18.207" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T22:04:50.530" Title="How to reduce the attachment of an overly attached stray dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26486" CreationDate="2019-11-14T05:57:31.513" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to tell the gender, &lt;strong&gt;you need access to the dog&lt;/strong&gt;, and see its private parts. Girls have them right under the tail, boys have them on the belly, in a protruding &quot;pouch&quot;. You cannot miss it, in the way you can do with very young cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to unambiguously and unmistakeably tell the gender while not seeing the private parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-11-14T14:22:37.543" LastActivityDate="2019-11-14T14:22:37.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26486" CreationDate="2019-11-14T10:46:52.717" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to check the private parts of the animal below the tail. In the case that you see some genitals below the tail and on the belly, it's male; in the other case it is female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-11-14T14:23:34.177" LastActivityDate="2019-11-14T14:23:34.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26532" CreationDate="2019-11-14T19:00:41.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't read or came across any books but I'd list some resources that I came across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spcai.org/news/ask-emma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.spcai.org/news/ask-emma&lt;/a&gt;  They have good resources on behaving with stray dogs and have rescue centres all over the world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzFRKsgVMhGTxffpzgTJlQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzFRKsgVMhGTxffpzgTJlQ&lt;/a&gt; Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution: This channel has good training content in short videos and comes handy when the dog behaves oddly. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This site itself :) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user16902" LastActivityDate="2019-11-14T19:00:41.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26530" CreationDate="2019-11-15T11:52:43.543" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sad to hear she had passed away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have done the right in consulting the vet as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a turtle (or other animals) fall from high the pressure is short time very high in the body. Like a ball the body is pushed together by hitting the ground. Because of this the possibility of inner hurting (for example bursting of liquide filled organs) is very high. One could never see this from the outside, so one have to bring them to the vet quickly, who could make images from the inside of body with various methods like x-ray and other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you could imagine to have some time in the future another turtle, you could give a lost animal a new home and looking in a shelter for it. It is a question of area, but in a lots of shelters they have a lots of RES turtles who would be happy to get a real home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-11-15T11:52:43.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26515" CreationDate="2019-11-15T12:15:27.240" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it, the dog has a comfort zone and feels disturbed if the baby comes into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The baby is something difficult, not predictable for the dog. The dog want to avoid contact with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could show the dog that he doesn't have to worry about this, because you have control about the situation and you will care for the dog, so he will not have contact with the baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine something like stopping the baby if the dog shows signs of discomfort (the &amp;quot;second&amp;quot; before he is running away), so he learns to feels secure because you are watching over them. Maybe this leads to a more relaxed dog, because he know you are caring for him and you do not let the baby do whatever frightens him in contact with babies. In this case the comfort zone may be shrinking, because he waits for you to act and prevent the &amp;quot;terrible&amp;quot; situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I could imagine is this: maybe he had contact with a baby/toddler in former live (because you write he is a rescue) and was not allowed to get near it. So he turns around before he is causing bad reaction like shouting or such from the adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion it could not hurt to catch the baby if it gets near the dog. You wrote the dog has no problem with older kids, so the baby has possibility to get in contact later, when it is interested in dogs and running and playing with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T01:12:53.377" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T01:12:53.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21494" CreationDate="2019-11-15T12:56:47.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In nature the female RES turtle lays eggs once a year in springtime. It depends on the temperature over the year, so she could know the right time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At home as pet it could be more or less than one time per year, because the seasons are not noticed in such a clear way like at the outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on the temperature in the tank and the air around. Do you simulate seasons? Does she make a &quot;sleeping winter time&quot; for example in the fridge (to simulate the cold time on a lakes ground in winter)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume she had no (simulated) seasons until now, so she never &quot;want&quot; to lay eggs until now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone is thinking now something on the line &quot;Oh, fine, so I avoid seasons and my turtle do not need to lay eggs&quot; this is very dangerous. No seasons are no guarantee for no eggs. And if the turtle has no place to lay eggs they could stay in her and this will be toxic. Another point is the growing: if there is no cold time they eat and eat and grow faster than their shell could, so they get ill because of to less space for organs. (If one is frigthened about &quot;winter in the fridge&quot; first aid could be a long &quot;autumn&quot; in the tank with cool water, less sun-like-light-time and less feeding)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-11-15T12:56:47.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26542" CreationDate="2019-11-15T13:12:37.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it, this is more of an ethical problem than one of training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What outcome are you aiming for? Do you want to change the way he behaves now, or do you want to help him to prepare for the time when you leave? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion nothing could prepare the dog for your leaving. If it was attached to you only, I would suggest to involve another person and get the dog attached to that person too. But you wrote in the comment you could not take him away from the other people who adopted him. So he will get over you disappearing over time, because he has other people which care for him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As James Jenkings suggest: you could avoid his feelings having been hurt only if you adopt him and let go him with you. But in that case, he may miss his friends  (dogs and humans) at the college instead then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more unethical way seems to be to shout him away from you, so he &quot;de-attaches&quot; from you. But I assume this puzzles the dog more than it helps him to understand you will leaving. I would not do this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T21:50:59.760" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T21:50:59.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26532" CreationDate="2019-11-15T16:44:29.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish more people would take inspiration from you and &lt;em&gt;think about the consequences&lt;/em&gt; of adopting a pet before doing so. Unfortunately, most people seek help only after they took over responsibility for a pet and are facing problems, which is reflected in the amount of material available online or in book stores. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a book that covers &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the things you should consider before adopting a dog, so let's walk through a few thoughts here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The breed&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a topic that most people fail to consider and that causes a lot of suffering for dogs because their owners cannot or don't want to provide them with what they need to be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dog breeds can be placed into certain categories like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toy breed (the traditional pet dog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hunting / scenting /sporting breeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Herding / guarding breeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;General work and service breeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A full list of breed categories and their respective breeds &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/types-of-dog-breeds-4688776&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;can be found here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all of them are obvious. Chow Chow, for example, is one of the oldest Toy breeds, but the cute and popular Westie (West Highland White Terrier) is actually a Hunting dog, bred for its fiery temperament to dig out and eliminate nests of rats and other burrowing rodents. Depending on their breed, dogs have different needs regarding training, walking, play time and an actual job to do (like herding). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should think about your daily life with your dog: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much time do you have to &lt;em&gt;actively&lt;/em&gt; train and walk with it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much room does it have move around? A crate, a room, a whole house, a backyard or a whole ranch?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In which environment would the dog live? A city with many other dogs and traffic or the countryside? Are there neighbors around with kids, cats, dogs or other pets? How hot does it get in summer and how cold during winter?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read about different dog breeds and their requirements and characteristics, then compare how such a dog would integrate into your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog's breed doesn't decide its personality, but it gives you a guideline to how much energy and temperament it probably has. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a first time dog owner, I strongly advise against working breeds like the Australian Border Collie. You simply don't know what you're getting into...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Where to get a puppy and which one to get&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a very complicated question. On the one hand, you have the chance to literally save the life of a shelter dog. On the other hand, you don't know how much the behavior of a rescue dog might be (negatively or positively) influenced by its past experiences. But you might find a very calm dog (read: past teenage) or at least one that's already trained in a shelter. In most cases, shelter dogs are desexed, vaccinated and chipped, and even purebred dogs are available for lower costs than a puppy from a breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a puppy, you should find a breeder who socializes the puppy with humans, other dogs and pets, and everyday situations like climbing stairs or avoiding traffic or dangerous wildlife (if that's relevant to where you live).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter where you want to get a dog from, you should take your time. Visit the breeder or shelter and have a look at the available dogs. If you prefer a calm dog, don't take the first one that comes to you (those tend to be the curious and courageous ones that get into trouble). Ask for 10 - 20 minutes with a dog to assess its character and compatibility with your lifestyle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/svgw0YJQhi8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; that shows simple ways to assess a dog's personality. If you live near a loud street, you don't want a dog that shies away from loud sounds. If you're new to raising a dog, you might want one that's submissive and doesn't fight being held down as much as shown. If you want to take your dog with you every day, you want one that isn't intimidated by strange objects (what the little guy in the video demonstrated was very good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other videos like &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/bdK2dTaykWs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; that explain the character tests and the puppies' reactions to them in more detail. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/gSRd18gUXlc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This one&lt;/a&gt; compares puppies' behaviors (Please note that every time he says &quot;it's not bad&quot; he means &quot;training this puppy is harder than average&quot;). And here's &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/6WgALg1jajY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;another video&lt;/a&gt; showing how to assess the character of adult shelter dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Finances&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you should be aware that every pet costs money. Not only is pet food expensive, you also have to pay for annual vaccinations and irregular vet visits. Depending on where you live, you might have to pay more taxes and insurance might be obligatory or at least recommended. Also, puppies love to chew things, especially things like leather items and shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bigger dogs need more food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher quality food tends to be more expensive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pure bred dogs tend to have more medical problems due to inbreeding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medical costs tend to spike at the end of a dog's lifetime&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't plan to breed, you should make a plan to desex your dog at the appropriate age. This verifiably reduces the risk of cancer in females and gives males a more calm and tranquil personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also get information about additional costs like public transportation tickets for dogs (if you don't have a car), entrance fees to dog parks or similar facilities and dog training courses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should start training your dog 2 - 3 days after you adopted it. This is especially important if you have a young puppy, because then you still have the chance to shape its personality and character. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are countless books, blogs and videos available regarding this topic. I cannot recommend any one resource, because I think none of them gets the whole picture. I recommend reading a few different resources before adopting to get an idea about how training should ideally work and then returning to them once again after a few weeks of training to reflect on your own experiences and maybe get some ideas about improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's about learning the body language and behavior of dogs, I personally prefer video material over written material, because you can only learn to recognize certain gestures when watching them. Again, I cannot recommend one single resource, but just searching Youtube for &quot;puppy training basics&quot; or &quot;dog body language&quot; yields a ton of useful results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My personal tip: stay clear of video titles that contain numbers, like &quot;10 things to know about dogs&quot; or &quot;16 useful clues to understand your dog better&quot;. Those tend to be click baits with superficial information and questionable content.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:02:26.567" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:02:26.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9" CreationDate="2019-11-15T18:32:02.023" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought 2 from marshals, came with a little certificate of birth . (Local pet shop) I made sure they had fresh food and water 24/7 ,2 hours a day play time , nice big cage , clean cage . My male lived up to 8 years , my female is still alive she is now 8 years . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16906" LastActivityDate="2019-11-15T18:32:02.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26496" CreationDate="2019-11-15T22:06:42.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For people who want to live with pets, but have perhaps a mild allergy, my recommendation would be to vacuum frequently with an electric vacuum that includes a HEPA filter and a furniture brush attachment, install quality filters in the home ventilation system, and run a quality room air filter in the bedrooms. Steam clean carpets, upholstered furniture and other surfaces as often as practical. If the pets are of a kind that can tolerate it, washing, brushing and grooming them regularly can be somewhat useful to control shedding.  (Bathing is of little if any use with cats, as the allergen is in the cat's saliva, rather than the hair or 'dander', and a washed cat will immediately embark on an epic grooming mission to remove the scent of shampoo!  It's also not particularly good for them to be frequently bathed.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For someone who is living with a major allergy to another person's pets, there is no perfect solution.  Cleaning will be a help, but it's impossible to totally 'de-hair' a house in which pets are currently living (and not easy in a house which has had pets in the past, if there are deep pile carpets..) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find some relief by adding filters to the heat/ac outlets in your room, changing clothes (perhaps even showering) after spending time in the main areas of the house, and running a HEPA or similar air filter, and perhaps a humidifier, in your room.  You can steam clean the carpets in your room, particularly with an allergy-specific cleaner, and wash your bedding often to help prevent too much allergen build up.  You may also wrap your pillows, duvet or mattress in allergy specific covers to prevent allergens from infiltrating them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-11-15T22:06:42.267" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-15T22:10:10.017" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;We brough home an 8-month-old male Bichon Frise about six weeks ago. The little bugger fits the description in this pets.se question ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/13677/9158&quot;&gt;My dog is becoming unusually hyper. Whining, won&amp;#39;t hold still, and jumping/nipping at me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My dog is just over a year old, so full blown puppy stage... but she is constantly hyper. I don't mean like burst of energy then she lays down. She is always moving. I'll play with her, take her on walks, let her go to the bathroom regularly...but she just jumps on me and whines like she needs something, then when I pay attention it's more play. If she does sorta lay in my lap she's constantly moving positions and biting at my hands and legs. Then I'll pet her and she'll start play growling and biting more. It doesn't matter how many times I tell her 'no'. She keeps doing it. It doesn't matter how much I play with her, She is never tired. Is ADHD in dogs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... with the exception that he was super hyperactive from day one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a rural area, and he gets his exercise tearing through a pasture which occupies the majority of our 10 acres. (Then he comes in and does the same thing in our large house.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was neutered a couple of weeks ago, but his hyperactivity hasn't diminished one bit since (presumably) there is less testosterone flowing through his veins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet recommended 25 mg Benadryl. That worked at first, but now 50 mg only calms him for a couple of hours at most and it takes over two hours to take effect at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very stressful, not to mention time-consuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there another medication, etc. that anyone has found to be effective so that we can get a little peace and quiet?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Also, he doesn't sleep more that an hour during the time when he is not asleep on the bed (or in his crate) with us.&#xA;Also, I have noticed that his head sometimes seems to nervously  &quot;vibrate&quot; back and forth slightly when he is intently gazing at something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9158" LastEditorUserId="9158" LastEditDate="2019-11-16T19:55:04.670" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T19:55:04.670" Title="What medications or treatments are available for a ultra-hyperactive dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26554" CreationDate="2019-11-16T09:24:27.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Medication won't do a thing for this dog. It is only an easy way for you to drug the dog to get some calm without having to spend time actively interacting and training him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Burn off energy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What he actually needs is to &lt;strong&gt;burn off his energy&lt;/strong&gt;. Despite your large property, your dog won't do that on his own. Dogs are social animals and crave social interactions. He won't jog a mile around your house on his own, he wants you to do it with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this breed is rather small, you have the advantage that you could keep up with him. Just a simple walk won't be enough for him, but you can go jogging, hiking, roller skating or biking with him (at a pace he can keep up with). You must do this daily with little exceptions (due to bad weather), or he'll terrorize you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some alternatives to walking with high energy dogs are playing frisbee or agility. These also have the advantage that they burn &lt;em&gt;lots and lots&lt;/em&gt; of the dog's energy while requiring less energy investment from you. The prerequisite for this is that you have trained the dog to move to certain spots without having to move there yourself (like: dog bringing the frisbee back to you or running through a tunnel when pointed there). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this collection&lt;/a&gt; for instructions and some more ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Obedience training&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In parrallel to burning off some energy, you should really do &lt;strong&gt;basic obedience training&lt;/strong&gt;. This not only strengthens your bond with him, it also teaches him patience and to control his impulses. The lack of this control is what's making him so stressful right now. He wants to play and he wants it right now, &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;, NOW!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't write enough about you and your dog to be sure, but it could be that he feels like noone is leading this family (or pack in dog terms), and therefore he has to be the pack leader. At 8 months of age he sure is a strong young adult and might be so hyper because he feels the need to keep everything and everyone in check and control his chaotic human pack that doesn't do what he wants. Obedience training is the best way to make him understand that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are the pack leader and decide what to do, so he doesn't have to control you anymore. If he's the nervous type, this knowledge that someone else is leading the pack and making the hard decisions is very reassuring and can calm him down a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For such an active and high energy dog, you can make him earn his entire daily meal by doing tricks and following your commands. Weight his daily meal in the morning, then train with him 2 - 3 times a day and give him his meal as reward. Start with the basic &quot;sit&quot;, &quot;stay&quot; and &quot;come here&quot; and then slowly work your way up to things like &quot;high five&quot;, &quot;roll over&quot; or &quot;jump over my arm&quot;. It may not seem that way at first, but this training is also a social interaction between you two and making you happy can make your dog very happy, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Time out&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, I suggest to &lt;strong&gt;crate train your dog&lt;/strong&gt;. You don't actually need a crate for this, a dog bed or basked should suffice. This place should be a retreat and calm place for your dog. Ideally, he should sleep there every night and not get reprimanded while being there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teach your dog to go into his crate on command, reward him with a treat or a chewing stick, then either close the crate door or clip the leash close to his bed to make him stay there. As with all new things, you must start slow (release him after a few minutes) and work your way up. This gives you the chance to send him into a timeout, either when he's too rough and demanding, or when you have guests over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T09:24:27.227" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-16T12:19:51.177" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sitting in a restaurant in Bruges, Belgium which has two little canaries locked in a small cage. The birds look very unhealthy and traumatized. Furthermore there are missing feathers all over their little bodies. What can i (realistically and legally) do to help these poor creatures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16909" LastActivityDate="2020-01-17T15:02:35.323" Title="How to help suffering birds" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2019-11-16T16:47:36.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats need meat, not veggies! Manufactures are adding peas, carrots, and spinach to save them money. Granted it lowers the price to consumers, but at the cost of poorer health for their cat. The percentage of vegetable matter in what a wild feline ingests in their prey is far below what is in the manufactured product!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16912" LastActivityDate="2019-11-16T16:47:36.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-16T21:02:35.417" Score="2" ViewCount="2736" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The issue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is in a room of her own, every night she jumps and claws at her door to get out. Any sound she hears (from me), she starts yelling and jumping to open the door. If I have to go to the toilet or something, she starts again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm fighting a cold, I must have been coughing in my sleep. I've heard her 6 times last night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a very fit cat, she can keep it up a very very long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she wakes me early in the morning, like a few hours before I need to wake anyway, I'm usually insufficiently tired to find sleep again. Which I then pay for later in the day or the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things people have told me I should do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just ignore any kind of bad behavior. Let her figure out that it's unwanted.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just doesn't learn. Ignoring her does have the benefit that I don't have to leave my bed, but I'm still kept awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Buy a second cat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My parents have veto'd this. They are my baby sit and they don't like the idea of having two cats around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it might just be two cats jumping at the door then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Buy plenty of toys for her to keep busy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has a lot. She'll play a bit, but has always shown limited interest in any of them, She's just not the type that goes crazy over toys. Even in general these have little effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Play with her before going to bed so she's tired&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do that anyway. Again, since she's not particularly triggered by any of the toys, it's hard to get her tired. And again, she's very fit, even if she -is- triggered, she wont be tired enough to sleep the entire night through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Let her sleep with me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two opposing teams on this opinion, strongly yes and strongly no. I've chosen to be on the no side, because I think it's good to have -some- kind of boundary in place. She might keep me up even worse than what she does now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, my girlfriend is against the idea. She doesn't live with me (yet), but she doesn't like the general idea (not a huge cat fan, she likes her and wouldn't mind having her as pet because she's my cat), nor having cat hair in/on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I think the reason for this behaviour is&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my cat isn't really into toys, and it's just me living with her, I think she wants to have access to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I've tried&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've let her in the general area, in hopes that it's larger space to walk in at night that she wants. But no, she wants access to me. That just means she will jump on -my- door directly. That's even worse.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've tried sleeping in my couch to see if she would then jump at my door(s). She doesn't. Generally she's quiet, but she might do other things to get my attention.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;People say you should lay out aluminum foil at the door, cat's are suppose to not like the feeling of it. Maybe, mine just plays with it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spray water on her when she does it. She doesn't like it, but isn't too impressed either. She'll just get right back at the door after I leave.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've used an automatic spray device, the kind you use to spray pleasant odours if someone passes it. Doesn't work. It's too random, too slow to spray and there's 20 minutes between each attempt (if it goes off at all).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What I can't find&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm told there's some kind of rubber of plastic mat with cone shaped spikes on it that you can place outside your door. Cat's are supposed to not like the feeling of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't found a brand name or retailer that sells this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What should I do to stop my cat from displaying bad behavior&#xA;  (especially the kind that keeps me awake at night)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update regarding mats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've received more information regarding the mats, it's this type (I was mistaken on the cone shape, this looks to be spikes). I'm curious to how large the gaps are, I kinda think she might tip toe through it, though jumping at the door would be hard I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ngNMA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ngNMA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update - in response to questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Did she have easy access to you before this problem occurred. Or did she do it all her life?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never allowed her to go into my bedroom (and toilet). It's been going on for a while, but not all the time afaik.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Was she adopted or raised by you?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raised by her mom and siblings until 13 weeks (at the breeder), she's a British Shorthair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Are there other people living in the same house as the cat, and if so does she do the same when they &quot;wake&quot; her up?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just me. Possibly related, she's never been really brave and I've had a burglary 3-4 years ago where she was home alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6356" LastEditorUserId="6356" LastEditDate="2019-11-18T20:36:43.097" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:40:07.273" Title="Cat jumping and clawing at her door, disrupting my sleep" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26557" CreationDate="2019-11-17T11:29:22.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases you have 3 options/strategies to follow :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inform and support the owner &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inform law enforcement like police or governmental animal welfare authorities or veterinarians&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inform animal rights organisations&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, one should always try option one first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most times the owner wants to care for their animals, but doesn't know how, or needs help following the rules they already know. For example, a dog who is not taken for walks due to a lack of time or misbehavior of the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the owner hasn't chosen the animals themselves. They may have been a gift or left behind by children moving out of their parents' home. In those cases, chances are high the owner would like to give them a new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only rarely does the owner actually want to do the animal harm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, it is important to understand why the owner has this birds. Should they attract people to the restaurant? Then you can make a point that they would be attracting more, if they were looking healthy and singing happily. Are they too much work for the owner? Then you could give them information about how to find a new home for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is easier if you or someone with the same concerns speaks the same language as the owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only if the owners do not want to talk to you, should you mention option 2 and 3 to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For option 2, you should inform yourself about laws like minimum space for birds, if there is a law about healthcare, and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For option 3, you could ask the organisation about the laws, your options, and if the owner is actually known for misbehavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buying the birds without any information about the owner is not an option. In the worst case they buy new ones the next day and don't change anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you want help with &quot;How to talk with the owner,&quot; interpersonal.SE is a good resource.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-18T14:55:29.067" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T14:55:29.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18613" CreationDate="2019-11-17T15:26:04.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Twenty years ago I had a cat that developed food anxiety.  Our situation was that the cat would attack the other two cats over food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took her to the vet and he gave us one valium pill that we chopped up and gave her the tiniest piece we could manage.  It helped immediately.  We stopped giving her the valium after about a week and she was completely back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16915" LastActivityDate="2019-11-17T15:26:04.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26539" CreationDate="2019-11-18T10:06:14.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few ways to keep your cat calm:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First look into products like catnip or Feliway spray. Some cat's don't respond to catnip (mine for example), but alternative products like Feliway have a huge effect. When I use Feliway, she becomes so relaxed that she sleeps. These products are good for short term but fast effects. You could also ask if the vet has a product (like food supplement) that you could give when you need to remove the bandage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't get your hands on commercial products like Feliway or catnip, you can try adding some chamomile tea into their food. Please remember to check with your vet before giving the cat any supplements, especially if they are on medication (as some supplements can disrupt effectiveness of medication). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly you can train your cat to become more calm when you touch her belly. This doesn't always work, and can take weeks (so not ideal for your situation). It's still a good idea to do for future situations. Let the cat get relaxed near you, and gently stroke her side. Over time she will become comfortable with this, and you can begin moving your stokes closer and closer to her belly. Eventually she/he will learn that touching the belly by you isn't a threat. Pay attention to their body language - getting stiff, flicking tail, folded back ears, etc. Speak calmly and constantly, and give lots of little treats afterwards (many cats will sit up when eating treats, so best to do after so you have access to the tummy). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally you can do techniques like &quot;Burrito&quot; the cat in a blanket. I haven't tried it personally, but I know some people swear by it. There are a lot of Youtube videos on how to do this. Try it beforehand to see if its effective on your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16919" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T10:06:14.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26562" CreationDate="2019-11-18T11:00:45.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem with my cat. He sleeps outside my bedroom, and we always close the door. During the week I feed him at about 7am, when I go to work, so I think he wanted the same treatment on weekends, thus, he started scratching my door and mewing loudly. This behaviour went on for several weeks. And what finally worked for me was, closing him in the kitchen. (We don't hear him there). Now he doesn't scratch our door anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: To be clear,  we closed him in the kitchen, only the days where he would wake us up, and when he started scratching the door, that way he knows what's happening. We did &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; lock him the night before, when we went to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be a bit different to you, since he's already closed in another room, but maybe you can try leaving him the whole house open, expect your bedroom, that way, if he wakes you up, he can feel the punishment from being locked in another room. It also works for me, 'cause the kitchen is where we feed him, so it's easy to make him come inside with some &quot;food-noise&quot;. When he's in, remember to NOT give him the food tho, or he will feel rewarded for waking you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps smh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10030" LastEditorUserId="10030" LastEditDate="2019-11-18T14:16:48.643" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T14:16:48.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26567" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-18T11:20:22.770" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a 4 month old kitten three weeks ago. She was bottle-raised in an animal shelter with siblings, without adult cats. My kitten and the littermates were considered properly litter trained at the shelter, using hooded litter boxes without an entrance flap. She is the only cat in the household. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now has an open litter box (hooded is not an option due to space problems) and she is happy enough to use it. Only, she seems to be going through the motions without doing it properly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, she will go into the box, and make digging motions with the front paws, without making too much of a hole. Most times, she will turn around, but sometimes she even skips that. She then squats a little, but not deep, and sometimes raises her hindquarters back to almost standard position while she urinates. Then she makes a few more digging motions with the front paws, without actually aiming at the wet spot, and gets out of the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, sometimes the bad squatting means that she will simply overshoot the box wall and the urine will land on the floor outside the box. She doesn't show any concern over that (e.g. no going over to inspect the smelly puddle). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I can tell while observing her, she is not doing it deliberately. She doesn't seem to be unhappy about anything, to avoid the box, or to urinate intentionally outside. Also, it doesn't look like she is spraying - she is female, too young, and doesn't try to take the spraying position with intentionally raised hindquarters. It just looks like she has a vague instinct for the required motions (digging, squatting) but she hasn't gotten the hang of what they are for or how they fit together into a proper, clean toilet-going. So she does them half-heartedly, and metaphorically and literally misses the point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also displays a rather dominant personality (I suspect she has never taken a beating from another cat, since she was on the large side within the litter) and shows much less fear than I am accustomed to from cats, which would point to her not caring much to cover her toilet leavings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the example of an older cat, are there ways to teach her to use the toilet better? A lower squat would be a solution, but I don't know how to get this information through to her :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2019-11-20T22:03:10.173" Title="Can I get a young female cat to aim properly in the litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-18T11:27:56.687" Score="0" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;He was playing outside and I don't know what happened he meowed all of a sudden and I see this huge swell on his back leg with blood on the other leg, he also had a small wound which is much much bigger now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9qUGO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nPpzy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how much it is swollen. I took him to the vet immediately and he said he isn't sure what happened and is recommending an anesthesic procedure where he can look more on the leg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16920" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-11-18T15:41:13.083" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T22:18:57.493" Title="Cat leg severely swollen" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-18T12:10:28.890" Score="1" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I moved into a three-bedroom apartment a year ago. Two months later, we got a third flatmate with her dachshund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was extremely terrified of us for the first two weeks. We gave him space and never entered my flatmates room so he wouldn't feel threatened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, it's been almost a year and I can't turn my back on that little rogue without getting nipped. He's fine with my other flatmate, but for some reason he absolutely hates me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He keeps barking whenever he hears someone approaching and completely panics when he hears his owner coming back home. We live on the second floor, so that means two minutes of frantic barking and whining. There is a pretty good chance we'll get evicted because of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sick and tired of not being able to move freely around the apartment without being on edge when he's in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only 'progress' I had with him is that he now feels comfortable enough to walk into my room and bark at me whenever I pick up my keys or make noise. I'm looking for help now, since today was the first time he actually bit down and his owner doesn't seem to care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could be the cause of this behavior and what could I do to fix this issue?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16921" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T07:44:58.263" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T07:44:58.263" Title="Flatmate's dog still aggressive towards me even after living together for almost a year" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26458" CreationDate="2019-11-18T13:57:07.563" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are you currently feeding them? Because what you're describing is very common especially in cats that are dry kibble fed.&#xA;This can also happen with an unbalanced diet and/or feeding a low quality commercial canned food.&#xA;Protein needs of felines are very high as they are obligate carnivores and may always be hungry and overeating in an attempt to meet their requirements for essential nutrients. &#xA;Dry food rarely if ever contains enough protein even though current guidelines recommend it and package labeling shows the required content listed. It certainly lacks necessary moisture for proper hydration which could also result in overeating.&#xA;Food preference and satiety are ultimately driven by nutrient density.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16922" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T13:57:07.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-18T18:45:09.590" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dog is a large mixed breed, currently at ~80 lbs.  We originally had a MightyPaw harness which we used to secure him to a run (This is temporary until our fence is installed).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has broken both attachment points on the harness, snapping the metal rings in half.  I've done research on sturdy harnesses, but most results turn up with &quot;Chew-proof&quot; or &quot;Snug fit to prevent escape&quot;.  Perhaps I'm missing out on the correct terminology to find what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there terminology which I can use to refine my search, or, failing that, is there a recommendation for a harness that will prevent him from escaping?  It doesn't need to last years, just a few months.  I would have gotten another MightyPaw, but it only took him 3 days to break the previous one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16924" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T18:45:09.590" Title="Advice for Sturdy harness after Mixed Breed Large Dog broke previous in half" Tags="&lt;leashes&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26148" CreationDate="2019-11-18T21:34:41.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Constipation and obesity is extremely common with kibble fed cats. The most important thing regarding constipation is moisture so all dry food should be stopped forever. That includes any dry prescription foods which may contain excess fiber that could actually make the problem worse. Take care of the constipation before it causes permanent damage to the colon. Feeding a proper species appropriate diet rich in moisture will take care of both problems. Transition to canned food for now. Come back for more info on proper diet once that is achieved as it could take months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16922" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T21:34:41.220" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24197" CreationDate="2019-11-18T21:55:26.320" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grain free does not mean carbohydrate free and carbs are what you want to avoid in cats who have FLUTD. Also stop all dry food whether or not they are prescription diets. Dry food is loaded with carbohydrates which creates an alkaline urine, increases specific gravity of the urine and allows struvite crystals to form. Feeding an appropriate diet high in protein creates an normal acidic urine that creates an environment that makes it impossible for crystals to form. Your vet should know better in this day and age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16922" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T21:55:26.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="147" CreationDate="2019-11-18T22:52:43.653" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are cases where the hooves might get too short, which will cause the horse to lame - you couldn't miss that sign, I suppose. If your horse trips a lot during rides on hard roads, that might be another sign. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays there are so many good alternatives, that shoeing should be avoided whenever possible, since horse shoes do great damage to the inside of the hooves and can cause injuries. Most horses can do well all their life without shoes, there are simply to many owners that don't have any clue and shoe their horses because the other riders say so, and the farrier says so, so it must be true... You get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially if your horse is in the paddock most of the time, you should prefer horse boots over horse shoes, as you can remove them after the ride. Nowadays horse boots are so well designed that there are great designs that can even be used in competitions - no shoeing needed anymore. They aren't yet as popular as they should be since many owners simply don't know enough about the topic, but I hope to live until the time where metal shoes become history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-11-22T07:22:53.607" LastActivityDate="2019-11-22T07:22:53.607" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2019-11-18T23:00:16.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a constant parade of animals through my house since '96. And I can tell you this:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats have great sense of smell. So once they do their business somewhere, no matter how much you clean it, they will recognize the smell of where they did their business. This could be circumvented by strong smells (unpleasant for cats and pleasant for humans,) but once habit kicks in, they will avoid the smell but poop/pee near their place. We had to throw away several rugs due to cats being accustomed to habit.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If place designated to poop/pee is close to their eating place, they will eat less often. And if you change their eating place, the habit portion of pooping/peeing still stands, so you can expect an period of a month or two of adjustment. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They normally don't focus their effort on a single place, but they can be trained that way - here character is main focus. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They love to play where they eat. Even Persian cats (that are grumpy and docile by nature) love to play before they eat. This is a great way to have a quiet cat before you go to sleep. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a house animal is trained to poop and pee, they are often done so by smell training. So you need an piece of cloth(paper) where there are residues of cats' own smell. You place that on the sand in the litter box,and spray everything else with &lt;a href=&quot;https://thescaredycat.com/whats-the-best-natural-cat-repellent/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lavender or Rue&lt;/a&gt; (and I mean everything but 1 meter (2 feet) around litter box and the place they eat.) Your cat will avoid you (or stay a short amount of time) around you, and they will focus their habitation towards areas that aren't covered in lavender and smell like them. If you keep that up for a month (or two depending on the character of the cat,) you will have a trained cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest is to spray some catnip around where they eat and do that once every week 1 hour before you feed her, and you will have nice and tired kitty that likes belly rubs and sleeping.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perseverance is the key here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest is just maintaining that discipline. A slight tap on the nose would do the trick if cat misbehaves, no need for hitting or a spray bottle. But have in mind that if it is a new kitten, it is scared, so I wouldn't go handling it. One should approach new kittens as you would an introverted person or a person that survived trauma - let them come to you. But in the mean time, water down some lavender and catnip and spray away my friend! :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16925" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T10:48:41.480" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T10:48:41.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2532" CreationDate="2019-11-18T23:24:18.030" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a cow or horse collapses and doesn't get treated by a vet, chances for death are very high. Problem is that, in this state, even a vet can't do much - the cow could be operated on if a cause was known or highly suspected - again nothing an ordinary person could do due to lack of instruments, knowledge and skill, for a start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not eating food for an animal that usually eats all day is a great sign of pain. So, for a starter, the question you could ask yourself is: &lt;em&gt;can I remove the source of pain?&lt;/em&gt; Sadly, in most cases the answer will be &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt;. A cow not eating soon is a dead cow, and the lying down will do them in within days. Unlike men, many animals can die very soon from lying down. They are so heavy that their own weight often damages something inside if they struggle to change the lying position. So the next question you should ask yourself is: &lt;em&gt;even if I get the cow to eat, will I get her to stand in a reasonable amount of time?&lt;/em&gt; If the answer is no, we still got a dead cow in the end. Next thing important to know is: if you got a heavy animal like a cow, which is also by species not known for very long sleeps, chances are high that even &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; the animal started eating and &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; stand once it raised, &lt;em&gt;the muscles and joints might already so stiff the animal will not be able to lift its own weight up&lt;/em&gt;. Take horses, for example: I've seen quite some healty horses that somehow got stuck over night, and they are healthy, but once they have been down all night (which is very long for these animals!), even the most healthy ones sometimes struggle to get up by themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes farmers try to lift the fallen animal up with a tractor (or similar), which might help it stand when it is strong enough to stand but not strong enough to stand up. If you got a cow that would stand and graze after being lifted up, there are chances it might survive. Still, if cows are too weak to stand up, they often suffer and don't have long to live, no matter how hard you try to help. Sadly I've seen such uplifted animals (cows/horses), and none of them survived even though they got proper, and in one case really intensive medical care, and often they wouldn't even stand for more than few hours until lying down again (which they would not do purposely; they know pretty well they will not get up once they lay down, but the pain and weakness will make them do it!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not judge about whether anything should be done at all, including whether the animal should be put to mercy or not. No remote advice could answer such questions in general and thus shouldn't be taken as fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find a malnourished cow which is unable to move, I'd agree with the vet that the cow probably will not survive more than three days, so I simply see no way how your question of nursing the cow to &lt;strong&gt;recovery&lt;/strong&gt; could be answered. Fortunately, a 5 month old calf should be old enough to survive without its mother, so, for anyone who sees himself in a similar situation, a good addition to the question would be: &lt;em&gt;should I help the calf when the mother has died&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this might help someone someday, if only to understand the big picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T06:33:25.380" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T06:33:25.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26562" CreationDate="2019-11-18T23:25:16.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Play with her (the cat is female, right?) before she eats. And feed her at night time. When you go to the gym, are you hungry afterwards ? And when you have eaten your fill, you are sleepy, right ?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same goes for any other animal with a digestive system. But as every other animal, they would rarely exhaust themselves to the point they are dead tired, so you would have to use some trickery to do so. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer: this backfired on me several times. Cats got extra fit, and/or realized they were being tricked&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take a bag of catnip, watering down 1/3 up to 1/2 of a teaspoon with half of an liter of water. And dip some long range toy in it (you don't want hungry cats claws near you at this point), and once the cat starts demanding the food (meowing, glancing at the tray, scratching... whatever your cat does) I would start dangling that catnip dipped toy in front of your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cant doesn't eat where it poops, or is neglected in some manner, her pupils should dilate, and the game should start. You should know that the game is done, once the cat is very reluctant to move, and often sits (lies, balls down) near the place and doesn't move much. Then you serve the food.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the cat eats, you can all go and prepare for bed, and cat should make one last effort to find a cozy place to sleep. And you should have your dreams again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experiences with this method were as follows: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;street cats: they have large stamina, and a lot of it. Sometimes play would continue for an hour, before the cat drops. However, street cats often tend to find their food if you don't feed them or try to feed them in some regiment. So it did happen (like 2/10 cats) that they have eaten before, so they are less active during game time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Persian cats: they are generally grumpy and lazy. Game time often tends to last 5-10 minutes. And it isn't that hard to get them to sleep, since they often sleep most of the time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind, if your cat is sad or &quot;depressed,&quot; it can be hard for it to do anything. You can check if your cat feels this way, by showing it something new. If the cat goes to smell it, it probably isn't &quot;depressed&quot;, and you can play with it. However, if it is, you need to check if your cat feels threatened by some other animal, or is it in a polluted or stinky place. My Persian cat was like this, because my father had the great idea to feed it near its litter box and near a coal powered heating system, with a new bob tail in the house. Once we changed where it ate and pooped, the cat came alive.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16925" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-04T09:40:07.273" LastActivityDate="2020-01-04T09:40:07.273" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26486" CreationDate="2019-11-18T23:46:51.993" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you must ask it for its gender. But sex, that is different manner (sorry for the pun, but the fact that dogs can have public genders is absurd to me ). Male dogs often have broader and more &quot;blocky&quot; head, with more muscular body. While female dogs have leaner head (so far that it sometimes seem like their head is pointy ) and leaner musculature. I can often gauge by the size of the forehead, and depending on the size of the race this can vary, from &quot;you can place your beer on top of the head&quot; to &quot;you can balance an shot glass&quot;. By my estimate the dog on the picture is young female, not still at her prime so around 2-3 years old dog with summer coat.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has very narrow forehead, with pointy snout. Her arms don't have enough muscle mass for her to be an adult, and her paws are still the same size as her arms (in larger dogs paws often tend to be a tad bit wider, and meatier to support the weight ). Her booty is also smaller that it would be if she was an adult. So, since most dogs get to their maturity in 2-3 years, i assume that is her age. I hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16925" LastActivityDate="2019-11-18T23:46:51.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26570" CreationDate="2019-11-19T14:34:32.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I see it, the dog has a different understanding of his position and role in your little community than you or your flatmates have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's call the owner of this dog &quot;Bob&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You think:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog is Bob's property and his responsibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog lives primarily in Bob's room and only ventures into your room occasionally&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have nothing to do with the dog besides ignoring it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog thinks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The entire apartment is his territory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He shares this apartment with 3 humans. Those are his pack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bob is his favorite pack member and possibly the pack leader (maybe not)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You rank lower in the pack than the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the dog's perspective, you all are his family. He doesn't understand &lt;em&gt;and doesn't care&lt;/em&gt; that Bob has the sole responsibility for his feeding, training and wellbeing (from a legal point of view). If you live together, you all have to spend some time with the dog to establish a hierarchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What causes this behavior?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some possible causes that come to my mind are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog is very dominant and bullies you to assert his dominance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog is very insecure and anxious and overreacts by nipping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He simply doesn't like you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You always walk on eggshells around him (submissive gesture) which triggers his dominance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To top it all off, any and all of these could be combined in your case. It's very typical for anxious and dominant dogs to display problematic  and aggressive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What could you do?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, you need to talk to Bob. You should explain that the dog's behavior is not acceptable and that you need to train with him to change this. The best possible outcome is that all 3 of you decide on one plan of action and work together at implementing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will not, under any circumstance, be successful is to tell Bob &quot;You need to stop your dog from biting me&quot;. Legally the dog is Bob's responsibility, but he cannot magically change him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you personally need to do is obedience training with the dog. Ask Bob how he does it (if at all), which commands the dog knows and what kind of treats work best. This should ideally ensure that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog learns that you give commands to him (you are the dominant one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog learns to interact with you in a positive way (getting treats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog trusts you to not harm him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You trust the dog not to harm you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not be afraid to order him out of your room if he misbehaves and nips you. There are rules about living together in piece and if the dog doesn't follow them, don't hesitate to show him the consequences. Be sure not to physically hurt him, though, or his nipping might become real biting quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you have built some trust, teach the dog to go into his crate (if he has one) or into his bed (if he has one) on command. Do so every time he barks like crazy because of visitors or Bob coming home. You might have to close the crate or leash him close to his bed. The idea is to put him in a timeout by taking away his ability to run around barking like crazy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might not work very well for Bob coming home, because the dog is simply too excited to see his owner again and barking is a natural expression of this excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you should first tackle the nipping and build some trust between you two. If that situation improved and you still cannot get him to stop barking like crazy, write a new question concentrating on this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-11-19T14:43:46.333" LastActivityDate="2019-11-19T14:43:46.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-19T15:38:43.903" Score="0" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat (6 months old) and got myself a second one about 3 months ago (4 1/2 months old). After some difficulties at the beginning they understand each other well and play and cuddle with each other. But 2 weeks after I got the second cat, the first one started to do her business somewhere in the bathroom and no longer in the litter box (the big one), often even directly next to the litter box or in the shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The funny thing is that it only happens from time to time. Sometimes once a day, three days in a row. But sometimes only once a week. At the beginning I thought it was the stress with the new cat but meanwhile they are inseparable and I don't think it can be because of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She plays a lot, is healthy and eats enough. The brand of the litter has not changed and the toilet is cleaned about 2 times a day. The cat litter boxes have no lid and are big enough. With the second toilet it is the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that cats don't go to the toilet where they eat so I put the food bowls in the shower to test them for a day. When I looked at the bowls the next day, I noticed that she just defecated DIRECTLY into the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't know what to do about it. How do I prevent her from just going to the litter box and not using the whole bathroom for it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16665" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:37:37.693" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:37:37.693" Title="Cat sometimes doesn't use the litterbox, but my whole bathroom" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21623" CreationDate="2019-11-20T02:12:03.060" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chameleons are arboreal - meaning they love to climb and be off the ground so you'll want as many horizontal surfaces and climbing areas as you can fit. I noticed you mention you put plants/leaves in there as well: I personally prefer to opt for the artificial vines/logs to prevent any rotting, make sure that you're only using plants that are non-toxic to your chameleon. You can get a full list of &lt;a href=&quot;https://funwithlife.org/veiled-chameleon/habitat-enclosure/#Full_Safe_Plant_List&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;safe plants&lt;/a&gt; below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't yet, you can also add a substrate. Most people go for simple newspaper or paper towels, though you can also add bark chips if you'd prefer. But the big focus should be on areas for him to climb on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16927" LastActivityDate="2019-11-20T02:12:03.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-20T07:24:20.243" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta died a couple weeks ago so now i have a tank filled with water, can my small female goldfish be in the small rectangular container that has rocks a cave and a sea anemone, and this tank has no pump or heater but my room is room temperature, the fish tank does have a floor filter so will i be able to keep a small goldfish in there without it dying for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16929" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-11-20T09:54:19.003" LastActivityDate="2019-11-20T09:54:19.003" Title="My empty but not empty fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-20T20:36:39.530" Score="2" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short I rescued two kittens near death from two different litters at ages 3 and 7 weeks old.&#xA;Both are happy and healthy now after seeing the vet countless times.&#xA;The 7 week old was already interested in solid food, but obviously I gave the 3 week old milk for the first while until I could wean her.&#xA;Now at ages 4.5 months (female) and 5.5 months (male), the younger has consistently dry nursed on the elder from pretty much the time I got them. &#xA;At first I wasn't too concerned as my vet told me it was fine for now, seeing as there were no injuries and the female was still quite young.&#xA;To this day she still tries to dry nurse, and I will generally now try to pick her up and move her away (Is that wrong?). After moving her away, she will immediately run over to get water or food from her bowls. Is she doing this out of hunger? Comfort? Both?&#xA;Should I be stopping them?&#xA;So far it seems like still no injuries, and the male doesn't seem bothered. She nurses right under his neck usually, not on his belly.&#xA;Throughout all of this I've wanted to stop her for the sole reason of not letting this become a habit, but I think it's too late now.&#xA;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit- She gets fed plenty. I have had them on vet grade wet food since they started showing interest, and have introduced a vet grade dry food for them. She eats nearly two cans of wet food a day, plus she snacks on the dry food that I have out 24/7. She has been steadily gaining weight and muscle since I got her, and the vet is very happy with her current progress. Yes, I have talked to my vet about their diet. No, you don't need to give tips on how much or how little they should be eating at this age. And finally, yes they will lose access to 24/7 food when they're fully grown. They only get as much food as they do now due to them being young and still growing. They won't overeat, they leave the dry food alone if they aren't hungry. They also have a cat water fountain to encourage them to drink, seeing as a bowl of still water isn't their preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16934" LastEditorUserId="16934" LastEditDate="2019-11-20T21:40:07.407" LastActivityDate="2020-03-04T23:00:55.207" Title="4.5 month old kitten won't stop dry nursing on 5.5 month old kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-20T21:54:23.960" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read some posts on here related to this topic, but all of the tricks have already been used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: My mum rescued an abused pup with head trauma.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother has a rescue pup. He belonged to a neighbour for his first few months of life, and bonded with my mum over that period of time (neighbours didn't show him much love). She was (and still is) the owner of the pup's sister. The neighbour gave him away to a local mechanic who, we believe, severely abused him. He's terrified of men now, and winces if you move too fast near him. Based on his sudden seizures when she found and adopted him from a local rescue (he was found on the streets after being abandoned by the mechanic), we believe he had severe head trauma from the abuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's a very good dog, but now he won't leave her alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she heads to the bathroom, he's going too. If she goes to do laundry, he's coming. He is at her side non-stop, and if she ever dares to leave the house he will scream his face off. Even if she's just standing on the other side of a baby gate he will flip out. She owns two other dogs, one being his sister and the other being an elderly dog. She also owns a rabbit, and a cat, and millions of fun mind-game dog toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has tried making her leaving the house a good experience with positive reinforcement. She has tried &quot;calming dog music&quot;. She has tried leaving other people at home with him. She has tried puzzle toys. She has tried crating. She has tried absolutely everything with this boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The clingy behaviour is annoying, yes, but that's not even the biggest issue here. His seizures are, and they are caused by stress. He's on medication for it, but if he gets too stressed he will still have an epileptic episode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he isn't by her side all constantly, there's a very good chance he'll have a seizure - and could very likely die. Every seizure is one step closer to him possibly passing away, and there seems to be nothing she can do except just stay at home with him 24/7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16934" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:34:30.417" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T00:43:43.297" Title="Clingy puppy with insane separation anxiety" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26567" CreationDate="2019-11-20T22:03:10.173" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female cat, also from a shelter, who is a near perfect litterbox user in the sense that she never intentionally eliminates outside the box, but she has for her whole life exhibited the same behaviors you mentioned: incomplete squat, ineffective digging and covering.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately my attempts to teach her to cover her leavings (by using the litter scoop to pointedly bury her waste as soon as she 'goes') were entirely ineffective, and apart from adopting an older cat who would possibly teach her, which wasn't practical for me, I haven't found any helpful suggestions on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the spirit of working with what I had, which is an essential skill in cat ownership, I purchased a few different box types until I found something that was acceptable to my cat and saved me from cleaning up messes.  A higher-sided, larger little box has essentially solved the issues for me.  My particular cat doesn't prefer hooded or top-entry boxes, but the high sided ones do a good job of keeping the mess inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-11-20T22:03:10.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26589" CreationDate="2019-11-21T12:41:46.317" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to say, sadly, is that depending on your mum's situation she may not be able to take care of a pup that requires constant company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this kind of dangerously severe anxiety requires a professional trainer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said: generally if a dog is stressed by something, calmly lead them just far enough away from that thing that the anxiety abates - but hopefully close enough it is still in view - and then reward them; treats, attention, or time with a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the specific triggers you've mentioned, they are more complicated, but the goal is to build new associations between things that currently make the dog anxious, and &quot;good stuff&quot;. Not simply to distract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your mum can go into the bathroom, only just inside, then get the dog to settle outside the door for a second or two and reward him.  After some time she may be able to settle the dog, close the door for a moment, then reward him. In time, hopefully she can go in alone and for long enough to do what needs to be done!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anxiety over your mum leaving will probably start before she even gets to the door.  She should grab her coat and keys, then settle the pup, and reward him. After a while grab coat and keys, go to the door, settle the pup and reward him.  Grab coat, keys, go just outside the door, settle the dog inside, and reward. Then as above but close the door for a moment. Then for just a few minutes. And on and on with gradual escalation. It might be wise to have someone else with the pup to abort the exercise if he freaks out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comfy bed scattered with treats in the room she's spending some time in (ie: when doing the laundry), that he is slowly trained to associate with reward and attention, might be something he can learn to relax in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, dogs generally like to gnaw to relieve stress.  Find what your dog likes to gnaw.  Antlers, certain kinds of wood (always from a pet shop), tough hide chews, or the horrifying pizzle sticks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The very best of luck to the both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10816" LastActivityDate="2019-11-21T12:41:46.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-21T18:46:44.943" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;What causes my cats matted fur? I think its sap from the bushes she crawls into. Others say long haired cats get knots when they shed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16940" LastActivityDate="2019-11-25T14:07:57.577" Title="Why is my cats top fur matted?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-12-08T16:42:51.327" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17979" CreationDate="2019-11-22T02:34:52.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is only doing that to you - I have a potential answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who does the same thing, but he can't meow. But I think if you're taking more care of the cat, more than any other family member, the answer is that she is more bonded with you that anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She trusts you and treats as if you were her baby, the answer  therefore is that your cat is more bonded with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16942" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T14:50:01.877" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T14:50:01.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26596" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-22T02:59:31.687" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago we adopted a beautiful 2-3 year old puppy: an equal mix-breed of collie and Shepherd, named Wishbone. The shelter said they got him from another shelter out of state. All they knew was he was a stray living on the streets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a huge cuddle bug and we adore him so much. When he thinks he is in trouble he rolls over on his back for belly rubs. Just a gentle giant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, for the recent two weeks, Wishbone steals my husband’s and my shoes. He never chews on them, just moves them. We have 3 kids that interact with him daily and they don’t have their shoes stolen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I work opposite schedules and long hours but someone is always home with him, always. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why does he do this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16943" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T11:23:56.793" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T11:23:56.793" Title="My adopted dog of 3 weeks moves my shoes around" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-22T04:17:24.287" Score="0" ViewCount="758" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday afternoon, my cat suddenly got really skiddish. Anytime someone would even really face him, he would run off and hide under my bed. It's like he doesn't recognize us for a second. He sees me, starts to run, but if I kneel down and put my hand out, it's like he recognizes me and he comes to me and rubs against me and purrs. He is being a lot more cuddly and clingy than normal then. Once he &quot;recognizes&quot; me, he sits in my lap and won't leave (not usual for him). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't had any changes in his routine other than two strangers coming to the house yesterday. He was really friendly with them though, and no incidents involving him happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas why my cat is doing this? He is hiding under my bed as I type. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16945" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T22:44:24.887" Title="My cat is suddenly scared of me? Why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23379" CreationDate="2019-11-22T05:53:14.677" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is grooming you as a mother cat does to her kittens and vice versa. Your cat loves you and trusts you. You're its family and it's trying to take care of you as well by grooming you. Unfortunately, they're nocturnal, so your cat grooms you on its time, not yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16946" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T05:44:58.573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T05:44:58.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26589" CreationDate="2019-11-22T09:07:50.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26592/12501&quot;&gt;Grim's answer&lt;/a&gt;, I suggest training &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can make the training fun and rewarding for him by training &amp;quot;stay, then get the treat&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;stay, then catch the toy&amp;quot;, depending on what your dog responds best to. You must train this several times daily and work your way up from just a second to longer times. Incorporate the training into his daily life by making him wait for things like being allowed to hop onto the couch or to cross the threshold to go on a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is supposed to teach him impulse control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His brain currently is so hardwired on &lt;em&gt;ALWAYS&lt;/em&gt; being close to your mom that any tiny disruption causes a lot of stress for him. If he learns that he doesn't have to satisfy his impulses immediately, he hopefully learns to stay relaxed when he's separated from your mom for a short while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a few weeks, when he (hopefully) grasped the concept of &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; and that he will be rewarded for waiting, you can ramp up the training:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stand on one side of an open door&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make him &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; on the other side&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close the door for a second&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Open the door and reward him&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, work your way up from just a second to longer times. If he starts whining or scratching on the door, you made him wait for too long. Continue the training with a shorter waiting time until your dog is more comfortable to wait longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points if the layout of your house lets you walk around him. Tell him to &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; and close the door. If he's waiting calmly and obediently, open the door and reward him. If he whines or scratches the door, go through the other rooms of your flat and reappear behind him. That teaches him that scratching the door won't successfully make you open the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-13T00:43:43.297" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T00:43:43.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26589" CreationDate="2019-11-22T18:38:41.737" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With severe anxiety, it is difficult for a dog to learn new skills in situations that are at all stressful. I recommend seeking out a vet that specializes in behavior. They can prescribe medications that will help with the anxiety and allow the dog to learn new coping skills. These are generally inexpensive and may be temporary depending on how the dog responds to training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2019-11-22T18:38:41.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26594" CreationDate="2019-11-22T18:43:33.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All cats shed, and even short haired cats can get mats when they shed; long haired cats are even more prone to it. The best way to prevent that is by regular grooming. (Some cats will self-groom efficiently enough, but may develop hairball problems). Try brushing once or twice a week to see if that helps. If sap is causing the problem, I would expect it to be sticky. If the mats seem to be dry and not brittle, then shedding is most likely the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditDate="2019-11-25T14:07:57.577" LastActivityDate="2019-11-25T14:07:57.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-23T17:22:09.560" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that the recommended age to separate kittens from their mother is 12 weeks, though some suggest that 8 weeks is alright too. &#xA;Now, I'm wondering if a kitten become orphaned earlier than that, what differences does it make in the future of its development, psychology and future behavior?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14342" LastEditorUserId="14342" LastEditDate="2019-11-23T17:38:48.293" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T20:06:15.487" Title="What are the effect of early separation of kittens from their mother" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6570" CreationDate="2019-11-23T20:36:35.410" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Serpae tetras are by nature fin nippers.  They are only second to tiger barbs. Although I always wanted to have them again, I restrained myself knowing what they are capable of. It is just their nature. The docile Neon tetras can become aggressive to each other if you have fewer than half a dozen of them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen aggression in Neons in my small 5 gallon tank where I kept 1 betta, 4 neons, 1 cory and 2 black neons. The aggression stopped when I add 2 more neons.  My 5 gallon tank is mainly just for the betta and the tetras are just tank mates. Bottom line, if a normally docile neon tetra becomes aggressive with few numbers how much more to a naturally aggressive Serpae. Mind you my neon tetras came from a larger population in my larger tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16952" LastActivityDate="2019-11-23T20:36:35.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25655" CreationDate="2019-11-23T21:00:39.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check your filter flow.  Bettas especially the long finned variants does not like strong water current. They are weak swimmers to begin with. If the waterflow is too strong, they will stay in the corner where waterflow is weaker. Bettas are also known to hide if they are not comfortable.  You can actually train your Betta to respond with food. Feed him 1 tidbit at a time instead of dropping a bunch of food in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16952" LastActivityDate="2019-11-23T21:00:39.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-24T00:08:36.093" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted an 8 week old male cat into our household.  His name is Ollie.  We have a 14 year old Siamese female - her name is Jade.  Jade was the 3rd of 3 cats that I had for a very long time.  She fought to be the top cat all the time.  Once the other two cats passed of old age, we adopted a dog.  Jade was not happy with Buster but they eventually learned to be ok with each other. Knowing that Jade is getting up in age and Buster would be so lonely at home when Jade passes we decided to get an 8 week old kitten named Ollie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ollie and Buster have bonded completely, however, Jade only wants Ollie's blood spilt.  For the first two weeks Jade was dealing with it.  We even have pictures of Jade and Ollie eating together and laying on the couch together.  Jade has a grumpy attitude most of the time even before bringing Ollie into the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day out of the blue Jade took after Ollie in a very mean fighting way.  Since that day they have been separated.  After 3 weeks of keeping separated and no sight of each other at all, we started site swapping as per Jackson Galaxy.  After 2 weeks of that we installed a screen door on the bedroom door where Ollie stays and the have been eating on each side of the screen for 2 weeks with no problems at all.  So we decided to move to the next step of being in the same room together.  It went well for about 5 mins.  Then ended on a good note and back to their rooms.  The second time we tried, Jade immediately broke thru her door and immediately attacked Ollie horribly again.  So now we are back at feeding thru the screen door and site swapping. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been well over 2 months of this stuff.  I don't know what else to do.  I am using Feliway as well for almost 2 months. Will Jade ever be allowed to be in same room as Ollie?  Will the blood shed ever stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have all been uprooted as I have to sleep in the spare room with Jade due to the fact she will not have me behind a closed door.  If I keep her in the bedroom with me at night and Ollie and Buster in the living room - Jade scratches at the door to get out.  If I keep Ollie and Buster with me in the bedroom and Jade in the living room Jade scratches to get in.  If I leave Jade and Buster in the living room Buster and Jade scratch to get in.  They all want to sleep with me but Jade will not allow any of this to happen anymore.  Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16953" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2019-11-24T01:41:32.970" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T22:04:10.623" Title="Senior female cat will not accept male 14 week old kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14969" CreationDate="2019-11-24T02:56:30.147" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've worked with an animal rescue charity and seen cats who are in incredibly bad shape (think crushed hind legs, shattered pelvis, half skull caved in) and they have gone on to live amazing happy lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't do it.  Seek advice from a vet every time &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16955" LastActivityDate="2019-11-24T02:56:30.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-24T13:06:12.460" Score="6" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a (female) cat we've been feeding the last 3 or so months (I didn't take notice so it's an approximation). She seemed quite young at first so I presume she should be around 6 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She comes to our balcony several times a day, but at the rest of the day she roams free around the neighborhood and I'm pretty sure I've noticed some scratches on her a few times. At first she barely let us get near her even when bringing food, then we could pet her only while she was eating, and now she actually comes by when being called and lets you pet her if you don't make any sudden movements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, she's not vaccinated at all yet but I've been thinking on ordering a vet the following days to get it done at home. But today while petting her she decided all of a sudden to bite me (most cats I've seen have this stupid reaction where they seemingly forget it's a familiar hand petting them and lash out in the middle of the petting without notice). It went onto my thumb, and while it didn't feel too forceful and at first I didn't think it actually punctured, I did notice a pinpoint red dot which is probably from one of her teeth. I washed it with water and soap and afterwards applied a povidone-iodine solution to the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basics — rabies? From local data it seems rabies the past several years has been mostly confined to the north of my country (~100 km north of where I'm at) and detected cases in cats (though perhaps many aren't detected and thus are missing from the data) average about 1 per year. So that seems very unlikely and I don't think this cat shows any symptoms of rabies (which to my understanding remains non-infectious through bites until the virus has reached the brain area and symptoms show up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But other stuff that might pass through a tiny bite puncture? Possible infections or even parasites?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16957" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:41:03.393" Title="Dangers from street-cat bite that left a tiny speckle of blood?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-24T16:28:44.360" Score="0" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a pair of male rats from a friend who couldn’t keep them anymore and everything went good for months. They were a sibling pair, named Frederick and Connor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of months ago, I found Connor dead and half eaten when I was going to bed. After a bit of panic and some research, I came to the conclusion that Connor had likely died of an undetected illness and Frederick eating him was normal, as that’s how they dispose of bodies.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then got a new rat as a companion for Frederick so he wouldn’t be lonely. I introduced them properly and everything seemed to go well. They were really close and slept in their hammock together every night. However, this morning I woke up and checked on all of my rats, but found the new baby also dead and half eaten. Now I am hesitant to put another rat with Frederick as the new rat was still young and I don’t know how likely it is that he died from sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just keep Frederick alone since he’s going to be 2 in a few months anyways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit- I should add that I’ve never had any other problems with Frederick. He had never shown any signs of aggression to Connor or the baby rat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16959" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2019-12-26T19:18:14.063" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T21:00:10.097" Title="Should I keep my rat alone?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26610" CreationDate="2019-11-25T09:17:10.153" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bites of free-roaming animals like stray cats and dogs are always risky, because these animals may have recently had contact with rodents, vermin and filth. As pointed out by this &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_bite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article about cat bites&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat bites are usually considered minor injuries but can result in serious infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bites from cats develop infections more frequently than bites from dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not be obvious, but a tiny puncture that doesn't bleed much can be just as dangerous as a deep wound, but for different reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deep puncture wounds&lt;/strong&gt; tend to bleed a lot, which transports parts of the infectious matter out of the body. Since no oxygen can reach inside the wound, the risk of an infection with extremely dangerous anaerobic bacteria (like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_tetani&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clostridium tetani&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that causes tetanus or &lt;em&gt;Clostridium botulinum&lt;/em&gt; that causes botulism) is high. Consult a doctor in any case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shallow, open wounds&lt;/strong&gt; are easier to clean and disinfect. With proper first aid (and effective vaccination against rabies and tetanus, if you live where it exists in the wild) it's acceptable to monitor the wound and only consult a doctor if you notice infection or other complications.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shallow puncture wounds&lt;/strong&gt; tend not to bleed (much) and are harder to clean and disinfect. The risk of anaerobic microbes is low, but the risk of being infected with whatever the animal had on it's claws or in it's saliva is higher. With proper first aid and disinfection, it's acceptable to monitor the wound and only consult a doctor if you notice infection or other complications.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best prevention is to keep your own vaccinations up to date, especially rabies and tetanus (or whatever infectious diseases are common in your area). Clean the wound very thoroughly with water and soap, then apply plenty of isopropyl alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't cover the wound with an airtight bandage / band-aid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consult a doctor as soon as you notice any symptoms like severe pain or swelling, typical flu symptoms, discoloration of the wound, a tingling sensation, fever, fatigue or unusual tiredness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T02:48:43.220" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:48:43.220" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-26T01:40:03.063" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that one reason dogs lick their owners is for the salt on our skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, I've heard that salt is a relatively rare substance in nature, i.e. wolves probably don't get much salt in the wild. This is part of the reason that it tastes so good to us, it's rare enough that we are biologically wired to get as much as we can. Thus, I imagine most wild animals have low daily salt requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The modern human diet is very salt heavy. I imagine we've developed a moderate resistance to salt over the millennia and had higher salt needs all along because we sweat salt, which I understand is rather unusual for animals. This salt we sweat out stays on our skin where our pets can lick it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs probably have lower salt needs that humans because they don't sweat. However, they probably have higher daily salt intake than most wild animals because they evolved to live around humans and our salty foods. Do dogs get a significant portion of their daily salt from their owners?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tldr; are we mobile salt licks for our pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16965" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T04:05:55.640" Title="Is the salt my dog licks off of me a non-negligible portion of it's daily intake of salt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26613" CreationDate="2019-11-26T01:47:44.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's pretty common knowledge that dogs are domesticated wolves. We domesticate animals by selectively breeding for certain traits, especially having to do with the animal's temperament in order to make it more tame. As a result dogs in many ways behave like wolf puppies even when they are adults. One of these behaviors is particular is licking pack members on the face. Wolf puppies do this when the pack returns to the den from hunting. This behavior encourages the adults to regurgitate their food so that the puppies may eat after weaning but before they're big enough to hunt themselves.  Dogs lick people because they never outgrow this instinctual behavior, and not because they want salt in particular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-11-26T01:47:44.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-26T01:48:27.220" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does this photo help decide what morph she is? I have looked up multiple morphs but I can't tell. Could you guys help? It would mean a lot.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fnpoh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16964" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T11:51:07.927" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T10:18:13.133" Title="What morph is my leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25544" CreationDate="2019-11-26T01:57:07.113" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he/she is grey or white, that could be a sign of shedding. It's not worrying - but having lasted for so long, it's probably not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the heating, problem I am not sure about babies - but an adult, average gecko's temperature during the daytime should be 24&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;27&amp;nbsp;°C (75&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;80&amp;nbsp;°F). I don't know about night temperatures; I own a leopard gecko and she is fine with her cage being 26&amp;nbsp;°C (78&amp;nbsp;°F) at night. By the way, I count ferrinhight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to your gecko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16964" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T23:47:26.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T23:47:26.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23461" CreationDate="2019-11-26T02:00:32.050" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geckos prefer to be alone. If you are housing them together, it is best to have only females, although even they can be aggressive, or it can be a sign they are stressed or they feel threatened by each other. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16964" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:06:44.570" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:44.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21476" CreationDate="2019-11-26T02:13:28.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;White tips on a gecko's poop is normal, the same is the case with some frogs. Walking slowly and shaking could be a sign of metabolic bone disease, although you are doing great cleaning her cage every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet poop could mean 2 things: it could have been taken recently or it could mean diarrhea. Leopard geckos don't need UV-B light unless maybe they have poor eyes. UV-B could be also why poop dries faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't take all these to heart, just think about them and talk to the vet if you are unsure but keep giving it calcium and clean its tank often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16964" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T14:58:44.790" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T14:58:44.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26630" CreationDate="2019-11-26T06:15:38.897" Score="7" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've had this cat for almost 4 years. She's peed on stuff only when obviously mad at us, until about a year after we brought a baby into our lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is the baby loves to interact with the cat in a way that kind of sucks for the cat.  She grabs tufts of fur and twists and stuff like that.  I immediately stop the behavior every time I catch it, but it's become more difficult to keep the baby from the cat.  She's at the age where she's even climbing the cat tower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the cat has nowhere to really be safe from the baby, and she's non-violent, but she's making her voice heard by peeing on the baby's belongings, every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got really mad at her and probably broke trust because I don't feel like there's anything I can do about the situation. The apartment is small and we don't have a lot of spare income. Is there a way I can give her privacy or should I take her to an adoption shelter? I love the cat, I don't want her to suffer for our decisions, but this isn't working for either us or the cat unless we can find some way to fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16967" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-06T03:35:44.393" LastActivityDate="2021-04-06T03:35:44.393" Title="Cat holding baby's stuff hostage, but cat's demands cannot be met" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26620" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26622" CreationDate="2019-11-26T06:47:28.723" Score="7" ViewCount="3423" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see most cat foods marked &quot;Kitten&quot;, &quot;Adult&quot; or &quot;All Life Stages&quot;. What are the actual differences between them? Is it bad for a kitten to eat adult food or vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I have been feeding &quot;adult&quot; food to my 12-month cat and &quot;kitten&quot; food to my 7-month kitten, but I've noticed them occasionally eating out of each others' bowls. Is this something I should bother trying to fix, which may be difficult and/or expensive (e.g. chip feeders), or is it harmless as long as they eat &lt;em&gt;mostly&lt;/em&gt; the correct one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-11-26T07:03:02.610" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T17:20:23.677" Title="Adult vs Kitten vs All Stages cat food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15954" CreationDate="2019-11-26T06:56:34.010" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hissing is an attempt to intimidate the other cat into leaving (or at least not approaching any closer) because the cat is scared but wants to avoid a fight. If the other cat continues to approach, the hissing cat may either attack or run, which builds distrust. If the other cat stops or leaves, though, that begins to build trust and each time it will be allowed to get a little closer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-11-26T06:56:34.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26620" CreationDate="2019-11-26T07:46:58.423" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kitten food does contain more calories than food made for adult cats. Kittens are growing and use a lot of energy when they play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food for junior cats contains slightly less calories than the kitten food. Junior cats are still growing and sometimes uses less energy playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food for adult cats contains less calories again than the food made for junior cats/kittens. Adult cats need less energy as they play less and are fully grown(this is the type closest to the all stages food, the difference in energy content is only minor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food for senior cats contains only the calories needed to maintain the cats weight and often contains a reduced amount of minerals and more dietary fibre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you will want to avoid an older cat eating your kittens food or your adult cat may gain excess weight. If your kitten eats the adult cats food it might get less calories but this is not a real problem as the kitten will only eat more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The manufacturers of cat food make the different types of food based on an average need for calories in cats at different ages. Most of the cats we have in our homes are not very average. Many cats are good at self regulating their food intake if they get free feeding from a young age but some cats do eat for as long as there is food in their bowl and they need a strict feeding regime where you have to limit the food intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-11-26T09:28:28.567" LastActivityDate="2019-11-26T09:28:28.567" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26611" CreationDate="2019-11-26T13:36:04.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you done the integration in the rules between your two rats. It's important to them when you introduce a new individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause of their death may be due to a fight to establish a hierarchy that went wrong. In rats, especially in males, there is a hormonal aggressiveness that can be hereditary. This causes the rat to be very aggressive because it causes too much testosterone. But to read you, everything was going well between your two rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or as you said, it is also possible that your rats died suddenly (respiratory recurrence, stroke, choking, pneumonia, heart attack, toxic product in the air, ...) or a disease especially if the two dead rats came from the same pet Shop. As far as cannibalism is concerned, as you said a natural behavior in rats. It's a reflex of survival. Indeed, in nature when a rat of the pack dies it is important to get rid of the corpse to avoid attracting predators and to prevent the proliferation of bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I advise you to go see a veterinarian in case it should have been an illness. After your visit to the vet, and that the problem does not come from your rat and that it is not aggressive towards his congeners then I think that you can find him a new friend. I advise you breeders rather than pet stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find he's too old you can not buy him a new friend. But as you know, the rat prefers to live together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2019-11-26T13:36:04.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28524" CreationDate="2019-11-26T19:14:46.293" Score="1" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently rescued two male baby rats from a shelter. They're assumed to be brothers and they have both warmed up to me over the two months or so that I've had them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I expect the occasional accident while handling them, one of the rats has made it clear that he is urinating on me on purpose. For instance, if I walk by the cage and I say hi to them, let them kiss my fingers etc, he will sometimes lift his entire body up by climbing up the cage a bit, so that his genitals are near my fingers, and he'll pee. I assume that the purpose is to mark me as his territory, but I don't believe this is a behavior that is healthy to tolerate. I don't want either rat to feel that only they can enjoy my company. I obviously don't like washing my hands because my rat decided to pee on me, either. I haven't noticed my other rat performing this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can/should I do something about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16970" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-03T22:35:56.880" LastActivityDate="2020-09-03T22:35:56.880" Title="How can I prevent my rat from intentionally peeing on me?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26620" CreationDate="2019-11-26T22:48:10.943" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been through 5 litters, all varying sizes and never did I feed the new kittens anything different to what their mothers were eating. There was no way to ever feed them anything different because they'd all just wolf each other's food down before they fall asleep and start all over again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of them died or was unhealthy in any way. I think that the difference in foods is just for marketing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16972" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-12-03T17:20:23.677" LastActivityDate="2019-12-03T17:20:23.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26596" CreationDate="2019-11-26T23:54:29.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog used to steal my socks. He didn't steal anybody else's socks. And I encouraged it by chasing after him and then playing tug-of-war to get the socks back. After a few months, I grew tired of that game, and I discouraged the behavior by &lt;em&gt;ignoring&lt;/em&gt; it. He would steal my socks, dash out the door, and then look back to see whether I would get up and chase him. I tried to not even make eye contact when he did that. I'd go find my socks later after he'd forgotten about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took a couple of weeks before he completely gave up trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; games that we play now using &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; toys, not mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9992" LastActivityDate="2019-11-26T23:54:29.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26619" CreationDate="2019-11-27T00:19:38.500" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is all right, it's the baby's fault. Try to train the baby not to abuse the cat. If she does it anyway, pet the cat to show she's loved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16974" LastActivityDate="2019-11-27T00:19:38.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26619" CreationDate="2019-11-27T06:35:52.790" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like comments and other answers suggest: first you should exclude a health issue by visiting the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it is possible to make a place for the cat that the baby could not reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen some combinations of cupboards on the wall, so they form a stair up to a closet. There the cat could have a bed to feel comfortable and safe. The stair steps (cupboards) are built in a way the baby could not reach them, but the cat could jump. Maybe it needs some encouragement to train the cat for it, but the cat will catch the idea quickly, if it notices the place is &amp;quot;baby safe&amp;quot; (examples below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point is: it is positive for your baby to learn cats (and other animals) have feelings one could hurt. They need special care and are no toys! This is an important step in the development of every human: &amp;quot;I am not the king/queen of all, I have to follow the rules of sympathy and respect for other living beings&amp;quot;. So it is important for you to teach this to your child. It will help him/her in the future life because it will be able to react on other's feelings, like notice sadness and bring comfort, or cause happiness in another person  (maybe you) with a kiss/cuddle/smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.pinimg.com/originals/02/60/53/0260536ca2b657cd87896638ffcd1e88.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example 1 &amp;quot;IKEA hack&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/d3/b0/d4d3b0fbd24c1609fb2cf6a8246a55ae.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example 2 &amp;quot;Luxury&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2364/8405/files/katzenart_katzenartfreunde_kletterwand_02_kratzbaum_wandliege_kletterstufe_loulou_1080x.jpg?v=1556228071&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example 3 &amp;quot;Big gaps Baby could not climb&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-06T03:32:05.213" LastActivityDate="2021-04-06T03:32:05.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26619" CreationDate="2019-11-27T07:35:00.223" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though this sounds like it's most likely due to stress, it's generally a good idea to get your cat checked out if it's urinating outside the litterbox. Once medical issues are ruled out, I think it's pretty safe to say it's stress related territorial marking, which contrary to popular belief, female cats will also do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, anything that's been marked should be cleaned with cleaners designed for removing cat urine, which hopefully will discourage repeats. After that, I think the most important thing is to try to provide your cat more spaces where your toddler cannot go. Cat shelves, for example, that lead up to the top of a high shelf, hopefully higher than your toddler can climb, or some hiding spots that the child can't fit into. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing I recommend is that since your cat seems specifically marking your child's things, that may be partly because your cat is not able to go to those places where your child is, like probably it's not going in your child's crib, and so these things don't smell much like your cat. It may help then to spread more of your cat's scent in places like that. You can do this by if there's some object like a blanket that your cat likes to lie on, then move that to those sorts of locations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you're going to have to do your best to supervise their interactions, and to teach your child how to interact with the cat, such as how to pet it appropriately, and do not chase the cat, and so forth. Of course this will be difficult if not sometimes impossible when your child is at the age when they're just starting to walk, but if you have patience and persistence, the situation will surely improve with time as your child matures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-11-27T07:35:00.223" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17343" CreationDate="2019-11-27T07:44:41.310" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope you have found a solution for your timeframe. Maybe you could write an answer yourself for this question :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I where in your situation today I would try to give baby and dog rules, they could count on. (You should choose them in that way you could follow them all times.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog have to learn that you are the ruler who defends the dogs property against the Baby. This way the dog itself could relax and be less aggressive. Same time the dog has to learn aggression against the baby is not tolerated by you (the ruler) and the babys property is not for the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The baby has to learn respect for the dogs needs: a place to rest and properties like toys. Also you could teach a (supervised) way to interact with the dog (like petting with your hand guiding babys hand) and the need to be gentle with all living beeings (important point for future life).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my suggestion would be to protect the dogs bed. You could choose between training the child or build a physical border. I imagine a fence part to divide your bed from the dogs. In this way your child could not accidential touch the dogs bed if it is playing in your bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you could teach the child special care for the dog as living animal with feelings like happyness (petting, playing) but also pain/sadness (pull the fur, disrupt the rest in bed). In future life this will build sympathy and respect in your child. It will be able to imagine the feelings of other living beings, which is important for all parts of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-11-27T07:44:41.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26633" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-27T14:36:04.393" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife was at our local Country Garden where the women said we should remove the filter for the winter. I have left the filter running the last five winters and have never had a problem. But this year, due to a recent heart attack I decided to take it out based on the recommendation. After only four days three fish died, I put the filter back in and every day several fish have died, totalling all thirteen now. I am heartbroken. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16977" LastActivityDate="2019-11-27T14:36:04.393" Title="Had Koi for five winters this year they have all slowly died in a span of a week" Tags="&lt;pond&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-11-27T15:40:57.553" Score="0" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is it about cats that makes them so irresistibly cute?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is very cute. My previous cats have all been cute too. Other cats I see are cute. Dogs are also cute, of course, but their cuteness should be addressed in a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is cute for all the normal reasons, but he is also extra cute because he is so vocal and has a beautiful, sing-songy meow. He sounds angelic. He's my 5th lifetime cat (I've always had cats since childhood and most overlapped) and I've never heard anything like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16498" LastActivityDate="2019-11-27T16:33:04.687" Title="Why are cats so cute?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2019-11-27T19:26:07.767" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26634" CreationDate="2019-11-27T16:33:04.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the larger questions in life can not be answered,Why we love cats is one of those questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people think toxoplasmosis an brain controlling amoeba that cats carry plays a role in our love of cats,the truth is we do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the middle ages people and cats where killed as a result of their love of cats and the cats love of people,people that loved cats was seen as whitches and got killed,We still love cats today so i have to say it must be true love we experience and the cats must truly love us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my first cat when i was two years old and i have had cats for my entire life i am 54years old now and i still wonder why do i love cats and why do cats love me,I do not have the answer yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to one theory &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/intimacy-path-toward-spirituality/201507/if-you-love-cats-may-be-why&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/intimacy-path-toward-spirituality/201507/if-you-love-cats-may-be-why&lt;/a&gt; to why we love cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here is an other link &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-love-cats-so-much&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-love-cats-so-much&lt;/a&gt; you can follow the links on the page for some more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think we will ever find an answer to your question,But keep on looking :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2019-11-27T16:33:04.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26640" CreationDate="2019-11-28T22:27:09.277" Score="4" ViewCount="498" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat has been returning the past few days with pretty harsh injuries on his front legs and front paw, we took him to the vet who told us it was a cat fight but she didn't speak very good English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's an outdoor cat and we have 7 others, males and females who haven't fought since they were little. He's never been in fights before but there are many strays where we live. I've never seen him leave the property, but in the past three days he's been disappearing for a long time and returning beaten up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dad suggested he could be in heat, and the females he's attempting to mate with are attacking him. I saw him jump on one of my female cats the other day and he got a good slap from her. None of my female cats allow him, which is probably why he's going elsewhere. He has deep bites on his front legs and paws, and his back claws are broken off, but no damage anywhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was very worried that a stray male could be attacking him, but it was very weird where his injuries were. He isn't castrated because my dad is persistant in &quot;defending his fellow man&quot; but my mom and I will take him secretly tomorrow. Would a female cat attack him like this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16982" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T02:10:00.713" Title="Male cat in heat came home injured on legs" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26638" CreationDate="2019-11-29T05:47:15.957" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ONLY responsible thing to do is to get your cats SPAYED AND NEUTERED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intact male cats will fight and get hurt. You will save yourself a lot of money and problems by getting the cat(s) neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Harry V. correctly says in his answer, male cats do not go into heat. What happens is the male cat has a powerful reaction to the female cat that is in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male cats can be triggered at any time of year by a female cat in heat and will fight other males for the right to mate the female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male intact cats will spray/mark everywhere, and if there are many cats in the area this will be a problem in the area where you live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feral cats are a big problem around the world, and feral unvaccinated cats can spread many types of disease to the cat population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get the female cat(s) spayed. This will reduce the spraying/marking and reduce the risk for mammary and ovarian cancer and limit the number of unwanted kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female cats have the same arsenal of weapons as the male cats have but they will not fight and hurt the male cats unless they really have to, This means the female will chase away the male if he gets too close to her, and he might get hurt in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the male and female cat might get hurt during mating. The female can get hurt by the male when he bites the neck and uses the claws to hold the female stationary during mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male cat's penis has spikes so the mating will hurt the female. If the male is too slow getting away after mating, the female will hurt him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T02:10:00.713" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T02:10:00.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29730" CreationDate="2019-11-29T09:48:08.473" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;My turtle tank is half of its height filled with water. Where the filtered water falls from the pipe into the water, there is a lot of limescale on the glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What tools (sponge, brush...) could I use to clean this (optimally without emptying the tank)? Is it needed to treat the &amp;quot;tool&amp;quot; before use? Is there a &amp;quot;soap&amp;quot; which does not kill / harm turtle and fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T23:22:16.317" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T06:45:44.100" Title="What could I use to clean limescale off of tank glass?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26641" CreationDate="2019-11-29T11:45:19.070" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clean aquarium glass you can use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A kitchen scrub made of plastic, the ones made for cleaning pots and pans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A paint scraper, you can get this in your local hardware store, be sure you do not harm the silicone in your tank if you use this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not use any types of chemicals when you clean the glass in your tank if you have any animals or plants in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things you can remove from your tank for cleaning can be cleaned with white vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure you rinse everything multiple times and be sure it is dry before you put it back in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again: DO NOT USE ANY CHEMICALS IN YOUR TANK when you have animals or plants in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T06:45:44.100" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T06:45:44.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26638" CreationDate="2019-11-30T06:35:16.313" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Male cats do not go into heat — this is a term referring to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;estrus&lt;/a&gt; which only females go through. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be some seasonality to male cat sexual activity but in general a sexually mature male cat will not have a problem mating at any time of year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggressive behaviour between intact males is normal, it is dominance and territorial aggression, only the strongest will get to mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats mating is not pleasant for the female. The male commonly bites the female's neck and holds her down. The male cat's penis is barbed which is a source of pain for her particularly when he withdraws. For these and other reasons it is very common for the female to attack the male after mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only solutions to reduce his chances of being injured are to either keep him isolated indoors from other cats, or to get him neutered. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat bites can become nasty if not treated, so make sure they receive appropriate veterinary attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-11-30T06:35:16.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26650" CreationDate="2019-11-30T18:25:28.650" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background: I have two guinea pigs, Penny and Rosie (both female, both around 3 years old, neither spayed). I got Penny in May of 2017, and she was a single until January 2018 when I got Rosie. (My vet told me to give Penny a few months to get used to me before adopting a second pig, so I waited until the semester break.) They've never been super close friends (they seem to have different ideas of what counts as enough personal space), but they're civil, and I know how important it is for guinea pigs to have cage mates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, their squabbles have been very minor: Rosie gets in Penny's space, Penny snaps at Rosie, and Rosie backs off for a while. But for the past few days I've seen a lot of squabbling that looks like an introduction all over again. They chase each other in tight circles; Penny snaps at Rosie repeatedly, and Rosie refuses to budge. There's a lot of teeth-chattering from Penny and angry rumbling from Rosie. All this happens two or three times a day and lasts several minutes each time. So far there hasn't been any real fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are: Is there a risk that Penny and Rosie will need to be separated? How closely do I need to watch them? And why is this happening now, when they've lived together for almost two years without any problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16968" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T08:42:36.373" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T08:42:36.373" Title="Will I need to separate my guinea pigs?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26641" CreationDate="2019-11-30T21:50:23.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a razor-blade scraper from a hardware store if you don't want to remove everything from the tank. You can lower the water level to catch what you scrape off, or use a in-tank siphon cleaner, but this is the easiest way to clean a glass surface without having to drain and do a ton of work cleaning up chemicals. Otherwise, I fully agree with the vinegar soaking method for anything that can be removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2019-11-30T21:50:23.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26660" CreationDate="2019-12-01T10:04:34.160" Score="2" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can rabbits hear infrasonic and ultrasonic sounds? My bunny lifts up his ears when I take a step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16990" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2019-12-05T05:54:04.587" LastActivityDate="2019-12-05T05:54:04.587" Title="Hearing range of rabbits" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26646" CreationDate="2019-12-01T21:19:51.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First step if your animals change behavior is a visit at the vet. Pain makes one aggressive, so it is a good idea to let exclude pain as reason by the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not explain how your little ones live. So I have to assume a lot... Please comment, to give more details :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe they stay most of the time in their cage of approx. 1 x 0.5 metres. Imagine you were to live in one room with a second person your whole time. Eating, sleeping and toilet. The second person could be your best friend. But after short or long time, you would have trouble with this person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this, you could learn to look at guinea pigs more like you would do at cats than like fish. They like to explore, run and hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could inform yourself about other forms of living space for them. I have seen a lots of examples with places to hide and space to run. One was an old wardrobe with wire and plexiglas as doors and 3-4 floors. Another was on top of the dressers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second area to inform yourself about could be using fleece as substrate instead of straw and wood shavings. It is less dusty, so you could have more open space for the piggies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your guinea pigs have enough space to hide if they do not wish contact. Regardless they are aggressive to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aggression is caused by unclear dominance hierarchy. As you described, both of them had an hierarchy in history. But now it changes. Maybe the &amp;quot;boss&amp;quot; gets &amp;quot;weak&amp;quot;, or the other one gets &amp;quot;impertinent&amp;quot;. (Again here the hint for a visit at the vet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know methods to avoid this in general. It is a normal event in relation development. But you could look for good circumstances, so they do not hurt each other too hard. For example, there should be no dead ends where one could trap the other. The houses need two doors and the pigs' furniture should not stay on the wall. There have to be some space to run around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such struggles could last for some weeks, so you need to be patient. Only if one is constantly hunted and bitten by the other or is not allowed to get food, you have to separate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read about some good changes in female guinea pig groups caused by adding a neutered male. Maybe this is an option for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is: &amp;quot;No, you do not have to separate them, you have some options you could try before.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward to read more questions about the themes you and your piggies are interested in :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T08:41:18.060" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T08:41:18.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26654" CreationDate="2019-12-02T06:36:16.987" Score="10" ViewCount="3412" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has an almond-sized lump near the mouth, which I guess it is an abscess due to a bite wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering whether it can heal by itself? If so, usually how long does it take? And if not what are the risks of leaving it untreated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-02T00:00:14.503" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T00:00:14.503" Title="What happens if bite wound abscesses in cats left untreated?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26652" CreationDate="2019-12-02T08:12:20.290" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what might happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your cat gets sepsis (blood poisoning) and dies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The abscess ruptures, and your cat's immune system fights the infection.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fXDKb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fXDKb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cat with pink wound above eye, missing hair&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is Lillepus, a feral cat I had a couple of years ago. He got lost for two weeks. This picture was taken the day after he returned. The abscess ruptured during the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did visit the vet for treatment. He did not need antibiotics, only cleaning and flushing the wound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The abscess ruptures, but the cat's immune system is not able to fight the infection. See #1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the short answer is take your cat to the vet for treatment NOW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the abscess ruptures or gets drained by your vet and there are no complications, it will heal in a couple of weeks, but please do not take any chances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T05:35:57.030" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T05:35:57.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26652" CreationDate="2019-12-02T08:19:15.917" Score="21" Body="&lt;h2&gt;In short&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Untreated abscesses can heal on their own, but it's almost always a long, messy and painful process. Usually they heal without complications, but in bad cases they may lead to death, for various reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The healing&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abscesses are encapsulations of foreign objects or bacteria and pus. This encapsulation prevents the inflammation from infecting surrounding tissue, but it also keeps immune cells from fighting the bacteria. (Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscess&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The natural way an abscess heals is by breaking open and draining the pus out of the body. A doctor (or vet in this case) would do the same thing, but with a sterilized scalpel in a clean environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the inflammation is well contained and doesn't affect the animal too much, the abscess may stay intact for a long time, possibly till the natural end of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The risks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this lump is actually an abscess, it's filled with pus and probably inflamed. This means physical stress on the body because the immune system is constantly active and fighting the inflammation, often resulting in fever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases the swelling is painful and very sensitive to touch. If the abscess is located near the mouth, it can hurt while eating or drinking, causing malnourishment in the animal. This further weakens the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another consequence may be hair loss around the area, because the pain and itching induces scratching the skin. This is usually how the abscess is opened and drained in a natural way. Be aware that excessive scratching is a sure sign of pain and discomfort in a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on what caused the abscess and which bacterial infect it, the inflammation can spread and cause more abscesses in the same area or, even worse, can reach the blood stream and cause sepsis (blood poisoning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In bad cases, extensive regional tissue death (gangrene) may occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the abscess breaks open and the wound is untreated, consequent contamination may lead to further infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2019-12-04T07:59:38.243" LastActivityDate="2019-12-04T07:59:38.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26656" CreationDate="2019-12-02T13:32:09.950" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read the term &amp;quot;emotional support animal&amp;quot; several times now. I have some imagination about them, but no real information. Because of that my question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are emotional support animals? Most importantly: where are the differences to &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; pets' duties and rights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-28T01:07:37.700" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T01:07:37.700" Title="What are emotional support animals?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26655" CreationDate="2019-12-02T15:51:58.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) and a &quot;normal&quot; pet is not so much about the animal as the &lt;em&gt;person&lt;/em&gt;. Essentially an ESA is a pet where their owner gets a benefit towards a specific emotional or psychological condition as a result of having them as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The animal has no specific training unlike a service animal which will be trained to do a specific task for their owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to &quot;rights&quot; regarding ESAs - well that will vary by jurisdiction. In the US for example it can mean that the owner can get exemptions from housing and travel restrictions on the pet where the animal is classed as an ESA - in order for a pet to be classed as an ESA the person needs to suffer with a diagnosed emotional or mental condition that a health practitioner  will certify the animal provides a significant benefit for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the UK ESAs don't enjoy similar legal protection/status - there are some private  registries that some businesses will agree to honor but this is purely voluntary, nothing gives ESAs (or their owners) any additional rights over a normal owner and pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7852" LastActivityDate="2019-12-02T15:51:58.667" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-02T17:47:44.013" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1.5 year old St. Bernard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's amazing with people doesn't like dogs too much. He would get up to sniff them and then immediately go in for a bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have tried taking him to group training as recommended by a certified trainer in my area but that did not help at all and now he just snarls and barks before approaching in fact it feels as if it has gotten worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back when he was a pup a lot of dogs that seemed to be nice had tried to/succeeded in biting him even at a dog park, for some context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He walks nicely, he is good with commands, and as long as I have treats handy he will ignore other dogs, but he can be overly reactive and given his size it is very worrying. I'm always trying to encourage him between saying, &quot;who's that&quot; and giving him treats when he sits nicely and minds his manners when other dogs are around, but the moment the treats disappear he's back to regular behavior. I don't personally feel anxious when walking him as I have control and can reel him in, but I don't know what to do or where to go from here? I've talked with three different trainers that just say to encourage leash walking and have him watch other dogs play, but he will not calm down and when there are too many he seems to undergo a lot of stress, which is why I think those group training classes made it worse even though he did not growl or bark during them he was shaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've come home to a few dead sparrows in my backyard that's he gotten and I don't know if that is related to temperament or just instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried things mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7765/normally-very-sweet-labrador-becomes-aggressive-around-other-dogs&quot;&gt;(Normally very) sweet labrador becomes aggressive around other dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has tips or methods to calm the dog down and hopefully get him to play nicer and respect other dogs it would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 1: I've also let me see him playing or giving treats to other dogs, but that did not seem to work.&#xA;Note 2: I have a female at home who is as friendly as can be but is the dominant one in their relationship being the older one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8398" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T05:42:00.300" Title="My dog is aggressive around other dogs" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-03T15:57:45.963" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Started with the most recent feeding, my Bumblebee Ball Python has been hunting and striking at its prey but missing. I can't get her to eat frozen thawed, so I have been giving her live with no issues up until this feeding. She will go after the prey maybe three times and miss each time. I usually feed her in her enclosure, so I bought a new one, put her in it just to feed her, and then put a medium/large rat in with her and still had issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I waited another day or two and tried to feed her again. She see the rat, then slowly moves, then strikes and misses. None of the other pythons I have (that are smaller than my bumblebee) are having issues with similar size rats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's about almost two. She does have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://wheremyscalesslither.weebly.com/the-spider-morph-and-the-wobble.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wobble&lt;/a&gt;. She is in a clear tubs; I am not sure if that is related to the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16998" LastEditorUserId="11248" LastEditDate="2019-12-04T07:23:31.887" LastActivityDate="2019-12-04T07:23:31.887" Title="Bumblebee Ball Python - striking food but missing" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26649" CreationDate="2019-12-03T18:17:50.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can hear sounds down to 96 Hz; this is a lot higher than the lowest frequency humans can hear--about 20 Hz. This is above the range of infrasound: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So rabbits cannot hear infrasound, but they can feel vibrations when you walk across the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits can hear sound up to 49 kHz, and this is in the range of ultrasonic sound. Ultrasonic sound is any frequency above 20 kHz and up to the radio frequency of 10 mHz and sometimes even higher for inspection of metall constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So rabbits can hear ultrasound, or at least the lower part of the ultrasonic frequency band.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_range&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_range&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2019-12-04T05:42:54.387" LastActivityDate="2019-12-04T05:42:54.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26663" CreationDate="2019-12-04T02:56:04.280" Score="2" ViewCount="694" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has had a wound on the pad of his paw that has been progressively getting worse over the past 2 weeks. It started off pretty small but has more than doubled in size. The original wound was mostly superficial but now the pink part (seen below) is protruding from the pad. He's been limping (progressively worse) so it's obviously painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him to the vet yesterday and she was thinking it might be an infected skin tag. She prescribed an NSAID and soaking in Epsom salt for a week with a follow-up next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What concerns me is the protrusion from the wound and white mass pictured to the left of the wound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what this condition might be called so we can do some more research?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any recommendations on keeping the wound clean and reducing the discomfort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bp32G.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bp32G.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dog pad and wound&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17001" LastActivityDate="2019-12-05T08:47:37.650" Title="Wound on dog pad" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26662" CreationDate="2019-12-04T15:18:10.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon for wounds on the paws to get bigger, especially if the dog walks on hard or rough undergrounds. The protrusion is most likely the soft tissue of the paw that is infected and swollen. For a wound it doesn't look too bad and I don't expect any lasting damage once it starts healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the white mass, although the picture quality is very high, it's hard to see among the fur. It's impossible to tell what exactly it is without actually examining it, but it could be a random swelling or an encapsulated foreign object like a small stone or an awn of a seed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't grow or get any worse, but it seems acceptable to wait till your next vet appointment. Let the expert (the vet) examine the thing and figure out what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important question here is: &lt;strong&gt;Does the dog nibble at the flesh wound?&lt;/strong&gt; If yes, he might very well be the reason why it grew. It might also be an indicator that the white mass is bothering him. By trying to eliminate this disturbance (in dog style: by licking and nibbling at it) he might have caused the flesh wound in the first place. If you notive him nibbling at his paw, put a &quot;collar of shame&quot; on him or bandage the paw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime I propose buying or crafting a bandage shoe for your dog. This not only protects the wound from dirt, it also offers a soft surface to walk on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you decide to buy ready-made dog shoes, make sure to buy padded ones. Put a clean (read: sterialized, taken from an intact package) wound dressing from a first-aid kit into the bottom of the shoe and change it daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To create a makeshift dog boot, follow &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-cool-and-cheap-little-dog-sneakers-or-boots-fr/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this instruction&lt;/a&gt; (just don't put laces in them) or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wonderpuppy.net/booties.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. Make sure the toes and claws have ample space in the front while the dog is standing on his paw. Again, put a clean (read: sterialized, taken from an intact package) wound dressing from a first-aid kit into the bottom of the shoe and change it daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To further pad the shoe, you can cut a few inches of a cotton bandage and fold it to the size of the paw. Cut it to shape and fix it with tape, then put it into the bottom of the dog shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A warning for everyone who didn't pay attention at first-aid curses: &lt;strong&gt;NEVER&lt;/strong&gt; put paper tissues, paper towels, Kleenex, toilet paper or similar absorband papers on an open wound. They shed small fibers that can get stuck in the wound and cause complications. First aid kits contain special wound dressings that don't shed fibers and come in a sterialized packaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-12-05T08:47:37.650" LastActivityDate="2019-12-05T08:47:37.650" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26348" CreationDate="2019-12-05T23:47:38.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing you could try is a cow hoof, either plain or stuffed. It is all natural, good for teeth, and even keeps our English Mastiffs &amp;amp; American Hairless Terrier busy for week or two before replacing. Make it a special treat she only gets when crated, and make it a big deal she is getting it. Also, if we are going to be away for a bit, we leave the radio playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17004" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T17:31:04.993" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T17:31:04.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26665" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-06T04:09:27.820" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a 5 year old female &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has always been a scaredy cat and has never let me pick her up unless when she is asleep. Even then she tries to escape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add more information: she was given the meds because she was pooping all over the carpet and on my bed for about a year or so. When I moved, it got worse. &#xA;She also needs ear drops because of an ear infection she has had but again I can't go near her to put them in without her running away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet gave her anxiety meds and she would spit the pill out. I tried putting it in her food and such and that didn't work either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a compounded version that is a flavor to help mask the bitterness. I put it in a bowl without food and she attempted to lick it but as soon as I mixed it with wet food, she walked away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She loves that wet food and if I put one out without the medicine she scarfs it down!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a syringe but there is no way she will let me go near her with that or let alone swaddle her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on what the heck I can do?! Or what food that she might take it with? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elmy: to answer your question, I don't think I was having her take the medication to satisfy myself but I have never thought of it that way.But I think its more because of the ear infections that she constantly has that I want to relieve that for her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17005" LastEditorUserId="17005" LastEditDate="2019-12-06T13:03:43.203" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T15:07:45.890" Title="Cat won't take any form of medication" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26674" CreationDate="2019-12-06T19:54:21.883" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Background: I got a male Bengal kitten at 3 months. When he was 7 months, I added a male Savannah who was 12 months. I isolated them for about a week, then did controlled meetings for a few days, and they've both been out together 24x7 since. I also have Feliway Multicat diffusers all over the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're now comfortable enough with each other to sleep as close as a foot apart and can peacefully pass even closer when just walking around, but any touching (by either cat) inevitably turns into a fight/chase for a few minutes until they both get tired and lay down. Neither cat hides or makes noise or shows other signs of actual fear, and there are never injuries, so I'm reasonably sure they're just playing even though one or both will flatten their ears at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since they're both the aggressor in these fights and there is no clear victor, I can't figure out which of them is the alpha. Is it possible they haven't figured it out yet either? If so, how long could it take, and will they calm down a bit when they do, or is this how things will always be between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-07T01:25:25.730" Title="How long to settle who's alpha?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2019-12-06T22:27:26.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Snuffle Mat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; dogs that eat too fast, scenting dogs, physically inactive or impaired dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirements:&lt;/strong&gt; a  base to which you can attach strips of fabric.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A piece of cotton fabric you can tear to strips, like old jeans or t-shirt, linen or tablecloth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an alternative to food dispenser toys and can very easily be crafted for low cost. In short: you attach a whole lot of fabric strips to a base to make it a chaotic and thick mass, like a very long carpet. Then hide several small treats in between and let your dog dig them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a base you can use a piece of wood and use screws or nails to attach the fabric strips. For smaller or timid dogs it might suffice to staple the strips to wood. Alternatively you can use a mesh-like base like a kitchen sink rubber mat or drying rack, pull each fabric strip halfway through two adjacent holes and secure it with a knot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at an instruction with pictures at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/blog/diy-make-your-dog-or-cat-a-snuffle-matt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Honest Kitchen&lt;/a&gt; or have a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/xr4GVMew-tw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;youtube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The finished snuffle mat should look somewhat like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Day4e.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Day4e.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;snuffle mat&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thedogedit.com/blogs/news/how-to-make-a-snuffle-sniffle-enrichment-mat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fabric should be cotton (because the dog might ingest parts of it) and for boisterous dogs it should be somewhat sturdier like jeans denim. The width of the individual strips is determined by the method of attachment: thin for knotting, thicker for screwing, nailing or stapling. Each strip should be at least 8 inches / 20 cm long. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to put the strips together very densely. The dog should be forced to dig through this &quot;carpet&quot; with their nose and rely on their scent of smell to find the treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always supervise your dog while playing with the snuffle mat to make sure they don't chew on the strips or tear them off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T14:19:18.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T14:19:18.613" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2019-12-07T15:19:21.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22157" CreationDate="2019-12-06T23:10:15.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the same issue with my 2 year old male rosy, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to have the minimum temperature of 85 °F (29 °C) on ether side. He would then hide under his water dish regularly. I dropped the temperatures on both sides, and found him to be out and about much more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also believe your issue to be temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17009" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T22:16:24.643" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T22:16:24.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26672" CreationDate="2019-12-06T23:14:17.713" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ~17 year old black cat, breed unknown, who has been kept as an indoor cat since she was 18-24 months old. We have suspected a number of health problems for the last two years, and took her to the vet, who believes her kidney function is reduced. Unfortunately, we do not have the funds to pay the high cost for the treatment he recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two nights ago she began escaping from the house by clawing open the dryer vent, and has done so a total of five times. We have increased the complexity of the dryer vent seal each time to deter further escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each time she's gotten out she simply finds a place to sit, and doesn't move until we go collect her and bring her back indoors. Once brought back inside, she doesn't make any effort to leave again for 3-5 hours. On two occasions she has been extremely cold, and will only move slowly when brought back inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this may be end-of-life behavior for the cat, however my mother disagrees and has been resistant to taking the cat back to the vet. Is there a likely explanation for this changed behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17008" LastActivityDate="2019-12-07T00:04:05.253" Title="Is there an explanation for my senior cat's changed behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26671" CreationDate="2019-12-07T00:04:05.253" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost two senior indoor cats to kidney failure. In each's last few days, they insisted on going out in the middle of the yard and just looking around at the world, whereas neither particularly liked going outside before. When I'd bring them in, they were very affectionate but still lethargic. For both, by the time these symptoms appeared, their kidneys were too far gone for a vet to do anything, and he recommended putting them to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-07T00:04:05.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26668" CreationDate="2019-12-07T01:25:25.730" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't really have pack hierarchy like dogs. One cat might be really confident or aggressive, and the other timid, such that the one cat takes over everything, but that's just a natural result of their personalities, rather than a pack hierarchy thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is truly just playing, then the goal isn't to assert dominance or something like that. It's just for fun. If it isn't playing, but actual fighting, it's still not too likely to stop unless something changes - - either the cats become more used to each other, or the source of the contention goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It wouldn't be surprising to me if this is just play. Both of your cats are very young, and both are pretty energetic breeds. Cats will sometimes flatten their ears during play. One pretty good indicator of the difference is the eyes. A fearful cat's eyes dilate.  A cat about to pounce will also dilate its eyes, but generally you can tell when the cat is about to pounce, and so it's pretty easy to not confuse the two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-12-07T01:25:25.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-07T11:57:47.873" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard over the years that horses shouldn't be fed grass clippings from lawn mowers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this dangerous and why would it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T10:41:03.583" Title="Can horses eat lawn mower grass clippings?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26675" CreationDate="2019-12-07T12:25:50.950" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;It is NOT safe to feed horses grass clippings.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://kb.rspca.org.au/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA&lt;/a&gt; website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/can-i-feed-my-horse-on-lawn-mower-clippings-and-other-garden-waste/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can I feed my horse on lawn mower clippings and other garden waste?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NO! Feeding horses on lawn mower clippings can be very dangerous for&#xA;several reasons. When lawn mower clippings are fresh they are&#xA;fermenting (this is why they are warm or even hot when you put your&#xA;hand inside a fresh pile of clippings). If a horse is given a pile of&#xA;fresh clippings to eat he/she can gorge on them. As the clippings have&#xA;been chopped up small (by the mower) the horse does not need to chew&#xA;them and therefore swallows the clippings without mixing them with&#xA;saliva (which is what happens when a horse chews its food normally).&#xA;This means that the clippings arrive in the stomach already fermenting&#xA;and without the benefit of saliva to ‘dilute’ them (in the normal&#xA;situation grasses that are eaten by the horse do not start to ferment&#xA;to this extent until they are much further along in the gut). The&#xA;gases given off by the fermenting clippings can expand to the point&#xA;that they rupture the stomach (which is fatal). If the clippings do&#xA;not cause rupture of the stomach, they can result in colic (abdominal&#xA;pain) due to complications further down the intestinal tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.proequinegrooms.com/tips/health-and-well-being/grass-clippings-are-a-big-no-for-horses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grass clippings are a big NO for horses!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/lawn-clippings-horses/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lawn Clippings and Horses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0%2C5&amp;amp;q=feeding%20horses%20grass%20clippings&amp;amp;btnG=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;feeding horses grass clippings&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Preamble:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I spoke to the Vet today and she didn't think her death was the result of grass clippings, because of the lack of gas in the stomach, but from a blockage (or twist) high in the bowel behind the stomach. Not palpable on physical examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Experience&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A wheel barrow of grass clippings was dumped into our horses paddock, upon which the two horses gorged upon them. An older horse and a yearling (18 month old). When I saw the clippings I kicked them out so they weren't clumped. If I had known how truly dangerous they were I'd have called a vet immediately and have had them raked out totally across the grass or taken away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The yearling was sick a day later, but this wasn't discovered until 36 hours later, as she grew ill overnight. I had woken at 2 am to one of the horses calling out and a cow replying from across the road, and walked the line of the paddock, and didn't see anything unusual. I didn't go into the paddock, as I didn't suspect the horse was sick, as we were in the worst bush fires of recorded history,  the paddocks were soaked in smoke for many weeks&#xA;and there has been a continuous stream of ash through the skies for the day. We had wild life travelling through the property to escape the fires ten kilometres away and I though the animals were reacting to the fires. Little did I know our yearling filly was down and in agony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next morning we called the vet and she didn't look well. She was sedated and given pain relief. The vet said if she went down again to call her. She did and when she returned to see our girl, she was shaking in a  way that was symptomatic of shock and in more pain. Sweating and her heart rate had doubled to 88 bpm. She was given more sedation, the vet checked her stomach contents for food to see if there was a blockage in the small intestine, as she couldn't feel anything rectally on either visit. She was put on a drip and collapsed again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet gave her local anaesthesia and tapped the fluid from her abdominal cavity to see if there were signs of a rupture. The fluid was supposed to be a clear pale yellow, it was darker than it should have been, more plentiful and had some food particles in it. Meaning there had been a rupture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put her head in my lap. She was given more sedation and euthanized, as there was no hope for her survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was devastating for all of us, including her &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFJhI4ue1eA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;paddock mate&lt;/a&gt; who had cared for her since she was a young foal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dyani (our filly) had an impossible start. We purchased &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2683fEb4sE&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px1pcklsSZ8_blcbPT69-Z8D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;her mother&lt;/a&gt; from a horse meat dealer, when she was pregnant with her. Her &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJkhm9L0pc&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px3hzSBDU9D5FXR2Ah0Hz1sW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;birth&lt;/a&gt; was eventful, as she was born during the worst storm of winter and suffered exposure. She also suffered a broken leg from her mother at three months. Overall, this was all due to my inexperience and poor horsemanship. I failed to manage these situations well and am ultimately responsible for her death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall she was a happy young &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFJhI4ue1eA&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px0WQLnGWaEVaDMqsJLtoxqo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;horse&lt;/a&gt; and was &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iah9Aqumz4&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px0WQLnGWaEVaDMqsJLtoxqo&amp;amp;index=4&amp;amp;t=0s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;very special&lt;/a&gt;. A special nature and we were truly fortunate to know her. It was devastating to see her life end in a such a painful and preventable way. No fault of her own. Fit and healthy. It's something horse owners need to be aware of, which is why I'm posting this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the last pictures of Dyani - sharing food with her paddock mate and close herd mate &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zMXeqwT49c&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px2_9vP2plvhslh_x2Hkhsgk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Penny&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tTVYF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tTVYF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A collage of Dyani&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DvgiL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DvgiL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dyani being goofey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EjvEg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EjvEg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The veterinary procedures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Examine And Advise- Re Acute Colic In 18 Month Old Filly. Fill Down 165.00 And Uncomfortable On Arrival. Heart Rate 44 (Post Sedation) With Minimal Gastrointestinal Sounds. Rectal Did Not Reveal Any&#xA;Significant Abnormalities. Monitor Response To Sedation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intravenous Sedative&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buscopan Injection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rectal Examination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Re examine &amp;amp; advise- re filly became uncomfortable after sedation 132.00 wore off. Filly very dull and is recumbent on arrival. Trembling when standing with heart rate 88bpm. Mucus membranes have&#xA;toxic line and GI sounds absent. Rectal revealed dry mucus membranes&#xA;but no palpable gas distension or other abnormalities. No net reflux&#xA;on nasogastric intubation. Filly became uncomfortable during IV fluids&#xA;and attempts to make her stand were unsuccessful. Abdominocentesis&#xA;revealed dark yellow abdominal fluid with free feed particles,&#xA;confirming gastrointestinal rupture. Euthanised humanely.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intravenous Sedative&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rectal Examination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pass Stomach Tube&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abdominocentesis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intravenous Drip Line Set Up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hartmanns Soln 5ltr&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T10:41:03.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26678" CreationDate="2019-12-07T14:40:45.257" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an eggnog equivalent for cats and/or dogs? It’s getting close to the holidays and people might want to give their pets a holiday drink as a treat. What can I give them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-09T16:28:22.647" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:00:49.000" Title="Cat &amp; dog eggnog equivalent" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26677" CreationDate="2019-12-07T15:49:46.783" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;What's not safe&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs cannot tolerate alcohol. You should not give any foods or drinks that contain alcohol to your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milk or cream (which is one ingedient in egg nog) often causes digestion problems in adult pets, just as in an lactose intolerant human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the typical winter spices are also not well tolerated, especially by cats. So even a glass of non-alcoholic egg nog or punsh might not be the best idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Safe alternatives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our pets love meat. If you want to make a special treat for them, consider &lt;strong&gt;making a broth&lt;/strong&gt; without spices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't use instant broth, there's far too much salt in it to be healthy for a pet. Instead, collect all the leftover bones, cartilages, cutoffs or uneaten bits from your holiday meal, put it in a pot, barely cover it with water and let it simmer for 1 - 4 hours. Do not add salt or spices. Let it cool to room temperature. &lt;strong&gt;Never feed cooked bones to your pets&lt;/strong&gt;, they can splinter and cause internal injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to achieve the texture of egg nog, you can add a tablespoon of instant potato mash to the still hot broth. Look at the ingredients of the potato mash, it &lt;strong&gt;must not contain onion or garlic&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If making a broth is too much work or you don't have the ingredients, you can also crack a &lt;strong&gt;raw egg&lt;/strong&gt; (provided that it's fresh), add a teaspoon of cooking oil and whip the mixture up. Again, don't add any salt or spices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-12-09T16:04:47.443" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T16:04:47.443" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26675" CreationDate="2019-12-07T16:48:35.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that this is bad for rabbits and gives them an upset stomach because the grass starts to ferment and die causing toxins. &#xA;Also if the lawn mower has lots of oil or petrol on the bit that cuts the grass it can contaminate the grass with that. So definitely no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastActivityDate="2019-12-07T16:48:35.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11843" CreationDate="2019-12-07T17:03:33.567" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy snake racks online or you can get them made to order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need a heat mat for each of the enclosures and depending on the snake depends on how big a draw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some links:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.preloved.co.uk/classifieds/pets/reptiles/all/uk/reptile+racks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;preloved.co.uk/(...)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://reptilesrevolution.com/products/v-70-reptile-racks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reptilesrevolution.com/(...)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://tgrracksystems.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tgrracksystems.com/(...)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.customcages.com/vision-snake-racks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;customcages.com/(...)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T22:15:21.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T22:15:21.670" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10366" CreationDate="2019-12-07T17:10:26.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take this rabbit straight to the vet. It will need an antibiotic to stop infection pain killers and an anti inflammatory. Try offering kale, romaine lettuce, carrot, banana, hay.Give water in a bowl as this does not look like a domestic rabbit. Also try making 'porridge'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mix 1 tsp of oats with some water until a porridge like mixture, you could try adding a bit of mashed banana to make it more appetising. Try not to introduce everything at once do the kale First and the oats. Watch his\hers droppings to check that they do not become too wet if so stop with the oats and banana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-09T04:00:07.210" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T04:00:07.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26677" CreationDate="2019-12-07T17:15:28.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy &quot;Pawsecco&quot; for dogs and cats that you add to their food. You can find this on Amazon or in pet shops. You can also find doggy beer which is basically the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you can make your dog some chicken broth and let him/her drink it when it has cooled down as a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pawsecco-still-rose-wine-for-dogs-and-cats-250ml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pawsecco-still-rose-wine-for-dogs-and-cats-250ml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T07:00:49.000" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:00:49.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-08T01:49:24.020" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that during a thunder storm, my male black lab/shepherd mix (~4 yrs) would bark around one second before thunder could be heard. He normally does this with suspicious thudding noises/neighbors. How could he do this? He might only be hearing the low, quieter noise that sometimes comes immediately before the louder part, or something more complicated...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read a bit about dogs sensing barometric pressure changes, but I think it's only a thing that happens over hours - not &lt;strong&gt;right&lt;/strong&gt; before a thunderclap. Could it have something to do with a frequency higher/lower than human threshold? Or maybe he hears it through the ground (since sounds travel WAY faster through the ground).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16110" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T16:13:31.897" Title="Dog can Sense Thunder Seconds Before Heard?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-08T03:42:04.070" Score="5" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will be visiting my parents for a about 4-5 weeks over Christmas. I have a 1.5-yo cat that is very scared of most people. She is used to me and my girlfriend now, but rarely lets anyone else approach. If I can find someone to come take care of her once/twice a day she won't interact with the sitter or anyone else at all. The other option is bringing her with me, but I don't know what is the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16700" LastActivityDate="2021-02-17T20:35:38.817" Title="Should I bring my cat with me if I travel for 1 month?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-08T03:53:30.580" Score="4" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;As cats get older, they commonly develop conditions such as chronic kidney disease or diabetes which leads to polyuria (production of large amounts of urine). Managing the litter box in these cases can be challenging as it quickly becomes oversaturated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the litter box needs to be cleaned out regularly, but what other recommendations are there in terms of litter type and setup that work well to keep the litter box manageable for cats with polyuria?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T17:59:02.830" Title="Managing litter box for cat with polyuria (increased urination)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-08T06:16:42.143" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two parrots which I believe is ringneck. They were raised by uncle. They were once very friendly. But after one flew away, the other became very aggressive even towards my uncle. I bought another wild parrot for it. But its aggressive towards that one, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also spreads its feathers on head like it's very angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What steps should I take to reduce its behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17015" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-09-04T13:36:21.153" LastActivityDate="2020-09-04T13:36:21.153" Title="How to reduce my parrot's aggressive behavior?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26687" CreationDate="2019-12-08T09:28:56.173" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very hard for a cat to come to a new place and by the time your cat settles in, it is time to move back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if it is possible for you to get a cat sitter, I think this is the best option for her. When you move a cat there will always be an element of stress, so in my opinion it is best to avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that your cat is shy will make the travel and stay at a new place harder for her. So if it is possible for you to let her stay at home, this will be the best solution for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-17T20:35:38.817" LastActivityDate="2021-02-17T20:35:38.817" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-08T15:15:03.810" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a typical 10 gal fish tank with Neon Tetras and one algae eater.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add two small turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides a place for them to rest are there any issues I should be aware of or precautions I should take? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11545" LastActivityDate="2019-12-08T16:48:51.997" Title="How do I add turtles to an existing fish tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26691" CreationDate="2019-12-08T16:48:51.997" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 10gal tank is to small for all turtles I know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next point is: all turtles do not like to live with other turtles.  Only to make baby turtles they like  to meet. Rest of the year they live alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turtles tank minimale have to be long as 7 times the shell length and wide as 2-3 shell lengths (so the turtle could turn around comfortly). The high of the water have to be between one and two shell length. One minimum because the turtle need to hide under water, maximum two for sleeping (reach the air on surface with nose standing on the ground without swimming). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have little turtles for your little tank, the fish will not be happy with the turtle friendly water high. If the turtle is big enough for fish friendly water high your tank is not long and wide enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point will be: turtles grow their whole life. So you have to change your tank in assumed a half year against a bigger one. Red eared sliders for example grow to a size  (shell!) of a toilet seat. (How all &quot;Trachemys&quot; turtles) So in the end you need an approximated 250gal tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another another point: most turtles will eat your fish while they grow up. They are fast hunters especially if the fish are &quot;beautyful&quot; ones with long fins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last point: turtles make more dirt than fish. You need approximated 3 times the power of a &quot;normal&quot; filter. (For example you need a 90gal filter for 30gal real water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So in summary&lt;/strong&gt; I suggest to not add turtles to a fish tank. But if you really want, you could make a turtle tank and add fish to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one 20cm turtle with 10 sumatra barbs in a 1000l/~260gal tank in the moment. But I had combined succsessfull the same turtle with one gold fish and some guppies. Guppies are good idea because they have much and more babies and gold fish and turtle hold a stable count. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2019-12-08T16:48:51.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26693" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-08T18:42:07.673" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a new 8-week-old Boxer puppy we brought home yesterday. We are crate training her and most of what we are reading says to feed the pup in the crate but it seems like it says that is to get them use to the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the puppy is already very comfortable in the crate (takes naps, goes in to chill, slept there last night) should we still feed her in the crate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there another reason for feeding in the crate other than getting a pup comfortable with the crate? Thx!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17016" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T21:36:56.807" Title="Is feeding a puppy in the crate for the purpose of getting them comfortable with crate or another reason?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-09T03:26:06.747" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Westie is 11yrs old and he’s drinking his own urine and I don’t know what I should do.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I give him water throughout the day but he always drinks so much like as if he hasn’t had water in days, he’ll gobble an ice down like as if he was eating a fresh piece of meat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He would pee in the house just to drink it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He’s been taken to the vet and tested if he had UTI but he doesn’t.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If anyone has any suggestions plz let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17017" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-09T11:00:39.707" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T10:54:34.013" Title="I have a west highland terrier that is 11yrs old(in human yrs) and he drinks his own urine, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T10:53:58.603" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26657" CreationDate="2019-12-09T05:42:00.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're going to have to think outside-of-the-box for combination of possible remedies like: try walking with a friend and their dog to get them familiar with the idea that the other dog isn't a threat and maybe try switching leashed dogs to get your dog to understand you have control over the other dog and that it's not a threat as you pet it in front of your dog. best i got for the short time i have. hope you find something as im in the same boat as u. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17018" LastActivityDate="2019-12-09T05:42:00.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-09T14:01:39.197" Score="2" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have below pair of budgies. I think the white one is male and yellow one is female, however I want a confirmation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help in identifying the gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l1yLt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cTDnM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17019" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-10T02:35:35.620" LastActivityDate="2019-12-10T02:35:35.620" Title="Please help in identifying Gender of budgies" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27014" CreationDate="2019-12-09T18:39:02.937" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats and three litter boxes. It seems that some days they will both go mostly in box A, with a little bit in boxes B and C, and other days they will go mostly in box B, with a little bit in boxes A and C. (They never go mostly in box C, which is smaller, but it's rarely completely unused.) It's not strictly alternating or any other pattern I can figure out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's a problem (though please tell me if it is), but previous pairs of cats I've had would each claim one box as &quot;theirs&quot;, so I'm curious about what might be going on with this pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2019-12-09T21:02:46.533" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:26:07.363" Title="How do cats decide which litter box to use?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26696" CreationDate="2019-12-10T02:32:10.277" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dark yellow one is a female - note the brown above the beak (cere).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other budgie, the pale yellow (I don't see it as white) is likely a young male with the purple cere, that will turn blue as he matures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are very cute, enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/birds/Is-My-Budgie-A-Boy-Or-A-Girl&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pethelpful.com/birds/Is-My-Budgie-A-Boy-Or-A-Girl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AZHWj.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AZHWj.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://m.wikihow.com/Identify-Your-Budgie%27s-Sex&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://m.wikihow.com/Identify-Your-Budgie%27s-Sex&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the age of your budgie. If your budgie is less than 4 months&#xA;old, it will have immature colors respective to their sex. Before&#xA;this time, the colored area that shows sex will be pink or purple on a&#xA;male and white or pale blue on a female. If your budgie hasn't had its&#xA;first molt, has dark button eyes, and has bars coming from its head to&#xA;cere, then it's less than four months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your budgie is&#xA;immature or less than 4 months old, the cere on males will slowly turn&#xA;deep blue and females will keep white or pale blue before showing tan.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-10T02:32:10.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26702" CreationDate="2019-12-10T03:42:07.657" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there are any natural meds which can be used when cat suffers from flu. I have no problem to buy meds for them, I just want to know if there is any alternative. Once my cat had a hoarse voice and one Vet suggested honey on the paw, which I gave to her and it was everything ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10688" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-10T05:49:55.880" LastActivityDate="2019-12-10T19:28:43.097" Title="Are there any natural meds for cat flu?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-10T08:30:28.753" Score="3" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 year old Pomeranium/Shih Tzu mix is getting her teeth removed soon, she's not particularly old and is still very hyperactive and loves to play and run around. But all of her favourite games involve chewing things or playing tug-of-war or chasing balls. Will she still be able to play all those games after the operation? And if not, can anyone recommend any games that we can play instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done some research, but the only recommendations that I've been able to find have been toys that she can play with by herself, like puzzle toys and toys that move around themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a way that we can play &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; her, because she loses interest if we aren't involved. She'll actually pick up her toy and push it against us until we give in and either throw it or play tug, the idea of her doing that and me not being able to play with her honestly breaks my heart a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T14:18:45.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T14:18:45.040" Title="How do I play with my dog after her teeth get removed" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26700" CreationDate="2019-12-10T10:36:08.267" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, she will be able to play her favorite games, but not exactly in the same intensity as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that before dentures were invented, our grannies didn't starve to death either. They chewed with their gums instead of their teeth, which works relatively well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her gums will take a while to harden, but she will still be able to chew and tug toys without any teeth. Very hard or strongly structured toys might hurt her, though. If that is the case, she'll stop playing with them on her own. If she still plays with toys, they obviously don't hurt her (too much). Let her decide for herself which toys are still acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to alternatives, please have a look at this collection of ideas: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;Alternatives to walking a dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2019-12-10T10:36:08.267" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26699" CreationDate="2019-12-10T19:28:43.097" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Flu like&quot; upper respiratory symptoms in cats can be caused buy a variety of viruses, some dangerous and requiring veterinary attention, others fairly harmless and will pass in time just like the common cold for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat appears to be ill with flu-like symptoms, a diagnosis from the vet is required to know if it's a flu/virus that will pass, or a bacterial infection like kennel cough that needs to be treated with antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally the home treatment for all the cold-like or flu-like diseases of cats is just supportive treatment:  Make sure the cat is kept warm enough, fed and hydrated (by temptation, such as with warmed, soft or especially tempting foods, unsalted broths, etc, or by force or even IV line if it comes to that).  You may also clean the nose and eyes gently with saline or salted water, and let your cat stay in a bathroom with the shower running on hot so steam can loosen the mucus.  A humidifier can also help, but ensure that it is kept very clean and away from the cat's reach.  &lt;strong&gt;DO NOT use any sort of essential oils, mentholated topical products like chest rub, or scented diffusers&lt;/strong&gt;, many of these contain ingredients that are dangerous for cats, even if they are considered mild and safe for human use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some additional information about the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/cat-flu&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat flu&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-12-10T19:28:43.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-10T23:04:16.490" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;After I release two of my dog’s puppy I became too emotional that I really feel depressed. I always thought that they might feel alone and look for their mother and siblings and also our family became so attached to them. I feel so sad even knowing that they’re going to be with a loving owner too. &#xA;I don’t know if this is normal, it’s been 3 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to cope up with this mentality?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or any tips for me to assure that they are going to be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15977" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-11T00:09:13.147" LastActivityDate="2019-12-11T00:09:13.147" Title="I rehomed my dog’s puppy and I’ve been emotional" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26703" CreationDate="2019-12-11T00:00:54.700" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is to ask the new owner for updates. It's always hard rehoming pets, but sometimes it is necessary, as we have our limits on how many pets we can care for. If you can focus on the puppy's frame of reference it makes it easier. Dog's are adaptable, especially puppies. They respond to love and consistency. In a loving home, the puppy will be happy and possibly have more attention. Focus on the aspects the new owners could give the puppy that you could not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask the new owner to send you pictures, if they are on social media, perhaps you can connect and share the adventures of the puppy in her new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to prevent this from happening again is to neuter your dog to prevent her from having more litters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-12-11T00:00:54.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26713" CreationDate="2019-12-11T02:34:35.547" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's kind of ridiculous that when searching for dog proof trashcans 99% of the ones that come up have a foot pedal that opens them ... I don't know how stupid they think dogs are, but mine figured the pedal out in about a day so there's really nothing &quot;dog proof&quot; about them in the least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option I saw was a touch sensitive ones, but again, not going to take long for the dogs to catch onto that, especially since they'll be poking their face around anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried putting something under the pedal to keep it from depressing, and also put a weight on top of the lid so they can't nudge it open (they're pretty tall), but it's a hassle and sometimes I forget and come home to a mess every time ... They never try getting in when I'm at home, even if I'm in the other room, so there's really no way for me to train them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any other simple tricks that don't require not having a lousy memory or know of any truly dog proof trashcans? Maybe there are some that lock automatically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7602" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-12T01:11:54.237" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T18:14:05.307" Title="How to keep dogs out of trash?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26706" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-11T09:41:54.567" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two rabbits in my garden. This will be their first winter in this garden, the rabbits had two winters in our last garden.&#xA;The last garden had a lot of bushes and plants to hide in and find a nice place for the rabbits. But the new one only has 3 tall bushes (tall with no green on bottom side, so no hiding) and grass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbits have a hut to protect them from cold and the weather. But they do use it only for very cold times (like a burrow). I assume they like and need to look around to feel save. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of that I am searching for a thing I could buy or build that would give them a comfortable place to sit. I imagine a place without snow, maybe without wind, but with clear sight around. I need an artificial bush &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience with human-build furniture for rabbits, which fulfills my constrains? &#xA;Are there other characteristics I should have in mind? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T10:44:09.443" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T12:30:03.463" Title="Comfortable place for rabbits in the snow" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27258" CreationDate="2019-12-11T10:04:27.137" Score="2" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have several mares and fillies and I notice they are prone to getting ticks on their underbellies where the skin is soft and there is less hair, including their udders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also get a thick black substance build up between their teats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any special care to keep the udder clean, is it helpful to clean out the natural black substance that builds up between the teats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-08T03:03:21.480" Title="How to care for a horse's teats/udder?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-11T12:26:55.047" Score="4" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog had a fight with another dog and his ear got infected. Ever since then we'd prescribe antibiotics for his ear infection and it'll get better for a month, but it keeps recurring. The vet just keeps prescribing the same medicine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should we try a different medicine and use it on a prolonged time? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is having a hard time getting it out of his ear and is suffering and in pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16479" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-12T01:08:21.463" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:05.693" Title="How to cure persistent infections in the ear of a dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26709" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26710" CreationDate="2019-12-11T17:27:47.113" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Europe and have rabbits who live exclusively outdoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I provide them with water in the winter without it freezing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2019-12-12T17:12:46.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T13:18:53.180" Title="How can I ensure my outdoor pet's water doesn't freeze in the winter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26709" CreationDate="2019-12-11T17:41:10.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two bowls. They are some of the heavy ones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I change the bowls every morning and evening. One is outside for the rabbits. The other is inside to warm up (room temperature). It gets warm enough to keep the water liquid for approx. 8 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid the surface of the water in the bowl freezing I add a table tennis ball. Because of the ball's movments the surface stays mostly liquid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drinking bottles are not suited for freezing temperatures. The water freezes in the pipe and the liquid from the bottle cannot get through. Licking at the (usually) metal part could hurt the rabbit's mouth. Wet things (like lips or tongue) freeze to cold metal. So the skin will be injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it gets very cold one could add bottles with warm water under the water bowl. The water in the bowl should not be filled in warm because this could harm digestion of the rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2019-12-12T15:01:46.317" LastActivityDate="2019-12-12T15:01:46.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2019-12-11T19:55:55.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has the same problem, and the vets had suggested euthanasia.  NOT GONNA HAPPEN.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have addressed the situation by feeding him dry food (grain free, but I did have to experiment with all types of grain free dry foods to see which didn't blow his gut up), then offer a little wet food (&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; small can), and then (after he finished eating) pouring a bit of gravy (sold in the packets next to the canned cat food) into a clean bowl and adding two pinches (between your thumb and index finger) of fiber (like unflavored dry Metamucil).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He laps it up.  With this method, he doesn't get the squirts.  He is only allowed to eat twice a day, and I leave his food out for &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; hour each time. That gives his gut a time to rest.  This has really helped him, and he is the sweetest, happiest cat. Occasionally he has a little accident, but it is no big deal.  The dry fiber added to gravy plumps up the poop and makes his life (and mine) so much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17029" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T15:49:10.577" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T15:49:10.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2019-12-11T21:25:46.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats tend to have sensitive digestive systems, which can be heavily disrupted by diet changes&lt;/strong&gt;; ultimately, it may be that by constantly switching his food to try to find the &quot;remedy,&quot; you have in fact actually worsened the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Properly switching a cat's food takes about 1-2 weeks of blending the foods together in a ratio that slowly phases in the new food while phasing out the old, giving their digestive system time to adjust. A sudden switch (or even one executed too quickly) can trigger diarrhea and stomach upset. You make no mention of transitioning the food between the short bursts of time on each variety; it's highly likely this is the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats can also be sensitive to specific proteins or other ingredients&lt;/strong&gt;, and may need to stick to or avoid specific ingredients. Each cat is unique in this; two of my cats can eat almost anything, while the third will get severe diarrhea if she eats anything other than a chicken recipe diet; a previous one vomited if fed a recipe containing red meat. As no mention was given of the food recipes being offered, there may be protein(s) that are causing sensitivities, or protein shifts that are exacerbating the issues coming from transitioning the food constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In any case regarding chronic digestive upset, a visit to the vet is a must.&lt;/strong&gt; You should give the vet all information about all foods you've been offering (brand, wet vs dry, and specific recipe) so they can help you determine the best course of action to relieve the issue; simply adding fiber isn't going to fix the underlying cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-12-11T21:25:46.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26705" CreationDate="2019-12-12T01:24:03.573" Score="4" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid dogs getting into the rubbish when you're not home or overnight (if they are indoors) is to empty the trash before you leave or go to bed. A good habit to generally adopt.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One foolproof way to prevent dogs from getting into the rubbish is to put it on a benchtop (providing the dogs are not tall enough to jump up to the bench and grab it off) or place trashcans &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&amp;amp;biw=1387&amp;amp;bih=925&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=1&amp;amp;ei=BZXxXf_wMLnB3LUP0LyliAY&amp;amp;q=kitchen%20tidy%20inside%20cupboard&amp;amp;oq=kitchen%20tidy%20inside%20cupboard&amp;amp;gs_l=img.3..0l6j0i30j0i5i30l3.37839.43655..43791...0.0..0.1141.5278.5-5j0j2......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67.gfjV3iiD6Xc&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwi_h5-B-K7mAhW5ILcAHVBeCWEQ4dUDCAc&amp;amp;uact=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;inside the kitchen cupboards&lt;/a&gt;. It's not uncommon to have kitchen tidies inside a kitchen cupboard.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the dogs learn how to open the kitchen cupboard you can put &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=child%20lock%20kitchen%20cupboards&amp;amp;newwindow=1&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwi1wrH8967mAhWX63MBHTv7D_kQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&amp;amp;biw=1387&amp;amp;bih=925&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;child locks&lt;/a&gt; on the inside of the cupboard and the dogs will not be able to open them. It only allows the cupboard to be open a little and nimble fingers to unlock it. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another way would be to use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&amp;amp;biw=1387&amp;amp;bih=925&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=1&amp;amp;ei=NZXxXbX_EpS_8QOOlKv4CQ&amp;amp;q=baby%20gate&amp;amp;oq=baby%20gate&amp;amp;gs_l=img.3...33452.34620..34834...0.0..0.1788.1788.8-1......0....1..gws-wiz-img.BXgpkUiMK_Q&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwj17fKX-K7mAhWUX3wKHQ7KCp8Q4dUDCAc&amp;amp;uact=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;child/baby gates&lt;/a&gt; to prevent the dogs from coming into the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the techniques one would use child proofing the kitchen can be applied to dog proofing the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get bins specifically designed as dog proof, but as you've already mentioned it doesn't prevent them from knocking them over and attempting to get at the rubbish, so possible not as effective as actually preventing the dogs from accessing the bin itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2019-12-12T01:24:03.573" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26708" CreationDate="2019-12-12T07:34:47.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs with hanging ears have a tendency to get ear infections because the hanging ears hinder aeration and keep the inside of the ear a warm and moist breeding ground for bacteria and fungi. Certain breeds (especially pure breeds) are even more at risk because the limited gene pool weakened their immune system. My own dogs suffers ear infections each and every winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infection is caused by either bacteria, fungi or ear mites. The natural reaction of the ear to the infection is to produce lots of ear wax. If this slowly dries and becomes sticky or hard, it can irritate the ear even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So fighting the infection must be done in 2 steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kill the cause of the infection. Since the prescribed antibiotics seem to work for a while, I assume it's the correct medicine for this infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove the ear wax from the ear. This is done by flushing the ear with a watery ear cleaning fluid. Most of those liquids have additional antibacterial properties that hopefully prevent a new infection. You should be able to get such an ear cleaning liquid at a pharmacy, your local vet or an online shop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the ideal case you drip the ear cleaner into your dog's ear while massaging it in a circular motion to spread the cleaner throughout the whole ear cavity. Then you let your dog shake his head, which moves the remaining liquid as well as the ear wax out by centrifugal force. Be prepared to clean bits of earwax from the walls and ground...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality dogs have an instinct to keep their ears dry, so most of them &lt;em&gt;really dislike&lt;/em&gt; flushing their ears. It helps to warm the liquid to room temperature before applying it and to consistently give your dog a &lt;em&gt;really special&lt;/em&gt; treat after each treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little trick if your dog fights the flushing:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Soak a cotton pad with the cleaning liquid. Start stroking your dog's ear as if you were a dog licking him, then squeeze the liquid inside the ear and massage in a circular motion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the flushing daily as long as the ear is still infected. After that, check the ear(s) regularly for signs of earwax and flush as needed. If your dog scratches his ears or rubs his head on the ground or against furniture, flush as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T04:06:05.693" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T04:06:05.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26717" CreationDate="2019-12-12T11:44:11.070" Score="4" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 year old neutered male cat with good behaviour and in the two months that we spent together, he was very happy with me. I am also asked to catsit a 14 year old neutered male with exceptionally well behaviour. The 14 year old cat knows and loves me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The catch is that these cats have never seen each other before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 6 year old cat holds the home field advantage. He is a 6.5 kg cat with mixed origin. The 14 year old cat is a purebred Maine Coon. He is 7.9 kg and he is doing very well for his age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case I accept the catsitting, is it certain that they will fight? Is there a chance that they might get along?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies if duplicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-26T17:42:55.910" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T17:42:55.910" Title="Can two male neutered cats stay together?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26715" CreationDate="2019-12-12T13:24:48.863" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general it is possible to have two neutered males together. In my opinion the first contact has to be organised. (I do not know much about cats, but have seen two neutered males living together in peace many times).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think cats have their own areas like rabbits. For rabbits the first contact is organised in a neutral area. So no one of the two is &quot;at home&quot; and has to defend its own area. After they make friends in the neutral space, both could move to one cat's home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope there is another user who knows more about cats :) but if you need a fast answer I'd like to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T08:19:35.033" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T08:19:35.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26715" CreationDate="2019-12-12T14:30:41.507" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are not small dogs and can't be treated the same way; where dogs are generally social with one another, adaptable, and can easily be moved between locations for petsitting and quickly introduced to one another, cats are more solitary and do not handle disruptions to their environment well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your titular question, yes, two neutered males can live together, and frequently do. &lt;strong&gt;However, you cannot just throw them into the same room and expect it to work out&lt;/strong&gt; as it does with dogs; &lt;strong&gt;they will fight, possibly injuring each other&lt;/strong&gt;, necessitating vet visits for one or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to decline the pet sitting because of this, however, &lt;strong&gt;you should ideally conduct the pet-sitting at the owner's home&lt;/strong&gt; if at all possible, not bring the cat into yours. A healthy cat can be checked in on a couple of times a day and will be fine on its own the rest of the time. &lt;strong&gt;If the cat has health problems that necessitate a sitter staying with it, you should decline&lt;/strong&gt; in this case unless you have someone at home to care for your cat; health problems should unquestionably stop any thoughts of trying to bring the cat into your home or introduce the two to each other, as the stress could make those problems much worse. For more information on how to cat sit, see my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23573/first-time-cat-sitting-what-should-i-do&quot;&gt;First time cat sitting - what should I do?&lt;/a&gt;, as well as the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23228/pet-sitting-best-practice&quot;&gt;Pet sitting best practice&lt;/a&gt; for information for your friend to prepare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you insist on bringing the cat into your home, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4371/recommendations-for-introducing-adult-cats-to-newly-adopted-adult-cats&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing adult cats to newly adopted adult cats&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5742/using-the-room-door-as-a-means-of-introducing-cats-to-each-other-slowly&quot;&gt;Using the room door as a means of introducing cats to each other slowly&lt;/a&gt;, as well as other questions related to introducing cats to one another, can help, though your best bet will likely be to just keep the two isolated from one another for the duration of the pet sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-12-12T14:30:41.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26709" CreationDate="2019-12-12T14:35:26.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dog's water bowl that has a small heating coil built into the base of the bowl, making it safe to plug in and keep it from freezing. Search Amazon.com or your favorite pet supply store for &quot;heated water bowl&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17031" LastActivityDate="2019-12-12T14:35:26.063" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-12T16:48:37.687" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I noticed a growth on my rats chest. I got her into the vet and they said it was a mammary tumor. One option is to let it take its course and manage pain through medications and eventually put her to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other option is to have them operate. They said surgery on a rat is more complicated than on a dog or cat. For every question I asked they only had vague answers so I understand that there is truly no way to tell when tumors will come back in the future after operating but I am still curious: what is the percentage of rats that survive the surgery with successfully removing all the bad cells? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for either a percentage from a rodent vet/surgeon or a peer reviewed article related to this statistic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17032" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T21:52:12.747" LastActivityDate="2020-03-24T08:59:32.057" Title="What is the percent of rats that survive mammary tumor surgery?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;cancer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2019-12-13T01:54:49.087" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bit of fear is a good motivator for better behavior, at least with our cat. He's very well behaved 99% of the time, but when he's done something wrong, a good flick on the side from a recoiled finger imparts a message that he was bad. And if he hisses at me, he knows another flick is on the way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17033" LastActivityDate="2019-12-13T01:54:49.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-13T18:41:14.503" Score="3" ViewCount="781" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten got into a small bag of espresso beans. I am unsure how many he ate. My husband had left the bag on the counter. He is getting to the point where he climbs everything. He hasn't been snipped yet and we can tell that he is going nuts because of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can happen to him with having eaten, at most, a few espresso beans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17038" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-15T21:38:27.710" LastActivityDate="2019-12-15T21:38:27.710" Title="Kitten got into espresso beans" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2019-12-17T06:19:28.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26723" CreationDate="2019-12-13T21:50:33.737" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The safest course of action would be to take your cat to the vet right away if coffee beans were eaten.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coffee is very bad for cats (and dogs as well), and severe caffeine poisoning can be life-threatening.  Just as with humans, a little caffeine will make a pet hyper or 'buzzed', a lot can cause a racing heart, even more can be dangerous.  In addition to being much smaller, cats and dogs are more sensitive to caffeine than humans, and it's hard to quantify the exact dose at which it starts to be harmful.  Most sources I can find say that 'a taste' of coffee or tea may not be harmful, but that caffeine is toxic to pets even with a relatively small amount consumed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitor your cat for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/caffeine/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;symptoms of caffeine poisoning&lt;/a&gt;, which include elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, restlessness/hyperactivity, vomiting and seizures.  If anything seems amiss, see the vet right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the future, even if your kitten shows no adverse effects from the coffee beans, be sure to keep coffee (including decaf), tea, hot cocoa and all caffeinated products out of reach.  Not only is the caffeine harmful, but other compounds found in coffee, such as theobromine, can also cause adverse effects in cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/caffeine-and-pets-safety-tips-and-considerations&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/caffeine-and-pets-safety-tips-and-considerations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2019-12-13T21:50:33.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20295" CreationDate="2019-12-13T22:12:56.743" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardiomyopathy, can cause just the symptoms you described, normally there is no warning or advanced symptoms. It happen to my daughters cat. I believe there my be a link between feeding only dry food with rice, rice blocks taurine. That is my theory anyway. Most of the time there is nothing that can be done to prevent or cure. I would caution to make sure cats get ample amounts of taurine in their diet and give them MEAT, that is what they are designed to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17040" LastActivityDate="2019-12-13T22:12:56.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26665" CreationDate="2019-12-14T06:19:59.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to medication, cats can smell it long before we can get it near them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's completely expected of them to run away from people or smells (like medication) they are not comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one who like your cat never allows anyone to get near. I have to wait for her to get really relaxed in her favorite place and then approach really friendly and let her be relaxed so that my scent becomes comfortable for her. This takes time, but once it's done, it's easy to medicate her, as I am a part of her comfort zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid loud sounds, no sudden movements and no unfamiliar smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is comfortable with you but only runs when you take the medication near, let her get used to the smell of the medicine by keeping it with you when you pet her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this works for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17041" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2019-12-19T14:26:57.277" LastActivityDate="2019-12-19T14:26:57.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26729" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26730" CreationDate="2019-12-14T12:10:41.647" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.eheim.com/de_DE/produkte/technik/aquarienheizer/thermocontrol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eheim thermocontrol&lt;/a&gt; 50W thermostat in my 60l freshwater aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The official manual and dozens of forum posts state that the temperature is set by turning the outer blue wheel to the desired temperature and then correcting it with the red calibration wheel in order to compensate sensor deviation. All information I could find is numerous repetitions and reformulations of this information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not possible to set the initial temperature with the blue wheel since it's doesn't have any anchor point, thus any number at any position on the wheel could mean the currently set temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Approaches like trial and error (for the initial temperature) are not an option since that'd mean endless combinations together with the red calibration wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7153" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2019-12-20T13:21:43.803" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T08:53:00.567" Title="How to set the temperature on an Eheim aquarium thermostat?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26729" CreationDate="2019-12-14T13:56:49.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You simply turn the red ring fully counter-clockwise and then turn the numbered ring, so the red arrow points at the temperature you want in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By doing it this way you will avoid overly high temperature in your tank during calibration. So you will probably have to turn the heat up a bit after you have adjusted the red arrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use a thermometer in your tank to see what temperature you get, it takes a day or two to see where the temperature ends up at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can now turn the red ring, so it points to the real temperature you have in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have now calibrated the heater scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to keep an eye on the temperature during this calibration and turn the numbered ring down if it gets too hot in your tank (take a look at the temperature every four to five hours during this process).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zw4qS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zw4qS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how it looks with the red ring turned fully counter-clockwise and the temperature set to 23&amp;nbsp;°C, on my heater I do not need to move the red ring at all as this is the real temperature (I plan to use this tank for shrimps so this is why I have the temperature this low).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T08:53:00.567" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T08:53:00.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10897" CreationDate="2019-12-14T15:22:37.573" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta is going on 3 years. If bettas are stressed out they will try to burrow and hide. If he is floating upwards to get food you could try to have a little less water and add some plants for better hiding spots. Aquarium salt will help him breathe a little easier but follow the directions on the product and do not add it to the tank directly as is will create burns on the betta. Also sounds like your betta might have betta bloat you could try the frozen pea method. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2lB3w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17044" LastActivityDate="2019-12-14T15:22:37.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25477" CreationDate="2019-12-14T18:27:33.370" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now all is done, I could answer my question too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has given my both rabbits a chip for identification&#xA;The chip number and vaccinations are noted in their vaccination papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved via car from Germany through Poland to Lithuania, so we had no border controls. All airlines that were fitting us do not allow rabbits as hand luggage and our rabbits being transported in the luggage room was not an acceptable option for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three rabbits are okay to pass borders in EU as pets with the owner. More have to have special allowance (for animal import/export).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T13:03:30.800" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T13:03:30.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-16T14:10:58.473" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My budgies are eating only seeds. I tried feeding them soaked wheat and chickpeas. They did not eat it. Also I am trying to feed tomato, carrot and apple, however they are not eating it.&#xA;Is there any trick to feed them other food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17019" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-17T09:33:10.377" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T12:03:45.423" Title="Budgies eating only seeds" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26736" CreationDate="2019-12-16T18:11:12.027" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious how good the senses of rabbits are. They are not predators, so I am not sure about seeing in the dark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could rabbits see in the (nearly) dark?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they have ability to see in the (nearly) dark like cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T21:43:25.147" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T21:43:25.147" Title="Do rabbits see well at night?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26735" CreationDate="2019-12-17T01:37:17.437" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be completely technical, no animal can see in complete darkness, although many animals see much better than us in low light levels such as the level of natural darkness that occurs at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to articles such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vision.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vision.html&lt;/a&gt; rabbits have more rod cells than humans in their eyes resulting in superior vision in comparison to humans in low light levels. However, what they see will appear grainy at lower light levels. Their vision is at its greatest acuity at medium light levels such as at dawn and dusk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rabbitcaretips.com/do-rabbits-have-good-night-vision/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.rabbitcaretips.com/do-rabbits-have-good-night-vision/&lt;/a&gt; rabbits do not have a tapetum lucidum. This is a layer of tissue behind the retina in some animals such as cats, which reflects light back into the retina to help increase the light level they perceive, greatly improving their night vision. This is also what gives cats their distinctive eye shine when their eyes are viewed at a certain angle. At any rate, since rabbits do not have a tapetum lucidum, their night vision is still inferior to many other animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T01:37:17.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13588" CreationDate="2019-12-17T03:59:38.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All cats have an instinct to hide their waste from prey and other predators. Domestic cats are (mostly) descended from African wildcats, which further refined that instinct to burying their waste in &lt;em&gt;sand&lt;/em&gt;. Kitty litter is specifically designed to mimic sand and thus trigger those instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if there is something wrong with the litter box, pain from a UTI or other stress in the cat's life, they may find other places to go, but those places will still usually be fairly soft and loose (e.g. clothing or bedding) to fulfill the core hiding instinct. Unfortunately, those are usually also the places that are most difficult to clean and most upsetting to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other species of cats (including some used in &quot;hybrid&quot; breeds) prefer to hide their waste in water, dirt, leaves or other materials based on their habitat, though some can be trained to use litter. Likewise, some housecats can be trained to use a toilet. However, in both cases, the training is difficult and fragile because you're working against their instincts rather than with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T03:59:38.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-17T13:05:03.153" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horses have been getting itchy legs, some are missing hair on their faces and chests. This is not improving with the usual treatments of insect repellants, for flies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of ticks on the property, but it's not explaining these issues entirely. They are being treated for the ticks. They are treated with permoxin, which is effective in killing the ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23550/how-to-treat-queensland-itch&quot;&gt;Queensland Itch&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23933/how-to-treat-and-manage-neck-thread-worms&quot;&gt;Neck Thread worms&lt;/a&gt;, but this is also not explaining the pattern of itching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They recently moved onto a new property and were transported via a float that transports other horses and to horse show. Meaning there's horses in the float that regularly come into contact with many other horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been researching on the internet and they seem to also have the symptoms of mange. I was wondering how to tell if my horses have mange and if so, how to treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T14:23:09.077" LastActivityDate="2020-06-14T15:05:00.427" Title="How do you know if your horse/s have mange? How do you treat it?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15855" CreationDate="2019-12-17T14:13:39.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You must take your cat to the vet immediately in a case like this.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Issues with urination aren't trivial, and particularly in (older, neutered) males, &lt;strong&gt;can lead to death in a short period of time&lt;/strong&gt;. If your cat is visiting the litter box but not producing anything, &lt;strong&gt;this is a sign of a urinary blockage&lt;/strong&gt;. Inflammation or struvite crystals have blocked the urethra, preventing elimination. It takes only a couple of days for the toxins from the retained urine to build to a fatal level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A case like this is critical in all cats; males are at a particular risk due to a longer urethra providing more chances of blockage. If the cat is still urinating in some cases (as mentioned in the question), they are likely not fully blocked yet, but immediate vet attention is still vital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet can insert a catheter to dislodge the blockage and release the urine; treatment may take longer than a single visit, as a cat who has blocked once can easily block again. After treatment, changes in diet will almost definitely be needed, to help prevent the issue from recurring, including a switch to (likely prescription) canned food, to encourage hydration to flush out future crystals before they reach a size that can cause a blockage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that, with immediate vet attention, a cat can survive a blockage and lead a perfectly normal life afterward. My own cat lived another five years with no further blockages, and was quite happy to switch to a full wet diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T14:13:39.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26688" CreationDate="2019-12-17T17:59:02.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;More and/or larger boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The standard guideline is one box per cat plus a spare. Cats with polyuria are like having more cats, so add more boxes accordingly. Spread the boxes around the house so older or ill cats don't have to walk as far and will be less tempted to go somewhere inappropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Larger boxes will accommodate more litter and thus more waste. Standard litter boxes are often too small anyway, especially covered ones, and can rarely hold more than one day's waste from one healthy cat. A larger box will also be easier for an older or ill cat to move around and dig in. A high-sided box also helps with cats that don't (or can't) squat properly. Storage totes are cheap and work well, though perhaps not aesthetically pleasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-17T17:59:02.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2465" CreationDate="2019-12-18T06:07:40.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not choose too many plants for your tank that there will be not much room for your fish.  Otherwise, your tank friends will feel stress than relaxed in their environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to layer the bottom of the tank with up to eight centimeters of gravel or one and a half pounds per gallon of water. You can also use other substrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VC5Up.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VC5Up.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Heading&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the instructions of the fertilizer manufacturer, add the fertilizers before filling the tank with water halfway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add your plants and bury them into the substrate or gravel up to their stems’ bases.  But then, you should cover the tuber/bulb with gravel up to their growing tip if choosing this kind of plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add your equipment including thermometers, furniture and rocks, along with other accessories, into the tank. Complete filling the tank with water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Source:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.paintafish.org/best-silk-aquarium-plants/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.paintafish.org/best-silk-aquarium-plants/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17057" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T01:15:23.647" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T01:15:23.647" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20952" CreationDate="2019-12-18T22:38:31.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the problems with a UTI is that it makes peeing painful, and cats generally associate pain with places or things, not with actions. If it's painful to pee in the litter box, they will think the litter box is the problem and try peeing in other places until they find one where it doesn't hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming the UTI treatment is working, then he's going to want to stick to whatever place he thinks caused the pain to go away, which is apparently the pan around your litter box. That's not ideal, but be thankful it's not your bed or laundry basket!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppy pads (as suggested by @Joe) would be a good short-term solution to minimize the smell/mess. However, they will frustrate his instinct to bury his waste, so hopefully after the memory of the pain fades, he'll give peeing in the litter box another try and discover that's pain-free now too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-18T22:38:31.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26750" CreationDate="2019-12-19T21:38:48.783" Score="3" ViewCount="543" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to get opinions on introducing a new ragdoll kitten to our 1-year old ragdoll. I’ve been getting some conflicting information on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we just moved into our new home 2 weeks ago, I don’t think our current ragdoll has quite made it his own yet (i.e. he doesn’t rub against the furniture or use his new cat tree like in my old house). We are getting our new ragdoll kitten either today or tomorrow, the new kitten is our current cat’s half-brother (same father). I’ve done my research and know the safe space, smell swapping, caged introduction, supervised playtime methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We only have about a month where at least 1 person can watch them full time, if we both go back to work and they are not used to each other we will need to lock the new kitten in his safe space (which we don’t want to do). Our current cat is very affectionate and playful. He’s been introduced to our friends domestic shorthair, our ragdoll instantly wanted to play but the other cat was hissing at him. Our cat has also been introduced to lots of people and dogs so I feel like he is well socialised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if ragdolls take to new kittens faster than other cats?&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Will being in a new house help (everything doesn’t smell like our old cat)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT, my experience with introducing a 10 week old ragdoll kitten to 1 year old ragdoll.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had the new kitten for 10 days now, my experience with introducing them. &#xA;The new kitten was isolated for about 1.5 days, by the end of the first 24 hours our resident cat kept trying to get into the room with the new kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 2, we allowed the cats into the same room while we observed. The kitten was very curious but resident cat didn’t want anything to do with him. Kitten was still isolated while we slept/didn’t have time to observe them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 3/4, the resident cat started to play with the new kitten still kept separate while we slept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 6, we finally felt safe allowing the cats in the same room as we slept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Day 8, cats are very happy playing/grooming each other, they also slept in the same cat cave. We’ve leave them alone for few hours at a time. My only concern at the moment is that our resident cat is 4-5x heavier than the new kitten, will be a lot more confident leaving them alone once the new kitten gets a little bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17063" LastEditorUserId="17063" LastEditDate="2020-01-01T23:33:16.863" LastActivityDate="2020-01-01T23:33:16.863" Title="Is introducing a ragdoll kitten to resident ragdoll cat in a new house different from other breeds" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26749" CreationDate="2019-12-20T05:58:43.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every cat has its individual level of sociability along a spectrum, but ragdolls tend strongly toward the pro-social end. They're not unique, but they definitely aren't &quot;normal&quot; either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean ragdolls (or other very pro-social cats) won't benefit from the isolation and introduction processes. However, they will likely get through each step much faster, perhaps days rather than weeks for average cats or months (if ever) for anti-social ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cats tend to be more accepting of kittens, which are clearly not a threat, than they are of adult cats. The kitten may still be scared of the adult cat, but since the adult cat will be more curious than either aggressive or defensive, that should pass quickly as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The added stress of a new home at the same time complicates things, which might slow progress back down a bit, but even with that factor it's hard to imagine two ragdolls not being friends (or at least friendly enough to leave together unsupervised) within a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T00:57:49.030" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T00:57:49.030" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11182" CreationDate="2019-12-20T10:36:30.903" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the risks of feeding my dog standard off-the-shelf dog food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you read the contents of the food as written on the can, you will understand that it is mostly junk. Therefore, the risk on dog's health eating that food is the same as the risk for you eating a diet composed only of fast-food for extended periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These risks are beautifully concentrated in the example you gave, with the three dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the benefits to feeding a dog a diet of regular real food rather than processed food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If by &quot;regular food&quot; you mean the food prepared for humans, that is not very good for dogs. At least partially, it is poisonous to the dogs and cats. Why? Simple. Because they contain salt (and sometimes a little sugar) and spices. As well as other substances which cannot be metabolized by the dogs - and additionally create serious trouble in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot tell for sure whether it is a good diet for a dog to eat the equivalent of food for humans - ingredients OK for dogs, but cooked with heat (boiled, fried, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any studies or correlations of data to support one way or the other having a difference on the health of any pet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The studies are usually sponsored and lobbied by the companies who manufacture and sell the said food. If they say &quot;Yes, it is OK&quot;, are you ready to believe them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is just like with the studies saying that smoking does not cause health problems. You draw your own conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will give an example, commenting a sentence quoted from a study in the answer of &lt;strong&gt;@HarasBrummi&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hypervitaminosis A was reported in a cat fed &lt;strong&gt;a pork liver-based raw food&lt;/strong&gt;. The cat returned to normal health when the diet was changed back to a commercial canned food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the study compared a diet with excess of liver to some canned food - possible the canned food was a special batch created and packed especially for the study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This study implies that commercial canned food is good only because it is better that excess of raw pork liver. How do we know that excess of raw pork liver cannot be really healthy? Simple: the natural diet of cats is &lt;em&gt;whole mice&lt;/em&gt; (and other small rodents and birds) which they can hunt, as compared with any part of a pork. Also, a whole mice has all the nutrients needed for life, while the liver has a very limited list of nutrients, lacking most of the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A balanced raw food for dogs seems to be the best choice - it is the closest to what the dogs would eat if they were wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only serious problem that I can see with this approach is that the food can be contaminated, especially if it is not obtained from reliable sources. While some contaminants can be easily &quot;treated&quot;, other tend to create long term serious problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, the answer is the same as for humans: the choice is yours. Some humans prefer to eat a lot of meat. Others are vegetarian. Others go to the extreme of being strictly raw vegan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are all alive they are all more or less healthy. They all have some afflictions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is for our pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T15:07:26.953" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T15:07:26.953" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7206" CreationDate="2019-12-20T14:05:16.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your question, I see no mention of how the rug has been cleaned after the incidents have taken place. In this case, &lt;strong&gt;what you need is not to add a scent, but to remove one&lt;/strong&gt;--specifically, removing the remaining urine scent that has now marked the rug (and floor beneath it) as an acceptable toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular household cleaners may be effective at removing enough of the urine scent that you, as a human, cannot detect it, but a cat's sense of smell is more acute and is still able to detect the compounds that aren't cleaned away by standard household cleaners. Tossing the rug in the wash and putting it back on the floor will never address the problem; &lt;strong&gt;you need to use a cleaner designed to remove pet odors&lt;/strong&gt; (typically termed as an &quot;enzymatic cleaner&quot;). There are some formulations designed for use in the wash, but in your case I would recommend a general-purpose concentrated cleaner that can also be used on the bathroom floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't wait for the next incident; once you buy the cleaners, throw all the rugs into the wash with the appropriate amount of it, and while they're running through the cycle, thoroughly clean the floor under and around the rugs. Get rid of the lingering smell as soon as possible. Additionally, &lt;strong&gt;if you are using any bathroom cleaners that contain ammonia, discontinue using these immediately&lt;/strong&gt;. Ammonia can smell similar to urine and attract the cat to mark the area. (You should also discontinue the use of cleaners with bleach, as urine contains ammonia and you don't want to mix the two. There are numerous effective cleaners that contain neither of those chemicals available to use.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if the behavior has been going on for some time, you will also need to break the routine your cat has established. This is a simple process: &lt;strong&gt;close the bathroom door&lt;/strong&gt;. If the cat can't access the rug, she can't use it as a toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-12-20T14:05:16.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-21T00:21:23.700" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are in the middle of our worst &lt;a href=&quot;http://google.org/crisismap/australia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bush fires&lt;/a&gt; in recorded history, fueled by the fact we're in the second year of drought and are having record highs. The other day topped at 43 degrees Celsius and we're looking at similar temperatures today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NiLDN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NiLDN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have grave concerns for my dogs, who live outside. They have a kennel and trees, but the heat is prohibitive. One of the dogs is a greyhound, and they really do not cope well with extreme temperatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases people do not have air conditioners and dogs are not always allowed inside houses. So I'm looking for outdoor solutions, where possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What strategies can I make to keep the dogs cool in these heat waves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T01:51:56.993" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T23:05:56.020" Title="Helping outdoor dogs in extreme heat waves" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weather&gt;&lt;cooling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26754" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-12-21T00:22:29.500" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the cooling of pets or their shelter or food or water. Often caused by hot summers, but may be other reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T00:22:29.500" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T00:22:29.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26755" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-12-21T00:22:29.500" Score="0" Body="For the cooling of pets or their shelter or food or water. Often caused by hot summers, but may be other reasons." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T00:22:29.500" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T00:22:29.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26753" CreationDate="2019-12-21T04:24:52.087" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Regular checks&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's vital not to leave the dogs unattended during hot days, especially heat waves. They need to be checked at minimum half hourly intervals once the temperatures start to rise, usually the late morning. As the day progresses, they need to be a priority. Keep checking on them at 10-20 minute intervals as the heat amps up and remove them from the heat wherever possible, especially when there's excessive panting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Avoid exercise&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We avoid letting them run around. Usually we let them out of their run for a run in the paddocks, but we don't do this during very hot days, until the late evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sponge with water&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We regularly check them and sponge them with water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fresh water at all times&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure they have fresh water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sprinkler&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use a sprinkler, we have access to bore water. This is not an option for many people, as town water is on water restrictions across the state. The sprinkler is positioned to come into their yard a short way, avoiding the actual kennel, as they do need to be dry and don't appreciate being sprinkled. Just having the sprinkler going near the kennel helps create a cooler breeze. Plus the wet grass is cooler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hose kennel roof&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also spray the kennel roof and shade cloth with water to help cool the structures. Also spraying more of the yard than the sprinkler reaches, just to cool things down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wet bedding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We wet down the dogs' blankets. Pouring water on them in the heat of the day helps keep the dogs cooler. It doesn't cause problems with mould, as they dry out by the end of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hose dogs down&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soak the dogs with the hose. When the dogs are panting excessively, it's important to take swift action to cool them, and avoid heat stroke. Our greyhound will stand willingly under the hose, unrestrained and then walk off when she's had enough. The other dog we need to hold, although he is getting used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Put in air conditioned car&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing we do in the hottest part of the day 1 - 3pm DSL is take them driving in the car in the air conditioning. We schedule all our driving trips for that time of the day and keep the engine running and the driver in the car at all times, to keep them from undue heat stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Listen&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attend the dogs at any time they may cry. Crying can be a symptom of heat stress. Whenever the dogs calls out, it's time to check and usually hose them down or take some swift action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Check for parasites&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summer is paralysis tick time. It's vital to ensure the dogs have no parasites, worms, fleas or ticks to add to the burden of coping with extreme heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found some &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bunnings.com.au/pillar-products-900-x-600mm-pet-cooling-mat_p3440290&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;self cooling gel mats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provides relief from warmer temperatures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Engineered to absorb pet’s body heat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No refrigeration required&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non -Toxic Gel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scratch Resistant Cover&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Self-Cooling pet mat provides relief from warmer temperatures. Place directly onto floor surfaces or under&#xA;existing blankets or bedding. Keep out of direct sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EbyN6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EbyN6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nRA8c.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nRA8c.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-25T02:03:41.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17529" CreationDate="2019-12-21T07:21:55.207" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Direct eye contact for cats is a challenge. She is staring back at you as a response to your challenge and/or waiting for you to attack. If she's bored and wants to play, she may &quot;attack&quot; you first to get things started. My cats do this with each other all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly blinking or looking away signals that you don't intend to attack and that you trust the cat enough to not attack you, which builds trust. When my cats stare at me intently, I do one or the other, and they usually mirror the behavior and go back to whatever they were doing before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T07:21:55.207" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-21T08:39:28.260" Score="4" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our state is in a bushfire crisis. The worst in recorded history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pO29M.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pO29M.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://google.org/crisismap/australia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://google.org/crisismap/australia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with evacuating horses is there is literally not enough trucks and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lexico.com/definition/horse_float&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;floats&lt;/a&gt; to transport all horses from threatened areas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should horse owners do if their property is threatened by bushfire and they are unable to evacuate their horses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:14:55.373" Title="What should horse owners do if their property is threatened by bushfire and they are unable to evacuate their horses?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;fire&gt;&lt;emergency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26759" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-12-21T08:40:45.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emergency situations. Potential life and death situations. How we react in an emergency situation with our pets can make the difference between life and death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T08:40:45.237" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T08:40:45.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26760" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-12-21T08:40:45.237" Score="0" Body="Emergency situations. Potential life and death situations. How we react in an emergency situation with our pets can make the difference between life and death. Use with the species tag e.g. dog." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T08:40:45.237" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T08:40:45.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26761" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-12-21T08:41:21.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions related to fires, bushfires, housefires, campfires and the safety or care of our pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T08:41:21.130" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T08:41:21.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26762" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-12-21T08:41:21.130" Score="0" Body="Questions related to fires, bushfires, housefires, campfires and the safety or care of our pets." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-21T08:41:21.130" LastActivityDate="2019-12-21T08:41:21.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2019-12-21T14:54:17.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you have already been successful with feeding your cat home cooked food. I have 4 cats and I had once the same questions you had. I recommend you watch the documentary Pet Fooled on Netflix. My whole understanding of pet food changed ever since. I started reading more and more about raw pet food. I made research and followed Dr. Barbara Royal and Dr. Karen Becker. Google them, read them and come to your own conclusions. There is a protocol they suggest to make that transition. It has worked with me. My cats are very healthy, and their breath and hair has changed. Since I was not able to find raw food for cats in my country I started doing it my self and now I sell it and try to share what I know to other people who are concerned about their pets health enough to read and invest a little time in get new information and them evaluate. I hope this information is helpful. I wish you the best of lucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17065" LastEditorUserId="6826" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T20:47:29.633" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T20:47:29.633" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26758" CreationDate="2019-12-21T21:18:45.880" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with Australian vegetation and fire screening technology, but a relatively simple measure you can employ is creating a network of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebreak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;firebreaks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; around and in between your paddocks. This doesn't stop the panic and air pollution in case of a fire, but at least it might save the lives of your horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as it's hot and dry, vegetation growth is stopped or slowed down. This gives you the chance to create effective firebreaks that stay intact for a few months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to create your own firebreaks is to plough around the area your want to protect. The firebreak must be at least 1 meter wide in open grass land, wider in forested areas, and must be freed of any remaining flammable substances like roots, leaves or grass. It's best to plough very deep, really tear the ground up and turn the soil over to make sure any approaching fire can only reach mineral soil, but no flammable vegetation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can move the paddock fences, I suggest moving them inwards on all sides, then ploughing the perimeter of your paddocks and in between each one (just in case, better safe than sorry). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot move the fences and the soil is packed and vegetation is thick, it might be better to plough the same firebreak twice to remove as much flammable material as possible. Keep some distance to any trees or bushes remaining there. Adding more firebreaks in increasing distances helps if embers are blown across one of them anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you happen to have paddocks next to eucalyptus woods, I would preemptively evacuate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T07:14:55.373" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:14:55.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26758" CreationDate="2019-12-22T01:20:54.213" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The best solution is always to evacuate against a catastrophic bushfire threat.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caveat:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;In environment crises, it's not always possible to evacuate all animals.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few steps that can be taken to optimise horse survival in cases of fire and being unable to evacuate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove all rugs, halters, fly masks etc from the horses. Keep them naked so nothing can catch on fences or ignite or melt on the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Write your phone number on the horse's body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Open all internal gates to paddocks, so the horses can run the entire property to position themselves away from the fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not open external gates. A traffic accident can be as perilous as a fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The horses must have a water source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26764/6796&quot;&gt;previous answer&lt;/a&gt; ensure to create firebreaks. There needs to be cleared spaces in paddocks. Leaving horses on a property without cleared space and dams is perilous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're not evacuating your horses, stay with them. If you're so scared for your safety that you need to leave, then leaving animals imprisoned on the property is perilous. At least if you're there you have a chance of carting water and helping prevent injury or tending to any damage asap. Humans can wear a mask. The horses cannot. This last point is contentious. It's a matter of whether human life is considered more valuable than that of your pet. Take it with that philosophical viewpoint in mind. &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The decision to stay in such an emergency puts the human life at risk as well as the horses.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7815443/Warnings-not-travel-Christmas-bushfires-ravage-homes-cause-deadly-crash.html?fbclid=IwAR07sSGp0Q4xn7OY5wxbeYkz8tZ36k-Co2hCMOp-LRkBwmtGx_uBsjyk5KM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Daily Mail&lt;/a&gt; regarding the bushfires (21st Dec 2019).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John Glatz, the former Oakbank Racing Club chairman, is in an induced coma in an intensive care unit, ABC reported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is thought to have suffered burns to 60 per cent of his body as he stayed behind in a desperate attempt to save his horses and home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to expect any species to face this and survive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hfool.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hfool.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T02:26:48.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19783" CreationDate="2019-12-22T16:24:04.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before disassembling the cabinet, try using a broom stick or other object to push/pull her out and &lt;em&gt;back into her carrier&lt;/em&gt;. Then you can release her again in more appropriate room to begin settling in to her new home, such as a quiet bathroom with her litter box and food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T16:24:04.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="996" CreationDate="2019-12-22T17:35:35.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inappropriate elimination (especially urination) is by far the most common problem folks have with indoor cats, and in &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; cases it can be resolved by adding more boxes. Collective experience tells us that N+1 usually seems to be sufficient, so the recommendation is to just start there and hopefully prevent any problems before they start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? A few explanations I've seen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some cats will not use a box after another cat has. Some will defecate in a shared box but not urinate in it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some won't urinate and defecate in the same box &lt;em&gt;even if they're the only cat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some will try to defend the boxes from use by others, and more boxes makes that impractical.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some won't use a box that isn't clean enough, and more boxes means the waste is spread across more litter. (OTOH, if they're not picky, the same may mean you can clean them less often.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Old or ill cats or young kittens may not be able to travel to a distant box in time, so having boxes spread around the home reduces the odds of an accident.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-22T17:35:35.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-23T03:38:26.940" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1OPzM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I give galliprant and enrofloxacin to my 9.8 pound dog. She has a sensitive stomach. I gave her pepcid AC 1hour before enrofloxacin 8:30pm. Its 9:34pm. Is it ok to give her the galliprant. She keeps licking her hind leg a lot so she must be in pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The antibiotic is for swollen red paws due to bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17070" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-23T08:11:49.953" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T08:11:49.953" Title="Galliprant &amp; enrofloxacin" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-23T14:34:24.883" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 month old Chihuahua male and whenever he's on our bed he kicks all four paws when you are playing with him. We have a female that is his sister but she was born 3 litters before him and only does it when she poops outside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17073" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-24T00:05:19.683" LastActivityDate="2019-12-24T00:05:19.683" Title="Dog kicking all four paws when playing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-23T16:20:27.443" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the last couple of days, our beloved cat has taken to invading the neighbors' house, and literally sleeping in their bed (under the covers!), or tearing holes through their window screens so she can get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The neighbors are understandably furious; they are decidedly not cat-lovers, and one of them is allergic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We cannot keep all our doors and windows permanently closed. We either need a watertight (or cat-tight) solution, or we need to get rid of our cat. :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="176" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T17:24:01.033" Title="How to keep my cat out of the neighbors' house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26774" CreationDate="2019-12-23T17:08:00.863" Score="6" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do fish need light in their aquarium?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a fish tank in which there are approximately 10 fish.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a light on the top of the tank, which I keep on during evening time. I Do not know during what time of the day I should keep it on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17074" LastEditorUserId="2576" LastEditDate="2019-12-25T14:31:52.353" LastActivityDate="2019-12-25T14:31:52.353" Title="Fish needs light in its tank or not" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26771" CreationDate="2019-12-23T17:24:01.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get the impression that part of the responsibility of this problem lies on the neighbor, since, especially if they don't have their own cats, their home should be secure enough to keep the cat out.  If a cat can get in, then all kinds of pretty large wildlife can also get in, so for their own security they should be improving their own home to keep out animals.  But at the same time, I recognize that realistically you have no control over your neighbor's home, so the solution is most likely going to fall completely on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think really the simplest way is to install screens on all your windows and have a second screen door installed on your outside doors.  Since you mentioned your cat is damaging screens to try to get out, you should use screens that are advertised as &quot;pet-proof&quot;.  These screens are heavier than normal bug-screens, and so hopefully will be strong enough to keep your cat from damaging them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T17:24:01.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26772" CreationDate="2019-12-23T19:10:46.893" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to turn the lights OFF at night, so fishes can sleep.&#xA;During the day, light could be open for 6, 8 or 10 hours. Lights are important for you to look at your beautiful aquarium, but the fishes themselves are not in danger without light. Most of them will feel more safe hidden in the dark. Plants however are in danger without light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should search the light preferences and requirements of the exact species of fish that you have, because different fishes, different lights. You should google: &quot;[fish type] light requirement&quot; For example betta light requirements, corydoras light requirements... Some fishes might need shadow and feel nervous in too much light. I cannot give you an exact answer without knowing which fish you have. Overall most animals need a certain day/night cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14299" LastActivityDate="2019-12-23T19:10:46.893" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-24T13:08:24.117" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted two kittens. Sibling brothers. Both of these kittens were born on 11th of September making them about 15 weeks old.  They were raised at a horse farm by loving people but I’m worried in that rural area they didn’t have much chance to socialize.  I brought them home last night and they have been hiding all night. No eating. No playing. No using the litter box. I put them in the bathroom with limited exposure.  I’m worried they may not adjust to be family pets for my kids.   Anyone have a similar experience?  How long to I give before I think of giving them away?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a home with a right and two year old....  and a Golden.  I really was hoping the kittens would be part of my family.  Is it possible they will never like us? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17075" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-25T00:53:08.807" LastActivityDate="2019-12-25T00:53:08.807" Title="Two New Kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2019-12-29T06:03:20.723" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26776" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-24T16:28:41.963" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat looks perfectly healthy. But the last time that I visited the vet I received a dewormer to apply to his back of neck. &#xA;I'm wondering if this is absolutely necessary? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that this is yet another marketing ploy to sell a product whose benefits (if any) does not outweigh harms due to chemical compounds. After all for 50 million years felines did not use deworm products and that does not seem to not bother them much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="7501" LastEditDate="2019-12-24T17:49:52.103" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T07:16:48.253" Title="Should I use dewormer on my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26775" CreationDate="2019-12-24T17:18:08.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens in a new home will be scared of all the new smells, sounds and sights and it's expected that they will hide for a while, especially after the trauma of being taken from their mother. The more familiar (and therefore comforting) things they have, and the smaller the space they have to explore, the faster they will adjust. A sibling in particular is great, but you should also use the same food (hopefully wet so they can smell it) and litter. They may not yet recognize your food dish and litter box as such, though eventually they will learn to expect food and litter in them regardless of changes in smell or location over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to socialization is getting them to associate humans with food, like they used to with their mother. Cats become feral when they learn to find sufficient food on their own after weaning and thus see no need for humans. As long as they haven't hit that stage, which seems unlikely at only 15 weeks, you still have a very good chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can get very ill, potentially fatally, if they don't eat for as little as 2-3 days, so take them to a vet for assistance if you don't see any sign of them eating soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not introduce them to children or other pets until they're comfortable with your home and any adults in it, eating well and using the litter box regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-24T17:18:08.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26776" CreationDate="2019-12-24T18:27:03.190" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat spend time outdoors it will get parasites, Even cats that do not hunt is at risk of getting parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat do hunt it will get intestinal worms, The types will be different depending on where you live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats in the wild will have parasites and this is one of the reasons for why cats in the wild have a significant shorter life span than our house cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is an outdoor/indoor cat and I treat her for intestinal worms every 6 months this is a little less than what is needed for my cat to keep her free of intestinal parasites as she do hunt a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are at risk of getting external parasites too, Like lice-ticks-fleas so you need to keep an eye on this and administer treatment when it is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes companies make a living by selling medication for animals in the same way as they do by selling medication for people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T12:22:06.870" LastActivityDate="2019-12-28T12:22:06.870" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2019-12-26T06:11:26.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most fish will not jump out.   But the lids prevent water loss by evaporation.  If you have an auto-fill tank, no problem.  But nitrates and nitrites become concentrated with low water in the tank, so keep your water levels consistent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17081" LastActivityDate="2019-12-26T06:11:26.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11532" CreationDate="2019-12-26T20:42:13.820" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a diabetic cat as well, and the symptoms you mention are signs of diabetes getting out of control. Nothing to play with. Take her to a vet to get glucose numbers. This can be life and death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17082" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T20:37:27.867" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T20:37:27.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7503" CreationDate="2019-12-27T14:27:10.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try set feeding times instead of free-feeding.&lt;/strong&gt; (This can also help with the cat's weight, as being disabled the cat will have different caloric needs and could be at greater risk of complications caused by increased weight that can come from free-feeding.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to spend some time adjusting the cat to the idea of set feeding times if they're used to being free-fed, but the time investment will be worthwhile, and cats can and do tend to learn rather quickly. Note that if you do a switch to wet food from dry at the same time, the change may be easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The website &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.foodfurlife.com/transition-to-timed-meals.html#/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FoodFurLife&lt;/a&gt; has some advice on switching to meal times over free feeding (though their website focus is on home-made food, the advice given is geared toward all diets, including commercial canned and kibble). To summarize the information given at their site, you will:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start with a large number of small meals.&lt;/strong&gt; Your cat is used to eating on their own schedule in small amounts throughout the day; your initial meals are going to mimic this. Keep the free-feeding bowl filled during this time, but encourage your cat (gently!) to eat from the bowl you put down for meal times. Use a consistent time and a location you plan to use long-term for their meals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When your cat is starting to get used to the feeding times (reliably coming to eat at least a little of the food), &lt;strong&gt;start pulling the free-fed food.&lt;/strong&gt; The easiest transition is to &lt;strong&gt;pull it during the day, and put it back at night&lt;/strong&gt;, when the cat still isn't quite accustomed to not having food. Don't fill the bowl all the way at night, just put down a small amount, and take it up again in the morning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure the amount of food you're providing is sufficient&lt;/strong&gt;; if the cat is still hungry after a meal (and if their weight is currently healthy on free-feeding), increase the amount of food you're giving them. Note that some cats do tend to love food a bit more, and if they are overweight on free-feeding you may need to leave them just a little hungry. Do not drastically decrease the amount of food at any time, as it can put your cat at risk of hepatic lipidosis (aka &quot;fatty liver disease&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As your cat begins more reliably eating their set meals, &lt;strong&gt;start reducing the frequency and increasing the amount put down&lt;/strong&gt;. Ideally you will get to 3-4 meals per day, though depending on the cat, you may end up with a little more. &lt;strong&gt;Three meals per day should be the minimum you aim for&lt;/strong&gt;. At the same time, reduce the overnight food to little to nothing (or make the overnight portion the &quot;final meal&quot; for the day).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's vitally important during this whole process that the one time of day you do not ever feed the cat is immediately when you wake up. &lt;strong&gt;Never feed your cat first thing in the morning&lt;/strong&gt;; your cat will associate &quot;you woke up&quot; with &quot;you feed me,&quot; and will start waking you for food. Set yourself a morning routine (this is good for you, too!), and find an appropriate point to feed them within that routine. For me, this is between &quot;cleaning their litter box and refilling their water&quot; and &quot;getting dressed.&quot; I largely get to sleep in now in the morning because of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By setting your cat up with a feeding schedule, you'll be able to monitor the feeding area during that meal time, ensuring the chihuahua is unable to get to and eat the food while not creating a situation where it becomes difficult for your cat to eat. You'll additionally encourage a healthier weight for your cat (and the dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that cats can and will learn a new schedule quickly, as well. Anecdotally, I have a cat who, for the past month, has needed a pill early in the morning. Within the first week, she associated &quot;alarm goes off&quot; with &quot;I get a treat.&quot; I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; teach them &quot;waking up&quot; means &quot;food.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T14:27:10.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7322" CreationDate="2019-12-27T18:18:30.877" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to training a cat is that feedback (positive or negative) must be &lt;strong&gt;immediate and consistent&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat bites or scratches, then you must make a noise using a hurt or angry tone &lt;em&gt;while they are doing it&lt;/em&gt;.  If your reaction is delayed, they will have trouble associating it with their actions as the cause and may just think you're randomly being a jerk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, once that link is established, deliver the negative feedback: move them off your lap or even give them a short time out in another room. The key is to deprive them of something they want, which is most likely your attention in the case of playing too rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will be unhappy about this result, of course, but if you (and anyone else in the household) are consistent about it, they will make the connection fairly quickly and try modifying their behavior to see if it stops happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; how kittens learn to play with each other: if they are too rough, the other kittens cry and run away, but if they're not, they get a fun playmate. Human skin is a bit more delicate, so that requires adjustment on their part, but the overall learning process is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-27T18:18:30.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-27T22:33:15.183" Score="-6" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are some forms of not too intrusive sterilization for  a cat/dog, which would allow them to have a sex life? Are these processes too complicated? Are vasectomies or getting the tubes tied viable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="751" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-28T12:20:43.373" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:44:48.973" Title="Would sterilizing a male/female cat/dog ruin their sex life?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26785" CreationDate="2019-12-28T05:47:24.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister's dog died of ovarian cancer two months back, and this would have been avoided if the dog had been spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog or cat's sex life is 100% stressful and 0% pleasure, so leaving the dog or cat intact leads to stress for the dog/cat and stress for the owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risk of cancer in the reproductive organs of cats and dogs is greatly elevated if they are not spayed or neutered. Vasectomies or tying off the tubes does not help in this case for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/lorieahuston/2014/may/tips-preventing-cancer-cats-31655&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/lorieahuston/2014/may/tips-preventing-cancer-cats-31655&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-27T17:19:14.710" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:19:14.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18307" CreationDate="2019-12-29T02:30:17.380" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not so young&#xA;I believe that the cat should not be so young when have her first litter of kittens. This is because the older she is, the more she will be prepared to look after her kittens. In addition, It can also be upsetting to a cat if her children have to to be given away to other owners due for the fact that they could not be prepared to look after them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17088" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T02:30:17.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-29T04:03:19.167" Score="2" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a 2 week orphan kitty 2 days ago and we’ve been feeding him every 5 hours and stimulating him after, but he only pees, no poop. Now i’m starting to be concerned because it’s been 2 full days with no poop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He’s been walking around a lot and is very playful, the only concern is that he hasn’t pooped. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17089" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T09:13:53.170" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T20:50:37.153" Title="Is it fine if my 2 week kitten hasn’t pooped in 2 days?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26789" CreationDate="2019-12-29T07:05:34.367" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a kitten this young you need to stimulate the kitten to poop and pee. This is very important to do and if you do not do this, the kitten is at risk of dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the linked site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is necessary to stimulate kittens of less than two weeks old to urinate and defecate as they cannot do this without stimulation from the mother cat. The ‘voiding reflex’ by which urine and faeces are released, is normally initiated by the mother licking the kitten’s ano–genital region (the area under the tail). Where the mother is not available, urination and defecation must be maintained by the human carer for approximately four weeks or until the kitten is independent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://icatcare.org/advice/hand-rearing-kittens/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://icatcare.org/advice/hand-rearing-kittens/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to read all the information on the linked page or do a search on the net for hand rearing a kitten (in case the link dies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-25T20:50:37.153" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T20:50:37.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26793" CreationDate="2019-12-29T18:24:25.753" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a dog dna test that can provide heritage details from stool samples instead of by mouth swab?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17092" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T22:45:04.150" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:45:04.150" Title="Dog DNA test from stool not swabs" Tags="&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;tests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26792" CreationDate="2019-12-29T19:31:25.100" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sort of depends on what your intent is. You can expect dog feces to be highly contaminated with DNA not from the dog, and therefore I would guess that you probably couldn't get a truly accurate DNA profile of the dog that way. However, if you already have accurate DNA profiles of dogs from mouth swabs, you may be able to get enough DNA from the feces to guess which dog in your database produced the waste with a reasonable level of accuracy. There are businesses that provide that service, with the intent of helping communal living spaces such as apartment complexes catch residents who aren't cleaning up after their pets. Poo Prints is one such business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T19:31:25.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26785" CreationDate="2019-12-29T21:31:35.570" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to be under the assumption that cats and dogs feel about sex like humans do. &lt;strong&gt;That assumption is totally 100% wrong.&lt;/strong&gt; In fact, the way humans treat sex (casually, for pleasure and recreation much more often than for reproduction) is extremely rare in animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog or wolf lives in a natural pack structure and never manages to be the &amp;quot;Alpha&amp;quot; or pack leader, there's a good chance s/he never has sex in their entire life. In the wild a pack cannot hunt enough food to raise puppies of all the females, so the most dominant female keeps all other females from breeding. The male wants all puppies to be his, and only &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; natural offspring, so he fights any adolescent male and keeps them from breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to that the strange way sex works for dogs and cats...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dogs:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After ejaculating, the base (or &amp;quot;bulb&amp;quot;) of the penis of a male dog or wolf swells so much that it gets stuck inside the female. You may have heard of (or seen) dogs sticking together by their behinds, which is called &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_reproduction#Copulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Copulatory tie&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;. From an evolutionary point of view that is a positive trait for the male because it ensures that the semen stays inside the female. For both dogs it means rather distress than pleasure and can lead to a big amount of pain and a huge risk because they are vulnerable to attacks while tied. No rolling over and falling asleep for him...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever felt the rough tongue of a cat licking your fingers? Now think about the fact that they have similar barbs on their penis... Doesn't sound very pleasurable. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis#Felidae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Domestic cats have barbed penises, with about 120–150 one millimeter long backwards-pointing spines. Upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which is a trigger for ovulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sex drive = stress:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both dogs and cats have a longer hormone cycle than humans. When they are in heat, their hormones are in overdrive, causing cats to stay away from home many nights in search of a partner. Especially male dogs can get anxious, stressed and aggressive during heat. Their hormones drive all of them to a hectic search for a sexual partner and to fight off any competitors. For the species this makes sense because it creates the next generation. For each individual, it means a lot of stress. Even if the animal is kept inside a house or garden and never has the chance to meet a mate, it's still driven by hormones and stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desexing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all non-trivial health questions about your pet, you should consult a vet. There are different options for both males and females which have different implications for the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of them lead to the result that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The animal cannot produce offspring anymore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The animal could still have sex (their respective organs for intercourse aren't removed), but will most likely have no interest in it due to lowered hormone levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially in female dogs spaying at an early age reduces the risk of mammary cancer. For more information please refer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/24205/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T13:44:48.973" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:44:48.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26795" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2019-12-29T22:45:25.840" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any type of tests a pet may need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T22:45:25.840" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:45:25.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26796" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2019-12-29T22:45:25.840" Score="0" Body="Any type of tests a pet may need." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-29T22:45:25.840" LastActivityDate="2019-12-29T22:45:25.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-30T03:15:25.407" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a senior rat, about three years in age who just started spitting up/drooling blood like substance, though it looks pinkish, and he will occasionally heave as if he is trying to puke. He is also breathing heavily and has his mouth open sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that some of the symptoms mean that he is &quot;choking&quot; and that they will get through it themselves, but I feel like this is a little different than that because no one says Thea the drool substance has a pinkish bloody like look to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps, it also seems that my poor boy has been losing weight even though his food intake hasn't changed and we haven't changed the type of food we've been giving him. However, we occasionally give them romaine lettuce and now with the problems the lettuce has been having, could that be what's causing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really need as much help as possible, thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17093" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T01:37:04.647" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T01:37:04.647" Title="My rat is drooling/has thick spit and it looks like blood. They are also heaving as if they are trying to vomit" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-30T06:01:16.773" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I accidentally been adding 1 table spoon of powder and 2 tablespoons of water to my kitten formula, instead of 2 1/2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten has only pooped once in the 3 days we’ve had him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can i do to make it up? Can there be some bad consequences?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten is 2 weeks old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17089" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:17:22.970" Title="what can happen if i add too much powder to my kitten formula?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16362" CreationDate="2019-12-30T11:54:41.157" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a similar problem with my best friend Kratos, a 5 year old Tibetan mastiff, lab mix. &#xA;All the answers and methods above are quite valid, but unfortunately after almost 9months of trying them, the problem did not stop. So I took an unorthodox approach and it worked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everytime Kratos would snap, I would try to fill my house with as much people as possible to make him feel uncomfortable. I would invite my family, friends and neighbours into my home as often as I could. I would often encourage people to pet, play and call out his name. I did this to reassure him that there was no danger and no need to act aggressively towards other people. That was a year ago and now he's the most loveable dog I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I said it's very unorthodox but it worked for me. Hope you give it a shot. Good luck!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17097" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T11:54:41.157" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25450" CreationDate="2019-12-30T18:03:32.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're keeping them separated, most likely it's a situation where each cat has their established areas. This makes the situation of putting the cats together more stressful because not only is there a strange cat, one or both are in a strange territory. You can help with this problem by moving things from each cat's territory into the other's territory, to help establish their smells in both areas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure you fix all areas of contention. Cats often get into problems when one cat is able to trap the other somewhere. For example, one goes on top of the cat tree, the other sits at the bottom and waits for it. Think to are there particular areas where this is occurring, or are there any areas where fights particularly seem to happen. Try to create alternate escape routes, and remove any spots that you notice the one cat is using to ambush the other. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with both your cats during their supervised meetings. You want both cats completely ignoring each other while they are in the same room. If the cats have the opportunity to pay attention to each other, then that encourages the stalking behavior and the timid body language that encourages stalking. If you do this enough, hopefully your more timid cat will gain confidence that it can be in the same room as the other cat without feeling like it's being stalked, and it will start to naturally act more confident, discouraging the stalking in the first place. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T18:03:32.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3056" CreationDate="2019-12-30T20:52:43.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, cats &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; wearing anything, and they will spend an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to get it off them. The only way to get past this is by them accepting that is impossible. This is best done indoors at first, where the cat isn't already on edge from being outside its normal territory, and where it can learn it's possible to go about its normal daily activities (playing, eating, sleeping) with it on. Start with shorter periods and reward the cat with treats if it tolerates the harness until you take it off again, and go for a longer period each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the cat has accepted wearing the harness, then you can start taking it for walks. Keep them short at first, just a few minutes outside the door. Make a routine of putting the harness on right before you go out and and taking it back off as soon as you come in. No more wearing it inside. This teaches the cat that the harness represents freedom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did this with both my cats, and now when I go to the porch door, if they want to go with me, they will hop up on the table and wait patiently for me to put them their harnesses on. It took about a month for each to get that far as kittens; expect it to take longer for older cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2019-12-30T20:52:43.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24083" CreationDate="2019-12-31T02:46:54.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that either Azula or Divina could be sick. If Divina is sick, it's possible that Azula is trying to protect you from her sickness, this is very unlikely, due to the fact that it may take years for a cat to care that much about a human. So, I believe that Azula is hissing at Divina, because Azula may be sick, when a cat gets sick,  it tends to act odd/different. I would recommend taking both cats to the Vet and treating them if they are sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that can cause a cat to hiss is, fear, defensiveness, stress, pain, and depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detailed information could be found there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/slideshows/cat-hissing-7-things-might-be-blame&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat hissing: 7 things that might be to blame&lt;/a&gt; (source: petmd.com).   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/cats-response-sick-dying-cat-11114.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A cat's response to a sick &amp;amp; dying cat&lt;/a&gt; (source: pets.thenest.com).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17102" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:34:12.413" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:34:12.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26805" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-31T05:11:14.223" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try not to pull my snails so I wait for them to come onto my hand, but they take so much time, that is what is my difficulty. I want to also be alert to when they bleed, but I don't know where to check if it is bleeding and I don’t know their blood colours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17104" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T14:20:59.907" LastActivityDate="2019-12-31T14:20:59.907" Title="How do I know if my snails are bleeding? How can I move them place to place without hurting them?" Tags="&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26809" CreationDate="2019-12-31T11:53:02.450" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cockatiels and four budgies. Since I got my second cockatiel, I noticed that she doesn't have feathers under her crest. I thought that the reason for it is that she is really submissive and lets herself to be pecked all the time. This was far from true, because now she got worse (see picture). She is 4 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, I need some group knowledge about this topic, because I have never even encountered such issue with my parrots so far, so I really don't know what to do next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Mlo7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Mlo7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bald spot is reddened by her blood - others pecked the feathers out. But I noticed black base of quill (maybe blood in it?). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16384" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T22:16:39.350" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T22:22:28.883" Title="Something is wrong with my cockatiel - she is missing feathers" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-31T12:13:06.500" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a lovely Persian cat which likes to go to our yard and sit outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we bath him almost every month; this time I was the one who bathed him, so I washed him by pouring water on his head with a wet hand on his face. My sister argued with me about why I washed his face, and thinks his ears could become infected, because of what she's heard from veterinarians. So I searched Google using this tag &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-om-lge&amp;amp;q=how%20to%20bathe%20cat%20head%20ears&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwj64MOR5t_mAhXKKewKHfdHAZgQ7xYoAHoECA4QAg&amp;amp;biw=360&amp;amp;bih=512#sbfbu=1&amp;amp;pi=how%20to%20bathe%20cat%20head%20ears&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to bathe cat head ears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and found &lt;a href=&quot;https://m.wikihow.com/Bathe-a-Cat?amp=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gvg73.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gvg73.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this instruction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep shampoo out of your cats eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. To minimize&#xA;  the risk of creating an ear infection, put a cotton ball—a small wad&#xA;  of soft material used to stop up a wound or an opening—in each ear.&#xA;  Don't forget to take them out at the end of the bath. The cotton may&#xA;  also reduce the noise and make your job easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would like to know if &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;putting a cotton ball&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; into his ears would be enough to prevent infection and if this can be done for a Persian cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is there any work I need to do as I think he automatically grabs his ear auricles when water is poured on his head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is it correct that I should not wash his head, and wash only his body to his neck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2019-12-31T14:19:01.830" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T11:02:00.343" Title="Cat bath and it's ears considerations" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2019-12-31T17:08:13.240" Score="0" ViewCount="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a new thing.  He has loose stools uses the litter box.  There are several times he relieves himself wherever he happens to be when all he has to do is go to the box. He has 2 boxes and uses both for it all. I don't get it and would like some kind of input.  Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17105" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-01T02:09:13.357" LastActivityDate="2020-01-01T02:09:13.357" Title="Why is the 7 yr old cat pooping all over the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-01-01T17:39:14.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26806" CreationDate="2019-12-31T17:13:48.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seem to be basically 2 possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another bird pecks her and plucks her feathers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She scratches or plucks herself, which can indicate anything from stress or boredom to malnutrition or parasites.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is getting the bird examined by a vet to rule out any skin condition, malnutrition, allergy, fungal infection or parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you need to observe what or who caused the wound. If she plucks herself and the behavior started before you adopted her, she might have been very stressed by her former living conditions. Since it's gotten worse since you adopted her, the change in her environment could have intensified her plucking. Since self-plucking is unfortunately quite common in birds, you can find many resources online, like &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/6Dzq69TkMxU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt;, this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/skin/c_bd_feather_plucking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on PetMD&lt;/a&gt; or this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petco.com/content/petco/PetcoStore/en_US/pet-services/resource-center/health-wellness/Preventing-Unhealthy-Feather-Plucking-in-Birds.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on petco&lt;/a&gt; and many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If another birds plucks her, you'll need to separate them for a while. But this honestly sounds and looks a lot like self-plucking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T22:22:28.883" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T22:22:28.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-01T06:19:30.043" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 7 month mixed breed (lab, cocker spaniel, Pomeranian, and breed groups herding, guard, and sporting, his brother had dna testing) growls, gets stiff and hair stands up when ever he sees someone different. It doesn't matter if we are walking, on our property, or in the car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it is fear based because he also hides behind me and sometimes he does the same with objects like a parked car, Christmas lights, or a toy in the yard once it is dark. While growling he will then move forward to the person and sometimes licks them and runs back behind me, sometimes he jumps on them and then runs back behind me, and sometimes he sniffs them then runs back behind me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On our property he will go through the stages for several minutes before settling down. Off our property he will not settle down until they are out of sight. On walks he doesn't ever pull towards them, but I can't stop to talk to anyone. In the house he settles right away. I have always taken him everywhere with me so he has been socialized. Nothing bad has ever happened to him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted him at 9 weeks old and his Mom was timid and stand offish, but she never growled or had her hair stand up. She didn't want to make eye contact and her tail would go between her legs. She was happy to be petted though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had been in the shelter for a long time and she actually got pregnant in a shelter before her and her puppies were transferred to a shelter by me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been in contact with 2 of his siblings adoptive families (we have done puppy play dates with his brother) and neither of them have this issue. Any tips to help him work past this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to be able to bring him with us kayaking, hiking, walks in the city. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17106" LastEditorUserId="17106" LastEditDate="2020-01-01T06:30:02.890" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T13:03:05.447" Title="Working with fear based puppy before it becomes real aggression" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26810" CreationDate="2020-01-01T10:10:12.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 7 months of age the socialization phase has ended, but your dog is still young and able to adapt his behavior. But I strongly suggest you hurry with the training because the longer you wait the harder it will become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you describe sounds like a textbook example of insecure behavior. Whenever your dog encounters something unknown, he doesn't know how to react to it and assumes a very slightly aggressive stance, just be sure in case it actually is something dangerous. Over time he might learn that this aggressiveness (like growling) succeeds in making the scary thing (like a strange person) go away. This is a self-rewarding behavior that increases aggressive behavior towards people and/or other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Disrupt aggressive behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may not work but is very much worth trying in case it does work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whenever you see him stiffening up and growling, nudge him in the side to disrupt his behavior.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds (like a command) are unlikely to pull him out of his anxious / aggressive mindset, but touch can force him to concentrate on something completely different. The soft flank is the best place to nudge because it's outside of his line of sight and rather sensitive. Please note that it should be a sudden but gentle nudge, not a slap or otherwise painful touch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As soon as you have his attention, engage him in alternate behavior.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also had good experiences with physically turning my dog around (tail facing the person, head facing away from them) to disrupt aggressiveness, but your dog has to be a suitable size for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Train alternate behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important step towards breaking this spiral of self-rewarding growling is to offer an alternative that is rewarded more than the growling. This could be sitting or lying down behind you (where it's safe). For the dog this would translate to &quot;Come back to your pack, let me decide whether this is dangerous and let me protect you if it is&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative that is often implemented and works well is aborting a prey dummy or small treat bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to train the behavior first in a calm environment. It would also be beneficial to use a unique command for it. Reward the obedience with treats or toys - whatever your dog reacts best to - but not with pettings, because this is distracting from the training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your dog understands the command, start training it during walks at random times. Take the treats or toy with you to offer a reward &lt;em&gt;every single time&lt;/em&gt; he obeys your command. At first you'll have to train when he isn't distracted or anxious, but after a few weeks of consequent training you should be able to call him back to you when he's distracted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Expose him to strange situations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would have been best done during socialization. It's intended to let a dog experience various situations and thereby become experienced and more secure in their interactions with our human world. Hopefully you'll still be able to introduce him to various strange situations and show him how to cope with them. Many of these things are done for the training of service dogs or in some puppy schools. If you find a puppy school nearby that trains social interactions, you should consider subscribing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Strange situations&quot; means anything that your dog may encounter once in a while, but not daily. Unknown objects lying around, slippery floors, rustling sounds. There are a few scenarios you can easily create yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing to keep in mind is that &lt;strong&gt;you must never force your dog&lt;/strong&gt; to interact with the object. You can encourage him with your voice or by approaching the object yourself, but he must be given the time and freedom to explore on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Open up an umbrella and put it upright on the floor. Let your dog explore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loosely fix a piece of space blanket in a passage (like a hula hoop, doorway or between bushes) and let your dog walk through&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a blown up balloon on the floor or fix it to a bush&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tie a number of gift wrap ribbons on a broomstick, then suspend it horizontally and let your dog walk underneath it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can find any, lay a metal sheet at least as big as your dog flat on the ground and let him walk over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you have a gym / yoga mat, Canvas, tarp or anything similar, lay it flat on the ground and let him explore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill a baby pool with just 1 - 2 inches of water and put a floating object (or several) inside. Let your dog explore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a deliciously smelling treat (like cheese or hot dog sausage) inside an empty pot. Kneel down so your dog could take the treat, but  gently tap the pot with a spoon to make noise. Let your dog take the treat from the pot while still making noise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Set a hair dryer to low heat (or no heat if possible) and blow at a specific spot on the ground. Don't aim directly at your dog. Let him explore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at more ideas and instructions: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.anythingpawsable.com/sdit-socialization-checklist/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SDiT Socialization Checklist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Be a role model&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs learn by observing how other dogs and humans around them react. Use this to your advantage by showing him how he could react in a better way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word of explanation first. Many people, especially if they know their dog might be frightened by a situation, follow this sequence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They stop walking and look at their dog to see how they might react.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog sniffs some and maybe approaches the situation, but ultimately returns to their human.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The human walks away from the situation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In dog language this translates to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(human) I don't know how to react to this situation. I want you to cope with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(dog) This is scary, better return to my pack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(human) You're right, this is really scary. Better run away than cope with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is insecure or anxious, it's far better to be the one coping with scary situations than asking your dog to do it on his own. When you set up a &quot;strange object&quot; scenario as described above, examine and interact with the object to show your dog that you are not afraid and that there's no need to growl at the object. When you meet someone during your walks, tell your dog to sit down, then approach the person friendly and maybe shake hands before continuing walking. &lt;strong&gt;Be sure that your dog obeys the command to sit and stay and doesn't attack the person.&lt;/strong&gt; If you cannot guarantee this, consider putting a muzzle on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tell humans how to behave&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, you should tell the humans you encounter on your walks or have as guests in your house, how to behave to decrease the anxiety of your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At first, don't look at the dog, don't interact with the dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;First greet the humans, establish (with your voice and behavior) that these are friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only after the dog calmed down somewhat can humans interact with him if they want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they want to interact with him, the first thing they do should be giving him a treat to associate the contact with positive experiences.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize this is more complicated and may not be possible to implement very often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T12:12:22.640" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T12:12:22.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26709" CreationDate="2020-01-01T10:27:11.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My baby rabbit, named Flopsy, lives on her own due to her sister having recently died. So I have to make sure I provide extra hay, straw and hideouts to make sure she stays warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not been able to get her to drink out of a bowl, so she has a bottle. I put old fluffy socks around the bottle to insulate it. I also check her water every morning and if it has frozen, I put it underneath a hot tap to thaw the ice. I think you can also buy covers that are made for the bottles if you look on Amazon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T13:18:53.180" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T13:18:53.180" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17038" CreationDate="2020-01-01T10:41:15.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of different conditions and parasites that cause dogs to lose fur.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some can be solved with medicated baths and others with medicine.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Parasites can cause a fur loss called mange but the dog is normally itchy and very red and sore.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They could have allergies.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Probably the best thing to do would to take them to the vet to get a proper diagnosis and some medication.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-01T11:41:50.400" LastActivityDate="2020-01-01T11:41:50.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26753" CreationDate="2020-01-01T10:53:04.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cool Water&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is essential that you keep fresh, cool water available to your dog at all times. In hot weather, this is even more crucial. Make sure you keep the water dish in a shady location and change the water frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To constantly keep fresh water available outdoors, consider installing a watering system that hooks up to a faucet. These are designed to provide water as needed and are usually triggered by motion or a specific action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go to the park or somewhere else with your dog, take along as much water for it as you do for yourself so you both stay hydrated. In addition to water, you can try feeding your dog some home made chilled treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shelter from the Sun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might enjoy a little sunbathing, but it ultimately needs a cool, shady spot to relax. Prolonged sun exposure not only leads to heat exhaustion, but it can also cause sunburn. Yes, dogs can get sunburned too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While sunscreen is available for dogs, it does not protect them from heat stroke. The best thing is to offer shelter. Shade from trees is nice, but it's not perfect either. An actual structure is better. Consider getting an insulated dog house, but make sure it is large and well-ventilated. Alternatively, you might put up an open-air tent or canopy. The addition of a fan will help cool things down further. If possible, put the shelter in a shady area to keep it extra-cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the ideal shelter is your home. If possible, install a doggie door to allow indoor access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Doggie Pool&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog loves water, then a large tub or kiddie pool (molded plastic, not inflatable so nails can't pop it) might be a great addition to your yard. You can find inexpensive tubs or pools at most home stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dogs enjoy playing and lounging in the cool water. Just make sure you supervise your dog at all times. Keep the pool in a shady spot and change the water frequently. Do not leave the pool full when not in use, as it may attract mosquitos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of a pool, you might also try running a sprinkler to see if your dog likes it. However, most dogs prefer a pool to a sprinkler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cooling a Dog Bed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog's need for a cool, shady place to relax extends into the house. While a dog bed is nice and soft, it might also be too warm. That is why many people notice that their dogs prefer to lie on tile or concrete floors when it's hot out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cooling dog bed can offer the comfort and softness of a typical dog bed with the coolness your dog craves. These beds often use a gel-like material or water to keep the temperature nice and cool. They are especially great for senior dogs as an alternative to hard floors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preventing Problems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several other products designed to cool off your dog. Some work better than others, and often it just depends on the dog. If you decide to try one out, just remember that nothing can replace fresh water and shade. No dog should go for long without plenty of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One common mistake people make is to take their dog for a walk in the heat. Pavement gets very hot under the summer sun and can easily burn the pads of your dog's feet. If it's too hot for you to walk on barefoot, it's far too hot for your dog. Take your summertime walks in a grassy park or, at the least, direct your dog to walk on the grass next to the sidewalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cooler air is the best way to prevent and relieve overheating in your dog. No matter how you try to keep your dog cool, the best thing you can do is to keep a close eye on it. When in doubt, get the dog to a cooler area. Never leave your dog in the car unattended. Be sure to contact your vet immediately if you notice signs of heatstroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chilled dog treat recipes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pb&amp;amp;j:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Ingredients:&#xA;&#xA;4 cups plain yogurt, low or fat free&#xA;1 ripe banana&#xA;1 cup of blueberries&#xA;3 tbsp peanut butter, natural and salt free is preferred&#xA;1 tsp vanilla extract&#xA;Instructions:&#xA;&#xA;Stir all of the ingredients together into a medium bowl.&#xA;Pour into a blender, and puree until smooth.&#xA;Pour the smoothie into ice cube trays and freeze.&#xA;Storing - This recipe for dog treats, if frozen into smoothie pops, will last for 6 months or more in the freezer. You can keep the smoothie in it's liquid form, but keep it refrigerated for about a week.&#xA;&#xA;Yield - Using a 1/2 inch ice cube tray, you will make 32 PB &amp;amp; J Smoothie dog treats.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pumpkin ice cream:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Ingredients:&#xA;&#xA;1 (1 oz) Natural Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix (see note below)&#xA;1 tsp pumpkin pie spice&#xA;1 cup milk, low or fat free&#xA;1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)&#xA;Instructions:&#xA;&#xA;Whisk the vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin pie spice, and milk together until dissolved. Approximately 2 minutes.&#xA;Fold, or gently stir in the pumpkin puree.&#xA;Scoop pumpkin pudding into small paper cups, small plastic cups, or a plastic Popsicle mold.&#xA;Place in freezer, and let freeze completely, about 3 hours.&#xA;Take out desired serving size and let sit on counter for 5 minutes. Then release from the mold and serve.&#xA;Storing - If frozen, this dog ice cream recipe will last for 3 months. If kept in the refrigerator, as a pudding, it will keep fresh for one week.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T06:36:40.420" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T06:36:40.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17542" CreationDate="2020-01-01T15:21:34.920" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat sounds lovely mine is the same. She opened her mouth for the first time and a squeak came out when she was 18yrs old. No one can tell me why. &#xA;Get your baby checked by a vet if you can if not and is happy and eating and drinking don’t worry. &#xA;I would love to know why too but no one knows. &#xA;She may meow when there is more of a balance with the dominant cat. But it doesn’t sound like is he can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17108" LastActivityDate="2020-01-01T15:21:34.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-01T19:34:25.413" Score="3" ViewCount="463" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this because they miss her or because they are in a different setting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s been 5 days and they only really will eat snacks. Just not their food &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17109" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-02T16:38:05.767" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T01:47:51.160" Title="I’m dog sitting for my mom for 10 days but her dogs won’t eat the food she always feeds them" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26816" CreationDate="2020-01-02T16:47:18.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say they will only eat snacks it really depends upon the snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they are &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/501/how-can-i-ensure-that-homemade-dog-food-is-healthy-for-my-dog&quot;&gt;nutritious snacks designed for dogs&lt;/a&gt;, then a short term period of them not eating their regular food should not be a problem, depending on the size and frequency of the snacks and the size of the dog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they are not suitable for dogs, then it could &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/796/are-onions-dangerous-for-my-cat-or-dog-and-why&quot;&gt;create health problems&lt;/a&gt; and actually become life threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Key points to look for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Weight change.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not just weight loss, as they may gain weight eating snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vitality.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the dogs in good health, are their eyes bright, are they active? Has their behaviour changed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing number 1 applies above:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If they are stable in weight and healthy their should be no reason for concern. It's usual for dogs to miss their owners and often animals can pull tricks on people who don't know them as well as their owners into providing treats and privileges they may not usually enjoy as often. If this is only a short term stay, it shouldn't be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's number 2, then do not feed snacks. Put out food for 30 minutes and pick up any uneaten food. Keep following this process. If the dog is losing weight or doesn't eat  or in any way doesn't seem well, they it would be advisable to seek veterinary treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check this link for some further helpful reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/219/why-wont-my-dog-eat-on-her-own&quot;&gt;Why won&amp;#39;t my dog eat on her own?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T16:47:18.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19262" CreationDate="2020-01-02T20:02:30.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible the cat has some sort of pain in its back that is exacerbated when it is petted in that area, and so you may want to take it to a vet to have it checked. One possible relatively common cause of pain like that is arthritis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is also pretty common for cats to just not like being petted on their backs, especially their lower backs. For many cats it seems like petting can quickly become too much for them. Long strokes all the way down their back seem to be too much for them really quickly. The gentlest way to pet a cat is to stick to areas around the head and neck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes (but by no means always) this may be related to a relatively common disorder in cats called hyperesthesia, which seems like it might feel to the cat like its skin is being irritated or like a sudden sting or itch. The normal symptoms are twitching of the skin along its back, sudden frantic grooming or scratching, sometimes to the point of pulling out hair, thumping their hide legs on the floor, violently swishing its tail, or even jumping up and running as if it were stung. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-01-02T20:02:30.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26816" CreationDate="2020-01-03T00:39:20.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To help understand what could be causing this, consider going through the following points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are you using their own food and water bowls (the ones they normally use at home)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are they eating the &lt;strong&gt;exact&lt;/strong&gt; same type of food and treats/snacks?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are they being fed on the same schedule?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the above things are very important to consider and to have remain constant when pet parents and their pets are separate from one another. It's also important to have as many things from home (blankets, toys, etc.) that &lt;em&gt;smell&lt;/em&gt; like the pet parents to help alleviate separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I have been pet sitting for dogs that have been reluctant to eat, I have often sat down on the floor with them at meal time, and let them eat out of my hand if necessary. Sometimes this is soothing for them and they can be convinced to eat more readily this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping change to a minimum around all the areas involving routine things and diet will help. Try to remain as scheduled and familiar with them as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user17112" LastEditorUserId="16796" LastEditDate="2020-01-11T01:47:51.160" LastActivityDate="2020-01-11T01:47:51.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-03T04:10:43.040" Score="3" ViewCount="1049" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back I got this refillable water bottle dish for my cats because I got a second one and they don't mind sharing, my 1.5 year old cat though will sit there and knock it over until all the water comes out and soaks my floor, and he just stares at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked up reasons why he could be doing this but everything says he's just playing and sometimes it can be knocked over in the process, but this dish is pretty heavy and he goes out of his way to knock it over, and when I say he goes out of his way, he does whatever he can, I'll wedge it between to heavy things in hopes he’d stop but he’d put his paw in the bowl and drag it out, I would scold him and tell him to stop and he stop for a second then continue to do it until he can knock it over, I need help lol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17114" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T09:18:00.343" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T09:18:00.343" Title="Why does he knock over his heavy refillable water dish" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26821" CreationDate="2020-01-03T06:36:14.233" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like your cat have got himself a new &quot;toy.&quot; Telling him to stop is useless, so you need to solve this another way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might get a heavier water dispenser, but it will need to be a lot heavier. A cat can move objects more than twice their own weight (my cat did steal welcome mats, the 3cm thick rubber type, and drag them 10-15 meters; she weighed 3,8 kilo).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better solution might be to fasten the water dispenser to a piece of plywood/floorboard that is larger than the water dispenser by using a strong rubber band to hold it in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many cats do not mind getting wet if they can get some fun out of it when they play, so I cannot promise you that any of this will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-03T14:27:16.547" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T14:27:16.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-03T07:09:51.077" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female Pitt just had puppies and she has a really bad I don't even know what it is a rash or I don't know but it's all over her stomach and nipples and her nipples are really swollen bad um I don't know if the puppies should be nursing off her I went and got them puppies formula but they really stink and I don't know what to do about my female to help her and or if the puppies are gonna be okay cause they have been nursing off her there like a week and a half &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17115" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-03T08:50:26.657" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T08:50:26.657" Title="Really Red rash looking swollen nipples" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-03T12:57:31.180" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;About 6 months ago I had to stop letting my cats into my room because one pees everywhere on everything when I leave my door open, and the other (understandably) can’t hold his bladder all night. So I opted to keep them both out of my room now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as I started keeping them out my forest cat was fine, she would cry a bit but it was no big deal. My Maine coon lost his mind... he yowls and punches my door for hours. He will get bored and leave only to come back again not too long later. He does it whenever I am behind a closed door now for any reason (changing clothes, bathroom, but not when I leave the house).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried everything. I’ve ignored him for months now, put trays of water outside my door, and put tape on the door. He will punch around the tape, cry anyway even though I completely ignore him, and the trays of water have been a pain to maintain for the last 3 months. The water did work for a little while but then he stopped caring about getting wet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want something that will work to get him away from my door. He has food in tubes out at all times (he has to hit them to get the food out), water fountains, a play mate, lots of toys... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: apologies. My cat is a male 3 years old and has been neutered since 8 months. The female is also spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17116" LastEditorUserId="17116" LastEditDate="2020-01-03T14:44:51.227" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T16:48:40.137" Title="How to get cat to stop howling at my door during the night?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26824" CreationDate="2020-01-03T16:48:40.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me the one cat's behavior is so extreme, I wonder if it might have separation anxiety. People are generally aware that dogs can have separation anxiety, but it's also possible for cats to have it. I mention this possibility because from my experience, it's pretty abnormal for a cat to be so desperate that it'll put up with being wet to try to get to you, and that it doesn't seem to tolerate being separated from you at all. I would talk to your vet regarding this behavior, and they may be willing to prescribe an anti-anxiety medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to simply put another litterbox inside your bedroom, and keep your one cat in the room with you. The only other thing besides what you're already doing, that I've heard of people doing to stop this problem is to get a motion activated air sprayer and place it outside your door. Cats hate the noise, and so normally run from it. However, since your cat is ignoring things it normally dislikes in order to continue this behavior, I'm not sure that this method would be effective either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-01-03T16:48:40.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-03T23:34:29.307" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the look of the Australian kelpie and blue lacy breeds, however these dogs are working dogs and are not suited to family backyards. Is there a breed that somewhat looks like these but is a suitable family dog for small backyards?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17119" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T13:27:30.630" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T17:38:17.347" Title="Kelpie lookalike?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26830" CreationDate="2020-01-04T10:53:30.710" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;For two days my fish has had a strange whitish spot on his left side and right side fin.  Looking today, I noticed he had it now massively on his right side and the eight side fin looks as if it's only bones left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As none of the other two (1 old male and 1 young female) has it, I am not sure if it's a fungus or if he had a fight with the other male.  What's more is, he is breathing rapidly and looks like he is suffering from pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gyv85.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water parameters (measured with Tetra 6 in 1):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; is 250+ ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; is 1 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GH is 8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;KH is 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH is 6,8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is 0 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14427" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T15:51:09.627" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T15:51:09.627" Title="Antenna catfish with strange white spot and side fin" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26828" CreationDate="2020-01-04T18:15:12.190" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to stop feeding your fish for some time while you wait for the bacteria to grow to a level where they can handle the ammonia and nitrite in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lower the danger of nitrite poisoning you can add aquarium salt so the concentration is at 0,3% salt in your tank (most fish will handle this concentration of salt for a long time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to change about 20% of the water today to get the level of toxins down (remember to use a dechlorinator when you change water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take daily water tests until the level of nitrite starts to go down. In a tank that is properly cycled, this does not take long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time you clean your filter be sure not to change more than 30-50% of the filter media to keep the biological cyclus going in your tank. You do not need to clean the filter until you can see the water flow is reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have filter foam/sponges in your filter, you only need to rinse it. Be sure to use water from your tank when you rinse the foam to avoid chlorine killing the bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fish looks like it has got an fungal infection. If possible, treat your fish in a separate tank. This is to avoid medicating the main tank, as this will kill the nitrifying bacteria and cause problems for the rest of your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T06:21:40.253" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T06:21:40.253" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2020-01-05T00:51:22.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend Poop-Off Bird Poop Remover. I do use the premoistened wipes while my birds and hamster are in their cages. The smell is pleasant and the animals don't mind it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17122" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T00:51:22.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-05T17:46:54.963" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two cats.  We bought the City Kitty kit for toilet training.  It worked flawlessly for one cat, but only some of the time for the other cat.  We made it up to the last ring before she started having problems, so we started the process over again.  This time we are taking much longer to give time for the second cat to catch up, but she still pee's on the floor a few times a week.  We spray the bathroom floor with cleaner with lemon scent, because we learned that some cats don't like the lemon.  We find it hard to reward her if she goes in the toilet because she wont go if we watch her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have experience solving this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17124" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:05:27.830" Title="Cat toilet training with two cats - one gets it, the other doesn't" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21758" CreationDate="2020-01-05T20:28:27.033" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite what common knowledge tells us about cats, some do actually like playing in water, in particular splashing it around; a few breeds are known for their love of water. Some will even get in a tub to play with toys; you can try anything that floats, but there are motorized fish that are made specifically for cats to play with. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, provided the water is clean and a reasonable temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, do not let him play in the toilet for sanitary reasons, and I'd recommend a water fountain (heavy enough he can't tip it over) for drinking, separate from his playing water, to ensure he doesn't spill it all and then get dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T20:28:27.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26844" CreationDate="2020-01-05T21:15:12.230" Score="1" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q:&lt;/strong&gt; Does anyone have any strategies for limiting how much water my puppy will drink at one time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My female Yorkshire Terrier is coming on to five months old. Ever since we got her she has always vomited after drinking too much water. I first noticed this when we would play. We'd play fetch, run around the kitchen a bunch, she would stop for water (lapping up quite a bit), run around some more and then vomit it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I brought this up with the vet and they were not concerned -- said it was fairly common. Their recommendation was to take away water during play time, or give it to my puppy myself, and it give it back afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been doing that for a while (last two months) and it has been good but now as soon as she has access to her water she drinks it like it's going out of style. Sure enough, it comes back up ten seconds later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I've taken the water away completely (past two days) and I'm giving her water in small bursts here and there. My problem is that I just have no idea how much water a puppy needs, or when. It would be much easier if she would simply control her water intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It always comes back up ten to fifteen seconds after she drinks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I am giving the water I let her take about 10 laps max.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When she has access she'll go for 30 to 40 laps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've tried using ice cubes but she waits for them to melt and then drinks it all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her demeanor has not changed. She resumes playing right after regurgitating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For clarity, these past two days in which I've been restricting her water she has not vomited at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17125" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-05T21:50:16.757" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T15:35:42.813" Title="How to Limit Puppy's Water Intake?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26753" CreationDate="2020-01-05T23:05:56.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Shade their dog house&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs' house will obviously provide shade from the sun, but the sun will heat the surface of the house, which will raise the inside temperature. Putting a large beach umbrella or some other shade device over their dog house will help lower the temperature inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unable to shade the dog house, you could also cover the &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;strong&gt;Reflectix&lt;/strong&gt;, or a similar material. That is the brand name of the material that car sun-screens is made out of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Huajo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Huajo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;reflectix insulaiton&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12999" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-05T23:05:56.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26837" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-06T08:08:49.983" Score="2" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I went to the pet shop and got a goldfish. My tank is 20 litres, and the goldfish is pretty small. When I first got the fish, it was gasping and eating the bubbles in the bag. I thought this was normal. At home I let it acclimate and everything then I put it in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is swimming fine and not rapidly breathing but it goes to my air stone and filter and eats the bubbles. I don’t know why this is happening because I have enough oxygen in there and I know that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an air stone and filter. I think it might be because one of the suction cups that was holding up the filter got loose and the goldfish keeps on eating the stuff on that so maybe it needs more air to supplement the food it’s eating or something like that. I have no idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it maybe just because it is stressed and hasn’t got used to the place? Please help I don’t want him to die. He doesn’t go up to the surface too often though like maybe a few times every minute. Please help though&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16622" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T14:59:27.597" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T14:59:27.597" Title="My new goldfish is gasping for air" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-06T12:17:52.000" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago I was out with a couple of dogs in the forest. Since I came from an urban area I had them in a leash. After a while the leashes became quite entangled and the easiest way to untangle them was to disconnect one of the dogs from her leash. This dog is very calm and obedient so I just sat her down, disconnected the leash and started to untangle the leashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suddenly a roedeer appeared and the unleashed dog run after and I failed to stop her because I didn't pay attention since you usually never need to with this dog. Three seconds later she was out of sight (but she is quite slow and small so the roedeer was fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I started to walk around and look for the lost dog. The whole forest was maybe 1 km in diameter and I walked around it 2-3 times but there were no traces of the dog, until after an hour she just came walking towards me along the pathway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now my question: was this dog lost in the sense that she didn't know where I was part of the time she was gone (we were 2 hours from home so she was lost in the sense that she didn't know how to get home but that is another matter. Getting home was my responsibility anyway)? Or was she constantly aware of the general direction where to find me? If she was lost, what does, in general, an animal and, specific, a dog do when they are lost?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When humans are lost in nature it means that they don't know how to find the way home. For animals living in the nature, most of the time &quot;home&quot; as a concept doesn't make sense (of course, there are exceptions, mostly related their babies (such as bird nests and wolf's dens). Of course, having a territory is common in nature but compared to a bird nest or a house it is pretty unspecific in the context of getting lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13265" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T17:53:00.930" Title="Can dogs (and other animals) get lost in the same sense as humans?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26835" CreationDate="2020-01-06T12:42:25.430" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should not limit the access to water at all. It is common that if a dog drinks lots of water and then goes to play and run, she will surely throw up (imagine you eating and drinking a lot and right after going to run... how would you feel?). My recommendation is to let her drink and try to calm her right after by not playing and petting her instead.&#xA;Also, and very important, go see a second vet. Drinking lots of water could mean there is something else to check (diabetes for example). Tip: control how many water you put into her water bowl so you can tell your vet exactly how much water she drinks per day. Hope it helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17128" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T12:42:25.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-06T12:45:41.593" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently noticed these tiny creatures on the glass and other surfaces in my aquarium. What are they, and where could they have come from? They are about the size of a sesame seed and growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don’t seem to be harming the fish, and they seem to be eating algae off the glass, and lots of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the aquarium - 55 gallon unheated tank with a single bluegill sunfish in it. The tank has been setup with this lone fish in it for three years and has been very stable. I feed the bluegill a live “nightcrawler” earthworm every few days. They are the only things entering the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lL0j5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lL0j5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11767" LastActivityDate="2020-01-06T12:45:41.593" Title="What are these little creatures in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17799" CreationDate="2020-01-07T00:08:15.980" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the high ears, the fur and the high legs, I suspect that this is a Cocker Spaniel with more hunting lines. I have a puppy of 7 months with the same characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17132" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T14:23:24.193" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T14:23:24.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26837" CreationDate="2020-01-07T06:59:36.733" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your fish is gasping for air something is clearly wrong. It can be ammonia (this is a waste product from your fish urine and decomposing food and plant matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ammonia will be broken down by bacteria and create nitrite, this and ammonia is toxic to fish and other life in your tank. You can read more about this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in the article on fishlore.com.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The end product of bacterial metabolism of ammonia and nitrite is nitrate (plant food). This is not toxic, unless the concentration gets high. To keep the nitrate down, you need to change some water every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When your fish gets ill the first thing to do is to stop feeding to get the bioload down; you need to take water tests to find the cause of the problem, it is often ammonia or nitrite poisoning that is the root cause for fish getting ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poor maintenance of a tank will often result in problems for your fish. You need to vacuum the gravel about twice a month, change about 20% of the water each week and clean the filter when you can see the flow is reduced (use water from your tank when you rinse the filter material). Do not clean more than half of the filter material each time you do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tank of only 20 liters is too small for goldfish (and most other fish). You will need a tank of 60 liters or larger for one single goldfish. More information about this could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-care/tank/do-goldfish-need-a-big-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article on thegoldfishtank.com.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T13:47:05.330" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T13:47:05.330" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26835" CreationDate="2020-01-07T14:19:16.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all: I have no idea why she would drink so much that she imediately vomits afterwards.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common problem - especially with small dogs - is pet food with a high grain content. The dog eats as much as she comfortably can, which fills her stomach. Then, when the water she drinks is mixed with the food in her stomach, the food swells up and cannot be contained comfortably in her stomach anymore, which induces vomiting. You might try mixing the food with some water before feeding her or changing food brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, I see a possible behavior-related problem here that could increase her water intake even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By taking the water away from her you create an artificial scarcity. This in return causes her to value the scarce resources even more. In time it could spiral out of control to the point where she drinks every drop of water she can get to even if she isn't thirsty, simply because she learned that water is valuable and must be consumed immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better short term solution would be offering her small amounts many times a day. A quarter cup is really not a big amount, but try reducing the individual helping to half or less than that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularily refill her water bowl every 1 - 2 hours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refill her bowl 20 - 30 seconds after you saw her drinking. This should be long enough that she doesn't vomit, but short enough to reduce the feeling of scarcity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make a fuss about refilling her bowl. The more you actively call her attention to the water bowl, the more you artificially increase the value of the water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should allow you to reduce the amount of water she can drink at a given time without risking her dehydrating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observe how much she drinks and vomits with this configuration and report it to your vet if the vomiting doesn't stop or the amount she drinks seems very high for her body size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-01-07T15:35:42.813" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T15:35:42.813" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7520" CreationDate="2020-01-07T16:17:12.240" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats identify places and other animals primarily by scent, not sight; each hall of your building will &lt;em&gt;smell&lt;/em&gt; like the people who live there, even if they &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; the same. This cat that has apparently learned your and your girlfriend's scent represent food, safety and affection, and he will follow those scents back to you &lt;em&gt;when he wants those things&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, cats also have a need to explore/protect their territory, and if they're used to living outdoors, they may eventually get bored being cooped up inside an apartment. (Wouldn't you?) That is why he periodically leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T16:17:12.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26838" CreationDate="2020-01-07T16:34:26.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;For social animals, &quot;home&quot; is where the rest of their pack is, not a specific physical location. Assuming the animal left home &lt;em&gt;under their own power&lt;/em&gt;, they can find their way back by following their own scent. If the rest of the pack has moved on in the meantime, they can follow the pack's scent until catching up to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving under their own power is an important point, though. If you walk your dog to the park, he should be able to backtrack to your home if you get separated. If you take him in a car, though, that won't work; he will aimlessly wander until he picks up a familiar scent—or until Animal Control captures him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T16:34:26.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-07T21:27:30.143" Score="6" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female budgie, whom I have had for at least four years. She is in a cage about 3 ft square x 1.5 feet wide with a slightly younger male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They used to groom each other and sing all day long, but for the past year the female seems depressed. She doesn't sing, rarely grooms the male, and doesn't play with her toys. She just sits, fluffed. She eats well, likes treats, and has normal looking excrement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She just seems depressed. Not sure what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17136" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T23:38:13.813" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T00:14:32.307" Title="Depressed budgie" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7629" CreationDate="2020-01-07T22:03:56.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For long road trips, consider an extra large carrier with litterbox, such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01LYHJBUT&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, and secure it in the vehicle's rear seats. This will help protect your cat from changes in the car's movement or in case of accident. A familiar and safe cave to hide in will also comfort the cat at any overnight stops along the way and at your destination. (As with any carrier, leave it out for the cat to explore for several days prior to use.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how your cat reacts to car travel and/or being trapped in a carrier, discuss anxiety medication (not sedation!) with your vet. One of my cats was shipped to me by air, and his vet recommended Benadryl; after 2 flights and over 8 hours total travel time, he arrived more calm than most humans would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, get a travel health certificate from your vet, which shows the vaccinations received and when they expire and other useful info; your vet should be familiar with it. This is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; legally required for travel by car, so you can ignore the expiration date of the certificate itself, but if your cat needs medical attention or escapes, having that info handy can avoid a possible quarantine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-07T22:03:56.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26837" CreationDate="2020-01-07T23:29:38.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gasping for air can mean a few things. First you want to check all parameters. You already checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Check pH, hardness and temperature. Gasping usually means the metabolism is in over drive (too hot, stressed) or there is an issue with the gills (not enough O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, irritation, infection, poor water quality). Eating bubbles is just a weird behavior in some fish and not recommended, try to prevent it and make sure you fish has plenty to eat but no left overs. Eating air bubbles can interfere with the swim bladder and force the fish to the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevent your fish from getting stressed out, so don’t make water changes too fast. Rule out water quality as an issue. Next look for any irritation, infection or parasite on the gills. They could be swollen and red, tiny white dots, white cotton appearance, black tiny dots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16319" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T13:40:53.493" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T13:40:53.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26851" CreationDate="2020-01-08T10:17:01.863" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently got a french bulldog/jack russel mix puppy of about 8 weeks old. She loves people and loves curling up on your lap to sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 weeks in (I know not long!) and we are slowly working our way back to normal working hours, ensuring she is let out every couple of hours for toilet and playtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have started putting her in a pen but haven't crate trained her. We're doing this as she's in the &quot;chew everything&quot; stage and also not fully toilet trained so we can't leave her to roam around the room just yet. The issue I'm seeing is when she's put in the pen after playing or being out and is immediately left there, she howls... and howls! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried rewarding her when she stops, and ignoring when she howls but the howling doesn't stop until I wait in the same room for her to get really sleepy. Then she doesn't really care if I leave because she's too tired. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an ok way to get her to be alone? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way I can teach her that as soon as she's in the pen, she should go to sleep/calm down? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17138" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T08:04:24.597" Title="Is it ok that my puppy needs to very sleepy before they're happy to be alone in crate/pen?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26850" CreationDate="2020-01-08T12:37:17.603" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being separated from her family is always hard for a puppy, especially right after play and cuddle time, when she feels really connected to you. Staying in the same room only makes it harder for her. She sees you right there, wants to be with you and doesn't understand why she isn't allowed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;worst thing&lt;/strong&gt; you can do in the current situation is staying in the room and trying to calm her down by talking to her. She cannot understand a single word of what you say. To her it feels more like taunting... &lt;em&gt;I'm right here, I see you and even call your attention to me, but I still won't allow you to be with me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better solution might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;introduce a new command that you tell her every time you put her back into the pen. Don't make her &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;wait&lt;/em&gt;, use a unique command for the pen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put her into the pen and leave the room. Don't make more of a fuss than absolutely necessary. Close the door and stay out of sight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay as still and silent as you can for a while until she calms down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make any exception to this unless it is absolutely clear that she is endangering herself somehow. If she learns that she can summon you back by howling long enough, she'll never stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is supposed to teach her that after hearing the &lt;em&gt;pen&lt;/em&gt; command she should expect boredom. No-one will be in the room to interact with, no-one will react to her howling. It will take a few days for her to accept this, but if you stay strict and don't make a single exception, her howling should stop soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't go back in to reward her.&lt;/strong&gt; In this specific situation, rewarding her can be detrimental, because she gets excited again when you actually want to teach her to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make being alone easier for her, you can give her a chewing stick or food toy like a food dispenser ball or Kong when putting her into the pen. That gives her a little distraction from your leaving and time to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T08:04:24.597" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T08:04:24.597" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-08T13:37:04.207" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;My concern is my 2 year old long hair seal point female cat is light as a bird and in my opinion overly thin. She hides it well under a luxurious coat that in recent weeks seem lackluster at best. It seems to be by choice as I have exhausted any means to get her to eat more. She loses interest in a couple weeks in any brand, low cost or high (soft); she has a steady A grade hard always available, as well as water and treats. There’s been a marked change in her appetite but more so lately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has been a change in the household which I recognize as a contributor. A new member to the household. I found a roughly 5 month old female grey and white kitten on my steps apparently attacked or abused and in rough shape. Am I taking on too much for this group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any suggestions to help her reach a healthier weight and increasing activity? Is this just a phase (it’s been a issue to get her to sit down to a full portion for a long period). Her stools are regular and she's not vomiting, just little energy and engagement. Could it be jealousy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17137" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-31T14:21:30.473" LastActivityDate="2020-07-31T14:21:30.473" Title="My Siamese eats like a model" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26838" CreationDate="2020-01-08T17:53:00.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To try to avoid this in future try using a dog whistle. Start usage in conjunction with recall. Remember to praise when dog comes back to you. Your dog will associate the sound of the whistle with you and where you are. You won't then need to spend 2 hours or so wandering around searching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17140" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T17:53:00.930" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26705" CreationDate="2020-01-08T18:14:05.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Better to train your dog that the trash can is out of bounds. Use leash, take your dog to the trash can and give a No or Leave command when it tries to get into it. When it does what you want it to do praise, good dog etc. but avoid treats. You keep repeating until the message gets through. Then do the same off the leash. No doubt patience will be required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17140" LastActivityDate="2020-01-08T18:14:05.307" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1422" CreationDate="2020-01-08T20:23:06.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I discovered a great alternative to the wire bottom floor that my guinea pigs love: plastic fencing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a roll from my local hardware store:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.homedepot.ca/product/peak-products-hardware-mesh-36-inches-x-15-feet-black/1000105621&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.homedepot.ca/product/peak-products-hardware-mesh-36-inches-x-15-feet-black/1000105621&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gauge is big enough that all mess falls through but small enough that little feet are safe, plus since it's plastic it has some spring and is super gentle on feet but it's thick enough to be used as a floor so it won't sag. I wish I had known about this stuff before I wasted a bunch of money on a metal mesh floor. Oh yeah and the piggies HATED the metal floor. It was loud, probably painful and I happened to get a gauge that was too small so the poop got stuck in the holes. On that note...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note Warning: 1/4 inch gauge and smaller will be too small and poop will get stuck in the holes rendering it useless. Stick to 1/2&quot; gauge but no bigger. There needs to be enough surface area for weight to be distributed and avoid hurting delicate paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17141" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-09T15:21:50.797" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T15:21:50.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26833" CreationDate="2020-01-09T02:48:58.680" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toilet training is a bad idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) As your cats get older, they will develop pain in their joints and stop jumping and balancing. It could also start earlier due to injuries or genetics. Then you'll have to deal with pee all over the floor. And it will be hard to untrain by then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) It also makes it harder to travel with the cats or bring them over to a different house, or move. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) Since the pee and poop will get flushed, you cannot take a look at them to check for parasites or other illness symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Also because of the flushing, the cats will lose one of their main ways to mark their territory. It could very well be that they will be more stressed, start fighting among themselves, scratch your furniture or pee outside to make up for their missing marking ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) If you have guests, it could very well be that they leave the lid down or seat up, which may lead to pee outside or a toilet-drenched cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) If you or someone else has stomach issues and needs to use the toilet for a long period of time, then the cats will have to go somewhere else. Same if someone wants privacy to shower and closes the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) I would prefer if you don't potentially flush toxoplasmosis bacteria down the drain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16532" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T02:48:58.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7980" CreationDate="2020-01-09T17:43:36.373" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;PLEASE DON’T let it outdoors. They don’t have to go out and they kill, collectively, MILLIONS of birds, baby rabbits and  other wildlife NEEDLESSLY. They are domesticated and not natural predators, meaning they don’t need to kill to eat. They also urinate, defecate, and dig in yards other than their own, becoming a nuisance and health hazard to your neighbors who  may not choose to have a cat. Please do the research. There is no reason to let a cat outside. If you don’t want it inside, maybe you should rethink getting a cat as a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17146" LastActivityDate="2020-01-09T17:43:36.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-09T18:35:32.230" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male rabbit all second day escapes the backyard. His wife stays in the garden and he comes back for her all the time. He goes for adventure to the neighbors' gardens and the nearby park. Our direct neighbors know him and let him go. But I am worried about &quot;strangers&quot; who see him and think he is lost. Maybe they'll catch him to give him a new home. Especially if they see him more than once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The backyard is Fort Knox, but he disappears... if someone knows a rabbit-forensic unit, they are welcome!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a chip, but I wish to add more direct information (phone number or address or such) to inform people he has a home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: It does not have to be on the neck. Maybe there is another position with less risk of strangulation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of collar/belt/anything is mostly safe for him to transport such information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:44:40.397" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:44:40.397" Title="What kind of information collar fits for a rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26858" CreationDate="2020-01-10T13:28:10.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing with a collar is that it breaks off if your rabbit gets stuck. You can ask your vet or pet shop about what type they recommend as it might differ with the weight of your rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The information to put on the collar is your phone number and, if you are comfortable with it, the street name and house number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition you can hang a sign on the collar saying &quot;If you find me close to (street name) I am not lost&quot;, or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to keep a current picture of your rabbit in case it really gets lost so you can put up missing posters close to where you live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12072" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T10:41:28.120" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T10:41:28.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-11T19:04:58.527" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Her pellet food:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MwE2G.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;her pellet foods&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her bugco superworms:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bff3K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;her bugco superworms&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently feed my map turtle 3 worms in the morning and 3 more in the afternoon, like at around 2 to 3 PM, and I also feed her just a little bit of calcium and vitamin C, maybe like 5 pellets of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She’s about 5 to 6 inches (12 to 15 cm) long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17154" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T13:38:18.107" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:15:02.083" Title="Am I feeding OK for my 6 inch (15 cm) map turtle?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15130" CreationDate="2020-01-12T05:20:52.200" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The human nose is well developed to detect spoiled food, so if the food smells fresh you can safely give it to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat's nose is a lot better than the human nose, so if your cat eats the food you can trust the food to be good. A cat trusts only itself when it comes to what to eat, so if the food is spoiled your cat will not eat it (unless the cat is really starving).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-05T14:56:07.107" LastActivityDate="2020-09-05T14:56:07.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26867" CreationDate="2020-01-12T15:16:26.943" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet told me that my birds (parakeets like in the below image)&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CjU3G.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CjU3G.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bird&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;may have calcium absorption problems in the long term because their exposition to UV light is low (they do not receive direct sunlight, only through glasses in a balcony). I was looking for UV lights for birds in amazon and all I found was some black bulbs which need a socket (the classic bulb everyone has at home but in black instead of white) and that would require a somewhat cumbersome setup given my home and specifically the place where I intend to expose them to the light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I looked for UV lights in general (not specifically for birds) and I came across with this specific item:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qyeum.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qyeum.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;UV light&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;its description says that its wavelength is 395 nm whereas the description for those &amp;quot;specific for birds&amp;quot; bulbs do not specify wavelength/frequency. Both lights do specify they are also useful for checking counterfeit money, if it's of any help that they have this in common (similar wavelength maybe)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: given that the linked item is convenient from a setup perspective, &lt;strong&gt;is it safe/good for my birds even if its description doesn't say so?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points for recommendation on how much time of exposition and best time of the day I should expose them to the light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17157" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-09-19T00:37:49.867" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T00:37:49.867" Title="Adequate UV light for my birds" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26866" CreationDate="2020-01-12T16:40:36.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The UV light you need is UV-A and UV-B (wavelength of 300-400 nm). Be absolutely sure it is NOT under 300 nm and be sure to put the lights at a couple of meters from the cage (shortwave UV-B is the one that can give you a sunburn).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ones you mention in your question are excellent (they contain little UV-B) and be sure they are turned on during the day about 12 hours on and 12 hours off; it is best to use a timer so you do not forget it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The UV-B is the type you get a tan from, this is the type that makes your skin produce vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure the lights you buy do not emit any UV-C as this is very dangerous. It is used to sterilize water and to sterilize surgical instruments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The absolute best for your bird is natural sunlight and they do not need sunlight for more than 30-60 minutes a day, so if this is possible this is best for them you can open a window and place the cage on a table - but be sure there is no wind and be sure the cage is closed :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-19T00:33:57.700" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T00:33:57.700" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26858" CreationDate="2020-01-12T22:22:53.220" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found a discription how to make a safe cat collar. Following the discription it will break by pull of approx. 1kg and should last between 4 and 6 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The collar is simple a stripe of very stable paper called &quot;Chromolux&quot;. Like all paper the information could be written on it. In the discription of Chromolux I read the paper is painted on one side with lacquer. I assume this cause a water resistance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Combined with a snap or simple sticky tape it could be formed to a collar. The collar could be made more visible with reflecting stickers or more personal with rhinestones or whatever one imagines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am waiting for my order and will report the test (not on the living animal) about the stability here later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T09:17:33.477" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T09:17:33.477" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26863" CreationDate="2020-01-12T22:56:06.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rule of thumb is &quot;feed once per day the same volume as the head of the turtle has&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the question &lt;strong&gt;What&lt;/strong&gt; food that should be it's important to know what type of map turtle it is and if it's male or female. Please edit your question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female map turtles have to eat more plants than males. And there are sorts of map turtles who eat mostly algae &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; moluscos &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt; fish and so on. The feeding depends on the seasons too. In winter (cold water, slow turtle) it is different than in summer (fast, hunting turtle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general fresh food is the best ever. You need no extra vitamins if you give greens and/or fresh fish/snails/bloodworms (baby mosquitos).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general it's also a good idea to make fasting days in a weekly rhythm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T17:15:02.083" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T17:15:02.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-14T06:49:05.260" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Six months ago I moved to North Carolina. In august I noticed a beautiful stray with two colored eyes. At first I’d have to throw chicken into the woods for him because he would not come close. Over time, and after getting a kitten as I needed the emotional support, he warmed up more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he comes around, I lock my kitten up as he’s missing his second feline leukemia shot, and let the stray have the option to eat inside or outside. It’s different everyday, I’m assuming due to whatever he deals with that day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned that my husband is being deployed for six months, so I’ve decided to move home.... and as you can guess, the only complicated matter that makes me want to stay is this stray. He occasionally will nap beside me outside, and eat out of my hands. He’s a talker and I’m beyond attached. But...I don’t think he’s ready to be an indoor cat. Let alone, I’m not sure what he has and I’d rather not risk the health of my kitten. I’ve been around my stray enough to know it’s probably not carrying anything serious though. However I did push my bounds and scared him so he scratched me. It seemed infected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d feel horrible to leave him behind. Sometimes he comes back with an injured leg and new scratches. But I also don’t think it’d be fair to make him go on a trip that’s 24 hours of driving and hotel rooms. I got scratched because I picked him up and made him nervous. But he stuck around which I know is great. But I worry how he will be with my kitten who doesn’t know when other cats have had it with playtime. I’m worried how a stray would handle moving to a cold state. And what if he got outside? There is a local place that traps, neuters, and releases strays into their normal environment or a safer one with the rest of the healthy strays.... yet... I’m attached. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This place also says they will take cats for military families and watch them for long periods of time. I’m just worried I can’t get the best of both. Have them help me make him healthy and also keep him here until I’m back. I really should just call and figure it out but I’d like to know what other cat lovers think. I just don’t want to be unfair to my stray cat. I don’t know what’s the best for him, but I love him dearly. And I don’t have too much time left to make a decision. Thank you greatly for all input. (Also yes I know just because I haven’t seen symptoms doesn’t mean he’s not carrying something.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17162" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T09:47:33.687" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T09:47:33.687" Title="Stray cat and indoor cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-01-15T07:04:11.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-14T11:47:04.910" Score="15" ViewCount="7028" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother just lost his cat to cancer, he is alone, and really needs companionship of our kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She uses her litter box and is eating good. He gave her a room with all her stuff in it. She doesn't come up to us yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is we both have bad knees so crawling around on the floor is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed when talking to her she will do that blinking thing with her eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we encourage her to come up to us, if we're unable to get down on the floor with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17163" LastEditorUserId="12486" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T11:52:43.813" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T11:52:43.813" Title="How can we encourage our kitten to come up to us, if we're unable to get down on the floor with her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26872" CreationDate="2020-01-14T12:47:50.553" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand your question you wonder when the cat will start to interact with you, please correct me if I am wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a cat comes to a new place it will take some time before it feels safe, and the fact that there have been an other cat in the house will make it take a longer time before the new cat feel at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to be patient the new cat will come to you the slow blink is a good sign and it shows the cat do respond in a positive way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you wait for the cat to trust you you can try to get the cat to play by using a toy on a stick, when a cat plays it will forget to be scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-14T15:50:51.583" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T15:50:51.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-14T12:48:22.493" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a recurring problem with killer fish. In the last 3 years I repeatedly had recurring sudden spikes in fish deaths.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Via pure coincidence I found out that it was no strange sickness or water values, but instead fish killing one another (I saw one of the cases).&#xA;The &quot;murderers&quot; were mostly sword bearers and black mollies. Strangely the females if I'm not mistaken (sadly I watched it only through the corner of my eyes so not 100% sure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things they killed were members of other species like a black molly killing a sword bearer and vice versa. Also other fish types were victims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is strange to me is....space shouldn't be an issue as it is a 31,7 gallon (120l) tank with a few caves and quite a few plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the &quot;killing method&quot; it was so that the murderer bit into the forehead of the other fish, which then panicked, and swam upward and away with all speed....the speed being so high that it jumped out of the water and hit the lid of the aquarium with full force....the result for a human would have been a neck breaking equivalent from what I saw. The fish then sank down and shuddered for a few moments before lying still and being dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far it has been about 3 fish that went on killing sprees... each killing 2-6 others over the course of weeks. That is before 1-2 months after the deaths started....they died themselves and the death rate sank to 0 again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I found nothing indicating any reason for this behaviour (only found a bit about males and space, but at least 1 was very probably a female).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Are there any other possibilities on what I'm doing wrong there....so that my fish become so overly aggressive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Aside from the killing sprees I saw no strange behaviour for any of the species or involved specimen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14427" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T22:09:46.493" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T22:09:46.493" Title="Reasons for killer fishes?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-14T17:14:45.927" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 2 indoor cats (same litter) live with three people, one of the three being me. They're fully accustomed to our presence and are very affectionate, asking to be petted, sleeping with us in beds, comfortable with us walking around them, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We sometimes have council workers come over for an hour or two, to do some odd jobs such as plumbing and whatnot. We also have relatives come over once or twice a year from overseas, and their prolonged stays at our house have a big impact on our cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time a new person comes to the house, the cats respond by &lt;strong&gt;immediately hiding under beds or behind or inside wardrobes,&lt;/strong&gt; which is irregular to their regular napping spots such as platforms by windowsills, on bed, etc. It is clear to me they are not aware of what is going on, and they're too afraid to investigate the new voices, so they want to be hidden. &lt;strong&gt;They stay there for several hours even after the workers have left.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of relatives who stay over for weeks, the cats sometimes &lt;strong&gt;stay in hiding for 1-2 days straight.&lt;/strong&gt; They do get out at night to eat and drink, but they go into hiding again the next day. They get used to the relatives after like a week, but in my opinion the warming up process takes too long, it's not normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've observed this is a bit like dogs and fireworks, in our current state the 'big scary strangers' visiting the house every so often is inevitable, but we are worried about how the cats respond to this entire ordeal every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do to discourage our cats' fear of strangers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T22:08:46.720" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T22:08:46.720" Title="Is there a way to discourage extreme fear of strangers in my two 4 year old cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26872" CreationDate="2020-01-14T17:52:52.193" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, get lots of cat furniture. Cats normally like perching up high, so if you give it places it can go to be higher off the ground, it will probably gravitate to them. You can make them even more enticing by placing them by windows or in rooms you spend a lot of time in. You can also place comfy beds on higher surfaces to encourage it to sleep there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you can do is use treats or play to lead the cat to where you want it to go. Either can be done without bending over. With treats, you can toss them to the cat, and certain toys like a feather wand or laser pointer can be used while you are standing. This way you can get the cat to come up high, rather than having to bend over to interact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it sounds like you're still in the introductory period of keeping the new cat to one room, that is actually a great time to get cat furniture. Place them all in its room, and encourage the cat to use them through play and treats. That way the furniture will have the cat's smell on them. Then once you are ready to introduce the cat to other areas of the house, move the furniture into those areas. This will spread its smell and make the introduction go more smoothly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T17:52:52.193" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26872" CreationDate="2020-01-14T19:33:12.950" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mention you not being able to crawl, but are you able to just sit or lie on the floor, maybe propped up by a pillow? One way to convince a cat you're not a threat is to be in its space &lt;em&gt;and then ignore it&lt;/em&gt;. The cat will eventually get bored and come out to investigate. However, the lower you are and the smaller you look, the less threatening you seem and the sooner their general fear will turn to boredom, hence why sitting or lying the floor (if you can do it) will work better than a chair or couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use that time to read a book, play games on your phone, talk softly, etc.  Try not to approach the cat or make eye contact, loud noises or sudden large movements; they will interpret those things from strangers as possible threats and retreat/hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-14T19:33:12.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26875" CreationDate="2020-01-14T20:17:24.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you might try is to get a cat tree so your cats have an elevated place to hide and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can make a place on top of some furniture or put up some shelves where the cats can observe the area. This will have to be in a place where you and the guests do not have to walk past, so not in a hallway, kitchen, or doorway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick is to make your cats feel safe and make them feel like they have control of the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are things your cats will get used to during the normal day when you do not have guests in the house, so there will be little change when your guests come to visit you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-15T16:29:02.493" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T16:29:02.493" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26872" CreationDate="2020-01-15T06:04:56.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL;DR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat furniture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat toy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clicker training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats often need time to adjust to their new home and feel safe there. This is completely normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I second everyone who suggested getting cat furniture for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get a cat toy (for example feathers on a long stick). If she chases the toy you can get her to jump up to you sitting on the sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to try it clicker training is an awesome activity that most cat-human-couples enjoy. If you can find any treat she especially likes (dry food, dried meat, etc) and pair it with a marker sound (the clicker) you can teach her a &quot;recall&quot;. Or any other trick you both might enjoy. Positive interactions create a strong bond between an animal and their human companion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15906" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T06:04:56.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26890" CreationDate="2020-01-15T07:31:46.457" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Caused by this question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26858/what-kind-of-information-collar-fits-for-a-rabbit&quot;&gt;What kind of information collar fits for a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; I need to know what a rabbit's neck could withstand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit has a collar, at what weight should the collar break so the rabbit will not be strangled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I imagine testing the collar by hanging weight on the collar and research when it breaks.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T17:01:00.933" LastActivityDate="2020-01-17T14:21:30.917" Title="If a rabbit has a collar, at what weight should the collar break so the rabbit will not be strangled?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26875" CreationDate="2020-01-15T15:42:35.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family barely ever has people over, so folks in the house who aren't family members is uncommon. Therefore, when we do have someone over, our normally confident and super tame kitties start looking freaked out and disappear. Not quite as bad as you're describing, but I understand a bit of where you're coming from, anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess that like mine, your cats are tame (friendly with you) but poorly socialized (not used to strangers). I second the first person who answered in suggesting you start by taking a look at your cat's environment to see if there isnt something you can do to make them feel safer (like providing more vertical space so your cats can be present and survey their territory without feeling trapped, and maybe eliminating access to some of the worst dark cramped hidey holes they can go into and hunker down feeling like nervous prey).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to put in the effort, probably the best way to tackle a problem of poor socialization would be to very deliberately and carefully go out of your way to socialize them in a controlled way. Have strangers over often, single people for brief periods at first, and use the opportunity to build positive associations: visitors = good things, not scary things. The visitors should hang around chatting with you quietly for awhile to get the cats used to their presence and their voice, they shouldn't be loud or chase after the cats trying to pet them. Let the cats come to them when they're ready. When people come over, give the cats treats and/or playtime with their favorite toy. If you can get a treat they really love, and only give it to them when company comes over, even better. Get to the point where the company can get close enough to give the treats themselves? Better yet. Basically, find ways to make having a stranger in the house a good thing for your cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without a lot of time spent working on it, though, it's possible they'll always be skittish around strangers.  But applying the above strategy even with just your usual visitors might still help make things a bit less stressful for everyone (assuming your guests cooperate!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17172" LastActivityDate="2020-01-15T15:42:35.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26888" CreationDate="2020-01-16T00:52:20.363" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who lost her eyesight due to blood-pressure complications when she was about 6 years old (she is 8 now). She adapted very well to living without eyesight, to the point where it would almost seem as if she wasn't blind at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She obviously uses her hearing and sense of smell to navigate to food, water and toilet successfully, but she is currently sick with a flu and has lost her sense of smell, and to my understanding some loss of her hearing too (blockages from flu). Because of this, she is having some difficulty finding things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question is - can cats identify specific tones or frequencies generated by something like an Arduino &amp;amp; piezo buzzer, and then associate that tone to something, such as food?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to create beacon-like devices which emit a specific frequency for a certain duration that a blind cat can potentially use as a reverse-echolocator, &lt;strong&gt;and just wanted to validate whether this is probably a waste of time, or something worth exploring?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update (1/28/2020):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for all your suggestions. Unfortunately before I could complete a beacon POC, she had to be put to sleep due to a number of pre-existing issues that having flu/not eating catalyzed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're reading this, and you have a blind cat, please ensure that they can wayfind without their sense of smell should they get sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TCJoPl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TCJoPl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RIP Katja, 2011-2020.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17176" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T15:34:11.497" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:35:54.537" Title="Can cats identifiy specific tones/frequencies?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-16T01:44:52.023" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I make sure that he's not developing more problems by cleaning up his urine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17178" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T20:00:47.050" Title="My 11 yr old Rottweiler has bladder control issues" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-01-22T15:40:54.383" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-16T03:34:52.650" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Leopard Gecko has had some trouble shedding and I’ve read all about the warm soaks and removing the skin from the toes. I’ve done all this but there are still bits on the end that look like toenails/dead skin. One looks like dried blood and is very long. I’m not sure if anyone else has had these issues? I’m not sure if I should try to take that part off as well or leave it. It’s been there for about a week and seems super sensitive. She doesn’t react well whenever I touch it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17179" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-16T05:13:22.363" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T05:13:22.363" Title="Gecko trouble shedding, helped to remove skin but dead ends look like toenails" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-01-18T07:33:25.080" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26872" CreationDate="2020-01-16T06:30:46.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What has worked with me in the past is patting next to the place where I want them to come. At first they might ignore it, so you need to be patient. You have to repeat it over and over (not right away, but at different moments of the day for some weeks). Also try to avoid being forceful, just gently invite them to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example when I want my cat to jump on the bed with me, I pat the bed a couple of times making a 'tap tap' sound. If she is distracted, I call her name, then I tap again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally remember that cats need space to feel comfortable, so be sure to give them some room to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17181" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T06:30:46.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26883" CreationDate="2020-01-16T08:03:32.467" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can cats learn to associate tones to food, water, litter box, etc? I would think so. Cats are infamous for coming running when they hear a can opener; that's not instinct but a very specific sound they've learned means food. Multiple tones may take a little longer to get the different associations straight, but worst case he just tries each tone in turn until he finds whichever thing he's looking for at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very smart and, despite their reputation, quite easily trained &lt;em&gt;when they want to be&lt;/em&gt; and when the stimulus is consistent, as an electronic device would be. Most humans &lt;em&gt;accidentally&lt;/em&gt; train their cats to do (or not do) various things without even realizing that's what they're doing. For instance, I would lift my cat onto a table to put on his harness more easily before walking him, and now he jumps up on the table himself (and yells at me) when he wants to go outside. If you do it on purpose and with something that will clearly motivate him, it should be relatively easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T08:03:32.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26883" CreationDate="2020-01-16T08:39:28.480" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer: yes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you intend to do is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Classical Conditioning&lt;/a&gt; and works just like clicker training. Your cat will probably need a few days to learn that a certain frequency means food, but it will surely learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like your idea, but I think you need to adapt it to the physiology and needs of a cat. Cats hear better than humans, especially high frequencies. A piezo buzzer emitting a high beep in the &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; loudness for a human might be uncomfortably loud for a cat. Please keep in mind that cats hunt rodents by listening to their faint sounds in the grass and even underground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thump, I would try the following configuration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make the piezo buzzer as quiet as possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Choose a frequency you can hear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you cannot make it very quiet, go for a lower frequency and emit the sound for only 100 - 200 milliseconds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A simple piece of soft foam or thick fabric wrapped around the piezo buzzer can help reducing the loudness as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the sound beacon is close to the sleeping place of your cat, either tune the loudness down during late night or deactivate it if you cannot tune it very quiet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with only 1 beacon and see how your cat reacts. If it seems to work and you want to add another beacon for another place, choose a frequency you can distinguish from the first one. Your cat will be able to distinguish it as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you simply want to mark certain locations with the sounds, it will be enough to place the beacons in the intended location and let your cat get used to them. Hiding them between walls or behind furniture might confuse your cat because of echos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T22:35:54.537" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T22:35:54.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26739" CreationDate="2020-01-16T09:40:52.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For tips for people other than getting Veterinary advice, I've discovered at least one of my horses has mange. It was something I was baffled by, as how did she catch it? We've had the worst bush fire disaster in our country in recorded history and it's forced all sorts of wildlife onto the property. One of the creatures seeking refuge is a wild dog. It is thin and covered in mange. Not well at all. So it solves the problem of how the horse contracted it. I now have to keep an eye out on the other horses. Some pictures of the mange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Appearance&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rBFj6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rBFj6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1 Face and neck view&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's lost patches of hair on her face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2 Cheek and neck view&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good view of the mange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3 Back view&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hair loss along her back. The yellow is a mixture of the sulphur and mite powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Treatment&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash affected areas with a solution of &amp;quot;malaban&amp;quot; (tradename), effective in the treatment of Sarcoptic Mange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applied a mite powder, also for the control of mange to the affected areas while wet and rubbed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used a permoxin mix and sulphur to the solution to kill and repel ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat weekly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Reading&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/integumentary-system/mange/mange-in-horses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mange in Horses&lt;/a&gt; - MSD MANUAL Veterinary Manual&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://equusmagazine.com/horse-care/common-equine-skin-diseases&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Watch out for 8 common equine skin diseases&lt;/a&gt; - Equus Magazine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T09:40:52.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26880" CreationDate="2020-01-16T16:38:15.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the size of your rabbit you're looking for a collar that releases if you tug with the pressure of one/two fingers. Try to match the power that your rabbit will exhert in the initial moments they're caught up to minimise injury as much as possible. Remember, strangulation is just one possiblity and you really want them to be able to escape way before that happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This test should be a good indicator that if they get snagged that the collar will break free. I wouldn't personally suggest putting a collar on your rabbit as it just adds to risk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's for walking I'd put him/her into a harness so even if they do panic you're not in danger of pulling against them and breaking their neck/strangling them. I've had some unfortunate experience with dogs doing very similar things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's for an identification tag then a microchip is a fantastic alternative!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the question of how much weight is needed... Well that's difficult as most release collars release to pressure or force applied and not the weight itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a rope can hold out for a longer length of time if it's just weight leaning against it but, if you were to apply force and pull the rope quickly it would be more likely to snap .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My answer to the title question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that 1-2lbf should break before the 'average' rabbit is strangled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible solutions to rabbit collars:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paper or very thin card collar.&lt;/strong&gt; To make this collar simply measure around your rabbit's neck and then cut a strip of paper. Write your details on this strip before applying a small amount of glue to the ends and putting it around your rabbit's neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A light piece of string with a quick release knot&lt;/strong&gt;: It's very important that you tie the quick release knot the right way or else it will get tighter instead of releasing. This is a similar technique that we use with Horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A make your own Velcro collar:&lt;/strong&gt; Find some material you like and sew or glue small velcro straps to the ends to ensure it doesn't take much pressure to release. This comes with the added advantage that if your rabbit gets lost and looses the collar you have some idea of where s/he went.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-01-17T14:21:30.917" LastActivityDate="2020-01-17T14:21:30.917" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26884" CreationDate="2020-01-16T20:00:47.050" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several strategies for dealing with urinary incontinence in dogs, and the right strategy requires a veterinarian to understand the causes and resultant effective treatment paths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, especially at your dog's age, the more important thing is to make sure the dog is healthy; &lt;strong&gt;there is not a high risk that you are reinforcing behavior by cleaning up the urine&lt;/strong&gt;, especially if this is a recent issue (i.e. if the dog previously had no bladder control issues).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some questions a vet will probably ask you to determine the right treatment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are you letting him out enough?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he consume more water than usual?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is he on any medications right now? Some medications can cause either increased water consumption or incontinence itself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has he recently had any injuries?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are medications that your veterinarian can prescribe to strengthen urinary sphincter control, but there might be other issues (genetic conditions, spinal deformities, urinary tract infections) that have other treatment paths. So it really depends, and you should really reach out to your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also:&#xA; - Make sure his bedding is dry; he may be wetting his bedding and he can get sick easily if he sleeps on wet bedding.&#xA; - Check for skin irritation and excessive licking of the penile area; if urine drips, it can cause irritation there&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T20:00:47.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26847" CreationDate="2020-01-16T23:35:49.747" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Budgies live for 5-10 years in captivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pittwateranimalhospital.com.au/budgies/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pittwater Animal Hospital&lt;/a&gt; in Australia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On average, the life span of budgerigars is about eight years, but some live longer than twice that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is getting old for a budgie. Also depending on how old she was when you got her, she may be older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing to do is ensure all her nutritional needs are met. In many cases, for any animal including humans, nutritional deficiencies can take time to show symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ensure your birds have cuttlefish, some access to some type of green grass. Growing some of your bird seed in moist tissue paper is good for supplying green peck. Also provide grit along the bottom of the cage for the budgies - this is now a controversial issue surrounding budgie ownership. As someone who grew up with budgies, and in the land where they are native, providing grit has always been considered beneficial and budgies will eat small amounts of grit in the wild. Be sure the grit has both soluble and insolube components.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pittwateranimalhospital.com.au/budgies/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pittwater Animal Hospital&lt;/a&gt; in Australia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In their natural habitat, budgerigars are mostly vegetarians, feeding on grass seeds, eucalypt leaves, buds, bark and other greens. On occasion pet budgies can be given cooked chicken bones and boiled eggs to increase their protein intake. Because such foods tend to go off quickly, they should not be left in the cage any longer than a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-01-16T23:35:49.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-17T21:35:02.320" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/al06X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too small? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has 2 sections, an upper level, and a second floor. It has 2 wooded houses, a stick of chewable things, and food stick, wooded logs, a second food bowl, a wheel, and only has tubes for traveling between sections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17192" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-18T01:07:29.773" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T11:44:05.837" Title="Is this cage too small?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-18T01:33:52.027" Score="3" ViewCount="3320" Body="&lt;p&gt;Context: I got my cat ~2 months ago. He was in a shelter, and he was very sweet when I first saw him so I decided to adopt him. Unfortunately, they didn't let me to because he still had some small ear infection (nothing serious) so I had to wait until he gets completely healed to adopt. Instead, I took him as a foster parent. I'm looking after him, giving him ear drops, until he's healed and then once he's good I'll adopt him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first brought him home he was extremely skittish. He went under my bed and didn't leave for two days. Then he finally started eating, drinking and using litter box. Over the 2 months he gradually got better. But he would still create a lot of drama every time I gave him ear drops. He would hide, not to out for hours, sometimes not eat for a day. It was sometimes impossible to reach to give him his ear drops, or take him to vet, without chasing him under the bed. This is when I decided to completely deconstruct my bed so he can't go under there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week his ear drops finished. So until I went to vet he didn't get any medicine for about a week. By this time he was used to his medication more or less, he was roaming inside the house. Overall, he was much much better. Now, to my surprise doctor gave another round of ear drops since he's still not 100%. When I first applied his medication 2 days ago. He created insane amount of drama. He got veey aggressive, scratched me, he managed to get out of my room and hid under a couch. These are all things he never did before. I skipped one day (yesterday) because I was afraid he'll have similar effect again. Then I did it again today with a lot of his favorite food and treat. Although he didn't get aggressive, he hid in a corner, refused to eat anything and looks very anxious. For a few minutes when I went outside the room, apparently he was using his litter box, and coincidentally I came in just during the act and he ran away from the litter box to his hiding spot full speed. Pee, litter, everywhere... He seems absolutely terrified of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is another set of drama to get him to the vet. I have to force him into his carrier while he tries to escape with full force. Then he meows the entire way which makes me very sad. Then once we come home he doesn't get out of his spotz doesn't eat for a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my first cat and I must say I'm absolutely exhaust. I got a cat because my therapist recommended it for my own anxiety issues. My biggest problem is the fact that the cat is terrified of me. It makes me feel terrible and stresses me out. My therapist thinks I'm an overly empathetic person so seeing my cat afraid of me affects me bad because it makes me think I'm someone to be afraid of. This is really too much for me to deal with and I really don't know what to do. I need to give his drops until his next appt and then maybe doctor will want me to do this for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bonded so much with the cat that I don't how can I realistically give him back to shelter. When he's sweet, he's the sweetest cat I've ever seen and I love him so much. But I really cannot deal with this drama any more. I understand that not giving him ear drops is objectively bad for the cat, so I can't do that. Moreover, I'm having second thoughts to adopt the cat because it seems like he associates with ear drops and thus he associates me with something to be afraid of. I don't know if he'll ever fully trust me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm open to any and all tips. I also asked this on reddit without any success. If you have any tip, I would appreciate if you can share it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: TLDR: To make it clear, I didn't officially adopt him yet, I'm his foster. But I still consider doing so because on rare occasion he's a good kitty, he very sweet and I bonded with him so much. I just don't know how can I proceed being his foster given I'm having personal trouble applying his drops because he creates a lot of drama. Also I wonder if he'll be permanently afraid of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things I tried: Feliway (seems to be helpful, but not a silver bullet). I started giving his drops while he eats so that he associates drops with reward (doesn't work, instead he gets anxious while eating even if I'm not gonna do drops).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17193" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T14:29:58.863" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T06:55:57.650" Title="I'm very exhausted giving ear drops to my overly skittish cat. I can't take him treating me like a threat. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26895" CreationDate="2020-01-18T07:19:07.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The truth of the matter is, while there are things you can do to attempt to lessen the problem, this will always be a problem to some extent because of course you can never convince a cat to like taking medicine.  Most solutions involve lessening the problem in the long term, but since this situation is temporary, you do also have a few immediate term options available, such as asking a friend to help treat the cat just for now, or contacting the organization you're fostering with and asking for help, advice, or even for someone else to foster the cat.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you feel like this really is beyond what you are able to handle given your current situation, then absolutely it is wisest to not go through with adopting the cat.  Rather than taking this experience as a failure, take it as a valuable lesson about what you are able or not able to do. It's perfectly okay if you realize this is not a responsibility you want long term, especially when you consider that I don't expect giving medicine to ever be completely smooth, and that if you permanently home the cat, you almost certainly will have to give it medicine again at some point in its life. Furthermore, though I really doubt that the cat will hate you forever just because it has to endure some weeks of ear drops, at the same time, you also have to be prepared that your own pet might become scared of you like this because you have to do something it doesn't like for its own good, and that you may even have to put in a lot of extra work to gain back its trust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, as for the long term approach, you can try to accustom the cat as much as possible to these things by gradually working through each step of the process, one step at a time, over the course of days or weeks, giving treats as rewards to encourage the cat to accept it.  Hopefully the cat will form positive associations, and lessen its stress when you actually have to do things it doesn't like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other key is to keep up these exercises outside the thing it doesn't like, so that the cat doesn't notice a pattern and get a bad association. The reason why the feeding plus the ear drops isn't working is because it's a predictable enough pattern that the cat is starting to form a negative association between ear drops and being fed, and so it automatically thinks it has to avoid the ear drops every time it gets fed now. You could try decreasing its portions and feeding more frequently, then giving the drops at irregular meal times to decrease the predictability, but I expect it's going to be difficult to break the bad association now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more concrete example, with the carrier, start feeding the cat near the carrier. Over the course of days, move the dish closer and closer, until the dish is all the way inside, and the cat is happily eating. The next step is getting it to accept you closing the door. Keep feeding the cat in the carrier from them on, and then when you need to go to the vet, just feed the cat, and hopefully it'll go right in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting it used to accepting medicine is harder, and honestly no matter what you do there'll surely be some level of stress, because like I said, no cat likes receiving medicine. But I would try using a similar sort of strategy with treats to work up the cat into allowing you to restrain it long enough to give some medication, particularly its head. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-01-18T07:36:01.317" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T07:36:01.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26026" CreationDate="2020-01-18T23:35:30.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any significant change in behavior can signal health issues (e.g. UTI or crystals), so I agree with @AllisonC you should rule that out with the vet first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, given the exact circumstances, it also seems likely that the cats were just upset about your girlfriend going on vacation and, I assume, leaving them for several days either alone or with a sitter to take care of them. Since getting the cats was &quot;recent&quot; and adult cats do not usually deal well with change, they may have thought they were being abandoned again, and her bed specifically would smell most like her and thus be the most attraftive place to vent their anger at her. This would explain why they have left the couch alone since she returned. The tunnel is harder to explain, but a strange new smell in the house may have set them off for some related or unrelated reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-18T23:35:30.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-19T02:12:39.710" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4-year-old dog ran away from me one night and when I got near her she would run further once we got her back home she ran away again. I have her back right now but she is acting differently like she doesn't know me. But she has but acting differently since she got a weird bump on her back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16883" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-19T22:05:49.917" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:05:51.297" Title="Dog with weird bump keeps running away" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-19T03:33:11.753" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks back, I noticed my cat's left eye's iris is discoloring from the corner (brownish red, iris is gold color). She is 8 years old, female. She has no other complaint whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I should check with professional, which I did. I took her to the vet. The doc checked how the eye reacts to light and movement, and everything seemed fine according to him. He did not do anything further. Somehow, I felt he was not very confident or sure. He told me to wait and see if the condition progresses. It's been a couple of weeks now. I can't really judge if the discoloring is progressing. However, it definitely did not improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do you know what this discoloring is?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I seek another vet's opinion, or am too paranoid?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XytIW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VyMtL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T23:50:46.193" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T23:50:46.193" Title="Iris of my cat's left eye is discoloring on the edge" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26902" CreationDate="2020-01-19T05:52:35.233" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;The area does probably have more blood vessels than the rest of the iris of the eye, so it is nothing to worry about; it does not look inflamed or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once had a cat with a birthmark on her iris; it did look like a hole in the iris (it was only a dark area).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The irises of mammals are all different and can be used to identify each individual animal or person, they are not even the same on both sides of the face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The iris looks well within the normal variations that cats have in their irises, so there is no reason for you to worry about it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T23:09:32.393" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T23:09:32.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26904" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-20T01:07:59.537" Score="3" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I now had one guppy in a 5 gallon tank. He looked less active about one week ago. Then about 2 days ago he stopped eating. Then he just laid around with zero energy although his gills were moving. Then yesterday he looked really bad and I saw him dragging himself along the tank a little. I was sad and didn’t want to see him die. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then something weird happened. I walked away and came back about 5 minutes later and he was gone. I have completely cleaned out his tank (slowly in hopes of finding him) and checked all around his tank and he is gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the heck happened??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17202" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T03:21:15.027" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T20:07:00.730" Title="Guppy died then disappeared?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26905" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-20T01:11:52.047" Score="2" ViewCount="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a glass sump (intended for a fresh-water tank) 2nd hand that has clearly been put together at home. The construction looks great, but you can tell its homemade since the seal has &quot;frayed edges&quot; and is a little messy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some discoloration along some corner seals and under some of the glass panels. Its yellow (or rusted color) and greenish/aqua in other areas. I have scrubbed the tank with water and salt and it remains discolored. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is that I don't know how long the tank has been in operation and if these remnants are safe or not. Do I have to reseal the tank? I prefer to avoid that considering how difficult and fraught it is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17201" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T01:11:52.047" Title="When (or If) to reseal an sump?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26901" CreationDate="2020-01-20T07:46:48.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But she has but acting differently since she got a weird bump on her back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't you think your dog suffes from pain or uncomfortable feelings? I would take it to a vet. I do not to want to scare you or predict the worst, but some kinds of cancer, for insance, can cause changes in animal's (or human's) behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6560" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T07:46:48.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26901" CreationDate="2020-01-20T08:05:51.297" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Such extreme changes in behavior should always be checked out by a vet. Several possible causes come to my mind, and only 1 of them is harmless...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She could have a tumor or parasites that change her behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bump could cause her pain and your handling unintentionally causes her pain. She runs away to avoid being (unintentionally) hurt by you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She could have been hit by a car, bitten by another dog or been injured in another way. Again, she might run away to avoid being hurt by you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Someone in your family, a guest or a neighbor could have abused her and she tries to avoid the place and further abusal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a device nearby that emmits ultrasonic sounds (for example a rodent repeller for a car) that humans cannot hear, but that drives your dog nuts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The only harmless cause that comes to my mind: She might be in heat and tries to get some alone time with a male dog. In that case there should be menstrual bleeding (dogs bleed while being fertile, humans bleed after the fertile days passed).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many more options that just don't come to my mind right now. Only a vet will be able to examine her and find the real cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should make an appointment with a vet as soon as possible to get her physical health checked. This strange behavior could be her way to tell you that she's somehow suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T08:05:51.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26866" CreationDate="2020-01-20T09:45:49.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per your statement, the doctor said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;may have... long term...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So he served you an unfounded generic useless opinion about nothing. He takes no responsibility for such opinion, considering how unspecific and vague the opinion is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe they will develop cancer. Maybe they will mutate into dinosaurs. Maybe they will fly out though the window. In the long term, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best you can do is go back to the so-called doctor and have him speak in specific terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what exactly did he notice which leads him to that conclusion;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what exactly does long-term mean; 1 month? 1 year? 20 years?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what solutions does he recommend as a specialist; do not give him options of answers about anything. Just ask the shortest questions you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;Will UV light help?&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are two discussions about vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.1. If it is supposed to be produced naturally, then the birds need as much natural light as possible. No light -&gt; no vit. D -&gt; no other good things in the body. The same discussion goes on for all living beings dependent on vit. D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.2 There should be no problem with absorption of vitamin D, if you provide it to them. It is not absorbed entirely by the body (being produced by artificial synthesis), but it is still better than nothing. I take such supplements myself.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no specialist, you might find pills or liquid drops at specialized shops / pharmacies. Calcium, on the other hand, is absorbed only in the presence of vit. D. So occasionally you might provide them with vit. D supplements, allowing them to get calcium from more natural sources. Sepia bones come first to my mind, as natural sources. My parakeets (when I had them) would really enjoy nibbling on these bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My longest-living parakeet lived about 8 years. No walks in the park, no tanning under the sun, no vitamin supplements. We provided, additionally to his seeds, plenty of vegetables and fruits. He went almost crazy after pretty much &quot;any&quot; green leaves (suitable for human consumption). Parsley and dandelion leaves were the most common. Carrot roots, potatoes were also in his diet. Boiled eggs (white and yellow parts). Lettuce leaves. Apples. And so on. Also, he had the habit of &quot;having to&quot; taste pretty much anything that we ate - especially soups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His death was unlikely to have been caused by lack of any vitamin. He had plenty of natural light, either through closed windows (not much UV light), or (occasionally) through open windows protected with mashes against insects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T09:57:09.577" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T09:57:09.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26895" CreationDate="2020-01-20T10:22:33.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Repitition, Routine and Patience.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three massive things in most animals lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention he keeps trying to hide and was becoming quite aggressive... I have to ask does he have enough safe spaces he can climb up onto? Cats need a lot of stimulation and can really benefit from having shelves and climing towers. This could boost his mood and make him more amenable.&#xA;Don't forget to play with him daily. If he's ready to fight and that's out of character then he could just have excess energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must admit him running away when you walked in and he was using the litter tray doesn't suggest that he's scared of you particularly it's more of he's unsure of what is his and what isn't along with he wasn't expecting you to be there at that moment in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to the vet visit you unknowingly got yourself in a routine with this cat and their eardrops. Thus, although they were not happy to recieve them but they still begrudgingly put up with them but then one day the eardrops stopped and so he adapted to this new routine of not needing them applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately as he put up quite a fight the last time you attempted to put ear drops in he's probably realised that this is a good way to get out of having the medication and will try to put up a fight from now on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would I do? If he's being very extreme and it's all getting a bit too much for you: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use an empty bottle of eardrops (or similarly shaped item,) first. &#xA;Just get him used to the idea that the eardrop bottle isn't always a horrible experience. Sometimes the bottle will just be there to pet him or pop some tuna in it. This way he won't be trying to run anywhere instantly at the sight of the bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can progress to using the bottle in one hand and distracting with food or a toy with the other. Finally after some time you'll be able to do the eardrops and then give him his favourite treat/toy as a reward.&#xA;It will never be pretty but this method should make it slightly easier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;important side note:&lt;/strong&gt; I wouldn't interrupt his normal feeding time with this practice. You don't want to get him axious around food time you want to create a new event in his day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say that we had a norweigian forest cat and in the last few months of his life had to give him painkillers in a paste. It was the hardest thing I've had to do to date. It was always a two man job, one to hold him down while the other fed him the paste and we had bought leather gloves just to deal with him biting and scratching us. He would run away once we were finished but it really doesn't matter. With an animal it's important to note that their wellbeing comes before how you're feeling personally. It broke my heart to see him that way but there was no other alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also know cat owners who dread defleeing and worming their cats as this too is also a fight. Unfortunately these things can't be avoided and we must battle through regardless of what the cat thinks of us after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I commend you for coming this far, anxiety and extreme empathy aren't easy to live with when you have a pet but I promise you can pull through this.&#xA;Remember, the cat doesn't necessarily think you're a threat. He's just not used to you. 2 months is still a short amount of time for an animal to acclimate to it's new surroundings and get into a solid routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're still struggling you can look up &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My Cat From Hell&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;these series are bound to provide you with lots of ideas to help you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T10:22:33.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26893" CreationDate="2020-01-20T11:24:25.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short Answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, but it's better than others I have seen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long Answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately pet shops have assured us that keeping hamsters in small cages is perfectly fine and that they like living in such conditions. This is simply not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a Syrian hamster I would reccomend &lt;code&gt;1m x 50cm&lt;/code&gt; of continous floor space. (Uninterrupted by pipes, extensions and the like.) This is possibly more generous than other suggestions online. However, this will also ensure that there's enough space for you to put some &quot;fun&quot; items into without crowding the box too much.&#xA;For a dwarf hamster &lt;code&gt;80cm x 40cm&lt;/code&gt; should be suitable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But my hamster cage has two floors... Doesn't this help with cage&#xA;  size?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does, by all means don't take this answer as critisism it's simply reccomendations to ensure that both you and your hamster have the best experience. &#xA;However, if you imagine your hamster in the wild what natural behaviour do you believe it would exhibit? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer: They are ground burrowers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in effect, you're better off giving them a large ground floor space with deep littering. But we will get onto that in a moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are no sensibly priced hamster cages on the market with that amount of space.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is correct. Unfortunately the pet market makes so much money advertising these smaller cages in a variety of colours and with extra &quot;add-ons&quot;. That nobody has stretched into creating bigger cages. However, don't let this put you off!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A plastic storage container&lt;/strong&gt; from most homeware stores can double up as a large hamster cage. These tend to be either cheaper or competitively priced with store bought cages and you can have fun designing your own lid (with plenty of breathable holes!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What does deep littering mean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Deep littering means having a thick base layer for your hamster. (it's also common in horse beds.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see that you have a good amount of litter in your hamster cages and as a general rule of thumb I would put in 2-3 inches around the base and 4-5 possibly even 6 inches of bedding in a corner that you know they like to burrow or bed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't have the funds/I don't want to change out my current hamster set up.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I've just paid for this set up... I don't want to just get rid of it:&lt;/strong&gt; No problem, you can extend this set up into a storage box. Just measure up and cut out some holes in the storage box so you can connect the pipes (be careful it's not too big or your hamster will squeeze through the sides.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lack of funds:&lt;/strong&gt; No issue your hamster should live in its current establishment fine. It may get a stressed or start showing unwanted behaviour after a while but it is &quot;livable&quot; so long as its basic needs are met. Make sure you take them out regularly in a hamster ball so they can burn off their energy and roam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How many items are too many items?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your set up here there is no need for the two wooded houses they're just reducing the hamster's space. One should be just fine, after all your hamster can only use one at a time anyway. Pop one house out and keep it as a replacement for when your hamster chews the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two food bowls aren't a neccessity either. I would pull one out and keep the other as your hamster's regular feeding station.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your enrichments with chewable items and food sticks sound fine to me, just be sure that they aren't huge and that your hamster has enough space and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps you on your journey through hamster ownership. Let me know if you have any other questions, if something I've said needs clarifying or I've missed anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-01-20T11:44:05.837" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T11:44:05.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17656" CreationDate="2020-01-20T23:06:16.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat does it while you are cleaning it, it may mean that they want a clean litter box! If they do it while you are cleaning it, then they think you will clean what they just did and it will be clean longer... Just a though. My little one does this. I let her so I can clean it after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17205" LastActivityDate="2020-01-20T23:06:16.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-21T02:51:28.103" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to use distilled water to mist my treefrog enclosure, but give it water with minerals in it for the water Bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17206" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T02:51:28.103" Title="Distilled water for misting my tree frog enclosure" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;salamanders&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26918" CreationDate="2020-01-21T06:57:52.010" Score="23" ViewCount="10910" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our indoor/outdoor cat of six years is being strange this week. Exhibiting the following behaviors randomly on and off:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urinating and defecating on the floors/rugs openly (but still occasionally using litter box)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking low to the ground as if she is hunting or scared&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refusing to leave certain rooms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refusing to go outside, which is normally her favorite thing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are concerned but can't tell what is causing this. In the past week, my wife was out of town for a week (this has happened before). It snowed here, so she was inside for a few days (happened once before.) She used to have a cat scratching post outside and some other neighbor cats around, but these are gone now since our neighbors moved. She was fixed at year one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've only seen her walking like this (slow and low to the ground) when we move houses, which has only happened a few times in her life. We don't know if this is something we need to address.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17208" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T08:54:01.350" LastActivityDate="2020-04-10T15:15:12.147" Title="Cat behaving strangely for no apparent reason" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26916" CreationDate="2020-01-21T10:26:39.273" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slow and walking to the ground is sounding like she feels threatened or panicked... You say going outside is her favourite thing. Is it in a cat garden? If not is it possible she's injured or something/someone has attacked her? If these behaviours are not constant then she may be in intermittent pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly I would check her for external injuries. They may not be openly visible so I would reccomend rubbing a while tissue on her, this will pick up any traces of blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now check her urine, can you see any signs of blood? Does she put up a fight if you rub around her bladder area? It's possible that she could have bladder or kidney stones which are causing her pain/urination problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mention you've had snow, your wife hasn't been home and she hasn't really gone outside. Are these correlated? Is snow frequent in your area? Does this happen every time it's cold/snows outside? It could be that she's becoming athritic and the colder weather is causing pain on her joints. Thus, no longer wanting to go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be honest with these are mostly just educated guesses as it's almost impossible to tell without seeing the cat in person or watching their behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal option would honestly be a vet checkup. A quick vet check up can rule out any long term illnesses and ensure that you aren't proloning pain. As well as giving you peace of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T10:26:39.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26916" CreationDate="2020-01-21T10:45:00.517" Score="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every thing you say in your question makes me think your cat is in pain, urinating and defecating on the floor but sometimes using the litterbox (pain using the litterbox).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving low to the ground, pain when walking (urinary tract infection pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does not want to leave the room, does not want to move as this causes pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does not want to go outside, not feeling well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this makes me think that this is not a reaction to fear of other cats or anything in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to take your cat to the vet as this is not normal for a six year old cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="12259" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T05:52:45.203" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T05:52:45.203" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6000" CreationDate="2020-01-21T11:29:14.967" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you take a cat that was neutered as a baby and place it side by side with an un-neutered cat, you can immediately tell that the cat that still has its hormones is more muscular and confident of itself.  A neutered cat is more insecure, smaller in size, and tends to Have obesity health problems because they lose their testosterone drive, which is important in regulating eating and exercise habits.  They more often than not have to be put on strict diet control. Human owners have to control this problem because they no longer have the ability to regulate themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are like the palace eunuchs of China.  Boys who lead boring lives, no sexual gratification, and have slim bodies and high pitched voices like girls. They can no longer have a masculine/feminine identity and are labeled as sexual orientation (X).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This only applies to me for cats that are neutered as early as babies.  I don’t know if this applies to cats that are allowed to develop important hormones (delay until 6 months old). I haven’t researched about cats that are allowed to keep their hormones until 6 months of age and neutered when they reach maturity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17209" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T13:49:30.027" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T13:49:30.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7714" CreationDate="2020-01-21T16:02:21.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes there honestly isn't that much or any warning. Like in the case you do something to the cat that causes it pain or discomfort, it could bite without any telltale signs. And this can be from something that you had no idea was tender. For instance, if your cat has arthritis you are unaware of, it can look perfectly fine, but touching it in the arthritic area could cause pain that makes it lash out at you without warning.  Meanwhile, other cats are more gentle, or if it isn't very painful or discomforting, sometimes they won't necessarily go all out. They might suddenly put their mouth around you without actually biting down or use a paw to push your hand away. If you unexpectedly see any of this sort of behavior, then it may be advisable to take your animal to the vet, as your pet may have an illness or injury you weren't aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other times you will have warning, if you know what to look for. A common case where you do have warning is if you pet the cat too intensely, and it gets over stimulated (that is, it seems to enjoy it until it doesn't, despite you not changing how you're petting it) or it's generally irritated with what it perceives as being too rough handling. In this sort of case, the cat will often start to visibly tense up versus the normal relaxed posture that's a sign that it's enjoying being petted. If it's relaxed, it'll partially close or completely close its eyes as if it's going to sleep. A tense cat's eyes may be fully open, or be tensely squinting. Another sign is the ears. A relaxed cat's ears are fully erect, whereas a tense cat's ears are usually very slightly down from the fully erect position. Other possible signs are twitching of the skin on its back and lashing of the tail. The cat will give in general a more alert and tense sort of impression. If your cat gets easily over stimulated or dislikes the way you pet it, then you should tone down your petting. Long strokes all the way down the back, even gentle ones, still seem to be very intense for some cats. It's much more calming to stick to petting the head and neck. Most cats especially like petting under the chin or on the cheeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last reason it might bite is because it's trying to play with you. Sometimes when petting, especially if you get a little more energetic or rough or petting it on the belly, the cat might interpret that as trying to initiate play. The signs it's becoming playful are similar to those of being overstimulated, except that with play, it will give an impression of sudden alertness. Its eyes will open wide, and it might start really obviously watching you in order to be ready to pounce. Or if might randomly run up to you and try to bite or wrestle when you're minding your own business. This is generally really obvious, as cats don't normally attack people out of nowhere, but they'll try to surprise you when they're playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-01-21T16:13:43.513" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T16:13:43.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-21T17:22:47.053" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a small house with 5 people inside. Years ago my cat had escaped the house and came back 1 week later. My mom won't let him inside and I feel bad for him. He usually waits for me outside of the door staring at me then when I go outside and pet him he starts purring. However, he only waits for me when my mom pets him too. He's been outside for over 7 years and he so far has no ticks but I can't tell if he has worms or other stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How come my cat only waits for me to pet him?&#xA;And how do I convince my mom to let him inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17211" LastActivityDate="2020-07-02T03:49:13.383" Title="Why does my outdoor cat always waiting for me and only me to pet it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26916" CreationDate="2020-01-21T18:57:37.627" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is their behaviour when they are sick or in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They avoid the places that they associate with pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trond has the most likely cause - if there is a UTI or partial blockage (more common with males), they associate the pain with elimination, and start avoiding the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd get her to a vet now, as the problem has been going on for a few days, and could be serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17212" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T18:57:37.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7714" CreationDate="2020-01-21T21:58:21.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have noted, there is a difference between a nip and a bite. A nip is when they put their teeth on you but apply little or no pressure; they are trying to get your attention without actually hurting or injuring you. A bite is hard enough to break the skin and cause pain. Do note that kittens may need to be taught the difference, especially if there are no other cats in the home for them to play-fight with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some common warning signs of an impending bite are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purring stops&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swishing tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flattened ears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dilated pupils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Staring with no blinking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Swatting/Pushing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Struggling (if held)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nipping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hissing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be other signs for a particular cat; they all have their own personality quirks, just like humans. Regardless, &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; of the signs on this list mean it's best to stop touching (or approaching) the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, if the cat knows and trusts you but just doesn't want to be touched at the moment, they will gently nip your hand or push it away, which is pretty self-explanatory. It you don't heed that warning, though, they may escalate depending on how annoyed they are (and their individual personality). If you do heed it, though, that will build/reinforce their trust in you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strangers usually can't get close enough that a nip or push makes sense; a cat that feels threatened will prefer to keep their distance by walking (or running) away. If cornered, they will warn with a hiss or growl and, if that doesn't work, go straight to attacking, usually with both teeth and claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T21:58:21.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11135" CreationDate="2020-01-21T22:27:40.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat jumped on purpose and isn't limping or showing other signs of distress, which cats are pretty good at hiding anyway, I would just keep an eye on him to make sure it doesn't worsen. If he does it again, that's a pretty good sign it didn't hurt him the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's favoring a paw/leg but still using it when needed, consider a vet visit, but odds are it's just a sprain that will heal on its own within a day, i.e. before you can probably get a vet appointment anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's not using a paw/leg &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt;, though, that merits an immediate trip to a pet hospital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-21T22:27:40.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-22T06:29:43.723" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just started to study the topic of cold water aquariums. I ended up quite quickly to &lt;a href=&quot;https://aquariumtidings.com/how-to-culture-blackworms-black-worms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;, offering some insight on how to grow blackworms as food for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The end of the story gave me mixed feelings. While I understand partially the point of the warning, I see it more as a &amp;quot;I want it!&amp;quot; - I will give up the worry of feeding the fish ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed more worms than the fish can quickly eat, they may establish themselves in your tank, and there is nothing that ruins a show tank faster, than hundreds of little worms waving at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, that statement somehow conflicts with another statement earlier in the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A blackworm culture will be able to provide a few worms a day for harvesting – but anymore and you will quickly deplete the culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now which one is true? Hundreds of worms breeding out of control? Or quick depletion is at the horizon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, do you have the experience of the worms on the bottom of the aquarium? Do they look really horror? I am especially interested in personal experience with the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T22:02:10.023" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T22:02:10.023" Title="Blackworms and aquariums" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11135" CreationDate="2020-01-22T07:55:13.360" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The responsibility of being a pet parent to either a cat or dog, well as other exotic animals come with responsibilities. These commitments is merely providing food and shelter, but requires a great deal of patience, attentiveness, among other virtues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must admit that eventually it pays out. This is given the sense of accomplishment and companionship that cannot be explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, understanding and observing your cat is what should determine further actions. Probably checking out his body parts to make sure your cat isn't feeling hurt is crucial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17217" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T07:55:13.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26927" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26930" CreationDate="2020-01-22T09:11:42.347" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat is 3 years old, and for the last year and a half or so, she became very stressed out regarding any unexpected little noise. For instance, grazing a cardboard, coughing, the creasing of a paper, even the sound of fabric when crossing legs sometimes. She will either just jump, or, more often, run away as quickly as possible. But she will also calm down in a matter of seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But she isn't afraid of noise per se. She doesn't care that much about a vacuum cleaner noise, loud music, lot of unknown people talking loudly in the room (in which case she'll come and stay around us). Even when she travels, with her in a bag, and in loud places (train stations for instance), she is rather calm, and more curious than wary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We live in a rather calm place, and we never heard any external noise that seemed to scare her. We both work, and when we come back home she is usually rolling on the floor asking to be pet. She isn't a very cuddly cat, but can spend dozens of minutes on our lap, purring (especially when she is hungry). She also loves to play, although we could play with her more (we both work, and we play with her for a few minutes most of evenings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only stress-related event that happened to her was one time another cat that came to her territory (a rooftop terrace of a 50m² flat). It lasted a few weeks, maybe 2 years ago, but his owner was comprehensive of the situation and prevented him to wander there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, apart from these noises that make her very stressed out for a few seconds, she seems perfectly happy. Any idea what could be causing this, and what we could do to make her more serene?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17221" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T16:19:10.137" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T16:19:10.137" Title="How can I reduce sound-related stress for my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26929" CreationDate="2020-01-22T11:04:19.343" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26925/blackworms-and-aquariums&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; I have another one. I was not able to find an answer, although it might exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to populate a fish aquarium in such way that it requires &quot;zero&quot; maintenance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which fish?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which &quot;food&quot;? (worms, shrimps...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which plants?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;which hardware?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I mean by that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all the food grows there (worms, shrimps, plants) in enough quantity for food and for population maintenance;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the fish have full life-cycles (get born, live, die in-there); at least some of the fish;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can make it with as few devices as possible: heaters, air pumps, filters, feeders, lights...; my best guess is that at least a mechanical water filter is necessary;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should be free of pests (or: pests will be naturally removed by the ecosystem - snails, algae, food colonies...);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should be &quot;as small as possible&quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should look acceptably good;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should &quot;decently&quot; survive electric power failures without battery-backed or combustion-engine backed power supplies; what would be the longest time expected before irreparable damage happens to the ecosystem?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have managed something &quot;close&quot; with my bowl:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no air pump;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no artificial light (no live plants either);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;long lived healthy fish;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;only mechanical filtration with some bubble making (I allowed the filtered water to fall on the surface of the aquarium water from small height);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;filtering medium washed 2-3 times per year;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some dry food added daily;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some water added to compensate for evaporation;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware that some of the conditions seem conflicting, but I am curios to learn from your experience what is the best I could get (IF I would start this endeavor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, a considerably large pond connected to flowing fresh water will be the best, but that is out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T19:54:22.543" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T19:54:22.543" Title="Aquarium - &quot;full&quot; ecosystem?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26928" CreationDate="2020-01-22T13:44:56.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question of yours is too large for one single answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot answer what type of plants and animals are the best for your setup - it depends on how easy or complicated you want it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes, it is possible to make a fully self-sustaining closed ecosystem; if you search for closed ecosystem or ecosystem in a bottle on the Internet, you will get several hits - like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instructables.com/id/A-Closed-Ecosystem/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; (source: instructables.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to make this type of setup in the largest glass bottle/container you can lay your hands on, and you need to be able to seal it so nothing goes in or out after you have closed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Closed-Aquatic-Ecosystem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a link to a relevant article on wikiHow&lt;/a&gt; with more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to use aquarium water and a clean container, and you will have to be sure the level of nutrients is at a level the plants and animals can handle and this is a lot harder than you might think (the nutrient level needs to be low to maintain a healthy system to avoid excess waste products).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One type of plant you will want in your setup is plants in the &lt;em&gt;Elodea&lt;/em&gt; genus they grow fast and produces lots of oxygen by removing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from the water. The level of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will limit the growth, so it will be self-controlling to some degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to read a lot before you start this project if you want to be successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T19:36:14.900" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T19:36:14.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26927" CreationDate="2020-01-22T19:21:07.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is okay in noisy environments, then it sounds like she is afraid of sudden, unexpected noises. This is fairly normal (for all animals) because a sudden, unexpected noise could be a predator or intruder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that has helped with my cats in the past is to give them some low background noise, such as a radio or TV. This drowns out most short, soft, unexpected noises that aren't actually a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of a jungle or other environment that a wild cat inhabits: there is usually background noise from insects, birds, etc. and the cat doesn't react to them; they're actually comforting because it means everything is normal. Only noise &lt;em&gt;above&lt;/em&gt; the background is significant. If the birds and insects suddenly get quiet, then every noise that breaks the silence is significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-22T19:21:07.433" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26937" CreationDate="2020-01-23T00:30:36.363" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am planning on boiling a mixture of water and bleach to lighten fabric. Will there be fumes that are harmful to my bird?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T07:18:30.863" Title="Would boiling bleach and water be harmful to my bird?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-23T02:21:08.733" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last Saturday a cat walked into my apartment and wouldn't leave.  He was clean, seemed well fed, and had a collar on, so I assumed he belonged to someone in my complex.  I took him to the vet and he is not microchipped, posted him on several lost pet boards in the area, etc.  I am still actively trying to find his owners and holding onto him in the meantime.  He has not left my apartment or been around any other animals since last Saturday; when he first came in, there were no visible scars/wounds/etc. on his body that I caught.  He just hopped up on my bed and I saw this wound behind his ear: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xGdJF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xGdJF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not seem to be in pain and is not acting strange.  The only vet in my area only has an open appointment next Monday (which I scheduled).  I do not know any of his history.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a bad wound?  What should I do?  Can I clean it - if so, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my first time having anything like this happen to an animal around me, so I'm sorry for being clueless.  Thank you for any assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17226" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T04:27:51.430" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T19:51:17.923" Title="Stray/Abandoned/Lost cat wandered into apartment; found fresh wound behind ear" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-23T03:27:28.827" Score="-1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male leopard gecko is not eating, and hasn’t been. The vet told us they did not see anything wrong but, we are very worried about him. He is getting red spots all over his body. HELP! He is eating a paste given to us by the vet. It gives him all the nutrients he needs while he won’t eat. We have to force feed him. He is supposed to love it, but he hates it. He has a lot of space, the tank is about 2 and 1/2 feet long, and 1 and a 1/2 feet wide. The temperature is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. We have not changed calcium powders recently and I will add pictures in a few hours. Thankyou so much for your help! &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://share.icloud.com/photos/0l4SeFrOngB1o5--BCBCXeMEg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://share.icloud.com/photos/0l4SeFrOngB1o5--BCBCXeMEg&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://share.icloud.com/photos/06GsC8ttvEuYae_26cVwIL9fA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://share.icloud.com/photos/06GsC8ttvEuYae_26cVwIL9fA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17227" LastEditorUserId="17227" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T20:37:11.377" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T12:01:25.210" Title="My leopard gecko has a huge issue" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-23T04:05:11.017" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a 5-month-old feral kitten who had been fostered for socialization. Initially she was very skittish so I kept her in a small room in which I could reach into her hiding spots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She stiffened and shook with fear when I picked her up and held her, but eventually would relax and purr. When I would try to hold her again, she would be back at ground zero (for zero progress). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I’ve had her for six weeks, she has access to my whole house and has made friends with my older cat. Yet I’m still unable to approach her. If I take one step in her general direction or even if our eyes meet, she races away to hide in an inaccessible hiding spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now will initiate contact with me only when I’m sitting on my couch or on my bed (probably because she copied the older cat doing so). Then she’ll plop down beside me, relax, and accept pets and tickles. The moment I stand up from the couch she’ll speed away and hide. The moment I take one step away from my bed I suddenly turn into a Scary Monster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually try to act chill and not push her to be touched. She’ll accept treats if I throw them near her, but she won’t come up to my hand. She’ll run after balls if I throw them near her, but she won’t interact with strings or wands that I pull. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten now has giardia, and so far I have been unsuccessful at giving her the oral liquid. First I have to wait for her to join me on the couch, which doesn’t even happen every day. Then I try to wrap her up in a towel, tip her head up, and to insert the syringe. She’s an expert at gymnastically escaping my grasp and leaving my hand shredded and bloody. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get her to let me approach her? Do I have to go back to keeping her in one room without inaccessible hiding spots?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17228" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-23T04:29:23.207" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T12:02:02.233" Title="How can I get my feral kitten to let me approach her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26932" CreationDate="2020-01-23T06:56:20.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wound does not look bad so the vet will probably not do anything about it, except cleaning it and looking for signs of an infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat does obviously have an owner somewhere missing the cat; I hope you will find the owner soon, it is a terrible feeling when one's cat is missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To find the owner, you need to use the local shops to hang pictures and notes about the cat you have found; put a note at the vet, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat wants to go outside, you need to let it go; it is highly likely it will walk home on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T19:51:17.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T19:51:17.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26931" CreationDate="2020-01-23T07:18:30.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What type of bleach are you using,You need to take a look at the container is it hydrogen peroxide or chlorine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hydrogen peroxide do only release oxygen and is not toxic,Hydrogen peroxide breaks down and do only release water and oxygen when heated,so it is safe to use in the same room as you and the bird are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chlorine do release chlorine gas and is very toxic to you and the bird,When you heat chlorine a large amount will go into the air(chlorine gas was first used during the first world war to kill the enemy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;please take a look here &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach&lt;/a&gt; to learn more about the different types of bleach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T07:18:30.863" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26932" CreationDate="2020-01-23T08:06:09.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This wound doesn't look bad at all and you can probably cancel the vet appointment if it doesn't get worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking closely, you can see some dry scab below the ear that is almost skin color. That's probably why you didn't notice it at first. Skin color means that the wound didn't bleed when it scabbed over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like in humans, healing wounds itch and the cat probably scratched himself. By doing so he might have pulled off a piece of scab which caused the minor bleeding. Nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice that he scratches himself very often around the ear or that he loses hair in that area, he might have something in his ear like mites, dirt or excess ear wax. That is something that should be checked by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise he looks very healthy and well cared-for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T08:06:09.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27000" CreationDate="2020-01-23T11:39:57.440" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;strong&gt;How can I bridle a young horse.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently purchased a now three year old Appaloosa Filly who had not been touched prior to purchase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I've taught her to put on her own headcolllar, pick up her feet when asked, stand to be groomed/showered and be rugged as well as stand for vet inspections/jabs and medical care (bandages etc.) Among other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm struggling with ideas on how to get her used to the idea of being bridled. I have bridled her five times already (Not without its challenges). But, she's now beginning to put up a fight. (Throwing her head up in the air, spinning around the box.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to manhandle her head into it every time as when she gets to 16hh+ It will become a battle I simply cannot win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried coaxing her in with treats but with one hand on the bit and the other on the bridle it's remarkably difficult to reward her at the right time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other things to note:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will put her head down when asked and angle her head to the side/towards me without any issues.&#xA;She is quite sensitive about the bridge of her nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My next idea&lt;/strong&gt; is to cover the bit in some form of flavoursome syrup or liquid E.G salt lick residue and get her used to getting the bit in her mouth without the bridle, then the bridle on it's own and then the combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that fails I'm curious to see if anyone has any different methods of starting a young horse in a bridle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T10:48:47.263" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T11:35:43.153" Title="How to bridle a young horse" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-23T13:25:51.970" Score="3" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background info: my indoor rabbit is a castrated male who free roams when I’m home. He is overall a happy bun since I take good care of him and take him yearly to the vet to get his shots and to get a health checkup. He shows his happiness with many binkies and flops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However when he was small (before the age of 1) he broke his leg due to a bad jump. This injury healed after time and treatment. He can jump and run fine (though he can’t move his toes on that foot anymore). However I do notice he often stretches out his once broken leg when he sits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he turned 2 he has however, gotten quite jumpy and somewhat aggressive towards to me whenever I move things around in his cage. For example when adding hay, taking out his food bowl etc. He makes a loud honking sound whenever I do these actions and sometimes charges at my hand. He has also bitten me when charging (it’s not a hard bite, just a warning). I don't believe he is aggressive but simply fearful of either the motion of my hand or the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt;: could this behaviour be caused by trauma from his past injury? Or is this territorial behaviour, even if he's neutered? Or is there a different reason I have yet to consider?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to hear if anyone has similar experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17234" LastActivityDate="2020-01-23T13:25:51.970" Title="Bunny honks and sometimes charges at my hands when moving things around" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11358" CreationDate="2020-01-23T19:53:56.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to bring them with me when I visited her, so that they can play with each other and all that stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First things first: &lt;strong&gt;cats are not small dogs&lt;/strong&gt;. You cannot expect them to behave like dogs; they're completely different animals. While dogs are social pack animals that enjoy &amp;quot;play dates&amp;quot; with other dogs and will typically get used to each other quickly (with some exceptions, as with any living creature), cats are much more solitary and territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may note that the number of cats walked on leashes in public is much lower than dogs; that there are no &amp;quot;cat parks&amp;quot; for them to play in; that there aren't outdoor &amp;quot;cat patios&amp;quot; at restaurants; there's not a lot of &amp;quot;cat boarding&amp;quot; options and no &amp;quot;kitty daycare&amp;quot; businesses. Cats set their territory, stay in it, and don't like invaders in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a true reason for introducing them to each other, the answers for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/4371/recommendations-for-introducing-adult-cats-to-newly-adopted-adult-cats&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing adult cats to newly adopted adult cats&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/83/recommendations-for-introducing-kittens-to-adult-cats&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt; may be of help, but &lt;strong&gt;you first need to stop thinking of them as dogs&lt;/strong&gt;. They aren't &amp;quot;bowing down&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;approaching slowly to show no harm.&amp;quot; They're stalking an opponent, who's outnumbered and anxious because there's suddenly two strangers in her territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it would be nice if they would get along fine. That way we could give them to someone together when we want to go for holiday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, too, is still dog-thinking. Just as cats don't like to have invaders in their territory, they don't like to leave it, either. The best option for a cat, when the owner goes on a trip, is to stay in their house with a caretaker either staying with them, or checking in periodically. The questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7478/what-information-should-we-leave-for-a-cat-sitter-cattery&quot;&gt;What information should we leave for a cat sitter/cattery?&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23573/first-time-cat-sitting-what-should-i-do&quot;&gt;First time cat sitting - what should I do?&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23228/pet-sitting-best-practice&quot;&gt;Pet sitting best practice&lt;/a&gt; are useful for understanding pet sitting in general, and cat sitting specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, however, unless you're planning to move in with your mother, or your mother with you, &lt;strong&gt;stop trying to force your cats on each other. It's stressful to everyone involved&lt;/strong&gt;, with no current benefit to anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T14:23:22.090" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T14:23:22.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27151" CreationDate="2020-01-23T23:20:17.723" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I set up a 5.5&amp;nbsp;gallon (21&amp;nbsp;liters) tank and just purchased an 8&amp;nbsp;gallon (30&amp;nbsp;liters) tank. What's the easiest way to move the saltwater from the old tank into the new tank without screwing up the salinity levels? I wasn't sure if I should add 2.5&amp;nbsp;gallons (9.5&amp;nbsp;liters) of new saltwater to it or a little bit of that and RO water for the new tank size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I have in the tank right now is 6&amp;nbsp;lbs (3&amp;nbsp;kg) of live rock, 5lbs (2.5 kg) of live sand, and 5 red legged hermit crabs. I just set up the tank on Sunday (Jan 19th, 2020).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T23:09:11.063" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T03:01:07.383" Title="How to transfer established saltwater into a bigger tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;&lt;reef-tank&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-24T10:08:11.517" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cats prefer familiar surroundings, people they know, warm soft surfaces, the ability to go wherever they please, and exactly as much petting as they want (and absolutely no more than that. Or else. Seriously human, you have been warned.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By contrast, when a cat goes to the vet they get confined in a small box, taken to a strange new place, let out onto a cold hard surface, and controlled firmly by a complete stranger. What’s more, this stranger may give them pills, shots, and what I’ll delicately refer to as “surprise thermometer.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why do I see so many videos of cats adoring their vets? Like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5-EWPQ5wCU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How on earth do vets achieve this? If I pet a cat even slightly wrong I risk losing a limb. Are vets taught secret kitty-control techniques? Ancient ways passed down over the centuries by the wise kitty-masters of Mu? Can I learn these techniques? Or is it just a knack, which you’ve either got or not got? (I have not got, apparently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it not the norm at all, and just something that people post videos of because it’s unusual (and adorable)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17243" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T17:59:16.957" Title="Why do cats love vets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-24T10:46:10.767" Score="2" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;Horses can choke on chunks of vegetables like carrot or sweet potato.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be clear - when horses suffer choke - it does not mean the food goes down the wrong pipe. It means the food is lodged in the oesophagus and will not shift. This can press on the windpipe if severe enough, but usually what will happen if the horse cannot resolve the choke, the horse will be unable to eat or drink and will die of dehydration. Saliva may also slip into the trachea and cause pneumonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should vegetables and fruit be cut up in a way to minimise the risk of choking in horses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/15464/what-treats-are-safe-for-horses&quot;&gt;What treats are safe for horses?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T11:24:32.690" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T12:46:51.040" Title="How to cut up vegetables and fruit for horses" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26916" CreationDate="2020-01-24T14:59:32.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cat like that.  It turned out to be diabetes.  After the diagnosis it was checking urine samples and daily injections of insulin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17244" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T14:59:32.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26948" CreationDate="2020-01-24T17:59:16.957" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most cats do NOT like going to the vet, largely for the reasons you listed. However, cats hiding in corners, under furniture, or in their carriers aren't much fun to either watch or film, so you won't see many videos like these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are cats who don't mind vet trips, or may even enjoy them to a degree, but these cats are already more social than average and tend to not mind outings in general. To them, this is just another outing, with someone who's paying attention to them, and as long as the experiences remain largely positive (nothing more traumatic than shots or temperature being taken), they'll generally continue to enjoy them. And, as their interactions with the vets are pleasing to watch, those are what you'll tend to see represented in videos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T17:59:16.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-24T19:18:12.613" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the pet shops I have seen a lot of various pellets as rabbit food.&#xA;If there is so much it must be a good food, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the risk in feeding pellets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T00:26:13.330" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T00:26:13.330" Title="What risk is given if I feed my rabbit pellets?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26952" CreationDate="2020-01-24T20:19:14.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First point: look at the description of the pellets. Are there any facts of what they are made of? If no, then do not buy them! In any case!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, pellets are made of &lt;strong&gt;waste&lt;/strong&gt; from the manufacturing process of other vegetable products; for example peelings of potatoes, carrots and other. Sometimes there could be waste from meat production, milk production and/or egg production too. (In German they are called &amp;quot;Tierische Nebenprodukte&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Milcherzeugnisse&amp;quot;). All non vegan food is not natural food for a rabbit!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pellets are produced by grinding. This causes &lt;strong&gt;very short fibres&lt;/strong&gt;. Rabbits' digestive system needs near 100 percent long fibres to work well. The muscles of digestive system are not very powerful. They could not move food with short fibres and so caused high density fast enough. This causes blockage and pain. Another consequence of short fibres is less tooth abrasion. The teeth will grow faster than be shortened by abrasion. One spoon of dry food (pellets, grain) is enough to let the teeth get longer. Next point: the rabbit will crack the pellets instead of grinding it like leaf or grass. Because of this the teeth roots are more stressed and pressed into the jaw. This causes painful visits at the vet who has to shorten the teeth or treat root abscesses. (Through the closeness between jaw and tear canals tearing eyes could be a sign for abscess!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the production of pellets the raw materials are &lt;strong&gt;extremely dried&lt;/strong&gt;. This way they are easy to grind and last longer in the packaging. This causes a high thirst in your rabbit. In nature rabbits only drink in very rare case. In general, they get all water with their fresh food (leafy and herbs). If the dry pellets become wet in the stomach, they swell. Some kinds of pellets become 5 times bigger! The rabbit is full and happy with its pellets, then gets thirsty and has no room for 5 times the &amp;quot;normal stomach intake&amp;quot;, but they are swelling on. (You could try this by yourself with one pellet in a glass and added water).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the process of drying, &lt;strong&gt;high temperatures&lt;/strong&gt; are used. All vitamins and other good ingredients are destroyed here. The vitamins written on the package are all chemical additives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To form nice little pellets from the &amp;quot;pellet flour&amp;quot;, some &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;glue&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is needed. This could be anything from sugar, over gelatine or bone flour, to chemical glue. In any case, it is nothing you want to feed your rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A high amount of &lt;strong&gt;sugar and starch&lt;/strong&gt; causes growth of yeast and bacteria in the digestive system. They replace normal digestive flora and cause sensitivities for normal natural food like cabbage. (This high amount is present in grain too. In nature, rabbits could get grain only in autumn for less weeks...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High energy&lt;/strong&gt; food causes two more problems: on one hand, the rabbit gets fat if it does not stop eating. On the other hand, if it stops it has more &amp;quot;free time&amp;quot; than a &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; eating rabbit (who is, 80 percent of time, searching for food and eating). This rabbit would probably become bored and develop strange behavior, like licking, biting or scratching itself/its home/the furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, &lt;strong&gt;colors&lt;/strong&gt; and chemical &lt;strong&gt;flavors&lt;/strong&gt; are added. The colors are meant to impress the humans (red for fruits, green for hay, yellow for grain or vegetables). And the flavour to let the human see a rabbit that &amp;quot;loves its pellets&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of other &lt;strong&gt;chemicals&lt;/strong&gt; (for example preservatives to preserve the product from spoilage, emulgators to mix unmixable things like oil and water) in most countries are not needed to be declared on the packaging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such food is often too high in &lt;strong&gt;minerals&lt;/strong&gt;. This causes bladder and kidney stones. Some packaging writes &amp;quot;with added minerals&amp;quot; on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion, pellets are a &lt;strong&gt;very high risk&lt;/strong&gt; for your rabbit's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source (German language): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/ernaehrung/futtermittel/trockenfutter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.kaninchenwiese.de&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T00:25:05.380" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T00:25:05.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-24T20:38:16.973" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that rabbits in nature have access to grains only for a few weeks in autumn. How can I use a purchased grain mix for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T21:28:20.943" LastActivityDate="2020-02-23T22:00:43.227" Title="How can I use a grain mix for rabbits, if they should not eat grains?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26954" CreationDate="2020-01-24T20:49:44.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have grain food for rabbits or other animals (birds) and you have stopped feeding it, you could let it sprout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sprouts are a very healthy food for rabbits. Especially in winter season when fresh greens are limited, sprouts are important as a source of minerals and vitamins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As sprouts, a lot of grains are well tolerated that in dry stage should not be fed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very easy. All you need is a bowl and a colander. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pour some grains and seeds in the colander. Clean them with warm water, then put the colander in the bowl and fill the bowl with warm water until the grain is all in/under water. Leave this for a few hours, but not more than overnight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drain the water and clean the grains in the colander again. Then put the colander back in the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drain, clean, and refill the colander every morning and evening with warm water until the sprouts are out and big enough for your taste. Then you can give them to your rabbits and fill the colander again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that rabbits are smart: they try a small amount of new food and wait for one or two days to see if the new food will harm them. So you have to be a little patient to see if your rabbits like the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I will enlarge this answer with a list of suitable grains and seeds)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-24T21:32:13.153" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T21:32:13.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17385" CreationDate="2020-01-24T20:59:03.957" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 months old is really young.  It sounds like she has a lot of energy, which is normal for a puppy of her age, and wants to play with everyone.  The problem is that she doesn't understand what acceptable forms of play are.  You need to engage her in play that is acceptable.  Use toys to distract her from the other animals, take her on walks, and work on structured obedience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a proponent of reward-based training, and avoid punishment as much as possible.  Aversive training methods have been proven to be less effective than reward-based alternatives, and leads to unnecessary stress and stress-related behavior.  Training a dog using reward-based training requires you to determine the specific behavior that you want to eliminate (rough play in this case), identify an acceptable alternative behavior, and then take the steps to substitute the acceptable behavior for the unacceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punishing a puppy for playing is likely to cause her to develop an aversion to other forms of engagement with other members of the household. She will see aggression as an acceptable response to engaging with another.  Instead, when she begins to become too rough, substitute in a different type of play.  Have her fetch, or chase a toy instead of other animals.  Take her for a long walk.  I don't usually recommend &quot;tug of war&quot; play because if you aren't careful, it can lead to bad habits such as toy-possessive behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy at that age needs lots of structure.  I try to stick to a very strict schedule. I let my dogs out at the same time every day. I feed my dogs 3 times a day, at the same time each day.  I also use feeding time as obedience training time.  They know what to expect and when to expect it.  They are able to learn when it is acceptable to be excited and playful, and when it's time to be calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17245" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T20:59:03.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26693" CreationDate="2020-01-24T21:36:56.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary reason for crate feeding is to encourage positive associations with the crate, but it also can help with providing additional structure and security for the dog.  It's a safe place where the dog won't feel threatened that someone else might take their food.  This removes the desire to be food-possessive.  It provides structure in consistency.  The dog learns that this is where it is fed every time.  It allows you to move the feeding location just by moving the crate, and the dog knows, even when traveling, where it will be fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides crate feeding, I like to use feeding time as obedience time.  I use the kibble as a low-value reward rather than free-feeding.  It works well to teach the dog to work for what they want, and provides a consistent time for training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17245" LastActivityDate="2020-01-24T21:36:56.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26960" CreationDate="2020-01-25T08:46:45.300" Score="0" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a horse - she is two months pregnant. We have a lot of ticks in the paddocks and I'm forever pulling ticks off her. I'm reluctant to use any products on her without knowing if it's safe for the unborn foal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What products/treatment can I use on her with safety? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see she's a mess on her face, poll, chest and legs. I'm handpicking them off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nukHX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nukHX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-25T09:24:40.717" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T22:02:59.533" Title="A safe treatment for ticks on a pregnant horse" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27183" CreationDate="2020-01-25T20:15:35.923" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take care of four cats, two three-year-olds and two 5 months old kittens. I feed them all wet feed. The kittens receive special feed suited for their age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The old and young cats eat in different rooms. During feeding time, the old cats often won't touch their food or eat very little. This became a problem, since I noticed them losing weight. However when I leave the door open they will dash straight to the bowl of kitten feed and gobble it up in a hurry. The kittens are just the same, eating a bit from their bowl but after short while looking for the food for adult cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like the adult cats won't eat anything but the feed for kittens and kitten much prefer the feed for adults. &lt;strong&gt;Is there a way I could change their taste to match their age?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both feeds are good quality, &lt;em&gt;MAC's&lt;/em&gt; canned food and are basically the same flavor. They eat it for a long time and I never had this trouble before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17248" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-25T23:51:03.660" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:20:57.893" Title="Cats and kittens won't eat their age-appriopiate food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26958" CreationDate="2020-01-25T22:02:59.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;60 days into her pregnancy you can use &lt;strong&gt;ivermectin&lt;/strong&gt; which will both deworm and kill off any latched ticks that may have been missed or too hard to get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for stopping the ticks from latching on; &lt;strong&gt;Permethrin wipes&lt;/strong&gt; are a good repellant. I would personally either purchase low content wipes or buy concentraited Permethrin and add a 10% Permethrin/water mix to a spray bottle and apply to her coat.&#xA;This way you can be sure that she won't have an adverse reaction to it as some products such as equi-spot contain 45%+ Permethrin which can cause skin reactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things to help keep ticks off her face could be applying a fly mask. It's not a guarantee but it will give them another barrier before reaching your mare's face. &#xA;I understand your reluctance to try different products when your mare is pregnant. However, please don't forget that ticks themselves can be very dangerous for both your mare and the unborn foal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, always ask your vet for another opinion!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-01-25T22:02:59.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-26T00:30:24.133" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have American Staffy female rescue from the pound 5 months a go friendly with other dogs love the play yesterday got rescue Staffy shorter breed both same age he's a male he's very friendly as well they seem to get along very well not aggressive with food but cautious early days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they play I'm worried they get a little bit too rough she likes to jump on top and pushing down even try to hump him and when he said enough and goes to lay down she still wants to play no aggressive growling she's constantly wanting to get on top of him and play when he's lying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Chase around the house plane I'm just worried if she's trying to be dominant as she is 10 kilos heavier at 27 kilos and he's about 17 kilos I can see no really loud aggressive tones when they're playing I've got a video of them playing few times it looks OK but the first time having two dogs. I've always had one dog so having two dogs how do I know if it's going to go into far they walk together great sleep in same room on the bed the great together little growl but nothing new for new dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17250" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T02:22:49.027" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T14:54:26.537" Title="How do I know if the dogs are playing too rough" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26961" CreationDate="2020-01-26T05:50:54.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds very normal. They can come across as rough, as they only have their bodies and sounds to communicate with. They will play fight and it's OK. There's a huge difference between play rough housing and real fighting. It's particularly good there's no food aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T05:50:54.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-26T08:14:28.377" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have 2 dogs, a 9 month old female collie and a 20 month old Chihuahua/jack Russell male who's neutered. We are fostering a 17 month old intact Siberian husky but seem to be having some issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is constantly trying to mount my little chihuahua/jack Russell and nibbling at his fur on his back. Would getting him neutered help this at all? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17253" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T08:53:37.133" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T15:52:32.527" Title="Dog mounting. Help" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26967" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-26T21:57:04.480" Score="1" ViewCount="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ive has a Siamese fighting fish for about a year and about a month ago he started laying on the bottom of the tank.&#xA;I have a 20L tank, heater, filter, thermometer, hiding spots plastic plants. &#xA;He used to be very active and only rested at night. He used to eat all the food I put in and then he just stopped, he’s lost colour and he’s not eating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this started I thought it would just pass but it didn’t in about a week I started researching. I’ve tried a small piece of pea, he didn’t eat it, I’ve tried two different pellet food and flakes, he didn’t eat them either. After 2 weeks I put 5 black tetras in there thinking he might be lonely, it didn’t change anything I’ve tried blood worms and mosquito larvae, he won’t eat them. &#xA;I’ve checked his water, the ph was high a week ago but it’s alright now, ( at 7.00) the temp is at 26 degrees Celsius. I do 50 % water changes once a week and clean the tank once a month. The nitrites, nitrates and ammonia levels are all good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don’t know what to do, it’s like I’ve tried everything but nothing changes anything, so I don’t know. The tetras are happy and eating. I also have a muscle in there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he just old or am I doing something wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/N1iRK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nRYMq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17257" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-26T22:36:52.780" LastActivityDate="2020-01-26T22:36:52.780" Title="Is My betta fish is sick or dying or just old" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-01-27T06:28:14.840" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26968" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26973" CreationDate="2020-01-26T22:05:36.760" Score="2" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chickens and guinea fowls will cross breed, but the young are sterile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question - do the females lay eggs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:44:35.950" Title="Do guinea fowl chicken crosses lay eggs?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26968" CreationDate="2020-01-27T15:15:02.343" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know anything about chicken. But a little about biology. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on why the cross breeds are sterile. In most cases the cross breed has reproduction organs but the cells could not match properly on a very basic level. In this case the body do not allow further steps for reproduction (like &quot;pregnancy&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if chicken in general could lay eggs without ever met a rooster the possibility is high that cross breeds could it too. I know they could play eggs without little chicken in it, but do they have to meet the rooster in before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T15:15:02.343" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26968" CreationDate="2020-01-27T17:44:35.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't say for &lt;em&gt;certain&lt;/em&gt; as there doesn't seem to be enough research surrounding them but &lt;strong&gt;I do believe they would lay eggs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eggs from a &lt;em&gt;&quot;fertile&quot;&lt;/em&gt; hen are all considered sterile until fertalised by a rooster. A hens egg is produced similarly to a human female with the expectation that she will reproduce regardless of whether or not she can or cannot successfully procreate. In other terms, in a continuous egg producing cycle until old age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An exception to this case would be if the guin-hen hybrid had not been born with the reproductive organs required to create an egg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's notoriously difficult to breed hens/females of almost any hybrid, particularly in birds. In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50763-3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this experiment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; with a particular pairing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Out of the 701 hybrid eggs produced only 1 hatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which would explain why this particular subject is not thoroughly researched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did also stumble across &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Guineas/BRKGuinHybrid.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this page&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. However, it does not seem to provide much information other than they have successfully bred hybrid hens. Unfortunately I can't find any information on whether or not those hybrid hens are active layers and the website has not been updated in a while although there's no harm in emailing them to enquire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally I located &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/poultry/diseases-of-farmyard-poultry/part-6-breeding-and-egg-production/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this webpage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; which suggests that hybrid hens will lay start to lay around their 20th week and continue through the winter but cutting short at around 2-3 years. This page provides information for Chickens and guinea fowl seperately but does not specify its meaning of &quot;hybrid&quot; and whether or not that includes guin-hens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll update this post if I find anything else that would suggest that a guin-hen can/not lay eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-01-27T17:44:35.950" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27834" CreationDate="2020-01-27T18:35:49.407" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;There aren't many infections which would be more evil than RHD and RHD2 for rabbits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can they spread?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T11:29:38.720" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T11:29:38.720" Title="How does RHD/RHD2 transmit from rabbit to rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-27T23:34:33.210" Score="2" ViewCount="630" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently added a small snail to my tank and two moss balls. The snail is smaller than an an inch. However, when I got home I noticed my betta had started making a bubble nest, I'm not sure if that is relevant to this. I've had him for about two weeks now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put the snail in a cup floating in the water to get acclimated to the temperature and to see how my betta would react. He didn't seem to care much so after about an hour I put the snail in and they got along fine, neither cared that the other was in there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few hours later the snail crawled into his plant and the betta began flaring at the snail. It crawled up the wall of my tank near the bubble nest and the fish began getting more aggressive. He nipped at his shell and my fish has been acting weird since. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to leave for the day so I put the snail back in the floating cup so he won't get hurt, and when I came back I removed him and put the snail back in the tank. Immediately my betta began flaring his fins and nipping at his shell, knocking him down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely sure what to do about this. My betta also has been frequently attacking his own reflection and biting his tail. I need good advice, thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17263" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T00:17:45.233" LastActivityDate="2020-07-05T20:07:20.813" Title="My betta keeps attacking my snail!" Tags="&lt;betta&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26959" CreationDate="2020-01-28T00:18:59.520" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they’re losing weight and don’t need to do so, maybe just feed them all the kitten food. It typically has a higher fat content and it won’t hurt them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T20:20:57.893" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:20:57.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27001" CreationDate="2020-01-28T00:29:08.057" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26949/how-to-cut-up-vegetables-and-fruit-for-horses&quot;&gt;not always safe to feed large chunks of food&lt;/a&gt;, so I might be wanting to feed small slices of carrot for instance. If I want the horse to take some food from my cupped hand, how can I do so and reduce the risk of being accidentally bitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pic of a baby horse with milk replacer on his nose. Just for fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vfl96.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vfl96.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-01-31T17:04:20.823" Title="How to avoid accidental bites when feeding a horse from my hand" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-28T01:08:27.880" Score="1" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Long back story below. See last paragraph for question.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat just turned 9 months old. I’ve researched and it was recommended that you free fee a kitten till 1yr old, for growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was abandoned with a sister at 2weeks. I don’t know how much colostrum or milk she got from her mother. The lady who found her bottle fed her and had her on adult wet food when she told me I had to come get her if I wanted her at 5weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I intended that she be mostly on wet food and did my research. I chose Wellness Complete Kitten Wet Food. I thought the dry food would be a small portion of her diet and didn’t research. Our vet had recommended Royal Canin S/O for our old cat for his urinary tract issues, so I assumed it’d be okay for a supplementary feed to giver her something to eat when I was at work. I wasn’t at home to do the recommended multiple small meals a day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She got to where she liked the dry food better than the wet. I’d come hone and there would be wet food left and her dry would be empty. Since it was a larger part of her diet, I looked into it and found out their food, at least the Royal Canin Kitten was pretty trash as far as the ingredients. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she was eating more dry than wet and was starting to gain too much weight, I switched her to their Core line of kitten food. It has better ingredients. It’s more expensive for the wet food, but I’m feeding one can a day instead of two, so the cost is roughly the same. For the last couple of months I quite free feeding and went based on their recommendation. They recommend for her age, that she gets one 3oz can of wet food and 1/2cup of dry food. I giver the wet and 1/4cup in the morning and 1/4cup in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that two issues contributing to her weight gain is that it’s Winter and activity levels are down. In the summer and fall, we sat out on the porch and she chased moths for a couple of hours every evening. She goes out some, but not much. Also, the Wellness Core Kitten Dry is 18% fat content. I don’t know how this compares to other brands, but this brand has an adult dry food fat content of 12% on the standard and 10% on the weight maintenance food. So she’s getting much more fat than she will on an adult food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, with her heading toward being over weight, do I let her keep turning into a chonker till 12months and then put her on a diet so she hits her max growth potential, or do I keep her on the kitten wet and switch her to an adult dry food with a lower fat content? I just don’t know if she’ll be missing out on key nutrients if I take her off kitten food now. Thanks. Sorry for all the back story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T14:12:55.567" Title="9 month old cat gaining weight, switch to adult food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26983" CreationDate="2020-01-28T01:50:47.490" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got this potted aquarium plant (unmarked) from my local fish store a few weeks ago thinking it was &lt;em&gt;Helanthium tenellum&lt;/em&gt;, but now that it's growing out a bit I'm not sure what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would anyone be able to help identify it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NDDA8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NDDA8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/36iXo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/36iXo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t4MrK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/t4MrK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you can see some of the root, going straight down:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YDJyS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YDJyS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't plant this one deep enough in the substrate, so you can see its roots and stem:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y6KDf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y6KDf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17264" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-11T02:13:18.777" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T02:13:18.777" Title="What aquarium plant is this?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26949" CreationDate="2020-01-28T12:41:44.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another try...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched for sources for avoiding choking of gullet of horses. In Germany there is a central organisation called &quot;FN&quot; for all activities one could do with horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pferd-aktuell.de/ausbildung/pferdehaltung/pferdefuetterung/verdauungsapparat-und-folgen-falscher-fuetterung&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;homepage&lt;/a&gt; about feeding and feeding errors show this (via Google translator)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pharyngeal blockages&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life-threatening! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Throat blockages are caused by feeding swellable, but not soaked feed (e.g. beet pulp), hasty swallowing of the crib feed (insufficient salivation), pieces of fruit and vegetables that are not chewed. Therefore: Any feed that continues to swell when hydrated must be soaked before feeding! First feed hay, then feed oats! Hay or straw chopped into the crib feed slows down the feeding speed and ensures more thorough chewing. Do not cut fruit and vegetables into small pieces before feeding!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess sweet potatoes are near beets fruits, so maybe the swell-ability played a role at your experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like you could read: they guess to NOT cut fruits and vegetable into any pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-01-28T12:46:51.040" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T12:46:51.040" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11018" CreationDate="2020-01-28T15:27:53.727" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A study conducted for the BBC, &quot;Secret Life of the Cat,&quot; tracked a number of cats and their roaming distances; while they varied by personality, the average cat roamed 40-200 meters (43-219 yards). Male cats, cats in more rural areas, and intact cats tended to roam even farther, with some roaming up to 3 km (nearly 2 miles) from their homes. (source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petplan.co.uk/pet-information/cat/advice/roaming/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petplan&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An Australian study equipped &quot;volunteer&quot; cats with GPS units and mapped their movements at night for up to 10 days (welfare of the cats themselves was given higher importance than all cats finishing the ten day study). While some of the cats did stay close to home, others were observed roaming quite far from their homes, as seen here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mo195.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mo195.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Map of cat roaming distance&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(Image source: Central Tablelands Local Land Services)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More of the maps can be found in &lt;a href=&quot;https://mashable.com/2016/05/26/cat-roam-maps/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by Mashable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you may not have observed your cat roaming very far, the owners of the cats in the Australian study had not observed theirs roaming very far, either; at least one owner, after being presented with the map of their cat's activities, chose to keep their cat indoors at night after seeing the distance traveled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to protect your cat from the highway, it's best to keep her indoors. Any number of factors could cause her to head across the highway, including chasing prey, fleeing a predator, looking for a mate (if she's intact), or trying to escape an overly aggressive suitor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-01-28T15:27:53.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26980" CreationDate="2020-01-28T19:37:20.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The top picture I think is &lt;em&gt;Najas guadalupensis&lt;/em&gt;; I cannot find anything else it could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plant in the last picture might be &lt;em&gt;Blyxa aubertii&lt;/em&gt;, though I am not sure about this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like you have two different types of plants in your tank, the &lt;em&gt;N. guadalupensis&lt;/em&gt; have many other names like guppy grass and waternymph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plant identification is hard as a result of the natural variation of where they grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-11T01:22:27.157" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T01:22:27.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-28T21:45:58.530" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 3-4 months ago, a wild cat gave birth to four kittens, likely somewhere near to our house. We first noticed them meowing and then managed to spy them playing in the overgrown bamboo behind our house, with the mother in close proximity (presumably keeping an eye on them?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, any sort of movement, noise or eye contact would startle all of them and send them scattering, so we sought online advice for the best way to hopefully care for them. The general consensus seemed to be &quot;place food out for them and gradually sit closer to it, paying no attention to them while they eat&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last few months, we believe we have slowly begun to earn their trust. We initially had to put food out a decent way from our front door and have all the curtains shut (so they knew we weren't watching them) before they would eat the food. Fast-forward to the present day and all four kittens will now happily appear in the early to late evening for their daily feed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By propping open the cat door (it was part of the house, we haven't owned any cats before), we have taught them to enter/exit through it and they will happily munch away on biscuits, wet food, treats, supermarket luncheon and tins of salmon (which they love). They haven't yet figured out how to use the cat door when it's closed (as in, they'd need to push against it to get through), even when tempted with treats from the other side. A few of them will allows us to pat them, but only if they're distracted by food, if we try to initiate without them being distracted, they all run away. They're also quite happy to be hand fed and sit/semi-sleep fairly close to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We made a little sheltered area outside for them, with a bed and protection from the rain so that they hopefully had somewhere to feel safe. They don't use it all the time, but we do occasionally catch them sleeping in the bed on our way to work in the morning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lEVgg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lEVgg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Kittens in their bed&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both parents are still in the area, but much more wary of people than their kittens. We will occasionally spot them coming  to eat the food, but any sort of movement, sound or eye contact will send them fleeing. We're happy to care for them as well, but they are probably too mature/wild to be domesticated. We'll hear the parents calling for the kittens from time-to-time, but we probably only notice it every 3-4 days at most&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The current situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I are in the process of buying our first house (we rent at present) and we are concerned about the welfare of the kittens. We would sorely love to adopt all four and bring them to our new house, but first and foremost, we want to what's best for them and both their parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't imagine it being too difficult to trap and cage the four of them, and we are keen to get them to a vet for a checkup, immunisation and appropriate desexing etc. (I'm not too familiar with the general procedure). We would then likely have to lock them in the bathroom with litter/food/water/toys etc. for a number of days, before letting them out into the house (as was the practice when my family had a cat in my (far) younger days), at least that's our plan so far&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it better to try and take the kittens with us so that they are fed and looked after? Should we leave them where they've grown up because they know the area and hope they can feed themselves (or someone else decides to feed them)? Or should we take them somewhere so they can be domesticated? (I'm imagining an SPCA-like environment for wild cats, but that may not exist, I haven't looked into that side yet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we do take them with us to our new home, what's the best strategy for ensuring they face as little stress as possible and have the best chance of accepting their new home?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we capture and cage all four kittens, are the parents likely to freak out? Should we consider attempting to capture both of them as well? I don't know how protective mother/father cats are in the wild&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any general strategies for domesticating wild cats? We know about avoiding eye contact and trying to keep a low body profile around them so they don't feel threatened, but we aren't sure how to earn their trust further, or teach them how to use the cat door properly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tl;dr we want to adopt wild kittens and take them to our new house, how do we do that?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17269" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-29T02:17:58.277" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T05:50:17.120" Title="Should we try to adopt wild kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-29T01:05:33.643" Score="1" ViewCount="3925" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then my cat Bellatrix (Belly for short) will bring my husband and I her green mouse toy while we are sleeping. So we will wake up with the toy on the bed. We assume this is her favorite toy as she always plays with this one and will want to play fetch with this toy. We don't have a problem with her doing this and she doesn't wake us up when she does this but it is just curious as to why she does this. I honestly think it's cute to wake up with her favorite toy on the bed. I do know that some cats think their owners are just terrible hunters and will give them &quot;prey&quot;. But I'm wondering if she does this because she thinks we are bad hunters or if in the middle of the night she just wants to play but then sees that we are asleep so she leaves us alone or if she just wants to give us a gift. This is the only toy she brings us. Belly is also an indoor cat. I'm just wondering of the different possibilities she could be doing this. Does anyone else's cat(s) do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17270" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T00:03:25.647" Title="Why do I wake up to my cat's toy on my bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26986" CreationDate="2020-01-29T05:11:30.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;8-12 weeks is the critical age for cat socialization. You've already started the process and are doing fairly well, but I doubt you'll get much further with the kittens living outside and their parents still around. They really need to be trapped and the process finished before they get much older. The good news is this is (not coincidentally) roughly when they're weaned and their mom is going to ditch them soon anyway. All they need to learn is that humans (a) won't hurt/eat them and (b) will provide food, and we essentially replace mom on their minds. Four kittens will be a handful, but they are the perfect age for first-time cat owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parents are well past socialization age, and based on their behavior, probably can't be tamed, at least without experienced help and a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of time and effort. As first-time cat owners, please do not even attempt it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best bet is to find someone familiar with humanely trapping feral/stray cats. The adults, at a minimum, need to be neutered so they're not producing dozens of more helpless kittens over their lives, not to mention the various risks to their own health and safety. Check around for a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) or TNVR (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return) group in your area; they should be happy to help. Your local animal control authority, SPCA or vet may also help with trapping, especially if you're going to keep 4 of the 6 targets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-01-29T05:50:17.120" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T05:50:17.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26987" CreationDate="2020-01-29T05:44:30.783" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats aren't as cooperative with researchers as dogs are, so we don't understand nearly as much about how they think. However, it's fairly obvious cats know the difference between toys and real prey (and hunting or fighting vs play), so she wouldn't be giving you a toy because you're bad hunters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely, she is bringing her favorite toy to you because she's bored and wants you to play with her; if she plays fetch with it when you're awake, that is almost certainly the case. My cats regularly bring me their toys when I'm on the couch, though so far not be in bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible she's bringing you her toy as a gift, but such empathic behavior is usually only seen from cats when you're behaving oddly &lt;em&gt;during the day&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. because you're sick or injured or upset, not when sleeping as usual at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T05:44:30.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="26994" CreationDate="2020-01-29T09:52:52.400" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has a urinary tract infection and the vet prescribed 25mg/kg cephalexin to cure it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’m curious whether there is a reason to choose cephalexin over amoxicillin in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can I change the antibiotic from cephalexin to amoxicillin?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How long should I give the cat antibiotic? Vet recommended 4 weeks. Is that too much or insufficient?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can long-term (over 4 weeks) antibiotic consumption cause issues?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17272" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-30T20:31:55.557" LastActivityDate="2020-01-30T20:31:55.557" Title="Cephalexin vs amoxicillin in treating urinary tract infections in feline" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26933" CreationDate="2020-01-29T11:19:21.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kept a leopard gecko (and snakes and bearded dragons) for many years around two decades ago. When you took him to the vet, did she do a fecal screen to check for parasites? There are parasites which can cause this and similar symptoms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More importantly, leopard geckos live in dry rocky desert areas and they get warmth by sitting/laying on top of warm rocks. They need a basking spot or warm area with a temperature around 90° with the ability to get to a cooler end of the terrarium to be able to regulate body temperature. If your terrarium is always at 80° there is no way for your gecko to do that and it won't be able to properly digest its food, which could be why it isn't eating willingly. In your picture of the terrarium, the lights are over plants and there are no visible basking places. The best thing would be to add a flat rock or something for the lizard to easily be able to climb onto and bask under. An under tank heater is also another good option to provide a low to the ground hot area for your gecko.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17273" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T11:19:21.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26964" CreationDate="2020-01-29T15:52:32.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things that this could be really. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1, Establishing himself in the pack, mounting and humping are often a way of displaying dominance to other dogs, regardless of size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2, The nibbling could be play and trying to engage the other dog in to playing with them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering could solve the problem, however one risk of this is that the dog could potentially go the opposite way and become MORE like this. Its best to channel the behaviour into something else. A distraction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he starts, quickly distract him by telling him to get off and instead give him something else to do, he's still fairly young so play is the best way. Play tug or fetch etc, or do some basic training in obedience so he will work for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T15:52:32.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26961" CreationDate="2020-01-29T16:01:30.913" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have play fighting alot with my 2 GSDS one likes to play slightly rougher than the other. What can be misconstrued as rough is just how dogs tend to play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chances are that if one crosses the threshold of the other being too rough their body language will change and they might let the other know its not OK. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one crosses that line then the dog feeling uncomfortable will likely do one of two things; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;be come disengaged and try to distance themselves from the situation and become unresponsive to the other dog trying to encourage play. You must stop this. It could turn nasty if the dog trying to disengage itself starts to get annoyed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The the dog will communicate to the other dog that its too rough vocally by either barking/squealing with discomfort or nipping and barking loudly at the dog being too rough. You will generally tell the difference between a play bark which is typically high pitched and a serious bark which is lower in pitch.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both scenarios just separate them for a while to let them calm down otherwise it could escalate to a confrontation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T16:01:30.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26990" CreationDate="2020-01-29T17:03:12.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not change antibiotics without discussing with your veterinarian. In cats you could risk overdosing, underdosing, or causing other adverse effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cephalexin and amoxicillin are good empirical choices for a urinary tract infection (UTI) in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cephalexin at 25 mg/kg, twice per day, is an appropriate dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treatment of urinary tract infections is best treated according to the results of a urine culture and sensitivity. This tells us which bacterial species is present and which antibiotic is best to treat it. However, owners often decline a urine culture due to the cost therefore in those cases an antibiotic must be selected empirically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are differing opinions among veterinarians as to how long to treat a urinary tract infection. If it is a simple, uncomplicated UTI, then a short course of 1-2 weeks may be sufficient. Those that are more complicated, such as causing a severe bacterial cystitis or pyelonephritis (kidney infection), warrant a longer treatment course such as 4+ weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat the infection for the duration the veterinarian instructed. Undertreating the infection could lead to incomplete treatment, recurrent UTI, and/or antibiotic resistance. Do not stop the antibiotic just because the cat is looking better - complete the full course. For most of our first-line antibiotics such as cephalexin, long antibiotic courses are considered safe and low risk of side effects. Typically the most significant side effect with these antibiotics I see is diarrhea, as the antibiotic can also disturb the normal intestinal flora. A short course of probiotic will usually clear this up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your veterinarian will recommend repeating the urinalysis and urine culture after the antibiotic course is complete, to make sure the infection has cleared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further reading, Merck Veterinary Manual has an excellent article on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merckvetmanual.com/pharmacology/systemic-pharmacotherapeutics-of-the-urinary-system/bacterial-urinary-tract-infections&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bacterial Urinary Tract Infections&lt;/a&gt; in small animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T17:03:12.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26987" CreationDate="2020-01-29T23:10:18.460" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I think StephenS' answer is likely correct (i.e. bringing a toy to ask you for plays), it's also possible that the toy is left there because it's where the cat sleeps and it kept the toy near its spot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cats cuddle their favorite toys and softly play with them as they lie in a comfortable spot. One of our cats specifically &lt;em&gt;hides&lt;/em&gt; her favorite toys in her favorite bed to keep them away from the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do know that some cats think their owners are just terrible hunters and will give them &quot;prey&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a matter of thinking you're a bad hunter, but more a matter of contributing to the household. You give food to them all the time (which they can only assume you hunted), so when they have caught something and aren't that hungry, they share their spoils with you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2020-01-29T23:10:18.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-30T11:36:51.910" Score="5" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is going through a 4-week antibiotics prescription, and due to it he’s having a bad diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a probiotic suppliment containing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bifidobacterium bifidum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bifidobacterium longum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bifidobacterium lactis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bifidobacterium breve&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lactobacillus casei&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lactobacillus rhamnosus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fructo oligo saccharide, maltodextrin, potato starch and l-ascorbic acid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this be any benefit to my cat? I’ve seen some papers that while bifidobacterium is not important to cats, lactobacillus is important for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17272" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-02-07T17:04:17.200" LastActivityDate="2020-02-07T17:04:17.200" Title="Do cats benefit from human probiotics?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26996" CreationDate="2020-01-30T14:26:13.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats and humans have very different digestive systems, and it's generally not advised to administer human medication to pets; I would extend this caution to supplements, which are not only geared toward human digestive systems, but loosely regulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend consulting with your vet before starting any species-appropriate supplement, as your cat is already on medication; while it's unlikely that adding a probiotic would cause any serious issues, the vet should still be part of medical decisions like this one. He or she may also be able to recommend a brand or two of probiotics to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a brief review of listings for probiotics for cats on Amazon, the cultures used are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*Enterococcus faecium (2 products)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  *Lactobacillus acidophilus (3 products)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  *Lactobacillus casei&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  *Bacillus coagulans&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Bifidobacterium bifidum&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  L. Plantarum&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  L. Brevis&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  L. Fermentum&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Lactococcus Lactis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only the first four (starred items) are present in brands that my vets have recommended to me over the years; while there is some overlap, the sugars and starches included in your human probiotics are not present. (Excluded from my list were some supplements that bragged about the number of strains; this is more marketing than useful and I would not recommend these brands.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, feline probiotics come in powder form, not pill form, with an appealing scent and flavor, making them extremely easy to administer. These features also make them a benefit with ill cats who may be resisting eating in general, as the stronger smell and taste of the food can help with a cat who may have a slightly dulled sense of smell or taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-01-31T14:07:26.030" LastActivityDate="2020-01-31T14:07:26.030" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26998" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-30T18:43:58.903" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently catch my cat sitting or lying very close to the door in the kitchen which he knows opens inwards. Quite often, the door is violently opened and smacks the poor creature, and then I always feel so sorry for him and cuddle even more than usual with him. Sometimes I give him an extra treat to say I'm sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he doing this on purpose? It's a pretty weird cat in general, but this seems like going too far. He could get seriously hurt. I try to think about this, but he inevitably will get hit by that door if he insists on &quot;chilling&quot; on that spot, yet he does. It seems to me as if he is planning for that to happen. It doesn't seem reasonable that a cat would not put two and two together after so many times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17276" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-01-30T20:17:05.340" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T08:07:41.963" Title="Is my cat actively trying to get hurt to win sympathy and cuddling from us humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="26999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26998" CreationDate="2020-01-30T20:23:42.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Animals do not actively seek to get hurt. They avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important not to impose human standards upon pets. What may seem logical to a pet owner may not be the way the pet is thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's all sorts of air currents circulating through a kitchen from the various appliances, including ovens. Often pets will lie in kitchens near refrigerators, as they will blow out warm air from underneath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus there's the added attraction of the kitchen being the place in the house when all sources of food, including the pets, originate. If the cat is fed in the kitchen this multiplies this factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sleeping behind a door is comfortable and offers the cat protection. As cats are predators to some animals, they are small and become prey to other, larger animals and it's instinctual for cats to find safe places to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not believe the cat is resting there to be hit by the door. I would recommend being mindful that the cat sits there and opening the door with more caution and less violence (as you put it). The human being has a brain that is capable of more complex logical thinking. So if you are aware the cat is often there, the onus is on the owner to take care and try not to hurt the cat when opening the door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot remember that, perhaps consider putting a door stop behind the door to prevent it being swung fully and hitting the cat. This would provide the cat with a little triangle hidey hole behind the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-01-30T20:23:42.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26939" CreationDate="2020-01-31T16:25:34.783" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dealing with my own young horse ATM (she had basic training a while before I got her, but she was left in the pasture for a long time, and decided she'd rather not work), and here is what I've learned from others. I'm training her with the bit, like you, in case I need to sell her; I guide her with my legs and neck-reining, though, so it's both easier for her and I have more control (legs+reining means more and gives more command options than just one alone). Most of this is from the Buck Brannaman 7 Clinics DVDs (not affiliated with me--just a happy customer); do check them out--you'll learn a lot on how to train a horse to extreme performance levels with pure positive reinforcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, get her to drop her head and allow you to pet her all over her face. Start on the forehead, down her nose, her cheeks, etc. She may well be familiar with this from other training already--pet her regularly, and as a reward for doing good. Next, she needs to allow you to handle her nose and ears. Run your hand quickly, not abruptly, over her muzzle and under her chin. She might throw her head up--you do it quickly so you are in and out before she has time to really fuss; keep working at it, and she will learn it's OK and allow you to handle her. Do the same for the ears; never bat the ears, just run your hand over them quick and light. Eventually, you should be able to handle her muzzle and waggle her ears without complaint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is to work on opening her lips. You should be able to slid a finger into the corner of her mouth and lift her lips. Don't put your finger in too deeply so you aren't bit. She should remain completely calm. Next, take your lead rope and slip that in where the bit will go. It's softer than the bit, so it's easier for her. Once she's completely calm about all this, you can finally put the bridle on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you put the bridle on, do not leave the halter on. Untie the halter, then slip it through her mouth under, then over, the bit--just like you did with the rope before. You can do this in reverse when you are done riding. Eventually, you'll probably be able to trust her to stand for you while you switch between them, but even then you run the risk of a stray dog scaring her, or something, and having a runaway horse. When you take the bridle off, don't drag it over her ears--hold her ears and bend them so they slide under without even being bumped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjust your headstall so there are no wrinkles in the corner of her mouth; a lot of people want that slight pressure there and think it makes them more responsive--it just makes your horse more numb to pressure, and annoys them by pulling on their cheek. When you apply even a light amount of pressure, it's more painful on their cheek as well; it should just rest in the corner of her mouth, and you should be able to turn her by just lifting a rein--no pulling. If she starts getting the bit under her tongue, then you can pull it up for a couple days so she can't do that until she accepts the bit on her tongue--it can really cause problems if this becomes a habit. Once she stops trying to do that, lower it again; if she can't figure it out even with the bit higher up, you'll need to use a bit of string over the bridge of her nose and tied to the bit on each side to pull the bit up to the top of her mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as bits go, I use a full-cheek copper snaffle. No rollers, sharp spots; copper to promote a moist mouth. I use a western bridle; no leather over the bridge of her nose, and no chain underneath her muzzle. Don't tie her mouth shut--you can tell when they are worried or in trouble because they work their mouth. It's far better to solve the problem than ignore it and stop the symptoms--that's a great way to get into a rodeo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck training her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17279" LastEditorUserId="17279" LastEditDate="2020-01-31T17:45:52.797" LastActivityDate="2020-01-31T17:45:52.797" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26977" CreationDate="2020-01-31T17:04:20.823" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start the process, get the horse familiar with its muzzle being handled. Start by handling its head and running your hand over its muzzle; start sliding your hand over it quickly and getting out before they start fussing, and move to longer approaches as they become more confident. Pet them all over their body; chances are they will attempt to become the boss in the relationship and nip at you. Don't strike them when they do that, but lightly tap them on the nose with your hand; they will likely whip their head out of the way right afterward, as if another horse in the herd was biting back to establish dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fine line to draw between too much discipline and not being firm enough to get the message across. If you aren't being firm enough, they will come right back and try to bite you again--and it won't be as light either. If it's just right, they'll likely whip their head back away and then lick their lips. A pure relaxed wrist movement is usually enough; don't delay at all--try to meet them as they are trying to get you (it will also help prevent them from actually getting you), and if they whip their head out of the way after the bite/attempt and hold their head high and away from you (they will--just like if they bit another horse), make them step back away from you instead--basically, an immediate dominating move to let them know they do not get to boss you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure and pet them immediately afterward (and after any discipline) so they don't get jumpy and think you only touch an area of their body to discipline them. Don't try to feed them until they are good with their head being handled. They are allowed to nuzzle you, but don't let them take your hand, clothes, or anything you are holding inside their lips--that, in my experience, always progresses to a nip/bite with the teeth on your body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they are safe to handle and know to not use their teeth, do not &quot;hold&quot; the treat. Rest it on your hand, so they can lip it off. At this point, they may start getting excited and grabbing at the treat. If they make a grab, I usually snatch the treat back (to prevent an accidental bite), get them to stand quietly, and offer it again. Be very careful doing this (or anything described in this answer)--horses are big and dangerous, even if they aren't trying to be. Always use your personal discretion when working with a horse; if you feel unsafe, get an experienced friend or professional to help. If something isn't working, stop and try something else; each horse is different--the end goal is for them to learn successfully, not learn according to some pattern someone recommends. Continue the process described above until they are good. Some horses may never be able to control their excitement, just like some people, but most will quickly learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal anecdote: my horse (who looks very much like a 4yo version of that picture) was very good for the first couple baby carrots, but then started grabbing the carrots. When I stopped giving the carrots to her (whether I had more left or not), she started trying to shove me with her shoulder--i.e. run me over. I switched to feeding her carrots through the opening in a stall over the course of a few days until she learned to always take them gently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17279" LastActivityDate="2020-01-31T17:04:20.823" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-01-31T22:07:01.690" Score="4" ViewCount="761" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 months old female husky, she has a lot of energy and she’s very sweet. We took a training class and she did very well but lately she started destroying things in the house when we leave, she’ll hop on the counter to get a cereal box or on the desk to grab any paper that’s laying there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She started this behavior about 2 months ago. We decided she couldn’t be left loose in the house when no one was there when she destroyed the christmas tree so we took out her crate. She used the crate when she was smaller and potty training and she hated it she would pee in her crate and cry all day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn’t like it either now. She’ll howl and cry to get out and when I get home and get her out she’s always covered wet from either pee or saliva from howling a lot but I don’t know which. She also hurts herself trying to destroy the cage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She’s a dog that gets a lot of outside time when we are home and she’s a very good dog when there’s people around but her behavior is starting to be problematic for us because we can’t let her loose in the house and for her because she stresses a lot in her cage and hurts herself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any trick or opinion is welcome either on how she can stop destroying everything or how she can accept her cage as her safe place and stop stressing when we leave her in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17280" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-01T03:25:30.570" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T02:38:32.853" Title="My dog goes crazy in a cage and destroys everything. HELP" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27002" CreationDate="2020-02-01T03:44:55.317" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;The problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are bred over thousands of years of domestication and crave human or dog companionship. She is not suited to being left alone during the day and this is not a fault in her as a dog or even as a husky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Husky's are an active breed and you dog is still a puppy. It's unreasonable to expect a puppy to be alone for much of the day and bordering on cruelty putting it in a cage. Puppies are a bit like human children, they need company and activity. They get bored and when they're bored they will make their own fun. Imagine leaving a 3 old at home all day, let alone putting the child in a cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that she's wet all over and covered in saliva is a sign of how distressed she is. This distress is normal, given the circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alleviate the distress&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address your current circumstances:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not lock her in the cage again, unless it is to transport her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave her some toys and a large bone for the day. Use fresh bones, not the packaged treats, many of them contain colouring and glues to make them look enticing. Soups bones are good for distraction and teething as they cannot work through them, so it will still be there at the end of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leave out a supply of dry food - possibly in some type of slow feeder so she has something to keep herself interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clear all the kitchen benches and put away anything you cannot risk being destroyed: shoes, cushions, pillows etc. This is something that needs to be done when there is a puppy in the house anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider leaving a talkback radio show on. This way she has the sound of human conversation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider getting a trusty dog walker to take her out during the day for a long walk and run through the park. When paying people to care for pets it's advisable to ask for video footage of some of the activities to ensure they actually do what they are being paid to do. Too often people will take the money and do a half assed job or not do it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;An ideal situation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change employment so you she has less time left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you had an enclosed yard with shelter that she could use during the day, with her small toys, bones, dry food and some larger toys, this would help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing you could do is get her a friend (an older dog) and do not lock her up. She needs company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T03:44:55.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26998" CreationDate="2020-02-01T08:07:41.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the other answer that your cat wouldn’t purposely do something to get hurt. While we were on vacation our cat peed all over the front room! We did a lot a research to see if the cat was mad or what, but pretty much everything we found was that cats don’t have an emotional maturity level/emotional intelligence to be manipulative, seek vengeance, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you may be training your cat that he gets rewards for being in that spot. Giving him extra cuddles and especially treats may in his mind trigger that location with those rewards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing that comes to mind is perhaps the cat could think you are playing. Our cat loves to rough play and we give him lots of cuddles during it, which makes him like to rough play more. I think it’s pretty typical for cats to be stealthy, hide behind things, etc. Hiding behind a door totally seems like a normal cat thing to me! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T08:07:41.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26978" CreationDate="2020-02-01T08:20:51.600" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;How much does your kitty weigh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not a vet, so I may not be 100% correct in my suggestions. (Of course if you have really pressing concerns about this, you should talk with a vet). With that being said, I think it is pretty typical for kittens to rapidly gain weight. I believe our kitten gained about 1 pound per month since we’ve had him. He is probably around a year old and now weighs 9 pounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard something online about dry food being for human convenience. You’ll hear all sorts of things about how many times a day you should feed your cat. I’m not sure what is right, but what we do is follow the recommended servings on the bag. For us, we give him his food at night (all the servings he would need) and not refill until the next night. If it runs out, it runs out. We don’t constantly refill it, which could lead to overeating. I know a lot of people do a serving in the morning and then at night. We switched to only nighttime feeding so the cat wouldn’t wake us up for more food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also some “weight management” options some brands offer. I saw some at petsmart the other day. That could be a good option along with controlled amounts of food. Also, there are some cat BMI charts you can find online for a reference of what is a good weight/size for a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the end I always recommend talking with a professional! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T08:20:51.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26934" CreationDate="2020-02-01T08:35:24.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question! Cats are so funny like this! I think your cat is very scared (obviously). There may have been something in the past that may have traumatized her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my best recommendations would be to try not to be threatening. It is so hard not to want to pull cats out of their hiding places, but doing so can really make them tense up, feel threatened, and more scared. I would try to coax her out of the hiding spot rather than pull her out. Our kitten hid all the time when we first got him. One thing we would do is sit close to the hiding spot and rest there for awhile either by laying or sitting. This made us not some giant tower coming towards him. Slowly he would gain confidence being in our presence. We could also get him interested in coming out by playing with him. We would get some toys and tempt him to come out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as eye contact, I read something the other day to not make eye contact with cats because they can find it very threatening. I guess it’s what they do when they are in confrontation with other animals. However, they do like slow blinks. Slow blinks are a sign of trust, affection, and love. So if you manage to catch her eyes, you could try a slow blink. Sometimes if you’re lucky they will give you a slow blink back. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is great that she comes and joins you! That is perfect and find ways to encourage that behavior! You could give her treats or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medicine is so tricky! One thing that we have tried and been successful with is mixing the medicine with small amounts of wet food (since it was liquid medicine). Then we tried giving the medicine first in the bowl and food after. Our cat ate the medicine on his own! It is a terror trying to stick a syringe in their mouths. If it is a pill I know they make these things called pill pockets, which is like a treat you can slip the pill in. If you try these maybe feed the kitten separately than when you feed the older cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are a ton of YouTube videos on how to get your cat to like you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T08:35:24.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26921" CreationDate="2020-02-01T08:42:29.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you know why your mom doesn’t want him back in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got our kitten from the pound and he had fleas, was sick, and needed neutered. It was super overwhelming but actually all rather easy to take care of. There are affordable options to take care of cats without going to the vet. You can buy tick, flea, ear mite stuff at local grocery stores and pet stores. So, if your mom has issues about the cat being dirty maybe you could assure her you can affordably take care of it! Also maybe suggest if you can keep the cat in your room or the litter box in your bathroom, etc. She may just not want to take care of the cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the cat waiting for you, he likes you! I’ve looked some things up in the past and they said cats will usually hang around those they trust and like the most. The cat may just be the most familiar with you (your smell, etc.) verses the others. You’ve treated him well and I think he knows that! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T08:42:29.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26807" CreationDate="2020-02-01T08:54:14.827" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if the breed of the cat makes a difference when it comes to water in ears, but I could be wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve heard many times the same thing your sister told you. I think they must have a hard time getting water out of their inner ear canals which could lead to infections and illness. We just have always typically avoided getting water in our cats ears just as a precaution. If your cat does have water in his ears, just watch and see how he does. It could be fine, but if you notice he seems bothered consider taking him to the vet to see if anything is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use q-tips to get gross ear wax and other like things out of our cat’s ears. My mom has used a damp cotton ball to clean the tips of her cat’s ears. I would just be extremely careful to not get into the canals of the ear! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in general, for bathing we like to wash our cat in the sink half full. We focus on his body and avoid getting his head wet. If there were water to get in his ears, we would leave it be and monitor it. I wouldn’t personally put cotton balls in his ears while washing because I feel like that would just make the bathing experience so much worse and more chaotic (another discomfort to make him thrash more). Then after the bath if there is some dirt or earwax you want to clean, delicately go in with a tissue, cotton ball, q-tip, etc to clean. Again, I would avoid the canals. Also, I wouldn’t let a cotton ball or something like that sit/stay in their ear for a long period of time (to soak up water or something). I think it would be a major discomfort and may even encourage an infection due to irritation, standing water, germs, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T08:54:14.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26852" CreationDate="2020-02-01T18:54:11.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tough one! I most likely would encourage a trip to the vet to see if there are any underlying issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat was quite thin. We took him to the vet and it turns out he has thyroid issues. He is on medicine now and is gaining weight! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat could be a little depressed. I’ve heard some people say cats can be depressed. This could also require a trip to the vet. In the meantime though, I would encourage a little extra attention. Maybe keep her in the room with you and give her extra care. Monitor to see if that helps her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the biggest thing to me, though, is there could be something going on. I know when cats don’t feel well they hide and seclude themselves. They don’t play a ton or eat a ton. I would highly encourage a trip to the vet to be sure! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T18:54:11.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26833" CreationDate="2020-02-01T19:05:27.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research to see if we wanted to toilet train our cat. Like the person above said, there are some concerns and a lot of people don’t recommend it. However, I know it can work for some! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some YouTube videos about toilet training cats. For the most part it seems like a really difficult process and totally is a hit or miss depending on the cat. I don’t find it surprising at all that one cat isn’t getting it. Honestly, I’m not sure if you can fix it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve heard cats can get upset when their litterbox is displaced and there are changes. The cat could be really uncomfortable with the toilet and just struggle to figure it out. I’ve heard that cats will poop other places or poop on the seat and cover it with the litter from the tray. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing that may help is a reward system? Not sure how well that will work, but maybe you could try offering treats whenever they are on the toilet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible idea is to keep the cat in the bathroom for some time to only give it the option of using the toilet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also slow down the process of making the litter tray hole larger. Give the cat some time to realize he is now using the toilet as a litter box without quickly making it too complicated and scary.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I totally get how ideal it would be to have a toilet trained cat! No litter, no scooping, and no stink! But with that said, I’m not sure all cats are capable to be trained to do this and it fails for a lot of people. If you are insistent on the cat learning, though, I bet over time they could figure it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry I didn’t have better options on how to fix it! Best of luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:05:27.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26798" CreationDate="2020-02-01T19:17:22.970" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any update on this? I noticed you posted it about a month ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first thought is to check the jar/container and see if there is any warning for the cat getting too much powder. However, I’m not sure how much of a difference  1/2 a tablespoon of water would make. I think there would be more of a concern if you were actually giving the kitten too much or too little powder, because the powder has the nutritional value/level the kitten needs for the time being. I’ve never had a super young kitten, so I’m not sure if you are allowed to give them plain water. I would just try to find a way to keep him better hydrated if he is constipated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My second thought is I’ve heard that really young kittens need stimulated to help go to the bathroom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a great YouTube channel with tons of information on kittens. The channel is Kitten Lady. She tells all about kitten development, growth, how-tos, etc. I would recommend seeing if her video on bottle feeding would help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully your kitty is doing better now! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:17:22.970" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26697" CreationDate="2020-02-01T19:26:07.363" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with you that this isn’t necessarily concerning! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple things I’ve heard about cats and their litter box: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could be a location preference. If there is one litter box closer to where they are hanging out for the time being, that litter box may be used more.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It could also be a preference of marking their territory. They may be going back to what smells familiar. So if they hardly use one, they may rarely go back to that as it wouldn’t smell familiar &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for cats making a “claim” on one box, this could have something to do with compatibility. I’ve heard cats only cover their poop do they wouldn’t be prey.... as if it were an alpha/dominance situation. Maybe your cats now don’t necessarily feel that one is more dominant than the other. This is a total guess though! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very particular about their litter boxes. I’ve seen so much about how they prefer clean ones, ones with the right amount of litter, ones with certain litter, ones of a certain size, etc. It isn’t surprising to me that the smaller litter box gets used less. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My last thought is I think we give our pets a little too much credit of being thoughtful like humans. I think at the end of the day there may be no true rhyme or reason as to why they could be using one litter box more. It could because they just felt like it! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:26:07.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26608" CreationDate="2020-02-01T19:33:04.133" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Darn, what a sad situation! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know cats have different temperaments. This means some cats are fine with other animals, while others aren’t. It sounds to me based off her behavior (of wanting to be alpha, having troubles with the dog, etc) that she probably isn’t a pet that gets along with other animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure how much of this you can change. She may always prefer to be a single pet. However, you could try to train her. Maybe train her what behavior is appropriate or isn’t. I know a lot of people say not to use negative punishment with cats. But I will say we’ve tried giving our cat treats to get down from things and it didn’t do very much. Now we have a spray bottle and he is very receptive to the word down. We say down and he will quickly get down from things. So maybe you could teach her that being mean to the kitten is not ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thought is you could try talking to a cat trainer. I’m sure they have more experience and tricks up their sleeves that could help! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T19:33:04.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26605" CreationDate="2020-02-01T20:06:15.487" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn’t recommend doing any earlier than professionals suggest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can impact their emotional, physical, and behavioral wellbeing. Certain consequences can last a lifetime. Kittens need their mothers to develop physically and emotionally. If that is impacted it will influence their behavior. Then certain behaviors may last throughout their life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve heard that they can have anxiety and separation issues. This means they may not be able to attach properly by either having anxious attachment or avoidant attachment. Then of course they may not also develop correctly because they need the nutrients and care from their mothers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there it can lead to behavioral issues. They may improperly use the restroom, chew or destroy things, play rough, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a YouTube channel called Kitten Lady that explains all the stages and needs kittens have. They need help being fed, going to the restroom, being groomed, etc. Also with being fed, they need fed every few hours so that would require waking up several times in the night to feed and being home during the day to feed as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end it is very challenging for kittens to be separated at a very young age. I would follow the guidelines professionals have! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-01T20:06:15.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-03T06:41:42.250" Score="0" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;As shown in the photo of the side of its body below, one of my cat's fur forms bands, while my other cat does not have this issue with its fur. &lt;br&gt;(This is not a result of having ticked fur pattern, but actual &lt;strong&gt;gaps&lt;/strong&gt; between bands of fur that gather together)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ePaGhm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ePaGhm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Banding of fur&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that I should be concerned about? Does it lead to fur matting problems? Does bathing them more or less frequently help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9576" LastEditorUserId="9576" LastEditDate="2020-02-03T09:09:14.650" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T09:09:14.650" Title="&quot;Banding&quot; in cat's fur" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27018" CreationDate="2020-02-03T07:55:45.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, this is completely normal, as from personal observation, many if not all cats have this to some degree, including my own cats, and they never seemed to have any problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may actually be a result of wrinkles on the underlying skin. The quality of the hair itself may make the unevenness more pronounced on some cats than others as well. Cats actually have pretty loose skin with a lot of wrinkles. You can observe it easily with the sphynx cat, which is naturally nearly hairless, and so their loose wrinkly skin is quite obvious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/X55p2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reason for thinking that it's caused by wrinkles is that one of the most wrinkly areas on the cat is on top of its head and around the face, and many cats I've observed have distinctive furrows in their fur on top of their head. The fur is naturally pretty short there, at least in short haired cats, and so it seems to me to logically follow that the fur will lie a little oddly due to the wrinkles cats have in that area. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-02-03T08:04:39.853" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T08:04:39.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26939" CreationDate="2020-02-03T11:35:43.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just going to add my experience with my horse that worked on the 02/02/2020.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Referring back to the SerenaT's comment of:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would also try to remove the piece that annoys her most and try&#xA;  without it. And maybe also keep the bridle on for some time to get&#xA;  used to the feeling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't agree with keeping the bridle on for some time. However, she did prompt me to double check what exactly my mare was anxious about when bridling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She puts her headcollar on herself so I knew I would have no issues with ears, eyes or nose. I ran my hand over her head to double check these and found no issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was until I got to the mouth. It was this weekend I remembered that a fellow horselady who boasts 40+ years of experience had bridled her the weekend before we started having this issue. She mentioned that the bit being too tight would &quot;teach&quot; my horse to accept the bit and that strapping the noseband down tight would stop her from being so &quot;touchy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that this was infact certainly not the case. If anything what it does is tears away your horses' personality and makes them head-shy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To combat this fear of pressure (and possbily the banging of the bit on her teeth.) I played with her mouth repeatedly. Holding onto her if she fussed and letting go immediately if she steadied her head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure enough after 4-5 minutes of me holding her mouth and letting go she had stopped moving away/tossing her head about when I touched her mouth. I then moved on to putting light pressure on the inside of her lip. Not even enough to touch her tongue but just enough so she'd start to chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She accepted this readily and I then pulled the bit infront of her mouth and she took it up herself. I then just had to re-attach the left side of the bit to the bridle and we were ready to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was astonished at how quick she came around to it and honestly wouldn't have believed it if I had called in a professional to do it which suggests to me even more that I certainly shoudn't just accept someone else's advice because they've had more experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes advice from experience can be helpful but I must remember that my horses welfare comes first. NOT someone elses past knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lesson learnt!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T11:35:43.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27111" CreationDate="2020-02-03T11:45:43.533" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for ideas on how to treat my horses mud fever.&#xA;I've got four horses with socks and/or white legs who are extremely prone to getting what we assume to be mudfever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now from what I've read it seems that we call hairloss on a horse that's been in deep mud, mudfever. Regardless of whether or not it's the right diagnosis so I will double check that later. From my understanding mudfever is actually bacterial and therefore can cause infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, onto my remedies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've tried paddock boots but these either come off or get mud crammed&#xA;up inside of them and make the mudfever worse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've tried cream [Horses come in, get legs washed off, towel dry,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;cream on, stay in for the night, second application of cream in the&lt;br&gt;&#xA;morning and turned out again.] but much to the same effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I tried to keep them in when it got really bad but this just leaves them upset and quite strung with no energy let out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My newest horse came with rainscald which is a similar bacterial infection. However, this was sorted with TLC and a rug. Does anyone have any further suggestions for mudfever? It's driving me mad!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Will update with pictures soon.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T02:27:30.087" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T02:27:30.087" Title="How to treat mudfever in horses" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27046" CreationDate="2020-02-03T13:01:23.853" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand this can be a very highly opinionated topic. However, I would like to know when to start a horse under saddle. If possible an answer that provides a &quot;when you can&quot; and &quot;when you should&quot; answer would be lovely. (I'll provide more details below.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a rising 3 year old Appaloosa filly. I have a rough idea of when I'd like to start her but was wondering if anything else should be considered before I start training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than her rug she has not had anything on her back to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She currently stands at 14.3hh (149.86 cm)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is still very much &quot;bum high&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She takes a 6ft (183 cm) rug&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her head fits into a full bridle on it's lowest &quot;settings&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will provide pictures later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her birthday is in May so this is where I intend to start her backing training. (Rather than now, as 'technically' in the horse world she's 3 already.) I intend to ease her into the training using saddle cloths first, then a bareback pad and then eventually a saddle. Before attempting to mount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on taking this very slowly and expect the training to take at least 6 months. Her groundwork is coming along great, I'm able to &quot;instruct&quot; her with voice commands alone and we work up in the arena for an hour twice a week. Trot poles, tarp, ponying, weaving poles etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself am quite heavy around 14 stone (88.9 kg) at 5'6&quot; (168 cm) high. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there is anything I should consider or prepare for in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:04:14.920" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:04:14.920" Title="When can a horse be started under saddle?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-03T15:20:53.660" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 4 month old puppy who has done very well in her toilet training. She know's to go outside for a pee and a poo now and we barely have any accidents anywhere else in the house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have training pads by the back door for when we are not in the house, or when we don't get to her in time. She uses these no problem for peeing, and uses another area very close to the door for pooping!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing I worry about now is when we are at work and she is using the puppy pads, will this cause regression in her training? Will she learn to hold it on her own until she can go outside? Or do I need to do something else to help with this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17138" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T15:20:53.660" Title="How does toilet training a puppy regress?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-03T16:05:20.943" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a few fowls (around 50) and started mixing cereals, corn and dry legumes a few weeks ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I was able to get hold of a good load of peas, it is unfortunately uncrushed: I was told that raw peas may be dangerous, and that I should seriously consider crusing them before feeding them to my fowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, I tried to look a way to crush it, but most crushers I read about are not designed for such hard things as peas. They are ok with (soft) cereals, but may rapidly break if used with peas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, I don't know what I should buy, -or use- to crush a great load (200-300 kgs) of peas, corn, cereals, etc. altogether.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or is there a harmless way to feed them to my fowl*?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17297" LastActivityDate="2020-04-19T14:34:01.307" Title="What can I use to crush peas" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23297" CreationDate="2020-02-03T19:36:20.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand why anyone would feed a cat dry food. It isn't a normal food for cats. It is their nature to eat moist food - felines always go for the intestines for the moisture. I have almost lost two to bladder blockage. My male now gets water in all of his wet food. He has never balked at it. It is all he knows. I would tell anyone to add water to any male cat's food all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17298" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T19:36:20.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26583" CreationDate="2020-02-03T22:26:25.633" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any update on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first my guess was maybe there was an issue with the litter box. However, as I continued to read, you answered a lot of my suspicions. I know cats are particular about size, location, cleanliness, type of litter, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this leads me to believe it is either a behavioral or health issue. My friend told me once that cats only cover their poop and pee to hide the scent from predators. Likewise, I’ve heard that if one cat is a little more alpha than the other, it will deter them from liking each other’s scent; thus, they may go to the bathroom in different locations. This is why you hear of cats marking their territory. Maybe there is an underlying ranking between the two of them that you may not see? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thought is maybe the cat has a health issue where he can’t hold his bowel movements? If it could be this, I would recommend checking with a vet. Also, you could try putting a pet diaper on him if this is the case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-23T12:47:07.250" LastActivityDate="2020-03-23T12:47:07.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26588" CreationDate="2020-02-03T22:37:26.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I notice is how early the female was separated. I think the recommendation is 8 weeks at the earliest. (I understand this wasn’t your fault). With that being said I would suspect and do to a degree expect that there are some consequences from this early separation. It wouldn’t surprise me that she would try nursing accidentally on a male. This happens to human babies when they can feel skin - often they start trying to latch even if the person (male or female) isn’t actually trying to nurse them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think she also is trying to comfort herself. I would assume this could be similar to cats kneading, which is a behavior developed while nursing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thought is are you sure she is nursing or grooming? Cats bond and show love by grooming each other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end I would just anticipate some sort of consequence from the early separation. I’ve done a lot of research on this for my cat and it can lead to a lot of emotional, behavioral, and physical changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn’t personally find the nursing a problem unless it causes physical harm to the other cat. So I don’t think I would be concerned about stopping it or separating them since she is at least getting food and not starving from unsuccessful nursing. If anything I think they will just become a really bonded pair. That could be problematic if you try separating them later on (if they didn’t live in the same home). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully things are better and this helps a little! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T22:37:26.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26597" CreationDate="2020-02-03T22:44:24.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is he neutered? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats behavior, especially males, can be radical when they become sexually mature. Our cat was kinda like that right before we got him neutered. He was all over the place! Cuddly one minute, scared the next, and then wild and playful after that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are sure no event happened to him (that would scare or traumatize him) maybe the difference are the people that came over. Just this weekend my parents came to stay with us and the cat smelt their bags and peed on their bed next to everything. He has never done that before! His behavior was off for the whole weekend. I really thing the impact of different scents (from the people), their presence, and everything else made him totally not normal. It’s taken him a bit to be comfortable with just us now that my parents are gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thought is he could not be feeling well. Cats like to hide and be secluded when they don’t feel good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help him not be scared, I would try to be quiet and gentle. If you approach him, do it tenderly and offer your hand out for him to sniff. Maybe even crouch so you aren’t a tower over him. Perhaps offer him treats while snuggling. I wouldn’t pull him out of hiding, as that shows he can’t find a safe place to hide. Just give him extra kind attention and care. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope things are better! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T22:44:24.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26247" CreationDate="2020-02-03T22:58:19.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, I totally hate to say it but I’m going to suggest maybe she was abused. It sounds like traumatic reactions to me - fight or flight. Our childhood cat would always run away whenever we got the broom out. It was the oddest thing, but we think maybe he was hit with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there may have been a reason why she went from being in a house to then going outside and not having an owner. Maybe she was kicked out or ran away? There must’ve not been a good enough connection to make her go back to home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She must have a good temperament to still like pets and be loving. However, whenever she sees that hand coming towards her it’s an instinct to react. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure how to 100% fix this, other than diligence, kindness, and maybe with accepting she may never change. I would slowly stick out my hand a few inches from her face, let her sniff it, and go from there. If she doesn’t like that maybe put a treat in you hand. Than she can associate hands with positive rewards. I would avoid drastic movements with the hand and try punishing her by hand. Another idea is maybe let her become familiar with hands - point with your finger to food or treats, play with toys on the floor with your hand in front of her, etc. This will hopefully warm her up to that hands don’t have to be threatening.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end I would just try your best to be calm, gentle, loving, and quiet when trying to show her hands are ok. Hopefully her trust and love for you will overcome this reaction! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T22:58:19.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26226" CreationDate="2020-02-03T23:13:50.417" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting that he is neutered and doing this! On that note, I think males are a little more crazy than females. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat gets like this too. I usually refer to him as amped or being a spaz. He goes totally crazy. He gets huge eyes like he is on the hunt. He will pounce on everything. He loves to run and bite my feet and legs. If I’m sitting, he will bite my hands and arms. His back fur will twitch, and he will crouch to the ground. He may also run from room to room, jump on furniture, and attack marks on the wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just find ways to calm the cat down. Don’t know if these work at all, but I’ve seen online that there is aroma therapy for pets or cbd oil for pets. What I normally do is throw him under a blanket. Don’t know why, but maybe the weight of the blanket or the darkness or something soothes him and gets him to calm down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop him from biting me, I try to avoid it. I pick him up (even if he doesn’t want it) and move him to a different spot or room. I will also close doors to separate us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing I do is go and get toys and play rough with him. I have a feather wand and just whip it all over the place and it helps get his energy out. Or, I will chuck balls throughout the house and let him go chase them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, maybe you could train him? I know people recommend positive reinforcement (via treats). This wasn’t good enough for our cat, so we use a spray bottle and say down. He is pretty responsive to that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since our cat got neutered last week, the amount of these “amped up” episodes has drastically gone down! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-03T23:13:50.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27034" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-04T09:56:42.877" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a street cat I have come across. Its two lower canines seem like protruding outward, instead of pointing upward as they normally do here they point almost horizontally. Its mouth is always slightly open. What's going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/GxuAeb0nHqI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EnkhR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EnkhR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AovBZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AovBZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17299" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T10:33:12.987" Title="What's wrong with this cat's mouth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27034" CreationDate="2020-02-04T10:33:12.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the cat might have a broken lower jaw,This can sometimes happen after a long fall and is not uncommon in cats that have had this type of accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be a birth defect but this is less likely as it had been a problem getting milk from the kittens mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The street cat look a bit underweight so if it is possible for you try to feed it canned food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is possible for you try to get the cat to a vet,The treatment of this type of injury will be expensive but it is possible to get it treated if you have the resources to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T10:33:12.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-04T12:48:30.770" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a beautiful natured large bull Arab dog. Due to being pregnant I have been told to reduce my interactions with him incase my tummy gets a knock to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My neighbour is walking him some mornings for me but I just feel like it’s not fair on him that that’s the only entertainment he gets each day if any. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never had a dog before. This is my partners dog whom I have now moved in with. So I’m just learning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please tell me ways to keep this beautiful dog entertained and feeling loved? For the past year or two I have thrown a balls for him and chased him all around the yard and washed him and smothered him in affection. But now I’m increasingly finding it difficult to do so due to my size and energy levels. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s not fair on him. Someone please give me some ideas? Thankyou in advance :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17296" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-04T14:28:01.527" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T14:28:01.527" Title="Bull Arab entertainment" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-02-05T13:21:31.250" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27050" CreationDate="2020-02-04T17:04:20.950" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;He was 2 months old and 2 weeks before he was suffering from hypothermia, me and my sister went to the veterinary and doctor said we need to keep him warm. On those days he was also not eating anything, so we were worried a lot, we cared a lot, then he survived and started eating food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were very happy, but then he got some issue with his tummy, his tummy was upset, we didn't care much as he was eating and he was in a better condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But suddenly he died. When he died I was with him, it was incredibly sad and depressing. 1 hour before his death he was getting some jerks, and while sleeping with me, I think he suddenly got some kind of attack because he started stretching his body very tightly (maybe he was paralyzed for some time) and when he relaxed himself, he was almost dead. He was having very weak heart beats and after few seconds those heart beats were also gone, which was incredibly depressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anybody please help me find out the real cause of his death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were giving him cow milk and one day we gave rice with egg. We always used to give a little warm food, but sometimes when we were not around, he used to eat the same as it is on room temperature which was cold. Could this have been a reason of his death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17300" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T22:30:39.163" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T21:29:32.000" Title="What caused the death of my kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-04T21:28:39.153" Score="1" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a betta fish and I keep him in a gallon tank with a water filter. There has been algae growing in his tank but I thought it was normal and didn't pay mind to it. Today I see the water is cloudy and found my fish laying on the bottom of the tank- almost dead. I see he is still breathing and I saw him swim up for air once. But I am worried he is going to die. I moved him to a jar temporarily with 60% clean conditioned tap water and 40% his tank water. But I know I can't keep him in the jar for long. Help! I really don't want him to die he is barely 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17301" LastActivityDate="2020-02-11T16:53:22.553" Title="How do I save my betta fish from dying because of a dirty tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-02-17T01:24:03.720" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27002" CreationDate="2020-02-04T21:54:09.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you have is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;working breed&lt;/a&gt;, a dog bread historically for a job. These dogs tend to be highly active and have buckets of drive to work and play. Not to mention she is young too so she will be even more active because of her youthful vibrance. They typically command a lot of attention from owners and can grow bored and be destructive very quickly if they don’t get it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly a lot of people get these types of dogs and not realise just how much of a commitment they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These types of dogs aren’t great at being left alone but it is possible with training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has separation anxiety and you need to teach her to be alone and that that’s ok to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are seriously going to leave this dog for long periods of time while you go to work I would do the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get her used to being alone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take some time off to train her. Start by leaving her for an hour, then two, then three over a course of a week or so, this will teach her to be alone and be able to be comfortable in her own company. This helps begin to set a routine. Keep doing this for a while. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave her stimulus when you leave. This can be anything; Doggy puzzle games, complex toys, something to chew (like a marrow bone, fresh meat on a bone like a duck or turkey neck etc). This will occupy her mind and in time she will just forget that she is alone. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps close the curtains so it’s a bit darker, relaxing and soothing. This also stops any external stimulus. &#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do something with her before going to work. Tire her out so it encourages her to sleep. Take her for a run/walk and train her in obedience. A mix of mental and physical exercise for 30m/1hr will work a treat. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crate train her&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now I’d leave her out of the crate as this may now be a cause for bad behaviour. You need to change her perception of this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In time start to reintroduce her to it by feeding her in it for ALL meals by shutting her in with her food. Once she’s eating she again has a distraction and the excitement/anxiety will go and be inadvertently rewarded with food. Then leave her in there for 20 mins or so to let her settle and then come out and reward her with play. This makes her crate a safe place for her, put a blanket over it to make a little den. So when she feels this anxiety again she can go there for refuge. If she starts to get destructive in there then correct her by telling her “No!”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually she will become more comfortable with her crate and be able to spend longer in there comfortably. But I would not leave her in there for the entire day while you go out. Because she will grow bored, uncomfortable, anxious and eventually want to get out. Like if a human eventually spends too long in bed or sat down it becomes uncomfortable and we want to move - this is the same thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has worked for me. I have two high drive GSDs living in my house and it worked a treat. Both had the same issue to a degree. One of them even ripped an entire floor up in my house, this routine worked really well for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-02-04T22:01:01.487" LastActivityDate="2020-02-04T22:01:01.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27055" CreationDate="2020-02-05T00:00:35.870" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 18 year old Musk turtle has some soft areas on his plastron. They also bend a bit. Is this ok?  There are no exotic vets in my area so I am not sure what to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He eats dry turtle pellets and he has a basking light that is on every day. I do not nor have I ever given him any supplements. He has a tetra filtration system &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PpHgU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PpHgU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;do!&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17304" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-07T04:53:13.213" LastActivityDate="2020-02-07T07:35:11.263" Title="My 18 year old Musk turtle has some soft areas on his plastron" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26961" CreationDate="2020-02-05T05:59:25.973" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being in Pet Care (I walk dogs, do drop-ins, doggy daycare, etc), and having had pets all of my life, I research everything that I can that has anything to do with the animals that I care for (most often they are dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One bit of information that I found in my research, that I thought was quite interesting--and that I have actually witnessed multiple times, causing me to believe the information to be accurate/correct--is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When dogs are playing that way (rough-housing, play fighting or playing rough), they make a sort of 'snuffing' sound--short bursts of sound, almost like a sneeze--that seems to come from their nose and mouth almost simultaneously. It's almost as if they're spitting in each other's faces--which, to us humans, doesn't seem very nice at all!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem to do it repeatedly, and often--at least in my experience, as my dogs seem to it almost continuously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, this is just one of the many ways that dogs have of communicating with each other. So, in this way, essentially they're saying to their playmate, &quot;Even though I may be behaving in a fairly rough or seemingly 'aggressive' manner, I'm not actually feeling aggressive and I wish no actual harm to you&quot; (their &quot;opponent&quot;). They're just letting them know that they are friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next time your pups are playing, you may notice this 'snuffing' sound, which apparently is a good thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your female pup and the 'mounting' behavior, she is telling/reminding the other pup that she is 'top dog,' period. But, she's being 'nice' about it... for now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17305" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-05T14:54:26.537" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T14:54:26.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-05T11:22:46.767" Score="1" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a 12 week old Maremma Sheepdog, I’ve had her for two weeks now. My sweet girl had her second round of vaccinations today and growled at the vet and even snapped. She had just come out of the car which she absolutely hates; it makes her very anxious as she drools and vomits from car sickness. The moment we got out of the car, I took her straight to vet, which she didn’t seem so pleased about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a lot of reading up on this breed and was prepared to take on the responsibility. I understand they're farm dogs; she is a house dog right now but is always getting the exercise and mental stimulation needed. She is well loved, and I’ve trained her so far to sit, shake, lie down and to go to bed. She is crate trained and does very well in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week, my cousin and his partner walked into the house and she growled at them. None of us family members were around her at the time as we were upstairs. Once they said hello to her she greeted them with the wagging tail and bum, and was all sweet and friendly. I understand they are a wary breed and need the “thumbs up” I guess from their owners when meeting new strangers. Will puppy class help her be able to mix and mingle with people a lot more? Or even taking her out to new places to see new people when she’s fully vaccinated so she can not feel as terrified?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would bring treats with me if anything, she has never growled at me and loves kids. She prefers women more than men, but loves children and has never seen them as a threat. My 7 year old son adores her and every morning when we wake up, she’s the happiest when with him. She really has such a sweet nature, but can be wary of strangers -- which I understand as that is her breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is this growling behavior out of fear? I feel it is. New places and people scare her. She’s such a good girl at home, but I don’t want her to be biting or growling at strangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17308" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T19:00:33.137" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T19:00:33.137" Title="12 week old Maremma Sheepdog growling--why?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27022" CreationDate="2020-02-05T12:24:23.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an area of high controversy and horse people have wildly differing opinions. I wait until at least 5 years old. The larger the horse, this will extend to 6 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is wise to wait until the growth plates have finished fusing. The vertebrae are the last part of the skeleton to fuse and this is not complete until 5-7 years (longer for larger horses). There is a lot of weight on a horse when they're being ridden and this can cause problems with the spine, such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/kissing-spines-horses/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kissing spine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waiting is not a bad thing, it gives the horse and owner plenty of time to establish a relationship and have solid groundwork. It's preferable to have the horse completely comfortable with everything you're asking on the ground before asking for it from the back. In my view, it's always the horse's best interest that comes over the human. So if it's better for the horse physically to wait, then I recommend waiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're obviously keen, if you can possibly hold off for another 12 months until she's nearly 4 (not rising 4) it will be beneficial for her. Bum high is an indicator that she is still growing. She is not that big, and 14 stone is a noticeable weight. I know a trainer who is tiny at 50 kg (7.5 stone), when she hops on a horse there is less chance of strain. The plus side of being 14 3 is that she will probably be finished growing by 5 yo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riding too soon can cause the horse stress and strain in the back. If you horse is in pain, this will present itself while riding or even just   saddling. So it is wise to hasten slowly with horses. As Rick Gore (horseman) says - and this is a messy paraphrase - there's a long way to do things and a short way and the long way is always shorter. Or with horses there's an easier way and a harder way - the harder way is usually the right way. Taking the time to put in that extra effort and patience yields results that outweigh the wait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this is probably not the answer you want to hear, and ultimately it's your choice. With horses, there's so many opinions and many people will disagree with mine, but that's all I have to offer with my experience, research and what I do with my own horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3Jws.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3Jws.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; .&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Not sure where this image originated&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/horse-owners/bone,-joint,-and-muscle-disorders-in-horses/disorders-of-the-back-in-horses#v3220122&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Muscle and Ligament Strain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Damage to the soft tissues is the most common cause of back soreness in the horse. This mostly involves the group of muscles along the back. Usually, all or parts of these muscles are strained while the horse is being ridden. The principal sites of damage are located just in front of and behind the saddle area. Signs include alteration of the horse’s performance and acute back pain. Most of these injuries respond to rest and physiotherapy, although several weeks may be needed for full recovery (see also Muscle Disorders in Horses).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fairly common site of soft-tissue damage is the ligament that runs down the middle of the back. Signs of damage to this ligament typically persist longer, and the chances of complete recovery are not as good as for the uncomplicated muscle strains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is considerable controversy over the diagnosis and treatment of back problems in horses. Much credit is given to the value of physiotherapy, particularly chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, but there is often little to substantiate their effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/horse-owners/bone,-joint,-and-muscle-disorders-in-horses/disorders-of-the-back-in-horses#v3220137&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kissing Spine Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spinous processes are the bony structures that protrude upwards from the body of vertebrae. You can feel their upper points in the midline of the back between the large back muscles. They do not normally touch each other; however, with kissing spines syndrome, 2 or more do. This may be partially due to the effects of bearing a rider. When this occurs beneath the saddle area, some horses develop back pain. The condition may also cause a local bone reaction, small bone cysts, and false joint formation. Diagnosis can be aided by injection of local anesthetic into the affected spaces between the spinous processes. Many cases respond to rest and physiotherapy, but persistent cases may require surgically removing one or more of the tops of the spinous processes to relieve the crowding of the spines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T12:24:23.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-05T12:42:43.560" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this cookies for dogs. I would like to know if it's true that can clean teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uqm2O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uqm2O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cholitas cookies&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QRKhU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QRKhU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Cholitas cookies&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1034" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-05T14:55:21.840" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T09:38:47.073" Title="Can cookies clean teeth?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27045" CreationDate="2020-02-05T14:45:52.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You describe different situations where she growls and each one could be caused by a different reason. It could also be that all are casued by the same reason, so the best action would be going to puppy class and learning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to learn how she reacts in different situations and she needs to learn which kind of behavior is acceptable in different situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible cause 1: insecurity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growling is first and foremost a &lt;strong&gt;communication method&lt;/strong&gt; for dogs. She could communicate that the situation makes her anxious and she's not sure how she should react. Therefore you should not reprimand a dog for growling, but instead show her how you would like her to behave instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could make her sit down next to you and patiently observe the situation for a few minutes. It's very important to be a good role model so she can learn from you. Therefore you should &lt;strong&gt;look at whatever caused her growling&lt;/strong&gt; or interact with the people &lt;strong&gt;instead of looking at your dog&lt;/strong&gt;. Looking at her in this situation is a request to act or resolve the situation, which could worsen the growling since she's already insecure and now feels like she must &lt;em&gt;somehow&lt;/em&gt; deal with it on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to puppy school gives her a chance to learn and experience many different things. If it's a good school, they will teach both of you how to greet strangers (with and without dogs), how to react to people riding bikes or skates, how to not pull on the leash when walking and many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible cause 2: bad experiences&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dogs either get a little hurt at a vet clinic (by jabs for example) or only go there if the're already ill or hurt. That combination makes all dogs I know hate the vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible, you should sometimes go to the vet clinic when she actually doesn't need to go there. Get into the waiting area, give her a lot of treats, then leave again. This gives her the chance to associate the vet clinic with positive experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that's not possible, you have to expect her becomming agressive towards vet personnell. That's not the end of the world and she's certainly not the only dog, but depending on how agressive she gets you might need to muzzle her for vet visits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Possible reason 3: protecting territory&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dogs are nice when they meet people outside, but get territorial in their own home. That's instinctual behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To counteract this, you should assign the roles differently in your home. It should be &lt;strong&gt;your role alone&lt;/strong&gt; to greet strangers and either invite them in or decide you won't let them in. If people come into your house, you are upstairs and your dog is the only one on the ground floor, she automatically assumes the role of deciding who's allowed to enter and who's not. You don't want that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can order her to go into her crate or sit a few feet away from the door while you open the door and greet the people. That having-to-wait makes it very clear that greeting people is your role and she should trust you that you do it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T14:45:52.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27038" CreationDate="2020-02-05T15:43:43.030" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Put him in something larger than a 1 gallon. I'm sure you've heard this before, but I promise it's true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Add a snail - snails eat algae and will clear up your tank fast. Only do this if you actually use a larger tank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) If you haven't had the water in your tank for very long, the cloudy water could just be good bacteria forming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Algae can also form because of overfeeding (decomposing food). I would reduce your feeding to once a day. A betta's stomach is only about as big as it's eye, so feed accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the above are from personal experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) Since it's just a 1 gallon tank, I would replace a standard coffee cup worth of water every week with an equal amount conditioned water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16401" LastEditorUserId="16401" LastEditDate="2020-02-05T17:56:00.290" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T17:56:00.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27037" CreationDate="2020-02-05T16:34:48.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone can say for sure why your kitten died, but one possible cause was the kitten's diet. Cats must eat meat because they require the amino acid taurine which is primarily found in meat. A diet lacking in meat will probably lead to taurine deficiency, which according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.allivet.com/blog/is-your-cat-suffering-from-a-taurine-deficiency/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;allivet.com&lt;/a&gt;, has symptoms such as &quot;degeneration of the retina in the eyes, weakening of the heart, and digestion issues.&quot; If the taurine deficiency gets bad enough, it can even be lethal for cats. Furthermore, at two months, the kitten should probably be weaned, and therefore milk or kitten formula is probably not recommended. Cow's milk in general is not good for cats because it contains lactose, which will often cause digestive issues too, like diarrhea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-02-05T16:34:48.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27051" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27052" CreationDate="2020-02-06T14:04:14.920" Score="2" ViewCount="1373" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a digital thermometer to check the (rectal) temperature of my dog when needed[*]. I'm not sure if any digital thermometer will do, or if I should look for a specific &quot;animal-grade&quot; digital thermometer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[*]: I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xoloitzcuintle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hairless mexican&lt;/a&gt; and I live in a country with some severely hot summer days, which affects him. I want to make sure his temperature is ok when this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17316" LastActivityDate="2020-02-06T14:55:53.857" Title="Can I use any digital thermometer on my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27051" CreationDate="2020-02-06T14:40:28.867" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Temperature is a form of physical energy. It's the same for humans and animals, so any body thermometer for human use is suitable for dogs as well. Since the regulations and requirements for medical products for humans are often higher than those for animals, any thermometer intended for human use should be safe for a dog as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you intended to use a thermometer that is not a body thermometer (like one to measure the air temperature outside) then I have to disappoint you. Since the range between healthy and unhealthy body temperature is so small, you need a thermometer with high accuracy and low measuring error. Most consumer grade air thermometers don't specify the accuracy and are not suited to take body temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is that the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/dog-normal-body-temperature-1118294&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;normal body temperature of dogs&lt;/a&gt; is higher than that for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When taking the body temperature of a dog rectally, most dogs react to the intrusion by sitting down. You must make sure your dog doesn't sit down on the thermometer by holding his tail high enough he cannot lower his bum to the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wouldn't use the same thermometer on humans once you used it on a dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are less intrusive ways of measuring body temperature like infrared body thermometers. These can measure the temperature by pointing them into the ear or open mouth of the dog, but the measurement might not be as accurate as a rectal measurement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages of both types of thermometers &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/taking-your-pets-temperature&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The article also includes instructions on how to measure a dog's temperature correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-02-06T14:55:53.857" LastActivityDate="2020-02-06T14:55:53.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26975" CreationDate="2020-02-06T19:42:16.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta fish usually create bubble nests for when they're ready to mate, and wait for a female to spawn with. Betta males are very protective of their bubble nests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your betta got angry that your snail went to it's leaf, and then more so when the snail went near it's bubble nest, and now is attacking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The betta biting it's own tail sounds like it is stressed out (possibly because it thinks the snail is a danger to it/it's bubble nest). I would remove the snail from the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a separate not, you haven't said what size your tank is. If it is small, I would put it in a larger tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16401" LastActivityDate="2020-02-06T19:42:16.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27038" CreationDate="2020-02-07T02:23:13.180" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep a first aid kit. Pet stores often will not carry Betta fish medication, meaning that you will need to order it online. If you do this after your Betta fish gets sick it will likely be too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevent illness. Most Betta fish ailments are caused by improper feeding and cleaning. These will be examined in greater detail later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Know how to recognize the first signs of illness. The most obvious way to tell that a Betta fish is sick is to observe whether or not it wants to eat. If it is not eating or appears unexcited at the sight of food, it is likely sick. Other signs of illness include a less vibrant color or strange discolorations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17313" LastActivityDate="2020-02-07T02:23:13.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27042" CreationDate="2020-02-07T07:26:00.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A soft shell of turtles the most time causes in missing vitamins and other substances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most needed substances are given with the food but some could only be given as pre-form and the turtle has to produce the useable form itself. For this the turtle need UV light (like sunlight or a special bulb at the basking area).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information about the &lt;strong&gt;UV light&lt;/strong&gt; look at the answer here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18183/do-aquarium-turtles-require-basking-everyday&quot;&gt;Do aquarium turtles require basking everyday?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the &lt;strong&gt;food&lt;/strong&gt; it is important to know that pellets and other buyable dry food for turtles is more suited to the production cycle of the company than to turtles. But once a week pellets are okay. (In general is a 2 week rhythm a good idea for a healthy turtle. This means 14 times in 2 weeks (every day) another food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Musk turtles favor non-vegan food. In nature they eat 20 percent vegetable but in the tank they very rare eat greens. Some people say their turtle eats some duckweed sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of healthy turtle food:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dry food-animals&lt;/strong&gt; like dry fish (for example for cats), dry prawn, dry gammarus (common freshwater shrimp), dry silkworm pupae and dry mealworms. They are a fast feed able food if you are in a hurry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frozen food&lt;/strong&gt; like smelt, sunbleak topmouth gudgeon, crucian carp, bloodworms (mosquito larvae), artemia, cyclops, bosminid waterfleas, krill, mysis, cuttlefish, tubifex, daphnia, prawn, conch meat, gammerus pulex, grasshopper, mice or chicks. This is a quick solution too. Before feeding it is very important that the food is not frozen anymore. Another point to look for is this: the food should in no case be a muddy mush after thawing because then it was decayed before freezing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Living food&lt;/strong&gt; like snails, bloodworms, prawn, crab, water strider (and other water insects), any fish (in some countries it is not allowed to feed living fish), common freshwater shrimps, woodlouses, grasshoppers, earthworms, mealworms and cockroaches (black beetles [zool.]). Here it is a good idea to search for a clean pond in your surrounding so you catch for example insects and shrimp from it. Please think about it: in nature the turtle eats fresh food every day. In it is all the turtle needs. In frozen or dry food the sensible substances are destroyed. Fresh food is useful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calcium&lt;/strong&gt; is very important for the stability of bones and shell. The most times feeding could not give enough of it. But one should not scatter chalk over the food because then the turtle could not measure the right intake of chalk (for calcium). A better idea is the cuttlebone of a sepia. This is most time offered for bird. One of it floating in the tank is enough, so the turtle could bite parts of it if needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A last interesting point is the so called &quot;turtle pudding&quot;. This one could cook yourself or sometimes (rare) they are offered to buy. To cook it is only useful if you have some animals. For one alone it is to much work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I could give you an imagination what food your turtle like. And next time if you are outside you could have a jar or plastic box with you, to collect it. The turtle will be very thankful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At last: another reason for soft shell could be toxic substances in the water. For this you should make a water test and post the result as comment under your question (maybe with &quot;@trondhansen&quot; in it, he is most active with water quality)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source for the food list was the feeding part of this german website: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zierschildkroete.de/pages/ernaehrung.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.zierschildkroete.de&lt;/a&gt; It offers pictures of the most dry, frozen and living food (&quot;getrocknete Futtertiere&quot;, &quot;Frostfutter&quot;, &quot;Lebendfutter&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-02-07T07:35:11.263" LastActivityDate="2020-02-07T07:35:11.263" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-07T21:51:59.017" Score="3" ViewCount="411" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had 2 goldfish for 2 years in my aquarium. This one was good last night. I don't know what happened today it is somehow floating on side with little movement, like sleeping. I put it outside of aquarium with filtered water now. When I bring my finger near it, it moves a bit, but very slowly, which is sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't change the aquarium water for a while (maybe a year - my impression is they enjoy dirtier water, like pods - as you see it was full of their poop). But if it was for the water, the other one should have got sick as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happened? Is she dying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IOwQAm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IOwQAm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pKPsim.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pKPsim.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 1 (1st week)&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few hours of putting it separately in that bowl with fresh filtered water and a bit higher temperature, she got better now and swims. But the cause is still unknown to me. I changed the aquarium water and will get them back to it after a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 2 (2nd week)&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a week and a few days back in aquarium, I see the same thing happening. I got her back to a bowl now. I see her &lt;strong&gt;left side is always up&lt;/strong&gt; when tilted (like this photo above) and when she swims, she gets upside down and has no balance. &lt;strong&gt;Is it swim bladder?&lt;/strong&gt; I gave her pea pieces, but how much should I give her? And does it cure her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RihoSm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RihoSm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE 3&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately she died, which is incredibly sad. I performed an autopsy to realize what was wrong. &lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/KJenE5EjjVAXmGCCA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here are two photos (viewer discretion advised)&lt;/a&gt;. What was wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11283" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T15:11:28.330" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T13:09:38.860" Title="My goldfish is dying" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-08T04:56:26.897" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Diphtheria is considered to be one of the few diseases transmittable between cats/humans. This disease doesn't really exist (anymore) in most of the world, but is unfortunately prevalent (but thankfully not so common anymore) in some developing countries. The reason diphtheria is considered troublesome is initially it just appears like a common cold/cough. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried searching the web quite a bit, but everything I find is about the symptoms of the disease in humans. I want to understand what the symptoms of diphtheria are, in cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastActivityDate="2020-02-08T04:56:26.897" Title="Symptoms of diphtheria in cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27057" CreationDate="2020-02-08T08:43:50.067" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked at PetSmart for a little bit and what I found out (or really, what co-workers told me) is that goldfish don’t have stomachs so they can’t filter food. This causes them to poop a lot which produces ammonia and then kills them. So it’s essential that they have a filter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your aquarium may already have a filter. So I’m not sure what really could be “killing” it. Maybe another fish hurt him or something else could be going on! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep him separated, make sure you maintain filtered water and have an appropriate temperature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17283" LastActivityDate="2020-02-08T08:43:50.067" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-08T14:07:35.193" Score="0" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 outdoor cats, A male and another female. Both were very friendly and have had a litter too around 4 months ago. They are together since more than a year. They were very playful and shared food too. But since yesterday, the male has started to fight with the female. He is hissing, attacking and biting the female cat. If I try to negotiate he is hissing at me too. I tried to divert their attention by giving food to them separately. But the male cat seems to be more interested in attacking the female cat rather than eating. Until yesterday both were very friendly. Suddenly he has become this much aggressive and changed behaviour and I don't know why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought of taking him to a vet but he isn't even coming in hand. He is just trying to attack when I try picking him up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know what can be done to calm him down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did he turn so much violent towards a cat with whom he has been so friendly.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10421" LastActivityDate="2020-02-11T10:02:49.270" Title="Male cat suddenly aggressive towards female cat with whom he has been together for more than a year" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-08T17:45:58.223" Score="6" ViewCount="528" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted my cat ~4 months ago from a shelter, he was a stray before. About a few days in, I did the terrible mistake of cleaning my room with a vacuum cleaner. In my defense, in the shelter they told me he's probably deaf because they didn't see him react to sounds. But soon it became very obvious to me my cat has normal hearing ability since he reacts to sounds in different rooms, outside, coming from my computer etc. Anyway, after I vacuumed my room, cat was acting very weird, he did not walk over the part of the floor I vacuum cleaned for about a week and residual anxiety was still present even after a month. He's doing perfectly fine now as far as I can tell, none of that anxiety remains. Clearly vacuum cleaner traumatized my cat and I don't want him to experience that again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last few months I've been cleaning my room manually by sweeping etc. But it's essentially impossible to maintain it like this. My bed is covered with cat hair. It's affecting my social life because I'm embarrassed to invite anyone to my house since my carpet is covered in cat litter and hair and dust. I do sweep it manually, but it's not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, my cat loves my room and he barely leaves my room. So there is no way to lure him out of my room and close the door. Even though my bedroom's door is open all the time he goes out very rarely. Also my housemates do not allow me to have litter box outside of my room, so my cat cannot be locked out of my room for extended periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current plan is to lock my cat into bathroom with some food for about 30 mins-ish. Vacuum clean my room and take him back. I do not know if this is a good idea. I don't want to scar him again. Is there a better way to vacuum clean my room without scaring my cat. There is no other room in the house my cat frequents like my room, except the kitchen he walks around occasionally, but there is not way for me to &quot;lock&quot; him there since it's a big, open area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17322" LastEditorUserId="17322" LastEditDate="2020-02-08T19:19:11.600" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T22:59:18.537" Title="Is it ok to lock my cat for half an hour to clean my room? If not how should I do it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-08T18:12:03.933" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided to save my betta from dying in an abandoned bowl. The previous owner kept him in a 1 gallon bowl that was never cleaned and at 68°.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to rescue him. So now he's in a 5 gallon tank at 78° and much cleaner. However he is still sick and I'm not 100% sure what is wrong. He has more energy now and I'm guessing because of the warmer temperature, clearer tank, and more room but he's still stressed. I'm guessing his age may be related to his lower energy level too. I have no idea how old he is but his fins are needing some treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His dorsal fin looks clamped and the tip is rotted away. Like ashy color. Looks like a piece of cooled ember. I'm sure there's probably multiple things wrong and I need know what I should do? &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EqMKH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17323" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T01:22:40.870" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:22:40.870" Title="Fin rot, clamped fin, or what?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-02-17T01:32:18.097" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7044" CreationDate="2020-02-09T14:47:09.160" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a dog which has been stabilised on insulin for a year. I inject him just behind the collar and he doesn’t seem to feel it. He (and I) are creatures of habit. I just say needle and a treat and he knows what I mean. Always likes the treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17326" LastActivityDate="2020-02-09T14:47:09.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27062" CreationDate="2020-02-09T15:42:47.230" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to clean your house, even if your cat gets a bit scared. Cats in general get over this in a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting your cat in the bathroom while you clean your room is not a problem, but you need to be sure he has a litterbox, food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a cat tree, he will have a place to watch what is going on at the same time as he will feel safer than he might do now; cats like to have an elevated resting place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat might get more easily scared than other cats, but he will get over it as he gets to know you and the area better. I guess he was even more scared when you first got him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T16:32:41.620" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T16:32:41.620" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-09T21:31:04.893" Score="3" ViewCount="904" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fairly docile betta that I just moved to a heated 10 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought a live plant that turned out to be infested with snail eggs. I'd prefer not to harm the snails, but they are rapidly reproducing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told that a loach is compatible with bettas and will eat the snails, and the guys at the pet store recommended a Kuhli Loach. I did some googling and it looks like that type of loach won't eat snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any advice on how to handle my snail issue, and if a Kuhli loach will solve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17327" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T15:50:39.793" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T15:50:39.793" Title="Need help with snails in a betta tank" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27079" CreationDate="2020-02-09T23:11:46.953" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is always always always &lt;em&gt;stuff&lt;/em&gt; in my betta’s tank, and it of course gets stirred up after water changes. I always vacuum up the waste I can find and clean out dead plant matter. But no amount of cleaning helps. I suspect some of this floating stuff is normal. It takes an hour or two to settle. But it’s still &lt;em&gt;there&lt;/em&gt;, just settled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just performed a 60-75% water change and scrubbed everything down to battle hair algae. I tried to vacuum the mystery stuff up during this to no avail. There was still lots in the water I left in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I’m always worried about now much there tends to be. What can I expect to find in a tank? What is normal to find/see?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank and care details:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I change my betta tank water weekly, about 20-40% depending on algae, waste, and evaporation levels. The tank is 10 gallons (38 liters) with lots of plants, one plastic and one natural log. Black sand substrate. Heater and standard filter system. Fed 3 pellets twice daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I test parameters every week as well:&#xA;0ppm nitrate and nitrite, and a 7.2-7.8 pH reading and .25ppm ammonia reading (I’ve never been able to lower pH and ammonia... due to all the stuff in the tank?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-07T21:05:38.693" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T21:05:38.693" Title="What amount of “grime” is acceptable in betta tank post water change?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27067" CreationDate="2020-02-10T08:29:48.547" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience kuhli loach is not effective in any way at removing snails from a fish tank, no matter the number of loaches you have they will not remove the snails (even if you stop feeding the kuhli loaches in your tank, they will not eat the snails; please believe me on this, I have tried this by accident).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution you want for removing snails from your tank is actually to add snails to your tank; I know this sounds crazy, but it is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The snail type you need is commonly called the ASSASSIN SNAIL; this type of snail will eat other snails (be sure to not put this snail into a tank where you have snails you want to keep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assassin snails do reproduce very slowly and you will need to get male and female snails for them to reproduce, each individual snail is of a single gender, unlike other types of snails &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;where each individual snail is of both genders at the same time&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assassin snails do not eat fish or shrimp, but they will eat leftover fish food if (when) they run out of prey snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about Assassin snails in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clea_helena&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1SXvU95Ty8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In this video you can learn more about assassin snails' hunting, killing, and eating&lt;/a&gt; - warning, graphic content here :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T15:47:15.117" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T15:47:15.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-10T12:24:10.663" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted two male kittens (brothers), who are about 8 months old now. They are both generally calm and I play with them pretty frequently. They also have plenty of toys. I give them wet and dry food twice a day at 6 am and 6 pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem I'm having is that one of them has become very aggressive about feeding time. Even if there is still wet and/or dry food in their bowls, he will start to meow constantly. This is fine in the evenings, but increasingly annoying in the morning. I often wake up to him meowing at the bedroom door, which is soon followed by digging and scratching. I'm worried this may cause damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's because he is hungry. He's been putting on a little weight, and sometimes when I feed him, he'll take 3 bites and then go do something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17329" LastActivityDate="2020-02-10T12:24:10.663" Title="Why is my cat so aggressive about feeding?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-10T19:17:59.337" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just wanted to get some input and feedback about getting another dog to keep my dog company at home while I'm at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a small Dog - high energy, and wonderful. I walk him twice a day and play with him. Often he's bored and just sits and stares at me at home, and I feel bad. He has me to engage him, and roommates but that is it. He's super smart, and very well behaved. He powers through his kong wobbler toy in 10 mins or less, and puzzle toys don't keep him occupied for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be interested in feedback on your experience with my concerns about another dog below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it a lot more work? (walking 2 dogs vs. 1), other scenarios, etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you experienced more &amp;quot;hands-off&amp;quot; time w/ your dogs after getting a second? (play w/ each other, opposed to 20-30 mins time spent dedicated play time with one dog) - less time staring at you, maybe doesn't need as many walks? etc..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does getting another dog really make them both happier? What about longevity, health, obedience, etc..?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other input or experiences have you had? Harder to get dog-sitters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'm suffering from a bit of guilt around my dog not liking to be home alone.  I think being a good dog owner involves making the dog's life the best you can within reason - part of why I'm considering a second bundle o' joy for the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for all of your sage input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17331" LastEditorUserId="17331" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T00:16:11.400" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T00:16:11.400" Title="Should I get another dog to keep my dog company?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-11T00:45:10.580" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two days ago, we adopted a cat. This is the second cat in our household, and both are around 1.5 years old. We did not follow the general recommendation of separating the two cats at first, instead immediately placing them both in the same room. While relations between them have improved over the two days, they actively avoid each other, hiss if they get too close and our old cat distrusts us if he can smell the new cat on us. No fighting yet thankfully. While they of course haven't been around each other long enough to get used to each other, I worry that our lazy introduction between the two cats has permanently soured their relationship. Is there a way to fix the introduction? For example, would isolating the two cats and doing the slow introduction work when they've already been seeing each other for two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tl/dr can two cats who have already been introduced for a short time be reintroduced in a way that makes them better trust each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17333" LastActivityDate="2020-02-11T15:18:00.943" Title="Recovering from bad introduction between two cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-02-17T01:30:52.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-11T03:18:58.627" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is anyone who knows about planted aquarium please help me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.in/dp/B010HR46CI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xRTqEb56H7DWT&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ISTA CO2 tablets&lt;/a&gt; good for planted aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will this harm my fishes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use both CO2 and oxygen filter in my tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17336" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T01:43:00.950" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:43:00.950" Title="I'm willing to use CO2 tablets in my planted aquarium but I'm worried that it may cause any harm to my guppy fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27073" CreationDate="2020-02-11T04:12:36.637" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes some time for two pets to get along with each other. The same thing happens with my Persian and Ragdoll, they fight for territory and toys. After a while they get use to the presence of each other, they still fight but it's not as bad as before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17313" LastEditorUserId="17221" LastEditDate="2020-02-11T15:18:00.943" LastActivityDate="2020-02-11T15:18:00.943" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27068" CreationDate="2020-02-11T09:26:01.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep your tank in biological balance, you need to clean your tank at regular intervals. How often you need to clean the tank depends on a number of factors, like the number and type of fish and the amount of food you give each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not possible to answer what amount of waste is normal in a fishtank. As long as the water quality is good, your fish will be fine; so it is a bit up to you to decide what is acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular maintenance is changing about 20% water every week, and vacuuming the gravel every two weeks. You use a gravel vacuum and suck up the waste that acumulates in the gravel/sand, do this as a part of your regular water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you do the partial water change, be sure to use dechlorinator in the water you add to your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your filter needs to be cleaned when you can see that the waterflow is reduced. Be sure to use the water from your tank when you clean the filter to keep the good bacteria alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not clean the filter too often - you need the bacteria living there to maintain a good water quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your tank is in biological balance, you should not be able to detect any measurable content of ammonia or nitrite - only nitrate should be present in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take a look &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at the relevant article on fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt; on how to keep the tank in biological balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, try to limit the amount of water you change each week to about 20%. If you get an ammonia or nitrite spike, you need to change a larger amount of water than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-07T21:00:19.960" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T21:00:19.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27090" CreationDate="2020-02-11T15:11:36.870" Score="4" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A follow-up from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/27022/17188&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; previous question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking to back my horse within the next year or two and was wondering what process and/or items I can use to prepare my filly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify we are starting with a completely blank slate. The only thing she has had on her back to date is a rug. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this question backing takes on the meaning of being the process of getting a horse to be ready to be saddled with the end goal of being able to ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to mention any type of backing advice/methods you have used/researched; I will consider untried methods as long as they are sensible ideas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-12T21:04:21.460" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T21:22:44.733" Title="What can I do to prepare my horse for backing" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;saddle&gt;&lt;equestrian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18693" CreationDate="2020-02-12T02:46:14.860" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 20yr old hyperthyroid cat does great with a Twist-a-Dose® from Wedgewood pet pharmacy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My vet orders the strength of the pens.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My cat gets 2 twists of the pen twice daily applied in the auricle of the ear.&#xA;No fuss, no bother. He doesn’t mind at all.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So much easier than tablets or other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They send 2-3month supply at a time — very timely, not expensive.   I recommend to all - so much easier than fighting with pills.&#xA;Ask your vet. He can call it in.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can order any time of day and night - don’t even have to talk with anyone—it’s all automated with info programmed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17340" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2020-02-12T10:43:28.767" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T10:43:28.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-12T14:18:06.770" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats: one's a senior citizen gal (Tincy) and the other's a talkative 7-yr old guy (Willis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both have small plates that's always filled with dry food, and in the morning I each give them half a can of Fancy Feast pate. Tincy eats just a little bit and Willis eats his and hers. I don't blame him, it's Fancy Feast pate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question: considering that they each get half a can of Fancy Feast pate, should the plates of dry food always be full? Or should I fill the plates with dry food during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I ask is that they're frequently throwing up, especially Tincy the older cat. I know it's because she likes to eat and eat and eat dry food, even if she isn't hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally don't think that the plates should always be filled with dry food, but I don't know when to fill it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T01:29:46.120" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:29:46.120" Title="How much dry food (and when) should I feed my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-02-17T01:30:07.850" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27087" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-12T16:22:18.827" Score="2" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend is an alcoholic and has done some horrible things when he's got hammered. It had affected the whole family and been a very toxic abusive time for the last three years. My cat is terrified of him because of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend has gone to rehab now and he's changed. He's been in AA has a sponsor gone back to school and has gotten his life together realizing what life is like without a bottle. I'm proud of him but scared for when he comes home. My cat has been comfortable and back to the old him and his element since he's been gone. My cat plays, lays with me, and acts like he did before my boyfriend even came into my life. I don't want him hiding under the bed or in the closet when he walks through the door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get them to just like each other and let the past be the past? Because this side of my cat I'm so happy is back, but I'm also so proud to see this side of my boyfriend. I want the peace in my house and no arguing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17341" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-15T05:07:37.747" LastActivityDate="2020-02-15T05:07:37.747" Title="How can I recover my cat and boyfriends relationship" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27087" CreationDate="2020-02-12T17:18:37.780" Score="7" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I recover my cat and boyfriends relationship&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't, only the boyfriend and the cat can work this out.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your boyfriend wants to fix it he should read this related post &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/21575/13&quot;&gt;How can I fix my relationship with my 7 month old cat after I&amp;#39;ve constantly abused her the past month?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T17:18:37.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27080" CreationDate="2020-02-12T20:58:07.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've taught her to accept the blanket already, that's very good. First, I'd start simply by grooming her. If she accepts being groomed all over her body, then start with a saddlepad; let her sniff it, and when she's finished sniffing it, rub it on her neck a bit, then offer for her to sniff it again. Rub it all over her body; shoulders, hips, back, even legs a little. Periodically let her sniff it, then place it on her back once she's calm about all of this. She'll probably turn to look at it, but otherwise be calm. Once she's used to this, you can get the saddle and let her sniff it, and place it on her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next comes the cinch; let it down, then switch to the other side, reach under her belly, grab it, and buckle it snug; don't tighten it at this point. Also, when you reach for the cinch, don't duck your head to look for it, Keep your head back and watch her foot; if she kicks, it'll be in a safer spot, and you'll have at least a tiny warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let her stand there for a little, and tighten the cinch 3-4 times gradually. If you pull it tight right away, she'll associate the saddle with sudden pain and will start fussing and fighting when you try to saddle her. The same thing will happen with a bad fitting saddle, but that's something I'm just learning to do myself for the first time; currently, I ride bareback while I look for one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you unsaddle her, don't unbuckle the cinch and drop it; use the leather piece you buckle it with and lower it slowly. If you drop it, it could hit her leg and startle her or, worst case, bruise her leg. Lift the saddle off, don't just drag it off; the stirrup will likely slide across her back, but you want the tree to lift clear; this again will help her not spook. Also, don't ride her the first time you put the saddle on; get her used to doing groundwork with the saddle on before you ride her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17343" LastEditorUserId="17343" LastEditDate="2020-02-12T21:22:44.733" LastActivityDate="2020-02-12T21:22:44.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-12T22:57:14.583" Score="2" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only time she has tried to jump in the 18 weeks of her being a happy though clingy pussy cat (mummy's girl) is when she was in heat and I had a horrid guest who stank of dog (a scent she is unaccustomed to anyway being a house cat). Luna is also a very nervous cat unless just with me (then she's the opposite). Other than that, those little upper windows have always been open, even at night, and she's been FINE, even when in heat which I know is distressing for her (getting her &quot;done&quot; next month). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My step dad has recently started visiting as my carer and since this started she has stopped coming to bed with me. More to the point, this is the second time, two days in a row, that I have found her halfway out the little sash windows. She normally loves being on the windowsill but my instinct told me to peek behind the curtain and my instinct told me right. She jumped down unaware of her near death. Luna isn't a silly cat. She is smart. I did start shutting the windows but wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Looks like I can't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas as to why she doesn't seem herself?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She's very used to it just being us apart from support workers occasionally popping in so maybe my step dad being here for hours on end several times a week so suddenly as well as her being in heat has upset her more than I anticipated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17344" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T01:31:55.040" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T13:52:57.070" Title="Why is my house cat trying to jump out my upper sash windows?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27097" CreationDate="2020-02-12T23:11:14.143" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friends have a ~5 year old beagle/basset mix, who was a &quot;rescue&quot; some years ago.  He's very intelligent and pretty well trained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unexpectedly, they'll be in the hospital for a couple days so I am going over to check on the dog a couple times a day.  The dog knows me, I've cared for him before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time I heard they would be gone and made it to the house, the dog was a few hours off his usual schedule and very upset.  He had also urinated and defecated in the house, which is fine for me but it was clear that he was upset about it.  I fed/watered him the usual, gave him a treat, tried to comfort him.  He knows something is up because his owners aren't home and have been gone for a day, but I'm worried he thinks it's some kind of punishment for having an accident on the floor.  Whereas he usually is very energetic and constantly wagging his tail, his tail is locked forward as if we're hunting.  He's also been so anxious that he's been shaking in his legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took him for a nice walk down his usual street to his favorite park.  Where he normally is excited and sniffs everything, there was a lot less of that this time.  Perhaps I'm personifying, but it also seemed like he was looking for his owners, and thought that's what we were doing on this walk.  He's normally happy to go home after this walk, but this time he seemed to want to continue, going down streets that we don't normally go down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when I left the house, he just buried his head down and stared.  Normally, he'd run and follow me all the way to the door, tail wagging the whole time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do for him?  His owners will be home by the end of the week.  If I can at lest find a way to make him not think he's being punished, I'd like to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17345" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T14:05:09.340" Title="Reassuring/cheering up a dog whose owners are unexpectedly missing" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-13T04:46:25.313" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my Beta fish for almost 2 years, he didn’t look great when I first got him but after 1 week I got a 5 gallon tank with a low flow filter and a heater. He has since then always ate well and had a lot of energy and had really pretty fins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has lots of fake plants and loves his little cave. But lately, he has been just staying at the bottom of his cave, to the point where I didn’t see him for like 4 days (I feed him every day or every other day about 2 pellets although he sometimes eats 3 within 2 minutes) His tank is at about 75-80ish Fahrenheit, I did a 1/2 water change a couple weeks ago, and always let it sit until the water clears up (without him innit) for one or two days after I put in his ph level tablet in, and sometimes the conditioner if I use tap water...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just cleaned the glass and removed his cave, and put in his little hammock in hopes he will hang out near the top and notice some food. He seems to be eating a lot less. He did swim around and inspect everything though...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be wrong and what can I do???&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He started being less active when my cat scared him and tries to chase him through the glass. I try my best to not let him do this and he isnt aloud in the room without me there. I understand it could be stress but other than not letting it happen again I don’t know how to make him better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AFUoS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17346" LastEditorUserId="17346" LastEditDate="2020-02-13T05:27:26.407" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:08:47.887" Title="Beta fish sleeping or sick?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-02-17T01:06:43.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-13T11:14:58.807" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since my cat is old (17) and has kidney disease I Try to give her whatever she will eat. She won't touch the canned cat food anymore, and I don't often see her eating the dry food. She will eat scraps off my plate, mostly meat which I assume is healthier for her than canned cat food. But lately she has found another food source she loves canned Dog food! She is gaining weight again which is good, but I am wondering what it is about dog food that she now prefers it to the wet cat food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be the lower protein and sodium content? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it her bodies way of trying to keep kidney disease at bay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17347" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T00:59:35.380" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:04:02.423" Title="Cat with kidney disease eats wet dog food, but shuns most cat food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21896" CreationDate="2020-02-13T11:28:50.550" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Bichon gets these all the time. I took her to the vet for her first couple but they confirmed it's nothing to worry about. My vet said that some of hers were warts whereas others were skin tags and they were likely to get more frequent as my dog ages. Both of these are non-hazardous and simply cosmetic which is a relief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying you shouldn't take your dog to the vet, if you're concerned then there's nothing like the peace of mind their advice can give you. This is just my experience from your description of the bumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avodermnatural.com/blog/decoding-bumps-skin-tags-on-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; provides fantastic information on lumps and bumps on your canine if you're looking for more specific information and images to identify them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T11:28:50.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24130" CreationDate="2020-02-13T12:08:08.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I added a comment but I'll add an answer as a possible soultion too.&#xA;I'm going to be honest with you, leash agression is usually due to being poorly socialised on walks or outside from a young age. You have personified her slightly as dogs don't think like us humans and thus can't be agoraphobic. She is unsure and is therefore scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snapping and lunging is never out of excitement and is definitely a huge hazard she can kill other people's dogs which unfortunately is much more important than her discomfort!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To try and ease the severity of her reactions you can try these steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 1 - Adding leash and dog friend within a building&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start just attach the lead to her when she's inside with a new dog friend. Allow them to play, relax and just generally enjoy with each other for an hour or so every few days. Take note of any toys your dog seems to prefer, you'll need this in future steps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 2 - Progressing to both dogs in yard on leash together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once both dogs are calm and relaxed with each other inside the building progress to a yard or garden with them and do the same thing, ensure they have toys they can play with and/or treats. This helps with taking the attention off the dog. Only give the toys if the dogs are relaxed or you may accidentally reinforce bad behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 3 - Walking down the road with both dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the big one, once both dogs seem settled pick a time where you believe there will be no other dog walkers around and take them for a brisk walk up the road. Ensure you have your dog's favourite toy to reward any preferred behaviour from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 4 - Meeting the friendly dog outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have the friendly dog come and meet your dog outside your house. They should be familiar with scents by now and therefore shouldn't show any negative behaviour. For any desired behaviour ensure you reward with a toy or treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 5 - Interacting with other dogs with friendly dog interacting&#xA;  first&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your comment that she's already fought/snapped and barked at previous dogs I would put the muzzle on for everyone's safety and peace of mind when starting this step. I would also take the friendly dog on the walk so that your dog can see (and learn) an appropriate way to interact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 6 - Progress to walking by herself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of how well the previous step worked I would once again put the muzzle on her until I am 100% confident that she is showing no aggressive behaviour towards other dogs. As the last thing you want to happen is being the cause of a fatality. Using a similar method as before simply walk your dog as normal. If they display any aggressive behaviour give them a firm &quot;NO&quot; and continue walking. Do not fuss, do not pull back, don't walk towards the dog just continue in the same direction you were going to begin with. Once she stops being aggressive and is no longer focusing on the dog, reward with a toy or treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you move onto the next step and it doesn't work revert back to the previous one. It may take some time and lots of patience but don't let this discourage you. It takes time to work anxiety out of dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Side note:&lt;/strong&gt; It's also important that the dog friend you use is not aggressive toward other dogs &lt;strong&gt;at all&lt;/strong&gt; otherwise it may worsen both of their behaviours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T12:08:08.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27092" CreationDate="2020-02-13T14:05:09.340" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pets can develop very strong emotional bonds with their masters / owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several stories worldwide (usually about dogs, go figure!) that the dogs went into apathy at the death of their masters and died of sorrow. They spent the rest of their lives either at the place of the death of their masters (e.g., car accident), or at their grave (e.g., fallen soldiers). Although the community usually made efforts to comfort those pets, nothing worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, your situation is not at all that extreme, the way you present it. So, as long as the dog does not fall into dangerous apathy (stop eating, drinking, moving), there is no much reason for worry. When the owners will return home, he will quickly recover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already stated that you try to follow his normal routine, as much as possible. I think that is the best thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the current technologies, you might want to experiment with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allow the dog to connect with the owners through a smartphone / tablet;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;play a video recording of his owners, for the dog to see / hear them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, if the context allows, take the dog near the hospital, where the owners can spend some time with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a way to make him not think he's being punished&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think he does not feel punished. Just sad. The same as you felt as a child, when one of your parents went to some (e.g.) extended business trip. Or when your children go to a summer camp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T14:05:09.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27072" CreationDate="2020-02-13T15:44:35.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a small Schnoodle (25 lbs) - high energy, and wonderful. I walk&#xA;  him twice a day (~1hr 15 mins total) and play with him. Often he's&#xA;  bored and just sits and stares at me at home, and I feel bad. He has&#xA;  me to engage him, and my two roommates when they are home but that is&#xA;  it. He's super smart, and very well behaved (I trained him well and&#xA;  got all the bad behaviors out for the most part). He powers through&#xA;  his kong wobbler toy in 10 mins or less, and puzzle toys don't keep&#xA;  him occupied for long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honest answer, he is bored. He's looking to you because he wants engagement from you. Play is good but he needs more. What are your walks like? If he is still not tired after 1.25 hours of walking a day then he isn't doing enough during that walk. Do things like agility and obedience which mentally and physically tire dogs out. This is great for him because he wont be bored and sleep in the day. An hours casual walk/stroll is different to an hours walk filled with activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two GSDs and having 2 dogs is incredibly hard work at times. We walk them separately for 2 reasons; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Because if they are walking together (especially if theyre young) pack mentality sets in and they start looking to each other for engagement and ignore you, they become less obedient and harder to control. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Its hard to mentally and physically exercise 2 dogs at the same time, they get in each others way, they play with each other rather than listen to me and if a fight breaks out with them or another dog its just me, and its hard to separate alone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally when you have 2 dogs you need to divide your time equally, they can get jealous, but it just happens naturally. We tend to crate one and give the other some sole attention and brush them, do some obedience and let them have food separately and then swap over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had one dog and then we got another and dynamics changed quickly. The older one grew up quicker and started being more dominating to the other, making sure the other knew she was top dog in the pack. The newer one tried her luck occasionally and stood up to her but quickly got put back down, as she got older she got more independent, stronger, bigger, mature and started to stand up to the older one which is how more severe fights started to happen. They needed time to establish pack hierarchy. We stopped this as much as we could but its natural for dogs to do this. They're fine now, no fights in a long time but thats because the order has been settled. This is something to bear in mind if you get another, dynamics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is gender. If you get another boy then chances are there might be some fights/scraps for top dog. If you get a female then you have the issue of her going into heat and they will need separating until she is out of it. Unless one or both have, quite frankly, unnecessary surgery to quash that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the day while we're at work, we separate them, to give them some time alone and then when we're back they can play etc under close supervision incase something happens. Some times play can go too far, one gets hurt - accidents happen, one might not take the hint from the other etc, we need to be there to manage dynamics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you where to get another dog you would need to be there for every bit of contact and interaction they have for a while to make sure they get on etc. If you separate them in the day then it renders what you're looking for (a companion) pointless. We got another dog because we wanted one, not for company for the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally when you get a dog you spend more time with them and not going out as much, thats just part of having a dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Im honest for now id just engage with him more. If hes bored he wants to do things with you. He is crossed with a poodle which are incredibly smart and intelligent workers. So do things like obedience, agility, take him to dog classes, more challenging toys, challenging puzzles, look at getting a flirt pole. Improve your walks, make them action packed and not just a light stroll throwing a ball occasionally and playing with a fellow walkers dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-02-13T15:50:19.823" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T15:50:19.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27086" CreationDate="2020-02-13T15:59:53.137" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with you that the plates of dry food should not always be full. See below for a feeding schedule and how much to feed. I also agree that your older cat Tincy's vomiting should be a concern, and her constant eating, especially when she's not hungry. First a disclaimer: I am not a vet. My &quot;cat knowledge&quot; such as it is was obtained by researching various issues over the past several months since getting my first indoor cat. One of the things the vet asked at my cat's examination was, &quot;Any vomiting?&quot; So yes, I think vomiting should be a concern, possibly enough so to see a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my experience (especially when I had a dog) that vets also know what, how much, and how often animals should be fed. Generally, vets also have training tips regarding behaviour, such as how to keep one cat from stealing another cat's food. Cats really do need their canned food, I am told, because they tend not to drink enough water to keep properly hydrated, which easily leads to urinal tract health issues. I understand this comes from being desert creatures by nature who get their fluid from eating live prey. But indoor cats on dry food are not getting fluids from prey, dead or alive. Hence the need for some wet food from tins. They also need access to fresh water at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Much to Feed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the guidelines on the package to determine how much food your cats need. For dry food, I feed Royal Canin, which guidelines are based on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;body weight &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;level of activity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats have been &quot;grazing,&quot; i.e. eating all they want from full plates all day every day long term, they may be obese and in need of a special diet as determined by the vet. That aside, levels of activity include things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;walking from bed to feeding area, litter box, and your lap (low)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the above plus running and playing an hour in the house (normal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all of the above plus significant additional exercise (high)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walk my cat on a leash around the block and let him climb trees in the backyard. No way is he satisfied with &quot;low&quot; or even &quot;normal&quot; rations. He needs to be fed for &quot;high activity&quot; levels. Please note: Those &quot;levels of activity&quot; are my own calculations derived from a combination of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a reference in my readings about obese cats not even having to walk to their food because it is brought to them on plates vs in the wild where cats have to stalk and hunt down their food. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my own cat's need for &quot;high activity&quot; level rations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding Schedule&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got my &quot;feeding schedule&quot; from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCheL-cUqfzUB8dfM_rFOfDQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy&lt;/a&gt;, who describes himself as having worked with cats for 25 years in shelters and on TV shows. Admittedly, my reason for seeking advice on the internet was different from yours; it was in the middle of yet another night that my cat didn't let me sleep because cats are night prowlers. Feeding schedule, Jackson Galaxy says in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umngBzK0j2Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Training Your Cat To Let You Sleep&lt;/a&gt;, is crucial to modifying a cat's sleep-wake rhythm, as well as other behaviours. My point: He provides instructions on feeding schedules. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He explains a cat's psychology around eating and how its digestive system works, which suggests that a regular feeding schedule is a good idea for all cats. He recommends six to eight hours between meals. Watching the video will help you figure out the best feeding schedule for your house. He also references a previous video on feeding that you may be able to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more tips and ideas re feeding schedules, see also &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/16881/17348&quot;&gt;How many times a day should I feed my cats?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastEditorUserId="17348" LastEditDate="2020-02-13T20:36:30.073" LastActivityDate="2020-02-13T20:36:30.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-13T21:08:31.077" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a young leopard gecko a few days ago and he’s perfectly healthy, eats and drinks, but I just wanted to know if them screaming when water gets on the is normal. I sprayed water in his cage this morning and while I was doing that he wondered out of his hide, the moment water touched him he screamed and tried to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17349" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:24:06.097" Title="Screaming gecko" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27100" CreationDate="2020-02-14T17:03:12.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, a gecko screams when it is frightened or startled.  Probably it wasn't expecting the stream of water and was shocked/surprised either by the splash of water itself, or by water that was at an uncomfortable temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not use water that is too cold, nor water that is boiling-hot.  Room temperature to slightly warm is the best - but please note that if your house is cool or cold in winter, you may want to use slightly warm rather than that of a room temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's most likely that no harm was done, but you should avoid scaring or startling your gecko as much as possible since it can be stressful to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.leopardgeckos.co.za/common-noises-leopard-geckos-can-make/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.leopardgeckos.co.za/common-noises-leopard-geckos-can-make/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T21:24:06.097" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T21:24:06.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27091" CreationDate="2020-02-14T17:20:16.377" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's normal for an unspayed cat at her age to have the urge to roam.  Cats are also curious, and she could have seen something outside that interested her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it's quite possible that having guests and having visitors in the house more could be upsetting her, you can help reduce the stress of this by giving her safe 'perches' up high where she can see what's going on but feel that she can't be reached.  Cat trees are the usual solution, but high window sills and shelves are also popular with cats, which might be where she has been up there so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time if your step dad continues to be around, she will become used to his presence, voice and smell, and stress related to the change in routine will decrease as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T13:52:57.070" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T13:52:57.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27094" CreationDate="2020-02-14T23:19:01.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like people, cats have their own quirks to the dietary preferences, and those preferences may not be good for them.  There's not really any logic to it.  Liking dog food is one of those irrational preferences because cats cannot live on dogfood. Though dogs are generally thought of as carnivores, they're actually a bit more omnivorous than cats which are designed to pretty exclusively eat meat. Thus food designed for dogs lack vital nutrients in the quantities sufficient for cats such as vitamin A and taurine.  Deficiencies in these nutrients can be very harmful or even lethal to cats. So absolutely try to make your cat eat catfood as much as you possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-02-14T23:19:01.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27093" CreationDate="2020-02-15T01:05:25.797" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this will be due to swim bladder disease &#xA;To cure this you can feed them with fresh boiled green peas &#xA;Symptoms are that fish becomes pale colour, it will only lie on the base.&#xA;If our bettas tail is wrinkled ,it will be due to the climatic conditions ,&#xA;I think you should use a Aquarium heater&#xA;And also use a oxygen filter because due to swim bladder disease they can't swim around...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17336" LastActivityDate="2020-02-15T01:05:25.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15205" CreationDate="2020-02-15T15:59:47.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though not clearly stated, I think your question is: What causes my dog to lunge at small children when I take her on walks while vacationing? The part of your story that jumps out at me is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She seems to know that her behaviour is unwarranted and appears out of&#xA;  sorts for a while after. Last year a young boy jumped out behind her&#xA;  and startled her enough that she barked at him then ran to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does not know that her behaviour is unwarranted; it's not. Your dog was badly frightened. In your dog's mind, the children of that place are dangerous creatures. The lunging is an act of self-preservation. Afterwards she cowers because she hates when you scold her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Why does she only lunge at children at your vacation spot and not at home?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the scare occurred with a child at your vacation spot, your dog now associates that location with scary children. Back home the children are not scary, but here in this strange place they are. You will have to take measures to keep everyone, dog as well as kids, feeling safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I come from the perspective of dog psychology and training as taught by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cesar Milan&lt;/a&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Whisperer_with_Cesar_Millan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Whisperer&lt;/a&gt; TV series, since that is how I eventually got control of my problem rescue dog ten years ago. Your dog is four years old now, meaning she was three years old when that young boy startled her by jumping at her from behind. Since you don't mention otherwise, I understand your dog was previously well-behaved and did not lunge at children. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Analyzing the Incident&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having established that, here's my analysis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That young boy jumping out from behind your young dog startled her badly. She ran to you for comfort and protection. She no longer trusts children of that size. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She does not know that her lunging behaviour is &quot;unwarranted&quot; when you tell her &quot;no.&quot; She lunges either out of fear or to protect herself or both. Thus, when you tell her no, she thinks that you disprove of her attempts at protecting herself. Believing her owner won't protect her puts her out of sorts. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not clear exactly what you expect in an answer. Thus, I will assume you want a suggestion on how to prevent this lunging at children when walking your dog on vacation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keeping Everyone Safe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the apparent root of the problem, my suggestion is to make your dog feel safe and secure on these walks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;For your Dog: Be a Protective Owner&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this, keep her on a leash and at your side. Keep her away from children and do not let them come near to, or pet, the dog. Since she feels unsafe on vacation only, there is no need to do this at home except for areas requiring dogs to be on-leash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Re Children: Be Friendly but Firm&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize keeping children from petting your dog may feel awkward for you, especially if you want a friendly public image among other vacationers. Here's what I did, since my dog was never safe with children and very picky with strangers in general. Leash laws required me to have her on a leash at all times but even so, I'd hold my dog close, even putting my own body between it and the child if necessary, and warn people that &quot;My dog doesn't like kids.&quot; If it was adults, I'd say, &quot;My dog doesn't like strangers.&quot; The message was clear: I like you but my dog is skittish. For everyone's safety, stay out of reach of my dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;It worked for me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I lived beside an elementary school and near a park. I encountered children on a regular basis when walking my dog. The above strategy worked well. No one got hurt. Nor did I alienate neighbours. People understand that dogs can be vicious animals. Children need to be taught this. If acquaintances remind you that &quot;Last year your dog seemed okay,&quot; you can inform them that &quot;something happened&quot; so that &quot;she is more skittish&quot; and you &quot;don't want to take any chances.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, that will eliminate the lunging and at the same time preserve your relationships with your friends and neighbours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastEditorUserId="17348" LastEditDate="2020-03-16T22:43:57.153" LastActivityDate="2020-03-16T22:43:57.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-17T00:37:22.010" Score="7" ViewCount="7315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just had my 7 month old male cat neutered 4 days ago but now his sister has gone in heat and he is chasing and mounting her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he is only newly fixed can he still get her pregnant? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I lock them away from each other? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17356" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T00:57:00.940" LastActivityDate="2020-11-27T23:05:01.117" Title="Can my newly neutered male cat get his sister pregnant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27107" CreationDate="2020-02-17T00:56:44.623" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;He can impregnate her for a short period after neutering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separate them from each other at this early stage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat is neutered the testicles are removed, making the cat unable to create sperm. The residual sperm can still impregnate a female cat. A search shows different time frames for which this residual sperm can still be viable and impregnate a cat. The ASPCA suggests 30 days, Catster suggests a few days and another source suggested 6 weeks. If you ask your vet, they should give you direction about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the behaviours, it takes some time for these behaviours to settle down, but in such a young cat, it's likely they will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.greencrossvets.com.au/aftercare/dog-cat-desexing-aftercare/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;From Greencross Vets&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... Male cats must be separated from any females on heat for one week&#xA;  after the operation as there may still be viable sperm in their lower&#xA;  passages that cannot be removed by surgery. Only after this week has&#xA;  passed will male cats not be able to sire any kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/sites/default/files/upload/images/caring-for-your-cat-or-dog-after-surgery-1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;From the ASPCA&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep Your Pet Away from Other Animals.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Keep neutered males away from unspayed females. &lt;strong&gt;Neutered males can get an unspayed female&#xA;  pregnant for up to 30 days after spay/neuter surgery.&lt;/strong&gt; Keep spayed&#xA;  females away from unneutered males who may wish to mount them. Animals&#xA;  returning from the Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic may also smell different&#xA;  to other animals in the household. This can cause the animals to&#xA;  fight, so be prepared to keep your pets in separate areas for a few&#xA;  days following surgery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/can-freshly-neutered-males-still-impregnate-females-and-why-do-young-cats-suddenly-perish&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... After the testicles are removed, it takes several days for all of&#xA;  the residual sperm to clear out of the pipes. During this time, a&#xA;  freshly-neutered male cat can still impregnate females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It can take more than a week for the male’s testosterone levels to&#xA;  drop. During this time he will remain at increased risk of fighting,&#xA;  spraying, and engaging in other undesirable (from our point of view)&#xA;  behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-17T20:33:11.337" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T20:33:11.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27094" CreationDate="2020-02-17T01:04:02.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is being quite sensible and seeking the food with higher water content and possibly less salt and protein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry cat food is not good for cats with kidney or renal disease/issues. The dry cat food has extra salt to encourage the cat to drink, to help boost the water content to the dried feed. This helps prevent constipation and crystal formation in the bladder, among other things. However this is not optimal or always effective for the cat's health. I no longer feed my cats dry food at all, except for a veterinary prescribed mixture. They are fed mainly canned food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T01:04:02.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27021" CreationDate="2020-02-17T06:08:30.620" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly I have a few horses with mud fever at the moment and had the vet out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She advised me to use an anti dandruff shampoo. We the legs down thoroughly and massage in the shampoo much of the way up the legs. Really rub it in and let it sit for 10 minutes. The shampoo aides in killing off germs that feed the mud fever. Then rinse the legs thoroughly and dry them well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When they're dry you can use a number of applications on the legs with antibacterial and antifungal properties. I like to use tuffrock &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3mJuQwwC3U&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px37U4wdi9L9-iE2Vy8eKA7Y&amp;amp;index=12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mud poultice&lt;/a&gt; that helps draw out moisture from any sores. You can also used clay based mud. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another thing I use for this type of problem is zinc cream. The same type used for babies bottoms to protect from nappy rash. The principle is the same, protecting the skin from getting and remaining damp. With creams like these, it's important to ensure the skin is dry before applying them to avoid trapping water underneath the cream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid it and prevent it from recurring is to keep the horses legs wet. This is difficult when there's dams and creeks within their paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the legs get really bad they may require an antibiotic to help heal sores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing is to include supplements in their feed to make up for anything that may be lacking in the pasture due to the soil. This will help strengthen the immune system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing, is during warmer weather is ensure biting insects are kept from the horse. Using varying insect repellants helps. There's a couple of questions that cover insect repellants:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23550/how-to-treat-queensland-itch&quot;&gt;How to treat Queensland itch?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26958/a-safe-treatment-for-ticks-on-a-pregnant-horse&quot;&gt;A safe treatment for ticks on a pregnant horse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-17T06:08:30.620" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-17T11:37:43.490" Score="3" ViewCount="4866" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey I have 50l aquarium with 2 goldfish, temperature is always 25°C and my question is will they survive without filter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17360" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T05:17:06.763" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:17:34.607" Title="Can my fish survive without filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27113" CreationDate="2020-02-17T11:51:42.263" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you put them into the water and let them be: no, they will not survive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you make the effort and perform partial water changes once every few days, then they could survive long and happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The excretions of the fish and decomposing uneaten food make the water dirty and even toxic. Someone (you or the filter) has to clean it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have no plants, there is a second point: oxygen. The fish need it to breath in the water. If it is gone then something have to make new. Plants do this, or falling water (for example if you let the water from filter drop into the tank) brings air bubbles under the surface. There are also air pumps, but if you do not have a filter, I assume you do not use a air pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:17:34.607" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:17:34.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27113" CreationDate="2020-02-17T19:31:44.223" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 50 liters tank is too small for you to keep goldfish, and even more so if you do not have any filtration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing for fish to survive in an unfiltered tank is the water's surface area being in contact with the air, the larger the surface is the more oxygen will get into the water and more CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will get out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish is a coldwater fish and if you keep the temparature below about 20 degrees Celsius, the water will be able to hold more oxygen than warmer water  will do,this makes it easier to keep the fish alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have problems keeping a small tank in biological balance if you do not have any type of filtration. Waste products will absorb a lot of oxygen and this might bring the oxygen level down and kill your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not suggest you putting fish into the tank before you get proper filtration going so the waste products can be broken down and the water get well oxygenated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T22:14:09.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T22:14:09.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-17T21:24:59.157" Score="2" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have built a Webcam with a raspberry pi. It is supposed to go in the house of our guineapigs to watch what their doing. The camera has no IR filter so I want to get some IR lights to give the camera night vision. Is there a risk for the guineapig when I let the lights run the hole night, or is the a power limit they they don't get harmed?&#xA;Thanks for your help and time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17366" OwnerDisplayName="Konstantin Kilbel" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T02:22:21.623" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T02:22:21.623" Title="Infared light effect on animals" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-02-21T09:26:53.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-18T00:33:33.367" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZF2pq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I noticed my betta fish has two white spots on his body and I’m not sure what it could be if it’s cause by an injury from items in the tank or if he has a disease. Please help I’m very worried. I do have a filter in the tank &amp;amp; a heater that is set to 80 degrees. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do also have tank mates. It is a 10 gallon tank. &#xA;I have 2 Bala shark &amp;amp; 3 Cory catfish. Cory catfish are babies &amp;amp; bala sharks are small as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17364" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T05:14:31.063" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T05:14:31.063" Title="Skin Betta problem" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T15:54:59.567" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-18T07:21:28.933" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kittens were just born and they are stacking on top of each other while nursing.&#xA;I don't know if that's bad or ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17365" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T18:21:53.580" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T18:21:53.580" Title="Is it ok if the kittens are stacked up on top of eachother while nursing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27120" CreationDate="2020-02-18T08:10:58.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very common to see kittens and puppies bunch together and cuddle for warmth and comfort. You should not force them to seperate to avoid stress and risk them cooling down too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the mother lays down to nurse her kittens, you see that her teats are arranged in two rows. If every kitten nurses, there has to be one laying down to suckle on the lower teat and another on top to suckle on the top teat. If this kind of stacking were dangerous for the kittens, nature would have found a better solution to arrange the teats. As it is, it's perfectly normal and not dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VPAz8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VPAz8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat teats&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://kiddiemom.com/how-to-care-for-a-pregnant-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7fxed.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7fxed.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;nursing kittens&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://de.123rf.com/photo_104204239_mother-cat-nursing-baby-kittens.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T08:10:58.820" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27161" CreationDate="2020-02-18T08:30:43.447" Score="4" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10 1/2 year old male cat has just been diagnosed with diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He usually grazes on dry food through the day and has a wet pouch. He is on 1 unit of prozinc. I've been told not to change his food until I go back Sunday, but to only give morning and evening feedings with his insulin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My worry is that he is a very fussy eater who doesn't readily gobble his food. Today I've encouraged him to eat before I gave the injection; he has only eaten 3g of dry food and 33g  of wet food. I then gave him 5 minutes to eat more food before the injection, but he refused and left to groom himself. I then gave him his 1 unit of insulin in his scruff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to go to work shortly and I'm worried whether I've done the right thing by giving the insulin without him eating much. I won't be home until 6pm. The vet is not yet open. Can someone help ease my worry? He seems okay, but I don't want to go to work as I'm worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17368" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T14:28:59.443" LastActivityDate="2020-02-23T23:03:07.287" Title="Cat with newly diagnosed diabetes not eating much before insulin injection" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27232" CreationDate="2020-02-18T15:01:27.193" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Appaloosa filly (Rising 3) is currently on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 handfuls of Sugarbeet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 handful of normal Alfa - A&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liquid Alfa - A&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Agnus Castus 1 large thimble&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 teaspoon of garlic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which she gets fed in a bucket at 7pm every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's pastured from 6am to 4pm and has access to hay when stabled (From 4pm-6am) as well as a Horseware Original Salt lick 24/7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's not had any adverse reactions, I'm just wondering if she's getting all the nutrients she needs. Any and all answers are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T16:42:59.583" Title="Do young horses have different nutritional needs?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27122" CreationDate="2020-02-18T21:41:22.120" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have spoken to my vet via the nurse and I was advised that with him being newly diagnosed, it's okay to leave some kibble in a bowl because if his blood sugar drops before I get home he would feel hungry and eat it. They said they would rather his blood sugar be up a little over him having hypoglycemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tonight when I got home from work, he had eaten all the kibble and was hungry, asking me for food. The nurse also advised to give him one hour to eat his food and to try to encourage him to keep eating, then give the insulin, which I have done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tom ate lots more food tonight than he did this morning. I allowed him an hour in which I kept stroking and reassuring him, and he ate well. I gave him his unit of insulin, he went to groom himself, and settled down for a little snooze. He's currently acting normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17368" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-18T22:05:43.913" LastActivityDate="2020-02-18T22:05:43.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1610" CreationDate="2020-02-19T00:29:31.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see no problem with this at all but watch them carefully to make sure no aggression occurs. Also tetras are pretty sensitive, if you want to be really safe use drip acclimation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17370" LastActivityDate="2020-02-19T00:29:31.547" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-19T05:06:29.267" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lilly takes vetmedin for congestive heart failure. Baxter May have eaten her dose when I dropped it between  them. 2.5 mg for 20# Jack Russell. Help. I don’t know if Lilly got her medicine. Should I give her a half just to make sure she gets some or just skip it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17371" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-27T17:25:22.540" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T17:25:22.540" Title="Vetmedin eaten by wrong dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-19T05:41:48.603" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife bought a pretty shy kitten, but after a while it got used to me and was even jumping on my shoulders in the morning purring when I was getting ready for work. She almost wouldn't leave my side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week ago I was messing with the cat and she must've been in a bad mood, because she bit my finger while I was holding her (she's never minded me holding her previously). Instinctively, I went to shake off whatever was biting me; this caused her to be thrown straight down. She just froze on the floor instantly. I went and picked her up, cuddling her and trying to make her comfortable (she's uninjured, by the way), but now every time she sees me she sprints away and goes to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She barely takes treats from me and when she does goes back to sprinting away. The odd time I manage to stroke her, she starts purring but at the same time trembles with fear. I need to know how I can improve my relationship with her or get her to be more comfortable with me again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17372" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-19T14:24:53.380" LastActivityDate="2020-02-26T09:03:31.430" Title="My cat is terrified of me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27128" CreationDate="2020-02-19T06:24:25.127" Score="5" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Patience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gifts / treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to free some time so spend with the cat. Just sit / lay somewhere, with the cat around. It is important that she understands you do not have intentions to hurt her. Talking to her would help. Having handy some of her favorite treats will definitely help. Keep the treats in your hand, let the cat build the courage to come and eat them. When she comes at the beginning, do not caress her. Let her do the courting. You just follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know an older lady, with an old female cat. Nice cat, but strong personality. The rule was: no touching. But I have a rule also: if cat, then touch. I take it as a personal pride to be able to caress a cat at least a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did exactly what I wrote. A lot of patience, and letting the cat do the courting. The pinnacle of our &quot;relationship&quot; was the cat turning belly-up for more caressing. The owner was literally shocked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-02-26T09:03:31.430" LastActivityDate="2020-02-26T09:03:31.430" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25747" CreationDate="2020-02-19T06:32:06.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IR light is nothing but electromagnetic waves. Some are mostly harmless, others are potentially deadly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the hamster is able to see or not IR light is not a good measure of safety. Just think that nobody can see X rays, but long time exposure to them is nowhere near being good for health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a short experiment, the hamsters should be fine. For constant exposure, there are unknown risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another piece of food for thought: normally, visible light in &quot;normal&quot; amounts is OK. But we definitely need dark, especially during rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better, but more expensive solution is to use a camera sensor with better sensitivity, which can take images even in conditions of very low light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-02-19T06:32:06.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27122" CreationDate="2020-02-19T07:49:04.130" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 categories of insulin: fast-acting and slow-acting. Fast-acting insulin is mostly prescribed for humans with a bad case of diabetes and as emergency medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ProZinc is a slow-acting insulin specifically developed for cats. It acts over a time of 10 - 14 hours (according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prozinc.us/prozinc.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;manufacturer&lt;/a&gt;). That means, as long as your cat eats anything at all, he should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why he's supposed to eat something before the shot is probably to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure he isn't ill and will refuse to eat &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; he got the insulin, which would definitely worsen his condition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emulate the natural rise and fall of the insulin level in a healthy cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.prozinc.us/content/dam/internet/ah/prozinc/us_EN/documents/ProZinc_Product_Info.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;product information sheet&lt;/a&gt; and it states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dose should be given concurrently with or right after a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vets might have some experience with other cats or other types of insuling that prompted them to give the advice they gave you, but your cat should be fine even if you give the shot during or right after feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are just starting with the insulin therapy, you should watch out for sings of hypoglycemia and probably offer him some food throughout the whole day (if you cannot be with him)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ProZinc insulin, like other drugs, may cause some side effects. Serious side effects can occur with or without warning. Please contact your veterinarian immediately if you think your cat has a medical problem or side effect from ProZinc therapy. The most common insulin-related side effect is low blood glucose (hypoglycemia). Signs of hypoglycemia may occur suddenly and can include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weakness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle twitching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depression, lethargy, sluggishness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Staggering gait&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Behavioral changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Death&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What actions do I take if my cat shows signs of hypoglycemia?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat is unconscious or having a seizure, this is a medical emergency.Take your cat to the veterinarian immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat is conscious, rub approximately 1 tablespoon of corn syrup or honey on your cat’s gums. When it is able to swallow, give corn syrup or honey by mouth until your cat is alert enough to eat. Feed the usual meal and contact your veterinarian.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with any medication, ProZinc is not free of adverse effects. Things to watch out for include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a 45-day effectiveness field study, 176 cats received ProZinc insulin. Hypoglycemia (defined as a blood glucose value of &amp;lt; 50 mg/dL) occurred in 71 of the cats at various times throughout the study. Clinical signs of hypoglycemia were generally mild in nature (described as lethargic, sluggish, weak, trembling, uncoordinated, groggy, glassy-eyed or dazed). In 17 cases, the veterinarian provided oral glucose supplementation or food as treatment. Most cases were not associated with clinical signs and received no treatment. One cat had a serious hypoglycemic event associated with stupor, lateral recumbency, hypothermia and seizures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following additional clinical observations or diagnoses were reported in cats during the effectiveness field study: vomiting, lethargy, diarrhea, cystitis/hematuria, upper respiratory infection, dry coat, hair loss, ocular discharge, abnormal vocalization, black stool, and rapid breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat doesn't want to eat, vomits or has diarhea, you should call you vet and ask if you should adapt the dosage of insulin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, as with all types of insulin, don't forget to mix the liquid before administration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ProZinc insulin should be mixed by gently rolling the vial prior to withdrawing each dose from the vial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You simply put the vial vertically between both hands and rub them gently together, like a child working putty into a snake. &lt;strong&gt;Never shake the vial!&lt;/strong&gt; That introduces bubbles and can result in inaccurate dosages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-02-19T07:49:04.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10003" CreationDate="2020-02-20T00:14:19.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish you hadn’t taken a puppy at 6 weeks old. 8 weeks is the earliest, and to be honest that’s still very young. &#xA;Be patient and calm with him. Put him in a crate by your bed. If he cries at night, put your hand down to him so he knows you’re there. It is a pass, and they will settle. But for other people reading this, have some sense and some empathy for the sentient creatures you take into your home...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17373" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T00:14:19.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-20T01:39:31.413" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always under the (naive) impression that spaying a dog was predominantly a preventative measure against having litters. I knew maybe behaviour and demeanour would change, but that's about the extent of my know-how on spaying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had our dog pass two weeks ago due to pyometra, something I didn't know was a thing until we were told this, and by this point, it was too late. The vet assured me that our dog would still be with us were she fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just have a limited view of what spaying actually means for the dog. I was not aware of any health conditions that could arise from not spaying. What are some other examples of health conditions impossible when spayed? Are there disadvantages, too, to spaying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17374" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T11:37:29.737" Title="What health advantage are there to spaying a dog? Disadvantages?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-02-27T17:20:35.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27138" CreationDate="2020-02-20T09:40:10.737" Score="7" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I reduce the smell of ammonia from my horses stall?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My horse is still young (3 years old) and currently makes quite a mess in her bed every morning. She will defecate and urinate all over the stall and then mix it in/dig holes and lay in it so it's flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes me roughly an hour to muck out, disinfect and then recover her bed every morning but I'm wondering if I can use a different form of bedding to reduce the smell of ammonia and potentially the amount of waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently her bedding consists of deep littering straw/hay of at least 12 inches (30cm).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had to add gradient banks to her bed as she's become cast a few times in the first couple of weeks of owning her but has since stopped once the banks were in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other options I have been recommended are using rubber mats and sawdust. However, from what I've read and heard from those who have these is that if the mats aren't washed then the urine scent will be absorbed in the mats and that they can be quite heavy and awkward to move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T15:19:43.967" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T15:19:43.967" Title="How to reduce the smell of ammonia in horse's stall" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;uk&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27133" CreationDate="2020-02-20T10:07:26.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to the pets stack exchange.&#xA;I'm sorry to hear about your dog but you are right in thinking that there is more to spaying than just stopping their reproductive capacities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advantages:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No seasons - No blood discharge to clean up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No ovarian cancer - No ovaries, no cancer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn’t Contribute to Pet Overpopulation – There are already so many unwanted dogs and unfortunately, not spaying can increases the chance of yet more dogs adding to the list.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disadvantages:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anesthesia Side Effects – Spaying requires anesthesia.Although &lt;a href=&quot;https://danceswithdogs.com/spaying-neutering-dog-pros-cons/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;only 1 in 5&lt;/a&gt; dogs are negatively affected by anesthesia it can still be life threatening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spaying may increase the    occurrence of urinary&#xA;tract infections, urinary incontinence, and    hypothyroidism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Possible Weight Gain – Your dog may be less active, so they may put&#xA;on a few pounds. This can be managed with diet and exercise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main concern is actually the age that you spay your dog. It is not recommended that you spay your dog under 1 year old as the hormone estrogen, which is no longer produced in spayed or neutered dogs, plays a crucial role in bone growth and development. The removal of estrogen-producing organs in immature dogs can cause growth plates to remain open. The dogs continue to grow and wind up with abnormal growth patterns and bone structure, which can result in irregular body proportions. This also means that in later life dogs that have been spayed early are more likely to have  hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear and elbow dysplasia in later life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to note that research on Spaying and Neutering animals is still &lt;strong&gt;on-going.&lt;/strong&gt; It is completely up to you as the owner to decide for your pet whether or not s/he should be spayed or neutered. Don't beat yourself up over her passing as most of the time pyometra is not fatal. You were simply unfortunate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The argument for spaying/neutering is constantly being debated. From a personal standpoint I prefer to spay/neuter as it has clamed my dogs down both sexually and emotionally. Side note: I've owned dogs all my life and currently live with eight who have all been spayed and neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;As for the 1 in 5 dogs are negatively affected by anesthesia. This is in regard to any reaction. This could be a bump on the skin/Rash etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some more information you can look here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-surgery-a-z/how-safe-anesthesia-your-pet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How safe is anethesia for your pet&lt;/a&gt; -Comes with some nice statistics on a relatively large study of dogs. Including factors that could add risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/reasons-spay-neuter-pet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Top 10 reasons to spay/neuter your pet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6070019/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Current perspectives on the optimal age to spay/castrate dogs and cats&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4096726/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Long-Term Health Effects of Neutering and Spaying Dogs.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-02-20T11:37:29.737" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T11:37:29.737" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27204" CreationDate="2020-02-20T11:23:36.560" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a field with two Appaloosas and one Anglo Arabian.&#xA;One Appaloosa is a young 3 year old filly, the Anglo Arab is a 9 year old mare and the other Appaloosa is a 5 year old gelding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly on introduction we had a huge issue with the Gelding relentlessly chasing and biting the younger Appaloosa to the point where he was tearing her skin even through a dense 2 inch thick rug. &#xA;Both parties were exhausted and we separated them again until around two weeks later where my filly jumped the boundary fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time there was a small scuffle but the younger mare had figured out that kicking his face would stop him from attacking. (He doesn't kick, only bites.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it seems he still occasionally has biting fits. E.G if any of the mares come into season or he's bored. It's a shame as the majority of the time they're happy to graze/play with eachother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any recommendations on how to stop this or at least so he's gentle about it. This is my fillies third rug in three months :')&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see a video of him biting her on my instagram &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/p/B8w2PBAnpn_/?igshid=fsr7pq7pyjal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[here]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the time of posting it's the most recent post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-02-28T18:53:01.577" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T04:25:43.977" Title="How to reduce biting behaviour in pasture [horse]" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27135" CreationDate="2020-02-20T11:31:26.207" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of ways to dampen or limit the ammonia smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Baking soda&lt;/a&gt;: You can add this to the bedding and you do not need to use a lot of it. You can get this in bags from 1 kg to 1000 kg. It limits the smell of ammonia by increasing the pH so less urea is converted to ammonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lime: You can add this to the bedding, but you need to use a larger amount of it to remove the smell of ammonia. You can get lime in bags from 20 kg to 1000 kg. It costs less than baking soda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get the ammonia smell out of rubber mats you can use baking soda and vinegar. &lt;em&gt;IMPORTANT DO NOT MIX VINEGAR AND BAKING SODA IN A CONTAINER.&lt;/em&gt; Use dry baking soda on the rubber mat and wash with vinegar diluted in water so you have 2-5% vinegar. &lt;em&gt;DO THIS OUTSIDE AND USE EYE PROTECTION&lt;/em&gt; as a minimum of protective gear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: You can use vinegar to remove lime stains from any hard surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T15:19:01.213" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T15:19:01.213" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-20T11:43:23.833" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if shoeing a horse is bad for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For clarification the word &quot;bad&quot; here covers any negative affect it can have on the horse. I will only be accepting an answer that argues both sides of barefoot and not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand this is a controversial topic so this is open for different answers(Yes,No, circumstancial etc.). I ask that any answers provided stay away from the &quot;In my opinion.&quot; Simply argue with facts and source links.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra brownie points for research studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T15:44:35.723" Title="Is shoeing a horse bad?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;uk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-20T11:49:10.807" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I opened a new round bale recently and the hay was so dry it had a straw-like texture and quality to it. It was also very dusty and I found myself frequently coughing/sneezing while filling the hay nets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds silly as I imagine it will but does anyone know if this will definitely have a negative affect on my horses? Respiratory issues maybe? Higher risk of choke?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T16:37:54.097" Title="Does hay quality affect my horse?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-20T11:55:31.517" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse's personal space is perfectly fine when leading and in her stall. However, the moment I take her up into the arena and I try to trot in hand she begins to 'lean' on me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried correcting her by physically pushing her while trotting and pulling the lead rope to the right. (in quick succession) She generally gets the idea for a few strides before she leans again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's happy to flex for me, back up, walk on and trot on command but I'm looking to show her in hand this year and if she's leaning on me her straightness will be impacted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how can I teach her to respect my space in trot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might also add that if I try to move her right in trot she becomes quite stiff. She doesn't refuse to move but it's certainly not as easy as turning left. (If I'm on the left for example). I'm working at liberty to get her to move to 'Lay' (Left) and Right vocally which I believe will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T17:06:30.547" Title="How to teach a young horse personal space in trot" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-20T11:59:31.377" Score="2" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a three year old Appaloosa filly I will hopefully be showing in-hand this year. (Mostly to help postpone my eagerness to ride.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what the breed standard is for showing an Appaloosa.&#xA;Generally I'd like to show in the English Classical style as these will be small shows but the Western alternative will also be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some main things are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mane/Tail&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plaited?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cut?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Natural?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clipped? If yes, full body?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Natural?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hooves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oil?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be making anything more apparent/stronger such as markings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:13:25.657" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:13:25.657" Title="How should I show my Appaloosa horse?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-20T12:03:09.640" Score="3" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always wondered what does a judge look for in a horse show?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know they look at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conformation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Personality&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gait&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Presentation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be attending a 2-3 year old all breed class with an Appaloosa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My issue is the Appaloosa breed notoriously has a small mane/tail which only really grows out with age. In an all breed class I imagine this would be a negative point unless the judge knows about the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm based in the UK but other countries will be interesting to read too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:12:52.373" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:12:52.373" Title="What do judges look for at a horse show?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27145" CreationDate="2020-02-20T14:43:16.083" Score="7" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the term Appaloosa applied to a wide range of horses and even to describe colour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the word &quot;Appaloosa&quot; mean? Is Appaloosa a colour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-20T15:45:56.457" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T15:48:28.790" Title="Is Appaloosa a breed or a color?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27144" CreationDate="2020-02-20T14:43:16.083" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Appaloosa is a breed of horse originating from America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's commonly known for its spotty coat colours. However, there are other requirements for a registered Appaloosa:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;White sclera&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mottled skin (most notably around the mouth,eyes, genitalia and anus)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have a height between 14-16hh&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Striped hooves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Appaloosa in the image below displays the white sclera, mottled lips (and around the eye) She currently stands at 14.3hh and has striped hooves (not shown)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l7c1H.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/l7c1H.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appaloosas regularly carry what's known as the leopard-complex or LP gene which is a unique group of spotting patterns. This is a white marking overlaying a base coat. Thus, an Appaloosa displaying a leopard spot pattern with black spots actually has a black base coat with a large white marking, not the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Appaloosa is a breed, not a colouring, it is possible to have a solid colour Appaloosa. If one LP allele is carried, then the horse will show the breed standard characteristics even if it's a solid colour (white sclera, mottled points, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A horse can have markings similar to an Appaloosa horse. However, this does not necessarily mean that they are in fact an Appaloosa. It's very common to use the breed name to identify any kind of &quot;spotty&quot; horse, even though there are other naturally spotted horses such as the Knabstrupper horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-20T15:48:28.790" LastActivityDate="2020-02-20T15:48:28.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27047" CreationDate="2020-02-21T09:38:47.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly from reading the ingredients and thinking about dog treats in general I would say no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog treats may slow down plaque build up as if it's quite a hard chew it will scrape the plaque off when the dog bites into the treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it would be the same idea of your dentist telling you to eat something really hard like bones and saying that it's sufficient to clean your teeth. So yes it may reduce plaque but it's not very reliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most effective dental care for your dog is brushing his/her teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T09:38:47.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27147" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-21T12:46:41.097" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;We went to the animal hospital 5 days ago (Sunday) because our 7-year-old cat Betsy was frequently in the litter box trying to pee but producing only a few drops (or nothing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They said when they saw her the bladder was empty, so we stayed long enough to get a urine sample.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They took the urine sample and x-rayed her for crystals (none seen), and prescribed an antibiotic. Betsy was totally back to normal (energetic, peeing normally, etc) in a couple days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday (Thursday) they left a very confusing message: it said there was elevated glucose in the urine, but also said stuff that didn't sound like our cat: they mentioned our supposed plans to see the primary care vet on Thursday (we had no such plans and never mentioned any), and they mentioned being unable to take a blood sample because the cat was agitated (they didn't try to take a blood sample, and on Sunday they told us Betsy was very nice and cooperative with everything they tried to do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called to try clearing up the misunderstanding, and apparently there was another Betsy in there the same day. They told me the stuff that sounded wrong was actually about the other cat, but the elevated glucose was about our Betsy. (I'm not sure if I believe this! Maybe they were confused about all of it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also said it was urgent (as in, should happen in the next day or so) to see our primary vet to get a blood sample so we can confirm diabetes and possibly start treating for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really that urgent? I do want to confirm about diabetes, but Betsy seems fine, and nothing I've read on the internet makes it sound so urgent as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17380" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-21T13:59:31.097" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:26:50.550" Title="is elevated glucose in cat's urine urgent?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diabetes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27147" CreationDate="2020-02-21T13:02:41.447" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt; this is urgent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diabetes in any animal is no joke and is definitely a top priority to diagnose. The main reason is that blood sugar can fluctuate fast. Low blood sugar can put your cat into an unexpected coma and even result in death if left untreated. High blood sugar can cause nerve damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the extremes of diabetes, but you have to be aware that they are still possible results should you ignore your vet. I have a (human) friend who's diabetic and one moment she seemed perfectly fine, while half an hour later I was calling an ambulance for her as she was slipping in and out of consciousness with her blood sugar dangerously low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's some more information on hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia as well as diabetes in cats:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/endocrine/c_ct_high_blood_sugar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hyperglycemia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/endocrine/c_ct_low_blood_sugar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hypoglycemia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetsulin.com/cats/diabetes-emergency.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Diabetes in cats and what to do in an emergency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-21T13:58:10.497" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T13:58:10.497" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26686" CreationDate="2020-02-21T16:13:31.897" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your dog can &quot;sense&quot; thunder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Simple science is behind this intelligence of picking up weather conditions by dogs. Dogs are capable of sensing the barometric pressure drop and any shift in static electric field. Change in air pressure and electricity are indications of adverse weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As quoted by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thedodo.com/5-amazing-things-dogs-can-sense-before-they-happen-1186416501.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They can also sense the atmosphere's heat, compression, and temperature change in the air, which alerts the dog that there is a storm coming. Dogs will also use the heightened sense of smell to sniff out when rain and storms are coming. Humans can smell when there is earthy moisture in the air after a storm passes through. With dogs' much more powerful senses of smell, they can smell the changes in the air much before we even know a storm may be coming.  Dogs also have an amazing ability to hear things humans cannot, hear different frequencies, and also hear for much greater distances. A dog's ears work independently from one another so they can absorb spacial information and depth much better than we can. This means they can detect sounds that we cannot. In fact, they are able to hear 20 times better than we can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As quoted by &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/sense/can-dogs-hear-thunder-miles-away&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the reason your dog is barking seemingly just before the thunder clap is he can most likely feel the lightning strike and at the very least the change in static charge and pressure. Also, his hearing is 20 times better than ours so you can bet that the &quot;low rumble&quot; you hear is pretty darn loud for your dog. It's also not unknown for animals to forecast weather. Animals have been known to forecast earthquakes, thunderstorms and even tsunamis before we're aware they're happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T16:13:31.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27127" CreationDate="2020-02-21T16:27:41.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog may or may not have recieved her congestive heart failure medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take her to the vet&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot stress this enough. In-fact if your other dog does not have CHF I would consider taking them to the vet too if you're unsure what the side effects are for a healthy dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In future I would recommend feeding the two dogs further apart so if the medicine is dropped you have more chance of picking up the medicine before either dog consumes it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this comes across as a bit sharp I do apologise but this is a serious matter which should definitely be discussed with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-21T16:27:41.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26947" CreationDate="2020-02-21T22:36:03.167" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should have some target amount of salt ppm per gallon of water.  This amount will change depending on A: the type of salt, and B: what you actually will have in your tank.  API aquarium salt claims it's &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;strong&gt;tea spoon&lt;/strong&gt; per gallon.  Follow the guide on whatever salt you have, and for whatever animals you have in your tank, but let's use API as a base line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, you have, what is theoretically perfectly balanced salinity from tank A (5.5 gallon).  Then you have empty 8 gallon tank B, but let's assume for generality sake, tank A has arbitrary volume that is always smaller than B.  Let's call these values volume&lt;sub&gt;A&lt;/sub&gt;, and volume&lt;sub&gt;B&lt;/sub&gt;, where volume&lt;sub&gt;A&lt;/sub&gt; &amp;lt; volume&lt;sub&gt;B&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need some method to remove the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gather supplies to remove the water, plus nets or other equipment to move the fish later, leave water for 24 hours before hand for use to top off the tank as well (24 hours to get rid of chlorine, conditioner has side effects in this case for a new tank). Milk cartons will work for holding the soon to be de-chlorinated water (make sure to wash out first).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If tank A is at a higher level than B, you may be able to simply use airline tubing later on and let gravity slowly take water from tank A to B.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If not, you can use the same method to drain it out into a separate location, like a bucket, but make sure you either have a big enough resevoir (i.e. like a 10 gallon bucket) or can stop the flow before all the water comes out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can use a gravel siphon to accomplish the same thing at a much higher flow rate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may need to put your mouth on one end of the tubing to get the water to come out the other end if whatever water transport tubing you have does not have a pumping method.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Next set up tank B with whatever hardscape you are about to put in it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider what you are going to do with your animals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your animals can withstand decent amounts of time out of water, remove them and put them in a safe location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they cannot, either move them to a safe submersed location, like another aquarium, or if you do not have adequate space or equipment to move them temporarily &lt;strong&gt;don't drain the water all the way on the next step&lt;/strong&gt; (half way for example).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take your bucket and drain tank A by sticking one bit of airline tubing/ siphon in your tank, and placing the other end at a lower elevation into the bucket.  You need to get water from the tank to get &amp;quot;over the hump&amp;quot; at the top of your tank in the tube to force gravity to suck the water out automatically.  You may have to physically suck on the tube on the other end, so you may want to clean that part.  Remember not to take out all the water while there are still animals in the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your bucket is not big enough to hold all the water, observe the tube, put your thumb on the end when the bucket is full enough, and place the tube back at the higher elevation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can also use a cup to perform the same task, it just takes &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take your bucket and do one of the following for your new tank B:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you just dump the bucket in, even carefully, you will likely ruin your hardscape, plants, corals, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are able to place the bucket at a secure higher location than your tank B, you may be able to use the same siphon technique to simply automatically have the water pour out.  If you use a small standard airline tubing (3/16&amp;quot;) then the out-pour of water should be weak enough to not ruin your tank design. If you only have access to a gravel siphon or similarly wide tubing apparatus, then the flow will be too strong. Consider combining siphon output with the next option in order to lessen the flow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternatively, take your bucket and pour it into a hand held water sprinkler. If you do not own one, you can create one out of plastic cups and either drilling holes evenly spaced at the bottom or taking a box cutter and carefully puncturing and turning it back and forth underneath the cup.  This will weaken the water output and cause the blunt of the force of the water pouring to hit the can/cup instead of your hardscape.  The same method can be used for more gentle water changes later on as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you do not have access to any of this, use a small 20 ounce cup or smaller to perform the same task (the size doesn't really matter, but you will have a hard time getting all the water out with larger cups and harder to control the flow).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After draining all the water out from the bucket, see if enough water is in the tank for your pets (half is generally good enough for any tank size, but use common sense, wait if your fish actually won't fit or you think they could be harmed by you filling the water up), and if they were not put into separate temporary holding take them out of your other tank and put them into this one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue this process of draining and filling until most of the water is out of the other tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the water level is low enough that you need additional salt water, reserve some water for use for filling. If you use typical water conditioner now, you will release ammonia into the water and potentially kill everything in your tank (as a byproduct of the chloramine/conditioner reaction). Consider leaving water out for 24 hours beforehand in order to provide ammonia free water to add to your tank.  For established tanks, this is usually less of an issue, because bacteria will consume ammonia in the nitrogen cycle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix de-chlorinated water together with salt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using the same process discussed earlier with draining water into the new tank, take this new salt water and drain it into tank B.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Continue this process until the water level is adequate for your needs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put pets into new aquarium if they have not already been placed inside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-11T03:01:07.383" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T03:01:07.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-22T01:48:55.100" Score="1" ViewCount="597" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Syrian hamster is about 1 and a half years old and still doesn’t stop chewing the cage, no matter what. I’ve given her chew stick, toys, hay toys and I’ve sprayed the cage she bites with hamster safe, no chew spray. Yet she still bites; she has a big cage with a lot of floor room. Unfortunately, she’s not letting us to be handled as she gets stressed and bites, so I can’t take her out for a ‘play time’. I’m thinking of just getting her a glass tank, but I’m not sure and only want to do it as a last resort. What else can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17384" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T19:43:14.970" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T14:25:25.613" Title="My hamster won’t stop biting the cage" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-22T05:17:38.823" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my molly just gave birth to 4 fry. Her belly is still inflated just as it was before giving birth. I was waiting if she's gonna release more babies. She hasn't. She just stay at the bottom of the tank and stay quiet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17385" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-02-22T06:29:04.703" LastActivityDate="2020-02-22T06:29:04.703" Title="Molly's belly is still inflated after giving birth" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-02-27T14:19:12.107" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27162" CreationDate="2020-02-22T14:09:20.510" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two adult dogs who love to dig, climb, bark, and run in my backyard.  They have completly destroyed any form of grass that has grown in my yard.  It is now a mud pitt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I attempt to re-landscape areas of my backyard, is there anything I set in place to keep them from walking onto my grass-growing areas?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. is there something they hate stepping on or walking over that annoys the crap out of their paws but doesn't cause real harm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17387" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T15:32:58.070" Title="How to prevent dogs walking over areas" Tags="&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-22T18:13:37.580" Score="2" ViewCount="869" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve made appointment for momma cat to be spayed, but she won’t wean her 3 kittens who are 3 months old! They eat kitten chow so don’t need to feed off her. Momma is still lactating and encourages them to nurse! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I separate them at times during the day and night, which upsets momma cat. The kittens just play and don’t seem to miss her at these times. Vet says kittens MUST be weaned by spay date. I thought she would have weaned them by now. And SHE wants to eat all the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve cut back on her canned food but leave her kitten chow out all day. Vet says to cut back on her food and separate them. It's truly concerning and makes me feel sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me, how should I wean them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17390" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T20:31:28.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:34:22.687" Title="Cat about to be spayed, but still nursing 3 month old kittens! How to wean them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;&lt;weaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-22T23:48:15.123" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the market, a lot of rubber chew toys now are being scented and I was wondering how these rubber toys are scented and whether its safe for dogs. These scented rubber chews are sold on a lot of different sites. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a scented chew toy on Amazon, the seller claims its completely safe and the scent is not sprayed on. But when I rub my hand on the toy, the scent even gets on my hand and I am not sure if that's normal and if that's even safe for my dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17391" LastEditorUserId="17391" LastEditDate="2020-02-25T00:36:43.203" LastActivityDate="2020-02-25T00:36:43.203" Title="Are scented natural rubber toys safe for dogs?" Tags="&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27156" CreationDate="2020-02-23T09:43:48.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have posted the question and the answer so it is a bit hard to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing you might try is to feed the kittens their favorite food  before they go to the mother for milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing you cannot do is to separate the kittens and the mother, separating them by force will create problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens and cats need to have a fixed routine: play-eat-sleep. The thing you can do is to feed the kittens after they play, but before they go to the mother; so they are full and will drink less milk from the mother. As a result of doing this, the mother will (hopefully) produce progressively less milk so the kittens will be weaned this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T20:34:22.687" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:34:22.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27160" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-23T10:35:25.697" Score="-1" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;My healthy, 3 year old rescue (Doberman Pinscher) has always had issues holding her pee. We’ve had her for 8 months and sometimes even if we take her out to pee right before bed, she’ll pee her bed just a couple hours into the night. In this case and in any other case where she pees in the house, she will drink the urine. We think she may have been from a puppy mill because she also has had issues eating her poop and has always had issues peeing in her bed/crate while I’ve heard that’s very abnormal for most dogs. We’ve had her tested for uti/bladder issues and nothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to limit her water intake before bed, but don’t know what else we can do to prevent it. Happens maybe 1-2 times a month. Every time we catch her we stop her and take her outside to finish (she always pees a bunch more once taken out) but would like to implement something to stop her before her bed gets soiled. Or any tips to help her learn to hold it? The 2 AM laundry is getting a little old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17394" LastActivityDate="2020-03-27T14:02:23.460" Title="How do I correct my dog peeing inside and drinking her urine?" Tags="&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27122" CreationDate="2020-02-23T23:03:07.287" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are worried your cat will not eat its food after being given insulin, you could consider giving your cat a carb-free food when you are at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know the nutritional content of wet cat food, but if you give your cat some chicken or maybe some tuna, you would not need to give them insulin, because chicken and tuna are carb-free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both chicken and tuna can be left out for 12 hours, and will not go &quot;bad&quot; during that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not like chicken or tuna, try finding another meat that they do like, or find a brand of wet food which does not contain carbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12999" LastActivityDate="2020-02-23T23:03:07.287" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27154" CreationDate="2020-02-23T23:23:37.513" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think such a material exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people have a tough time keeping their grass healthy with dogs. As you said, dogs like to dig, run, and urinate on grass. Heavy rain can make it easier for dogs to damage grass, and your dogs may enjoy digging and playing in a muddy yard even more than a dry yard. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your dogs obviously need a yard to play in. If you have enough space, you could consider designating part of the yard specifically for your dogs. This part of the yard could be covered in mulch instead of grass. This would prevent mud from forming, and your dogs' urine would not kill the grass. You could fence this part of your yard off, essentially making a &quot;dog park&quot; within your yard.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you want your entire yard to have grass, you could split your yard in half using a fence. One week you let your dogs play on the left side, the next week you let them play on the right side. This would allow the grass to recover from any damage your dogs cause. (This practice of dividing up land and only keeping animals in one section at a time is common with farmers, because it allows grass to grow back after getting eaten.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider planting a more &quot;hardy&quot; type of grass in your yard. I have very little experience with grass, but I know some types are stronger than others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try to train your dogs not to dig holes. This would take some time, but I think it can be done.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12999" LastActivityDate="2020-02-23T23:23:37.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27160" CreationDate="2020-02-24T08:14:10.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I honestly don't think you could somehow train her to not need to pee during the night. Usually you would train a puppy to hold their pee longer and longer during nighttime, until they get used to it. If your dog wasn't trained that way as a puppy, it may not work anymore as an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why I don't think it's possible is that you write &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every time we catch her we stop her and take her outside to finish (she always pees a bunch more once taken out)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That basically means that her body is used to process liquids and produce urine at night. That happens completely unconsciously and no amount of training will change her. There's the same phenomenon in humans as well: some can sleep the whole night but others wake up and have to pee every night. Not drinking anything in the evening doesn't change how your body works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better solution might be absorbant pads intended for puppies that are not completely house trained. Just put one in her bed, or maybe two if her bed is bigger than a pad. If she &quot;has an accident&quot; only once or twice a month, the cost involved is low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative could be to train her to pee in a place you can clean easily, like a walk-in shower. I'm not completely sure &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; to best tell her that peeing there is ok and judging from her behavior I'm not sure she wouldn't drink it also. It might be worth a try to establish a command like &quot;go pee&quot; whenever she relieves herself and then lead her into the shower and tell her to &quot;go pee&quot; there. Encourage and reward her excessively when she actually pees there to reinforce the new rule. Make sure the door is opened at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-02-26T14:01:13.847" LastActivityDate="2020-02-26T14:01:13.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-24T15:23:53.817" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found Littles in a parking lot when he was a newborn.  He still had his umbilical cord attached.  Mother was nowhere to be found.  With the help of Google, I was able to house and feed him.  He is now 1 yr and 5 months old.  He knows my voice, my smell, my touch.  He loves me and my family loves him.  Out of nowhere, about a week ago, he started biting me.  Hard too.  Drawing blood.  I haven't done anything to him to warrant any biting.  I'm basically his mother.  He used to always let me pet him and would even turn his head to the side so I can scratch his jowls.  So sweet.  He would also like to run around in my robe that I wore.  He would climb in one sleeve, go around the back (it was tied around my waist, so he couldn't call thru) and come out the other sleeve.  He was very comfortable doing this.  Now though, with his biting, I wouldn't dare put him near my body for biting reasons.  I'm scared now to put my hand in the cage to do anything.  Is it me?  Is it something I'm doing?  Or is it Littles?  Is he going thru something that I'm not aware of?  Is it testosterone?  I would hate to have to get rid of him because he won't stop biting.  I do not want my kids handling him.  If he bites me (someone that hand raised him), he will surely bite my boys.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anybody know what I should do or the reason why he is all of a sudden biting?  I'm at a loss here.  And very sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17399" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-02-27T05:56:59.853" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T05:56:59.853" Title="My hand raised field mouse is starting to bite me" Tags="&lt;biting&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-24T15:44:01.623" Score="0" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately our cat needed to have all her teeth pulled and a couple of other visits to the veterinarian. Fortunately, (we're quite sure) she's not in pain anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However we noticed, that her behaviour has changed a bit towards us, in particular me and not my girlfriend. She's more aggressive now. Before the surgery, she wasn't aggressive at all (probably because of all the pain she was in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, one of the behavioural changes is that whenever she's wants to be fed or when it's almost feeding time (3x/day), she slaps me (not my girlfriend) on the head/forehead (including claws). Before the surgery she used to just tap me on my nose without claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any of your cats slap you on the head when they want to be fed? (She's getting enough food btw.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(She used to be this gentle cat, but towards me, she's not any more: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/eb3wdr/this_is_gentle_threeyearsold_zariza_she_had_to/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/eb3wdr/this_is_gentle_threeyearsold_zariza_she_had_to/&lt;/a&gt; Lol?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17400" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-28T00:44:27.657" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T00:44:27.657" Title="My cat has started slapping my head/forehead with her claws when she wants to be fed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27067" CreationDate="2020-02-24T17:25:53.127" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;So you say you've got Snail problems?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snails can be a big issue, especially &lt;em&gt;in planted tanks&lt;/em&gt; where they can cause issues I'll explain later on. Snail population blooms are a common occurrence in freshwater aquariums.  It is important to know the source of the problem even after you've dealt with the immediate effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What are the downsides of having a snail population boom?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snails will start to &lt;strong&gt;eat your plants&lt;/strong&gt; if there's enough around and there isn't enough food for them to feed on.  If they can't find plants they may go after other sources of nutrients they can catch, like eggs of other fish. Some species (like some types of bladder snail) are more likely to start eating your non decaying plants than others when other food sources are scarce.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If snails can't find enough food anywhere, they'll start &lt;strong&gt;leaving your tank&lt;/strong&gt; which means crawling around the outside and eventually leaving a bunch of empty crusty snail carcasses around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snails will end up absorbing the calcium in the water, possibly hurting any other invertebrates in your tank that rely on water column calcium to construct their shells. This can get so bad that you'll start seeing damage to the carapace of your inverts (and probably your snails) in your tank.  &lt;strong&gt;This can cause your shrimp to either stunt in growth or kill themselves when shedding their skin&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snails will start to out-compete your other surface algae eaters, such as algae eating fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snails will start to swarm &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; food you have in the tank, stopping bottom feeders from getting a chance to eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What causes a snail population boom?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number one is feeding too much.  Any leftover food that falls to the bottom that you aren't seeing fish eat?  Snails are eating it. Too much of this and the snails start to think &amp;quot;Wow, this is the perfect environment! always so much food.  I wish we could share this with friends, but I don't have any!&amp;quot;  And then they start making friends.   &lt;strong&gt;Almost all snails are hermaphrodites (any two can mate, they have both sexual organs), and many, including many bladder snail species are asexual, they don't even need a mate to reproduce&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number two is having a bunch of dead plant material in your tank, or other waste not a byproduct from your feeding.  If snails aren't getting food from you they are getting it from somewhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Number three is a deadfish either causing algae bloom on it's own or being a source for a snail meal.  These last two are unlikely because you are far more likely to recognize them before they become an issue than the first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What can I do about this?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;em&gt;restrict your feeding schedule&lt;/em&gt;.  Many fish, especially smaller fish don't need to eat every day.  Cut the amount you feed until it is all eaten up by your fish (shrimp will dig through fish poop algae and bacteria on surfaces, they generally, unless they are large, don't need to be specifically feed if they are not the only ones in the tank. This will stop future blooms from happening, but may start the &amp;quot;starvation process&amp;quot; I talked about earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove any snail eggs from the side of your tank.  You can do this with a &lt;strong&gt;plastic/rubber&lt;/strong&gt; scraper (to make sure not to scratch glass or acrylic) or with your fingers.  If they are also on your plants try to rub them off there.  Merely removing them will for the most part solve the problem of them growing up.  Other snails will either eat them or they won't get enough oxygen to live. At this point, the infestation is essentially &amp;quot;over&amp;quot; but now you've got a problem of new breeding and the current snail population eating your plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get something that kills snails.  While an assassin snail can work, they also breed, and I would be cautious with in the same tank as shrimp or other often sedentary small aquatic pets (they kill by basically harpooning their prey).  They are sometimes hard to find as well, so price can be an issue.  You can use corys (for small) or other snail eating fish (loaches which &lt;em&gt;are not khuli loaches&lt;/em&gt;, like YoYo loaches) which suck the snails out of thier shells.  Gouramis and Betta fish are also known to eat snails, though this varies from individual to individual and can't eat all sizes.  These are much easier to come by. Another species that eats snails is puffer fish, pea puffers and other pufferfish however, &lt;strong&gt;you may have zero snails after a period of time&lt;/strong&gt;, since it is their preferred diet (loaches, and some other fish may also cause this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a snail predator, the easiest way of getting rid of current snails is... crushing them between your fingers.  Assuming they aren't large snails, crushing them is an effective way to deal with them.  You can put them &lt;em&gt;back&lt;/em&gt; in the water afterwards.  Other animals may appreciate the extra food, but be careful not to cause ammonia spikes with this.  Other snails in the tank will eat the remains if the fish don't, so don't worry about a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drastic measure, but if none of the above work, you could potentially increase the acidicy of the water, which will start to eat away at the shells of the snails (or just get rid of the calcium in general). This will obviously harm &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; your inverts if you attempt this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;What can I do in the future?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reduce the amount of food, make sure all food is eaten.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;introduce population control measures on snails&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Replace current snail population with snails which cannot breed in freshwater (nerites are one such snail, though they will still lay eggs, with out brackish water they won't actually hatch).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11115" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-02-24T17:25:53.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27165" CreationDate="2020-02-25T06:37:01.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the best to have your friend examined by a doctor. However, in the meanwhile, have the following in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He might need a partner for... a specific activity. He should be an adult by now, I guess.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His natural / wild instincts come to the surface.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The doctor should be able to tell if there is some affliction generating the behavioral change.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-02-25T06:37:01.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27165" CreationDate="2020-02-25T07:59:15.927" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/post/At_what_age_are_laboratory_mice_considered_adult2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lab mouse&lt;/a&gt; of 1,5 years of age is considered &lt;em&gt;old&lt;/em&gt;, so we can definitely rule out puperty. &lt;em&gt;Old age&lt;/em&gt; in lab mice means that this is typically the age where the effects of senescence set in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So he might have joint pain or some inflammation or something else that makes him feel unwell. You might unknowingly have caused him pain by handling him, which prompted his biting. In that case a vet should have a look at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is his instincts. Field mice are no domesticated animals. He has his instincts to survive firmly in place, even if you handraised him. Something you did, maybe even a subconscious twitch could have triggered his fighting instinct. We have similar questions here where cats suddenly attack their owner's faces without any obvious provocation. Our bodies are so big compared to those of our pets, we often don't even realize the small details and movements that trigger the instincts of our pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-02-25T07:59:15.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26734" CreationDate="2020-02-25T09:29:35.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different little methods for changing bad eating habits of parrots. As you realize, it is important for a parrot to have a varied diet. Distribute several types of granules, peas, rice, dough, fruits and vegetables, so as to present 7 to 8 different ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to make him discover new foods by putting your parrot in a quiet place on a table and spread out a handful of foods that you want your birds to discover then start playing with these foods, bring them to your mouth and make pretending to eat them, ... very often the bird will come to play and eat with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the event that your bird has absolutely no knowledge of certain food, it may not recognize it as food. In this case, you can present him with small pieces in his usual bowl with foods that he knows well. He will be confident and may accidentally taste and adopt this unknown food. Or you can also do the opposite by giving it a bowl full of new foods and adding a few treats that your bird likes (nuts, sunflower seeds, ...)&#xA;One technique that works well in my case is to cut fruit or vegetables in front of him and give small pieces of the food to be introduced by hand outside the cage, as if it were a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Offer him the new food in the morning bowl. In general in the morning the birds are more hungry that will be able to be forced to taste it.&#xA;Offer the new food in a toy or between the bars of the cage. This may be enough to excite his curiosity.&#xA;Eat the food to be tested in front of your bird and get excited about what you eat. This tactic generally works very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2020-02-25T09:29:35.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26734" CreationDate="2020-02-25T11:28:34.780" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you try feeding them with leaves? Parsley and dandelion leaves were among the preferred treats for my budgies, when I had them. Arrange the leaves as a bouquet or make them not movable by any means (tie them to the side of the bird cage), provide them to the budgies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once they understand that food is more than seeds, they might try other foods also. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try presenting any new foods the same way as known food. Instead of seeds, place carrot and apple small cuttings in their food tray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-02-25T11:28:34.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-25T14:53:05.337" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;On January 5 they were trapped along with several others from a cat colony and  were brought to a sub Foster’s house in a cage where they remained with their colony mates.  They were then taken to the local pet store to be put up for adoption after being neutered and being checked out by a local vet; they were there for about 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had them for 12 days now. Given that they have had extremely limited human interaction and are not really used to being handled, how long should I realistically expect it to take them to get used to the new surroundings?  They don’t run and hide any more and the older one is definitely more social and curious.  He’s constantly slowly expanding his territory and checking things out.  The younger one kind of just stays in one general area seemingly all day except to eat and use the litter box and he is always looking to see where I am. At times will run away and if he gets nervous or scared.  Occasionally he will poop on the floor.  They are not from the same litter but play together and seem to enjoy the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I’m coming from having to put down my 13-year-old cat who was super sweet, super social, got along with everybody and seemingly made it her mission every day to seek out human interaction so this is quite the change.  Any advice or what I should expect would be greatly appreciated as having a pair is certainly different so far and given their life so far it seems like maybe the opportunity to really bond with them and have socialized cats has already been lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17401" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-02-27T05:56:48.703" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T05:56:48.703" Title="How long will it take feral kittens (5 and 8 months old) to adjust to their new home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27172" CreationDate="2020-02-26T07:08:35.707" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Young feral cats will not have had the interaction with people that kittens born in a  household will have,the older the feral cats are the harder it will be to sosialize them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A feral cat will often hide during the day and come out to eat at night when people sleep,It can often take a month before the cat comes out of hiding during the day it is important to try to interact with the cat at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cat comes out during the day you can try to play with the cat using a stick toy,this is to slowly build trust and you can expect a few setbacks during this time,let the cat escape and do not follow it but try to engage in play later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cat starts to relax and play it will use some energy in a no stress situation,this is the time for you and the cat to start to get closer to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By what you say in your question it sounds to me like you and the cats are well on your way to get to know each other,within a couple of weeks you and the cats will have made massive progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help the cats to start using the litterbox take the lid off so it is open,you might have to put the cat onto the cat litter and show the cat how to dig a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normaly a feral cat will understand this very quick,i once had a 10-12 years old feral and he did learn this within a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-02-26T14:53:05.943" LastActivityDate="2020-02-26T14:53:05.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-26T21:19:21.887" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I set up my first tank (50 liters cube) about 4 days ago. It's quite high-tech:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injector&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Macro + Micro fertilizers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6h / day lightning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I added some aquarium starter fluid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decent filter with a bunch of ceramic rings (not colonized by bacteria yet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no animals in this tank, plants only. The water is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; really crystal clear - it's a little milky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed some whitish goo forming on the gravel and driftwood (see the photos below - what looks like cloudy glass is actually this goo growing on gravel). This goo is quite solid, it waves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it exactly? Algae? Fungi? Should I care and take some action or should I just wait for it to pass?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O46tY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/O46tY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6xj04.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6xj04.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14168" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T17:15:23.657" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T16:52:55.333" Title="What is this whitish goo in my newly set up tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10585" CreationDate="2020-02-27T02:09:08.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going with its a box type object (so, safety) also, they are fun and smell like their humans so its an all 'round fun time. I have 1 boy (maine coon/russian blue mix) who has a fascination with water in general, but has always loved tubs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17411" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T02:09:08.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27185" CreationDate="2020-02-27T10:14:25.223" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I've had my young horse she paws the ground almost every night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried adding boredom busters such as treat balls, lick it's and wood (she likes to chew it?) but every morning without fail her stall has been pawed up into a big ball of poo/urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong, it makes cleaning her out fairly easy but I'm concerned for her wellbeing and hoof health if she continues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently deep litter her bed (6+inches) but the floor underneath is concrete. I've been thinking of putting mats down for her but I'm worried she'll dig these to pieces or remove the bedding, pee and then fall on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I'm unable to leave her outside at night as her pasture mate has sight issues and my mare will not be turned out alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T16:42:36.407" Title="Why does my horse paw the ground?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27176" CreationDate="2020-02-27T10:32:15.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Were you sure to wash everything thoroughly before adding them to the tank? Even new items/plants need to be cleaned off before adding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe you possibly have some variation of thread algae. Thread algae survives on decaying organic matter within your tank. Generally these are removed with a thorough tank clean but on most occasions they are harmless to the inhabitents anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things you can do to combat this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the time your tanks lights are on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do a big tank clean,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Introduce some Amano shrimp,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information you can &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_algae_green-thread-algae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;check this out&lt;/a&gt; it's a really informative wiki page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T10:32:15.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27176" CreationDate="2020-02-27T12:26:24.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You did too many things in too little time. Maybe you want to take a step back and do things gradually. In that way, you will be able to better understand the source of your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move everything is a different vessel(s) (can even be larger glass jars).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Properly clean and disinfect the aquarium (gravel, filter, other accessories also); be sure to remove any traces of chemicals, they have the ability to ruin all next efforts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add the gravel, the plants and the light; also add the mechanical filter; no CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; or fertilizers at the beginning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assuming that &amp;quot;aquarium starter fluid&amp;quot; is actually beneficial bacteria, add that too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monitor the progress, adjust as needed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add fertilizers only if the plants are sad, and only in very small amounts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; when things are mostly stable, and only if needed; if the plants are well without it, do not bother.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27179&quot;&gt;answered by &lt;strong&gt;@SimplyRedAppaloosa&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, be sure to properly clean everything else which goes into the aquarium. You might want to add some disinfectants to clean the plants while they are in the vessels - you need to do your own research, I never needed the experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water is not really crystal clear - it's a little milky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mechanical filtration media is not dense enough. As a final stage, you might want to add a very dense sponge (or similar material), to collect even the small particles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a very similar problem, and I was lucky to find for buying a piece of &amp;quot;cloth&amp;quot; - the dark green layer which is glued on one side of kitchen cleaning sponges. I added a layer (or maybe 2 layers? I do not remember) between the sponge and the pump (everything inside the filter). The aquarium with this trick was functional in excess of 3-4 years, long lived fishes, all nice, cleaning of the filtering media max 2-3 times per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T16:52:55.333" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T16:52:55.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27176" CreationDate="2020-02-27T13:24:19.003" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your tank is not properly cycled yet. Take this a bit slower, do not add any animals to your tank until it is properly cycled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gray you can see in your tank is bacteria starting to grow. It is normal to have this in the beginning before the tank is in biological balance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gray stuff will go away after a few days and it is not only bacteria, but several types of living things that you can find in a healthy tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to get a water test and measure the level of ammonia. Finding ammonia in the water is the first step when you cycle the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days you will be able to measure nitrite and ammonia in the water, nitrite level will go up and ammonia level will start to go down slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days, all of the ammonia will be gone and the level of nitrite will slowly fall to zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all this is done, you will only be able to measure nitrate in the water - this is the end result of a healthy biological prosess; the nitrate is plant food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt; to get more and better information about how to cycle a tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not add any animals to your tank until it is fully cycled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T16:48:17.733" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T16:48:17.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17677" CreationDate="2020-02-27T13:40:29.397" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat also has long hair on her stomach, I was thinking it was because they shaved her when they fixed her. Not for sure! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17413" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T13:40:29.397" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26959" CreationDate="2020-02-27T14:39:11.203" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The differences between kitten and cat food are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher protein content&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher fat content&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher calorie count&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Higher amounts of vitamins and minerals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/difference-between-kitten-cat-food-6832.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Nest&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these will do any harm to the adult cats other than a risk of becoming overweight if they eat too much of the kitten food. They are necessary for the kittens to grow and develop properly, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that both sets of cats are seeking out each other's food (and that the adults have lost some weight), you might &lt;strong&gt;try feeding them all the same kitten food&lt;/strong&gt;. The adults seem to be greatly preferring the taste, and the kittens likely prefer the fun of going to the bowl they're not supposed to eat from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't necessarily seek each other's bowls because &quot;they prefer the taste&quot; of what the other cat has. In cats that have a higher hunger drive (such as growing kittens), it can be that they think their bowl will be fine while they go &quot;raid&quot; another bowl, and then can come back to their own (not necessarily working out that another cat may &quot;raid&quot; their bowl while they're gone). You may still see bowl swapping with switching them all to the same food, which would be evidence that the kittens are just looking for more food in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T14:39:11.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17677" CreationDate="2020-02-27T15:29:17.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fur on the belly of cats is about the same as on the rest of the body, but the combination of loose skin and gravity, and the fact that the fur stands straight out, makes it look longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male and female cats have about the same amount and length of fur on the belly; lactating cats have a bit less fur in the area around the nipples, but the fur length is the same as the males have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older cats have more loose skin on the belly than younger cats do, and I think female cats have a tiny bit more loose skin around the mammaries than male cats have in the same area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-02-27T15:37:43.047" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T15:37:43.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27178" CreationDate="2020-02-27T16:42:36.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pawing can be a sign of boredom, stress or anger, which can be all tied in with frustration to some extent, being a repetitive behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've managed to almost eradicate constant pawing while being hard fed in one of my horses, but her reasons for pawing, were more specific than in the case of your horse. As the behaviour was limited to feeding, I was able to set up ways to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses require little sleep compared to humans. They get most of this rest dozing while standing, but only require &lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/sleep-requirements-horses/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;30 minutes of deep sleep&lt;/a&gt; only obtained while lying down. These shorter sleep requirements mean that the horse is awake for longer and so boredom while being stalled is an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important though to acknowledge that it's unlikely to be only boredom that is causing this behaviour. It is likely there is a level of stress also associated with the pawing, as she is kept away from other herd animals. A stall is isolated, and small. It can be stressful to be locked in such a small space for prolonged periods, despite this being an acceptable practice. The fact there's so few problems with horses being stalled is due to their submissive nature rather than the fact it is beneficial to them or that they enjoy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideal solution is to leave horses in pasture 24/7, but they do not do well alone. Being herd animals and prey animals, they rely on other horses to watch over them while they sleep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses night vision is excellent, so a vision impaired horse left in a paddock over night that they are used to and in during the day should not be a problem for that horse. Of course any hazards should be removed, but this is the case for all horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pawing at the concrete will damage her hooves. One way around that would be to remove the bedding and lay thick rubber matting over the concrete and then lay the bedding over that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is your horse and you are there and know her, you may find that leaving her in the pasture overnight alone is preferable for her health. As mentioned in your post and this answer, they like company, so at least in a stall she has horses near her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is anyway to put her in a paddock that is near the stalls, that would be better. Or even let the vision impaired horse into a yard at night next to the paddock. This may not be feasible, but are just ideas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://equusmagazine.com/behavior/horse-body-language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pawing.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Horses paw—an arcing action with the foreleg that may dig a trench in soft ground—for a number of reasons. The bored or&#xA;  impatient horse paws when tied—he's saying that he's tired of standing&#xA;  around and he's ready to go! Stressed horses may &lt;a href=&quot;https://equusmagazine.com/behavior/trailering-behavioral-problems-8244&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;paw in the&#xA;  trailer&lt;/a&gt; or at feeding time, and the behavior stops when the source&#xA;  of the anxiety is past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue with pawing is that by preventing the actual pawing, without dealing with the underlying issue, may indeed cause other behaviours that are destructive for the horse and possibly you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/horse-owners/behavior-of-horses/behavior-problems-in-horses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stereotypic Behaviors in the MSD Veterinary Manual&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pawing&lt;/strong&gt; or digging can cause injury to the horse, damage the floor, and cause wear to the horse’s hooves. It is a normal behavior when&#xA;  horses on winter pasture are forced to dig for feed. When horses are&#xA;  confined and fed highly palatable foods, pawing can occur more&#xA;  frequently and more intensely than it would otherwise. Pawing can&#xA;  occur due to frustration, anticipation, or as a displacement behavior.&#xA;  The underlying cause of the pawing needs to be determined in order to&#xA;  successfully treat it. Specific treatments are similar to those for&#xA;  stall walking (see above). Changing the floors to concrete may stop&#xA;  pawing; however, it will not change the motivation to do so, and some&#xA;  horses (especially stallions) may rear up instead of pawing. Pawing&#xA;  should not be rewarded, which is what inadvertently happens when&#xA;  horses paw in anticipation of feeding. The food should be presented to&#xA;  the horse only when the horse is not pawing, or the horse should be&#xA;  brought to the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stall walking or circling&lt;/strong&gt; is a stereotypical behavior in which horses walk in circles around the stall. When released to a larger&#xA;  space (such as a pasture or barn), they continue to circle in a small&#xA;  area. Tying the horse to prevent walking will only transform the&#xA;  behavior into weaving (see below). Both behaviors are seen in confined&#xA;  horses, serve no purpose, are hard to interrupt, and are usually&#xA;  slower than other types of movements. Possible causes of stall walking&#xA;  include lack of exercise and social contact and claustrophobia (an&#xA;  intense fear of small spaces). Stress and anxiety appear to make the&#xA;  problem worse. Treatment should include increasing exercise, providing&#xA;  social company, allowing the horse to see other horses, and providing&#xA;  clean, thick bedding. Feeding frequently (more than twice daily),&#xA;  allowing more access to pasture, providing more open stalls, and&#xA;  providing better access to outside views can also help. Adding toys to&#xA;  the stall may help if the horse is young and active. In some cases,&#xA;  your veterinarian may need to prescribe medication to control the&#xA;  problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T16:42:36.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27190" CreationDate="2020-02-27T16:56:00.317" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse snorts if she sees something she isn't too sure about or if she's just had a bout of thundering over the field. I've always thought it's a build up of adrenaline and possibly endorphins but could this also be communication based?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a horse snorting indicate to other horses that something's up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T01:05:46.300" Title="Why does my horse snort?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-27T17:09:58.920" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I  have a horse who would constantly paw at the ground when being fed hard food. Basically any feed that was given to her in a container. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some background:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I got her she was underweight, covered in whip marks and frightened. So she had been starved to some extent, and mistreated to another extent. She was also heavily pregnant and did not look pregnant at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I stop her from pawing the ground when she is eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T20:03:00.277" Title="How to stop my horse from pawing the ground when she's eating hard feed" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27187" CreationDate="2020-02-27T17:09:58.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've worked with this horse and her pawing for two years and she rarely paws  now, but it's something I need to keep an eye on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case she needed to be fed and have reliable food sources. As she was clearly anxious around food, as a result of going hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also needed to work on my relationship with her and earn her trust. As she was aggressive towards humans, due to being mistreated and was actually frightened of people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I earned her trust I was able to start correcting her when she pawed. I would use my foot or a short stick to help me reach across or my hand (depending on where we were both standing) and tap the leg lightly if she looked like she was about to paw or indeed did paw and say &quot;no&quot;. It was a painstaking procedure to continually do this, but at that stage it was the only thing I had and I did want to build up a relationship with her, where I could teach her and she would respect me. As she was capable of turning her butt and kicking people or other horses with both barrels. So extremely dangerous when I first got her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We ended up in a paddock which had electric stand offs on a timber post and rail fence. The ideal fencing set up for horses. So there was a strand of electric fencing wire approximately two feet from the ground, six inches inside the fence line. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would put her feeder up on the fence so she had to stand at the fence to eat. If she raised her knee to paw, she would occasionally get zapped by the electric fence. It took almost no time to completely eradicate this pawing behaviour when feeding. I was able to feed her away from the fence with success after this, as she grew used to eating without pawing and this experience was without consequence, by that I mean, she learned to eat without pawing and that had no bad consequence - not the electric fence shocking her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has only pawed once since this time, recently. There was a lot of competition for the food at the time, a  lot of horses in the paddock and she was clearly stressed. So this setback is my fault and our horses are a reflection of us, their owners, as are all our pets. It is by taking this responsibility, I'm able to best serve them as a owner. It can sound harsh, but indeed it is empowering. It means wherever there is a problem, there is a solution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This little article from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.equinebehavior.net/previousquestions/pawswhileeating.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Equine Behavior Questions and Answers&lt;/a&gt; adequately sums up what is going on with her from a psychological level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pawing is often considered a stereotypie – a repetitive behavior that&#xA;  serves no obvious, outward purpose. However stereotypies do serve a&#xA;  purpose – they are a coping mechanism that help horses deal with&#xA;  stress. Some horses start pawing when they eat because they’re nervous&#xA;  about not getting fed. Sometimes that’s because they were starved&#xA;  earlier in life and other times it is because they feel threatened&#xA;  that other horses may steal their food. Once they start pawing, it is&#xA;  almost impossible to cure them of it – even long after the source of&#xA;  stress is gone. You can make him feel more secure by making sure he&#xA;  gets his meal at close to the same time each day and by making sure no&#xA;  other horses are around to threaten him – either in the same pen as he&#xA;  is or lunging at him through fences or over stall doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-27T17:09:58.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27156" CreationDate="2020-02-28T00:42:14.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way an animal can be forced to wean their young is to physically separate them at all times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, separate the mother cat from the kittens until after she has recovered from her spaying operation. There's a window of time where young can resume feeding off the mother after being weaned and you want to ensure you allow enough weeks to prevent this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on the mother's weight. It doesn't hurt cats to be trim. Ensure though she has the nutrition to cover loss of nutrients due to feeding her young, even while weaning, as calcium is leached from the mother to produce milk. In this regard I'm referring to nutrition versus calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mother cat may protest while they are separated and that is a difficulty you will all need to endure, unless you postpone the spaying date and so allow the weaning process to occur more at the mother's pace. With this comes the risk of another pregnancy, so she would need to be kept strictly indoors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T00:42:14.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27186" CreationDate="2020-02-28T01:05:46.300" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything horses do is a form of communication, as they have no words, so rely totally on body language and sounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses are experts on interpreting other horses. So if she is concerned by something and snorts, another horse will note that she has seen or sensed something she is wary of, depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snorting can be a reaction to fear, an unfavourable sensation, or clearing the nostrils. It's &lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.neogen.com/why-do-horses-snort/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;arguable&lt;/a&gt; that snorting can be associated with positive or negative emotions. So it's important when interpreting any type of horse behaviour to take in the whole context of body language and the situation/environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A horse that comes across something it fears, like a strange dog, may approach the dog with head high, neck arched, high on the toes and snort. This is part of an aggressive type of snorting, that encompasses flared nostrils. As you mentioned, it is theorised this type of snorting is a response to a release in adrenaline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When rolling or eating a horse may get dust up their nose and the snort will be literally to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/research-calls-snort-function-question-659124&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clear out the nose&lt;/a&gt;. The horse may be perfectly content. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So taken in context, other horses will definitely take heed of a warning snort. As they rely on one another to stay safe as a herd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also noteworthy that snorting is similar to blowing, but there's different ideas about why horses do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T01:05:46.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27192" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-28T02:51:12.960" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've come through extended drought, followed by historically bad bush fires, then flood. It has caused many animals to seek refuge in places that were safe from the fires and flood. Subsequently there's a lot more snakes around my horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What immediate first aid treatments should be given to a horse that has been bitten by a snake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-28T12:29:11.637" Title="What should I do if my horse is bitten by a snake?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;emergency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-28T02:56:50.367" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;Had Ronnie and Reggie for 2.5 years. I guess they were 5/ 6 months when I got them. Last two in a pet shop. Got told the whole yes we do this and that, well they would do anything to sell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, my boys are my fur babys, love them with all my heart. But I went away (probably explains next part), told my son to open cage, give them their fruit (my fur babys are allowed to run round my house). Why have pets if no freedom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway they have had squabbles in the past like any brother or sister, all been good but they had apparently a massive fight. Since then my Reggie (more dominant) is losing weight and looking fragile. Still gives me kisses and sleeps with his brother. My Ronnie just looks massive, so clearly Reggie has lost weight!  Reggie always been more dominant and the biggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From past experiences (Sly and Arnie) when taken to vets they just wanna put them down. I can't go through that again, so any suggestions? Reggie looking old and fragile just wanna make him comfy than have some vet say put him down. Please anyone help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17418" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-02-28T04:20:03.570" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T04:20:03.570" Title="Rodents fighting, now one losing weight" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-28T13:54:49.973" Score="1" ViewCount="2140" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have one Persian cat (2 years old) with a history of kidney disease that led to Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His food is similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwjX-cq8svTnAhXF-KQKHV9jBuYQ3YkBegQIARAE&amp;amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpet-land.ir%2F%25D9%25BE%25D9%2588%25DA%2586-%25D8%25B1%25D9%2588%25DB%258C%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584-%25DA%25A9%25D9%2586%25DB%258C%25D9%2586-%25D9%2585%25D8%25AE%25D8%25B5%25D9%2588%25D8%25B5-%25DA%25AF%25D8%25B1%25D8%25A8%25D9%2587-%25D9%2585%25D8%25A8%25D8%25AA%25D9%2584%25D8%25A7-%25D8%25A8%25D9%2587-%25D8%25A8%25DB%258C%25D9%2585%25D8%25A7%25D8%25B1%25DB%258C-%25D9%2587%25D8%25A7%25DB%258C-%25DA%25A9%25D9%2584%25DB%258C%25D9%2588%25DB%258C-100-%25DA%25AF%25D8%25B1%25D9%2585%25DB%258C-royal-canin-renal-with-chicken&amp;amp;psig=AOvVaw1tYqdYp78X1LPcO_Jhwc06&amp;amp;ust=1582984270054606&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this kind&lt;/a&gt; (which is prescribed by our veterinarian):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rwu9D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rwu9D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I know this solid food is fine for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also give him almost half a glass of milk, so is the milk also fine for him? If not, can I give him some other liquid like milk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-02-28T18:27:38.020" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T13:05:38.753" Title="Is milk a good treat for my cat with kidney disease?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-03-04T08:36:36.013" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-28T16:39:42.470" Score="9" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a two year old Persian cat with some kidney problems. We live in Iran, which these days is not a good place relative to potential coronavirus outbreaks because of the government not giving true information about it. We think we will get the virus some time in the future. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this condition we would like to know, if we did contract the coronavirus, how can we protect our cat from our infection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we become unable to protect ourselves, I don't know how could take care of him and who would accept him. I think he must trained to survive in nature, could I train him at this during his time period? If yes, how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T21:01:59.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T21:01:59.237" Title="Cat health consideration regarding the coronavirus" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27194" CreationDate="2020-02-28T16:48:37.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a cat with kidney or bladder problems, you need to feed wet food so your cat gets the water it needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed the type and amount of food your vet tells you to; to save you some money, it might be best if you buy canned food -- it has a lower cost than the portion packages you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat loses or gains weight, you need to ask the vet what amount of food you need to give your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure to only give the food the vet has told you to use -- no treats, no milk, only cat food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cow milk contains lactose. No adult animal has the need or use of milk, and in some cases milk can do harm to the body. If one gives milk to cats it can lead to diarrhea; diarrhea is particularly dangerous to cats with kidney problems due to the loss of water from the body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the loss of water, milk contains calcium, phosphorus, and fat. These are things that put extra stress on the kidneys and might lead to bladder stones, kidney stones and gallstones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The excuse your cat likes milk is a really bad one for giving milk to a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I myself like a lot of things that can cause harm or even might be lethal, so common sense makes me avoid them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: the OP have changed the question a bit after I posted this answer, but I leave my answer as it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T13:05:38.753" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T13:05:38.753" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27196" CreationDate="2020-02-28T16:59:36.827" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updated: The WHO has since removed this information from their &quot;Myth Busters&quot; page, likely in light of the case(s) cited in trond hansen's answer.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is currently no evidence that domestic cats or dogs are affected by COVID-19:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can pets at home spread the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV)?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  At present, there is no evidence that companion animals/pets such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new coronavirus. However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets. This protects you against various common bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella that can pass between pets and humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;World Health Organization&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-30T13:42:15.307" LastActivityDate="2020-03-30T13:42:15.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27196" CreationDate="2020-02-28T17:03:11.247" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs can carry several types of coronaviruses; this does not mean the cat or dog will be ill, but it is possible for both dogs and cats to get ill from some of the coronaviruses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of coronavirus in circulation now, COVID-19, has not been confirmed to cause illness in cats and dogs. Too little is known as of now to say if cats and dogs can be carriers of the virus or if they can transmit virus to people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One dog has tested positive for COVID-19; it is not confirmed that the dog is a carrier of the virus. It might be traces of the virus on the dog. New tests have been taken and the result is pending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source for more information about COVID-19 and pets could be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/a-dog-in-hong-kong-tests-positive-for-the-coronavirus-who-confirms.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;found there&lt;/a&gt; (source: cnbc.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: A cat in Belgium &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/coronavirus/statement-relating-to-cat-in-belgium-with-coronavirus-covid-19&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is the first cat that has been confirmed to be infected with COVID-19&lt;/a&gt; (source: cats.org.uk). The cat got the infection from the owner and got ill one week after the owner did ,as far as I know both cat and owner are recovering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is still no indication that a cat or a dog can infect people with COVID-19.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:57:54.287" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T20:57:54.287" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-28T22:15:45.577" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got 2 cats around 7ish years ago, and they're both 8. My dad doesn't like the cats and instead only tolerates them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first cat he has no problem with. Shes generally well behaved but a bit sharky and only really likes me. The second cat likes to go toilet on my dad's stuff. It only happens every few months but it just happened and my dad says he wants to put him down for it. What can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17424" LastActivityDate="2020-02-28T22:15:45.577" Title="My cat keeps pooping on my dads stuff because he doesn't like dad. My dad wants to put him down, how can I stop the cat from doing this" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-03-04T08:34:08.413" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27201" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-28T23:17:44.197" Score="0" ViewCount="546" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just today my cat started to bolt from one place back to the bedroom. He was panting and meowing. When I got him to lay down his back started twitching and his tail and back leg. He was growling and tried to lick his back. &#xA;Does anyone know what this is or how to stop it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17425" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T02:01:50.177" Title="My cat’s back is twitching and he’s running around" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27201" CreationDate="2020-02-29T00:47:37.767" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the full disclaimer that I'm not a vet, it sounds likely that your cat has &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hyperesthesia_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hyperesthesia&lt;/a&gt;.  Hyperesthesia is a disorder that seems to be relatively common in cats.  Its symptoms include things like rippling/twitching skin on the back, frantic licking, running around frantically, and thumping the back legs.  It often gives the general impression that the cat has a sudden itch or like a bee suddenly stung it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally unless it's particularly concerning (sometimes the cats will self-mutilate as a response for example), the treatment is mostly preventative.  Hyperesthesia is exacerbated by stress, for example, so you attempt to prevent episodes by keeping your cat as stress-free as possible.  Or, as is the case with my cat, there's an obvious trigger (for some reason my cat is triggered by the smells of cooking), and you can try to keep that trigger to a minimum.  Cat-nip might also help alleviate symptoms as it's a natural minor sedative.  But if the symptoms are more concerning, then there are drugs that can be prescribed by your vet that might help.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, it's probably best to consult with your vet to verify it's indeed hyperesthesia.  Take video of your cat during an episode if you can and show it to your vet, as that can help with the diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T00:47:37.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27137" CreationDate="2020-02-29T04:25:43.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Normal Behaviour&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this is pretty normal horse behaviour. Horses are tough on tack and expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses will push other horses using many methods and if the other horse doesn't yield, they will escalate to more severe and what we perceive as &amp;quot;violent&amp;quot; behaviours to show the other horse they mean business. There behaviours generally involve biting, kicking or striking. From my experience some horses will be biters and some will be kickers. They will use both, but preference one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case he is biting to pull her into line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a  more mature gelding he is naturally trying to keep his herd in line. Stallions are the natural herd leaders and geldings retain many of these natural instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When mares are in season, both geldings and mares change in their behaviour. Geldings will often be more interested in mares and mares will often show more interest in geldings, but can also be resistant to the interest from geldings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When to separate&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he was hunting her to a point of jumping fences, I'd separate them, as there is a risk of injury. I had a young gelding who would continually hunt a young filly around until she was a sweaty mess and there was a risk of injury or her being run through a fence. I kept them separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Stability in the paddock&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this behaviour has settled down for your horses I wouldn't recommend separating them. There's a couple of things that will exacerbate this behaviour. If the horses are stalled overnight and turned out each day. The horses will jostle to reassert the herd hierarchy each time they are turned out. Same if they are separated into different paddocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are maintained in a paddock with the same herd, you'll find this behaviour calms down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horses do well with the same herd and not being separated. This way they establish herd hierarchy and don't need to reassert this dominance overtly when first meeting, but rather maintain this hierarchy with more subtle gestures throughout the day, like pushing a horse on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Introduce an older more dominant gelding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other way to fix this behaviour is to put a more dominant gelding in the paddock. He will likely keep the younger gelding in line and protect your filly from him, as he will claim her to be his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T04:25:43.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-29T06:21:26.837" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My new dwarf hamster Basil was gifted to me the other day, and she already is constantly chewing on the plastic tubing in her cage. I'd prefer (safety and aesthetically) to get her a glass aquarium instead. Would a 20½ inch by 10½ inch (12 inch tall) glass fish aquarium work for her? I should I get a 20 gallon instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17430" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-29T01:23:46.433" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T01:35:46.963" Title="Is this a safe size for a dwarf hamster cage?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19260" CreationDate="2020-02-29T07:01:44.037" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Susie had thyroid problems, a thyroid tumor, a mammary gland tumor, and Stage 2 kidney disease 2 and 1/2 years ago. I couldn't give her medicine or Sub-Q because she was skittish and I would hurt her trying to give medication. My vet found a compounding pharmacy that could make medicine I could rub in her ears to stimulate her appetite and administer prednisone. She lasted two and a half years with this treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17431" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-02T14:33:50.433" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T14:33:50.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-02-29T13:47:31.550" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;She will be having a CT/Rhinscopy on Thurs. in five days but still has one day of Baytril. She needs five days to complete Vit. K to get her blood to clot. I need to start it today also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17434" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T15:43:29.890" Title="Can I give vitamin k 25mg on same day as Baytril?" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27207" CreationDate="2020-02-29T15:43:29.890" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This type of question is best directed to your veterinarian, who is familiar with your pet's case and prescribed medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per Plumb's Veterinary Drugs, there are no reported interactions between Baytril (enrofloxacin) and Vitamin K. These medications are in general very safe to use together and commonly prescribed at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-02-29T15:43:29.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27205" CreationDate="2020-02-29T21:19:58.917" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a dwarf hamster in Germany are a minimal cage space of one square meter (1×1 m or ~40x40 inch) recommended. They are more active than Syrian hamsters, so they need more space. In nature they would have much more space than one square meter as their own territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This measure is the ground level of the cage/tank. Upper floors are welcome, but do not count into the one square meter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, a tank is interesting for you because your hamster could not chew on the wires. Plastic is, like you have rightfully noticed, not a good material to chew. But you should think about the conditions inside, for example if the litter (saw dust, straw, hay) is very dusty, this dust will stay inside the tank. Good for your room, but not healthy for the hamster. On the other hand, there won't be cold air movement occurring inside the tank and disturbing your hamster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what type of cage you choose, you have to place things in it your hamster could safely chew on. It is one part of their life to work their self through material to discover new ways. (The other part is digging and burrowing, so they need deep litter.) For example every spring: the plants, bushes and all is growing and they have to hold their favorite ways &amp;quot;clean&amp;quot;. So wooden houses/bridges/seesaw will be interesting for you new little friend. Also fresh wood, but you have to get information about the kind of tree or bushes to cut it from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information please see this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26893/is-this-cage-too-small/26911?r=SearchResults#26911&quot;&gt;Is this cage too small?&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(Here are some interesting ideas for low price alternatives to a tank or &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; cage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T01:35:46.963" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T01:35:46.963" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-01T03:06:50.670" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live on a lifestyle block which has lots if birds - including  ducks and pukekos who enjoy my pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my Pekin ducks recently hatched some ducklings - From 7 we are now down to 4. As a result of nature caused attrition we have kicked our chickens out there roost and given it to the mother and her ducklings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long before I can release them - that is to say allow them to join the rest of their flock grazing on my property ? (Or how big do the ducklings need to be to fend for themselves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in rural Auckland, NZ, and there is a stream behind my property (no doubt harboring rats - and there are Pukekos as well). No Coyotes or dogs though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of clarity, I'm not planning on releasing these ducklings into the wild - I just want to release them from the chicken coop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17437" LastEditorUserId="17437" LastEditDate="2020-03-03T01:15:11.657" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T01:15:11.657" Title="When can I free range ducklings (NZ)" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-02T16:20:59.963" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently (a little over month ago) adopted a dog from a shelter. He is year and a half old mutt, looking a little terrier - like, shaggy and wirehaired. He was at the shelter for half a year and he went for a walk there once a week. No one knows what was his story before that time. He is not trained at all (I actually found a &quot;dog school&quot;, that we will start going to in a month), but when we go for a walk he looks if I am still behind him and stops to wait for me if he outruns me. In general, he comes when I call him (most of the time) and &quot;checks on me&quot;, when he plays with other dogs (which he loves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He loves to run and if he doesn't run enough he gets bored quickly and destroys stuff at home or moves them to the middle of the room. When I am at home, he nibbles lightly on my hands or legs and licks my face and tries to stand on me (he gets quite needy and active). That is why I started to let him off the leash pretty quickly after I got him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently I have noticed that he gets crazy around small dogs (he reaches my knee and is very slim, but weighs 15 kg, so he can be considered medium sized I think), especially if they are on the leash. He starts to jump and barks at them and even though he is not aggressive and honestly looks like he wants to play with them, he scares the heck out of the dogs (who, to be honest, sometimes start barking first and do not look too friendly while at it, but he's bigger so it can look alarming) and their owners. At the same time he want let me touch him and won't come if I call him - he's lost in the moment. Afterwards he once got diarrhoea, though it could be caused by the fact that the dog owner we met was pretty drunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help this situation and calm him down? Or exercise without letting him off the leash? I started to keep him on a leash, but even though we walk for at least 2-3 hours daily, he seems not exercised enough. I would also note that I am currently not fit enough to run with him as much as he wants so I need quick and creative fix to make the situation better while I am getting fitter. I don't want people and their pets to avoid us like plague, since he loves playing with other dogs and most of the time does so beautifully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17246" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T15:36:49.843" Title="Over-excited, barking dog and ways to exercise or calm him" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-02T17:36:05.350" Score="3" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I accept this will be extremely difficult to advise on without images but I wanted to post this before I left work. (mostly so I won't forget.) Will add pictures when I get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My horse has started to get thick brown discharge from her left eye. She has no other physical/visible clues. E.G no redness, no black spots (other than her natural mottling.)&#xA;She did have some in her right eye but no where near as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping it's just a mix of general dirt from her environment that has disturbed her eye. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which case I'll be doing a spring clean over the next few weeks so that should hopefully sort it out if it's just dust/grime/mold etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: Unfortunately she wasn't standing still long enough yesterday for the flash but I'll try again tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime this is a good representation&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9trgs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9trgs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-03-03T09:00:42.460" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T09:00:42.460" Title="Brown discharge from horse's eye" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27218" CreationDate="2020-03-02T18:26:03.480" Score="4" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I accidentally popped a tick on my dog's eyelids and unfortunately blood got on his eyes; the blood went away in a while, but was the blood that got to his eyes will be dangerous? What can I do myself? Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17442" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T20:05:30.563" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T19:35:57.387" Title="I accidentally popped a tick that was on my dog's eyelids" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27217" CreationDate="2020-03-02T18:57:16.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think you need to worry, the blood is from your dog and it is mixed with an anticoagulant the ticks produce to keep the blood flowing, so the tick can feed on the blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The danger with ticks is they can transfer illness to your dog, so the best you can do now is to keep an eye on your dog to see if there is swelling around the bite area, and to keep an eye on your dog to see if your dog gets ill and/or gets a fever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog shows sign of illness, you need to contact your vet for treatment. You might want to call your vet to get advice about this, as there are some areas where ticks cause a larger danger to your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not likely your dog gets infected via the eyes, as the liquid in the eyes of mammals does protect against infections to a large degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T19:55:50.953" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T19:55:50.953" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26608" CreationDate="2020-03-02T21:05:01.850" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're following &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blog/the-dos-and-donts-of-introducing-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's method for introducing cats&lt;/a&gt;, it sounds like you left out a pretty crucial step, which is when you are first introducing the cats face-to-face, you need to make sure both cats are well distracted the entire time.  In his words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Start with One Cat: Begin by playing with only one cat in the room at first. Make sure she is engaged, and keep her moving… either with treats or a toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bring in the Other Cat: Casually have your partner bring the other cat into the room and immediately engage him. In a perfect world, you would lead the cat into the space with whatever is their favorite food or toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep the “Rhythm” Going: The most important component when you bring the cats together is establishing and maintaining a rhythm of play once they hit the room. This is where your partner’s help is invaluable, because he or she can work to focus the other cat on the session while you do the same with yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;End the Session: The session will end in one of two ways: either the cats will end it, or the humans will. It goes without saying that you would prefer the latter every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T21:05:01.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-02T23:55:16.443" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog recently had surgery and they covered the wound with a bandage that had an adhesive border around the wound site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We followed the instructions of the vet and when it came to removing the bandage it was so sticky it was pulling at her skin and making her yelp. It was painful. We were scared to continue removing it and wanted to know of something we could use to perhaps dissolve the stickiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yBN8L.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yBN8L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T19:53:07.627" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T19:53:07.627" Title="How can I remove adhesive bandaging from my dog without hurting her?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27222" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-03-02T23:56:47.447" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For  questions relating to pain in pets. Pain management and treatment or determining if a pet is in pain. Use with the species tag e.g. dogs and any other tags relevant to the condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-03-02T23:56:47.447" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T23:56:47.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27223" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-03-02T23:56:47.447" Score="0" Body="For  questions relating to pain in pets. Pain management and treatment or determining if a pet is in pain. Use with the species tag e.g. dogs and any other tags relevant to the condition. " OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-03-02T23:56:47.447" LastActivityDate="2020-03-02T23:56:47.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-03T02:43:27.270" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a book on how to treat the puppy that I adopted yesterday, I don't know what is his breed and how old do you think is he?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ro2pe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ro2pe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17444" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-03-03T14:10:28.423" LastActivityDate="2020-03-04T21:16:03.047" Title="I adopted my dog yesterday, I don't know what is his breed and how old do you think is he?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-03-05T13:15:09.640" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27228" CreationDate="2020-03-03T03:23:04.717" Score="15" ViewCount="5558" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 month old (mostly) American mini-pig/potbelly mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been taking the little guy on walks about 4 days a week. We'll go out around the block and interact with some neighbors and let him lead the way for some and explore. The walks end up being ~0.8 miles (~1.3 km) and we take around 15 minutes. The little guy even ends up running them some days when he's feeling up to it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zIveS.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zIveS.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Running piggy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We realized we have a great park just a few streets over, so we've started trying that out. To get there, do a little loop and come home ends up being closer to ~1.4 miles (~2.3 km). And since he's still unfamiliar, he goes a little slower and roots every interesting smell in the grass. So we end up taking closer to 30-40 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While he seems to be doing fine with this length of walk, I just recently read some posts here about a healthy amount of exercise for puppies and how there is such a thing as overdoing it and injuring the animal (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26162/16187&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/626/16187&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;). I'd guess that the same is true for pigs. However, any searching I do results in tips for large farm or show pigs with a focus on not making them lose too much of their weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our little guy is 10 months old and 15 lbs (6.8 kg). Is a 4 days a week ~1.4 miles (~2.3 km) 30-40 minute walk too long for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16187" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:04:28.657" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:04:28.657" Title="How long and often should I walk my pig?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;pig&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27221" CreationDate="2020-03-03T06:01:21.227" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To remove bandages you can use peanut oil or other types of vegetable oil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best oil to use is peanut oil and you simply moisten the bandage by adding the oil a few minutes before you want to remove the bandage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are to replace a bandage using oil is a bit problematic as it makes it hard to get the new bandage to stick to the skin/fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get peanut oil at the pharmacy as this is the cleanest and best type one can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T06:01:21.227" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27226" CreationDate="2020-03-03T12:09:45.413" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pigs and dogs are actually quite comparable - in size, development and intelligence. Therefore I'd like to refer you to this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/626/how-often-and-long-should-i-walk-my-puppy&quot;&gt;How often and long should I walk my puppy?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a 5 minute rule which is basically 5 minutes walk per day, per month of your puppy’s life, so therefore a 3 month old puppy can be walked for 15 minutes and a 4 month old puppy for 20 minutes, which is a guideline but as an owner make your own judgement on your puppies needs as each puppy is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, you should observe the behavior of your pig. When he starts slowing down or showing signs of exhaustion, you should return home and let him rest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also avoid too much stress on the bones and joints, like having him jump down from heights or letting him carry wheights. As long as he isn't full-grown, that could cause problems like joint pain or growth abnormalities on the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, wild boars are foragers and can roam several kilometers daily in search of food. That means the build of a pig is designed for long walks. As long as you don't force or animate your pet to walk when he already shows signs of exhaustion, he should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One aspect that could affect him, but doesn't seem to be a problem in this particular case, is the abrasion of his claws. Comparable to the hooves of a horse, pig claws grow constantly but slowly. If your pig always walks on very soft ground, his claws may grow too long and force the foot into an unatural and painful position. On the other hand, if he always walks on alphalted roads, gravel or other abrasive undergrounds, his claws might wear out faster than they regrow, making his feet very sensitive and walking painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17446" LastEditDate="2020-03-03T19:48:09.297" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T19:48:09.297" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-03T12:16:10.677" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm Dex from India.&#xA;I have been feeding a stray cat (1 year old male) near my house for almost 3-4 months. A week ago or so he has got some minor skin issues after fight with another stray cat (happened 12-15 days ago approx.). He was and is eating cat food and drinking water and playing normally. I contacted an NGO &amp;amp; their vet has prescribed me 2 liquid medicines and one cream (amoxicillin and cetrizine and the cream is Betnovate N). I can't bring him home b/c of family and apartment issues. After giving him the first 2 doses he is extremely terrorized and is kind of scared of me. He is constantly suspicious of my movements and is hesitating to even come near me. If I try to get near him on my own he runs below the parked cars nearby and doesn't come out fast. I had to wait for 10-15 mins and then he came next to me. If I give him the medicines again, I think he might stop trusting me completely. I'm worried if I continue with the medications it will break his trust. Can there be any adverse effects if I stop the medications? Applying Betnovate N cream is not an issue but giving him the liquid medicines is proving to be very difficult.&#xA;Exams are round the corner and I'm too worried about what I should do. Please someone who has experience with cats or is a vet guide me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 1 -&#xA;For the 1st dose, I called him on a platform nearby and then when I positioned him and tried to open his mouth, he started resisting and moving. As he opened the mouth, I squirted the liquid medicine in his mouth using a syringe and he sprang up with full strength and ran below the parked car.&#xA;Everyday I give him food on the ground in a flat lunchbox, so maybe the platform was a bit suspicious for him. Also, till now I have been only seeing him once in a day that is to give him food and some pets and cuddles. For the 2nd dose, he didn't come on his own. So I lured him using catfood and then I gave him the medicine. Now, I think he has slightly associated me with the medicine and probably that's why he runs immediately if I try to lift him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14702" LastEditorUserId="14702" LastEditDate="2020-03-03T16:56:53.620" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T16:56:53.620" Title="Stray cat terrorized because of medicines and trust issues" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27139" CreationDate="2020-03-03T15:44:35.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a potentially contentious issue. Personally, I advocate and practice natural horsemanship. What is in the best interests of the horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hammering nails through a horse's hooves is not usually ideal for a horse. It puts holes in the hoof, there is the potential for injury, plus the shoes are hard and slippery. The metal slamming against hard surfaces removes the natural flexibility of the hoof to cushion each step. On concrete or roads they can be slippery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's issue with the hoof and riding, it is better to address the source of the problem, which is often nutritional or can be related to poor trimming.  Healthy hoof growth relies on a balanced nutritional diet, so all trace elements and requirements such as biotin are met. It is also important that horses have a dry place to stand during wet weather. Standing in bog or mud constantly can cause the hoof to become infected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other issue which can be related to nutrition (founder) or mechanical (poor hoof trimming, poor shoeing, relentless riding, is laminitis. Some people advocate showing the help adjust the angle the hoof sits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a lot of riding and it is taking its toll on the hooves, boots are a less invasive option than shoeing and can be removed after the ride. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T15:44:35.723" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27233" CreationDate="2020-03-03T16:25:10.667" Score="1" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm mucking out around her in the evening or if I generally just crouch low to the floor my young horse will always come over and sniff my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She used to occassionally go to bite (never managed to make contact) until one day my head made contact with her teeth when I stood up. Now she just stands there sniffing me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that this is normal and she's quite curious to see what I'm doing but I could be wrong. Is there any explanation for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T16:50:57.160" Title="My Horse sniffs my head?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27124" CreationDate="2020-03-03T16:42:59.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Younger horses definitely have different nutritional needs to adult horses, one significant being more protein in the diet. Balanced nutrition is important to avoid illnesses like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mitavite.com/kb/developmental_orthopaedic_diseases_in_young_growing_horses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Developmental Orthopaedic Diseases&lt;/a&gt; (DOD).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot cover all scenarios, so are focusing on yearlings and extrapolating for your horse, as rising 3 yo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The feed requirements vary from the first year, while being fed by mum to a yearling and then the following years towards adulthood, 5 year old, gradually merge to match an adult diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any nutritional needs will vary if a horse is in work and the intensity of the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key for horse is to get the right balance of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc and copper, plus amino acids, often available in protein. Key to this is that the bulk of any horse's diet is forage - pasture, hay or other fibre sources, like the beet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On her current diet, I would feed lucerne/alfalfa hay (same thing), cut out the beet, it's better if she has the hay to munch on overnight. Then add a supplement designed for your local area. This depends on your soil and pasture. It would likely contain copper, zinc, magnesium, plus other nutrients. For example, where we live the soil is high in iron, which requires more supplementation of copper and zinc, plus we have pasture that is high in oxalates which prevents calcium absorption, so extra calcium is required on top of the usual balance. You could use a balancer pellet, which would probably require something in the vicinity of 0.5 - 1 kb per day depending on the manufacturer. Always check the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can feed hay over bagged feed, hay is always the better choice, as it suits the horse's digestive system. I only supplement with hard feed in my horses that are elderly. However I do provide &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; my horses with supplements designed to complement the pasture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MSD Veterinary Manual&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/management-and-nutrition/nutrition-horses/nutritional-requirements-of-horses#v4641182&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF HORSE&lt;/a&gt;S&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Current recommendations are that horses receive at least 1.5%–2% of&#xA;  their body weight in forage or forage substitutes such as hay cubes or&#xA;  other high-fiber source daily. The average maximum daily dry matter&#xA;  intake is 2.5%–3% body wt (although some breeds and age groups,&#xA;  notably ponies and weanlings, can exceed those maximums if on good&#xA;  pastures); therefore, forage or forage substitutes should be the major&#xA;  components of an equine ration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are for 500 kg horses, which is the average horse and your appaloosa may come in around that weight as a mature horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/management-and-nutrition/nutrition-horses/nutritional-requirements-of-horses#v4641182&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Estimated Daily Nutrient Requirements of Growing Horses and Ponies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HSFDL.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HSFDL.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/management-and-nutrition/nutrition-horses/nutritional-requirements-of-horses#v4641182&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Estimated Average Daily Nutrient Requirements of Mature Horses and Ponies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zcKhp.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zcKhp.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between the two table from 24 months to adult you can see the following differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digestible Energy: 18.7 - 16.7&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crude Protein: 770 - 630&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rising 3 will still need to gain weight and have greater energy and protein requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the following articles by &lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kentucky Equine Research&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/choices-feeding-young-growing-horses/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Choices in Feeding Young, Growing Horses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a yearling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... for owners who want to feed the absolute minimum amount of grain&#xA;  necessary to their horses on good-quality pastures, it is possible for&#xA;  the yearling in this example to consume enough pasture to satisfy&#xA;  requirements for digestible energy and protein to maintain a moderate&#xA;  level of growth. However, the concentration of critical nutrients&#xA;  (calcium, phosphorus, copper, and zinc) is often inadequate in a&#xA;  pasture-only diet. To properly balance the diet in this situation, it&#xA;  is estimated the yearling will consume nearly 16 lb (7 kg) of pasture&#xA;  dry matter/day along with 1.25 lb (0.5 kg) of a ration&#xA;  balancer/horse/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/protein-energy-ratio-young-horse-diets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Protein-to-Energy Ratio in Young-Horse Diets&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Young horses need high-quality protein to supply adequate lysine and&#xA;  other amino acids for growth. In addition to protein, the young&#xA;  growing horse has a requirement for energy in its diet. These&#xA;  requirements are closely linked and a deficiency of either will result&#xA;  in a reduced growth rate. In fact, protein and energy are so closely&#xA;  linked that one should not be considered without the other in rations&#xA;  for growing horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In other words, it is the ratio of protein to energy that is important&#xA;  for growth rather than either the protein percentage in a ration or&#xA;  even the daily intake of protein, because it is the energy that&#xA;  provides the potential to grow new tissue that will then require&#xA;  protein. If there is an excess of protein supplied with an inadequate&#xA;  amount of energy, the protein will be oxidized to produce energy. .../...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ker.com/equinews/different-horse-feeds-for-different-needs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Different Horse Feeds for Different Needs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the end of its yearling year, a horse will have obtained 90% of its&#xA;  adult weight. The demands for protein, vitamins, and minerals still&#xA;  remain higher in the yearling than in the adult horse. While yearlings&#xA;  can eat more than weanlings, they still require a feed which is more&#xA;  concentrated than feed intended for adult horses. Typical yearling&#xA;  feeds have 14 to 16% protein and are fortified similarly to the&#xA;  concentrate designed for broodmares. Balance in the diet, particularly&#xA;  of energy and minerals, is especially important during the yearling&#xA;  year because this is when many of the signs of developmental&#xA;  orthopedic diseases (DOD) such as epiphysitis and osteochondritis&#xA;  dissecans (OCD) begin to appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a young horse begins training, horse owners and managers must&#xA;  realize the horse is still growing. The dual demands of training and&#xA;  growth make it especially important to pay attention to proper&#xA;  nutrition. During the training process, the bones will undergo&#xA;  constant remodeling to adapt to the stress of work. A balance of&#xA;  vitamins and minerals in the diet will aid in minimizing the amount of&#xA;  stress these changes cause. Further, adequate dietary protein is&#xA;  essential as greater muscle breakdown is a physiological consequence&#xA;  of increased work. Protein for growth and work can usually be supplied&#xA;  with a 14% protein concentrate, or 12% if fed with alfalfa or alfalfa&#xA;  mix hays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T16:42:59.583" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27231" CreationDate="2020-03-03T16:50:57.160" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is open to interpretation, but there's a couple of more obvious reasons for this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In part, particularly for younger horses, this is a modified grooming action. My young horses do this and even nibble on my hair when I'm scratching their necks or backs, as if you watch horses mutually grooming, that is what they are attempting to do to me. With the one exception, they have been taught not to use their teeth on people. My rising 6yo mare does this with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also sniff as a way to gain information. Where you have been, who and what you have been mingling with. Such busybodies! Horses will greet each other frequently and sniff as a way of checking each other out. Particularly given we humans put so many different scents on us throughout the day with a showering and deodorant routine. I avoid wearing perfume of body sprays around my horses and try and use a non-invasive smelling deodorant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hb9pj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hb9pj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T16:50:57.160" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-03T17:22:02.250" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me again!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My horse when she comes in from the field is prone to feeling itchy. This is a new development over the past five days.&#xA;She rubs her backside up against her haynet and will sometimes kick the door with her front hoof to get someone's attention to scratch her withers and will attempt to point at where she would like to be scratched with her head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She does have remnance of rain scald on her back (just a few scabs&#xA;left to remove.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've recently purchased a new rug for my mare (third&#xA;one in three months :') ) with a slightly heavier weight (200g)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have two theories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rug is too heavy and is causing her to sweat or be hotter than usual and this is causing the rainscald areas to get itchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong but she just wants attention and has found that by kicking the door people will give her that attention whether it be negative (telling her to stop) or positive (petting/scratching etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be removing the rug again tonight just to be sure the lining on the inside hasn't been damaged. Previously I have found that the outside material is rip-stop but the inside is not; causing there to be holes on the underneath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y4Npx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y4Npx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VU1Ei.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VU1Ei.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tftDZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;enter image description here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3k1Za.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3k1Za.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17188" LastEditDate="2020-03-04T18:26:58.220" LastActivityDate="2020-03-07T23:52:20.937" Title="Why does my Horse seem very itchy?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;equestrian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28894" CreationDate="2020-03-03T17:52:11.300" Score="5" ViewCount="1824" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typical meowing and scratching at door after I adopted her. I didn't want her in there because I tried it the first night and she stepped on my face at like 3 AM. Sleep is sacred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been several weeks (past long enough according to most websites) and I have been steady in my resolve. Haven't acknowledged her (very insistent) meowing or scratching whether it's outside my closed bedroom door or outside my closed bathroom door. I wait for her to stop meowing before coming out so she doesn't get rewarded. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I eventually put tinfoil on the bedroom door. Helped a bit at first but now she's just clawing at that, which is even louder and making a mess. One night while I was showering, she reached under the door and pulled most of my clothes (strewn on the floor) under the door and out into the hallway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She used to eat all her wet food right away in one go each morning. Now after I open the bedroom door, go out and give her wet food, she will leave wet food in the bowl and follow me about my morning routine. I think she is anxious that I will shut myself away from her again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavior improves slightly when I play with her for awhile and then feed her immediately before bed, but there has never been a night without some meowing and scratching. And my schedule is variable, so while I aim to do these things, it is not feasible for me to have to follow that exact routine every night right before bed. Sometimes it needs to be earlier in the evening, or sometimes I don't have time to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be territorial. One time after shutting myself in the bathroom for some time, she immediately ran inside after and rubbed her chin all over the door before coming back out. This despite the fact that I was outside the bathroom at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't seem distressed when I leave for work in the morning, nor when I come back from work. She will greet me right away, but isn't needy or anxious seeming during those times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't want to stress her out, and it seems that the &quot;ignoring&quot; method is not working. Should I leave the door open and just place her on the floor if she steps on my face at night? This method has seemed to work when she wants to sit on my laptop or notebook while I am working. After being physically removed a few times, she'll settle for curling up on the nearest piece of furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17402" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T17:26:46.197" Title="Cat stressed by being shut out of bedroom" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27236" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-03T18:43:13.047" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I don’t separate my mother cat and her kittens that she is trying to wean, she will not let them eat the food that I gave them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's concerning me, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17447" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T20:25:05.177" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T20:25:05.177" Title="Mother cat won’t let 5 week old kittens eat soft food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27236" CreationDate="2020-03-03T20:18:08.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;should not&lt;/strong&gt; seperate such young kittens from each other and/or their mother. They still need a few weeks development to become autonomous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since they are still growing very quickly, they need a lot of energy, but their jaws and digestive system need time to adapt to solid food. If you force them to only eat solid food now, they might not ingest as much nutrients as they need to grow healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aspect is their social development. Kittens that are seperated from their mother and siblings too early can develop strange behavior. They may for example refocus their infant instincts on an object like a blanket or plushie. They may then show infant behavior like suckling (on that object as if it were their mother) for much longer than naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only if a vet told you that they must no longer nurse on their mother for medical reasons should you wean them off at that age. Instead of seperating them from their mother, it's better to cover her teats with a flexible bandage or cut-off sock, as described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/20847/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. Be sure to feed them kitten food to guarantee they get all the nutrients they need to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-03T20:18:08.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20757" CreationDate="2020-03-03T22:41:46.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps someone, and saves them $75.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;My dog weighing 12 pounds (5.4&amp;nbsp;kg), swallowed (stole my other dog's) pill, which was dosed at 1.25&amp;nbsp;mg of pimobendan.&lt;/strong&gt;  I called poison control, paid 75 dollars for a &quot;calculation;&quot; the results are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;At that low dose, there is a slight chance for poisoning. Monitor the following for 2 hours: vomiting, diarrhea, decrease in activity, wobbly walking, and the dog's gums to be white.  If any of these symptoms occur, go to an emergency vet immediately.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After two hours, the possibility of poisoning is reduced further, and you no longer need to monitor the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17452" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T19:44:52.803" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T19:44:52.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27243" CreationDate="2020-03-04T09:10:41.493" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take care of a 20ish year old mare 2-3 days a week.&#xA;She had her left eye removed due to illness years back and she is used to it. We still lead her on the left side though since that is what she was used to. I do not want to change sides when leading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that she is rather impatient and when it is about meeting friends or getting to food but sometimes also just for no apparent reason it is hard to stop her when leading.&#xA;Now I get that she might not see me stop but even when I put my hand on her head or chest she will often not stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I have tried walking around the arena with her stop and loudly say &quot;Stop&quot; and wait for her to stop. She usually gets that after the third or fourth attempt and stops with me then. But when I try it the next day it will take the same time for her to get it again.&#xA;It also never works that well outside the arena.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to work with positive reinforcement and I do praise and pet her when she stops. I have not worked with treats so far, should I try? Is there something about my behaviour that I can change to make it more clear to her? I get that she is rather old and has habits, am I wrong to assume that she can still learn this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2020-03-04T20:43:24.843" Title="How to teach my horse to stop when I stop while leading?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27242" CreationDate="2020-03-04T14:03:20.363" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Groundwork, herd hierarchy, pressure and release&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This requires some vigorous groundwork to fix and can be fixed quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to reinforce your dominance as herd leader. The herd is a hierarchical structure and the lower horses always listen to the higher horses. The higher horses determine and reinforce their dominance by getting the other horse to move their feet. Meaning that in any encounter between two horses, the horse that is forced to move is the lower horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Understandably, you want her to stop when you stop, but the reason she's pulling and ignoring you, is she is not fully regarding you as having a higher position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To achieve this, it's important to make the horse yield to pressure. This is done during all our interactions with the horse. Not just while leading, but when in pasture with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/1sYIdN7JcIw?t=1197&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a link&lt;/a&gt; (I move her backwards) and &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/1sYIdN7JcIw?t=1337&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; (in this part I move her sideways and backwards) to a parts of a video where I show how to push a horse back. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu1mQ6xEHfs&amp;amp;list=PLPX8v0923px37U4wdi9L9-iE2Vy8eKA7Y&amp;amp;index=9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video shows&lt;/a&gt; (the first three minutes and it was a correction that was overdue) more aggressive pressure on horses in s herd that need to move. It's the middle of the night here, I'll create and upload a video demonstrating some of the techniques and link it in here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To assist with leading, it's helpful to take the horse on chaotic walks, do not walk in a straight line and make it unclear where you are heading. Chop and change direction and if the horse pushes into you, use an elbow (gently) to push them away. If the elbow doesn't work, use the lead rope to force them to move out of your space, by twirling is in a circular motion. They don't like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I should add, as she is blind in the left eye, put your arm across in front of her chest when you stop, to help cue her.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; If she doesn't stop, correct her, a sharp tug on the lead rope should do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a horse pushes on when I'm leading them, I will pull them up and make them do a circle, in a serious manner. They know when you are not happy with them and it is the same when a high horse corrects the infractions of a lower horse. Higher horses teach lower horses to listen to them. We must do the same. I've found that the best way to improve leading is to establish myself as herd leader within the herd and the leading isn't a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be no need to use voice commands to stop the horse, the horse should learn to be respectful and stop when you stop, which is will if you have asserted yourself sufficiently and continue to do so. A horse that senses it can walk over a person, will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever training you do in the arena, also do it in the pasture with other horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Horse and Hound:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/leading-a-horse-632789&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to teach your horse to lead politely&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Groundwork exercises to help with leading a horse&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing the horse needs to learn is how to yield to pressure,&#xA;one of those basic skills that should have been taught when he was&#xA;halter-broke, but, as Amy points out: “It is often a bit of a training&#xA;hole.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Push on any part of his body; as soon as he yields, stop pushing. With&#xA;your hand, you put a little pressure on his nose or his poll, and as&#xA;soon as he drops his head, release him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amy explains: “An easy, and important, one is to grab the top of the&#xA;lead nearest the head with one hand, thumb towards your horse’s chest,&#xA;and gradually apply pressure towards the chest until the nose drops&#xA;in.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you’ve trained him to give his head, add a little more pressure&#xA;until he offers to back up, then release. Now you’ve trained him to&#xA;back, which is important for the next step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he’s quickly and consistently yielding to pressure, it’s time to&#xA;take a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Decide how far behind you your horse should be and walk to that&#xA;distance ahead of him while he stands. Take a few steps with the horse&#xA;following behind you, then stop,” says Amy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the horse does not follow, put a little pressure on the rope until&#xA;he does, or if he sneaks up behind you, nearly crashes into you, or&#xA;tries walking past you, reverse him several steps, then ask him to&#xA;stand quietly for a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next few weeks of your life will be spent walking everywhere this&#xA;way: short bouts of forward, with corrections when the horse gets it&#xA;wrong. But soon enough he will be following at whatever distance you&#xA;decide, and you can practice varying the speed, using the same&#xA;techniques of stopping and backing to reinforce the idea of matching&#xA;your pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Keep the lead rope slack&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An important note - do not walk a horse on a tight lead rope. Allow plenty of slack, 2 to 4 foot for the horse, depending on the horse. A short tight lead rope puts pressure on the horse and if the pressure is never released the horse will not understand what it needs to do to remove the pressure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time the lead rope should be taut is if the horse isn't following. As soon as the horse moves, release the pressure on rope to teach the horse, the thing you need to do to relieve the pressure is follow me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Resources&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A video by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwdVL0L9ljq3McWMXWrUVdg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rick Gore&lt;/a&gt;, I swear by his horsemanship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLp3CU_1ZGI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to lead a horse without a lead rope; Rick Gore Horsemanship; www.thinklikeahorse.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another great article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.equisearch.com/articles/pleasure-lead&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A Pleasure to Lead&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-03-04T20:43:24.843" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27141" CreationDate="2020-03-04T14:30:48.517" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the same principles of pressure and release I refer to in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/27242/how-to-teach-my-horse-to-stop-when-i-stop-while-leading/27243#27243&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually increase the speed of your walk without going into a trot. If she doesn't crowd you, then proceed for very short trots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's going to be a painstaking process of pushing her out of your space with either an elbow (gently, as a point to push) or a swinging lead rope if the elbow doesn't work. If it's the latter it will stop the trot. Try shooing her out of your personal space and asking her trot again. This will be a stop start process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each short trot she does, stop and praise. You can give her a small treat if you like. Gradually increase the length of the trots as she succeeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is to practice her trotting in a round yard. With and without a lead. This will also give her cues about space, as she shouldn't come into you when you're lunging until you ask her to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To improve her flexibility to the right, carrot stretches are great. &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/wPKp3dm67Jc?t=34&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This video&lt;/a&gt; demonstrates how to do a carrot stretch. Basically show the horse the treat and them move the treat back towards the rump so the horse is forced to turn and stretch to get the carrot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-04T14:30:48.517" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27246" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-05T04:12:55.150" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I got two rats from a lady who could no longer care for them. She had them for a week and I've now had them for two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today the youngest (2 months according to past owner) was climbing the bars and I saw what looks like a bite on his stomach. I was thinking it was caused by the oldest (5 months) as I've seen him nipping at the other. They're both males and have plenty of hammocks but always sleep together and love on each other. They do wrestle a bit but it's usually just play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17462" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-10T16:48:49.303" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T18:04:35.470" Title="My pet rat bit his cage mate, what do I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-05T11:20:35.923" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 10 years old and he has been diagnosed with chronic renal failure. I feel so bad for not noticing until the last minute. He was supposed to stay at the hospital for a week and have the saline infusion done. I brought him home today (after the day worth saline infusion) so he can spend the night at home and go to the vet tomorrow morning. I was determined to get him to the hospital and do something about his conditions but I am not so sure of that decision anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since chronic renal failure is an incurable condition, I don't see the meaning of making him go through all the infusion and make him stay at the hospital where he feels confused and lonely. And on top of that, after the saline infusion today, he seems so weak and drugged. He can't walk properly, he is drooling and seems confused. The vet says it's because of the pills and although I trust the vet to help my cat, I don't want to put my cat through something he does not understand. Right now, I don't want to send him to the hospital anymore, but rather take care of him myself at home by giving him proper food and water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am scared for him and I don't know what the better decision could be. The last thing I want to do though is for him to feel confused or scared. If the pain he feels have little difference even with the saline infusion, I'd rather keep him home and give him the peace and comfort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of you guys went through something like this with your cat or dog please give me some advice. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17465" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T20:28:50.017" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T20:28:50.017" Title="My cat has been diagnosed with 4th stage of chronic renal failure. Is the saline infusion worth it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-05T12:37:40.583" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;We bought home two beautiful Bengal kittens about a week and a half ago (15 weeks old) as the new additions to our family, a brother and sister.  Whilst they are eating, popping, sleeping and cleaning themselves just fine, and playing by themselves and with us, they are incredibly nervous when anyone tries to approach them and they will not be stroked or handled.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want them to be happy and secure and part of the family, and for them to be comfortable with us to show and receive affection.  Can anyone give me any advice on how long this might take and any top tips for encouraging engagement with us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17466" LastActivityDate="2020-03-07T18:13:59.100" Title="How long will it take my kittens to settle?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27247" CreationDate="2020-03-05T14:15:40.650" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saline infusion is no medicine. It is &quot;just&quot; thinning down the blood, as if the cat drank water. In a case of kidney failure that is very important because not drinking enough can damage the kidneys even more. I assume that he got some painkiller as well as the saline and it was the painkiller that made him sluggish and weak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat was weak and confused because of drugs, he probably wasn't able to drink on his own. Due to his drooling he lost even more water. The saline substitutes the water he didn't drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take him home, there are some very hard descisions to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he's able to drink and eat on his own, you should add water to his regular food to increase the total amount of water he ingests. Please ask your vet for more instructions on how to best treat him at home. Be prepared to receive the answer that he won't survive at home. &lt;em&gt;(I'm not a vet. I cannot possibly make any prognosis here.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he refuses or is unable to drink on his own, he will die of thirst very soon (which in medical terms means kidney failure). In that case, are you willing to bring him back to the clinic or are you willing to end his suffering?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very sorry and understand that you are in a tough situation right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-05T14:15:40.650" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27248" CreationDate="2020-03-05T17:53:12.183" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do with any shy kitten is to be in their space and ignore them; reading a book or playing on your phone are good ways to pass the time. They will eventually get bored with hiding and come investigate. As tough as it is, continue ignoring them. They need to decide you are harmless, and any movement toward them could be misinterpreted as aggression and set things back. Once they decide you're not a threat, then they will be more open to interacting with you. Ease into it gradually, and once they learn each step is safe, they will work up the courage to take the next one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how long it should take, that is completely dependent on their individual personalities, genetics and how well the breeder socialized them. Some cats are brave and outgoing, and others are shy and reserved, so there is no fixed timeline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, hybrid breeds in particular can have more extreme personalities due to their wild genes. The Asian Leopard Cat is rather shy and anti-social even by cat standards, so it's not surprising that Bengals tend toward the same and often need more time than usual to get comfortable with new humans. The flip side of that is when they &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; finally warm up to their chosen human (usually only one—and expect your two to pick different humans), they are fiercely loyal, affectionate and protective. When you get there with yours, you will see it was worth the wait. In the meantime, just enjoy their crazy kitten antics!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-03-07T18:13:59.100" LastActivityDate="2020-03-07T18:13:59.100" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27247" CreationDate="2020-03-05T19:20:10.137" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't feel bad for not noticing your cat's illness until now. Kidney disease generally has no symptoms until the very end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said &quot;don't feel bad&quot;, I know that's not much comfort. I had a cat die of kidney disease a few years ago, and I blamed myself completely. And the ironic thing is that I &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; full well that kidney disease is usually symptomless until the end, and there was nothing I could have done differently. But I still blamed myself. I still blame myself a little, to tell the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have some advice which may be more useful. When you bring a very ill cat home from the vet, it's natural to panic and question the quality of that pet's life. I suggest you try to relax and give it a few days to see how the cat is doing before you decide the next step. I was once in that situation myself (different cat, different illness), and I was in shock when I brought the cat home. But he rallied, and we had another year and a half together with him in relatively good health, enjoying life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2020-03-05T19:20:10.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2020-03-06T09:03:00.487" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male cat, about 8 yrs old and at night he is very territorial.  He jumps on my chest and lays down between &quot;the sisters&quot; and crawls up as far to my neck as possible. Then he lifts his head and you can hear the spit coming up from his throat. He leaves a puddle on my neck, purrs, smushes his face all over my face, marking me with the saliva above his teeth. I read somewhere that that was a sign of marking their turf, but the spit is new to me. He been doing it almost every night for a year. He does almost the same thing to my son, minus the spit and gum rubbing. I love that my cat loves me, but the spit I can do with out. I am 56 and I have had many cats. This is the first spitter &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17471" LastActivityDate="2020-03-06T09:03:00.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-07T19:13:12.390" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6-year old Malinois who is, all in all, relatively well-behaved by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking her on a bus or a train however, is a nightmare. To be more precise, getting on or off the bus or train is the difficult part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will pull on the leash as if her life depends on it to get on the bus. The moment she sees the bus coming, she gets overexcited and needs to make sure that she gets on. She will pull, stumble over herself,... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she is actually on the bus, she calms down &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt;. She lies down and everything's good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When getting off, the same ritual happens: as soon as I am getting ready to get off, she will start moving towards the door and will even hit the door to try to open it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, she's a very high-energy dog, so in some ways, this behaviour isn't that surprising, and I've had to train her to behave well in other situations as well. This situation, however, is particularly tricky since (a) nothing seems to help and (b) it's impossible to train in a controlled environment: the bus comes and you need to get on and that's it. You can't practise it 20 times until you get it right like you can with leash-pulling in general for example. It's doesn't just improve over time either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on how to improve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3729" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T14:08:48.883" Title="How do I train my dog to not get overexcited when getting on or off public transport?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27267" CreationDate="2020-03-07T23:45:04.297" Score="2" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted a 2 year old hound/dane mix about a month ago from a rescue. He did come from an abusive household, but it didn't take long for him to fall right into place with our family. Though, he does something I've never seen a dog do before: he stacks/lines up his poop on the outdoor furniture. He doesn't eat it at all, just waits a day for it to dry a bit, then starts piling it on the outdoor furniture. When he first came home with us, he would line chunks of poop up along the back patio, which was weird enough, but then he moved onto stacking/lining it up on the outdoor furniture. I reprimand him verbally that it's not allowed with a solid, &quot;No!&quot; while pointing at the poop, then I lift the cushion to put the poop back in the dirt, and again, give him a solid &quot;No!&quot;. But, he continues to do it. I'm not sure why he's doing it or how to get him to stop. Although he doesn't eat his poop, I did try Forbid with him, which worked for a couple of days, but he started tipping his food dish over on day 4 of using it and refusing to eat, so I stopped giving it to him. I've googled this behaviour but can't find anyone who has experienced this. Does anyone know why and how to stop him from doing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17476" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T08:49:43.433" Title="Why does my dog stack his poop on the outside furniture" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27234" CreationDate="2020-03-07T23:52:20.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a case where you might want to seek a veteriarian's advice if you feel like your horse is tormented by the itching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your horse might have parasites (e.g. mites), fungus, an allergy or metabolic defect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also come from strain or molt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many horses feel itchy on molt, so if your horse has a soft, shiny, nice coat with smooth skin beneath you might not need to worry to much (all other reasons oftimes lead to skin and coat aberations of which some cannot be seen in pictures).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, it might be the rug and in this case, replace it or even better, don't use one if your horse doesn't necessarily need one. How much degrees (Celsius please) have you recently at your location at day and night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastActivityDate="2020-03-07T23:52:20.937" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27192" CreationDate="2020-03-08T00:01:06.000" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you got the possibility, make a picture of the snake. If it is a venomous snake the picture will help to determine the type of poison way faster by an expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I didn't knew the type of snake, I'd call the veterinarian immediately. On humans you might want to do some blood-letting, which I do not think is recommended with horses by anyone else than professionals on that, so I doubt there is much you can do apart from the usual wound treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything that stops the blood from spreading in the body would be helpful, but you can simply not bind off a horses leg (if you know otherwise: correct me please!), so there really isn't much one can do apart from taking all measures to have the horse relaxed and calm and provide as much detail on the snake as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might determine the snake's kind beforehand if you have the possibility and maybe you can store some antidotes or at least emergency contacts for antidotes and information on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how fast the poison acts (how much time to act?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how long it takes to acquire the antidote in case of emergency&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how to transport / store the antidote&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how to apply it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this kind of information might take to long to gather in case of real emergency, so work out some emergency plans that can be followed through step by step and fast. In a situation like this you might not be able to think as reasonable as normal, so make sure visualize yourself handling the situation calm and secure several times to be able to remain focused if it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastEditorUserId="15936" LastEditDate="2020-03-28T12:29:11.637" LastActivityDate="2020-03-28T12:29:11.637" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26707" CreationDate="2020-03-08T03:03:21.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's important to be able to handle your horse well to be able to clean the udder. Some articles recommend sedating the horse, which is an unnecessary practice in general horse care and should be reserved for an unhandled horse requiring urgent care. With time and patience it is quite achievable to be able to clean your horse's udder without sedation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There needs to be a distinction in udder care to four cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Non-lactating mares.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mares in early pregnancy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mares in late pregnancy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lactating mares.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;1. Non-lactating mares.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good idea to regularly run your hand over your horses udder, particularly between the teats for any build and more frequently in summer. In summer ticks can easily attach themselves to the soft skin of the udder and gain easy access to the udder when the horse is lying down to rest or even roll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rarely wash my horses' udders, as I rarely use shampoo on them, as I dislike stripping the natural oils from the horses. I only apply a spray or wet them if insects are biting or there is crust between the teats that is not peeling off easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's natural for mares to have a black thick waxy build up of sebum between the teats. However this can build up and become crusty. When this happens it can be gently peeled off with the fingers. If it resists at all, then it is preferable to wet or oil between the teats first. This can be done with plain water or adding a few drops of essential oils. A soft baby oil or skin so soft oil can be used to soften the crust and help removal. This build up does not need to be removed very often. Possibly only once or twice a year. As it's natural and shouldn't be entirely stripped from the udder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's any sores from summer itches, a dilute mixture of an iodine solution can be used to wash the udder and does not need to be rinse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The udder can also be washed with shampoos suitable for horses, but this is something I'd recommend reluctantly, as it is liable to dry the skin out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During summer or when there's any issues with parasites or fungus, it's important to check the udder. I spray my horses udder lightly with the same insect repellant I use on the remainder of the body, this helps keep ticks at bay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a paddock where there's ticks, I will check the udder several times a week. If there's no issues and the udder has no obvious sores I will only check it once a month during summer and less during winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;2. Mares in early pregnancy.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a mare is in early pregnancy, care needs to be taken on what is applied, as there's many things, including some essential oils, that can be damaging to the unborn foal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case just check it for crusts and leave it alone as much as possible. Ticks can be hand picked off for that short period of gestation when the organs are being formed. In my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;3. Mares in late pregnancy.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many horse owners will check the pregnant mares udder regaularly in the late stages of pregnancy to check if it's bagging up, and if the teats are waxing, signs that foaling is due. Some people like to test the milk. Personally, I prefer to leave it alone. Unless there's an issue with it, I just observe and usually take photos of the udder to check for changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As discussed under the next section, it's important to leave the sebum from the sebaceous glands to help protect the udder for a feeding foal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;4. Lactating mares.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with early pregnancy, nothing can be put on the udder that can cause harm to the foal. When a mare has a foal at foot, it's best not to do anything with the udder than keep an eye on it for any unusual appearance. If it needs to be washed, do so cautiously, as anything you wash the udder with, will go into the foals mouth. It may also cause a distaste for the foal and disrupt the foals feeding. The foal also knows the mother's smell, as does the mare know her foal's smell and it's important not to disrupt the natural rhythm of nature that facilitates the bonding process, that ultimately leads to a strong and healthy foal and a settled and secure mare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've regularly checked your horse's udder pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy and removed excess build up between the teats, there's really no need to touch the udder while she is feeding. The foal will nuzzle against the teats and pull on them to stimulate milk production. All the waxing build up from the sebaceous glands between the teats will serve to protect the teats. Any mother who has breastfed will understand the need to care for the teats, as causing the teats to dry out at all can cause feeding to be painful and lead to other issues like mastitis and foal rejection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The less human interference between a mare and her foal, the better it is for both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually with horses, less is more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-03-08T03:03:21.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27259" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-08T13:00:37.577" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 6 year old Arabian which I trained by myself. He is a pleasure to ride and very willing, but there is this one little annoyance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we train in the indoor arena, he becomes a total neckshaker sometimes. He does that even without any equipment, and it doesn't seem to be related to me sitting on him as he does that at free dressage, too (and very heavily).&#xA;Funnily, when I ride him in the outdoor arena or go hacking in the forest, he never shakes his neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From his character he is very eager, awake, brings a joy of learning (he sometimes starts showing tricks to make me work with him from the ground instead of riding which is very adorable sometimes), but also very hard-running, he loves to move outside (but he is rather lazy indoors most of the time, no blame on that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The neck shacking is to all sides and a very big movement of the neck, a rotation starting from the shoulder so heavily that in his first year of riding he even often lost balance.&#xA;I must say to that, I conciously taught him the allowance to tell me when he doesn't like something (I clearly want him to and try this yet new way for me), and sometimes he does in very heavy ways (now that he understood he may talk and say no I still sometimes need to set the borders as he will test them on a regular basis, but I am able to handle him, so that's okay for me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ride him bitless and with a saddle that is fit several times a year (the saddle chamber had to be widened three sizes already - he's under the saddle for 1.75 years now), but also got a saddle pad. Funnily, when I &lt;em&gt;stand&lt;/em&gt; on him an direct him, he will not shake his head since then he is totally focused on the task, just as he will not shake his head whenever I teach him something new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My impression is, that he does that when he gets playful as he sometimes trots or galopps towards me and shakes his head. But he also does this when I ride him on a circle sometimes, and in that cases he is rather calm - but why only in the indoor arena?&#xA;Lately I watched a video from three years ago right after I bought him and noticed that he used to shake his neck like that when he played with other horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really mind if he'd do that his whole life since I go hacking most of the time anyway, but I do want to &lt;em&gt;understand why&lt;/em&gt; and if there is anything &lt;em&gt;I should change&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an expression of boredom? I sometimes think he just doesn't like riding indoors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What experiences have you made with excessive neck shaking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6n1S432RMU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;YouTube: Neck shaking at 1:28&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15936" LastEditorUserId="15936" LastEditDate="2020-03-08T13:09:48.883" LastActivityDate="2020-03-08T13:09:48.883" Title="Neck shaking in the indoor arena" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-08T14:39:10.820" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I adopted a puppy, and today was her first walk. She was quite scared at the beginning, but after a couple of minutes of walking, she felt comfortable. On my way back, we met another puppy (a male bulldog), and she was playing with him and with humans, but from nowhere, she started to growl and try to bit him - I'm not sure if she was playing with him or if she was being possessed. She didn't try to bite the humans'. How can I identify if she was aggressive? I have another dog (she doesn't have any contact with him), and in fact, she spent her first four months living with other adult dogs that are not aggressive at all. Also, we know that her mother was not aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17477" LastActivityDate="2020-03-08T14:39:10.820" Title="Puppy growling - when should I be concerned?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-03-13T04:43:30.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27278" CreationDate="2020-03-08T17:04:20.107" Score="4" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cockatiel and just got her a partner as they told me it's better for her to have another cockatiel next to her if I cannot spend too much time with her. Eventually, they will probably mate and lay eggs, but I don't want more chicks and I don't want to sell them because I feel most people is really irresponsible and won't treat them as they deserve. What should I do with the eggs? Just throw them away inmediatly? If there's no other option, I will sell them but I want to avoid that if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17478" LastActivityDate="2020-03-12T10:03:08.820" Title="What should I do with fertile eggs if I don't want chicks?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-09T07:12:02.450" Score="3" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some time ago, I found a New Zealand praying mantis laying an egg and the next day I collected the egg and hung it from a branch. I sprayed the container I put it in with water every day and now I'm worried that it has got too much humidity and might die of because of fungus, because I found a thin layer of white substance on it, so I am very worried. Please tell me, what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17481" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-20T01:52:17.240" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T01:52:17.240" Title="Can a praying mantis ootheca die of humidity?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;insects&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27265" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-09T10:39:17.837" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;We went through 4 kinds of kibble with my dog and finally found the one he likes (it is grain-free kibble, with 70% meat and 30% veggies and herbs). Through the first change, because I lacked some information, we had some problems with his stool and gas (I feel bad about it; we went back to the previous kibble for a while then). Afterwards, we tried to transition more gradually to help him get used to the new food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, if I want to change flavor of the kibble within the same brand and the same line of dog food, should I do it gradually as recommended by many vets for changing dog food? I don't want to cause him any more distress, but is it different enough to cause him gastrointestinal problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17246" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-09T15:09:52.010" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T03:03:03.453" Title="Changing flavour of a kibble within one brand" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-09T18:33:31.167" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve had a nanotank for about 2 years now, and today something really strange happened. Yesterday, my clowns were totally fine, swimming and eating like normal. Today I went to feed them this morning and only one of my clowns showed up. So, I started looking around my tank and found a SKELETON. Upon further inspection, it seems to be the remains of my other clownfish. I only have another clownfish and a Blenny in there now, with a cleanup crew as well. Any ideas of what could have happened?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17485" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T04:42:17.443" Title="What happened to my clownfish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;clownfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27255" CreationDate="2020-03-09T20:56:32.727" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a wild guess on my part but the only explanation I can come up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What he does seems to be a misguided way of seeking your attention.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can sometimes see the same development in humans, especially mistreated or psychopathic children. They want the attention of their parents. If &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; ways of attention seeking like speaking or otherwise interacting with them don't yield the desired result, they simply try out other things. Sooner or later, by pure chance, they will do something bad enough that their parents do react and reprimand them. The reprimand doesn't matter at all, they got the attention they were seeking for so long. Over time this kind of behavior can spiral out of control until the children have a completely upside-down moral compass and are incapable of compassion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think that he learned this behavior at his abusive former home. Who knows how much play and positive attenmtion he got there... presenting poop on furniture sure as hell provoked &lt;em&gt;some kind&lt;/em&gt; of attention from his former owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there lies the crux: &lt;strong&gt;You reward this behavior with your reprimand&lt;/strong&gt;. If you want him to stop doing it, you must stop reprimanding him at once. He actually didn't even know &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; you reprimanded him. Dogs cannot connect their own past actions to a present reaction from you, even if you point at the poop. Their brains are simply not able to draw the connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you should:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only tell him &amp;quot;No!&amp;quot; when you catch him in the act of carrying his poop or laying it on furniture. If he already put it down and turned away, it's already too late to reprimand him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you find dry poop on your furniture, treat it just like you would treat a dry leaf. Don't speak to him, don't complain about it, don't get angry, don't make a fuss about it at all. Just let it dissappear quietly. That way he doesn't get the attention he tries to trigger with his behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how many toys he has. Dried poop might have been the only &amp;quot;toy&amp;quot; he could find at his former home. Maybe refocusing his attention onto a specific toy could help the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T08:49:43.433" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T08:49:43.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27265" CreationDate="2020-03-10T03:03:03.453" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it were my dog, just to be safe I'd do it gradually across four to seven days, especially since I know the dog has a history of gastrointestinal problems. During the nine and a half years I had my dog, I changed food several times and developed an easy system. I used seven empty peanut butter jars, labeled them Day 1, Day 2, through to Day 7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the jar for Day 1, I'd put mostly old food and a bit of new food. In Day 2, I'd increase it slightly. By the middle jar, Day 4, it would be half-and-half. Day 7 was the reverse of Day 1. I'd do this before the old bag was empty, then leave these jars sitting in a row in order. That way, when the old bag was empty everything was set to transition into the new bag.  No worries that I didn't leave enough for a proper transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, I'd have a bit of kibble left over at the end of the old bag. I'd get another jar and fit it into the row of jars where it fit best. I remember one time half a day's ration was left so I fit it into the middle and filled it from the new bag. I then labeled it Day 3.1 or something weird that I knew meant it should go between Day 3 and Day 4. It doesn't hurt the dog to transition one day longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transitioning might not be necessary, given the parameters you mention but like I said, if it were my dog I'd do it to be safe. On the other hand, if you see your vet in the meantime you could ask them for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T03:03:03.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26583" CreationDate="2020-03-10T04:40:16.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats (two brothers) used to poop on the floor if I failed to keep the box clean, or if I used a strange new kind of litter … and occasionally for reasons I could not guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somewhere, probably here, I saw the advice to ensure that the litterbox is not in total darkness. I put a night-light above the box, and never any trouble since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7318" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T04:40:16.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27699" CreationDate="2020-03-10T13:12:22.027" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bit of a mystery of a health issue with one of the pups I bred and wanted to ask if anyone knows what it might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bred this pup (now dog) from my near perfect German Shepherd bitch who has no underlying genetic conditions, and the same for the stud. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He has had several trips to the vet for this&lt;/strong&gt; 'condition' and they are at a loss as to what this could be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here are his symptoms:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low cortisol levels &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Weight loss (1.5kg this week alone)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visual disturbances&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High white blood cell count but no infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No signs of swelling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gums appear normal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not urinating often sometimes as much as 16 hour gaps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water consumption is normal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No vaccinations since 4 months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not sensitive to touch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here are the tests he has had:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X-ray of his bladder - nothing reported unusual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Needle in the bladder for direct samples to look for infection - negative&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Full blood work - returned nothing out of the ordinary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urine - negative for anything unusual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kidney scans - negative for anything unusual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver test - negative for anything unusual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deficiency tests - waiting on results&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things that have been ruled out:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Addisons disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bladder infection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poisoning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background on the dog:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now 34.4kg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;9 months old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This has progressively gotten worse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foodwise, he is fed kibble and is a bit of a grazer (eats when he feels like it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My theory is it could be hormonal - but I'm not 100% sure and I'm not a vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Has anyone ever come across anything like this?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Or know of anything that can produce the symptoms above?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE/edit:&lt;/strong&gt; The vet has found he has an allergy to cheese, chicken, turkey and potato. They use cheese to train with him so they are exploring if this could be the cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;further edit&lt;/strong&gt; 01/05/29: The vets confirmed he has a serious intolerance to Chicken, Turkey and Cheese after the allergy tests from hair samples. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T19:43:31.317" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T10:19:52.120" Title="German Shepherd with mysterious health issues" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27254" CreationDate="2020-03-10T14:08:48.883" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, there are three things I would do for this. 1, is impulse control 2, I'd take a lead training approach... at a bus stop and 3, look at a different collar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the best methods of training dogs not to pull on leads/loose lead walking is to go out on a walk and quickly change direction (without telling the dog you are) so that the dog learns to keep back and watch you for guidance as to where they're going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd personally use this as a foundation for it. I'd walk past a bus stop as the busses are pulling up/stopping and as soon as the dog starts to pull to wards it, change direction quickly to walk in the opposite direction. If they are still pulling you towards the bus, correct them and make them walk with you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also sit at the bus stop as well and let the busses go past and stop the dog from going on it by giving it a correction and making them sit/down next to you. This is teaching it impulse control, to go against its own impulses and do what you say. Another way to hammer this impulse control is &lt;a href=&quot;https://iheartdogs.com/does-your-dog-have-self-control-issues-try-a-flirt-pole/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flirt pole training&lt;/a&gt;. I have 2 working line GSDs and the flirt pole has worked great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd do both for as long as it takes for it to stop. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collars make a huge difference too. Flat collars and harnesses do nothing for this issue so if you're using those, stop. The next step up would be a check chain, this (combined with the above training) is enough for most dogs to fall into line. However my own dogs have very high drive (which I imagine your Malinois does to) so if the check chain doesn't work look at getting a very thin but strong &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogsportuk.com/index.php?route=product/product&amp;amp;path=33&amp;amp;product_id=120&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;french collar&lt;/a&gt; this is like a check chain but in some ways even more highly effective because, unlike a check chain, it corrects the dog itself (rather than you doing it) so the dog learns it is doing it to itself and will fall into line, this collar has worked perfectly for one of my own dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malinois are high energy, high drive and highly strung dogs so this could take a while, it is no quick fix. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T14:08:48.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27271" CreationDate="2020-03-10T16:08:30.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I would get a second opinion from a &lt;strong&gt;different&lt;/strong&gt; vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you've probably built up a strong rapport with your current vet but without further reasoning as to why your vet has ruled out Addinsons I can't happily provide alternative information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Low cortisol levels - Typical in addisons disease,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lethargy and Weightloss also related to addisons disease,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lack of appetite - Addisons disease can cause inflammation of the oesophagus which would definitely affect appetite,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visual disturbances - I'm unsure what you mean by this however dogs with addisons can seem depressed or &quot;down&quot;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;High white blood cell count - Abnormal white blood cell counts are also typical of addisons disease.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No signs of swelling - This is good. However, the swelling with addisons can be so slight that they do not appear on scans. E.G heart and oesophagus swellings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog becomes stressed you may see these signs or behaviours escalate. This is because cortisol increases with stress and if your GSD has addisons disease they will not be able to increase their cortisol levels to cope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alternative options could be:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Primary kidney disease - Frequently mistaken for Addisons disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tumour on the kidney (Although you have scanned and it seems nothing is directly wrong.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you haven't vaccinated and your GSD has been in water then definitely check for leptospirosis. It should have been raised in the blood test but it can never hurt to double check.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some other questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is his Gum colour?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How frequently does he urinate?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water consumption,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has he had is vaccinations/boosters?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you be able to provide images?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is he sensitive to touch anywhere? E.G abdomen?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you be able to provide more information on what you mean by visual disturbances?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T16:08:30.687" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27261" CreationDate="2020-03-10T16:27:03.403" Score="-1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 1 - Sell/exchange the male and get another female&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion from what you have described this is the best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you definitely do not want chicks then I would sell/exchange the male and get another female cockatile instead. This way you don't have any responsibility over the eggs as they won't be fertile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 2 - Freezing the eggs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you freeze the eggs for 24hrs it will ensure that they're no longer fertile. You can then warm these up in your hands if your cockatiel is particular about their eggs. I've never tried boiling but I believe this would work in a similar way. Just ensure they aren't too hot when you put them back in.(Including the inside of the egg.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 3 - Keeping them together but seperated&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g having a large cage with a wire partition down the center so the birds can still communicate/be in each other's company but limits or even eliminates the risk of fertile eggs. I like this one as if the pair do not get on in the future it can also ensure that there is less risk of harm to eachother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 4 - Binning the eggs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I couldn't go through with this as they are already fertilised and it would have been my fault for putting the pair together. I don't see how this is much better than giving the eggs away if I'm honest... but that could be me battling my own morals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Option 5 - Selling the eggs or giving them away&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your concern with this one but there's always a good chance that they will go to good homes. The best part is as they are your eggs you get to choose where and who they go to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may also add it's always better to replace an egg rather than remove it as your cockatiel may keep producing eggs thinking that her clutch is empty. Sometimes adding more fake eggs than what she's laid can trick her into thinking she has a full clutch and stop the egg laying early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17494" LastEditDate="2020-03-12T10:03:08.820" LastActivityDate="2020-03-12T10:03:08.820" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27246" CreationDate="2020-03-10T16:34:21.290" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't own any rats but I have friends who do and have done research as I want some. Have you had the rats neutered? This may stop them from quarrelling, and nipping each other.If this is the case it's all about dominance, they will fight each other to see whos stronger and who should be the important one. &#xA;If you are worried about the bite or t looks infected take the rat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hope this helps xx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T16:34:21.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27283" CreationDate="2020-03-10T19:29:35.553" Score="1" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Pacman frog, named Kiwi, who is about a year old. When we got her she was eating fine and growing but since August her eating pattern has been on and off. We think this is due to being looked after by relatives who didn't really know what to do even though I gave them care guides and lots of help. They gave her a fluffy which was too big for her and it completely messed up her routine. I tried so hard to get her back onto a routine of eating 3-4 locusts 2 times a week (what she was eating before) but she would only eat 3 a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then in September, she refused to eat so we offered her a pinkie mouse. We would try her on locusts again and again but she wouldn't eat them, so we offered her another pinkie. She ate it straight away this continued till November and then she stopped eating completely. There aren't any exotic vets nearby. We have tried everything: wax worms, Dubia roaches, crickets, different size locusts but she won't eat anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She hasn't grown in ages and I'm getting worried. Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:15:09.397" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T06:15:09.397" Title="My Pacman frog won't eat?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27261" CreationDate="2020-03-10T19:55:49.320" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can dispose of the eggs immediately, but the female might lay replacement eggs. That can be unhealthful for the female, since egg-laying drains calcium and can even weaken bones. To prevent her from laying replacements, get some dummy eggs. When you take the real eggs, replace them with dummies. Warm the dummies in your closed palm first and she should accept them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for being a responsible cockatiel owner, too. There's an overpopulation problem in many markets, and we don't want to make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2020-03-10T19:55:49.320" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27280" CreationDate="2020-03-11T05:17:45.103" Score="7" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people do have exotic pets like tigers. I was watching a video where a man got his tigers to lean on his shoulders standing up. It got me thinking, would he get scratched?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't see their claws. Do big cats have retractable claws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-23T21:40:07.967" LastActivityDate="2021-03-24T04:58:38.810" Title="Can big cats retract their claws?" Tags="&lt;biology&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;big-cats&gt;&lt;claws&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27279" CreationDate="2020-03-11T06:59:12.790" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, all cats have retractable claws, though a Cheetah's claws are only semi-retractable. The claws on the front legs of a cat are fully retractable as they need to be sharp for holding onto prey, for climbing, or as a weapon when fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The claws on a cat's hind legs cannot be retracted fully, but it is less important for a cat to have sharp claws there. The claws on the hind legs are mostly there to get good traction on the ground for acceleration during hunting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats walk with their claws retracted to protect the claws against wear and keep them sharp. A cat's claws are layered like an onion, so when a cat sharpens their claws, the outermost layer falls off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at your cat's scratching post right now you will probably find several claw-shaped shells. When your cat sharpens its claws it often uses almost the same force as the cat's weight to sharpen each individual claw so the claws are strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People having large cats as pets do sadly often declaw the cats. Cats used in circus and animal shows are often declawed as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of animals in shows is banned in most countries. Keeping big cats as pets is strongly regulated or banned in most countries, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Declawing is to amputate the outer digit on each toe. If you compare a cat's paw with a human hand, declawing is to remove the entire bone where the nail grows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats walk on the tip of their toes, so the pain a declawed cat feels is unimaginable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.softpaws.com/fascinating-facts-about-cat-claws/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Soft Paws - Fascinating Facts About Cat Claws&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/facts-cat-anatomy-claws&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catster - 5 Fast Facts About Your Cat’s Claws&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/What-is-special-about-the-claws-of-a-big-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Quora - What Is Special About The Claws Of A Big Cat?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-24T04:58:38.810" LastActivityDate="2021-03-24T04:58:38.810" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1460" CreationDate="2020-03-11T07:42:35.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a healthy balanced diet for a rabbit you should include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hay and grass daily&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Rabbits need at least one bundle of good quality hay that's as big as they are every day. Good quality, fresh hay should be available at all times and, ideally, rabbits should have access to growing grass for grazing or kiln-dried grass.** DONT GIVE THEM LAWNMOWER CLIPPINGS**These can make your rabbits ill due to the toxins when the grass starts to ferment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leafy greens daily&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Rabbits must have an adult-sized handful(or a plateful) of safe washed leafy greens, herbs and weeds daily. Feed a variety of greens daily, ideally 5-6 different types, such as cabbage/kale/broccoli/parsley/mint. Introduce new types of greens gradually in small amounts to avoid potential stomach upsets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of veggies, fruits and herbs that are safe for bunnies!&#xA;B&#xA;Basil&#xA;Broccoli&#xA;Beetroot greens&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C&#xA;Cabbage (dark green varieties)&#xA;Carrot tops and roots as a treat&#xA;Cauliflower including the leaves&#xA;Celeriac&#xA;Celery&#xA;Coriander&#xA;Curly kale&#xA;Courgette&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;D&#xA;Dill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;F&#xA;Fennel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J&#xA;Jerusalem Artichoke&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M&#xA;Mint&#xA;Marrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P&#xA;Parsley&#xA;Pepper&#xA;Pumpkin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;R&#xA;Radish greens and roots&#xA;Rocket&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;S&#xA;Salad greens/lettuce (not many of these as they can make poos runny)&#xA;Spinach&#xA;Spring greens&#xA;Sprouts – but if you get them a sprouting tree be careful of how much of the stalk they eat as it’s very tough&#xA;Squash (any type – including cucumber)&#xA;Sweet potatoes (as a treat)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;T&#xA;Thyme&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;W&#xA;Watercress&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the wild (or garden!)&#xA;A&#xA;Agrimony&#xA;Apple leaves and twigs&#xA;Avens&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B&#xA;Blackberry leaves&#xA;Blackcurrant leaves&#xA;Burdock&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C&#xA;Camomile&#xA;Calendula&#xA;Cleavers (goosegrass or sticky weed)&#xA;Cornflower&#xA;Common mallow&#xA;Chamomile&#xA;Currant&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;D&#xA;Dandelions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E&#xA;Echinacea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;G&#xA;Goats rue&#xA;Goldenrod&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;H&#xA;Hawthorn&#xA;Hazel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;J&#xA;Jerusalem artichoke&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;L&#xA;Lemon balm&#xA;Lady’s Mantle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M&#xA;Marigold&#xA;Melilot&#xA;Mulberry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;N&#xA;Nasturtium&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P&#xA;Plantain (broadleaf and ribwort)&#xA;Pear leaves and twigs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;R&#xA;Raspberry leaves&#xA;Rosebay willowherb (fireweed)&#xA;Roses (leaves and flowers)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;S&#xA;Shepherd’s purse&#xA;Strawberry greens&#xA;Sunflowers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;W&#xA;Willow leaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Y&#xA;Yarrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But remember this rhyme : &lt;em&gt;If in doubt leave it out!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pellets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Feed your rabbit a small number of good quality pellets every day.&#xA;Measure 25g of pellets per kg of your rabbit's body weight; For a medium-sized rabbit (2kg) it would be 50g of pellets or 2 egg cups full.&#xA;Museli style rabbit food is not good for your rabbit, they can pick out the naughty pieces of food and leave the fibrous pellets out meaning they can have diarrhoea or become constipated.If your bun is on rabbit food like this you can easily switch them over to pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Healthy treats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Feed part of their daily ration of greens/pellets/nuggets, as treats and rewards during training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed carrots/apples, in small amounts as occasional treats.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Don't feed any other treats as these may harm rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Top Tips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Note your rabbits' weight. Adjust their food to ensure they're not overweight or underweight.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-Young/pregnant/nursing/ill rabbits have different needs. Ask your vet for advice on suitable diets.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;-If you're unsure about providing the best diet for your rabbits, talk to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helpsx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-03-11T07:42:35.610" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27277" CreationDate="2020-03-12T10:19:16.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It sounds like your frog is in estivation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've not provided an image yet or any specific tank information, I'll give an answer with general information on how your tank should be set up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pacman frogs should be kept between 25 - 31 °C (77 - 88&#xA;°F).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have a UVB light it should only be on for 12 hours maximum.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure your tank is moist as they need this for shedding and can also prolong estivation if their skin is too dry. Humidity should sit around 80 %.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your tank is quite clear and open, cover the sides as they're used to being in a tropical environment too much light can stress them out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 inches of substrate is recommended for juveniles so they feel safe and can burrow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try leaving the live &quot;prey&quot; in the terrarium loose instead of using tongs. The movement may encourage your frog to eat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ensure you're not being overbearing on your frog. Humans can be intimidating for smaller creatures so you may accidentally be stressing your frog out around feeding times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What concerns me is how long your frog has not been eating for. If making the above changes do not work within a week or two I would remove the frog, pop it into a container with a locust or two. Leave and come back within 10 to 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is unsuccessful you're unfortunately going to have to force feed your frog. The easiest thing to do this with is a roach as you can slip the side of the shell into your frogs mouth easier. Once the first roach is in your frogs mouth should stay open for a few seconds and if you're quick enough the next roach should be easier to pop in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps, feel free to pop more information into your question if you'd prefer a more specific answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:16:42.817" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:16:42.817" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7559" CreationDate="2020-03-12T13:15:42.547" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to give him water with an eye dropper. 9 in total 3 sets of 3. He hated it and the next thing i knew he was drinking from his bowl. I got the info from a person who rescues cats. But he's starting to do it again. He has to be alone to eat or drink from his bowls. but usually pees on the rug for leaving him. Someone did a number on him but he's a good boy. 2 1/2- 3 yr old miniature poodle named Charlie. I call him Cj. I rescue from a farm to an apartment with a nice yard. He was matted 5 hrs to remove, beaten and malnourished. His skin itches on his hind end but i mixed apple cider vinegar and water 50/50. There are alot of things you can do if you are home like me (retired) and have the time and patience to talk to and love an abused animal. I feel like his not drinking enough water so i might leave him alone for an hour or so and clean up the pee but never yell at him. I tell him &quot;I pee on the rug sometimes too&quot;. Be careful not to switch foods or you'll be dealing with diarrhea.Same thing same time frame and he poops regularly. In the beginning he wouldn't go for 2 days and that's no good i had to give him a little extra virgin olive oil but u can give too much. Charlie didn't bark or make a sound for over a month and would sit and stare at himself in the mirror. Then i started a game in the yard with him and he bounces around, barking and he is as fast as a deer. I'd say i'm 1/2 way there. But i love him. Not sure if he will be able to ever show me unconditional love like my last poodle, Bella who died on 11/7/18. She was the best dog, she loved me so much she would try to crawl inside my body if she could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17495" LastActivityDate="2020-03-12T13:15:42.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-12T13:54:17.790" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got an abused, malnourished and severely matted miniature male poodle 2&amp;nbsp;½ - 3 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is when I picked him up at the farm in Pittstown, N.J. on January&amp;nbsp;16th,&amp;nbsp;2020.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ACEBF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can someone do this to an animal?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Will be ever show unconditional love like he was intended to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17495" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T19:30:32.887" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T19:30:32.887" Title="Can an abused, malnourished and matted poodle 2½ - 3 yrs old ever show unconditional love like he was intended to?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27286" CreationDate="2020-03-12T14:14:48.980" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having done rescue work for Mastiffs for a number of years I firmly believe that the answer is yes. &lt;strong&gt;BUT&lt;/strong&gt;, it takes a ton of patience and a lot of time. It isn't an easy or quick road at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our worse case was food aggressive on top of abuse and neglect and it took about 3 years before she came out of her shell and started trusting people, other dogs and was no longer food aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife has a sure fire formula to put weight back on a dog that they are sure to love. Mix cottage cheese with cooked pasta and they will thrive. Start mixing in whatever food you would normally use as you see the weight coming back and very slowly start reducing the &quot;good stuff&quot; (cottage cheese and pasta).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14401" LastActivityDate="2020-03-12T14:14:48.980" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27291" CreationDate="2020-03-13T00:33:44.170" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/mDFBTdToRmw?t=101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;comparatively popular video (starting at 1:41) &lt;/a&gt; by a pop band &lt;em&gt;&quot;Little Big&quot;&lt;/em&gt; that features two young girls jumping and dancing together with cats. I've once seen kids around trying to play the trick with their cats myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that this kind of a muscular tension might be harmful for cats even given the pretty low amplitude. Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17497" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T13:48:29.073" Title="Is it safe to hold a cat by the front paws and jump (not intensively)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-13T05:19:20.677" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats, both are stray which decided to live in my house this past year. &#xA;one cat is less than a year, 10 months perhaps, and other is probably older than 2 years, both are not neutered yet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i want to neuter them, but I'm scared with the risks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm scared because I had a cat suspected with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_infectious_peritonitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FIP&lt;/a&gt; before they came. They have been exposed with the FIP cat for 2 months, but they never share litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the FIP cat had been gone for three months already, and the other two cats are still healthy and active. I want them to be neuter, but I'm afraid the stress caused by neuter surgery will lead them to develop FIP, according to many articles, spaying/neutering is included as stressor that might lead to coronavirus mutation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we are in pandemic era of covid-19, is it possible that might be &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_coronavirus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FCoV&lt;/a&gt; also in outbreak? I have seen another cat near my house that has developed the same nervous system symptom of FIP. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if i should delay or never neuter my cat at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know i might be sounds overstretched and paranoid, but it's true, I'm really scared, that's why i put the question here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a country where testing body titer of certain virus in cat is available for public due to the lack of development of veterinary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17498" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-03-20T12:58:05.617" LastActivityDate="2020-03-20T12:58:05.617" Title="Is it okay to neuter my cat although he had been exposed to FIP cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27289" CreationDate="2020-03-13T10:12:17.547" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if your cat is infected with FIP, the neutering is safe to do. I have had this done to a feral cat I had a couple of years ago (actually it was done at the same time as a tooth was extracted as a result of FIP).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot answer how safe it is to spay a female cat that has FIP, but I do not think the risk is significantly elevated in female cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can get a number of coronaviruses, but COVID-19 is not one of the ones that can infect cats or dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is related to the corona part of your question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/27196/cat-health-consideration-vs-coronavirus&quot;&gt;Cat health consideration vs coronavirus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering a cat is a simple and easy operation that causes very little stress for the cat and your cat will not need any special care after this have been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-03-19T13:11:12.627" LastActivityDate="2020-03-19T13:11:12.627" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27288" CreationDate="2020-03-13T13:48:29.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to give a definitive answer in this case. In general, I would advice against it, for the safety of the children just as much as that of the cat ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Physiologically, cats are build in a way that allows them to extend their front legs like shown in the video and hang their entire body wheight from them. But a sudden jerk on their legs might lead to dislodged joints or in extreme cases torn muscles or tendons.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For comparison: children can also extend their hands straight up and hang their entire wheight on one arm. Nevertheless, there are frequent cases of parents unwittingly dislodging their childrens shoulders because they jerked on them too suddenly or the child stumbles while being held by an arm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The risk of hurting the cat would be even higher if it was grabbed by the paws as many children would probably do, in contrast to very close to the shoulder as shown in the video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there is the risk of the cat not agreeing to participate in this dance and lashing out. Many cats don't like having their feet held because it's not part of their natural interaction and they may feel entrapped or frightened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, cats retract their claws by bending their fingers / toes. If you gently press the paw flat, the claws are automatically extended. It's very probable that this would happen if a child held the paws of a cat like it would the hand of a dance partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a good thing to do if you see children trying this dance is to evoke empathy in the children. Does your cat look happy? Would you be happy if someone jerked you by the arms? Would you have fun if you were a cat and someone pulled you around?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the children insist of &quot;dancing&quot; with their cats, it would be safer to hold the cat with both hands around the torso, front legs resting in the gaps between thumb and fingers of either hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T13:48:29.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-13T15:30:48.120" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat has had an issue with both eyes for the last two weeks. It started with some small eye discharge (similar to &quot;sleep&quot; in our eyes) and infrequently watery however he seems to have taken to vigorously scratching under his eyes which I believe is the damage you can see in the images below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z4PbC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z4PbC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cskia.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cskia.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Am I wrong that the bald spots are simply from him scratching his eyes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I wait another while and hope it clears up on its own or is this something I should visit the vet about?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15933" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T15:42:23.490" Title="Our cat has dry itchy &quot;eyelids&quot; and keeps scratching them, how to stop this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27292" CreationDate="2020-03-13T15:32:49.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the vet. Maybe get a cone collar so he can't reach his eyes to scratch until the condition clears up.  Does the cat have fleas, mites, ticks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17031" LastEditorUserId="17031" LastEditDate="2020-03-13T15:42:23.490" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T15:42:23.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27113" CreationDate="2020-03-13T18:34:46.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes your fish could survive providing you put a lot of work in doing 30 to 50% water changes however to have a healthy tank you really should have filter,pump,plants etc so your filter grows beneficial bacteria which will turn ammonia to nitrite then nitrite to nitrate then you only need deal with the nitrates by doing partial water changes. Do you use water conditioner when you fill your tank up with clean water as your fish won't last 2 minutes if you don't. Do some research there's plenty of information out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T18:34:46.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26904" CreationDate="2020-03-13T18:44:25.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your water parameters will have everything to do with it. Your guppy was a few yrs old not an old age pensioner. When was the last time you did a water change? Fish tend to go and hide somewhere to die when they are not in good shape. I'm betting it was ammonia or nitrate poisoning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-13T18:44:25.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20573" CreationDate="2020-03-14T00:23:58.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, bringing this dog into your home is a terrible idea, though possibly not for the reasons you suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bringing a dog into your home that has a history of biting children's faces is not okay, no matter what the dog's motivation for biting. Your first responsibility is to protect your children from harm. Allowing a dog to play so rough as to bite a child's face is to risk a lethal injury to your child. You didn't ask, but I'm telling you, do not allow your children to visit their grandparents so long as that dog lives there. I doubt they will ever gain control of that dog if they have allowed things to come to this pass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they return the dog to the shelter, at least it stands a chance of being retrained. If you do bring it into your home, separate it from your children and dogs with a solid wall and door--not just a pet gate that the animals can see through. You will need to walk, feed, and train it separately from your own dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no experience with a multi-dog household so I cannot advise how to arrange for joint playtime or training. Nor do I know if this is advisable under the circumstances. My experience is controlling my aggressive dog while walking on the same street as elementary school children. The dog and children must be kept apart for everyone's safety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-03-14T00:23:58.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27299" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-14T14:29:18.497" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Monkey is 15 years old with arthritis, cancer (a tumor on his adrenal gland which has been operated on once last year to remove it, and has since returned), pancreatitis and kidney disease as a result of the medication required for the other ailments and well... just because he's a cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of last year, we decided to adopt a rescue kitten (Audrey) from our Cat Clinic in the hope that it would give Monkey an extra lease on life and some company.&#xA;The initial introduction period was about as you would expect, but within a month they were getting on pretty well. They would play together and were quite comfortable in each other's company about 90% of the time. Some days when Monkey wasn't feeling great, he was crankier than usual with Audrey but never did more than hiss at her and give her the occasion swat around the ears if she wanted to play and he didn't. He never took it any further than that. (He was desexed years ago, at 3 months old)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week she was desexed and since she came home he just will not leave her alone. He stalks her around the house constantly and I've caught him mounting her several times in the last few days. Today I heard her crying out (and she usually doesn't meow much at all unless it's dinner time) and when I ran into the room to see what was happening, she ran out and Monkey was right behind her. I can only assume he was at it again. &#xA;I separated them after that, and have been keeping them in different parts of the house and will shut her in the study tonight so he can't have another go at her while we're asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is relentless though, and it's only been since she came home from being desexed. &#xA;Is this something that can commonly happen with an older male cat and a young female? &#xA;Is there anything I can do to make things go back to how it was between them before?&#xA;It has been 2 months since she came to live with us, so they had over a month of really good progression in co-habitation. She actually doesn't seem overly concerned about it or didn't until today when I heard her crying out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17504" LastActivityDate="2020-03-14T14:29:18.497" Title="Days after our young female was desexed, our older male cat is trying to mount her and will not leave her alone" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27300" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-14T16:33:11.137" Score="0" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8oY5A.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8oY5A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the blob&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This blob of gray stuff has suddenly appeared in my 10 gallon aquarium where my kids' comet goldfish has been happily living for 6 months. I've also started to see some green algae form along the glass and filter intake. I'm considering adding a few snails to eat the green stuff, but this gray blob has me spooked!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17505" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T22:03:40.313" Title="What is this gray blob that suddenly appeared in my aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26277" CreationDate="2020-03-14T16:40:21.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 11 year old cat started developing black spots on his pink nose when he was around 5 or 6. They are harmless and the cat is none the wiser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17505" LastActivityDate="2020-03-14T16:40:21.697" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27303" CreationDate="2020-03-14T19:49:06.737" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has her designated water bowl, but for some reason, she largely prefers to drink from a 30 cm (12 in) tall water buckets around the house, while standing on her back legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17506" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-11T15:31:24.403" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T15:31:24.403" Title="Why does my cat prefer to stand on her back legs to drink water?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27302" CreationDate="2020-03-14T20:22:32.600" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this kind of behavior is normal for cats and dogs, but it has nothing to with standing on their hind legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, the water in the bucket simply tastes different. It may have a different source (rain water instead of tap water) and a different chemistry due to standing outside for days compared to comming fresh out of a water pipe. It's actually common for pets to prefer &amp;quot;old&amp;quot; water over fresh tap water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason for this behavior could be the container itself. Whether your cats water bowl is made of plastic or metal, it can influence the smell and taste of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-11T15:27:48.987" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T15:27:48.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27113" CreationDate="2020-03-14T21:49:59.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say aeration is the most important single factor, especially because 25 C is pretty warm for goldfish. The warmer the water ,the less oxygen it has. Changing water is good but I don't do it much unless I am trying to breed something. Filtering is good but not essential; siphon debris off the bottom occasionally. I love plants , floaters are very easy. As bacteria break down fish wastes , nitrogen compounds are produced which is just what the plants absorb. And gold fish like to nibble plants : The basis on a&quot; balanced aquarium &quot; - Fish produce nitrogenous waste &gt; plants absorb nitrogenous matter and grow &gt; fish eat plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-03-14T21:49:59.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-15T06:17:06.440" Score="1" ViewCount="774" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have 2 cats A and B. They're both 10 months old and from the same litter. A jumps on my desk, on my bedside table and chest of drawers which results in him knocking over and breaking things. Every time he jumps up, I remove him and put him down but he automatically leaves the room to do whatever he wants. &#xA;I play with him arguably more than B (he's a bit of an antisocial cat) and B doesn't do any of this. My desk is in my room so I wake up to him breaking things which makes it hard to sleep because I'm trying to stop a cat from destroying my belongings. &#xA;How do I get him to stop? I'm becoming sleep deprived. I do sometimes shut him out my room but both cats together make so much noise, I can't get to sleep. Other than that, he's an amazing, sweet boy but this issue has been going on for too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17507" LastActivityDate="2020-03-15T20:38:53.187" Title="How to stop my cat jumping on my desk" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27300" CreationDate="2020-03-15T12:21:21.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will only have to guess but i think it is a biofilm,most of the surfaces in a tank is covered by a thin layer of bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the bacteria layer comes loose it looks like the stuff you have in your tank,i do not think it does any harm in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is in a place with a lot of dust it might be from the surface of the water too,no matter what it is you might want to remove it from the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-03-15T12:21:21.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-15T14:34:56.090" Score="0" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Persian cat was shaved yesterday and now it's become sensitive about touching and I think also he could become cold at home by this situation, his conditions now and before are like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rdfxj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rdfxj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I like to know does he needs the cloth at this weather situation (temperature in Celsius). What temperature in home is good for him at this condition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bhBb8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bhBb8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what other method for helping him to stay warm do you know, which he also liked that and be available easily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T15:49:14.610" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T23:55:41.597" Title="Clothes for shaved cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27305" CreationDate="2020-03-15T14:35:45.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat clearly likes to be up high. You can try things to dissuade it, but it's often the case that nothing will really when it has such a strong natural desire to climb. Therefore, the first thing you should be doing is putting away everything you can that you don't want it to knock over. Other objects, see if you can secure them in place. For example, stick them down with double sided tape. With cups, attach an actual cup holder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, provide your cat with plenty of alternatives to your furniture for going up high, in the form of its own cat furniture. I would get ones with platforms secure enough that you can put comfy beds on them as well. Put the cat furniture next to windows when you can. In other words, try to make the cat furniture more appealing than your regular furniture, and hopefully your cat will start to prefer it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you can try making your furniture have things on it the cat dislikes to try to keep it away. Some common ones are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;aluminum foil&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;citrus spray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;double sided tape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;automatic motion detecting air sprayers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-03-15T14:35:45.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27305" CreationDate="2020-03-15T20:38:53.187" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your Cat A sounds so much like my Marley. The feline instinct to be awake at night vs the human instinct to sleep at night causes widespread problems. Jackson Galaxy posts a YouTube &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umngBzK0j2Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Train Your Cat To Let You Sleep&lt;/a&gt; that I found helpful. Since you mention multiple problems, I will share more about Marley. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Climber&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marley was 9 months old when I got him and is now fourteen months, developing from a rambunctious kitten into a more sedate adult. As such, he is simmering down considerably but he will always be a climber. Kai's answer makes excellent suggestions re putting away or fastening down items you don't want the cat to play with or move. Of the four items on the list, I have tried two--aluminum foil and double-sided tape--to no avail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marley plays with the foil and leave paw-prints on the tape. Physically removing him from surfaces where I don't want him, such as the kitchen countertop, and spraying him with water for thirty seconds are the only things I have yet found to work consistently. To keep him off, I find it's best not to keep goodies on the counter, e.g. unwashed dishes and kitchen scraps. After months of carefully cleaning up after myself every time I worked with food, he finally stopped checking up on me. Most of the time, he now stays off the kitchen countertop. Operative word: &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; of the time. Gotta keep it cat-safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To satisfy his urge to climb, I put him on a leash and take him outside to climb the trees in the backyard. That keeps his energy at a manageable level, though he will always be a climber with regards to furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat-Safe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend who tried to help me in my frustration with a rambunctious young cat gave a few bits of practical advice. In addition to putting away the items we don't want the cats to break or play with (medication, thread, and sharp objects like pins and needles come to mind), she shared about new shelves she put into her house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We were going to use this one kind of shelf,&quot; she told me, &quot;but then we realized it wasn't strong enough for the cats to sleep on so we got stronger shelving.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cats kept breaking one kind of decorative glass vases, she set out heavier vases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sleeping Arrangements&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How to get some sleep?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; That's your question. I found something that works for me, but I hesitate to post it since it may not be considered humane. At the same time, it works for my cat and me. Unless he's locked in my old dog carrier for the night, he won't settle down to sleep. But once he's in there, he sleeps soundly through the night. I use the dog carrier, left over from when I had a dog, because it's large enough for toys in addition to his bed. I did not want to put him in jail, which a cat carrier would be like since it's so small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have had nights when I couldn't sleep, so I put on the light, opened his door, and spent an hour on the computer. He was so soundly asleep he never noticed the door was open. He slept right through it all. That's what convinces me it works for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he needs to get out to use the litter box, he rattles the cage and meows loudly. I then have to get up and let him out, something I've been used to with having a dog for many years. It seldom happens, since he usually eats, drinks, and uses the litter box before bedtime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Human vs Feline Circadian Rhythms&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people shut their bedroom doors and let the cats play and roam to their heart's content in the other rooms. That doesn't work for me for the same reasons you posted: I feel like I have to keep an eye on my cat to train him and keep him from destroying plants and other stuff. People with big houses can store stuff in basements and back rooms to keep it safe from the destructive teeth and claws of cats but I live in a one-bedroom apartment. So do many other cat-owners; we don't have that kind of space but we have to sleep, too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there's my friend whose cats have all the space they could want but still they bang and meow loudly at her bedroom door, wobbling the knob, even opening it. No matter that the clock says 3:00 a.m., they want to their breakfast. Now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's not the only one. It's because of this widespread problem that Jack Galaxy posted his YouTube. He says a cat's circadian rhythm can be adjusted over a two-week period by adjusting the feeding schedule. Marley now eats on a Jack Galaxy feeding schedule. Like any cat, he still sleeps a lot during the day but he also sleeps at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-03-15T20:38:53.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27307" CreationDate="2020-03-16T09:38:53.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am assuming your car is an indoor only cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping your home at a temperature that feels comfortable to you should be ok. If you are cold, your cat will be too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get your cat a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/slp/sweaters-for-cats/s7zxtofajyds7tc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat sweater&lt;/a&gt; or you can make something out of a children's shirt or something similar. Be aware that the cat might not like it at all; then you should look at the other options. If you decide for a sweater, please also look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/seasonal/sweaters-cats-do-they-need-them&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;description how to safely put a sweater on your cat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend to give your cat sleeping places (blankets, beds) next to heaters where it will be warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel he is particularly cold, you can make him a hot water bottle and wrap that in a blanket. He will probably like sitting on/next to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise you have to wait for the hair to grow back, but your cat should also adapt to the circumstances within a few days. The cat will search for warm spaces by itself, make sure they are available to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T23:55:41.597" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T23:55:41.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-17T10:15:00.913" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;To put this in my perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have three cats at home. They are silent, hardly ever meow but will occasionally purr if you stroke them in the right spot. They will also occasionally rub on you but not very often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two cats we have in work however are very vocal (and cute) but are not shy of vocalising themselves for attention amoungst other things (headbutting, rubbing on you etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just a different type of personality? Have the work cats been brought up with less attention and thus have learned that vocalising themselves is more likely to get a response?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of mine are siamese whereas the other is a siamese x feral.&#xA;The work ones I'm unsure of but they are both sisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T16:47:11.043" Title="Why are some cats more vocal than others?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27312" CreationDate="2020-03-17T11:03:41.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is part personality and partly experiences,if a cat talks a lot you will talk back this makes the cat talk even more so it is a self enforcing behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat that suddenly gets more vocal can be a sign of medical problems like pain or neurological problems like senility or eyesight/hearing problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats starts to talk more as they get older other cats talk less,in general cats adapt to their caretakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you talk to your cat it will answer,some cats have a lot to say like my cat electra if she had been outside in the snow or rain,i think i got fired multiple times :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-03-17T11:03:41.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27286" CreationDate="2020-03-17T11:48:04.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is not intended to detract from other answers and comments but rather to supplement these. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother took on an abused rescue dog - collected when he was about 6 months old - a beautiful black kelpie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was terrified of almost everyone in his early years, but as others have written, with time and patience he became an extraordinary, alert, truly considerate and highly social member of her pack. If he was shown kindness he gave so much energy in return. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs that have suffered and recovered in this way seem to develop a deeper sense of empathy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So this is my supplementary advice...&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog at the time, a cattle kelpie cross had known my mother’s dog most of his life. They were great friends and loved spending time together. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother’s dog hated the garden hose. He would run away terrified if anyone of us picked up the hose. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could only assume that a garden hose was somehow connected to his abuse by his original human. Bathing / washing him had to be done gently and carefully with a bucket of warm water and a sponge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog didn’t like baths, but after a long walk on a hot day, he loved to be washed with cool water from the garden hose, especially if he’d swum in the nearly dam (very smelly). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After we walked the dogs together, at the end of a hot day, I’d wash my dog with water from the garden hose. Initially (first couple of years) my mother’s dog would not come near us. But over a period of a number of years of this repeated behaviour, eventually my mother’s dog  began to come closer and closer. We could tell he was compelled to investigate this opportunity to enjoy the same pleasure that my dog obviously exuded, but remained somewhat scared. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, he walked up to me as I was finishing my washing routine with my dog and he let me wash him. It was a heartbreaking moment. We were all overwhelmed with happiness at his courage and faith and trust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding - this evolution in the behaviour of my mother’s dog developed over time, was closely connected to familiar patterns of behaviour and happy events. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, I don’t believe we’d have witnessed this particular change, had he not developed a close relationship with myself and my dog, but also critical is that he saw my dog as a positive role model, whom he trusted implicitly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice... not immediately, but over time, encourage your rescue dog to socialise with one or two other dogs that you know very well, you know are calm happy creatures and you can trust implicitly to provide a positive canine role model. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastActivityDate="2020-03-17T11:48:04.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-17T17:30:33.920" Score="2" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's a male because of the distance between the anus and the opening below it, just want outside confirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jcAeB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jcAeB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17515" LastActivityDate="2020-03-17T17:30:33.920" Title="Is this cat male or female?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-03-17T18:46:35.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27321" CreationDate="2020-03-19T05:36:55.000" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend's cat is going to live with me for the next few weeks while my friend is out of town. This cat is used to using the bathroom in showers, which her usual owner simply cleans out regularly. This has been the cat's routine for years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I only have one shower, and the thought of cleaning out the cat's refuse and then stepping into the shower afterwards is uncomfortable to me. So I bought the cat a litterbox. &lt;strong&gt;How can I convince the cat to use the litterbox while she's staying with me?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I can't force her to use the litterbox, so I don't plan on punishing or getting angry with her if she doesn't do what I want. And I understand that she might be more determined to keep her habits than I am to retrain her, so if I can't convince her, I'll accept the status quo. I'm looking for the approach that gives me the best chances of retraining her without causing her any pain or discomfort along the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is 15 years old and in good health. She's very friendly. I've only seen her a couple of times, but we got along very well, so aside from this one issue, I expect we're going to be completely happy with each other's company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T20:29:39.380" Title="How do I retrain a cat to use the litterbox I prefer?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27319" CreationDate="2020-03-19T13:12:18.310" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a dachshund many years ago, now sadly deceased. When she was picked up and hugged or squeezed a little bit more, she would sort of hum/make a deep moan (not a growl).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes she'd do it on her own when she buried herself into the bed sheets to have a quiet rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What was this expression indicating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16877" LastEditorUserId="16877" LastEditDate="2020-03-19T14:16:28.080" LastActivityDate="2020-03-19T14:16:28.080" Title="Why did our dog hum / moan when hugged or when burying itself under the bed clothes?" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27318" CreationDate="2020-03-19T13:58:39.557" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is indeed a moan and is part of the natural range of vocalizations a dog uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can mean pretty much exactly what a human moan means. Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Content at stretching after waking up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Content at having that annoying itch scratched&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Content at laying down in a comfortable position&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Annoyance at being woken up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Annoyance at being hugged too tightly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most expressions of dogs, this moaning must always be interpreted in the context of the situation. It's seldom only positive or negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are more vocal than others, moaning just to say something. Others are more reserved and seldom moan at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-19T13:58:39.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-19T18:36:55.397" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started a planted tank with Monte Carlo. Everything was fine till first 4 months and the carpet was also coming up well.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;But after that black algae started to come all over the substrate and leaves.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tested my tank for &lt;strong&gt;phosphates&lt;/strong&gt; and its zero. Still used sechem Phosguard as it removes &lt;strong&gt;silicates&lt;/strong&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure about &lt;strong&gt;nitrates&lt;/strong&gt; but I do a 60% water change every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also use pressurized CO2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I have 2 small tetra , 2 siamese algae eaters and 4 Amano Shrimps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or suggestions are appreciated.&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17521" LastEditorUserId="17521" LastEditDate="2020-03-19T18:46:30.567" LastActivityDate="2020-03-19T18:46:30.567" Title="Black algae all over tank after 6 months" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-09T07:34:42.547" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27317" CreationDate="2020-03-20T01:56:20.787" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats have an instinct to bury their waste. So it's likely that if you simply make the litterbox available, the cat will use it, at least for poop. You might even consider putting the litterbox in the shower, and moving it whenever you want to shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I think any type of training you do will simply create confusion for the cat, and problems for the owner when they are reunited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2020-03-20T01:56:20.787" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27317" CreationDate="2020-03-20T11:11:32.610" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats learn their entire life, so please do not worry about the litterbox. Most likely you will only need to show her the litterbox and how to dig a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To show her how to dig, you simply put the cat onto the litter and take her paw and dig a little. You will need to take the lid off the litterbox and leave if/or until she understands what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing you want to do is to put the litterbox in a quiet place of your house, so she can do her stuff undisturbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat has problems finding the new litterbox, she will let you know. You might want to leave the lid off the litterbox for the first day or so, until she starts to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be best if you close the shower or she might use it, I find it strange that the owner lets her use the shower as a toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T20:29:39.380" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T20:29:39.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27317" CreationDate="2020-03-20T12:51:42.653" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally feel like there's a good chance this will not go well at all for you. Cats are highly territorial, and so transplanting to a whole new space will be very stressful, which can lead to litterbox problems on its own. Furthermore, the cat is quite old, and older animals tend to not deal with change and stress as well as young animals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other concern I have is that there's a decent chance the cat doesn't necessarily think shower = where it should eliminate. It might think that particular room is where it should eliminate, but doesn't necessarily generalize that to other bathrooms. Given nothing familiar, it may very well pick any of your rooms as its new spot.  It would be an easier task to retrain the cat to use a litterbox in the space its already used to. Then you could start by placing a large lid-less litterbox in the shower, so that it will have no choice but to use that, and then try to very gradually move the box to a more convenient location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, you should be aware that cat urine in particular is extremely difficult to fully clean. Even if you think it is clean, the likelihood is that residue is still there, unless you went out of your way to make absolutely sure it is clean. Your friend's bathroom is likely very unsanitary from years of having a cat urinate in it. It is never recommended to simply allow the cat to use anything other than a litterbox. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would try to care for the animal in your friend's home instead. If your friend is concerned about the cat being alone so long, you might even consider offering to just live there and housesit while they are gone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-03-20T12:51:42.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10635" CreationDate="2020-03-21T12:16:12.273" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMPORTANT, some info here is misguided. Per the Center for Pet Safety, you’ll see that they DON’T recommend putting carrier on the seat, even with a seat belt. Copied this from that site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Securing Pet Carriers –&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is intuitive for most people to “buckle up” their pet’s carrier – DON’T! – unless the manufacturer provides you with crash test video to illustrate structural integrity.  Using a seatbelt to secure a carrier can actually crush the carrier if you get into an accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead – put the small carrier on the floor of the vehicle behind the front passenger or driver seat. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.centerforpetsafety.org/pet-parents/pet-travel-tips/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17525" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-03-22T11:34:41.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-21T17:01:40.737" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 19 year old cat must have had a seizure the night before last and was twitching and pawing with a blurry gaze on her face.  I know it's an end of life late stage kidney failure as the vet had just tested her a couple of months ago and said she was stage 3 with high blood pressure.  I held her most of the day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She was soaking wet when I picked her up and I held her on a towel for hours as she kept pawing with her front paws and hind legs outstretched and stiff.  Out of nowhere when I tried to reposition her she turned her head and bit me on my chest.  It was unintentional as she really is incoherent.  It did puncture the skin.  I washed it with peroxide and alcohol and then warm salt water and neosporin.  I have too many pre existing conditions to list.  A friend had gotten bitten on her hand recently and ended up in the ER.  She had three days of the special amoxcillion for cat bites left.  I started taking it last night and 12 hours later my second pill.  It is not as red and not swollen.  I did call the doctor's office but they never called back.  Should I wait and see and watch it or call the doctor on call for the weekend to get the rest of the prescription since cat bites can be lethal.  Thanks for your advice.  Maxine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17526" LastActivityDate="2020-03-21T21:23:03.027" Title="My 19 year old dying cat bit my chest and punctured the skin last night" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-03-22T16:48:03.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26719" CreationDate="2020-03-21T18:42:54.497" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably much too late for your rat, but maybe it will be useful for someone else. I'm a rat owner for something like 8 years, I had a dozen of rats during this time, and my rats had quite a few operations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rats are small animals so you can't do as much healing and operating as on bigger animals like dogs and cats, but mammary tumor surgery is a quite popular procedure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing worth noticing - the rat has to qualify for the operation (tumor location, tumor structure, age of the rat). Sometimes tumors are located in difficult places or have a difficult nature so sometimes the vet can decide not to do it, or recommend no to do it, because there's a danger to damage something on the way like for instance urinary tract or he will be unable to remove the whole tumor. We had two such cases, the vet warned us that there could be problems, but everything went well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience the operation itself isn't dangerous. My rats had dozen such operations and not a single problem.  Some problems begin after the operation when rats try to work on the stitches with their teeth - the younger rat the healing process is faster and less time for them to open the wound again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So doing this operation on younger rats like 1-1.5 years old is not problematic from my experience. 2 years is still OK, but the healing process is not that fast, so the whole thing is more problematic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With older rats like 2,5 years old it becomes a hard decision, is it worth it? Should I do this to my rattie or just let him live as long as he can live comfortably with the tumor and then say goodbye and put him asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you have to know that the tumor can come back, and usually does, depending on a rat. We had a poor rat with new tumors appearing like every 4 months :(&#xA;From what we've learned through these years the best solution is neutering in young age (4-6 months) then tumors are much more rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastEditorUserId="9423" LastEditDate="2020-03-24T08:59:32.057" LastActivityDate="2020-03-24T08:59:32.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27325" CreationDate="2020-03-21T21:23:03.027" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's address the elephant in the room. &lt;em&gt;If you don't take the full course of antibiotics prescribed, you encourage the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria&lt;/em&gt;. Antibiotics are an all-or-nothing medicine. That's a big part of the reason why they're prescription-only in the first place. Your friend should &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; have had any &quot;left over&quot; antibiotics, and you should &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; have taken a partial course of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on to the actual question itself. Cat bites can be nasty, they have a lot of bacteria and other potential contaminates in their mouths. But, based on what you described, I don't think its infected. You did the right thing by washing the wound immediately with disinfectants. I would just monitor it. If it starts showing signs of infection (swelling, redness, soreness, discharge, etc.) you would probably want to consider going to an emergency clinic or the ER.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17528" LastActivityDate="2020-03-21T21:23:03.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27333" CreationDate="2020-03-21T21:44:06.980" Score="4" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that cats don't actually meow in the wild. Kittens only meow to their parents, and the parents to their kittens, and both do it to humans, and that's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that true? If so, is it for humans specifically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17528" LastActivityDate="2020-03-26T05:09:21.170" Title="Do cats meow only for humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26583" CreationDate="2020-03-23T00:00:32.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest getting a second box, as well as making sure you scoop both boxes daily at the very least. The fact that kitty is going right next to the box makes me think that it wants to use the box, but something is putting it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found that having 1 box per cat is a good way to ensure the box doesn't get too dirty too quickly. I too had a kitty who wouldn't use the litter box if I wasn't diligent about scooping it daily-that 2nd box worked wonders. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17531" LastActivityDate="2020-03-23T00:00:32.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12085" CreationDate="2020-03-23T00:13:07.523" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you established WHY your dog is barking? Is it anxiety, overstimulation, boredom? Is it barrier rage, territorial? Is it barking AT people/animals, or just kind of yelling at nothing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to figure out the why--the fix is entirely dependant on that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is food motivated, you might consider mixing some peanut butter or sweet potato puree (not pie filling--sweet potato only) into some wet food or Gerber baby food (stage 1, meat only, is my default), then adding some kibble to it, stuffing it in a Kong, and freezing it. Freezing it makes it last longer. The kibble makes it a little more interesting, and the peanut butter/sweet potato/baby food addition makes the treat higher value than regular food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try treat puzzles as a boredom buster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Odds are that these won't work for a dog experiencing barrier rage or that is reactive to people/other animals. It also prob won't work for a dog with severe sep anx unless it's REALLY foody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, knowing WHAT is causing your dog to bark would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is your dog getting exercise time, with you? Do you take him for walks/runs? After rereading your post, it sounds like you might have gotten a dog that doesn't fit your lifestyle--he's high energy, and you aren't, or are too busy to give him the exercise he needs. What kind of dog is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Folks tend to get critters that look good, and figure they can train them into the perfect dog for them. I'm not sure you came to be the owner of this pooch, obviously, and will help you if I can, with more details. But most working class dogs (hounds and terriers, for example) are smart and high energy--meaning that they need to flex their brains as well as expell energy.  I'm surprised you didn't mention problems with tearing up the yard.... Wish I could hear the bark so I could tell more what's going on &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17531" LastEditorUserId="17531" LastEditDate="2020-03-23T00:27:25.720" LastActivityDate="2020-03-23T00:27:25.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27328" CreationDate="2020-03-23T06:18:05.913" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats in the wild are solitary animals so vocal communication is not very useful, scent marking is more useful for cats when it comes to keeping other cats away and at the same time give information about the gender and age and when the cat was in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the vocal communication is mother and kittens and this do gradually stop when the kitten gets older, other vocalization is related to reproduction and getting a mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other types of vocalization act as a warning when a cat defends its territory or if other animals comes too close; most of the time this is effective (like cat chase bear type of effective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats that live with people do talk to us as if we were kittens and they learn that we respond to different sounds. If there is more than one cat in a household some vocal communication might happen like the cats might call for each other and purr when they are together but most communication will be by scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats that live close to each other in a neighborhood and meet outside can develop a friendship. When the cats meet they will sniff each others breath; this happens very quick blink and you will miss it. Vocal communication is rare but the cats might start to purr together in the same way as cats that live in the same house do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="768" LastEditDate="2020-03-26T05:09:21.170" LastActivityDate="2020-03-26T05:09:21.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-23T11:30:11.007" Score="7" ViewCount="2963" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small water tank with few fish at home. There are small stones for decoration, and for several weeks now, I noticed that every time I'm around, the fish go down to the stones and bump into them on purpose, and it results in some noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They didn't do it from the beginning (bought them in August 2019), just maybe 6-8 weeks. (Literally)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do it now consistently, so I can't help wondering: is it their way to draw attention? I walk to them when they do it to check what they do then they swim up towards me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it more clear, here is the fish tank with the small stones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XyfwR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XyfwRm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;image of the fish tank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T09:12:37.343" Title="Do fish make noises in order to get attention?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27334" CreationDate="2020-03-23T12:29:19.013" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goldfish do not make noise to get attention but they will come to the surface of the water when you walk up to the tank. Goldfish and other fish will learn that when you come it means food is on its way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are bottom feeders so they will move pebbles and small rocks to find food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank you have is too small for keeping goldfish, please read this &lt;a href=&quot;https://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-care/tank/do-goldfish-need-a-big-tank/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-care/tank/do-goldfish-need-a-big-tank/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one goldfish you need a 100 liter tank and for each additional goldfish you need 50 liters of water, so if you want to keep 3 goldfish you need a 200 liters tank and there is no upper limit for tank size, so bigger is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to have filtration in your tank to process the waste they make, goldfish are seen as dirty fish as they produce more waste than other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish being coldwater fish should ideally be kept in a garden pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T04:25:32.250" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T04:25:32.250" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27337" CreationDate="2020-03-24T07:27:13.313" Score="21" ViewCount="9513" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ~4 year old cat of uncertain breed. For as long as I can remember, he's had the rather unfortunate habit of drinking out of cups containing water instead of his own water bowl. Considering that we let him outdoors where he hunts a lot of rodents and small birds, this makes the prospect of continuing to finish said beverages an unpleasant one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could start rambling on about how this is all my fault for allowing him to drink out of a near empty glass of water as a kitten, but I'd really just like him to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I get a glass of water, I have to be careful to drink the entire contents of the container, lest my cat jump up on the table and stick his head inside. Indeed, if the glass is empty, he'll sometimes come over to sniff it. Indeed, he just likes sniffing things in general, but that's probably a non-issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thankfully, he doesn't seem to like the smell of anything that isn't tapwater, but that's a small grace considering the fact I almost exclusively drink the stuff!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried putting various things on top of the cups. Coasters, screwdriver kits, books... Coasters are easy to fit and they appear to discourage this behaviour slightly, but it's not uncommon to see him push them away with his nose. Heavier items seem to be more effective, but also make it easier for &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; to knock the glass over, and I'd rather he not jump up on my table and desk in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also mention that the water bowl I actually want him to drink from is a used, plastic tin of Celebrations chocolates that we empty, clean and fill whenever it starts looking like it's running low. We take our cat for regular checkups and I've never heard the vet mention anything about him being dehydrated. When there are no cups of water around, he'll drink out of the bowl just fine, usually after taking a bite of food first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to stop him stealing drinks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17535" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-03-24T12:32:52.617" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T14:42:30.217" Title="Cat Keeps Drinking Unattended Drinks" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-24T09:04:15.357" Score="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I propose replacing his assigned water bowl with something he likes drinking from, like a dessert glass bowl or a drinking glass with a low rim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different containers can add their own smell and taste to the water in them, especially containers that aren't supposed to hold liquids for a long time. The main reason why water bottles have a &lt;em&gt;use before&lt;/em&gt; date is not that the water somehow goes bad, but that the bottle itself slowly breaks down and releases weird chemicals into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make him unlearn that he can find drinkable water in your glass, you should always put a lid on your glass. There are different types available online or in stores for kitchenware. I think it would be best to find a lid that fits your usual drinking glass as best as possible, or maybe buy a new glass with a lid included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-18T14:42:30.217" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T14:42:30.217" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-24T09:57:48.183" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday my snake was absolutely fine. This morning I went to pick her up for some handling and I noticed a weird mark on her skin, as I looked closer it appears there's a small amount of blood and the scales look a little weird. I think it's a burn, however, comparing it to images on Google it doesn't quite look the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her heat lamp has a cage around it and the basking space stays at about 90 °F (32 °C) in the day time and at night I turn it down to 75 °F (24 °C). She never normally goes anywhere near (I mean as in climbing it or touching it, she still basks) the heat lamp and I haven't seen her around it the last couple of days. I touched after finding it and its not burning hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that is hotter than that is the UVB bulb. However, that is very high up and I can't see how her side would touch it. I know this is probably possible though, snakes slither everywhere! It's not burning hot like I can touch it but it is slightly hotter then 90 °F (32 °C) I think. Her heat lamps on a thermostat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a 7-year-old corn snake, I got her 6 weeks ago. As Britain is now in effect in lockdown, I may not be able to take her to the vets and I don't want her to be in pain. It doesn't look too bad but I don't know what's behind the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will also attach a picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: I e-mailed the vets and it is a superficial burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/p1YPw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/p1YPw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;re&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T18:59:09.700" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T18:59:09.700" Title="What is wrong with my snake? Skin problem? Burn?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27317" CreationDate="2020-03-24T12:41:38.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the cat's owner is going away for sometime, it's entirely possible for you to train the cat, but time and patience is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by using a shallow tray type litter box and keep it in the showers. Once she is in the routine of using it, you can move it out of the shower and place it next to the shower. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bit by bit you can gradually move the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend not complicating the issue by using a deep litter tray or one with a roof. The cat needs easy access to it and for it to be apparent that is has &quot;diggable&quot; substance in it, conducive to burying waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-03-24T12:41:38.437" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27338" CreationDate="2020-03-24T13:32:57.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It turns out this is a superficial burn. Treatment is not needed so fingers crossed it will recover well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17013" LastActivityDate="2020-03-24T13:32:57.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27341" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-24T14:01:22.917" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read in many places that is OK to take your pet beardie out in the garden, provided it's a place safe from predators, to sit a bit in the natural sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, my beardie, otherwise very friendly, as soon as I put him in the garden and give him 2 minutes - he starts running around frantically and if you get close, it puffs and attacks you. I mean like, literally runs to bite you. I had to cover him with a thick blanket and take him back inside, where he calmed down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel really guilty now for buying one. It just feels like he will always be a wild animal and putting him in an enclosure and breed him to become a pet is just wrong. He was so desperately looking to run and be free. I couldn't wait for the good weather to come to be able to let him out in the garden and now I am just really disappointed. Anyone else having this problem with their beardie?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17540" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T15:39:06.930" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T16:06:25.653" Title="Pet Bearded Dragon Attacks when outdoors" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-24T15:58:32.050" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I presume you're changing it very regularly already, but if not: make sure your cat's water is fresh, and keep the water and food bowls away from the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the water in the glass is fresh but the one in the bowl is from hours ago or worse, one can hardly blame the cat for preferring to drink from a glass than from its bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats sometimes prefer running water if given the opportunity to drink it. See for instance what happens if you leave a faucet slightly open. (If your cat is one of them, consider investing in a cat fountain.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="581" LastEditorUserId="581" LastEditDate="2020-03-24T19:11:49.710" LastActivityDate="2020-03-24T19:11:49.710" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-24T19:36:21.193" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened years ago, so no pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The story: We had a cage with a female gerbil and her babies. There was a coconut shell in the cage with about a fourth of it cut off,and all the the gerbils slept in it. The babies kept growing though. Every night all the gerbils would cram themselves into the coconut,the babies getting bigger and bigger. They all looked healthy,but the coconut was just stuffed full of gerbils. One morning we found that the mother was alive and all the babies except one were dead. later the surviving baby,having grown up,attacked and killed her mother. Why did the babies all die at once? Did anyone out there ever have this kind of problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10479" LastEditorUserId="10479" LastEditDate="2020-03-27T21:00:56.177" LastActivityDate="2020-03-27T21:00:56.177" Title="Baby gerbils dying while sleeping" Tags="&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2020-03-24T23:08:11.373" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat goes hard core with the clawing/digging under me while I’m in bed. I personally believe it’s his way of saying, “Move the eff over, you’re in MY spot.” Because when I do move, he plops on down and is perfectly content on sitting there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your instance could be FAR different but, it’s a theory&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17549" LastActivityDate="2020-03-24T23:08:11.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-25T01:42:42.013" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rhjmB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rhjmB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don’t know what this is on my cats lip &#xA;It’s been here about 5 Days&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I am worried &#xA;I am going to take her to the vet when I get paid &#xA;Just want to know if it’s ok for the time being &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17551" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T05:54:18.867" Title="What is this on my cats lip?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-04-18T04:28:27.263" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27345" CreationDate="2020-03-25T05:54:18.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does not look serious to me and as long as your cat show no sign of pain or changed behaviour it is not an emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat changes behaviour or stop eating for more than one day you need to take her to the vet as this can be a sign of problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T05:54:18.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-25T14:45:40.783" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother has a (I am going to say 7 year old) large male dog that last year was unable to naturally control flea infestations. This leads me to believe that it very probably was unable to control internal parasites as well; so I have been suggesting that a heartworm test might be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I understand that they highly recommend 30 days crate rest if they have adult heartworms and they take the medicine to kill them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leads me to my question. If the dog is not going to be locked or tied up for any notable time, would it be safer to just not worry about the heartworms? Is it advisable to administer adult heartworm medication when the crate rest is impossible? And if it is not, is there any reason to even test for the presence of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some additional information: I see no problem with keeping his average exercise to practically nothing. He is big and old enough that he does not run around for fun. But in a months time their will certainly be some wild animal he will decide to kill, some cattle who escape, or just someone visit or drive by with dogs barking in the back. Their will be some 2 minute time interval where he goes full out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2778" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:06:27.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:28:20.167" Title="Is it worth testing for heartworm if crate rest is impossible?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-25T14:51:40.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that some cats seem to dislike getting their whiskers wet, and these cats generally prefer drinking from glasses instead of bowls since the whiskers are pushed back by the rim of the glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just a theory and I'm in no way a professional, but it might be worth a shot to replace the wide bowl with something a little narrower so he doesn't dip his whiskers in the water when he drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17556" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T14:51:40.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27328" CreationDate="2020-03-25T16:37:23.940" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Domestic cats (&lt;em&gt;felis catus&lt;/em&gt;) meow in the same frequency band as human babies' crying. Why? Because humans instinctively want to feed things that make that specific noise, so making that noise was an evolutionary adaptation for cats living around humans. When cats learn (during the critical socialization period) that making this sound gets them free food from humans, they keep doing it for life. Feral cats stop when they leave their mother after learning to feed themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notably, even their closest wild relative (&lt;em&gt;felis sylvestris&lt;/em&gt;) meows in a much wider frequency range that does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; elicit the feeding instinct in humans but rather makes us want to flee danger. And if you're close enough to hear a wild cat of any size, you probably &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T16:37:23.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27312" CreationDate="2020-03-25T16:47:11.043" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meowing or other behaviors to get attention is part instinct, part experience &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats are your work are presumably used to humans ignoring them most of the time because they're working, so when they want attention, they have to ask for it—and presumably have learned that it works. So, they will keep doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats at home get attention when you're home and not when you're not. They may still meow if you ignore them or forget to feed them, but the connection isn't as strong, so they won't do it much otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T16:47:11.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-25T17:04:54.687" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a couple of one-year old cats. A neighbor's slightly older male cat keeps coming to our garden and viciously attacking our cats (usually takes one of them by surprise, corners it and hits it until a person or the other cat distracts him). He is otherwise not violent, is even friendly to us (humans of all ages) and stays away from our cats either if we are in proximity. All three (our cats and the aggressor) are neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As our cats are only out when we're around, we were able to intervene about every time (spray water, make loud noises, run towards them). But this is going on for months now and the intensity of the attacks did not reduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can we best help our cats to improve their interaction with their neighbor (or at least turn it into passive ignorance)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17558" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T17:04:54.687" Title="How to stop the neighbor's cats attacking ours" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27354" CreationDate="2020-03-25T17:28:15.723" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm visiting my parents for a while, they have a mixed-breed dog who is friendly and i brought mine, a mixed-breed dog too, who is kinda aggressive sometimes with others dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both dogs were friends to each other, but today they had a fight over their plate of food, now if both see each other, they will fight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What i can do to avoid more fights?,  both dogs used to play and be friends.&#xA;I can't go back to my  home with my dog, and need to stay a few more days (or until the quarantine is lifted)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11191" LastEditorUserId="11191" LastEditDate="2020-03-25T18:30:19.177" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T18:30:19.177" Title="How to reconcile two dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27353" CreationDate="2020-03-25T18:13:22.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first step should be &lt;strong&gt;going on a walk with both dogs&lt;/strong&gt; and at least 2 people, each holding one dog. Start walking with both humans in the middle and the dogs on either side. Just walk like that for at least 5 minutes and keep the dogs seperated. Once they are calm and in the mood for walking, you can allow the dogs to walk side by side or play with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this does is showing both dogs that the other one can and will behave in a social manner. It also puts them together in a pack, since you all (dogs and humans) form a social group that works (or rather &lt;em&gt;walks&lt;/em&gt;) together. This is the first step of reconciliation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is to &lt;strong&gt;seperate their food bowls&lt;/strong&gt;. Food is the number one reason for aggression in multi-pet homes, especially if both pets don't know each other very well. Either feed them at seperate times or in seperate rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least, &lt;strong&gt;know the hierarchy&lt;/strong&gt;. Both of them have a clear understanding of who is higher ranking than the other and they communicate this to each other via body language. If you happen to give both of them a treat, but you offer it to the lower ranking dog first, the higher ranking one might become aggressive. In the natural social structure of dogs the highest ranking one always eats first, so by eating the treat the lower ranking dog challanges the dominance of the other one, who then starts a fight.&#xA;If you're not sure which of your dogs is higher ranking, offer both treats to both dogs at the same time (one in each hand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: Do some obedience training with both dogs at the same time. That can be as simple as &quot;sit&quot;, &quot;lay down&quot; and &quot;come here&quot;, or more complex commands, depending on what they know. This puts them together as a pack and can be a pleasant situation (if they get treats for following the commands). Don't forget to give the treat to the higher ranking dog first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T18:13:22.900" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-25T18:19:00.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my cat it was a matter of the specific water glass I was currently using. She just liked hanging out by me and using my stuff. I could take a water glass of mine she enjoyed drinking from, put it anywhere else, like by her water bowl, and she lost interest. For a while I poured 2 glasses and drank a little from each. She was happy picking one. My particular cat hated wobbly surfaces, so if one was on a flimsy table she'd gladly drink from the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pouring an extra glass and checking is less work than a normal cat, which climbs all over your lap, and bats at your pen. Plus it's adorable. If you train yours to stop, you'll miss the little stretched out body and lapping sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I accidentally trained her to stop, anyway. A 1-handed lift-and-dump is easy, with practice. Being dropped from 3 feet is apparently a huge insult to some cats. She eventually learned to only go for food, including water, that I placed on the floor. For a while, I tried putting the second water glass for her down next to me, but it wasn't used much and I always ended-up kicking it over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as I write this, I'm drinking water out of a soft-drink bottle which seems less stable, but my current cat has never knocked it over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17560" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T18:19:00.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-25T18:36:00.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Add a bit of lemon or lime juice to your water.  Cats generally dislike citrus and that may discourage the behavior.  Of course, that's assuming &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; like lemon or lime flavored water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17561" LastActivityDate="2020-03-25T18:36:00.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-26T14:34:44.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had cats my entire life. I have 6 cats at the moment and most of my cats have lived past 20 years old so trust me when I tell you that cats crave fresh water. I don't think you need to change YOUR behavior too much but getting a cup with a lid won't hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to focus on is what the cat needs and you are not providing. Sometimes cats develop kidney disease slowly over time because cat owners only give them dry food and they start showing signs that their kidneys are not functioning fully by constantly seeking out fresh water from sinks, your drink etc. Dry food is not natural for them as in the wild if they were hunting, they'd be eating wet meat regularly and not a dehydrated kibble. Please consider giving your cat wet canned food daily. We do that and since it is more expensive, we give them wet in the morning and then a combination of wet and dry at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, we have seven water bowls throughout the house(we even keep one outside in the patio and it's so many because we have 6 cats. If you only have 1 cat, you might try getting 2 bowls) and we change them out with fresh water 2 times a day, morning and afternoon. Also, plastic will start to harbor bacteria even if you wash it. I suggest tossing any plastic food or water bowls and getting ceramic for the food and a few water stainless steel or stainless steel lined dishes as this keeps the water freshest. Put the bowls in different places in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17565" LastEditorUserId="17565" LastEditDate="2020-04-03T15:05:54.380" LastActivityDate="2020-04-03T15:05:54.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-26T15:24:14.867" Score="-4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK so sometimes cats scratches tree in order to keep their claws sharp&#xA;so is it true that every time a cat or any other feline uses it claw, there claws become less sharper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17566" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T22:20:49.040" Title="cats claws becomes less sharper every time they use it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27358" CreationDate="2020-03-26T16:01:30.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat claw will get less sharp over time and this is why cats sharpen their claws; a cat's claw is layered like an onion, so when a cat sharpens its claw the outer layer falls off exposing a fresh sharp claw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at your cat's scratching post you will probably find the outer shell of your cat's claws. A cat has two ways of sharpening their claws: one is by scratching and the other is by using its teeth to remove the outer layer of the claw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats have retractable claws on the front legs. The claws on the hind legs cannot be retracted fully, but they still stay fairly sharp - however, it is nothing compared to the claws on the front legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By retracting the claws on the front legs, they stay protected against wear when they walk; when a cat catches larger prey animals, the cat uses the powerful hind legs and claws to tear the prey's belly open; cats do the same when they fight each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-29T22:20:49.040" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T22:20:49.040" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-27T00:37:30.753" Score="0" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;He has been drinking the water quite often without me noticing and is throwing up and dry heaving alot and i dont know what to do i cant afford to go to the vet! What can i do for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17573" LastActivityDate="2020-04-05T07:19:13.513" Title="My dog drank alot of laundry run off water should i worry?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-04-05T07:33:35.807" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-27T04:06:10.593" Score="2" ViewCount="501" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really sure what to do about This. It's only one seed but she's my baby could this cause any issues with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17574" LastActivityDate="2020-03-27T05:58:13.623" Title="My kitten ate a lemon seed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27362" CreationDate="2020-03-27T05:48:46.103" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All parts of lemons are toxic to cats so you need to get your kitten to your vet for treatment,this is not some thing that can wait so you need to go to the vet right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read this &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/lemon-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/lemon-poisoning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-03-27T05:58:13.623" LastActivityDate="2020-03-27T05:58:13.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-27T13:20:51.947" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;A colleague just started the fun with dealing with a big aquarium (his first). He asked for my advice, and I provided my best. However, being both engineers, we started discussing out-of-the-box ideas too. And one of them generated today this question - into my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might be wrong, but sponges created especially for the mechanical filtering of aquariums tend to be expensive-ish - compared to other sponges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, are &lt;strong&gt;other sponges&lt;/strong&gt; suitable for the task, for building a custom filter? I have in mind the sponges readily available for using in the kitchen or bathroom, or the foams used in mattresses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I would experiment with them to find the ones which provide the maximum of benefits, but I wonder about the downsides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T14:44:30.303" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T03:43:26.630" Title="Sponges for mechanical particle filters for aquariums" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27365" CreationDate="2020-03-27T16:32:59.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not use kitchen sponges or other types of household sponges, they have been produced using different chemicals to make them softer and often fire resistant; this is toxic to life in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get filter sponges at a pond supply shop that are made for making filters yourself; most petshops have them too, but they do often cost more there than at a pond supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to change filter sponges unless they have lost their shape, it is often possible to clean the dirt out of them and use the sponges multiple times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One positive thing with using the sponges again is you can keep some of the good bacteria alive in the sponges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can find several types of foam for filters by searching for blue filter foam on the net.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T03:43:26.630" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T03:43:26.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27365" CreationDate="2020-03-27T18:52:04.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coarse sponges are used on filter inlets as a strainer . Be sure to get &quot;open cell&quot; foam sponges. I have used them a few times in various filters as a final stage ( after fiber or other filter material) but for a small cell foam is is a nuisance to clean , so probably best to replace. Because I am replacing , I have found polyester fiber padding the best and don't mess with foam.I buy bed quilt size poly fiber at a sewing supply store and use a GOOD paper cutter to cut it into filter size . Each filter pad only costs pennies ( plus cutting time). Unfortunately,sissors do not cut it well .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-03-27T18:52:04.070" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-28T07:34:02.520" Score="1" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko (I think it's a female but I'm not sure) keeps burrowing herself under things. It started with burrowing under her reptile carpet so I secured it, then under a heavy rock which I errorneously assumed was to get a hiding cricket, and then I got concerned when I heard her moving so I went to check and she had wedged herself under her very heavy water dish and I thought she was dead! Luckily she's OK but I keep hearing her digging all through the night and can't sleep because I'm afraid she'll hurt herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do? I'm getting her a better, new cage soon but I don't know what to do in the meantime.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17582" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T14:08:23.637" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T18:00:50.073" Title="My leopard gecko keeps burrowing but not like in sand" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28882" CreationDate="2020-03-28T11:15:44.180" Score="5" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it is a very special case here. My mother bought a 1.5 month old gray parrot. He was an adorable and very calm bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the age of 5 months my brother started playing with him aggressively by distracting him, poking him with things, putting fingers in his cage and then pulling them out when the bird started attacking, etc. The parrot started to bite my hand every time I approached him, not &quot;escaping only&quot; bites and very hard. Now that my brother has stopped irritating the parrot, I want to stop this biting issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current situation - the parrot doesn't fear me, and while outside of the cage he will sit on my shoulder most of the time. If I leave the room then he will fly to me if he wasn't already on my shoulder. But my hand approaching him will provoke an attack--he will violently bite it and at times even inflict a bleeding wound--and when I take my hand away from him he will instantly chase my hand to continue biting; after he's done he will usually return to my shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to feed him from my hand but it's possible. It is nearly impossible to make him sit on a hand, except when he is taken out of a cage. It is also hard to train him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that he bites everything that he doesn't like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I prevent this behavior?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Current age: 7 months old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parrot name: Kelvin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Origin: bought from a breeder, without full feathering, hand-feed by me using a syringe until the age of 6 months old, then he started to refuse hand-feeding.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17583" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T13:35:29.217" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T14:21:49.303" Title="How to stop gray parrot from biting?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-28T14:55:56.390" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is an 11 year old terrier. She sleeps next to my bed at night and occasionally she wakes me up with the sound of slurping while she is licking her private area. I just let her keep looking herself but then notice when I let her out in the morning she doesn't need to use the bathroom. Is she licking up her urine over night? I try to get 8 hours of sleep so it's usually been 8 hores since she was out last. I tried not feeding her water at night but she still does this occasionally. If she is doing what she's doing I'm wondering if she just doesn't want to or can't wake me up. I would prefer if she woke me up when she's having trouble holding it over night. What do I do? Is there any way to stop this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17584" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T11:53:58.640" Title="Dog licking herself when she can't hold it at night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27369" CreationDate="2020-03-28T16:13:17.497" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Judging from the behavior of our 2 African Grey parrots (25 and 15 years old) they can be somewhat unpredictable. Because yours has been teased, I think you have 2 strikes against yourself. Ours have never been teased and still will pinch on rare occasion. There is a positive affect of approaching the bird with confidence; my adult son visits every couple months, walks over and picks up one bird; he has never been bitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding that same bird, I am careful to keep my fingers away from his beak (he will not bite an arm or the back of the hand). An acquaintance of ours has a rescue for parrots, macaws, etc. and some have behavior problems; she can walk over and pick up any one of 20 birds. I don't know her secret, but it must be partly self-confidence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T23:20:06.457" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T23:20:06.457" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27336" CreationDate="2020-03-28T17:13:41.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats instinctively dislike standing water, which in nature is a breeding ground for disease. He may be drinking &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; water because he can smell it's fresher than what's in his bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A water fountain provides the running water that cats prefer, plus most have filters and a large reservoir that means you don't need to refill or clean them daily. When I switched, my cats lost interest in drinking anything else, plus they drink every time they pass the fountain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration is the leading cause of fatal kidney failure in housecats, especially if you give them dry food, so anything that gets them drinking more water is a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-03-28T17:13:41.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-28T20:00:34.370" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to build a vertical rabbit hutch that has enough room for two pet rabbits. In order to do this I need to find a material (or construct something) that will be friendly to their feet since traditional cages can't be used for non-meat rabbits. We need their poo to still fall down to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there friendly options that rabbits won't chew? For example, I was thinking about something like this, but I'm guessing the rabbits will destroy something that's not sufficiently substantial:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GCCCb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GCCCb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;mesh&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that's crossed my mind is to figure out a proper diameter of holes and then drill through some thick plastic sheets with proper spacing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8311" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T19:17:11.517" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T19:17:11.517" Title="How to build or find poo-pass-thru flooring for rabbits that won't hurt feet with long term usage?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27373" CreationDate="2020-03-29T06:57:05.587" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short: Every material with holes big enough for poo to fall through has holes big enough for the rabbits toes to get stuck in them. This is a high risk to get trapped and struggle to get free and to break the bones in the paw and legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do not like to sit up on mesh or surfaces with holes. They like to sit on straw and similar. In this material they could build a nest/scrape to lay in like in nature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like to use mesh bottom and straw on top, it'll have to be much straw for the poo to fall trough anymore. In this case you need no mesh bottom anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume your reasons are less effort when you need to clean the rabbits space?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In nature rabbits are able to make their toilet outside their sleeping space. They have a special point where poo and pee get. &#xA;If you give your rabbits enough space to live (place to sleep, place to make toilet, place to run and jump...) you could encourage them to use the toilet only. Then you have much less effort to clean the enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example my rabbits have a hut (30x30cm) with straw in it for cold time and security feeling (i.e. if a cat walks by). And then they have a tub (40x30cm, 15cm high) with wood pellets in the bottom and straw on top. It has enough space for both rabbits to lay fully outstretched in it. This is where they chosen two edges to make poo and pee. The pellets store the fluid and I use a shovel to get all dirty parts out and refill them every 14 days. The second part in cleaning is to broom the other parts clean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbits are outside rabbits.&#xA;For inside rabbits you could find a lot of questions (with good answers) here for &quot;toilet training&quot;. Because rabbits could learn where they are allowed to make poo and pee, and where NOT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-03-29T14:27:08.730" LastActivityDate="2020-03-29T14:27:08.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-29T20:20:33.923" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog recently pooped on the stairs which is very unlike her. This was on Friday and it was very soft and brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This past weekend her poop has still been soft and now has a tinge of green to it. Should we be worried? Anything we should check her for? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is very much herself still,  playing, eating, no vomiting. We do go on regular walks but otherwise she stays in our fenced yard or inside.  Recently we did cut down a tree in our yard so perhaps something related to that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is a 1 year 2 months old Goldendoodle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14055" LastActivityDate="2020-03-30T12:04:45.903" Title="Dog with soft mucusy poop" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-30T05:49:50.200" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;A stray pregnant cat is visiting us for food, recently I noticed that when she wants to eat she hiss to the food and stop eating. at first I thought maybe she has some bone or something stock to her teeth (because it happened to my other cat once), so after examining her mouth with a lot of difficulties that was not the case. also her mouth stinks which obviously is a sign of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's so painful watching her eating something even though I chop or mix the food so it don't need chewing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's the situation; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's pregnant (I guess she has 1-2 weeks to give birth) and semi-wild with an infected tooth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm living in Iran and vets here only do vaccination, they're no dentist. that aside Iran like any other country is in quarantine, only food and drug stores are open...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my previous experience I know that for cat infections vets here prescribe si-fixim dry syrup 1 ml every 12 hours but since she's pregnant I'm not sure about giving her antibiotic. as long as she has that rotten tooth in her mouth it's going to get infected again too...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's in pain and I'm desperate, what do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15856" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T15:35:26.343" Title="Cat infected tooth" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27375" CreationDate="2020-03-30T12:04:45.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;She could have eaten something wrong or maybe got an infection. As long as her behavior stays normal, you should keep an eye on her, but you don't have to rush to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has ample clean drinking water. If she refuses to drink for 24 hours, go see a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She eats at least half of her daily meal. If she doesn't eat anything for 36 hours, go see a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She passes stool regularily. If she doesn't poop within 24 hours, go see a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is nothing poisenous in her yard that she could swallow. If you're concerned about the tree trunk, cover it with a bucket or tarp.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You don't feed her anything unusual. Certain foods that are eadible for humans can be harmful for dogs, like chocolate, raisins, garlic, onion and certain brands of yoghurt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this was caused by ingesting something wrong, it should be gone in a day or two. If this is an infection, it can take a week to be completely cured. If her condition worsens, she starts shivering at room temperature, becomes lethargic or her stool becomes liquid or slimy, please see a vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it is an infection, please don't let her play with other dogs until 5 days &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; her stool returned to the normal consistency and clean up any poop she drops during walks. That way you avoid infecting other dogs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-03-30T12:04:45.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27376" CreationDate="2020-03-30T12:37:17.667" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless a vet gives you a different advice, &lt;strong&gt;I would not give a pregnant or nursing animal antibiotics&lt;/strong&gt;. Si-Fixim is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, which kills not only bad bacteria, but also the beneficial gut bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.practo.com/medicine-info/si-fixim-200-mg-tablet-dt-10246&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Practo&lt;/a&gt; writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can this medicine be taken during pregnancy?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This medicine is not recommended for use in pregnant women unless necessary. All the risks and benefits should be discussed with the doctor before taking this medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can this medicine be taken while breast-feeding?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This medicine is not recommended for use in breastfeeding women unless necessary. All the risks and benefits should be discussed with the doctor before taking this medicine. If the medicine is used, close monitoring of the infant for any undesired side effects is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The immune system of the kittens will be kick-started by the mother's milk and their gut bacteria, which are also fed by the milk. If the milk contains antibiotics, the natural immune system will be damaged or destroyed, which can kill the kittens or cause them life long suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of giving medication, please try calling a vet or an animal welfare organization and describe the situation to them. Maybe they agree to pull the tooth despite the corona outbreak. Even if they won't treat the cat right now, they can at least give you better information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T15:35:26.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-03-30T22:27:51.273" Score="1" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was really calm and remarkably very friendly for a month since the beginning of March. She was sterilized when she was 3, now she is 5 years old. She has always been always aggressive and does not really like to be touched or hugged. But she let us touch or hug her even touch her stomach for a month. She has never hurt us for a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today is the 30th of March, we were watching &amp;quot;Lost&amp;quot; on the TV with my wife and my cat. And we were eating pasta with pork sausage, which turned out to be 5 days past its best-before date. I just sneezed and she looked at me with big eyes, then I thought she wants to help me and then I faked another sneeze. She suddenly started to scream and run towards me. She was attacking to kill me. I hold her like 30 seconds, and she acted like it's OK and then I let her, and then she started to attack my wife. Then I held her and threw in bathroom. Her nails were all over me. She broke her nails attacking me. My arms and hands are completely bleeding out. We had waited for half an hour and she sounded calm, so we let her out again. She walk a little bit to living room and then she turnes to us and started to attack us again. It was unstoppable. I have never experienced something like this, she was like a monster. I threw her into the bedroom and she did not stop. An hour later we checked the room, it turned out she has urinated and soiled the floor which she has never done before. We put everything she needs inside. But I do not know when she will become normal. When we try to talk or open the door she is attacking and screaming. She is also sniffing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the expired pork sausage did it, maybe my sneeze or maybe the end of the March? Please help us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much for your answer. There were a lot of things therefore I can't find the reason. The house was smelling like bad pork, the room was dark, and the day was the end of the March, so it might be related to mating season. But I am sure that my sneeze triggered her. She just looked at me and started to move towards me slowly, then suddenly ran over my wife and attacked me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interesting thing is, my wife's roommate and her boyfriend was with the cat last year on the same day. And the guy laughed and then cat started to attack them like a monster and it was really bad. They ran into bedroom and locked themselves. Then my wife came home and held the cat, but she had no idea about the situation. Cat suddenly started to act normal and this never happend again until this year same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this time she is not turning back to normal. We locked her to a room, we put everything inside. But she is not eating anything. She meowed till morning, then we open the door and let her our. We went to other room and waited like 2 hours. Then I opened the door, she was waiting in front of the door. She attacked and I closed the door, 10 seconds later we went outside, she was in the living room. And she urinated and vomited everywhere in the house in two hours, which she never done before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to talk and calm her, but she was screaming and trying to attack from where she sits. After 30 minutes we decided to put her back to the room. I tried to hold her with a blanket but she was unstoppable. worse then yesterday. She vomited herself while I was trying to hold her. Eventually we put her back to room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is always sitting in the same place and never sleeps, just looks outside from the door lock. It is not possible to get inside. We went to vet and had 2 medicines prescribed: Calmex Cat and Feliway Classic. I put some into wet food but she is not eating and I sprayed a pillow and threw inside. These should make her calm, but not sure if it is going to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is acting like we are enemies. She does not recognize us. She is not blinking. I don't know what to do. I just keep her inside for few days. Let's see what will happen. I am open the all suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Problem solved.&#xA;After several months she finally started to act normal. She is not what she used to be she is always afraid when she heard a sound. But at least she is ok with us. We always tries to stay calm with her, she senses if we afraid or worried. So it is really important to stay calm. But most important thing was water. Running or trying to stop her makes everything worse. We used water spray to keep her away when  we sense she is going to attack. She really hates water so she just went back and acted like nothing happened after a little water. We started to touch her while holding the spray in one hand and we always walked at home with a water for months. Now after 12 months, we do not need any water. We are sleeping together again. She can attack to others but we can stop her so its ok. We will make it work somehow. We always give water to our guests to make them feel safe. We should have use water at the beginning the we would not had these issues most probably. Thank you all for your replies.&#xA;If your cat ever goes to evil then just use water! And stay calm. Bye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17587" LastEditorUserId="17587" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T00:30:00.127" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T00:30:00.127" Title="My cat suddenly started to attack us!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27379" CreationDate="2020-03-31T00:51:22.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mentioned the cat's eyes were large, but do you know whether it's pupils were dilated? Cats' eyes dilate when they're about to pounce, or when they're scared.  If you think back to the situation, perhaps you can remember the cat's body language. Did it seem jumpy? Or did it seem aggressive? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a fear reaction is the more likely explanation, since from my experience, cats don't normally get suddenly aggressive at you when you're just sitting around watching TV, and from your description, that sounds much too intense to be play. If it was a fear reaction, it may be that something else unrelated is stressing the cat out and putting it on edge. For example, maybe there are animals outside, or it's seeing something else outside that's freaking it out, or maybe there's something going on in your home that's stressing it out.  I'd keep an eye on the cat to observe its body language. A relaxed cat (when not playing) seems sleepy and doesn't move much. A stressed out cat is jumpy and moving around a lot. From there you might be able to pinpoint something specific that's freaking it out, and do what you can to put a stop to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is, however, another possible explanation, that your cat has something medically wrong with it. If you cannot figure out any reasonable explanation for the attack, or maybe you can find some explanation, but you feel the cat's reaction was completely outsized for something that's rather minor, then a trip to the vet might be in order. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-03-31T00:51:22.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27379" CreationDate="2020-03-31T19:10:25.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fırat Özkan, I read your question and also your answer. This is a medical emergency. You need to act immediately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your cat to the vet immediately. Also get yourself and your wife checked out by a doctor immediately. The scratches to your hands, arms, and face are dangerous because they are very close to your brain and the cat's germs got into your blood. The cat must be tested for rabies, as well as other illnesses and medical issues. You and your wife must be vaccinated against whatever the cat passed on to you. The vet and your doctor may have to communicate; your doctor will have to know what the cat infected you with. Other than rabies, tetanus is a big concern for my doctor when I get bitten or scratched by a cat or dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot safely catch the cat and take it to the vet, keep it locked up and call the authorities to catch it for you. Be aware that the cat may have to be killed. You say the cat will kill you. This is very sad but better the cat die than you. If the cat must be killed, its body must be tested for rabies, etc. The purpose of this is to vaccinate you and your wife so you won't get sick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can safely catch the cat and get it safely to the vet, the vet can inject it with a sedative. The sedative will calm down the cat so the vet can do blood tests, etc. to find out what is wrong. Do whatever the vet, your doctor, and the public health officials tell you to do. They have experience with cases like this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know that the cat is not sick, and you cannot get to a vet because of lockdown due to COVID-19, here are a few things to consider for calming your cat. After getting my cat five months ago, I had problems and did quite a bit of reading online to find solutions. I forget where I read all the tips but I will share them and also my own experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat uses three ways to show aggression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;direct eye contact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vocalization&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extended claws in cats, extended fingers in humans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say that just before attacking, you made direct eye contact with your cat, and your cat made direct eye contact with you. I notice this happens every time when my cat play-attacks me. He stares at me several seconds, his pupils get very large and round, and then he jumps on me. His claws are partly out as he grabs my arm or leg or back. He often leaves scratches, and also uses his teeth to play-bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not much fun for me so I tried to train him not to do it. The usual  discipline one uses for animals and children (scolding, prying his mouth open, shaking him off) didn't work. The Youtube &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NDPhDvQoPI&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to stop your cat from biting you&lt;/a&gt; makes three suggestions (Min. 1:15-1:56):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give the cat a time-out (picture shows cat placed in a box or bag; I sometimes hold my cat tightly for a bit; please note that some cats get stimulated and hyper from these things)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;turn your back for a few minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put cat in another room for a few minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turning one's back and ignoring an aggressive cat goes against every human instinct; we want to face our attacker and but it works. When my cat is biting and scratching, I detach him and turn my back. He stops. I don't know if it works with your cat because your cat seems to be traumatized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an article I found just now, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.teamcatrescue.ca/post/2015/11/04/techniques-to-calm-a-scared-cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Techniques to calm a scared cat&lt;/a&gt;, posted by a Cat Rescue Charity. I don't have experience in this but the author says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are techniques that I have used successfully to calm a stray cat&#xA;  that lived on the streets for 3 years.  She is now this biggest&#xA;  cuddler and purrer that I have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few more articles on reputable websites about helping traumatized and/or frightened cats and dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/how-heal-emotionally-traumatized-pet&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Heal an Emotionally Traumatized Pet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/how-help-frightened-cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to help a frightened cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastEditorUserId="17348" LastEditDate="2020-04-01T00:36:57.330" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T00:36:57.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2020-04-01T05:37:32.400" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've decided the dig-dig motions are to get my arm out from under so she can rub her face on my hand. Also lately she does this when wants to get under the blanket—after 18 years—and lie beside me for a few minutes, get some strokes, then leave there and lie beside my pillow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17593" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T05:37:32.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27370" CreationDate="2020-04-01T11:53:58.640" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its pretty unusual for a dog to lick away their own urine, its something i've never come across. Its something mothers generally do to their pups in the earlier stages of their lives but generally stops between 5-8 weeks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally when a dog obsessively licks an area its to clean it from infection or a wound so I would get a vet to examine her. The licks can foster all sorts of weird noises so that doesn't worry too much. But again, get a vet to examine her.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also try to put a routine into her bathroom breaks, one in the morning and one before you go to bed and she will eventually sync her bladder to this and learn to hold it until then. Do this without fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T11:53:58.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21833" CreationDate="2020-04-01T21:05:22.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best to just use a kitchen scale, good for making bread and coffee too. Just weigh the empty container, tare it and weigh the new food. &#xA;Let's say that's not an option for you. Because foods are measured by weight and not by volume and you want volume. I can show you there's some things that you can do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)you need 176 cups/44lbs of dog food, will only yield the conversion ratio for that dog food with that kibble size. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Without knowing the volume of the vase or it's shape that's impossible to determine any correlation there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) A kg appears to be little over a cup, so, you could take (333kcal/1c.)x(1 kg/3564kcal)= ( .09343kg/c.)= 93.43g/c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) Then take (93.4g/c.)(1c./2)=46.717g or 93.4x(3/4)=70.07g etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17596" LastEditorUserId="17596" LastEditDate="2020-04-01T21:29:21.053" LastActivityDate="2020-04-01T21:29:21.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27389" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-02T10:23:53.243" Score="0" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago I got a Pleco and some cherry shrimp for my aquarium. Due to my being a complete idiot, the bag with the Pleco fell while I was acclimating the shrimp. In order to keep it alive I put it directly into the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously this was about the worst start the little guy could have had, but the first 5 days he seemed okay, his color was starting to come back. However, he has not eaten anything and today I find him right at the glass, not moving, almost white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water is clean, I did a 20% waterchange yesterday, temp is at 24 c. Is there anything I can do to help it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6173" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T03:12:01.387" Title="Why is my Pleco turning white, how to improve his health" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27395" CreationDate="2020-04-03T04:24:11.320" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most countries seem to allow dog walking during anti-COVID-19 measures preventing the spread of the coronavirus. However, there's at least South Africa where even dog walking is disallowed. The extent to which it's disallowed is a bit unclear, but the wording from the news suggest that dog owners are supposed to not get out of their houses unless they &quot;really want to&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dog lovers in South Africa have been ordered not to take their beloved pets for a walk for three weeks, Police Minister Bheki Cele said at a news conference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“We had discussions and agreed that there shall be no walking of dogs,” Cele said. “If you really want to walk your dog, do it around your house – it ends there.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.foxnews.com/world/south-africa-spain-restricting-dog-walking-amid-coronavirus-outbreak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently there's only South Africa with a limitation like this, but nothing stops other countries from applying the same restrictions if the spread of COVID-19 can't be stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How are owners supposed to take care of their dog's toilet needs if dog walking is disallowed? Is there some sensible way, or are they supposed to wait for dogs to make a mess and then clean up? (I'd probably rely on the &quot;really want to&quot; case myself, but it seems to be considered an exception by those imposing the restriction.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-04-03T05:23:16.917" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T23:12:37.253" Title="How to take care of dog's toiletry needs if dog walking is banned?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-03T04:52:58.800" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;It started on the inside and now it is all over her ear. The vet told us to put some cream on it. It got worse, so we have her in a cone and some antibiotics. Any have any idea? I’m so sad to see my kitty like visible on the attached photograph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is 3 years old and it’s been about a month. We have one more cat that seems fine. They are both indoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vYXD0.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vYXD0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17551" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T23:08:46.993" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T20:59:41.667" Title="What is happening to my cat’s ear?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27392" CreationDate="2020-04-03T05:17:33.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be many different things, from scabies to allergy or even a fungal infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to take your cat to an other vet for a second opinion. The vet you are using now could have done a better job diagnosing and treating your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like this might be a fungal infection; if it is, then your other cat is at risk of getting it. However, I am in no way saying it will get it, only that there is a risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not look like it is an allergic reaction to me, but only a vet can tell this for sure; your vet might have given the right treatment, my guess is that the cream might have been an anti-fungal one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet will probably have to run some additional tests to find the cause for this, that ear does definitely not look good at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T20:59:41.667" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T20:59:41.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27391" CreationDate="2020-04-03T05:22:24.253" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd have to ask local authorities I guess but my interpretation is basically &quot;stay close to your house&quot;. Your still allowed to walk the dog (which they can't really forbid), but people should still try to reduce the distance traveled (and therefore the distance of potential spreading).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has too much energy without a long walk, look around here, there are tons of ways to tire a dog, like getting them to sniff for threats and similar things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2020-04-03T05:22:24.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27391" CreationDate="2020-04-03T05:40:06.913" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs - like humans - usually choose a certain place as their &quot;bathroom&quot; to do their business there. As long as the poop doesn't pile up without ever disappearing, they will stick to this bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is toilet trained, it learned that the bathroom is somewhere outside and never in the house. If you really lock it up inside there are 2 consequences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog will hold its pee and poop as long as possible, because it cannot go to the bathroom. That is very uncomfortable and can have negative effects on the health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sooner or later, your dog has to make a mess, every single day. It'll learn that the toilet is now inside the house and it will be extremely hard to stop this behavior again if the covid-19 crisis is over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my best advice is: &lt;strong&gt;Go outside for your dogs toiletry needs, no matter what your government says.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quote implies that your government is very aware that it's impossible to lock dogs inside the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“If you really want to walk your dog, do it around your house – it ends there.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a yard where your dog can do its business, you have a reason to &quot;really want to walk your dog&quot;. But please stick to the streets / walkways closest to your home and don't wander through half the city into a crouded dog park. If one round around the house isn't enough for your dog, walk 2 or 3 rounds around the house, but do stay close to the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-04-03T05:40:06.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27391" CreationDate="2020-04-03T05:55:48.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If Elmy's and Mario's answer didn't work, maybe my observation could help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last summer, we travelled by a ferry where dogs were allowed to walk with their owners (most other ferries allows dogs only as &quot;luggage&quot; to stay in the cars).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This ferry had a plastic tub, like these ones used to make concrete in them for home projects. It was filled with sand and one &quot;tree trunk&quot; made of plastic or old wood. There was something like a ramp for the smaller dogs to get into the tub. The dogs were encouraged to do their pee and poo there. The poo was then picked up by the owner and disposed of in the nearby bin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe there is a space (not in the &quot;normal&quot; living rooms) where you could build similar structure to encourage your dog to make its toilet of. Optimally, it would be a room that he has no access to by himself, so you're ensured it wouldn't get messed up - but for now you could simulate &quot;making a walk&quot; to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T23:12:37.253" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T23:12:37.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27398" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-03T09:01:52.587" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten was doing well till yesterday evening. But suddenly she started facing breathing difficulty at 07:30 PM in the evening. I called the Vet and told him symptoms which were no running nose and eyes, breathing rapidly and lethargy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per Vet suggestion we provided water and kept her in open area for half an hour. But still there was no improvement so we took the kitten to Vet. After reaching there she became totally non responsive (no movement in body and also stopped blinking eyes) which almost sound like she is gone. But our Vet gave it few injections and started drip following which my kitten came back to sense and started responding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per Vet, her heartbeat was increased and reason was not clear what caused it. We got her back home by 11:00 PM and she was calm for around 30 minutes after which she again started showing the signs of same discomfort. I again called my Vet but as per him we already did everything possible and now only option is to monitor her behaviour during night and bring back early morning for checkup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was continuously meowing without voice (her voice was low since the day she was with us) with increasing restlessness and by 01:30 AM she was breathing slowly and body movement was negligible and finally went to sleep at 02:30 AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not able to understand what went wrong. Though she is gone but still I want to know what was the cause behind this sudden difficulties my kitten has to go through? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17604" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T18:51:49.860" Title="My 4.3 month old Persian cat passed away suddenly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-03T14:56:24.340" Score="1" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko, Charlie, is 6 months old. This is his second shed since I got him! And it took him over 24 hours. He won’t even try to get the shed off of him! He has it on his head, and his entire body is covered, and is starting to peel wrong, and he isn’t touching it! Should I help him? I really hope nothing too bad is wrong with him, he is basically the love of my life. Can anyone please help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17605" LastActivityDate="2020-04-03T14:56:24.340" Title="My leopard gecko won’t shed his dead skin off!" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-05T23:12:49.577" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-03T18:51:20.563" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;We took our rabbit in a week ago because she wasn't eating much, and the vet said she had an infection in her cheek because of tooth problems which she has had for years now. They sent us home with antibiotics after clipping the offending teeth. But the eating problems didn't seem to get better, so yesterday we took her back, and they did a blood test. The vet concluded that it was a gallbladder infection and gave us new antibiotics, along with probiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But after starting her on the antibiotics, she stopped eating entirely. She seems weaker (her paws are more 'slidy' than usual) and I've noticed a bit of swelling on the bottom of her left rib cage. Due to Tomb Sweeping Day, we won't be able to see even the emergency vet for at least 36 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is this a normal response to antibiotics, or something we should worry about?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17606" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T11:06:46.483" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T11:06:46.483" Title="Rabbit took a sharp downturn after starting new antibiotics" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27400" CreationDate="2020-04-03T20:41:40.430" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stopping to eat is a very important sign for you as rabbit owner. If your rabbit do not eat for approximately 24 hours it is lost. The digestive systems of rabbits are not made for non eating periods of more than 24 hours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to do first aid to encourage your bunny to eat. Look this question for first aid advise: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1783/what-should-be-in-a-rabbit-first-aid-kit&quot;&gt;First aid kit for rabbits&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So first: get your bunny to eat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tooth problems are a very hard problem in bunnies. The vet has to do a x-ray to see all, because the body of rabbits is build in a way, the vet could not see all teeth and mouth parts through the open mouth. &#xA;Cutting teeth is a risk too. Because of the high pressure in cutting the teeth will splinter and get cracks. This opens the doors wide for any infections. If any, the teeth should be shortened by grinding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tooth infections could easy reach the blood cycle, so the infection causing bacteria could reach all other organs. Maybe this could make the connection to the gall bladder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More to write will be more and more speculation and only a rabbit experienced vet could help you here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the close again: make your bunny eating! Try all &quot;sweets&quot; your bunny likes and if this not helps use something to grind hay into &quot;hay dust&quot; and wet it. This pulp you feed the rabbit with the backside of a spoon or a injection kit (clearly without needle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please write again, how your bunny is going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-04-03T20:41:40.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27402" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-04T04:05:17.547" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I adopted a kitten who was 6weeks old. Dixie (the kitten) has always been lovey and sweet to both of us. She was fixed about a month ago and for the last 2 weeks she hisses at my boyfriend and he can not even go near her let alone touch her. There has not been any traumatic event to cause this either. Dixie is still lovey to me but if my boyfriend comes near her she hisses and runs away. If I am not home she will stay hidden. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to hold her and be near when he tries to pet me but no luck. We have tried food but she will not accept any food or treats he gives her. I just don’t know what to do because he loves her very much and just doesn’t know what to do.He never had a problem petting her anywhere. She loves attention. She runs away when he is in any position But I’ve tried to have him sit, or lay down also with no luck. I’ve tried bringing the cat over to him when he is asleep in bed and she won’t stay unless she knows he is asleep. He has tried the “reassurance “ look at her. I e told him to try the stare with head down and long slow blink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17609" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-06T23:52:20.973" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T23:52:20.973" Title="Our cat began hissing at my boyfriend after 6 months" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27405" CreationDate="2020-04-04T16:41:08.797" Score="3" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone know what this is and how to treat it? One has a white lump near its eye, the other some white stuff at the end of its fan tail. Both usually in a pond with others but currently quarantined in a bucket each. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PAYXe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PAYXe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f9EN4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/f9EN4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F8zfi.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F8zfi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17612" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T17:50:17.643" Title="Goldfish with white spot/fungal infection/something else?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27404" CreationDate="2020-04-04T17:50:17.643" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a fungal infection,it is common for pondfish to get this or other types of problems in the spring before the imune system of the fish starts working(it takes some time for the water to warm to a level where the imune system starts to funktion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common treatment for this is to add aquarium salt so the consentration is 0,3% of salt in the water,and to increase the temparature to 20C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are able to treat the fish in a separate tank you can add medication to the water i use tetra medica general tonic in addition to adding salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To limit the production of waste products it is best to only feed very little food every 3 days,be sure the water is well oxygenated to limit the stress for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A salt consentration of 0,3% is not dangerous to goldfish or koi and can be continued indefinitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding medication to your pond is something i will advice against as it will destroy the biological balance in your pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T17:50:17.643" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27398" CreationDate="2020-04-04T18:51:49.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is such a sad story. You loved your kitten and did everything you could to help her. You &quot;spared no expense,&quot; as they say. You say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am not able to understand what went wrong. Though she is gone but&#xA;  still I want to know what was the cause behind this sudden&#xA;  difficulties my kitten has to go through?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand. I'm sure you realize that no one on the internet can diagnose your beloved cat posthumously, but what you need is support and compassion through this terrible time. If you are like I was when my dog suddenly got sick last summer and had to be put down, you are in shock. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog was old. She had been part of my life for nearly ten years. She had been an adult when I got her from the shelter, about five years old, so she was fourteen last summer. All those years I had structured my schedule, my life, around caring for my dog. When she got sick, I took her to the vet. When she had to go out in the middle of the night, I got up, got dressed, and took her out. She was old but seemed in good health until one day she started throwing up. Then came the pain. By the next morning I knew that short of some  miracle medicine she had to be put down. I had no choice. But for a long time I was in shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really wanted to know what went wrong. Before putting her down the vet did a blood test and x-ray but nothing showed up. I would have loved to have an autopsy but that cost too much. I understand your need to know what went wrong. I think that is normal in a time like this. We want to know if there would have been something we could have done--we just want to know why our beloved pet died. Maybe we think it might ease the pain. Probably it wouldn't but in our pain we can't think very rationally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the time, I didn't want to think about getting another pet. But a few months later I did get a cat. That finally eased the pain. I still miss my dog but having another animal to dote on and love and care for fills the empty spot. I'm sorry I can't give a better answer to your question but I do understand why you are asking. Maybe that is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T18:51:49.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27389" CreationDate="2020-04-04T23:19:47.210" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not too sure but it can be due to direct sun light&#xA;So if that is the case try moving it in another area that doesnt have the sun burning it and they may get sunburns, And if thats not the case then i hope you find the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17613" LastActivityDate="2020-04-04T23:19:47.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27361" CreationDate="2020-04-05T07:19:13.513" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is your dog allowed access to the laundry run off? You need to monitor the area while doing laundry if you truly care about your dog. Make sure you Are providing your dog with fresh water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17614" LastActivityDate="2020-04-05T07:19:13.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27412" CreationDate="2020-04-05T09:22:13.910" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family has a cat and lives a more or less balanced life (from sleeping wherever she wants to being chased by young teenagers and actually waiting for them when they do not chase her fast enough).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whenever I make a funny sound&lt;/strong&gt; (kind of meowing, or gurgling, or &lt;em&gt;bêêê&lt;/em&gt; - in other words sounds which are not similar to spoken language, but do not try to mimic true meowing either), &lt;strong&gt;the cat waves her tail a bit&lt;/strong&gt;. It does not matter what she does (sleep, sit and watch, takes a sunbath on her back...), she would slightly wave once or twice her tail (horizontally, with the tail laying on the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can this mean?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to avoid raising her anxiety level (which is not high by any means, I just read somewhere that cats are anxious animals by nature) so I like to think this is just her acknowledging that there is a different sound than usual. Or her acknowledging that I exist (I have been doing this for two years or so, this is hardly a surprise for her). Or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2020-04-05T15:59:40.720" Title="My cat waves her tail when I make funny sounds. What does this mean?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27411" CreationDate="2020-04-05T14:38:43.723" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats wave their tails for many reasons. Other aspects of what it does with its tail and its general body posture can help inform what is the exact reason it's waving it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How intensely is it waving its tail? Is it rather slow and gentle? Or is it waving it hard enough to thump against things, and rather quickly? Is it mostly the tip of the tail that's twitching, or is it the entire tail? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally the more intensely the tail is being waved, the more alert or agitated the cat is. A rather violently lashing tail usually indicates the cat is very tense, and either that it's mad or afraid or maybe that it's very stressed out. A more medium level generally indicates the cat is riled up over something, but it's not necessarily a negative thing. For example, a cat might lash its tail some while playing or watching prey. A little bit of twitching may indicate the cat is on the alert, even if it otherwise seems sleepy, or it might twitch its tail a bit while being friendly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tail's position, if the cat is standing, might also indicate something about the cat's mood as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Held straight up indicates confidence. Generally when the tail is straight up, cats only might wave it a bit as a friendly sort of greeting. They also might keep it steady with a hook at the end. This is a very friendly and inquisitive posture, which people often call &quot;question mark tail.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tail held low indicates the opposite. The cat is not confident at all, and a waving tail is generally more of an indication of stress. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the tail is more in a neutral position, the cat might be unsure, or if the tail is waving, it might indicate things like stalking prey or playing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if the cat's tail is arched, and may or may not be fluffed, that's usually a sign it's very afraid or aggressive. However, this also can be a play behavior which is more common in kittens, but some adult cats may also do it. You can try to tell the difference by how generally intense the cat is being, (a cat that is serious is much more intense than one that's just playing), but it also helps to know the animal. If the cat does this same behavior while attacking toys, then you know this is one of those cats that likes to make that posture during play. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-04-05T14:38:43.723" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27411" CreationDate="2020-04-05T15:59:40.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat waves the tip of its tail a few times but otherwise doesn't change its posture or tail position, that is a sign the cat has taken a mild interest in the sound but does not consider it a threat, probably in this case because it recognizes you're the one making it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-04-05T15:59:40.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27416" CreationDate="2020-04-05T17:54:56.560" Score="3" ViewCount="1965" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 5 year old cat has a small wound on the back of it's head for a about two weeks. The wound has an approximate length of 1/4 inch (6mm) and does not seem to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What worries me, is that the wound is not closing. Normally these close very fast, but this does not seem to close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not seem to be in pain and is not scratching the wound often. He is also feeding normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the current COVID19 Situation it's hard for me to visit a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do? Do I need to visit the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/m2R0Z.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/m2R0Z.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;small wound&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17616" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T15:50:31.243" Title="Cat has a small wound on back of the head, do I need to see the vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27414" CreationDate="2020-04-05T18:34:49.733" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;That wound looks nice and are not likely to cause any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The color of the wound looks fresh and clean so there is no infection and it does not penetrate the skin,it is just a scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it looks like it does as a result of the scab falling off,you do not need to take your cat to the vet at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on it for a couple of weeks and if it changes color or starts to feel warmer than normal take your cat to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-04-06T13:39:10.560" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T13:39:10.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27414" CreationDate="2020-04-05T18:42:07.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please be aware that I'm not a vet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the wound doesn't look bad. It's small enough to not require stitches and it doesn't look inflamed or infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own cat got lost for a long time and came back with a severe case of ear mites, which caused him to scratch himself raw around the ears. Even after treatment for the mites, it took several months (!) for his skin to heal completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such superficial wounds tend to scab, which itches and can pull on hairs. Our cat often scratched parts of the scab off, which looked very much like the photo of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you don't even need to put a &quot;collar of shame&quot; on him. Just keep an eye on the wound and avoid touching it, which might irritate him and cause more scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-04-05T18:42:07.263" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27417" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-05T23:40:54.937" Score="9" ViewCount="3883" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (approximately 16 years old, short hair, no specific breed, indoor cat) has been vomiting pretty much every day (sometimes multiple times) for almost a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had a scare with her kidneys about 2 years ago (elevated results of urea and creatinine) and has had blood tests regularly since, but her levels fell and have been good ever since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her brother passed away a few years ago from stomach cancer, and he showed similar symptoms in the beginning, but when we've taken her to the vets they've done X-ray and ultrasound and, other than a slight thickening of the stomach lining, couldn't see any lumps or anything out of the ordinary. She has also had blood tests and everything looks fine, very good kidney results, no sign of liver issues, no sign of diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been on antacids and laxatives from the vet (as much as we can get in her, she's not good with medications and gets very distressed) but they don't seem to be having any effect.&#xA;When she's been in to the vets they sometimes give her an anti-nausea injection which stops her being ill for a few days, and then it starts up again.&#xA;She's also had antibiotics, dewormer, B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; and a steroid injection at various times. Any improvement is only temporary for a few days and then she starts vomiting again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a fussy eater and she gets dry food (Purina One, various flavours), tuna and white fish. Also, occasionally ham. She won't eat much else. She gets sick mostly in the morning and we suspected Bilious Vomiting Syndrome, but she already has food down through the day and gets other regular food throughout the day too, including late at night and that hasn't improved anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most days she might be sick once (and it tends to be thick and dark brown, occasionally with food in or clumps of hair but mostly liquid), but sometimes it's two or three times.&#xA;She's otherwise eating fine, drinking and urinating a normal amount and pooing regularly (not sure the laxative is making any difference).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vets seem to be a bit stumped and just keep telling us to give her the laxatives / antacid, but there's obviously something else going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only major change recently is that we were giving her a glycosamine and mineral supplement for arthritis, which we were mixing with milk to get her to take it as it was the only way to guarantee she'd take it all. We ran out of the first course a couple of weeks before she started getting sick and didn't get any more before she got ill, so it's been about six weeks since she had the supplement or any milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're really worried but don't know what else to do. Everything is also complicated by the fact we're in the UK and the country is on lockdown because of the coronavirus, so while the vet is still open it's not easy to get an appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're waiting on a stronger antacid from the vets and we're going to try to give her exclusively white fish for a few days to see if diet is contributing (but it's the same diet she's been on for years).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas what it could be or what we could try next?&#xA;The fact she seems to be in good health (particularly for her age) is what's confusing us as all the things we've seen that fit have a list of other symptoms that she just hasn't got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17617" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T19:45:53.933" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T19:45:53.933" Title="Cat vomiting every day" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27417" CreationDate="2020-04-06T05:28:45.723" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I would pack some of the vomit up and send it to a vet for analysis. Speak to your vet to arrange a swift and efficient handover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To do this, clean an empty, airtight food container like a small glass jar or Tupperware container. If the container doesn't melt at boiling temperature, rinse it with boiling water to sterilize it (don't forget the lid). Next time your cat vomits, run boiling water over a table spoon and scoop the vomit into the sterilized container. This allows your vet to see if there are things like blood or bacteria present in your cat's stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, experimenting with different foods sounds like a good idea. Keep her on one (and only one) type / flavor for 2 weeks and see if things improve. A &amp;quot;sensitive&amp;quot; food might be a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please be aware that I'm not a vet. Everything that follows is pure speculation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, from your description it sounds like it's not the food causing the problem. Thick, dark brown or black vomit indicates blood somewhere in the upper digestive tract. If the vet cannot find anything in her stomach, it might be in her esophagus instead. Or it might be a leaky vein instead of cancer, so it doesn't show up on an X-ray. We have means to cauterize problematic blood vessels in humans, but I don't know if such a treatment is even possible in a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T19:30:38.667" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T19:30:38.667" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27417" CreationDate="2020-04-06T05:39:40.703" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;NEVER GIVE YOUR CAT MILK. Cats and all other adult mammals are unable to digest lactose, it makes them and many of us ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The negative effect of giving milk is most likely stronger than the positive effect of glucosamine and the mineral supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Elmy say in her answer, if the vomit is dark it might be internal bleeding so you will need to take your cat to the vet for diagnosing and getting treatment of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving white fish is a good idea and you can use the juice from the white fish and mix glucosamine and mineral supplement into this; to get the juice out of the white fish, you need to do as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use one of your smallest pots add the white fish (it is best if it has been frozen), add a couple of spoons of water and slowly heat until the water boils. Use a fork to split up the fish so it gets heated evenly; use little heat, you need to keep the water/juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use a strainer to remove the juice or you can use the fish and juice as it is; cool it down and mix in the glucosamine and minerals hopefully your cat will eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others mention in the comments, giving only white fish over time is not good, and it will lead to lack of essential nutrients, so you need to go back to normal food after two days even if your cat manages to keep the food down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T19:28:09.083" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T19:28:09.083" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-06T07:24:51.963" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;She has this bump but it’s sticking pretty far out, I’m a little concerned. She started wiggling around when I tried looking at it. It’s too far from her stomach to be a nipple. Should I take her to the vet or no?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ygBvO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ygBvO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17618" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2020-04-06T07:50:49.107" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T07:50:49.107" Title="What is this bump on my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T15:56:11.510" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27389" CreationDate="2020-04-06T08:22:04.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know your setup, but one important detail about plecostomus (if I remember it correctly) is that they prefer dark places, as well as places to hide. If they do not have these conditions met, they might suffer from the stress, with any number of direct or side effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you pay more attention, you might notice that they are more active during the night, when there is no movement in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T08:22:04.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-06T10:38:22.337" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our blackheaded python has been wrapping on our hand but mostly herself when we pick her up. It began when she would be trying to burrow under us if we were seated and picked her up, but now she does it even when we first get her out of her tank. She does it any time through her feed cycle and at any time during the year. She is just over 2 years and 5’5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17619" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T10:38:22.337" Title="Why does our blackheaded python wrap on herself?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27417" CreationDate="2020-04-06T15:36:16.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You statement &quot;other than a slight thickening of the stomach lining&quot; sounds like my cat although in her case I was told intestines rather than stomach. She has vomited every couple days for most of her life on every food I've tried, even canned. She started losing weight because it got so bad a few months ago and the vet prescribed oral steroids to put on her food in the morning. She has been doing incredibly well both with keeping food down and has gained the weight back on a pretty low once a day maintenance dose. You might ask the vet if they think that's a reasonable option. I free feed dry food but put the steroid liquid on a portion of canned food in the mornings to make sure she gets it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17623" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T15:36:16.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27424" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-06T16:29:51.003" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats have been chewing on various cords throughout the house. The cords to the sound system and the wifi router have been particular favorite targets, and last night they rendered our speakers completely inoperable. Does anyone have experience with this behavior? Is there something I can do to deter it, or to prevent them from chewing on the cords, or make the cords un-chewable? Recommendations for something to wrap the cords in, perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16755" LastActivityDate="2020-04-07T15:25:36.290" Title="How to stop cats from chewing on cords" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27417" CreationDate="2020-04-06T18:07:25.573" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;A scan of the cat may indicate a blockage, so the food does not reach the stomach and overflows each day. In our cat (about that age — and she was miserable) there seemed to be no reasonable solution&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17624" LastActivityDate="2020-04-06T18:07:25.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27417" CreationDate="2020-04-06T23:09:54.663" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Food sensitivity is worth ruling out; I found out the expensive way with my cat (also a picky eater who lived on tuna food and was fed white fish daily as a youngster).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 11 years eating Felix tuna &amp;quot;chunks in jelly&amp;quot; (and Hill's t/d bites), having rejected other brands and other Felix types and flavours, he started, well, blowing chunks - once a month at first, once a fortnight, once a week... until after 8 months of this it became daily, then more than. I was mashing all his wet food so he could absorb it to the maximum and thank god he didn't lose weight. Apart from the vomiting he was his usual mad self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had an expensive ultrasound and bloodwork done which revealed a very slight thickening in the small intestine (non-cancerous they said) but nothing else suspicious. The vet had suggested hypoallergenic food at some point which was disgusting and expensive, and he wouldn't touch it. By this time I wasn't thinking clearly about what to do; the vet described the daily vomiting as 'mild' which was beyond frustrating, whilst advising that if it didn't improve the next step would be a laparotomy, slit from belly to throat to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually my brain kicked in and I tried him with the chicken flavour of the Felix chunks in jelly and the vomiting cleared up overnight, but on a few occasions I could see he was uncomfortable - sitting up licking his lips when he'd been fast asleep, which had been the prelude to the vomiting - and so put him on chicken Felix &amp;quot;as good as it gets&amp;quot;. Well, that was it, no more puking except when he bolts his food - touch wood, 13th birthday in a few month's time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just wish I'd thought earlier to just try different normal food, wasted nearly a year of his life. Don't know if it's tuna &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt; he can't tolerate or something in that Felix recipe; for the sake of the carpets I haven't done full testing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best and hope you find a solution for your poor cat soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17627" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T19:36:32.937" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T19:36:32.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27414" CreationDate="2020-04-07T14:41:26.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;is the middle of it wet pus? If so I'd be a bit worried esp. after 2 weeks in case there was an abscess under there. Can you email the photo to the vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17627" LastActivityDate="2020-04-07T14:41:26.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27424" CreationDate="2020-04-07T15:25:36.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several options to make cords unpalatable or less appealing to chew.  You can get purpose made products; either a bitter apple spray from the pet store, or a cord cover (sometimes sold as a cord tunnel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to set up an immediate solution with things you have at home, wrapping cords in a few layers of aluminum foil or some packing tape, sticky side out, makes chewing unappealing to most cats.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2020-04-07T15:25:36.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27140" CreationDate="2020-04-07T18:14:22.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would imagine that the nutrients in the hay would be quite poor in dried up, dusty, moldy hay. Generally speaking, the more color a plant has, the more nutrients it has. From the perspective of nutrients, yes, hay quality can affect a horse. I used to have to call several feed stores to get the best hay for my horses. Colic in a horse is very serious; it's cheaper to buy quality hay than the vet bills from colic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10481" LastActivityDate="2020-04-07T18:14:22.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27266" CreationDate="2020-04-07T18:25:23.713" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a fish dies whatever reason, it's not really unusual for tank mates, especially 'cleanup crew' type creatures, to make really quick work of the remains.  It doesn't really give any clues as to the cause of death, but eating any dead fish they come across is natural behavior for many fish, and you can't really assume that they killed the clownfish in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep an eye on the usual suspects (diseases, water quality, etc) as far as determining how your clown died and preventing any more losses-- it was almost surely not murder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2020-04-07T18:25:23.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27442" CreationDate="2020-04-07T19:01:50.937" Score="2" ViewCount="1314" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been on Royal Canin Feline Urinary SO dry food for a couple of years. However recently Royal Canin changed the formula for that food and it is making cats puke. All reviews starting January 2020 have pet owners reporting this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across &quot;Purina Pro Plan Focus Urinary Tract Health Formula Adult Dry Cat Food&quot; which does not require a prescription. I would like to know if it is comparable to Royal Canin Urinary SO and if it can be safely substituted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11203" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T12:48:03.253" Title="Royal Canin Feline Urinary SO vs. Purina Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-08T06:12:29.233" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a few nights of having our baby leopard gecko, the poor thing escaped because we did not have access to an appropriate tank until a few days later. After an hour of searching, we found it under a bookshelf with its tail missing and its arm broken up. We got a vet's help and it has been doing well recovering, with a fully grown-back tail and half of the broken arm, which is concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it has been a few months since then, but something off is happening. (his or her) once yellow body is now an odd brown color, and it seems that there are more spots around the mouth than normal. Also, I will hear it scream and go to check on it, and the poor little thing will be licking its bottom? Eating, drinking and temperatures are normal, but it seems stressed and jumpy. Can someone please tell me what is happening to my gecko?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17634" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T10:03:30.380" LastActivityDate="2020-06-12T10:07:05.693" Title="Leopard gecko seems sick" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;lizards&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-08T10:32:08.140" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog had his first set of vaccines at 8 weeks old. He was due his second set, but due to the ongoing situation this isn't currently possible. He is almost 12 weeks old now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will he need to start the course all over again once we get back to normality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17637" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-08T17:02:13.063" LastActivityDate="2020-04-08T17:02:13.063" Title="My dog's vaccination schedule was interrupted, what now?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27443" CreationDate="2020-04-08T11:44:18.943" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a young cat (9 months) who was raised indoors and has never had the chance to observe other cats using the dirt outside as a cat toilet. Until now, she has never shown any concern about her litter box - she has been OK with me filling it with whichever litter brand I bring home, and I only have one (it is a small flat, I don't know where I could place a second one) but she doesn't mind using it multiple times a day before I clean it. Except for a single accident when she was a young kitty the first week in my home, she has never urinated or defecated outside the box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been going out on her own, in stages, for several months now - at first I would walk her out on a leash, then bind her on a long leash on the patio and leave her there for a couple of hours, then open the door for her to roam freely, and for about a month now, she has a cat flap and comes and goes as she pleases. In all that time, she continued using the litter box as usual. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three days ago, I refilled the litterbox. It was a different brand than last filling, but I cannot say for sure if I have used it before. Since then, I have only scooped out one clump of urine, and no excrements at all. The cat is not urinating or defecating in the flat, I would have noticed the smell even if it was hidden somewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possible answer is that she, all of a sudden, learned to go to the toilet outdoors. I don't know what would have made her do so, and I don't see signs of digging in my few soft-earthed flowerbeds. Of course, she could be going in the neighbours' gardens :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility, which worries me a bit, is that she is ill, or dislikes the new litter so much that she is just holding it all in. She doesn't show outward signs of being ill, eats in mostly typical amounts (her appetite is not yet completely stable, I suspect growing phases), and shows no irritability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, are the bad scenarios real and/or likely? Also, how likely is it that a young cat, from one day to the next, learns to go to the toilet outside and starts preferring it to the point she doesn't use the litter box? With the flap, she still sometimes stands in front of the patio door, asking me to let her in, so in some sense, she has her habits :)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T18:24:40.500" Title="Outdoor cat suddenly stopped using litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27478" CreationDate="2020-04-08T13:18:15.317" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two year old female cat called Mymble. Her brother Snufkin is very chilled and comes out for walks with me on a lead, but Mymble is terrified of everything. She loves strokes, but if I try to follow her or pick her up, she runs or dodges away. I'm quite good at picking her up anyway, and once in my arms she stays perfectly still but I know she is terrified. As soon as I put her back down, she runs away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think she was less scared before, but a week ago she got covered in some foul-smelling dirt because she ran down a hole to escape from another cat. So I took her for a bath in my arms: she was very well-behaved but so frightened and cried out (she is usually very quiet). She is also terrified once a month when I have to put the wormer on the back of her neck: I do it when she is eating her wet food but now she is scared when I come close if she is eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would just like to find a way to make things like being picked up or getting the wormer less of a big deal so she realises they aren't as scary as she thinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16585" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T16:45:09.410" Title="My cat stays perfectly still in my arms but is scared of being picked up, how to make her relaxed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27434" CreationDate="2020-04-08T16:12:40.530" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your puppy will likely need to repeat some of the initial vaccinations if they become very overdue. It will vary somewhat by your location as to what vaccinations your veterinarian recommends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important that puppies receive their vaccines on time as their immune system is developing, and vaccination when young affords them the best protection as they get older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AAHA has produced the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aaha.org/CanineVaccinesOverdue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2017 AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines&lt;/a&gt; on dogs Overdue for vaccination. Here you can work out exactly which vaccines your puppy may need to restart based on what he has received already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would encourage you to see if any other clinics are open locally to vaccinate your puppy. Generally puppy and kitten vaccines are considered time sensitive, so many clinics will still be offering them. For an older animal it should usually be fine delaying vaccines a few months. My clinic, and most others in the area, are now collecting the animal from the car, then performing the exam, vaccines, treatments, etc. and discussing with the owner over the phone, to minimise contact between people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-04-08T16:12:40.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26342" CreationDate="2020-04-08T18:42:02.083" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a super-sensitive hearing factor and can actually recognize the sound of your car engine, etc. My wife can be coming home and still be a block away, and the dogs react. She doesn't have a specific schedule, so they are not using that as a cue. Their hearing does have a range; I can count to exactly when she will appear down the street from our house based on when they start barking. It only takes one dog to recognize her car engine for that bark to activate and get the rest of them barking. I have used phone tracking to prove this theory too. Also, if she borrows my car, they don't react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17639" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-09T13:51:02.423" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T13:51:02.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-09T00:18:44.263" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are getting ready to crate train our new puppy when she comes home.  We would like to have a crate on the first floor of our home for daytime use and another crate in our bedroom for night time.  Will this confuse her?  Once completely housebroken, she can sleep in a dog bed in our bedroom, but while she is little, we would rather have her in a crate at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17642" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T22:13:50.283" Title="Can I use two crates to crate train my new puppy?" Tags="&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-09T10:12:46.623" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi does my orange platy look pregnant? It’s been that size for a little while now so I’m not sure. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/49CBh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/49CBh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17644" LastEditorUserId="17645" LastEditDate="2020-04-11T08:00:01.437" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T16:27:50.367" Title="Is my orange platy pregnant?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-18T04:31:13.643" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27439" CreationDate="2020-04-09T11:26:04.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should simply use 2 different commands, one for the daytime crate and another one for sleep time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you should choose your commands according to the result you expect, not according to the things that might (or might not) yield the result. Some exaples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want your dog to go into the daytime crate, tell her &quot;into the crate&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want her to go into the nighttime crate or her dog bed, tell her &quot;sleep time&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want her to stay put and stop following you around, tell her &quot;stay&quot; instead of &quot;sit&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You want her to stop doing whatever she is doing, tell her &quot;no&quot; instead of &quot;come here&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you avoid her confusing what you mean and ultimately stop responding when she doesn't seem to get it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T11:26:04.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27431" CreationDate="2020-04-09T12:48:03.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot make medical recommendations, since I am not a vet, but as pet-owner during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown I suggest you call your vet's office. I was able to get a routine prescription over the telephone from my vet. My cat had been seen at the clinic last fall. Since he is still growing, I had to weigh him on the bathroom scales so the vet could prescribe the right doze. Another time, I called for medical advice that the person at the front desk was able to answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this makes me think it might be worth giving your vet's office a call to ask for advice, since the vet seems to know your cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T12:48:03.253" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27435" CreationDate="2020-04-09T13:18:45.900" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is your cat is acting on feline instinct to go to the bathroom outside. Admittedly, my experience with cats is limited to the one I got at age nine months last fall (now 15 months), and I don't know his history, since I got him at the shelter. But I notice him changing and developing new habits as he gets older, just like a human child developing over the months and years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He always uses the litter box, like you describe, but also used flowerbeds when I first had him outside on a leash. However, I live in an apartment building and was told that letting a cat defecate in the flower beds is not okay. Next time he wanted to do it, I didn't let him but quickly took him inside. Now he knows not to use the flower gardens but to use the litter box. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did he learn from other cats to use the flower beds? I don't know. Considering how easy it was to wean him from the habit, one would think it was just an instinct he was trying to act on, but when it didn't work out he gave up on it. All of this is just guess work on my part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he figured out how to climb up and down trees. I kept him on the leash and only let him go as far as I could reach until he knew how to get down on his own. He didn't learn from his mother, just from his own instinct. He is teaching himself to hunt as best he can when on a leash; he stalks squirrels, he watches the birds. When I showed him cat videos of birds and squirrels on my computer screen, at first he kept looking behind the monitor to see where they went. But now he knows that it's like watching out a window--he can only see what's in the little square of the monitor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this tells me that young cats act on instinct and learn by experience with their environment what works, what is comfortable, etc. If you can't smell or see anything amiss, my guess is that nothing is amiss. But, as stated, this is all guess work on my part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;how likely is it that a young cat, from one day to the next, learns to go to the toilet outside and starts preferring it to the point she doesn't use the litter box?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you describe suggests it could have happened over a number of days, even if you didn't notice right away. But you can see from my cat that they do try different things. If you are worried about your cat's health, by all means talk to your vet. Even in lockdown, I have been able to communicate with the vet's office and get routine prescription and other advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T13:18:45.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27474" CreationDate="2020-04-09T15:01:53.033" Score="1" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want an automated cleaning system for my leopard gecko cage so as to prepare for using soil in my cages later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im wondering if its okay to use the little orange isopods that some people put in lizard cages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will they eat them if they get really hungry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it cause any negative effects on the cage?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if anyone else has time, does this account for Crested geckos too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T14:58:02.420" Title="Can I use Isopods in a leopard gecko cage?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9514" CreationDate="2020-04-09T18:59:12.433" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're called &quot;vibrissae&quot;-- they're not defects, they serve an important function. They're sensitive receptors, like a cat's whiskers. They pick up air currents and alert a dog to any movement or change in their immediate surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17646" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T18:59:12.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-09T21:59:53.500" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;So in the past my betta's fin got snagged on a plant I learned should not have been in his tank at all.. This is my first fish and didn't realize that the only fake plats in the tank should be silk. He lost most of his upper fin from getting it snagged but it isn't growing back very well and it's been a long time.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also not positive, but I think his underside fin may have gotten another tear so I'm not sure what's causing it? Is it fin rot? I was wondering if someone could look at my fish and possibly tell me if that's what it is and what I can do to help him out.. I feel so terrible... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other thing I can add to help is that I recently was forced to use higher pH water in his tank than I normally do, his nitrates were getting high but the kind of water I usually get put in the tank I couldn't get form the store because of the coronavirus, so I had to use my tap water and conditioner which is actually a lot higher than what I usually do, but I had no choice, I didn't want him to be in dirty water.. Please help :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c6v9D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c6v9D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/P3Wko.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/P3Wko.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17647" LastActivityDate="2020-04-09T21:59:53.500" Title="Help with Fin Damage on my Betta" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T14:39:30.390" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-10T14:20:23.310" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, Ringo and Milo. Ringo we adopted when he was about a year and 6 months old. After about a few months, we adopted Milo and he was only 4 months at the time. We introduced them slowly keeping them in separate rooms for a few days and eventually they met a got along pretty well. They would play fight and seemed to enjoy each others company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Milo got older and bigger, he continued the same level of play fighting. The only difference is that he outgrew Ringo. Two years since adopting Milo, he currently sits at a solid 14lbs while Ringo is only 8lbs. I feel as if Milo knows that he is bigger and uses his size as an advantage. He would push Ringo out the way if he wants to get to where Ringo is sitting and when they play, Milo would just lay his whole body on top of Ringo to limit his movement. We tried to discourage this behavior as Milo aged but it seems to have gotten worse over time especially after my husband and I moved out of our apartment into our first house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband describes Milos behaviour as kitten like and jokes about how he doesnt know how to be his own cat. He constantly wants to play with Ringo. Ringo will mind his own business and out of nowhere, Milo would pounce on him and playfully bite him or slap him in the face. He will follow Ringo around the house and swipe at his feet or push him with his body. Even as I type this, Ringo is walking around the bedroom while Milo sits in the cat tree eyeballing Ringo waiting for him to leave the room so he can follow. He will chase Ringo around the house until Ringo finds a high spot that Milo cant reach. From there, Milo will meow and howl for what seems like forever and I am guessing its out of frustration that he cant reach Ringo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried just about everything we can think of. Feliway diffusers (what the vet recommended), calming treats and collars, playing with him more to burn off his energy, and the only form of discipline that Milo reacts to is a spray bottle with water. If he sees us grab it, he will stop what he is doing and literally seconds later, he will go back to attacking Ringo as if he forgot that we just had the water bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband and I have discussed that we don't want to rehome him. He is a sweet and affectionate cat, but we don't want him terrorizing Ringo constantly. Please any help would be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17653" LastActivityDate="2020-04-10T15:31:26.803" Title="Why does my cat bully my other cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-18T04:28:48.963" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27147" CreationDate="2020-04-10T15:05:18.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope everything turned out OK! I would say that if she hasn’t been back to the vet to take her. My 11 year old kitty (may she rest in peace) had subtle symptoms of the disease - in her case it was drinking more water than usual, increased diuresis and some weight loss - we thought it was because of the new food we put her on. Sadly, by the time we caught it and took her to the vet she was already lethargic and losing motor function, and it turned out she was in full-blown ketoacidosis. None of the vets we went to were well-versed in treating this and didn’t let us know how serious it was until it was too late. After three days thinking she was just weak, not in pain, we took her to the ER. They finally told us she had pancreatitis and fatty liver disease as well. After they were unable to treat her further we had to help her go to kitty heaven. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t mean to scare you with this, your cat is not showing any of the symptoms mine was, so if she is diabetic, it’s likely in the very very early and treatable stages!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I can say is that I’ve had that kitty since I was a toddler and ketoacidosis is a devastating sudden onset thing. She was completely fine and normal then three days later she had passed away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, try and get her diagnosed as soon as possible because I can speak for the fact that letting it run it's course unnoticed doesn’t turn out well for the animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks so much, stay safe and healthy! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17654" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:26:50.550" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:26:50.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26916" CreationDate="2020-04-10T15:15:12.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would take her to the vet immediately. As another reader said this could be diabetes. My cat had been showing subtle symptoms- drinking and urinating more with subtle weight loss- but we had yet to diagnose or recognize it. She began hiding in one room of the house, laying down and lethargic. Sadly I think she knew what was happening to her. By the time we took her to the vet she was in Ketoacidosis but the vet didn’t really know much about it or how serious it was so we let her rest thinking she was just weak from the insulin they had given her not in pain. &#xA;We ended up taking her to the Er and sadly had to help her to kitty heaven when she no longer responded to treatment. &#xA;I don’t mean to scare you but it seems that if this is what it is you could probably catch and treat it in time before this happens. Every day I wish that we had done something about it sooner or recognized that she wasn’t comfortable before we did. &#xA;If you can please take your kitty to the vet, because this kind of thing is manageable if caught and treated quickly. Thanks! Stay safe and healthy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17654" LastActivityDate="2020-04-10T15:15:12.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27448" CreationDate="2020-04-10T15:31:26.803" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you should stop all attempts at trying to discipline or use negative reinforcement on Milo. This includes the spray bottle. Milo understands that the spray bottle means he'll get squirted, but that isn't going to change his attitude to Ringo. You'll just continue like this forever: he'll drop what he's doing when the spray bottle is present, but still want to bully Ringo when he's not being threatened by it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of this behavior sounds like it's coming from boredom. I know you said you've tried playing with Milo to burn off energy, but it's really something you need to keep up. Make sure you really tire out Milo. Cats tend to play where they have a big burst of initial energy, then they'll sit and watch, then they might have another burst not quite as energetically as the first, and so forth, until they really get tired and lose interest. So make sure you keep at it until Milo really doesn't seem interested. Cats also often get more active around meal times, so a good time to do it is before feeding him. Hopefully it will encourage their natural habits of hunt and eat, then sleep.  You might also want to think about how to make the house more generally interesting for them, like by possibly getting more toys, making windows more accessible with cat furniture, or giving them food puzzle toys, and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you should do is change the environment to help discourage the bullying behavior. The bullying happens in part because there are places in your house where Milo can trap or ambush Ringo. For example, you describe Ringo as seeking refuge in a high location, and Milo sitting there meowing and waiting for him to come down. Another example is any place where Milo might lie in wait and then jump out when Ringo unwittingly walks by. Think carefully as to what these places are in your house, and what you can do to change the situation. Try to block access to any place where Milo might be hiding to ambush Ringo. Get more cat furniture, shelves, or rearrange your furniture, whatever you can, so that those high areas that Ringo goes to to get away from Milo have more than one way down. That way Milo can't trap Ringo up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I suspect that Ringo probably is using timid body language that makes him look like a tempting target to Milo, who is clearly the more confident cat. Bullies like targeting weak looking victims. Timid sort of body language is keeping the tail low, keeping on high alert when the other cat is in the room, or just fleeing the room when the other cat is near, and so forth. You want to try to encourage Ringo to be in the same room with Milo, and show him that nothing bad will happen. Hopefully then he will feel more confident, and act more confident as a result. You can do this by having regular play sessions with both of them in the same room. Keep them both distracted by play at the same time, and they will forget about each other. The trick is to make sure to really have both cats engaged at the same time, so neither is paying any attention to the other. You will need your husband to help you with this, because you really need one person to engage with each cat. Hopefully, this will convince Ringo that nothing bad will happen while he's in the same room with Milo, and he will naturally begin to act more confident around Milo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-04-10T15:31:26.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-10T20:40:16.660" Score="1" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AdxUN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AdxUN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I have a two months old puppy and she's adorable. I've never had a puppy before and I'm learning as I go, but I'm constantly terrified that she's going to get sick or hurt or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that one eye, in certain light, glows red, but the other eye does not. Is this ok? Do I need to take her to the emergency vet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also has one ear that is up and one that is usually down and kindof back. Is this ok? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to make sure she's completely safe and healthy! Any guidance would be appreciated! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17657" LastEditorUserId="17657" LastEditDate="2020-04-11T21:26:26.317" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T00:54:54.810" Title="Puppy's one eye is red in certain light" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27453" CreationDate="2020-04-10T20:54:37.873" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is a glow like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://goldennuggetsbulldogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_1559-e1554870817295.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then it is nothing to worry. It is like the &quot;red eyes in photos&quot; problem of earlier photography. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The eyes have a reflective skin inside them. It is there to support the ability to see &quot;in the dark&quot; ( it increases the small amount of light getting in the eye). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is something other than the picture shows, you should describe the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of doubt you should everytime call or visit a vet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-04-10T20:54:37.873" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27455" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-10T21:12:23.687" Score="4" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old female cat, named Flo, was just introduced to a 5 week old baby kitten that we had planned on rescuing. After the kitten had been here for about 4 hours, we soon realized Flo was not having it! She hissed and was very angry. She went to our room and a few hours later my husband fell in love with her, she then heard the kitten from the other side of the house and attacked my husband. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never has she been angry nor aggressive before. However, we rescued her at the age of 4 weeks and again, she’s currently almost 2 years old and has never been around another animal - she’s an strictly indoor cat. We now have taken the kitten to my best friends, whose going to keep her. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is - will Flo eventually forget about this kitten? Again, it was only about a 4 hour experience of the kitten being in our home, but Flo seems pretty upset at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17658" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T20:12:36.637" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T20:12:36.637" Title="How long will the cat remember an unpleasant, failed kitten introduction?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2020-04-11T02:59:20.403" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats takes a piece of dry food in his mouth and drops it in the water and waits a few seconds before he scoops it out with his paw and eats it. I tell everyone he’s making soup. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17661" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T02:59:20.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27455" CreationDate="2020-04-11T03:25:22.873" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, I don't know, but the best indicator will be if your cat is settled. She was frightened and hissing out of fear. She will settle quite quickly now the other cat is gone. Do not fret over it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats need to be introduced through closed doors, so they can smell and hear each other before being introduced in person. It takes time for cat introductions to run smoothly. There's lots of benefits for having more than one cat, if they get along. Introducing a kitten to an adult cat will usually end well with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not too late to salvage this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6610/if-cats-were-introduced-too-quickly-can-the-process-be-started-over&quot;&gt;If cats were introduced too quickly, can the process be started over?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of actually keeping the kitten. Cats often react badly to being introduced to other cats and can end up becoming the best of friends. Introducing a new cat as a kitten also helps to expedite this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/83/recommendations-for-introducing-kittens-to-adult-cats&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T03:25:22.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-11T04:59:50.663" Score="9" ViewCount="2733" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I was away, my husband gave my cat a bath and accidentally stepped on her head hard. She swelled up pretty bad, but she recovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time he gives her a bath now, her head swells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But besides that, she hates him. With a passion. Whenever he is home, she hides. The only time she comes out is when he is not home or sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hates when she hides from him, so he has tried blocking all of her hiding spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her behavior has become more self destructive because of this. She hid in the wall and it took some time and a lot of force to get her out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to mend their relationship or is it a lost cause? She has bonded with me and is normally quite fond of me, but she never had a chance to bond with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify from the comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is only bathed when she pees or poops on herself. She has night terrors and pees the bed sometimes. I keep telling him she needs a safe place to hide, but he argues that our other cat doesn't feel the need to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he was to try and repair their relationship where could he start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will roam around and is quite social when he is gone or asleep. She is so sweet and lovable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is just terrified. I feel bad that I can see this wonderful side of her, but all he gets to see is fear and pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17662" LastEditorUserId="2660" LastEditDate="2020-04-13T20:36:57.243" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T12:40:54.677" Title="Husband stepped on the cat's head, and now she hates him" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27458" CreationDate="2020-04-11T11:07:43.747" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is terrified of your husband and there is no chance of them bonding at this point and possibly never, unless he metamorphoses into a different person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact he is angry with her when she tries to escape, because she is terrified is very telling. Cutting off her escape routes are cruel. Cats hate being bathed and do not need to be routinely bathed and most never have a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to accidentally tread on a cat's head whilst bathing them and inflict this type of injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not leave your cat alone with your husband. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop bathing your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible find a kind home for your cat with experienced cat lovers who understand fearful cats. She needs a lot of care and a safe environment. She needs time to relax and be able to come to people she trusts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, but your husbands actions are at best misguided, at worst sadistic. This is not want you want to hear and not the best way to welcome someone to the site. I do encourage you to post here about your cat and to seek help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To respond to the extra information you've provided:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way her can repair the relationship is to not go after her and allow her to come to him, which may never happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow her to hide. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get her vet checked to deal with the swollen head and the peeing and pooping herself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-13T20:35:59.457" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T20:35:59.457" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27458" CreationDate="2020-04-11T15:34:11.760" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know enough about cats to give an answer to how and if the relationship between the cat and husband can be repaired. But one thing got me to react:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every time he gives her a bath now her head swells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something is medically wrong with the cat. Take her to a vet and get her checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17669" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T15:34:11.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27440" CreationDate="2020-04-11T16:27:50.367" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is an adult male in the tank , she is gravid( carrying developing eggs). Same is true of guppies,swords, mollies,etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T16:27:50.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27458" CreationDate="2020-04-11T18:05:48.980" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't get offended, but reading your description I think that your husband's actions and attitude towards the cat are bordering animal abuse and reek of aggressive frustration. I think the best you could do is find new home for the cat, considering her best emotional comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the greater good, I think your husband shouldn't be allowed in to come ever again in physical proximity of not only your cat, but any other animals. Well, maybe there are exceptions: I wouldn't mind him coming near an elephant as an elephant should be fairly safe from being accidentally crushed by his clumsy, stompy foot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also just beyond me how could anyone &quot;accidentally&quot; step on cat's head. It's horrific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I apologize for my emotional and judgemental tone, I know it's inapriopriate but I'm severely shocked and deeply disturbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-04-11T18:05:48.980" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27464" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-11T18:32:03.620" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen some posts about hedgehogs eating eggs (both cooked and raw), but I introduced mine to a bit of an eggshell with some of the raw whites in it, and you know what: she wasn't interested in the whites. She started chomping on the shell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped her, but I wonder: is she interested in the shell only because it reminds her of chitin, or is it really good for her? Does anyone know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17672" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T22:38:01.883" Title="Hedgehogs eating the egg shells" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;&lt;hedgehog&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27453" CreationDate="2020-04-12T00:54:54.810" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a reflective layer in their eyes known as the tapetum lucidum. This layer is reflective, and helps with night vision by reflecting light back into the retina, and thereby increasing the available light. Normally, if you take a photo of a dog eye straight on while using a flash, the pupil will appear yellowish or greenish due to the reflection from the tapetum lucidum, although it may also appear other colors in the photo as well due to various conditions. However, if the dog's eye consistently appears red in photos, it is possible &lt;a href=&quot;https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/01/09/dog-eyes.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;it lacks the tapetum lucidum in that eye&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogingtonpost.com/whats-wrong-with-my-dogs-eye/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;As discussed on the Dogington Post&lt;/a&gt;, lacking a tapetum lucidum isn't necessarily concerning. The dog will presumably otherwise have a normal life, with poorer vision in low light conditions than other dogs. It may also be possible the dog only lacks the tapetum lucidum in the one eye, or by natural variation the eyes aren't entirely symmetrical in the face, resulting in only the one eye showing eye shine at a time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should be on the lookout for is if the eye shine in the eyes, in the case they are both shining the approximate same color, are still consistently distinctly different, which could be an indication of a problem with the retina of one of eyes, or if the different eye shine is being caused by differently sized pupils, which is also a possible sign of medical problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, it most likely isn't something you need to schedule a vet appointment for, but it would be good to ask about it in your next visit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T00:54:54.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27458" CreationDate="2020-04-12T04:27:34.660" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of evidence that animals are not only intelligent, they also have emotions relating to our own. Your cat is terrified of your husband, who (I need to say) almost killed her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course she wants nothing whatsoever to do with him. It's not like an apology would help. But your husband's expectations of the cat are completely lacking in empathy. He is angry whenever the cat rejects him. Maybe he feels guilty and wants to make it the cat's responsibility to end that feeling instead of just owning it and dealing with it like an adult should be able to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any way to mend their relationship or is it a lost cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is probably a lost cause, but let the cat decide, and at her own pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to your husband, imagining it's the cat who almost killed him, and whenever he is afraid of the cat, she punishes him for his fear. I hope he can see his actions at best as being unkind towards the cat, and at worst, very damaging to her emotionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not going to tell you to give up your cat, but &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; need to put &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; foot down where the cat is concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2020-04-15T03:32:50.217" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T03:32:50.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27147" CreationDate="2020-04-12T05:01:10.900" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat out of nowhere started drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot, also lost a lot of weight. He is a long haired cat that weighed between 20 and 25 lbs. Just a big happy ball of fur. This went on for about a week and we took him to the vet sadly to find out he is now diabetic and had lost close to 10lbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is extremely important to have your cat tested as soon as possible. The earlier you catch it the more possibly you could fix it with a simple change in your cat's diet. My poor cat was in mid- to late stages and has been on insulin ever since we found out. And we still had to change his food to a special diabetic prescription food! But he takes his insulin shots twice a day like it's been going on his entire life. New vet told me I need to keep track of his blood levels and now that is a constant struggle to get done. I have only gotten it done twice and I had to use the pads on his paws. He hates it but it's very necessary to try to get so I can know whether to decrease or increase his insulin levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17676" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T12:20:42.590" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T12:20:42.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27464" CreationDate="2020-04-12T07:24:41.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost all animals will eat eggshells if they have a chance and it is not dangerous in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An eggshell contains two layers the outer layer consists of calcium and other minerals,the inner layer is made of chitin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an animal is low on calsium it will eat eggshells or other sources of calcium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an animal is low on chitin it will eat food containing chitin like eggshells(chitin is the material claws and fur is made off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eggshells is not dangerous for hedgehogs,if the amount of eggshell eaten is higher than the hedgehog need then it is not absorbed or removed from the body in the natural way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T07:24:41.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15125" CreationDate="2020-04-12T13:46:33.010" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the reason that your caterpillar might not be eating is either because it is preparing for its molt or shed as some may say, or maybe because it has been in contact with harmful substances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17678" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:46:12.823" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:46:12.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27341" CreationDate="2020-04-12T14:51:29.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is probably just scared, be it because of a bird or just a shadow. Going from the safety of a vivarium to outside is a scary thing for them, considering how easily they can be prey. See this link about their &quot;third eye&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anapsid.org/parietal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.anapsid.org/parietal.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Taking him outside more regularly may get him more used to it. Also, when outside, perhaps put him in a cage that you can cover the top of while he gets used to the surroundings, and slowly remove the cover every time you take him outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T14:51:29.583" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27444" CreationDate="2020-04-12T14:58:02.420" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the setup of your current cage? You mention doing so as a preparation for using soil, but if you don't currently use soil/a loose substrate they can live in you can't have isopods.&#xA;The leopard gecko can eat them yes.&#xA;As for crested geckos, I don't personally keep them, but I assume it'd work the same. The only problem I can see is that crested geckos are arboreal and therefore may not always defecate in areas the isopods can access easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T14:58:02.420" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27433" CreationDate="2020-04-12T15:08:06.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There could be multiple reasons for all of these symptoms (spots around the mouth could be mouth rot, going a different colour could mean she's too cold, licking her butt can be normal but if she's doing it very regularly it could be irritation from worms or something), this combined with the fact she is stressed and jumpy points to the fact that she isn't well. I think you should take her to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T15:08:06.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27368" CreationDate="2020-04-12T15:16:00.710" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does she have sufficient hides (at least 2 with one being a moist hide)? If not, she is probably just trying to hide. If she does, digging is a natural behaviour. Consider either replacing the reptile carpet with a loose substrate or providing a dig box (a box full of loose substrate). I use Arcadia EarthMix Arid in my leopard geckos enclosure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T15:16:00.710" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27436" CreationDate="2020-04-12T15:39:56.763" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is quite usual for cats to be comfortable being touched and petted and at the same time to freak out at instant just when picked up because their feet lose contact with solid ground - they no longer have control over their bodies and it feels for them like suddenly losing balance or falling off of solid surface. So I'd suggest trying to pick her in a way that her feet aren't dangling loose in the air but instead are constantly touching and pressing against your body, if that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the wormer I don't really know if you mean applying deworming drug or a collar on her neck, but if it's really a big problem I would ask vet for tips, maybe they could give you a formula for calming herbs mixture or ultimately anti-anxiety medications but I hope medications wouldn't be needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you could try to make applying the wormer emotionally connected with some pleasurable experience, I mean, after applying give your cat lots of attenion, petting, some special treats of food type she loves the most reserved for being given after applying the wormer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I am not a professional vet and I am just trying to help by writing what would make sense to me. So I think vet's advice would surely be more valuable than my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T15:39:56.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27436" CreationDate="2020-04-12T16:45:09.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One approach that has helped me with some cats is gradual desensitisation. I start by lifting her ever so slightly, not enough so that her feet leave the floor, just enough to take some of the weight off. Once she's completely comfortable with that, I lift a little more so that the front paws come off the ground, but the back paws stay on the ground. When she's comfortable with that, I lift her entire body an inch or so off the ground, and then put her down immediately. Then I move on to lifting her into my arms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that helps with skittish cats is to hold them with exaggerated gentleness, as if she were the most fragile and precious thing in the world. (Even cats who are completely comfortable with being picked up &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; this!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For any treatment that you know she won't like (baths, worming, etc.), I use the &quot;sandwich&quot; technique. I give her a small treat before, and after the process is over, I give her another small treat. I believe that during the process they are anticipating the second treat that they know from experience is coming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip that I discovered by accident: reverse psychology. Sometimes I need to move my skittish cat from one room to another. The first time, I put my hands on her as if I were going to lift her, and she darted from the room. The second time I needed to move her, she had figured out what was happening. She wanted to stay put, so I actually had to lift her slightly before she left the room. Each time it took a little more lifting on my part to get her to move. She was gradually getting desensitised to being picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another tip for spot flea treatments and wormers. I think they feel cold to the cat; it's like having someone put an ice cube down the back of your neck. But I've found that applying the treatment slightly further back, just behind the shoulder blades, doesn't upset them as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2020-04-12T16:45:09.410" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-13T05:44:52.290" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trying to feed ball python. If I put my hand in tank to spray water for humidity water mix soil or any reason the snake shows no interest and goes to hide head. But if the rat is in tank at the same time fingers become target and main focus. Its repeatedly striking but not coiling around the prey to kill and eat. This is a recent problem that I have never seen. Will rush to strike back off and just stare ready to strike if close enough. Is it warning because its to close when snake dosnt want to eat? Close to 3 pounds and has been eating year round at least once every other week. There are no signs of affected eyesight from left over skin from shedding&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17685" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-04-14T14:35:06.413" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T15:06:46.643" Title="What's going on" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-18T04:30:55.550" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-13T16:10:58.800" Score="2" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a halfmoon male betta fish a few months ago. He is in a two gallon tank, water exchanges happen 30% every week, I use water conditioner and keep a somewhat regular feeding schedule and he also has a snail for a friend. When I went to feed him today I noticed that he didnt come to me like he normally does. I then put out a few pellets that I use as treats and he put them in his mouth and spit them back out. I literally spent an hour this morning trying to figure out what's wrong and I'm at a loss. I don't think he has fin rot but I'm not quite sure. Im also going to do a full clean of the tank today to see if that helps! Any suggestions??&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tYeNv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17686" LastEditorUserId="17724" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T07:06:31.537" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T07:06:31.537" Title="My betta is acting strange, loss of appetite and won't eat pellets!" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-04-17T05:34:50.780" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-13T18:52:50.750" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a condominium complex where about 12 feral cats have made their home. The cats are fairly well-established, they tolerate people well, they are well-fed, they are all fixed, and some of them are prone to fighting over their territory. Over the past few months, one cat in particular (female, 1 year old) has gotten beat up a lot, by about four other cats (two males, two females, not all at once). The victim cat doesn't run away until the fight gets bad. Sometimes she runs away screaming and bloody. I would think that this cat would have quickly learned to avoid trouble, and to flee at the first sign of it, but when another cat starts getting aggressive, she sits there as if everything is perfectly fine. How normal is that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried feeding the victim cat in different locations, which just added to the fighting, because she got too close to other territories. We've tried keeping her indoors most of the time, but one of the adoptive family-members is allergic, made worse by the fact that he is home all the time now due to COVID-19 restrictions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For everybody's sake (cats and people), we want to relocate this cat, and we're trying to decide if we should risk putting her in a new place that has other cats, or if she should be the only cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that it can be tricky to relocate a feral cat, but I think this cat will adapt easily, as she did with the current adoptive family. We just want to find the best chance of success wherever she goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17687" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T18:20:30.930" Title="How normal is it for a non-dominant cat to stand its ground in a fight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27464" CreationDate="2020-04-13T19:04:13.657" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Avian (bird) eggshells are almost entirely composed of calcium carbonate, which is non-toxic and serves as a great source of mineral calcium. If you were to buy calcium supplements in pharmacy, they are almost guaranteed to be calcium carbonate as well (but also mixed with fillers to help forming pills). Upon consumption it is also acting as a pH buffer which decreases stomach juice acidity by increasing it's pH. Animals, and humans as well, can somewhat sense their own nutritient deficencies and have according carvings for things which are not considered edible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually there is a condition called pica which is apetite for seemingly unedible things. Pregnant women are common to experience it. For example, if one has compulsion for crunching ice cubes, that could signal iron deficency but there is no rule. I know of a case of animals (domesticated pigs) eagerly eating amounts of charcoal without ill effects. Sometimes it could of course signal deeper health problems, and you should prevent your animals from eating obviously poisonous things. But eggshell cravings are common and I could only suggest you to consider  grinding them into a powder to enable easier consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-13T22:38:01.883" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T22:38:01.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27439" CreationDate="2020-04-13T20:33:46.403" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am presuming that you are going to bed at the same time as your puppy. The easiest way is to close the door. Continue to put the puppy in the proper pen with the door closed until it knows where it should be when you are in the room or not.My presumption hangs facts that you are in the bedroom when you want the puppy in the night pen and you are not in it when you want it in the day pen.Close the door with the puppy on the proper side of the door and continue to put it in the proper pen until it learns which pen to go in. How long it will take depends on the learning curve of the breed of dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T20:33:46.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20570" CreationDate="2020-04-13T20:46:11.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than likely you dog has separation anxiety. The are several causes for it and several cures. One of which can be cured with medicine. Others include having company with another pet. At first talk to your vet about as many symptoms as the pet has. If the symptoms are different when you do different things make sure you tell your vet that. The time it take is not the same with each dog. And if you are unlucky, it may never change no matter what you do. There is no generic fix for the problem.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastActivityDate="2020-04-13T20:46:11.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-14T05:37:16.550" Score="18" ViewCount="5627" Body="&lt;p&gt;She is a 17 year old female indoor cat. I have only had her for almost 7 years. She's always loved food, but she began turning her nose up to even her favorites. About a week later, she isn't eating even a tablespoon of food in a day. She was drinking water but today had none in almost 24 hours. She stays in a corner in my bedroom where it's dark. She has never slept there before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I take her to a vet, I can't go in because of the coronavirus. I don't want to leave her there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17690" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-02T21:24:55.053" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T04:59:02.057" Title="What are the signs of an old cat dying?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27487" CreationDate="2020-04-14T05:55:55.590" Score="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an emergency, so you need to get her to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat stops eating for more than 24 hours it can cause fatty liver syndrome; this might be fatal in itself. And the illness that is the cause for not eating must be solved as fast as possible or your cat will die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to call your vet to find the closest emergency veterinary service; where I live the vets are still open for emergencies but not for the regular services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hepatic_lipidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hepatic_lipidosis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer was made during the covid lockdown,most veterinary services have resumed normal operation by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-07-03T04:59:02.057" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T04:59:02.057" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6899" CreationDate="2020-04-14T11:01:03.383" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my 2 cats does this and I was really worried about it. We found out that he suffers from feline leukemia and thought it might be connected to that, so the last time I took him to the vet I asked about that. The vet asked me if it only happened when he is falling asleep and I said that from my observations it's only then. She then told me that if that's the case, it shouldn't be a cause for concern and that it's normal. It calmed me down a bit, but it still looks a little scary. As the poster said, it looks like he is shivering from cold and it comes in short spasms, his body shakes for a second or two, then stops and shakes again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17693" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-14T14:36:18.970" LastActivityDate="2020-04-14T14:36:18.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27498" CreationDate="2020-04-14T16:28:00.083" Score="3" ViewCount="601" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was hoping someone might have some advice for a dog who seems to need permission to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We rescued our four-year-old jack russell/pomeranian cross from an animal shelter last year; we know his previous owners kept him in a crate, alone in their flat, for up to 12 hours a day, which may have shaped some behaviour. He's lived with us for just over a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We notice a lot of the time he seems to need permission to eat his meals. &lt;strong&gt;It's not consistent&lt;/strong&gt; - though it has been happening more regularly recently - and I haven't been able to see a pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will often watch me make his dinner, getting excited for it, even crying or barking if I'm taking too long, even pre-emptively doing tricks as if he thinks I'll give it to him faster, then it goes down and... nothing. He won't eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not that he's not hungry. He'll often come up to me crying to be fed. But he seems to need permission to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I handfeed him, he'll eat. Sometimes he needs to be handfed the full bowl. Other times, he'll eat by himself after the first handful. Sometimes he'll eat by himself if I just sit on the floor beside him and encourage him without touching the bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But other days he'll just leap in and start eating as soon as I put the food down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched the Stack before asking in case anyone else had had this problem, but the questions and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16315/dog-refuses-to-eat-unless-fed-by-hand&quot;&gt;suggestions I've seen&lt;/a&gt; don't fit with my dog's inconsistent behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About a third of the time, he'll jump in and eat no problem. The rest of the time, he either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;needs me to start handfeeding him. After the first mouthful, I can leave the room and he'll eat the whole bowl.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;needs me to handfeed the whole bowl. There is no pattern to why or when.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;needs me to sit on the floor, near the bowl. Not touch it. Not handfeed. Just not be on the couch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked through suggestions on other answers and I don't think they fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I don't think this is to do with noise or with the bowls themselves.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His bowls are regular metal dog bowls, thoroughly washed after every meal. We've tried with other bowls and puzzle feeder toys (which he'll sometimes solve and gobble up from immediately, and sometimes solve and leave the food in unless I handfeed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe noise from his collar bothers him as he drinks from his metal water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I don't think this is to do with wanting extra affection.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's so, so rarely alone. I work from home and always have him in the room with me. He spends most of the day asleep on my lap. We're obviously not going anywhere right now, but we always get a dog sitter in when we're gone for more than two hours. And we give him a lot of love and attention through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past eight months or so, we've done physiotherapy every night before bed. He gets handfed treats in return for doing some muscle building exercises. He knows the pattern and will bark if we're taking too long brushing our teeth before we start, so he knows he gets uninterrupted, both adults fully engaged, lots of treats and scratches time every night. (And we know he's not afraid to ask for things if he wants them! He'll also nose my hand and drop toys at my feet to initiate play time through the day - he's not shy!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I don't think it's to do with not being hungry.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He isn't the kind of dog to eat everything he's offered - if he's full, he'll stop eating, even if he's offered treats. (We learned that the hard way in training class!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know he will reduce his intake if he's not getting his usual exercise - we saw that last year, after he had surgery - so I'm not too worried that he's not eating three meals a day while we're in quarantine lockdown, but the number of times in the last few weeks that he's cried to be fed when his bowl has been out, and he's not gone near it until I've sat down with him scares me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I don't think it's something in his environment.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's the only pet in the house. There are no children, just two loving, sensible adults. The problem happens across different rooms in the house and when we put the food in different positions. He also eats fine some nights with TV on or noise from the neighbours, so I can't spot a pattern with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I don't think it's the food itself.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he was only eating it when he was handfed, it might be different, but because he eats it sometimes when I'm just sitting with him, not touching him or giving him praise, makes me doubt it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it's important, he gets kibble mixed with meat. We make sure the kibble is covered, to make it more interesting. We switch between meats, so he doesn't have three of the same meal in one day, and alternate between pate, jelly, and gravy. While he definitely has favourites, there's no pattern on what he won't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a sprinkle of cheese on top will get him to wolf the whole bowl done. Other times, he still won't touch it. I honestly can't spot what the difference is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I don't think it's a medical issue.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can't say definitively, he had severe gastritis over Christmas and had a lot of tests and scans then, which came back fine. (Though we learned he had protruding discs, which we're now treating with steroids.) This behaviour has been happening for a long time, so I think we would have caught it had it been medical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, he also had luxating patellas when we adopted him, which he's had surgery for, and he'd been diagnosed with lumbar spondylosis, for which he regularly sees a physiotherapist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I know he's often in discomfort, it does seem more behavioural to me, as if he'll eat after I give him permission to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any ideas what could be causing this and what we can do to encourage him to eat when he's hungry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My running theory is I'm in some kind of &lt;em&gt;The Prestige&lt;/em&gt; situation where I really adopted two dogs. Otherwise, no idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: our rescue dog wants permission to eat. Two thirds of the time, he won't eat without me sitting beside him or handfeeding him. He'll wait for hours and then cry from hunger.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A third of the time he eats fine without me doing anything.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is no obvious pattern to the behaviour.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17697" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T07:45:51.770" Title="Help! My dog wants permission to eat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27482" CreationDate="2020-04-14T19:23:04.463" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this situation is an artifact of numerous amount of these animals concentrated in common area, to which they are drawn by being fed. And while there could be enough food supply to feed all of these cats, they are also simultaneously competing for territories which will result in sparking conflicts in case there is no clear signal understanding between them. Cats are not really social animals: unlike dogs, etc. they don't have hardwired concepts as dominance, submission or praising the leader of the pack, which I suspect might further enable this kind of worrying situation. She is probably desperate for food as this place is her somewhat only source so she sustains these injuries because she knows there could be no alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to whether this behavior is normal: I can't really tell but regardless of that she would be better rehomed to different, more peaceful place. In the wilderness it usually solves itself in the way that area of given size could &quot;feed&quot; much less inhabiting animals, especially if they are predators. But again, even if feral, they are fed by humans and aren't really wild animals so their behavior is going to be more or less an artifact of nature rather than nature itself. So you've already tried keeping her indoors, even if that didn't work out, you have already put more effort into making her life better than what majority of people would. How did she behave while indoors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately it's just how the nature works, even if it's cruel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-15T18:20:30.930" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T18:20:30.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27300" CreationDate="2020-04-14T19:35:10.533" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to take another guess and tell you it looks somewhat like a decomposing residue of the inert material that is sometimes used to attach potted aquatic plants to their pots. It could be the case if you've recently bought any of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-04-14T19:35:10.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27458" CreationDate="2020-04-15T00:20:36.417" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ana, I'm going to make a bold statement, but &lt;em&gt;cats do not have &quot;night terrors&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you've seen her going into a spasm, shaking uncontrollably and peeing and/or pooing herself, then &lt;em&gt;your cat is almost certainly having epileptic seizures&lt;/em&gt;. It's not just people who have those.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have helped to care for a cat who suffered a head injury which lead to some degree of brain damage.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She was subsequently diagnosed with and prescribed daily medication to treat epilepsy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are times she goes for days without showing any symptoms, and other times where she might have 2 seizures in a single day. She completely loses control, falls on her side with her legs straight &amp;amp; rigid, and shakes &amp;amp; cries. If she hasn't emptied her bladder recently then it all comes out onto her &amp;amp; the floor.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yes she needs a bath afterwards - which she tolerates unhappily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The description you've given, and the fact that you know that your husband has stepped on her head accidentally at least once lead me to believe that you urgently need to have her examined by a good vet, who needs to be told about her head injury and the fact that she loses control of herself to the point where she soils herself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last 6-7 years helping with cat rescue organizations, we have fostered easily over 100 different cats in our house, and the only ones which soiled themselves were kittens too young to know any better, and this one girl I described above.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;For an adult cat, this is not normal behavior at all.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please, take her to a vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also fully agree with what everyone else has said regarding her and your husband.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The way he is behaving is not helping &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;She needs her safe spaces, and if she ever comes to him it'll be on her terms, not his. Ideally, you need to take over the baths when she needs them, because it seems that any contact with him only stresses her more.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By all means block off places where she can get into the walls because that's not safe for her, but please give her some places where she can hide &amp;amp; feel safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10852" LastEditorUserId="10852" LastEditDate="2020-04-15T12:23:50.793" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T12:23:50.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-15T04:44:09.623" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two dogs, a male 11-year-old and female 8-month-old, both border collie and Australian cattle dog mixes. My partner raised the male from a puppy, and we got the female when she was about two months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, when the puppy tries to get attention from my partner, the adult dog will come over and aggressively bark and snap at the puppy. This happened occasionally before, but is becoming more and more frequent, and he seems to be getting more aggressive. She will yelp and cry, lie on her back, and shrink away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's odd to me is that the adult does not react this way when the puppy seeks attention from me, and I'm trying to understand why. We both generally treat the dogs the same, however there are a few differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I usually give them their food in the morning as I'm up first, and my partner gives them their food in the evening&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take them running a few times a week (occasionally together, but generally just one or the other since handling two is complicated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My partner does her work from the couch where the dogs can be with her, while I'm at a desk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The behavior is alarming to us, but we're wondering if this is something we should be concerned about, and how we can address it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17703" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T22:11:56.420" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T22:11:56.420" Title="Adult dog aggressive with puppy around my partner but not me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27496" CreationDate="2020-04-15T06:36:56.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Reasons for this behavior&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why this happens only with your partner is quite simple: the dog is jealous or territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have personalities, just like humans. The adult dog was raised by your partner, so it's no wonder he likes her a lot. He wants her all for herself and doesn't want her to share her affection with the puppy. And just like with a spoiled child, you can (and probably should) regulate this behavior with your reactions to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The puppy's reactions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I wouldn't worry too much about the puppy's reaction. I would prefer the adult wouldn't be harsh enough to make her cry out, but we'll get to that in a second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She will yelp and cry, lie on her back, and shrink away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is picture-perfect submissive behavior an great dog-to-dog communication. Puppies instinctively submit to all members of the pack until they reach puberty, and they are very theatrical about it. Even adult dogs often yelp when they submit, even though the dominant dog didn't actually hurt them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What to do next?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should tell your adult dog that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. If you don't comment on it, it could escalate to their situations as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as you see the adult dog coming to interrupt the puppies affection seeking, look him in the eyes and tell him &amp;quot;No!&amp;quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he doesn't stop, try keeping him physically away from the puppy with your outstretched arm or leg.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If that still doesn't work, use your hand like a mouth (like a sock puppet without the sock) and &amp;quot;nip&amp;quot; the adult dog in the side of his neck or torso as soon as he starts being aggressive. &lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; actually grab or hurt him. Just nudge your fingertips into his side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this establishes you as the pack leader, as the one who decides what kind of behavior is acceptable here. It also teaches your adult dog to turn down the aggression. I suspect that he'll still dominate the puppy, but that is perfectly normal and natural behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important that you correct unwanted behavior as soon as possible. When the adult dog has the puppy yelping and rolling under him is the latest possible moment for a correction. It would be better to read the body language and warn him off as soon as he shows aggressive body language like stiff posture, licking the front of his lips or holding the tail very high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To aid you in understanding your dogs body language and mindset, please have a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/8bg_gGguwzg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Youtube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T22:06:09.840" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T22:06:09.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27491" CreationDate="2020-04-15T07:45:51.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reduce the number of daily meals to 2 or 1 and stop worrying. He'll eat when he's hungry and he won't when he's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's exactly the same with my dog and he wasn't a rescue. He's all excited while I prepare his food, then takes a sniff at his bowl, turns around and leaves. Some dogs tend to eat everything they can get, others are better at self-regulating and keep a healthy body weight automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own dog also prefers company while eating. For us it's enough to stand in his line of sight, but he'll stop eating immediately if we turn to leave. It's no big deal for us, so we keep him company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you it's important to understand how wild dogs and wolves eat naturally. They don't hunt a rabbit 3 times a day to have regular meals, they hunt a deer (or similar big animal) or find a carcass every other day, fill their stomaches with as much as they can fit in and don't eat anything the next day or two. Our domesticated dogs have the luxury of a full food bowl every day, but their bodies are still well equipped to deal with irregular meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anecdotal side note: I know that in Germany in the 70's and 80's police service dogs got only 6 meals a week because it was considered healthy for them to fast one day. Don't know if that's still common practice, though.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, 3 meals a day is too much for a self-regulating dog. They honestly get bored with all the food and it becomes less appealing than treats, which are not available all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give him only 1 or 2 meals a day, wait for 20 minutes, then remove the leftover food.&lt;/strong&gt; You can either cover it up or put it in the fridge for his next meal, but either let it warm back up to room temperature or put it into the microwave for a few seconds before serving him the next meal. Cold temperatures reduce the smell and taste of food, so it might be unappealing right out of the fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;strong&gt;stop hand feeding him.&lt;/strong&gt; You already found related questions where dogs wouldn't eat without being hand fed. You don't want to add that to your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to keeping him company, I don't see a reason why you shouldn't if you want. Maybe try keeping a little more distance and don't sit right next to him. The actual reason why sitting right next to him seems to work could be that he perceived you as food competition. He might have thought that you were interested in eating his food, so he ate it himself instead of sharing. This kind of behavior is very common in homes with multiple pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To monitor your dogs health and keep from worrying if he doesn't eat, you can &lt;strong&gt;monitor his weight.&lt;/strong&gt; Simply step on a body scale while holding him, then again without him and substract the second wheight from the first. Be aware that different scales have different ranges of accuracy. It might seem like he lost a pound in a day when it's just the body scale being unprecise. Also keep in mind that it's natural and healthy for dogs to loose wheight during summer and gain (some) wheight during winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T07:45:51.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27458" CreationDate="2020-04-15T12:40:54.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hiding in the shadows is a normal thing cats do - your other cat may do it significantly less because he is bigger, because he is more relaxed, less noticeably compared to the other one, or maybe because he doesn't have as much to fear as your other cat (who seems to, reasonably, be afraid of the man who blocks off all their hiding places and one time stepped on their head). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; the circumstances involved here, cats &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; to go into dark cramped places - it makes them feel safe and comfortable.  By blocking off access to those places, you are going to &lt;strong&gt;severely&lt;/strong&gt; stress out your cat, and make them even less sociable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stop discouraging your cat's cat-like behavior.  Let them have quiet places they can be safe in without restriction.  You don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; them to be out in public all the time, and it will do wonders for their mood.  They may not want to snuggle or cuddle more than they currently do, but &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; will be happier and healthier, and that should be your primary concern.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T12:40:54.677" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27025" CreationDate="2020-04-15T13:09:47.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my chickens, I know that chickens themselves can gulp down pretty big things, but maybe not on the order of peas. If you're worried about the chickens getting hurt from trying to eat the peas and you can't find a crusher that works with them, then I would recommend a feed bag / hammer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just take an empty feed bag (pretty durable plastic), put  as many peas in as you want, close the bag (if it's resealable) or tape it closed (if it's not). Then proceed to whack the peas with a hammer; keep going until you can't hit any lumps (peas). This should leave you with a lot of crushed peas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I haven't tried this on a scale of a &quot;great load&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(200-300 kgs)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so this method may not work for you. My feed bags hold around 25 kilograms, so that would take around a dozen iterations of this method. If you have bigger feed bags, that might improve the speed. However, I still think that it might take a while, so maybe pick up a hen and sit with her while hammering the peas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17706" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T13:09:47.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27480" CreationDate="2020-04-15T15:06:46.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are defensive strikes. Your fingers being the focus is probably just a result of the smell of food plus warm wiggly things that might be a threat. Sounds like your ball is just going on hunger strike, which is pretty common for them. Keep offering food on your normal schedule. Don't offer every day, stick to every other week. This could go one for multiple months, monitor his weight and unless there is a dramatic decrease, he'll likely be fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, sounds like you're feeding live. If so, I would recommend not doing that. Bulk frozen rodents are cheaper and much less hazardous to your snake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastActivityDate="2020-04-15T15:06:46.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27025" CreationDate="2020-04-15T18:07:01.413" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a friend who happens to be a geologist or for whatever reason has some equipment, you could try crushing them in their jaw rock crusher, maybe pre-mixed with small sized, dense, sharp rocks to help grinding, avians are swallowing rocks anyways. I don't know if it would even work, but it wouldn't hurt trying because these machines are heavy-duty and pea is no match for them, at worst you will just waste some time. Also you might try throwing these peas mixed with small sized, dense, sharp rocks to an old concrete mixer for a few hours if you don't mind the horrible banging noise and some minor damage to the mixer. It might sound bogus and honestly it is, I'm trying to help with wild imagination but of course the best way would be just using a specialized industrial food-grade heavy-duty grinder which if you owned you wouldn't be asking this question. And by the way maybe crushing them all at once isn't the best way to go, because they will hold their nutritional value much longer if left as a whole. I think bagging them and crushing with hammer as mentioned in the other answer would be the best way to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-19T14:34:01.307" LastActivityDate="2020-04-19T14:34:01.307" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27508" CreationDate="2020-04-16T00:02:03.283" Score="3" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had my Oranda goldfish for three years now and he/she/it has been floating at the top of the tank upside down for the past month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is a 40 gallon with 2 aqua-tech 40 gallon filters. There are 2 other young fancy goldfish in the tank and a bristlenose pleco. They are fed steamed de-shelled peas and sinking pellets regularly, with sinking algae pellets and cucumber for the pleco. &#xA;For the past two years, there have been no issues with the tank and the water was changed 40% every other week. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my oranda started floating a month ago, I did a cycle of fasting for 3 days and giving one deshelled pea on the third day for 2 weeks. There was no improvement. When the oranda started developing red sores on the area of the stomach that would poke out of the water, I placed a small plastic mesh divider across a quarter of the tank for him/her/it to rest under to prevent sticking out of the water. I also added a small concentration of aquarium salt to limit stress and help the sores heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sores disappeared but the floating continued. I then tried epsom salt baths to help expel air from the swim bladder. I have been doing these regularly for one week. I see him/her/it expelling bubbles while in the bath. When added back into the tank, he/she/it swims better/near neutrally buoyant for about a minute before swimming to the top and gulping air. Then he/she/it floats upside down at the top of the tank again, until the next bath. There is no pineconing or discoloration of the scales. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of my other fish exhibit this air gulping behavior or any swim bladder problems. They have been fed and treated regularly throughout all of these treatments. I now do a 10-20% water change every day with the epsom baths and pea feeding /fasting. Nothing is working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oranda is still interested in food and will swim down for it, but sometimes he/she/it will not move even if touched. I don't know what else to do and most sites I go to say that it is a bladder deformity and might not ever be fixed. Should I euthanize this fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17711" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-16T00:56:33.983" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T22:16:59.420" Title="Should I euthanize my goldfish who has been floating for a month?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27505" CreationDate="2020-04-16T03:46:58.203" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in getting a rabbit, specifically a Holland Lop rabbit, and am wondering &lt;strong&gt;how much cage room I should give the rabbit to live comfortably&lt;/strong&gt;. This is just the cage space, I would also let the rabbit outside of its cage to play when I am there to supervise it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-04-16T06:51:27.693" Title="Space requirements for Rabbit?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-16T16:13:05.530" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27504" CreationDate="2020-04-16T06:51:27.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This should be a good answer to your question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://smallpetselect.com/how-much-space-does-a-rabbit-need/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://smallpetselect.com/how-much-space-does-a-rabbit-need/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits don't do well cooped up in a cage all day, but it isn't practical to supervise their antics 24/7. Rather than purchasing a &amp;quot;starter cage,&amp;quot; invest in something big enough for your rabbit once they are full grown. Dog exercise pens are a terrific solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;​According to the House Rabbit Society, &amp;quot;one guideline to go by is at least 8 square feet of enclosure space combined with at least at least 24 square feet of exercise space, for 1-2 rabbits, in which the rabbit(s) can run and play at least 5 hours per day.&amp;quot; ​In sum, the cage should be at least five times his size when stretched out; bigger is better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17714" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-04-16T06:51:27.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27487" CreationDate="2020-04-16T20:50:36.673" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might suggest palliative care.  Make your cat comfortable.  Set up a warm place with a comfortable soft nest.  If it likes your presence, touch it, hold it, help it feel secure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife's old cat died in her arms a few years ago.  The cat passed quietly, and she felt great connection with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 17, there a limit to the troubles you'll want to give your cat to extend its life a smidgeon more.  The most likely outcome will be euthanasia.  A cat's home death need not be &quot;difficult&quot;, and can be an easier transition for both you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17722" LastActivityDate="2020-04-16T20:50:36.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27509" CreationDate="2020-04-16T20:52:47.340" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;After having several hamsters over the years I've noticed that larger hamsters tend to be calmer while the smaller ones seem to be far more energetic and often times more afraid of people. Why are larger hamsters calmer than smaller species of hamsters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T19:18:53.630" Title="Difference between Small hamsters and Larger hamsters?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27503" CreationDate="2020-04-16T22:02:14.947" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the decision whether you should euthanize the fish would have to be ultimately of your own, because it is also somewhat of a moral dilemma without the one best definitive right nor wrong answer. At least I am personally not able to provide one for you nor do I feel like it would be appropriate to give you one there. As you mentioned, your fish is still interested in food which is in a way signaling it's will to live. Swimbladder related buoyancy issues in fish aren't really terminal illnesses by themselves, nor is it understood how and to what extent do fish perceive pain, but they significantly decrease fish's quality of life, cause emotional distress, and also would almost surely lead to predator-related death if the affected fish was to live in the wilderness. In this case the disorder is also predicted to not resolve by itself, but as opposed gets worse as the fish ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems you have already gone through a lot of effort and tried various remedies to cure the fish's disease and your ultimate decision should depend on whether you are willing to put some additional effort beyond what you've already done, like visiting a specialized veterinarian, or if you feel like you couldn't do anything more and watch your fish suffering. In the latter case - yes, you should seriously consider euthanizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, fancy goldfish varieties like Oranda are common to suffer from swimbladder problems due to their genetic burden, so this fish was somewhat doomed to begin suffering from this kind of disorder sooner or later in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T22:16:59.420" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T22:16:59.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27507" CreationDate="2020-04-16T22:18:02.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is because the large ones are of variety named Syrian hamsters, and the smaller ones are Dwarf hamsters. I am assuming that because it would match exactly the behavior pattern you are observing. Dwarf is an umbrella term accounting for a few differient but quite similar behavior‑wise varieties. And yes, Syrian ones are more chilled, calm and willing to interact with humans while Dwarf ones are hectic, much harder to tame and trust people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand reason for that is genetics as they are of two distinct genera (&lt;em&gt;Mesocricetus&lt;/em&gt; is the genus of Syrian hamsters and &lt;em&gt;Phodopus&lt;/em&gt; is the one for Dwarf hamsters) and in the wild they face different enviromental conditions of their respective habitats. For example Syrian hamsters are living in warmer climates than Dwarf ones, thus more calmness in their physical activity was promoted during their evolution and they evolved to be different it that aspect. Also, some Dwarf spieces face extremely low temperatures in the wild, which besides promoting increased motor activity also promotes living in larger, close groups to conserve heat. In contrast, Syrian hamsters hate to be accompanied by others of the same kind, they have to be kept alone and thus their only social stimulus comes from their owner, enabling more focus into developing bonds with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it is not only a phenomenon observed in hamsters: in general smaller animals tend to be proportionally faster and more active to maintain homeostasis and it is because of square–cube law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for sources I used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.omlet.co.uk/guide/hamsters/getting_a_hamster/sociable_hamsters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.omlet.co.uk/guide/hamsters/getting_a_hamster/sociable_hamsters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/rodents/which-hamster-should-i-get&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pethelpful.com/rodents/which-hamster-should-i-get&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and a bit of intuition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-17T19:18:53.630" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T19:18:53.630" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27518" CreationDate="2020-04-16T23:17:48.037" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently we were thinking of getting gerbils, and we already have a tortoise. We were wondering if the tortoise would mind the gerbils if they were both out of their cages at the same time, or vice versa. Would the gerbil be intimidated by the tortoise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17724" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T21:03:13.123" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T21:03:13.123" Title="Will tortoises get along with gerbils if out of their cages at the same time?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;gerbil&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27537" CreationDate="2020-04-16T23:36:08.803" Score="2" ViewCount="1482" Body="&lt;p&gt;First time posting here, and Furry is my first pet ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furry joined us when he was 1-month old. Last month we decided that he was being too annoying at night so we set up an environment for him in the bathroom, with water, clean litter box, some toys, and sometimes some leftover cat food. We lock the bathroom door before we go to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far during midnight, he consistently makes different kinds of sounds at irregular intervals, each time lasting 5 to 15 minutes (in the first week it could last an hour). These sounds include meowing, scratching wall, hitting and knocking stuff down when he messes around, and sometimes some really really pitiful moan and cry... Despite all the temptation, we have been following the strict rule, as suggested everywhere, to ignore him entirely, except when some of us need to use the bathroom midnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my researches on Google, since there is no other outstanding issue such as hunger, thirst, and medical ailments (as far as I am aware of), plus the observation that once we open up the bathroom in the morning it starts purring and shows affection instead of meowing and crying, I presume that all the noises are due to loneliness. But I swear I play a lot with him everyday - like 30 minutes, and it is not just me playing with him! I admit that during these days of COVID-19, when each of us arrives home, despite his eager to show us affection we would not interact with him until we fully clean ourselves and take a bath. However, I feel like we are showing pretty much attention to him already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usually suggested play time of 20-30 minutes now sounds to me only applicable to older cats. Furry's current behaviors make me feel that his clock cannot be further trained to stay quiet all night. One really inconvenient thing about it is that he is very sensitive to very soft sound at night. It means that when I get off my bed to, say, take a sip of water or use the toilet, he is likely awaken at the same time and will then start his crying cycle (my flat is a pretty small one), which feels like he has not learnt the lesson that &quot;all requests midnight will be neglected&quot; even after spending a month in the bathroom at night. It makes me stressful sometimes when I want to make a sound (sometimes he can even react to my action on my bed!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can foresee some totally sensible answers that each cat behaves differently and it is impossible to declare a play time threshold. So apart from that, how else can I further tune his clock and make him stay quiet at night? Most search results gave me an impression that it shouldn't take longer than a month for a cat to change its habit. Now one month has passed. If there is no further insight for us, we (of course) will let Furry's life takes its course (and will not abandon him) but then our sleeps are doomed...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from these, we are having good time :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17723" LastEditorUserId="17724" LastEditDate="2020-04-18T04:20:44.187" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T19:18:37.593" Title="How much play time does a 5-month old kitten need?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-19T15:32:57.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-17T00:00:31.867" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately we’ve had several large dogs bark at all ours of the night, for several minutes at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’ve talked to the owners, and they have made an effort to control their pets, but it hasn’t stopped the dogs from barking alot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m thinking of buying one of those dog whistles so that they stop barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these dog whistles work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T05:44:35.130" Title="Do dog whistles work for barking?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27516" CreationDate="2020-04-17T01:51:20.177" Score="4" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having trouble remedying my cat's inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). My cat ShayShay has been losing weight for the past year; he has lost roughly 2/5 of his weight. He is 7 pounds in weight; he was roughly 12 pounds. The problem is my cat has IBD, has lost a lot of weight, and has diarrhea a decent amount of the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taken him to the vet, who gave him medicine for worms; that did not help. He receives steroid shots, but after a few weeks to a little more than a month the diarrhea returns. Wet food is given to him with some dry food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I fatten ShayShay up without him having his IBD/IBS act up and cause him to have diarrhea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am at a loss. I come to you for help. I apologize for asking for help, but I don't know where else to turn. I'm looking for any solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17726" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-22T19:18:27.593" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T19:18:27.593" Title="Cat has IBD and has lost a lot of weight and has diarrhea a decent amount of the time" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27512" CreationDate="2020-04-17T04:56:31.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The barks of the dog are pretty much low frequency, so they can travel easily through the walls. The larger the dog, the lower the frequencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the dog-whistles generate ultrasounds, which are very unlikely to travel through the same walls. While you can still give it a try (especially if you find the whistle at a convenient price), it might not do too much good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand better: when some neighbors listen to music, you hear very well the beats (low frequencies), but you might not make much out of the rest of the song (higher frequencies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T04:56:31.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27513" CreationDate="2020-04-17T05:05:11.027" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in cats is a complex disease in that some cats respond well to relatively simple changes like diet change, while others require significant medical management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is we don't know what causes inflammatory bowel disease in every case. We commonly think of it as an allergic-type disorder, but not every cat's signs will resolve if we just treat it as an allergy. In other cats, it may be parasitic or bacterial in origin, while in others there seems to be no obvious trigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Diagnosis&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to look at the diagnosis of IBD, especially when a cat has lost nearly half its body weight. IBD can cause significant weight loss as the nutrients in the food are not as well absorbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we have to keep in mind that other intestinal disorders can appear very similar. When we see intestinal thickening or inflammation on ultrasound, the two primary differential diagnoses are IBD or small cell lymphoma. The latter is a form of slowly progressive cancer which can look exactly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your vet what tests were done to get to the diagnosis of IBD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically the workup looks something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bloodwork usually shows non-specific changes - perhaps a mildly elevated white blood cell count, or a slightly low protein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fecal analysis is usually negative for parasites, but not always&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X-rays may or may not show any specific changes - the intestinal changes with inflammatory bowel disease are often too subtle to show on x-rays&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ultrasound will show intestinal thickening or abnormal intestinal wall layering in almost every IBD case. Sometimes the associated lymph nodes appear enlarged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biopsy is needed to reach a definitive diagnosis. This can be done endoscopically to sample the stomach, duodenum (part of small intestine), and colon. It requires anesthesia and a fair amount of skill to get good biopsies, but it does have its limitations. Only the proximal part of the small intestine can be sampled, and only the mucosa and submucosal layers of intestine can be obtained (the deeper muscular layer, where pathology often resides, may be missed). The other method of biopsy is full thickness (surgical biopsy), which is a more invasive procedure but does allow full thickness biopsies of intestine, possibly pancreas and other organs to be taken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Biopsies can tell us which form of IBD your cat has - is it eosinophilic, or lymphoplasmacytic in origin, or is it suggestive of emerging neoplasia?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I just spent so much time talking about the diagnostics is because I see a lot of patients come in with a diagnosis of IBD, based not on any diagnostics but just a history of chronic vomiting and diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason we spend time - and money - on diagnostics is that they determine how we manage the disease. I understand that not everyone can do the gold standard workup, but if not then there has to be an understanding that some of the treatments may be somewhat 'blind'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Treatment&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment of inflammatory consists of a number of aspects:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diet: Hypoallergenic (novel protein) diets are often recommend. The idea is that there is less antigenic stimulation in the intestine with these diets. If your cat won't eat the hypoallergenic diet - they would not be alone - then a gastrointestinal diet would be a good alternative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Antibiotics and antiparasitics are sometimes indicated. Metronidazole, an antidiarrheal medication can also help if there is a component of bacterial overgrowth. These medications alone will rarely solve the problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Steroids are usually needed long term for management of IBD. I will be honest in that I very rarely have success managing IBD with a long-acting injectable steroid. You did not say which steroid was used in your cat's case, but long-acting injectable steroids such as methylprednisolone (Depo-Medrol) or triamcinolone do not usually work for this purpose. Oral prednisolone is most commonly used, which can be compounded into a tablet or liquid form. In a cat that cannot be orally medicated, giving dexamethasone injections at home a few times a week can be good alternative and is something that is something most people can easily do once they (and the cat) gets used to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If steroids alone are not doing enough, then I usually add in chlorambucil. Chlorambucil is an anti-neoplastic which can help with aggressive forms of IBD (which your cat may have) or small cell lymphoma.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vitamin B injections are often helpful. Cats with intestinal disease such as IBD are often deficient in vitamin B12 and other vitamins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Probiotics can be helpful to restore normal intestinal flora, as the IBD is treated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further reading, the Cornell Feline Health Center has a good article on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/inflammatory-bowel-disease&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Inflammatory Bowel Disease&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, I would make sure your vet is confident in the diagnosis of IBD for your cat. Talk to them about trying an oral steroid such as prednisolone since the injections do not seem to be working (your cat is losing far too much weight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T05:05:11.027" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27512" CreationDate="2020-04-17T05:44:35.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The small silent whistles you probably mean with &quot;dog whistles&quot; probably won't work. They come in different frequencies and - since they are intended for training instead of dog repelling - the frequecies won't stop the dogs from barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you want is something that actually causes pain to punish the dogs for barking. There are special dog repellant whistles or devices that have a frequency that's painful for dogs and cats to hear. If you really want to stop the barking, you have to use one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it's absolutely important that you keep this in mind: &lt;strong&gt;whenever you activate such a device, you hurt every dog and cat around you.&lt;/strong&gt; If misused, they can cause hearing loss (which of cause makes them ineffective) and the dogs may start hating you personally when they see you using such a repellant (because they learn that you cause them pain). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T05:44:35.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27510" CreationDate="2020-04-17T13:20:38.343" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gerbils are usually not aggressive and don't tend to bite without a reason like being stressed or attacked. I assume you have a terrestrial tortoise and these are typically herbivorous, thus not interested in attacking nor eating other animals. However, one can't really guarantee that a tortoise won't misinterpret gebril's curiosity as a threat or for whatever reason snap it by mistake. Even herbivorous tortoise's jaws are quite strong and capable of doing severe damage to such small animals as gerbils. It also depends how do they compare in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, gerbils as all rodents need to constantly wear down their teeth by biting hard materials and one should be careful that the tortoise's shell won't attract such attempts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think in conclusion it should work out, especially if the tortoise is not much larger, these spiecies aren't natural enemies. But at the beginning it absolutely needs to have your constant supervision. After some time they should just get used to and ignore each other, which would be the optimal outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-18T20:57:24.043" LastActivityDate="2020-04-18T20:57:24.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27347" CreationDate="2020-04-17T13:46:50.610" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/heartworms-in-dogs-facts-and-myths#3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article on WebMD&lt;/a&gt;, failure to treat heartworms with medicine will cause &quot;permanent damage to the heart and blood vessels&quot;. And the same article states that exercise with heartworms is a cause of death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:28:20.167" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:28:20.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27550" CreationDate="2020-04-17T14:05:36.950" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our garden today is only grass. I like to rebuild it step by step. What plants suits good in a garden used daily by rabbits? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Points to have in mind: plants do not harm the rabbits, rabbits do not harm the decorative plants, (faster growing than could be eaten) plants that give good/healthy food for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in eastern Europe, but all ideas are welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-04-21T07:38:59.480" Title="Garden used by rabbits: What plants are good choices?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26174" CreationDate="2020-04-17T14:12:36.300" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blood worms are a treat, not a food, it doesn't have most of what a betta needs, try getting better quality pellets and soaking them in tank water first. Mine only eats soaked pellets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bettas need at least 2 gallons of heated and filtered water, a bowl isn't acceptable at all because it can't be heated or filtered. Bettas nip when bored or anxious and a bowl doesn't provide mental stimulation or decent hiding spots&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changing all of the water ruins the chance of ever getting a cycle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &#xA;Please do research on any animal you plan to buy and don't impulse buy it, especially a fish. They're still animals the deserve at least the minimal care&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17731" LastEditorUserId="17731" LastEditDate="2020-04-17T14:23:19.493" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T14:23:19.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27154" CreationDate="2020-04-17T15:32:58.070" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree with Sam. If you are looking for a natural solution, I am not aware of any. (I have had various breeds over the period of 50 years). There is a solution that I do not recommend - artificial turf. The kind used by some professional sports teams.&#xA; - You have some issues that you may not be able to control. Intelligence is a factor of the breed. A similar issue to your current one would be training your dogs to stay of certain furniture but allowed on others. Move the furniture and see if the dogs follow. Most dogs are trained all or nothing.&#xA; - Another issue is that certain breeds are natural diggers. And other breeds are natural followers. From your question, it appears that you have at least one natural digger.&#xA; - Most dogs if kept out side often outside but unsupervised,treat in the house as yours and the yard is ours.If they have not been specifically trained what to do outside, in their mind you are the invader and they are the boss (except when they are trained for specific things). &#xA; - dividing your yard will partially solve your situation, but only on your side.&#xA; - your dogs can be trained the way you want with a capable trainer and time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question you need to ask, is it worth paying a capable trainer (who might be expensive) and the time necessary to change their behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T15:32:58.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27524" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-17T18:58:11.833" Score="3" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 year old neutered male house cat. Had him since he was 10 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has never liked being picked up - no matter how gently we do it. He does not like being petted very often either, and if you do, after 2-3 times, he bites you very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I scold him but never hit him when he does that, just leave him alone. He almost never will sit on my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does follow me around the house a lot. He gets toys, treats, very good soft and dry food, fresh cold water daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He never lets me hold him for more than a minute, except when he is at the vets, and I'm sure that is because he is terrified!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love him, talk to him, and my husband and I play with him with his toys.  We have never let him outdoors. I was thinking if we did occasionally would he be less aggressive and happier? But we live in the country and scared he could get hurt, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17732" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T23:36:31.080" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T23:36:31.080" Title="Why does my cat never like to be picked up?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24283" CreationDate="2020-04-17T21:07:01.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Elmy that your Jack is possessive. Jack Russells are a very aggressive breed. They are an adults dog. I do not agree that the should not be humanized.I have had Jack Russells since 2002. All have been humanized to an extent. The major thing they are not allowed to do is eat human food. I do not have beggars at the dinner table. Other than that they are treated as children. They sleep with us, sit in our laps. They are allowed to get on certain chairs, actually they claim them. I allow that with my current set of 10 yo twin girls. I did not allow it with their predecessors, 2 boys (one lived till 17, the other till 13). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What needs to happen is inclusion. Allow your little girl to be part of your kiss. Have her sit in his lap when you kiss. Then each of you give her a little kiss or some loving petting. It will probably be a little difficult and awkward at first. Slowly she will realize he is not replacing her in your affection. How long? Don't know, but Jacks are very smart.So I do not expect very long. For a while you will need to get back to her after you show affection to another where she is not included. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a temporary problem. As she grows and is included while a puppy, she will need less and less reinsurance. However, it will never go completely away. I consider that a good thing as they make me happy especially during a crappy day. They will want to be with any one who regularly comes home. Guests are a different story. There they have to be trained not to be aggressive. The younger you start the easier it is. You have to remember Jacks are naturally aggressive dogs. They need to be trained social behavior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you walk them they need to be on a tight leash. They choose their friends. They also not afraid of any dog, even ones who would eat them alive. Thus you need to pay attention to them. Additionally, until they get old (somewhere between 8-12) they need lots of walking as they are a very energetic breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me I would have no other breed. Hopefully, Smudge will grow up to be a loving member of your family.       &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T21:07:01.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17393" CreationDate="2020-04-17T21:38:34.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct something about the wall scares her. Since you were not home when the scary event happened and unless it happens again when you are home, you may never know the cause. Part of the fear is separation anxiety. She still is not conformable that you will come back. Separation anxiety is hard to cure and there is no best way. With regard to the wall you need to spend time by the wall by yourself and continue to call her to you. I promise it won't happen fast, but she will eventually come to you at the wall. At first she will be very scared, but with time her love of you will be more than her fear. I don't know if she will get over the fear of the wall, but she will deal with it when you are home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the separation anxiety is the leading cause of her fear. When you are home she will start to be comfortable. This is if you have a regular schedule. An irregular schedule is a different story.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T21:38:34.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15290" CreationDate="2020-04-17T22:11:27.280" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest you change the food you feed him. I have 2 Jack Russell sisters. With my prior choice of a health food, I had to do the same with one except I had to hand feed her. The other devoured her food. I changed food and now the finicky one jumps at her bowl and eats every bite in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T22:11:27.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15082" CreationDate="2020-04-17T22:20:32.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your dog is limping, it is not a small thing. He could be cut in a sensitive area. I would clean the wound with some soap and water and then hydrogen peroxide. I would put an antibacterial on wound and maybe wrap it if dirt would get in the wound. Then I would put a cone collar on him until it healed. That would prevent him from licking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:08:09.503" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:08:09.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27520" CreationDate="2020-04-17T22:26:30.900" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some good things to grow for your rabbits would be;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carrots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Celery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lettuce&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cilantro&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Parsley&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom was growing some dill at one point and my rabbit loved it, same with celery, but all bunnies can be different. Try growing some of your rabbit(s)'s favorite snacks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: also, I have a feeling you are going to have a hard(er) time finding some plants that grow faster than your buns can eat them, they just eat so fast!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17714" LastActivityDate="2020-04-17T22:26:30.900" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13627" CreationDate="2020-04-17T22:40:25.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this answer is too late to help your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog was probably in significant pain. I lost a 13 year old Jack Russell to cancer. The last month of his life (before we had to put him to sleep) he was in pain and it was hard to get food down him. I spoon-fed him every meal for his last month. Our vet prescribed pain pills. (Note: he called in a prescription without a visit.) We had to give him greater and greater doses as the month progressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big problem was getting him to take them. I put them in treats until he would not them. Finally, I found he would eat honey, which I fed him until he was put to sleep. We think the pain pills helped a lot to ease his pain. We had George (a rescue) from the time he was 18 months till he died at 13.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T11:46:11.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T11:46:11.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6901" CreationDate="2020-04-17T23:02:00.973" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs like certain types of music and get agitated by other types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Psychology Today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The kind of music that the dogs listened to made a difference. When the researchers played heavy metal music, the dogs became quite agitated and began barking. Listening to popular music, or human conversation, did not produce behaviors that were noticeably different from having no sound at all. Classical music, on the other hand, seemed to have a calming effect on the dogs. While listening to it, their level of barking was significantly reduced and the dogs often lay down and settled in place. Wells summarized her findings saying, &quot;It is well established that music can influence our moods. Classical music, for example, can help to reduce levels of stress, whilst grunge music can promote hostility, sadness, tension and fatigue. It is now believed that dogs may be as discerning as humans when it comes to musical preference.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the flute, Psychology Today says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The kind of human music that most often induces a dog to howl is produced on wind instruments, particularly reed instruments, such as clarinets or saxophones.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6244" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T11:34:29.033" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T11:34:29.033" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27524" CreationDate="2020-04-17T23:40:00.203" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to determine whether the cat is in pain.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's the case that petting is aggravating some sort of unseen medical condition, causing them pain, and so their response is to lash out at the person petting them. &#xA; Usually pain is specific to some area, and so very cautiously trying to pet him in various areas can tell you if maybe the cause is pain. If the cat very obviously hates it when you touch him in some particular area, you should take him to a vet to have this checked out. A common cause of this sort of problem is arthritis, which even young cats can have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep in mind, not all cats like being handled.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If medical conditions have been ruled out, then it's simply just a case of some cats are less receptive to being handled than others. Your cat clearly is still trying to socialize with you, since he's following you around the house. He just might not be the type that likes being touched too much, and if such is the case, he's never going to be a cuddly cat. But you may have some success with slowly acclimating him to more handling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start small.&lt;/strong&gt;  If your cat really only accepts one or two pets, then start off with just doing that, maybe once or twice a day. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward him.&lt;/strong&gt;  Every time you have an interaction, give your cat a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Go slow.&lt;/strong&gt;  Keep this up for maybe a week, and then maybe it's time to very slightly increase the interaction, say one additional pet. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep an eye on his response, and let that be your guide.&lt;/strong&gt; If you notice your cat shows any signs of stress or tenseness, cut your session short.  Signs include ears even slightly laid back, twitching skin, or the tail twitching more intensely than before. If your cat actually attempts to bite or scratch, then in the next session, take it back down a notch or two. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not reprimand him for biting or clawing.&lt;/strong&gt; In this case, your cat is not biting or clawing in order to misbehave, but because he doesn't like what you're doing, and he feels he has no other way to tell you to stop. Therefore trying to reprimand him is both ineffective and counterproductive. You want to make him enjoy or at least accept being handled, rather than seeing it as a bad thing. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be happy for the progress you make, and accept him for the cat he is.&lt;/strong&gt;  As I said, your cat is surely never going to be a cuddle bug, but you can still have a rewarding relationship with him, and not force him to do more than he's happy doing. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T14:52:17.903" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T14:52:17.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27524" CreationDate="2020-04-18T02:21:49.193" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add a few points to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/1436/kai&quot;&gt;Kai&lt;/a&gt;'s &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27533/6796&quot;&gt;excellent answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was thinking if we did occasionally would he be less aggressive and happier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think that will make a difference. Possibly the more the cat is indoors the more he will be used to you, which counts in your favour. &#xA;To combat what you see as potential boredom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make sure he has scratching posts, or something that serves as such. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;play games with him. I find games where they have to catch something you dangle or flit across the floor are good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an outdoor run may also help give him the outdoors with safety. They can even be run as a tunnel from a cat door that you can close at night.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qAedM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qAedM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, the best way to get a cat to cuddle with you, is to sit still or lie down. Cats will come to people when they are quiet and don't move. Mine seem to enjoy it most when I am trying to use a computer. When you are totally ignoring them and are focused on something, how often will they try to intercept the object of your attention! A bit of humour, but some truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try Kai's suggestions. I hope he becomes more smoochy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T06:48:01.140" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T06:48:01.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27535" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27554" CreationDate="2020-04-18T04:11:54.397" Score="5" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat lives in our house who is basically a full time indoor cat as that is the safest way to keep a cat. Problem is that this cat really really wants to go outside and really does well with short 100% supervised outdoor romps of 15 to 30 minutes duration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the safety of the cat always in mind a leash harness was obtained and used on the cat when outdoors. The problem seems to be that cats are such lithe and flexible creatures that they can invariably squirm out of the harness in the blink of the eye. This is the typical cat type harness very similar to what we have tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y2Q5W.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/y2Q5W.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/how-to-train-your-cat-to-walk-on-a-leash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Picture Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question posed here is what type of leash / harness is really effective at keeping the cat from escaping?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3100" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-18T04:19:17.873" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T04:03:56.010" Title="What is best escape proof harness / leash for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9332" CreationDate="2020-04-18T12:21:03.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We live in the Northeastern U.S. and there are no alligators in our state or any of the surrounding states. Our fake alligator works great. We originally used it for raccoons which were eating the koi from our pond, but it also has worked for herons and geese as well. While I'm sure that some herons and geese may have had an encounter with a real gator when migrating down south, the raccoons definitely have never seen one, so I'm assuming that the reason they stay away comes down to instinct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, unlike other types of decoys which stand still on the land, gator decoys float so they move with the flow of the water or when the wind blows. The movement scares the critters and makes sure they never get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a helpful article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gardenandpatiohomeguide.com/the-complete-alligator-decoy-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Complete Alligator Decoy Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17736" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T13:44:22.923" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T13:44:22.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27511" CreationDate="2020-04-18T12:32:38.923" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For mammalian children like your cat it is always a good time for a playtime unless they are sleeping or are otherwise temporarily distracted by their physiological needs. So I think it's not really impossible to set a playing threshold; optimally the threshold is that they should be engaged in interaction until tired because constructive playtime is how young mammals fulfill their cognitive development, learn socializing and flex their minds. But of course as you noticed, babysitting a kitten might quickly become a tiresome and draining task because their energy seems to be limitless and no matter how long you play, it would never seem enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think one solution to consider is adopting one more kitten of similar age, if you are able. A saying I encountered a few times says it's double the fun and half the trouble. Of course, it's not always true because sometimes introducing another cat could cause more problems than it solves if they don't get along, but it's quite accurate referring to little kittens. It's not kittens, but the adult cats that are prone to not getting along. One thing to keep in mind is that another kitten would provide your pet a beneficial and distinct type of interaction, the one that a human isn't capable of providing. It is not essential as cats are solitary animals, but nonetheless beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the issue with midnight activity, please see the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31250&quot;&gt;answer of Allison C in the related Q&amp;amp;A&lt;/a&gt; that describes how to train your cat to sleep and stay quiet at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for the reason of your kitten's behaviour I think you are right with the diagnosis that it's due to attention deficit and loneliness. But generally I think that even if you decide to not take any action, the whole issue should get better and at least partially resolve itself as your cat ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T19:18:37.593" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T19:18:37.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-18T17:06:24.550" Score="1" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Context&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and me own a 10 and half month old male cat. We know that we must neuter him, but we decided to do it later rather than sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat recently sprayed for the first time and my wife immediately called at a clinic where a nice person explained that the cat should be between 10 and 12 month old to be neutralized and the best would be after one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add to this some comments on a Facebook article related to neutering (must be at least one year) and so I thought of digging more on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Research&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6376/side-effects-of-spaying-or-neutering-a-cat&quot;&gt;Q &amp;amp; As&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/760/how-does-early-desexing-affect-my-cats&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and articles argue about early neutering (weeks) vs standard neutering (7-8 months):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/what-age-should-you-spay-or-neuter-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;petmd&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three general options: Early or pediatric spay/neuter is&#xA;  done at six to eight weeks of age. Standard spay and neuter at five to&#xA;  six months. Finally, waiting until after the first heat, somewhere&#xA;  between eight to twelve months of age,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11787153&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PubMed&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;o date, adverse side effects are apparently no greater in animals neutered at early ages (7 weeks) than in those &lt;strong&gt;neutered at the conventional age (7 months).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.americanveterinarian.com/journals/amvet/2017/june2017/new-advice-on-sterilizing-kittens-earlier-is-better&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinarian&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Conventional wisdom states that kittens should be spayed or neutered&#xA;  no earlier than 6 months of age, but feline medicine specialists now&#xA;  say that an earlier age for the surgery benefits cats, owners, and&#xA;  veterinarians alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I cannot find any reference related to this 10 - 12 months &quot;best interval&quot; for cat neutering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; Are there any known side-effects to neutering a cat before being 10 months old?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I want to know if there is any reason to wait for the cat to reach at least 10 month before neutering. This is different from the debate &quot;early&quot; (weeks) vs. standard (7 - 8 months).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8647" LastEditorUserId="8647" LastEditDate="2020-04-18T17:38:56.037" LastActivityDate="2020-04-18T17:38:56.037" Title="Are there any known side-effects to neutering a cat before being 10 months old?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-04-18T21:09:06.783" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-18T18:15:55.243" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have put Nacho on a diet per the recommendation of the vet (15 lbs). He's a rescue stray that climbed into my car engine and was engine burned and we nursed to health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I joke that he is an emotional eater. He and his brother Rigby get 1/8 cup dry cat food in the morning at 0600 when I leave for work and the another 1/8 cup in the evening when I return somewhere between 1930-2000 (7:30pm and 8:00pm) but sometimes later as I am an RN. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On days that I am home I don't notice Nacho eating from Rigby's bowl but I suspect that he is because he isn't losing any weight and he has been on this diet for 1 year now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked into the feeders that feed according to the microchip in your cat but so far have only been able to find models that feed for one cat and are $180 so to buy 2 is crazy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To separate them geographically would stress them very badly as they are very very closely bonded even though they are 7 years apart and like I said I am away from the home for very long period of time when I am working. I am open to suggestions. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17737" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-18T21:12:08.713" LastActivityDate="2020-04-18T21:12:08.713" Title="I have a rescue that needs to lose weight and another that doesn't- I am not around at meal times to supervise- help!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13868" CreationDate="2020-04-18T23:05:08.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see you have consulted a vet about this. If the cat hasn't had a full check-up, it's important to do that now, especially given his age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no health problems preventing him from eating enough, I do have one possible suggestion. Perhaps your cat feels torn between eating food and spending time with the people he loves. Being close to you may be more important than ever now that his brother is gone. So you might try putting his food dish near where you hang out in the evening. That way he can eat and be with you at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may explain why he eats more when you're away and the cat sitter feeds him - he doesn't have to make a choice between being with you and eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2020-04-18T23:05:08.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27535" CreationDate="2020-04-19T03:40:44.983" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been using an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lupinepet.com/store/original-designs-h-style-cat-harness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;H-style cat harness&lt;/a&gt; with no regrets on my young energetic neutered male (age nine months when I got him) for six months. The H-style harness is two loops, one around the neck and one around the waist--I would say under the armpits. Width: 1 centimetre or 3/8th inch. I read that the loop under the armpits, which I will call the body loop, should be so snug that you can barely get one finger underneath. The loop around the neck seems not to matter if it is a bit loose. Both loops can be adjusted for size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two loops are connected on the back with a strap, the cross-bar of the H. On my harness, that strap is not adjustable. Thus, as my cat grows longer, I have had to adjust the neck loop, making it larger and larger. It is now larger enough that I can slip it over his head before I buckle the body loop. When the body loop (that goes under his arm-pits) is buckled, his head cannot slip out because the back-strap is much too short. The back-strap is reinforced and holds the two loops closely together. It even pulls the body loop toward the head, making it impossible for him to slip out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least, I don't think he can. I've been told (by a person with no experience) that he could but so far he hasn't. I've seen him hanging from a tree because he tried jumping and was too far from the ground. Not something I want to ever see again but surely he would have slipped out then if it were possible. And there have been other times that I am sure he would have slipped out if he could. Or maybe it's because he was trained from so young an age that he can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think having such a narrow band harness passed snugly under his armpits and over his back makes it seriously difficult to slip out. Besides, the neck loop holds it in place and the leash attaches to a ring on top of the body loop. I think it's back a bit farther on his shoulders than the one in your photo. That, too, should make it more difficult to slip out because when you pull on the leash his weight rests on the body loop behind his elbows. He can't get out so long as his elbows are outside the body loop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat's lifestyle is very similar to yours and I feel it was definitely worth what I paid for it. I recommend it. It appears comfortable, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's one thing that is not so pleasing esthetically. Now that he's grown so big, and the neck loop is so large, the back-strap often slides to the side. This causes no problem at all that I have found but it looks odd. The other thing that has happened once or twice was the snap coming loose from the ring. I don't know how that happened, maybe I twisted it the wrong way so now I try really hard to be careful about that, especially when he climbs trees. It's a swivel snap and I've had that happen a few times on my dog's harness, too. I suppose it's one of the risks of taking pets outside on a harness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: The H-style harness should not be confused with harnesses that are very similar but have two straps connecting the neck and body loops. On some of these harnesses, the connecting strap(s) is/are adjustable. I cannot speak for these other designs. There must be important differences when it comes to restraining cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS See Allison C's comment below regarding other styles with two loops. She says they are all &quot;fairly secure.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastEditorUserId="17348" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T16:17:19.687" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T16:17:19.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27535" CreationDate="2020-04-19T07:16:29.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like the one in your picture is one of the best there is on the market right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to look for in a good harness are: double locking mechanisms, so if one fails the harness will still be secure; the harness must be comfortable for your cat to wear and not restrict the cats movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The harness in your picture has Velcro and plastic click on fasteners; they are good, but in my opinion not perfect - it had been better with a metal locking mechanism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you buy a harness be sure it is made for cats only and not the ones made for cats and rabbits, as they often have a weaker construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, after looking on the net there really is a lot of bad products out there; it is mostly the locking mechanism that is bad and many have way too narrow straps that might actually injure your pet: be it a cat, dog or rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-15T04:03:56.010" LastActivityDate="2021-02-15T04:03:56.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27847" CreationDate="2020-04-19T10:05:50.147" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clarify I don't let my cat go outside and he sometimes runs around the house and has several hiding spots I don't know to this day. However my cat occasionally gets a wound (Usually near his head). He recovers on his own and doesn't seem disturbed by the wound in the slightest (He does get disturbed when I try to get a good angle on the wound to properly see it.) But I'm worried that there may be some sort of numbing issue near his head which worries me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried or is it normal for cats to not to be disturbed by their wounds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T04:27:43.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T07:27:57.907" Title="My cat occasionally wounds himself. Should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-19T12:49:24.840" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a cat I have direct contact with, it's a cat taken care of by a friend who lives in another country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is a stray they picked up, he's about 1 year old from what she's been told (she's a guest at the house the cat stays in, so she wasn't there when they adopted him). The owners generally don't treat the cat well, so it's taken a liking to her since she cares about him more. She told me they used to let him out, but he would often come back bloody, so they keep him inside now, especially due to the quarantine (she is currently in Paris). I think he recently escaped a few weeks ago, but they found him and got him back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past 2 days she noticed the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat started walking with his hind legs apart. His gait is otherwise balanced.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has trouble defecating and urinating. She noticed he would try to urinate, but only drops would come out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has lost weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He eats 7 times a day (that is the number she gave me) which is far more than usual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has found lots of small white balls where he sleeps. I'm fairly certain these are tapeworm eggs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He licks himself very frequently. This includes both his fur and body, as well as his genitals and anus.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She noticed bugs on his fur, resembling ants. I showed her images of ticks on cat fur and she says the bugs were larger. I also showed her images of ticks and she said they don't look like that, they're black and insisted they resemble ants. She also said she only saw 2 of them and hasn't seen them since.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has been constantly sleepy, but his sleep patterns don't seem to have changed as far as she can tell. However, she also described him as more &amp;quot;active&amp;quot;. When I asked her if he's become more aggressive, she said no, just more active.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He meows constantly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He urinated on her mouse pad yesterday. I told her he's probably stressed and she said he looks like it. He got a stare for that and stopped going near the mouse pad at all, whereas he used to sleep next to it on her desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The owner believed he's in heat, hence the meowing. We had nothing to go on other than that, so I assumed it would be true, since it's spring and he's not neutered. He also wanted to go outside a lot. I told her he might spray, especially if he's stressed and that's what she thought the white balls were at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a vet, but I think this cat has a serious tapeworm parasite infection and probably some urinary tract infection among other things. I can't confirm anything more about the bugs she saw. When I asked if she could photograph them, she said it's hard because he's always moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently all vets are closed in the city. Is there anything she can do to help him? I'm afraid the cat's life is in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2615" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:24:21.190" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:24:21.190" Title="Cat presented multiple symptoms over the past 2 days" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;weight-loss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27545" CreationDate="2020-04-19T13:53:16.787" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a combination of parasites, internal and external, and one or more female cats in heat nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male cats will react as you describe when the females are in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only advice I can give is to get the cat to a vet for neutering and treatment against parasites; most if not all of this can be done in one single visit at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very likely that the cat has more than than a few medical problems if it never got the vaccines that cats normally get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:19:03.807" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:19:03.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27535" CreationDate="2020-04-19T17:54:44.837" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing is escape proof, the first consideration is the safety of the pet.  Pick a harness that will not harm them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I go into a lot of detail about having rabbits out on a harness in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/735/13&quot;&gt;How to leash train a rabbit?&lt;/a&gt; cats and rabbits have a lot in common when it comes to leash training.  See that post for details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two key points that apply to your situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always stay behind the animal.  For the most part if they are pulling forward they can't get out of the harness.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the animal starts to struggle to get loose, you have been out to long, pick them up and go back inside.  Optimally you will recognize the signs before this happens and go back in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-04-19T17:54:44.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-20T05:46:23.987" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some one-month old backyard chickens, can I give them rice and soaked bread to eat? If not, is there any specific food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T21:00:42.383" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T21:00:42.383" Title="Food for one month old backyard chickens" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27520" CreationDate="2020-04-20T06:26:11.760" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One idea is to dedicate an area where you let any weeds grow that naturally grow when there is no grass and no lawn mower. Even if the summer is as dry as the last one, you should see many different weeds and herbs grow there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/06/09/medicinal-herbs-for-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this list of different herbs&lt;/a&gt; that are very healthy for rabbits and even have medical properties. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of them don't grow naturally in Europe, but many, like fennel, lemon balm, marigold, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme are common garden herbs that grow well in european climate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others like chickweed, cleavers / bedstraw, coltsfoot, dandelion, goldenrod, milk thistle, nettles and plantain / ribwort are natural occuring weeds that many people spend a lot of time removing from their garden beds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Leafy greens and green vegetables&lt;/a&gt; are also good for your bunnies (scroll down for a long list of suggestions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/pets/other-pets/rabbits/owning-a-rabbit/toxic-foods-and-plants-for-rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;list of toxic plants&lt;/a&gt; for rabbits, most of them are also known to be poisonous for humans. It's worth to have a printout of it nearby because you might get the idea of feeding some garden waste like potato peels, rhubarb leaves or tomato leaves to them. There are also some unexpected plants among them that you might overlook when they grow wildly in your garden, like bindweed, fools parsley or poppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a meadow nearby, you can go there and plug a few handfulls of whatever grows there. A varied diet of many diverse herbs is the best you can offer your rabbits. The worst diet on the other hand, is a carrot and store-bought iceberg lettuce every single day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another part of the question was which plants you could have as decoration that the rabbits won't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly doubt that your rabbits would leave any low, green plant alone. If you want something like tulips or similar flowers in your garden (note that tulips grow from bulbs and are therefore toxic to rabbits), you need to surround them with a wire fence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better alternative would be bushes or trees. I know from wild rabbits in Berlin that they love any kind of bushes as shelter and hideout. Keep in mind, that evergreens are also toxic, so better stick to leaf bushes. Personally I would choose a plant that is non-toxic and slow-growing, because in a few years, you might have to dig out most of it if it grew too much. Bamboo (a slow-growing variety) and rosehip seem to be  suited bushes. Although many fruits like apples, peas, gooseberry, currant, rasberry and blackberry are not toxic, I wouldn't give rabbits free access to them because the fruits have too many calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-04-21T07:38:59.480" LastActivityDate="2020-04-21T07:38:59.480" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27549" CreationDate="2020-04-20T08:25:23.453" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would not hurt to feed chicken rice nor soaked bread in moderation, but neither of these provides sufficient nutritional value by itself and chicken diet should not be composed solely of them because it would lead to malnutrition. Both of these foods are essentially providing only carbohydrates, especially soaked white bread is just like junk fast-food for birds. Growing up chickens need (among fat, minerals and vitamins) a significant amount of protein. Prepared, specialized food formulas do exist: for example, I did some research and it turns out that specialized chick starter foods tend to be around 16 to 20% protein by mass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to use specialized chick starters, you could feed with various kinds of unprocessed foods like live worms, pumpkin seeds, peas, whole grain oats, hard-boiled scrambled eggs, even meat and organ meats. It could be surprising how much chickens like eating meat, but it makes sense - they're descended from raptors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T10:50:38.153" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T10:50:38.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27545" CreationDate="2020-04-20T10:09:34.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The peeing in &lt;em&gt;very obvious&lt;/em&gt; places can be a sign of urinary stones or another problem with his urinary tract. He cannot tell you that urinating hurts, so he shows you the problem in the only way he can. His problems urinating and frequent licking of his genitals are more serious indications for a urinary tract problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should let a vet check him and probably make a blood test to see how well his kidneys work and if his risk of developing kidney stones is increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you should avoid cat food with grain, because it causes a slight imbalance in the blood chemistry of cats, which can cause the formation of stones in the kidney or urinary bladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:19:41.767" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:19:41.767" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27535" CreationDate="2020-04-20T14:00:48.243" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No harness on a cat will truly be escape proof, but I have personally found two solutions that help reduce the escape risk substantially, in addition to other considerations offered in other answers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you need to make sure the harness is correctly fitted. It must be snug around the chest, and positioned behind and under their elbows, not over them. If you fasten over the elbows, the harness isn't snug enough, and becomes much easier to slip than when it's snugged up around only the chest. Avoid over-tightening the part around the neck; their throats are delicate, and the chest portion is what keeps them restrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, consider using multiple styles of harness. A previous cat of mine would go out regularly on a leash, and over time would get better and better at figuring out the harness until he was able to slip it fairly quickly. As he'd start to figure one out, I'd swap him to a different style, forcing him to start learning how to get out of it again. Don't continually rotate them, or your cat might figure them all out at once; wait until the cat is starting to work it out, then switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T14:00:48.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-20T15:01:25.297" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 15 year old cat (Simon) grew up with dogs since he was born. He actually thinks he's a dog (still plays fetch), so cute. When he was young, I got him another kitty friend, Buddy. They lived together for 12 years. He's always had another kitty and dog in the house. Unfortunately, we lost his kitty friend Buddy last year. But, he still had two puppies in the house. Due to a divorce, he is now alone with no other furry friends. He's used to sleeping with other furry animals, playing with them- just being around them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, do I get another cat? I've NEVER seen him interact with another cat other than Buddy. He interacts with dogs just fine....unfortunately, I cannot get another dog due to my apartment situation. I do bring the two dogs over once in a while for a visit and its like time hasn't passed. Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17747" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T13:48:03.927" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T13:48:03.927" Title="15 Year old cat used to other cats/dogs now alone" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-20T20:26:39.650" Score="2" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog brought us a baby wild bunny about a week ago and luckily, the little guy has survived. It's a small cotton tail and its around 3-4 weeks old according to the vet. I've asked on their advice in whether to keep it or release it and the vets said that it will be hard as she’ll likely lose her instincts and might not survive once released.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do with the situation. I could keep it as I do have enough space and I'm willing to take care of it, but I also know these animals are not meant to be kept like this. I just want what's best for the little guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17748" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T21:04:35.273" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T21:04:35.273" Title="Can I keep a baby wild rabbit as a pet" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-04-20T23:34:30.430" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-20T21:32:36.720" Score="2" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently became a responsible betta owner. I never knew how wrong I was about them. My butterfly betta, Olaf eats very well but has a lump on one side and is less active today. He usually swims very actively and explores his tank or watches me work. He eat freeze dried blood worms, bugs or brine shrimp twice daily. He is in a 5 gallon tank alone with moss balls and mat, bio  stone, resting leaf and a castle cave. Temp is 80 degrees. Using bubble sponge filter. Live plants are on order and a floating log.[fish bump&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4VGNB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4VGNB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;][1]&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17749" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-20T23:12:40.143" LastActivityDate="2020-04-20T23:12:40.143" Title="Is my Betta too thin or sick?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23696" CreationDate="2020-04-20T23:14:52.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think answering this complicated and interesting question might be difficult. But I did some research and I'm going to provide my insight despite the fact that great answers already exist there. I want it to serve as a follow-up supplement to existing answers. I just think it's really important subject for anyone concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I am going to confirm that yes, silica sand is just a formal term for naming ordinary, common sand you can find for example in sandboxes located on the children's playground and on beaches of non-tropical coastlines. It is exactly the thing that comes to mind of most people as first after hearing the word &quot;sand&quot;, and silica is chemical name of the main constitutent of this type of sand. Silica and silica sand are inert substances, commonly occur in nature and are chemically non-toxic upon oral digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, it is also true that inhaling finely divided silica particles is a significant health hazard: especially if silica is in its crystalline form - which is the case in silica sand - it is known for causing serious disorder which you've mentioned, including lung cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's not like silica is inherently dangerous itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, it's generally just dangerous and unhealthy for us to inhale finely divided particulate matter because it interferes with one's respiratory system, in particular with the lungs. Inhaling fine particles of many other common, normally harmless substances like, for example, flour, coal or cotton also causes wide range of respiratory diseases generally refered to as pneumoconioses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Danger depends on the size of these respirable particles: relatively large particles (around 10 micrometers and bigger) are less dangerous because they don't make their way to the lungs - instead, they get stopped and deposited in upper respiratory tract where they aren't nearly as damaging, but smaller particles (less than 1 micrometer in size) go deep down into the lungs and wreak havoc within the alveoli. On the photo you've provided in your question I could see a writing on the litter package that says &quot;this product is super fine&quot; which, if refers to sand particle size, may be concerning in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However as far as I could find, disorders related to inhaling silica dust are mostly known for being occupational diseases affecting construction site workers, miners and generally people working in industrial setups involving stonecutting and stonegrinding so I don't think that conditions during daily cat litter handling are exactly comparable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-occupational forms of these diseases were also reported &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis#Occupational_silicosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;due to enviromental exposure&lt;/a&gt; and dubbed as desert dust pneumonia, but I still don't think these conditions are comparable to this concern with cat litter, unless the litter tends to raise visible clouds of dust during handling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'm really sceptic about the claim of silica particles pontentially accumulating in cat's intestines over extended period of time. Small ingested amounts should inertly pass through I think. As long as there particles stay out of respiratory system they are at most capable only of causing minor irritation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in principle it could be dangerous, but the answer depends on many variables. In conclusion, one couldn't really be absolutely sure before checking this particular brand of litter and examining it under the microscope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for sources, my general source was &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-22T15:30:51.220" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T15:30:51.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27561" CreationDate="2020-04-21T07:59:53.827" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if dogs only howl due to fear or as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/477/why-does-my-dog-sing-along-to-final-jeopardy&quot;&gt;learned behaviour&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other reasons a dog would howl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is loneliness or other emotions a factor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-08T19:04:36.473" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T19:13:21.903" Title="Why do dogs howl?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27560" CreationDate="2020-04-21T11:17:12.783" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Howling is an ancestral trait in dogs because dogs and wolves share a common ancestor; and yes, there could be many reasons for this behavior and it's usually completely natural; it's just a type of dog's vocalization, like barking. It's hard to tell exact reason without the context and details because there could be as many potential reasons for howling as there could be for barking. It could happen, for example, as a response to specific sounds, for attention, and communication. Loneliness or emotional distress mentioned by you could be valid reasons as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-08T19:13:21.903" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T19:13:21.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27599" CreationDate="2020-04-21T14:54:56.647" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I let my tortoise wander around my room to let out his energy(if I don't he gets restless and antsy). I was wondering if I need to have the humidity/temperature up in my room? also, some of my cats keep trying to eat him, so I have to keep them out of my room while he is wandering around. are there any ways to discourage this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17724" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T22:27:07.573" Title="is it a bad idea to let my tortoise explore my room while supervised?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-21T15:21:13.740" Score="1" ViewCount="783" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have several big potted plants, and my cats are peeing on these plants. Needless to say, the plants aren't doing that great. The cat litters are always clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do so that the cats stop peeing on the plants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T20:52:15.430" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T21:04:40.480" Title="Cats peeing in potted plants. What to do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27563" CreationDate="2020-04-21T16:04:20.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think best thing to do would be making these plant pots unattractive as alternatives to litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First thing to consider is replacing the old soil in all these pots, because cats will be attracted to urinate there as long as the soil has cat urine scent to it. I would advise against attempting to dilute the scent by doing washing-overwatering, as you could seriously damage your plants (I've drowned a few potted plants in the past by accident and it's easier than it seems). Next, you could cover up the soil in your pots with some larger rocks, or generally just a layer of some harmless blocky objects - it would impede with cat's natural instinct of covering up urinated places with soil and further discourage using pots as litterboxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some research on the Internet I did also mentions placing rustling materials like aluminium foil ribbons into the pot to further spark a sense of unfamiliar environment being present and thus sending cats a subtle message that flower pots aren't really the best places to urinate into. I don't think it's a bad idea, but if you decide to take that advice please make sure these objects aren't in any way capable of hurting the cats or pose a choking hazard. Due to the latter, I would advise against using for example plastic bag ribbons in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also not advise sprinkling cats with water if you see them urinating there, as they wouldn't get the message that urinating is prohibited there. At most, they would learn that it's just you who doesn't like them urinating there. Intended effect would not be achieved, as they will just begin behaving more sneaky and careful about it, causing unneeded stress for them as well as for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please rule out that urinating outside of the litterbox is not caused by other factors. For example, I recall an issue someone had with their cat urinating in disagreeable places, and then it was discovered that the reason lied within the litterbox itself, as the texture of recently changed brand of litter was hurting cat's paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-21T18:24:50.707" LastActivityDate="2020-04-21T18:24:50.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-22T00:12:07.107" Score="1" ViewCount="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse has become picky post-colic surgery with his feed - Purina Senior Equine specifically. Luckily, we have been able to keep his weight on despite not being to eat hay because of his impaction. Any brands out there that have good nutritional balance without being a total sweet feed? Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17756" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T00:12:07.107" Title="Best senior horse feed for post-colic surgery?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;equestrian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27571" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-22T13:35:28.360" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Posting for a friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has a poodle cross dog and his coat has grown and needs grooming. Its also curly and dense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wants to know can she just take a clipper to him and go for it or whether clipping the odd bit of fur to neaten him up will do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Id like to know if anyone has done this and what they did or what advice would you offer for this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T13:48:48.947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T05:50:28.593" Title="I need to groom my dog during this covid lockdown" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-22T17:28:38.273" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little over a year ago, a cat showed up on our doorstep. Since then, we've taken her in and she lives with us. She spends most of her time indoors, but she doesn't have a litter box, as she goes outside to do her business. Since she was most likely feral, we took her to the vet to get her shots and be spayed, but they found that she had actually already been spayed. She's pretty skittish, but will meow at us when she wants to be petted while she eats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is that when there are other cats outside, she makes some pretty horrendous sounds. The hissing is fine, but other times it sounds like she is dying. In general, she tends to appear as the aggressor, as I haven't seen any of the cats outside act threatening toward her really. What can my family and I do to help her not feel so threatened or scared by cats outside? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17761" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T01:36:00.963" Title="How to help my cat feel less threatened by other cats outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-04-27T06:37:31.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27584" CreationDate="2020-04-22T17:29:33.953" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work from home office. This is not due to the current pandemic, I have always worked from home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In mid-February my wife and I got a dog, a female Shiba Inu puppy. As of now she is almost five months old and has a lot of energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We play with her often, we walk her for 20 minutes once or twice a day on a nearby park (right across the street, and we are taking all precautions against COVID-19 spread). On some days she will stay quiet and sleep for up to 14h, as a puppy should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But on some days, despite the walking and whatnot, she wants to play non-stop. So either my wife or I get constantly interrupted by our puppy, who just won't leave us alone. She has toys to play with, but it's attention she wants, and she will cry, destroy things and find new ways to freak us out until either one of us drops what we are doing and interact with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some kind of training we can do to let our dog know that we are always there for her, but that we need time for ourselves (to work, eat, go to the restroom etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16358" LastEditorUserId="16358" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T05:55:06.373" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T05:55:06.373" Title="Dog begs for attention constantly" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27574" CreationDate="2020-04-22T17:59:13.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shiba Inus are traditionally &quot;strong willed&quot; and I am sure she is adjusting to a routine like any puppy would. For a short term fix, have you tried any sort of toy &quot;puzzle&quot;? A classic go-to is using a kong filled with a treat, even something like peanut butter which is a good distraction. You can find other treat puzzles on sites like Chewy.com. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, I would consider some crate training. This can help set some boundaries and give her a sense of security. Would help limit some of your distractions as well.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17756" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T17:59:13.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27571" CreationDate="2020-04-22T22:09:09.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can easily clip a dog, you just want to make sure you have proper control of the dog while clipping so you don't accidentally cut them. &#xA;You first want to bathe the dog and get them very clean. If you can use some sort of pet-friendly conditioner, I recommend using that as well because it will make the fur easier to clip. Make extra sure they are totally dry before clipping or you could cause the blades to rust. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend using clippers like Wahl that you can order online. If you want to really invest, Oster is a great brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, be careful and give lots of treats. So your dog gets used to the sound and feel of the clipper, hold the back of the clipper against their body a few times so they get used to the vibrations. Every so often, you will want to turn the clippers off and let them rest because they can get hot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17756" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T22:09:09.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-22T23:11:51.293" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an African Dwarf frog in my fish tank right now, and an accident happened where I walked up too fast to the tank and scared her. She managed to jump out of a small hole in the top meant for the filter wires onto the floor. I was luckily able to catch her very quickly and get her back into the tank, but she did take a fall of a couple of feet (probably about two and a half feet). She looks relatively ok right now, but I’m just worried if there’s a chance that she might die. I know they’re very fragile, if someone can help me out please let me know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17765" LastActivityDate="2020-04-22T23:11:51.293" Title="Will my African Dwarf Frog die?" Tags="&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27555" CreationDate="2020-04-23T01:17:18.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like he is unhappy being an only pet, and since you can only have cats, that doesn't seem to leave a lot of options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is still very active, then I would strongly consider a kitten. Sure, there may be some challenges with introductions at first, but most adult cats will at least tolerate a kitten and having a new playmate to occupy him will probably override that once he gets used to the new smell in &quot;his&quot; territory. And if the kitten is &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; playful, as kittens often are for an older cat, make sure he has &lt;em&gt;vertical&lt;/em&gt; escape when he needs a break, e.g. a high platform that the kitten can't reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is more sedentary and just wants someone to cuddle with, then I would suggest an adult cat, though expect a much longer introduction period since they'll both consider each other a threat at first, or &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; two kittens who will spend most of their energy bugging each other while he watches and then coming to him for naptime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T01:17:18.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27573" CreationDate="2020-04-23T01:36:00.963" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she spent long enough as a stray to learn to feed herself, she also learned the importance of defending her territory—and her food supply. That is a hard lesson to unlearn since it literally saved her life at one point. She now sees your home as part of her territory, but she still won't want other cats getting too close and perhaps taking it from her. After all, it has a source of food she doesn't even have to work for!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that solitary predators (including all cats except female lions) really, really do not like fighting. All the noise, swipes, etc. might lead you to believe otherwise, but in general these are attempts to &lt;em&gt;intimidate&lt;/em&gt; the other party into leaving &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; a fight. However, an actual fight risks injury that could leave them unable to hunt, turning what seems minor into something fatal. Only disease (e.g. rabies), mating or protecting their young will override this instinct. And since she's vaccinated and fixed, none of those should apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if she really wants to be an outdoor cat, and there are other cats in the area, you need to accept that occasional noise will be part of that and not something to seriously worry about unless she returns home injured—at which point she will probably be more willing to become an inside cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would, however, recommend a microchip activated cat flap so she can retreat inside at any time she truly feels threatened without the risk of another persistent (or just curious) cat following her in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T01:36:00.963" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T02:22:00.693" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anything i can do to prevent an outdoor cat from my window that is eye level? My Cat is an indoor cat and the two are fighting through my screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17767" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T07:22:12.653" Title="Keeping outdoor cat away from my indoor cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23701" CreationDate="2020-04-23T06:15:18.390" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats aren’t like dogs, when they are angry and have begun pooping or pissing elsewhere, they don’t even choose the same spot to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they peed on your pillow yesterday and you cover it with plastic the next day, to prevent them from spoiling it again, your cat will pee elsewhere but not where you predict they would. Say, you don’t want your cat to get angry on the litter box, or not littering elsewhere and using the litter box, for which reason you want the it to be perfect then fill the litter pit half-full with sand. I understand, it’s tempting to fill the entire volume with sand and then let them poop as much they want, then get rid of the entire sand and fill it with more sand again. That will not be of much help though, as it will start smelling and excessive poop will increase the volume of sand which will make the sand fall out of the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cat tries to cover the poop, they may even start shoving sand outside rather than on the poop, almost as if playing with it. You want to remind the cat it’s the place for defecating and not for playing. Naughty cats often tend to poop outside if you don’t immediately get rid of their poop. They just don’t understand that we are not there all the time to monitor their bowel droppings. If you work from home, then the cats tend to become naughtier and want you to remove their poop immediately without fail, which is not convenient as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats tell when it needs to get done, others just let it be and poop or pee elsewhere, no matter what you do, just cause they have used it once already. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17768" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T14:05:21.233" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T14:05:21.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27574" CreationDate="2020-04-23T07:50:28.987" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like she might be well on her way to manipulate you into giving her attention whenever she wants. Small children are good at this manipulation, too, especially when their parents underestimate their intelligence. Ignoring her advances would be the best way to discourage her, but her destroying things should not be ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting crate training, as mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27575/12501&quot;&gt;Caroline Hunt's answer&lt;/a&gt;, is an excellent way to teach her that she cannot have your attention whenever she wants. If you don't want to use a crate, you can send her to her dog bed or a dedicated pillow or blanket and keep her from leaving this place by putting her on a leash for a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, as a puppy she has lots of energy and 20 minutes walk may not be enough for her anymore. On days when she is especially active, you could try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorporating games like fetching or carrying a toy into your regular walks, to burn more energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doing obedience training (heel, sit, stay) during your walks to challenge her mentally as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Playing more demanding games with her. Have a look at some ideas in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;. Please keep in mind that as long as she is still growing, activities that are physically too demanding can lead to malformations of bones and joints.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T05:16:01.673" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T05:16:01.673" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27585" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T15:11:07.723" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our young male rescue cat has razor sharp claws: 5 needle sharp spikes on each paw. I've played with lots of cats and never encountered this?  We've had him for about 4 months now and he is getting much better at 'soft paw' play and I plan to trim the nails when he get's comfortable being held. His 'sister', a young female rescue we've had for about a year, eats the same food, uses the same scratching post and has 'normally' sharp claws: effective weapons and tools but not razor sharp. They play/fight together often and both are very affectionate with each other and with family members. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another concern... the male cat's scratches also seem to be more virulent than the female's scratches. A scratch from the male causes more of a reaction. The skin reddens, swells and hurts noticeably more than his sister's scratches and my wife and 2 children have mentioned this as well. Allergic reaction? Infection? Both cat's like to 'mouse' but the reactions were apparent before we let the male outside during the day. Both cats had all the shots mandated in Ontario, Canada when you adopt from the humane society. We aren't having the usual 'cat scratch fever' symptoms. No blistering, no fever, no fatigue, no lymph swelling, etc. My first suspicion was he had some type of bacteria/virus/fungus inside his claw or sheath? Maybe it's just because they pierce the skin more deeply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He may be the pet equivalent of a ninja assassin but I just want to be sure he and we are okay. Have you encountered this before? Is there a possible nutritional deficiency causing the nails to be SO sharp? Is the skin reaction possibly connected to any common cat pathogen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17773" LastEditorUserId="17773" LastEditDate="2020-04-23T15:30:32.950" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T19:55:51.587" Title="My cat's razor sharp 'poison-tipped' claws: any physiological issues I should be concerned about?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T15:31:28.590" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Darien, my white Persian cat is 7 months old. I had him vaccinated for rabies when he was 3 months old. He has been dewormed three times, most recently today. He is not neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last few days:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's meowing a lot, and very loudly. He used to meow/chirp before, but not always this loud.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His appetite is not much. He does eat, but not as much as he used to. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His poop is in shape, but it’s not solid.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He does not play as much as he used to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him to the vet today. While at the vet, the temperature was fine, and he told us to deworm him, also maybe he's in heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am so worried, as to why he's meowing so loudly and constantly! It's not like we leave him alone, one of my family members is always with him, playing or just beside him. Could you guys help me out, any suggestions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17772" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T10:35:27.583" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T10:46:50.517" Title="My kitten is meowing loudly and constantly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T15:54:54.267" Score="11" ViewCount="3995" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I find my cat or dog in a critical state, when it's seemingly about to die, and I call 911 and tell them &quot;dying cat&quot; or &quot;dying dog&quot;, is this correct/acceptable behaviour? Or would it be considered a waste of their time and maybe they would even become angry and hang up on me and send me a punishment bill for abusing their emergency telephone number which is only for people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a telephone number to a vet ready, nor even really a telephone ready to call anyone with (but that's another story), so if this happened (which I pray it never does), I would likely call my country's version of the US &quot;911&quot; when I finally get to a phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fear that I will just &quot;freeze&quot; in such emergency situations, so I want to try to prepare myself by at least asking about this before it actually happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17775" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T20:05:40.743" Title="Would it be considered inappropriate or even illegal to call 911 if I find my cat or dog in a critical state?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;emergency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27587" CreationDate="2020-04-23T16:26:15.760" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether it would be illegal, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not giving you legal advice, but as for just calling once and asking for help - personally I don't think so. It's completely natural that a person in fear and distress is not always acting rationally and just asking for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the issue is that paramedics are professionally trained for medical emergencies of people, not animals - they would have to be veterinarians to legally practice medicine on animals. That means calling 911 would almost surely be a waste of both your and their time. For example I recall reading about someone in the USA who actually called 911 for their dog and after telling their issue they just redirected him to different, non-emergency 311 line. So calling 911 for an animal would not get you any direct help from them as far as I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I can't tell if your country has a similar department. But even if there isn't any government managed service, there still could be a private-run form functioning if you are prepared for bills. For example in the UK there are plenty of veterinarian emergency hotlines - and a service like that would actually be the appropriate way to deal with pet emergency, not 911.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T20:05:40.743" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T20:05:40.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T16:50:56.327" Score="0" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a single cat in my apartment around 10 months old. We notice that after he is done peeing/pooping he covers his waste in the litter box but starts scratching the wall around the litter box. It seems like he thinks the wall is an extension of his litter box. At times he will cover his waste, scratch the wall and come back after sometime to repeat scratching. We have recorded a 30s video which can be found here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/NkgZUr-NN34&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/NkgZUr-NN34&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not really an issue but it is an annoyance, because he wakes us up in the middle of the night with his scratching. Can we do anything to avoid this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17776" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T17:06:54.700" Title="Why does my cat scratch wall around litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-04-23T18:18:42.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16072" CreationDate="2020-04-23T16:54:35.217" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe, depends on how many vigorous plants you have. If you have no plants it will make little difference. Many growing plants will be absorbing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from the water and so the water will have less than equilibrium level of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; relative to the air, and an aerator will add CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. I had a 75 g salt tank with a lot of &lt;em&gt;Caulerpa&lt;/em&gt; (algae) in it - I sold it to pet shops to get rid of it. At night the pH would get more acidic because of the increased CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; saturation (down to about 8.2) with aerators running. During the day the plants consumed so much CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; that the filtering and aeration could not replace it fast enough and the pH went to about 8.7. The numbers don't sound like much, but consider that is changing the pH of about 700 lbs of water. Too hard for me to calculate how many pounds of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; that required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T00:23:39.870" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T00:23:39.870" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T17:09:58.703" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to raise a dog to take care of it when I get home from work.&#xA;Many people advised me to buy a dog from the time he was born over 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17735" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T22:38:20.573" Title="I can keep the dog from time to time it is loyal" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-04-27T06:19:24.923" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T17:14:52.900" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;The moment I start to pet my cat, she starts to purr and then takes breaks in between to bend forward and inward to lick the primordial pouch on her tummy. She only does it when she's purring. She's 13 months old. She's been doing it ever since she was 4 months old. Her blood tests, kbc, lft are all fine. She's active and verbal in her expressions. She eats well and poops well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17778" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T14:39:23.467" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:39:23.467" Title="Cat licks her tummy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27587" CreationDate="2020-04-23T17:22:10.780" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not call 911 for a medical emergency involving treatment for pets.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emergency responders are generally not trained or equipped for veterinary medicine, so they will not be able to help you. However, there are some situations that involve animals that would still be considered a situation for calling emergency services, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An animal attacking or trying to attack humans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An animal is being a traffic hazard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animal cruelty in progress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What would happen if I called them anyways?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least in the United States, it would probably be the case that they would simply redirect you to a non-emergency line (in many areas of the United States, this is 311), as long as you didn't do this repeatedly or with obvious malicious intent. Many people mistakenly contact 911 for situations that are not considered true emergencies by emergency services, and as long as the intent isn't malicious, it's generally considered to be more harmful to punish people who call 911 because they didn't know what else to do than to spend the time handling these calls. Emergency responders do not want people to possibly not call 911 in a real emergency because they are afraid they might be misjudging the situation and will end up getting punished for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course, emergency lines are handled regionally, so this is not necessarily a guarantee in your area, nor should you call counting on them to help you contact the correct services when you know your situation is almost certainly not the type of emergency handled by 911 services. As part of basic emergency preparation, you should familiarize yourself on the policies in your area, and try your best to only ever call any service for those situations it's meant for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what should you do if your pet has a medical emergency?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is, call your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should prepare for the possibility of your pet having a sudden medical emergency by having the contact info of a 24-hour veterinary clinic, and any other local pet emergency services, such as the ASPCA's poisoning hotline, prepared before an emergency happens. Keep this information in your phone contacts if you have one, or keep it written down in a place you know you can find immediately even under stress. The common location is posted on the refrigerator door. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="10338" LastEditDate="2020-04-24T15:01:47.877" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:01:47.877" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T17:46:18.733" Score="2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;We’ve had our Female Red Ear Slider for about 10 years. She’s in a tank that holds 90 gallons currently. Originally, we had little pellet rocks at the bottom of the tank about 2 inches deep. She started pushing her backside into the rocks acting like she was going to lay an egg, but never did. About a year ago, we removed the pellet rocks thinking it will help. Ever since then she’s been laying eggs non stop. Within this past year she’s laid about 17-20 unfertilized eggs. Today she laid 9 eggs in a row. Is there a way to stop this from happening? Is there something we are doing wrong? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17779" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T05:43:01.230" Title="Why is my Female Red Ear Slider laying eggs, and how do I stop it?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27595" CreationDate="2020-04-23T17:53:48.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: you could not stop it. You could be happy that your turtle not died because she was eggbound!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer you will find in this pets.SE question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18912/red-eared-slider-laying-eggs-into-the-water&quot;&gt;Red eared slider laying eggs into the water&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T05:43:01.230" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T05:43:01.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-23T21:15:45.380" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own a cat (a British shorthair). A few days ago I searched for cat food. I found a website that sells cat food, and I wanted to buy &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petzzshop.com/royal-canin-british-shorthair-kitten-yavru-kedi-mamasi-2-kg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; ('&lt;em&gt;Royal Canin British Shorthair Kitten cat food&lt;/em&gt;'), but I looked into Royal Canin cat foods, and there are some people who say it is harmful for cats. Should I buy this or not? What food should I give my cat otherwise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17782" LastEditorUserId="17810" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T06:18:38.807" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T21:35:56.877" Title="Is this cat food harmful?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27562" CreationDate="2020-04-23T22:27:07.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he's out for a short period of time (a few hours max), you shouldn't worry about the temperature/humidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the cats, I personally have never had one but it may be likely that it can't be changed/discouraged and is too dangerous to try. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T22:27:07.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27592" CreationDate="2020-04-23T22:38:20.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that you're asking what at what age is it &quot;appropriate&quot; to purchase a dog, and yes, your friends are right. Two months, or eight weeks is generally the suggested age. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you currently work, I strongly suggest that you don't get a young dog. Not even considering their separation anxiety/them being a social animal, it's said that a puppy can only hold its pee for one hour per month of age (for example, a two month old puppy would need to pee every two hours). Consider adopting an older dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-23T22:38:20.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-24T03:05:22.383" Score="1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has only ever eaten protein and fat, from meat, fish and some canned foods. Suddenly today I saw him eating watermelon. Do you think I should feed it to him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17735" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T18:20:15.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T18:20:15.067" Title="Should cats eat fruit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;big-cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-24T03:06:18.003" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am perplexed. I have a first-time mother cat.she won't wean her kittens. I have gone from soft to hard food with the kittens. but yet mother still nurses. kittens are 12 weeks old, should mother not have stopped nursing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17787" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T03:06:18.003" Title="my cat won't wean her kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-04-27T06:36:33.487" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5777" CreationDate="2020-04-24T14:18:08.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll just post a 6-year-later follow-up since someone upvoted the question today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still have Pascal, and she's very healthy. She never became very friendly though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take her out almost daily and let her run around, and expose her to people constantly. She's still super-skittish despite that, but she's also entirely non-violent. We think it might have to do with only having the one-eye (it probably makes her less confident in her surroundings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, not all Uromastyxs are bound to be socialites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2651" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T14:18:08.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27610" CreationDate="2020-04-24T15:14:47.017" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a five year old male shih tzu. He’s been totally housetrained since he was a puppy. We’d like to create a space for him to go to the potty inside the house. That way when the weather is really bad, or when we can’t get home to take him out at his regular time, he can go indoors. I’ve heard of people using puppy pads but since he’s a boy he needs to lift his leg when he pees. Ideally we'd like something that's as easy as possible to maintain, isn't an eyesore, and that our dog will actually want to use. Does anyone have any ideas? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17777" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:25:57.573" Title="Indoor potty options for my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27609" CreationDate="2020-04-24T15:25:57.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We made an indoor potty area for our male Jack Russell Terrier, Jax.  You have a few options but basically you’ll need something to use as a pee post and then a base to put the post on that can soak up the urine and where he can poop if he needs to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we used was a dog fire hydrant as a pee post and placed it on an artificial grass pad that is designed to collect the urine in a tray underneath. He typically lifts his leg and pees right on the hydrant although sometimes he just squats on the pad and pees like a female. He also has enough space to do a few circles and poop on the grass pad as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We placed the setup in our spare bathroom. This combo is very convenient for us and looks much better than other options, which was an important consideration (especially for my wife). Although of course you do have to dump the pee out and clean the pad every few days. We also spray the pad with an enzymatic cleaner to help break down any urine smell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want could also place a hydrant on top of a pee pad and then dispose of the pad once it has been used. Another option is to actually place a hydrant inside of a litter box with kitty litter. The kitty litter will help to absorb the pee and any smell. This article might give you some more ideas: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smartdogguide.com/a-dog-fire-hydrant-potty-is-your-lawns-best-friend/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.smartdogguide.com/a-dog-fire-hydrant-potty-is-your-lawns-best-friend/&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17774" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T15:25:57.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-24T19:06:25.230" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last 2 days we rescued an 11 month un-neutered male German Shepherd named Teddy from a family who could no longer care for him.  That family advised that he was just too big and too hyper for their home and that he was living outside and they didn't believe that was fair.  We already have a 7 year old un-neutered male Male German Shepherd named Solomon who is great with other dogs of all sizes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before we agreed to take Teddy we introduced the two dogs and let them spend a lot of time together on Teddys home turf.  There was of course some posturing (especially from the younger dog) and a lot of yipping and barking and what not, but all in all, they got along really well.  No fights on or off leash and very relaxed body posture.  When we got the two dogs home, they spent the rest of the day (about 4 hours) in our backyard and also got along really well.  Lots of playing with tails wagging, tongues lolling, relaxed ears and body posture etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when we brought them in the house, Teddy changed and was suddenly very antagonistic toward Solomon.  Solomon tries to ignore him by just sitting there and staring at him calmly or by walking away from him but Teddy will not allow it and will follow and snarl and bark aggressively (altho body posture isn't always aggressive).  Finally Solomon gets frustrated enough and a fight begins.  Its only been 2 days, but Teddy's behavior isn't showing any signs of stopping and it is now continued in the outdoors but only IF a member of the household is out there.  Alone they are fine.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another weird thing with Teddy is that he seems to be nervous about doors.  When going outside, he will go out to about his shoulders, then turn around and run back in and then try to go out again.  He does this several times.  When Solomon is going out with him, Teddy will become aggressive at the door as well and must be the first one out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although he was living outside, I know in his old home they were definitely paying attention to him and loving him as his temperament is very sweet, he thinks hes a lapdog, and he knows his basic commands (sit, down, off, and come - not that he listens often).  He was never before socialized with other dogs though and hes still very young.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried that we may have made a mistake by adopting him.  However he is a member of our household now so I am looking for things I can do to work with him (and Solomon) to get him past this.  Oh, we are also going to be getting him neutered.  I just haven't called the vet yet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any and all help is welcome. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shann&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17794" LastActivityDate="2020-04-24T19:06:25.230" Title="My dogs get along with each other outside but not inside our house" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27612" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-25T02:24:15.713" Score="3" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I purchased a small 5.5 gallon aquarium: Top Fin Starter Kit with a silent-stream carbon filter. We are brand new with aquariums and unfortunately didn't do our due diligence and research on tank cycling which led to quite a few dead fish over the course of the last couple months.&#xA;Our initial experience has made me super paranoid about water parameters. Without going in to too much of a story, we finally seem to have a stable aquarium with a couple fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I have heard that any amount of ammonia in the tank can be toxic to fish and cause issues. I used the API Freshwater Master Kit to test the ammonia in the water the other day and it read at 1 ppm. Of course this sent me into panic mode and we went to our local pet store and got a small water vacuum, two 2.3 gallon jugs of Top Fin preconditioned water, and proceeded to do a 50% water change and vacuum the gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I retested the water this afternoon and the ammonia was down to 0.5 ppm. I figured it was awesome, I'll do another 50% water change and it should dilute the ammonia even further and I can sleep easy. So I changed the water and did another gravel vacuum, waited about 5 hours and tested the water again, but the ammonia was still at 0.5 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a list of things we have done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We replaced the filter cartridge as the indicator on the top of the filter was red, indicating it was time to be changed, this was 4 days ago.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have performed two 50% water changes the last two days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We vacuumed the gravel the last two days (after reading, I know this was bad as it could have a negative impact on positive bacteria growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have added API Quick Start to the tank daily (it says it contains nitrifying beneficial bacteria).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since we have had ammonia issues we have used Top Fin ammonia neutralizer (I am aware that this does not eliminate ammonia, but converts it to ammonium which still registers on tests. I do this every other day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That all being said, I am not certain, but it is possible we could have disrupted the tank cycle doing all of this over the course of a week.&#xA;The current parameters of tank are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ammonia: 0.5 ppm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no nitrites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;little to no nitrates (the color was barely readable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH is 7.2 to 7.4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this tank contains no live plants, just artificial decorations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to my question, THANK YOU FOR READING MY LONG STORY!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, question is, should I keep adding the API Quick Start with the bacteria and let the little guys get rid of the ammonia for me (let nature take it's course), or do I need to do something else at this point so a potential bad situation does not escalate, like more water changes, less feeding, etc.?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for reading this and I look forward to feedback!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17798" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T17:20:04.397" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T17:20:04.397" Title="Aquarium ammonia question" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-25T09:18:13.397" Score="2" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aquarium snail was not well, I thought so. In the morning he stopped moving , so I thought that he was dead so I took it out and kept it in another glass jar with water . Then he started moving and climbing its wall .&#xA;About four five days ago I found four snails dead in my aquarium . I am now afraid that if the alive one dies then it can affect other fishes as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do , put it back into the water or let it remain there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16990" LastActivityDate="2020-04-25T09:18:13.397" Title="Snails strange behaviour" Tags="&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27614" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-25T10:41:30.563" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Luna is a ~1.5 year old rescue mutt (our guess is border collie-pointer mix).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first got her 6 months ago she would devour her kibble instantly, but nowadays she barely touches her food when we set it out for her.. even if we leave it out all day. More so, she has suffered from bilious vomiting in the mornings ever since we got her (not every day, but quite often) and we believe this may have something to do with her appetite / diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried: wetting the food, switching to a different material bowl, changing up her feeding location, several different brands of high quality kibble, exercise/social play with other dogs before mealtimes - some of these worked to moderate success, some not at all. I should point out that she usually agrees to eat if it is out of our hand, and after eating the first few pieces this way she usually finishes the rest of the bowl herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've also tried taking her bowl away after some time of her not eating, but she didn't seem to mind and after skipping two consecutive meals we stopped this experiment.&#xA;Needless to say we had her checked out by a vet that said she looks extremely healthy and well.&#xA;When she does eat, she usually nibbles on a few pieces at a time, and often takes them away with her to eat on the carpet away from the bowl. Wetting her food helps a little, and switching food works great for a meal or a couple before she returns to this not-eating habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are completely out of ideas.. &#xA;Does anyone know what may be causing this and what we can do to solve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17800" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T12:02:15.147" Title="Dog not eating her food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27616" CreationDate="2020-04-25T11:02:03.330" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to grow scarlett runner beans in my garden to decorate a gray wall. &lt;strong&gt;Do rabbits like them very much? Will I have to separate rabbits from the plant, or the plant from the rabbits to let both do no harm to eachother?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I remember a movie with rabbits where the farmer have to guard their bean plants special because the rabbits are mad about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-04-25T20:52:07.253" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T16:17:24.703" Title="Do rabbits eat scarlett runner beans?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27615" CreationDate="2020-04-25T14:56:02.330" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think rabbits should be kept away from all garden plants, considering the safety of both rabbits and plants. Rabbits have a great appetite for various types of plants so they will readily and happily munch on most of them, causing significant damage and often completely destroying them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This long-eared animal possesses a voracious appetite for all kinds of fresh vegetation—woody plants, perennials, annuals, vegetables, and berries. In fact, a menu of rabbit favorites is so ridiculously long that it’s easier to list the few plants they don’t enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;citing &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.almanac.com/pest/rabbits&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;almanac.com/pest/rabbits&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I don't think keeping your rabbits well fed would be enough to prevent them from damaging the plants. Rabbit's teeth are constantly growing all it's life and for this reason they are biologically compulsed to constant chewing - and specifically chewing plant matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are widely recognized as agricultular and gardening pest. Somewhat crude and unreliable but nonetheless illustrative way of showing the scale of this problem could be a comparsion: googling the phrase &quot;rabbit pest&quot; returns around 58 million results, while phrase &quot;aphid pest&quot; returns only about 11.7 million - and keep in mind aphids are one of the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions. Of course the reason for this scale is not only large damage-causing potential of rabbits, but also their huge fertility rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not only do your rabbits pose significant risk for scarlet runner bean plants, but also vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scarlet runner bean plants pose a risk of poisoning. Its seeds contain phytohemagglutinin which is carbohydrate binding protein causing toxic effects upon consumption in monogastric animals like rabbits. For the same reason humans shouldn't eat raw bean seeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytohaemagglutinin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phytohaemagglutinin article on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbitcagesuk.co.uk/can-rabbits-eat-runner-beans/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Can rabbits eat runner beans&lt;/a&gt; at rabbitcagesuk.co.uk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/rabbits-feeding-and-nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabbits - feeding and nutrition&lt;/a&gt; at vetwest.com.au&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T16:17:24.703" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T16:17:24.703" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27617" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-25T17:37:51.353" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;We suddenly found this refugee lovebird with walking difficulty at our home. I think the bird must have been hurt by falling down form high level of building and its leg has broken:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XqCSP.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XqCSP.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V9oiC.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V9oiC.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have this two medicines from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26194/we-found-a-dove-how-do-we-care-for-it&quot;&gt;another bird with walking problem&lt;/a&gt;, which was cured, similar to these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.darukade.com/products/supplement-boost-baby-growth-320/drops-multivitamin-drops-for-babies-13927&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Multivitamin Drops for Babies&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bGAfJ.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bGAfJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.darukade.com/products/supplement-bone-strengthening-and-growth-1158/syrup-osteocare-200-ml-1247&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Osteocare 200 ml&lt;/a&gt; :&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TF1qc.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TF1qc.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will appreciate your suggestions on how could I help her/him for its walking problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bring it to a vet and he said it is weak because of being lost and will become better, also give it B complex and multi vitamin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we hope it become better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to help it's recovery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T09:07:47.373" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T09:07:47.373" Title="Refugee lovebird with difficulty walking" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27619" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-25T18:33:00.487" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been licking and pulling out fur on paws for years. He’s been to the vet so many times and they’ve tried different steroids and now a steroid spray too. I’ve noticed 3 red sore lumps now on his paws which is worrying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17802" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-26T17:20:08.217" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T17:20:08.217" Title="Dogs constant paw licking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-04-30T12:14:34.390" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17095" CreationDate="2020-04-26T04:18:25.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mealworms are very poorly nutritious. It has a lot of fat and a very unbalanced calcium-phosphorous ratio. Changing to crickets should help a lot. Please, update us with is current status. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17806" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T04:18:25.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27621" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-26T05:51:31.220" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently adopted a 8 month old kitten from a rescue shelter. On the same day bringing her home she lunged and attacked my daughter, hissed and growl at my husband and  I. We left her in the bathroom that evening with toys, nice bed, food and litter. In the evening was meowing a bit and my husband wanted to check on her. He opened the door a little and she immediately lunged and hissed at him. He quickly closed the door and she continued hissing, growl and scratch on the door throughout the night. Is this normal? I’m not sure what to do? It was just the first day and I know animals usually need 2 weeks to adjust to a new home, but my daughter is already fearful of the kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17809" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T05:51:31.220" Title="Adopted kitten brought home , what is normal behavior?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27619" CreationDate="2020-04-26T11:50:31.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This screams allergies that need to be addressed fast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is typically how allergies can manifest themselves in dogs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution to this would be look at and change their diet and have some reputable allergy tests at the vet. This will fix the problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steroids can have effects on the immune system. And only surprise the symptoms of allergies and not the actual cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T11:50:31.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27614" CreationDate="2020-04-26T12:02:15.147" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few things you can do here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have her checked out by another vet for a second opinion. although I suspect it’s unlikely anything health wise. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She’s likely a bit bored. Hand feed her but make her work for her food. Obedience training and use the food as a reward. This kills 2 birds with 1 stone, it will make it a high value reward for her and you will be also training her too. She is crossed with a working breed so needs engagement and this is a great way to get food in her but also engage with her. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Switch her diet or include in her diet some raw dog food which you buy from specialist vendors or any good pet shop. Mix it in with kibble or give it to her on her own and see how she reacts to it. And then see no. 2 to encourage it. If it works, look at diet plans to make the switch permanent. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2&amp;amp;3 require persistence and patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bile vomiting will be from hunger not as a result of her diet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a vet, but I have seen this in my own working dogs and their litters too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-04-26T12:02:15.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27624" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-26T12:08:19.870" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;In January my fiancée and I adopted a 1 year old beagle who was rescued from a lab. We have been attempting to potty train him since then, to limited success. We used the &quot;umbilical cord method&quot;, keeping him attached to us on a leash at all times for the first 10 days, slowly giving him more freedom after that, and resetting back to the 10 days whenever he has an accident. We also started out taking him every our, before slowly expanding it so we now take him out every 4 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the ~3.5 months we've had him at our apartment it seems that he knows he is supposed to pee outside. He gets up and starts moving around just before the times we take him out, and he's become very consistent at peeing when we take him out. The issue is that while he knows to pee when taken outside, he doesn't seem to want to/be able to hold it in if things don't go exactly according to plan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of this is this morning I got up with him to feed him, and usually during this time he doesn't  have a leash on, and then I put it on once he's done eating. For some reason today immediately after eating he grabbed a toy and started running around with it, and wouldn't let me grab him to put his leash on. After doing this he immediately stopped and tried to pee, so now we're back to 10 days stuck on the leash 100% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't seem to have a certain place he pees in the house, it's just wherever he happens to be. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get an adult dog to better understand the concept of holding it and that he really can't pee inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: He only has accidents when off leash. Since we keep him on leash for ~10 days every time he has an accident there's at least 10 days between each accident, and the longest he has gone is 20 days. We do train commands like no/come/down pretty regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17812" LastEditorUserId="17812" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:18:44.463" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:18:44.463" Title="Dog pees outside but doesn't know not to pee inside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18150" CreationDate="2020-04-26T14:08:51.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to provide my insight to hopefully serve as a complement to existing answer and comments because I think this is an interesting question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to perfectly valid methods already mentioned, an additional approach for H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;S management in aquarium could be also controlling amount of foods with a significant load of sulfur-containing amino acids (methionine and cysteine) being fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Methionine is an essential amino acid, so one shouldn't attempt eliminating it completely from fish diet because that would ultimately lead to fatal malnutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand one should keep in mind that sulfur-containing amino acids are used as substrates for hydrogen sulfide production in anaerobic conditions - and for that reason, make sure that such foods aren't being carelessly fed in excess. Stagnant, fine, deep substrate mixed with decomposing chunks of uneaten, high in sulfur-containing amino acids food in a warm, tropical aquarium is in this context a perfect environment for H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, some fish foods are sold in an &amp;quot;ovo&amp;quot; version, which means an egg-based or egg-enriched version with strengthening properties meant for feeding young and growing up fish - and egg proteins are exceptionally high in sulfur-containing amino acids, which is also simultaneously the exact reason why the disagreeable odor of H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S is associated with the odor of rotten eggs. My approach for the H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S management in the tank would be in essence making sure that foods like that are used in carefully controlled amounts, or not used at all if it's not really needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also some specific plant foods like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are high in sulfur-containing amino acids so please be careful and stay informed if you plan on feeding them to your fish. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/19362&quot;&gt;In the tangentially relevant Q&amp;amp;A Trond Hansen explains why it is bad to overfeed this type of food, using the case of sea lettuce&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally in this context it would be helpful to always carefully study and accurately determine the amino acid nutritional profile of any type of food being fed, but in practice it could often prove to be unreliable or tedious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And something about hydrogen sulfide itself: yes, this is a naturally occurring compound and it's used in minuscule amounts as a signaling molecule in living organisms - for this reason there exists a metabolic pathway for neutralizing minuscule amounts of it. But it becomes easily overwhelmed with relatively small amounts of H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S, and H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S interferes with cellular respiration, hence it's high toxicity - which is actually comparable to the toxicity of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stirring the substrate, either performed manually or by snails as mentioned in others' answer/comments is also an efficient method of H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S management - but actually it's main goal is not releasing H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; the substrate but rather mixing oxygen-rich water &lt;strong&gt;into&lt;/strong&gt; it - oxygen presence enables aerobic metabolism in substrate inhabiting bacteria and thus disables H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S production, which occurs in anaerobic conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to snails, there also exists an interesting genus of fish &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acantopsis_dialuzona&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Acanthopsis choirorhynchus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; which is apparently named commonly as horseface loach. It is known for its behavior of being noticeably mobile and also completely burrowing itself in the substrate, being exceptionally efficient in frequently stirring it and thus preventing anaerobic conditions arising. For these reasons, in my native language it is also somewhat erroneously named as what could be roughly translated as &amp;quot;mud-eater&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;slime-eater&amp;quot;. It could be a wise choice to include this fish if your tank has appropriate type of substrate for it. However, keep in mind that this fish is so aggressive in it's mobility that it tends to uproot plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My general source was &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-17T19:44:53.757" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T19:44:53.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27597" CreationDate="2020-04-27T09:17:39.273" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This food can cause some problems, but overall it's not worse than most dry foods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It has a lot of calories. That's good for kittens, because they're more active than adult cats, but if you feed this food to an adult cat, it would probably gain weight rather quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It has too much grain in it. Grains in cat food are known to cause kidney stones and urinary tract diseases. Unfortunately grain is much cheaper than meat, so most commercial cat foods (especially the cheap ones) contain a lot of grain. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some people (but not many) report that their cats vomit or get diarrhea after eating this food. This is to be expected, because some cats are more sensitive than others or have allergies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This food is not ideal for cats and can cause medical problems in the long run,&lt;/strong&gt; but it's not worse than most cat foods. If you want good, healthy cat food, read the list of ingredients and only buy cat food without any grains (rice, maize/corn, wheat, oats, barley or rye).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T13:43:38.167" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T13:43:38.167" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-27T14:13:02.213" Score="7" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fostering a 10 week old kitten, tested negative for feline leukemia (but littermates are positive). He's the sweetest kitten, is very cuddly, walks around the house with me (and that's just after 3 days), always wants to be with me, but doesn't really play. I have the feathers, the balls, the mice, but he's not interested in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this typical? He seems healthy in other ways (eating, drinking, litter boxing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17819" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-04-27T14:48:45.087" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T17:29:57.997" Title="Kitten is cuddly, not playful--typical?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27642" CreationDate="2020-04-27T14:18:15.860" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently come into possession of a used aquarium; while it includes all the basic parts (tank, stand, hood, and canopy), the glass canopy was dropped at some point and a chunk is missing out of the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is a 60 gallon setup, but the measurements are different from what I've seen for other 60 gallon tanks; I attempted to purchase a replacement canopy yesterday at the same chain pet store where the aquarium was originally purchased, but that canopy (sold as 30&quot;, physically measuring just over 29&quot; in actual width) is about 1/4&quot; too long to fit this tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank itself measures just barely under 30&quot; across and about 17 7/8&quot; deep (measuring the glass, not the rim at the top). The opening measured up about 28 3/4&quot; across and 16 3/4&quot; deep; obviously space will need to be left for the filters at the back, so the canopy itself would not cover the full depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't had much luck trying to find a canopy at this very slightly smaller-than-standard size so far, so I'm looking for what my other options may be to cover this tank. As it will be a cold-water planted tank for axolotls, I'd like to know what I can purchase or create that would work for the intended setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I best cover an oddly sized tank with a broken canopy?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:15:54.330" Title="Odd-sized aquarium with damaged canopy: what are my options?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-27T17:55:13.650" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically my cat tipped a small cabinet over and got its tail stuck between it and the wall, of course I immediately pulled it back and helped him out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but now he just runs from me and avoids me at all cost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice to better the relationship again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user17821" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T02:38:07.067" Title="Cat got hurt, now avoids me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15261" CreationDate="2020-04-27T21:12:14.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps, I find that mosquito bites affect me much worse than others.  Like my bite will welt up and hurt way bigger and worse than others.  I assume this implies I am &quot;allergic&quot; to mosquito bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have done for my yard is keep things like rosemary and lavender.  I just rub my arms and legs in the herb bushes, and the smell like citronella repels the mosquitoes. For my dogs, I just rub some twigs on their hot spots and it seems to keep the bugs away.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17823" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T21:12:14.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18033" CreationDate="2020-04-27T21:24:54.800" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a person who loves animals and is concerned about your problem, my first thought is if you can see medication affect your pet adversely, STOP immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No disrespect to vets or medical professionals but, they are just like anyone else with varying levels of skills and competency and empathy.  I found my vet, and most doctors I go to for my family can handle trauma great (broken bones, cuts, etc) but deeper root cause analysis seems to in opposition to the business model of moving patience in and out of examination rooms to increase profit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would get a list of the multi-vitamin and make a list of things most likely to cause an allergic or adverse reaction and see about finding multivitamins that have a different mix excluding the suspected vitamin.  Another consideration for hair issues, is regular brushing to see actual rate of hair loss, and keeps cats coats looking great.  You can collect the hair in the brush rather than your furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17823" LastActivityDate="2020-04-27T21:24:54.800" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14964" CreationDate="2020-04-27T22:22:49.153" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are milk snails! commonly found in Texas, originating from the Mediterranean, and North Africa! They enjoy warm climates, lots of soil to dig in, hiding spots such as logs, rocks, and bark. When too cold, they create a seal and go into a deep sleep! The seal allows their heart rate to decrease and holds a steady temperature to keep from dying. Your snails may benefit from a heating pad! I often use like warm water when spraying their terrarium, and leave them in sunlight, while they will hide from direct sunlight they need the warmth. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17824" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T22:46:17.077" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T22:46:17.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27635" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-28T00:57:43.073" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed this hard pimple like bump on my dogs upper back about 6 months ago and it’s still there. She has another smaller one in her hip area as well. She is 3 years old in August so she is still very young to have bumps. however she saw a vet a few weeks ago and they told me it could be a non cancerous cyst(sebaceous cyst) it feels like a hard pimple with a tiny little scab on it. In addition she is full of Energy and acts normal. Just looking for a second opinion for a peace of mind . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/88BLj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gkPBu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17827" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T04:38:55.057" Title="Does anyone know what this hard pimple like bump is on my dogs back?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27647" CreationDate="2020-04-28T01:33:02.457" Score="2" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard Gecko tends to bite me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hasn't shed yet. I'm worry about him/her. He's kinda mad at me all the time. I give him his crickets, food, water and he will scream at me. He does have water, food, rocks, etc... Very spoiled boy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just trying too be a good mum/dad. I got him from pet smart. Please help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17829" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:11:16.107" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:11:16.107" Title="why does my leopard gecko bite me?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27635" CreationDate="2020-04-28T04:38:55.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience I would concur with your vet - it looks just like the cysts I've seen on my dogs. Even though they're commonly thought of as &quot;old dog lumps&quot;, dogs of any age can get them (Just like people of any age can get cysts). I have a boy right now who's had his cyst for going on 6 years (We noticed it when he was 5). His started out that size and is now the size of an engorged tick. As long as it's not bothering your pup, I wouldn't be worried!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T04:38:55.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27631" CreationDate="2020-04-28T05:08:32.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry that you're in this situation! Having your buddy scared of you is no fun at all. Your cat has unfortunately associated you with the scary incident. Which sucks, but the relationship is reparable! It will just take some time and patience. Take things slow, do not rush it. Use your kitty's favorite treat. This treat needs to be SUPER good - so in this case people food is okay unless he has a super favorite cat treat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep tabs on about how far away you can be from your cat before he runs away. Make sure to stay outside of that range and toss treats in his direction as you're walking around. Basically, if you can get 10 feet (around 3 meters) from him before he runs away, toss treats from 12 feet (around 3.6 meters) away. Or if he's shrinking down on the ground as you walk by him, just drop a couple of treats as you walk by without looking at him. He probably won't eat them while you're watching, but that's okay. Over time he'll start associating you with good things instead of the scary thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other things you can do to calm him down are Feliway plug-ins around the house. Feliway mimics the natural cat appeasing pheromone and makes them feel more at ease over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible, try not to force any interactions on him until he starts coming to you on his own again. If you have to force an interaction (if he needs medication, needs a vet trip, etc), stay super calm and make the interaction as low stress and short as you possibly can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope these tips help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastEditorUserId="17832" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T02:38:07.067" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T02:38:07.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-28T06:02:01.077" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the question make sense? I've adopted an adult male cockatiel (Miu), he's very sweet and tame. We've had him for a few years now. &#xA;Recently my mom brought home a 3 week old cockatiel chick, Miu is very interested and always observes me feeding the baby. Whenever he gets close to the baby, he goes for the mouth straight away as though he is feeding the baby, but I don't see any food coming out. I always take him away because I'm worried that the baby could get sick or the baby's crop is going to be too full if by chance he is actually feeding him. Is this normal behaviour? It's as though he's fostering the baby, but he's bad at it xD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17833" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T06:02:01.077" Title="Recently brought home a 3 week old cockatiel chick, why does my adult male cockatiel keep trying to feed it without feeding anything?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27651" CreationDate="2020-04-28T13:37:39.280" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone owned several acres of woodland area that was fenced off from the public, could a dog go for a walk without the owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17835" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T16:48:17.510" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T16:48:17.510" Title="Can a dog walk itself?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27630" CreationDate="2020-04-28T14:08:37.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it, you have three options: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;buy something that will not fit the measures exactly&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;make another person (friend or company) build you something fitting, or&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;built it by yourself&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do not need to have a light in the cover, building it by yourself will be much easier than with electricity near water... &#xA;First point you have discovered yourself, so I will write about two and three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Become someone to built it for you: there are shops you could buy tanks, boards and cover at the measures you like to have. You could find one and ask for a price, depending on quality you could pay more or less. Or you have a friend who built you one on the lines of point three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point three: DIY will depending on your experience with materials. You could buy a thicker window glass and cut it in the right shape. This seems to be more easy than I guessed, but working with glass I have no experience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My choose would be a cover based an a wooden frame in the shape of the tanks top. This I would divide into three or four parts with two or three bars/ledges. (Please see the scratch below.) Then you additional need three or four light boards to close the rectangle holes. If you want to feed or clean you only need one board to open. &#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8wW36.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;My tank looks like the next picture. Red arrow shows the ledge, green arrow the board to cover the holes, blue arrow shows some connection to place the ledge in. Because turtles need air circulation I use only one board to store the food and tools. The middle ledge I have removed because of the bubble-stone-pump (blue).&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q6Oc8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PXdQf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T16:15:54.330" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T16:15:54.330" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-28T15:45:17.690" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even the best canine swimmer sometimes ends up slipping its head below water and I was wondering if they know to exhale or close off their nose to prevent the water from entering their nose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17820" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T18:46:50.023" Title="Do dogs close off their noses in the water?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27640" CreationDate="2020-04-28T16:44:45.057" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it's an interesting question with a bit complicated potential answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allowing your dog to roam free on its own in some enclosed private area, considering there are no hazards like deep pits your dog could fall into, etc. would of course be better than keeping it indoors all the time. Dog for example wouldn't rely on your presence to be able to take care of it's physiological needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, walking a dog is not just about its physiological drives: mainly it's about exploring, interacting with novelty and fulfilling cognitive needs. Dogs are intelligent and their minds are complex enough that, sooner or later, any enclosed area would ultimately prove to be relatively dull and uninteresting compared to all these unfamilar and exciting temptations existing on the other side of the fence. It could lead to development of anxiety and wide range of mental issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please consider that dogs are social animals. Letting them loose in an isolated woodland would provide them space and fresh air, but probably close to no interaction with other dogs and people - generally almost no social stimuli compared to &quot;manually&quot; walking it in public, outside of your belongings. What is more, if you have a healthy relationship with your dog, it sees you as the leader of the pack - and for this reason feels safer, more secure, and I guess just more cheerful while walking around with your companion because it feels like it is sharing its cognitive experience with you which is a powerful and positive social stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence I would say that it's really convenient and also beneficial if you owned some land or otherwise had some safely enclosed outdoor backyard that your dog could use - and (excluding any potential legal concerns I could have missed) in that sense I'd say yes, a dog could somewhat walk itself but only if we consider walking a dog as an euphenism for letting it go to the toilet. But that would never be the true substitute of &quot;manually&quot; walking your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T13:23:51.867" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T13:23:51.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27643" CreationDate="2020-04-28T17:30:58.503" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know dogs cannot physically close their nostrils, among mammals only the aquatic ones possess such mechanisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But completely sealed nostrils are not actually that necessary because water entering just the nose itself is not that dangerous - it's the deeper parts of the respiratory system that must be protected - and such protection mechanisms preventing the water from entering the bronchi and the lungs exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An involuntary response called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diving reflex&lt;/a&gt; exists in mammals and, among other things, causes cessation of breathing in response to wetting nostrils and face regions with cold water - and the colder the water is, the more pronounced is the response. And even if some water passes through or is somehow aspired, immediate coughing would be provoked, expelling the water from respiratory system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-28T18:46:50.023" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T18:46:50.023" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27636" CreationDate="2020-04-28T17:47:57.907" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the additional info you provided, I'd say that it's just because he's young. When they're small and young they're quite defensive and will scream/lunge at you, especially if you try touch them. He should grow out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get him used to your hand though, don't just go straight for him and pick him up. Every day, leave your hand in his enclosure for around 10 minutes. When he starts approaching/climbing on your hand, you can start picking him up. Even when he's comfortable however don't pick him up from above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T17:47:57.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7984" CreationDate="2020-04-28T21:06:23.410" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like a dangerous situation. Fyi dogs will hurt each other even if they are not trained to do so. If they are not socialized they can be a big problem. They will keep coming into your yard and may even become aggressive. If you talk to your neighbor and they won't do anything , I would warn them that next time their dog is in your yard you will call animal control to take the dog away. It doesn't sound like they care so maybe they need to know you are serious. Other then putting up a stockade fence unless yoyr neighbor does something nothing will work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17838" LastActivityDate="2020-04-28T21:06:23.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-29T05:16:54.243" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;My doe is unable to give birth, the bunnies die just right after they are delivered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is something wrong with my doe's womb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17842" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T06:32:53.950" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T06:32:53.950" Title="My female rabbit is failing to give birth, the bunnies die right after they are delivered" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-04-30T10:51:43.590" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27640" CreationDate="2020-04-29T05:42:36.240" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, dogs don't walk themselves.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As lila already explained in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27644/12501&quot;&gt;their answer&lt;/a&gt;, dogs are social animals. If they grow up feral, they live in packs with several animals. If they grow up with humans, they live together with at least one, often several humans. They need this company to be mentally healthy and stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's imagine: You live with a dog in a nice house in a rural area. When the mood strikes, you open the door and let your dog walk into the fenced area. What would your dog do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's in the house with you, it constantly interacts with you (even if this interaction is no more than a sideway glance) and is always aware that you, the pack, are nearby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside, it would probably poop and pee, maybe even sniff around the perimeter and mark its territory. But since no foreign dogs can enter the fence, marking isn't as important as in the wild. Since you aren't around, there's no-one to interact with and nothing meaningful to do. Even if there were toys lying around, there's no-one to play with. &lt;strong&gt;It's booooring.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What incentive does a dog have to take a walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Social interaction with the owner (who doesn't want to be with the dog in this scenario)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Social interaction with other dogs and/or people (who cannot enter the fenced-off area)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mark the own territory (seldom necessary, since no foreign dog can challenge / overwrite the mark)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sniffing where other dogs peed, which is an indirect social interaction (again, impossible in this area)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hunting for food (unecessary since a full food bowl waits in the house)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pack mentality is so ingrained in dogs that they won't be happy without social contact. If you fail to offer this social contact, the dog will not accept you as the pack leader (you'd be barely accepted as pack member), it won't follow your commands and will try to find another pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only offer social contact in the house, the dog will want to return inside as soon as possible. It won't burn off surplus energy by going on a walk on it's own but rather by eratic behavior and/or destroying things in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not ready to dedicate quite a lot of time and effort to your dog, please refrain from getting one. In reality you need to invest even more time than you initially thought or your dog will develop problematic behavior and make your live much less comfortable than it was before you had it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T11:22:58.870" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T11:22:58.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27658" CreationDate="2020-04-29T10:45:18.553" Score="7" ViewCount="2282" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that this is a non-starter, but... Is it possible and humane to get a cat and make it a completely outdoor cat from scratch (as it were)? By giving it somewhere in the back garden to go when it's cold, feeding it and taking it to the vet, etc., just...all outside? (In central England, in a village or town, not a large town or city.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The background is that we cannot have cats (or dogs or any other furred creature, or birds, or...) in the house, due to my major allergy to them. My son has a more mild allergy, but loves dogs and cats. He adores a neighbourhood cat who comes around regularly (we know who his family is). He pets him and talks to him etc., then washes his hands afterward, and really gets something from that and from the cat coming around. But we'll likely be moving house in the next year or so and he's already sad about leaving this cat behind. He has fish, but...he's more of a hands-on pet person, and specifically really wants a dog or cat. (Well, and a snake, but that's been vetoed by his mother!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So after we move I was thinking whether it would be possible to get our own outdoor cat. But I worry that it may be impractical, inhumane, or otherwise inadvisable. I don't want to do anything that would be putting the cat in harm's way or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm not looking for alternative pet suggestions, but thanks.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17843" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T16:34:31.017" Title="Completely outdoor cat from scratch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-29T14:44:32.350" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;So it's the time of the year where last year on April 29,2019 my female red eared slider who is turning 4 soon layed her eggs but this time she hasn't. I moved her to her nesting area today (29th April,2020) because she showed  signs of restlessness as she tried to come out of her tank. I'm sure she's gravid because I can see the swelling near her tail. I'm concerned for her because when I moved her to her nesting area she tried to come out in less than half an hour and that's not the only reason. Last week while cleaning her tank the  water was reddish brown and in between the glass there was blood. As of that day I have separated her from the male turtle and there's no blood. But is that the cause of her not laying her eggs? Does she need more time before laying the eggs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15808" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T14:44:32.350" Title="Gravid female red eared slider" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27652" CreationDate="2020-04-29T16:28:25.210" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indoor cats live an average of 16 years, whereas outdoor cats live an average of 4 years. Therefore, it is unethical to take an indoor cat and try to make it an outdoor one. The same goes for feral kittens still young enough to be socialized as indoor pets. On the other hand, it's very difficult (and potentially dangerous) to socialize older feral cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest option is to hope that your new home has its own stray (not feral) cats or your new neighbors already have outdoor cats like your current home. If there is a significant feral cat population and your son is old enough, he may enjoy volunteering with a shelter or TNR group since that will give him controlled, limited exposure to cats, plus it's a valuable learning experience and service to the community. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option is to look into hypoallergenic breeds of cat. These breeds &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt; be found at a shelter, regardless of what they say. Note that &quot;hypo-&quot; means &quot;less&quot;, not &quot;zero&quot;, so you will need to visit the breeder to check your reaction to a specific kitten before you commit to buying. Many folks with allergies report no reaction, and others report a mild enough reaction that it is manageable with OTC medications and/or simple precautions like washing hands frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-04-29T17:56:17.757" LastActivityDate="2020-04-29T17:56:17.757" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27652" CreationDate="2020-04-29T18:36:41.313" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family has good experiences with adopting young feral cats, but admittedly we kept them in the house for a few weeks to make them associate our house with their new home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compared to getting an in-house cat, there are several differences to this approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a place to lock it up for a few days or weeks to get it used to living with you. A tool shed or something similar would be good, but the cat must not find a hole to squeeze through an run away. You must provide food, water and a litter box in this place and start socializing with your cat in there, too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kittens of a feral cat learn hunting from their mothers. Even if the kitten was separated from mom too young to have ever hunted a mouse on their own, they will remember and hunt too, as they get older. Expect a loving gift of a half-chewed mouse or bird on your door mat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to offer a warm shelter during winter. Cats have fur, but their ears and faces are roughly as sensitive to low temperatures as humans are. A big carton or box filled with fluffy blankets or insulated with styrofoam on the outside is sufficient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Due to living outside and hunting rodents, your cat will get parasites and gut worms. Save dates at regular intervals in your phone to remind you to freshen up all vaccines, dewormer and flea treatments, even if you don't see any evidence of parasites on your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your cat ever seriously scratches or bites you (maybe in a panic or for whatever reason), you must get the wound treated by a doctor. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/26610/12501&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt; for more details. I was witness of how a small, but deep cat scratch resulted in such a severe inflammation that tissue from the hand had to be removed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, I see no arguments against having an outdoor-only cat. Make sure it was properly socialized with humans at a young age or it will always stay somewhat shy. If socialized properly it will trust you soon enough and - depending on its individual character - be a cuddly friend or a nice play partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution would be a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsecure.com.au/pet-care/7-hypoallergenic-cats-for-people-who-are-allergic-but-love-felines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hypoallergenic cat breed&lt;/a&gt; (that doesn't cause allergies). Keep in mind, though, that these breeds produce less of the particles that cause allergies, but they still produce more than 0. So if you have bad reactions to very brief contact with normal cats, these breeds will still cause a reaction in you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe a combination of hypoallergenic outdoor-only cat would be the optimal solution for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-27T16:34:31.017" LastActivityDate="2020-09-27T16:34:31.017" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15890" CreationDate="2020-04-30T00:31:55.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like you don't have access to other puppies whose history you know, so I wouldn't do this. In less interesting times, you could potentially find a puppy class where at least the instructor has verified that all puppies are appropriately vaccinated and the floors are disinfected before each puppy class. That can potentially also have pitfalls, but because it's likely not available to you at all right now, those don't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can socialize puppies to lots of things without necessarily putting her in contact with other dogs right now. The important thing is to expose her to a lot of different stimuli, so that when she's older she will take new experiences in stride. Here are some things it's a good idea to do with puppies regardless of whether you have access to other known, trusted dogs. Note that it can be better to use adults that are known to be good with puppies if you have access to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play dress up. Put on hats, overcoats, those weird hair bands with springs and hearts or balls on the top, whatever you can think of. Masks are really popular this year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get the puppy to make noises that might otherwise startle her. For example, a buster cube can be kind of noisy. Put it in the bathtub to create positive associations for bath time. Hide treats in a stack of bowls and let her knock them over to find the treats. Start with maybe heavy plastic, then move to metal as she gains confidence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take her off your premises at least twice a week. Even watching the world go by from your open car window or door is helpful. If she's confident, walking her around a parking lot where there's a decent amount of activity (hopefully not too much, for your safety) will also help. You can make some of these outings to places like pet stores and, again, your puppy can watch from your arms or your car. Parks are also a good place to watch people and animals go by. If park benches are open in your town, you can sit on one and watch the activity (disinfect first!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! I know you will really enjoy your puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T00:31:55.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27652" CreationDate="2020-04-30T05:12:34.103" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;This will be an unpopular answer, but here goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had a small farm as a young family, partly because I am an animal lover, and partly to teach my children the true cost of their food (and I'm not referring to money; I'm referring to captive and lost lives.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once while awaiting pickup of a grain order, the man in front of us heard my kids talking about wanting a cat. He turned to us and said he had kittens whose mother had been killed, that they were &quot;just about weaned&quot; and we were welcome to them. Wen we got to is place, there was a box of kittens with ears still flat against their heads and eyes unopened. Knowing their likely fate, we went home with a box of very young kittens. For a few weeks, my husband and I fed these babies with syringes around the clock, stimulated them to urinate and defecate (oh, joy!), and watched them grow. But they stayed in our garage. In fact, they had a great life in our garage! They were the friendliest cats I've ever known, a joy to be around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We became known as softies, and eventually took in 13 kittens. They all lived in the garage, had litter boxes and everything an indoor cat has, including a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of human interaction. My only regret about their being outdoor cats was their predatory drive. Cats are destructive animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My feeling is that given the right protection, outdoor cats are better than no cats at all. True, their life spans are shorter (one of our first - and best loved - cats lived nine years, though), but quality trumps quantity in my mind (that goes for myself, too.) My cats spent most of their time in the garage, but had the freedom to wander in the garden and the barnyard as much as they wanted to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I say, for your son's sake, go for it. But I'd give them shelter in the garage, not leave them to the elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T05:12:34.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-30T05:33:48.643" Score="4" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very energetic pup that uses his mouth a lot. He is a sweet and very good-natured pup, just very enthusiastic, rambunctious and playful. He does know &quot;settle&quot; and does it beautifully (for a minute or two.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably all seen a dog move their hind leg in a scratching motion when you scratch their neck or ears. You're probably familiar with the other way a dog deals with an itch: by kind of nibbling at the itch with their incisors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I stroke certain parts of my dog's body during &quot;calm time&quot;, sometimes he will &quot;nibble&quot; on my arm. He doesn't try to get away, and appears to be enjoying the physical contact, but my trainer said this is an aggressive attempt to control me, and should be strongly discouraged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did have a dog that would nibble my bottom, which I agree was a herding behavior. But this is on my arm and only occasionally. It seems like he's behaving as when he's biting his own itches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my trainer correct? Should I immediately cease giving my dog attention when this happens? Any insights would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T21:37:50.703" Title="Aggression or reflex? Dog that &quot;nibbles&quot;" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-04-30T11:48:04.770" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;What else can we do to find our cat? It’s been 36 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She goes out every now and then but never more than two hours; this is the longest she’s been gone. She snuck out late last night when my mom was letting the dogs out. It was raining almost half of the last 24 hours. She is mainly an indoor cat, however she has had one incident a year ago where she got lost for almost 30 hours and we found her on a fence two blocks down a day and a half later at 4 am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we've done so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put flyers in the neighborhood and tell people about our cat;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;posted on local Facebook groups about our missing cat;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;looked for her late at night, we took flashlights and have been looking from 10 pm to 4 am intermittently as well as through the day;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put her food and litter out;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;smeared wet food on the fences surrounding our house and a few of the neighbors' fences with their permission;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;let our dogs out to see if they can attract our cat (they are pretty close to each other).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17849" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T22:59:35.407" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T22:59:35.407" Title="What else can we do to find our missing cat (2 days now)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27660" CreationDate="2020-04-30T12:57:47.710" Score="1" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is you cat desexed / neutered? If not, it might be looking for a mate, in which case it would usually return after 2 - 3 days. Desexing removes the sex drive and the incentive to run away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your cat chipped? If yes, call surrounding vets and animal shelters. They should scan runaway pets for chips by default and register them in a database. The chip ID of your cat should be noted somewhere in its vaccination record. If you cannot find it anymore, ask the vet that implanted the chip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any farms or mass breeding stables nearby? We live near such a stable and noted that cats sometimes get trapped or locked up there in search of mice or food. You could call them and ask if they noticed anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T12:57:47.710" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27662" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T13:37:20.100" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Issues and questions about common leopard geckos (&lt;em&gt;Eublepharis macularius&lt;/em&gt;), a fairly popular reptile pet in many places of the world.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To be used in conjunction with other relevant tags, such as &lt;code&gt;health&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:20:27.340" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:20:27.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27663" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T13:37:20.100" Score="0" Body="For questions specific to leopard geckos as pets.  &#xD;&#xA;Include any relevant details, such as age, and history and other relevant tags, such as `health`" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:36:41.260" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:36:41.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27652" CreationDate="2020-04-30T14:29:24.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aunt adopted a young stray cat a while back. Since she was away during the week for work reasons, keeping him in the house was not an option, so she kept him outside (house with a garden in a rural area). She had a garden shed where he could get in for shelter. Her partner built an electronically controlled feeding station (also in the shed): he wore a token around his neck which would activate the feeding station when he approached it (after an activation it would be locked for a certain period of time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat was 5–6 years old when he disappeared (she suspects catnapping, as a few cats in the village disappeared that same summer). By that time my aunt was already retired and at home during the week, so there would not have been any more obstacles to letting him in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think it is doable if you provide food and shelter outside the house, as well as regular vet care, and if the cat is used to being outdoors. Of course, they are subject to all the dangers of being outside, as with any domestic cat that is free to roam outdoors. Such is the price of freedom. On the other hand, if you adopt a young stray cat, he will most likely have a better life than he would otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T14:29:24.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27659" CreationDate="2020-04-30T15:07:18.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is not meant to be final nor definitive and I am not really experienced with dogs, not at all, but I feel like I could help with some insight. I definitely want to attempt expanding it if you could provide additional details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit difficult to guess accurately whether your dog's trainer is right or wrong with their diagnosis as of the reason for nibbling. But generally their suggestion of discouraging this behavior is in my opinion correct and I could emphasise with it, because such nibbling could be seen as somewhat a sign of the puppy having a bit of bad manners - or, depending on how hard and intrusive does he nibble, maybe not even that bad - but nonetheless a bit crude and unrefined. I could see how that could be seen as undesirable, even if it's devoid of malicious intentions and not challenging your dominance - but anyway they got concerned this behavior could be susceptible to being misinterpreted by puppy's playmates (either dogs or people) and escalate to aggression or just a general distaste towards him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's natural and common for puppies to be chewy and mouthy and it's their way of interacting with the world but I guess your dog's trainer has got somewhat alarmed about the potential antisocial outcomes of continuing to allow your dog's behavior, even if they didn't get the exact reason right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But nonetheless - yes, I could as well believe your puppy's behavior to be just a form of reciprocal grooming and it would make sense to me. I've recently read a really wise explaination on this site, I can't recall the author right now, but in essence they said that the mouth is what puppy has the closest to having a hand, so that's exactly how it could interact with the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked in the comments about teething because that would additionally encourage chewing-related behaviors. But puppies are chewy anyway, teething or not, and as I am thinking longer about it I think it wouldn't be the sole explaination even if the puppy wasn't to have had his teething finished months ago, because as you clearly mentioned his behavior is in response to your grooming/petting - and teething would in contrast cause constant agitation and discomfort in that context, leading to overall increased chewiness and mouthiness unrelated to a single stimulus like grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I asked about the breed just to google out of curiosity and check whether the breeds are known for some behavioral quirks that could give me some clue, but there weren't any to be found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion if I were you I'd generally trust the professional if they adviced me to discourage this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T21:37:50.703" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T21:37:50.703" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27666" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T21:56:59.107" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tag should be used for questions regarding goldfish, include any other relevant tags, such as &lt;code&gt;health&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Goldfish is cold water fish, a member of carp family and has been selectively bred for over a thousand of years, currently having a few hundred recognized varieties. Somewhat commonly they are seen erroneously as an easy-maintenance pet requiring a only a small, filterless bowl - while in fact they need from about 38 to 80 liters of tank volume per one specimen, depending on the variety, to thrive and be able to reach it's full potential lifespan of over 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:43:13.303" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:43:13.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27667" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T21:56:59.107" Score="0" Body="Questions and issues regarding goldfish - one of the most popular aquarium fish.  &#xD;&#xA;Use with other relevant tags, such as `feeding` or `health`" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:23:05.603" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:23:05.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27668" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T21:59:08.973" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T21:59:08.973" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T21:59:08.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27669" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T21:59:08.973" Score="0" Body="For questions about skin conditions, care and treatment of a pet. Concerns about whether the skin is normal or healthy, what may be the possible causes and treatments of a skin condition. Include details and pictures where possible.  &#xD;&#xA;Use with the relevant species tag, such as `cat`" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:26:14.183" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:26:14.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27670" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:07:29.050" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:07:29.050" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:07:29.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27671" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:07:29.050" Score="0" Body="Often used for questions about keeping pets outdoors, also for questions regarding issues that are related to ours pets interacting with the world outside of our homes; also concerns and questions about doing physical activity with our pets in the fresh air outside.  &#xD;&#xA;Use with the relevant species tag, such as `dog`" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:45:29.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:45:29.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27672" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:11:31.317" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:11:31.317" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:11:31.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27673" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:11:31.317" Score="0" Body="For questions about sleeping patterns or needs of a pet. Any sleep issues, what may or may not be healthy.  &#xD;&#xA;To be used with the relevant species tag, such as `dog`" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:22:18.757" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:22:18.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27674" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:15:04.313" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:15:04.313" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:15:04.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27675" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:15:04.313" Score="0" Body="The causes, symptoms and treatments of pet infections. Provide as much details as possible such as fever, sores, any relevant pictures and a history leading up to the infection.  &#xD;&#xA;Include the species tag, such as `dog`" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:30:13.037" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:30:13.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27676" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:17:23.077" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:17:23.077" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:17:23.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27677" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:17:23.077" Score="0" Body="Generally questions and issues not regarding the plants themselves - but rather the concerns that could arise from our pets' interaction with the beforementioned plants, like for example a concern of poisoning. In essence, questions related to presence of plants in our pets' containment like a terrarium." OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:36:55.327" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:36:55.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27678" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:21:03.980" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:21:03.980" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:21:03.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27679" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:21:03.980" Score="0" Body="For questions about using crates with pets, often dogs. Crate training, safety, size and other issues. Whether the crate is used for sleeping, transport or other containment uses.&#xD;&#xA;Use with the relevant species tag, such as `dog` and any other relevant tags, such as `behavior`" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:41:35.180" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:41:35.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27680" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:23:34.243" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:23:34.243" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:23:34.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27681" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:23:34.243" Score="0" Body="For questions relating to stress and pets.Physical or emotional stress, internal or external stress, whether the pet is living in a stressful environment or seems stressed. Any conditions that may be related to stress, the cause, symptoms or treatment.   &#xD;&#xA;Include as much detail and history as possible.  &#xD;&#xA;Use with the relevant species tag, such as `dog`. " OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:49:27.283" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:49:27.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27682" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:26:21.890" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:26:21.890" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:26:21.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27683" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-04-30T22:26:21.890" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-04-30T22:26:21.890" LastActivityDate="2020-04-30T22:26:21.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27686" CreationDate="2020-04-30T23:04:19.433" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have noticed over the past two years that our dachshund will vomit almost exclusively in the evenings around the same time maybe once or twice a week. It is always yellow bile and has a copper smell to it. It is usually preceded by him swallowing excessively and acting very urgently to get outside. Once in the yard he will eat grass hurriedly until he barfs. After he vomits he is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have taken him to the vet for this multiple times and they've done x-rays and blood work and find nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. He is not overweight. He does have horner's syndrome although it flares up very rarely (less than five times ever in his life and never for more than a few hours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has had the exact same kibble his entire life. He is 7 this year. We typically feed him once in the morning. I've tried varying his food schedule to see if maybe he is vomiting because he is hungry. Sometime this seems to stave it off for awhile but inevitably he will vomit again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few things to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We moved houses in the last year, but the vomiting was happening before that&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My wife and I are both very anxious people by nature. Something terrible happened to us in the last year that made our anxiety even worse. I'm not sure if maybe he can sense that and it is driving him to vomit more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate any suggestions or advice from folks who have experience with weiner dogs. I've had one other before our current pup and he never did this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17852" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T01:50:20.687" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T05:35:47.593" Title="Dachshund Vomiting Issue" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27684" CreationDate="2020-05-01T05:35:47.593" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit confused, because your vet should have been able to explain this behavior rather easily. I'm not 100% sure about the smell you describe -so could be something different-, but the rest absolutely sounds like acid reflux.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your dog behaves normal otherwise and your dog didn't eat anything significant for hours before it's really just that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating grass is instinctive behavior to ease up getting stuff out (hard remains like bone bits, hair, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also dogs are usually very clean about the places where they sleep/eat/play, therefore the urgency to get outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The throwing up is just their way to handle the too high amount of acid in their stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We typically feed him once in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This exactly fits my expectation and supports my theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The potential solution/remedy:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't feed your dog just once per day. Reduce the amount of food by half, but feed twice per day with about 7-8 hours between. The exact times might need some experimentation. I promise you, this issue will disappear pretty much instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn't an option for you for whatever reason, make sure the dog at least gets some bigger treat about 1-2 hours before the typical &quot;throwing up time&quot;. This might be enough as well, although it could just add a delay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although note that the dog might need a bit less food this way as its body might burn less calories with food &quot;more readily&quot; available, i.e. no &quot;starving&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus note: feeding two smaller amounts is usually also more healthier and less risky for the dog, although things like gastric torsion are less likely in Dachshunds I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T05:35:47.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27603" CreationDate="2020-05-01T10:42:34.763" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure if I understand what you’re asking, since the title question about cats eating fruit is specific, but you close with the much more general question, “should I feed him?” So I’ll cover the obvious first: If you suspect that your cat is eating unusual things because he hasn’t been fed his normal food, then YES, of course you should feed your cat. Indeed, you should be feeding the cat appropriate cat food regularly as a matter of basic common sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, I’ll assume that you meant to ask, “Should I allow my cat to eat watermelon?” Cats often investigate with their mouth: by licking, gnawing on, and sometimes even eating something just to find out what it is. The species has survived for millennia and thrives everywhere from wilderness to dense urban environments. Although specific exceptions will occur, in general it’s safe to assume that oral exploration wouldn’t be such a common cat behavior if it often proved deadly. Cats have an extremely keen sense of smell, and that alone prevents them from ingesting most dangerous substances. Again, individual animals vary, and of course you shouldn’t knowingly allow—much less encourage—your pet to eat or drink questionable things. However, plants such as fruits and vegetables that are safely edible for humans are not something I’d consider questionable. The biggest concern in that case is probably pesticides, but generally speaking, produce sold for human consumption should be fine for cats to have a bite of. If you feel safe eating the watermelon, it’s almost certainly okay for kitty as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat just turned four, and has been eager to taste various vegetarian foods since she was a kitten. The oddest example was when she was about a year old, and ate nearly half of a small onion. She also enjoys bits of rice and bread, esp buttery bread like croissants. Her all-time favorite non-cat food is grapes– although not the actual fruit part. While she enjoys batting them around as toys, loves to lick the sticky residue on the bags they come in, and occasionally tries biting one; her true passion is for the stems. She comes running when I bring out a bunch of grapes, and impatiently noses in at them while I eat the fruit. As soon as some bare stems are uncovered, she starts diligently chewing them. Once I’ve finished the fruit, she takes the remaining stems in her mouth and runs of to munch; methodically crunching away until the whole bunch of stems is eaten. It seemed totally bizarre until I considered how, to her, those stems are much like the bones of small rodent. So it makes sense that she’d enjoy chewing on something that feels like a prey animal. That’s just pure speculation on my part, but it seems logical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only buy grapes when they’re very much on sale, so it’s not  a daily or even weekly event, but whenever I do have them, she gets the stems. This has been going on for years and she’s never shown any ill effects, so I see no reason to prevent the very amusing behavior. Surely there will be some fretful cat parents who feel differently, but in my experience it’s usually safe to trust in nature &amp;amp; evolution; to realize that an adult cat may &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; like my baby, but isn’t actually helpless &amp;amp; fragile like a human baby. So if she likes to chow down on grape stems, steal a bite of potato off my plate, etc., I’m okay with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In closing, the short answer is yes, it’s almost certainly okay for your cat to eat watermelon if he wants to. If anything, the worst outcome is some indigestion and maybe he pukes. However, as always, use common sense! If he pukes repeatedly after eating watermelon or anything else; if his behavior changes drastically (e.g., he’s extremely lethargic; stops eating, drinking, or using the litter box for more than a day); if he’s suddenly hiding or hostile for prolonged periods; basically if something’s clearly different and stays that way for an extended time, it’s time to see the veterinarian. Cats instinctively hide pain, so watching behavior is key to finding a problem. But if everything seems normal, it probably is, even if they do weird stuff like eating fruit all of a sudden. Doing bizarre stuff is what makes cats so fun, and isn’t in itself a reason for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17857" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T10:42:34.763" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27688" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-01T12:12:00.850" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have adopted a bearded dragon, over the last few months his skin has deteriorated at first we thought it was him shedding but his now nearly finished his shed and it seems to be worse than before. Can anyone help? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/sgD3A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17859" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T11:51:15.583" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T11:51:15.583" Title="Bearded dragon skin condition" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27688" CreationDate="2020-05-01T14:16:25.003" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like a bad case of a fungal infection (yellow fungus potentially) to me. Read this article for more information: &lt;a href=&quot;https://reptile.guide/yellow-fungus-bearded-dragons/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://reptile.guide/yellow-fungus-bearded-dragons/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most important thing you need to do is take him to a vet asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T14:16:25.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-01T14:23:00.170" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats now as the third cat ran away three days ago. I am wondering if I should let one of my other cats out, as they are very obedient, always come back, and stay within the vicinity of the house. Do you think that my other cat can find my missing cat? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My missing cat has been missing for three days. She is a very curious but easily scared cat. She snuck out while my mom was letting out the dogs about two nights ago. We have been doing the usual search for her by looking for her at night, leaving out food, and calling her name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17849" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:52:37.580" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:07:38.467" Title="Can one of my cats find my missing cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27603" CreationDate="2020-05-01T14:25:13.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In general, don't feed your cat fruit.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are designed to be extremely carnivorous animals. Even more so than many other animals we think of as carnivorous such as dogs. So even if the particular fruit isn't toxic to them, they can't digest it very well, probably won't get much nutrition from it, and have a decent chance of getting diarrhea or vomiting from eating it. Fruits are also usually relatively high in sugar, which isn't very good for them when they're designed to eat meat. Just like humans, cats can even get diabetes if they eat too much sugar. Therefore, it's generally not recommended to give your cat fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one exception is if your cat suffers a lot from constipation, sometimes then vets will recommend giving them a little bit of pumpkin to add extra fiber to their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Many fruits and vegetables may be toxic.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experts don't actually have a full understanding of what exactly is toxic to cats, and so they tend to err on the safe side and tell people to keep away many foods that they're not even entirely sure are toxic to cats. It also may be the case that a small amount of toxic foods won't have any noticeable effect while it still is actually toxic.  In other words, even if your animal has eaten these things in the past without anything bad happening, it's still better to keep foods thought to be potentially toxic away from it.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below is a list of fruits and vegetables that may be toxic, but this list is not comprehensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything in the &lt;em&gt;Allium&lt;/em&gt; genus. This includes things like onions, garlics, shallots, and so forth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grapes and raisins. Grapes are known to be toxic to dogs, and therefore, experts say to keep them away from cats too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Citrus fruits like oranges or lemons. Citrus fruits may damage a cat's skin just by touching it as well. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many rinds, seeds, and plant parts associated with the fruit. Seeds, including watermelon seeds, often contain cyanide which obviously is toxic. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green fruits may be toxic. In particular, this applies to tomatoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uncooked potatoes, the eyes of potatoes, and uncooked potato peels are all poisonous to cats. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About watermelon&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The flesh of watermelon doesn't seem to be toxic to cats, but the seeds and potentially the rind are, and therefore you should be cautious in leaving out watermelon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do if my cat eats one of these things?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the item away from your cat if there's any left, and call your vet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-05-01T15:40:48.393" LastActivityDate="2020-05-01T15:40:48.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27690" CreationDate="2020-05-01T16:39:48.360" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I honestly don't see how this would work out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can live together, but they are not as social as dogs. If your missing cat saw one of your other cats, it &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; come to them, but it might as well come to you, if it saw or heard you. Your other cat, on the other hand, has no reason at all to go searching for the missing cat and leading it back home. That's stuff from Disney films, but not how reality works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you're hoping that your cat would sniff out and track the missing one. But again, cats are no dogs. Some dog breeds were specifically bred to track prey for humans on a hunt. Cats don't accompany humans on hunts, and they don't track their own prey when hunting. They lay in wait, find rodents by their sounds and pounce on them to catch them. No need for tracking. Apart from that, after 3 days the scent is probably dissipated too much already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't forget that in the worst case, you'd have 2 missing cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T23:07:38.467" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T23:07:38.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27693" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-01T18:40:25.047" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have three cats: two slightly older females (4 and 5 years old) and a young male (about 1 year old). The two females get along fine and the younger female and the male get along fine, but the male presents a bit of bullying behavior towards the older female, who has always been the most timid of our cats. While the younger female will engage with the male and even initiate chases, etc. the older female just seems scared of him and runs away (triggering his pursuit behavior, which never ends well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is becoming more of an issue because she's becoming scared of walking around the house, which means that we're now dealing with cat feces in our home office, kitchen sink, counters, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had success in alleviating this sort of situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're currently looking into options for creating some sort of &quot;safe space&quot; to which only our older cat has access (e.g. using a collar or microchip activated cat door, although so far she has been the one cat who hasn't figured out our existing cat door to the basement).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breeder from which we acquired all the cats has suggested pheromone collars (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B082SPMQ73&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/Fedciory-Calming-Adjustable-Relieve-Pheromone/dp/B082SPMQ73/&lt;/a&gt;); does these actually work? And if they do, are there options that aren't perfumed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17860" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:07:13.100" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T13:07:13.100" Title="One of our cats is a bully (and the victim is scared to go the litterbox)" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7423" CreationDate="2020-05-02T03:50:06.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I talk to my pets all day! When I walk pass through them I call them by their nicknames and they are just happy. Our dogs love to hear our voices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17862" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:18:52.987" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:18:52.987" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-02T11:43:59.547" Score="3" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saved a very young baby coyote from death. A hawk or owl got him, and he laid in someone's yard for two days. We were working on a house next door and the lady came out asking us to get it out of the yard. Not long after that the poor little guy got maggots in his back. I sat tediously at my big kitchen sink all night pulling them out and I was wondering if taking care of this little guy and nursing him back to health will tame him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17863" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-06T13:49:36.397" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T00:35:58.023" Title="Coyote pup as a pet?" Tags="&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27695" CreationDate="2020-05-02T15:26:47.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say while it is theoretically possible, in practice it would almost surely prove to be a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, depending on your location, it could turn out that your local law prohibits keeping wild animals as pets at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, even if it was the case that private possession of such animals was legal, coyote pup is still a wild and unpredictable creature. For this reason, even if you decided to put an enormous amount of effort in tedious attempts to tame a wild coyote, it would probably turn out to be unreliable at best and your general experience would be inferior to experience associated with having for example a dog or a cat. In other words, even despite your best efforts and intentions it just wouldn't be any good as a pet and wouldn't have the desirable qualities we love our dogs and cats for, but instead it would have a wide variety of extremely undesirable and hazardous ones. Please mind the fact that for comparison it is estimated that it took about a few tens of thousand years to domesticate dogs from their wild ancestors and this long process, involving genetic trait selection, just can't in any way scale down to a single specimen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, coyotes are carnivorous predators and their hardwired killing instinct would make them extremely dangerous in domesticated settings, because it could and would unpredictably switch on at any time. I've seen photos documenting injuries that wild coyotes are able to cause to people, cats, dogs, deers, etc. and in case of animals they sometimes were fatal, it wasn't any nice, trust me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, as far as I know it would be much more difficult to find a coyote-specialized veterinarian. And said veterinarian would definitely have to be involved in the taming scenario because of the wide plethora of pathogens and parasites a wild pup like this could have and potentially transmit to other animals and people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to thank you really much for your good will and the tedious effort you've put into saving the life of this poor soul, removing the maggots and taking care of it. But after you're done with the immediate-response emergency healthcare for this pup, the best thing both for you and for the coyote would be involving a specialized wildlife rescue organization and letting them take further care of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T00:35:58.023" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T00:35:58.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27693" CreationDate="2020-05-02T22:34:43.537" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fix the litterbox situation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's often the case that if a cat is bullying, it's over some particular thing, just like how two kids might get along perfectly until you add in some really cool toy to the mix, and all of sudden they're fighting over it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, almost certainly your cats are fighting over the litterbox. Perhaps the bully sees it as a great way to trap the victim, or perhaps the bully doesn't want to share. The result is the victim is now afraid to use the litterbox, and going all over the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should attempt to address both possible reasons, by making the existing litterboxes less of a place to be trapped, and also adding additional boxes. I would remove the lids from any existing boxes and move them when possible to be more central in the room. That way, your cats can escape the box from any direction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find and fix any other points of contention.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be other places where bullying incidents tend to happen around your house. You should keep note of the exact spots where the incidents happen. If you notice any spots where there's a pattern of bullying, now you need to stop and think what may be the cause, and what you can do to make it no longer be a cause. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They're fighting over something they all want to use.&lt;/strong&gt; Water bowls, beds, litterboxes, and so forth. In this case, it helps to just buy more of the thing they're fighting over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bully is ambushing the victim in particular spots.&lt;/strong&gt; For example, the bully likes to hide under furniture, or around corners, and then when a hapless victim walks by, they strike. In this case, try to either block access to the area, or provide an alternative route, so the victim doesn't have to walk right by it to get to the other areas of the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bully traps the victim in some place they can't get out of without going past the bully.&lt;/strong&gt; Cat caves, cat trees, cat shelves, and so forth, are all places where the victim cat could be potentially trapped. In these cases, you should use more cat furniture or rearrange your existing furniture so that the victim has more than one exit route, and so they can't be trapped anymore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure the bully is entertained.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats bully simply because they're bored, so make sure to play with the bully especially until he is tired out. Cats will play in a series of short bursts. In between bursts, they'll sort of sit and watch, but that doesn't mean they're actually done. You should keep playing until your cat truly seems uninterested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also a good idea to provide your cats with things to keep them entertained even when you're not around. Keep a variety of toys out. You might even rotate toys. Also make sure they have access to windows, which is a great form of cat entertainment. Or you might even try food puzzle toys. Whatever keeps them from getting bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to encourage the victim to be more confident.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bully cats like to target victims that look weak. Therefore, it helps a lot if you can get the victim cat to feel more confident. Seeing a more confident cat makes the bully less likely to bully, and it reinforces the victim to be confident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there are areas the victim avoids due to the bully cat, try to spread the victim's scent in those places. You can do so by moving things like blankets or beds the victim sleeps on into those places. With the victim's smell more spread around, the victim cat will feel it owns the space more, and help make it more confident.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get both the victim and the bully cat together in the same room, but keep them both distracted from each other as much as possible through play, in regular sessions. You will need a second person to help you do this, one person per cat. A cat playing uses much more confident body language, and the bully will be able to observe that. Meanwhile, the victim will feel more confident because they were in the same room as the bully, and nothing bad happened. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-05-02T22:34:43.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-03T02:01:46.803" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, both male. Both are very playful and active. Yesterday when we got some new groceries, we got a broomstick which came wrapped in a red plastic and thus there was long red shaped thing on sofa. One of my cats who came to sit next to me got a little spooked looking it and I found it very funny. I tried pranking my cat with that thing and he kept jumping and running. Within a minute I stopped when I saw he is not getting used to the thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happened last night and he is still sitting in a corner in our balcony. We took him out for a walk, he was active there. It's as if he is scared of everything at home now. That broomstick has been thrown out. I just want him to get back to his normal talkative, meowing, active self. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17865" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T23:19:16.883" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T22:25:07.257" Title="I spooked my cat yesterday and now he has become suspicious of everything at home. How to bring him back to normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27271" CreationDate="2020-05-03T10:19:52.120" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Update: The vets confirmed he has a serious intolerance to Chicken, Turkey and Cheese after the allergy tests from hair samples. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T10:19:52.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-03T12:03:31.870" Score="4" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse is now almost 3. (a week away) This year we were supposed to start showing in-hand (UK)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when she was first introduced to our lower herd in November/December she unfortunately caught the wrong end of our chestnut Arabian who scored quite the mark on her kneecap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware, if you enter any competition that includes UNICEF standards you are not allowed to apply makeup to the scars as it goes against their rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than cosmetic reasons the scar does not affect her movement in any way shape or form and she moves beautifully which is the only reason I'm considering showing her when this lockdown is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which case I would like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will the scar affect the judges choice?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any home remedies to soften or smooth scaring?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DYcoQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DYcoQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:10:50.827" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:10:50.827" Title="Will scarring effect my horse's placement in a showing class?" Tags="&lt;horses&gt;&lt;uk&gt;&lt;competitions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27698" CreationDate="2020-05-03T17:14:15.500" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think getting your cat's behavior back to normal would require basically two things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, the cat surely needs some reasonable amount of peaceful time to have its mood stabilized and to get itself comforted and convinced that there is no more lurking danger in its surroundings. Please consider the fact that while for you it was an obvious joke/prank and at no time did you intend to harm the cat, from the cat's perspective the fear stimulus was as real as it was in case of a true predator encounter. It is only my guess, but I think the reason for the cat being seemingly unreasonably scared of that long red shaped thing could be its similarity to a snake. According to one study &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2001/10/fear-evolution-spiders-science/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mammals are born with strong, fearful repulsion to snakes&lt;/a&gt; because avoiding venomous and lethally dangerous animals like snakes was crucial for survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please emphasise with the cat: imagine that one day you were chilling out in your home - the safest and most secure place you know - and suddenly something resembling one of your greatest innate fears seemingly comes into existence and intrusively follows you for a minute, then disappears without any reasonable explaination - I guess you would surely need a fair amount of time to recover your sanity and peace of mind. Of course it is a greatly simplified explaination but nonetheless I think it's valid and visualising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to prank a person, you would be able to explain afterwards or it would even become obvious itself - and even then, some purposeful evil pranks are capable of causing long lasting trauma if the person being pranked hasn't had their emotional development matured yet. On the other hand, there is no way you could explain your cat that it was just a joke and there was never a danger in your home to begin with. And as crazy and unreasonable it might sound, your cat is currently in fear because it's absolutely sure that there is a large red snake with fishy and probably murderous intentions hiding somewhere in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, it is important that you won't be scaring your cat like that again in the future, because you would risk causing remission of this behavior and making the already primed trauma more severe. I could somehow understand that it is maybe funny, maybe hilarious observing cats' exaggerated reactions to seemingly harmless stimuli and why would it encourage people to annoy their cats like that, but please consider the fact that it is not the best thing for their mental health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-03T17:45:47.417" LastActivityDate="2020-05-03T17:45:47.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27695" CreationDate="2020-05-03T18:10:58.420" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a spectacularily bad idea and would probably lead to the death of the coyote anyway.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you could do is contact a wildlife rescue center &lt;strong&gt;as quickly as possible&lt;/strong&gt; and let them take care of the pup in way that allows it to be released back into the wild. The longer you keep it, the more it gets used to humans. It would lose its natural shyness and cause trouble by rummaging through trash cans and killing peoples pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This person (who is certified to keep coyotes) explains in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5qhM_JFSAk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;her video&lt;/a&gt; (I resorted some quotes to keep it short and in context):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] it's a 24/7 operation and they're never gonna be exactly like a dog. Even if you do have 24 hours a day to spend with them and have them inside, those folks usually have to cage them at night or, you know, when they're not in actual training, because they're still wild. They're still wild animals. These guys, sadly, were found as babies and exposed to people and  a little too tame to be released back into the wild. So, that's why they are in a facility like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Keeping them] contained is a big issue. So we have fencing [she shows horizontal fencing protruding inwards from the top of the vertical fence]: on top we have 4 feet, [on the ground] we have 4 feet - so they can't dig out - of fencing layed on the ground, covered by stones, because they are diggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't really want them around children. [...] You know, they'll go after other animals, too. [...] This man would eat all my cats over food, and over just a prey drive. [...] Sadly his life is in a cage. [...] This is as good as it gets for some coyotes and he's really lucky because wild coyotes that end up in human hands end up euthanized, cause not a lot of people are able to provide them, you know, with a life long space and semi-captivity. Zoos don't want them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a better idea to go to a shelter and save a dog that really needs a home than try to take a wild animal and force it to be &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt; domesticated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T14:07:54.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26615" CreationDate="2020-05-03T22:13:57.867" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not an expert and it would also be easier if I had a second, from-above photo of this specimen. But for me it looks like the morph is a mixture of Super Hypomelanistic and Albino, commonly abbreviated as Hybino. I will tell you how my thought process looked like, in hope that it may help someone or make it easier to spot my mistakes if I made any in my reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it would be a match because your gecko doesn't have a single visible dark spot on it's body - and the rule is that one examines and counts how many dark spots are there on geckos body, but not counting these on head or tail, and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if there are 10 or less dark spots on it's body it's Hypomelanistic;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if there are no dark spots there at all then it's Super Hypomelanistic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the only dark spots I could see on the provided photograph are around gecko's mouth, maybe also on the left eyebump because I can see somewhat darker tone there, but it's hard to tell from that angle. And they are all on the head either way so it turns out it would be Super Hypomelanistic morph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second morph of the mix, Albino morph, in geckos means generally reduced amount of dark pigmentation. It's actually not real albinism in the strict sense. Albino morphs are characterized by noticeably bleached tint, usually white, cream white, vanilla, lemon or yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also guessed the Striped morph at first, but it turned out that as far as I understand Striped morphs are defined by their stripes running along the length of the gecko, whereas the photo you've provided features these barely visible white stripes running perpendicular to that direction, thus they are not stripes but bands instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sources were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=Hybino&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;leopardgeckowiki.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.reptileadvisor.com/leopard-gecko-morphs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reptileadvisor.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and also some photos on Google Images. Majority of Hybino morph specimens I've found are visually closely resembling your gecko and also have that lovely lemon tint to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T10:18:13.133" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T10:18:13.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-04T10:51:26.023" Score="3" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I'm not an English native user, so the sentences are not as clear as you would like. Sorry for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I got some second-hand ornaments that I could put into my home aquarium to serve as a hideout for cichlids. Those are quite useful and before I put them in, I want to sterilize them to prevent any residual pathogens from infecting my fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The material is resin and I think it's synthetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it okay to put then into boiling water and then cool them off? I'm not sure whether the material would leach any harmful chemicals after heating.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to find any info on that but couldn't find anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please share your experience or knowledge. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17874" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-04T17:30:12.070" LastActivityDate="2020-07-20T06:16:25.237" Title="Can I put resin aquarium ornaments in boiling water for sterilization?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27708" CreationDate="2020-05-04T12:34:58.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your English is good enough, I'm not native as well but I can understand clearly your whole question despite some imperfections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen an advice on sterilizing these aquarium decorations saying that it's okay to boil them in water, but personally I wouldn't recommend it nor do it myself with decorations made of synthetic resins or polymers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, by the way, an issue like this is one of the reasons why I would completely recommend against using second-hand ornaments at all. It's wise that you want to sterilize them, because one doesn't really know what was the fate of the fish that inhabited the previous aquarium with these ornaments and whether maybe a disease outbreak caused all of them to die - but sterilizing them safely and reliably raises a whole new plethora of problems. But I am going to answer further, in case you were going to use them anyway in your aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, your concers of the decorations potentially leaching harmful compounds during boiling are absolutely justified, because as far as I know most types of synthetic polymers and resins release chemicals if exposed to boiling water temperatures. I don't exactly know what type of material your ornaments are made of and thus I can't state with full conviction that it would certainly harm your fish or poison your cookware - but I will say that it's certainly a risky game to play to put any synthetic resin or polymer in boiling water if it wasn't explicitly stated to be both food-grade and designed to be used in boiling water temperatures. And for this reason I think these ornaments should not be considered safe to sterilize with this method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, even if these released chemicals were to be harmless or not released at all, you risk severely deforming and destroying your ornaments because in 100 °C some polymers will soften enough to flow, which would disfigure the ornaments into a miserable, melted mess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for cleaning I would suggest using a saturated water solution of table salt, it doesn't matter whether it is iodized or not. But table salt sometimes contains anticaking agents and it's recommended that one should avoid using such salt in aquarium settings. It could be problematic if it was to be used as a salinity source in marine aquariums, but actually shouldn't be an issue if we consider using it just for cleaning purposes - anyway, I'm including a note about this. For this reason, a special type of aquarium salt exists and should be readily obtainable in your local pet shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salt is not as powerful disinfecting agent as for example bleach or isopropyl alcohol, but the latter two should not be used in aquarium cleaning because you risk fatal poisoning of your fish. I can't really guarantee that it will be fine though: salt would probably do it's job, but the best I could recommend would be using brand-new ornaments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-19T21:10:39.413" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T21:10:39.413" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-04T15:01:21.453" Score="1" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I give my rat terrier insulin by myself?  He thinks he’s a pitbull. He gets aggressive when you try to do something he doesn’t like. Any advice?  I really need help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17875" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T16:18:24.480" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T16:18:24.480" Title="Aggressive dog needs insulin" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-03T16:11:06.800" Score="4" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a 2nd floor apartment and I let my cat lounge on the balcony. I have had an insect infestation on the balcony that I treated with a permethrin spray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been 8 hrs since I sprayed the balcony and now I'm concerned whether to let my cat out. Is it safe, or if not, how can I clean my balcony so it is safe for the cat and so that washing it does not endanger other animals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Lisa" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T21:39:09.820" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T21:40:43.020" Title="Chemicals sprayed on balcony concerned it's harmful to my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-05-05T21:41:00.833" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27690" CreationDate="2020-05-04T23:47:35.347" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat was missing, a professional told me to check in hiding places very close to my house. He said cats don't usually go too far. He was right! I finally found him hiding on my neighbor's porch behind a plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17877" LastActivityDate="2020-05-04T23:47:35.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-05T02:32:37.060" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My tortoise was wheezing for a while. I took him to the doctor, who gave him antibiotics. Everything was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now he’s wheezing or whistling again, not sure how to describe it. Should I be concerned again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does eat well, his humidity is up and down and he sleeps normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17879" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T11:05:01.267" LastActivityDate="2020-06-08T23:01:55.173" Title="Wheezing/ whistling" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-05T03:31:20.893" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in Canada (Vancouver, BC). I used to live in a basement suite, below my landlord, who was verbally abusive towards her live-in employees. I was told by one of these employees that the landlord makes her dogs sit on the couch and hits them with a wooden spoon if they jump off, which sounds like animal abuse. I want to report it to the BCSPCA now that the employee in question (the only one likely to have known about this) has moved out and is not in danger of any kind of retaliation, but there are a few things I'm worried about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this qualify as abuse? The signs of abuse listed on &lt;a href=&quot;https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/how-do-i-report-animal-cruelty&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/how-do-i-report-animal-cruelty&lt;/a&gt; don't apply -- the dogs look healthy. As far as I've seen, the landlord otherwise takes care of them. She may just be weird and controlling of them, and have the wrong idea of how to discipline them. Maybe I or the employee misunderstood what's happening?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's abuse, how can the SPCA prove it? Like I said, there are no signs of abuse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What if their investigation makes her even more aggressive to her dogs out of anger? Or if they take her dogs away, is she going to become abusive towards her employees?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best-case scenario is that the SPCA visits, scares the hell out of her, and she never does it again, but I'm really worried that's not going to be what happens. What would you say to my concerns? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17880" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T19:05:32.000" Title="Suspected dog abuse by former landlord" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27716" CreationDate="2020-05-05T19:05:32.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for caring about the dogs. I've been on both sides of this argument, i.e. I, too, disagree with the way some people treat their pets but others disagree with the way I treat mine. We will never all agree on the details; the bottom line is that helpless animals don't suffer needlessly. I will respond to your three questions individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Does this qualify as abuse? The signs of abuse listed on &lt;a href=&quot;https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/how-do-i-report-animal-cruelty&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/how-do-i-report-animal-cruelty&lt;/a&gt; don't apply -- the dogs look healthy.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read &quot;How to recognize an animal in distress&quot; at the link. In #3 I found this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a guardian physically abusing an animal by hitting or kicking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hitting a dog with a wooden spoon would count as hitting an animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the dogs were kept on the couch all the time and not allowed to access food or water or to relieve themselves, it would count as abuse as described in (a)  Deprived of adequate food, water, and (a.1) Kept in conditions that are unsanitary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. If it's abuse, how can the SPCA prove it? Like I said, there are no signs of abuse.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would let the SPCA do their own investigation and figure out how to prove it if I thought the animals were being abused. Before I reported it, however, I would try to be fairly certain the animals were actually being abused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. What if their investigation makes her even more aggressive to her dogs out of anger? Or if they take her dogs away, is she going to become abusive towards her employees?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are valid concerns. However, if she becomes more abusive toward her dogs, the SPCA can still step in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding her abuse of her employees. You said she was already abusive of them. She might get even nastier and her employees will then have to take whatever action they deem appropriate. Animals are not able to do this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell you what you should do. I know what I would do. Since the dogs do not appear to be suffering but look cared for and healthy, I would not report it. Also, it happened a long time ago and the employee who told you about it is no longer there to testify. All of this taken together makes your case extremely weak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T19:05:32.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27711" CreationDate="2020-05-05T20:11:25.730" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research because there is a somewhat similar question on &lt;a href=&quot;https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/15740/is-permethrin-safe-for-cats-after-it-dries&quot;&gt;sister site&lt;/a&gt; and the answers don't seem to agree whether it is safe or not at all, it feels a little bit off so I looked myself a bit and here are my insights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first - yes, as others' answers and comments already pointed out permethrin turns out to be widely recognized for being highly toxic to cats. It is explicitly remarked as one of it's properties on independent websites like Wikipedia, etc. but also somewhat implicitly suggested for example on a website of a brand using it in its product - in the context of animals, cats aren't mentioned at all but it's just praised for being &quot;safe for dogs&quot; instead. But digging for information a little bit deeper into the smaller print text reveals that it is in fact toxic to cats, but supposedly safe once it dries. However I'm not really convinced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Permethrin is what is known as a residual insecticide, which means it remains active long after the application. In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19181063&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a paper I found&lt;/a&gt; permethrin's residual efficacy on the plant leaves is examined and it turned out that after a week of application it still killed 90% of mosquitoes. One brand uses this insecticide as an active ingredient in a product meant for spraying clothes, surfaces, etc. and claims that it stays active up to 6 weeks. Actually it is a desirable property in this context and I think it should stay on the balcony undisrupted or else the insect infestation could manifest itself quickly again, but that's not really on-topic for this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also checked for permethrin's physical properties on &lt;a href=&quot;http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/Permtech.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;national pesticide information center&lt;/a&gt; and on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and it turns out it's vapor pressure is really low (2.15 x 10&lt;sup&gt;-8&lt;/sup&gt; mm Hg) which basically means it's evaporating remarkably slowly and it further confirms that it is capable of sticking around for a long time after an application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Permethrin is also a solid at room temperature (its melting point is 34 °C) and in that context it could be deceiving but it's not like it's completely safe once it dries after an application - it's just the organic solvent that is quickly evaporating, permethrin itself is still there, just (in contrast to a liquid solution) it is now immobile and somewhat stuck to the surface. And yes, it's definitely safer once it dries because it would be harder for a cat to lick it off and ingest comparable amounts of it, but that's still concerning because, I am going to stress that again, permethrin is highly toxic to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As other answer already pointed out, permethrin is hydrophobic and thus it is practically insoluble in water. In the context of potential poisoning it's actually good, because it means that it's solubility in saliva is negligible as well which decreases a risk of ingesting, but doesn't eliminate it. Permethrin surface layer could still be scratched and it's particles physically removed and attached during licking, especially considering the sharp papillae on cat's tongue - which could result in ingesting and poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for removing that insecticide, the evaporation rate is extremely slow but it is also slowly decomposing in contact with oxygen in the air and due to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. In case you wanted to speed up this and do it manually: removing it with water wouldn't work due to it's insolubility, but it would dissolve in an non-polar organic solvent. I'd guess to use something relatively non-toxic like acetone for that purpose, but it would be the best if you asked in the hardware store where you got your spray insecticide how to safely remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, if I were you I would bar my cat from entering the balcony for a fair amount of time from now on, as going there it's not an essential need. I wouldn't value marketing claims of safety over the health and life of my pets either. Please consider playing it safe for your cat and don't risk it's well-being and life if it's not needed. Also you could ask your vet about this insecticide because vet's advice would be much more reliable and trustworthy than marketing claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-05T20:33:21.787" LastActivityDate="2020-05-05T20:33:21.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-06T07:49:37.980" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have three rabbits in a pen on the balcony. For a couple of days, a mouse has been joining them, eating some of their pellets and — more worryingly — leaving some droppings in the food bowl. How can we prevent the mouse from coming in, or at least from pooping in the food bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background:&#xA;The rabbit pen consists of wire mesh on al four sides. On three sides, it's a square mesh with 16mm square holes, on the fourth side the holes are a bit larger. When I went to feed the rabbits last night, that is also the side where I saw the mouse come from, although this could also be coincidence as that is also the most sheltered side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We usually give the rabbits their food in the late afternoon/early evening, feeding them out of our hand before leaving the bowl there for them until the next feeding time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first thought was to screw a 40cm board to the side with the large holes and see what happens, but would that be enough? Or do you have other, easier suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17887" LastEditorUserId="18203" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T22:34:06.563" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T22:34:06.563" Title="Easiest way to keep a mouse out of the rabbit pen?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-06T20:16:05.040" Score="1" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am def a noobie at all of this so apologies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm getting dark (rotting?) spots on my plant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually had some more earlier but I trimmed them as that's what I'm familiar with in the non-aquarium plant world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plant is in a sand base. I have plant tabs in the sand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lights are on 12+ hours during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't tested anything with my water yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any input!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFsVw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pFsVw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8KUMf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8KUMf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Aquarium&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17888" LastActivityDate="2020-05-06T20:16:05.040" Title="Dark (rotting?) spots on my aquarium plants?" Tags="&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27724" CreationDate="2020-05-06T22:21:57.150" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can recover my cat from a stroke?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried searching up and it just said stuff like medicines but they don't work. Someone please help me. The cat also poops and pees everywhere instead of the cat litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It happened a month or two ago and she has lived for 80 human years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-10T00:23:34.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-10T00:23:34.137" Title="My cat princess had a stroke" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27721" CreationDate="2020-05-07T06:36:03.223" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no way to recover from a stroke 2 months after it happened, neither for a cat nor for a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stroke&lt;/a&gt; is defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's see what that means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why does poor blood flow cause a stroke?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cells in a living body need oxygen to &quot;breathe&quot; and nutrients to &quot;eat&quot;. The blood transports all those things to every single cell in a body. When a brain cell receives oxygen from a blood cell, this blood cell must be transported back to the lungs to take up more oxygen again. That's why the blood must always flow in a body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brain cells need especially much oxygen and die after less than 5 minutes when they don't receive any oxygen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most strokes are caused by tiny blood clots that block the blood flow to parts of the brain or by internal bleeding in the brain. Without proper blood flow, the brain cells stop functioning after a &lt;em&gt;very short time&lt;/em&gt; (a minute or 2) and eventually die a &lt;em&gt;very short time&lt;/em&gt; later (another minute or 2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What are the consequences?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our brains are structured in certain regions. Each region has a primary task, like keeping our memories, moving our arms or legs, enabling us to speak and so on. Depending on where in the brain the blood flow was blocked, the affected person (or animal) loses the ability to remember things, speak or move their limbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What can be done?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A stroke is always a severe medical emergency, because the longer the blood flow is blocked, the more brain cells die. Doctors try to remove the blockage and restore blood flow as quickly as possible to save as many brain cells as possible. There are several different medications and medical procedures available for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But once the brain cells are dead, there is nothing to be done anymore. Unfortunately dead brain cells don't just regrow. And all the remaining brain cells already have their own task. If the brain region that controls the movement of the limbs was destroed by a stroke, other brain regions won't suddenly take that task on. There is no medication that could undo the damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some success stories where people regain some functionality long after a stroke, but those stories are so spectacular because they are so extremely rare. The affected people often had to train very hard every single day for many years to regain the functionality they lost due to a stroke. There is no way a cat could do the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-05-07T10:44:46.097" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T10:44:46.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27710" CreationDate="2020-05-07T07:26:30.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest setting up a routine that consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A place where you inject the insulin every day. Choose any place your dog feels calm and comfortable (like a blanket) and where you have enough space above and around your dog (not in a crate).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make your dog calm down. Depending on his temperament, you might have him lay down or at least sit. The emphasis is on &lt;strong&gt;calm down&lt;/strong&gt;. This is not simple obedience training where you test whether your dog understood that &quot;sit&quot; means &quot;put your bum on the ground&quot;. Please have a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuSCE71v8cY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;youtube video&lt;/a&gt; to understand what I mean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The actual injection. If you are unsure how and where to inject the insulin, please ask your vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A very yummy and special treat your dog &lt;strong&gt;only ever&lt;/strong&gt; gets after the insulin injection. This could be a piece of cheese or hotdog wiener or anything he really likes to eat. He will get this treat every time after the injection, no matter how badly he behaved, and never anytime else.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is supposed to give your dog a routine he can expect every day. He learns that you follow these steps every day in the same order, which gives him a certainty as to what to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calming down is supposed to - well, calm him down. He should learn that he cannot avoid the injection by erratic behavior or by fighting back. It also (hopefully) calms you down, which makes the experience much more tolerable for your dog. If you are nervous before an injection or your dog is wriggling around too much, it helps to take the time to take a deep breath. You can also pet your dog for a few minutes if it helps him calm down. It's not important to inject the insulin each day at the same minute, it's more important to make your dog accept the injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The special treat is there to connect the stimulus of the insulin injection with a positive outcome. This is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;classical conditioning&lt;/a&gt; and works just like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicker_training&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;clicker training&lt;/a&gt;. A stimulus that doesn't mean anything to the dog - the sound of the clicker or the sight of the insulin injector - is connected to a positive outcome - a very tasty treat. The positive feeling connected with the treat is then connected to the initial stimulus (the insulin injector) as well. That's why it's important to treat your dog after every single injection: the treat is not connected to his good behavior, but to the injection itself. Every time there is an injection, there follows a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Important note: the faster you feed him the treat after the injection, the faster he learns to associate the injection with the treat. Have the treat in arms reach before you inject him - but somewhere where he cannot snatch it from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog has the tendency to nip or bite, you might want to use a muzzle the first few days until he associates the injection with something positive. You can feed him the treat with the muzzle still on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T07:26:30.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-07T14:41:33.683" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat Jack, aged 11, had skin condition about April 1st. Mange was diagnosed and treated over three week period. It seemed fine and then he fell ill again. Vet thought it was respiratory infection but mentioned it could be kidney issue. He gave him antibiotics and steroids, and Jack quickly recovered. It was great for a week and then the cat fell ill again. He was lethargic and his eyesight seemed to worsen as he was bumping into things. Blood tests were done yesterday and showed advanced kidney and pancreatic disease. Vet is coming tomorrow with treatment plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I expect? All info and experience of this appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17891" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-10-06T20:25:48.743" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T20:25:48.743" Title="Cat with kidney disease" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27719" CreationDate="2020-05-07T16:22:15.257" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mice could actually fit through surprisingly small openings and the spacing in the mesh should be no bigger than 0.6 x 0.6 cm or else it would not be reliably mice-proof (&lt;a href=&quot;https://hutchandcage.com/bar-spacing-for-mice/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). For that reason the mouse would easily fit even through the smaller 1.6 x 1.6 cm spacing you've mentioned unless it's remarkably big and fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could advise sealing the whole balcony with specialized rodent mesh curtains. I don't know exactly how does your balcony setting look like and whether that would be applicable. Maybe there could be a simpler approach but any homemade solution I could come with would be chewed through and wouldn't prevent the mouse from squeezing on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T16:22:15.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27726" CreationDate="2020-05-07T19:36:31.747" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so sorry your pet is doing poorly.  I'm hesitant to give any specific advice because I'm not a vet, but I think you should mentally prepare yourself for the possibility your vet recommends euthanasia.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, kidneys don't really recover very well after being damaged, and kidney disease is a very common cause of death in cats.  If the kidneys are badly damaged, there's just nothing that can be done.  According to cat health articles such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://Cats%20with%20kidney%20disease%20may%20also%20develop%20high%20blood%20pressure.%20This%20may%20cause%20blindness,%20behavioural%20changes%20or%20neurological%20signs.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; posted on catdoctor.com, which I quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats with kidney disease may also develop high blood pressure. &#xA;   This may cause blindness, behavioural changes or neurological signs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat's apparent blindness may be a sign that your cat's kidneys are doing poorly.  From personal experience, I had a cat with chronic kidney disease that suddenly became unable to walk.  It was almost certainly due to the kidney disease catching up with her, and the vet recommended she be euthanized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, on a more positive note, it may be the case that your cat's kidneys are still well enough that the disease can be slowed and managed, through diet, or possibly other things your vet recommends.  Also from personal experience, my cat, before she had become that poorly, had the disease for many years, which we managed by giving her prescription cat food designed to manage kidney disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-05-07T19:36:31.747" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-07T19:59:43.880" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is placed in outside pen daily. It is a large pen with room to run. She has plenty of water and toys. She barks non stop for hours on in. How can I stop the barking? I hate the neighbors have to hear the incessant barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17893" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T13:08:53.500" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T04:26:39.133" Title="How can I stop my dog from barking when placed in outside pen?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27735" CreationDate="2020-05-08T02:55:51.467" Score="5" ViewCount="857" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can see red dots inside the cut portion of my dog's nails (not to mention the hang nail). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean that the vet cut them too short? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if this is normal, or if I need to find a new vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/usWTG.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/usWTG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17895" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T14:47:19.553" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T14:51:59.280" Title="Did the vet cut my dog's nails too short?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27734" CreationDate="2020-05-08T05:38:53.493" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;We’ve recently acquired four six-month-old chickens, and my question is: how much food and water will they need every day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve heard (albeit not from a &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt; reputable source) that sometimes if you give them too much, they’ll eat it anyway and get sick. So how much food and water should you give them every day? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T12:49:58.633" Title="How much should chickens be fed?" Tags="&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27733" CreationDate="2020-05-08T12:49:58.633" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without question; Water should be available 24/7 there are a number of ways to accomplish this.  Depending on the solution, you will need to clean the water bowl/supply daily to weekly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I have normally provided food 24/7 there a number of feeders available. I like gravity feeders where you just add more to top, the chickens take it from the bottom.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to allow your chickens out of the coop, to hunt bugs and plants during the day, you may need/want a way to get them back in the coop in the evening. In that case feed them in the evening.  It is pretty easy to train them to come get the good food at night time. Even then I would normally keep food available in the coop 24/7. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never seen an issue from too much food for chickens.  Underfeeding, particularly for laying hens can have dire consequences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T12:49:58.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27732" CreationDate="2020-05-08T14:46:26.620" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nails should not be cut through where there's a blood supply (where it is pink or red). It's an indication that they have been cut too short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also nerves in that part of the nail and it can be painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not all vets are equal, unfortunately and some have a better skill and ethical devotion to animal welfare. I'd recommend finding a better vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://wsu.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Washington State University&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/outreach/Pet-Health-Topics/categories/procedures/dogs/clipping-your-dog&amp;#39;s-claws&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Clipping Your Dog's Claws&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Light colored claws are easier to cut than dark claws as the blood vessels and nerves that supply the claw, called the quick, are easier to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YQ3Yc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YQ3Yc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cut the claw to within approximately 2 millimeters of the quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you cut into the quick, the claw will bleed and the dog will experience pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.../... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After trimming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WMwmo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WMwmo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.../...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As you cut the nail deeper, you will see a homogeneous gray to pink oval (3) starting to appear at the top of the cut surface of the nail. Stop cutting the nail at this point as additional cutting will cut into the quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M7SGH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M7SGH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see here, they stop cutting as soon as any pink or red is seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-08T14:51:59.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-08T14:51:59.280" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27715" CreationDate="2020-05-09T12:39:28.460" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be difficult to diagnose over the Internet without hearing the sound in person. But yes, a tortoise making consistent whistling, wheezing or hissing sounds while breathing could suggest its upper respiratory system infection. If there is visible slimy mucus discharge from the nose then you could be fairly sure it's an infection, but it could still be the case even without the mentioned discharge. Also you could look for other signs of infection like swollen and inflamed eyes, but I'd say excessive wheezing is enough of a concern itself to consult a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-09T22:51:14.017" LastActivityDate="2020-05-09T22:51:14.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-10T08:29:15.283" Score="0" ViewCount="5320" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I used to hit my cat from time to time when he did something wrong. He had just turned one year old and I’ve been hitting him so much lately, that now he no longer asks for cuddles, kisses or play with me or anything like that, although we were so close and he used to sleep next to me every time since he was so small. I guess he doesn’t trust me anymore, I messed up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me, what could I do to make him love me and trust me again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17902" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:26:59.640" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T20:59:37.020" Title="I hit my cat and now he hates me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;hitting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-10T08:38:26.353" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta fish, named Lushi, has been progressively getting worse for the past few months. I bought him in September, 2019 (9 months ago) from Petco -- although he seemed fully grown when I bought him, I couldn't tell you his exact age. He's had what looks like worsening fin rot for the past few months. He lives in a fully decorated (only silk plants with tons of hiding spots) 10 gallon aquarium alone. He receives regular water changes of 25-50% either weekly or biweekly. He is fed the right amount (never been bloated) with an occasional fast day. I test his water every water change and all numbers come back with flying colors. I started noticing his fin loss about 2-3 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I contacted a veterinarian and they suggested a hospital tank to treat him with 'Bettafix' -- I did what they advised, yet his fins never grew back to normal. After that failed attempt, I read many great reviews on aquarium salt - I've been properly (following directions of quantity as well as dissolving it prior to adding it to the tank) administering it every water change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the past month I have been noticing his lack of interest in me. He used to greet me every time I came to his tank, now he just hides and sleeps most of the day. He used to swim around the tank energetically, now he just swims when it's to get food and floats around the rest of the time. I also never see him flare anymore (he used to flare all the time in certain circumstances).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His coloring is fading -- he used to be a beautiful metallic blue marble with white patches, now he is turning mostly white starting from his body. I want to know if I'm the one that's causing this or if he could just be getting old. I often doubt that it's the latter because I can't imagine him to be over the age of 2. I love this little guy to pieces and just want to make his life comfortable and happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me if there is something I should (or shouldn't) be doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17903" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T06:08:39.620" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T06:08:39.620" Title="Is my betta fish aging or is he sick?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-10T10:55:41.087" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad brought 2 baby pigeons from his shop whose nest broke and mom was nowhere to be found. What do I feed them and how do I take care of them? I don't know how old they are, but they have black hair on them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17905" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T19:03:17.103" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T20:06:00.633" Title="What do I feed baby pigeons?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27571" CreationDate="2020-05-10T14:57:55.630" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bathing (and conditioning) the dog really helps to soften the fur before cutting it. (Same goes for nails). Even in the absence of professional grooming, you can keep them brushed to avoid big mats from forming. If you are bathing your dog at home, please brush his coat before bathing so that there's no mats as a result of tangles. Also, make sure the water pressure is low and the water is lukewarm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever your pets come back from walks, clean their paws with pet wipes thoroughly and move a wipe across their body as well. Wash their leashes and collars after the walk and dry them out in the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have pet clippers, it’s OK to go for it, but don’t put scissors anywhere near your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope these links help (&lt;a href=&quot;https://dogwithblog.in/dog-grooming-tips/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grooming&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogwithblog.in/how-to-groom-your-dog-at-home/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;DIY grooming at home&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17906" LastEditorUserId="17906" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T05:50:28.593" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T05:50:28.593" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27742" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-10T15:09:22.513" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe overheating was a word too strong to describe what is happening with my cockatiel. She seems to stick her tongue in and out in constant, rapid motion in order to dissipate heat into the air. I'm almost very sure this is overheating and nothing more because when I take her under a fan or take her to an air-conditioned place, she stops. To provide more context, place where I live in averages in temperature around 92 °F / 32 °C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Constantly ventilating the room by having windows open seems to be a good option. Periodic showers too. There's no cooler place at home. But ventilating room doesn't seem to be sufficient enough and since summer's just started here, it's imminent that temperature spikes by at least a degree or two later in May.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of keeping a water bath inside the cage, not only she would be able to use it for cooling by direct contact with water, but it would also provide evaporative cooling of the cage. Will this work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17663" LastEditorUserId="17663" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T09:12:37.237" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T13:52:04.693" Title="Will keeping a WaterBath help prevent Overheating during summer in Cockatiels?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;&lt;weather&gt;&lt;cooling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27738" CreationDate="2020-05-10T17:01:27.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please refrain from hitting your cat ever again. Not only is it abusive, but also completely counterproductive in the context of behavioral training because a cat would not even realize the causal relationship - I mean a cat would not associate being hit with a concept of punishment for having done something wrong, the only effect of that would be what you observe now: fear, repulsion and distrust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for repairing your relationship with the cat: at first please accept that fully recovering your cat's trust might turn out to be impossible. A little cheesy but otherwise clever saying goes that the trust is like a vase: if it's broken you could glue it together but the blemishes would be clearly there and the vase's quality would significantly drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it might not be possible to completely, you could at least partially regain your cat's trust but it wouldn't be quick. Give your cat as much time as it needs and it's traumatic memories should slowly fade out provided all its old mental wounds wouldn't be opened anymore. It probably would be a long process - as his trauma wasn't caused over a single day, neither will be recovering from it. Obviously you can't just apologize to your cat with words, so you would need to show it by your actions and behavior. Please don't be intrusive in the context of giving your cat company, petting, etc. and don't press the cat into an interaction if it's not willing for it. Slowly and surely your cat might realize that you're not a danger anymore and the relationship should at least partially improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="18634" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T03:13:27.273" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T03:13:27.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27746" CreationDate="2020-05-10T20:44:06.470" Score="19" ViewCount="7629" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to ask a question I wondered with my dad. It was raised because I believe several things related to my cat, mostly when I heard a little from the vet, a little from the friends, a little online and so on. Maybe this is not true and feel totally free to correct me in the comments or in your answer if I'm wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alright. I believe cats are obligate carnivores, so they have to eat a minimum percentage of meat or protein to survive. I heard 30% a long time ago, but that's quite vague.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In my opinion, it's quite usual to see cats eat little birds, mouses or little fishes like tuna&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also in my opinion, and on the contrary, it's quite rare to see cats eating like elephants or beef. Actually I don't remember seeing a cat eating such big animals. I think they won't be like wolves, hunting together and sharing a huge prey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then my question is: should cats eat huge animals? I had this question with my father today when we were about the give him fresh raw piece of gently sliced beef. And then this question arose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps they should totally not to. In this case, what's the frontier between huge and alright animals? Is it, like, bad for their health? Or perhaps they can eat like beef or elephants but surely they'll prefer salmon or small birds? Or do they totally don't mind between each type of raw meat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find any resource talking about that on the internet. Including &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_food&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia pages about cat's found&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12852" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T15:21:40.933" Title="Should cats eat &quot;huge&quot; animals?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="14" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27744" CreationDate="2020-05-10T23:12:44.097" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meat is meat. All cats have roughly the same digestive system and metabolism, so their choice of prey is more about size than nutrition. It needs to be a large enough meal to justify the effort of hunting it yet small enough they're likely to be successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large enough pride of lions can take down enormous prey like buffalo, giraffe or even elephant. Solo lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards and cheetahs easily take down antelope, pigs and similar sized prey. Your housecat would enjoy all of those huge meals too, but he simply couldn't catch them and knows that even trying would likely result in his own death. On the other hand, your housecat will happily hunt rodents, birds, and other small prey that the larger cats lazily ignore as not worth the effort. Each has their own place in the ecosystem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T15:21:40.933" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T15:21:40.933" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10580" CreationDate="2020-05-11T02:59:35.793" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's ridiculous and not only absurd to insinuate that a person working an AVERAGE work week of 40-50 hours a week cannot own a dog. If this was the case then our shelters would be even more overrun with dogs. Not to mention overwhelmed with euthanizing them. The average nine-to-five (whether working or just absent) person can own a happy dog and be content with their abilities. Even when I'm home my dogs sleep and rest most of the day so what gives if I'm home or not.  They simply need stimulation, exercise and enrichment like every living being does. Dogs were bred to be companion animals but we aren't all Queen Elizabeths to have a dog on our lap 24/7. And dogs have adapted to their human counterparts lifestyles.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You simply need to ensure to give them 30 minutes to 1 hour of walks/runs outside time per day (depending on dog size and breed). Not just leave them in the backyard because bonding does not occur that way either. On top of that you provide playtime - 10-15 minutes of tug of war, fetch or having fun with their toys is good enough. Finally enrichment. This means giving your dog a change of pace once in a while. This can be a car ride to a new change of scenery, socializing at a dog park or hiding treats around the house for them to find can also provide enrichment as well as brush up training or teaching new tricks for 5 minutes at a time daily. Enrichment is giving your dog a change of pace.  Think of new scenery, new sounds, new smells, new trainings, new activities to stimulate them mentally.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look, that totals about 1 hour a day. If you can do that I promise you both you and your dog will be content. Don't talk about 8 hour workdays being unfair to the dog (that's not true), because this is what almost all dog owners have to deal with - earning an income - and your pet will adapt as well. Every dog deserves a loving home and you can provide that love outside of your schedule.  Just like your own exercise is important enough to make time for, you give priority to your dog just the same and believe me, you will reap more reward than the cost of owning a pet dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies show dogs help us live longer and they make great bed mates. People are happier when they have a dog sleeping in their bed. Just incorporate your best friend in your life and you will both be more than happy and filled with gratitude. Don't think about rules of etiquette or what so called experts recommend, take it from me. I am a long time dog owner, trained groomer, pet companion specialist and trainer and you can own and love a dog while working a 40-50 hour long week. Yes, if you have additional support like spouse's, mom's, kids' or others' that can increase their enrichment by all means - take advantage. It's healthy for both them and your dog anyways and resources are always a blessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But long story short. You can and will benefit a dog's life working a normal job work week and they will undoubtedly benefit yours. Many dogs need homes so please rescue dogs before buying from breeders and know you are making a big difference and you'll reap every reward. Like the saying goes - WHO SAVED WHO?  Only adopters understand what that truly means. Join the club.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17910" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:12:58.643" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:12:58.643" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27740" CreationDate="2020-05-11T06:04:49.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the wild, pigeons are mostly seen pecking for seeds of all kinds. However, a balanced diet consists of only 50% seeds and 50% fresh fruits and vegetables and the occasional insect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/pigeons-and-doves-feeding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VCA Hospitals&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://animals.mom.me/how-to-make-pigeon-feed-12119715.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pets on Mom&lt;/a&gt; have articles about balanced pigeon food. In summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offer clean water at any time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed 50% seeds. That can be a mix of cereal grains (wheat, sorghum / millet, barley, oats, rye, rice, bulgur, semolina), legumes (lentils, beans (only coocked!), peas) and seeds like sesame, safflower, sunflower or flaxseed. Finely chopped nuts should be fine too, but they contain lots of fat. Avoid corn / maize, because it's mainly stored as fat and doesn't aid healthy bone and muscle growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are specialized pallets for pigeons available in assorted pet shops and online. These have the advantage of including all neccessary minerals and vitamins. Make sure to select a special food for young pigeons, because they have special nutritional needs due to their growing up.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed 50% of a mix of finely chopped fruits and vegetables. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suggested fruits are: apple, cherries (not the pit), pear, apricots, coconut,  banana, fig, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, dates, grapes, raspberry, grapefruit, kiwi, blueberry, melons, mango, nectarines, strawberry, orange, cantaloupe, papaya, peaches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suggested vegetables are:  Chinese vegetables (bok choy), peas, asparagus, peppers (red/green &amp;amp; hot), corn, beans (cooked), cucumber, chick peas, dandelion leaves, potato, lentils, endive, pumpkin, rapini, mung, rice (brown), soy, kale, romaine lettuce, beet, spinach, sprouted seeds, broccoli, squash, brussel sprouts, cabbage, sweet potato, tomato, carrot, carrot tops, parsnip, zucchini&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very pale vegetables like iceberg salad, head lettuce or celery have almost no nutritional value. Avoid them if possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not feed avocado&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid feeding breadcrumbs if possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A little bit of finely crushed eggshell seems to aid digestion and offers additional calcium for healthy growth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most animals need protein while growing. So my guess is that the occasional swatted fly (only fresh) or a piece of earthworm might be welcome. Some people also feed small amounts of cooked egg, meat or fish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure about the best food, please contact a local vet and ask for advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/e00owEPjKCw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; to compare your pigeons with the chicks shown to estimate how old they might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T06:04:49.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27744" CreationDate="2020-05-11T06:08:33.663" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats should eat meat. The source of meat is not very important; the important thing here is to feed not only the meat but parts of the rest of the animal too, as different parts have different nutrients that cats need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed my cat all kinds of raw meat (high quality meat that can be eaten raw by people) like reindeer, beef, pork, whale meat, and other types of meat, but I do not feed her this as a part of her normal diet, more as a treat and less than once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats should not eat tuna too often as it contains elevated levels of heavy metals. It's the same with other large sea living animals; animals near the top of the food chain will have elevated levels of heavy metals and other highly bioaccumulative chemicals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you can give many types of meat to your cat but not as a replacement for your cats normal food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat food does in general contain meat from larger animals that can be seen as huge compared to the size of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats need about 30% protein in their food to stay healthy, so 30% meat in the food will not cover your cat's need for protein. Cat food should contain about 80% meat and meat byproducts for your cat to stay healthy. (Meat byproducts contains fat, bone meal, blood, liver, kidney, and lungs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T16:51:17.613" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T16:51:17.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27738" CreationDate="2020-05-11T17:26:00.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for asking for help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not ok to hit cats, or any animals for that matter. There's some large breed dogs and horses that can cope with a slap (not hard) - but not actually to be hit and not beaten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat doesn't understand why you are hitting it and it would have little to no trust in you and probably doesn't like you. I know I wouldn't like someone who hit me often, in fact anyone who hit me at all. A cat cannot get into your head and understand what you are doing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat relies on you for safety, comfort and a kind home. If you cannot offer this to the cat, then you really need to find a good home for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Steps to rebuild the relationship&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NEVER HIT THE CAT AGAIN&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allow the cat to come to you. Do not try to force affection/pats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the cat many small feeds per day and find what it really enjoys. Something like sardines, so it associates a good thing with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can start some kind of play. A toy on a string for it to chase. Be mindful to keep it on the floor, if you dangle it at this stage the cat may feel threatened.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk in a kind tone to the cat at all times. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lFdF5NeZio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Listen to how I talk to my horse&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the cat approaches you, pet it from an angle you do not hit it from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Last and not least. Investigate what is intolerant in you that causes you to snap and hit the cat. Pets require an abundance of patience. They are vulnerable and dependent on us. It is NEVER the Pets Fault. Unwanted behaviour (often construed as &quot;bad&quot;) is always the owner's fault and often times a natural part of the animal's behaviour that requires acceptance on the part of the owner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Repeat NEVER HIT THE CAT AGAIN.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T18:24:49.550" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T18:24:49.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27752" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-05-11T17:32:29.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about hitting pets. Whether you've adopted a pet that used to be hit or you have been hitting your pet, use this tag. Ensure to use the appropriate species tag, such as &lt;code&gt;dog&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:32:29.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:32:29.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27753" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-05-11T17:32:29.040" Score="0" Body="For questions about hitting pets. Whether you've adopted a pet that used to be hit or you have been hitting your pet, use this tag. Ensure to use the appropriate species tag, such as `dog`." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-11T17:32:29.040" LastActivityDate="2020-05-11T17:32:29.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-11T19:35:42.347" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't know my rabbit was pregnant, so I threw the hair she was pulling for her babies away, not having realized she was preparing a nest. My rabbit gave birth to only one kit, I tried to make a nest and I did. Three days later I woke up to a dead bunny, its left side was open which was sad. I have no idea why she did that and I wanted to know if she gets pregnant again will the same thing happen? Will she kill her baby or babies? Or what should I do to prevent that from happening &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17918" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T07:51:12.783" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:51:12.783" Title="Why did my mother rabbit kill her baby? Will it happen again?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-07-14T14:14:55.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2020-05-11T22:17:18.523" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat may have a stroke, or something else causing gastrointestinal malfunction and making her poop everywhere like mine. Please have your cat examined by the vet again and give it an X-ray. My cat is currently suffering from stroke-related disabilities and she also poops everywhere so please contact your veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T02:03:16.023" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T02:03:16.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27759" CreationDate="2020-05-11T22:22:16.857" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you can see by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/27721/17671&quot;&gt;my last post&lt;/a&gt;, my cat has recently suffered a stroke. I was wondering whether cat nappies are a good idea, I have ordered them. She keeps pooping outside the litterbox and we have to keep her on our little balcony area. these are nappies for adult cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So are cat nappies a good idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17886" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T01:39:59.827" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T05:55:02.563" Title="Are nappies a good idea for a cat with a bad bowel system" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27771" CreationDate="2020-05-11T23:41:19.280" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a 18 week Alaskan Klee Kai who is currently 10 lbs. I brought it home with a six year old cat who is also 10 lbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppy really loves to play with the cat but the problem is he plays like a puppy would. He gets really physical. He tackles, bites, and worst case will grab the cat and drag him across the floor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat fights back but he's been declawed. Everything he does, the puppy just interprets as play. This gets him even more riled up and he gets more physical. The cat is stubborn and tries to stand his ground but gets overpowered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I break them up every time it starts. I lock the puppy in his kennel until he's calmed down. But now the puppy just waits until I'm not near the cat and rushes in when he sees an opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently the cat doesn't seem to be hurt by this and is just really annoyed. I'm afraid that will change as the dog gets older. I don't want the cat to be afraid to wander the house, and I don't want to have to keep the dog on a leash in the house or locked in his play pen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I discourage this behavior? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17922" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T21:57:14.177" Title="How do I get my puppy to stop playing with my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27757" CreationDate="2020-05-11T23:47:15.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say yes, it's a great idea to use cat nappies in your situation. It is because, sadly, given the circumstances, your cat's condition isn't expected to improve since the stroke-related disability is generally permanent and she most probably wouldn't stop urinating and defecating outside of the litterbox. Also you, as the owner, would have a peace of mind since you wouldn't have to constantly worry she is going to contaminate something while wandering around your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the perfect soultion does not exist and nappies also have their drawbacks. For example it might be hard to get your cat used to them and comfortably wear them, but it would depend on your princess' personality and therefore it's difficult to predict how exactly would it turn out. It would also mean somewhat increased costs, especially if you used one-time disposable nappies. On the other hand, reusable diapers tends to be messy and more tedious. But I think it's totally worth it, because cleaning contaminated surfaces might turn out to be tedious and maybe even more expensive, in case you for example owned something like a valuable, fancy carpet in your house and it got ruined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in conclusion please be prepared for the possibility that your cat might find the nappies uncomfortable at first, but otherwise it is a great solution. Also please remember to always remove the diaper as soon as possible if it gets urinated or soiled and to clean your cat after it happens. For cleaning you could use hypoallergic baby tissues, just make sure they're fragrance and alcohol free. Please also stay vigilant and look out for any signs of your cat's skin irritation like a rash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T05:55:02.563" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T05:55:02.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-12T00:43:10.100" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got her from the humane society at 2 years old. She gets taken out right before I leave or go to bed and yes she goes when outside. Right after I leave or go to sleep she pees and I can hear her drinking it up. She urinates in her dog bed and licks it up. She has a whole bedroom to herself. Vet has checked her and no medical conditions. She is 4 now and still doing it. Any help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have scolded her by yelling &quot;potty outside&quot; and take her out. She has separation problems. I just don’t know how she was trained by the previous owner. Was she trained by potty pads in the house? Because I’m going that route right now. When they come in the mail I’m gonna see if that helps. If not she needs to be on anxiety meds then. I don’t hit my dogs but I have no problem yelling at them. She does not care if I yell she walks away with an attitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17923" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T06:14:51.867" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T08:07:55.900" Title="Boxer drinking urine" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27760" CreationDate="2020-05-12T00:49:58.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog used to do this for a while, teach her that this is wrong and punish her. I do not mean abuse, but don’t talk or play with her when you see her doing this. Shout at her and give her silent treatment for like 2 hours. Deny all her playing requests for that time, just teach her this behavior is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17924" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T07:15:03.823" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:15:03.823" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-12T01:51:46.340" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of getting a dog. I want to learn about some breeds of which dogs won't bark so much. Does anybody know about any non-barking breeds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T14:20:29.537" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T02:32:29.423" Title="I am thinking of getting myself a dog, is it a good idea?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27729" CreationDate="2020-05-12T02:07:26.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog might want some company and may want to play with you or want to go on a walk. Dogs have feelings and he probably doesn't like it that he is alone a lot of the time. Even if she has toys try and at least take her out of the park and maybe make her catch a ball or something that will make her better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T02:07:26.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27690" CreationDate="2020-05-12T02:12:09.453" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest waiting a few more days and your problem might just solve itself because cats have a good sense of smell. But I doubt it will happen, especially if your cats used to fight each other, then the missing one might tend to run away. I recommend going on a walk around the neighbourhood and looking for signs of you cat's presence or asking neighbours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T13:48:45.797" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T13:48:45.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27762" CreationDate="2020-05-12T04:23:19.060" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Labradors and retrievers are not really barking dogs. Keep in mind no matter what breed you get, they all have the instinct to bark. Some more than others, it just depends on their personality. My boxer doesn’t bark much. My English bulldog does as a guard dog and my boxer bulldog mix doesn’t bark much at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17923" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T14:41:08.083" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:41:08.083" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27729" CreationDate="2020-05-12T04:26:39.133" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always am outside with my dogs. If they bark, I tell them to leave it. If they continue I spray off a can of keyboard cleaner. They hate the noise. It startles them. My English bulldog is the only barker I got. The other two just don’t care about what’s going on. Probably because I don’t leave them out without me out there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17923" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T04:26:39.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27762" CreationDate="2020-05-12T06:12:33.663" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some breeds that have the tendency to bark a lot - mostly guarding and herding breeds, but also many smaller breeds categorized as &amp;quot;toy breeds&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog breeds that bark a lot&lt;/strong&gt; include: Beagle, Chihuahua, Pomeranian, Siberian Husky, Yorkshire Terrier, West Highland White Terrier (and most other terriers), Border Collie, German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, Corgie, Boxer, Miniature Schnauzer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dog breeds that don't bark so much&lt;/strong&gt; include: Basenji (the only dog breed that is physically unable to bark), Bernese Mountain Dog, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Greyhound, Bulldog, French Bulldog, Chinook, Bullmastiff, Shiba Inu, Shih Tzu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I intentionally called them &amp;quot;breeds that don't bark so much&amp;quot;, because (apart from Basenji) whether or not a dog barks is also a question of upbringing and training. You need to invest &lt;strong&gt;a lot&lt;/strong&gt; of time during the first several months of owning a puppy to teach them how you'd like them to behave and to keep them from doing whatever they like when you're not around. You even should be around and supervising your puppy &lt;strong&gt;nonstop&lt;/strong&gt; for at least the first 2 weeks of owning it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just get a dog, even one that doesn't have the tendency to bark, and leave them to themselves most of the time, you'll be very disappointed in your dog-owning experience and your dog will be very disappointed in you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before deciding to adopt a dog, there are several more question you should keep in mind to choose the right dog for you. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.readersdigest.ca/home-garden/pets/cesar-millan-s-guide-choosing-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This list&lt;/a&gt; is just one of them, there are several more &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/pet-adoption/dog-adoption/dog-adoption-checklist/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;checklists&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What energy level should my dog have? Calm or energetic? Can I support an insecure dog or keep a workaholic happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I want a purebred or a mutt? The purer the blood line the more intense are the characteristics of the breed. Most people experience a mutt as more mellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I know enough to really choose the right dog for me? Do I know the alternatives? Do I know the characteristics of the breed I chose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I provide the right environment, the proper amount of time, and the appropriate stimulation to fulfill those inborn breed-related needs? Do my social obligations (like work, family, membership in any organization) prevent me from caring for my dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have a plan for my dog during vacations and/or work travel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I have a stable income to support a dog? In addition to dog food, you also need money for regular veterinary care, emergency veterinary care as result of an accident or illness, licensing or taxes (depending on where you live), regular grooming (depending on the breed), training classes, and many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T19:49:57.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27760" CreationDate="2020-05-12T07:06:59.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is clearly a stress / anxiety related problem and any kind of scolding or yelling is only going to make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Urinating is a dogs natural response to very exciting or very stressful situations. Puppies often urinate when they are too excited to see someone, adults do it for example to show submission and deescalate a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already identified 2 triggers (going to bed and leaving the house) that stress your dog so much she starts peeing even though she just did her buisness outside and she knows it's inappropriate. That's why she drinks the urine after, to remove the evidence. If you yell at her in such situations, you only increase the stress and make her feel even worse, because now she learns that your going to bed not only causes her fear, but also makes you yell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all you should wash her bedding very thoroughly, even with an enzype cleaner if possible. That removes the smell of urine that triggers her to pee in that spot over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you could try 2 potty breaks before going to bed. One at the regular time you always go, and then another just before she usually pees in her bed. Praise her very much (with words and/or a treat) if she pees again during the 2nd break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potty pads are a good idea to contain the mess, but they just treat the symptom, not the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause is the anxiety and insecurity of your dog and treating that is a very hard and long process. A mild medication can definitely help, but will not be the cure alone. I suggest you use the service of a professiona dog trainer. Make sure they are competent to work with anxiety problems and not just a personal puppy school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a list of articles that hopefully help you treat your dogs seperation anxiety:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/separation-anxiety-solution-training-fido-that-calm-behavior-makes-you/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Separation Anxiety Solution by CattleDog Publishing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/heres-real-way-train-dog-separation-anxiety/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here’s the Only Real Way to Train a Dog with Separation Anxiety by The Dog People&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/dealing-with-dog-separation-anxiety/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dealing With Dog Separation Anxiety by cesarsway&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try different approaches and see what your dog reacts best to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T07:06:59.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27758" CreationDate="2020-05-12T07:46:44.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest training him to play calmer with the cat instead of not playing with the cat at all. Puppies are just like children, they love the forbidden and they are intelligent enough to know when their parents aren't near to catch them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So instead of locking your puppy in the kennel, I suggest holding him by the collar and making him calm down, either by making him lay down or by physically turning him around so his rear faces the cat and he must look away from the cat. That way he hopefully learns to tolerate the presence of the cat without having to play right now NOW &lt;strong&gt;NOW!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you noted yourself, he's a clever guy and misbehaves whenever you're not around, so please keep him close and supervise him as long as he hasn't learned to play less rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another approach would be teaching him commands like &quot;leave it&quot; and &quot;stay&quot;, where he has to control his own desire and wait for a reward. This is called &quot;impulse control&quot; and is a great tool to help a puppy grow into a calm and even-tempered dog. By developing his impulse control he should become better at not playing as rough as he does now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T10:06:52.207" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T10:06:52.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27744" CreationDate="2020-05-12T14:04:01.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Feed your cat &amp;quot;complete and balanced&amp;quot; cat food.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modern cat food, both in the form of dry kibble as well as wet cat food, is specially formulated to meet the dietary and nutritional requirements of cats. As such, one of the best ways to feed your cat is to give them appropriately-sized portions of cat food, with people food such as meat being relegated to a special treat. If you're in doubt about the appropriateness of the food for your cat, in America, you can check its label for whether or not it's been certified as a &amp;quot;complete and balanced&amp;quot; pet food by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), according to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/complete-and-balanced-pet-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FDA&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11176" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T14:04:01.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-12T16:35:22.753" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please help me in my attempts to lure our cat! Our cat has been missing for two weeks and we saw her today few neighborhoods down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/27660/17671&quot;&gt;As mentioned in one of my previous questions, our cat went missing two weeks ago&lt;/a&gt;. Thanks to some help we received in the recent three days, we have spotted out cat wandering on two specific streets, a few neighbourhoods away from our home. We have set three traps in the area this morning and we are watching them. Today she came right in front of me as I was in my car watching from across the trap. I did not want to get out - according to what a pet catcher told me, she may run to a different area if I call her, as she likely turned feral now and may think I am chasing her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I see her in the next few days while I am watching the trap, should I wait until she gets in one of the traps? Or can I call her name hoping she still remembers it and will come to me? I kind of regret not getting out of my car and trying to say her name today, but then I remembered the professional's words. The pet catcher told us we have to observe her roaming patterns at different times of the day and try to trap her based on that, is this accurate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17849" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:53:54.800" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:53:54.800" Title="Help in luring our missing since two weeks cat, which we've recently spotted in our neighbourhood" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27740" CreationDate="2020-05-12T17:56:11.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The food that a baby needs depends on its age. Parent doves produce a special slurry of food that is often called 'pigeon milk', and baby doves will need this food until they are grown well enough so that their feathers are well developed. (I have had some babies who bothered their parents for food even when they were as large as their parents, and the parents continued to feed them.) If you can get specialty foods that are made for baby birds, that is excellent. If not, soft food made for human babies can be a workable substitute. Detailed instructions can be found at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eastvalleywildlife.org/DoveCentral.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.eastvalleywildlife.org/DoveCentral.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is no small amount of effort to raise orphaned doves, but the rewards are great. Doves can be very affectionate, and hand-raised ones usually love being held. Your compassion will be rewarded by their affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T17:56:11.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27758" CreationDate="2020-05-12T20:38:40.413" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Laying a puppy on their side and rubbing their belly facing away from you and saying settle and saying good settle when the puppy actually lays calm is a good technique at teaching a puppy to settle on command. It’s positive training. It takes time but kennel punishment is never used because that is supposed to be their safe space not time out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17923" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T20:38:40.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27758" CreationDate="2020-05-12T21:21:02.777" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try and put a gate, or something that can separate them. Chances are that it might enable them to bond with each other, because that would provide them a harmless and safe way to interact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-12T21:57:14.177" LastActivityDate="2020-05-12T21:57:14.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-12T23:43:22.440" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently me and my Dad have seen the same wild rabbit, who appears to be blind, while on a bike ride in a similar place. The rabbit's eyelids are shut and it appears disorientated and nervous when wandering around. We live in the countryside so wild life is not unusual, however I'm wondering if something needs to be done for this little guy if seen again? My father seems to think this rabbit isn’t particularly old however I cannot vouch for this as neither of us are experts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17931" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T09:31:30.673" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T09:31:30.673" Title="what to do if a blind rabbit is found in the wild?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27779" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-13T02:09:11.377" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta fish seems to be sick and has been like that for the past two weeks. He spends most of the day laying at the bottom of the tank and is not responsive. He goes up for air occasionally and is still eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought maybe he had swim bladder disease so I did not feed him for 3 days, but he did not get better. I noticed his color is not the same and his fins look rugged, so I assumed it was fin rot. I changed the water and gave him antibiotic for 7 days but he isn’t any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m having a hard time diagnosing him and figuring out how to treat him at this point. Does anyone have any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0aQWq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0aQWq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17932" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T15:44:44.390" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T15:44:44.390" Title="Help please! What is wrong with my Betta fish?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27777" CreationDate="2020-05-13T05:22:29.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you find a wild animal that is hurt or ill you have to do an ethical choice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you want to let nature its go?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you feel the need to do something for this animal?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some reasons for both points, for example &quot;it is a human shaped surrounding, the humans have to care for the last animals there&quot;, or &quot;there are so many of them and the hunting animals needs a meal too&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This decision you have to do alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose to do something for the animal: You should inform yourself about stations who handle wild animals. There are everywhere vets or other organizations who care for wild animals and if it is possible after healing they will let go the animal back to the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next step will be to come in contact with them and ask them about the next steps to do. For example they could ask you to bring the animal to the station, or they decide to pick it up theirself. Same it could be they give you advice how to care for the animal at your home too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get in contact with a station handling wild animals and ask for advice for your own case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T05:22:29.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27785" CreationDate="2020-05-13T06:44:20.883" Score="2" ViewCount="777" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my stepdad use to abuse my dog, hitting him with a broom, and kicking him and more. I did not know about this till I came home from school and saw him beating my beloved dog, I told my mother and they sorted that out and my old stepdad doesn’t live with me anymore nor is he allowed anywhere by my family, but that was one year ago and the dog still acts scared of people, even me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day like a few months ago, my dog was trying to rip open a packet of m&amp;amp;m's candies and he was under my bed, he wouldn’t come out when I told him too I felt so bad but I had to forcefully pull him out from under the bed, and I felt so bad, also once my dog was barking at another dog why we were on the walk i was pulling on the leash and I don’t know I wasn’t thinking but I pulled the leash a little to hard hoping he would stop, he kinda flung across the sidewalk and I felt horrible too, and over the past year I ran into him a few times why I was walking so have my siblings and my mother but my dog never really liked them, I even on accidentally dropped him while carrying him to the car to go to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But today, I can’t even look at myself, I am disgusted with myself, so what happened was I was babysitting my younger siblings and we were playing soccer, my dog was outside and I was running toward the soccer ball and my dog likes to run around so he was just running around the yard and as I was getting the ball he ran right in front of me and I on accidentally stepped on him, like hard! He was crying for like 30 minutes and I was to comfort him and we got straight on the phone with the vet. Luckily he is OK but I can’t live with myself and feel so bad and now he is scared of me. I we’ll come to pet him and he we’ll put his ears down and his tell between his legs, and he well not listen to me as well, which is sad. I want my baby back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, this is random, but me and my friends were also riding longboards with my dog and my friend had dog and my dog kinda stopped in front of her longboard and my friend kicked my dog too, he has gone through a lot and I just feel like it’s all my fault. How do I make him trust me again and be playful and help him know I am truly sorry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He just turned 3 and he is a Bichon frisé, a small dog, he is very energetic and is kinda stubborn but I love him and he deserves the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17937" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T09:54:55.027" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T16:29:49.323" Title="How do I gain my dog's trust back after accidentally stepping on him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-13T08:06:32.810" Score="3" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat has been on steroid medication for a few months now and it makes her hungry ALL the time. She wakes me up at 6am every day. And at night I keep her in my bedroom like I have done for years as I live with housemates. She meows and tries to get out so that she can meow for food outside my housemates room which I can’t let her do. She has destroyed my door frames and is working on the door. I have to barricade the door so she can’t get to the wooden part and then she’ll happily get into bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to find a solution that isn’t barricading us into the room. Maybe adding something to scratch on the door? I live in a rented property though. Does anyone have any experience with any of this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17938" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T09:15:41.257" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T17:24:01.120" Title="My cat is on steroids and she won’t stop crying for food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27786" CreationDate="2020-05-13T10:33:50.140" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, we rescued three kittens from the same litter as the mother cat was abandoning them. One of our kittens that we rescued sadly passed away and another one is now showing most of the same symptoms. Mentioned symptoms are for example fatigue, general sleepiness, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know the chances of the kitten from the same litter being sick as well or if she is just sad because a loved kitten passed away (the kitten did see the other one pass.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if cats do mourn others, though. We are going to get claramox just in case, as we don't have money for the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking for professional advice anywhere I can before moving forward, because then again I have no money for the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat's precise age is unknown, but weighs about 1 lb (0.45 kg) or very close to that. It is mixed breed and female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please respond soon, thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17940" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T10:56:35.083" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T06:05:33.337" Title="A kitten passed away due to illness, other cat showing similar symptoms" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27782" CreationDate="2020-05-13T16:29:49.323" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first step you should take is a big deep breath. You most certainly are not a terrible owner! Accidents happen. The fact that you feel bad about it and are looking at how to rectify the situation means you are an amazing owner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaining trust back from a dog like your pup depends on how resilient your pup is. Some dogs will bounce back within hours, a day or two, or take a couple weeks. So, try to be as patient as possible. The most important thing right now is to not force yourself onto your dog unless absolutely needed. This means no going up to your dog to pet him, etc. Everything needs to be on his terms - instead of you going up to him, have him come to you. If he doesn't want to come to you, just leave him be. Giving him the choice will make him feel MUCH less scared. If he wouldn't be scared of the feeling/noise, having him drag his leash (clipped to his collar, but no one holding it) around. That way if you HAVE to move him for some reason, you're not coming up to him/picking him up, etc. You can just grab the leash from 6 feet away. It's a lot less stressful for him keeping that distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using treats is an option, and I recommend to do so. At this point I would honestly skip any actual dog treats and go right for something SUPER yummy. I'm talking hot dog slices, cheese, etc. Cut them up into tiny pieces. Just keep a baggy of them on you at all times. Any time your dog ventures anywhere near you, without looking at him toss a treat towards him. This is going to start re-associating you with good things instead of the bad experience he had. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talk to him using a quiet and calm voice, instead of the high pitched happy baby voice. Give him lots of encouragement in this tone. Make sure to know his stress signals. The fact that you know the ears back/tail tuck is a good start. Dogs have many stress signals that people often miss. In addition to the ears and the tail, watch for whale eyes (able to see the whites of his eyes more than normal), tensing of the face, yawning when not tired, licking his lips, looking pointedly away from you. These are all signals that dogs give each other (and us!) to say &quot;Hey I'm uncomfortable, I mean no harm, please stop&quot;. If he's giving you these signals back off a foot or two to take the pressure off him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important tip I can give you though is to be patient. I've worked with semi-feral dogs, abused dogs, puppy mill dogs, and neglected/undersocialized dogs for 11 years and the most crucial piece of advice I can ever give is to go slow and be patient. If he is a normally nervous dog, one thing to think of for the long term is to talk to your vet about anxiety medication. Anxiety meds can be a huge game changer for a pup like yours, it can help his brain tell his body to relax and not always be on edge. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you luck to you and your pup &amp;lt;3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T16:29:49.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27784" CreationDate="2020-05-13T16:43:10.400" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am so sorry you are in the position you are. It sucks for sure. Unfortunately, it is extremely likely that kitten #2 has the same thing the kitten who passed away had. It is crucial that they see a vet ASAP - as in today. If you cannot afford to bring them in I would start reaching out to rescues in your area. Also, ask your vet if you can surrender the cats to them, as some vets will take in cases like that then find homes for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens are extremely fragile and even a couple hours can be the difference between life or death. I've fostered quite a few litters of orphan kittens and when sick time was always of the essence. Once kittens start acting lethargic (sleepy, lazy) it's an emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thoughts are with you and your kitties &amp;lt;3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T16:43:10.400" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27783" CreationDate="2020-05-13T17:24:01.120" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ugh, having to deal with the side effects of steroids is always an adventure! It's going to be a two sided approach to resolve this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first side we'll tackle is her hunger. If you feed her kibble, invest in a slow feed bowl for cats (I promise they exist!), and break her food up into 4-5 smaller meals throughout the day. The slow feed bowl will make it more challenging to get the food, so she has to work at it longer and be more satisfied when she's done. Giving her smaller meals throughout the day will also help with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she eats canned food, you will still want to spread the meals out to 4-5 a day. Take some plates and smear each meal across a plate, and freeze it. This way it'll take her much longer to lick the food up and it's like a slow feed bowl for canned food :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also invest in some very low calorie treats for right at bed time. In addition to giving her the last meal of the day right at bed time, toss like 10 of the treats around your room for her to hunt for over night. It should give her something to do and fill her belly a little so she's not screaming right away at 6am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to keep her away from the door. We get it - being hungry all the time sucks. But she also can't be damaging your door! But the more she practices the behavior, the worse it'll be to get her to stop. So we need to discourage this behavior starting ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a few options you can do, depending on how far you want to go. Depending on how big of the gap is under your door, you can wrap the bottom part of the door in tin foil (taped on) to discourage her from scratching. If that doesn't work, there is a motion sensor called Sssscat that when movement is sensed, makes a loud PSSSST noise and blows air. You can put that along your door so whenever she goes up to it, it'll go off and startle her. There's also a scat mat that you can lay across the doorway to she can't get to the door. These mats come in many shapes and sizes so you should be able to find one that works for your space. Both of these have websites you can look up to see the products in action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope these tips can help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T17:24:01.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27793" CreationDate="2020-05-13T19:19:31.877" Score="3" ViewCount="3168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat went out this morning at 7am and all seemed fine. When I came back home, I notice her nose was dark. I thought it could've been dirt, but after checking I noticed not only it is black, but also the hair looks shorter in the area. She was diagnosed with stomatitis a while back, but was checked recently and it all seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her behaviour is the same as always, she's eating and using the toilet normally. She loves sleeping in sunny spots. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll be bringing her to the vet but all I want to know for now is whether it's an emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first photo shows her after and the second before I noticed the change on her nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GQmrP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GQmrP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;After&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nwKjt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nwKjt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Before&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17942" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T19:29:00.427" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T16:21:57.503" Title="What can be the cause of my cat's nose turning black in hours?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15502" CreationDate="2020-05-13T19:36:46.483" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I own and work with giant breed dogs who are prone to bloat (Great Danes and mastiffs). I lost my mastiff to bloat last year, it's a horrible thing to go through. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Preventing bloat is a multifaceted problem. Many studies have come out the last few years realizing that the raised bowls actually contribute to bloat (they used to say the opposite), so if that is something you are worried about I would definitely go with a NON raised bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important factors though are making sure your dog doesn't gulp their food, and making sure they do not do strenuous exercise for at least an hour before AND after eating. Slow feed bowls are amazing tools - I have lots of them! Snuffle mats are also fun for dogs (these here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01N1FV55I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/PAW5-Snuffle-Encourages-Foraging-Washable/dp/B01N1FV55I&lt;/a&gt;), as well as puzzle toys. I personally have the Kong Wobbler (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kongcompany.com/wobbler&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.kongcompany.com/wobbler&lt;/a&gt;), the bamboo feeder ball (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kongcompany.com/dog/material/polytuff/bamboo-feeder-ball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.kongcompany.com/dog/material/polytuff/bamboo-feeder-ball&lt;/a&gt;), and the kibble nibble (&lt;a href=&quot;https://store.petsafe.net/busy-buddy-kibble-nibble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://store.petsafe.net/busy-buddy-kibble-nibble&lt;/a&gt;) for my dogs. They've held up well and fit an entire meal into!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T19:36:46.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-13T20:25:12.383" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat’s chin is black. He cries all the time, so I think he also feels pain due to this condition. Also he can’t close his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to do, should we visit a vet? He’s been like that for the last 3 days and I tried to clean the stains, but he gets aggressive (it might be because of the mentioned pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17943" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-13T21:20:04.080" LastActivityDate="2020-05-13T21:20:04.080" Title="My cat's chin is black" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27792" CreationDate="2020-05-14T00:58:04.673" Score="0" ViewCount="466" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a new kitten and I found out that she have tapeworms so I gave her a  dewormer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that she started drooling while sleeping and the smell isn't good. &#xA;So is it normal to drool while sleep or is she sick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17901" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T05:02:26.230" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T05:02:26.230" Title="Cat has started drooling while sleeping?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27791" CreationDate="2020-05-14T02:12:37.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excessive salivation is a common side effect of deworming medication, but if it lasts more than three days you should contact your veterinarian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T02:12:37.460" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27788" CreationDate="2020-05-14T02:20:06.183" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't look like an emergency given a lack of behavioral differences but you should still contact your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double check that it isn't a stain; you can dab gently with a moist cotton ball to see if the cotton ball picks up any color. If so, you'll want to clean the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, given the hair looks shorter than before, it may be from physical trauma; maybe your cat ran into a wall or door, leading to internal bruising (hematoma) and possibly chipping the fur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunburn is also a candidate given your cat likes to sunbathe, and animals with white or lighter fur color are more susceptible to sunburn and skin cancer, but it seems less likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T02:20:06.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22144" CreationDate="2020-05-14T02:25:57.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gabapentin can cause sedation but the sedative side effects are usually transient. That being said, there are many medications that can treat chronic pain, and it may be a good idea to switch, but with gabapentin in particular, make sure you switch off of it gradually to minimize withdrawal, as it has a short half-life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12746" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T02:25:57.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-14T02:42:31.863" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently my cat is in serious condition and I was wondering: what happens if a cat fell from a high height, aka a roof?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T14:51:39.010" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T14:51:39.010" Title="What are the causes of a cat jumping off a roof?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27795" CreationDate="2020-05-14T05:41:31.347" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of things can make a cat fall/jump of a roof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Getting scared.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hunting attempts, for example trying to catch a bird.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overestimating his/her abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Getting distracted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can get hurt if the fall is too short, because they haven't enough time to righten themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat can get hurt if it is overweight and it falls from great height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wanting to get down but landing wrong can cause injuries, this is most common in kittens and very young cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information: often cats that fall from tall buildings have a greater survival rate and less injuries than cats falling from lower buildings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T14:46:30.740" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T14:46:30.740" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6548" CreationDate="2020-05-14T05:49:39.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a very conservative rule, kittens can safely jump down from the same height they can jump up to. Anything higher, i.e. requiring climbing rather than jumping, may be unsafe. Even minor injuries in a kitten that young aren't good and could have lasting effects (and expensive vet bills).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My most recent kitten taught himself to climb up onto my bed, but he sprained one of his front paws jumping back down—onto carpet! Once he recovered, I made him some steps (stacked cardboard boxes) to get up and down safely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T05:49:39.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27788" CreationDate="2020-05-14T06:00:48.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most likely your cat has run into a window or similar object and gotten a bruise on the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause might be trying to attack its own reflection; cats are often very territorial, so when they see another cat they will try to chase it away even if it is their own reflection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not look serious to me, but a vet will have to take a look at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-14T13:37:36.680" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T13:37:36.680" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27784" CreationDate="2020-05-14T06:05:33.337" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might not be the answer you'd like, but it's possible the kittens were abandoned in the first place &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; their mother sensed that &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; was wrong with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common reasons a mother would abandon her young I know of are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She's inexperienced (it was her first litter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The environment is not ideal (she cannot find food and a safe hiding spot for her litter, so she abandons them because the chances of them surviving till adulthood are too slim)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The young are ill or have some birth defect. This includes cases where the mother was ill or malnourished during gestation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's sometimes observed in zoo animals that those young that were raised by humans later turn out to have an illness or birth defect that the humans didn't even notice at a young age. One recent and very popular example is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34073689&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;polar bear &amp;quot;Knut&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; in the Berlin Zoo, Germany, who's death was caused by an autoimmune defect. Many other examples don't make the news and go unnoticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is always worth giving the kittens a vet treatment when they need it, but you should be prepared that they might not survive anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T06:05:33.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27585" CreationDate="2020-05-14T19:55:51.587" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my two cats, I have a hypothesis about this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two female, spayed cats, both older adults.  One has noticeably sharper claws then the other, and scratches received from her also give me a itchy, red, swelling reaction on my skin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always attributed this to a particular habit of hers: She bites her nails. Although I provide scratching posts of various kinds and I do see her use them sometimes, she is much less fond of them than the other cat, and also does not scratch at rugs or furniture. Since she keeps her claws clean and short by chewing them most of the time, they are constantly exposing a new, very sharp fresh claw that is not dulled by scratching on abrasive surfaces often, and also particularly covered in cat saliva.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually a protein in the cat's saliva, not the fur or dander, that is reacted to by people with cat allergies.  So I think it's the combination of the extra allergens from cat saliva and the deeper penetration of the frequently sharpened claws that makes scratches from one cat more itchy and inflamed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lucky for me, my cat is docile and not prone to scratch often, so I have only have to experience a few minor accidental claw strikes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2020-05-14T19:55:51.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27803" CreationDate="2020-05-14T23:12:31.823" Score="2" ViewCount="550" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked at a website, but I wasn't sure. It says that it can suffer from cancer. I just want to make sure if that is correct. Also, does it have any other issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-15T01:10:33.997" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T07:38:31.207" Title="If I were to get a labrador retreiver, would it suffer from diseases?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;cancer&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27802" CreationDate="2020-05-15T01:09:27.280" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is true that labrador retrievers are affected by certain types of cancer - lymphoma (also known as lymphosarcoma) to be precise - more often than other breeds (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.harlingenveterinaryclinic.com/services/dogs/breeds/labrador-retriever&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this information doesn't mean that a labrador retriever is guaranteed to get this type of cancer sooner or later in life, labrador retrievers are indeed one of the breeds with the higher than average cancer occurrence. But it turns out to not be really that bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found a study about &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3658424/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Breed-Predispositions to Cancer in Pedigree Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; and it states that basing on the collected data, on average, 27.0% of all dogs' deaths were related to cancer. On comparison, somewhere between 27.4% to 35.0% of labrador retrievers' deaths were cancer-related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, 574 labrador retrievers were considered in this study, which is quite a well sized and reliable sample, but the percentage interval isn't super accurate. And even if we pretend it was, still I don't think labrador retrievers are at significantly higher risk of cancer enough to worry about if you want to get one. Ultimately and sadly, all dogs could possibly suffer from cancer at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Labrador retrievers are known for their above-average chance of, among other diseases, developing liver problems, bleeding disorders (hemophilia), diabetes, eye problems, bone and joint problems or gastric bloat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'd say that it's not just about retrievers, because generally all purebred dogs are more prone to diseases. Reason for this is their genetic burden - selective breeding and keeping it &amp;quot;pure&amp;quot; actually decreases the diversity of their gene pool, and thus their vitality and resistance to diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to choose other breed that lab retriever, there could be let's say much lower risk of cancer but instead significantly increased occurrence of breathing problems or eyes prone to popping out of their sockets on daily basis. In this regard I'd say that all pure breeds in this context have their sad health-related quirks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recall, based on your other question, that you are recently doing some research about possibly getting a dog in the future. I'd say in either case that, in my subjective opinion, if you care about the vitality and health of your dog, the best bet is a mongrel (mixed-breed) one from the shelter. In general, I think mixed-breeds are more vivid, brighter, more cheerful, more intelligent and able to from more satisfying bonds with their owners. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongrel#Health_studies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies that have been done in the area of health show that mixed-breeds on average are both healthier and longer-lived than their purebred relations. This is because current accepted breeding practices within the pedigreed community results in a reduction in genetic diversity, and can result in physical characteristics that lead to health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies have shown that cross-bred dogs have a number of desirable reproductive traits. Scott and Fuller found that cross-bred dogs were superior mothers compared to purebred mothers, producing more milk and giving better care. These advantages led to a decreased mortality in the offspring of cross-bred dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;sub&gt;Little, short, oversimplified guide note, if someone wants to read this article I linked but happens to hate mathematics as much as I do: please consider that this is concluded based on limited number of dogs (samples) and thus these percentage values are not exact. If one wanted to get the exact spot-on percentages, one would have to include the data about all the dogs that have ever lived, which is impossible so the result would always be skewed a bit on either side.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;A figure under label &amp;quot;all deaths&amp;quot; indicates how many dogs' deaths were considered in the article for a given breed. A big letter 'N' tells how many of these deaths were related to cancer. Then, an interval labeled '95% CI', which means 95% confidence interval, shows somewhat of an error margin, telling you that the researchers are almost sure (namely 95% sure) that the true value - for all the &amp;quot;dogs that ever lived&amp;quot; is contained within this interval. In this whole context, one might notice that the more dogs were considered, the narrower, more reliable and spot-on the mentioned interval is.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;For that reason, if you want to check other breeds please don't be tricked by that peculiar detail. Namely, if the number of considered dogs is too small, the concluded data is horribly unreliable and please don't even look at it. Let's say you wanted to check Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever and you learn that 33% of them died because of cancer, but then you notice there were only 9 of these dogs considered and the relevant confidence interval is 2.5 – 64.1%. What it means is that &amp;quot;researchers are almost sure that the cancer mortality of these dogs is somewhere between 2.5% and 64.1%&amp;quot;, which in fact tells you absolutely nothing! For comparison, an extreme end example is that one could always tell that the mortality is certainly between 0 and 100% and absolutely no data is needed for that.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Please note that I am not criticizing the relevant study - quite the opposite is true, I actually praise it. Some dog breeds are just unpopular or rare enough that despite best efforts, collecting enough data could turn out to be impossible. And in that instance one couldn't really do anything to narrow the confidence intervals and make the results of the study more accurate.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T07:38:31.207" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15290" CreationDate="2020-05-15T02:29:15.570" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I babysit a dog that has similar problems, and I usually correspond the activity with  stress and anxiety (not saying that this problem is your fault, most dogs have some sort of emotional disorder.) Instead of consulting this behavior, try to form an environment that is as comfortable as possible, and try to form a common schedule at feeding time that does not incorporate you sitting by your dog. For example, try putting your dog in a dimmed room with the radio softly playing, or but a blanket over her/his kennel. Hope this helps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T02:29:15.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27762" CreationDate="2020-05-15T02:32:29.423" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a King Charles Cavalier, and he does not let out a peep! They are very easy to train, easy to groom (if you cut them short), and keep that little puppy look through adulthood (just grow bigger.) He is a very handsome man but is not generally a playful dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17947" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T02:32:29.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-15T03:21:08.513" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have fed him today and played with him. He still meows randomly I just wanna know why he is meowing a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17886" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T03:21:08.513" Title="What does a adult cat want when it meows a lot?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27802" CreationDate="2020-05-15T13:33:28.897" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest single congenital issue for labradors is joint problems, particularly hip and elbow dysplacia.  The puppy vendor should have reports of joint scores for both parents, and you need to insist on seeing the physical certificate for the bitch and either the physical certificate or a photocopy for the dog.  (For non-professional breeders, it is relatively common for the dog to belong to a friend.)  Do not buy from a vendor who does not provide this, or who simply says that they're OK without providing proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Labradors can also suffer from eye problems.  Again, you should ask to see test results for both parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other tests also exist.  Non-professional breeders may not routinely carry out further testing, because they aren't doing this as seriously.  Professional breeders should though.  Prices of a puppy from a professional breeder are usually somewhat higher, and part of the reason is that they carry out more thorough checks on their breeding animals.  For more information, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thelabradorsite.com/health-screening-for-labrador-diseases/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this link provides a good summary of the issues and tests&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this said though, there is one elephant (or elephant-sized dog) in the room here.  By far the biggest issue with labradors is obesity and the myriad health problems which are caused by this.  Vastly more dogs suffer from obesity-related conditions than suffer from congenital diseases.  Labradors are notoriously greedy, and as working animals their metabolism is geared up for a level of exercise which most people do not give them.  It is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;critical&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to control the amount of food they eat and to monitor their weight.  If they do start to get fatter, either restrict the amount of food you give them, or switch to low-calorie kibble.  Of course this doesn't prevent other health issues, but as with obesity in humans, it dramatically reduces the risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11480" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T13:33:28.897" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15359" CreationDate="2020-05-15T20:37:51.220" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the ideal way to sterilize something is to put it into a pressure cooker for 20-30min while pressurized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far what is a acceptable diet for a cat you must recognize - your cat is not a wild cat. While it may be safe for a wild cat that has been hunting birds since they were young to eat a feather, it may not be the case for a house cat who is not used to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also even for a wild cat, I imagine eating a large feather can be problematic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17951" LastActivityDate="2020-05-15T20:37:51.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-16T16:46:50.210" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I saw years ago some Scooby Snacks in real life: are they still made? I haven’t seen them in dog treats form in a while in stores. I also saw them as a fruit snack, just to clarify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7980" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T17:52:06.247" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T17:52:06.247" Title="Scooby Snacks in real life?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27810" CreationDate="2020-05-16T16:59:51.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard of these as well, but actually never seen them in any of my local pet stores (in Poland, that is). But I've looked on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s?k=scooby%20snacks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amazon and it turns out that yes&lt;/a&gt;, they're currently still in stock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sure whether they're the same brand you've seen years ago though. It could be the case that they're the same - &quot;Scooby Snacks&quot; besides being fictional, also turn out to be a licensed product (source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby_Snacks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding your edit about them being fruit based: yes, from what I found it turns out that they also exist and are in stock. I don't want to come off as promoting a particular product though; instead, I will just post &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s?k=scooby%20doo%20fruit%20snacks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;search results of &quot;Scooby Doo fruit snacks&quot; from amazon.com&lt;/a&gt; and these on the top should be what you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-16T17:22:26.237" LastActivityDate="2020-05-16T17:22:26.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27822" CreationDate="2020-05-17T01:17:33.860" Score="4" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that many types of hamster food sold in pet stores are either not healthy/safe for hamsters or don't provide the proper diet for hamsters. I am interested in making a homemade food mix for a Syrian hamster. Are there any recipes for hamster food that actually fulfill all of the dietary needs of a hamster? Or do I need to create my own recipe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T01:36:24.050" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T09:53:28.190" Title="How to make homemade hamster food?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-17T03:41:24.007" Score="1" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just noticed a suspicious-looking mark on my turtle's nose today, and I’m not sure what the cause is. I tried wiping it off and nothing happened&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone let me know what it is and whether I should be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17958" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T12:26:57.227" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T12:26:57.227" Title="A suspicious mark on turtle's nose" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-07-16T12:14:25.353" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27802" CreationDate="2020-05-17T14:35:01.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the best things you can do is look at the lineage of the dog. Looking through it’s lines at its family history can provide an insight into what the dog could potentially be vulnerable to. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do this on things like The Kennel Club or MyKC (if it is UK registered, any other country you could try the equivalent). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be the most accurate way of predicting what your specific Labrador will get. The other way would be to research the most common illnesses of the breed but this wouldn’t be as accurate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any breeder worth their salt will know this information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also get swob tests that can be done through the mail that can give you results on any thing the dog carries but you’d need to own the dog by then to get them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-05-17T14:41:13.743" LastActivityDate="2020-05-17T14:41:13.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27821" CreationDate="2020-05-17T20:08:29.473" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted an 18 month old pit bull from a shelter about a month ago and I have been trying to train him to play tug and fetch to help strengthen our relationship and give him efficient exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am having trouble teaching him to let go of the rope safely. I have already taught him to take it and let go on command, but when he's playing, this doesn't work anymore. Once I bring treats into the situation, he loses interest in the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I have tried several techniques to make him let go of the without treats. For example, I have tried to hold the toy completely still or letting it become limp, but often when I do this he tries to bite the toy again to get a better grip. The further my hand is on the toy, the more he moves his mouth, which makes this dangerous. I've had the most success by putting my hand much closer to his mouth and holding both ends of the rope. Usually then he doesn't bite as much (so as to avoid biting my hand), but occasionally does bite the rope again and accidentally nips my hand. When he does this I try to yelp and leave the situation, but this usually doesn't affect him too much (maybe he can sense my yelp is not earnest).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried a couple other things including putting my hands over his eyes, which doesn't do anything and feels dangerous, and also moving his direction when he tugs to stop the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this is a necessary thing to teach him, as he has a lot of energy and I'm afraid some days I will not be able to take him on a 2-3 hour walk as I'm fortunate enough to do now. I only wish I could have had him as a puppy so that I could have taught him this before his jaw got so strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any other safe techniques I can try that do not involve food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17961" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T07:44:36.373" Title="How can I train my dog to release a tug toy safely?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27196" CreationDate="2020-05-18T05:44:10.033" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just saw this article on my local vets website about pets and corona virus. It has some preventative suggestions on there, they look similar to what we already know though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://allambievet.com.au/news/can-pets-get-coronavirus-disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://allambievet.com.au/news/can-pets-get-coronavirus-disease&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17963" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T05:44:10.033" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-18T07:29:50.747" Score="-1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is my kitten a male or female?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7Osw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Is my kitten a male or female?[1]&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17964" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T11:06:13.423" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T20:30:37.520" Title="Help in determining whether I have a male or female kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-05-19T04:23:14.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27817" CreationDate="2020-05-18T07:44:36.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest mistake many dog owners do is trying to pull something from their dogs mouth. To a dog, this feels either like play or like stealing, and it always creates counter-pull. The absolutely biggest mistake some dog owners do is causing their dogs pain on order to make them release the toy, like pinching their lips or slapping their noses. This is the most counterproductive thing you can ever do, because you want your dog to like the toy as a reward, and mixing reward with pain achieves the complete opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some very good and short instructional videos on Youtube:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/93XIDxv4lnE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tug Toy Basics #1 and #2 Explained&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/NPu61nIiWRg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tug Toy Training Part 3 - Outing the Toy - play with your dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(In case you were wondering about some strange words you hear, he uses the common German commands &quot;aus&quot; meaning stop or leave it and &quot;platz&quot; meaning lay down.)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first video, he explains how to hold the toy: Cover both ends of it with your own hands, leaving enough room for your dogs snout plus an inch left and right. Don't pull the toy away or twist your hands, or your dog might miss his target and nip you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also explains that it's extremely important to allow your dog to continnue playing with the toy immediately after he released it on command. If he's a good boy and releases the toy, he gets to play. If he doesn't, you stop playing with him and make the toy uninteresting. If you stop playing after he released it, you don't reward him for his obedience and he has no incentive to follow your command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second video, he explains how to make the dog release the toy. There are 2 main methods and a third one that should only be applied if the dog refuses to release the toy otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Switch one toy for another of the same kind while giving him the command to release. Once your dog understood the mechanics, hide the second toy behind your bag and give the command to release, then immediately engage him with the second one when he released his toy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hold the toy stationary without tugging at all. He can try to tug it, but you'll neither budge nor play with him. That makes the toy uninteresting and he should release it. It may take some time, but you must not start tugging at all until he released the toy. Then immediately start playing again as a reward.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please note that I'm not a fan of this method because you can do things very wrong and chances are that people on the streets approach you about it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Pull the non-constricting collar of your dog to the very front of his neck and lift just enough that his front paws don't touch the ground anymore. If he was properly leash trained, he should release the toy. Immediately engage him in play to reward him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T07:44:36.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27812" CreationDate="2020-05-18T16:59:20.073" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In nature&lt;/strong&gt; hamsters have a variety of food to choose from. They eat almost anything that they could get: seeds, grains, herbs, fruits, vegetables, insects and also small mammals. But the winter season is an exception, as that's when they eat mostly dry food - it's because it is more easily storable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not a good food&lt;/strong&gt; is all with sugar, honey or molasses. First, it is too sweet (they get fat), second it probably will glue their chops and causing caries at the rear teeth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dry food mixes include &lt;strong&gt;colorful pellets&lt;/strong&gt;. Read here about the risk of them for the health of your pet: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26952/what-risk-is-given-if-i-feed-my-rabbit-pellets?r=SearchResults&quot;&gt;What risk is given if I feed my rabbit pellets?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following recipe is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diebrain.de/hi-futter.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;diebrain&lt;/a&gt; for beginners in mixing their own food (via translation software and fast check from me from german):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recipe for a high quality dry hamster feed:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;200 g cereal mixture with spelt if possible&lt;/em&gt;:  Millet, barley, oats, rye are well suited.  Ready-made mixtures are available in the organic department of the supermarkets or in the health food store. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;100 g bird feed / small seeds&lt;/em&gt;: Sugar-free budgie feed with few poppy seeds and rice are suitable.  Different types of millet and herb seeds should be included.  The herb seeds must be added to most budgie foods.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;100 g multi-grain flakes or multi-grain muesli&lt;/em&gt;: flakes are offered, since the starch is broken down by heating and squeezing and can thus be used better.  This is especially important for older animals and growing animals.  Sugar-free mueslis with multi-grain flakes are well suited.  These usually consist of oat flakes, wheat flakes, barley flakes and rye flakes.  Rice flakes may also be included.  Sugar-free corn flakes are also allowed and popular.  Raisins or other dried fruits should only be contained in small amounts.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;100 g dry vegetables&lt;/em&gt;: broccoli, zuccini, carrot chips, parsnips, celery cubes, beetroot cubes etc. These can be purchased as a ready mix or as individual components in pet shops.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;~ 80 g insects / protein feed&lt;/em&gt;: There are various options here.  In the terrarium department in the pet shop or at Rodipet there are for example dried mealworms, brown shrimp, crickets, Bombyx mori larvae or insect food for small animals.  Young animals get more protein feed, in older animals it is reduced a little.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;100 g herbal mixture&lt;/em&gt;: A high-quality feed always contains different proportions of dry herbs.  These may be tailored to the taste of the hamster, some prefer dried flowers such as sunflower petals, chamomile flowers, marigolds, others like green cereals such as green oats and others prefer herbs such as dandelions, lemon balm, yarrow and ribwort.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;50 g nuts / kernels&lt;/em&gt;: Sunflower seeds, hazelnuts and walnuts are offered as fat suppliers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;50 g mixture&lt;/em&gt;: As a treat and to make the feed more interesting, pea flakes, corn flakes and rice flakes are mixed into the feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please note: this feed mixture is not a complete feed!  We assume that the hamsters also get vegetables, green feed, fresh protein feed, herb hay and other herbs, this was taken into account when compiling the recipes!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regularly check the composition of the hoarded and not consumed food.  Leave out ingredients that are not eaten at all (e.g. some hamsters do not like dried herbs, but these animals regularly eat fresh food and in summer fresh grass and herbs, the dried herbs can be left out).  From one day to the next, however, if the animals no longer eat certain food components, examine the animals to see whether their teeth are still ok and if they are otherwise healthy - or if necessary, see a veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If certain food components are completely eaten, then add more of them to the feed (exceptions, if far too many fatty components are ingested, it rarely happens, but some hamsters are fixated on fat food).  At certain times of the year, hamsters develop certain preferences for some food components, e.g.  Millet preferred and should then be given more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One interesting thing with dry food are sprouts. You could let sprout some of the seeds and grains from the dry mix and your hamster gets useful vitamins and nutrients. For this you could use some paper towels or a sprout glass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T09:53:28.190" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T09:53:28.190" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-18T17:00:45.667" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 month old kitten which was very active and playful. However, it seems sick as of two days ago. It's eating much less food and sleeping all the time. It has an increased body temperature, and diarrhea, which is not severe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest medications or any help which can be done now. I am looking for a natural remedy due to the unavailability of vets amidst the covid outbreak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17967" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T19:02:28.790" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T19:02:28.790" Title="Fever and diarrhea in 4 month old kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-18T17:58:13.360" Score="1" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 14 and has had some health troubles for a few years, off and on. We've mostly been able to manage it. But it has often resulted in needing to adjust his diet - either because what he is eating is making him sick, because he needs special food with specific stuff, or because he just flat decides he isn't going to eat something anymore (the fun one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little over a month ago he got a new problem after being good for awhile where he was throwing up a huge amount. After some checkups and lab work the vet was able to prescribe us a huge batch of medication to hopefully deal with the issue (various inflammation markers present, low levels of certain parameters, etc. - not really important here). As he started getting more sick he stopped eating as much, which isn't surprising. Now he's getting better, but eating even less and we can't quite figure out what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is definitely hungry and wants food, just not what we give him. The wet food he used to eat he has decided is out. We went through multiple new flavors, types, and brands and he tries them then decides he doesn't want them. We found one type of dry food he'll eat enough of to not completely starve, but not as much as he needs. Also after he got bladder stones years ago we switched away from dry food (or to prescription urinary dry food) on the vets recommendation, so a pure dry food (or even mostly dry food) diet isn't ideal if at all avoidable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So backstory out of the way, to keep him from actively starving to death we gave him some tuna a few times over the last few weeks. I KNOW canned tuna isn't good for cats and can't be a long term thing, please don't spend time commenting to tell me that. He'll eat the tuna like a madman. But we try tuna based wet cat food and he almost doesn't touch it. Doesn't seem to matter the brand or the style (pate, chunks, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone run into this situation (not just not eating, but the will eat tuna, won't touch tuna cat food) and if so did they find something the cat would eat? What is it about the normal tuna that the cat food doesn't give? Is there a cat food that will give him that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17968" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-18T19:52:49.540" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T11:48:56.560" Title="Cat will eat normal tuna but not tuna cat food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27824" CreationDate="2020-05-18T19:40:53.360" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think I'm experienced enough to resolve your issue completely, but I may offer some useful insight regardless, while we would wait for someone wiser than me to answer - because I'm curious as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, it's my subjective opinion - but I wouldn't even dare criticizing you for feeding canned tuna in this situation at all, I would even praise you for doing so. As far as I know, in the context of food, cats are picky enough to be able to literally starve themselves if the food they have access to doesn't suit their fancy, so I'd say you're just improvising and doing what you currently have to do in order to save your cat from starvation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the seemingly awkward duality of you cat's appetite in the context of different forms of tuna - again, since cats are picky eaters, even subtle differences and minuscule amounts of additional ingredients could turn them away from their favourite meals and cause repulsion. And tuna-flavored cat food has not just subtle, but actually a significant amount of various additives beyond tuna. I guess wet food, unlike kibbles, doesn't contain significant amounts of cereal grains - but it could contain for example &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassia_gum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cassia gum&lt;/a&gt; as a &amp;quot;technological&amp;quot; additive - a thickener, and it could be totally enough to turn your cat off this type of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I'm just guessing but since wet cat foods are often mixed - for example, tuna and chicken - the combination of different types of meat could result in a weird, unfamiliar sensation on the picky cat's tongue, resulting in repulsion as well. It is not known how do cats exactly perceive tastes, but we know that they do it differently than humans - for instance, they are unable to taste sweetness, but unlike humans they taste ATP and are attracted to some amino acids - so it could be difficult to imagine, not to mention explain, how and why exactly does your issue exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, it could just be the processing of that cat food itself that significantly alters tuna's taste or texture, and that may be the reason for discouraging your cat from consumption as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think it's not that the wet tuna-flavored food you're buying for your cat is missing something essential, but quite the opposite - I assume that from the point of view of your cat, it contains superfluous and unappetizing additives, unlike the much &amp;quot;cleaner&amp;quot; canned tuna which in comparison lacks these unfamiliar and weird tastes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really have a solution though; I could only suggest trying to prepare tuna based food yourself. What I mean is buying raw tuna meat - for example, a tuna loin (steak) and preparing it by cutting into small chunks and then boiling in water. I believe it could turn out to be tedious at least, but it would definitely be something I'd give a try if I were in your shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-18T11:48:56.560" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T11:48:56.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27827" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-18T20:23:45.870" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a female kitten and she gave birth to her first litter, I decided to keep 2 kittens. Then, she had her second litter in a very short span and we adopted one female, so I have total of 4 cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, I found a tiny kitten drenched on the side way and I decided to foster her for a while. Couple of hours after I rescued the cat I cleaned her up, my cats didn’t seem to bother, I tried introducing them but the kitten started hissing at them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since that night, all of my cats stopped coming inside, they only come to me when they are hungry, they also constantly hiss at the new kitten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first litter there is a kitten who is very attached to me, he always sleeps in my bed and would freak out if he doesn’t see me, even he started ignoring me and it’s breaking my heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do to get my cats to come home again? Should I get rid of the new kitten? I was hoping if my cats liked her, I would adopt her too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want things to be normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T20:34:55.157" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T01:51:56.550" Title="I rescued a kitten and my cats stopped coming home" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27820" CreationDate="2020-05-18T20:30:37.520" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your cat is male &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A female kitten's genitals will resemble an upside-down exclamation point, with the vertical vaginal slit sitting just below the anus and with very little spacing in between (when the cat is upside down and facing you). A male kitten's organ looks more like a colon, with the penis residing just below the anus and separated by enough space to accommodate his testicles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17969" LastActivityDate="2020-05-18T20:30:37.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-18T23:21:09.647" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have budgies and I learned now that cage should be at eye level of walking person. But what about sitting person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Budgies cage is on my desk. The desk table is two meters long and about one meter deep. The cage currently is 80cm x 40cm x 40cm and is aligned along the desk length, sitting at the right back corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My eyes are at the same level as the top of the cage. When I stand up, my eyes level is significantly higher. Would you suggest to move it up, leaving some desk space below the cage where I can do my homework while the cage is on four long legs, or to get a cage that is two times higher and it still uses this desk space?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current position:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My desk space with a monitor that is about 50cm high. || Bird cage (about 80cm high).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Concerns:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.- bird cage possibly too small,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.- my desk space possibly too small,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.- unused space at the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Version 1 of new position:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My desk space with a monitor that is about 50cm high. || Bird cage (about 160cm high).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In this case&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.+ birds can choose to be at eye level of either sitting or standing human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.+ The birds cage is doubled in height, but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.- still short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Version 2 of new position:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Level 2: *Nothing || Bird cage (about 80cm high) is elevated 80cm above desk level, there is possibly space for another person to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Level 1: *My doubled desk space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.? In this case the birds are a bit above eye level at all times when I sit, but at eye level of walking people. (Good or bad?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.+ I get my desk space increased twofold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Version 3 of new position:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;level 2:&lt;/em&gt; Bird cage (&gt;120cm long, &gt;120cm high, 40cm deep - elevated above doubled desk space - on four long legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*level 1: *My doubled desk space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In this case&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.? Birds are a bit above eye level at all times when I sit, but at eye level of walking people. (Good or bad?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.+  I get my desk space increased twofold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.+ The cage is also significantly larger and longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.+ Space above is used more effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a screen at my desk, but I don't play music or videos on it. The TV is in another area in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it important for birds to be at eye level of sitting people or walking people or both?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they need a longer or higher cage? What is more important? They might start to breed soon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help and give me advice about this. How did this work out for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17972" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T07:10:15.320" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T07:12:03.107" Title="Height, position of budgies cage at desk" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27836" CreationDate="2020-05-19T00:19:18.680" Score="1" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's not the first question my cat made me ask on Pets.SE.&#xA;One of them being this one &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21211/is-my-cat-happy-expelled-by-my-step-mother-and-living-in-the-garden&quot;&gt;2 years ago&lt;/a&gt;. I couldn't convince my stepmother as, for her, it's either the cat in the house, either her in the house.&#xA;Today we had another argument because she asks me to systematically wash my hands after I pet my cat. Since years, not only because of the general pandemic context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I profoundly think she's wrong and that's ridiculous. Washing my hands when they are dirty would be better and not each time I pet my cat. That's what I think but maybe I'm wrong. I've search online and some people say you should but most of the time, people also say it is not right and can even be harmful if your hands are washed too often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right? And if so what should I do? My current solution is to wash my hands when I know she could be around and detect it. Be sometimes I forget and then she becomes really mad. Today's argument became very tough. I feel this is not truly my house anymore, after it's nearly not my cat's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12852" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T17:00:31.000" Title="Should I systematically wash my hands after touching my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27835" CreationDate="2020-05-19T10:12:56.113" Score="2" ViewCount="458" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have bought 4 German blue rams from two different shops, hoping I can’t get a pair from them and now I have a few questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do females show aggression? Could females chase other rams?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If two of them keep fighting, does that mean they are definitely two males?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can these fights be fatal?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone tell the gender of these from their photos? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image 1&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2l4U.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F2l4U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will update with more clear photos if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of 4, 2 smaller and 2 bigger, three of them have been the dominant fish of the tank for a while (almost a day) 3 days so far in the tank. The tank is 90L and plant and moss and driftwoods made a lot of hiding spots. &#xA;Usually, the dominant one becomes the shiniest and brightest fish in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17975" LastEditorUserId="17975" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T13:19:40.677" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:00:11.180" Title="German blue rams behaviour and sexing" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26974" CreationDate="2020-05-19T11:28:28.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research on the Internet and it turns out that RHD (rabbit hemorrhagic disease) is a viral disease with extremely high infectiveness and many various potential routes of spreading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, some clarification. RHD is the acronim of the disease itself, and it is caused by rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), of which two different strains are considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;RDHVa, also referred to as RHDV, RHDV1, or as classical RHD. It only affects adult European rabbits (&lt;em&gt;Oryctolagus cuniculus&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;RDHV2, also abbreviated as RHDV2 or RHDVb, distinctive genetic, antigenic, and pathogenic features. It was identified in France relatively recently, in 2010. It novel properties were manifested in the fact that it killed rabbits previously vaccinated with RHDV vaccines. What is more, it affected young European rabbits, as well as hares (&lt;em&gt;Lepus spp.&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the transmission routes of these pathogens - it could occur:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by direct contact with infected live rabbits or their corpses;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;via conjunctival, oral and nasal secretions;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by contact with infected rabbit's hair, urine and feces;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;via rabbit-inhabiting vermin like flies, fleas and mosquitoes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abovementioned versatility of transmission routes means that rabbit could also spread the disease or become infected by contact with fomites - like for example water bowls, bedding, food, etc. What is more, surviving rabbits may be contagious for up to 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the virus itself is highly resilient and could remain infectious outside of the living host for up to three months (within infected rabbits' carcasses and meat). It is also told to be resistant to prolonged periods of freezing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sources were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_hemorrhagic_disease#Epidemiology_and_transmission&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://veterinary-practice.com/article/rabbit-haemorrhagicdisease-1-and-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;veterinary-practice.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T11:28:28.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27833" CreationDate="2020-05-19T13:10:21.680" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;German blue rams are generally known to be one of the most peaceful cichlids and are relatively calm, but they could still infight. I've seen a few &quot;fights&quot; between two males and they weren't really looking violent at all, it was mostly intimidation and a few nibbles here and there. On the other hand, they were inhabiting relatively large enough tanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really think that these male-versus-male fights could be fatal. It theoretically could happen over an extended period of time, in extremely small and cramped tank and if one of the males was significantly larger or more dominant than another - it could be that the submissive one might get relentlessly and constantly chased and stressed, ultimately resulting in death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But ultimately, it would rather be a slow process of one causing a chronic fatigue to the other, they would not rip each other apart overnight - which means you, as the owner, would certainly be able to notice it and resolve the issue in time before any significant damage was done, for example by separating them or upgrading your tank to a bigger one and rearranging it's interior to provide more hideouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, if two of them were fighting it wouldn't necessarily mean they're both males, as the females tend to be territorial too - less so than males, but still. But certainly females would show much less of either aggression or territorial behavior than males. It's a bit complicated, because the tendency to fighting would also depend on their age, size of the tank and the tank's spatial settings. And I wouldn't say it would be always classified as an active aggression - but territorial, sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the issue whether these on your photo are male or female - I'd say they're both males, but honestly my guess is not much better than yours. Females usually could be recognized by the distinct peach-pink patch that the males are lacking, but that is not in any way a definitive and sure method of recognition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A picture (source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquariumfishparadise.com.au/blue-ram/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.aquariumfishparadise.com.au&lt;/a&gt;) featuring a male (the larger one) and a female (the smaller one) might give you an visual idea what do I mean by that peach-pink patch - it's that place at the middle of the body, that is covered by the translucent, transparent almost, pectoral fin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GFCp3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GFCp3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there is another photo (source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://lovefishtank.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/female-germany-blue-ram.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lovefishtank.com&lt;/a&gt;) featuring a female ram with an even more prominent peach-pink spot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q8ug1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q8ug1.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T11:00:11.180" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T11:00:11.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27831" CreationDate="2020-05-19T15:01:03.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I suspect a great majority of pet owners are like you and only wash their hands in those situations most likely to spread illness, such as after cleaning up  your pet's waste or before handling food, for the most safety, most experts seem to in fact &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/health-benefits/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommend washing your hands&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/hand-washing/art-20046253&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;every time you handle your pet.&lt;/a&gt; The reason for this being that pets can carry germs and parasites that can be spread to humans, and those things can be spread by merely touching the animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, if I were you, I would attempt to follow your step-mother's wishes in regards to hand washing, but also I would request that in those times you do forget, that rather than getting mad, a polite reminder to wash your hands is sufficient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-19T17:00:31.000" LastActivityDate="2020-05-19T17:00:31.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27837" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27839" CreationDate="2020-05-20T02:30:05.563" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do german blue rams eat other german blue rams' fries? I mean not their own fries but the same species fries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17975" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T02:19:08.143" Title="Are German blue rams canibals" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27849" CreationDate="2020-05-20T02:57:03.783" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked a question about my pup &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26835/how-to-limit-puppys-water-intake&quot;&gt;regurgitating too much&lt;/a&gt; before but not much has improved since then. If anything, we just got better at limiting it and predicting when she would regurgitate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An interesting turn of events happened this weekend though. We brought her to the cabin with us (approx. 150 km away) from Thursday to Monday and she didn't regurgitate once. The first time she lapped up a bunch of water after a hike I was just waiting around for it to happen but it never did. When we got home on Monday, she regurgitated within a half hour of being home. Now there's a bunch of variables that changed here but I'm guessing that the biggest is the water source. Our water at home is highly chlorinated from the nearby treatment plant. The water at the cabin is not. We took her same water bowl from home to the cabin so the bowl material was not different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone experienced this before? And, is this a likely cause of the issue? There's no difference to me besides taste but I'm a 230 lb (104 kg) man and she's a 3 lb (1.4 kg) puppy. I'm going to try filling her dish with bottled water for the next little bit to see if it changes anything. Any other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17125" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T01:43:00.450" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T01:43:00.450" Title="Water chlorination too much for pup?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27837" CreationDate="2020-05-20T05:43:43.493" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly most ciclids will eat the fry of other ciclids if the fry is too small,most types of ciclids are agressively protecting their fry but the german blue rams might be too peaceful to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible try to catch the fry when they start to swim freely in your tank to avoid them getting eaten,i know this can be hard to do as you need to quick before they get eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to have a separate tank for the fry to grow until they get too large to get eaten,the fry tank needs to be setup in advance so it gets cycled properly before you add the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most aquarium fish will eat the offspring of other fish so if you want to take care of the fry you need to have a plan for how to separate them from the addult fish,this can be a floating fry tank or a separate tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T05:43:43.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27830" CreationDate="2020-05-20T06:30:30.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could not choose which of your options is the best for your circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: the size for one pair should be minimum 45cm x 80cm at the ground. This is only suitable if they have 4 hours free flying in the room per day! If you think about breeding and do not give all little ones away, then you should include this in the new cage size early. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rules of thumb are this:  The ground as near at a square as possible (no long thin ground) and width is more important than high because they fly more horizontally than vertically (but the birds are thankfully for each centimeter more in high) .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This point about the eye level: if the birds are in nature, they would sit in trees and bushes in a high minimum the eye level of humans. If they sit nearer to the ground they feel not secure. It is inside their mind, they could not change it. They feel vulnerable near the ground, for example by cats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like to give them the possibility to get in contact with you, sitting at the desk, you should have a cage with place to sit (for the birds) at your sitting high and place to sit at the eye level of a standing person. So you let your birds choose if they feel fine at the one or the other place. This could change with daytime or daily feelings of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have not enough space on your desk you could build some board to put the cage on it (beside the desk, or on the desk as storage). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T07:12:03.107" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T07:12:03.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21658" CreationDate="2020-05-20T16:36:05.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a similar situation which is why I am responding to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 7 year old cat (Sylvan) and he was by himself most of his life. We found a cat at PetSmart that my husband absolutely loved (Lucky) and brought him home - he was older than my cat by 3 years and it did not go well. We had to have him in the bedroom, separated from Sylvan. We only had Lucky for 2 years and we had to put him down due to a tumor. My Sylvan looked for him for days and so we thought we would bring in another Kitty from the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lizzy is only 2 years old and after one year of them being together - same thing - playing, him bullying her, jumping on top of her, showing who is boss - now she goes into hiding when he comes around the corner. Last week he injured her with his claws - her lower eye lid is split and if it was a millimeter to each side, she would have lost her eye. I am sure he didn't do this on purpose, he just plays rough that's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I cannot take any more chances. Sylvan is 13 pds (5.9 kg) where Lizzy is only 7 pds (3.2 kg). I have tried playing with him at times, calming collars, calming drops, calming pills, plug ins - you name it. In the end my vet said to give Sylvan medical drops to calm him that might even cause seizures. At this point we refused. Not happening! Now we are at the point where we have to rehome her. She is an angel cat and a friend of mine will take her but it absolutely breaks my heart!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep wondering if I made the right decision, if we looked at all the options because we love her so so much, but we are out of options. We just have to go with the fact that we can visit her. I am so sorry but you are not alone with this issue. We have it too. Did you try the plug ins and natural calming stuff? It might work with some cats, didn't work with mine. So very sad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17982" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-20T16:45:59.857" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T16:45:59.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="493" CreationDate="2020-05-20T17:36:35.993" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep crayfish in your pond you first need to create hiding places; you can use rocks to build these or use plastic tubes. The ones used for plumbing or drainage are good; they need to be 20-30cm long and have a diameter of about 10cm, you can make a cluster of 2-5 tubes and weigh them down to keep them in place. Be sure the materials you use do not leach chemicals into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will need to have at least one hiding place for each crayfish, as they will hurt each other if they are unable to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crayfish will try to escape from your pond until they have adapted to the water, so you will have to put them in a cage in your pond for one to two weeks before you let them roam free in the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crayfish are sensitive to copper, lead and zinc so be sure to use ungalvanized, corrosion resistant fittings in your pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water needs to have a pH close to 7.5, but as long as the pH is stable the crayfish will be fine so do not worry if the pH deviates a bit from this. The water needs to contain some calcium for the crayfish to replace their shell; crayfish are able to store calcium in their body for later use, so you do not need to add large amounts of calcium to the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crayfish are mostly active at night, so do not worry if you do not see them during the day; if you use a flashlight at night, you will see them searching for food, often close to the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure the pond is well cycled before you add crayfish, plants or fish into the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T02:43:41.937" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T02:43:41.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-20T20:06:53.180" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I recently adopted our first dog and one thing that I've been concerned about is the noise of jingling tags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that there are various silicone holders and slide-on options available but I thought I could really simplify things and save a couple dollars if I just embroider the text from the various tags onto the collar itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this legal (in the state of Oregon)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17909" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T20:06:53.180" Title="Is it legal to embroider tag information directly onto my dog's collar in Oregon?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27844" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-20T23:12:23.157" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wu7Ho.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wu7Ho.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;how long will her hair be? she is extremely fluffy and thick haired and she had pretty long ear hair&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7qiyx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/trLCT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4SxPL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FKGTz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17983" LastActivityDate="2020-05-20T23:12:23.157" Title="will my kitten have short hair or medium hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-05-25T05:33:08.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27857" CreationDate="2020-05-21T06:09:11.173" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;We’ve left our five-month-old-ish chickens outside in the rain. They don’t appear to want to go back to the shelter of the coop, and they aren’t huddling under trees, or anything, just rooting around in the grass for bugs and plants, as usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this okay? Going by human logic, they’d catch a cold, but it probably doesn’t work this way for chickens. So is it okay to leave them out in the rain; will they be okay? Do they need to go undercover in heavy rain, and are they smart enough to do it by themselves in the event?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T19:32:20.843" Title="Chickens in the rain" Tags="&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27581" CreationDate="2020-05-21T07:22:12.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the only place the cats can contact each other is the window, I would try spraying or placing something on the window that has a strong scent. This could include a nice big spray of air freshener, some vinegar, a cut lemon/lemon juice, or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should hopefully deter them from getting near the window before a fight can take place, and eventually they should learn not to go to the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17984" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T07:22:12.653" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27544" CreationDate="2020-05-21T07:27:57.907" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat used to do exactly the same thing. We discovered it was probably from a sharp mirror in the bathroom that he loved to rub up against.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check with your vet first to make sure it isn’t another issue like parasites, but also check your house for anything sharp your cat may be scratching itself on. Additionally, if you do see a wound, keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t turn into an infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17984" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T07:27:57.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27586" CreationDate="2020-05-21T10:46:50.517" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alright, so we checked him up again with another vet. After physically examining him, Dr. told us he is good. It might be because summer has arrived he is eating less food (I have checked online and it is true). And about his chirping/meowing, because it is summer, many insects started coming inside the house, which gets him excited! After observing him for some days, I think all his behaviour adds up. He eats like before when it is raining (cold), and he does not meow/chirp a lot when there's no insect. Maybe because this is his first summer experience, he is still getting used to it. I hope this is true, and that he has no other illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17772" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T10:46:50.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27838" CreationDate="2020-05-21T11:32:17.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't had alike experience as you and I might be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The material of which the water bowl is made of could potentially leach minuscule amounts of nauseating chemicals to the water, especially if it's made of low quality plastic. Maybe it's the case that chlorine, which is in fact a highly reactive oxidizing agent, reacts with the otherwise harmless material, hence the difference is puppy's reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chlorinated water shouldn't &lt;strong&gt;theoretically&lt;/strong&gt; cause vomiting by itself - water chlorination has been used for over 100 years and is so finely tuned that no more chlorine/chloramine than needed is used, and the amounts used should be at most capable of resulting in a mildly unpleasant organoleptic experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I cannot guarantee that the water treatment plant in question isn't an exception - maybe the chlorine content is towards the high end of the recommended interval and it is, in fact, the sole cause of vomiting? But I don't think so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And regarding the weight difference between you and the puppy - it's true that she is much smaller that you, but at the same time the amount of consumed water is also proportionally smaller as well, so I think it shouldn't be a factor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T01:33:53.687" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T01:33:53.687" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2020-05-21T11:32:17.500" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27851" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-21T16:46:35.413" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;will my kitty have long or short hair? He's 1 month old&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xfCJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xfCJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17987" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T16:46:35.413" Title="Will my cat be short or long haired" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-05-22T03:54:07.973" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27854" CreationDate="2020-05-21T18:42:41.453" Score="5" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is nearly 9 years old and he's being eating each of its meals so fast since I can't remember! I'm not sure for his first year with me, but for at least 8 years, each time I fed him he'd rush into his meal and eat it like in a second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't thought it'd be too much of an issue but recently I started giving him little pieces of raw meat, mostly for special treat and less than 5% of his food and I've notice he'd eat it without savoring. He makes me think he's scared his food will disappear somehow but that's years it doesn't! I don't know if he's like humans and that's good for his stomach to savor and good for his brain too, that putty will make him understand he satisfied his hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I try make him savor his food or is it pointless? I have no idea how I could because he doesn't understand my words!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I'm nearly sure he's neither underfed or overfed because every time I bring him to the vet and he weigh him, nothing is wrong and his silhouette is alright too. You can see that in the following pictures I took.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ndAbo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ndAbo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YxjBZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YxjBZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12852" LastEditorUserId="12852" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T18:50:41.957" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T20:47:17.430" Title="Should I make my cat taste his food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-21T19:00:33.713" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted my first cat (Venus) 3 years ago, she showed up at a family barbecue in my backyard asking for food and we just took her in, she was an adult already and the vet said that she was probably 2 or 3 years old. A year ago I adopted my second, we found Nala in a box behind a building in my school, she was about 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live at a 10 minute walking distance from my school so they were both found nearby and they are identical. Everyone thinks Nala is Venus' daughter when they meet them. That is not the case, but is there a chance they could be somewhat related based on their looks and were we found them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is Venus on the back and Nala on the front:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dAjtb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dAjtb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;This is Venus on the back and Nala on the front.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17990" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-21T19:21:33.567" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T19:21:33.567" Title="Are my cats related?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27852" CreationDate="2020-05-21T20:47:17.430" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats evolved instincts to eat as much as they can before some other predator discovers their kill and takes it from them (see any documentary about lions and hyenas, for example), and a few years of living in a house won't undo millions of years of evolution. This is how your furry murder machine is meant to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, they don't have much of a sense of taste like we do, so any real enjoyment they get from food is from either smelling it or filling their belly. There's no benefit to forcing him to slow down unless he's eating so fast that it causes vomiting, which is a common problem after binging on dry food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-05-21T20:47:17.430" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27845" CreationDate="2020-05-22T06:25:31.127" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Mum had chickens as she was a child by her parents. She told me a lot of times that she could see how the weather will be because of the chickens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the weather will be rainy chickens have a greasy secretion that they will cover their feathers with. They go with their pecker through the feathers and distribute this secretion. So if you see this before the rain begins, you not have to be worried about them, they are &quot;waterproof&quot; then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-05-22T06:25:31.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27861" CreationDate="2020-05-22T19:41:46.407" Score="4" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a puppy (well, he's almost a year old) that destroys everything because when he's not crated, sleeping, or being entertained by nature, my other dog, or me, he wants/needs to be chewing on something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do a lot together (honestly), and he's very smart (probably why he's so easily bored), but I had a serious fracture of my lower leg a few months ago (two surgeries and more to come), and I'm still on walking/weightbearing restrictions, so I can't entertain him endlessly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bully sticks last only maybe 10 minutes; beef tendons last about two minutes. He has destroyed Tuffy toys, Kong products, and other things described as &quot;indestructable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And he swallows. Everything. When I was immobile, he found a very heavy-duty plastic bag and as I hobbled frantically to get it from him, he swallowed it. I thought for sure he was going to die of an obstruction (not for the first time.) A couple of days later, he passed the entire thing intact. Nothing will slow this dog down. I've even given him frozen marrow bones; they last about 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of rawhide, but I have never given rawhide to any of my dogs because I read bad things about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is rawhide safe? Can someone suggest anything else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-22T20:54:28.437" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T17:14:38.537" Title="What can I give my dog to chew that will last more than a few minutes?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27859" CreationDate="2020-05-22T20:53:23.360" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raw beef soup bones and long bones. The dog will spend days chewing them and not be able to finish them. You can keep them as long as you can tolerate having bones lying around. They're not ideal to have lying around the house, however. It may be possible to have one bone in the house at a time after any meat has been chewed off it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also things like pigs' trotters and ears (not processed). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with rawhide is a lot of the packaged products are not natural and processed to a point that is alarming to make them look desirable to the owner. Also, if he's chewing through things rapidly, too much rawhide may cause him to become constipated. It was something I did feed decades ago. I'd be cautious now because of the processing and feed no chew that comes out of a package.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a chew that can be chewed reasonably quickly, then brisket bones are ideal, depending on the dog they can last for 2o minutes to an hour (or longer for small dogs). The other thing is raw chicken pieces, but they are eaten quickly, but still good for teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: avoid giving dogs cooked bones as they tend to splinter. Especially chicken bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:37:39.593" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:37:39.593" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6805" CreationDate="2020-05-22T23:03:12.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats cannot hear anywhere near the frequencies used in ultrasonic humidifiers. However, the hissing sound from the water and water vapour being thrown in the air by the humidifier can be discomforting or annoying, especially if they aren't used to it. If you notice your cats stay away from it, or &quot;attack&quot; it, try getting one that is as quiet as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18002" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-23T00:51:56.700" LastActivityDate="2020-05-23T00:51:56.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-24T01:50:37.607" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;My betta has been suffering from what I thought was fin rot for a long time, progressively getting worse. Then, all of a sudden, today he dropped two full pieces of his fins (entire pie sliver chunks as shown in pictures).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just started  medication treatment for fin rot as I thought this was the issue (and had been changing water for weeks prior), but I am now worried it could be fin biting, am I right? Or is it something getting caught in the tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise me, thank you so much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UUM0x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UUM0x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18007" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T12:26:34.633" LastActivityDate="2021-02-28T21:03:20.423" Title="Betta fish fin rot or fin biting or fin injury?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6351" CreationDate="2020-05-24T05:21:42.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; fences that will contain a cat, but they have to be specifically designed or modified for that purpose, which can take a significant amount of time and/or money. You would also need to remove any trees (or at least branches) that would allow them to get over the fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More practical is a &quot;catio&quot;, which is a smaller but fully enclosed (with cat-proof screen material) that lets them experience the sights, sounds, smells and feeling of being outdoors without the risks of actually letting them roam or expense a cat-proof fence around the entire property. You can also use it as a screened patio for humans too, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cheapest option is to teach your cats to walk on a leash, and simply don't let them go places you don't want them to. It's not easy to get started, but within the first month my kittens understood I wouldn't let them go past certain points. They still occasionally try, of course, but they no longer seem surprised or complain when it doesn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T05:21:42.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-24T11:25:07.237" Score="2" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat gave birth to 4 healthy kittens, which are 3 weeks old now. But I noticed recently that their mother is crying while they are being nursed. When I checked, I found out they were biting her teats, which were a little bloody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Is it safe to separate them from their mother now and start weaning them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18009" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-24T12:22:40.260" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T23:27:11.720" Title="Kittens bite their mother while nursing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;weaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27859" CreationDate="2020-05-24T15:23:39.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to an existing great answer, I would also suggest trying frozen, raw carrots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A general idea behind this is to freeze a big, fat, juicy carrot and take advantage of its high water content. Water has relatively high enthalpy of fusion - which means that high in water content, frozen products - like vegetables - would require a lot of &quot;effort&quot; (in terms of heat transfer) to get melted, thus will remain hard and resistant for a longer time than fat-based ones, like the peanut butter you've mentioned in your comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water ice is relatively hard, but it has low toughness - in other words, it's brittle. But in frozen vegetables like carrots, it's structurally similar to reinforced concrete - water ice is strengthened by the long fibers of plant tissue, thus making it both hard and tough / resistant to fracture - and, unlike frozen fat, it doesn't soften near it's melting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it won't last forever, of course. The idea is that carrots are both cheap and low in caloric content, so they might be a good choice to buy you some cheap and safe chewing time for your pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, regarding the safety - if you wanted to use this advice, please take into account the general chewing modus operandi of the pup in context of stick-shaped things. I guess that if he handles Bully Sticks fine, there wouldn't be a problem - but you've  also mentioned that he tends to swallow a lot, so it is a little concerning for me. For that reason I'd advise to avoid small or baby carrots, which potentially could be instantly swallowed as a whole. In essence, if you wanted to apply this solution, please consider it in the context of potential choking hazard and supervise it in action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T15:23:39.487" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27876" CreationDate="2020-05-24T23:14:15.213" Score="5" ViewCount="1362" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat (almost 2 years old) somehow got urine on the back of her neck, so to clean it up we used a small amount of diluted human shampoo on a towel to wash her fur. It didn’t go into the skin much (if at all), but now I've seen that human shampoo shouldn’t be used on cats!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was a very small amount of shampoo on one section of the cat, will she be okay or do we need to do anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18010" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T18:42:57.657" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:39:05.703" Title="Does a small amount of human shampoo cause harm to a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27866" CreationDate="2020-05-24T23:27:11.720" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;General rule of thumb is to start weaning kitten by the time they reach 4 weeks of age (source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/weaning-kitten&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pets.webmd.com&lt;/a&gt;). I guess the mother being injuried and her crying is due to the fact that your kittens have already started growing their baby teeth - a thing that kittens usually do as early as at 2 weeks of age. Not only their chomps are now more damaging, but also the teething process itself creates a discomfort which could cause excessive chewing, resulting in them abusing the mother's nipples and causing bleeding injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the weaning process should optimally be significantly stretched in time and not finished until about 6 to 7 weeks of age. Although it should optimally be started at 4 weeks of age, at 3 weeks of age you already could slowly and carefully try introducing soft, wet food to provide a little relief for the mother cat - but please note that this absolutely needs to be a slow and gradual change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, please make sure you're feeding mother cat a nutrition-rich, high quality food. For instance, she absolutely needs to meet her recommended daily intake of protein to physically have the building material (amino acids) for regenerating the damaged tissue of the nipples. Also, for example, zinc is required for proper wound healing because it plays a major role in all phases of this process. If you are feeding the mother cat with a specialized and high quality food explicitly made for nursing mothers, all these essential nutritients would be there in adequate amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important now to frequently clean these bleeding wounds so they could properly heal. I'd suggest flushing them a few times a day with sterile, isotonic (0.9%&amp;nbsp;NaCl) saline solution from your local pharmacy. Please avoid using hydrogen peroxide and alcohol-based disinfectants, as they are too caustic and could cause negative interference in both the wounds' healing process and the nursing of your kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also a little worried about the possibility of the mammary gland inflammation (mastitis) of the mother cat. It could happen if these wounds were to get infected and pathogens were to enter the mammary gland through the teat canal. At the same time, weaning the kittens too soon could theoretically also cause an infectionless mastitis due to prolonged milk accumulation without removal. But it is hard to tell over the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-05-24T23:27:11.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27868" CreationDate="2020-05-24T23:46:38.123" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot completely guarantee that some minor irritation wouldn't ensue, but I'd say she would be all right - especially if the shampoo didn't touch her mucous membranes (mouth, eyes, nose, etc.) If it did, it would more easily cause an irritation, but in that case you would probably notice it right away due to adverse cat's reaction like sneezing or reddened, watering eyes. But I wouldn't expect it to be serious either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, human shampoo shouldn't be used for cats (and vice versa) because optimal pH for cat skin is different that the one for human skin, thus prolonged use would be problematic. But a single, incidental use like in your case - I don't think so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm oversimplifying this of course - human shampoos are different enough among themselves, with the baby shampoos regarded as being the most gentle. But even if it wasn't a baby shampoo - at worst, I'd expect a minor and transient irritation to ensue and then quickly become a ghost of time without any intervention and she will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T00:02:29.503" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T00:02:29.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-25T03:07:17.280" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband brought me home 3 rats, he doesn't know much about them so when he was told they were all female he didn't pay much attention. Turns out there were 2 males and 1 female. Within a day, one of the rats died and left me with the male and female. I wanted babies so I allowed a litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now mama's had her litter and I want to separate the two at least until the male babies are old enough to introduce to the older male, until then he will be all alone and I'm not sure what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will he be okay without a companion in his cage for awhile? They are both young rats, should I allow them time to play together even though I'm pretty sure she will end up pregnant again? She's had 14 and I don't need anymore rats because it's laughably ridiculous!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18011" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T18:56:25.580" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T18:56:25.580" Title="Rats: I have 1 male 1 female, she just had babies. How long can male be left alone in the cage?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-25T04:26:06.463" Score="7" ViewCount="2606" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I got her from the shelter it looked like she had a scab on the side of her pad, but when I checked I saw that her full pad was there and it came off easily. Her toe is very thick and hard to move, and her claw is thick and doesn't retract. When I touch it she doesn't seem to be in pain, and she uses her scratching post and it doesn't hurt her, so I'm curious if I need to take her to the vet or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/54dAU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eu9hf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WQOpL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/05kQk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5mkg8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uNCY2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cgfyz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17983" LastEditorUserId="2660" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T15:03:09.927" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T15:03:09.927" Title="What might be wrong with my kitten's toe?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;claws&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27872" CreationDate="2020-05-25T06:04:34.377" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks - and this is a tentative analysis from the internet photos - like an injury that has caused the opening to the claw to become blocked with scar tissue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be worthwhile getting a vet to check this out. It may be something that will resolve, but it may also need a vet to cut out some scar tissue or possibly apply some cream to reopen or enlarge the slit in the pad to allow the claw to retract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T06:04:34.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27874" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-05-25T06:05:41.453" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions related to care or issues with claws. Use with the species tag. Be sure to provide relevant history and photos if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T06:05:41.453" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T06:05:41.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27875" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-05-25T06:05:41.453" Score="0" Body="For questions related to care or issues with claws. Use with the species tag. Be sure to provide relevant history and photos if possible." OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T06:05:41.453" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T06:05:41.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27868" CreationDate="2020-05-25T07:06:38.300" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you did the best thing you could do in the given situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the main reasons why you shouldn't use human shampoo on a cat (or bathe it at all if it's not absolutely necessary) is that human skin is more acidic than cat skin. Bathing a cat with human shampoo would feel like washing yourself with undiluted vinegar. In addition to that, cats produce almost no sebum (skin oil) at all. The sebum protects the skin and hair from drying out and getting damaged, but it also makes the hair look oily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most humans can go a week at most without washing their hair. After a few days the human body already produces so much sebum your hair looks oily. Human shampoo is designed to wash that amount of sebum away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's skin produces so little sebum it takes them several weeks--up to several months--to produce enough sebum to recreate the protective skin barrier again. Washing cats with human shampoo dries their skin out rather extremely and causes irritation, itching and scratching, and other symptoms of dry skin like dandruff; it can also &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.embracepetinsurance.com/waterbowl/article/can-i-wash-my-pet-with-human-shampoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;increase the risk of skin infections&lt;/a&gt;. Some ingredients in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.groomertogroomer.com/cats-shampoo-know-whats-bottle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;human shampoo can even poison your cat&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rubbing the dirty fur with plain water or a specialized cat shampoo is the best way to remove dirt from the fur. Very diluted baby shampoo seems to be the next best option and some people use very diluted dish soap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last note: at 2 years of age it is no longer a &quot;kitten,&quot; it's an adult cat ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T15:12:36.160" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T15:12:36.160" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27871" CreationDate="2020-05-25T07:14:59.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you have a problem already.&#xA;I didn't have mixed sex rats, but a quick google check gives a quite surprising answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Females go into heat between about 10 and 24 hours after giving birth.&#xA;  Specifically, females go into heat on the first evening that is at&#xA;  least 10 hours after giving birth (Gilbert et al. 1985). This&#xA;  phenomenon of coming into heat shortly after giving birth is called&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;postpartum estrus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratbehavior.org/PostPartumConception.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I recommend to buy a second cage and separate them ASAP.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then before they turn 8 weeks old you should also check their sex and separate the young ones too. I recommend taking them to the vet if you're not sure - it sometimes can be hard with young rats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally, male laboratory rats will reach sexual maturity at&#xA;  approximately 10-12 weeks of age, although females may have their&#xA;  first estrus as early as 8-9 weeks of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mcgill.ca/research/files/research/609_-_rat_breeding_colony_management_-_march_2016.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T07:14:59.933" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-25T13:36:52.843" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently read about horseshoes, so I get the general idea behind them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what happened when a horse's hoof, for whatever reason, was &quot;broken&quot; or &quot;worn out&quot;? Would that feel really painful to the horse? Like a human crawling around on their knees and hands on glass or sharp rocks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd rather not think about any animal being in pain, but I'm interested in this, so I have to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it happened in the middle of nowhere? Would the horse &quot;scream&quot; and refuse to walk another step? Or would it be able to keep on going, just a little slower? Was it common for a hoof to &quot;break&quot; rather than wear out? Just imagining a hoof &quot;breaking&quot; makes me shudder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18013" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T13:43:06.187" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T15:39:39.893" Title="What happens if a horse has no horseshoe, or the horseshoe is detached and its hoof &quot;breaks&quot;?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27878" CreationDate="2020-05-25T14:03:22.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hoof of a horse is composed of the same material as the nails of humans or the claws of other animals. It is hard on the outside and the closer it is to the skin and flesh, the softer it gets. It grows the whole life of the horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the optimistic case, the hoof grows at the same speed as it is worn by walking. But the natural walking surfaces for horses are not rocky streets and asphalt - so in that case the hoof grows slower than the street abrases the hard part of the hoof away. Because of this, the humans invented the horseshoes of different kinds. They protect the hooves if the horse has to master &quot;un-horse-ish&quot; circumstances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a hoof is not protected against abrasion, the hard part will get thinner and the soft part (with the nerves in it) will feel the walking surface more and more prominently. It is like the difference between soft shoes and such ones for hiking. If there is a spiky stone, this will be more and more unfriendly for the foot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The horse will become slower, unfriendly and if one hoof is worse than the other, the walking will become against the rhythm. If you could count by a healthy horse &quot;1 2 3 4&quot; like the drum in a melody, at a foot-ill horse it would be with a pause before the bad foot, for example &quot;1 2 - 3 4&quot; (all counting for the slowest walking, not gallop, this is &quot;1 2 3 -&quot; naturally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If no one helps the horse, and if it doesn't get a long break to let the hoof grow, it will ultimately stop walking completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one hoof gets broken (I could not imagine it, but it could be possible in general) the horse will try to walk on three legs. Its survival depends on running faster than the predators, so it will give all it has to stay walking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In human care the horses should see a smith regularly - regardless whether the horse is with or without horseshoes, because the smith will cut the hoof in forms good for walking (like care for fingers nails) and will see, if the hard part is too thin. And the broken hoof would get to the vet and gets the right treatment to heal (to be stabilized until enough new hoof material is grown).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T15:39:39.893" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T15:39:39.893" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27878" CreationDate="2020-05-25T14:24:22.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Horseshoes are meant to protect the hooves from the kind of damage that would have happened on a long-term basis - in other words, chronic wear, uneven abrasive damage and material fatigue. However, this kind of damage is not something that would immediately become evident at instant after the horseshoe was to be removed. Horse hooves are made of a tough protein called keratin - it's the same protein that hair and nails are made of. It's resistant and reliable enough in, so to say, &quot;native&quot; settings - these that horses have evolved to live in. It's just the horse domestication that brought a different environment, the one that evolution wasn't exactly prepared for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild horses usually tend to travel constantly, covering great distances, but do so at a slow pace - in that case, the hooves are naturally worn in a smooth, gradual and even manner. Domesticated horses, however, often travel at a much faster pace and do so in inconsistent bursts, separated by periods of complete idleness, which makes the wear unnatural and destructive to the whole structure of the hooves. Also, wild horses live naturally in semi-desert climate, whereas the domesticated ones are often subjected to travelling in moist and colder conditions - by which the keratin is significantly softened and rendered prone to damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, walking without horseshoes wouldn't be painful nor anything like walking on sharp rocks&amp;nbsp;/&amp;nbsp;glass because - like our hair and nails - hooves are composed of inanimate matter. For the same reason, it's possible to painlessly attach the horseshoe to the hoof in the first place. But if it was the case that just one of the four horseshoes got deattached or broken, it would certainly mess with the horse's balance a bit, cause unhealthy muscle strains and uneven load on skeletal structure. Please think about how would it feel to walk or run if you were to wear a thick-sole shoe on one foot while leaving the second one bare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, while keratin is relatively hard and tough, steel and aluminium - the most common materials of which horseshoes are made of - are even harder and tougher. And walking without horseshoes in damp and cold environment, especially with a heavy load, would progressively damage and weaken the structure of the hooves and ultimately destroy or split them apart. At that moment, the living tissue underneath would get exposed - and it's when it would start to be really painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding whether it is common for the horseshoes to break - no, it's rare but still could happen if the horseshoe is old and its material is severely fatigued due to accumulated damage of its crystal structure at the microscopic level. It is much more common that the horseshoe just slowly becomes loose after a month or so, and needs to be reattached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T15:00:12.140" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T15:00:12.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27872" CreationDate="2020-05-25T19:09:11.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My bet is her toe got broken, healed a bit to the side.  Likely the tendon that retracts the claw was damaged.  As she's not in pain and it doesn't affect her quality of life, I would leave well enough alone.  When you take her for her kitten shots, let the vet examine it.  Looks great to me: my girl, who was declawed, had a tag of tissue on one toe similar in looks to you little ones.  It eventually (at age 6 or 7) fell off by itself. I therefore think you are in the clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18017" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T19:17:41.347" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T19:17:41.347" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27872" CreationDate="2020-05-25T19:50:00.797" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't wait for a couple of weeks for a vet to look at her/his nail. The nail might be painful for her/him. She/he could have an ingrown toenail and if it gets infected, then you'll need an antibiotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat that had a toenail start growing in the paw pad. We needed a wash for her and antibiotics, so you should take your cat to the vet as soon as possible. I'm sure you don't want your kitten to be in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18018" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-25T20:06:18.663" LastActivityDate="2020-05-25T20:06:18.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-26T01:12:54.863" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a stray pup. Although it is great in most ways, I just can't convince it to go out on short walks. It thinks the area around the house is its territory and is very happy/playful there, but once I cross its perceived &quot;borders&quot; it just sniffs the bushes/shrubbery other strays might have urinated on and sits down every 20 feet (a few meters) or so, and moves a bit only after much coaxing. Once we turn back to head home, the mood completely changes and he's again full of energy. It is still a pup, around 4 months old I think (can't be sure because when I picked it up, it was sickly and abandoned on the street). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-28T16:25:49.243" LastActivityDate="2020-05-28T16:25:49.243" Title="Convince a territorial pup to go out on walks" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19380" CreationDate="2020-05-26T01:29:09.207" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me at the outset state that I strongly support adoption of strays, and I have adopted strays off the street myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to consider whether the Indian pariah breed (most strays in India) is appropriate for the typical pet-household. The breed has evolved naturally over hundreds/thousands of years and is very hardy and uniquely suited to the Indian climate. It is also loyal and protective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it has also evolved to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;live in dog-packs (likely to go back to stray-life if given the chance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be more sociable with other dogs than with humans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be highly territorial and  nervous outside its territory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scavenge relentlessly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be high energy (not suitable for the average pet owner) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be strong-willed and have a mind of its own = recall is hard and it cannot be trusted off-leash.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exploratory (hard to get it to walk with the human in a straight line because it constantly wants to sniff around). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;alert/responsive to other dogs barking and joining the chorus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these behaviors are also present in other breeds, but to lesser extents. All of these undesirable behaviors can also be trained out of a dog, but it really requires an experienced handler. It also implies that this breed of dog is best suited to live on a &quot;farm&quot; kind of house with some area to own and guard - not the typical urban house. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People buy breeds based on 1) what they expect out of a breed and 2) what the breed has been bred (naturally or by human-selection) to do best. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Retrievers/labradors are uniquely suited to be average household pets. GSDs/dobermans not so much - they have specific needs, and are indeed less commonly owned than retrievers/labradors. Indian dogs are excellent for what they are, but the owner need to be suitable for their unique qualities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For our country-house (large private acreage) in India we have the Indian pariah breed, and it is basically perfect. But in the city (still an independent house, not an apartment), I had tried it once (and again right now, with a pup), but it is/was not so great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastEditorUserId="16778" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T01:36:03.003" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T01:36:03.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27827" CreationDate="2020-05-26T01:45:48.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the other cats, does it seem like you are focussing on the new kit more? Giving it more attention, etc.? Cats (and even dogs, or even humans for that matter) can find it offensive if the newcomer gets more attention than the incumbents. Think about it from the animals perspective - you did not rescue a kitten (though &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; did), you brought a stranger home (to compete for resources - food/warmth/human-attention, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kit has been adopted by you alright but it has not yet been accepted by the cat-pack. It is yet to find its place in the hierarchy (yes cats have it too, though it looks a bit different from dogs). When you prioritize the kitten, to the other cats it seems you have installed a new top-cat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how I would handle it (done it in the past): take care of all the physical needs of the new kitten but ignore it beyond that, pet/hold/whatever your older cats. If there is to be a cat in your lap, it has to be one of the older cats. If the kit is to be in your bed, it must first be allowed/accepted by the other cat that already sleeps in your bed. If there is a conflict, the older cats are always right. Do you understand? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want things to go back to normal, &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; present behavior has to seem normal to the cats (compared to your past behavior, when the kitten wasn't there). The kit has to come last in line for human-affection/attention (or find itself a new home if it cannot bear being at the bottom of the rung). The older cats have to see you as being on their side, if you want them to stay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let the other cats also accept the kit, over a period time. As part of this process, there will be hissing, etc. (possibly even pooping to mark territory). The newcomer has to work its way into the pack, and should be discouraged from undesirable behavior like pooping/peeing to mark its territory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you force a new order (with the new kit at the top) upon the older cats, they will naturally find it offensive, and look for other places to be (treating you as just a food source) - as is already happening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem will be a bit bad in your case, because the older cats are related/family and the new kit is not part of that same family-group. It is not unwise to nurse the kit back to health (keeping in mind the inter-cat-dynamics I mentioned earlier) and then let someone else adopt it. You can keep it, but it will need a bit of careful effort and observation of animal-behavior/psychology on your part. Good luck! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastEditorUserId="16778" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T01:51:56.550" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T01:51:56.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26168" CreationDate="2020-05-26T02:50:17.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, it is always good to see humans caring for strays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the cheap human food stuff you ask about is bad for everyone - humans, animals, environment, you name it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do things &quot;in bulk&quot; for the strays, consider something &lt;strong&gt;easy&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;cheap&lt;/strong&gt; and long-term sustainable - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;boiled rice or wheat or any kind of grain or cereal you can get sackfuls of at cheap or ideally at wholesale prices. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;throwaway stuff from the local meat/fish markets (heads, intestines,&#xA;etc. etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some veggies, if the dogs like/eat them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;better than whatever biscuits or trash the strays would otherwise eat. It takes care of most/all of the nutritional and energy needs. It also doesn't get them hooked on sugar. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cheaper than any commercial dog food &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;far easier to make than a proper homemade dog-meal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T02:50:17.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27888" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-26T11:44:03.557" Score="1" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat sometimes vomits (usually to get a furball out), but he seems to always do it on a carpet. I moved the carpet somewhere else and he still vomits on another carpet. So what I wanted to ask was whether it is possible to teach a cat not to vomit in certain places?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T11:52:33.007" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T12:51:46.563" Title="How can I teach my cat not to vomit on carpets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27888" CreationDate="2020-05-26T12:40:45.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that it's impossible to train a cat not to vomit in certain places. One of the reasons for it is the cats aren't really reliably trainable, at least not it the sense that dogs are. But that's not the only factor - I don't think it's possible to train dogs not to vomit on carpets either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vomiting generally is not something that is consciously planned, it's rather spontaneous and unpredictable not only for you, but somewhat also for your vomiting cat - while it could feel the looming nausea, the vomiting itself is an involuntary reflex, happens rapidly and is not something that is consciously planned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also explain why do cats seem to prefer vomiting on carpets in the first place, but I guess that wouldn't be directly helpful for you, but please consider that it might help you to invent your own solution. for this problem. Actually, believe it or not, as far as I know cats in some sense believe that vomiting on a carpet is cleaner than doing so on a hard and non-porous surface - and it has to do with their instinct. Cats naturally tend to immediately cover their waste products (urine, feces, vomit) with dirt to keep it &quot;clean&quot; and dispose of anything that could signal their presence to potential predators. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soft, somewhat squishy and porous surface, like the one of a carpet, provides tactile sensation that is more closely resembling the dirt that the tactile sensation of hard and non-porous floor, thus it encourages the cat to vomit there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also seek porous surfaces because they subconsciously know that the waste products will soak into them over time and thus become less evident. Their hardwired concept of being clean doesn't include disposing of the waste in our humanly manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it doesn't mean that you're doomed to have your carpets ruined by the cat's vomiting. I'd actually focus on resolving the cause of the vomiting itself - ingesting hair and the forming of hairballs, that is. While it is not expected to be completely resolvable issue, you could try the following to significantly reduce the frequency of cat's vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regular, daily brushing your cat with a wire brush. This way you'll remove the hair strands that are already loose and thus reduce amount of ingested ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using specialized, high in fiber cat food formulas, aimed to reduce hair shedding and/or improve your cat's digestive tract's ability to efficently pass them without accumulating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For non-hairball related vomiting, try to indentify what could cause gastrointestinal irritation and eliminate it from cat's diet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-26T12:51:46.563" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T12:51:46.563" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27845" CreationDate="2020-05-26T19:32:20.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chickens have more sense than most people realize. They seem to enjoy a light to moderate rain (and the worms and bugs that come to surface when it rains), and they know enough to find cover when it rains too heavily for their comfort. There is a very helpful discussion of chickens in the rain on the Community Chickens website: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.communitychickens.com/chickens-in-the-rain/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.communitychickens.com/chickens-in-the-rain/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2020-05-26T19:32:20.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27891" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-26T19:57:02.633" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am preparing to make a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tropicalfishcareguides.com/dirted-tank-setup/#What_is_a_Dirted_Tank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dirted aquarium&lt;/a&gt;. I have some CaribSea eco-complete substrate which I will be putting on top of a layer of soil in my 10 gallon tank. I am considering using &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B07LCGHB85&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Miracle-Gro Performance Organics&lt;/a&gt; container mix. Is this soil safe for a planted aquarium? And will this soil be safe for cherry shrimp?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to complete this project very soon, so I need to know if the soil that I have (Miracle-Gro Performance Organics container mix) is safe or if I should look for a different soil. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T18:04:48.020" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T18:09:21.573" Title="What soil should I use for a dirted aquarium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6372" CreationDate="2020-05-26T20:25:14.110" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our bunny, Rocky, has made himself a very predictable morning and evening routine, unlike ourselves. We wake up, go to sleep, eat, leave the house, return to the house at varying hours. He lives with us in a loft-type house, and pretty much is free to run around as long as someone is home to watch over him. Even if he can run around free pretty much for about 6 hours in the evening, he mostly stays in his 'cage' (which is a double stage pen, giving him a good view over the loft). However we have noticed perfectly timed behaviour that happens every single evening, even though we disrupt his routines before that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every evening, at 10PM ±5 minutes, he will go drink from his bowl (he loves to drink big amounts in once), and right after he goes to pee on his toilet. After that he will jump on our bed to make scrapes there. He will jump around on and off the bed until one of us comes to take him to put him next to us on the sofa. From then on he will stay with us for another hour or so, getting pettings on the head, or laying in close proximity to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has many more routines, but this is most noticable to us, because it is timed without us triggering any behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18021" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T11:47:35.930" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T11:47:35.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27894" CreationDate="2020-05-27T00:45:27.910" Score="19" ViewCount="5440" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that when a fish is kept in an aquarium that is too small for the fish to grow to its full size, it will only grow to a portion of its possible size and its lifespan will be shorter than it would normally be. If this is true, why does having a small tank cause stunted growth in fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T18:12:14.970" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T18:12:14.970" Title="Why don't fish grow to their full size in a small tank?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27893" CreationDate="2020-05-27T01:49:46.327" Score="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish excrete hormones in their waste. In a confined space like an aquarium, these hormones build up and act as growth inhibitors, this is basically an evolutionary mechanism, to prevent fish from dying if they end up in a water system that is cutoff from continuous fresh water. The larger the fish, the more space and continuously replenished clean water they need for survival. Fish do not &quot;grow to the size of their tank&quot;, as is often quoted, they are basically poisoned by their own waste which prohibits them from reaching their potential in a poorly sized or cared for environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T01:49:46.327" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-27T02:05:32.007" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say someone finds a stray dog in Florida, USA, and some research indicates that the dog's registration and vaccination have both expired. In this case, is it better to return the dog to the owner or to an animal shelter? The owner is unaware that the dog is with the finder at this moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not exactly sure if I should ask this question here or at Law stack exchange, since this question is both about a pet and about the law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18024" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T04:50:23.253" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T04:50:23.253" Title="If one finds a dog whose registration and vaccination are both expired, should he return the dog to the owner or an animal shelter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-27T03:43:53.350" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently my 12 year old domestic short haired cat has been biting/mowing her fur around her primordial pouch. She is neutered and only goes outside on our deck. I would get her to a vet, but the COVID-19 situation in my state (New York) is preventing me from doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not taking any preventive flea medication, as she rarely ventures from our home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could I do on my own to resolve this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yVf8u.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yVf8u.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/szwnk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/szwnk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18025" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T19:13:38.707" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T19:13:38.707" Title="Itchy cat biting fur" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27895" CreationDate="2020-05-27T08:37:01.477" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always try and contact the owner first. If an animal has an owner that is the best place for them (excluding obvious cases of neglect and abuse). A shelter is for homeless animals and there's problems in most places with not enough homes for pets. The pets miss their owners and vice versa. So a reunion is the best thing all round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expired registration and vaccination is irrelevant in deciding whether or not to return an animal to their owner, unless it means the animal has been abandoned or it makes tracing the owner difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog has an owner, technically it is not a stray, it is lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T08:37:01.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27893" CreationDate="2020-05-27T23:09:38.773" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because they die before they reach full size. Either from being poisoned by their own waste, or from complications due to their organs growing while their bodies are stunted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like saying that a puppy grows to the size of the shoebox it's kept in.  Keep a puppy in a shoebox, and it isn't going to reach maturity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-27T23:56:43.137" LastActivityDate="2020-05-27T23:56:43.137" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-28T01:34:03.007" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kittens just turned 4 weeks old. I noticed recently they would sneak to their mother's dry food, which is a “mother and baby-cat food”, and eat it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to let them feed on it? Because I can see they are capable of chewing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I should mention, because their mother got sick just a couple of days ago, I used to smash and grind her dry food and mix it with a little of water, so she could eat it easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18009" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T00:53:42.293" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T16:39:18.723" Title="Kittens that eat dry food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16609" CreationDate="2020-05-29T07:10:04.547" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers explain properly why the bowl is not suitable for the goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to go on with this setup, then there is a small hack you can try. It is kind of expensive, and I do not know if it will actually solve the problems (I never had goldfish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use an external filter, and &quot;connect&quot; it to the bowl with the 2 mandatory tubes. This solution has a few advantages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mechanical filtration;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;additional (optional) filtering, depending on the model (from active carbon to UV light);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;creating colonies of beneficial micro-organisms inside the filtering medium in the filter;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no space is used inside the bowl by the filter (except the 2 tubes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It does seem a bit dirty after a day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a sure sign that mechanical filtration is needed. You can achieve that with a filter, or with water changes, as you already know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-06-01T05:45:46.637" LastActivityDate="2020-06-01T05:45:46.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7753" CreationDate="2020-05-29T07:52:00.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are in the carp family and are coldwater fish, they thrive in temperatures from 15&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;25&amp;nbsp;°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish handle water temperatures above 25&amp;nbsp;°C poorly, so they are not a good fit for aquariums at all. For goldfish to really thrive, a pond is the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are seen as dirty fish as they produce more waste than many other types of fish, so they need a larger amount of water than other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cichlids are tropical fish and they thrive at temperatures from 24&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;30&amp;nbsp;°C so they are ideal aquarium fish. The difference in optimal temperature for cichlids versus goldfish makes the two types of fish incompatible so you can not expect these two types of fish to live in the same tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not mix tropical fish with cold water fish, it is not possible to fulfil the needs of these two species in the same tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T13:18:55.360" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T13:18:55.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-29T14:50:13.413" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (10 month old Collie mix) recently had to have stitches on the bottom of her right hind foot. The vet provided an e-collar (aka &quot;cone of shame&quot;), appropriately sized, but she is a rubber puppy and managed to get to the bottom of her foot and pull out the stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had new stitches put in, and we got her a larger e-collar - she is about 35&amp;nbsp;lb (18&amp;nbsp;kg), and the picture on this e-collar shows a Great Dane. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today is the third day with this new collar, but she appears close to getting her foot inside of this one too! It is the largest size that my pet store sells, and is already large enough that she can just barely get to her food/water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has instructed us to leave the stitches uncovered so that the wound will heal appropriately. &lt;strong&gt;What strategies/tactics can I use to keep her from getting to the stitches, in addition to the massive e-collar?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17703" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-29T15:30:03.483" LastActivityDate="2020-05-29T15:30:03.483" Title="How to keep my dog from circumventing her massive e-collar?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-29T18:40:03.817" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started to feed this feral cat, who would walk around my apartment building but I would only see her at night. She would wait for my boyfriend and I Outside our door,she would  come inside and eat as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We never touched her because she was very paranoid and scared, but few nights ago my boyfriend closed the door and she freaked out, ran around and hid in my closet. When I tried to calm her down or get close, she would hiss and show her teeth or just meow at me. The whole night she slept On the shoe rack and didn’t move. I left some food for her and a litter box  in the same room , but she didn’t use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the morning I tried to touch her again, she let me but after a few minutes she then hissed again after that she got scared and urinated on the floor. She’s slowly been moving around the apartment hiding under dressers and behind things, but still won’t eat, won’t sleep on the blanket I gave her or even use the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, I have opened the door for her and she won’t leave either or go out to the balcony. She’s just very scared and I understand she needs space to get used to us and comfortable, but I’m worried because she hasn’t used the bathroom or eaten! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18050" LastEditorUserId="18050" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T01:19:02.930" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T01:19:02.930" Title="Took in a feral cat, but she is hiding and not eating" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27910" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-30T05:49:02.753" Score="5" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my cat since it was a kitten. He is strictly indoor and has never been around other cats. He's now 7 years old. I've also befriended a stray and been feeding her for the last 2½ years and she decided to make my patio her home. They've never met except through the window and my cat isn't thrilled with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm moving to a house in a busier neighborhood. Should I take her and try to introduce them? Would it be OK to keep her as indoors as well? She's tried to come in, but I know my indoor cat would be upset. What should I do with her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18052" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T10:44:34.970" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T16:06:07.743" Title="Should I take a stray with me when I move, if I already have a indoor cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-05-30T10:43:34.533" Score="1" ViewCount="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 year old Dachshund has long nails and they click when she walks. How much can I clip off safely and how often should I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18053" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T10:52:35.280" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T10:52:35.280" Title="How much should I cut off my Dachshund's nails?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-06-16T14:38:15.117" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27922" CreationDate="2020-05-30T14:29:56.970" Score="8" ViewCount="1857" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat had her first litter last night. She's been away from the kittens most of the first day while they were sleeping. Early this morning, I noticed she tried to jump on some furniture, and she failed as a result of her weakness. She's also very vocal...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has 90% of the symptoms of milk fever (postparturient hypocalcemia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called the local vet and they didn't even know what milk fever is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The visit and the labs cost too much for me right now, as I had two medical emergencies during COVID-19 pandemic over the last month and I have been unable to work normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid for my cat's life, and her three babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My main question&lt;/strong&gt;: Is there any way to help her from home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dad gave her cow's milk yesterday, and so did mom. They really have no clue.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They tell me she's fine and to leave her alone.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They tell me they have seen many cats have babies, to just leave the cat alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for any answers on how I can help her during her nursing period from home, since I cannot afford the vet (I doubt they will even see her because I can't pay for the lab tests).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a bad idea to give her cow's milk?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there anything else that I can do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's been hyperventilating for the past hour while nursing the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or tips would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18054" LastEditorUserId="18054" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T03:00:04.697" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T16:24:29.030" Title="Is there a way to treat milk fever at home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27899" CreationDate="2020-05-30T16:39:18.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the age of four weeks old, kittens are usually ready to eat solid, chunky kibbles - by that age their baby teeth should mostly be already there, enabling them to do so (source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/kittens-ready-eat-solid-food-7559.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pets.thenest.com&lt;/a&gt;). In principle, the introduction of solid food should be gradual, so that they could get used to the different texture and hardness at their own rate. However, considering your observation that they seem to be capable of chewing it right away - I wouldn't be that concerned and I'd say it's all right to let them access this type of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, please don't replace their diet completely and suddenly to solid kibbles. What I mean with the first paragraph is that it's all right if they go for them if they fancy, but they absolutely need to continue being fed a soft, wet, easily chewable kitten food as a base of their diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please consider that the optimal nutritional profile of adults cats and kittens are different - for example, kitten food tends to be higher in fat, protein and general caloric content, but lower in carbohydrates (source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://theidlecat.com/kitten-food-differences/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;theidlecat.com&lt;/a&gt;). I'm not really sure whether the &quot;mother and baby cat&quot; food formula you're using accounts for that, so please keep their different nutritional needs in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T16:39:18.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27913" CreationDate="2020-05-30T16:42:54.507" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have a cat, nor the knowledge about them. I only googled for milk fever in mammals and then for adding calcium to cat's food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause of milk fever is the systemic calcium deficiency (also known as hypocalcemia, which simple means there is not enough calcium in the body). More details could be found in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_fever&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a relevant Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;. It is mostly known for its occurrence in dairy cows. In the past, people used to blow air into the nipples and it helped. (Blowing into the nipples increased the pressure inside, which in turn reduced the milk production). But now that the cause is known, the cows are given calcium infusions, and they get enough calcium while they are being pregnant to avoid the milk fever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats in nature get their calcium from the bones and teeth of their prey. For homemade cat food, there are additions you can buy or you could use the egg shells of ecological chicken eggs. You could grind them into powder and add it to the normal food. Another thing is Algea-Chalk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is something about the calcium to phosphorus ratio one has to know. In normal food it should be 1:1. But I do not know, how it is in the case of &quot;get the cat enough calcium as soon as possible&quot;. (Phosphorus occurs in nature in the raw meat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cow's milk is not the best I assume, because most animals are unable to digest lactose and get diarrhoea as a result of its consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please post a comment, to tell us how your cat is doing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-05-30T17:22:10.377" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T17:22:10.377" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27913" CreationDate="2020-05-30T18:15:05.497" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not give her cow's milk, Cats are lactose intolerant - they do not produce lactase the enzyme needed to digest cow's milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please seek urgent veterinary treatment, as she can die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-05-30T18:15:05.497" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7268" CreationDate="2020-05-31T18:23:55.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s about the same as humans eating human flesh. There’s nothing physically wrong with it- but why? Pigs can live just as humans can on a varied whole food plant based diet. &#xA;You could feed a dog to a dog with the same results. Any corpse can be a considered meal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18061" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T18:23:55.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11869" CreationDate="2020-05-31T21:42:38.330" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sustained and/or repeated loud noises can indeed damage a cat's hearing, but a trumpet is not loud enough to do it. Don't take up the drums too, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike us dumb humans, cats do not enjoy dangerously loud sounds or willingly expose themselves to such. If a sound hurts or otherwise scares them, they will obey their instincts to get as far away from it as they can. If your cat doesn't run, it's not hurting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meowing is likely simple annoyance, though it could be him trying to sing a duet. Did you give him the music for his part?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-05-31T21:42:38.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27913" CreationDate="2020-06-01T12:01:05.007" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for caring so much about this new little family! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard by watching a kitten rescue organization (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/user/tinykittenshq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TinyKittens HQ on YouTube&lt;/a&gt;) that mother cats pant after birth to help their organs settle back into place. Don't worry about this at all, especially since the mother now seems fine otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18065" LastEditorUserId="18065" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T08:12:15.547" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T08:12:15.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27913" CreationDate="2020-06-02T02:55:21.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding milk fever (original question), the symptoms I noticed were panting, increased vocalisation (she kept coming over to me and meowing), weakness (failure to jump on surfaces), hyperventilation (over 100 breaths per minute), and sweating. Her muscles seemed to twitch a bit when she was trying to relax. She was also staying away from the litter during most of the first day. It was within 24 hours of the kittens' birth. I immediately searched online, trying to find out what was wrong with her and found the information about milk fever. I then decided to post here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Yvette mentioned in her comment, cats can die from milk fever. I also found this in my research online, so I was very worried. However, I couldn't afford to take her to a veterinarian, and I wanted to do everything possible from home to help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth mentioning that she was the runt of her litter and her mom abandoned her in front of my home around when she was around 4-5 weeks old. My parents had saved her, but she was such a tiny kitten that she fit in one hand. Even to this day, she's about two-thirds the size of a normal cat (smaller than every cat in the neighborhood, in fact), and she's fully grown! So, naturally her health is a concern for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allerleirauh's answer revolving around calcium helped me think along the lines of nutrition. I called the local pet shop and asked about food for nursing mother cats. They referred me to this brand of food for mother &amp;amp; kittens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00ECQ98V0&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Canin-Nutrition-Babycat-Pregnant/dp/B00ECQ98V0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was also told to buy a few of the wet, canned food (same brand) and to mix the wet food with the dry food, to make the dry food more appealing for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B003P9WUAG&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P9WUAG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After 24 hours (she ate 3-4 times) I noticed her breathing was much better. She was no longer sweating and she was spending much more time with the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, she seems perfectly fine! She spends most of the day with the kittens and in the evenings she even goes outside to take her breaks in the back yard. She's very attentive to the litter and only leaves when the babies are sleeping. She's with them 90% of the time and never gone for more than half an hour, and she's no longer weak. She still gets a bit of a twitch, but I'm starting to think that's just normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special thanks to everyone for their feedback and comments! It led me to find some nutritious food for her during this delicate time, and I believe that was the answer all along (previously she had been exclusively eating Friskies Seafood Medley).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18054" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T02:55:21.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7980" CreationDate="2020-06-02T08:35:46.017" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being outside for a kitty is conducive to increased physical activity, natural stimulation, as well as it acts as an outlet for their natural instinctive cat behavior.  There are risks however.  They can be hit by a car, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always had my kitties enjoy the great outdoors.  I had adopted a 7 year old, declawed cat.  She was so fat when I first got her, her stomach rubbed on the ground.  She was obviously uncomfortably fat!  It wasn't until I let that poor thing out that she started to trim down.  Not having claws didn't slow her down.  She could take on any challenger and box them to defeat.  She was the best mouser I have ever had.  She lived to the golden age of 18.  That cat's whole disposition changed when she was allowed outside.  She went from ornery to fun and active.  Just saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18068" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T09:00:57.477" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T09:00:57.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2020-06-02T17:20:15.403" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a fairly new cat owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted my kitten after finding her in the street at roughly 5&amp;nbsp;weeks old. She is now in the region of 4&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;5&amp;nbsp;months old and for the last couple of weeks she started doing the exact same thing. Her bowl has a built in, inverted water bottle; which gravity fills a tiny void next to the food bowl, up to a certain level that stays constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I thought it was just a fun game she was playing, as she never actually eats the food in the water. It eventually gets soggy and the water turns murky, so I would tip it over so the bowl gets replenished with fresh water. That's when I noticed that whenever I do this, she comes running and starts lapping up the water immediately and taking in quite a bit of it at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has now led me to believe that it's her way of saying the water has been stagnant for too long and she needs a change. So far, it does actually seem to be the case as she drinks the fresh water every time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just my personal opinion, but it makes sense. Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18072" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T17:26:52.047" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T17:26:52.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27936" CreationDate="2020-06-02T19:36:10.863" Score="8" ViewCount="724" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that I can do for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help or tips would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: This question is a repost from &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/27913/is-there-a-way-to-treat-milk-fever-at-home&quot;&gt;Is there a way to treat milk fever at home?&lt;/a&gt;. I'm reposting to allow one of the contributors (Violet) to repost their great answer, since the original post had multiple questions...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18054" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T15:56:48.333" Title="How can I help a new mother cat during her nursing period?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-02T21:04:02.760" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is about 3 months old, she learned &quot;sit&quot; in 3 attempts and to stand on the back paws in just 2. She follows me without a leash, so I think she could learn more tricks, but I dont really know how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18074" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-02T22:16:39.513" LastActivityDate="2020-06-02T22:16:39.513" Title="How can I teach tricks to my carey cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;&lt;leashes&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27930" CreationDate="2020-06-03T00:16:52.030" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am building a 20,000 gallon (76,000 liters) backyard pond for some shubunkins and other fancy goldfish that have outgrown their aquarium. Our climate is such that the pond will only freeze occasionally, and with not much depth to the ice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add some large schools of smaller cold-temperature fish from the pet store, such as white mountain cloud minnows, cold-friendly corys, and other tiny fish that can withstand the cold, but these are 10% of the size of the average goldfish, and the goldfish will only get larger once put in the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will these smaller fish just become snacks, or can they live happily alongside these big goldfish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-17T22:04:16.223" LastActivityDate="2020-10-17T22:04:16.223" Title="Will shubunkin and other fancy goldfish eat smaller fish in a pond?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-03T03:33:48.353" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a very elderly dog (border collie mix), who is on her last legs.  She is getting pretty weak, lost 20% or more of body weight, doesn't seem to have a whole lot of joy in life, but doesn't seem to be in pain, can walk and perform waste excretion functions more or less normally. She has months to go at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like &quot;the chicken or the egg&quot;. We don't know if her appetite is poor because she's weak, or if she's weak because she's not eating enough.  (She also has a mass of unknown type in her abdomen, vet isn't sure, and doesn't think it makes any sense to pursue diagnosis or surgery).  At any rate, it seems like it'd be good to persuade her to eat more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried many things.  And she'll like something for a few days or a week, and then turn her nose up at it until we discover something else.   Bread seems the most reliable, especially sourdough and crackers.  And of course she eats better when hand-fed.   So we seek advice on general strategies or specific foods.  Obviously long-term healthfulness of diet is of little importance, e.g. we've considered feeding her (non-chocolate) ice cream, but apparently too much dairy can be bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18075" LastEditorUserId="18075" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T16:18:48.880" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T21:41:00.390" Title="Trying to get an elderly dog to eat" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27928" CreationDate="2020-06-03T03:52:48.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you can be sure the fish you add is 10% the size or more of the goldfish size, the goldfish will not eat the other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most smaller fish are good at protecting themselves from getting eaten, so as long as you give the smaller fish some hiding places, they will not get eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not have goldfish in my pond, but I do have about 15 koi; they display the same behaviour as goldfish. I do not have any problems with the other types of fish in my pond getting eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish types you add to your pond is a larger threat to your goldfish babies (if your goldfish spawn in your pond) than your goldfish is to your other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to add new types of fish to your pond it is best to do it now before your goldfish grow too large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-17T21:51:36.860" LastActivityDate="2020-10-17T21:51:36.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27926" CreationDate="2020-06-03T04:36:44.360" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be sure the she gets all the food and water she need,you can give her food for junior cats in the time she is nursing her kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want you can put the food and water in the same room as where the kittens are,so your cat can see her kittens from where the food is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Catfood for junior cats has a higher energy content than regular catfood so this will help her take care of her babies in the best way possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure she has a safe area in a quiet place in your house so she can take care of her kittens whithout getting interrupted.except from this there is not a lot you need to do she is the expert here so all you need to do is keep an eye on things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; your cat has a low level of calcium you can feed her powdered eggshell,you can make this by drying eggshell at 60C and running it in a blender until it is a powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sprinkle a tiny bit of this on her wet food every day while she is nursing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T15:56:48.333" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T15:56:48.333" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-03T05:10:13.000" Score="3" ViewCount="1299" Body="&lt;p&gt;I purchased two young does (sisters) and a buck (unrelated) from an experienced Standard Rex shower/breeder back in March. I was just starting in rabbits and didn't know a whole lot, but was told you could keep does together and they seemed happy to have each other's company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost a week ago we noticed one of them chasing and incessantly humping the other. I took the culprit out of the hutch and, low and behold, there was a mound of fur in the corner of the hutch in the morning and 7 kits. So I checked the &quot;sister&quot; doe to find that their parts didn't match and she was a he. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We lost one of the kits, I believe she was sitting on it while feeding the rest, but the rest are doing great and the doe is a very attentive mother. It got cold, so I brought her and the kits inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the issue...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The poor mister who used to be the sister hasn't been eating or drinking much and is so expectant whenever we are around. Just comes up to the front and sits on his hind legs like he's asking where his beloved is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I don't want to breed these two together. &#xA;My concern is that I now have a pair of breeding bonded siblings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the doe accept a different, unrelated buck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't need this unexpected buck for breeding and will have to sell him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will the doe fall into a depression and/or refuse to ever breed again? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is such a great new mother, made a beautiful nest, carefully jumps over it instead of walking on the babes, checks on them and covers/uncovers it according to temp and they have round little bellies. I'd love to breed her to the buck I first intended to. I never knew that rabbits mate for life! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any words of wisdom for a novice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18076" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T07:25:22.840" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T07:36:52.830" Title="Accidentally bonded and bred sibling rabbits....what do I do? Will the doe ever accept a different buck?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27934" CreationDate="2020-06-03T05:12:08.283" Score="4" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had several hamsters and was wondering why they do a certain behavior. Sometimes my hamster will suddenly stop whatever it is doing and stay completely still until I move around or say something. After moving/saying something, my hamster will then continue doing whatever it was doing before it froze. I have also heard from other people that their hamsters do this. Is there a reason that hamsters do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T05:12:08.283" Title="Why does my hamster freeze?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27933" CreationDate="2020-06-03T05:12:08.283" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually a very common behavior for hamsters to show. Almost always, it is nothing to worry about. This could happen for a variety of reasons including if your hamster is listening for something, surprised, and/or scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When hamsters hear an unfamiliar sound, they may freeze to listen to it. They are probably trying to figure out if the sound is coming from anything important to them (ie: a predator). After a while, your hamster should stop freezing to the same sound because they become more familiar with that sound. Your hamster may also freeze from a sudden sound because they are surprised and/or scared. For example, if your hamster was munching some food, and you suddenly opened the door and walked in, the hamster may be startled and freeze. A hamster will likely be scared if they hear a really loud sound (hamsters have very sensitive hearing). If a hamster hears a loud dog barking or a door slamming, they will likely be scared and may freeze temporarily or try to hide depending on the hamster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a hamster freezing (&lt;em&gt;unless your hamster is constantly freezing, freezing for very long amounts of time, or not being responsive after freezing&lt;/em&gt;) is really nothing to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about this &lt;a href=&quot;https://firsthamster.com/why-hamster-is-freezing/#:~:text=So%20for%20example%20if%20you,him%20staring%20at%20you%20blankly.&amp;amp;text=So%20your%20hamster%20could%20be,could%20be%20surprised%2C%20or%20scared.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T05:12:08.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27932" CreationDate="2020-06-03T07:10:33.380" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If in nature a male rabbit dies, then the doe will be sad and grieve some time. But it would be a waste of resources if a young doe will never again accept a new partner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this line: if you sell the surprise male rabbit, he will be &quot;dead&quot; for your doe and after some time (time in which you have to support her!) she could mate with another male. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Please have in mind, that breeding is nothing for rabbit beginners. There are A LOT of points to keep in mind, not only about the care for the litter but also about family trees, handing down illnesses and non matching genes. And at last: there are so many rabbits in shelters that need a new home before there should be &quot;made new ones&quot; in my opinion. Because of that: please rethink this idea in depth. Neutered rabbits are very happy too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would let the male stay with you and only separate them, the doe may hear/smell/see/notice him but could not get to him and vice versa. Then both of them will become sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 2 rabbits since some years. First an old granny with a young male, then she died and we found a new wife for him. Last year he died and we found a new husband for her. Both times the new rabbits were accepted by the old ones, because we respected the rules for &quot;making new rabbit friends&quot;. I will search for them and then add the link to them &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/9451/rabbit-integration-tips-tricks/9452#9452&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Additional you could use the tag &quot;bonding&quot; to search for tagged questions about that theme. (I added the tag to your question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T07:36:52.830" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T07:36:52.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27926" CreationDate="2020-06-03T08:13:14.967" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you, Carlos! What can you do to help? The good news is mother cats are usually pretty perfect at it. But there are things you can do if the mother will let you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you get a kitchen scale (calibrated in grams or ounces) and weigh the kittens once or twice a day? Steady weight gains is the best way to know they're healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make a chart so you can keep track of each kitten's weight. Ideally they should double their birth weight in the first week. In your case you don't have an exact birth weight, so make allowances for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What that means in daily gains: an average of about 1/4 to 1/2 ounce per day, or double-digit grams. For instance if a kitten weighs 100 grams at birth, he should gain another 100 grams during the first week, which is an average of about 100/7 or 14 grams per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will be natural variation in this, so don't worry if a kitten occasionally gains less or even loses a little bit from one weighing to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a kitten will have trouble getting the hang of latching onto his mother's nipple. Maybe he keeps falling off, or he gets jostled off a lot by his siblings. If you notice this, you can try to help if the mother will let you. Manually hold the kitten at a nipple long enough for him to figure it out. Sometimes every nipple won't have milk, so find one that does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a particular kitten is consistently not gaining well, it's sometimes necessary to supplement with formula. Go to a pet store and buy kitten milk replacement, and bottles specially made for newborn kittens. A popular brand is KMR. It's important to only feed them formula that's intended for newborn kittens. As others have said, do not give kittens or cats cow's milk, egg yolk, or human infant formula, or anything else that's not especially made for kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you must do this, don't put the kitten on her back to give her the bottle. This can cause serious problems. Copy the natural position she'd use to nurse from her mother: on her stomach at a slight upward angle to the bottle. Make sure to always keep milk covering the part of the bottle near the nipple, so she won't drink air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly natural for kittens to wrestle and fight with each other while nursing. Do not worry about this at all unless one kitten is consistently being pushed away and isn't gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also normal for kittens to twitch. It looks strange, but this is their nervous system's way of learning how their legs work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing you might find interesting is that newborn kittens can't go to the bathroom by themselves while they're tiny. That's why you see their mother licking their bottoms. If they were orphans, you'd have to do that yourself every few hours, so thank goodness mom is there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course it will be best if you can have your mother cat spayed after the kittens are weaned. Ask around - there might be a low cost spay-neuter clinic, or even make phone calls to see if any vet will do this at a reduced rate. (I do understand that it might be unaffordable - this is a very widespread problem.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18065" LastEditorUserId="18065" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T09:54:31.723" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T09:54:31.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7980" CreationDate="2020-06-03T09:17:15.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The initial question was posted 5 years ago. We had our beloved Dot for 4 years and she remained a very happy house cat who went out in the garden on a harness in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We now have three other adopted house cats and a good sized catio so they can also chill or play outside in the sun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3859" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T09:17:15.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27929" CreationDate="2020-06-03T11:14:49.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I experienced the same problem with an old dog of mine. I feel your pain and it's very sad to feel so helpless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing that worked for us was changing to canned food (she only ever got dry food before getting this old). We bought only 1 - 2 cans of the same brand / flavor and switched flavors after each can (which at that time lasted 3 days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With age the senses fail more and more. I'm sure you already heard that we can only taste 5 basic flavors and all the rest is our nose tricking us into tasting aromas / smell. Canned food has a stronger smell than dry food, so our dog found it more appealing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I guess canned food is softer and easier to digest as well. At least most canned foods have a higher meat content than cheap dry foods, which is better for your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We had to store the open can in the fridge during summer time. Make sure you let the individual serving get back to room temperature before feeding her. Cold food smells less, can cause stomach aches and put her off eating even more. You can microwave it for a few seconds, then thoroughly stir it before serving (if you don't mind your microwave smelling of dog food).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aspect is that old dogs aren't as active anymore and therefore need less nutrition. As long as you cannot feel her individual vertebrae, she is still fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other ideas that hopefully help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mix half a portion of dry food with a little bit of water and half a portion of wet food. By changing the flavors of the canned food, you can trick her into eating her regular dry food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are &quot;dog gravy&quot; and &quot;dog sausages&quot; (about as thick as an arm and the consistency of canned food, but meant as a treat) that you can mix with her regular food to make it more appealing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there's a butcher around, ask them for waste parts they cannot sell for human consumption. Cook those bits without any spices to make them easier digestable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could make a bone broth and mix it with her food. It's very healthy and contains a whole lot of nutrients, but is a lot of effort to cook. Put big marrow bones into a pot, barely cover with water (don't add any spices) and let it simmer for 4 hours. Some people claim it needs to simmer for up to 24 hours, but after 4 hours most of the nutrients already dissolved into the broth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most dogs, especially working breeds like border collie, enjoy pleasing you. You can use this by doing very simple obedience training several times throughout the day and very generously rewarding her with food. The goal of these &quot;trainings&quot; is not to actually train her, but to get her into a positive mood and eating more than she would normally do. I advise against too much physical activity during those trainings because she might refuse eating when she needs to pant too much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T11:25:16.503" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T11:25:16.503" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-03T14:08:42.933" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, me and my dad were trying to remove ticks on our puppy. I had to hold him under his head and right arm, beacuse ticks were on his front right arm, near the paw. It was very painful for him, he was whining and he tried to bite me, even though he is only two months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today he started acting strangely, like he was scared of us. He maintained eye contact with me more than ever and allowed me to cuddle him, but somehow he showed fear towards me and my dad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? I am a newbie owner and I am afraid he might remember this whole situation for good. Will I gain his trust again? Will he forget about it? Thanks a lot in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18077" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T19:45:55.403" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T05:27:09.613" Title="I hurt my puppy, please help" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;ticks&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27946" CreationDate="2020-06-03T14:21:54.163" Score="4" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the process of designing a new vivarium for a bearded dragon that I'm going to get in the future. I'm intending on building this from scratch out of high-quality materials (I'm an engineer so I know what I'm doing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my reading I've determined the following design requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dimensions of at least 2&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;1&amp;nbsp;x&amp;nbsp;0.6&amp;nbsp;m.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Must have a hot-end of roughly 37&amp;nbsp;°C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Must have a cold-end of roughly 26&amp;nbsp;°C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Must have a night-time temperature of about 21&amp;nbsp;°C.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Must have a UVB source during the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Must have hides and climbing spots.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Humidity of around 20% is ideal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of connecting all of the sensors/heaters/bulbs/misters to an STM32 board and having them all automatically controlled and maybe adding a few cameras as well so I can watch  him when I'm away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is thus: are my requirements correct and is there anything that I've forgotten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13387" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T19:48:04.407" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T10:46:12.623" Title="Design requirements for bearded dragon vivarium" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27864" CreationDate="2020-06-03T16:24:56.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although fin rot is prevalent, it is highly treatable. Medication such as Melafix and Aquarisol are usually added in the aquarium water to kill the bacteria that causes fin rot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best method to treat fin rot is to kill the harmful bacteria in your aquarium with a product like Melafix. I have been using Melafix for years with no adverse effects and with a very high success rate for treating the disease. It’s the gold standard of fish medication and should be sufficiently stocked in the cabinet of every aquarium owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And be sure to check the water parameters. Check the ammonia, nitrate, pH, chlorine (you can do it by buying an API test kit, it will enable you to test the pH levels in your water as often as needed!) Check the temperature, it should be around 75 to 80&amp;nbsp;°F (24 to 27&amp;nbsp;°C). Cycle the water often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18079" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-03T19:40:47.010" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T19:40:47.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27929" CreationDate="2020-06-03T21:41:00.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our old dog ( 5 lb) with no teeth and no appetite likes yogurt mixed with sour creme and half and half. I mix up several ounces at a time and keep it in the refrigerator. I have added crushed cookies. I have recently added small bits of canned dog food . She eats better now than a month ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-06-03T21:41:00.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27939" CreationDate="2020-06-04T00:33:47.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes animals remember negative experiences more than positive ones. Mine does. However they also have a great capacity for love, affection and dogs especially love human companionship. Your dog may remember or not remember. There really isn't anything you can do to change that except be kind and remain normal with his with routines, play time, feeding time etc. Be patient over his fear and spend good quality time with him in play and in general. Both you and your dad. &#xA;Don't force him to approach you, but encourage him with play and reward treats. Not to bribe. But after he had done a positive action. In general if you relax. Sooner or later he will too as they sense your tension and emotions. If you aren't acting naturally then then won't either.&#xA;He will learn to trust you again he just is wary. Just avoid any situations like that again with monthly flea and tick treatment. You can get them cheaper online. You were only trying to help him but dogs don't understand that. They just remember the experience. It will hopefully fade in time if you give him good experiences. &#xA;Also they sell things at pet stores or online to relax pets from stress such as pheromone plug ins, sprays. If he is still anxious they do medication for stressful event times such as fireworks new pets etc. One beginning with z is a more natural product as its like mother's milk. Though a spray/ plug in might work better than pills. &#xA;If ever you need advice. I found an Internet search shown up lots of free helplines such a dog charities, vet nurse helplines are good for behaviour and feeding advice. &#xA;You sound a caring owner. I'm sure you it will sort its self out in time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18081" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T00:33:47.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27939" CreationDate="2020-06-04T05:27:09.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all: don't worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The constant eye contact etc. Is just some instinctive reaction, as the dog most likely isn't sure on why the whole thing happened. As mentioned in the other reply, stay calm and continue as usual. As soon as the dog realizes it's no longer happening this should change again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next time, try to be a bit more careful and &quot;worst case&quot; just let the tick be. Depending on your location, there might be a rather slim chance for any diseases to transfer and damaging (e.g. pressure) the tick might be far worse than just letting it continue until it drops off on its own (as it would act like a syringe).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our Huskies - 6 years now - is very trustful, allows us to remove ticks even from next to his eyes, etc. But if there's a bit of redness around one he'd still run from us as soon as he notices what we're trying to do. He'd continue doing so until he notices we've given up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your puppy: sometimes distractions work very well, but this friends on a dog by dog basis. Make the fearful event into something exciting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, try to feed small treats while a second person tries to remove a tick from the dog's back. It's not that unlikely for the dog to make a connection: &quot;If I feel a tick and show it, I'll get stuff!&quot; It sounds weird, but it definitely works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dog I mentioned earlier even has a tendency to force us into cuddling so we notice ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just to mention it, just in case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you haven't done so, get a &lt;strong&gt;tick hook&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;tick twister&lt;/strong&gt; (marketed under many different names by different brands), if you're still using tongs or just finger nails! Far easier to use and a lot less likely to accidently hurt the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T05:27:09.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27940" CreationDate="2020-06-04T08:08:32.443" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nearly everything looks good. Be aware the temperature requirements can change slightly, based on the age of the dragon. See this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beardeddragoncare101.com/bearded-dragon-care-sheet/heating/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;relevant article&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Night time temperature should be slightly higher, at around 25&amp;nbsp;°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humidity should be between 30-40%. It's very likely you won't need a mister to achieve this humidity. Mine naturally stays around 30%, but I spray it occasionally to raise it. I use a soil/sand mix as substrate so that likely keeps the humidity higher than tile for example would. What substrate will you be using?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can point you to some exact products for heating/lighting if you'd like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-04T10:46:12.623" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T10:46:12.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-04T19:11:02.523" Score="2" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;My horse, unfortunately seems to bare the brunt of our geldings rug attacks. The gelding himself is turned out with two mares. My own, a 3 year old Appaloosa and an Anglo-Arab mare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to getting my horse he used to rip the Anglo's. Although not quite so incessantly. It roughly happened once a month or every couple of weeks. However, with my mare being introduced six months ago her rug has been ripped to shreds. MULTIPLE times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far in the six months of &amp;quot;owning&amp;quot; my mare I have had to purchase six rugs. All of which have been repaired numerous times before eventually having to be thrown for being too bad. (By too bad I mean literally in half.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Up until now I haven't minded so much. Why? Because it hasn't really been a health concern for my mare. They've been ripped but tended to hold themselves well enough, so that she was unable to stand on or get caught up in it by the time I found her. Today was a different story. She's a wonderful mare and didn't move once it had caught around her leg, but it's simply something I do not wish to have a repeat of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just purchased NAF Off's no bite spray and a new 1200d rug to try and hold up against him. I've used other sprays and even mustard before, but this makes little to no difference as he just pinches with his teeth. Horrifically, once it's ripped he tends to leave her alone it's almost as though he enjoys ripping them. I have turned her out without a rug in the evenings recently and he doesn't bite her when there's no rug to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm almost at my ends wit here with him as I've spent well over £300 already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if there are any other methods I can use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T15:06:50.207" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T15:06:50.207" Title="How to stop a horse from ripping rugs?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-04T22:35:16.753" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;my girl Tippy was adopted from an animal shelter and i was wondering what she looked like. her dad is unknown but her mom was a short haired kitty that was all white but with two big black spots on her back. Tippy isn’t going to be short haired i believe though since the thickness of her hair and the tuffs on the inside of her ears and toes. probably medium to short i’d say, anyways any info is helpful, thanks!!&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/h96Ru.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hJICV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/54n3y.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jyvq8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7sTQX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBC6h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gp0xp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zrSK1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XdQlL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LDiI8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/smJAg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yzarT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17983" LastEditorUserId="17983" LastEditDate="2020-06-04T22:41:03.967" LastActivityDate="2020-06-04T22:41:03.967" Title="anyone know what kind of breed my kitty looks like?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-06-05T04:35:20.453" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2020-06-05T07:35:13.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten was recently doing the dig-dig action that he usually does in the litter box, but on the bed for me as well. I was concerned that he thought my bed was a litter box, so I grabbed and placed him in the actual litter box. Turns out he needed to poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18085" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-08T13:57:03.717" LastActivityDate="2020-06-08T13:57:03.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-05T18:27:32.580" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently our cat came back after a fight; he seemed beat, but we didn't notice anything with his tail. Him getting into fights is not as uncommon as you might think because he was a stray before we took him in and he was constantly getting into fights then. The next day he seemed more aggravated than usual and his tail was limp. We think he broke his tail but we don't know the severity. If anyone has any knowledge about this I'd really appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/bc9dU0y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://imgur.com/a/bc9dU0y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18089" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-08T14:02:00.643" LastActivityDate="2020-06-08T14:02:00.643" Title="Can someone help me diagnose my cats tail" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-06T10:41:43.183" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my RES has been constantly splashing and refuses to bask. A month ago she laid eggs. Could there be another set of eggs to be laid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18094" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-06-09T09:29:51.743" LastActivityDate="2020-06-09T09:29:51.743" Title="Can Red-eared Sliders lay another set of eggs after already laying a month ago?" Tags="&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2020-06-06T18:28:01.383" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well my cat does this all the time but she just started doing it, but then I realized she always lied down on the floor next to her food in that case she is probably hungry &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18096" LastActivityDate="2020-06-06T18:28:01.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2020-06-07T00:20:37.670" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can't change their clothes (at least not as quickly as we can) nor adjust the thermostat, so when they are too hot or too cold, they will find &lt;em&gt;places&lt;/em&gt; to nap that will help fix the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the winter, mine position themselves under heating vents, and in the summer, they will nap on windowsills or beg to go outside and sun themselves on the warm brick patio. OTOH, after they get worked up playing, they will lie on the cold tile or wood floors until they cool back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the floor locations she's picking don't put her in danger of being stepped on or tripped over, it's probably best to leave her be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T00:20:37.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27334" CreationDate="2020-06-07T05:43:30.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My goldfish pops the water with his lips on the surface when he is hungry (every other hour), he wakes me up sometimes, sometimes he even manages to squirt the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18099" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-07T09:12:37.343" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T09:12:37.343" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-07T14:19:47.273" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 goldfish in a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank and last night I noticed one of them developed a white bump on its side, then this morning I noticed the other one has a similar white bump on its tail. Does anyone know what this is or what I can do to help? We cleaned the tank last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o1h3R.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o1h3R.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18101" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-07T15:58:21.983" LastActivityDate="2020-06-07T15:58:21.983" Title="White bumps on goldfish" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-08T01:10:58.980" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;My three-year old chocolate lab male is ball obsessed. But once I throw it for him and he catches it, he refuses to give it up, running around with it and if I tell him to drop it, he looks at me, growls, and continues running around with it. I tried treat bribes and throwing him other balls but nothing works. It's quite frustrating.&#xA;Any advice or help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18103" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-06-08T04:06:33.140" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T19:44:43.027" Title="Chocolate Lab wants me to throw the ball for him but he refuses to give it back" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-06-16T14:41:09.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2941" CreationDate="2020-06-09T16:50:31.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;No way! I have a very bad childhood memory of when I left two small turtles with two hamsters in their cage. The next morning I woke up and saw the turtles on their back; when I flipped them over, I realized the hamsters had chewed to their brains and eaten them out. No, please tell your kids to not mix those two creatures together. It’s in the nature of a hamster as a rodent to hunt, while turtles are herbivores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18109" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-09T17:10:42.677" LastActivityDate="2020-06-09T17:10:42.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27961" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27964" CreationDate="2020-06-09T17:37:30.463" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research, but I'm a bit concerned about the methods recommended, namely diatomaceous earth and giving the kittens a bath. I believe the kittens are too young for a bath since they don't have their eyes open, they are only 11-12 days old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called the local pet shop and they recommended cedar oil. They said it is safe for kittens and the nursing mother while she is lactating. &lt;strong&gt;Is the pet shop's claim that cedar oil is safe for kittens true?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, please let me know what I can do to treat the kittens!&#xA;They are very young and vulnerable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18054" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-09T18:57:22.593" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T05:38:08.970" Title="Is cedar oil safe to de-flea 2-week-old kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-09T18:48:36.733" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or, in other words, how close a cat can see distinctively ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, it is around 25cm for an average 46 year old human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a reference, there are relevant articles on Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_distance_of_distinct_vision&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in English&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctum_proximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in French&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;definition: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/punctum-proximum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/punctum-proximum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18110" LastEditorUserId="18110" LastEditDate="2020-06-10T17:08:16.257" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T17:16:47.360" Title="What is the near point (punctum proximum) of cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-06-30T08:40:29.830" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-09T22:59:13.597" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a betta fish that I got about a month ago, and just started noticing black patches on him, and one white patch underneath his gills. He still acts like his usual self, he still eats, and is pretty active, but I want to be sure he isn’t sick or anything. He is in a 3 gallon tank filtered and heated from 78-80 degrees, and I do 25% water changes every week.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UVZHn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UVZHn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18111" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T15:14:51.887" Title="Black/white patches on betta" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27961" CreationDate="2020-06-10T05:38:08.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always assume that essential oils are not safe for cats. There are a few, however, that are. If cedarwood oil is made without phenol, then it is ok. If you cannot find it without phenol, I recommend bathing them with a 50/50 solution of dawn dish soap and warm water. Do not wet them first. Use a flea comb to remove the fleas from their head, then start applying the dawn mixture as high up on their neck as you can safely. Saturate them in the mixture and then wrap them in a towel. It will need to stay on for 15 to 20 minutes, so they'll need to be kept warm. The fleas will start to die after about 12 minutes. Put any live fleas from the comb in a dawn mixture as well. Then rinse the kitten well with warm water, towel them like a burrito for a while and perhaps use a cool blowdryer on low to finish if they don't freak out. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18113" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T05:38:08.970" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27963" CreationDate="2020-06-10T15:14:51.887" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing visual on your beta would be concerning to me. Many fish exhibit color changes for years even after they are born and developed enough to be considered mature. I'm going to guess it's just his natural color developing over time unless there are other signs of stress or illness. If it starts looking like cotton or the texture of his scales or skin changes, that would be a sign of some sort of infection, but based on the picture, it looks like color only to me which should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T15:14:51.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27962" CreationDate="2020-06-10T17:16:47.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0042698977800102?via%3Dihub&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;research&lt;/a&gt; seems to be 12cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Determined the near point of accommodation in 4 cats by measuring visual acuity at viewing distances varying from 125 to 12 cm. The near point of accommodation was taken as the closest viewing distance which just produced a decrement in grating acuity. Results show that the values obtained ranged from 25 to 36 cm and are in good agreement with physiological and optical estimates of the near point of accommodation. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ref:&#xA;Visual acuity and the near point of accommodation in cats.&#xA;Bloom, M., &amp;amp; Berkley, M. A. (1977). Visual acuity and the near point of accommodation in cats. Vision Research, 17(6), 723–730.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18110" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T17:16:47.360" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21096" CreationDate="2020-06-10T18:33:58.807" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;IIRC, there are scent glands between a cat's fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually it's said that a cat's kneading is a reminiscence of a kitten behavior and scratching would be just territorial marking. After the discovery of exocrine interdigital scent glands - again, if I remember correctly - it's hypothesized that the cat is leaving his scent not that differently than if they were rubbing their face on you/the sheet/the sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18117" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T18:33:58.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27968" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-10T18:40:04.367" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently got a female friend for our old male budgie. They are not doing much outside the cage. Right now they have separate cages. But the female wants to get inside the male's cage, I think because it's bigger. Unfortunately, the male keeps squawking at her even though she's just chilling in the corner so we always have to separate them. Will they get used to each other or should we give the female budgie back? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18118" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T13:34:24.967" Title="Male Budgie doesn't want female in his cage" Tags="&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27959" CreationDate="2020-06-10T19:44:43.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog does the same thing! It's likely that he wants to play a game of chase rather than play a game of fetch. Try running away to get him to chase you, and once he's close enough then try getting the ball. Using another ball or toy might also be helpful for getting him to release the ball. If these suggestions don't work, I recommend checking out these methods from the AKC on training your dog to fetch: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-teach-a-dog-to-fetch-or-retrieve/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-teach-a-dog-to-fetch-or-retrieve/&lt;/a&gt; Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18116" LastActivityDate="2020-06-10T19:44:43.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-11T00:44:10.710" Score="4" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an orphaned baby rat, they're small enough that their eyes aren't even open yet, and I don't want to let the little thing die, but I only have access to cow's milk, and I can't go anywhere to get any other formula or something. Can I use said cows milk? And how would I feed them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18120" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T00:44:10.710" Title="Can I feed an orphaned baby rat cows milk? And how would I do that?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27947" CreationDate="2020-06-11T09:51:59.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a problem and you are patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Separate them&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly - if there is any way you can avoid paddocking them together, that is the best way forward. As this gelding needs to be sorted out and he's not your horse, it makes it difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are paddocked in adjacent paddocks, I'd put up electric stand offs to prevent them from getting at each other over the fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have tried everything that is reasonable and the agistment owner should understand that the horse needs to be kept away from your horse. It's not even a matter of having the horse's owner pay for damaged rugs, as you say, it becomes a matter of safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Remove the rug&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way you can not rug your horse? I'm not sure what the temperatures are like there and the conditions. I avoid rugging my horses unless absolutely necessary. My experience with rugs is that they can cause more problems than good too often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one horse who is so rough on rugs, they are destroyed very quickly and I have found the last one hanging around her neck. I fear she would hang herself and have not put a rug on her since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot separate them, I would advise not using a rug. I'm concerned he will still bite her, but the biting injuries are not life threatening, as a rug accident can cause strangulation or a broken leg and result in her being put down. Especially if he hunts her while she is hobbled by the rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Retraining the gelding&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he goes to attack your horse and bite then he may need some training and herd management to put him in his place, however this is limited, as you are not always there. Some horses are not well socialised as youngsters (with other horses) and can be over the top when asserting dominance over other horses. This sounds like perhaps this gelding wasn't kept with older more dominant horses in his formative years. It may be worthwhile investigating this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;A stronger and calm herd leader&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other solution is to get a very strong and calm herd leader into the paddock, another gelding, who is higher than this gelding. He will take your filly under his wing and this biting gelding will stay away from her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like this horse just doesn't know how to behave well in a herd. He probably got away with a lot as a young horse and needs some extensive work to pull him into line. As I said, it makes it hard when he's not your horse. Definitely you can practice hunting him away whenever you're around him, but be mindful not to be kicked, so use a lunge rope or lead rope to give yourself distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T09:57:47.670" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T09:51:59.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2104" CreationDate="2020-06-11T21:43:19.543" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;first off. Petting your bird anywhere below the neck is consider a sexual advance and it is a great way to ensure your parrot becomes sexually fustrated, leading to an angry, agressive parrot. Some birds enjoy neck pet, some birds enjoy head rubs, it all depends on the personality of your bird so find out what they want. If they don't like it they'll make it obvious IE, putting their hands up, nibbling you away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18125" LastActivityDate="2020-06-11T21:43:19.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-12T03:25:19.357" Score="5" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I just rescued a kitten that was under my porch at the restaurant I work at. One of my coworkers rescued him about two weeks ago, housed and feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because he is feral and has just been re-homed as well as visiting the vet all in one day, I was wondering if it was normal that he hasn’t went potty yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has drank water and eaten some dry food I’ve given him (kitten specific dry food). He is around 6-8 weeks old. He is very shy, skittish and chirps for his mother. I’ve been wrapping him up in a little pillow case, snuggling and petting him. Once he settles in my arms, he purrs very loudly which I take as a good sign. I hope that he is just nervous and is getting used to a new environment especially after having such a hectic day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m worried about him and hope that he is alright. Any help or tips are greatly welcomed! Thank you so much. Please note that this is my first cat/kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18126" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-12T12:15:11.380" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T00:16:51.523" Title="Young kitten first day home, bathroom behavior" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-12T04:07:19.577" Score="5" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, almost daily, my cat looks at me as if he's been starving for 25 days straight (but it's actually been hours at most), looking at me with huge eyes, making a pathetic &amp;quot;meow&amp;quot; sound to really make me feel sorry for him and give him fresh, high-quality food which he appears very excited about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then he eats two bites and goes away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens again and again. You can never tell when he's just &amp;quot;begging for fun&amp;quot; or truly is hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would a cat beg for food like this when he's clearly not hungry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't respond with &amp;quot;cats are just jerks&amp;quot; because that doesn't explain anything. I don't think my cat is &amp;quot;evil&amp;quot;. He must have a reason for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18127" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T21:49:34.133" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T21:49:34.133" Title="Why does my cat beg for food with a cute kitten meow, only to not eat it afterwards?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-12T09:41:25.933" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet chihuahua was attacked by an owl and we took her to the vet. She was just bruised, but I just want to know how do you get your puppy back to normal self, because my dog hasn’t acted her normal self again ever since. She’s isn’t playful, she does’t wag her tail because of how traumatized she is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m wondering how can you get your puppy back to normal. I miss her being herself and it hurts me so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18130" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-12T12:19:55.397" LastActivityDate="2020-06-12T12:19:55.397" Title="My dog was attacked by an owl" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-06-30T08:39:14.803" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27974" CreationDate="2020-06-12T11:47:02.867" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A feral kitten will need some time to feel safe in a new home. It sounds like the kitten has started bonding to you and this is a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the kitten eats and drinks it will be fine, but it can take a little time before he dares to use the litterbox. To help the kitten, you can remove the lid from the litterbox and leave it off until he starts using the box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A new cat/kitten will often use the litterbox only at night when the house is quiet. If the kitten does not use the litterbox very soon, you need to take him to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T00:16:51.523" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T00:16:51.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27975" CreationDate="2020-06-12T20:26:02.693" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming he's in good health, it could be any number of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's bored. Begging is something to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He wants attention, and this is his way of getting it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He doesn't like the particular food (smell, flavor, texture, appearance). Cats are definitely &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; evil :), but they are famously persnickety.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He doesn't like the dish, or its location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on his history, maybe he's had experiences in the past with not getting enough food, and he's anxious even though he has no reason to be now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are probably more...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things you could try (this is just an idea dump, obviously ignore anything you've already tried):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he have a variety of toys, a scratching post, places to perch to look out of windows? Try rotating his toys for more variety - put some of them out, and put the rest away. After a few days or so, put some away and set out a few different ones. He'll feel like he always has something new to play with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try giving him more attention if possible (I realize we're all busy). Try giving him attention when he's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; asking for it - if he associates attention with pestering, guess what you'll get more of...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give him different kinds of attention: petting, brushing, snuggling, playing. Talk to him and give him some quick head scratches as you're doing other things (I like this one since I can get things done &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; have kitty time, at once).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try different kinds of cat food. Different brands, different flavors / textures (pate, shredded) / etc. One thing I've found with mine is he's happiest when he has kibble and canned food at the same time. He'll eat a bit of each, go back and forth. He's not happy when he only has one or the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try moving his food dish a few feet away from his water dish. I read somewhere that cats don't like them side by side. I don't know for sure if that's true, but it can't hurt to try.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't have his food and water anywhere near his litter box. (Most people don't, just putting it here for the sake of it.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get him some food puzzle toys to eat from - make eating more like hunting, which will help satisfy his instinct, give him something stimulating to do, and he'll get some exercise. My vet told me about things &lt;a href=&quot;https://catit.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Catit&lt;/a&gt; makes. There might be other brands, but this is what I know about. Digger toys (&lt;a href=&quot;https://usa.catit.com/shop/multi-feeder/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://usa.catit.com/shop/senses-2-digger/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt;), &lt;a href=&quot;https://usa.catit.com/shop/senses-2-food-tree/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;food tree&lt;/a&gt; - browse their site for more. I have a few of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://usa.catit.com/shop/multi-feeder/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;multi-feeders&lt;/a&gt;, which I hide around my apartment in different places. My vet also recommended these adorable &lt;a href=&quot;https://docandphoebe.com/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;feeder mice&lt;/a&gt; which are even easier to move around and hide. (All of these will have to be washed every single day, since plastic can harbor bacteria more easily than ceramic, metal, or glass. If he takes to them, order a few more so you can rotate. They're for kibble, and it's easiest if you can wash yesterday's &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; you've put out today's. Plus you can't put dry kibble in damp feeders...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're using regular dishes, try different shapes - larger, smaller, shallower, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=slanted%20cat%20dishes&amp;amp;sxsrf=ALeKk02Xdsv6-usJd0-GQeo96cMfUQj1tA:1591992872622&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwiDgaHNi_3pAhUoVTABHYJwBuoQ_AUoAnoECBcQBA&amp;amp;biw=1246&amp;amp;bih=536&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;slanted&lt;/a&gt; (the slant helps the food not get pushed to the back of the dish, where apparently it becomes invisible ;) )... Shallower is better than deeper - cats don't like putting their heads into small, deep bowls; it annoys their whiskers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you think he's nervous, try seeing what happens if he always has food available, rather than feeding him only at certain times. Of course this runs the risk of obesity problems, so it's last on the list.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck! Honestly even with trying a number of these things myself, my cats are &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; picky and hard to feed...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18065" LastActivityDate="2020-06-12T20:26:02.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="27983" CreationDate="2020-06-13T11:16:50.977" Score="21" ViewCount="4562" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I expressed to a friend my reservations in adopting one of the starving kittens badly needing someone to take care of them, due to my worries that it will ultimatly be miserable living in my small place (one bedroom, one WC and a corridor connecting them, where a small kitchen is located). Her point of view was that I am overthinking it and that it is illogical to project my own thoughts and worries to other beings, taking for granted on behalf of them what they are going to feel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She insisted that it is much more preferable for a starving kitten which is struggling to survive to find a welcoming shelter, no matter how small it is, than to die and, as such, I should adopt it. Later, if I realise that it has indeed ended up feeling miserable due to its confinement in a small space, then I can search for a solution; in any case, I should face this particular problem when it actually arises and it should not stop me for doing what I feel it is right; saving a kitten from starvation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my own train of thoughts leads me to believe that it is inevitable for the kitten to feel miserable living in a small place, when its basic needs will have been covered and any urgent pressure for survival will cease. Thus, since I won't be moving to a bigger house anytime soon, it is illogical to adopt a kitten when I know in advance that I can not offer to it the means to live, in the long term, a happy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to ask is if my friend is right. Is adopting a kitten without being able to provide the necessary space for it to live comfortably a responsible thing to do, if the alternative is to let it on its own and potentially starving to death? Will a having-faced-starvation kitten feel miserable living in a small place after a certain amount of time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18132" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T16:57:24.770" Title="Is it a responsible action to adopt a starving kitten when I live in a very small place?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-13T11:57:10.727" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;First question is, do you want a cat? If not, disregard the rest of my comment and say no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm inclined to agree with your friend, although I do understand your reservations. If the situation the kitten is currently in involves potentially starving to death - any kind of living area where they are not starving is much more preferable. Consider how you would feel if the same situation applied to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course in the future, the cat may &quot;grow out&quot; of your living area, but at least it will be alive. You could always rehome to someone with a bigger house, or the cat could be so grateful for saving its life it won't be too bothered. Also, cats live a long time, you might move in to a bigger place during its lifetime. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T11:57:10.727" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16703" CreationDate="2020-06-13T13:36:58.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try adding marbles to the bowl!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had this experience with 4 different cats now. The food in the water made the water mucky and it would even stink sometimes. I tried separating the water bowl from their food which seemed to work. Later, I tried to put the water bowl back next to their food, and the same thing happened again. More cat food in the water!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed the way a few of my cats stared into the water as if they were looking for something. But it was just water. I thought maybe they're looking for the bottom of the bowl, or maybe it's because cats see things differently and it's a referencing thing?  So I tried an experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dropped about 5 to 6 colored marbles in their water bowl, and problem solved! They haven't dropped one piece of cat food in it since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So whatever it is, food play, visual thing, I don't know, but it seems to work.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9NYfh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of several different sized marbles in a water dish&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18133" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-15T14:49:07.243" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:49:07.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-13T15:59:08.793" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important things for a cat are food and safety. Many actually &lt;em&gt;prefer&lt;/em&gt; a smaller space because it's easier to investigate, patrol and feel safe in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cats see their world more three-dimensionally than we do. If you can provide things for them to climb and perch on, like cat trees and shelves, that is far more stimulating for them than additional boring floor space, and being up high helps them because they can more easily observe their territory and feel secure from attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you still aren't sure you or your home would be good for adult cats, you can consider fostering kittens. Socializing feral kittens (not adults!) so they can be adopted is a valuable service to your community and best done in a relatively small space. Look for TNR groups and shelters in your area, which can help with finding and placing kittens, respectively, and may have connections for low-cost vet services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T15:59:08.793" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-13T21:15:07.173" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a no brainer. Once the kitten has starved to death there's no options. Saving the kitten's life gives it options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starving to death is a horrible way to die. A safe and well cared for kitten in a small space if preferable to a starving kitten in the elements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Save the kitten, at least it has a chance to live and if it seems unhappy as it grows up, you can find a home for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're also assuming the cat will be unhappy and that the space is too small. There's many things you can do to amuse a cat in a small space. They tend to like the company of their humans and need a scratching post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11916/what-are-some-ways-to-increase-space-for-cats-in-a-small-house&quot;&gt;What are some ways to increase space for cats in a small house?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21884/can-a-cat-who-only-lives-in-a-small-flat-be-happy&quot;&gt;Can a cat who only lives in a (small) flat be happy?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7709/how-much-space-do-cats-need-when-living-indoors&quot;&gt;How much space do cats need when living indoors?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20474/how-large-of-a-space-do-cats-need-before-being-introduced-to-full-house&quot;&gt;How large of a space do cats need before being introduced to full house?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-13T21:15:07.173" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-14T05:28:19.530" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens can find joy in a relatively small space with humans as companions. I’m in China, and many of my friends have cats while living in a fairly small rented apartment. So if you think you can take care of him/her, go ahead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18138" LastEditorUserId="18138" LastEditDate="2020-06-14T09:51:37.647" LastActivityDate="2020-06-14T09:51:37.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-14T11:24:00.663" Score="5" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use a harness to make sure our cat doesn’t jump off the balcony when we let him out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’ve noticed that the harness dramatically changes his behavior for the better. Zero biting, zero meowing, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’re just curious why this is the case, and whether it’s actually because he’s scared, anxious and we should stop. He doesn’t seem to be, but it seems too good to be true!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18139" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T21:51:20.650" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T18:25:56.713" Title="Why does my cat become extremely well behaved when we put on his harness?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-14T17:27:16.480" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't overthink it, it's a kitten, it will be just fine in your small flat, where it will be warm, safe, fed and will have you as company. And if you make the effort to stimulate it through play and provide it with places to climb and perch itself on - even better though strictly optional at this point. Go for it and let us know how it's doing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2585" LastActivityDate="2020-06-14T17:27:16.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27988" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-15T09:49:51.983" Score="1" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a dog that has a pin in his hip from an accident. He is badly affected by the cold and it causes him pain in winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if Glucosamine Hydrochloride will assist in helping his joint pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T09:49:51.983" Title="Does Glucosamine Hydrochloride help painful dog joints?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27988" CreationDate="2020-06-15T09:49:51.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is research that demonstrates the efficacy of Glucosamine Hydrochloride in relieving painful joints in our doggy companions caused by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5356289/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;osteoarthritis&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rheumatoidarthritis.org/dogs-best-glucosamine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;other arthritic conditions&lt;/a&gt;. It helps by preventing the degradation and stimulating growth of the cartilage around the joints. &lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;When it doesn't work&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if a dog has a severe arthritic condition where it is bone on bone, it will not help. &lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to dose&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to effectiveness is achieving a therapeutic level. This is done by giving loading doses of double the maintenance dose for 4-6 weeks - which is 30mg/kg per day. The maintenance dose is then 15mg/kg per day. Split into two daily doses for larger dogs. &lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WXB9j.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WXB9j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rheumatoidarthritis.org/dogs-best-glucosamine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rheumatoid Arthritis Org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Glucosamine Hydrochloride not Glucosamine Sulfate&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Glucosamine hydrochloride is not as well absorbed as glucosamine sulfate, however it reaches the target tissue more effectively and there is evidence that it has therapeutically effective, whereas the evidence of the effectiveness of glucosamine sulfate is sparse. &lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt;  So be sure to source the correct form of Glucosamine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dvm360.com/view/joint-supplements-dogs-helpful-vs-hype&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Joint supplements for dogs: The helpful vs. the hype&lt;/a&gt; Sarah J. Wooten, DVM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T09:49:51.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-15T12:41:34.320" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess I'm the odd one out here, but I do think you are right to wonder if you can take care of this kitten in so small a place. Don't take on responsibilities that you're not ready for. The kitten won't be a kitten for ever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13360" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T12:41:34.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27975" CreationDate="2020-06-15T14:04:21.643" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is s/he eating enough through the day? If not, there could be a problem in his/her mouth or gullet that makes it painful to eat. If s/he isn't eating well, then this is a medical emergency and you should book a vets' appointment ASAP&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18143" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:04:21.643" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13592" CreationDate="2020-06-15T14:46:09.787" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their experience with two cats in single household is that it ends with violence, including sexual, between cats when they grow up even when they were fine as kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to discount your parents' experience, but in my own, I have never observed that--and I can almost guarantee my family (being rural-based and therefore needing multiple &quot;working cats&quot; as well as having a large number of &quot;house cats&quot;) has gone through far more cats than they have. Intact males and females will mate, and to a human it may seem &quot;violent,&quot; but that's just the nature of feline mating. Desexed cats who grow up together, absent any stimuli that might drive them apart, will continue to be just fine with each other as they age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are a little bit worried about problems with travelling (I don't want to tell them that but I hate travelling and even with one cat I planned to ask a friend to see him/her rather then introduce a cat to stress of international travel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid travel with a cat unless it's necessary. Cats are not dogs, and generally don't care for travel. They prefer to stick to their home territory, and take much longer to settle into a new situation than dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are also worried that, as I am single at this moment, I may have a trouble finding significant other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the silliest excuse for not getting a pet that I've ever seen. Anyone who would be &quot;turned off&quot; by two cats will be similarly &quot;turned off&quot; by one cat, and in my opinion, isn't worth your time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They don't buy the argument about kittens playing with each other when I'm away at work as they think that a single one will just sleep through the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many rescues recommend taking two kittens instead of one, particularly bonded pairs of kittens, because kittens are higher energy than adult cats and do, in fact, play with each other during the day. A single kitten, on the other hand, will find whatever it can to play with, and this will potentially lead to household destruction. A bonded pair of kittens (whether siblings or otherwise) will do a great job of keeping each other occupied, and while they may still find mischief to get into (my pair learned to work together to control my thermostat!), it's considerably less than what a single kitten gets into (I had to keep my singleton in a borrowed dog crate to keep her from destroying my bedroom).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T14:46:09.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27980" CreationDate="2020-06-15T16:57:24.770" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your company and the care you provide are much more important to the kitten than your apartment will ever be, so as long as you like cats are are willing to take on the responsibility of caring for another living being, then you'll enrich two lives by bringing her into your home.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A cat tree for scratching and climbing will be appreciated by both of you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18145" LastActivityDate="2020-06-15T16:57:24.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-15T22:55:30.330" Score="6" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;My elderly mother has an elderly cat (technically mine) who is not so steady on her paws these days. She can get about, but walks with duck feet at the front and very stiff back legs - doesn't look right at all. She has other health problems too. Friends of my mother's think she ought to be put to sleep (the cat, that is) and I've been asked what I think. I really can't figure out whether she's in pain. She seems totally unfazed by her non-functioning paws and just as contented as ever, but the internet says they tend to hide their pain. It says you have to look at their behaviour and that if a cat is in pain, it may sleep more (she does sleep a lot, but then she's 18), groom less (she does, but then those hard to reach areas are now impossible to reach), engage with people less (no change there) and be more irritable (if anything, she's less irritable). Her behaviour has definitely changed over the years, but I think she's basically behaving like an old cat and it's not necessarily a sign of pain. Still, I look at the way she walks and think that's got to hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to put her down if she's still enjoying life, but then I don't want to veto it if she's actually in pain and just not showing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you guys out there do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18148" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T00:06:33.810" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T13:19:22.497" Title="My cat doesn't seem to be in pain, but I'm not really sure" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;arthritis&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27994" CreationDate="2020-06-16T05:20:16.693" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please do not be afraid of taking your cat to the vet; not a single vet I know of wants to put an animal down if it can be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat's pain can be treated by daily pain medication and it will help your cat live a better life, so take your cat to the vet to get the pain and other age related problems treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NEVER EVER GIVE YOUR CAT (or other pet) PAIN MEDICATION FOR PEOPLE! It will kill your cat, as most types are highly hepatotoxic (liver damaging) to cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is safe to assume that all cats will develop pain in the joints and lower back when they get old, but this can be treated with medication or manual therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your cat to the vet once a year when it is young and twice a year when the cat is 10+ years; this is to find and treat problems before they get serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember the vet wants to help your pet. He/She does not want to put your cat down. A good vet will give you advice about what is best for your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-19T23:00:03.970" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T23:00:03.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="27997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-16T13:24:32.580" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;My three-month old miniature poodle has a problem when crossing the street on a lead with me - she constantly jumps around excitedly in front of me, trying to play with me. This is something she doesn't do regularly on the sidewalk.&#xA;I believe that I accidentally trained her to do this earlier: the first few times I crossed the street with her I encouraged her to run across the street (I thought this would teach her to cross quickly without stopping), so now she thinks of it as exciting and playtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I've realized my mistake, how can I teach her to cross the street quickly but calmly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it is relevant, she is still learning the basics (sit, stand, down, etc) but she is a quick learner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18151" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T14:09:59.370" Title="How can I calm my dog down while crossing the street?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27974" CreationDate="2020-06-16T14:33:59.840" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats sometimes won't eliminate for an unusual length of time if they are under a lot of stress, especially in the situation of being introduced to a new home. However, not eliminating for too long can actually be harmful to the cat as it can be a sign of things like a urinary tract infection which in fact can even be lethal to a cat. Therefore, if the cat doesn't urinate over 24 hours, you should contact your vet. If the cat doesn't defecate over a few days, then it's also time to call your vet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T14:33:59.840" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27994" CreationDate="2020-06-16T17:45:27.470" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you point out, cats are incredibly &quot;stoic&quot; and will hide pain behavior. If your cat is visibly in pain that is often an indication that they are in significant pain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, by the time you are noticing changes in behavior it may already be severe. You should go to the veterinarian as soon as you can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your description, it may be geriatric degeneration not any different from humans. And since their life span is compressed it may be perceived as quick. But only a vet can tell your for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no specific issue or medical problem, it may simply mean elderly cat support including making changes to the environment (like adding stepping stools and other supports), dietary changes, and cat appropriate pain medication which may allow you to spend a lot more time with a happy animal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually you may be making the call if a major medical issue is discovered, when the pain cannot be abated, or if the treatments are out of reach or too expensive, but that isn't necessarily now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18158" LastEditorUserId="18158" LastEditDate="2020-06-16T18:01:22.410" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T18:01:22.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28009" CreationDate="2020-06-16T19:04:20.847" Score="3" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would love to know a few examples of (1) approximately how much hay you give your pigs and (2) how frequently you refresh it (e.g., small amounts 3x per day, one big pile daily, etc). I have read widely about the care of guinea pigs and understand they should never be out of fresh timothy hay for their primary food source. Each day I find this is hard to balance because my pigs love fresh hay. I do not want them to run out so I give generous amounts and refresh throughout the day. However, if I give too much, they don't finish it, it dries out, and then they refuse to eat it. Dried hay also seems to become stiff and sharp and I worry about them poking their feet or eyes on it. I have three guinea pigs: 2 females and one male, all about 3 years old (rescues).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18160" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T15:02:36.663" Title="Timothy hay - what's the right amount and frequency for guinea pigs?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19086" CreationDate="2020-06-16T22:33:01.603" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried to visit the page you linked and was unable to. For what it's worth, I have a 3 year old boar and I have never cleaned his genitals. I have occasionally removed a sharp piece of hay from that region, very carefully, but nothing else. He's a fighter and very fussy and it's a battle just to clip his nails, so I try my best to avoid any additional torture. That being said, if this is very important to boars' health as they age I should learn how to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18160" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T22:33:01.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20249" CreationDate="2020-06-16T22:38:20.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;For our pampered hamster who sadly passed away a few years ago (after a long and happy life), we used aspen wood chips everywhere but gave her soft paper bath tissue shreds for her bedding. She LOVED that and preferred it to arrange in her nest for sleeping, much more than the wood chips. It was soft and pliable and she'd spend hours arranging it before curling up inside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18160" LastActivityDate="2020-06-16T22:38:20.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28004" CreationDate="2020-06-17T12:53:24.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we had guinea pigs we gave them an unlimited amount. For us, this meant having two hay bags (for three pigs) that were filled basically every other day. If it got on the floor they usually didn't want it so I think it's important to &amp;quot;serve&amp;quot; it in a bag/rack etc so it stays fresh and pee free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what the &amp;quot;advertising&amp;quot; (I'm not affiliated with them, just a happy customer) rules are here but we used dustfreehay.co.uk and got the soft type. It doesn't dry out and isn't sharp, but the UK Timothy was so I'd avoid that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T12:53:24.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-17T13:22:29.507" Score="2" ViewCount="4070" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been exactly 7 days since my dog got neutered. I actually took him to the emergency vet on the 3rd or 4th day because I thought he had reopened the incision. I got confirmation from the technician that the wound was not reopening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I’m not sure what the wound SHOULD look like at this point and if it is okay to take the e-collar off like I had planned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8XAZV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8XAZV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18165" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T14:06:57.340" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T19:37:52.860" Title="Is my dog’s neuter incision infected?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27997" CreationDate="2020-06-17T14:09:59.370" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have an own dog but spend a lot of time with the dog of my husbands parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would do two steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is to reward her for reaching the other side of the street. This would encourage her to get there strict and without time loss. But you have to look that she is not running to get the reward as quick as she could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second aim would be the behavior at the street. Maybe you could find a street that is not frequently used by cars. Then you start to cross the street, but if she is jumping or anything she should not do on the street, you turn and go back. She gets no reward because you do not reached the other side, so she will check that she could only reach the reward on the other side, if she goes calm and quick with you to the other side. (Do not forget to change the sides, so she check it works on the way from left to right side and back from right to left too)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you train her the basics you have experience how long you could work with her and what attempts of her you could reward as steps between until you reach the whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T14:09:59.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28010" CreationDate="2020-06-17T14:35:29.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry but the picture quality is too bad to see what's going on, but the wound does not look reopened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the black substance is a scab, it's ok for the 7th day. However, if the skin itself is turning blue or black, your vet needs to have a look again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The red edge of the incision looks slightly inflamed, which is no reason to panic. If the red spreads out, please contact your vet again. Keep in mind that fresh, healing skin looks reddish pink as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon for blood blisters to form at the incision, even several weeks after the operation when the skin looks like it's already healed. This is usually caused by suture material that doesn't dissolve quick enough (like knots).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Please see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18131/12501&quot;&gt;related question 1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/28886/12501&quot;&gt;related question 2&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The removal of the E-collar depends on how much damage your dog can do to himself. If the stitches need to be removed, the collar should only come off after that is done. If the stitches are resorbed by the body, you can remove the collar, but keep an eye on your dog. If he licks or bites at the wound, you must put the collar back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general note: I'm surprised the vet didn't shave away more fur around the incision, but the picture could be misleading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T19:37:52.860" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T19:37:52.860" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28013" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-17T15:18:18.840" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wasn't entirely sure where to ask this, but had some Robins hatch on my back porch. About a week and a half in the mother bird disappeared for the day came back during the night and in the morning the nest was just cleared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if Robins can actually change nests like that with their chicks or if they may have been picked off, no bodies anywhere. Any insight is appreciated.&#xA;The chicks also didn't even have all their feathers nor left the nest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8398" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T15:18:18.840" Title="Can Robins move their chicks to another nest?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-06-17T16:35:47.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-17T17:33:46.833" Score="1" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Female cat, 2.5 years, spayed, domestic shorthair.  Adopted her in April (2 months ago).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm her primary caregiver (I feed her, scoop the box, clip her nails, etc).  She follows me around pretty much everywhere.  She sleeps in my bed, if I'm outside she will meow at the window, she meows at the bathroom door while I shower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, she has developed a bit of a biting problem.  She only bites me, not either of my parents.  She will sometimes bite when I pet her, which I think is pretty normal.  I just stop petting her.  However, in the last month or so she has started biting when I haven't been interacting with her.  I'll just be laying in my bed, she will sprint up the stairs, jump onto my bed, and bite the life out of my ankles.  Hard. She will bite my ankle and then pull left to right and kind of shake her head.  It leaves a mark but doesn't bleed.  She will do this several times in a row, biting down harder each time.  I think I also kind of messed up - when she first started doing this, I would give her a stern, loud &amp;quot;NO!&amp;quot; and boop her nose.  This would just make her bite harder in like 5 seconds.  Now I just get up and leave the room if she bites.  She never hisses at me or any one else, only our dog if she gets too close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I called her old foster mom and told her this, and she said that my cat didn't do that at the foster home.  The foster mom said it might be the right thing to give her up and send her back to the no-kill shelter I got her from, but obviously I don't want to do that.  The foster mentioned she may be biting me to get attention to play, but I play with her probably 30-60 mins a day plus she plays with some toys on her own.  I'm starting a full time job soon and I don't think I can play with her much more than I already do.  Lots of online sources say getting another cat will keep her more occupied, but the foster made it clear that she cannot stand other cats and is very mean/aggressive towards them.  Does it seem like the right thing to give her up?  Have I trained my cat to hate me by yelling at her when she bites?  Can I ever untrain that?  How long will it take? Why does she only bite me?  Any advice/anecdotes would be super helpful, I'm a first time cat owner and have no idea what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TLDR; Newly adopted cat bites my ankles randomly, but not my family members.  Foster suggested giving her back to the shelter.  Can I train out this behavior or is it a lost cause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18167" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T01:06:27.643" Title="Adopted cat bites me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28015" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-17T17:42:07.400" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two dogs, Milla and Lucy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lucy gets startled easily and when she is scared can be prone to responding aggressively. She is not highly food motivated, especially when she is agitated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Milla wants to play with humans more than other dogs, and she generally tries to avoid confrontation, but she will respond in kind if attacked. She is highly food motivated and highly energetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lucy and Milla used to play chase often in the yard, but there was an occurrence where Lucy was startled by something falling while near Milla. The situation quickly escalated and became a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We broke them apart, but now Lucy shakes whenever they are both out at the same time. We've been keeping careful eyes on both of their responses and controlling interactions pretty carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want them to both be able and willing to play again. It was good for both of them to have a friend to play with. But with Milla being so human-centric and Lucy being so scared, the chemistry just isn't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas of what we can do to help this situation to encourage them to become friendly with one another again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lucy is a small, muscular, 25 lb (11 kg) picanese mix, about 4 years old, and Milla is a lean and tall, muscular, 45 lbs (20 kg), a bit over 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18168" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T22:16:20.413" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T02:41:40.590" Title="One of my dogs is scared of another because of a recent fight. How to teach them to play again?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-17T18:18:36.680" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Backstory:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cat has always had a good appetite. Only problems in the past have been with hairballs getting out of control and suppressing his appetite for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Lately, he stopped eating almost completely. We've tried different types of food. Wet, dry, treats, etc. We're trying anything we can to get calories in him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vet trip:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We went to the vet (obviously) and had bloodwork and checkup. Nothing out of the ordinary has been diagnosed as a result. We're now trying appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current situation:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He's still not eating any proper food we put in front of him, but he &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; lick food off our fingers. We've been giving him &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mondou.com/en-CA/p-hairball-remedy-chicken/1025348?gclid=CjwKCAjw_qb3BRAVEiwAvwq6VlEVY2CKrj4Fg2dBosfAbU9nPs6QGBzXjSPZF1DF8-LQIjsPuTJJFBoCcSoQAvD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anti-hairball paste&lt;/a&gt; which he LOVES and &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01N3QZTMI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lickable cat treats&lt;/a&gt; which he really likes. But they're so low in calories that it's not something that's really sustainable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... &lt;strong&gt;I guess my questions are&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has anyone had a situation like this? Any recommendations on getting more calories in him/getting him eating?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there brands or recipes for healthy high calorie pastes out there? I know it's not a long term solution, but really anything at this point would be great.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. We'll be taking him back to the vet in a couple of days if nothing changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18169" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-17T21:57:49.983" LastActivityDate="2020-06-17T21:57:49.983" Title="Cat will now only lick food from my finger - how to provide high calorie food for a cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28014" CreationDate="2020-06-18T03:07:26.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;She wants to play with you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats generally kill prey by clamping onto it's neck and either suffocating it or shaking their head to break it's neck. Since play simulates hunting, they will often do the same with toys. She's using a &amp;quot;soft mouth&amp;quot;, though, because she doesnt want to hurt you. This is one of the ways that cats instigate play with each other. She's not doing it to your parents because it's only &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, as her friend and caretaker, that she wants to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More play would help, or more specifically play that's hard enough she's panting at least 2-3 times. This is fairly easy to do with a wand toy like Da Bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat wheel may also help. They aren't cheap and there's a chance she won't use it, so it's a risk. But if they do, having very energetic cats myself, it can be amazing. Do be aware that it may take several weeks of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, I know your foster said she didn't like other cats, and it's possible that's true, but the foster may not have been patient enough or done introductions properly. Of my current two cats, the resident hissed and attack the door to where I was keeping my newest cat for an entire week. And they still fight daily, which looks and sounds very bad. But once they've burned off their excess energy, they will lie down together and groom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-06-18T03:07:26.460" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-18T07:12:15.737" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dogs live with horses and whenever they run into the horse paddocks they run around and then make a beeline for the horse poo and eat it. It's not something we ordinarily stop. If the horses have been wormed, we don't allow them to eat it, as it can be toxic for the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering why they enjoy eating the horse poo so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T01:12:11.753" Title="Why do my dogs love eating horse poo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-18T10:15:42.213" Score="4" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats (three kittens) like to drink from our swimming pool, which is filled with a lot of chlorine. This has been going on for a a pretty long time, and even though I provide a huge bowl of fresh water they do not want to drink it. Three of my kittens have been drinking from the pool, and after a while they stopped eating. Once they stopped eating they started vomiting water out of their mouths and they are starting to get skinny. Please help, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18174" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-19T01:02:40.083" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T22:33:27.407" Title="My cats drink from our swimming pool" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28014" CreationDate="2020-06-18T10:18:11.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 4 reasons for cats to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#1 Defensive biting; this happens when a cat tries to defend itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#2 Biting during play/hunt; this is the killing of prey response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#3 Cat's bite to give you a warning to stop what you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#4 Cat's can bite if they have too much energy stored and if they do not know how to get rid of this energy; this can often lead to unwanted behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case I think it is excess energy, so what you need to do is to get your cat to change the focus from you and replace this with something else. You need to play with your cat, so the energy gets used on the hunt and killing of the toy/prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to change a cat's behaviour it is better to divert your cat's focus to something it is allowed to do, than it is to force the cat to stop doing what it is doing wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To play with your cat, you can get a toy on a stick and play with your cat until your cat's energy is used. Another thing you can do is to get a leash for your cat and take your cat for a walk, a slow walk is one of the best ways to use your cat's energy, you do not even need to walk far for your cat to exhaust the energy it has built up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the cats I have had before have enjoyed following me when I walk in the forest (I did never use a leash on any of them, they followed me by their own free will). I did often have to carry them back home when they started to complain about how tired they were, not a lot of energy was left for biting after the trips :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T01:06:27.643" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T01:06:27.643" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28021" CreationDate="2020-06-18T10:39:36.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to take your kittens to the vet. Dehydration is very dangerous to kittens and it might be fatal very quickly, if not treated in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing is to avoid chlorine in a swimming pool where animals are likely to drink water. There are better and less harmful chemicals you can use, like hydrogen peroxide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there is the obvious solution of keeping the cats away from the pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other animals will drink from your swimming pool too, so from an environmental point of view it is best to avoid chlorine in your swimming pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your water supplier does probably add some chlorine to the water, so you can most likely reduce the amount of chlorine you add to the swimming pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to disinfect your swimming pool, your options are: ultraviolet sterilizer, which uses light to kill bacteria and viruses; and ozone generator, which uses ozone to disinfect and remove color and odors from the water. Both of them are harmless to animals and people if used as recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hydrogen peroxide is an agressive oxidizer that removes color, odors and disinfects the water. It gets neutralized in a few hours (it gets broken down to clean water and oxygen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T22:33:27.407" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T22:33:27.407" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-18T13:09:08.063" Score="0" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Shih Tzu and every day, his eye is red with lots of gunk. Vet says he has &amp;quot;dry eye&amp;quot; and wanted to prescribe us a very expensive eye drop.  Wondered if anyone has found a less expensive drop that works well.  We have tried a couple, but no luck yet.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18176" LastActivityDate="2020-06-18T13:09:08.063" Title="My dog's dry eye" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-14T07:49:17.850" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28014" CreationDate="2020-06-18T15:28:37.147" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Biting while being petted is probably normal. It often happens when the cat becomes over simulated from too much petting, and so takes it out on the person petting them. There's often warning signs when the biting is due to over simulation. The cat will go from being really relaxed to tensing up a bit, the tail will start lashing, it's skin may twitch, or its ears may go slightly back.  You should see if you can start to pick up in these signs, and stop petting the cat before it resorts to biting. You can also try toning down the petting to make it less intense for the cat. Big strokes all the way down the back are very intense for many cats. If you stick to gently petting around the face and neck, the cat may get less over stimulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suddenly biting you while you're on the bed is possibly abnormal. I don't think cats typically worry when biting their playmates. It's more of a behavior they might use on prey than for play fighting. It may be a good idea to ask your vet or a cat behaviorist about it. Take video of an incident if you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is also possible it really is just rather inappropriate playing. The first thing you should do is play with your cat more. Thirty to sixty minutes of play a day may be sufficient for some cats, but if it's attacking you in an attempt to play, it clearly isn't enough for your cat. You should attempt to really tire it out, and it will hopefully decrease the number of biting incidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also invest in kicker toys, or if you can't find one, you could also just make one yourself since it's really simple. They're stuffed toys that are quite large compared to the typical cat toy mouse, and often just a simple long tube in shape, though I've also seen ones shaped like fish. They're largish so the cat can really wrap its arms around it and wrestle with it. If you sense the cat is about to play attack you, toss the kicker toy at it, and see if you can get it to wrestle with that instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a last resort, this is one of the few times I think using a water bottle would be effective. Since the behavior you're trying to correct is biting you while you are lying in bed, it won't have the problem that the cat will figure out to just do the behavior while you aren't there. Also, getting sprayed with water is so unpleasant to most cats that it'll really suck the fun out of its game, and will most likely not try again for a while. You just should be careful to only use the spray bottle to correct this one behavior, and not let it become a habit, as then it'll just seem to the cat that you are a mean person that sprays it randomly. Do not spray the cat for the biting while being pet either, as that is again, likely a warning for you to stop what you are doing, and so it's unfair to the cat to spray it in response to it trying to tell you to not do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-06-18T15:28:37.147" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28020" CreationDate="2020-06-19T01:12:11.753" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many animals eat feces.  Some animals must eat feces.  There is even a name for it,  obligate coprophagia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the digestive system is not 100% at absorbing all the value of the food.  For animals that must eat their own feces, it is because it takes two passes through the digestive system to get all the nutrition from the food.  Ruminants do this by having two stomachs and chew the first phase a second time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can't process cellulose well, because they are intrinsically carnivores.  I suspect that by eating horse feces they are getting minerals from the partially digested vegetable foods the horses have eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17722" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T01:12:11.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13532" CreationDate="2020-06-19T04:56:10.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can safely use the glue you mention,UV activated glue does not give off toxins after it is fully cured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the link you provide is dead so here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://corporate.evonik.com/en/media/press_releases/new-adhesive-for-ultimate-bond-102032.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a new one&lt;/a&gt;. I have no connections to the company and this link is only posted for information about the product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An other type of glue you can use is cyanoacrylate you can read more about it &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. On the middle of the page you can read about its use in aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After cyanoacrylate is fully cured it is safe for your fish,cyanoacrylate is the same as superglue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I prefer to use aquarium silicone if the tank is made of glass as this handle movements of the glass better,lower possibility for the glass breaking during use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7153" LastEditDate="2020-06-19T05:05:20.177" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T05:05:20.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28029" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-19T10:39:42.917" Score="10" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the start of the covid-19 lockdown our whole family was at home and the weather was very warm so we spent a lot of time in the garden. A lot of cats visit our garden and most ignore us but a very friendly tortoiseshell cat would turn up sometimes and was so sociable that we would pet it and the kids had fun playing with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, we'd see it every few days. Then it started turning up at the back door and miaowing to be let in: it would persist in this for 30 minutes or so before giving up. One day it came and sat in the pouring rain and we took pity on it and let it in to dry off. It seemed completely at home, so confident that it went and sat on a fleece under a sofa and took a nap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that it started visiting us daily, then several times a day, always expecting to be let in if we weren't in the garden, and sometimes we did. Its behaviour suggested it might be hungry - it would particularly focus on someone with food or drink, miaowing very loudly - so although we've avoided giving it a &amp;quot;meal&amp;quot; we did give it the odd tiny bit of cheese as a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We began to worry that it might be a stray although it doesn't look like one - it appears well groomed and fed and is clearly well socialised. We tried putting a paper collar on the cat with a contact number but it returned the next day without a collar and we got no call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we posted on the neighbourhood group to see if we could find the owner: several people replied to say they'd seen it and to comment on how friendly it was. One person said they thought it belonged to someone on the street but they couldn't say who.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is now visiting repeatedly every day and it will sit for &lt;em&gt;hours&lt;/em&gt; miaowing loudly and expecting to be let in. It also turns up in the night, jumping on the windowsills and peering inside. It's a lovely cat and we're happy to have it around but this level of attention is getting a bit worrying, not least because we don't want to deprive it's caring owner of a well-loved pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best course of action to take here? Is there anything we can do to discourage the cat from visiting so often, without driving it away completely? Or are we going to have to try and scare it away for the sake of its owner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1251" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:58:51.600" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:58:51.600" Title="How to avoid accidental cat-napping?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28029" CreationDate="2020-06-19T21:23:19.253" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest cat-napping it long enough to take it to a local vet and seeing if it's microchipped. If so, you'll know right away whom to call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, take some photos (face, back, and both sides of they differ) and ask any other local vets or shelters if they recognize the cat, and post them on local groups on Facebook, Nextdoor or other social media sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try using a more sturdy collar that the cat isn't likely to destroy, either on purpose or on accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing all that, if it seems to want to move in permanently, just keep an eye out for any lost-cat posters. Spending hours, both night and day, trying to be with you doesn't sound like it is just passing the time while its family is away at work. More likely, it has been stray for quite a while and relying on its friendliness to stay safe and well fed, which is how cats domesticated themselves in the first place. But even stray cats can appreciate a forever home when they find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-06-19T21:23:19.253" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-19T23:45:59.387" Score="3" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rough collie's long coat has made the breed successful on northern Midwest farms as an able herder and &lt;strong&gt;guardian of the farm during the winter&lt;/strong&gt;. The dog needs to be gradually acclimated to the cold and a suitable insulated outdoor shelter must be provided for the dog along with ample quality food and a source of unfrozen water. The rough collie also relishes playing in the snow with children during the winter months. &lt;strong&gt;They guard the farm while the owner is away&lt;/strong&gt; and are naturally protective of small children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Collie#Temperament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Collie#Temperament&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm baffled by this. I can't believe what I'm reading. I must be misinterpreting this somehow. Are they actually saying that the &amp;quot;Lassie&amp;quot; dog stayed on its own for extended amounts of time on a farm by itself and guarded it against anyone trying to break in or come near?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, if this is true, I'm very touched that a dog of any breed would do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, I immediately start fearing for the dog. What if the human intruders have guns or other weapons? I could never be a burglar or &amp;quot;bad guy&amp;quot; myself, for the simple fact that I could simply not kill or hurt a dog or other animal. However, it is possible that I would naturally defend myself if it came attacking me, our of fear of dying myself, or getting seriously wounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that would make me extremely depressed. Just the though that a trusty dog would risk its life and get killed trying to defend its family's farm while they are away (where?!) just breaks my heart. And something tells me that this exact scenario was played out at least one and probably many times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or am I misinterpreting the text? Do they simply mean that the dog barked in an attempt to get humans alerted or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18185" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T13:15:40.747" Title="Did &quot;Rough Collie&quot; dogs (and maybe other dogs?) actually guard the farm when all the humans were away?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;instinct&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28034" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-20T00:08:56.410" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My almost 2 year old, tortoise shell cat, named Korina, used to eat her wet food really well. She always has fresh water and dry food out for her. She has a set breakfast and dinner time, a pouch in the morning around about 8-9 AM, and at night around about 8-9 PM, and she would nibble dry cat food throughout the day and drink her water. She’s done this her whole life and I have always made sure she wouldn’t get bored of her food by changing it every now and then, and she would love it and eat the whole thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, all of a sudden, she stopped. I did her one pouch for breakfast and she didn’t even eat half of it. I had to throw it away, then at night she wouldn’t even eat half of it and I had to throw it away as well. I tried that again for a few more days and nothing was working. I even tried leaving one pouch in there for her to eat throughout the day, but again she didn’t even eat half of it. Also, I’ve changed her food up as well to see if that’s the issue - now I have to give her more dry food so she doesn’t starve because she’s won’t eat anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She’s definitely drinking loads more, but she goes to the toilet fine and is popping better as when she was a kitten. She didn’t poop very much, she would only wee all the time, but I don’t know what to do. I still give her a pouch as I can’t just give her dry food as she doesn’t eat much of it and that pouch she is still only eating less than half. I’ve got to take her to the vets next Friday, as she’s booked in to be spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I ask them what could be wrong? I’m really worried, and she’s my first fur baby I’ve had her since she was 10 weeks old and I was 16/17, I’m now 18. I’m moving soon and I’m afraid my baby could be ill. She’s definitely lost weight also, but she’s a small cat anyway she’s smaller than normal cats. Someone (when she was eating well and wasn’t even a year old she was 6 months old) said she looked skinny and starved - though I knew that’s not the case as I fed her well and she was the rung of the litter, and even now is a very small cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now she actually is starting to look skinny and I’m worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18186" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-20T13:08:27.663" LastActivityDate="2020-06-21T11:33:47.013" Title="My cat has stopped eating wet foods" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28034" CreationDate="2020-06-20T05:25:15.353" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try not to worry about your cat eating only dry food for now, many cats change their food preferences without anything being wrong. Many cats eat less when it is summer and hot, this changes more in outdoor cats than it does in indoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat stops eating or starts to hide from you, it can be a sign of illness then you need to go to the vet. If a cat stops eating for more than 24 hours it can get fatty liver syndrome this can be lethal (skinny cats handle this better than large bulky ones).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you should do is to make a list with all the questions you have for the vet, this is a smart thing to do every time you take the cat to the vet so you do not forget important questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet tells you your cat is too skinny, he/she will probably tell you to change to another type of food. You should get your cat dewormed once a year if she lives only indoors and more often if she is an outdoor cat that hunts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a cat is spayed/neutered they will often gain some weight and/or get a bit less active. Even if a two year old cat is fully grown, the muscle mass and body will still change a little over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-21T11:33:47.013" LastActivityDate="2020-06-21T11:33:47.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28037" CreationDate="2020-06-20T09:34:31.297" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm feeling anxious about the behaviour of my cats and hope to get some advice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR : My cat Nelly (2 years and 3 months old) has become irritable and aggressive, she often growls at and/or attacks her daughter Pris (9 months old) when she passes by or tries to eat or drink at the same time as her.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story : Nelly has always had a strong character - at least partly because we didn't really know how to handle a kitten when we first got her, although we tried our best. She's a Maine Coon BTW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last year, my partner decided to bring her to her former cat breeder to get her pregnant. It went well and Nelly birthed three adorable kitties at the end of September. She was a good mother and raised her children very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In January, two of the kitties left for their new families. We wanted from the beginning to keep the last kitty (Pris) to have another cat and especially to ensure Nelly would never be alone again while we are at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nelly and Pris would often have normal cat play-fights and everything seemed well. They are not allowed to leave the house, although Nelly would systematically run off in the hallway whenever we opened the flat's door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We moved in a bigger house in early March. The cats are still forbidden to go outside. With the COVID crisis, my partner and I started working from home so we were always with them and everything seemed still fine, the cats apparently like the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's been a few days or maybe weeks since I noticed Nelly was often making weird sounds at Pris whenever she was near, and often go on with attacking her - and it didn't look like their usual play-fights. (It's hard to explain why and I may be misinterpreting, but it's really been bugging me) It happens when Pris is just walking by Nelly, or when she's approaching while her mother is drinking or eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day, I noticed Nelly was watching through a window (1st floor) : there was a stranger cat walking on the street just below and Nelly was obviously pissed off. When the cat went out of sight, she stormed off to the garage and planted herself in front of the door, where the stranger cat would probably be walking (estimating its trajectory). A few minutes later, Pris came by and Nelly lashed at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this experience, I suspected Nelly was irritated by what was happening outside and redirected her aggressivity on her daughter. She would also sometimes cry at us, but she's always done that since we have had her, she's quite vocal. She has not tried to redirect her aggressivity on humans, but she has almost not been asking for cuddles in the past few weeks, while she would have looked for cuddles almost daily before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To try to ease Nelly and protect Pris, we added another bowl of food and another bowl of water on the other side of the main room, so that the cats would not be competing for resources (they have had 2 litters from the beginning), but Pris is still always trying to be near Nelly when she eats or drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also bought a big cat tree yesterday so that Nelly could perch on top and feel safer, because I read that cats sometimes need that to relax and I noticed she didn't have access to anything higher than a table or a counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to make a big sound (like slamming on a table) whenever Nelly attacks Pris out of aggressivity instead of play, to cut it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pris, on the other hand, seems completely oblivious of her mother's bad character. She just wants to be around her mother or to play with us. She hate cuddles and always slips away from our hands while purring loudly when we try to touch them, but she is an absolute angel and has no clue about how she could use her claws or teeth to keep us off. I noticed she also purrs loudly and lies down when Nelly is growling at her near the food bowl, and Nelly never goes as far as to attack her in this situation, she even stops growling and resumes eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also point out that Pris often asks us for play time, which we grant her happily. Nelly has almost not been playing since she got pregnant, but she was quite playful as a kitty. She never joins in our plays with Pris, even when we invite her. I tried a few days ago to isolate myself with Nelly in one room and play with her, she responded quite well, and even came in the evening to have a rest and small cuddles on my lap. She was discretely purring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From all these observations and experiences, I think Nelly feels on one side unsafe because of what she sees through the windows and redirects her aggressivity on her daughter because that's the only target she has ; and on the other side, I'm afraid she feels somehow neglected by us because Pris gets all the playtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nelly has been awful to her daughter this morning, attacking her 4 times in one hour and growling a dozen more times. I feel so bad for both of them. I'm clueless about what to do to have them feel better and get along better. I'm sorry if this post is very long, I tried to give out as much informations as I could.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestion for me to help my two cats be better ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to ask any question or to ask for any clarification, I'll be glad to answer. Thanks !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12504" LastActivityDate="2020-06-20T11:34:51.427" Title="My female cat has suddenly become irritable and aggressive, particularly against her daughter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28036" CreationDate="2020-06-20T11:34:51.427" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all it is normal for a cat mother to chase away her children when they can take care of themself and this is how the cat world works,all cats in natue has to do this tigers-lions-lynxes and all other cats will chase away their offspring they will do this to be sure the resources in their territory will suport their next litter of kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farm cats will chase away the male kittens but they might let their daughters stay,this is to protect future litters of kittens as it is likely female cats will have kittens around the same time so they can take care of eachothers kittens(nursing and protecting them from danger)this will leave each female cat more time to hunt for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing you can do for your cats is to feed them at separate places lowering the competition regarding resources,an other thing you can do is to create safe places for your cats this is best done by creating areas that is elevated(on top of furniture or shelves)it does not cost a lot to create walkways for your cats on the walls in your house,only a couple of shelves and maybe move some of the furniture a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short try to provide each of your cats their own private space so they can get away from eachother,i have had success in doing it this way with several cats that did not like eachother but still had to live toghether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-06-20T11:34:51.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-20T14:21:23.060" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am starting to give my cockatiels wood so they use it as a toy, destroying it. I know there are many toys made out of wood, but isn't it possible for them to get hurt with the splinters if they eat them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18086" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-20T14:35:24.970" LastActivityDate="2020-06-21T11:27:08.217" Title="Risks giving wooden toys to parrots" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;toys&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28038" CreationDate="2020-06-20T17:28:20.280" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 African greys, about 25 and 20 years. We have found &amp;quot;a busy beak is a happy beak&amp;quot;. They love to tear things apart, never had a problem with splinters. Their favorite is chicken leg bones, they turn them into sawdust getting the marrow. Chicken bones are probably too big for cockatiels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-21T11:27:08.217" LastActivityDate="2020-06-21T11:27:08.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-21T10:34:10.213" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't believe this just happened to my 1-year-old gecko... he dropped half of his tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jaeg5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jaeg5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About more than a week ago, my brother accidentally stepped on his tail, I wasn't sure if he had been suffering a tail injury as he didn't drop his tail after that incident, just the part of tail that was stepped on got stiff and... maybe the morph faded a little? Just few hours ago he was shredding, and there was a house lizard got stuck inside the enclosure (just a detail I'd like to highlight, and it's NOT the first time). He was a little disturbed and I removed the lizard anyway. A while later I went on checking, he was biting his tail end. I then notice his tail end was badly shredded (first time having shred problem) and new injury, there was no open wound but I can see the redness. I have no idea how he got the injury, whether it was because of the bad shred or the stuck house lizard. Few hours later (now) and this happened. I want to figure out what is the cause of his tail drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He looks calm, nothing stuck in the wound and no bleeding. Should I bandage the wound? If I have to, how? Old substrate was cleaned up. Enclosure is clean, it was properly washed and disinfected few hours ago before he started shredding. I'm using aspen bedding for the substrate, is it okay for the open wound? Just for your information, his sleeping spot is empty and no bedding as he dislikes it and always sweeps it aside. So I don't worry about the substrate getting stuck in the wound, just wondering if this is okay. I'm going to discard the dropped tail... it broke my heart to see this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-21T11:19:01.003" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T20:04:35.560" Title="What happened to my leopard gecko? Is aspen bedding good for him?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28041" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-21T15:42:31.070" Score="4" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Proud to say after two months and hundreds of flyers given out and posters and trail cameras set, someone spotted our cat 4km away and we got her back yesterday. We took her to the animal hospital and she is doing okay so far. She is currently locked alone in a room and we are supervising her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I noticed whenever the other cats see her in the last day (there is a transparent cat door in that room which is locked now) they start hissing at her and changing their attitude towards her. My cat that was missing however seems to still be happy and wants to play with her old friends again. Why exactly are my other cats so aggressive towards her? They were best of friends since they were young for over 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17849" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T00:54:39.580" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T00:54:39.580" Title="Found our indoor cat after two months. Why do our other cats hiss when they see him? They were best of buddies for three years" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28041" CreationDate="2020-06-21T17:21:14.447" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats identify each other by scent a lot more than by sight, and after a cat has been gone for two months he will have picked up a different smell that the other cats do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can often see this if one of the cats has been at the vet; when the cat comes back it will take some time before the other cats know him/her because he/she smells different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take it slow when you re-introduce the cats so they get time to recognize each other and each other's smell. A little hissing is often just a warning to the other cat and is a sign that one cat is unsure about the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case it is best to provide your cats some safe spots so they can make a quick retreat if there is any problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take one of your used t-shirts (unwashed) and put this where the cat that was lost sleeps, then move this t-shirt to where the other cats sleep the day after. This is to transfer the smell of the cats and you to make the re-introduction a bit easier for the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on how the cats react to the t-shirt, you might have to move the t-shirt between the cats several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-22T14:24:51.510" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T14:24:51.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28040" CreationDate="2020-06-21T19:30:27.043" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot going on here. The causes could honestly be anything you listed. The individual incidents could also exacerbate the others - i.e. the tail being stood on could make the shed worse etc. Geckos effectively have to be in a life or death situation to drop the tail and therefore I feel the most likely scenario was the other lizard caused it - either by attacking or your gecko was just so stressed by its presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From now on, please ensure people are careful walking around your gecko and secure the enclosure to make sure nothing can get in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/7563/17680&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; answer to another question regarding how to care for the gecko now it's dropped its tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-06-21T19:30:27.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-21T20:05:57.037" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may seem very strange, but about once a month my 1&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; year old female bearded dragon goes in to a bit of a &amp;quot;mood&amp;quot;. I adopted her about 5 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She stays in one spot, usually in her cave on the cold side for most, if not all of the day and will only really move if I offer her food. The first time this happened it really worried me and I took her to the vet who said nothing was wrong with her. It does continue to worry me, but I don't take her to the vet anymore. After a few days she goes back to normal behaviour. She hasn't laid any eggs either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, do bearded dragons menstruate, is this a common behaviour, or could there be something wrong with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T00:18:41.587" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T09:30:54.663" Title="Do female bearded dragons menstruate?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28046" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-22T06:44:15.457" Score="13" ViewCount="11232" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, my husband and I brought home a small, 15 day old puppy from a local shelter. Its mom has passed away so I have adopted it. I feed it with a bottle filled with milk from my pet goat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppy is too attached to me and my family. Since 2 days ago, he is trying to come and play around my breasts, so can I allow it to do so? If not, please let me know the solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18195" LastEditorUserId="2855" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T05:35:50.917" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T05:35:50.917" Title="Can I allow my puppy near my breast?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28046" CreationDate="2020-06-22T12:47:39.580" Score="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;15 days is way too young to separate a puppy from the mother. Like Trond Hansen wrote, the puppy has to eat mother's milk in this age to be healthy and it needs the body of the mum to stay warm and comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be the reason the puppy searches for the body contact with you. The near breast is not its aim I believe, because there is no smell of milk (I assume you have worries about this? Am I right?) in case you are no new mum now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You write &amp;quot;the puppy is too much attached&amp;quot; but this I assume is normal in this age. Being 15 days old, a puppy has no (really NO) chance to live without the support of other (normally the mum) animals. It knows this and is active searching for protection. It wants to stay close and be sure it is protected by someone against enemies, cold and hunger. Its understanding does not reach through a door, over a &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; distance or differ between nature and your home. Because of that, it needs short distance to its protectors (you and your family) to feel good and be the best puppy it could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-22T19:15:56.177" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T19:15:56.177" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28046" CreationDate="2020-06-22T19:09:20.387" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;15 days is extremely young for a puppy to be away from its mother, that said it sounds like you ended up with the puppy from a local shelter, so the mother or a surrogate mother may not be available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is a case I would recommend you go that shelter or a veterinarian to find out the best care regimen for the puppy in terms of diet and socialization. This is going to be a difficult time for both you and the puppy as they will require a lot of extra attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related to your direct question, I doubt that the puppy is trying to suckle from you, and I suspect that it is really seeking warmth and comfort, and is just trying to stay as close to you as possible. Young puppies spend most of their time either in a pile with their litter-mates or right up against their mother, so it is just trying to replicate that with you. In order to keep the puppy comfortable and calm you may want to buy a number of warm and soft plush toys that they can snuggle up with to simulate their typical puppy behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a vet or an expert on puppy well-being, and you should follow any expert advice you can get on the matter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8944" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T19:09:20.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2248" CreationDate="2020-06-22T19:30:02.757" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as a counter-point to the existing good answers, my dog did much better outside her crate than she did in her crate. Even after following the recommendations of our vet and trainer for acclimating her to her crate, she was always anxious and unhappy being crated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as she was generally house-broken we started letting her stay in our living room when we were away. We puppy proofed it as much as possible and always left her with plenty of activities and distractions while we were out (toys, safe chews, places to curl up for naps, etc.). Since it was the space she already spent a lot of her time in she felt more comfortable there than she would have in a smaller room or crate, and while she still didn't particularly like being left at home, she wasn't nearly as upset when we got back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She did have a few accidents early on, and a couple of things got destroyed while she was still adjusting to it (a pillow got de-stuffed, a shoe got nibbled on, that sort of thing), but ultimately it was the better approach for her. When we came back and she had misbehaved or had an accident we just calmly addressed the issue and moved on without reprimanding her. We had her sit and wait while we cleaned up any mess she left, and afterwards gave her plenty of attention and love. Her personality is such that she knows when she's done something she shouldn't, so shaming or punishing her wasn't necessary and would only have served to make her more nervous about being left alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each dog is different in how they respond to certain situations, and as dog owners we need to be willing to adjust our approaches and expectations to suit their needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8944" LastActivityDate="2020-06-22T19:30:02.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-23T07:13:09.460" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I feed toad in India?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have rescued a toad and kept in my fish tank. Now I try to feed it with fish food, but it is not eating. Please help me, what can I feed to my new baby?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18195" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T12:48:46.973" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T12:48:46.973" Title="What to feed to toads in India?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;frogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-23T07:38:16.933" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Overview&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my celestial pearl danios (CPD) has gone off their food and is skinny.&#xA;Whilst it might be too late for him, I want to save the other 5 CPDs in the tank.&#xA;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Background and recent tank history&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last week my Betta died at 2 years old.&#xA;Initially I thought something may be wrong with the tank since I thought they were a 3-5 year life expectancy, but the local pet store guy, who is an avid hobbyist, said 2-3 years is becoming more and more common due to intense inbreeding in recent years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the danio is now sick, I am not entirely convinced it was only the betta's genetics to blame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sick danio symptoms&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One CPD has now gone off their food, stays still when the others leave him alone, and has a flat belly compared to the other male, and the dorsal fin and pectoral fin are held close to the body.&#xA;I would describe their movement as erratic, especially when food is in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another has had an arched back and &amp;quot;bobs&amp;quot;, which sounds swim bladder related until you consider she has had this since maturing to adulthood months ago, indicating a genetic developmental defect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the skinny one, all exhibit very typical behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Parameters&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my most recent log entry from the weekend.&#xA;These parameters are how the tank has been for months.&#xA;A cup or two of water changes is made every day, and RO:hard tap water 50:50 is used to replace it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;25 degrees C&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Air bubbles through sponge filter 24/7&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;10-25 ppm Nitrites&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;0 ppm Nitrate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;0 ppm Ammonia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;4 &amp;lt;7 GH ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;6-15ppm KH&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;7-7.6 pH&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;0 ppm Cl&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tank contents&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;8.5 gallon tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;6 x CPD (2 males 4 females) (1 curved back and floating issues, 1 retracted dorsal and anal fin)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 x Horned Nerite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some small snails&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Monte carlos lawn (good health)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tiger lotus (green,  room for improvement health)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anubias barteri (some browning tips, also new growth)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Egeria densa (string algae infection, a couple of new growth areas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Water lettuce (good health)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Duckweed (depleting, but there has been a lot disturbance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frogbit (many browning leaves, but generally good health)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Marimo balls x 4 (good health, there was a dead patch which is recovering rapidly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Java fern (No large leaves new growth going well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bacopa (declining health, yellowing leaves)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vallisneria spiralis (good health)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Recent upsets to the tank, and failed Amano shrimp introductions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be by the by, but it might be one of those niche things someone else may have experienced.&#xA;Since the betta died I have gone through the tank thoroughly removing anything that could be an issue.&#xA;I imagine this would have been very distressing to the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the declutter I found a couple of rocks that looked to be rusting and were potentially leaching iron into the water.&#xA;You cannot see the iron vein from the outside, it must be on the inside of the porous surface of the stone.&#xA;Over the last year, I have tried introducing Amano shrimp to the tank.&#xA;Each time the betta harassed them and none survived 24 hours.&#xA;However, I tried another before this declutter, but after the betta died, and that shrimp too did not survive 24 hours.&#xA;I suspect these dodgy rocks are to blame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Treatment so far&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am at a bit of a loss since the symptoms are a bit vague, and the tank is otherwise healthy.&#xA;But CPDs are supposed to be bullet proof and these are barely 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, I decided to add in some boiled Alder cones and treat with methylene blue and acriflavine at the recommended dose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I posted this previously to reddit and whilst it did not yield much useful information, someone raised the question of parasite treatment as a possible solution, which could have been introduced by the recent Amano addition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Any ideas for the next steps are very welcome.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I intend to not treat further if no other fish become sick, and just assume the stress of the declutter shocked the fish fatally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5320" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T07:38:16.933" Title="What might cause a Celestial Pearl Danio to go off their food?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;danio&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28052" CreationDate="2020-06-23T08:46:16.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a frog, it can see only things that move. So if you feed it anything which does not move, it is as if it does not exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In their natural environments, toads and frogs eat living (and moving) insects. Pretty much anything that moves and fits their mouths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, you have only a few alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;buy living insects to feed to your toad;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grow your own insects, to feed them to your toad;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you are in the proper area, just leave the windows open, and all the required insects will come to your toad (&lt;em&gt;worst case, I would not do that even if I would be paid loads of money&lt;/em&gt;);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;release the toad to its natural environment, it has better chances of survival - &lt;em&gt;and this is the best option, in my opinion&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What to feed to toads &lt;strong&gt;in India&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My best guess is that toads in India are similar enough with toads world-wide, and therefore they most likely have the same diet requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T10:10:16.350" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T10:10:16.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-23T11:06:11.353" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8 month old male akita that has moderate separation anxiety. He is semi-house broken. He only soils inside when I'm away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recently been letting him roam my apartment when I'm gone only because I haven't crate trained him since he was a few months and I've tried putting him in a small office only for him to scratch and claw at the door and I can't leave him outside in his pen anymore since it gets in the 90's now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've installed a baby cam that has two-way talk so I can try to tell him to stop if I catch him on camera, but he ignores this. I have peepads set up but I'm trying to wane him off which has resulted in him recently soiling on my living room rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using the Nature's miracle advanced spray but I don't think it works cause he's been going in the same spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just looking for tips on how to keep him from soiling in the house while I'm away cause when I'm home he knows not to go inside. I've recently got a new and bigger crate so I might give crate training another shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18205" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T02:27:30.173" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T10:55:18.823" Title="8 month old akita separation anxiety soiling on rug when away" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27891" CreationDate="2020-06-23T11:55:08.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This soil contains large amounts of sphagnum peat moss, which will likely raise the acidity of your tank to a level that will restrict the plants you can grow and may adversely affect your cherry shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dependent on which state it's being purchased in, it will also contain &amp;quot;processed forest products&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;processed softwood bark&amp;quot; which will leach tannins into your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend reading up on the Walstad method and sourcing one of these soils (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Walstad_method#Soil_types&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Walstad_method#Soil_types&lt;/a&gt;) as they have been tried and tested by the author of the method (and the planted aquarium community too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T13:19:25.490" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T13:19:25.490" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-23T12:04:55.957" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a question about an orphaned puppy (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28046/can-i-allow-my-puppy-near-my-breast&quot;&gt;Can I allow my puppy near my breast?&lt;/a&gt;) I like to get an answer about the general (extra) care an orphaned puppy needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What special care did an orphaned puppy need?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is different to the &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; care for a &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; separated puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-06-24T21:25:08.047" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T22:04:27.290" Title="How to care for an orphaned puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28060" CreationDate="2020-06-23T12:45:51.583" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a no-filter small tank where I keep my betta. There is a small pothos inside, as a way to absorb all the urea. But just today I realized he keeps on lounging towards the surface till his snout and eyes break the water surface. He does this repeatedly about 4-5 times, then stops and swims normally. I took him out and put him in a new dechlorinated water, just in case, with air bubbles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any idea why he is doing this? Is it normal or a bad sign?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18208" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-23T13:15:24.410" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T16:02:14.477" Title="Why my betta lounges at water surface repeatedly" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-23T14:54:17.760" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two rescue dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sherman is a 3.5 year old, 110 lb German Shepherd/Boxer/Mastiff (we think) mix that I've had for 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chance is a 4 month old, 35 lb Beagle/Hound (we think) mix that we just adopted a month ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They chew through every toy I've gotten them in very short order.  Sherman was not really a problem anymore because he had outgrown the &amp;quot;chewing on everything&amp;quot; stage and if a toy wasn't around, he would just not chew on anything.  Chance, however, is still chewing on anything he gets his hands on: shoes, power cords (the reclining seats on my 8 month old couch no longer work because he chewed through the cord), my Cubs World Series hat, the blinds on my windows, crocheted pillow my daughter made me for my birthday, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help prevent this, I've tried to keep chew toys of different textures around.  This works great, except between the two of them, they basically destroy them almost as fast as I can buy them.  &amp;quot;Indestructible&amp;quot; toys are demolished in a day or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody suggest some toys that are actually durable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17719" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T22:10:43.310" Title="Are there any chew toys that are ACTUALLY tough?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-06-30T08:39:05.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28058" CreationDate="2020-06-23T16:02:14.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bettas are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabantoidei&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anabantoids&lt;/a&gt;, commonly known as labyrinth fish after the labyrinth organ, which is a kind of lung-like extension of the gill tissue which can absorb oxygen from air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For labyrinth fish, occasional surface gulping is quite normal and is a supplementary breathing action. This doesn't mean the fish isn't suffering from ammonia, nitrite or chlorine poisoning as you would generally assume from other fish families, but it is not a smoking gun in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, it would be prudent to get a test kit for ammonia and nitrite, and consider installing a simple filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2020-06-23T16:02:14.477" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-24T13:18:22.343" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've started to get my three year old filly used to being saddled. Currently with just a roller but she has had a pony saddle on her twice now (without stirrups attached.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she has started to become quite girthy. Every time I do her girth up I take my time and go up one hole at a time, ensure she's comfortable with it and then go up again. Within the past two girthing attempts she has started  to &amp;quot;nip&amp;quot; she doesn't land them and always gets a firm warning which usually stops the behaviour until I go up another hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there's a way to combat this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it's a fitting issue I have a saddler coming out in two days who will assess her and hopefully give me some advice on girths too. She's currently in a humane girth and I've been wondering if I've been over tightening the saddle but then I have to do the saddle up &amp;quot;tight&amp;quot; as it did start to slip previously...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or experiences with girthy horses would be appreciated and if there's another factor I might have missed other than the fit and the speed then do please highlight those too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17188" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T21:37:31.170" Title="Remedying a girthy horse" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;horses&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;saddle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10637" CreationDate="2020-06-24T21:16:31.120" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an opinion only, but we adopted two kittens, a brother and sister. The sister died and the brother would meow for her for some time, looking for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A year later we adopted two stray kittens (brothers) and our existing cat fathered them and took care of them. They are all very close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals form bonds and keeping one of the kittens might be a nice thing for the mother, as long as you get the kitten and mother neutered as soon as viable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for keeping a male or female kitten, I don't think it really matters. Over the years we've had every combination without difficulty. Again the key is desexing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T21:16:31.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28046" CreationDate="2020-06-24T21:23:22.830" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep up the feeds, give the puppy plenty of affection, cuddles and keep it warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no need for the puppy to play with your breasts per se. Unless you are lactating, in which case a very young animal may be drawn to human breasts, the puppy will not relate human breasts to being fed. The puppy will be looking for comfort and safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend getting the puppy vet checked and ensure that all its nutritional needs are being met. At some point you will need to address this, as puppies start weaning at around 6 weeks and there is a progression onto solids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T21:23:22.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28062" CreationDate="2020-06-24T21:37:31.170" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be hurting her and this needs to be excluded. Excellent idea getting a saddler out to fit her as they should be able to identify this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good idea to look at your horses face when saddling them or when they are being mounted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a mare I was concerned with and I watched her face. It was clear she was in pain and I was able to address the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An ill fitting saddle can create all sorts of perceived &amp;quot;behavioural problems&amp;quot;, when in fact the horse is in pain and trying to communicate this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any possible discomfort is excluded, the way I deal with horses that try to nip is to keep a bent arm positioned between me and the mouth and I watch and am ready. I swing my bent arm out if the horse attempts to nip me. I try to preempt it rather than wait to be bitten and teach them it's not ok. A swift defensive elbow or a slap on the muzzle with the hand when a horse tries to bite tells them it's not ok. I am not advocating brutality, but communicating it's not ok, as a higher horse in the herd would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a horse is nippy and trying it on with behaviours that are pushy, back to handling 101 and making the horse move its feet and reaffirm that you are a higher horse. Lower horses in the herd will not bite higher horses. The higher horses will nip to move on lower horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your filly is still young and they tend to explore the world with their mouths and can clack quite innocently, but it's important to teach them in that transition to adulthood that nipping is not ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T21:37:31.170" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28059" CreationDate="2020-06-24T21:46:15.537" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my opinion and personal choice only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never liked chewed toys, I figure that whatever the toy is made of is likely to be ingested by the dog. I've always preferred bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27861/6796&quot;&gt;What can I give my dog to chew that will last more than a few minutes?,&lt;/a&gt; I detail what I use when a dog is able to chew through smaller raw bones too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Raw beef soup bones and long bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brisket bones and raw chicken drumsticks and wings help with chewing, and make an addition to a healthy diet, as an adjunct to the longer lasting bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T21:46:15.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28059" CreationDate="2020-06-24T22:10:43.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a couple heavy chewers and we give them Elk antlers. You can find small ones at big box pet stores, but if you look online there are several places that will sell you massive ones for much better prices (I'd recommend a shop but don't think that's allowed). Even with very heavy chewers they can last a month or more, and because of the marrow inside the antler, they keep coming back. Best of all, they're odorless and won't stain your carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only downside is they can be very loud depending on your dogs tactic for chewing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastActivityDate="2020-06-24T22:10:43.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28015" CreationDate="2020-06-25T02:41:40.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult with dogs of different natures and the pekinese cross sounds like she is timid and just not coming back so well from the encounter as her gregarious companion. These things cannot be forced, as you are well aware, so it's going to take time and encouragement. They may not ever be the playful companions you so desire and that's ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are not as playful with other dogs, it's not their &amp;quot;thing&amp;quot; so to speak. They're more serious and don't have the same energy levels and that's just the way it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearing in mind that Mila is younger, still coming out of the puppy phase and twice Lucy's size, it's something that will take some time and perhaps as Mila matures it will also be easier for Lucy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, so some tips to encourage play and help relieve Lucy's nerves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give Lucy space from Mila. She feels threatened and needs to feel protected when investigating the garden. Perhaps give her alone time in the garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Playing in tandem, using two people, one playing with Mila and the other with Lucy. So both dogs are occupied in each other company, but separate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Raising Lucy up to a safe place. If it's possible to provide Lucy with a small kennel or similar that is off the ground, she can be perched up and watch Mila playing with her humans from a safe place. This differs a little from having Lucy on someone's lap or in someone's arms, as she may become territorial and snap at Mila if she comes near in her exuberance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's clearly intimidated, by giving her a higher place that only she can occupy when they're outside might help her feel safe and give her the height to not feel so threatened. As mentioned, I don't think you can change her fundamental disposition, but you can help alleviate her nerves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T02:41:40.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28055" CreationDate="2020-06-25T07:28:50.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety is always hard to combat and you need to have lots of patience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly advise against talking to your dog via baby cam. I once saw a Youtube video (sorry but I can't find it anymore) where a trainer explained that it only increases the anxiety of the dog. The dog &lt;strong&gt;knows&lt;/strong&gt; you're gone because he cannot hear the sound of your steps or your breathing and your smell slowly fades. And then suddenly there is a voice...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either the dog doesn't even recognize you because your voice sounds different&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or if the dog does recognize you, he gets even more anxious because it sounds like you're here, but all of his other senses tell him that you're still gone and when your dog goes searching for you he cannot find you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, you need to understand that urinating is not called &amp;quot;relieving onself&amp;quot; without a reason. It's common for dogs to spontaneously pee in highly excited situations to relieve the excitement. Scolding an anxious dog for an act that relieves the anxiety only leads to more anxiety. As hard as it is, you must ignore him while he's soiling the carpet and you must not scold him for it when returning home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To combat the seperation anxiety, you could try these methods alone or in combination with each other:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give your dog a potty break shortly before leaving.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a radio or TV on low volume so the dog hears familiar sounds and doesn't feel abandoned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave a worn (smelly) shirt for your dog so he has your personal smell around. Dogs measure the time of your absense by how much your smell disappears, so keeping an item with your smell close should feel like less time passed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; establish a ritual of leaving the home like saying good bye to your dog or giving him one last parting look. From a dog's perspective, if you first initiate an interaction and then suddenly the door closes and you're gone, the dog tries to follow you because you just interacted with it for some reason. Dogs don't interact to say good bye, they interact to get the pack to follow them, tell them about an intruder or a food source or if they need help with something. If a dog has to leave, it turns around and leaves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spot on the rug should be cleaned with an enzyme cleaner that chemically destroys the smell. In the meantime, try placing a peepad right over the spot when you're about to leave to spare the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T10:55:18.823" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T10:55:18.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28071" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-25T10:55:01.720" Score="2" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;We took the kitten to the vet, the vet said it had lots of feces in the stomach and unable to excrete properly due to the curvature of the spine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was given laxatives and pain killers, but after a day and discharged from the vet, the stomach is even much bigger than when we brought the kitten to the vet. The stomach is large for a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the laxative and painkillers are not the solution but time is short if it doesn't get resolved the kitten will probably pass away in a few days. The vet did not allow people in the office and only through the guard so we have no idea what its chances are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten was never able to walk properly. It always limped and struggled and would always end up on its back for the whole day. Lately, the cat never walked anymore and just kept peeing itself so we had to bring the kitten to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16479" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T11:55:51.050" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T12:34:09.863" Title="How to save a kitten that has its stomach getting bigger and bigger due to feces?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;feces&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28071" CreationDate="2020-06-25T11:51:02.090" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the kitten has deformities that causes problems for its ability to defecate it is very little one can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to talk with the vet and ask what is best for the kitten,there are times in life where letting go is the only responsible thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take a look at the situation do you have the resources to give the kitten a good life or is this impossible as a result of the kittens deformities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When i say resources it means money and time to get possibly multiple surgeries done on your kitten and the time to suport the kittens for several weeks after the surgery is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pain of letting go is the price we pay for loving somebody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T12:34:09.863" LastActivityDate="2020-06-25T12:34:09.863" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-25T14:25:43.837" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter is moving back in to save some money, and she currently has a 2-year old Husky/Shepherd mix. He is constantly piddling when he gets excited. I am not familiar with these breeds, nor have I ever had a dog with this much energy.  I'm looking for ideas on the best way to train him to stop peeing when excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18176" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-25T15:02:54.777" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T16:17:42.767" Title="How to get a 2-year old Husky/Shepherd mix to stop piddling when he's excited?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28073" CreationDate="2020-06-26T05:40:34.213" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many dogs, especially puppies, urinate when they are very excited - either positively excited by the return of a loved one or negatively excited by a reprimand or fight for dominance. This behavior is called &lt;strong&gt;submissive urinating&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to understand that this behavior is a dog's way of saying &amp;quot;I want to be your friend, I'll accept you as the higher ranking individual without opposing or fighting you&amp;quot;. Even if the dog pees right on your shoes, you must not become angry and reprimand him for this gesture that is really submissive and a precautious peace offering. The dog doesn't do it to annoy you, so please don't be annoyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a very good &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/submissive-urination&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article by WebMD&lt;/a&gt; that lists several possible causes and ways to train a dog not to do it. First rule out any medical reasons like urinary tract infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to Do About Submissive Urination&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If possible, greet your dog outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toss a handful of small treats or a few favorite toys in the direction of your dog as he runs up to greet you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ignore your dog when you first come home and walk through the door. Wait until he has completely calmed down before interacting with him. When you finally greet your dog, do so calmly. Look off to the side instead of straight at him. Sit on the floor or squat down—and avoid looming over your dog as you bend toward him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teach your dog to perform a behavior, such as sit, when he greets people. First, practice the sit behavior outside of the greeting context, in a calm place, without other people around. To learn more about teaching your dog to sit, please see our article, Teaching Your Dog to Sit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you pet your dog, touch him under the chin or chest, rather than on top of his head or ears.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep play sessions with your dog low-key and play games with him that focus on toys rather than bodily contact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) or a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) for assistance. To find one of these qualified experts in your area, please see our article, Finding Professional Help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What NOT to Do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not look at your dog, touch him, bend over him or speak to him if he starts to submissively urinate or if you think he might.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not hug your dog or pat him on the top of the head when greeting or interacting with him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not scowl or frown at your dog, especially in response to submissive urination. You should even avoid making frustrated comments, as doing so might make the behavior worse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;DO NOT VERBALLY SCOLD YOUR DOG OR PUNISH YOUR DOG IN ANY WAY. Scolding and punishment are likely to make the problem worse. The more you yell at your dog, the more he’ll feel motivated to submissively urinate in an attempt to make you less angry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-26T19:08:33.877" LastActivityDate="2020-06-26T19:08:33.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-26T06:24:34.227" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Indian female dog there is lot of hairfall in the place where she sits. Any remedy for it or how can I control her hairfall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-06-26T12:44:21.260" LastActivityDate="2020-06-26T12:44:21.260" Title="Hair fall of my dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-07-16T12:11:53.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28057" CreationDate="2020-06-26T07:38:21.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies cannot eliminate (urinate or defecate) on their own until about 3 weeks of age. They rely on their mother to stimulate their reflex to initiate elimination. Orphaned puppies, on the other hand, rely on their caretakers to stimulate them to eliminate.&amp;quot; Puppy being unable to defecate could be life-threatening - if you can see a veterinarian, do so as a matter of urgency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feeding-orphaned-puppies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feeding-orphaned-puppies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also good reference:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://resources.bestfriends.org/article/caring-orphaned-newborn-puppies-basic-care-feeding-and-disease-prevention&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://resources.bestfriends.org/article/caring-orphaned-newborn-puppies-basic-care-feeding-and-disease-prevention&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T22:04:27.290" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T22:04:27.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-26T07:53:44.040" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, so I went into fish keeping way too fast with almost no knowledge. I will give a short rundown of what happened in my tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a 5 gallon (19 liters) tank and a silver molly and a leopard longfin danio. I found out I need at least a 10 gallon (38 liters) so I got that both were Topfin Starter Kits. Decided I want more fish; so I got a neon tetra, gold dust molly and an &lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt; catfish. I found out my danio was bullying my tetra, so I found out all the fish I had were very social creatures, so I got a zebra danio and a fish I thought was a tetra when it was actually a White Cloud Mountain minnow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I overfed my fish and my tank became dirty, so I did a 25% water change. My catfish and gold dust molly died, so I removed them from the tank. I realized my mollies mated, so now I have 3 baby mollies. Found out about the ammonia spike and freaked out, and I bought a floating baby tank thing for the babies and a Tetra Whisperer Filter for the ammonia levels along with putting an absolute heck ton of conditioner and stabilizer and Stress Zyme. Ammonia levels still didn't go down, but my fish were acting normal. New filter arrives, so I put it in and took the old one out. I was freaking out, looking stuff up constantly this entire time and found out about the biological filter. Ammonia levels still didn't go down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added small amounts of salt to help because I saw it in a Youtube video. That still didn't work, so I decided: hey, let's put the old filter back, but keep the new one in two so now I have two filters. And I did a 50% water change, not 10 minutes ago from posting this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is what the actual heck am I doing wrong? Help me please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18224" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-26T13:33:28.687" LastActivityDate="2020-06-26T16:14:50.610" Title="8.0ppm ammonia spike that's been &quot;in effect&quot; for about a week or two" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28078" CreationDate="2020-06-26T09:37:14.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;When things started to go wrong you did a few things right, like changing water and adding salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep on changing water every two days about 20-25% until you get the ammonia down, you need to stop feeding your fish until you get the ammonia and nitrite under control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep on adding aquarium salt and water conditioner to the water, use a salt concentration of 0,3% as this is safe for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be sure the water you add to your tank has the same temperature as your tank (you can fill water into containers and let it stand overnight to get rid of disolved gases and to let it warm a bit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vacuum the gravel to get rid of biological waste that might have acumulated, do not clean the filter until you can see that the waterflow from your filter is reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you clean the filter do not replace the sponges, use aquarium water to rinse and squeeze the sponges so you get out most of the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exept from this there is not a lot more you can do to help your fish survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a good source for information about the nitrogen cycle &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&lt;/a&gt; it might be a little late to get this information now, but it is how to do it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-06-26T16:14:50.610" LastActivityDate="2020-06-26T16:14:50.610" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-26T20:55:55.383" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 11 year old common goldfish and he has recently been having some swimming issues-but only in deep water after a few hours. He is fine in shallow water and he can swim fine for about 8-9 hours in his tank but any longer that that and he ends up on his side or swimming in a spiral pattern. Once this happens he will recover in a few hours once he is put in the shallow water. He seems fine otherwise-eating etc. normally and all water parameters are normal for a freshwater tank. He has been to the vet and on x-ray there was some increased density in the bones of the respiratory tract and they suspect that a bacterial infection is the cause, but the vet was unsure of why this would cause swimming problems. He is currently on a course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications from the vet to try and help him. I am just wondering if anyone has any experience with this sort of presentation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15941" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T14:17:16.933" Title="Goldfish with intermittent swim bladder problems" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28082" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-27T05:42:19.137" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like my dog has this sweet spot at every part of his body. And I feel like it's too excessive and irritating for him. Even while walking, when he gets randomly touched by stuff he starts kicking with his legs involuntarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got him blood tested and the reports were all fine, the vet said it can be an allergy to something, what sort of allergy could it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He hasn't mated yet, he is 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18232" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-28T19:53:15.837" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T20:03:15.330" Title="My dog kicks excessively whenever he is scratched at any point on his body. Can it be a sign of allergy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28080" CreationDate="2020-06-27T05:54:04.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think the swimming problem is related to the increased bone density so you need to take a look at other possible causes, it sounds to me like this might have a neurological cause like nerve damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimming normally for several hours before the symptoms begin is a bit strange, had it been swimbladder problems it should have been a constant problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Increased bone density in the respiratory organs of goldfish can have several causes, one is low oxygen. Over time this is often a result of living in water that is too hot; if the temperature is above 25 °C water can hold little dissolved gases - this causes the gills to work harder to keep the oxygen level up and the heart has to work harder too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a fish has swimbladder problems it will change the buoyancy of the fish, it will float or sink; this causes the fish to have a jerky swim pattern where it struggles to maintain its possition in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swimbladder problems can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection in the lining of the swimbladder or the tube leading to the swimbladder, internal deformities in the swimbladder or the tube leading to it can be the reason for chronic swimbladder problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fish tipping over or laying upside down is not the same as swimbladder problems. This is often caused by neurological problems, probable causes for this is infection of the nerves or the brain, another cause is poisoning by nitrite-nicotine-insecticides or air fresheners in the room if inside. Outside pesticides might be the cause, CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; poisoning can be a cause for this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common cause for problems in a fishtank is overfeeding, or that the tank is not properly cycled before fish are introduced to the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-28T14:17:16.933" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T14:17:16.933" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28097" CreationDate="2020-06-27T14:54:06.237" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tf6O7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tf6O7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture of spots&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is three years old and has recently started developing what looks like big, dark freckles on his chest. I can see them because the hair on his chest is white and his hair is not particularly very long. Is this normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18239" LastEditorUserId="18239" LastEditDate="2020-06-27T15:11:47.817" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T19:38:59.363" Title="Why does my dog now have spots showing underneath his fur on his chest?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28091" CreationDate="2020-06-27T16:23:15.850" Score="3" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ponds in nature don't have pumps. I also have seen goldfish living in golf course ponds, that were large and healthy and had no filter, pump, or any aeration device installed. Yet, pet stores sell this equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why it necessary to have any of this equipment, when in nature fish seem to do well without that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-27T20:17:30.557" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T16:31:55.623" Title="Do pond fish need a pump, filter, or aerator, considering that this is not found in natural ponds?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28090" CreationDate="2020-06-27T16:46:42.180" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In nature the fish only live in these ponds that have a good quality. The other ponds have either only plants and algae, or are more muddy, stinky places without higher forms of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a pond in your garden, there are a lot of things to have in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will give one example: if the pond is small and it gets warm in summer time, the water gets warm too. Only big amounts of water stay cool from morning until evening. Then, if the water is warm, it could not store enough oxygen to let the fish breathe. That could make an aeration useful. Another thing caused by too warm waters are red tide/algae bloom. Then the algae will use all oxygen (at night all plants use oxygen instead of producing it) and the fish could not breathe anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another point is the pee and poo of the fish and other nutrition, for example flushed in by the rain. If you like to have a nice amount of fish, it would be more than a likewise pond has in nature. In nature a little amount of fish would make poo and pee and the plants in the pond use it as nutrition. But if you like to have this in you own pond, you will have a lot of more plants than fish and you would probably never see the fish. Additionally, you need to exactly know the amount of food for the fish. Because if there is more food than the fish could eat (or they eat it and make more poo and pee), the plants have more nutrition and grow and grow and the algae could grow too. Then in the night, when the plants use oxygen too, it could be that there is nothing for the fish left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, you have a lot more of work if you like to have a &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; pond. Failures are not acceptable at this setting. And because of that a lot of people use auxillary equipment, like pump and aeration systems. Even in nature, there are times when a pond or even a lake gets red tide and then has to develop itself new. But this is not something you'd like to have in your garden :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-27T20:10:33.533" LastActivityDate="2020-06-27T20:10:33.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28092" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-27T21:37:33.783" Score="2" ViewCount="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;4 days ago I adopted a little kitten who looked really sick and didn't eat for days. She seems 8 weeks old and doesn't have a mother. When I fed her hours later, she started leaking yellow diarrhea and it didn't stop, so I took her to the vet. He gave her two shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that she was in pain and refused to eat, but hours later I was able to feed her. But now she has orange diarrhea. I read about it and it said maybe she has a liver or a bile problem. Please, could you explain it to me? I'm really afraid I really want to save her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18241" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-27T22:13:53.303" LastActivityDate="2020-06-27T22:13:53.303" Title="How to cure my 8 week old kitten's orange diarrhea?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-06-29T13:29:11.727" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28090" CreationDate="2020-06-27T21:47:40.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pond usually has many more fish than a natural pond. Likely much fewer plants in a home pond than a natural. And artificial food is added. And, as answered, in warm weather the higher fish population are likely to need more oxygen, especially Koi. In a natural pond there is water movement caused by wind and possible stream input/output. The aeration and filters try to replace the oxygenation of natural water movement. Although, in addition to my conventional pond, I do have about a 300 gallon plastic tub with a few mollies (I think) that has no other equipment; and I do not add food. It does have tadpoles. That is, with a few of the right fish and very sparse feeding, you do not need the equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T16:31:55.623" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T16:31:55.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-27T23:58:23.610" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 month old bunny has been traumatized. I was going in to clean his cage, it’s a 12 foot (3.6 m) enclosure. I went to pick him up to put him in his temporary cage and he was fine a first but when I was going out the door with him, he tried to jump out of my arms. I grabbed him up and put him in his portable cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seemed to settle down and when I first put him in his enclosure he seemed “OK”. Since then he been stand-off-ish. I didn’t think too much about it at first. But now I can see he is traumatized . He won’t engage with me at all. He shies away from me and kind of turns he back to me. What can I do? I haven’t tried anything yet because I just don’t know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18242" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-28T13:34:38.420" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T21:46:58.163" Title="Bunny shies away from me after moving him, is he traumatized, what can I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28099" CreationDate="2020-06-28T06:53:18.707" Score="7" ViewCount="2132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read on multiple sites about how to help a queen give birth to her kittens, and almost all of them say that the cat usually chews the umbilical cord, but if she doesn't, then you have to do it. But instead of just snipping it, they want you to tie thread on either side of it. I am completely blind, and without some means to envision what is actually going on, it is very hard for me to imagine why using a thread would be necessary when I could simply feel between the kitten's body and end of the cord and snip in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, if you tied the thread to either side of the cord and then snipped the cord, the thread (if not snipped) would hold the severed cord, and it might also pose a danger to the queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/cats/key-life-stages/pregnancy/cat-labour-and-giving-birth#:%7E:text=Your%20cat%27s%20labour%20should%20go,need%20an%20emergency%20helping%20hand.&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's an example&lt;/a&gt; of one of these articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16831" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-06-28T22:31:43.957" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T21:09:38.570" Title="What's the purpose of tying a thread or dental floss on either side of a kitten's umbilical cord?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28095" CreationDate="2020-06-28T09:43:51.950" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;The umbilical cord and the placenta is a part of the kitten's circulatory system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be sure the kitten does not bleed to death, the blood vessels in the umbilical cord are tied off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally the mother will chew off the umbilical cord, but if she doesn't you need to cut it yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mother chewing off the umbilical cord will crush it; this will close the blood vessels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have to cut it you will use a sharp object - this might not give the blood vessels the signal to close or they will only close partially;&#xA;this is why one has to tie it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.countryvet.net/post/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-birth-of-kittens.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article at countryvet.net&lt;/a&gt;; take a look at the section &amp;quot;intervention during the birth&amp;quot; in the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-02T21:09:38.570" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T21:09:38.570" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28089" CreationDate="2020-06-28T16:46:25.687" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The spots in your picture look like &lt;strong&gt;hyperpigmentation&lt;/strong&gt;, comparable to freckles in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are actually very common and usually appear with age. They can affect the skin, nails and even the tongue and other mucous membranes. Most people just don't notice them under the fur of their dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as these spots are not accompanied by any other symptoms, they are completely harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice any change in behavior, especially &lt;strong&gt;scratching or licking of the affected area&lt;/strong&gt; or if the skin &lt;strong&gt;has a different texture&lt;/strong&gt; (is thicker or rougher than normal), you need to have a vet analyze the cause of the spots. They could be caused by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allergies (food allergy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;parasites&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bacterial or fungal infections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;other stressors like constant friction on the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more about it &lt;a href=&quot;https://herepup.com/black-spot-on-dog-skin/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-28T19:38:59.363" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T19:38:59.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28082" CreationDate="2020-06-28T17:10:50.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with your vet that an allergy could cause the skin to become very sensitive and itchy. The most common allergies in dogs are food allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are actually allergy tests for dogs and they work just like for humans. A patch of skin has to be shaved, then droplets of common allergenes are applied to the skin and the spots are marked. Those spots that turn red show the allergies of the dog. Please ask your vet if such a test is available there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your vet doesn't have the materials for a test, you need to do a similar test yourself. There are special allergy foods available for dogs. These contain only proteins from one single animal species - for example only fish, duck or deer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a list of available foods and the protein sources (animals) in them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Buy enough of one kind of food to feed your dog at least 3 weeks with it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed your dog &lt;strong&gt;nothing but one type of allergy food&lt;/strong&gt; for 3 - 4 weeks. No treats, no mixing with other brands or flavors, no leftovers from human food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't notice an improvement of his symptoms, change to a food with a different protein source and repeat the process.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a lenghty process, but hopefully you'll find a suitable food for your dog. I know several people who went through the same process to find the right food for their dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important that the food actually only contains meat from one type of animal. There are some foods advertized as &amp;quot;allergy food&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;sensitive food&amp;quot; that are basically normal food (mix of proteins from several species) but have some additives mixed in that are supposed to make the fur look better. If your dog really has an allergy, those types of food won't be able to alleviate his itchyness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T17:10:50.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28095" CreationDate="2020-06-28T21:51:40.210" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saliva contains coagulants, so the mother chewing on the cord and licking the stump will help the blood clot, while cutting it with a blade would not clot naturally until a large amount of blood escaped—perhaps a fatal amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tying the umbilical closed with a thread at the navel end will stop circulation to/from the kitten's body so you can safely cut the umbilical. Platelets will accumulate there and clot, and the umbilical stump will soon die (from lack of oxygen and nutrients) and fall off the kitten. If you tie off the placenta end too, it would be a &lt;em&gt;second thread&lt;/em&gt; just to keep the blood in the placenta from draining out before you disposed of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thread itself should be as thin as will do the job and any excess trimmed after tying the knot, so if it does end up getting eaten by the kitten or queen, it should pass through their digestive system without causing any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When human babies are born in hospitals, doctors use sterile metal clamps instead of threads, but the basic idea is exactly the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-06-28T21:51:40.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-29T01:29:03.240" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live with a live-in landlady. I was away at home during the pandemic and on my return I discovered that not only had she been furloughed (so no need for time-keeping), she had also moved in her boyfriend who seems to be nocturnal and goes to bed around 4am. I know this as it's a small flat, he has the horrible habit of keeping all house lights on and he's not particularly quiet or considerate either. I know this bothers me, but I'm even more worried for the dog. It feels like an entirely different pet is living with me now compared to three months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog seems to like him in general, but I've noticed changes in his behaviour since I've been back. Before I left he was very active during day time, always wanted to play, always in the way, and when I'd finish night shifts, he'd look at me disapprovingly when I'd pop to the kitchen to put my stuff away. He now tends to sleep most of the day. He's taken on walks and sometimes he seems to want to play, but nothing compared to before. You couldn't get through a single meal without a ball being handed to you or your toes being attacked. This rarely happens now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can hear the boyfriend playing with him at 2am. When the landlady isn't there, he would just sit and play video games while the dog was trying to sleep under the sofa rather than his bed, hiding from the light. I've also noticed that the rare nights they don't take over the living room, the dog is calmly sleeping in his bed and isn't even bothered if I use dim lights for a bit. He also doesn't seem to want to eat as much. I've noticed on several occasions when the landlady either forgets to feed him (on time) and he doesn't kick up a fuss, and when she does she has to prompt him several times before he finally eats. They also seem to get up at random times, so I guess his breakfast isn't routinely timed either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this something that could be harming him? Is there any other signs to look out for? He doesn't seem unhappy exactly, but he certainly seems less lively to me. I'm not sure if I could even do anything for him, end of the day, I don't own the flat, the dog or the man, I'm just a tenant, but it's definitely bothering me a lot. The dog is technically co-owned by the landlady with her ex. I'm looking to move out myself when the pandemic settles (largely due to the same new housemate that has been moved in without a word), so I could get him involved in it then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18245" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-06-29T02:21:40.530" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T21:19:48.220" Title="Can dogs be affected by the lack of routine/being kept up at night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-29T01:58:05.260" Score="5" ViewCount="4762" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read online that a normal breathing rate for kittens is 30-40 breaths per minute, but it looks like my kitten's breathing at a much faster rate than that--more like 60 breaths per minute. Is this something I should be worried about, or is he okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's around 4 months old, and I adopted him a few days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://streamable.com/ipirys&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18246" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-06-29T02:20:54.397" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T22:04:42.837" Title="Is my kitten's breathing normal?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-29T03:40:10.560" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I just got two new fancy mice. One is really skittish and the other one has warmed up to me really quick, but isn’t too fond. She lets me pick her up and she will walk in my hand, and I recently found she took interest in a bit of corn I held for her in my fingers, but she tried to nip me. It didn’t hurt at all and didn’t even feel like anything, so I’m wondering what it could have possibly meant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just got them 2 days ago and I know I need to leave them alone for awhile, but I still question why she tried to nibble me if she seemed more warmed up than the other mouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18247" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T20:42:35.100" Title="Why did my mouse nip me?" Tags="&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28101" CreationDate="2020-06-29T04:50:14.290" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you need to look at is how many breaths your cat takes when resting or sleeping. It should be at about 20-30 a minute, but kittens and young cats will often breath a bit faster than this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://sanbrunopet.com/pet-care-tips/monitoring-breathing-rate-dogs-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://sanbrunopet.com/pet-care-tips/monitoring-breathing-rate-dogs-cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day when the cat is active, the breathing will be faster, often by a lot; what you need to look at is how fast the breathing slows down when your cat lays down to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the breathing doesn't slow down in 2 to 3 minutes when the cat is at rest, you might want your vet to take a look at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rapid breath might be a sign of infection or heart anomalies, but your vet will look for this during the regular checkup of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/rapid-breathing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/rapid-breathing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat takes more than 40 breaths a minute over a long period of time when it is resting, you need to take him to the vet; heart anomalies are not uncommon in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T22:04:42.837" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T22:04:42.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28100" CreationDate="2020-06-29T06:24:57.963" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;strong&gt;yes, dogs can be affected by a change of routine and lack of sleep, but just like most humans they'll simply adapt.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the lack of consistency in feeding times for example. If you feed your dog at the same time every day, he'll get used to it and may become excited / restless shortly before feeding time. But if you don't schedule feeding times, your dog doesn't have anything to get used to and get restless about. As long as your dog doesn't have a medical condition (like diabetes) and gets the required amount of nutrition, neither situation is bad or detrimental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be sure that he isn't losing weight, you can weigh him now and in regular intervals. To do so, pick him up and step on a body scale, then step on the scale again without him and subtract the second value from the first. Be aware that many scales are inconsistent (depending on the ground they stand on) and measure in 100g intervals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lack of rest and/or sleep can have more severe consequences, although subtle and long term. It's scientifically proven that humans who experience a chronic lack of sleep or constant shifts in their sleep cycle have a higher chance of becoming obese and suffering from cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure. I'm fairly certain the same applies to dogs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The change in behavior you perceive can be the dog compensating for being kept up at night by sleeping at day, or it can be a simple adaptation to the new housemate. If you always reacted to being presented with a ball by playing with the dog, but the new housemate largely ignores such attempts, the dog changes strategies and doesn't present people with a ball as often. I'm fairly sure the dog changed his behavior when you moved in as well, but you didn't notice because you didn't know him before. As long as the dog doesn't shy away / hide from anyone or becomes aggressive, I don't see a reason to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also mean that he isn't as bored as he was before the new housemate moved in. But that's hard to tell over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, dogs who want to sleep are more bothered by light than by sounds. One rather simple change could be providing a kind of den or cavern for the dog to sleep in. Depending on the size of the dog, a simple cardboard box or a crate can be covered with an old blanket or towel, leaving only the entrance open. Put his regular bed inside and see how he likes it. If both dog and bed are very big, it would suffice to cover only half of it to give him a dark place to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-02T21:19:48.220" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T21:19:48.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-29T06:29:16.517" Score="5" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;We took this cat from a shelter 4 years ago when he was 1 year old, but this problem did not happen until recently. Basically, it's not possible to leave any food anywhere in the open. He climbs the table and steals it. Sometimes he eats it and sometimes just breaks to pieces. What's puzzling that he often steals food that he would not eat, e.g. bread. Other times, it would be fish, or ham, which he would nibble at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to mitigate this, apart from not leaving food in the open? (It gets ridiculous, you go to the bathroom during a solo meal and you return to your plate razed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18248" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T20:31:35.357" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T21:27:30.357" Title="How to get cat not to steal food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28113" CreationDate="2020-06-29T06:33:30.930" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please do not ask me the &amp;quot;why&amp;quot; for this question, I am not 100% sure myself. I just brainstorm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that metals are usually a NO-NO for aquariums - because they can release oxides and other stuff which is harmful for the living things inside (especially fish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think that not all metals are the same. I guess that gold should be safe (even though expensive, of course; I refer to pure gold, not cheap alloys). Stainless steel comes in mind too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, does anyone have experience using stainless steel in the aquarium for any purpose? Which kind of stainless steel is better suited?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a specialist, and I have in mind the following categories: general purpose, food-industry grade, medical grade. Of course, I might be wrong about my assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a &amp;quot;practical&amp;quot; use, is it possible to build an aquarium made of stainless steel? Maybe keeping one side made of glass to have it transparent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I did not think of welding, I have in mind using silicone for aquariums;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have fresh water aquariums in mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-06-30T06:42:13.737" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T06:42:13.737" Title="Metals and aquariums" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27859" CreationDate="2020-06-29T09:42:22.187" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cited times certainly look familiar to me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more timings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pig ham bone: completely gone after about 1.5 h, except a mess of slobber and tiny bone chips. Not recommended (and in case of the organic free-range pig be careful because of pseudorabies). Eating the whole thing leads to an additional long digestive nap.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;These can be gotten here dried in a vacuum pack at a pet store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;cow feet bone with joint capsule: intensive professional treatment for about 1.5 h: eating the sinews and joint capsule and peeling off the periosteum. Chewing off large parts of the joint cartilage. Over the next days, he'll get back to chew off some more of the cartilage into the bone - after the next 2 or 3 chewing bursts, the bone is not interesting to him any more (but it is to other dogs).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This procedure is surprisingly clean (we still keep it outdoors), but loud if done on concrete or tiled underground. Wooden or laminate floor may be damaged in the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also available dried in a vacuum pack at pet stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whole cow feet as sawed off by the butcher (I'm in the lucky position that the butcher around the corner still actually slaughters himself). For me, this is the way to go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vnr0f.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vnr0f.png&quot; alt=&quot;cow foot&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the state after a few hours of working time (2nd &amp;quot;session&amp;quot;). Dewclaws get chewed off early, but the foot has otherwise hardly any protruding ends at the beginning. Opening the hide and peeling the bone is substantial work for the dog :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog may decide that the food would profit from underground seasoning, leading to the foot vanishing for a couple of weeks and then reappearing (to be found out by human nose...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leftovers again go to fertilize the garden - though the small bones usually vanish (not sure whether he eats them - he did learn as pup that too big bones unchewed give a belly ache and need to be spit out again. Really. (= 2nd try failed as well)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T17:12:38.797" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T17:12:38.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-29T10:00:45.923" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bottom one seems to be, but I'm not positive. Please help me, I need to know before she pops!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IvD8w.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IvD8w.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18249" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-30T07:39:40.633" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T07:39:40.633" Title="Are either of my guppies pregnant?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-06-30T08:38:52.423" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21478" CreationDate="2020-06-29T13:57:28.920" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No specific source for Medina County, OH outbreak has been identified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 2018 - 2020 out break in Washington State, birds are suspected of being the source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q: Since so many feral rabbits have already died from RHDV2, won’t the virus just eventually “die out” in WA state?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: No. The state veterinarian’s office suspects that RHDV2 spread here originally from scavenging birds traveling from Canada to the San Juan Islands; there is no way to prevent spread of disease via birds. The virus is very stable in the environment, potentially surviving for more than 3 months without a host. It can also be spread by flies. This virus is unfortunately likely to remain in WA state for a long time. Here is a link to some &lt;a href=&quot;https://cms.agr.wa.gov/getmedia/07915d2d-bfd5-4cbb-b443-ab3b42b72722/RHDFactsheet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;additional information about RHDV2.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/rhdv-importing-vaccines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T13:57:28.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28106" CreationDate="2020-06-29T15:08:31.997" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Salt water vs fresh makes a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stainless, both magnetic and nonmagnetic, is satisfactory in fresh water with one reservation. Non-magnetic, eg 302, 304, etc, will be sensitized at welds, particularly spot welds and this permits corrosion of the weld heat-affected-zone. About 50 years ago the standard construction was a spot welded 302 frame; over years these welds cracked because of corrosion. Stainless will corrode in salt waters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nickel alloys are great in fresh or salt water, except Monel. Lead is also good in fresh; I have used lead weights on plants for 60 years. Aluminum will corrode but will not hurt fish. Any copper alloy can be toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could build a stainless frame for fresh water if you use stabilized alloys such as 321, 347, etc. There's a little more risk using the &amp;quot;L&amp;quot; grades. There is no such thing as &amp;quot;food grade&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;medical&amp;quot; grade stainless, only the grades they typically use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically, plain steels were used; steel will corrode, so small tanks (such as 5 gallons) had no metal top edge, and instead used a &amp;quot;bulb&amp;quot; edge (rounded glass). Personally, I had a 50 gallon tank that was 52&amp;quot; long; the top edge steel was badly thinned by corrosion so I added an adjustable steel brace at the center.&#xA;I assume normal aquarium water with pH between 6.5 and 7.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-06-29T19:13:56.287" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T19:13:56.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28102" CreationDate="2020-06-29T20:42:35.100" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know much about the mice, but I know rats and with rats is that a young or new rat (that doesn't know you) has to learn the smell of you finger to tell apart what is food and what is your finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be also the case for older rats at times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you have your fingers all dirty with some food like let's say yoghurt - then the rat (especially the greedy one) can have problems telling where the food ends and where the finger begins :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you have your finger &amp;quot;dirty&amp;quot; with something that rat doesn't know (like a hand cream) but on the other hand rat knows you and know that with a finger you give him food, so it assumes that since it is not your finger (because your fingers have a different smell) so it must be a food, and then it bites.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be a kind of fight / game that young animals often play with each other and so the bites aren't really bites but rather nips as you say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know where did you get your mice from but in pet shops the life for such animals can be tough so they learn some defensive reactions to hands / fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least like among humans in some rare cases, some just don't like others getting too close to them so they &amp;quot;bite&amp;quot;, or the &amp;quot;bite&amp;quot; just because they like to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9423" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T20:42:35.100" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-06-29T21:18:00.003" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbors’ cat had kittens and they aren’t taking the best care of them. Their grandchild is too rough with the kittens, not to mention with her older kitten, and she won’t listen to anybody but herself. Her guardians try to stop her from being too rough and she still doesn’t listen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m worried for the cats there, and I don’t know how to help them. I don’t think I should ask to take the kittens and bottle feed them with kitten milk replacer, because they need their mom’s milk more. The mom takes good care of them, but I’m still worried the kittens might get really hurt around the granddaughter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18255" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-06-30T09:10:28.497" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T09:10:28.497" Title="How can I help my neighbors’ cats and kittens when they don’t take good care of them?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="68" CreationDate="2020-06-29T23:47:54.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a  piece of cardstock that is slightly wet and folded in half&#xA;To pick up my garden snail&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18256" LastActivityDate="2020-06-29T23:47:54.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28115" CreationDate="2020-06-30T08:27:15.367" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is how bad you think the kittens have it and how far you want to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you think the animals are being abused you can call authorities, which ones depends on the country you are in. You can describe the situation to them and they will decide whether to take action.&#xA;This can lead to tensions between you and your neighbours and you should be sure that there is a real cause for concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have a serious but calm talk with the parents. You can explain to them why you think the kittens are in danger. You can offer them to show the child how to handle the kittens. You have to understand that probably neither the parents/guardians nor the child is doing this to intentionally harm the animals. Do not get angry but try to explain in a calm manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can do nothing. I understand your concern but unless you really see abuse as mentioned in 1. some people might say it is not your business. The guardians might also not want to hear about your opinion be it indifference or feeling patronized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to decide your action based on the situation. Try not to get angry but think about how you can and want to help. Some people do not think of pets as important or do not know how to properly care for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T08:27:15.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27859" CreationDate="2020-06-30T10:19:40.090" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My German Shepherd is similarly destructive with her toys (luckily only with those and not with stuff that isn't hers). I found that the best toys for her are a rope from the pet shop for playing tug of war and a ball with a hole in it and gills on the inside. You can put treats into the ball and the dog has to roll it around to get the treats out. And because of the gills this can take a while, especially with bigger treats. This ball has become her favourite toy and sometimes she'll even chew on it if it's empty. And because it's hollow, has a hole and is made out of rather thick rubber, it's really sturdy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18259" LastActivityDate="2020-06-30T10:19:40.090" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28121" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-01T01:15:11.130" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning on putting 6 rasboras and 1 betta in a 10 gallon (38 liters) tank together. Can I feed them the same food? What should I feed them, and can the rasboras eat betta pellet food? Any fish food brand recommendations? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18260" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T14:45:12.427" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T20:55:50.213" Title="What do I feed my betta and rasbora heteromorphas?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26852" CreationDate="2020-07-01T02:53:41.373" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, if you notice a change in appetite or the cat losing weight, a vet visit is in order.  It's often hard to tell with cats if there is something wrong, so anything different from what seems normal for them should get checked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once medical issues are ruled out, then it's simply a matter of some cats are picky to the point that they won't eat enough if something isn't to their taste.  If this is what is going on, then really the only solution is to try various things to try to figure out something your cat likes more.  I have some suggestions of things you can try, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Try different foods.  See if you can find a food appropriate to your cat that it really seems to like.  Wet foods also come in a variety of textures, so if you're trying wet foods, you might experiment with different textures too to see if it has a clear preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change up what food you feed your cat every couple of weeks.  While a great many cats like routine and want the same old food every day, there are some cats that want variety and get bored if everything is the same.  I think this may be a more common trait in Siamese cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change your cat's bowl.  Regular food bowls, to be honest, are terrible for cats to eat out of.  They usually have these corners in the bottom, making the food hard for them to get at.  Some cats also hate the feeling of sticking their head in a bowl at all, as their whiskers brush on the sides.  Our cat eats much better with &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B075KC97KC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pet bowls designed to be very shallow with no corners,&lt;/a&gt; when before he'd frequently just leave food uneaten.  If your cat tends to use its paws to eat, that's a pretty good indication that it hates its bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You might try enticing your cat by putting a little bit of their favorite treat on top of their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats seem a bit less interested in food due to normal hairballs.  Hairballs of course are just a fact of life for cats, but it might make them less keen on eating.  You might want to watch if there's a pattern of not being interested in food, and if there's a hairball within 24 hours.  If such is the case, you might consult with the vet if there's anything you can do to help alleviate hairballs.  Of course there's the standard advice of brushing the cat more as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Play with the cat before mealtimes.  In the wild, it's normal for cats to get exercise by chasing down prey before they eat.  So some cats respond well to trying to simulate this routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T02:53:41.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28121" CreationDate="2020-07-01T14:30:57.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to give your fish a larger tank, ten gallon is way too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two types of fish can eat the same type of food, they eat food that is high in protein so any brand of food for carnivore/omnivore fish will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We try to avoid suggesting one brand over an other here on our site, as it can be a source for conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your fish to thrive you need a tank that is 50+ liters. Remember to cycle the tank properly before you add any fish, you can use some of the filter material from your betta tank to kickstart your new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/harlequin-rasbora-1378462&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thesprucepets.com/harlequin-rasbora-1378462&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T14:49:33.820" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T14:49:33.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28073" CreationDate="2020-07-01T15:58:52.153" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On top of submissive urinating, it's critical that Husky has a fixed, stable routine. They are the Top Dog when it comes to bending the rules, constantly pushing the boundaries and looking at you with a galaxy full of guilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walk my Husky 5 times a day. A -50 °F (-46 °C) blizzard is not an excuse to stay inside.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sometimes, she needs to go more often, so she stands against the wall in front of me, signaling me, she needs to go (outside of the 4-hour interval).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important those signals are acknowledged, otherwise they quickly learn it won't help them and go straight to peeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, peeing is merely &lt;em&gt;cosmetic problem&lt;/em&gt;. Huskies are, primarily, a &lt;strong&gt;danger to themselves&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I hope you already know that they have genetically evolved to have a horrible recall (Chukchi only took care of them for half a year. They other half, they had to fend for themselves - so they had to be constantly aware of their surroundings and potential food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not let him off leash unless it's an enclosed area which is husky-proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regular metal fence will be climbed without any trouble whatsoever in a matter of seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fences 6' (1.8 m) short will be jumped over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fences higher than 6' will be dug under.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not tie it out on long leash outside. A &lt;strong&gt;rouge leaf&lt;/strong&gt; falling off the tree might trigger the prey drive and it might break its own neck trying to catch the offensive leaf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When walking, I realized it's much less work to put my whole hand through the leash, so it's locked above my elbow (instead of trying to hold it with your hand). Then you can use the strength of your whole upper body (and back and shoulder) to hold Husky should its prey drive kick in. Which it will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the &lt;strong&gt;energy expenditure&lt;/strong&gt;, the best thing for a Husky is a daily run around the Doggie park. 90 minutes are enough for most. If that's not available, then it's possible to do exercise inside. I rotate between the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;squeaking ball&lt;/strong&gt; - I kick it high, she jumps and tries to catch it mid-air. She then throws it from her mouth towards me. Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes. Remove any furniture and electronics from the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I crouch on my knees and try to &lt;strong&gt;touch her paws&lt;/strong&gt; (just don't actually grab them - she would pull back at full force and could hurt herself) - she will jump left/right constantly trying to avoid being caught, expending great deal of kinetic energy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when she's in playful mood (that happens only when she doesn't sleep), I &lt;strong&gt;flip her 360 degrees&lt;/strong&gt; while she's lying on her back. They're a bit heavy, so this might not be easy in the beginning, but she loves being flipped constantly like on a merry-go-round.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;chase the Husky&lt;/strong&gt;. We literally do it every single day. She never gets tired of it. From one room to another. Careful with their forward momentum. I'm 6'3&amp;quot; (191 cm) but she knocked me out few times. Getting hit by their leg feels like being hit with a baseball bat, at that speed. Including bruises or deep scratches (imagine their nails pushing against your foot at full speed - it will go through :) ).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, and this happens roughly every other day, during chase she suddenly flips a switch and starts running around like crazy - just by herself - at super high-speed. She will tire herself within 2-3 minutes and literally knock herself off to sleep. Give her belly rubs and she will fall asleep like a baby in 30 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And just like baby, in 2 hours she will be up for round two...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T16:17:42.767" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T16:17:42.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27859" CreationDate="2020-07-01T16:12:46.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider buying a Recliner Chair for couple hundred bucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sure kept my Husky busy for over 3 months! After 3 months:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;recliner was completely chewn through;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all fabric ripped;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all corners smoothed;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the wood structure that holds whole thing together, took longest as that wood was about 5&amp;quot; thick;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eventually, she chewed through that and recliner collapsed on itself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The proud look, she gave me when she brought the 5&amp;quot; (12.5 cm) wooden piece was colossal. Little did I know, I would get same look few months later when she would chew through the door when I got the genius idea to lock her into bedroom for 15 minutes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T17:14:38.537" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T17:14:38.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-01T17:08:33.397" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we have had our 2 year old lab since she was 10 months old and she's been an only child for 2 years. We just brought a 10 week old puppy home and the 2 year old follows the puppy around the house and constantly watches and stares at her. When the puppy tries to play with a toy though, the 2 year old takes the toy away or tries to push past me and my husband to take the toy. She keeps bowing and pouncing at her and swats her to the ground from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though when the puppy nips or bites me and my husband, my dog keeps putting her mouth around the puppy's throat. The puppy doesn't cry, but it makes me nervous. Does my older dog hate the puppy? Why is she so obsessed with what the puppy is doing? Will she hurt her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppy doesn't provoke or try to annoy our older dog and she squeals when she is too rough. I am worried about my older dog being a bully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18263" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T19:16:56.327" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T03:37:10.830" Title="Is my older dog going to hurt my puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-01T20:06:53.533" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week, I started noticing a black dot on my Persian kitten near his whiskers (see the picture attached). What could it be? Could it be black acne?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today when I came back from work, it has actually protruded out little bit and the mole is little bit dry. Any idea what could it be? I am attaching the picture if somebody has any idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warm regards,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Aravind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RM8JT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RM8JT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4YBhl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4YBhl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black mole near his nose&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18264" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-01T20:25:44.110" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T20:25:44.110" Title="My 3 month old Persian kitten has protruding black mole kind of thing? What could it be?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T18:31:45.123" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28121" CreationDate="2020-07-01T20:55:50.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would feed standard flake such as Tetra ( I hope &amp;quot;such as&amp;quot; is permitted). Even my greedy 5 # Koi come up to eat flake after that eat their green peas and Koi pellets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-07-01T20:55:50.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26921" CreationDate="2020-07-02T03:49:13.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats generally pick one human as their favorite, and others are mostly just tolerated (or not). The fact that he's &amp;quot;your cat&amp;quot; actually means that he has decided you're &lt;em&gt;his human&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll have to edit the question to explain &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; your mother won't let him inside for us to be able to address that part. Or you can split that off to a separate question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-07-02T03:49:13.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28132" CreationDate="2020-07-02T05:54:28.490" Score="12" ViewCount="4061" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have plenty of snails in the garden, but the cat does not show the slightest interest in eating them - I wish he did! Even when he is hungry and I crush a big, fat snail and offer it to him, the cat just stares at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if there is something inherently repulsive/toxic in snails for cats. Is it just a matter of taste and preference? If the later is true, how can I encourage the cat to hunt/eat snails?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-02T22:29:08.093" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T19:55:45.643" Title="Why don't cats eat snails?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;snails&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28126" CreationDate="2020-07-02T08:13:30.270" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What your older dog does is textbook parenting. She took over the responsibility of teaching the puppy how to act and what not to do, of course in dog language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs cannot scold their children with words, revoke TV privileges or put them on house arrest. They use their snouts to reprimand each other. The fact that the puppy didn't yelp or whine means that the older one was gentle in her reprimand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bowing and pouncing sounds like the &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/BGT9gTrmjSw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;play bow&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;, an invitation to play in dog language. You should only interrupt her if she's too rough with the puppy. Please have a look at this very &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/8bg_gGguwzg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;instructional video&lt;/a&gt;, that explains dog body language in situations like anxiety, aggression and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the situations you'll want to intervene in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older dog snatching up the toy is plain jealousy. She doesn't want to share her toys with the puppy and tries to put them out of the reach of the puppy. This is only acceptable to a small extend. As Allerleirauh wrote in their comment, you could designate some toys the &amp;quot;property&amp;quot; of the older dog, but most toys should be shared by both. Otherwise this jealousy could transform into excessive guarding and aggression soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it clear, that toys are to be shared, either play with both of them at the same time with the same toy (let both of them have the toy equal amounts of time), or take the toy away if the older wants to hoard it. If they play with each other, let them have the toy. Only take it away if the older one tries to hoard it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the puppy already had the toy before it was snatched away, give it back to the puppy and keep the older dog from taking it again. If the puppy didn't have the toy, put it back on the ground and keep your older dog from taking it again for a little while. If the older dog won't give up, take the toy away entirely for a while (like an hour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly the fixating and following the puppy. You must understand that your older dog took over the job of &amp;quot;nanny&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;teacher&amp;quot; on her own. This happens often if the dog doesn't see anyone else fulfilling the particular job. Someone has to do it, so before no one does it, the dog takes over. You must also understand that taking such a job for a few hours a day is ok, but taking it as a full-time job is very stressful for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To discourage this behavior, you have to show your older dog that &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; take over from now on. You have to train your basic command like &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;puppy and (gently) reprimand her for bad behavior. You also have to discourage your older dog from following the puppy from time to time. Just call her name, gently pull her aside and engage her in any activity like training, play or cuddling instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T20:05:14.797" LastActivityDate="2021-01-01T20:05:14.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28130" CreationDate="2020-07-02T11:08:51.183" Score="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is something inherently repulsive in snails: their slime, which is sticky and sometimes stinks or tastes bad. Snails not only produce it to slither over surfaces, when they are attacked or injured, they produce lots of it as a defensive mechanism, relying on the attacker being grossed out by the sticky slime in their mouth. Most animals find it repulsing, not only cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.carnegiemnh.org/science/mollusks/predators.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Land snail defenses against predators include cryptic coloration and texture; thickened shells and aperture barriers; defense mucus production including irritating smells and tastes; hiding behaviors, and rapid withdrawal or dislodging movements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason is that cats evolved to eat small mammals, like rodents, and birds. Those have a very specific mixture of protein, fat, minerals (like calcium) and fiber in their bodies that the cat relies on for nutrition. Snails, on the other hand, don't contain as much protein, very little fiber and almost no fat at all, as pointed out in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cabi.org/ISC/FullTextPDF/2017/20173354480.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt; about feeding snails to livestock:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, only a portion of the normal diet should be replaced by snail meal because of the possible lower protein content and poorer amino acid profile compared to the normal high quality fish meal diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;div class=&quot;s-table-container&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;table class=&quot;s-table&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;product&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;country&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;protein&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;fibre&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;fat&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;ash&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;calcium&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;phosphorus&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;Snail meat, fresh&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;Philippines&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;53.3*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;2.5*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;1.1*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;26.6*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;7.2*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.59*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;/table&gt;&#xA;&lt;/div&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'* All values indicate the percentage by weight of &lt;strong&gt;dry matter&lt;/strong&gt;, which means the numbers are even worse for fresh (slimy) snail meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly cats are lie-in-wait hunters whose prey drive is stimulated by movements and shuffling sounds, instead of foragers who would pick up a snail as an easy snack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in several comments, this does not mean that cats never eat snails. That your particular cat doesn't like snails can be personal preference - or rather aversion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-20T19:55:45.643" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T19:55:45.643" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-02T13:32:38.330" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5-gallon (19 liters) fish tank, with two neon tetras in it, and I am going to Petco in the future to get more fish. I was thinking about more neon tetras and some sort of bottom feeder. Are there any bottom feeders small enough to fit in this tank and be comfortable,  as well as compatible with non tetras?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom feeder would be preferred to be native to the Amazon region, since that is where the tetras are from, and I want to be as accurate as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18265" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-02T15:33:55.527" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T18:40:33.410" Title="What bottom feeders are good for a 5-gallon fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20561" CreationDate="2020-07-02T16:36:21.770" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same problem with one of my cats. My cat would pee wherever he was when he got scared. He was always a timid cat as well. Sometimes he would even poop. But he didn’t go to certain spots he would freeze, make no expression and just lose control. There is no medical condition for him. He was just stressed where we were living at the time. I never encountered this problem before. He went to live with my in-laws where it’s just 2 older, quite adults and no kids. He hasn’t had a pee or poop incident. The stressful environment where we lived gave both my cats anxiety as we had neighbors downstairs and there was always a lot of noise. He’s been very happy living where he is now and it works out for everyone, especially him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18266" LastActivityDate="2020-07-02T16:36:21.770" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28136" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-03T06:07:46.850" Score="2" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 red eared sliders in a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank and I got them both 7 months ago. They were both the size of a 50 cent coin (about 3 cm) and the one hasn't grown past that size and only eats a couple bites of food. On the other hand, my second turtle is now 3 times the size and eats a lot. I just did research - I may be overfeeding him, but my little guy hasn't grown at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what to do. Please let me know what advice you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18274" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-03T16:07:28.567" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T16:07:28.567" Title="One of my turtles hasn't grown and doesn't eat much, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28133" CreationDate="2020-07-03T09:21:41.553" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tank you have is too small for keeping more than a couple of tetras and a few shrimps or snails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make a copy of the fishes natural living conditions, there is no other possible solution than to get a larger tank, it is possible to make this in a tank that is 100 liters+.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A larger tank is a lot easier to maintain a good water quality and it will give you some room for making errors and still keeping the fish alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you get a new tank it needs to be cycled properly, please take a look &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on how to do this. You can use some of the filter material from your old tank to seed the new tank; it will still take time, but it is a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-03T18:40:33.410" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T18:40:33.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28133" CreationDate="2020-07-03T10:13:22.297" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a bowl with fish, and with long lasting efforts I made it quite successful. It is not recommended, but it can be done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not recommended? Simply because the environment is too small, and the fish do not have enough space to move. It is like a jail for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;strong&gt;bottom feeders&lt;/strong&gt;, I had a small school of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aqueon.com/information/care-sheets/corydoras-catfish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;albino corydoras&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. They are social, so you should have several of them, I remember a rule of about minimum of six - otherwise they get lonely. They do their job all the time, being busy scavenging. They never attacked anyone, and they are quite robustly build (even though small) so there are small chances to be attacked by other fish. I had them for the entire life of the bowl - about 6 years - and the same school from the beginning was there all the time, no replacements made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As bottom dwellers I also had ancistrus - I liked them for their shape and colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had tetras, betta, occasionally guppy, others. I never noticed any fights and any damaged fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-07-03T10:13:22.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-03T16:14:10.013" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;While inquiring about the rules for building a backyard pond, my city suggested I have a plan some way to control the mosquitoes. I'm aware that some fish, frogs, newts, and turtles all eat mosquitoes and their larvae. I doubt my slow, lumbering long-fin goldfish will help, so I want to introduce some other creature to the pond. Is there any particular species that are really the best at this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T18:59:46.480" Title="What are the best mosquito-controlling critters for a pond?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28140" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-03T21:32:39.240" Score="5" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surely this cannot be the first such question, but I have not found the appropriate keywords...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning, I saw one of my cats (9 year old, male, fixed) hop out of the litterbox (where he did not seem to leave anything) and wipe his behind on the floor. Otherwise his behavior is perfectly normal, except that lately he sometimes makes a noise as if trying to sneeze or bring up a hairball (without result).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a first, though his brother has been known to poop on the floor if I neglect cleaning the box, or fill it with a strange brand of litter. The box was clean, though the litter level was lower than average (I used up a box yesterday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, well, what are the likely causes? Is he likely to do it again tomorrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(UPDATE: a month gone by, he has not done it again.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7318" LastEditorUserId="7318" LastEditDate="2020-08-08T02:38:52.363" LastActivityDate="2020-08-08T02:38:52.363" Title="Cat wipes its bum on floor" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-04T03:46:19.487" Score="2" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I have gotten a leopard gecko. He/she is now about three or four months old. I feed him meal worms and I am hoping to offer crickets for more variety. Recently, I was holding him in attempts to tame him and I noticed a slightly red blotch on the skin of his tail, but I just assumed it was a genetic discoloration and thought noting of it. About a week later, I was doing my routine spot clean in his tank and I noticed blood in his shed box!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By now, I was slightly concerned and scoured the Internet for answers, but found nothing and just concluded that I would wait until his next shed and see if it happens again. Sadly, today I checked his tank and found more blood, less than last time, but still blood. It seems he is bleeding under his skin and then when he sheds the blood comes off that is just a theory though. I promise it is not a problem with the humidity in his shed box, because I've never had a problem with stuck shed on his toes, which apparently is very lucky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most of the things I read online say that sick leopard geckos are usually lethargic or refuse to eat, but my gecko is none of those. His eyes are clear, he is a great eater and he sheds normally. The only issue I can find that makes no sense to me is that he sleeps in his cold hideout and lounges all night in his warm side, but other than that he is perfectly normal besides the blood thing. Please help me, I can't find any information on the Internet about this happening to anyone else and how to solve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I go to the vet, which is something I'd like to avoid? Or is this a simple issue I can solve myself? Or should I wait it out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18280" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-04T11:19:50.057" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T09:41:15.623" Title="My leopard gecko is bleeding under his skin!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26053" CreationDate="2020-07-04T04:08:04.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, your sister's gecko is fine, leopard geckos randomly deciding not to eat a type of food is not uncommon at all. Because your sister's leopard gecko is a baby, it is common that it is hiding so often. Babies are typically more skittish and untrusting; but once it matures, it will probably ease out, although make sure it is not always in the dark, as leopard geckos need at least twelve hours of light and twelve hours of darkness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, leopard geckos don't technically need UVB in my opinion (but I don't know much about it); but since you already have one, you should leave it on and if your leopard gecko uses it, it's great! Just make sure you are providing a heat mat or a deep heat projector.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, placing your cage against a window might work, but you just have to be very careful that it doesn't heat up the enclosure like an oven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18280" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-04T11:23:56.767" LastActivityDate="2020-07-04T11:23:56.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28140" CreationDate="2020-07-04T04:30:34.293" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is unusual for a cat to rub his butt on the floor, something is clearly wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your cat might have an infection or an injury. Cats have some glands in the anal area that might get infected. Your cat might be in pain, so you will have to take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cause for your cat to rub his butt against the floor might be intestinal parasites, as this can itch a lot; get your vet to deworm your cat at the same time as you take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 9 years old your cat is in the beginning of his senior age, so you should start to take him to the vet every year for a checkup to discover any age related problems before they get more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T16:03:11.827" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T16:03:11.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-04T06:51:06.247" Score="3" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 2 female working GSDs. We have moved house in the last 2 days and one of our GSDs has been fine with it, the other however isn’t taking it well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She now has to stay downstairs now where as before she used to sleep upstairs. She whines and cries at the bottom of the stairs until late and starts again early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is completely new, new house, new smells, new surroundings but this has to be the worst she’s been in any house move we’ve had. She seems at her most comfortable when in the garden or when we go for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can to help her settle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2020-07-04T06:51:06.247" Title="Dog not taking a house move well" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2021-04-16T05:52:57.633" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28152" CreationDate="2020-07-04T08:37:14.737" Score="4" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're trying to introduce Lucena, a 1 year old shy Siamese female kitten, to Elsa, a 3 year old extrovert Siamese female cat, living with us in our apartment since two years. Both are spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We noticed Elsa tends to be very aggressive with new cats, so we're trying to introduce Lucena slowly. At the moment Lucena stays in a study room behind closed door, to keep her out from Elsa. Once-twice a day we let Lucena out to explore the rest of the house while locking Elsa in the study, so she can know Lucena's smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three weeks went by, and one particular behavior by Elsa seems to be constant: she spends lots of time, sometimes an hour, focused and looking at the bottom gap of the closed door, with directed ears and the tail sweeping left and right against the floor. During that time she seems mostly unaffected by our calls, toys, laser or food. When we enter the room, she always tries to enter as well. And after Lucena has her time outisde and Elsa is back, she looks suspicious and walks around the same spots Lucena walked before. It's like she's tracking her smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the few occasions they physically met by mistake (five times so far, last time yesterday), Elsa attacked Lucena with no second thought. Fur and spit were on the floor, and we had to separate them immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tip I read often, is to let the cats eat at opposite sides of the door to let the other cat's smell be associated with positive things. We started doing that a few days ago, and after the first few meals Elsa does indeed eat almost continuously (except stopping for a few seconds while hearing crunching sounds from the other side of the door), but few minutes later she's back at guarding/patrolling the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this behavior normal for a cat getting to know a newcomer? Or is it something we should be worried about? Any actions we should take before proceeding to let them eat with visual, non physical contact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18281" LastEditorUserId="18281" LastEditDate="2020-07-04T09:28:40.343" LastActivityDate="2020-07-06T07:59:35.043" Title="Resident cat guarding the door where the new cat is" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-04T16:11:14.783" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last few weeks, as folks re-emerge from Covid lockdown, our ~2 year old Labrador has discovered that people - small children in particular - outdoors in parks and other green spaces often have food for the taking.  And she's started going and taking it.  This unacceptable behaviour is likely to become a big problem if not nipped in the bud.  Besides the annoyance to others there's also the risk she'll gobble something extremely chocolatey at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously we're now trying to anticipate any encounters and get her on a lead in advance.  Or just getting her attention on a ball will keep her sufficiently focused on us until temptation has passed.  However, surprises can still happen on winding paths or other situations with short sight-lines or when someone suddenly hands their child some food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're not sure how to best address this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improve her recall?  This could be better.  We've got whistles and the whistle means &amp;quot;come and get some yummy liver paste&amp;quot;, but the chance of success rather depends what's competing for attention.  When the alternative is a small child with a piece of pepperoni pizza I'm pretty sure the lure of the pizza slice will win over any reward we're likely to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;More work on &amp;quot;impulse control&amp;quot;?  Indoors, we can put her dinner in front of her and she'll sit and wait indefinitely until being given permission to eat it.  She's similarly restrained with treats placed on the floor and so on.  Nor does she beg or bother us when we're eating, or try to raid shopping bags or food on kitchen counters.  However it occurs to me that we've never done that sort of training in an outdoor setting, and she will certainly lunge for edible/lickable litter encountered on walks.  Should we try and get her to learn to apply the same restraint she can indoors, outdoors?  And how then can we make sure she's as well behaved with the food in someone's hands as she is with the food in her own bowl?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or some other approach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18282" LastActivityDate="2020-07-06T12:53:51.067" Title="How to stop dog stealing food off small children outdoors?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28149" CreationDate="2020-07-05T04:05:55.940" Score="11" ViewCount="11001" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (he is a mix of a chihuahua and a Shih Tzu) just had an accident a few hours ago.  His right eye appears to have popped out of his socket (but it's still attached), he has patches of scraped skin on his head, his left eye is closed and tired-looking, he is shaking and is very dormant, and he was salivating when I fist saw him with the injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was brought to the vet, but I did not come along. When he was brought back to us along with an eye medication called Optha Cure Eye Drop (and some other medications for pain and his shaking), I had hope they would have done a surgery to the eye in which the vet would have re-positioned the eye back to its place. Instead, the eye drops were supposed to eventually cure the damage to his eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am skeptical of this and I would like to go to the vet the next time. I am concerned whether his eye will really return back to its socket and the damage that may occur to his eye while it is still exposed. I would like to ask if this is indeed the proper medication for his injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/snvg6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WARNING: graphic image&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C7CaN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WARNING: graphic image&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yXLbC.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WARNING: graphic image&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18286" LastEditorDisplayName="user6796" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T06:57:14.397" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T06:57:14.397" Title="My dog's right eye is dislodged from the socket, do I need a second opinion?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28148" CreationDate="2020-07-05T07:42:59.327" Score="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take your dog to a different veterinarian, urgently. If you're unhappy or skeptical, always seek a second opinion. Coming here and asking for that reassurance is fine. We agree - get a second opinion,  but do so urgently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog needs emergency veterinary care. Apart from being painful, every moment you wait reduces the chance of it being remedied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let us know how you get along and feel free to ask questions about her treatment once the vet has treated her and given you take home medication and care instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastActivityDate="2020-07-05T07:42:59.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-05T10:07:36.163" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;We sometimes take out a relative's German Shepherd for walks. She's generally been good with other dogs, playing well with larger dogs and ignoring smaller ones, and only getting a bit aggressive when the other dog becomes aggressive first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took her out on her first proper walk in an area with other dogs after lockdown, and she started behaving aggressively towards other dogs in three separate occasions. After the initial mutual butt-sniff, she starts snarling and snapping unprovoked. We've not seen this sort of behaviour before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a three year old German Shepherd, not especially well trained, and is very territorial - often barking at people who walk by her house even if those people are well known to her. However this behaviour never occurred on walks - she's often been very well behaved previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, &lt;strong&gt;should we continue taking walks where she's exposed to other dogs? How can we reteach her that other dogs are fine to be around?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18288" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T14:06:09.940" Title="Dog is newly aggressive towards other dogs after lockdown" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28145" CreationDate="2020-07-05T15:17:41.480" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The behaviour you describe is normal for a cat that does not want the other cat in her territory,If your old cat has made up her mind about the other cat there is very little you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this is said please do not give up there is a chance your oldest cat only want the other cat to know that she is the boss,a lot will depend on the new cat and how she reacts to the older cats agression your new cat might stand up for herself and the sitution might solve itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can expect hissing but this is most often only a warning to the other cat to keep the distance,but it is a warning and you need to take it seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to know that the situation might end in violence where one or both cats might get hurt,you need to provide both cats a route of escape preferably a couple of elevated areas where the cats can be relatively safe from eachother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the two cats meet face to face the first time you will need to have somebody with you so you can have control over both cats,this is dangerous for both people and cats so please be careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If every thing fails you will need to find a way to rehome the young cat,i hope you can avoid this option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-07-06T07:59:35.043" LastActivityDate="2020-07-06T07:59:35.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28148" CreationDate="2020-07-05T16:21:40.023" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would second Yvette's advice for you to get a second opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also be able to call your vet and ask for clarification, if the treatment plan they gave does not make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously we only know what we can see in the photos and what you have told, so your veterinarian likely had good reason for trying to treat this medically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with proptosis of an eye, which usually occurs secondary to some trauma, it is often best to promptly reduce the eye back to its normal position. If there is still vision present then returning the eye to position may reduce the risk of further vision loss or damage to other structures in the eye (for example, a proptosed eye is very susceptible to corneal ulceration). This procedure does require general anesthesia to do so, which could come with its own risks depending on the systemic health of the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-07-05T16:21:40.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-06T12:17:28.210" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family and I found a turtle crossing our street a few days ago. We took it in and are considering keeping it as a pet for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, we live in a suburban area of Massachusetts and there are quite a lot of roads where we live, so it doesn't seem like the safest area for a turtle to be wandering around in. Secondly, I looked online and identified it as a Red Eared Slider, which is apparently an invasive species in our area. So, I thought we might be doing the local ecosystem a favor by taking it in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't have any experience of keeping turtles as pets; however, we are aware that this species is very commonly kept as a pet. It is possible it may have been someone else's pet in the past, which escaped or was released. However, it has clearly been in the wild for at least some time, as it seems to have a busted right eye and the back portion of its shell looks like something has tried to chew on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, a couple of days ago I saw it trying to dig a hole in the lawn with its claws. So, it appears to be a female that is trying to lay eggs. I did some reading online and I understand that if it has eggs then it needs to lay them, otherwise it can be bad for its health. So, going by a video on YouTube, I have tried to make a nesting box for it out of a cardboard box that I have filled with soil. Over the past couple of days, I have put her in the box and left her for an hour and a half several times, but I haven't seen any sign of her trying to dig into the soil. She seems a lot happier trying to dig in the middle of the lawn; however, our soil is quite firm and I'm not sure if she will be able to dig a good enough hole there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to summarize, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What can we do to help/encourage this turtle to lay its eggs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it feasible to keep this turtle as a pet, or should we just release it? As far as I can tell, it doesn't seem stressed out and seems calm enough when one of us handles it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18293" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T01:56:10.923" Title="Is it possible to keep wild Red Eared Slider as a pet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28146" CreationDate="2020-07-06T12:53:51.067" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking food from others is a matter of respect. Your dog obviously respects you enough to leave a treat alone that's lying directly in front of her, but she doesn't respect other people and especially children at all. For her, what she does isn't &lt;em&gt;stealing&lt;/em&gt;, but rather &lt;em&gt;taking what's rightfully hers to take&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Improving her recall is honestly the best solution for this problem, and the only one if you insist on &amp;quot;positive reinforcement only&amp;quot;. You don't have to worry about your liver paste competing with whatever a kid holds in their hand. Given that the dog has a positive relationship with you, the joy of being praised by you outweights whatever she can steal, so make sure to praise her verbally in addition to giving her a treat. If she is very toy oriented her treat can also be playing a little fetch or tug of war.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternative is a bit risky, because you have to catch her red handed and be close enough to intervene immediately (within 2 seconds max). The moment she takes something from a stranger, grab her by the collar (or the neck fur if she doesn't wear a collar, but don't hurt her) and sternly reprimand her. Assume a stiff body posture and speak in a very angry tone to make it clear that this kind of behavior is not tolerated. If you can grab the object she stole, do so, but don't tug. Hold onto the object until she releases it to assert your dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reasons why the second method is not optimal are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have to be comfortable with and capable of reprimanding your dog effectively. People who insist on positive reinforcement only, can't be stern with their dogs or resort to pain for reprimands shouldn't use this method.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need to be close enough to your dog to intervene immediately. If you first have to run to your dog, it's already too late and she won't understand &lt;em&gt;what exactly&lt;/em&gt; you're reprimanding her for. Even worse, if she thinks you start a race to take the spoils from her, she might steal even more often to get your attention.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you don't consistently reprimand her for the same behavior (maybe because you're too far away to do so in time), she won't know for sure that stealing is not allowed. It will take a lot longer until she stops doing it reliably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-07-06T12:53:51.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28156" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-06T23:46:16.927" Score="3" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brother has a 2 year old female Siberian husky, I've been babysitting her since she was 9 months old.  She spends majority of her time with me, my kids and pets.  He picks her up every other weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had told me she won't eat or play when she's with him, even though we give her the same foods. As soon as she is back with me, she will eat and start playing. She has become very jealous and follows me everywhere I go.  I love her like she was one of my kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18297" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-07-07T14:45:40.197" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T21:30:14.853" Title="Husky shows different behavior between households -- is this normal for the breed?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28140" CreationDate="2020-07-07T00:18:25.610" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two common possibilities here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat is just trying to wipe its butt. It happens, especially for long haired cats (but our shorthairs have done it once or twice) when they didn't manage to &amp;quot;pinch it off&amp;quot; the way they usually do. Maybe the poop got stuck in his fur, maybe he's constipated and couldn't quite &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; his poop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is something wrong. A common cause is worms causing an itch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since you mention this happened straight after using the litter box, the former seems more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye on your cat and see if it keeps happening (or if any other strange behavior occurs). If it doesn't, it was just a bout of constipation or diarrhaea. If it does, consult a vet for a proper examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T00:18:25.610" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28148" CreationDate="2020-07-07T03:40:56.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to the already good answers here, I'd say whether vet or physician, they should give sufficient, if not comprehensive, explanation of what they see in a patients state and about the treatment, and how to expect the healing process to go (if you are inclined to get that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know about your vet and about the person who took your dog there, maybe the explanation just got stuck in the process and being shaken up and everything, but I think that's something (and if necessary, someone) to look for. Even if explaining to you may not directly change the health of your dog, it sure can help you be a little calmer in the situation as at least you get to know where you're at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as proper treatment, and proper assurance of it, is secured, if possible get some rest with your dog along so he can copy that off you and feel safe again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18298" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T03:40:56.690" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28139" CreationDate="2020-07-07T05:19:22.413" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dragon-fly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; larvae feed with mosquito larvae, and dragon-fly adults feed with adult mosquitoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, where do you get the dragon-flies from, is another question, which I cannot answer. Also, I cannot tell if you enjoy seeing dragon-flies around. Personally, I am kind of fascinated by them, I would have no problem having them in my pond- especially if they control the mosquito population as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-07-07T05:28:23.273" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T05:28:23.273" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28154" CreationDate="2020-07-07T09:49:32.110" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your reasoning for taking care of the turtle is a good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you should be aware of some facts about red eared sliders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First: they live their whole live in water. They feel safe there and stay close to their &amp;quot;pond&amp;quot;. Only for mating do they change location and could go for miles to find the right partner. &lt;strong&gt;So you need a pond or tank&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second: they grow all their live long. The shell of female red eared sliders becomes the size of a toilet seat. Male ones becomes only a hand width shorter. To live a good life they need a water depth between one and two times their shell length and if it is a tank it has to be 7 times as long and at a minimum 2 times as wide as their shell (so the turtle could turn around comfortably). &lt;strong&gt;So you need a big tank/pond&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third: they can climb very good. If you think about a pond in your garden, you need a fence around it. But the turtles can climb mesh wire. Search on YouTube for it, it is unbelieveable... &lt;strong&gt;you need a fence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the behavior that you discribe: turtles dig a whole to hide in it, if they cannot find water to do so. They turn around and make swimming like moves to get dirt over their back. Maybe you saw this? You wrote nothing about water...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the turtle really wants to lay eggs, she needs water to wet the ground where she may lay their eggs. You could test the soil: if you dig a hole with a spoon and the walls don't collapse into the hole, then the soil is right. And the place has to be near the water, so the young turtles could reach it easily. The turtle would choose the place according to these criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a similar turtle too. We found him on the street too, but in our area he would not survive in the nature. Now he lives with us since 10 years in a bathtub sized tank. We choose to buy one big tank instead of a increasing tank sizes every year as he grows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T01:56:10.923" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T01:56:10.923" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28139" CreationDate="2020-07-07T15:31:43.610" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any small fish except possibly goldfish/Koi. My Koi are confirmed vegetarians, never make any attempt to eat fish of any size. Guppies and gambusia are also called &amp;quot;mosquito fish&amp;quot; because of their appetite for larvae. I would prefer livebearers, anyone will do: swordtails, platys, mollies, whatever is on sale. These fish like warmer temperatures, but could be put in at 70 °F (21 °C) water temperature and would reproduce and eat larvae until the water temperature drops to about 50 °F (10 °C). They will tolerate this lower temperatures when living in a pond. Not nearly as interesting control of mosquitoes is adding Bt (&lt;em&gt;Bacillus thuringiensis&lt;/em&gt;) to the pond. It will kill any insects and not affect fish, amphibians, reptiles, or mammals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T20:39:21.240" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T20:39:21.240" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-07T19:38:51.717" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are kitten specific cat foods, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.versele-laga.com/en/lara/Products/lara-junior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lara Junior&lt;/a&gt;, really better for kittens than adult labeled cat foods, or it's just a marketing gimmick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16308" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-07T20:45:35.277" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T20:45:35.277" Title="Are kitten specific foods legit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-07-08T13:43:22.473" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1497" CreationDate="2020-07-07T20:21:11.970" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also make sure you are checking the tap water or whatever you’re using for ammonia before you do water changes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18307" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T20:21:11.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22164" CreationDate="2020-07-07T22:52:58.477" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The risk for guinea pigs is always high when mixing with dogs, simply because of their difference in size and guinea pigs' prey instincts that signal to any other animal that they are defenseless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact degree of danger depends on the breed of your dog and how well trained your dog is. According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/italian-greyhound/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Kennel Club&lt;/a&gt;, Italian greyhounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are flash-and-dash coursing hounds with an instinct for pursuit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a strong warning signal that your dog, while only part greyhound, will have a natural instinct to chase and even kill your guinea pig rather than befriend it. There are no guarantees, but if you love your pigs, it is best to keep them separate or keep your dog leashed at all times (and under supervision) when in a room together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18160" LastActivityDate="2020-07-07T22:52:58.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28156" CreationDate="2020-07-08T04:14:41.313" Score="3" Body="&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't help but feel, first off: whether Husky or not, this is a dog with a strong bond to you; and really, you and your family and pets are her pack. I'm tempted to add, what else seems obvious. (And with the background story, you're probably her true and only Alpha.) Further seeming obvious, and so it feels, to this dog your brother isn't even part of her pack as she's not acting comfortable when she is with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going from that, when your brother &amp;quot;picks her up&amp;quot;, it seems, to her it just means that she is being taken away from her pack, which is where she belongs, where she is at home, and where she feels safe. Being taken away from &lt;em&gt;home&lt;/em&gt;. And away from all the fun, too. Her behavior as you describe it seems very congruent with a strongly grieving, worried or offended dog. Grieving or worried, more like (she might eat if just offended, unless she also just refused to accept something from him, too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for the Husky part, I've never raised a litter of Huskies or owned one, but as the saying goes that Huskies are a breed in the range of the closest you can get to a wolf, the pack idea would surely apply even more, and strongly. And the idea of not accepting food from him under these circumstances, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you didn't ask, and a potentially painful one - but I can't avoid the subject without feeling untrue (and I've already touched it anyway) - you may want to keep in mind that a dog's native language in every respect (perception, emotion, expression and so on) is well, Dog, not Human. This includes that what counts is what really happens. The being together, the even having been mostly brought up by you, the sharing of most all of her life. &lt;em&gt;The human concept of isolated juridical ownership is not included in what's real or comprehensible to a dog.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is painful but it feels so illogical to me to even expect that she would see herself as your brother's dog. From what you are telling us, this dog is rather apparently neither sharing nor enjoying life with your brother when she is made to be with him. I'm very sorry, but from everything you write, it feels so illogical to me how your brother could even be said to &amp;quot;have&amp;quot; this dog. How do you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; a dog when that's supposed to mean you are with the dog &lt;em&gt;every other weekend&lt;/em&gt; and that's not where that dog is &lt;em&gt;at home&lt;/em&gt;, i.e where she spends all her time. It feels more natural to me to think that she really belongs to &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was first going to write, &amp;quot;This dog's behavior when she is with your brother, ...&amp;quot;, I had to physically restrain myself from not starting that paragraph with &lt;em&gt;Your&lt;/em&gt; dog. As that is by all means in what I can see from your post, where she is bonded, so, where she belongs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I guess she is expressing that strongly. Which of course raises a completely different question that you didn't ask, but that's all I can see here, and so sorry, I can't hold this back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And I think &lt;em&gt;she doesn't&lt;/em&gt;. What appears to you to be &lt;em&gt;jealousy&lt;/em&gt; may just be putting much energy and vigilance into not being separated from you yet again.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming back to your original question, what I think I observed from your post might be gradually different with a breed that mingles easily with &lt;em&gt;just anyone&lt;/em&gt; (being very far from having retained a strong inner concept of &lt;em&gt;pack&lt;/em&gt;), but then, how little of a dog must a dog have become for &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;? To the extent of things you describe, I wouldn't even know for sure whether such a breed even exists. Some breeds would sure mingle more easily than others, but then, that's not the same as being inconsistent as to &lt;em&gt;where is home&lt;/em&gt;. And my take of this is, as for Husky specific, inconsistency in that quarter would surely go the least with a close-to-wolf breed dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18298" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T21:30:14.853" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T21:30:14.853" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-08T05:32:45.580" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found my turtle on the street in summer. Now there was another one asking questions about the same situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As example: I found an red eared slider alike turtle in northern or middle Europe in the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should the &amp;quot;rescue home&amp;quot; for an aquatic turtle look like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This home, which one could provide until the decision will be made what to do next.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T16:14:49.727" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T15:38:54.590" Title="How to shape a first aid home for an aquatic turtle which I found?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28166" CreationDate="2020-07-08T09:00:54.437" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best option is to release it in an aquatic environment. Another alternative is to donate it to a local zoo, or even a pet shop - if they accept it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose not to, create an environment as similar as possible with a natural one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a specialist in turtles. You might actually need to provide a saltwater environment. Do your homework learning about that turtle before you do something harmful to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A veterinarian might be able to guide you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T05:36:49.890" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T05:36:49.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28166" CreationDate="2020-07-08T14:47:00.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;To give a turtle a short term home one needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mortar tub;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stone, branch or flower pot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;desk lamp if it is indoors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the outdoor temperature is above 20 degrees Celsius, the tub could stand outside; if not, it should get a place inside the house. It should be filled with water as high as one shell length of the turtle. The branch/stone will be placed inside, not too close to the tub walls (to prevent the turtle from falling out of the tub). If the tub is inside, the desk light will be placed to shine at the branch/stone as basking place. It should reach temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For feeding one could use salad or dandelion leaves and gammarus from the pet shop. Gammarus should be given every day an amount that is eaten in few minutes and greens should be given how much the turtle likes. (One could not overfeed a turtle with greens. Depending of the kind of turtle it eats between 50% to 99% greens. For example mine need nearly 500g greens per day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind: this is for &lt;strong&gt;short term&lt;/strong&gt; home only! For long term there are more questions here about feeding, basking, tank size and laying eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T15:38:54.590" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T15:38:54.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-08T15:18:19.557" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Coton de Tuléar, named Ruby, is 4.5 months old. We thought we did well limiting her space to the kitchen and providing a small area outside her crate (where she sleeps) for elimination. Initially, she eliminated half the time on pad and half the time on kitchen floor - rarely outside. Often some &amp;quot;excitement&amp;quot; pee occurs when we first let her out of the crate, but I'm not counting that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, she NEVER goes outside, rarely goes on pad, but goes very close to where her fenced barrier was in the kitchen.  We are trying to attempt behavioral reset in that regard.  So I removed the barrier in kitchen, and the pads.  I'm taking her out first thing in the morning, and every hour, but she sits on lawn doing nothing, then pees on the floor the minute she's back in the house.  I don't even get a chance to praise and give treats outside because she WON'T go outside!  I'm feeling really desperate and hopeless. It feels like we will never get her sorted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if I move her crate to the laundry room and don't allow her in the kitchen, maybe there will be a reset possibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18312" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-08T15:36:37.510" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T15:36:37.510" Title="How can I get our puppy to learn new house breaking skills?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T12:08:33.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27891" CreationDate="2020-07-08T18:09:21.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made my first dirted tank a couple months ago.  I used topsoil instead of potting soil because the Perlite in potting soil is allegedly a nuisance, always wanting to float at the slightest disturbance.  I'd imagine that if you were disturbing the cap enough to release dirt into the water at any sort of frequency, cloudy water would be a bigger problem than floating white things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18316" LastActivityDate="2020-07-08T18:09:21.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21235" CreationDate="2020-07-09T05:25:24.967" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, Dogs can eat yoghurt. I always use natural and homemade yoghurt because there are unwanted ingredients in commercial yoghurts, such as Xylitol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a dog lover and thus want to provide good stuff to my dogs, but some of them might harm them. Therefore, to gather information about dogs, I refer &lt;a href=&quot;https://dependondogs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Depends On Dogs&lt;/a&gt; website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18319" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T05:25:24.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2020-07-09T21:38:07.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really can't believe anyone would question wet cat food... that calorie count you make is kind of erroneous. People are using numbers of what really active barn cats used to be in the day... you must have some heavy cats. Indoor cats barely move and wouldn't need anywhere near the calories you're talking about. Mine eats less than yours and already has a pooch...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cats survived on raw, wet, dead animal meat for millenias. They are also obligate carnivores, which means their diet should be ALL meat. They can't digest plant matter, grains, etc. Dry foods is more potatoes, corn and wheat than the actual nutrients they require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoted text: Dry Food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“The biggest mistake people make is feeding cats dry food,” says Lisa A. Pierson, DVM, a California veterinarian focused on feline medicine and nutrition, and creator of CatInfo.org.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, today’s domestic tabby evolved from desert-dwelling ancestors, a heritage that no doubt left our furry felines with their grace, hunting prowess -- and low thirst drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“We know that a cat’s sensitivity to thirst is blunted compared to a dog,” Case says. “They don't voluntarily drink water like a dog would.” And because cats naturally produce highly concentrated urine “we're setting them up for urinary tract problems when their diet is low in liquids.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't even about the water, although that does significantly impact it. Cats require a lot of taurine, which, guess what... is found in high abundance in chicken liver, not in the potatoes, corn and berries often being abundant in dry cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry cat food just starves your cat while making it fat. Its like arguing why humans don't eat ice cream all day instead. That's super high calories. Must be healthy to eat only that... everyday. Or asking why humans don't eat burgers a day. You only need one to reach your calorie count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, but I really wonder why you have cats if you ask this sort of question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18322" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-09T21:50:13.670" LastActivityDate="2020-07-09T21:50:13.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16460" CreationDate="2020-07-10T03:16:59.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The point of wet cat food seems quite obvious: cats are evolved to get primarily from their prey, and wet food mimics that. Given that kidney failure is a leading cause of death for indoor cats, proper hydration is obviously essential to their long-term health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If their food is 80% water by weight, then even if all the other ingredients were the same, it would have 20% of the calories per weight as dry food, which roughly matches the numbers you cite. But dry food &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; have more calorie-dense carbohydrates as a binder, which wet food doesn't need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, you are vastly overestimating the caloric needs of a typical housecat, as do many owners based on how many indoor cats are dangerously overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-07-10T03:16:59.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28176" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-10T15:39:16.723" Score="2" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Need help in a situation I'm a bit puzzled with.&#xA;I have an established, 3 foot (90 cm) bare aquarium with discus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have added a few plants in the last 3 months. Once the new plants have adapted to the water parameters of my tank, I have perfect water parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is done by checking it with API freshwater test kit. I have been doing regular water changes of 50% every week... Be it 20% every 2 day, or 30% every 3 days, or 50% during the weekend, all depending on my free time... but this is without failure, it's been my routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the 2nd month of having the plants in, I've noticed ammonia, nitrite and nitrates reading are all 0 before my water changes. With this info, I have dragged my water changes just to see how long I can get away without any water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my surprise, I managed almost 3 weeks without doing so. Until, I decided to do a 50% water change (with the readings of all zero), 3 days ago. That's when my problem started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first night, all was good. On the 2nd night, my fish started to stay at the bottom of the tank, almost all of it and by the morning of 3rd day, my discus have mostly turn black. Knowing something was not right and getting worse, I did a check and got a reading of between 20 to 40ppm of nitrates reading roughly around 24 hours of new water change... (colour seems to be in between the API chart.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a water change again today, put some salt in... And now it's a waiting game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any explanation on how did I manage to get this nitrate spike?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanking you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18325" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-10T19:44:33.087" LastActivityDate="2020-07-10T19:44:33.087" Title="Nitrates spike right after a 50% water change (ammonia,nitrite and nitrate readings were all zero before it)" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28177" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-10T17:07:28.703" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 1.5 year old calico is perfect in every way except she cannot resist the crinkly temptation of plastic bags and packaging. Since adopting, the family has been mindful of how one handles plastic wrappers and packaging stuffs, out of consideration for the critter. Being a cat, she sneaks about to hunt the material down, anyway. She is conscious the humans in her house have discouraged indulging this particular impulse. When we catch her, she looks up, and darts off. There must be something worth it about chewing plastic. Pity she can't explain the appeal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I post to ask, if the material used to make theatre lighting filters/gels (translucent polyester or polycarbonate sheets, the ultimate crinkle stuff) can be used safely to make a crinkle toy, or perhaps stuff in another material for the sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explanation of the gels could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_gel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in a relevant article&lt;/a&gt; (source: Wikipedia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you much for any wisdom you can share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18324" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-10T19:55:48.820" LastActivityDate="2020-07-10T19:55:48.820" Title="Translucent sheets of polycarbonate or polyester. Safe to make a crinkle toy for my plastic packaging loving cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28190" CreationDate="2020-07-10T19:10:36.357" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently given an 8-week old Bengal x Maine Coon mix kitten. Best guess is that the mix is 60% Bengal and 40% Maine Coon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten was crying &lt;strong&gt;sharply/loudly/repeatedly&lt;/strong&gt; from the minute I first saw her in the previous owner's vehicle. And she is still crying now (4 days layer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat literally does stop crying for a second, except to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sleep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it's on my lap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or when other cats are around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to admit that the &lt;strong&gt;crying is driving me absolutely nuts&lt;/strong&gt;. I can't force the other cats to hang around the kitten all the time. And I can't hold her in my lap all day, every day. So the crying continues!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I’ve read, the kitten is likely suffering from separation anxiety. But I’m not able to find much credible information about treating it/making the cat happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten was checked over by a vet (four days ago) and was given a clean bill of health. She is eating, drinking, sleeping, defecating and urinating normally -- that is, after I hold her to calm her down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any proven techniques that could help the kitten stop crying (and preserve my sanity and hearing)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18327" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-10T19:30:11.133" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T20:08:58.303" Title="Bengal/Maine Coon kitten: crying loudly/repeatedly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-11T03:00:30.250" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 year old spayed rabbit that reliably uses her litter box, with the exception of occasionally peeing on my bed. It seems to happen when she's looking for attention and I don't give it to her. I wash everything when she does this and she continued the habit even after I moved to a new place with a new bed, sheets, mattress, etc., so I don't think it's because there is a leftover scent. How do I get her to stop doing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18329" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T10:28:59.493" Title="How do I stop my rabbit from peeing on my bed?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-07-12T14:08:51.600" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28180" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-11T08:11:42.557" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 11 week old Weimaraner puppy who has been eating his poo at night. We are coming downstairs to let him out to do his business, but sometimes he has already done this and just the remains after left. Any advice to stop this before it becomes an engrained behaviour?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18331" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T08:17:18.023" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T08:17:18.023" Title="Weimaraner puppy eating poo" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28141" CreationDate="2020-07-11T09:41:15.623" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can attribute that to is stuck shed I'm afraid. Do you have a hygrometer to measure humidity with? Not having stuck shed on toes isn't really the best way of measuring the humidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Them sleeping on the cold side and spending the night on the warm side is normal so don't worry about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really though, if it keeps happening I'd say take him to a vet. Consistent bleeding over weeks, even minor, isn't good for anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T09:41:15.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-11T18:07:15.987" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a condo and my cat always stands in front of the front door and meows. I don't get why, because we've never let him out there. Even when we're about to leave the condo, he doesn't run out, he stands at the door until we leave. We have a balcony door and he never stands at it and meows. You would think that he would rather go out on the balcony than the front door because there's nothing beyond the front door. My guess is he hears my neighbours and wants to explore what's out there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We let him go once to see what he would do, but he just sniffed around and then came back. He can meow for HOURS. I don't get why. I tried playing with him by pulling out his toy in another room and and he literally runs to play, but then he goes back and meows at the door afterwards. When I come to him while he's meowing, he just runs away then goes back. It's weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18332" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-11T18:37:50.957" LastActivityDate="2020-07-11T18:37:50.957" Title="Why does my cat keep meowing at our condo front door?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28184" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-12T18:25:16.917" Score="1" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko is about 3 months old, and she was doing well until about a week and a half ago, when she stopped eating. A few days after this started, I bought her a different kind of food in case she just wanted to switch, but she wouldn't eat anything but a nibble from the new food. She's still drinking a lot of water, but she hasn't pooped in a while. Although she's been active - even more active than usual - I'm wondering if I should be worried, or if this stage will pass, please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18334" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T20:16:35.223" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T20:16:35.223" Title="Is my leopard gecko sick?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T18:21:43.813" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-12T18:43:18.540" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat, adopted approximately one year ago from a shelter as a kitten. He was fostered in a family home - I don't believe he spent any time actually in the shelter. He is currently approximately 14 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has two litter boxes, one upstairs in the hall between the bedrooms, one tucked in a corner of the family room downstairs. We use pine litter, which he has used since before we adopted him and we change the litter at least once a week and wash the litter boxes approximately every 1-2 weeks. He knows where the litter boxes are and for the most part (maybe 80-90%?) he uses them for both wet &amp;amp; dry elimination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But sometimes he goes other places. There does appear to be a pattern to &lt;strong&gt;where&lt;/strong&gt; he goes: he mostly prefers baskets or other things with tall sides and fabric in them. For example, a hamper with dirty clothes in it or a basket containing blankets. Occasionally he will break this pattern: for example, this morning we had a load of towels for the laundry - the load was a little too large, so two towels were left behind on the floor in the closet and he peed on them. Interestingly, he had used one of his litter boxes 15 minutes earlier to defecate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; he goes, this is a mystery. Sometimes it seems he may be doing it in response to an upset. This morning he was scolded (gently) and removed from the counters in the kitchen where he is not permitted to go. Other times he seemed like he might be upset with us for being out all day and leaving him alone at home (yesterday was one such day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed two occasions in which he displayed certain behavior before an improper elimination: on these two mornings he was especially crazy - meowing loudly (he's normally quite quiet) and much more active than usual (zooming around the house, playing crazily). Normally evening is his play time, when we're all around to play with him. I have only noticed this twice, but it does seem to be predictive of an attempt at improper elimination (the first time ended with him defecating in a trash basket in the rest room). This morning, in fact, I did spend some time playing with him, hoping that I could satisfy whatever need he had - he seemed to enjoy it and did seem to play until he was done, but still peed on the towels in the closet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the discussion of cats &amp;amp; litter boxes that I've seen online seem to be centered around making the litter box more attractive or more to the cat's liking - for example &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2292/16323&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; seems to be about a change to elimination in response to stress or upset, but the accepted answer seems to be mainly about changing the litter. Our cat does not seem to have a problem with his litter boxes - he uses them just fine most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried changing things up with the litter boxes - we got him larger litter boxes (his old ones were kitten sized) and we added a litter box attractant (&lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01DUZYZBG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;) which he seems to like - he checked it out closely the first time we used it. We have also taken him to the veterinarian, with no issues found. We are considering moving ahead with some of the steps described in other answers (trying different litters, changing locations), but to be honest, that does not seem to be the problem here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16323" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T20:21:49.877" Title="How to prevent infrequent out-of-litterbox elimination?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28185" CreationDate="2020-07-12T20:11:33.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove access to anything that remotely resembles a litterbox.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, it's possible for cats to become confused as to what actually counts as a litterbox. Your cat's preferred wrong locations seem to have largely recurring theme: it's a container with an open top, and things are in them. This is vaguely litterbox like. Therefore, I think you should try to keep any of these things out of his reach. Keep the lids on any containers you use to store things in, keep open trash cans out of reach or replace them with lidded ones, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remove anything stressing your cat out.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat frantically zooming around the house and meowing a lot could be signs something is freaking it out, and of course animals often inappropriately eliminate due to stress. If there's nothing in the house that could be a cause, then it may be it's seeing something outside, such as wild animals, or something else your cat finds scary. If it's animals, you can discourage them from coming to your yard with motion detecting sprinklers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing of note is that sometimes exercise gets the digestion moving too, and the animal will need to go. It may also be helpful when your cat gets in one of those moods to play with it not too far from the litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maybe your cat is in discomfort.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that you've already taken it to the vet, and the vet didn't find anything, but there are still things that could be making the cat uncomfortable that a vet cannot detect. The type of litter you're using is a common culprit. Pine litter isn't the most comfortable to walk on. A very fine sand like litter is much more pleasant. There could be other intermittent medical reasons as well, like your cat is constipated sometimes, or it has a bit of arthritis. I would also keep an eye on your cat to see if you notice anything that seems off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T20:21:49.877" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T20:21:49.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-12T22:06:11.687" Score="1" ViewCount="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to stop my chihuahua puppy from peeing inside although he pees outside every time he goes outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a 10 month old chihuahua and he pees every time we take him out. Then, after he gets back inside and play awhile, he will stop and pee whenever he gets the urge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18336" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-12T22:41:56.777" LastActivityDate="2020-07-12T22:41:56.777" Title="Indoor urination issues with puppy chihuahua" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21896" CreationDate="2020-07-13T14:18:02.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Shih Tzu and he has skin tags as well.  Our vet said it's common and nothing to worry about.  You never know though... I would ask the vet next time you're in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;petcarerx.com is another resource for info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18176" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T15:11:40.947" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T15:11:40.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28139" CreationDate="2020-07-13T17:24:36.407" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;White Cloud Mountain minnows are extremely effective at controlling mosquito larvae and are hardy too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T18:59:46.480" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T18:59:46.480" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28178" CreationDate="2020-07-13T17:37:35.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The solution was to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep it busy (aka quiet), when possible, by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Letting it sit on people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be around other pets.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tire it out via a mouse-on-a-stick toy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the above is not possible, put the cat in a room that is out of earshot (with all the amenities, of course). The cat will yell as much as it needs to, without driving people insane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, the cat will lose it's voice. The cat can be brought back to a room that is within earshot at this point, because the yelling is much quieter, although still present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a few days, the cat will settle down and stop yelling altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18327" LastEditorUserId="18327" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T20:08:58.303" LastActivityDate="2020-07-13T20:08:58.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-13T20:06:37.433" Score="3" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two trips to our local vet and we have ruled out all the big players that would show up on blood work. 2 separate thyroid tests, Cushing's syndrome, cancer... all blood work and urine is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is 8 now and his hair started thinning 7 months ago. First on his back and now it’s his whole back, down the sides and up his neck. He also used to be dark liver (brown) and the part that is thin is also very light brown now. When hair does grow it's very patchy. We did melatonin for 3 months per the vet with no luck, also doing fish oil and vitamins. Still nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next step is a dog dermatologist - however, I would love not have to spend the money and make the trip downstate to do that. Besides his appearance change, he seems healthy and fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any diagnoses ideas or treatment ideas would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was taken 1 year ago after a summer haircut:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/creFf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the current situation: The darker patches on his back are the random hair that is growing back. The light brown color hair isn’t growing. The white fur on his legs hasn’t been affected. It’s still long, soft and white. The white fur on his neck, chest and belly are thin now and has an off white color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xjwJk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KX6JX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18337" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T12:49:39.983" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T18:45:50.563" Title="English Springer spaniel hair thinning and pigment loss" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28216" CreationDate="2020-07-13T20:37:54.063" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;For months now, our dwarf hamster is slowly losing hair at the back, between the shoulders. We can see that the hamster scratches itself often at this spot where the hair gets lost. The hamster is ~7 months old. We don't think it's because of age, because it started months ago, very slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We checked the fur and skin, there are no lice or anything else. The food is high-quality hamster food and has variance (various seeds, various nuts, hay, water, sometimes fresh paprika, fresh tomato, etc.). We also have no sharp edges in the hamster house, where the hamster could rip off the hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hamster itself behaves normally. So, is it just because of scratching, or could it be something else we didn't think about till now? Thanks for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18340" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T21:05:59.080" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T14:14:10.050" Title="Hamster hair loss" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28197" CreationDate="2020-07-13T21:03:08.273" Score="7" ViewCount="1090" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm planning a new, 50 gallons (around 190 liters) aquarium and I found very nice looking, red rocks on the shore of the St. Lawrence river, close to where I live.  I cleaned them (bleach, brushing) and did multiple tests on them, namely the muratic acid test as well as simply letting the rock sit in water for several weeks and testing the water afterward.  All tests came out perfect, the rocks do not seem to affect my water parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they crumble (break apart) quite easily.  Personally, I do not mind much as it is not too bad and mostly happens through manipulation.  At worst, I'll have some pieces spreading around in my sand when time passes.  However, I've seen on different sites (including this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquaticwarehouse.com/blog/safe-and-unsafe-rocks-for-aquarium/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;) that we should avoid these type of rocks. They say it's bad for fish safety, but I have trouble understanding how my rock could injured my neons, tetras, otocinclus, etc. a way that would be worst than what they face in nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are crumbling rocks bad for aquarium and is it that big a deal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The image below shows one of the rocks (if anybody knows what type of rocks that is, please tell it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46p5H.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46p5H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18341" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-13T21:15:28.000" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:31:34.087" Title="Are rocks that are breaking apart bad for aquarium use?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28193" CreationDate="2020-07-14T01:42:04.817" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like an iron rich (red) shale (mudstone) with poor integrity/strength. What is bad about smaller rocks? I have used tons of flagstone (sandstone type) around my pond and many other various rocks such a &amp;quot;holey limestone&amp;quot; in aquariums. All I ever needed was to squirt them with a garden hose. Except the rock around/in the pond, there is so much I just let the rain clean that. In 70 years of aquariums, I have not yet needed bleach. Wood, like tree stumps, gets the same cleaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T11:31:34.087" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:31:34.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13527" CreationDate="2020-07-14T03:52:23.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it’s probably the least of the concerns right now, but you aren’t supposed to put any type of those hard core bug killers (bengal, Raid, etc.) into any type of drain or anywhere that will have it going into the water system. It’s very toxic and not meant to be introduced to water systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not trying to nag, and I do sympathize with your issue, I recently found a bunch of fleas on me after given my cats flea treatments for the season. I don’t know if they jumped off of them and onto me or what, but because I didn’t initially realize they were fleas, I panicked and bought a kit to treat lice in the hair, it wasn’t till after using the de-licer kit that I realized it was fleas, but it did work nonetheless, and I haven’t had any troubles since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a suggestion, I know they aren’t in your hair but maybe that de-licer stuff could help in some way. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18347" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T11:16:53.780" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:16:53.780" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28193" CreationDate="2020-07-14T04:19:46.940" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer to this is rock that crumbles or breaks apart easily might be a sign that the rock dissolves easily, so it might leach unwanted minerals into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rocks in cold climates might freeze apart, so they might be safer - but you really need to know what type of rock it is. In general rocks that break apart easily should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rocks you can find in streams and on beaches, if they are rounded by water, are fairly safe to use in your fishtank. Rounded rocks look nicer in a tank too, in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rocks you find in nature should be disinfected to avoid harmful pests entering your tank. A good way to do this is by boiling the rock for at least 30 minutes and a bit longer if the rock is large (be very careful when you boil the rock as pressure might build up inside the rock and it might explode, causing injury to you or your surroundings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T11:28:36.303" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T11:28:36.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2020-07-14T18:08:06.223" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 14 year old female tuxedo cat MOST DEFINITELY knows exactly what she's doing with her teeth and claws. She likes to play fight and will grab my bare hand with teeth and claws, but never hard enough to break my skin. At this point I'll put on some leather gardening gauntlets (the ones designed to protect against rose thorns) after which she'll bite MUCH harder and her claws will tear the surface of the leather. She knows exactly when she's biting/clawing naked skin and when I'm wearing those leather gauntlets. Clever kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18360" LastActivityDate="2020-07-14T18:08:06.223" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-14T19:00:21.973" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am moving my Harlequin Rasboras, Neon Tetras, and Skirt Tetras from a (44 Liter)11.5 gallon tank to a (76 Liter) 20 gallon tank. I would like to know if I HAVE to bring the same gravel from the 11.5 to the 20 gallon. I will be adding about half of the water from the original tank to the new tank for bacteria reasons, but I will not be using the same filter. I just want to know if adding just the water from the old tank will be fine enough for my fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to know if I have to clean all the decor (and gravel if necessary) before I transfer it to the new tank. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18363" LastEditorUserId="18363" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T20:27:54.760" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T20:27:54.760" Title="Transferring my tetras and rasboras to a bigger tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;tetra&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28203" CreationDate="2020-07-14T21:17:49.343" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 8-month old rabbit pets, and while my house is not very well designed for rabbit-proofing, I have given them a decent chunk of space where they can roam around 24/7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed them a hay based diet, a small amount of pellets and some greens every day. They eat about twice their volume in hay alone. I only give them enough pellets to cover the bottom of their small bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have wood based toys that they seem to have lost interest in, and I'm worried that hay alone won't be enough to help them keep their teeth in order, in the long run. I sometimes volunteer at a nearby cat shelter, and one of the volunteers there suggested I take home some of the branches laying around (the shelter is surrounded by a very small area of trees). So I decided to bring home a few branches of wood, but I don't want to just give them wood that might be infested with parasites or otherwise harmful bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some precautions I could take for their safety or if not, what can I give my rabbits to keep their teeth in check? Is hay really enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-14T21:26:30.120" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:05:46.590" Title="Is it a bad idea to give my rabbits wild wood to nibble on?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28200" CreationDate="2020-07-15T04:41:56.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way to do this is to setup your new tank, you do not need to move the old gravel, but you need to move some of the decor or filter media to your new tank; this is to seed your new tank with bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not move your fish to the new tank until it is properly cycled. Using some of the water from your old tank is not very helpful, the water contains very little of the bacteria you want so it is better to move some of the decor to your new tank. The bacteria you want live on all surfaces, so do not let it dry out and do not clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember cycling a tank will take time so be patient and do not rush the introduction of your fish to the new tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take a look on how to cycle a tank properly in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article on fishlore.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T13:34:55.753" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T13:34:55.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28201" CreationDate="2020-07-15T05:53:16.850" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there some precautions I could take for their safety or if not, what can I give my rabbits to keep their teeth in check? Is hay really enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that the respective wood is not toxic to the rabbits. Some wood is toxic to everything on Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for infections, pathogens... just boil the wood in water for at least 30 min. That should be quite enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T05:53:16.850" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-15T15:28:42.810" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was walking my dog in a park (respecting social distancing and all). At some point I heard a crack; she had picked up a very dry pellet from the grass and was chewing on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't get her to spit. I then looked at the pellets and they seemed small. If these are kibbles I don't recognize the brand. I'm worried now because one of my neighbours had told me that a few years ago some heartless person wanted to poison the squirrels in the park and ended up poisoning many dogs, some of which died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took pictures of the pellets, they look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/I4EAJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/I4EAJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Something which I can't tell whether it's a kibble or rat poison&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gkAO9.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gkAO9.png&quot; alt=&quot;Something which I can't tell whether it's a kibble or rat poison&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is anyone able to tell whether these are kibbles or rat poison?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: My dog is fine now, not showing any signs on intoxication, though I know that rat poison can take a few days to take effect. I am going to contact a vet clinic now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16358" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T15:33:01.803" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T15:33:01.803" Title="Is this kibble or poison?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2020-07-16T12:12:11.187" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28201" CreationDate="2020-07-15T16:56:29.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fresh wood cut from the right kind of tree would be without risk for your rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Easy to remember trees are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hazel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apple (the kind of apples humans could eat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cherry (the kind of... see above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I will add the others, when I find their English names.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cut the healthy twigs fresh from the tree the wood is tasty for your bunnies and you have no worries about fouling or similar things. Additionally, it gives important vitamins and such for your rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could give them the leaves too. They will like the variety to their other greens. My rabbits like to peel the skin of and bite the twigs into small parts and after all they let me bigger match-like parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T19:13:42.683" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T19:13:42.683" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-15T17:01:20.083" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have two goldfish and one of them keeps pushing the other one by its tail. It stopped now but the fish stays at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18372" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T21:55:45.397" Title="Hi I don't know if my fish is being bullied?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-07-16T12:14:17.820" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28206" CreationDate="2020-07-15T20:14:27.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not very common for a goldfish to bully another, but it may depend on how big the tank is. If the tank is under 30-40 gallons, the fish can become very territorial, usually the bigger fish is the dominant one in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the size is ideal for them, one fish is likely being bullied because it may be a bit newer then the other. Although in some cases, the goldfish that is being bullied is sick or infected, causing the other fish to think the sick fish is lesser than them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution for this is to separate the goldfish into different tanks each 15-20 gallons or more. You can search google for more suggestions to what they may be doing, the possibilities I wrote are just some more common reasons for a goldfish to be bullied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish could just be playing, but even then it would be weird for one fish to not be eating if they were just playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18363" LastEditorUserId="18363" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T21:55:45.397" LastActivityDate="2020-07-15T21:55:45.397" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28192" CreationDate="2020-07-15T20:24:12.660" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hair loss of a hamster is almost always caused by rubbing against a hard object or sharp object in its cage, but the type of bedding you may use could potentially cause the hamster to lose hair if it is allergic to its bedding. One other cause could be that the cage is to moist from the water bottle dripping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18363" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T00:03:02.573" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T00:03:02.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28209" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28213" CreationDate="2020-07-15T22:17:21.220" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: My cat ended up walking for 1.5 km almost daily. Is it too long?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to some renovations in my apartment, I had to move to somewhere 1.5 km away only for two months. My cat, which was a stray cat who decided to live with me, couldn't come along to my temporary apartment. I stopped by my old apartment daily and contacted others who pet him when he is around to take more care of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after feeding, he started following me to my new apartment. I never touch or carry him, he follows me on his own. He gets scared sometimes but still follows me. I also take him back to his own turf where he is familiar with the surroundings in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This way, he ends up walking at least 1.5 km daily. He hasn't followed me every day so far, so if he does, he will be walking 3 km. Is it too much, assuming that I am monitoring his weight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some details: he is 6 years old, unknown breed - probably not a pureblood, large and relatively chonky. He weighs 6.5 kg and has a tendency to overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I am done with my studies, I will move to some more permanent and cat friendly location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-15T22:31:06.043" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T13:07:54.517" Title="How long walking a cat too long?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28212" CreationDate="2020-07-15T22:48:07.260" Score="2" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zillarules.com/all-products/lighting-heating/mini-halogen-bulbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;25 watt Zilla mini halogen bulb (day blue)&lt;/a&gt; on our new lizard terrarium.  It claims to have UVB, but there are no claims of UVA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I assume assume UVA is included since it is a longer wavelength than UVB?  Why can I not find any mini halogen bulbs that claim both UVA &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; UVB?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've also asked the manufacturer -- will post their answer as well if they reply.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Not sure how to adjust this question, but it has a false premise.  The halogen bulb does not claim UVB!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confirmed from manufacturer support:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Zilla mini halogen bulbs are for basic light and heat, they do not&#xA;provided any UVB/UVA.  You will need either one of the tropical or&#xA;desert series fluorescent bulbs that provide essential UVB/UVA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12752" LastEditorUserId="12752" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T19:36:10.397" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T19:36:10.397" Title="Do UVB halogen mini bulbs implicitly include UVA?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;heaters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19005" CreationDate="2020-07-16T01:56:07.013" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has multiple bad teeth. 20 years old. Waiting for bloodwork result in the morning. Hoping it's a go with with extractions as she is in pain and can't eat anything unless it is baby food texture. I wouldn't continue to go to any vet that is OK with a cat suffering for that many days. There are also (more expensive) dental specialists as well. I'd call and get some feedback from a few.&#xA;Another tip is buy Gerber's chicken with gravy baby food and warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds. .98 a jar at Walmart. If it's a tooth issue, they will probably eat that. It's the dry and canned with chunkier pieces (and cold) food - it is creating even more pain for them.&#xA;My cat was sent home (waiting for the bloodwork results) and they gave me a can of Hill's Prescription Diet® a/d Urgent Care (Chicken). I warmed it up and she ate it like she hadn't eaten in days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18374" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T01:56:07.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28210" CreationDate="2020-07-16T06:46:22.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When generated artificially, UV light is generated in very narrow bands. So it is quite possible that you only get what is advertised. The generation is based on how atoms work - at the level of electrons, orbitals, energy levels...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, some residues exist also, including visible light, but I guess those residues are not enough for your purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I assume assume UVA is included since it is a longer wavelength than UVB?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can assume, of course, but you might actually be very wrong, as I explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, according to the information on the site, it is much safer to assume that you will have neither UVA, nor UVB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T07:00:11.510" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T07:00:11.510" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28209" CreationDate="2020-07-16T12:00:27.153" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can walk for several kilometers but they will need multiple breaks during the walk, if you are able to give the cat some resting periods during the walk they will be able to handle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's body is not made for long continual walks, so they will need to take some breaks during the walk. The problem is, a cat's heart is too small to supply the muscle mass with oxygen for a prolonged time of energy use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you keep an eye on your cat and give him breaks when he gets tired, then a walk of 1,5 kilometers is safe - but you will need to be very aware of your cat's condition and remember a slow walk for us is a quick walk for a cat, so you will need to adapt your pace to what is comfortable for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taken most of my cats for walks in the forest where I live without problems. You need to be aware of the temperature when you walk your cat, as cats will easily overheat if you walk him on a warm day; a comfortable temperature for you might be too hot for your cat, so keep this in mind if you take him for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T13:07:54.517" LastActivityDate="2020-07-16T13:07:54.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28215" CreationDate="2020-07-16T19:13:24.577" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to design one cat tracker device and seen some instruction like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hackster.io/taifur/pet-locator-powered-by-spresense-gps-20ed00&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, so I'd like to add some vibrator and safe static shock, when the cat is going to far from base like the static shock used in &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01DLBXZA6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EMKnf.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EMKnf.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I googled the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=circiut%20%20electric%20shock%20toy&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwia0bbCtdLqAhWNwQIHHQgDAcwQ2-cCegQIABAA&amp;amp;oq=circiut%20%20electric%20shock%20toy&amp;amp;gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1D_2i9YgvovYKH7L2gBcAB4AIAB1QGIAb4MkgEFMC44LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&amp;amp;sclient=img&amp;amp;ei=nZ4QX9qOOo2Di-gPiIaE4Aw&amp;amp;bih=818&amp;amp;biw=1685#imgrc=B_KGT02S04IerM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;circuit  electric shock toy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and found &lt;a href=&quot;https://vk.com/doc-79283215_444728914&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; kind of circuit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pz39l.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/pz39l.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the cat is Persian cat and it has a lot of hair like shown below, and I need to have the frequency, voltage and current for this static shock for this cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nIHXV.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nIHXV.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18375" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-16T19:22:30.313" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T14:51:23.573" Title="Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) characteristic for safe cat/dog static shocker" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28214" CreationDate="2020-07-16T20:26:06.943" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't ever administer electrical shocks to pets because you cannot control how well the current is conducted through the fur.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following information is my personal experience as a medical device developer and former user of TENS for pain relief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The intensity of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_electrical_nerve_stimulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;TENS&lt;/a&gt; stimulation depends on several different factors, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The frequency and strength of the stimulation. Low frequencies tend to cause muscle contractions, while high frequencies can block the transmission of nerve signals. This is used in body shaping applications to exercise muscles and in pain therapy to block pain signals. Low strength causes no sensation at all, while high strength always causes pain, no matter the frequency. High strength can also physically burn the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The condictivity of the skin: The moisture content at a given time (for example dry vs. sweaty skin) makes a notable difference in the sensation of the stimulation. Dry skin feels slightly more painful than moist skin. Wet skin (as could happen to a cat in rain) can create a short circuit and completely nullify any stimulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The size of the electrodes: Big electrodes (a square inch and more) are most often used for pain relief, because they spread the current over a larger area and seem to lead it deeper into the body. Small electrodes concentrate the current to small spots on the surface on the body. I once had an electrode loosen during TENS pain therapy and half of it not sticking to my skin anymore. The sensation went from a comfortable buzzing to a painful pinch in a second. Imagine what those spiky little electrodes would feel like!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The hairyness: Hairs are actually electrical resistors. All of the TENS devices for humans I ever saw instruct you to shave the site of application if it's too hairy. (Side note: mobile automatic defibrillators always contain a disposable razor because body hair impacts the conductivity too much). Applying an electrode to hairy skin causes intense burning pain right at the hair follicle! It would probably physically burn the follicle, but I wasn't willing to conduct this particular experiment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The site of application: TENS electrodes should always be applied to muscles and meaty parts of the body. Applying them directly to joints, where the skin tents to be thin and there are no muscles to conduct the current, can lead to pain and actually burning the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of all these factors influencing the perception of an individual, there isn't even a baseline voltage / amperage for humans. There are special medical devices that are intended to cause a patient pain by TENS current to objectively measure the intensity of their chronic pain, but what doctors measure is never the absolute amperage, but rather the difference between the minimal amperage that is perceivable to this individual patient at all and the amperage that causes the same amount of pain as their chronic ailment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how could anyone ever determine the amperage of such a shock collar for your cat without asking the cat how much pain it feels while administering electricity?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly the simple fact that a collar always sits around the neck and that those heavy electrodes always sit at the throat poses another problem many pet owners willingly ignore:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All instruction manuals for TENS units for human applications warn against placing the electrodes at your neck (either front / throat or letting the current run through your spinal cord). So why is it OK for us to place TENS electrodes at the throats of our pets? Wikipedia states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several anatomical locations where TENS electrodes are contraindicated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the front of the neck due to the risk of an acute &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypotension&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hypotension&lt;/a&gt; (through a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_response&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vasovagal response&lt;/a&gt;) or even a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngospasm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;laryngospasm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TENS stimulation at the throat can lead to muscle spasms, loss of conciousness due to acute drop in blood pressure, choking, respiratory distress or accidental inhalation of things like saliva, which in turn can cause pneumonia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proposal for an alternative:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;It seems counter-intuitive for us humans, who always have a phone with vibration close by, but a vibration can be as effective in those shock collars as an electrical shock. All you need is to connect a certain action (like walking outside your yard) with a negative result. A startling tugging and vibrating collar is negative enough for most pets, you don't need to electrically shock them. Pets are very sensitive at their necks and may interpret a sudden vibration as being attacked or seized at their throat. That's shocking enough to discourage the initial behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T14:51:23.573" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T14:51:23.573" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28192" CreationDate="2020-07-16T22:52:19.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hamster hair loss is usually a vicious cycle: some irritation causes itching, itching causes scratching, scratching causes more irritation, etc. Other usual suspects would be stress, which can lead to both hair loss and scratching, low food variety, allergy and cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I wouldn't be alarmed, it is always a good idea to take him to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would rule out cancer. While cancer appears too frequently in hamsters due to inbreeding, 7 months is a little too early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Irritation is usually more localised. Could you add a photo of the bald spot? If it has well defined edges, I would say irritation would be more likely. There are some over the counter creams or lotions in petshops specific to hamsters that would help you with it. If it is like male pattern baldness, i.e., there is a spot with less hair and the hair gradually increases to the edges, stress, food quality and allergy is more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Packaged hamster food is usually food scraps pressed in shapes and sizes with some nuts and dried maze added. While, they are safe to use, never rely solely on them. You can add shelled hazelnuts, which they can open themselves and it is a lovely sight to watch them open one, cracked walnuts, cashew, whole grain bread in moderation, very small pieces of boiled egg yolk, some leafy vegetables like lettuce, carrots and bones. Make sure that the vegetables are at room temperature and are not wet and bones are washed up to remove any grease. Grease and wet veggies may lead to diarrhoea. If my hamsters' coat loses their quality, I would increase the boiled egg yolk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stressed hamsters usually behave erratic, i.e., more erratic than a regular hamster. Randomly jumping to the air, not leaving the nest other than drinking and relieving himself might be signs of the stress. Make sure that you have a properly sized container for your friend. The base should be at least 0.13 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, so some 30x45 cm cage with a height of 30 cm should be enough if you only have a single dwarf hamster. Dwarf hamsters also do not like to live in solidarity but you can't buy a new dwarf hamster and add him into the cage, they need to be together since birth, so there is nothing you can do about this. The way you handle might also cause some stress. When you put your hand in the cage, let him climb on your hand rather than you picking him up. Never ever ever open up the nest. Nest is a very private region for your hamster, and this induces extreme amount of stress. Don't even clean the nest, just check for spoiled vegetables and remove them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, consulting with a vet would be safer if this continues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="18340" LastEditDate="2020-07-19T14:14:10.050" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T14:14:10.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-17T10:28:06.653" Score="1" ViewCount="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 dogs and one has a tendency to scratch and then lick the other's back. Sometimes it will happen so much a cut appears and a scab afterward. Is this dangerous and how do I stop this behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18378" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T13:52:46.787" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T13:52:46.787" Title="Dog scratching another" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-17T15:26:04.813" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing some research into the way mother's aggression (not normal levels of discipline) can affect a puppy as it grows and becomes an adult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, focusing on long term behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would anyone be able to refer me to online articles - academic if possible - on the subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3335" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T15:31:40.777" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T15:31:40.777" Title="Mother aggression towards puppy and impact to the puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-17T17:43:59.127" Score="3" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 5-year-old cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen the many questions on this site and over the internet, where the recommendation is always to hire a cat sitter when traveling. And indeed, every time I've had to travel for a week or two before, and have always hired a cat sitter to come over once or twice a day to check in and play with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time, however, I'm facing the prospect of a 2-3 month trip and taking the cats with me is not a possibility. So now the question becomes: what would be best for the cats? Staying at home alone (except for the times with the sitter) for such a long time* or sending them away to a cattery or a (petless) friend's house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm well aware that cats prefer staying home, but wonder if such a long period of time changes the &amp;quot;calculus&amp;quot; to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats have historically been terrified of strangers, but over the last year or so have become much more relaxed whenever we have guests over: after some initial time making sure the new humans don't want to kill them, one or both of them will often come over asking to be petted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* I could ask some family members to check in on the cats at other moments, but the covid-19 situation in Brazil (where I live) isn't great, so I wouldn't be surprised if these family visits happen less often than I'd like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6462" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T11:31:40.237" Title="Months-long trip: hire cat sitter or send to cattery/friend's house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28219" CreationDate="2020-07-17T19:04:32.850" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the most ideal would be if you have a friend that is willing to both catsit and stay in your home for a significant chunk of the day, so the cats have lots of opportunity for human interaction.  If you know anyone who currently works at home, this might actually be a good opportunity for them too, as many people are struggling to work at home while everyone else is home right now, so your home could serve as a convenient private office for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is not an option, I think it rather depends on how needy your cats are and what kind of care you can expect from the catsitter and cattery.  I would be very hesitant to leave my current cat alone for 2 to 3 months with only minimal human interaction because he is VERY affectionate and really needs human interaction and stimulation.  But for a more shy, timid, and independent cat, that situation would probably be much preferred over a stressful shelter.  Of course, the catsitter does have the extra advantage of they can watch over your home as well while you're gone, to make sure nothing bad happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T19:04:32.850" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20307" CreationDate="2020-07-17T20:21:47.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to cool a hot hamster is &lt;strong&gt;a cold water bottle inside a sock&lt;/strong&gt;. Just cool it down to 4-6 degrees Celsius and put it in the cage. If he needs to cool down, he will lie by its side. If you want it to go longer, freeze it but put it in a much thicker sock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not put it directly in the terrarium without the sock, as there is a chance it might cause diarrhoea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Introducing a draught to a hamster, any kind of hamster, is suicidal. I can't stress this enough. Continuous draughts, weak enough for humans not to realise, can be fatal to hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-07-17T20:42:37.783" LastActivityDate="2020-07-17T20:42:37.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28029" CreationDate="2020-07-17T20:39:38.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends on your location. Check the local animal rescue shelters and regulations.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is to take the cat to a vet to see if he is microchipped. Most house cats in UK are microchipped, so a vet can contact the owner on your behalf. They would normally do it free of charge, but it depends on the available vet as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing would be a sturdier paper collar, or easy break collar with a name tag. Still, make sure that the cat can break it away if he needs to, otherwise he might strangle himself if the collar gets stuck to some branch or fence. Easy break collars usually cost around £5 and you can engrave your phone number on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third thing would be to contact your local animal shelter, so that they can make an ad about the cat. People who lose their cats usually go to the animal shelters as the first thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently going through a similar procedure with my cat. He was apparently stray, but everyone taking care of him thought he had an owner. They also love to pester different people for food, so it is good to contact everyone who feeds him. A WhatsApp group would be very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T12:39:35.453" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T12:39:35.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-18T00:40:00.690" Score="6" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;18 months after losing our previous dog, we've finally decided we are ready for another dog.  We'd like to get a rescue dog, but after some initial searching, we're finding a lot of different breed specific and general rescues that show up in basic Internet searches.  Some are local, other are national.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we go about finding a &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; shelter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; in this context, we are looking for a reputable shelter that will care more about getting a pet put into the right home rather than just getting the pet adopted.  We don't have anyone we know that has adopted a pet locally and the only people who have provided a reference amongst our friends, and family are people who have used a breed specific rescue for a breed we are not interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically - what do we look for when speaking with a shelter to determine the quality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are living in the USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T15:46:44.770" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T15:46:44.770" Title="How does one go about selecting a &quot;good&quot; rescue shelter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28223" CreationDate="2020-07-18T03:35:47.697" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Years of experience of taking in second hand dogs here - I quickly gave up trying to deal with the sort of private shelter you apparently want to get a dog from. Many of them treat you with a degree of suspicion, you have to fill out five pages of paperwork, they insist on inspecting your home, charge huge amounts for what are now often unsocialized, unhousebroken, elderly puppy mill breeding dogs, and then have you sign an agreement that keeps ownership of the dog in their name and and allows them to seize the dog without notice or reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah. Such a deal. No thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do yourself a huge favor and locate the nearest large urban animal control shelter in your area. Their requirements are usually basic and reasonable, their fees are lower, once you pass muster with them they won't bug you or demand the right to march through your house and call up your place of employment to check how much you make a year. They want the dogs to find good homes but aren't obsessive/compulsive over doing an FBI background check on you as soon as you walk in the front door of the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I avoid the private rescues like the plague. Had nothing but bad experiences with them. And I'm not the only one. One fellow I knew - bred some of the top show dogs in his chosen breed in the country and the owner and editor in chief of one of the top all-breed show magazines - was turned down by a local rescue because he (GASP!) actually bred dogs. Like, he had a Toy breed that averaged two pups a litter and he'd breed maybe one litter every two years and the few pups he did part with went to carefully selected pet homes. But he didn't pass inspection and he told them their rules were so stupid the Queen of England would not qualify for one of their second hand dogs. Which was true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So skip the private rescues. They are mostly run by people who are hoarders at heart. Go to the animal control shelters as the dogs there are under a time limit and if they are not adopted by a certain number of days they are toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18385" LastActivityDate="2020-07-18T03:35:47.697" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28228" CreationDate="2020-07-18T18:06:57.890" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the currently pandemic we are in, one of my wife's friend gave us her fish tank and its supplies. We have two boys and they like fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, myself, do not like Petco or Petsmart store that sells their pet fish. Their selection of fish is pretty limited to choose to buy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to look for a &lt;strong&gt;good online store that has a high marks from their customers&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife would like to get goldfish, but I don't like them...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestion? We live in Colorado.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18390" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-18T18:18:28.500" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T14:43:03.180" Title="Suggest purchase a pet fish from a four-star online store?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;saltwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28227" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-19T03:04:46.323" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started my 4 cats on scheduled feeding. Based on their weights, they're supposed to be getting &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; cup, twice a day. I give them a super tiny bit of wet food in the morning, followed by their dry food. I leave it out, portioned into four bowls all day. By night time hardly any food is gone, so they aren’t getting &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; twice a day, but less than that and only once a day. They are really big and fat, about 17-20 lbs (7.7-9.1 kg), so they desperately need a diet; but now I am worried they aren’t getting enough food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18392" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-19T13:43:46.560" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T07:34:06.313" Title="Free feeding to scheduled feeding" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28226" CreationDate="2020-07-19T04:40:42.640" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a lot better to buy fish from a local petshop, close to where you live. You can see the fish you buy and the shorter time it takes to bring the fish home from a shop will most likely stress the fish less, so their health will be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand why you try to avoid the large petshop chains, but it still might be better to get your fish there than it is to buy online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you buy fish online you risk the fish dying during transport if any delays happen (they DO), one does not know what stress the fish is exposed to during transport, like heat, cold or bumpy ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most online shops will not send live fish as mail or cargo because the transport takes too long - even if the transport goes as planned, the transit time might be over 24 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goldfish grow too large for you to keep them in a fishtank, to keep one single goldfish you need a tank of 75 liters and for every additional fish you will have to add 50 liters in tank size. More details about goldfish could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at the relevant article&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-19T14:43:03.180" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T14:43:03.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-19T22:44:25.813" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 year old, male, part Egyptian Mau cat is really vicious when he attacks. There is always blood after it has happened. What can I do to stop him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will attack any part of you and he always inflicts bleeding wounds. He also goes for my dog too, but not to the extent he does while attacking me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18395" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-19T22:53:38.943" LastActivityDate="2020-07-19T22:53:38.943" Title="How should I stop my aggressive cat from viciously attacking me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-20T06:00:20.120" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I leave the eggs to hatch with &lt;strong&gt;parents&lt;/strong&gt; and let the parents raise the fry, &lt;strong&gt;when&lt;/strong&gt; should I take the fries out? I mean, for how long they can live with their parents?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I know at some point parents will be preparing for the next spawn and will get disturbed by old fries being around them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17975" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-20T12:43:50.553" LastActivityDate="2020-07-20T12:43:50.553" Title="Separating the fry from parents - German Blue Ram" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27708" CreationDate="2020-07-20T06:16:25.237" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aquariums should replicate as much as possible the natural environment. Plastic is not natural. Cement is not natural. &lt;strong&gt;You are better of using stones and hard wood.&lt;/strong&gt; You can build anything you want with these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is even better, is that you can even boil them as much as you want, without significant negative side effects. I mean, boil the stones and the hardwood before cooling them and adding them to the aquarium, not boil the fish :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-07-20T06:16:25.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-20T10:12:15.550" Score="5" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been told that cats like it better if their subcutaneous fluids are administered from a bag that has been warmed a little bit.  I like this idea, but I don't trust my arbitrary means of heating the water to a good temperature.  I happen to have a sous vide cooker which is really good at heating water to a specific temperature.  Could I use this to heat the fluid bag to the desired temperature (submerging it in a water bath)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side question, what's the ideal temperature? (I would assume it's the same as the cat's natural body temperature, but I don't want to make assumptions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18398" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-20T12:41:53.397" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T16:12:43.837" Title="Is it okay to heat a lactated ringer's bag using a sous vide cooker?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28236" CreationDate="2020-07-20T12:38:49.257" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 year old Norwegian Forest Cat with a naturally thick coat. He is very happy and rarely scratches. He is brushed with a soft brush once a day. He has no antibug treatment. It is different story for my  5 year old son.  He has a series of red itchy marks on his leg and itches other places on his body. My wife is constantly on the war with mites, with putting out bedding to sun. It rains nearly every day here and often heavily. The cloud cover is enough to make our warm summer cool to cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With COVID and the general ineffectiveness of Japanese pediatrician (they don't have much medicines approved for children), we avoid getting our son to the doctor. Is it feasible that our cat is the source of biting bugs even with no evidence on his fur?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3029" LastEditorUserId="3029" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T07:50:39.230" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T07:50:39.230" Title="Can a cat be a carrier of biting bugs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-20T17:47:41.717" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 3 year old, male, Persian cat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FE8Y6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FE8Y6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and because he is alone, I wanted to bring another cat, so do you think I must bring female Persian cat for him? What should be the optimal age of his wife, and if I bring another cat breed like DSH's cat, how do you think these two will do together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat is not very active and of course one of his hobbies is to run away in the yard, which he has just learned, so we let him go out less and when someone is in the yard, he goes into the yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So do you think other female cat breeds, like female Persian cat or female DSH cat, are comfortable with these conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-20T19:36:54.973" LastActivityDate="2020-07-20T19:36:54.973" Title="Proper cat breed's wife for our Persian cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-20T23:35:10.537" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;For almost a year, my pet cichlid has been favoring laying on his right side at the bottom of the tank, but still swims around (clumsily) and eats. I do monthly water changes, I've used Pimafix and Melafix, I've tried feeding him boiled, peeled peas. What worries me further is that now his right eye has turned cloudy and pooling with blood. I'm very worried and torn on what I should do at this point, especially since he is still eating... anyone has experience with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18400" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-20T23:37:58.353" LastActivityDate="2020-07-20T23:37:58.353" Title="Should I euthanize my fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28233" CreationDate="2020-07-21T00:46:09.493" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats are known to carry many biting bugs.&lt;/strong&gt; Some of these can be very dangerous both to you and to your cats, such as &lt;strong&gt;ticks&lt;/strong&gt; and some of these might just be nuisances, like &lt;strong&gt;cat fleas&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat fleas can be hiding in depth of your cat's thick fur, however if you don't see them in spite of regular brushing, there is little to no chance they might cause a problem neither for you nor for your son.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mites&lt;/strong&gt; usually live in cats' ear. They are usually smaller than fleas so it might be hard to see them by naked eye. If your cat is obsessed with scratching his ear, an over the counter mite medication may help your cat. Cat mites, however, are not dangerous to humans, so your wife's crusade against the mites is not related to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ticks usually dwell to a single location and do not change its position unless it is disturbed. There is little (actually no) chance the itchy marks are due to a tick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect there are numerous types of itchy marks. A dermatologist can probably identify if the mark is due to an allergic reaction or due to a bite from a parasite from a photo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T00:46:09.493" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28238" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-21T01:21:45.890" Score="3" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 6 years old and a total sweetheart ... when he wants to be. Sometimes, though, he gets extremely needy and obnoxious, demanding a lot of attention from me. I want to make sure he's stimulated and happy as best as I can, but I also have to balance my professional and personal life too. Hence the question - how much of my day should I &lt;em&gt;actively&lt;/em&gt; be spending with my cat? (I'm writing this during COVID, so I work from home at the moment, which means I spend almost all of my time at least &lt;em&gt;passively&lt;/em&gt; with my little buddy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a well-trained primarily-indoor cat. Our current routine is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the mornings, before I leave for (or start) my daily activities, I put him in a harness, grab a lead, and take him outside. I don't let him roam unsupervised if I can help it. (I live in a suburban area near a major state road, but also near relatively untamed woods.) I don't keep him on the lead while he explores, but follow him around for about 20 minutes before bringing him back inside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on the day (that is, if I have time) this might be followed by a small training session, where he is rewarded with treats for doing various tricks such as high fives. Usually only 2-4 tricks/treats at this time; takes a couple minutes. Sometimes I try to work in a few minutes of coat-brushing too (again, time permitting).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After dinner, another walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He usually settles in for an hour or two after this, but will start demanding attention again a couple hours before bedtime. I sometimes do another round of tricks/treats, maybe brush his coat, but pretty much always I pull out a toy to play with. (This gets mixed results as he gets bored of toys very quickly...) The whole process typically lasts 10-20 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't include occasional mid-day work breaks to give him brushes and try to play with him. He can get quite demanding, and vocal about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all I estimate I spend a total of 20-30 minutes actively interacting with my cat in two sessions, plus another 40 minutes passively letting him patrol the area, getting into (harmless, supervised) trouble. Yet, this doesn't seem to be enough for him, and he often expresses boredom vocally (first with higher, more demanding calls directly at me; but if those don't meet with the desired response, they sometimes shift to sadder calls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, back to the question: how much of my active time should I spend with my cat per day, to make sure he's getting the attention he needs? I've read online that I should spend 20-30 minutes per day of stimulation, but mine seems to want far more than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18402" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T22:15:12.167" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T21:41:20.640" Title="How much time per day should I be spending with my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28227" CreationDate="2020-07-21T07:34:06.313" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have already taken some important steps when it comes to helping your cat lose weight. Besides what is in my answer you can always ask your vet for advice on diets and how to apply them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With how you described the situation you are trying to feed less but the cats do not eat the new food. You can help your cats get used to the new food by transitioning for 7-10 days. Give them less of the old food and more of the new food gradually and make sure they have plenty of fresh water available.&#xA;Cats are creatures of habit and it might take some time to get used to the new feeding schedule.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/cats/dry-cat-food/focus-weight-management-chicken-rice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Information on transitioning from the mentioned food ProPlan.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this does not help and your cats are still not eating the new food you can wait a little but not longer than 48 hrs. You can try different foods or maybe even their old food - but less. Just like humans, cats need to eat less calories when dieting. There are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.allfelinehospital.com/getting-your-cat-to-lose-weight.pml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ways to calculate&lt;/a&gt; how much food they should be getting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try canned wet food since that usually has less calories than the same amount of dry food.&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/5-easy-ways-help-cat-lose-weight/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tips on how to help your cat lose weight&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat does not eat wet food that is not an option for that one but maybe the others. Please also be aware that wet food can be an important factor of keeping your cat hydrated.&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.preventivevet.com/pawsandplay/why-cats-should-eat-wet-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why cats should eat wet food too&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to support weight loss in your cats further playing with them is a great option. Sometimes a simple laser pointer can be enough to burn some calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T07:34:06.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-21T09:17:01.987" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a year ago i built a small pond with 5 goldfish inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently they really liked it because they started reproducing a lot and now there are more than 15 and i'm guessing that the space they have is starting to get a bit cramped. I'm also positive that they will not stop coming anytime soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good and reliable way to give them away (for free). I tried online but so far only one person got 2 fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should i try pet stores? Also IIRC releasing them into the wild is not a good idea and can get you big fines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's helpful i live in italy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16863" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T15:35:00.850" Title="Reliable way of giving away goldfish" Tags="&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-07-21T16:23:27.520" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28232" CreationDate="2020-07-21T11:06:52.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;No,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case you are using the bag multiple times.  Every time you submerge the bag in water you are exposing it to germs.  Additionally you would be warming the bag to the perfect temperature for more germs to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Single use bags are available; the lactated ringer's bag is inside of another bag that protects it from germs, you could warm it before taking it out of the protective bag.  In hospitals there is a special machine that warms the fluids.  If that machine is not available running warm water over the bag is next best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related posts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/6220/13&quot;&gt;How long do subcutaneous fluids (lactated ringers) keep?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/16097/13&quot;&gt;While setting up lactated ringers bag I accidentally poked it with needle causing small leak, can I still use?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/19755/13&quot;&gt;Cat Sub-Q Ringer&amp;#39;s Solution: Not DPHV Free?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="13" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T13:15:30.977" LastActivityDate="2020-07-21T13:15:30.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-21T14:36:38.043" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat recently got into fight with a stray and i found this wound on the back of her ear a few days later, she's an indoor cat so the stray kind of just broke in at night&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2UOjJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2UOjJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if it was from the fight or not but does it look like it'll need a vet visit or will she recover on her own&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also is there anything i can do to help heal it faster, I've washed it, however I've read that i shouldn't be using alcohol swabs on animals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you ❤&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18405" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T20:05:58.073" Title="Cat has a wound behind ear" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28245" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-21T19:43:11.267" Score="1" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a terrible outbreak of algae in the turtle tank.  I removed the turtle and added bleach to the water to kill the algae. I then siphoned all but about an inch of the water out, put in clean water, and conditioned the water. I still smell bleach.  I am unable to completely empty the tank of water. What do I need to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18409" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-22T15:18:21.583" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T03:29:39.213" Title="Bleach in turtle tank" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28245" CreationDate="2020-07-21T20:51:35.740" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bleach is extremely toxic to all aquatic life and even minuscule amounts of it - way below the concentration threshold needed for a human to smell its presence in water - could be harmful. Being able to actually smell its presence in water means that the danger level of its concentration is completely off charts and you definitely need to decontaminate the whole tank for the sake of safety of your turtle. I know that's what you explicitly said you are unable to do, but I honestly just don't see any other reasonable option in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that having conditioned the water means you've used aquarium water conditioner from pet store, meant to neutralize chlorine and chloramines present in tap water. Aquarium water conditioners are capable of neutralizing bleach (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hypochlorite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;which is a water solution of hypochlorite salt&lt;/a&gt;), but they are made to reliably neutralize the specific and minuscule concentrations of chlorine and chloramine found in the tap water, so I wouldn't trust them to reliably neutralize the unknown amount of bleach that is present in your aquarium water. It neutralizes chlorine and its mentioned compounds by reacting with them, so it's being consumed in the process - and it might be the case that the amount of active ingredient in water conditioner is too small for the amount of bleach. Nonetheless, using the dechlorination conditioner was definitely better than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active dechlorinating ingredient in aquarium conditioners is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiosulfate#Neutralizing_chlorinated_water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sodium thiosulfate (Na&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;. It is visually similar in appearance to table salt, is relatively non-toxic, non-expensive and should be easily available online; besides that, you could also ask for it in photographic studios that deal with physical photographic media (sodium thiosulfate is used in photographic processing of film and paper) and in pharmacies (it is used in medicine, mainly as an antidote for cyanide poisoning and for baths intended to alleviate external fungal infections); it is also used in washing to remove stains made with tincture of iodine from clothes. I'd advise you to buy this compound (please note that it has to be pure, with no additives), prepare the saturated water solution of it (by mixing it with clean, warm water until it no longer dissolves) and then use this solution to decontaminate your aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you at this point, I would completely empty the tank, thoroughly scrub its interior with a rough sponge to clean all the algae and mineral deposits that could have potentially absorbed any residues of bleach, then flush the whole tank with an energetic and constant stream of tap water for at least 15 minutes. After that, I would clean the aquarium with saturated sodium thiosulfate solution. And that's just for decontaminating the tank - any substrate, decorations, etc. I would most probably just dispose of and get new ones - especially those things that I'd even remotely suspect of being porous. I would consider them all to be potentially contaminated and dangerous at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is something in the tank that you absolutely and ultimately don't want to throw away, like an expensive piece of equipment - I'd attempt to flush it with an energetic stream of tap water, as reliably as I could, for a reasonably long time - it's hard for me to specify for how long as that would depend of my sentiment for conserving water - but let's say, for about 15 minutes. After that, I would wash the object with saturated sodium thiosulfate solution, preferably also leave it completely submerged in a container filled with this solution for some time, allowing the thiosulfate to &amp;quot;soak in&amp;quot; and neutralize any bleach that might have been absorbed a bit deeper into the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if there is a filter in your aquarium: I'd flush it with running tap water, both on the inside and the outside, then wash it with thiosulfate solution and leave it submerged in it for a few hours; maybe also I'd fill some container with tap water (or preferably thiosulfate solution) and let the filter run there for some time, so it could flush itself on the inside. I'd also throw away all the filter media and replace them with brand-new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, glass equipment - like thermometer and heater - shouldn't be impossible to decontaminate reliably, since glass is relatively inert and not porous. For these I'd go with the same scrubbing, flushing and &amp;quot;pickling&amp;quot; in thiosulfate routine as for cleaning the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to admit that I'm a bit obsessed with all the safety measures, but please realize how serious of a threat bleach is for the life of your turtle. I've read stories about people accidentally having fatally poisoned all the fish in the tank because they had used bleach to disinfect and clean some aquarium decorations, and the minuscule amount of bleach they absorbed apparently were enough to annihilate all of them. Of course, turtles aren't fish - it gives them a little &amp;quot;advantage&amp;quot; since, unlike turtles, fish use gills for respiration and thus their respiratory system is also the subject to damage from water-dissolved chemicals. But still, all the turtle's external mucous membranes are in contact with water and thus they are vulnerable to immediate damage, especially from highly corrosive and oxidizing chemicals as bleach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also read stories about people using bleach in aquarium disinfecting and cleaning, but it's done extremely carefully to completely flush it off to not contaminate the water afterwards, and it's never actually added to the water with turtles or fish. I'd never advise using it nor use it myself - the harshest &amp;quot;chemical&amp;quot; I've ever used in aquarium cleaning was table salt, so my answer might be a little biased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-06T03:29:39.213" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T03:29:39.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-21T22:30:45.913" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;While building a pond, I accidentally got some dirt at the bottom. If that were a fish tank, I would siphon it out, but the pond is lower than anything else around, so it is impossible to get the end of the siphon anywhere lower. Is there a way to still siphon out the dirt from the bottom of a pond?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-21T22:44:24.367" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T20:09:38.837" Title="How to siphon a pond?" Tags="&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31127" CreationDate="2020-07-21T22:34:42.480" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lots of pond fish, from tiny .5&amp;quot; (1.25 cm) minnow size to large fat goldfish. I want to add some aquatic turtles, but I found the pet store sells goldfish as food for the turtles. Are there any species that won't eat fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T16:07:46.717" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T20:04:11.060" Title="Are there any species of turtles that won't eat fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;compatibility&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28247" CreationDate="2020-07-22T00:42:20.023" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a sump pump. After awhile and the pond is full of leaves,twigs and other debris I get in with a spring rake ( rubber liner )and rake up the stuff so that is does not plug up the sump pump. Right now the water lilies have their roots all through the debris so I will wait until fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-07-22T00:42:20.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28242" CreationDate="2020-07-22T07:48:01.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a vet, so ymmv.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wound itself looks to already be healing so I'd leave it alone. Just keep an eye on it, and make sure it doesn't smell, or start leaking lots of puss, or the skin around it becoming inflamed, red and sore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a vet trip, that would depend heavily on how common cat diseases are in your area. With that kind of cut (as long as it's not a bite) the transmission risk is very low, but keep an eye out for pain or behavioural changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9087" LastActivityDate="2020-07-22T07:48:01.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28326" CreationDate="2020-07-22T10:15:08.080" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Or is it a sign that their diet is not rich enough?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to think my two 8-month old rabbits suffer from perpetual hunger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't get me wrong - They eat at least 2x their volume in compressed hay every day &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt;. They eat very few pellets and 2 small servings of greens everyday. The greens are usually 1 stem of parsley or half a romaine lettuce leaf, each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've checked their litter, and places where they'd usually stay for a while. No cecotropes. Everything looks regular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rabbits haven't put on weight either, they've been 1.5kg for a good while. They've been recently spayed/neutered and seem to have recovered quite well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed some odd behaviour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I give them the amount of hay they usually eat at the start of the day, they'll &lt;strong&gt;lose interest in it&lt;/strong&gt;. But I don't want to leave them without food, so I usually end up giving them everything and then try to mix new hay with the old to get them interested again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They go &lt;strong&gt;crazy&lt;/strong&gt; for the little amount of pellets I give them. They start tumbling over each other, trying to find the pellets in their bowls before I even give them any!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing something wrong? Should I be stricter on their diet? Again I checked everywhere and they seem to be eating their cecotropes, which I don't think they would if they weren't hungry. Which concerns me because then it means they're somehow still hungry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18364" LastEditorUserId="18364" LastEditDate="2020-07-22T10:53:54.493" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T20:53:26.743" Title="Is it normal for rabbits to always act like they're hungry when presented with a new batch of hay/pellets/greens?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28242" CreationDate="2020-07-22T10:19:38.587" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not rule out something like ear mites or some ear infection.  The cat gets annoyed by the itching and will shake their head and scratch/rub their ears; often leading to what you see on the photo you posted. Look inside the ear, if it's dirty then that is a definite sign of mites. Mites or some infection needs to be treated, as it will most likely not resolve itself. So when in doubt about the cause, I would definitely seek the advice of a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16530" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-22T12:45:07.080" LastActivityDate="2020-07-22T12:45:07.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28254" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-22T13:23:20.783" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our darling dog was intentionally baited today with &lt;a href=&quot;https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-should-i-do-if-suspect-my-pet-has-eaten-a-poison-bait/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;sodium fluoroacetate or 1080 poison&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is at the vet. She had severe seizures and a heart rate of 230. They had her sedated, she was unconscious, not sure if she would have been conscious if she was not sedated. She is intubated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She did briefly wake up and was aware of her surroundings. She then had massive seizures, so they put her under anaethestic and intubated her again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They found markers of the poison when they did an enema. They could not find any thing on gastric lavage, but she did have several vomits of the poisons before going to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said in all his cases (seven) none of the dogs have recovered, especially since it went through her gut (the markers coming out of her bowel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if there's any evidence that dogs can survive this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elsa is a 6 year old greyhound. We believe she was likely deliberately poisoned by the same person who played a part in the death of one of our horses. So it's an extremely disturbing tale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A picture of Elsa with her bestie Bundy. Luckily he wasn't with us on this property today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HKfDF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HKfDF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0d3Ho.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0d3Ho.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone who reads this, please send out kind thoughts or prayers for Elsa. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user6796" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-22T14:54:00.103" LastActivityDate="2020-07-22T14:54:00.103" Title="Chances of survival after baiting with 1080 poison - sodium fluoroacetate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-22T14:57:43.683" Score="3" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has been experiencing some digestive track issues and I noticed that her ears are warm to the touch. Does this indicate she may have a fever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18413" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-22T15:17:13.087" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T20:03:25.360" Title="Why do my dog's ears feel warm?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28255" CreationDate="2020-07-22T21:40:17.090" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be an indication of a fever, or it could be a sign of some other medical problem, such as an ear infection. It is probably a good idea to get your dog checked out by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-07-22T21:40:17.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20984" CreationDate="2020-07-23T04:58:53.557" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find out if the cat is fixed. Feral cats have one ear trimmed, either left or right ear. It's easy to spot it if cat is relaxed. If the ear is trimmed, it is fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it is all a display show - the cat will lounge themselves into a yard with dogs. It makes noise and lets other cats that he/she is the boss.&#xA;If people in this house maybe died or moved away, the cat will keep looking for the owner.  Sometimes they are lonely and believe or not, they watch for dog behavior sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to find out if he wants your dog's food. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18417" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:57:00.373" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:57:00.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28247" CreationDate="2020-07-23T07:41:56.697" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your best option is to get a pond vacuum, it is a good investment for you to get rid of the soil in your pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pond vacuum will save you a lot of work cleaning the bottom of your pond each year, so it is a long term investment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Renting a pond vacuum is an option in some places, so you might take a look at what possibilities exist in your area for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T20:09:38.837" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T20:09:38.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28260" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28261" CreationDate="2020-07-23T11:31:39.247" Score="18" ViewCount="10799" Body="&lt;p&gt;I accidentally stepped on my kitten's paw while walking. She cried loudly and hid in a corner immediately after. I checked her paw , tried moving it just to see if it caused her any pain. Apart from soft cries (out of sadness and the heartbreak of betrayal I think) she didn't react in a manner I thought was concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question is what are the signs of fracture or sprains I should look out for? And what can I do if I see any of these signs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the best thing would be to take her to a vet but the place I live in is under complete lock down and there is nothing more I can do right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18418" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T02:43:12.387" Title="Stepped on my kitten's paw" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28260" CreationDate="2020-07-23T12:37:59.660" Score="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way to see if the injury is serious is to observe your cat for a couple of hours: if your cat is still limping and tries to avoid using the paw when she walks, you can start thinking about taking her to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the paw starts to swell, it is time to call your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are saying &amp;quot;kitten&amp;quot; in your question, so I am assuming she is only a few months old. The bones in a growing kitten are flexible, so they do not break easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat can walk on the paw and is not limping after a couple of hours, you can assume that she will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can examine your cat yourself by taking a firm grip on the paw that you think might be injured and if your cat shows signs of pain or cry, you need to take her to the vet to get her examined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By a firm grip on the paw I mean just taking the paw in your hand and give it a little squeeze, like when you grab your own finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try not to worry, most of us cat owners have stepped on our cats paw at least once and injury to the cats paw is not very common, at least when it comes to fractures. Soft tissue injury will heal in a couple of days, so again, try not to worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T20:03:30.987" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T20:03:30.987" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28242" CreationDate="2020-07-23T13:38:39.063" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it looks now, you do not need to do anything - just let the healing process do its thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to keep an eye on the wound to see if it gets infected and if it does, you need to get a vet to clean and drain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing with cat claws is the wound might close before an infecton is healed, so it might spread under the skin creating an abscess (it can really make a mess when it finally drains if it does not get treated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to take a look at how the other cat managed to get inside and fix the point of entry to avoid this type of problem in the future :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T20:05:58.073" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T20:05:58.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28263" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-23T18:35:19.787" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;code&gt;Advantage&lt;/code&gt; drops from BAYER  on my outdoor cat and it is effective for about a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I feel bad each time that I apply it, because the cat becomes drowsy for a day or two and I fear that we also get contaminated by some nasty chemicals when we caress the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if I don't use the drop, the cat get infested regularly by lice in summer time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering if there are some effective but natural alternatives available, which are harmless for cats and  humans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T19:55:17.780" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T19:55:17.780" Title="Are there any natural anti-lice for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28270" CreationDate="2020-07-23T21:59:27.350" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've temporarily moved to a semi-isolated cabin in Northern Wisconsin for the summer, and I've brought my two cats (sisters, ~1.5 years old each).  They've lived most of their lives in the city, but have adapted very quickly and well to the new environment.  Each day I take them out for ~15 minutes. At first they were scared, but they've gotten use to it and now enjoy it very much. So much, in fact, they will scratch the door and meow until I take them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, however, they've been getting somewhat rambunctious.  They will go under the house, not come to me when I call, and even run from me when I go to pick them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to continue bringing them outside (if there are any non-obvious dangers to this, please let me know), but if they continue acting like this I will have to stop.  Is there any way to make them more obedient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand they will never be nearly as obedient as dogs, but any tips would really help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18421" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T22:25:16.523" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:19:31.990" Title="Letting cats outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28260" CreationDate="2020-07-23T22:03:19.293" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A similar thing happened to my small dog at 6 months. She lagged behind me and her hind foot got trapped in an automatic door. (So much for flexi-leads!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She yelped loudly but then settled down. However there was blood so I took her to the vet. The vet carefully manipulated each of her toes and other parts of her foot and ankle - there was no further yelping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet concluded that no X-ray was necessary, and that she had scraped a bit of skin off a couple of toes when they got caught. She cleaned things up and prescribed some antibiotics as a precaution and there has never been any problem since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no bleeding, I suggest a similar test by you. Just manipulate gently and watch for signs of real distress (rather than simply pulling away that most cats and dogs do anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young animals (and people) tend to recover much more quickly than adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. My vet is soon to come out of lock-down but they have treated emergencies right through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-07-23T22:08:19.887" LastActivityDate="2020-07-23T22:08:19.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28266" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28294" CreationDate="2020-07-23T23:01:35.513" Score="2" ViewCount="566" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4-month-old Maine Coon kitten that is slightly underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has given him a clean bill of health, but says the kitten is just &amp;quot;too busy growing and climbing trees, and just isn't getting around to eating quite enough.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to get this cat to eat a bit more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, is there a type of food that is high in fat and is known to be irresistible to Maine Coon cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18254" LastActivityDate="2020-08-09T15:16:25.783" Title="How to fatten up a Maine Coon kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28267" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-24T00:51:55.560" Score="-1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;How often should I be doing water change for my betta? My wife seems to think it should be done pretty often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18423" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T00:59:35.457" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T00:04:30.533" Title="How often to do water change for betta fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-24T01:55:28.957" Score="2" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko stopped eating probably about 3 weeks ago. He has lost a significant amount of weight and is remarkably lethargic. He is now 29 grams and a little over a year old. My gecko never liked crickets. When he stopped eating we tried wax worms and super worms and he refused to open his mouth to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him to my mom's work (vet clinic) and the doctor said he has sores in his mouth, which we are assuming to be the reason he won’t eat. We took him today and they said tube feed him twice a day. We got all the ingredients and everything for the mixture. When we brought him home he is laying flat on his stomach. He is breathing and his head is lifted up. I was holding him he moved a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m just really worried. His eyes have been sunken in for weeks now. We’ve tried to feed him something different and he won’t take anything. The sunken eyes started after he had shedding stuck in his eyes. The vet got it out and he still wouldn’t open his eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I could do to get him more healthy as soon as possible? I’m scared he won’t make it to the next meal. I feel extremely upset at myself for not taking him to the vet sooner, but the vet was always booked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18425" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:50:54.200" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:50:54.200" Title="Leopard gecko's remarkable lethargy and weight loss during recent 3 weeks" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28260" CreationDate="2020-07-24T06:48:18.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what trond hansen said, an easy way to check is to play with them. Every time I thought I might step on the paw, I take laser pointer out and observed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girls are always obsessed with it and it is easy to see if they are interested in it and if they limp when they try to get the red dot (for the record - they always are interested and never limped).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(After some time I learnt to take my weight off the foot as soon as I feel something tail- or paw-like).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7509" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:14:20.330" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:14:20.330" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28264" CreationDate="2020-07-24T07:17:14.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a similar situation. My cat is several years old and has spent her entire life indoors, but she recently came to live with me in a house. I started letting her out, only while supervised, and she's come to enjoy it like your kitties do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first she was like your cats: she fought me when I tried to take her inside and would bolt underneath the neighbor's gate at the first opportunity. I did a few things consistently and now she's well enough behaved that I sometimes leave her unattended for a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad behavior means going inside immediately.&lt;/strong&gt; If she didn't stay in the yard, wouldn't come when I called her, or struggled when I picked her up, we went inside. I'd put her down as soon as we got in, told her she was being naughty, then left her alone. She picked up pretty quickly that even nosing around certain areas (like the neighbor's gate) was not allowed and she stopped doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I give her opportunities to spend as much time as she wants outside.&lt;/strong&gt; Instead of taking her out when I only have 20 minutes between conference calls, I take her out at the end of the day, grab my phone, and relax outside for as long as she wants. After doing this a few times, she often started to ask to go in after ten minutes. When I do let her outside for a limited time I try to bring her in when she isn't in the middle of stalking or investigating something, which seems to lesson the complaints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I often call her over to me just to pet her.&lt;/strong&gt; If coming to you always means something they don't like, why would they do it? I'll even pick her up for a minute to love on her then put her back down to play some more. I do this inside too, so she associates being called over and picked up with good things. She always comes when I call her now, and she rarely struggles when I pick her up. I've even picked her up when was fluffed up and hissing at another cat, and she didn't fight me at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When she comes in without a fight, I'll give her a bunch of love and some catnip.&lt;/strong&gt; She'll usually go to the door when I ask her to now, though sometimes I still have to carry her across the threshold. Make coming inside a different kind of treat and they'll be less opposed. I know she figured out the association, because one time I forgot to give her the catnip and she reminded me quite loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I block off spots I don't want her to get into.&lt;/strong&gt; It's a good idea to block off access to under your house to prevent rodents and other pests from getting in there anyway. Why tempt them with such a fun place when you can remove the issue altogether? Blocking it off made both of our lives easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully these behaviors will work for you too, and you and your kitties can enjoy the great outdoors together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh yeah... Make sure you treat them for fleas regularly with a safe and effective treatment. You don't necessarily need it if all your pets stay indoors, but you do if they're going outside. And make sure they have all their vaccinations, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12293" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:19:31.990" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:19:31.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28201" CreationDate="2020-07-24T11:00:00.427" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plants that many people can find in their backyards can also be good options for rabbits to chew on. Check out this list of woods, vines and other plant materials that are safe options for pet rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Safe woods for rabbits to chew:&#xA;alfalfa,&#xA;apple (seeds are toxic),&#xA;arbutus,&#xA;ash,&#xA;aspen,&#xA;apricot,&#xA;bamboo cane,&#xA;basil,&#xA;blackberry,&#xA;blackcurrant,&#xA;borage,&#xA;carrot (no seeds),&#xA;cat-tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/safe-woods-and-plants-for-rabbits-1239351&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thesprucepets.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18431" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:05:46.590" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:05:46.590" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-24T13:29:18.153" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently struggling with an infestation of fleas in my apartment, and my two (completely indoor) cats are on treatment to get rid of the bugs on them.  I have utilized several methods of ridding myself of the pests, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea spray on carpets, furniture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea bomb in all carpeted areas of apartment for 8+ hours while I was at work (cats were locked in non-carpeted bathroom with towels under the doors)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Administered Capstar to both cats same day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea combed both cats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a bit I thought I had gotten rid of the fleas, but it seems like I wasn't that lucky.  Both cats are fervently avoiding being on the carpets in the apartment.  One will at least go between rooms, though she spends as little time on carpet as she can by sprinting over it and jumping up on other furniture.  The other, though, refuses to leave the couch and kitchen counter entirely.  It's bad enough that she is even using the couch to potty...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean I still have fleas even though I'm not seeing signs of them?  What else can I do to get rid of this infestation?  I already plan to set off bombs again this weekend, but I'm starting to get to my wits' end here...  Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18432" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:04:13.717" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:38:28.460" Title="Cats are avoiding the carpet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28272" CreationDate="2020-07-24T14:28:21.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting rid of fleas is HARD once they've gotten a foothold.  I do have some thoughts on your flea situation, and the cats' behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since both cats seem to be avoiding the carpet, it seems likely that you do still have an infestation going.  You can monitor the number of fleas in the home by placing a flea trap; either purchased, or make your own.  (Place a small bright lamp over a dish filled with an inch or two of water and a squirt of dish soap.  Leave the lamp on overnight in an otherwise dark, carpeted room, and in the morning check if any fleas have been trapped in the water.).  These traps aren't effective enough to remove the infestation alone, but will allow you to see if fleas are present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To really get rid of fleas, you may have to have a professional exterminator in.  You will also need to be exceptionally diligent, vacuuming at least daily (more than once a day is better, dispose of the contents of the vacuum bag outdoors!), washing the cat's bedding and preferred resting spots often and treating the cats for fleas reliably for several months.  If you let up before every little egg is gone, they will come back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you talk to your vet about giving the cats daily, or every 2-3 days Capstar for a while, and maybe see if you can shut your couch-pottying cat in an uncarpeted area for now. While cats don't like to be confined, the behavior is a clear sign of distress, and the more times the cat eliminates on the couch, the more of a habit it's going to be to use furniture as a bathroom.  It may be an ongoing problem even once the fleas are resolved if it becomes the cat's preferred way to 'go'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T14:38:28.460" LastActivityDate="2020-07-24T14:38:28.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28276" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-24T17:23:07.647" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have a Corgi, who is about 9 months old. He is fixed. He gets along with other dogs in general, besides when being picked up by us in close proximity to another dog and sometimes when on leash. I'm not sure if he's doing it out of fear or protectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another instance, which is similar, is when on leash around children, especially children on bikes. However, we previously had him around one of our friend's kids and they were like best friends while on leash. The child never did anything to upset him and they got along very well, which is what makes the situation confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my research I've found the children riding bikes and running around are pretty common for making dogs fearful or act out in this manner, so I'll approach this by distracting with treats from a distance when he initially becomes triggered from a distance, but before he acts out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to approach the times where we pick him up in front of other dogs. It's easily avoidable for visiting other dogs since we know this, but others who don't know this about him may catch a nasty surprise which I do not want happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, we are getting him a sister in a couple weeks since he is pretty high energy and loves running around with other dogs with every new dog he meets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is partially out of fear or anxiety, but I'm unsure as to why since we have had him since 8 weeks and visited him ever since he was born and nothing traumatic ever happened. It seems that he gets better and better as he gets older, but definitely don't want to rely on that and potentially have him get worse. Any suggestions would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-24T18:05:37.400" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T12:29:43.503" Title="Aggressive dog in certain situations" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-25T02:34:30.377" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 month old Labrador. She is not eating homemade vegetarian food. She'll stay hungry for a meal, but not eat. If I give her egg or non-vegetarian dog food, she'll be happy to eat, but she won't even eat vegetarian dog food. She used to eat the homemade food for the first 1-2 weeks, and then this problem started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone suggest how can I make her eat homemade vegetarian food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18442" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T17:23:40.210" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T05:37:00.760" Title="Dog not eating homemade vegetarian food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28238" CreationDate="2020-07-25T06:44:17.503" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no fixed time your cat need to be with you, you and your cat need to make a compromise about the time you have and the time your cat wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat is different, some want a lot of attention and others want little attention. The good thing with cats are they can adapt to your daily routine, at least over time. The covid situation has disturbed the daily routine for people and pets, so it might be hard to get back to a normal life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like you do your best to give your cat a good and rich life and you do probably give your cat more of your time than many other cat owners do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you wait until after the walks/outdoor time before you feed him, as this is more natural for him. Cats hunt-kill-eat-sleep and the walks do in a way replace the hunting part for your cat and after the hunt comes the &amp;quot;eat&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;sleep&amp;quot; parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do not feel bad if you get less time with your cat than you like during the week, everybody wants to spend more time with their pet than they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-26T21:41:20.640" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T21:41:20.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16230" CreationDate="2020-07-25T14:58:22.630" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have experience with Basal Cell Carcinoma in a human (me, 73M).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BCC is non-metastasizing (won't spread), but will grow back if tumor removal is incomplete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a BCC doesn't (I've been told)    influence other cancer possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18446" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T14:58:22.630" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-25T16:23:00.693" Score="2" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's no issue if he grows up to be big, I adore the little stray I took in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found him four weeks ago and now he is 8 weeks old (according to the vets). The vets say that for his body he is a perfectly healthy weight and he doesn't look fat at all. He weighs 1.5kg (about 3.5 pounds) which is near enough twice what an 'average' kitten his age is said to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what breed he is, he was listed by the vet as just 'domestic shorthair', he looks a lot like a brownish black tabby with a white stomach and chest and a pretty wide face, and yet his weight is what you might expect of a kitten from a breed like Maine Coon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal for a kitten to be so big so young? As I said, I don't care how big he might be, I'm just curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sd0rt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YN56B.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Picture 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18447" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T20:37:39.323" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T17:33:42.880" Title="Is my kitten going to grow up to be massive?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25573" CreationDate="2020-07-25T19:47:56.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are clinical studies I have seen of rehmannia, especially Canadian journal of medicine I think, rehemania for kidney support. Rehmannia is very helpful in protecting the kidneys during kidney failure... I think this is due to not allowing them to take up certain electrolytes, so they do not have to be excreted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Herbal remedies for arthritis that you could research further are turmeric and yucca which are safe for dogs. Dog must come off Rimadyl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as traditional drugs go, Rimadyl is the oldest and the first. I suggest researching some others. I prefer Metacam. It is generally considered safer, according to my vet, and allows great flexibility in dosing maximum dose on bad days and a maintenance dose other days, as it is a liquid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my humble opinion, if you vet is pushing Rimadyl, he is giving what he is getting cheaply and easily. It is one of the oldest and first arthritis drugs and yes, there is evidence it is hard on the liver of labs. I recommend doing some research, discussing, perhaps with a holistic vet or a specialist, acupuncture treats arthritis as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must stop the Rimadyl for a period of time to change to any other medicine. You will need to research this as I do not want to give you the wrong number of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18449" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-25T20:36:01.047" LastActivityDate="2020-07-25T20:36:01.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16230" CreationDate="2020-07-26T00:49:09.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Late to discussion here – but a basal cell carcinoma, is by definition malignant (being a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinoma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;carcinoma&lt;/a&gt;). However, the vast majority of basal cell tumors are not carcinomas and are benign (basal cell epithelioma). Complete excision performed by the vet is good prognostically in either case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The histopathology report would need to be seen to give any more specifics on this particular case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a basal cell carcinoma (malignant), the good news is that these are a low-grade malignancy. It is possible, but rare, for these to metastasize (spread). Whether basal cell carcinoma or benign basal cell tumor, the treatment of choice is surgical excision. Wide surgical margins are typically recommended, and in many cases curative, though local recurrence is possible. (Source &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vin.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VIN&lt;/a&gt;, Basal Cell Tumor)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T00:49:09.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2020-07-26T02:53:06.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it’s OK to have tap water. I personally put water conditioner in my gecko's water, but she likes to drink the water in her humid hideout and it hasn’t caused any problems, so I think it’s OK to give your reptiles tap water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18455" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T01:27:30.647" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T01:27:30.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28280" CreationDate="2020-07-26T04:53:26.883" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat will not grow up to be a monster when it comes to size; there is some natural variation in the size of cats. Females are often smaller than males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female cats that get small litters do often get bigger kittens, so it might simply be that he has a head start when it comes to size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal birth weight of kittens is 80-170 grams (about 3-6 ounces), and larger kittens will gain weight faster than smaller kittens will do. The normal weight for kittens at 8 weeks old is 650-900 grams (about 1.4-2 pounds), and male kittens can be up to 40% heavier than female kittens at the same age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information could be found in relevant articles, which were my references for this answer, about kittens' weight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at &lt;a href=&quot;https://thecatsite.com/c/weighing-newborn-kittens-and-how-this-could-save-their-lives/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thecatsite.com&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.askthecatdoctor.com/kitten-weight-chart.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;askthecatdoctor.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens grow fast, so it is not unlikely that your kitten is about 8 weeks old. I personally think the kitten is closer to ten weeks old, but this is not important; he looks healthy and beautiful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To see how big your cat will be as an adult, you need to look at how big the parents are; the kittens will be about the same size as the parents when they grow up with some natural variation in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T17:33:42.880" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T17:33:42.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28290" CreationDate="2020-07-26T07:48:52.880" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday evening I noticed my dog rubbing one of his eyes with his front paw. Today his rubbing continues and the eye is slightly red, but I'm not sure if it's infected or &amp;quot;just&amp;quot; irritated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's Sunday morning (as I write this) and the earliest I can get to a vet is Monday afternoon. Is there something I can do in the meantime to aleviate the itching for him? I read that you can clean the eyes with saline solution, but couldn't find which concentration would be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I currently don't have any eye drops or such at home, but I'm confident that I can sterilize water and a glass jar and measure the right amount of salt with a precision scale. (The location is Germany and our tap water is not chlorinated.) &lt;strong&gt;How can I make a first aid eye drop / cleaning solution for my dog's irritated eye?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T07:49:01.183" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T07:49:01.183" Title="Eye drops for dog's irritated eye" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28277" CreationDate="2020-07-26T10:38:58.350" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &lt;strong&gt;you don't&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reason 1: nutritional needs.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs, just like humans, need a varied diet including the right amount of protein, fiber, fat, minerals, vitamins and other nutritions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs evolved from wolves, who get their nutrition almost exclusively from animals they hunt. They evolved to extract nutrients from muscle meat, intestines, skin, cartilages and even bone, but not from roots, fruits or vegetables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We humans evolved from omnivores, so we can extract nutrients from animal and plant sources, which gives us the opportunity to switch to a purely vegetarian diet. But even then we have to take care to eat a healthy, varied diet that includes all the nutrients we need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to feed your dog a purely vegetarian diet, you need to do &lt;strong&gt;a lot of research&lt;/strong&gt; to make it healthy for her or buy commercial food where you need to trust that the manufacturer did this research for you and formulated the food accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, please refer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/501/12501&quot;&gt;How can I ensure that homemade dog food is healthy for my dog?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reason 2: poisonous vegetables&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some common ingredients in human food are actually poisons. We can eat them anyways because either our digestive system evolved to neutralize them or our big bodies can tolerate a higher amount of them. The same amount could be poisonous for a dog. Some of those common ingredients include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any alcohol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chocolate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Onion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Garlic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milk and milk products&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read more in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/796/12501&quot;&gt;Are onions dangerous for my cat or dog and why?&lt;/a&gt; and do a Google search. There are more vegetables that cause dogs discomfort due to bloating or other digestive issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reason 3: the signs of your/her body&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you've heard about pregnant women suddenly craving pickles and ice cream, sometimes at the same time. This is her body sending signs that she needs certain nutrients more than usual now. The same happens to your dog, too, but in reverse. Her body tells her that she doesn't need whatever is in your home made food, but something else that she doesn't get from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reason 4: your own reasons for a vegetarian diet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a vegetarian yourself, what is the reason? Most people either want to save the environment or want to avoid animal suffering. But that must include your own pet, for which you took responsibility. You cannot voluntarily or unknowingly cause your own dog suffering to &amp;quot;save&amp;quot; other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already see that your dog rather suffers hunger than eating the vegetarian food. Please draw the conclusion and feed your dog a diet that meets her natural needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-07-28T05:37:00.760" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T05:37:00.760" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28288" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-26T11:43:25.810" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got 4 chickens in the garden and 3 of them lay wonderful eggs. The 4th, a light Sussex, lays quite strange eggs. They're quite big but the shell is incredibly fragile and bumpy too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're not short on sources of grit to harden their shells but I guess this one might not be eating the grit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else that might be causing the fragile and bumpy eggs? Any tips to encourage a hen to eat grit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gyeDd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gyeDd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18448" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-26T17:55:31.430" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T17:39:19.810" Title="Fragile, bumpy chicken eggs" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28285" CreationDate="2020-07-26T16:56:27.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume what you want to prepare is normal (&amp;quot;physiological&amp;quot;) saline solution with 0.9 % mass concentration of NaCl, because that's what is used in such applications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm not a medical professional and this is not a medical advice. Anyone interested should absolutely do their own additional research and never blindly trust any individual on the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formula for this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;measure 9 g of sterile NaCl;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dissolve it in a volume of distilled and sterile water below 1000 mL, let's say 700 mL;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make up to 1000 mL of volume with distilled and sterile water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that the reason of the formula not just saying to dissolve 9 g of NaCl in 1000 mL of distilled water is because doing so would increase the total solution volume a little beyond 1000 mL and thus result in imprecise (a little lower than expected) concentration of NaCl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think this level of precision isn't as important in your case of external use - if you just dissolve 9 g of NaCl in 1000 mL of water, it will be precise enough for this application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A source for the formula is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saline_(medicine)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a relevant article&lt;/a&gt; at Wikipedia, also available &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotonische_Kochsalzl%C3%B6sung&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in your native language&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, please note that the formula mentions that the water is distilled and sterile; and that pure NaCl is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water from tap contains dissolved minerals. Some of them (calcium and magnesium bicarbonates), which are referred to as &amp;quot;carbonate hardness&amp;quot;, are removed from the water during boiling - it causes them to precipitate as limescale, thus removing them from the consideration. However, other dissolved minerals (referred to as &amp;quot;permanent hardness&amp;quot;) don't form insoluble precipitates during boiling - these are going to stay in the water, increasing the total amount of dissolved minerals in the resulting saline solution, and thus increasing its osmotic pressure beyond the intended value. Fine precision is critically important in case of intravenous use of saline solution, but in your case of external use I'd expect that it shouldn't make a difference - the amount of dissolved minerals, even in extremely hard water, is only a fraction of the amount of NaCl in the formula, after all. I'm also simplifying it a little - it's more complicated; dissolved minerals don't exactly exist in water as minerals, but as ions; also, boiling the water doesn't necessarily remove all of the carbonate hardness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boiling the water doesn't technically sterilize it because bacterial spores could still survive this - one would need to use UVC light, specialized semi-permeable membrane filtration or an autoclave (which uses pressurized water steam with temperature over 100 °C for extended period of time) to reliably get rid of them and actually sterilize things. It is incredibly important that the saline is sterile if it is to be used intravenously or stored for an extended period of time, but I think it shouldn't be a concern in your case because you are going for an external and immediate use - for that reason, boiling should be more than enough. However, I'm mentioning it anyway as a safety precaution - I'd completely advise against intravenous use of home-made fluids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please note that table salt doesn't necessarily equal pure NaCl - it often contains a small amount of anti-caking agents and sometimes small amounts of iodine salts (iodides or iodates) if you were to use iodized salt. It could also contain a small amount of dextrose (a simple sugar, also known as D-glucose or just glucose) to stabilize the iodine salts - dextrose is a reducing agent and it inhibits oxidation of the iodine salts by atmospheric oxygen. In case of some countries, table salt could be also fortified with trace amounts of fluoride salts. Again, it shouldn't be much of a concern in case of external use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anti-caking agents are, as far as I know, relatively inert and water-insoluble substances - and, being in table salt, they are food-grade, after all - but they may cause some mechanical irritation of eyes if present in this irrigation solution. In your case, if you notice there is some visible sediment floating, you could wait a while after preparing the solution, so that it could settle on the bottom and you could decant the clear solution afterwards. Using a coffee filter is also a reasonable option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Iodine compounds' concentration in table salt is incredibly small and iodine is a vital trace micronutritient after all. I can't assure you it would be completely neutral, but I'd personally say it should be safe for external use if you were to use iodized salt in your formulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, I've added a lot of safety disclaimers for formalism; I always prefer to err on the side of being a bit paranoid with safety precautions. However, I'd expect that in practice the potential risks of using home-made saline in your case for cleaning should be outweighed by risks of doing nothing and waiting until tomorrow with cleaning the dogs' eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope your dog gets well soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-14T02:17:18.447" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T02:17:18.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28288" CreationDate="2020-07-26T18:56:17.773" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I couldn't diagnose the cause of this problem itself, but I would offer some insight. I don't think it would be possible to reliably diagnose this over the Internet, without physical examination performed by a specialized veterinarian, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, as far as I know, grit is not the source of dietary calcium. Chickens, and some other birds as well, are consuming grit not because of nutritional aspects; they do so because it helps them in food digestion. Birds have a specialized, highly muscular stomach called a gizzard; the swallowed grit enters the gizzard and enables it to grind the food into smaller pieces. Birds are toothless, so this is their alternative equivalent of chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grit is composed mainly of relatively inert materials (silicon dioxide and silicates to be exact) that are water-insoluble, resistant to stomach acid and digestive enzymes, and thus aren't absorbed by the digestive system. Grit's constituents could include calcium silicate, but this form of calcium is unavailable as nutrition for mentioned reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source of mineral, dietary calcium that could be absorbed is calcium carbonate. It is the main constituent of some rocks (limestone, chalk and marble) and eggshells as well. These rocks could be present in your grit in some amounts, but they could as well be totally absent; and they aren't the main reason why the grit is consumed. What is more, calcium, being an essential nutritient, is omnipresent in all plant- and animal-based foods - in significantly varying amounts and bioavailabilities, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to ensure the chickens have additional source of dietary calcium, you could get a calcium supplement in some form at your local pet store - it could, for example, be in a form of powderized oyster shells (which are mostly composed of calcium carbonate) that you could mix with the chickens' food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, because as you've mentioned only one of the 4 chickens lays malformed eggs, I'd suspect that the reason isn't lack of calcium in their diet - if it was the case, all of them would be laying similarly malformed eggs, assuming they are all being fed the same food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to guess, but it could be that this specific chicken is affected by a disease that causes calcium malabsorption - in this case, enough calcium is present in the diet, but it doesn't matter since the digestive system couldn't efficiently absorb it. Calcium malabsorption could, among other reasons, be caused by genetic disorders or by other nutritional deficencies - for example, by the deficency of vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;. But then, again, I don't think the cause is a deficency of another nutritient since if this was the case, all of the chickens would be affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, the disease doesn't even necessarily have to be directly related to calcium deficency - it could also be caused by some malformation or disorder of a part of reproductive system that is responsible for the formation of eggs and eggshells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2534/0688/articles/Capture_1024x1024.JPG?v=1542308416&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a graphic that presents some common reasons of eggshell malformation problems&lt;/a&gt;. I can't exactly determine, but I'd say that your case would be &amp;quot;corrugated eggs&amp;quot; and maybe also &amp;quot;soft-shelled eggs&amp;quot;. According to this source, these could be caused by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heat stress;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;saline water;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bird age (older hen);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;poor nutrition, especially calcium and vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;excessive phosphorus consumption;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mycotoxins.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-26T20:53:36.500" LastActivityDate="2020-07-26T20:53:36.500" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-27T03:29:40.070" Score="3" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a new crested gecko owner and this is his first shed with me. It seems like all of his shed is off other than on his toes, but it’s only been about 30 minutes since he shed the rest. I know how to remove the shed, but I don’t know how long I should wait to help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18462" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T14:33:14.030" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T14:33:14.030" Title="How long should I wait until I help my crested gecko shed?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;&lt;molting&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28276" CreationDate="2020-07-27T06:27:48.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your description alone I think it's impossible to know what emotion causes your dog's behavior. It could be any of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excitement (wanting to play) triggered by the movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anxiety or insecurity that turns into aggressive behavior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Herding instinct, also triggered by the movement (don't forget that corgies were bred as herding and guard dogs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Guarding behavior (protecting you from the chaotic children)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dominant / macho behavior (especially when you pick him up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fear, caused by a lack of trust when you pick him up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, there are many possibilities, maybe even more that I didn't think about. Without knowing the real cause and motivation of his behavior, you cannot train to stop it. Unfortunately, the only advice I can give you in this situation is using the service of a professional dog trainer. Not the puppy school type, but someone who also trains problematic dogs. These are the only ones I trust to know and analyze a dog's body language and recognize the motivation behind certain actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to getting a second dog, you have to be really, totally, brutally honest with yourself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you train your current dog well enough that you have him under control most of the time? Or do you hope that a second dog would magically calm his chaotic behavior and aggression down to an acceptable level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you answered the first question with &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;, then you know how much effort it is to train a puppy until it behaves in a civilized way. Expect to invest the same amount of effort into the second dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you answered the second question with &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;, then I strongly recommend you think your plan over. Just like children, puppies copy behavior from the older people / dogs around them, &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; unwanted behavior. If your first dog is aggressive, disrespectful or uncontrollable, the second dog will pick this behavior up from him. Both of them will then goad each other, amplifying the worst of their behavior. Before you get a second dog, you must make sure that the first one behaves well enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T09:39:12.993" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T09:39:12.993" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28266" CreationDate="2020-07-27T06:58:02.577" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you is feeding special &amp;quot;kitten&amp;quot; food, because it's designed to have more calories than general &amp;quot;adult&amp;quot; cat food. An alternative is food formulated for &amp;quot;active cats&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dry food tends to have more protein than wet food, so it's better for your kitten. You can soak it in some water to increase the water intake. Please take care to feed a cat food with a high meat content and low grain content because grain can cause severe and very expensive medical problems in the long run (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/24197/12501&quot;&gt;read more here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tuna should only be fed seldom and on very special occasions, but not as a regular food. The amount of heavy metals it's contaminated with is not healthy and has a stronger effect on the small body of a cat. You can feed raw or cooked ground beef instead, but ground pork only if it's well heated. Be aware that ground pork is actually hard to digest for cats and doesn't help fattening it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative that was recommended to friends by a vet is instant mashed potatoes. You must scan the ingredients, though! &lt;strong&gt;There must not be any salt, onion or garlick in it&lt;/strong&gt;, because all of those are extremely unhealthy for cats. It's best to buy the pure, dried potato flakes and mix one tablespoon of dried flakes with some boiling water for a cat-sized helping. Feed this in addition to your regular food because it's not sustainable as exclusive cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T06:58:02.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-27T09:49:24.960" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small pond (I don't really know the volume, maybe 400 liters) with goldfish inside, they seem healthy with no apparent problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pond is constantly invaded by micro-algae that cannot be filtered, the water is constantly green and I can see about 5 cm deep from the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I've read it doesn't really bother the fish and they actually like it, but I have no easy way to check the health and number of fish in the pond if I can't see below the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried using a product for killing off algae and a UV filter, which worked for a bit, but they seem to have no effect now (my suspicion is that the UV filter might be dirty).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the quantity of algae varies quite a bit based on the season, it once got almost totally clear (strangely without using any special product), but I wasn't able to replicate that result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried also adding some plants, but the fish (and an hailstorm for the floating ones) destroyed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that can help, I live in northern Italy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16863" LastEditorUserId="16863" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T14:55:26.847" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T23:39:47.027" Title="How to reduce excess micro-algae in pond" Tags="&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28295" CreationDate="2020-07-27T12:32:45.690" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all you will have to be sure you have good filtration, your pump and filter needs to filter all the water at least once every hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The UV bulb needs to be changed every 6 months of use as the UV light output will degrade over time. The glass of your UV lamp needs to be cleaned when you can see it is dirty; you can use vinegar if there is limescale on the glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UV light is one of the best ways to get crystal clear water in a pond, but you need to be sure you have the right waterflow for it to be effective. All the water in your pond needs to go through the UV sterilizer no less than once every two hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A plant filter can be a good way to limit the amount of algae in your water, but it needs to be fairly large to be able to deprive the algae of the nutrients in your water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have an area in your pond where your fish cannot reach, you can plant watercress; it is one of the best plants for removal of nutrients from your water and it grows quickly. Watercress is edible and is one of the plants with the highest nutritional value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Partially shading the pond can help in getting less algae, but a pond should be visible, so this might not be an alternative for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have sand on the bottom of your pond you can get freshwater mussels - they will filter out the algae, but you are dependent on keeping the water temperature below 25 °C to keep them alive. One single mussel can clean a 100l fish tank from green water in about 6 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about mentioned mussels could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodonta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in a relevant article&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T14:27:24.413" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T14:27:24.413" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28295" CreationDate="2020-07-27T14:39:27.673" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably over-feeding, putting too much nutrients in the pond. I have a few ponds, never an algae problem, sometimes algae in the first month as they mature. I think algaecide is just the wrong thing, it kills regular plants in my experience. Feed less and when algaecide is gone, put in plants, they will out-compete the algae for nutrients. Duckweed is an easy start, depending on what is available, hornwort, &lt;em&gt;Anacharis&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Cabomba&lt;/em&gt;, maybe rooted plants like &lt;em&gt;Vallisneria&lt;/em&gt;. Goldfish/carp will eat some like duckweed. You can tell if there  are carp in a pond by the duckweed; if there is a lot of duckweed there are no carp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T23:39:47.027" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T23:39:47.027" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2020-07-27T14:44:04.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tap water ( city provided) is good for any thing that does not use gills. It must be aged or dechlorinated for fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T14:44:04.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15408" CreationDate="2020-07-27T17:31:38.067" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;4 bio rings in 5 gallons (19 L) of water is more than enough to start the bio cycle to cultivate beneficial bacteria in 4 to 6 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18468" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-27T17:37:26.957" LastActivityDate="2020-07-27T17:37:26.957" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28303" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-28T13:51:32.977" Score="8" ViewCount="5470" Body="&lt;p&gt;My human baby is vaccinated. He is 2 months old. I think he got 2 vaccines already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a tabby cat. She sometimes goes outside, but eats inside. I am not sure how clean she is. Not too dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can my human baby pet the cat? Is it okay to let the cat play with the human baby?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8275" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-28T14:31:04.780" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T23:32:36.890" Title="When can my newborn human baby hug my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28303" CreationDate="2020-07-28T15:56:38.957" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to be present in the room if your child is to pet the cat. Young babies have little control of their body, so he might scare your cat. This might lead to the cat clawing or biting your child, so you need to stay close to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to keep the cat away from your child when you are not present in the room and to keep the cat out of your child's bed during the night and during nap time. It is not as easy as it sounds to keep the cat away from a baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware of a disease called &lt;a href=&quot;https://medlineplus.gov/catscratchdisease.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat scratch fever&lt;/a&gt;. I do not know how dangerous this is, but I think it is important for you to know about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is two types of parasites your cat can transmit to your child. One is intestinal worms; you can reduce the risk for this by regular deworming of your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other type of parasite is &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma gondii&lt;/em&gt; which causes &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxoplasmosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20356249&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxoplasmosis&lt;/a&gt;, and you can avoid your child getting infected by this by keeping your child away from the litterbox and away from the cat's poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Letting your child know the cat is a fine thing to do, but you need to be careful now in your child's first few months, do your best to make this a good experience for your child and for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-28T19:33:23.133" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T19:33:23.133" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-28T16:00:10.573" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an upsetting situation. I was away from home for 4 months because of work. My flatmate took care of my cat when I was away. Now I come back and find my cat run away from me. It has been 4 days since I came back. It seems he only recognizes my flatmate as his owner now that he purring when flatmate approching. We used to be very close and I have been taking care of him for 3 years. It is heartbreaking to see this situation, although I can understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if he would recognize me again as the owner since I start to feed him again? How can I make it up? How long it will take? Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18472" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-28T16:17:11.570" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T16:17:11.570" Title="After my 4 month absence, why does my cat only recognize my flatmate as the owner?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-08-02T21:26:53.683" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28303" CreationDate="2020-07-28T16:06:54.667" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not easy to give one definitive answer - it's never really absolutely and completely safe, even healthy adults could get infected by pathogens transmitted from the cat. On the other hand - we humans, as species, don't derive our evolutionary success from obsessive avoidance of pathogens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a baby could potentially get infected in a wide variety of settings not involving this cat at all. For example a cat, especially outdoor one, could potentially transmit &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; - but a child could also happen to get infected with &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; while playing in a sandbox and putting fingers in the mouth, so it's wise not to become excessively focused on the cat in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the source, one could find information that human immune system doesn't really mature until a few months of age, but also that it doesn't reach its full potential until adulthood. It isn't because either of these statements is wrong, it's just that the subject is extremely complicated and both of these statements are true in their respective contexts. I'd personally say it could generally be considered safe once the baby reaches a few months of age and isn't known to suffer from immune system disorders, but it's just my opinion and I'm not a medical professional as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Trond Hansen suggested in the comment, having your baby vaccinated probably isn't really that important, because the vaccines of immunization schedule are targeted for diseases which are transmitted from human to human, and aren't known to be transmitted by cats (for example hepatitis B, as the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is only capable of infecting humans and higher primates), or do so only in extremely rare cases (for example tuberculosis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please also consider that the fact of your cat being outdoor increases the potential plethora of pathogens that it could transmit, and thus significantly increases the infection risk compared to what would be if the cat was to be indoor. Outdoor cats could prey on small animals, eat suspicious delicacies from garbage bins, etc. - all the related potential pathogens are then being methodically spread from mouth on the whole surface of cat's fur - seemingly and deceivingly clean fur - while it is grooming itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, apart from the safety concerns related to pathogens - please take into account that all interactions between the baby and the cat need your constant supervision - not only for the baby's safety, but also for the cat's. And generally, all interactions between animals and children should be supervised if safety is to be the priority number one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, to get the most accurate and reliable answer I think it would be the best to just ask your child's pediatrician. They would have access to a lot of more specific data than we have there, and they would be able to examine and estimate the developmental level of your child's immune system in the context of this safety concern involving the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-15T23:32:36.890" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T23:32:36.890" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28288" CreationDate="2020-07-28T17:39:19.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have a chicken as a pet, but she is an easter egg chicken. For a while, her eggs were similar to yours in the picture, so I moved her playground cage to a grassier place with more bugs/worms and sunlight. I also gave her more fruit like apple cores and grapes and watermelon peels in addition to regular chicken feed; not sure if that helped, but I think it's worth trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest taking her to the vet if you tried the above and the eggs still haven't returned to normal. She might have some kind of disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18450" LastActivityDate="2020-07-28T17:39:19.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-28T19:46:28.987" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Dogs in this post:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spook - male, seven-year-old dachshund&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ino - female, four-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Situation setup (not necessarily important, you can skip this):&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently my mom hasn't been able to take care of her (basically “our” because the dogs are both part of the family, but we don’t live at home anymore) two dogs, Spook and Ino, and she won’t be able to in the future. So I will be taking care of Ino for now on and my brother has Spook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both are free range, house dogs. Spook's very well potty trained to whine at the door when he wants to go out no problems at all. Ino hasn’t been the easiest to train. She scratched at the door instead, which was OK because it didn’t end up scratching, but I think she stopped doing that. She doesn't at my house and I think it’s because she always was let out when Spook was let out. Every once in a while when we went out and weren’t there to let her out of the house, she would go to the washroom in my dad's office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Problem&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ino has a tendency to urinate and defecate on the carpet which is all of upstairs of my house or in the tile bathroom downstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in the city and I walk Ino every day in the morning. And she always goes to the washroom on grass. Nothing new. But my hypothesis is that she correlates grass with carpet and that’s why she goes to the washroom in the house (note her old home didn’t have any carpet at all). I understand that doesn’t hold for the bathroom, but it’s all I got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last six months, I’ve been using the puppy potty training method of bringing her out of her kennel and directly outside to go washroom in the morning and positively reinforcing when she does. But it has zero effect, aside from preventing her from actually going to the washroom inside. Otherwise if I let her out and make food or something, she will go in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point I don’t know what to do. Everything I find online pertains to new puppies that haven’t been trained or catering to old dogs. From what I can tell, positive reinforcement plus prevention isn’t giving me results. I think I need some form of negative or positive punishment push factor that’s &lt;strong&gt;intuitive to dogs and doesn't promote fear&lt;/strong&gt;. But I can’t think of anything aside from interrupting her. I also don’t think spreading smelly dog potty repellent is an option in my house. &lt;strong&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/strong&gt; I’m using dog pee remover, but at this point I’m probably still going to have to replace my carpet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: Ino recently just had an undiagnosed seizure-like incident. And the emergency bills were pretty expensive. At least right now I can’t really afford a $100 training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I discussed with the vet about Ino's problem peeing in the house during her emergency visite and the vet did a bunch of work and said she was fine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ino's kennel trained. I'm going to start blacking off bad spots for now and see if that helps at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I have a friend's grass pee pad now. I don't know if this will help to train her to stop peeing inside but I hope it will redirect the problem off the carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18473" LastEditorUserId="18473" LastEditDate="2020-08-03T23:36:44.137" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T15:44:04.690" Title="Fixing improper potty training. Please help" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T14:42:43.707" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28303" CreationDate="2020-07-29T16:40:36.107" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For our 2 babies, the cat (&amp;gt;10 year old, ~8kg neutered tomcat) was moved to a relatives' home at the first months of the pregnancy and returned when the baby became heavier than the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weight was considered in order to discourage evenual cat's will to fight for a better position in the hierarchy (not that he tried, but one cannot constantly control neither the cat nor the kid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats keep themselves clean enough to be allowed in a human bed. Well, some of them don't, but we didn't have any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats are reluctant to stay with kids (or develop a healthy reluctance quickly) and prefer staying with the adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that the cat can develop parasites (both internal and external) even if never goes out. Consult your veterinarian about how to be sure your cat doesn't carry them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:&#xA;A friends of mine had young, but pretty cheeky cat that repeatedly got into the baby bed and slept with the baby when the baby was as young as 3-4 months (the cat was of a similar age).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing bad happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16715" LastEditorUserId="16715" LastEditDate="2020-07-30T15:38:13.837" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T15:38:13.837" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28310" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-07-29T22:18:38.983" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guppies are small, omnivorous, generally peaceful and regarded as relatively easy for beginner aquarists. In most cases, they are a good fit for community aquarium - however, the ornamental caudal and dorsal fins of male guppies could attract nipping, so it's wise not to keep them together with known fin nippers, such as tiger barbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, please take into account that if male and female guppies are kept together, large male-to-female ratio could lead to the females being excessively chased by the males, and thus stressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lifespan of guppies is variable, around 1 to 2 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guppies are prolific breeders and it's relatively easy to have them reproduce in the aquarium. Gestation period varies in length, but it is said to be generally about 20 to 30 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optimal, approximate water parameters for guppies are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH: 6.8 to 7.6;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;temperature: 22 °C to 28 °C;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hard water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parameter values regarded as optimal often differ from source to source - guppies are known for being able to live in much wider ranges. What is more, although they are freshwater fish, they could tolerate some salinity in the water and benefit from it. According to Wikipedia, the optimal salinity levels are around 1 tablespoon of salt per 19 liters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-25T21:00:21.600" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T21:00:21.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28311" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-07-29T22:18:38.983" Score="0" Body="For questions related to guppies - popular, polymorphic, live-bearing, tropical aquarium fish characterized by remarkably visible sexual dimorphism. Please include other tags relevant to the issue, such as [health] or [feeding].&#xD;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-30T12:37:57.477" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T12:37:57.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-30T05:58:24.260" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;About a week ago I noticed my betta, Florence, had a lump on his right side. In the days prior he was very slim and active. On the day of finding it I noticed he was still normal, his appetite hadn't changed, he was swimming actively and his normal responsive self. A couple days passed and the lump became larger. I then noticed his tank had white flakes all over so I decided to clean his tank fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I cleaned his tank I found that these white flakes were paint chips coming from the small cup I had re-purposed, the paint was randomly now chipping. So I threw it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After putting him in his tank I began researching what the lump could be and initially I thought it was swim bladder disease—right before finding the lump I had been feeding him a bit more than usual. His normal diet was 2 balls in the morning and 2 balls at night and the occasional fasting. But as he began showing more interest in playing with me I would give an extra pellet or two as a reward for his efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been 3 days since then and his bump went down and rose once again, now bigger than before making the scales stand on his sides a little. He now has a harder time swimmimg, keeping his balance, and when he gets to the top of the water to get some air he swims, then floats right to the bottom even while still trying to swim. After getting to the bottom or using the cot I made to keep him closer to the top he leans to his right, sometimes left, and lays there looking exhausted. Both sides are bloated but the lump is more prominent on his right. He still wants to eat but I tried the 2 day fast then giving him some pea. It takes him a minute to get it but he eats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So today I got a new tank (his original was 2.5g) this new tank is 10g. New rocks, new filter, air stone/pump. I also decided since there hadn't been change with the fasting and pea, I would do a epsom salt bath. I did 1/4 tbsp:1/4 gallon of water, and a 1/4 tsp:1/4 gallon of water as a recovery bath. In the 1/4 tbsp salt bath he passed out a little, swam but wouldn't move so I slightly pushed him up, he got air and repeated, so I took him out after 45 seconds and put him in the recovery bath, he swam more easily but still wouldn't move and laid there slightly gasping, so I would touch him with the net and he would wiggle his fins letting me know he was okay. After 15-20 minutes I took him out and put him in a half gallon of fresh water with a little of his tank water and some drops of Tetra Aqua Safe water conditioner. He's been in there since, I decided not to put him in the old tank and put him in his new tank but its still filtering. But he is looking more active, the swelling and lump look about the same, it did go down for a few minutes but looks the same again. He doesn't look so in shock anymore so I was thinking to give another bath tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's now in the container he came in with the water he's been in, inside of the new tank acclamating to the warmth (79°F) this made him more active in the last couple hours but he still isn't his normal self. I plan on putting him in his tank tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't decide if its dropsy because his scales aren't standing up, but they kind of are where he's at his widest. Then again he's hungry so I don't think it could be swim bladder disease, but he hasn't pooped since being quarantined and having some pea. I don't know what to feed him, I don't want him to starve but I don't want to potentially make him worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EXTRA INFO:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-I have had him for almost a year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-I have been lazy with cleaning a lot of the time. This last time it had been over a month since his last cleaning, but it wasn't the longest the tank had gone without a change, sadly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-The filter wasn't used a lot because it created too much force into the tank and he had a hard time swimmimg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Prior to sickness I did start using the filter more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-His heater ranges from 75-79, I can't set it, its automatic to the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Practically his whole time being here has been spent in the kitchen area, in the beginning on a counter away from the stove and cooking area, and later beside the stove (about 4 1/2 months as we moved to a new place) his new tank will be out of the kitchen entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-His last poop was a huge clump on Sunday 7/26/20&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-His food is Tetra BettaMin small pellets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18482" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T05:58:24.260" Title="Advice on sick Betta. Possible Dropsy?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28308" CreationDate="2020-07-30T11:27:15.147" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have rescued dogs and I used to help rehabilitate dogs for two different rescue centres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say &amp;quot;recently&amp;quot; but don't give a date. It is very common for rescued and displaced dogs to do this to begin with, (1) their routine has been disrupted (2) they associate old habits with the old home and have to start again with new habits in the new home - almost like a puppy (3) they are coping with the unsettling emotional reaction to a change in circumstances that they don't understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Losing her house, her human and her sibling in one go is bound to be tough. If she is a follower then the obvious solution is to have her reunited with Spook and she will take her example from him again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other solution requires an intensive period of a couple of weeks full-time to establish new habits under supervision - this will work if you do it right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the problem may sort itself out if it has only been a short while since the disruption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some thoughts about how to use training to sort this out but I'd need to know the timing of events and the exact circumstances. I'm retired now and not sure if I want to start dealing with individual cases. There will be behaviourists near you who will be able to help if they are any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say, &amp;quot;Everything I find online pertains to new puppies&amp;quot;. Good! Treat her like a new puppy. If necessary, use a pen to start with. It will give her a sense of security when left alone if you introduce it as a safe place. She will be much less likely to soil her own home area. Then you can gradually increase the space allowed. It can take a couple of weeks to generalise this to the whole house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-07-30T11:32:26.597" LastActivityDate="2020-07-30T11:32:26.597" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-31T03:04:59.010" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got my betta fish a little over a month ago. When I first brought him home he was floating on his side at the top of his cup. At the time I didn’t realize that was a symptom of swim bladder disease. I got my 5 gallon tank set up, conditioned, cycled, and tested the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realized that he never swam down and always just floated at the top so I researched it and found out he has swim bladder disease. So I cleaned his tank again, didn’t feed him for 3 days, and tried to give him peas which he wouldn’t eat (I had to use a toothpick because they would sink and he can’t swim down). After 3 days of trying to feed him peas I cleaned his tank again and added some aquarium salt. I’m not sure what else to do and there has been zero change in his behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also is quite small and I don’t think he is full grown, so I’m not sure if his swim bladder is fully developed or what. I hate to see him just floating on his side and I don’t want him to develop sores from the air. I’m not sure if euthanizing him is the next step or if there is something else in his best interest instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18486" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-31T14:03:40.500" LastActivityDate="2020-07-31T14:03:40.500" Title="How do I know if I should put my betta fish, with swim bladder disease, down?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;euthanasia&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-04-19T11:51:30.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28318" CreationDate="2020-07-31T14:29:04.667" Score="4" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats they are brother and sister. They are refusing to eat their wet food. I tried many brands: Applaws, Royal Canin, Hill's (out of question), Schesir, Cosma nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have no problem whatsoever with their dry food (Royal Canin Vet Care Nutrition). I tried to feed them broasted chicken and they ate all of it. With treats they have no problem at all. They eat all of the bag that I get them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have access to dry food 24/7, their bowl is always filled. I feed them wet food twice a day, at 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there something that I can do to change their habit?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it possible to mix the wet and dry food together? So that I can feed them just twice a day and remove the dry food bowl?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I take them to the vet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ya3yq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ya3yq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12859" LastEditorUserId="12859" LastEditDate="2020-07-31T14:43:12.553" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T13:27:10.063" Title="Cats not eating their wet food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-31T14:30:45.957" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 40 days old puppy had loose motions and the vet gave him injections (antibiotics), a day later he had 103.5 °F (39.7 °C) fever and again got the injections, screaming in the process. Should I see some other vet, is it okay to give so many injections to a pup? In total he has had 5 injections in two days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18488" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-31T14:39:16.757" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T12:31:14.050" Title="Is it okay to give too many injections to a 40 day puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-07-31T16:56:05.107" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small apartment. Sometimes I play virtual reality games by moving everything against the wall in my living room, giving me enough space to use the rest of the room to get the games to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to catsit for a friend starting next week. (This cat has lived with me before and we got along very well, so I'm looking forward to doing so again!) I'm nervous about playing VR while she's with me. I don't want to accidentally kick or step on her while I can't see, but my VR setup takes up most of the floor space in the cat's favorite room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I overthinking this and it should be fine? Or are there things I need to do to make sure the cat is safe while I play? Should I consider not playing VR until the cat returns to live with my friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="281" LastEditDate="2020-07-31T19:57:03.577" LastActivityDate="2020-07-31T19:57:03.577" Title="How do I make sure I don't accidentally hurt my cat while playing VR?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28315" CreationDate="2020-07-31T17:01:35.070" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of things you can try, one is to heat the wet food to body temperature; this is to make the smell a bit more inviting for your cats and the temperature will be more like the body temperature of your cats' natural prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing is the texture of the food. Most cats like chewy food better than the pate type of texture. If at all possible, try to give your cats the wet food in a glass bowl. Some cats try to avoid metal and plastic bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cats are eating the normal amount of food and are drinking water, there is no need to take them to the vet for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats will get all nutrients they need from the dry food, so they will be fine; it is not a problem for cats to eat the same food every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do understand your wish to give your cats several types of food and I think it is good for cats to have some variation in their diet and the extra water in wet food can make the cats' urine less concentrated, so it can help prevent urinary problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to mix wet and dry food, but there is a risk your cats will eat less if you do; it might be better to remove the dry food for 2-3 hours before you try to give them the wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-07-31T18:39:25.483" LastActivityDate="2020-07-31T18:39:25.483" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28316" CreationDate="2020-08-01T05:09:21.897" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is badly fomulated. You are in a way telling us your dog has got too many injections, but this is definitely not the case for your puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of the injections were antibiotics; this is very common if the first type of antibiotics had little or no effect and this is how a good vet will try to help your puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of the injections were most likely subcutaneous fluid and this is the way dehydration is treated when yor pet has diarrhea and it might be better to treat it this way than it is to give IV fluids over night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last injection was most likely a painkiller to get the puppy's fever down. All of this are common treatmens that your vet will give your puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I cannot see your vet could have done this in a different way, your vet could have been better at informing you, but not all vets are good at this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-01T12:31:14.050" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T12:31:14.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-01T22:02:49.913" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;so I adopted a cat that is around 1-2 years old three days ago.She was doing really well, using the litter tray, eating fine and all in all settling in perfectly.&#xA;But yesterday and today she just randomly started having 5-10 minute episodes where she is scared of everything, even her toys and what seems to be thin air. I’ve looked all over the Internet but can’t figure out what could be wrong and it seems to happen around twice a day, usually after eating.&#xA;can someone please help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18493" LastEditorUserId="18493" LastEditDate="2020-08-01T22:09:45.310" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T23:30:40.290" Title="My cat gets scared and I don’t know why?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28321" CreationDate="2020-08-01T23:30:40.290" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best guess is that your cat is actually playing. Your cat is pretty young, and so it could have extra wild energy. Sometimes when cats get really hyper, they will run about the house wildly, really making a ruckus. Suddenly diving into hiding places can also be a part of play as well. Cats also tend to get more active or even hyper around mealtimes, which could explain the timing of the episodes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to really pay attention to your cat's body language while an episode happens. Is its fur standing up, especially on the tail? Are its dilated or normal? A scared cat's eyes will dilate. They also dilate when the cat is about to pounce. The cat arching its back may or may not be a sign of fear. It's a kitten behavior to arch their backs during play, but some adult cats will still do this too. If you observe your cat while it's definitely playing, and you see it arching its tail or back, often accompanied with a bounding sort of walk, it's surely one of those cats that arches its back during play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it turns out to be play, your cat probably just needs more vigorous play right before mealtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is definitely not play, then I think medical causes should be ruled out. For example, feline hyperesthesia is a relatively common but mostly harmless disorder that can cause a cat to bolt around the house in alarm. I would take a video of an episode if possible, and show it to your vet. You should take your new cat to the vet anyways for its first appointment, as it's a good rule of thumb to take any new pet for its first checkup as soon as you get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the problem is also not medical, then my best guess is that something unrelated is scaring it. It could be for instance, seeing animals outside that is freaking it out. You will have to try to observe if there is any more pattern to these incidents to see if you can piece together what may be scaring it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-08-01T23:30:40.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="269" CreationDate="2020-08-02T10:52:07.700" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every cat, indoors or outdoors, MUST be protected against fleas! Fleas enter the home via hosts such as dogs, YOU, or inanimate objects that are brought inside from outside (such as shopping).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They need to be treated once a month. Fleas can be very hard to detect, and if your cat has fleas, they will most certainly have tapeworm too. The endo and ectoparasites go hand in hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use an OTC treatment such as Advantage 2, or have your vet prescribe Revolution, which is my personal favorite because it protects cats against all endo and ecto parasites, apart from ticks. However, you will also need something to treat the tapeworm, so a wellness check at your vets will be ideal. It’s the responsible thing to do as a pet parent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18494" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-02T13:16:15.257" LastActivityDate="2020-08-02T13:16:15.257" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28315" CreationDate="2020-08-03T13:27:10.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I'm noticing is that &lt;strong&gt;your cats have no reason to eat the wet food&lt;/strong&gt;. They can go get some tasty snacks (kibble) whenever they want! They may feel that there's no urgency in eating the wet food, or they may not care for the flavor or texture; particularly when compared to kibble, wet food can taste a bit &amp;quot;healthy,&amp;quot; as it isn't sprayed with all the flavor enhancers used to make kibble palatable. You can think of it as a plain baked potato (wet food) compared to a potato chip (kibble); the chip may taste better, but the baked potato is healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;start by reducing their free access to kibble&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't refill it as soon as they can see the bottom of the bowl; measure it out and let it run empty, preferably some time before you offer the wet food. If they can't just run to their kibble bowl, they're much more likely to give the new stuff a try. Give them a little bit of canned, preferably in a similar protein profile (flavor) to the dry so it's a more palatable transition. Offer the same food for at least a week--don't immediately panic that they aren't eating it and switch to another. Give them time to get used to the idea. If they still aren't eating it, try a different texture; wet food comes in pate, chunk, and shredded varieties, and many cats will prefer one over another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When they've found a wet food they like, start increasing the amount you're feeding while slowly decreasing the kibble.&lt;/strong&gt; You're doing a phased switch at this time, encouraging them to eat more of the wet and less of the dry by letting the dry run out sooner; only fill the bowl after feeding the wet food, and don't fill the kibble bowl immediately after they leave the wet (or they'll learn faster than you might think possible that walking away from their baked potato will get them chips!)--you need to &lt;strong&gt;give them sufficient time to eat the wet food before offering the alternative.&lt;/strong&gt; You'll also need to be measuring how much you're putting out, so you can decrease it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I'm not suggesting you starve them out! &lt;strong&gt;A cat shouldn't go more than a day without food&lt;/strong&gt;; give them a reasonable amount of time to eat the wet, but make sure they're getting something, especially in the earlier stages of transitioning them. Make sure you're prepared to resist their begging, too; as soon as they discover that the unlimited buffet is running low on food, they'll be doing their best to guilt you into filling their bowl. &lt;strong&gt;You'll need to be more stubborn about moving them to wet food than they are about staying with the dry.&lt;/strong&gt; They will fight you on this, so dig in your heels and don't let them win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It'll take time, especially if they've been eating dry (and getting their way by resisting the wet) for a while, but it can be done! You're already on the right track by having scheduled feedings with the wet food; take note of how much food you put in their kibble bowl and how much it should be to have it start running out right around that time (measuring cups are a big help). &lt;strong&gt;Be patient, be willing to let some food go to waste, be willing to spend the time that it takes to find what they like, and you'll come out victorious at the end.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site for cat hospital Cats Exclusive Veterinary Center has an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catsexclusive.com/educational-resources/transitioning-dry-food-addicts-to-canned-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;extensive write-up&lt;/a&gt; to help transition, if you'd like even more details on how to proceed. Note that the write-up is a bit older, as one of the brands suggested for grain-free/low carb (EVO) was discontinued several years ago, but the core information is still very useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T13:27:10.063" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28252" CreationDate="2020-08-03T20:53:26.743" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you like to understand the behavior of your rabbits at home, you could try a look at the rabbits in nature. (The domestication of rabbits is not long enough to destroy all their behaviors they learned/stored in million years of free life.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits in nature have &lt;strong&gt;every time&lt;/strong&gt; (without little times in winter) a lots of food around them. They live in a &lt;strong&gt;green environment&lt;/strong&gt; with grass, leaves and dry grass (hay...) everywhere. If they could choose they favorite fresh greens against hay. Even in winter they dig into the snow to find &amp;quot;freeze-dried&amp;quot; leaves and greens from autumn. And the wild ones do not get fat :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits are &lt;strong&gt;semi-active&lt;/strong&gt;. This means, they are awake for 2-4 hours and then sleep/rest/doze for around 2 hours. For example my two are active in the morning, then make a early nap, are active before midday, make a nap when it is hot, are active in the afternoon and make a late nap before they are active in the dawn again. The night has a alike structure. This lifestyle and their &lt;strong&gt;digestive system&lt;/strong&gt; are cause for their eating-behavior: they hop a little, then eat here a leave, hop, eat, hop, eat... and so on. The food transport inside of their body is not made by muscles (like in humans) but by &amp;quot;eat again and push the previous meals down the pipe&amp;quot;. (They have muscles too, but the main movement is caused by eating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next point: in nature rabbits &lt;strong&gt;drink&lt;/strong&gt; only in few occasions. They eat a lots of fresh greens and that gives all the water they need. In winter they sometimes eat snow, because the food is dry. Same for &lt;strong&gt;grains&lt;/strong&gt; (and &lt;strong&gt;pellets&lt;/strong&gt; that base on grains): they get them only in the autumn, when grains grow on the grasses. Then they are very affected by them, because they like to get enough fat before the winters come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last: Rabbits do not eat &lt;strong&gt;hay&lt;/strong&gt;, they used to lay on or even peed on. This is a &lt;strong&gt;hygiene&lt;/strong&gt; mechanism to save their health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could this mean for you:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;low energy food available every time (hay, but better fresh leaves if available for you)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hay into a hay rack (inform about the differences between risky and save constructs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;high energy food (pellets, grains) should be measured&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you could achieve it, split the feeding into more than two meals (or place the meals in a way, the rabbits need to do something for their food, then they may spare some for the next active period)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long to short: For the &amp;quot;traditional&amp;quot; way to feed rabbits (like it is done for years and years), Yes it is normal for your rabbits to act like starving. They had active periods without food, which is not normal from their point of view.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you have the chance to get fresh greens from a meadow/green yard/garden/balcony or somewhere alike, and the patience to look on a lots of photos to find plants that you know, then I could recommend you this website: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/ernaehrung/futterlisten/wildkraeuterliste/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;List of wild herbs on kaninchenwiese.de&lt;/a&gt;. It is in German language, but all wild herbs are with image and botanical name. If you use some translator, like for example google, you could understand the additional information about every plant too. For example if they could be fed without limit, or if they are helpful for some health issues. So you could bring your friend a little present from every walk you do outside.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T20:53:26.743" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28094" CreationDate="2020-08-03T21:06:20.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits in nature are only grabbed, if they are hunted down. Because of this they all have a strong aversion against being grabbed and carried around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you do it gently and give your bunny time to became used to it, then it will be an unpleasant, but tolerable thing for your rabbit. You could help him by being calm during the handling and by giving him reward for it. The reward could be little amounts of the favorite food while he sits in your arms, or calm petting at his favorite spots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Additionally, you could train to slow your heart rate. Like the most prey animals, rabbits are sensible for the heart rate of other animals nearby. If your heart stays calm, you give the rabbits the information that everything is good and there is no need for fear.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-03T21:46:58.163" LastActivityDate="2020-08-03T21:46:58.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17081" CreationDate="2020-08-04T07:48:27.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;tl;dr&lt;/em&gt;–&lt;/strong&gt;  You can make safe spaces and defensive locations for your kitties.  These can provide safety for the kitties as they try to eat or sleep, plus they can help deter bullying by making it a more difficult, less effective social strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Make safe spaces for the littler kitty.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try making safe spaces for the littler kitty.  It wouldn't be a full solution, but at least she could sleep and eat without fear of being attacked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easy solution would seem to be getting large, clear plastic storage bins.  Cut at least 2 doors into each, where the doors aren't large enough for the bigger kitty to get in.  Then you can put different items in them: a food bowl, a water bowl, a bed, etc..  Ideally, your little kitty could then retreat to these at any time, eating/drinking/resting in peace without fear of attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abrasive-cutting tools (like a Dremel) seem to work well for cutting holes in plastic storage bins, but there're other ways to do it too.  I sometimes line the cut edges to help smoothen them out.  A lighter might be able to melt the edges to be smoother, too, but haven't explored that possibility yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your littlest kitty grows, you may need to cut the doors slightly larger.  If the littlest kitty gets to be about the same size, then these small-kitties-only zones may not work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Make defensive locations for kitties.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats seem to like high, small perches where they can just barely fit.  These are great defensive locations: a kitty can sleep there with relative comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick's in it being hard for another kitty to get to the same location once it's already occupied.  For example, if the location's accessed by jumping, but there's not a firm place for a second kitty to land, then it'd be hard for a second kitty to get a decisive win on the current occupant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Discussion: Creating an environment that reinforces positive behavior.&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An open environment where the largest kitty can attack any other might allow for bullying/controlling behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An environment where kitties have safe places and single-occupancy hideouts makes it harder for kitties to bully each other.  While they might still try to do so in public spaces, the effectiveness of their bullying is limited when other kitties always have a safe way out, especially when the bully can't prevent others from resting/eating in peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9137" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T07:48:27.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28308" CreationDate="2020-08-04T08:25:44.503" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading a bit, I choose to answer this too.&#xA;My thinking comes from another point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog seems to be the second one after Spook in the ranking in you mom's house. And it seems that the problem starts when she has to move to your household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is a shy one, who needs a strong feeling of safety to feel good, then the move was very stressful for her. She lost the well known house, walking area and her &amp;quot;dog to follow&amp;quot; in one step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She starts to relieve herself less often, even does not mark during the walks, and favors to relieve herself inside your house, where she feels safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs could relieve themselves best, if they feel safe and could relax. Stress is a disruptor here. So your first aim should be to make her feel comfortable when you walk her. You could search for strategies to show her at the walk, that you care for her and that she could do what a dog do (sniffing, marking, ...) while you do the &amp;quot;work&amp;quot; defending her against the unknown new environment. Look close at her, find the places she likes, where she feels comfortable. Be patient yourself. If she is a &amp;quot;follower&amp;quot; then she is very sensible for your mood and feels unsafe if you are nervous. (The little brain of dogs could not grasp that she herself is the cause for your nervousness. There must be a danger that causes her leader to be nervous/stressed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you two started to live together, it sounds like she refused the second chance to relieve. But it also could be, that she was in stress and only could relieve if the bladder was fuller than full. (The muscles that close the bladder could not stand the pressure anymore.) Maybe now is the time to try again minimum two walks a day. I think it would be good for her, if she could count on them at nearly the same time each day. This will relax her too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I let the house moving aside, there are some other circumstances that could help her to relax. If she is an active dog and likes to sniff and run around, she would be most relaxed after some playtime. Additionally, the movement of the body stimulates the digestive system and not only the bladder could be emptied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is more the not active type, then you should not rush with her through the walk. To much distraction by exercise or other dogs or whatever could make her feel in a hurry and not able to use time for relieving herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you limit her water resource, it could also be, that she does not drink enough. A dog needs a constant access to fresh water. Stress could cause her to drink less than normal too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the last point: holding the urine in the bladder for 24 hours will probably cause health issues. For example kidney stones, a very painful thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The fact that she chooses the grass and carpet has a simple reason for me: these surfaces do not reflect the drops and she stays clean. Instead, a smooth and flat surface makes the urine splash back to her fur, a clearly bad feeling.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-04T15:44:04.690" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T15:44:04.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28330" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-04T09:32:09.363" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meet Fairyfloss. He is 7 weeks old, he has hair on his belly and has a thick coat on his back. However he doesn’t have long ear tufts or fur between his paws. Any guesses? His fur on his neck seems also not too short so I’m confused... any suggestions or ideas as to what he will be? His tail isn’t very fluffy but he looks very in the middle.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3zAkU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3zAkU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hXNkS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYDVK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18502" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-08-04T14:38:41.310" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T14:38:41.310" Title="Will my kitten have short hair or long hair" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-08-04T14:39:17.817" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6066" CreationDate="2020-08-04T13:58:24.357" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rabbits have favorite tastes like humans too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But another point is this: rabbits are smart. They try a tiny bit of new food they do not know and then wait for around one day. If they stay healthy and have no problems, then they eat the whole food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you replaced the food before they could complete their &amp;quot;test&amp;quot;, so they could not decide to eat the whole parsley.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T13:58:24.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9675" CreationDate="2020-08-04T17:51:34.273" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Odd question... Did anyone ever tell you to look at the color of his toes? A seal will typically be darker foot or toe pad, or toe bean, and a chocolate will have pinker bean with a lighter halo brown on the edges. You can tell a lot by your kitty's feet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18504" LastActivityDate="2020-08-04T17:51:34.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-04T21:58:23.950" Score="0" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have one 3 year old, male, Persian cat with some kidney problem, which I think has something to do with stone formation in the bladder and kidneys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have some food of this kind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F5d92.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F5d92.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a problem with buying this food because of its price and I want to know how we could make cat food by ourselves for our cat with kidney stones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16554" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-05T13:56:22.273" LastActivityDate="2020-08-05T13:56:22.273" Title="DIY food for cat with kidney stones" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28335" CreationDate="2020-08-05T06:16:41.870" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;No, you cannot make cheap and healthy cat food at home.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because cats are carnivores. The natural and healthiest cat diest is purely composed of meat, skin, bones and other animal byproducts. Meat is expensive. That's why all cheap cat foods contain a lot of grain and only a little meat, because grain is much cheaper. &lt;strong&gt;This grain is exactly what made your cat ill in the first place.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common stones cats are prone to developing are called &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struvite#Struvite_kidney_stones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;struvite stones&lt;/a&gt; and caused by a chemical imbalance in the blood of the cat due to unhealthy food and too litle water intake. Please be aware that there are other types of kidney stones and you should consult your vet when changing the diet or treatment of your cat. Kidney stones are very painful and cats with such stones have a tendency to pee everywhere (not to annoy you but as their call for help) and cost a lot at the vet. Unfortunately, due to people's unwillingness to pay for good cat food, more and more cats develop those stones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Richard Goldstein, DVM, associate professor of small animal medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine states in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/bladder-and-kidney-stones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we’ve observed that [the formation of struvite stones] tends to occur frequently in domesticated cats, especially in those that are not very active, don’t take in enough fluids, and don’t urinate enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one precaution against the formation of new stones can be soaking your cats food in a bit of water to increase the overall water intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most natural diet (that also prevents the development of kidney stones) would be feeding your cat fresh, whole rats, mice, chicks and other small animals. I don't see how this could possibly be cheaper than buying good quality cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people get the idea of feeding their cats cooked chicken or fish. That's actually unhealthy, especially if you seasoned it with salt. Cats should not eat any salt or other seasoning, especially since consuming salt increases the risk of kidney stones. This would also be a very monotonous diet that causes malnutrition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only feasable solution is looking for a different brand of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/best-cat-foods-for-urinary-tract-health-4692666&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat food that is designed to prevent urinary stones&lt;/a&gt;. Since there are different types of urinary stones, you should consult your vet about the change in diet and schedule a routine appointment to check if the new food actually works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This routine checkup is important because most cheaper food brands don't undergo extensive testing of their actual performance in reducing urinary stones, as &lt;a href=&quot;https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2017/07/dietary-treatment-of-bladder-stones/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diets at grocery or pet stores marketed for urinary tract health in cats focus only on some factors that reduce the risk of struvite stones in cats, but these diets do not undergo testing for activity product or RSS [&amp;quot;relative supersaturation&amp;quot; - the measurement of how likely a stone is to form in urine]. They may be a compromise for cats with a history of struvite crystals or stones that won’t eat a therapeutic diet or if therapeutic diets are too expensive. However, the down side is that they are likely not as effective. These diets will not be helpful for other stone types and may increase the risk of other stone types in predisposed cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So don't hold your hopes of finding cheap and healthy cat food very high. Cheap food is the equivalent of junk food for cats. If you want healthy food, you need to pay for the higher quality. In the end it's still cheaper than the vet bills cheap food would cause. Also keep in mind how long such a big pack of food lasts you. Broken down to weekly costs it isn't that much anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-08-05T09:51:09.927" LastActivityDate="2020-08-05T09:51:09.927" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-05T13:29:09.967" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi guys I was hoping someone could tell me what's up with my cat here's a photo of the &amp;quot;scratch&amp;quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/Aph8gjU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://i.imgur.com/Aph8gjU.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this bad? Should I go to the vet? What could it be? Is she scratching her head too strongly? She's an indoor cat and went to the vet like 1 month ago for her vaccinations and nail trimming... I just noticed recently so it must be recent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12390" LastActivityDate="2020-08-05T14:07:52.557" Title="&quot;Scratch&quot; on my cat's head?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28337" CreationDate="2020-08-05T14:07:52.557" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keep calm, it looks like (almost) nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it bad? No, don't worry. It's barely a scratch at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you go to the vet? No, not unless one of the following happens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The area gets swollen or bleeds strongly or changes color. (Note that the small red spot is no blood, but wound secretion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat drastically changes her behavior, stops eating, drinking or defecating or gets lethargic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She scratches so much that the area gets bigger or she scratches other areas of her body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could it be?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Maybe she misjudged the distance while playing and smacked into a corner, maybe she tried to squeeze into a too small hole, who knows. The only possible cause that requires your intervention is parasites like ear mites or fleas. When cats have itchy ears, they scratch the skin right in front of the ear instead of inside the ears, which causes bald spots and wounds in that area. Just keep an eye on her and see if she scratches herself very often. If yes, consult a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware that healing wounds itch as well, so she will be scratching that spot for some time until it's healed. She just shouldn't scratch so much that the spot grows bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, she looks very healthy and doesn't make the impression of having parasites. Simply give her time to heal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-08-05T14:07:52.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-05T16:17:35.047" Score="1" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 &lt;strong&gt;month&lt;/strong&gt; old kitten is still nursing. Not on her mother cat but her lola cat. Her lola cat has a 6 &lt;strong&gt;week&lt;/strong&gt; old kitten on her own and I think the 3 month old kitten that is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; her &lt;em&gt;biological&lt;/em&gt; kitten gets more milk than the 6 week old kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to stop my 3 month old cat from nursing on other kitten's mom  What should I do? Should I stop my 3 month old kitten from nursing other mommy's kitten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18507" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-05T16:21:56.310" LastActivityDate="2020-08-06T00:18:15.320" Title="What if a kitten is still nursing on other cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28339" CreationDate="2020-08-06T00:11:32.480" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sure how necessary it is to stop the three-month-old from attempting to nurse. Obviously there are potential problems, though I'm not sure how concerning these problems are, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The kitten isn't getting enough food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mother gets injured due to an older cat attempting to nurse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The three-month-old isn't getting an appropriate diet either due to it filling up on milk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering all these potential problems, I would err on the safe side and try to prevent nursing, but you might also consult a vet to get a more definite opinion. It may be that it's not actually a big concern, and you can wait until both are weaned before attempting intervention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you do decide to intervene before the younger kitten is weaned, I think the simplest solution would be to keep the three month old separated while the kitten is still nursing. I've seen a bit of variation in advice on when kittens should be fully weaned, but the longest time I've seen quoted is ten weeks, and most seem to agree that the kitten is old enough it should already be starting the weaning process. In other words, I don't expect that you should have to keep the three-month-old separated for more than a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the kitten is fully weaned, if the three-month-old still attempts to nurse, there are various things you can do to make nursing impossible, such as covering the mother's stomach with a bandage or even just a sock with the foot cut off if the mother is small enough. Eventually the three-month-old should give up on the idea, and you can stop covering the mother's belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-08-06T00:18:15.320" LastActivityDate="2020-08-06T00:18:15.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20757" CreationDate="2020-08-06T16:49:49.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;And to add to the other experiences, I was preparing a pill pocket to give our 45 lb Border Collie her 5 mg of Vetmedin (pimobendan) when I turned back and the pill was gone.  I could only assume I knocked it off the counter where it was probably eaten by our 21 lb Cavalon (aka &amp;quot;The Vacuum Cleaner&amp;quot;).  Called the ASPCA Poison Control Center (888-426-4435) where they told me the same thing:  monitor for two hours for signs of vomiting, diarrhea, etc., etc.  Two hours later, our dog seems fine.  One interesting thing I found out was that, because we have the Home Again microchip, we were not charged for the consultation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18512" LastActivityDate="2020-08-06T16:49:49.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-06T23:16:23.123" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a female chihuahua, around over 10 years old (I found her on the street and don't know exact age).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past 4 weeks, she progressively started to shake a little as if she was cold, but it's pretty warm right now; and around 3 weeks ago, she started to eat less and sleep all day. There are no symptoms of infections such as vomiting, diarrhea or fever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We went to the vet last Friday and apparently she has joint pain because she was licking her limbs. She got a shot of anti inflammatory and painkiller and it was like she came back to life, she looked more awake and started to behave normal again, didn't sleep all day and ate 2 times a day. The vet prescribed her tramadol and increased the dose of her artro tabs; but now, since yesterday Wednesday, she started to feel down again, even though she is still taking tramadol; she didn't eat all day and is sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought she could had arthritis, but just this last Tuesday she was running in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, am I overreacting? Is this normal for a senior dog? Could be there something else, besides pain, that is causing this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Updating this in case anyone experiences the same situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't overreacting. I went to another vet and ran blood tests, all parameters were normal; also, did x-rays. I was expecting something bad in the results or an infection so this made me even more concerned, until we did an echocardiogram and turned out to be &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyometra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pyometra&lt;/a&gt; and cysts. My guts were right to feel something was wrong; the doctor explained to me that the reason this infection didn't show up in the blood tests was because the organism can run out of these cells that indicate an infection (or something of the sort I don't remember well). She had a successful surgery and the shaking disappeared and the appetite returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is that you should consult more than 1 vet if they say everything is okay but you feel something is wrong and keep looking and trying to find the cause, had it not been for the echocardiogram she would've probably starved herself due to the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18514" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T15:42:31.573" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T15:42:31.573" Title="Senior dog feeling down and shaking" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-07T09:20:11.393" Score="3" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Bunny was neglected and only on pellets for about 5 years (before I got him). When I pat him he often lays down (legs underneath him), is that good? Also, how do I get him happier? He is free roamed, gets vegetables, lots of love but doesn't play with any toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18516" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-07T10:23:06.133" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T14:40:35.867" Title="Bunny lays down (like a pancake) when I pat him" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-07T09:53:25.683" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;A year ago we adopted a 3 month old, male, neutered MinPin from the shelter. We recently adopted a second dog who we believe to be a Jack Russell Terrier/Dachshund mix. He was originally rescued from PR and flown to a rescue in the states. He is believed to be a year old, although we have not yet been able to confirm this with our vet.He is also neutered and timid. He follows us everywhere. When we adopted our second dog, we were advised to remove all current toys and to encourage them to become a pack by distancing ourselves from them, i.e. turn away or get up if they try to bond with us..easier said then done. We have done this fairly successfully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both dogs are eating well together, shared their new larger bed on one occasion and walk well together when leashed. We pen them separately for sleep at night. We have reintroduced a few toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our problem is that our Min Pin, who loves to play with us,  will follow the other dog around the house mercilessly nipping at the back of the neck, play bow position, low growl, attempt/does mount, place chin on back of other dogs neck, and at times appears to block his way or heard the him, all the while, the other dog appears to us to run away. However on two occasions within the last week we noticed that the other dog engaged our dog in play. We are confused as to the best way to handle this situation as we are unable to properly read whether or not this is just play or aggressive behavior by our MinPin who is accustomed to being top dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We currently interrupt this &amp;quot;aggressive&amp;quot; behavior by firmly saying no to our MinPin until the action cease, followed by praise when our Min Pin responds by keeping his distance.  What are your thoughts? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18515" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T00:34:15.490" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T00:34:15.490" Title="How long does it take for a newly adopted pet to be accepted by current pet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28267" CreationDate="2020-08-07T12:09:13.897" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you have a proper tank for him (cycled, with heater, filter and adequate size), changing 20 or 30% every week or at least once every 2 weeks is best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7038" LastEditorUserId="7038" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T21:24:24.853" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T21:24:24.853" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28352" CreationDate="2020-08-07T16:17:00.567" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat Toby is 4 years old and is allergic to almost everything. I want to start clicker training him, but I have no idea what to use as a treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is allergic to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beef&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turkey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His allergies are nightmarish when they flare, and they cause him a lot of pain. Chicken and beef are pretty much in any basic cat treat, and when you rule out eggs there really isn't much left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used pumpkin before as a reward for taking medicine, and he quite likes it. But he loses interest in it quickly and too much pumpkin can lead to diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a wet food he can eat, but it's so messy that I'm not sure how I would use it as a motivator. He really likes the broth, and will avoid the meat bits if there isn't enough of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to use pork, I don't think it's really good for anyone (animal or otherwise) so I don't ever have it in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have considered using tuna, but I'm worried he'll get sick or addicted to it. He already has so many food problems I don't want to create another one. If anyone had experience using tuna as a treat motivator, please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not toy motivated, he has toys he likes but will ignore them if he's not in the mood to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know my boy has some problems but despite all of his restrictions and health issues he's very active and intelligent. He's broken into a fridge with childlock on it, and he regularly teaches himself something new. I think he would really benefit from going on walks, but so far any harness training has been impossible. I want to start clicker training as I've read a lot about it and I think he would take to it well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated, especially those who have pets with the same restrictions. Thanks for reading :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18521" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T19:54:48.737" Title="Treat substitutions for a restricted diet cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;treats&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="457" CreationDate="2020-08-07T16:26:17.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is an allergy nightmare, so let me give you my two-cents. Get a blood test done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's going to cost more money, but it will be loads better for your cat. Dietary guesswork is difficult, because of multiple factors. It takes a lot of time to try them one by one, and even then you can't be completely sure if it's an additive or the meat or really what is causing the allergy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet was positive my cat was allergic to chicken, but it turns out he's also allergic to beef, turkey, eggs, milk, corn, and dust mites as well. (Among other things, I digress) We didn't know that at first, and it took months on a new beef diet to catch it. I ended up getting the blood work done and it helped out a lot. Allergies manifest in all kinds of different ways, and getting the tests to show you what to avoid can save a lot of trouble for you and your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18521" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T16:26:17.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28344" CreationDate="2020-08-07T17:33:58.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is confusing because the title doesn't really reflect the question body. It reads like your Min Pin already accepted the new one and they are in fact forming a pack. You didn't mention any growling or biting or fights, which is a great sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other behaviors you list are part of this current process of forming a pack. I see 2 categories of actions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Playful: the play bow is a quite sure sign of playful behavior. The low growling and nipping &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be part of a play, but they could also be signs of aggression. Those are very easy to confuse and I would have to see your dogs in action to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dominating: the herding, mounting the other dog and putting the head on his back is clearly dominant behavior. What you perceive as &amp;quot;running away&amp;quot; is actually a natural answer to this behavior. If the second dog would answer with the same kind of dominance, they would probably end up fighting. The second dog avoids a real fight by giving way to the first dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now in my honest opinion, you should let them figure out their ranking in the pack on their own, withing reason. That means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't interrupt every instance of dominant behavior. That leaves them both with unresolved issues, which could easily cause tensions in the near future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do interrupt dominant behavior that has been going on for too long. If the new guy doesn't get any rest because he's constantly herded around the house, put an end to it. If the Min Pin keeps the new guy from eating, drinking or defecating, stop him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do interrupt aggressions. Observe how the new dog reacts to certain behaviors from the first one to estimate what is mutual play and what is one-sided aggression. If, for example, the first dog starts nipping or growling, the second dog avoids this behavior by turning away or trying to walk away, but the first dog doesn't stop, that's aggression. If the first one starts nipping and the second nips back, that's probably play.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the most important advice that many people get wrong: &lt;strong&gt;accept their own rules!&lt;/strong&gt; It's already clear that your dogs have a clear ranking. You should accept that ranking and neither treat them absolutely equally, nor pity the new dog and treat him better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed the higher ranking dog first! Not observing this rule can lead to fights. If the low ranking dog needs more time to eat or special food that you don't want the high ranking one to steal, feed them in separate rooms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This includes treats. If you give the same command to both dogs, give the higher ranking one his treat first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make the high ranking dog wait or stay before an open door while you let the lower ranking dog walk through. Just like with food, this is a privilege of the dominant dog. By artificially changing it, you make the low ranking dog challenge the dominance of the other one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there is a high and a low seat for both dogs, let the high ranking dog claim the higher seat. This may seam insignificant to us today, but it's just as ingrained into our subconsciousness as it is in dog's. Just a few hundred years ago the throne of a king would not only be the highest chair in the room, it would be the only chair standing on dais to raise it above every other chair.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, &lt;strong&gt;accept that they are still individuals.&lt;/strong&gt; I'm not a fan of only providing a single dog bed for two dogs. In addition to the big shared bed, they should each have their own bed in their own pen and be able to retreat to their pen at all times. Make sure that their pen stays the private place of each dog. The dominant dog must not be allowed to claim the pen of the submissive dog for himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly, &lt;strong&gt;you are part of the pack!&lt;/strong&gt; Your dogs are making progress, but if they never get any attention from you, they will eventually ignore you or exclude you from their pack. Maybe some of your problems arose because the Min Pin is bored because he cannot get attention from you? Start interacting with them again, do obedience training with them and play or cuddle with them. You don't want to be excluded from the pack and they don't want you to ignore them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T00:29:57.123" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T00:29:57.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-07T18:06:09.117" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was very smart, he was around 80 pounds, totally has no interest and offensive to other people, only loves the family members,  he seldom barks except he found something wrong, he is protective if someone shows dangerous behaviors. He did not like other puppies, even bite them sometimes if other puppies try hard to play with him, we have to keep him away from other dogs, except that, his personality is perfect for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was from Kazakstan and lived with us for 6 years, we missed him very much, and we like his personality very much. We have lost him for almost 10 years, and we still brought him up occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's another sorry is that we did not know what's the breed of him, how can I find out what's the breed of my dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When he was 6 months old.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kb0m2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;6 months old][1]&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When he was 6 months old.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vEMrg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vEMrg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When he was 2 years old.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xDPSa.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xDPSa.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18523" LastEditorUserId="18523" LastEditDate="2020-08-07T22:35:05.417" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T22:35:05.417" Title="How could I find out the breed of my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28349" CreationDate="2020-08-07T18:20:55.297" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;He looks a bit like a Labrador Boxer mix. However, the Boxador usually has a more black mouth area, even though these are often mixed with the Black Mouth Cur. Boxadors are medium to large in size, highly intelligent, and very loyal to their families.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T18:20:55.297" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27986" CreationDate="2020-08-07T18:25:56.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often, a cat will freeze when putting on a harness because it triggers a survival response that they would act upon if held by a predator. It is best to make him feel comfortable through positive reinforcement. Try to give him a treat whenever he takes a step forward with the harness on, and tell him he he did a great job. This will help him feel more relaxed and comfortable, and he will get used to the harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T18:25:56.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28346" CreationDate="2020-08-07T19:46:05.523" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you look for freeze dried fish cat treats.  Typically fish is the only ingredient. They are somewhat smelly (which for pets is generally a desirable characteristic). It's easy to break into the desired size bits, so you can make it very small bits for regular treats, then use larger bits or some tuna for a 'jackpot treat'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this doesn't work for health or other reasons, you might try using a dropper or medicine syringe filled with broth from his wet food or the &amp;quot;juice&amp;quot; from a can of tuna packed in water.  There may still be some mess involved, but it would fit the need for a treat that can be delivered and consumed quickly during training.  I used this tuna juice method with success to teach my cats to willingly take liquid medications from a syringe, and although the treat was highly palatable, I didn't notice any issues of 'addiction' or any notable behavior changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat does well with dairy (and keeping in mind that many really do not!) tiny bits of a low-lactose cheese such as parmesan are very well liked by some cats.  Make sure you keep this to very small amounts, however, and be on the lookout for any possible bad reactions.  Definitely don't offer cheeses with a full lactose content, as those will upset your cat's stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T19:46:05.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28346" CreationDate="2020-08-07T19:54:48.737" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats love tuna, salmon and shrimp packaged treats, but the first ingredient listed on all three packages is chicken, so that’s out for you, at least for Temptations brand. Unfortunately, fresh seafood goes bad very quickly, and ditto for canned once open, so you’d need something packaged (and freeze-dried).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mine also like deli ham slices (ripped into small chunks), which are easy to find and store reasonably well. I understand you don’t like pork, but there are no safety issues with precooked meat such as from a deli, and the allergy to chicken doesn’t give you many choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn’t worry about a cat getting “addicted” to treats of any kind. It’s just food, and when used occasionally for training doesn’t need to meet the same nutritional standards as a regular meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-08-07T19:54:48.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28267" CreationDate="2020-08-08T17:04:12.023" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The water change should help with some problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the waste of the fish itself (&amp;quot;poo and pee&amp;quot;), which will accumulate in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, other waste, like uneaten food, dead plant parts and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, the new water brings new oxygen, important for the fish to breathe easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The impact of these three points is different with every setting of your tank. In a big tank, it takes more time to reach the toxic concentration of waste or to breathe all oxygen away than in a smaller. If you have some plants in the tank they would influence it positively, because with enough light they will use waste as nutrition to grow and produce oxygen. If you use additional equipment like a pump with a filtration system, then the waste will be taken out, and if you let the water from the pump drop into your tank this will bring new oxygen into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, you should regularly do water tests, because it could happen at any time that there are high levels of waste that the plants or the filtration pump could not manage. (For example, if the filtration material in the pump is too dirty and needs change/cleaning.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long to short: If your betta lives in a glass of water, yes! You need to change the water very often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I have to assume the worst case, until you give more detail.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-08-10T12:48:40.760" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T12:48:40.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-09T05:24:12.470" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a kitten who is now 6 months old. His cat parents just had another litter and I want to adopt another kitten to be his buddy. Will he recognize that the kitten is related to him? I’m worried about the introduction and how well they will get along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18528" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-09T13:04:28.927" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T21:00:05.243" Title="Do cats recognize cats from different litters but same parents?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-08-12T03:55:50.713" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-09T21:34:21.320" Score="2" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is 12 weeks old and is still only 700 grams in weight and tiny in size. She eats and drinks well, is as active as she can be with her belly, but I can feel her spine, all her bones yet her stomach is huge! We went to the vet, first she was shocked that she wasn’t younger and thought we were lying about her age. She said she may have worms, then made us deworm with Panacur (fenbendazole), her poop went from a soft yellowish to now she’s pooping normal brown. Yet still haven’t seen any change in appearance of her stomach and I worry that it’s not going down and causing her all sorts of issues from inability to clean, play and she’s not growing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice or direction for anyone who has seen something like this before would mean so much to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/95ztf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/95ztf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18531" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-09T23:16:46.517" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:09:51.613" Title="Any help would mean the world! My kitten in severely underweight with a massive stomach" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28358" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-10T03:04:54.110" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had 4 platies and 5 danios but there are only 1 platy and 4 danios left. mysteriously, they die in the same manner, like sinking to the bottom of the tank and resting there. I was wondering if they had the same disease that caused them to die that way, and now I have another platy that is looking like it is going to die soon, just like the other fishes die as I stated just now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps they just died of old age? I don't know. My platy shown in the image below is about 2 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Platy below in the image has died&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mYNIJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mYNIJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18533" LastEditorUserId="18533" LastEditDate="2020-08-11T06:26:34.700" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T06:26:34.700" Title="What is this fish disease?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28391" CreationDate="2020-08-10T07:34:24.330" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;General question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there such a thing as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;social proof&lt;/a&gt; for dogs? I.e. can you &amp;quot;induce&amp;quot; a dog to make something by letting it watch another dog do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concrete question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I &amp;quot;befriend&amp;quot; a dog by &amp;quot;befriending&amp;quot; first other dogs with which it plays and socializes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say, many people go to the nearby park with their dogs for a walk, and the dogs usually get together and play. One of these dogs (the only stray dog) starts getting nervous while I am nearby, the other dogs don't pay attention to me (they may come and sniff me the most, but are generally more interested in &amp;quot;dog matters&amp;quot;). Is it possible to start getting along with this particular dog by befriending the other dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-10T14:09:48.517" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T17:53:01.717" Title="Social proof for dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-10T12:55:09.760" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had three stray kitten of which one have gone missing. We were used to feeding them since their mother had left them (actually we have not seen her since, which is unusual, and wonder if something happened to her) and two of these had went off exploring the neighbourhood together. However, only one returned, that too, after two days and we waited hoping the other will come back too. Now it has been almost a week and still no sign of him/her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal for kitten to do usually? I mean it's okay for me if it has found some other place to live and decides not to come back, but I am just worried whether it is in some danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18538" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-10T14:04:08.450" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T14:04:08.450" Title="Is it normal for kitten to stray off for a week?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28343" CreationDate="2020-08-10T17:18:21.150" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunny lays down (like a pancake) when I pat him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what you mean by 'pat', if you mean the verb 'touch quickly and gently with the flat of the hand' then you are doing it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bunnies like to be stroked. Soft pets that glide easily over the fur.  I go into some &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/13812/13&quot;&gt;detail in this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for playing with toys:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs like to chase things (think catch and eat prey).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits don't chase things, they will occasionally toss things.  But they play different than cats and dogs.  They like things to chew on and dig in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1821/13&quot;&gt;digging box&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-10T19:35:00.277" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T19:35:00.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28355" CreationDate="2020-08-10T21:00:05.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they have never met before, they won’t recognize each other as family, so you should expect introductions to go as they would with unrelated cats of the same ages. But kittens adapt relatively quickly, and they will both appreciate having a playmate once they realize the other isn’t a threat, so don’t take this as a reason to reconsider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-08-10T21:00:05.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-11T06:47:58.550" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an Indian Spitz who is just 1.5 years old. She is mostly fed indian bread and part of what we have. We have also tried to feed her pet foods like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&amp;amp;ai=DChcSEwiljfiGxpLrAhVXDisKHTTHDREYABADGgJzZg&amp;amp;ohost=www.google.com&amp;amp;cid=CAESQOD2eodpc-CBzOcZ12Hv9UhbNG6L9zFm9hBEL5CY3I05ctkXvCR7djnPJd0OsVwU-PjNhMhjdu_YZaoe_ZaCgH8&amp;amp;sig=AOD64_0e2-DSVjosg2N_YCpMfNmchhzZyg&amp;amp;ctype=5&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwjF5uyGxpLrAhULILcAHby9BTEQ9aACegQIExBf&amp;amp;adurl=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;drools&lt;/a&gt; but she doesn't prefer it and mostly prefers milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We noticed that she has been continuously itching for some weeks now, which doesn't stop even after a wash. Also, there is this peculiar rash under her neck that seems to have removed her hair from the region. I have attached the pics below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What could be the reason for this and how should I remedy it ?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D8EjS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/D8EjS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oVdZJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oVdZJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18540" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T06:47:58.550" Title="What makes my dog itch all the time?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-11T13:51:12.570" Score="2" ViewCount="718" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 35 lb (16 kg) dog who normally takes &lt;a href=&quot;https://heartgard.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Heartgard chewables&lt;/a&gt; for dogs sized 26 to 50 lbs (12 to 23 kg). Recently, my larger dog passed away, so I have some extras of the larger Heartgard chewables he used to take, for dogs sized 51 to 100 lbs (23 to 45 kg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can I give these larger chewables to my smaller dog? Should I split them in half?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17703" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T22:05:55.523" Title="Can I split larger Heartgard chewables for my smaller dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28365" CreationDate="2020-08-11T15:01:21.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Been splitting them for years, our dogs are only 5 and 9 lb . They passed the heartworm blood tests several times while using split doses of the med. Although I can't say they were exposed to mosquitoes carrying heart worm. I would split your pills ,maybe even into thirds: I think I have split some into thirds,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="9804" LastEditDate="2020-08-11T20:21:23.473" LastActivityDate="2020-08-11T20:21:23.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-11T16:44:18.510" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently adopted a cockatiel. When I open the cage, it runs to me and sits on my shoulder and back. But the problem is, I am unable to get it from my back to send it back to cage. When I keep my hand in my shoulder, it lands one leg on my hand and the second leg passes and it hops and avoids my hand. But it never went away from me. I feel that I missed a lesson to make it step on my hand. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18543" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-08-11T18:40:25.053" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T10:57:07.660" Title="How to teach cockatiel to go back into cage" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-12T04:44:02.023" Score="0" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog inhaled dog shampoo, at first she was making noises, but over time they started disappearing. But now she makes tiny little noises from time to time; it's been 4-5 hours since that incident, will she be okay? She is a small dog and only 12-13 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:She is now making sounds like shes snoring she would stop for a minute or 30 seconds but start doing it again. Does this mean she is getting better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18546" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-08-12T14:34:51.883" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T00:19:33.787" Title="What do I do if my dog inhaled dog shampoo?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-12T14:29:14.267" Score="4" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Backstory:&lt;/strong&gt; (Might be relevant)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wife and I have found a colony of feral cats in our city, consisting of a mom and a litter of four kittens. We took an instant liking to them and from that point on for nearly three weeks went out every evening to feed them and try to socialize them a bit. When we had food they came out of their hollow, and as long as we sat relatively still, they were unafraid of us. We could also pet the mom and some of the kittens at times while eating. Mom was less scaredy in general, she sometimes burshed up to us while sitting there on her own accord.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't know the specific age of the kittens, but they are older than 2 months for sure (we'd guess between 3 and 6 months), as they eat solid food, have good movement coordination and they look more like small adult cats with some kitten-y features than the furballs with weirdly oversized heads like very young kittens are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally we would have involved some organization to TNR the mom and socialize the kittens of which two we would have adopted for ourselves, but while there are some animal rescue/humane organizations in my country, also some in my immediate area, it seems to me that TNR has no significant tradition in my country, and maybe due to Covid or just general lack of funding or caring, multiple phone calls/emails to these organizations were entirely fruitful and we were basically politely or not-so-politely told that they are overburdened, can't help us, have no advice or traps or volunteers for us and we should basically feck off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So after we realized no one's gonna help us, we took two of the kittens by letting them walk into carriers and shutting the doors on them. We previously bought some stuffs and also read quite a few articles on ferals, but we were still woefully underprepared as we later learned, and we have some issues. Some behaviours we don't know if is normal and uncertainty regarding how to proceed. Also neither me nor my wife have ever kept cats at home before. Wife's family had semi-feral cats in the garden, but they weren't indoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am listing some of the problems and screw-ups here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lots of advice articles mention using a mostly empty &amp;quot;safe room&amp;quot;. Our flat is relatively spatious, but we &lt;em&gt;absolutely do not have spare rooms&lt;/em&gt;. Every single room is completely utilized, the best we could do is to move out of the bedroom to the sofa in the living room, but having a bed with lots of nooks and crannies in the bedroom would be counterproductive and we have &lt;em&gt;no way&lt;/em&gt; of removing that bed from the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have read that it is recommended the feral kittens to be separated in separate enclosing spaces. Aside from safe rooms (which are unavailable, as I have said) I have read using rabbit cages, large cardboard boxes, large cat carriers, etc. We made a makeshift enclosure by barricading a corner of the living room. They kittens were not to be separated just yet, we wanted to take them to the vet the next day, and figured they'd probably adjust better if they had each other. This might have been a mistake. Also due to our screw-up they escaped confinement and darted throughout the flat (the containment would have been insufficient even if there was no screw-up on our parts, we seriously underestimated how high they can jump).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The kittens thus have free reign in the place. This is the third day the kittens are in our flat, we managed to block off most of the really inaccessible or inconvenient/harmful hiding places in the flat (for example the baking sheet holder in the oven, and the kitchen counter which is impossible to be removed from the wall without seriously dismantling the flat). Now they are hiding in places we can see and we can access, but they are still not contained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The kittens are extremely scared of us. Part of me is not surprised since they have a huge, unknown place to them, but during the day/when we are at home, they absolutely refuse to leave their little hiding places. They huddle down into a small, compact shape and do not do anything. I tried to spoon-feed them tasty wet junior cat food at times. Sometimes I could get them to lick some of it off the spoon, but in general, they also wouldn't eat during the day, and we couldn't get them to come out of their hiding spots by either treats or toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have frequently read to use wet food/treats to get them to loosen up and trust us, however during the first two days they completely refused to eat/drink/eliminate and I got worried for them so I usually put out tasty wet food for the night. Dry food, litterbox and water is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; available. They do eat during the nights when wife and I are in the bedroom and the lights are off, so I am not worried they die of starvation but I don't like this development because I want them to associate tasty food with us. Their appetite in general is &lt;em&gt;much less&lt;/em&gt; than it was when we just visited them near their den in the city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Advice on the internet seems to be contradictory regarding handling. Some sources say that they should only be handled if they come to us, other sources say that handling needs to be forced to a degree to get them accustomed to us. Regarding our kittens, this is a mixed bag. We frequently talk to them in soft tones, and if they are huddled down in their hiding spots during the day, if I approach them slowly, they usually tolerate it if I stroke them gently. Frequent advice is to pick them up, wrap them in a blanket into a &amp;quot;burrito&amp;quot; formation and stroke them gently while in our laps while talking to them softly. They don't like getting picked up and usually start hissing/scratching/squirming, and thus covering them with blankets to get them to feel safe is very difficult, because we cannot get them to lay on blankets and if we approach them with blankets, they get scared shitless and run off. We also stopped trying to handle them a lot aside from some occasional stroking when they let it, as we are worried we are only stressing them out more and they will get more, rather than less feral. Also while they do tend to let us pet them if we calmly approach them in their hiding spots, they &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; come out or come to us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put off taking them to the vet for now, because until now they could hide in places we couldn't get to. I have an appointment to the vet on monday. Since they hide now in accessible places, we can grab them by the nape and put them into carriers if the need be. I am a bit terrified to do that since that would probably make them hate us even more, but this needs to be done. But afterwards, I am not sure about anything anymore:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cages. Yay or nay? I have found a large pet-accessory shop that have relatively large rabbit cages. They are expensive but we do have enough economy to buy two of them. I am of the opinion that once we are done at the vet, we should cage them separately, put some blankets on the cages, and in each one put a hiding spot and dryfood/water/litterbox. My wife is for some reason opposed to the idea. I don't really understand why but the cages are usually recommended so that they have a smaller space they are not that afraid of. And the way things happened, good or not, they already have access to the living room and the antechamber, so I am also not sure if it is needed. Should we cage them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can we get them to trust us more and come out? Is it ok to withhold food or at least wet food from them unless they take it on &lt;em&gt;our terms&lt;/em&gt;? As I have said before, I was worried they are so scared they'd rather starve than come out into the open, and as an inexperienced person, I have no idea how malleable they are this way. I am worried if we only give them wet food if they come out to us, they'd simply wither away rather than come closer. So right now they always have access to wet food as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to force a bit of handling? Of course not if they are so scared they are hissing and scratching, but maybe try to put a blanket on my lap, grab a kitten by the nape and put him/her down on the blanket, wrap them up, and try to get them to calm down. Or should we just stop touching them until they get more comfy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I suspect we have missed the window when they are easily socialized, so what are the likely results? I am ok if they will never be absolute 100% snugglebunnies but there is a difference between them being a bit timid and scaredy but otherwise finding our presence and touch comfortable and them behaving the same way they do now all the time. When to give up and when to proceed? Can taming fail &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt;? What should we do if they absolutely don't come around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18547" LastActivityDate="2020-08-12T20:24:41.450" Title="General and specific advice regarding feral kittens" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28371" CreationDate="2020-08-12T17:18:24.237" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;While you've got a lot of questions here, they're all relatively connected to one main question: How do I socialize feral kittens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll start with your question of cages: &lt;strong&gt;Yes, get a cage&lt;/strong&gt;, at least for now. You don't need any kind of elaborate construction--a &lt;strong&gt;sufficiently sized dog crate or cat cage&lt;/strong&gt; (they do exist) will be fine. Make sure the wires are very closely spaced, so there's no chance of a kitten's head squeezing through any part of the cage, as they will try to escape and can become seriously injured (or worse) if their heads get caught. They will fit through spaces smaller than you might expect, so keep the spacing very tight. Most dog crates I've seen will suffice for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There's no real need to separate them&lt;/strong&gt;; I haven't seen this done in rescues, and in fact, I've personally seen at least one case of a particularly wild singleton starting to calm down when introduced to another litter. While there are likely varying opinions on the subject, most rescues I've observed keep litters together through the socializing process or combine them in the cases of singletons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to &lt;strong&gt;make sure the cage is big enough to hold everything they need&lt;/strong&gt;: food, water, litter box, and blankets, plus a couple of toys tossed in as well. If possible, get dishes that can be mounted on the side of the kennel walls to make them less likely to be knocked over or have litter kicked into them (you're still going to get litter in them, I'm sure). Be prepared to clean the kennel regularly, they're going to make a mess. Keep them in there while socializing, except when you're handling them. You'll be keeping them in here until they're comfortable around them, so be prepared to have it take up space for a while, but you likely won't need it permanently. Most dog crates will fold back up and be easily stored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get them to associate you with food.&lt;/strong&gt; If they're old enough, try doing meal-based feeding instead of just leaving food out. They already somewhat associate you with food from your previous offers when they were strays, so keep that association going by giving them food 2-4 times per day. Start out by just putting the food in the cage with them and closing it again; as they get more confident about being around you, you can start trying to pet them as they come forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prepare to be hurt&lt;/strong&gt;. Feral kittens are very likely to draw blood on you as you get them used to handling. It's generally not going to be bad, but you'll likely want to keep some adhesive bandages and antibiotic cream on hand. With that said, you're not going to forcefully handle them--don't scruff them or wrap them up--but you are going to handle them in spite of their inevitable protests. Get down on the floor, put your hands in the cage and slowly reach out to pet them. Let them sniff you if they want, let them hiss if they want. &lt;strong&gt;Stay on their level, move slowly so you don't scare them, and give them some time&lt;/strong&gt;. As they start calming down, you can start moving to pick them up. Be gentle and deliberate with all your movements around them, so they can learn that you aren't a threat. Remember, you're massive compared to them; you could easily harm them, and they know that. They need to learn that you won't. Keep these interactions short, around 5-10 minutes at a time, and start with only a couple of times a day (2-4), working your way up. If they're older and more prone to scratching and biting, then stick to shorter times (a few seconds to a minute), but a similar frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Offer treats.&lt;/strong&gt; Find some really good ones that they have a hard time resisting, put them near the kittens, and pull your hand back. Let them associate you with tasty goodies. As they get used to them, stay closer while they're eating until they stop caring about your hand being there, then you can start moving to pet them while they eat the treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be flexible.&lt;/strong&gt; Be willing to give them more time if they need it, and if they seem like they're responding well to one technique you're trying but not another, adjust. Like people, cats have their own personalities, and there's no guaranteed step-by-step manual. That said, most younger cats can be socialized to at least some degree. Results will vary--one of mine was found as a feral kitten and is now extremely social and outgoing, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, one we watched for a few months recently who was also a feral kitten spent the first month hiding from everyone, though he did eventually start coming out for some attention on a regular basis and was quite sweet, if very shy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-08-12T20:24:41.450" LastActivityDate="2020-08-12T20:24:41.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-12T19:51:10.407" Score="0" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog's eyes have suddenly gone cloudy, and I would have noticed that long before now. It wasn't until my dog's vision was gone that I noticed any changes in her eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She couldn't make it back on the bed at night and I'd find her on the floor in the morning. I thought was she was weak at first - but now, three days later, I know she couldn't find the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had to clean her eyes a few times because of a slight discharge. I plan to take her to the vet, just waiting on cash flow. She is seven years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that my dog lost her vision overnight, which leads me to my question: &lt;strong&gt;what disease causes a dog to lose their vision overnight?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18549" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T19:44:10.433" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T19:44:10.433" Title="What disease causes a dog to lose their vision seemingly over night?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;vision&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-12T21:54:06.960" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bunny who is almost 6 months old. When I first got him home at the age of 2-3 months, I tried not to scare him and to let him explore the surroundings. Everything was fine until I wanted to put him into the cage for the night. The moment I did it, he started fighting and everything was like that for a month or two when I stopped putting him in the cage for the night and instead I started letting him on the balcony. During these months he was constantly demanding head rubs, running around my feet in circles, binkying and laying down absolutely everywhere, especially on my bed. I loved the fact that he looked like he trusted me staying on my bed and following me everywhere. The only problem was that he started peeing everywhere to mark his territory I think, mainly on the parts of my bed he was not staying on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally I decided to take him to the vet and eventually emasculate him so I made an appointment. The vet agreed to do the procedure, but my bunny looked so scared. He was trembling and biting me when I tried to pet him. After the procedure we took him home and waited for the effects of the anesthesia to fade away in a few hours, but it wasn’t like that. He seemed off for 2  days... he was not eating his favourite food nor drinking water, his poops were smaller than usual and he was lacking energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After googling I came to the conclusion that I had to take him to the vet, but my father insisted to wait a few more days and both of us looked carefully at what he was eating and we also gave him food and little by little he started eating and drinking water and of course his poops finally got to their normal size. I was relieved and he seemed to be alright because he started again to run around my feet, but this time he was doing it for no more that 2 times a day and he also refused staying on my bed and he was hiding in order to lay down and things have been like that for the past three weeks, I think, and I don’t know what I did wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, he used to enjoy being chased but now he just seems to be scared and I don't know what to do to make him feel safe again and love me. I want him to live a good life, but at the moment I am afraid he might be depressed, thing that I don’t want to be true. What is more, I did not spend so much time with him lately and I am wondering if it might be from this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18550" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-12T22:03:08.193" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:04:15.140" Title="Strange change in rabbit's behaviour" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-12T23:31:50.967" Score="13" ViewCount="6676" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple months ago, me and my boyfriend rescued a 6 week old kitten who was thrown out of a car. We decided to keep him, but we live in a two bedroom apartment, with a roommate who is allergic to cats, so typically he stays in our room all day. Sometimes we let him out when our roommate is gone, but that’s not very often. It’s a big room with a bathroom connected and he has toys and a tall cat tree that he can look out the window on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend works full time and soon, I will start working more so he’s going to be spending more time alone, but we are considering a second cat to keep him company. He is about four months old now so we’d try to get him a friend about the same age. I’ve read that when it comes to getting cats to get along, the younger they are the better. We are planning on moving in about six months to an apartment where the cats can roam all throughout, but are worried if we wait until then to get a cat, it will be harder for them to bond, and our current cat will be lonely over the next six months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if we got another cat now, they’d both be confined to our bedroom pretty much all the time, and I don’t know if that’s good for them, or if it’d be okay since they’re both kittens and we’ll have moved once they are adults. Can anyone offer any insight on this or share your experiences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Thank you everyone. We have decided to just hold off until we move to get another kitty. In the meantime, I am trying my very best to provide the most enriching environment for our current kitty. He does get at least 15-20 minutes a day to go out into the living area and kitchen and run if he wants and he has a lot of places to climb and hide and play in the bedroom. He is happy here so I don’t want to risk changing that by bringing another kitty in just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18552" LastEditorUserId="18552" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T23:07:10.980" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T23:07:10.980" Title="Can two cats live in one room?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-12T23:57:36.320" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s a difficult question; neither choice is clearly right or wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would lean toward getting him a friend now, and the same age or younger. The smaller the newcomer, the less your existing cat will see it as a threat in his territory. I assume your cat is already fixed, but if not, I’d do that first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a small space is a challenge, but remember that cats see the world much more vertically than we do, so that space can be made larger and more interesting by adding things to climb and perch on or hide in/under; a bunch of boring floor space isn’t as interesting to cats as it is to us. (Keep this in mind as well for your future place.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several other questions here on how to introduce two cats, so I won’t go into detail, but I’ll point out that your bathroom sounds like a good initial spot for the newcomer, and he can explore the bedroom while the existing cat is out of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to them (eventually) having each other for company while you’re both away, they will also have each other for security and confidence when you move, which is a scary and disorienting experience for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-08-12T23:57:36.320" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T02:34:27.917" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advice on how much space you need per cat is pretty variable, from one bedroom per cat to various square footage per cat. And even then, you might have trouble with getting some cats to share space no matter how big it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one bedroom and bathroom sounds very small to me, especially when you consider that the advice on litterbox number is pretty consistent, which is one litterbox per cat, plus one additional litterbox. This means three litterboxes for two cats, which sounds like an awful lot of litterboxes for such a small space.  You might be able to get the cats to accept fewer, but then obviously it's better to clean them even more frequently, which might not be very doable when part of motivation for adopting another cat is that it'll be alone more. Also, I personally don't think it's very fair to the cats to make them accept a situation they'd probably prefer not to when there's also the option of simply waiting to adopt until you have the room to fit enough litterboxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other consideration I would have is your ability to accommodate the two cats if it turns out introducing them doesn't go entirely smoothly. You might need to get more things if they don't like sharing, or you might need to have a much slower introduction process, and I don't think it's very ideal to keep one cat in a bathroom for an extended period of time. It seems to me like you'd REALLY require more space if any problems crop up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there is actually a positive to holding off on adopting until you move into a larger home.  Namely, that if the territory is new to both cats, then they're more likely to allow each other into the space, versus when the one cat is feeling like it owns the space, it's more likely to feel like it needs to defend its territory from the new cat which it sees as an intruder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-08-13T20:28:50.093" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T20:28:50.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T09:07:02.497" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats in general don't like each other, by instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, small cats can grow together and be tolerant to each other as long as you don't separate them for more than a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats are at the limit of &amp;quot;small&amp;quot;, but if they are indoor-only and not used to fights for teritory, you have a very high chance to succeed. It helps (a little) if they are both neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit regarding colonies of feral cats: they form around abundant food sources. Fights start as soon as the food supply (be it human-delivered, or overpopulation of rodents, or both) starts to decrease. Cats never hunt in pairs or in larger groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living with humans is another matter. For a cat, human is something like a mother. The cat psychologicaly doesn't grow up. That's why it is hard to convert a feral cat to domestic one - it is already grown up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16715" LastEditorUserId="16715" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T17:10:57.447" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T17:10:57.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28357" CreationDate="2020-08-13T09:41:00.423" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she doesn't take any weight and have a massive belly, this is likely to be a worm infestation, as your vet said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long has it been from the first worm treatment? The treatment is usually effective within 3 to 5 days. If her state hasn't changed at all, I'll recommend to see another vet. The fact that your vet said 'she MAY have' without doing further research is a huge red flag for me, considering her weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She weights at least 300g less than she's supposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when you are checking her poop or her belly, do not touch your face before washing your hands as worms can be transmitted to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18555" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-13T13:09:51.613" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:09:51.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T10:04:20.890" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strongly advise against it. Cats need space. Research how much territory a cat has in nature (male and female differ a great deal here) and you'll realize just how tiny even a large house is to a cat's instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One room? Seriously, that is cruelty to animals. Putting two cats into one room is insanity. Like humans, they sometimes get along and sometimes don't want to see each other. Our cats sleep together on one day, and in separate corners of the house on others. They want to get away from each other sometimes. Putting them into one room where they can't do that would definitely cause serious stress to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one cat also isn't a solution, especially not if you're working full time and not home much. While cats sleep 14-16 hours a day, they need something to do the remaining hours, or all kinds of bad behaviour develops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that you most likely don't want to hear this, but for the sake of the cat you should consider re-homing it to somewhere that can meet a kitten's needs. Maybe one of your parents have a house and a heart for cats? That way, you can take the kitten back once you have more living space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-13T13:07:43.360" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:07:43.360" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28374" CreationDate="2020-08-13T11:41:21.257" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, keep in mind that it's a good thing for him (and for your comfort) to have been sterilized. He should live longer and be way more calm. Also, a bunny can take one week to recover fully from an anesthesia. This is a little body against a big chemical product so don't worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess here is that he doesn't have the loads of hormones coming through his body anymore, making him more calm. Also, bunnies are very intelligent, and maybe he is a bit mad at you. The fact that you didn't have much time with him the last past day is important too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if he have a lot of toys, but if he used to be playful, you can do a bucket with a lot of bunny toys inside where he can come and take the one he wants. It's also a very good thing for his teeth as he will certainly chew on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I wouldn't recommend to let him on the balcony. Bunnies are fragile so he could easily get sick. To avoid the cage, you can find some adaptable enclosure with no roof that is more adapted to bunnies. You need to stimulate him, and stay close to him. But if he is hiding in order to sleep, it's just because he wants to be quiet / alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you still have doubt on his health state, never hesitate to consult a vet. As I said, bunnies are fragile, they can hide something and you will know to late, or he is just fine and the vet will reassure you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as he eats and drinks, I would say that there is no much worry to have. In my experience, depressed bunnies basically let themselves die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18555" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-13T13:04:15.140" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:04:15.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T13:24:32.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will depend more on the cats and your own space needs, but it's definitely doable. We have two cats and a dog, and live in a relatively small house. My husband is mildly allergic to cats to we do not allow them in the bedroom. The dog stays in the living room/dining room/kitchen, and the cats have the second bedroom (which we use as an office and their litter box is in the laundry room across the hall. We've moved three times with the pets and that's pretty much always been the amount of space they have had. They do occasionally explore around the living room at night or when the dog is asleep but spend probably 90% of the time in the office or going between the office and their litter box in the laundry room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, we got both cats at a young age together (they were litter mates). We do provide a variety of different &amp;quot;spaces&amp;quot; for them in the room so they can get away from each other when they want to; we have two cat trees in opposite corners, a box on my desk, and a cat bed in the closet. They will also occasionally climb the bookcase or make their own spaces. Cats seem to be very adaptive and we haven't seen any issues at all with their square footage being limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18557" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:24:32.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T13:28:45.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on the situation,&#xA;some cats like but some cats not,&#xA;it depends on the cat’s personality.&#xA;Now I have two cats, they are totally wrong and not like each other.&#xA;One cat is male and one cat is female, they fight all day long.&#xA;But before I also had two cats, they slept completely together.&#xA;You might as well put them together for a while and you will know the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18558" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-13T13:34:23.753" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:34:23.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T13:33:14.313" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a cat, you both are going to be working more and you have an allergic roommate? I'm sorry, but are you sure it's a good idea to get a second cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand it looks like choosing between two evils here, but I'd ask you to reconsider. I'd definitely wait till the move is complete. Moving is already stressful for a cat, I doubt it will be easier with two. A new cat takes some extra time and effort too, which you may not have available with both of you going to work more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, what happens when the move doesn't go through for whatever reason? A lot can happen in 6 months. I wouldn't take the risk. Find a different approach to keeping your cat happy, there are plenty of cats that don't have an animal friend yet are not unhappy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cats have significantly more room at your new place, them getting used to each other will actually be easier after the move than before. After all, they have more territory so won't be forced to be close to each other all the time if they can't stand each other initially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10783" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T13:33:14.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-13T14:01:47.930" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A compromise plan, depending on the time frame, might be to get the new cat when you move into the house.  Bring them in separate doors and let them be.  Both will be exploring, and neither will have had a chance to get territorial about the space.  For all they know, the other cat was there all along, and they're the intruder that needs to appease the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18559" LastActivityDate="2020-08-13T14:01:47.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28369" CreationDate="2020-08-14T00:02:25.037" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should always call the vet and have them speak to you about the situation. If she is not vomiting and is acting normally/going potty okay, I would recommend giving her some white rice with chicken broth. Make sure the chicken broth does not have any added salt or preservatives. This should soothe her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T00:19:33.787" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T00:19:33.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23419" CreationDate="2020-08-14T00:05:27.230" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need an adequate heat or UV light for the tortoise's vivarium. Improper set up can lead to indigestion of food. Too much humidity is not good and an unsafe environment can also lead them to not move or eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-14T00:22:20.770" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T00:22:20.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21572" CreationDate="2020-08-14T00:09:45.310" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog will always be around you (behind, in front, next to) because he feels safe around you and he knows you are the pack leader. They have bonded with you and this is a really good thing. They trust you and want to be near you 24/7. However, this can also lead to some attachment issues, so if you want them to be more independent and apart from you from time to time, try to use a dog gate in front of your room door to block you from him but still be in sight, and give him a treat. Then a few days later, have him be a little more apart from you, and give him a treat if he stays. This will behaviorally train your dog want to be apart from you sometimes and still feel safe when you are not around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T00:09:45.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28375" CreationDate="2020-08-14T01:13:26.637" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are types of cats that may be more suitable for people allergic to cats.  It depends on what from the cat they are allergic to.  If it is the hair part of their skin, you might look for cats that have no hair on their skin, but those are hard to find.  These usually need to be kept inside all day because they are very poor at tolerating cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11179" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T01:13:26.637" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28359" CreationDate="2020-08-14T17:53:01.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you call &amp;quot;social proofing&amp;quot; has a scientific name: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allelomimetic_behavior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;allelomimetic behavior&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an interesting article by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201301/dogs-learn-modeling-the-behavior-other-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Psychology Today&lt;/a&gt; that includes 2 videos that showcase the effect of learning from another dog vs. learning on their own:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One aspect of dog learning that often seems to be overlooked by the scientific community has to do with dogs modeling their activities on the behaviors that they observe in other dogs. This involves what scientists call &lt;em&gt;allelomimetic behaviors&lt;/em&gt;. These are group-coordinated behaviors that depend upon an inborn inclination for dogs to want to be with other dogs, to follow their lead, and do the same thing. Puppies show tendencies to imitate the behaviors of others from an early age and this continues throughout their lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, dogs learn generic behaviors like proper social interactions, how to react if a car approaches or how to walk down the stairs via allelomimetic behaviors. I doubt that befriending an individual human could be taught like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better alternative would be befriending that dog directly. You have to take the dog's personality into account if you want to succeed. My personal experience is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Street dogs tend to be wary of people.&lt;/strong&gt; All it takes is one bad experience like being lured by a person and then hit with a stick for a dog to become cautious. Street dogs tend to be especially wary of men, because they seem to attack dogs more often than women. &lt;strong&gt;If the dog is wary, the best approach is to ignore it.&lt;/strong&gt; At first this may sound counter productive, but you have to give the dog time to approach you and trust that you won't attack it. As long as you follow it around, it won't relax and build trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch your body language!&lt;/strong&gt; Many people get this wrong and actually scare dogs away when they want to approach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not look the dog directly into the eyes. In dog language this is a warning sign.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't smile and show your teeth. In dog language this is a sign of aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't bow your upper body down while keeping your legs straight. That way you tower over the dog and intimidate it. Instead either kneel or sit down to be at eye-level with the dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give the dog time to sniff you before you try touching it. The first move towards you must be done by the dog. You cannot force trust to develop, you have to wait for it to develop on it's own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not lift your hand over the head of the dog. Most people (especially children) always want to pet the head of an animal, without realizing that it takes trust to have your head touched. Start with petting the breast / front of the torso instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find a small pocket mirror to be very handy for such situations. It allows you to watch the dog's body language without provoking it by directly looking at it. Look out for signs of stress or aggression as listed in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/25466/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Involve the dog's nose.&lt;/strong&gt; The nose plays a much bigger role in the life of a dog than that of a human. By having a treat with a strong smell in your hand (like a small piece of cheese or hotdog sausage), you can arouse this dog's interest in you much more than with visual clues like body language. You can start with throwing a treat in front of you (just outside your own reach) and looking away from him. Then hold the treat in your fist, but give it to him only after a few seconds. That makes you as person extremely interesting to this dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but not least, keep in mind that &lt;strong&gt;you cannot force friendship.&lt;/strong&gt; All the tips I gave you are well-meant, but if the dog decides that it doesn't want to be friends with you, there's nothing you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-08-14T17:53:01.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-14T18:24:18.180" Score="1" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat insists on being pet. He will insistently meow until someone comes to him and pets him. After just a few seconds, he will take a few steps away and look back, asking for more pets. He leads me on completely random paths throughout my house on these little petting excursions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not leading me to anywhere specific. No matter how long I continue this behavior, he never leads me anywhere consistent. He just keeps going in completely random directions until I stop, and have continued this for over an hour before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is very well loved by both his older cat sibling and my fiance and I, I wake up with him cuddling me in the morning most times and pet him for a long while. Not sure if relevant but he also HATES being picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He never wants for food and I replace his water every day. He has two high quality litter boxes and we recently moved to a new house. We had to stay in a hotel for about a week and at no point before, during or after the move did this walking around while being pet behavior change in any way. He is a little over a year old and has been doing this since January-ish I would guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18568" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T19:54:41.043" Title="My cat needs me to follow him around when I pet him" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27910" CreationDate="2020-08-15T20:26:24.590" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually stray cats and dogs are really good when they get adopted. They are very good at reading people and are well behaved/trained. I would advise to have them meet first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-16T00:48:22.623" LastActivityDate="2020-08-16T00:48:22.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-16T00:16:53.487" Score="5" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently noticed our cat goes to its water plate/tray/pot and, instead of drinking the water as she usually does, she puts the tip of her paw in the water, and then licks her paw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does that a couple of times in a row, then goes on with her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I've said, she also drinks water straight from the pot as cats regularly do - it's not that she doesn't know how to drink water or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're having fun seeing her do this - it's kind of funny weird. Is this behavior usual in cats? We're intrigued to know if there's a known reason for this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13854" LastActivityDate="2020-08-16T15:58:23.077" Title="Cat wets paw in water, then licks it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28395" CreationDate="2020-08-16T06:43:55.520" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is your cats instinct and is a leftover from when cats lived in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behaviour is normal and is how many cats in the wild removes floating leaves and other stuff from their water source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats prefer running water over pools of stagnant water in the wild and the surface of running water will stay cleaner than water in pools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of a cats behaviour is learned from their mother so if your cat learned to dip the paw in water from the mother your cat will often continue to do it this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some cats dip their paw in water and lick the water off their paw just for the fun of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-08-16T06:43:55.520" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28395" CreationDate="2020-08-16T15:58:23.077" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not exactly usual behavior, but your cat is definitely not alone in dipping its paws in its water bowl in order to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether a cat will do this depends on the individual animal and the situation. Some cats are more tactile than others, and are more likely to use their paws sort of like hands instead of using their mouths. When it comes to the water bowl, a cat might be extra motivated to do this if there's something about putting its face in the bowl that it doesn't really like. It's theorized that many cats don't like the feeling up putting their head inside a bowl because their whiskers will brush against the side of the bowl, or maybe because it can't see its surroundings when its face is in the bowl, especially if the bowl is up against the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I don't think this is a particularly concerning problem, it might be a good idea to try things to see if you can make the water bowl more appealing, so it isn't inclined to do this at all anymore, such as getting a bigger bowl, placing it in a more open area, and trying to keep it more full. The reason why I suggest this is because cats frequently don't drink as much as they should, and if the cat is showing signs it isn't thrilled about its water bowl, it could also be the case that it's drinking even less than it would be if it liked the bowl better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-08-16T15:58:23.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28367" CreationDate="2020-08-17T06:18:33.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This what we did when we had the first parakeet (as advised by the seller):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep it inside the bird cage for at least one week, so he starts to feel it as &amp;quot;home&amp;quot;. Interact with home as wished, but do not release him. He will also learn that the cage is the place where the food is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you release the bird in the room, confine it to only one room - preferably one of the smaller rooms you have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not feed the bird while outside. Hunger will ultimately bring it back inside the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Never mock the bird for being stupid for getting inside - it will understand, feel bad, and ultimately refuse to get back inside again. Instead, praise it when he returns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make it a rule that in the evening it has to go inside to sleep. It increases the &amp;quot;at home&amp;quot; feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(optional) You might want to feed the bird from your hand, while it is in the cage. It will learn to trust you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Never do anything to scare the bird. No sudden moves, no bursts of loud laughter, etc. while in the accommodation period. It will associate the cage with fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Find (small) things that really attract the bird (be sure that the bird cannot swallow them or pieces of them. When the time comes, tease the bird with those things to attract it, and then place the thing inside the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place a mirror inside the cage, and cover / remove the mirrors in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place some of the preferred food inside the cage - obviously, the preferred food should not be given to the bird just before going in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T10:57:07.660" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T10:57:07.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-17T10:11:09.273" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a common problem I have seen in new puppies. It's a big problem for dog owners to deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18582" LastEditorUserId="18582" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T11:11:45.730" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T20:06:15.433" Title="How to stop puppy biting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28400" CreationDate="2020-08-17T11:09:38.867" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First see, why does puppy bite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of reasons that puppies may chomp. The most well-known one is that they're interested, and this is another approach to investigate their reality. They're additionally prone to bite things in the event that they're getting teeth as a method of calming the inconvenience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may likewise nip energetically at one another or you now and again. Nipping isn't a sign of hostility; it's simply that the little fellers don't have a clue about any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At times little guys may turn to biting out of dissatisfaction, or when they're scared. On the off chance that they go before the nibble by a snarl, they ate you since you disregarded a warning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's see, &lt;strong&gt;how to teach puppy to stop biting?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several ways which can help dog owner to stop their puppy to bite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Divert&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; :&#xA;Redirection takes some arranging. In the event that your puppy attempts to bite you, pull your hand away before he gets an opportunity. At that point give him a treat or toy to divert his vitality to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play Games&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&#xA;There are some proven games that you can play with your puppy and build trust with fun, with this method you can also &lt;a href=&quot;https://dog-training-se.launchaco.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;train your puppy&lt;/a&gt; by yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Distraction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&#xA;Picking the privilege toys gives your little puppy something to bite. A toy that permits you to shroud a treat inside functions admirably here. Pick toys that make your little guy buckle down intellectually too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prevention&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; :&#xA;You can likewise discover items that taste awful to demoralize your dog from chewing. Spot a tad bit of the item on a cotton puff and offer it to them. They'll spit it out and smell it. Presently you'll have to apply the item to the things you don't need him to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Final thoughts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to preparing your little puppy, tolerance, and uplifting feedback are the keys. Yelling at your puppy, or punishing them when they bite will harm their trust in you. Encouraging feedback, then again, is much more successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must raise an even puppy. Teach the puppy similarly his pack mates would have in nature. On the other hand, utilize past interruption strategies to show the puppy to center that vitality somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Show restraint toward him, and he'll before long comprehend what he needs to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18582" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T20:06:15.433" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T20:06:15.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13863" CreationDate="2020-08-17T13:01:27.560" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like a fungal infection. If the cat is licking excessively and losing hair in patches then it is fungal infection. More commonly known as ringworm. Give your cat medicated anti fungal shampoo and also spray antifungal ingredient.( Lime sulfur and climbazole)&#xA;Also give 1 week antibiotic (co-amoxiclav 156.25mg/5ml) of 2ml twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18584" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T13:01:27.560" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13599" CreationDate="2020-08-17T14:57:37.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The earlier incidents sound medical, but the later incidents sound like territorial marking. The new posture you've described is the posture cats use when territorial marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...she's started to pee standing up with her back arched and tail shaking, her back against the wall or my bedskirt or my suitcase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to popular belief, female cats can and will spray as well as male cats. It's a good idea to rule out medical issues with a vet to make absolutely sure, but given this behavior, it's pretty likely your cat is actually territorially spraying on purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Female cats more typically spray if something is stressing them out, especially if they feel their territory is being intruded on. The likely answer is that she is territorially spraying because she doesn't get along with your other cat, but it's also possible that she's reacting to cats outside that she can see and smell through the windows and doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter, you can scare off cats around your home with motion detecting sprinklers designed for this purpose. If the former, you're going to have to figure out ways for your cats to get along better. Unfortunately, there isn't really an easy solution to this, but I can give some tips to help get started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take note of when and where there are any incidents. That is, places where the cat is peeing, and if there are any bullying incidents between the two cats. It might also be useful to get a blacklight and search for areas where your cat has peed that you aren't already aware of, as cat pee will shine under blacklight. With this information, you can start to put together a picture of areas of contention for your cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fix the areas of contention. Cats often get into trouble over sharing limited resources, like the litterbox. If you notice incidents are happening over that kind of thing, simply get more of that thing so the cats no longer have to share. The other way they get into trouble is if one cat tends to bully the other cat. A lot of the time the bullying is enabled by the environment, like if there's places the cat can trap its victim or ambush its victim. Rearrange your home or buy more cat furniture to try to eliminate these types of spots. In general, it's probably a good idea for you to get a lot more cat furniture, and make essentially a second story for your cats to explore without having to come back down. This way your cats will have options, and will not have to share the same space unless they're comfortable doing so.  Hopefully this will cut down on the stress level.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Play with your cats more while they are in the same room. Playing with them together will hopefully make them more confident around each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose I should mention that it is also possible that something else entirely is disrupting the cat's territory and stressing it out as well. I have written this answer mostly assuming it's other cats given the information provided, but it may also help to think on if there were any other changes to the house that could be stressing out your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T14:57:37.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-17T19:52:20.530" Score="1" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought my gecko recently and had a bulb that worked fine, but it broke so I ordered a new one along with a heat mat, but they have not arrived. In the mean time, how can I keep it’s cage warm or can I? Will this affect its behaviour as it’s already very scared and doesn’t like loud noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18585" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-17T20:00:14.863" LastActivityDate="2020-08-17T20:00:14.863" Title="How do I keep my leopard geckos cage warm without a heat mat or bulb?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-08-20T12:35:45.883" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28407" CreationDate="2020-08-18T00:30:25.540" Score="2" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got a rescue dog, vet told us he has a lot of border collie in him, he's about 1 and a half years old. The problem: it seems as if he can't get tired or get calm, it happens everyday. We've had him for 4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First we started to go on short walks, all OK, he urinates and defecates, we get home and he turns into a completely different dog: he starts zooming, biting (me and my wife), biting his bed and his pillows, pulling from his leash when we go upstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we noticed this we thought 'Hey, maybe he needs more exercise', so we started taking him to a park where is a designated space for dogs and their owners, so they can play there;  he runs, he plays, he urinates and defecates, we walk back home, all OK, we get home and he turns into a completely different dog: he starts zooming, biting (me and my wife), biting his bed and his pillows (this lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes until he lies in the floor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we turned to a 'trainer' who told us to use a spray and water to correct bad behaviour, it worked for like a month, one day he got the spray thingy and destroyed it as an act of rebellion. So we decided not to do it anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got a bike, so we take him on bike rides so that he gets a little bit more tired than just the park, sometimes we take him to the park on the bikes for extra exercise. Nothing, he comes back at home and it's the same behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes me feel betrayed because I feel like I've been doing my best, but he just keeps insisting on behaving like that, sometimes he bites really hard, he's even bite my mom once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried positive training with treats and small bits of sausage (he loves those), but when I run out of treats, he forgets it and goes back to bad dog mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know, or, we don't know what else to do. It makes me feel sad because I've even thought of giving it back and forget it, but I don't want to give up on him, so I come to you in ask for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&#xA;As of today my dog has been behaving so much better when it comes to coming back home. As I said, I started day 0 with giving him treats after making him stop biting the leash. Also give treats when going up the stairs to put his attention on going up rather than biting the leash or us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday it was rainy so we couldn't go to the park. Caressing him and giving him treats when we noted his anxiousness seemed to work enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We having been riding on the bike lately as it seems the park is enough now, he even started to play with his own ball and comes back to us, he also responds to the call faster. It's been about 2 weeks when we started feeling we had another dog, maybe it's part of him growing up but it seems he behaves better now. Thanks. I'll keep updating like this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.: I forgot to mention our vet told us that he's allergic to mostly everything. He scratches himself A LOT, he's even hurt himself badly once (we treated that). Our Vet recommended us some shots of CYTOPOINT to treat his skin allergy. We recently heard by an animal behaviourist that these allergic dogs are the ones that present more behaviour difficulties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3253" LastEditorUserId="3253" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T12:57:20.260" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T12:57:20.260" Title="My dog (border collie half breed) too excited even after workout" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28406" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-18T04:03:00.257" Score="12" ViewCount="3497" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im in New Zealand. The cat (probably female), has been with us for 5 years, but my parents are sick of her killing our trees with her claws. We think she was abandoned by her previous owners and lived alone for some time. She took over after our own last cat died. She went from being untouchable to loving and sneaking indoors occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But she simply won't learn, no matter what we do to protect our backyard trees, to stop causing their demise. She can't be dewormed without a major effort or held for more than 30 seconds. But we know she desires to be more of pet, only she was just not raised right. I was often overseas, but came back because of covid. I really love her, but I have no money to move out right now and even if I did, I don't see how I could take her with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I hate the idea of leaving her to just anyone the SPCA lets adopt her. Especially with her behavior, I'm worried shell be abandoned or put down as she is at least 7 years old. Im also worried about the experience of being forcibly removed would be traumatic for her. I'd love some practical advice on this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18587" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T14:22:27.237" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T19:47:29.823" Title="How to stop adopted stray/feral cat from scratching trees?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28405" CreationDate="2020-08-18T06:48:21.927" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important things to understand here are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You did a very good job of exercising and entertaining your dog. You've been a very responsible dog owner who cares for their pet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog does not behave badly out of betrayal or rebellion and even more exercise won't solve the problem. There is a different problem underneath that causes this kind of destructive behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is triggered by returning home. Something must have happened in the past in connection with coming home that caused him physical or emotional pain. Since Boder Collies are rather exteme high energy dogs, I'd wager the former owner was struggling with all this energy, gave up on some point and did something bad like hit the dog or lock him in a small room alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, returning home reminds him of these past experiences and causes him stress. The biting and leash pulling are coping mechanisms that alleviate the stress. Discouraging the behavior by spraying the dog with water makes the stress build up inside and is not an ideal solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obedience training works better, as you already noticed. Collies are very social animals and they absolutely &lt;em&gt;LOVE&lt;/em&gt; being praised. That's why obedience training is something fun and positive for them and a common way to keep them balanced and entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a plethora of commands and tricks to teach an intelligent dog, like stay, high five, play dead, turn in a circle, slalom through my legs and so on. Start teaching your dog one command after another and don't overwhelm him. I suggest you start simple obedience training right before you reach your front door when returning from a walk and continnue while walking through the door and for another few minutes after comming home. You don't even need to feed him sausage as treats, use either your voice or common dog treats (or both combined for added effect) to reward him. This will hopefully distract him from being triggered, but it won't magically change him from the first day on. Keep in mind that every family member that walks the dog should adhere to the same routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great way to end this &amp;quot;coming home obedience training&amp;quot; routine is to settle down and cuddle in a calm way. Tune the excitement in your voice down towards the end of the training. If the dog is allowed on the sofa, sit or lay down, call him to you and just pet him for a while. If he's not allowed on the sofa, send him into his bed or crate, sit down next to him and pet him for a while. The goal is to get him into a calm state of mind, just like you would calm a child before bed time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since he uses biting as his coping mechanism, you could use a tug toy to reward him. That redirects his destructive biting to something that is safe and intended to be bitten. Please have a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/93XIDxv4lnE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Youtube video&lt;/a&gt; that explains how to teach your dog to bite the center of the toy instead of your hands. After your dog learned to reliably bite the center of the toy, you can use it instead of treats to reward him during your &amp;quot;coming home obedience training&amp;quot; routine. Be aware that it probably will be hard to teach him to let go of it, since it's his coping mechanism. In the end, him biting the toy is still a vast improvement from him biting you, so I think he can have some leeway and not obediently release the toy for a while (we're probably talking months here, depending on his progress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another safe target for his biting could be a Kong or a chewing bone or some dried hide. Most dogs aren't interested in food right after physical exercise, but you can use it if he starts biting after a short time of rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to understand that your dog isn't naughty, he's maladjusted. The other trainer tried to discourage naughty behavior, but what you have to do actually resembles therapy. It won't be successful in a few days. It might take months or even years to fully change his behavior and he might relapse a few times when something triggers him. But I assure you that each success will not only make your dog happy, but you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T19:51:41.300" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T19:51:41.300" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28406" CreationDate="2020-08-18T06:59:51.360" Score="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't it be a better solution to protect the trees from the cat than to remove the cat from the family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, it's impossible to teach a cat not to scratch on anything. The claws of cats grow in layers and must be shortened and sharpened. By scratching on hard, rough surfaces, preferably tree bark, cats shed the old outer layer of their claws, which makes them a tiny bit shorter and exposes the fresh, sharp layer underneath. This is an ingrained instinct and cannot be discouraged by punishment and it's the reason why every cat owner should also own a cat tree or scratching post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scratching posts are usually simple cardboard tubes that are wrapped in thin sisal or hemp rope. Try to find such a rope at home or in a hardware shop and wrap it around a few trees where your cat usually scratches. If there are too many trees to wrap them all, you can protect the remaining ones with chicken wire, pieces of old carpets or doormats or a similar fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rope should be tight enough not to fall off the tree, but not so tight that the tree is constricted. I would rewrap the rope at least once a year (you can use the same rope again if it's still intact enough) to adjust it to the size of the tree trunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T20:06:23.283" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T20:06:23.283" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-18T14:42:30.493" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to move back to Paris with my cat after having spent years in North America. My cat was found in Pittsburgh and has lived with me there, in California and in Montreal. In all of those places, there were two things in common: buildings were low and there were always window screens. When he was young, he absolutely wanted to go out, but I had a strong feeling things would end very badly for him if he did, like getting run over by a car, get lost or a combination of similar things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in Paris, there are no window screens. And we'll be at what Europeans call the fourth floor and what Americans call the fifth floor. (We count differently.) The living room has a spectacular view over one of the main plazas in Paris, which I thought would be great for my cat to have something to watch over. It also has this sort of rail with a wide but somewhat slippery top. My big fear is that he tries to jump onto the rail, fails and falls over down the five levels. For a cat, he is sort of clumsy. I am planning to put a cat tree in front of a living room window so that he can look at the view more easily, but in front of a closed window only. The kitchen window is at the same level, does not have a nice view, but I'd still be afraid he'd fall. He's about 7½ years old, and still pretty curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be fairly hot when I arrive and I will need to leave some windows open. (No A/C in Paris.) I know it's just a detail and my cat will probably know better than fall five floors out a window, but when I was a child, I had a friend whose cat fell from the fourth floor while pregnant and lived, but lost her kittens. They had a faulty balcony that no one was allowed to go on. The balcony broke from under her, I think. She did not fall actually fall &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was younger, if I told my cat to come back in a stern voice if he was about to do something dangerous, he'd just run away faster. But now he trusts that I have his best interest in mind and actually backs off from what he's doing and runs back towards wherever &amp;quot;home&amp;quot; is. This took years. But these windows still scare me in advance. And I know that for &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; cats &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; usually means &amp;quot;wait until I'm not watching over you.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a friend whose cat started walking on a ledge on a Paris building and visited other buildings. He actually did okay with that until he was run over by a car in the countryside. I don't think my building in Paris has ledges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So any advice of what I should do would do when we arrive would be welcome, even if it's &amp;quot;don't worry: he'll know not to fall from five floors above ground.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1007" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T14:44:46.600" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T17:15:49.207" Title="How to use windows with no screens for my cat when I move" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28392" CreationDate="2020-08-18T16:07:20.300" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I see it, you are asking why your cat starts walking when you pet him. I do not think anybody knows why many cats do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the cats I have had start to walk when I pet them it is just something cats do and if you stop walking the cat comes back to you and the whole thing starts over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if cats know why they start to move when they are getting pet, so I think this is one of the questions that have no answer. It is in a way fine that you try to understand your cats behaviour, but this one does not have an answer that I know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have a strange behaviour too, a friend of mine starts to walk every time he gets a mobile phone call; he walks and talks and when the call is over he wonders why he ended up where he is (inside the house or outside the house it does not matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might think this is not an answer, but I do not know is actually an answer to this question :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T19:54:41.043" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T19:54:41.043" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28411" CreationDate="2020-08-18T16:23:42.190" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to amazon.co.uk (I'm in the UK) and searched for Window Screen. There were quite a few results. I then changed the URL in the address bar, substituting '.fr' for '.co.uk' and got Amazon France with, again, quite a few window screens. I'd suggest buying as many or as few as you need (if they're available on Amazon then they'll be available elsewhere too, if you don't like Amazon).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18595" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T16:23:42.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-18T16:53:04.380" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought an aquarium siphon for water changes. I purchased the extra large size, which has a 1.5 ft (46 cm) long vacuum tube, and which comes with a squeeze valve to get the siphon started. When I lowered it into the tank, then started the siphon, I found water does empty out the other end, but the rate is so slow that the debris in the tank just floats around and barely is sucked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is maybe 200 gallons, but located low on the ground, so the siphon end is about 1.5 ft lower than the rim. I know this won't allow me to siphon out all water, but I want to at least change 20% and vacuum up the debris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I get the water to pump more quickly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-08-27T13:52:31.333" LastActivityDate="2020-08-27T14:09:05.687" Title="Why is aquarium siphon so slow?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28411" CreationDate="2020-08-18T17:15:49.207" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your best bet would be to add some (pet safe) screens, either by simply installing them if the windows are compatible, or by adding a modification to block the opening from inside if they aren't screen-ready. You could also use other options, such as &amp;quot;catios&amp;quot; that install in windows, window-install fan units, and the like; as long as the opening to outside is blocked with something that can't be pushed out of the way by an excited or curious cat, it should do the trick for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply locking the window in a partially open position won't be sufficient; cats can and will attempt to squeeze into spaces that are much too small for them, often with serious or fatal results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely solutions exist for pet owners like yourself who need to confine their animals; you'll need to wait until you have the dimensions of the window to make any purchase (and thus need to keep the windows closed until then), but you certainly aren't the first person to have such a need. A quick google search turned up a couple of items and ideas; check reviews for whatever option you think best suits your needs (and if you DIY screens, keep in mind that your cat may attempt to climb them, so they should be able to support his weight), and be sure to supervise him after installation to be certain he'll be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T17:15:49.207" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-18T18:41:07.613" Score="3" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a Swedish saying, which I don't know if it exists outside of Sweden or has an English version, which literally goes like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Att gå som katten kring het gröt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To walk like the cat around hot porridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not clear to me what this is supposed to mean even in Swedish. I &lt;em&gt;assume&lt;/em&gt; that it means that somebody (a cat) wants something (porridge) and tries to eat it, but it's difficult (hot) and thus the cat just keeps walking in circles around it instead of munching down that good oatmeal porridge...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... which I cannot imagine that any cat would ever do. My cat barely eats the expensive cat food I give him, let alone porridge. I don't even think that he would understand that it's food and that it's edible. He'd just sniff on it and look at me confused with a tilted head, then walk away from it and rub his body and tail against my leg to make me give him &amp;quot;actual food&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe if it was a hot &lt;em&gt;fish&lt;/em&gt;, then it'd make sense. My cat has tried to eat a hot fish and really wanted to, but it was too hot, so he would repeatedly walk around it and try again and again, each time jumping away from it due to it still being hot. But the saying is about porridge. Typical human food. Nothing for little lion descendants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an old saying from a time when cats actually &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; eat porridge due to lack of special cat food and nothing else to eat? So humans would give their cats porridge and they'd eat it? Was that ever a thing? Is it even possible for a cat to eat porridge and not get sick, and get nutrition and strength from it? Or is a cat made too differently from a human for that to work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18598" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T16:19:07.090" Title="Would a real cat actually ever eat porridge of any kind?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28417" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2020-08-18T19:27:53.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi. I am biotechnology student from Poland and I love animals. I have had a few aquariums; I have never had my own cat in home yet, but I have always been interacting with cats a lot: via catsitting, befriending street cats (strays or outdoors) and playing with cats of my friends during visiting. I also love artistic expression and sharing my knowledge in social settings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am allured by the overall cleaniness and high emphasis on quality control in the network, as it alligns with my own sense of aesthetics and pleases it. I am repulsed by the culture of Internet forums, which most often feature disrespectful, lazy, low effort posts whose authors don't even bother to form actual sentences and watch their offensive language. I see our site's culture as a reverse of this and I find it pleasant to contribute to maintaining it that way in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have raised 1.700 helpful flags on Pets and have carefully reviewed all of the 48 rejected ones, thus I feel I have some intuitive feeling about what do some of their descriptions mean in practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a cat spreading its scent, I attempt to spread the aura of aesthetics, cleaniness, welcoming and order to mark my presence ^.^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T19:27:53.587" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T19:27:53.587" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2020-08-18T19:27:53.587" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-18T20:05:47.647" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night I noticed my rat ate little to no food, which is odd because she usually eats a fair amount. I took her out of her cage to look at her and her left eye was closed and had red goobers along with her red stained nose. This morning when I woke up I looked at her again and her whole jaw was covered in mucus and she is still producing more, I don’t think she is choking and I can’t think of anything else it might be. We gave her pain medications and antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18599" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T20:09:34.990" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T20:09:34.990" Title="What happened to my rat?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;rat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-04-30T12:13:05.207" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28416" CreationDate="2020-08-18T20:39:01.180" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English we have the saying &amp;quot;To beat around the bush&amp;quot; which I think has a very close meaning.  More or less, to circle around the topic without addressing it directly. I believe it comes from the idea that people would use sticks to hit a bush in order to chase out any birds hiding there (for hunting). Either way, I don't think this saying has much to do with actually feeding porridge to cats.  I think it is more related to the way that a cat moves when it is uncertain, hesitant but quick and graceful, and the qualities of the porridge- something that is appetizing but can hurt you quite a bit because not only is it very hot, but sticky, so it may cause a bad burn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the more 'actual cat related' aspect of the question, most cats don't seem to like to eat porridge, but some are indeed interested in typical human foods and will try to sneak a taste of anything. I know someone who has that cat that has stolen and consumed entire loaves of bread, drank from a cup of coffee when it was left unattended, and other things that most cats wouldn't touch.  Many cats find butter very enticing, so porridge with butter might be tempting to any cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find any information that suggests that people used to intentionally feed porridge to cats on a regular basis.  In the time before processed cat food, it was common for people to put the cat outside at night to hunt, and so feed itself.  This was usually supplemented with table scraps, inexpensive meats or meat trimmings and bits/organs that people wouldn't eat, and sometimes broth, vegetables, milk or bread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are obligate carnivores, so they need meat (or potentially a complex set of supplements to replace it) to remain healthy. They have some limited ability to digest and gain nutrients from grains, so porridge would be something a cat could eat to avoid starving, but it would not be healthy or survive long-term on such a diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12600" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T20:39:01.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-18T23:29:07.177" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sister fed my kitten cereal milk and now she keeps throwing up milk and oozing out clear liquid or goo out her butt and she's drooling a lot. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18600" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-18T23:52:41.277" LastActivityDate="2020-08-18T23:52:41.277" Title="Kitten keeps throwing up and clear liquid keeps coming out of her butt" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-08-19T13:43:08.823" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28421" PostTypeId="6" CreationDate="2020-08-19T09:27:04.307" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I'm Elmy from Germany.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I participate in several StackExchanges, but I particularily love Pets SE. The small size of our community makes it feel very familialy. I usually visit once a day (excepting weekends and holidays / travel) and browse through most questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I adopted a &amp;quot;problem dog&amp;quot; that was abused and abandoned by his former owners. His behavioral problems forced me to learn a lot about dog psychology and body language and how to analyze the root cause of problematic behaviors. I strife to share this knowledge with anyone who experiences similar problems to make their life and that of their pets a little better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a moderator I aim to make new contributors feel welcome and take them by the hand, show them how StackExchange works and how their questions would earn more positive feedback. I strongly dislike how quickly other Stacks close questions of new contributors who don't know the rules of StackExchange. It's my conviction that it's more important to help people in need of answers than keep the site perfectly in adherance to the rules. The former is the essence of StackExchange, the latter can be achieved by a little editing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T09:27:04.307" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T09:27:04.307" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2020-08-19T09:27:04.307" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28429" CreationDate="2020-08-19T09:29:53.370" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 8 month rabbit (male, neutered) and I'm considering getting another one so they can play together. What gender/age should I go for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18603" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T13:08:19.710" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T22:13:04.310" Title="Getting a new rabbit to live with another one" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28406" CreationDate="2020-08-19T12:11:18.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't stop a cat from scratching but you can change its habits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possibility, aside from making scratching posts which you should anyway,  is to smear non-toxic grease (such as vaseline) on the trees. Cats hate getting their paws greasy and she'll soon learn. Once she gets in the habit of only using the scratching posts you can stop using the grease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also that kitchen foil is good. Wrap that around the base and most cats won't want to touch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the comment by @Elmy. It is important to avoid using anything that is toxic to cats. This is not always the same as what is toxic to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T12:43:44.567" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T12:43:44.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28422" CreationDate="2020-08-19T13:57:56.963" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Age doesn't matter too much. Usually male/female pairs are best, so a neutered female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/rabbits/company/bonding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here's some advice on how to bond rabbits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17680" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T13:57:56.963" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28416" CreationDate="2020-08-19T15:51:20.330" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to tackle the German version of the saying: &amp;quot;Wie die Katze um den heißen Brei schleichen&amp;quot; = sneak arount the hot porridge/mash like a cat.  Meaning is also circling around the point of interest without reaching (or: being able to reach) it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hot &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;porridge&lt;/a&gt; term here is far more generic than the contemporary breakfast type of oatmeal porridge. It includes all kinds of semi-liquid based foods. The &amp;quot;solid&amp;quot; basis can be whole grains, groats, rolled/crushed grains, semolina or even flour.&#xA;(In German, also mashed potatoes = Kartoffelbrei or mashed carrots = Möhrenbrei would be included.) For a Brei/porridge, the starchy stuff is soaked and typically boiled. The liquid can be water (or broth) based or milk based.  These porridges or mashes belong to a continuum porridge/mash - potage - stew - soup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see any cat beeing interested in a water, salt and rolled oats porridge. But those old-fashioned porridges/mashes include lots of savory varieties based on meat or bone broth (think e.g. kasza or risotto), and some of them could also be served with molten butter. Those warm = strong smells would be extremely interesting for a cat, in particular for one that has to hunt for a living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Anecdotally, my mother tells of a farm cat that tried to steal chicken meat from a pot where the chicken was boiling for a soup. I grew up with the art of cat feeding being &amp;quot;sufficient so that it will put its territory here, but not too much so it doesn't stop hunting mice&amp;quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a sneaking suspicion that the Swedish gröts shares roots with German Grütze (or English groats). Grütze means either crushed pieces of grains that are  larger than the pieces called Grieß (semolina) or Schrot (grist). Or it means the particular thick variety of Brei/porridge that used to be made by cooking these crushed grains.&#xA;Like Brei, Grütze can be sweet (e.g. rote Grütze, with fruit juice - nowadays finer starch ranging from semolina over flour to starch powder is used) or savory (compare bulgur [though Grütze is not usually parboiled]), with buckwheat it is also used for a preparation with the whole grains (Buchweizengrütze). Gerstengrütze (barley groats) is probably still quite close to the original meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="13672" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T16:19:07.090" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T16:19:07.090" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28406" CreationDate="2020-08-19T17:16:08.437" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat will scratch somewhere. That's how their claws work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible mitigation measures (in any combination):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Offer the cat few better objects for scratching. Scratching pads, posts, raw boards of different wood, etc. ... it is important to fix them well enough so the cat doesn't move them much when scratching. Cats are not interested in scratching objects that move freely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Band the tree bases with something glossy (thick polyethylene and/or duct tape may work) until the cat chooses some other object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are commercially available cat repellents and attractants in spray or liquid form. Ask local veterinarians and use repellent on the trees and attractant on the intended scratching objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Protect the tree bases permanently with something impenetrable for cat claws that has acceptable aestetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16715" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T19:47:29.823" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T19:47:29.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-19T17:43:07.610" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an orange platy and I suspect she is pregnant and switched her from the main 60 gallon to an old 20 gallon tank, but would eat until I put the the male platy with her. Is this normal? I wonder if she was stressed by herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zaMXn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zaMXn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18606" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-20T20:37:39.557" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T12:52:38.673" Title="Pregnant platy behavior" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-19T20:04:07.693" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dalmation molly is pretty dark, so I can't see a gravid spot, she is very swollen and belly looks big, is there any other way to see if she is pregnant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cULf9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cULf9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18606" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T23:44:43.340" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T23:44:43.340" Title="Dalmation molly pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ClosedDate="2020-08-21T00:18:35.237" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28422" CreationDate="2020-08-19T20:27:10.820" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important thing in building bonds between rabbits is the character of the rabbits. An extreme boss-like rabbit would not accept another boss. But also an extremely shy rabbit is not good as pair for a boss, because the boss may act too agressive without counterpart (like not allowing the shy to eat/chill).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most rabbits are not extreme. Two of them would give a good pair. Easiest pairing would be a neutered male and a female. This is in most cases stressless, because nature made rabbits liking to live as family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would give them a favor, then you choose a rabbit that is almost the same age. Then they have the same interest like be very playful when they are children, or lay in the sun when they are seniors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/wp-content/uploads/kaninchen-geschlechter-kombination.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a picture about the &amp;quot;most times average outcome&amp;quot; of pairing. (Traffic light outcome: red = not good, yellow = half and half, green = good preconditions, pink rabbit = female, blue rabbit = neutered male.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To plan the first meeting is important and will affect the outcome! How to bring them together you could read here, when you click the tag &amp;quot;bonding&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I learn it (and how it worked for my three new pairings, each time a male with a female) is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a space both rabbits have not used until now. This is because rabbits mark &amp;quot;their&amp;quot; area and would defend it against new ones. In nature between rabbit warrens there is a neutral space. If rabbits do meet there, both of them do not need to defend it. They could get in contact. The area needs to be big enough that they could avoid contact, but small enough, that they do not need to search each other. In my case this was a plane and empty space seized between a one-person bed and a two-person bed (but not in the bed - on the ground) with a 1 meter fence of stable mesh wire around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three times there were two interested rabbits that go to each other and sniff, sometimes one stuck the nose into the others fur, sometimes running a little dostance away. But in general both are curious and interested in each other. One time this was all what happened, the next step was they groomed each other. This is the best what could happen. But the other two times one (in both cases it was a female) wanted to rule the other. This looks like one do not like to have the other one near, and drives it out of its personal space. If the ruled rabbit (in my both case the male) respect the gap, then the &amp;quot;ruling&amp;quot; one do not fight/drive it away anymore. My females liked to dictate when they like to have the male near, and when not. My males do act like smart men, and accept the women's rules. Then we brought both of them in the normal rabbit surrounding and all was fine. (The first almost 3 days they had little differences about &amp;quot;How much is enough space&amp;quot; once or twice a day, but only for 2 minutes). In 2 cases both groomed each other the same day, in the third they needed 2 days before sitting together grooming. You should have a close eye on them in the first couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not separate them again after a good start. (Some people do it, because they like to &amp;quot;pair them slowly&amp;quot;) Then they need to make the ranking new, each time you let them meet again. This could be frustrating, and in the end they would see each other as disturbing neighbours. Separation is only needed, if they do fight hard (biting in ears and paws) or if one does not allow the other to eat, rest or poo/pee. Then you need experienced help, or use the &amp;quot;worst case&amp;quot; option to bring the new one back to the breeder/shelter. A good breeder/shelter knows about that possibility and does not deny to take a rabbit back, if the pairing does not work. Instead they would help you to pair them, or even let you bring your old one in, to choose the new one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-19T22:13:04.310" LastActivityDate="2020-08-19T22:13:04.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28432" CreationDate="2020-08-20T05:52:52.270" Score="1" ViewCount="3033" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is too skinny, even though he eats rice and other things I feed him. I bought dextrose powder in case he will become ill. But since he is not sick, can I put a dextrose powder in his water/food even he is not sick? My puppy is about 3 months old. Or if you have any tips how to make my puppy fat please leave me a comment or answer. Thanks guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17215" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-20T13:48:35.287" LastActivityDate="2020-08-20T13:49:26.447" Title="Dextrose powder for puppies" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28430" CreationDate="2020-08-20T10:33:38.000" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your puppy is truly too thin, I urge you to feed it with a well balanced diet (with “diet” = “the way the food is composed” &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; “diet” = “ less food to become slimmer”!). Months 3-6 are the time frame when a puppy grows the fastest and needs a nutrient-dense food that will supply all the calories, nutrients, minerals and vitamins it needs. All malnutrition (both considering amount and composition) can and likely will lead to physical damage that may impede the dog &lt;em&gt;for life&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you have been feeding whatever you had on hand (rice is not a suitable dog food, except in small amounts for adult dogs), you need to get either dog food formulated for a puppy or do a lot of research about proper food composition before mixing your own. There are lots of sources available on the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dextrose will neither prevent illnesses nor cure them. It &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; under &lt;em&gt;very specific&lt;/em&gt; circumstances be administered by a vet or based on a vet’s instructions for medical purposes e.g. when he dog has severe diarrhea or vomiting as a fast available energy source for a very limited time, but it’s not a home remedy and shouldn’t be randomly given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a very small puppy (up to three months or so) should be “plump”, the puppy will and should slim down noticeably when the 3-6 months growth spurt kicks in, and for the first year or so especially larger breeds should be kept on the slimmer side, to protect them from growing too quickly and excess weight, which can both damage the still fragile skeletal system. So you have to decide for yourself whether your puppy is truly underweight or just losing some of the puppy plumpness on the way to the “lanky youth” stage. Do not just aim to “make a puppy fat”, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-08-20T10:40:54.847" LastActivityDate="2020-08-20T10:40:54.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28430" CreationDate="2020-08-20T11:12:21.093" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Puppies need more energy and different nutrients than adult dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They play and are very active, which burns many calories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their bones must grow, which requires calcium and other minerals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their muscles must grow, which requires protein (meat)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their brains must grow and develop, which requires fat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rice is a bad dog food, because it contains only carbohydrates and water (if cooked). All the other important nutrients like protein, fat and minerals are missing. That can lead to malnourishment. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_rice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A diet based on unenriched white rice leaves many people vulnerable to the neurological disease &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamine_deficiency&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;beriberi&lt;/a&gt;, due to a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;1&lt;/sub&gt;). [...] Adopted over brown rice in the second half of the 19th century because it was favored by traders, white rice has led to a beriberi epidemic in Asia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding dextrose to the rice won't add any nutritional value, it's just more carbohydrates on top of carbohydrates. In the worst case you cause diabetes in your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you need to do is feed your puppy proper dog food, preferably one especially formulated for puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-20T13:49:26.447" LastActivityDate="2020-08-20T13:49:26.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28434" CreationDate="2020-08-20T17:13:01.490" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is on two different medications where I have to give him &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;8&lt;/sub&gt; of a tablet. My vet explained that the medication isn't available in smaller tablets. The tablets are too small and hard to break by hand. I've been grinding away at the tablet with a serrated knife until I estimate that I've removed the right amount, but this is very error prone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Any suggestions on a better way?&lt;/strong&gt; I could buy a pill splitter, cut the tablets in half, then cut the two pieces in half, and then cut the four pieces in half. Or I could get a pill crusher, and divide up the powder into 8 portions. If you've done something similar, what approach did you find most practical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; The medication I'm concerned with is Amlodipine, and it's for a cat. (There was another medication I've forgotten the name of, but I don't need to use it very often. The second medication is an appetite stimulant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastEditorUserId="982" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T10:16:02.703" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T10:16:02.703" Title="Splitting tablets into many small pieces" Tags="&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28433" CreationDate="2020-08-21T05:27:42.457" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no way I know of to reliably split tablets into numerous small equal pieces. It is even harder to get equal pieces if the tablets are not perfectly round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you let us know the specific medications we may be able to provide more specifics on those particular medications. As a vet who sees a lot of cats, it is rare for me to prescribe a tablet that needs to be split into eighths, even for a very small cat. If the dose is so small, there are usually better solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few potential solutions to the problem (though perhaps not to the question itself):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check with your vet if the medication comes in any other form other than tablets. A number of the common medications we use for pets already have commercially available pet forms, often liquids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check with your vet if there are other similar drugs that could be used as an alternative. Obviously, this would not be a practical solution for every medication needed, but for instance if your cat needs an appetite stimulant, or a blood pressure medication, or a pain medication, there may be alternative medications that work as well but are in a different form or more practical tablet size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Have the medication compounded professionally. There are many reputable compounding pharmacies that can make just about any medication you need into either a liquid or compound a small dose into a tablet. They can flavour the medication to make it more palatable. Yes, there is some cost to this, but it may be worth it for the ease of administering the medication to your cat and you not having to worry about splitting the tablets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you must persist with splitting pills into eighths, a pill cutter is the way to go. I do it exactly as you describe - cut into halves, then each of those into halves, and then again each of those into halves. There will be wastage, and discard any fragments that are much too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T05:27:42.457" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-21T15:34:09.663" Score="0" ViewCount="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having 6 female Betta fish together and want to feed them equally, as overfeeding or underfeeding can kill them.&#xA;So how should I feed them together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18610" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T15:41:16.987" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T15:41:16.987" Title="How to feed multiple Betta together?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2778" CreationDate="2020-08-21T18:05:42.723" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brush with the coat, brushing against it can be uncomfortable for the dog. Find a good brush. Something like this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rayallen.com/evolution-self-cleaning-slicker-brush/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.rayallen.com/evolution-self-cleaning-slicker-brush/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18611" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-08-23T12:31:13.470" LastActivityDate="2020-08-23T12:31:13.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-21T19:31:04.060" Score="3" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fed my 5 year old adult carpet python 2 weeks ago. He still has a large bump right in the middle of his midsection. He is last poop was around the same time he was fed. I plan to go to the vet in about a week. Should I be concerned about going sooner? I've given him mineral oil in the past to help him pass food quickly, but since the food seems to be blocked early in his system I don't want to just back him up more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T19:47:58.483" LastActivityDate="2020-08-21T19:47:58.483" Title="When to see vet? Snake digestion process stuck" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-21T20:49:34.427" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed this a few days ago, it doesn't look like anything normal, I was wondering if it might be scale rot due to too much moisture, but now it's not so gray anymore, I completely dried and cleaned his habitat just to make sure that was all good, then I gave him a good bath and now his color is back a little bit. But just in case can anybody tell me if something might be wrong with him or if it's just a really slow shed that looks weird?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Pni7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3Pni7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WqGro.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WqGro.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18614" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-21T20:52:45.250" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T19:50:24.730" Title="What is this weird, dull looking, gray patching on my beardie's head and neck?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-21T21:38:37.503" Score="3" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone and thanks for reading this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last days, I noticed that my kitten, he is three months old, has a black spot right above the nose (you can see in the photo) and I wonder what it is, have you ever seen something similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first photo is from one week ago, the last is from today, the little spot has grown since the last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pzi1j.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pzi1j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zzEBF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zzEBF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;https://i.imgur.com/2dWaGf8.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BA5oN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BA5oN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jOjWx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/jOjWx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18615" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T19:44:55.583" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T22:23:40.077" Title="Dark and scabby spot on my kitten's nose" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28440" CreationDate="2020-08-22T11:15:43.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is only a little bruise in the skin, it is most likely a result of your cat running into something during play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not uncommon for this type of bruises to get darker during the first few days in the same way as bruises in people can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not look bad for now, but if it does not get better in a week you should take him to your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nose is an exposed part of your cat, so it gets easily bruised when cats play or fight their own reflection in windows or mirrors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any bleeding or discarge you need to take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-22T11:51:40.657" LastActivityDate="2020-08-22T11:51:40.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-22T21:30:47.473" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had a few hamsters over the years, but the hamster that I have now seems to not chew on its chew toys. I know that hamsters need to chew on things to prevent their teeth from growing too long which is why I am worried about my hamster not chewing. Is there anything I can do to help encourage a hamster to chew more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-08-22T21:30:47.473" Title="How to encourage a hamster to chew more?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28443" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-23T09:56:45.560" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;[![I am just wondering.is this an American pit bull puppy or not?][1]][1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18621" LastActivityDate="2020-08-23T09:56:45.560" Title="What Dog breed is my puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-08-24T05:16:03.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28444" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-24T04:38:11.773" Score="1" ViewCount="840" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just adopted this cutie. She is five or six weeks old. I am pretty sure she will not be short haired from the ear tufts, but I'm curious how long you think her hair will be? I have had medium haired cats but never a long haired cat and don't know how to tell the difference when they're kittens. Mainly I want to know how much brushing I should expect to be doing, lol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bnwgc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/bnwgc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aRETc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aRETc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aiXS5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aiXS5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TCnBK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TCnBK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18623" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T11:49:08.137" Title="Will my kitten have medium or long hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-08-25T06:37:41.030" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28445" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-24T05:03:08.807" Score="13" ViewCount="7255" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 4 cats and have recently moved from an apartment with no cat flap to a house with one. 3 of the cats started using it within a week, but 1 is very stubborn and just won't use it and it's now been several months. She's about 10. We've tried putting treats on the other side, encouraging her, taping the flap open, even putting the litter boxes outside to encourage her to go through, but she always keeps waiting and meowing until we open the door for her, and she has a tendency to wake us up with her meowing outside the bedroom window early in the morning when she wants to come in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to make her use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2829" LastEditorUserId="2829" LastEditDate="2020-08-24T05:13:44.150" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T22:37:54.967" Title="Cat won't use cat flap" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-24T05:52:35.957" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;, we moved into our house in December and became friends with a stray in the same month! Previous owners of the house have never seen the cat/were dog owners, so cats coming into the yard was rare so we assume there's little to no scent on the yard. In January, we learned that he was originally an inside cat for our neighbors grandparents. Later the grandparents couldn't care for the cat, so they gave it to their daughter, the mom, who doesn't like cats, so she just let the cat do as it pleases and doesn't really care for the cat or let him inside anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present&lt;/strong&gt;, since then we've slowly been trying to integrate this stray, Socks, into our pack. He's such a sweet boy and we feed him about every other day in our backyard. Eventually, he started self-inviting himself into our house for feeding time. Which is fine, he has manners for a cat. He has no fleas or ticks or any open wounds since the time we've known him. His only problem is that he's dusty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our cats&lt;/strong&gt;, our oldest cat, about 13, Estella, really has no ill will against Socks besides mean glares. She eats, she watches, she leaves to her room. Our youngest cat, about 5, Ezekiel, for some reason has a vendetta against him. It was a shocker to seem him chase and swat Socks around. Ezekiel is a really friendly and sociable cat to people and other cats. He travels with us and is fine with my families' other cats. When he's visiting, he never starts fights/negative chases, he's very humble and submissive to the cats who do. Same applies for our pervious neighbor's cats when Ezekiel was allowed outside more, no fights. Both are fixed and neutered and up to date with shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What we've tried&lt;/strong&gt;, swapping scents usually done by petting or blankets. Eating together at a distance, 9-10 feet away. Playing simultaneously, although Ezekiel LOVES his toy, he can never keep his interest when Socks is inside. Socks also shows no interest in playing. Playing beforehand, Ezekiel can play forever but still never tired enough afterwards to not focus on Socks. Affection and treats simultaneously, maybe 1-2 feet apart. Smelling scents through door/mesh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other&lt;/strong&gt;, we do &lt;em&gt;PLAN&lt;/em&gt; on asking Socks's owners for permissions to house the cat if the cats can become compatible. Socks does start swats occasionally, consider it 20% him and 80% Ezekiel. We do let Socks into the house when it's hot to hang out in AC under our supervision. (100 °F+ / 40 °C+ is a nightmare.) Socks also occasionally wanders and roams the house when the cats are in their rooms asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can we do? Should we just give up? It's been months since we've started trying to get them to be in harmony. Although they rarely have scuffs, there are lots of growls and stalking. Thank you for reading! ^^&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18624" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-24T11:42:36.823" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T11:42:36.823" Title="Need help trying to integrate over friendly stray into our cat duo" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-09-02T12:39:42.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-24T06:06:34.107" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is scared to use the catflap because it is a dangerous situation where it can get attacked by other animals, cats needs to see but not to be seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting up some flowerpots and large plants outside your door will often make your cat feel safer, the thing here is to make a shielded area outside your door where your cat can be safe from imagined or real dangers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seniorcatwellness.com/why-wont-my-cat-use-the-cat-flap/#Fear_of_the_Unknown&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article on seniorcatwellness.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-24T11:53:36.983" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T11:53:36.983" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28444" CreationDate="2020-08-24T06:39:12.317" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat will be medium length hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should get yourself a good brush and start to brush your cat on a weekly basis. This is mostly so your cat gets used to be brushed, as you will need to brush out knots in your cats fur from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular brushing is a good way to avoid hairballs before they become a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the type of brush I use on my cat. She is shorthaired. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tTtCj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/tTtCj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats will at some point in their life need to be brushed, long haired cats need to be brushed weekly and old cats need to be brushed as a result of reduced mobility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-24T11:49:08.137" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T11:49:08.137" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-24T13:17:50.877" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a cat that wasn't too bright and didn't get the idea of the catflap. We eventually grabbed him and pushed him back and forth through the catflap a few times, then it seemed to get through to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13742" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T13:17:50.877" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-24T14:47:32.503" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience of cats sharing a house is that they are extremely territorial, even though some areas will most likely be shared territory by some of the cats, and the (invisible) territory boundaries defy human understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite likely that your cat flap is simply &amp;quot;off limits&amp;quot; for one of the cats, and there is probably little you can do about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The old joke about &amp;quot;I got a second cat and now I need to install a second cat flap&amp;quot; has a grain of truth in it, like most good jokes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10259" LastActivityDate="2020-08-24T14:47:32.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28439" CreationDate="2020-08-24T14:53:38.880" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nevermind, it was just a very slow shed that was a little dark in color. I guess he's finally gotten big enough to start having uneven sheds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18614" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T19:50:24.730" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T19:50:24.730" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2020-08-24T14:53:38.880" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-25T02:33:59.137" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat article here &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seniorcatwellness.com/why-does-cat-stare-at-me-without-blinking/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.seniorcatwellness.com/why-does-cat-stare-at-me-without-blinking/&lt;/a&gt; states that if a cat acts dominant over their owner, it will do things such as request the owner to open the door every time instead of using the cat flap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18634" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T02:33:59.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-25T13:16:36.383" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to train my 2 years old cats, I'll share my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I held the flap open and let my cat go through with a treat on the other side, doing this back and forth while still holding the flap open. Then I progressively closed the flap and did the same trick until they got used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It tooks 2-3 days until they were used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18637" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T13:16:36.383" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-25T15:26:08.707" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;A way that can help you is to train the cat to use the cat flap somewhere else than where it is installed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I trained my own cat, I first didn't install the cat flap. Instead, I enclosed the cat in a carrier (a situation she doesn't like much) and fitted the cat flap into the carrier opening instead of the front grille. I then placed a bowl of food in front of the flap, outside the carrier. Then I pushed through the flap a few times with my finger to have her recognize that the flap is movable. It took her about two evenings of this training to recognize the mechanism and realize that she can go through it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I installed the flap in its permanent hole, and showed the cat that she can go through. When the cat would wait for me to let her out, I would instead bring her to the flap (for me, it is in a french window beside the door itself) and push the flap open for her. I don't remember if I also physically pushed her once or twice, not completely through the whole flap, but just enough that her nose lifts it and she gets haptic feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, not all cats are equal, mine was under a year when she learned. But it might be a good way to train yours, if the training at the installed flap doesn't work. Especially putting her in a situation where 1) she is craving to leave and 2) she is not accustomed to solving in a different way (with you opening for her) might help her try out new things like pushing the flap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing which makes cats mistrust the flap is encountering it locked. If yours is lockable, make sure to always have it unlocked until she gets accustomed to it. Even then, each single encounter of a locked clap can result in the cat asking you for opening the door for a couple of days afterwards (mine does this - I think she also dislikes the flap closing on her tail in principle, as well as enjoys my attention).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat learns how to use the clap on her own (and you are sure about that - I think mine at first thought that I have to touch it before she can pass, because of the demonstrations) but still prefers you to open the door, the only solution is to outstubborn her. Mine knows very well when I am pointedly ignoring her, and if she asks me for door service and I don't give it, she at some point gives in and goes through the flap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T15:26:08.707" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28459" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-25T17:28:04.117" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I bought a baby leopard gecko almost two weeks ago, on 14th August, and I haven't seen him eat. He is a hatchling.  I offer him mealworms and Phoenix worms, but he has not ate since I got him. He is set up in a 10 gal (38 liters) tank with three hideouts: warm, cool and humid. The warm side is set at 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). The day after I got him he shed and Sunday he shed again. He is pooping, so I don’t think it is impaction. He stays in his humid hideout most of the time, which is half on the warm side. I am really worried about him, what can I do to help him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18639" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-25T19:01:31.790" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T19:01:31.790" Title="Baby leopard gecko hasn’t eaten" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-08-26T07:39:34.623" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-25T20:38:58.917" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with many of the ideas that others have given. I was going to suggest what @rumtscho says about training by getting her to use the flap to get out of somewhere enclosed. It's a good motivation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, if the weather is good and the house is secure at least for a day or two, I would remove the flap altogether and just leave the hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat was observing whilst it was installed and there was a lot of noise, she may associate this with the new &amp;quot;thing&amp;quot; that has appeared on the door. If you remove the strange new object and just leave a hole, then, at the very least, you will find out if the problem is the actual flap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat won't even use the hole then the flap is not the problem but it will still be easier to train her without the risk of the flap falling on her. If the cat is happy with using the hole then the problem is the flap and you have to get her familiar with it, perhaps by doing what rumtscho says but with the door taped open to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T20:38:58.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-25T22:19:11.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try using a long piece of string threaded through the taped open cat flap with one person at either end. The person on the inside gets the cat interested in chasing the string by swishing it back and forth. Once the cat starts to chase the string, the person on the outside pulls the string through the cat flap. Hopefully, the cat will then follow the string. By turning it into a game the cat will be distracted and not think about how scary the cat flap is. I frequently use this technique to persuade my cats to do things they aren't keen on, for example getting them down from the top of cupboards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18641" LastActivityDate="2020-08-25T22:19:11.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-26T13:51:31.073" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats used to get a sore on her nose where she pushed the catflap open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another cat had difficulty because that flap was a long way off the ground on the outside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be that your cat similarly has some good reason for not liking your catflap, it may be worth exploring ways to make the flap easier to use or more comfortable - remove any rough edges, provide a step? Maybe try a different make of catflap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, training may work if you use a lot of calm patience, positive encouragement, repetition and consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't force the cat, if you do they'll just associate the catflap with unpleasant experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5873" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T13:51:31.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-26T16:18:24.730" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you already have a great way to train her. When she wants to come in, hold the catflap open and try to encourage her through, but don't open the door for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can be very persistent, and will often meow for hours when they want something. So you need to be equally persistent. It took us about three weeks of encouragement, using treats, to get ours through the catflap, training for about half an hour a day. If you can encourage her through with treats, when she's already asking to come in, that's a double incentive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The keyword here is patience. You have to be more patient than your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18648" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T16:18:24.730" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28440" CreationDate="2020-08-26T22:22:18.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like he may have scratched it with his nail. My dog had dark scabs all over his body similar to this color, but since the ones on your cat is not raised, I doubt it is the same condition. My dog's were bug bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T22:23:40.077" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T22:23:40.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28445" CreationDate="2020-08-26T22:25:58.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are currently parents to 6 cats and 2 dogs, and we've been blessed with the care of 5 more cats that have passed. This doesn't count the many cats and dogs I had growing up. I've taught cats many tricks, and taught at least 6 cats to walk on a leash. Here's my advice (written quickly, so I hope it's understandable):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prop the flap open (or remove it) so the cat can walk through without having to push the flap. Do this until the cat gets &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; used to going through the opening. Do 2 or more training sessions a day, for a few days. Entice them with treats or toys. Pulling a string toy through the opening and waiting for the cat to pounce might be a good option.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Introduce the flap: Hold the flap so it slightly brushes the cat as it goes through. As the cat uses the opening more, allow more pressure on the cat. Eventually you should only need to poke the edge of the flap so the cat can see daylight, and the cat will push the flap open. Then, the cat will start doing everything on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some flaps can be difficult for small cats to open. If there are magnets holding it closed, remove some of them. On our door, there are 3 magnets and I removed one at the side. Now that the corner of the flap moves easily, and our small cat can get the rest of the flap open if it starts at the easy corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our oldest cat has arthritis in a front leg and will not step over tall things, and will not use the door flap any more. She can still jump up on the bed, etc., but not step over the flap entrance except as a last resort. We leave a door propped open for her as much as we can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Door flaps rub on their bodies and pinch their tails as they go through. Some cats are more sensitive to this pressure. Some cats play with the flap by batting at it, and get their paw pinched. This is why the cat needs to be super OK with going through the opening before dealing with the added stress of the flap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat has competing thoughts in its head. It wants out, but it's also nervous about this new door thing. You need to reduce the anxiety about the door so that the desire to go out overrides the anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do NOT trap the cat in a small place and force it to use the flap. That will only cause the cat to associate the flap with fear, anxiety, and pain. The cat will never use the flap willingly after that. Forcing a cat to go through the opening with the flap propped up or removed might be ok in general, but probably not a good idea for this sensitive cat. The most I'd do is (with the flap removed) let the cat out, then wait for it to want back in and not let it in, so it has to come through the opening. This would work best at feeding time, and using its favorite food or treats as a lure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="786" LastEditDate="2020-08-26T22:37:54.967" LastActivityDate="2020-08-26T22:37:54.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-27T01:08:39.177" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some snake found its way into my pond. I heard that local snakes will eat the fish. The pond is 1/2 underground and 1/2 above ground with a 2 ft high brick wall all the way around. Is there some strategy I can use to keep snakes out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastActivityDate="2020-08-27T14:21:35.107" Title="How to prevent snakes from eating goldfish in pond?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28414" CreationDate="2020-08-27T14:07:00.513" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the elevation difference and the diameter of the hose . You need to increase one  or get an electric pump that will handle trash. I have put the hose out the window to get more height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-08-27T14:07:00.513" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28414" CreationDate="2020-08-27T14:09:05.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, because of the positioning of the tank, it's likely you will not able to effectively use a standard siphon; a basic squeeze-bulb (or shake-to-start) aquarium siphon relies on gravity to work, meaning that the end of the tube (and the bucket into which you're emptying the tank) must be lower than the water level of the tank. With a tank that's low to the ground, you'll need to use either a very small water receptacle, or a different method entirely of cleaning the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28247/how-to-siphon-a-pond&quot;&gt;How to siphon a pond?&lt;/a&gt; has some recommendations for siphoning when the water level is below ground level using powered pumps to extract the water when gravity is not an option; one of these options may work in the case of a large aquarium as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there are now some options for &amp;quot;aquarium water changers&amp;quot; that use a Venturi tube to create suction instead of a gravity siphon; these devices resemble a traditional gravity siphon vacuum, but connect to a household faucet to create the suction. Because these systems use suction, not gravity, the position of your tank relative to the drain location (your sink) is less important, as the water will be pulled through thanks to the suction regardless of positioning. With a price point lower than that of a mechanical pump, these are likely your best option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-08-27T14:09:05.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28466" CreationDate="2020-08-27T14:13:14.000" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The snakes stop eating fish when there are no more fish. You can try killing the snakes, but they are fast. I did kill one by putting a fish trap under the water; the snake went in, could not find the opening and drowned. If the snake is slow and mostly black, it is probably a cottonmouth, which does not eat many fish, but you shouldn't mess with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-08-27T14:21:35.107" LastActivityDate="2020-08-27T14:21:35.107" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-27T20:01:31.857" Score="2" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an older cat who almost never leaves the house. Our house is fenced but open, if you go to the kitchen during rain you'll get wet. So occasionally other cats turn up in our living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually they growl at each other and then the other cat leaves. This repeats for a few nights and then they don't come any more. The other day there was screaming and I found pee on the kitchen floor, although I didn't witness how it got there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I wonder, when I see them growling at each other, should I rather clap my hands and chase the other cat away or let them negotiate on their own? Is there a risk that our cat might lose her territory and feel forced to move out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-27T20:04:33.407" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T18:06:44.387" Title="Should I help my cat defend her territory?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-27T22:48:01.837" Score="12" ViewCount="11706" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dad accidentally sat on my 2.5 kg, 2 year old Persian cat. He didn’t see or hear her because he was on the phone, and she was sleeping on an office chair. Once he sat on her, he realized that something was under him. He stood up, and she ran away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He didn’t hear her scream, so we don’t know if she got hurt or not, but she was a little pissed at him. Then she got normal even though she was very normal afterwards. Now it’s been almost 8 hours since he sat on her, and she still behaves fine. She ate, then pooped normally and played. She ran around the house and let me pet her and give her treats. She’s walking in a normal way with no sign of pain. She also jumped many times on and off the high bar chair that she loves to sleep on, so I assume no bones are broken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m still worried since my dad told me he sat on her. Is she okay, or should I be concerned? I also checked her breathing pattern and her tongue color. Everything is normal, and there are no signs of internal bleeding. I tried to pick her up and see if she’s in pain to see if she will at least meow, but she didn’t. She seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m sorry if I wrote a lot, but I always worry too much about my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18658" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-27T23:36:39.937" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T12:39:28.283" Title="Dad accidentally sat on my cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28471" CreationDate="2020-08-27T23:14:17.283" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she’s behaving completely normally (other than probably avoiding your dad) rather than hiding, walking funny or being lethargic, she’s probably fine. I’d keep an eye on her for the next couple days and take her to a vet if you see &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; strange behavior, but if she’s running and playing as usual, it doesn’t sound like she was hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-08-27T23:14:17.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28276" CreationDate="2020-08-28T05:32:04.163" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;especially children on bikes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The child never did anything to upset him and they got along very well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He gets along with other dogs in general&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two statements makes me think that the problem are not children but... bikes. You should know already that dogs chase bicycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not because dogs hate bicycles, but because they are &amp;quot;alerted&amp;quot; by the ultrasounds created by the said bicycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultrasounds are sounds which have a very high frequency - a frequency so high that you cannot hear anything, but the dog can hear very loud. As a consequence, the dogs will react in various ways: with fear, alertness, pain, aggression... - it depends on a number of factors, like sound frequency, sound intensity, the environment, dog's predisposition...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that other things / mechanisms create ultrasounds, which could trigger your dog, cars included, as well as any number of toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we are getting him a sister in a couple weeks since he is pretty high energy and loves running around with other dogs with every new dog he meets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some (all?) dogs are very sociable, so getting him a partner can be a very good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T12:29:43.503" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T12:29:43.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28475" CreationDate="2020-08-28T05:59:35.803" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ruby-colored Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who is nearly 8 and a half years old (born March 2012). I read online that a large fraction of Cavalier’s suffer from heart murmur, which typically had early onset and ultimately leads to congestive heart failure. The resources I found typically stated that the onset of such early symptoms begins around 5-6 years old, and progresses over the next 3-5 years. I am wondering if the symptoms my dog is experiencing may be the early onset of the common Cavalier heart problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog had first been experiencing some things one year ago; we took him to the veterinarian and they believed that he was having issues related to swollen glands, which were giving him the following symptoms (which occurred in this order):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Following whoever was nearest in the house around, acting like he was fearful and needed protection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is typically a very dominating type of dog, and growls especially when others faces are placed near him. Don’t misinterpret this; he is affectionate, just doesn’t like being kissed on the head, for example. During these symptoms, however, he doesn’t seem to care, and doesn’t really grrrr at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Periods of slow movement and no desire the be physically active. Also unable to jump off or onto the couch (which is above him, but this was never a problem). Not moving off the couch often (looks up at the couch because he just wants to sit and relax his body, but doesn’t want to try to jump up as normal, even when prompted to).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not going to the bathroom, but eating as normal without any problems (contradictory to the hungerless symptom of Cavalier heart issues)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being resistant to being picked up, like something hurts. Occasionally yelping when moved, but with no visible injuries, rather, it appears he is yelping out of fear of pain or something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3, 4, and 5 come together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a few days, and a vet visit, he was fine for about a year. Then, a few weeks ago, the same occurred. We made an appointment with the vet, but this time, we were a bit late to notice and act on the symptoms. Surprisingly, however, the issues appeared to resolve automatically even before the appointment (in about 3 days). This was odd as it made me think they were entirely unrelated to what the vets had hypothesized last year. 3 days later, we wake up, and the dog immediately goes to the bathroom, and wags his tail and runs around constantly, behaving the total opposite. It seems like the dog knew something was wrong and now knows he feels better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I’m still worried, for these brief issues are really impacting the behavior of my dog for the brief period they occur and they seem quite abnormal. I’m also worried these may be signs of heart issues do to the predominant symptom of inactivity my dog is experiencing during this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18660" LastEditorUserId="18660" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T06:13:09.070" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T07:08:53.903" Title="Do occasional periods of immobility signal potential heart issues for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28474" CreationDate="2020-08-28T07:08:53.903" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind that I am not a vet. All information given in this answer is based on personal experience, but not on veterinarian education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, your vet can hear a heart murmur with a stethoscope. A heart murmur also doesn't appear and disappear over time, so your vet should be able to hear it even if your dog doesn't show any symptoms. It can be harder to hear if the dog is very excited and panting a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptoms 1, 3, 4 and 5 indicate that your dog is in distress, most probably pain. Difficulties defecating can be caused by intestinal problems or pain along the spine (can be anywhere from neck to hips). That he avoids jumping also strongly points towards back or joint pain, but can be intestinal pain just as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Symptom 2 doesn't fit anything in particular in my experience, but also seems one of the least severe symptoms. Maybe it's just an expression of his character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep the vet appointment. Ask them to listen for a heart murmur to rule out heart problems. Tell them the list of symptoms you noticed, maybe even write the list down so you won't forget anything, and ask them to diagnose again. The chronological distance and order of the symptoms can also be important for finding the right diagnosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T07:08:53.903" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28471" CreationDate="2020-08-28T08:14:27.413" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are surprisingly sturdy creatures. By your description, she doesn't appear to act anyway out of normal. She moves normally, eats normally, acts normally. You can keep eye on her for few days for any changes in normal behavior and take her to vet if she suddenly changes, but by all accounts it seems she is not hurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, maybe her pride and she might avoid your dad out of principle for a while, but unless she shows signs of being hurt (hiding, being lethargic, meowing when touched, etc.) she should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume your dad didn't put his full weight on her, as by the description it sounds he stood up instantly when he felt her. So she probably has nothing worse than slight distrust towards your dad, easily fixed with some snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastEditorUserId="8382" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T11:32:08.653" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T11:32:08.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28470" CreationDate="2020-08-28T11:40:40.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not actively help the cat. Clapping or chasing can lead to aggression as both parties are surprised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it sounds, there is easy access to your living room. Your cat probably considers this to be her home territory (as opposed to hunting range or wander territory) and will aggressively defend it. Perhaps better option in this case is restricting other cats access to the living room, although your description of the housing arrangement is slightly confusing to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If restricting the access is not possible, alternative is to slowly enter the view between the cats, so that your cat doesn't lose the sight on the opposing cat, and shoo the intruder away. Actively chasing them won't really help. Your cat might pee on things to mark them against future intruders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As said, best option would be to make access the house harder for the other cats, rather than attempt to drive the others away. By the sound of things there are new cats around that are establishing their own territories and your older cat is holding onto their own. Cats are very unlikely to abandon what they consider &amp;quot;home&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastEditorUserId="3226" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T18:06:44.387" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T18:06:44.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28482" CreationDate="2020-08-28T12:08:34.073" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat and he’s clicker-trained to a certain degree, at least enough to understand that the clicker means he’s doing something right and to expect a treat. The training sessions for the cat are rare-ish, mostly to reinforce the existing commands and to keep him entertained when the weather is bad and he stays inside. He also knows and reacts to a “spoken” click command (similar to a tongue-click).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the nearer future, we are expecting the arrival of a dog puppy which shall be clicker-trained as well - and especially in the early phase there will be lots of clicks as puppy has a lot to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do we have to get a different clicker with a different sound, or can the same be used for training both? Will using the same lead to confusion in the animal that’s not “actively trained” at that moment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T20:50:26.257" Title="Can one clicker be used for two animals?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;clicker-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-28T12:54:11.760" Score="2" ViewCount="2985" Body="&lt;p&gt;I discussed with somebody about the fact that I would like to buy a cat. The answer was that it can be dangerous, but in a different way than I expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their argument was that inhaling or ingesting the cat's hairs can cause the (human) body to react, causing local bleeding, complications, possibly encouraging cancer growth. Also, their statement was that the human body does not have the ability to remove those hairs - similar to a cat vomiting hair balls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it makes sense in a way, it is still contrary to the overwhelming experience: people own cats and do not get sick - at least, not in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have reliable information about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T12:56:26.380" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T17:52:12.253" Title="Inhaling or ingesting cat's hairs" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28479" CreationDate="2020-08-28T13:24:35.193" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds like made up panic. Now, I will freely admit this anecdotal, but having grown around cats, with several friends who also grew up with cats, this &amp;quot;ingesting cats hair is dangerous&amp;quot; doesn't really hold water. It is about as likely as ingesting your own hair, and about as dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, matter is different if you have allergies, in which case it doesn't really matter. Although I would share anecdote of my brother, who does have pet allergies, but they work rather interestingly. Without a cat or other pet, his body becomes sensitive and will react to various animals, but if he has pets or regularly interacts with animals, his body &amp;quot;gets used to it&amp;quot; (highly scientific term used by doctor) and stops overreacting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to have enough hair (human &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; cat. Human body treats two as the same, hence my &amp;quot;as dangerous&amp;quot; comment earlier) to cause trouble you need to be actively eating it. I do not mean &amp;quot;swallows one strand every week&amp;quot;, I mean actively picking it up and eating clumps of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, it is not dangerous unless you are actively trying to eat as much at hair as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastEditorUserId="16716" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T15:59:10.980" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T15:59:10.980" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9972" CreationDate="2020-08-28T13:37:45.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may be doing this because he is bored. Try to stimulate his boredom by getting him an interactive treat toy, or you can even make toys out of tinfoil. When he keeps trying to pull off her whiskers, distract his attention by giving him something to play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18524" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T13:37:45.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28478" CreationDate="2020-08-28T16:06:19.803" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should definitely get a different clicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clicker training works by connecting the sound of a clicker to a positive outcome. If the cat hears the clicker, but doesn't get a treat, you basically desensitize him, meaning the actual clicker training won't work as well in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, you don't even need a clicker, you just need a very consistent sound. Most dog owners just say &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot;, which is enough for training. But since everyone uses those words, dogs can get confused in dog parks and similar places. To be absolutely sure, your sound should be unique. Saying other words (even in a different language) or creating a different sound is ok. You can just as well use other objects that make sounds, like some small children's toys or whatever you find at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-28T20:50:26.257" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T20:50:26.257" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28479" CreationDate="2020-08-28T17:52:12.253" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your friend probably either was the victim of a scam or heard of an anecdotal story and misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regular cell damage due to bruising, local bleeding and other processes like inflammation can &lt;em&gt;sometimes&lt;/em&gt; lead to cancer if the irritation is chronic. There are also a few viruses (like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus_infection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HPV&lt;/a&gt;) that can lead to changes in cell structure and eventually cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, how would cat hair cause such a chronic irritation? My honest oppinion is that it can't. The usual hairs in a cat's coat are about as thick as human hair and our bodies are well equiped to deal with those if not ingested in vast amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whiskers are much thicker, though, and the scaly outer structure gives them interesting physical properties. If you let a hair glide through two of your fingers, you'll notice that it glides very smoothly from root to tip, but with much more resistance from tip to root (the same applies to human hair, but to a lesser extent). This means that &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; you ingest a piece of whisker, &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; it survives all the way into the intestine and &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; it happens to get caught root first in your intestine (or you manage to poke it into your skin &lt;em&gt;somehow&lt;/em&gt;), it can only move in one direction. It migrates very slowly through the tissue, causing constant irritation and microscoping tissue damage, and the body will eventually encapsulate it in a dense ball of cells (commonly known as &amp;quot;tumor&amp;quot;) as a protective measure. This process is known from awns or &amp;quot;mean seeds&amp;quot; (the tough hairs at the tips of grass seeds) as documented &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/mean-seeds-a-threat-to-your.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I have no idea if this can actually happen with hairs. The human body is able to digest hairs in the stomach and might be able to desintegrate cat hairs outside of the digestive system. But I couldn't find any evidence that any human ever developed cancer due to cat hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-08-28T17:52:12.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28471" CreationDate="2020-08-29T12:39:28.283" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you've ever watched a cat squeeze through an impossibly small hole (of course you have), you can understand that cats have extremely deformable bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUZOom.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUZOom.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat in ridiculous position&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means their organs can move out of the way to some degree, and reduce the chance of damage. Really, I'd be surprised if a healthy cat that age would get much of an injury even by someone's full weight on a padded office chair. (A hard surface is another matter. Again if the person were overweight or threw themselves onto the chair it's another matter.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also like to point out that like humans, cats can get bruises and pull muscles which isn't cause for alarm. But many cats suffer in silence so may not meow when something is wrong. If you give your cat a full-body massage from time to time you will become better at telling what is normal and what isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13273" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T12:39:28.283" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28491" CreationDate="2020-08-29T14:44:41.020" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Acquaintance of mine gave me a young ringneck (about 3 years old) saying that&#xA;ever since her partner clipped its wing feathers, it won't grow back.&#xA;My question is, how is this possible?&#xA;She said the wings were clipped 7 months ago and didn't grow back ever since.&#xA;Is it possible that her partner somehow injured the bird in such&#xA;a way that the feathers won't grow anymore? Is there any kind of nutrition I should try? I'd love to see the bird fly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the bird's appearance I suspect the bird is malnutritioned hence&#xA;doesn't have enough nutrients to grow nice long feathers. I started the bird on plenty of vitamins. Leafy vegs, bananas, carrots, apples and seeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope to see dramatic improvement with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18673" LastEditorUserId="18673" LastEditDate="2020-08-29T17:45:12.803" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T23:33:29.133" Title="Ringneck's wing feathers aren't growing back after clipping" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-29T19:02:10.707" Score="2" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ~1000 gallon pond in my yard. It contains mosquitofish and goldfish. The pond currently has 2 of these submersible filters similar to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zen13m.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zen13m.png&quot; alt=&quot;filter&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, to clean the filter, I need to wade into the pond, take the entire unit out of the water, and then clean it out. I would prefer a filter that can be cleaned/serviced without having to wade into the pond. So, I am looking at canister style filters like &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00J767SJE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yy6gsm.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/yy6gsm.png&quot; alt=&quot;canister filter&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which look like this when &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH6QXm21w3Y&amp;amp;t=332s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;installed&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FaMI4m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FaMI4m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;installed canister filter&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, here is my question: The mosquitofish have a lot of fry. Some of the fry grow up, and some of them get eaten by the adult fish. But, I don't want to harm the fry by having them get caught in the filter. &lt;strong&gt;Is it common for fry to get sucked into canister filters and to get stuck in there?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If so, does it work well to put some sort of netting over the filter's intake hose to keep the fry out? And, if you do that, then do you end up needing to unclog the netting often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18674" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-29T19:16:20.797" LastActivityDate="2020-08-29T19:16:20.797" Title="Keeping fry out of canister filter?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28488" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-29T22:06:41.850" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3 month old male kitten woke up from his evening nap yesterday and started pawing at his mouth with both front paws (nearly falling on his face) and then did kind of a gagging motion with his mouth and about 3 seconds later he did it again. Then he started licking his lips way more than he normally does. I did notice that when he's licking his lips, he's also clicking his tongue. That was around midnight last night and he's still doing it now. It only happens when he's upright - either sitting on all fours or walking. It doesn't happen when he lays down. It happens every 10-15 minutes if he's not laying down. He's eating and drinking just fine. He's playing like normal. I checked his gums and he's got a molar coming in on each side of his mouth - I can only just see the tiny points on them that popped through. He's also just getting over an upper respiratory infection and still has a runny nose. Is this teething or if this something more serious? We have an appointment with the vet for tomorrow afternoon but will take him to the emergency vet if that's what he needs. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T13:03:50.803" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T13:53:06.650" Title="3 month old kitten pawing at mouth and making gagging motion" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;&lt;teething&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-30T04:37:06.380" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our 4-year old Aussie-doodle frequently will have a coughing attack in which she almost sounds like she's hacking up a hairball; she'll cough hard 3-5 times, then have a final hack and be done... until the next coughing fit, which usually happens several times an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;History:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a puppy, we noticed when we'd love pat her with any force at all it would cause her to start hacking. Not sure if that was indicative of an underlying condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vet did a heartworm test (negative), and gave Benadryl for allergies (no effect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vet gave prednisone (steroid) &amp;amp; antibiotics for kennel cough, which resolved the cough for a few weeks, but then she became sick and stopped eating. (We suspect it was the prednisone that stopped the cough, since later, another vet prescribed antibiotics again and it did not take the cough away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Returned to vet &amp;amp; he prescribed probiotics, which restored her appetite, but then shortly after she started coughing again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vet prescribed prednisone again which took the cough away completely; however, after the prescription ran out, the cough returned after 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We have cleaned our air ducts and filters in our heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the last negative heart worm test, the vet said he knew of no other condition that could cause her cough than distemper, but she does not have clear discharge or leaky eyes, nor is she lethargic. (In fact, she does not cough while on runs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is energetic, loves to run, has an appetite, and poops normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We've tried: honey, licorice root, slippery elm, lemon, turmeric, probiotics, coconut oil and essential oils to reduce inflammation. I have also ceased using a harness and have a leash that connects to her snout so she does not have any pressure on her throat. Still no reprieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know what could be going on with our dog? We'd love to get some sleep!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18677" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T13:01:46.423" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T21:44:50.370" Title="My dog is coughing frequently (several times per hour)" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18941" CreationDate="2020-08-30T12:01:24.843" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually cats will and do eat raw egg. Feral cats on a poultry farm where I worked ate any broken eggs in the egg grading room and I often gave my own cats raw egg, it gave their coat a beautiful sheen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18679" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T12:47:25.133" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T12:47:25.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28486" CreationDate="2020-08-30T13:28:41.627" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a feather is pulled out, it takes 3 to 6 months for it to fully regrow. If it takes longer then it is due to his condition of life.&#xA;To accelerate the growth of its feathers you must improve its condition of life. I don't know the conditions under which you live with your bird, but here are the different points to which you must pay attention and which will accelerate its growth of feathers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food: The bird should have a varied diet with fresh food every day (I read that you give it vegetables and fruit,... and this is therefore a very good thing). The bird must have a daily intake of fruit (apple, banana, orange, grapes, cherry, strawberry, pear, ...) and vegetables (carrot, zucchini, beans, spinach, tomato, ...). But he must also have dry food (seeds, cereals, millet,….). Also it is important to add legumes (chickpeas, lentils, etc.) and a little rice or paste from time to time. You can also give it eggs, it helps to regrow feathers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light: It is important for your bird to have a weekly UV dose! Either you can put it in an outdoor aviary where it will have direct access to the sun but if you don't have an aviary or the opportunity to put it outside you can buy UV lamps for birds which are sold in pet stores or you can easily find it on the internet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Humidity: This last point is very important for good feather health and normal feather growth. You will need to moisten your bird regularly with a sprayer or you can also wash with him if he is confident enough with you. Otherwise you can also give him a small bathtub (easily available from pet stores) with a little lukewarm water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T13:28:41.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27968" CreationDate="2020-08-30T13:34:24.967" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can take a long time for two birds to love each other and tolerate the presence of the other. It can range from a few days to several years! Above all, you must not force the birds to get along and let them move at their own pace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is wait until they get along better and then start putting the male in the female's cage (it will no longer be the male who will be in the dominant position since he is in the &amp;quot;territory. &amp;quot;of the female). If the cohabitation goes well the next step will be to put them in the bigger cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T13:34:24.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27742" CreationDate="2020-08-30T13:52:04.693" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, it is important to recognize the signs of an overheating bird:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He breathes Ford with the beak open&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He holds his wings away from his body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can end up on the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It keeps the plumage plated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He behaves in a stressed manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading you, I see that you have already caught some good reflexes. However, they are careful not to force-bathe their parrot as the water that is too cold on the hot body can cause death from hydrocution.&#xA;I can give you some solutions to help your bird during periods of great heat:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep your parrot in the shade, especially if you decide to take it outside to get some fresh air&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring fresh water several times during the day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give him fresh fruits and vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is also important to refresh your environment. Putting a water bath is a good idea, you just have to be careful that the water is not too deep for the bird.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Offer him &amp;quot;water games&amp;quot;. For example, you can give it moistened vegetables (salads, leafy branches, etc.), ice cubes which will amuse your bird or give it toys in a shallow cup of water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T13:52:04.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-08-30T17:52:02.637" Score="1" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how old my leopard gecko is, but I've had him for a few years. He used to eat fine, but I would always have a bit of trouble getting him to eat... it got worse and worse. I didn't have a proper shed hideout for him, and he would always have shed on his toes. Then, my dad dropped the gecko house on my gecko. It landed on his tail, it got black and infected, but we went to the vet and got the medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, the black part of the tail fell off (yay!) but he has had serious problems eating ever since. He does not want to eat. Ever. I haven't fed him in months, because he acts as if he can't see the food. Now, he gets shed stuck in his eye, causing mucus, and I have gotten it out of his eye successfully a couple times, but it gets harder each time... and I am constantly afraid that I am damaging his real eye instead of the &amp;quot;mucus eye&amp;quot;. I use tweezers to get the mucus out, which seems to be damaging. I am very worried. The mucus removal has gotten more difficult and less successful each time. It seems that even after I get it out, it comes back. He also squints his eyes a lot and never opens them. He may be too sensitive to the light, as he is albino. This past time when I got the mucus out, his eye began to bleed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am very worried. I know he is dying (his tail is very thin, but still has a bit of fat) but how long does he have to live? Is it worth it to go the vet? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18682" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-30T17:58:49.323" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T12:41:14.723" Title="Leopard gecko not eating and suffering from eye problems" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28489" CreationDate="2020-08-30T18:08:08.333" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard of it happening several times an hour, or for so long, but my dog sometimes coughs/hacks like he's gonna throw up a hairball, and like twice a year it means he's going to throw up. But other than that, there's nothing wrong with it. I also haven't heard of them hacking if you pet them &amp;quot;too hard&amp;quot; or don't handle them delicately. For my dog, it is nothing. Does your dog eat grass/plants? That might have something to do with it. Is it more of a cough, like caused by dust/seeds, or more of a hack, like it has to do with something she's eating? She could also be choking on hairs that we shed from our head. Do you have long hair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18682" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T18:08:08.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19988" CreationDate="2020-08-30T19:24:19.703" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of my orange tabbies, ages 4 months and 11 months, were biting my chin or neck around 4:00 am almost every night. I said, &amp;quot;NO&amp;quot; then moved them aside, or off the bed.  You have to be consistent or they will do it every time, whether to be petted or fed, they know how to get you up.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Cats are smart and they know when their mommy doesn't like their behavior.  They will try it over and over again if you don't nip it in the bud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18683" LastActivityDate="2020-08-30T19:24:19.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28494" CreationDate="2020-08-31T08:14:51.260" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you already knew that he needs a shedding hideout and had problems shedding for a long time, why haven't you given him a suitable place to shed already? The way you describe his behavior, it seems he is not happy the way he lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, make sure his enclosure is well-suited for leopard geckos. Check that all parameters are accounted for, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;different temperature zones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;humidity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clean substrate (no mold or anything)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the type and intensity of light&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some questions that hopefully help you adapting his enclosure to his needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/17045/12501&quot;&gt;How do I keep my leopard gecko cage warm?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/25966/12501&quot;&gt;Should I get my leopard gecko a substrate?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/26933/12501&quot;&gt;Leopard Gecko Health Issues&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the feeding, many people feed the wrong type of food. Please see these questions for more details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1751/12501&quot;&gt;What types of food and vitamins are appropriate for a leopard gecko?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/17095/12501&quot;&gt;Gecko won't eat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for shedding problems, see this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/2715/12501&quot;&gt;My leopard gecko sometimes has trouble shedding. How can I help?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To read more about leopard geckos and the common problems our users have, have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?tab=votes&amp;amp;q=leopard%20gecko%20is%3Aquestion&quot;&gt;existing questions and their answers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The squinting is a clear sign that he doesn't feel well. He could either be very sick, or trying to avoid you because you cause him pain every time you remove his mucus and stuck skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say with all the problems you describe, you need to get him checked up by a vet. Even if you give him the perfect enclosure and the perfect food, he might need some medical help to get better. It's also worth testing for parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly cannot know if or when your gecko is going to die. But it sounds like if you don't go the vet with him, it won't be too long...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-08-31T18:14:32.063" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T18:14:32.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23650" CreationDate="2020-08-31T14:43:40.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the same thing happen with my two cats. I broke down and continued to use the old litter box in addition to the robot. I “think” it’s a territorial issue. The one cat that uses it guards it with his life. When I moved the old litter box right next to the robot the one that uses the litter robot began using both. When I put the litter box in a totally different area than the robot, they both seemed happy again with no accidents. The afraid cat is curious about the litter robot and will always peek in but will not get in. Cats! ‍♀️&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18686" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T14:43:40.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28508" CreationDate="2020-08-31T18:07:48.783" Score="7" ViewCount="1432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently started letting my cat outside, which she really enjoys. However, one of her favorite things to do out there is to roll around in the dirt, which of course leaves her filthy. She's visibly brown and you can &lt;em&gt;draw&lt;/em&gt; in the dirt on her with a finger. There's a cloud of dust when she shakes herself or you pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem to bother her at all, and she is somehow clean again by the next day, but I wonder if licking all that dirt off herself every day is an issue. There are no pesticides or fertilizer or anything in the dirt, it's just dirt. (She only goes in my fenced backyard, so I know this for a fact.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like most cats, she doesn't like to be wet, and I imagine bathing her would be traumatic for everyone involved. I did try rubbing her with a damp paper towel, and she seemed to tolerate it, but it'd be a lot of effort to get her to even resemble being clean, so I don't know if I should bother. Should I take any action here or let her handle it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And before someone comes in with a comment about how cats destroy ecosystems and shouldn't be let outside: she's older, doesn't jump or climb, and is horribly inept at hunting anything more sentient than a leaf. She stays in my yard and is not bothering anyone, I promise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12293" LastEditorUserId="7612" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T07:19:02.010" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T22:03:13.763" Title="Should I do something about my cat getting very dirty?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28499" CreationDate="2020-08-31T20:28:15.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat gets very dirty because your cat is very happy; your cat rolling on the ground is a sign of intense pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years back, I adopted a feral cat and he was very happy getting a home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After he had gotten used to living in a house and I started to let him outside, he rolled back and forth on the ground when I was outside with him because he was happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will most likely get less dirty over time as she gets used to being let outside, and she will most likely start to focus more on other aspects of being outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get rid of most of the dust and dirt, you should brush your cat when she enters the house; you should not need to give her a bath unless she gets sticky stuff in her fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sticky stuff does most often come from cats walking under cars or machinery, this is often oil or coolant from the car and is dangerous for cats and needs to be washed off as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common stuff in your garden is not harmful, so you do not need to worry about whether she ingests some of it; what you need to keep an eye on is if she eats plants, as they can be poisonous. Be sure she does not eat plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By common stuff I mean sand, dust and soil, things that your cat will pick up by simply by being outside; you say in your question that you do not use pesticides or fertilizer in your garden, so your garden should be safe for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats will eat grass; this is not poisonous, but she will throw up from it, so you will need to clean it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the last part of your question (the part about the ecosystem): yes, cats hunt, and they changed human history as a result of it. When humans started to grow grain, cats were an important part of making it possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T22:03:13.763" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T22:03:13.763" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28499" CreationDate="2020-08-31T22:15:53.367" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are self-cleaning, so as long as she isn’t rolling around in something that could be poisonous (like fertilizer or weed killer), let her take care of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the dirt will probably annoy her when she grooms later. If it annoys her enough, she will learn to be more careful about getting dirty. But if she doesn’t mind, then you shouldn’t either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-08-31T22:15:53.367" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28504" CreationDate="2020-09-01T05:01:54.003" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two housecats. They occasionally chase each other and play a bit rough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I found a bite mark on one of my cat's necks. It's dry and red, I'm guessing a day or so old now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How likely is it that this will develop into an abscess? I'm assuming that because they live together and stay indoors, the risk is pretty low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18597" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T05:30:29.283" Title="Will a bite from another cat turn into an abscess?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7753" CreationDate="2020-09-01T05:08:27.333" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a large parrot cichlid fish *6&amp;quot; living with 3 huge goldfish and 2 koi fish.  They are all healthy and have been living together for 3 years now with absolutely no problems and no aggression. So , I would suggest you look into what your water temperature was.  The goldfish are hardy. They can deal with the warmer temperature. The cichlids need extra filtration to be used, double what your tank requires because the goldfish produce a lot of ammonia. Was your tank cycled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18689" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-20T01:48:29.200" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T01:48:29.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28502" CreationDate="2020-09-01T05:30:29.283" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very often cats get abcesses from wounds caused by bites and claws so you will have to keep an eye on any wounds your cat get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause for many abcesses is that the wounds are deep and you will not be able to see how deep they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wounds caused by cat claws and teeth will often start to heal from the outside of the wound ,the skin heals first and this blocks bacteria inside the wound causing an infection under the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cats beeing indoors does not reduce the risk for infection in any significant way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T05:30:29.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-01T07:52:28.320" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've got a ~5 month old puppy, a Chihuahua/Yorkie crossbreed. She's just about completed toilet training now in the sense that she hasn't had an accident in the house for a while, but there's a problem in telling whether we're there or not: she begs to go outside constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, unless she's literally just been, we let her out. But most of the time she runs straight onto the lawn and grabs some bark chippings from the borders to chew or play chase. She's fast, small and agile so once she's in play mode, it can take a good few minutes of chasing to corner her and bring her inside again. At which point she'll beg to go out almost straight away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's very insistent about it too, scratching at the door glass and whining until someone does so. There's no difference in behaviour we can see between her asking to go out to the toilet and asking to go out to play. It's getting quite tiring and distracting: how can we tell or teach her the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1251" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T13:53:40.540" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T13:53:40.540" Title="How can I tell if my dog wants to go outside to the toilet or to play?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-09-02T05:44:02.300" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28507" CreationDate="2020-09-01T14:07:26.180" Score="9" ViewCount="1601" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat has a habit of waiting until night time, or until we leave the house to start hunting around for gloves. She likes to pick up gardening gloves, athletic gloves, gloves from superhero costumes, etc. and carry these around with her while meowing loudly and repetitively until she drops the glove off, usually outside of someone's bedroom door. She's been doing this for years and it hasn't really been a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, our five year old son wakes up if she does this in the middle of the night because it scares him. She seems to always find gloves in different places, but I'm wondering if we should hide them all in places where she can't get them. &lt;strong&gt;Is it ok to try to prevent her from doing this?&lt;/strong&gt; We don't want our son to be scared by the noise at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17208" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T14:56:24.637" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T06:29:51.270" Title="Cat glove carrying behavior" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28506" CreationDate="2020-09-01T15:16:20.207" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any reason why you shouldn't keep the gloves away from your cat. However, it may be the case that the cat will continue meowing without the gloves, or the cat will find something else to transfer this behavior to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess the root cause is the cat is getting bored or lonely at night. You might also try minimizing this behavior by waiting until late to give the cat its evening meal, and then thoroughly playing with the cat before feeding it. The idea is to get the cat tired out and sleepy after it eats its food, which hopefully will encourage it to just sleep through a lot of the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T15:16:20.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28499" CreationDate="2020-09-01T16:13:35.170" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are reasons you may want to consider bathing your cat if it gets covered in dirt.  For one, of course it's going to track that dirt all over your house, and then there will be a lot more cleaning necessary.  For two, dirt can contain things like germs or parasite eggs.  Some parasites actively spread through ingesting soil that contains their eggs, such as the roundworm.  However, at the same time, I wouldn't really expect bathing the cat to be good enough to completely prevent infection from ingesting soil, as there's a fairly high chance if you find the cat covered in dirt that it's already attempted to groom itself and has eaten some anyways.  Therefore, since you know your cat is likely to eat dirt, you should keep particular watch for signs of parasites.  Some of the possible symptoms include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;potbellied appearance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;visible worms in stool or vomit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;coughing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weight loss&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dull hair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, your cat may have no visible symptoms at all as well.  It would be a good idea to tell your vet on your regular visits you  know that your cat is eating dirt, and so you are concerned about parasites.  Your vet may choose to test your cat for parasites or recommend some sort of treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also be a good idea to inspect your cat's skin some just in case.  Cats may roll around in dirt just because it feels good to them, but sometimes it may also be because their skin is itchy for some particular reason.  If you notice other signs your cat is particularly itchy, it may be a good idea to ask your vet about that as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T17:19:20.843" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T17:19:20.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-01T20:38:28.333" Score="6" ViewCount="5521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a two and half months female kitten for 3 days. She doesn't enjoy dry food so far so she's eating primarily wet food - from can or pouches, but I started mixing them with dry food. I think her intake of water is normal - she's drinking some time after her meal or after she's tired of playing.&#xA;What concerns me is that I've never seen her peeing - she's only popping. Her poo is rather watery and soft than solid, but I'm hoping that this is due to the fact she doesn't eat dry food.&#xA;Is this normal? I'm planning to visit a vet for vacation next week, but I'm a bit worried at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18692" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-01T20:43:17.213" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T07:45:33.483" Title="My kitten doesn't pee - should I worry?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28509" CreationDate="2020-09-01T21:43:47.420" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;If her poo is watery, that’s why: her body isn’t absorbing enough of the water in her food, leaving her too dehydrated to pee. This is a serious concern since peeing is how the body gets rid of non-food waste, and being dehydrated in general can cause kidney problems. You need to take her to a vet, which is a good practice anyway when you get a new pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you feeding her the exact same food (brand and flavor) as whoever you got her from? A sudden change in diet can cause short-term digestive distress while the gut bacteria adapt, which will be exacerbated by the stress of a new home. This will solve itself in time, but it’s still better to stick with what her body is used to at first. Once she’s stable, you can then slowly switch her to what you want to feed her long-term over a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other major possibility is some sort of infection or parasite. Unfortunately, kittens often pick up worms or other diseases in shelters or catteries because that many animals in close proximity means they’re constantly passing them back and forth, making them virtually impossible to eradicate. Your vet will do a fecal test to check for these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T21:43:47.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28509" CreationDate="2020-09-01T21:45:52.577" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start, &lt;strong&gt;any time a cat is not urinating, it's urgent to get them to a vet ASAP.&lt;/strong&gt; While urinary issues typically affect older (and neutered male) cats, any cat can suffer urinary tract issues which can become serious to fatal, and even less serious cases can result in long-term behavioral issues, such as litterbox avoidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondarily, it sounds as though &lt;strong&gt;your cat has some digestive issues as well&lt;/strong&gt;; watery or soft poo is not normal, and should be addressed by a vet ASAP. &lt;strong&gt;It may be an illness, parasites, or a sensitivity to one or more foods you're offering&lt;/strong&gt;; the vet will be able to run tests on a sample of the poo to determine if an infection or parasite is present. He or she will also be able to offer advice based on the food you're offering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And thirdly, &lt;strong&gt;dry food is not necessary&lt;/strong&gt;. It's convenient with kittens, as they need to eat a lot, but offers very little benefit other than convenience. Cats typically do not consume enough water on its own, as they originated in desert climates and are adapted to get their water from food; wet food offers hydration in a manner more natural to them. A healthy cat fed an all-wet food diet (with any ingredient sensitivities accounted for) will produce normally formed, firm waste; the water is absorbed from the food during digestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T21:45:52.577" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28486" CreationDate="2020-09-01T23:33:29.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ringneck parakeets molt just once a year. Clipped feathers are replaced like any others, at the next molt. Since your bird's feathers were clipped seven months ago, there is nothing to worry about yet. If the feathers do not grow back a year after they were clipped, consult an avian veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diet you are giving your bird is varied and should be fun for it. Be sure to provide a solid, balanced foundation, too--either one of the several pellet diets that are available (which some birds like but others refuse) or a fortified diet such as Lafeber's nutriberries. That will ensure that your bird's new feathers grow in strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try giving your ringneck whole peanuts in the shell (NOT roasted or salted). They love whole peanuts. Peanuts are part treat and part toy. I've seen them destroy whole sacks of peanuts in India. Some peanuts might help make your bird more tame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you're a good bird parent. Be patient and the feathers should come in on the next molt. Until then, love and peanuts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2020-09-01T23:33:29.133" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="567" CreationDate="2020-09-02T05:37:36.013" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My baby whistles he’s perfectly healthy I keep an eye on everything he’s just Leslie little boy I love these animals they are so personable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18695" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T05:37:36.013" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28522" CreationDate="2020-09-02T06:13:20.307" Score="8" ViewCount="4681" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard that if you feed cats processed cat food for a period of time, their palate/stomach will be unable to eat natural food again (meat, rat, etc). Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18696" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-09-02T10:51:30.803" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T20:24:03.717" Title="Is it correct that processed cat food makes cats unable to eat natural food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28506" CreationDate="2020-09-02T06:29:51.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen female cats do this exact thing with their kittens: grabbing them one by one, walking around with them held up tight in their mouth while meowing very loudly then eventually drop them in the destination, or lie down to feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So looks like something caused your cat to treat gloves as her kitten. You remember when it started? Maybe reaching to the root of this you'll be able to &amp;quot;undo&amp;quot; the behavior and avoid frustration on either side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until then, I have an idea, but it depends if you have a yard outside the house. If you have, put the gloves there in a large box and let her meow out, this way the noise shouldn't wake your son up. Good luck! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T06:29:51.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28514" CreationDate="2020-09-02T07:04:39.350" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a practical experience with a few cats: wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All cats that I am aware of (most of them fed cat food for their entire lives) line next to anyone trying to cook meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16715" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T07:04:39.350" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28509" CreationDate="2020-09-02T07:45:33.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are pretty much able to abstain from pee and/or poo out of stress for a few days. Not that it is good for them, but they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a possibility that the pee happens in a place(s) other than it is supposed to. If an adult cat does so, the smell is inevitable, but little kittens can get away for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a possibility of some restriction in the urinal tract - pretty low probability in a small female kitten (older male ones are the ones suffering usually). The symptom is the cat trying to pee for a minute or two with little or no success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try to touch the cat's bladder by fingers. It is undetectable under the skin in a healthy cat, but feels like an inflated ball if the cat cannot pee for one reason or another. If there is a ball, see vet immediately (failing to feel the ball does not guarantee anything and you may want to go to vets anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16715" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T07:45:33.483" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28514" CreationDate="2020-09-02T11:06:41.860" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Fraxinus has said this, in practice doesn't make a whole lot of sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of cats are known for begging for almost any food, just like dogs, and as the owner of 3 cats that are fed procesed cat food I can personally attest that they will eat anything. 1 of them goes and hunts birds and mice all the time and the other 2 will eat chicken or bacon or pretty much anything I give them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13336" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-02T11:35:05.700" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T11:35:05.700" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28494" CreationDate="2020-09-02T12:41:14.723" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Update: I gave him a shed hide a few weeks ago, I just forgot to mention that in the post. I will look at the resources you gave me, thank you very much. I am going to try some different food and take him to the vet. We took him before but the vet said it was &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; for the geckos to refuse food for even months, but I will go again, get him checked for parasites, and such. Sorry I have to respond in an Answer, it won't let me comment. But I promise that now I will use better methods to get the shed off his toes and I will use q-tip and saline to get the mucus out of his eyes. I will give him a light that is less intense, and I will make sure his shed hide is clean and humid. I also read that you can give geckos a revitalizing drink, and I will try that. Thank you for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18682" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T12:41:14.723" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28514" CreationDate="2020-09-02T17:26:00.103" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, that is categorically false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it does take a cat some time (on the order of a week or two) to adjust to a new diet. But that's true of &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; new diet, whether you're moving from natural to processed, processed to natural, or between two different types of processed food. It's possible that whoever started that rumor just misunderstood the fact that cats need time to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that a cat raised in captivity and kept indoors all the time might not know &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; to hunt their own food. In this case, it's less a matter of being unable to eat &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; food, and more about being unable to get it in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17528" LastActivityDate="2020-09-02T17:26:00.103" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28514" CreationDate="2020-09-02T20:24:17.260" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really true - at the physiological level, I certainly cannot see how prolonged consumption of processed food could disable a cat from being able to digest natural food. However, I could see the trace element of truth in this statement's essence, which might explain it's plausible origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, compared to dogs, are known to be a bit of picky eaters. Unlike dogs, cats could literally starve themselves to death in case of the available food not suiting their fancy - that's how picky they could be&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;. At the same time, please take into account that it's in the cat food manufacturers' best interest to make their products as tasty as possible, and they certainly have all the necessary means to do the research and come up with the optimal formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, transitioning from processed cat food to natural food could in a way resemble - apologies for not coming up with a better analogy - transitioning a child's diet from prolonged dining in fancy restaurants and eating pizzas with a whole variety of alluring flavors, to unseasoned and blandly-tasting homemade food. The child would surely be resistant and need some time to transition - which, as other answers already mentioned, is the case in all diet changes - but it doesn't mean that the child's physiology and metabolism had been changed in a way that disabled them from digesting natural food. Like the child in this hypothetical scenario, a cat could just get psychologically used to a certain kind of tasty food, forming a deeply-rooted habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My analogy to human diet is obviously not the best and it's not directly one-to-one - yes, cat food manufacturers don't enhance flavor by using spices known in human cuisine, like black pepper, chili, onion, garlic, etc. Not only cats experience taste differently from humans, but also some of the human cuisine spices are extremely toxic to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my point still stands; as Trond Hansen noted in the comment, cat food manufacturers are using flavor enhancers, known as palatants, which could be seen as analogs of spices used in our human cuisine. Also, manufacturers do in fact research for the optimal texture, humidity, salinity, tenderness, etc. of the food to suit cats' fancy as much as they can. A cat used to this kind of food could just have been in some sense addicted to a great taste (addicted in the sense of psychological habit, not physiological dependency, though) - together with the before-mentioned cats' pickiness, attempts of such diet transition could give the convincing, albeit completely false impression of their inability to eat natural food ever again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References to the statement marked with asterisk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hepatic_lipidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline hepatic lipidosis article on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://twocrazycatladies.com/feline-hepatic-lipidosis-cats-must-eat-daily/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on twocrazycatladies.com&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/causes-rapid-weight-loss-older-cats-4628.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on pets.thenest.com&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://feline-nutrition.org/health/avoiding-hepatic-lipidosis-in-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article on feline-nutrition.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T20:24:03.717" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T20:24:03.717" CommentCount="22" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28523" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-03T07:06:07.423" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is 16 years old.&#xA;About a month ago he started eating a lot less. I've tried different foods, both fresh and canned. He ate some but very little and lost a lot of weight. I took him to the vet for some blood test and he said that basically my cat is fine just old. He gave him some shots of vitamins and something to help with his appetite. After that my cat started eating again and was looking like hes gaining back the weight he lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 3 days ago he stopped eating completely. He doesn't like anything he used to eat. He only drinks a small amount of water during the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought some high calorie liquid food suppose to be for cats having trouble eating after surgeries or injuries and I'm planning on force feeding him that with a syringe. Is that a good idea? Or are there other things I could try that would possible be less stressful for the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be the cause for him to stop eating completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:&#xA;Since somebody asked for and update.&#xA;The vet told there is pretty much no chance he'll recover so there is no point in running tests trying to figure out what went wrong and I had him euthanized.&#xA;All I've got left is knowing he lived a long (for a cat) and happy life and he won't suffer anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18714" LastEditorUserId="18714" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T13:03:58.820" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T13:03:58.820" Title="Cat stooped eating what could be the cause and should I force feed him?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2020-09-03T09:49:23.013" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26624" CreationDate="2020-09-03T14:19:19.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a rat pees on you in small drops, it is to mark its territory and designate what belongs to it as you guessed it. It's a natural behavior for rats, in a group they also pee on each other ... and for him you are part of the social group. It’s like a mark of friendship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is very difficult if not impossible to eliminate as a behavior simply because it is part of the social codes of the rat. This is an important behavior especially for males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the amounts are large, he may have a health problem. The marking pee, in principle, is one or even a few drops, but not a whole pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2020-09-03T14:19:19.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-03T22:02:18.313" Score="2" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been having real trouble with my cats chewing on cords. I've heard lots of people talking about bitter apple spray, but it seems like it would be better if I could paint something onto the cord itself that deters chewing rather than having to respray regularly. Is that bitter tasting nail polish that people use to break the habit of chewing their fingernails cat safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16755" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T07:47:50.530" Title="Is bitter nail polish safe for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26689" CreationDate="2020-09-04T13:27:50.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to remedy the bird's decreased aggressiveness is to try to find the source of its aggressiveness. It could be due to the disappearance of his friend but the aggressiveness could also be due to his teenage period (it depends on his age) or the breeding season (depends on the season). Be careful that this is not for a medical reason, because when the bird is sick or in pain, it may show signs of aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To remedy aggressive behavior we can start by making sure that the cage is big enough and in a well-located place where the bird sees family activity, that it can participate in family life, and that it does not do not feel excluded from the group, we can also place the cage near a window taking certain precautions such as the sun's rays on the glass or the cold and drafts. There is also the respect of the rest of the parrot, it must benefit from 12 hours of sleep per night and a nap of at least 30 minutes in the afternoon, a balanced diet, good hygiene of the plumage and the cage or the aviary, will allow the bird to regain good mental and physical health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he's aggressive towards you or another family member, don't react (although this can be difficult at times) because the slightest reaction from you can encourage his aggressive behavior. Use positive reinforcement to educate or re-educate your bird with patience and spending time with him. Positive reinforcement is a reward-based bird education method. The objective is to make the bird understand the relationship between the link and the reward. The bird will quickly associate good behavior with a reward. The reward fears, for example, a food treat that he likes or a caress, encouragement by the voice. It is a gentle method without punishment that reinforces any behavior. In the beginning, you have to systematically and immediately reward every positive behavior; subsequently, you can decrease the frequency of rewards and give them more randomly in order to maintain the acquired behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15793" LastActivityDate="2020-09-04T13:27:50.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-05T00:14:27.417" Score="5" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading a programming article which had nothing to do with cats or Halloween, it was mentioned that it's &amp;quot;obvious&amp;quot; for a cat store to not sell black cats in October.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why exactly is this? Does it have something to do with Halloween? My mind immediately wanders to dark places, such as there being some horrific &amp;quot;tradition&amp;quot; of hurting/killing black cats in Halloween or something like that. Witches, black cats, etc. I'm not very familiar with that holiday. It's a very American thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do evil people really buy black cats to hurt them? Is that what's implied here? Or is there any other reason for not selling black cats specifically in October?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18728" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T12:33:40.617" Title="Why is it &quot;common business sense&quot; to not sell black cats in October?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10787" CreationDate="2020-09-05T12:55:49.040" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read about the &amp;quot;Meet Your Match&amp;quot; dog assessment system by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals&lt;/a&gt; that is backed by scientific research and concentrates on the character of each individual dog instead of general characteristics of the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is first put into one of 3 categories of character. Then the level of energy and/or problematic behavior is assessed in 3 categories as well. The combinations of both categories allows a rough descriptions of what potential adopters can and should expect from this dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9h5Vb.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9h5Vb.png&quot; alt=&quot;dog assessment categories&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st row:  Socially motivated (love to play with humans and dogs, love to cuddle, need stable family, might have separation anxiety)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd row: Internally motivated (like play and social interactions, but get distracted, have their own will, are independent and may refuse to follow commands)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3rd row: Externally motivated (love to play with any kind of toys, easily learn new tricks, would do anything for treats)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Green category: high energy dogs, need very dedicated and experienced owners, a lot of stimulation and may require a lot of training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Orange category: slightly active dogs, may have some behavioral problems, may require some training, may be suited for inexperienced owners, but not for families with small children or other pets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Purple category: low energy dogs, are balanced and laid back, tend not to display any problematic behaviors, perfectly suited for inexperienced owners or families with small children and other pets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that this assessment is far superior to any biographical data, because it is covers a predefined set of character tests that uncovers behavior you might simply not have triggered in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole manual, that includes the complete guide and checklists to assess the dogs and checklists for potential adopters can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/aspca-canine-ality-guide-2015.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T10:04:45.547" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T10:04:45.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28528" CreationDate="2020-09-05T13:00:32.533" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your supposition is correct that in America, there is a fairly commonly held belief that people will obtain black cats around Halloween in order to do them harm. Some shelters may even restrict black cat adoptions for this reason. However, the statement that this is &amp;quot;common sense&amp;quot; advice is fallacious. I &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; American, and I never heard of such a thing until I saw it being discussed on the Pets Stack Exchange. Furthermore, the idea that people harm cats around Halloween is most likely a urban legend, as stated on many websites such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cat-o-nine-tales/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Snopes,&lt;/a&gt; though it is true that shelters very well may limit adoptions because of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, it's extra strange to me that such an urban legend persists when the American culture around Halloween seems to be changing pretty radically over the past several years. It used to be that kids would go out trick-or-treating to private homes, with entrepeneuring older kids going unsupervised into the late hours trick-or-treating and pulling pranks or generally getting up to mischief, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/10/is-trick-or-treating-on-the-decline/574459/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;these days door-to-door trick-or-treaters are becoming more and more rare in favor of going to events deemed &amp;quot;safe.&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-09-05T13:00:32.533" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="898" CreationDate="2020-09-05T18:22:58.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few tests you can do to assess the dog's behavior in the shelter. All following tests are taken from the &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/aspca-canine-ality-guide-2015.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meet your Match&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; dog character assessment guide by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;ask if the dog was tested for aggressive behavior.&lt;/strong&gt; It's not your job to test for (read: provoke) aggressive behavior in a dog you don't even know. This should be standard procedure when receiving a new dog (shelters don't want their customers to be bitten), but some shelters might not do it by default or might not know how to do it properly. Ask if the dog displayed any problematic behavior while housed there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, &lt;strong&gt;ask if they have a room with video surveillance.&lt;/strong&gt; This will be needed for at least one test. Have a ball and a second toy (like a plushie or tug toy) in your pocket (your hands must be free).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Separation anxiety&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask the shelter if you may be monitoring the room with video surveillance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One staff member should bring the dog into the room without speaking to it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The staff member should leave the room without interacting with the dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wait for 4 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog stays at the door for the whole time, maybe even scratching and whining, it probably has separation anxiety. If it freezes or hides away, it has some other form of anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bad manners / social anxiety&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the time for the first test is over, enter the room and greet the dog in a friendly voice. Keep standing straight up for at least 2 minutes (no bowing down, crouching or sitting down to interact with it). If the dog jumps at you, scratches you or forcefully bumps into you, it has bad manners that are hard to train it out of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog runs or hides away when you enter the room, has it's tail between the legs, avoids your gaze and doesn't approach you for 2 minutes, it has social anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Toy addiction&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the prepared toys into the room and start playing fetch with the dog. If it doesn't want to play fetch, play with the other toy. Play very enthusiastically for a minute or two, then abruptly stop playing and hold the toy in your hand. Do not speak to the dog and do not pull the toy away, but move it with the dog if it continues tugging it. Stay passive for 2 whole minutes or until the dog loses interest in the toy. If the dog still tugs the toy and animates you to play after 2 minutes, it is toy addicted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that these tests cannot find all problematic behaviors or signs of abuse. They just uncover the most severe problems. The smaller problems are just as individual as abuse can be, but most of the time they are not so severe that you as the owner cannot work through them. A honest talk about the dog's behavior in the shelter can be very informative, too. And don't forget that dogs can change their behavior once they are in a different environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-06T00:02:52.510" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T00:02:52.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31262" CreationDate="2020-09-05T21:11:01.273" Score="3" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed this sac on my cat's tail while petting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't cause pain, since I tried pressing on it and it didn't hurt him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to be fatty and it has a very thin red vein as shown in the pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help. I don't know what it is and how to help him. And I am unable to visit the vet currently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vFKPg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vFKPg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8yWP5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8yWP5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18733" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-05T21:15:38.487" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:39:00.663" Title="Please help I found a strange sac on my cat's tail. What shall I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-05T21:22:57.497" Score="19" ViewCount="12174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I sit on the toilet, my cats come to me and rest at my feet. Why? Do they miss something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2504" LastEditorUserId="11132" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T13:52:27.897" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T18:30:04.440" Title="Why does my cat come to me when I'm sitting on the toilet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28533" CreationDate="2020-09-05T23:16:21.627" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is one of the most common behaviour in cats.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats normally do not just follow you to the bathroom, they usually follow their human companion to everywhere. But cats following us to the bathroom is more noticeable, hence the confirmation bias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats following humans can be due to a variety of reasons. They might be &lt;strong&gt;spooked&lt;/strong&gt; by something you can't see or hear, they might want &lt;strong&gt;food&lt;/strong&gt; (my cat's favourite reason to follow me to the bathroom), they might want &lt;strong&gt;pets&lt;/strong&gt;, they might be &lt;strong&gt;curious&lt;/strong&gt; or in some rare cases, they might think that you are vulnerable with your pants down so they might want to &lt;strong&gt;protect you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://consciouscat.net/2015/01/07/cats-thrive-routine/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;I observed that most cats have a daily routine&lt;/a&gt;. They go to sleep at similar hours, demand food or pets at similar hours etc. Your bathroom schedule might have synchronised with your cats' petting schedule so that might be why they are following you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing, cats also learn from other cats, so one of them might just be following you because the other one is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-05T23:16:21.627" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28533" CreationDate="2020-09-06T05:49:59.443" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;My theory is it’s because they’ve learned you’re a captive audience when you’re on the toilet, meaning there is nothing else distracting you from giving them attention like there probably is anywhere else in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T05:49:59.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20222" CreationDate="2020-09-06T10:19:57.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be a little late now, but just for future reference if you plan on keeping mantises: never ever feed them cat food. They eat live insects like flies (fruit flies, green bottle flies, blue bottle flies), wax worms, small grasshoppers. These should be live and moving, as they hunt for these type of insects out in the wild. They won't be interested in eating dead insects. I believe that your mantis didn't develop properly due to the wrong food and didn't get the right nutrients. Also, the right environment is essential as well. Research the temperature and humidity your mantis should live in and make sure you mist the enclosure regularly or use a heat mat if they require higher temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18736" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-06T10:44:21.073" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T10:44:21.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28533" CreationDate="2020-09-06T18:07:23.170" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe, in essence, it has to do with the cats both being curious and wanting to keep us companionship. With that being said, I think an additional and significant factor attracting cats to follow people to the bathroom could also be their common fascination with running water - cats are known to frequently have an obsession with sinks, faucets, drains and porcelain thrones for that reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has to do with their instincts - cats prefer running water over stagnant water, because in nature it is a lot safer to drink; they are thus intrigued and interested by both the sight and the sound of running water. Because the majority of visible and audible water flow occurs whenever there is a person inside the bathroom, they are compelled to follow in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-07T00:06:24.757" LastActivityDate="2020-09-07T00:06:24.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7708" CreationDate="2020-09-06T18:27:49.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are very good answers above, but I just want to write something concerning shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you have an animal that can bite, scratch or kick you, you have to have tetanus shot.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that you are upto date with your shots, it means that you need to get a booster every 5-10 years, depending on your local healthcare practices. It doesn't matter if your animal lived in captivity his whole life. You have to have the shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabies shot due to a bite of your house pet is an overreaction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all animals do not carry rabies and the chances are even smaller if your cat is vaccinated. Keep your pet's vaccinations upto date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In case you are attacked an animal, chances of rabies is significantly higher as rabies is known to induce aggressive behaviour. So, you have to get a shot right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are bitten or scratched by an animal which gave you fair warning or have a valid reason to bite or scratch you, you don't have to have vaccinations right away. You have to monitor the animal for ten days for the following behaviour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aggressive behaviour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fights with another animal that draws blood&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Biting another human&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Death&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of the above happens or you can't find the animal, you have to have the shots right away, i.e., if you can't find the animal on day 6, don't wait until day 10 to get your shots. Monitoring is especially easy if it is your own cat, so you don't have to rush to the infectious diseases unit to get your shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some regions, where rabies is not adequately controlled, even the smallest attacks need to be treated with extreme care. However, in most countries it is adequate to follow this procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this concludes my answer, some people might want to ask how animals can have a valid reason to attack us. I was scratched by a cat that I was removing from an exam room while I was proctoring. The cat gave me fair warning before he scratched me, i.e., he meowed and wiggled, yet I had to get him out. I got three courses of rabies shots because I couldn't follow the cat. House cats can be frisky when they are playing with you. If you annoy your house cat consecutively, he might bite you as well. Such bites almost always don't break the skin or only cause minor bleeding spots that heal in a few hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-06T18:27:49.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28533" CreationDate="2020-09-07T00:39:39.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Dr. Kathryn Primm on &lt;a href=&quot;https://iheartcats.com/ask-a-vet-why-does-my-cat-follow-me-to-the-bathroom/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;iheartcats&lt;/a&gt;, cats feel vulnerable when you aren't around and they're curious and these are reasons for them to follow you to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I like the take from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.meowingtons.com/blogs/lolcats/why-does-my-cats-always-follow-me-to-bathroom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;meowlingtons&lt;/a&gt; that cats don't respect &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; privacy.  This coincides with my own experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I share a cat with my girlfriend. The cat is less respectful to her than to me as I taught it discipline and don't just give it whatever it wants when it wants it. For example I require the cat to sit and patiently wait for food while the girlfriend lets the cat jump up and practically climb all over her as she's preparing food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore I have observed that a cat will not even think about touching food I leave on my plate even when I'm in a different room but it will try to pounce on my girlfriend's food even when she's holding the plate so the cat's behavior is also (not exclusively) linked to respect (or whatever you wish to call it) in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, this cat &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; comes into the bathroom when I'm on the toilet. Sometimes she will wait outside the doorway.  So from my point of view, the cat does what it thinks you want. If it thinks you want to wear cat fur coat 24/7 that's what you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18739" LastEditorUserId="18739" LastEditDate="2020-09-07T17:37:13.150" LastActivityDate="2020-09-07T17:37:13.150" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-07T13:08:12.640" Score="3" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got our rescue beagle 5 weeks ago. We were told that she was never socialized, and she is 3 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She follows me everywhere in the house and doesn't like to go in the yard without me there. If my husband takes her out, she often looks through the door for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She spends most of the day in my home office with me. She lies in her bed, which is about 2 feet away from my chair. The door is open. She could roam the house if she wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she seems terrified of me. I can't touch her unless I'm putting on her leash/harness or she's in her bed in my office. My husband can pet her while sitting in his chair. She will even sometimes go to him for petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He can walk around the house and she'll pay no attention. When I walk around the house, she runs around to get away then tries to &amp;quot;fall in&amp;quot; behind me.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I walk around the backyard, she will often just follow me as if she's on a leash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, she's had a few barking &amp;quot;fits&amp;quot; in the yard. The first two, she was definitely barking at me, and I was able to calm her by walking away and allowing her to follow me around. With the last one, though, she continued barking no matter what I did, even when I went in the house. We were finally able to get her to come inside after several minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She won't take treats from me unless I'm also giving them to our other dog. Sometimes even then, I have to toss them to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never raise my voice to her and, of course, have never raised a hand to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I leave the house and come home, she seems overjoyed to see me. (She doesn't appear stressed when I leave, and she's not destructive, so I don't think it's separation anxiety.) She doesn't seem to care when my husband comes and goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's also less fearful of my son and daughter-in-law when they come over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She appears to just be scared of me. This morning when I put on her harness, she submissive peed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband only has the use of one hand and is currently in a wheelchair, so he can't take over her care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, what can I do to help my dog to not be terrified of me? I want to be able to physically interact with her within the usual boundaries, e.g. petting, scratching, grooming...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18742" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T14:05:07.047" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T05:40:53.077" Title="New rescue dog follows me everywhere, but seems terrified of me" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27435" CreationDate="2020-09-07T17:16:34.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I still lived with my parents I got them a cat which grew up on a farm (it was about 6 months old). He quickly learned to use the litter box and only peed once on the carpet in the living room.&#xA;When he was allowed to go outside he rarely used it, only when he was inside for a longer time period and then mostly for peeing. Some time after that he completely stopped using the litter box inside and even woke us at night if he had to go to the toilet, so we could let him outside.&#xA;He now is about 8 years old and his health is fine. He did not use the litter box for the last 6 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His litter box is now in my appartement for my little kitty I got 6 weeks ago. This one also grew up on a farm but knew the litter box from the beginning and learned it from his mother. He is allowed to go outside for about 2 weeks now and still comes back inside if he needs to go to the toilet ;-) But I guess he will stop using it too after some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its the most natural thing and if the cat is allowed to roam freely outside it will also pee and poop outside if it finds a place to bury it :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1091" LastActivityDate="2020-09-07T17:16:34.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-07T17:22:16.487" Score="3" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a new kitten/cat owner, and I'm somewhat worried here.&#xA;I've only had the kitten for one week yet, so this might just be a &amp;quot;phase&amp;quot; it's going through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first few days after I got her, she would constantly search my vicinity. Whenever I would sit down, she would come and cuddle/sleep next to me or on my lap, which I absolutely love. She would also cuddle up to me when I went to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, she actually barely explored the house at that point. I put her carrier in a room and sit in front of it. She pretty quickly got out of the carrier, but again, she didn't really explore at all. She instantly came to me and didn't really move too much. This was confusing for me a bit, as I thought she would be more wary around me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the next day I gave her a bath, which she absolutely hated and was very frightened I think. I know, not optimal, especially assuming she already was stressed from the travel, new environment, etc. But it had to be done. I don't know why, but she was really smelly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two days after, I brought her to the vet to check if she is alright. Her right eye was quite &amp;quot;watery&amp;quot; and she was sneezing every now and then. The vet gave me eye drops, which I have to administer her 3-4 times a day.&#xA;All in all, I think I put her through a lot of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following day, I didn't change any change in personality at all. But, for the last 2 days, she has been ignoring. She sleeps on her cat tree all day. Occasionally she gets up and wants some play time, but that's about it. After maybe 5-10 minutes, she's just back to sleeping on her cat tree for a few hours. Also, unlike the first few days, she is not searching my vicinity at all anymore. In fact, as of writing this, I've been in a different room for almost 4 hours now (although I went and pet her once in this time). She didn't come check at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just her feeling more comfortable now? Did I do something wrong? I'm a bit worried here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New kitten, 3 months old. First few days, very clingy and cuddly. Now (after 1 week of having her), she's ignoring me the whole day, except for the occasional play session. During this week, she had a bath, a vet visit, and needs eye drops 3-4 times a day. Am I stressing her out too much? Is she wary of me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18746" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-07T19:20:49.950" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T12:51:53.787" Title="New kitten (3 months old) was very affectionate at first, now ignores me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28542" CreationDate="2020-09-07T20:52:23.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to cats, there is never one reason but a range of things that might have affected her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She might be sick&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is unusual for 3 month old kitten to die when they are under constant care, i.e., the random infant mortality events no longer affects a 3 month old kitten, so I would suggest you to regularly check if she has a fever. If she doesn't have any fever, I don't think you need an early visit to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats normally sleep 12-16 hrs a day and kittens sleep longer than cats. When the cats are sick, their sleep period is increased even further. As long as she wants some play time, it means she is not very sick, but I find that 5-10 min for a kitten of that age quite low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She might be hating of you&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you forced her to take a bath and took her to a vet, she might think that you bring her all the misfortune. Unfortunately, we cannot tell our cats why we do things so it is not your fault. The fact that she was very trusting at the beginning but very wary of you now supports this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry, cats don't hold grudges and they go through a lot of personality change as they grow, so it is not permanent. Just don't force her to do things she doesn't want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She might be comfortable enough with your surroundings&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spooked cats are more prone to finding a human to cuddle with. Now, she might be more comfortable with the new house so she might not need your protection just as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She is a cat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some actions of cats are just meaningless, so she might be acting this way because of everything listed above and more. Mood swings are common in cats, especially adolescent cats. I would suggest you to follow the instructions of your vet and leave your cats some space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-07T20:52:23.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28542" CreationDate="2020-09-07T22:48:40.263" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;A new home is scary to any cat, much less a kitten. Every strange sight, sound or smell could be a sign of something waiting to kill her. It takes time for her to explore her new environment and determine that it is safe. This is why cats in a new home will generally hide under/in something where they can’t be attacked, only coming out at night to eat and use the box when noise and activity is at a minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your new kitten decided very early on that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; were safe, which is great news; that can sometimes take weeks if a kitten wasn’t properly socialized. So, she naturally wanted to be around you because she believed you’d protect her from all the other scary stuff in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, two things happened. One is that she has had time to explore and learn that all those scary things are not actually threats, so she doesn’t need you as a safety blanket. This is a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other is that you bathed her, took her to the vet, and keep putting stuff in her eyes. Cats don’t like any of those things, so she is probably a bit less fond of you right now. She’ll get over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extreme sleeping is pretty normal for kittens. Adult cats sleep most of the day; kittens sleep even more, and during a growth spurt, they will sleep almost nonstop because literally all their energy goes into growing. It sounds like one of these also hit at the same time as the other two factors; if so, she should be more active and playful—and noticeably larger—in a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-09-07T22:48:40.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15359" CreationDate="2020-09-08T02:17:45.530" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can clean the feathers under hot running water, wrap in paper towel and microwave 1 to 3 minutes. If they are too brittle don't let your pet have them, microwave less if the change texture or color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18750" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T02:17:45.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28533" CreationDate="2020-09-08T02:59:57.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat may also be curious to learn how to do what you're doing. I had a tortoise calico kitten who was very interested in bathroom routines. By the time she was three, she would sit on the edge of the toilet seat and do her own business. She even figured out the flusher a few years later!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After she learned to use the toilet, she never went back to the litter box again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, as she got older, she couldn't balance on the seat and would just sit in the bowl making a matted mess of her back end. Eventually, she moved to using the bathroom sink. Cleaning out the sink was... less pleasant. She never bothered with learning the sink faucet controls. And she never went back to using the litter box to matter how hard I tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18751" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T14:57:44.217" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T14:57:44.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28540" CreationDate="2020-09-08T11:16:31.277" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess that your dog is at the same time loving you and still carrying some old traumas. &lt;em&gt;The best way, in my opinion, is to have patience and gradually learn to socialize&lt;/em&gt; - until the dog learns to fully trust you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the dog never having been socialized only adds to the problem - which is not a reason to despair anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote some answers for some cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27129/16373&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;here&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/26217/16373&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;here&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but the general idea seems to fit your case too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing to be aware of. Heterosexuality works even inter-species, even if it is not in a sexual way. I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;female animals / birds will be more attached to male humans;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;male animals / birds will be more attached to female humans;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;female animals / birds will be more aggressive towards female humans (jealousy? protection of their &amp;quot;mate&amp;quot;?);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;male animals / birds will be more aggressive towards male humans (jealousy? protection of their &amp;quot;mate&amp;quot;?);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, besides the generic problem of a possibly abused / traumatized (rescue) dog, you might have a less obvious issue with &amp;quot;sexuality&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, dogs might be friendlier towards children, compared to adults. And dogs, as well as humans, are unique individuals, and might have atypical personality traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T05:40:53.077" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T05:40:53.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28528" CreationDate="2020-09-08T12:33:40.617" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;People can get pretty weird ideas about things, superstitions and such. Some get ideas that black cats are bad luck, or an evil omen there is said to be an increase of black cats sustaining injuries around the Halloween holiday by individuals, and reports of missing black cats as well. People like to obtain black cats for whatever purposes around that time of year, maybe for novelty or dark reasons. It is just safer for black cats not to be put in jeopardy to potentially bad situations because there all sorts who have no scruples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18750" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T12:33:40.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27910" CreationDate="2020-09-08T13:11:48.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be aware that the stray will have been exposed to things that your indoor cat has not; that being said, feed them separately with their own food and water dishes, and separate litter areas, because most parasites and diseases are transmitted via these sources. Make sure to vaccinate both for the new family circle and deworm as soon as possible. I am not a proponent of flea dips, shampoos or collars because of the potential of harm to the pet, but it is an issue you will need to address because the stray will potentially have ticks, lice, or fleas that will move into your environment as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound strange, but it may be a good idea to keep the new kitty in the bathroom or another room with no carpet or soft furniture for a few days, and put salt an/or diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of the room, and if possible to dust the cats bedding with the D.E. as well. Groom the new cat with a brush or comb in the sink, tub, or shower, and look for signs of mites, fleas, ticks, etc. For the few days you have them separate, feed both cats the same diet, providing probiotics in their food and providing colloidal silver in their water. If you put flea and tick collars on them, don't leave them on unattended, as they may chew on them or strangle themselves with it if they are not used to one or if they get caught on something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are confident in a few days, slowly introduce them, making sure not to neglect or ignore either because they both have emotional attachment and could exhibit behavior issues. Additionally, if you do find signs of parasites, it is said that you can dust a pet with diatomaceous earth, avoiding breathing in the dust; this will kill off mites, larva, lice, ticks, and such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions listed, research for yourself first; hope this is helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18750" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T16:06:07.743" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T16:06:07.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25400" CreationDate="2020-09-08T13:29:15.233" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raccoons are very smart, resourceful and strong as well as determined, the more challenging the venture the more resourceful they will be. Most wild raccoons as well as coyotes are shy of lights though, a motion sensitivity light or and sound will keep predators at bay. It might put your mind at ease to walk the perimeter of your yard, especially the pets areas with human scent, and though this will appear odd to passers by, cougar or coyote urine, and human cologne or perfume dentures wild animals but not domestic dogs and cats and such. Switch scents off now and again, you can drag a cloth doused or put it on your shoes and gloves before or as you walk your area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the scent on your gloves touch spots that look like an animal might pause and look at or hide, like trees, fence post, flower or garden beds, the gates and doors windows, lawn decor furniture etc. Don't leave food out at night, try to feed your pets during the day. Don't leave the dishes out over night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18750" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T14:01:05.717" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T14:01:05.717" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19458" CreationDate="2020-09-08T13:50:27.080" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be blunt, these creatures can have Jekyll and Hyde personalities and can be very vindictive and decisive. I would not get one if you have children or live alone. They can be quite territorial protective and jealous, a combination that is worrisome to say the least. They have been known to turn on there owners/human family and other family pets. There are other classes of chimp or monkey that are safer, such as a leader or spider monkey types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18750" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-08T14:03:32.380" LastActivityDate="2020-09-08T14:03:32.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27435" CreationDate="2020-09-09T08:11:44.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats prefer to keep their living space clean. This means doing the... &lt;em&gt;ahem&lt;/em&gt; &amp;quot;business&amp;quot; somewhere far away. If your cat is free roaming, she is most likely following her instincts and going to alternative locations. Places with loose ground, with sand, whatever works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if she has never seen other cats do it, her instincts will tell her how to do it. It is how cats learn to use litterbox, they associate it as the place to defecate and their instincts tell them to bury the results. However, having ability to freeroam means that your cat now has somewhere further she does her business at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat shows no signs of distress of feeling sick, you should assume that scenario 1 is in the play: She wants to keep her home clean and for that reason, she will head out somewhere else to do her business. Out of sight, out of mind after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T08:11:44.050" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-09T12:57:20.103" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this morning I was having breakfast with bread and honey, and apparently a drop of honey fell over the table. My little kitten saw the opportunity and jump over the table and &amp;quot;licked&amp;quot; the drop of honey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if I should be worried about the botulism caused by &lt;em&gt;Clostridium botulinum&lt;/em&gt; spores, given that the drop was quite small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet isn't answering the phone and I would like to know if I should be doing something else!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;So the vet told me that if the kitten is healthy, and the quantity ingested was rather small, it shouldn't be a problem, and in his own words: &amp;quot;it's rather rare, and  there should be a concatenation of unlikely event for something to happen&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18763" LastEditorUserId="18763" LastEditDate="2020-09-09T15:43:22.793" LastActivityDate="2020-09-09T16:55:29.310" Title="4-month-old cat licks a drop of honey, is there something to worry about?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-10T03:48:46.933" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a Betta for my daughter that has quickly become my 5th child. We bought him from Petsmart, as I knew little about where else to go - especially with Covid19. He is in a 3.5 gallon (13 liters) tank with a filter that was advertised specifically for Betta fish. I conditioned the water and added a heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we brought him home, his fins were curled up though they seem to be releasing a little more now but not fully. He seems to dart around a bit and then hid behind his filter though he will come out once and a while and be playful. Its been 5 days and I’m worried he might have issues with his fins and if there is something more I should be doing. His fins have a few black spots on them. I will get a water test kit tomorrow to ensure we have the levels right. Just wondering what you guys think. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BZg1O.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BZg1O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18767" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-10T12:57:21.420" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T17:58:39.160" Title="Why are my Betta’s fins curled and maybe spotted?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28557" CreationDate="2020-09-10T05:53:46.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see nothing wrong with the fins of your betta. There is that darker spot on its forehead that might indicate a problem, but even that is within normality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice a change of behavior, then you could go to the vet to have a look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T05:53:46.127" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28542" CreationDate="2020-09-10T06:22:25.107" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she is not actively avoiding you, I think it's actually good sign. When brought to new environment, cats tend to find a place they feel safe and hide there, until they feel brave enough to explore. You observed this with when she was reluctant to explore and stuck to you. This is actually a good sign: she has decided that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are safe, that you are someone she can go to when she feels unwell or scared. It means she has already bonded with you. Although bath and others might be stressing, she might also associate you with healing and feeling better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 3 months, it is likely that she has found courage to explore and find the best napping places. She has grown to be a... well, a cat. Cats are notoriously independent, so by description she feels safe in your home to lounge in what used to be &amp;quot;non-safe&amp;quot; locations. And don't worry about cats sleeping, it is likely your cat has more nocturnal cycle (as most cats do have). Cats can sleep up to 15 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your main concern should be observing that she visits litterbox without trouble and eats her share. Basically, just look out for signs that she is not feeling well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat bonded with you quickly, but has since learned that rest of the house is not that scary and feels more comfortable lounging around. Unless she shows signs of distress, she is just acting like your usual cat that finds your home comfortable and safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-10T12:51:53.787" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T12:51:53.787" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28561" CreationDate="2020-09-10T12:32:23.333" Score="4" ViewCount="586" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we plan to go away for 7 days. So which of the following is the best for my Cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave them at home and have someone reliable feed them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put them in Cat hotel for the 7 days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pro for number 1 is that they stay in their environment so I think this maybe less stressful, but the con is that this may not be the safest. The pro for number 2 is that they will be safe, but I assume that it will be stressful for the cats as they have never been out of their home environment (other than trips to the Vet) and are wary of strangers. They hide away whenever we have strangers in the house. Both cats are chipped, spayed and are two and a half years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18769" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-10T12:42:54.540" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T13:23:22.713" Title="What will be safest and least stressful for my cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-09-17T00:27:28.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28560" CreationDate="2020-09-10T13:08:12.283" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would &lt;em&gt;assume&lt;/em&gt; that your home is reasonably cat safe - because of course as a responsible cat owner you will already have made sure of that (e.g. removed poisonous plants). And of course you can always do a quick check before you leave and remove or secure typical traps like shopping bags with handles or boxes with lids that can be pushed open and fall closed. Or restrict access to some rooms entirely, if necessary. Same goes for instructions to the sitter, like to ensure doors (both room and furniture) and windows are closed properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under that premise, having someone come to your home to feed your cats, clean the litter box etc. would in my opinion be a much better choice than a cat hotel.&#xA;I have myself been cat sitting a few times, including very shy cats. An experienced sitter will notice if something is amiss on a large scale, e.g. if the cats refused to eat. The he cats being wary of strangers isn’t necessarily a problem - a sitter waiting quietly in some unobtrusive spot may still be able to at least &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; them, on their way to the food bowl or so, and thus ascertain that everything is well, or well enough considering the circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stress caused by your absence and a stranger coming to your home is less than being dragged from their home and being “abandoned” in a completely strange place. Note that your cats have no idea of what’s suddenly going on and no concept of “temporary holidays” - they are suddenly somewhere strange and scary, and without you. And if they are not used to strangers (as you write), the personnel at the cat hotel won’t be able to console them or play/cuddle with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a bit of a head start before leaving, you could also try to introduce the sitter to your cats well beforehand - simply by them being around every now and then and possibly feeding them while you are still present. But in a pinch, I would get a sitter and leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-09-10T13:23:22.713" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T13:23:22.713" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28563" CreationDate="2020-09-10T14:59:46.013" Score="4" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;The situation now is that we have a 6 year old cat (no breed) with his special dietary food and a small kitten of 5 months (Mainecoon / Norwegian forest cat mix) with her special kitten food. We don't have a feeding schedule as the cats are not food obsessed and eat their bowl throughout the day. As the kitten food is much tastier than diet food, our big cat tries to get to it, but for now we have made a box for the kitten's food where only a small cat can get in. But as she will get much bigger, the box system won't work. Also the kitten sometimes eats the big cat's food seemingly just for company. So the question is what to do in that situation? Do we make a feeding schedule for the small cat or both of them? And how to go through that slowly or just start different feeding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18498" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T18:11:49.953" Title="Two cats eating each other's differently prescribed food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28562" CreationDate="2020-09-10T18:11:49.953" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had to start feeding both of my two cats different food. I accomplished this by switching from leaving food out all day to feeding them twice a day. It was much easier than I expected. When I put the food out, I just make sure each cat starts with their own bowl; I find they stick to their bowl and don't try to switch. I don't have to stand over them and enforce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought my cats would start waking me up for the morning feed, but they don't. I think that's because I don't serve them breakfast until about a half-hour after I wake up. Also, I give them more food in the evenings, so they aren't ravenous in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are mechanised bowls that will open only for a specific cat. Some work by detecting the cat's microchip, so your cats would need to be microchipped. Others work by detecting a special tag on the cat's collar. These special bowls are expensive, and I have no idea how well they work. This might be an option you could explore if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="982" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T18:11:49.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28573" CreationDate="2020-09-10T18:23:08.127" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, a cat appeared in our garden and was very adamant that he was here to stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From pretty much the first day, we found poop on the lawn which looks like it is his. Somehow his instinct to bury his poop is absent or overridden/suspended by something else. He also does it half-way in the garden area where he usually sleeps, and my door—pretty much smack in the middle of his territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background information: He had no collar, tattoo or chip that would provide any hints at ownership, but he appears clean and in good health. According to the vet, he is male, neutered, about a year old and without any apparent health issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is he has not been homeless for long, and that he either ran away, was abandoned or rode as a blind passenger in some vehicle (he is very curious and thus prone to getting trapped in any enclosed space). He doesn’t seem to have anyone else taking care of him: the first time I fed him, he appeared starved; after that, his appetite returned to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently staying in a furnished apartment. My landlady lives in the main building, my apartment is in an annex, but we share a garden. She doesn’t want him in my apartment, so I only let him inside when I feed him. Other than that he has been inside only twice, hence I cannot tell for sure if he is house trained (he always did his business outside). It also means he is pooping on my landlady’s lawn, which she is not very happy about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen two other cats in the area, one of whom he engaged in a territorial fight with (the second other cat was sighted a few days before he showed up).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What causes him not to bury his poop—could that be a way of marking his territory? And what can I do about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T13:44:49.900" Title="Cat poops on the lawn without burying it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27435" CreationDate="2020-09-10T18:24:40.500" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for the possibility of your cat relieving herself outside: she might have picked that up from other cats in the neighborhood, who might also have taught her the spots to use. By instinct, cats usually do that sort of business at the “edge” of their territory, as far as possible away from their living space. If your cat’s territory extends beyond your garden, it is quite likely that your neighbors are getting gifts from her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite normal for outdoor cats to stop using the litterbox in favor of a place outside: my old cat used the litterbox when she was young, but hardly ever as she grew up. I have also heard reports of people who eventually got rid of the litterbox for their cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T18:24:40.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28029" CreationDate="2020-09-10T19:25:30.993" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check if the animal is tattooed&lt;/strong&gt; (usually on the inside of the ears)—although tattoos are being phased out in favor of microchips (the latter being the only recognized form of identification in the EU if applied from 2011 onwards). If it is, a local vet should be able to see if the animal is registered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take it to a vet to see if it is microchipped&lt;/strong&gt; and registered. Microchipping is required by law in some countries (Lithuania being the one I know of) and an unchipped animal is possibly less likey to be reclaimed by the owner. In other places, while not required by law, it is still very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Repeat the collar exercise with a cheap but strangulation-safe collar from the pet shop&lt;/strong&gt;, and attach a capsule with your contact data to it, as well as an explanation that you believe the animal to be ownerless and asking the owner to notify you. The cat might have ripped off the paper collar, or it may mean that the owner simply doesn’t care and ripped of the collar without calling back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than looking for lost-cat posters, you can also &lt;strong&gt;put up found-cat posters&lt;/strong&gt; with photos, description and a contact number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check your local laws&lt;/strong&gt;, most likely the Civil Code or equivalent of your legislation regarding found animals. A local vet might know the law and procedures. For example, Lithuanian law would require you to report the found animal to the police or city municipality within three days, after which the owner has two weeks to claim the animal—if he does not, you are its legal owner. Things may be different where you live, but similar principles would apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-09-10T19:25:30.993" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28567" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-10T21:41:54.830" Score="0" ViewCount="481" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I start I want to say I am now on medication and have received professional help. It is not an option for me to rehome these cats as I will explain later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To start off i am 16 and still live my parents, I have lived all my life loving dogs, cats and other animals. But I had a problem with my 2 kittens, they are both 10 weeks old now, and for a week or two I abused them physically. I have no idea what I did to them, it would always be a black out, one second the cat doesn't accept me and the other laying on its back, panting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before going further, let me say that I am now clean, I have received help and am now on medication. I want to clarify this so no one says to rehome the cats: My parents don't know what happened and I have no intention of telling them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now whenever I am around or interact with them, they crouch down and stare at me. They don't run, they just stay very still. They used to be amazing, whenever they smell my finger they purr instantly. Now after a lot of petting nothing happens. This is justified as they have no reason to trust me. I really want them back, I know that socially they are fine, since when my dad or brother pet them they instantly purr so that's only me. I need help to let them trust me again, this time there will be no reason for them to mistrust me for the rest of their lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A thing I am trying and they are sort of responding well to is playing with food throwing it and them running off to get it. When this happens one of them lets me pet his back and start purring. The same cat is also very scared of me when I am walking around, he just sits and doesn't move. They also eat food out of my hand with no issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, I am a changed human, I was disgusting before and I still have to carry that disgust with me forever. But I just want my cats again and this time I will never lose them again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18775" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T12:51:40.337" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T16:53:28.757" Title="I need help rebuilding my cats trust after abusing them multiple times" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28567" CreationDate="2020-09-11T02:14:48.550" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very loaded question. Firstly, I hope you get well soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first thing you need to know about animals is that they don't hold grudges.&lt;/strong&gt; If they are still around you and interact well with your parents, it means they are not scarred for life. Also, kittens are very fragile. Since they are alive and your parents can't notice any scars, you couldn't have hurt them too badly. They will forget what happened in due time. However, just like approaching a friend you hurt in real life, you have to give them some space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Panting in cats is a sign of extreme stress. Do not approach them when they are panting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get some cat treats and occasionally offer them. Don't overuse this, because treats are harmful when they are consumed in large amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Extend your finger to them while keeping your distance. If they smell your finger, it means they let you touch them. This is how you ask for consent from a cat. Touch them only when they give you explicit consent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they are too afraid to approach even your finger, point something to them that smell of you. It could be your glasses if you wear one, your watch, even your mobile. This will give them an extra distance, so if they are too afraid to approach you, this can be your starting ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If they are willing, play with them with strings and other toys. Keep playing with their food as at least one of them like it. Don't touch them unnecessarily and never pick them up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can continue to let them eat from your hand, provided you first point your finger to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that you are unwilling to talk to your parents, but coping with drugs or depression might be a little too hard for you without their support. I would suggest you to talk to at least one of them. It wouldn't be just beneficial to you, it would also be helpful to the kittens. Your parents could look for signs of abuse on the kittens in case, God forbid, you relapse. Alternatively, you can talk to whoever helped you to get clean about the kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I stated above, kittens are very fragile so keep looking for signs of internal bleeding. Lethargy, blood in urine, blood in stool, black tarry stool and vomiting are signs of internal bleeding. Check their litter and watch their daily activity for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T02:23:59.790" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T02:23:59.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12208" CreationDate="2020-09-11T12:26:26.160" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you need to separate the male and female. Then get them spayed and neutered. This not only will get rid of the litters, but also it will get rid of possible Cancer, and other health issues.(Oooh, and the smell!) A month after they are fixed, you can put them back together. If you have any kittens (baby bunnies) at the moment make sure the mother is feeding them. If they are not being fed syringe feed them kitten milk, or safe bunny milk recipes. Additionally, I would take them out of their hutch/cage and try to have them free roam or in a playpen.&#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18780" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T12:26:26.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28567" CreationDate="2020-09-11T13:35:10.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like staying clean, rebuilding the trust of a cat will be a long-term dedication. Even a small relapse, be it out of frustration or lack of patience, will set you back months in your progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first and most important thing to understand is that &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; can't rebuild this trust. You can't force trust or friendship, you can only offer your friendship and good behavior and hope that the cats will trust you in time again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, this can take a long time, but if you're persistent and never betray what little trust there is again you will succeed. And with &amp;quot;being persistent&amp;quot; I don't mean forcing yourself on them, but being persistent in never causing them pain or emotional discomfort again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C.Koca gave you very good instructions in their answer. Some additions from me are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't look them directly in the eyes. For cats (and most animals) this is a sign of confrontation and aggression. They stare at you because they expect you to attack them again. Look to the side of them, so you see them just at the edge of your visual field to communicate with them that you don't want a confrontation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do the &amp;quot;lazy cat blink&amp;quot; to further communicate that you are no threat to them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they avoid your touch by walking a wide circle around you or ducking below your hand, don't touch them. This is another aspect of rebuilding trust: you won't touch them when they don't want to be touched. I know from personal experience how it feels to be avoided like that by a cat, but I was able to slowly show my cat that she can trust me and now (depending on her mood) I can sometimes pet her and she even purrs loudly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T13:52:19.263" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T13:52:19.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28564" CreationDate="2020-09-11T13:44:49.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right, all felines do not bury their faeces when they want to show domination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burying faeces is necessary for a cat to mask his presence to some place he is not supposed to be, mostly regarding to other felines. More careful cats also bury their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat wants to challenge other cats in the vicinity, leaving faeces open is the best way to do so. I once had a 14 year old Maine Coon staying with me for a week. In his own turf, he always buried his faeces but when he came to stay with me, he never bothered to bury them. There were other cats around and this was a way to show who is the boss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This behaviour come from very deep instincts felines carry. That's why I don't think you can do anything about it. I suspect as he gets used to your place, he would start burying them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an experiment, you can make him listen to cat fights. There is chance that he will think there are other aggressive cats in the neighbourhood and start taking precautions. But do not overuse this. This is like using laser pointers to control the cat, sometimes it is necessary but devastating to the cat's psychology if you use it constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T13:44:49.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28575" CreationDate="2020-09-11T14:36:07.357" Score="9" ViewCount="2929" Body="&lt;p&gt;So there is this one stray black cat that I have always been feeding. After a year, she started to stay most of the time around my house (still in my lot), up to the point that she decided to give birth to 4 kittens near my balcony. At first, she's like your regular mother cat who grooms and feeds her kittens, but after 6-9 months, she begun to visit me and left her kittens at my place. Now, every time she shows up, she always growls and hisses at them and hits them if they come closer. Is this because of stress? Or she's just the type of cat that will consider her kittens as territory rivals after they grew up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18782" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T20:10:03.753" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T20:10:03.753" Title="Do stray mother cats hate their kittens after they grew up?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28574" CreationDate="2020-09-11T14:59:44.637" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is natural behavior for cats. The kittens are now old enough to live on their own and the mother chases them away for several reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is the territory of the mother. If she doesn't chase the kittens away, she has to search for a new territory. Female cats sometimes live together, but male cats are not social and if she doesn't chase her kittens away, one of her sons would soon take over the territory and chase her away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her daughters will soon be sexually mature, if they aren't already. If she allows her daughters to stay, they would probably mate the same tomcat and would have litters at the same time. This reduces &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_variance&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;genetic variance&lt;/a&gt;, which increases the risk of genetic diseases and general weaknesses and forces several new mothers into a food competition. Cats won't move too far from their litter, so several mother cats must hunt in the same small area, where the food might not be enough for all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Her sons will also be sexually mature and want to mate. If a son mates with her or with her daughters, this is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;inbreeding&lt;/a&gt; and poses an even greater risk for genetic diseases and mutations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So mother cats first care for their kittens as long as those need her support, and then chase them away when they become mature to avoid inbreeding and food competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-11T20:04:54.197" LastActivityDate="2020-09-11T20:04:54.197" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28579" CreationDate="2020-09-12T08:39:47.857" Score="8" ViewCount="4465" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few questions about closed doors, but I feel my question has a bunch of different angles which makes most replies inapplicable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our three cats has a big issue with going to the vet. While normally a very calm cat, catching him to put him into the box turns into a literal persistence hunt, all the tricks to get him in the box won't work until he just gives up from exhaustion and we can pick him up - but even then only with gloves or your hands will be severely cut, as he puts up a fight for his life. This is also the reason why we need to close the bedroom door when we want to catch him, because otherwise he will hide under the big bed that we can hardly move and therefore cannot catch him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has caused him to associate a closed bedroom door with the &amp;quot;torture&amp;quot; of getting caught and going to the vet. While the door normally stays open, my wife sometimes gets up much earlier than I do and will have to close the door for 1-2 hours or I cannot sleep anymore. With every visit to the vet the behavior gets worse. Currently we are at the stage where he will cry (yell) non-stop at the door, attempt to scratch it open, pounce into it without interruption, which means I can now choose not to sleep because my wife is getting ready for work with the door open or because the cat is crying his soul out...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any recommendations how we could approach this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Funnily today's vet visit was super calm, he hid in a corner, walked into the box after a few minutes and has been super quiet even with the bedroom door closed. Maybe he read this post and was embarrassed...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18785" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T20:53:23.683" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T20:53:23.683" Title="Cat associates closed door with getting caught" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-12T10:50:08.100" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;She and her mother used to hang around a lot in the kitchen, so she picked up begging for human food from her mother; not so much going to their designated eatery to satiate her hunger. We thought she'd imitate her and figure out that pet food is edible, but her mother passed away recently before she can even observe and learn. Now she barely eats dry food unless we season it with broth, even then she just eats a couple pieces. We're planning on giving her away too, but we're afraid that she'll starve herself to death in her new home. How can we accustom her to eating cat food, dry ones in particular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18786" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T10:50:08.100" Title="3-month-old kitten won't eat cat food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28577" CreationDate="2020-09-12T15:40:43.257" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to &lt;strong&gt;break the existing conditioning&lt;/strong&gt; your cat has at the moment. The classic approach would be to close the door and &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; open it again. Then slowly increase the time that the cat will accept the closed door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you always open the door &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; he starts to fuss and complain and by all means before he freaks out - or you’ll likely start at square one again. Plan to work on that for quite some time, multiple times per day, and absolutely don’t do that catching him routine again. Don’t talk or fuss or console (hint: if you “console”, something must be “wrong” in his view, and so increase his anxiety), be very casual and matter of fact. Do it when he’s far away or near you, to make clear that the door opening and closing is not related to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested, you could look into clicker training to teach him to remain calm or ask you “politely” to open the door. But in high-stress situations it’s going to be tough, adrenaline tends to override food and learning drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you break the closed-door-panic, you must keep the bedroom door open even if it impacts your sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This post purposely focuses on the door issue as asked about in the question. How to de-stress vet visits and crate training is an adjacent and related field where cat and owner can benefit from training. Dealing with these may or may not help with the door drama. From the way the OP presented the situation, I feel the closed door has evolved into its own problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T20:51:43.247" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T20:51:43.247" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28585" CreationDate="2020-09-12T22:01:40.540" Score="2" ViewCount="660" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wL527.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/wL527.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My bitch was spayed on the 24th of August, so almost 3 weeks ago. This morning I noticed what looked like a small bruise near one end of her incision. Since then it has inflated into the photo I've provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like it's sensitive to touch, but it's not weeping or overly hot. She seems fine in herself, no more licking than usual, and still playful (maybe too playful?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned it's an infection coming in, and with it being a weekend the only vets are emergency only. Is this something I should worry about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18788" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T22:10:24.733" Title="Is my dogs spay incision infected, or is this some sort of blister?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28577" CreationDate="2020-09-12T22:08:40.140" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you aren't going to the vet, and you want to sleep, put the box just inside the bedroom door when it's closed. When you open the door he will see the box and decide to go elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, you'll have to get up a few times earlier than you want but you won't have to do this many times - cats learn quickly..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to adjust this a little according to how he reacts. For example if he cries at the door when you &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; going to the vet, pick up the box and show it to him. He will believe that crying outside the bedroom causes the box to appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are dozens of other possibilities you just have think like a cat! Their logic is pretty basic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I've explained well. Here's the simple cat logic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment he thinks closed door means box will appear outside of the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need him to believe that an actively opening bedroom door means the box will appear inside the bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This won't stop him going into the bedroom when the door is already fully open. If it does, ask again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-09-12T22:15:26.290" LastActivityDate="2020-09-12T22:15:26.290" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28577" CreationDate="2020-09-13T07:41:37.537" Score="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat was not thrilled to go into the box either (it was less severe than you, though). As soon as she felt that something was wrong she would run for her life under the bed and good luck getting her out of there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;we broke the routine of closing her somewhere and sneaking in with the box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;we put the box right in the middle of the living room for a few days, it was just sitting there without any use. Then we moved it across the apartment to various rooms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happened is that the cat initially was scared, then got used to the box and event entered there from time to time (we would not close it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, after some time, when she was in, we would close the box and reopen it shortly afterward. And move the box with her inside (open or closed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She ended up not paying much attention to it anymore. When she was being transported somewhere she did not like (anywhere, basically), she would jump out of the box when home but we would leave the box where it was. After a few hours, she was giving up being pissed off by the box and the more we did that, the shorter that cooldown time was. Then she stopped associating the box with the problem of getting out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T06:12:28.257" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T06:12:28.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-13T08:37:09.157" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not easy to find a vet, that is experienced in reptiles. Most cat-dog-vets, who have no experience with reptiles, do not admit that they may be uninformed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could I get knowledge about a vet that I will meet the first time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-13T23:47:42.937" LastActivityDate="2020-10-24T15:04:20.510" Title="How to identify a turtle/tortoise experienced vet?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28584" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-13T10:16:50.907" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take the following scenario: the tenant of a completely furnished apartment (including bed linen and towels) keeps a cat (European Shorthair) in there. The cat roams outside a lot of the time, but he also spends a significant amount of time inside, leaving hair and other things which can cause reactions in people who are allergic to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now suppose the tenant moves out (with the cat), and 1–2 days later a new tenant with a cat allergy moves in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would need to be done in the apartment (beyond regular cleaning) to get all cat allergens out, so the new tenant will not have any issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The floors in the apartment are hardwood and tiles, with carpets placed on top in a few spots. There is some upholstered furniture (part leather, part fabric) in there, as well as curtains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T13:24:58.967" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T13:24:58.967" Title="How to get cat allergens out of a furnished apartment" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28580" CreationDate="2020-09-13T10:38:03.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, this does look somewhat worrying. The rest of the incision healed very well, but the dark dot near the bruising could be a spot that didn't heal properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, you don't need to rush to an emergency vet, unless one of the following occurs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog is lethargic, sleeping all the time and avoiding physical activities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog eats or drinks much less than usual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bruise turns dark blue or black.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gums of your dog turn pale.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must keep an eye on this and documenting the progress with regular photos is a good idea. If it keeps spreading, turns a blueish or black color or if your dog gets a fever, go to the vet on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog starts excessively licking the bruise, put the e-collar (collar of shame) back on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog gets a fever or is having pain you can give her a weight-appropriate dose of ibuprophen as a first aid measure. Cut one tablet into 2 parts for a dog of more than 25 kg, 4 parts for a dog of 10 - 25 kg and even smaller parts for smaller dogs. Give one part of a tablet up to 3 times a day, but only after the dog ate something (ibuprophen causes discomfort and loss of appetite if taken on an empty stomach). If there are no signs of fever or pain, this is not necessary and could even prolong the healing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T22:10:24.733" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T22:10:24.733" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7176" CreationDate="2020-09-13T11:19:04.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see that this was asked a long time ago but it's still worth answering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are predators and are very sensitive to movement.  They can sometimes miss seeing a stationary animal (such as a rabbit) when it is obvious to us. However the second it moves, they will spot it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs with good eyesight can see tiny flies such as fruit flies in the air, even in conditions where it is hard for us - again this is because the flies are constantly moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I regularly observe this with my own dog. She will chase and snap apparently at mid-air.  It is only occasionally that I will manage to see what she sees but I certainly do sometimes if I look where she is looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes. Dogs who have good eyesight, &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; see things that humans can't. There's nothing weird about it. They are just more sensitive to movement.  Also it is quite possible they hear things that we don't and your dog was looking in the direction of a sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T11:19:04.723" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-13T11:33:01.280" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can dogs exhibit politeness?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I come from a science background and in general am very skeptical of anthropomorphic claims that people make about their pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have considerable experience with training my own dogs and of helping to rehabilitate rescued dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I have noticed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My previous dog, a Border Collie, and my present dog, a Papillon both have shown signs of what seems almost like politeness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dog who is not thirsty will pass by a drinking bowl and not drink, even if the bowl is indicated by the person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if the person offers a bowl by hand, some dogs (including two of mine) who are not thirsty, will take a token sip before turning away.  This contrasts with young children who will turn their head or even body away if offered something they don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my Papillon, she will also accept treats that she doesn't want. She will hold them in her mouth for a short while and then drop them - sometimes after the person has stopped taking notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a natural skeptic, I find it difficult to admit to myself that this could be some form of politeness or placatory behaviour and yet I can't think of an obvious alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have others noticed this phenomenon and if so, do you have an explanation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T11:37:51.520" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T02:21:28.813" Title="Can dogs exhibit politeness?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28584" CreationDate="2020-09-13T12:21:18.543" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to start by vacuuming any soft surfaces like fabric, carpets, curtains (use a vacuum with a HEPA filter); you might want to leave the windows open to get clean air inside and to get the dust out while vacuuming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any textiles that you can remove from the apartment need to be washed and dried before you put them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next you need to wash all of the hard surfaces with soap and water and change water often, it is best to start washing on top of each room and work your way down to the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clean one room at the time, start with the room farthest from the entrance; when you have cleaned each room, close the doors (if possible); this is to avoid contaminating the cleaned rooms with allergens when you move around in the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T00:05:59.080" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T00:05:59.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-13T14:18:44.577" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is around 4 and half months. I’ve had him since he had opened his eyes and around 3 months of his age I noticed it.  He has these thin/bald spots, on his other ear too. He never really scratches or grooms that area and I am really worried it might be something really bad. He doesn’t show any discomfort or any of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QCczc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/azIOS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18791" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-13T15:03:21.490" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T15:03:21.490" Title="Is this normal for my cat to be bald?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-09-13T15:06:44.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7176" CreationDate="2020-09-13T15:04:58.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes and no. That is, in some areas they see better, and in some areas they see worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both human eyes and dog eyes have rod and cone cells making up the retina. Rods are better at vision in low light conditions and detecting motion. Cones are better at visual acuity and can actually detect color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In comparison to humans, dogs have more rod cells, which means their visual acuity in well-lit conditions is actually poorer, and of course their color vision is much worse. Their vision is usually estimated to be 20/75 versus 20/20 which is considered the norm for humans, although certain types of dogs, such as sight hounds, may have vision acuity closer to that of a human's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, they will see better under low light conditions. In addition to their rod cells, unlike the human eye, a dog's eye has a layer of tissue behind the retina called the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tapetum lucidum&lt;/a&gt;. It's a reflective layer that reflects light back onto the retina, to help increase the light that hits the retina. This improves their night vision even more, and it's what gives dogs that distinctive greenish yellowish eyeshine in flash photos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, a dog's eyes are set a little more to the sides of the face than a human's, giving them a narrower field of good binocular vision but a little wider field of vision overall. They can compensate for the lesser binocular vision by turning their head to get the thing they're trying to look at more centered in their vision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also in comparison to humans, dogs are able to detect higher frequencies of flickering light, whereas to a human a light flickering so quickly will appear steady. In other words, dogs have a higher &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_fusion_threshold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;flicker fusion threshold&lt;/a&gt;. This means that it takes more frames per second in video media for the image to appear to be smoothly moving to dogs than to a human. Television, which is optimized for the human eye, may very well look like a stream of flickering still images to them. This is especially true of older media, where framerates tended to be lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, a dog's vision:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is worse at visual acuity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is worse at color vision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has a narrower field of binocular vision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has a wider field of vision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is better in low-light conditions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is better at detecting movement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has a higher flicker fusion threshold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T08:11:32.477" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T08:11:32.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28567" CreationDate="2020-09-13T16:53:28.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't explain to an animal that you are sorry. In any case they don't care that you are sorry. They just want to be sure that you aren't going to do it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the problem from their point of view. They knew you for a large proportion of their lives and you were kind and gentle. Suddenly, for no reason they could understand, your character changed. They have no way of knowing this won't happen again. You can't tell them verbally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must take as long as it takes to regain their trust &lt;em&gt;at their speed&lt;/em&gt;. Don't try to force anything. Find what does work and do that. If something you do makes them look scared then don't focus on them or try to reassure them. Leave the room or pretend to be interested in something else. This way they will learn that the cue you are not aware of doesn't lead to you approaching them - it leads to you leaving them alone.  Eventually this belief will replace the old chained belief of 'that behaviour means approach and approach means danger'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, don't treat them as creatures that are there purely for your benefit and don't demand their attention. Think of them and learn how to avoid worrying them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In their own time they will come around (unless you relapse of course). Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T16:53:28.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28587" CreationDate="2020-09-13T20:49:14.417" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was without a dog for a couple decades. About five years ago my wife and I adopted Mickey as a puppy from a shelter. He will lightly put his paw on me or my wife when asking for something, laying down if it’s for petting, going to the door if he needs outside, or going to where his treats are if he’s hungry. He intentionally will try to involve everyone present in playing ball, not wanting anyone left out. If he plays too hard, he’ll give licks of apology. He is polite and gentle. He also has a large vocabulary. We started spelling out words to avoid him knowing what we were talking about; so now he knows what the spelling of some words mean...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to recognize how another feels, having feelings yourself, are the basis for empathy and leads to the ability to be polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been shown dogs can recognize human facial expressions to know how others feel. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/dogs-can-read-your-facial-expressions-claims-springer-study-1870911&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/dogs-can-read-your-facial-expressions-claims-springer-study-1870911&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brain imaging has identified the same patterns for emotions in various animals, including dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brain imaging, both in terms of structure and function, shows enough similarities that it is reasonable to extrapolate varieties of experience across a wide range of animals. With similar brain architecture for the experience of joy, pain, and even social bonds, we can assume that animals experience these things much like we do, albeit without the words for those subjective states.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://qz.com/1476175/whats-it-like-to-be-a-dog-brain-scans-reveal-the-answers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://qz.com/1476175/whats-it-like-to-be-a-dog-brain-scans-reveal-the-answers/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From both experience and based on what science has discovered, I don’t see it as surprising to find some animals capable of being polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12035" LastActivityDate="2020-09-13T20:49:14.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28593" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-13T20:51:21.477" Score="4" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently bought a Russian blue kitten. According to the breeder, she is 3 months old (well, 3 &lt;SUP&gt;1&lt;/SUP&gt;/&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; now). Last week, when i brought her to the vet for a check, the vet was baffled. She said that she does not know the breed well, but the cat seems to be way too small and weights too little to be 3 months. My kitten weights 700g (1.5 lbs). Looking for weight guides for other breeds seems to indicate that my cat indeed is not 3 months yet, or maybe just extremely small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here have a Russian blue and knows how much a 3 months old kitten should weight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, it doesn't really change anything at all, since i'm free feeding her, it's more out of curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18794" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-13T20:58:23.190" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T09:02:39.940" Title="Cat weight guide for Russian Blue" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28594" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-14T00:24:43.630" Score="4" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I'm having a hard time with my new kitten. She uses the litterbox just fine. After using it, she gets out and only cleans her butt after a few or so minutes. By the time she does, she was on a lot of furniture already. I keep finding little poop stains everywhere.&#xA;I also let her come into the bedroom, as I generally don't mind it, if it wasn't for the poop stains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm actually not sure if she always cleans herself after using the litterbox, or if she sometimes doesn't clean at all. But when I did catch her cleaning herself, a few minutes have passed from her litterbox visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my first cat, so I'm not sure. Is this a problem many cat owners have? Do you just have to live with it?&#xA;Or is there a way to teach her to clean herself as soon as she gets out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Could this have something to do with the type of litter used? Or perhaps with the litterbox itself? I have a closed litterbox, and fine clumping litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to the comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this is my first cat, I wasn't sure if cats groom right after having used the litterbox. I can change the food. I have bought a sample set of two different brands for the wet food. The first week or so after I got her, she was only eating dry food, as she didn't seem to like the brand of wet food. And now that I think about it, I don't think I had seen any poop stains in the first week. So it seems to be an issue with the wet food. I wonder if it's just the transition to wet food. I leave out dry food during the day, and then feed her wet food in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten covers her waste immediately, that makes it a bit harder to check. Whenever I cleaned the litter box, the waste seemed to be normal color. It did look a bit too &amp;quot;bright&amp;quot; once or twice. The consistency/shape usually looked pretty normal to me. There were a few occasions where the shape seemed to be a mixture between normal and &amp;quot;clumped together&amp;quot;, if that makes any sense.&#xA;As mentioned above, I think the problem with the poop stains started only after she started eating wet food too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can help with that? Obviously, if it keeps happening, I'll try a different brand of wet food. How long do cats usually need to get used to a new food or new diet? I'm currently feeding her dry food during the day, and then wet food in the evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: Answer to comments, as i still don't have enough reputation to comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I forgot to mention, she has short hair.&#xA;I don't know tootsie rolls, as they don't seem to exist where i'm from. However, from looking at the pictures of it, i would agree that it's pretty much what i'd personally describe as &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot;. In fact, the first week her poop looked pretty much like that, and i think i didn't have problems with stains.&#xA;I'm pretty sure that this has to do with her wet food. She didn't touch it in the first week. But now she started gobbling it down. I took a closer look at her waste yesterday. The shape looked normal to me, and so did the color for the MOST part. One end was brighter, and she did in fact have a dirty butt again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if this is a problem with the wet food itself, or if she just need to get used to it. If the latter, how long does it usually take for a kitten/cat to get used to new food/wet food?&#xA;I was told she was eating barf before i got her, but i have no way to confirm if it's true. Considering i was lied to in regards to her age already, i wouldn't count on it.&#xA;I'm feeding her wet food with high contents of meat. To be specific, GranataPet and CatzFinefood.&#xA;Also, the occasional snack (sometimes crunchy, sometimes wet snacks).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18795" LastEditorUserId="18808" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T12:50:17.443" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T14:49:48.517" Title="Kitten does not clean herself after using the litterbox / only after a few minutes" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28596" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-14T06:10:49.743" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kittens about 22 weeks old and has never used the litter box. I’ve never have a problem with the mom I would have thought he would have learned from her but no. I’ve tried literally everything from smaller litter box, two litter boxes at opposite ends of the room, different litter, put him in there 30 minutes after eating and sleeping, with/without hood, keeping it clean etc. I can go on for hours I’ve read just about every article on this subject. It use to be in the bathtub then started keeping the door closed then he started in the hallway then stopped but has always gone in the room where the litter box is and he’s finally down to just going in that room. I’ve cleaned the carpet after every time but now it’s just gotten to hard to keep up with I have to replace the carpet now and have just picked up the poop and spray the area. if anyone has any help please!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18797" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T20:18:10.390" Title="My kitten won’t use the litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-09-15T22:40:14.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15589" CreationDate="2020-09-14T06:23:04.350" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of inserting a valve to the input of the pump, you should have another (a bit more complicated) setup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add a &amp;quot;short-circuit&amp;quot; between the input and the output, and insert the valve in the &amp;quot;short-circuit&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the valve is completely closed, then the pump works as designed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the valve is (partially) open, then some water will flow through the &amp;quot;short-circuit&amp;quot;, therefore reducing the flow through the pump, and through the tubes (especially the exit one, which is of interest to you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This setup should have no negative impact on the pump - but it might use more electricity compared to a smaller-sized, suitable, pump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T06:23:04.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28587" CreationDate="2020-09-14T07:25:36.217" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a scientific point of view, first we must define what &amp;quot;politeness&amp;quot; means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politeness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Politeness&lt;/a&gt; is the practical application of good manners or etiquette so as not to offend others. It is a culturally defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in another cultural context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the goal of politeness is to refrain from behaving in an offensive way so as not to offend others and make all people feel relaxed and comfortable with one another, these culturally defined standards at times may be manipulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the most simple terms &lt;strong&gt;being polite means not offending others.&lt;/strong&gt; You could also argue that &lt;strong&gt;being polite is part of moral behavior&lt;/strong&gt;, which is a term often used in scientific studies and makes finding results easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs were specifically bred for their social skills, be it their guarding behavior or as a companion. Moral behavior was already part of the natural behavior of wolves, but in thousands of generations of domestication, humans expanded the moral behavior of dogs towards themselves. Scientific studies show that dogs read the &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/eK7wp2xWOo4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mimic&lt;/a&gt;, gestures and &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ktIgM1qN4Lo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;tone of voice&lt;/a&gt; of humans and react accordingly, quite the contrary to wolves. They can even judge moral behavior and &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/aWphPYqJ35c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;react to cooperative behavior&lt;/a&gt; and a refusal to cooperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the social cohesion of a group is so important to dogs, being impolite and offending others can lead to frustration and aggression towards the impolite individual. The chances of getting help after you frustrated others is much smaller than after you helped others. This is the principle of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocity_(social_psychology)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reciprocity&lt;/a&gt;, one of the 2 core components of morality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We find comparable moral behaviors in many social animals, like apes, elephants, dolphins, rats and birds. Have a look at examples of moral behavior in several animal species in &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/GcJxRqTs5nk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Youtube video&lt;/a&gt;. At 10:00 minutes it explains altruism in chimpansees, which probably counts as the ultimate &amp;quot;polite&amp;quot; behavior because the altruistic individual does not expect any positive result in return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T07:41:13.073" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T07:41:13.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-14T10:22:44.150" Score="2" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend's chihuahua is generally very protective with his uneaten food, or when he has a bone to play with; which is fine as long as he doesn't bite for it (and he doesn't, he just growls). He already knows me for quite a while and I think that generally we made very good friends, I walk him out, we play together, he comes and cuddles to give me the good-morning whenever I wake up, and he sleeps with us at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main issue is his aggressiveness at night. Whenever I wake up and go to bathroom at night, I am sure he notices and wakes up. So when I am coming back and I am approaching the bed, he suddenly snaps and tries to attack me, and when given the chance might try to bite me, regardless if my girlfriend is asleep or not. I don't know what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.S.&lt;/strong&gt; He is almost never aggressive when we are in the bed, unless of course bothered too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.P.S&lt;/strong&gt; I firstly thought he might be aggressive because I startle him or wake him up suddenly, but I'm not sure this is the case, because when I go to the bathroom at first he is completely quiet, and I am sure he notices it. So when he attacks, he's already awake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.P.P.S&lt;/strong&gt; He has similar behaviour whenever he is relaxing with the owner (my girlfriend) in the bed, or when he is sitting and cuddling with her during the day (while more rarely)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I doing something wrong, or he thinks he's the king and I need to show him I am not a threat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18798" LastEditorUserId="18798" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T08:30:58.873" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T08:30:58.873" Title="Girlfriend's chihuahua very aggressive with me at night while being already awake" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-14T11:00:28.080" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3-month old lionhead bunny has started making a new noise. She previously was ill with the snuffles, completed a course of antibiotic. She was never very ill with the snuffles just very sneezy and a little bit of clear discharge from her noise. When she was sick and even now she is acting the same way, eating, pooping/peeing, and playing like normal. I’ve attempted to attach a video of the sound. It’s sort of like a rattle of chitter noise. She’s not grinding her teeth or purring. It’s not a constant noise and happens randomly. She is having audible breathing, I’m just trying to figure out if she is sick. TIA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New bunny mom!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://share.icloud.com/photos/06809WSg406eJnQ0nt8RloMig#Brighton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://share.icloud.com/photos/06809WSg406eJnQ0nt8RloMig#Brighton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: Could noisy breathing be a sign of illness? And if yes, for which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18799" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:26:57.557" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:26:57.557" Title="My bunny is making a new noise I’ve never heard before and I was wondering if anyone has ever heard a similar noise from another bunny?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28577" CreationDate="2020-09-14T11:49:03.133" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed my cats twice a day in their transportation crates.  If I need to take them to the vet, I just close the door as they are eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest getting a new crate (no bad associations), and start making it the most wonderful place ever.  Put tasty food treats in there.  Make it warm and cozy.  Anything you can do to increase the value of the crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the cat is unafraid of the crate, start feeding them there exclusively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5592" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T11:49:03.133" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28599" CreationDate="2020-09-14T16:02:06.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are descendants of wolves and some years of domestication do not erase the behaviors that were useful for millions of years in the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wolves live in packs that has a couple as leaders. These are the ones that get the first and best bites of the food and the comfortablest and safest places to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that the dog of your girlfriend sees itself and the girlfriend as this leading couple. So he defends &amp;quot;his/her&amp;quot; place on the side of the girlfriend against you. The place at the bed and at the &amp;quot;heart&amp;quot; of your girlfriend. So long she allows you to come to the bed, the dog is okay with it. But if the situation is not clear, for example when the girlfriend sleeps, the dog tries to give you orders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a pack the opponents need to establish a clear hierarchy based on the ranges. I assume you should have a higher range than the dog. But I have no experience to tell how to sensibly solve this, and would give it to another more dog-experienced owner...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-15T00:16:32.230" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T00:16:32.230" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28599" CreationDate="2020-09-14T22:16:36.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a very common problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will get worse if you don't tackle it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Optionally jump straight to the video at the end of this answer! I have no connection to this trainer or any other.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The (unfortunate) fact is that the owner often encourages the behaviour without knowing. They see small dogs as babies rather than adult miniature wolves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog knows full well it is an adult and senses that it is being given special treatment. It believes correctly or not that it is of higher status than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treating an adult dog like a baby does it no favours apart from the fact that small dogs &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; physically more delicate than large dogs. They are not mentally more delicate!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some owners feel guilty for asking for good manners from a small dog. However this doesn't require shouting or physical force - far from it. It needs simple firmness and a clear idea of priorities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've owned dogs and acted as volunteer trainer at rescue centres. I currently have a small dog (my first of that size) and my first few weeks were spent getting her out of the habit of yapping at every person and dog in sight. People now compliment me on how happy and well-balanced she is. She loves everyone and everything. Dogs don't like the stress of having to guard a human. The human should make it clear that they are in charge of what goes on in the household including safety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a chance your girlfriend is being complicit with the dog, possibly without realising it. It is remarkable how often a spouse will laugh when the pet threatens their other half. Also they make &amp;quot;there there&amp;quot; sounds which are meant to calm the animal but which merely encourage it to continue the bad behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also owners are terrified of hurting their dog's feelings and that if they enforce rules, the dog won't love them any more or will believe they don't love it. This simply isn't the case with dogs. They respect and love the authority figure in their life as long as the rules are consistent and fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not&lt;/strong&gt; be a rival for the dog. Dogs deal with rivals with their teeth. Never growl back at a dog or be aggressive back. That provokes a fight (or flight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be completely un-doglike and just act as an assertive human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you search Youtube for the ways various dog trainers deal with this &lt;strong&gt;very common problem&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a good one to start with. I may dig out some other good ones if I can find them easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/Nn8XQltxeSM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Control Freak Yorkie: Bailey - It's Me or The Dog&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T22:24:21.920" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T22:24:21.920" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17972" CreationDate="2020-09-14T23:06:31.787" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs can be sensitive to certain sounds for no apparent reason. I had a border-collie I got from a farm as an 8-week pup. She was fine with everything including fireworks, however if someone sneezed she would run and hide. This fear of sneezes lasted her whole life and I was just careful to smother sneezes around her. I always put it down to some experience as a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The raspberry noise can sound a lot like the following sound made by a horse (I don't know what to call this noise!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/T-qm1kl43rM?t=6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Horse &amp;quot;raspberry&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any chance your dog was ever startled by a horse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, there are two simple answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't ever do it again! However if ever you have kids this could deprive you of fun and, more seriously, if you started doing this with the kids it might cause the dog to think you were attacking the children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Associate the sound (but made quietly and well away from the dog) with good things. Every time it is time for dinner, make a light version of the sound before the usual food-bowl noises. Do the same  just before picking up the lead for a walk. As long as it's quiet and not in the same room as the dog initially, it will soon be associated with a forthcoming reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;  Take this slowly and a step at a time. Don't push it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Personal note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current dog was terrified to the point of shaking when I would snap just-laundered towels or T-shirts to get the creases out before folding them. I made sure I did it silently for a while and gradually went back to normal. She's fine now and takes no notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-09-14T23:12:02.240" LastActivityDate="2020-09-14T23:12:02.240" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28605" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-15T01:20:15.573" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have a 1 year old cat, he’s a very leave-me-alone kind of cat and only gives affection every now and then. In July we adopted a female kitten and unfortunately she was sick when we adopted her, so we had her quarantined for almost a month. We finally made the introduction with our older cat and the first few days he did fine, no hissing just some swatting, but he would ALWAYS chase her. So we would just put her back in our room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, he starts chasing her and trying to hurt her she has screamed/cried twice. So we just keep her in our room with some baby gates and my other cats just stays out here because I don’t want her getting hurt. I don’t know how to stop this situation; I have thought about just taking her back, but her story is just so sad and she got very attached to me and I really don’t want to. She is the sweetest little cat, but it’s also frustrating to just have her in the room and just seeing how my older cat just doesn’t leave her alone. Please, if anyone has any tips, I would appreciate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18805" OwnerDisplayName="Katia" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T01:09:02.893" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T01:09:02.893" Title="My cat doesn’t stop chasing and bothering my kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28605" CreationDate="2020-09-15T06:47:21.290" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cats just don't get along. It is a sad fact of life. By the sounds of it, your cat sees the kitten as an intruder who needs to be driven off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you can do is to try to associate the kitten with good things, like snacks and others. You should also consider putting blankets that your kitten sleeps on around your older cat, so they can get used to the scent. Keep the baby cage between two cats, so they can see each others without risking the kitten. If your cat just smells the kitten, give her snacks. If he swats her, don't give snacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have them supervised wandering, with older cat watching as kitten wanders around, then let older cat wander in the same area but with kitten removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have two separate areas for the two, where either one can retreat. Different bowls and such. Make your cat understand that his territory is not being threathened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, you want to try to have your cat associate the kitten with good things, snacks, pets, whatever he likes. However, since he is a male he might not be welcoming to strangers. Female cats are more likely to welcome new cats in their homes as opposed to male cats. You want him to get used to the idea that there is now another cat in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also be prepared that this process can take months to years. So if you want to keep your kitten, get ready for a long haul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16716" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T06:47:21.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28593" CreationDate="2020-09-15T09:02:39.940" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;OP here. This is going to be an answer to the comments. I've posted as a guest (haven't made an account yet). As a guest, i can't answer to the comments directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to topic:&#xA;Thanks for the answers.&#xA;To my knowledge, the mother cat had 3 kittens. I can't be sure about the age of the kitten. I only have the date that was written in the sanitary book/Passport of the kitten. She gained roughly 60grams this week (i think that's 2.1oz?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't see any green ring around the pupils yet. Also, by going with the weight chart, the kitten would seem to be indeed only around 8 weeks old, and not 12.&#xA;Which surprises me, because she needed to get a vaccination against rabies by law, which in turn again, is only allowed to be made once the kitten is 3 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18808" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T09:02:39.940" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-15T12:10:51.493" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Information regarding separating puppies from their mothers, generally, only talks about at what age is it appropriate to remove a youngling from its dam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't much information about whether pups &lt;strong&gt;need&lt;/strong&gt; to be parted from their mamas for behavioral reasons or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will behavioral issues occur in dogs that don't leave their mothers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T00:03:02.533" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T00:09:21.860" Title="Will behavioral issues occur in dogs that don't leave their mothers?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28609" CreationDate="2020-09-15T12:34:08.283" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most animals, that live social with each other (like cats and dogs) the nature added a built-in-health-system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One part of this is, that individuals that are relatives should not have children together. (Children that get the same genetic material from mom and dad have a very high risk for illnesses).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most cases this incest will be avoided by chasing the children off, when they are old enough to live alone. This behavior is nature-given (innate) to the parents and could not be trained off (as far as I know). In some cases the nature only wants to chase away the male children, in others both (male and female children).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under these circumstances it could cause a lots of stress and aggression to the old dog and its child, if they need to stay close together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T00:09:21.860" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T00:09:21.860" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20266" CreationDate="2020-09-15T14:15:21.667" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can only offer primarily anecdote-based information, I have consistently found drastic improvements with my cats' coats when feeding a quality all-wet diet. I will admit up front that I have not tried lower priced wet options, and that an all-wet diet can be more expensive than many kibble-based diets, as well as less convenient. However, four of four cats I've fed this way have very high-quality, soft coats when fed a species-appropriate canned food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As available foods vary between countries, and recipes may also vary from region to region, the best advice is to do your own research on what ingredients are in foods available for you. A species-appropriate food will be primarily named meat ingredients (avoid &amp;quot;meat&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;meat by-product&amp;quot; ingredients, as there's no telling what they may be), with some added supplemental vitamins, minerals, and vegetables (to simulate the stomach contents of prey). As cats tend to get most of their water through prey, a wet diet will lead to a better hydrated cat, and a cat who is hydrated and receiving proper nutrition will be more likely to have a healthy coat as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T14:15:21.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20266" CreationDate="2020-09-15T15:28:22.217" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is doing healthy in the cat food you have chosen for her, please don't change food again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Coat, I can give you advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try not to bath your cat on a regular basis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wait for a week or two for proper results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Add Fatty acids (Fish and Salmon) in your cat's food. (With vet advice)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18656" LastEditorUserId="18656" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T18:51:54.043" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T18:51:54.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28596" CreationDate="2020-09-15T20:18:10.390" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm not a vet, just an experienced cat owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are focused on scent. It could be that your continuous cleaning is taking away too much of his scent and not allowing him enough time to take ownership of the litter box, so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I would definitely advise you to get a cat litter mat to save your carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, you might try placing the poops you find next to the litter box inside of it. Leave them there long enough for him to find them the next time he has to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still can't get him to use the litter box, it's worth taking him to the vet. There might be some other, physical reason why he's not using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18809" LastActivityDate="2020-09-15T20:18:10.390" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28618" CreationDate="2020-09-16T06:58:28.960" Score="17" ViewCount="6607" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a 6 months male who has been used to freely wander outside in the countryside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering about letting him go outside. I live at the second floor and share a balcony with my neighbor (a entrance balcony, which means that the cat could go out if someone opens the entry door). That seems dangerous for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanna point out that he's very happy cat, always playing, cuddling with me, etc. But he's also quite fierce and rash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is, he often meows at the door like he's genuinely hurt and I can't stand it, I want it to stop. It makes me feel so bad and I work from home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about just letting him go, even if I live in a big city. Could that be that bad of an idea? Or could there be another way to distract him from going outside? Could castration help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18813" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T16:06:43.197" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T21:00:25.153" Title="Should I let my cat go outside?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T07:31:45.830" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is not necessarily a bad idea if you take the necessary precautions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat who used to wander freely outside knows the dangers and pitfalls of the outside. However, you need to take some precautions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your cat carry an easy break collar with your phone number on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your cat microchipped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have your cat vaccinated. Some people don't vaccinate their indoor cats, yet this is not a good idea. It is especially a bad idea to let an unvaccinated cat to wander around.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supervise the first few outings of your cat. Some cats just freak out as soon as they get out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some region-specific concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does your city have a population of stray cats? Male stray cats tend to attack other male cats and a 6 month old cat cannot defend himself against aggressive mature males. If this is the case, wait for your cat to be at least 1.5 years old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is your balcony easily accessible from outside as well? He will need a refuge in case he gets stressed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most important point: How is the foot and vehicle traffic in your region? Cats who are not used to human traffic can be spooked by them and dash to the street. Too many cats die this way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last comment: Cats do not always know what is best for them. They are curious by nature and get upset when they cannot explore as they want. &lt;strong&gt;So, if your house is in part of the city with active traffic and if the city has many stray cats, don't cave in to your cat's demands.&lt;/strong&gt; His psychology will change as he grows and after he is neutered and he might stop being insistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some addendum after the answers and comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is good or bad for the cat? Is not letting the cat out equivalent of keeping your children indoors indefinitely or forcing them to eat broccoli?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This depends on your neighbourhood a lot. Here in Cambridge, a city of 120000 population all cats go in and out as they will. Every household has a cat flap. Under these circumstances, you should let your cat go out. If you live in somewhere resembling central London, it is definitely a bad, potentially fatal idea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;However, if you don't let your cat out even if you leave in a small city with little traffic, your cat &lt;strong&gt;will be more prone to depression and obesity&lt;/strong&gt;. To prevent this, you have to play with them more, much more than someone who lets his cat go out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about dogs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The biggest threat to your cat is still other cats. If your cat is female, they might try to copulate with her by force. Normally being spayed helps a female cat, but not always. If your cat is male, he will be attacked due to territorial reasons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs rarely constitute a threat to cats, unless the owner maliciously raised the dog to attack cats. As a rule of thumb, a cat can defend himself against dogs that are upto three times the weight of the cat. Even the larger dogs would be deterred by the agility of the cats, unless they are taught to attack regardless. If your neighbourhood has a high number of stray dogs, they might corner and hunt the cat in packs, but if this is not the case, you shouldn't be too concerned about dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What about cats killing birds and rodents?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is true that cats are the main predator of birds and rodents in cities. However, there are other ways to protect the wildlife. The best way is to add &lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51K5e7J9xNL._AC_UY780_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bells&lt;/a&gt; to your cat's collar. If your cat is extra crafty, add more bells. My cat hunted seven mice and two birds that I have seen myself in four months after I adopted him, yet after I put two bells, he hadn't hunted himself at all, at least he didn't show me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long story short, if your neighbourhood is relatively safe for you to let your cat outside, you should definitely do it. It is better for not just for obesity, but also against mental health problems your cat might develop.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-09-19T15:04:08.253" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T15:04:08.253" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28617" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-16T08:58:47.283" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL;DR at bottom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've gotten a kitten at the start of this month (September). From the first day, she has had eye discharge in one eye, and has to sneeze every now and then. I was concerned, and brought her to the vet. The vet told me it's a conjunctivitis, and gave me some eye drops I'm supposed to give her up to 4 times a day. As most can imagine, the kitten isn't a fan of me holding her still and dropping something in her eye, so I've done it only 1-2 a day. While her eye did get better, it seems to have &amp;quot;stopped&amp;quot; healing for almost 1 week now. Her third eye lid is visible a bit, and it seems to be more red compared to the other &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; eye. The eye drops i received are on natural basis. Active ingredients: plant extract &amp;quot;eyebright&amp;quot; and Povidon.&#xA;The vet said that eye discharge is always accompanied by sneezing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to suspect it might be a URI rather than only a conjunctivitis.&#xA;Internet research shows that a normal conjunctivitis usually heals in 5-7 days, even without treatment. Since more than a week passed already, I'm a bit concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The eye discharge is clear/transparent, although at the inner corner of the eye where it &amp;quot;gathers&amp;quot;, its yellow. Her eye is not glued together or anything. The snot when she sneezes is also mostly clear/transparent. What do you guys think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an appointment with the vet next week because she needs to get her second vaccine, so I can ask then. Although I'm curious if the vet will even do the vaccine if she sees that her eye is still not completely fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&#xA;Bought cat at start of September. She is sneezing and has dischrage on one eye. Vet said it's conjunctivitis and gave me eyedrops on natural basis. Eye discharge got better, but hasn't healed completely yet. There was no visible improvement in the past week and the kitten is still sneezing. Eye discharge and snot both bright/transparent. New vet appointment next week for second vaccination. Should i do something before then or wait?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18808" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T14:57:38.770" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T14:57:38.770" Title="Pink eye/Conjunctivitis or URI?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T16:03:04.100" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were in your shoes, I would not let the cat go outside. It is just my personal opinion based on safety, though - and I'm saying this as a person who thinks that indoor cats are indeed missing an important, but non-essential aspect of their lives. Also, I tend to get deeply bonded with all the pets I'm taking care for, maybe too much, or maybe not - thus my opinion is naturally biased towards sacrificing their freedom for safety in such dilemmas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main concern is the fact that indoor cats, on average, have a lifespan of around 16 years - while outdoor cats of only around 4 years (please see the references included at the footnote for sources). I will paraphrase what &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/10702/allison-c&quot;&gt;a wise person&lt;/a&gt; once said, in your context: a child denied of going for a meal in a fast-food restaurant, and given broccoli instead, would also act like it is genuinely hurt, trying to make the parents feel bad, sometimes also making them not being able to stand it and give up - but this is actually bad for the child itself, and so is in my consideration letting your cat outside in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is okay and even preferred to let your cat outside if you are living in a village, especially if there are no wild predators like coyotes, etc. where you live - but city presents just too much potential hazards in my opinion. High density of traffic, high density of people (and not all people like cats!), dog owners deliberately unleashing their aggressive dogs to attack cats for fun - of course, all of these hazards are also existing in a village scenario - but it's just that in the city they are much more likely to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, it is your cat and your choice - but also your responsibility, thus I am happy and glad you have asked this question let us help you in your considerations. Please take note that I don't intend to mean that letting your cat outdoors is the worst idea possible; I generally think this dilemma is too complicated and multidimensional to be able to be easily summarized and answered by a single, best-solution approach. It depends on what does the owner value the most, and it naturally varies from person to person. If the owner shares the safety-number-1-priority-attitude with me, my answer might be convincing and useful. If not, the owner could decide to not agree with me and let the cat go outside - and that's fine, but it's preferred that it is a conscious decision, made after taking all the related hazards into consideration. Getting to see and analyze a point of view from a safety-oriented person, like me, is what could be regarded as getting informed about these hazards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk491/files/inline-files/Cats-Indoors_or_Outdoors.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk491/files/inline-files/Cats-Indoors_or_Outdoors.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cattime.com/cat-facts/health/78-indoor-outdoor-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://cattime.com/cat-facts/health/78-indoor-outdoor-cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehumanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/indoors_outdoors.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.thehumanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/indoors_outdoors.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/how-long-do-cats-live-cat-health-facts&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/how-long-do-cats-live-cat-health-facts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petco.com/content/petco/PetcoStore/en_US/pet-services/resource-center/new-pet/safety-precautions-for-outdoor-and-indoor-cats.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petco.com/content/petco/PetcoStore/en_US/pet-services/resource-center/new-pet/safety-precautions-for-outdoor-and-indoor-cats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/should-you-have-an-indoor-cat-or-an-outdoor-cat#&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/should-you-have-an-indoor-cat-or-an-outdoor-cat#&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/can-indoor-cat-be-part-time-outdoor-cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/can-indoor-cat-be-part-time-outdoor-cat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/lifespan-indoor-outdoor-cat-8777.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.thenest.com/lifespan-indoor-outdoor-cat-8777.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T10:35:57.897" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T10:35:57.897" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T16:42:01.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;C.Koca gives some good advice about collar and stuff. But I support that pets are not toys. They have their own personality and lessons to learn in life. If their faith is to die early (unlikely for a cat anyway), so be it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't lock-up your children at home because of all the dangers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would recommend letting him out early rather than later. As a young cat he will learn a lot of things. Others will not kill him. He will learn to run away from aggressors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm telling you from experience. My cat as teenager managed to run away a few times and we let him go in and out of our apartment as he wished. He certainly had good and bad days. I think he was a happy cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always cringe when I see fully-indoors cats. They look immature to and dependent to me. YMMV&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18816" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T16:42:01.657" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T16:50:58.427" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;The previous answers are great, and I agree that there are many dangers for the safety of outdoor cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is another reason I would not let my own cat roam freely outdoors: Domesticated cats are considered by many ecologists to be super-predators -- i.e., they kill many birds, many more than they eat, seemingly just for sport. Here's just one link to an article about it: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aaas.org/are-domestic-cats-backyard-superpredators&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aaas.org/are-domestic-cats-backyard-superpredators&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18817" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T16:50:58.427" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16473" CreationDate="2020-09-16T17:22:59.457" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your mantis already has wings so she is an adult and therefore won't molt anymore. It's possible she is about to lay an ooth or she is just currently full. If not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18818" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T17:22:59.457" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-16T17:53:40.107" Score="15" ViewCount="5291" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I have a Great Pyrenees. I've had groomers tell me that a dog's fur keeps them cool in hot weather as well as keeping them warm in cold. This argument holds as long as the environment is considerably warmer than the surface temperature of the dog's body temperature, but if the temperature is cooler than that, an insulator isn't keeping heat out - it's keeping it in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been having some uncomfortably warm days around here recently, and I've measured the dog's skin temperature using a contact thermometer and an infrared thermometer (I'm an engineer and an ex-physics geek. I have these things lying around.) We are, indeed, in the inversion situation. The dog's skin is warmer than the environment, but she's uncomfortably hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless someone can tell me how dog hair is somehow a heat sink, instead of an insulator in these situations, it's ridiculous to assert that dog hair is helping your dog keep cool unless it is considerably hotter than the dog's body temp. So can someone give me a physiological explanation that fills in details that my history with thermodynamics doesn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18819" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T01:22:03.790" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T06:01:03.797" Title="Why do groomers tell you not to shear a long-haired dog in warm weather?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T17:59:58.403" Score="22" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Buy a cat harness and take him out on supervised walks on a leash.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LxyHE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LxyHE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat on a harness, from Wikipedia&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat harnesses are a simple, affordable method for a cat owner to take their cat outdoors and let them explore in a safe, supervised fashion, and also minimize the risk that they'll kill innocent wild animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just put it on him periodically around the house to get him used to it, then attach a leash and take him for a walk around the block and down to the local park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11176" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T17:59:58.403" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T18:50:58.660" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think letting your cat go out is a good practice, but it could get you and your cat in trouble also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we talk about the mental health of the cat, then you should take him with you so that he may enjoy the open atmosphere and grow himself according to the environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we talk about the safety of your cat, and other animals around in the environment, it's not good practice. If you're about to take your cat outside, make sure your cat is under your control, and you've trained his behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you can use a cat harness if you're going out, and if you're not willing to use a harness, there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://petsdiaries.com/best-shock-collar-for-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;many training collars or shock collars&lt;/a&gt; available in the market, which will help you to control your cat with remote control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any further question, feel free to reply :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Love for pets!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a nice day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18656" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T18:50:58.660" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-16T18:53:07.730" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Letting your cat wander outside unsupervised is dangerous to his health. Never letting him outside will reduce his quality of life, perhaps drastically. Luckily, &lt;strong&gt;these aren't your only options&lt;/strong&gt;. Your best bet is a third option: let your cat outside in a supervised or controlled fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have several options to let your cat explore outside relatively safely. Which ones are feasible for you will depend on your living situation and cat, but hopefully at least one will work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Put your cat on a leash.&lt;/strong&gt; You may have to try a few different harnesses to find one your cat tolerates. Once he realizes that wearing it means going outside, he'll likely accept it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let your cat outside without a leash but while closely supervised.&lt;/strong&gt; I do this with my own cat. However I live on a road with minimal traffic, she knows to run towards the house if anything scary happens, and she doesn't run off. Your cat's temperament may or may not allow this option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let your cat &amp;quot;outside&amp;quot; in an enclosed space.&lt;/strong&gt; This could be a screened in porch, a cat run, or even a fenced yard if your cat doesn't climb. If you can't set up a cat run where you live, perhaps you could take your cat to a park or friend's home and set it up there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would strongly suggest you find one of these compromises that works for both you and your cat. My own kitty didn't go outside until she was over ten years old, and the improvement in her happiness and temperament has been incredible since I started taking her out. It really does enrich their lives considerably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12293" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T19:42:20.387" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T19:42:20.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28641" CreationDate="2020-09-16T19:07:29.237" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitty loves to go outside, but I live in an area with extensive wildfires at the moment, and so the air quality has been awful. I've been keeping her inside for the worst of it, but it's starting to clear up, and I'm wondering when it's safe to start taking her out again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The EPA in the USA has an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; title=&quot;air quality index&quot;&gt;air quality index&lt;/a&gt; which ranges from good to hazardous. Has there been any research into what levels are safe or unhealthy for cats? Maybe there are more general guidelines known, like creatures who breathe faster are more at risk or smaller creatures are less at risk or something like that? I've read the particles from wildfire smoke can get into your bloodstream and cause heart problems, but I'm not sure what the relative risk is for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What air quality is safe for my kitty to breathe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12293" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T01:14:22.050" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T00:59:48.097" Title="What air quality index (AQI) is safe for cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26515" CreationDate="2020-09-16T19:32:08.710" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question was asked a while ago and the baby in question is probably walking by now. I'll add an answer anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs can indeed be worried by a crawling baby even if they are happy with toddlers and pre-crawling babies. The problem for them is that crawling doesn't look quite right to a dog - it is not the standard quadruped gait. Also babies are prone to making sudden accelerations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can lead to a dog snapping at the approaching baby's head. Usually no damage is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog runs away, then make sure it has somewhere to run to. This is a fear reaction and fearful dogs shouldn't be backed into a corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, if there is any sign of nervousness on the dog's part, I would keep them separated for the few months until the baby is consistently walking upright (and even then keep an eye on things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I know this? Personal experience. My first Border Collie was concerned when the baby started crawling but - being a BC, they don't back down, they have to keep the 'sheep' under control. She snapped at the baby's head* and drew a tiny drop of blood. This happened while I was watching. Needless to say I made sure never to leave them alone together.  In my case, the problem went away as soon as the child started walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note - with a well-mannered BC the snap is a warning to an errant animal, not an attack. However babies have delicate skin and aren't covered in a thick layer of wool like a sheep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T19:32:08.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28622" CreationDate="2020-09-16T19:59:10.867" Score="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main question is this: Is your dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Single coated with hairs that grow endlessly at a constant speed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or double coated with hairs that grow to a predefined length and are shed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Single coated breeds are often &amp;quot;fashion&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;toy&amp;quot; breeds like Poodles and Shih Tzu. They actually do need regular hair cuts because their hairs don't stop growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dog breeds are double coated, &lt;strong&gt;especially&lt;/strong&gt; herding and mountain breeds and those from arctic regions, like Huskies, Shepherd dogs, Collies, Shelties, Golden Retrievers, Newfoundlands, Bernese Mountain Dogs and many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double coated means that there are 2 types of hair:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The primary hair or &amp;quot;top coat&amp;quot; is thick, smooth, shiny and long. It protects the undercoat from dirt and water and reflects more sunlight than it absorbs. It grows at an extremely slow speed and is shed whenever it happens to reach it's full length.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The secondary hair or &amp;quot;undercoat&amp;quot; is thin, fuzzy and shorter than the top coat, but each follicle produces several hairs. This is the thermal insulator. It grows quickly to a predefined length, then stops growing for several months and is finally shed in bulk seasonally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that a hair clipper cannot distinguish between top coat or undercoat, it just cuts all hairs to the same length. The top coat &lt;strong&gt;doesn't regrow fast&lt;/strong&gt;, and if the dog develops a condition called &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/condition/post-clipping-alopecia&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Post Clipping Alopecia&lt;/a&gt; it &lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/truths-and-myths-about-shaving-dogs-with-double-coats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;doesn't regrow at all&lt;/a&gt;. The undercoat &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; regrow quickly and it &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; be longer than the remains of the top coat. To be absolutely clear: &lt;strong&gt;One single haircut changes the fur of your dog for a VERY long time, possibly for the rest of its life.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gone is the smooth, shiny protective top coat. Gone is the soft cushioning fur that protected your dog from physical injuries and sunburn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As soon as the undercoat regrows, it will be longer than the remains of the top coat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fuzzy undercoat &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/why-you-shouldnt-shave-your-dog-in-summer/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;absorbs more sunlight&lt;/a&gt;, making your dog hotter in the long run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It doesn't repel water anymore. On the contrary, it soaks up rain and water and keeps the dog wet longer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fuzzy fur is prone to matting and picking up burrs and all sorts of dirt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Due to the missing protective layer, the undercoat becomes &lt;a href=&quot;https://5pointsanimalhospital.net/why-you-cannot-shave-all-breeds-of-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;coarse like velcro&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can take months or years for the top coat to regrow, depending on breed and coat length. If the undercoat matts in that time or becomes coarse, you might be forced to shear the dog again, prolonging the time to full recovery of the coat and increasing the risk of permanent change or damage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternative&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of shaving your dog, you should remove the already shed undercoat as completely as possible. Brush her fur thoroughly or let a professional groomer wash her. Groomers use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lovefurdogs.com/dont-shave-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cold hair dryers to blow the loose hairs out of the fur&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should give her a cool, shaded place to rest and maybe even offer her a small basin of water to cool off in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Then why do groomers say this rubbish about keeping cool?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I cannot tell you for sure. It could be a case of half-knowledge being repeated without anyone doubting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be a psychological reason. Imagine this conversation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Owner&lt;/strong&gt;: I want you to shave my dog, she's too hot in summer.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Groomer&lt;/strong&gt;: That's a bad idea, her coat will be ruined.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Owner&lt;/strong&gt;: You just shaved that poodle, you obviously had no problem ruining his coat. My own hair isn't ruined by a haircut either. My dog is too hot in summer, so I want you to shave her now.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Groomer&lt;/strong&gt; (doesn't want to hold a lecture): Please believe me that neither you nor your dog will be comfortable with the outcome.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Owner&lt;/strong&gt; (doesn't want to let their dog suffer): I'm certain she'll be very comfortable once she cools down a little, after all this fur is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the same as saying &amp;quot;smoking is bad for you&amp;quot;. The uncertain future negative effect doesn't feel as important as the current negative situation. The possible outcome feels unreal and intangible, while the current situation is very real and can be changed. Most people tend to ignore statistics and evidence and think &amp;quot;That only happens to others, I'll be fine&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if the groomer repeats the half-truth about fur keeping your dog cool, the owner feels like they are doing the right thing by not shaving the dog. Discussions and lectures are avoided. Most people accept the statement without questioning it or don't have the expertise to question it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T08:50:34.847" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T08:50:34.847" CommentCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28622" CreationDate="2020-09-16T20:41:04.603" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I agree 100% with Elmy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes when groomers are trained, they may not be told or may not absorb the true reason for doing certain tasks in certain ways. They may simply be told, &amp;quot;Don't do this&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of folk-tales circulating in the dog world that have little or no scientific basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A groomer will know that it is &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a bad idea&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; to trim certain breeds short. Failure to know this may even have resulted in lawsuits in the past by owners complaining about a ruined coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Telling an owner, that leaving the coat long will be beneficial for the dog, is also a way of deflecting argument from awkward customers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suggestions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can hose a dog down if it is outside in very hot weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow the dog to find the coolest, darkest place in the house and sleep there. Tiles are better than carpets for this. Dogs can sleep a lot in hot weather and it won't harm them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the dog for walks early in the day when the temperature is at its lowest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, make sure that fresh cool water is available near the dog at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-09-16T20:47:02.067" LastActivityDate="2020-09-16T20:47:02.067" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28594" CreationDate="2020-09-17T03:16:12.003" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you said it didn’t happen in the first week when she was on dry food only, I’d guess that it’s the wet food. If it were an infection, it would have been a problem from day one and likely wouldn’t be solid at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have extremely sensitive digestive systems. Their gut bacteria are highly adapted to their regular diet, so if any unusual food shows up, they experience “digestive distress”, which is a polite term for diarrhea. For future reference, any change in diet should be done gradually over a week or two, whether adding foods or changing from one to another, so their gut bacteria have time to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I’d suggest is free-feeding dry food and, if possible, giving half the wet food twice a day. Kittens get hungry every 4-6 hours, and meals should be consistent. You don’t want her starving all day and then wolfing down a bunch of wet food on a completely empty stomach right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T14:49:48.517" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T14:49:48.517" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-17T05:50:59.593" Score="4" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28622/why-do-groomers-tell-you-not-to-shear-a-long-haired-dog-in-warm-weather&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, the answers state that there are two types of dog breeds: dogs with a single coat that consists of a coat with a single type of hair, and dogs with a double coat, with an inner coat of fast-growing, short hair for temperature insulation and a slow-growing, longer coat that protects the inner coat. As a result, they recommend against shaving a double-coated dog, since the inner coat will regrow much more quickly, and this will leave the inner coat without the protection of the outer coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, for dogs with badly-matted fur, it is often necessary to shave them nearly down to the skin, in order to remove the mats for medical reasons and the welfare of the dog. If the dog is a double-coated long-hair breed, wouldn't this result in the sorts of problems mentioned regarding the loss of the outer coat? Is there any solution to this, aside from preventing your dogs' fur from getting matted to begin with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11176" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T01:07:31.967" Title="How should you groom a dog with a double coat and severe matting?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28622" CreationDate="2020-09-17T11:39:01.903" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will provide a comparison dog - human, along with explanations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a human, there are 2 ways for cooling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lowering the temperature of the environment; possible indoors with air conditioning, not possible under the full sun;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;perspiration + evaporation; the effect is amplified by applying ventilation, even without any active cooling. It works, because the water (perspiration) absorbs heat while evaporating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lowering the temperature of the environment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is there only one option for dogs? Simply because dogs cannot sweat through their skin. The only mechanisms they have for biological cooling are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sweating through the paws and nose; remember the wet nose?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;evaporation of the saliva; remember the dogs keeping their mouth open and the tongue hanging, breathing heavily?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog has his hairs not trimmed, then the dog will only have to deal with his natural internal heat. If the hairs are trimmed / shaved, the sun will heat the dog additionally, to levels which are not at all manageable by their biological processes. Additionally, if the hairs are trimmed excessively short they might even get severe sun-burns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;With&lt;/strong&gt; all the fur, the dog will feel &lt;strong&gt;hot&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Without&lt;/strong&gt; all his fur, the dog will feel even &lt;strong&gt;hotter&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bottom line 2:&lt;/strong&gt; learn to NOT go against the specialists in areas where you are not a specialist - not before really doing your homework and fully understanding things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_odor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia about dog odor&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dogs only produce sweat on areas not covered with fur&lt;/strong&gt;, such as the nose and paw pads, &lt;strong&gt;unlike humans who sweat almost everywhere&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had groomers tell me that a dog's fur keeps them cool in hot weather as well as keeping them warm in cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the poetic* way of expressing the facts. What actually happens is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;during cold times, the hairs prevent the body heat to dissipate - therefore keeping the dog &amp;quot;warm&amp;quot;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;during hot times, the hairs prevent additional heat to reach the body - therefore keeping the dog &amp;quot;cool&amp;quot; - actually, keeping him just &amp;quot;not warmer than needed&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;* poetic = easy to say and easy to understand by most people, even if it is not scientifically 100% true&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've measured the dog's skin temperature using a contact thermometer and an infrared thermometer (I'm an engineer and an ex-physics geek. I have these things lying around.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being an engineer using a infrared gadget is one thing. Not understanding the complexity of the situation (including biological facts) and drawing the wrong conclusion is another thing. Ignoring the advice of specialists, against the well being of your dog is the ultimate thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless someone can tell me how dog hair is somehow a heat sink, instead of an insulator in these situations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hair is not a heat sink, it is an insulator, as you stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it's ridiculous to assert that dog hair is helping your dog keep cool&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes it is ridiculous, because the assumption is wrong. The hair does not cool your dog, it just prevents the dogs body to be overwhelmed with the sun's heat. In this way, the body has to deal only with the internally generated heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For even more information, please search for &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;do dogs sweat?&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in your favorite search engine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T06:01:03.797" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T06:01:03.797" CommentCount="18" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-17T13:59:02.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats do love the outdoors, but letting one run free in an urban environment could be more dangerous to them than any good it might do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are alternative ways to let your cat experience some of its outdoor cravings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opening a window with a screen on it is one simple thing you could do - even just letting them breathe in and see the outdoors could be very therapeutic for them.  Be sure they have enough space to get comfortable on the window sill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if that doesn't seem like enough, there are window boxes you can purchase to let your cat be even further outside while still being safe - though they can be quite expensive, and potentially difficult to install on a second floor apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to figure out &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; your cat is meowing loudly at the door.  It might not have anything to do with wanting to get outside - rather, cats are territorial, and it may be agitated at people it smells or hears outside your door (or wishing it could play with them) in which case, it may simply need a companion to keep it company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T13:59:02.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4362" CreationDate="2020-09-17T15:55:23.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 4 long haired cats. When our oldest eats the wrong food, she'll have diarrhea the next day. When this happens, we follow these simple steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The one noticing it will yell &amp;quot;Kakapo!&amp;quot; (German for &lt;em&gt;poop butt&lt;/em&gt;, not related to the flightless birds with the same name) to alarm the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab the cat and take her to the bath room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the meantime the other one gets the pet hair trimmer/scissors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close the door. (If you're alone, close the door first, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; get the trimmer or scissors.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Secure the cat by pushing her down gently. Maybe put one hand below its tummy so it will raise its butt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start cleaning the poop with toilet paper (so you can flush it easily).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there's only little poop, just clean up as much as possible and let it do the rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there's more than the cat can handle, trim these parts of the fur. Be &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; careful not to hurt the cat by accidentally cutting into the skin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the amount is huge or there's poop at places you can't/don't want to trim (like its paws), put her in the bathtub or shower stall and &lt;em&gt;gently&lt;/em&gt; clean off the poop with a weak jet of water from the shower head at a lukewarm temperature. You don't need soap as poop is easily soluble in water. Then try and rub it somewhat dry. The cat will clean the rest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bigger chunks have to be cut out of the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterwards thoroughly clean the surrounding area and any tools used (hair trimmer, scissors). Especially if the reason for the accident is some illness, to prevent infection of other household members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've done this often over the past years and our cat still loves us until today. It's important to stay calm yourself and be quick. Don't worry if it's going to hide for a while after the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PS:&lt;/strong&gt; All of our cats are (kind of) used to an electrical hair trimmer designed for pet hair (the shaving head is finer than for human hair so it gets stuck less). Since yours aren't, use &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; scissors instead (e.g. get a new one from a barber, there are also specialized pet fur scissors, but they aren't any better or worse at cutting fur from my experience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PPS:&lt;/strong&gt; If accidents happen more often, consider trimming the fur that may get hit often to prevent too much poop from sticking in it in the first place. We've formed a habit of keeping the fur around her butt and the back of the hind legs down to her ankles short. The occasional trimming isn't stressing her as much as getting caught, secured and butt-wiped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PPPS:&lt;/strong&gt; If you really want to use one, ask a professional pet groomer about a good one, especially designed for cats. As mentioned in another answer, dog skin and cat skin differ and dog shampoo should not be used on cats. Additionally in most countries, soaps/shampoos for pets get tested less than human equivalents and can be quite hurtful for them. We've never used soap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T15:55:23.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28622" CreationDate="2020-09-17T16:17:56.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some commonly cited reasons, which are mostly not true or not fully true:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cutting the hair will cause it to grow back differently or not grow back. This is not true because hair is &lt;em&gt;dead&lt;/em&gt; and has no sensory ability, so the hair follicle has no way to know if a hair has been cut or not. Thus, the follicle cannot change based on a hair being cut. (If you damage the skin/follicle, e.g. by plucking or a cut on the skin, that could change hair growth.) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/hair-removal/faq-20058427&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-if-you-shave-or-wax-your-hair-will-come-back-thicker/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Scientific American citing two specific studies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another variation on this one is the idea that the coats of certain dogs grows very slowly. This has some truth but it is a little more complicated. Focusing on the breeds with double coats (because those tend to be shaved most), most of those breeds are seasonal shedders. They naturally shed most of their fur twice a year. So if you shave one of these dogs around the time they finish growing in their fall coat, you can't expect the to regrow much until the spring shedding starts. But, a further complication, the trigger for shedding is (probably) &lt;a href=&quot;https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0227115&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;light&lt;/a&gt; (maybe a temperature component, too). So if your dog is kept in your house with artificial light and temperature, your dog may never receive the trigger to start shedding. No shedding, no regrowing fur. If your dog is a year-round shedder, that doesn't apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dog needs the fur to stay cool. The evidence usually given for this is a thermal photo that has been floating around the internet. It shows a partially clipped dog, where the parts that are clipped show as hotter than the parts that aren't clipped. This is mostly a poor understanding of what thermal imaging means. (OP owns a thermal camera and probably knows this but I'm including an explanation for completeness.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thermal imaging only shows the surface temperature of what it is pointed at. If there is fur, it shows the temperature of the &lt;em&gt;fur&lt;/em&gt;. If it is pointed at skin, it shows the surface temperature of the skin. Now imagine someone under a heavy blanket. If you touch the outside of the blanket, it will feel about the same temperature as the air. But the person under the blanket may be quite warm. Because the blanket is an insulator, the surface temperature of the blanket was different than the temperature underneath. Similarly, in the photo where the fur shows as cooler than skin, that does not mean that the dog is actually cooler under that fur. To do an accurate comparison you would need to measure the skin temperature of the dog &lt;em&gt;under the fur&lt;/em&gt;. (Or, better, the core body temperature of the dog, which is what really matters.) If your dog has very long fur, you can approximate this by putting your hands under the fur and feeling if it is warmer than the air temperature (it generally is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the fur is an insulator, shouldn't it be keeping the dog cooler in the summer (insulating it from heat)? An insulator will keep heat on one side from reaching the other side. In particular, the side that is cooler will stay cooler and the side that is warmer will stay warmer. So if the skin temperature of the dog is less than the outside temperature, then the dog will stay cooler if insulated. Skin temperature varies over the body, but the torso skin temperature of a dog is probably in the mid/high 90s (Fahrenheit) (mid-30s C) (I couldn't find a direct citation for this, but torso skin temperature for humans is only slightly lower than body temperature, so it should be similar for dogs. Also OP directly reports that the skin temperature of the specific dog is warmer than the air temperature.) So if it is more than 95 F outside, &lt;em&gt;take your dog inside please&lt;/em&gt;. Wolves, foxes, and coyotes do this naturally by creating dens that provide cool places during the day and hunting at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, as a simple test, if long fur was somehow beneficial in heat we would expect to see longer fur on animals in hot climates compared to animals in colder climates. We would expect the ocelot to have longer fur than the Canadian lynx, the desert fox to have longer fur than the arctic fox, etc. But somehow this doesn't happen. Even when we think of a warm climate animal that has notable fur (camel, lion) they often actually live in a mixed area (desert that gets hot during the day but very cold at night) and they usually have some areas with long fur and some with short fur so they can regulate their temperature by changing which areas are exposed. Cold climate animals which have short fur usually have either seasonal regulation via shedding (growing more fur during winter) or some other compensation such as high body fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more very good study showing that &lt;a href=&quot;https://science.sciencemag.org/content/314/5807/1941&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;light is a primary driver of shedding/fur regrowth&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10372" LastEditorUserId="10372" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T17:42:04.313" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T17:42:04.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-17T18:53:18.277" Score="2" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Persian male cat is 1 year and a month old. Two days ago, one of our close friend brought her Persian female cat, because Queen was in heat, who also is 1 year and a month old. Tom is 10 days older than the Queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was difficult at first, but after some hours they were comfortable with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is since it is first time experience for both Tom and Queen, they don't know how to mate. Queen tries to raise her bottom up, but my Tom is having a hard time getting the positions right. He bites the neck, and mostly humps on the back of the middle of Queen's spine. It seems, even they are frustrated because they cannot mate. Also, Tom is larger than the Queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it has been two days, is there anything I can do to help? Or is it too soon for both of them. Could you please advice. Even I am sad listening to my Tom cry because he cannot full fill nature's order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17772" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T19:26:45.927" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T19:26:45.927" Title="Cats don't know how to mate" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;reproduction&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-17T20:17:19.903" Score="1" ViewCount="692" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats (3 y.o. female Bengal, spayed) absolutely &lt;em&gt;loooves&lt;/em&gt; the taste of the sticky side of tape - especially packing tape (or at least, that's what's usually available) but I've also caught her licking the double sided tape I put around electrical cords to deter her and her brother from chewing on them. She has no interest in the non-sticky side, and she usually doesn't chew on it that much as far as I've seen. I'm not bothered by this behavior - licking is at least a nondestructive alternative to chewing on the cords - unless it's bad for her or a sign of poor health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea about what's causing this strange behavior? It's been going on for months if not years, and she's got a clean bill of health from her last vet visit. She and her brother get the same food, although she is &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; more motivated by dry food than he is and preferentially consumes it during the rare times it's an option for her. But that doesn't seem enough for her to be experiencing some form of malnutrition, is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is a problem, is it something I can train her not to do? Or should I just keep her away from exposed tape from now on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16755" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T19:56:57.230" Title="Why does my cat like licking tape so much?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28643" CreationDate="2020-09-17T21:21:55.970" Score="6" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, let's get a couple of things out of the way first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am not in this to torture birds. I have a deep love for all animals, &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; birds. I'll explain myself further in the body text below.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have not done anything yet, nor will I until I carefully consider all facets of this question - &lt;em&gt;including&lt;/em&gt; the ethics. Heck, I don't even know &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; I would do this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, some explanation. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sialis.org/hosp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;House sparrows (HOSP) are a notorious invasive pest in North America.&lt;/a&gt; They compete with local cavity nesting songbirds such as bluebirds and chickadees for available nest space. Sometimes, this competition becomes lethal - HOSP are highly aggressive and there are many documented cases of them trapping native songbirds in their nests and murdering both adults and chicks as well as destroying eggs. They also crowd out native birds at feeders, though this anthropocentric concern is not a crime that warrants the death penalty. Trapping and euthanizing of HOSP is entirely legal and often recommended as the most effective strategy for protecting local native songbird populations - at least, for bird-lovers who have the stomach for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem is, I don't know if I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have the stomach for it. As mentioned, I love animals - maybe a little too much, because despite knowing how detrimental they are to my beloved local songbirds I'm not sure I can bring myself to kill a captured sparrow. I do, however, know two fluffy little killing machines who stare with palpable longing at every sparrow that lands outside my windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, cats are their own problem for bird lovers - they can decimate a local bird population and their murder spree doesn't discriminate between invasive and native/threatened birds either. So mine are kept indoors. But I do feel bad keeping them cooped up; despite my best efforts to play with them and provide them stimulation, they're definitely not leading as interesting a life as if they were allowed to roam free, and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110526114531.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;studies on free-roaming cat ranges&lt;/a&gt; shows that an apartment is definitely smaller than the roaming space they'd like to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I draft up a plan to capture local sparrows and execute them by throwing them into gladiatorial combat with my cats, though, I've got a number of questions. The obvious one is the ethical dilemma. Feeding HOSP to a predator is at least natural, and it kills two birds with one stone: gets rid of sparrows without forcing me to kill them myself, and provides my cats with some welcome stimulation. But there's no denying that it's not a very merciful death, especially given how cats like to play with their food. &lt;strong&gt;I'm not sure Pets.SE is the place for complex ethical dilemmas, though&lt;/strong&gt; - maybe I'll post a corollary to this question on &lt;a href=&quot;https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ethics&quot;&gt;Philosophy.SE&lt;/a&gt;. There are a number of other more mundane aspects to this, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this dangerous for the cats? They're entirely indoor cats fed on mostly wet food, so they aren't used to meat with bones or feathers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do I run the risk of exposing my cats (and myself) to disease? For example, I know outdoor cats typically pick up &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma gondii&lt;/em&gt; from their food (which picks it up from soil, I think).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this potentially dangerous for the cats, given that HOSP are highly aggressive and my cats are not the brightest, despite what they think?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will this spoil the cats for live prey? I want them to get more out of their lives, but if I start this and then later stop, are they going to feel all the more captive because they know what they're missing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there other factors that I'm not considering, but should be?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rest assured that the ethical aspects of this are heavy on my mind, and I'm not going to go ahead with something like this lightly. I still haven't decided whether this is something I'm comfortable doing at all. But I figured that there's no sense grappling with the complex moral dilemmas until I know whether this is even a reasonable thing to consider at all, ethics aside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16755" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-17T21:30:00.180" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T00:27:34.920" Title="Should I capture live (invasive) house sparrows for my indoor cats to hunt?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28637" CreationDate="2020-09-17T22:36:27.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that the cat is attracted by the smell of the adhesive substance, the &amp;quot;glue&amp;quot; of the tape, whose ingredients depend on the manufacturer - but, generally, contain volatile compounds with a distinctive aroma, which - as it seems - turns out to be attractive and appetizing to your cat. If you sniff the tape, you'll probably be able to detect that aromatic, chemical smell yourself. I believe this adhesive is safe if the tape is used as intended, but it definitely isn't made to be safe for consumption and letting your cat lick this is potentially dangerous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take into account that a lot of harmful chemical compounds have attractive and pleasant smells, especially in low concentrations - and a cat could definitely be fooled by its sense of smell to consume a potentially harmful substance. As I've mentioned, I don't think any of these substances in the adhesive are immediately dangerous to health and life, but a prolonged and chronic exposure by licking definitely isn't preferred. I'd suggest applying measures to prevent your cat from licking the tape anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, your cat could also be potentially affected by pica, which is an appetite for inedible things. It could, indeed, be a result of nutritional deficiencies - but it could be as well be caused by a mental disorder or simply by boredom, it's hard to tell over the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-09-17T22:36:27.060" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28631" CreationDate="2020-09-17T22:53:41.953" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there's a medical need to shear the dog, then the consequences (far more grooming required, possibly additional shelter needed) until the dog's coat is regrown maybe a year later are just a consequence and equally necessary. Also, if the consequence is that the dog loses a few top coat hairs, then that's how it is. Medical need means that the consequences of not shearing are worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, the other question discusses whether shearing (without medical need) can help the dog over summer. And there the answer is that already the consequences of the top coat needing many months to regrow are not worthwhile.&#xA;Also, possible changes in hair composition due to shearing are of course more of a concern if the dog would be shorn regularly rather than once due to medical necessity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first question is maybe what you consider severely matted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are rescue cases that are indeed shaved because there's almost no fur that is not in a mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the level of matting I have experience with, and that I'd call severe matting in the everyday sense (severe vs. mild: mild can be sorted out by combing, severe cannot): a Newfoundland dog in a region with sticky loamy soil and plenty of burrs, blackberry etc. This will produce a composite material which is the canine analogy to steel-reinforced concrete in no time. The practical way to deal with this (even a Newfoundland will get to the limits of his patience) is to take a scissor and cut off those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first difference to shearing is that you'll cut this off as far away from the skin as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second difference is that this does not happen at arbitrary places all over the dog, it happens in particular spots. E.g. between the legs, in the axilla and groin regions. These regions have little or no underwool, they pretty much only have outer coat hairs. Thus, in these particular places, you don't have much of a problem with undercoat wool growing faster. (I guess evolution found out that having underwool there will lead to endless mats before wolves could appoint a human to groom them...). Other areas with plenty of underwool, e.g. the back, shoulders or outside of the thighs are far less prone to matting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, you only cut away what is strictly necessary. (You can also try to cut away only the outer part of the mat and see whether you can comb out the rest)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you have to shear the dog because it is completely matted: I've seen a few double coated dogs that were shaved. They all did grow back a fully functional coat in time. That &amp;quot;in time&amp;quot; can be a year or so, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, the dog will look a bit like having puppy fur - alternatively, like an exploded sofa cushion. In that state, you'd have to take extra care:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;since the coat is not yet fully functional again, the dog may have to live largely indoors, depending on weather.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in the &amp;quot;exploded sofa cushion&amp;quot; stage, the fur collects a lot of dirt, burrs, you name it, making it more &lt;em&gt;prone&lt;/em&gt; to mat again. But this is not given, you can prevent it by grooming the dog. But you'll need to groom far more to prevent more matting in this stage than you'd need with the coat fully functional.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="12293" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T01:07:31.967" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T01:07:31.967" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28626" CreationDate="2020-09-18T00:59:48.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't been able to find any studies on the effects of poor air quality on animals, but I was able to find quite a bit of general guidance. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/resources/pet-owners/emergencycare/wildfire-smoke-and-animals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Veterinary Medical Association&lt;/a&gt; says this (and the guidance is very similar to other sources):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As irritating as smoke can be to people, it can cause health problems for animals as well. Smoke from wildfires and other large blazes affects pets, horses, livestock and wildlife. If you can see or feel the effects of smoke yourself, you also should take precautions to keep your animals – both pets and livestock – safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals with cardiovascular or respiratory disease are especially at risk from smoke and should be closely watched during all periods of poor air quality.  Look for the following signs of possible smoke or dust irritation in animals. &lt;strong&gt;If any of your animals are experiencing any of these signs, please consult your veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Coughing or gagging&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Difficulty breathing, including open mouth breathing and increased noise when breathing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eye irritation and excessive watering&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inflammation of throat or mouth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nasal discharge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Asthma-like symptoms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Increased breathing rate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fatigue or weakness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Disorientation or stumbling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reduced appetite and/or thirst&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tips to protect pets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep pets indoors as much as possible, and keep your windows shut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds are particularly susceptible and should not be allowed outside when smoke or particulate matter are present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let dogs and cats outside only for brief bathroom breaks if air quality alerts are in effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid intense outdoor exercise during periods of poor air quality. Exercise pets when dust and smoke has settled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a pet evacuation kit ready, and include your animals in your disaster preparedness planning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So essentially the guidance for pets is the same as for people, and you should avoid exposing them to outside air when the air quality is poor enough that you would avoid exposing yourself to it. For birds you may want to avoid exposing them even if you're comfortable with the current air quality since they are especially susceptible. Same goes for if you're healthy but your pet has risk factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The air is forecast to be in the &amp;quot;unhealthy for at-risk groups&amp;quot; level here tomorrow, which is a considerable improvement over the current state.  Assuming that actually happens, I intend to go outside with my kitty for about 20 minutes. I'll watch her while outside and after we go in to see if she shows any discomfort. I also plan to avoid encouraging her to run around, since that would make her breathe faster and increase her exposure. If she tolerates that happily then maybe we'll repeat it throughout the day a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she's healthy and not too young or old, I feel this is an acceptable trade-off between the health risks and alleviating her boredom. It would probably be fine to let her lounge outside longer than that, but I personally find it uncomfortable to breathe air outside of the good/green zone, so I'm limiting the time outside for my sake as much as hers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12293" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T00:59:48.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-18T04:13:31.323" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom and I have 3 cats, a 3 year old female, and a 2 year old male, along with their 1 year old daughter. The male is fixed, however our female is not. We have noticed that he randomly attacks the female, very aggressively. It causes them both to lose hair chunks, along with my female cat being always timid and scared. I feel bad for her, they all are very friendly ultimately but she’s been distant and skittish. Please let me know maybe some suggestions on how to stop this? Or maybe even a cause? She’s scheduled to be spayed in the next month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18838" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T23:25:59.607" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T23:25:59.607" Title="Male cat attacking female" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28638" CreationDate="2020-09-18T04:35:06.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;All cats need to hunt capture and kill, but this does not mean they need to hunt live prey; your cat will do fine if the hunting behaviour is satisfied by hunting toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hunting and eating birds poses a risk for your cat; birds do very often carry intestinal parasites like worms, and birds are a common source of &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating birds does not pose a problem; your cat will know how to crush the bones and how to eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Birds, in general, are not the most common prey for cats; cats hunt mostly  ground living animals like mice, rats, voles, frogs and lizards, different cats hunt different types of prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my advice is to leave the birds alone and focus on playing with your cat to satisfy your cat's hunting needs. To play with your cat you need to let the cat hunt and stalk the toy; next thing for your cat is to capture and kill the toy (so wait a few seconds before you pull the toy away from your cat); repeat until your cat is satisfied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use some variation when you play with your cats, toy up in the air mimics bird hunting and toys on the ground mimic other prey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this answers some of your questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-19T00:27:34.920" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T00:27:34.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2020-09-18T05:13:42.793" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it’s OK to give raw meat because they are from feline family and raw meat provide that nutrients canned or processed cat food cannot provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But make sure your cat is used to eating raw food diet, else it will upset their stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I give my cat raw meat like chicken breast, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, beef and lamb since he was a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start with small quantity and closely watch your cat baby for any symptoms then continue with larger amount slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18839" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T09:08:58.490" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T09:08:58.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-18T10:50:19.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have grown to grudgingly accept that cats will be cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As your cat has been used to freely wandering outside in the countryside, I think you should be considering this fact the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has experienced the outdoors, and knows the existence of 'outside'.  I don't think it is really possible to undo this.  The cat may forever yearn for what is out there.  They are explorers, after all.  You may adversely affect your outdoor cat's mental health by restricting him to inside-only, and he will likely take advantage of any opportunity to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My subjective opinion here is that it borders on cruel to deny an outdoor cat access to the wider world.  Especially if is he is an 'Entire Tom', with balls intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a real urban area it is very likely to be in you and your cat's best interests to restrict, even deny, his access to outside.  As a responsible pet owner you must of course do what you think is best for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering will be essential.  If he is not castrated, he will roam, and he will get into trouble!  He may disappear for weeks at a time, and come back for a meal before disappearing again...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A neutered cat is not driven to roam, and is much less likely to get himself into trouble.  Although he will look at you angrily from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I exist 'in partnership' with my cat.  I provide him love, food and shelter, in the same way I provided his mother and grandmother love, food and shelter. In return he provides me with scratches, hairballs and cat-poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He comes and goes as he pleases, and if I lose him to the wider world I will be distraught, but I grudgingly accept this as a fact of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are cats!  This fundamental fact really means he should have access to outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though if you choose to keep him indoors, please do one thing.  Get a plant pot and sow some grass-seed and keep it by the window.  He will need to chew on a blade of grass once in a while, to help with an upset stomach, especially if he is a long-haired cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely have him micro-chipped, and don't bother with a collar.  If you must, use a safety-collar designed to break away under pressure.  By using one of these collars you more-or-less guarantee that your cat will soon return without a collar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the best to you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8331" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T10:50:19.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-18T12:31:57.713" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone suggested using a shock-collar. I think it is worth saying why this is a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all there is the question of cruelty that others have mentioned but I'll mention some practical reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are anywhere near a road, the cat may simply run into the road through fright at the first shock. Thus it may get run over on the first test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cat has to know where home is and all the routes back there &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; you can tell it where not to go. For this to happen you will need to let the cat out for a couple of weeks &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; the collar before it knows the neighbourhood. Once you do this the cat is going to crave being outside even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You may end up training the cat to stay &lt;em&gt;away&lt;/em&gt; from home because it will associate the shocks with being near home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you use a hand-operated collar then, unless you have done a course and know the difference between; Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Punishment, Negative Punishment you will probably use the collar in exactly the wrong way. Even being &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; versed in the theory is not enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you gave someone an advanced theory course on how to ride a bicycle but no practice, they would fall off just as often as someone who doesn't have the theory. When you fall off a bike, you only hurt yourself and your motivation is what makes you get back on. If instead your parent was standing by watching you try to ride, and giving you shocks when s/he thought you were doing it wrong, then (a) you will hate your parent and (b) you will probably never learn or just get off the bike and run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of experience with training dogs and some experience training cats (yes it is possible) and I know that one bad experience will set the training back sometimes by months and cause the animal to stop trusting you.  &lt;strong&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt; A couple of typical &amp;quot;punishments&amp;quot; that owners give their cats are (a) putting them in a box to go to the vet and (b) forcing them to take pills. Of course from the owner's point of view, they are caring for the animal. From the cat's point of view the owner is simply being cruel for no reason.  Getting an animal to trust the owner following doing these things in the wrong way can take a lot of time and effort. Witness questions on this subject here and all over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training by punishment removes trust between pet and owner and, unless you understand precisely what you are doing and have practised it (say on a volunteer human) to get the timing right, you may merely train the animal to run away. If you simply buy a collar and get started, it would be like buying a powerful motorbike and heading for the centre of town without training, i.e. disastrous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T12:31:57.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28689" CreationDate="2020-09-18T12:55:53.343" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine called me very stressed today, because she became an owner of two rabbits that were given as a present for her children.&#xA;The grandparents bought them from another farmer in this village and she could not deny it. As you could see: she is totally new in having rabbits...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are 5 weeks old, both male and the farmer told &amp;quot;to buy some cat milk for them&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After our talk she is now more sad than before, because she now knows that they are way too young to be separated from their mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I know feeding (and changes in feeding) are a large risk for rabbits, my question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What to feed 5 week old rabbits?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-18T13:04:31.503" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T14:59:58.010" Title="What to feed 5 week old rabbits?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28615" CreationDate="2020-09-18T15:52:40.747" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;NO!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Been there done that with tame and feral cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My experience is that the feral cat will end up badly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tame cat would do well if you were in a house.&#xA;I suspect that living in an apartment would make it unworkable, but I have not had that situtation yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18845" LastActivityDate="2020-09-18T15:52:40.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-19T05:13:31.840" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently use bathing sand in my rats' litter box but I'd like to change it to something I can just flush down the toilet (it would be much more convenient). I tried using tissues but they just take them out of the box to play with. So I thought about that biodegradable soya based or corn based cat litter but I don't know if it is OK to use for rats (and I couldn't find any information on it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18852" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-19T10:49:40.333" LastActivityDate="2020-09-19T10:49:40.333" Title="Is biodegradable cat litter safe to use in rat litter box?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2020-09-20T10:25:35.337" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is repeatedly vomiting, and his behavior suggests he is not comfortable. These are clear signs that there is something wrong with him, and he should be taken to a vet asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try feeling his ears: if they are unusually warm, he has a fever—another sign you need to take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is anything you suspect might be related (such as the food you fed him), do mention it to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T10:25:35.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-20T13:25:43.077" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are not interested in adopting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Places we have tried: Petfinder (little success), Yelp (little success), Nextdoor (little success).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Respectful, helpful, reputable breeder-focused recommendations welcome. We are living in the USA in Southern California.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12051" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-20T21:27:12.710" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T12:08:12.023" Title="Where is the best place to search for recommendations on reputable dog breeders?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28489" CreationDate="2020-09-20T14:19:42.353" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to double what @Harry V. said, i.e. x-ray! Please!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The radiation dose is not significant; I am surprised if the vet(s) didn't do it already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is so young. I hope she will be OK!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16367" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T14:19:42.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18124" CreationDate="2020-09-20T15:25:12.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry food expands on contact with water, either from a bowl/fountain or stomach acids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, if she eats dry food too fast, she will fill her stomach and, when it expands, the food has nowhere to go except back out her mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she doesn’t have a weight issue, the simplest solution is free feeding. She will eat many smaller meals throughout the day, which can expand without overflowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; have a weight issue, however, free feeding will make it worse. You will need to give her more but smaller meals. An automatic feeder can help with this. Or you can switch her to wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-09-20T15:25:12.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-21T01:12:54.077" Score="3" ViewCount="788" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our German Shepherd has had this growing tumor for a year and half.  It has grown so big and has destroyed her teeth and the inside of her mouth.  The tumor smells SO BAD we don’t know what to do.  Her vet prescribed an antibiotic about 6 weeks ago, but now it is not working.  We know she doesn’t have much time but the problem is she doesn’t seem to be in pain.  She still loves to eat, go for a walk and is excited when we come home.  It just doesn’t seem like she is ready to go.  Bless her!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smell is on the edge of unbearable. We are wondering if we are missing something.  The vet treating her is no longer at the pet hospital, which is really frustrating.  He last told us the tumor is really bad and is going to rupture.  Maybe it’s ruptured already?  It seems like it would make a mess.  Any advice would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18863" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T01:20:25.750" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T09:21:52.773" Title="German Shepherd with horrible smelling oral tumor" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;cancer&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28657" CreationDate="2020-09-21T09:15:24.600" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my (admittedly limited) experience with tumors, there's not much you can do against the odor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you need to understand the state your dog is in. Tumors are bundles of cells that are physically and functionally changed (the medical term is &amp;quot;neoplastic cells&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;neoplasia&amp;quot;). A tumor &amp;quot;rupturing&amp;quot; doesn't mean it's going to burst open like a cyst, it means that the neoplastic cells are no longer able to survive and simply start dying (the medical term is &amp;quot;necrosis&amp;quot;). This is unavoidable and not the source of the bad smell.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The real problem is that the mouth is full of bacteria, which now find numerous niches on and in the tumor to grow to much higher numbers than normal. They produce the worst of the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to be prepared that the state of your dog can change every day. Her body is still coping well with the necrosis and infection, but if the infection reaches the blood stream or overpowers her immune system, her state will deteriorate quickly. Please make plans for that unfortunate occasion in advance so your dog doesn't have to suffer until arrangements are made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can be done against the smell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet was on the right track with trying to kill the smelly bacteria with antibiotics, but antibiotics must be distributed via the blood stream. If necrosis set in, there is no blood reaching the outer parts of the tumor and bacteria are no longer inhibited by the antibiotics. A study found that antibacterial essential oils have a positive effect on malodorous tumors in humans. The full text is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7999016_Antibacterial_Essential_Oils_Reduce_Tumor_Smell_and_Inflammation_in_Cancer_Patients&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;available here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an attempt to address this problem [of malodorous tumors], we have been conducting a pilot study in the use of topically applied essential oils. Essential oils such as tea tree and eucalyptus oils have recently gained acceptance as safe and effective antiseptics.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Their potent bactericidal activity has already been proven in in vitro and clinical trials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have previously reported that the elimination of tumor-related malodor is possible with an essential oil mix-ture, the application of which led to an improved quality of&#xA;life for our cancer patients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately &lt;strong&gt;almost all essential oils are toxic to dogs!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the principle is clear: kill the bacteria growing on the tumor and the odor is improved. Please ask your vet for an antibacterial solution for dogs. Obviously it must be safe to be ingested in small amounts. Soak a cotton pad with the solution and wipe it over the surface of the tumor to hopefully kill some of the smelly bacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please consult your vet whether or not to continnue the antibiotics treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T09:21:52.773" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T09:21:52.773" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24278" CreationDate="2020-09-21T09:53:55.910" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be looking at both, the Malaysian Trumpet Snail as well as the Tarebia Granifera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Tarebia Granifera&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this shop selling them (I am not affiliated to that shop in any way), the life expectancy is about &lt;strong&gt;3 years&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.garnelen-guemmer.de/genoppte-turmdeckelschnecke-mieniplotia-scabra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt; (German website)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alterserwartung: ca. 3 Jahre&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This other German website on pets claims a life expectancy of max &lt;strong&gt;3 years&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grumpi.de/haustiere/aquaristik/arten/schnecken/turmdeckelschnecke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lebenserwartung: bis 3 Jahre&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to these research notes, the life expectancy is &lt;strong&gt;more than 1 year&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1003.5479&amp;amp;rep=rep1&amp;amp;type=pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://watermark.silverchair.com/680399.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAqgwggKkBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggKVMIICkQIBADCCAooGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMdOniWthhgrjTkeR3AgEQgIICW48nmVYZPVWss44fq4u7Bgdh0VkVJ2TWXtuSzOzV1-e3fPuNcDLykowNGhr9Zh1DRms0ZAzUyzRNH-76etmi6WMXPxWJB3BTWw4Q-9dEwdI9pXEnAyrMhpsPTLeurVI1yBgALMLUbrEjonyTRNXlrDORrNb8C1SHCr1KjP0rbI_ikj1JqP0PIqD1fSAkwy0Iiwk2Z0rL1py5NRnFRHcbmnKXNcw4tnBI14GpEU7JUrL8BhfozfjFRq0V4CnI1B3MzSBzD1lLEvgBvXv1iEk7pVi-4do0YhfOHa4LCbm077FLmFqLl39HoVLvJ1tSJWZmKtrpqn1nSkSVlowhNesgPiVoOr0P0r5lDPjD58-rQ12bwRXFYPfR42GrVbrjZ9IdQptGJaIujT8ltZKm0V5SupW3MWvWG-a0004cLieeGy7agl7nZ4hf1a2mI0alycW0DRf0M1h1jE4Ij9ClbQU_YlboO-_Pk2QAH9zH5l7nuwshN__odNSLek4pZIZCejaTmFTwSasqsRjA-UmKdyGYVLNmlTGShTy9p0IRKFyEw0zmQqXftWhj4GBrf7aK3DLYaMFogh_IPp-dLNsVk5isWMQk3SWzP4S6aVcXahXh8IU3ydl7qQCIQ6CzLsKikIyQMqUrC4Nk1Pngtb9aHcODLlD-VIG-kVJDpVX_Krg0qytFmIvQ7Ks9xGB3y6cIFmPybhGNb4EErg2lUmeUqvZ5VbqffJJ9EvrVX_lyenrbyTVBxpQUHWlBy_x1b9fjqIUR5keCF7PRVZIEEs1nYSvfcLgaXjrRR5TBe7FYrQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Alternative link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of its bionomics, studies in Cuba9–13&#xA;showed it to be a relatively long-lived species with an expected&#xA;life-span of more than a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, on this German kind-of-forum website a user named &amp;quot;Fynn Günther&amp;quot; claims a life expectancy of &lt;strong&gt;2 to 5 years&lt;/strong&gt; for the whole family of Thiaridae, without specifying the exact species. Also this claim is unsourced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turmdeckelschnecken kann man im Aquarium halten. Sie benötigen, um sich gut fortbewegen zu können, feinen Sand oder Kies als Untergrund. Die optimale Wassertemperatur liegt bei 22-28 Grad Celsius und das Wasser sollte klar und sauber sein. Außerdem bevorzugt die Turmdeckelschnecke als Lebensraum Wurzeln und Blätter und ernährt sich von verrottendem Pflanzenmaterial. &lt;strong&gt;Die Lebenserwartung liebt bei 2-5 Jahren.&lt;/strong&gt; (emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Malaysian Trumpet Snail&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this page, the life expectancy of this species is &lt;strong&gt;about a year&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquariumcarebasics.com/freshwater-snails/malaysian-trumpet-snails&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, Malaysian trumpet Snails live about a year, though sometimes some snails can live a little longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Aquarium Guide&lt;/strong&gt; approves: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/malaysian-trumpet-snails#The_lifespan_of_Malaysian_Trumpet_Snails&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, Malaysian Trumpet Snails live about one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd expect them to live for &lt;strong&gt;1 to 3 years&lt;/strong&gt;. Considering that they can give birth to a baby snail every 12 hours&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T09:53:55.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28663" CreationDate="2020-09-21T13:14:12.453" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have got two garden snails in a glass jar which is covered by a thin cloth for ventilation.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For food currently I have given them white rice and powdered egg shells. I have also sprayed the bottom of the glass jar with water to keep the area wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have placed a cardboard in there in a bent position for them to hide and rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing that I have not put there is mud. Will it be okay if I don't put mud there?&#xA;If no, then why is mud be necessary for their happiness and survival? Can it be replaced by something more maintainable and easier to clean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to have lots of leaves as substrate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="759" LastEditorUserId="759" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T16:49:37.727" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T13:46:00.997" Title="Do pet garden snails need mud?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28666" CreationDate="2020-09-21T13:47:08.743" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have adopted a &amp;quot;mack snow&amp;quot; leopard gecko this weekend, from the local exotic pet store. She's called Rosie (my 7yo son chose her name). She is being fed on mealworms &amp;amp; crickets, but the crickets will come later... for now, we have a small carton of mealworms. What tools/techniques can I use to ensure the longevity of the mealworms, such that I'm not discarding a significant portion week on week? I have put some thin slices of carrot into the boxed mealworms on stand-by. Can I do the same with the mealworms in her feed bowl? I appreciate the added benefit of &amp;quot;gut-loading&amp;quot; by feeding the mealworms on stand-by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: She's now called Snowy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18867" LastEditorUserId="18867" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T06:55:25.720" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T06:55:25.720" Title="Keeping mealworms alive" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28661" CreationDate="2020-09-21T15:20:57.937" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Snails need substrate to be &amp;quot;happy&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I's not strictly essential for their survival but snail will bury if they need to lay eggs and if the environment they are in is not ideal (too low moisture, too cold/hot, not enough food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use store bought coconut fiber as a substrate, it doesn't smell and it retains moisture much better than dirt/mud.&#xA;I also find that dirt absorbs a lot more heat thus making the enclosure colder, but this is based on feeling, i haven't done any measurements yet, and it tends to get liquidy very fast if you don't pay close attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly if you buy coconut fiber from a store it likely is free of any parasites, unlike dirt that you may pick up from your garden or even store bought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also i'm not 100% sure but i think that leaves will decay fast in an high moisture environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have a substrate that is twice the height of your snails, humidity at around 70 - 90%, depending on the species, and a small dish with water so they can drink from it, just make sure they can't drown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16863" LastEditorUserId="16863" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T13:46:00.997" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T13:46:00.997" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-21T15:51:55.627" Score="9" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;h1&gt;The situation&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our oldest cat (Persian, about 13 years) developed a pretty nasty allergy to almost all foods. So she's given enzymatically hydrolysed cat food. If she eats &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; else, she'll quickly get diarrhea (usually the next day) and the skin around her face starts itching badly. If she continues to eat the wrong food, she'll start scratching her eyes and ears until they'll start bleeding. Also she'll start coughing badly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've taken her to the vet numerous times and they suggested to either treat her with cortisone/steroids until the end of her days /which works well, but then she's hungry all day and therefore stressed out) or use enzymatically hydrolysed wet cat food. The food actually works pretty well, if she's eating it. However she really doesn't like it and only nibbles on it. Usually she gets 3 portions a day of 45 to 50 g each (1.6 to 1.75 oz). Yesterday she didn't even finish one of her servings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand her: the texture is like pudding and it's pretty sticky. Also it smells bad. I wouldn't want to eat it, either. Unfortunately it's the only food we have that she can digest without facing the issues mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What we've tried&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dry food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also got a bag of enzymatically hydrolysed dry food, since she loves to run after pellets thrown across our apartment. Unfortunately even a small serving leads to diarrhea almost immediately (upon the next litter box session).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mixing it with water&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We mixed and mashed it with water. This changes the texture of the food. It worked for a few days, but she eventually figured it out and now refuses to eat this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mixing it with other hypoallergenic food&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've mixed the hydrolysed food with some other hypoallergenic food (she got that before) at the ratio of 8:1. Unfortunately there was diarrhea in the litter box afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Mixing it with malt paste&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While she likes malt paste per se and she won't show any of the symptoms because of it, mixing it with the food didn't make her eat that, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;The question&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can we do to make that food palatable to her, without introducing the problems mentioned above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T15:54:56.833" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T14:15:02.177" Title="How to convince my cat to eat its enzymatically hydrolysed diet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28667" CreationDate="2020-09-21T16:05:41.020" Score="5" ViewCount="630" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IProo.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IProo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog brought the squirrel infant from somewhere. We were giving him buffalo milk for the last 2 days, but today he stopped taking milk and is kind of suffocating with his mouth open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we feed him? Is there way to save him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18869" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T19:38:38.340" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T19:54:23.257" Title="How to help an infant palm squirrel that is not drinking milk and seems like it's suffocating" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28662" CreationDate="2020-09-21T16:07:00.490" Score="3" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Short term storage&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://animals.mom.com/how-to-store-mealworms-8532112.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mom.com&lt;/a&gt;, meal worms prefer dry food, oatmeal, wheat bran, chicken mash or cornmeal. They suggest to use a 2- to 5-gallons container (7.5 to 19 litres) made of plastic with a sealing lid. Add about an inch of dry food to it. Then place a chunk of raw potato, apple, carrot or banana peel to it. Make sure to change the humid food every 1 - 2 days to prevent mold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pour in the worms, seal the lid and poke some small holes in to the lid, small enough to not let any worms get trough. Then place the container in a dark place at temperatures below 80 degrees Fahrenheit (about 26.7 °C *) for short-term storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* Other pages recommend (&lt;a href=&quot;https://thegutload.com/how-to-store-mealworms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thegutload.com&lt;/a&gt;) 65 - 70 °F (18.3 - 21.1 °C)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Long term storage&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://animals.mom.com/how-to-store-mealworms-8532112.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mom.com&lt;/a&gt;, use grain instead of oatmeal or similar and don't provide any wet food. Then put it into the fridge. There's no temperature range specified on that page, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://thegutload.com/how-to-store-mealworms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thegutload.com&lt;/a&gt; recommends 40 - 50 °F (4.4 - 10 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thebirdhousechick.com/blogs/resources/92964867-dealing-with-live-mealworms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The birdhouse chick&lt;/a&gt; recommends to pour in the grains, then the worms, then some sliced apple (remove seeds and housing before) and keep the container in a cool place (but outside of the fridge) for 24 hours. Then remove the wet food and proceed to put the container in the fridge. Otherwise, they're missing nutrients which your gecko will miss later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Outcome&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://thegutload.com/how-to-store-mealworms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thegutload.com&lt;/a&gt; the methods explained above can prolong the larvae stage from about 10 - 11 weeks to 16 - 22 weeks. That's 50 to 100 % more time to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Additional Notes&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always keep the container as dry as possible. Mealworms don't like humidity that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the worms you've already put into the bowl of your gecko, just add some oatmeal for them to feed on. Although you should never put too many mealworms in the bowl at once. Geckos may eat too much, which can lead to problems (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/leopard-gecko/leopard-gecko-diet.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The bearded dragon&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T16:07:00.490" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28665" CreationDate="2020-09-21T18:53:19.277" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is impossible to &amp;quot;diagnose&amp;quot; via the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The list of what may be wrong is nearly endless, but some of the more frequent issues are, in no particular order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Internal / organ damage.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The pups are extremely fragile and both it falling from the nest and&#xA;your dog carrying it around may have caused harm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thermoregulation problem.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This pup is probably less than a week old and at that age they require external support to keep their body temperature in the appropriate range. Deviation can cause all kinds of issues, I am not that familiar with palm squirrels, but bat pups (even smaller mammals) won’t eat if they are too cold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indigestion.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Like many small pups, squirrels need gentle(!) massaging of the belly to pass stool.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aspiration pneumonia.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Aspiration of milk can happen quickly as the amount of milk the pup can swallow per gulp is so minute. If the milk gets in the lungs, it can result in pneumonia.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Random infection.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;As the immune system of the pup is still weak, the baby can catch any random virus/fungus/bacteria, making treatment necessary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Please contact a vet in your area to have the pup examined properly.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A slight constipation or low body temperature is something you can handle at home (and I recommend you do immediately), but everything else needs proper treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T19:54:23.257" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T19:54:23.257" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28669" CreationDate="2020-09-21T19:23:45.200" Score="2" ViewCount="2894" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to the vet on Saturday for my cats yearly checkup. They are 2 years old now. The male cat (Joe) weights around 8kg (or 17.7 pounds), and the female cat (Moe) weights around 6kg (or 13.2 pounds). Joe's height standing up is 2.3'. Little Moe is about half his size. Their meal consists of dry food available 24/7, &amp;quot;satiety balance&amp;quot; (which is the brand that the vet told me to give them) and 200g of  wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said they are fat.  He advised me that should only feed them wet food once a week. Since Saturday I have been feeding them only dry food. Every time I get home at around 7pm, I see vomit on the floor consisting of dry food. It's as if Joe is swallowing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have decided to get back on feeding them the previous diet, but with only wet food once a day. At the moment I'm feeding them Wild Freedom brand wet food. Do you think it's ok to get back on feeding them wet food once a week? Are they fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild Freedom is a complete wet food for adult cats&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Cold River: 55% chicken (meat, liver, stock), 43% pollock, fish stock, 2% minerals&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Wide Country 98% chicken (meat, liver, gizzards, stock), 2% minerals&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Green Lands: 53% chicken (meat, liver, stock), 45% lamb( meat, kidneys, liver, stock), 2% minerals&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Golden Valley: 53% chicken (meat, liver, stock), 45% rabbit (meat, heart, kidneys, liver, stock), 2% minerals&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Deep Forest: 53% chicken (meat, liver, stock), 45% game (venison/deer meat), game stock, 2% minerals&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Farmlands: 62% chicken (meat, liver, stock), 36% beef (lung, meat, stock), 2% minerals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additives:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Nutritional additives per kg:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; 200 IU, vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol acetate) 25mg, taurine 1000mg, zinc [zinc sulphate, monohydrate], 15mg, manganese [manganese (II) sulphate, monohydrate] 3mg, iodine [potassium iodide] 0.5mg.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Energy / 100 g:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Wide Country, Cold River, Golden Valley: ME (FEDIAF, 2014): 399 kJ / 95 kcal&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Green Lands: ME (FEDIAF, 2014): 416 kJ / 99 kcal&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Deep Forest: ME (FEDIAF, 2014): 425 kJ / 102 kcal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;protein   10.5 %&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;fat   6.0 %&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;fibre 0.3 %&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;ash   1.7 %&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;calcium   0.27 %&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;phosphorus    0.2 %&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;moisture  81.0 %&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12471" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-21T20:28:06.833" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T16:22:29.220" Title="Sudden stop of wet food diet is causing my cat to vomit" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28668" CreationDate="2020-09-21T20:13:17.627" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Firstly, free feeding dry food is the fastest way to turn any cat into an overweight cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Your vet's advice is wildly wrong in this case. Hill's (a respected pet food company) has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Free feeding cats can lead to overeating and obesity.&lt;/strong&gt; It can also be difficult to tell if your cat's appetite has changed, for the better or worse. It's also difficult to tell, if you have multiple cats, how much each one is eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/nutrition-feeding/how-to-feed-a-cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meal Feeding vs. Free Feeding Cats: What's Best?&lt;/a&gt;, emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that wet food is &amp;quot;unhealthy,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;a treat,&amp;quot; or otherwise bad for cats is an older belief that more vets are beginning to leave behind, but some older vets still hold on to that belief. Free feeding kibble is the old, and honestly lazy, way of caring for a cat, and has led to large numbers of overweight pet cats. From Global Pet Foods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free feeding makes it easy for indoor cats to consume more calories than they are expending, leading to weight gain and possible obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://globalpetfoods.com/free-feeding-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is free feeding your cat the best option?&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secondly, simply looking at weight isn't a good way for anyone to determine the body condition of your cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Please reference my answer on &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/21980/10702&quot;&gt;How can I measure the weight of my cat?&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; for the appropriate way to determine if your cat does in fact need to lose weight, as well as an explanation of why pure weight isn't a sufficient metric to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thirdly, simply looking at the quantity of food being offered isn't a way to determine if your cat is getting the right amount&lt;/strong&gt;; each brand and flavor will have a different calorie (kCal) content, and just like in humans, calories are what's important for weight gain, loss, and maintenance. According to All Feline Hospital:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The average indoor cat should have 20 calories per pound to maintain weight.  The average outdoor only cat should have 35 calories per pound to maintain weight.  Indoor/outdoor cats are somewhere in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.allfelinehospital.com/getting-your-cat-to-lose-weight.pml&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Getting Your Cat to Lose Weight&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also can't cut their food too drastically; from the same link above, &amp;quot;If your cat is overweight, you will want to feed for 2 pounds less, or 40 fewer calories a day, and readjust every time your cat loses a pound, until you hit a healthy weight, and then maintain.&amp;quot; An extreme drop in calories, particularly with an overweight cat, can cause hepatic lipidosis, also known as &amp;quot;fatty liver disease,&amp;quot; a fatal condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats will naturally eat a number of smaller meals, which is very similar to their wild behavior; cats have not been domesticated all that long in the grand scheme of the species, and still retain most of their wild traits, including frequent small meals and getting most of their water from food. Because of the water content, wet food is actually more filling than dry to them; this may be part of why your cat is vomiting, as well. He may be eating a similar physical quantity, but as the food absorbs moisture in his stomach, it swells and causes him to vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I would advise the opinion of a second vet, as the advice to move &amp;quot;fat&amp;quot; cats to a feeding pattern that is well known to encourage feline obesity is not good.&lt;/strong&gt; Check their condition yourself using the touch-test linked previously, and find a different vet for additional consultation about their body condition and caloric needs. I would also advise returning to their original diet and schedule for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T20:13:17.627" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28668" CreationDate="2020-09-21T20:15:37.863" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry food expands on contact with liquids in the stomach, so if your cat can fill it’s entire stomach in one sitting, the expanding food has nowhere to go but back out the mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual solution is free-feeding, but that doesn’t work with a cat that already has weight problems. For many cats, this is what &lt;em&gt;causes&lt;/em&gt; their weight problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other solution is to feed smaller meals more often. If your cat can’t fill its entire stomach at once, then there will be room for the food to expand. Automatic (timed) feeders can help with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-09-21T20:15:37.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-22T05:47:49.710" Score="5" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1 year old, 80 pounds (36 kg) male bernedoodle. At home he is a sweetheart, cuddly, and playful but outside he acts crazy. He jumps on people sometimes and he has also bit my hands several times trying to take the leash out of my hands or maybe trying to play tug of war? Also, at the moment we step out the door he barks. He is super friendly with other dogs everytime he sees other dog he's like whining and whining until he gets to say hello to the dog and then he barks to the dog like calling to play but most of time he scares the other dogs. I know I must have been doing a lot of things wrong with this guys please help me. he does a good job when I have treats but always comes back to the same behaviors. It sometimes feels like he likes to show off to people by biting the leash and growling. Can someone help me understand these behaviors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18871" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T13:08:16.987" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T19:28:13.823" Title="My dog has 2 personalities" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28671" CreationDate="2020-09-22T06:24:20.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what you describe, I notice only one personality: very playful dog, very enthusiastic while playing, to the point that unaware people / dogs get frightened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also normal behavior of dogs to pretend to bite while playing - they just cannot control the biting force sometimes. This comes from their nature, when dogs play, they pretend to bite one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even more, even people pretend to bite when playing - especially when an adult plays with a baby - usually pretending to bark also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To help your dog release some &amp;quot;steam&amp;quot;, you should allow him to play in a large(er) area. That way, he uses the energy into running, instead into showing excessive happiness, or biting too hard when playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T06:24:20.700" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26293" CreationDate="2020-09-22T11:23:10.363" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s no reason to lock her in. Absolutely none. Everything else is spot on. Just pretend to be asleep. The reason she walks on you and purrs at night is because, at least at one point in the past, this behavior was rewarded with pets and attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18873" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T11:23:10.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28674" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-22T12:31:58.660" Score="4" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 10 year-old cat had some discharge in both eyes a week ago, and was lethargic and uninterested in food, so I brought him into the vet.  I was told he seemed to be in good health, but they recommended a &amp;quot;senior&amp;quot; blood panel, and prescribed antibiotic ointment.  The results were very good overall, with an elevated white blood cell count suggesting he probably just had an irritant in his eyes, perhaps a bit of his own fur. I was told to continue applying the ointment to his eyes.  The discharge did not return, and he seemed in good spirits and was interested in food later the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concern is that during the exam, the vet asked if he had been sneezing, and while I hadn't noticed this before the exam, but he has been sneezing once or twice a day ever since. I don't monitor him constantly, so perhaps he is sneezing slightly more than this. It is not anything I would have paid attention to if the vet hadn't asked, but cats don't seem to sneeze nearly as often as humans do, so the fact that it's happening most days strikes me as unusual.   I've also noticed that one of his eyes is often only halfway open, and last night I found that he was drooling slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The internet is full of search results indicating that sneezing can be a sign of an upper respiratory infection, and drooling can indicate rabies (!), etc, but I realize he may just be old, and dealing with poor air quality due to tremendous fire activity in neighboring states and my own failure to vacuum as often as I probably ought to.  Is daily sneezing dire enough to warrant another budget-busting trip to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18732" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T13:10:55.397" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T10:37:07.520" Title="How frequently does a cat need to sneeze before it might indicate a health problem?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-22T15:52:14.247" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 2+ year old male, neutered cat, name George, that we recently picked from a local shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;George was dropped off at the shelter at about 4 months old, and has been there ever since.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He now lives in a spare bedroom/office, behind a closed door. We have had him just over 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have no children, but two other cats, Bella and Gracie (both spayed girls), but they have not been introduced formally. Gracie occasionally likes to hang outside of the room at the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a very shy cat. He spends pretty much all of his time in the corner under a small couch in the room. When we first brought him home, he did not eat for 4 days, but now he eats and drinks regularly. When he finally ate, he had a pretty robust play day. The food was eaten, toys were scattered, mouse eyes yanked off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife has been working with him underneath the sofa. Gently approaching him, talking to him sweetly, trying to play with him with a feather wand. She spends several hours a day doing this. This space is her work from home office, but she moved out for over 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat has been relaxing, sleeping, exposing his tummy to her, bathing. She’s petting him with the wand. Touching his feet, tummy, body, etc.  At one point, he almost poked his head out from under the couch. Beyond touching his tail, she has not been able to touch the cat with her hand. Mostly he’s just too far away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He’s not an aggressive cat, he hissed at her once or twice early on, but otherwise has been quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have Feliway, both the thing you plug in to the room, and some spray that we put on toys and stuffed animals. We have a stuffed animal with a “heartbeat”. All these we hope to sooth the kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We thought we were making good progress, but on Saturday we had a scheduled appointment to take him to the Vet for a wellness exam and to get microchipped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This did not go well, he got upset and lashed out when we tried to get hands on him to get him the carrier (he eventually went in the carrier himself). At the vet while the initial exam went well (the doctor said he was sweet and gentle), when they went back to chip him they decided to weigh him on a scale. The scale was in a corner, and he lashed out again, eventually going back in to the carrier with a little gentle nudging. The doctor does not consider him aggressive, just the corner and handling spooked him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, he has not returned to his more relaxed self. He’s less interested in my wife, less interested in what little play attention he was giving her in the first place. He’s not relaxing, and stretching out, and sleeping with her there. Rather, he’s grooming himself. We don’t know if this is him just grooming himself or as a sign of stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are now adding Rescue Remedy For Pets to his water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are at a loss as to what to do next in order to gain confidence. We have a camera in the room so as to watch him remotely. He moves about at night, mostly he seems to go in and out of the litter box. He’s explored the room thoroughly, he got on the window sill, etc. But his movements are quite cautious, he’s certainly not uninhibited. His tail is not up and he is not displaying confidence in owning this space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The doctor suggest we just introduce the cats, so that the other cats can teach him about the safety of this place, and us, and our home. We don’t know if that’s a good idea or not. We certainly don’t want to traumatize him any more, he’s a timid cat. Our two cats get along great, but Bella, the older one (10, Gracie is 6) has alpha tendencies. They don’t fight, but they wrestle and chase occasionally. Gracie is the one that hangs out by the door. She is skittish in her own way. She has a lizard toy she likes to drag around the house, and more than once that toy has landed in front of George’s door. Coincidence or offering, who knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don’t know what to do next. We don’t know how long to wait. So, we’re looking for advice about steps to take and expectations so that we can get him out of the corner, out of the room, and engaging with the rest of the family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18876" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T16:08:50.137" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T12:52:07.540" Title="What next for our scared shelter cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28668" CreationDate="2020-09-22T16:22:29.220" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with your vet. Firstly I was always told that male neutered cats should &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; be fed wet food-they are at increased risk of urinary blockages and dry food is terrible for that. A water fountain also helps ensure the cats get plenty of fresh water-I can't recommend them enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my male cats is a big fatso and he has actually lost a fair amount of weight just by being fed a small can of wet food daily. Previously he was on dry only. That's literally all I've done-give him a small can every morning and eliminated free feeding of dry. I put one cup of dry out for 2 large males and they share the can of wet food. Maybe try this for a couple months and see if you get results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may sound silly but if possible be in the room when you feed the cats. My cats seem to like it when I'm nearby as they eat. My shy cat will eat a few bites and run away if I feed him and leave the room. I guess everyone likes company when they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're uncomfortable with your vet definitely see a different one. Hopefully your cats will live a long life so you need to have a vet you trust and can work together with on the health of your cats. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18877" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T16:22:29.220" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-22T18:07:37.247" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend who has a 6-7 month old working Golden Retriever pup. He’s still quite a small dog as he is young. She has been informed that she has had a complaint from a neighbour to the police and local dog warden that it the crate she has been using for transportation is too small for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve seen the crate myself and it looks fine, he can lay down and sit in it (albeit his head is lowered a little) with no discomfort and has space to move to different comfortable positions and generally sleeps in it while travelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However they have not told her what the legal acceptable size is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a legal ground for this in the UK?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so what is the legal size dog crate she should be looking for?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a photo of him in the crate&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9d264.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9d264.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The crate is 30” long&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a bit more context:&#xA;He is in this until her car is finished being repaired after a car accident so can’t buy a new crate until she is able to measure her actual car. She has a rental right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastEditorUserId="12116" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T12:39:38.363" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T12:39:38.363" Title="Appropriate dog crate size UK" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;crate&gt;&lt;legal&gt;&lt;uk&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28675" CreationDate="2020-09-22T18:30:13.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I have to emphasise how noble it is for you to take home such a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28567/i-need-help-rebuilding-my-cats-trust-after-abusing-them-multiple-times&quot;&gt;few&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21575/how-can-i-fix-my-relationship-with-my-7-month-old-cat-after-ive-constantly-abus&quot;&gt;questions&lt;/a&gt; on this site on how someone might regain the trust of a cat after they abuse the cat. Your situation is not very different. The cat is probably abused, either by other cats or by people and you need to regain his trust to humanity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, your wife, touching the cat with a wand is a mistake, unless she first makes the cat sniff the wand. She should make sure her scent is on the tip of the wand. You have to ask permission of the cat. Later, in the long run, she can switch to shorter wands, until your cat sniffs her extended finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, in my opinion, your wife shouldn't touch the tail as well. I know it is frustrating not to be able to touch the cat, but he should be given more time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not knowledgeable enough to challenge a vet, but if your cat was abused by other cats, introducing them might not be the best idea. However, you can test it. Make him listen to calm meowing cats while you are not in the room. Also, give him some toys of your cats which smell of them and watch him. If he tries to search for the source of the sound curiously and if he plays with the toy, you can start the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/83/recommendations-for-introducing-kittens-to-adult-cats&quot;&gt;initiation process&lt;/a&gt;. The meow sounds could be of your cats, other female cats or kittens. Never make him hear male sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also practice lazy cat blinks with him, if he makes eye contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, it is a long process but since he is eating and exploring at night, you will definitely succeed at the end. I hope my suggestions hasten the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T18:30:13.750" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28671" CreationDate="2020-09-22T18:30:25.193" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry to tell you this, but it's not your dog's fault and he doesn't have 2 personalities. He's probably bored and didn't learn restraint. The good news is that you can do something against this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At one year old, he's pretty much an energetic teenager. He needs to burn all of this energy somehow and if you don't offer him a safe way to do so, he'll find all kinds of things to chew and people to bark at on his own. It seems he learned that in your house is not the right place to engage with others and he should be calm. As soon as he's outside, he finally finds some stimulation, people and dogs to engage in and leashes to pull on. He's finally allowed (at least he thinks he is) to run and jump and be chaotic and play with anyone. He's basically a child running out of the boring classroom where he has to sit calmly and seeing the playground right before him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biting your hand and the leash is a clear prompt to play, although a rather rough one. The jumping on people as well. He wants to engage anyone in play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The barking at other dogs needs some interpreting. If his bark is very high pitched, like a mix between whining and barking, he wants to engage with these dogs and probably play with them. His body language might indicate the same if he does the &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/fzAX65hpyXY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;play bow&lt;/a&gt;. If his barking sounds like when he's chasing away the post man (or whoever walks around), then he's actually insecure and warns those dogs not to do anything unexpected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Give him outlets for his energy&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't indicate whether you play with him or do any obedience training with him at home. You absolutely need to start doing so to balance him out more. From your description I see 2 major ways to do so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Obedience training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to be a very social dog, wanting the attention of both dogs and humans. This means that obedience training (sit, stay, down) and learning all kinds of tricks is actually a great fun for him, because while doing so he has your undivided attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to train with him every day at least once for 5 minutes. Repeat all the commands in random order, even if he knows them by heart. Teach him new tricks like &amp;quot;turn around&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;play dead&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;high five&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And train recall with him every day several times. Have a treat hidden in your hand. You must not lure him with the treat, it must stay hidden until he comes to you. Then call him at completely random times, always using the same command like &amp;quot;to me&amp;quot;, make him sit in front of you and give him the treat. You need to train this several times a day at home to ingrain the behavior in his memory. That should allow you to call him back to you when you're on a walk and he jumps at people or is otherwise rude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play tug of war with him&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to enjoy tugging at the leash, but this is a behavior you'll want to discourage. So give him a save alternative instead. There are tug toys available that are comfortable to bite for a dog and safe to hold for humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C1Nyo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C1Nyo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/27821/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; which includes many information about how to use a tug toy safely and links some very good Youtube videos about the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First play with the tug toy at home to give both of you a chance to learn how to play with it safely. Establish a new command for this game like &amp;quot;play tug&amp;quot;. Then simply take the toy with you on your walks and when your dog is behaving badly, call &amp;quot;play tug&amp;quot; to distract him from the unwanted behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Train some restraint&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description, it seems like your dog always gets what he wants eventually, and if he has to whine and tug you all of the way there, so be it. He is impulsive and has no self control, which is 100% natural. Dogs don't learn impulse control on their own, they must be taught by their owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to teach impulse control is by training &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot;. Start with very little steps and very short times. Make him sit down, step 2 steps back and if he's still sitting down, give him a treat. Then gradually (over the course of days and weeks) increase the distance to 3, 4 and more steps and make him wait longer. Only give him a treat if he stayed the full time. If he came to you too early, don't give him the treat but repeat the command with a shorter waiting time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This teaches your dog that he'll get his reward even if he stays calm and waits patiently. If done regularly, it can enhance his overall behavior and character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;What else?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have a look at our &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;collection of games and entertainments for dogs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-22T19:28:13.823" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T19:28:13.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28677" CreationDate="2020-09-22T22:22:06.023" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an excerpt from the RSPCA guidelines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a minimum your dog must be able to sit and stand at full height,&#xA;turn around, stretch out and lie down in a natural position. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/dogs/environment/crates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Document&#xA;downloadable from&#xA;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be argued that for a short journey, say a visit to the vet, a slightly smaller crate would be okay but in my opinion for regular travel and certainly for long-distance travel the full size crate should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is going to grow a lot. If he is finding the crate on the small side now, he will find it unpleasant when he gets older and bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your neighbour likes the current crate because it is more compact in the car then what will she do when she has a big dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suggestion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's time to get a crate that will fit a full-size Golden Retriever. What's the point in waiting - it will be inevitable soon anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You haven't stated why she is using the crate rather than, say, a dog barrier fitted to the car. I'm guessing behaviour issues. Is that right? There may be other options rather that a crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gl8jf.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gl8jf.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pet-Dog-Cat-Car-Van-Safety-Isolation-Net-Guard-Back-Seat-Barrier-Mesh-Tool-LA/383117596306?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3Dd5976bc3f02a49fbb6ade83c4342d26b%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D30%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D324013847207%26itm%3D383117596306%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2386202%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWeb&amp;amp;_trksid=p2386202.c100677.m4598&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Example of inexpensive dog barrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2020-09-23T10:32:13.683" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T10:32:13.683" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28675" CreationDate="2020-09-22T23:11:57.250" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he got upset and lashed out when we tried to get hands on him to get&#xA;him the carrier&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This a mistake that so many people make even with well-balanced cats. They make the carrier into &amp;quot;the scary box that you get manhandled into to go to unpleasant experiences&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you are obviously very caring  and are willing to spend time rehabilitating this cat I will give the long answer. Most people wouldn't have the patience to read it let alone carry it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The long answer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A carrier is an ideal cave for cats to curl up in and feel warm and safe. It should be left in his room so he can use it as such. Once it becomes home, he will run to it rather than away from it. Even at the vet's waiting room it will be a comfort, although being pulled out of it will be scary. However, at the end of the consultation he will be only too pleased to get back in again as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you get the cat into it when it is time to go to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer - practice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You practice opening and closing the door gently when the cat is already in there. Leave it closed for one second to start with and build the time up to minutes - ideally the length of the journey to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When he sees the carrier as a safe home, take him for short outings as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(a) Outside the room in the carrier for a few minutes with other cats absent. When that becomes comfortable ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(b) Take him in the crate see the other cats from safety so they can sniff each other through the bars. Remove as soon as there is even a hint of aggression/fear from any of them. Try again the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(c) When that is easy, take him to the car to sit there for a few minutes. First without the engine. Next time with the engine. Next for a 5 minute drive going home if any yowling occurs. This doesn't have to be on the same day. Use your judgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Next, go on a visit to the vet just to sit in the waiting room, then going home without actually seeing a vet. Next go there but this time get an appointment with a vet nurse just to go into the consulting room, preferably without doing more than opening the door of the carrier. Next week have a visit to the nurse to be petted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make the carrier the safest place in the world for this cat. He can go anywhere in it indoors and out and nothing bad happens ---  99% of the time! Only on that 1% does he have to come out at the vets but can then go back into safety and back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how do I get him to go in the carrier when it is vet time? The chances are that a nervous cat will run into the crate at the slightest change of routine. Then quietly close the door and go ahead. By now you will have practised this loads of times anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training. You can make a point of giving a portion of breakfast in the crate each morning (don't leave food overnight).  Again build up gradually. When he is used to eating in the crate with its door open, close the door gently without locking while he is eating. Gradually increase the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, you say, This sounds incredibly hard and time intensive. Anyway the vet nurse won't want to be bothered with fake visits!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not true. I have done this process with cats and dogs many times and now that I'm good at it I can get the whole vet rehabilitation accomplished in a couple of weeks with practically any animal. The key is not to do it mechanically but to observe the animal at every microstep. Stop if they look scared and take a step back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Believe me, vet nurses and vets are only too glad to help with teaching pets to learn to be calm. It saves them scratches and they are there to reduce animals' suffering mentally as well as physically. I have never been charged for this sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've left out lots of little contingency things you can do but this is a SE answer not a book. Feel free to ask it it will be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-23T12:52:07.540" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T12:52:07.540" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2020-09-22T23:33:31.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A late answer but worth adding I feel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs love walking. They love it for the sake of it. It's nice if its outside but indoors they will walk and walk if you provide a safe way. What's the safe way? An ordinary human &lt;strong&gt;treadmill&lt;/strong&gt; is perfect provided you introduce it correctly and &lt;strong&gt;always supervise&lt;/strong&gt;.  Eventually, once the dog understands perfectly, you can sit next to the treadmill and read or use your mobile phone. Never leave the room or turn your back while your dog is on the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's just one video of many that shows this activity. Others show all the stages and it's worth watching all of them to see which makes most sense to you. Make sure to take one step at a time (just standing on the treadmill the first time) and go a the dog's pace in every sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/bWSDyhWD0vE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dachshund enjoying his treadmill - I picked this one at random&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch videos&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Introduce the activity step-by-step, starting stationary, then at slowest speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Never tie the dog to the treadmill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always supervise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Observe any signs of tiredness and slow down before stopping. See if dog wants to jump off and let him choose to get off or stay on a bit longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-09-22T23:33:31.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28683" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-23T01:47:22.973" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just recently adopted a three month old kitten; while already having a seven year old resident cat in my home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My seven year old cat is not a happy camper and is aggressive towards my new kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I crated my new kitten to do a slow introduction, but it’s still not getting better and it’s been two weeks thus far. I’ve tried using a Feliway Diffuser, but it seems like that doesn’t work. I know I’ve waited too long to get another pet, seven years to be exact. I don’t know what to do. How do I help my older cat relax and stop hissing at my kitten? Why is my older cat so upset, hissing and tries to avoid my new kitten at times?&#xA;I need serious help, please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5701" LastEditorUserId="5701" LastEditDate="2020-09-23T02:06:13.940" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T02:06:13.940" Title="My seven year old cat is hissing at my new three month old kitten!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-09-23T05:51:20.743" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28674" CreationDate="2020-09-23T10:37:07.520" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be answering from my experience with our 4 cats as well as the 2 cats of my parents. &lt;strong&gt;As always: If in doubt, contact a 2nd vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sneezing you describe doesn't sound worrying to me in any way. You shouldn't need to see a vet again. If your cat is an indoors cat, the chances of rabies are actually pretty small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll go into detail on sneezing and drooling (again, based on my experience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Sneezing&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It always depends on how often the cat is sneezing over the day (1 or 2 times is nothing to be worried about from my experience) and how many sneezes there are for any given sneeze attack (so whether it's a single sneeze or a series of sneezes). Sneezing may be triggered by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;certain irritants * (smoke, ash, dusty cat litter, perfume, cleaning products, common house dust etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;something stuck in the nose or another part of the respiratory system (anything from irritants mentioned above to a booger or a blade of grass)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allergies of any kind (to food, dust etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;infections of the respiratory system (viruses or bacteria, rarely fungi)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tumours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* When your cat sneezes once or twice a day, check its immediate vicinity for possible irritants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You should see a vet for sneezing, if:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your cat's sneezing every other minute or several times per minute (like StephenS mentioned in the comments).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your cat is ejecting mucus or even blood while sneezing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your cat's getting drowsy, coughing, having watery eyes and/or is showing breathing difficulties or lack of appetite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Drooling&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drooling may or may not be a sign that something's wrong. Cats may drool, when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they're getting pet and highly enjoy this. You can see drool drops forming on the mouth, which will then fall to the ground when getting big enough. This ain't nothing to worry about.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they've ingested something that's bad for them. It doesn't have to be lethal or even toxic. You should still try to find the culprit and remove it from the household or put it somewhere the cats can't reach. If they've ingested large amounts of a toxic plant, see a vet. Check out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/emergency/poisoning-toxicity/e_ct_poisonous_plants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pet MD&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://home.howstuffworks.com/green-living/plants-kill-cat-poinsettas.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how stuff works&lt;/a&gt; for more info on toxic household plants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;their mouth hygiene is lacking. If you've ruled out the other options, this should be looked at by a vet. Bad mouth hygiene can lead to or be a consequence of kidney damage. (In your case, you've ruled out kidney problems by doing the blood panel)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;their respiratory system may be infected. This should also be looked at by a vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats started drooling a lot when we fought its dermatophyte infection. The cat would lick off the medicine from its fur and start drooling. This lead to serious liver problems (which we got rid of luckily). Our other 3 cats at that point didn't show these symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;You should see a vet for drooling, if:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your cat's having really bad mouth smell, although it didn't eat recently. This could be a sign for kidney issues or infections of the teeth or gum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your cat's eyes, mucosae or skin around the ears are showing a yellow-ish discoloration. This could be a sign for liver issues&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your cat ingested large amounts of a toxic plant and doesn't manage to vomit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastActivityDate="2020-09-23T10:37:07.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-24T07:13:00.813" Score="0" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a kitten (Gala) for a couple of weeks and she is the sweetest thing ever. Always playing and following us.&#xA;So we decide to take another kitten now that the first one is still a little so they can be together when we are working. So finaly when this other kitten (Jasnah) Arrived Gala wanted to be friends and play but Jasnah is way to agrevise with her. Hissing and attacking Gala when she gets to close, playing with the toys with us but as soon as she realised is us running away. I'm not sure if this justd a matter of time or if here is a more serious problem and I'm worried about them. For the moment when have to separate them because gala is going to play and I'm worried that jasnah is going to Hurt her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18888" LastEditorUserId="18888" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T07:51:33.503" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T11:03:24.497" Title="The new Kitty is to aggressive with the other" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-09-24T11:02:54.857" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28677" CreationDate="2020-09-24T12:04:44.647" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/pdfs/ukpga_20060045_en.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Animal Welfare Act 2006&lt;/a&gt; would be the legal document ruling the treatment and housing of dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Section 9 &amp;quot;Duty of person responsible for animal to ensure welfare&amp;quot; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are reasonable in all  the  circumstances  to  ensure  that  the  needs  of  an  animal  for  which  he  is responsible are met to the extent required by good practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) For the purposes of this Act, an animal’s needs shall be taken to include&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;—(a) its need for a suitable environment&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;—(b) its need for a suitable diet,&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;—(c) its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns,&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;—(d) any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, and&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;—(e) its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is kind of a general introduction into the legal duties of any pet owner. The phrasing &amp;quot;by good practice&amp;quot; means that the current, most agreed-upon guidelines by reputable sources apply. That allows the guidelines to change without the law having to change it's wording.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current guidelines for dog crates include these criteria:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The crate must be longer than the dog from tip of the nose to base of the tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the crate must be higher than the dog's top of the head while sitting straight up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog must be able to turn around&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog must be able to stretch it's legs out while lying on it's side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: &lt;a href=&quot;http://file:///C:/Users/YVELME%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/Dog%20crates%20a%20step%20by%20step%20guide%20(PDF%20264KB).pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;RSPCA&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://animalso.com/what-size-dog-crate/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Animalso&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/how-to-measure-and-choose-a-dog-crate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PreventiveVet&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.certapet.com/dog-crate-sizes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CertaPet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Department for Environment, Food and Rual Affairs issued a &lt;a href=&quot;https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/697953/pb13333-cop-dogs-091204.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Code of practice for the welfare of Dogs&lt;/a&gt; based on the Animal Welfare Act 2006 that defines some more details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure that any place you leave your dog is large enough to provide, at all times, a comfortable area with effective ventilation and temperature control, and that your dog is able to move around to ensure its comfort, avoiding becoming too hot or too cold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you transport your dog make sure they are comfortable and safe at all times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T12:04:44.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28583" CreationDate="2020-09-24T14:18:31.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been in a similar situation when we had 2 Axolotls and now the same applies for our African giant snail. While we didn't find any specialist in our city, we found some in a larger nearby city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my answer, I'll be using turtles and tortoises interchangeably. The answer is not restricted to turtles of course, but applies to any exotic animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My ideas (in no particular order):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Search the web for a turtle forum&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... and ask there. Maybe add your country's name to the search terms. The chances of finding someone in your vicinity, who can give you recommendations may be higher than on stack exchange (SE).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggested search terms (in that order, replace &lt;code&gt;{country}&lt;/code&gt; with your country's actual name):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;turtle forum {country}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;reptile forum {country}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Search the web for specialized veterinarians&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First try to find one in your city. If you don't find any, check a nearby larger city. If you can't find any there as well, search for your country. You may have to travel for a while to get exotic pets looked at professionally, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may even find a curated website like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.schildkroeten-tierarzt.de/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; (in German, for Germany).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least in Germany (maybe in other countries as well), a veterinarian has to take a further training in order to call themselves &lt;strong&gt;reptile specialist&lt;/strong&gt;, since it's usually not covered in the basic vet training. So seeing something like that on a vet's website would be a good sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggested search terms (in that order, replace &lt;code&gt;{city}&lt;/code&gt; with either your city's name or the name of the next larger city):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;turtle veterinarian {city}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;reptile veterinarian {city}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;turtle veterinarian {country}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;reptile  veterinarian {country}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Contact veterinarians in / around your city&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also call or e-mail veterinarians in your city (starting with those you already know) and ask about their skills in regards to reptiles in general or turtles specifically. You can also contact a vet you've found to be specialized in &lt;em&gt;reptiles&lt;/em&gt;, if you're not sure if this also applies to &lt;em&gt;turtles&lt;/em&gt; or other species (some may only be specialized in geckos, lizards, snakes and such).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, if asked directly, vets will tell you about their skills in regards to specific animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Contact your local / nearest zoo&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zoos cover a wide spectrum of animals and usually know, who to contact about veterinarian problems. Maybe they can give you some hints. Personally, I've not tried this, yet. But I could imagine this would work for turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try to find a customer or info e-mail address (like &lt;code&gt;info@the-zoos-domain-name.com&lt;/code&gt;) or a phone number on their website and try to contact that. Sometimes you'll just find a contact form instead. Explain that you got a turtle and can't seem to find a skilled vet for these. Then ask if they can recommend someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe&lt;/em&gt; (hypothetically) they'll even allow you to bring it in and have them have a look at it. Not sure, though, since you may not be able to bring in your own pets for health and safety reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I come up with more ideas, I'll add them here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wish you the best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastEditorUserId="17037" LastEditDate="2020-09-24T14:26:11.283" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T14:26:11.283" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28648" CreationDate="2020-09-24T14:59:58.010" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should feed them the same as you would feed to adult rabbits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hay&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fresh grass&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fresh herbs (make sure to check &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/rabbit-diet/poisonous-plants-rabbits/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;they're not poisonous to rabbits&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;small twigs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unusualpetvets.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Hand-Raising-Baby-Rabbits.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.raising-rabbits.com/raising-baby-rabbits.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to feed formula, according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/faq-orphaned-baby-bunnies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rabbit.org&lt;/a&gt;, cat formula is actually recommended. There's also rabbit formula available, according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.unusualpetvets.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Hand-Raising-Baby-Rabbits.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 1&lt;/a&gt;. You can order it online or buy from a veterinarian or a larger pet shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure to always offer them a variety of stuff, so they can choose whatever they like to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/diet-baby.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The rabbit house&lt;/a&gt;, it's important to stay consistent. So ask the farmer what they and their mother got, before they've been given to you. If their mother already got vegetables and/or fruits, they can get those as well. If not, introduce new foods slowly to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17037" LastActivityDate="2020-09-24T14:59:58.010" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-25T04:20:51.007" Score="2" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male cat  had just a little operation to remove a 'crystal' which blocked him from peeing. After that the vet nurse advised me to strictly cut any food apart from certain &lt;code&gt;Virbac&lt;/code&gt; dry food brand which they sold me and by the way was 10x more expensive than usual cat food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked her if it is OK to feed the cat with human grade poultry or fish, but she said no, only the 'tried and tested' brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not convinced that my cat is doomed to eat only that sort of food for the rest of his life. So I'm wondering what is the best diet for cats in this situation? Which foods are allowed and which are forbidden?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-25T12:52:14.090" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T13:57:07.087" Title="What is the suitable diet for Feline Urethral Obstruction?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28690" CreationDate="2020-09-25T05:18:02.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is it depends. And there is not even consensus among veterinarians about what diet is best for this situation. It depends on the cause of the urethral obstruction – if it was struvite crystals or stone, or a calcium oxalate stone, or a mucus plug causing the obstruction. It depends on chemical analysis of the human grade fish you would like to feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Struvite crystals may be fairly easily manageable with diet. Calcium oxalate, much less so. Cats with an obstruction caused by other causes may not benefit from any particular diet formulated for &amp;quot;crystals&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The urinary diets are, in my opinion, the safest bet. They are restricted in magnesium and phosphorus, which are the components of struvite crystals (also known as magnesium ammonium phosphate). They are also calcium restricted to prevent calcium oxalate stones. The goal is a 'neutral' urine pH which is not prone to struvites (which form in alkaline urine) nor oxalates (which form in acidic urine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your location will dictate which urinary diets are available - but there are a number of brands available, and you may be able to order other brands online if they are not available at your vets. These diets are more expensive than normal cat foods, and do usually require a prescription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing, in my opinion, is keeping the urine as dilute as possible. Crystals form because the urine is supersaturated in the components that form those crystals. If the urine is kept more dilute, then the crystals will less easily form. The best way to promote dilute urine production is with increased water intake. Dry cat food has very little water, so is much less preferable in this regard. Putting urethral obstruction cats on a predominantly or even solely wet food diet can help to promote a more dilute urine environment. Also offer plenty of water sources, perhaps a water fountain if your cat is amenable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would prefer to avoid the urinary diets, then please speak to a veterinary nutritionist who can formulate a balanced home-cooked diet that is suitable for prevention of lower urinary tract disease. There are so many home-prepared diets that are not balanced for cats' nutritional needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of the day, there is only so much we can control in urethral obstruction patients. But diet is one of the things we can easily control, and does seem to play a major role. I often see several urethral obstruction patients in a week, and in my experience it is uncommon to have an obstruction in a cat that has already for some time been on a strict urinary diet. So in that respect, these diets do seem to really help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T05:18:02.703" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28697" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-25T13:30:43.603" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Related to this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28106/metals-and-aquariums&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I start experimenting with metals for aquariums, &lt;strong&gt;how can I detect that the metal is causing the problems&lt;/strong&gt;? I want to clearly identify the metal toxicity from wrong pH, wrong temperature, bad filtration, infections...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-25T13:32:55.083" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T16:09:52.683" Title="How to identify metal toxicity in aquarium" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28690" CreationDate="2020-09-25T13:57:07.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat with a similar complaint to yours and we feed him either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hill's Prescription Diet Feline c/d Urinary Stress&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Royal Canin Urinary S/O Moderate Calorie Adult Dry Cat Food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if it is permitted to link to sites where I purchase this but buying larger 8kg bags of the dry food work out quite affordable to most reasoanble quality cat food brands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we allow him to eat standard dry cat food in any significant amount or for a sustained period of time he always gets minor to sevear problems again.  Recently he managed to sneak a load of the standard cat food and ended up going in for surgery for the first time in years.  We were very lucky to catch him in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key things in these specialised foods seem to be: lower salt and sugar levels, something to premote more frequent urination and for us especially the &amp;quot;anti-stress&amp;quot; which seems to have some calming medication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We did find that sourcing the food online was much cheaper than purchasing it directly from a vet or buying from a local pet shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13875" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T13:57:07.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28697" CreationDate="2020-09-25T14:47:46.870" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it is possible to easily know this for sure, both because of the often non-specific symptoms of toxic metal poisoning and the fact that an aquarium is a complex biological system of interconnected vessels which could be all simultaneously affected by their toxic action and thus present ambiguous results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mentioned diagnosis difficulty is also the case in humans; even though humans, in contrast to fish, could describe their perceived subjective symptoms themselves, accurate diagnosis of metal poisoning requires laboratory analysis of blood, hair or tissue samples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example it might be close to impossible to immediately differentiate metal poisoning from ammonia or nitrite poisoning, because a lot of metals, especially heavy metals, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodynamic_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;are also extremely toxic to microorganisms&lt;/a&gt;, much more so than to fish. If the toxic metal presence kills beneficial flora in the filter media, it will result in ammonia and nitrite poisoning symptoms, but without knowing the context it might be impossible to tell that it was the metal that caused this in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the market there are various test kits for detecting and measuring the amount of dissolved metals in the water, which are in principle similar to ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits; they could be either specific and aimed for a single metal, or be all-in-one test kits sensitive to the presence of multiple elements. It might be viable to use such test kit in case you suspect metal poisoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Metal_poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An article about this on theaquariumwiki.com&lt;/a&gt; lists various symptoms of toxic metal poisoning, but as you could see they aren't exactly specific:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Acute poisoning - leading quickly to death:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gasping at the surface or lying on the substrate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shimmering&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uncontrolled swimming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glazed or non-moving eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chronic poisoning - slow death:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loss of appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breathing more rapidly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shimmering&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More likely to catch fungus and bacterial disease due to damaged immune system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Growth deformities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-25T15:01:18.540" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T15:01:18.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28697" CreationDate="2020-09-25T16:09:52.683" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why would metals be a problem in an aquarium ? Just don't put in anything with copper. That is pretty easy as copper alloys are red /yellow color except monel which is not common and expensive. Copper is toxic that is one reason is is used on ships to reduce fouling by organisms. For there to be a problem the metal must dissolve or corrode to put ions in the water. I can promise you from experience that iron, stainless steel, nickel alloys, lead , aluminum are not a problem. X-ray fluorescence would be the cheapest way to detect metals; I think today you could get a cheap unit for a few thousand dollars (US).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T16:09:52.683" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26432" CreationDate="2020-09-25T21:04:00.600" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it annoys too much not to do anything, there is a series of steps to discipline a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blow air to his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray water to his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit on the ground with a stick/club, like a meter or two from the animal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start a vacuum cleaner near him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chase him with a vacuum cleaner in your hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would start with the second one and keep doing it for a week. Then, if he is persistent, you can gradually increase your threat level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he still persists, even after being chased by a vacuum cleaner, there is a chance he has a problem. There are easier ways for a housecat to find food, it is certainly never worth being chased by a vacuum cleaner. In this case, talk to your neighbour about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T21:04:00.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28105" CreationDate="2020-09-25T21:27:30.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tough problem. Firstly, looking for ways to deny him food will not work. While you spend 10 minutes to think of how to deny him the food, he spends his entire waking hours watching you, scheming how to get his paws on your plate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a series of actions to take to discipline a cat. Cats, unlike dogs, cannot anticipate your thoughts and they usually fail to make connection between their actions and the discipline. Therefore, you have to discipline him only when he is on action, i.e., you have to ambush him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions when you catch him red pawed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blow air to his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray water to his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit on the ground with a stick/club, like a meter or two from the animal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start a vacuum cleaner near him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chase him with a vacuum cleaner in your hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not do these things after the deed is done, you have to do it during the stealing process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method might be beating a puppet. &lt;strong&gt;Take a cat puppet and put some bread in his mouth. Make sure your cat sees it. Then beat the puppet with a club or with your hands, right in front of your cat.&lt;/strong&gt; He will probably make connections between the beating and the food stealing. You can try this a couple of times if he can't make the connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that this is kind of an extreme method, due to the intense psychological violence. I only used it to make sure that my freely wandering cat doesn't walk on the kitchen counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-25T21:27:30.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-25T22:26:27.593" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a 15 year old Maine Coon with severe kidney problems. With my current cat, who is a domestic short hair of seven years, I don't want him to suffer kidney problems when he is older. However, he rarely drinks water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I water down the wet food to trick him into consuming a little more water? If I can, what is the limits of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-25T23:30:58.697" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T08:04:52.907" Title="Can you water down wet food to trick a cat to drink more food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-09-26T08:04:30.020" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-26T01:59:17.070" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello I'm back with very good news and some questions following up on my cats. Last post I made was this right here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28567/i-need-help-rebuilding-my-cats-trust-after-abusing-them-multiple-times&quot;&gt;I need help rebuilding my cats trust after abusing them multiple times&lt;/a&gt;. Where I explained my issue, and asked what I can do to help them. Now things have gotten much better, no relapses, and no anger towards them when they don't feel like being pet, but I have some question that I find are kind of weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like they are kind of bipolar lol, they are angels in the morning (I'm going to refer to them as black and white). Black is now a baby, in the morning he follows me around and makes noises for me to scratch his back and throw food for him to chase, he also likes to sun bathe A LOT and as for his purring, he purrs after scratches and when he is sunbathing. White is taking a bit longer (which is perfectly fine and justified), he sneaks away when I go down the stairs, I think its too scary for him, and when he is sitting down in his tree, I can pet him and he purrs instantly which is weird, because black never does that and I feel like white is still scared of me. White also like to keep his distance when I'm standing. The weird thing is that couple of days ago I pet him for a good 10 minutes and he got up and sat in my lap I WAS SHOCKED black did this too but it was shorter, and I was close to crying, what have I done to deserve him do that? But after a while I needed to go so I got up and he sneaked away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is everything above happens in the Morning 4am-3pm but in the night or afternoon they are both scared of me white more than black maybe one of you can explain this to me since I don't know why this is so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the rest of my family, they are great with my brother is their favorite, they sleep on his bed and headbutt him, they sit in the same room as my parents when they are working. So socially i think they are fine, its just me (which again is fine and justifiable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yeah life is good, I hope C.Koca, Elmy and chasly see this post , thank you guys for your tips they have helped a ton mentally, and in practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it normal for them to like me in the morning and be scared at night, can I do something about it if so?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18776" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T13:18:09.373" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T13:18:09.373" Title="Update and some questions about my cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28704" CreationDate="2020-09-26T02:54:57.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats have mood swings.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be because we don't know enough about cats' personality or because the cats cannot convey us what they want. However, to the best of our knowledge, cats have mood swings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats have very strong routines as well.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats love to eat, cuddle, play and sleep at the same hours of each day. Therefore, noticing daily patterns might be due to their internal schedule. In other words, they make time for you but only between 4 AM and 3 PM. In the long run, cats adjust their schedule more fitting to their human companions, so you have to be patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They might be spooked by something else.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they looked scared only when it is dark, I might have suggested that they were spooked by something else in the dark. Contrary to the common knowledge, cats only have better eyesight than humans at night, meaning they still have poor sight. Yet, they avoid you also at dusk when they see the best, meaning it cannot be about the dark. Therefore, I hardly think this is the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest you to leave the cats alone when they seem scared. Unlike dogs, you must build your interactions with your cats on their terms. Therefore, if they want to spend some quality brother time without you, you have to let them be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might confuse avoidance with being scared. Cats, when they don't want to socialise, can be very evasive. If you insist, they might act as if they are scared and if you persist, you will get scratched. This may easily account to 90% of the scratchings, humans who don't know when to leave a cat alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the time and the improvements in your relations with your cats, I don't think they are holding any grudges anymore. As I wrote in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28568/16749&quot;&gt;my previous answer&lt;/a&gt;, you couldn't have hurt the cats too badly and all pets have forgiving natures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, check if they avoid your parents and your brother as well. Cats tend to have favourite people, for whom they might make room in their schedule, so don't be upset if you find out they have one. Yet, if you are the only one in the household who they avoid during the said time period, they might still be scared of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T02:54:57.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23218" CreationDate="2020-09-26T04:01:30.613" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine do it when they are making their beds and determining what bed location would be best or setting fast pathways to their favored locations. They like to dig and as soon as I added more depth to their cage, they don't do it as much. It is normal for them to dig around and they will make pathways for themselves. I don't use normal bedding for mine but potting soil and some sand and bedding. They have different textures to dig in and sleep or go to the bathroom in and seem to like this change I made. They pick the corner they like the most. If you need to get them to stop you can spray a bit of vinegar. They should calm down and choose a different corner to make into their bed. It is not a permanent solution and my guys eventually don't mind the smell lol. But if you give them enough to do they will stop. Also, I let mine out to play on occasions and they scratch to let me know they want out. I keep mine in a 30-gallon tank, I have plywood for a second floor and branches to climb on and chew. I take a small fish net and they have learned to associate that with fun and being moved. I find they are smart critters and they get bored so providing enough playtime and stimulus (but not too much) can be very healthy for them. It should be something you plan out and potentially do daily. Just like dogs they need time away to explore and get to know you. Just make sure to put a rug under your door so they don't escape or chew at it. Anything you don't want them to chew like power cords and books take them to a place they cannot reach. Also, they can jump and climb very well so make sure to keep things high enough. My boys can jump about 13-14 inches which is a bit crazy to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18894" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T04:01:30.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28710" CreationDate="2020-09-26T10:49:04.160" Score="3" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got this rescue dove that probably had fallen from its nest. I took him home and fed it for 3 months. In these 3 months the dove didn't get domesticated, always fearing me when i go near it to replenish food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One day I kept the window open to see if it would leave and it did leave overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am bit heart broken as well as confused as I thought these birds are territorial and they have good memory to know where their house is. Why did he never came back or got domesticated? I did offer bird feed and rice daily along with water. In general any animal finds safety in a place where it gets shelter and food and doesn't usually leave that place unless the safety gets compromised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it know where my house is once it leaves and its choosing not to come back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18896" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T13:11:19.320" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T16:07:02.787" Title="Dove not getting domesticated" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27057" CreationDate="2020-09-26T12:51:42.777" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bro... You didn't change the water for a YEAR? Plus the tank is too small. What happens is the poop they produce creates levels of different stuff in the water, like ammonia and nitrogen, and too much of the latter will cause permanent brain damage. The other also has negative effects and this can stunt growth. Having a small tank also stunts growth. Your fish won't live long, that's inevitable now because the damage has been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds as though she was suffering more due to buoyancy problem in her bladder. Which can be remedied with either fish medications or with natural treatment, keep the air oxygenated well with an air pump and keep the water filtered so that she will not drown or suffer further damage. Feed her with boiled/deshelled/mashed pea (one or two, this acts as a laxative and clears out her system, so keep the water changes going). She should recover from this, but they will both die soon if you leave them in that tank with that water. You should do 10% water changes every week/week and a half and filter the water. With an air pump if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They preferably need at least 20 gallon tank, maybe a 15 would work, but a 20 would definitely be better for them if you can afford it. Hope things improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18899" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T13:09:38.860" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T13:09:38.860" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28708" CreationDate="2020-09-26T15:36:17.213" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a very essential difference between &amp;quot;domesticated&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;tame&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An animal that is &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;domesticated&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; was intentionally bred by humans over many generations to ensure a safe food supply that doesn't rely on hunting or to exploit other characteristics (like rodent control by cats). This process takes many generations bred in captivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An animal is &amp;quot;tame&amp;quot; when it doesn't shy away from human contact. Both domesticated and wild animals can be tame or feral or something in between. Most animals aren't born tame, they need to get used to human contact. This works best if the animal has contact to humans from birth or from a very young age, a process called &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialization_of_animals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;socialization&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;. Some species can become tame later in their life, but I think the majority of animals cannot become tame after their period of socialization ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pigeonweb.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;guide to pigeons&lt;/a&gt; includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Handle your pigeon. Talk to him and touch him gently and allow him to get used to you and your voice. Giving him attention will make him more likely to be a lifelong buddy. Ignoring him in a cage will only isolate him. How often how well he was handled while he was at the breeders will also influence how easily adaptive he might be. A well socialized pigeon has been handled by numerous people during his squab stages. Otherwise you might have to take a very gentle and patient approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the reasons why the dove you cared for didn't become tamed in 3 months are probably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It wasn't socialized with humans at a young age&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You didn't spend much time with it other than offering food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It may have had negative experiences with humans in the path that scared or hurt it. Although you are a different person, this dove had no reason to trust you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't be heartbroken. This was a wild bird that would probably never become tame the way you'd want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-26T16:07:02.787" LastActivityDate="2020-09-26T16:07:02.787" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-28T07:15:51.350" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are known to blink as a form of smiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe I have also noticed that the dogs and cows here often look and blink at me when they are upto something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g.1: when one of the dogs is play fighting and dominating the other dog, it looks at me and blinks, as if to communicate that it is all good fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g.2: there was a rambunctious puppy once who insisted on playing with the cows. One of the dominant cows decided to play with it. She repeatedly - but very gently each time, toppled the puppy over with her horns. The puppy would give a little yelp and go right back at the cow. While the puppy was fully engrossed with the cow, the cow looked at me from time to time and kept blinking with a funny expression on her face. I had to assume the cow was playing with the puppy and this was her way of laughing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone noticed anything similar, or am I making things too anthropomorphic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit/update:&#xA;I found a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669291/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;very interesting paper&lt;/a&gt; which concludes that &lt;em&gt;spontaneous eye-blinks have acquired a role in social communication, similar to grooming, to adapt to complex social living during primate evolution.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this applies to primates, I wonder if it might also apply to other social animals. Especially because voluntary blinking is a very basic, and could possibly form a basis of proto-communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paper I mentioned above &lt;a href=&quot;https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1113/expphysiol.1927.sp000426&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;makes a reference to another paper &lt;/a&gt; which states&#xA;&lt;em&gt;the interblink interval was prolonged in dairy cows during feeding and neck licking, in pre-ruminating bison, and in wolves watching birds. Based on these results, Blount concluded that these &lt;strong&gt;blinks have a central rather than peripheral origin.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastEditorUserId="16778" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T19:59:20.760" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T05:04:45.687" Title="Do dogs and other intelligent animals (cows, etc.) blink to communicate?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;cows&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28713" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-28T11:53:52.230" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently gotten myself a cute little kitten at the start of September. I might want to get a second cat/kitten to keep her company. I've done some research about introducing new cats and read guides and tips about it. However, all the resources I found were talking about &amp;quot;older&amp;quot; cats, or cats people have owned for a quite a while already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do those guidelines apply in this case as well? Since my kitten at home has only been here for 1 month, I'm wondering if I might be able to just let them sniff each other through the pet carrier, and maybe have them in separate rooms for 1-2 days and do a slow, gradual introduction like that.&#xA;All the guidelines I've read said that this process usually takes weeks. While i don't have a problem with that in general, my apartment has only 2 &lt;SUP&gt;1&lt;/SUP&gt;/&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; rooms, so I don't really have a spare room I can keep closed for weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any inputs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: If I end up getting a second cat, I plan to buy either a kitten, or a really young cat (1 year old or so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: To clarify why I'm even asking this question.&#xA;From my understanding, the problem with bringing home a new cat/kitten is that cats are very territorial, and your home is the resident's cat territory.&#xA;I was thinking that since my kitten has been in my apartment for barely 1 month, she wouldn't feel like it's her territory that &amp;quot;strongly&amp;quot; yet, so I might be able to just slowly introduce them in 1-2 days, rather than going through a few weeks long process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18904" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T12:58:56.167" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T12:58:56.167" Title="Introducing new cat (or kitten) to kitten at home" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7498" CreationDate="2020-09-28T13:57:17.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 indoor male cats ages 20, 13, and 10. I have 6 water bowls throughout the house. The type of bowls containing various brands of daily changed bottled water and placement of the bowls have not changed since 2011.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 3-months ago, my 12-yr old started scooping out most of the water with his paw. This later progressed to tipping-over the entire bowl. He doesn't do this all of the time, but often enough to cause concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now all 3 cats are tipping-over their water bowls. I am not satisfied with people's assumptions that cats do this because of their whiskers, for play, or due to instinctively wanting or craving running water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all these years of drinking water normally, why this sudden change in behavior? I am looking into the theory that its a chemical in the plastic bottle as many brands have switched to a much thinner and flimsy type of bottle. Stay tuned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18905" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T13:57:17.323" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-28T16:08:38.917" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently bought a kitten. She is now 3 months old, and I've had her for one month. The first week I had brought her home, I was only feeding dry food (Applaws kitten). I think she had mostly normal stool, but I didn't pay that much attention to it. It definitely was on the normal side, because I would have noticed otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I soon started giving her wet food. I had nothing to use for transition, so I just started by giving little wet food, and gave a bit more every day. Since I started giving her wet food, her stool has become soft. It's not diarrhea, but it's soft enough (and a light brown) that a tiny bit always keeps sticking to her rear. She has short hair, so it's not that poop sticks to her fur. The stool is just soft enough that her rear remains dirty. I have found poop stains on much of my furniture already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that maybe it's the wet food itself that causes this, so I eliminated it, feeding only dry food. After a week of feeding dry food only, it didn't get better, so I thought maybe it's the protein (chicken). I gave her other dry food for 3 days (rabbit and salmon). Earlier she used the litterbox, and when she walked past me, I instantly smelt that her bottom was dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Earlier it occurred to me that maybe I'm just switching foods too fast?&#xA;Is it necessary to have a transition period when switching dry foods as well? Should I even do that, considering she already has soft stool anyway? For how long should I feed the same specific food, before it would affect her (and change her stool)? Is there a protein that many cats are allergic to? Or in other words, is there a protein that is especially recommended for cats with allergies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, I can't seem to find the reason for her soft stool. What is the best way to find the source?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18904" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T19:56:04.010" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T19:56:04.010" Title="Can't find a reason for my cat's soft stool" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-28T16:50:11.777" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a platy that is pregnant. I used to have her outside in a little pond (a bath tub), but put her inside by herself in a 5 gallon (19 liters) aquarium, so the babies don't get eaten by the other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since yesterday that I put her there, she is hidden under a piece of driftwood and doesn't want to eat... should I be worried?&#xA;What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18909" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T19:19:59.853" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T19:19:59.853" Title="Pregnant platy, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-09-29T05:44:52.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28716" CreationDate="2020-09-28T18:09:46.353" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You're absolutely changing her food too fast.&lt;/strong&gt; The recommended period of time to transition a cat's food is 1-2 weeks; swapping too fast causes gastric distress and soft stools. Hill's (a pet food manufacturer) has a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hillspet.co.id/cat-care/nutrition-feeding/switching-cat-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;guide on how to change your cat's food food&lt;/a&gt;; as your kitten likely is a little extra sensitive from all the changes, I'd recommend slowing the process to two weeks with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of how frequently you've been changing her food, it may take some additional time to undo the gastric distress. Give her time for her digestive system to actually settle into a food; three days (and especially after a fast change) is not nearly long enough for any effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet food does not cause soft stools. Cats are optimized to get their moisture from their food, and wet food is ideally suited for this; take a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16460/what-is-the-purpose-of-wet-cat-food&quot;&gt;answers to this question&lt;/a&gt; for more information on how cats benefit from the moisture in wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Protein allergies and sensitivities can cause issues, but they are much less common and less likely to be the cause of your current problem; distress from fast switches is a very common source of soft stools, and the most common answer should always be what you try first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, &lt;strong&gt;if you have not taken the kitten to a vet, please do so right away&lt;/strong&gt; so you and she can establish a relationship and a medical history. The vet can also advise you on how to properly handle feeding, test for parasites (another common reason for soft stools), and start her vaccinations. The vet should also be your first resource for further stool issues after you get her onto a stable diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T18:09:46.353" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-28T18:29:10.533" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 10 gallon (38 liters) tank aquascape, no fish yet, I noticed around 20 nematodes swimming around, can I just put platy fish and shrimp there? How do I get rid of the nematodes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T19:48:18.057" LastActivityDate="2020-09-28T19:48:18.057" Title="What do I do about nematodes (roundworms) in aquascape?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28720" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-28T21:29:07.503" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an eight-year-old male cat. He has always been very healthy, but this year he's had some respiratory problems. Here's the history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In early March he started sneezing and coughing often.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On 23 March, seen by vet, who gave Convenia injection and Metacam drops. He was fine for about 2.5 months, then started sneezing and coughing again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On 13 June, back to vet (different vet, same practice), gave Convenia + Metacam again. Same again, fine for several months, then started sneezing and coughing again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On 15 September, back to vet (third vet, same practice), who gave him a Colvasone injection and said to come back for a chest X-ray.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On 23 September, had a chest X-ray, and given another Colvasone injection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet said he thought it could be asthma, and the cat should be okay now for about a month but to come back if coughing recurred after that and he could be given a steroid mask. The receptionist said that the X-ray showed 'patterns of feline asthma' (we think - wasn't totally clear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's now only 28 September and he's started sneezing again, about 10-20 times per hour, and snuffling. He's also lethargic and off his food, which is very uncharacteristic!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this sound like asthma, given that it's come back again so quickly after a steroid injection?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it normal to have two steroid injections eight days apart?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If not asthma, what else could it be? (The vet said he thought it was unlikely to be a physical blockage, given that it responded to earlier treatment.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18912" LastEditorUserId="18912" LastEditDate="2020-09-28T21:43:25.900" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T12:03:36.857" Title="Cat coughing/sneezing keeps coming back despite treatment?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-29T02:41:06.213" Score="0" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put 1 Siamese algae eater fish in my 10 gallon (38 liters) tank aquascape with no fish yet, last night, until now it's been missing. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-29T09:33:16.467" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T09:33:16.467" Title="What should I do about my Siamese algae eater fish missing?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28728" CreationDate="2020-09-29T03:35:54.777" Score="15" ViewCount="7036" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like I can trust you, don't delete please. I need help by making the rest of my cats understand that she's gone and not coming back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My old cat, Bee, died - and we have two more and I don't know how to deal with my old cat being gone. She's been there for me my whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need my cats to understand that she is gon and not coming back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18913" LastEditorUserId="18913" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T23:12:22.673" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T22:16:53.703" Title="My old cat died and I don't know how to deal with it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28722" CreationDate="2020-09-29T10:20:12.617" Score="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loss of a pet, for some people &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J002v08n03_11?src=recsys&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;can be no different than losing a family member&lt;/a&gt;. The effect may be more intensely felt &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/089279394787001970&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;by children and teenagers compared to adults&lt;/a&gt;. Therefore, grieving after a pet is no different than grieving after losing a family member. Anything you can find online about grieving your parents or your children is relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a disclaimer, I am not a psychologist so my suggestions are based on my experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem you might face will be other people belittling your loss. Try to isolate yourself from people saying &amp;quot;It was just a cat.&amp;quot; It is impossible for someone who never had a similar connection with a cat to your connection with Bee to anticipate your grief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, if you need a venue to express grief, you can organise a funeral. Carry out the funeral only with a small group of friends and family who knows you and your loss. A funeral can mark the closure of your life with your cat, Bee, and allow you to see grief of others touched by Bee's demise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, give yourself some time. If you are at school, have your parents talk to your teachers about giving you some space. If you are working, talk to your supervisor about it. Most people will accept your loss. If you find it hard to attend work or school, you can always talk to a GP or a psychiatrist to have some time off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Attend to your other cats. They are probably confused to why Bee is no longer around and if they have good relations with her, they will be grieving too. Not only you will be helping them, they will also help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until you feel better, minimise your presence on social media, especially with friends who would not understand you. You will hear many people saying &amp;quot;But this cat looks like Bee, take her&amp;quot;. Ignore them and if possible, shut them off temporarily. It is not their fault that they do not understand you, they just cannot because they do not know how close someone can get with a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end, everyone processes grief differently so do not force yourself to do anything that you are not comfortable with. This includes all my suggestions here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, you will start to focus on the quality memories you had with Bee rather than her demise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had hamsters for some time, and because of their limited lifespan, I witness the death of eight hamsters of mine. The bond you make with your hamster is not as strong the bond with a cat, however losing every single one of my hamsters hit me deeply. The loss of my 15 year old Maine Coon, Charlie, was even greater. I tried to take relish in how well he was looked after and how he outlived an average Maine Coon by three years. I took two days off work and prepared a folder with his photos and videos for my close friends who also loved Charlie. Then, I focused on my other cat, Sonny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My condolences, and I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T10:20:12.617" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15797" CreationDate="2020-09-29T10:33:22.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats have well established routines.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats love to eat, sleep, cuddle and play at the same time of each day. Therefore, if she allocated 3 AM to 4 AM for playtime, she will play at that time every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrary to the common knowledge, cats are not nocturnal but crepuscular, meaning that they are more active at dawn and dusk than any other time period. If your blinds are open at night and some street light illuminates your room, she might believe it is dawn and construct her routine accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to change her routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Close the blinds at night. Make is as dark as possible so she can't see properly. They are less active in pitch black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tire your cat before you go to bed. Cats are very fast and agile but stamina is not one of their good qualities. Making a cat jump several times to catch a string would tire her out for hours. To give a further incentive to play, get a catnip toy and give some treats after an adequate playtime. Note that cats only focus to hunt for five minutes, i.e., they will give up if they can't hunt in five minutes. This means that their attention span is limited to five minutes and you have to wait some time after five minutes of play time or change the game to help her focus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Before you go to bed, give your cat soothing petting. Some cats love to be &amp;quot;manhandled&amp;quot;, some enjoy rough chin scratches, yet only offer light touches at night. This will goad her to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once her routine is changed, she will allocate a new time slot for playing alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T10:33:22.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28722" CreationDate="2020-09-29T13:46:50.730" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I acknowledge you are hurting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Dealing&amp;quot; with Bee's death amounts to staring in the face the unavoidable (and unbearably cruel) fact of life that those we love die, and eventually we ourselves die. It is what is known as &amp;quot;the human condition&amp;quot;, i.e. attachment to other people/animals, and the awareness of the potential for their not being there anymore, and then our own demise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The previous poster has given you some very sound suggestions for avoiding pain and feeling better. This was a kind and supportive post. My post is not kind and supportive, but not because I want to harm you. I try to encourage humans to squint, even briefly, at the reality of life, as we cushion ourselves to such a degree that we really live in la-la-land, and it comes out sideways, effectively damaging our entire planet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing you had a lot of joy with Bee, and she with you. We think in terms of accumulation, and just and unjust. We think on some level that if we surround ourselves with happiness we can distance ourselves from unhappiness. They are two sides to the same coin. That you feel sorrow at losing Bee is unpleasant, but completely normal, and (I would argue) part of the joy you felt at having her in your life. Your heart is big and strong, and can not only take pain, but will grow from experiencing it. See if you can let a little of the pain be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18917" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T13:46:50.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-29T13:52:21.310" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a planted aquarium that I've been working on for a while and I'm still trying to get my plants to grow nicely. From doing a bit or research, I believe that my aquarium plants may need additional iron. How can I get a small amount of iron to my aquarium plants? (without adversely affecting my clown plecostomus and ghost shrimp) Also, I don't have the money to purchase expensive fertilizers so a cheap or free way would be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-09-29T14:08:57.047" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T16:12:22.483" Title="How to safely get iron to aquarium plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28739" CreationDate="2020-09-29T14:05:49.253" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most fertilizers used with garden plants, they are labeled with percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen is good for helping the tops of the plants grow nice and green, the phosphorus is used to strengthen the root system of the plants, and potassium helps the whole plant. My question is whether I can use this same information for the plants in my aquarium. For example, could I add nitrogen to help the leaves show more green color and use phosphorus when adding new aquarium plants to help them grow their root systems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T01:07:13.890" Title="Can I fertilize aquarium plants in a similar way to garden plants?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28729" CreationDate="2020-09-29T16:12:22.483" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pushing nails or similar size bits into the gravel , make sure the are not galvanized. They will turn red/brown with rust fairly fast but being buried they will be out of sight. Another very fast possibility is putting a small bit of steel wool ( NOT with soap) into the filter system. You give me an idea; long ago I grew cryptocorne so well I sold it to a pet shop. That was in an angle iron tank and rust often fell into the tank. Since then crypt growth has only been fair in many different tanks; maybe they need iron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T16:12:22.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-29T16:57:32.723" Score="-2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 month old puppy loves yogurt and I don't know if that's normal or not. Is it normal for a long haired doxie (Dachshund) to like yogurt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18913" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-29T19:17:45.060" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T05:39:48.830" Title="Is it normal for a long haired doxie to like yogurt?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ClosedDate="2020-10-02T21:51:15.063" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28738" CreationDate="2020-09-29T20:15:24.457" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned in other questions in Pets.SE, I have a cat since 2011 who, sadly, can only live outside my dad's house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since mid-August I had to move out to another quite small apartment, which is too little for both me and him. So I had to be separated from him because of my studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A strongly close acquaintance of mine reassured me by saying that my cat will know when I'll be back. I plan to come back to my dad's at least one in two weekend for the beginning and I was afraid when I'll come back that he wouldn't be here. Sometimes, but especially when I leave my dad's house for a long period, he only comes in the night to eat his diner we gave him. My acquaintance told me that my cat will smell my odor in the garden if I'll come and thus, he'll recognize it and he'll know I came. Is that true? Are cats' sense of smell that efficient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12852" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-29T20:25:22.433" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T21:35:44.550" Title="Can a cat know you came thanks to his sense of smell?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28737" CreationDate="2020-09-29T21:35:44.550" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike ants and bees, cats do not use scent as their primary sense when they move. Cat olfactory senses are quite strong, especially when we compare them with those of humans, but it will not help them move a few hundred meters. Cats sometimes have problems finding hidden treats inside the room, let alone find you from a distance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, cats are great observers. &lt;strong&gt;Not only he will notice in which pattern you arrive, he will also notice how your father behaves differently before you come.&lt;/strong&gt; So, even if he misses you a few times, he will eventually find out your pattern and come to you if he wants to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not directly related to this, but cats have an internal compass which lets them find their home turf if they get lost. This internal compass is compared to those of homing birds. As long as they are not too stressed, they can find their way home from an unknown location. Of course, this only applies to wandering cats, as house cats will be too stressed to focus on their instincts. Regardless, this homing behaviour does not apply to your being at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-09-29T21:35:44.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28731" CreationDate="2020-09-30T00:34:23.360" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short - yes you can, in the market there exist a lot of various fertilizers with specific macro- or micronutrients. And yes, aquatic plants are not really different from terrestrial plants in terms of nutrient requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, both in case of aquatic and terrestrial plants, it is a little more complicated. For example, it is true what you stated about nitrogen - its deficiency causes insufficient chlorophyll production (condition also referred to as chlorosis) that makes the affected plant's leaves lose their green color; they get yellow or even pale white, starting from the tips. It also makes the whole plant look sick and thin - that's because severe nitrogen deficiency stunts growth and causes general starvation of the whole plant. If the plant's leaves are showing signs like this, then applying nitrogen fertilizer would improve their condition - but only if these signs were caused by the nitrogen deficiency in the first place. If the plant is already healthy and gets enough nitrogen, then adding nitrogen based fertilizer wouldn't make the leaves any more healthy nor green. It might cause plant to grow faster, though - but only up until a certain point, until there is enough nitrogen that it's no longer a limiting nutrient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also wouldn't help if the observed signs were to be caused by the deficiency of another nutrient; deficiencies of other nutrients - like iron - could also result in chlorosis. It might look similar, but could be distinguished by subtle differences. For example, chlorosis caused by mild nitrogen deficiency begins with the oldest leaves first because nitrogen is readily mobile inside the plant and thus plant tries to save itself by moving nitrogen from the oldest tissue to other places where it is more needed. On the other hand, chlorosis caused by iron deficiency affects the youngest leaves first because iron, in contrast to nitrogen, is immobile and cannot be transferred like that; also, the veins of the leaves in iron deficient plant stay green, while nitrogen deficiency causes leaves to uniformly lose their green pigment. An article about nutrient deficiencies in aquarium plants in general could be found at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/plant-nutrient-deficiencies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquariumcoop.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean through the last two paragraphs is that the growth of a plant is controlled not by the total amount of available nutrients, but by the amount of the scarcest nutrient available (it is a specific case of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Liebig's law of the minimum&lt;/a&gt;). In this context, I think it is wise not to overdo with fertilization based only on a single nutrient for aquarium plants; also, some nutrients are antagonistic, like magnesium and calcium - the excess of one of them could cause deficiency of the other. More information about nutrient interactions in plants could be found on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cannagardening.com/interactions_between_nutrients&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cannagardening.com&lt;/a&gt; (it is about garden plants, but this mechanism applies to all plants). If you are unsure what nutrients might be missing, there exist all-in-one formulas that incorporate three main macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) together with trace elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please also note that fertilizers support all plants, including algae, thus it is important to use them in a way that doesn't create new problems while solving the old ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fertilizers like this are in a form of concentrated liquid that you add to water. An exact usage formula is written on the label, telling to add a certain volume of the liquid based on your tank volume to reach desired concentration. They could also exist in a form of solid pellets intended to be stuck in the substrate. Nitrogen containing fertilizers exist, but using them might not be really needed because decomposing waste usually generates more than enough nitrogen - both to feed all plants and still manage to raise in concentration over time (in the form of nitrates) to be pushing you for periodic water changes to get rid of it. I could see that using them could be useful in fishless and heavily planted tanks that utilize more nitrates than they generate, but otherwise it should be enough just to decrease the frequency of partial water changes to increase nitrate levels and thus avoid nitrogen deficiency in plants. I don't think it's common to have a problem with too low nitrate levels in aquarium, but it's definitely possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phosphorus (in the form of phosphates) is also released into the water column from decomposing organic matter, but I am not familiar with whether it is enough for plants or not in freshwater aquariums. One source that I found about this - an article at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/which-aquatic-fertilizer-is-right-for-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquariumcoop.com&lt;/a&gt; - tells that aquariums with high bio-load have tons of available phosphorus and nitrogen. It may be good idea to check phosphate levels with specialized test kits to tell whether you need to apply phosphate fertilizer for your plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of potassium, the third NPK plant macronutrient, the same mentioned article says that it is often the only limiting macronutrient of high bio-load tanks, and thus worth supplementing by applying a specialized fertilizer. Depending on the source, the optimal potassium level in freshwater aquarium is said to be from 10 to 20 ppm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also, as &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_nutrients_deficiency-symptoms-in-aquatic-plants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquasabi.com&lt;/a&gt; notes, it is important to take CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in account in case of aquatic plants:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of any deficiency in aquatic plants, you should first consider carbon dioxide intake before dealing with the other nutrient factors. Most of the damage patterns listed below, such as yellow leaves or crippled growth, can also be caused by a carbon deficiency. CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; fertilization is essential for healthy plant growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lighting could also be the cause of insufficient plant growth if the light spectrum being emitted is missing in regard to certain wavelength intervals. Plants are green because they absorb and derive energy from red and blue parts of visible light spectrum. If the lighting being used is of low quality, it could have &amp;quot;holes&amp;quot; in the emitted spectrum and not emit the most efficiently absorbed wavelengths; this could be the case in cheap LEDs and fluorescent bulbs because, in contrast to incandescent bulbs, their spectrum isn't continuous. High quality LEDs are good to use, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article like at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jbl.de/en/blog/detail/134&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;jbl.de&lt;/a&gt; about optimal concentrations of various nutrients in aquarium water could be used as a further reference for the general topic of fertilizing aquarium plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T01:07:13.890" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T01:07:13.890" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-30T03:19:21.533" Score="13" ViewCount="9035" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 gallon tank I had 3 guppies and some snails. Only 2 adult snails and some babies. I had 3 guppies the night before and the next day one of my guppies disappeared. This has happened before and I’m really frustrated and sad about it. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18923" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T09:58:19.377" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T08:52:08.423" Title="My fish are disappearing :(" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28736" CreationDate="2020-09-30T05:39:48.830" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;@lila provided already a nice comment on the safety of eating yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will tell you about our experiences. We had one half Pekingese in the past, and another more-or-less Pekingese currently (we = my parents). The story is the same with both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mother (their main caretaker) discovered that they like yogurt. For a few times, she provided them with readily bought yogurt, the dogs could not be happier. Occasionally they wanted more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which led my mother to the idea to make the &amp;quot;yogurt&amp;quot; in the house. They bought milk, and then the milk was intentionally &amp;quot;forgotten&amp;quot; at room temperature after being exposed briefly to room air. Overnight, the milk transformed into a yogurt-ish food. Which the dogs enjoyed equally. No food additives, no limited quantity, no breaking the bank for buying specialized products, everybody happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the bought milk is industrially processed in the same factories where yogurt is made, so it might have additives as well;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there are claims that the adults of any species should not consume any milk or dairy products, for health reasons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: it is not out of the ordinary for a dog to like yogurt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T05:39:48.830" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28740" CreationDate="2020-09-30T05:49:20.627" Score="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most reasonable explanation is that it died and was eaten by the other fish / snails. Note that some snails are carnivorous. Many fish are cannibalistic if the opportunity arises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some leftovers of the missing fish might be found inside the aquarium, if you look carefully. Or in the filter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some fish have the idea to jump out of the water. With this occasion, they might even jump out of the aquarium entirely (that is why aquariums have lids). Look around, even behind furniture. You might find it. Quite probable, it will not ever move again by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask your family. Maybe they collected it dead from the water and disposed of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Funny or not, I once found in the &amp;quot;aquarium&amp;quot; (actually bowl) the skeleton of a fish (possibly molly or something similar) - the way seen in cartoons (head, spine, bones, tail). It died, and the other inhabitants were happy with the diet change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: if the aquarium does not have a lid (or if you find the lid removed &amp;quot;without explanation&amp;quot;), and at the same time you own a cat, then it is the time to have a serious chat with the cat :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T05:50:12.513" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T05:50:12.513" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-30T08:51:35.557" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to goldfish, it is swimming on surface like gasping for air every 3 minutes or so. So, I did 40% water change, using drinking water just now. Should I do something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is 24/7 filter and fan, though, I think it wasn't because of lack of oxygen, or is it? Should I buy bigger tank?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x72oQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/x72oQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T10:00:38.400" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T10:00:38.400" Title="What should I do to my goldfish swimming on surface?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="13" ClosedDate="2021-04-30T11:52:20.143" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-09-30T17:23:50.663" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my first time posting so I’m sorry if I made any mistakes with my post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I’m going to lose one of my goldfish. About 2-3 weeks ago both of my goldfish (I only have 2) developed ammonia burn. I treated them with API Stress Coat and did a 10% water change each day for a week. That seemed to have worked. However, a few days later they both developed fin rot. I tried Melafix for 6 days and that seemed to have done absolutely nothing except make their fins worse. I also didn’t do any water changes as I was told not to while I was medicating them. By day 3 or 4 (of medication) one of my goldfish developed dropsy (or at least what I thought to be dropsy given what I read online). On day 7 I stopped using Melafix and did a 20% water change and this time I used aquarium salt. I found a lot of resources online and on YouTube and I decided to start off with a low dosage of the salt. For the first stage of the treatment I was told to use 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons of water. I have a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank so I did 6 tablespoons. Day 7, I did the same thing. Also on day 7 I decided to treat the goldfish that had dropsy, so I took him out of the tank and placed him in a bath that had Epsom salt. I put 2 teaspoon in a 2 gallon bucket and placed him there for 7 minutes. Then I took him out and placed him in a recovery bucket with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt for 5 minutes. Afterwards I took him out and placed him back in the main tank that had the aquarium salt. He didn’t seem to be stressed while I was treating him with both salts and both of my goldfish were active and eating. Today is day 8 and I woke up to this &lt;strong&gt;(see pictures)&lt;/strong&gt;. His belly has shrunk and caved in. I think I may have done more damage to him. I have cried for days because of what happened to them but now I’m utterly devastated. I couldn’t stop crying. I wanted to help them but I made the situation worse. I also live in Canada so most of the medications that’s supposed to work are banned here. I ordered Kanaplex from Amazon.com and it’s supposed to get here on Oct 13th (that is if customs doesn’t seize it). I don’t know what to do anymore. Please help me. I’ve been so stressed out that I developed stomach pains and can’t seem to sleep either. Additional information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tank parameters:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ammonia - 0.25 ppm;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrites - 0.25 ppm;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nitrates - Between 10-20 ppm;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Temperature - I don’t use a heater;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH - N/A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: no matter what I can't seem to get any of the above levels to zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What type of filtration are you using?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Aqua Clear power filter, the one for 20 gallons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How long have you had the fish?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;8-9 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have you added anything new to the tank?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are no décor nor plants in the tank. I did add new substrates and that’s when the ammonia burn began.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What kind of food have you been feeding your fish?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Stopped feeding my goldfish flakes and switched to Repashy since June of this year. They love it and have gotten so much healthier from eating it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6DMZm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6DMZm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oBZbv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oBZbv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IChcy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IChcy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M5NnE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M5NnE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AU18s.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AU18s.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18933" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-09-30T19:35:12.083" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T19:35:12.083" Title="Goldfish skin around the intestine area is gone and stomach looks to be caved in" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21935" CreationDate="2020-09-30T20:39:06.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Safe&amp;quot; is an illusion. The &amp;quot;safest&amp;quot; thing to do is to not being born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know parrots who eat a little bit of chocolate now and then. They are still alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Xylitol is not &amp;quot;artificial&amp;quot;, it is birch sugar. Some people seem to compare it to aspartame (which is complete and utter nonsense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people also seem to think that the bacteria in our saliva are poisonous to parrots. My own experience proves that this is NOT the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is this narrative about parrots being lactose intolerant. That too, according to my own experience, is nonsense. Our parrots eat yogurt every day and after many years, they still live happily without ever having diarrhea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18934" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T20:39:06.423" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28722" CreationDate="2020-09-30T23:22:45.927" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Others have answered what to do, and what to avoid from others; and also what is happening, and that it has to happen.  I can't offer anything over what they've said about that.  But I would like to offer a view on a possible timeline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat (we have others; but they are &amp;quot;our cats&amp;quot;.  I, and I alone, was her human) Isabella died a while back.  We knew this was coming for a long time; she was almost 20, if we believe her previous family, and was with me for over 10 years; and she was given a &amp;quot;year or so&amp;quot; diagnosis two years before.  I am also not very emotional myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this to say that it took almost a month to not reflexively look for her or expect her to jump up when I sat down at the computer, or went to bed, and feel the pain; closer to three months before I didn't get reminded by something every day that she was gone; and almost a year before &amp;quot;Isabella will...oh&amp;quot;, with its attendant twinge of hurt, stopped happening regularly.  I still get flashes occasionally, when one of the other cats does something Isabella-like, or I see that same grey shape on a cat on the street.  But it doesn't hurt any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Were it to be sudden, or were we not prepared, or were I more of an emotional person than I am, it could easily have been longer.  It may be for you.  That's not wrong.  It may be shorter.  That doesn't mean you didn't care.  What happens, has to happen, and it takes what time it takes. It happens, and it hurts, and it takes time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it will get better, in time.  It will be another part of your life, in time.  If you're not as old as this grandparent, a year could sound like forever.  It's not, but it isn't tomorrow, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, I have the urn &amp;quot;In memory of Isabella&amp;quot; on my desk where I can look at it while writing this, and a picture and paw print on the bookshelf; and some other pictures.  But mostly I have 10 years of good memories, along with the one year of grieving: the grieving is over, the good memories remain.  Even the grieving is a good memory, of a sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that will be you and your memories of Bee.  Hang on to that thought - and when it hurts, again, remember one of those good memories, and know that while she is remembered, she is never really gone.  And take care of the other cats, and the other humans, too; and let them take care of you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a final note, one of our other cats came up to me and stayed for the first few days where Isabella always used to.  She helped me feel better, and I hope I helped her as well.  And that, too, is a good memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18935" LastActivityDate="2020-09-30T23:22:45.927" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27266" CreationDate="2020-10-01T04:42:17.443" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it was the natural course of life, the fish died on its own and the cleanup crew as you call it ate the remands(the corps) just like lions and cheetahs and tigers and leopards they eat there pray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18913" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T04:42:17.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28754" CreationDate="2020-10-01T05:38:04.320" Score="2" ViewCount="525" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this turtle basking tower to buy at amazon and as do-it-yourself-video on youtube:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qgOBB.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qgOBB.png&quot; alt=&quot;picture of plastic grid box as turtle tower&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to build it (I plan to secure it with 4 additional legs, so the weight of my heavy turtle is more divided, and with a bark of cork instead the stones to better let the &amp;quot;belly&amp;quot; of my turtle dry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the descriptions the grid material is called &amp;quot;eggcrate&amp;quot; and I could not find a good translation to search for it in my local building store...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I translate it to German I get all sorts of boxes to hold eggs in storage, but the dictionary says &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eggcrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;having rectangular cells that direct and diffuse light&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does someone know the German name of this grid? Or another English name, that is less puzzling the search algorithms?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(for virolino: picture of the &amp;quot;Eierkarton&amp;quot; what is an eggcrate in German)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dOQpI.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/dOQpI.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And for the less possible case, that someone know, how to call this thing in Lithuanian... I need to find it in an Lithuanian store ^^)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T20:00:02.253" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T20:00:02.253" Title="What does &quot;eggcrate&quot; mean in the context of a material for a turtle basking area?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28751" CreationDate="2020-10-01T06:15:40.933" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I translate it to German I get all sorts of boxes to hold eggs in storage...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw this turtle basking tower ... as do-it-yourself-video on youtube&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, notice that pretty much everything looks like coming from another purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some tubes, probably normally used for ventilation. And there are some things which look quite suitable to keep eggs straight, so those eggs would not roll and risk breaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the translations you receive by translating to German seem to actually be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding: whoever build that box used whatever was available at hand. Supports for eggs and tubes for ventilation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the meme tells us: &amp;quot;If It Looks Stupid, But It Works, It Ain't Stupid&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update (tnx @Allerleirauh):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another meaning of &amp;quot;eggcrate&amp;quot; is a structure with cells used either as a support, or for directing / diffusing light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, whatever the purpose, it is a structure with cells :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T06:28:38.957" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T06:28:38.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28751" CreationDate="2020-10-01T06:17:02.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only somewhat decent translations I could find were &lt;code&gt;kunststoff-gitter&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;grid trennung&lt;/code&gt;. It may be helpful to use the term &lt;code&gt;eggcrate grille&lt;/code&gt; when searching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T06:17:02.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28751" CreationDate="2020-10-01T06:36:01.247" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &amp;quot;eggcrate&amp;quot; means the sturdy cartons eggs are transported and sold in. It also means the general shape of egg cartons and can be used for materials like foam in that shape:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KoUtI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KoUtI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A third meaning for &amp;quot;eggcrate&amp;quot; is a regular grid correctly called &amp;quot;eggcrate joint&amp;quot;, which doesn't seem to have a proper German translation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fuU1L.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fuU1L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best fitting German term I found is &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;GFK Gitter&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, which means a broad spectrum of glass fiber grids. Other terms include: Aquariumgitter, Terrariumgitter, Aquariumteiler, Filtergitter, Gehweggitter, Lochblech (probably the most sturdy, possibly the most expensive), Moosgitter (less sturdy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iZvbH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iZvbH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T12:57:33.127" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T12:57:33.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20574" CreationDate="2020-10-01T13:22:24.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are cats, which live in one room apartments with their owners, so the &amp;quot;locking in one room&amp;quot; should be not a problem for cats in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are cats, that are alone for the time their owners are at work. So the &amp;quot;not watched cat&amp;quot; should be in general no problem for cats too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even your cat is more lucky than this ones, because she could enter other spaces (even if it is not for every time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem as I see it, is that the cat do not stay alone. More extreme: the cat needs one of two special persons to feel save and comfortable. This problem is not unsolvable, but may needs a lot of training (the tricky is not the training itself, but to do it on a consequent regular basis, for example one or two times daily).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like it was suggested in the comments, you need to help your cat to feel comfortable when your mom or you are not available. In the end this would help the cat stay healthy and rescue the nerves of your mom because giving her and the cat freedom in action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestion one: no cat sitter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest do choose one room for the training. This room should be the one, where the cat would be locked, when nobody is looking her over. Later you could open the door of this room (if it is connected with more safe space).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general you shape the training such like &amp;quot;cat has a task and gets a reward for it&amp;quot;. For example your mom could lock the cat in that room and go to take the food for her. Then she came strict back, opens the door and feed her in the room. (this for example would fulfill the &amp;quot;daily&amp;quot; criteria).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If it seems to be too much time for the cat to stay in the room, until the food is taken, then your mom could take the food first, and wait with the food in the front of the locked door and for example count until 5, the next time until 10 and so on, until it is long enough to lock first the door and then take the food.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the training lasts longer, your mom could use more time to get the food, for example drink a glass of water and then get the food, or even later read the news and then bring the food to the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The perfect moment to extend the time the cat is locked, is when she starts to keep some moments in silence. She will learn to be calm when left in the room, and to get food afterwards. She will go into the room happy, because she knows there will come food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she keeps calm and silent for a little while, then your mom could start to choose the amount of time in such a way, that she comes back, when the cat is silent. The cat should learn by this, that silence would be rewarded,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cat is trained to stay calm in that room for some time, your mom could leave the house. (When your mom notices, that the cat gets calm in the room, even when she is around, then the mom gets calm also, and dares to leave the house). First short walks, for example to get the letters of the mailbox, or to chat a little with the neighbors. Later she could stay away for longer periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for the worse case: there are the grandma and the maid to react in emergencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestion two: another cat sitter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me this would be the second choice, only if for example the mom is so much caring about the cat, that the cat should not be alone (adult cats in nature are actively searching for loneliness in a big amount of the daily time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you integrate a new cat sitter, who needs to join the training with your mom. The sitter now gets the leash daily, and your mom leaves the room. You could connect this with the food part too, so the leash goes to the sitter, and the mom leaves to get the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the cat is comfortable with this, and calms down, then the sitter could start to play with the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another start could be, that the mom is around (for example sitting in a chair) and the sitter starts to play with the cat. The cat should not be forced to a place this time. If the leash is long enough to choose between chair or play it is okay, but the best would be unleashed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is working, then the next step would be for the mom to go from the chair some steps to the next table/window/cupboard (in the same room!) and take something (book, paper, glasses...) and come back sitting in the chair. The play needs to be something interesting enough, that the cat thinks about it, before it decides to go the steps with the mom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then this &amp;quot;episodes&amp;quot; would be extended. This could be a longer time, for example looking out of the window, or a walk to a more distant place in the same room. When the cat is comfortable with that (means the cat do not let disturb in their play by the walk), then the mom could try to go one step through the door and come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One needs to overthink, that this training will last its time. It could be more than a week of daily work, until the cat stays calm for the first little step (calm when locked in, or not disturbed in playing when mom is doing two steps away).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first step is the most important. We owe our pets to shape this step and all other as small as possible, to make learning easy for them. In this meaning you could do every day a little-little-small step further, or you could make weekly steps a little larger. The consequent and daily training is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T20:10:45.900" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T20:10:45.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28757" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-01T21:44:32.133" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small Dubai roach colony for my three bearded dragons. I have small little gnat-like bugs that will flock to the colony every week or so. It's not so bad as to affect the colony or the house per se, but it is a little annoying to just have small gnats flying about. I'm wondering what these bugs are and if there is anything I can do to prevent them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, I regularly feed the roaches about twice a week and remove dead bodies every time I go to feed the lizards insects which is several times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16837" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-01T22:16:39.937" LastActivityDate="2020-10-01T22:16:39.937" Title="Small gnats in roach colony" Tags="&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28654" CreationDate="2020-10-02T04:06:52.067" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I have little experience with South California specifically, I do have some experience in finding experienced, reputable breeders. There are a lot of &amp;quot;common&amp;quot; and simple answers here. Facebook and Instagram are actually your friends. Many dog breeders are small business owners. They do not have a marketing department and limit themselves to what they know, many of them end up having only a Facebook page or group that they stick to. Facebook groups of the local area and pet-related groups for the local area can help you find good breeders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, Googling several key phrases like &amp;quot;[insert dog breed] dog breeders near me&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;local dog breeders&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;[insert dog breed] near me&amp;quot;, etc. can help you find pages for breeders near you. This isn't always fruitful but may enlighten you to other online avenues that your local area may use to communicate about dog sales. Some social media platforms are more popular per geographical location than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, and not always guaranteed to have a result, is ask local stores. Pet stores, especially small stores, sometimes know local breeders. Local breeders are likely to need pet supplies, make contacts, etc. Pet store employees and owners see many more dogs than most of us and are more in-tune with the local pet community. Even if they don't know a breeder for your specific dog breed, they can sometimes offer to keep an eye out. If that breed were to come in later, they may ask the owner if they know a good breeder in your area. As mentioned, this doesn't always give a result, but I have found local breeders, rescuers, groomers, etc. this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16837" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T04:06:52.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28761" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-02T08:53:54.307" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll be picking up a new cat tomorrow. She is 1 year old. At home I have a kitten (3-4 months old).&#xA;Is it a good idea to rub a blanket on the kitten at home, and then bring that with me to transport the new cat (as in, I'd put it on the ground of the cat carrier).&#xA;On one hand, I think that would make the new cat get used to my kitten's smell, on the other hand, if the new cat is very scared during the car ride (4h long), she might associate the kitten's smell with something bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is there something special I should consider when introducing an &amp;quot;adult&amp;quot; cat to a kitten?&#xA;I'm told the cat I'm about to pick up tomorrow is very sensitive in general, and that she hisses at everything she doesn't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18904" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T10:24:24.807" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T22:48:24.807" Title="Transporting new cat with resident's cat blanket?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28761" CreationDate="2020-10-02T12:38:40.857" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should reduce the stress to a minimum, and that means reducing the sensual input. Being caught in a place with the intense scent of another cat will probably stress the new cat because she &amp;quot;invaded&amp;quot; the territory of another cat (against her will) and cannot escape. Put a clean towel into the pet carrier that is easy to wash if your new cat has to relieve herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She should not be able to look out the window, because all those images are too much input for her. If she's nervously looking all around, consider covering all but one side of the carrier with a light, breathable fabric like a thin bedcloth. Make sure the carrier doesn't get overheated or stuffy, but also don't let air blow directly into carrier (that might cause irritation of the eyes and nose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, every attempt at reassuring or relaxing the cat by talking to her or even touching her will result in the exact opposite, because she doesn't trust you yet. It'll be probably best to ignore her during the ride.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you arrive at home, put the carrier into a room with water, food and a clean litter box and open it. Make sure the cat cannot dash out of this room. Then leave the room and let the cat calm down for several hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would give her several days in this room to get used to her new surroundings. During that time you should of course start socializing with her. Since you already carry the smell of your other cat, you'll automatically start the process of introducing both cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how to best introduce 2 cats, please refer to these related questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/4371/12501&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing adult cats to newly adopted adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/83/12501&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5742/12501&quot;&gt;Using the room door as a means of introducing cats to each other slowly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:17:22.453" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T19:17:22.453" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-02T13:20:21.393" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this betta for about two years now, since he was a baby. A couple of months ago he started having trouble swimming. He would swim upwards, but could not stay there - instead, he would sink back down - tail first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water tests were normal - I only use the API liquid chemical tests, not the strips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our first impression was SBD. We control feeding pretty well (not the only betta I have), but I figured each fish is different, so put him on a pea/fasting diet. This did not help. Next, we tried some medicines, but that did not help either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, I just think this fish just might be disabled, but I feel a little sad watching him struggle to stay afloat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas on what it could be - other than SBD, or what else I could try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oma3H.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16401" LastEditorUserId="16401" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T19:52:44.817" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T08:06:08.567" Title="My betta is sinking, and we've tried everything. Looking for non-generic/mind-blowing advice" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;swimming&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28654" CreationDate="2020-10-02T14:32:39.717" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;(European/German perspective - check how much this applies for you)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over here, many reputable breeders are organized in dog breeder's associations/kennel clubs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check kennel clubs for the features you're looking for. E.g. check out what activities they have with respect to the health of their breed, to ensure good breeding practice etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kennel clubs have breeder lists and also lists of matings and lists of litters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some questions that come to my mind, to kennel club and/or breeder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they keep track of health, character problems?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they do/help/cooperate with research?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What measures do they take to work for healthier dogs?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Health &amp;amp; character checks for the dogs to be allowed for breeding?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What measures to limit inbreeding/shrinking genetic population size (particularly if the breed you consider is rare)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Limits on breeding frequency, including for males?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they encourage/prescribe trainings for their breeders?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How much do they weight esthetic vs. character vs. working performance in their standards? Does that fit your needs?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Sometimes there are different breeding lines (e.g. family retrievers vs. working dog) or even different kennel clubs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Over here, the kennel clubs have people (&amp;quot;breeding wardens&amp;quot;) who advise the breeder but also go and inspect the kennel in general and each litter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Visit possible/encouraged/required (except of course the few weeks around litter date).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At what age are you supposed to get the puppy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will the puppy be de-wormed, chipped and have its first vaccination?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the breeder ask you questions to make sure the dog fits and will have a good home?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Particular contract clauses/things you have to promise?&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many reputable breeders here will put an option for them to take their dog back in case you cannot keep it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I promised to do the X-rays required for breeding and in case he turns out to be admissible to have him entered in the kennel club's herdbook. Others may have to promise to neuter their dog. Both can be a sign of a reputable breeder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How experienced is the breeder?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How well does the breeder's &amp;quot;environment&amp;quot; and in consequence the already begun socialization of the puppies fit your home?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;E.g. I'm living rural, among the reputable breeders with litters in a suitable time frame, I went with one in an equally rural setting so the pup already had 6 weeks of experience with rural outdoor life when I took him to his new home.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This breeder, by the way, doesn't even have a web page other than being listed at the kennel club web page - but has full professional training as [agricultural] animal breeder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="13672" LastEditDate="2020-10-03T12:08:12.023" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T12:08:12.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28766" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-02T19:04:04.880" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat loves his wet food. He can't have dry because he has so few teeth from a genetic mouth disorder, lucky us. So after ruining one of my walls, because when he is done eating he flings his paws so hard to shake out any excess food which stick to the wall... so then I thought if I put his food in one of those covered kitty litter boxes, problem solved. That worked briefly and now he backs out of the box after eating, so he can lick his paws and again fling the remnants everywhere. Ugg, what can I do here? Anybody else have one of these kitties and what did you do? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18950" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-02T19:12:40.407" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T15:33:20.043" Title="Cat eating with paws and then flings it EVERYWHERE" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28761" CreationDate="2020-10-02T22:48:24.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might be a little too late to answer this, but &lt;strong&gt;4h is a very long ride for a cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contact to a vet about giving him a light sedative.&lt;/strong&gt; Cats sometimes receive human sedatives, of the top of my head Xanax, but &lt;strong&gt;never dose it yourself.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spite of the age difference, 1 year old cat would be more stressed compared to the 4 month old kitten because getting used to a new place is much more stressful than getting used to a new playmate. So, use a clean towel as Elmy suggested and give the towel to your 4 month old kitten upon arrival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cat doesn't know you, there is no guarantee that he will be comforted by you. Still, experiment with soothing tones. If this works, you can keep doing it. If not, ignoring is a good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I transported cats a few times and with a light sedative, they nod off in their container and had a peaceful trip. But all those cats either knew me or someone else in the car, so there is no guarantee your trips will be as peaceful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-02T22:48:24.807" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-03T03:22:54.763" Score="0" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought my cat, Rhea, a soft recovery collar to replace her cone. It looks like a plushy donut around her neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's the right size but I'm always paranoid it's too tight. She ate twice with it and drank water. She also hasn't tried to take it off. I can fit 1-2 fingers snuggly around her neck (before she nips at me in annoyance lol).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would she show signs if it was too tight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18900" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T05:57:09.653" Title="Soft Recovery collar too tight?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28768" CreationDate="2020-10-03T05:57:09.653" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shows no sign of distress (not even trying to get it off),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eats and drinks normally&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and you checked with your fingers that there’s enough room between collar and her neck,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;clearly everything is fine. In fact, she seems unusually calm considering that most cats find any kind of cone a major nuisance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T05:57:09.653" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-03T15:08:42.953" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just put power sand, pumice for living bacteria, then on top of it hard sand, then the toppest is full the finest granule sand. I filled the water and now wait to cycle the tank. I wonder whether the bacteria are going to be able to live and get ammonia on those power sand and pumice in the most bottom knowing that sand is tight? I build this tank for goldfish, that's why I use sand so the goldfish can forage without accidentally cuckle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-03T15:49:07.347" LastActivityDate="2020-10-03T15:49:07.347" Title="If i have sand substrate will my good bacteria beneath the sand still get fed?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-03T23:21:52.183" Score="9" ViewCount="5326" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there different safe forms of cat sedation for vet exam/visit and travel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is 13 and has not been to a vet or held by any human in 11 years. We found him (just a baby) crying in a bush, took him right to a vet. When we tried to feed it water or  food, the kitten was so young we needed a nipple or eye dropper. We nursed it, carried him in our backwards hoodies for months until he specifically only preferred to be handled by our older male cat. Soon, we were no longer able to approach him. The vet visits stopped as we felt the stress it caused him was more harm than good. He has had a loving home and safe backyard-happy life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older cat died and the younger cat, then 12 year old, began to tolerate our smell and wants rubs, but still will not let us pick him up. He has become clingy and we love it. But he has drastically slowed down this month, had trouble climbing and jumping high, so I MUST GET HIM SEEN. He has 4 sets of claws, he trusts me and I’d hate to lose his trust. I don’t want the first time I pick him up to be [me dropping him off at curbside to go in to vet alone]. I think he’d rather die. My elder cat was sedated by the vet once (probably unnecessary) and when they brought him back to me, his disposition was odd and violent. In his 16 years I had never seen him that way. Sedation scares me now. The elder cat had regular vet visits all his life, developed thyroid issues and then cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I’m at a loss on how to get my 13 year old cat examined as soon as possible. I don’t want him to suffer a car ride and strangers and strange smells and sounds and lights after 11 years of never going to a vet, but I know he must be seen. I’m afraid that if he has cancer, the stress of the vet visit will make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18956" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-03T23:32:01.930" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T20:35:58.713" Title="Is there a way to safely tranquilize my cat, so he does not remember a vet visit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;claws&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28773" CreationDate="2020-10-04T01:36:09.453" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most vets offer home visits.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Giving cats some sedatives or similar medication to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28767/16749&quot;&gt;reduce stress is possible&lt;/a&gt;. However, dosing is very important and should only be handled by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your budget allows a home visit, I would definitely suggest that. He will be in his familiar turf while having some potentially unpleasant (for him) interaction with the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your budget doesn't allow you a home visit, contact a vet beforehand and ask how you can sedate or tranquillise your cat to reduce his stress. He can give you or tell you where to obtain the medication and you will administer them according to his suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you do not know the weight of the cat as well, I mean you can't weigh a cat without picking him up, so definitely &lt;strong&gt;do not try to dose some human medication yourself.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T01:36:09.453" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-04T02:22:22.960" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey my fellow turtle lovers. I just purchased a baby RES. It's very active and smart for me to own it for only 2 weeks. It's eating here and there, but for the most part moves around freely. It's gotten a little bigger since I first got it. I got a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank, UV light, heater, filter, dock and thermometer. My issue is it's shell, should it look like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/plmcW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/plmcW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Backside of the turtle&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WC9hu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WC9hu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Front of the turtle&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18957" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T08:45:55.407" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T08:45:55.407" Title="Should a new turtle's shell look like this?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28773" CreationDate="2020-10-04T07:21:06.277" Score="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe a better alternative to picking him up and dragging him to the vet is getting him to go into the carrier on his own volition. It's basically what zoos do with animals that can't be handled by humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The process will take a few days (maybe two weeks) but is rather simple. Put his carrier somewhere where he likes to be every day. Put some yummy treat into the carrier and let your cat explore it and get his treat in his own time. If it takes him several days to get in there for the first time, so be it. Never put pressure on him or shove him inside, always let him go in and out on his own volition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this process multiple times for several days, always putting a very special treat in the carrier until he reliably goes in without much hesitation. Only then make an appointment at the vet, so you can be sure you'll get him into the carrier in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the appointment arrives, put a treat in the carrier, let your cat go in, close the door and go to the vet with him. Maybe the vet can give him a mild sedative while he's in the carrier to calm him down. Once you return home, repeat the carrier training for several days after the vet visit. This is important to connect the carrier with positive memories so you have the chance of repeating the trick when he needs to go to the vet next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T12:27:02.387" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T12:27:02.387" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-04T11:38:23.867" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JiCIU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JiCIU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please zoom-in on the area I have marked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;It is like a small pimple head. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;It's color is also similar to a pimple head&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18960" LastEditorUserId="18960" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T17:25:52.967" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T17:25:52.967" Title="What is this pimple like thing on my nursing mother cat's nipple?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28773" CreationDate="2020-10-04T11:46:33.363" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in a similar situation with my 14-year-old cat a few months ago. Because of the pandemic my vet wasn't able to do a house call, but she advised me to try Zylkene to calm her nerves. It is a natural product that reduces stress. It comes in capsules with a powder that you can just sprinkle on top of some wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat took to it wonderfully and I noticed a real change within the first week of using it. A previous vet visit left her hyperventilating from fear, but this time she seemed more at ease. And no trust issues after. I took her off the Zylkene after the last vet visit (she had to go twice) and all is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like having this option for emergencies, instead of having her on heavy anti-depressants. Maybe it can help your cat too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18809" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T11:46:33.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28720" CreationDate="2020-10-04T12:03:36.857" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may have already been discussed by you and your vet, but have you considered allergies? The fact that it keeps happening despite treatment leads me to believe that the cause may be environmental or (less likely) dietary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allergies can develop and worsen over time, so it could be something that was always there and your cat has simply become intolerant to it. Or it could be something new that you brought into your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert, so please talk to your vet about likely allergens, if you haven't already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18809" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T12:03:36.857" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28766" CreationDate="2020-10-04T15:28:07.680" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try using a different dish to feed him.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the common reasons cats will eat with their paws is that they don't like putting their face in the dish their meal is being served in. It's theorized that they don't like the feeling of their whiskers touching the sides of the dish.  Or it could be that the cat finds it difficult to eat around the corners of bowls, and it's much easier to use its paws to get the food that way. Therefore, most pet food bowls aren't actually very good for feeding your cat with. Look instead for very shallow bowls that have no corners to them. Or even just use plates instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to clean your cat's paws for him.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try to monitor your cat during meals, and then clean his paws when he appears done, to intercept him before he starts flinging food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If all else fails, protect your wall.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there's endless ways to simply protect your walls from catfood. You could try for instance, attaching one of those kid's placemats to your wall with some easy to remove adhesive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T15:33:20.043" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T15:33:20.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-04T18:17:17.413" Score="1" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are similar questions here, but I think this one is a little different and I need an answer somewhat urgently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My house is two-story, with an upstairs living room overlooking the first floor entryway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oYsQW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oYsQW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Second floor railing, looking over entry hallway with tile floor. Railing is made up of thin metal bars every 4 inches (10 cm) or so.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat, visible in the bottom right of the image, is about 4 years old. Since we got him (as a kitten), he's enjoyed peering through these metal bars to see downstairs. Up until this month, we've had no issues and he's been very safe around the edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, after two close calls, I'm getting worried. Both times we hear pained/scared meowing, and have to pull him back after his front paw slips off the edge. It happened today, with nobody managing to get to him for at least half a minute, and he was panting and gripping the metal bars in fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've considered some sort of net around these edges, but it would take quite a lot (this wraps around a lot of the upstairs), and would not look nice. If this is the best option, I'll gladly accept it, but are there any other things we could try?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13289" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-04T18:22:55.330" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T19:04:37.573" Title="Prevent cat from falling from second story, indoors" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2020-10-04T19:10:08.200" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have already mentioned, do not try to put them in face first—the cat will see what’s going on and do his/her best to avoid being stuffed into the carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A trick I have been taught, which has worked a treat with both the cats I have had (both being regular domestic cats):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grab the cat by his/her neck, thus inducing pinch-induced behavioral inhibition. This will make the cat struggle less—it is the same machanism employed by a mother cat when carrying her kittens, or by a male preventing a female from biting/scratching him after mating (which is a painful process for the female).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slide your other hand under the cat’s hind legs, and hold them together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the cat into the carrier, butt first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T19:10:08.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6343" CreationDate="2020-10-04T19:36:27.247" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from a very similar experience here: landlady didn’t allow animals in the house because of allergens (also some fear of her curtains and leather couch being scratched) but she was OK with the cat being kept outside. Often I would come home, or open the door, and the cat would already come running towards me. Some playing/petting outside helps reinforce the bond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all I recommend talking to your landlord to find a solution. If he is friendly towards stray cats, chances are he won’t insist on the contract being followed to the letter. His main concern might be cat allergens in the apartment, which are hard to get rid of once you move out. If the next tenant is allergic, that may become an issue—even more so if the apartment is furnished, as there are much more soft surfaces where cat hair can survive. Keeping/feeding the cat outside might be less of an issue than letting the cat into the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While cats bond with humans, they are primarily territorial animals and attached to their home. If you are going to be away for a month, the best way to go probably is to get someone to feed the cat at your place (i.e. usual feeding location). That way the cat will stay in the same territory and should easily adapt to your return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17850" LastActivityDate="2020-10-04T19:36:27.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-05T00:34:52.200" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cockatiel, I just got, has been acting really weird. She was quiet the first couple of days, but now she just screams all the time. She is eating all the time and is very aggressive while eating. She has also been making this weird noise when I took her out of her cage or pet her. She is 3 months old and I don't know what's wrong. I've done some research, but nothing is the same noise as hers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the noise she is making: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t3w3DOtSrQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t3w3DOtSrQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18968" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T00:43:26.113" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T23:21:01.960" Title="Cockatiel making weird noise everytime I scratch or take her away from her food" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-05T01:53:28.617" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wet cat food or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dry cat food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need this information to better feed my lactating mother cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18960" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T01:53:28.617" Title="Which of the following contains low fibre?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-10-05T12:41:08.147" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-05T02:37:57.247" Score="1" ViewCount="994" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between my dog's indoor and outdoor behavior is day and night. Inside, she refuses to play with any toys (while I'm awake), only eats during the day if I put something on top of her food to make it more enticing, and generally sleeps.&#xA;When I get the leash to take her out, she gets a little excited, then runs away until I put the leash on her.&#xA;Once we're outside, she's a new dog. She is excitable and wants to run around. Her tail is up and wagging, she's smiling, and doing the play-bow.&#xA;She is still timid and hesitant to warm up to people/dogs the first time she meets them. However, once she knows a dog/person, she is full of energy and always wants to play (outside).&#xA;She's a rescue dog that was in a shelter in Puerto Rico for 1+ year before I adopted her. I have now had her for 3 months. From what I have heard/read, a lot of dogs can take some time to get used to their new surroundings.&#xA;Can anyone offer some tips/insight into why she acts like this or how to help her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18969" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T06:31:29.923" Title="Why is my dog playful and lively outside, but docile and inactive inside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;rescue-organizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28787" CreationDate="2020-10-05T05:21:09.077" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I have heard/read, a lot of dogs can take some time to get used to their new surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That might be one of the causes. But on the other hand, it might be similar as with people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people might be couch potatoes at home, just to become football players, bungee jumpers, car drifters etc. as soon as they are outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between your dog and those people is that those people can go out whenever they want. Your dog can go out only when you allow her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a different point of view, this split behavior might be at your advantage. The dog will not break anything in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a compensation, you might want to spend more time with her outside, so she has the proper amount of exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T05:21:09.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28785" CreationDate="2020-10-05T05:29:36.907" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I understand, you have her for only a few days / weeks. That is usually too short for the bird to learn to trust you and befriend you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand (if the video is with your bird, not something random from the net) the bird is actually trying to communicate with you. If you do not understand whatever she is saying, it is your problem :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joke aside, just continue to be friendly and in time you will find a &amp;quot;common language&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had in the past that kind of cockatiel, and it enjoyed making loud whistle-like noises. Especially in the morning, before the alarm was set to wake us up. That is life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice: only provide food in her &amp;quot;house&amp;quot;, in the proper place. For your long-term better life ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guess: she might be angry with you for spilling the food in the improper place. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T10:59:31.983" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T10:59:31.983" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28781" CreationDate="2020-10-05T06:12:29.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you guessed already, it is going to be difficult to have a solution which is both useful and good-looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to train the cat to return by itself when it is &amp;quot;stuck&amp;quot; there. A wild guess might be that the cat is faking the danger to get your attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An extra reason to go the training path is the following. Let's assume that you actually find a solution to upgrade the fence so the cat does not go through any more. But what if the cat will try to go on top of the fence, in order to look down? The risk is even greater, I assume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T06:12:29.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28787" CreationDate="2020-10-05T06:31:29.923" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best guess is that it has to do with her time in the shelter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know about Puerto Rican's shelters, but I guess in general the animals are left alone for most of the day and get a walk maybe once a day, maybe less common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems she's simply used to being calm in her kennel (or in your house now) because there never was much to do and it was boring. The excitement was always outside, where she could sniff around and meet other people and dogs. This seems to be a simple habit of her and nothing bad that you need to change no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can continnue offering her interaction and play time inside, but don't be hurt if she ignores the offer. Maybe you haven't found her favorite type of play yet? Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;some ideas here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T06:31:29.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28775" CreationDate="2020-10-05T08:41:14.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How you could read &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; RES shell looks like this: &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;The carapace is oval and flattened (especially in the male) and has a weak keel that is more pronounced in the young.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;So this is normal in young turtles of RES.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I should guess, it could also be a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_slider&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cumberland slider&lt;/a&gt;. Because they are easy to confuse with each other, especially in young years. The Cumberland slider has a more visible keel than the RES. The adults have a very similar pattern on shell and skin, but the Cumberland slider has a yellow-brownish stripe, where the RES has its red one. But the trap: when they are young, the Cumberland slider has a red-orange-brown stripe, which is easy to confuse with the red one of RES.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it changes nothing in the feeding, or the habitat. So you could wait for the stripe to disclose the secret :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[... RES and Cumberland slider...] are omnivores and eat a wide variety of aquatic plants, many invertebrates and, to a lesser extent, vertebrates. While the proportion of animal food predominates in young animals, fully-grown Trachemys scripta mostly eat plants. Algae, leaves, stems, roots, fruits and seeds are eaten as food from plants. Larger vertebrates are actively hunted, and smaller vertebrates are also taken in unintentionally when they eat plants. If fish, frogs and other vertebrates are eaten, they are usually in the form of carrion; they are seldom self-hunted animals (PARMENTER &amp;amp; AVERY 1990).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translated, original from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zierschildkroete.de/buchstaben-schmuckschildkroeten-trachemys-scripta-troostii-elegans/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.zierschildkroete.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T08:41:14.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27726" CreationDate="2020-10-05T15:17:35.837" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kidney diseases are not a death sentence.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked after a Maine Coon with Kidney disease for three years and we lost him because of diabetes rather than renal failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replace regular cat food with renal food. Renal food is more expensive than the regular food, yet it stops or slows kidney deterioration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make your cat drink more water. It is hard to tell the cats to drink more water &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23297/should-i-add-water-to-wet-food-to-provide-extra-hydration&quot;&gt;so you might need to trick him&lt;/a&gt;. I personally water down the wet food. My current cat doesn't show any signs of dislike towards this water downed formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Administer the drugs the vet will give you. These will help a fast recovery but you still have to make life style changes I mentioned above to be effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the kidney function is too low, have your cat get into dialysis for a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T15:17:35.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28795" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-05T19:52:32.247" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8 year old Yorkshire terrier mix that was not socialized too much during her life, as she never wanted to go on a lot of walks and generally didn't like being outside or around people she didn't know. My sister brought home a new puppy that is the same size as my dog, but he will grow to be larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Yorkshire terrier mix bites and growls at the new puppy and actually hurts him. She is now growling at my sister and becoming more aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I get this behavior to stop and get the dogs accustomed to each other without anyone getting hurt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18974" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T19:59:18.653" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T16:37:00.110" Title="Older dog being aggressive towards puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28773" CreationDate="2020-10-05T19:54:11.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Search for &amp;quot;mobile vets&amp;quot; in your area.   There are an increasing number of such practices who will come out to your house with appropriate equipment to handle 95% of treatment needs.   Handling animals with anxiety about car rides and office visits is specialty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18975" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T19:54:11.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28773" CreationDate="2020-10-05T20:35:58.713" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our vet is 'Fear Free' certified and our 16yo male, never happy about vet visits before, seemed to actually enjoy his visit with the vet. This included getting his temperature taken and receiving a vaccination. Part of their 'trick' is that they feed him turkey baby food from a spoon and it REALLY WORKS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18976" LastActivityDate="2020-10-05T20:35:58.713" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-05T22:18:31.400" Score="7" ViewCount="1159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need help. I bought a new cat 2 days ago. As soon as I got home, I put her in a safe room with litterbox, water and food. The new cat seems to be very trusty of people (naive?), so she took to me pretty fast (although I see her being skeptic from time to time, depending on my movements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, already a few hours after being in her safe room, she started wanting to get out (meowing in front of the door). For the first day I resisted, and didn't let her get out. On the second day, I opened the door a tiny bit. I wanted the 2 cats to smell and see each other. The new cat just dashed out and started exploring the rest of the house, much to my resident cat's displeasure. They were hissing at each other, but the new cat seemed to try to avoid the resident cat as much as possible and just kept exploring. After a while, I put her back into her safe room. That was yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I let her out again. Again, hissing. However, now instead of exploring, the new cat would just sit under the couch the whole time. After a while, I lured her out with a laser and put her back into her safe room, as I had to leave the house. Now, a couple of hours have passed. I was playing and bonding with the new cat in her room earlier. Whenever I leave the room, she instantly tries to get out. She just meows at the door and scratches it. Like, scratches for 30 seconds non stop. Eventually she will stop, but it will take 5-10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best course of action here? I'm a bit scared to just let her out, especially when I go to sleep and I can't supervise them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just let the new cat out? Again, there was hissing the first and second time, but it never broke out into a fight. The resident cat seems to be a bit more negative here, as the new cat just tries to avoid it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;resident cat is very small and only 4 months old;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;new cat is quite big (ragdoll) and 1 year old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I'm very scared, because if a fight does break out, I feel like my resident kitten will stand no chance and could get seriously hurt.&#xA;Any advice is welcome. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18978" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-05T22:29:54.137" LastActivityDate="2021-04-06T21:18:27.630" Title="New cat absolutely wants to get out of safe room, but doesn't get along with resident yet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28798" CreationDate="2020-10-06T00:48:15.970" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are intensely territorial, and an unknown (and much larger) predator has invaded your resident kitten’s territory. He/she is scared and angry, but probably mostly scared. Hissing is a way for a cat to try to intimidate the invader into leaving without a fight, especially one the kitten would probably lose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new cat is usually also afraid because it has somehow gotten lost in another predator’s territory and can’t get out, but Ragdolls are known (and bred) for being unusually social cats, plus she knows she has nothing to fear from a kitten, no matter how much it hisses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the isolation period is so both cats can accept the other’s smell as a “normal” part of the territory. This cannot be skipped, but you &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be able to speed it up by swapping blankets, pillows, etc. and alternating who is locked up while the other cat explores the common area. Pheromone diffusers (like Feliway or Comfort Zone) might also help. But at the end of the day, the cats will decide when it’s over, not you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; leave them alone together (including while you’re asleep) until you’re certain the kitten won’t get hurt, and that may take a while. I wouldn’t worry about a Ragdoll being aggressive, but if the kitten attacks, she might accidentally hurt it while defending herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T00:48:15.970" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-06T01:32:47.833" Score="4" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PH3lW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PH3lW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My common pleco, named &lt;em&gt;Fossil&lt;/em&gt;, spent his whole day willingly stuck on the wall, with his back (just above the dorsal fin) touching the heater. When I put my net in the tank to nudge him away from the heater, I noticed a white spot on his back. I looked closer, and saw a burn! I moved the heater from vertical position to horizontal, near the water surface. Most of it is just his scales burned away, but I can see some skin exposed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;The burn is just above his dorsal fin, in the middle of his back.&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Update&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to @Allerleirauh:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you add another picture, where the spot could be seen better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A1j3U.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/A1j3U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w6Xb4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w6Xb4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try it to hide behind the heater? (less possibilities to hide in the tank) or does it search for warmth? What do you assume?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume it was trying to hide behind the heater. There were not a lot of hiding spaces in the tank at that time. I only had a couple of plants in the aquarium, so I have added two caves since I saw the comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what temperature is the heater deliver?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know. It was set to heat the tank to 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit (24-26 °C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18979" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-06T20:32:37.680" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T12:11:38.317" Title="Pleco has a burn! Help, please!" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;pleco&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15058" CreationDate="2020-10-06T13:24:26.633" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bites are not necessarily aggressive. They can be requests for playing, or even just a display of affection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of our cats, the one we call &amp;quot;my&amp;quot; cat because she's so attached to me, bites me whenever she's really enjoying the love she's getting. Especially when she was younger, she didn't really know how to regulate her bite strength, but it was clearly an act of affection. She also bit her sister the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't really bite my wife, other than the odd occasion where she's too sleepy to register who is petting her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want them to stop, then it's no different from how you otherwise teach them to stop doing something: negative feedback. Dependent on the cat, telling them off or no longer petting them may suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't register the bites as bad behavior. However, when the bite itself was too strong, I would yell &amp;quot;ow!&amp;quot;, pull away my hand and stop petting her. It didn't take very long for her to learn the limits of what she was allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I only responded negatively for hard bites - not for soft ones. But if you do so for all kinds of bites, the cat will eventually register that biting causes cuddle time to stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T13:24:26.633" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27726" CreationDate="2020-10-06T16:32:02.373" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately my beloved Jack was put to sleep as he was suffering. Thanks to all who advised and tried to help. Sorely missed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17891" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T16:32:02.373" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-06T18:58:34.850" Score="1" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of you might have read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/28798&quot;&gt;my other thread&lt;/a&gt; I've opened yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have bought a new cat a few days ago, much to my resident kitten (only 4 months old) displeasure. My new cat absolutely hates to be closed in the room (she constantly meows and scratches at the door to get out), so on the second day, I already let her meet my resident cat. They don't seem to be extremely aggressive towards each other. No actual fight has broke out in the last 2 days. That being said, earlier my resident cat approached the new cat in what I'd personally describe as &amp;quot;friendly manner&amp;quot;. Her tail was not puffed at all, no hissing. The new cat hit her twice with her paw. I think it was pretty soft, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I instantly took the new cat and closed her into her safe room again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&#xA;Is it good to close the new cat into her room when she or the resident cat behaves badly? Or what's the best approach here?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18978" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-06T20:20:19.083" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T18:41:05.933" Title="Is it okay to close a new cat into her safe room when she behaves badly?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28785" CreationDate="2020-10-06T23:21:01.960" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It isn't surprising that your bird is upset, since she's still very young and is in a completely new place without her previous family. I've had new cockatiels who screamed when they were new to my home. It takes a lot of time, patience and--especially--attention while she builds a bond with you and feels secure in knowing that you will not leave her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird noise is a begging call. Be sure that she has a rich and balanced diet. She's very young and still growing, so she can easily be short of some nutrients even if she's eating a large quantity of food. She's still a little young to be completely weaned. If you can get an avian hand-feeding formula, it might help. She's too old for a syringe, but you can mix it up (room temperature) and feed her with a small spoon. It will help ensure that she gets all of her nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that the whole world is still new and scary to her, so she's going to be a bit freaked out for a while. That's okay. Patience and love will make her feel better gradually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2020-10-06T23:21:01.960" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28806" CreationDate="2020-10-07T04:57:13.883" Score="10" ViewCount="3191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Upon the recent blood test, my cat's blood glucose is off the chart and I suspect the added sugar to my cat food is the culprit. He is only 6 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of curiosity, I checked some popular cat foods like Whiskas and Purina One which I regularly use to feed my cat. To my surprise, they all have sugar as ingredient. Contrary to other ingredients, the quantity of sugar has not been mentioned on either of the labels. Smells really fishy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purina states &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/your-questions-matter/ingredients/sugar#:%7E:text=They%20are%20a%20key%20macronutrient,softness%20throughout%20its%20shelf%20life.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;that&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sugars in moderation can actually serve important functions in pet&#xA;foods. Small amounts of sugars in pet foods can provide a source of&#xA;energy, improve palatability and help ensure a product retains its&#xA;texture and softness throughout its shelf life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the key term here is &lt;em&gt;palatability&lt;/em&gt; which, in economic terms, means more $$$ for the pet food giants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand we know that sugar has never been part of natural cat food. And we know that excessive sugar added to processed human food has caused a huge spike in type 2 diabetes and related diseases in the past 4 decades or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering if there are any studies to show the effects of sugar creeped into cat foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="7501" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T07:19:25.960" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T21:07:55.117" Title="What are the effects of sugar in cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28805" CreationDate="2020-10-07T07:48:19.657" Score="24" Body="&lt;p&gt;You got most of the points right. The sugar is added to cat food for the benefit of the manufacturer, &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; for the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cats cannot taste sweet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need 2 specific genes in order to have receptors for sweet tastes on your tongue, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-cats-cannot-taste-sweets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats lack one of those genes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Joe Brand, biochemist and associate director at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia] and his colleague Xia Li first discovered the pseudogene after decades of anecdotal evidence—such as cats showing no preference between sweetened and regular water, unlike other animals—testifying to their indifference to the sweet stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is affirmed by this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5753635/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;meta study&lt;/a&gt; that I highly suggest reading because of the varied information it contains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neurophysiologic studies of the facial nerve demonstrated responses to salt, bitter, sour, amino acids and nucleotides taste stimuli [59,60]. No neural responses to sucrose and other sugars were detected in cats [61,62]. The sense of taste in cats is therefore similar to that of other mammals, with the exception of insensitivity to sweeteners. The molecular basis for this feline sweet blindness is the lack of a sensory system to detect sweet stimuli. Li et al. characterised the sweet receptor genes of cats and concluded that Tas1r3 is expressed and functional, but Tas1r2 is an unexpressed pseudogene. The functional sweet receptor heterodimer (T1R2/T1R3) can therefore not form, resulting in an inability to taste sweet taste stimuli [63,64]. This was confirmed in lions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there seem to be some cats who can sense high amounts of sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why is there sugar in cat food?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, small amounts of different sugars are contained naturally in the other ingredients of the food, mostly in vegetables and grains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cat foods don't contain the white sugar we are used to having in our kitchen. Instead, the sugar is caramelized to give it a deep brown color. If mixed with wet food, this caramel gives the food the color of gravy and fried meat and adds a juicy sheen to the sauce. This is only done to &lt;strong&gt;appeal to the humans that buy the food&lt;/strong&gt;, not for the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If mixed with dry food, the caramel also adds a rich brown color (while the kibbles would look pale grey without it) and makes the food more crispy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to find any independent sources about this topic. The big brands only offer the kind of nonsense you've found by Purina. I did find several articles by sugar-free pet food companies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://purrandmiaow.com/blogs/articles/why-is-there-sugar-in-your-cats-food&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Purr and Miaow health food for cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehonestcatfoodcompany.co.uk/en-gb/pages/feline-nutrition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Honest Cat Food Company&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is sugar in cat food really bad?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a scientist, but the data seems to suggest that &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; amount of sugar in cat food is &lt;strong&gt;too much sugar&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We as humans are &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; good at digesting carbohydrates and sugars, so good in fact that it causes obesity and diabetes on a large scale. When we taste sweet food, our body produces a number of different enzymes that break down the longer molecule chains of carbohydrates into smaller bits, starting in our mouth and continuing the work in the small intestine. The long chains are called starches, the smaller bits sugars, and the chains need to be broken down to a length of 1 - 2 sugar units to be absorbed into the blood stream. Since our bodies are so good at breaking down the chains and absorbing them into the blood, our blood gets flooded with sugar after a carb rich meal, which can cause diabetes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5753635/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; found that, despite the evolution of cats as carnivores, they seem to be just as good at digesting carbohydrates as humans are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Early studies by Morris et al. observed that adult cats could efficiently digest all carbohydrates added to a meat-based diet, despite the described evolutionary adaptations along the feline gastrointestinal tract [28]. The total apparent digestibility of starch is reported to be 40–100%, depending on source and treatment [28,29,30], which proves that cats can digest and absorb carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AND&lt;/strong&gt; cats are actually better at absorbing sugars of different chain lengths into the blood stream, which may cause diabetes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anatomically it may seem as cats have a limited ability to absorb monosaccharides because of the limited length of the small intestine. However, partial compensation for this relative deficit in absorptive surface occurs. First, the mucosal area per unit serosal area in the cat’s small intestine is greater compared to rats and dogs [24]. Second, the d-glucose transport across the feline intestinal brush border appears to have a considerably higher capacity in cats than in cattle and rabbits, despite the similar amounts of glucose reaching the small intestine when these species are fed a natural diet. Although omnivorous species can adapt glucose transport to dietary carbohydrate intake, &lt;strong&gt;it was found in kittens that the glucose transport system in the intestinal brush border does not adapt to varying levels of dietary carbohydrate&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; since cats cannot regulate the amount of digestive enzymes to the amount of carbohydrates in their digestive tract, they cannot metabolize big meals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild cats eat small vertebrate prey with low carbohydrate content (NFE 1–2%ME) [1,48], and must catch 8–12 of these small rodents every 24 h to provide their energy requirement [53]. Similarly, domestic cats in an experimental setting also spread their daily intake of food and macronutrients over 12–20 small meals, evenly spread between light and dark periods [53,54]. Because of the limited intestinal enzyme capacity, consumption of excessive amounts of digestible carbohydrates will not lead to a massive increase of glucose absorption, but will provide substrate for microbial fermentation in the colon, and cause gastrointestinal adverse effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Does sugar in cat food cause diabetes?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is still subject to debate. Several studies have been conducted that either found no clear correlation or contradict each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An excerpt from the aforementioned &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5753635/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;meta study&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The effect of diet type remains a topic of debate. Slingerland et al. failed to find evidence that the energy percentage of dry food in the cat’s diet is a risk factor for the development of feline diabetes [121]. Also, in the study by Sallander et al. healthy controls consumed a higher portion of dry food compared to diabetic cases [117] and McCann et al. observed that cats eating a combination of dry and wet food are at higher risk compared to cats fed only dry or only wet food [111]. More recently, dry food feeding has been associated with increased risk of diabetes mellitus in normal-weight cats, while diet type was not found to be a risk factor in obese cats [110]. Body condition was, however, reported by the pet owners in this study, which may have skewed the body condition classification, as previous research has shown that pet owners underestimate their cat’s body condition [86,90,98,100,108]. As with the epidemiological research on risk factors for obesity, dietary macronutrient content and food intake were not assessed, so conclusions relating to dietary carbohydrate content, which are often made in these publications, cannot be drawn. Other dietary factors increasing the risk for diabetes include greedy eating behaviour and free choice feeding [110], which could be linked to higher energy intake and obesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main risk factors for diabetes in cats are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breed (Tonkinese, Norwegian Forest, Burmese Russian Blue, and Abyssinian)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Age (older than 7 years)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sex (male and neutered cats have a higher risk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Housing and activity (inactive indoor cats are at higher risk, obese cats at much higher risk)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T22:00:20.740" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T22:00:20.740" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5743" CreationDate="2020-10-07T14:16:11.647" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two goldens and I give them 1 tsp of nutritional yeast in their breakfast four times a week - all year long. No fleas, yes in August too. I have not found ticks on them until recently, but the ticks do NOT imbed or attached to them.  I paid $8 for the bag of organic nutritional yeast in March (7 mo ago) and still have 1/3 left.  (The nutritional yeast seems to have gotten the job done where as Brewers yeast in the past didn't get the same result with me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18987" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T14:16:11.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6157" CreationDate="2020-10-07T15:16:39.853" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great answer but I will add a few things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are crepuscular rather than nocturnal, which means they their eyes are evolved to operate at twilight. Cats have several visual adaptations to operate better at twilight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats have 6 to 8 times more rod cells in their eyes. Rod cells distinguish &lt;strong&gt;the shapes, edges and textures&lt;/strong&gt; rather than the colour. As a trade-off they have 10 times less cone cells than humans, which limits their ability to see colour significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats have larger pupils than humans, allowing more light to come in. However, this in return &lt;strong&gt;causes cats to dazzle easier in bright light&lt;/strong&gt;. Most crepuscular animals have this problem and many road kills are due to animals being dazzled due to car lights. As a result, cats have less vision than humans in bright light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cats eyesight is optimised for a few meters. &lt;strong&gt;Cats are practically blind at distances less than 10 cm.&lt;/strong&gt; You probably noticed cats trying to find a treat on the ground but repeatedly fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats have poor far sight.&lt;/strong&gt; A cat can see details at 10 m in the same way than a human sees those details at 100 m. They compensate this with their excellent auditory senses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, cats &lt;strong&gt;operate with their whiskers&lt;/strong&gt; as well as their eyes. At dark, they like to be closer to a wall or fence to feel it constantly with their whiskers. They are much better judges of distances than humans and they learn the layout of a room faster than humans. Therefore, cats can operate with relative ease in pitch black compared to humans. However, &lt;strong&gt;this doesn't mean they see at dark&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T15:16:39.853" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28809" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-07T16:19:42.677" Score="2" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four kittens (4 months old) in my yard. They are really lovely, but very mischievous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About two days ago or so, they started to climb on the door nets to use it as a scratcher post. They are still pretty small, but they do have sharp nails and eventually will rip the nets (which will cause my mom to go postal).&#xA;They live in our yard and have plenty of things to scratch, so I don't know if buying them a scratching post will solve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be highly welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18988" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T18:07:04.500" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T21:02:11.730" Title="How to stop my cats from climbing on the window and door nets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28795" CreationDate="2020-10-07T16:37:00.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are typically much harder to socialize as they age. They become rigid in their routines and less open to new experiences, so it takes much more time to try address their fear and anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing you can do is separate the two via a physical boundary that still allows them to view each other (e.g., crating them next to each other). This will allow them to get used to the others presence. As the yorkie starts to settle down, you can start to introduce limited physical contact / play time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During these play times, you will need to monitor them carefully to ensure you can read the body language. The puppy is curious and playful by nature, but will nip and try to rough house with the yorkie - which the yorkie is not understanding. Growling, showing teeth, or even licking lips and yawning can be signs of aggression or anxiety. When this happens, you go back to non-physical interactions to let them settle down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another trick is to use a muzzle. Obviously, this prevents the danger of biting or attacking, but it can also make both dogs calmer and more receptive to having a positive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All hope is not yet lost, but there is much more involved in socializing an older dog compared to socializing a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8866" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T16:37:00.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28805" CreationDate="2020-10-07T17:45:17.950" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who reversed type II diabetes there is a part that your question misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For 24 to 48 hours after exercise muscles become insulin sensitive, diabetes is insulin insensitivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reversing diabetes is diet and exercise. So make sure your cat is moving a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18989" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-07T19:42:09.217" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T19:42:09.217" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28809" CreationDate="2020-10-07T18:20:30.597" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kittens are notoriously adventurous and will inevitably do things they  shouldn't. A screen or door net is a fun and easy thing to climb. It will take a lot of patience to find what works best. You may even find that they will become less interested as they grow older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here are some options to deter the kittens from climbing the screen:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try deterrent sprays. You can find a lot of options sold in pet stores (I've had a number of friends who find success with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/natures-miracle-just-cats-pet-block/dp/51651?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Nature%27s%20Miracle&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwzvX7BRAeEiwAsXExo-MHPd4UaYQt1Iils9jTHr7ZE0WN057eVglGiqiy4sxt221dtsckyRoC35QQAvD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;). Scent opinions can differ from cat to cat, so it will be trial and error to find what keeps the kittens away. It is best to buy a store option, as those are typically made to be cat-safe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide nearby distractions or entertainment in that area. You mention they have plenty of things to scratch, but cats love scratching posts, often more than natural materials in the yard. I would definitely buy some scratch posts. Make sure there's something tall they can climb to satisfy that need. Try using catnip or treats to encourage them to use a scratching post.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps the kittens climb the screen because they want to be with you inside. How much time do you spend outside with them? If you go scold the kittens when the climb the screen, they may associate climbing the screen with receiving attention from you. Animals seeking attention will repeat an action to get it, even if the attention they receive is negative. If they see you inside, and like spending time with you, they may climb the screen trying to get to you. Be sure to  provide them with lots of attention and entertainment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck with your kittens, and remember it will take time and patience for them to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T14:48:45.483" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T14:48:45.483" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28803" CreationDate="2020-10-07T18:41:05.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read through your previous post, and it sounds like the cats are making headway in their potential friendship. A soft paw hit is nothing to worry about. That may even be a sign of play, since they're both pretty young!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: locking a cat up for &amp;quot;bad behavior&amp;quot; is generally not recommended, because cats will respond negatively to negative interaction (i.e., punishment). That being said, when acquainting two cats, this is a necessary action. You want to foster good interactions between the cats, so that's what they associate with being together -- separating them during a nasty fight is the best idea. &lt;strong&gt;Instead of locking up the cat who started the fight, lock up the one who got attacked.&lt;/strong&gt; The victim will, in that sense, be taken to safety. The attacker will not be &amp;quot;punished&amp;quot;. A win-win for both cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as important - let yourself have a breather when the cats are apart. It's stressful for the human, too! Acquainting two cats can take anywhere from weeks to months. It can be extremely discouraging for you to watch them go from a good day to a bad day for seemly no reason at all. This is totally normal, so stay patient and positive, as best you can. Let the cats be together as much as they can be. Give them both lots of pets and treats and playtime when they're both in the same room - any positive encouragement helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T18:41:05.933" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28781" CreationDate="2020-10-07T19:04:37.573" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are experts when it comes to falling. Their bodies are built for it - their hooked claws are great for going up a tree, but not for coming back down. Their bodies and prepped and ready for impact. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seniorcatwellness.com/how-far-can-cats-fall-without-getting-hurt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt; is a great article about cats falling, and their likelihood of getting injured. It looks like the balcony may be 10 or 12 feet high? 8 feet is, for a healthy adult cat, totally fine. It gets a little more complicated at that height, but there's a chance your cat will be fine if he does fall -- and it might teach him the lesson he needs. Let's try to avoid that scenario, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training is the best option here. A fence might make the cat more insistent on trying to get through. They love to hang off of things for a &amp;quot;view&amp;quot; (my cat hangs over his perch all the time). Instead, try these things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put a perch or a cat bed in that area, just far enough away for him to still see over the edge, but not risk sliding through the bars. This will give him a safe place with the view he wants. A lot of cat trees come with baskets, so the edge would keep the cat safer, plus the material is easy to hold if he does slip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a deterrent spray along the balcony edge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Virolino's suggestion is totally valid too - maybe the cat realizes you'll come pet and hold him when hangs out by the balcony. As hard as it might be, cat's are smart and resourceful and rather dramatic, so he might just acting. Try ignoring him when he's doing that, and give him lots of play and attention during other times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-10-07T19:04:37.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28800" CreationDate="2020-10-07T21:27:23.863" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are using a glass-encased heater then it may help to replace it with plastic-encased heater, glass has much higher thermal conductivity than plastic which means it transfers its heat much faster to anything directly touching it, which is usually water - but in case of prolonged contact it could also burn the skin of a fish; the temperature regulation of plastic-encased heater will take a bit longer time to stabilize temperature changes, but overall energy efficiency should be similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, a heater is extremely simple device that doesn't have any modes of operation beyond ON and OFF; a thermostat facilitates maintenance of stable temperature in the bulk of water column, but doesn't control immediate power output of the heater, thermostat only controls the duty cycle of the heater; if you set your thermostat on a temperature higher than the current temperature of water, then no matter what value you set the heater will blow with full power output until that temperature is reached, then it will turn off and after some time once the temperature drops a bit below what is set on thermostat it will start to blow with full heating power again and repeat the cycle; this also exhibits a thing called hysteresis, which means it oscillates a little above and below the set temperature to decrease the frequency of on-off switching and thus extend the life of equipment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the wound healing I would suggest using some product that enhances slime coat production of the fish skin, this is usually in a form of concentrated liquid added to the water; I know it could also help to temporarily increase salinity of the water to prevent secondary infections during the healing period, but I don't know the exact formula of optimal salt concentration. Also, to completely prevent these burns from happening in the future again you could switch to under-gravel heater or use a separate second tank with only a heater in it, then connect it with the first tank via pump and pipes. One more thing suggested in a comment by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/14675/allerleirauh&quot;&gt;Allerleirauh&lt;/a&gt; is to separate the heater by enclosing it in a little cage to prevent direct physical contact with the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information that was missing from my answer about this subject was added by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/users/7612/trond-hansen&quot;&gt;Trond Hansen&lt;/a&gt; in a comment (I only fixed punctuation, etc.):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to put the heater at a spot where the water is moving to keep the surface of the heater as cool as possible. The concentration of aquarium salt should be 0.3% which equals to 300 grams of salt per 100 liters of water; this concentration is safe for continuous use in a fish tank. Many types of dechlorinators contain additives to protect the skin and gills of your fish. The most important thing to do when your fish is injured is to maintain a good water quality. Do not add antibiotic or antifungal medication - it will disrupt the biological balance in your tank. Also, do not use table salt in your tank as this contains potentially harmful additives, use only aquarium salt from your pet shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T12:11:38.317" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T12:11:38.317" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-08T12:46:37.057" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 12 weeks old Cavalier King Charles. Leash training is going so so, but it's going. The issue is that my puppy's trigger is leaving / approaching the house. When we are leaving for a walk he starts crying and pulling and nothing can break his mental state. No treats, no amount of excitement to go away from the house or being calm and assertive and waiting for him to calm himself down. I need to force him by pulling on the leash for about 3-4 houses after that he becomes docile and we can go on a nice walk. Until we get on the last stretch of the walk where he knows we are going home. Then he starts pulling and lunging in the direction of the home. I usually stop each time he pulls and wait for him to calm down and walk back to me. This can take more than 5 minutes at the beginning. After he is calmed and I praised him, I give him a treat from coming back to me. When I'll do one step toward the house he lunges and pulls again. The 6 houses to get home can take more than 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potty training is also not going great, my puppy clearly does not recognize me as the leader of the pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18992" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T06:54:14.990" LastActivityDate="2021-05-22T00:04:18.123" Title="Puppy goes in tantrum when leaving for a walk" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-08T17:44:33.697" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a 11 week male from the shelter. I've never had a cat this young and some behaviour I'm not sure if it's normal for clumsy cats or there's something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every night he is suckling on my hand, I try to transfer him to a blanket or soft toy, but he always comes back to my hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When jumping up a cat tree, couch, bed, table he missed A LOT and then falls, but he always gets up and tries again, but sometimes he falls 4 times in a row. He's never limped or cried in pain, he just carries on, but is it normal for kittens to not know how to climb or hold on?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's very clumsy, he isn't specially aware and just plumps himself down anywhere even if it's the edge of leg, bed, couch and then proceeds to fall again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He doesn't wiggle his butt when attacking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this all normal, or should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18996" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T17:50:52.877" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T17:50:52.877" Title="Is this normal kitten behaviour?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-08T18:52:59.650" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very worried because my British short hair cat has this wound at the eye and yesterday when I see it didn't have blood or anything, just the scalp. But when at night I checked, it had blood and got worse... and then, when I wanted to play with my favourtie cat Olie, I noticed her fur shedded around the head and saw a wound similar with my British short hair, but it looked like she didn't feel any pain, so I'm really worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in Singapore and I only give them food of Aatas Cat brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aFWvE.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aFWvE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5ZfZf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5ZfZf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18995" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-08T19:42:02.653" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T06:48:14.153" Title="Cat has wound above eye and on head" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28809" CreationDate="2020-10-08T21:02:11.730" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is almost impossible to make cats do what you want them to do, but it is possible to make cats not do what you want them not to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a hierarchy of actions which you should start carry out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blow air to his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray water to his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit on the ground with a stick/club, like a meter or two from the animal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start a vacuum cleaner near him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chase him with a vacuum cleaner in your hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two actions will tell the kittens that you don't like their actions. While this would be enough for dogs, cats don't care if you like their actions or not. So, instead of stopping climbing, they would check if you are around to see them climbing and they will jump off whenever they hear you coming. This is where the last three actions come handy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are excellent judges in risk vs reward. The last three actions will tell the cats that there will be consequences. However, you have to do these actions while the acts are climbings, i.e., you have to catch them red pawwed. Otherwise they will not make connection between you reprimanding them and their actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final approach should be be beating a puppet. &lt;strong&gt;Take a cat puppet and put it on net. Make sure your cat sees it. Then beat the puppet with a club or with your hands, right in front of your cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Keep in mind that this is an extreme method, so I would suggest you to save this only for extreme behaviours such as drinking from toilet or wandering on the kitchen counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-08T21:02:11.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15544" CreationDate="2020-10-09T00:01:41.267" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It might depend on the cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have very diverse characters so it is impossible to know the response of individual cats. Moreover, it also depends on the individual collar and bell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are signs you can look if your cat is disturbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A disturbed cat will not let you re-attach the collar.&lt;/strong&gt; If he keeps relatively still while you are re-attaching it, it means he doesn't mind the collar and the bell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A disturbed cat will make weird noises.&lt;/strong&gt; Gagging sounds, weird and usually high pitched meowing may be signs of distress in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A disturbed cat may start panting.&lt;/strong&gt; Panting is a sign of extreme stress. If your cat starts panting when the collar is attached, you have to remove it right away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This list is in no way comprehensive.&lt;/strong&gt; Just look for signs that your cat would not normally do when he is content. Cats are complicated creatures and they all show their love or distress differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing, &lt;strong&gt;bells are necessary to keep the wildlife safe.&lt;/strong&gt; In my opinion cat companions have a responsibility to  protect the wildlife. So, if you have a wandering cat, you can attach the collar and the bell whenever your cat wanders out of your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collar and a nametag may help you more in case your cat is lost. Also, you have to microchip your cat. If he is lost, any vet can contact you. Bells themselves will tell you when your cat is around but they will not help if your cat is lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat has collar, bell, nametag and microchip. Whenever I re-attach the collar, he stays very still, stiller than any cat I have ever seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-10-11T22:30:15.447" LastActivityDate="2020-10-11T22:30:15.447" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28819" CreationDate="2020-10-09T05:17:09.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's call the cat with the wound above the eye Cat A and the other one Cat B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need to get Cat A examined by a vet. This wound looks self-inflicted by scratching, which would also explain why it gets worse. The vet must find the reason why Cat A scratches itself. The reasons can range from fleas or mites over allergies to ear problems or an abscess, so it's impossible for us to diagnose your cat over the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wound on Cat B has a clear and sharp edge between fur and wound. It looks like she either hit her head somewhere or got into a fight. As long as the wound doesn't get worse or spreads, she doesn't need to go to the vet. If she didn't have a health checkup in more than a year, you can use this opportunity to get her checked anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that if Cat A has any parasites like fleas, mites or worms, you &lt;strong&gt;must treat both cats&lt;/strong&gt; against them, or the problem will jump from one cat to the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-10-09T06:48:14.153" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T06:48:14.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-09T05:42:21.980" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have a female lovebird and was thinking of getting her a friend. She is super tame, but since I work a lot I think it would be nice for her to have a friend while I'm away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My breeder (because she only has Fischer's lovebirds available) suggested a Fischer's female lovebird and they can be friends.&#xA;I do not want to put them in separate cages as my bird is not caged. My current lovebird lives in my bathroom and has an outdoor extension where it eats and has fresh branches. Ideally, I want the other lovebird to join in this area. It's pretty big, so it's not like she can get territorial over the entire area... right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously I would introduce them slowly to begin with, but the overall goal would be for them to live together happily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this possible? (Also, I do not want a male as I don't want mating and babies.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18999" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-09T05:51:04.220" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T05:51:04.220" Title="Can a peachfaced female lovebird and a female Fischer's lovebird get on?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-09T05:51:37.473" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbits are outdoor rabbits. The crows do not act against them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when my rabbits (daily) leave their enclosure to roam free in the garden, the crows want to get into the enclosure to steal the rabbits' food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7B14I.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7B14I.png&quot; alt=&quot;Crow&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;door&amp;quot; to the enclosure (opened in the morning, and closed in the evening) is an around 30x30cm wooden square with (stable) mesh wire in it. In the beginning I took this square and placed it out of the way, most time on the roof of the enclosure. Then I noticed some crows, that tried to enter the enclosure. So I decided to not take the square away, but instead open it and lean it against the door frame. The rabbits could &amp;quot;dive&amp;quot; through, but the crows could not &amp;quot;walk in&amp;quot;. This worked for a couple of month now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday in the evening I noticed that the door square lays on the ground, and today in the morning I saw again a crow, that was stalking the rabbit enclosure. It becomes autumn here, so I assume the crows are more hungry than in the summer and search more actively for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How could I &amp;quot;defend&amp;quot; the rabbit enclosure against crows?&lt;/strong&gt; (But the rabbits need to be able to hide there anytime.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Today I found a great tit inside the enclosure... it did not find the way out until I helped it...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T13:48:11.807" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T13:48:11.807" Title="How to prevent crows from eating rabbits' food?" Tags="&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28824" CreationDate="2020-10-09T06:58:59.353" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably construct a tunnel - choose a width that fits your rabbits’ body size. Rabbits’ main axis is horizontal, crows’ vertical, which means that rabbits &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; tunnels, birds don’t.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you can find a pipe that fits or construct something out of wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make it extra-uncomfortable for the crows, include a curve or bend, that should keep the crows out. If narrow enough (especially if you have dwarf rabbits) bends will also keep some predators out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T06:58:59.353" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28805" CreationDate="2020-10-09T15:48:44.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a website created by a vet with great info about cat food, what to feed cats, and what illnesses can result from feeding them the wrong food:  CATINFO.ORG&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats should only eat species appropriate food.   I have 3 cats, they have never been sick.   We only feed them grain free wet food,  and occasional greenie snacks.  They never throw up besides the occasional hair ball.  Carrageenan is known to cause cancer, we avoid cat food that has it in the ingredient list, and we don't  feed them cat food that contains fish (cats systems can't process fish).  Cats are strict carnivores and don't eat carbohydrates in the wild.   You may pay more for quality can food (Wellness is a good one), but it will save you a lot because you'll have less vet bills from sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19003" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-09T18:22:27.567" LastActivityDate="2020-10-09T18:22:27.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28829" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-10T11:56:18.473" Score="22" ViewCount="7359" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really need some help and advice. I have two cats and a dog. This morning, my dog was with me in the kitchen and one of my cats ran up to him and started attacking him. It just turned into an all out brawl between my three animals, since my other cat decided to join. It took a lot to finally separate them and both my dog and I came out with some nasty scratches. We’re both fine, I’m going to take him to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly don’t know what triggered the cat to attack. But I have them all separated in different rooms. The cat that attacked is my sister's cat, the other cat is mine. My sister's cat is fine with me now, but my cat is terrified of me. Every time she looks at me, it’s in complete fear, her tail fluffs up and she gets into a defense pose. She and I are extremely close, and she’s never reacted towards me this way. In her two years of life, she’s never been scared of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided treats would be a good way to get her not to be afraid. As I fed them to her, she was totally fine. I was able to pet her and she showed no signs of fear. But when the treats were done, she became afraid of me again. Her tail fluffed up, her pupils dilated, and she once again got into a defensive pose. I decided to leave her alone in a different room to give her space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don’t want our relationship to be ruined, I would be devastated. Can anyone give some advice on how to approach this? This happened 40 minutes ago and I want to fix this and start mending this problem as soon as possible. For now, I’m leaving her alone for a few hours, and check up on her and see how she is after a while. Sorry if some things don’t make sense, I’m still shook up because it was a bad fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19004" LastEditorUserId="10703" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T07:39:45.373" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T10:31:25.253" Title="What can I do now that my cat is terrified of me after I broke up a fight involving her and two other pets?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28829" CreationDate="2020-10-10T12:29:28.727" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very common question on this SE and it makes perfect sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat for some reason is traumatised by your action. You might have stepped on his tail, or she might just be upset because you defended the dog. It doesn't necessarily mean you did something bad, it is just impossible to relay the reasons behind our actions to the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good thing you need to know is that &lt;strong&gt;animals don't hold grudges&lt;/strong&gt;. Even the most abused animals might start trusting their owner back, so I am very confident that your relation with your cat will be as good as it was before. Keep in mind that just like you are still shaken up, so is the cat. It might just be a few hours before she cools down, so there is a good chance you won't need to do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important thing is &lt;strong&gt;not to rush the process&lt;/strong&gt;. Just like patching up your relation with a human, you need to give the animal some space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting with the treats was the best approach. Don't overindulge your cat with treats though because they will be detrimental to her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to refrain yourself from touching the cat. Ask for your cat's consent before you touch her by extending your finger to her nose. If she smells your finger, it means she allows you to touch her. &lt;strong&gt;Never pick her up until you fully regain her trust.&lt;/strong&gt; Cats do not generally like being picked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do the lazy cat blinks.&lt;/strong&gt; The meaning of lazy blinks is disputed whether it is a smile, kiss or just a statement of non-aggression, but whatever it is, it instils trust in the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to offer some toys from time to time. Keep your distance if your cat still distrusts you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T12:29:28.727" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28829" CreationDate="2020-10-10T17:19:24.907" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible explanation of the attack is that something scared your cat and, since you note that the cats “don’t like the dog”, your cat probably assumed the dog was to blame and attacked him in “self-defense”. Not fully trusting you afterward is likely because you undoubtedly have a bit of the dog’s scent on you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do to help her calm down is to give her a place where she feels safe and, if you can, be in her space but don’t approach her. When she is reacting normally to you again, do slowly reintroduce the dog so she can relearn that it isn’t a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don’t already, I’d suggest making sure as many rooms as possible in your home have a comfortable &lt;em&gt;elevated&lt;/em&gt; place where the cats can feel safe from the dog without needing to hide or defend themselves. Even if they don’t use them much, your cats will feel more secure in the shared territory just knowing they &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; escape the dog if they need to. If the cats sometimes fight too, I’d suggest two perches in each room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T17:19:24.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-10T18:13:47.927" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;We currently have an issue following the adoption of our third cat. We can't find a way to introduce him to our two other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Context&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have three cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Female A, 7 year old, adopted in May 2018: she is adorable with us, but really scared of unknown animals/humans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Female B, 4 year old, adopted in November 2018: she also is adorable with us, she isn't scared by other humans, but she is not always comfortable when she sees another animal for the first time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male, 6 year old, adopted at the end of August this year: he is adorable with us too, but sometimes aggressive or territorial when he sees Female A or B. The volunteer from the shelter where we adopted him told us that he used to live with 2 other cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We had some difficulties to introduce Female B to Female A in 2018 because A was scared/aggressive at first, but now they can live in the same room/house without any issue. They don't play together, but they don't attack each other neither. They tend to ignore each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we brought Male at home, we put him in a separate room (first floor) while A and B were allowed to use the ground floor, the corridor of the first floor and, sometimes, the second floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;What we tried&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We let them eat at the same time, A and B in the corridor of our first floor and Male in his room.&#xA;They were on each side of the same door.&#xA;A was not comfortable at first, but she finally managed to do it. B was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they were ready, we opened the door, but put a mosquito net between them so they were able to see the other cat(s). It was also hard at first because Male tried to remove the net to chase them, but we managed to stop him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, we put Male and Female B in the same room: we played with Male and gave food to Female B (Female A was too scared). We did this two or three times without any issue, but Male finally chased and attacked Female B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now Female B is scared of Male so she runs away when she sees him: unfortunately, it encourages him to chase her so we have to stop him. Female A does the same thing when she sees Female B doing it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to put them in the same room again, but with Male on leash this time (it doesn't bother him to be on leash). Unfortunately, Female A and B stay under our sofa and growl when he tries to approach them. When it happens, he starts to act like a predator and we have to stop him or he tries to go under the sofa to chase or attack them...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has been with us for 6 or 7 weeks now and we can't see any kind of progress...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does not help is that Male does not bear to stay alone or in his room for too long and he sometimes pees next to a close door if it happens (sometimes, even if we are in the room. He just wants to explore the whole house).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to use a Feliway diffuser, but it doesn't seem to work. We can't motivate Female A or B with food because they are too scared to eat when they see Male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;tl;dr&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We adopted Male, our third adult cat, 6 weeks ago. He can be a bit rough while Female A and Female B are easily scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tried to introduce them slowly, but Female A and B keep hiding or running away so Male tries to chase them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can suggest another method or some tips to help us, we would love to know them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19005" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T18:32:28.953" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T05:19:00.357" Title="Can't find a way to introduce my third cat to the other two" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-10T19:29:30.590" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently bought a sectional couch with a short chaise extension and back (picture included), and initially we were using a loveseat and sofa cover to protect the new furniture from our cat's claws (Declawing is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; an option for us).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want to get a cover to protect the other half of our couch, but we're not sure what kind we need - what do we need to protect this part of our sectional from cat claws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nTpR4.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nTpR4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T19:41:54.253" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T17:57:30.320" Title="What kind of cover do I need for a sectional to protect my furniture from my cat's claws?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;furniture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-10T20:06:08.570" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this male stray cat, who is 2-3 years old. He has been in the neighbourhood since he was a kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He always comes when he hears my keys, for pets and rubbing my feet. I am not the one that feeds him (or the other 3-4 cats that are around), but since he was little he was coming for pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that the last 2-3 months, he started biting. I don't think it is aggressive, but he attacks mostly my shoes. I always try to punish him when he does this. Today I had time to spend with him and he also tried to bite my trousers, while meowing. He also sometimes tries to do the same with my hand while I am petting him, but I am not sure if he will bite for sure as I take my hand quickly off of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was considering taking him home, but I cannot understand if this behaviour is problematic and if he will cause trouble in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is not neutered. But most the females around are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain what is this behaviour, why is he doing that and how can I help him stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19009" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T20:14:30.753" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T21:09:59.000" Title="Friendly stray cat attacking my shoes" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-10T20:08:16.217" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I adopted 2 terrapins 5 days ago. The female 'Babs' layed 2 eggs yesterday (1 crushed and 1 didn't). I've checked her over and she feels like there's another 4 eggs to be layed. I've set up a box with sand and put her into it to finish laying and nothing! How long should it take for her to lay the other eggs before I should start worrying? I've taken her out and put her back into water and given food and she looks like she is looking for a spot, but I am afraid the eggs are going to bind. It's been about 36 hours since she layed the other 2. Any advise please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19010" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T20:17:41.067" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T20:17:41.067" Title="Terrapin laying eggs! Help!" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28829" CreationDate="2020-10-10T20:28:58.403" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my cat one year ago, at first arrival she attacked me multiple times.&#xA;While I was chasing her around the house, hoping to pet or just to hold her and she would understand that I care about her. She ended up defecating everywhere from fear instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A year later she feels so comfortable with me that she can jump on my chest while I am asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally was looking at my cat through emotional eyes, like it is some sort of human that understands and will react accordingly. It is but an animal with limited brain capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19011" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-10T20:35:27.480" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T20:35:27.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28834" CreationDate="2020-10-10T21:09:59.000" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may be trying to play with you, like he did with him littermates before they grew up and became less social (or disappeared). If someone is feeding him, he doesn’t need to hunt to survive, but the instinct to hunt is still there. Cats “play” by practicing their hunting skills, often on each other, which can seem aggressive to us thin-skinned humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try using a wand toy to see if playtime solves the “aggression”. If so, he will probably make a good pet, but please get him fixed ASAP and be aware he may not understand the litter box for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-10-10T21:09:59.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-10T21:23:50.877" Score="4" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is 4 years old. She sleeps downstairs and always has. All of a sudden she's started to bark at early hours in the morning. I have taken her out to do her business, but not long after she barks again once I ignore her. I'm not sleeping well as I'm just getting woken up by her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I stop my dog from barking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19012" LastEditorUserId="12293" LastEditDate="2020-10-11T22:48:34.877" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:57:02.243" Title="How do I stop my dog from barking early in the morning?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28829" CreationDate="2020-10-11T12:58:52.900" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend is a veterinary nurse and this is a situation she has seen and we've discussed it on several occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All animals are always on the lookout for danger. Even the most domesticated pets that led a house bound life since birth will have that natural behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an event startles them, like dropping a plate on the ground in the kitchen, they suddenly get on high alert and decide what to do. Pack animals will look at what the others will do to incorporate that in their decision making.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since they may not be able to identify the source of the potential danger, everyone present is a suspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example is two cats sitting next to each other and something falls near them: the next thing they know is that they're scared and there is another cat that doesn't look peaceful right next to them. They can associate that cat with the source of of danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes cat fights are triggered by totally unrelated events that startle them and they 'defend' from the other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means a cat can become scared of you for exactly the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these situations, a lot of patience is required. Since communication is non verbal, they'll take any attempt from you at getting closer to them as a higher threat, reinforcing the problem.&#xA;The best is to give them space and time; usually they don't hold these fears very long with humans, but for some reason it can be a lot longer with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the animal world, bringing food to others is something very important. So you can let the cat be safe wherever he wants to be and just bring food for him within a distance and the problem will resolve itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a funny anecdote: last year I was watching a TV show with my cat and suddenly there was a large noise outside (something from a construction site). My cat immediately got alert and then looked at me to see my reaction? if she could speak, I swear she would have asked 'is it ok or should we panic?' :) I was calm and she remained calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They react a lot on what the others are doing; a bunch of cats going crazy at the same time isn't going to be a calm experience&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9935" LastActivityDate="2020-10-11T12:58:52.900" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-11T16:49:22.477" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend has got (as a present for their children) 2 around 7-week-old male (?) rabbits 2 weeks ago (when they were 5 weeks old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like I wrote &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/28648&quot;&gt;in another question&lt;/a&gt;, she has got no information about the food that they have got before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she sent me a video, where one of them could not or only very lightly move its back legs. I send her straight to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But what could cause this? And maybe, how would it be avoidable?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know (and told her) that rabbits are very sensitive to stress. These little bunnies now had a lot of this: first time without mother or siblings, moving in a new home and get new food...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-11T17:05:37.817" LastActivityDate="2020-10-11T17:05:37.817" Title="What could cause lameness in the back legs of a young rabbit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-11T17:15:29.793" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five-months-old wild European rabbit. She was rescued by a colleague from a cat's mouth. She binkys every night and roams freely. She has bonded with me and jumps on me all the time. I'm considering having her spayed because of the high uterine cancer risk, but the vet was worried that she might not survive the surgery because of the high stress (she is very afraid of being handled by strangers). Our worry is that she may stop eating in a strange place, before and after the surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to release her because wild European rabbits have over 90% mortality rate in the first year, and PETA's research shows that &amp;quot;wild rabbits have relatively short life spans (typically, less than two years)&amp;quot;. She is happy and healthy now, but if she's not spayed, eventually she'll probably develop cancer. Does anyone know if it's safe to spay a wild rabbit? Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-11T17:21:11.643" LastActivityDate="2021-03-15T17:00:40.060" Title="Can a wild female rabbit be spayed?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28829" CreationDate="2020-10-12T03:47:20.413" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give your cat time and space.  Remember that humans are about ten or more times the weight of an eight pound cat!  That's got to be a bit scary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow blinks while extending your head a bit, leading with your nose.  It's &amp;quot;I like and trust you&amp;quot; in Cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't stare, that can be aggressive.  If watching them and they look at you, do the slow blink.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Move slowly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask permission to touch them, as others have suggested.  Offer a finger or a hand; if they rub then you can pet them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sitting or laying down may help; less intimidating if the human isn't towering over them or in a position to chase them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once things have calmed down, when my tomcat starts trying to play-fight or eat my hand or head I know it's time to drag a cat toy for him!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck, and congratulations on having positive intent and asking questions!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19022" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T03:47:20.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28833" CreationDate="2020-10-12T04:38:47.153" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nothing is immune to cat claws (except maybe actual rock, but that doesn’t make for nice couch cushions). Instead, &lt;strong&gt;provide your cat with plenty of other things to scratch in the same room&lt;/strong&gt;. Different cats love different methods of scratching, so it may take some observing and trial/error to find out what your cat likes best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had a lot success with corrugated &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/all-kind-double-cat-scratcher-toy/dp/201490?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=All%20Kind&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Z269pqu7AIVVR6tBh3O8wLtEAQYASABEgJo4_D_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cardboard scratchers&lt;/a&gt;. They’re inexpensive, last a good while, and can be recycled when spent. A lot of them come with catnip as a scent incentive. Place them where your cat spends the most time. Easy access is key!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vertical scratch poles, usually with thick rope or carpet, are also great options. This would be a great option as part of a cat perch. Placing it next to your couch will help encourage the cat to use the perch (and thus the scratch post) instead of your couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also find that there are certain fabrics the cat likes or doesn’t like. It’s never guaranteed of course, but the more texture a fabric has, the more of a claw magnet it is (think rough tree bark vs a plastic fence post).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T04:38:47.153" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28832" CreationDate="2020-10-12T05:19:00.357" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Introducing cats takes a lot of time and patience. Six weeks might feel like a long time has passed with no progress, because it’s very stressful for the humans to work through this. But I think, ultimately, your cats just need more time. It sounds like you’re doing everything right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn’t sound like any extreme fighting has broken out, and that’s encouraging. You’re male cat doesn’t sound like an aggressive type, he just has a lot of energy. He needs time to settle down, and they all need time to figure out their relationships.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://felineengineering.com/blog/alpha-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt; article seems really applicable to your situation. It discussed this misidentification of an “alpha” or “dominant” cat, instead suggesting a cat displaying rough, needy, or dominant behaviors is in fact either not getting his needs met, or is being misunderstood. My bet is (given the peeing when locked up) yours is stressed at not having his needs fulfilled (no blame to you, this takes time during cat introductions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they’re all together, focus on playing with the male with toys to hold his attention, and let the females observe at their own pace. Give them treats together for any positive, non-chase/hiss interaction. Make sure the male has lots of play time. Maybe try wearing him out (15-20 minutes of play) in a separate room, before bringing them together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give yourself some breathing time, and give your cats lots of love. It can take months before cats accept each other. Keep doing what you’re doing. They’ll come around eventually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T05:19:00.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28829" CreationDate="2020-10-12T10:31:25.253" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly don't worry. You needn't rush to correct this.  If you try to take immediate action to 'make things okay', the cat will detect your unusual behaviour and be even more worried by it. Just behave absolutely normally but without forcing any attention on the cat and let them get over it in their own time. If, after a couple of weeks there is still a problem then come back and ask again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you did the right thing in breaking things up - things could have been much worse. Having experience with rehabilitating animals, I would have deliberately dropped a pan on the floor to make a loud noise (or banged two pots together). This way the animals would have associated the fear with an inanimate object and not with you. Fear of sudden loud noises is one that is inbuilt into humans and animals. It's a great way of breaking up a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the answer by @Thomas and I'll take it a step further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animal's logic works without words. I don't know if you've had a similar experience to the following. I once dropped my TV remote control and an instant later their was a loud clap of thunder. The animal part of my  brain told me that dropping the remote &lt;em&gt;caused&lt;/em&gt; the thunder. It was only because I'm human and could reason about it that stopped me from believing this. Even so I was nervous for a while about dropping the remote! Ridiculous? Yes, but animals can't do the logic. When something bad happens to an animal, they associate it with whatever they are paying attention to at that instant. In this case, that happened to be you. It could equally have been the other cat or the dog or a pan falling on the floor during the commotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will probably find that your cat isn't at all scared of your dog and they could go back to normal. The real trouble maker is of course the other cat. If you and your sister live in the same house then you can't keep them separate. I personally would get a water pistol and spray the cat any time it shows even slight aggression towards the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck and, as I say, if things aren't back to normal after a couple of weeks feel free to come back and ask again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let us know how you get on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T10:31:25.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28838" CreationDate="2020-10-12T10:47:24.017" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult situation and it may take some time for a solution to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first and most important question is: &lt;strong&gt;Why does your dog bark?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a jogger or a dog running around? Are there rodents or other animals in / under your house or in your roof that trigger her? Does she try to get your attention because he needs to pee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First try finding the reason for her barking becasue some of those causes (like rodents or anything in your house) may be removed. A webcam or baby camera can help you analyze her behavior without influencing it. See if the barks at a window or a certain wall and then try finding the cause for her barking in that direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find the cause or have no way to remove it, the next course of action is to &lt;strong&gt;ignore your dog&lt;/strong&gt;. I know this can be very hard and even ear plugs cannot guarantee your sleep (though they do help), but if you want to teach your dog not to bark in the morning, you absolutely must ignore her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are very social and you may have noticed how you dog is excited every single morning to see you. If you stand up every time she barks, you reward her for her barking. Even if you only stand up to scold her, she's still excited to see you and feels rewarded for barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without knowing the cause for her barking, your only hope is to ignore her long enough to teach her that barking won't be rewarded. Sorry I cannot give you any better advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T10:53:53.713" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T10:53:53.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28851" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-12T11:50:44.643" Score="5" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar questions have been asked, but I've not seen one that matches the situation described below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 3 cats. One is 5 years old and has been with us most of that time, one is 2 years old and we've had her since she was a tiny kitten and the third is around 16 months old and we've had her around a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have never had any issues with the older 2 cats and socializing, but the third cat is proving to be extremely challenging in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the day we got her she was focused 100% on hiding (not uncommon for cats in my experience) however a year or so later and she still hides all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have noticed she will quite happily come out when we are asleep or out of the house (we have a camera set up) and she is perfectly happy with the other 2 cats, (they will curl up together, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We started by trying the &amp;quot;let her have her space&amp;quot; tactic; however, this caused issues when she stayed under a chair for over a week, only coming out when she was really hungry or thirsty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We then tried blocking all of the &amp;quot;Hidey holes&amp;quot; except for a couple (such as a &amp;quot;cat cave&amp;quot; from a cat tree) to try to bring her out of the shell; however, she would just do the same and stay in constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have got to the point now where occasionally we can coax her out from a hiding spot onto the top of a bed or sofa; however, she shows fear and submission when we approach her. We occasionally try to start fussing her once she has relaxed a little (she will stay on the sofa if I sit on it as well but it takes over 30 minutes for her to stop showing fear).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once we start fussing she becomes a different cat and will roll onto her belly, slow blink, purr like mad, lick our hands and rub her head against us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried suggestions from the vets such as Feliway, different approaches, removal from the other cats, we have watched a myriad of youtube videos on this, with no success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially my question is: how can we get the cat to start to come out of her shell a bit more (we aren't expecting miracles, some cats are naturally more scaredy-cat like), so that we can interact with her more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - we contacted the previous owner who said that she had been the &amp;quot;runt&amp;quot; of the litter and essentially rejected by her siblings and mother (there were a lot of them when we picked her up), so there may be a great hangover from her kitten hood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note 2 - even if this doesn't improve its not the end of the world, she is still a special cat who is a part of our family and if that's how she feels comfortable that's fine, it would just be nice for us as owners&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19026" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-12T18:44:00.967" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T22:58:26.853" Title="Cat won't come out after a year of ownership" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-12T22:22:39.500" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (Grammer) is a 1.5 year old male rescue who is the most friendly and gentle cat I've ever had. I adopted him because my other kitten (Marduk) who is two months older was not properly socialized (removed from his mom and the litter too early) and he needed a buddy to solve some behavioral problems only another cat companion could solve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marduk is now super-chill, but Grammar is extremely vocal and whines/whimpers constantly. His vocalization isn't limited to needs/wants necessarily. He makes noises like trills while he's playing with toys or (whimpers, meows) while exploring heights and climbing, too. I initially bought him an iPad to play Game for Cats and his favorite: Mouse for Cats. This minimized his whimpering at first. Then he got bored with it. (By the way, he likes to play R&amp;amp;B on my Apple Music subscription...) So I bought him many other more tactile toys. All of them with similar effects initially but the same result over time. His whimpering can really drive me crazy -- especially while I'm heads down with my work and need to focus, distraction free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from home and this constant vocalization is driving me absolutely insane. I love my little buddy, but what can I do beyond what I have done to quiet him down a little?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's really cute is if I make eye contact he knows he got my attention and comes over... Oh, and he eats twice as much as Marduk, and is twice the size -- sideways. He has such a personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to minimize his vocalizations? I've done everything I can think of to make his life as interesting as possible. Any advice would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19027" LastActivityDate="2020-10-12T22:22:39.500" Title="How to make sense of my cat's whining and resolve it?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28857" CreationDate="2020-10-13T15:34:36.283" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 7-year old spayed female cat with persistent inflammation in her mouth. She's had two operations to extract teeth, but apparently that didn't help much, and now one vet has diagnosed stomatitis (Feline Chronic Gingivostomatitis) and recommends taking more teeth out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tooth extraction is obviously invasive, irreversible, and expensive, so I'm looking for alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's pretty active, is grooming well, and has a good appetite, although occasionally she seems to have pain when eating. We give her wet food only since her last surgery. I brush her front teeth once a day and give her bits of chicken meat as a treat. She also has FIV, which apparently makes stomatitis more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19019" LastActivityDate="2020-10-13T18:53:40.830" Title="What are the main alternatives to tooth extraction for feline stomatitis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-13T16:13:49.827" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;WHAT IS MAH CAT DOIN&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also, I'm not that smart so plz don't take me seriously tho my cat IS looking for invisible bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19028" LastActivityDate="2020-10-13T16:13:49.827" Title="My cat looks for invisible bugs and i cant see them" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-10-13T18:53:29.840" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28855" CreationDate="2020-10-13T18:53:40.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my understanding, there aren't really any good alternatives. Feline stomatitus is the overreaction of the immune system to the various bacteria, plaque, and tartar that naturally accumulates in the mouth, especially around the teeth. So the known treatments are related to somehow reducing the amount of bacteria in the mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medications such as antibiotics can temporarily reduce the symptoms, but feline stomatitus is a lifelong illness. Not only will these medications have potential side effects, which also can be unpleasant for the animal, they will not cure the illness. The bacteria in the mouth will become resistant, and the cat will end up in the same position as before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option, keeping the teeth consistently clean, is not realistic for most cats, as they usually won't allow you to thoroughly brush all their teeth, especially when stomatitus is painful. Perhaps you might be able to increase your habits to keep your cat's teeth clean enough that you could see improvement, but realistically it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to brush any cat's teeth enough for the stomatitus to no longer be an issue, when pretty much any cat will at minimum not be thrilled about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/why-teeth-removal-is-best-when-your-patient-has-feline-stomatitis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;removing the teeth has been shown to have much more likely than not a permanent and quite positive effect on the condition. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the positive side, cats do very well even with no teeth at all, as long as they are kept indoors. Since cats are carnivores, they don't have much need to chew, and even with teeth, they don't normally chew all that much. Their teeth are more for hunting, self defense, and tearing off chunks of food small enough for them to swallow. Wet food is easily eaten without teeth, and some cats can even manage dry food without teeth, although surely wet food would be more recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-10-13T18:53:40.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6673" CreationDate="2020-10-14T04:09:54.053" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could leave your dog with a person instead of a kennel. I used to work where they board dogs and could tell you horror stories. I for one would watch your husky versus a kennel. Maybe another person could get the dog to eat. I have a 5 year old husky who eats nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:26:58.937" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:26:58.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28838" CreationDate="2020-10-14T04:21:37.853" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried a doggy door, so the dog can go out when he wants? Also, this may seem weird, but dogs can see spirits; maybe one is bothering him. And then, maybe he just doesn't like being alone and needs some attention or he may want to sleep on the rug in your room and be close. Dogs are like people, they just want to feel loved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:57:02.243" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:57:02.243" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2392" CreationDate="2020-10-14T04:25:37.867" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs know that when it's their time to go out on a leash they are happy and excited. Personally, I don't feel that its a problem. He's just happy to do something other than laying on the floor being quiet. Dogs were not made to just be a rug and lay there. Dogs' lives are so short I feel that every opportunity to have them happy is a blessing. Maybe it's not time for you to have a dog. Maybe you could try to walk the dog more often, so that he gets to go more and will settle down. If you're already having problems, just think how he will be in 2 years. They are just being happy. Love them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:42:17.423" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:42:17.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2020-10-14T04:51:46.023" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs are similar to humans on a lot of aspects. If you cannot stand it, neither can they. If someone was trying to do that for instance just to see, something is wrong with them, call the local authorities. Beagles are used to do a lot of horrible things to them to see if it is safe for humans and it makes me feel bad to think that make up I wore was tested in a beagles eyes just to see if it hurts, so that we don't do it. Don't ever take a dog and practice or do anything just to see what happens. A lot of people forget when they walk their dog that the street burns their feet too just like it would burn you. Please be careful when walking your dog. The street is hot on their paws, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:37:42.920" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:37:42.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16909" CreationDate="2020-10-14T05:23:25.323" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a dog goes out for a walk, it should be considered his time. This should be a happy time for them. You should NEVER try to train a dog NOT TO GO to the bathroom.&#xA;It seem to me that the dog has no happy play time, everything is discipline. For myself, my dogs are just like my kids: you love them, they love back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem a bit young/naive: how do you know that you are training this dog right? Did you go to school or are you guessing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs have been inbred (meaning that someone has allowed a sister and brother to have babies) and won't be as smart. It's just like people: members of the same family shouldn't have kids because of increased likelihood of genetic defects. If the dog has been inbred, the dog just won't get it. All the training in the world will not help that dog. Dogs are not these super-smart, stand-at-attention, do-what-I-say-and-when dogs. Dogs are loving creatures. If you treat them to be bad to people, then they will be bad. Treat them with love and kindness, and they will love you until they die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people think they can make a dog learn by jerking them around by the neck. &lt;strong&gt;Their necks are just like yours!&lt;/strong&gt; They don't have this super-strong neck that you can jerk around. If you are loving and kind, they will usually do what you say to love you back. Maybe you aren't ready for a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastEditorUserId="18947" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:21:56.047" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:21:56.047" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13676" CreationDate="2020-10-14T05:39:07.080" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of this crate training is sad. Why do you people own puppies and lock them up? Especially Huskys, those dogs need to be walked several times during the day and run and play all the time. It is very clear that none of you should own a dog. They are like 4 year old children. Can you put a 4 year old in a crate and expect it to shut up and lay there? No, you can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I own 5 Huskys and a German Sheppard and not once did I crate train them. I don't approve this idea. If you are going to have a dog, you need to be able to let it run and play and spend time with it. Dogs' lives are so short, why would anyone want to lock them up most of it. None of you should have any animals or children. Who's idea was this anyways? I wonder if they would like to be crate trained. Some of you might say: &amp;quot;well I don't want the dog to get into things when I'm away&amp;quot; - simple answer: don't own a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19031" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T07:33:41.310" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T07:33:41.310" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28869" CreationDate="2020-10-14T10:00:55.710" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard, that dogs too could get the actual coronavirus. Is this real?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T10:28:18.833" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T10:28:18.833" Title="Could my dog get infected with SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and suffer from COVID-19?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28868" CreationDate="2020-10-14T10:11:30.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses, that most animals deals with every day without signs of illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;new&amp;quot; coronavirus called &amp;quot;SARS-CoV-2&amp;quot; causing risk for health in humans, causes nearly no health issues in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are two other (&amp;quot;older&amp;quot;) coronaviruses, that infects dogs with signs of illness, mainly diarrhoea. These viruses have no effect on the human health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additonal: in science there are two dogs noted, that were infected by SARS-CoV-2. Both cases occurred in Hongkong (very high COVID-19 density) and parts of the virus were found at the blood of both animals. But both cases had NO infectious (means whole, functional) virus in their body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source is the website of German Dog Association (VDH) publishing an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vdh.de/corona/statementut.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;interview&lt;/a&gt; with the director of the institute for animal hygiene and veterinarian association at the university of Leipzig.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T10:25:13.797" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T10:25:13.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5481" CreationDate="2020-10-14T18:04:09.607" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In nature rabbits eat more leave-like greens than grass (what hay is produced from). So you could use any rabbits' taste fitting leaves, like European acorn, dandelion, European oak, apple, plum, daisy, strawberry, raspberry, peach, carrot, garden radish, cabbage (if you do not feed grains), hazel, European chestnut, European linden tree...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of possibilities! From all plants mentioned above, I speak about their leaves. Most of the time, the fruits are too rich in energy to be a base for good food. Some could be given as treats, but one needs to have in mind, that these fruits in the nature are only available 2-3 months per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you think about the &amp;quot;European&amp;quot; in front of the trees, this is because the domestic rabbits descend from the European rabbit, so the European kind of tress and bushes are these ones, they could eat safely. I do not know whether it is the same in case of American or other kinds of the same family, so it may be a risk to feed them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: In nature the rabbits would always choose fresh leaves instead of dried ones or hay. The most time of the year fresh leaves are available, so pet owners have no need to force their rabbits to eat hay, when they eat enough fresh leave-like greens instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-14T19:05:30.180" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T19:05:30.180" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-14T18:27:09.130" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Not a pet, but I don’t see a better SE and there are folks here that know rabbits.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a wild rabbit that keeps digging nests in my yard and having babies there. My cats killed three of four newborns (no fur) this spring before I could stop them. I kept my cats indoors for the next couple weeks to protect the remaining one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hoped the mom would move on for her next litter, but she has had two more litters in my yard since then. She isn’t particularly good at hiding the nests either as my cats always find them within days, long before the kits are grown enough to be able to get away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I’ve managed to keep my cats from killing any more kits, but it’s causing me problems keeping the cats indoors so much, and they are highly motivated to get outside when they see helpless prey running around out there, so it’s not a long term solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I convince this rabbit to have her future litters somewhere safer, as in &lt;em&gt;not my yard&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; it is an eastern cottontail, which aren’t known for digging burrows. The nests are just holes she digs in the flower beds and then covers with mulch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T12:45:36.707" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T12:45:36.707" Title="Wild rabbit nesting in my yard" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28004" CreationDate="2020-10-14T22:08:14.020" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what you meant by &amp;quot;fresh hay&amp;quot;. I thought you meant freshly-cut grass from the garden or farm. I thought that would be unsustainable, unless you have a lot of field. I'm not a native speaker.&#xA;I personally don't find hay go unfresh so quickly. I change the hay every two or three days. But if I have more choosy piggies I will have to change the hay more frequently. Maybe change the brand of the hay would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastEditorUserId="19018" LastEditDate="2020-10-16T15:02:36.663" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T15:02:36.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22034" CreationDate="2020-10-14T22:13:44.833" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same thing happened to my guinea pig once. He bumped his foot on the wooden bridge and got a swollen toe. The vet gave him antibiotics and after some time the swollen disappeared. Later we changed the bridge to a lower one and it never happened again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T22:13:44.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28880" CreationDate="2020-10-14T22:17:03.840" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until the last 48 hours, fetch was my puppy's favorite game. He would play it with any toy, but especially his favorite which is a rubber squeaky pacifier (he actually has 2 of these now, since one got a little hole in it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He still plays with the toys by chewing them. He still wants my attention 24/7. He still eats the same amount of food and doesn't seem to be sick. He'll also still play tug-of-war and destroy-all-valuables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just that all of the sudden he has 0 interest in fetch. That seems odd to me, is there any likely reason? I don't think he had any traumatic experience playing fetch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only guess is that since he sees me sitting around all day trying to work on the computer, maybe my &amp;quot;laziness&amp;quot; wore off on him? But it was so abrupt and just 3 days ago he would play fetch for what seemed like 100 throws (maybe it was less, but it seemed like he'd go on forever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My concerns are just that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it seems weird, so I wanted to make sure there's nothing going on I haven't detected&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want him to play it because then I get 2-3 seconds to work while he's fetching and sometimes I can type with 1 hand while getting the toy out of his mouth with the other hand when he retrieves it... without fetch he's barking and crying to be on my lap interfering with my work way more often&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T06:44:22.450" Title="3 month old Mini Dauchsund Suddenly Doesn't Want to Play Fetch" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;fetch&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25500" CreationDate="2020-10-14T22:17:49.077" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found these websites helpful:&#xA;veggies for rabbits:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/rabbit-diet/recommended-vegetables-herbs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/rabbit-diet/recommended-vegetables-herbs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;veggies for guinea pigs:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.guineapiggles.co.uk/guinea-pig-food-chart&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.guineapiggles.co.uk/guinea-pig-food-chart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can find the calcium level on this site. High calcium level is bad for guinea pigs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T22:17:49.077" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17790" CreationDate="2020-10-14T22:22:44.113" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried different things including fleece and different kinds of bedding. I found the best one is solid bottom with absorbent paper bedding. Wire bottom will hurt their feet. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastActivityDate="2020-10-14T22:22:44.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28876" CreationDate="2020-10-15T05:54:30.007" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see 2 possibilities here, one more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, make sure he isn't going blind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply engage him in play, preferably in a poorly lit room, and move your hand holding a toy or a treat far to the left and right. If he follows your hand with his head, he can see you well, but if he stays focused on your body and ignores your hand, he might have problems seeing. Go see a vet in that case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second possible reason is that your dog isn't stupid. He doesn't want to play fetch, he wants to play &lt;strong&gt;with you&lt;/strong&gt; and he realizes that you aren't engaged in playing fetch. So he ignores the toy you throw and tries to engage you in different games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every dog has their own personality, but there are clear tendencies in said personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some dogs are object motivated. They can ignore every human and other dog around them as long as a ball or other toy is being thrown. They may develop into &amp;quot;ball junkies&amp;quot; and show typical signs of addiction to their toys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some dogs are socially motivated. They ignore any toy for some cuddles or an opportunity to get to know a new dog. They can learn commands and tricks well, but may develop problematic behaviors like separation anxiety.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some dogs are internally motivated, meaning they do their own thing. These dogs are OK with being left alone for many hours or living almost autonomously on a farm, but it can be very hard to teach them commands and have them follow those commands reliably.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your description, your dog doesn't have an extreme personality, but he seems to be motivated by social interaction more than by toys. Maybe try cuddling him on your lap while working or offer him a chair next to you so he can feel not only physically, but also emotionally close to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T06:01:52.193" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T06:01:52.193" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28872" CreationDate="2020-10-15T07:13:32.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what you actually want to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to enjoy watching the baby rabbits grow, then just build some cages for them, where the wild mother would feel comfortable, ans where the cats cannot go. (I know, quite conflicting requirement :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you provide food to the mother rabbit, then she will not even need to go out for food, so she will not need to use the door - de facto (temporarily) becoming a pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T07:13:32.100" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27369" CreationDate="2020-10-15T11:36:11.063" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, things turned out to be that being friendly with the bird and loving him, no matter what, worked! Now I have a very lovely parrot.&#xA;So rules I followed are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If parrot behaves bad then do not interact with him for a while (~20 min) (parrots love social interaction and become very upset without it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If parrot behaves good then interact with him socially (positive reinforcement)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not punish your bird physically&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not punish your bird by depriving food&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not scream at your parrot&lt;/strong&gt; (parrots don't understand that)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Love your bird, even if he bites :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things that didn't work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Positive reinforcement by means of treats (still don't know why)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is only what I learned about my parrot, &lt;strong&gt;your case might be different&lt;/strong&gt; and some things need to be adjusted to your parrot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17583" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-15T11:43:18.357" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T11:43:18.357" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13868" CreationDate="2020-10-15T19:16:20.000" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat is not eating, like he was eating before, it's may be stress or anxeity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please try changing his food. Sometimes, all cats want is a change in taste. They get bored with same food everyday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But make sure to consult your vet before making any change in your cat's diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also highlighted this issue in one of my blog post in details... Please check&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://petsdiaries.com/cat-not-eating-much-but-acting-normal/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Not Eating Much But Acting Normal? (5 Surprising Reasons)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18656" LastActivityDate="2020-10-15T19:16:20.000" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28885" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-16T00:30:14.760" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five-year-old unneutered male guinea pig. He recently lost his companion. He was very healthy, but probably too old to be neutered. What's the best companion for him? I'm thinking about adopting a neutered male or a spayed female.&#xA;Thanks a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T00:30:14.760" Title="What's the best companion for a unneutered male guinea pig?" Tags="&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-16T02:59:37.690" Score="0" ViewCount="1504" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog had a pyometra surgery almost three weeks ago. She is ten years old. Today we noticed a small blister on her incision. I have attached the photo.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5OLKh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5OLKh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Is it just a blister or something else? I checked with the surgeon/vet and they say that it might just be a blister and nothing to worry about, and if it does not go away over the next week, we can think of antibiotics. Is it common? Is it serious? Any guidance would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19042" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-10-16T03:36:03.330" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T06:06:00.027" Title="Dog has a blister on incision" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28886" CreationDate="2020-10-16T05:24:31.323" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is quite common. We have several similar questions here and the photos look very similar most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's been a few weeks since the operation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The incision heals well and looks closed over the entire length&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suddenly there is a red spot or blister somewhere on the incision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a blood blister or &amp;quot;seroma&amp;quot; that forms when there's swelling beneath the incision or the absorbable sutures deeper in the skin fail to dissolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Absorbable sutures - as the name implies - are made of an organic material that the body can slowly dissolve and absorb. These are more and more common because people (and pets) don't like the process of pulling the non-absorbable sutures out. But these sutures only dissolve in a moist environment. If your dog's skin healed too fast and too well, the wound isn't moist anymore and the suture doesn't dissolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The body reacts to this foreign object and tries to push it out of the body. The best way out is of course through the skin. That's how such a blood blister forms. It's common enough in pets and humans as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the blister daily. It will probably get a little bigger and it may open and ooze liquid for some time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog starts licking the blister excessively, call the vet and ask whether you should put the e-collar (collar of shame) back on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's a little warm to the touch, that's ok. If it's much hotter that the skin, your dog gets a fever or is in pain when you touch around the blister, contact the vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The color of the blister should be blood red and it should become paler when it heals. If the blister itself changes color to blueish or black, contact your vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the blister opens, the liquid should be clear, straw colored and can contain blood. Some black / brown scabbing can occur. If the liquid is not clear or looks grey, green or yellow like pus, contact your vet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can take several days and even some weeks to heal completely. If you don't see any improvement in one week, contact your vet. The wound might be infected and some antibiotics can speed up the healing process.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information about blood blisters, see&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18131/12501&quot;&gt;Blister or infection?&lt;/a&gt; on Pets SE&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.topdoghealth.com/theres-a-bump-on-my-dogs-surgery-incision-now-what/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;There’s a Bump on My Dog’s Surgery Incision… Now What?&lt;/a&gt; by top dog health&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://centralcarolinasurgery.com/patient-information/frequently-asked-questions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;General Surgery FAQ’s&lt;/a&gt; by Central Carolina Surgery in Greensboro, NC&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.realself.com/question/texas-blood-blisters-my-tt-incision-1-2-months-post-op&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Am I Getting Blood Blisters on my TT Incision?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-16T06:06:00.027" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T06:06:00.027" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28876" CreationDate="2020-10-16T06:44:22.450" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Enforcing naptime worked! He was already napping on his own when I let him out, but I guess he was still over-exerting himself by getting my attention all day. I put him in bed in the bedroom for a few hours and he came out ready to fetch! In fact, he wants me to play fetch right now :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3495" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T06:44:22.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28843" CreationDate="2020-10-16T15:49:05.727" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just found this:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1874/19018&quot;&gt;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/1874/19018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in short, a rabbit can be scared to death. I'm not going to have my wild rabbit spayed now. I need to do more research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19018" LastActivityDate="2020-10-16T15:49:05.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28893" CreationDate="2020-10-18T14:20:08.147" Score="4" ViewCount="2116" Body="&lt;p&gt;My parents and sister are giving buffalo's milk to 25 days old kittens, even when we have the mother cat to feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like just some moments ago the mother cat was with her kittens in her bed, but the kittens were meowing a lot rather than feeding on milk form their mother. So, my sister and mother gave them buffalo's milk. And they might continue to feed them buffalo's milk regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please explain what consequences will occur.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18960" LastEditorUserId="18960" LastEditDate="2020-10-18T14:50:24.310" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T15:20:21.990" Title="Feeding 25-day-old kittens with buffalo's milk in addition to mother's milk" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28892" CreationDate="2020-10-18T15:20:21.990" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to find advice specific to buffalo milk, but I think it's likely the advice would be buffalo milk is not good for kittens, and if you need to supplement their diet, use kitten formula instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/news/view/can-kittens-drink-milk-37852&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;The advice when it comes to cow milk&lt;/a&gt; seems to agree that cow milk isn't good for kittens due to the high lactose content which will give them diarrhea, and possibly make them dehydrated. Plus cow's milk doesn't have the same nutritional balance as cat's milk, and therefore it's not nutritionally healthy for them either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/buffalo-milk&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Buffalo milk has even more lactose than cow milk&lt;/a&gt;, and therefore would surely cause diarrhea even worse. I would guess that it also has the wrong nutritional balance since buffalo are so different from cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T15:20:21.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27235" CreationDate="2020-10-18T17:26:46.197" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This looks like separation anxiety.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separation anxiety manifests itself more in adopted animals and kittens who are separated from their mother prematurely. The more attached the cat to you, the more separation anxiety they will suffer. So, you need to solve the underlying issue by being more available to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that cats plan their days very well, even better than us. They like to play at the same time each day, eat at the same time each day, sleep, cuddle even go to bathroom at the same time each day. If her current playtime is 3 AM, she will force you to play at 3 AM. Even if you don't participate, she will play herself and cause a ruckus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To change her cycle, tire your cat before you go to bed by playing with her. After playtime, offer her soothing scratches by lightly caressing her fur. Now, even if she comes to your room, it will be for sleeping. She will eventually get used to your sleep cycle. You can choose to play with her feeding time as well. I noticed that for me to go to bed at 00.00, I need to feed my cat at 9.00 PM. He goes out to pee around 10.00 PM and is back around 11.00-11.30 PM. Other time periods didn't work for me as my cat would be sleeping earlier than I do and wake up around 3.30 AM and disturb my sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your schedule is variable, the cat will stick to her schedule. Even if you let the door open, she will probably play herself as long as she knows that you are in her reach. This reduces the chances of having a paw in your mouth at 3 AM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also another way: If ignoring doesn't work. Do the opposite. As soon as the cat starts meowing, cuddle her until she works hard to squirm out of your arms. This is an invasive but non-violent method of negative feedback and it worked for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About territorial issues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats don't like closed doors. Not only they limit their movement, they also prevent them from observing possible threats. It is better to leave all doors open as much as possible. Note that average roaming distance of a tracked house cat is 40-200 metres, so even the full size of your house is much smaller than the turf of a regular cat. This is one reason why they want to expand it as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, some people keep their kitchen or bedroom cat free, but this might require a different and not very pleasant way of training. The methods I outlined &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28105/how-to-get-cat-not-to-steal-food/28702#28702&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; works for your situation as well with slight adjustments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-18T17:26:46.197" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-19T14:47:43.347" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if there is any accurate way to determine how much space any particular fish needs. I have heard things like 1 gallon per inch of fish, but this cannot be accurate as a betta (2.25 inches) should have 5+ gallons and something like a Ram cichlid (2-3 inches) should have 20+ gallons. Are there any somewhat accurate ways of determining the space a fish needs based off of some aspect of the fish (like length)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-10-22T05:17:34.760" LastActivityDate="2020-10-22T05:17:34.760" Title="How much space does a fish need?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28902" CreationDate="2020-10-19T15:57:24.283" Score="4" ViewCount="441" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes cook chicken broth in my Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker), using chicken carcasses from free range birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I was picking the cooked meat (aka pet treats or diet food) from the bones and noticed that after four hours of pressure cooking the bones were almost mushy - the ribs crumbled between my fingers and I had to be very careful when separating meat and bones, sometimes I couldn’t and discarded meat with embedded bone material, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course I am well familiar with the &lt;em&gt;never feed cooked bones, especially bird bones to a pet&lt;/em&gt; rule. But I was wondering whether that rule still applies for bones that have literally become soft and mushy. There’s nothing that could splinter and cause mechanical injuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Provided that I cook the broth without salt and spices, could I feed the &lt;em&gt;soft&lt;/em&gt; bones (not larger, more substantial bones) to my cat and dog, together with the leftover meat? What if I ran the meat and tiny bones through a food processor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-10-20T10:00:27.950" LastActivityDate="2020-10-20T15:00:34.763" Title="Can I feed very soft cooked bones to cats and dogs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28919" CreationDate="2020-10-19T16:18:24.020" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Xoloitzcuintle (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xoloitzcuintle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mexican hairless&lt;/a&gt;) and this time of the year in my part of the world, bugs really start to attack him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know there are no commercial bug repellents for dogs, hence the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17316" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-19T16:21:45.080" LastActivityDate="2020-10-25T06:06:40.090" Title="Can I use a human grade bug repellent for my dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-19T20:25:21.877" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I set a 60 litre tank up and run it for 3 weeks, all water parameter levels fine. Added 4 fish, left 4 week's all fine. Added 4 fish again and 5 days later fish started to die. Checked levels and the nitrite and nitrate were totally soaring. After first fish died on Saturday I did a gravel vacuum, large water change. Same again Sunday after another 2 fish died, also added Seachem Prime to try and save the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did another water change and vacuum today, still super high levels. I have 4 fish left and they are obviously struggling.&#xA;I don't know what else I can do to help the poor things. I'm not very experienced with these problems, never had issues in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything else I can do to help the poor fish? I feel so cruel &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19060" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-19T20:33:01.650" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:54:40.997" Title="Can't reduce my nitrite/nitrate levels, any help appreciated!" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28899" CreationDate="2020-10-20T07:24:54.150" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, feeding cooked bones is not advised. If you chose to feed cooked bones anyways, you should keep the following aspects in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Splintering&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the main reason why pets shouldn't eat cooked bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A raw bone is a solid mixture of minerals like calcium that give it strength and stability, and softer organic material like cartilage that make it ever so slightly flexible. Cooking destroys the organic material and leaves the minerals behind without the flexible scaffolding it was embedded in. That makes the bones prone to splintering, which can cause serious internal injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, all bones of all animals become prone to splintering when cooked, not just bones of birds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bones are so brittle you can crumble them in your fingers, the risk of injuries is very low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Seasoning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets shouldn't eat any additional salt because it can cause dehydration and urinary tract diseases. Some seasonings and vegetables like onion or garlic are even toxic to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cooked your broth exclusively from bones and didn't add any salt or other seasoning, it should be fine. If you added vegetables or any other ingredients, please make sure they are safe for your pets, even if you think something as common as onions cannot harm them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Constipation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chemical composition of the bones (a lot of minerals with little organic material) makes them hard to digest. You can often see dog's feces become chalky grey when they ate bones. The minerals aren't absorbed into the body and must pass the digestive tract, almost as if the dog ate a handful of sand instead of bone. This often leads to constipation, followed by diarrhea (to clean the obstruction out) and discomfort. In the worst case the colon can become completely obstructed and a vet must intervene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feed your pets bones, feed only as much as they would naturally eat. Feral cats eat several rodents or small birds a day, but the bones of those prey animals are tiny compared to a chicken. Wild dogs may catch a rabbit or similar sized animal, but they wouldn't eat all the bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without having any objective numbers, I would feed my dog or cat no more than a few chicken ribs a day and no more than two consecutive days. Feeding an entire carcass (like after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners) is definitely too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-10-20T15:00:34.763" LastActivityDate="2020-10-20T15:00:34.763" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-20T08:35:05.950" Score="5" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat which had 4 kittens very recently (they are approximately 2 weeks old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, she seemed apathetic and worried. We took her immediately to the vet, who informed us she probably got hit by a car or a bike. &lt;strong&gt;She has a fracture on the base of her tail&lt;/strong&gt; (it doesn't move anymore, the vet told us she'll probably never move it again, it will be amputated if it doesn't heal on its own).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet told us she's probably not feeling any pain, merely some discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since we brought her back from the vet, she's been staying on the couch all day long, and doesn't seem to go back to the kittens as often as she used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what time should we start to :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insist on putting the mother cat back into the nest, so she takes care of the kittens ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take care (feed, clean, ...) of the kitten ourselves, because the mother won't go back to them ?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I keep in mind that all of that happened very fast (the accident probably happened less than 24h ago), I'm worried because the kittens are very young, and we should probably act quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19062" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T12:32:46.403" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T12:32:46.403" Title="When should I take over from an injured mother cat who is not taking enough care of her kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28901" CreationDate="2020-10-20T09:41:50.967" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing you need to do is to add some aquarium salt, this is done to counteract the effect of the nitrite on your fish' gills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aquarium salt concentration to use is 0,3%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do water changes 20% each day until the nitrite level drops, cut down on the feeding of your fish so you only feed twice a week and only a little food each time (this is to lower the bioload in your tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not clean the filter until you can see the flow is reduced, but keep on vacuuming the gravel each time you change some of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not worry about the nitrate for now; you will have time to lower it when the nitrite spike is over in a couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about cycling a tank can be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;found here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-20T10:03:00.957" LastActivityDate="2020-10-20T10:03:00.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28899" CreationDate="2020-10-20T09:44:33.327" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: This answer should be seen more of a some addendum to Elmy's great &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28902/16749&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different standards are used in feeding stray cats/dogs and pets.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stray animals are not a big problem in many countries, yet they are in some. In Turkey, stray cats are even part of the culture. However, they are very malnourished and some practices which are obviously wrong for our own pets might worth the risk for stray animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bone broths&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bone broths is an excellent source of food for stray dogs. Bones and stale bread are cheap so boiling the bones and soaking bread is a good way to feed stray dogs. It helps to add some leftovers, provided they are not too salty and spicy. As long as the amount of leftovers is small and the overall broth is large, adding the leftovers is worth the risk. Make sure that the broth is cold enough before serving as stray animals don't want to risk fighting for their food and try to eat it as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats wouldn't normally eat bread. so they would just lick the bread for the broth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Large carcasses&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding large carcasses to both cats and dogs is not a good idea for several reasons. Firstly, it initiates fighting among animals. Some animals might think it is a good idea to fight for a large carcass even though they know they will probably get injured by the larger ones. It might even cause a desperate cat to get into a fight with dogs so make sure to separate the carcass to smaller pieces before feeding them to any stray animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue is that carcasses can spoil much faster. Many stray dogs suffer from food poisoning because they decide to eat sheep carcasses, which are abundant after the Sacrificial feast in Turkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Large bones&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Large bones are generally safer for cats because cats do not have the teeth structure to break off the bones. They usually prefer licking the bones and thanks to their cilia on their tongues, they actually scrape more than we can imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs however like to break the bones, which might cause some splintering. Even when that is the case, they can regurgitate the troublesome pieces. Therefore, in my opinion, large bones are worth the risk, although whenever possible, bones should be broken to smaller pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Small bones and fishbones&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is generally advised to remove bones from cooked fish when it is fed to cats. However, similar to dogs with large bones, stray cats can regurgitate bones if they are hard to swallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small bones should be of less concern for the dogs as they swallow it as whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding too much bones&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even for stray animals, feeding too much bones is an issue. Make sure to include unused organs, skin, fat, marrow, cartilage and other soft tissues that you don't want to consume. These should be cooked whenever possible. Separating these tissues before seasoning also helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-20T09:44:33.327" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-20T17:43:16.830" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is normal overall, but usually I get up in the morning and there's something to clean. There was nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I got him a new litter box with new silica litter. Up until this point, he was mainly using clay. I have tested silica with him before and he did use it. He's not usually picky about this type of stuff, but maybe he is? He's eating and drinking and acting normal. I poured back some of the new litter into the bag it came from and poured a majority of old litter on top to see if that will work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long can he go on without using the bathroom even when he's eating and drinking? Is he throwing a tantrum?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19064" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-20T19:32:07.943" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T13:12:58.083" Title="Cat is eating and drinking but hasn't gone to the bathroom since I got him a different kind of litter yesterday" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28907" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-21T00:28:55.123" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My momma cat just had a new litter of kittens. The newborns seem to be doing well. But Momma Cat keeps leaving them to come find her older kitten that is now about six months old. And trying to drag her in there with the smaller kittens. What can I do? Is this odd behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19067" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-21T07:23:56.270" LastActivityDate="2020-10-21T07:23:56.270" Title="Momma Cat dragging her older kitten to her newborn litter when nursing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-21T11:41:41.857" Score="8" ViewCount="2779" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat is 5 years old male British shorthair. We had a baby 9 months ago and our cat started to poop on our son's bed. It happened 3 times in last month. Before the baby, he never did such a thing. So, now we are trying to petting our cat more and give his favorite food but it's not helping. I think he is jealous of our baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions? How can we stop him to do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19068" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-21T11:48:19.737" LastActivityDate="2020-10-21T15:22:34.753" Title="How can I get my cat to stop pooping on my kid's bed?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28908" CreationDate="2020-10-21T15:22:34.753" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your cat is not jealous of the new child. Your cat is stressed out.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats like calm, quiet, routine, and for their territory to not be disrupted. Unfortunately, with a new baby, all those things tend to go out the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be a rather common reaction when new parents bring their child home, for their cat to start eliminating in locations where their child's smell will be particularly concentrated. It's almost certainly the case it's because the cat is feeling stressed because some new being has come into its territory, and so it's trying to re-establish its territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spread your cat's scent.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, if you spread your cat's scent around, your cat will no longer feel the need to inappropriately eliminate. Move things your cat frequently uses into the child's room, such as blankets or beds. Add cat furniture to the room, so the cat has its own places to go in that room. Try to put your cat's smell as close to the baby's bed as you can, so the cat will feel like it's marked this area, but of course still be careful to not put anything in the baby's reach that might be a danger. I'm thinking perhaps a cat scratcher beside the bed might be ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also want to add another litterbox close to the baby's room, so the cat will have an appropriate place to go that's more convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-10-21T15:22:34.753" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29014" CreationDate="2020-10-22T16:24:57.513" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently acquired a Betta fish. I also purchased &amp;quot;standard&amp;quot; Betta fish food pellets. My Betta fish does try to eat the food, but sometimes appears to struggle to swallow the pellets. I can see the pellets partway outside of its mouth for awhile before it swallows the pellets. Recently, it was even trying to eat new food pellets before even &amp;quot;fully&amp;quot; swallowing the pellet that was in its mouth at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal, or is there some kind of problem? How can I ensure that my Betta gets sufficient nutrition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10835" LastEditorUserId="10835" LastEditDate="2020-10-22T16:37:28.280" LastActivityDate="2020-11-06T14:34:09.293" Title="Betta fish appears to struggle to swallow food pellets" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28912" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-22T18:55:03.683" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 10 chicks. They are all hens. But one of them is weak and is always sleeping under the food and doesn't eat like the others. What should I do? I would hate to see her die so soon... Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19075" OwnerDisplayName="Gabbie" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-22T19:42:58.273" LastActivityDate="2020-10-22T19:42:58.273" Title="One of my baby chicks looks like it is going to die...what should I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-23T09:09:58.037" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 8 year old cat has just been diagnosed with feline hyperesthesia. Out of the blue she began attacking her tail. She’s wearing a cone and taking 4 daily medications. Is it manageable? Or am I going to have to put her down? She’s miserable or she’s passed out. Tonight I took her cone off to let her clean after she eat and she licked and chewed her foot until it bled. I don’t know what to do and I’m heartbroken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19077" OwnerDisplayName="Renee Smith" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-23T09:22:43.597" LastActivityDate="2020-10-23T09:22:43.597" Title="Feline hyperesthesia" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28916" CreationDate="2020-10-23T13:43:11.373" Score="1" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;My little Jack Russell X French bulldog has an obsession with footballs, tennis balls, rubber balls, ANY balls. To the extent where she will go over and steal it from the owners. She's very excitable and full of energy so it's hard to get her attention back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's is ok when she's on the lead as I can stop her from getting to them. When she's off the lead and she sees one she might as well not be my dog anymore. There's no way to get her attention back on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also can happen with other dogs at times, but she will come back. I usually say, &amp;quot;No. This way&amp;quot; when I see her getting distracted and, depending how far away the distraction is, she will stay with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she's off the lead an there are no dogs or balls, she's usually quite good and will run and sniff but come back and keep close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to get to the stage where I can get her attention and get her to come back in these situations but I have no idea where to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a long lead a good start and start with recall? Or do I need to do some more training on a short lead and get her to not care about the things around her first?&#xA;Or maybe something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17138" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-23T13:48:31.870" LastActivityDate="2020-10-23T20:06:19.487" Title="How to stop dog chasing any ball she sees" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28915" CreationDate="2020-10-23T19:36:30.583" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: You cannot make your dog stop chasing balls. You just can make him chase &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; ball instead of any other ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't feel disappointed, but any ball is more important to your dog than you are. That means that you won't be able to call him back to you without offering him what he wants - a ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way to go is either buying a new ball for him or using his existing favorite ball. Start playing fetch with him, but introduce &lt;strong&gt;a new command that's only used when he's supposed to fetch his favorite ball&lt;/strong&gt;. It should be something he doesn't hear in any other situation, so something like &amp;quot;beetlejuice&amp;quot; is better than &amp;quot;go get it&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as he understands the new command, you switch the training around. Instead of just playing fetch with him, you do obedience or recall training like &amp;quot;come here&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; and &lt;strong&gt;as a reward you play fetch with him, using the new command and his favorite ball&lt;/strong&gt;. This strengthens his focus on the ball and it also teaches him that he gets rewarded with the ball for coming to you (instead of stealing other people's balls).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion this switch towards recall training is very important. Your dog seems to be so focused on balls that there's a real risk of him becoming a &amp;quot;ball junky&amp;quot;. It sounds funny and is a common trope in comedy, but for the dog it's a real mental illness, like actual addiction or OCD. So don't play fetch with him too long, maybe just 5 - 10 throws and then stop again, no matter how much he tries to get you to continue.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The same applies to the recall training. His reward for coming to you and sitting down is one throw of the ball (accompanied by the new command). Stop the training after 5 repetitions so he can focus on something else besides his ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Repeat the recall training on your regular walks.&lt;/strong&gt; It's important that he learns to come back to you not only at home but even on a walk with distractions. Just call him back to you at random times and reward him with his ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The next time you see him running to steal a ball&lt;/strong&gt; you simply call your new fetch command. He should prefer fetching his own ball and stop his attempt of stealing. When you notice this working well, call him back to you and reward him with his ball instead of just luring him with his ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-23T20:06:19.487" LastActivityDate="2020-10-23T20:06:19.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28918" CreationDate="2020-10-24T03:06:38.880" Score="6" ViewCount="1371" Body="&lt;p&gt;Winter will be early in my country this year. I have Labrador that is going to be one year old by then.  And during extreme cold, temperature may fall below 10 degrees Celsius, but no snowing. I have marble flooring which gets really cold during winter.  So, do I have to buy boots for my pooch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18879" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-24T12:54:55.300" LastActivityDate="2020-11-02T18:26:07.170" Title="Does my dog need boots for winter?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28917" CreationDate="2020-10-24T05:06:59.097" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever seen wolves hunt in the snow wearing their winter boots? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the short answer is: No, unless there's a specific medical condition you don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure the dog has a warm place to stay in rather than stand/sit on the cold floor all the time and you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Far more important, depending on where you live, is cleaning the paws from salt (water) from roads as that can cause irritation or other issues (e.g. when licked on). Ideally this should happen after every walk, just using some warm water should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also buy special wax or sprays to better seal/protect the paws, but that's really optional, especially if your dog is not working (e.g. sled pulling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2020-10-24T05:06:59.097" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28900" CreationDate="2020-10-24T05:15:45.150" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, ask your vet. You should &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;never ever&lt;/em&gt;* use anything made for humans without prior consultation simply because dogs might react differently and because they've got a far smaller body size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's certainly possible that repellents or toxins are indeed harmful to humans and dogs, but the dose would be too small to matter in the human case (think of drinking alcohol adults compared to children).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And not to forget there are options for dogs in the form of collars, sprays, food additions, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be simple solutions, but we don't know the insects you'd like to avoid. For example, cold pressed coconut oil can be rubbed into the fur or added to the food and will repel ticks and mosquitoes to a certain degree. This even works for humans, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditDate="2020-10-25T06:06:40.090" LastActivityDate="2020-10-25T06:06:40.090" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21541" CreationDate="2020-10-24T21:25:45.850" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possible frame challenge here, but your cat isn't using the house because she doesn't need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her fur is cold to the touch because it's working - it's keeping body heat inside. And just like your ears, her ears will be perfectly OK at lower than body temperatures. Not all mammalian extremities need to be at full body temperature. This is why a furred critter has its temperature taken from the inside rather than by the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the actual temperature, 15°C is nothing. Depending on breed, she is probably perfectly happy at even colder temperatures. If this situation changes and she does feel cold, she will find a corner to snuggle into, or maybe use the shelter, but it would have to be far lower than that. She'll wake up in the night feeling cold long before there is any kind of danger, and look for a solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9136" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-24T21:39:55.000" LastActivityDate="2020-10-24T21:39:55.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-25T18:56:09.227" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ferrets intelligence is do to their curiosity in nature they are also really smart they are capable to get up high into cabinets and even hide things they can also make their owner stay home instead of going to work to get their owners attention, owners need to give their ferrets attention and care ferrets can also make a bond with their owners, and ferrets also like to play with other animals but that is not all ferrets, ferrets have emotions and feelings their are each different from one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19085" LastActivityDate="2020-10-25T18:56:09.227" Title="how good is ferrets intelligence?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;ferrets&gt;&lt;fundraising&gt;&lt;service-animal&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-10-26T06:44:34.827" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-25T22:26:15.350" Score="7" ViewCount="10910" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm already aware of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/6319/what-kind-of-danger-does-cat-litter-pose-to-my-pregnant-wife&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; concerning cat litter and pregnancy, and fully intend to take responsibility for cleaning our cats' litter boxes.  I am however more concerned about the additional risks of having cats with a pregnant wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If my wife is pregnant, she may need to spend her days lying down on our couch - and with our second bedroom set aside to become a nursery, where will we keep the cats?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If we do let our cats roam about, how do I prevent them from jumping on my wife's pregnant belly?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Additionally, how can I keep a fussy cat from potentially scratching my wife's hands?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastEditorUserId="2660" LastEditDate="2020-10-27T12:42:57.647" LastActivityDate="2021-05-25T22:12:59.977" Title="How can I keep our cats from endangering my pregnant wife?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25588" CreationDate="2020-10-26T03:48:54.737" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feed your cat half a pouch 3-4 times with some kibble, don't pay any attention to people feeding their cats more than 3-4 pouches a day. I have two cats, medium to large. They get fat with more than two a day. Feeding actual meat is best, as kibble has zero health benefits other than MAYBE cleaning teeth. They need protein from meat, not from plants as it's meant to be from dry stuff, but even then, all of that protein is destroyed in the cooking process. Also, pet food is not regulated, so most commercial foods are not great for your cats health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19087" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-26T10:26:45.417" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T10:26:45.417" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28922" CreationDate="2020-10-26T06:26:13.370" Score="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, please calm down. Your question sounds as if any interaction with your cats would potentially endanger the life of your unborn child, but that is not the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not the cat itself that poses a danger during pregnancy, but an infection called &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxoplasmosis&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; that is caused by &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma gondii&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; parasites. This infection can cause severe developmental damages in the baby's eyes and brain, &lt;strong&gt;but only&lt;/strong&gt; if the mother is infected &lt;strong&gt;for the first time in her life&lt;/strong&gt; during pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Screening&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are very good blood screenings available that test whether or not the mother was ever infected with toxoplasmosis. If that test is positive, it means that the baby is completely protected by the mother's immune system. Please ask your doctor for such a blood test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the test is negative, there is a risk of infecting the unborn child if the mother is infected during the pregnancy. Be aware of the symptoms of toxoplasmosis and call your doctor when you notice them. Acute toxoplasmosis can be treated in the mother and the unborn child, which prevents complications in the child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more on &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Signs_and_symptoms&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxoplasmosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20356249&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo Clinic&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/pregnancy/why-should-i-not-change-cat-litter-during-pregnancy/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;NHS&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/pregnant.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;CDC&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Avoid infectious material&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To infect a human with toxoplasmosis, you need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An infected rodent or other small animal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A cat that eats the infected animal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The infected cat dropping feces&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A human coming into contact with those feces approximately 1 day after they have been dropped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii#Risk_factors_for_human_infection&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;second way of infection&lt;/a&gt; is eating undercooked meat or shellfish. In some cases &lt;em&gt;unpasteurized&lt;/em&gt; milk from infected animals also contains the parasites, so avoid unpasteurized milk, and soft cheeses that can often be made from raw milk (feta, brie, camembert, etc). She will likely be avoiding these foods anyway, as unpasteurized milk is not recommended for pregnant women due to the risk of listeriosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid infection is to avoid cat feces. It's great that you clean out the litter box instead of your wife, but you should also do that at least once every day and always wash your hands afterwards. The &lt;em&gt;Toxoplasma&lt;/em&gt; parasites only become infectious &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/pregnant.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;1 - 5 days after leaving the cat's body&lt;/a&gt;, so make sure to clean them up before that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your wife should also avoid touching feral cats and sand or soil that a feral cat might have used as a toilet (no garden work for her). Make sure all fruits and vegetables that touched the ground are washed and cooked well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, try to avoid an infection in your cats. Cats cannot contract toxoplasmosis out of thin air, they must eat an infected rodent or other small animal. If you keep your cats indoors all the time, the risk for that is extremely low. You should also feed your cats commercial dry or wet food instead of raw meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't Panic!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pregnancy of your wife will bring many changes and new experiences into your life. You will face some difficulties, but there are always professional people around you who can help you. Please don't stress yourself more than necessary by fearing for your child any time one of your cats touches your wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Society_and_culture&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Several studies found&lt;/a&gt; that cat ownership &lt;strong&gt;does not&lt;/strong&gt; strongly increase the risk of a &lt;em&gt;T. gondii&lt;/em&gt; infection in pregnant women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even your cat jumping onto the belly of your wife poses &lt;strong&gt;no risk at all&lt;/strong&gt; for the baby. The belly is not a glass ball that might shatter, it is a very efficient safety capsule with integrated shock absorbents for the baby. A direct pounce by an animal up to 40 pounds / 18 kg is &lt;a href=&quot;https://utswmed.org/medblog/can-bumping-my-pregnant-belly-hurt-baby/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;still considered safe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It needs a direct, violent impact to the belly (like in a car accident, a hit by an adult or a direct pounce by an animal over 40 pounds / 18 kg) to damage the baby. This guideline applies to the last third of pregnancy, when the belly is very big and therefore more vulnerable to impacts. In the earlier stages of pregnancy, the risk of injury and miscarriage is even smaller, but there are no objective numbers available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real danger here is a sudden impact. If a cat decides to lay on top of the belly, it's ok as long as the mother doesn't feel uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="19098" LastEditDate="2020-10-27T18:34:09.040" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T18:34:09.040" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28926" CreationDate="2020-10-26T09:36:31.297" Score="3" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;Few days ago, we noticed a cat hanging out around our house and it kept meowing pitifully, so we fed it and offered water and a little card board box in case it wanted a place to rest. The first night we fed it, it kept trying to enter our house and after a while of blocking him off, he started to scratch and bite. We do not blame him as he is probably stressed and we suspect abandonment or he escaped. We do not know how to help the kitty apart from feeding it and offering a place for it outside our house. It keeps meowing and we feel really bad. We have put up a few posts on social media in hopes of finding its owner. Our plan is to let it get familiar with the pet carrier, that we have now left outside with food next to it, before bringing to a vet to check for a chip and also any illnesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are unable to let it in as a few family members are afraid/wary of cats. We doubt it is a stray as the strays in the area are very well fed. This cat is friendly and approaches us for pets. We do not know why it keeps trying to enter the house - it isn't cold in our area and our family has owned the unit since it was built. We also have never seen any cats, especially because we live on a pretty high floor. I am worried if it was abandoned and is fending for itself now and the stray cats in the area seem territorial and fierce - we can hear them fighting in the wee hours, so we are afraid this cat will get in trouble :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have no experience with cats so any advice is much appreciated, thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19088" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-26T10:25:10.880" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T10:58:19.313" Title="Lost/Abandoned cat wants to enter house; advice needed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28925" CreationDate="2020-10-26T10:58:19.313" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very common problem we see in this Stack Exchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You had a great plan. Getting a carrier and seeing a vet for microchips is the best approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In case it is not microchipped, prepare a paper collar. You basically write your details on a paper and wrap it around his neck. Make sure that the paper is not too thick, otherwise the animal might be strangled.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you decide to keep feeding him for some time, you might want to have an easy break collar with your details on a nametag. Collar and nametag would cost you £5 only.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully an owner will come forward and this will be the end of your troubles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have every right not to admit the cat into your house. Although it is small, there is always the risk of ticks, so I would also recommend you to use caution. Housecats find it hard to readjust to outside accommodation. If you decide to hang onto the cat but still prefer to keep him outside, have a sturdier shelter than a cardboard box. Still, cats can be stupid so he might not be using the shelter so feed him only in the near vicinity of the shelter. Adult cats, as long as they are well fed, not wet and hav&lt;a href=&quot;https://i2.cnnturk.com/i/cnnturk/75/450x0/5c73591004207c1aacb1d070.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;e a good shelter with have a blanket to warm themselves&lt;/a&gt; can easily survive cold nights of 0 degrees centigrade. Make sure that the shelter has a very small opening and a cosy corner to help your cat evade the wind. Such a shelter would also gave him an edge against stray cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would help him a lot if you have a garage where he will be separated enough from your household but protected against other stray cats and wind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you decide to hang onto the cat but want to keep him outside, you need to put him for adoption as well. The shelter and the interaction that I described is &lt;strong&gt;enough to sustain the cat but not enough to keep him happy&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why does he want to get in?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are unable to grasp private property and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.inbrief.co.uk/animal-law/cats-fouling/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;they are the only domestic animal that have a right to trespass at will&lt;/a&gt;. Therefore, they spend their life looking for shelters that would keep them happy and healthy. This includes interactions with humans as well as food and shelter. &lt;strong&gt;Even if he has an owner who feeds him regularly, he will still want to come in because they like to hedge their investments in humans.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want him to scratch your door, make sure not to give in to his scratches. Ignoring is the best option. If he knows he can get in by repetitive scratching, he would do it. You can also spray his face with water as long as the weather is not cold when he scratches. But you have to do it as the cat scratches the door otherwise he won't make the connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T10:58:19.313" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28922" CreationDate="2020-10-26T11:06:22.517" Score="14" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my wife is pregnant, she may need to spend her days lying down on our couch - and with our second bedroom set aside to become a nursery, where will we keep the cats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why can the cats not be around your wife?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we do let our cats roam about, how do I prevent them from jumping on my wife's pregnant belly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't, your wife does.  Once they've been pushed off a few times, they'll get the message.  It's not a threat to the baby though, it's just uncomfortable for your wife (unless it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://utswmed.org/medblog/can-bumping-my-pregnant-belly-hurt-baby/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;over 40 lbs/20kg&lt;/a&gt;). It would generally pose a bigger danger as a trip hazard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, how can I keep a fussy cat from potentially scratching my wife's hands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has no bearing on pregnancy - it's a general issue with cat ownership, surely?  If she wants to get the cat off her without touching it though, keeping a water mister to hand is the simple solution.  A quick squirt will discourage most cats from staying where they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11480" LastEditorUserId="11176" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T06:40:20.433" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T06:40:20.433" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-26T21:20:26.290" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is about 2 years old, she's ridiculously curious and jumps off of all kinds of various locations. She was at a friend's who was watching her for awhile and may have jumped off something and hurt herself, or maybe not; we don't actually know.  She is not in pain, but when she walks it's a bit weird: she is taking baby steps with both her back legs instead of full strides and when I pet her she normally kneads with all four paws, but now will only use her front two. She doesn't appear to care, there is no swelling, heat or painful spots anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, it was quite a bit worse when she was found that way late last night. The vet technician, who was looking after her, took her to the vet this morning and he examined her and then, once again around noon with me being there, and said she was moving better than even this morning. I got her home with me, she's not very happy that I won't let her roam around, but she has always been a good cat and after some convincing, she was willing to simply lay down on me. She's happy to eat treats or food and purrs as loud as she can if given attention. The vet suggested that I lock her in a cage so she can't move around, but she's much happier laying on me or beside me on the couch than in a kennel. She has no problem moving her paws and can move the legs when she cleans herself, but seems to not move them if she can help it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet has no idea whats wrong with her, but said she has no neurological symptoms, signs of pain, swelling or fever. He didn't even want to give her an anti-inflammatory, what could possibly be wrong with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a ragdoll in case that's relevant, she also likes to flail her tail around when she's overexcited or becomes impatient with me. If given enough pets, she will still happily thrash her tail around and move her back legs. The stiffness only seems to be evident when walking or attempting to climb something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12294" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-26T22:22:59.393" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T12:02:10.937" Title="Weirdness of both hind legs of a cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20295" CreationDate="2020-10-26T22:06:54.117" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm very sorry about what happened to your cat. You did everything you could, but it's hard to not know what happened. The rear leg paralysis sound similar to something that happened to my parents' cat, an otherwise healthy 5-year old tabby. After having gone missing for a couple of days, my parents found him under a bush in front of the house, unable to move his rear legs, which were cold to the touch. The vet believed it was a condition called feline aortic thromboembolism, in which a blood clot in the arteries becomes dislodged, travels through the circulatory system, and then becomes lodged in the &amp;quot;saddle&amp;quot; area, where the artery branches to supply blood to the back legs. The onset of the paralysis is sudden, which is consistent with what you describe. The prognosis for the condition is typically poor, as it can be caused by underlying heart conditions, and can cause other problems like tissue damage. Sadly, my parents' cat did not survive the ordeal. It was a hard blow to see a family member in such distress in their final days, but it was some comfort to know we did everything we could. It sounds like you did the same for your furry friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10676" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T22:06:54.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28917" CreationDate="2020-10-27T01:55:40.167" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A +10C air temperature can only be considered&amp;quot;extreme&amp;quot; if you live in sub-Saharan climate. But perhaps you are just trolling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afaik, lab has a nice thick coat and the webbing on his paws. From experience with my Husky I know that the webbing grows linearly with the temperature. When it dropped to -50F last winter, her paw fur was about 4 inch long and as thick as her tail. A sight to behold, indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, in Montana, when it was around -30F air (-40F wind-chill,  -40 F = -40C) I spent an hour in a doggie park with my Husky. Out of around 20 doggies, not a single one had any boots.  There were at least 4-6 labs, happily hopping about, without any boots whatsoever. Perhaps nobody told them it was cold.&#xA;But it was only -30F, not +10C, so there's that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T01:55:40.167" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21768" CreationDate="2020-10-27T02:18:35.213" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;From experience of growing up in certain region, outdoor German Shepherds of my neighbors started to freeze to death around -30C, so -3C is nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure how far is their thermoregulation at age of 5 months, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would however bring the tent, just in case (wind-chill/freezing rain). Also couple towels to dry those happy pups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I reckon you could bring them with you under the tarp, I suspect they wouldn't mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T02:18:35.213" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20295" CreationDate="2020-10-27T11:25:45.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to know certainly but this could be Guillain-Barré Syndrome or some other auto-immune disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is unclear whether GBS is seen in cats, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8792597/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;autopsy results of two cats suffering from sudden paralysis were identical to those of humans suffered from GBS&lt;/a&gt;. Still, the range of auto-immune diseases is vast and we have less information about such diseases that ail cats. Auto-immune diseases generally progress faster than other conditions and they might also cause this sudden anaemia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to offer two conclusions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You did everything you could in this circumstances. You also helped her to have a good life, even if it was significantly shorter than expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The vet did what he could too. It is hard to diagnose such conditions even in humans. Even if he had correctly identified the condition, there is a good chance there was no treatment available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am neither a veterinarian nor a doctor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-10-27T11:55:30.190" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T11:55:30.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28936" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-27T14:26:01.847" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;A hamster needs to run to stay healthy and happy. I am wondering, if a hamster was given a large enclosure (like the size of a room that is 300-400 square feet / 28-37 square meters), would the hamster ever need a wheel to run in? It would seem that the hamster could just run around the room instead of ever needing a wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-27T15:00:07.827" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T10:30:10.710" Title="Can a hamster run around a room instead of having a wheel?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28936" CreationDate="2020-10-27T15:52:31.517" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience with kids hamsters running loose , is that they do not want to go back in a cage and make homes in furniture. etc. I had a pet squirrel many years ago and he made a nest on the top shelf of the pantry by shredding toilet paper stored there. That is another point ,the hamsters will shred stuff to make nests. And what they decide to shred may not be part of your plan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T15:52:31.517" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28936" CreationDate="2020-10-27T20:46:01.743" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, if a hamster has sufficient space, they do not need a wheel. A wheel is just a way to work around not having enough space to exercise. I'm sure a hamster would love having a that much space to run around in!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12293" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T20:46:01.743" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-26T15:41:12.937" Score="0" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;We moved into a new apartment with a wood stained door.  The dog misses us when we leave and sometimes jumps up and scratches around the doorknob, trying to get it to open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has scratched the door up a little, and we want to keep it from being scratched further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have considered putting shelf paper around the knob, but I wonder if it will be hard to remove when we move out, or if it is too thin for this task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I put around the doorknob that will protect the door, but be easy to remove once we move out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="SafeCracker" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T06:42:53.280" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T06:42:53.280" Title="What can I put around the doorknob to keep the dog from scratching the door?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28942" CreationDate="2020-10-26T15:56:23.723" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shelf paper will not last very long as the dog will scratch through it very quickly.  Let me suggest a piece of laminate.  It's very tough and slick enough that the dog will not be able to dig his claws into it.  You could attach it to the door with some double-sided tape or even some small screws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="jwh20" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T15:56:23.723" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28942" CreationDate="2020-10-26T19:00:40.900" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am posting this as an answer but it is not an answer to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can i put around the doorknob to keep the dog from scratching the door&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shelf paper or any other thing you put on the door is a Bandaid not a cure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The proper and humane way to address the problem of your dogs &lt;strong&gt;separation anxiety&lt;/strong&gt; is to seek knowledge and help from an animal professional about how to teach or train or deal with the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Maybe your dog feels like it is being abandoned and locked up and does not know if its best friends will be back for him/her. Imagine if this happened to you day after day after day.  Or maybe it has an overwhelming desire to be as close to you as possible ALL the time&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog are very intelligent and very trainable, (&lt;em&gt;as are most people&lt;/em&gt;) you can avoid the need to modify your door, &lt;em&gt;and make your dog healthier and happier&lt;/em&gt;, by learning how to train your dog, &lt;em&gt;and yourself&lt;/em&gt;, or how to address the reasons for its separation anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by researching the internet and reading articles like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/training/how-help-dog-separation-anxiety&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Help a Dog With Separation Anxiety&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take a class &lt;strong&gt;WITH&lt;/strong&gt; your dog so you and it can learn to communicate and you can learn how to train your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a two way street, you must learn so your dog can learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Alaska Man" LastActivityDate="2020-10-26T19:06:07.923" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28942" CreationDate="2020-10-27T14:36:21.383" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree in principle with AlaskaMan, but as the offspring of a competent breeder&amp;amp;trainer of dogs,  I will state unequivocally:  &lt;strong&gt;Crate your dog&lt;/strong&gt;.  With the rare exception of bitches rescued from puppy mills, there is not a dog out there that won't be happy having its own &amp;quot;cave&amp;quot; to retreat to whenever it desires, as well as being perfectly comfortable in the crate when nobody's home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a crate.  Familiarize your dog with it.  Put in a small water supply, a comfy bed, and a favorite toy or two.  Add blankets if your dog likes those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only does this eliminate the scratching issue, it eliminates the possibility of your dog running into all sorts of potential disasters- open window, cabinet door left open with food, or worse, toxic cleaning materials, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="941" OwnerDisplayName="Carl Witthoft" LastActivityDate="2020-10-27T14:36:21.383" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T07:37:53.397" Score="1" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog ate small pieces of beef that had been cooked with onions (seasoned) when I looked away from my kitchen table. He's a small poodle (~ 5 kg), body length is around 50 cm, give or take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned if he's severely poisoned or that I don't need to worry about this. He ate two small, thin pieces of beef that were cooked with onions. The beef pieces' size he ate: overall length was around 5 cm, width 1 cm, and thickness is &amp;gt; 5 mm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my dog going to be fine, or should I take him to the doctor immediately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19107" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T18:11:55.807" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T18:11:55.807" Title="My dog ate small beef pieces that were cooked with onions. Is he poisoned?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28947" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T09:07:32.063" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog is five months old, and we often take him for walks at night. We live in Australia, so often at night, especially after rain, there are lots of cane toads out. I know that cane toads give off toxins that can be fatal for dogs, especially if ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is problematic because, of course, our dog consistently tries to chase after them, presumably to eat them or similar. We pull him back, but it’s possible that he might eventually get one. How can we prevent this happening? We have him on a lead, of course, but is there anything we can do to show him that he shouldn’t eat them, short of letting him figure it by trial and error?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17896" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T09:09:56.897" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T09:09:56.897" Title="Dogs and cane toads" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28936" CreationDate="2020-10-28T10:03:44.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not advisable unless you make certain modifications&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamster proofing an enclosure of this size is quite hard. Hamster can climb to beds, sofas, heavy curtains and any wooden furniture with 3-4 cm separation from any flat surface. It is especially dangerous to have heavy curtains in the room as hamsters are excellent upward climbers but they are very clumsy when it comes to climbing down. Also, you have to make sure that they cannot squirm under the door. This is very hard to ensure as they would chew away the foam under the doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, this would work only if the room is solely dedicated to the hamster's use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hamsters require enclosures as much as space&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters are especially stressed if they cannot find a good enclosure to build their nest.  So, a hamster would run in the room until it finds an enclosure. If he cannot find one, he would go to a corner and make it his own uncomfortable nest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, while young hamsters are more adventurous, old hamsters prefer a well known closed space over a larger area that hasn't been explored. Whether your hamster is old or young, they have to have access to their nest with the familiar smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hamsters might not know if they are running on a wheel&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is still a theory as cognitive abilities of pet hamsters are yet to be studied, but hamsters may not know if they are not getting to anywhere. I have two stories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of my Campbell hamsters picked up a fight with his cage-mate and just before things turned physical, he jumped on the flying saucer and started to run for his life. He kept checking if he is putting distance with his mate and whenever he saw his mate just behind him, on the ground not on the flying saucer, he tried running even faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I put hamsters in large balls on a stand when I clean their cage. They usually run in the same distance for some time, stop and assess their environment and then run in the other direction for a similar amount of time. This might be due to them feeling they are too far away from their origin and want to return back to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, large enclosures are not a replacement for a wheel/ball/flying saucer. A hamster would be happiest in such a large &lt;em&gt;dedicated&lt;/em&gt; room with access to their nest and their wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T10:30:10.710" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T10:30:10.710" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T13:34:57.520" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two indoor cats - a small Russian blue and a big Norwegian forest.  They are both lovely cats and cause us very little issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until recently, when my wife decided to take up at-home indoor gardening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She recently purchased a set of white sage plants and, for those plants, a flower box in which to grow them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it turns out our little Russian blue really likes to get up in, dig up, and sleep on the flower box dirt - and does so at every opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried spraying the area down with pet deterrent odor, I try using a gentle water spray to deter her, and placing it up higher isn't really an option in our apartment, and we would like to be able to keep it in our downstairs living area and not in a closed-off room - but I am running &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt; of options.  What can we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastEditorUserId="6902" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T15:24:02.927" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T15:37:00.927" Title="How do I stop my cat from digging at and sleeping in our flower box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;plants&gt;&lt;digging&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28950" CreationDate="2020-10-28T15:37:00.927" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've got the right idea with trying to make the area unappealing, but unfortunately a spray isn't going to do much (the digging may in fact be at least partially in response to the spray, in an effort to get rid of the scent from it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest a two-pronged approach. The first is to &lt;strong&gt;deter the cat from the area in general&lt;/strong&gt; with an automatic cat repellant that will go off whether or not you're present. Options here include &amp;quot;Ssscat&amp;quot; motion-activated air cans, and &amp;quot;scat mats,&amp;quot; flat mats that carry a mild charge. Neither will hurt the cat, but both will startle her when she approaches the plant. For a lower investment, you can start with trying a sheet of aluminum foil on the table or shelf under the plant. Most cats don't care for the way foil feels under their feet, and will avoid the area. If you do this, I strongly recommend using some blue painter's tape to secure the edges, or she may tear it up trying to get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second prong is actual prongs. After you've made the area in general unappealing, &lt;strong&gt;make the dirt itself unappealing.&lt;/strong&gt; I've used toothpicks in the past to stop a cat from sitting in a pot, but anything that sticks out of the soil and is spiked will make the area unappealing; you might try plastic forks planted tines-up or other items. Don't use anything so sharp it can actually cause harm (needles/pins, knives); you're just discouraging the cat, not hurting her. Err on the side of &amp;quot;too many&amp;quot; rather than &amp;quot;too few,&amp;quot; and be prepared to put them back a few times before she gets the idea that she can't get rid of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give this approach a few days, and see how it works out; if after a few days, she's still getting past all your defenses, you may need to find a way to put the plants out of reach, but as long as she's not eating the plant and it's not toxic to her, toughing it out for a few days should hopefully get you to a point where you can keep the plants where they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T15:37:00.927" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T21:15:54.023" Score="3" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have about 50 mixed types of goldfish and koi in an outdoor pond. I want to remodel the pond, expanding it to double the volume of water. I will relocate them temporarily to a 2000 gallon (7600 liters) swimming pool, which will be at the same temperature, use the same water, and I'll move the pump and medium to this pool. In fact, I'll just use the pump to pump the pond water directly to the pool so they have identical water conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, we suddenly had winter. Although the pond pump has kept this water from freezing, most other water is frozen. The fish seem to have gone in hibernation, aren't' moving. Is it safe for me to catch them in a net and move them to the swimming pool? Or do I need to wait until it warms up and they leave hibernation? Is it likely they'll stay in hibernation for the rest of winter, even if we return to 70 degree Fahrenheit (21 °C) weather again this weekend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="10024" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T21:24:13.393" LastActivityDate="2020-10-28T21:24:13.393" Title="Is it safe to catch and move hibernating fish?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T21:23:19.693" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two kittens that have moved into my backyard. Their body is maybe 8 inches in length and they are able to eat the cat food I put out. They come to my backyard because I put out food and the landscaping offers tons of hiding places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They run away whenever I am nearby, even if I'm carrying the food bag. Is there some steps I can take to make them not afraid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T17:14:46.433" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T17:14:46.433" Title="How to get stray kittens to not be afraid of humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T21:33:51.880" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people have told me I'm not supposed to keep koi with goldfish. The reason I've heard is that the slower fish can't get food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, we had an issue with one of the ponds/waterfalls getting ruined in a tremendous monsoon. To prevent further problems, I must remodel it. So I moved the goldfish and koi together temporarily After a few days of the goldfish harassing the koi, and I separated them for a day, then returned them, they appear to get along peacefully. They've created small groups, where certain goldfish and certain koi area nearly always seen together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I'm doing remodeling, I want to completely convert the three separate ponds into a single 36,000 gallon pond. That means they'd have to co-exist all together forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any problem having the fish altogether? If beyond the food issue, is there a solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some strategy for letting all fish, even slow ryukins, access to food? The food is fed by a auto-feeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="10024" LastEditDate="2020-10-28T21:41:10.830" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T09:12:53.713" Title="What setup will allow koi and slow goldfish to live together?" Tags="&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-28T21:46:10.040" Score="5" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recall that when I started fish keeping, there were basically two choices for filtration: under-gravel filters and hang-on backs. There were also expensive canisters for people with large setups. When I visit Petsmart and Petco, I find few options for under-gravel. They just sell a single one-side product, I think only suitable for a 10-gallon tank. Why is it so rare to find these nowadays?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T06:40:01.463" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T17:40:42.220" Title="Why are undergravel aquarium filters no longer popular at stores?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28959" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-29T07:15:16.280" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Scottish Terrier with major skin issues and food intolerance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only eating Royal Canin Hypoallergenic food. This has reduced itchiness, but the skin is still red and flaky.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Royal Canin was used from the start of a food trial and identified triggers include chicken, beef, fish, wheat, dairy. Snacks are only ice and cucumber at this stage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog was on Apoquel for over a month until a new histiocytoma appeared (second one, first one was surgically removed after necrosis appeared) as well as an eye, ear and skin infection. I'm very weary of Apoquel after this and have not started Apoquel again while the dog was still on antibiotics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog's ear has started bothering him again the day after the last dose of antibiotics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving 10mg of loratadine daily. This seems to help, but it's coated in lactose and I'm afraid that this could be a trigger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Washing every second day with a pet shampoo containing chlorhexidine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These interventions have reduced self harm, but it seems we're stuck now and the side effects of Apoquel (although lethargy being the only directly proven symptom for us at this stage) negate the positives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to get this under control? Any ideas are highly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19115" LastEditorUserId="19115" LastEditDate="2020-10-30T06:05:09.587" LastActivityDate="2020-10-30T06:05:09.587" Title="Dog Atopic Dermatitis" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28764" CreationDate="2020-10-29T08:06:08.567" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I cannot ask as a comment, and you mentioned trying everything, have you tried Erythromycin yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the photo, I noticed the fins seemed ragged and translucent in places, typical of either fin damage (sharp objects/other fish biting) or Fin Rot, a bacterial infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Erythromycin treats bacterial infections, including Fin Rot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other remedies like salting the water (1 tbsp/gallon, remove snails and plants) for one week and maintaining clean water are recommended for Fin Rot (and many other diseases).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible solution is an anti-parasitic medication. API makes a product called General Cure that works well to flush out internal parasites. If you've ever seen a fish with long stringy poo trailing with them, you've seen a fish when parasites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, I'm no vet, so take anything I say with a grain (or tablespoon) of salt. Dose any medications according to package instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: My experience fighting Fin Rot with a sassy betta, Aquarium Co-op's great youtube channel, way too much web searching for my own sick fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18861" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T08:06:08.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28957" CreationDate="2020-10-29T08:54:34.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keeping koi and goldfish in the same pond is not a problem at all; both types of fish are in the same family with the same needs, same food, water and temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Koi and goldfish will compete over food in the same way as all other fish living together will do, so this is not a problem at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be sure all your fish gets the food they need, you can spread the food over a larger area of your pond when you feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T09:12:53.713" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T09:12:53.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-29T12:04:08.483" Score="5" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all fellow pet lovers, I am trying to find some courage on here. I have a 1.5 years male cat. Found him outside and decided to take him in and we formed a great bond. He acts more like a dog. Last week he stopped eating, so after 2 days of not eating I took him for a vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet gave me antibiotics but since he was not eating, there was not way I could administer them to him and I am a bit scared of force feeding medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Took him to vet again and she said he has a chipped tooth. Yesterday took him to vet again and she removed the tooth but she said she is concerned that the tooth problem was not that much to make a cat stop eating so she asked me to run blood test. Of course I said yes but while waiting I was shaking like crazy (imagine a 6'1 (185 cm) bearded man, heavily tattooed, shaking and crying at the vet). She came out and she said blood work was all perfect. So I took my cat home. He was very groggy from anesthesia and was foaming at the mouth. Called vet and told her about it and she said it's normal as she administered Cerenia. Foaming stopped after a few hours. She also asked me to take him to the clinic everyday for an antibiotic injection. Anyway, yesterday evening, dinner time, I prepared food for him and my 2 other female cats. He looked at the food and run away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This morning the same. Took him to vet for injection and she also gave him a steroid shot and something else to open his appetite. Came home and tried to feed him but nothing. He has been with no food for 4 days but I saw him drinking little sips of water. He was such a big eater. Normally he finishes his and goes to lick his sisters bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today vet told me that she checked him up again. She said she checked his stomach and his spine but all seems good and she said the blood work is perfect so the vet herself can't figure out why he won't eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I noticed something very strange. As I said, we had a very strong bond. Since yesterday (the surgery) when I call out his name he comes and head bangs me, but when I try to touch him, he takes a few steps back and he acts like he smelled something very bad coming from my hands and runs away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always changed his food bowl because I read about whiskers fatigue and tried to put food for him (kitten food today as vet said it might open his appetite) on a flat plate. Nothing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't know what else to do. I really don't and I am devastated. There was no change in house or change in weather (except we moved 1 hour backwards). I did change the food to grain/cereal free food a couple of weeks ago and he didn't love it. Yesterday I bought his old favorite food, but no... he smells and runs away. Yesterday and today vet administered a pain shot too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did anyone have a similar experience? Or maybe you have advice? While writing this he came out of his 'hiding' spot and walked around where I am sitting. Smelled the food bowls and left again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any advice or has a similar story, please do share. Would be very much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19116" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T12:10:45.673" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T09:14:05.837" Title="Devastated and Lost Due to My Cat Not Wanting to Eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28958" CreationDate="2020-10-29T14:59:58.373" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under gravel are cheap so the dealers have made them &amp;quot;politically undesirable&amp;quot;. I expect in fresh water , depending on fish density, type, and food ,etc, the gravel may need to be cleaned . I found them to be great for salt . With aragonite/crushed coral/limestone gravel the water flowing down through the gravel picks up calcium which is necessary for water chemistry.  My calcium stayed at 500 ppm and I never added kalkwasser ( calcium lime water) which is required without a undergravel filter. And all sorts of creature live in the gravel and eat debris. I enjoyed taking a flash light when it was dark and watching the activity in the gravel. I never cleaned a UGF in salt water. Unfortunate I have not seen (larger) live animals in fresh water gravel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T14:59:58.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28956" CreationDate="2020-10-29T15:35:48.160" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you want to do is slowly acclimate them to your presence, start putting out food in a specific place and a specific time, if you haven't already been doing that, and choose a place somewhat nearby but not too close to that spot and sit there when you feed then, slowly move these places closer together until they are comfortable with you being next to them. Now that they are comfortable with you feeding them, start spending more time with them and pretty soon they might let you touch them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19094" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T15:35:48.160" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28958" CreationDate="2020-10-29T17:33:33.713" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People consider them obsolete.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under gravel filtration is an old technology, and seems to be going out of favor for newer types of filters, to the point where under gravel filtration has become a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.firsttankguide.net/ugfcontroversy.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;point of controversy&lt;/a&gt; among people who keep aquariums, with many arguing that they should no longer be used at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The arguments against them seem to boil down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They tend to get clogged over time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are inconvenient to clean, sometimes requiring a teardown of the tank.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Newer types have better filtration.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They aren't good for growing live plants.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it seems not all of these arguments are necessarily true. For instance, the problem with clogging can be prevented with proper cleaning, and not overpopulating the tank with fish, and not all aquariums necessarily need something more complicated.&#xA;There are also other points in the under gravel filter's favor, such as it being cheap, simple, reliable, and since they are largely hidden beneath the substrate, they look nicer than many other filters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T17:40:42.220" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T17:40:42.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28946" CreationDate="2020-10-29T17:52:01.053" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is not about how much beef he ate, but how much onion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/onion-garlic-chive-and-leek-toxicity-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one source&lt;/a&gt; that lists the critical dose for a single ingestion as 0.5% of body weight, which for your dog is 25g. If you used the onion in the usual ratios for a dish/sauce and your dog ate just the meat, it should pretty harmless. If on the other hand you made a dish that features onions as a main component (a typical example would be goulash, which uses roughly equal parts of onions and meat), it may be a different scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then consider that while onions (or rather all alliums) can be poisonous, it’s not a black-or-white issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two main effects of alliums:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Irritation of the GI tract and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Destruction of red blood cells.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even severe indigestion (watch out for excessive drooling, signs of intestinal pain, vomiting or diarrhea) is usually not fatal but may require treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second effect is similar to blood loss due to an external wound - ranging from unnoticed over tiredness to collapse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, do the maths of how much onion your dog really ate (beef doesn’t “soak up” much, the flavor is concentrated in the sauce), contact your vet if the dog really had much. Otherwise keep an eye on your pet and I would probably take it a bit slower over the next days just in case something is amiss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-10-29T17:57:33.460" LastActivityDate="2020-10-29T17:57:33.460" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23290" CreationDate="2020-10-30T12:40:28.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just took my cat away for a week to my parents. It was a two and a half hour drive. He travels really well. He had never met my parents before but on arrival he explored the house and then instantly settled and made friends rubbing on my mother’s feet and jumping onto my fathers lap. He slept with me the first night and slept on my parents bed every other night. He jumped up most evenings and cuddled into my father and then slept on his knee. He ate well, used his litter tray as normal and was happy and content. I think it depends on the individual cat. I would certainly take him away again. He also has a harness and lead and enjoyed walks in their garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19122" LastActivityDate="2020-10-30T12:40:28.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-30T14:32:21.150" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;My collie poodle can be very active and loves to chase other dogs for fun.&#xA;Recently I noticed that once a day or every three days my dog at rest (just walking in the house) would have a standing coughing fit (multiple coughs in a row for 10 to 20 seconds). In the past he could coughed once or twice a week or much much less.&#xA;The only thing that has changed in his life is that I'm switching his food and I'm now adding fish oil to his food. I'm mixing his old food with his new food so his stomach can adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was worried about this enough that I brought him to the vet.&#xA;The vet told me that they think they could hear a heart murmur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that with age a heart murmur can develop in dogs, but I haven't heard about a heart murmur causing coughing fits. I am planning in getting the diagnostic tests done to be able to confirm the heart murmur but I was wondering if I should still be looking for the cause of the coughing fits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes about my dog:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's been playing with neighborhood dogs his entire life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has an odd practice of eating dirt (especially while playing with other dogs).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is 8 years old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19123" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-30T19:30:28.403" LastActivityDate="2020-10-31T00:23:30.007" Title="Should I get a second opinion, my high energy dog with at rest coughing fits was diagnosed with potential heart murmur" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;heart-health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28971" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-30T16:44:55.587" Score="6" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two 1 year-old cats that are brothers. For a while now, they have been occasionally vomiting up dry food. Each cat will vomit maybe 2-3 times a month, and I haven't been able to figure out a pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got them a 'puzzle feeder' a while back to help them eat the dry food slower, and that seemed to help a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal or should I be looking to switch dry foods?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17329" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-30T17:16:45.733" LastActivityDate="2020-10-31T03:24:21.943" Title="Is it normal for cats to periodically vomit dry food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28971" CreationDate="2020-10-30T17:44:30.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is not normal, although it also doesn't seem alarming.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats usually vomit furballs. If you only see dry food, it is not the usual vomit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual cause is cats eating too much dry food and then drinking water. Dry food expands with water and might be disturbing their stomach. This theory has more credibility since the puzzle feeder helped it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to reduce the availability of the dry food. Feed them more frequently with less food to see if this further improves the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-10-30T17:44:30.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28971" CreationDate="2020-10-30T18:21:33.423" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28972/12501&quot;&gt;C.Koca&lt;/a&gt; is spot on with expanding food. Dry food with a high grain content expands more that food with a high meat content, so switching brands might help. Please keep in mind that grain content is proven to increase the risk of urinary tract diseases in cats and that male cats are much more prone to those stones than females, so switching food might be a good idea in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A second possible cause is a sensitive stomach. One of my cats had similar problems with vomiting food that very slowly got worse and worse. We switched to a &amp;quot;sensitive&amp;quot; dry food that was very oily and the problem disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-10-30T18:21:33.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-30T23:06:21.960" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cat's nostrils runs constantly. The discharge often hardens and blocks it, but is not causing her to sneeze or cough. She is 15 years old and we've lived in the same place for a few years now. Problem first started a few months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet said allergies and put her on 5mg prednisolone daily a couple of months ago. The problem has only gotten worse.  Vet had me add Benadryl too a few days ago. No change, below picture is from after work today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have thought allergies would have shown up years ago and affected both nostrils. This problem only ever affects the one, always the same one.  Pollen levels are &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pollen.com/forecast/historic/pollen/60502&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;negligible&lt;/a&gt; around here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VNPVq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VNPVq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Blocked nostril&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19126" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-30T23:14:43.880" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T00:46:52.190" Title="Discharge from single nostril on feline" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-30T23:59:21.390" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that has been losing fur on her neck for the past month and I am really worried. The first time my cat lost fur on her neck was when I was fostering another cat and she ended up having a fever along with it. That was about a year ago, and she was doing fine since we sent away the foster cat, but she started losing fur again about a month ago on the same spot on her neck and on her chest as well. We took her to the vet and the doctor said that it might be allergies, so she advised us to only feed our cat wet/dry food and give her a bath so we did. After that, she started growing her fur back but at a really slow rate. Her fur was fine yesterday and I could see that almost all her fur grew back, but this morning I noticed that she's losing fur yet again in the same exact spot. I don't know what to do and I'd like to take her to the vet to take an actual test but it's probably going to be very expensive. I know the bald spot seems really small right now, but in the past it grew to be pretty large which is why I'm concerned. Does anyone know what could be causing her to lose fur in the same exact spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first photo is her fur now and the second photo is her fur a month ago after she took a bath, which is why her fur is wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oN9xj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/oN9xj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The first photo is her fur now and the second photo is her fur a month ago after she took a bath, which is why her fur is wet.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19127" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-31T09:57:22.330" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T17:50:28.967" Title="Cat losing fur on left side of her neck" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28970" CreationDate="2020-10-31T00:23:30.007" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends entirely on how attached are you to the poor thing and where exactly do you stand on the emotional spectrum of the following bounds (should the doggie kick the bucket):&#xA;&amp;lt;Grab a coffee and watch NFLX, Early Check-Out&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only you can answer that question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a slightly more serious note, I have moved extensively in last few years and have been exposed to more than 5 vets across multiple states in last 3 years and thus can compare how they interpret the same thing (heart murmur being one such thing) differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bounds of that range are similar to the ones I mentioned earlier. It makes sense, actually (just not at first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do as much research as you possibly can before asking questions at a vet's. They will happily alleviate your anxiety, laughing all the way to the bank...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, since your doggie loves the dirt, do you have the dewormer (and related meds) at home? I would presume so, just checking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastActivityDate="2020-10-31T00:23:30.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28971" CreationDate="2020-10-31T03:24:21.943" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's normal. Search &amp;quot;cat vomit food&amp;quot; and you'll find vets suggesting 1-3 cat upchucks a month is normal, but to only worry if it's twice a day for several days in a row, possibly with blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats seem to barf up some dry food at least weekly, and have been in fine health for decades (combined). It wasn't the food, since the other 6 days of the week are fine. Some of it seems to be nerves -- if they see a scary dog or something -- some is the food being in front of a hairball (which is not a ball), but cats also barf for no obvious reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17560" LastActivityDate="2020-10-31T03:24:21.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28975" CreationDate="2020-10-31T12:47:23.710" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will have to take your cat to the vet for this, get some x-rays of the sinuses and lungs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your vet might take a sample of the discharge to see if this is a bacterial or viral infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nasal discharge can be caused by a number of things like a foreign object stuck in the nose of your cat, allergies might cause this, bacterial or viral infection is another cause for this, but then the discharge is often green or brown, sometimes with blood in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-31T19:49:06.607" LastActivityDate="2020-10-31T19:49:06.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-10-31T13:37:25.470" Score="2" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;My four-year-old female cat’s urine smells like ammonia. She’s been on antibiotics twice and it didn’t seem to help. She hardly drinks any water, so I’m wondering what food I could give her that has a higher water content than the canned food she’s eating. She does not eat dry food. She eats Sheba (we just started giving her Sheba). She’s been eating fancy feast since we brought her home at 11 weeks. Any ideas would be very helpful, as the vet gave her the antibiotics and I’m not happy with them because I don’t think they worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19130" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-31T13:44:51.143" LastActivityDate="2020-10-31T13:44:51.143" Title="Female cat's urine smells like ammonia" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28982" CreationDate="2020-10-31T21:19:05.593" Score="2" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptR7ngChDqs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;random video&lt;/a&gt; on Youtube presents itself with the following title:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;24th Month – (Carrot Feeding Frenzy) &lt;strong&gt;NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts&lt;/strong&gt; 5 Gallon Nano Tank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably having no filter, no CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and no fertilizer makes this aquarium somehow special. Why is this the case? Do most aquariums use all those things? Is it particularly hard to build one without them? Are there particular advantages to having such an aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19132" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-31T21:28:10.050" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T11:32:20.420" Title="What is special about an aquarium using no CO₂, no fertilizer and no filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28981" CreationDate="2020-10-31T22:53:42.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is indeed special in a sense that most aquarium setups include a lot of equipment, mainly a filter; the filter facilitates cultivation of nitrifying bacteria that are responsible for neutralization of harmful waste products - ammonia and nitrite. Without a filter, they would quickly build up to toxic levels and kill all animal life in the aquarium. These bacteria don't exclusively live in the filter medium/media, they generally stick to all surfaces like substrate, plants, etc. - but usually the filter media contribute to the majority of surface area suitable for bacteria, the filter is responsible for the great majority of their population in the tank and thus its operation is crucial for maintaining safe water parameters. It is not only a result of the filter providing a lot of surface area in its media, but also comes from a high rate of water flow through these media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aquarium presented in linked video is different - it uses a specialized approach, designed by Diana Walstad, known as Walstad method. I wouldn't say that it is particularly hard, but it is definitely different from the common approach and poses it's own unique challenges. It is designed to involve as little artificial equipment as possible. Its premise is to place an extremely nutrient-rich soil as a bottom layer of the substrate, then top the soil with a thick layer of fine sand. The upper sand layer serves as a buffer, isolating the soil from the water column and preventing the nutrients to be released to the water all-at-once. It is greatly slowing down the process of the nutrients leaching upwards into the water column or for the plant roots in the upper substrate layer to absorb. It extends the release of nutrients in time, which is a substitute for manual, periodic fertilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many tanks don't require fertilization because usually the waste generated by inhabiting animals is enough to fertilize the plants; but the more planted the tank is, the more plant-related demand for nutrients it has. If one increases the plant density, at some point the amount of waste produced by the animals would be a limiting factor for plants and they would require usage of additional fertilization to fully thrive. Walstad method involves setting up a heavily planted tank - for that reason, it is remarkable for it to not rely on manual fertilization and still have a heavily planted aquarium with healthy and thriving plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point it is inevitable that the soil from down under becomes completely depleted of nutrients. But because the process of their leaching is extremely slow, it is expected for the soil to outlast the lifetime of the aquarium and go on for years; and even if it doesn't, one could always completely empty the aquarium, re-apply with the fresh soil and continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method also relies on a large surface area of the fine and thick substrate to facilitate the cultivation of nitrifying bacteria that will contribute to the removal of nitrogen waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walstad method, as mentioned earlier, incorporates setting up a heavily planted aquarium. Plants can directly absorb the mentioned nitrogen waste - but unless the aquarium is heavily-planted, their contribution to waste removal isn't enough and needs the support of a filter to prevent a constant buildup of waste. Walstad method is designed to mitigate this by heavy-planting the aquarium with fast-growing plants to provide a replacement for a filter - the plant density is so high that the aquarium's waste neutralization process doesn't rely on the presence of a filter anymore. Plants incorporate the absorbed waste in their biomass, so the faster-growing the plants are, the higher ratio of absorption is. One of the plants you could see on the video are duckweeds, which are these free-floating green things on the water surface. One plant consists just of a single leaf with a modified short stem, and they are remarkably fast-growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many tanks do not need CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection, but these are usually not heavily planted and don't involve especially demanding plants. But in this method's design, the decomposing material in the substrate and animals' respiration are the sources of enough CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; for the densely planted aquarium, thus eliminating the need for using accessory equipment for CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the challenges of Walstad method is to never disturb the substrate to the point that the soil from down under mixes with the upper sand layer, which could happen for example during partial water changes. On the linked video you could see how the person manages this during partial water changes - a plastic container with small holes is placed on top of the water surface and then fresh water is slowly and carefully being added to the aquarium. It is also important to anchor the plants in substrate in a way that doesn't mix these two layers. Plants should be placed in a way that their roots are in the upper layer of the sand, but don't reach deep down to the nutrient-rich soil. Plant roots are meant to grow and reach this layer themselves, on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-01T11:32:20.420" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T11:32:20.420" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28986" CreationDate="2020-10-31T23:02:54.117" Score="4" ViewCount="2105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering what can be done for a husky who howls whenever the owner is leaving and then absent from his or her home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5993" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-10-31T23:22:33.883" LastActivityDate="2020-11-02T06:02:57.810" Title="Husky howling repeatedly - what can be done for it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28975" CreationDate="2020-11-01T00:46:52.190" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second the recommendation to take your cat back to the vet for further evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is discharge from both nostrils then it is more likely an upper respiratory infection (viral or bacterial) or allergic problem. If there is discharge just consistently from one nostril then it is very likely there is a problem starting in just that half of the nose. Looking at the discharge, there is almost certainly infection present but coming from one side it is probably secondary to another problem. Possible problems in elderly cat would include growths such as a polyp (which tend to be benign), cancerous growth, or foreign material stuck in the nose. Depending on your location, fungal infections may be considered which can sometimes present as a more unilateral problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other main differential diagnosis – check the teeth! When there is discharge from the nose, it is sometimes easy to assume this is a nose problem, but the roots of the teeth are very close to the nasal cavity. Even if the teeth appear normal from the outside, getting a good set of dental x-rays (under anesthesia obviously) is often a good idea to make sure there are no abscessed roots. A badly infected tooth can progress and drain into the nose, and good news with this in that extraction of the affected tooth will usually solve the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For diagnosis, your cat likely needs some imaging and/or sampling of the nose to be performed. X-rays are usually the most easily accessible and least expensive, but to get good quality skull x-rays sedation is usually needed. To identify more subtle changes advanced imaging such as CT or MRI may be recommended. Rhinoscopy could also be considered in this case (and sometimes a biopsy can be taken this way if needed), although in cats not every practice may do this as it is a small size of endoscope needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep us updated on your cat's progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T00:46:52.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28983" CreationDate="2020-11-01T07:28:34.127" Score="16" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me sing to you the song of my people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almost every Husky ever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Huskies are very, very social dogs, even more so than many other breeds. They don't like being alone and they'll notice if something is up, calling for missing members of the pack, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you can train a dog out of it has to be decided on a case by case basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This howling for missing pack members lessens over time, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't work immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whatever you do, be consistent and think carefully. Huskies are extremely intelligent and will indeed fact check and make their own conclusions. For example, our two dogs won't care if I leave the house without a jacket or mantle. They know I won't go without them. But if I take it... You can also use this to your advantage later to tell the dog what you're doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What you first should try to do is really just training - regular separation anxiety training:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leave for a few minutes, then return. Rinse and repeat, over and over again, continually taking more and more time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure to &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; react/return upon the dog howling or whining. Otherwise you teach the exact opposite.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And as mentioned, be consistent. If you take a hat to work, do so during training, too.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also keeping the dog company might work very well. This could be a second dog or other people in your household, but also the radio or TV. There's no guarantee either thing will work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's also possible the dog is reacting to nearby dogs in heat (or being in heat itself). If so, it might help to keep windows closed during the few &amp;quot;important&amp;quot; days and not leaving the dog outside to sniff into the air.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should be noted that spaying/fixing the dog is no cure all and often advised too quickly to fix things like this. Don't try to take this cheap route, it most likely won't work nor make a difference.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-11-02T06:02:57.810" LastActivityDate="2020-11-02T06:02:57.810" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28983" CreationDate="2020-11-01T08:07:17.173" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look into separation anxiety. Depending on the specific temperament of the doggie and the amount of abuse it has suffered prior, it might take few months and doggie doesn't necessarily have to fully become OK with the separation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do the right thing and put Husky into into care of somebody who can be with him 24/7. My Husky is with me 24/7, so it most certainly is doable.&#xA;It's incredibly selfish from anybody to get a Husky and then leave him alone for 40-60 hours of the week.  And no, having two of them doesn't fully alleviate that either. They will be happier, yes, but not fully happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T08:07:17.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2020-11-01T09:52:30.667" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put your Samsung into development mode. And you can change the output of your nfc scan, get an i.t savy person to help you, you can scan most chips and get just the number which can then be supplied to a vet over the phone and vet will contact owner (please note not all vets will give you details of owner and will take responsibility or send you to a shelter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19134" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T09:52:30.667" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10504" CreationDate="2020-11-01T12:47:23.733" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, &lt;a href=&quot;https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13081926/reading-rfid-with-android-phones&quot;&gt;standard phone NFC operates at high frequency RFID range&lt;/a&gt;. Therefore, most cat microchips are not compatible with NFC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can still check for it. Remove all your cards and rub the phone all over the cat's body. This will tell you if the cat is microchipped but not tell you if it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The injection location changes from country to country, even from practice to practice. Between the shoulder blades and on top of the foot (not the paw) are the common locations. Usually, you can see a very small scar if it is injected to the foot but it is harder to see such a scar if it is injected on the back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The animals are usually microchipped when they are young so as they grow, the location changes as well. My cat has it in the belly, closer to his butt than his head. It definitely wasn't injected there. That is why you have to rub your phone all over the animal to know it with certainty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you manage to get a reading, you will only get a 16 digit number, so you would need a vet anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-11-01T13:45:00.847" LastActivityDate="2020-11-01T13:45:00.847" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28917" CreationDate="2020-11-02T18:26:07.170" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking of 10 'C (50 'F), last 3 weeks it's been around 52 'F (11 'C) in my house. I didn't turn on the heat yet, not until it drops below 48 'F (8 'C), as I am perfectly comfortable sleeping under my blanket at 9 'C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize a Chukchi-bred Siberian husky's double coat is a bit tougher than Labrador's, but not that much, I'd guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's 24/7, 7 days a week. About 7-8 months of the year. Remaining 4 months of the year, once it gets above 64 'F (18 'C), I run A/C to cool it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastActivityDate="2020-11-02T18:26:07.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-03T01:21:19.380" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding a feral cat for 7 years and now we are moving 6 hours away to an environment that is much colder, and has more predators. I feel I cannot leave her, she’s become dependent on food from us and the new owners may want to dispose of her, however I’m worried that the 6 hour ride along with being in a much colder environment may hurt her—am I doing the right thing taking her? She will never come in our home and will have to live in a barn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19141" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-25T22:15:57.177" LastActivityDate="2021-05-25T22:16:19.130" Title="Should I move a 7 year old feral cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-03T02:57:55.727" Score="5" ViewCount="4492" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tzefw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tzefw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also want to say only one drop blood came out.&#xA;Then I took him in dry place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19143" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T09:00:43.617" LastActivityDate="2020-11-04T21:16:37.177" Title="My Indian flapshell turtle fell from 3rd floor. How to know there's any internal damage by his behaviour?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28993" CreationDate="2020-11-03T08:10:18.477" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's impossible to tell if an animal - especially a reptile like a turtle - has internal injuries from it's behavior, unless it's currently dying. A vet must examine the animal to find internal damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That &amp;quot;only a single drop of blood&amp;quot; came out of a wound can mean 2 things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either the wound didn't bleed very much&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or the rest of the blood pooled beneath the shell because it couldn't flow out. In that case it's impossible to tell how much bleeding there was and if it stopped or is still bleeding. You need medical equipment like x-ray or ultrasound to examine the wound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all animals hide injuries as much as possible, especially wild animals. In the wild, predators target preferably slow and defenceless prey, so old, young and injured animals are targeted first. To increase their chances of survival, injured animals have to hide their injuries from predators. Only if the injury is so severe that they cannot hide it any longer will they show any change in behavior. Unfortunately this often means that even a vet cannot help them anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have the chance to see a vet, you should definitely do so as soon as possible. Even during Corona lockdowns many vets still open their clinics, but you may have to call in advance.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If there is no vet around, all you can do is give your turtle a calm place to recuperate with as little stress as you can manage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T08:10:18.477" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-03T09:27:20.820" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, my 7 year old cat would go into heat about once a quarter. However, over the last 3 months, she has been on heat several times. It will last around a week, then subside for a week or two, then happen again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She never leaves the house and has never had a litter before. We do have a 12 year old neutered male cat, but he has never been an issue and usually just tries to find a quiet place to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has never happened before, is it something to be worried about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1336" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T11:58:55.463" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T11:58:55.463" Title="Cat is in heat with about a 2 week break" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-03T12:13:15.747" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've bought a new kitten 2 months ago. She was 3 months at the time, and is 5 months now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The day I brought her home, I noticed she had a runny/stuffy nose and one eye was quite watery. I brought her to the vet, and got some eye drops on natural basis. After 1 week, I brought her to the vet again, as the drops didn't seem to work and the second eye was starting to get watery as well. I got some antibiotic eye drops, and they worked really well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, her runny/stuffy nose turned into a stuffy nose only. Most of the time when breathing, she makes &amp;quot;noise&amp;quot; because of the stuffy nose. It sometimes even reminds me of a small pig.&#xA;She doesn't seem to have a hard time breathing at all, but still, I reckon this isn't normal and I'm somewhat worried.&#xA;She often sits in the bathroom when I take showers, but the steam didn't seem to help her (maybe it does temporarily and I just didn't notice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone had something similar and might know what I need to do to help her get rid of the stuffy nose?&#xA;The next step would be to bring her to a vet. I didn't do that yet, because she generally doesn't seem to have a hard time breathing, and she also eats, plays and sleeps just fine. But then again, cats seem to be known for hiding pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it helps at all, I could make a recording of her breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19147" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T12:20:21.470" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T12:20:21.470" Title="Kitten has stuffy nose for the past 2 months" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28992" CreationDate="2020-11-03T12:33:47.903" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is never a good idea to move a feral cat. But it might or it might not be a good idea to move a stray cat. The definition of stray and feral is not well established but I would say if she allows you to touch her and sleeps in your presence, she is more of a stray than feral. I compose this answer assuming she is stray, i.e., she allows you to touch her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a question very hard to answer to. Only the important points to consider can be given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pros for moving&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is happy with you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She might be dependent on you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might be dependent on her&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are usually not dependent on us. They are very resourceful when it comes to hunting or getting some other household to take care of them. But given the age, which is at least 7, she might not be as agile as she was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our dependence to the animals are usually overlooked but it is of as much prominence as their dependence on us. It definitely comes into equation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cons for moving&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adaptation to a completely new surroundings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Colder environment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More wildlife, more competition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other people looking after the cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all legitimate concerns but all of them are alleviated by the fact that she will have a barn available to her. Adult cats can survive harsh weathers as long as they are well fed. Make sure that she can get in and out of the barn at will, i.e., have an opening or install a cat flap. Also, make sure that she has another shelter in the barn, with a very small opening, small enough for her to fit to. Put some blankets in as well. Cats can heat up such spaces with their body heat quite easily. During colder nights, you can put a hot water bottle under the blankets to help her heat herself. This set-up is better than some housecats get, so cold would not be a big issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, a chipped cat flap would easily help her defend herself against the wildlife. Even if you cannot afford one, or even if you cannot have the stray cat microchipped, other wildlife would be hesitant to pursue her into an unknown surrounding, i.e., the barn. The extra shelter in the barn would offer extra protection as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several principles when it comes to moving a cat. One of them is to carry the furniture the cat uses with you. If you have a couch or patio furniture or a blanket that the cat usually sleeps on, move it with you, even if it is old and dirty. Cats love similar scents and this will help her with getting used to the new surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stray cats usually have several people taking care of them. Make sure that she is not taken care by anyone else in the neighbourhood. Use a paper collar and wait if anyone responds if you are unsure. Someone might be giving her more care than you give to her and if this is the case, you will be hurting the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry about the ride. It is indeed very long and it will be stressful, but it is temporary and there are ways to make it easier for her. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28767/16749&quot;&gt;Contact a vet about this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end, it is impossible to know the correct move with certainty. &lt;strong&gt;Make sure that you take the decision you are more comfortable with.&lt;/strong&gt; Bad things happen to stray cats frequently and they might happen to her if you leave her or if you take her. As long as you do everything you can, it is not your fault.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T14:02:28.763" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T14:02:28.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="28999" CreationDate="2020-11-03T12:43:16.317" Score="7" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be a common, and to me upsetting, theme that if a horse breaks its leg it gets put down but this doesn't hold true for some other animals. For example, if a dog or cat breaks its leg the same outcome isn't applied. Indeed, I've seen many healthy dogs and cats with just three legs (although likely not caused by a broken leg).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something specific to the anatomy of a horse that means it is difficult to repair a broken leg in comparison to other animals? Perhaps height or weight related?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;I'll note here that it seems a lot of broken legs are caused by horse racing but I'm not looking to debate the morality of horse racing in this post.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T13:34:12.780" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T14:04:11.720" Title="Why are so many horses put down when they break their leg?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;horses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="28999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28998" CreationDate="2020-11-03T13:23:28.940" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;As this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/horses-with-a-broken-leg-1886850&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt; writes, there are some main issues, that horse's legs make special in cases of broken legs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The leg bones are small in relation to the horse's body weight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Under the knee (which is not the knee in anatomical sense, but everybody think about this as knee) there is nearly no tissue to give the bone some stability (even with a cast around, this is not enough)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Running and movement is a horse's life, so you could not pressure it to rest enough time to heal the bone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Additionally, everyone with a horse could tell you about risks in health for a horse caused only by staying/not be moved enough time, so we talk about secondary damage, caused by treating the broken leg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Horse's movement puts a lots of stress to the bone, and breaking means in this most time splintering too, which complicates the treatment in general&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But like every field of science, treating broken legs in horses develop, and today there is treatment in more cases possible than 50 years ago. There are people who work on new methods. But like everywhere new methods are mostly expensive, and owners will decide by their conscience if the material/immaterial win makes it a good deal for them. (In race business the horse has no value anymore, because even with a former broken healed bone it could not run races anymore...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-03T13:36:52.383" LastActivityDate="2020-11-03T13:36:52.383" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-04T10:18:49.610" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just needed to bring 2 of my kitty's that were being fostered back home. My home also has 2 fully grown Rottweilers, so I needed to create an outdoor enclosure for them that keeps them safe inside and the dogs out. My kitty's however, always lived inside the house, but it's too risky for me to allow them in now with the dogs having access inside. I've built a big and comfortable cat enclosure, with couches, a big litter,toys, beds and wall mounted hideaway tunnels. They still cry to come in occasionally and hate to be left alone. Am I doing the right thing by keeping them there? There are 2 of them in the enclosure. I don't really have options and I need to make sure they will be happy living the rest of their lives inside the enclosure. Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19150" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-04T10:30:32.277" LastActivityDate="2020-11-09T16:29:44.463" Title="Can I permanently leave my cat in an outdoor enclosure?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-04T11:25:21.977" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female rabbit likes to sit on the grass in my garden. In summer, this seems normal to me, but in the colder seasons, I am worried about her health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example today it is a cloudy, foggy, and rainy day (the third in a row) with 7 degrees Celsius (44.6 Fahrenheit). The grass, logically, is wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do rabbits need insulation from the ground?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rabbits could choose between a hut to sit on top, a tub with wood pellets and straw standing on the ground in their enclosure, and a hut/stable with air+tub (includes wood pellets+straw) between them and the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T19:37:34.663" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T19:37:34.663" Title="When do rabbits need a dry and insulated place to sit?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-05T03:02:34.733" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone gave me a baby turtle. I'm not sure if they have been taking care of it. I need to know if it's a male or female?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YWRYv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YWRYv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Turtle Sleeping&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when I placed it in water it just floated. So I took it out and layed it on the dock and it's sleeping with it's legs sticking up, lol. Any concerns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18957" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-05T08:26:08.350" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T22:22:45.400" Title="Another New Turtle" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;&lt;age&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-05T06:40:09.847" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prompted by &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/28993/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume you care for a turtle or tortoise and by accident it falls from a height and cracks its shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first and most important course of action is to see a vet as soon as possible!&lt;/strong&gt; The shell can hide internal bleeding that can lead to death within minutes to days of the fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But assuming there is no vet in the area, or the vet isn't specialized in reptiles and cannot offer any advice, how should I care for my turtle / tortoise with a fractured shell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-05T10:56:41.123" LastActivityDate="2020-11-05T10:56:41.123" Title="How to care for a turtle / tortoise with a fractured shell?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29006" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-05T13:58:30.500" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten who meows silently, but purrs perfectly well. She is also growing at a slower rate than other kittens born around the same time. She seems perfectly healthy &amp;amp; quite frankly very animated. She is approximately 4 months old, but has the size of a 2 month old kitten. Is there dwarfism in cats? Her mother does the same thing, is it hereditary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my 1st question to this site. Please forgive me if I did something wrong. Thank you for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19156" LastEditorUserId="19156" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T00:23:22.707" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T00:23:22.707" Title="Kitten's voice &amp; growth rate" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-05T15:20:38.593" Score="2" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01MRV5YNO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; top-entry litter box for my cat shown below. I'm not sure if it's this box that's the problem, but he will often leave the litter box with urine on his rear which often also has litter stuck to it. This is pretty gross as it leaves little deposits wherever he sits around the house. I imagine he's squatting right on top of the litter when he pees for this to be happening. Is there anything I can do to prevent it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BKHZS.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BKHZS.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7041" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-05T23:13:13.390" LastActivityDate="2020-11-05T23:13:13.390" Title="My cat often leaves the litter box with urine and litter on his rear" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29007" CreationDate="2020-11-05T15:44:46.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try watching what he does when he uses the litterbox. It will probably be very informative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But without being able to watch, I lean towards either the problem happens when he is about to jump out of the box, as a lot of cats sort of sit when they are preparing to jump, or that he ends up doing it because the box is too small. If it's either of those, replacing the litterbox with something that will address his problem is the obvious answer.  You might even try just a regular lidless box, because it will give the cat more room to maneuver. You can also use things other than litterboxes as litterboxes, if your cat really seems to want something bigger than the typical litterbox. For instance, a big Tupperware container can work as a litterbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a problem of he's just squatting wrong while going, I would take him to the vet. It could just be a bizarre habit unique to him, but I don't think it's very typical behavior. Male cats I've had experience with tend to pee on the side of the box, if anything. Therefore I would make sure he doesn't have some medical issue that makes it difficult for him to squat normally.  If medical issues are ruled out though, it may just be a very unfortunate habit he has that I don't see much way of fixing. You might try taking him to a groomer to shave his rear, though. It'll at least help some at keeping himself clean, especially if he has long fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-11-05T17:39:26.923" LastActivityDate="2020-11-05T17:39:26.923" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-05T22:00:04.350" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a stray cat is eating raw hamburger meat, can I still cook and eat it afterwards? Would it be safe, considering that the stray cat was eating from it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19160" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-05T22:10:05.433" LastActivityDate="2020-11-05T22:10:05.433" Title="Is it safe to cook and eat raw meat that a stray cat was eating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-11-06T11:04:49.850" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-05T22:44:27.213" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the process of downsizing my life. Putting the kid through college and moving into travel trailer living. As a single woman I'd like a dog that is loyal and admittedly a little intimidating for strangers. I plan on spending the majority of the time at whatever national/state forests I can find. I'm very much an adventurous and outdoors type of person. I have confidence in my ability to train a dog. I've had a standard poodle mix, Springer mix and a basset mix in the past. Just curious of opinions to give a lady a little peace of mind and companionship in the woods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19161" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-05T23:03:44.617" LastActivityDate="2020-11-06T09:15:15.487" Title="Family loyal dog for long-term travel" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29011" CreationDate="2020-11-06T09:06:38.617" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several aspects you need to consider, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Breed&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditional herding and guard breeds were bred exactly for your purpose: to protect familiar individuals (animals or humans) from potentially dangerous individuals (animals or humans). Different sites offer different lists and classifications of breeds, like the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/?characteristic%5B%5D=best-guard-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Kennel Club&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mixed breed is no worse or less worthy than a pure breed and often has less medical problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd stay away from &amp;quot;beautiful&amp;quot; overbred dogs like German Shepherds and Boxers. During the last decades, when the breed lost it's original purpose because keeping sheep wasn't profitable anymore and electric fences where cheaper than dogs, the focus of breeders switched from a functional work dog to a &amp;quot;beautiful&amp;quot; fashion dog. This led to numerous medical problems for the poor animals. If you choose a puppy of one of those breeds, look for &amp;quot;old fashion&amp;quot; and archaic body features in their parents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1pAue.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/1pAue.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;evolution of German Shepherd Dogs&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ayerslegends.com/history-of-german-shepherds/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Image Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Personality&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breed of a dog has great influence but doesn't define the personality of a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28529/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; which summarizes the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/aspca-canine-ality-guide-2015.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Meet your Match&lt;/a&gt; dog assessment system. You'll probably want a socially or internally motivated dog with medium energy level (first or second row, orange category). If you follow the link to the system description, you can find a manual how to assess the character of puppies and adult dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your dog needs to be socialized very well, I would only consider shelter dogs that have led a similar life before (meeting strangers on a regular basis) and are not aggressive towards people and other dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Size&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big dog may look intimidating, but it doesn't have to be a giant. An agressively barking Akita is surely more intimidating than a docile Great Dane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please consider the available space in your trailer. Will the dog be able to move freely? Will it have enough space to stay inside a whole day when it rains?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And will you be able to hold the leash steady if your dog pulls you full power?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Regulations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be some regulations regarding breeds (like fighting dog breeds), taxes and letting dogs run free in an unfenced area. You might not be allowed to bring your dog everywhere, or places might require the dog to be leashed and muzzled at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-11-06T09:15:15.487" LastActivityDate="2020-11-06T09:15:15.487" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28911" CreationDate="2020-11-06T14:34:09.293" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, it ended up not being a problem. After a couple of weeks, he's now grown to the point of being able to swallow the pellets easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10835" LastActivityDate="2020-11-06T14:34:09.293" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29018" CreationDate="2020-11-06T18:50:21.077" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had my bearded dragon out of his enclosure and my cat likes to crawl in there if I leave the door open. Last time she got in there when I had the dragon out, she chowed down on some of his food. I had to pry her away from it because she was &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; into it. (She's well fed, but not overweight, no health issues.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, would it harm anything if I just let her have the rest of it? My beardie isn't into this particular food anymore. It's this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/flukers-buffet-blend-food-for-juvenile-bearded-dragons&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Fluker's Buffet Blend For Juvenile Bearded Dragons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sidenote: Don't worry, I don't leave them together unattended!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2528" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-06T19:20:12.917" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T14:24:25.050" Title="Is it dangerous if cat eats food meant for bearded dragon?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29001" CreationDate="2020-11-06T20:00:35.953" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cats will survive, but they will be unhappy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maslow's Hierarchy of Feline Needs&lt;/em&gt; start with the regular food/shelter/water/litterbox and continues with safety and security. After that, they have social needs. Your enclosure can guarantee the first two levels, but not the third one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such a luxurious enclosure would allow them to spend quality time on their own. They can also play with each other as well. &lt;strong&gt;But domestic cats still need a human companion from time to time.&lt;/strong&gt; This is why stray cats come and expect pets, even if you don't feed them. Socialising is important. Socialising with other cats is great but it doesn't make up for the lack of human interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can alleviate this problem by personally being in their enclosure for some time, maybe 30 mins to an hour a day. If you can take your computer and watch a movie with the cats, that would be fantastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the beginning, there will be some time to get used to the new settings. Cats have very well determined routines. There is a specific time every day for eating, relieving, grooming, playing, petting and cuddling. Therefore, the minutes you spend with them might not be their preferred time to play, pet or cuddle and they will keep crying to get to you when their preferred time comes. But eventually, they will learn how to deal with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never had cats and dogs live together, so I suggest you to ask another question to inquire what can be done to have them at the same time inside the house. But your cats, with the new settings, will be unhappy for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-11-06T20:00:35.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-07T03:09:09.593" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;My sibling breeds leopard geckos, we kept one as a pet, and it somehow disappeared from a 12in x 12in x 10in box with a roof on it (Temporary location while it grows)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We think it climbed on the log hide, and got through a tiny gap on the front of the cage, but we aren't sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last time it was held was on Halloween, and was supposedly last fed in the past 2 days (Since the worms dropped in the feeding spot were gone, and nowhere to be found in the cage)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not the one who takes care of the baby, but I worry for the poor thing, its tiny, and its in a house with 2 savage cats and a dog who will most likely eat / attack the baby if they see it come out of my sibling's room under the door or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm already considering the chance that he is gone, and perhaps no longer alive, but I'm hopeful, and I want to know if anyone knows the typical behaviors of where these lizards would hide? Like what kind of temperatures would they try to find in a room, where would they try to hide (Like in clothing, under furniture or towels / bedding or something??) that I most likely wouldn't think about? I'm sure this is really vague and unhelpful, but I don't know who else to ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomorrow morning I'm going to dig around the room and see if I can find the poor thing before it starves, if it's even still in there..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other tips? Is there a way to &amp;quot;attract&amp;quot; the lizard or possibly coax him into coming out of hiding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've dug around my entire house, checked under and even inside of couches and furniture, but he is so small compared to our adults, so I fear that I wont find him if he is even still alive.. I don't know why in hell my sibling decided it would be best to store the lizard in a plastic drawer, but its a bit late to change it now..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T03:09:09.593" Title="What are the typical behaviors of a Baby Leopard Gecko? It escaped its enclosure, not sure where to look anymore" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29015" CreationDate="2020-11-07T10:50:08.490" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The list of ingredients is quite long and sciency, so please take this advice with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I broke down the ingredients into categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Protein&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Freeze Dried Mealworms, Freeze Dried Crickets, Chicken Meal, Fish Meal, Potato Protein, Fructose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not a typical food for cats, but I guess it won't cause any damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Carbohydrates&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corn, Potato Starch, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't recommend this much starch in cat food, but in a snack it's ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fat&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poultry Fat, Soybean Oil, Fish Oil, Coconut Oil,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All are safe for cats and sound tasty for a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Veggies&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tomato Pomace&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is tricky. Fully ripe tomatoes are safe for cats, but green tomatoes contain proteins that are poisonous for cats. You never know if all tomatoes processed for this product where ripe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other stuff&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calcium Carbonate, L-Lysine, Dl-Methionine, Salt, Spirulina Algae, Canthaxanthin, Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Streptococcus Faecium Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Dicalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Vitamin E Supplement, Calcium L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Stabilized Vitamin C), Ferrous Sulfate, D-Biotin, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Niacinamide, Vitamin B&lt;sub&gt;12&lt;/sub&gt; Supplement, Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin A Acetate, Beta Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, natural and artificial colors, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (source of vitamin K&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;), vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; supplement, cobalt sulfate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of those are minerals and vitamins, but I have no idea what half of that list actually means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Riboflavin and tocopherols are common ingredients in cat and dog food. Rosemary extract for example is known to cause seizures in cats and dogs, but as always, the dose makes the poison. Copper sulfate is poisonous for cats as well, but is nonetheless found in cat foods in low concentrations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I won't recommend feeding this to your cat&lt;/strong&gt; on a regular basis or in bigger amounts. Maybe half a teaspoon once in a while as a treat won't do any damage, but not more than that. &lt;em&gt;Please keep in mind that I didn't check every single ingredient for its suitability for cats and I don't take any responsibility for the health and safety of your cat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-11-07T14:24:25.050" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T14:24:25.050" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29019" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-07T14:36:51.127" Score="2" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;When walking the dog around 22:30 before going to bed, there are some kids playing with fireworks around October, November, December and January. This can be kilometers away, but you still can hear a faint sound, which for some reason startles our dog when walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is she wants to go home as fast as possible without doing her business, which sometimes results in accidents. Is there a way to calm her. Also: we live in the Netherlands, where calming medication has been ruled illegal this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11181" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-07T20:50:59.460" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T20:52:36.157" Title="How to soothe dog when startled by noise?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29019" CreationDate="2020-11-07T17:35:36.637" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be counter intuitive, but the best thing you can do is ignore the noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What usually happens is something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog hears a noise that she doesn't know how to deal with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She looks at you for guidance. Is this dangerous?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You see her looking at you and talk to her to calm her down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She doesn't understand a single word of what you say, but she understands that you give her attention exactly when the scary noise is there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She learns that the scary noise is something bad. The next time she hears it, she wants to go home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, you talk to her to calm her down. Again, she doesn't understand a single word, but she understands that &lt;strong&gt;you also&lt;/strong&gt; react to the scary, so &lt;strong&gt;it must be very bad&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that you talk to her in good intention, but you actually reinforce her fear of the noise. The opposite of well done is well intended...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To break the cycle, &lt;strong&gt;stop reacting to the noise&lt;/strong&gt;. Act as if you didn't hear a thing and continue your walk as if nothing happened. Of course she will try to return home at first. It takes a while to unlearn a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is very afraid (tail between her legs), kneel down and let her get comfort from you. Do this &lt;strong&gt;not as a reaction to the noise&lt;/strong&gt;, but as a reaction to her fear. Be passive and don't call her to you or talk to her. Just kneel down and she'll come to you for comfort if she is afraid. You can gently touch her, but don't actively pet her. Continue your walk after giving her some time to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't work, &lt;strong&gt;turn the scary noise into a signal for something good&lt;/strong&gt;. This is especially effective for New Year's Eve and other days with lots of fireworks. You need to have a small container of very special treats at hand at all times. This can be a hotdog sausage or some cheese cut into small pieces. The container should be closed to not distract the dog with the smell all the time, but you need to be able to open it and get a treat out in mere seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now every time you hear the bang of fireworks, you simply give her a treat. In this method you can even react to the noise, but in a very positive way, like saying in a very happy voice &amp;quot;Was that the signal for a treat? It was! here you go.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these methods need time to truly work. You probably know how hard it is to break a habit. Now imagine how hard it must be for your dog who cannot know that her bad habit is unreasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-07T20:52:36.157" LastActivityDate="2020-11-07T20:52:36.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29023" CreationDate="2020-11-08T21:55:50.907" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;As strange as this might sound, I need this piece of information for a novel I'm writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elephants are permitted to be kept as pets in Florida (at least, that's what I heard), but are they allowed to be kept inside homes? Like, have them sleep, eat, inside a home(but still have exercise outdoors)? Are there any rules if they do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastEditorUserId="19171" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T15:34:41.677" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T15:34:41.677" Title="Are you allowed to have an elephant as a pet in Florida, and let it live inside your house?" Tags="&lt;exotic-pets&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29022" CreationDate="2020-11-09T01:19:37.757" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not certain of the legality, but I don't see how such a thing would be physically possible. Even the smallest species of elephant, the African forest elephant, reaches a height of at least eight feet and weighs six thousand pounds. The other two species, the African Bush elephant and the Asian elephant, are even bigger, and those are the more likely species to be found in captivity.  In comparison, the standard height of a door is less than seven feet, and surely no full grown elephant could even enter a normal house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even if you were to suppose the home was built to accommodate an elephant's size, it would be a completely unsuitable home for a elephant. Elephants require an enormous area, literally hundreds of acres, to roam in order to maintain their health.  If they don't have that kind of area, they tend to get obese, and when standing on hard artificial surfaces like concrete, rather than natural earth, they tend to get sores on their feet and other problems. And this is just the start of their many health problems that come as a result of giving them such inappropriate living conditions. As a result, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/wild-elephants-live-longer-than-their-zoo-counterparts/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;elephants in captivity have a very short lifespan on average in comparison to their wild counterparts&lt;/a&gt;. In fact, elephants tend to do so poorly in captivity, that it is now at least somewhat controversial to keep them in even a reputable zoo setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-11-09T01:19:37.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29024" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-09T13:01:12.487" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a dog trainer, and I have been working with a family that adopted a 2-year-old dog from a shelter not too long ago. The dog is very well-behaved and is responding well to training, but the family tells me that they have not felt that the dog is attaching to them. The dog doesn't seem to want to be pet or cuddled, and doesn't particularly want to play with them (he does, however, play alone). My clients are experienced pet-owners, who have adopted dogs before. I was wondering if anyone has any tips I can give the family to help with the attachment process? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19149" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-09T13:06:58.543" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T10:26:26.253" Title="Attachment Issues in Adopted Dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29001" CreationDate="2020-11-09T16:07:41.847" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My experience is with farmyard cats in Western/Central Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast to @C.Koca's answer I'd say human companions often do not rate that highly with them, they are very independent. But: they are not kept in enclosures. Among some other things that means they can come and be sociable when it suits them, and go away when they don't want to be sociable (applies to humans, other cats and potentially [= best case] dog/other animals). It also means that they are not bored. When then want to seek an adventure they go and do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in Central Europe, there is no problem keeping farmyard cats all year round &amp;quot;outdoors&amp;quot;. The climate is sufficiently suitable for domestic cats to go wild again (this is a concern since they are not only using the same habitats as &lt;em&gt;Felis silvestris&lt;/em&gt; (European wildcat), but they also interbreed).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Farmyard cats go and find appropriate shelter. E.g. our previous cat clearly had a nice horse-heated place in our neighbour's stable (you could smell that every so often when she came along). We also once had a cat who would curl up &amp;quot;in&amp;quot; the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat is always outdoors it grows a proper winter fur which an indoors cat that only has outings of a few hours at a time won't. &lt;em&gt;Starting&lt;/em&gt; to keep the cats outdoors in &lt;em&gt;November&lt;/em&gt; when they've been indoors all the time before is not a good idea in the climate we have here - they miss something like 2 months of adaptation by gradually increasingly colder nights.  The colder your climate gets in winter, the more important it is to not disturb this cold adaptation by letting the animal indoors.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;And if they are this year's kittens, they are still far from fully grown and likely still have quite thin fur - therefore heat loss is a bigger issue than with fully grown cats that have been outdoors all the time since summer. You'd need to provide them with a very well insulated or even heated spot since your enclosure lacks features such as the stable or a convenient nice dog that farmyard cats typically have (and if not, they have the option of emigrate to a better place - and they'll certainly do that.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, for fully grown cats with winter fur I think you'll find that like outdoor dogs they'll need substantially more feed when it is cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the question of what you'll do when they need to stay indoors occasionally (sick, or e.g. if the night after vaccination happens to be cold).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible, I'd like to encourage you to get the cats and dogs to learn getting along with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All I said above above feed needs and winter fur growth applies to the dogs as well (Rottweilers do have proper underwool and here, quite a number of them &amp;quot;works&amp;quot; as outdoors guard dog e.g. for property in industrial zones or on isolated farms). And if it comes to cold temperatures, they have a better body weight : surface ratio than the cats due to their size (OTOH, I believe cat fur of the same length will probably insulate better, since cats have &lt;em&gt;far&lt;/em&gt; more hairs per cm²).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some recommendations for a &lt;em&gt;minimal&lt;/em&gt; legal standard for the room size for 2 cats, which would be around 15 m² for 2 cats that get along well with each other, at least 2 m high and properly &amp;quot;furnished&amp;quot; (with multiple levels, ...). The usual recommendations for nicely keeping 2 cats indoors speak of the cats having access to 50 - 60 m².&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;For comparison, the dog bylaws require a minimum of 16 m² enclosure for Rotweiler-sized dogs who are to stay in that enclosure most of the day (sufficient contact time with their humans and other dogs and sufficient physical exercise outside the enclosure is anyways required).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just in case: if you think you don't have sufficient space for an enclosure for the dogs, you also don't have sufficient space for an enclosure for the cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-09T16:29:44.463" LastActivityDate="2020-11-09T16:29:44.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-09T19:24:55.763" Score="5" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to understand an oddly consistent behavior. I have two cats in my home that will &amp;quot;yowl&amp;quot; at a &lt;strong&gt;very specific&lt;/strong&gt; point of the home, a small hallway leading back to a bathroom and bedroom (which we reserve for guests). I have no idea why. We don't really go to that part of the house very often (unless someone is visiting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is something wrong in that part of the home for them? Or perhaps they want us to follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They were adopted as a bonded pair of sisters and appear to be primarily Bombay. They are approximately 1.5 years old if that makes a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19174" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-09T19:47:38.093" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T13:22:30.473" Title="Both cats &quot;yowling&quot; in a specific location of the home" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29027" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-09T20:25:00.163" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5-gallon tank that has a betta, a few live plants, and a hiding place that I have had up and running since August, the fish has been in there since September. A few weeks after adding the betta I have had a problem with various types of algae. I had some white hair algae, some green spotting on the walls, and a green/brown colored hair algae. After doing some cleaning and maintenance, I managed to get rid of the white hair and green spots but the green hair algae will not go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep the light on for 6 hours a day and the tank is not in direct sunlight. I change about 30% of the water every week and change the filter every two weeks or so. I just did a deep clean where I took out all of the decorations and the heater and scraped them off, as well as wiping off all of the leaves of the plants and vacuuming the gravel, and just a week later it appears to be back just as bad as before. It grows a lot on top of the decoration, in a clump in the center of the tank, and on the leaves of the plants, but it is also starting to grow more on the walls and heater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What steps should I take to remove the problematic algae? The only advice I have received was from my friend who said to remove all of the water and essentially start over with new gravel. Is that something I should be doing at this point? Any help would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19175" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-09T20:31:42.447" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T14:15:23.057" Title="How do I remove hair algae from my fish tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29031" CreationDate="2020-11-09T21:52:33.517" Score="5" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two sides of my family will soon converge in one home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One side has 3 cats, and the other has 2 dogs. All adults. The groups will have to learn to coexist to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the house will be no one's territory at first, I'm wondering if one of these would be easiest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the cats in first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring the dogs in first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring them together&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19176" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-09T21:57:45.970" LastActivityDate="2020-11-10T22:08:40.573" Title="Which pets should populate the house first?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-10T06:00:14.420" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 one-year-old kittens and an old dog who we get groomed (shaved) in summer. The kittens were cuddly with the dog before. We have recently got the dog shaved and the kittens are terrified of the dog since then and I can't seem to calm them around him. The kittens were perfectly getting along with the dog before he got shaved... Is there anything we can do to help them get along?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19179" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-11T00:55:26.213" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T00:55:26.213" Title="My kittens are terrified of my dog after we got the dog groomed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29028" CreationDate="2020-11-10T06:39:12.220" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the most important aspect here is: &lt;strong&gt;Supervise all contacts between both groups of pets&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience it doesn't matter which pet was where first. What matters is how each individual reacts to the presence of another individual. Some dogs are curious and careful when meeting a cat, others immediately have their hunting drive triggered. Some cats stand their ground, others run away at the mere sight of a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to divide the house into 3 parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One set of rooms where the dogs live&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One set of rooms where the cats live&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One room of &amp;quot;neutral ground&amp;quot; where they meet under supervision&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The neutral room should have some furniture with raised surfaces like a table, sideboard or shelves, where the dogs can't reach and cats can flee to from the dogs. It can also help to barricade the door towards the cat's part of the house with a baby grate or something similar. The cats should be able to jump over the obstacle, while the dogs should not. That way you can offer the cats the opportunity to meet the dogs without forcing them to stay in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During at least the first week (maybe 2 weeks), let both groups of pets explore the neutral room, but &lt;strong&gt;only one group at a time&lt;/strong&gt;. That lets them get used to the smell of each other without the potential for conflict. It makes them understand that there's someone else frequenting this room and living here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then start the meet and greet one pet at a time. First let the most calm and docile dog into the neutral room and offer the same opportunity for the most relaxed cat. Stay in the same room and be prepared to get them back into their respective parts of the house should any problem arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat the same process every day, mixing and matching individual pets. If all goes well, you can then start letting several pets into the room and eventually open the doors to let them roam wherever they want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a dog doesn't stop chasing a cat, you need to teach him (let's assume it's a male for brevity) to endure the presence of a cat without chasing it. Put the dog on a leash and lead him into the room with the cat. If he starts chasing, physically turn him around so his rear faces the cat and his head faces away from the cat. That does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; mean &amp;quot;put him on his back&amp;quot; but &amp;quot;turn him away from the cat&amp;quot;. This way you signal him that you don't want him to chase the cat. Reward him with treats every time he looks away from the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat is too afraid of the dogs, offer him (again, let's assume it's a male for brevity) a safe place where the dogs can't reach. That can be a room where the dogs don't go (a baby grate can be handy) or the top of some furniture or a cosy windowsill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure you have enough litter boxes for all cats. The general recommendation is &lt;strong&gt;one litter box for each cat plus one extra&lt;/strong&gt;. Don't place food and water bowls next to any litter box because the cats will avoid drinking this water, which can lead to urinary tract diseases. Make sure at least one food bowl, one water bowl and one litter box is very close to the cat's safe place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-10T22:08:40.573" LastActivityDate="2020-11-10T22:08:40.573" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29034" CreationDate="2020-11-10T09:17:52.557" Score="45" ViewCount="7614" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hope it doesn't sound like a silly question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Context: My cat is not the most affectionate cat in the world. But sometimes she comes to search for love and to play.  When I pet her, obviously, she likes it and starts purring. She is the loudest cat that I have ever heard purring and she will not stop for like fifteen minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried she's getting tired of purring so long and she's only purring because I am petting her. Or maybe she wants to sleep (she goes numb when I pet her), but can't because she is purring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19180" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-10T09:33:56.077" LastActivityDate="2020-11-29T12:21:23.690" Title="Does purring tire cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29033" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29035" CreationDate="2020-11-10T16:02:16.950" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title of my questions is related to other questions that have already been answered, but what has happened is not and I feel the other answers don't answer my question, so here is mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About 4 days ago I was holding my cat in my arms with her front paws on my shoulders. I have done this many times and usually there is no problem, most of the time I pet her and she even purrs while hanging there. However, one of my neighbours all of a sudden started using a concrete wall-drill even though it was 20:30 in the evening. This sort of drill makes a really, really loud metallic/rock breaking sound that resonates from all the walls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat was immediately scared to death, dug her claws in me (pretty badly) and jumped off. Her hair was raised and her tail was at its puffiest and she was kind of sitting on the floor but walking a bit around at the same time. The drilling stopped and she was sitting on the same place, but the drilling then started again and she ran away and jumped right into our desk with her body first, fell to the ground and kind of just sat there on the ground for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its now been more than 3 days and she is very jumpy at the most random things. The drilling started again 2 days later, but she kind of just sat on the floor and was really scared trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think she may have associated me with the trauma, because she is not scared of me and I am doing my best to not approach her and give her space. She has approached me several times happily and looking to be pet, which she then allows me to do and starts purring, but out of nowhere she will jump like she's being jump-scared of something and look at random objects like they've hurt her. Things like a hole in my pants, my slippers, my socks, the shadow beneath our living room table, my belt on the couch (which she knows and has even slept on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is not afraid of me even when I walk around and make noises akin to the drill, but she will just jump out of nowhere when she is close to me, even if it's 20-30 seconds into a petting session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have ordered the feliway spray and socket plug-in to try and make her be more at ease, but I have never seen this in a cat before (I've had cats my whole life).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am somewhat afraid of her since she is so unpredictable to me now and I am not sure what to do when she approaches me for social contact, since she usually loves me and is a bit over-attached and approaches me several times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going on with her and what can I do to make he stop being jump-scared out of nothing? She has now clawed me 4 times by accident because she was near me when she freaks out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19181" LastActivityDate="2020-11-10T16:48:59.413" Title="Cat got badly scared and is now unpredictably jumpy around me" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29032" CreationDate="2020-11-10T16:08:21.047" Score="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purring is a sign of wellbeing for the house cat. She certainly purrs because you are petting her, but if she would be sleeping on you then chances are she would probably also be purring without you touching her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine this. When you pet her it's sort of like when you get a massage. You might fall asleep or you might drift off a little bit. Your cat is the same. Petting her for 15 minutes if she's purring the whole time is equivalent to her being completely relaxed. It is only natural for her to fall asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is tired of the petting and want you to stop, she would just move or show you by play-attacking you. Cats can stop purring immediately if something makes them uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;Like @Ross Presser mentioned, cats can purr while in pain, but this does not mean you should ever be alarmed when your cat purrs. However, it is important to check in on your cat and keep an eye on how they are doing. If they show any other new strange behaviour or react in a negative way combined with the purring, then a good suggestion would be to have a check-up at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19181" LastEditorUserId="19181" LastEditDate="2020-11-29T12:21:23.690" LastActivityDate="2020-11-29T12:21:23.690" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29033" CreationDate="2020-11-10T16:48:59.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is scared because her instincts interpreted the loud noise as a threat in her territory, but being unable to identify what that threat was, she is also unable to determine that it is now gone. The fact you were holding her when the threat appeared may have had her associate it with you, which is unfortunate, but hopefully it returning when you weren’t holding her helped separate you from it. And every unusual sound, even soft ones, makes her worry that the threat is still there and stalking her. You would be on edge in that situation too if you didn’t have the higher level brain function to recognize the sound and dismiss it as not an actual threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t see any immediate solution; she needs time to accept that the threat is gone now. Calming pheromone sprays, diffusers or collars may help speed that up, but some cats don’t seem to react to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-11-10T16:48:59.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29030" CreationDate="2020-11-10T16:58:17.340" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is most likely non-recognition aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats recognize other animals by scent, not sight. This means that if one of the animals leaves the home (such as to a vet or groomer) and brings strange scents home, the cats who remained will not recognize it at first and will treat it as a threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only solution to this (at least after the fact) is to keep them separated until the strange scent wears off. It can take a day or two for cats to groom away a strange scent, but dogs can keep it for weeks since they don’t self-bathe like cats do. You can try bathing the dog yourself, if you’ve done that before, but it won’t help if your cats have never smelled your dog freshly-bathed before because that’s just a &lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt; unusual scent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the future, any time one of your pets will be leaving home, wipe them down thoroughly with a clean towel to collect their natural scent, and then wipe it back onto them when they return. It won’t 100% solve the problem, but it should speed things up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-11-10T16:58:17.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29039" CreationDate="2020-11-10T17:21:20.123" Score="1" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I got a dog about two months ago. It was 8 months old when we got him and now he is 10 months old. We have noticed a funny behavior of his, which is that it seems that he defends me whenever I am under &amp;quot;attack&amp;quot; from my wife (if she play kicks me or tickles me). The dog jumps at her and lightly bites her hand or foot. But when I attempt to do the same thing to her, he just sits and watches. This happened about two times in the past and it just happened again now. We kind of did a test where she &amp;quot;attacked&amp;quot; me - the dog defended me; I &amp;quot;attacked&amp;quot; her - the dog did nothing; she &amp;quot;attacked&amp;quot; me again - the dog defended me again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am wondering if he is really defending me or if it's something else that makes him do it. But then, why does he only do this when I am under attack? What is making him seemingly defend me, but not her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A secondary question I have is what I can do to encourage the dog to behave the same way towards each of us? My wife gets kind of upset from this behavior, since she is the one that gets up early in the morning to feed him breakfast and take him outside, so she feels that he just thinks of her as his chef.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19182" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-10T18:02:02.997" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T05:40:33.157" Title="Why our dog seems to protect me but not my significant other?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29027" CreationDate="2020-11-11T02:03:07.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just pull it out. My plan, which partly works, is to have enough regular plants to  out-compete the hair algae for nutrients. But, occasionally, I pull a gob of hair algae out of a small pond, all tangled with hornwort and duckweed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-11T14:15:23.057" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T14:15:23.057" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29037" CreationDate="2020-11-11T06:24:22.487" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let's get some biases out of the way. Many people would think that &lt;em&gt;you are male (at least I assume you are), therefore you are the Alpha of the pack, therefore the dog doesn't attack you. Your wife is female, therefore the dog thinks of her as inferior and attacks her.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This logic &lt;strong&gt;is completely flawed and untrue&lt;/strong&gt;. It's a bunch of lies a bunch of sexist 'scientists' sold as facts almost a hundred years ago and that has been disproven since. Dogs aren't sexists. Anecdotal evidence: My own dog accepts female leadership without complaint but becomes aggressive if a male family member crosses certain lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What really happens is hard to tell without seeing both your behaviors. What comes to my mind are a few possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog was socialized well with men, but not with women. It might be that a woman caused him pain or discomfort as a puppy and due to lack of exposure he didn't learn that this was an exception and is now wary of all women. (&lt;em&gt;This is exactly what happened to my dog, but with men. He lives happily with a man in the household, but as soon as said man does something 'weird' he becomes wary and aggressive.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your wife's body language during your tickling is more aggressive from the perspective of a dog. I assume you're laughing and talking to each other while doing it. Laughing exposes your teeth in a way that may seem aggressive for a dog. The talking may be in a pitch or a way the dog perceives as aggressive. Maybe even some of her gestures are unknowingly aggressive, like lowering her head and 'stalking' you in a way a wolf / wild dog stalks its prey.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your wife's body language and manner is more submissive in general. Your dog does perceive you as the pack leader, but not simply because you're male, but because your wife's behavior in general indicates that she submits to your leadership. That can include her tone of voice and gestures and behaviors she isn't even aware of. Now if you 'attack' her it's tolerable for your dog, but if she 'attacks' you, that means disrespect, fighting and possibly chaos in the social structure of the pack. Your dog is trying to end the fight and restore harmony. Unfortunately he shouldn't be allowed to do so because it can lead to problematic behaviors in the future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your own reactions to her tickling are more over the top and the dog thinks your wife is doing you harm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your dog does indeed have a closer relationship to you than to your wife.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, there are many possible reasons and each of them may need a different approach to solve the problem. I suggest you look for a dog trainer who comes to your home, analyzes the problematic situations and gives you advice on how to change your behavior. This gives you a better understanding of the thoughts of your dog and often drastically improves the comfort and well-being of both dogs and owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only solution I can offer is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Train your dog to go in his crate (if he has one) or his bed / pillow / whatever on command. Your wife must train this until the dog reliably goes there on command.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you play fight or tickle each other and the dog starts nipping, your wife should send him into the crate / bed. You should not interfere with her authority by giving the same command. Once the dog is there, resume your play fight in a tones down version for just a second and then reward the dog with a treat for staying in the crate / bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T05:40:33.157" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T05:40:33.157" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-11T06:41:36.480" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I identify a good site/app for pet adoption? Are there any examples for good sites/apps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either for finding a pet to adopt, or for putting up a pet for adoption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19184" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-11T14:09:51.593" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T09:14:50.797" Title="How do I identify a good site/app for pet adoption?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;shelter&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29032" CreationDate="2020-11-11T14:43:11.683" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure your cat is perfectly fine. My cat also likes to come lie in my lap to get cuddled, and she purrs loudly for most of it. Then she suddenly stops and I look down to see that she has fallen asleep. Trust me, purring won't stop a cat from falling asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16726" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T14:43:11.683" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29032" CreationDate="2020-11-11T21:36:29.177" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no good reason to assume that purring is tiring for cats. Whilst the exact mechanism by which cats purr is not fully understood, it seems to be an almost passive part of breathing to them. Specifically, it seems that they have specific nerve circuitry which, when activated, causes the vocal cords to flap quickly, producing the purr we hear. As far as we know, cats don't need to do anything else than to feel like purring in order for it to occur, much like how smiling works for humans. This suggest it's reasonable to assume purring is not significantly more of an exertion to a cat than just breathing is, probably comparable to a happy hum for a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19194" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T21:36:29.177" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29032" CreationDate="2020-11-11T21:50:22.570" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I knew a cat who literally purred the &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt; time he was awake. His vet liked to say that he &amp;quot;didn't know how to turn his engine off&amp;quot;. It didn't appear to tire him at all, he had just as much energy as other cats.  He never had any trouble falling asleep either (the purring would just fade out over the course of a couple of minutes). I wouldn't worry about the purring.  If it was bothering or inconveniencing the cat at all, they'd either stop purring or move farther away so you couldn't pet them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10807" LastActivityDate="2020-11-11T21:50:22.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-11T23:01:43.870" Score="6" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m housing two of my friend’s cats for a month and a half while they are away on vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cats (1 male and 1 female) are 6 months old, they aren’t related, but were raised together from a very young age, behave like siblings and become distressed when separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, neither is desexed (I wasn’t aware of this prior to agreeing to house them, so the female cat going into heat while sharing a room with the male cat may be a problem soon).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is; the safe room I have for them is relatively small ( similar to a large pantry), but they have all their necessities including things to keep them entertained; however, I feel like it’s too cruel, but they cannot freely roam the house as our front and back doors are rarely closed and there’s many territorial strays around my backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a month and a half too long to keep 2 cats in one room? (I let them roam around the house for 20 minutes every night).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And should I separate them if the female goes into heat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19195" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-12T08:46:20.873" LastActivityDate="2021-02-24T17:39:13.317" Title="Is one small room to cruel for 2 cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;fostering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-12T06:30:09.433" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tamed a rescue cat, took a long time. He became really loving and friendly after a few months and we became the best of friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I had to bring him to the vet because he had a cold for a long time, I don't usually agree with vets and human made medicines but he was sneezing for almost a month and it started to concern me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was not very happy going there or coming back in the car, and when we got home he just ran away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night he stayed out and only came back this morning for food, but he runs away now when I come close, he lost his trust in me and I am worried it won't come back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what I can do to regain his trust?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19199" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-12T08:48:11.793" LastActivityDate="2020-11-12T08:48:11.793" Title="My cat is afraid of me after bringing him to the vet" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29048" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-12T14:31:44.887" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted an adult cat from an animal shelter (about 1 year old), he was very skinny and slept a lot, and soon we discovered he is FIV positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far he underwent treatment, gained some weight, and is much more active. He doesn't play often, doesn't seek human company and prefers to keep to himself. Although he is okay with my wife's company when relaxed, he is easily spooked by me. He rarely seeks attention from any of us. Now he got to meow sadly through the house, and likes to hangout in the balcony. We think he is very solitary and misses cat company, and we want to get a female FIV positive to be his friend. He is neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you agree with this assessment? Is a good idea to get another cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13737" LastEditorUserId="13737" LastEditDate="2020-11-12T15:21:22.100" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T02:50:05.557" Title="Is my cat lonely?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10956" CreationDate="2020-11-12T18:40:49.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey I am sorry I know this is an old post but I came across this on google and it's wrong information, I happen to be a certified dog trainer and the fact that every one is saying that moving the crate around is against the purpose of crate training is not accurate for me.&#xA;crate training is creating a positive association with the crate not where it's placed, and your dog needs to be around you or else he'll feel lonely, anyway this is my opinion and I use two crates one in the bedroom where my dog sleeps(when I can hear him)and  another I move around, i found &lt;a href=&quot;https://cratetrainingcenter.com/can-you-move-a-dog-crate-from-room-to-room/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; on this point you can read for more details but in my opinion it's totally fine to move it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19202" LastActivityDate="2020-11-12T18:40:49.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29037" CreationDate="2020-11-12T18:50:16.600" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I can tell you is that it has nothing to do with your gender, most people refer to the male being the dominant and the dog thinking of him as the pack leader, this can be true if your wife's body language sends such a message, we have a dog that would do the same thing with our mom simply because we're all submissive (yells a lot when we don't do the dishes, dad included) to her so our dog thinks of her as the pack leader and listens and protects her, however sometimes it's just because the dog is attached more to a person some dog breeds have such a behavior like dachshunds.&#xA;if your wife god forbid is attacked by a stranger, you'll see a different reaction so rest assured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19202" LastActivityDate="2020-11-12T18:50:16.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29051" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-12T20:28:55.967" Score="2" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dog had a pyometra surgery in middle of September and she has been on the road to recovery - her activity levels are normal now (touchwood) and she is eating food normally. But over the last week or so we noticed a suture reaction and took her to the vet. This is how it looks:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nhc9L.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nhc9L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet prescribed antibiotic and on Monday this is how it looked: It was healing well -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PjKXy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PjKXy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We still continued the antibiotic till it course is about to end - but now that area looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rfjHb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rfjHb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that area? The emergency vet says that since it is far away from the suture area might be just that the skin might having something going wrong there. Or is it just a suture reaction? Isn't a suture supposed to be dissolved by now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19042" LastActivityDate="2020-11-12T20:28:55.967" Title="Dog red area around pyometra suture" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-13T12:10:57.823" Score="0" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our six month old kitten is a Maine Coon mix - the person we got him from said he's ¾ Maine Coon and ¼ Bengal but we're not so sure. We were wondering if you think he has medium or long hair? He's got a pretty fluffy neck tuft and tail. Long white hairs on his legs and across his body. He also has a big of ear tufts poking out the ear and quite long fur between his feet. His hair is shorter on his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read online that Maine Coons grow in an extra coat a bit later in life so maybe his fur will get longer over his body as he ages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IorRe.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/IorRe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19208" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T12:27:16.527" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T12:27:16.527" Title="Does my kitten have medium length or long hair?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;maine-coon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-11-13T14:42:00.270" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28976" CreationDate="2020-11-13T14:18:38.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just a possibility, but it could be scabies. My dogs were recently infested with them and the vet failed to catch it. The vet thought they just had allergies and treated them with Cytopoint. While that did help the scratching, it returned within a month. It wouldn’t hurt to ask the vet to check for scabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scabies is a contagious skin condition caused by mites one the skin. They cause sever itching and a pimple-like rash. Your vet will have to take a skin sample from your can and examine it under a microscope. If your cat does have scabies, then your vet will prescribe a medication (topical or oral) to kill the mites and possibly a medicated antibacterial shampoo or antibiotics to prevent a skin infection. You will also need to thoroughly clean or replace your cat’s bed, collar, toys, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a good article about various types of scabies and treatment in cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/cat-mange-scabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pets WebMD&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18536" LastEditorUserId="18536" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T17:50:28.967" LastActivityDate="2020-11-13T17:50:28.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29893" CreationDate="2020-11-13T16:40:00.433" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have Labrador and he is such a foodie. I want to teach him &amp;quot;drop it&amp;quot;, but everytime he smells or senses treat nearby, he just never holds, catches or fetches anything except to eat the treat. Even though if I am being sneaky for first time that I didn't let him know that treat is nearby, then the second time is same above case. He just want treats, that's all. Help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18879" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T21:39:03.927" LastActivityDate="2021-03-11T21:37:53.490" Title="I need help with training &quot;Drop it&quot; command" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29056" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-13T16:48:05.297" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two male cats from the same litter and they are about one year old. So far they are getting along without any fighting, eating and sleeping together. I would like to know if their behavior will change for worse when they reach sexual maturity or they'll stay friendly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question also have a practical aspect - should I make one bigger outdoor house for cats or two smaller ones? Winter is approaching and I'd like to provide shelter for both cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Cats are living in the countryside they are not neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11169" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T19:35:04.127" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T21:32:52.427" Title="Can two male cats from same litter share same cat house" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29057" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29061" CreationDate="2020-11-13T18:30:11.513" Score="5" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S6RpQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S6RpQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pale white drop shaped simple animal&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tank is set up since nearly two months now. The shrimp have been in it for around four weeks. One small algae eating fish and one big and accidentally some small snails are living there too. But this strange alien I cannot connect with any of the other. It is around one cm in length and seems to have some kind of spine and a kind of mouth on the spiky end. I imagine some kind of flat worm. I assume it was hiding in some plant, as we bought them...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing: is it dangerous for humans or the life in the aquarium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-13T19:29:30.490" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T11:13:12.977" Title="What is this alien in my shrimp tank?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-14T01:28:17.270" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U9Ptq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/U9Ptq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have brown algae growing in my tank and I was wondering if Cory Catfish could clean it. If they could not, what other fish, besides shrimp and plecos, could clean the algae? Just a note, my tank is 29 gallons and the algae seems to be growing on the glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19212" LastEditorUserId="19212" LastEditDate="2020-11-14T01:49:13.987" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:23:46.540" Title="Best Brown Algae Eaters for Freshwater" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29057" CreationDate="2020-11-14T06:54:51.430" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found it is the German &amp;quot;Kleiner Schneckenegel&amp;quot; (&lt;em&gt;Alboglossiphonia heteroclita&lt;/em&gt;, synonym: &lt;em&gt;Glossiphonia heteroclita&lt;/em&gt;) which is a kind of leech. They eat snails and other related kind of animals. I found the German &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiner_Schneckenegel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; but it seems there is no English source for this on Wikipedia. If someone knows a source, I would be happy to add it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The small snail leech mainly sucks on snails, including those of the genus &lt;em&gt;Lymnaea&lt;/em&gt;, which are often suckled by several leeches at the same time. Smaller prey such as worms and insect larvae are also sucked out, usually completely. Therefore, the small snail leech can be classified as a predator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snail leeches crawl forward on the ground. They are often very agile and lively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T09:47:34.593" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T09:47:34.593" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29056" CreationDate="2020-11-14T21:23:35.143" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Brothers from the same litter can live together, if they have to. As long as they grow up together there's a chance that they never start fighting, but that's not guaranteed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Friends of mine had 2 brothers living in their home for about 10 years without incidents. Then one of the brothers got urinary tract stones and started soiling the house and furniture. That prompted the second one to start fighting and try and chase his brother away (probably because of his soiling). They had to keep both cats separated to avoid fights and ended up giving one cat away to a family member.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should really think about neutering your cats. You write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like them to have 'normal' cat lives...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A neutered cat has a perfectly normal cat life. He even has a more relaxed cat life than an intact male cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intact cats mark their territories, which stinks, especially if they start marking at the walls of your home. Neutered cats mark less often and it doesn't stink as much.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intact cats get restless during mating season and may stay away from home for up to 3 days in search of a mate. Neutered cats don't feel the urge to mate (although they are physically still capable) and are much more relaxed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both cats are more likely to tolerate each other if at least one of them is neutered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If they roam free (or escape your house) they may mate with a feral cat, increasing the problem of malnourished feral cats with poor health that are hard to tame and find homes for.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-14T21:32:52.427" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T21:32:52.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-14T21:25:38.807" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking about investing into a puppy, only I do not know much about them and  I don't know where to start in my research. Which are the crucial topics I need to research on? What books and sources will be helpful for my research?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T21:32:46.970" Title="What should I research about before getting a puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-11-15T18:21:05.933" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29004" CreationDate="2020-11-14T21:38:43.457" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's entirely normal for a turtle to float in water. They can adjust their buoyancy too. However, if your turtle is floating, but with its limbs and head hanging down, you should be concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the gender, one of the easier ways is examining the tail. Is it long or thick, or short and skinny? Males have longer and thicker tails than females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly suggest for you to take your turtle to your vet to ask questions, or if you have any other concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&amp;amp;t=38233#:%7E:text=That%20sounds%20normal.,head%20hanging%20down%2C%20that%27s%20bad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a thread on redearslider.com&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Tell-If-a-Turtle-Is-Male-or-Female&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;an article about gender differentiation on wikiHow&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-14T22:22:45.400" LastActivityDate="2020-11-14T22:22:45.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-15T19:28:25.407" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided to adopt two Maine Coon - Siamese cat mixes since they were bonded and I did not want to separate them. My roommate has had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for the past two years and he has been really gentle and relaxed. I figured that if I adopted two kittens who have spent time in a household with a dog, there wouldn't be any real issues when they meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I brought them home, the dog immediately started barking and the kittens seem to try to stay away from the dogs. The dog seems a bit anxious, even when I have restricted the cats to a room so that they can get used to their new environment. Is there anything I can do to help the dog relax? He can clearly smell them in the room and keeps barking outside of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19221" LastEditorUserId="19221" LastEditDate="2020-11-15T20:52:20.593" LastActivityDate="2020-11-15T20:52:20.593" Title="How do I introduce my new kittens to my roommate's dog?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2020-11-16T05:54:47.407" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-15T21:07:13.557" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any digital pH tester on the market at all? I've done a search around and pet-stores and the usual companies (Fluval, API, etc) don't sell them as far as I can tell. Some companies I don't recognize do sell something like this. I could be imagining it, but I seem to remember a tool in a school physics class that tested pH. I seem to remember two metal rods in the water connected to a device that measured the pH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Cormac.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19222" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-15T21:13:49.490" LastActivityDate="2020-11-15T21:13:49.490" Title="Digital pH Tester - fish tank" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29069" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-16T01:19:18.910" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had two gold fishes and a few days ago I noticed my other fish was sitting at the bottom of his tank and struggling to to get to the top (swimming to the top and automatically sinking down). I had no idea what was wrong because he wasn’t acting that way the day before, so I panicked and did a full water change thinking it might improve and after my fish being in the water for a few hours he was still sitting on the bottom until he died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other fish now has a wound on the top of his head and I’m not sure what it’s from; all help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tngar.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19223" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T20:48:57.087" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T07:07:05.650" Title="Wound on the head of my goldfish" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17946" CreationDate="2020-11-16T14:06:51.203" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is an old post but we figured out what happened. Due to the way she runs and “cuts” when making sharp turns, she blew out her ACL. We didn’t find out until she started limping afterwards and took her to the vet. After surgery and everything she still likes to play even today but not this game anymore. Now it’s a simple jog out there and catch the tennis ball in mid air. She’s still a professional athlete :). Hope this helps someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10091" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T14:06:51.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29071" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-16T22:57:37.673" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My adult guppy has been acting strange in my opinion. He has been inactive unlike the other guppies and platy fish in the tank. I’ve noticed that he has been swimming in place at the top of the tank. I saw him like this in the morning and I just got back from school and he is still there.   This is not like his personality. He would usually swim with the other guppies and chase them not in an aggressive way. (UPDATE) okay so I just fed the whole tank and the guppy did not really bother to eat.  He did see the food, but did not eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is he sick?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does he look bloated?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he is sick, what illness is it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KyBlv.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KyBlv.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19228" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-16T23:06:25.050" LastActivityDate="2020-11-16T23:06:25.050" Title="Is My Guppy Sick?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-17T12:36:21.310" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an antkeeper and was wondering if someone knows how to go about doing a proper antnest outworld. I did make some outworlds with sand to prevent my colony from digging to deep, but I was wondering if I should add some cleaner insects like springtails to clean up their waste from those spots that are harder to clean/reach. My current main colony is a &lt;em&gt;Messor Barbarus&lt;/em&gt; and I have also learned a lot about ants just by keeping them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I was wondering since I made a big anttank basically with clay soil from a pet store (Fress Napf) and I don't know if I should throw in some cleaner insects or where to get them. I ask because I cannot monitor the inside of their nest and even though I barely have to clean often them, it would make me feel much better knowing that they had some extra help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19230" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-17T12:45:47.850" LastActivityDate="2020-11-17T12:45:47.850" Title="How to create an antnest outworld" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29075" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-17T22:32:51.690" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my goldfish, which I've had for 3 months, suddenly got a white patch on the top and a white spot on its left side (the yellow-black one in the picture).&#xA;I just noticed it today, but I'm sure it wasn't there yesterday, so it happened very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iDzoo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iDzoo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vc4Qm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vc4Qm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;I just moved my fish to a new, larger, 20 gallon (76 liters) tank 10 days ago, and added a Seachem Flourite substrate, but other than that everything is still the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;the white film on the fish seems to be spreading, I see it on its head, gills, and tailfin&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2mGwc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2mGwc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also noticed brown spotting on its fin and from researching online apparently it might be from ammonia but I've been doing 10% water changes almost daily, and none of the other fish appear to be affected, anyway I did a 50% change today since I didn't have any water testing strips lefts just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QltCZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QltCZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but the thing is you can only see it under a bright light, when it's not directly under the LEDs you can barely see it&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WlQkB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WlQkB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fAuvX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fAuvX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8rKE7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8rKE7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19238" LastEditorUserId="19238" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T02:32:24.863" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T09:05:55.643" Title="White patch and spot on my goldfish?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-18T00:03:58.113" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL;DR at bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've bought a new kitten 2 weeks ago. I had her confined to a room the first few days, with litter box and food/water. After a few days, I've let her roam the whole apartment, and moved the litter box to a new location (where my other cat's litter box is). That didn't seem to bother her, and she used it regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, she has had diarrhea for the past 2 days, and while still using her box, she also started pooping at places other than her litter box (on the bed, bathroom, etc.) At first I thought it was because of the diarrhea and that she just didn't have the time to go to the box.&#xA;However, earlier I was observing her, and saw her jump down from the cat tree, walk into the bathroom and take a poop there on the floor. So she is doing it intentionally. Also, her diarrhea is better and while still a bit soft, her stool has a &amp;quot;form&amp;quot; again, rather than just being a puddle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is that? Why is she suddenly not using her litter box anymore? I didn't change anything in the last few days, so I'm quite confused. The only thing that comes to mind → I've used some lightly scented (aloe vera scented) wet wipes, to clean her litter box, as she got poop all over it while having diarrhea. I'm pretty sure she used the litter box once or twice, even after I've cleaned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information about the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a closed litter box with a swing door. It's quite big, she definitely has enough room in it. I clean it daily. I use pellets made from plants. She also has access to the other cat's litter box, which uses a fine grain litter also made from plants (I think it's corn). She sometimes used it in the past. My apartment isn't huge, so the litter boxes are next to the washing machine/tumbler. That being said, I've never seen her be particularly scared of the noise they made, and they might run at most 1 time a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR: New kitten suddenly stopped using litter box since having had diarrhea. Her stool is back to normal, but she still is not using the litter box, and intentionally goes somewhere else to poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T00:05:10.367" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T16:33:06.073" Title="Kitten stopped using litter tray after having had diarrhea" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29078" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-18T00:52:16.397" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question goes hand in hand with my other, open thread:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/29077/kitten-stopped-using-litter-tray-after-having-had-diarrhea&quot;&gt;Kitten stopped using litter tray after having had diarrhea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for a cat to suddenly stop liking a specific type of litter, that she used before?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T00:52:16.397" Title="Can a cat/kitten suddenly stop liking her litter?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29048" CreationDate="2020-11-18T00:53:00.100" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are like people, some seek out attention while others are perfectly happy to be alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is hard to tell what your cat had been through up until you guys gave him a forever home. Being I'll at first didn't help &amp;amp; now that he is feeling better he is just taking his time getting used to his new normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have patience...just give him space &amp;amp; let him know you care by giving him a special treat when he seeks your attention or maybe one a week etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he decides that you are forever he will probably settle in but it will be on his terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19156" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T02:50:05.557" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T02:50:05.557" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29024" CreationDate="2020-11-18T01:58:01.123" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the dog is well trained then maybe they could come up with a &amp;quot;command&amp;quot; of sorts for playtime or family time... &amp;amp; get rewarded for the behavior... kind of a happy medium for awhile until the dog understands this is a forever home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog may feel important by fulfilling a job and a compromise may be met?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T10:26:26.253" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T10:26:26.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29069" CreationDate="2020-11-18T06:57:31.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Update: The wound is almost gone and healing well. What size tank is recommended for 1 fancy goldfish and a large sucker fish and a baby sucker fish. Should it be heated or not. When should i do water changes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19223" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T06:57:31.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-18T08:10:16.287" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in may my cat had kittens. We kept two. One of the kittens, the male one, uses the litter box like a champ, while the female one pees on blankets and the carpet.She has also started peeing on trash bags!  We have tried switching litter, odor free litter, cleaning the spots where she has urinated, taken the blankets she urinated on outside for her to pee on, and taken her to the vet, and they say there is nothing wrong! We have also kept the house ESPECIALLY clean since this has happened.But nothing has worked and she still does this! Just recently she peed under our Christmas tree and that was the final straw for my mom. I really don’t want to give her up but I don’t want my house smelling like pee. Can someone please help! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19242" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T08:10:16.287" Title="Cat pees on carpet and blankets, how can I stop this?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-11-18T10:08:21.110" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29089" CreationDate="2020-11-18T10:51:49.737" Score="2" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;When my cat is napping and I go to pet her, she is fine with it. But if she is sleeping because she is tired and I wake up her, she makes noises to make me understand that she doesn't like what is going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this we can assume that she understands that when you are uncomfortable you can express it and the other being will stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when she wakes me up and I make her know that I don't like it, she doesn't care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't care, doesn't understand or she is evil?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19180" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T10:58:27.807" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T06:24:10.617" Title="Is my cat morally evil?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-18T11:03:21.503" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;About two weeks ago, I've bought a new, 3 months old kitten. I had her in a small room at first, to get her used to the smells, my other cat, etc. She plays a lot with my other cat and I think they're bonding quite well.&#xA;Now, one thing I noticed is that she is quite wary or actually scared of me, when I approach her directly. What I mean by this is:&#xA;When she stands somewhere on the ground, and sees me looking at her and walking to her, she always runs away and hides somewhere nearby, only to come out 20 seconds later after realizing I didn't do anything. If I stop her from running away, and start petting her, she then seems to realize I won't do anything, and does not run away anymore.&#xA;She doesn't seem to be generally scared of me. She sometimes comes sleep with me, or cuddles on the chair next to where I work. She also usually purrs when I pet her, closes her eyes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I know that two weeks is nothing for a cat, and she probably hasn't got used to the new environment and me completely. I'm just wondering if there is anything that I can do to show her I only want to pet her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the reasons for this behavior:&#xA;The only thing that comes to mind is, she has had diarrhea recently (actually still has it, but better now). I had to pick her up and clean her, much to her discomfort. I guess I did approach her directly to do that, so maybe she is associating me locking on to her and walking into her direction to something bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T11:28:27.043" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T18:50:06.703" Title="New Kitten is scared/wary of me when approaching her directly" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29085" CreationDate="2020-11-18T18:50:06.703" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It takes time to establish trust with cats, especially if they are abused or separated from their mother too young.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three months is still young to be separated from the mother and her littermates but I would not say it is too young. Still, you need to give her some space for her to get used to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never pick her up unless you absolutely have to.&lt;/strong&gt; People love to play with their kittens by hugging, kissing and similar ways. Kittens who are used to their owners &lt;em&gt;tolerate&lt;/em&gt; this behaviour, but almost all cats have a dislike for being picked up. Only start picking her up after she is comfortable lying down next to you and even then, do it sparingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use lazy blinks.&lt;/strong&gt; Cats take direct gaze as a challenge. I gaze at my cat only when I need him to obey me and it is only for brushing. Smile, drop your eyelids and blink slowly. If the cat reciprocates, you can keep approaching. The meaning behind the lazy blinks is debated. Some believe it is a promise of non-aggression while others say it means cat kisses or cat's &amp;quot;I love you&amp;quot;. Whatever it is, it points to some sort of trust being formed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Point your finger to the cat.&lt;/strong&gt; Pointing your finger is how you ask consent from a cat to touch her. (You can use this to teach consent to your children as well.) If the cat smells your fingertip, it means you can touch the cat. If he is indifferent or scratchy, step back. If the cat is too afraid to come close to you, use something else which has your scent, like tip of your glasses or your mobile. This way, the cat will have an extra distance from you while she gets used to your smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that some cats dislike some strong smells. I noticed that many cats hate the alcohol based hand sanitisers so make sure your cat is not repulsed by any scent you might be carrying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give her treats.&lt;/strong&gt; Don't overindulge your cat with treats. Let her have easy and unconditional access to the dry and wet food but only give away treats if she approaches you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play with her.&lt;/strong&gt; You can throw her some toys slowly so she can play at a safe distance from you. You can also dangle a string for your cat to chase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, do not try to pet her or take her to your lap. She will eventually come to you. Being patient and approaching her without touching her unless she gives permission is the surest way to gain trust of a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T18:50:06.703" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29087" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-18T20:10:00.490" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hoping someone can help advise me. Is my platy pregnant? Thanks&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2TrWm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2TrWm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19246" LastActivityDate="2020-11-18T20:47:20.700" Title="Is my platy fish pregnant?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-11-18T20:39:55.513" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29088" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-18T20:45:47.587" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen many videos with koi that are 3 feet (around 90 cm) long. However, I also know that some koi from desired varieties are really expensive. If I am buying koi from Petco and Petsmart, does it have just as much likelihood of growing to become 3 feet long? Or do I have to buy specific kinds of koi, from particular breeding stock, to have the koi reach such a size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-18T22:40:34.573" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T03:16:34.117" Title="Do all koi have the potential to grow to 3 feet long?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29084" CreationDate="2020-11-18T23:45:13.457" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morality is only meaningful for the species which can understand their actions and their consequences.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, rape is a very serious crime for humans but it is not used for animals. Rather, &lt;em&gt;forced copulation&lt;/em&gt; is the preferred term to explain such behaviours in the animal kingdom. (There is an ongoing debate whether dolphins are raping or force copulating, but that is another issue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats give importance to their own personal space. It doesn't mean that they reciprocate your need of personal space. Some of them are known to be selfish and love to dictate the relationship with their human companions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another issue is that since you have the mental capacity to understand actions of a member of another species, you know that the cat wants to be left alone. It might not be the case for the cat. He might not understand that you dislike his behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is also totally possible that he understands it, but doesn't care at all.&lt;/strong&gt; After all, unlike dogs, they don't need to obsessively satisfy the alpha.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want him to know you are annoyed by his behaviour, &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28820/16749&quot;&gt;here are some tips&lt;/a&gt;. Don't forget that you have to do these things as soon as he wakes you up, otherwise he won't make the association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T06:24:10.617" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T06:24:10.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29088" CreationDate="2020-11-19T03:16:34.117" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never seen Koi advertised as any large type, although there are likely some genetic differences. In 25 years I have bought several Koi and raised a couple spawns. The adults have been 24 to about 32 &amp;quot; long in the same pond . My pond is only about 5 ft. X 10 ft. I have seen many home ponds , occasionally fish up tp 3 ft , they have always been in very large ponds. Also ,no pond owner has ever said they purchased large strains of fish. Also talked with a professional breeder ( he went to Japan to select breeding stock) and he never mentioned larger types. So , many Koi , but not all ,  will get to 3 ft , in a very large pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2020-11-19T03:16:34.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-19T17:40:09.860" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a science teacher who inherited many class pets when my predecessor left. He made absolutely no plans for these critters, and now I feel horribly because with the COVID school closures I am unable to take care of the critters (I live 30+ minutes from school and cannot bring them home). Long story short, I am rehoming them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to move a rather large cichlid and a rather large sucker fish out of their tank to be able to give them to the community members who are interested in taking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never had fish before. How do I contain these large fish to rehome them properly without causing harm? Would a large bucket full of their tank water work? I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight would be so appreciated. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19252" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-19T17:46:21.197" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T13:12:39.053" Title="How to move cichlid/sucker fish for rehoming?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;&lt;cichlid&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29094" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-19T23:01:27.633" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my first kitten around a month ago. She keeps biting and scratching my blankets, and attacking them with her hind legs. I've tried rewarding her when she uses her own toys or her scratching post, as well as dedicate around 2-3 hours a day to playing with her, but it won't stop. I've resorted now to putting  her from the bed to the floor after she does this, as well as firmly say &amp;quot;no.&amp;quot; When I first got her at 4 months, she was calmer, still active but not as much. This has been a development for the past 3 weeks.&#xA;She also has plenty of toys around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to all this, she has issues cleaning herself after pooping. She's a short haired cat, but will have crusty poop around her butthole, and if she steps in it, won't clean herself. If I try to follow up with a warm cloth, or baby wipe, she yelps and runs away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her mother abandoned her and her siblings, and I adopted her from a family that took them all in, and raised them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's currently unspayed, but will be spayed in 2 weeks since she's currently in heat. Will this behavior (the aggressive playing and destroying) lessen/go away after she recovers from being spayed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a second cat (2 months) a week after getting her, but the second cat was not compatible with her at all, and would completely exclude the 5 month old from everything and they'd constantly fight, I had to give her back due to how aggressive the fights got between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm extremely frustrated, sleep deprived, and don't know what to do anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19254" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T14:22:56.770" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T15:30:28.163" Title="5 month kitten is aggressively playful" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-20T01:04:52.017" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;TL;DR at bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been posting a lot lately, as I've gotten a new kitten.&#xA;I'm told by the previous owner, that she is used to dry food and BARF, apparently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week or so after bringing her home, I started with a small quantity of wet food. Sadly, she went and ate quite a lot from my other kitten's bowl (I should have been more careful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure enough, the next day she had diarrhea. I've been doing some reading on the subject, and I've started mixing a small quantity of wet food with some carrot soup (see &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aniforte.co.uk/blogs/news/dogs-diarrhea-how-morosoup-can-help-your-dogs-intestinal-issues&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Moro Soup for pets&lt;/a&gt;). As this recipe was invented by a German (originally to save kids with diarrhea from dying), there are many more resources in German of people and vets recommending it for both, cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've started doing this 3 days ago. Now, while her stool got slightly better, it's still soft. I feel like the small improvement is from her eating less wet food, and not really from the carrot soup (but I'm not sure, who knows). She also doesn't seem to like the carrot taste much, so she eats way less than usually (and compensates with dry food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of not giving her wet food for a week or two, until she has normal stool again, and then start over with wet food. Is that a good idea? Also, what's the best way to get a kitten used to wet food (or transition from BARF to wet food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitten used to BARF has diarrhea with canned wet food. I plan on reseting her stomach by only feeding dry food for a week or two, and then start with wet food again. What's the best way to transition her from BARF to wet food, without the risk of her having soft stool/diarrhea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T19:40:16.710" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T19:40:16.710" Title="How to get kitten used to wet food (transition from BARF)?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-20T02:23:05.177" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my daughter's leopard gecko has stuck junk in her trunk. She has been pooping fine, but there is a piece of hard poo that won't come out. I don't think it is impaction. My daughter has been trying to remove it carefully with tweezers and a wet cotton swab, but it is as hard as a rock. The droppings are also very stuck inside and are hard to remove or even pull out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things used in her enclosure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coconut fiber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 gallon tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fake plants&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plastic water bowl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wood branch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plastic realistic hide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I stop using any of these items? Does this happen often? Do I need medical help or can I do it myself? What is the cause? She eats only mealworms, some crickets, and they are dusted with calcium and vitamins. Otherwise, she is in great health. Please help, I am worried! Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19255" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T12:59:00.197" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T12:59:00.197" Title="Leopard gecko with stuck debris in her butt" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12375" CreationDate="2020-11-20T03:23:56.217" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a barky chihuahua mix (most barky of all the dogs I've had, including past chihuahuas).  I either totally ignore the barking, distract her from the barking behaviour (by doing some reward based positive training like rollovers or sitting down on her mat), or do &amp;quot;treat scramble&amp;quot; while gently saying &amp;quot;quiet.&amp;quot; She quiets right down when there's a bunch of teeny bits of treats to find. Punishment-based training seems so backwards now that I have all these reward-based techniques that actually work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19256" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T12:53:04.450" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T12:53:04.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27152" CreationDate="2020-11-20T04:14:31.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t know if this is still going on, but my kid's hamster does this because it wanted a bigger cage or more play time. I started having her do it with her hamster and everything became fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19257" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T12:54:28.457" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T12:54:28.457" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29093" CreationDate="2020-11-20T13:01:43.637" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a big goldfish to rehome. There are empty 10l bins for painting your home sold in building markets. These are the ones you get with a cover and so you can close the bin and transport big fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Filling the bin with tank's water is a good idea and if the fish uses to get hold on something in the tank (like sucker fish I assume) then you need to give some root or at least a sponge to let the fish get hold on something in the bin. The bin should not be full with water, instead &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of bin's volume should be filled with air, to provide enough oxygen for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The people, who get the fish, do they have already a tank, or do they need to cycle a new one? Because cycling a new tank (setting it up from scratch) needs some weeks of time. If you add fish before, then they will be stressed or even get risk of health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-20T13:12:39.053" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T13:12:39.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29094" CreationDate="2020-11-20T15:30:28.163" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like your kitten really wants kicker toys. &amp;quot;Bunny kicking&amp;quot; with their hind legs on toys is a common play behavior which regular cat toys don't really satisfy. If their desire to do that is strong enough, they'll find whatever to take it out on, such as table legs, your own legs, or in this case, blankets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kicker toys are cat toys designed for them to kick. They're made out of cloth, and pretty large compared to the regular cat toy. They're often just a long tube, but sometimes they're more fancifully shaped, as a fish or something like that. If you can't find one in stores, you could easily make your own by sewing a cloth tube and stuffing it. The tube should be large enough that the cat can wrap its arms around it, and about as long as the cat, so when it has its arms wrapped around it, it can kick the other end with its feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then when you see the cat starting to kick, or getting that look that it's hyper and wants to kick, gently toss the kicker toy near, and hopefully it'll be redirected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your other problem, it sounds to me like your kitten may have diarrhea or at least that its stool is too soft. If it's too soft, the stool may get stuck to it more than normal, and the cat probably won't clean that up on its own.  You might want to try adjusting its diet, as often it's the food itself that's to blame in these cases. I would also ask your vet on their advice on how to make sure your cat's stool is the right consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not really normal for cats to step on it, so it may be an indication your cat's box needs to be cleaned more often, or that your cat really wants a roomier litterbox. If it continues even after trying to address those two things, you might try changing the litter to one of the types that acts as a desiccant, such as crystal litter. If the stool is really dry, stepping on it will probably be less of a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-11-20T15:30:28.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29101" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-20T16:40:39.843" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female Labrador dog, about 2-3 years old and weighing 25 kg (55 lbs), with a light coat. Her dog house is outside, but she's inside the whole day. Where I live, in the daytime it is 20-23 degrees Celsius (68-73 °F) and at night it's 8-13 °C (46-55 °F).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We put her in her cage at around 7-9 pm and we let her out to run around at 6-7 am. She has always slept outside and has endured the winter where I live for her whole life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does sleep with a fluffy &amp;quot;carpet&amp;quot; that fits in her cage. I don't know if I should be worried or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, how do I know if she has a &amp;quot;winter coat&amp;quot; or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19259" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T18:45:12.523" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T18:45:12.523" Title="What temperature would be best for my Labrador dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26458" CreationDate="2020-11-21T00:55:16.933" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also have a cat that does this. He only does it if you're not looking or are not present in the room. I understand how frustrating it is. My cat still does it, but not as often now. I gave my cat his own room with tons of toys, a big bed and a nice window to sit by. When we are not home or sleeping he is in his room, so he doesn’t cause trouble and destroy the house. I also find that tape on the counter works the best, as spraying water or getting angry at him doesn’t work. I give my cat one can of cat food a day. Never feed dry food. Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19261" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-21T11:09:53.200" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T11:09:53.200" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29103" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-21T01:09:55.820" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;What causes my dog to regularly &amp;quot;meet&amp;quot; me coming up the stairs, walk past me going down and then circle back and follow me back up. And the same thing when I go downstairs. If she is already downstairs she will go upstairs, passing me by, circle back and follow me down. If I stand still, she will stand still too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little background. She is a ten pound 2 year old rescue and previously lived with a pack of 8 other small poodle-ish dogs like her, none of them socialized. She is very comfortable with my wife (bonded), but I have stopped trying to interact with her in the house because it scares her, and instead, just give her space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can take her for a walk with or without my wife and she is fine. I can even carry her for blocks (outside) and she is very relaxed, but in the house she avoids me. She doesn't take treats yet, but we are working on that. We've only had her for six weeks, so she is very new to our world. We never yell or scold her. She is already house-trained and has her own &amp;quot;patch in the yard, so she learns very quickly. Her favorite place to be is in her crate or under my wife's desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm optimistic that she will accept me, but I feel that if I could understand what it is that is making her so nervous and apprehensive about me, that maybe I could modify my behavior to not &amp;quot;scare&amp;quot; her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19260" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T01:09:55.820" Title="What causes my dog to regularly &quot;meet&quot; me coming up the stairs, walk past me going down and then circle back and follow me up" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-21T07:29:20.453" Score="2" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has been a week since my German Shepherd was neutered. He has been wearing his collar cone, but it came off a few times. Today I noticed redness and when I tried to touch his testicles he moved, so I am assuming he’s feeling pain. I will take him to the vet regardless, but they do not open until Tuesday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Warning - potentially disturbing image! Click to reveal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FwlpX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FwlpX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19264" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-21T11:03:33.697" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T11:03:33.697" Title="Is my neutered dog infected?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29104" CreationDate="2020-11-21T10:07:38.407" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pattern of the redness clearly indicates at least strong skin irritation, if not infection. Your dog clearly indicates that he's in pain, so the pain is rather severe, too. (Dogs usually hide mild pain and only show symptoms if the pain is strong.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please try contacting your usual vet&lt;/strong&gt; by phone and explain the situation. Maybe they'll treat your dog as an emergency and see him today. If not, try finding a different vet that's open today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all things fail, try to get a dog-safe painkiller at the pharmacy. &lt;strong&gt;Ibuprofen can poison your dog.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dog-pain-medications#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog-safe medications&lt;/a&gt; (WebMD) include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carprofen (Novox or Rimadyl)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deracoxib (Deramaxx)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;firocoxib (Previcox)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;meloxicam (Metacam)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only if you cannot get any of the above, use Aspirin because it has more side-effects&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read the package leaflet&lt;/strong&gt; for the appropriate dosage for your dog. Always offer him food when you administer a pill to avoid side effects in the stomach. Treat him until the redness lessens or you can see your vet. If he doesn't swallow the pills, you should hide them in a small piece of wet food, hotdog sausage or cheese. The goal is to have the dog swallow the treat without even chewing so he won't notice the pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-21T10:57:24.150" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T10:57:24.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31023" CreationDate="2020-11-21T10:56:06.587" Score="5" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got some chicks around 11 days old. I am facing trouble with the bedding in the brooder. I've tried using paper towels, but they get wet and shredded within hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now considering using sand that is left over from a construction project - it is used locally in concrete and mortar. Can I use it as a bedding for my chicks? Are there any considerations that I should be aware of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/naKHo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/naKHo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some particles on a thumb for scale:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kAQN0.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kAQN0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19266" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-21T11:08:26.950" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T18:29:32.813" Title="Can I use this sand as bedding for chicks?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;substrate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29101" CreationDate="2020-11-21T10:58:40.540" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the given temperature range she doesn't need an additional coat or anything. Her fur will be enough to keep her warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her dog house should offer sufficient protection against bad weather. If she only has a cage or crate, you should cover at least 2 sides with thin wooden boards or other materials that stop cold winds. She needs a roof against rain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm most concerned about is the cold creeping up from the ground at night, when her body is still and doesn't produce much heat. In the long run that might cause joint pain and arthritis. You could put a thin insulation layer like straw or styrofoam beneath her carpet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read her body language to gauge whether or not she feels cold. If she lies down curled up in the most compact ball possible, she feels cold and tries to preserve body heat. If you can see her belly when she lies down (on her side or in a curve), she feels comfortable. If she shivers she either feels cold or is excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To your second question: All Labradors have a summer and a winter coat, that is decided by their genes. You probably noticed her shedding massive amounts of hair some time in autumn. She got rid of her fine summer coat and started growing her thicker winter coat. You should brush her to aid the shedding and avoid matting of her fur. About 4 weeks later, when she stops shedding so much, her winter coat finished growing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T10:58:40.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-21T13:13:47.720" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gotten a new kitten recently, and I'm facing quite a few poop related problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten had been fed dry food and BARF before I bought her. At my place, I started off with only dry food (although a different brand) and after a few days, wet food (high quality, lots of meat). Since around 1 week, she has had diarrhea/soft poop now. She is still really playful and active and eats/drinks quite a lot, so I'm not too worried about her health yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't manage to get her poop back to normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon a recommendation of a friend, I started giving very little wet food and mixing it with carrots that had been cooked for very long and then mashed (search for Moro Carrot soup). I've done that for 4 days, and when I didn't see any improvement, I started feeding only the dry food, without any wet food at all. This was 2 days ago. Today, still no improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time she had diarrhea last week, she pooped once on my bed blanket, once on my carpet and once on the floor where the carpet used to be. After removing the carpet and closing the bedroom door, she started using her litter tray as normal. Today, I opened the bedroom door again, and after 1 hour or so, I find her poop on my blanket again. It's still soft/diarrhea (no form or anything). But even when she uses the litter tray, she always steps into it or touches it with her paws, probably when she tries to bury it. I keep having to clean my apartment, twice a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm told the kitten has been dewormed 3 times before I got her, so it definitely shouldn't be the problem. The dry food she was used to had &amp;quot;poultry&amp;quot; for a protein, while mine has chicken. Now, as poultry is a generic term, I'm not sure what protein was used exactly, but I'm gonna assume that it's not a protein allergy. That being said, the food she was used to had rice and other stuff in it, and is marketed as being easily digestible, while mine is not marketed anything. She was used to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pets-menu.co.uk/shop/cat/dry-food-for-kittens/josera/p-52451.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Josera Kitten&lt;/a&gt; and her new food I'm using is &lt;a href=&quot;https://applaws.com/uk/cat/dry-kitten-chicken/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Applaws Kitten&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will go and buy the dry food she was used to, and see if that fixes the problem (and hope it doesn't cause my other kitten problems). I will also boil some chicken breast, as this seems to be generally advised for pets with soft stool.&#xA;I do wonder however, if she uses my bed blanket and carpet to poop on because of her soft stool or if this is some other issue I need to follow and fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found other posts, but most of them are about a cat peeing on rugs. Mine actually seems to use the litter tray for peeing, but like to use the carpet/bed blanket to poop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 2 litter trays, with different litter in them, and the kitten seems to use both of them regularly. They are closed trays with a swing door, but the previous owner had closed trays as well, so I don't think this is a problem. Especially because she uses them with no problem when the bedroom door is closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T23:39:59.540" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T23:39:59.540" Title="Kitten keeps using bed blanket and carpet to poop on" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29108" CreationDate="2020-11-21T15:47:38.487" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Solving the diarrhea will likely solve the pooping outside the litter box. She is probably sore from the diarrhea, or may feel urgency to go and not make it to the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of causes of diarrhea but in kittens they tend to be either (1) diet related or (2) infectious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the diet, any recent food changes can lead to diarrhea. It will invariably take more than 2 days on the new diet to see significant change in the stool consistency, often a week or more - therefore transition slowly to the new diet and be patient with any new diet before deciding whether it is working. A bland diet as you have suggested is a good choice for the short term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider adding a probiotic formulated for cats to the food. There are many products available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not be hasty in ruling out infectious causes of diarrhea, even though the kitten has been dewormed. I would suggest collecting a fresh stool sample and having your vet test it for parasites and possibly other organisms such as Giardia. No one dewormer covers for everything, so even though she may have been dewormed several times in the past there could be a parasite that was missed. For example, coccidia are often not covered by the routine dewormers used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the short term, I would suggest keeping the kitten isolated to a small area such as a bathroom, that is easily cleaned. As for inappropriate urination, thoroughly cleaning the blankets or carpeting to eliminate odours is important to make sure she does not form an association and think it is ok to keep defecating in those places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T15:47:38.487" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-21T16:55:02.777" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one of those feather toys on a long stick. If you move it around fast enough, it sounds like feathers flapping. All the girls go nuts for it, as they run and jump around trying to get this fast moving &amp;quot;bird&amp;quot;. When my youngest catches the &amp;quot;bird&amp;quot; she pulls till I let go of the stick, runs around the house with feather in mouth and stick dragging on the ground behind her, she does a full lap or two around the house before coming back to me and dropping the feather in front of me. What in the world is my little cat doing? Is she doing like victory lap, what purpose does it even serve? It's funny and I love it, I'm just curious why she does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="user19267" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditorDisplayName="user19267" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T20:23:42.677" LastActivityDate="2020-11-22T20:23:42.677" Title="Why does my cat &quot;catch and run&quot;?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29155" CreationDate="2020-11-21T19:25:41.727" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;So because of quarantine, I've been considering on investing a 12 week old Golden Retriever puppy. After doing my research, I've learned that many puppy mills and puppy stores abuse, neglect, and providing inadequate water and food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is, many of the places to get a dog online cannot guarantee the wellbeing of their puppies. I want to buy a puppy that was raised in a excellent environment. I was looking at many adoption websites, and apparently, they do not meet my needs. Where can I get a puppy that was raised in a good environment, that is healthy and happy, and worth my money?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Needs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;11-12 weeks old(I feel like this is the most perfect time to get a puppy. At this time, they can start to wear collars)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of a Golden Retriever breed(with the possible exception of Goldendoodles, or Goldadors(mix of a Golden Labador and retriever). Many adoption sites do not have puppies that are any of these breeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raised in a good environment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/an-inside-look-into-puppy-mills/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stop puppy mills!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T11:06:50.523" Title="Where to Get a Golden Retriever Puppy?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29110" CreationDate="2020-11-21T20:29:16.820" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That is how cats hunt in the wild.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While hunting small animals like mice only requires a well timed paw strike, cats employ different tactics for slightly larger animals. They usually bite the neck. Later, if they can, they pinpoint the prey and if they can't, they drag the prey until it can't resist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Victory dance also fits to general cat behaviour. Many cat owners woke up to their cat bringing presents. I had a cat who waited by his kill every time until someone takes the poor animal to a trash can. He really was proud of his kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would say it is not nuts, it is a healthy way for a cat to engage in game play. I'd also say he is quite lucky to have an owner who plays regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-11-21T20:29:16.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29113" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-21T23:22:11.157" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what the general consensus here is. Do people tend to feed their cats a single brand/flavor of dry/wet food, or is it usually recommended to switch between flavours to give them some variation? I definitely wouldn't like to eat the same thing for my whole life, and I'd assume that a cat in the wild would also eat a variety of meat. So will you do your cat a favor if you give them a variety of flavors, or does the cat not care at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T13:57:04.903" LastActivityDate="2020-11-22T16:16:18.293" Title="Is it common to feed cats only 1 brand/flavor of canned/dry food for their live?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-22T07:37:01.217" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2.5 gallon tank filter went out, so I had to put my betta fish in a cup for the night until the store opens. Will he live when his filter went out over night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19272" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T11:41:33.790" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T14:30:33.887" Title="My filter went out, will betta fish survive the night in a cup?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29113" CreationDate="2020-11-22T16:16:18.293" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to know for sure, because it seems unlikely anyone's taken a formal survey on the subject, but I suspect that while some owners certainly do give their cats variety, that a reasonably large percentage really do feed their cat the same food unless they are forced to change it, usually to address a new health problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why I think this is due to some common cat personality types or particular needs. Many cats actually hate or become stressed at any sort of change, while other cats are just very picky, and so it's a struggle to find them a food they'll actually eat in the first place. There are also many cats that have intolerances to certain foods, that will make them vomit, have diarrhea, or have excessive flatulence, and so forth. So again, owners with these cats will surely stick to the one food they discover that the cat can eat without experiencing these sorts of symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-11-22T16:16:18.293" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29114" CreationDate="2020-11-22T17:31:44.467" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why would you take him out of the aquarium? His only risk is low temperature and a cup will cool much faster than a larger vessel. When I raised bettas ,I kept males in separate 1 L plastic bags suspended in a large heated aquarium ; no filters , no aeration ( they breath air directly )- no problem. In the wild ,one author wrote , &amp;quot; A betta is at home in a water filled water buffalo foot print in the mud. &amp;quot; . Cold is not a problem in their native home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="9804" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T23:56:24.283" LastActivityDate="2020-11-22T23:56:24.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-22T18:10:55.220" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some time, I've been obsessed with the idea of getting a pet. It took me some time to decide which one I really want, and I decided on fish. However, it needs some proper preparations like an aquarium, filter, and much more stuff that I don't really know about. So I want to read some information with comparisons and recommendations for a newbie. It would be great if you could share some resources. I came across &lt;a href=&quot;https://pickedbyfish.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;, but actually, there is not that much information. Or if you could share your own experience, that would be great. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Anyway thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19265" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T21:40:11.627" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T09:07:03.117" Title="I want to be prepared for my fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29117" CreationDate="2020-11-22T19:29:08.913" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most important thing a fish keeper should know, especially a new person to the hobby, is knowing about the nitrogen cycle. I do not know if your do know about that already, but I will still give you a link to a website about it. The website will talk about important information like nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia in fish tanks. You do want to set up a fish tank before you get the fish. Do not set it up on the day you do get your new fish. This is very important. The website you should go visit is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What fish are you planning on buying? When you thought of a fish you want, make sure to do research on what it needs to thrive in your tank. Information you should gather on the fish you want would be, the temperature it thrives in, the tank size it needs, and ph levels of water it can thrive in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19228" LastEditorUserId="19228" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T19:46:04.670" LastActivityDate="2020-11-22T19:46:04.670" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-22T20:55:41.790" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is acting anxious and aggressive. Also, he is being mean to his little sister. I have tried keeping them in my room to practice working together, but that does not help. And whenever I pick him up, he tries to bite\scratch me. He also growls at me when I pick him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19273" LastActivityDate="2020-11-22T20:55:41.790" Title="Why is my cat acting so anxious and aggressive?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-11-25T17:36:50.130" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-22T22:27:57.130" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two dogs seem to do fairly well in training thus far. However, outside of their training sessions, they are unwilling to perform commands that they seem to have mastered perfectly well. Now that I know they'll obey within the context of a training session, how do I get them to obey when I'm not actively trying to train them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19274" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-22T22:46:21.980" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T09:26:36.117" Title="How do I teach my dogs to obey when we aren't in a formal training session?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18946" CreationDate="2020-11-22T23:59:51.930" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK so I faced this problem today hence why I'm here... I'm not sure if this what you are asking, but here goes ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw my cat poop as I was waiting to clean its litter, but due to a human hair inside the anus, the poop did not drop and to get rid of it, my cat smeared it on the bathroom floor. I immediately took him to the bath and washed his rear end since there was still some poo there and I noticed the hair. So I just slowly pulled it a bit and since the cat had no reaction, it meant it didn't hurt him or anything, so I just quickly pulled it out and once again washed its rear in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19275" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T00:22:27.047" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T00:22:27.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29120" CreationDate="2020-11-23T06:36:03.760" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;What makes a &amp;quot;formal training session&amp;quot; formal and any situation outside of that setting not? If you know the answer to that question, you can blur the edge between formal and not formal and make your dogs obey in (almost) any situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The location&lt;/strong&gt;: If you only train your dogs in a certain location, like a puppy school or inside your home, you simply need to start &amp;quot;formal&amp;quot; training in different places. Don't swap one training location for another, but mix things up and train in various locations to teach your dogs that they should obey no matter where they are. As you already noticed, this doesn't work immediately. Be as patient as you were in your past trainings and give them time to adapt, but don't let them be sloppy. They know their commands, they should execute them correctly. It just may take them a while to understand that they should execute them right here right now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The rewards&lt;/strong&gt;: Almost all dogs expect some kind of reward for obeying a command, be it a tasty treat or a short play with their favorite toy. If you don't reward your dogs outside a formal training session, they don't have any incentive to obey you. Imagine your boss asking you if you could work a shift this saturday without pay, just to make him/her happy... Even in a formal setting, you can negatively influence trained behavior if you stop rewarding obedience. Please be aware that petting your dog is not a suitable reward for obedience training because it distracts more than it rewards in those settings. You need to take a suitable reward (treats or toy) with you if you want your dogs to obey you in different locations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Distractions&lt;/strong&gt;: Most formal training scenarios are build in a way that minimizes distractions like other dogs playing or foreign scents. It takes a while of training in different places with such distractions to teach the dog to obey despite the distractions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your body language&lt;/strong&gt;: Some people have the tendency to adopt a rigid body language during &amp;quot;formal&amp;quot; training. Some people use a hand gesture in combination with a spoken command. All that can make it harder for a dog to understand you outside a formal training session, if your posture is relaxed or you only say the command without the corresponding gesture. Try keeping your body language and intonation the same as in a formal session.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything else you notice during your formal training sessions. Take a moment to analyze your own behavior and surroundings and try spotting details that differ to an informal training situation. Try removing that detail so a formal training matches an informal training as much as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T09:26:36.117" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T09:26:36.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29125" CreationDate="2020-11-23T09:56:23.140" Score="1" ViewCount="2119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is almost five and a rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work from home so he spends all day with me; he's always been funny about going on walks without me &lt;strong&gt;if I am in the house&lt;/strong&gt;. If I'm sick and want to stay in bed, he'll walk with my husband until he notices I'm not there, then run back to find me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our dogwalker has never reported this kind of behaviour&lt;/strong&gt;; he seems fine walking without me when he knows I'm not home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This year, my husband has been working from home too. Before, the dog was always fine walking without him, but he seems to have gotten so used to us both being around that he'll refuse to walk unless both of us are with him. It's getting difficult to co-ordinate between meetings and work, to always walk at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few times, one of us has had to leave mid-walk to get back for a meeting; the dog will finish the walk when this happens, but he seems a little worried, stopping to stare in the direction the other person went and needing a lot of coaxing to start moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't think this is separation anxiety&lt;/strong&gt;; while he loves being with people and will spend the whole day on my lap if I let him, he's not shown any worrying behaviour left alone - he doesn't destroy anything, howl, or cry. On top of which, my husband spends most of his day in his office while the dog is with me; he's not being torn away from my husband to come for a walk!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's also not a problem with the walk itself&lt;/strong&gt;; he loves walks and he'll do it happily if we're both with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any advice on breaking our dog from this cycle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;saying goodbye to the dog and hiding quietly in another room for 10 minutes, before the walk, as if we've left home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;putting on a big show of being ill and needing to stay behind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;games and treats while we were out without the whole house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR: dog won't walk unless everyone in the house walks with him - but he's fine when left with his dogwalker for the day and walks happily without us when he knows we're not at home.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17697" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T19:06:14.160" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T19:06:14.160" Title="Dog won't walk unless the whole house walks with him" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27152" CreationDate="2020-11-23T11:26:50.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This almost always means the cage is not adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the best of my knowledge, EU requires the Syrian hamster cages should have at least 0.12 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; base area and 40 cm in height. It doesn't matter if your cage is double or triple layered. Extra layers give some extra opportunities for the hamster to play, but your base area should still be larger than 0.12 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UK regulations are even more stricter: The dimensions of the base has to be 50x30 cm, yet RSPCA suggestions are 80x50 cm base area with a 35 cm height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cage is smaller than these values, the hamster can be confiscated and you may be fined. Keep in mind that these are minimum values, not optimal values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meshed cages are preferred but if this is too expensive for you, you can buy a storage box of appropriate size and prepare a structure inside to allow the hamster to climb up and down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than area, make sure that the cage bedding is not damp, there is a wheel big enough for your hamster to use and it has some extra entertainment, i.e., toilet rolls or kitchen towel roles, napkins etc. Think of giving them shelled hazelnuts. Syrians are strong enough to open a hazelnut shell, but not a walnut shell. Besides, it is fun to watch them go at the shell :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of this helps your problem, you can consider leaving your hamster to travel freely in the house provided &lt;a href=&quot;https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61slVImOKBL._AC_SL1001_.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;he is in a hamster ball&lt;/a&gt;. Hamster balls are considered safe if your house don't have stairs, yet it is a good idea to check on them every half an hour if they are stuck somewhere. If anything, stuck hamsters tend to relieve themselves in their ball and hamster urine is hard to remove from carpets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T14:25:25.613" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T14:25:25.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29123" CreationDate="2020-11-23T14:22:50.643" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: the problem is caused by &lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt; behavior, not by the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He goes with the dogwalker without any notable problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He always went with you (without your husband).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He also went with your husband when you felt ill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Now he won't walk without both of you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is: What does the dogwalker do differently? What did you do in the time since he would walk with just one person to now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption is: &lt;strong&gt;too much coaxing&lt;/strong&gt;. You turn the normal situation of walking with just one human into something &amp;quot;special&amp;quot;, probably even something &amp;quot;scary&amp;quot; that is to be avoided. This is a pattern that is very common and causes problems for a very long time without the owners even realizing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You go on your usual walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of you has to leave early. Of course the dog notices this and reacts to it. He looks after the departing human. One part of this is the dog caring for his owners, but the other part is &lt;strong&gt;communicating with the remaining human&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Did you notice that? What do you do? What should I do?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You react to his behavior and talk to him, probably telling him that everything is ok and that he should continue walking. &lt;strong&gt;He cannot understand a single word of what you say&lt;/strong&gt;, but he understands that &lt;strong&gt;you also react to the situation&lt;/strong&gt;. The nonverbal communication your dog understands is: &lt;em&gt;this is not normal, you should react to this.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog reacts even more to the same situation the next time it occurs, and you coax him even more, ending in a vicious cycle when the dog refuses to walk unless both his humans are nearby.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog walker doesn't have time to coax every single dog away from home, so he never entered the vicious circle. The dog knows that the walker will take him away from home for a while and that that is ok (because the walker doesn't react to his worries and treats the situation just like something normal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way out of this situation can be a very long one, or it can be quick and easy, depending on the dog and your behavior. I would try the more extreme changes first, in hopes of &amp;quot;resetting&amp;quot; his behavior and solving the problem quickly. More gradual changes will need more time to take effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drastically change his &amp;quot;going for a walk&amp;quot; routine&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go at a different time than usual. You can try a collar if he usually has a halter and vice versa. If you have several doors, leave the house through a different door than usual. If you always turn right at the first corner on your walk, turn left instead and take a different route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And most importantly: treat the situation like the most boring, normal thing there is. You can tell your dog &amp;quot;this way&amp;quot;, but don't coax him at all. &lt;strong&gt;You&lt;/strong&gt; are the one on the walk and he has to follow you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This drastic change can get some dogs so puzzled they forget their habits and ingrained routines, which gives you the chance of a new start. Other dogs might become too insecure and refuse to leave the house for a new reason. Don't push this approach if it doesn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stop pulling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't specify how exactly your dog refuses to walk with only one human, but a common reaction is for the dog to stand or lay in one spot and not moving a step forward until the human caves in and returns home. Pulling the leash in that situation doesn't change a single thing, because the dog still doesn't take a step. You can drag him over the sidewalk without him moving a single paw.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even lifting him up and carrying him won't change a thing. The dog refuses to walk and he still isn't walking if you carry him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nonverbal communication&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are pack animals, so they have many gestures to communicate with their pack members. You can adopt this language to speak with him in terms he understands much better than human language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Face your body the way you want to go. Turn only your head and look at your dog. Call him to you while walking into the intended direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't exert a constant pull on the leash. Give him a short pull on the leash and then immediately release the tension again to tell him he's supposed to move. It's important that you don't pull so much that you cause your dog pain. If you cause him pain, he'll hate walking even more than he does now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution is to gently nudge or push your dog forwards. When he stops, keep the leash taught so he cannot run backwards, but move towards him and if possible behind him. Then &lt;strong&gt;push his hips or his flank forwards&lt;/strong&gt; into the direction you were walking. This is more likely to force him to actually move his legs and &lt;em&gt;walk&lt;/em&gt; with you. Once he's moving, continue your walk forwards as if nothing ever happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be stern, but reward him for obedience&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you regularly do obedience training with him (which you should), you should be able to call him to you on command. If you cannot reliably recall him at home, this solution has no chance of working for you, but you can spend a week or two to train his recallability at home and on the walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take some of his usual treats with you on a walk and recall him in very regular intervals, not just when he refuses to walk. If he starts refusing to walk, call him to you. &lt;strong&gt;Don't negotiate&lt;/strong&gt; by being to soft, repeating the command too often or coaxing him. &lt;strong&gt;Be stern, call him to you, reward him.&lt;/strong&gt; As long as he doesn't move, you don't move. The only way he is going home is after he came to you and got rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training a completely different thing like &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;down&amp;quot; with him can also work by distracting him from his stubbornness and putting his head into a different mode. See the second linked video at the bottom for an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treat walking alone as normal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't bring him to walk with only one person, start your walk together. Sometime during the walk, you stop and Person A says goodbye to Person B in a swift and happy manner, but not to the dog. Person A turns around and walks home &lt;strong&gt;without turning back&lt;/strong&gt;. (This is important because turning back is nonverbal communication meaning &lt;em&gt;follow me&lt;/em&gt;.) Just a few seconds after Person A leaving, Person B continues the walk and calls he dog to them (like a short &amp;quot;come on&amp;quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Threat the experience like the most normal situation of all times. Don't negotiate with your dog, just continue your walk. You can employ some of the other mentioned methods (like gently shoving or recalling him) in combination with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alleviate his fear&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is actually anxious (shivering, tail low or between his legs, ears hanging low, making puppy eyes at you) you can alleviate his fear by simply crouching down with your legs slightly spread. This creates some kind of living shelter where many dogs love to receive support and comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not crouch down right next to him, your goal is still to get him moving on his own volition. So do it a few steps away and let him come to you, but only if he actually shows signs of anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These suggestions are a summary of my own experiences and advice you can find on the internet, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Youtube: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/O-PaoWNkei0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;When Your Dog Stops On Walks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Youtube: &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/syGJoa68XLI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What to do when your dog stops on walks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog Coaching Academy: &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogcoachingacademy.com/dog-suddenly-refuses-to-walk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What To Do When Your Dog Suddenly Refuses To Walk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-23T19:05:03.093" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T19:05:03.093" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29114" CreationDate="2020-11-23T14:30:33.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as air can get into the cup and the betta can't jump out of it, yes, the betta should be fine. They are kept in small cups for much longer periods than &amp;quot;overnight&amp;quot; in pet and fish stores, after all. However, as the cup has no more filtration than the tank, &lt;strong&gt;there was absolutely no need to remove the betta from the tank&lt;/strong&gt; unless the water in the tank was already toxic (in which case, you need more help than just a new filter, anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The larger volume of water will help dilute toxins produced by the fish (via waste production and respiration), as well as giving the fish more space to swim and relax as compared to the stressful environment of a small cup. In fact, you should be using a minimum of 5 gallons for your fish, to provide more of these benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find more information on tank size and why more space is better (whether it be a larger tank in general, or just the original tank compared to the tiny cup) &lt;a href=&quot;https://fishlab.com/betta-fish-tank-size/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;at FishLab&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T14:30:33.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29141" CreationDate="2020-11-23T15:55:00.003" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Toy poodle who just turned 2 on October 5th. I will admit that, as pet owners, we have been relatively just spoiling him and not giving him anything for a while. In the past couple of months, he's learned new things. Now, he knows how to stay, come when called, and sit. He has a problem with barking at people, but that is currently being redirected and changed. However, the only thing that hasn't been changing is his peeing habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I decided once during those 2 months that I would try and take him out hourly so that he can go around the house more freely (I normally have to make barriers for the carpets) so that he can become a dog who can just stay and do things. So this went well at first. However, no more than 40 minutes after the last hourly take-out, he pees on the plant in one of our rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just recently, a few hours ago, he had recently been taken out a couple of hours ago. However, for some reason, he peed a LOT on our wooden floor upstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm living under my parent's roof, and I'm a teenager. My parents don't do my dog being out in general. He almost always stays in his puppy pen or on a bed. He isn't allowed in the kitchen (which is fair), but it's the only place without a rug. Most of our rugs are light, and he's peed on our black rug a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, he has a HUGE peeing problem. Everything else is getting under control besides this, and I would love some help on how to train an adult dog. He's really peeing whenever he can, and it's a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19283" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T16:05:16.937" Title="Toy Poodle Pees Everywhere" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29129" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-23T22:21:56.233" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to feed my fish and I always check on my female guppies because they are the smallest in my community tank. I saw that one of my female’s gravid spot was a “odd” color to me. It is usually a dark color in that spot, but it seems like the spot got lighter. Is she possibly pregnant? Does this have to do with health of the guppy?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3KeR.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3KeR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19284" LastActivityDate="2020-11-23T22:21:56.233" Title="Female Guppy Health Question" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-24T11:55:51.517" Score="0" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a bearded dragon and I was wondering if they were male or female?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lt33j.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19288" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T20:46:11.437" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T20:46:11.437" Title="Bearded dragon - male or female?" Tags="&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-11-24T12:49:27.560" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28998" CreationDate="2020-11-24T14:04:11.720" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A horse with a broken leg is usually put down because it’s very difficult for the broken leg of a horse to heal correctly. Because the blood circulation in a horse is dependent on its hooves, keeping a horse still, besides beeing very difficult, for a long period of time in order for its bone to heal is a huge risk to its life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cost of fixing the broken bone of a horse leg is considerably high. Therefore, unless it’s a very, very special and expensive horse, people tend to refrain from spending a lot on treating a horse’s leg, whose chances of complete recovery are pretty slim even with treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19291" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T14:04:11.720" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28664" CreationDate="2020-11-24T14:15:02.177" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert, but having cats for many years, gives me some ideas you could try out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put small portions on her plate;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't leave the plate for a long time;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vary the place where you feed her, without putting her in front of her plate. Let her discover the food somewhere she wouldn't expect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe serving it on something lese that is not her plate.&#xA;Hope something helps!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19291" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T14:15:02.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-24T14:47:52.457" Score="1" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;A long time ago, I had a small fish that would not eat any fish flakes/pellets, So I tried my luck with mosquito larvae from outside. It ate those just fine, and after a while, I was able to transfer it over to eating flakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads me to wonder; Is it safe to feed wild caught mosquito larvae to my pet fish? Are there potential diseases or parasites that could be transferred to my fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T20:47:42.790" Title="Is it safe to feed mosquito larvae to my fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-24T15:25:06.247" Score="0" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great friend just moved in with me and brought with her dog (we agreed before she moved in that this will be fine). Her dog is a pomeranian, knows how to do some basic commands, and is generally a nice dog. However, she's extremely spoiled. Venessa (fake name) spoils her like crazy. She refuses to eat out of her dog bowl and only wants to be hand-fed. When she DOES eat, she gets nothing but high-protein meats. She basically eats steak, lambchops, and bacon daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't really care because Vanessa agreed to take most responsibility (I only take care of the dog when she's at work)so I don't care. BUT her dog has a big problem with biting me accidentally while eating food. Vanessa keeps on saying &amp;quot;that's what dogs do&amp;quot;, and I told her we need to help her dog. I told her that her dog was just getting out of hand and that I wouldn't let her bite me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a little bit, she agreed if I could actually find a way to help. Somebody, please tell me where I should go for a spoiled pup?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I'm not allowed to say her dog's name because Vanessa's dog enters in dog shows and she doesn't want any identification of her dog's life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19292" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T15:25:06.247" Title="How To Help A Spoiled Dog?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-11-24T15:37:26.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-24T15:31:38.710" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I fell on the stairs while carrying my cat in my arms. We fell about 4 stairs as my slippers slipped. My cat's upper body was on my chest with his paws on my shoulder, and I fell with my chest up and back facing the stairs. When it ended, my cat was walking in front of me without any limping or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just want to know if he is okay, and what are the signs of injury. I didn't suspect any injury, but still, please help me to identify what to look and where to look. There are not enough vets near me who are experienced with cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is 5 months old, 2.8 kg, and is a traditional long hair Persian male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19293" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T16:52:06.797" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T16:52:06.797" Title="My cat and I fell on the stairs" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-11-24T20:26:25.190" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29137" CreationDate="2020-11-24T15:53:53.873" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feed fish mosquito larva whenever I can. I am impressed when a fish that has never seen larva, decides in a couple milliseconds, that it is some thing to eat, and does it. In decades of using larva the only problem I have had is dragon fly larva that apparently came in with mosquito larva. Somehow they avoided fish and ate most baby fish before I realized what was happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T20:47:42.790" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T20:47:42.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29128" CreationDate="2020-11-24T16:05:16.937" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few thoughts, but I cannot give you a definite answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Water consumption&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.halifaxhumanesociety.org/Does-Your-Dog-Have-a-Drinking-Problem--1-14.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Halifax Humane Society&lt;/a&gt; a dog should drink about 0.5 - 1 ounces of water per 1 pound of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog is 11 pounds, he should drink 5.5 - 11 ounces of water.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If the water bowl holds 1/6 cup, he drinks 6 - 10 ounces of water.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If the water bowl holds 1/4 cup, he drinks 10 - 16 ounces of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see that a tiny difference (is it 1/6 of a cup or 1/4?) can add up. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/my-dog-always-thirsty#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD&lt;/a&gt; agrees that a 10 pounds dog should drink a bit over one cup a day. If he truely drinks more than 11 or 12 ounces, you should get him checked by a vet. Tell the vet that he drinks more water than usual, the vet will then looks for symptoms of different illnesses like diabetes, cushings disease or others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Repeat offender&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have a very fine nose and can smell things humans cannot. That means he can smell that the places where he peed in the past still smell of urine. What ususally smells of urine? &lt;strong&gt;The toilet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the smell is still there, he might think that this is actually the right place to pee. There are special cleaners and detergents with enzymes that destroy the chemicals that smell like pee. Clean all the surfaces and carpets where he peed in the past with such an enzyme cleaner. Since urine glows in UV light, you can find his old spots with a UV flashlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Puberty&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 2 years he's now a dog-teenager, and he acts accordingly. Maybe he wants to be the strong man in the family, maybe he wants to be a bad boy, maybe he just doesn't care. What he needs now is very strict rules, a strict daily schedule (or maybe a ritual) and probably some manners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go out to let him pee at the same time every day. Teach him a new command like &amp;quot;go potty&amp;quot; by saying it every time he pees. When you catch him soiling the house, tell him &amp;quot;No!&amp;quot; in a stern voice, but no more than that (don't talk to him). Then immediately go outside with him (it's best to grab him by the collar so he cannot run away) and tell him to &amp;quot;go potty&amp;quot; outside. When he does pee outside, tell him how good he is with a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; happy voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also try &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; allowing him to sit on the bed. In dog language, the one who sits on the highest spot is the highest ranking dog. By not allowing him on the bed, you tell him that he's not the boss here and isn't allowed to do as he pleases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Marking&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be that he's marking his territory. Desexig him (castrating or sterializing) &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; solve the problem, but there is no guarantee that it suddenly vanishes. You'll probably have to teach him that he's not allowed to pee in the house nontheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would always desex male dogs, because they become slightly less dominant and more balanced. Their natural mating instinct causes them some stress every spring. In my personal oppinion a one-time medical procedure is less stressful than feeling the need to find a mate every year and not having the chance to find one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Family structure&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might have gotten the wrong impression, but it reads like the dog spends all his time in your room and your parents don't really interact much with him. He's also banned from carpeted rooms, which I assume are the rooms you or your parents spend most of your time in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is the case, you could try a very different approach: supervise him at all times. You can put him on a leash and fasten the other end onto your belt loop. That way he's always close by and can be in rooms where he wasn't allowed, but you can always have an eye on him. If he makes a move to pee, tell him immediately &amp;quot;No!&amp;quot; and go out with him to pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't rub it in&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people think that if they scold the dog in front of his puddle of pee or even push his face into the puddle, the dog will understand that he shouldn't pee in the house. &lt;strong&gt;This is completely wrong and doesn't work at all.&lt;/strong&gt; Please don't even start this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you catch him right in the act of peeing, this is &lt;strong&gt;the only time&lt;/strong&gt; scolding him will be effective. When he's finished and you find the puddle, no amout of scolding will change a thing. Dogs cannot connect the result of an action (puddle of pee) with their own past action (peeing in the house). So you must scold him for the action, not for the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-11-24T16:05:16.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-24T20:36:11.250" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a apartment on 16th floor, I just got a labrador puppy, I am not sure how to potty/pee train him, right now he poops in the balcony and pees on pad, I hope to transition pad to bathroom, and slowly remove the pad entirely. Please suggest is this the right thing to do? Or are there any options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19295" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-24T20:44:33.203" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T10:02:50.587" Title="How to handle potty/pee training in apartment setting on 16th floor" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29142" CreationDate="2020-11-25T05:49:24.387" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: you go outside with your dog so he can go to the toilet. It doesn't matter whether you live on the 16th or 1st floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: I would start training to pee/poo outside as soon as possible. Those pads are great to avoid a mess at home, but they teach the dog that it's ok to pee/poo inside the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy doesn't have complete control over his bladder yet, so he must eliminate very often (about every 2 hours). Try to go outside with him for just a few minutes in that interval. And go take a potty break first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. Go find a nearby tree or patch of grass that will become his toilet. Every time he pees or poops outside, you praise him with your voice, telling him how good he is and so on. Every time he pees or poops at home, you ignore it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he gets older, he'll gain more control over his bladder and you can increase the time between potty breaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to all those potty breaks you should take a longer walk once a day. He will probably pee a hundred times during the walk, always just a few drops at a time. This is perfectly normal and is part of dog communication (like writing &amp;quot;I was here&amp;quot; on a wall). You don't need to praise him every time he pees on the walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More important is that he understands that the short trip to his toilet tree isn't going to be a longer walk. He should empty his bladder there and not keep any back for later. Therefore you should only go to his toilet tree and back home for a potty break and you should not start his daily walk at the toilet tree, but take a different route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-25T10:02:50.587" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T10:02:50.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-25T08:02:24.073" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an adopted 3 year old husky/lab mix.&#xA;He was very well trained when I adopted him, apparently he’d been a stray, but had two previous adopters who gave him up.&#xA;The reason being was they had young children and he’s very pawsy so being that I have no children nor do I plan on it, I adopted him.&#xA;He’s been great, only had a few accidents inside when I left him alone for too long due to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently had to get a roommate because covid reduced my income.&#xA;My roommates love the dog, but have been keeping him out of his kennel while home, which is fine, but when I come home he acts afraid of me and won’t listen to me anymore or anyone else and has began to jump and not listen and bark. So much to a point my roommates both stopped letting him out of his kennel until I get home, except to use the bathroom and won’t feed him, etc. because they saw the change in his behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m curious how to curb the possible separation anxiety, but also not sure why he runs to roommates when I let him out of his kennel now once I come home and even jumps up on them while they’re on the couch and as soon as I come over, he pees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’re all very worried about this behavior and not sure why or what caused it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19297" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-25T10:05:57.537" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T10:05:57.537" Title="Dog acts afraid of me when we’re around other people?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-12-07T12:54:44.073" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29145" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-25T19:21:38.163" Score="2" ViewCount="540" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hamster tank I bought is 96 x 47 x 38 cm (L x W x H) and I’m looking to get three winter white dwarf hamsters. Would this be spacious enough for three or two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19299" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T06:18:45.547" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T03:25:26.377" Title="Is my hamster tank large enough?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29145" CreationDate="2020-11-25T19:34:23.687" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that should be enough space. It is recommended to have at least 2903 cm&lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt; (450 in&lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt;) of floor space for one hamster. Having more than one dwarf hamster will require a little bit more space than 2903 cm&lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt;. If your tank is 96 x 47 cm, then that is 4512 cm&lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt; (699 in&lt;SUP&gt;2&lt;/SUP&gt;) of floor space, which is plenty for a few dwarf hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: this answer is solely about the space, Allerleirah's answer has more useful advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T03:25:26.377" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T03:25:26.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29148" CreationDate="2020-11-25T20:19:40.887" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we all know, cats have very sensitive stomachs. That makes me wonder. Once a cat gets used to a specific food, are they used to it for a lifetime?&#xA;To make an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed my cat Food A for a year. Then I slowly transition to food B, and feed that for 4 years.&#xA;If I want to go back to food A now, is it necessary to transition slowly again, just as if it were a new food? Or are their stomachs still &amp;quot;used&amp;quot; to it, so it can be fed straight away (or transitioned much faster)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T20:40:32.740" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T20:40:32.740" Title="Are cats used to a food for a lifetime?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29147" CreationDate="2020-11-25T20:41:41.450" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s not that cats’ stomachs are sensitive per se. It’s that the bacteria population in their intestines naturally adapts to their diet, and if you introduce a new food they’re not ready for, it will usually result in diarrhea. This is only really a problem with pets that eat the same food at every meal, and it can be solved by &lt;em&gt;slowly&lt;/em&gt; changing their diet to give the bacteria time to adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notably, while the types of bacteria that can digest the new food are rapidly multiplying, the types that can digest the old food will be starving to death. The cat can’t retain its ability to digest the food you gave it several years ago because those bacteria are all long dead now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat used to a more varied diet (such as a stray or feral cat) will naturally have a more diverse population of bacteria that can easily handle whatever food the cat happens to find for each meal. None of the different types of bacteria ever die out because they all occasionally get food they can digest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2020-11-25T20:41:41.450" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29889" CreationDate="2020-11-25T22:15:11.090" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how much exercise a puppy should get. I need to know how long the walking time should be, the playing time should be, the outdoor exercise time should be, and how long the training sessions should be. My puppy is 3 months old and it's a Golden Retriever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-08T20:23:32.237" LastActivityDate="2021-03-08T20:23:32.237" Title="How much exercise should a puppy get?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29153" CreationDate="2020-11-25T22:35:57.573" Score="1" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been researching a good toothpaste/dental gel to use on dogs to clean their teeth and one I liked the look of was one called &lt;a href=&quot;https://addisonlabs.com/product/maxiguard-orazn/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Maxi/Guard OraZn&lt;/a&gt; or the stronger strength &lt;a href=&quot;https://addisonlabs.com/product/maxiguard-oral-cleansing-gel/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MAXI/GUARD Oral Cleansing Gel&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the research of it and it's ingredients, I came across mentions of a product called&#xA;Neutersol (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.acc-d.org/docs/default-source/Research-and-Innovation/neutersol-foi-for-web.pdf?sfvrsn=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;FOI Summary&lt;/a&gt;) which was basically an &amp;quot;Intratesticular injection for chemical sterilization for male dogs&amp;quot; in replace of surgery; this was based on &lt;em&gt;Zinc Gluconate Neutralized by Arginine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same company that makes/promotes Maxi/Guard was also the exclusive distributor of Neutersol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing some further reading it seems &lt;a href=&quot;https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&amp;amp;Id=7308131&amp;amp;useobjecttypeid=10&amp;amp;fromVINNEWSASPX=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;it didn't last long&lt;/a&gt; and a version was later re-launched by a new company under the name of Zeuterin, &lt;a href=&quot;https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&amp;amp;Id=7308131&amp;amp;useobjecttypeid=10&amp;amp;fromVINNEWSASPX=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;but that collapsed too&lt;/a&gt; and seems to be branded under the name &lt;em&gt;Esterilsol&lt;/em&gt; in other countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only did the business idea fail, reading around they all seem to have a pretty bad name for themselves with many complaints of the side affects and some studies showing bad outcomes, including very commonly being associated with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298072084_Effects_of_EsterilsolR_on_Sterilization_of_Dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;significant swelling of the scrotum, aggressive behaviour and reduced food intake&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we have got the background all out of the way, my question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to assume injecting something into the body is &lt;em&gt;totally&lt;/em&gt; different than &lt;em&gt;ingesting&lt;/em&gt; it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just curious though as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If injecting Zinc Gluconate into the body can make the dog sterile/shrink the scrotum, what can it do to the rest of the body if ingested?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, if it can cause a lot of bad side effects, is it reasonable to assume ingesting it can do the same, or no?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to again assume it would be totally different considering there is &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wedgewoodpharmacy.com/items/zinc-gluconate-capsule.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zinc Gluconate Capsules&lt;/a&gt; or an &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wedgewoodpharmacy.com/items/zinc-gluconate-oral-oil-suspension.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Oral Suspension&lt;/a&gt; you can give dogs; however, I do note that both the injection and the Dental Gel state the Zinc Gluconate is &lt;em&gt;Neutralized&lt;/em&gt;, whereas the capsules/oil don't seem to be, so not sure if that makes any difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16628" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T22:35:26.250" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T22:35:26.250" Title="Is Zinc Gluconate safe for dogs to consume?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29145" CreationDate="2020-11-26T06:59:41.527" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not much known from the wildlife of this kind of hamster. They are called winter white, because this kind has the whole year the color of the wild animals winter fur. In the wild there were very rare observations of pairs, and colonies only for the winter's time, to warm each other. In conclusion, they can live peacefully together for some time (one winter long), but within hours this could change &lt;em&gt;and will not change back!&lt;/em&gt; If you are willing and able to separate them at this point, then yes, you can start with them as group. But be aware, that the &amp;quot;big trouble&amp;quot; could start in the night, or when you are not at home, and it will be a risk for the health (and maybe life) of your hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, a lot of sources said &amp;quot;white Russian dwarf hamster are the best to keep in pairs or colonies&amp;quot; and this is copy-pasted in near uncounted way in the internet now. There is much less research about this, only long-year owners, who tried and failed in nearly every cage-size. And real research is made for animal testing companies, because this kind of hamster is used for such tests too. This research gets the result, that it is not even animal friendly at the least (because these companies will not do more effort than to fulfill minimal requirements in most cases) to let them live in groups. (Even it would be less expensive for the companies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SO please, do them a favor and let them have their own space each! They would be happier, healthier and you would have less worries about them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My source, a German website of long-term-owners, with detailed description of their experience to try with different groups (male, female, siblings), different cages (type, size, count of houses, count of food-places) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hamsterinfo.de/Dsungarische_Zwerghamster.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;hamsterinfo.de&lt;/a&gt;. The mentioned facts I let translate by a software is this (please notice, that &amp;quot;Djungarian&amp;quot; is the misleading translation of German &amp;quot;Dsungarischer Zwerghamster&amp;quot;, which is the &amp;quot;winter white dwarf hamster&amp;quot;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Djungarian hamsters - group animals or solitary animals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few years ago, when we began to love hamsters, there was no question about it. Many agreed that Djungarian dwarf hamsters should be kept in groups, or at least in pairs. It was a huge mistake that we took this advice to heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first it went very well. The dwarf hamsters apparently got along and even &amp;quot;kissed&amp;quot; each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, over time we had to find out again and again that dwarf hamsters kept as a pair or in a group suddenly bitten each other very badly without warning (sometimes after a few weeks, sometimes after 1 year). There are now many people who have made the experience - despite optimal housing conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research also confirms this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is little good literature on the whole that deals with dwarf hamsters and unfortunately Djungarian dwarf hamsters have not yet been researched in nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is certainly literature that proves the loneliness of the Djungars. Djungarian hamsters have rarely been observed in pairs. Colonies are never known (such as in guinea pigs, rats, mice, chinchillas). It is only in winter that Djungarian hamsters form colonies even with other mice, but these are immediately dissolved if the temperatures allow it. Therefore, I would like to point out at this point that Djungarian dwarf hamsters should be kept individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then theses were voiced that it depends on the size of the cage. Some said you needed a bigger cage, others said that they get along better in small cages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried a lot in our hamster husbandry over the years and have always been taught better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to research this phenomenon, we have several groups, each of siblings together. kept in similar and different cages. When rearing young animals, everything went well at first. The males and the older sisters even helped with the rearing. At first everything seemed fine and the dwarf hamsters seemed to be comfortable in the group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a while this changed suddenly. Not at the same time, but gradually it affected each of the groups. We could not find any differences between males and females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gradually there were quarrels in the different groups. At that time we did not get too much help, as very few people had this experience at that time, the Djungarian dwarf hamsters were by far not as widespread in pet keeping as they are today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we had several groups of females and several groups of men. The animals got on very well and because it was very clear in some books and on the Internet at the time that they had to be kept in groups, we thought this form of keeping was the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;worst&amp;quot; experience in all groups was that it came to biting from &amp;quot;now on&amp;quot;. Some biting was rather harmless with &amp;quot;small&amp;quot; injuries. Other fights led to the death of a dwarf hamster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first quarrels began in a group of females after a few weeks. That could still be accepted as a &amp;quot;coincidence&amp;quot;. We then separated the 4 animals into 2x2 Djungars, but that didn't go well for long either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Little by little it happened in each group. Apparently peaceful animals became little beasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last peaceful group were 4 females who got along well for over 1 year, suddenly one of them was bitten so badly that it was bleeding profusely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole thing ended in such a way that I had to keep all Djungarian dwarf hamsters individually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, many hamster keepers have made this experience and research institutions have also come to the conclusion that Djungarian dwarf hamsters are loners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, there is something in more recent books about keeping these dwarf hamsters in groups, and it is difficult to get just one Djungarian in pet stores. Fortunately, knowledge about these animals is increasing and word of the solitary nature of dwarf hamsters has spread more and more. Not least because of the experience of many owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Djungarian dwarf hamsters not only avoid each other in the largest hamster home - if they want their territory for themselves - but the stronger defends food and everything else and constantly attacks the weaker, who after a while can no longer defend himself. He lies down on his back (which is a gesture of submission) and is bitten by the other. The weaker would not survive this in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such a situation would not occur in nature because then the weaker person could flee. Even in the largest cage, however, this is permanent&#xA;r unfortunately not possible. Not to mention the constant stress that dwarf hamsters are exposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Djungarian hamsters need attention, animal-friendly facilities and exercise. The cages offered are often unsuitable, and adequate housing and appropriate accessories are often relatively expensive (like the dwarf hamsters themselves).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Djungarian dwarf hamsters have a very cute, bear-like appearance, but are not cuddly animals, they are more suitable for watching than for cuddling, although Djungarian dwarf hamsters, with whom one deals a lot, can also become very trusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not possible to get dwarf hamsters used to each other afterwards. Even if one of the hamsters &amp;quot;runs away&amp;quot; and wanders around the apartment all night, there is an big quarrel when &amp;quot;re-entering&amp;quot; the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even then it can happen that the animals have to be separated again. You should definitely not rely on the words of the seller when buying, it is better to inform yourself beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, you should have a home for the dwarf hamster beforehand so that they don't have to endure the fear in the transport box for too long. It is also nice when the hamster can take litter out of its old cage and thus has a familiar smell around it. It is good if dwarf hamsters get the same food at the beginning as in the pet shop. Afterwards you can mix the food with someone else and compose the food of your dwarf hamster yourself or give a different mix of ready-made food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T10:19:10.977" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T10:19:10.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-26T16:33:27.860" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why won't my turtle (a spiny turtle), that I've just recently bought, eat? It's been 1 week and the turtle still hasn't eat. The turtle is 12 inch (30 cm) long (I reckon she is quite old). I've tried putting it and it's food in warm water that's appropriate for her, putting her and it's food under the sun, and even tried variety of food, but it still won't eat. There are no signs of swollen eyes or mucus. She never yawns, she barely opens her mouth. She seems sluggish and doesn't move that much. Is she just adapting or there is an illness going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19302" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-26T17:29:14.190" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T10:39:39.373" Title="My turtle won't eat" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29150" CreationDate="2020-11-26T22:34:31.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ingesting and injecting is totally different, you are right. For example, potassium chloride is a compound that is used as table salt substitute (though it is often mixed with normal table salt to hide its unnatural bitter flavor and metallic aftertaste), but its oral toxicity is similar to the toxicity of normal table salt, which is low. It is also one of the forms of potassium that are used in potassium supplements. However, potassium chloride is also used in the lethal injection executions: injecting it intravenously causes cardiac arrest (stops heart from beating), which results in death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zinc gluconate is the form of zinc used in many dietary supplements and consuming it in amounts not exceeding recommended daily intake cannot in any way cause a result similar to the testicular injection procedure performed in neutering. Zinc is an essential element and a co-factor of hundreds of enzymes. It is reasonable to assume that consumption of zinc gluconate is safe as long as you don't exceed the daily recommended intake, this intake value depends on the size of your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overdosing soluble zinc compounds, especially on empty stomach, could result in gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea; it's because zinc ions are corrosive and in excess they irritate gastrointestinal mucous membranes. If concentrated and injected into testicles, their corrosiveness causes fibrous scarring of testicular tissue and kills sperm cells, which is what sterilizes the dog. However, oral consumption couldn't produce these result in any sensible settings. It still could cause poisoning though if overdosed; the most immediate effects would be from gastrointestinal tract (vomiting, etc.), the latent effects would result from the fact that zinc overdose induces deficiency of other micronutrients (such as iron and copper) and suppresses their absorption from diet, which could for example lead to anemia. It is a complicated and delicate balance and it works in inverse as well: for example, overdosing copper in diet could cause zinc deficiency for this reason. My point is that mineral supplements, such as zinc gluconate, are not inherently more dangerous than other microelement supplements; it is the dose that makes the difference between medication and poison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And referring to their claim of zinc being &amp;quot;neutralized&amp;quot; - they are using imprecise terminology, but I could understand and guess what do they mean, which is that the solution of zinc compound is made to have neutral pH of 7. It is important in oral and dental hygiene to maintain pH above 5.5 because tooth decay starts to occur below pH of 5.5. Zinc gluconate is a salt of somewhat weak acid (gluconic acid) and even weaker base (zinc hydroxide), which makes so that it's acidic (in simplified terms, gluconic acid &amp;quot;wins&amp;quot; and makes the whole compound acidic in solution, which means its water solution has pH below 7). It is therefore mixed with amino acid arginine, which is basic (its water solution has pH above 7) and neutralizes the acidity of this solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in case of a medication which is not meant to be used in mouth and have contact with teeth, but is instead just consumed to supplement zinc in diet, it doesn't need to be made to have pH above 5.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The function of zinc gluconate in oral/dental hygiene gels is to facilitate their antimicrobial action. Zinc ions exhibit &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodynamic_effect#Zinc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;oligodynamic effect&lt;/a&gt;, which means that even in small concentrations that are safe for humans, dogs, etc. it is extremely toxic to microorganisms and thus kills bacteria responsible for dissolving tooth enamel. Another reason for its presence in these products is that it reacts with volatile compounds responsible for bad breath; the products of this reaction are odorless which temporarily neutralizes bad breath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reply to comment asking about the form in which zinc exists in food versus supplements: I don't know exactly in which form zinc occurs in, for example, beef or other foods, but I'd also expect it to be a different chemical compound than zinc gluconate that is used in the dietary supplements, oral cleaning gel, etc. But during the digestive process, both forms are broken down into basic compounds that could be absorbed by our bodies (and dogs' bodies), it is just that zinc gluconate is already a really simple compound. In fact, it is so simple that it could be directly absorbed because it only needs to be dissolved to release free zinc ions; in our food, the zinc is probably incorporated into much more complicated compounds such as large proteins, and these proteins first need to be digested and completely disassembled into their most basic constituents (amino acids) before the zinc ions get released from them to be absorbed by us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2020-11-26T22:34:31.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-27T07:32:47.893" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat who loves to kiss me by licking my hands, arms, face when I am near or petting her. I am wondering if anyone has heard of a human hand or body lotion that is safe for cats to lick? My hands and arms are dry, so I like to wear lotion! I just want to make sure that kitty is safe. Thanks for the help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19305" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-27T15:40:05.523" LastActivityDate="2021-03-03T17:09:15.850" Title="Need recommendation of name of human lotion or cream that is safe for cats to lick!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-03-05T17:21:37.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29111" CreationDate="2020-11-27T20:49:28.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right to be avoiding Pet Stores and puppy mill set ups. It's also just as important to avoid what are called &amp;quot;Back yard breeders&amp;quot; too. Back yard breeders are hard to weed out because on the surface they seem like they are decent breeders. Unfortunately you're going to get just as many health and temperament issues from them as you would a puppy mill dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, &amp;quot;where can I find a good puppy&amp;quot; is a hard question to answer, because it's not just &amp;quot;Go here!&amp;quot;. It's a lot of work and research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Start by googling Golden Retriever breeders in your area. You can also check out the Golden Retriever Club of America if in the US (&lt;a href=&quot;https://grca.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://grca.org/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When looking into a breeder, there are things you should see on their website, or if not there they should be very open to providing answers to. Things that you need to look for in a responsible breeder are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Are their dogs proven in either conformation, sports, or work? Even if you're just looking for a family pet, having a dog from proven lines is important for temperament and health reasons. Being proven means having titles if conformation/sport, or proven to work (hunting, herding, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*How many litters do they have a year/how many litters do they have at once? If they have multiple litters from multiple parents on the ground at the same time, that's a huge red flag. It's hard to devote your time and attention to one litter, let alone more. Are they breeding the female every time she's in heat, or only once a year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*How old are the parents? Breeding them before they're fully grown (2-3 years old) can be harmful for the mother and babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*What health screening do they do? Each breed has unique health concerns that plague the breed. It's extremely important that the parents of the litter be screened for these conditions. According to the GRCA Goldens should be screened for Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, Eye Disease, and Heart Disease. This is also why dogs under 2-3 years of age should NEVER be bred, because you can't test for most of these under the age of 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the breeder comes back with answers saying that they're family pets and don't need to be in shows, they breed multiple times a year or have multiple litters all the time, breed them at a young age, or say the pups are vet checked and healthy, those are all red flags and should be steered away from. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, I would say to stay clear away from goldendoodles or the like if you're set on a Golden Retriever. The Golden Doodle is a mix between a golden and a poodle, but the results are nowhere near consistent as far as looks, temperament, and grooming needs. You'll get exactly what you're expecting from a well bred golden puppy in those categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-11-27T20:49:28.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-29T16:30:15.733" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My littlest leopard gecko has always been a tad unhealthy. He was the tiniest lizard from his clutch, and he already has metabolic bone disease... His tail was also eaten off by a violent sibling (has since fully grown back and looks healthy)... Now his eye has started shrinking / deflating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was extremely difficult to take a picture of, but I'll try my best to get a few ones that explain what I'm seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the picture below, you can see the very thick eyelid compared to his right eye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the other pictures, he's mostly squinting.. Every time I tried to get a picture of the eyeball when it was open, he closed it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/76sty.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/76sty.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cPRD5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cPRD5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Htqeb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Htqeb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15850" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-11-29T22:59:56.343" LastActivityDate="2020-11-29T22:59:56.343" Title="My youngest leopard gecko's eye started shrinking / deflating! Is this something I should be worried about?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-30T04:28:18.090" Score="6" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some context: I have two cats, one male (Gatão, 3-5 years old) and one female (Pitica, 1-2 years old). Pitica has been spayed before I took her in, Gatão has been spayed since last week. They came from the same house, so even though they tolerate each other, I wouldn't say they are friendly to each other either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue I'm having started two days ago. Gatão has been acting weird towards Pitica and meowing a lot. I observed them yesterday and today and I came to the conclusion that he is &amp;quot;keeping an eye&amp;quot; on her. For example, he is always following her around. When she sits or lies down, he also sits or lies down in a position from which he can see her, and he watches her from there. When she is sleeping inside the house, he sleeps too, but when he hears her go out, he wakes up and follows her. When she leaves his field of view, he looks for her desperately and meows continuously while doing so; when he finds her, he stops meowing, sits and watches her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does this all day long and she seems extremely stressed by it. She hisses at him and runs away from him, but he never stops following her around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could be happening? Should I be concerned? Will this behaviour fade away or should I do something to help them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19314" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T17:12:40.820" Title="Why is my cat following and keeping an eye on my other cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="22192" CreationDate="2020-11-30T09:19:24.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We went to a vet to ask. He said that we need to make a costly biopsy. As I did not really like or trust this vet, I went to another vet to get a second opinion. He said that he is convinced that it is just a skin pigmentation and that there is nothing to worry about. He also added that an biopsy would  I followed this second advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was two years ago. My dog stain is still there (and kept growing) and my dog seems to be doing just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7833" LastEditorUserId="7833" LastEditDate="2021-02-01T13:04:54.983" LastActivityDate="2021-02-01T13:04:54.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-30T09:53:49.190" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Croatian Shepherd mix likes to go out in the balcony and sleep there during the day. Right now we have 28 degrees Fahrenheit (-2 Celsius).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's outside, can I assume, it's ok for him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my first dog and I'm nervous about him getting a cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19317" LastEditorUserId="19317" LastEditDate="2020-11-30T17:23:04.083" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T19:21:24.073" Title="Dog hanging out outside" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-11-30T19:15:23.723" Score="0" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello dear animal friends!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I sign up for auto-ship corn cob through chewy.com I get less than a year before that particular brand/product is slashed from their catalog! Anyway, I started a journey today to try to find something non-gmo because a fellow asked in the Q&amp;amp;A section of one of the products still available. I am passionate about the unadulterated safe non-carcinogenic products we surround ourselves with, as it's not just the animal friend or the human friend, or the children or grandparents, it's the whole world we're poisoning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... I found only one company, eurocob, but... well, they seem like they're in Europe, and couldn't find a distributor here in California, US/A. So, the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some of the safest/lowest dust/non-chemically/non-gmo alternatives to corn cob?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even better, anyone know any actually pure and natural non-gmo corn cob ? Apparently, since it's not for human consumption, these companies can call gmo corn cob &amp;quot;100%/All Natural&amp;quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks everyone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19318" LastEditorUserId="19318" LastEditDate="2020-12-02T03:42:46.770" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T03:42:46.770" Title="non-gmo / gmo-free corn cob bedding for parrots &amp; other animals? (in the US)" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;&lt;bedding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29167" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-01T00:35:47.423" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve had my betta for two years. He was full grown when I got him so I’m not sure how old he is. He’s got pretty classic signs of age - humped back, difficulty attacking food accurately, not active at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He’s displaying large holes in his fins that grow and change frequently (does not look like rot or tearing), which is alarming, but he seems to swim around alright. Nothing has changed in his tank (10gal, planted, logs, heated and filtered). No new items were added and he’s never had torn fins before, so I’m fairly confident it’s not anything in the tank. Parameters are tested frequently (all fine but a slightly higher pH [8ish] that I’ve never been able to lower), and 25%ish water change weekly. I’ve also got an algae problem, but removed some moss balls I think were the culprit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these holes due to age or something else? I want to make sure I’m providing the best care for him and I’m worried the holes are a sign of suffering. Any suggestions on things to check for or change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s a admittedly terrible quality photo, but it shows the holes clearly (they have grown bigger since this was taken):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZPqDZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZPqDZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s getting worse. He’s still such a happy boy and swims up to seem me and eats all his food, but part of his whole bottom of his lower fin is nearly torn off. I bought him so more plants today with big leaves to rest on, and some almond leaves which I read would help. Also a new heater (my house is chilly and I’m worried the little one I have is just not doing enough), and some filter sponge to slow the water flow a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know. I want him to heal!&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rv01r.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rv01r.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve completed a big water change and will continue frequent small water changes over the next few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T05:10:04.370" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T12:52:13.770" Title="Helping an old betta with fin holes" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29164" CreationDate="2020-12-01T02:13:45.093" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;No dog should be left outside in extreme weather for prolonged periods of time. However, some time outside is not bad, especially if the dog is choosing to go out. Your dog, given it’s breed, has a pretty good cold weather coat. If it’s raining or snowing and their coat gets wet, don’t let them stay out as long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, just monitor your dog when they are out, and be sure they always have the option to come back in when they want or need to (like a dog door). Consider providing some bedding outside for the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-01T02:13:45.093" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29169" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-01T17:22:33.853" Score="3" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read that dogs need roughly an ounce of water per pound of body weight each day and that nursing dogs need more than that to produce milk. My pit bull terrier recently gave birth to a litter of 9 and she can easily drink that daily recommended amount in one sitting, 5 times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can nursing dogs have too much water? What's the ideal amount she should drink per day? Is it ok to leave her without water after bed time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19323" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-01T17:32:31.957" LastActivityDate="2020-12-01T17:32:31.957" Title="How much water should a nursing dog drink?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-02T02:01:04.477" Score="0" ViewCount="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;my dog has skin cancer which is because he has fair skin and he is proun to the sun and he has a lump on his back inner thigh i having to bandage it all the time but each time i put the bandage on he some how chews it off and i have to put a new bandage on i am wondering how can i stop him from chewing his bandage off is there any soultion other then getting a cone and putting around his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19327" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T02:01:04.477" Title="my dog has skin cancer on his back leg up on the inner thigh area but he keeps taking the bandage off all the time" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-12-02T05:58:26.570" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29178" CreationDate="2020-12-02T04:17:59.487" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can cats (almost an year old) find food and survive for themselves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During my eight months of staying alone in lockdown, I had come across a stray cat in my building (may be ~4-6 months old at that time) and I have been giving it food/water and it is a really familiar being to me now. I am leaving to my home for about 2 months and I can't take this cat with me (strict family reasons) and I want to leave it here. My home is over 1500kms away. The thing is I am very worried whether it can find sufficient food and water during my absence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have seen it hunt birds, squirrels and rats during these 5 months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes it goes away for a day or so and returns later. This might be normal cat behaviour, I don't know much, frankly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have planned to give cat food to the building caretakers to keep it in the plate I had kept outside my flat. I have been placing the food in the same place so that it knows where to look when it needs to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat almost always stays in my room these days. It goes onto other buildings from my balcony but returns back in a few hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very unfamiliar with pets. A little help/suggestions in this area would be helpful to make things better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19329" LastEditorUserId="19329" LastEditDate="2020-12-02T14:19:36.650" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T23:24:48.010" Title="Can the stray cat I am feeding be fine if I am gone for a couple of weeks" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2074" CreationDate="2020-12-02T08:25:09.247" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is an old thread, but for anyone reading: PLEASE do not allow your car to play with ear plugs!!! Mine did for a couple of weeks. I usually watched her when she did. One day, while I was at work, my other cat opened the bedroom door. They went in my room, found ear plugs next to my bed, and long story short... this created an intestinal blockage that cost $3500 to repair and almost cost me the life of my cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19331" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T08:25:09.247" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-02T08:51:02.070" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a kitten, about a months ago. She is now 4 months old. She has had some stool related issues, but finally seems to be getting better. She is very playful and plays a lot with my other kitten.&#xA;One thing i'm wondering:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems to always have her tail downwards while walking around, and only lifts it up when i pet her. According to other threads i found online, this seems to indicate that she is wary/cautious/defensive. Her tail is pointed to the ground, with the end being hooked slightly outwards. On this picture, the tail position labeled &amp;quot;worried&amp;quot;.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://t2.ea.ltmcdn.com/en/images/9/8/9/why_does_a_cat_wag_its_tail_1989_orig.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Tail Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, she seems generally very comfortable to me, but i might just be interpreting it wrong. Are there cats that always have their tail down like this, or does this indicate that she is indeed cautious and not used to her new environment yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19239" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T16:08:36.047" Title="Kitten always has her tail downwards" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29179" CreationDate="2020-12-02T13:44:57.170" Score="1" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think my cat (male, 1 yr and 2 months old) is in heat (please pardon me if &amp;quot;heat&amp;quot; is not the right term for male cats). I have dogs, but he is my first cat. He is meowing very loudly and constantly, like his throat will go bad, and is always finding ways to go outside or sit beside the door. Although, he is eating and sleeping well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't seen any cats nearby, but what I am afraid is that maybe he can sense a female cat in heat, and is therefore ready to mate. I've found online that if this is the case, the only solution is to neuter him. But he is such a good boy, I can't morally think of removing his natural body and see him in pain by neutering him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could his behaviour be some kind of illness?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We are also ready to adopt another cat for his company if he needs one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Else if he is in heat, can I somehow keep him inside without neutering for some time, till that female cat and her pheromones are gone? Or this won't matter much?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, if I have to neuter him, should I wait for his heat to be over? Or can he be neutered during the heat period?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17772" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T07:15:32.583" Title="Male cat in heat symptoms and solution" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29171" CreationDate="2020-12-02T17:08:46.723" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he disappears for a day or more at a time, and you’ve seen him hunt successfully, then he will survive when you leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naturally, he will be upset at the change in his routine and no longer having you as a source of easy food, but he will adapt and get into a new routine. This may mean moving to a territory with more wild food or moving in with another human, or he might be just fine where he is and waiting for you to return. Cats are hard to predict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2020-12-02T17:36:45.963" LastActivityDate="2020-12-02T17:36:45.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29171" CreationDate="2020-12-03T01:41:20.577" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it’s possible, ask a neighbor to keep an eye on the cat. If you say that he goes outside then it’s possible someone else might be feeding him as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are usually very resilient. We were feeding a cat for more than two years, but then due to an issue with the other residents we had to stop feeding it. He naturally adapted. We didn’t see any decline in his health which meant he was getting food. Also, from time to time he would see us and come over but not ask for food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as my vet says, cats have an amazing talent for finding people who can feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T02:00:26.560" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T02:00:26.560" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29175" CreationDate="2020-12-03T07:15:32.583" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comments are already clear about the fact that male cats (or dogs for that matter) don't go into &amp;quot;heat&amp;quot; at a seasonal cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In nature, it's usually the females that have a hormonal cycle and are willing to mate only at very few, specific days. The males, on the other hand, must always be ready for that rare day they find a female ready to mate. However, when a male smells the pheromones of a female, it causes excessive hormone production, which makes them more aggressive (to fight off competitors) and more willing to run away from home (to find a mate) most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next big misconception is about the &amp;quot;integrity of the body&amp;quot;. That is a big topic for humans, especially for those who had their bodies modified in any way before they were old enough to understand or consent to the procedure. However, a cat will never be able to understand and consent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A neutered cat will never regret not being able to reproduce&lt;/strong&gt;, because they are not capable of knowing and understanding what their life would have been like otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But an intact cat will always be aware of the fact that he's not allowed to follow his instinct to find a mate. The instinctual pull to roam the area and stay aways from home up to 3 days and nights will never go away as long as he isn't neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the real question is: Do you cause him pain for a short while by neutering him or do you deny his instincts for a lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another misconception is about sexual pleasure in animals. This was also covered in the comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For cats, sexuality is not a matter of pleasure and happy cuddling, it is quite the opposite - violent and unpleasant, but they do it because it is compulsion based on the instincts; only humans, dolphins and some monkeys are doing the thing for pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As children we see cats cuddle in cartoons (I remember Simba and Nala from the Lion King), but those are human behaviors in animal bodies. In reality, Simba would have bitten Nala in the neck to hold her steady and the act would have been finished in seconds. Afterwards, he would just have walked away, no cuddling or gestures of love involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dare you to research cat sex. Spoiler:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote class=&quot;spoiler&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; The penis of a cat has barbs just like their tongue...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, the male won't be on the receiving end, but many cats get injured while fighting for a female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to gloss over possible problems here. No situation is ever black or white, there is always something in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The urine of male cats that aren't neutered is very stinky. Even worse, intact cats may start marking their territory by peeing on walls and/or furniture. Neutering removes much of the smell and the instinct to mark, but some cats still continue marking even after being neutered once they started the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every operation always comes with a risk. Cats are usually neutered under full anesthesia by removing the testicles through a small incision in the base of the scrotum. The incision is so small that it usually doesn't even require stitches but is glued shut instead. Your vet should give your cat a special pain medication for a few days after the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats recover very quickly and resume normal activities like playing or hunting within 3 - 5 days after the procedure. But there can be post operative complications like bleeding or infection and general anesthesia always bears the risk of death (albeit this risk is extremely low in young, healthy cats). That's why a full bloodwork is required before anesthesia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://petcentral.chewy.com/cat-neuter-surgery-from-start-to-finish/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat Neuter Surgery From Start to Finish&lt;/a&gt; by Pet Central&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petplace.com/article/cats/pet-health/pros-and-cons-of-spaying-and-neutering-in-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pros and Cons of Spaying and Neutering in Cats&lt;/a&gt; by PetPlace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://petable.care/2018/03/20/things-you-should-and-should-not-do-for-your-neutered-cat/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Neutering Aftercare&lt;/a&gt; by Petable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-12-03T07:15:32.583" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-03T22:20:13.750" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious to know (I also need this piece of info for writing my novel).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, can a German Shepherd (classic-looking fur coat) give birth to four  identical German Shepherd puppies that look just like their mom, but then, her last one is a white German Shepherd puppy. Is that possible? If it is possible, is it likely that the mother would neglect the oddball puppy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-03T22:25:05.707" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:42:44.250" Title="Can a regular German Shepherd give birth to German Shepherd puppies with coat colors identical to hers, but give birth to one single white puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29185" CreationDate="2020-12-04T04:52:21.607" Score="13" ViewCount="3456" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat seems to have a scratch below his neck, but he is really averse to showing it to me. He seems fine, but at certain angles the wound looks rather big while in other angles his fur covers it entirely. My question is how can I get him to let me look at the wound, so that I can understand how severe it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11982" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T19:54:07.920" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T03:28:24.497" Title="How can I get my cat to let me study his wound?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29184" CreationDate="2020-12-04T05:59:01.143" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience the easiest way is to be sneaky about it and peek at the wound while the cat is eiher relaxed or sleeping. The best way to achieve that is by petting. You may have to invest some time to really get them to relax and lay down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also may have to try several times. If your cat lays down in a way you cannot see the wound and you try to move it around, the cat is probably going to be suspicious and walk away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small hand mirror may come in handy to really look at the wound from all angles without making your cat suspicious. You may try shining a flashlight at it to see better, but again, that might make your cat suspicious of the object and walk away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T05:59:01.143" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-04T14:41:08.873" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I am needing to travel to visit family. I have a feeder for my Betta fish; it's the type that sits on the bottom and the fish nibbles off of. However, my fish is used to eating off the surface, and to me feeding him. (He actually swims to the surface of the aquarium when he sees me in the morning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a partial block, since a whole block was too much for the length of time that I'm gone. However, that makes it a bit harder to tell, since the edges on one side aren't exactly &amp;quot;even.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do have a family member that can check on him periodically. However, neither of us know exactly how to tell whether my Betta fish is actually eating the feeder or not. Is there a good way to tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10835" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T16:57:24.407" Title="How to tell whether your Betta fish is eating his feeder?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29184" CreationDate="2020-12-04T15:57:49.133" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;As well as petting your cat to get him to lie down, use a clean wash cloth or rag that is dampened with warm water when you pet him. It should be about as damp and warm as being groomed by a cat tongue. Cats naturally lick wounds so this will feel more comfortable and dampening the fur around the wound slightly will help keep fur flat and make the wound more visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10372" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T15:57:49.133" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29186" CreationDate="2020-12-04T16:52:41.560" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer to your question: you can't.&#xA;However, here are a few tips:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if you have seen him eat from the feeder, then he will probably do it when you're not watching;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Betta's mouth is oriented upwards. In its natural environment, he catches insects on the surface and feeding from below is not natural to him;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a fish is not a dog: it can easily spend a few days without eating. If you're away for a few days only, or if your friend can come every few days (even once a week) and can feed him, it's OK;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a Betta doesn't need a full aquarium paraphernalia. He can breath at the surface using his labyrinth and does OK in room temperature water. Your friend can keep him at his place in a simple jar and feed him while you're away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19339" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-04T16:57:24.407" LastActivityDate="2020-12-04T16:57:24.407" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29184" CreationDate="2020-12-05T03:28:24.497" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is not going to let you &amp;quot;study his wound&amp;quot;. He's a cat and it's going to be difficult to accomplish such a task if he won't let you already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I suggest is taking a video using a good device like a 4K camera or smartphone. It'll give you the few seconds of time looking at the wound that you need to get an in focus shot of the injury without causing too much stress to your cat. Remember videos are just images taken in a sequence and each second of video is typically 24-60 frames of slightly unique images.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the frames are going to be in focus if the video looks like it's properly focused so you end getting a good amount of usable different shots. Better video camera usually have various settings that can increase your chances of getting useful footage quickly, like ISO speed settings. I found this useful to look at my cat's teeth after I accepted the fact that he's just never going to say &amp;quot;ahh&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19341" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T03:28:24.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29181" CreationDate="2020-12-05T11:16:26.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is possible! Not common, but it CAN happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The white coloring happens because of a recessive gene that can be hidden for several generations before making an appearance. Both parents must carry the white gene to produce white German Shepherd puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very possible that two &amp;quot;normal colored&amp;quot; German Shepherds (carrying the white gene) can produce white puppies in a litter of black and tans or sables, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A white German Shepherd is not albino, and should also have both dark eyes with a black nose and lips. White is also considered a &amp;quot;masking&amp;quot; gene which covers up the dog's true color, although it does not affect skin pigment. This is why &amp;quot;white&amp;quot; German Shepherds often have a cream or blond tint to their solid white coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T11:16:26.133" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23814" CreationDate="2020-12-05T11:50:01.677" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;While ultimately it is going to come down to their personalities, getting two puppies of the same sex at the same time and having both of them hitting maturity around the same time is going to make it way more likely for you to have issues. This does not come down to needing to be a strong pack leader or that you need to be dominant over the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sibling Syndrome (also called Littermate Syndrome, but it happens to dogs who aren't littermates as well) is the term for common behavioral problems that arise when two puppies are raised together beyond the typical 10-12 weeks (about 3 months of age) that professional breeders recommend. These common problems stem from improper socialization during a puppy's crucial first 6 months, and are why any responsible shelter/rescue/breeder would deny letting someone get two puppies of similar ages at the same time. It is almost impossible to raise two puppies without them going to one extreme to the other - being so attached to each other they completely shut down or panic without the other, or them hitting maturity and trying to seriously hurt or kill each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the potential for the size difference, you are right to be worried about the smaller dog in this instance. If I were you, I would look at which dog would be a better fit for your home and lifestyle rather than taking home both puppies. If the two puppies end up coming home with you anyways, I would get in touch with a certified behaviorist right away to prevent any issues from arising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few sources to read up on SS/LS:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.greatpetcare.com/training/littermate-syndrome-everything-you-need-to-know/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;greatpetcare.com/training/littermate-syndrome-everything-you-need-to-know&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://k9behavioralservices.com/littermate-syndrome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;k9behavioralservices.com/littermate-syndrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thebark.com/content/dont-take-two-littermates&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thebark.com/content/dont-take-two-littermates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://offleashk9training.com/dogtrainingblog/littermate-syndrome-in-dogs-off-leash-k9-training-problems-with-littermates/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;offleashk9training.com/dogtrainingblog/littermate-syndrome-in-dogs-off-leash-k9-training-problems-with-littermates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17832" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T16:48:53.950" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T16:48:53.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29197" CreationDate="2020-12-05T12:17:40.407" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our cats is extremely human focused. He sleeps with us every single night. He has a pillow between the one of my wife and mine. He also has a bit of an unfortunate quirk of stretching when changing sleeping positions. This includes stretching his front paws including claws. He will also do a little bit of kneading on the surface his paws touch. He does this no matter what surface they touch. I've already gotten used to being woken up every now and then from the feeling of a cats paw and claw working my skin. However recently I have had a few instances where I have woken up at night realizing something is kneading my eye lid. This is not done on purpose by the cat, but its very unsettling. Luckily I was already used to it from other parts of my face and was able to just wait until it was over even though I was barely awake at that time and therefore did not panic and jolt my face away potentially causing harm to my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem pretty much boils down to the fact that the cat has an unfortunate habit of stretching his whole body every now and then more or less asleep and the fact that even if I move his pillow more towards the side of my wife he will literally sleep an inch or less from my face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that many people have their cats sleep close to them at night and I am certain other cats have similar &amp;quot;stretching behaviors&amp;quot;. Does anyone have any tips how I can both allow my cat to sleep on the bed with us (he is completely devastated in the morning if we close the door or move his pillow and I might be willing to sacrifice an eye to allow him to sleep there) without having to wake up with a claw lodged into my eye lid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18785" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T16:29:25.110" Title="Cat involuntarily scratching face at night" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6084" CreationDate="2020-12-05T15:56:31.657" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is normal, because some cats don't like to be petted. But in this case because it's soft, it &lt;strong&gt;IS&lt;/strong&gt; a love bite! Sometimes, it can be a sign of sickness, or aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19340" LastEditorUserId="19340" LastEditDate="2020-12-08T03:50:56.877" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T03:50:56.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29174" CreationDate="2020-12-05T16:08:36.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of a cat's tail positions as akin to a human facial expression.  A smile is an indication of happiness, but how an individual person uses it to express their mood is highly dependent on the person. One person can be boisterous and quick to smile, the next person could be shyer and rarely smile but still be generally content.  Some people might even smile when they are actually expressing a different emotion altogether, for instance some people will nervously smile when they are embarrassed. We learn to read individual people by making observations not just from their face, but their general body language and behavior, observing their personality and habits over time, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example of the differences in cats, my current cat puffs his tail quite easily if something makes him jump, yet at the same time, he is definitely a lot less jumpy and anxious than my previous cat who rarely if ever puffed her tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to what your cat is feeling, obviously I cannot observe your cat myself, so I cannot say with much certainty, but my current guess is that what you are observing is your cat's neutral posture. A cat that's actively trying to express anxiety or worry is unlikely to perk their tail up to the happy, confident posture just because they were petted. A worried or anxious cat will usually also behave in a way that makes their anxiety obvious. They'll warily slink about, act jumpy, and often try to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also the fact that your cat doesn't have its tail up more often in the happy, confident position says something about your cat's general personality. For instance, it may be that your cat is less expressive than some, or it may be that your cat is generally less outgoing and confident than some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T16:08:36.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29193" CreationDate="2020-12-05T16:29:25.110" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would try to replace his pillow with a walled cat bed. You can make the swap less upsetting to your cat by removing the pillow's pillow case and putting that in the cat bed. If the pillow does not have a pillow case, then you might need a two step process of first putting a pillow case on his pillow, and letting the cat sleep on that a couple days to get his smell on the pillow case, and then putting that in the new cat bed. Hopefully with the cat surrounded by soft walls, he will claw those and not you at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-12-05T16:29:25.110" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29201" CreationDate="2020-12-05T19:24:43.073" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be really convenient and save money, to let my cat &amp;quot;Mucca&amp;quot; clean her wet cat food cans with her tongue - but I'm afraid she might [at least eventually] cut her tongue on the edge of the can (where the top is pulled away from the rest of the can).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are cats' tongues tough enough to not be cut by a can's edge?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am guessing, for example, they are not as tough as shark skin (even though they may feel similar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17844" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-05T20:17:27.033" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T04:59:29.953" Title="Can a cat cut its tongue on an open food can's edge?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-05T23:45:02.887" Score="-1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put out a box of blankets thinking that my cat would like it, but as soon as my cat saw the box she ran under my bed. She usually loves boxes or bags with clothes that I need to return, but she hates the box that I have in my room. She does come out to eat, but she eyes the box as if it were an enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18913" LastEditorUserId="19051" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T13:26:22.253" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T13:26:22.253" Title="Why is my cat scared of a box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;boxes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29198" CreationDate="2020-12-06T04:59:29.953" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cats tongue can get cut on a can. It’s not any more or less tough than your own tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The “toughness” you may feel is just their hairs for grooming and cleaning meat of bones. But cans aren’t bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t think it’s necessarily dangerous to let your cat lick the can. It would, however, be best to remove the lid (the sharpest part) and then feel the edges with your finger (carefully!!!!) to make sure the rest is okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, use a rubber spatula (appropriately, I call these cats tongues) to scrape the remainder of the food off for your cat. This is the safest and most effective option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T04:59:29.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29200" CreationDate="2020-12-06T05:19:46.153" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Sometimes cats have indecipherable opinions about things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be any number of things that makes the cat wary of the box:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the scent of something that was originally in the box (or maybe the blankets) could be offensive to the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box made a sound when you set it up that the cat didn’t like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The box is a larger size than the cat is used to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure by the question if this box was specifically set up for the cat, or if you’re using it to store the blankets in. If it’s for the cat and she doesn’t like it, try setting up a different box or putting it in a different area. You could also try to feed the cat treats around to box to encourage positive feedback. If the box really bothers her and it’s not specifically for her, either move it where she doesn’t go, or just let her get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T05:19:46.153" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29171" CreationDate="2020-12-06T15:19:36.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Although, they are independent creatures, they still need someone to socialize with, fill their bowls, and play with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If at all possible, ask someone to take care of your cat or hire a pet sitter.&#xA;You can also leave another cat there, so they won't feel cat lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19340" LastEditorUserId="19340" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T23:24:48.010" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T23:24:48.010" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-06T20:46:32.843" Score="4" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our full container of cat food got knocked over and we had to spend ages getting it all back in. After doing this, I see there’s hair/fluff/etc. I’ve tried to take bits out, but I’m worried if she eats any of it, will she get sick?! :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19351" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T20:50:31.007" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T08:56:50.990" Title="Will my cat be okay eating food that might be dirty?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-06T21:38:44.480" Score="3" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog has a wound in the right front leg (nothing severe). In order to treat it, a cone of shame (normal plastic one) is being used, together with a specific spray. For reference, the cone looks similar to this one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZPppf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZPppf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spray does what it's intended to, but the healing takes time. Thing is, in its &amp;quot;free time&amp;quot; the dog (without us nearby) is able to break out of the cone and then goes and bites the leg again, making the healing process take longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to proceed in this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17688" LastEditorUserId="17688" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T21:54:16.847" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T21:54:16.847" Title="Dog with leg wound escapes cone and bites leg" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29206" CreationDate="2020-12-06T22:16:51.320" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is not really different than humans eating dirty food.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will she be okay?&lt;/strong&gt; Sure, she won't die. It is no different than unfortunate people trying to find something to eat from garbage bins. If this continues for a long time, it will create health problems which may reduce the life expectancy. If it is a one time thing, it won't cause any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can she get sick?&lt;/strong&gt; She might, but younger cats with good digestive tracts are resilient to such problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is to check if there is an obvious piece of dirt before feeding it to the cat. Maybe you can use a strainer to reduce the dust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, trust your cat. If she shows an aversion to the food, it means she finds it too dirty. If she leaves out more food in her bowl than usual, it might be a good idea to not to feed it to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T08:56:50.990" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T08:56:50.990" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15889" CreationDate="2020-12-06T22:22:19.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To lure out female cats, play crying kitten sounds.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Females, even if they are spayed are very receptive to the crying kittens. They will move out to check out the kittens so you can trap them, of course humanely or scare them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To lure out male cats, play fighting cat sounds.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Males, even if they are afraid, usually check out other fighting males to judge if they are safe. If they are brave, they will try to find and engage those fighting males. Then you can trap them, of course humanely or scare them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you play fighting cat sounds a lot, and if you remove their food incentive, they will eventually deem that your house is not worth the risk of engaging in a cat fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, make changes in the deck to prevent them from getting in once they move out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:22:19.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23814" CreationDate="2020-12-06T22:33:54.167" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a common misconception that wild wolves, and by extension dogs, form packs in which there is a dominant &amp;quot;alpha male.&amp;quot; This idea was based on incorrect research. The research was carried out on wolves that were kept in captivity in conditions that for humans would be considered those of a prison. Wolves in this unnatural situation do not behave as they would in the wild. In the wild, packs are normally family units, and there is dominance only in the same sense that the parents in a human family tend to dominate their children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs have some behavioral and biological differences from wolves, but the notion of an alpha male and a strict dominance hierarchy is no more correct for them than for wolves. Most of the world's dogs are not house pets but rather they have a lifestyle in which they form more casual alliances and contacts with humans, who give them food. Examples are village dogs in Africa or dogs that live in garbage dumps in Mexico City. These dogs guard resources from each other to some extent, but they do not form dominance hierarchies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you bring new dogs into your household, there is no particular reason to expect that they will fight for dominance because of some behavioral programming encoded in their DNA. Conflict is possible, but can be dealt with by common-sense measures such as making sure that each dog's food dish is far away from the others'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-dogs/2014/02/10/c53c6970-8f46-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-dogs/2014/02/10/c53c6970-8f46-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mech, L. David. 1999. Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1196-1203. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, &lt;a href=&quot;https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsnpwrc/381/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsnpwrc/381/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="752" LastEditorUserId="752" LastEditDate="2020-12-06T22:46:02.543" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:46:02.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29181" CreationDate="2020-12-06T22:42:44.250" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly you're just seeing a case in which different puppies in the same litter have different fathers. This is called superfecundation, and dogs' reproductive biology tends to make it happen fairly often, because dogs (unlike wolves) mate promiscuously, and ovulation is not triggered by mating, as it is in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible that this is just a recessive gene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="752" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T22:42:44.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-06T23:44:54.743" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last Friday night my mother accidentally stepped on our 2-months old cat. She thought she had killed him so we went searching for a vet at 10 pm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, we found one willing to help us. He gave the cat two injections, perhaps an antibiotic and a sedative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat slept all the way through Saturday. When he woke up he was able to eat but apparently he had trouble drinking. He seems to be fine, just a little sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we took him to the doctor again, as he was kind to attend us on Sunday. He told us there was no apparent fracture but the lower lip was hanging down quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet tried to glue the cat's lower lip but it came loose shortly after. He then said he couldn't fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do? Please welp!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19352" LastActivityDate="2020-12-06T23:44:54.743" Title="Vet couldn't fix cat lower lip injury" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29213" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-07T00:07:09.840" Score="2" ViewCount="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background:&lt;/strong&gt; I have a male bearded dragon, a little over a year old. I live in a region that gets cold/snowy in the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently had some ups and downs with keeping my beardie's habitat consistent due to a multi-day power outage where I had to relocate him and my furnace breaking, so there was a period where he only had a mercury vapor sunlight bulb on 11/15 (and a smaller enclosure/only slightly better lighting on 11/16) and where nighttime temps got down to 67F (typically nights are 74+) from ~ 12/1-12/2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Behavior:&lt;/strong&gt; On 11/29, I started to notice he was going to sleep early in the evenings (~ 1 hour before his light timer switched off) and was not climbing up to bask first thing in the morning (usually he's up by 7:30 when his lights come on). He also was eating significantly less (1/2-1 bowl of greens instead of usual 3 bowls). Lately, he's only eaten when I hand feed him and seems completely uninterested in greens, which he usually loves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vet Trip:&lt;/strong&gt; I took him to the vet on 12/3 and they did an X-Ray and told me he's overweight and has large fat pads and to stop feeding him worms (I was feeding 2 hornworms and/or 4-6 mealworms almost daily and he's now 645g!) and only give crickets/grasshoppers/roaches every other day. I dropped off a sample for a fecal exam over the weekend and I'm waiting to get results back in case he has a parasite. (Though last time he had a parasite he acted differently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had adjusted his lights to be on an hour less per day when he started sleeping earlier, but my vet told me not to do that and that I &amp;quot;don't want to put him in brumation,&amp;quot; so I changed that back same-day. I've been trying to keep him active throughout the day to help with the sleepiness and get him to walk around the house, take daily baths, climb chairs/my arms, etc. But today he curled up in his cool side of his tank and refused all greens (it's an off-day for insects). He just pooped yesterday and with this behavior and searching online, I'm pretty sure he's preparing for brumation (triggered by the weird weather he's experienced, including needing to transport him places recently). The vet freaked me out a little about it though and I had even asked her if I should let him brumate and she told me no. (Though aside from being overweight, he does have a clean bill of health.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current Temps/Setup:&lt;/strong&gt; He's in a 4'x2'x2' (LxWxH) enclosure with reptile carpet, basking spot is 100-105F, cool side is 74F, humidity is 40%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I get a second vet's opinion? Does this sound like he's getting ready to brumate? If so, if the fecal comes back negative, should I just let him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2528" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T00:07:09.840" Title="Is my bearded dragon trying to brumate?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29214" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-07T01:13:19.750" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the years my dog has been taking on weight. I didn’t notice at first until I was going through some pictures of him when he was at a healthy weight. I am not sure what type of dog he is, but I assume he is mixed with Chihuahua. So my question is, what are some ways I could start to take off the weight without going to the vet? I cannot check him in the vet due to my personal situation right now. Can you give me some ideas of ways to get him back to shape? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19353" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T01:22:26.900" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T01:22:26.900" Title="My dog is extremely overweight" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-12-07T06:59:40.417" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-07T16:02:16.080" Score="3" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know baby bearded dragons are supposed to poop multiple times a day, but mine only poops every 7-14 days. He always eats his bugs (BSFL) and vegetables (Kale), but I am concerned that he is unhealthy. I make sure he doesn't swallow more than 1 bug at a time and his poop is very wet and doesn't have any solid things in it. Is he ok or should I do something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19356" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T16:11:44.810" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T16:11:44.810" Title="My 9 month old bearded dragon poops only every week or two" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-07T16:54:53.627" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 11 year old daughter really wants a bunny, but in the past our dog has killed a wild rabbit. Does this make my dog more prone to killing a bunny? I don’t know how to prevent my dog from doing it; any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19359" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T17:10:15.103" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T17:10:15.103" Title="My dog killed a rabbit, should I get a bunny?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-12-07T17:33:23.320" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-07T17:05:02.217" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 kittens; one male and one female. The male is 12 weeks old and a British-shorthair. He was also the first kitten I bought. When I bought the kitten, he was just 10 weeks old, so he has been living about 2 weeks with us.&#xA;We bought the second kitten, which is a mix British-shorthair and Angora, 2 days ago. She is 8 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problem:&#xA;I failed the &amp;quot;first impression&amp;quot; by letting them know each other without the cage. The male attacked her and at that point I interrupted. Every time they see each other, the male is slowly going to sniff her and she is attacking him. After that, the male attacks.&#xA;The female can't really control her claws, because I think she is too young and her mother abandoned her, which is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I managed that they eat food with each other, of course different bowls, but side by side. After they finished a little bit of peaceful sniffing and that, they attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&#xA;Is the age gap a problem?&#xA;The female is now afraid of the male; is it going to stay like that?&#xA;Any advice on how to get them along? They have plenty toys to play, but if the male sees her, he ignores his favorite toys completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19358" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T17:42:50.990" LastActivityDate="2020-12-07T17:42:50.990" Title="2 kittens always fighting and not playing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-12-08T14:44:21.377" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-07T19:27:23.853" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found some dry shampoo in my bathroom and I thought my mom bought it when she went to the grocery store last week. However, after I used it on my sister's cat I noticed it expired 12 years ago and I don't know what to do. I just wanted him to stop smelling like a dead fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19361" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-07T19:58:22.023" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T01:35:13.127" Title="How long can I use dry shampoo for cats after it expired?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;bathing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29218" CreationDate="2020-12-08T01:30:32.860" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Expired or not, &lt;strong&gt;do not use dry shampoo on your cat&lt;/strong&gt;. Depending on how long ago you applied the shampoo, try wiping it off with a damp cloth to get as much product off as you can. Your cat may be fine, but please watch her closely the next few days and take her to the vet at any sign of discomfort or illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats (breed or ability exceptions) bathe themselves and don’t require a water bath like dogs do. They bathe by licking their fur and skin. Dry shampoo isn’t cleaning the cat, it's instead covering it in product that it will then be licking up when it does bathe. It is not meant for consumption, it’s meant as an oil absorber for your hair. By putting the stuff on your cat, you may be masking the scent, but not cleaning the cat and instead potentially causing harm when it inevitably tries to clean the shampoo off its fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat smells bad, try to instead identify &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; the cat smells and prevent her from getting smelly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-08T01:35:13.127" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T01:35:13.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16214" CreationDate="2020-12-08T14:59:48.423" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this has recently happened with one of my cats and our move. I don’t think it’s anything bad, honestly I think Milo is often thanking me. He also loves to drink from faucets, so he likes to make himself heard when he’s thirsty! Obviously you know your cat and I didn’t read all the comments to know the extent of things but as for my similar experience I think our babies are happy for their new homes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19364" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T14:59:48.423" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-08T19:03:25.380" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short summary of my tomcats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bodhi:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 year old;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has been living for 5 months with me;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;checked by vet last time a month ago and is healthy;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he gets along great with me, but he uses his claws if I pet him too much;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he is neutered;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I got him from someone who didn't have time for him and he got him from an animal shelter when he was really young. So I assume he hasn't been socialized well with his brothers and sisters after birth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tenzin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.5 years old;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has been living for 3 months with me;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;also gets along great with me and he never uses his claws when he tries to push me away, if I happen to pet him to much;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;checked by vet a month ago and he's healthy;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I got him from someone who didn't have a lot of room in his house and the previous owner told me he has been socialized and gets along well with other cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I got Tenzin, I first didn't let Bodhi see him for 2 weeks. After that, I slowly introduced them by feeding them close to each other on either side of the door. Later on, it was no problem to open the door while they are eating. When they finish eating, they go into their rooms. So far so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I tried to get them together after that, Bodhi focused on Tenzin and chased him. I tried to get Bodhi interested in treats and toys, but he didn't care at all. Usually he then chases and jumps on Tenzin and pulls out some fur of him. Tenzin starts screaming and I first try to stop them by using a loud noise and if that doesn't work, I use a little bit of water from a spray bottle. After that they are seperated, but Bodhi starts chasing him right away. Keep in mind that they never hiss at each other during all of this or wag their tail or put up their hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a glass door and whenever Bodhi sees Tenzin through it, he attacks the door. My main problem is Bodhi. At the beginning Tenzin wasn't confident at all, but just last week he got a lot more confident. They accidentally met when I opened the door and Tenzin started hissing at Bodhi. Bodhi, then retreated. Which was great, but later on Bodhi chased him again and pulled out some fur again, so I had to stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/EQer0jB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here you can see a video of him attacking the glass door&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you guys have any recommendations on how I can teach Bodhi to treat Tenzin well and not be so extremely focused on chasing him? I think he's bullying him, but I'm not sure. I also think he might not know how to play with other cats. I know he knows how to also not use his claws when he wants to play. Sometimes he tries to get me to play with him and he touches me with his soft paws. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;Here's a new &lt;a href=&quot;https://imgur.com/a/NPefWW5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Video&lt;/a&gt; @Kai&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19365" LastEditorUserId="19365" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T11:47:23.067" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T11:47:23.067" Title="How to make an unsocialized cat get along with a socialized cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29222" CreationDate="2020-12-08T19:36:25.087" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you've mostly followed the standard advice, so I think there's some possibility that these two cats will never get along, and you may need to accept that Bodhi really needs to be an only cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think there's still some things you can try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since Bodhi is reacting even seeing Tenzin through a glass door, I would attempt to work on that first. I would try feeding them with the glass door in between, or with some sort of screen door in between. You might need to cover the glass/screen with some sort of cloth, and raise it over time. The goal is to make sure Bodhi no longer reacts to seeing Tenzin. If you can accomplish this, then you might consider trying to introduce them again without the barrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's very important when you do introduce them that you keep them, Bodhi especially, distracted from the other cat. Toys and loud noises to get their attention are good, but if that doesn't work, then you might need to physically get between them. You could just get a large, flat piece of cardboard to put in between and block their view of each other if you notice Bodhi is paying attention to Tenzin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bodhi probably has too much energy. You might want to play with him before attempting introductions, so that he's less energetic and hopefully less likely to want to chase Tenzin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-12-08T19:36:25.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-09T15:22:45.803" Score="0" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I got a female cat almost a year ago.  She came to my house pregnant without me knowing. She had a litter of 4 kittens and i kept 2.  If she is in my lap and one of the two, now 9 month old kittens mom will strike out and hit them with her paws.  I feel like Jade the mom cat and I have a strong bond, but does she resent her offspring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19368" LastActivityDate="2020-12-09T15:22:45.803" Title="Do you know why my Mom cat is so aggressive and jealous?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-12-09T17:13:27.637" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-09T22:47:36.050" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;We adopted Tabby sisters early this year, and they are now both a year and a half old. They are both spayed. Lately Sheena, the larger cat, has taken to bullying the smaller built cat, Zoey. Sometimes they will fight, and Zoey will cry out in pain from being hurt. I read some things online about sibling rivalry and tried giving them separate eating and water dishes, and we got a second litter box. It seems that Sheena is using both litter boxes. When I feed them wet food in the morning, Sheena will actually leave half of hers uneaten to hurry over and take Zoey's food. Zoey is always looking over her shoulder when eating. I tried putting her in a separate room with the door shut and she ate, but when I let her out, Sheena started bullying and attacking her. They also fight on my bed, since they both like to sleep on it at night. I applied a Pheromone spray on the blanket and that seems to help at night, at least. There is a tall cat condo in the living room and a good scratching post in the dining room. They also have two cardboard scratching posts and one more stand up post upstairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am at my wits' end about the fighting; I can't stand to see an animal getting hurt. Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19370" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-09T23:21:00.043" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T11:20:52.827" Title="New bullying behavior between sister kitties" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29154" CreationDate="2020-12-09T23:52:32.077" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are a good cat parent! There are so many lotions out there that are concerning. You could try making your own hand moisturizer out of coconut oil, or jojoba oil mixed with a bit of glycerine. Have them at room temp and use a wire whisk to emulsify. You could try other combos to see if they work for you. In a pinch, plain Vaseline might work, although it is greasy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19370" LastActivityDate="2020-12-09T23:52:32.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29164" CreationDate="2020-12-10T05:15:26.560" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Croatian Shepherd has an undercoat and a top coat, so it's fairly well protected against cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-2 °C is not a problem in itself for that kind of a coat. It's the wind-chill that causes dogs to freeze to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snow itself is actually a warming layer, so it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just don't let him stay outside for too long during blizzard and he will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From experience, neighbor's dog was surviving outside in his wooden den just fine until the blizzard hit at -25 °C. The wind-chill must have been below -35 °C. He froze to death that night. Note that it was -25 °C the whole week and he was fine. It's the wind-chill of the blizzard that killed him despite being around five years old and otherwise in good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18261" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T19:21:24.073" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T19:21:24.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29229" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-10T14:12:41.820" Score="5" ViewCount="5162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was bitten by not even a month old kitten which is a stray; this happened when I was trying to help it get to it's mom. The bite is not deep and is very shallow, it's like very small dots. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19372" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T14:13:50.327" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T16:30:28.930" Title="I was bitten by a kitten not even a month old, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="17" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29229" CreationDate="2020-12-10T17:58:18.030" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends on where you live.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are living in a western country, chances are rabies is almost completely eliminated. Disinfect the wound as soon as it happens. You will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make certain that you are fine, you might want to follow these steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disinfect the wound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch out for the cat regularly for ten days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it dies, gets into a bloody fight or shows unwarranted aggression, contact the doctor immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are clear after ten days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;rabies is not your biggest concern, tetanus is&lt;/strong&gt;. Make sure that your vaccinations are upto date for tetanus. If not, get vaccinated as soon as possible. It is a painful vaccination, usually causes pain in the muscle it is administered to for a day but other than that it has no complications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are living in a country where rabies occur frequently, contact a doctor ASAP. For additional information on rabies exposure and treatment please refer to the World Health Organisation's &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabies Fact Sheet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T00:11:20.847" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T00:11:20.847" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2020-12-10T20:51:00.493" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the op was reading the FDA article correctly.  I wish she included the link for me to read over myself.  Those recommended vitamin D levels don't sound to me to be for daily intake per kilo of cat.  They sound like levels that cat food manufacturers should include per kilo of cat food.  Big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given how susceptible cats are to kidney diseases, and how their livers process food and chemicals differently from how humans do, I would recommend the slow and easy route instead.  500 IU of vitamin D per 10lb and over adult cat per week would be my target.  Not per kilo of cat; per cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19374" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-10T20:55:54.390" LastActivityDate="2020-12-10T20:55:54.390" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29229" CreationDate="2020-12-11T00:27:52.093" Score="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, rule one for an animal bite (beyond the obvious first step of thoroughly cleaning it and properly bandaging it) is to contact your doctor ASAP, even if it seems innocuous. There are two reasons this is important:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bite wounds are almost always puncture wounds, and puncture wounds are notoriously difficult to clean properly. Because of this, even if cleaned and dressed promptly they still pose a non-negligible infection risk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are all kinds of seemingly strange potential complications with animal bites, ranging from infections with pathogens you would not normally be exposed to (&lt;em&gt;Bartonella henselae&lt;/em&gt; being a good example of this with cats) to stuff that sounds absolutely crazy at first unless you have a background in medicine or zoology (such as non-venomous snake bites running the risk of having splinters of the teeth left in the wound because of how fragile many snake’s teeth are).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as far as risks here from a bite from a feral cat, the three big ones are (note, this is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a complete list, I am not a doctor or veterinarian, and you should still contact your doctor):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rabies: Risk varies based on what part of the world you are in. If you live in a region where rabies is uncommon, keep an eye on the cat for the next ten days, paying attention that it does not die or exhibit unwarranted aggression. Past that you are clear (note though that if it does die or exhibit unwarranted aggression, this is not a guarantee that you have rabies, just an indication that you should be treated as if you do). If you are living in a region where rabies is common, contact your doctor ASAP and begin treatment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tetanus: Simply ensure your vaccinations for tetanus are up to date, and if not get them up to date and you should be fine. Tetanus vaccination is painful for a few days, but generally has no other complications, and is far preferable to actually contracting tetanus, and as long as you are properly vaccinated it’s not a serious risk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cat Scratch Disease: More specifically, the aforementioned bacteria &lt;em&gt;Bartonella henselae&lt;/em&gt;. Risk here is actually a bit higher than it would normally be because it’s a young cat. CSD is generally not serious unless it goes septic (which is rare) or you are already immunocompromised (if you do not know what that means, you almost certainly are not), though it is rather unpleasant. Symptoms typically show up within 3-14 days. If you develop a bump or blister near where you were bitten, and/or develop painfully swollen lymph nodes, see your doctor about it promptly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11144" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T00:27:52.093" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-11T01:18:16.737" Score="0" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hamster is about 5 months old and she won’t stop biting the bars at the opening of her cage. She’s now got a little red mark on one side of her face because of it. Her cage is huge and she has plenty of toys, things to chew and treats too. I don’t want her to hurt herself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19377" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T05:22:00.863" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T08:44:27.117" Title="How can I stop my hamster biting the bars on her cage?" Tags="&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;cage&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2020-12-11T08:43:52.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29226" CreationDate="2020-12-11T06:22:07.677" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is only a partial answer, but I'm facing a similar problem. One of my 2 cats is very sensitive and shy and needs a calm environment to relax, the other is much more adventurous and confident and seems to have fun bullying the sensitive cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal solution is to enforce divided territories for them. The sensitive cat needs a safe place where she can relax and not watch her own back constantly, so she is the only cat allowed into my room (I keep my door shut because of that). She is also allowed into all the other rooms, but she's the only cat allowed into my room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The confident cat feels safe everywhere, so she has no particular reason to go into my room. I don't even allow her in there when the sensitive cat is not inside, because her scent alone would make the sensitive one feel on edge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, when I didn't keep them at least partially separated like that, the sensitive cat was always avoiding the confident one. Cat A comes into the room, cat B stands up and moves into a different room. Cat A sees her walking away and follows her, which prompted Cat B to flee again. She couldn't relax and even became lethargic, which makes me suspect she had a depression or something like that. Now she has a safe room where she can relax without being confined (she still spends time in all other rooms as well as my room).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T11:20:52.827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T11:20:52.827" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26826" CreationDate="2020-12-11T06:39:18.883" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a quick look with &amp;quot;Weimaraner alike breeds&amp;quot; in startpage.com, and found this resource, where someone had the same thinking like you: &lt;a href=&quot;https://weimaranerplanet.com/which-dog-breed-is-similar-to-weimaraner/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;weimaranerplanet.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author likes the look of the Weimaraner, and searches for a dog looking alike, but with less energy level. But as the author writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m afraid I have bad news for you. If you’re looking for a couch potato or lower-energy pup that looks like a Weimaraner, there isn’t one as far as I can tell. But do let me know if you find one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T06:39:18.883" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-11T13:49:55.547" Score="13" ViewCount="5280" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having trouble with my girlfriend's cat constantly hissing at me and swiping at my legs. Wondering if there is a way I can get this cat to like me, or at least to get it to stop this behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is a 4 year old female. It is very affectionate to my girlfriend although this is much more muted when I or any other company is around. The problem is my girlfriend lives in a smallish apartment, so there are times where I have to walk by the cat to get to something and about 80% of the time it will hiss, and maybe 40-50% of the time will claw my legs as I walk by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I am currently watching this cat at my apartment for the rest of the month where the problem is more acute, as there are thin hallways you need to traverse to get anywhere, and it seems more on edge than usual, given it hasn't seen my girlfriend in quite a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There have also been a few occasions at my girlfriend's apartment where it went out of its way to walk over and swipe me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand this is likely a fear reaction, so what can I do to stop it? It seems to have stopped giving me the mean glare in recent days and it is generally receptive when I play with it using its wand toy. I also try to give it a treat once a day when I walk in the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If getting this cat to like me is improbable, is there any other way I can get it to stop swiping at me at least? The cat seems to have an expansive definition of &amp;quot;personal space&amp;quot;, so just avoiding it all the time isn't really an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Adding additional info from my comments below!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither my girlfriend nor I knew what to do at first so there was poor behavior in the past, i.e., I would pet her when she was being affectionate to my girlfriend, which the cat didn't like, and I would stare back at her instead of averting my gaze. Now I don't touch the cat with the exception of it eating treats out of my hand, which I give to her once a day at some point after walking in the door. We no longer have staring contests. When she swipes at me I just continue walking past the cat as if it didn't happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also realizing I forgot to include that my girlfriend has a second cat that I am watching as well. The second cat is fine and has actually been pretty affectionate to me in my girlfriend's absence. The two cats don't interact very often but the mean one will hiss at the affectionate one as well sometimes. The affectionate will also occasionally play fight with the mean one, although I don't think the mean one takes it as playing. (This happens maybe less than once a day on average from what I can tell.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19380" LastEditorUserId="19380" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T22:15:20.080" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T13:21:51.047" Title="Girlfriend's cat hisses and swipes at me - can I get it to like me despite that?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29238" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-11T15:08:39.383" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2-year-old toy poodle named Waffles. He is my joy, and I love him. However, yesterday night, I tried to get him from his pen. Normally he always jumps up. He tried to jump up to greet me but immediately sat down again. I had to pick him up while he was staying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's his back legs. We sat him down and put him back in the living room. He sat there and didn't move. He only moved when he heard the doorbell (tested by my brother), but as soon as he realized nobody was there, he sat down once again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night passed, and he doesn't seem to have gotten better. We took him out. He walked, but he didn't do much but pee once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sitting with him now. Every time he closes his eyes, I feel like I may have lost him. He's just staring majestically. He's probably in so much pain. Help me :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19283" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T15:40:14.893" Title="My Dog's Backlegs Are Hurt To The Point Where He'd Rather Sit Down Than Walk" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29238" CreationDate="2020-12-11T15:38:51.097" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't waste any more time, but take him to a vet! Animals are tough on themselves. By the time you realize they are in pain, they are in SERIOUS pain. Take him to the vet to find out whats going on. Even if you can't afford an expensive surgery at least the vet can find a humane way to help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16530" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-11T15:40:14.893" LastActivityDate="2020-12-11T15:40:14.893" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29237" CreationDate="2020-12-11T18:12:52.677" Score="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use less threatening body language.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it sounds like you've come to this conclusion on your own, I reiterate this point to write a more general answer. In cat body language, staring down a cat is very aggressive and threatening. Instead, if you notice a cat looking at you, avert your eyes, and slowly blink instead. This is how cats communicate they are relaxed and just want to hang out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, cats respond best when you are quiet, but still confident and deliberate when interacting with them. If you are loud, make sudden movements, or loom over them, they will be intimidated or scared. But, contrary to human intuition, being tense, nervous, and skittish when interacting with them will also make them nervous and more likely to swipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give the cat better places to go.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat has ended up essentially guarding certain locations, making it difficult for you to get past. Instead, encourage the cat to be some place else where it will be out of the way and won't feel as threatened by you brushing past. For example, put cat trees nearby, but more out of the way. If it's on the cat tree when you go by, hopefully by being high up, it won't feel as threatened by your going past because it will be more at the same level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might even consider getting a bunch more cat furniture in general, such as cat trees, shelves, window perches, and so forth. Some cats feel trapped and anxious when they have nowhere to go but the floor or human furniture that's the center of people bustling around, and become much calmer if they are given cat furniture that they can escape to, and is definitely just theirs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use toys and treats as a distraction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still need to walk past the cat, then try to get it distracted with toys or treats. Hopefully you could even get it to move out of the way entirely, so you can simply go where you need to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Step up your efforts to be friends.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treat while entering the home is a good idea, but that's not going to make you friends with the cat. You need to increase the treats and playtime, so hopefully the cat will come to genuinely like you. You should also work on actually petting the cat, but be mindful of what I said earlier on body language. Your interaction will not be positive if you are too nervous with your attempts to pet it. Use treats as a distraction, and then try to pet it, but start out just with a little petting either under the chin or at the base of the ears. As you grow more confident, you can try more petting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, you might want to decrease its meal portions, so that you can feed it more treats without worry of the cat gaining weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improve the catsitting situation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you're probably already aware, moving the cat from its home to a strange territory is very stressful. But I also think your situation is even worse than that, because the cat already doesn't get along with you, but it has been forced into what it perceives as your territory. As a result, it's gotten even more aggressive. If possible, do not catsit the cat in your home. Instead, visit the cat at its own home. But if this is not possible, you can improve the situation a little by bringing the cat's things along with it, and placing them about your home. This will spread its smell around, and make it feel more like it owns this space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not use negative reinforcement.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A point I wanted to add is that in a situation like this, I do not recommend using negative reinforcement such as squirt bottles, shouting, and so forth. The cat is behaving this way because it's unhappy about something, and not because it just wants to be mean. Negative reinforcement could very possibly make the problem worse because it could make the cat dislike you even more. Or at least, negative reinforcement will surely make the cat even more unhappy, when the ideal should be to make everyone, including the cat, happy. So when it does swipe, I think your current reaction of just ignoring it is the best approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T06:01:28.210" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T06:01:28.210" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-12T06:29:57.610" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have received a rabbit snail, two golden Incas, and a nerite. I only have a 10 gallon tank and my parents will not allow me to get a filter for it. I am a first time keeper and very worried about maintaining the water conditions, especially since it is not recommended to keep these snails without a filter (and that's quite a few snails in one tank). Also rabbit snails are recommended to have a much larger tank. Hopefully I can soon add more live plants. I plan on weekly 40-50% water changes, avoiding over feeding, and gravel vacuuming almost nightly, but I don't believe this will be enough to keep ammonia/nitrite/nitrate under any control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19387" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-12T11:37:35.140" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T14:27:59.990" Title="How to maintain a snail tank without a filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;snails&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29245" CreationDate="2020-12-12T18:27:48.637" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a Rhodesian ridgeback/boxer mix and he loves to tear apart toys. He'll hold the toy in his paws and rip them apart using his front teeth. However, I don't want him eating stuff like rope threads or toy stuffing, but he clearly prefers to tear rather than chew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there toys that allow my dog to tear like this that are safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm happy to provide more detail. Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19391" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-12T18:29:34.917" LastActivityDate="2020-12-12T20:46:15.077" Title="Toy suggestion for dog that tears apart fabric/rope toys" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29244" CreationDate="2020-12-12T20:24:35.800" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dried skins (I assume most of them are cow skins) seem to be a good alternative. They start out quite hard and stiff, but get softer when sufficiently drenched in saliva ;-). &amp;quot;Soft&amp;quot; being a relative term here, they are still resilient like leather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other alternatives are dried pig ears, dried tendons or other unprocessed, dried animal cutoffs. The skin just tends to be most resilient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dogs are too greedy and try swallowing smaller pieces of dried skin before it was sufficiently softened, which usually ends in retching. Try keeping an eye on your dog when he eats his first skin pieces to make sure he doesn't have an accident...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-12T20:46:15.077" LastActivityDate="2020-12-12T20:46:15.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29237" CreationDate="2020-12-13T00:17:41.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cat lives in a World of smells and catsitter's problem is that he doesn't smell like his girlfriend. Arrange a comfortable (possibly enclosed) sleeping place for the cat using your own unwashed sweaty shirts or towel. Rinse the cat's food bowl thoroughly to remove all trace of washing detergent, then consider how cats place their scents on things and do-though-likewise! Make the cat aware that you, i.e. your scent, is the only provider of food, not just treats. As already noted, you do NOT stare at the cat. An attempt at a gentle welcoming purr by a human may be appreciated or just get you regarded as non-dangerously silly, either is good enough. Causes of hostility in a cat that are not as easily solvable are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A) Cat has a painful tooth/bladder/whatever, ask a vet to check.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;B) Cat is an unspayed female with an urge that no man can satisfy. The vet can fix this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19393" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T00:31:26.377" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T00:31:26.377" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29247" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-13T01:21:06.140" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;First post - sorry for bad quality. I need help fast while my girlfriend takes my pup to the emergency vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 9-week-old female Goldendoodle pup developed a lump this morning and it became significantly larger tonight with black stuff inside. I'm worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OC5yc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OC5yc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Any idea what this is? If it's a super common benign phenomenon then I'd rather not have to waste my money but I'd rather be safe than sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19394" LastEditorUserId="19394" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T01:26:16.610" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T14:23:40.700" Title="Belly Lump with Black Liquid Inside on 9-week-old Pup" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;emergency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29243" CreationDate="2020-12-13T06:09:23.440" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to find a way to get the surface water moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use an aquarium airpump and an airstone or simply use a fan to blow air over the surface of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can limit the number of animals in your tank you will not need a dedicated filter in your tank; the surfaces on the plants and your tank will provide the bacteria a place to live and as long as you can keep the water moving, your tank will be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do not need to vacuum the gravel every day, it is better to do this as a part of your weekly water changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It had been best if you could get a filter up and running now, but you can add this later; until you do, try to limit the food you give each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-13T14:27:59.990" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T14:27:59.990" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29247" CreationDate="2020-12-13T14:23:40.700" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The emergency vet said it's a blood blister likely from fast crawling under tight spaces (bed, couch) with her belly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19394" LastActivityDate="2020-12-13T14:23:40.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-14T00:02:47.253" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, I had way too many crickets in my gecko's terrarium and one of them had been eating away at her tail. It was just a little off the tip and I've taken the crickets out and I'll be hand feeding her/giving her less crickets at a time from now on. There is a bit of bone sticking out, but she seems to be getting around just fine. Is there anything else I should do or will it heal on its own?&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/iMbnO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19402" LastEditorUserId="19402" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T02:39:50.030" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T02:39:50.030" Title="A cricket has taken a chunk out of my gecko's tail. What should I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;geckos&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29237" CreationDate="2020-12-14T02:38:51.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I foster and rescue cats, and the first thing you do when you're meeting a cat that doesn't know you is BLINK. Blink slowly and deliberately, maintaining eye contact while your eyes are open. There will be no question in the cat's mind that you are blinking AT IT, and it's how cats tell each other that they are not threatening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2489" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T02:38:51.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29258" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T14:49:03.000" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guinea fowl (sometimes referred to as &amp;quot;pet speckled hens&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;original fowl&amp;quot;) are birds of the family &lt;em&gt;Numididae&lt;/em&gt; in the order &lt;em&gt;Galliformes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These birds originate from Africa and are among the oldest of gallinaceous birds (an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T15:00:10.947" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T15:00:10.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29259" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T14:49:03.000" Score="0" Body="A bird native to Africa. These birds are often helpful for removing ticks/other insects. Please use this tag together with other tags relevant to the question being asked, such as [health], [behavior], etc." OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T15:03:40.060" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T15:03:40.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29260" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T14:54:04.307" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T14:54:04.307" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T14:54:04.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29261" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T14:54:04.307" Score="0" Body="The process of gradually transitioning the young of an animal over to eating solid foods instead of relying on the mother's milk. Please include a relevant animal tag, such as [cats], [dogs], etc." OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T15:02:21.007" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T15:02:21.007" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29262" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:05:36.070" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T16:05:36.070" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T16:05:36.070" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29263" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:05:36.070" Score="0" Body="Use in questions related to the process of laying/raising the young of egg-laying animals. It could be used together with [breeding] tag and should include other tags relevant to the question being asked." OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:16:53.343" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:16:53.343" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29264" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:06:52.957" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T16:06:52.957" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T16:06:52.957" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29265" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:06:52.957" Score="0" Body="Use in questions related to the effects of the winter climate or winter seasonal changes on a pet. Please include relevant tag indicating what animal is the question being asked about ([cats], [dogs], etc.) and other relevant tags if they are appropriate and related to the question, such as [containment]." OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:12:40.170" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:12:40.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29266" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:08:33.877" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T16:08:33.877" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T16:08:33.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29267" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:08:33.877" Score="0" Body="The process of taming a wild animal to adapt it to a domestic lifestyle. " OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:18:26.277" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:18:26.277" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29268" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:09:53.110" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T16:09:53.110" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T16:09:53.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29269" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:09:53.110" Score="0" Body="Any animal lacking a backbone or spinal column. The most common invertebrates which are kept as pets are crustaceans, snails, arachnids and insects." OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:27:24.837" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:27:24.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29270" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:11:34.837" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T16:11:34.837" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T16:11:34.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29271" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:11:34.837" Score="0" Body="Use in questions related to aspects or problems of owning a new pet. Please use this tag together with a tag indicating what animal is the question being asked about and other tags classifying the essence of the question, such as [behavior], [fear], etc." OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:14:24.507" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:14:24.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29272" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:13:51.233" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T16:13:51.233" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T16:13:51.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29273" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T16:13:51.233" Score="0" Body="A genus of small freshwater fish found in South and Southeast Asia. " OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:20:50.443" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:20:50.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-14T17:03:55.203" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (7 year old female) has started peeing in the hallway, we have had to take up the floor because of a leak, and now there is exposed concrete, and a small dug out channel where the pipes run (this was 8 months ago, still not fixed by the landlord). This is mostly covered by wooden boards, but there is a small gap where you can see into the channel. The channel is about 2 inches deep and 3 inches wide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the last 2 weeks the cat has decided to pee there, in three different spots (within 1m of each other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her sister, with whom she has lived for her entire life, uses the litter tray as normal. There have been no changes to the household, me and the cats live alone. There have been no diet changes, she eats and drinks as normal, there is no blood in the pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took the offending cat to the vet, who checked for infections and he said there was nothing wrong with her. He suggested to put the litter tray over the area she was peeing, so I did. The cat still decided to pee on the wooden board/the channel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used enzymatic cleaner on the area she has peed too, I was hoping this would have removed the smell, to discourage her from going there, but it seems to have made no difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me any hints as to what might be causing this, and how to get her back to using the litter tray? By the way, she still poops in the litter tray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19408" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T18:39:06.590" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T18:39:06.590" Title="How to stop my cat peeing in the hallway" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-12-14T20:07:56.190" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29275" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-14T20:26:28.497" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T20:26:28.497" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T20:26:28.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29276" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-14T20:26:28.497" Score="0" Body="Use in questions relating to causes of, or conditions related to, a pet losing hair when it shouldn't. " OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-12-14T20:36:23.543" LastActivityDate="2020-12-14T20:36:23.543" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29278" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-15T16:24:52.607" Score="5" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tank with three goldfish in it. Some weeks ago, I had to do a 100% water change and had to take the fishes out. While returning them to the tank, one of them, an Oranda, jumped off and hit the floor. There was no apparent injury and the damage to his Wen seemed minimal. However, within two or three hours after falling, the part of his Wen on the side that hit the floor started  bleeding internally and soon completely covered that portion in blood. Four or five hours later, however, the bleeding subsided and the Wen looked almost completely normal, save for the very minor deformity.&#xA;Afterward I noticed that, for the next few hours, the Oranda would swim in circles at the lowest level of the tank and in the same direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the incident, the Oranda's behavior seemed to have changed and now he spends most of the day sitting at the bottom of the tank, which is a departure from his usual behavior as he had always been the most active swimmer in the tank. I was concerned that he may have developed swim bladder disease as a result of falling onto the floor, but he would swim around the tank occasionally, especially during feeding time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also noticed that even though he would still eat during feeding time, he seemed to have trouble locating the flakes in the water even when the filtration would push them into the water. Sometimes he would approach one of the flakes floating in the water only to stopped and lose interest once it gets close enough to his face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some weeks later, I noticed that there was something different about one of his eyes, and observed that there was a small bulge behind it that was gradually enlarging. So I got a new tank to use as a quarantine tank and put Aquarium Salt in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After two days, the swelling seemed to have gone down a bit, and I put him back in the main tank where after a day, he seemed to have gone back to being active, spending around half of the day or more swimming around in the tank and only sometimes sitting inactive at the bottom. This lasted for about two days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, he seems to be back to spending most of the day at the bottom of the tank. In addition, I've observed that the swelling behind his eye has worsened and has begun pushing the eye outward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides all these symptoms, he appears to be pretty healthy and shows no apparent sign of distress and discomfort.&#xA;Could his fall have caused an injury that I don't know about and cause the change in his behavior?&#xA;Would an infection in his Wen from the damage be immediately visible or could I unaware of a possible infection here?&#xA;What can I do the fix his worsening popeye before it gets worse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: I had added some plants to the main tank and would use &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.azoo-aqua.com/product-info.asp?id=98&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; every other day. The Oranda seems to be much better now and is swimming around and foraging in the tank with the other goldfish like he used to. The swelling behind his eye is still there and seems to be very gradually receding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19415" LastEditorUserId="19415" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T03:03:40.530" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T12:51:40.150" Title="Could having fallen onto the floor have changed my goldfish's behavior?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29281" CreationDate="2020-12-15T19:18:16.370" Score="5" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 9 year old cat who stopped breathing well through his nose about a year ago.  It sounds like he's snoring all the time.  We have taken him to a lot of vets and they aren't sure what the issue is.  He's been acting normal other than that though.  Has anyone else had this problem before?  What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19418" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-15T20:18:28.513" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T03:58:30.313" Title="Cat not breathing well through his nose" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;ears-nose-throat&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29280" CreationDate="2020-12-16T03:58:30.313" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of reasons why cats can develop chronic nasal sound. Sometimes but not always there is an increase in sneezing that accompanies this sound. It can be a result of chronic viral or bacterial infection leading to rhinitis and/or sinusitis, fungal infection, nasopharyngeal polyps, nasal mass or tumor, and tooth root infection or abscess to name a few possible causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless there are very obvious external signs it is unlikely your vet will be able to diagnose this simply from looking at the cat. Further diagnostics would be needed. Diagnostic options to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sedated exam&lt;/strong&gt; to look behind the soft palate, to see if there is a polyp hiding there. Dental x-rays to assess the health of the teeth are not a bad idea while the cat is sedated as the maxillary teeth are in very close proximity to the nasal cavity and tooth infections can lead to nasal problems.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;infectious disease testing&lt;/strong&gt; – PCR panels are available from  a number of labs in particular to test for viral diseases, fungal serology may be relevant depending on your location&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;x-rays&lt;/strong&gt; of the skull may provide some useful information but unlikely to give a definitive diagnosis without further diagnostics unless there are further changes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rhinoscopy&lt;/strong&gt; would allow visualisation and possibly biopsy of the nasal cavity. For full evaluation ideally anterograde rhinoscopy is performed, but not all vets may be equipped with a small enough endoscope for this purpose in cats. Retrograde rhinoscopy with a flexible to look at the nasopharynx can often be helpful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CT&lt;/strong&gt; to evaluate the nasal cavity may be necessary in some cases to assess for or rule out tumors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If diagnostics are not pursued, which is unfortunately the reality of veterinary medicine in many cases, then empirical treatment with antibiotics, antivirals, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and/or steroids may be attempted, but the best treatment plans are formulated on the basis of diagnostics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T03:58:30.313" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29282" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2020-12-16T06:34:29.290" Score="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T06:34:29.290" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T06:34:29.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29283" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2020-12-16T06:34:29.290" Score="0" Body="A small burrowing rodent that is specially adapted to living in arid conditions. Found in Africa and Asia.&#xD;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17712" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T12:38:18.637" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T12:38:18.637" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10391" CreationDate="2020-12-16T14:17:08.043" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since they go trough puberty at around 6 months, so you should probably get her spayed at around 6-7 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend you get her spayed at 6 1/3 months, so that gives time to cool down from puberty and it won't be too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing; Cats go through heat about every 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm trying to say is: The SOONEST you can get them spayed is the day after they have puberty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19340" LastEditorUserId="19340" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T01:04:19.350" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T01:04:19.350" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29285" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-16T21:09:03.157" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog was neutered 6 days ago; this picture is of his sight, but sideways. I just wanna know if this is normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JGzbX.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JGzbX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dogs incision site&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19428" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-16T21:22:14.027" LastActivityDate="2020-12-16T21:22:14.027" Title="Is my dog's neuter inscision infected?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2020-12-17T15:35:34.810" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29288" CreationDate="2020-12-17T14:36:41.800" Score="4" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had my cat, &amp;quot;Darien&amp;quot; (1 yr 3 months, Persian) neutered this last Sunday. He is doing okay, he's sleeping nicely, he is eating well as usual, and we are always monitoring him. It has been 4 days since the castration, and he has not meowed constantly to mate like he used to and seems like he is not much interested to run outside like he used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the day of the appointment, when the doctor was shaving his bottom, she called me out and showed me that Darien has only one testicle. And that it is known as &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Feline cryptorchidism&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;. The doctor told me not to panic and that if the other testicle is inside, it will be very small and not worry about it. In the rare case scenario, it may form cancer. Or the inside testicle may descend on its own later on, and if that happens, bring him for castration again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, she told me to perform an ultrasound to check the condition of the problem. Since where I am living there is none for the animals, I am planning to go to another city to perform an ultrasound later when Darien is fully healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to know is in such case, where one of his testicles is retained and is sterile, while the other is neutered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will he be wanting to mate? My doctor told me he probably won't like he used to. But I think since hormones are secreted by the testicles, the retained/sterile testicle will produce the hormones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you guys share some of your stories if you have a cat with this problem?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the retained testicle really descend on its own?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17772" LastEditorUserId="17772" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T15:02:25.853" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T15:40:10.943" Title="Cat with one testicle or unilateral cryptorchidism" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29287" CreationDate="2020-12-17T15:58:57.903" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is likely that there is another testicle inside. It is strongly encouraged to have this other testicle removed – the surgery is a bit like a spay in a female, going into the abdomen to hunt for it. Sometimes they can be difficult to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The retained testicle will still produce testosterone, and you will still therefore likely see many of the unwanted behaviours which we neuter cats for. He may still display mating behaviour, urine spraying, aggression, have an unkempt coat, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, he will probably (but not definitely) be sterile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is extremely unlikely a retained testicle will descend at this age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultrasound is not a bad idea to try to identify the testicle. Unfortunately not finding it on ultrasound does not mean it's not there, so usually a surgical explore is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To assess whether your cat is still producing testosterone (therefore still has a retained testicle), a few weeks after the partial castration your vet can check his penis to see whether there are &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penile_spines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;penile spines&lt;/a&gt; (barbs) present. After a neuter (removal of both testicles), these spines will gradually disappear, but if there is a retained testicle producing testosterone they will not. There are blood tests to assess testosterone levels as well, for confirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this raises the importance of the pre-neuter exam. Before sedating the cat, it is important to make sure they are the right sex, and that there are two descended testicles. As a vet, if there is only one testicle I do not part neuter them, for two reasons. First, it can make it more challenging to find the missing testicle if you are not sure which side the descended one was. Second, if a second surgery is not performed to find the other testicle, then it will appear to future vets that the cat is neutered when he is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T15:40:10.943" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T15:40:10.943" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29291" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-17T23:41:25.070" Score="2" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a small 10 gallon planted aquarium with &lt;em&gt;Staurogyne repens&lt;/em&gt; as the main plant. My long-term goal is to have the &lt;em&gt;S. repens&lt;/em&gt; cover most of the substrate. The substrate in my aquarium is organic soil covered with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/eco-complete-planted-black-aquarium-substrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eco-Complete&lt;/a&gt; substrate. I've had the &lt;em&gt;S. repens&lt;/em&gt; in the aquarium for more than 6 months and it seems to be growing just fine, but it won't spread across the substrate on it's own. I have been trimming and manually propagating cuttings to spread it around. Is there any way I can encourage the &lt;em&gt;S. repens&lt;/em&gt; to carpet across the substrate on its own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is not an option)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-17T23:57:17.413" LastActivityDate="2020-12-17T23:57:17.413" Title="How to encourage an aquarium plant to carpet on it's own?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-18T02:37:51.777" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat attacked me for first time in 10 months!  Why is that? She is a very calm cat, 10 months old. She never pawed at me before tonight, even when I cut her nails or hug her tight (though she always meows when I do those things). She's never showed aggression toward me before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tonight, I hugged her; she was sleepy, didn't make a sound, and seemed ok, but two seconds later seemingly out of nowhere she made a scary face and noise and attacked my face. I was very scared and screamed; she ran away immediately, but continued staring at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only can guess that, because she was sleepy and I had a fluffy hoody on, maybe she didn’t recognize me for few seconds, but I don't know. She is my first cat. Can you please let me know more about why she did this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19437" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-18T21:16:17.430" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T21:16:17.430" Title="My cat attacked me for first time in 10 months! Why is that?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29293" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-18T02:42:10.840" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lost my cat in July 2019, and after a few months we assumed it was unfortunately eaten by a coyote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days on local Facebook groups I've seen pictures of somebody looking for their lost pets. I was a bit shaken because the cat was absolutely identical in pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat had a chip and I have the paperwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have zero proof whatsoever, but I am thinking about the hypothetical case where this &amp;quot;lost cat&amp;quot; seen on Facebook would be actually mine, from a neighbor that had taken custody and care of him when they found him lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this hypothetical situation, what kind of action do I have? Can I request and identification of the cat (I'd have to be in contact of the person that claims it's theirs)? Can I involve authorities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat had its chip implanted in France and I now live in California. The cat was lost in California. I have not registered the chip in the US, I don't know if there a procedure to do so. The cat was lost once (and recovered) in California before, and a shelter was able to read the chip and indicate that it was a French chip. So the chip is compatible, but it may or may be not registered in public databases (I don't even know if there is a worldwide or unique source of chips and database).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-18T21:14:45.900" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T21:14:45.900" Title="Supposedly stolen pet: what actions can be taken?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29292" CreationDate="2020-12-18T07:48:11.440" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check the cat for illness or injuries.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suddenly and uncharacteristically lashing out could be a sign of pain. Even cats that are normally very tolerant can be very aggressive when it feels you are hurting it. For instance, we had a similar incident with one of my cats when someone tried to adjust its collar. It turned out the cat had gained enough weight since the collar had been put on that it had started rubbing the cat and made its skin sore, and adjusting the collar rubbed the sore area. That was enough for the cat to swipe pretty viciously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, pain might not be caused by a visually obvious ailment. So also keep an eye on it to see if you notice any other signs, such as changes in how much it's eating, or how much it's using the litterbox, or any other habits. Similarly, keep note of exactly how you were handling the cat when this happened. You might be able to guess which area exactly might hurt, if some place does hurt. Or if it happens again, then you might be able to notice a pattern and figure out if it's a specific spot that hurts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously if you do suspect it's pain, then you should arrange a vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any sort of medical problem is ruled out, I would guess that either the cat was startled, or you accidentally handled it in a way that it didn't like. Even cats that are normally pretty well socialized can be very jumpy or unexpectedly sensitive. Sometimes they will go from being content to irritated with not much obvious warning. Or sometimes the warning signs are really subtle. The tail might start twitching a bit, the cat becomes more alert, the ears swivel back ever so slightly, and the cat becomes a bit tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is even possible that as you say, the cat didn't recognize you when wearing the hoodie, or that was surprised by the change of appearance. Cats do use vision to identify their owners to some extent, so sudden unexpected changes in their owner's appearance does frighten them sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-12-18T07:48:11.440" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29296" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-18T21:33:58.723" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom has an 8-month-old ginger kitten that is generally very sweet, though very energetic. For some reason, every afternoon he will run into her bedroom while she's sitting on the bed, jump up, and bite her - always in the same spot on her wrist, hard enough to draw blood. She's not rewarding him for this behavior that I can see - she yells and pulls away, and he jumps down and runs away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not consistently her or the bed - he goes in for some cuddle time with her on the same bed most mornings, without any biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He never bites me, either; sometimes while being pet, despite being initially relaxed, he'll decide it's playtime and grab my hand, but he's neither biting nor clawing hard enough to injure, and I just stop petting him at that point rather than rewarding that kind of behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts as to what might be causing him to act this way? Mom's on blood thinners, so it would be better to avoid extraneous minor injuries!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3156" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-18T22:15:37.567" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T08:24:08.243" Title="Cat biting Mom - hard enough to draw blood, always in same spot on wrist" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29303" CreationDate="2020-12-18T22:31:05.103" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to devise a plan to get a beloved treat-motivated female dog to drink from a baby/puppy/whatever bottle, and I only found articles on the topic of bottle feeding puppies (no information about the elderly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is remarkably brilliant when it comes to food and its acquisition. Right now, she is struggling with cancer as we try various drugs and is dehydrated due to her tongue being too weak to effectively &amp;quot;slurp&amp;quot; up the water from her drinking bowl (at least, that's my observation and inference). She isn't suffering too much to enjoy life (yet), so I want her to have a good quality of life while that lasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She eagerly received hotdog water (the liquid created from cooking hotdogs in a pot of water) via tiny spaced-out squirts from a syringe, but is coughing a little so I think she unintentionally aspirated a little hotdog water. Thus, I don't think the syringe is a viable method of delivery (perhaps I'm wrong and there's a trick to it. If so, please tell me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking is that baby puppies are capable of creating enough suction to draw milk from their mother's nipples and baby puppies can even suck from a silicon-nipple bottle, so maybe (just maybe) my sweet old dog might still have the ability and instincts to suck from a bottle with a nipple on top. I bought a (human) baby bottle at the store, filled it with hotdog water, and swished the end of it in hotdog water. My dog licked it and even bit down on it, but I don't think she ever tried to suck it (or, maybe, she wasn't able to suck it. I don't know). Obvious problems include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting a nipple of the right size and shape. She is a full-grown dog, so puppy nipples are not going to work. Do I just get a kit with a hundred different nipple shapes and sizes and try each one, or is there a better way?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting her to suck the bottle. What else can I do other than swishing the tip in hotdog water? One thought I had was buying a puppy-milk formula and trying to get her to drink that in the (far-fetched) hope that it might trigger her sucking instinct. Other than that, I'm out of ideas and would appreciate any suggestions/advice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I'm not feeding her hotdog water all the time (though, she does receive the leftover hotdogs). I'm only using the hotdog water to train her how to use the equipment. Once she learns how to use the equipment, I'm confident that she will be able to receive regular water because she's a very smart dog and surprisingly aware of what is really going on, including the fact that I am trying to help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19441" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T01:44:22.460" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T20:26:03.530" Title="Bottle Feeding A (Smart) Elderly Dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18839" CreationDate="2020-12-19T05:23:09.693" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am completely blind and I have to say cats are very easy to take care of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a good quality &lt;strong&gt;litter&lt;/strong&gt;, you just have to scoop out the clumps every day which are very easy to feel and hear on the scooper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Feeding&lt;/strong&gt; them and giving them fresh water is very easy especially if you have a specific cup or something that you fill up to put in their dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats will let you put a collar on them with a &lt;strong&gt;bell&lt;/strong&gt; making it easier to hear them. However, my cat doesn’t like wearing collars but I can still hear her anyway. She likes to cuddle but she is still very independent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most cats do not like to &lt;strong&gt;travel&lt;/strong&gt; and get very stressed out when you have to take them places. If you get a kitten you could probably get it accustomed to doing this though. But most cats are fine being left home alone for a few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19442" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T10:14:45.087" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T10:14:45.087" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29296" CreationDate="2020-12-19T06:23:59.980" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best guess is the cat is getting hyper, then because it's hyper, it's trying to get attention by biting.  If this is the explanation, then your mother might be a particular target due to her habits being coincidentally and unfortunately conducive to the behavior. By that I mean, maybe her usual spot is a convenient location for her to be a target, or perhaps while you quickly notice the cat and play with it, she is failing to notice quickly enough to satisfy it, which makes it want to use the bad habit of biting to get her attention, or something like that.  At any rate, cats definitely are smart enough to learn different people's habits, and interact differently based on what they know of the person they're attempting to interact with. As for how to deal with this problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play with the cat more.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more you tire your cat out, the less it'll randomly become hyper. Cats often run on a predictable schedule, wanting food, sleep, and play at certain times, which is probably why you've noticed these incidents usually happening at a certain time of day. Use that to your advantage and play with the cat starting at or a little bit before that time of day your cat tends to start its routine of running into the bedroom and biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keep your reactions to a minimum.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is an attention-seeking thing, then any reaction might be encouraging it. I realize that it's not possible to completely not react to getting bitten, but try the best you can manage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Learn your cat's tells so you can be more proactive with play.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Closely observe your cat for a while to see if you can observe any signs or patterns that you can look for that means it's getting hyper. Cats often get the most hyper around mealtime, for example. Or you might observe some particular body language that indicates it's getting hyper.  For example, you might notice the cat is stalking you or tracking you with its eyes. You might even try experimenting by playing with it at various times, and with the cat in different moods, and taking mental notes on when it reacts the most to your attempts to play. All this is so you will know your cat's signs better, and then later when you notice those signs, you'll know to get the toys out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T08:24:08.243" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T08:24:08.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17015" CreationDate="2020-12-19T11:08:23.610" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The relationship of your cat is fixable, I can relate some of the incidents happened with me. I adopted a kitten who was wandering in the streets, probably 3.5 month old, I gave her all necessary thing she needed,  we had become friends and after a month she started peeing in the bed and on my clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest I am a very short tempered guy, and I lose control when I'm angry. However, I controlled my anger 2 times after that I couldn't take it. I grabbed her from the ears and slapped her, then locked her in the bathroom with the litter box.&#xA;This happened 3 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She became scared of me and whenever I came towards her, she would run away.&#xA;I felt really bad, and I thought why did I hurt her, she doesn't even know what was her punishment. So I thought that I should improve.&#xA;So after what happened, these were some measures I took:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I decided not to touch her for about 2 weeks no matter what happened.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gave her food from my hands.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always keep her busy with toys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In  2 weeks we improved our relationship,  she started sitting on my lap, licking my hand and face. After that I petted her and kissed her in the cheeks.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;She is 2 years old and it's like we are best friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think you should give your cat some space, and try giving food with your hand without provoking her. And you'll be good to go in some weeks. Also, whenever you get angry just count till 30 and never hurt your cat again, so her trust doesn't break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19443" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T20:56:21.107" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T20:56:21.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17015" CreationDate="2020-12-19T17:28:22.357" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stig Tore gave a great answer but only to augment it: Don't forget about extending fingers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your cat is comfortable with your presence, i.e., doesn't run away at the sight of you, extend your index finger to her and check if she sniffs it. Sniffing your finger is a sign of consent for cats as if they give you permission to touch them. Only then you can touch her but still be gentle. Just touch her head and her chin, never her paws or her back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't pick her up for whatever reason, I have never seen a cat that likes being picked up. Some of them tolerates it, but they don't like it regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T17:28:22.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29302" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-19T17:51:24.950" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a rabbit from pet store and it's been a week that my rabbit hair has changed. It looks like the hair around the mouth, nose and stomach is dirty and wet and it's not getting better. It is just increasing every day, it's making my rabbit really tired and it also smells bad. I feel like it's an infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3rXF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3rXF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have chickens in the yard and sometimes I let my rabbit play in the yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He always trying to clean himself and he shakes his body a lot.&#xA;I have two more rabbits and I don’t know whether I should put them together or not because maybe it could transfer to other rabbits.&#xA;Sometimes I feel it’s only dirty and I have to wash it, but I don’t know if it's safe to wash him or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know what is this and how I can treat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19446" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T18:20:23.093" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T18:20:23.093" Title="My rabbit's hair looks wet and dirty and it’s getting worse" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29297" CreationDate="2020-12-19T19:13:58.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, you're working under a completely wrong assumption: that sucking milk from a teat or a bottle is less work for the tongue than lapping up water from a bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies don't have the muscles necessary to suck from a nipple in their lips. Instead, they curl their tongue around the nipple in a U-shape and suck the liquid with their tongue, as opposed to their lips. And they can create quite a lot of suction like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Nipple size&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nipple must be the correct size in relation to your dog. Puppies are tiny, so they need tiny nipples. If your dog is bigger. you need a bigger nipple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nipple must fit between the canines of your dog and have a little extra room for the tongue to wrap around it. I doubt the shape makes much of a difference, but I would go with straight and tubular, if available (basically an oversized puppy nipple).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to induce the instinct to suckle?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A funny experience I had with my dog lets me assume that the instinct to suckle never fully vanished. I was holding a CD &lt;em&gt;(for those youngsters around here: shiny disk with a hole in the middle, where music used to be stored ;)&lt;/em&gt; and I had my finger poked through the hole. My dog was interested in the object so I held it down for him to sniff it, but instead he suckled on my finger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only assume here, but I think the sensation of a little appendage poking out of an otherwise flat surface might have triggered it (like a nipple poking out of mummy dog's otherwise flat-ish stomach). He was first sniffing the CD, so his nose bumped into the flat surface and then my finger touched his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could simply take a piece of cardboard and cut a hole the size of the nipple into it. Stick the nipple through the hole and see if she starts suckling. Her nose must press against the cardboard, so the nipple must not stand out too far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she doesn't suckle, maybe she isn't capable anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Is this really the solution to your problem, though?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog already has problems with her tongue, she probably won't have the muscle strength left to actually suckle liquid from a bottle. But then there are human babies with a similar lack of strength, so you can use some baby bottle hacks for your dog as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead of having a hole in the tip of the teat, carefully cut an X into the tip with an X-Acto knife. That still holds the liquid without (much) leaking but makes sucking much easier due to the big opening. It should also release some liquid if she bites instead of suckling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poke a second tiny hole into the top (!) of the teat at the very edge where it's connected to the bottle. That second hole will allow air to be sucked into the bottle while the liquid is being sucked out, reducing the negative pressure inside and thereby the force you need to suck more liquid out. Many modern teats already include this second hole, my parents still had to poke it themselves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware that both hacks combined may lead to leaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Alternatives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of syringe you describe is hard to control. A rubber balloon syringe or baster syringe is much easier to control and far less likely to cause aspiration. Just make sure to never use a glass syringe! They are available in plastic, metal and silicone as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Viqjlm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Viqjlm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;turkey baster syringe&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Turkey baster syringe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be easier for her to drink from a source at eye level and let the water trickle down her throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One idea is the type of water dispensers commonly used for small mammals like rabbits or chinchillas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q8Glq.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q8Glq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pet water dispenser&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Small pet water dispenser&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that they only work up to a certain size and even the biggest size is probably too small for your dog. But it never hurts to try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea is to put a cat water fountain at her nose level so she can lap the water from a higher point than the ground. Since these include a water pump that is close to impossible to clean, I wouldn't fill it with anything but clean water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zXonfm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zXonfm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;cat water fountain&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Cat water fountain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-19T20:26:03.530" LastActivityDate="2020-12-19T20:26:03.530" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-20T00:59:41.953" Score="1" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;In August, I adopted a one year old female cat. My first cat is a three year old female, who I’ve had for over a year. I’ve been going slow with their introduction, but we keep getting stuck at the step where I introduce them face to face. I have a baby gate up in the new cat’s room (my office) and whenever she gets close to the gate, my older cat will hit her through the gate. At night, I let the new cat roam the house (since she was getting antsy and always trying to escape her room to look at the rest of the house), and I keep my first cat in my room. Whenever the new cat comes near the door, my resident cat dives under the door to swat at her. Whenever I let them close to each other, my first cat will almost immediately start swiping at the new cat, who just hisses and presses her ears back. She never retaliates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been trying give them positive associations with each other by giving them treats on either side of a door with a small crack, which has been making my new cat more open to my older cat. They’ll eat peacefully until the treats run out and then my older cat will start swiping again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it’s territorial aggression. Whenever my older cat has some sort of encounter with my new cat, she’ll start viciously rubbing her scent on everything near her. I’ve tried the Feliway near the door to the new cats room, but it didn’t seem to have an effect and my older cat would continue to swipe at my new cat. I’m not sure what to do to get my older cat to tolerate the new cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My older cat hasn’t yowled or hissed at the scent of the new cat since the first week she was here, she doesn’t get upset being in the new cat’s room (just starts rubbing herself on everything), but just can’t seem to stand the sight of her. There hasn’t been any blood drawn or injuries because my resident cat doesn’t seem to be using her claws, and my new cat is warming up to the older cat because she tries to seek her out during her active hours, but my older cat is just not accepting her. What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Both of them are spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit (01/09/21): I've been draping a blanket over the gate so the girls can't see each other during the day and have been taking constant breaks out of my work day to spend time with my resident cat, so she won't get jealous. At night, my resident cat seems less aggressive with how she swipes under the door at the new cat. They also seem to be playing with each others paws under the door. In reply to the comment suggesting to go back to the step where I'm swapping their scents, they still don't react to each other scents, both on a cloth and around the house; they sorta just sniff whatever it is and keep moving. I've started giving them treats on either side of my bedroom door in the morning with just a crack in the door. I know this is going to take time, but am I heading in the right direction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19447" LastEditorUserId="19447" LastEditDate="2021-01-10T02:05:03.803" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T02:05:03.803" Title="Resident cat still attacking new cat after 4 months. Help?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29306" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29321" CreationDate="2020-12-20T01:40:31.103" Score="14" ViewCount="3642" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am preparing to adopt a puppy. I have done a lot of research, and keep hearing about puppy mills and such. I am considering a Goldador (mixed-breed), and the breeders are relatively few and far between. So I cannot simply drive to them to check them out. This means I can only judge them by their online presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breeder that I am currently leaning towards has a few things that make me wonder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They do not let you pick your own puppy. Instead, they will ask you questions, and try to choose a puppy that matches well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are significantly more expensive than other breeders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their website has no pictures of the dogs' living quarters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are no online reviews of them, except for their own website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of these red flags?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also have some things that make me trust them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They list the health details of each parent on their website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They require an application to adopt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They offer puppy training (at an additional cost).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some red flags I should keep an eye out for? What questions should I ask the breeder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3383" LastEditorUserId="3383" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T02:17:16.773" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T20:42:13.150" Title="How can I tell if a breeder is ethical?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7502" CreationDate="2020-12-20T02:13:43.877" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend not using the feeder anymore. Maybe get a timed feeder so the kitten eats 3 meals a day but isn’t getting too much food. And definitely talk to your vet about anything abnormal! Cute kitten though!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19448" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T02:13:43.877" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-20T07:09:42.263" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don’t see any red flags - in fact, some of the points in your first list are what I would consider pros not cons. Let’s go through them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They do not let you pick your own puppy. Instead, they will ask you questions, and try to choose a puppy that matches well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies, like people, have different personalities, temperaments and traits, yes, even from the same litter. A good breeder will be able to recognize them very early and will strive to match applicants and dogs. It simply doesn’t make sense to place the most sensitive and timid puppy with the family with four rambunctious kids and a loud and hectic lifestyle or a dominant dog with the elderly lady who just wanted a peaceful companion just because someone fell in love with the specific pup. At worst, this may even mean that even someone high on the priority list of applicants ends up empty handed and the puppy goes to someone further down if it appears a significantly better fit.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;When we applied for our puppy (GSD, working line, some Schutzdienst champions in the ancestry, so not entirely uncomplicated), the breeder asked me after the first visit whether we had a favorite and we had two “not this one” candidates - the two with the most drive and dominance. She confirmed that she would never have given them to us either. When we finally picked one, it was the one that she’d had in mind for us right from the start.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Conclusion: Not a red flag, rather a plus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are significantly more expensive than other breeders.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supply and demand? And if they have just a litter every few months or years, that’s not much money for them. Good vet care and good dog keeping are expensive and time consuming. Higher prices also keep the “bargain hunters” away. If the first question of a buyer is “how much?”, many reputable breeders will see that as a red flag and decline immediately.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Conclusion: Not a red flag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Their website has no pictures of the dogs' living quarters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That may be personal preference - for example if you are keeping your dogs in your living room, you may not be comfortable to post your private space for everyone to see. Or it’s just not “photogenic” - and dogs couldn’t care less about it. On the other hand, pretty pictures don’t necessarily mean much either, as Instagram etc. have taught us. I always would insist on meeting with the breeder and the dogs at their place. Then you will see and sense for yourself whether it’s a good fit or not (see also first bullet point). Don’t be afraid to say “no thanks”, if your gut feeling is bad, no matter how far you have traveled or how excited you are to get a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are no online reviews of them, except for their own website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a puppy, not a coffee machine. We are talking about a very limited number of dogs, so the number of people that could have posted reviews (where, btw.?) is also limited. They are probably more busy with training, walking and loving their dogs than writing reviews. In my opinion, it’s the other way around: Lots of reviews would make me wonder how many puppies they have produced and why they need the advertising. Good kennels are known by word of mouth (we had a few inquiries about our puppy’s line and origin already) and if they breed for a specific use, by the achievements of their dogs. Memberships in reputable organizations is also a plus, certifying that the kennel for example mates only health dogs and monitors the health of their offspring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest red flag for me is any kind of sales focus - when a breeder is more interested in selling a puppy than in their future home. If they don’t ask questions about you, your life and circumstances and your plans with the dog (don’t lie, remember you want a good fit - we were clear that we would be working with our dog, also depending on his fortes, but not necessarily compete in Schutzdienst, no matter how successful his ancestors were). Ask whether they will be available for questions in the future. Some kennel have “reunions” or keep up otherwise with their doggy clan. Some contracts also include a passage that if you sell the dog within a certain time frame, the breeder gets  the right of first refusal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T08:01:39.000" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T08:01:39.000" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-20T10:20:04.427" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/29308/12501&quot;&gt;Stephie's answer&lt;/a&gt; is spot-on in every regard. This seems like a trustworthy breeder who has the wellbeing of their puppies in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small addition to the aspect that they chose your puppy for you: There are standardized character assessment tests that are backed by scientific studies. A good breeder will ask you questions to find out what you expect and need from a dog and then choose the puppy that best fulfills your expectations and needs. You can read more about it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28529/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;. The link also includes a questionnaire for potential adopters and character assessment manuals for puppies and adult dogs. If you want, you can fill out the questionnaire on your own and provide the breeder with the answers, but also ask informed questions on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, I would suggest scheduling a video chat with the breeder. They might not be comfortable publishing pictures of their homes on the internet, but they might agree to show you their dogs' housing in a video chat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use this opportunity to ask the breeder some important questions that also allow you to assess their trustworthiness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How old will the puppy be when you adopt it? If it's less than 7 weeks old, that's a red flag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will the puppy be vaccinated? Will you get the paperwork proving that it's vaccinated? If they claim to vaccinate their puppies but there won't be any paper proving it, that's a red flag.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ask them what kind of socialization they provide for the puppies. If the breeder doesn't know what &amp;quot;socialization&amp;quot; is, it's a red flag. The puppies should at least meet some people and dogs that are strangers to them and optionally be confronted with strange objects and situations like exploring the inside of a car or walking over a metal sheet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T13:10:16.713" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T13:10:16.713" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-20T15:45:34.100" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is my bearded dragon having these dark colors? This is 3 weeks after he has shed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qY6tF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qY6tF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19450" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T16:57:00.803" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T16:57:00.803" Title="Why is my bearded dragon having these colors?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29305" CreationDate="2020-12-20T17:05:19.930" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cats are definitely not ready for meeting face to face. Since the one cat is territorially rubbing as a reaction to the other, I think you should step back to the point of just getting them used to each other's scents, and not attempt for them to get near each other until they seem okay with the smells. There's a couple steps to doing this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Swap the cats' belongings. It should be something that's definitely well used by the cat. It can be a scratcher or a bed, or whatever. Place it in a spot the other cat hangs out a lot in, and let the cat discover it and explore this new smell in its own time.  Swap more belongings over time, to help them start to mix their scents together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Swap who's in the room. Put your new cat in a bathroom, and open the door to its room.  Let your first cat come into the new cat's room on its own terms. Once it is in the room, shut the door, and let your new cat into the rest of the house to explore and spread its scent. Once you start swapping, you want to keep swapping them until you finally succeed in getting them to share space. You should also be doing the swaps pretty regularly, like once a day, so that neither has a chance to make its smell overwhelm the other's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you get to a point where the cats seem perfectly comfortable with the smell, then you can return to the idea of feeding them on either side of a closed door. However, do not just start feeding them right by the door. Rather, give some space between them. They should be far enough apart that they aren't attempting to get each other under the door. Observe them as they eat, and over time, gradually decrease the space between. If you sense they get too tense or wanting to swipe from getting too close, then step it back again. Hopefully eventually you'll be able to feed them very close to each other with no reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the point where you can try letting them actually see each other through the baby gate. Do the feeding routine on either side of the gate, much like before, but you'll need to reset their bowls back to being far apart. I've also heard the advice of draping a cloth over the gate so that they can't see very much of each other at first. Then, over time, work on raising the cloth and bringing them closer together, again keeping a close eye and stepping them back if you feel it is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully after all this they will finally be ready to actually start sharing space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2020-12-20T17:05:19.930" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-20T20:26:41.737" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a baby ball python about a month ago. He was born in August and has never taken food. I have assist fed him a number of times, which I don’t particularly like doing as it causes him stress. I have tried baby rats, pinkies, fluffies, etc. I have tried different tricks I have been told about: putting a hair dryer to the mouse, hot water, even rolling the mouse in tuna. Nothing works! What shall I do? He has never been interested. He just seems scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19455" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-20T20:29:16.840" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T10:30:30.627" Title="Baby ball python has never taken food" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6891" CreationDate="2020-12-21T05:13:49.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;my dog does this also. He's a Malamute/Lab. He won't poop for my boyfriend, who adopted him with me. I do most of the walking and training like your girlfriend does. I'm also home more. Certain types of dog have more of an individualistic and willful personality, and huskies are one. It very well could be that your dog sees your girlfriend as more reliable than you because she works from home and does most of the walking. It sucks to hear, but my dog is also picky about reliability. He legitimately will pay less attention to me the less reliable I am. He'll also start to refuse to poop when I am less reliable. You might see if you can walk her for 10 minutes every day, including your work days, and see if it improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19458" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T05:13:49.907" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-21T08:26:15.913" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Nina is a street cat rescue. She was very hungry and frightened of the dogs around. Her vet said she is 9 or 10 weeks old and I just wonder will she be this much fluffy when she's a grown up. Will she be a long haired cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ou5wF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ou5wF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nina&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46wDY.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/46wDY.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nina&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TKfKT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/TKfKT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nina&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19460" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T08:26:15.913" Title="Will Nina be a long-haired cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2020-12-21T11:43:55.243" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-21T14:51:59.400" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are fantastic, but I wanted to add one more thing in regarding good signs/bad signs with breeders.  Frequency of breeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A given female should generally be bred no more than 3 times in her life, and not right away.  This is to stop on female's genes being to prevalent in the breed as a whole (to prevent inbreeding and all the problems THAT causes) and for the health of the mom.  If your perspective breeder raves about the tons of litters Dame X has produced, or Dame X is only a year or two old, that should be a big Red Flag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: I have heard the &amp;quot;preferred&amp;quot; method is litters at 3, 5, and 7 for a given Dame.  This gives the Dame time to hit full growth and show she's &amp;quot;worthy&amp;quot; of breeding, and spaces out the litters to maximize the dame's health.  Naturally this timeline varies somewhat based on breed but the general concept of &amp;quot;wait until mom is old enough to have most health things figured out and is full grown, and make sure there's enough time between litters to let mom fully recover&amp;quot; is universal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said I concur with the other answers that your breeder (by your description) is showing 0 red flags, and that the &amp;quot;can't pick your own puppy&amp;quot; thing is actually a positive sign rather than a negative one.  After all, your hourish with the litter is nowhere near as useful as the breeder's 2-3 months! For example, if you want an active outgoing pup and show up when the most active outgoing puppy in the litter is feeling sleepy and just wants to nap, you wouldn't know that it's normally a bundle of energy.  But if you wanted a laid-back puppy and got the napper you'd be in for a rude surprise!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19466" LastEditorUserId="19466" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T15:15:52.270" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T15:15:52.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-21T19:31:36.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add our experience with our breeder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, they were expensive ($1500) with a significant deposit. Why? Because the mom got lots of prenatal/postnatal vet care and the puppies got a lot of vet care as well. The breeders were &amp;quot;show&amp;quot; breeders, more interested in agility and show quality. We did have an application and a questionnaire where we were matched with a non-show-worthy puppy because we were interested in a family member and not in the show scene. These particular dogs love to show off, so the agility and showing is not a hardship on them. It was clear the breeders were not making tons of money off of this, and I had the puppy's early vet records to show how many visits they got from the vet. We got verification from the vet that the parents were free from the congenital defects particular to that breed, as well as vet assurance that our pup was free from these defects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We spent several hours at their house, being interviewed. We saw how the dogs lived (inside the house with a big yard, rotating who sleeps in the bed with the breeders and who sleeps in the second bedroom). They got to know us, we exchanged dog stories, etc. We got to know the dogs' temperaments (barky but oh-so-friendly) and they got to show off their champion's agility achievements (which is hilarious because we have one of his granddaughters and she's scared of steps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were able to visit the puppies before they were ready to go home. Because of caution with parvo, we had to bring a change of clothes and sanitize our shoes before going into the yard with the puppies. This was probably over the top, but it was pretty clear that they put their hearts into these dogs and didn't want to lose any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, we were paired and did not pick our puppy. They wanted to place show-worthy pups with show families and pups they were interested in breeding down the line with families who were interested in that. Our pup has a &amp;quot;squiggle&amp;quot; in her markings which ruled her out as a show dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once we had the puppy, the breeder spent countless hours on the phone or over email with me, helping me raise my puppy well (she was my first puppy) with lots of advice and reassurance. I could not have asked for a better breeder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, I recommend getting on the phone and talking with the breeder. Listen to their reasons for breeding. Find out how the dogs live (in the house? in a kennel outside?). How much human contact will the puppies have when they are little? Will they be &amp;quot;grass trained&amp;quot;? (Our puppy never used potty pads and only went outside, it made housebreaking extremely easy). Discover their philosophy for pup-raising and dog-owning. Nothing will beat getting to know them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In COVID times, you probably won't get to meet the parents in person (and likely not the father as those tend to come from other breeders--if the father is in the home, that may be a sign of overbreeding), but you could ask for video of people interacting with the mom and try to judge her temperament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T19:31:36.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-21T19:50:49.370" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any kind of &amp;quot;designer dog&amp;quot; cross with a high price tag is a huge red flag by itself. There are pretty much two types of &amp;quot;designer dog&amp;quot; crosses, the ones that breed two wildly different types of dogs together and the ones that breed two extremely similar types of dogs together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type that breeds two very different type of dog together &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; result in something useful (hypoallergenic labrador) but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The breeder needs to have a really good understanding of how traits are passed along, not just textbook biology but having seen a lot of puppies of both breeds and how their bloodlines contributed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are going to be a lot of extra dogs produced that don't have the traits that the breeder is looking for--some will even have most of the traits the breeder was trying to get rid of--so there needs to be a really strong justification to end up with so many extra puppies (especially when there are already tons of dogs without homes).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need some way of knowing which traits you're getting, which often isn't apparent until the dog is grown, so if you're getting a puppy you have to know that you may end up with the opposite of what you wanted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type that breeds two very similar dogs together (this is your goldador) is just silly. In your case, golden retrievers and labrador retrievers are &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; similar that I would be seriously asking what the breeder was trying to get from the cross that they couldn't already find in purebred goldens or labs. Actually I looked at some breeder websites and...well, it was pretty easy since they mostly seemed to have all copied the exact same text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;quot;Less prone to hip dysplasia&amp;quot; or other genetic problems. Not really, labs and goldens are both prone to the same genetic problems, so you don't automatically get that. You can reduce chances of it by breeding two dogs who have long family histories of being problem free...but you can do that with two purebred goldens or two purebred labs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;quot;Sensitivity of a golden retriever&amp;quot;. The personalities of goldens and labs varies more within each breed than it does between the breeds, you could easily find two sensitive-type purebred labs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;quot;High physical tolerance of a labrador&amp;quot;. Goldens are already high energy working dogs...just the same as labs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, they all seemed to be selling first generation golden x lab crosses, which means if they did come up with some wonderful trait it wouldn't be going back into the gene pool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, all dogs are good boys/girls but these particular dogs don't seem to have any justification for a higher price tag than getting a purebred lab or golden or even going to the shelter and getting a dog there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10372" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T21:09:08.200" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T21:09:08.200" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29322" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-21T21:01:20.250" Score="1" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a 60 litre tank with around 6 adult fish, and 6-8 juveniles. They are mostly happy, rarely swim at the surface, and spend much of their time foraging. On the rare (maybe monthly) occasions I put a block of frozen bloodworms into the tank, they eat it very quickly and appear to enjoy the change from bug bites or algae wafers (for the 2 bristlenose catfish). However, after around 30 minutes the fish appear visibly bloated and will swim at the surface for some time. Within a few hours, they will revert to their normal shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it about bloodworm which causes them to become visibly enlarged?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18867" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-21T21:05:23.113" LastActivityDate="2020-12-21T21:05:23.113" Title="Mollys appear bloated after eating bloodworm" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-21T22:23:09.050" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My SO and I have a 1.5 y/o Standard Poodle with a great temperament. We keep her coat moderately long (not show length), so gets brushed lightly several times a day, a more serious brushing session (about 60 min) weekly, and bath/blowdry/brush/trim monthly (2-3h), basically since before we even got her at 8 weeks. (edit: it often takes quite some time because I try to work slowly and methodically, so as to minimize pulling. Sometimes this means working 1cm at a time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She tolerates brushing but clearly doesn't enjoy it, especially working through tangles, wiggling, getting mouthy, trying to get away, etc., though usually after a while gives in to her fate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm the fun dad, but SO is the stern one, and only gives her treats at the end of a session. However, I want to give her treats frequently and randomly throughout the session  -  I'm aiming for variable ratio reinforcement schedule (I have a psychology degree, so I've done the whole 9 yards with behavioral reinforcement, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, rats with levers, etc.). SO says giving treats in the middle of grooming makes the pupper too excited/hyper. But I think her sessions are too long and wear on the dog's patience, making the experience aversive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toy rewarding isn't an option since toys make her go bonkers. She's mostly clicker trained, if that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long should we make the dog sit before rewarding? And is it better to do multiple short sessions or fewer longer ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19468" LastEditorUserId="19468" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T18:43:07.337" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T20:35:08.567" Title="How often (and what type) should I reward during grooming?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;treats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29324" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-22T00:28:15.440" Score="2" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have my tank for about 10 years now. Three years ago filter stopped working and has been replaced with Tetra that was available at hand. It was working fine until couple months ago. It is still working. Only problem I have is that everytime I change filter media and plugin the filter, it is spewing insane amount of solid debris. When it happened first time I lost one of my beloved blood red parrot. Melafix cleaned the infection, but large amounts of solid debris at every filter media change worries me. Any help will be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9486" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T16:38:11.590" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T16:38:11.590" Title="Too much solid debris after filter media change" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;filters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29059" CreationDate="2020-12-22T00:36:27.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bristle nose placos do a good job cleaning out algae. Make sure to get atleast two to three inches large. Perhaps following link would help not down voting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.diamondaquatics.com/blog/2016/5/24/tank-cleaners-part-1-plecos#:%7E:text=If%20you%20do%20want%20a,not%20solve%20your%20algae%20problems&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.diamondaquatics.com/blog/2016/5/24/tank-cleaners-part-1-plecos#:~:text=If%20you%20do%20want%20a,not%20solve%20your%20algae%20problems&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9486" LastEditorUserId="9486" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T15:56:40.930" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T15:56:40.930" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29327" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-22T10:19:19.203" Score="-1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a baby cat who was about 1 month old I think. I can't bring her in our house because we are not in ground floor and some other reasons. I keep her in the parking and she can go out and back in the parking anytime she wants easily. Also I've made her a little house to rest in there and get warm in this winter. But after 5-6 weeks I saw she had pooped in that house, while there is lots of soil around in and out of the parking. And another thing is that I never have seen her lick herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is from DSH race and got medium hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this is my question: can a baby cat (kitty) who has lost her mother, learn on her own how to hide her poop and clean herself by licking? Are these skills instinct or must be taught by their mom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19475" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T13:18:48.827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-26T03:26:34.130" Title="Can an orphaned kitten (about 4 weeks old) learn to clean itself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-22T12:13:54.950" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;One red flag for an unethical breeder is allowing separation at too young an age.  Getting the puppies out the door fast is a bad sign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A puppy should be with its mother for absolute mininum of 8 weeks and even that's not really enough.  12 weeks would be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies separated from their mother/littermates too early have a harder time socialising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related - the breeder should make it possible to visit your chosen puppy multiple times before going-home day, and should never send a puppy without meeting the new owner.  Mail-order puppies are to be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9141" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T12:13:54.950" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10787" CreationDate="2020-12-22T18:44:28.740" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the many great answers given, you may want to provide a bit of the animal's history, in a way that doesn't break privacy; a dog that was rescued from an abusive home, a pet regretfully surrendered when a family had to move and couldn't find an apartment that took pets, and a cherished companion whose owner has passed away will inspire different sorts of placements, and any of those situations may generate the extra sympathy that can help place an older animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I currently live with a formerly-abused rescue dog, and someone who just fell in love with his cute face would have been unlikely to provide what he needed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13263" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T18:44:28.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29306" CreationDate="2020-12-22T20:36:52.613" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other answers, here are some other red flags per The Spruce Pets (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/signs-of-a-bad-breeder-1117328&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.thesprucepets.com/signs-of-a-bad-breeder-1117328&lt;/a&gt;). I've read similar advice on other sites. NOTE: I'm not endorsing the site one way or the other, but the advice here seems sound. Here are three items from that site (in my own words):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They offer a large number of breeds (especially designer breeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They always have puppies available&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They don't screen you in any way--they'll sell to anyone no questions asked (i.e. they don't try to ensure you'll treat the dog well)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also might be able to google the company and see if there are any local news stories about the company. Have they been investigated recently for complaints of animal cruelty or poor living conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A potential red flag (IMHO anyway) is if the puppies are all photographed against studio backgrounds (i.e. staged photos against backdrops) rather than in their actual living spaces, and the puppies are all just sitting there--never an active pose. Not saying it's necessarily an indication of a puppy mill on its own, but on the other hand a legit breeder shouldn't have a problem showing the puppy in its living environment, and a healthy puppy should do lots of cute, romping play that would make for &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; advertisement photos, so if all the puppies are photographed just sitting there... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16360" LastEditorUserId="16360" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T20:42:13.150" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T20:42:13.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9348" CreationDate="2020-12-22T23:55:48.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your country actually helps a lot. USA is known to almost fully eradicate rabies in urban and suburban regions, while it still exists in wild. Apparently, there are 1-3 cases a month in the whole country per year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that makes you safe is that it wasn't a deep wound, it was a scratching, most of which is absorbed by your jeans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal procedure for rabies is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash your wounds thoroughly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Follow the animal that bit or scratched you for ten days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the animal dies, gets into a bloody fight, shows unwarranted sign of aggression or if you can't find the animal, see a doctor immediately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are clear after ten days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I am very sure that you are safe in terms of rabies, I still urge you to be better safe than sorry, because sorrow in rabies means death. Since the cat is a feral or stray cat, I assume you won't be able to follow him daily, it is better to see an infectious disease specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any other developed country in the world, I wouldn't have to say anything else, but specifically for USA, there is an issue of healthcare. It might be too expensive for you to see an infectious disease specialist. In that case, try to contact to rangers or animal control to learn more about rabies in your region and make your final decision accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;your biggest concern should not be rabies but tetanus&lt;/strong&gt;. Not as deadly as rabies, tetanus is still very inconvenient to have. Some people don't make full recovery if the disease progresses. If you are behind your tetanus shots, rectify this immediately. The tetanus shot creates excruciating pain on the muscle it is administered to, but it only takes a day to heal, and you have to do this whether your healthcare covers it or not. Tetanus shots are very essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-22T23:59:47.197" LastActivityDate="2020-12-22T23:59:47.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6730" CreationDate="2020-12-23T16:28:27.040" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Platies and swordtails are OK down to about 55 F , 12 C . Mollies danios and paradise fish Ok to about 50 F, 10 C. But they don't do well at these low temperatures . They survive for over about 3 months  ( winter) at the low temperatures. I do not run a filter in cold weather .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="9804" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T21:14:11.463" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T21:14:11.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-23T17:21:10.090" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is terrified of fireworks. With 1 or 2 bangs, I can calm her down easily by playing or offering treats. But if there are more bangs and they happen quite often, it's impossible to get her to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried desensitizing with fireworks sound from the internet, but that doesn't work. She's not stupid, she knows it comes from computer (doesn't mind explosions from movies and games, no matter how loud they are).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions? Maybe someone has a good idea how to simulate real fireworks under controlled circumstances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19479" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2020-12-23T20:07:33.970" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T10:01:55.490" Title="How to help my dog to be not so afraid of fireworks?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;sound&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29335" CreationDate="2020-12-23T17:58:57.473" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually you would start the process in, say, early summer. It’s a gradual desensitization, where you introduce one scary thing at a time, keep as much distance as necessary and decrease that distance very carefully and slowly. The goal is to never let her be really scared, pay attention to the little stress signs and body language. If she’s uncomfortable for a moment and then relaxes, fine. Arm yourself with treats and your best „Zen“ attitude. Do not try to actively „calm“ her, many dogs will see that as confirmation that something is afoul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step 1 is firework sounds, but if she’s fine with that, you can maybe start with step 2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step 2 would introduce the smell of fireworks, for that those tiny &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_snaps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bang snaps&lt;/a&gt; are good. Have a helper throw them &lt;em&gt;quite far from the dog&lt;/em&gt;, while you are standing (sitting, kneeling) relaxed with her, rewarding her for being calm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Step 3 is going to an actual fireworks display, many cities have fireworks over the summer - although Covid may nix those plans. Now, obviously you don’t want to be smack dab in the middle of the party, but find a comfortable spot from where you can see the show, but be quite far away. Ideally your dog will be happily sniffing around and not paying much attention to the fireworks. (Aren’t you happy that you started the training so early that you can do that before Dec. 31st?)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;If that’s not feasible, try to step up the previous step a bit with louder and brighter stuff. In our country „kids fireworks“ is available year-round, while the „big rockets“ are restricted. So if you need „training material“, that’s a suitable option. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkler&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Sparklers&lt;/a&gt; should also be easy to get, check the party supplies. But please be careful, never let your dog near one and they can damage clothing and spectacles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No matter how well you have trained her, I would highly recommend that during the days around Silvester she should be always secured with a leash and harness when outdoors, and if possible, stay with her inside during the fireworks (but don’t do the “excess calming”, as explained above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastActivityDate="2020-12-23T17:58:57.473" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2020-12-23T18:08:23.130" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;He might just be depressed. Since you left when he loved you, he might just be sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although they are independent creatures, they still need someone to fill their bowls, play with, and socialize with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did you hire a pet sitter or ask a friend to check on him? Pets need someone if you're gone that long. Please add that information to the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it can be a sign of illness, anxiety, aggression, or something else bad. It can also be a sign of pica, an illness that can affect them mentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are some examples of why this might be happening. Just take him to the vet just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19340" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2020-12-23T19:32:14.510" LastActivityDate="2020-12-23T19:32:14.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-24T00:11:28.430" Score="9" ViewCount="2331" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a semi-feral cat that lives, by all indications happily, in my yard. I feed her mainly dry food and sometimes treats. Today I went to get the food bowl and there was blood on the rim and then when I gave her a few treats she likes (crunchy) she meow-cried and didn't want to eat them at first. But then did. Pretty obvious what happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For something like this, let's just treat it like going to the vet is not an option at all. She's not approachable enough to be crated. And I can't afford a kitty dentist regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat survived outdoors in subzero (subzero in °F, which means below -18 °C) temperatures a few years back, as well as surviving a 90 °F (32 °C) heat wave this summer which another &amp;quot;cat from my yard&amp;quot; apparently did not, because I have not seen him since. She's way tougher than you, me, or anyone else who is going to see this ;) and she probably is not out there going &amp;quot;I wish he would give me an aspirin&amp;quot;. But still, I want to help her if I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for food, I had some wet food which I gave her and she was able to eat, but it's going to be impractical not to mention slightly uneconomical to feed her wet all the time. For tonight I ground up some dry food in the blender. We'll see what's left in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did a quick readup on dosing cats with aspirin and it sounds &amp;quot;safe&amp;quot; as long as you do the math correctly. I'd say she's 10-15lbs, maybe a bit more, but to be on the safe side let's say 10lbs which = 4.5kg = 45mg dose of aspirin (10mg per 1kg of body weight) &lt;strong&gt;every 48 hours&lt;/strong&gt; should be safe, i.e. half a baby aspirin. This is in-line with what I have seen on some other forums, as well as what a vet told me a long time ago when I took one of my cats (RIP) to them for ... I don't remember what ... but I can still hear those words &amp;quot;you can give her half a baby aspirin, but the trick is getting her to take it&amp;quot; ;) Also, she's ear-tipped (though not by me) and so I presume she is not and will not become pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how I would dose her: I'd grind it up in the wet food. Note that a vet will advise you against this for important meds as there is no certainty that the cat will eat it all, thus may not get their meds, but this cat will eat it all, trust me. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am also clear that aspirin is &lt;em&gt;aspirin&lt;/em&gt; (acetylsalicylic acid), and not Tylenol, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, etc.; all those things are dangerous for cats and I'm not going to give her any of those.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an animal lover but also a &amp;quot;let nature take its course&amp;quot; kind of person (by the way, an ex-roommate started feeding this cat against my strong advice, and now look who's left with the situation) but ... dang ... it's going to be a cold winter and she needs to eat, not to mention do other cat things to stay warm and I don't want this complicating things for her. (She has decent shelter and is super fluffy and in general she seems fine in the cold, but still.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: I'm going to make this decision and you are not responsible, but any advice/insight from anyone who has good experience in a similar situation would be helpful. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Stack Exchange is prompting me with &amp;quot;similar&amp;quot; questions and it's nice to see others are out there taking care of ferals and semis-. &amp;lt;3 kitties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19481" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2020-12-25T01:21:32.827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T12:14:04.357" Title="Semi-feral cat broke a tooth. Should I give her aspirin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29338" CreationDate="2020-12-24T05:08:48.857" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a veterinarian I would caution against this. Obviously nobody wants this cat to be in pain, but I do not feel that aspirin will provide much benefit and could actually cause some harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, although you seem confident that your cat broke its tooth, I do somewhat question the diagnosis. Unless there is significant trauma leading to the broken tooth, in most cases you won't see a lot of bleeding with a broken tooth. There are a number of other reasons why a cat might have blood in its mouth – recent ingestion of prey, other injury in the mouth (e.g. tongue laceration), vomiting of blood, clotting disorder (such as secondary to rodenticide poisoning) to name a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this cat has blood in its mouth from vomit or from a clotting problem, then giving a dose of aspirin could be actively harmful. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories in general can be hard on the stomach, and if there is a clotting problem would make it even harder for blood clotting to occur and thus make bleeding more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Veterinarians do not now generally prescribe aspirin for pain in cats for a few reasons. There are much much better and safer pain medications for cats. Cats do not metabolize aspirin well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can be confident that this is a broken tooth, or other relatively minor trauma in the mouth, and that this cat is otherwise healthy, a single appropriate dose of aspirin will likely be safe. If you cannot touch the cat, never mind get a look at its mouth, I would not give aspirin empirically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This single dose of aspirin might provide some mild pain relief in the short term, but a broken tooth will likely be a source of ongoing discomfort as long as it remains in the mouth. I understand that extraction of a broken tooth may not be in this kitty's future, but really is medically the only appropriate treatment (presumably excluding restorative options such as a root canal). You can check with your local shelters or rescues to see if they can help, in some cases they can offer financial assistance or other resources to get much needed veterinary care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T05:08:48.857" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29323" CreationDate="2020-12-24T13:12:45.717" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, dogs don't have the mental capacity to connect a reward to any action that happened more than a few seconds ago. If you wanted to teach her a command, you'd have to reward it immediately within a second or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, dogs can learn that certain situations involve treats more often than usual. Some owners give their dogs a treat at the end of a walk. The dog cannot possibly connect the treat to any good behavior during the walk, but it can learn to expect a treat when returning home from a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog can learn that grooming usually yields treats. That little fact may make the process a little more tolerable. Several treats during the session are definitely better than one only at the end of the session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/srep42459&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reward type and behavioural patterns predict dogs’ success in a delay of gratification paradigm&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; shows that dogs can understand the concept of delayed gratification, but most dogs choose to be impatient. In the study dogs had free access to a low quality treat, but could see a high quality (or high quantity) treat out of reach. If they waited a certain time, they got access to the better treat, but if they ate the first treat, they didn't get the better treat at all. The maximum time a dog waited for the better treat in this scenario was 140 seconds (just over 2 minutes) mith a mean time of 35 seconds. Your grooming session is a different scenario, but that gives you some numbers to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use the clicker during grooming. Usually a clicker is used to release a dog from the current command, as well as to signal a reward. You say &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot;, the dog sits down, you click and the dog is allowed to stand up again and eat her treat. But during grooming you don't want to release her from the session. It might feel frustrating to her to hear the clicker but still have to stand still for grooming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 60 minutes brushing session sounds awfully long to me. The problem is not the time, but the activity. Can you remember your parents brushing your hair as a child? For me it was always more painful than brushing my hair myself. If your dogs hair tangles a lot or she picks up burs and other stuff during walks, that means an hour of hair pulling. Her mouthing and wriggling might simply be her way of telling you that what you're doing is uncomfortable or painful. It might also mean that she's simply bored and wants to do something else than standing still to be brushed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your brush doesn't have little drops of plastic on the tip of each prong, it may also scratch and irritate her skin. Experimenting with different forms of brushes might be worth it if you find one your dog tolerates better. There are also special &amp;quot;mat cutter&amp;quot; combs that cut through entangled hairs, but please let your professional groomer show you how to use them properly. If used incorrectly, you can hurt your dog more than with a common comb. You can also consider carefully cutting the tangles away instead of untangling them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T20:35:08.567" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T20:35:08.567" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28245" CreationDate="2020-12-24T17:00:10.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was curious about this because at this very moment I have put bleach into the turtle aquarium and did it by adding a small measure of it, like a cap full, or quarter cup at most, while I had a hose siphoning out all the water.  The turtles are safely out of the way in tubs.&#xA;The tank is 125 gallons, and no way will I empty it, ever, completely.&#xA;However, by siphoning down, and then refilling several inches at a time, the bleach level is dropping way down.&#xA;When I lived in a country where the wash water was contaminated with e. coli and worse, I learned how to batch chlorinate using a cap full of bleach to about 30 gallons.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Washed myself and all my dishes with this, and never got an infection. No more eye infections after that, no more diarrhea, and life was better.  Used properly, bleach is your friend.&#xA;But, you can't let your little charges drink bleach, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time I am done, not only is there no bleach smell at all, but after that is noticed, the water has been changed two more times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever concentration is left after that, is some ppm amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an emergency, drinking water for human consumption is made using bleach.  The recommendation is to NOT drink it if after two treatments there is still no smell of the bleach.  For human consumption, a slight smell of bleach is considered necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, use your common sense.  Do the research.  Check out &amp;quot;water batch chlorination.&amp;quot;  And if you ask me, turtle skin is a lot tougher than human skin, in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least the aquatic turtles I think we are talking about here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's keep Trump out of this, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19485" LastActivityDate="2020-12-24T17:00:10.880" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-24T21:54:17.877" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten that was born on Thanksgiving. Her mother passed away, so I’ve been taking care of her. She whines a lot and I try to comfort her and she gets scared at first and then comes over and purrs. Her eyes are still shut, but it looks like she tries to open them a little and and shuts them again. I try to feed her from a bottle and she won’t eat. Any suggestions on how to get her to eat and survive until she gets older to take care of herself? She also just tries to clean her face often and it’s usually just her eyes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19488" LastEditorUserId="19488" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T22:08:39.720" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T15:58:00.870" Title="Am I doing anything wrong with my kitten?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-24T23:57:03.617" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My aunt got a new dwarf hamster for my cousin for Christmas. I have been keeping watch until Christmas morning and then I will surprise my cousin. I have put the hamster in its new enclosure, which is really small. My aunt did not know, so please do not be frustrated. The hamster has been very inactive and has been staying in place for most of the day. This is the second day of the hamster being here. Is it possibly sick, considering the lack of movement? He has been in his little tube, just sitting there sleeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19489" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-24T23:59:38.093" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T09:16:40.380" Title="My new hamster is inactive" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-25T01:10:17.490" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I saw my dogs playing with something in my yard.  It turned out to be a very large spotted salamander (about 10-11 inches long).  It was frozen solid, and I assumed it was either already dead, or frozen and would wake back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I brought it inside so my dogs wouldn't kill it, and I felt bad just burying it back in mud to continue its hibernation. It is now awake and moving around fairly normally.  It doesn't appear that my dogs actually hurt it (as far as I can tell so far).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's going to be too cold for it to burrow again over the next few weeks, so I'm thinking about trying to create a habitat for it, and possibly keeping it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've placed some worms/dirt/water in its temporary habitat, but I don't think it's completely thawed yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is there anything I should watch out for while it's coming out of a frozen state?  Will it eat soon?  I've never had a reptile, but I've started reading a lot, and I already have something I can turn into a habitat for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in Alabama, so it doesn't stay incredibly cold outside, and if I need to release it again, it would have some time to dig back into the ground before it freezes again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7470" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-25T23:10:23.423" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T23:10:23.423" Title="Spotted salamander hibernation interruption care" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;amphibians&gt;&lt;winter&gt;&lt;salamanders&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29345" CreationDate="2020-12-25T09:16:40.380" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It could be sick but not necessarily.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters are usually depressed once they are moved to a new enclosure. Smell is their primary sense so when they don't recognise the smell around them, they are upset. Once they are depressed, they get in their nest and stay there for very long periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, you said it is a very small enclosure, which probably further pushed the poor creature into depression. EU requires the base area of the cages to be 0.12 square meters with a height of at least 30 cm. These are the minimum, not optimum values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, when you move a hamster, carry some of the woodshavings from its old enclosure to the new one, to carry some familiar smell to the new cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry, depression is not permanent. Give him plenty of food and napkins/tissue papers to build his own nest. He will eventually get used to his new surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that your hamster is back to its proper enclosure and make sure that it is not too small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T09:16:40.380" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29338" CreationDate="2020-12-25T12:14:04.357" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just took mine in for an extraction because they were sitting there with their tongue sticking out, drooling, and I noticed a missing K9, otherwise I'd of had no idea. I have a bottle of Tramadol but I didn't even bother because I know they won't eat it. Might as well be fed and in pain, and not just in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time I could get to the vet a week later, behavior had returned to mostly normal, and the +$400 quote became a ~$200 bill; I suspect it was completely gone already and didn't really need an extraction, but they said they did some stitches and it was worth my piece of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this one's tooth totally fell out, it will heal. If it didn't, it won't heal and this cat will be in pain from now on, and unless you're going to commit to giving it pain killers for the rest of its life, indeed: let nature take its course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T12:14:04.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29344" CreationDate="2020-12-25T15:58:00.870" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m really glad that you’ve stepped up to take care of this poor little thing but you must get her to a rescue center or an emergency vet asap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Newborn kittens can’t regulate their own body heat and rely on their mothers for that. Till the time you get her the medical help she needs, place her next to a soft toy of some sort with something warm in there. Look up Kitten Lady on YouTube. She has amazing videos on how to provide immediate care for newborn kittens. Here is &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/hsUbkKAuVSU&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt; she did about new born kitten rescue. She usually places a toy that simulates the mother - it’s warm, has a heartbeat and is soft and furry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the kitten’s eyes and ears are shut at birth. They only start to see and hear the world about 10-12 days after birth. The kitten needs nutrition round the clock. They also cannot poop or  with pee on their own. It has to be stimulated and mom usually does this by licking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, take her to get professional help right away! You can adopt her after she is a little bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2020-12-25T15:58:00.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-25T18:40:30.263" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember reading that a dog saved a woman from drowning in a swamp or similar (in the US I think) by creating a leverage from wood and the leash. It was told in first-person from herself and I read it on Ranker.com or Reddit. Now I cannot find it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The event, if true, would indicate that the dog has awareness of mechanical leverage as discovered by Archimedes that the force with a leverage is greater than the original force. This might very well be possible since many dogs can jump in the air and catch something in the air which is the equivalent of the mathematical physics of calculating the trajectory of a moving object in the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think it's possible to find the story again? I search online for some time but could not find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastEditorUserId="1306" LastEditDate="2020-12-26T21:17:51.407" LastActivityDate="2020-12-26T21:17:51.407" Title="Find internet story about a dog who rescued a woman from drowning by using a leverage from wood and the leash" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-12-28T14:07:59.263" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29327" CreationDate="2020-12-26T03:26:34.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;A 1-month-old kitty is big enough to know the basics of kitty life such as covering poop and grooming themselves. We got our boy at a similar age and he instinctively knew how to use the litter box. Maybe you should place some litter sand inside the enclosure you've made and see what she does. I surmise that she is treating the enclosure you've built as her house and expects the litter to be inside it. Cats in the wild usually over their tracks to hide their smell and avoid predators. This includes covering the litter and food after they are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2020-12-26T03:26:34.130" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29355" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-27T10:23:27.093" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two kittens at home. One of them, not sure which one, seems to have thrown up twice over night. At first I only saw one puddle, and thought it's soft stool. But upon closer inspection, I'm pretty sure it was vomit, especially because it was somewhat &amp;quot;grainy&amp;quot; and smelled kind of neutral. I later discovered a second puddle, but it was completely clear. I searched some pictures on google, but all &amp;quot;clear&amp;quot; puddles seem to either be yellow-ish or foamy. What I found was really transparent/clear, almost like water. As I'm a new cat owner, I'm honestly not really sure. Is it possible the second puddle is actually pee? My cats never peed on the floor (thank God), so I'm not sure what it would smell like. It smelled slightly acidic, so I thought it might be stomach fluid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, I don't know which of the cats had to vomit, but they're both behaving normally, so I'm assuming as long as there is no more vomiting, I don't need to be alarmed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19499" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-27T10:49:27.897" LastActivityDate="2020-12-28T23:08:41.020" Title="Cat threw up clear liquid?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29355" CreationDate="2020-12-27T20:32:11.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s hard to say exactly what you’re seeing since you didn’t witness the cat making the mess. A kitten may have had an accident, but pee is typically yellow, and you would have noticed a scent. I always wipe up messes with a white paper towel to pick up on any colors I’m seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A clear/foamy liquid being thrown up isn’t necessarily cause for concern either, but do keep a close eye on your kittens over the next day to watch for other symptoms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have witnessed cats throwing up clear/foamy liquid quite a few times. Typically, it’s if they gag on something (either eating too fast or trying to swallow something they can’t), but without enough of it to cause them to fully empty their stomach contents. Basically stomach acid and spit, much like if you were to dry heave. This doesn’t hurt the cat, but is a signal for you to watch what they eat or try to eat. Make sure they’re not chewing on anything toxic, eating too fast, or trying to swallow toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2020-12-27T20:32:11.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29497" CreationDate="2020-12-28T03:51:33.013" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Betta fish has had a white growth on his back for over a week. Pictures linked below. I'm keeping him in a 5 gallon tank and am replacing &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; of the water bi-weekly. No filter because the one included with the tank ran too hard and disturbed the water and the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried in general for his health since even before developing this growth he's never been quick to eat (I give him TetraO pellets and bloodworms). The fish was kept in extremely poor conditions for most of his life and even though they're better now, I worry it may be a little too late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0cjDf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0cjDf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d0BqT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/d0BqT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DFxbw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/DFxbw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19512" LastEditorUserId="19512" LastEditDate="2020-12-28T17:11:38.487" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:59:48.880" Title="Betta fish has white growth on his back. What is it and how can I treat it?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29425" CreationDate="2020-12-28T15:16:25.437" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 22 year old peach fronted conure. I noticed over the last couple weeks that she has been taking more naps during the day. She seems otherwise normal. She has been molting since July/August.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be worried about her naps? What other indicators can I look for to figure out if something is amiss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-28T15:18:41.823" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T15:14:25.887" Title="How much sleep is too much for my bird?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29355" CreationDate="2020-12-28T23:08:41.020" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve had that issue before&#xA;It may be gastritis but it’s not to worry about unless symptoms increase I’m sure it was stomach acid. I have a query abou the age&#xA;My kitten done it when he was 6 weeks possibly as he ate something toxic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19516" LastActivityDate="2020-12-28T23:08:41.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-28T23:11:44.763" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 3 month old kitten and I keep finding hair everywhere. He’s really young, so why is he shedding? Have I done something wrong? However, his coat is very shiny and healthy and he’s eating enough. He has been itching lately and his gums are pale. If I can’t do something my mom will sell him.  Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19516" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T13:28:14.260" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T13:28:14.260" Title="Why is my kitten shedding?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29363" CreationDate="2020-12-28T23:19:58.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perfectly normal, unless the kitten's getting bald spots, then it may be a flea problem. Get the metal bristle pet shed brush for the kitten, it helps so much.&#xA;If the kittens gums are pale, that's a sign of worms. So just keep a look out for those. Easy fix though. Over the counter medications work fine if you catch it in time. Is the kitten blooded by chance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19517" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-28T23:27:37.127" LastActivityDate="2020-12-28T23:27:37.127" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29366" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-29T02:43:38.723" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat is 11 or 12 years old, and I got him from a friend two years ago.  He's been very healthy all along until the last few weeks, when he seemed to be losing some weight and being annoyed at our other cat.  He is still eating his food, but apparently not as much as before.  I've started to monitor his bowel movements, and have noticed a fair amount of clear mucus when he poops, but no blood.  The poops themselves are brown and normal-looking.  He does not seem to have either diarrhea or constipation and doesn't seem to be in pain, although maybe has some discomfort since he wants nothing to do with the other cat.  He just isn't quite his normal self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His food is canned cat food (Friskies).  I was also leaving out dry kibble but will just go with canned now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any similar experience with their cat having a lot of mucus in the stool?  Any tips, vet histories, etc.?  The vet is a long expensive trip away, and with covid around I'm very reluctant to risk a trip.  I'm hoping this is something that will abate with time, but any feedback will be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19520" LastEditorUserId="19520" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T08:14:46.190" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T14:14:51.003" Title="Male cat with mucus in stool" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29363" CreationDate="2020-12-29T06:33:13.850" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once measured the amount of fur my normal 4,5-5kg cat shed in one week, it was 5,45 grams of medium length fur (it is the amount from the brush I used, so the real amount of fur shed is higher than what I collected).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens will normally start to shed their baby fur at 6-12 months of age, some cats shed more fur in the spring and fall and other cats shed continuously during the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For information about shedding in kittens and cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://be.chewy.com/how-to-manage-your-young-cats-shedding/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;take a look here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat's itching might be a result of the shedding, so it is normal. If your cat gets bald spots, you need to get it diagnosed and treated by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cat's gums are normally light pink; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/gum-colour-and-your-cats-health&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here is some information&lt;/a&gt; about what the gums can tell you about your cats health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat changes behaviour, for example stops eating/drinking or hides more, you need to contact your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T14:24:21.147" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T14:24:21.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-29T06:53:06.907" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is about 10 weeks old and is fluffier than other kittens I've had in the past, so I was wondering if she will remain this fluffy or if it's just her kitten fluff. Her vet speculated she may have long hair, but my friend who fosters kittens regularly says she will have short or maybe medium hair. I've never had a long-haired cat before so I was just curious! She was a rescue so I have no idea what her parents look like. &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OR4If.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19522" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T06:53:06.907" Title="Will my kitten grow up to be a fluffy cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2020-12-29T07:47:51.877" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29366" CreationDate="2020-12-29T07:32:09.753" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to do is to get your cat dewormed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat slowly losing weight can be caused by intestinal parasites, as this is a common cause for weight loss in cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The mucus in your cat's stool is a signal that the intestines are irritated/inflamed; this is often caused by intestinal parasites. Parasites are not the only cause for mucus in a cat's stool, as some infections in your cat's intestines can cause this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can get dewormer at your local pharmacy; for an outdoor cat you should deworm him/her every 6 months and once a year for an indoor-only cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat should get better in 2-3 days after giving the dewormer, if not you need to contact your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T14:14:51.003" LastActivityDate="2020-12-29T14:14:51.003" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-29T19:03:45.443" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wondering if anyone would be able to tell me what happened to my cat, Twitch. On December 5th my guy passed away. It was extremely extremely sudden. The night before he was fine and happy. But I woke up on Friday morning and he was laying weird. So I went over to him and noticed he couldn’t hold himself up or move his legs at all. So I made him as comfortable as I could. I was going to bring him to the vet, but I sadly did not have the money at the time. So about an hour later I tried to see if I could get him to drink some water. And he gagged the second the water touched his tongue. Then a few hours after that he started having small seizures. And that was on and off for a couple hours. Then he passed away in the morning on Saturday :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19526" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T19:10:22.613" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T10:04:10.420" Title="What happened to my cat, who suddenly died?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29374" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-29T23:23:59.577" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted this dog some months ago. I don't know a lot of dogs and stuff. What haircut will suit him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9JBg7.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9JBg7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19528" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-29T23:27:03.363" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T13:00:45.850" Title="I rescued a dog from the street. What haircut should I ask for?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-12-30T13:00:02.437" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23783" CreationDate="2020-12-30T01:52:49.130" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a tough question and something I had actually researched often due to a similar issue. Some queens, like 10% or so, lack vital nutrients and have trouble with birth altogether. My queen Phobos I rescued as an abandoned baby (hypothermic, lethal and wasn't supposed to live) 3 years later she is happy, healthy, but a bit evil lol. She was pregnant 3 times: the first she had 4 stillborns, the second she had 2 and 2 but only one survived the first days, last litter she had 1 stillborn and lost her other 3 in 2 days. I had vets highly involved and we'll kept a nutrition diet and she just isn't meant to have babies, sadly. All the blood work showed nothing wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The veterinarian thinks that she was a malnourished runt and her small badly just isn't capable to carry to full term. The reason her only baby survived is because the others in the litter didn't live inside long enough and made extra room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the kittens weren't born alive I don't think the older babies potentially could've taken the nutrients the mother needed, also if the kittens were born healthy the first few days to a week of milk the babies need. That milk cycle is healthy for the baby from the cat eating after birth, etc. It helps the newborns build immunity and has a lot of beneficial effects for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19530" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T02:02:09.333" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T02:02:09.333" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-30T02:05:29.120" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Queen &amp;quot;Phobos&amp;quot; has had difficulty having babies; she's had three litters totaling 12 kittens and only one made it (&amp;quot;Mazakeen,&amp;quot; 8 months old) past a few days. Her 8 month old started nursing again after she lost her whole litter and she just started re-bonding. They weren't getting along for a while; after about four months the momma basically stopped being interested with her baby. Should I just let her continue? It breaks my heart she lost the babies. The vet told me to shoo her away, but it doesn't seem to be bothering the mom at all and they clean each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19530" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T22:56:37.900" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T22:56:37.900" Title="Queen lost litter of kittens and started nursing her only surviving 8 month old, should I intervene or just let them be?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-30T09:34:07.310" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, one of my cats (5 months old) started vomiting her food and stomach liquids. She seems to mainly vomit during the night. Two days ago, I brought her to the vet. They did an x-ray, but couldn't see anything in her stomach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The night after the vet visit, she didn't vomit. I only gave her a very small quantity of food. I usually free feed the cats, but have changed to 4-5 small meals for the time being. Tonight she had vomited again. This time, it seems that she only threw up her food (no second puddle of stomach liquid or anything). She generally seems to eat and drink quite a lot, at least compared to my other cat. My first thought was that she ate/drank too much, and the dry food expanded in her stomach and made her throw up. However, since this didn't happen in the last 2 months, I'm not really sure if that is actually the cause, especially because I gave her less food during the last 2 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the timeline looks something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Night 3 days ago:&lt;/strong&gt; vomit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Night 2 days ago:&lt;/strong&gt; vomit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Night 1 day ago:&lt;/strong&gt; no vomit. This is the day I brought her to the vet. That being said, she had vomited multiple times, mainly clear liquid during the day/before the vet visit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This night:&lt;/strong&gt; vomit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point, I'm not really sure what to do. The only thing that I changed recently is the litter. But I can't imagine that being a problem. Aside from that, nothing changed at all. Same food, didn't move or have big changes in the house either (so not stress induced I think). My other cat, which is 2 months older, is absolutely fine.&#xA;The vet said to give a call in case she vomits again. She said if that's the case, we'd probably need to do an ultrasound to check the stomach again (last time, she did an x-ray).&#xA;I haven't called her yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About their diet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I'm giving both kittens only dry food. The reason being: the same cat that is vomiting right now had diarrhea for a few days after I first brought her home. This was around 4 weeks ago. I had her checked at the vet, and got told to only give her dry food for the whole month, to make sure her stomach stabilizes. I was planning on switching to free-feeding dry food and 1 wet food per day, but  I guess that plan must wait for now. The vet thinks it was stress induced. Her stomach/stool has been fine for the past 3 &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: One other thing that crossed my mind is her maybe having parasites or worms. The cats are not allowed to go outside, however, they both love to play with my shoes. I think it's unlikely, but I guess there is a possibility that maybe she got something from the shoes? I started stowing them away the last few days, just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice is welcome. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to get worried, as my cat is still throwing up. I brought her to the vet 2 days ago (for the second time). They checked her and said the feel something hard in her stomach. They operated on her, but before opening the intestine itself, they apparently noticed that it was only gas, so they didn't actually cut the intestine. They said the vomitting is most likely due to an intestinal infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I brought her home around 4pm. Just earlier, she had to vomit twice again (it's 06:30am now). Not only has she gone through anesthesia and an operation, but the problem is still present....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought maybe the dry food I'm giving her is the cause. Maybe a bad batch? But my other cat eats the same and she is fine, so probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can a cat suddenly develop allergies to a certain food? I've been giving her this food for the past month without a problem, and so was the person I bought her from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can the fact that I only give her dry food be the cause? The reason I do that, is because she had bad diarrhea for almost a week after i bought her, so the vet said to stick to the same dry food and that one only for 1 month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I'm really at a loss here. I'll give the vet a call later when they open to see what they say. If they suggest I bring the cat in again, I probably won't do that, as she has been checked twice already with no results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If any of you have a suggestion, that'd be really appreciated. I'm honestly getting worried for her health here, as she is only 5 months old (and now additionally recovering from an operation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19532" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T20:33:39.750" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T20:33:39.750" Title="Cat suddenly started vomiting food" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29379" CreationDate="2020-12-30T12:11:08.327" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, throwing up can quickly lead to dehydration in cats, so you need to keep an eye on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to give only wet food until you find the reason for why your cat throws up; this is to be sure your cat is well hydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is normal for cats to throw up from time to time, but if it is more than once in a week you need to consult a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eating too fast can make the cat throw up or it might get diarrhea, so if your cat is eating too fast you need to give the food in smaller portions or find a way to slow your your cats eating down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat has not been dewormed you should get it done soon; kittens can be infected by worms from their mother, so deworming is often done at your kitten's first vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even an indoor cat can get infected with worms, so you should deworm the cat once a year and a outdoor cat needs to be dewormed every 6 months or less; it depends on the cat`s hunting skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intestinal parasites might be the cause for your cat throwing up and for the diarrhea earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T14:20:46.550" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T14:20:46.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-30T12:54:59.490" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female cat is pregnant; I also own a neutered male cat. My question is: will the kittens be safe around him or should I keep him away from them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19534" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T14:15:32.083" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T14:15:32.083" Title="Will my neutered male hurt my female cats kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2020-12-31T14:27:53.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29377" CreationDate="2020-12-30T13:43:56.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the surviving offspring (technically it's too old to be called a &amp;quot;kitten&amp;quot;) is female, I see no reason to separate them. Nursing can simply be comfortable and calming activity for cats - comparable to babies sucking on a pacifier or adults cuddling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the offspring is male, you should either (permanently) separate them or neuter him before he becomes sexually mature and inbreeds with his own mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should check if the mother still produces milk. Since she lost her kittens, she should stop lactating soon, but if the other cat actually suckles on her, it might prolong that time. The production of milk requires much energy from the body and may cause malnutrition in the cat. If she still has milk and looses weight, a vet might help with either a vitamin shot or some medication that stops the milk production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T14:17:06.163" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T14:17:06.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29385" CreationDate="2020-12-30T14:17:40.950" Score="16" ViewCount="1824" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never had pets, but recently a friend of mine was in serious trouble and asked me to care for her cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did my best to accommodate it as well as I could. The house is vast, has a beautiful garden around it, and as suggested I bought a big cat tree, toys, treats. The cat has plenty of food, water is refreshed regularly, and I change both litter boxes every few days. The cat gets plenty of play time both with me and my flatmates, and is free to cuddle with any of us at any time. It is even allowed by one of my flatmates to sleep in bed with him at night, although it has a dedicated shelter and all doors are always open, so it is free to circulate around the house as much as it wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We essentially haven't constrained its behaviour in any way. It is free to do whatever it pleases, except scratching the sofa. However, since it was here, we had no way whatsoever to prevent him from doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be honest: reading on the internet how to handle a cat is frustrating. It seems like no form of negative reinforcement will ever work. Every blog post, article or forum question I found seems to imply that good behaviour should be encouraged instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought scratch posts. I wrapped planks of wood in cloth and left them around the house. I put treats in the right scratching places. I went as far as scratching the posts myself in front of it, proposing treats as a reward for it scratching too. No dice. Delicately placing its paws on the scratching post only made it angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrapped the couch in expendable blankets and covers. It still finds a way to remove them, ignoring the scratching posts right next to the couch, and scratch under the blankets instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am frustrated, and I am exhausted. I am not significantly attached to that couch, or any other thing in the house, but I cannot stand the principle that my life should now revolve around a cat, without me being able to put any condition whatsoever on its behaviour. I want to be a good friend, but I didn't choose to be a cat owner, so I am lacking that sort of Stockholm Syndrome some of my cat-owning friends display towards their pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I do to save my couch, calm my nerves, and make that damn cat happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19535" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T14:22:16.903" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T20:20:27.920" Title="Discouraging cat from scratching couch" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29384" CreationDate="2020-12-30T16:07:32.213" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;I totally understand your frustration. Cats are very independent, complex creatures. I imagine your cat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; very happy, you’re providing it everything I would suggest and then some. Seriously, give yourself some kudos for that. I have a few thoughts that may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, cat ownership does require a certain level of “letting go”. When I got my cat, I was fully prepared for dealing with the difficulties of owning a cat, but it sounds like you entered cat ownership a little more reluctantly. I think it’s very cool that you’re helping your friend, but that also adds another level of pressure. All things considered, you’re doing good things for the cat, but should now turn your attention to yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your life doesn’t need to revolve around the cat, bad behavior or not. &lt;strong&gt;Realign your expectations of pet ownership&lt;/strong&gt; and forgive yourself for getting frustrated. Cat ownership does have a level of responsibility and maintenance, but they can also be great friends. You have flatmates that I’m sure you consider friends, but do they sometimes do something that just drives you nuts? The cat is the same way. It’s not Stockholm Syndrome. It’s forming a friendship, or bond. It will come with time if you let it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back to the couch! I do have a few more ideas you can try.&lt;/strong&gt; The cat is just practicing its natural instincts. Like a squirrel has to chew wood to keep its teeth shaved down, cats need scratch to maintain their claws. They are not scratching out of spite or because they’re upset. They may, however, prefer whatever material your couch is made of most. My cat hates cardboard scratchers and will only use those rope wrapped poles. See if you can &lt;strong&gt;find a scratch post with a similar texture as the couch&lt;/strong&gt;, place it next to the couch, and encourage the cat to use that by adding catnip or treats to the post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, there are &lt;strong&gt;cat-repellent sprays and scents&lt;/strong&gt; you can apply to the couch. I have a friend who’s cat always jumped on their screens, tearing them. They started spraying the screens with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/natures-miracle-just-cats-pet-block/dp/51651?utm_source=google-product&amp;amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;amp;utm_campaign=hg&amp;amp;utm_content=Nature%27s%20Miracle&amp;amp;utm_term=&amp;amp;gclid=CjwKCAiA57D_BRAZEiwAZcfCxRffcTlpNnCSOdsAjMra2X2mPltWYcevR71CX9Si8KQUNkwuMKkbsxoCvkwQAvD_BwE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt; spray, and after a month or so, the cat learned not to jump on the screens. Add this to your couch and see if it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct that cats respond better to positive feedback. I encourage you to keep that mindset, but you can still tell a cat no. For my cat, if he’s doing something he shouldn’t, I make a &lt;em&gt;ssst&lt;/em&gt; noise to get his attention off his task and to me instead, and then say “no” and move him. You can do the same. &lt;strong&gt;Make a noise to get the cat to look at you, and say “no” while you remove them from the couch&lt;/strong&gt;. Then place the cat on/near a scratch board or whatever to complete their scratching. No need to force them. Make it a regular habit of removing the cat when you catch it scratching, and have your flatmates do the same. This could take a lot of time before the cat learns, but they’re pretty smart critters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a lot! But I hope something in here helps. Just remember - the cat can be your friend, and learning takes time and patience for both sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T19:37:32.660" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T19:37:32.660" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29384" CreationDate="2020-12-30T17:39:59.490" Score="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're going in the right direction, with your efforts to make the couch unappealing, and provide scratchers as alternatives. You just need to experiment a bit more to discover the right combination of things to discourage it from the couch and encourage it to the scratchers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since the blankets aren't working, try a different method to discourage the cat. Put double sided tape on the area the cat likes to scratch, or use a spray that's designed to smell bad to cats. I've also heard of using aluminum foil as cats seem to dislike the noise it makes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't just place the scratcher near the couch. Physically block the area the cat likes to scratch with a scratcher.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep the cat's claws trimmed as much as you can. The more blunt its claws are, the less damage it can do while you're still trying to figure out what works.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try to find a scratcher the cat really likes. Ask the previous owner if they know of any scratchers the cat likes. Experiment with a wide variety of scratchers, of various materials, and different forms that accommodate scratching in different positions such as lying down or reaching up high.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some tips on trying out scratchers:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, sometimes cats seem to have different preferences when it comes to scratchers than when it comes to furniture, so don't rule out scratchers that you might think are too dissimilar from your furniture. For example, cats might reach up to scratch your furniture, but still prefer floor scratchers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also had alot of success with the destructible cardboard scratchers. I think many cats really tend to like those because they like the feeling of really destroying something. But of course, every cat has its own preferences, so if those don't seem to appeal either, just keep trying until you find the one it really likes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it takes a while for the cat to figure out the scratchers too, so don't take the scratchers it doesn't seem interested in away too quickly.  It took my cat months to realize he really likes the cardboard scratchers, but now he's really good about scratching them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regarding negative reinforcement:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why people say to not use it is that usually it just doesn't work. The cat will continue to do what it wants when you're not there. You'll get mad when you inevitably discover the cat is still doing what it wants, and the cat might decide it doesn't like you as much for yelling or spraying it or whatever. That is why most advice you read will talk about trying to rearrange things so the cat will naturally be inclined to do what you want it to. So don't think of &amp;quot;no negative reinforcement&amp;quot; as &amp;quot;tying your hands,&amp;quot; but rather it's just saving you from wasted effort and frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one exception, which is if the cat is doing a behavior only when you're around. For example, the cat is jumping up on the kitchen counter to steal food when you're preparing meals. But in these cases, try to use as little negative reinforcement as necessary. Like in the example earlier, you don't need to yell or spray it. All you need to do pick the cat up and put it back on the floor. This is technically negative reinforcement, though it's so minimal it might not seem that way, but the cat will still give up the behavior quite quickly as long as you're consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2020-12-31T16:29:17.513" LastActivityDate="2020-12-31T16:29:17.513" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29428" CreationDate="2020-12-30T21:47:44.000" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;This cockatiel likes to perch on my shoulder to receive neck rubs. After a while of this, I notice quite a bit of white flakes, like dandruff, on the fabric of my shirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal? Or might this bird have some kind of issue that needs to be addressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems quite healthy and happy otherwise. Good looking, nice feathers, eating &amp;amp; pooping regularly. But I am not a bird expert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2020-12-30T21:51:01.447" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:47:58.680" Title="Is dandruff from neck massage on cockatiel normal?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29384" CreationDate="2020-12-30T23:53:33.827" Score="3" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make very sure the cat has a legal scratcher they know how to scratch.  Every cat knows how to scratch a rope wrapped pole as long as the pole is as high as the cat standing; some cats can do with less but not too willingly.  The cat must scratch regularly and the only question is what to scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reward the cat for &amp;quot;correct scratching&amp;quot; every time you notice an honest attempt.  Some cats sometimes &amp;quot;correct scratch&amp;quot; to reward an influential human for doing for them something they love (if the human did it immediately before or during the &amp;quot;correct scratching&amp;quot;); if you notice that happening, reward them back by looking particularly happy and granting them a wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take half a lemon and slide it along the damaged parts of the couch&lt;/strong&gt;, plus along every corner (vertical edge) of the couch, plus along the corners of the next most similar piece to the furniture to the couch that you may have (from the perspective of texture).  No need to bathe your furniture in juice; just a faint smell of pretty much any citrus fruit will likely take away all the pleasure from scratching it for at least a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The lemon smell is even more sinister if the cat didn't see you applying the fruit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Disturb the cat whenever you notice they are actively considering to scratch your couch again.  However, make sure that the cat isn't doing this primarily to attract your attention or as an act of revenge for the lemon coating (supposing they figured out your involvement).  If you must physically remove or punish them, consider a passive kind of punishment such as shutting out the cat for a short while into a comparatively boring environment, rather than letting them win a chase game over you.  Fortunately, citrus smell is so disgusting that the cat will usually make the correct decision without needing any additional help from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3736" LastActivityDate="2020-12-30T23:53:33.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29384" CreationDate="2020-12-31T00:03:55.760" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;How damaged is your couch now?  If it needs a re-cover then cut the old cladding off, and fit that fabric to your existing cat scratch posts.  Choose some significantly different fabric to reclad the rear/sides/front of your couch and keep the couch elsewhere like a garage while doing the work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will give the cat time with the couch-fabric covered scratcher, and without the couch around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the freshly covered couch comes back in, keep a couple squirt bottles of water handy to actively discourage scratching on the couch.  Use them only at the right time but don't hesitate to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9141" LastActivityDate="2020-12-31T00:03:55.760" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2020-12-31T22:14:05.483" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are all of the necessary, essential, and optional preventative medications dogs need (e.g. heartworm pills)? By medication, I do not mean vaccinations that dogs need, but rather medications like pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastEditorUserId="19171" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T18:17:54.090" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T16:43:10.010" Title="What are all of the preventative medications dogs need?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29384" CreationDate="2021-01-01T19:53:27.583" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had the same situation. The cat has a mind of its own and preferences as to what it prefers to scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a guy on TV in a show called 'cat from hell' who works miracles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to track him or his web site down and ask someone that actually gets results from cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I considered our couch getting shredded on the side of the end to be a small price to pay for the unconditional love our cat gave us. Besides, he cleaned out all the annoying crickets in the basement as well as any rodents that might have shown up which we did not see. I would say he earned his keep and we ignored the couch shredding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19549" LastEditorUserId="14746" LastEditDate="2021-01-01T21:36:35.697" LastActivityDate="2021-01-01T21:36:35.697" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29426" CreationDate="2021-01-02T02:00:59.220" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lBweHm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lBweHm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find myself unexpectedly catsitting in Beijing, and I'm out of cat food (I'm brand new to this).  Yesterday, I assumed I could just go to a random store and buy some cat food, but it doesn't seem that simple here---I think I'd need to go to a specialty store (I still don't really know). So I bought some online, but it might take a day or two to arrive. But in the meantime...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out a temporary &amp;quot;hack&amp;quot; to keep them fed until their food arrives (or until I figure out how to buy cat food in person here). They're fairly young (they were tiny kittens about 2 months ago) and they don't eat much.  My best guess at this point is to buy some Chinese-style kebabs (meat on a stick) or the meat from any human dish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;: How can I temporarily feed two cats in Beijing before their food arrives by post?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17309" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T02:11:43.080" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T18:10:05.497" Title="How can I temporarily feed two cats in Beijing before their food arrives by post?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;&lt;cooked-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29399" CreationDate="2021-01-02T10:25:24.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are just bridging a couple of days, you fortunately don’t have to worry too much about a balanced diet (pure meat is not suitable long-term).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can be reasonably sure that it’s not pathogen-ridden, raw, unseasoned meat is a good choice and should be easy enough to obtain. I would suggest chicken or beef, but please don’t feed raw pork, it could cause &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pseudorabies&lt;/a&gt;, which is rare but fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure about the meat quality, you can also quickly steam it to be on the safe side, however, in my experience cats will usually prefer raw meat over cooked. Do not add any other ingredients, especially no salt, spices or onions/garlic. Never feed cooked bones to animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sudden change may cause slight gastrointestinal discomfort, as all diet changes can do, but it should not be serious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T10:25:24.833" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6045" CreationDate="2021-01-02T12:08:37.720" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a process that requires much patience and gentleness. I adopted a stray (shelter approved, no owner cane forth, no microchip and pregnant) who went from eating the bowl of food I gave her and running away the first time we met, to sleeping next to me and letting me pick her up over about 15 months. When it came to being picked up I first let her get totally used to the feel of my open hand on her sides. Crouching down into a ball at the car's height really helps to overcome instinctive wariness. Next I very, very slowly picked her up with a very loose grip making sure she could jump away any moment. The slower, the better. When she let me hold her for more than 3 seconds, I would scratch her ears, kiss her and talk to her to let her know she was safe. I always did this right before dinner time so she came to associate being picked up and cuddled with being fed. She trusts me a lot now, though she's still wary sometimes. I have the honour of bring the only human on the planet who can approach her, pick her up and cuddle her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9620" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T12:08:37.720" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3067" CreationDate="2021-01-02T13:15:21.817" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;With my Shih Tzu, I finally found a way; he is a smart dog and gets mean if he starts freaking out, like if I'm trying to force his mouth open; he is a street dog rescue. Anyways, whether it's a pill or liquid, I wrap it in the middle of thin-sliced lunch meat, like turkey or ham, put it in the middle - like rolling a cigarette - and roll it up, they can't smell it, and what he smells first is only the meat. I tease him with it a couple times, then give it to him. You know how dogs will scarf up food they love. In case of my cats, I am still able to open their mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19550" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T17:37:01.257" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T17:37:01.257" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-02T13:22:23.623" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought I would come here to ask all of your opinions of whether my 12 week old kitten will be short/medium/long haired. Obviously I’m not actually fussed, but each of my family have different opinions so thought I’d ask for more opinions :)&#xA;She has big tufts of fur in between her toes which seem to be getting longer by the week and she also had tufts coming from her ears.&#xA;I will attach a few pictures for you all :)&#xA;Thanks in advance. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5Q8a6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Pic1&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YgZug.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/YgZug.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pic2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/37UxW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/37UxW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pic3&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s4Ylc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s4Ylc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;pic4&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19551" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T13:22:23.623" Title="12 week kitten Short/Medium/Long haired?" Tags="&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-01-02T14:05:54.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-02T13:40:21.870" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;My orange tabby cat had kittens 5 months ago and we still have one kitten. You can find the kitten nursing on its mother every couple days and I have figured out that kittens should stop nursing at the age of 8 to 10 weeks. Sometimes I take the kitten off of the mom but it doesn't seem to have changed this nursing situation. The mom doesn't seem to care that the kitten is still nursing on her and actually licks the kitten when this is happening. I thought that the kitten would stop nursing early since she opened her eyes before the other kittens and started walking before them to. She does eat adult wet cat food and kitten/adult dry food. We started her with kitten food at first but then changed to kitten food since the mom eats with them. Can you tell why the kitten still nurses, and how to stop the nursing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19552" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T13:40:21.870" Title="5 month old kitten still nursing on mother" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-01-02T14:27:41.337" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29396" CreationDate="2021-01-02T13:54:24.543" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Germany&lt;/strong&gt; here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I live in a very rural way, my dog is best characterized as a farmyard dog who has access into the house. Even though the dog roams our grounds, we've had fox puppies in a wood pile and you may see some roe deer browsing while the dog snores in his hut maybe 25 m away. Which means that my dog has an unusually high exposure to wildlife parasites and diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under these circumstances, I regularly deworm the dog and he gets a preventative spot-on &lt;em&gt;repellent&lt;/em&gt; treatment against flea, ticks and mosquitoes. More frequently when there are lots of ticks around since the repellent property against ticks doesn't last as long and we do have &lt;em&gt;lots&lt;/em&gt; of ticks, Lyme disease (where I ask myself why there isn't a spot-on also for humans, the antibiotic regime isn't that much fun and it also doesn't always work) and also tick-borne encephalitis (against which we humans vaccinated since back when that was available only based on actually high exposure to ticks), so they are the primary concern. He's also picked up flea, probably by saying hi to either the fox or a hedgehog (or a racoon or ...), but they left him within hours, so the repellent seems to work nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say both treatments are optional in the sense that I wouldn't think any worse of a dog owner who deworms only when actually needed, and does not go for the repellent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For a &amp;quot;downtown&amp;quot; dog who spends its life indoors and is walked only on streets and maybe in the park and at most occasionally has exposure to rural settings during a strictly leashed weekend hike, I'd probably deworm only before vaccination. I'd then consider preventative flea treatment very much a matter of personal preference. On the one hand, it would be unlikely to ever pick up flea, but on the other hand they'd be guaranteed to be released in the flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heartworms are so far no concern over here, though they are known e.g. in the Mediterranean region.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't forget that whenever your dog has flea, you need both anti-flea treatment plus deworming since cat flea (the most common flea over here) can transmit the flea tapeworm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13672" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T16:43:10.010" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T16:43:10.010" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29379" CreationDate="2021-01-02T13:59:05.757" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;my kitten was throwing up alot and the reason for this is that he was eating grain free wet food. try your cat with food that DOES have grain in it. i would reccomend purina or hills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19552" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T13:59:05.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29396" CreationDate="2021-01-02T14:25:44.187" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this answer might be unpopular, but the one person who knows best what your dog needs is a vet. As we established in the comments, this is an international community, so the environments our dogs live in are so vastly different that there cannot be one answer that fits all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your local vet knows best what kind of ailments they treat regularily in the area and therefore which preventive medications are worth it. In many cases it's enough to call them and they give you a recommendation for free. They can also give you tips about first aid for dogs: what symptoms to watch out for (in case of poisonings, infections or pain) and what items to have in your first aid kit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind that your vet should see your dog at least once a year anyways for a routine checkup and to refresh the vaccinations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T14:25:44.187" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29384" CreationDate="2021-01-02T20:06:39.187" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cardboard, cardboard and more cardboard. And then some more cardboard. The flat cardboard scratchers are inexpensive and cats love them. Buy the really large size so the cat can sit on it as well as scratch. Sprinkle catnip all over and as cat gets happy reward with treats. Then when the cat uses it to scratch again reward with treats. I have an older cat and a kitten and scratchers in the bathroom, bedroom, two in the living room and two in the kitchen, plus the round racetrack that has a piece in the middle. Make it easy for the cat to exercise this normal behavior by providing the path of least resistance. A single, quick squirt with a water bottle can help deter cat from sofa - and by having alternate outlets (everywhere) the behavior should change. But. A cat is a cat so patience is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, my kitten is still too squirmy for me to feel comfortable trimming his claws - a trip to the vet every 3-4 weeks for a professional nail trim is totally worth the $15 to keep his 10 tiny razors in check (and back claws, too! Again, path of least resistance makes your life easier and the cat healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19554" LastEditorUserId="19554" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T20:18:35.693" LastActivityDate="2021-01-02T20:18:35.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-02T23:12:14.487" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an 11 year old elderly mix of Shepherd and husky that has severe issues taking and holding any antibiotic. She has blood loss and the vet says it's ulcer and she must take a PPI (proton pump inhibitor), then an antibiotic. Now we started a stronger one called metronidazole in 4ml dose twice per day. She is not doing well since she started it. She vomits all the food she manages to eat. Nothing stays in her stomach. We had to stop after only 2 days of therapy. I'm a bit desperate now because we must heal her possible &lt;em&gt;Helicobacter pylori&lt;/em&gt; or fungus infection that is causing the ulcer, but she will not take or hold any antibiotic. The PPI drug she barely tolerates too, but at least she doesn't vomit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is also difficult to take any pills. I tried the method that vets use and I used in my other dogs with success (open mouth, insert pill at the back of throat, close mouth and hold head up). She will fight and eventually gag. She will just not take a pill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I open the PPI in some tiny portion of dog food (liquid dog food) and she eats it. I'm sure this is not ideal, but it's something than nothing cause she suffers from reflux, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have made some research online, one source (Mercola) mentions that holistic vets prescribe probiotics and other stuff (various natural substances) for ulcers and avoid antibiotics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experiment with small portion of &lt;em&gt;Lactobacillus acidophilus&lt;/em&gt; that I have always used for myself for years with no problems, but because this doesn't mean it's safe for my dog I gave her tiny portion. She did well and then a normal portion she does fine. NO side effects at all. No urge to vomit, and no reflux. I have to mix it again with tiny portion of liquid dog food, since our friend won't take pills. This means a large portion of this &lt;em&gt;L. acidophilus&lt;/em&gt; is killed before it reaches the gut flora, but because I give her a PPI (the PPI the doctor suggested at 20mg dose) 20 minutes before the probiotic, I assume some probiotic survives to help her fight whatever infectious virus has caused the ulcer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we haven't done an x-ray, all we did is blood test and stool photoshooting for the vet and the vet has decided it's ulcer and she must take by all means this antibiotic and when I called the vet to tell that the dog won't hold it and had horrible bounds of vomiting after taking it, the vet said there is nothing else she can do since the dog won't hold the drug. (At this point, if the vet was a 'holistic vet' I guess she would perhaps tell me 'at least give her probiotics after the PPI?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have experience with this type of thing and holitic vet care?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: IF YOU READ THIS BECAUSE YOUR DOG HAS ULCER TOO, PLEASE DON'T GIVE &lt;em&gt;L. acidophilus&lt;/em&gt; JUST BECAUSE MY DOG IN PARTICULAR IS DOING WELL WITH IT, YOUR DOG MAY NOT DO WELL AT ALL. I TAKE &lt;em&gt;L. acidophilus&lt;/em&gt; MYSELF FOR YEARS WITHOUT PROBLEMS. ONCE A DOCTOR SWITCHED ME TO &lt;em&gt;Saccharomyces boulardii&lt;/em&gt; AND I HAD DYSTENTIA AND BREATHING PROBLEMS FOR DAYS ----&amp;gt; DO NOT TAKE INTERNET ADVICE AND APPLY WITHOUT CONSULTING A HOLISTIC VET DOCTOR).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We noticed the more days go by since metronidazole the better she becomes but she still doesn't eat much and eating causes her pain (the ulcer I guess). I read online again, that I must keep her on bland diet with little portions for a month or so (and some sources even suggest complete fasting while still giving liquids). So I'm a bit lost of what to do now, if she took the PPI and metronidazole the therapy would be working we would all be happy, but it doesn't work and makes the dog very very sick to take this particular drug. Not to mention it costs 15 euro per small amount because she denies pills we have to order it to the pharmacist in special liquid format that smells like dog food and the dog STILL has horrible side effects, even in a benign for the dog format.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we are done with metronidazole. And amoxicilin before metronidazole (the vet gave us that first) also caused the same side effects, but without neurological side effects such as epilepsia (and my dog is never epileptic before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe there is an antibiotic for &lt;em&gt;Helicobacter pylori&lt;/em&gt; or fungi in the stomach of a dog and it doesn't cause so much upset?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-02T23:30:06.773" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T15:07:48.930" Title="Metronidazole on vet's dosage (4ml) made my dog very sick :(" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28489" CreationDate="2021-01-02T23:27:10.170" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's after playing with toys, maybe it's hair or the fabric stuck in its teeth, I have a small dog that coughs only after he messes around our clothes (he shreds them) or carpets, etc. (ok he is not well behaved exactly...). Otherwise he is healthy. His hacking is when he tries to shred items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But also maybe check for heart problems. They sometimes cause puppy (from early age) to cough. If the dog coughs after exertion or getting too excited, it could be mental or heart problem, but the x-ray will show if it's something stuck in the throat, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope it quickly resolves and you find the reason and whatever the reason is I'm sure you will treat your friend accordingly x&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19555" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T21:44:50.370" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T21:44:50.370" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28126" CreationDate="2021-01-03T03:37:10.830" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I gradually get used to the puppy's presence among the older ones, but I keep watching.  Until they get used to the puppy and start playing with it without aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19536" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T03:37:10.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-03T04:29:08.817" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may have rescued a betta that has &lt;em&gt;Mycobacterium&lt;/em&gt;. He is currently in a clear plastic tote in 1 gallon water. I feel so bad for him, that I want to move him to a 5 gallon tank. While I researched about how to sanitize the items if or when he dies, I found various articles about povidone-iodine's effect on &lt;em&gt;Microbacterium spp.&lt;/em&gt;, in vitro to be 99% effective. So, my question is, can I use this to disinfectant the tank and stuffs in it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1532045615001246&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is one of the articles.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19557" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T14:13:04.953" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T14:13:04.953" Title="Povidone iodine for fish Mycobacterium?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29414" CreationDate="2021-01-03T07:21:19.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using povidone iodine in your tank is not a good idea it is harmful for most water living animals and it will stain most plastics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to do a total disinfection of your tank it is better to use hydrogen peroxide, as this breaks down to clean water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember, after you have disinfected your tank you will need to cycle it for a month or more; cycling is done to build up bacteria that convert waste into plant food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information and details about cycling a tank could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time you disinfect or treat your tank with antibiotics you will have to cycle the tank again, the best way to avoid this is to medicate your fish in a separate tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason for fish getting ill is a result of poor water quality, this is caused by overfeeding or not cycling the tank properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you go out to buy fish, take some time to read about the needs of the fish you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T14:10:01.073" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T14:10:01.073" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27140" CreationDate="2021-01-03T16:37:54.097" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quality of your hay and a lot of dust in general can have a negative effect on your horse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my stable we have a horse who starts coughing excessively if we feed him dusty hay. Dust will generally have an effect on the respiratory organs of your horse, especially if it is exposed over a longer time. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/id/id-444-w.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Article on Dust Management and respiratory diseases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can, you should not buy dusty hay (duh).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you already bought it and don't want to waste it there are still things you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In our stable the horses prone to coughing get their hay wet. So we soak it in water a few minutes before feeding to make it less dusty. (The article states that merely dipping it in water can already improve the dustiness.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feeding outside (if possible) can help since the dust will spread more and be less focused on just one place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The article above mentions to spread the hay out on the stable floor to lessen the concentration of dust particles in one place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One more thing from the article is to generally keep the barn open at places if possible to allow for air circulation and reduce the amount of dust.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another alternative is of course to not feed hay but this might not always be an option.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T16:37:54.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-03T03:58:52.680" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is mainly white with black spots, but he does have a light brown 'goatee' going on, along with light brown spots next to the black spots and a large one at the base of his tail and inside of his leg. Where the black and brown meet it mixes together, but not completely, and there are hints of brown throughout some black spots in a semi stripe pattern. I've tried reading standards about calico coat colors and nothing really classifies him. Sadly, I can't add a photo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerDisplayName="Emily" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T20:02:37.870" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:31:50.883" Title="Is my cat a calico?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29418" CreationDate="2021-01-03T22:01:07.190" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a calico cat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A calico cat has orange or cream fur and black or gray fur in large distinct patches, with the rest of its body being white.  The white might just be on the belly, or it might cover the majority of the body, with just a few colored patches on the back, tail, and face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But there are also tortoiseshell cats.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tortoiseshell cats are very similar to calico cats in that they have both orange/cream fur and black/gray fur, but unlike the calico cats, the areas of color aren't in distinct patches, rather the colors are intermixed either in little patches, or even just all mixed together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Genetically, calico cats and tortoiseshell cats are the same.  The difference in their looks is due to how they happened to develop in the womb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is your cat a calico or tortoiseshell cat?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost certainly not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I say this is because your cat is male, and calico and tortoiseshell cats are almost always female.  The reason for this is that the gene for their coat color is on the X chromosome, and what usually determines a cat's sex is having two X chromosomes, whereas male cats usually have an X and Y, just like with humans.  The black/gray gene is a separate gene from the orange/cream gene, and so normally the two colors can only be present on the cat if it has two X chromosomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But rarely there are exceptions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very rarely something unusual happens in the cat's development in the womb where a cat developed as a male, even though it somehow has genes for both colors.  This can happen in a variety of ways, such as the cat actually ended up with three sex chromosomes (XXY, also known as Klinefelter syndrome), or sometimes two genetically distinct embryos merge during development into one, and the one resulting embryo still has cells of both embryos (that is, a genetic chimera), or just a random mutation happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, while it is possible your male cat is a calico or tortoiseshell, it's extremely unlikely.  Furthermore, since such a thing is unusual enough I would expect your vet to mention it, especially since at least some of the conditions that male cats end up as calicos, such as Klinefelter syndrome, can lead to other health problems, and so I would expect a vet to want to investigate that it does not have any of these problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, at the same time, it's still not impossible. To be honest, I find it hard to picture how the cat looks from just a written description, so I don't think I could say for certain without seeing the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-01-03T22:01:07.190" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-03T22:37:13.257" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I adopted a cat from a family friend. She rescued this cat from being outside and was with her for about a week before we got her. We brought her home, and she immediately ran under the bed, which I expected. We had all kind of treats and food and water set up for her and stay out of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later we when we went to bed that night, we noticed that she still hadn’t eaten, but she was still under our bed. We figured she would come out while we slept. Well we woke up this morning and she still hadn’t come out. So we left the room and went out to our living room. We both ended up napping for a little while, and when we woke back up and went to check, she was no longer under the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We tore this place apart and she is nowhere to be found. There is absolutely no way she could’ve gotten outside or into our basement. We live in 1st floor apartment. It’s been about 12 hours since we’ve seen her last, and over a day since she’s had any food. I am trying not to panic, but she’s only about 6 months old, and I would never forgive myself if anything happens to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have food, water, treats and catnip out in every room just in case she isn’t in our room anymore. I just don’t know what else to do! Please help me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19561" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-03T22:46:27.677" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T14:45:46.947" Title="Help! I’m worried about my new kitten. She hasn’t eaten in over a day and I haven't been able to see her in over 12 hours :(" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29420" CreationDate="2021-01-04T00:04:02.493" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope you find the cat. When you do, &lt;strong&gt;take her to a vet immediately&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not uncommon for cats to be wary of a new environment, especially with people in it. It's normal adaptive behavior. However, some cats, whether because of age or character, can end up starving themselves over it, which is what you need to prevent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ideally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the cat arrives, put it in a separate room, so you have a handle on its location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide food, water, litter box, and hiding spaces in the room. But try to ensure that the hiding spaces are manageable for you to get the cat out when necessary, e.g. cardboard boxes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enter the room daily, bring treats, sit down in a corner, don't do much other than observe. Bring a book or something. The idea is to be present without demanding anything of the cat. Depending on the cat, they might interact with you, or it might take time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This period could last &lt;em&gt;weeks&lt;/em&gt;. This is speaking from personal experience, though our cats are extremely shy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the cats are comfortable with you (I expected them to let me pet them when eating treats as a baseline), let them out once in a while, but try to do it in little steps. First time, only give them access to the hallway connected to their room. When they are comfortable with it, show them the next room. And so on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While collars aren't easy to put on initially, if the cat finds itself with free access to your house and all of its nooks and crannies (whether because you have no spare room or on one of its smaller excursions), a collar with a bell will dramatically help locate them. You can consider putting one on them when you can't control their location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm aware this isn't always feasible based on your living conditions. But it's a guideline, and try to stick to the general idea of keeping the cat in its own separate space so it can acclimatize.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're already in the situation that you are, what I suggest you do is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Find the cat. Room temperature meat or fish tends to lure them in (when you're nowhere near present, but your cat might be too scared to respond to anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't forget to check &lt;em&gt;tiny&lt;/em&gt; holes such as in your kitchen cupboard panels, or if there are holes on top of cupboards. We once had a cat climb the fridge and then get stuck between the fridge and wall, behind a panel, because the top wasn't covered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similarly, cats can tear a hole in the bottom of a couch and climb in it. Just some ideas to help you look.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take her to the vet. Presumably, the vet will give them an injection to keep them nourished, and may give you extra supplements to offset the period of not eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the cat returns home, try to find an enclosed space for it and follow the above tips as best as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T14:45:46.947" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T14:45:46.947" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-04T01:33:56.903" Score="6" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several months ago, our three year old domestic cat died without warning. We didn't have a necroscopy performed at the time, but were wondering what the likely cause might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happened (warning: somewhat graphic):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My spouse had been playing with the cat using a wand and string style toy which had some artificially-colored feathers and a bell at the end of the string (specifically &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B0002DJ75O&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;). While playing with the cat, a feather (we think with the bell attached) fell off onto the floor. My spouse left the room for a few minutes and then returned, not seeing the cat. After another minute or so the cat approached her then collapsed. Her back legs twitched briefly and she made some sort of noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I arrived on-scene about 90 seconds later. The cat was on her side on the ground and entirely limp. I didn't see any evidence of breathing and could also not hear a heartbeat. Her eyes were open and unmoving. At the time we thought she might be choking on something, so I attempted to clear her throat with my finger but couldn't feel anything obstructing it. I also tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her following some instructions we found online. At some point when I lowered her head some of the contents of her stomach came up, but we never observed any foreign object. Afterwards, we searched the house for the missing feather/bell, but never located it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vets, I would appreciate your thoughts on likely causes of death and in particular if you think there's any chance she actually choked on something. Thank you very much in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8561" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T01:41:04.540" LastActivityDate="2021-01-05T10:05:41.623" Title="Likely cause of sudden cat death?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29422" CreationDate="2021-01-04T14:14:34.773" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please notice that &lt;strong&gt;I am not a vet and this is speculation based on the information you've given in your post.&lt;/strong&gt; I cannot possibly know for sure that this is actually the cause of death, there are other causes like a stroke or cardiac arrest that are possible as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that the bell disappeared leads to the assumption that the cat swallowed it, which caused the sudden death. The fact that she collapsed suddenly and seemed to drop dead without a struggle leads me to the &lt;strong&gt;bolus death&lt;/strong&gt; aka &lt;strong&gt;cafe coronary&lt;/strong&gt;. (Either there is another name for it or Wikipedia doesn't have an article in English about it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &amp;quot;bolus&amp;quot; is a mouthful of food that gets swallowed. How exactly the bolus death occurs is still subject to debate, but the consensus seems to be that such a bolus can get stuck in the larynx or esophagus, where it triggers a bundle of nerves near the throat, which cause a sudden reflex cardiac arrest. As far as I understand, bolus death can occur even when the airway is free of obstruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of death is rather rare. The study &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1752928X16300282&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;An autopsy approach to bolus deaths&lt;/a&gt; found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among 31,647 autopsies, 59 cases of cafe coronary syndrome were identified and evaluated: 38 male adults and 21 female adults between the ages of 26 and 89 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In eighty-six percent (86%) [of evaluated autopsies], boluses of meat and sausage or meat-like chunks were observed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry for your loss, but I hope it's at least a small consolation that your cat didn't suffer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-05T10:05:41.623" LastActivityDate="2021-01-05T10:05:41.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2108" CreationDate="2021-01-04T15:04:56.073" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;never buy fish online. I am sharing my experience with fishshop. Com. I just bought betta female fish. They have delivered color less very small fish. They just show beautiful fish photos on their site and deliver low quality fish. But you don't have any option to return it after making payment. You just don't have any choice. Better buy from near by aquarium shop, it may be little costly compare to online. But you will get far better quality fish of your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19562" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T15:04:56.073" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29360" CreationDate="2021-01-04T15:14:25.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I reached out to my vet about this, and his answer was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not too concerned about the increase in naps during the day as long as she is otherwise doing well. It seems like she is eating well and acting fine otherwise. Sometimes, conures can sleep more when they are molting. They can also sleep more if they are a little more stressed than usual; if there are any environmental changes or anything like that. Things to look out for would be change in her fecal character or habits. Decreased appetite, or even being &amp;quot;puffed&amp;quot; up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So looks like all is clear for now. If any other concerned bird owners are wondering the same thing, I would urge also reaching out to their vet if possible to make sure their bird is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T15:14:25.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29399" CreationDate="2021-01-04T18:04:40.393" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beef jerky should be avoided, it is high in sodium and can dehydrate, so you'll want to make sure there is enough fluid intake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd go with &lt;strong&gt;plain boneless chicken meat, boiled in plain water&lt;/strong&gt; (you can add just the tiniest pinch of salt to the water). You can feed them the meat, as well as the resulting broth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we cook chicken meat for our cats, we use just enough water to consider it boiling instead of steaming, think 1-2 fingers at the bottom of the pot, this gives a nice broth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let it cool until it is just lukewarm, and check as you would with preparing food for a human infant, i.e. put your finger in there to check the temperature before serving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantage of chicken is that the majority of cats will accept it without too much of a fuss, and it is easily digestible, so less likely to cause digestive trouble from a sudden change of diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If only chicken with bone is available, &lt;strong&gt;make sure to carefully remove the bone&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g. pull meat you feed from the bones and sieve the broth, as &lt;strong&gt;cooked bone tends to splinter and thus is extremely hazardous if ingested&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canned tuna for human consumption is also possible, but again you'll want to get the &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;in own juice&amp;quot; kind, when in doubt check the list of ingredients, it should just be the plain fish and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastEditorUserId="19086" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T18:10:05.497" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T18:10:05.497" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6730" CreationDate="2021-01-04T19:01:10.567" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently had a power outage for three days. I added warm water to the tank every few hours for the first day, until I ran out of water. When the power came back on, I had four silver dollars about 3&amp;quot; long laying at the bottom of the tank. I went to scoop out what I thought were dead fish and they all started swimming, one upside down but moving. I placed another heater in the tank to warm it up faster, as the temp had dropped from 75 °F to 52 °F (from 24 °C to 11 °C). Within two hours all the fish were behaving normally, eating and swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19563" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-04T20:05:05.657" LastActivityDate="2021-01-04T20:05:05.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29388" CreationDate="2021-01-05T19:37:07.670" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dandruff-like substance on your shirt is a naturally produced powder that is normal in cockatiels. Birds have two primary strategies for keeping their feathers water-resistant. Most birds have an oil gland on their rumps and use the oil when preening their feathers. Others, such as cockatiels and cockatoos, have special feathers (called 'powder feathers' or 'powder down feathers') that produce a talc-like powder that helps their feathers resist water. This is normal and healthy in cockatiels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastActivityDate="2021-01-05T19:37:07.670" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-06T02:46:16.950" Score="3" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner has cautioned me that if we don't take our 6 month old puppy outside to pee within 30 minutes after mealtime, he's at risk for developing an urinary tract infection!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've searched all combinations of &amp;quot;uti&amp;quot; &amp;quot;housetraining&amp;quot; &amp;quot;puppy&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;post mealtime&amp;quot;, etc., and I can't seem to find anything that even gestures to this risk. Can you help point me in a direction that explains this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As far as I can tell &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/urinary-tract-infections-uti-in-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;a bacteria of some kind must be present for a urinary tract &lt;em&gt;infection&lt;/em&gt; to take place&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19576" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-06T03:10:54.897" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T23:21:35.920" Title="Puppy Pee Schedule: If not relieved post mealtime, will it lead to a UTI?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-06T20:53:09.313" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat recently began to struggle to walk. It looked like his back legs were hurting quite a bit and he would not walk to the food/water or the cat box. If I brought him there he would eat/drink a little and would urinate a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only nearby vet, who was willing to see my cat without an appointment, is a vet that I have had negative experiences with and I am struggling to trust them. They said that he had a fever of 104 °F (40 °C) when I brought him in. The radio graph test found no issues and the blood work was the same. They said the urine was concentrated with a trace of blood, but that it could be a collection artifact. I am still waiting for a urine culture test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have me giving him two pain medications, an antimicrobial medication and a medication to help with nausea. They also gave him subcutaneous fluids yesterday and the day before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently nobody there seems to know if he needs more fluids (as I have not seen him drinking water today) and one of the medications will run out today. They have promised to have someone else look at the situation and call me back, but nobody has called me and I do not believe I will get a call back. In addition to this, they have him on i/d digestive care wet food and he only ate about half a can yesterday. I am worried and I am unsure if this is the right course of action. I am not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but is someone able to offer any advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19580" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-07T05:53:09.710" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T21:09:03.233" Title="Cat struggling to walk, but has no leg or spine issues" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-07T11:28:11.160" Score="20" ViewCount="5481" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a small dog, a Chihuahua cross, about a year old. As long as it's not raining, she enjoys her daily walk around the block. She'd prefer it warm and dry but a bit of cold and damp only seems to be a mild impediment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we can't work out is that despite this, she seems genuinely terrified of getting ready for her walk. First, she has to put a harness on and this is the worst part. As soon as she sees the harness she will run and hide under the furniture. Sometimes its a bit of an ordeal to extract her. Once out, she'll actively try to avoid putting the harness on, lying rigid on the floor then waving her paws around so they won't go through the holes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On cold or wet days she also has a coat which goes on over her head. She doesn't seem to mind this quite as much but she'll still make a break for cover if allowed to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she's dressed, though, she'll shake down and then run to wait by the front door, full of excitement for her walk. We just can't work out what the issue is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've tried various different harnesses and got the same behaviour with all of them. We've also tried offering treats as an inducement to put the harness on. When that didn't work we just gave her the treats anyway in the hope she'd associate the harness with the pleasure of the treat instead of whatever it is that's bothering her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything else we can try to find out what the problem is, and get her to have a more positive behaviour toward getting ready?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1251" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:55:14.560" Title="Dog likes walks, but is terrified of walk preparation" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;weather&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29435" CreationDate="2021-01-07T12:54:54.400" Score="4" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog is a cross between labrador and retriever and I estimate he weighs around 40 kgs and he's 1 year and 9 months old. My dog loves chasing crickets, especially because they jump, and in end, he eats them. He's only done this a few times, but most recently, he swallowed it quickly without playing with it that much. Which got me thinking, are alive crickets bad for dogs to eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19431" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-07T13:31:45.480" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T15:09:42.923" Title="My dog ate a cricket, is that bad?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;crickets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-07T13:06:14.707" Score="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please consider that the problem might not be the harness itself, but how &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; act with the harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chihuahuas are small dogs and can be slinky when they want to avoid something. If you grab her, lift her up and somehow force her into the harness, that process is very uncomfortable. Even if you don't cause her any pain, it's still uncomfortable from a psychological point of view to be robbed of your ability to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I often see people put a harness on their dog is: standing with their legs fully stretched, bending at the waist to reach for the dog and grabbing or pulling the dog if it doesn't stand still and in some cases even trapping the dog between their legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: people are &lt;strong&gt;towering over their dogs&lt;/strong&gt;, which is a very aggressive pose in dog's body language. And since many dogs want to avoid this aggressive situation, people become even more aggressive or physically rough to just get the darn harness on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much better pose is to &lt;strong&gt;kneel or sit down and offer the harness to the dog&lt;/strong&gt; with outstretched hands. If the harness (or coat) needs to go over the head, you should hold it in a way that the dog can simply walk into it. To train this behavior, hold a treat behind the hole to lure the dog into the harness voluntarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If kneeling down isn't an option for you, you could have the dog jump on your lap to avoid the towering pose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the legs need to go into holes, the process is a little more complicated, but still works best without applying any force. Having their feet lifted from the ground can be disorienting for dogs. So it's better to &lt;strong&gt;stroke the fur from shoulder to the foot&lt;/strong&gt; to give the dog time to either lift the foot themselves or to mentally prepare for having the foot lifted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maintaining a calm chat of encouragements and praises also helps convey the message that this isn't an aggressive situation. If your dog is very nervous or too hyped up, you should speak with an extremely low and calm voice to calm your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your specific situation you could start a harness desensitization training. Right now your dog connects the harness with negative memories, so she hates the sight of it. By connecting the harness with positive experiences, you can change her mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already have different harnesses, I highly recommend doing the training with a different harness than you use for walking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the harness out several times a day (without actually going on a walk) and offer a treat in the close proximity of it. Your dog should simply come to you and eat the treat. After that you simply put the harness away again. It may take a few tries at first before she even takes the treat, but eventually she will trust that she can eat it without having to put the harness on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once she reliably takes the treat, you can adapt the training to make her put her head through the harness in order to take the treat. A few days after she started doing that reliably, you can start putting her legs through the holes and rewarding her with a second treat, but still without closing the clasps and going out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only when she voluntarily puts her head into the harness and you can calmly put her legs through the holes should you switch to using the training harness for your actual walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-07T13:33:32.600" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T13:33:32.600" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29433" CreationDate="2021-01-07T19:16:05.237" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don’t worry! Even humans eat crickets, so your dog will be totally fine. Dogs eat a lot of things worse than crickets (my parents’ dog regularly snacks on goose poop despite our best efforts to stop her). As a plus, crickets  are a great source of protein and other nutrients!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There could be a &lt;em&gt;rare&lt;/em&gt; instance that the cricket was carrying a parasite, so just make sure the dog doesn’t vomit or show discomfort. Again, that would be rare, but it never hurts to keep a close eye on your dog. If the cricket was up and jumping, it’s probably healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-07T19:30:18.400" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T19:30:18.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-07T20:07:16.407" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Harness May Be Uncomfortable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a Golden Retriever and, like most Goldens, she LOVES going out and about.  But she was showing similar signs (not wanting to come over and put the harness on, moving her head to make it harder to do, etc.) as your Chihuahua about 2 weeks after we got her a new harness.  Once you got it on her, though, she was her normal cheerful ready-to-go self.  She'd outgrown her other harness and the new one was a lovely leather harness with metal buckles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We couldn't figure it out since she'd willingly put on the harness the first few times.  But after a while (and some testing with another harness) we decided she just didn't like the leather harness.  There were no signs of rubbing or anything, but the thing is quite a bit heavier than her old one and she's a princess!  When we switched to a lighter harness, she was back to being eager and excited to put on the harness and go outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you might want to get another style of harness altogether or possibly another size and see if she likes it better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19583" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-07T21:40:35.570" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T21:40:35.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-07T21:38:22.363" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our terrier is similarly unhappy with the process of putting her harness on. She doesn't actively resist when you've got her, but she does try to hide under the bed or table. We've tried various options, but none worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes trying to psychoanalyse a dog is a losing game though. It may be that you just have to face that she doesn't like it, and you have to do it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spite of that, there may still be a couple of things that'd help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a dog used to raising individual paws is a good thing, not just for getting a harness on but also for cleaning paws and grooming. Saying &amp;quot;paw&amp;quot; as you take their paw and give them a chance to lift it themselves, means you aren't surprising the dog and they can work with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And dogs are generally a bit wobbly on three legs too, so it very much helps if you hold their raised leg steady when they're on three legs. Then they aren't feeling insecure about falling over, plus you've got control of the paw for getting the harness on more easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11480" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T21:38:22.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29430" CreationDate="2021-01-07T21:38:48.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;A UTI is a bacterial infection. While holding urine doesn’t necessarily cause a UTI, it will keep and build up any bacteria that have made their way into a urinary tract, if the urine is not released. Plus, it’s not healthy for a dog to be forced to hold its urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important to take a puppy out to pee frequently because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Puppies need to pee more frequently than adult dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It helps train them to understand that need to pee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It keeps them from having an accident inside&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It prevents discomfort for the dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;30 minutes isn’t necessarily a hard and fast rule, but many dogs prefer (or are in the habit of) using the bathroom after eating. If anything, your partner’s rule is more likely to prevent an accident in your house than a UTI for your puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-07T23:21:35.920" LastActivityDate="2021-01-07T23:21:35.920" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6173" CreationDate="2021-01-08T01:56:07.047" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Um, I have pregnant shrimp, she has really bloated belly, (I have 2 pregnant Sunkists and 1 red cherry) and I check their bellies every day, you may see, (yellow white and various colors for species) small balls and with a thin string attached to the mother, and about 8-24 (Depending on species) also you might notice that they have lost their saddle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T01:56:07.047" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29059" CreationDate="2021-01-08T02:17:51.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe a few herbivore snails? I used to own some and they were pretty good, but they reproduce fast so you might have to take out a few every month, but they scrub away thing rather quickly leaving a clean trail, Cory catfish can do a good job too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it’s a big problem, you could shorten the duty cycle of light so that the algae don’t grow as rapidly, I honestly have had that issue before, so if it’s over growing, you could always try that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for reading this answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T02:23:46.540" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:23:46.540" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-08T02:33:04.333" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to harness train my 1 year old macaw, but it is not working out well. She is comfortable with the harness around her and I have been trying to convince her to overcome her fear of having it over her head and around her neck. I have been awarding her favorite treats, which are sunflower seeds, to her every time she pokes her head through the head loop quickly to gain her trust. I am just stuck on this part of the process of training her. I would really like to have her outside with me so she can experience it for herself. Do any of you have tips and tricks of harness training a bird who is afraid of the head loop? I do not agree with the idea of forcing it on her considering the amount of stress it will cause. Please let me know if you have any information I need. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:33:04.333" Title="Having Trouble Harness Training my Macaw" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18963" CreationDate="2021-01-08T02:35:14.753" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 40 liter tank, I understand that my tank is a different set up...&#xA;6 red cherry shrimp&#xA;1 fire red shrimp,&#xA;2 yellow Sunkist shrimp&#xA;3 blue velvets shrimp&#xA;1 oil Tatia catfish&#xA;3 cardinal tetras&#xA;And I have had 3 pregnant shrimp in only 2 months, and no harm has been brought by the cardinal tetras, but I think they won’t harm any baby shrimp. I think your current set up is fine, and your tank having wood and moss is definitely a great aquascape for a breeding tank, but my tank is only 40 gallons and they aren’t at full size due to the tank, I do know that previously my Otto catfish has killed 6 of my shrimps even if they said they were shrimp friendly, so I understand why you want to change the cardinal tetras, maybe micro fish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good ratio if there is 5 shrimp is 2 males for every 3 females. 2:3. I have my fish tank set up like that, and I suddenly noticed many females carrying eggs around the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do wish you luck on that red cherry colony!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:35:14.753" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29388" CreationDate="2021-01-08T02:47:58.680" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be pin feathers. Do you know if your bird is in a molting stage right now? Parrots have a molting stages that occur throughout the year. This causes them to have pin feathers. While molting, birds loose old feathers and grow new feathers. These new feathers, which are pin feathers, look like a pin sticking out of your bird. The feather has a very thin coat of a wax-like material that is around the feather helping it to grow. I could see how dandruff and pin feather wax coat could look alike. When you rub your bird the wax-like coat could just be falling from the new feather. Do not worry if this is the case. This is completely normal for pin feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:47:58.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28901" CreationDate="2021-01-08T02:54:40.997" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, you could try putting in duckweed or water lettuce, they grow rapidly, and various websites recommend it (So as youtubers) as they grow rapidly and use nitrates to grow, The nitrate levels should go down rather quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be over-feeding too, nitrate levels rise if there is uneaten food in the tank, you might want to add a catfish of some kind to clean the waste food and prevent the nitrate levels to soar high again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T02:54:40.997" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="263" CreationDate="2021-01-08T03:05:39.063" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would set a light with a timer, fish are less active when the tank is dark and can get stressed, which means they are more vulnerable to illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T03:05:39.063" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29446" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29467" CreationDate="2021-01-08T04:08:27.677" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WRvRf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/WRvRf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My pregnant Red Cherry shrimp&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that my shrimp are recently becomin g pregnant, also I keep my shrimps in one 40 liter tank so I wonder if it’s possible to tell by only the eye if the eggs are cross bred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may be interested in the species I had and currently have.&#xA;1 week ago:&#xA;10 Red cherries shrimp&#xA;1 Fire Red shrimp&#xA;1 Red Rili shrimp&#xA;3 Blue velvets shrimp&#xA;3 Sunkist shrimp&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After my nasty Otto mass murder, I have...&#xA;6 Red cherry shrimp&#xA;1 Fire Red shrimps&#xA;3 Blue velvets shrimps&#xA;2 Sunkist Shrimps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, now you know that, I have 2 pregnant Sunkist shrimp who have eggs just after the killings, and 1 pregnant Red Cherry shrimp who has had eggs 2 weeks before the killing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen the pregnant RC shrimp hanging around the BV males often, But I have no idea what the Sunkist shrimps Mates could possibly be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wonder what their babies would look like, or if their a cross breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra Information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ph Levels - neutral&#xA;Ammonia levels - N/A&#xA;Nitrate levels - N/A&#xA;Catfish included: yes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nasty Otto, a Oil Tatia and a Pleco&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to hear the answers and find out soon! There is a new tag for, ‘shrimp’ now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="19588" LastEditDate="2021-01-11T01:34:17.140" LastActivityDate="2021-01-11T01:34:17.140" Title="Is it possible to tell shrimp eggs if they’re cross bred?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;crossbreed&gt;&lt;shrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13810" CreationDate="2021-01-08T04:40:54.823" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do know that if the fish is bigger then the rest of the fish in a fish tank, I have had experience of aggressive fish in a aquarium, you can add more, but there is a risk of over populating, but you can create an area of smooth driftwood, plants so the tetra can hide in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T04:40:54.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21119" CreationDate="2021-01-08T09:31:25.420" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be that that its scent smells different and that the male cat does not recognise his sister. Scent is very important to cats. Hope your cats’ fighting stops soon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T14:23:13.017" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T14:23:13.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23358" CreationDate="2021-01-08T09:34:34.850" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe wait for some time. If it doesn’t stop, maybe talk to the vets. It may be that your older cat feels that that you are his. Cats are usually quite territorial. Even my grandparents’ cats both fight over what bed they each sleep on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="19588" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T05:22:30.240" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:22:30.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2021-01-08T09:39:45.027" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen Tv programs saying how to quiet a dog, and they have said that You get a ball, with a hole and you put in dry or moist pet food inside. The dog has fun trying to eat the food, and concentrates on eating rather then barking. * This can be done in a Cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She may be lonely, so you should maximize your time with her, so you may want to get toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was shown as many pet owners were struggling in apartments as they kept barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="19588" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T05:25:09.043" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:25:09.043" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29461" CreationDate="2021-01-08T09:45:20.137" Score="1" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grandparent’s cats slept in their plant pot when it had nothing in, they only did it often in summer. I wonder why they would want their pelts to be dirty with grit and dirt and weeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T14:38:33.133" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T14:59:05.680" Title="Why do cats sometimes sleep in plant pots?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29371" CreationDate="2021-01-08T10:02:45.393" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be that your cat caught a disease and it happened or maybe some internal issue was caused in the stomach or in the appendix. It may be that your cat licked salt that people put on the snow since it is winter. Next time you own a cat and it snows, make sure that you wipe off your cat before they come in or not let them outside. Salt is a big issue for cats so in general, don’t let cats eat salt from the snow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T10:02:45.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6050" CreationDate="2021-01-08T10:15:46.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest getting a microchip feeder that use the cat’s recognised micro chips to open and close if you have a micro chip on your cat/ cats. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ch4YD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ch4YD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;microchip used feeder, image from Wikipedia&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That should keep the ants out of their food and should keep their food from going stale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="19588" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T11:52:10.937" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T11:52:10.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29456" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-08T10:25:42.577" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a catfish, acquired in November; he was a small spotted albino hoplo catfish. During a 20% water change, and a small bang he went into a frenzy of swimming upside down, it seemed like his bladder was having issues, and he occasionally stopped then started moving again. He passed away the morning of January 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the water change, we scooped the water out with cups. The water was filtered. He would come to the surface of the tank, and if our hands were clean, we would let him &amp;quot;kiss&amp;quot; them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His health was not great before the death, however, and he had a minor tumor (which was probably cancer) and cut barbers, which were infected the previous day. Bacteria were growing on them so I scared him (while he was swimming he dropped them). Shortly afterwards they healed, hiding the red blood on his barbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He came in November 2020, 3 months ago...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R4apF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/R4apF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A photo of Allie when he just came.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how he died. He couldn’t have died from pH levels as it was around 7 on a litmus test. It may have been shock or due to heart paralysis or maybe even the water change. (I did not do the water change, my father did.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to hear your answers or theories of his death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VBP2f.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VBP2f.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;He when he had tumor (it’s hard to see and you can’t see his barbers!)&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T17:02:16.077" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T17:02:16.077" Title="A sudden death of my catfish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26847" CreationDate="2021-01-08T10:26:27.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe the surrounding area of the budgie is becoming noisy or uncomfortable for the budgie. To prevent that maybe try tidying the area up or letting her fly around the house &lt;strong&gt;With the windows closed and curtains pulled over&lt;/strong&gt; so that she can fly around a bit freely. This may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T10:26:27.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29466" CreationDate="2021-01-08T11:30:03.650" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a tank of shrimps where I have a red cherries that is pregnant and two yellow sunkist shrimps that are pregnant. To keep their soon-to-be-born babies safe, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a serial killer, Otto catfish, that is slowly killing off my shrimps and the big shrimps that have good reflexes have only survived him. I have a sucker fish and a honeycomb catfish and some smaller fish that I don’t think will do any harm. &lt;strong&gt;The Otto catfish has killed 6 shrimp already by speeding past the shrimps, poking at them. He DOES NOT EAT THEM.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want my shrimps to be born safely and to have the first litter of babies that at least have 3 born. I had one failed litter due to high pH levels and overcrowding of the tank and one litter where only one black with a golden line one the back shrimp survived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shrimps I have are fire reds, blue velvets, red cherries and sunkist shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T14:37:25.207" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T21:42:04.380" Title="How to protect shrimp babies?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6173" CreationDate="2021-01-08T11:47:03.200" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the belly is bloated, it may be that they are being over-fed. If you see ball shaped specks in the belly, that means they are pregnant. This is a photo of my pregnant sunkist shrimp. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kqE3U.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/kqE3U.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my pregnant sunkist shrimp&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It hard to see since it’s yellow to yellow but hope this picture helps with understanding how shrimp eggs look like!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="19588" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T05:28:46.247" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:28:46.247" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-08T13:49:21.240" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting a harness on a large dog will take a while. Dogs typically don't like harnesses; they prefer a regular collar. Not to mention that the dog will hate putting actual clothes. If the dog seems happy and ready to go out after putting all that on, then maybe you should try just using a regular collar instead of a harness, and no more clothes. Also try asking the dog if they need to go out. Sometimes dogs don't need to go out at the same time everyday. If they're potty-trained they can tell you when they need to go out. Then it's just a matter of you getting up and letting them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19595" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T22:03:37.883" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T22:03:37.883" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29453" CreationDate="2021-01-08T14:59:05.680" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same reason they sleep in other locations - warmth and comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plant pots containing soil warm up in the daytime in summer, the soil and pot retaining that heat (especially if they're terracotta pots).  It seems natural that a cat would find a plant pot an attractive place to stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being round allows the feline to curl up comfortably as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't especially want dirt and grit on their coats, but that's something they can deal with afterwards (most of the time they'll probably shrug the dirt right off).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19598" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T14:59:05.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-08T18:28:42.040" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very common. It's a very rare dog that makes any connection between what's happening outside and the need for a coat or harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as they are concerned you are subjecting them to a straitjacket for no reason. We can't explain to dogs so we have to train them. This has already been mentioned in an excellent answer by @Elmy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience I know that it's possible to train a dog to &lt;em&gt;approach&lt;/em&gt; a collar, coat or harness and put their head through it. This is all done with treats. An extreme example is the dogs that have been trained to place themselves and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5sXqk4j9jk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;lie quietly for a brain scan in an MRI machine&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;without being restrained in any way.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training is a skill that needs understanding and patience on the part of the trainer but the rewards are enormous, (1) you are happier (2) the dog is happier (3) you get compliments from everyone about how clever and well-behaved your dog is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as she sees the harness she will run and hide under the&#xA;furniture. Sometimes its a bit of an ordeal to extract her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the biggest part of the problem. The whole procedure has turned this from being mildly uncomfortable into a prolonged and  unpleasant experience. Instead of the harness being a signal that you are about to go out, it is now a signal for being chased and wrestled into submission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to find a hidey-hole and then being pulled out of it is scary for any animal. They like to believe there is somewhere that they can get away from any risks or danger. I never try to force a dog to come out of its kennel/bed/crate against its will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer for that is to allow them a safe place that really is safe - maybe a particular spot under the furniture or behind the settee and keep that sacrosanct, only cleaning or tidying there when they are elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My new small dog has recently taken a dislike to her coat - The Velcro got caught in her fur once, it must have been uncomfortable to walk and I only discovered the problem when it was time to take it off. It only takes once experience like this for them to remember and get worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't got round to training her to approach the coat yet (this is a timely reminder!) and so for now I just put her on the lead as for any walk and then pick up the coat afterwards and slip it over her head by passing it along the lead. This way she has no opportunity to run and hide and so we avoid any drama.  In fact she's quite happy for me to do this now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A collar and lead to hold them still until they are trained allows you to bypass all the  drama as well as the gymnastics and wrestling that go along with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Creating extra drama and stress is a source of many problems - particularly giving medicines. But that's for a different thread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T19:43:39.403" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T19:43:39.403" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-08T20:42:39.427" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two neutered male cats that sometimes exhibit dominance behaviors. I've had them both for about 5 years, and they go between cuddling, ignoring each other, and trying to be dominant multiple times throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat A has stopped actually attacking Cat B, which is great. However, his new solution is to jump on Cat B, mount him, bite the back of Cat B's neck with his teeth, and stand there thrusting. Cat B just growls and cries throughout this until I clap at them to break it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that Cat A is &lt;em&gt;mostly&lt;/em&gt; the dominant cat, but Cat B tends to be in some situations and often growls and hisses when Cat A approaches him. Other times Cat B lies on Cat A and aggressively grooms him for hours, growling if Cat A tries to move at all. Cats are weird.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any solution to stopping this other than breaking it up when I see/hear it happening? Cat B doesn't seem to actually be getting hurt, but it's definitely annoying to him and it keeps interrupting my work calls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19600" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-08T20:46:10.013" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T20:46:10.013" Title="How to stop neutered male cat from mounting the other one?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29458" CreationDate="2021-01-08T21:42:04.380" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a expert at taking care of fish but I do have some advice that might help you. Unfortunately, shrimp are at the bottom of the food chain so it’s not a surprise they are getting eaten. I suggest having your tank with plenty of plants. Heavily planted tanks are also good. These plants will help protect the shrimp and will allow them to hide if they feel threatened. Have you ever tried removing some of the pregnant shrimp and locating them to another tank? Doing this could help you raise a healthy batch of baby shrimp that are in no harm. This would also increase their chances of living. About the catfish, I do not think that there is any way of preventing it from eating your shrimp without removing it from the tank. I hope this helps you and I encourage you to add more plants to your tank. This will also allow your pregnant shrimp to having hiding spaces with in labor. Again, I hope this helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T21:42:04.380" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29446" CreationDate="2021-01-08T22:21:21.940" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll preface with the fact that I have not kept shrimp for very long, and I've not bred them. But I have done a lot of research on the fact (as much as I could, there's not a lot of easily accessible, reliable resources out there), since keeping varying types of shrimp together runs a number of breeding risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You really can't tell who bred with who at this point&lt;/strong&gt;, not until the shrimp eggs hatch, and the shrimps mature, which is only a matter of about 2 months (varies per type).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you sexed your shrimp? You could make an educated guess based on your female to male ratios. (I.e., if your 1 Red Rili was female, you can remove that shrimp as a possible parent of your current eggs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to know that it's not uncommon for crossbred (breeding between different species) shrimp to return to &amp;quot;wild&amp;quot; coloring (brown), instead of taking on one of a parent's trait. Interbreeding (breeding between same species) is more likely to keep the vibrant colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a number of helpful interbreeding and crossbreeding charts you should check out, which can help you narrow down if who might have bred with who, if some parings wouldn't be possible. I felt that this article was particularly useful, and has a chart linked at the end: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shrimptank.ca/shrimp-keeping/crossbreeding-interbreeding-chart/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Interbreeding Chart&lt;/a&gt;. For example: it is possible for your Blue Velvet to have bred with your Red Cherry, but is highly likely to produce a brown shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(a lot of shrimp have varying names, or are falsely labeled, so you may need to look up the specific genus of each of your shrimp to match them up on that chart.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also like to note that, if you have a fish that is killing your shrimp, the baby shrimp may not live long enough for you to tell. I would recommend keeping your breeding and baby shrimp separate from the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2021-01-08T22:21:21.940" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26847" CreationDate="2021-01-09T00:14:32.307" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am also a parrot owner and I will try to help you out. First off, birds can become depressed in many ways. So it will probably be difficult to figure out what is causing them to be depressed. If you cannot figure out why, I recommend you take your bird to an avian vet for a check up. Birds could change personality because of sickness. In the meanwhile, you should spend more than 4 hours a day with your bird. Let the bird spend some time out of the cage so it can get some space to exercise. Check your environment of where the cage is located. Birds could easily get stressed because of its surroundings. I will put a link to a website that goes over some advice that I have mentioned. Check out this website: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.thenest.com/calm-parakeet-7342.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pets.thenest.com/calm-parakeet-7342.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T00:14:32.307" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-09T00:28:11.103" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone may already have said this, but try harness training your dog. Harness training may be easy for some and hard for others. I do not at all recommend forcing the dog in the harness or collar that the dog is scared of. First, you should start to build trust with the dog and the harness. You said that she will run away when she sees it near her. The first step with building trust with the harness is to have the harness in her eyesight without her running away. Have the harness with you and act normal around her. Offer her a treat if she does come near you with the harness. She will eventually over time know that comping close to the harness is okay. If the treats don’t work, have the harness hanging around her kennel or dog bed. Again, she will learn that the harness is nothing harmful. Once she is not afraid of seeing it, try gently laying the harness on her or around her. When you do that and she is calm, give her a treat as a reward of her bravery. Start slowly putting the head loop of the harness on her. If she does freak out, stop trying to put it on her and teach her again that it does not mean any harm. Offer her a treat every time she is brave around the harness. Sorry if this does not help. I’ve never had a dog be afraid of a harness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T00:28:11.103" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-09T04:49:04.840" Score="0" ViewCount="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;my boyfriend has a gecko that is about 2 years old, he was told it was male and I was wondering if anyone can confirm the sex&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b87VA.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/b87VA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19602" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T04:49:04.840" Title="What sex is my leopard gecko?" Tags="&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15784" CreationDate="2021-01-09T05:48:17.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once you get a tank, make sure you get a fish tank heater and  a fish tank filter. The higher the temperature of the tank, the higher metabolism and faster the life cycle. Your daughter may get very attached to the fish and may cry at their death so be warned. Maybe get a few colourful shrimp (About 3) such as fire reds, sunkist, dream blues, velvet blues. IT adds some nice colours. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uf9NS.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uf9NS.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My sunkist shrimp&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then about fish, I recommend a catfish, and a few micro fish. Such as about 5 neon tetras. They are very pretty. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eHzpu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/eHzpu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A school of neon tetras&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get about 3 ember tetras too! Now you need some fish tank soil or sand or pebbles are important to have at the bottom of the tank. Then after that ensure you get fish tank usage plants and rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:48:17.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9969" CreationDate="2021-01-09T05:54:20.640" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it does effect slightly but it shouldn’t effect so much. Keep it in a room where there is thick walls and no WiFi usage inside but visit there often for the budgie not to feel lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:54:20.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2021-01-09T05:58:38.120" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leave her toys with hidden snacks inside and put in many hidden snacks in her cage to give her something to do. It may take a while for her to start enjoying this but it will eventually make her pleased about it. Make sure its a challenge before she can get it so that she will be satisfied. Make sure the treats are dry cookie treats or else they will go bad very fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T05:58:38.120" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29477" CreationDate="2021-01-09T06:48:19.993" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat and I know they get very anxious while left at home for a while or taken to a strange place. &lt;strong&gt;However, I have family members that can come over once a day to feed and clean her litter box.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two options. Take my cat on an hour and a half drive to a mountain house where she has never been for 3 days. OR I could leave my cat at my house and have family take care of her each day.&#xA;Side note: my cat has never been to a strange place besides the occasional vet visit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19603" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T11:26:36.340" Title="Take my cat on a trip to the mountain house for 3 days or leave at home?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29476" CreationDate="2021-01-09T08:23:43.173" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2 month old kitten (from a litter of 6). All the kittens from the litter are still with mum, are eating kibble and wet food. Boy in question is pretty big compared to the rest of the litter. Not that it makes difference here really, I'm assuming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But anyhow, he is due to go to a loving home shortly, my best friend is adopting him, but he still suckles off of mum occasionally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is the biggest mumma's boy. Is it okay to give away a kitten that still occasionally nurses off mum? Would he have any problems after removing him and taking him way from his mum and siblings while still occasionally nursing or should he be 100% weaned and off mum's milk completely before adoption? If anyone has any personal experiences or advice I'd appreciate it greatly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19604" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T00:18:54.023" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T00:18:54.023" Title="Is it okay to rehome a 2 month old kitten if it's weaned, but still suckling off mum occasionally?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;weaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29475" CreationDate="2021-01-09T08:41:54.903" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wait until 3 - 3 and a half months before sending your little kitten off. He should be completely off his mother’s milk and should be able to walk and play already. Another thing is that teaching tricks should be done from kitten hood. When teaching tricks, make sure you award them by treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your friend has another pet, keep them away from the kitten until a few days after the kitten knows all of the houses’s area. make sure they show no aggression to each other and let the dog and kitten scent each other’s scent by putting the other pet’s toys with the kitten or the kitten’s towels to the other pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once he arrives there, keep him in one room for a few days, then let him roam around that floor for another few days then slowly week by week introduce the rest of the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope your kitten moves safely into his new home soon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T08:41:54.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29474" CreationDate="2021-01-09T08:44:45.977" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;By my experience, she should stay at home but leave her toys that have treats hidden inside or hide treats in her toys so your cat has some entertainment. Leave the cat-flap open and leave some food in her bowl when you leave! Hope this helped!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T08:44:45.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29433" CreationDate="2021-01-09T08:50:22.210" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many creatures eat bugs, don’t worry! A cat I know eat any bug she comes across, as long as there isn’t any harmful chemicals like pesticides or fertilizers, that dog will be fine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T08:50:22.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-09T08:53:42.213" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I’ve seen some breeding contests on youtube and the shrimps look awesome but I do not know how to obtain them. If anyone knows, please tell me! I really want to have them! I’ve tried looking in fish stores but they didn’t have any. Please tell me about where you can get them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T08:53:42.213" Title="I want to buy an official breeding contest shrimp. How can I get one?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-09T09:47:40.430" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, out of nowhere, my cat will freak out. Not just like you're probably thinking - it would just jump and hiss maybe at something that startled it. No. At completely RANDOM times (often early like 2-3AM), she will start meowing (almost yelling) and running around in circles with big eyes. It's as if she'd be possessed. We put her on medicine and it seems better, but even the doctors don't know what the cause of this is. Does anyone have any idea what might have caused this odd behavior in my cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19605" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T15:06:21.390" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T04:22:12.733" Title="Why does my cat have these random freak-out session?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29474" CreationDate="2021-01-09T11:26:36.340" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mum in law has a cat that loves to travel, she'll just jump into the car while she goes for short trips to the shops and everything lol&#xA;it really just depends on how your cat reacts to car trips and also how she reacts to being alone, how old is she?&#xA;Cats generally don't like being away from their owners too long but every cat is different so I'd just weigh out what she would react to best and decide on that&#xA;It could be a bonding experience for her if you did take her but honestly whatever you feel she is comfortable with is your best option&#xA;Hope this helps&#xA;Safe travels :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19604" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T11:26:36.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28219" CreationDate="2021-01-09T11:31:40.237" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recon its a good idea to contact a friend the cat is familiar with and get them to look after your cat&#xA;Probably would be way less expensive and the cat would probably feel more at home with a familiar face&#xA;With a cattery i think there's be more stress on the cat incase she dosent like fello cats in the cattery and the ammount of different people taking shifts and such&#xA;Hope all is well safe travels x&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19604" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T11:31:40.237" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-09T12:02:34.647" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend and I had a ball python and we loved him very much. He was only a couple years old. He was perfectly fine last night, but in the morning he was limp and one of his sides turned grey. I tried googling and googling, but nothing came up about why he was turning grey. He died and we are very upset and have no idea what went wrong. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19606" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T15:07:11.990" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T16:43:04.160" Title="Why did my snake die suddenly?" Tags="&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29482" CreationDate="2021-01-09T18:58:25.233" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the only way to come up with the real answer is to observe your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the episodes are very unpredictable, the best way to do this is to set up cameras in your house. Luckily, since home security cameras are a huge thing now, you can probably do this pretty cheaply and easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, at the moment, I would guess that the episodes are an overreaction to something that's genuinely scaring it, rather than truly random. If so, it's probably more likely that it's sensing something outside that's scaring it. Therefore, it would be useful to set up cameras to observe your yard as well. It would also be useful information to simply see what the cat is doing when an episode occurs. It might be that it's looking out a window, and sees something, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it really is being scared by something, then if you can, try to get rid of whatever is scaring it. A common stressor for cats is animals outside. You can humanely scare animals out of your yard by installing motion activated sprinklers and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But keep in mind cats can be scared by pretty unexpected things too.  For instance, there was a similar situation on the cat advice show, &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/pDOaj2qNFnY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Jackson Galaxy's My Cat From Hell&lt;/a&gt;, where the cat was being triggered by passing car headlights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T21:48:44.230" LastActivityDate="2021-01-09T21:48:44.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-09T20:31:03.447" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just told that I can't feed stray cat in my neighborhood. Two ladies came to my door and stated &amp;quot;I am to let the stray cat in the neighborhood to starve and they don't care&amp;quot;, they made me pick up the cat's food! There apparently is a stray racoon that started eating out of this stray cat's food; he is limping and is skinny, doesn't appear aggressive, very quiet, doesn't get in people's trash and I have been letting him eat as well ... he needs to get strong, the neighbor has gone and told on me and I was told to pick the food up and to let them both starve. I can't do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need help, I don't know who to turn to. I am in desperate need of help and I can't choose or watch a animal starve to death; there is no one here that will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19607" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-09T20:48:25.700" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T14:44:06.183" Title="I need help in neighborhood dispute about feeding a stray cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29482" CreationDate="2021-01-10T04:22:12.733" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, this is a hard-to-know problem. First if all, is she an outdoor cat? If she is, there may be a creature outside or thing outside that is scaring her and specific objects may be scaring her. If so, try finding out what is scaring her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have yelled or someone has yelled or shouted loud or a car alarm has went off recently, maybe she is scared of the person or cars in general. Maybe try to comfort her and attempt to feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some books say that cats have like sixth sense, (ability to sense ghosts and supernatural things or bad events in the coming) so it may be that there is a supernatural being causing your cat distress or something bad that will be happening to you or the cat’s surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the book, &lt;em&gt;Rebel Cats!&lt;/em&gt; by Kimberlie Hamilton, they say about one of the things that cats predicted, “A Persian cat’s owner went away on a long holiday. About a month later, his cat-sitter noticed that he seemed very depressed and refused to eat. Just then, the sitter got a call and learned that the cat’s owner had died.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And other things in the book such as this, “In 2011, many cat owners in &lt;strong&gt;Japan&lt;/strong&gt; noticed their pets were behaving strangely or seemed stressed out. Days later, there was a terrible &lt;strong&gt;earthquake&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;tsunami&lt;/strong&gt; that killed thousands of people. Experts believe the cats sensed this disaster ahead of time.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course Japan is cat crazy so yes, but this Persian cat owner story is not specified to what country it comes from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, your cat may be stressed from something so help them to calm down!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T04:22:12.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29487" CreationDate="2021-01-10T05:13:16.303" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Encouraging stray cats like this is not a good thing.  Feral cat populations can do masses of damage to the local wildlife.  The food you leave out will also influence other animals, e.g. the racoon.  I understand your neighbours' perspective and desire that you stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, what decent person wants to see any animal suffer and starve?  Not you or I!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the immediate future, try feeding the cat in the manner suggested by lila in the comments.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unless you are absolutely certain the cat is a stray, attach a paper collar reaching out the owner, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spca.nz/images/assets/31718/1/spca2018_stray_cat_paper_collar_d3.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.spca.nz/images/assets/31718/1/spca2018_stray_cat_paper_collar_d3.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there is no owner, the cat needs to be taken in.  A vet or rescue shelter should be able to give the wee fellow a health check, neuter him if necessary, and then give him a chance at finding a secure home where he can be safe, warm and well fed.  Go down this route and you may find yourself with a furry little addition to your household, or the satisfaction of knowing that you have converted a nuisance on the streets into a fellow creature having a vastly improved quality of life with a family of his own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19610" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T05:13:16.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27868" CreationDate="2021-01-10T07:39:05.703" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may cause irritations on the skin of your cat. Hopefully, if it didn’t touch the bum, nose, or ears and mouth, it shouldn’t cause too many major issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommended rinsing the area once again thoroughly to remove any shampoo to stayed on with Luke-warm water. If you feel that you might want shampoo, I recommended getting specialised cat shampoo from the local pet shops or online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:39:05.703" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29487" CreationDate="2021-01-10T07:45:35.670" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Letting a living animal starve to death is cruel, but once again I agree that you cannot choose easily. One way is to adopt him and take him into the vet’s, which costs a lot of money and you must be able to take him in. In the vet’s you must check his health and you must get him a collar. Doing this is &lt;strong&gt;expensive&lt;/strong&gt;. In some countries, they neuter wild cats so they don’t reproduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could take him to a rescue centre, but if he is unwanted, he may be euthanized, depending on the country, so he might die unless someone wants him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could offer it to a good friend of yours, but that would require responsibility of your friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I don’t think you should let these ladies boss you around or let the cat starve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T14:44:06.183" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T14:44:06.183" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9822" CreationDate="2021-01-10T07:52:24.297" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slowly introduce then around your house and swap the two cats’ bowls after washing them and leave each other’s scents in with the two cats as they will learn their scents. Slowly do it for the best results. If they start fighting you should separate them but most cats are friendly enough to each other. Make sure that your cat is neutured or else your cat may start mating with them and creating a litter of kits that may feel unwanted. Although you do not need to neuter them if you and your friend want kits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a summary, slowly him around the house and leave scents around for each cat to smell and separate them if they start fighting. Make sure they are neutured if you don’t want kits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:52:24.297" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29432" CreationDate="2021-01-10T07:55:14.560" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bringing treats on her walk and giving her favourite treats every time she puts on her harness and coat is a way to make her feel fine to do it. It may make her feel better to do it with the proposal of treats. Treats in general motivate most pets, from budgies to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:55:14.560" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29359" CreationDate="2021-01-10T07:59:48.880" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;White spot is a murderous disease that is highly infectious disease caused by a parasite that may be causing this. It has killed 3 of my neon tetras before and 1 of my honey-comb catfishes. Maybe that was because it hit him bad and he was obese xD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on the serious part, it is lethal so getting medicine fast is vital to he your little fish safe. Hope you get the medicine!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T07:59:48.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25292" CreationDate="2021-01-10T08:03:44.790" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He may have been stressed and may have plucked the feathers out due to stress. It may be caused my skin cancer and disease but hopefully it is not disease or anything too serious. Hope your budgie gets better!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T08:03:44.790" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29075" CreationDate="2021-01-10T09:02:42.917" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you added any new soils or plants or rocks or fish? That is how white spot disease spreads. It is highly contagious so I highly recommended to get medicine as fast as you can. If left too long, it will spread and may possibly kill your goldfish. Turning up the temperature will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T09:02:42.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29117" CreationDate="2021-01-10T09:07:03.117" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Getting a few red cherry shrimp for a starter may be good and a few neon tetras! make sure the lights have a timer on your tank or else they may get weak and sick. Possibly having a catfish in your tank may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T09:07:03.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-10T09:27:34.903" Score="0" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GymHs.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GymHs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my pregnant shrimp&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now my shrimp is pregnant. I know I have been asking a lot of questions about my shrimp pregnancy but yes. Either ways, this is my sunkist shrimp. One of them. I want to see if it’s possible to tell when a shrimp will roughly give birth. I think that if I know when my shrimp babies will be born, I can prepare for time for an investigation of how the babies look like and stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me from this photo when the babies will be born or even if it’s possible to guess! The main question is that about how to guess around when a shrimp will give birth if possible and your estimate when my will give birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T09:27:34.903" Title="Can you estimate when a shrimp is going to give birth" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-10T09:49:04.400" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;We got flooded around mid November. Water went up to the half of our 2nd flood so there was mud and sewage water everywhere. Majority of the cleaning on the house was finished around mid December but not yet perfectly clean (edges and probably some seepage into the walls/furniture). It's already January 10th (got the pup today and was born on early to mid November).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got a new pomeranian puppy only 2 months old and I am wondering if there are viruses or bacteria that survived for a month or so due to the flood that can potentially kill it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't often get puppies and it was the first time we had one in a decade or so. The owner advises us to keep the puppy in a cage until it is vaccinated for the 3rd time which is around 1 more month. The pup will receive its 2nd vaccination on January 12th. Since viruses and bacteria are invisible to the eye, I want to know if we should just cage it and prevent it from running around a room to prevent it from getting sick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16479" LastActivityDate="2021-01-10T09:49:04.400" Title="Infection risk for young puppies due to being flooded previously" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-12T02:53:52.080" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My nine-month old English Boodle is very sweet and playful. She's never shown signs of aggression towards me or my family, or any other dogs - sometimes she tries to play with the cat, but usually gets smacked in the nose. I have noticed that when I go to pick her up, sometimes she growls at me. I immediately let go of her and back up. I'm not really sure what to do, she's not a mean dog and has never bitten anyone. She still acts like a puppy and is very friendly, but I'm still worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19617" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T17:42:54.227" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T17:42:54.227" Title="My Dog Growls When I Try to Pick Her Up" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-12T04:10:32.020" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a new cat owner, so bear with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my cat gets the zoomies about twice a day (he is 6 mo. old, neutered). He has immense amounts of energy. He will just run all over the place bouncing off walls. I recently noticed he will run away from me if I step towards him when he is in these moods. I've slowly started chasing him, and he seems to like it. But his response is very mixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I chase him, he never takes a logical route. So, support that he's not actually scared. BUT, he does hide under the bed. Not all the way under, but behind the comforter. It is somewhat difficult for him to get under the bed fully. That being said, he could also run under the couch if he were truly scared. And then, if I walk around the corner, he will come back, walk around the corner, and stare at me. Then slowly approaches me like he is trying to hunt me. Sometimes, once he gets to the bed, I stop chasing and just watch. Then he leaps out from under the bed and goes nuts across the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another super confusing thing is that sometimes he will run at me like a psycho. Or approach me like he is hunting. Then, I walk away and turn around. He then runs at me, tail puffed, running sideways like he is possessed! And I know puffing out the tail generally means they are frightened! Then the sideways walk means a fight? But if I approach him this way, he lets me pet him and settles down instantly. At these times, I sometimes run away from him. Another time I ran at him, and he quite literally jumped off my leg like parkour and raced across the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really seems as if he is engaging me to chase him. He will approach me and then just turn and run. But I seem to get somewhat mixed signals with the partial hide under the bed and the attack-mode tail puff with hackles raised. I also will run at him when he is not in his weird moods and he just stares at me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We hang out all the time, I live alone, we go on walks together, and he sleeps in my bed. So we are super close. He is literally sitting next to me right now watching me type this. Nope. Now he is attacking the fake mouse like a savage even though I have run with him for the past HOUR. Is he just a weird cat? Or am I doing something wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19618" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T17:40:19.497" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T21:31:00.930" Title="Does my cat like being chased?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29505" CreationDate="2021-01-12T06:25:04.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people only know a growl as a sign of aggression, but it can also be a verbal expression of displeasure, pain or apprehension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you should check your own body language. Are your legs straight and your torso bend down at the waist? Then you are towering over your dog which is a very aggressive gesture in dog body language. Her growl is just her answer to your aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always bend your knees and keep your torso mostly upright to get down to her eye level. This way you avoid sending aggressive signals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't change the situation, picking her up might cause her pain. That could be either you pinching her or her back, ribs or joints hurting. You should support her weight with one hand between her front legs, holding her rib cage, and the other hand offering a platform for her hind legs to stand/sit on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot find the cause of her pain, it's a good idea to get her checked by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T17:41:54.077" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T17:41:54.077" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29506" CreationDate="2021-01-12T10:12:37.143" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the way you are describing it, it sounds to me like it is play.&#xA;My two cats do exactly what you describe you and your cat doing.&#xA;You are play chasing each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I linked a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx-EiSETpAE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; of two cats playing with one another.&#xA;If you think your cat and you do something similar it should be fine.&#xA;As you can see in the video cats often switch in the middle of playing who is chasing who and there are also small pauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as your cat is not genuinely afraid it should be fine.&#xA;As you said he could hide if he really wanted.&#xA;I would stop the game if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he hisses at you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he swipes at you with fully extended claws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he hides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware of how your cat acts, you are the one who knows him best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T17:39:33.603" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T17:39:33.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29511" CreationDate="2021-01-12T10:53:23.503" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a very cold house. Now that we are in the coolest time of the year, my cat spends the day looking for places to warm up and hide and does nothing else. It's a bit sad because he is a very playful cat and now he doesn't do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn't like having anything on his body. How can I get her used to wearing a jacket?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the cold weather, I would like to dress her just because it might be fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19180" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T18:03:21.757" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T18:03:21.757" Title="How to make a cat feel comfortable with wearing clothes?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;clothes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29510" CreationDate="2021-01-12T15:31:42.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be completely up to the temperament of your cat whether or not they would accept wearing clothes. In my experience, most cats dislike the sensation of wearing things, but I’ve seen a few “popular” cats on Instagram that regularly wear coats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were going to train my cat, I’d treat it like the harness training I did (be prepared, this may take months):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In a relaxed state and with treats, a few minutes each day, put the jacket on the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always be encouraging, but then don’t leave it on for too long.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reward the cat and praise them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let them wear it longer and longer as they start to get comfortable (walking normally, returning to standard activities), until it becomes routine to wear the coat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple important things to note about a jacket — make sure it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;does not restrict any of your cat’s daily activities (I.e., using the litter box, jumping up a cat tree, curling up to sleep).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is made of comfortable and safe material.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My house occasionally gets cold, so I keep a pet-safe hot pad out for my cat all the time. Definitely provide your cat with one or more warm space. Consider getting a space heater for the cat’s favorite room, too, if your house is really too cold for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T17:35:29.750" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T17:35:29.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-12T16:43:11.987" Score="3" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat had 3 kittens 2 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before she was pregnant, she used to play with me all the time, but now she doesn't. Why do you think she no longer plays with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19622" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T17:33:57.453" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T23:43:54.817" Title="My cat does not play with me after giving birth" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29512" CreationDate="2021-01-12T17:14:12.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't force cats to do anything.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, unlike dogs, only do the things they like to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats go through some changes in their character as they grow up. These changes occur when they go into puberty, when they are neutered or when they give birth. These changes are completely normal, humans go through such phases as well. So, do not expect your cat to behave in the same way all her life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do not think that it is permanent. Maybe not as much as she used to, but I am sure that your cat will start play with you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important things for you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Respect her wishes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do not force your cat to play with you.&lt;/strong&gt; You will only make her avoid you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reward her with treats if she plays with you when you throw her toys or strings.&lt;/strong&gt; But do not use treats too much. They might hurt her tummy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure after her kittens grow up, maybe in a month or two, she will start moving back to her old routine. Then she will spend more time with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T17:14:12.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29514" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-12T20:06:17.667" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 2-year old Golden Retriever who seems to love chuck-it balls above all else. He plays fetch just fine when it's with other toys, as long as they're not balls, and he drops them on cue or even before I ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, when it comes to his balls, he will not give them up unless I pull them out of his mouth. I've tried to use his favorite treats as a trade but apparently he prefers the ball more. When I offer the treats he will often walk away and drop the ball and then return for the treat (I don't give them when he does this).&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I have made sure that when I take the ball I give it back immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While an easy solution would to just not play fetch with his ball, he is often with other dogs who all love to play fetch with balls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone have any tips on dealing with a ball-possessive dog where standard treat trading doesn't work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19623" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T23:25:33.157" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T13:22:01.037" Title="Dog won't drop ball while playing fetch, but he will drop other toys he fetches?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fetch&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29506" CreationDate="2021-01-12T21:06:29.090" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like play behavior to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the behaviors you describe are actually kitten play behavior that while uncommon in adults, a few will continue doing past kittenhood. So it may be that your cat hasn't grown out of them yet, or it may be that it is one of those cats that keeps doing it as an adult. These behaviors are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fluffing the tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;arching the back and/or tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a bouncy sort of walk or side-step&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good (and funny) example of this type of play behavior can be seen in &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/8-1F-CokXNU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That you've observed your cat doing these sorts of behaviors in situations incongruous to it being actually afraid (such as you turn around and ignore it, and then it does it) is an indication that it is in fact just play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally when a cat is afraid, it'll be pretty obvious. Some of the signs are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;frantically scrambling away to flee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hiding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if no good hiding space is available, then it will probably cower in a corner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hissing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;aggressive swatting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fluffing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eyes dilated, and it's not trying to pounce anything&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;explosive shedding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course there are matters of degree too. Perhaps the cat isn't afraid, but not exactly thrilled by the experience either. If you're still concerned that you're not entirely sure whether the cat truly likes this game or not, I would simply play different games with the cat that are much easier for the cat to disengage from if it decides it doesn't want to play anymore. For instance, throwing toys, wand toys, laser pointers, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat is still very young, so the amount of play it requires seems pretty normal. Different cats also have different energy levels as well. Some very rare individuals will play almost constantly even as adults. Others are mostly just couch potatoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-12T21:31:00.930" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T21:31:00.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29526" CreationDate="2021-01-12T23:20:38.767" Score="16" ViewCount="8599" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve noticed whenever I need to get up or I’m about to get up, my cat always gets so cozy with me. There’s no way it’s routine, because this happens at random times. It just is confusing me, and it seems like he just knows when I’m about to get up. Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me? Is this normal? What is going on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19624" LastEditorUserId="2660" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T16:05:17.510" LastActivityDate="2021-01-17T09:56:28.823" Title="Why does my cat lay down with me whenever I need to or I’m about to get up? Is this a common thing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-12T23:40:41.303" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is all normal, so there is no need of worrying. I am pretty sure that your cat has a very strong relationship with you. The cat probably wants to always stay with you. My grandmother’s dog always eats when my grandma is eating. The dog also always follows her around and lays down next to her all of the time. I don’t think there is a scientific explanation for this, but I am pretty sure that your cat just wants to spend with you because of its strong relationship between the both of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T23:40:41.303" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29512" CreationDate="2021-01-12T23:43:54.817" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be happening because of her pregnancy with her kittens. If the kittens are still present with her, the mother cat will try to protect them. Instinctively, mother cats know that it’s their number one job to raise and protect their young. She may be in a grouchy mood because of the stress and tiredness of raising her young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastActivityDate="2021-01-12T23:43:54.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29519" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-13T00:01:36.967" Score="-1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend texted me that her 30 gallon (around 114 liters) fish tank keeps becoming cloudy. She has eight small fish in the tank, which means that her tank is not overcrowded. She told me that after a water change, the tank became cloudy. After several days, the tank started getting a hint of green in it that progressively got darker. She washed out the tank again to get rid of the cloudy green water, and to replace it with clear water. After cleaning, the water was crystal clear. Then after several days, the tank started becoming cloudy again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to help her, but I am not aware of what causes this. Can someone please inform me about the causes of this cloudy green water and what treatments there are that can stop this? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19589" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-25T22:27:12.780" LastActivityDate="2021-05-25T22:27:12.780" Title="Fish tank keeps becoming cloudy with a green tint" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;algae&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="67" CreationDate="2021-01-13T00:30:21.953" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm years late for this, but, yes, you can discipline a cat. The key is to do it immediately upon commission of the undesired behavior. For extra effect, couple it with a command you use to indicate unacceptability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Catching a cat in the act is important, and just as important is reacting instantly without delay. Water spray bottles near problem areas are useful. Cats will also understand other reactions, like if you shove them off a place they are not allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat has a habit of hissing, clawing, or biting while being petted or otherwise while you are near, a simple light smack on top of the head with the middle three fingers, applied immediately, will do it. This is how cats put each other in their place when they act up. This is separate from when the cat is stressed or otherwise wants to be alone; it's fine then, what isn't fine is situations where it is using aggression to control you. Never apply significant force on a cat. Never kick a cat. Never punch a cat. What matters in the disciplining is that you swatted them at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do, contrary to top poster, actually have some dominance hierarchies. This is why it is important to establish yourself as the top inhabitant of the household. Otherwise the cat will try to rule, and you will not like the cat's way of ruling. A lot of issues with supposedly aggressive or disobedient cats actually come from people who never tried to instill discipline or assert dominance, letting the cat take over and always do as it pleased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19625" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-13T01:11:54.127" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T01:11:54.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29519" CreationDate="2021-01-13T01:28:52.827" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green cloudy water is a manifestation of an algae bloom. Algae aren't always that prominently visible, but they are always present in a living aquarium. Aquarium of your friend is having recurring algae blooms because the aquarium is trying to save itself from &amp;quot;crashing&amp;quot; - in other words, from poisoning its inhabitants with excessive concentration of nutritious pollutants present in the water; mostly nitrates, probably also phosphates. Please ask your friend whether she could give us a reading of nitrate (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;‾) concentration, it would help a lot. &lt;strong&gt;Partial&lt;/strong&gt; water change is a good immediate response, but it's tedious and doesn't solve the original problem causing these recurring algae blooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion for solving this is to significantly increase the density of live plants in the aquarium - optimally with quickly growing plants, such as hornwort, duckweed and pondweed. Algae are simple, plant-like forms of life and they compete for nutrients with actual plants. Increasing live plant density will increase competition for these nutrients and increase the rate in which they are absorbed from water column; this will slow down the growth of algae. Fast growing plants are the best for this, because the growth speed of a plant is directly related to the amount of nutrients it absorbs. Some plants, such as hornwort, are also specifically releasing substances which inhibit growth of certain forms of algae.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, it could be helpful to reduce the amount of food being fed to the fish. I don't know whether it is a problem in case of your friend, but it is still worth checking out. Almost all people that I encounter, and I am also sometimes guilty of this, are actually feeding way more food than the fish actually need. Even if the aquarium is not overcrowded, by overfeeding it is still possible to strain the bioload as if it was actually overcrowded; it is because aquarium is a closed system and all the food introduced to it, no matter if eaten by fish or by bacteria, is ultimately going to be metabolized and partly converted to nutritious pollutants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it could help to decrease the duty cycle of the lighting being set ON and make sure the aquarium isn't directly exposed to sunlight - even a short daily exposure to sunlight could enormously increase the algae growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T01:28:52.827" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-13T04:01:26.253" Score="12" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat isn't clairvoyant, it doesn't know you are about to get up. It just knows that you are part of its family and a comfy place to sleep. You may be connecting dots that aren't there. In my experience it's very normal for a cat to make itself comfortable on you at the most inopportune times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the cat is thinking &amp;quot;jeeze, every time I get comfortable, they get up to leave&amp;quot; and wonder if that is odd... More likely than not it's your brain thinking &amp;quot;great, now the cat is on me and I have to pee/hungry/answer phone/etc...&amp;quot; and drawing the opposite conclusion (you think the cat is on you because you have to get up, when in fact you have to get up because the cat is on you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17213" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T04:01:26.253" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29524" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-13T06:48:20.773" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have five cats in our household: 1 spayed female and four neutered males. The female came to us first. She was a rescue from a storage yard that had a lot of cats. We took her in when she was 3 months. She is about 6 months older than the boys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we first introduced her to them, the boys were small kittens, barely older than three months. At first there was a lot of hissing and growling from the female. The boys were too curious about her to be afraid. Pretty soon they were all running around and playing together. In some ways the boys seemed to see her as a surrogate mother. They would follow her around, play with her, come when she called them, and cuddle with her while they slept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flash forward seven months and now that is no longer the case. Things have changed dramatically. She tolerates the boys just fine... until they want to play with her. Then everything goes south. She growls at them and attempts to run away. The boys don't seem to understand that she doesn't want to play. The more she tries to get away from them the more they follow her. It's as if they're obsessed with her. I try to shoo the boys away but that only works for a few moments and then they're right back to trying to follow her around and play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it gets to be too much I separate them by taking her into another room to diffuse the situation. After things calm down, I bring her back out. Sometimes this maintains the peace for awhile and sometimes they immediately start bugging her again. It's especially bad early in the mornings and after meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I play with the boys on a daily basis. Usually, this involves a morning and evening play session. They also get a lot of exercise chasing each other around. I don't think it's a lack of play time that makes the boys behave this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm at my wits' end. Our female cat is getting stressed out. There's been no fights, but if the boys are especially persistent she gets paranoid and goes after them, hissing and swatting. Sometimes this drives them off and sometimes it doesn't. The boys never hiss at her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice on what to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19628" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-13T22:29:58.543" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T16:20:35.357" Title="Cat afraid to play with my other cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-13T07:47:16.890" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I recently adopted two new kittens, both of which are remarkably well behaved for their ages and breeds. The only real problem I have is with the male, a black cat that's a mix of Maine Coon and domestic short hair. He is obsessed with touching my skin, even burrowing under blankets to get a paw against me, which isn't bad except that he &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; digs his claws into me once he has contact. Everytime, without fail, he gets a paw on me and digs them in with a death grip. He isn't kneading; there is no release. It's more like he is trying to hold onto me to save his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been trying for three months to stop this behavior. I've moved his paws away before he can extend the claws, picked him up and moved him, squirted him, told him 'no' which is the word he and his sister are picking up easily for things like 'don't jump on the counter' and 'wait until I put the food in the bowl before you ambush me', and try to keep his claws as short as possible without hurting him, but he will &lt;em&gt;not stop&lt;/em&gt; digging his claws in. I've done my best to keep every wound clean since he almost always draws blood, but a couple did get infected and I can't allow that because of a health issue. I don't want to get rid of him, but I am at my wits end with his claws. Is there anything else I can try to train him to not make me bleed just because he's happy we're cuddling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19629" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-13T22:28:09.400" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T15:18:54.600" Title="Is there a way to stop my kitten from digging his claws into my arm for no reason?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;claws&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-13T08:06:04.783" Score="51" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Probably confirmation bias.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Odds are, the cat is not lying down next to you every time you're about to get up. There are times when you get up without the cat lying down next to you, and time when the cat lies down next to you when you're not about to get up. However, because those times aren't remarkable, you don't remember them. Instead, you remember the times when the cat lies down next to you when you're about to get up. This is a flaw in human thinking known as confirmation bias, and you can see it in a broad range of human endeavors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a definitive answer to why this occurs, you need to ensure that it is actually occurring, and that means that you need to numerically track every time you sit down, every time your cat sits down next to you, and whether they're sitting down next to you when you're about to get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11176" LastEditorUserId="11176" LastEditDate="2021-01-13T21:56:50.210" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T21:56:50.210" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-13T12:15:04.943" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I let my dog out into the garden, he barks at me for a while. I usually shut the door and he runs off to do his business, without looking back at me or barking at me again. I'm not sure why, is he just excited? He does want to be let out. Maybe he's paranoid and wants me to come out too? He's been on the alert since he saw a cat in the garden. He's a cavapoochon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19631" LastEditorUserId="19631" LastEditDate="2021-01-13T18:14:15.593" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T01:53:07.250" Title="Why does my dog bark at me when I let him out?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29527" CreationDate="2021-01-13T12:34:13.580" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's most probably a vocalization of his excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barking is not always something negative or aggressive. Compare it to a human screaming: it can be someone screaming in rage or frustration, or it could be a child screaming in joyful play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be his way of broadcasting his presence to any potential intruder or his dog-friends in the neighborhood. His way of saying &amp;quot;Here I am.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T12:34:13.580" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-13T14:10:41.450" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat is reacting to your pre-get-up activity: becoming a bit more active, moving stuff aside, deeper breath, whatever it is that you do before you get up.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;And he knows that if he comes at that time, it will be cuddles, which he likes, so he'll come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution is simple: Build a different expectation.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You can do any of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Refuse to cuddle when the cat comes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give a quick cuddle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give a long cuddle if getting up quickly isn't that important.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever your priority is. Find out whatever it is that you yourself really want, and the cat will adapt. (They are very good at figuring out what the &amp;quot;Big Ones&amp;quot; are going to do next; they have to, as a small animal that isn't good at that won't survive for long. And they read everything: activity level, breathing rhythm, pheromones, whatever.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17169" LastEditorUserId="17169" LastEditDate="2021-01-14T09:26:51.503" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T09:26:51.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29525" CreationDate="2021-01-13T19:11:16.527" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In my experience&lt;/strong&gt;, my cat also loves playing with me with his claws, well, she doesn't dig them on my arms but she always make some cuts on me and my mother when she plays with us. It's natural for the cats to play like that, trying to catch your hand just for fun and suddenly using a bit too much force on their claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My suggestion is&lt;/strong&gt; that you can take him to the pet shop and ask for cutting low the claws, then next time it won't hurt you or anyone else he plays with his claws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19637" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-14T15:18:54.600" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T15:18:54.600" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29525" CreationDate="2021-01-13T19:53:53.823" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you're describing sounds possibly abnormal. Cats might extend their claws some while cuddling, but not to my experience so hard that they consistently draw blood even when their claws are properly trimmed, and there is no other reason for it like, they feel like they're falling, or they're trying to swat you because something upset them. My recommendation is to take video of an incident, and show it to a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, if this really is just normal behavior for this cat, then my recommendation is when the cat gets into position to do what it normally does, to stop it before it gets a chance to do its thing, by picking up the cat and putting it on the floor. Perhaps over time the cat will change its behavior, but at any rate stopping it will prevent more incidents. Unfortunately, this might mean the cat has fewer opportunities to cuddle with you, but in my opinion more cuddling isn't really worth getting more injured. I would also see if you can encourage it to cuddle in a different position in which it doesn't do this behavior. At any rate, I'm guessing the cat doesn't have much conscious control over this behavior, so trying to correct it with negative reinforcement like spraying it won't be very effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-13T20:26:56.337" LastActivityDate="2021-01-13T20:26:56.337" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-14T01:15:06.017" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You had finally sat still long enough for you to be a reasonable place to sit. And according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Murphy's law&lt;/a&gt; that's just about when you need to go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have to wait for you to get comfy, otherwise they can't. Mine are trained to come when I pat the area that I'm inviting them to. Which signals that I'm committed to not moving until they do. Until then they just stare at me, waiting. They're also trained to get up when I say &lt;em&gt;'q-me&lt;/em&gt;, so I can do a reasonable amount of moving around before they'll skedaddle, and they never balk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="2660" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T16:05:35.817" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T16:05:35.817" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-14T02:25:00.100" Score="1" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have three rescue cats, all three of which we fostered, a 2 year old neutered male, a 1 year old fixed female, and a 6 month old neutered male. The problem is with the middle cat. She stays in my daughters' rooms much of the day, and will sleep on their beds. She's a bit stand-offish with my oldest, but allows my youngest to pick her up and carry her around regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is she doesn't like me (or my ex-wife) and will avoid me. If I approach slowly she will sniff my hand and occasionally tolerate me touching her chest, but usually skedaddles after the sniff. If I am able to hold her, if I pet her back her ears go back and she will fight and sometimes scratch in a panic or bite (sometimes hard but never breaking my skin). But occasionally I've been able to rub her belly and paradoxically she seems to calm down and tolerate it. She is like this with the kids, but to a lesser extent; clearly she doesn't like being touched on the back, but I can think of no reason why, no injuries or episodes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When she was a kitten she would sleep with me and the wife, and didn't seem to have any hangups about her back being stroke. One dynamic that has changed (other than age, and being fixed) is that the oldest cat (a 15 lb Maine Coon) occasionally chases and even bites her. The older cats both love the youngest cat, but seem to have a chilly relationship with each other. But still I see her following the Maine Coon around sometimes after they fight, so I wonder if she's provoking it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She's a beautiful cat (gray leopard like colors) and I worry about her mental state and would like her to be more comfortable around all of us. I've tried giving her a variety of treats to find something to use to train her with, but she either doesn't like them or isn't willing to like them if they come from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14489" LastEditorUserId="14489" LastEditDate="2021-01-14T02:42:04.583" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T01:43:45.450" Title="Cat hates me, but likes my kids" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-14T02:55:28.810" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;        I'm not sure if you're asking how it knows you're about to  get up, or whether, having anticipated your behavior, what its intentions are once it gets on your bed.  Cats are very curious. So my first guess to the latter interpretation is just to gain more information or to enjoy the warm spot you leave behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        Cats and dogs (pets) are very perceptive with regard to behavior and smell.  It's just a possibility that, as a leading member of the pack or pride, the cat senses your mental agitation, or hears bodily agitation, or smells your tension or adrenaline increase as you think about all the things you need to do, which may seem like you're nervous or agitated and in need of 'chilling out', so the cat responds by doing what cats do instinctively, to either find out what the problem is or to calm you down, or maybe to find out if it involves that animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        A dog might get excited just before you get up for the same reason, in that it knows the signals you give off before you get up.  In a dog's case it gets excited because it wants you to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        Cats in the wild like to be very calm because cats hunt by ambush, which requires mental and physical calmness to be as stealthy as possible.  It's a sign of safety too. So if you're agitated, that alone might be cause for trying to calm you, or find out the problem. If the pride is moving, then it jumps on the bed for more information. These all follow the premise that the cat is good at anticipating your behavior, which really isn't any stretch. We anticipate the behaviors of others.  We know animals do. Their senses can by thousands of times more perceptive.  This is fact.  This is how the cat knows you're about to get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        But having determined that the cat is interested in anticipating your behavior of getting up, the question remains what it hopes to gain by jumping on the bed with you, but we can be certain that it wants more information. Cats are nothing if not curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        The multitude of cat videos prove that cat behaviors can be very difficult to put logic or reason to. Guessing what a cat thinks can elude you for its entire life, but they do develop habits, just like people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        Animals that know you are even more amazingly perceptive. They really can predict an onset of seizures, cancer, emotional agitation and other personal details that are kind of embarrassing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        If you want to get into what it wants by predicting this particular behavior, try to come up with different reasons for getting up.  Try altering your thoughts or maybe pay close attention to the sounds you make. Try not getting up and then pay close attention to its behavior without touching it and try to keep your mind blank.  See what it's trying to find out, or if it just wants the warm spot you leave behind.  Cats like high places. Try giving it a higher comfortable place to sleep and to watch you and maybe it has no need to jump on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        You've got to figure this out on your own, but you've got plenty of ideas. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        (I just deleted pages of boring commentary and thought, experience, etc.  You're welcome.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        Animal behavior is very interesting, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19642" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T17:02:54.683" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T17:02:54.683" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-14T06:20:15.310" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is completely normal. Your cat has learned when you are active, and being active means cuddling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're reading a book or watching a series, chances are you're quite passive. At the beginning and end of these activities however, there's a chance for your cat to get some interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat, for example, shows up when it hears the Netflix intro/outros.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16874" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T06:20:15.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29533" CreationDate="2021-01-14T06:37:00.127" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost: &lt;strong&gt;You cannot force trust, you can only earn it.&lt;/strong&gt; Saying that you &amp;quot;would like her to be more comfortable around all of us&amp;quot; easily translates to &amp;quot;I want to have a closer relationship with the cat&amp;quot;, regardless of whether the cat wants that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The behavior you describe is extremely similar to one of my own cats. She is more sensitive towards loud sounds, touch, strangers (guests in my home) and my younger cat which likes to chase and scare her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat establishes its own territory, even if that's just one half of a room or one arm rest of a sofa. It will patrol this territory regularly and leave scent marks. This scent makes the cat feel safe and at home. Your cat seems to have claimed your daughters' rooms as her territory and feels safest there. This is probably a result of the oldest cat choosing a different room as his territory and chasing her away. Wanting or forcing her to stay in other rooms will make her uncomfortable because of the scent of the other cat(s) and may result in more fights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat also has its own personality. Some are extremely cuddly and seek physical contact, others don't like the contact and are much more comfortable if they can curl up next to you without being touched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the cat to feel safe and comfortable around you, there are 2 main problems you should change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eye contact&lt;/strong&gt;: We humans are almost the only intelligent creatures on this planet that maintain direct eye contact in a friendly way. For almost all animals direct eye contact means a direct threat. Whenever you approach your cat, you should not look directly at her, but at a spot next to her. You should also do the &amp;quot;lazy cat blink&amp;quot; to signal her that you don't intend to fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Physical contact&lt;/strong&gt;: Your cat obviously doesn't want to be pet by you. Then stop it. I know it feels bad to be disregarded like that, I went through the same with my cat. But for now she must build trust in you that you won't touch her in a way she doesn't want. Letting her sniff your hand is ok, but don't touch her unless she also does the &amp;quot;lazy cat blink&amp;quot; at you. As long as she watches you and your every move, she doesn't trust you and by touching her anyways you can only make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own cat still actively avoids my hand whenever she doesn't want to be touched. She walks in an arc around my hand or ducks beneath it. I must respect her wish in those situations and not touch her. At other times, she comes running to me and headbutts my hand to ask for a petting. But I'll be honest with you, it took me more than 2 years until she decided she wants to be pet by me at all. She is not a cuddly cat in general and doesn't cuddle much with anybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T01:43:45.450" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T01:43:45.450" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29533" CreationDate="2021-01-14T06:46:55.037" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat's reaction to the petting makes me think that you may just be overdoing it. Some cats can be particularly sensitive to being pet. If you pet intensely, all the way down the back, these cats seem to get gradually irritated. You might notice it getting a little tense, the tail starts flicking, or the skin starts twitching. Do it enough, and cats like this will usually swat or bite. The safest way to avoid this is to lightly pet around the head and neck area only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility is that the cat has a medical problem that is making the area sensitive. It could be something like arthritis, which sometimes even happens in pretty young cats even though it's a disease associated with old age. I would ask about it next time you're at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for why the cat prefers your kids, perhaps it's because of the amount of time they are able to spend with it, or perhaps it's because they play much more with the cat. While it might not be true in your case, it's often the case that since kids already like to play and usually have a lot of free time that they end up playing a lot more with the pets than the adults in the household, and some cats will become particularly attached to them that way. If you realize this might be the case for your family, then perhaps playing with the cat more yourself will make it more attached to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T06:46:55.037" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29514" CreationDate="2021-01-14T15:30:11.910" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every dog has their own personality and own values. As you correctly suspected, your dog values his possession of the ball more than treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One trick you can try is trading one object with another of the same value - meaning trading one ball for another. You should only offer him the second ball if he's close enough to you that you don't have to walk far to retrieve the first ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can even turn the trade into a training. Throw ball 1 and let him retrieve it. When he's close to you, you give the command to drop it while showing him the second ball. As soon as he drops ball 1 you throw ball 2 as reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he doesn't drop the ball at all, you shouldn't pull it out of his mouth. Instead, you should hold onto the ball until he drops it. Reward him when he does.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Pulling something out of a dogs mouth is comparable to stealing it - maybe in jest and play, but stealing nonetheless. If you calmly hold onto the object without pulling, you tell him that you want to have it. He might try to pull it out of your grip, but if you're persistent, he should give it up to you. Always stay calm and persistent when doing this, throwing angry commands around or screaming won't help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please keep in mind that your dogs risk of ball addiction is extremely high. If you play fetch with balls too often, he might spiral into obsession and ignore other stimuli like interactions from dogs and people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T01:40:47.910" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T01:40:47.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-14T17:01:12.720" Score="0" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does my male Husky dog of two years follow my female Chihuahua dog of fourteen years when she goes to the bathroom, and when she pees he licks her urine right after?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19646" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-14T17:04:18.623" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T17:04:18.623" Title="Why does my male dog (Husky) lick my female (Chihuahua) dog's pee?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-01-14T21:09:39.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-14T19:11:25.963" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a female cat which is 3 years old and besides her first months of life, she never saw or played with another cat after being an adult cat, she is already pretty scared of strange people or animals and I don't know how she will react having to live with another cat on her house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think that since I work outside of my house everyday I need to grab a new kitten to be with her while I'm away so they can play with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is there anything I can do to &amp;quot;prepare&amp;quot; my cat for the arrival of a kitten or should I just let they know each other by themselves?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19637" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T19:11:25.963" Title="How to prepare my cat for living with another cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-01-14T20:00:36.300" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-14T19:53:48.797" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had many cats and dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that when  I can share some  food with my furry friends, my dogs will gobble it up without worrying about the temperature, but my cats will sit there and stare at the food for several minutes until the temperature goes down a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have taken into consideration that normal body temperature for cats and dogs is more or less the same at 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius), but cats have more sensitivity to IR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just because dogs are more piggy? Or are the mouths of cats more sensitive to heat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19647" LastEditorUserId="19647" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T13:50:42.267" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T13:30:22.400" Title="Are the mouths of cats more sensitive to temperature than that of dogs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;cooked-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29527" CreationDate="2021-01-14T21:18:54.820" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog is trying to protect its territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is trying to protect you from what in  its mind is a threat  to you and especially its own turf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try out saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get the kitty..get the kitty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog goes off looking in the garden and up trees, it is protecting its territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19647" LastActivityDate="2021-01-14T21:18:54.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29524" CreationDate="2021-01-14T23:30:18.450" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Try to establish a play, eat, sleep routine.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty normal for cats to get hyper around mealtimes or when they're hungry, which is a likely explanation for why the incidents tend to happen when they do. Therefore, I think it would help you to change when your play sessions happen to right before mealtimes. In the wild, the natural pattern is hunt, eat, then sleep, so if you can establish a routine like that, hopefully it will encourage the younger cats to be diverted from bothering the older cat while you're playing attention to them, and to sleep when you're not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arrange your furniture to help your older cat avoid them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use your existing furniture and new cat furniture to create alternate routes throughout your house. Make sure these alternate routes have multiple ways they can be accessed, so no cats can be trapped up on furniture by the others as they wait for it to come down. The idea is make it so your older cat can simply avoid your younger cats by going up on this furniture. If done right, it can avoid these incidents on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look for and fix any problem areas.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be areas of your house where incidents particularly happen. For example, there might be a chair the cats love to hide under and wait for their victim, so they can ambush it.  Or maybe they tend to guard a shared resource, like the litterbox. So start taking notes of where these incidents tend to happen, and if you notice a problem area, try to think of ways to get rid of it. Add more of any resources that are being guarded, block access to hiding places that they use for ambushing, and make alternate routes with cat furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T16:20:35.357" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T16:20:35.357" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29527" CreationDate="2021-01-15T00:53:25.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I let my dog out into the garden, he barks at me for a while. I&#xA;usually shut the door and he runs off to do his business, without&#xA;looking back at me or barking at me again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's inviting you to come out and play. When you shut the door, you have declined the invitation so he stops asking - a very polite dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is common between dogs as well. When a lively dog approaches another in the park, does a play bow, and gets no response, the next level is to bark. At this point the owners usually intervene but with an inexperienced or over-confident dog it can escalate into nipping. At that point the other dog might retaliate.  If the second dog is dominant, the barking dog will retreat. If they are equals, a brief snarling match (or even fight) may ensue. If the second dog is old or weak, the barking/nipping dog may start to nip more and harass the second dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is asking but not insisting. Incidentally does he do or sketch a play-bow when he barks?  (front part of body repeatedly lowers and bounces up again while barking) or does he stand stock still and just look at you while barking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he bounces, that is a request to play. If he just stands then it's a request simply to come outside and keep him company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T01:53:07.250" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T01:53:07.250" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29546" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-15T01:11:52.370" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pepe is an 8 year old Chihuahua /Papillon rescue. We've had him for 5 years. Recently he's decided that he won't eat unless we tell him it's ok. He'll just stand there, barking. Even if he's just going to grab a kibble for a snack. He's fed fresh food, which he loves, twice a day with a side of kibble that he sometimes saves for later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19648" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T01:38:53.117" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T19:10:37.897" Title="Why does my dog bark for permission to eat?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-01-25T17:54:58.690" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-15T07:09:31.437" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand the OP already accepted nick01200's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/29526&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; describing confirmation bias, but I just want to point out a couple things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;First of all, what nick01200 is describing &lt;em&gt;is not&lt;/em&gt; a Confirmation Bias.&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confirmation Bias is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In layman's term, &lt;em&gt;you believe what you want to believe&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OP claims that &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;My cat lies down on me whenever I am about to get up&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;nick01200 said that OP's claim is a case of Confirmation Bias because &amp;quot;you remember only the remarkable occasions&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tendency to remember only the remarkable occasions is NOT the same thing as the tendency to recall information in a way that supports one's claim. In fact, that's just part of our learning process. &amp;quot;Remarkable&amp;quot; events fires off more neurons in our brain, which makes it easier to form a memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If OP was intentionally or unintentionally recollecting only the occurences when the cat lied down on them, it would be more like &amp;quot;cherry picking&amp;quot;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data that may contradict that position&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, even if OP does count all occurences without cherry picking, there is still an issue of defining what &amp;quot;about to get up&amp;quot; means.. and then there's number bias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Probably not confirmation bias&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under the assumption that there is absolutely no physical movement involved in &amp;quot;about to get up&amp;quot;, there is an &lt;em&gt;underlying belief&lt;/em&gt; within the claim &amp;quot;My cat lies down on me whenever I am about to get up&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is, &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;a cat is able to interpret human behavior and act in a way interpretable by human&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If OP believes that OP's cat can understand OP's behavior, OP is likely to believe OP's cat can interact with OP - for example, cat is messing with OP by sitting on OP when OP needs to get up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be an example of interpreting information in a way that confirm one's prior belief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, without the assumption, it may simply be a cat reacting to a sound, sight, or movement.&#xA;It could also be heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;nick01200 is right in the sense that OP needs to keep track of occurences - not just count them, but also include all minor/major details. Like, are you on your couch, did you just place the plate down next to you, did you yawn, did you shift your body, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like all other answers on here, it's likely that OP is making certain cues that OP's cat is picking up on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19652" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T07:09:31.437" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29546" CreationDate="2021-01-15T09:16:18.103" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; is hard to answer. We cannot ask your dog and cannot look inside his head. He did eat without permission in the past, so his current behavior is just a habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's important is that his behavior is completely unnecessary. It's very much comparable to people claiming that their dogs won't eat anything unless they are fed by hand. The behavior started small and then got reinforced over time and now the dog acts like any food that isn't in a hand is poison. The behavior of your dog probably also started small, but the way you reacted to it told your dog somehow that this was the right way to act and now he does it every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple solution is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give him his full food bowl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Completely ignore any barking. Don't give him permission. Don't interact with him. Turn around and leave the room without interacting with the dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give him 20 minutes to eat his food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When he's finished eating (or if he didn't start eating after 20 minutes), take his food bowl away until his next meal time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat the same process at the next meal time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This teaches him that the signal to start eating is not you giving him permission, but the food bowl appearing in front of him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry if he skips a meal or even an entire day of meals. Wolves and dogs have adapted to irregular mealtimes for thousands of years before we humans domesticated them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to read about similar problems people have with their dogs, please see these questions:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/16315/12501&quot;&gt;Dog refuses to eat unless fed by hand&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/219/12501&quot;&gt;Why won't my dog eat on her own?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/27491/12501&quot;&gt;Help! My dog wants permission to eat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-25T15:26:06.533" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T15:26:06.533" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29555" CreationDate="2021-01-15T14:39:52.510" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a five-years old female cat, that is the cuddliest cat that my husband and I ever encountered. She cannot be put on the floor, she needs to be on us (shoulder, arms, back) all the day. She loves to cuddle, to lick (she washes my husband's beard three times a day) and sleep in our arms. The only time we are left alone is when she's sleeping, she goes in her box. She is able to play alone, we sometimes stimulate her with sticks and wool thread, but she has her plushies she takes everywhere and fight. She's a home cat (we're in an apartment) and neutered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It wasn't a problem before: my husband and I both had jobs and when we were back home, she was greeting us, so it was no wonder she wanted to cuddle. But when the pandemic started to strike, my husband lost his job and is now jobless since March 2020. He is almost 24/24 at home, and the cat never leaves him. Whenever he goes outside, even if I'm here, she cries until he gets back home, it's heartbreaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's looking for a new job, and I'm 100% sure that when he'll be gone from the house, the first weeks will be terrible for her (for example, when I was able to go back to work after 2 months home everyday, each morning she blocked my legs when leaving the house), and I'm scared she will fall into depression or develop anxiety. So I wanted to adopt now another kitten (or adult cat?), so she would have a companion and not be alone all day. My husband is not okay with this idea: our cat is a real princess, she gets cuddle all the time, she gets what she wants when she wants (I'm talking about items she's stealing, not treats) and seems really in love with my husband, and jealous of me: whenever I'm kissing my husband, she runs towards him and block me from getting another. He fears she will take the new inhabitant as a threat and that it would be explosive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone had the same problem we're facing? And what would be the options if we don't take another cat? Thanks a lot for your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Maybe a last minute addition: we live in a 65 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; apartment (700 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;), so 2 cats would fit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19657" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T21:17:04.550" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T21:17:04.550" Title="Is it a good idea to take another cat when my current cat is a real princess?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2021-01-15T15:10:50.930" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wire mesh is clinically proven to be better for rabbits than flat hard surface such as wooden floor. In their natural environment, the claws on their feet sink into the ground. On flat surface this is impossible, causing their feet to be positioned incorrectly when at rest. I'm fact, in the experiment when given choices of different substrates to rest on, rabbits even sometimes choose wire mesh over natural soil. You should not worry about bunny comfort, when it comes to properly sized mesh floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also rabbits do not eat their feces, this is a commonly repeated false information. Rabbits make two different kind of droppings. The hard round droppings that are most common are NOT eaten, they are 100% waste. The bigger problem is urine. The moment the bunny urinates into bedding or on wooden floor, they are at risk of coming into contact with urine - sore hocks, urine burn, ammonia. No matter how diligent you are at cleaning the cage, you will not avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19658" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T15:10:50.930" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-15T17:19:36.700" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently brought my kitten in to be neutered, he was approximately 10 weeks old. He used to love going into his carrier and never had a problem with it, he'd even sleep in it if we left it out. I dropped him off for the procedure at about 8:15 am and expected to pick him up after work. We called around 4 pm, as we expected a call to pick him up by then and they said they were behind and he was not taken in yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, has anyone else experienced this before? He seems traumatized now with the carrier as he was just sitting in it for a whole day without us. Any advice on getting him to not freak out every time we have to put him in there again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19660" LastEditorUserId="19660" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T19:02:25.670" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T17:56:42.567" Title="How to soothe a kitten that had to remain inside a carrier for extended period of time?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;cage&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20447" CreationDate="2021-01-15T17:30:04.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I’m learning to watch her ears and brace for impact.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my dogs I've found that &lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt; is the moment at which you need to coach and treat. As soon as you notice something that will trigger your dog, start to coach her. For me, my dogs reacted while we were walking past other dogs. So I begin to coach, calmly, &amp;quot;on by, on by.&amp;quot; Then, as soon as the trigger has passed, praise and reward. You teach the dog that if she can focus on you and ignore the trigger, she will be rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I run with my dogs (border collie and Australian shepherd mixes) and as they went through adolescence they both started becoming aggressive when we'd pass other dogs. I had to spend a couple of weeks with each where I would carry treats to coach them to focus on me. Now it is second nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17703" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T17:30:04.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29551" CreationDate="2021-01-15T19:17:59.500" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;With a lot people being out of work or working from home, many pets are used to their humans being around all day. I worry about my cat when the day comes I go back to the office. It sounds like your cat may struggle a lot, but I don’t think getting a kitten is a good risk to take because it’s just that - a risk. I don’t want to scare you out of getting a kitten since they can be wonderful additions to the family. But it’s important to look at the whole picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting a second cat is never a guaranteed friendship. There’s a chance a kitten would help occupy your cat, but maybe not. I had two cats that used to be friends, but then had a falling out and living with them increased my stress ten fold. We hope for the best, just understand there is a worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, both you and your partner would need to be in agreement. Introducing a new kitten to the family also introduces new stress. You both need to be okay with those challenges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, how well does your cat handle change? She’ll already be going through a tough time adjusting to your new working schedules. Would adding a new stressor distract or amplify? Every cat handles these things differently, and you know her the best. A princess cat could love having a new subject under her rule!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are adaptable creatures. It might take her a while, but there’s a good chance that she’ll be okay. If you decide not to go the kitten route, here are some ideas to maybe help prep her for the change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start leaving the house more frequently. Take day trips or even a weekend trip, then spend a few days at home again to reassure her that you’ll always come back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you’re gone, make sure she has lots to occupy her. Leave out her favorite toys, turn on a cat tv show, leave items that smell like you and your partner on or around her favorite spots in the house, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this help you make an informed decision, and best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="13827" LastEditDate="2021-01-15T20:13:41.087" LastActivityDate="2021-01-15T20:13:41.087" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17015" CreationDate="2021-01-16T05:41:07.337" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading this post when my cat was scared of me which is infact today,just few minutes ago.&#xA;Then an idea came to my head.I put on a 'Kitten meowing ' video on YouTube and hide the phone under my blanket.&#xA;First she waited outside of the room dying to find out where from all those 'meowings' coming .&#xA;Next she was holding my bed and searching with her eyes but still keeping her distance.&#xA;Next she couldn't take it anymore.She came up on my bed and search around.&#xA;It went on for 10 minutes until the video stopped.During her search,she got comfortable around me.&#xA;Now she is lying beside me,letting me pet and purring.&#xA;It's all about the children I guess.&#xA;A cat is an animal with curiosity in its eyes and fear in its step.&#xA;An unusual combination,I happened to entice her curiosity more than her fear with that 'Kitten meowing' video I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19661" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T05:41:07.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-16T07:50:12.013" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is usually calm and well behaved. He usually just ignores everyone and isn’t that affectionate but recently he started to be nicer and even nudged his head against me for pets.I thought it was different since he usually isn’t like that but when petting him for a while he just bit me and wouldn’t let go. Whilst that he was meowing as if he was hurt but I checked and he wasn’t. It was like when touching a harmed cat and they go to bite but stop because they no better and don’t really want to hurt you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19662" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T17:30:33.800" Title="Why is my well behaved cat suddenly start to attack" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29557" CreationDate="2021-01-16T10:19:33.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This change of behavior can indicate that your cat isn't feeling well. He might have asked for pets to comfort him and he might have bitten you because you caused him pain without realizing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should make an appointment at a vet to get his health checked. Tell the vet all of the changes you noticed. They know best what tests to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T10:19:33.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29553" CreationDate="2021-01-16T16:56:32.687" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once a cat associates something with a negative experience, it can be hard for them to like it once again, so just know this will take time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, don’t force the cat to enter the crate while he is learning to be comfortable in it again. Let all of this be in his own terms. Here’s a couple things to try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leave the crate out and open in your house. No need to interact with it, treat it like any other object.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start adding “incentives” or comfort items in and around the crate. Treats, toys, or a old shirt that smells like you are good options.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if the cat goes on or in the crate of their own freewill, give them a treat!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also consider getting a new crate or carrier. My cat grew to dislike the one we used through his kitten years when he was sick. I bought a new soft travel carrier that he doesn’t mind it now, even after a few vet trips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, cats don’t love being confined in a carrier/crate at all. It’s an activity always associated with the vet and other negative things. There’s a chance your cat won’t like it ever again, but that’s alright. As long as you keep crate trips to a minimum, it shouldn’t affect your cat long term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T16:56:32.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29557" CreationDate="2021-01-16T17:30:33.800" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the nature of cats to hide illness. Since&#xA;He is behaving strangely, so it would be good to contact a veterinarian. Is your cat urinates regularly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19578" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T17:30:33.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-16T20:08:53.720" Score="0" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitty, (&amp;quot;Prince&amp;quot;) REILLY, who is 8 is treated like royalty: loved, groomed, continuously gets things like furry beds and toys. We play with him and make his life interesting in the country (watching chickens, walks in a cat buggy, and much more).  I feed him, give him treats, clean his kitty litter. But he seems to love my husband more.  He will spontaneously run up and bite my leg or hold on to my hand as if it were something he preyed upon.  I do have a water sprayer now and that gets him off of me, but it doesn't seem to teach him.  I put him in a room for time out. HELP.  We love him.  He can be funny and sweet.  But I can't figure out how why he attacks me some of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19665" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T21:08:44.260" Title="I love my 8 m.o. now 10 pound kitty" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-01-18T12:37:19.760" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29561" CreationDate="2021-01-16T20:56:49.100" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, these ARE signs the cat loves you. Biting your leg and grabbing your hand is the cat trying to play with you. If you're a particular target, it's because the cat has decided you are the fun one, for whatever reason. It just doesn't know how to play with you the right way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Get it kicker toys.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, the cat is trying to play wrestle with you, so you should get it &amp;quot;kicker&amp;quot; cat toys, which are good for wrestling with. These are stuffed toys, sometimes just a stuffed tube, other times they're shaped like fish or something like that. Or maybe even a regular plush toy will do. It should be of a size that the cat can wrap its arms around it and kick it with its hind legs at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rather than negative reinforcement, redirect it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've probably noticed a specific type of body language when it's about to bite. The cat might start getting noticeably more energetic and hyper, or more alert, for instance. When you start noticing that attitude, gently toss the kicker toy at the cat. Hopefully the cat will wrestle the toy, and take out its energy that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play with it strategically.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to patterns in your cat's behavior, and then preemptively play with it accordingly. For example, cats often get hyper around mealtimes, so play before mealtimes is usually a good idea. Or, as another example, my cat tends to get hyper and tries to wrestle our legs when we make food in the kitchen, and having someone distract it with play while the other person cooks really seems to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A playmate might help.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible solution is to get your cat a cat playmate, so it can have someone it really can wrestle with. Of course this comes with a big caveat that there is no guarantee another cat will actually want to play wrestle with your cat, and any time you introduce a new cat to the household always has the possibility of creating more problems, so it is a decision that should be considered very carefully first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-16T21:08:44.260" LastActivityDate="2021-01-16T21:08:44.260" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29516" CreationDate="2021-01-17T09:56:28.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is quite normal for cats. This shows your cat is affectionate to you! This is a good thing in terms of relationship but not good for you personally trying to get on with your day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe whenever you get up and do an action or say something and they get off, you give them a treat so they learn to get off your lap to be awarded with treats. If you don’t like awarding your cat, pet him/her for a bit and then &lt;strong&gt;correctly&lt;/strong&gt; carry them off your lap onto a nearby bed or chair or carpet. Sometimes they can tell from your scent to get off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, teaching with treats is the most efficient way and the most happy thing for your cat though it is expensive to buy treats but it works the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-17T09:56:28.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29564" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-17T16:26:34.337" Score="0" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two days ago I got a male kitten(Bengal) that's 3 month old. Today particularly he started looking very tired and been sleeping the whole day. It doesn't seem fine and I will be taking him to the vet anyway in two days but was wondering if anyone could help on this since this is my first cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's been eating very little seen he got to his new home (am guessing he still needs to get used to it ?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He was pretty playful until today. Now he seems very tired and just wakes up to go and poop. Am not sure but he also looks sad a bit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's not been drinking water...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I try to play with him he just walks away and turns his back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Sunday afternoon, after eating some cat wet food mixed with little cooked salmon, he started vomiting. He then had diarrhea (without blood in the stool). Until today he has received subcutaneous fluids because he keeps vomiting, no poo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet thinks it can be an infection or intussusception of his bowels. They will try to take an xray tomorrow in a more specializes clinic to check for the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked why not giving antibiotics as a preventive measure but the vet says that is the last resort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is now extremely weak and I wonder what can it be - and how long can he survive like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The kitten was diagnosed with coccidia after performing a fecal analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19667" LastEditorUserId="19667" LastEditDate="2021-01-24T15:19:58.147" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T15:19:58.147" Title="3 month old new kitten not drinking water and looks always tired and sleepy" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29564" CreationDate="2021-01-17T17:27:37.610" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it has gone on too long, rush the cat to the vet IMMEDIATELY.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats, especially male cats, are prone to urinary tract infections (UTIs), and it can even become fatal very quickly. That is why it's a HUGE concern if the cat doesn't drink for long periods of time, or doesn't pee for long periods of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat hasn't peed for twenty-four hours, then take it to an emergency vet immediately. If you see any specific signs of a UTI such as straining to pee, signs of pain while peeing, blood in the urine, peeing in tiny amounts, urinating outside the box, or frequent attempts to urinate, DO NOT WAIT. Take the cat to the emergency vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all may sound like a ridiculous hypereaction, but for cats it really can be a life or death situation. As an example of how real the danger is, the famous cat from internet memes known as &amp;quot;Grumpy Cat&amp;quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;suddenly died from a UTI&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But if it isn't yet at the point that's its an emergency...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that cats when brought to a new home are often just too nervous to do basic things like drink or pee. If 24 hours have not yet passed, and you haven't observed any other UTI symptoms, try to limit the stress as much as possible by leaving it mostly on its own to settle in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are really bad at drinking enough even when not under stress. For these cats, sometimes getting a bubbling cat fountain helps because they prefer moving water.  Or sometimes it's actually the bowl that is the problem.  Many cats don't like to drink or eat out of bowls. It's theorized it's because they don't like their whiskers to brush the sides.  So you might try giving its water in a very large and shallow bowl. If all else fails, then give the cat wet food, and mix in water into its food to force it to drink more that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-17T17:36:05.027" LastActivityDate="2021-01-17T17:36:05.027" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-18T01:10:09.957" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have installed a UV lamp in my aquarium and had it on for 12 hours.&#xA;After that my flowerhorn fish seems to turn pale in colour and his eyes seem to have turned blind. How can I cure my fish? Is the blindness permanent? Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19669" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-19T01:19:26.143" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T01:19:26.143" Title="How can I help my fish which was exposed to UV light?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29566" CreationDate="2021-01-18T02:30:34.083" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;My recommendations&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would highly recommend turning off the UV lamp and replacing it with a LED light that is on for the daylight hours. In nature, the atmosphere cuts most of UV light and gamma radiation that is hurtful to animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The explanation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue of blindness is I’m sorry to say is incurable. The UV light has already damaged the fish’s eyes so it cannot be undone. I am very sorry for your flower horn fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, for any creature, UV light is harmful for the eyes, even for humans (&lt;em&gt;this is why humans also shouldn’t look at UV light directly, same goes for the sun&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fish’s blind eyes are incurable and that UV light is not needed but LED lights are needed. Only have lights on when outside is bright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T02:30:34.083" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29553" CreationDate="2021-01-18T09:37:37.440" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Gwendolyn's answer is making a great point.&#xA;I do want to point out though that you do want your cat to be ok with a carrier again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat does not need to sleep in it of its own free will, but it should accept being in there as not terrible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a cat which did not like the carrier and she would be afraid and anxious of being in there. This was alright since we rarely used it; just for vet visits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat then developed a heart issue and being afraid in the carrier would cause panting and stressing to a much higher degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to say is, follow the advice given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give your cat positive times in the carrier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;maybe get a new carrier that does not smell like fear and vet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat still does not like it, do proper carrier training. Your goal is to have the cat settle down and be neither afraid nor angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put the cat in there for a short time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give it something it likes maybe a treat or a toy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let the cat out and reward it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Repeat this with longer timespans until you reach the goal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is important since you usually take your cat in the carrier when it is not feeling well to begin with, so it should at least be at ease with the rest of the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It might also help to improve the overall carrier-vet situation if the cat associates the vet with something else than being sick and treated. Some vets offer kitten appointments where the only thing that happens is the cat going to the vet, it gets taken out of the carrier gets some pets and treats and leaves again. I think this a great way to associate the vet and therefore the carrier with positive feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-07T22:55:39.750" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T22:55:39.750" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29278" CreationDate="2021-01-18T12:36:55.910" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that your NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; levels were too high, so the fish jumped out of the tank and you water quality was so poor that even a full water change didn't do the job. It was probably the lack of plants and good filtration that was hurting your fish more than the fall itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-18T12:51:40.150" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T12:51:40.150" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29167" CreationDate="2021-01-18T12:45:35.230" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Betta average lifespan is about 2-3 year, although they can live longer. If you don't know exactly how old it was, you could be expect him to be having his last months. Getting the best water quality and the less stressful environment will definitely give him better chances of having a very good life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-18T12:52:13.770" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T12:52:13.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-18T16:23:52.007" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 cats. I got the 2nd cat mostly because my impression was that cat 1 was bored.  However, cat 1 gives me looks that say, “don’t you love me anymore?” and “have I done something wrong to deserve this?”. It breaks my heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both 2 years old, so I thought they would play together. Certainly, cat 1 loves to play--but apparently, only with me. My question is about whether or not they are playing: in the morning, every morning, cat 1 chases cat 2.  He jumps on her and bites at her--definitely not with the intention of drawing blood, but it does seem to be unpleasant to her.  I intervene when she vocalizes. There is no hissing, but she does make a sound that sounds like stop. I have learned to not yell, but rather clap my hands loudly. That does stop the interaction. Often she will walk away and sometimes she will run under the bed because cat one is too big to fit under the bed.  Should I be stopping it? Are they playing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat 2 makes repeated efforts towards getting love and affection from cat 1. She will lay down next to him and 85% of the time, cat 1 gets up and leaves. All he wants is love and affection from me and to be free from her (I think?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that it has been a couple of months, I occasionally catch them together in a basket or lying together on my bed and cleaning each other. That happens maybe three times a week and they usually don’t last very long, at least they don’t when I’m in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any advice would be welcomed. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19674" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-19T01:16:58.120" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T01:16:58.120" Title="Did I make a mistake getting a 2nd cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29456" CreationDate="2021-01-18T17:42:25.420" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Water shock especially when they are very stressed or ill already. As you described your fish was already in a pretty bad shape, in that situation you can apply some medicine into the water tank or in a separate tank if there is more fishes. Next time try to watch out water conditions.  I'm sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T17:42:25.420" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29573" CreationDate="2021-01-18T17:49:50.087" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like your cats mostly get along, and some of this is your worrying the situation is far worse than it actually is. Here's my read on some of their interactions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cats cuddle and groom each other, though you only see them do it &amp;quot;a little.&amp;quot; This is a very good sign that your cats actually do get along. For many if not most cats, merely being peacefully near each other is the most socializing they will ever do when they aren't playing. Grooming and cuddling is a level of socializing above and beyond what you can reasonably hope for when introducing cats that have never met before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The one cat lies next to the other, and the other cat gets up and leaves. This is also a perfectly fine interaction. The one cat leaving is sort of a polite &amp;quot;no thank you,&amp;quot; in terms of cat interactions. Perhaps the one cat is more cuddly than the other, but that is okay, as the other cat is politely turning it down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After breaking up what you perceive as a bad play session, the &amp;quot;victim&amp;quot; simply walks away. If the bad play session were truly serious, the &amp;quot;victim&amp;quot; wouldn't merely walk away. I would expect it to flee and hide, or show some other signs of fear or aggression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that said, I do think you may have a little bit of a problem with the play sessions. It's more typical for play sessions to be silent, though some cats might have the habit of vocalizing some during play without it particularly meaning something bad. Definitely it's a bad sign if they hiss, scream, or do quite a lot of vocalizing. The other bit is that occasionally the one cat runs and hides from the other. It's hard to judge when I can't see exactly what is happening, but my guess is that your one cat is sometimes getting a bit too rough for the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these cases, it is a good idea to separate them. But instead of clapping, it might be enough to distract them using a toy, though if toys don't work, the clapping seems good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also mention that this happens in the morning, which is also common. Many cat owners feed their cats first thing in the morning, and cats tend to get hyper around mealtimes, plus they've just spent all night not being entertained. Therefore it might also help if you could change something about your schedule so that all this doesn't coincide into making your cats maximally hyper. Here's a few things you could try to see if any of it works:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change their feeding schedule so that they get their meals later, and not immediately after you wake up, and play with them beforehand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you feed them dry food, you could also try using an automatic feeder to feed them while you're asleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep them more entertained while you sleep.  An easy way to do this is by giving part of their meals in food puzzle toys left out overnight, for instance, as long as you aren't concerned about one of the cats eating too much while you can't monitor them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But since overall their relationship seems good, I don't think this is something to be overly concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-18T18:01:17.953" LastActivityDate="2021-01-18T18:01:17.953" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29577" CreationDate="2021-01-18T21:40:35.383" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a strange one so bear with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, our dog (Aussie) is hyper focused on lights and reflections. She spends 90% of the day staring at the ceiling or walls, either barking or growling... waiting for lights or reflections that were never there and won't ever be there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally we fostered the behavior with mirrors, or a laser pointer... because she seems out of her mind excited and happy with it. We eventually stopped that since she would get so riled up she'd be watching for them all night long not sleeping. When she's in this state that's it... nothing else can get her attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the response here is going to be that she's not getting enough attention, play, etc. Okay, but she doesn't want anything else. She has a yard, and when we go into the yard all she wants to do is stand there and look for crossing shadows of birds or insects or maybe our phones or watches flashing a reflection. She begs at us to go outside with her, then stands there and stares at the ground wagging her tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11469" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-19T01:14:01.683" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T21:06:53.550" Title="Dog hyper focused on shadows, lights and reflections" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29576" CreationDate="2021-01-19T06:52:43.887" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your dog has OCD - &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Obsessive Compulsive Disorder&lt;/a&gt;. Certain dogs - especially hardcore working breeds like Border Collies and Australian Shepherds - are predisposed to developing OCD when they are not mentally stimulated enough. The most common cause for OCD in dogs is &lt;strong&gt;boredom&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately you encouraged her by playing with laser pointers. That's like setting a tall beer in front of a dry alcoholic. I need you to understand this and never do it again. Not even once. I need you to clearly and unmistakeably tell your friends and visitors that they must not do it. Please see &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/kMpgnZNe87Y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; for example - &lt;em&gt;the dog jumps at the moving shadow of a person wiggling their finger and the person filming the video is laughing and encouraging the behavior with her voice&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;This is the worst example&lt;/strong&gt; and if you were in this situation, you must intervene and stop the people from behaving like that. You must protect your dog from her triggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already noticed that her OCD has negative consequences. She cannot relax to the point where she cannot sleep at night and she cannot think clearly enough to focus on anything else - including you. This is a very stressful life and I highly doubt she's happy with it. But she cannot get out of that mindset on her own, so you need to help her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important way to treat OCD in dogs is to engage them in training and play. The default obedience training like sit, down and stay can be a very fun game for dogs because they can &lt;em&gt;interact with you&lt;/em&gt;. You (and the rest of your family) are the most important social contacts of her, you are her pack and getting attention and recognition from you is very satisfying to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first you need to get her used to the training and to concentrate on you. I propose training in a calm room without natural light so there are no moving shadows or lights. Once she got used to it, you will need to broaden the spectrum of commands to keep her entertained and engaged. You can do anything from teaching her circus tricks to making her balance dog biscuits on her nose to teaching her the names of toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must &lt;strong&gt;train with her daily&lt;/strong&gt;. You don't have to dedicate half an hour to a &amp;quot;dog school session&amp;quot;. It can be just a minute or two several times a day, like before breakfast, lunch and dinner or just one command whenever you feel like it. What's important is not to make her the best student in the world, but to give her something better to do than chasing lights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another chance to entertain your dog in her everyday life is by &lt;strong&gt;feeding her through a puzzle feeder&lt;/strong&gt; like shown in &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/q1bTPuhVHY0?t=18&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; (0:18 - 3:00). There are many different kinds of puzzles and oddly shaped food bowls available. The goal is to give your dog a simple mental challenge to alleviate boredom, comparable to people solving crossword puzzles when they're bored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also &lt;strong&gt;physically exercise your dog&lt;/strong&gt; more than you currently do. I do realize that it may be difficult at first because she'll be more interested in chasing lights than your exercise, but this is absolutely necessary. Go out with her during a cloudy day or at dusk and dawn. For a list of ideas, please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; (it also includes the idea of walking a dog insides on a treadmill. I encourage you to try out as many solutions as possible to give your dog a variety of new stimuli.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One trick I saw work well to distract OCD dogs from their triggers is the so-called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clickertraining.com/how-to-teach-your-pet-to-target&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;target stick&lt;/a&gt;. You can use any object that has a comfortable length and is comfortable to touch. Some examples include an artificial flower, a small plush ball, an old drumstick with a soft fabric tip and diverse DIY and commercially available target sticks. Teach the dog that whenever her nose touches the target at the end of the stick, she gets a treat. This must be trained several times a day so she internalizes the training just as much as the light chasing. Once she reliably touches the target, you can try distracting her form her light chasing by moving the target right in front of her and luring her away from the light with it. Don't forget that you must reward the training every single time with treats, or she'll feel more inclined to chase the light than follow the target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more help and instructions, please read the following articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://positively.com/dog-behavior/behavior-problems/ocd-behaviors/light-chasing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Light Chasing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/11_10/features/Dogs-With-OCD_16069-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Help for OCD dogs&lt;/a&gt; (scroll down to the chapter &amp;quot;Modifying OCD behavior&amp;quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/training/stop-chasing-shadows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to train your dog to stop chasing lights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the right search terms you can also find very informative video tutorials on Youtube. Please don't forget that you can also get &lt;strong&gt;professional help&lt;/strong&gt; from an experienced dog trainer. You don't want the standard puppy trainer, so ask them very directly if they can help dogs with OCD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-19T21:06:53.550" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T21:06:53.550" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23521" CreationDate="2021-01-19T11:49:02.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Game for blind dogs&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best suited for:&lt;/strong&gt; Blind or sight impaired dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material requirements:&lt;/strong&gt; A room with a hard floor (wood, tiles, linoleum or similar), treats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Time requirements:&lt;/strong&gt; a few minutes, 5 - 20 repetitions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to find activities that a blind dog can participate in with their limited ability to see objects and without risks like bumping into something. Let them use their ears and nose instead for a game of &amp;quot;find the treat&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need treats that are hard enough to make a clattering sound when they hit a hard surface. Soft treats can be left open for a few days to dry them sufficiently. The treats should be relatively small, so cut longer snacks like chewing strips or sausages into smaller pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also need to play this in a room with a hard floor, so that the treats clatter when they hit the floor. It's best if the room is otherwise devoid of distracting noises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply throw a treat onto the floor a few feet away from you. The clattering should give your dog an indication where the treat is to be found. Then let the dog sniff the treat out and eat it. If the dog cannot find the treat, lead them into the vicinity of it or slightly move the treat to make a sound again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only throw the next treat if the previous one was found. That gives your dog a certainty that they don't need to search for other treats until there is a clattering again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can alter the target area of your throws to make the game more interesting. It seems easier for dogs to find treats in corners than in the middle of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-19T21:09:07.847" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T21:09:07.847" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2021-01-19T11:49:02.697" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-19T15:11:30.273" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to travel from America to Europe with my 3 cats using Lufthansa. They'll travel in the cargo hold as checked baggage, and I'm having trouble getting a container of the right size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cats are roughly 50cm long, 20cm wide, and 40cm tall when standing erect. Looking at e.g. Petmate containers, I see that their 21'' Vari Kennel is too small, while the 28'' is way too large (just tried putting my cat in a 28'' and he occupied maybe a third of the entire container size while curled up in a corner). The ideal container size for me would be around 55x40x45, but I'm not aware of any good brands that carry those sizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm concerned that the cat will be bouncing around the container when being transported by the airline staff towards the plane, or if e.g. there's turbulence. Not to mention, transporting such large containers to/from the airports will be a challenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has anyone traveled with cats on Lufthansa before? Which container did you use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19679" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T19:11:29.383" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T19:11:29.383" Title="Container sizes for traveling with cats in cargo hold" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29579" CreationDate="2021-01-19T17:22:28.583" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The guideline is that a pet should be able to stand up fully with 1-2 inches (3-5cm) between the top of their head/ears and the roof of the kennel, and they should be able to turn around without touching the sides. This leads to kennel sizes that may (to us humans) seem significantly larger than needed, especially if we expect the pet to spend the majority of the trip laying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that the guideline was developed to work for long international flights, ground delays (or missed connections) of many hours and possible quarantine or other delayed pickup such that the pet may need to be in the kennel for several &lt;em&gt;days&lt;/em&gt; with enough space to stretch out, pace around nervously to burn off energy while cooped up, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why kennels for shipping a pet (they don’t care if you’re on the same plane) must be significantly larger than what you’d use for a short trip to your local vet or such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2021-01-19T17:22:28.583" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17506" CreationDate="2021-01-20T05:03:44.563" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was in a similar situation with a young puppy at work. If you’re still working on potty training, you might find it helpful to use an app like &lt;a href=&quot;https://wagaruffin.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wagaruffin&lt;/a&gt; to log her activity and then it will predict / notify you before the next time she needs to go out. That might make it a bit easier to focus on work while avoiding accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclosure: I helped to build Wagaruffin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19685" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T05:03:44.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29542" CreationDate="2021-01-20T09:19:33.893" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought about this question a lot and if someone has a more scientific answer please don't hesitate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think what might be important is not the body temperature of the animal itself, but the body temperature of their prey. I checked out vermin like mice and they have a body temperature of about 36-38°C while a deer has a body temperature of 38-40°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be the reason your cats hesitate at &amp;quot;high&amp;quot; temperatures while your dogs do not care. I also think that most cats will move their prey after a kill which will give it time to cool down, while dogs (afaik) usually eat their prey where they kill it, at least if it is big prey that was hunted in a pack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-20T13:30:22.400" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T13:30:22.400" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8158" CreationDate="2021-01-20T11:09:08.830" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends on the intelligence of the cat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats understand that the red dot does not really exist. They just like to play whack-a-mole with it, finding it better than rolling inanimate objects themselves and chasing them. However, some of them get fixated by it and cannot function properly after a play session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend had two cats, one being very smart. She would immediately recognise the rattle of the laser pointer and run to me before I ever clicked it on, because she knew the play session was about to start. Similarly, she would relax immediately after I put the pointer away. She showed no signs of aggression or alertness when I am not holding the pointer. I also never let her touch the red dot so I made her chase it constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other cat however, did not understand if the red dot is real or not. He would become instantly fixated on it and couldn't let it go, even long after I put the pointer down. We separated them for the red dot sessions, so the stupid cat would never see the red dot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if your cat shows signs of aggression, frustration or fixation towards the red dot during or after the play sessions, it might be a bad idea to play with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T11:09:08.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29579" CreationDate="2021-01-20T13:28:18.530" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The official Lufthansa homepage has a detailed section &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lufthansa.com/de/de/tiere-als-uebergepaeck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Transport von Tieren als Übergepäck im Frachtraum&lt;/a&gt; (Transportation of animals as excess baggage in the cargo hold), but unfortunately it seems to be only available in German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Für die Beförderung eines Tieres im Frachtraum wird ein Transportbehälter benötigt, der den geltenden Bestimmungen der IATA (International Air Transport Association) entspricht; andernfalls kann Lufthansa die Beförderung des Tieres verweigern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bitte beachten Sie: Der Transportbehälter muss mit Schrauben gesichert werden. Eine Plastikverriegelung gilt nicht als sichererer Verschluss und wird nicht akzeptiert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Je nach Tierart sind unterschiedliche Transportbehälter erforderlich. Sie müssen den Transportbehälter selbst mitbringen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the carriage of an animal in the cargo hold, a transport container is required that complies with the applicable regulations of IATA (International Air Transport Association); otherwise Lufthansa may refuse to carry the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note: The transport container must be secured with screws. A plastic latch is not considered a secure closure and will not be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different transport containers are required depending on the type of animal. You must bring the transport container yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Translated with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.DeepL.com/Translator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.DeepL.com/Translator&lt;/a&gt; (free version))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specification for transporting cats is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Der Transportbehälter muss so groß sein, dass das Tier in natürlicher Haltung in ihm stehen kann und genügend Platz hat sich hinzulegen und sich zu drehen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Die maximale Größe eines Behälters für den Transport im Frachtraum eines Passagierflugzeugs beträgt: 125 × 75 × 85 cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Der Behälter muss ausbruchsicher sein. Wir empfehlen stabile Plastik- oder Holzkäfige aus unschädlichem und ungiftigem Material. Der Transportbehälter muss auf allen vier Seiten Belüftungsöffnungen aufweisen. Die Öffnungen müssen so klein sein, dass kein Körperteil des Tieres durch sie hindurchpasst, dass es sich nicht verletzen kann und dass der Schutz vor Bissen oder Kratzern durch das Tier gewährleistet ist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Die Innenseite des Behälters darf keine spitzen Ecken, Kanten oder hervorstehenden Nägel aufweisen, an denen sich das Tier verletzen könnte.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Der Transportbehälter muss einen wasserdichten Boden haben und mit saugfähigem Material wie einer Decke oder saugfähigen Matte ausgelegt sein. Zeitungen, Karton oder Stroh sind nicht erlaubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Futter und Wasserschalen (ungefüllt) müssen am Käfig angebracht und von außen befüllbar sein. Futter und Wasser für den Flug können optional mitgegeben werden, es muss aber sichergestellt sein, dass diese während des Fluges nicht verschüttet werden können.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Der Behälter darf keine Rollen haben.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An beiden Längsseiten müssen jeweils in der Mitte Abstandhalter angebracht sein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Die Leine und das Halsband Ihres Tieres führen Sie bitte in Ihrem Handgepäck mit sich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pro Behälter ist nur ein Tier erlaubt. Es gelten Ausnahmen*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Im selben Transportbehälter erlaubt sind bis zu zwei Jungtiere von vergleichbarer Größe, die zwischen 12 Wochen und 6 Monaten alt sein dürfen oder zwei erwachsene Tiere von vergleichbarer Größe und bis zu 14 kg pro Tier oder ein Muttertier mit einem noch von der Mutter abhängigen Jungtier (0–6 Monate). Voraussetzung für die Beförderung mehrerer Tiere in einem Behälter ist, dass alle Tiere in ihm in natürlicher Haltung stehen, sich drehen und hinlegen können und die Tiere aneinander gewöhnt sind.&#xA;Transportbehälter für Hunde und Katzen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bitte beachten Sie: Die Oberseite des Behälters darf nicht mit einem Gitter abgedeckt sein. Belüftungsöffnungen im Deckel sind jedoch erlaubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The transport container must be large enough for the animal to stand in it in a natural position and have enough space to lie down and turn around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the maximum size of a container for transport in the hold of a passenger aircraft is: 125 × 75 × 85 cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the container must be escape-proof. We recommend sturdy plastic or wooden cages made of harmless and non-toxic material. The transport container must have ventilation openings on all four sides. The openings must be small enough that no part of the animal's body can fit through them, that it cannot injure itself, and that protection from bites or scratches by the animal is ensured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The inside of the container shall have no sharp corners, edges, or protruding nails that could injure the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the transport container must have a waterproof bottom and be lined with absorbent material such as a blanket or absorbent mat. Newspaper, cardboard or straw are not allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;food and water dishes (unfilled) must be attached to the cage and fillable from the outside. Food and water for flight may be provided as an option, but it must be ensured that they cannot be spilled during flight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the container must not have wheels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;spacers must be placed in the center of each long side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;please carry the leash and collar of your pet in your hand luggage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;only one animal is allowed per container. Exceptions apply*.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Up to two kittens of comparable size, which may be between 12 weeks and 6 months old, or two adult animals of comparable size and up to 14 kg per animal, or one mother animal with a kitten still dependent on the mother (0-6 months) are permitted in the same transport container. A prerequisite for transporting several animals in one container is that all animals in it can stand, turn and lie down in a natural position and that the animals are accustomed to each other.&#xA;Transport container for dogs and cats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note: The top of the container must not be covered with a grid. However, ventilation openings in the lid are allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translated with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.DeepL.com/Translator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.DeepL.com/Translator&lt;/a&gt; (free version)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lufthansa also offers a schematic of an acceptabe carrier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XYcpG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/XYcpG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;schematic of animal carrier&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;door hinges and latches must protrude at least 1.60 cm above and below the door openings at the horizontal protrusions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ventilation openings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rear view&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attached feed and water containers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;door interlock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spacer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since Lufthansa references the IATA guidelines for transport containers, here is the current &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.iata.org/en/programs/cargo/live-animals/pets/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;IATA guideline&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The calculated dimensions are internal container dimensions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A = length of animal from tip of nose to base/root of tail.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;B = height from ground to elbow joint. A+ ½ B = length of container.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;C = width across shoulders or widest point (whichever is the greater). C x 2 = width of container.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;D = height of animal in natural standing position from top of the head or the ear tip to the floor (whichever is higher) / height of the container (top flat or arched)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Minimum internal container dimensions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A + ½ B = Length&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;C x 2 = Width&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;D = Height&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snub nosed breeds require 10% larger container&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T13:28:18.530" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-20T17:38:52.337" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend's cat's  birthday is April 21st, 2020. She’s drooling, not eating, growling at her food and losing weight. At first the vet said she has a respiratory infection, fever and ulcers in her mouth; then put her on antibiotics, liquid and powder with food, but she’s still the same. It’s been about 3 weeks, the vets also said her teeth were fine, she’s in emerge now, but still nothing; the vets are saying she’s fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19686" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-20T21:45:22.540" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T04:07:29.363" Title="My friend's cat stopped eating" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;emergency&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29564" CreationDate="2021-01-20T20:19:28.563" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes baby food of the strained meat variety will get cats to eat. If not they can be coaxed by putting the baby food on their lips and allowing them to lick it off.&#xA;Bottom line is you have to get some food and water into him. I lost a cat to UTI and I worked at Ohio State Vet Hosp. If he has a urinary plug it has to be cleared ASAP (NOW)If it keeps comming back he may require surgury. (Peritoneal Utherosomy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19687" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T20:19:28.563" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-20T22:52:26.240" Score="1" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took in a abandoned kitten; she is skinny, malnourished and needs to eat. I bought her kitten dry food, but my older cat keeps stealing her food. He has his own dish of food filled to the top constantly, but since I got her kitten dry food he doesn't want his food: he wants hers. I've been trying everything to keep him away from it, I even put it in a small 2 door carrier with the top door shut &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19688" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-20T23:19:42.237" LastActivityDate="2021-01-20T23:19:42.237" Title="I took in a malnourished kitten; how do I stop my other cat from stealing her food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29591" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-21T01:31:44.467" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is around 1 year old and I have had her for 4 months. 2 months after I got her she started knocking over her water dish. At first I thought it might be because she didn't like the high sided dishes with a lot of water in them, so I replaced it with a large wide do bowl with just a little water in it and she still tips it over. She also isn't playing with the water, she doesn't like water and hates when her paws are wet. It isn't because the water isn't fresh because sometimes she does it seconds after I place the bowl on the floor or her shelf. I was looking into getting her a fountain, but she doesn't like the tap when it is running and I'd hate to spend all that money on something she doesn't use or knocks over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has non slip wide dog bowls now and still knocks them over 3-4 times a week. I've seen her do it before and she isn't just smacking with her paws, She carefully steps over the bowl and scoops her front paws backwards until she catches it and gets water everywhere. If anyone has suggestions it would be nice, I'd rather not clean up water every few days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19690" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T01:55:22.900" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T01:55:22.900" Title="Why does my cat purposely knock over her water dish?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-21T02:15:50.180" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently have two young koi fish, and they need a bigger pond. My dad and I are planning on making one in our backyard, but it gets incredibly hot in the summer. Is this dangerous to the koi, and is there a way to avoid it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19617" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T02:54:55.637" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T18:31:51.097" Title="Are Koi Safe in the Summer?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;koi&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29592" CreationDate="2021-01-21T10:58:33.033" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will mainly depend on pond exposure to the sun, it's location and construction, meaning that if you don't have enough water, enough shade and a good ratio fishes-water volume you will need to be extra careful when the sun hits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good spot for your pond is where it takes sun only during morning.&#xA;It will give enough light to your plants (4-6hs) and keep temp cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although if there is no way you can skip direct sun you will need to be aware of water temp but most important your koys behavior to react and cool the temp by changing some amount of water (10 % fresh water and don't forget to dechlorinate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck with your new pond!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastEditorUserId="19671" LastEditDate="2021-01-21T18:31:51.097" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T18:31:51.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29592" CreationDate="2021-01-21T15:34:58.367" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Koi pond is 80+ F most of the summer and probably reaches 90 F max. I have good aeration and no direct sun . The 2 koi don't seem to mind; they are about 24&amp;quot; and 30&amp;quot; long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T15:34:58.367" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2021-01-21T18:45:44.080" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do NOT give supplements! Excess Vitamin D can cause all kinds of terrible disorders in cats.  I just read about a case in the UK, where a kitten became gravely ill from a natural canned cat food that was distributed as a complimentary gift with their dry food.  The dosage of vitamin D in the cans alone was too high and caused terrible life-threatening conditions in the poor kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as mentioned earlier,  cats do NOT synthesize Vitamin D from the sun, like people do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19693" LastActivityDate="2021-01-21T18:45:44.080" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19326" CreationDate="2021-01-22T14:40:37.163" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the existing answers offer some excellent insight into the question offered in the title of this question, &amp;quot;What is a safe dose of Vitamin D,&amp;quot; I feel all have missed one very critical piece of the picture from the actual body of the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She wants my vitamin D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No, she doesn't.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot emphasize this enough: Your cat has &lt;em&gt;no idea whatsoever&lt;/em&gt; what Vitamin D is, or what a supplement is in general. She is not &amp;quot;instinctively craving&amp;quot; a pill; that's not a thing any species does. &lt;strong&gt;She wants a &lt;em&gt;treat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; The sound of a pill bottle rattling is not particularly different from the sound of a treat rattling in a container, and as she then sees you &amp;quot;eat&amp;quot; what you take out of the bottle, it must be delicious! One of my cats comes to eye me up every time I take my regular medications; that doesn't mean she has allergies she desperately needs treated, it means she thinks the pill bottle sound means a treat is coming. That's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stop reading so much into it&lt;/strong&gt; and either ignore her, or, if you want to make sure she continues to bug you every time you take any pill for the rest of her life, offer her a cat treat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T14:40:37.163" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-22T15:40:09.583" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;(moved from medical exchange)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ACR rat poisons use anticoagulants to cause internal bleeding and thus death in rodents. If used improperly, poisoned rodents may pass the poison on to predators, including local pets. One possible symptom I read about is effusion (internal fluid 'leaks') as internal bleeding stays in body cavities. Multiple articles describe processes of using anticoagulants under lab conditions to obtain plasma. Does this mean that abdominal fluids in a pet from ingesting ACR rat poison would be mainly plasma, as opposed to 'full blood', and thus clear/yellow instead of red?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T01:03:52.330" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T14:40:45.853" Title="What fluids are in effusions caused by anticoagulant (constituent of rodenticide) poisoning?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-22T16:45:25.640" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a kitten a few weeks ago. At first my older female was unhappy with it of course, but no severe fighting, just a hiss or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now she’s recently started to hiss and pin her head down randomly. But yet, she cuddles her and licks her until there’s nothing left to lick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if she likes her or what’s going on. The kitten acts submissively anytime she does that, but she just did it and proceeded to kiss her so? I’m a little confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19696" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T17:43:54.230" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T00:03:50.370" Title="My female cat hisses and pins down my kitten before licking her and cuddling her?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29553" CreationDate="2021-01-22T17:03:29.813" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The cat has deemed this object negative and therefore doesn’t want to go around it in fear of going to the vet again. I personally have found that with time and patience, they will sometimes lose that fear if you don’t have to take them in often of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try putting food and water inside of the carrier or even treats to establish that not every time they get in, they go to the vet. Make sure to give them loves of kisses and pets to encourage positive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19696" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T17:03:29.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29623" CreationDate="2021-01-22T19:33:21.353" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pond reaches temperatures as low as 20 F, rarely that low though. It does ice over from time to time in the winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any variety of corydoras catfish that can live there? I found some pond shops sell catfish for use in ponds, such as blue catfish, but these reach massive sizes, I don't want something that will threaten baby fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T11:55:47.040" Title="Is there any species of corydoras catfishes that can live at pond temperatures?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;pond&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-22T20:52:31.640" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend plans to adopt a stray kitten. The kitten is 6 months old, very well behaving and apparently he has catarrhal stomatitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, as &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28855/what-are-the-main-alternatives-to-tooth-extraction-for-feline-stomatitis&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; suggests, the best way to deal with this disease is to extract the teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This cat has one tooth that has been affected very badly, so the vet believes there is no way to save it. Currently, he is on antibiotics to determine if the disease is autoimmune or viral and if it is autoimmune they say that the disease will spread to other teeth and removing them all at once might be the best way to proceed. However, in case it is viral, they will only extract the effected tooth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the disease is indeed autoimmune, is it certain that the rest of the disease will spread to the other teeth? It makes sense to remove all the teeth while he is under anaesthesia, but if there is a good chance he might retain the rest of the teeth, for the quality of life purposes, removing only the effected tooth might be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T20:52:31.640" Title="How progressive is Catarrhal Stomatitis?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29598" CreationDate="2021-01-22T22:40:33.747" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats hiss to intimidate another into not attacking, and pinning a cat stops any attack physically plus establishes dominance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s possible your older female is still a bit nervous around the kitten; it’s another predator in “her” territory, after all, plus kittens tend to be rather energetic and “attack” their siblings and mothers as a form of play. So, she is making it clear to the kitten this is grooming time, not playtime. Once the kitten calms down and/or develops a better sense of when she is willing to play, the hissing and pinning will probably stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T22:40:33.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14964" CreationDate="2021-01-22T22:41:44.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is totally normal. It's dried up slime to conserve moisture. The snails will hibernate in this. My snails are hibernating too right now, but I wake them up once a week to feed them. To remove it just use a toothpick; BE REALLY CAREFUL they are often just right under this layer and won't like being poked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19700" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T22:43:56.323" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T22:43:56.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16086" CreationDate="2021-01-22T22:51:34.683" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have a small live trap, you can use that. Make sure it won't hurt the kitten. I used to have the same problem and just used a piece of ham, but if you notice they are eating something else, use that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19700" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-22T23:05:06.963" LastActivityDate="2021-01-22T23:05:06.963" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="339" CreationDate="2021-01-23T00:22:46.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 18 month old boy American Stafford terrier, his mate is a fox terrier. He was 6 months old when I brought her home and she was 8 weeks old. He was totally avoiding her from day one, so I kept them separate when not home, but when home carried her, feed her and took her for walks first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After about a few days, my boy dog was like &amp;quot;what's up with this&amp;quot;, I guess he figured out that I cared and then was all on her as a puppy till now. She is 1 year 4 months old, had a litter in July: 9 puppies, 7 girls and 2 boys. My male dog was overwhelmed with the whole thing like where all these dogs come from, but at 5 days I introduced dad to his babies: no problem at all. Now I have mom, dad and a female from litter and mom is OK. Her second litter is due in Feb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I said all that to say this: your dogs are an extension of you, they pick up your likes and dislikes and with a lot of correcting and guidance you should be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19702" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T00:50:09.770" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T00:50:09.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29607" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-23T18:03:46.357" Score="-2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so tired of cleaning my cat's poop and having to wash clean clothes because he pees on them. How do I train him? He has a litter box and he’s allowed to go outside. I love him to bits but I got so frustrated today I beat him up. I feel so bad, but I had a bad day and came back home to a messed up wardrobe. He wasn’t always like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a kitten he always preferred to poop outside, but since mid last year he just chooses to ruin my mood. He will literally come into the house from outside, running, to poop on my stuff. How do I train him? I come from a country where sending him to the SPCA is basically killing him. He’s my baby and I love him but I am so tired right now, what do I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19704" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T23:57:25.677" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:41:37.203" Title="How to get my cat to stop pooping and peeing on my stuff only" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29613" CreationDate="2021-01-23T22:15:17.193" Score="11" ViewCount="3887" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the last few months, I have been gradually preparing to adopt my very first cat! I've been a fish owner and a partial dog owner before, but have never taken care of a cat on my own before and have been doing a lot of research to make sure that I'm fully ready for cat ownership. There are a few different friends of mine who have let me interact with their cats to decide what kind of cat is right for me, and I've learned a lot about how every cat is different and has a different personality and temperament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I haven't found a lot of good help on yet, however, is how to choose the right cat for me in terms of temperament, and make sure that our personalities are a good fit for each other. I'm a very mild-mannered, quiet person, and feel I would pair best with a calm-tempered and relaxed cat as a companion. I could use some tips on how to get a good feel for a cat's general personality and how they will behave in your home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are some good ways to tell a cat's temperament and personality when deciding to adopt?&lt;/strong&gt; And, as a related question, are there any negative indicators or warning signs I should look for that a cat might not be  a good fit in my home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19706" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T21:55:42.867" Title="When choosing a cat, how to determine temperament and personality and decide on a good fit?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6456" CreationDate="2021-01-23T23:36:57.620" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've waited on my cat. He gained muscle and a larger head around 14 months. He's beautiful and big. The wide fave and forehead is worth the wait. I am neutering him now at age of year and a half. He has shown to strong of interest and aggressive behavior.   His testosterone needs to be tamed. Although I would 100% wait again. I love the tom cat build over the longer tall cat with a smaller head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19707" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-23T23:58:45.487" LastActivityDate="2021-01-23T23:58:45.487" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29608" CreationDate="2021-01-24T02:45:09.847" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, this is difficult to predict even for experienced cat owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, adult DSH or mixed breed cats in general are pretty mild-mannered, bordering on lazy and aloof. If they’re not, it usually indicates either a medical problem or past trauma/abuse, and shelter staff will recognize those issues and steer away people who aren’t prepared for them. Kittens will be much more energetic and mischievous, but in a cute way, and adapt faster to a new home; a pair of siblings is often much less work than one kitten because they’ll wear each other out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some specific breeds (which you’re not likely to find in a shelter) are known for much more extreme personalities, but if you’re going that route, your breeder or rescue can help select the best fit for your home or, if needed, warn you off. Many won’t accept first-time cat owners anyway due to the likelihood of not understanding what they’re in for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T02:45:09.847" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29608" CreationDate="2021-01-24T07:58:59.617" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice on how to figure out which cat to adopt is pretty much always, &amp;quot;Talk to the people that are currently taking care of them.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, they will know which animals are particularly adoptable, and they will definitely want to tell you. But also, they will have a much better idea of what their cats' temperaments might be like than you will be able to observe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats generally just don't act like their normal selves when they're being judged for adoption. They're often being presented in a shelter situation, and that's very stressful for them. But even when they're not, most cats just aren't too comfortable around total strangers that come to look at them. As a result, I think a lot of people don't really have much of an idea what their cat will be like when they take it home, but you can have at least some idea if you just ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what you've stated you're looking for, I have two particular recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at cats being fostered or have a known history. This way, you can really be certain of what the cat's temperament will be like in a stable home. Considering foster cats might be more work though, because they won't be at a central shelter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Look at mature cats. By &amp;quot;mature&amp;quot; I don't necessarily mean elderly (though if you're willing, adopting an old cat is a kindness because they're often unwanted due to their age), but rather that they are no longer &amp;quot;young.&amp;quot; Young cats are usually more energetic than mature cats, but also adults have established personalities. Kittens, on the other hand, may very well change as they mature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-01-24T15:53:57.193" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T15:53:57.193" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29597" CreationDate="2021-01-24T14:40:45.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anticoagulants are commonly known as &amp;quot;blood thinners&amp;quot;. They would be used to avoid the blood getting thicker and &amp;quot;clumping&amp;quot;. For example this is useful for people that get thrombosis quickly, or people who could not move some time, for example after surgeries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of Anticoagulants as poison against rodents uses this effect with a higher dose. The rodents will die (even days after eating the poison) by the smallest wound, because it will not stop bleeding. Modern poisons combine a second substance, causing internal wounds, so the rodent can not carry the poison to rodent-eating-predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To obtain blood plasma, the blood needs to be taken from the organism. By contact with the air, the blood starts to thicken and clumping. To avoid this, the Anticoagulants will be added, until the process of separate the plasma from all other natural blood-parts is successful finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, the internal fluids in the rodents will approximately not be yellow or clear. But I had no occasion until now, to confirm my guess at any poisoned rodent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticoagulant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anticoagulants at EN Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikoagulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Anticoagulants at DE Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodentizid#Warfarin_und_Coumatetralyl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rodenticide at EN Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T14:40:45.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29608" CreationDate="2021-01-24T14:51:10.270" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, you get a cat and it IS a good fit, provided some basic knowledge, care and goodwill. Both cats and humans are quite adaptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are breeds that are known for their temperament peculiarities, but their personal differences still dominate (unlike dogs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still a fish owner, be sure to prevent the cat from getting in the water by all means possible. Most cats will just use the aquarium as a TV-set, but some will try their best to catch the fish up to and including diving in the water, no matter how well you feed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16715" LastActivityDate="2021-01-24T14:51:10.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-24T15:18:38.913" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a kitten that is 13 weeks old, he went through a very tough week last week and still is in the danger zone (more details below since it might be very relevant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just checked the gum, and it seems white not just pale pink. Can this be due to malnutrition and should go away soon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Details on kitten's last week complications:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten suffered a week of vomiting with little to no eating because of lack of appetite and whatever was fed through a syringe was vomited out shortly after. Of-course the kitten was taken to the vet and had fluid injections and glucose injections that it needed to survive. Finally the kitten was diagnosed with coccidia parasites after performing a fecal test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The treatment consisted of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 day dose of Baycox (toltrazuril) 5% Suspension (finished yesterday).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paspertin Tropfen (Metoclopramide) as an anti-vomit 3 times per day (this ends today).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the nutrition, the kitten is now having for the second day in a row 50g of the royal canine recovery wet food, which slightly diluted with water and a pinch of probiotics (Purina Fortiflora).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kitten is only 770g due to all the hardship... should have been around 1.8kg at this age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19667" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T15:00:43.077" Title="3 month old kitten in recovery, very skinny and has white gums" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29617" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-24T22:07:18.217" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 4 month old Rottweiler puppy, and she’s outside quite often as she’s very energetic and loves to run around and play. The problem I’m having though is that even though she is outside for hours, as soon as I let her inside, about 5 minutes after she will poop inside. I understand with her weeing because she can’t help that, but it’s like she holds it in and does it inside on purpose. I try to punish her, like tell her off, put her in time out. But nothing is working! We recently went to my in-laws’ place and while we were there, she was confined to a house most of the time as we were moving furniture from their old place to their new place, and she didn’t have any poop accidents at all. She held her poop in all day and then when we got back we let her out and she went potty outside, but as soon as we come home she went back to holding it in, so she can poop inside here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m so confused as I’ve been told she could be thinking it’s okay for her because she watches my cats go in their litter tray and she always goes near their tray usually, but I clean my cats tray regularly, and scoop their poop daily and my in-laws had cats aswell, yet she didn’t do it there. I just don’t know what else to try; please help and advice is greatly appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19712" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-24T22:39:51.593" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T08:38:21.303" Title="Potty training troubles" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29608" CreationDate="2021-01-25T00:06:49.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some shelters in the US use the ASPCA's &amp;quot;Meet Your Match&amp;quot; program, which tries to scientifically match the right pet to the right owner based on temperament.  Cats are coded as &amp;quot;orange&amp;quot; (companionable), &amp;quot;purple&amp;quot; (quiet), or &amp;quot;green&amp;quot; (adventurous), based on an evaluation which tries to filter out the effects of shelter stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is only for cats, they say kittens are pretty similar before they grow into their adult personalities.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not experienced this personally, but have heard good things about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/cats/cat-personalities-felineality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;A simplified version.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/aspca_mym_felineality_adopter_survey.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human personality questionnaire.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/Feline-ality%20Guide_PRO.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How the program was created.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13263" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T00:06:49.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29619" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-25T06:42:27.377" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it normal that the color fading away..?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water seems fine.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Food : Tetra Goldfish Growth and other pellet.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It's been 2 months with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gf668.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gf668.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="18911" LastEditDate="2021-01-30T07:33:18.453" LastActivityDate="2021-03-01T08:04:00.407" Title="Why my goldfish red cap lost its head color?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29045" CreationDate="2021-01-25T07:36:23.080" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One small room to keep two cats for such a long time is too small. Cats are very territorial and even if they get along well, they need to have some alone time, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Elmy already pointed out, the female cat will go into heat and she will have kittens. Do try to reach out to your friend as suggested and see if you can't at least have one of them desexed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you already were in this situation it might be interesting to hear your answer, so maybe you can write your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To anyone who might get into a similar situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your friend wants you to take care of his cats, it would be ideal to just leave the cats in their home and visit them to take care of them. It is the least stressful solution for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do have to foster your friends cat at home, make sure you are equipped for it an have the space; otherwise, you may need to decline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last but not least, talk through everything you need to know with your friend. What food they get, what kitty litter and if they are not desexed whether they &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; kittens. Maybe the cat is already pregnant, but you need to know. If you are not comfortable with the situation, decline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-24T17:39:13.317" LastActivityDate="2021-02-24T17:39:13.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29617" CreationDate="2021-01-25T08:38:21.303" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your dog learned that inside your home is the correct place to go potty. The reason why she assumes that is irrelevant. You must tell her in a language she can understand that she is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since her behavior is very predictable, you need to keep watching her constantly from the moment she enters your house to the moment she squats down to poo. &lt;strong&gt;Immediately&lt;/strong&gt; tell her &amp;quot;NO!&amp;quot;, grab her by the collar and lead her out the nearest door. Once there you praise her with your voice. Turn your body away from her to give her an opportunity to poo without being stared at, then praise her again if she does her buisnes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she refuses to poo for a few minutes, go back inside and repeat the same process again. Don't let her out of sight for even a second and pull her outside as soon as she squats down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that you &lt;strong&gt;intervene as early as possible&lt;/strong&gt;. Once the buisnes is done, it's too late to punish her. She may understand that she is sent into timeout because there is poop lying around, but she cannot connect the fact that there is poop lying around with her past action of pooping. You must catch her &lt;strong&gt;as soon as she squats down&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things that might help you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep a collar on her to be able to lead her out. You could even leave a short leash dangling frim the collar to intervene quicker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead of telling her what she did wrong, you must tell her what you want her to do. Sending her into timeout won't teach her where she is supposed to poo. You must show her by leading her to the right place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be very clear in your tone of voice. When she squats down, tell her &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; in a very stern voice. As soon as she moves towards the door to go outside, praise her in a very happy voice. If that means playacting and changing voices in a second, so be it. This makes it easier for your dog to understand what you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not cause her any pain. Don't pull her hair, use a collar instead. Don't yank the collar, gently pull her outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T08:38:21.303" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29619" CreationDate="2021-01-25T11:41:43.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems you have bought an oranda or could be a lionhead goldfish. Both types of goldfish. I'm pretty sure it's an oranda but can't tell with that picture. So yes, it is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one looks like a telescope goldfish so it seems you have many varieties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enjoy your tank !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T11:41:43.870" CommentCount="10" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29600" CreationDate="2021-01-25T11:55:47.040" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Catfish will grow big but also can't take that low temp that I know. Regarding Corys, same thing there is not one that can hold that low temp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T11:55:47.040" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1934" CreationDate="2021-01-25T14:50:20.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had to handle the introduction of a small cat to a big dog. Now I am introducing that cat, that is grown-up, to a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick, from what I got, is slow and controlled introductions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always aware of potential problems and with ways to minimize them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For initial face-to-face introductions, in both cases, I have only held the cat. However, I know of people that use a leash and harness for cat control and a leash and head halter for dog control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case, after maybe around 2 weeks (maybe 3), with those gentle introductions, they were both playing along. They ended up being good friends and even sleeping next to each other various times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On this new case, I am on day 3. The puppy is not that aware of the problem that could result from leaving the cat alone with him. The cat, when is next to the dog, is most of the time in predatory mode. But as I am holding the cat when those interactions are happening, I always rub the cat under his chin and he gets more relaxed. However, one can see the cat's ears always looking for any sound that may potentially put him in danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; (4 weeks later)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We haven't forced interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog and cat already share spaces, however the cat is not yet 100% relaxed with the dog's presence all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They walk next to each other and they sleep when one of them are in the same room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9258" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2021-02-19T12:53:39.973" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T12:53:39.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29608" CreationDate="2021-01-25T14:57:38.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though it is not specifically stated, the question seems to assume that the cat has at least an age that allows one to understand that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the cat I adopted as an example, as it was young, around 1 month, there were no concerns I had to consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that, if you are going to adopt a kitten, then there are probably no temperament concerns whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9258" LastEditorUserId="9258" LastEditDate="2021-01-25T21:55:42.867" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T21:55:42.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29433" CreationDate="2021-01-25T15:09:42.923" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer more objectively, one ought to know the species of the cricket. But, most types of grasshoppers and crickets are edible (and extraordinarily protein-rich).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9258" LastActivityDate="2021-01-25T15:09:42.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29628" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-25T19:18:58.990" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently bought a platnium betta male who just passed. I had him in a tank with 2 mollies and a female betta, but they all seemed to get along perfectly. I do believe that I should've taken the female out, that was my stupidity. But my grandma got my attention to the betta's eyes. One was brighter than the other. Today, we noticed that his fins seemed to be torn up, but we never saw anybody hurting him because like I said, they all seemed to get along perfectly. The male molly was the only one who was ever around the betta 95% of the time, but I do think the female betta tore up his fins when we weren't paying attention. Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19716" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-25T20:04:49.140" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T05:07:45.787" Title="What happened to my betta fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-25T21:17:27.240" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;For her entire life, my cat has been indoors and as best I can tell has no desire to go outside. However, she still regularly wants to go to certain parts of the house, which could potentially be dangerous to her from an environmental perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, she likes to follow me into the laundry room and garage. Assuming the temperature outside is 32°F (0°C), then the laundry room might be only 50°F (10°C). Or worse, she follows me into the garage which might be only 37°F (3°C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have attempted to bodyblock her from even entering these areas, but this isn't always feasible when carrying things. Furthermore, if I attempt to pick her up and put her back into the house proper, she will occasionally run away from me and hide somewhere that's risky to try and get her from (i.e. I don't want her running across the tool bench in the garage and potentially knocking things down). She's not averse to being picked up, so I take the fleeing to mean that she really wants to explore the area and don't bother chasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the aforementioned temperatures, the doors to these rooms generally remain closed (if relevant, we keep the thermostat set around 62°F (17°C) at night). So far, my methods have been to leave her be out there until she starts meowing at the door to come inside. My hope being that she'd realize that whenever she goes out here, she gets stuck in place without heat, food, water, companionship, or a place to poop. However, after 2 years living in this house, her desire to be in these places hasn't dissipated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the risk of injury due to exposure, is there a better way to persuade her to stay inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13349" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T16:12:49.743" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T18:06:57.080" Title="How can I dissuade a cat from entering certain areas of the house?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-25T22:01:52.423" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog stepped on something and now has a pretty nasty cut on the back paw pad. Got stitches there. Now for the next 10 days I need to keep her very calm both indoors and outdoors, so that it could heal, otherwise she'll have to endure month and a half of misery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doctor gave 2 options. 1st was to give stitches and then it should heal within 10 days. And second was no stitches but then healing is 1.5 months, and it means constant bandages and low to no activity. If stitches tear, then there is pretty much only the second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is young and hyper, so commands won't work when she gets hyper. Indoors I can handle her, as she is calm, but when going for the small walks for her to do her business, she gets hyper, and is in danger of tearing the stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do so that when we go outside, she wouldn't get hyper? Active play is not an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19479" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T06:36:13.827" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T16:24:16.980" Title="How to make sure dog doesn't tear stitches in paw?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-26T00:02:19.660" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello fellow animal lovers&#xA;Is it safe to give a 3 month old kitten caster oil as a preventative for hair ball? Or is brushing her enough? How about the type of Cat litter? I started her on soft wood clumping and placed three seperate trays for her in different parts of the house she is very clean. Plus, I started growing cat grass for her and catnip. The cat nip died but the cat grass is thriving only just. She seems to like to sit on it and gently takes some out and chews on it I cant tell for sure if she swallows it. Is it safe to leave a three month old kitten at home on her own for a few hours leaving her lots of water bowls, dry and wet partly cooked and some store bought. Any suggestions or experiences warmly welcome. M&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastEditorUserId="19717" LastEditDate="2021-01-28T01:16:38.633" LastActivityDate="2021-01-28T01:16:38.633" Title="Tabby Long Hair 3 Month old Girl" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="10" ClosedDate="2021-01-26T16:02:58.400" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29636" CreationDate="2021-01-26T01:34:17.857" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is really submissive/afraid with other dogs. Low back, tail between the legs, turn on his back when other dogs come to play with him and won't let any dogs smell his butt. That being said he absolutely loves the dog park. He runs toward it, become crazy excited in the car when we go near it, wag his tail like crazy when inside the park. He goes to every dog to sniff them. He let dogs sniff his face and his privates, when a dog owner pull his dog away from mine, he will run toward the dog to continue playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can tell he wants to play, he will run toward other dog and then turn around in a &amp;quot;chase me&amp;quot; style, but if it works he runs toward a safe spot (a human, a fence, under a bench...) and play with the other dog there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog is small (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, ~15lbs / 7kg) and he is 6 months old. His behaviour is the same no matter the size of the other dogs, no matter if they are exited or really calm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do to increase his confidence. Any thing I should do/avoid? When he is playing I never pick him up I watch closely and in the rare occasions where the other dog is &amp;quot;too much&amp;quot; I will gently push the other dog away, but that doesn't happen often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18992" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T02:10:22.153" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T08:01:44.020" Title="Submissive puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-26T04:23:13.293" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a black Molly and a dalmatian Molly on the 22nd, and today I bought another dalmatian Molly. I am a bit confused on the gender, because everything I find says something about males having a big dorsal fin and then a stick like anal fin, and the females have small dorsal fins and a seashell anal fin. So I am highly confused. Help on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I've noticed that the bigger dal (more black) has been a little nippy towards my small one (more white) Should I be concerned about this? They're always wanting to be near each other, so I don't understand this either. The black Molly isn't very interested in either of these either, it liked my betta before I took her out. Now it just hangs by itself. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EcGYf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/EcGYf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dal&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GBNnD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/GBNnD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tc5Wx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tc5Wx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Black&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S52ad.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S52ad.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dal&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/geY0D.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/geY0D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;All&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19716" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T09:38:02.933" Title="Mollies and Gender" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;gender-differentiation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29630" CreationDate="2021-01-26T07:10:47.417" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 2 problems here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make sure your dog doesn't tear the stitches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provide her with mental and physical stimulation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first problem I suggest using a rear sling whenever you go out with her. It's basically a sturdy strip of fabric around her belly with which you can partially lift her rear end to relieve pressure from her feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An additional advantage of this solution is that she cannot run away erratically because you hold her hind legs with the sling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the sling you could use any long strip of fabric that doesn't stretch too much, like a scarf or shopping bag with the sides cut away. You should cushion the center with a small towel or other soft object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Commercial dog support solutions are available online and with some luck at your local vet and pet store. Instructions to craft your own dog hind sling are available as well, including:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/GGFECxUWkd4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this Youtube video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/how-to-make-a-supportive-dog-sling/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this pictured instruction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second problem of providing physical stimulation is harder in these circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly suggest taking walks with the hind sling to burn off her energy. Keep an eye on her for signs of exhaustion. If she slows down and looks at you a lot, she's probably exhausted and wants to go home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For games and mental stimulation, please have a look at this list: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;Alternatives to walking a dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to that, try playing with her lying on her side or back. You could loosely wrap her in a blanket or bedsheet and let her fight her way out again (make sure the blanket is breathable). For many dogs a little rough cuddling comes natural. Encourage her to push her body away from you with her front legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't underestimate the power of mental stimulation. A little puzzle that yields a few treats when solved can balance her just as well as a session of play fetch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T16:24:16.980" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T16:24:16.980" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29632" CreationDate="2021-01-26T08:01:44.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short: you don't have to do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is excellent at communicating with other dogs. The submissive body language is very normal for puppies and in addition to signalling possible fear, it's also a signal that he doesn't want a fight. This is very good dog-to-dog communication in a public place with dogs that might be strangers to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As he grows older he might become less submissive in body language, but even if he doesn't, that's no need to worry at all. In human terms he's a very friendly and well-behaved dog who introduces himself before engaging in play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only things I would try to avoid are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he rolls onto his back and whines loudly at the same time another dog might be too aggressive for his taste. You should intervene and push the other dog away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Him sitting on your feet or very close next to you and watching the other dogs without playing. This can be a sign of protective behavior and can lead to aggression if another dog comes too close to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Him covering behind your legs or beneath the bench you're sitting on or trying to climb you. That signals he's afraid of something and tries to hide away. If he only stays a short while and then continnues playing, there's no need to worry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T08:01:44.020" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29629" CreationDate="2021-01-26T08:15:18.337" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand your concern for your cat, but as stated in the comments cats can keep warm quite well unless they are a breed without fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cat should not be in there at all&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you still do not want to let your cat go into these rooms the only way is to close the door right behind you every time you go in or out. This can be relatively hard when carrying things, but to my experience it is the only way. The rooms you do not want your cats to be are the rooms they are most keen to get into.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The cat can go in but what if she can not come back?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are simply worried your cat might stay in these rooms for too long and you might not hear her trying to get back out, installing a cat flap in those doors can be an option.&#xA;With a little bit of training she will be able to come back whenever she feels like it. There are also flaps that you can lock so they only open one way or not at all.&#xA;Some things to keep in mind though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These cat flaps wont be the best at insulating so the area around them in the house might get cooler&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is complicated to install them in e.g. a glass door&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it would allow your cat to go in or out (depending on how you set the flap) without you needing to worry about temperature, hunger or cuddle needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T16:16:52.727" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T16:16:52.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29629" CreationDate="2021-01-26T11:31:53.060" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Well fed cats can survive for extended periods at temperature greater than the freezing point of water, as long as there is no draft.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats actually thrive at 10°C, which is the temperature of your laundry room, as long as it contains corners where he can avoid any possible draft. He can stay there indefinitely without any problems whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The garage can be a bit colder (3°C), but still he would not live through any problems, as long as he is not trapped there for a few days. Cats rely on their fat as well as their fur to stay warm and if these two are not enough, they start vibrating (shivering) to generate more heat. This process converts calories to heat, so the cat must be well fed to protect himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good solution might be to put a box with a blanket, or an old cat house, in the garage just in case he is trapped there. As long as it is around 3°C, he will be alright. Many stray cats in Turkey survive the winter (5°C to -10°C) in small, usually uninsulated cat houses by cuddling together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be other reasons to prevent him from going to the laundry room. I don't have an allocated laundry room but I don't allow my cat to spend time in the room I do laundry, because I don't want him to shed hair close to my clean clothing. If you really want to prevent him from going into the laundry room, body blocking is definitely not a good way. Your body is just another obstacle and cats love obstacles as long as they can pass by them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a hierarchy of steps to take when he tries to do something he is not supposed to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blow on his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray water on his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scare him (for example with a vacuum cleaner)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chase him (again with a vacuum cleaner)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is one of the cats that is not afraid of the vacuum, you can use some other thing to cause unexpected sound to scare him. Hitting on the ground in a close vicinity of the cat (like 1 meter, or 3 feet) with a club would also scare him away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeping a water sprayer in the laundry room might help you to spray him whenever he gets in. This is also what I did to prevent my cat from jumping on the dinner table or kitchen counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that unlike dogs, cats do not feel like they have to make you happy, so they don't associate discipline after the deed is done. You have to discipline them as the deed is progressing. They assume that disciplining actions are consequences of doing the deed, they don't think that they receive this treatment because you are upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T11:31:53.060" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29640" CreationDate="2021-01-26T13:08:27.530" Score="2" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat started to display some coughing behaviour. I have seen him cough just once in the last year but last week, he coughed three times, and all coughing sessions take like twenty seconds. There might be some more fits, as he usually spends a little more than half the time with me and the rest outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I video taped one of them &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/uY_x39HJTGk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this coughing behaviour or gagging behaviour? Does this require an emergency vet visit? He is supposed to visit a vet in the beginning of March so is it possible to wait for that long? If it is okay to wait, is there a sign that I should look for to know that it turns into an emergency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T16:48:07.053" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T05:59:34.540" Title="Coughing fits in cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29639" CreationDate="2021-01-26T13:44:36.937" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;That video is very informative. It's clearly coughing and not gagging. What almost sounds like sneezing is his coughing and the squeaky sound is the air being pressed through his windpipe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think he requires an emergency vet visit, but you should reschedule your vet appointment to as soon as possible (within a week at most. Don't drag this out). It becomes an emergency if he gets trouble breathing and pants. Behavior changes like unusual hiding away or listlessness also indicate a medical emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest keeping him inside until he got examined by a vet. If he has a contagious infection you should try stopping the spread. Since face masks are no option for your cat, you should go with social distancing ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coughing in cats can also be caused by airborne irritants like air refresheners, essential oils and volatile cleaning products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T05:59:34.540" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T05:59:34.540" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29629" CreationDate="2021-01-26T17:55:39.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Psychological solution&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, my methods have been to leave her be out there until she&#xA;starts meowing at the door to come inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She knows that you will immediately let her out so she has no concern about being stuck in there. If you want her to become discouraged, don't let her out immediately. Use a timer (e.g. on your phone) and gradually increase the time before you release her - ignore the waling. Eventually the penny will drop - depending on how bright the cat is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reverse psychology (the quick fix)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse psychology works very well on cats! Keep grabbing her, putting her in there and shutting the door. A few days of this and whenever you go near the place she will head in the opposite direction and hide!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and/or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you need to do something like giving a pill, putting her in a basket to go to the vet, or anything else she doesn't like, make sure to do it in the forbidden areas. She will grow to hate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practical solutions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Combining what others have said: Give yourself peace of mind by providing water and a warm bed/box in the relevant rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carry a water pistol and chase her around the forbidden areas until she leaves! Eventually she won't want to be in there when you are. Of course she may sneak in when you aren't looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T18:06:57.080" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T18:06:57.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-26T21:15:56.770" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat is sick (fever, lost appetite, sleeping all day), doesn't want to eat or drink from yesterday, so I have to force feed my cat with wet canned food. And now he began to drink water by himself. Still not eating, but does it mean my cat started to get better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19721" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-26T21:20:47.433" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T22:51:47.423" Title="My sick cat started to drink a lot of water after sickness" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-26T22:05:07.873" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Part 1 of 2&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My father has a pet Labrador retriever. I took her for a long walk in my dad's neighborhood; longer than she was used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She started limping. After I brought my father's dog back home, my father took his lab to a veterinarian. &lt;strong&gt;The vet says the dog is suffering from a torn ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament injury)&lt;/strong&gt;. My father scheduled a rather expensive surgery with the veterinarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The day after the walk, my father's dog has stopped limping. She is walking on all fours, like normal; no limp. The surgery for a torn ACL has not taken place yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know nothing about veterinary medicine. I am wondering, does a torn ACL imply that a dog will limp all of the time? The contrapositive might be: (Dog-Not-Limping) implies (Dog-does-not-have-torn-ACL)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of years ago, the same dog had surgery on a different leg. My father paid for his Labrador retriever to swim in a swimming pool for several weeks as part of physical therapy (rehabilitation). I am thinking that my father's veterinarian is unscrupulous. Maybe the vet is willing to perform unnecessary medical operations to earn more money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it normal for a dog with a torn ACL to stop limping, and walk around normally the next day?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Part 2 of 2&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the walk, my dad's Labrador went swimming in a local creek and she got very wet and cold. I tried to use a warm hair-blow dryer when we got back home to dry her up. The drier was warm, but not hot, I tested it on my hand before ever pointing the drier at the dog. But the dog would not let me use the hair-blow drier at all. Instead, she curled up on a sofa and shivered a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have a hypothesis, but I might be wrong: my dad's dog is arthritic, and cold temperatures make her limp.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My father's Labrador seems to limp about once or twice per week, but a few hours later, she is fine again. She walks normally, and does not limp at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is between 4 and 8 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19722" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T06:08:38.927" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:17:41.970" Title="Is it possible for a dog with a torn ACL to start walking normally without any medical treatment?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29642" CreationDate="2021-01-26T22:51:47.423" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Go to the vet.! And my cat have these symptoms and turned out to have severe kidney failure.  Hurry up, because they get worse very quickly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19723" LastActivityDate="2021-01-26T22:51:47.423" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28851" CreationDate="2021-01-27T04:05:48.660" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is it going? I know you will dislike me for saying this, but it really should be more about what the cat wants whats best for your cat and not what you and your family want. Your preconceived judgments and forceful interaction blocking her secret run to spots most likely was not helping. Cats cannot be forced or coerced into doing anything. Gently, patiently, provide more kitty litter trays, probiotic, perhaps, kitten vitamins, air purifier (negative energy may not be helping), relaxing music like the Hawaiian Prayer and possibly a very calming environment are all very important. Her personality might be very shy, uncertain, distrustful and lacking self confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you build her up? By building her self confidence. Talk to her, tell her she is very smart, intelligent and speak in  soft voice not very loud, your movements if they are slow and quiet will reassure her that she is safe. Diet is also very important. Tinned or package foods? Try boiling up range free chicken, mix in peas and a little coconut oil. Maybe she has worms, parasites, irritable bowel infection? How do you know if she is not in pain? Is she drinking enough water? What kind of water? Are stroking her and brushing her daily? God bless and Godspeed to you and your cat/s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T22:58:26.853" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T22:58:26.853" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28962" CreationDate="2021-01-27T04:20:06.597" Score="-5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this hunch that the cat is missing his past life. You mentioned you found him and took him in. Did he really want to be taken? Maybe he is home sick and mourning the loss of his owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probiotics are great; try giving him one teaspoon of probiotic powder twice a day with a little coconut water and possibly a multivitamin. If you can, cuddle him in a towel, speak gently to him, and tell him you only want what is best for him and you are sorry that he is not eating; ask him why not. Is he drinking? Can you administer electrolytes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T14:21:05.263" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:21:05.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26114" CreationDate="2021-01-27T04:29:37.370" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coconut oil is great for skin, hair, and teeth; it has all the good fatty acids in it and is contained in hydrolyte.  (Lately, the &amp;quot;expensive&amp;quot; cat food labels have made a point of adding coconut oil into their tinned cat food.) It has appeal to cats and humans alike, and is considered a superfood. It's great for heart health, and has no cholesterol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T14:17:31.360" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:17:31.360" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29607" CreationDate="2021-01-27T04:50:35.520" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;poor you! Poor Cat. Sounds like you both need a fully paid luxury holiday, possibly seperate holiday destinations and stay overs. Frustration is not only a human condition but also an animal's. Wehn you return spend quality time together, change his diet, and yours, relax, meditate, excercise, entertain yourself by installing a 'rage room' I hear celebrities like Nicole Kidman have rage rooms in the homes, so they can let off steam and her hubby (cant think of his name offhand) visits opp shops and charities to get a supply of baseball bats. Try to play with him, but him a new toy or if budget restrictions apply buy loved ones and spoil him and you both. If that fails, a good wake up call is to watch some videos of abused cats and kittens. On the news, I saw how a 7 year old child with his mates was kicking and bashing a kitten only to end up killing it and throwing it in the bin. You may need to think of re training your cat. There are great videos on you tube as well of a kitten school it gives great advice, instructions and guides. God speed and God bless you and your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T04:50:35.520" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29639" CreationDate="2021-01-27T05:00:29.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Importantly do, see the vet. Can you do online vet consultations? Book it in pronto. It could be anything. An obstructions from something he swallowed...In Australia during hazardous bush fires the air all living creatures breath can do damage to the lungs, heart. Many humans and wild life died as a result of smoke inhalation. Anything. Later, consider getting an air purifier and cleaning with natural home made cleaning products. Lots of receipes online. God speed and Godbless you and your cats...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19717" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T05:00:29.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29643" CreationDate="2021-01-27T06:36:07.097" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's impossible for us to diagnose your dog. My best advice is to take your dog to a different vet for a second opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms you describe could very well be caused by an injured CCL (cranial cruciate ligament, or CCL – similar to the ACL in humans), but there are several other possible causes for them as well. Your vet needs to assess the stability of your dogs knee joint and probably also do an x-ray to find the real cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more information about CCL injuries online. Some trustworthy souces include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/acl-injuries-in-dogs#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;WebMD Pets: Dog ACL Injuries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/cruciate-ligament-injury-in-dogs-1117416&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Spruce Pets: Cruciate Ligament Injury in Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Labrador retrievers are one of several breeds predisposed to CCL injuries&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If a dog develops a CCL injury in one leg, the risk is high that the other leg will be affected as well&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The only permanent treatment is an operation. If left untreated, the ligament will get worse over time and the instability of the joint can cause more side effects like arthritis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The symptoms can range from &amp;quot;having a hint of lameness to being unable to bear weight on the injured leg&amp;quot; &lt;sup&gt;(Source: WebMD Pets, see link above)&lt;/sup&gt;. &amp;quot;The lameness can worsen with activity and improve with rest&amp;quot; &lt;sup&gt;(Source: The Spruce Pets, see link above)&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The symptoms can be confused with arthritis, fluids and bone fragments in the joint. It needs at least a physical exam and often an x-ray of the knee to diagnose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to blow drying your dog: she was probably afraid of the sound of the blow dryer. You'll probably have more success drying her with a towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T14:17:41.970" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:17:41.970" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-27T10:23:03.437" Score="-3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dogs obviously dream in their sleep, but with cats it is more ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard some people say they see their cat dreaming with paws twitching and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have had a fair number of cats and none of them ever dreamed. When they sleep, they do so completely quietly with no movement. So, it appears that cats either do not dream, or dream a lot less than dogs. Is there any explanation for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8256" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-01-27T20:20:12.183" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T20:20:12.183" Title="Why do dogs dream, but some cats apparently do not?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-01-28T23:03:54.403" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29607" CreationDate="2021-01-27T14:41:37.203" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changes in toileting behavior in cats are a very common sign of illness; &lt;strong&gt;if you have not taken your cat to a vet&lt;/strong&gt; to have them evaluate the issue, &lt;strong&gt;you should do so immediately&lt;/strong&gt;, as it sounds like &lt;strong&gt;you've been letting this issue go on for a very long time without properly addressing it&lt;/strong&gt;. Male cats in particular can be very susceptible to urinary tract issues that can turn fatal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In addition&lt;/strong&gt;, you need to look at how you are handling cleaning of both his litter box and the other areas where he's relieved himself. &lt;strong&gt;Keep the litter box clean&lt;/strong&gt;; if you aren't cleaning it at least once a day, start doing that. Additionally, while you might think your clothes are clean, regular detergent does not break down all the enzymes in cat urine, which will make them smell like an appropriate toilet to your cat until you properly remove them. &lt;strong&gt;Get an enzymatic laundry additive&lt;/strong&gt; specifically for cleaning pet messes, and wash everything with that, whether or not you think it's clean. Use it every time your cat urinates or defecates on a garment. Furthermore, you'll need to &lt;strong&gt;clean the surfaces below those items&lt;/strong&gt;, using a surface enzymatic cleaner for pet messes (appropriate to the surface you're cleaning up). Lastly, &lt;strong&gt;pick up your clothes&lt;/strong&gt; and put them away properly. If you don't leave them where the cat can use them as a toilet, the cat won't do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;None of the above is a substitute for a vet visit, and a vet visit is not a substitute for any of the above cleaning steps.&lt;/strong&gt; You will need to do both to properly address the situation. In the meantime, &lt;strong&gt;stop taking your anger out on your cat&lt;/strong&gt;. He isn't feeling well, and you lashing out at him isn't making him feel any better. Treat him with kindness, and make sure you address the root causes of the problem. He's not doing any of this because he's &amp;quot;mad at you&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;naughty,&amp;quot; there are always underlying reasons, and unless you address those, nothing will ever change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T14:41:37.203" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29653" CreationDate="2021-01-27T17:22:25.183" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dreaming is a consequence of REM sleep, and all cats, like any animal with REM cycle, dream. I can think of a few reasons for this behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Missing the REM cycle of your cats:&lt;/strong&gt; You might have missed your cats dreaming if they only snooze around you, i.e, light sleep. It is not unheard of for cats to go to their safe spaces for deep sleep and REM cycle requires deeper sleep than snoozing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your cats do not move around as much when they dream:&lt;/strong&gt; Like humans, some cats might have more twitching than others. So, it would be easier for you to miss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your cats like to sleep on their belly instead of their back:&lt;/strong&gt; The signs that you mentioned, like twitching of the paws, are much more noticeable if the cat sleeps on their back. If they sleep on their belly or sideways, you mostly see whisker and tail twitching, which you might have attributed to snoozing. Especially tail twitching is no different when they dream compared to when they are awake.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you stated that you had your several cats for 25 years, I would say it is probably a combination of all these reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-01-27T17:22:25.183" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-27T20:20:30.840" Score="5" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat is free to go in/out through the cat flap. Being quite wet here, he often gets muddy paws, so we get prints in the kitchen, carpeted rooms, window sills, today even on a wall!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the inside of the cat flap, there's a mat, although that doesn't help much (and searching the web, everyone says so). On the outside decking, then grass / raised beds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What we do currently&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently we deal with it by trying to catch the cat (not that hard, if we're around) as soon as he enters, then wiping the paws (he's annoyed by that, but it's possible). This gets rather annoying near meal times when the cat is going in/out all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing we do is to close the cat flap when it's particularly wet, or just when he can't decide where he wants to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other suggestions? On one forum I saw a post mentioning in passing they have their cat trained to wait to get wiped after coming in. Not sure if that's even a real option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17220" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T16:36:40.270" Title="How to deal with cat's muddy paws when it gets in through the cat flap?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-28T06:21:28.373" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog had emergency pyrometra surgery on Jan 10th. She was discharged the 14th. Until today ( jan 28th ) her incison was healing very nicely and today it appear like this. I was in contact with the vet office today and they cannot get her staples out till feb 10th. When i mentioned the pink fleshy looking lump sticking out they told me it didnt seem like any major concerns. She is still eating and drinking no fever. And the incision area is not giving off any warmth..... My anxiety had been terrible since we almost lost her so this is really bothering me. &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/83wyW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/83wyW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19731" LastActivityDate="2021-01-28T06:21:28.373" Title="Please help! After Pyrometra surgery" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-28T18:28:58.933" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is 6yo, domestic short hair. He had &amp;quot;allergies&amp;quot; last summer so the vet told me. He was missing hair on his legs, mostly the front ones. I kept him inside and all his hair grew back. This summer he started scratching again despite Zyrtec and so I kept him inside again, but this time his hairs have not grown back. Additionally, he has lost his guard hairs all over his belly and legs, his paws are fine and his fur is there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't changed his food or anything else about his routine, except that he's not allowed out anymore, which he hates. I did add a complete oil to his food about a month ago. It's not fleas or mites. It's just weird to me that it's only the guard hairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19735" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-29T21:01:19.143" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T21:01:19.143" Title="Why is my cat only losing guard hairs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-28T19:24:04.197" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m trying to breed my queen with a stud which is a friends BSH, he is on the smaller side but fully mature and so is she, she is younger but they are the same size, she is thinner and he is “thicker” as such, when mounting he crouched and thrusts at her back not reaching her back part, no matter how many times they mate he is unable to reach? Are they incompatible or is he just unaware? Both first timers. Thanks in advance!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19736" LastActivityDate="2021-01-28T19:24:04.197" Title="Why can’t my male cat mate with female?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-28T20:56:00.720" Score="0" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one year old cat and he's very fearful. Unfortunately, he is scared of a lot of things, but he was normally playful as can be. However, one day my Nephew was chasing him around the house with a string-less balloon and he only did it because he thought is was funny and harmless, but now my cat is very scared and he keeps clutching its legs and arms together and staying in safe places, like where he feels comfortable: like under my arm, under blankets or pillows, in boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm very scared that my nephew traumatized him for life and I just don't know what to do. He's only been doing this for like 1-&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; hours, but I don't know if it's going to wear off or what - but can somebody help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19737" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-28T21:04:16.383" LastActivityDate="2021-01-29T05:53:42.313" Title="My nephew traumatized my cat. HELP!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-01-29T05:52:52.500" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16204" CreationDate="2021-01-30T01:29:06.470" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I add a thought? Teeth. I have a little rescue that was so malnourished before I got her; her teeth are awful.  She started scratching her face and it was a tooth. It was the beginning of a cycle of tooth issues at the age of 4 years old. I hope you can find your answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19741" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-30T01:45:55.983" LastActivityDate="2021-01-30T01:45:55.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29666" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-30T06:06:22.467" Score="5" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a visit from the neighbour's cat again. He likes me, but doesn't fancy his owner too much. She might not be downright abusing him, but I think he prefers to be out from the house, even if it's cold outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was almost −8 °C just now. I, a human in t-shirt and comfortable pants, freeze just from having the balcony door open for a few seconds...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel extremely bad when I notice that he's out there even in the middle of the night and in such cold weather. I really wonder to what extent he freezes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cat is overall very (almost surprisingly) healthy-seeming and strong. Nice fur. No visual damage and seems very agile. He also wanted to go out again on his own after a while, but I suspect that it may be partially because he's afraid of my now-gone cat who he did not get along with, even though both cats liked me a lot. (Perhaps that just added to the cat conflict...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what point does it go from &amp;quot;the cat is probably freezing, but he'll cozy up in his little bed on their balcony and it'll just be a bit chilly&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;this cat is in serious danger&amp;quot;? After all, cats &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; covered with fur, and at this point must have evolved familiarity with this cold climate here. It's not like it's an imported cat race straight from Egypt or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I very easily feel sorry for both animals and humans, so maybe I'm exaggerating. I'm convinced that he is not out 24/7, but gets to be indoors every day at least for a while. He pretty clearly gets enough food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what temperature should I be alarmed? Is -8 °C already too cold? And if so, what exactly should I do? The person in question isn't exactly evil, but a bit... weird. I don't want her to even &lt;em&gt;suspect&lt;/em&gt; that I feel sorry for her cat, because I fear that she might start mistreating him just out of spite then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-30T17:55:39.297" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T15:10:12.573" Title="At what point do cats start to be in actual danger (rather than &quot;just being uncomfortable&quot;) from cold winter weather?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-01-30T08:32:56.797" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;English Mastiff developed round infected lump and swelling in web between first toes that made walking difficult, one year ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet said it was cheek grass and did surgery. Found nothing. Sore between toe continued to be infected and rupture. Vet opened and cleaned. Sore did not go away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet put dog on antibiotics for 8 months. Sore reduced in size, but remained and continues to rupture. Smells fowl, but It has not grown in size and seems localized. Vet has not diagnosed it as cyst nor did biopsy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dog has not been able to go on a walk for a year now. Last visit, vet wants to do more explore surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vet charges for each visit, treatment and medications. Vet wants to be paid at time of service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been a year, I am broke. I say remove it and repair web best you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need advice: should I change vets? Please and thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19743" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-01-30T23:15:15.950" LastActivityDate="2021-01-30T23:15:15.950" Title="Should I change veterinarians?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29666" CreationDate="2021-01-30T18:53:28.820" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trust the cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the distance from your house to your neighbour's house, but assuming you don't live near an abandoned mine in Yukon, it would probably take the cat a few minutes to come to you. If he is cold, he would not want to get out until he is warm, even if you tried to push him out. If the cat still wants to go out, it means the cat is comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A lot depends on the cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you suggested, Sphinx cats would probably suffer at those temperatures. Most cats would probably find it cold as well. But breeds like Maine Coon have strong fur even between their toe beans, so they are much more resilient to cold than the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Acclimation is another important factor. If you take a cat from a tropical country, he might feel too cold in a minus 0°C environment, but if he is allowed to grow a winter coat for that region, he might tolerate it better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cat has an owner, I assume he is adequately fed. Animals, including us, convert their calories to heat by shivering. Cold weathers require animals to be fed more. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/facts/07-001.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is a guide of Canadian Ministry of Agriculture for &lt;em&gt;cows&lt;/em&gt; in cold. Apparently heavy winter coat of cows keep them warm upto -8°C but by feeding them more, possibly 40% more, they can withstand -23°C comfortably. Of course, it is impossible to make direct deductions between cows and cats, but to the best of my knowledge, there is no similar guide for cats. But, then again, you should not compare how you feel with how cat feels as well :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, kittens and old cats suffering from arthritis have much less tolerance for cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends on the environment.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Winds or continuous drafts prevent cat to isolate layers of air in his fur, which reduces their tolerance to the cold. Although most cats have oily fur which prevents them from getting wet easily, prolonged exposure to rain reduces their tolerance to the cold. If the cat ever comes to you soaking, you have to make sure that he is wiped and he is allowed to dry. I don't suggest you to blow dry the cat. Most cats hate it anyway and the hot wind might irritate their skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some numbers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turkey is famous for its stray cats. Some municipalities, some NGOs and some people prepare cat &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.atasehir.bel.tr/Uploads/ImageGallery/3342/6a14a37070fd4e4b859dcecce34c535d.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;houses&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://images.beyazgazete.com/haber/2018/1/9/20180109_pendik-te-denize-nazir-kedi-evleri.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;for&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdnuploads.aa.com.tr/uploads/Contents/2019/12/13/thumbs_b_c_2979e03fec5c49e65dd9ef5a6abfc729.jpg?&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;them&lt;/a&gt;. These houses are usually made of wood or even cardboard, have very small openings so only cats can get in and little or no insulation. Sometimes people put some blankets as well. Overwhelming majority of adult cats survive the winter (5°C to -10°C in Istanbul) by cuddling together in winter. Similarly, cats in Lithuania, where winters can be as cold as -23°C, stray or feral cats survive in similar housing with styrofoam insulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lTvrX.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-04T15:10:12.573" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T15:10:12.573" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20594" CreationDate="2021-01-31T02:34:50.417" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where was this pulled out on the body? I have a cat that has an inverted nipple. This nipple gets filled with gunk. After a while a lump forms at that nipple under the skin and I will gently squeeze it to release the built up gunk. This is EXACTLY what this looks like. Identical. Cutaneous horns are hard. This gunk, think nipple cheese because that's what it is, is soft. And its harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19746" LastActivityDate="2021-01-31T02:34:50.417" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29671" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-01T12:35:51.007" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have an 8 year old cat that in the last year has started scratching the top of his head and chin on and off. He gets to the point that touching the top of his head to pet him causes him to shake his head or lean to the left and try to bring his back paw in to scratch. His chin is also the same, if you pet him there he scratches with the back leg. We see big tufts of hair everywhere since he also seems to scratch his neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We took him to the vet twice about this issue. She suggested at first that it might be the bowls but we have tried ceramic and stainless steel for weeks before going to the vet the first time at the start of 2020. The cat always had ceramic bowls but about 2 years ago we introduced an auto feeder since we all traveled a lot that had a plastic bowl. We have thrown the auto-feeder out more than a year ago so that's not the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We used to feed him dry food (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.royalcanin.com/be/en_be/cats/products/retail-products/sterilised-37-dry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Canin for sterilized cats&lt;/a&gt;) for the last 5-6 years and he never had issues. The vet suggested to try a hypoallergenic dry food, so we tried the one by Royal Canin and the one by VetLife. We first tried VetLife and he didn't seem to respond to it. We tried it for around a month and then switched to Royal Canin. That was 2 month ago. The cat didn't scratch all that much over  the last 2 month but this last week he's been scratching furiously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet also suggested to give our cat a drop of Cortisone to ease his scratching but I somehow feel that although this might alleviate the symptoms, we're not really dealing with the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have considered the bowls, the food, the vet excluded cat acne and parasites. He's an indoor cat and the house gets cleaned constantly and the Roomba goes out once per day. Perhaps it's a seasonal allergy but we're not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our current vet didn't seem interested in looking further. We're planning a trip to a different vet in the next few days to see if they have any ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What else could be causing this itchiness?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Our cat seems exhausted from all the scratching. We can barely touch him or he starts scratching and he's a very affectionate cat and loves pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10483" LastEditorUserId="10483" LastEditDate="2021-02-02T13:42:29.520" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T19:58:29.780" Title="Itchy cat, head and chin" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-01T20:19:15.820" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats about 10 months old. I changed litterbox and litter around Christmas and within 2 weeks it became evident that they did not like the new litterbox situation, as they had pooped on the floor by the litterbox and had peed on the couch. I changed the litterbox back as well as got a second litter box to give them more space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They stopped pooping on the floor; however, every once in a while (maybe once a week) they will pee on the couch, always in the same spot. The couch still has a slight smell despite using cleaner and I am planning to replace it, but I'm worried they will pee on the new couch. They aren't acting any different otherwise to indicate a medical issue and they are using the litter box (for pee and poop). This feels like a learned behavior that they picked up when they didn't like the litter box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I get the new couch and it doesn't smell, would they pee on it or are there any other things I can do to stop them from peeing? I was considering putting things on the couch to make it uncomfortable for them to stop them from peeing on it. Also I haven't been able to determine if it's both cats or just one cat peeing on the couch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19760" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-01T21:34:36.310" LastActivityDate="2021-02-01T21:34:36.310" Title="Cat peeing on couch learned behavior" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-02-03T23:58:32.310" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-01T20:32:46.597" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have four cats, adopted as kittens over a period of time, with some gap between adoptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat #1 (the first one) dislikes cats #2, #3, and #4 (hisses at them, and generally avoids them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat #2 dislikes #3 and #4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat #3 dislikes #4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat #4 dislikes no one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it appears that each cat can remember, recognize, and position itself in the hierarchy in comparison to three other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming that at some point the cats would be unable to keep track of every other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At how many cats in one household would the average cat no longer be able to keep perfect track?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17586" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-01T20:41:08.483" LastActivityDate="2021-02-01T20:41:08.483" Title="How many different cats can a cat keep track of?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29679" CreationDate="2021-02-02T04:51:16.253" Score="11" ViewCount="6167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just got a new 1 year old cat on January 31st 2021.&#xA;He's of course hiding, which is understandable.&#xA;He's a domestic medium hair cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last night I went to sleep and he just kept meowing like crazy, my boyfriend went to check on him in his bed and he was fine, so we let him be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today as of right now at 9:47pm he has not stopped meowing under the couch.&#xA;I went to check on him and he seemed fine.&#xA;I slowly brought my hand towards him and he hissed, so I let him be.&#xA;However, now he's just keeps meowing they almost sound like howling meows.&#xA;Please someone answer as soon as possible! I'm starting to get worried for him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19762" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-02T14:50:22.560" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T14:46:35.150" Title="My new cat won't stop meowing" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-02-04T06:53:32.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29678" CreationDate="2021-02-02T06:02:08.530" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is unfortunate, but nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course the new surroundings and new people scare him at first. If the cat was taken from his own family (his parents or siblings), he might be calling for them. If he was taken from another human, he might be calling for them. He's basically trying to find his former home and family by calling them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this is the time where you might unintentionally teach him bad habits. If you go looking for him every time he meows, he'll learn that later, when he's used to having you as his family, he can summon you by meowing for any reason. Looking for him just once after he meowed for a while is ok, but don't run to him as soon as you hear him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His meowing should stop after a week, two at most. I know from experience that it's heart wrenching, but as long as he didn't get used to you and trusts you, there's nothing you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can try making him more comfortable by offering him more hiding spots. Cats love elevated places like tables, windowsills and shelves. Most cats also feel very safe and comfortable in a cardboard box with a bit of padding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-02-02T06:02:08.530" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-02T09:01:12.787" Score="1" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 110 gallon (420 liter) tank, which contains 1 ranchu  measuring 13 cm, 1 ranchu measuring 10 cm, and 1 oranda measuring 8 cm. The oranda is gasping for air, while the other fish seem fine. There is aeration in the water. What's wrong? What should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-02T15:00:37.650" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T13:39:41.127" Title="Why is my oranda goldfish gasping at the surface?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10306" CreationDate="2021-02-02T09:59:15.803" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;On Japanese TV, I noticed that they were doing this for a similar problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get a toy where he has to struggle to get whatever you put inside. Put a few treats inside the toy or a chewie and leave it in his cage/house when you leave. Repeat this a few times to help him stop barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T23:53:13.067" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T23:53:13.067" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-02T10:15:07.287" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I’ve noticed a hydra infestation. I’ve pulled out about 5 hydras already, but I know there are some left. One of my golden back shrimp have already lost their life to the hydra’s paralysing, poison but how do you get rid of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 10 gallon tank with a filter and many driftwood and plants and rocks and a bunch of micro fish and shrimp and baby shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0cx3x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0cx3x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my baby shrimp sharing food&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am so far putting salt treatment since they are affected with another parasite (shrimps).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me a shrimp baby safe way without taking out the hydras or any fish or shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, and I don’t want to use chemicals! Only normal household items. I don’t want to see 20 baby shrimplets dead in the morning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="19588" LastEditDate="2021-02-04T13:16:01.350" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T13:16:01.350" Title="Hydra infestation" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;shrimp&gt;&lt;hydra&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29683" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-02T16:06:47.523" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's been demonstration with some birds, such as with parrots like African Greys - e.g with Alex, with the work of comparative psychologist Dr. Irene Pepperberg, who also studied its intelligence using communication with Alex via vocalization), ravens and more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also learned that huskies vocalize to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions by nicheness - higher number = less niche:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To what extent can huskies vocalize? Is there a research topic into this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To what extent, preferably if also known maximally and minimally, can a &lt;strong&gt;Pomsky&lt;/strong&gt; vocalize?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With vocalization, in some approximation, how much could a Pomsky communicate via speech?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking these questions because I'd like to get a general idea and don't know what research there is into communication via vocalization with Pomskies, that are also cross-breeds with Huskies (between that and Pomeranians) - hope this post/question isn't too wide-covering - please let me know if it is, and if so, I'll just post them as separate questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19768" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-02T16:09:57.540" LastActivityDate="2021-02-02T16:09:57.540" Title="Canine Physiology | Pomsky Vocalization - How Advanced For Speech?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;communication&gt;&lt;husky&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-02T20:06:34.060" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have many low grade cherry shrimps. Can I feed them to my goldfish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low grade is instead of bright red, the color is fade red or transparent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="18911" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T01:32:10.960" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T21:11:52.810" Title="Can I feed my goldfish my red cherry shrimp?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29678" CreationDate="2021-02-02T20:40:02.567" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;New cats require patience. Especially a year-old cat - at this age they will have recently bonded quite strongly with whomever their previous owners were so they will need time to adjust and to warm up to you as their new &amp;quot;person&amp;quot;.  It takes more time and work than with a younger cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take time to just sit quietly in the room near them - cats can be very independent but you must make time to spend with them in those critical first days and weeks to build a bond. They have to get used to you being nearby, to learn that you're not a threat and that they can look to you for comfort, security, and friendship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try offering treats. If you get a hiss when you approach, don't push it - let them come to you, but hang around and be non-threatening so they learn that you can be trusted.  Offer a hand for them to smell, but don't stick it in their face - let them take their time to get used to it and to approach you.  Let them smell and examine without any fast movements or reaching towards them. Make sure they always have a clear &amp;quot;escape route&amp;quot; that's obvious to them - cats don't like feeling backed into a corner or trapped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sitting on the ground or close to the ground helps - it makes you seem more approachable and less scary.  Just settle yourself down and give it some time.  Cats also love to see you make big blinking movements with your eyes.  Sustained open-eye contact freaks them out because it looks like you're trying to hunt them, but if you inject some slow, deliberate blinks this communicates that you just want to hang out and relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just disappear to another room when they don't engage right away them they won't really warm up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17708" LastEditorUserId="17708" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T14:46:35.150" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T14:46:35.150" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29678" CreationDate="2021-02-02T20:42:21.577" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's in new territory with new people. Use the suggestions above and in addition, try some pheromone diffusion in the home like Feliway. Assuming he is not in pain but just psych distress. A little catnip might add to his pleasure too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19769" LastActivityDate="2021-02-02T20:42:21.577" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29691" CreationDate="2021-02-02T23:08:04.610" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember that a few years ago when I was a child, I had a Bloodfin tetra(I'm not sure if it was this fish type, but it resembles my fish tremendously) fish I believed to be a male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That fish lived for two years until we presumed it dead. I knew that a fish was dead when it floated to the top, but we thought it was dead because it was at the bottom of the tank for many days and still did not become active when we moved the tank, etc. We flushed the fish down the toilet ):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of curiosity, was that fish dead, or was it feeling unwell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, we kept our fish in some sort of flower vase, but I was too naive and that was before I knew anything about fishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19171" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T13:14:03.433" Title="Was my fish dead when it was at the bottom of the tank?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;death&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29684" CreationDate="2021-02-03T03:48:19.593" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goldfish are very hungry creatures. They will happily eat your low grade red cherry shrimp. When I was younger, and had no experience of keeping goldfish, my family put 10 beautiful Amano shrimp into a goldfish tank not knowing that goldfish would chow down on shrimp.  The next day most of them were eaten. Shrimp are edible for goldfish, as evidenced by the result of this mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T21:11:52.810" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T21:11:52.810" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29687" CreationDate="2021-02-03T03:54:26.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fish was most likely to be dead. I recently had a albino hoplo catfish who I loved so much but when a member of my family was changing the water, he died of shock. He was paler than usual and his gills weren’t moving and he wouldn’t shift when I poked at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that you flushed him down the toilet means that you must’ve taken him out of there and that he didn’t shift a single bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T03:54:26.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29687" CreationDate="2021-02-03T13:14:03.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your fish was dead for sure. It often happens that their swimming bladder starts failing because of some illness and then they can start floating on the side or directly stay on the bottom until they die. Also if you were able to grab it to flush it make it much more clear tough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T13:14:03.433" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29680" CreationDate="2021-02-03T13:19:02.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing you should do is isolate your fish on a medic tank just in case it does have an infectious disease it could transmit, but also for you to be able to give them some treatment without affecting the rest of the population in your tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, observe very well. Take pictures and look for anything different than usual. White dots like sugar, inflated bladder, tumors, etc. Observation is a key factor here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, based on that, an appropriate treatment could be applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-04T21:08:20.157" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T21:08:20.157" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29634" CreationDate="2021-02-03T13:32:44.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this images makes it very clear on how to determine better what gender your fish is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fZ0bn.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fZ0bn.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at your pictures I can see the first one as a male and the other two dalmatians as female. If you are looking for them to breed they are usually pretty easy but needs like all fishes in tank, good conditions and some hidden places depending on where you tank is (if there is movement near or nobody around ever).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also important not to have other predators that could eat the breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T13:32:44.227" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-03T14:47:54.603" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LFBKH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LFBKH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this white-ish buildup on my fish filter? Should I be cleaning more often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11545" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-03T14:52:09.057" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T20:47:53.783" Title="What is this white-ish buildup on my fish filter?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-03T18:15:14.530" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just looking for any tips or insight here, my partner and I have four cats (more details shortly) and multiple different issues for their socialization. All the cats were fixed at a young age and all have always been indoor-only. There are no other pets or people in the household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The story starts when I got my first cat, T (I'm just going to use initials) right when I moved out on my own. He was a pretty typical cat, sometimes playful, sometimes lazy. He's also big, nearly 20 pounds. He's nearly 11 years old now, though, and while he has no problems moving around, he prefers mostly to sit and plays very little. Fine by me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, my partner was on her own, obtaining her own cats. You have G (the oldest at 5 years old, prissy, but also the meanest when playing), M (an extremely friendly and playful boy, 4 years old, behaves like a dog a lot of the time), and Z (the baby at 3 years old, smallest of the group, least playful and most sensitive to new people). They have a pretty good working relationship, which is that G is the dominant one, Z is her frenemy, and M (the only boy in the group) stirs up trouble (but ultimately would never hurt either of them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problems started when we moved in together about a year and a half ago. We followed all the instructions about keeping the cats separate for a while until they all learned about each others scents, and then we tried slowly introducing them. Things initially seemed ok, but then T (my cat, the biggest and the oldest) started being aggressive towards G and Z (especially Z, my guess because of her size and temperament). This was strange because he was never aggressive in pretty much any other situation, but as soon as he saw either of them he wanted nothing more than to chase them. He was ok with M for a while, but then M started turning the tables on T - now M likes to bully and chase T around, despite the size difference. I think M is only playing, as he's very playful, but T doesn't want to play and he went most of his life without ever having other cats around to play with, so I don't know if he understands; it's also possible that M is defending his sisters from past aggression, even though they aren't around him at the time. T generally doesn't fight back, he just runs away and tries to hide unless he has no other options (which I think encourages M to chase more). I separate them as soon as I see it happening, but it keeps happening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So now we're at the point of eternal separation - T is locked in a bedroom for half the day and my partner's cats are locked in a different bedroom for the other half of the day. Periodically I let M in to see T (because he cries at the door and some part of me hopes maybe it'll be different this time) but within a few minutes he's always attacking. And now G and Z get scared whenever they so much as see T, they'll run away and hiss at him, even when he's being held and they're completely safe. Things are worse now than when they first met.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this isn't an awful arrangement, I'm honestly used to it these days because it's been like this for over a year, but I really do wish I wouldn't have to keep them like this for the rest of their lives (or let's be honest, the rest of T's life since he's the oldest) or else fear bodily harm. I just don't know if there's anything I can do or if the damage has been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19776" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T12:52:56.173" Title="Cat Not Socializing with Partner's Cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29671" CreationDate="2021-02-03T19:58:29.780" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not confident enough to diagnose the cat, but my thoughts were too long to stay in the comments. I think very much sounds like a food allergy - itching and skin issues are the first and most common sign of food allergy. Check also the cat's bowel movements for any oddities (straining? too frequent?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food allergies are almost impossible to test for, which is possibly why your vet suggested the shot, for simplicity. It may be worth getting a second opinion from a different vet, especially because my suggestions should be run past a vet anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to determine if it's a food allergy is to test different foods on your cat. These foods should be vet approved. You need to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;test a single food for 6-8 weeks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ensure that food does not have any of the same proteins as foods your cat has eaten before&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ensure the cat does not eat anything else during this trial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/food-allergies-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;THIS&lt;/a&gt; is a really helpful article to get you started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps give you a direction to start in!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2021-02-03T19:58:29.780" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29694" CreationDate="2021-02-03T21:01:50.970" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never had an external filter like this and I have never experienced such a buildup in the filter - I have always been using internal, fully submerged filters - but based on your photo and description of the material being slimy I would say it is a bacterial biofilm that is attached to the precipitated limescale underneath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think it is a definitive sign that the filter is dirty nor that it needs immediate cleaning; after all, it is a natural and even desired for the filter to build up the beneficial bacterial flora and the porous structure of precipitated limescale is an attractive place for them to colonize. Limescale buildup itself may be an unsightly nuisance, but is more or less unavoidable in most cases. I do not think that the flora inhabiting this limescale precipitation is large enough to contribute in any significant way to the overall flora of beneficial bacteria in your aquarium, especially that nitrifying bacteria are photosensitive and this material is placed outside where it is exposed to light - but nonetheless, it theoretically increases the efficiency of your filtration a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it definitely should be cleaned once you notice that it starts to block water flow, as that would decrease the efficiency of your filter. As long as it doesn't, I'd say that it is harmless or even mildly beneficial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I think it is reasonable to assume that this precipitated material is harmless because its mineral content comes from what was originally dissolved in the aquarium water itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, please consider that my reasoning above in regards to the nature of biofilm might be wrong and its nature - as suggested by Trond Hansen in the comment - is not bacterial, but fungal. If this is indeed fungal growth, then it should be definitely removed because some fungi are known for releasing &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycotoxin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;potent toxins&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be helpful for determining the nature of this growth if you provide results of pH, GH and KH for the aquarium water. In general, slightly acidic environment favors fungal growth, whereas neutral to slightly alkaline conditions favor bacterial growth; there are exceptions, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T20:47:53.783" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T20:47:53.783" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-04T01:54:42.973" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;We’ve taken care of him and siblings since kittens 13 years ago when we TNR’d them. Nowadays he spends most of his time inside, he has been the only cat in our lives now for about 8 years. He trusts us, I brush and tickle him every morning. He’s never been in a cage since he was trapped as a kitten. We are moving to a new home later this spring and really want him to come with since we are his family. He hasn’t seen a vet since his neutering and shots 12 years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a good idea? I’m worried he would leave the new home, in the countryside of Tennessee, and try to come back to Illinois. We’ve been trying to get him to be friendly with a neighbor next door to us who loves him and feeds him when we travel. We think that will be the best for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Don Rotermund&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19781" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-04T01:57:58.637" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T18:45:13.577" Title="How to transport an older feral/family cat 500 miles?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-04T02:37:42.810" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought a cup of live bloodworm, but surprisingly my 13 cm ranchu doesn't eat it, but my 10 cm ranchu likes it. How to make my 13 cm ranchu eat it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-04T03:45:19.360" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T15:24:00.617" Title="My goldfish doesn't like bloodworm" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29698" CreationDate="2021-02-04T12:39:09.230" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, you should definitely take the kitty with you. From what you tell, it seems both of you are fond of each other and it would be very emotional for both of you to leave each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming to your question, I will try and answer this from the point of risk vs the time it would take to reach your destination. Flying takes the shortest amount of time but there are some considerations. If the cat can be in the cabin with you, then with a mild sedative it should be relatively painless. I’ve heard real horror stories about when they are transported in the cargo hold. So you must confirm with the airline what their policies are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I know many trains allow pets to be with you (cats and dogs mostly but that needs to be verified). Considering it is 500 miles, a train journey can be long and keeping a cat inside a cage for that long may be too much for it. But if you can reserve the entire cabin (again, unsure if all trains allow this) then you may be able to let it roam freely inside the cabin. In my personal opinion, that would be more comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid transporting the cat by road. It’s too long a distance. My four cats hate being in the car. Taking them to the vet is an event that needs to be planned in advance. I have a feeling they get motion sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you figure out a way and do keep us posted. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T12:39:09.230" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-04T13:00:59.330" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rKzZV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rKzZV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my platy fish pregnant, it’s developed a black spot in belly, hiding and being chased my other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19784" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T20:59:12.620" Title="Is my platy pregnant" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-02-04T14:34:35.937" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29701" CreationDate="2021-02-04T13:20:51.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my eyes she is pregnant, if she is showing shy behavior, this can often mean that she is pregnant. If you wish all the fry to survive, you may want to separate the fish to another aqarium. Once the fries are born, keep the mother separated as there are occasions that the mother eats them and catfish and assassin snails may eat them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shrimp like Amano and Red cherry can’t hurt the new born fish, avoid adding ghost shrimps as much as possible.&#xA;I hope she makes a successful birth!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T13:20:51.220" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29699" CreationDate="2021-02-04T15:24:00.617" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say just stopping to feed anything else other than bloodworm should work after some time - hunger is the best spice; if there isn't any other food, then ultimately your fish will naturally get convinced to eat what is available. Fish need surprisingly little food to survive, but will happily eat any available excess that they could physically consume beyond the absolute minimum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a goldfish doesn't eat bloodworms, it means that it still has enough nutrients to go on without eating. Fish are fussy in terms of food choice only if they could &amp;quot;afford&amp;quot; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't worry please, an otherwise healthy goldfish won't die of starvation by feeding it like this. As far as I know, there are some rare species of fish that require specific food types and would starve otherwise - but goldfish are definitely not one of them. Most fish, including goldfish, are opportunistic omnivores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T15:24:00.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29698" CreationDate="2021-02-04T18:45:13.577" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends a lot to the local regulations.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transportation is a relatively easy part, but it solely depends on the regulations. If you are taking him with your car, the best way is to give him a mild sedative or something similar. Dosage is very important here. Weight and age are essential to find the correct dose. Consult a veterinarian about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most airlines and trainlines accept the animals under certain conditions. You need to make sure that he is microchipped, and has all necessary vaccinations. Even though air transport seems faster, it is also more prone to delays. I had a few friends who had to take their cat on a connecting flight and it was quite hard for them. You can have the cat dig some soil by the road but you can't prepare a litterbox in the airport. Besides, if he is allowed in cabin, he might start bursting his lungs meowing, annoying all passengers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Settling down to a new place requires some planning.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have an internal compass that guides them to their home, but it doesn't work 500 miles. Most they can do is a few km. So, he won't try to get back to Illinois. Yet, since his internal compass would be reset, it would take him a long time to stroll freely in the neighbourhood. Make sure that the cat is &lt;strong&gt;microchipped&lt;/strong&gt; and has a collar with a nametag. &lt;strong&gt;Easy-break collars&lt;/strong&gt; should be around $5. If the collar is not easy break, he might strangle himself if he is caught by a fence or a branch. In this way, if he is lost, someone will see the nametag and contact you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are more attached to their surroundings than to their caretakers. If you have an old couch that your cat likes for some reason, take it with you. You can discard it after a few months. The same goes for carpets or mats as well, whatever your cat seems attached, take them with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first few weeks is the hardest for settling in a new place. Try not to let him out until he stops being jittery inside. If both inside and outside freaks him equally, he will be more unpredictable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps. This kind of adoption is the best and most natural adoption. I am very happy that you take the extra step and decide to take him with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-02-04T18:45:13.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29707" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-05T00:26:02.377" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m in an interesting and weird situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a boxer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She doesn’t want to come out the &lt;strong&gt;house&lt;/strong&gt; with me; for instance, I can’t take her outside to pee or poop; I can’t take her out at all.&#xA;But when my mom takes her out, my dog doesn’t want to come in (sometimes) and as a consequence I have go out and get her and bring her inside my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I only would like to know why she doesn’t want to go out the house with me. I use take her out the house with out any issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the root of the problem was the day I got mad and frustrated with my dog when we were outside. I had arrived home from work and took her out to pee, etc. Presumably, she got scared and associated me taking her out with a negative experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How I can start taking her out again with out any issues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19791" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T00:55:59.773" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T01:53:47.780" Title="Why doesn’t my dog come out with me?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29707" CreationDate="2021-02-05T01:45:39.393" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This all depends on the cause of why she no longer wants to go out with you. Based on what we know about &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/when-were-angry-dogs-get-the-feels/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dogs and their aversion to anger,&lt;/a&gt; it is pretty safe to assume that your deduction is accurate or at least a step in the right direction; dogs are naturally inclined to avoid anger, as an instinct to avoid potential danger or to avoid possible decay in their relationship with us, as creatures dependent on our care and thus at the whims of if we decide we no longer want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the answer is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Patience&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Counter-conditioning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoiding the aversion trigger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Patience:&lt;/strong&gt; You need to assume the perspective that basically, your dog does not fully understand human speech or concepts such as, say, a bad day at work, or being exhausted when first coming home. While that's a no-brainer on the surface, the problem a lot of owners face is that they expect training to work at a pace that makes sense to humans. Why &lt;em&gt;wouldn't&lt;/em&gt; she get over it? It's been &lt;em&gt;this long&lt;/em&gt; and you haven't repeated the behavior again, so shouldn't she understand that it won't happen again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; your dog doesn't understand human speech or understand what happened, she doesn't have an explanation that makes sense in &amp;quot;dog logic.&amp;quot; Therefore, the safest behavior for her is to just avoid it completely, even if it &lt;em&gt;seems&lt;/em&gt; like it won't happen again. If you did touched a lamp and it suddenly shocked you, but you can't find any explanation for why it happened, no exposed wires, et cetera, would you assume it was a one-time thing and decide it was safe to keep touching the lamp? Most people would worry that it may shock them again, and would avoid using it, which creates a negative cycle where by avoiding it, you can't actually &lt;em&gt;prove&lt;/em&gt; to yourself that it is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is why &lt;strong&gt;counter-conditioning&lt;/strong&gt; is also important. Counter-conditioning (and desensitization) means &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/introduction-to-desensitization-and-counterconditioning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;you train your dog to have a different perspective&lt;/a&gt; about the aversion trigger (going out with you) so that it no longer seems like something to avoid. This is a two-fold training method, which means you need to change how she &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; about going out with you (the counter-conditioning), as well as show her that it's safe to do so by &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;proving&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; that it's safe (desensitization). There are a few ways that you could do this, and it will all depend on what works best for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My approach would be to create opportunities to display positive emotion and provide rewards during the process of going outside. You could leave the door open and sit outside, without prompting her or trying to make her go outside with you. Throw a toy around or shake a bag of treats, without necessarily looking at her. Act like you are just hanging out having a good time by yourself. You want her to come out on her own, rather than it being part of the act of &lt;em&gt;you taking her&lt;/em&gt; outside. When she comes outside on her own, give her lots of praise, pet her, give her a treat, et cetera. Warm her up to the concept that going outside in your presence is something that she wants to do. You can then build off of that such as, five-ten seconds after your mother has taken your dog outside (while they are still outside), go outside as well. Again, make it very positive with rewards and praise. Eventually, it will reach a point where you can then go outside at the same time as your mother and dog, and from there, you can escalate to trying to take her outside on your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all of the counter-conditioning will be ineffective and the original issue will be made worse if you don't &lt;strong&gt;avoid the aversion trigger.&lt;/strong&gt; In this case, that would mean getting angry with your dog, expressing frustration during the training process, being negative while going outside with her, or even trying to force her to do what you want during the training. You may have noticed that when I discussed my approach to this situation, I mentioned shaking the treats without looking at her. This is because actions that make it more &amp;quot;obvious&amp;quot; that you want the dog to come outside with you may set off her alarm bells and make her avoid it, even if it seems non-threatening. You almost want to &amp;quot;trick&amp;quot; her into coming outside by making it seem as different from the time you took her out in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; warn against continuing to try to get her to do something if it seems like she's not ready for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: you have made a lot of progress by going outside with your mom and the dog together, and have decided to try to take her out on your own. However, she still seems nervous, and doesn't come when you call her or backs away from the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may feel like you should keep trying, but the key is to &lt;em&gt;stop trying&lt;/em&gt; and let it go. Go back to one of the previous methods, such as leaving the door open and going out by yourself and waiting for her to come out on her own. The more attention you try to draw to it, the more her instincts will recognize this as similar to the situation that she previously felt negative towards, and will want to avoid, meaning you sabotage your own progress in training her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish you the best of the luck, friend, and hope you are able to work through this. It's hard to predict how animals will react to things, and the best we can do is just show them that it's safe and that we really don't mean any harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19793" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T01:53:47.780" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T01:53:47.780" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16204" CreationDate="2021-02-05T02:19:41.020" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to all of the suggestions posted here, I'd also like to point out that it may be &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsplusus.com/pet-information/pet-ownership/correcting-cat-acne&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat acne&lt;/a&gt; from her own oils/dander/et cetera from things such as food &amp;amp; water bowls (the most likely culprits) as well as bedding/towels/so on that she frequently sleeps on or rubs against. This is different than being allergic to the material itself; instead, it's the oils/etc from her own fur that rubs onto the material, then is introduced back to her fur and skin when she next approaches the material, leading to clogging pores that may get infected (aka acne.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats (and dogs!) can get reactions similar to how humans do, i.e. itchy or painful bumps, rashes, pimples, and so on. Since the face is a difficult spot to groom, she may be trying to clean or treat the area with the scratching, much like how sometimes humans just can't stop picking at a stubborn pimple, only making it worse and more inflamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steel/metal dishes are especially guilty of this and need to be washed at a minimum whenever you can visibly see some build up, but more likely every week (or even every 3 or so days). It can also occur with fabric goods, but I would be much more hesitant to wash those since cats are such smell-driven creatures and it may turn a well-loved bed into something she no longer has interest in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this and the other suggestions aren't enough to stop it, you may also try just keeping an eye on her and see where she rubs her face in the house. It can be any sort of reaction to cleaners used for certain surfaces like a bath tub, plants in the house that aren't toxic to eat but may still upset her skin, or else &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is the location of the cat acne build up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19793" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T02:19:41.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-05T06:13:41.217" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Siberian is 4 years old. She began to grow a heavy winter coat, 2-3&amp;quot; thick, when it was still warm in September (we live in California and it was 75 °F (24 °C)). She developed knots and groomer gave lion cut. I have now been told that this is not good for the long haired, cold weather cats (Siberians, Norwegian Forest cat, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She never minded having her belly and anal area shaved. After the lion cut, she acted very stressed and wanted warm areas of the house she saw that she was not light beige, but dark brown. We brush her daily, but she has now grown an even, heavier coat and the new knots are longer and twisty, some shorter tufts are all over her attached with her saliva that is now the consistency of glue. We cannot remove this. Please help us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19794" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-06T03:40:36.897" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T03:40:36.897" Title="Siberian attached tufts of 3&quot; long fur to her body with glue-like saliva, cannot be removed. Was shaving bad?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-02-06T10:03:43.077" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29695" CreationDate="2021-02-05T11:33:36.623" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a similar situation a little over a year ago. We had our boy Scout who is now 4 years old. We used to feed a stray cat and then eventually took her in. They did not get along. Also Misu the stray was a temperamental cat (but has mellowed down since). She would bully Scout the moment they saw each other. She was used to guarding her territory and she would do it ferociously. We used to separate them for almost 6 mos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We then heard about a boarding place where the owner was a behavioural specialist. We boarded them with her for two weeks. In those two weeks they bonded and would stay in the same space without fighting. However once they came back home they eventually started fighting again but not to the extent they had earlier. They could share the same space without biting each other’s heads off. That’s when we stopped separating them. So progress... in a way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We then moved houses. They don’t fight anymore but are wary of each other’s company. They’ve learned to live in each other’s space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of telling you this was that even if they are fighting now they will eventually get past it and find their comfort zones. I know it seems harsh not to intervene and them slug it out but for us keeping them in a controlled environment helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specialist also told us that cats are sensitive to our feelings. Our anxiety easily rubs off on them. Hence when they were boarding with her, they learned something about each other without our anxieties interfering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can find such a place do considering boarding them for sometime. I hope you find a solution soon. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T11:33:36.623" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11471" CreationDate="2021-02-05T11:55:23.587" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a good groomer would know what to do. The danger to your dog is that he might try to chew it off. and as in answer 1, any harm might come from what type of paint was used. However, I have 2 ideas. You might try a bath with a Doggy shampoo first. If that does not work I have another solution. I repair antique dolls, make handbags and jewelry. There is a gentle paint remover that keeps my hands, arms, and my expensive sable brushes clean without harm even with dry paint. I purchase from a company called Dollsapart online. I used to purchase it at Michaels, but prefer online. Be sure to test it in a small area first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was a bit curious about where your dog got this paint.  There may be some construction going on nearby, and perhaps you could find the red paint guy or gal and ask them politely to help by keeping the paint in an area not easily accessible by pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19794" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T11:55:23.587" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29695" CreationDate="2021-02-05T12:52:56.173" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it is difficult if these cute cuddly creatures don't get along. Cats are much different than dogs. Dogs love to play with one another, even with cats. Cats, even big wild cats like pumas, jaguars and cheetahs are usually more independent, and can be territorial. I have had two cats from the same litter, in three pairs. I keep thinking that litter mates would be great friends. From our experience one cat, would soon claim the best places to sleep and play and was pushy about being fed first, even eating the other cats food. The other cat always seemed to let her take the role of leader. The cats I have now are two Siberians, at first they played together, slept together and seemed to follow each other around. This only lasted during the first year. One has longer fur and is larger. She is the alpha cat. They usually prefer to be in separate rooms or separate sides of the same room, except at bedtime. You might guess which one gets to sleep on the bed. There isn't any &amp;quot;fighting&amp;quot; for the most part, a little chasing, but it is mostly a non-verbal understanding. Try two cat trees, two different places to eat/drink and play with each separately. With our first pair, in our first house the hall was only 2.5 feet wide and they would pass each other by walking right next to the wall. Cats usually work out an acceptable pattern for themselves, they move around during the day and check out certain places where they leave their scent. Cats are much more mellow as they age. If your kitties don't work it out together, you might want to try keep them separated some of the time for a while, for example two cat trees, two different places to eat and play.  An odd thing happened with our last pair, when the more dominant cat unfortunately passed away, the shy cat became much more affectionate, played with both of us and seemed more calm and happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19794" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T12:52:56.173" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29680" CreationDate="2021-02-05T13:39:41.127" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you fish is an indoor fish, but all fish have similar needs. Our outdoor Koi have many of the same needs. I agree with Omar and Lila. Our pond was built incorrectly and we had to get extra and better equipment to filter the water and add new water from waterfalls as the fish grew from 9&amp;quot; to 20&amp;quot;. Test the water weekly and assure that your fish have clean, fresh, aerated water, with minimal algae and well balanced Ph.  Some fish are more resistant to problems that others. Your Oranda is obviously stressed. A fish should not be at the surface for extended periods unless they are eating. Your Oranda, may be sick or may be trying to get oxygen which they get out of clean, fresh, aerated water, free of algae, so you may be having a problem with your filtering. You should consult your aquarium expert for your tank as soon as possible as this could be a serious problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19794" LastActivityDate="2021-02-05T13:39:41.127" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-05T22:09:05.713" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3XNyI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/3XNyI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;tip of tail&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I noticed my kitten’s tail looking like this, completely stumped as to how this could’ve happened, and can’t find anything on this online.&#xA;Currently I have two theories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She does play with her tail from time to time, and might have played to roughly? Or over cleaned her tail?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The day I spotted this there was an incident where she was laying on the low heat radiator and heard her growl. I checked on her immediately but there didn’t seem to be an issue, but I’m thinking maybe her tail fell in where it’s warmer and got singed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: we just got her a little under a month ago and in that time she’s had worm medicine, and ear mite medicine as she had an issue in her ear (turned out to be an infected wound) and had to wear a cone for 2 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19798" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T22:17:48.413" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T14:13:33.770" Title="Why is my kitten’s tail tip like that?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-05T22:25:26.840" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;So here's what happens, I have a small dog, that loves to sleep on my lap while I'm working. She'll often even ask me to pull her onto my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is while she's down on the floor, I'll extend my arms to reach her and pull her up, but the moment I extend my arms, she'll back off and stop. I retract my arms, and this process repeats over and over until she gives up backing off or I give up getting her on my lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very similar thing happens whenever I take her for a walk. I'll get her leash, she becomes very excited. I call her, so that I can put the leash on her, same thing happens again, she becomes anxious and backs off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summarizing, it seems to me she'll become so anxious, that it's hard to do what she actually wants and she will back off immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19799" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-05T22:31:53.640" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T05:21:41.077" Title="Why does my dog become so anxious to come to my lap?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-06T04:33:04.490" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I just adopted a 2 month old Netherland dwarf and I have no idea when to cut his nails. His nails look like this currently so I’m unsure if I should just let the vet cut his nails, or if his nails are just supposed to be this long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NfxDd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NfxDd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my 2 month old bunnies nails&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19800" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T09:31:12.340" Title="When should I cut my bunny’s nails?" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29716" CreationDate="2021-02-06T05:21:41.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some questions I would ask are: How old is your dog? How long has she had this &amp;quot;anxiety&amp;quot; of coming to you? Do you remember anything in particular that started it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like this might be a relatively young dog, but you've been together long enough for both of you to find out that she likes being on your lap when you work. Since she is too small to jump up, you must have previously had a communication method to get her up, but something happened to disrupt this communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe she was just a pup and is now growing into a more independent stage of her development. Whatever the case, she needs to be trained to come to you to be picked up to get onto your lap and to have her leash put on. You may need to set up training sessions until your dog has learned to &amp;quot;Come&amp;quot; and cooperate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most effective ways to get animals to &amp;quot;Come&amp;quot; is to offer them their favourite treat. When she comes to be picked up and placed in your lap, be careful not to startle her as you move in your chair to extend your arms. Have a treat in your hand and gently ask her to come. Praise her when she does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell her &amp;quot;Good girl!&amp;quot; Pet her, be sure she is comfortable with your touch. If necessary, offer another treat and more praise. When she is calm and trusts you, pick her up calmly and gently. Again, praise her, pet her, assure her she's a good girl to lie in your lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you always treat her gently and predictably, she should soon understand that it is safe to come and be lifted into your lap. Quick, unpredictable movements can frighten an animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use the same method to teach her to &lt;em&gt;Come&lt;/em&gt; for the leash. Make it a pleasant event to go outside, fun. Praise and reward tend to work well in animal training, though a firm hand is also needed for those times that they feel mischievous. They will take advantage of us humans if we let them, just like little kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these methods don't work, you may want to consult a professional dog trainer. My personal experience is with a larger dog, with a cat, horses, and farm animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T05:21:41.077" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-06T05:42:05.577" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a 4 something year old Siamese cat. It is used to being fed precise meals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would love to train it to eat only as much as it needs. Currently, it eats everything in the bow, possibly vomiting. Is it possible at this age?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/22117/why-does-my-cat-vomit-almost-every-time-i-refill-her-food-bowl&quot;&gt;Why does my cat vomit almost every time I refill her food bowl?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5996" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-06T18:08:35.530" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T18:08:35.530" Title="Can a 4yo cat be taught not to binge eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29719" CreationDate="2021-02-06T09:46:33.423" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is: &lt;strong&gt;No.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, there are 2 types of cats and dogs: Those who eat everything available and those who eat only as much as they need. From an evolutionary point of view eating everything edible is an advantage because it increases your chances of surviving times when no food at all is available to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, what type of eater your pet is is solely dictated by their personality. There are cases when a moderate eater changed to eating as much as is available after not having enough food available to them. I have never ever heard of a case where an eat-everything pet reverted to only eating as much as they need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are automated feeders for cats that let a small amount of food fall into a bowl several times a day. There are also cats who are afraid of these feeders and don't accept them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, overeating is bad for cats, not only because they become overweight, but also because they cannot process big amounts of food at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats cannot regulate the amount of digestive enzymes in their gut. Since they evolved to eat 8 - 12 small rodents or birds a day, their gut enzymes are regulated for those small portions. If a cat gobbles down an entire bowl of food at once, there aren't enough enzymes to digest all of it. The rest of the undigested food is then processed by bacteria in the large intestine, which causes bloating and the associated discomfort. You can read more it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5753635/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this scientific study&lt;/a&gt; or read a summary in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28806/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-06T18:07:20.510" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T18:07:20.510" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-06T10:36:06.153" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet (feeder) mouse has been acting strange, she has gained weight and hasn't been using her wheel as much. She is also either drooling or foaming at the mouth (I believe only a small bit). To my knowledge, she hasn't been aggressive and she still responds to being touched and everything and she still eats and drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I may just be over reacting because I'm not always home and she may be more active when I'm gone. Could she just have a cold (I would like to add that this hasn't been going on that long, but it's my first mouse)? Please help; I'm worried for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19803" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-06T16:12:47.240" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T12:22:25.023" Title="What's wrong with my pet mouse?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;&lt;mice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-06T16:56:40.113" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm confused whether goldfish will never stop growing or not, how much will its genetics affect its size?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to buy a high quality goldfish, not a bad one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-06T18:10:26.253" LastActivityDate="2021-03-08T22:00:10.053" Title="Will every goldfish never stop growing?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;growing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29724" CreationDate="2021-02-06T20:11:26.653" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Koi maximum about 4 ft , some have been documented to be about 100 years old ( in Japan).But I have seen some older koi limited to about 2 ft ; so genetics must be a factor . Koi and goldfish are closely related. In my small pond ( roughly 800 gallons ) the biggest koi has been about 32&amp;quot;. Their size is greatly limited by the size of the water body . So if one has a 55 gal. aquarium , my guess is 12&amp;quot; would be about the maximum size goldfish. You need not worry about a goldfish becoming &amp;quot;too big&amp;quot;. This is anecdotal but I have seen at least 50 ponds, public and private with maximum dimensions well over 100 ft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2021-02-06T20:11:26.653" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29715" CreationDate="2021-02-07T14:13:33.770" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best answer I know for strange phenomenon in animals is to ask the vet. You mention that you just got her and that you have already had health issues with her, i.e. ear mites and worms. Did this kitty come from a feral mother and never have a physical examination by a vet? If so, it's time for a full examination and all the shots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If her tail looked fully furred until today, it is possible that there are tiny mites in there, making it itchy so that she chewed off the hair. Though it's rather amazing that she trimmed it so evenly. Maybe she has some kind of problem that makes the long outer hairs fall off while keeping the fine inner coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time to see the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17348" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T14:13:33.770" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29727" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-07T15:10:36.167" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Me and my girlfriend got our puppy (German Pinscher) 4 weeks ago. Everything went on fine so far, he is quite an energetic comrade, but we try to give him as much rest as possible. Sometimes, it is necessary to calm him down by holding him closely wrapped into a blanket. We only do this if we know he is well beyond the point of being able to settle himself. If we do so, he relaxes within minutes and falls asleep for 2 or 3 hours. We know from many others that it is quite normal for a pup to find it hard to calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, in the past week, things got a bit(e) more problematic. Sometimes, our pup becomes very angry. Even for minor reasons, things could potentially escalate. He then goes into a fighting position, trying to bite and gain ground offensively. In the beginning, bites were still kind of not so strong, but it keeps getting worse. What we do at the moment is as soon as he does that, we turn away, fully ignore him, sometimes even leave the room to show him that the pack does not like his behavior. This helps to calm him for a minute, but he would switch back to aggression mode easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have already tried the standard advices like really short walks, not too much training, remaining calm and relaxed ourselves... But it feels like we reached the point where we cannot just ignore his aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We strongly believe that this is (at least partly) a lack of socialization. Unfortunately, Germany is in Lockdown at the moment and there are no puppy groups happening, not even in the near future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any advice on how to cool our little friend down a bit, or how to get at least some sort of socialization going? We already read through the similar questions, but they were of no help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19807" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-07T16:25:05.707" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T18:06:10.230" Title="Calming aggressive puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29727" CreationDate="2021-02-07T18:00:53.687" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This problem is more severe than you probably realize. You puppy is in a phase of life than will influence his personality and future behavior more than anything else. If you let him get his will by being aggressive, he will continue doing so as he grows older.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;strong&gt;you must not, under any circumstances, cause him pain or harm.&lt;/strong&gt; That only teaches him that he must fight harder and more aggressively to gain his goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 1: understand his body language&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I strongly advise you to learn about the body language of dogs and the signs of aggression. Those signs can be as diverse as lifting a paw, yawning, licking his lips in a certain way or avoiding eye contact with something he doesn't like. This is a small collection of Youtube videos I found very informative, but you can find many more of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/8bg_gGguwzg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Understanding Dog Body Language - Learn how to read dogs behavior better&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/t4N2XvnY7Mo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Understanding Dog Body Language - Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/1RbO-dCMdy8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How To Recognized Dominant Aggression In Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/gBnMY63V4Fo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Understanding Dogs' Body Language - Asheville Humane Society&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/BnvLvRGT0TU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dog Warning Signs Of Aggression Or Biting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 2: identify his triggers&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this you need to understand his body language first. Try noticing changes in his behavior &lt;strong&gt;before he starts biting you.&lt;/strong&gt; I guarantee you that he gives you several signs before that, you just always ignored them because you didn't understand them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What triggers his aggression? Being touched in a certain way? Having you approach his food or his toys? Wrapping him up in blanket? (I honestly doubt that he likes it. Please try a different way of calming him down.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guarding behavior is common in dogs and requires special training. If you suspect your dog is aggressive because he guards his property, please search for &amp;quot;food guarding&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;toy guarding&amp;quot; to learn what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 3: train him&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You write that you've got the dog 4 weeks ago. He doesn't need &amp;quot;as much rest as possible&amp;quot;. He needs walks and play time and obedience training. He needed all that 2 weeks ago already!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Immediately start daily obedience trainings with him. The least you need to teach him is &amp;quot;come&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;. Teaching him &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; greatly improves his character by teaching him that impatience doesn't pay off. Doing &amp;quot;target training&amp;quot; with him, where he needs to touch your hand or another target object, can help in situations where you need him to move a certain way, like at the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't make the mistake of thinking obedience training is boring and a hardship for your dog. It feels actually very good for him to be praised by you and it strengthens his bond to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His aggression can also be an expression of his boredom and need for exercise. Young puppies - just like children - have an enormous amount of energy and need to burn a big part of it every day. Locking a dog inside and giving him nothing but a half-hour walk and &amp;quot;as much rest as possible&amp;quot; is a surefire way to have a dog that destroys your entire furniture out of boredom. Instead, you should play little games with him a few times each day or let him work for his food by feeding him with a puzzle feeder. Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this list of ideas&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Step 4: punish his aggression&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll repeat myself: &lt;strong&gt;You must not cause your dog pain or he only learns to bite harder to avoid the pain.&lt;/strong&gt; If you only employ these methods without offering enough training and play to your dog, &lt;strong&gt;you won't really get rid of his aggression.&lt;/strong&gt; You'll only teach him to hide his warning signs and ambush you instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first thing you should do when you notice his warning sings is to &lt;strong&gt;stop doing what you're doing&lt;/strong&gt;. Your dog clearly tells you that he doesn't like it. If those things he doesn't like are things like being pet, hugged or wrapped in a blanked, you need to accept his wish and stop it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't help, you should cause him negative consequences that are not painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tried method is a water squirting bottle. When your dogs body language exceeds a certain level of aggression, you squirt water at him. Of course this is only practical outsides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative is putting a few screws, nuts or washers into an empty and dry 0.5 liter bottle and screwing the lid back on. When your dog gets too aggressive, you throw the bottle at the ground close to him, but &lt;strong&gt;not directly at him.&lt;/strong&gt; The rattling of the bottle is a strong acoustic signal and snaps your dog out of the aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-07T18:06:10.230" LastActivityDate="2021-02-07T18:06:10.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29553" CreationDate="2021-02-07T18:33:28.997" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like others have said. The cat has probably learnt a negative association with the carrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two cats and now I have several cats carriers. Typically the soft meshed ones. They really like them. Flexible, softer and they can pop their heads out of the top without escaping. Two are just for the vets. It seems a lot, but there is method to my madness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically a day or two before a vet's appointment, we leave the vet carriers out. So they can get used to it. This way they are normally chilled getting in. They aren't stupid. If we try and just spring it on them, they will hide and we risk running late if we don't lure them into a room that has no hiding spots.&#xA;We typically have vet only carriers, so they don't see all carriers in general as bad. If they do develop a negative association, it will be just with the vets rather than any other trip and sometimes they have been vocal about going to the vets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our other carriers for none vet trips are used when we need to travel somewhere else. They happily jump into them and chill out. They even double up as neat travel beds for them. Not sure if that is wise but they seem happy with set up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes the trips easier and softens their attitude towards going to the vets. One of the cats just knows when it is time set off and will just walk into the carrier and sit down. Clearly not ecstatic about it, but almost accepting the sooner it is over the better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19809" LastEditorUserId="19809" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T17:56:42.567" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T17:56:42.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26641" CreationDate="2021-02-07T20:07:06.163" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Limescale is made of insoluble carbonates of calcium and magnesium; in other words, they are salts of carbonic acid. Salts undergo displacement reactions: for instance, weaker acids tend to be displaced from their salts by stronger acids. In case of limescale it means that it is decomposed by acids stronger than carbonic acid (acetic acid, the main constituent of vinegar, is technically weaker than carbonic acid - but carbonic acid is unstable and easily decomposes to carbon dioxide and water - taking that into account explains why carbonate anions are still being displaced by acetate anions). My point with this theoretical introduction is that even if there existed a type of soap that was safe for aquarium use, it wouldn't be the optimal solution for removing limescale and wouldn't do as good in removing limescale as vinegar. Soaps tend to be alkaline and alkaline is the opposite of acidic, so they cannot dissolve limescale the way vinegar does. Their mode of operation in cleaning is different, they act as surfactants and emulsifiers instead, which means that they facilitate dispersion of immiscible liquids in one another (like oil in water) - for this reason, they are much more suited for cleaning greasy stains based on fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Acids even stronger than vinegar - like muriatic acid from the hardware store - are theoretically even better in dissolving the limescale, but they are too dangerous to be used in aquarium: not only for the aquarium inhabitants, but also for people because they are corrosive to the skin and eyes; also, as far as I know they are of industrial-grade (as opposed to food-grade in case of vinegar), so they might potentially contain undesirable contaminants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these reasons, in my opinion there isn't a better limescale cleaning substance than vinegar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please also note that it is the safest to use white vinegar (which is made from distilled spirits). Other types of vinegar (apple cider vinegar, etc.) contain many additional compounds beyond acetic acid that could be potentially undesirable or harmful - also, we don't even need them for cleaning. Acetic acid isn't toxic per se, but it is best to limit the amount that spills into the aquarium water because it would have the side effect of altering water parameters (namely, it would lower pH and KH). It is also absolutely important to avoid having undiluted vinegar come in contact with the media inside the filter, because nitrifying bacteria inhabiting the media could be destroyed by its low pH; also, please avoid having undiluted vinegar come into contact with animals living in the aquarium, because it is corrosive and irritating to mucous membranes. If cleaning power has to be sacrificed for safety in sensitive places of aquarium, vinegar could always be diluted with water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of using safe tools for cleaning - you have touched an important subject there. It is indeed potentially unsafe to use normal kitchen sponges - even if the sponge is brand-new and doesn't have any dish soap residue because of having never been used before, the sponge's material itself might release chemicals potentially harmful to aquatic life. Sponges for kitchen use are made of two layers of different polymers united together - this results in a double-sided sponge with one softer side and one stiffer, abrasive side meant for scrubbing. The softer side is usually made of polyurethane foam; a nasty thing about polyurethane is that it releases extremely toxic fumes during combustion (of which the main concern is &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_cyanide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hydrogen cyanide&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;carbon monoxide&lt;/a&gt;) and, like most synthetic polymers, it is flammable - so for safety, it is often treated with flame retardants. However, almost all of the flame retardants themselves are considered harmful - and if they leach into the water, aquatic animals are much more vulnerable than humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it would necessarily be that immediately dangerous if a sponge like this was used to clean the aquarium; the much more hazardous scenario would involve using a sponge like this as a medium inside the aquarium filter. On the other hand, using it just occasionally to clean the aquarium would probably not result in any serious disaster. Nonetheless, it is still better to use safer alternative whenever possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could suggest buying a sponge medium or filter floss for an aquarium filter and using it for scrubbing off the limescale. I am silently and naively assuming that polymers used for them are not treated with potentially harmful compounds, which might actually not be the case - but still, I consider them to be safer and I trust them much more than any materials not meant for aquarium use. Generally, materials and tools explicitly meant for being used in aquarium are safe; the tools from a hardware store, etc. might potentially cause unpleasant surprises. For example, sterile cotton balls might seem appropriate and safe for aquarium use, but as far as I know they may sometimes contain pesticide residues, especially the cheaper ones; that is because cotton is one of the most pesticide-dosed crops in the world. Such residues would be especially harmful for aquatic invertebrates, like shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In regard to which tools should be used, I could also suggest using a scrubber intended for removing algae from the glass. In my opinion, it would be the best to have a vinegar-soaked material somehow touching the limescale layer for an extended period of time, so that the vinegar's evaporation is slowed down and the limescale could &amp;quot;soak in&amp;quot; the vinegar - even if it wouldn't completely dissolve the limescale, it would definitely ease scrubbing it off later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T02:39:12.227" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T02:39:12.227" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29723" CreationDate="2021-02-08T12:14:10.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she's actually drooling or foaming at the mouth, she could have some sort of medical issue, ranging from overgrown teeth to an infection. Your best bet would be a proper exotics veterinarian to diagnose and treat her.&#xA;From experience, a respiratory infection's running nose can look like &amp;quot;foam&amp;quot; or drool in the mouth area given they are so tiny!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for other causes, there may be a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on temperature, (if it is getting colder), she could be growing thicker/longer fur and eating more to prepare for winter. This would not explain mouth issues, but it would explain the change in weight/activities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Depending on her age, she could be getting older and slowing down. Older mice tend to be less active and may gain weight due to abundant food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feeder mice are generally not bred with long-term health in mind. They tend to live shorter lives on average due to poor husbandry practices (cancer, inbreeding, genetic disorders).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fancy mice have a lifespan of 1-2 years on average.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you mentioned this is your first mouse, does she have any cagemates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mice are social creatures and the companionship of other mice is highly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she does have cagemates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she recently lost one, she could be depressed. Depressed mice usually show lower activity and are more likely to fall ill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check to make sure one is not male. Male mice have quite the distinctive cage odor, and are usually obviously equipped as adults. If you do find any males, she is likely pregnant and should be separated from them immediately. There is plenty of advice out there on how to best handle pregnant mice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alternately, try isolating her to see if she is being bullied. If she perks back up, you can try trimming the offender's whiskers (only once, and no more than halfway!) and see if the behavior improves. Otherwise, she may be suited for a solo life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she does not have cagemates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often are you handling/socializing with her?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has there recently been a significant change to your schedule?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Without other mice, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; are her socialization. Any change in these can negatively effect a solo mouse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you try to get her a cagemate, make sure it is the same sex, and to introduce slowly and carefully. Not all mice will get along right away, and sometimes things just won't work due to each mouse's personality. In that event, make sure you have appropriate housing/the ability to return if things don't work out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, not every mouse is suited for cagemates. I had one that was chill for a few months, murdered her sister, and started fights when I tried any reintroductions. She also was the (human) friendliest mouse I've ever owned. She lived to be 1yr 11months, so quite healthy by all accounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Also!&lt;/em&gt; Do not be too hard on yourself if she doesn't make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mice are prey animals and do their best to hide any illness for as long as possible. She likely has been sick for some time by now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exotic veterinary care is expensive for many, and often difficult to justify for cheap/old mice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even with a proper vet, proper identification, and medication, treatment/recovery is never 100% guaranteed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That said,&lt;/em&gt; if you have the resources, mice -especially lab/feeder varieties- are some of the most studied animals in academia, and any qualified exotics vet will have a good understanding of your little friend's kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you both share lots of love!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: Forgot a case!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18861" LastEditorUserId="18861" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T12:22:25.023" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T12:22:25.023" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-08T14:15:52.870" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm the human of two female young cats, one is 7mo the other around 5mo, they're wonderful and behave very well, very affectionate, they like it around us and feel confident around the house. They also play with each other with no aggression or nasty behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The elder is very playful with her feather toys, we got things like these:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xc7ko.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xc7ko.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ahkre.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ahkre.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;And she loves them despite she's &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; picky with her toys. The younger will play with &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's the thing, and I can't find anything about it online. If I play with both of them at the same time, the elder will absolutely refuse to play if the younger is playing. As soon as I pick the little one or remove her from the room, she will get into hunt mode immediately. If the younger is involved, she will remove herself from the situation and just look at how the other cat plays... No aggressiveness, no complains, just switches to passive mode.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not major but I'm a bit sad because whenever I play with them I need to separate them otherwise just one of them plays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19815" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T05:34:40.907" Title="Why one of my cats doesn't like to play with toys when my other is playing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="746" CreationDate="2021-02-08T15:36:18.220" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I do is that I have a tub for him which Ii fill with lukewarm water, around an inch deep, and place him in it. I use a toothbrush to get between his shell, which he loves. When bathing your tortoise, be aware that they will also tend to urinate in the bath water. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19817" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T15:39:14.577" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T15:39:14.577" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29734" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-08T16:08:54.980" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m not sure why, but without fail, every time my cat starts purring he licks my lips. It’s not just a few licks either—sometimes he’ll do it for up to a minute or two, walk off, then double back for more licks a couple minutes later. Every single morning, he comes over to me to be pet, and as soon as he starts purring he goes for my mouth. He’ll come up to me at &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt; 5 times for some extensive licking over the course of maybe 20 minutes. During these little sessions he often starts making bread as well, something I never see him do otherwise; kneading is almost exclusively associated with licking my mouth for him. Even if I’m sitting upright when I pet him and he starts purring, he’ll prop himself up with his paws on my chest and reach up to my mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He started doing this pretty soon after I got him; he was two months old when I adopted him, and now he’s nine months. I’ve tried covering my mouth with my blanket before, but he’ll just nose and dig his way through until he has access to my lips. I’m sure it’s not a very sanitary habit, but I feel horrible pushing him away since he clearly enjoys it so much, and isn’t effective anyways—he just keeps coming back, or use a surprising amount of force while straining against my hands. Is there any particular reason he’s fixated on my mouth, and is it possible for me to redirect his focus to something else? Will he eventually grow out of this habit? Is it bad that I’ve given up trying to stop him and just indulge him at this point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19819" LastEditorUserId="19819" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T16:21:24.307" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T18:41:24.793" Title="Why does my cat lick my lips every time he purrs?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29734" CreationDate="2021-02-08T17:21:37.767" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I make him stop?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't think it's imperative to make him stop, it would probably be better if you did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The most concerning reason is such a behavior is unsanitary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are diseases like cat scratch fever that you can catch from a cat's saliva having contact with your mucus membranes, such as those in your mouth. Experts advise you to wash your hands after just petting a cat, so you can imagine getting licked on the lips is much worse. But on the other hand, realistically I think most cat owners don't go that far, and it's possible even with perfect compliance to still catch an illness from your cat, so it's up to you to assess the risk level you're comfortable with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many cats also bite when they groom as well, so I would also be concerned about possibly getting bitten on the face.  Though to be fair, if he hasn't done that so far, I think it's less likely your cat will suddenly start doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would also expect getting licked on the lips quite regularly to not be something anyone would be too thrilled about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why exactly is he doing this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really is an unusual behavior, so I cannot think of a particular reason why your cat has become so fixated except that every cat has its own quirks and habits it picks up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there might be a discernable reason if you wear makeup or lip balm on your lips. Sometimes cats are inexplicably drawn to hygiene or beauty products, and will try to lick or eat them. If such is the case, he might stop if you simply stop wearing that, or at least take it off when you're at home and sitting around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How do I make him stop?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Redirect him if possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think redirection would be the most ideal solution if you can figure out what might work. Unfortunately, the behavior is so odd, I'm not sure what could possibly serve as an appropriate substitute. But if you discover such an item, keep it on hand while you sit, and use it to physically block him from going for your face, and hopefully he will go for that instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gentle negative reinforcement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't figure out a way to redirect him, then this is one of the few cases where I expect negative reinforcement will be effective because he can't sneak off to do the behavior while you aren't looking. But the negative reinforcement can be very gentle, to be as kind as possible to the cat. For instance, I think gently restraining him when he comes towards your face will be enough. Most cats hate being restrained, and so this is enough to be a negative reinforcement. And when you feel he's no longer straining to come towards your face, immediately let go. If you're very consistent, hopefully he'll get the message that coming for your face just isn't going to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T18:41:24.793" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T18:41:24.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29736" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-08T19:31:21.557" Score="1" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 1 yo bearded dragon. I have always used a 100 watt basking lightbulb for my 40 gallon (150 L) tank. He is just now starting to notice his reflection. I have the static background around 3 of the 4 glass sides of the tank; I also have plants around to minimize, but he will go behind the hanging plants and just press his body to glass. He also gets stressed with his black beard and waves, also does the head bobbing. I'm worrying; please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19822" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T20:47:06.827" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T20:47:06.827" Title="1 year old bearded dragon problem - he is getting stressed by his own reflection" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;bearded-dragon&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-02-12T02:12:52.837" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-08T21:53:46.933" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rescue will probably never let me hold her - no clue why - but how am I going to get her into her carrier and take her to the Vet?  I'm a senior and live alone and she's 15lbs (7 kg).  She is always either near me or on my lap or next to me in bed.  I just can't pick her up without seeing a nasty side of her. :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19823" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-08T22:02:21.027" LastActivityDate="2021-02-08T22:02:21.027" Title="How do I get my cat, who doesn't let me hold her, to the Vet?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-02-09T06:14:22.863" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-09T01:47:35.060" Score="2" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pixel the chinchilla lost her cagemate in late Dec. 2019. Before the loss, she was a happy, healthy chin, with a preference for hay over pellets, but would gladly eat both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the loss, she became very depressed, refused pellets, lost significant weight, went through many veterinary treatments, disliked the other chins I tried to bond her with, suffered a moderate injury, and refused to let her fur ever grow back. This was all roughly by April 2020.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every return to the exotics vet yields another course treatment, gains some fur, 30g, and returns to baseline (400g, very chewed fur) after treatment is over.&#xA;After many trials, I found Critical Care alone yields the exact same result. (Her teeth are fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Critical Care is not suited for long term use. And she needs to gain more than 30g. She will eventually eat pellets, but her poos are tiny without hay. Add hay, and she'll have normal poos again. My other chins do not have this level of disparity between hay vs non-hay poos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always tried to make Timothy available, but I wasn't always able to do so consistently.  Orchard Grass was a huge hit when Timothy wasn't available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oct. 2020ish, I picked up multiple hay varieties (timothy, orchard grass, botanical, +1 other) and mixed them up to create a custom blend. I also picked up some Alfalfa to try for Pixel (approved by vet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been haphazardly mixing layers of Alfalfa + Custom Blend in her hay bowl for several months now. She adores it, and recently just figured out her flying saucer wheel (an activity!). Her weight hasn't improved much, especially if I can't refill her bowl quickly enough. &lt;em&gt;The Alfalfa hay is lovely quality, but must be cut every time to fit in her bowl. I end up putting off refills which doesn't help anything.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet is always willing to put her in treatment again, but goes mum when I ask about hay ratios, quantities, types, etc. So, I'm here now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Restrictions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should reasonably be able to store a premixed portion of this blend, preprepped, in a airtight container. (Min 1 week)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The hays involved must be able to be purchased in small enough quantities to be stored in an airtight 50lb dog food container (each hay can have its own container, but I can't store a whole bale, let alone several).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The hay blend should be wholly or nearly nutritionally complete. (Minimal pellet supplementation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The blend has some sort of ratio so it can be recreated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Requests:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The blend to be capable of bringing up weight again (possibly different ratios for malnourished vs healthy chins).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any recommendations to increase weight whatsoever.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any recommendations that will decrease chronic fur-chewing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bonus points if 2 or 3 can be related to hay blend/custom diet in some way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Extra bonus points if the blend/hays can fit into as few 25/50lb airtight dog food containers as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, I'm not dead set on diet as the answer, it just seems to be the only mechanism that improves her condition thus far. My other chins are 2x her size, so reintroduction (again) will probably need weight/fur gain first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the numerous treatments, she eats beautifully from a syringe. I'm not opposed to syringe-fed options, but it would be ideal if she could eat on her own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given I haven't seen any other hay-only diet posts on this SE, I hope this can also serve as a reference to anyone who has a similarly picky chinchilla.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18861" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T01:47:35.060" Title="Custom Hay Blend/Diet for a small fur-chewing Chinchilla" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;chinchillas&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-09T06:31:29.163" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wake up at 6:30 every morning and when I get out of bed, I hear an insane amount of meows. When I get into the shower, she sits right next to the tub and cries at me. I open the door so she can go outside, check her litter box and feed her, but she won’t stop! It doesn’t really bother me. I just want to make sure she is okay. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19826" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T15:39:54.577" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T15:31:02.910" Title="My Cat Meows at Me Every Morning" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-09T06:38:05.850" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three goldfish in a twenty-gallon tank. I know it's not the best set up and I would like to move them to a bigger tank when I get the opportunity, but they seem happy and healthy enough. I have had them for about a year now, and recently I have begun to notice that two of them started developing pop-eye. Whereas the third fish in the tank had &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/29278/could-having-fallen-onto-the-floor-have-changed-my-goldfishs-behavior&quot;&gt;also developed pop-eye&lt;/a&gt;, his was confined to one eye and appeared as a white sac behind the eye. In his tankmates' case, their eyes are slowly protruding out of their sockets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I change their water regularly about every four days and use API Stress Coat with Stress Zyme to ensure their water stays clean for longer. I also test the water for Ammonia every other day and find no problems with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://puregoldfish.com/40-disease-symptoms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In this article&lt;/a&gt;, Meredith Clawson mentions that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stunted goldfish may sport permanent bulging eyes as a result of disproportionate growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://puregoldfish.com/stunted-growth/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;In another article&lt;/a&gt;, she talks about stunting in goldfish, and the implications on their health, and she points out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some slightly different proportions such as larger eyes seem to be often seen with stunts, but that doesn’t seem to be harmful to the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, many article on goldfish popeye mention that when popeye is caused by bacterial or parasitic infections, it usually does not show up with other symptoms until much later, which appears to be the case with my fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the popeye is due to an infection, I would like to know and treat them as soon as possible.&#xA;How can I tell if my fish are developing popeye due to stunting or due to some sort of infection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19415" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T15:45:09.580" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T15:45:09.580" Title="How can I tell if my goldfishes' popeye is due to stunting or an infection?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29717" CreationDate="2021-02-09T12:54:03.333" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To decide when to cut the nails of your rabbit, you can use a rule of thumb: if the nails are longer than the surrounding fur, you should have a closer look to them. (If your rabbit has special/non-natural fur, like rex or teddy, this rule does not work) In average this is between 3 and 12 weeks after the last cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you pick up your rabbit, you should choose a position with good control about it and good view onto the feet for you. There are two recommendations about the positions: One with the bunny is &amp;quot;sitting&amp;quot; like a baby (its back onto your front) and the second with the bunny sitting across your legs, front feet on one leg, back feet on the other leg. If your rabbit is nervous and moves a lot, you can use a blanket/towel to lay it on it's eyes. Some people swear onto the &amp;quot;rabbit burrito&amp;quot; (have a look for related questions &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1861/what-is-a-bunny-burrito-and-when-would-i-use-it&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) but I did not used it until now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k1ZgU.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/k1ZgU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Position one&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should have a nail-clipping tool which is made for animals, because human nail clippers will be not strong enough to cut the nails, and are supposed to be used on well behaving, not twitchy humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have a look to each single nail. If the fur is white, you will see the nerve and blood vessel inside the nail with ease, if it is dark, you can use a torch/flashlight to flash through the nail and detect the nerve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UsJ3K.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/UsJ3K.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Nail cutting guide&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see in the picture, your first aim is to not injure the nerve and blood vessel. The second aim is to shape the cutting in a way, the nail is as natural as possible. The cutting should be parallel to the ground (if you imagine the foot standing on a plain surface) and the cuttings at the same foot should be approximately plain too. The first aim (not cut the nerve) is more important than the second, especially, when you are a beginner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case you have cut the nerve accidentally, you should use disinfection onto it. Choose a dry and clean underground for your bunny, until some additional time, after the blood dried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case your bunny had have too long nails for some time, the nerve would grow longer too. When you start to cut the nails, you would orientate at the nerve, instead the length of the fur. And after some time of proper cutting the nerve will grow shorter again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: photo and knowledge from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/pflege/krallen-schneiden/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.kaninchenwiese.de&lt;/a&gt; in German)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-02-09T14:15:40.823" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T14:15:40.823" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26174" CreationDate="2021-02-09T13:16:58.880" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is definitely fin rot! Happens easily in unfiltered water, which a fish should never be in. Not to make you feel bad, I kept them in unfiltered bowls too until I learned how unhealthy it is for the fish. It is reversible with antibiotics, the one I’ve used is called kanaplex (kanamycin) and works just fine. You can either mix it into the water or their food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19827" LastActivityDate="2021-02-09T13:16:58.880" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29739" CreationDate="2021-02-09T14:00:30.583" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aw, maybe your cat just wants some attention and hugs from you :) &lt;br&gt; My guess is, she is just saying something like: &amp;quot;good morning, I'm so happy you are awake and can spend time with me now :3&amp;quot; &lt;br&gt;But then you take a shower and the cat still wants attention, so she keeps meowing.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;You could try to cuddle with her for like 5 minutes after you got up in the morning, talk to her, pet her and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13302" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-10T00:26:25.610" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T00:26:25.610" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29745" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-10T03:33:28.620" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday on around 5 pm I put my two of 10 g aquascape outdoor, my intention is so I don't have to use LED light during the day. Right at the next morning on one tank, many of my shrimps died, but the tank full of red cherry shrimps I just noticed one red shrimp died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional information:&#xA;Since it's outside I can do big water change on both, and I did right after I moved them. Also there were rain after I did water change.&#xA;I have one filter I set on the one which full of red cherry shrimps at night. While the tank which where the shrimps dead don't but I move the filter during the day, it's been fine while my aquascape is indoor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the dead shrimps have one similarity, there were red on their heads, I think it's blood. (@lila corrected me, it's not blood)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit : I just gave shading to my aquascape, but I don't know whether the shrimps dead at night or morning, because I just put it outside on 5 pm which isn't a bright sun at that moment only in this morning the sun is bright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weather is early dry season, there are only rainy and dry seasons. The outside is on the high balcony not ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="18911" LastEditDate="2021-02-11T05:50:42.470" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T05:50:42.470" Title="Why my aquascape shrimps died" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-10T15:25:08.043" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed my older cat has started to experience signs of dandruff - especially near the base of her tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this does raise some concern, my research has shown that cats generally do get dandruff &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.germantownvet.com/blog/what-to-do-cat-dandruff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;as they get older&lt;/a&gt;.  This combined with the dry winter air leads me to believe this is most likely not a health issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't notice the same dandruff buildup on our other cat (who admittedly has longer fur which may be the cause), so I am wondering if my other cat, being older, is simply more vulnerable to dandruff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My older cat turned 9 in December - is this the age at which cats getting older may experience more dandruff?  And if not, when &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; older cats tend to experience dandruff problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T16:22:43.877" Title="When do older cats start to experience an increase in dandruff?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29739" CreationDate="2021-02-10T15:31:02.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats - one of them loves to meow at us in the morning, and the other is very quiet throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a metaphor - this is just a way of explaining that cats are all different and will have different behavior depending on their personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our cat that meows more has a lot of different reasons to meow - sometimes they are hungry, sometimes they are bored, sometimes their litterbox needs an extra cleaning, and sometimes they just want some attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most likely if it's early morning, your cat just wants attention, or might be begging for their food bowl to be full - but overall, there really isn't a cause for concern here.  If anything, it just shows that your cat trusts you and knows they can come to you when they need something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing - sometimes the time at which cats will meow can be inconvenient.  Our talkative cat used to meow and bang at our bedroom door late at night.  It is important that you do not give into this type of behavior, or they will learn that they can get what they want when they do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6902" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T15:31:02.910" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29748" CreationDate="2021-02-10T16:22:43.877" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dandruff is not necessarily a sign of ageing, and it can start at any age. Many cats may never have much dandruff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a veterinarian, the most common causes I see of dandruff:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Obesity&lt;/strong&gt;. Overweight cats have more trouble grooming (they struggle to reach their back or tail bases).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diet&lt;/strong&gt;. Poor quality diets in general can lead to a dull hair coat and dandruff. Try switching to a diet supplemented in omega-3 fatty acids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arthritis&lt;/strong&gt;. Similar to obesity, it is harder to groom, and dandruff can result. Obviously this is one of the causes that is most common in older cats. For geriatric cats who cannot groom properly, regularly brushing can keep dandruff at bay (but be aware that over-brushing can result in the opposite problem).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Young cats can develop skin diseases – typically allergic or parasitic – which can lead to flaky skin. Usually there are other skin lesions as well in these cases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dandruff is generally not a major concern, but in a young to middle-aged cat it is a signal to make sure that your cat is a healthy weight, and that they are fed a healthy diet. If you are concerned there may be more to it, then consulting your veterinarian is the way forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2021-02-10T16:22:43.877" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-10T17:43:50.187" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mature Amazon sword in a 60L tropical tank which recently shot out a single stem with no leaves. It has now reached the surface of the tank, and extended out 2&amp;quot; above the water line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a flower stem? Or is it reproducing vegetatively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZbtK.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OZbtK.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Image of the stem&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing on the surface yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excuse the algae, the 2 bristle nose pleco's are on strike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18867" LastEditorUserId="18867" LastEditDate="2021-02-11T08:09:03.800" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T08:09:03.800" Title="Is my Amazon sword flowering?" Tags="&lt;aquatic-plants&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19842" CreationDate="2021-02-10T23:06:20.333" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that we have pure, distilled water at 25 °C:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;its KH is 0 because it has nothing dissolved in it (more specifically, no carbonate nor bicarbonate ions);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;its initial pH is 7 (which is neutral pH at at 25 °C).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, we must consider that water - unless it is stored in a sealed and airtight container, which aquarium certainly isn't - dissolves some amount of the air constituents. We could calculate the pH after it has been exposed to air (and thus atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) and has achieved equilibrium with respect to the amount of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; dissolved in it. We ignore the rest of air constituents: most prevalent ones - N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and Ar - don't dissociate in water to form acids nor bases. We also assume that the air is not polluted with any significant amounts of acidic, industrially emitted toxins - like SO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and nitrogen oxides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;According to my calculations (presented below), applying CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection in distilled water (KH = 0) would result in a HUGE pH swing: from about 5.61 to 4.735. Because pH scale is logarithmic with a base of ten, this pH swing means about 7.5-fold increase in acidity of the water (10&lt;sup&gt;-4.735&lt;/sup&gt;/10&lt;sup&gt;-5.61&lt;/sup&gt; ≈ 7.5).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For reference: if live animals inhabit the aquarium, pH of aquarium water should not change more than ± 0.2 units over 24 hours, or else it is too fast and unsafe for the well-being of the animals. Plants are more resistant to side effects of pH changes, but are not immune to them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that all the resulting values are approximate. I trust my calculations to be correct, but they ultimately could not be more accurate than the specific constants used in them - and these constants had all been measured experimentally, with a limited precision as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, distilled water in aquarium isn't going to stay completely pure and retain its parameters. Even if we consider a scenario with an inert substrate, etc. then still, many pH-affecting compounds will appear in the water column as a result of biological activity and metabolism of its inhabitants, like ammonia excreted by aquatic animals and decomposing matter and hydrogen ions produced and released by nitrifying bacteria. Also, in my calculations I completely ignore the carbon dioxide both produced and consumed by aquarium inhabitants; I am sorry but taking it into account would be close to impossible because there would be too many unknown variables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry%27s_law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Henry's law&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount of dissolved gas in a liquid is proportional to its partial pressure above the liquid. The proportionality factor is called K&lt;SUB&gt;H&lt;/SUB&gt; (Henry's law constant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; this constant has the value of K&lt;SUB&gt;H&lt;/SUB&gt; = 29.41 L ⋅ atm ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;. It is a bit unfortunate how this constant is marked in this context; thus, please don't confuse KH (carbonate hardness) and K&lt;SUB&gt;H&lt;/SUB&gt; (Henry's constant) and please remember that they are two separate, unrelated things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton%27s_law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dalton's law of partial pressures&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a mixture of non-reacting gases, the total pressure exerted is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and taking the ambient concentration of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in the air in 2021 (around 417 ppm) and the atmospheric pressure (we are using atmospheres as pressure units, so in these units atmospheric pressure is by definition 1 atm), we have the result that the partial pressure of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in the air is p&lt;sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/sub&gt; = 4.17 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-4&lt;/sup&gt; atm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that 417 ppm is the average ambient concentration of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in the air all over the world; inside inhabited buildings it is going to be higher than this value (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_air_quality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;as Wikipedia says&lt;/a&gt;, CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration in an enclosed office room could increase to 1000 ppm within just 45 minutes). For reference, elevated CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration in the air results in unpleasant and stuffy feeling in the chest, tiredness and general perception of the air being stale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In water, the concentration of dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (being dissolved in water is indicated by &amp;quot;(aq)&amp;quot; postfix) is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] = &lt;sup&gt;p&lt;sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;K&lt;SUB&gt;H&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;/sub&gt; = 4.17 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-4&lt;/sup&gt; atm / 29.41 L ⋅ atm ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;        = 1.418 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-5&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In aquarium hobby it is much more common to express the concentration of dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in parts per million (which is equivalent to miligrams per liter) rather than moles per liter; the molar mass of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is 44.01 g ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; = 44010 mg ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; so the result after conversion is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        44010 mg ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; ⋅ 1.418 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-5&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.6241 mg ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.6241 ppm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We won't use this value of 0.6241 ppm in further calculations because the formulae need values expressed in moles per liter; I just converted it for those people who are more familiar with CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; expressed in ppm to immediately see a get a feeling about how much this is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part of the dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; reacts with water to form carbonic acid:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq) + H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;O ⇌ H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the equilibrium constant of this reaction in pure water, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;as Wikipedia says&lt;/a&gt;, is about K&lt;SUB&gt;hydration&lt;/SUB&gt; = [H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;]/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] = 1.7 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-3&lt;/sup&gt; (no units included because equilibrium constants are dimensionless). As a side note: we don't include the concentration of water [H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;O] because we assume that the concentration of water in water (literally that) is constant and equal to 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carbonic acid is a weak acid, which means that it doesn't fully dissociate in solution. It is diprotic (which means it is able to donate two H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; ions, a.k.a. protons, per one acid molecule in aqueous solution), so it dissociates in two stages. The first dissociation H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; ⇌ H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; + HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; has a related equilibrium constant of about K&lt;SUB&gt;a1&lt;/SUB&gt; = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]⋅[HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;]/[H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;] = 10&lt;sup&gt;-3.6&lt;/sup&gt;. For reference, sometimes equilibrium constants are expressed in logarithmic scale, analogous to pH scale; in this specific case K&lt;SUB&gt;a1&lt;/SUB&gt; = 10&lt;sup&gt;-3.6&lt;/sup&gt; could be alternatively expressed as pK&lt;SUB&gt;a1&lt;/SUB&gt; = 3.6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second dissociation HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; ⇌ H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; + CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;2-&lt;/SUP&gt; has an equilibrium constant of about K&lt;SUB&gt;a2&lt;/SUB&gt; = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]⋅[CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;2-&lt;/SUP&gt;]/[HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;] = 10&lt;sup&gt;-10.3&lt;/sup&gt; which means that its contribution to the total H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; levels (at thus to the pH value) will be negligible and we could completely ignore the second dissociation in this case (we start at the pH of 7 which means that the initial concentration of hydrogen ions is [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = 10&lt;sup&gt;-7&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;SUP&gt;-1&lt;/SUP&gt; and this is many orders of magnitude higher than 10&lt;sup&gt;-10.3&lt;/sup&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, we now consider the overall reaction to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq) + H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;O ⇌ H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; ⇌ H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; + HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We need to calculate the concentration of hydrogen ions to get the pH value;&#xA;to get the combined equilibrium constant of the overall reaction K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]⋅[HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;]/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] we need to multiply the two constants K&lt;SUB&gt;hydration&lt;/SUB&gt; and K&lt;SUB&gt;a1&lt;/SUB&gt; related to each step in the overall reaction; thus we get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; = K&lt;SUB&gt;hydration&lt;/SUB&gt; ⋅ K&lt;SUB&gt;a1&lt;/SUB&gt; = 1.7 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-3&lt;/sup&gt; ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-3.6&lt;/sup&gt; = 4.27 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-7&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the equation H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; ⇌ H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; + HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; and &lt;SUP&gt;✱&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;em&gt;ignoring the additional H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; ions resulting from the self-ionization of water (H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;O ⇌ H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; + OH&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;)&lt;/em&gt; we could see that the amount of H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; and HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; resulting from this reaction is identical; we could assume that the concentrations of H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; and HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; are going to be equal ([H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = [HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;]); this simplifies the equation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]⋅[HCO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;]/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]⋅[H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After manipulating the equation to finally get the concentration [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = ( [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] ⋅ K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; )&lt;sup&gt;1/2&lt;/sup&gt; = ( 1.418 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-5&lt;/sup&gt; ⋅ 4.27 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-7&lt;/sup&gt; )&lt;sup&gt;1/2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;        = ( 6.055 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-12&lt;/sup&gt; )&lt;sup&gt;1/2&lt;/sup&gt; = 2.461 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;SUP&gt;-1&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;✱&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;em&gt;and because the calculated [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] of 2.461 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;SUP&gt;-1&lt;/SUP&gt; is much higher than 10&lt;sup&gt;-7&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;SUP&gt;-1&lt;/SUP&gt; resulting from self-ionization of water, we were allowed to ignore the self-ionization of water in this case.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that, we finally get that &lt;strong&gt;pH of distilled water in equilibrium with atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, but without supplementing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; via injection, is:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        &lt;strong&gt;pH = -log&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt;[H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = -log&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt;( 2.461 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; ) = 5.61&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for the pH values of rainwater in my search engine gives more or less similar results, which confirms that the calculations are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we are going to calculate pH of water with CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection to see how much will the pH drop. Most aquarist sources I could find agree that the optimal CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration for planted aquarium we should aim for, that is both beneficial to plants and safe for animals, is about 35 ppm (which is equivalent to 35 mg/L). After converting it to molar concentration, we get that it is equal to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] = 35 mg ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; / 44010 mg ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; = 7.953 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-4&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After using the same exact formula as before, we get that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = ( [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] ⋅ K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; )&lt;sup&gt;1/2&lt;/sup&gt; = ( 7.953 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-4&lt;/sup&gt; ⋅ 4.27 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-7&lt;/sup&gt; )&lt;sup&gt;1/2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;        = 1.843 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-5&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which means that &lt;strong&gt;after installing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; injection system in this distilled water aquarium and reaching the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration of 35 ppm, we get the pH value of:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        &lt;strong&gt;pH = -log&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt;( 1.843 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-5&lt;/sup&gt; ) = 4.735&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing the subject about the pH/KH/CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; tables having no data for KH of 0: first off, these tables implicitly assume that CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and KH are the only potential sources of acidity and alkalinity (which is not true, but it's still a good enough approximation), thus if the KH was to be 0 then it would be impossible to get any pH values above 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to calculate the dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration required to drop distilled water's pH from 7 to 6, we reuse the previously derived formula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt; = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and we rearrange the terms to calculate the unknown [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] = [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;]&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/K&lt;sub&gt;overall&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know the [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] in advance from the definition of pH scale because we &lt;em&gt;a priori&lt;/em&gt; assume the final pH to be 6:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        pH = -log&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt;[H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = 6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;] = 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plugging both relevant values into the formula we get the resulting molar concentration of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        [CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (aq)] = ( 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; )&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; / 4.27 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-7&lt;/sup&gt; = 2.342 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which we convert to mg/L using CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;'s molar mass of 44100 mg ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        2.342 ⋅ 10&lt;sup&gt;-6&lt;/sup&gt; mol ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; ⋅ 44100 mg ⋅ mol&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.1033 mg ⋅ L&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and this means that with KH of 0 it would require only about 0.1 mg/L of dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to drop pH to 6 - and just merely being exposed to the atmosphere itself is going to put even more CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; into the water than that - about 0.6 mg/L, dropping pH to around 5.61 as calculated in earlier paragraphs. It appears that 0.1 mg/L is the lower limit of precision in the table from Henders's answer, so I guess it would not be really useful to include these numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if anyone wanted this mysterious riddle solved (I certainly did), the missing numbers for KH = 0 are around 0.1 mg/L for pH 6, decreasing below the precision limit of the table in Henders's answer until exactly 0 mg/L for pH 7, and N/A for above pH of 7:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;div class=&quot;s-table-container&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;table class=&quot;s-table&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;pH&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; in ppm&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6.0&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.1033&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6.2&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.04112&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6.4&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.01636&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6.6&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.006516&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;6.8&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.002594&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;7.0&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;&amp;gt;7.0&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;N/A&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;/table&gt;&#xA;&lt;/div&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, since dissolving CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; produces bicarbonate and carbonate anions, introducing CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; into the water would actually raise the KH by a tiny bit and it would not be 0 anymore; it would be around 0.007 KH if I am correct. However, this fact could be ignored for this answer's purpose and I include it rather as food for thought in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-19T20:16:39.140" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T20:16:39.140" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-11T00:44:49.773" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our Boston is losing hair, bottom half of him is hair-less, now his back is starting to bald.  We have been to our vet, skin tests, blood tests, no answers. Our Veterinarian suggested Possible Allergy. We have been doing elimination diet with him.  The only symptom that makes allergies seem incorrect, is that nearly once a day he jumps up and Yelps like something just bit his insides!  ANY SUGGESTIONS??  (He is on Melatonin)&#xA;THANKS ALL!!&lt;strong&gt;W&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/74Mlx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/74Mlx.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19832" LastEditorUserId="14744" LastEditDate="2021-02-11T08:00:34.013" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T19:29:25.420" Title="Why is my dog losing all his hair?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29732" CreationDate="2021-02-11T01:22:17.887" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The older cat might just let the younger play alone since essentially, playing is hunting practice for cats, and it might think the younger one needs the practice more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are currently observing something similar with our two older ones, they will mostly let the younger one play and observe, and only occasionally spring into action. If they do, they do not play like they normally do when we play with them alone, instead it is what I'd describe as &amp;quot;instant kill move&amp;quot;, almost as if they were demonstrating how prey is to be ambushed effectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also occasionally have mice in the basement, among the older ones there was usually sort of a competition about who saw the prey first and gets to hunt it, but since the younger is with us, both older ones tend to take a backseat and let the young one make her attempts, again occasionally jumping in, and only after the young one had her time with the prey, they go in for the kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting side note here, our older male is more passive and observing, while our older female takes more of an active teaching role.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the teaching aspect, observing others playing and hunting can also serve to learn new techniques that the others may have developed, and improve the own hunting prowess that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T01:22:17.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29732" CreationDate="2021-02-11T05:34:40.907" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two do the same, though they will take turns playing with a toy. It started within a few days of introducing them; they both went for the same toy and ended up fighting over it. And when my boys fight, they don’t want or need a toy distracting them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when I bring a toy out, they look at each other to see who moves first, and that cat “owns” the toy until they lie down to rest and the other gets their turn. And it’s usually the younger one that moves first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2021-02-11T05:34:40.907" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-11T19:01:07.077" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is a rescue dog that belongs to my wife, so I know he was abused and I know I am the the rule maker and my wife didn’t really have rules for him before, but he only acts scared of me when she is around. He also poops in the house early if she is around, but if he knows she is away and I’m the only one home, he will hold it until I wake up. I can get up at 10 am and he will hold it, but if she is home he will poop in the house earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19838" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-11T19:08:52.173" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T16:27:58.230" Title="Why does my dog act normal when he is alone with me, but acts afraid when my wife is around?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29764" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-12T05:16:35.527" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was fooled a bit when buying this one fish, when the fish arrived it looks not so appealing to me... is there something I could do to brighten it's color or should I just ask for a bit refund?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I bought it for around $27.5, the same price as the black (different seller), expecting to be as good. I like the body, curve, face, but the color is not so good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The middle:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zYQaL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit : the seller is willing to refund a bit (just a bit) so, is there anything that can change it's color?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I am expecting, perhaps different for top view and side view.&#xA;Maybe it's also me that's wrong, lol:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/W5FTW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T21:26:52.657" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T21:26:52.657" Title="How to increase goldfish color?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29760" CreationDate="2021-02-12T06:43:22.750" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Abused animals often display behavior that seems illogical unless you know what exactly happened to the animal before it was rescued. I own a rescue dog who was abused and I noticed certain triggers that seem to completely switch off his brain and make him attack his own family. You need to understand that this is not the fault of the dog and he doesn't do it voluntarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mammal brains evolved from simpler creatures like reptiles. Most reptile brains are only concerned with keeping the creature alive: find food, fight off intruders, find mate, end of the thought process. Mammal brains add a few layers to those reptile instincts: social behavior, learning behaviors from past experiences, communication with other creatures. But in very stressful situations the mammal brain reverts to the much simpler instincts of the reptile brain that only has the task of keeping the creature alive. In that state the creature is unable to think clearly and unable to learn new behaviors, no matter how often you try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe your dog was abused by a woman, then the presence of your wife might trigger him. Maybe it's some specific behavior of your wife that resembles the behavior of his former abuser. Maybe your wife is insecure and your dog picks up the cues and becomes insecure himself. It's impossible to tell without seeing your dog in real life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, abused dogs need clear rules and a clear schedule in their life to be happy. Both you and your wife should agree on the same rules for him and always stick to them without exception. If the dog doesn't follow the rules, you must not, &lt;strong&gt;not even once, cause him pain as punishment&lt;/strong&gt;. That has a high risk of triggering him. Instead, you repeat the command and lead the dog to following the command without scolding him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it extremely hard to give you any meaningful advice without knowing more about you, your wife and your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is really that uncomfortable around your wife, you should consider finding him a new home with a single man or a very experienced family. This is not giving up on him, but offering him a new environment where he can feel better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to do that, you must try analyzing your wife's behavior and how the dog reacts to her. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/29728/12501&quot;&gt;This answer&lt;/a&gt; lists a lot of Youtube videos about understanding dog body language. Although the answer concentrates on aggression, the body language for stress is the same. The better you know all the little tells that your dog feels uncomfortable, the better you can help him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, your wife should always have a little bag of very small dog treats in her pocket. Every time she walks by the dog or the dog walks by her, she should let one treat fall as if by accident. The dog learns that your wife is something positive because there are always treats around her. She should also play, walk and cuddle with the dog as she always did, but she should not scold the dog for anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I noticed is that some people are very chatty and talk to their dog at random times about random things. But dogs don't understand human language and small talk is not part of natural dog behavior. Your dog cannot understand the difference between small talk and being given a command. Randomly talking to an insecure dog can make them even more insecure because they don't understand what that human &lt;em&gt;wants from them&lt;/em&gt;. If your wife is such a talker, she should not talk to the dog for 2 entire weeks and see if his behavior improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do realize that it might be impossible for you to change the behavior of your wife. Your best chance is probably talking to her and both agreeing to follow the same rules. If your wife isn't allowed to talk to the dog, neither are you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T16:27:58.230" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T16:27:58.230" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29764" CreationDate="2021-02-12T11:39:23.277" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way to improve a fish color for real is with good food with beta carotene, I remember tetra brand having some of them. You can check deeper information about that here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seacolors.eu/images/NPR_61_46-49.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.seacolors.eu/images/NPR_61_46-49.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is not going to be magic and will take some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use home made food but that's a more complex task as well as more cleaning demanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T11:39:23.277" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-12T13:22:31.883" Score="7" ViewCount="2319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an 8 month old kitten and she has recently started destroying (chewing through) treat bags, food bags (both cat and dog food), and anything else that looks like it has treats in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have already ruled out a lot of possibilities. She gets lots and lots of love, she is never ignored, and she gets lots of food daily. I have 4 cats and my kitten is the only one who has been doing this... There was a time that I was training her, so she would get some treats while learning, but never too many. I always split the treats into half or thirds, so she wasn't getting many treats in one training session.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My kitten is getting a lot of food already, so she doesn't need any of the food that she is trying to get to. What should I do to stop her from chewing through bags of food and treats?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19846" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T15:01:31.647" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T00:00:12.993" Title="Why does my cat chew through bags to get to food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29768" CreationDate="2021-02-12T15:26:37.503" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some cats are convinced they're &amp;quot;starving&amp;quot; regardless of how much food they get. Some have a particularly strong &amp;quot;treat drive,&amp;quot; and will do anything to get a treat. Some just like to chew on things, particularly certain plastics. Any of those factors can lead to a cat chewing through anything that looks like a food or treat bag, and it's certainly not limited to just &amp;quot;food&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;treats;&amp;quot; a bag of potato chips, cat litter, or even just a plastic shopping bag may be a target as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found only one solution to this, though decades of cats who exhibit this behavior: &lt;strong&gt;Put the bags they're chewing on out of their reach.&lt;/strong&gt; This may mean transferring food to plastic pet food bins, keeping treats in a drawer or on a shelf they can't reach, or using different containers they can't get into. Personally, I don't feed kibble, I keep (open) treats on a high closet shelf in sealing containers, and keep litter in a plastic bin, and even then sometimes I'll come home to find a closed treat bag has been knocked down and ripped open, or a hole's been chewed in the litter bag. Pet ownership is a compromise, and you'll need to learn to restrict what damage they can do, and live with them occasionally outsmarting you anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that, if your cat is of the first variety I mentioned (convinced they're &amp;quot;starving&amp;quot; all the time), she'll be at a high risk of obesity if you're free-feeding kibble. At eight months, she's still growing, but you'll want to consider starting to move to feeding times for all the cats in order to prevent her from becoming overweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T15:26:37.503" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29770" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-12T16:36:15.187" Score="1" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;My &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; dog is crate trained for bed. At night he's great, but not when he goes in there for naps--he doesn't nap, he just goes crazy. He's mostly focused on my &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; dog (who does not need to be in her crate). I tried putting my &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; dog in her crate, but that didn't change the &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; dog's behavior. The &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; dog's crate is even out of sight of the &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; dog's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried rewarding him when he's calm (verbal &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot; and treats), but as I begin to speak or right after, he goes crazy again. I've tried ignoring him (back to him, not looking or speaking to him). He has a lot of energy, and some days it's easier to burn that than others. (Work, weather, construction behind house) We play ball and train when we can't go outside. I also can't leave the &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; dog unattended and un-crated due to his high energy and need to get into everything. So when he's getting out of hand or I need to leave the room, he is crated. (Usually a couple of hours a day outside of bedtime.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: How do I get him to not freak out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19847" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T09:45:55.643" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T09:45:55.643" Title="10 month old GSD going crazy in crate - how to stop this?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;crate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29770" CreationDate="2021-02-12T17:50:30.887" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would be worried if a 10 months old GSD doesn't have plenty of energy. That being said, establishing routines, as well as repetition, is essential for training, but the most important thing is your own discipline when doing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs in general, but specially GSD, will behave like puppies until they are two years old (more or less); he will be like this for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is that you do exactly the same things every time, don't improvise and think ahead to what kind of behavior you are rewarding and which you are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. If every time the dog makes noise you go to see what he's doing, he is going to associate making noise with my owner coming--that's what you don't want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing, rewarding a dog is equal to releasing him from his duty, so if he is calm and you reward him it's completely normal that he became happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Work on establishing routines, train outside with him on discipline with basic commands, challenge his mind, and burn some energy. The dog itself will start to understand when it's time to play, when to learn, and when to rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T18:19:19.690" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T18:19:19.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29770" CreationDate="2021-02-12T19:40:18.050" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Omar's answer, you should make your &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; dog work for simple, everyday things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several different forms of puzzle feeders available that offer different levels of difficulty. Some can also be crafted as a DIY project. Have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; for some different food puzzles and additional ideas to entertain your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to offer mental stimulation in addition to walks and games that offer physical stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &amp;quot;can't leave the &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; dog unattended and un-crated due to his high energy and need to get into everything&amp;quot; then he's clearly bored. GSDs are a working breed and as such have more energy than typical couch dogs. You should accommodate for that by giving him several short jobs or training sessions during the day. Make him work for his food and for treats. Just 5 minutes is enough to ward off his boredom for a while, but he needs those 5 minutes several times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-12T20:12:47.137" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T20:12:47.137" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29768" CreationDate="2021-02-12T23:54:44.410" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a cat chews through a bag and gets a treat, operant conditioning reinforces that behavior. From then on, they have positive associations with chewing through bags, and that can exist independent of hunger (it's not like they want treats only when they're hungry in the first place). You may be able to curb the behavior with operant conditioning that goes the other way, such as finding something she doesn't like (e.g. cinnamon) and putting it in bags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may also just be an urge to chew. See whether you can find a chew toy she likes. Just as the response to scratching is to get a cat tree, the solution to chewing bags may be to get something that it's okay for her to chew. If she's only on wet food, giving her some dry food may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13637" LastActivityDate="2021-02-12T23:54:44.410" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29768" CreationDate="2021-02-13T12:55:07.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some great advice in all the answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My puppy liked chewing electrical wires! I couldn't put them in drawers. Instead I got some bitter apple spray. It tastes horrible - I tried it! Once it dries (after a few seconds) there is no smell but the taste lasts indefinitely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Search for &lt;strong&gt;bitter apple spray&lt;/strong&gt; online - there are plenty of suppliers. Spray the outside of the bags &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; lightly with it (or some dummy bags).  She will soon learn and this learning should transfer easily to unsprayed bags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T00:00:12.993" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T00:00:12.993" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29782" CreationDate="2021-02-14T00:52:07.217" Score="4" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 kittens with my family, a male and female. My family is strongly opposed to having them spayed/neutered for ideological reasons, and I've tried having that discussion with them, even at a vet (they'll say something like &amp;quot;how would you like it if &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; were forcibly fixed?&amp;quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, we'd like to prevent them from breeding and having additional kittens. Is there any such thing as birth control or other alternative method for it? Could I just reliably count on identifying when they go into heat and just keep them separated during that time? We haven't owned cats before, so if we can just keep them separate, is it obvious when to separate them (what signs to look for)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male is slightly under 4 months old and the female is slightly over 1 month old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19856" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T00:59:11.043" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T19:28:47.477" Title="How can I prevent my non-neutered cat from breeding?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29781" CreationDate="2021-02-14T06:40:26.077" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an alternative method beneath surgery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. There are treatments for the female cat, to avoid her heat (weekly oral medication or monthly injection) and for the male cat, to decrease the production of sperm (implanted hormone chip for periods between 6 month and 3 years).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this treatment practicable for not-breeders?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really. It is stress to go to the vet each month for injections or to control that the oral treatment would really be eaten. Also, the treatments are expensive and not available everywhere in the world. Additionally, it strongly increases the risk of cancer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would an sterilisation cause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sterilisation means, the tubes of the reproductive organs would be cut. So the hormones would be there (heat for male and female as normal), but the breeding is not possible, because the sperm and egg will not get where they are &amp;quot;needed&amp;quot;. This would cause a lots of stress in cats. Because they feel no love like us, mating in cats is a rough thing and it seems proved that pain is essential for the reproduction in cats. (Please see the related question &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/933/why-do-cats-often-screech-when-mating?&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/10475/14675&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and try to explain it to your family.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less stress and cat-suffering with castration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this option the reproductive organs would be removed. So the female cats will have no hormones to get in heat and males no need to mount. They can live in peace together and do not miss anything. There will be no kittens one needs &amp;quot;to get a rid of&amp;quot;, which (as first litter in the neighbourhood) may find a nice home, but more likely will go to a shelter, or as strays to the street, or in the worst case need to be killed (There are people everywhere, who do not feel with animals as living creatures, sadly...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T17:21:33.020" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T17:21:33.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27524" CreationDate="2021-02-14T21:09:02.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I adopted a cat, Ms. Nibbles, that had not been socialized very much as a kitten. She enjoyed play, but seemed unreceptive of 'hands on' interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had a hairbrush of the sort used with blow-dryers, the kind having relatively few stiff bristles, each capped in a small sphere. Miss Nibbles enjoyed being brush with this, so each day I would geantly brush her, every once in a while allowing the edge of my hand to drag along with the brush. Over time, and as she became more receptive of them, these hand-strokes became more common. She was never a cat to put up with extended petting, but short petting sessions became just fine. The important thing is that these brushing/petting interactions were frequent (at least a couple times each day) and I never -forced- her to be petted. I always desisted the moment she showed any sign of enough. The cat told me how much was OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took a similar approach to, and ultimately achieved even greater success with winning her over to being carried. I starting with very short lifts, where I set her down almost instantly, each lift ending in something she really enjoyed such as being placed next to a dab of wet food (or catnip), lifted to a sunny windowsill, or placed next to a favorite toy for play time. As she came to realize that EVERY TIME she was picked up it would end in something she loved, she grew increasingly tolerant of it. Yes it took time, but eventually one of her favorite activities as an elderly cat was to go 'exploring' with me, where I would carry her from cupboard to cupboard, opening the doors and letting her inspect the things inside. She would lay in my arms just peering and purring, purring and peering. Miss Nibbles died of cancer a few years ago, but as I describe these activities it is surprising me how much I miss her still. She was such a good cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat is different and I can't promise that this approach will work for you. All that I can say is that it worked for me and that I hope the same for you. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Science_1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18422" LastEditorUserId="18422" LastEditDate="2021-02-14T21:23:44.427" LastActivityDate="2021-02-14T21:23:44.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29789" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-15T22:33:03.350" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my local Banfield vet check my cat because of dark spots in the ear and local hair loss on the same ear. They did an ear swab that showed nothing wrong, even though there is dark icky build up in his ear, there is no smell, foreign bodies or pus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 week later my cat's ear started feeling dry and slightly scabby, so I took him back to have them double check the ear. They did the second ear swab 10 days after the first. They say the results are negative, nothing in the ear. No mites, fungus or bacteria, and the hair loss is normal for senior cats, my cat is almost 15 years. The affected area seems to be getting more dry and scabby, but my cat doesn't seem to be bothered by it, no scratching, no head shaking, no redness, swelling or bumps that are obvious to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I take my cat to another vet for a second opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rBBZJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rBBZJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;hair loss and scabbing&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LImLn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LImLn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;dirty ear&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19864" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-16T00:03:32.610" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T05:41:10.057" Title="Should I get a second opinion from a different vet regarding my cat's hair loss, dark spots in ear and scabby skin?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29628" CreationDate="2021-02-16T04:13:20.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;betas aren't meant to be in the same tank together like male and male will fight but females together don't I did research and found out they can be together the chances of one of them dieing is slim it is possible when you were not paying attention the male could of attacked the female and the female could of got (revenge) or nibbled him back but that is my theory&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19867" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T04:13:20.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29789" CreationDate="2021-02-16T05:41:10.057" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm not a vet, but I once had a cat that went missing for some time and came back with a very severe ear infection including mites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dark stuff in your cats ear is ear wax and the color is absolutely normal. The skin inside the ear doesn't look reddened either. If you want, you can clean it with a wet cotton pad. Do not use cotton buds / Q-tips on animals because the risk of injury is too high. Instead, wet a cotton pad with warm water, squeeze out the excess and swipe the ear in a motion that mimics another cat licking the ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat had mites or any itchy ear infection, the hair loss would be centered right in front of the ear and on the cheek. Infections like these affect the inner ear, which is situated inside the skull behind the cheeks. The edge of the outer ear, where your cat lost hair, is too far removed to expect hair loss as a result of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the skin of his ear sure looks dry and slightly scabby. When our cat had his severe infection, he scratched his cheek until it was raw and bloody. Our vet gave us an oil that we applied to the raw skin, which kept the skin moisturized and lessened the itchyness. We also fed him an oily food supplement that kept his fur very smooth and shiny. Maybe you can help your cat the same way, either with products from your vet or with small amounts of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/coconut-oil-cats-it-good-idea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;coconut oil&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sub&gt;(PetMD)&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T05:41:10.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-16T15:06:12.350" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My fish keeps floating on his side, but only when I am not directly in front of his tank. when I am in front of his tank he acts normal (He floats normally and looks more happy). He lives in a 5 gallon aquarium by himself with a fake plant and a statue of a peacock. I have put betta fish, aquarium salt, and stress clear before when this was less of a problem because I have had a betta do this exact same thing and I don't know what I should do. I have had 4 bettas before, the very first died from poison (Statue had too much paint on it, was a statue made by top fin.) my second died from stress (Complete accident), My third died from a disease relating to old age (I think cancer) and my fourth (Which I bought at the same time as the third) died from this disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19868" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T22:54:51.607" Title="My Betta fish is floating sideways" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-02-17T20:37:41.067" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7486" CreationDate="2021-02-16T18:33:04.603" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mimic another cat 'spitting'. It's a strong warning to keep away that other cats understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Difficult to describe but you can just make a loud &amp;quot;phhh&amp;quot; sound with a lot of out-breath. They will feel the breath on their face and know that it means 'paws off'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good sound is hissing an abrupt &amp;quot;Tsss&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Tchhhh&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T18:33:04.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29793" CreationDate="2021-02-16T22:54:51.607" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good observation first, if your betta has good shape and activity and you water parameters are ok I would start by doing some fasting as it could be very probable that is only food excess. Actually this is a good practice to skip a meal at least once of twice a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that doesn't help we should identify what infection/treatment it could be but sadly there is not much to do in such cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully it's going to be food excess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastActivityDate="2021-02-16T22:54:51.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29797" CreationDate="2021-02-17T03:55:27.650" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog had been apparently nauseous and has a swollen belly that hurts a bit - not much though, some dipyrone makes him feel fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet says he has erlichiosis, that's why he's &amp;quot;nauseous&amp;quot; and the belly is swollen because of an enlarged spleen, a common symptom of erlichiosis. &lt;strong&gt;I want to know if this is true&lt;/strong&gt;, because I didn't find any info, either informal or any research papers backing up this claim, and I'm each time more suspicious she makes a living out of lying to her customers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That because a friend of mine had a dog that actually developed erlichiosis, going through all 3 stages of erlichiosis (STAGE 1: severe respiratory issues / bleeding - 2: got &amp;quot;healthy&amp;quot; - 3: got weird, as if rabid, couldn't walk, then died).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, a week later and my dog lies down all day long, looks tired and doesn't eat. Open, raw wounds spontaneously show up in his body too. I called her, she said those were erlichiosis symptoms, that she'd take a blood sample of him. I found it strange, because the other dog and mine had not a single matching symptom. Anyways, we made the exams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reportedly, the dog had a low white blood cell count and anemia and erlichiosis. She prescribe him doxycycline for 22 days and a &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;food supplement rich in iron&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. I gave the him the supplement for 3 days and he got livid again. He even got fat. I suspected he just had anemia, but gave him the doxycycline anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, less than 2 months later, my dog got kennel cough and the belly thing I mentioned above. I called her, she didn't say a single word about kennel cough and told me he was &amp;quot;nauseous&amp;quot; due to erlichiosis. I paid her for the exams, reportedly they confirmed erlichiosis, yet she didn't send me any of the exams, despite my requesting them 3 times already. She prescribed doxycycline again, but I'm wary of giving it to my dog, as &lt;em&gt;I found out she lied to me on the nausea thing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This because my dog didn't eat anything strange for him to have an upset belly for 4 days. He apparently was vomiting a white ooze in the first 2 days, but then I found out that when he eats, he doesn't vomit.&#xA;I googled the symptoms and 'kennel cough' came up. There are some vets showing videos of dogs who got it, mine coughes exactly like those. I opened his mouth and looked right into his throat, and saw some thick white mucus trapped there in his throat, confirming he has some respiratory thing, rather than nausea, which was not making sense anyway, as he just ate regular, good quality dog food in the last weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, I want someome more knowledgeable to tell me something about the enlarged spleen claims. My dog definitely has something going on in his belly, but this woman clearly  has not diagnosed my dog properly, and there are no other vets in this small town, so I'm at her mercy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An update for anyone who might be interested. Turns out it was indeed erlichiosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet later sent me the exams, she said she doesn't send the exams before she explains what is going on, and apologised because she had been attending 2 clinics and didn't have time to explain me anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I'm treating the dog with doxycycline, and he was indeed really bad, not eating and coughing a lot (due to pneumonia). Medication was prescribed to give him a bit more comfort and stimulate his hunger, he's still a bit tired, but looks way much better, unlike before, when he looked like he'd certainly die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I talked to another vet, he confirmed erlichiosis can cause an enlarged spleen, but fortunately, 2 days into the antibiotic treatment with the aforementioned drug and he is not feeling anything in his belly anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19870" LastEditorUserId="19870" LastEditDate="2021-02-19T03:40:48.067" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T16:15:46.030" Title="Can erlichiosis (tick disease) cause an enlarged spleen in dogs?" Tags="&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29796" CreationDate="2021-02-17T11:50:26.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The German Wikipedia about &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_Ehrlichiose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Canine Ehrlicherosis&lt;/a&gt; states, that spleen-enlargement is one of multiple unspecific and various symptoms (marked in bold). They associate this with the third phase of infection. (At the associated Wikipedia page in English language I could not find something about the spleen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nach der symptomfreien Phase beginnt das chronische Stadium mit Blutungen und Ödemen, Abgeschlagenheit, Abmagerung, Blutarmut (Anämie), &lt;strong&gt;Milzvergrößerung (Splenomegalie)&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;Gelenkerkrankungen (Polyarthritis) sowie Meningoenzephalitis mit Krämpfen und Paralysen. Das klassische Bild mit stark erhöhter Blutungsneigung tritt jedoch nur etwa in einem Viertel der Fälle auf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translated by software:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the symptom-free phase, the chronic stage begins with bleeding and edema, fatigue, emaciation, anemia, enlarged spleen (splenomegaly), joint diseases (polyarthritis) and meningoencephalitis with cramps and paralysis. However, the classic picture with a strongly increased tendency to bleed occurs in only about a quarter of the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linked page does also state that the diagnosis can only be confirmed by laboratory. With just a visit at the vet only, it is not possible to exclude other infections. Therefore a sample needs to be analyzed in a laboratory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article guesses a treatment with antibiotics like &amp;quot;Doxycyclin, Tetracyclin und Oxytetracyclin&amp;quot; over the period of two weeks. And animals which were tested positive should be separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-19T16:15:46.030" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T16:15:46.030" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29800" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-18T10:09:42.483" Score="0" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat ate a noodle balloon this morning when me and my dad were making breakfast. When we saw the balloon, we tried to pull it out but she swallowed it moments before my dad was able to take it out of her mouth. My little brother is saying it could’ve been two balloons that were on the floor that she ate. It’s been an hour since and she hasn’t changed her behaviour in any way. She often eats stray things such as leaves from our houseplants and pieces of paper and rubbish off the floor. In fact a month ago she got into some antibacterial wipes and was really lethargic for a day and was fine the next morning. Is this balloon episode anything to be really concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19874" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T10:09:42.483" Title="My cat ate a balloon" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-02-18T20:19:07.540" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-18T13:02:48.727" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;My vet found a bacteria in my dog's wound: &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not know this bacteria and therefore does not know what antibiotic to give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the condition of my dog is getting worse. He was panting all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anyone who has experience with this bacterium and can help? It would be great if you could provide some references if you know something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Species:&lt;/strong&gt; Dog&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Age:&lt;/strong&gt; 6 years&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Sex/Neuter status:&lt;/strong&gt; male, not neutered&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Breed:&lt;/strong&gt; Rough Collie&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Body weight:&lt;/strong&gt; ~28 kg&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;History:&lt;/strong&gt; He had to have surgery on his leg. After the surgery the wound became infected. The wound is now closed, but the inflammation is still there (CAP 7.5). He is in severe pain at the moment.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Clinical signs:&lt;/strong&gt; Heavy panting, pain, CAP 7.5, &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Duration:&lt;/strong&gt; ~4 weeks&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you so much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19875" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-18T16:14:57.433" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T18:38:17.783" Title="Ochrobactrum intermedium infection in a dog" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29781" CreationDate="2021-02-18T19:28:47.477" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently heard of methods used by breeders as mentioned previously, but it doesn't seem practical at all. Expensive for the owners and continually stressful for the cats, since it's not a one time thing like being fixed. You may be able to see signs and keep them separate, but that's taking a big risk even still. If someone isn't with them 24/7 you could easily miss the signs until after they've already mated, leaving you with kittens to either keep and take care of, or find a home for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it would be VERY unethical to declaw, so I'm hoping that's a view your family shares, but to me it's far more ethical to have them fixed since they experience a lot of negative effects from going into heat. It's not like humans where we &amp;quot;make love&amp;quot; for enjoyment. Then there's the issue of WHEN you have a litter of kittens to do something with...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the outcome, good luck to your family and your cats! Hopefully it all turns out for the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19398" LastActivityDate="2021-02-18T19:28:47.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-19T02:37:12.023" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 2 kittens: the male is 4 months old and the female is slightly under 2 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet has informed us that if I were to have one neutered I should wait until 6 months of age. Additionally, they recommended that we have the female spayed, and therefore able to leave the male intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I allow them to play together unattended for another 4 months without having to worry about them possibly having a litter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19856" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T16:10:25.687" Title="At what age should I start needing to separate my cats to prevent mating?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-19T04:00:16.680" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mini Moose, my female cat, is pregnant and is over-licking her lower abdominal area raw. Two years ago she had a stillborn baby. Her babies are alive in her, I can feel them moving around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lYrta.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19878" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-19T16:06:56.520" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T16:06:56.520" Title="Why is my female cat over-licking lower abdominal raw?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29805" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29810" CreationDate="2021-02-19T04:19:54.683" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to know how to make a German Shepherd less aggressive, so it doesn't bite and snap. These dogs are around 1 to 1.5 yrs old. And they're owned by most of my friends. Most of these GSDs snap at people for no reason at all. They even do it to their own masters. Whenever my friends and I try petting one of them, they snap at us and start barking. They do this to everyone they see. And bark a lot. What should I do so the dogs trust me and stop snapping at me? I try not to provoke the dogs, but they're always aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19879" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-19T16:08:28.353" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:14:58.613" Title="How to train a German Shepherd so that it is not agressive?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;german-shepherd&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29803" CreationDate="2021-02-19T06:18:19.197" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short: That might be too long, try to reschedule the spaying to an earlier date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male will mature earlier than he female, but as long as the female isn't mature as well, they cannot reproduce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The average age of sexual maturity for female cats is 5 - 6 months, but that also depends on the season. If you live in the northern hemisphere where spring is on its way, your cat might be in heat (or have been in heat) in 4 months. You should spay her before that happens. It's a bit of a gamble...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible to safely spay a cat at 4 - 5 months of age &lt;sub&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/neutering-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;bluecross.org&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/what-age-should-you-spay-or-neuter-your-cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetMD&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/is-there-an-optimal-age-for-cat-spay-or-neuter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;todaysveterinarypractice.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;, but they must be big enough for the vet to clearly see the the reproductive organs. It's ideal to spay the cat &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; she goes into heat, because during a heat the reproductive organs become engorged with blood which makes the procedure more risky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The signs that your cat is going into heat are very obvious, but still easy to miss at the very beginning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loud and consistent yowling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rolling on the floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constant licking of her private parts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lifting her bum when being stroked along the back and keeping her behind pushed up in the air while laying her front down low.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trying to escape. This makes it extremely difficult to separate cats in a house, especially if &lt;em&gt;both of them&lt;/em&gt; try everything in their might to get to each other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat goes into heat before you spay her, make sure to always keep at least &lt;strong&gt;2 closed doors&lt;/strong&gt; between her and the male and keep &lt;strong&gt;all windows completely shut&lt;/strong&gt; in the room she's in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are medications to prevent a heat, as described in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/29781/12501&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should think about neutering your tomcat as well. Not only does that potentially reduce the number of stray cats he could sire, but it also prevents undesirable behavior like marking walls or furniture with urine. You can read more about the problems of keeping an unneutered tomcat in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/29175/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-19T16:10:25.687" LastActivityDate="2021-02-19T16:10:25.687" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29811" CreationDate="2021-02-20T12:04:49.197" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have two male Bengal cats, one of the cats we've had for 5 years (Esxi) and we got our second cat about a year and a half ago (Echo). We have a problem with Echo since the start, he doesn't seem to want to cover his feces and when he pees, he does so over the edge of the litterbox. When he is done (peeing or defecating), he scratches the edged of the box (like he is trying to cover it) and runs away. Sometimes it can seem like he just doesn't want to touch anything close to the area he placed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter boxes we use now are in the bathroom and we have installed a cat door they use to enter/exit the bathroom, both our cats also sleep in the bathroom (since they came they have always slept on the carpets there) so we got them a bed each under the sink which they use every night and day when they sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We feed them using a smart-feeder. They get their meals at regular intervals, every six hours - we use some of the most expensive, nutrient rich dry food on the market (they won't eat anything else, we have tried most products) and we give them the portions they should have. They get clean water every day and have two &amp;quot;zones&amp;quot; where they can drink, both are fountain-style running water. None of them have any health issues (Esxi has had some problems with his teeth which we have sorted with the vet a long time ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have tried everything we know to try, and also help him cover it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After he is done, we show him how to cover his &amp;quot;work&amp;quot; for months.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have tried several boxes (at one point we've had three boxes) we now have two.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have tried different types of sand, a combination with peewee and only peewee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have tried to place the food in the vicinity in case that will make him more careful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have moved the boxes around in the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have tried larger boxes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have tried to separate the cats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Echo will anyway use the same box as Esxi, no matter which box that is. He has never defecated outside the box, but won't clean it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At this point we are feeling a bit helpless, Esxi doesn't seem to care, and he will cover the feces before he does his work. But this does not always help. Echo won't seem to get it whatever we do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do here to help him understand that he needs to pee inside the box and not over the edge onto the floor, and how can we make him cover his own feces? Other questions here has been answered with suggestions we already have tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19884" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:44:48.077" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:44:48.077" Title="My Bengal cat doesn't cover his feces and pees over the edge of the litter box" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29809" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-20T15:49:03.797" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have another and she also have the same fatty belly:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S07vV.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/S07vV.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19885" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T16:17:45.257" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T10:00:35.043" Title="Fatty belly for my zebra danio - what should I do? I don't think she is pregnant" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29805" CreationDate="2021-02-20T16:36:22.300" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are not the owner of these dogs, there is not much you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many potential reasons for this kind of aggression. The dogs could have been socialized in a bad way, they probably received too little training and if dogs are left to themselves without regular human contact - either because they are guard dogs or live only with other dogs - they simply don't know how to properly interact with humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you describe them - they snap and bark at anyone, even their owners - makes me assume they are guard dogs who live outside all the time. This often leads to extreme guarding behavior, because it's the only thing the dog knows and there's nothing else to do. The snapping is a very clear warning sign that they don't want to be touched. Please don't insist on petting them or they might actually bite you. And don't try to touch them when they are eating, they might think you want to steal their food and bite you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you can try is having a few treats in your pocket. That could be regular dog food, dog biscuits or even dry bread. When you visit your friend, act as if you ignore the dog, but hold one of those treats in your hand for the dog to take. After a minute or two, you can hold another treat in your hand, but ignore the dog when he takes the treat. That way he connects you with something positive and likes you more. You need to repeat this several times to become friends with the dog. And this is no guarantee that the dog will allow you to touch him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:14:58.613" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T22:14:58.613" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29808" CreationDate="2021-02-20T16:49:20.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burying (or not burying) waste is an instinctual behavior. You might be able to create an environment that facilitates the behavior you're looking for, but you're not going to teach a cat to do it the way you want. It may be that no reasonable accommodation will make your cat actually bury his waste properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First off, check for medical issues.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mentioned the cat runs from the box, which sometimes cats will do if eliminating is painful, or the box has associations with pain. Examine the quality of its stool (ideally when fresh), to see if it looks too wet or too dry, which are indications of diarrhea or constipation. I would also bring it up on the next vet visit. But, on the other hand, sometimes cats run from the litterbox for no apparent reason too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch your cat when he goes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With any luck, you might notice something about the way the cat uses the box that helps you identify the root cause of the problem. Look for how easy is it for the cat to move and turn around while in the box, and also if there's any hesitation while using it, which could be an indication of dislike or pain.  For the peeing problem, it may even be that the cat tends to stand while peeing, which some cats do for some reason. At any rate, based on your observations, try applying the following suggestions accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A bigger box.&lt;/strong&gt; Sometimes cats want a &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; bigger box, and honestly, there isn't all that much size variation in litterboxes, so you might try improvising one. Many people that go this route use a large Tupperware container with an entrance hole cut out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Different litter.&lt;/strong&gt; Some cats have sensitive paws, and so it hurts to step on larger granules. Therefore rather than trying litters randomly, I would try the finest gained litter you can find. If you suspect the litter is the problem, I recommend experimenting with no peewee at all as the granules appear quite big.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you aren't using too little or too much litter.&lt;/strong&gt; Two to three inches is recommended, though some cats might want more or less.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clean the box much more frequently.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem of peeing outside the box can probably be fixed by switching to a litterbox with very high sides or a lid, though ideally, if there's some sort of root cause that's making him not like the box, leading to his peeing over the side, that should be addressed as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T17:01:34.910" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T17:01:34.910" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29809" CreationDate="2021-02-20T17:49:34.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have raised zebras and , mostly, giant danios ; that is too large for eggs . My guess would be disease &amp;quot;dropsy&amp;quot;. What I would do is wait for them to die and make sure no other fish also have the problem. Dropsy does not seem to be very contagious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2021-02-20T17:49:34.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29814" CreationDate="2021-02-20T21:53:16.160" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a ~1.5 year old male tabby cat. I have had him since he was just 2 weeks old, when he was still basically blind and didn't yet know how to walk. I have raised him extremely lovingly and as a result he adores me. Outside of the times when he is in a very energetic mood (ie wanting to zoom around, bite things, chase lasers, etc...) he &lt;em&gt;ALWAYS&lt;/em&gt; wants to me to pet him, hold him, snuggle with him, etc... At least once a day he will come over to me and lay on my chest and nuzzle his face into mine and want to be snuggled. I obviously love this and him. However, as I am at times not home (because of... well... life) I would like to get him a brother/sister so that he can always have someone to be around and not be lonely. I anticipate that I would like it to be a female kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is... will him having a cat friend detract from his love of human affection? I would be very sad if he became so normalized to interacting with another cat that he will no longer want me to be holding/petting/snuggling him all the time. Is this likely to happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16760" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-20T22:09:16.660" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T02:35:26.163" Title="Will getting another cat change my cat's behavior?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29813" CreationDate="2021-02-21T08:39:20.833" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;No-one can tell the future, but I honestly think your cat will be happier on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Male cats aren't very social. If he isn't neutered, he'll probably always view the other cat as an intruder to his territory, no matter how hard you try to make them friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if he's neutered, there's no guarantee that he'll like the other cat. Cats have their own personality - just like humans - and some cats love each other and others cannot stand each other. There's not much you can do if he doesn't like the other one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you were his substitute mom, he never learned natural cat behavior and body language. Certain things are surely instinctual, but he might unintentionally start a fight with another cat simply because he doesn't know about the intricate rules of natural cat behavior and body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't get a second cat, he'll stay very affectionate towards you. If you're not around, he cannot be affectionate, but I doubt that'll be a problem, unless you leave him alone for several days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a second cat and he happens to like them, he'll probably stay very affectionate towards you, because that's what he learned and did since he was a baby. Whether or not the 2nd cat will ever develop a relationship more meaningful than &amp;quot;housemates&amp;quot; is pure chance. If yes, he can divert his affection towards the second cat while you're not around. If not, the situation (from his point of view) is exactly the same as if the second cat wasn't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get a second cat and he doesn't like them, your good intention actually causes a lot of stress for one or both cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-22T02:35:26.163" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T02:35:26.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29801" CreationDate="2021-02-21T09:11:41.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please note that I am not a vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't write &lt;strong&gt;how&lt;/strong&gt; your vet knows that the wound is infected with &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt;, so the first thing to be sceptic about is this identification of the pathogen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Brucella&lt;/em&gt; are genetically closely related genera of the family &lt;em&gt;Brucellaceae&lt;/em&gt; within the class &lt;em&gt;Alphaproteobacteria&lt;/em&gt; (Velasco et al., 1998), with &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt;, the closest relative to &lt;em&gt;Brucella&lt;/em&gt;, sharing 98.8 % rRNA gene similarity with &lt;em&gt;Brucella&lt;/em&gt; spp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.47507-0?crawler=true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Specific detection and differentiation of &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum anthropi&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Brucella&lt;/em&gt; spp. by a multi-primer PCR that targets the recA gene&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means that the test that identified &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either was specifically designed to distinguish between &lt;em&gt;O. intermedium&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Brucella&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.47507-0?crawler=true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;like a PCR test targeting the recA gene&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or was not designed that way and may have mistaken &lt;em&gt;Brucella&lt;/em&gt; or any other &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum&lt;/em&gt; bacterium for &lt;em&gt;O. intermedium&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way to be sure about that is to know exactly which test was done and how well this specific test can distinguish between those very similar pathogens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the rare cases that humans get infected with &lt;em&gt;Ochrobactrum intermedium&lt;/em&gt;, they must be treated with 2 antibiotics simultaneously over several weeks. Since not all antibiotics are safe for dogs, I honestly cannot give you any meaningful advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing you can do is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get all the paperwork, treatment notes and test result from your first vet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give all those notes to a second vet, emergency vet or veterinary clinic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a second opinion from them and have your dog treated there if they know how to treat him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-21T18:38:17.783" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T18:38:17.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-21T15:01:28.897" Score="0" ViewCount="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 9 week old kitten is very fluffy. I'm wondering if he will grow a medium or long coat? His parents are both British shorthairs, but I can already tell he isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19887" LastEditorUserId="19887" LastEditDate="2021-02-21T17:54:40.540" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T17:54:40.540" Title="Will my kitten have a medium or long coat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-02-21T16:06:19.907" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11850" CreationDate="2021-02-21T20:43:53.233" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the Google search lands here, sharing my personal experiences with you all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you want to buy or want to take a baby parrot for your home - try to get at least 2 to 2.5 months baby, because (believe me it's extremely hard and very difficult to care 10 days or 20 days baby parrot) of the below reasons -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; 1. Baby parrots are very soft and totally depends on caretakers&#xA; 2. If you are a beginner and do not have any past experiences and do&#xA;    not know how to take care of baby parakeets&#xA; 3. Then it's a very difficult job for you, even a small carelessness&#xA;    will cause you your baby parrot to lost&#xA; 4. They are very weak and they do not have a strong immunity to handle&#xA;    changes/temperature/food&#xA; 5. Their digestion system is also very low and can not afford the&#xA;    surprises, that's why mother feed them with half digest foods&#xA; 6. They need extreme care in terms of temperature, water, cold,&#xA;    weather, medicines, infections, touch, etc.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take 1 to the 2-month baby if you really want&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed them with 3 times 7 AM, 1 PM and 6 PM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give them only Hand Feed Formula Food (Buy online)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give them little water (lukewarm) to drink (3 to 4 drops) twice a day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use warm water to prepare food (Hand Feed Formula) and wait until&#xA;it's lukewarm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protect them from mosquitos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protect them from cold air&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Protect them from cold (&lt;strong&gt;very very very important&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use 40 watts bulb and hang upside of the shelter (Keep 2 feet&#xA;distance from the bulb to shelter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place a mosquito net around the shelter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Place a paper on shelter in case they want some rest from heat/bulb&#xA;light&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use wood chunks/peals, paper cuttings/dry grass to cover their box&#xA;floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Feed them with a spoon (do not use syringe)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After feeding them check their crop if they are filled 70 to 80%&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give them lots of love but don't touch them too much&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wash your hands before feeding them and before touching them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularly check their poops and colour - if colour is green, consult&#xA;with the doctor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Regularly check if they are active - if not check their temperature,&#xA;poops and feather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.. will add more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don'ts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not take 10 to 15 or 20 days baby&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not feed them homemade food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never feed them forcefully&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never overfeed them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never feed them in the night&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not give them a bath until they are 4 to 6 months old&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not give them cold water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never give them sugar, chocolate, solid food (Baby)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not use cold water to make their foods&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never show them Direct Sunlight (Mild Sun Light is Okay)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never keep them in an open space&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never place them on the cold floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;.. will add more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19889" LastActivityDate="2021-02-21T20:43:53.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29821" CreationDate="2021-02-21T21:35:44.803" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Breeds being considered: Mini Aussie, Golden Retriever&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apartment type: Studio (Meaning, there is a kitchen and 1 room and 1 bathroom)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ONLY thing that I'm concerned about having my own dog is that they would bring up noise complaints by howling and barking from being left alone. If I'm to leave him alone for MORE than 1 day, I will likely send him to a dog daycare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I'm getting an 8-week old puppy, I live in a studio apartment so I will try to separate him from me by putting him in the kitchen (which is the only place I have apart from my own room where he doesn't have the vision of me) when he's old enough to be crate trained and loves his crate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has experience with doing such a thing where their dogs have NO separation anxiety, what are somethings that you absolutely must ensure you do or not do? (For example: Don't let it sleep in your bed with you lest it gains peak levels of attachment) etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm trying to understand is, is separation anxiety just inevitable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19890" LastEditorUserId="19890" LastEditDate="2021-02-21T23:04:47.070" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T20:39:23.053" Title="Is it possible to train a dog to not have separation anxiety right from when it's 8 weeks old?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21417" CreationDate="2021-02-22T03:49:46.870" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your horse is shivering then you'll need to look at getting it a blanket. Your first instinct to fatten it up is also solid, especially if you think it's underweight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cowgirlu.org/can-horses-be-turned-out-on-cold-winter-days/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;But don't be afraid to take your horse out even if the temperature drops.&lt;/a&gt; Even when it's cold your horse will prefer to be out and about. If you're really concerned, just make sure he's blanketed and well-fed. If he shivers alot they tend to lose weight as it burns alot of calories and energy, so feed them more as the temperature drops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16869" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T03:49:46.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29820" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-22T06:41:29.253" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 1.5 year old res. He fell today from height. Although he seems fine with no injury on shell or on body, something seems wrong with his eyes. So anyway I contacted the vet n got appointment for tomorrow but I don't know what should I do till then!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19891" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T06:41:29.253" Title="Comforting red eared slider after he fell from first floor" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;injury&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29818" CreationDate="2021-02-22T14:46:32.433" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The FIRST thing I would be concerned about is getting an Australian Shepherd (mini or not) when living in an apartment and having to leave the dog alone for several hours each day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you experienced with this particular breed? &lt;strong&gt;If not, please reconsider your choice of dog breed.&lt;/strong&gt; This is a recipe for disaster and neither you nor your dog will be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Australian Shepherds are one of the most extreme working breeds out there. They were bred over hundreds of generations to run after stray sheep in the vast Australian landscape and read human signals and follow human commands for a whole day. If they don't get a comparable amount of training, stimulation and exercise from their owners - especially if left alone for several hours a day - they quickly find their own entertainment by chewing furniture, scratching walls and carpets, running around and barking nonstop and generally destroying your apartment. When you come home exhausted from work and just want to waste an hour in front of the TV, he'll &lt;em&gt;constantly&lt;/em&gt; want to play and interact with you because he was bored the whole day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Golden Retrievers are more balanced and well known for their agreeable personality, but they, too, were bred to accompany humans on hunting trips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get some ideas about games and ways to mentally and physically stimulate your dog, please read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any dog can develop separation anxiety. The biggest risk is unpredictability and a lack of separation. If you're around your dog all day because you work in your home office during Covid lockdown and then suddenly you disappear for 8 hours (because you have to return to the office), your dog may not know why you left, when and &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; you return and how to deal with the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid this, you should train being alone with him in incrementing periods of time. You can start with locking your puppy into a crate or a different room for 5 minutes. No matter what the puppy does (probably whining and scratching at the door), you only open the door after 5 minutes. You should either act as if nothing ever happened, or cuddle with him in a very calm way. &lt;strong&gt;You shouldn't encourage him to be overly excited&lt;/strong&gt; to see you by playing with him or praising him in an overly excited voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat this short training several days. Once your puppy learns to deal with being alone in a calm manner, you can gradually increase the time he's left alone to 10 minutes, 15 minutes and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to train leaving your apartment without him. If the only time you put on a jacket and leave the apartment is when you go on a walk with your dog, he'll be very excited every time you put on a jacket and become extremely frustrated if you leave without him. That can trigger separation anxiety or destructive behavior. To avoid that, simply go out for a short time without him, for example to go grocery shopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great way to mentally prepare your dog for being left alone is to establish a word or sign that indicates he's going to be alone. &lt;strong&gt;Don't use a command like &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, because you cannot release your dog from the command if you're not around. Choose something different like &amp;quot;goodbye&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;stay in here&amp;quot; and repeat the same words every time before you leave your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should not talk to your dog at length&lt;/strong&gt; before leaving him. Some people do tell their dogs that they'll be gone for a while and their dogs seem to understand them, but in reality dogs cannot understand human speech to that degree. Some dogs even get anxious by this kind of behavior because they expect you to want &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; from them (maybe telling them about an intruder or a source of food or tell them to follow you). If you then turn around and leave the apartment, they try following you or calling you back because you just talked to them, you just indicated that you want something and if you leave now they won't know what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-22T20:39:23.053" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T20:39:23.053" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28343" CreationDate="2021-02-22T18:30:05.697" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bunnies laying down to pancake are a great sign, it means they are comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabbits do need enrichment items (toys), but not all rabbits like the same toys. My former rabbit loved fling toys--things like baby toy keys that he could throw with his mouth. My current rabbit doesn't really like those; she prefers chew toys such as willow balls and loves running around her tunnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.angelfire.com/fl/RabbitRescue/shybunny.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a great resource&lt;/a&gt; on how to win over a shy rabbit if that is something you are still concerned about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19876" LastEditorUserId="19876" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T14:40:35.867" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T14:40:35.867" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29826" CreationDate="2021-02-22T18:37:41.803" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat that I took home while she was pregnant and now she is almost due this month. She currently has diarrhea that gets stuck in her private area, and she has started to smell bad. She's aggressive and doesn't let me clean her; she has long fur. I took her to the vet. The vet told me they can't do anything for her until she gives birth, and I'm scared that her private area will get worse with diarrhea stuck in her fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to clean her with a towel and warm water, but she runs and I can't hold her until I finish because she's pregnant. I'm so worried and don't know what to do with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19898" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-02-22T21:29:15.490" LastActivityDate="2021-02-23T17:29:22.077" Title="How do I clean an aggressive cat's private area from diarrhea?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29825" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-22T19:28:47.417" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 7 month old Belgian Malinois pup has an obsession with the garden hose.  He bites, chews tugs and drags the hose around.  He's like in a trance and doesn't listen.  He will run from one end of the hose back to the hose bib.  He has pulled the bib out of the wall twice. Normally he always listen and behaves.  When he's infatuated with the hose it's like he's possessed.  He can destroy a hose in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19899" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-22T20:17:36.403" LastActivityDate="2021-02-22T20:17:36.403" Title="How to stop my 7 month old Belgian Malinois from biting, grabbing and pulling the garden hose?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29824" CreationDate="2021-02-23T10:25:32.723" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a cat experienced person, but I found a website, maybe useful for you:&#xA;&amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://catfriendlyclinic.org/vets-nurses/handling-of-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cat friendly clinic&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;. They store a lots of videos about cat handling (I assume more for assistant staff and vets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one video about the &amp;quot;Towel wrapping a cat&amp;quot;. Additionally, there is a pictured instruction (in German language) on this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tierklinik-hofheim.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Downloads_Tieraerzte/Merkblaetter_neu/TK_CatFriendly_Handtuchwickeltechnik_11pt.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Vet's Website&lt;/a&gt; (where I took the picture below, showing the first 4 steps of 10).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FxAqT.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FxAqT.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The first 4 of 10 steps&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;German to English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place your cat in the middle of the towel, with the towel extending about about 1&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; of a handwidth away from the cat's front. You should optimally place the cat laying on the towel, rather than sitting up straight. This result is usually achieved by applying gentle, but constant pressure on the cat's back with your hand and forearm - please give your cat as much time as it needs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pull the front edge of the towel over your cat's forelegs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put the towel around your cat's neck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hold the towel tightly together on the nape of the neck with one hand, so that your cat cannot move its forelegs over the towel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume, if one uses this method, the power of holding the cat would not be this big, as without towel, and additionally the pressure is shared equally over all parts of the cat, not accumulate and injuring one part (for example the belly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-23T17:29:22.077" LastActivityDate="2021-02-23T17:29:22.077" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29829" CreationDate="2021-02-23T19:08:13.460" Score="10" ViewCount="2666" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our little puppy died because of this dreaded parvovirus. She was on a drip with other necessary meds. She lived 4 days fighting the disease, but today she died very painfully. We have 4 more adult dogs and have separated them since we noticed the symptoms. The doctor told us to burn her clothes and other belongings since they can carry the virus. I would like to know how should we proceed with her body. Can we bury her? Or do we have to burn her body?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17772" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-23T19:48:55.577" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T02:16:25.873" Title="How to deal with the parvovirus infected dead body?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;death&gt;&lt;infections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29827" CreationDate="2021-02-23T19:26:30.853" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burying the body deep enough to not be excavated by other animals should be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be extra-safe, then use a service of veterinary cremation - your veterinary doctor should readily know such services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2021-02-23T19:26:30.853" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29827" CreationDate="2021-02-23T20:07:09.297" Score="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry for your loss, but with this particular virus I would be &lt;strong&gt;very careful&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The safest solution is to cremate her body or leave her with the vet or clinic, but I can understand if you want to bury her close to you. I wouldn't lay her to rest on a patch of land where your other dogs can reach, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parvovirus is a particularly resilient virus. It can survive indoors at room temperature for at least two months and is resistant to many commonly used cleaners and disinfectants. &lt;strong&gt;Outdoors, the parvovirus can survive for months, and even years, if protected from direct sunlight.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/parvo-in-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sounds very similar to &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrax&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;anthrax&lt;/a&gt;, a very resilient bacterium that caused continuous loss of livestock before a vaccine was developed. Farmers would bury the bodies of their dead animals deep beneath their meadows because they believed the bodies would fertilize the meadow. What actually happened was that they created &amp;quot;cursed meadows&amp;quot; that claimed the lives of their animals year after year. Earthworms would dig tunnels down (or at least close enough) to the bodies and carry the bacteria back up to the surface, where the next unlucky animal would be infected after eating contaminated grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parvo can be transmitted to another dog by simple touch. The dog doesn't even have to eat contaminated grass, sniffing and touching it with its nose is enough to get infected. &lt;strong&gt;That's why I strongly suggest cremating her body.&lt;/strong&gt; If that is unacceptable to you, you must lay her to rest somewhere where no dog or wild canine will touch the ground for several years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To keep other dogs safe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First and foremost make sure that &lt;strong&gt;all of your other dogs are completely vaccinated against Parvo&lt;/strong&gt;. If any of them are not vaccinated, don't let them into the room where you kept your ill puppy for at least 2 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your puppy ever pooped in your house or outside in your yard, collect all feces as thoroughly as possible, secure them with a second layer of trash bag and discard them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the vaccination of your dogs, you have a responsibility to protect other dogs and wildlife from the virus. Unfortunately, most cleaners and disinfectants don't work against parvovirus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anything contaminated that can be thrown away and replaced should be.&lt;/strong&gt; The best household cleaner to use to kill parvovirus is bleach (1 part bleach to 30 parts water). It should be used on hard surfaces including tiles, concrete, paving bottoms of shoes etc – leave the bleach on the surface at least 10 - 15 minutes. Anything that can be washed in bleach should be.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.murraybridgevet.com.au/portals/murraybridgevet/Parvovirus%20home%20cleanup.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The virus itself can also be killed by temperatures above boiling (130°C for at least 15 minutes) and by UV light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wash the clothes you wore when handling the puppy in a bleach solution and hang them into bright sunlight for several days. Turn the clothes inside out after a day of full sunlight and let them hang another full day.  By turning the clothes inside out you make sure that the UV light of the Sun can reach as deep as possible and kill the virus as completely as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget to treat your footwear! Put them into a flat container and fill it as high as possible with bleach solution to decontaminate the soles of the shoes. Then wash the shoes in bleach solution or treat them with bright sunlight for several days if washing isn't possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burn or safely discard all of the personal items of your infected dog: collar, blankets, pillows, everything. These items can retain the virus for a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; long time and you can carry and spread it around unknowingly by simply touching the items. Even if your dogs are vaccinated, they too can spread the virus if they have contact with those items and infect other dogs that might not be vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-16T02:16:25.873" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T02:16:25.873" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-24T20:40:16.007" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat (Persian) is in heat two months after having given birth! Yes, she has stopped breastfeeding the kittens as they have been adopted. However, in case she mates with my male cat and gets pregnant again, will it pose health complications in the future or should I let nature takes it's course?&#xA;(I've kept them in separate rooms for the moment).&#xA;I'm in dire need of answers. Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19910" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-24T20:59:19.247" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T08:21:55.640" Title="Is it advisable to let my cat mate two months after having given birth?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29832" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-25T02:42:29.253" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;For background, I have a 2 year old Siberian Husky and she is the love of my life, we hike a lot and have another dog she plays with throughout the day PLUS daily walks and play time in our backyard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first main problem is that she will excessively go potty in the house, she knows and has gotten me to ask to go outside (stands in my doorway, I ask if she needs to go potty ~outside~ and she gets excited), but I think it’s the word &amp;quot;outside&amp;quot; that gets her happy. But if I can’t go out right away, like if I’m in the middle of painting and need 2 minutes to finish up, she will not hesitate to go down stairs and pee and poop (mostly pee); she seems to do it just out of spite. And then she comes right upstairs and hides under my bed (that’s her safe place and where her bed is, I’ve made it a rule to not touch her or mess with her when she’s under there for boundaries). She also has a crate that we rarely use in my room as well. Anyhow, when she does that I know immediately what she has done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my question is: what can I possibly do? I’m planning to move in September, and I don’t want to leave her behind, but no apartment will except a dog who does this! I feel like I’ve done EVERYTHING, when we first started potty training we had an actual trainer and we were bringing her out on the leash and staying in the same circle for her to go potty and it worked, but then her behavior started not soon after once again. And it seems to be like: one month she will be good and the next she isn’t. We’ve resorted to crate, to making her sit and watch me clean it, to acting like she didn’t do it and bring it outside in her usual potty spots, there are no known health problems at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She’s otherwise a great dog, except for at night. Which brings me to my next question. &lt;strong&gt;How do I get my dog to listen to me when it’s bedtime?&lt;/strong&gt; At night, we go outside and I can usually get her to pee and then we go upstairs she knows the routine, I turn on an enrichment robotic toy she loves for about 20 minutes (it’s automatic) and I lay down in my bed and then after she will lay down in hers. 5 minutes will go by and she’s up by my door staring into my soul. And I mean STARING and pacing if I ignore her, so it makes me think she needs to poop so I bring her outside once again (she never goes and we stand outside in the same spot for 30 minutes). And she will do this at least 3 times before I lose it and just put her in the crate and that usually does the trick and I unlock it while she’s asleep or finally calm, so she can wake me up in the morning. However, it is really tiring at night to keep doing this. It happens maybe 3-4 times a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added things to say, I guess, is that she has all her shots, is fixed, has a great diet of meat and kibble with fish oil (she gets this in the morning, but only kibble and fish oil later on in the day).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don’t have a potty schedule, but we do go out around the same days, first thing in the morning 6:30-7:00, and the noon she goes out whenever she wants or whenever my elderly dog wants which is often, and then before bed. PLEASE HELP ME. I am definitely considering getting a behaviorist, but if I’m being honest I don’t think I can afford it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19911" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T03:28:35.030" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T20:40:31.660" Title="My dog will not stop going potty in the house and will not rest at night" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-25T05:58:20.477" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, one three years old and the other 13. I want to change the older cat to eating an expensive cat food for senior cats; both cats eat from the same bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay for the young cat to eat senior cat food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19913" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T17:57:16.977" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T17:57:16.977" Title="Is senior cat food OK for my young cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-03-06T11:58:53.167" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29855" CreationDate="2021-02-25T14:48:13.830" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our dog had a red/bloodshot eye and we were prescribed Maxidex (dexamethasone) eye drops for our dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two times we used them they were stored at room temperature (bottle just store below 25°C and NOT TO FREEZE); however, we then seen our vet on a unrelated incidence and he said we should store them in the fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we put them in the fridge and used them about 5 more times as she was having one drop twice a day. I was then reading about them online and noted that &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; documents stated to &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; store them in the fridge (the leaflet we got never mentioned this, just said not to freeze).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a temperature gauge in my fridge and I placed it right next to the bottle to see what temperature it ended up being stored at, and according to that it got down to about 0°C - 1°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading this I stopped giving it to her as her eye was looking better anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this I was curious if now we had given it to her &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; being in the fridge if it was just going to be ineffective or if it would be harmful in some way, so I emailed the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They didn't seem to want to get into specifics but told me that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The TGA-Approved Consumer Medicine Information1 for Maxidex® eye drops has stated under &lt;strong&gt;Storage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Keep Maxidex in a cool dry place where the temperature stays below&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;*25°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not freeze Maxidex. Do not store Maxidex or any other medicine in the bathroom or near a sink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do not leave it in the car or on window sills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As previously stated, Maxidex® eye drops can be refrigerated as long as the temperature inside the refrigerator does not drop below +2°C. 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Storing Maxidex® eye drops outside the registered storage conditions may affect the quality of the product. Novartis can't recommend the use of Maxidex® eye drops stored outside registered storage conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please speak to your pharmacist or veterinarian if you have any further questions about the storage and use of Maxidex® for your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Novartis recommends the use and store of its products only in accordance with the Consumer Medicines Information (copy available at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.novartis.com.au/products/consumer.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;http://www.novartis.com.au/products/consumer.shtml&lt;/a&gt; or from your pharmacist, doctor or our company).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So all they seemed to want to tell me is that storing them outside these temperatures may &lt;em&gt;affect the quality of the product&lt;/em&gt;; but didn't seem to want to tell me if it would just make the product ineffective or possibly harmful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how, when doing so, in that it seemingly was stored at 0°C - 1°C, which is slightly below the stated storage guidelines indicated above would make the product, would affect the product?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; If you see the &amp;quot;2&amp;quot; referenced next to the &lt;em&gt;+2°C&lt;/em&gt; statement, this refers to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clinical data pertaining to reference 2 is unpublished and the confidential property of Novartis. Novartis is providing this information in good faith due to the lack of data of this type in the published literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first I thought this was saying that their reasoning for the +2°C was confidential, but I think it's saying that this finding of +2°C is only referenced in confidential data, but I also assume that this confidential data contains the reason why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I assume it's not a great concern, but since I am asking the primary question, the first two times I also forgot to shake the bottle when it states to &amp;quot;SHAKE BEFORE USE&amp;quot;, hopefully that doesn't prevent another potential problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guildlink.com.au/gc/ws/nv/cmi.cfm?product=nvcmaxdr10717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CMI&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.novartis.us/sites/www.novartis.us/files/maxidex.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another document&lt;/a&gt; I found states to store it between &lt;em&gt;8°C&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;27°C&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nps.org.au/medicine-finder/maxidex-eye-drops#full-pi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;full PI&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16628" LastEditorUserId="16628" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T21:50:50.403" LastActivityDate="2021-02-28T02:21:28.873" Title="Maxidex Eye Drops use in dogs - safe or just ineffective if stored below recommended temperatures?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;vision&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29837" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-25T16:32:51.297" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baggins is a two-year-old domestic short hair. I found him in the forestry near my house when he was only weeks old. He was starved and very nervous. It took a long time to build trust between us as he was terrified of everything. After months of building this trusts, he evolved into a very energetic, playful, and curious kitten and continued like this as he began to mature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the past 4 or 5 months, he has become skittish and nervous all of a sudden. He still trusts me and spends hours sitting in his nest on my desk. However, when he hears or sees my brother he freaks and bolts. My brother doesn't spend as much time with Baggins, but he isn't cruel and I don't think he would ever hurt him. I'm very confused and was wondering if anyone would have any answers or solutions to this problem. It's come to the stage that when I open the door for him to come inside, he looks and listens before entering in case my brother is home. I feel terrible seeing him like this as he conveys visible terror and I don't want him to be scared in his own home. I have read animal psychology books and tried finding answers online but at this point, nothing seems to work. Thanks for your help! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19919" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T16:47:21.113" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T21:16:51.470" Title="My cat is skittish and scared of my brother all of a sudden" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-25T17:28:50.430" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting a rescue cat from a local charity, she is 3 to 4 years old and seems very affectionate in the videos. She has had a hard life so far, though, stolen and repeatedly bred, then booted out when she got a severe case of mastitis so she went home and got locked in a shed because the original owners situation &amp;quot;had changed&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what are the chances she will bond with us or will she be scared? Will she remember her former life? I just want her to be happy and would like some advice on how to make her as comfortable and content as possible. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19921" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-25T17:49:38.827" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T21:44:57.613" Title="Advice on my abused rescue cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29837" CreationDate="2021-02-25T19:05:22.690" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are sure your brother hasn't been abusive to the cat on purpose maybe he has accidently stepped or sat on the cat but doesn't want to tell you incase you get angry. I don't know any other reason why an animal would suddenly become scared of someone who they've been fine with before. I hope you get it sorted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19921" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T19:05:22.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29837" CreationDate="2021-02-25T21:16:51.470" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trust the animal. Animals remember the person and it is quite possible that someone resembling your brother hurt the cat while he was very young. Maybe ask your brother to change his appearance and see if the cat behaves the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats also associate a lot of their experiences with smells. It may be possible that your brother smells a lot like someone the cat has had a bad experience with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as humans, cats tend to remember the bad experiences more than the good ones. For them it is a part of their survival mechanism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now it is best to keep a distance between the two and let him be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastActivityDate="2021-02-25T21:16:51.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29842" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-25T21:32:52.737" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighborhood is implementing a new trash disposal mechanism. They said that they will be composting pet poop. However, cat litter is not compostable (from what I know which could be limited knowledge).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We were thinking of using small-sized aquarium pebbles as an alternative. These are polished stones that are about 3-5mm in diameter. Our litter boxes are outdoors on a balcony so the smell won’t be an issue. We will collect the solid poop into separate bags for composting. The additional chore would be washing the pebbles every day to get rid of the urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it remains to be seen if our cats will accept this as an alternative. We have been looking for an alternative since locally available brands contain bentonite which is not environment friendly (apart from that German brand which is paper shreds. We and our cats dislike that since it sticks to just about everything).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any input and thoughts would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T17:43:13.023" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T17:43:13.023" Title="Aquarium sand and small pebbles as cat litter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29842" CreationDate="2021-02-26T06:12:15.933" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;em&gt;much better&lt;/em&gt; alternatives than aquarium pebble for cat litter. And a recent &amp;quot;incident&amp;quot; in a carrier box was an unpleasant reminder that common household detergent is not able to wash away the smell of cat urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at different brands of commercial cat litter, you may well find several brands advertised as &amp;quot;compostable&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;biodegradable&amp;quot;. Some of those use clay as the main material, others wood or natural fibres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all else fails, I would try fine soft wood shavings for rodent pets (not sawdust! That can irritate your cat's airways) or playground sand that can be disposed of regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-26T20:42:57.273" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T20:42:57.273" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29838" CreationDate="2021-02-26T08:15:40.907" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have personal experiences with abused dogs and stolen cats who returned very ill and potentially abused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will she remember her former life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, definitely. People and animals remember traumatic experiences to be able to either avoid them in the future or deal with them better if they cannot be avoided. You may notice some quirks of hers. Maybe she's afraid of loud voices, dogs or men, or maybe just men with beards or blondes in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should accommodate for her fears and always offer her a safe place where she can retreat. A living room or kitchen is not ideal because that's where people and especially guests usually are. A bedroom, unused guest room or guest bathroom is a better choice. This should also be the room where you keep her for the first days after adoption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have guests over (especially children) and your cat hides in that safe place, you must make your guests understand that they are not allowed to follow the cat and try getting her out of hiding or pet her despite her attempt to hide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you notice a specific trigger of hers, like a certain noise, you should try to avoid making that sound (like a squeaky door, try oiling the hinges).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what are the chances she will bond with us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her traumatic experience doesn't necessarily make her a recluse. She may need more time than usual to trust you, but she can be as affectionate as any cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just keep in mind that whether or not a cat is cuddly and affectionate is a question of her individual character. If she never was cuddly in her life, chances are low that she'll start now. If she was very cuddly before, she will probably be just as affectionate with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid a common obstacle in gaining her trust, remember to &lt;strong&gt;never stare into her eyes.&lt;/strong&gt; Whenever you look her in the eyes, do the &amp;quot;lazy cat blink&amp;quot; instead. That is nonverbal communication and tells her that you don't want to start a fight but be friendly instead. Give her room to approach you on her own time without approaching her or touching her first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-04T21:44:57.613" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T21:44:57.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29831" CreationDate="2021-02-26T08:21:55.640" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unless you want to have more kittens I would suggest spaying your cat.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not about letting nature take its course, being pregnant and giving birth and even being in heat itself is very stressful for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider that many animals each year are euthanized in shelters because they are unable to find a home or are brought in by former owners. This also happens to pure-bred animals!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-animal-homelessness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;11 Facts About Animal Homelessness - US&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said you should give your cat time between pregnancies to get back some energy. Giving birth and feeding kittens takes quite some energy away from your cat so give her time to rest in between. Just like with us humans birthing is draining and stressful for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/5/903&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Stressed by maternity cats - Paper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T08:21:55.640" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29832" CreationDate="2021-02-26T11:22:46.547" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's tackle the second problem first, it seems easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You taught her a routine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it's evening, you go out to potty&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When you come back inside, you play a very, &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; fun game for some time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the game is over, you go to sleep.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is simply trying to start again at step 1 so she can have step 2 again. She is very intelligent and manipulates you into letting her go outside (she clearly doesn't need to) in hopes of getting the toy again as a reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with small children, I would avoid too much excitement at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Either stop giving her the toy in the evening, or crate her immediately after the game ended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the peeing inside, that's more complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First you need to understand that dogs are roughly as intelligent as a toddler who cannot speak yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs don't do anything &amp;quot;out of spite&amp;quot;. They simply don't have the mental capacity for spite. Letting her watch you cleaning up the mess is utterly useless because your dog also doesn't have the mental ability to feel guilty about what she did. She does recognize that there's a puddle of pee on the floor, but she's not aware (anymore) that she is the reason why the puddle is there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why she hides immediately under the bed is to avoid your reprimand. Not because she knows that she did something wrong, but because she knows you get angry every time you see pee inside the house. She simply doesn't want to be around when you see the pee. She doesn't want to be crated when you see the pee. She doesn't want to be made to sit and watch you clean it. She cannot comprehend that you wouldn't need to get angry if she didn't pee in the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Keep your new apartment clean&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately she learned that there are 2 places to go potty: outside and downstairs. She's not aware that she's not allowed to downstairs. That's why she doesn't wait for you to open the door. If the master bathroom is unavailable, she simply uses the guest bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes a place to a dog bathroom is the smell of urine or feces. Your new apartment doesn't smell of either, and you must keep it that way. If she goes potty in your new apartment, clean it with an enzymatic detergent that destroys the smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Establish a routine&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs love routines just as much as humans. If you schedule a few potty times and always let her out at the same time every day, the chances that she goes potty inside are much lower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to wait until she did her business. If she doesn't need to go, there's no point in waiting. But just a 5 minutes break outside is enough to at least &lt;em&gt;offer&lt;/em&gt; her to do the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reward doing her business outside&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You already know she absolutely loves the automatic toy. Why don't you reward her for going potty outside with a few minutes of play with the toy? Of course you must not reward her for soiling the house. That gives her a strong incentive to go outside instead of peeing inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Don't let her wait too long&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you honestly not able to interrupt your painting for the few seconds it takes to open the door? If you &lt;em&gt;really need to go&lt;/em&gt; 2 minutes feel like an eternity. Please try to accommodate her needs a little more, especially if she has a history of soiling the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it would be more convenient to let her wait just 2 minutes until you're finished with whatever you're doing, but compare that to the inconvenience of cleaning up her mess afterwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Make sure she doesn't use an alternative potty place&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to all the above, you can teach her to sit and stay at the door until you open it. That's an easy way to make sure she doesn't turn around and pees inside the apartment, but it only works if she's obedient and it won't work for too long (you cannot make her wait for half an hour like that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Are there unknown medical issues?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, please consider getting her checked for any UTI. If she has a mild urinary tract infection she might not display any symptoms, but it would make holding her pee painful for her. That could be a possible reason why she doesn't wait for you to open the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;If everything else fails&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot get her out of the habit, you can at least protect the flooring in your new apartment with potty pads. But there's always the problem that she needs to pee in the apartment at least once for you to know where the pad needs to be placed. And then there's the risk that she still misses the pad... This is also a financial matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-26T20:40:31.660" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T20:40:31.660" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29847" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-26T11:39:07.833" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;My family has a 2 month old shorthair munchkin kitten. They want her to have 1 litter of kittens, after which they were planning to have her spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since bringing her home, I have become aware that following Western standards, this is considered a problematic breed. Following my own research, my opinion has been that because she is already a member of our family, we should raise her to have as good a life as we can provide, but if munchkin cats suffer from health related issues as a result of their dwarfism, it would be unethical to allow her to breed further and bring more munchkin cats into the world who would certainly suffer from the same issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in an Eastern country. I am aware that the standards followed by vets here are different (more lax in some areas and more strict in others); we have asked a few vets in the area for their opinion, and they have told us that it is considered fine; that besides for visually having shorter legs, munchkin cats are otherwise just like any other cat, and that the dwarfism isn't a problematic trait in itself that would cause health problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyways, I was hoping for someone to explain to me what specific health related problems and challenges, if any, that munchkin cats will face as a result of their dwarfism that would make it unethical to allow our kitten to have a litter. It would be helpful if you could provide any references from recognized veterinary science sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19856" LastActivityDate="2021-03-01T17:25:37.800" Title="Ethics of allowing a munchkin cat to breed" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;ethics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-26T17:57:53.543" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a long haired kitty, almost a year old. Ever since we got her she has had a touch aversion. She is not aggressive whatsoever, but you can tell she doesn't really enjoy being petted when she is standing up, as she pushes her abdomen toward the ground and away from your hand. (A good visual for this position is holding a slinky on either end). She enjoys being pet occasionally, but only when laying down, and only when she comes to you. Even then it's possible to give her too much pets and overwhelm her into leaving you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She absolutely hates being held. I don't let anyone hold her because even when I pick her up, her heart starts to race and I can tell she's in distress. She will soon jump from your arms, and I don't want her getting hurt if the person tries to catch her and she lands wrong. I have come to terms with how she is, but others tell me &amp;quot;you don't hold her enough&amp;quot; &amp;quot;you don't pet her enough&amp;quot;. I think it is just a matter of listening to my cat, and she is clearly telling me that she doesnt like being held, and only occasionally likes pets. Am I wrong? Could this attitude change with conditioning or would that just teach her to hate me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19925" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T19:02:10.740" Title="My cat hates being held, and only likes being pet occasionally" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-02-26T20:58:06.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29848" CreationDate="2021-02-26T19:02:10.740" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is totally normal: each pet is different, each cat has her own personality.&#xA;What you need is a cocktail of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;patience&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;food&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...and a magical ingredient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patience: the more you try when she does not want to be held, the less it can works. Let her come to you. You can be waiting for days, weeks, even months... you need to earn her trust. One year is still young, her behaviour will change with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food: like many animals, you can gain her trust by feeding her. Time after time, she will associate food with you. She needs to see that you are the one feeding her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Magical ingredient: I use 'Feliway', it is an anti-stress hormone. It is very useful when you need to travel with your cat, or to introduce two cats to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19927" LastActivityDate="2021-02-26T19:02:10.740" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-27T09:22:07.207" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any tips on how I can start handling my Syrian hamster? I have had him for a couple of weeks now and have stroked him while feeding him, but I am finding it difficult to pick him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t want to cause any stress to him so I haven’t “swooped in” and picked him up without him knowing. He comes to me when he hears me in the room so he can get food from us, but I am worried that he only associates me with food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this must mean he is not scared of me anymore, so I am pretty sure that he is ready to be picked up! I have put my hand in his cage a couple of times to see if he comes to investigate, but after not smelling any food he returns to his nesting spot. I think it’s quite important to be able to pick him up soon because I haven’t been able to give him any out-of-cage time, which I know is very important! I also can’t get him out of the cage and into a playpen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any ideas? I also wanted to add that he has bitten me before and I think am a little scared of him biting me again if he thinks I am food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19932" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-02T02:25:34.677" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T20:48:38.000" Title="How to pick up Syrian Hamster" Tags="&lt;biting&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29836" CreationDate="2021-02-28T02:21:28.873" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a medical professional and this answer is not medical advice nor a substitute for medical advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, it could be helpful to estimate whether the eye drops could even have frozen in the temperature inside your fridge. Pure water freezes at 0 °C, but any dissolved impurities will generally lower the freezing point (for example, saturating water with salt lowers the freezing point from 0 °C to around -19 °C). What I would do - I would get some transparent, small container - like a vial or a disposable jug from pharmacy intended to hold urine samples - then I would drop a few drops of this medicine to it, close the vial and put it in the fridge to see whether the medicine freezes in this temperature. Afterwards, I would dispose of the vial/jug together with the drops in that bin at pharmacy where it is intended to throw away expired medicines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally overheating medications is much worse that overcooling them. Lowering the temperature tends to slow down the rate of chemical reactions (including decomposition), while increasing temperature accelerates that rate. However, this simple relation doesn't take into account that the process of phase change in freezing/thawing could potentially change physical properties of the medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Dexamethasone#section=Solubility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this chemical data sheet of dexamethasone&lt;/a&gt; and other sources, it is practically insoluble in water (water solubility of 89 mg/L according to one of the figures in the data sheet). It makes sense because dexamethasone is a steroid and steroids are generally hydrophobic (insoluble in water, soluble in non-polar solvents like fats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nps.org.au/medicine-finder/maxidex-eye-drops&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;, the ingredients of Maxidex are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The active ingredient in Maxidex Eye Drops is dexamethasone 1 mg in 1 mL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maxidex Eye Drops also contain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;benzalkonium chloride as a preservative;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dibasic anhydrous sodium phosphate;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;polysorbate 80 (Tween 80);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;disodium edetate;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sodium chloride;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hypromellose;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;citric acid monohydrate and/or sodium hydroxide use to adjust pH;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;purified water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Polysorbate 80 and hypromellose are both emulsifiers, also known as emulgators, which means they are added to stabilize the mixture of immiscible substances - this, together with the instruction of shaking before use, strongly suggests that these eye drops are indeed an emulsion, probably dexamethasone and water in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that many emulsions are not freeze-thaw stable. With some exceptions, emulsions are thermodynamically unstable and have a natural tendency to separate over time. For example, it requires a lot of energy input - in the form of vigorous stirring and shaking the container - to mix oil with water, but without any stabilizer such mixture quickly separates into two completely distinct layers. Stabilizer's function is to greatly slow down this process of separation. However, subjecting an emulsion to freezing-thawing cycle causes stress at the interface of immiscible phases and thus could facilitate aggregation of the dispersed particles into larger units.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the suspended phase aggregates and separates from the solution as larger clumps, then it is a valid concern; it would change the physical properties of the medicine into something different that the producers intended. For example, the fact of separation would make it so that the concentration of the active substance will no longer be uniform in the liquid. It could be a problem because the safety and effectiveness of the treatment depends on using the specified dosage - but if the solution in not uniform in terms of concentration anymore, you risk dosing too little or too much; theoretically the first couple of drops could contain no dexamethasone whatsoever, then the next couple of drops could contain a few times more that you'd expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the topic of shaking the eye drops before use - it is done to further make sure that the mixture is as uniform as possible. As said before, emulsions &amp;quot;want&amp;quot; to separate and do it slowly over time, so it is especially important if the drops have been sitting immobile for a long time (a few months?) on the shelf before use. However, I think we could certainly assume that during the recent time you were buying the drops and transporting them home, they have been moved around and at least somewhat shaken. It is definitely better to remember doing it manually next time, I don't think it was anything bad or catastrophic that you forgot the first two times - it just was not optimal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, if you are still concerned about not shaking before use, here is my next idea about testing for yourself - you could leave the bottle of these drops to sit on a shelf undisturbed for, let's say, a week; then &lt;strong&gt;without shaking&lt;/strong&gt; apply a few drops on some surface (I suggest some flat, transparent piece of glass) in one place, then vigorously shake the bottle for at least a minute and apply a few drops again in a different place on the surface - and then observe whether there is any noticeable difference in the appearance of these two samples (one more cloudy than another, one having different color, etc.), preferably using some bright light source to see more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2021-02-28T02:21:28.873" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-28T05:00:14.697" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any harm in this or do I need to add nutrition to the diet? Also, how long would the health effects of a harmful diet take to appear and what are these, if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19936" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-02-28T23:00:54.753" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T05:51:30.017" Title="What are the effects of an all meat diet in cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-03-02T05:49:40.610" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-02-28T10:12:03.453" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are German Shepherd - Australian Dingo puppies good around very young children?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I know they are sometimes used as guard dogs but is it possible to train them to be more socializable and friendly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19937" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-02T01:25:07.133" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T01:25:07.133" Title="German Shepherd - Australian Dingo mix puppy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29857" CreationDate="2021-02-28T19:25:26.283" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't risk it, but as always, there's no simple yes or no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every dog has their own personality, just like humans. Your dog could be very playful or very lazy, regardless of breed. But in general the breed does have a certain influence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;German shepherds are a working breed. If they don't have anything to do (read: if you don't do enough training, playing and walks with them), they get bored. Bored dogs often have bad manners and destroy things out of boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Australian dingos, on the other hand are &lt;strong&gt;wild dogs&lt;/strong&gt;! They have the instincts of wild predators. They may not be as feral as wolves, but they certainly are not as docile as dogs. I would never let a dog like that (even if it's not pure bred) close to a child without a muzzle or a supervisor with a leash in hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially small children are loud and uncoordinated in their movements, which may trigger some prey instinct of the dingo. Typical children's games like running or jumping around can also trigger the prey drive. Even if the dog just wants to play, it may hurt the child by jumping at it and pushing it to the ground or by unintentionally biting it. And keep in mind that puppies only need a year to grow up, your child will still be a child by then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're thinking about getting a puppy, please reconsider your choice of breed. If you already have the puppy, be sure to teach it not to be rough with your child. There are basket muzzles that are intended to be worn all day by dogs in a kennel. Get your puppy used to wearing one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-02-28T19:25:26.283" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29847" CreationDate="2021-03-01T08:15:32.443" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I think it is great that you want to make an informed decision and not just breed more cats because you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several reasons why breeding munchkins can be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inbreeding&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all uncommon breeds, it is likely that some breeders have inbred munchkin cats to have a nice source of income. Inbreeding in itself can be a source of health issues. Maybe you can check your cats for hereditary diseases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health issues related to munchkin cats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One (not very reliable) source I found is this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thedodo.com/munchkin-cat-breed-2231333420.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;interview&lt;/a&gt; in which a vet talks about the possible diseases associated with munchkin cats due to their dwarfism.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;I also found &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ufaw.org.uk/cats/munchkin-limb-deformity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article on the welfare of munchkin cats. They state that affected cats have a higher risk of joint diseases due to their build. One of the diseases that I found a lot during my research is osteoarthritis which is a painful disease that munchkin cats are prone to.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This site also states that most big pedigree associations refuse to acknowledge the munchkin breed due to welfare reasons. The site does not recommend breeding them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mostly found during looking this up is that the breed is rather young and there are not many complete studies, like for example with German Shepherds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Last but not least: Overpopulation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will have to find a home for the kittens and even if you do, they might end up in a shelter. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Many animals get euthanized every year&lt;/a&gt; because they are not adopted and there are just too many other animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please always keep this in mind when breeding kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-01T17:25:37.800" LastActivityDate="2021-03-01T17:25:37.800" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29854" CreationDate="2021-03-02T05:39:18.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people who handle animals in a professional way use food as a tool to guide the animal's actions. Zookeepers lure the animals into one compartment of their enclosure to clean the other one, circus trainers use food to teach animals tricks, horseback riders offer treats simply to be friendly with the animals they work with. Being associated with food is actually desirable because it makes handling animals easier and less stressful for both you and the animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try training your hamster to walk onto your open hand. Lay your hand flat onto the bottom of the cage, palm facing up, and put a seed or tread in your palm. Then just let your hamster get the treat without picking him up. Once he learned to come to your hand, hold the treat in your other hand and lure him further onto your palm before giving him the treat. Once he learned that, you can start carefully lifting your hand just an inch above the ground and moving it around inside his cage. When he stays calm, you can lift him in and out of the cage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're afraid he might bite you, you can lure and feed him with tweezers. If you're afraid he might bite your palm when picking him up, you could use some object as a &amp;quot;hamster elevator&amp;quot; instead. That could be an empty plastic container with a door cut into it, a little decorative basket, a hammock made from a piece of fabric with strings tied to all 4 corners or even something you build from Lego. Just make sure you don't leave the object in his cage or he might nibble on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-02T20:48:38.000" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T20:48:38.000" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29862" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-02T14:39:05.713" Score="0" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boy Odin came home from his surgery yesterday and I want to confirm this is a normal amount of redness. The incision has a small sort of &amp;quot;knot&amp;quot; at the front of the sack. It looks a little red and inflamed, but honestly, it was this way when I picked him up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're less than 24 hours away from the surgery, so maybe I need to wait a little longer before becoming concerned. Can't hurt to be careful! Please let me know if you think I should be concerned.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hgH2x.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hgH2x.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19942" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T14:39:05.713" Title="Is my dog's neuter incision infected?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-03-02T19:47:03.870" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29864" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-02T20:05:55.523" Score="0" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;We recently rescue a terrier mix, he was 1yr old when we first got him and he's now 1.5yr old. Since we got him, he always had those spots on his belly, inner paws and groin area. They look like Dalmatian spots (which could be since we are unsure of his breed history). The thing is, the spots were very light when we first got him and in a short period of time the have darken a lot, they now appear to be dark brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that normal? The coat didn't change colour, it's just the spots who appears to change... Could it be related to shedding season as well? If he is part dalmatian, do dalmatian spots still darken after a year? I' m not sure if this is something that should be check... Anybody had a similar experience?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19944" LastEditorUserId="19944" LastEditDate="2021-03-02T20:32:59.257" LastActivityDate="2021-03-02T20:32:59.257" Title="My dog spots got darker, is that normal?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-03-03T06:12:12.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29838" CreationDate="2021-03-03T00:59:00.843" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once lived in a street with two sister cats rescued from a previous life.  I don't know the prior circumstances (neglect, abuse, fantastic owner died suddenly and the cats had to be rehomed...).  One of the sisters only ever left her new house to venture out into their back garden.  The other acted like she owned the street, and particularly singled out my husband and I to be her kitty cat day care centre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You won't know what your cat is like until you bring her home and give her time to settle in, which could take a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice:  be patient, gentle and understanding.  Spend time near her but doing your own thing, and occasionally talk to her in a calm, quiet voice so she can get used to you being in her space without seeming like a threat.  Ensure she has a variety of safe spaces to go to, especially if you have guests over.  If she initiates contact, respond but let her wander off as soon as she has had enough.  When she seems comfortable being with you, try some simple playtime, e.g. wave something wriggly or throw a paper ball for her to chase, and see if she's interested (stop immediately if she seems spooked!).  If you know what sorts of litter and food she has had before, try and use the same (at least to start) to give her a sense of familiarity.  Ensure she has a variety of toys to play with, both on her own and with you.  Pay attention, and you should soon learn her temperament and preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might find that the best you can get is knowing you have provided somewhere safe and calm for her to live.  On the other hand, she might headbutt you awake on her first morning with you, demanding to play and generally be fussed over.  Hopefully it's something in between, and you get a lot of joy and companionship from each other :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19610" LastActivityDate="2021-03-03T00:59:00.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-03T20:42:55.293" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost exactly a month ago, my cat Dylan (female, 5 years) was sleeping on a chair when she fell out of it, scrambled about with her belly low to the floor and her pupils widely dilated, head turning panicked from side to side for about a minute, then drooled briefly, and then seemed fine. I thought poisoning, because her sister ate a poisoned mouse long ago and acted similarly. But Dylan stopped after a minute and was normal again. I took her to the vet immediately nonetheless, but they found nothing, other than her heart had a slightly odd sound. She was perfectly fine until a moment ago today, when she suddenly seemed to get startled and then, once again, walked around close to the ground, wide pupils scanning the room from side to side with little or no reaction to others, and when she calmed down, she drooled briefly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She seems fine now. I have checked and it looks nothing like epilepsy or any other seizure I could find video of. It looks like she woke very roughly from a bad dream and had trouble telling what was going on. But it still scares the **** out of me. Does anyone know what it might be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-03T21:07:50.120" LastActivityDate="2021-03-03T21:07:50.120" Title="Is my cat having trouble waking, seizures, or something else?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29871" CreationDate="2021-03-03T23:01:36.467" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;This dog has been trained and everything. But huh, he knows, he really knows what's legal and illegal in my house, he ate some socks, he bites furniture, he obeys when I convince him with a treat, but only with a treat. I'm not always gonna have treats with me to tell him everytime not to do something, what can I do here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19951" LastEditorUserId="19951" LastEditDate="2021-03-04T20:59:23.113" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T20:59:23.113" Title="My dog won't behave even when he knows he's wrong" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;chewing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29870" CreationDate="2021-03-04T09:20:35.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly, this sounds like every puppy / adolescent dog I've ever known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like human babies, young dogs explore their environment with their mouth. Children eventually grow into exploring with their hands, then with their eyes, but dogs don't have agile hands and keep taking things into their mouths for longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never known a puppy that didn't destroy at least one pair of shoes / slippers or socks. They seem to like objects with a strong smell to them, so any worn footwear, underwear or sweaty shirt is at risk of being stolen and/or chewed on. Dogs don't do that out of spite, but because they love you so much that they want to have your scent around them like a perfume.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT the fun ends when the dog starts chewing furniture, carpets, wallpaper or other objects that are expensive to replace. Again, dogs don't do anything out of malice or spite, they simply do what feels good to them. Being bored feels bad. Chewing things feels good. Bored dogs chew things out of boredom, like a human would chew a chewing gum. That's why he stops chewing when you have a treat: because treats aren't boring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One solution is to offer a chewing bone or raw hide dog treat when you notice your dog chewing on furniture. That diverts his destructive chewing to something he's allowed to chew. You could also buy him a rope toy and play tug of war with him to stop his furniture chewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another solution to this problem is to give your dog small tasks and puzzles throughout the day. There are different puzzle feeders that provide a challenge for the dog to get the food / treat out of them. Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; for some ideas. If you use some kind of puzzle feeder to feed him his daily meal you can even combine boring, everyday actions with some fun and excitement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The goal is to engage his brain with a non-trivial but solvable problem for a few minutes, like you would do a crossword puzzle or play a game on your phone when you're bored. You don't need to engage him that way the whole day, but 3 times a day for 5 minutes would probably make a great difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-04T15:59:59.207" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T15:59:59.207" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-04T10:42:58.727" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;My furry friend is a  17 yr old indoor cat &amp;amp; apart from when she was neutered many many moons ago (16 and a half yrs precisely) she has never been to vets or put in a cat carrier. She has never liked been picked up preferring to come to me whenever she chooses &amp;amp; not the other way around. She has started toileting outside the box &amp;amp; is giving me other signs of a much-needed check-up. I cannot imagine how I'm going to actually get her in the carrier. Even after reading some good tips, I know it is going to be a  traumatic event taking her out of her 17year comfort zone &amp;amp; im afraid the anxiety might be too over=whelming at her age. I feel a mild sedative pre-journey would be sufficient in her case. Is their such a thing over the counter? Or do vets recommend /issue anything I  could acquire for her before they examine her? Thank you in advance for any advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19954" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T10:42:58.727" Title="How can I bring a Very anxious cat to see the vet?" Tags="&lt;senior-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-03-04T15:56:49.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29873" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29875" CreationDate="2021-03-04T15:45:00.880" Score="10" ViewCount="1477" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the layout of whiskers in a dog constant over time, or do whiskers fall out and regrow in different spots? This is a lost dog situation, and there is a foundling that looks very similar but whisker layout seems different. Unfortunately the newest pics that we have of our dog are from about 18 months ago. Could whiskers have rearranged themselves in that timeframe? The foundling is 260 km away, so it's a bit of a trip to drop by and check his reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(To anyone eager to scold us for being lazy or uncaring and unwilling to make the trip, please don't. You don't know our situation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: thanks to the kind soul who added better tags, and here's a thousand words worth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vu0aT.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vu0aT.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could the dog on the right be the same as the one on the left, but 1.5 years later and after 3 weeks of being astray? The scar under the eye is a big factor, but there are some differences too. This question is specifically about the whisker layout. The pic on the left is 1.5 years old. Could whiskers have rearranged themselves like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19859" LastEditorUserId="19859" LastEditDate="2021-03-04T16:35:59.920" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T21:12:30.637" Title="Is whisker layout in a dog a constant?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;identification&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31082" CreationDate="2021-03-04T17:55:04.150" Score="2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got a 54L aquarium and stocked it with 4 small guppies - 1 male and 3 female. Initially they all seemed to be doing fine - eating, very active within the tank etc. The male looked great when I first got him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CcbKd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CcbKd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However when I woke up this morning the male looked sick and was not moving much. He has lost all colour in his caudal fin. When I got home from work he looks even worse and seems to be hiding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2r2JN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2r2JN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tested my water parameters and all seemed fine. I have now put the male in a breeder box to separate him from the females so I can keep an eye on him better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to know what may have caused this situation and / or if it is salvageable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: This fish has now died as well as one of the seemingly healthy females. My tank parameters are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; 10mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; 1 mg/l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GH 16 °d&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;KH 6  °d&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH 7.2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cl&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; 0-0.8&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19947" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T17:29:08.963" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T20:10:47.377" Title="Female guppies are fine, but male is sick" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29873" CreationDate="2021-03-04T20:30:42.960" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've looked around in &lt;a href=&quot;https://scholar.google.de/scholar?start=20&amp;amp;q=dog%20facial%20biometrics%20identification&amp;amp;hl=de&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&amp;amp;as_vis=1&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;scientific publications&lt;/a&gt; and found no indication that whisker patterns are used anywhere to identify canines (neither lost dogs nor wild animals or those living in zoos).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few research teams and companies who are developing facial recognition algorithms for dogs, but those are all based on machine learning / AI (&lt;a href=&quot;https://arxiv.org/pdf/1510.02781.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 1&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-29894-4_34&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 2&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scirp.org/html/14-9301864_46341.htm&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;source 3&lt;/a&gt;). The problem with these machine learning systems is that no-one can say &lt;em&gt;how exactly&lt;/em&gt; it works because the software creates an obscure binary &amp;quot;mask&amp;quot; during the &amp;quot;training&amp;quot; phase that cannot be translated back to individual areas of the picture. You also usually need a lot of pictures of the individual to train the AI to identify the same individual in an unknown image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only body feature of dogs that is treated as biometrical identification is the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=&amp;amp;esrc=s&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=&amp;amp;cad=rja&amp;amp;uact=8&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwiCpMrXpJfvAhUJAcAKHS2hA3k4FBAWMAJ6BAgFEAM&amp;amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.semanticscholar.org%2Fpaper%2FBiometric-Recognition-for-Pet-Animal-Kumar-Singh%2F3c889bd36af1228840c1414f8a5289f05f8db928&amp;amp;usg=AOvVaw35uVo9bn2sX9TibfHMZ97n&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;muzzle print of a dog&lt;/a&gt;, which is as unique as a fingerprint of a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, whiskers are not much more than oversized hairs. Hairs grow from  follicles, which don't change places in the skin (AFAIK). Whisker spots are an accepted way to identify &lt;a href=&quot;https://conservationcubclub.com/cat-whisker-spot-patterns-in-lions-leopards-and-me/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cats and feline predators&lt;/a&gt; and the technique was also applied to &lt;a href=&quot;https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00340.x?casa_token=S9nkk4wvaKoAAAAA%3AQxwnT4OQsmHblkDpyGd70z2-UwRe19DS7XLK3DMJ3P54c-uMzVF5HjNXX4c7rUv_kcSoJKC7Ve2ToWY&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;polar bears&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/96/5/988/915233?login=true&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Australian sea lions&lt;/a&gt;. The accuracy of this method strongly depends on the size of population. The sea lion study calculated that the accuracy (read: uniqueness of the pattern) is 98% in a population of 100 animals and drops down to 88% in a population of 1000 animals. Now imagine how many dogs there are in a 260 km radius...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried comparing the 2 photos based on what I read about whisker spots and my personal, not scientific opinion is that these are 2 different dogs. As suggested in the comments, you should either ask for more pictures or a video call to see the dog for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rv63L.png&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rv63L.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-04T21:12:30.637" LastActivityDate="2021-03-04T21:12:30.637" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-05T00:47:59.170" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 12-year-old giant French poodle. She is almost blind but still sees well. She does not like to eat dog food, only human food, and it cannot be given to him because she vomits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was being very disturbing, barking and banging his head on doors to get me to feed her. I got upset and hit her with a shoe, and her reaction was to go to his bed to hide, so I locked her in it. She escaped from his confinement, and when she saw me take my shoe off again, she went scared to her bed. I leaned out so she wouldn't be afraid of me, but she didn't want to see me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I feel bad because I am afraid that my relationship with her will turn bad, and she needs affection because he is at the end of his life. How can I fix my relationship with her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19956" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T01:58:38.883" LastActivityDate="2021-03-05T01:58:38.883" Title="Fixing my dog's relationship with me after I hit her" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-03-05T18:06:19.393" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31139" CreationDate="2021-03-05T14:34:27.993" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog only likes human food, but I can't give her it, because she vomits. If she doesn't get human food, she won't eat, and is sick, because she weighs 10,5 kg and she should weigh from 16 to 22 kg. How I can feed her with dog food? I bought all possible types of dog food, but she doesn't like any of them. I need a brief answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19956" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-03-05T20:19:11.657" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T19:39:03.693" Title="My dog is not eating her food" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;weight&gt;&lt;can-food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-06T05:57:36.953" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;My leopard gecko got moved to a new cage a month ago. In the last two weeks he has refused to eat anything. He is out of hiding and walking throughout his cage. His tank is around 84°F (29°C) on the hot side. He has heat from above and below. He is also three years old. He has lost weight, but is not super skinny. In the last three days he has started to gag. He also makes noises that he has never made before. He is not lethargic. I am worried that he refuses to eat and he is gagging more as days progress. I am working on taking him to the vet, but it is hard due to location and work it is hard. Any thoughts if this is an emergency? What could it possibly be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19960" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-06T16:20:19.457" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T19:02:00.283" Title="My leopard gecko is sick" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;leopard-geckos&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-08T07:54:22.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29809" CreationDate="2021-03-06T09:18:50.503" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a problem with my Danio too. I determined that she just ate too much and was bloated. I recommend decreasing food and seeing what happens before jumping to conclusions of a deadly disease. But I do recommend separating your Danio just in case and decreasing food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T09:18:50.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29717" CreationDate="2021-03-06T09:31:12.340" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in 4-H and I do my rabbits nails once every two weeks. Although I handle mine daily and I don't like being scratched. It really depends on how often you handle it and how fast the nails grow. I'm not saying never cut their nails. But once a month would be just fine or once a week. Depending on how often you wanna do it. If you do it once a week it isn't worth it. It barely grows. I've got a Himilayan doe (female) and a Mini Rex buck (male) one needs their nails trimmed every two weeks and another once a month. The more you do it the easier it will be. If you have difficulties with nail trimming figure out their favorite treat (make sure it's something they can eat carrots and spring mix lettuce are the common favorites in my rabbits.) Avoid iceberg lettuce. Rabbits are very sensitive and cannot regurgitate foods that their digestive system didn't like. So make sure that what your giving you bun bun is healthy. Rabbits tend to show signs of illness very late. Due to the fact that wild rabbits will get kicked out of the burrow or safe place if they show signs of illness. The last thing you want is a sick bunny! I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T09:31:12.340" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29634" CreationDate="2021-03-06T09:38:02.933" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your black molly looks like a male to me. You don't always notice fry because they are so small and transparent. I always get surprised when I see these two giant adorable eyes looking at me! Make sure to check on your tank daily and look very closely near leaves, rocks, the pebbles you have at the bottom of the tank, behind thermometers, filters, and heaters, and I've even seen mine not in the filter but resting on the side near the inside of the filter. So make sure your not missing any babies!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T09:38:02.933" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29335" CreationDate="2021-03-06T10:01:55.490" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find with my dogs turning on the TV during Holidays such as the 4th of July really helps them. You cannot completely stop them from being afraid but having distractions such as the TV, snuggles, and even just talking loudly to other people in the house. I've had 3 dogs throughout the years who've been terrified of fireworks, gunshots, and lightning all very common when you live on a farm like I do. Doing things as mentioned above have really helped. Starting with desensitizing them as puppies is the best way to overcome fears of loud noises. Adult dogs are extremely hard (especially hounds who have no brain from my experience. No brains but plenty of love and laughs) so it really depends on the intelligence of the dog. A golden retriever could easily be trained to do it ( if you do it correctly and take things slow) but a dog that wasn't bred for intelligence will be a lot more difficult to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T10:01:55.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29313" CreationDate="2021-03-06T10:30:30.627" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try getting them live not frozen. I've got a kingsnake that was bred in the wild. Wouldn't eat anything except for wild mice because of the color. If your snake is breed in captivity do not feed it wild rodents! They can carry diseases that the snake has not become immune to. I'd recommend trying live. If he eats the live I'd recommend breeding mice. Simply buy a pair. It saves a lot of money. I've been breeding wild mice. I had to make sure it was legal though. And I have to take certain safety precautions on handling them. The can carry many diseases. Mice breed in captivity are vaccinated so you don't have to worry. I'd still recommend quarantining mice to see if they are active. Mice sleep a lot so don't get confused. They spend most of their time eating and sleeping. I quarantine my wild mice for two weeks before feeding them to my snake. I love her dearly and would hate for her to get sick. So yes I'd recommend trying live and if that doesn't work try contacting a veterinarian that works with reptiles. If you cannot find a reptile vet ask your regular vet if they can help. When was the last time your snake ate? Snakes will go a while without food. In the wild finding food is hard. So they have adapted to go long periods of time without food. My kingsnake can go 6 months without food. Also he still might be adjusting to his new home. Does he have a heat lamp? Is he in a quiet place? Is he on the ground or up on a desk or table? All these can affect your snake and prevent him from eating. If he doesn't have a heat lamp then get one. A heat mat is also recommended to go will the heat lamp. Put a thermometer in the cage. To hot and to cold temperatures can affect your snake too. If he's in a noisy room move him to a quiet place where he won't get disturbed. If he's on the floor the vibrations can stress him out. Move him to a shelf or table. Also are his eyes a bluish color. If so he's getting ready to shed which can affect his eyesight preventing him from eating. Dont handling him when his eyes are a blue color. He could bite you on accident. Also after he sheds check the skin that the snake sheds for eye caps. I'll be attaching a picture of what my snakes eyecaps look like so that way you know what to look for. Also constantly walking into the room when he's hunting will stress him out. Avoid the room and avoid any motion which can affect his hunting. If he does eat don't handle him until three days after eating. If you handle him before this it can cause him to regurgitate his food due to stress. Making sure the humidity is at a good range will help. As well as fresh water. I know it's hard when your animal doesn't want to eat. Like I said I've had the same problem has you. But since the snake cannot tell you what's wrong you have to figure it out. I hope this helps you figure out the problem. Let me know if it doesn't work. Ball Pythons can be very picky sometimes. They may want frozen food. And then change there mind and want live. So be prepared for a possible change in appetite. Ivd lived with my dad's ball python for my whole life. I actually named her when I was 2. And shes been picky. I worked at Wildlife Safari for a while and many of their snakes where picky too. It just depends and in the end you'll find out the problem. Again let me know if the problem continues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T10:30:30.627" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29149" CreationDate="2021-03-06T11:01:59.260" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your puppy needs plenty of exercise. If you live in the city, take your puppy for walks daily or take him/her to the dog park. If you live in the country, make sure your fencing is good and let your pup have fun. Remember. Puppies are like 2 year olds. Don't take your eyes off them. A 10-30 minute walk is great for your puppy. Puppies will play all day. The more you play the more you will bond. 30 minutes of play time at the least is ideal. Outdoor exercise is a must. 30 minutes to and hour at the least would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies have short attention spans. They easily become distracted. No more than 5 minutes a day would be excellent for your pup. At the age of 1 year, 5-10 minute training sessions are ideal. I'm a mammal trainer and all training sessions should be at least 5-10 minutes long no matter what animal. Animals can get overwhelmed and/or bored if training is too long. As a general rule of thumb in the animal training world, we have a little saying that goes like this less than 5 brings trouble more than 10 makes double. Basically this means less than 5 the animal doesn't learn enough. More than 10 and the animal doesn't listen causing both of you to lose interest. So yeah, less than 5 one animal (the animal that's getting trained doesn't learn, hence the trouble). And more than 10 makes double. (When the animal loses interest you lose interest hence the double.) It makes more sense if you do it yourself and get more experienced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important for training sessions to be positive. If the animal isn't listening take a break and try again later. Always end on a positive note. If the animal does what you want, reward it and end the training session. If a training session does go bad, punish the pup. Now punish can mean many things; do not physically punish the dog. Instead figure out what it really loves. If you usually go play after a training session, postpone the playing for a while as a punishment. Ignore the pup completely. Once you feel confident that the punishment worked, go do play time. I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-06T21:08:59.110" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T21:08:59.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29106" CreationDate="2021-03-06T11:09:20.760" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pine shavings are the best option. Dont use sand. You can get pine shavings at feed stores like Wilco or Coastal. Probably on Amazon too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T11:09:20.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29055" CreationDate="2021-03-06T11:16:26.470" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try holding up another toy and saying &amp;quot;drop it&amp;quot;. Usually dogs will drop the toy they have for another one. Repeat this a bunch and try it with the one toy. Labs are very smart and will quickly learn. I've done this with my German Shepherd and it worked. As well as my English pointer/coonhound mix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-11T21:37:53.490" LastActivityDate="2021-03-11T21:37:53.490" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29040" CreationDate="2021-03-06T11:19:43.693" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Locate you local animal shelter. They should have a website with a number. Try calling them and see what they have and if they have any recommendations for other reliable websites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T11:19:43.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-06T11:21:31.763" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an estimated 15 year old Russian tortoise who I've had for 5 years. I typically leave his lights off throughout fall. This year he's gone through winter, too. Should I be doing this or is it healthier to keep his lights on year round and feed him every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19961" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-06T16:32:45.867" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T13:54:21.010" Title="I have a Russian Tortoise. Should I let him hibernate from fall till spring without feeding him? Or should I wake him up?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;reptiles&gt;&lt;tortoises&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29879" CreationDate="2021-03-06T18:07:15.690" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;He sure is depressed about the new cage, and much more if it is very different from the previous one. If you can, change it back to the old cage, and only put it in the new one sometimes, longer and longer so that it is a transition and not a drastic change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19956" LastActivityDate="2021-03-06T18:07:15.690" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-08T15:19:40.653" Score="3" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi I started a tank a week ago with 3 guppies in my daughter's room, but the HOB filter was too loud, so I have now changed to Fluval U2. I have both filters in tank now since yesterday, but my question is: can I remove 1st noisy one, as it has only been in the tank for a week so it hasn't fully cycled yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19967" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-08T17:29:48.817" LastActivityDate="2021-03-08T17:29:48.817" Title="How long should I leave old filter in new tank after installing a second, new filter to replace the old one?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-03-09T14:07:24.927" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29907" CreationDate="2021-03-09T12:27:23.083" Score="24" ViewCount="7903" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up a stray puppy from the side of the road 3 days back. She is an Indian breed. She was crawling on her belly into shade when I found her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I picked her (brown) up along with 2 other (black) puppies. The other two black ones are healthy and eating well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This brown one is not eating or drinking on her own, I need to feed her with a syringe. When she gets up she starts crying and pacing in circles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am feeding her glucose and water every other day or so. If I put a few pellets of dog food in her mouth, she is chewing and swallowing. Otherwise she is unresponsive to other sounds or movements, she keeps on pacing and sometimes she keeps blankly staring at something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two pups are responding well, they recognize me and are playful. What could be wrong with the brown one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: All 3 look to be around one month old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already took her to a vet, and all she told me was to hydrate her every hour with glucose and water until she becomes healthy and then bring in for diagnosis. The vet didn't even touch the puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RepNH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RepNH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19970" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-09T23:55:24.907" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T13:25:49.293" Title="One month old puppy pacing in circles and crying" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-09T12:58:58.130" Score="-1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I forgot to save the old water from when I cleaned my betta’s tank and now he’s floating at the bottom. What can I do? I have already tried putting my guppies’ tank water in to do half half and it’s still not working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19971" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-09T15:01:00.343" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T23:07:45.753" Title="Betta dying help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29900" CreationDate="2021-03-09T20:13:53.073" Score="53" Body="&lt;h2&gt;BEWARE OF RABIES! DANGER TO LIFE&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms you describe, the lack of motor control, the unawareness, staring into nothing, not being able to drink and eat on her own, could all be symptoms of rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabies is 100% lethal to all infected humans and animals that are not vaccinated.&lt;/strong&gt; If you're not vaccinated, please get the vaccine for you and your family &lt;strong&gt;as soon as possible&lt;/strong&gt;. The rabies vaccine is the only effective treatment and it's still effective after you were infected and before the first symptoms set in. Even if you were vaccinated in the past, let your doctor check that the old vaccine is still effective and refresh it just in case. If this puppy indeed has rabies and infects you, there is no way to save your life as soon as you feel the first symptoms. That will be a fever and/or tingling at the site of infection (usually a bite or other wound).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(In the recent 10 years there have been several accounts of people surviving rabies. All of them have been only partially vaccinated and all of them retained very severe brain damage or died a few months later. There is no report of someone without any antibodies ever surviving. So even if you &amp;quot;survive&amp;quot; rabies, you won't ever be healthy again.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabies&lt;/a&gt; is spread when an infected animal bites or scratches a human or other animal. Saliva from an infected animal can also transmit rabies if the saliva comes into contact with the eyes, mouth, or nose. Globally, dogs are the most common animal involved. In countries where dogs commonly have the disease, more than 99% of rabies cases are the direct result of dog bites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You must separate the puppy from all other dogs and especially humans and children to avoid even more infections. &lt;strong&gt;Protect yourself from sudden, unforeseeable bites&lt;/strong&gt;. The virus replicates in the nervous tisseus, including the brain and spinal cord and is eventually shed in the saliva of infected animals. Rabies is NOT found in the urine or blood of infected animals. You must always wash your hands and all objects that came into contact with the puppy with lots of soap, or better a 70% ethanol or phenol solution (many hand sanitizers are based on ethanol; read the list of ingredients to make sure). Be aware that the disinfectant must be applied for a prolonged time (most often several minutes) to be effective and you must apply more sanitizer to your hands until the required time (read the package leaflet) is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rabies has many non-specific signs in animals that may be hard to detect in the beginning or can be confused with other signs. If the puppy becomes aggressive or has foam or thick saliva on its mouth, it could indicate that it has rabies, however, this can only be confirmed after a post-mortem laboratory test has confirmed the presence of the virus. Unfortunately, if the animal is in fact rabid and clinical signs have manifested, the mortality rate is near 100% and the animal will die from the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also &lt;strong&gt;keep a watchful eye on the other 2 puppies.&lt;/strong&gt; They may be infected as well, but may not show any symptoms yet. If they are infected, they start shedding viruses (read: they could infect humans and other animals) &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; they show the first symptoms. If you can afford the treatment, get them vaccinated against rabies ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope very much that I am wrong with my assumption, but in case this puppy does have rabies, please be extremely careful and don't endanger your own life for the life of an animal you won't be able to save anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a global charity (Global Alliance for Rabies Control) that specializes in rabies elimination in all rabies-endemic countries. It offers free online courses to teach you more about the disease and to raise awareness about the disease. You can learn more about rabies and help prevent eliminate the disease globally. Check out there website here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://rabiesalliance.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://rabiesalliance.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://caninerabiesblueprint.org/5-5-4-How-do-we-deal-with-or?lang=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How do we deal with or prevent exposures?&lt;/a&gt; by caninerabiesblueprint.org&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ehs.stanford.edu/reference/rabies-virus-fact-sheet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Rabies Virus Fact Sheet&lt;/a&gt; by Stanford University&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166093415301233&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Disinfection protocols for necropsy equipment in rabies laboratories: Safety of personnel and diagnostic outcome&lt;/a&gt; by FAO and National Reference Centre for Rabies, OIE Collaborating Centre and National Reference Centre for Diseases at the Animal-Human Interface, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Viale dell’Università 10, 35020 Italy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="20336" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T13:25:49.293" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T13:25:49.293" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29040" CreationDate="2021-03-10T09:14:50.797" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Identifying a good site for pet adoption can be tricky.&#xA;There are some go-to sites that you can always count on being reliable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your local animal shelters&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their mission is to care for animals and adopt them out.&#xA;They will let you see the animal before adoption and will make sure your situation is fit for the animal as well.&#xA;The animals in a shelter will also have been checked by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples in English and German:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://tierschutz-berlin.de/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://tierschutz-berlin.de/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.battersea.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.battersea.org.uk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pages from Animal Societies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same as the shelters it is their mission to make sure animals are treated well.&#xA;Some organizations also operate their own shelters.&#xA;Who operates shelters mainly depends on your location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/findapet/rehomeapet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.rspca.org.uk/findapet/rehomeapet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Talk to other people who have adopted pets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have friends or family who have adopted before? Ask them what site/app they used or how they adopted their pet. They might also be able to tell you about trustworthy pages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if you just search the web for pets up for adoption there are some things to watch out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NEVER&lt;/strong&gt; buy a pet without having seen it in person, some sellers will only show you images and want you to decide based on that - they are not trustworthy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When looking at sites of breeders you need to make sure they are not mistreating their animals. This can be tricky but make sure they show you around the living space of the animals. They should have papers from the vet for every animal. General rule with breeders: If something seems of trust your gut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pages like eBay and other marketplaces are not usually a good place to buy pets.&#xA;They are sold by private people, who might not have a lot of knowledge. You can get lucky here but apply the rules above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not let people pressure you into making a decision. &amp;quot;If you do not take it today it is gone!&amp;quot; Then do not take it unless you are 100% sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But what about putting up pets for adoption?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your best bet here is your local animal shelter. As stated above they take care of the animals and make sure they are healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have pets you want to put up for adoption I can not recommend an online way of doing so. As a responsible pet owner you will have to validate the buyer. Do they have enough experience? Do they have enough room? Are they good people?&#xA;In my opinion the best way to find someone is by word of mouth. Talk to your friends and family, and they will talk to theirs. This way you are more likely to find trustworthy buyers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T09:14:50.797" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29901" CreationDate="2021-03-10T16:32:55.147" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it seems (without seeing water test results) that you shocked your fish by doing too much change at once. It's always good to do daily and small changes to your betta aquarium (if you don't have filtration system) or 20-30% weekly with filtration. You never do too much stressful changes, as our fishes are very sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let us know how it continues and please try to stabilize its environment as more sudden changes won't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-10T22:15:36.680" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T22:15:36.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29910" CreationDate="2021-03-10T18:05:31.893" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are planning to buy a Golden Retriever puppy from one breeder and we liked one male puppy which we are keen to make him our family member. He is now 7 weeks old. Breeder recently took all of his puppies to Vet and found that the puppy we are interested in is having one of his testicles retained. He is only one out of 4 boys in the current litter having this problem. The breeder told us that in the last litter there were 3 such puppies who had this problem initially, but eventually they were fine and retained testicle got descended later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be our first puppy, so we are a bit concerned about the situation. The breeder is saying that if the testicle doesn't descend, then he will be happy to bear the cost of surgery up to $400. We are not really comfortable that our puppy going under the knife twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this regard, I have a couple of questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it a must to remove retained testicle?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If dog undergoes retained testicle removal surgery then will he have any health issues in the future?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Given the chance, should we avoid buying this puppy?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19983" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-10T21:41:39.167" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T12:55:41.363" Title="Golden Retriever puppy with one retained testicle" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29900" CreationDate="2021-03-10T18:33:13.823" Score="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took her to a good vet today. She checked her, found that she was blind, but she was responding to sounds well. She was pacing in circles when she got stressed. Today with this new knowledge, I brought her home, started training her with sounds. She started responding well, she would circle a bit and then once she recognizes where the sound came from, she would walk in that direction. She even started drinking and eating on her own after she got comfortable with me. I have to hold the food and water up to her mouth, and she would eat/drink it, technically not by herself, but it's a big improvement compared to feeding her with syringe. Thanks for your help guys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE- 15-Mar-2021&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is now eating well. No need to hold the container near her mouth anymore. She identifies objects and people, and has become better tuned to focus on sounds and smells. She has become familiar with her surroundings now, and knows where things are at. She is eating more compared to the other two pups now, also she has started play fighting with the other pups. Before she was always confused and unable to fight back. I feel she is on a path to a healthy normal dog life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19970" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-15T21:32:55.180" LastActivityDate="2021-03-15T21:32:55.180" CommentCount="13" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28805" CreationDate="2021-03-10T21:07:55.117" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The FEDIAF has &lt;a href=&quot;https://fediaf.org/images/FEDIAF_Carbohydrates-OnlineK.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;reviewed&lt;/a&gt; carbs in pet food (see page 8 for cats, includes further references)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been suggested that high dietary carbohydrate levels could&#xA;alter energy metabolism and reduce insulin sensitivity but this has&#xA;not been confirmed. Many studies have been conducted regarding the&#xA;impact of dietary carbohydrates on biomarkers for disease risk and&#xA;they have not found a clear association of carbohydrate intake with&#xA;diabetes mellitus risk in cats. Diet can increase the risk of this&#xA;disease mainly due to its association with obesity rather than to its&#xA;nutritional composition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Epidemiological studies found that dry foods (which likely contain&#xA;more carbohydrates than wet ones, and also can have increased energy&#xA;density) do not affect diabetes risk, or are associated with a reduced&#xA;risk; however, one study found that dry diets were associated with a&#xA;higher risk of diabetes in lean but not fat cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a new study (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210309153845.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;summary&lt;/a&gt;) showing that cats showed a strong preference for food containing oligosaccharides. Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) are naturally occurring in cat's milk and are widely used in animal feed. As producers are extremely vague about the &amp;quot;various sugars&amp;quot; in their cat food, I wonder if some of these might be used as attractants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19984" LastActivityDate="2021-03-10T21:07:55.117" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-12T12:03:11.807" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;20 days ago, my female cat gave birth to 4 kittens (she's an outdoor cat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kittens open their eyes in the day 14 normally, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;but one of them now has an issue that wasn't there before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of his eyes got closed; he doesn't open it at all &lt;br&gt;&#xA;and it has some brown, dried pus around it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G9O5h.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/G9O5h.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture is a bit not clear, I took it with my phone camera, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;but you can notice there is something on his nose as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't go to the vet because they are very expensive in my area and I'm kind of broke - I can't afford it.&#xA;Also, sadly, there is no rescue or shelter in my city, &lt;br&gt;&#xA;so at least I'm trying to understand if that is an infection or something simple so I can help it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19997" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-12T15:26:13.500" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T17:10:19.760" Title="20-day-old kitten's left eye closed for 3 days after it was open?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29906" CreationDate="2021-03-12T12:55:41.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Testicles typically drop by 12 weeks but some can stay up until 6 months old so it’s a bit early to be worried just yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s also very kind of the breeder to offer the cost, they don’t have any obligation to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume you plan to get the pup neutered based on you saying “under the knife twice”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In time it will be need to be removed but I’d wait until you have him neutered (at the appropriate age to do so) so it you can do it all in 1 rather than have multiple surgeries. There’s no guarantee that it will become cancerous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wouldn’t say there is, you’re actually taking away more risk as retained testicles can become cancerous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It really depends on what you want to do with the dog, if you want him as a pet then go for it, just bear the surgery in mind. If you want to stud him then no, as it’s evident that the retained testicle is a hereditary fault given the previous litter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12116" LastActivityDate="2021-03-12T12:55:41.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12176" CreationDate="2021-03-13T02:02:28.017" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;He saw you naked, can you blame him for wanting to hide.  Seriously, I have a ten year old male tabby and as a ktten he needed to always be near me.  Most cats just don't see the necessity of this  business.  As my cat got more mature the security thing waned some but I still on occasion find him sitting outside the shower seemingly looking at me with contempt or just disgusted that I would wash my perfectly good scent away.   The dirty sweaty body odor to him.is just what he wants from me.  Dogs are probably even worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20017" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T02:02:28.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29914" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-13T04:21:47.903" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Pacific parrotlet is nearly 7 years old. About a month or two ago I noticed a small bald spot on her head. It is only visible when I pet her head and comb over her feathers, but otherwise it is covered by her other head feathers. Nevertheless, it seems to be a bald spot rather than a result of molting. I took her to the vet in the fall for her annual check-up and everything was great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this be stress induced? Or a result of a disease? Or could this be perfectly normal and something I never noticed before? Ultimately, I want to know if I should be worried and to schedule another vet visit in the near future (rather than wait for her annual appointment in the late fall)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19962" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-13T16:10:57.003" LastActivityDate="2021-03-13T16:10:57.003" Title="Parrotlet has small bald spot on her head" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;parrots&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29915" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-13T08:02:57.023" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;We brought home our 9 week old miniature dachshund yesterday. Having read lots of puppy training information, we decided to crate train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has taken to the crate very well and sleeps in there happily. When he wakes he will whine. I take him outside to go to the toilet, but he just cries, louder and louder until I bring him in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weather here at the moment is wet and windy, which I don't think is helping. I have tried bringing him back in, calming him down and taking him out again, but no joy so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was getting to the point where he would just run away and hide in his crate when I went near him, presumably to avoid going outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was concerned that I was going to just make him fearful of me, so on the first night put some paper down by the back door. He woke every 2-3 hours whining, but didn't come out of the crate on his own. I assumed he was awake as he needed the toilet as he wouldn't settle again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I tried taking him outside. However, his crying just got louder and louder and he was shivering and shaking. In the end he did use the newspaper inside, then settled down in his crate again for another 2-3 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what to try next, should I stick with paper whilst he settles down, or am I creating a problem later on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20037" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T17:10:59.793" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T17:10:59.793" Title="How do I potty train a puppy who just cries when I take him outside?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;dachshunds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29909" CreationDate="2021-03-13T10:24:49.263" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing you could do is get all them checked by a vet. Given your situation, you should have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/18810/12501&quot;&gt;I can't afford vet treatment, what are my options?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a first aid measure, I can recommend mixing &amp;quot;artificial tears&amp;quot; to rinse the eye. Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/28285/12501&quot;&gt;read here&lt;/a&gt; for detailed instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would advise mixing smaller batches, but you need a precision scale to weight such a small amount of salt (0.9 grams of salt for 100 grams solution).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If available, use pure sea salt or &amp;quot;fleur de sel&amp;quot; for the solution. The next best thing is plain (not iodized) cooking salt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fill it up with sterilized water. If you don't have sterilized water, you need to dechlorinate your tap water by boiling it for 20 minutes on the stove and then letting it cool.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can store the solution in a jar in the fridge for up to 3 days. At the fourth day, pour away the old solution and mix a fresh batch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To treat the eye, pour the solution over a cotton pad or folded tissue paper and gently wipe the soaked tissue over the eye. Do not put the cotton / tissue into the jar with the solution to soak it, because that way you introduce a lot of impurities like dust, bacteria and mold spores into the solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Important&lt;/strong&gt;: If you treat several cats or both eyes of the same cat this way, you must use a fresh cotton pad or tissue paper for each eye, else you risk spreading the infection even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have used the solution in the past for my dog and he accepted the treatment without shying away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-14T17:10:19.760" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T17:10:19.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-14T13:22:21.610" Score="1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Posting as a guest just in case this is weird but, I like to fiddle with things and my dog likes belly rubs. I sometimes absently find myself fiddling with one of her (very prominent) nipples. Is this a sex thing for her that I should stop doing? Or is this more like when I play with my partner's skin tags or pick at my scabs, which is what it's like for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20054" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T12:11:39.923" Title="Are dog nipples erogenous zones?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29920" CreationDate="2021-03-14T14:01:42.950" Score="2" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog began showing symptoms by throwing up; after that, she's made horrible hacking noises every so often like she wants to throw up but can't. I think this is a &amp;quot;cough&amp;quot;? It doesn't sound like my friend's dog who used to cough a lot, which was more of a dry wheeze. When my dog coughs, sometimes white slime comes up, but not much (maybe a teaspoon). The rest of the time nothing comes up; she's only thrown up one other time, and it was after I gave her a bunch of dairy and then played roughly with her, so I am pretty sure that one was my fault. Is this a &amp;quot;wet cough&amp;quot; which I am told is very dangerous? Or is this &amp;quot;retching&amp;quot; or something else instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in this situation, how soon is okay to go to the vet? She has her first wellness visit in 2 days, is this an emergency room situation or a &amp;quot;see your vet this week&amp;quot; situation? We assume this is a &amp;quot;don't over-exercise and keep warm&amp;quot; situation in case it's a virus of some kind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added as per comments: so over the last few days she's had several different noises. The one that initially worried me is more of a wet hacking, occasionally with some phlegm or something spit up, and I've also seen her hack become full-on vomit. But this video captures the most common noise, a dry cough that she gets reliably after exerting herself (here by playing her favorite game, tug): &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXJcmoTJNg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXJcmoTJNg&lt;/a&gt; (ignore the growling, she always growls during tug, it's the coughing we're looking at).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-16T17:17:37.343" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T17:17:37.343" Title="How worried should I be about this cough?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;upper-respiratory-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="767" CreationDate="2021-03-14T14:21:01.427" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only have one dog (yet), but she likes to put her head on my shoulder/neck when we're lying down. I think that signifies trust and pack acceptance, which makes me nickname it a &amp;quot;doggy hug&amp;quot;. So that's another reason dogs will put their heads on each other's necks/upper backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T14:21:01.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29918" CreationDate="2021-03-14T16:56:29.113" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;If by &amp;quot;wellness visit&amp;quot; you mean a visit at the groomer, I would reschedule until after she was seen by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This hacking could have different causes. Maybe she inhaled some food during your play. But maybe it's &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/kennel-cough-in-dogs#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kennel cough&lt;/a&gt; (Web MD) or a different contagious infection. You should separate your dog from others until you know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No visit to the groomer, the dog park, a puppy school or anywhere else where lots of dogs meet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No walks with her other dog friends. She shouldn't touch any other dog until you know if her cough is contagious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Document the evidence! A picture of the sputum she coughes up would help your vet diagnose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always have a tissue paper in your pocket when taking her on a walk. If she coughes and spits out some fluid, you should wipe it away to avoid infecting other dogs (after taking a picture for your vet).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In case your vet wants to do labwork on the sputum, you could also collect some in a clean doggy poo bag, but it must be fresh to be analyzed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No strenuous activity for her. Light play and walks are ok, but she shouldn't play fetch or do any activity to the point she has to pant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as she doesn't pant or choke while resting or becomes extremely lethargic, this doesn't warrant a visit to the emergency vet. But you should get her checked out within the next days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-14T17:05:02.757" LastActivityDate="2021-03-14T17:05:02.757" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-14T17:48:13.373" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Shih Tzu is almost 2 years old and had her 1st litter 4 days ago. She keeps moving one pup, yet still nurses him. No physical problem or cleft mouth. I’m scared she’ll eat him, I’ve heard horrible stories about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20055" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-14T17:56:53.830" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:58:42.340" Title="Why is my dog separating one pup and moving him?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-14T21:28:59.930" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is urgent for me, so any immediate suggestions/answers are appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in a one-bed apartment with three other roommates in Colton, California. Recently, we installed large tanks with many kinds of fish, including bettas, danios, Corydoras (julies, emeralds, pandas, albinos, peppers, etc.), Harley Quinn rasboras, loaches, ghost shrimp, mollys, snails, etc. There are a total of 40-60 fish between all of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have three tanks in total; one 10 gallon (38 L) tank in the living room, and two tanks, 10 gallon and 20 gallon (76 L), in the bedroom, all filled with water at maximum capacity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We noticed a few days ago our cat spending a lot of time in the kitchen, and discovered that she was hunting roaches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to my roommates and I's schedules being so different, we are having a hard time figuring out when to bug-bomb our residence. How are we to keep the fishes safe from the bug-bombing when it occurs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read forum after forum; some say &amp;quot;cover the tanks up with a plastic not able to be penetrated by the harmful toxins&amp;quot;, some say &amp;quot;remove your fish&amp;quot;; but that's impossible with the 20 gallon tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say to do a 100% water change when I get back and air out the remaining fumes. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5448&quot;&gt;I have only seen one other post on here, dated 6 years ago&lt;/a&gt;; I was hoping to get an updated version due to people's experience on what the heck I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm using the brand Raid No Mess Fogger. Do I cover the tanks and secure them tightly, unplug any line going in or out of it and take the filters with me in the car and hope for the best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate it so much if you helped me out! It takes a few minutes to respond to a question on a forum like this and if you take just a few minutes out of your day for me to help me out, just know it's greatly appreciated and you are saving a huge load of fishes' lives!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your time in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20056" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-17T16:48:58.680" LastActivityDate="2021-03-17T16:48:58.680" Title="How do I keep my fish tank and fish safe against Raid Fogger bomb for roaches?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29922" CreationDate="2021-03-14T23:47:51.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there really is any safer method of protecting your fish and other animals than physically removing them from the fumigated apartment. I wouldn't trust anything else to be 100% reliable and guarantee their survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that, while insecticides are extremely toxic to fish, they are even more toxic to invertebrates - shrimps, snails, etc. If you cannot temporarily rehome all the animals, please at least rehome the shrimps and snails because they are the most sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I also understand that moving even a small aquarium is incredibly impractical and disruptive for the biological balance because it requires removing all the water from it, usually also the substrate; there is also a risk of breaking the glass during transport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, if relocating the aquariums nor rehoming the fish are not viable options, you definitely need to isolate the aquariums with airtight barriers to prevent any insecticide fumes from coming in contact with the water. Plastics are not imprevious to all chemicals - especially not to organic compounds as they could still diffuse through - but covering the aquariums even with common plastic foil is definitely better than nothing. It would be really good if you could get hold of a foil made of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PTFE (also known as Teflon)&lt;/a&gt; to wrap the aquariums in it - this material is the most inert and impermeable of all plastics; containers made of PTFE are used to store especially aggressive chemicals that damage or seep through other materials. PTFE foil might hopefully be available in your local hardware store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that even using airtight material doesn't necessarily mean that the resulting seal will be completely airtight - and I won't expect it to be, there are probably going to be at least a few imperfections. However, to increase the chances, I definitely recommend using large amounts of duct tape - especially while wrapping the plastic foil around places like power cords of the filter, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also essential to seal/disable any airflow inlets that would let the air (and thus the insecticide fumes) in the aquarium - like the air tube of the filter. The filtration itself, however, must stay on in the aquariums - or else you risk breaking the nitrogen cycle and getting a potentially fatal ammonia spike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Trond Hansen suggested in the comment, it would also be good to use activated carbon/charcoal (from the pet store) in all the aquariums as a preventative measure against the insecticide. Activated carbon adsorps a lot of chemical compounds, including various toxins. It would be the best to place the activated carbon as an additional medium in the filters of all the aquariums in the apartment before the fumigation - in this case, it should always be placed in a way that the water entering the filter passes first through mechanical medium (sponge, etc.) before passing through activated carbon layer. If it is placed the other way around, the activated carbon would quickly become clogged with larger particulates and this would waste its potential - the carbon would stop being active long before its adsorption capacity was exhausted. If the filters are also using biological media, like ceramic rings, etc. then it is less important as to whether the carbon is placed before or after the biological media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is not possible to place the activated carbon inside the filter as a medium, it could be placed somewhere else in the water column, optimally in a place with high flux of water current. In this case, it is also advised to contain the activated carbon in some sort of &amp;quot;bag&amp;quot; made of aquarium-safe, water-permeable material - for example, it could be wrapped in a layer of filter floss (please ask about this material in the pet store); this will make it much easier to remove all the carbon later. All the carbon must be removed from the aquariums at some point; it is because it will eventually get saturated and from then on it could begin to release all the adsorped substances back into the water column. Please use the information provided by the manufacturer on the package to decide at which point you should remove the carbon from the aquariums.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the top of that, you must take into account that isolating the aquarium the way I described is going to cut it off from the supply of atmospheric oxygen. It is not going to be a problem immediately, but the oxygen is eventually going to get depleted and it is a huge problem because obviously you cannot expose the aquarium to the insecticide-contaminated air. My guess as to how long would it take to deplete the oxygen in this scenario is anywhere between a few hours to a few days; it is hard to tell because it depends on a lot of factors: bioload, amount of photosynthetic activity in the tanks (which in turn depends on illumination, density and type of the plants), volume of air sealed within the aquariums, etc. For this reason, I would strongly suggest rehoming the fish temporarily - just the fish - this will remove the problem of seal-induced oxygen deprivation in the aquarium and let you focus on sealing the aquariums from the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.raid.com/en-us/products/raid-max-no-mess-dry-fogger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;According to the manufacturer's website&lt;/a&gt;, Raid Fogger uses &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etofenprox&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;etofenprox&lt;/a&gt; as its active ingredient. As Wikipedia says, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrin#Aquatic_habitats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;toxicity of pyrethrins in aquatic environment increases with temperature&lt;/a&gt;, so I'd advise you to lower the water temperature in all the aquariums to the lowest that is still safe for fish, for at least a week or two. Etofenprox is not a pyrethrin, it is a pyrethroid derivative; pyrethroids are closely related to pyrethrins because they are synthetic analogues of them. This is why I think it is reasonable to assume that this general information from the article about pyrethrins applies to the fogger applied in your apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry that I cannot do anything more, I really want to help you and your fish, but we are limited by the fact that Pets SE isn't really meant to be a reliable acute-response, real-time emergency help for situations like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-17T01:27:43.037" LastActivityDate="2021-03-17T01:27:43.037" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29924" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-15T01:43:17.930" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;My male white guppy has a strange, bubble-filled pocket on both sides of his dorsal fin. It does not seem to be affecting or causing any pain to the guppy. He is acting normal. He is still energetic and eats normally. I have never seen anything like this on any of my guppies. I have had this certain guppy for more than a year and he has been perfectly fine. I have looked this up on the internet and this has happened before, but no one seems to know any information on this. If you know how to cure this or any information about this, please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Note: I am not able to do any water testing at the moment, so I do not know any information on the levels of pH, nitrates, or etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VZQtj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/VZQtj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20058" LastEditorUserId="20058" LastEditDate="2021-03-15T22:43:53.620" LastActivityDate="2021-03-15T22:43:53.620" Title="Clear bubble forming on guppy fin" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;community-aquarium&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29925" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-15T02:43:15.907" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my cats gets (apparently?) very upset whenever I am in the bathroom. Meaning, she meows loudly and frequently in a way that sounds, to my ear, sometimes like distress, and sometimes &lt;em&gt;like she's being tortured&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I might suspect a medical condition, or that's she's in extreme pain... but she only does this &lt;em&gt;when I'm in the bathroom&lt;/em&gt;. I might be using the toilet, or taking a shower, or just washing my hands; I haven't been able to identify it with any particular activity. It maybe helps if I close the door (I usually leave it open when I'm in there and have only just now tried shutting her out), at least until she pushes the door open and starts again. She doesn't even seem to be paying attention to &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;, necessarily; sometimes she'll stare at the other door (between the bathroom and bedroom, which I always keep closed) and complain. Sometimes she'll complain from the hall, but in general, she doesn't seem afraid to enter the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As soon as I &lt;em&gt;leave&lt;/em&gt; the bathroom, she stops. In fact, if I leave and go sit down, she'll usually wind up on my lap, purring, literally within a minute of the 'distress' behavior. Also, while I usually keep the bathroom door closed when I'm &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; in it, I'm pretty sure she gets in there sometimes (either because I forget, or she pushes the door open — I don't normally pull it all the way closed so that it latches) and I can't recall her exhibiting this behavior &lt;em&gt;except&lt;/em&gt; when I'm in the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think she just wants attention, because again, this behavior is &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; associated with the bathroom. Also, I don't always go sit down after I'm done in the bathroom, and trying to give her attention while I'm still in the bathroom doesn't help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have any theories on what could be bothering her and how (short of building an outhouse) I might go about helping her to calm down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17916" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-15T03:04:31.233" LastActivityDate="2021-03-15T15:38:03.433" Title="Why is my cat bothered by my being in the bathroom?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;communication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29925" CreationDate="2021-03-15T15:38:03.433" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per the usual advice, the first step is to &lt;strong&gt;consult with your vet.&lt;/strong&gt; Excessive meowing can be a sign of illness, so it's a good idea to make sure there isn't something physically wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, my guess is that it's actually a form of &lt;strong&gt;separation anxiety.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People are widely aware of separation anxiety in dogs, but usually don't believe it can happen to cats too. But indeed cats can suffer from anxiety when their owners leave their home territory.  Part of the reason why owners don't think cats suffer from this type of anxiety is because the temperament of cats is generally different, and the form their anxiety takes is not as obvious. Some of the signs include frantic meowing, restless pacing, and being unable to settle down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But why would it be separation anxiety when I'm not leaving the house?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why I think this is because you're usually shutting your cat out of the bathroom. While humans think of their entire house as their home even if there are rooms they aren't allowed to go in, cats only associate areas they've scent marked as their home. I also know from personal experience that it's possible for an area of the house to be perfectly accessible to a cat, and yet for whatever reason the cat refuses to go in that area, and that area is definitely outside its territory, since I had a cat who was very much like that about our kitchen. For more anxious types of cats, going outside the home territory is very anxiety inducing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What should I do about it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there's a simple solution, but there's a variety of things I can think of trying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Encourage the cat to include the bathroom as part of its territory.&lt;/strong&gt;  Leave the door to the bathroom open, so the cat has easy access. You could also place something that belongs to the cat in the bathroom, to help spread its smell into the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experiment with anxiety reducers.&lt;/strong&gt; There are products such as feline pheromone diffusers, or if your cat is very bad, the vet might prescribe anxiety reducing medication. I am personally skeptical of the effectiveness of pheromone diffusers, but this is a situation where they may be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure going to the bathroom isn't a big deal.&lt;/strong&gt; It's a normal reaction for owners to try to soothe their cats in situations that seem to upset them, but this makes the problem worse. The ritual of soothing will become associated with your going to the bathroom, so the soothing itself will start making the cat anxious. Therefore, you should try to be completely calm and ignore the cat when going to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Provide distractions from the anxiety.&lt;/strong&gt; Tire the cat out with play and then feed it to try to encourage it to sleep. If the cat's asleep, it will be too occupied sleeping to bother getting worked up over the bathroom. Alternatively, give it things it really likes as a distraction, such as a food puzzle toy. Make sure you have cat-friendly windows too, as they are great for keeping the cat self-entertained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also benefit from getting a home video camera, so you can see what the cat does when you aren't around. If the bathroom thing is truly a form of separation anxiety, it would be good to confirm the cat isn't also being anxious when you leave the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-03-15T15:38:03.433" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-16T09:03:29.443" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have brought rabbit for my home and she is of approx 2.5 months. My query is Can I put leash on her as she is very playfull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to put her leash as attached image so kindly help me on the same.&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cdHZP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cdHZP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;How I apply leash on my bunny&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T09:15:04.663" Title="Can I leash my rabbit" Tags="&lt;rabbits&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29929" CreationDate="2021-03-16T09:15:04.663" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, you can put a leash on a bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But please keep these important things in mind!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never leash your bunny with a collar!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not only will this not contain your bunny when it jumps away suddenly, but the collar can harm your pet if sudden force is applied. If you wish to leash your bunny please use a bunny harness. The harness makes sure your bunny cannot wriggle out, and it distributes the force of pulls onto the whole bunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure your bunny is OK with being leashed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are pets that simply do not tolerate a harness or leash. Unlike dogs training is not always successful. Make sure your bunny is OK with the harness before going outside. Maybe read this question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/13795/how-to-harness-train-my-rabbit&quot;&gt;How to harness train my rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never tie the leash to anything!&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Keep the leash in your hand at all times to be able to react to sudden movements. Rabbits are animals of prey, and they can panic in certain situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this &lt;a href=&quot;https://bunnyapproved.com/rabbits-on-a-leash-what-you-need-to-know/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; could be very helpful to you. It describes how a harness and leash should be and how to use them. Generally read up on the topic before going outside with your bunny. I would like to note here that a bunny will not walk with you like a dog. A leash can be helpful when you are in an unfenced area or meadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T09:15:04.663" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29915" CreationDate="2021-03-16T11:36:34.387" Score="-3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Good News&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have my newest student who is a 1 and a half-year-old Dachshund.  I started training Opie since the time he was 8 weeks of age.  I will say this is one of the most challenging dogs I have ever done.  However, the success stories are still being written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am generally very immune to the crying puppy and am effective in ignoring undesirable behavior and rewarding the desired ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Opie's first night, I placed him in the crate and a blanket over it to give the sense of security. Naturally, he cried, which I  more than expected. I did the unthinkable;  &lt;em&gt;I caved to the puppy's cries, hopped back out of bed, and got him out.&lt;/em&gt; Now, I am smacking my head as I am laying next to a tiny, snuggly puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My alarm set for every 2 hours for weeks for me to get up to take him out of the restroom.  In addition to the fact that I was now obligated to also get up every time he stirred and go outside.  The average number of trips outdoors was somewhere between 7 to 10, making my nights challenging to say the least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end, with other consistent training methods, Opie was fully housebroken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The moral of the story&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The moral of the story is to take the education you had worked on before getting the puppy and recognize that the puppy's cry is hard to resist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay consistent with either the paper or outside, but choose only one and stick with it, going back and forth will only cause more confusion and frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, remember that if you place a puppy pad or paper that it is hard to identify using just one area to use the restroom the idea is that it is ok to use the restroom in the house. I would stick with the outside and follow that basic rules because you have caved to the crying once you are going to have to make twice as many trips, just the same as I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try the best you can to ignore the crying just carry him in and out without saying anything when he cries and giving over the top praise when you have success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5535" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T03:20:47.977" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T03:20:47.977" CommentCount="3" CommunityOwnedDate="2021-03-16T11:36:34.387" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-16T15:36:25.477" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I recently got chickens and I wanted to test if the rooster would protect the hens. I let the chickens go free range and I started chasing them; the rooster went in the opposite direction of the hens. I then chased the rooster and it didn't even try to protect itself! I don't know if it's just because I'm so much bigger then the rooster or something else. Is there a reason why it didn't try to protect either the hens or itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20064" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-03-16T16:10:55.583" LastActivityDate="2021-03-16T16:10:55.583" Title="Rooster seemingly not protecting chickens" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-17T16:24:10.403" Score="0" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got this platy the other day, I think she pregnant, but I'm not sure as it's my first time keeping platy fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/894ON.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/894ON.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20070" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-17T16:34:37.010" LastActivityDate="2021-03-17T16:34:37.010" Title="Is my platy pregnant? I'm not sure" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-03-17T19:59:45.060" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29935" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-17T18:04:01.963" Score="0" ViewCount="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my fish, today I noticed that they’re tail had split all over, I can’t find anything online that looks similar to this. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What could this be and how could I treat it? They have two tank mates-  neither of them bully them and I’ve never see them harass them or bite at their tail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the early stages of finrot? and what can I do to save my fish and they’re tank mates. Also I can’t remove my fish to stop the others from getting sick unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/V00BC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/exD5C.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20071" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-17T18:08:03.007" LastActivityDate="2021-03-17T18:08:03.007" Title="Does my goldfish have fin rot?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-03-17T20:01:10.747" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="522" CreationDate="2021-03-17T21:02:55.957" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can try &lt;strong&gt;Rabbit Mash&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My senior rabbit has problems to hold her weight, so I explored this on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/ernaehrung/futtermittel/nahrungsergaenzungsmittel/mash-fuer-kaninchen/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kaninchenwiese.de&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It works for rabbits that need more energy because they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;outside in the winter (low temperatures, beneath 0°C);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(chronically) ill;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seniors;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lactating or pregnant rabbits;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;big breeds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one must be aware, that in the long turn, health issues could arise. If the rabbit eats the mash only, for example the food-grinding would be missed, which causes the teeth growing longer than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it should (even if you want the rabbit to gain the weight) feed in &lt;strong&gt;low doses&lt;/strong&gt;. Around 1 full tea-spoon for one kilogram of rabbit's body mass daily is enough. (This would be 2 full teaspoons for a 2 kg dwarf rabbit per day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible &lt;strong&gt;ingredients&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oil seeds (sunflower, chia seeds, sorghum bicolor, hemp seed, pumpkin seeds, flax seed, poppy seed, sesame) &lt;em&gt;they support the digestive system and help with fur issues&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flour seeds (amaranth, buckwheat, spelt seeds, barley seeds, grass seeds, oats, sorghum, corn/maize, quinoa) &lt;em&gt;in general grains need to be fed with spelt to be healthy&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;aromatic seeds (aniseed, nettle seeds, dill seeds, fennel seed, coriander, caraway, milk thistle seeds) &lt;em&gt;they have a lots of positive active components&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bran &lt;em&gt;a common food for horses&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dried herbs (examples: basil, dill, thyme, sage, chives, oregano, marjoram, parsley, camomile, coriander, rosemary, peppermint) &lt;em&gt;ready mixes for rabbits, or self made mixes for special purposes, like supporting the digestive system or the breathing&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;immune supporting additives, like drops/powder from the shop or ginger (ginger needs slow, slow, slow habituation, but has a positive effect to the immune system proven by research);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fruits (all by rabbits loved kinds, grated) &lt;em&gt;mine love apple and carrot, raisins sometimes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example for a &lt;strong&gt;recipe&lt;/strong&gt; from the linked website (above):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one cup crashed oat (with spelt);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one cup crashed flax seeds;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 cups herb-mix.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mix for my senior rabbit with chronically common cold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup flax seed;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup sesame seed;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup oat flakes;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup sunflower seeds (without spelt);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 cups of dried kitchen herbs (basil, thyme, marjoram, parsley, chive and dill);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes I grind &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;8&lt;/sub&gt; apple or carrot into the mix, or cut 4 raisins into very small pieces, to enrich the taste.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I use to buy this in a supermarket, because I am limited in my options to buy other seeds and dried herbs where I live.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preparation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use to mix the whole cups (without fresh food like apple/carrot) together into a closable box made out of plastic. Each day, I take two teaspoons full of the mix out of it. Then I crush the mix in a mortar, while waiting for the water to boil. I mix the crushed components with warm water (between 30 and 50°C) and let them swelling for around 30 minutes. &lt;em&gt;The first times I need to try and estimate how much water is needed. One can use a little bit first and then add some until the consistency is like baby-food.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I serve this mix on a small plate to my senior, but in extreme cases it is possible to feed it with a syringe, too. If you have &lt;strong&gt;rabbits, who should not gain weight&lt;/strong&gt; with your rabbit to coddle up, then you may need to separate them for around one hour. My senior defends her plate against her husband, so I do not need this. But maybe your rabbit is not powerful enough to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T00:46:44.837" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T00:46:44.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29938" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-18T06:43:35.777" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read something about mash for rabbits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it made with? How to prepare it? In which cases is it useful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T17:55:52.533" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T17:55:52.533" Title="What is Rabbit Mash and how is it useful for challenged rabbits?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;cooked-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29938" CreationDate="2021-03-18T06:43:35.777" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabbit Mash&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My senior rabbit has problems with maintaining her weight, so I explored this on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kaninchenwiese.de/ernaehrung/futtermittel/nahrungsergaenzungsmittel/mash-fuer-kaninchen/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kaninchenwiese.de&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It works for rabbits that need &lt;strong&gt;more energy&lt;/strong&gt; because they are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;outside in the winter (low temperatures, beneath 0°C)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(chronically) ill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seniors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lactating or pregnant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;big breeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one must be aware that in the long run, health issues could arise. If the rabbit eats the mash only, for example, the food-grinding would be missed, which causes the teeth to grow longer than usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And (even if you want your rabbit to gain weight) it should be fed in &lt;strong&gt;low doses&lt;/strong&gt;. Around 1 full teaspoon for one kilogram of rabbit daily is enough. (This would be 2 full teaspoons for a 2 kg dwarf rabbit senior per day.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible &lt;strong&gt;ingredients&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oil seeds (sunflower, chia seeds, sorghum bicolor, hemp seed, pumpkin seeds, flax seed, poppy seed, sesame) &lt;em&gt;they support the digestive system and help with fur issues&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flour seeds (amaranth, buckwheat, spelt seeds, barley seeds, grass seeds, oats, sorghum, corn/maize, quinoa) &lt;em&gt;in general grains need to be fed with spelt to be healthy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;aromatic seeds (aniseed, nettle seeds, dill seeds, fennel seed, coriander, caraway, milk thistle seeds) &lt;em&gt;they have lots of positive active components&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bran &lt;em&gt;a common food for horses&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dried herbs (examples: basil, dill, thyme, sage, chives, oregano, marjoram, parsley, chamomile, coriander, rosemary, peppermint) &lt;em&gt;ready mixes for rabbits, or self made mixes for special aims like supporting the digestive system or the breathing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;immune supporting additives, like drops/powder from the shop or ginger (ginger needs slow, slow, slow habituation, but has a positive effect to the immune system proven by research)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fruits (any of your rabbit's preferred kinds, grated) &lt;em&gt;mine loves apple and carrot, raisins sometimes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example for a &lt;strong&gt;recipe&lt;/strong&gt; from the linked website (above)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one cup crushed oat (with spelt)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one cup crushed flax seeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 cups herb mix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mix for my senior rabbit (with chronic common colds):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup flax seed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup sesame seed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup oat flakes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; cup sunflower seeds (without spelt)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4 cups of dried kitchen herbs (basil, thyme, marjoram, parsley, chive and dill)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes I grind &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;/&lt;sub&gt;8&lt;/sub&gt; apple or carrot into the mix, or cut 4 raisins into very small pieces, to vary the taste.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I buy these ingredients in a supermarket, because I am limited in my options to buy other seeds and dried herbs where I live&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preparation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mix the whole cups (without fresh food like apple/carrot) together into a closable plastic food storage box. Each day I take two teaspoons full of the mix out of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ORjuO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ORjuO.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;raw ingredients&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I crush the mix in a mortar, while waiting for the water to boil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8mzY3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8mzY3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;crushed seeds&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mix the crushed components with warm water (between 30 and 50°C) and let them soak and swell for around 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5F9yZ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5F9yZ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;water-seed-mix&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The first few times I needed to experiment with how much water is needed. One can use a little bit at first and then add some until the consistency is like baby food.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ieI8F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/ieI8F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;final mash&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I serve this mix on a small plate to my senior, but in extreme cases it is possible to feed it with a syringe too. If you have &lt;strong&gt;rabbits who should not gain weight&lt;/strong&gt; in addition to your rabbit, then you may need to separate them for around one hour. My senior defends her plate against her husband, so I do not need this. But maybe your rabbit is not powerful enough to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-18T17:54:04.943" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T17:54:04.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18932" CreationDate="2021-03-18T18:19:50.700" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have had this problem with my CatIt water fountain. The best way I found to keep it together was some good old fashion DUCK-TAPE. Might not be the prettiest, unless you have pretty duck tape, but it sure works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20078" LastActivityDate="2021-03-18T18:19:50.700" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-18T23:44:50.823" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wanting to know how many fish could thrive in a 29 gallon (110 L) tank. Dimensions of the tank are 30” in L x 12” in W x 18” in H (76 x 30 x 46 cm). These guys could include any live bearers like guppies, platy fish and molly fish. In the future I am going to buy live plants so my tank is fully live-planted and not semi-planted. I currently have 9 fish which are 2 algae eaters, 2 platies and 5 guppies. I am just wondering so I don’t accidentally overcrowd my tank to where it is unhealthy or could cause problems to the fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20058" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T09:43:23.003" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T14:59:05.887" Title="How many fish for a 29 gallon tank?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29946" CreationDate="2021-03-19T02:27:34.427" Score="17" ViewCount="4962" Body="&lt;p&gt;When kittens are picked up by the neck by their mothers the kittens become temporarily paralyzed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this also true for adult cats if a human was to pick them up the same way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20082" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T09:39:19.177" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T09:39:19.177" Title="Does picking up an adult cat by neck cause them to be paralyzed like kittens?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29948" CreationDate="2021-03-19T03:27:31.623" Score="2" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;If anyone has ever gotten the chance to touch a male lion, does his mane feel more or less just like human hair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20082" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T09:41:02.037" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T20:06:12.950" Title="Has anyone touched a male lion? Is the lion's mane just like stringy human hair?" Tags="&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;big-cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-03-23T13:43:34.940" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29943" CreationDate="2021-03-19T08:41:08.137" Score="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats can be temporarily paralyzed by pinching the skin on the back of their neck. This is called &amp;quot;pinch-induced behavioral inhibition&amp;quot; (PIBI) or &amp;quot;scruffing&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;clipnosis&amp;quot; (a composition of clip and hypnosis, because clips are often used in veterinary or scientific settings to keep cats immobile). It is a reflex in cats and other animals like rodents, rabbits, guinea pigs and dogs. &lt;strong&gt;This reflex stays active as the animal ages.&lt;/strong&gt; You can read more about it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1522/12501&quot;&gt;What research is there on the long term effects of pinch-induced behavioral inhibition conditioning on cats?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, the skin of the neck can only support a limited amount of weight and is &lt;strong&gt;not suited to support the body weight of an adult cat.&lt;/strong&gt; You will certainly cause your cat pain and potentially injure it by literally picking it up by the scruff of the neck. Please read more about it in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1003/12501&quot;&gt;Is it ok to pick my adult cat up by the scruff of the neck?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T09:36:38.033" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T09:36:38.033" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29915" CreationDate="2021-03-19T13:44:32.867" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just in case anyone comes across this and it helps them, we persevered with outside toilet training, and he is now going outside every time and we've only had a couple of accidents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At night, we have gone from him waking every 1-3 hours, to once per night, with a quick trip outside, then back in the crate until morning. This has only taken 1 week, but when you aren't getting any sleep, it obviously feels much longer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was initially taking a while to settle him after taking him out for a toilet break. Leaving him to cry wasn't really an option because he was waking the children who had school the next day. As the days have gone by, I think he feels more secure that he is safe, and just requires a little reassurance before settling down again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20037" LastActivityDate="2021-03-19T13:44:32.867" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29945" CreationDate="2021-03-19T18:47:13.247" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Jacob Markow, a supposed &amp;quot;zookeeper who specializes in the care of tigers and other big cats&amp;quot;, and an &amp;quot;animal handler and trainer&amp;quot;, who answered the Quora question: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-feel-like-to-touch-a-male-lion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What does it feel like to touch a male lion?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The male's mane is, as you might expect, a bit tangled in general. These guys rarely get a spa day and thus their mane is not usually combed out. The mane and end of the tail is more hairlike than their coat is in texture and length. Both are generally rough and the end of the tail (in fact, the whole tail) is heavy and stiff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, like Elmy pointed out,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat skin in general produces much less skin oil than human skin, making it drier and less smooth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another internet question, similar to this one and the Quora one linked earlier, a source from YahooAnswers! who &amp;quot;works at a zoo&amp;quot; says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fur tends to be rather soft but every lion mane I have ever touched tends to be slightly coarse.  It is still soft but it does have a thicker and rougher feel to it.  There are some sections though that have that baby-fine really soft hair too, but the bulk is thicker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the question &lt;a href=&quot;https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080806040231AA9P6TA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What does a lion's mane feel like?&lt;/a&gt; (link is now broken).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, Wikipedia states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The presence, absence, color, and size of the mane are associated with genetic precondition, sexual maturity, climate, and testosterone production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This again implies it can vary by climate and the actual lion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia also says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the rule of thumb is that a darker, fuller mane indicates a healthier animal. In Serengeti National Park, female lions favor males with dense, dark manes as mates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it may be possible that through natural selection, lions get thicker and darker manes because of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, most of Lion's Manes will be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;tangled&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;rough&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;dry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;coarse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;thick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not an expert on big cats and I am not a biologist or zoologist. My answer is based on other sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T20:06:12.950" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T20:06:12.950" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-19T19:30:43.470" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed about two weeks ago that when my cat came back inside she was losing hair on the top of her head. There is a bit of dandruff, but the hair is slowly growing back. She is also showing signs of pregnancy, so if this is something to do with that, I have no clue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AeBeu.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AeBeu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20089" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-19T19:47:26.217" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T17:16:23.570" Title="Why is my cat losing hair in small patches on her head?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-19T21:31:54.763" Score="0" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason I ask this question is that Golden Retriever's are booked until 2022 and they're much more expensive (3000$+) than Labrador Retrievers, which are comparatively MUCH cheaper (1500$ - literally half the cost of a Golden) but they're so readily available. There are at least five breeders right now on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gooddog.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Gooddog.com&lt;/a&gt; that have puppies that are unreserved while being health-checked to the same degree as Goldens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The supply of Labrador Retrievers and their cost compared to Goldens is making me question if there's some issue with Labrador Retrievers over Golden. Okay, granted Golden's a comparatively &lt;em&gt;just a little bit cuter&lt;/em&gt;, but they shed more than Labrador Retrievers. I'm not sure I understand what's going on with this breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've Googled and YouTubed answers for this, but I'm not convinced as to what really warrants a near 50% price difference and a much more readily available supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19890" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-21T02:24:40.357" LastActivityDate="2021-03-21T02:24:40.357" Title="Why the discrepancy in price and supply between Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-20T06:40:17.193" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just brought home a kitten an hour ago and everything seemed to be fine. As I was crawling over towards it, it stopped and looked scared and started to shake. Its eyes were focused forward, but at nothing particular. After a few seconds its ears went back and started to twitch rapidly, and it started to drool from the side of its mouth. It was still standing on its four paws, and this lasted about 10 seconds before the cat returned to normal. A few meows and it was back to playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm worried this kitten had a seizure - it did have a stressful day of vet/vaccines/dewormer and a new house. Is it likely this was a seizure? If so, is it likely to recur? I'm wondering if I should take the kitten back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20092" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-20T23:45:22.427" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T19:49:37.727" Title="Did my kitten have a seizure?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-21T07:07:12.320" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one-year-old, male, white Scottish Straight cat which is in good health, but has been losing hair for the past 6 months and still is. In my experience with other cats, in this case the amount of hair and the length of time  seem to be above average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a question of breed or possibly individual characteristics of the cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20097" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-21T12:43:38.590" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:14:47.180" Title="Hairloss in cat, which appears to be anomalous" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-21T10:04:29.637" Score="3" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has been having tremors since he was a kitten. He is currently 14 years old, so apparently, he is able to survive this situation. However, I still would like to improve his condition any way I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These tremors have always been coming and going. Generally, twice or three times a year, which lasts anound a month. Then they would just disappear. I was unable to find a seasonality but it seems to be correlating with colder weather (still, I also see the tremors in warm summer days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I see the tremors when he is about to go to sleep. While sleeping, he does not have tremors. Sometimes, the tremors appear when he is wide awake and active as well. I think this has something to do with the status of the condition that is the underlying reason. When it is bad, tremors appear when he is active, when it is milder, tremors only appear when transitioning into sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another pattern that I noticed is that Odin loses weight very quickly when the intensity of the tremors increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the years, we have tried a lot of things.&#xA;He had regular blood checks. Often, he has high urea in the blood. But we have also seen perfectly normal blood values in a period that he has the tremors.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Many years ago, he had an MRI but the doctor said there is nothing to be worried about in the results.&#xA;Twice, we checked the cerebrospinal fluid (brain-spinal-fluid). In the result report, it said there were traces of inflammation but the culture did not grow, which the doctor said might be unrelated to the tremors. Still, we applied a long-term antibiotics treatment which yielded no observable improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was 5 years old, we decided not to pursue this condition anymore because he was clearly able to survive and not seemingly having any pain during the tremors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to ask if any of you had a similar experience. Please take a look at the video using the following link. I think the way how these tremors manifest is very peculiar that might indicate a certain condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dropbox.com/s/kwmjmz3edex328u/2021_odin_tremors.mp4?dl=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.dropbox.com/s/kwmjmz3edex328u/2021_odin_tremors.mp4?dl=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20099" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-21T12:41:20.700" LastActivityDate="2021-03-21T12:41:20.700" Title="Cat having chronic tremors" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;sleep&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-21T20:17:45.203" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog ​​knew how to give the leg and sit when the order was given, but I had gone to live elsewhere and she was left without anyone to play with her for some years because I was the only one who did it, so I know they forgot those tricks. I want to teach them again, but I don't know if I can because she is old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19956" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-21T20:56:42.043" LastActivityDate="2021-03-30T20:43:41.757" Title="How to teach my dog an once-taught, but now forgotten trick?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="24103" CreationDate="2021-03-21T23:21:11.103" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My picky boy likes no salt added tuna packed in water and anything else that resembles broth or gravy. I keep his bowl filled with a dry prescription diet food for urinary issues as he was blocked up once in his youth. If you can find the smallest cans, usually sold as a 3-pack, it’s a good size. Actually he loves salty stuff, I just don’t give it to him since cats dehydrate so easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20105" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-21T23:31:37.807" LastActivityDate="2021-03-21T23:31:37.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-21T23:46:11.403" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my bulldog has a lump that seems to look like a wart, as it is dry on the top. It is growing, but it's causing him no discomfort. However, he has suffered with his skin a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/AYSqi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20106" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-21T23:54:07.823" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T07:16:58.567" Title="Does anybody know what this lump on my bulldog could be?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29958" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-22T04:49:35.523" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just got a new kitten and have been keeping her in our bedroom. Now our older cat cries at the bedroom door wanting to get in. He’s anxious and pacing because there’s a closed door. But we can’t let him inside because he will eat the kitten’s food and harass her. He spends all day outside the bedroom door crying and scratching, whether we’re in there or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’ve tried a slow introduction, but when we got to the scent swapping step, all the older cat wants to do is search for the kitten’s food, and then look for her. If he can’t find her, he pees in the closet where she naps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’ve tried both felaway defusers, so many litter boxes around the house, and medicines, but the older cat still paces and urinates outside the litter box, presumably due to his anxiety. We’ve gone to the vet countless times with our older cat but there’s nothing physically wrong with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we do to make everyone happy and less stressed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: our male cat is neutered and so is the female kitten. I neglected to mention that the male cat has a litter mate that he’s lived with his whole life. He’s no stranger to other cats in the house. We actually got him and his brother at the same time when we already had an older cat in the house. So this is the second time he’s been in a 3-cat household, but the first where he’s been not allowed full reign of the rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second edit: there also has been some additional change in his life (I know cats don’t do well with that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We’ve recently moved (he was anxious before the move 4 months ago), and we’re expecting our first baby, which means new furniture too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20111" LastEditorUserId="20111" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T13:57:40.560" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:07:49.057" Title="Old cat kicked out of bedroom for new kitten, cause of anxiety?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;scratching&gt;&lt;separation-anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2021-03-22T05:51:36.823" Score="1" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put up baby gates in doorways, this creates an obstacle so the&#xA;chased cat can get away unharmed. Put boxes, storage containers under beds to give them a safe space. My 'murder cat' loves our garage because we have stacked containers with a pillow on top for her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give high spaces for them to travel along, book cases, shelves, clear the top of frig, cat trees, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep a spray bottle handy. A spray bottle that has a distinct sound when spraying. I use a Dawn Power wash bottle.&#xA;I've only had to spray a few times, and missed. But now when murder cat sees me with that particular bottle, she settles down in another room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keep feeding dishes separate if you can, at least for awhile.&#xA;Cats are territorial over the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first cat 'owns' your property and you. At least in their minds.&#xA;Extra special loving for your murder cat, she needs to know she is still the most important feline. After all, you're her most important human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The newest cat must become submissive to the older family member, they've earned that respect and demand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supervision with a spray bottle, obstacles to aid an escape, high places so they can safely explore, and safe spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rest is up to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20112" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T22:02:21.730" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:02:21.730" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29957" CreationDate="2021-03-22T07:16:58.567" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's growing, you should get it checked by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the position in front of the hind legs, it could be one of his nipples that is swollen. That could either point to an infection or to the equivalent of breast cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not a nipple, the red color could indicate an abscess or similar localized infection in the skin. In that case the infected skin is often slightly warmer than the surrounding healthy skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be a simple, benign wart or skin polyp. But only a vet will be able to distinguish a harmless skin growth from an infection or cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T07:16:58.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29953" CreationDate="2021-03-22T07:17:43.010" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very hard to answer questions about shedding in cats as it is very variable in the different breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats will shed fur more or less continuously over the year and other cats will shed mostly in the spring and autumn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you brush your cat during shedding the amount of fur you get off from your cat can be amazing (it looks like you will have enough fur for a spare cat in about a week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat gets hairless spots or is itchy, you need to consult your vet to get it diagnosed and treated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should mention the hairloss to your vet at the next consultation; as it is now I do not think you need to worry about your cat's health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.catcareofvinings.com/blog/all-cats-shed-but-whats-normal-and-whats-not/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is an article on catcareofvinings.com&lt;/a&gt; about the difference between normal and pathological shedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some information about the skin and fur of cats and dogs is also &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0659/4529/files/SkinCoat_WhiteSheet6-5.pdf?6678352109863082785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this PDF file&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T22:14:47.180" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:14:47.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29958" CreationDate="2021-03-22T07:30:38.643" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your older cat is male. If he isn't neutered, the chances that he will ever accept another cat in his territory are very slim. Male cats aren't very social creatures and usually choose not to live together with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your special situation, the male cat has lived alone and has claimed the whole house as his territory. Now there's a new cat that he perceives as an intruder. If both cats were adopted at the same time, the situation would be different, but now there is no way how the new cat &lt;em&gt;couldn't&lt;/em&gt; intrude on the old cat's territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially the peeing in the place where the kitten usually sleeps is a sign of dominance and territorial behavior. He is claiming the place as his by marking it with his scent. He might stop burying his poop in cat litter for the same reason: to assert his dominance by spreading his scent. You need to watch over him or he might get into the habit of marking walls and furniture with urine. This is also a problem that is solved by neutering the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should take the introduction very slow and not allow both cats in the same room, otherwise the older cat might attack the younger one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T22:07:49.057" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T22:07:49.057" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-22T07:44:21.300" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have angelfish which laid eggs which turned into fry. I am feeding them with baby brine shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all know that brine shrimps (especially the ones which look orange and often used for fish feed) are infected with tapeworms.¹&#xA;Now I am worried, &lt;strong&gt;can tapeworms can cause tapeworm infection to the pet keepers?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;¹&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/parasites-give-brine-shrimp-super-powers#:%7E:text=The%20tissue%20of%20brine%20shrimp,arsenic%2C%20a%20new%20study%20finds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parasites give brine shrimp superpowers - Science News for Students&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20113" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T21:57:50.160" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T21:57:50.160" Title="Can tapeworms from brine shrimp cause infection to humans or to fish?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;brineshrimp&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29942" CreationDate="2021-03-22T14:52:31.430" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thumb rule is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 cm of fish for each 1 liter of water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 fish, 5 cm/fish -&amp;gt; 5 liters of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2 fishes, 2.5 cm/fish -&amp;gt; 5 liters of water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now depending on which fish you want, and depending on their needs, you can make some estimation yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a kind reminder (it is sometimes forgotten): plants, filters, rocks do NOT count as water. With other words, take into consideration the water, and not the total volume of the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overcrowding can become a problem (the stress for the fish, the chemical balance of the water...). Under-crowding is unlikely to become a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do not forget that some fish prefer to live in schools (i.e. you need at least 4-5 of them, if you want them not stressed). Study the fish that you want to find out their particular needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally tend to overcrowd the aquariums, and I did not notice any problem. However, my behavior (and experience) should not be taken as science or as guarantee of success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T14:59:05.887" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T14:59:05.887" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29975" CreationDate="2021-03-22T21:15:24.830" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often, when playing with my puppy, I interchangeably use his name with labels, such as &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot; and other various lovable labels - I just can't resist my dog's adorableness. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I call my puppy &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot; so often that it led me to think of this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can a dog think it has/respond to two names?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think my dog thinks that a label such as &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot; is his name, but I was just curious if he hypothetically could respond to a second name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please note:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;My question is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; about the specific example if my puppy could think his name was his actual name and &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot;, it is more like: &lt;strong&gt;could a dog respond to two different names, consistently&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, could a dog be trained (purposely or not) to respond with two names such as Rex and Monty interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2811/can-you-teach-a-dog-a-new-name&quot;&gt;Can you teach a dog a new name?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2639/how-can-i-tell-if-my-cat-knows-his-name&quot;&gt;How can I tell if my cat knows his name?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/19658/can-i-rename-a-dog-i-get-from-a-shelter&quot;&gt;Can I rename a dog I get from a shelter?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-03-24T08:31:55.197" Title="Could a dog (hypothetically) respond to two names?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;pet-names&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10990" CreationDate="2021-03-22T21:22:15.483" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not revenge on an owner, but certainly a dog. My dog seeks revenge on the dog that he got in a fight with, every time he passes our house he means business, different reaction to all other dogs. One time my walk with him, he got scent of something and was desperate to track it, 1km later (and running the whole way) sure enough it was the dog that attacked him and he wanted revenge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20117" LastEditorUserId="20117" LastEditDate="2021-03-22T21:31:07.830" LastActivityDate="2021-03-22T21:31:07.830" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29966" CreationDate="2021-03-23T08:39:55.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is &lt;strong&gt;realistically&lt;/strong&gt; possible, not only hypothetically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Research was done (I do not have ready any link) and it was proved that dogs can learn more than a few hundred words - and their meaning too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our family, my dog (unusually big Pekinese) surely understands the meaning of the words for the following categories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;names of the people in our family (including his own);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the names of different foods (normal food, rewards, food where medicine is hidden...);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the proposals for activities (e.g. going out for walks, eating, going down from the bed...).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He answers not only to hearing his name, but also to different ways of communication - even when a specific name is not used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T08:39:55.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29969" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-23T16:57:24.693" Score="4" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently got two stray puppies. One puppy died because a stray dog had bitten him. We tried our best to save him, but unfortunately, he died. They used to sleep together in a separate room. Now another puppy has become alone (age: 7-8 months). He used to roam around. I live in a village near the highway. Two days ago, I saved him from an accident and he injured his leg but now he is fine. I got really scared of stray dogs and the highway (it is a national highway, so very busy). So I decide to keep him chained and I am sure if I leave him unleased then he will die within a week. I understand their need and know the value of freedom for anyone. I take him for 2 long walks of around 1.5 hours long and 3 small walks in between daytime for around half an hour. I want to take him inside my house, but My mom is not allowing me. She doesn't like animals that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My family is not very economically strong, so can't do much. What I can do the best is I can provide him enough food and a lot of love. He sleeps in a separate room outside our house and he does not cry and whine, but I feel very guilty that I am not able to provide him full freedom that he deserves, I love him so much. Is he feeling lonely? What are the best things I can do for him? I have tried finding a new home for him, but have not succeeded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/mSGWu.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;my puppy&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20121" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-23T17:03:14.580" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T20:20:50.363" Title="Is it okay to keep a dog chained in a room at night with proper food and water?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;leash-training&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28833" CreationDate="2021-03-23T17:57:30.320" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might wish to try a DIY-type solution using &lt;strong&gt;basic &amp;quot;percale&amp;quot; style bedsheets&lt;/strong&gt;. These are the bog-standard style of smooth, tightly-woven fabric; very easy to get, and, conveniently, a texture cats don't typically care to claw on. Depending on the size and construction of your pieces, you may be able to purchase fitted sheets that can be wrapped around the base of your sectional fairly easily, with minimal to no sewing required. Similarly, you may be able to tuck an appropriately sized flat sheet fairly securely into place and do minimal to no modification to secure it from slipping, again with little to no sewing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basic smooth/slick fitted sheets are a common fix for shredded box springs, which tend to be something cats particularly enjoy scratching on and burrowing into; a cheap sheet secured around the bottom of a box spring, or anything similar you don't want them scratching, is an effective and inexpensive way to bring an end to the behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T17:57:30.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29969" CreationDate="2021-03-23T20:16:59.030" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can understand your fear, but dogs should not be chained at all. Where I live it's even illegal to keep a dog on a chain because it's considered animal cruelty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs cannot understand that you want to protect them by keeping them on a chain. They also cannot understand why they cannot move to a certain place if there's no wall or obstacle in front of them. Or why they cannot chase the man or other dog away that's &lt;em&gt;so close&lt;/em&gt; and yet cannot be reached. Being on a chain is not comprehensible for dogs and their psychological development will suffer. Many will also develop problematic behavior like aggression, constant barking or compulsive behavior because of that. They might even hurt themselves by pulling too hard on the chain. (That's why it's illegal to keep dogs on a chain in my country.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution would be keeping him behind a fence. If that's not possible, I suggest you rather teach him that the highway is dangerous and that he should never go there. You do that by going on a walk with him near the highway (maybe 10 meters away) and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every time he walks directly towards the highway, you tell him &amp;quot;No!&amp;quot; and pull him away from there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every time he walks away from the highway or he walks next to you opposite of the highway you reward him by telling him how good he is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Every other time you can just ignore him and continue walking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His dog mother would have done the same thing. She would have stood between him and the highway and stopped him from going there. It will take some repetitions, but eventually he will understand that he's not supposed to go there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-23T20:20:50.363" LastActivityDate="2021-03-23T20:20:50.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-24T00:44:50.073" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I setup two quarantine tanks, the first with some 2&amp;quot; koi, comets, ryukin, and orandas, the second with some very fancy, slow-moving goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both tanks seemed to be doing fine, colorful and active. The fancy goldfish were much less active, often sitting still, but I assumed that was because they had huge fins that inhibited swimming. If you measured the surface area of the fins, they probably had four times as much fin as a common goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there was a power outage and the second tank's pumps didn't resume its operation after the power had been restored, so in the morning, I found half of the fancy goldfish passed away. To rescue the remaining, I put them in with the first quarantine tank. Since they'd already almost reached a month in quarantine, I thought it was safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the fish in the first tank began attacking the most fancy of the fancy goldfish. They didn't appear to be eating the goldfish, but maybe just biting the scales and pushing the fancy goldfish around the tank. The fancy goldfish, having poor mobility, just bobbed around in the tank, while others pecked at it, until I managed to rescue and isolate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a sign the fancy goldfish have parasites?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10024" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-24T01:05:33.347" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T16:35:29.343" Title="Is fish pecking at other fish a sign of parasites?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;parasites&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29966" CreationDate="2021-03-24T05:21:24.933" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot provide any objective, scientific studies, but our dog learned to respond to different people using different words for his name or commands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One member of my family likes to call him by a pet name that sounds close to his actual name and he reacts to both. One family member uses a specific whistle sound (that no-one else can reproduce) to call him back, while others use a spoken command like &amp;quot;come here&amp;quot;. There are more examples of smaller or bigger differences in communication between people, but the dog reacts to most of them the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He even changed his name once. When we adopted him he had the same name as one family member. To avoid confusion we had to rename him. That was many years ago, so he forgot his original name now, but there was a time when he reacted to both names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="16373" LastEditDate="2021-03-24T08:31:55.197" LastActivityDate="2021-03-24T08:31:55.197" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-24T10:35:37.110" Score="0" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to have a very small fish tank (can be seen in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/27334/do-fish-make-noises-in-order-to-get-attention&quot;&gt;this older question&lt;/a&gt;), and finally upgraded it to much bigger tank, moving the fish into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the old, small tank, the fish used to hover a lot, seeking food, and consumed the grains almost as soon as they were given to them. However now in the new tank, they don't reach the top anymore, and stay deep inside the water most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The grains of food float on the surface and the fish don't reach upwards to get them even hours later:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qr5GF.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qr5GFm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;fish tank with grains floating&quot; title=&quot;click for full image&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see the grains of food floating in the front left, and the fish far below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to &amp;quot;lure&amp;quot; the fish to swim upwards and eat their food? Or different type of food that won't float? As far as I could see, goldfish food is only in the form of grains, which always float.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-24T20:08:00.587" LastActivityDate="2021-03-25T11:42:41.710" Title="Goldfish stopped eating after moving to a new tank, how to help them eat again?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-24T21:58:12.383" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got bunny and she is an inside bunny. Well, she will not stop kicking her litter out of her litter box. I would like for her to stay an inside bunny, but my dad said if I do not get her to stop, she will have to go outside. How do I get her to stop, because I do not want to put her outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20131" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-24T21:59:31.820" LastActivityDate="2021-03-25T14:29:46.263" Title="My bunny will not stop kicking her litter out of her litter box, what do I do?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-25T02:20:07.530" Score="3" ViewCount="1014" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a cat that just had kittens. The mother and seven kittens are in a big plastic enclosure and at this point the kittens can only wriggle and nurse. I don't think they can leave the container at all for a week or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I imagine they still urinate and defecate, and I just realized that the enclosure is going to get pretty foul. Does the mother cat clean out the waste or do they just live in it or do the nearby humans have to take out the kittens and clean the thing periodically (which will make the mother very angry)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20133" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-25T02:31:25.837" LastActivityDate="2021-03-25T06:36:22.463" Title="How to deal with newborn kitten bodily waste?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29976" CreationDate="2021-03-25T05:54:39.063" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;To put all the comments into an answer: You probably forgot to cycle your tank. That's a mistake many fish owners do because pet shops neglect to tell them about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What &amp;quot;cycling&amp;quot; is and how it works is described in this very detailed answer: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/215/12501&quot;&gt;How does one effectively “cycle” an aquarium?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish becoming lethargic and either sinking to the bottom or gasping at the surface of the water is a sign that they feel ill. The most likely reason why they feel ill is that there's &lt;em&gt;something toxic&lt;/em&gt; in the water. What exactly that &lt;em&gt;something toxic&lt;/em&gt; is can be measured with aquarium water tests. The good news is that your new tank is big enough for your fish. The water volume can buffer a certain amount of toxins and makes partial waterchanges easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second reason for this behavior is shock. If you take fish out of their usual water and dump them into completely different water, they need time to adapt. That's another reason why you should transfer water from your old tank to the new one. For more information, please read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/29901/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the cycling of water is done by bacteria, a first aid measure for an uncycled tank is to add either some water or an old filter medium from an already cycled tank. That &amp;quot;transplants&amp;quot; the beneficial bacteria into your new tank. Many pet shops also sell cycled water or &amp;quot;aquarium starters&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of those solutions are available to you, you need to lower the toxin levels in your water by doing partial water changes each day until the tank is cycled. Don't change more than 20% of the water volume at once to avoid shocking your fish again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your tap water is chlorinated, you absolutely must dechlorinate it before putting it in the tank. The chlorination is meant to kill bacteria in the water, but it also causes chemical burns on the gills of fish and suffocates them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you seem to have no living plants in your aquarium, you may get too many algae in the future. There's no need to panic now, I just want to make you aware of it in case it happens. Please read &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/29519/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-25T11:42:41.710" LastActivityDate="2021-03-25T11:42:41.710" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29978" CreationDate="2021-03-25T06:36:22.463" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, the queen (cat-mum) will help the kittens to defecate and care for the enclosure to stay clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toileting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kittens are unable to pass urine or faeces without assistance for the first few weeks of their lives so the ano-genital region – the area around the bottom and the urinary opening of the kitten being hand-reared – needs to be stimulated using a slightly damp piece of cotton wool before and after each&#xA;feed to encourage toileting. The mother would normally do this by licking the rear end of kittens before, during and after feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(source: hand out from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cats.org.uk/media/1029/eg18_pregnant_cats-_birth_and_care_of_young_kittens.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.cats.org.uk&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume, that the queen will lick off the faeces of the kittens, because it is not much, maybe some drops, in the first weeks. It is logical, that there is some mechanism, because cats lived decades without human care, and their nests were not getting foul :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later, when the kittens could move themself around, the queen will teach them the places, where it is allowed to defecate. The nest will not be such a place :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastActivityDate="2021-03-25T06:36:22.463" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29977" CreationDate="2021-03-25T12:34:55.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question in a general way (I will provide more detail, when you have answered my comment)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter should be comfortable for the rabbit. Many rabbits like a &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;soft&amp;quot; cover&lt;/strong&gt;, for example straw or paper shavings at the top. You could try to cover your usual litter with this. Some rabbits even like to take a nap onto this &amp;quot;bedding&amp;quot; and only use one corner to defecate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The litter box need to be the &lt;strong&gt;right size&lt;/strong&gt;. The rabbit should be able to lay (with long hind legs) comfortable in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are litter boxes, which help you with their &lt;strong&gt;shape&lt;/strong&gt;. For example a litter box for cats shaped with a roof (see the picture for example) will help. Then the rabbit can rearrange the litter inside, until it is comfortable with it, but the litter will not spread onto the outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s22hi.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/s22hi.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this box I would propose to install some kind of step for the rabbit to get in. This could be a piece of a thick branch or some kind of brick. (The important: the surface should be not slippery, and it should be stable.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-03-25T14:29:46.263" LastActivityDate="2021-03-25T14:29:46.263" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="93" CreationDate="2021-03-25T15:55:01.990" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is you tapwater pH, and carbonate hardness (KH)? Without knowing this it can be hard to give advice. If your tapwater pH is high every water change will pull the tank value upwards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding to the answer on naturally pH-reducing elements, I can also add Alder cones, which can lower the pH and will also stain the water. I recently did a test where 8 alder cones in 0,3l of pH 8 water (KH ~5) dropped to about 6 in one day, and to 5 or below (my test didn’t go further) in 2.5 days. Cones, leaves (e.g. almond/catappa, oak, beech) and peat can all both be used either inside the aquarium, inside the filter, as water treatment when doing a water change or to create a pH-reducing concentrate. &amp;quot;Fixing&amp;quot; the pH is probably not possible though, especially considering the water changes. Every solution will have to be monitored and regulated to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20138" LastEditorUserId="20138" LastEditDate="2021-03-28T21:02:31.830" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T21:02:31.830" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-25T19:17:47.340" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in a pretty to a very safe area in the USA. My backyard is large, grassy, and safe (no manmade objects, choking hazards, poisonous plants, etc.)  so I let my puppy be in the fully fenced in the backyard unsupervised while I am inside.¹&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my back fence is short (around 3-4 feet / 0.9-1.2 meter tall) and I worry someone will hop it and steal my puppy from the backstreet behind my house and backyard. My puppy is a breed on the expensive side, so I worry that someone will see a chance to steal him and sell him to make a lot of money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My fear is probably unwarranted as like I said, I live in a pretty to a very safe area that has a tight community to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's always better to be safe rather than sorry, so this leads me to my question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should I worry about this? If so, what can I do to prevent it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;¹I do not leave my puppy unsupervised for long periods of time. At max, they are unsupervised in the backyard for 30 min.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T14:43:07.730" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T15:15:31.853" Title="Should I worry that someone will steal my puppy while he is in my backyard unsupervised?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29988" CreationDate="2021-03-26T05:08:05.837" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a fish bowl and they are all swimming with their mouth touching the water surface, almost always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are they hungry?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do they suffer from insufficient oxygen concentration in water?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the water dirty?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other possible problem?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NH00H.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NH00H.png&quot; alt=&quot;Swimming: mouth touching the water surface&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bowl is a sphere of maybe 1 foot in diameter. There is no filter or pump. No equipment. I change water, more than 50%, each morning. I keep new water overnight inside a separate container, before changing. I feed twice a day, each time maybe 10x grains of fish food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14393" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T13:00:56.513" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T19:58:25.020" Title="Fish swimming with mouth always touching the water surface" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-26T12:38:03.890" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had my platy fish for 3 weeks and she's pregnant. She squared off last week, as well as developing a white tube/anal gland. I'm just wondering if anyone can help as to when she might release her fry thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fFUpf.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fFUpf.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ikcfh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have baby fry born Friday night/Saturday morning &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20070" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T01:40:26.950" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T01:40:26.950" Title="Pregnant platy fish not releasing fry and developing a white tube gland" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-04-08T07:51:27.573" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29985" CreationDate="2021-03-26T13:19:00.257" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish swimming with their mouth constantly glued to water surface is a sign that they are gasping for breath. However, the reason for them being short for breath usually isn't the low oxygen concentration in the water itself, but toxic effect of water pollutants: ammonia (NH&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;), which burns fish's gills and disables them from extracting oxygen from the water; and nitrite (NO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;), which binds to hemoglobin in fish's blood, blocks oxygen from being transported to all the tissue, and causes generalized hypoxia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nitrite poisoning could be recognized by looking at the color of fish's gills - healthy gills are bright red, while nitrite poisoning makes them tan-brown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the bowl has diameter of around 1 foot, then - considering its shape visible on the photo - it has the volume of less than 10 liters and this is extremely small. In case of goldfish, there should optimally be at least 20 gallons (around 76 liters) of water volume for one goldfish and 10 gallon (around 38 liters) for each additional beyond one. Goldfish are exceptionally dirty and have a high bio-load, which means they require a large amount of water to safely dilute their excreted waste before it gets neutralized by the filtration system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a functional filter in the aquarium is essential, so please install it as soon and possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please also read about nitrogen cycle in the aquarium - it takes around a month to cultivate the essential bacterial flora in the filter to enable the filter to safely neutralize the waste generated by animals and decomposing matter in the aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, holding water overnight doesn't necessarily make it appropriate for aquarium use because some tap water facilities sanitize it with chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine is synthesized in water by treating it with both ammonia and chlorine. Chloramine isn't volatile enough to diffuse out into the air as fast as chlorine and it could take well over a few weeks for it to do so. It is a lot safer and more convenient to use a water conditioner from pet shop - it doesn't need to be a fancy nor expensive one, just please make sure it says &amp;quot;neutralizes chlorine and chloramine&amp;quot; on the label. Both chlorine and chloramine could also burn fish's gills and cause them to gasp for breath at the water surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T19:58:25.020" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T19:58:25.020" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-26T15:13:42.387" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is wrong with my goldfish's head - it's like a growth/ blood blister? I'm sure it started off white and has now gone to this. Can anyone help, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M6pEpm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/M6pEpm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20141" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T16:36:39.190" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T16:36:39.190" Title="What is wrong with my goldfish's head?" Tags="&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29990" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-26T15:29:36.240" Score="2" ViewCount="1602" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to taking care of or adopting puppies. I just adopted a 4 months old puppy, and am planning to get her vaccinated later next week. But in the future, with plans to adopt more puppies, is it a good idea for my pets and I to get vaccinated regularly (maybe annually or every 2 years) as a good measure? Reading articles about how dangerous the rabies virus is has made me a bit paranoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20142" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T01:41:30.923" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T01:41:30.923" Title="Is it a good idea to get anti rabies vaccines or booster shots regularly for myself as well as my pets?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;vaccination&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2021-03-26T17:02:42.240" Score="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;All pets should be regularly vaccinated against rabies. Typically the first shot is done at a few months old, and additional shots are done every 1 or 3 years thereafter; your vet should track this and remind you when shots are due for each pet. Depending on where you live, doing this may be required by law, but even if not, it’s still a good idea. (There are also other vaccinations you should consider, but they vary by species.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Human vaccination is much less common. The idea is that if you get bitten by an animal not known to be vaccinated, then you will tell a doctor immediately and get the necessary shots. However, if you live in an area where rabies is common or if you frequently handle strange animals, then ask your doctor about getting shots regularly just like your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T17:02:42.240" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2021-03-26T17:19:59.900" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;Foremost, I will note that policies for vaccinating against rabies might differ for different areas. My knowledge is most applicable to the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for pets, not only should you get them &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/pet-vaccines-schedules-cats-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;vaccinated for rabies every one to three years&lt;/a&gt;, it's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.carecredit.com/vetmed/article/vaccination-timeline-for-dogs-and-puppies/#:%7E:text=Considered%20a%20core%20vaccine%2C%20rabies,every%20one%20to%20three%20years.&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;legal requirement&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans, on the other hand, only receive regular vaccinations if they are at an unusually high risk of exposure, such as if they work regularly with animals that might not be vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why do we only vaccinate people considered to be at high risk?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this is generally that the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.straightdope.com/21342873/why-do-dogs-get-vaccinated-against-rabies-but-not-people&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;cost isn't worth the benefit&lt;/a&gt; you get for the amount of risk an average person typically has.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former statement might sound outlandish in the face of rabies' practical one hundred percent fatality rate, but key to this is that unlike other infectious diseases we vaccinate for, there is a vaccine for rabies that is effective post-exposure. Furthermore, even if you are vaccinated, if you are exposed, you still have to receive additional boosters and treatments, though of course it is less than an unvaccinated person would receive. The savings, however, definitely does not offset the cost of regular vaccinations, especially when exposure is pretty uncommon in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, it's uncommon enough that there is a problem where &lt;a href=&quot;https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&amp;amp;catId=614&amp;amp;id=4825471&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;vets often put themselves at extra risk&lt;/a&gt; by forgoing the pre-exposure vaccine due to its costs. It is still considered recommended for those of high risk to get the pre-exposure vaccine for minimizing the amount of post-exposure treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why vaccinate animals and not humans?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With pets, there is no vaccine that can be administered completely post-exposure. It's important to know though that your pet will still require boosters even if it is vaccinated if it ends up being exposed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't get your pet vaccinated, and there is any risk of exposure, it must either be carefully quarantined and observed, or immediately euthanized if the exposure is pretty certain. It also is common policy at places like animal shelters to immediately euthanize animals that have an unknown background that have bitten someone. This is because the only medical tests for rabies cannot be performed on a live animal, and so the fastest way to determine the person's risk is to euthanize. All this is why it is extremely important to make sure your dog is vaccinated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T17:35:07.553" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T17:35:07.553" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-26T19:33:44.463" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rats got into a tiff last night or this morning and one has an eye injury. No vets near me treat rats and I don't know what to do. What should I do to help my rat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20143" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T20:17:27.250" LastActivityDate="2021-03-26T20:17:27.250" Title="What should I do for my rat with an injured eye?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;injury&gt;&lt;rat&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;&lt;first-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-20T14:44:29.103" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="30999" CreationDate="2021-03-26T20:50:26.907" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;She is very underweight, so the vet told me that she had to eat dog food all day. However, she only eats in the afternoon, regardless of whether it is human food. Never, but never, eats in the morning. The vet told me to leave her without food in the afternoon so that the next day she would wake up hungry. I did that, but the next day she didn't eat in the morning either, only in the afternoon. The vet had also recommended that I mix a can of wet dog food with the dry food for her to eat, but all she does is lick the wet food out of the dry one. Is it absolutely necessary for her to eat in the morning for her to gain weight? How can I solve my problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19956" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T20:55:49.943" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T11:22:28.300" Title="My dog ​doesn't want to eat in the morning" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;weight&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="29995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-26T22:03:20.360" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last night I was in a bit of a rush and really tired and completely forgot to put the raw meat back in the fridge or put the lid back on. I know cats have a higher tolerance for diseases that come from raw meat, but I don't wanna take any risks and also not really keen on binning the entire tub of Jimbo meat. So, is it safe for her to eat? Should I scoop off the top half of meat? Or bin everything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20144" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-26T22:18:24.013" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T06:47:44.180" Title="Left raw meat out for 10 hours overnight on the counter; is it safe for a cat to eat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="30996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2021-03-27T06:31:30.697" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a 5-year-old neutered male DSH. He always leaves toys in the water and food bowls, sometimes the toilet too. From my observation, he is doing this because he carries the toy around and then decides to get a drink. While drinking, he drops it in and gets his drink. Sometimes he picks it back up if he can. He plays fetch very well and once he's tired from playing, he just carries his toys around. He does this with tiny mice and small nerf type balls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20146" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-27T20:04:38.243" LastActivityDate="2021-03-27T20:04:38.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="30999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29994" CreationDate="2021-03-27T20:22:51.050" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can recommend for you is establishing a new habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be ideal if you took a walk with her in the morning or did some other activity every day at (roughly) the same time. Now, start giving her a small amount of food after that activity. Wait 10 - 15 minutes for her to start eating, but don't stare at her the whole time or she might be too uncomfortable to eat. If she doesn't start eating after that time, you simply take the food away and give it to her in the afternoon with the rest of her food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeat that every day, even if she doesn't eat. One day, she might start eating a small amount, but it might take several days for her to be in the mood. Once she does eat the small amount given, you can sneak in a slightly bigger portion and see if she eats it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always take the food away that she hasn't eaten. Moderate eaters tend to lose their appetite if the same old food is always available. But if the food suddenly isn't there anymore and she cannot eat at any given time of the day, the food becomes more valuable when it is available and must be eaten before it disappears again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2021-03-28T11:22:28.300" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T11:22:28.300" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29995" CreationDate="2021-03-27T20:37:21.167" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note that this is only my subjective, not scientific opinion...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meat &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be fine, but you cannot keep it much longer now. It's bacteria and fungi (mould) that spoil foods, and it's the cold of the fridge that slows their growth down to keep foods fresh for longer. Since the meat wasn't refrigerated for several hours, it's comparable to meat that was refrigerated for several days (maybe 3 - 5 days, but that's my completely non-scientific opinion and highly depends on the room temperature in your kitchen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should still be edible, as long as there's no sign of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mould; If there's any white, grey, green or black fuzz anywhere on the meat, bin the whole can. It's not the fuzz that's poisonous, but the metabolic by-products that have already spread through the whole can by the time the mould becomes visible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greenish slime or milky liquid; That's a sign of excess bacteria and can lead to vomiting and diarrhea. Again, throw the whole thing away because there's no way to tell if the bottom of the can contains less bacteria.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bad odor; You know how the meat usually smells. If the odor changed, it's a sign of excess bacteria. Even if it was still edible, your cat probably would refuse eating it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats have a much finer nose than humans and can smell rot much better. Domesticated cats evolved to eat fresh prey and refuse carrion. If your cat refuses to eat the meat, you won't have much choice but throw it away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T06:47:44.180" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T06:47:44.180" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-28T02:43:19.907" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not talking about conditions that the Golden Retriever is prone to develop in the future like cancer, but things like hip dysplasia that if the dog is guaranteed to inherit, may make it live in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are based on trying to find out which breeder to pick for getting my Golden Retriever. Because there appear to be the following types of breeders:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The excellent ones - they price their Retrievers at $4,000-4,500, but their Retrievers come with &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; genetic issues or conditions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The good ones - they price their Retrievers between $2000-3000, their Retrievers come with &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; conditions like ichthyosis (dandruff skin problem) &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; their dam &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; sire - one of them alone tends to be carrier of some genetic condition like hip dysplasia, that make it a one in four chance that the puppy inherits it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The poor ones - they shouldn't have bred their dam and sire in the first place, the dog is &lt;strong&gt;guaranteed&lt;/strong&gt; to carry with it a severe neurologic condition because both their dam &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; sire have the neurologic condition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious about what to be worried about, and what I can over-look and this breed of dog can over-look without living in pain or having to put it down because the vet tells me it's suffering too much, and there are some like hip dysplasia that can cost up to $4,000 to get their hips replaced. Some conditions like heart murmurs, if I'm not wrong, are known to severely shorten the lifespan of the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some sort of categorization of genetic conditions on this specific breed would help.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19890" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T19:51:00.093" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T19:51:00.093" Title="Genetic diseases/conditions in Golden Retrievers" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;pet-selection&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-28T06:26:55.957" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;My female guinea pig Coco, 2 years old, recently had her sonography done and she was found to have uterus infection. We have two other female guinea pigs, and one of them previously too had a uterus infection and we got her uterus surgically removed and then after treatment she was fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for Coco, we went to the same place and got her treated and removed her uterus as well. It's been 15 days since and she's still not quite recovered. It looks as if she's still in pain. She appears to be in a lot of discomfort when she poops and her feces appear to be very small. As of now, she hardly eats and is inactive as well. So we have to force feed her and keep her hydrated. The doctor said the infection has been in her body for few months and she is not able to put down the antibiotics in her body, so we might need to give her some injectible antibiotics and fluids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked online and found out the condition of impacted bottoms for guinea pigs and it looks as if she's suffering from that (as in not eating, inactive and struggling to poop); however, I also know that happens mostly to males.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just wanted some insights from other people too. Please help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20150" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-28T13:51:07.180" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T13:51:07.180" Title="Female guinea pig uterus infection, please help" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2021-03-28T10:17:03.410" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couple of things rabies vaccination scheme are regulated on jurisdiction to jurisdiction bases. This in turn is subject of how prevalent the possibility of exposure or endemic disease is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are your pets exposed to feral animals or wild settings where you don't know what they have been up to? Dogs you can keep on leash, but cats - they roam around everywhere. Then comes around what other animal kingdom you have in your neighbourhood: bats, raccoons, foxes, mice, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on above and as general guidelines, all pets should be administered starter shot when brought into home. Now days shots last for about 2-3 years effectiveness in animals and 3-5 years in humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are boosters one should get again, depending on variables as discussed on the start of the question. Hypothetically, if probabilities of exposure are very low then starter vaccine may protect up to 10 years, but since it's hard to judge the variables if you have no known interaction points then booster every odd years is good to go. people working with animals, zoo and people working in offices have different very different exposure environment. I know for fact people working with bats get boosters every year. There are also some guidelines (not strictly followed, though) when travelling abroad to certain regions either get vaccinated or get booster before travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just an example and it's general guideline, but varies country to country e.g. Canada, USA, UK, rest of ASIA, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once we found bat in the room and it was flying about around 2-3 am or so. Not sure if it bit anyone or not, protocol called for everyone to be vaccinated again. Some odd years later there was again bat about here and there protocol called for getting vaccinated or booster (single shot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SO what makes someone decide should they and shouldn't they get vaccinated? Answer is chance, and attitude is you would not risk the chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the chances are you are in area where there are lots of exposure possibilities and you have been known to come into occurrences of then get vaccinated or booster whichever applicable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20153" LastEditorUserId="20153" LastEditDate="2021-03-28T22:34:46.427" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T22:34:46.427" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29990" CreationDate="2021-03-28T16:29:17.590" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see from your profile page that you're in the Phillipines. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.who-rabies-bulletin.org/site-page/occurrence-rabies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this World Health Organization page on the occurence of rabies worldwide&lt;/a&gt;, dogs are the most likely vector for rabies in the Phillipines, and thus as a responsible dog owner it's a smart thing for you to have your pets and yourself vaccinated against rabies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3816" LastActivityDate="2021-03-28T16:29:17.590" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31011" CreationDate="2021-03-28T18:13:45.557" Score="11" ViewCount="4082" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I've been leaving my dog's toys scattered about; she'll come ask me for fetch or tug by bringing me a toy. I've been recently reading, however, that I shouldn't leave tug ropes out, because she'll chew on them and swallow strings of yarn or whatever it is they're made of and that's bad for her. The thing is, her favorite tug toy is her favorite toy period; she carries it around the house and often asks for tug with it (at least 4-5 times a day). Should I take it away from her and put it up and only get it down for play sessions? She's a shelter dog and I'm trying to give her a sense of security and &amp;quot;home&amp;quot; as well, she was clearly abandoned in a yard before and she hates to be out of my sight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T18:41:40.033" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T01:22:46.760" Title="Should I take my dog's favorite tug-of-war toy away from her to prevent her from potentially eating pieces of it?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31005" CreationDate="2021-03-28T19:14:07.570" Score="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as she doesn't destroy the rope, I wouldn't worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditional rope toys are made of cotton or a comparable natural fiber because they are intended to be chewed on and ingested in small amounts. As long as you only play tug of war or the dog only carries it around, they are no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem arises when the dog actually chews through strands of the toy. If a dog tries to swallow big chunks, she could choke or suffocate on them or they could block her small intestine. And long strands could be a problem because they may not pass the digestive system in one go. If one end is stuck in the stomach and the other end already passed into the small intestine, the intestine can be cinched and cut off from blood flow.  This is incredibly painful, and can lead to death because the symptoms are often confused and the problem diagnosed too late. The same problem arises if cats try to eat toys on a long string.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-03-30T21:04:26.030" LastActivityDate="2021-03-30T21:04:26.030" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31005" CreationDate="2021-03-29T02:49:36.887" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually disagree with Elmy here. If your dog could swallow a large chunk of the rope, they may choke and die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To prevent this, I would consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;getting a tougher toy/rope that your dog won't be able to destroy;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;keeping your dog under more supervision;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;buying alternative toys so you can take the said toy away when you aren't watching your dog and giving it back when you return while still keeping your dog mentally stimulated and happy;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;exercising and playing more with your dog so they won't destroy toys out of boredom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://dogtoysnerd.com/allow-dog-destroy-toys/#:%7E:text=Your%20dog%20can%20be%20destroying,discourage%20the%20behavior%20through%20training.&amp;amp;text=Only%20let%20your%20dog%20destroy,or%20any%20parts%20of%20it.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Should You Let Your Dog Destroy Toys? - DogsToyNerds.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T01:22:46.760" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T01:22:46.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-29T14:42:43.563" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had her for over 6 months and my 1 year old kitten refuses to engage in play when my 2 year old male cat tries to chase and play. She always bugs me to play and is clearly more attached to me, but I can't play all day long and want them to be friends! She will occasionally initiate play with the 2 year old, but it's rare and only seems to be if she's in charge. When she first went into heat, my 2 year old male mounted her twice, but she has been fixed for months and he hasn't tried to mount since. I'd love to know how to get her to stop being a prima donna and acting like she's the queen, but my friend I got her from said her mom is very similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything I can do to nip this dominant attitude a bit and get her to play more with my other cat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20167" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-29T17:10:45.293" LastActivityDate="2021-04-08T09:50:58.937" Title="1 Year old kitten doesn't like playing with 2 year old cat unless she is initiating it" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;play&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31005" CreationDate="2021-03-29T16:13:37.373" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does she actually obviously damage &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; rope toy? You say in a comment that she destroyed a different rope toy (that had a ball attached), but if she doesn't show any signs of causing damage to this specific rope toy then she's unlikely to wake up one morning and immediately rip it to a dangerous state. You should monitor it for wear over time and be ready to replace it when it starts wearing out--but that's something you should do for all toys anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she is obviously damaging it to the point where she can wear through it quickly, then yes you should take it away from her when she's unsupervised...but try to find something else that she likes that's safer. Perhaps if she likes the texture of the rope then she would like some of the textured rubber toys (look for teething toys, those have a lot of texture)... Some of the rubber toys are also tug-type toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10372" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T16:13:37.373" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31025" CreationDate="2021-03-29T18:34:22.500" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I went to a pet superstore recently searching for clumping clay litter, and they only sell cat litter from two different companies... let's call them CompanyA and CompanyB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though these two companies only sell clumping clay litter at this particular store, they have several &amp;quot;varieties&amp;quot;. For example, CompanyA has &lt;em&gt;Super Scoop&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Double Duty&lt;/em&gt;, and Multi-Cat. CompanyB has &lt;em&gt;MULTI-CAT&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;EXTREME&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;TRIPLE ACTION&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen these &amp;quot;differences&amp;quot; in other cat litter before, but I have no idea what the differences are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that said, I have two cats: one's middle-aged and the other one's a senior citizen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between these &amp;quot;varieties&amp;quot; of cat litter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the &lt;em&gt;Super Scoop&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Double Duty&lt;/em&gt; from CompanyA are apparently heavy-duty cat litters, so why do they offer a &lt;em&gt;Multi-Cat&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CompanyB has &lt;em&gt;TRIPLE ACTION&lt;/em&gt; which sounds like something from a Rambo movie, but is it stronger than &lt;em&gt;EXTREME&lt;/em&gt;? Will &lt;em&gt;TRIPLE ACTION&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;EXTREME&lt;/em&gt; not work if it recognizes that there is different feces from different cats and that's why they offer &lt;em&gt;MULTI-CAT&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="8568" LastEditorUserId="8568" LastEditDate="2021-03-30T14:33:03.103" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T17:24:34.170" Title="Is there a difference between the super scoop, double duty and multi-cat litters?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cat-litter&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27062" CreationDate="2021-03-29T22:59:18.537" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do a bit, give a treat. Wait a day, do a bit more... give a treat. Talk as you do it. Make sure you are far from the preferred hiding spot, but visible.&#xA;By not doing it, it can make it more scary. My cats hate it (I live in a bed sit) but they have seen me hoover my hand etc, have music on.&#xA;Also stay calm. Sounds odd, but your fear that your cat will be scared can make things worse.&#xA;If you are not scared, why should the cat be (eventually).&#xA;But cats seriously overreact &amp;amp; react to smells. So maybe that patch smelt weird. Does your cat like catnip?&#xA;You can get plug in things, but they never stop mine being crazy.&#xA;Cats get used to things more easily than you think. They just need time.&#xA;Your housemates will also stop planning on evicting the cat if the room is clean. That was my one rule as a tenant, to keep cat hair levels down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20173" LastActivityDate="2021-03-29T22:59:18.537" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31016" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31020" CreationDate="2021-03-30T13:45:46.583" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm growing exhausted. My Beka is a year old and she knows to go outside. She knows it so well, for the first few days her only accidents were right by the back door where she was clearly waiting for one of us to let her out. But all of a sudden, in week three she's weeing beside the &lt;em&gt;bathroom&lt;/em&gt; doors for some reason. It's like she knows that's where humans wee and she wants to be like her daddy, mama, and papa. How difficult would it be to teach her to balance on the human toilet and wee there so I don't have to let her out? I'm probably not going to do it, the others disagree, but I'm curious now that I'm thinking about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T13:04:48.083" Title="How hard is it to train a dog to use a human toilet?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-30T13:48:12.003" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;So whenever I go to check on my chickens I always bring some treats for them. I usually give them turnips, etc. and I feed them by hand. Now, the hens come running for the food, but the rooster always seems skeptical about it. The hens are perfectly fine eating directly from my hand, but when I try to feed the rooster by hand, he always runs away. Why does this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20064" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-30T14:02:53.103" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T14:12:16.387" Title="Rooster acts differently from hens when directly fed" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29955" CreationDate="2021-03-30T20:43:41.757" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your dog can relearn a trick. Most likely, they never truly forgot it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will take practice and patience, but if you can devote at least 15 minutes of training session each day, your dog will slowly remember. Also, try to see if your dog can perform the trick without the incentives of a treat during a random part of the day. Be supportive and kind to your dog, and they should remember the trick by a few weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, for the trick &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot;, you would hold the treat above your dog's head and command them to sit, gently nudging them into a sitting position if they didn't sit right away, and properly rewarding them. If you found training with clickers worked before, use that again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if your dog had truly forgotten the trick, &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/can-old-dogs-learn-new-tricks#:%7E:text=Old%20dogs%20can%20learn%20new%20tricks.&amp;amp;text=In%20fact%2C%20adult%20dogs%20are,learn%20new%20routines%20more%20easily.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;old dogs &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; learn new tricks&lt;/a&gt;, so you can certainly reteach the trick to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mypet.com/new-pet-owner/tips-training-dog.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mypet.com - Tips on Training Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/how-to-teach-a-puppy-to-sit-2805071&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thesprucepets.com - How to Teach a Puppy to Sit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-03-30T20:43:41.757" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5832" CreationDate="2021-03-31T01:52:05.137" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zinc oxide is SAFE for topical use. All the concerns regarding its potential toxicity refer to the ingestion of this substance. Dermal absorption of zinc from topical ointments based on zinc oxide is trace to none (&lt;a href=&quot;https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/118/1/140/1664509&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;study on humans&lt;/a&gt;). At worst, topical use could result in minor skin irritation. As long as it is not eaten, it is safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zinc oxide on itself is also not inherently more dangerous to dogs than it is to humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of chemical compounds are a lot more toxic to pets than they are to humans - for example, a common over-the-counter pain reliever, paracetamol (alias acetaminophen), is extremely toxic to cats; also, theobromine and caffeine are highly-toxic to both dogs and cats. However, zinc oxide is not such a compound, even though the related Q&amp;amp;A might potentially give the impression that it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Substances like paracetamol and caffeine are organic molecules that are metabolized by enzymes (mainly in our liver); cats and dogs either lack specific enzymes needed for metabolizing them, metabolize them much slower than humans and/or metabolize them via different pathways that lead to the formation of toxic by-products. On the other hand, zinc oxide is a simple compound and no fundamental differences between humans and dogs exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, the reason for using dog-specific sunscreen is that sunscreens made specifically for pets contain a bittering agent to prevent licking and consuming; it is because a lot of sunscreen's constituents - not just zinc oxide - are generally not intended to be eaten and are not the most pleasant things to the stomach; also, I'd expect some of them to be worse in terms of toxicity than ZnO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zinc oxide is a relatively inert compound that is insoluble in water. However, it dissolves in most acids and alkalis; upon ingestion, it dissolves in stomach acid and releases free zinc ions. Zinc ion in solution is a strong &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_acids_and_bases&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lewis acid&lt;/a&gt; and thus is corrosive - it irritates the mucosa of the digestive tract, causing stomach ache, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon ingestion, zinc ions are also absorbed and, depending on the dose, could cause zinc poisoning. Zinc is an essential micronutrient, which means it is required for life in small amounts - it is the dose that makes the poison. It makes zinc different than, for example, lead - which is highly toxic, is known to bioaccumulate, and has no biological role. In the case of lead, the only safe level of exposure is zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, inorganic forms of zinc (like zinc oxide) are poorly absorbed from GI tract. Dog food is often fortified with vitamins and minerals - including zinc. In the case of zinc, the most bioavailable forms are those in which the Zn atom is bound to a ligand (which is usually organic) via two or more separate coordinate bonds; this ligand is referred to as chelating agent or chelator and its bonds could be imagined as &amp;quot;claws&amp;quot; which are pinching/holding the metal atom - it stabilizes the metal atom and prevents it from reacting with the contents inside GI tract and being precipitated out in the form of insoluble salts, which would render it biologically unavailable. However, the cheaper brands of dog food are often using inorganic forms of zinc - like zinc oxide - and in this context, it is a problem because of how poorly it is absorbed from GI tract. I do not want to include direct links to the specific websites because of annoying popups that cause my web browser to malfunction, but to give some idea as to what to look for: I did a web search with the phrase &amp;quot;dog food zinc oxide&amp;quot; and two of the first three results were about zinc deficiency in dogs and how it could be caused by feeding dog food that has its zinc in a poorly-bioavailable form like ZnO. Of course, the ZnO concentration in dog food is going to be much less than in sunscreen - but it is just to give you an idea of its bioavailability from GI tract.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I attempted to find some articles and studies about dogs being poisoned as a result of zinc oxide-based sunscreens or other ointments, and the only ones I found did not involve the dog licking and swallowing the ointment applied on its skin, but rather the dog molesting the ointment container: squeezing a major part of its contents out and eating them, or chewing through the container and swallowing the contents together with fragments of the mauled container itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, it is still possible for excess amounts ingested to result in poisoning (but the same is true in the case of table salt). ZnO is odorless and tasteless, so it doesn't immediately produce repulsive sensations which would discourage the dog from further consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LD&lt;SUB&gt;50&lt;/SUB&gt; for zinc oxide &lt;a href=&quot;https://hbchemical.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ZnO-US-Global-2015-Rev82.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this datasheet&lt;/a&gt; has two given values (from two different experiments): one of &amp;gt;5000 mg/kg (rat, oral) and the second of 15000 mg/kg (rat, oral).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For comparison, LD&lt;SUB&gt;50&lt;/SUB&gt; for table salt (sodium chloride) is 3000 mg/kg (rat, oral); for table sugar (sacharose): 29700 mg/kg (rat, oral).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zinc competes with other micronutrients (like iron and copper) in terms of absorption; it means that zinc poisoning (especially chronic poisoning) could cause iron deficiency (which could result in anemia) and copper deficiency symptoms.&#xA;If the poisoning did not result in death, the prognosis is good in most of the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T03:24:00.110" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T03:24:00.110" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31016" CreationDate="2021-03-31T12:53:07.750" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;For safety reasons: &lt;strong&gt;It's impossible for a dog to balance on a toilet seat designed for humans.&lt;/strong&gt; Imagine climbing on a toilet seat and squatting down to do your buisnes perched on top of the seat... now imagine having tiny and slippery dog paws. It's not a valid option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some friends had an elderly dog who started peeing in the shower when she became incontinent with old age. That was easy to clean, but might not be acceptable for everyone. The dog also started doing it on her own and wasn't trained to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider what would cause her to pee inside. Ignore the specific place where she pees. She knows that she's supposed to pee outside, so &lt;em&gt;what could cause her to do it in an inappropriate place&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs don't have the mental capacity to &amp;quot;want to be like&amp;quot; anyone. If she didn't &lt;em&gt;observe&lt;/em&gt; anyone actually using the toilet, she probably doesn't even know what it's for. If there's no strong smell of urine in the room, she has no reason to assume that anyone ever pees there. Please forget your theory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog does it again, get her checked for any problems or infections of the urinary tract. Those can cause pain when she needs to hold her pee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you ignore her requests to go outside for too long? If she's ignored too often, she might try different tactics because she assumes the usual one doesn't work anymore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does she like to go outside in general? If being outside is always connected with negative experiences, like being scolded, she might want to avoid going outside at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you been very stern with her? Urinating is a nonverbal communication indicating submission. Maybe she's very sensitive and has a delicate personality? If she starts peeing while or right after being reprimanded, you are too harsh with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was it just a one-time accident? No-one knows what's really going on in the head of a dog. Hopefully she just had a bad day and won't repeat this behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T13:04:48.083" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T13:04:48.083" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31017" CreationDate="2021-03-31T13:06:26.617" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot give you a definite answer, but I observed a similar thing with our neighbor's chickens. We often throw a certain kind of garden weeds (which they &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt;) over the fence for them and the hens always come running. But the rooster always waits and lets the hens eat first. Sometimes he starts eating after several minutes, sometimes he doesn't eat at all. I assume in his mind it's more important to watch out for dangers (like predators) while his ladies are distracted by the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T13:20:01.353" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T13:20:01.353" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18393" CreationDate="2021-03-31T15:33:02.263" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I give my one and a halfmonth old kitten Royal Canin paediatrics weaning. It was recommended by her vet because my kitten did not want to drink kitty milk at all. I saw a real difference in her, I highly recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20182" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T15:33:02.263" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29106" CreationDate="2021-03-31T18:29:32.813" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, so I should update this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched around a bit and figured that the only valid concern was that the chicks might eat too much of the bedding and get impacted crops. However there were also reports of compacted crops in cases where the chicks had eaten pine shavings or other bedding types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I eventually just went ahead and used the sand. The chicks browsed it a little but didn't eat it too much and thrived well on it. Lived just fine on it for 2 whole months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a pic from mid December last year, after they had been in the sand for a month:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CanJ3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CanJ3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sifted the sand with a tea strainer every couple of days. Eventually it had to be replaced as the moisture built up, and I replaced it 3-4 times in total, once because of spilled water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real concern in my experience after this trial is that the used sand has to be thrown away and can not be composted. So in future I might try to use some other organic bedding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19266" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T18:29:32.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31012" CreationDate="2021-03-31T19:39:24.143" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience the names of the different litters make no difference.&#xA;As Allison has pointed out it is mostly marketing logic.&#xA;You can use any litter for several cats, I for my part have two cats and never bought (nor seen) any multi-cat litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it is really at is clump or no clump, which material it is and whether it is scented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the best thing you can do is to offer two different ones in two boxes and see if they maybe prefer one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example you might be able to compare it to human products like deodorant.&#xA;There might be SPORTY, SWEAT FREE, SUPER LONG and such, and they might be minimally different, but really they all get the job done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-03-31T19:39:24.143" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31026" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-03-31T20:13:31.827" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one-year-old British Blue boy called Sausage. He is neutered and very calm, sweet, affectionate, and social. I had always planned to get him a companion as he gets along well with everyone and has a lot of pent-up playful energy. He recently spent several weeks at a cattery and made good friends with another boy cat a little older than him. They were inseparable and loved to wrestle with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shortly after he came back home and settled, I bought a new cat, a female Tabby-something, 6 months and unspayed. At the pet shop, she was napping with dogs and grooming her cat companion, so she seemed really chilled, confident, and friendly. I bought her home and gave her her own room with her own litterbox, food, toys, etc. I am calling her Peach for now. I gave her a few days without Sausage to acclimatize and bond with me and explore the house. She is still quite skittish but affectionate to me (enjoys being pet and likes to sleep on laps) and plays by herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she is not too impressed with Sausage. The first intro involved lots of hissing and growling on her part and avoidance. Sausage was his normal curious self and immediately wanted to be friends and play. She gave him (and continues to give him) signals to back off and leave her alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, things have really improved on the growling/hissing front, and now they can be in quite close proximity without altercations. They have booped noses, sniffed each other's butts, slept/relaxed near-ish each other, eaten next to each other. She walks up to him and sniffs him but runs away/growls if he responds too much. She still growls, hisses, and smacks when he tries to play with her, which might involve him playfully pouncing her or swatting gently. She is particularly aggressive on the new cat tree I bought them. She tolerates him, but is not enthused at all with his playing and not extremely interested in him. At night she goes to her room as I still don’t want them together unsupervised, and she enjoys her alone time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very early days (less than a week) and I think it’s a great sign that they can tolerate each other so early on. I’m confident Peach’s aggression will improve with time, but I’m not sure she will ever want to play with him or be affectionate with him. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but I wanted a companion for Sausage, not a roommate situation where they tolerate each other. They are both sweet lovely cats, and Sausage is really very loving and playful with other cats if they accept him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TLDR: Has anyone had cats who have had a lukewarm introduction, where they’ve gone on to be good bonded friends? Could her being unspayed be contributing to her aggression?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20185" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-03-31T21:18:42.650" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T01:03:11.287" Title="Is there hope cats will be friends after lukewarm start?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;bonding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31026" CreationDate="2021-03-31T23:06:41.077" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;I wanted a companion for Sausage, not a roommate situation where they tolerate each other.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common misconception is that cats that are cuddly or groom each other are being friendly, while cats that merely are in the same room are just tolerating each other. Cats might also socialize by following each other around and being in the same place. If you find your cats all sleeping in the same room regularly, that's not just because they merely tolerate each other. Your cats already get along quite well for only having met for a week if they sometimes sleep or relax in the same space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as it's only been a week, I think Peach is still nervous. This situation will be scarier for her than for Sausage. He is in confident because he's in his home territory.  Likely even the room you are keeping Peach in still smells like him. Peach, meanwhile, has very little that she feels like is hers. It's a much more anxious sort of situation for her. Her hissing, growling, and swatting at Sausage are all signs that she's still a bit nervous around him. I think it's likely she'll calm down eventually, and you may even see some of the friendlier behavior she's shown with other cats, but it also might need a little human intervention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Start spreading her smell around the house more.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's something in her room that she's used a lot, then put it in a place in the rest of the house in a place that Sausage frequents. You want to really get her smell mixed in to help her gain confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give Peach better ways to get away from Sausage.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidents are happening on the cat tree because she probably feels safer up high, but then when Sausage approaches it, she is now trapped with no way down. You should instead make it so there is another piece of furniture she can go to from the cat tree, that leads to a different route she can go to get down and away from Sausage. Arrange your entire house this way if you can. This way Peach can choose when she wants to interact with Sausage, and avoid him if she doesn't. With fewer negative incidents happening, it'll hopefully help to build up her confidence around Sausage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Play with them together.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also might help to build up Peach's confidence to play with both cats together. You might need a helper to do this, so one person can play with each cat. It will encourage them to be close together, but they will be focused on the toys and not each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And, yes, definitely get Peach fixed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though unfixed toms are more notorious, unfixed female cats can also be more aggressive or territorial than fixed females. It's better for her health and will make her more companionable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T01:03:11.287" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T01:03:11.287" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31028" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-01T03:59:03.900" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard of people successfully doing the calculations on splitting up the &amp;quot;large dog&amp;quot; version of Revolution (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.zoetispetcare.com/products&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.zoetispetcare.com/products&lt;/a&gt;) to dose a bunch of cats cheaply.&#xA;I am thinking another cost effective but easier approach for two &amp;quot;medium&amp;quot; cats would be to split a &amp;quot;large cat&amp;quot; dose exactly in half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone confirm that the concentrations are the same and the volume is precisely double for the medium and large cat formulas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20188" LastEditorUserId="20188" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T15:13:47.367" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T17:18:26.503" Title="Splitting doses of Revolution for cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17582" CreationDate="2021-04-01T04:04:49.900" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This post is several years old but I will update it to add that there is now Revolution Plus which includes an additional active ingredient specifically targeting ticks. This might already be common knowledge to many or most pet people but hopefully will help anyone searching this information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20188" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T04:04:49.900" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31041" CreationDate="2021-04-01T15:01:32.343" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;Virtually all instructions on how much to feed a Betta fish focus on pellets. However, what's the proper amount and feeding schedule for flakes? I have not been able to find much information on that at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10835" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T14:04:12.807" Title="How much do you feed a Betta fish if you switch from pellets to flakes?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31031" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-01T15:14:27.150" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;So me and my friend have decided to make a termite farm and with me and him both being in high school, we don't really know the best materials for it. We have looked it up and have only found a small one on &lt;a href=&quot;https://kenneth-noll.uconn.edu/how-to-build-a-termite-farm/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;kenneth-noll.uconn.edu&lt;/a&gt;, but it isn't big enough and will result in a possible outbreak. However, we came up of the smart yet possibly collapsible idea of turning a fish aquarium into a full fledged termite farm. Please tell me if this could result in a disaster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T19:15:54.413" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T17:02:15.223" Title="Building a Termite Farm" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;terrariums&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;farm-animals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31028" CreationDate="2021-04-01T16:23:15.630" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the prescribing information sheet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The recommended minimum dosage is 2.7 mg selamectin per pound (6 mg/kg) of body weight and 0.45 mg sarolaner per pound (1 mg/kg) of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Administer the entire contents of a single tube (or two tubes in combination for cats weighing over 22 pounds) of REVOLUTION PLUS topically in accordance with the following table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;div class=&quot;s-table-container&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;table class=&quot;s-table&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Body Weight (lbs)&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Tube Cap Color&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Tube Volume (mL)&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Selamectin (mg/tube)&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;th&gt;Sarolaner (mg/tube)&lt;/th&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/thead&gt;&#xA;&lt;tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;2.8 - 5.5&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;gold&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.25&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;2.5&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;5.6 - 11&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;orange&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;0.5&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;30&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;11.1 - 22*&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;green&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;60&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;td&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/tbody&gt;&#xA;&lt;/table&gt;&#xA;&lt;/div&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Cats over 22 lbs should be treated with the appropriate combination of tubes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That confirms that the dosage for cat X is exactly half s much as for a cat weighting twice as much as cat X.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example calculation: Cat A = 5 lb, Cat B = 10 lb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both got a single dose, they would get one gold and one orange one.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Both cats combined (15 lb) should get a green dose split in two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both cats combined weight more than 20 lb, you need 2 doses anyways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that you're not a robot and probably can't divide the dosage perfectly. I suggest treating the bigger cat first because you'll probably squeeze more of the product out of the tube at the first squeeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should also apply the second dose as quickly as possible. Because of the alcohol content, the solution dries very quickly. If you wait half an hour to apply the second dose, the dilution of the solution changes and the second cat might get less of the active ingredients onto their skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T17:18:26.503" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T17:18:26.503" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31034" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-01T18:44:48.963" Score="2" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would I introduce termites that I capture to their new environment (&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/31031&quot;&gt;a farm that I am building&lt;/a&gt;) without causing too much stress to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-01T19:39:14.203" LastActivityDate="2021-04-01T19:39:14.203" Title="New enviroment introduction for termites" Tags="&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;stress&gt;&lt;insects&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;&lt;invertebrates&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-01T23:00:12.163" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my backyard, there’s this wild bunny that has been sitting in the exact spot for 3 days now. I go out, she’s just sitting down looking at me. I’ve even gotten as close as 5 feet (150 cm) from her and she just stares at me. I’ve seen this one before and she runs off when I step outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this very peculiar and not sure what’s wrong with her. My wife says that nursing bunnies do that. I’m not sure if that is correct or not. So here are my questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this normal and is she nursing? Or should I call someone to come check on her?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she is indeed nursing, is there anything I can do to help her out? We have a 6’ (180 cm) rat snake somewhere in our yard, a ~30 pound (~14 kg) possum, and a raccoon. I don’t want any of these other animals to hurt the bunny babies. Could I prevent this from happening or should I let nature run its course? Should I bring her water or food so she can eat and go back to her babies quickly?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If she is nursing, should I stay away from her? She’s right next to my vegetable garden and I would need to go in there soon. Is that safe for me? Is it ok with her? Or should I just keep my distance for her and my safety?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand this isn’t a pet of mine, but people do have bunnies as pets and I love all the little animals (except the snake, I hate that thing) in my backyard. So I figured it might be a good spot for this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s a photo of her, if you’re curious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i4nMy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/i4nMy.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She’s not stuck or nursing. She’s just lazy and bold. She’s been moving around near us and eating the dandelions and destroying my vegetable garden. Here’s a pic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/azEBN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/azEBN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11096" LastEditorUserId="11096" LastEditDate="2021-04-04T20:34:39.037" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T16:33:57.897" Title="Wild bunny - is she nursing or sick?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-02T06:48:45.650" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two dogs won't stop biting each other.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;This concerns me because of their sizes, I'm afraid that my big dog gets out of control and ends up hurting my little one.&#xA;What can I do to stop them from being aggressive? Or do they play like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19951" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-02T16:29:24.730" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T16:35:47.153" Title="Aggression or rough play between my two dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-03T23:42:53.317" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-02T12:18:57.783" Score="0" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard of chocolate being harmful for cats and dogs, but I've not come across anything that gives me an idea how dangerous or harmful it can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example should I worry about a cat eating a few crumbs of chocolate off the floor or stealing an Easter egg? Or is it a whole block of chocolate would be needed before I had to take the cat off to the vet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10459" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T12:18:57.783" Title="Is chocolate harmful for cats if so how harmful?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-02T14:49:08.303" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31030" CreationDate="2021-04-02T14:04:12.807" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Serving size for betta food very much depends on the brand/type/size of food. It even varies for pellets, but generally is 3-5 pellets twice a day. It’s also recommended to do &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; than what is instructed on the food container. For flakes, really all you can say is “a pinch”. It’s a trial and error process - how much can your betta eat within a set amount of time? What is left over in the tank? There’s no one answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, &lt;strong&gt;flake food is not recommended&lt;/strong&gt; by itself for a variety of reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Messy&lt;/strong&gt;: it’s hard to get an exact amount of flakes, they can dissolve much quicker, and smaller pieces may be ignored, resulting in waste. It’s more difficult to find and scoop up uneaten flakes, whereas a pellet is easy to identify and remove with a scoop or net.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dissolving Nutrients&lt;/strong&gt;: Bettas are carnivores, and require a lot of protein. Relating to the messy point, once flakes hit the the water, they begin dissolving nutrients - the betta doesn’t get as much nutrient value from flakes. Pellets are typically made with higher nutrient content.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Serving size&lt;/strong&gt;: As mentioned above, pellets are easier to see and control how much they eat. It’s much more difficult to control with flakes. Bettas don’t know when to stop eating, and over feeding can cause a number of health issues.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Picky&lt;/strong&gt;: bettas can be picky. A flake is not like food they would find in the wild, and they may avoid it regardless. I have read a number of reports of bettas that just don’t like flakes. I had a betta that didn’t even like smaller sized pellets than what I started him off on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However!&lt;/strong&gt; It is recommended to give your betta a varied diet. It keeps things interesting for him, and also gives him a chance for a wider range of nutrients. So, if you can, &lt;strong&gt;primarily feed your betta some high quality pellets, and then substitute with other options like flakes, freeze dried blood worms, and other safe betta foods.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further help, this site has great details explaining &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/best-food-for-betta-fish-betta-fish-food-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;how to feed your betta and what to look for when buying food&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T14:04:12.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31039" CreationDate="2021-04-02T16:07:47.533" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt they are &amp;quot;fighting&amp;quot;. This sounds more like rough play. Rough play is common between dogs, especially puppies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Aggression or rough play?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to be able to distinguish between aggression and rough play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one or both of you dogs are showing any or all of the following signs, it is true aggression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very rigid body&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raised tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Guttural barking or growling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Showing teeth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Snarling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Circling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flat or pricked up ears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intense staring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt your dogs are fighting, so the next section of my answer is unnecessary, but this is a safety hazard so I am including it anyway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to stop a dog fight&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is happening between your dogs, it is essential that you stop &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; fighting and take the next steps to prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To stop a dog fight mid-fight, take these steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lhC4km.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lhC4km.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Credit: thesprucepets.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dogs are truly fighting, &lt;strong&gt;do not physically intervene&lt;/strong&gt; by putting yourself or your hand between them. I know they love you and you love them, but in the middle of a fight, they will bite anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some ways to stop a dog fight safely for yourself, and your dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Assess the situation/determine the aggressor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make noise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Throw a blanket over the bullboxer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Put an object (like an umbrella) between the dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pull the legs of your dogs backward (needs two people, also known as the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thedodo.com/yes-there-is-a-smart-way-to-break-up-a-dog-fight-1488888838.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wheel Barrow Method&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spray them with a hose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove the dogs from the area&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take your dogs to a medical professional to assess any injuries&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;How to prevent a dog fight&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feed your dogs separately to avoid aggression over food&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prevent aggressive situations (like withholding a toy they tend to fight over)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Provide separate sleeping areas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get your dogs used to socialization with other dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spay or neuter your dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch for stress in your dogs (such as stress over thunder)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gradually get your dogs used to each other (let them see each other for 15 minutes before removing one dog)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exercise and play with your dogs to burn extra energy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Is rough play okay?&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;are not showing signs of aggression&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;are wagging their tails&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;playfully bow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;take turns chasing each other&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and have the opportunity to leave the situation but decide not to (in the case of a power imbalance or hierarchy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it is normal. It will develop into a greater friendship and understanding between your dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some dogs play rougher than others&lt;/strong&gt;. This is also normal. Make sure that if you are having a puppy play date with a dog, not from your household, the other owner understands that your dog is only playing and that they are free to remove their dog from the situation if feeling uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Summary&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rough play is okay, aggression and fighting are not. If your dogs are fighting,  you need to take further steps to stop it and to prevent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important for your dogs to have a healthy and equal relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please consult a trained veterinarian if unsure about any of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Sources&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/safely-break-up-a-dog-fight-1117894#:%7E:text=A%20method%20that%27s%20sometimes%20successful,dogs%20to%20help%20separate%20them.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Reasons Why Dogs Fight and How to Safely Stop It - thesprucepets.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://rehome.adoptapet.com/answers/dog-rehoming/how-do-you-stop-a-big-dog-from-attacking-a-little-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How Do You Stop A Big Dog From Attacking A Little Dog? -rehome.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cesarsway.com/how-to-help-dogs-get-along/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How To Help Dogs Get Along - cesarsway.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Dogs-in-the-Same-House-from-Fighting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Keep Dogs in the Same House from Fighting - wikihow.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thebark.com/content/your-dogs-rough-play-appropriate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Is Your Dog’s Rough Play Appropriate? - thebark.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-02T16:35:47.153" LastActivityDate="2021-04-02T16:35:47.153" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31043" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-02T19:52:57.323" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently doing my master's in Physics and my research focuses on machine learning to identify novel genetic modifiers of a mutant protein (slowly trying to move to biology!). I really want to be a vet and I am trying to figure out the pros and cons. I hope I will be able to support my studies with three years of data science training. Is this a good plan? I would be really appreciate it if there is any suggestions for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I understand that vets require a professional certificate and/or licensure in the country they want to practice. I am primarily interested to know about the scope of making the switch in career-paths in the US or Germany. But I would love hear about it with respect to any country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20198" LastEditorUserId="20198" LastEditDate="2021-04-02T19:58:35.920" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T11:52:04.053" Title="Is it possible for a physics major to get admission in a vet school?" Tags="&lt;veterinarian&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-08T07:50:21.153" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-02T21:30:11.707" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat has the tendency to jump up on things. I had my food on my table and he knocked it over. How do I get him to stop jumping up on things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20200" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-02T21:32:18.413" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T14:18:25.613" Title="How do I get my cat to stop jumping on things?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29917" CreationDate="2021-04-03T00:41:21.863" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog seems utterly unbothered by anyone touching her belly, including the nipples. So I would guess no, probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T00:41:21.863" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31047" CreationDate="2021-04-03T02:36:36.203" Score="4" ViewCount="1079" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Anecdote&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My relatives went on a trip leaving behind their goldfish. When they returned, they noticed that a fish had jumped out of the water and had become dry, apparently dead. But the fish was put back inside water again, and to my relatives' surprise, it became alive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Question&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think the relatives are lying. If the anecdote is correct, could there be a scientific reason for the observation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14393" LastEditorUserId="18829" LastEditDate="2021-04-03T16:48:22.197" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T16:16:09.870" Title="Dried goldfish became alive after re-introducing into water" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31046" CreationDate="2021-04-03T03:21:53.623" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;Goldfish can live for up to three hours out of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends on where your goldfish lands. If they landed somewhere moist or in the puddle of water they spilled out of their bowel, they can survive for around three hours. However, landing on a dry surface will kill them in about one hour, due to lack of breathable oxygen for their gills as well as other reasons as indicated by Lila in her comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many aquatic organisms, including fish, are ammonotelic - they rely on being surrounded by water to constantly excrete nitrogenous waste, mainly by gills. Deamination of amino acids in protein metabolism produces ammonia which is highly toxic; mammals metabolize ammonia into urea which is relatively non-toxic and doesn't need to be immediately excreted, but most fish must rely on excreting ammonia immediately from their bodies. Being outside of water disables this and, on top of suffocating, also poisons them. More information: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_waste#Nitrogen_wastes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_waste#Nitrogen_wastes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... &lt;strong&gt;it never fully died&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a zombie goldfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vivofish.com/goldfish-lifespan/#:%7E:text=They%20can%20actually%20live%20for,live%20up%20to%20three%20hours.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vivofish.com - How Long Can Goldfish Live Out Of Water?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T16:16:09.870" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T16:16:09.870" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31043" CreationDate="2021-04-03T11:52:04.053" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes – having a more uncommon major may help your application stand out among all the biology or animal science majors. It may obviously vary somewhat depending on the exact school you apply to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main thing is making sure you have completed all the required biology-related pre-requisites, have good marks, and have plenty of work experience in the veterinary field. I would say that data science training, while a great supplement to your application, is not a substitute for veterinary experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To discuss more specifics of your application with other current and former students I would suggest taking a look at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://forums.studentdoctor.net/categories/veterinary-forums-dvm.163/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Student Doctor Network Veterinary Forums&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T11:52:04.053" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31053" CreationDate="2021-04-03T20:09:41.853" Score="7" ViewCount="908" Body="&lt;p&gt;My veterinarian prescribed my cat Cerenia, a drug to help with vomiting (antiemetic). However, the instructions included with the medicine say that it is &amp;quot;for oral use with dogs only.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it safe to give my cat Cerenia as per my vet's instructions? Or is this medicine unsafe for cats? Is it possible that there is a Cerenia for cats and my vet accidentally gave me the wrong pill?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-03T20:23:15.243" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T13:29:01.677" Title="Is Cerenia (maropitant) safe for my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31049" CreationDate="2021-04-03T20:17:48.573" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's safe to administer Cerenia tablets, but only when prescribed by a veterinarian.&lt;/strong&gt; According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://allaboutcats.com/cerenia-for-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://allaboutcats.com/cerenia-for-cats&lt;/a&gt;, Cerenia tablets aren't formally licensed for use with cats, but the veterinary community views them as mostly safe in certain situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cerenia Tablets for Cats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Cerenia tablets are also available, formulated for oral use in dogs.  Although Cerenia tablets aren’t licensed to be given to cats, some DVM texts advise that this is possible for certain selected cases. Cerenia should only be given to cats in this way when recommended by the consulting veterinary surgeon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is Cerenia safe for cats?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Cerenia is a safe product, with the only common problem being the transient pain reaction that can happen when the injection is given.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;When cats were given up to five times the recommended dosage doses daily for fifteen consecutive days, there were no discernible adverse effects either clinically (the animals seemed well) nor in laboratory tests (using blood and urine samples).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T13:29:01.677" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T13:29:01.677" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31052" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-03T22:27:24.847" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have three Russian dwarf hamsters that are almost 4&lt;SUP&gt;1&lt;/SUP&gt;/&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; weeks old now. My sister purchased two hamsters that she thought were both females, but she realized they were not once she unexpectedly discovered seven hamster pups. She asked me if I could maybe take a few off her hands once they were old enough. I said yes because I'm not allowed a dog or cat where I'm living, so I wouldn't mind having something other than my pet fish and leopard gecko to hang out with and take care of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took them home when they were three weeks old, and the only cage I had at the time was an old small critter trail. I knew that it would not be enough to house all three of them permanently, so I kept them in that until I was able to get my hands on a new enclosure. They got bigger and began to fight, but I was able to get a ten gallon tank to house them in. This is what they are in now. It has a mesh top, so they have ventilation in there. I have put roughly 4 inches of bedding in the cage, so they can burrow and dig as they wish. They have a saucer wheel (I know that the upright plastic wheels can cause back issues and I know they can hurt their feet from wire wheels, also it is quieter.), a house with enough room for all of them to comfortably pile up and sleep in, a large, easily accessible water bottle, a ceramic food bowl that I empty and refill for them with hamster food and various fruits &amp;amp; vegetables daily, and many toys in different sizes, shapes, and textures, so they have plenty of options and plenty of things to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have been placed in my bedroom which is usually at a comfortable, consistent temperature, and has little to no traffic other than an occasional visitor. I live at the back of the house and like to have the room be dark and quiet, so there are no loud sounds or bright lights in the room either. I handle them daily, so between me and themselves they are all getting plenty of socialization and interaction. They no longer fight like they did right before they were moved to their new enclosure. They make no attempts to escape and are extremely friendly, so they seem perfectly happy and I feel like I am doing everything right. I'm investing in a 20 gallon tank now, because I know a 10 gallon is ok but not ideal, especially for three hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But besides that, is there anything I should start doing or be doing differently? I have seen these hamsters grow up from when they were just little pinkies and so I'm very fond of them and want to do everything in my power to make them happy, healthy and comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20204" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-03T23:38:57.590" LastActivityDate="2021-04-06T15:02:56.327" Title="Is there anything more that I can do to make my dwarf hamsters more comfortable and happy?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31049" CreationDate="2021-04-03T22:53:56.050" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a vet who sees a lot of cats, Cerenia is one of the most common drugs I turn to for cats these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is far superior to many of the other anti-emetics used in the past. It is nice in that it also has some anti-inflammatory properties particularly good for conditions such as pancreatitis or rhinitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that the tablet form is widely used off label in cats in the US. The injectable form is labelled for cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have yet to run into any major adverse effects in cats from use of oral Cerenia. A number of my patients with chronic pancreatitis, kidney disease, or gastrointestinal disease, are on this medication at a low dose long term, and it really does seem to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats are particularly averse to the flavour of the tablets (foaming and drooling, which usually subsides within a few minutes), while others don't seem to taste it at all - not sure how to explain it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2021-04-03T22:53:56.050" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31055" CreationDate="2021-04-04T13:08:23.247" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always wanted a Guinea Pig as a pet. One time I cared for a friend's rabbit while she was vacationing. I had a mild allergic reaction to it. So would I be allergic to Guinea Pig? From what I found online, they shed seasonally. And also, is there a relatively non-shedding Guinea Pig?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20206" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-04T14:06:44.460" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T21:11:24.547" Title="I really want a guinea pig, but I think I am allergic to rabbits" Tags="&lt;biology&gt;&lt;allergies&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;breeds&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31054" CreationDate="2021-04-04T17:27:41.437" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kratzallergy.com/three-types-of-pets-for-people-with-pet-allergies/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;kratzallergy.com&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rabbit also causes an allergy, you might consider a smaller pet. A guinea pig is a fairly safe bet for most people with allergies. If you find that a regular guinea pig causes some allergy symptoms, you might opt for a hairless guinea pig. Hairless guinea pigs actually do have hair that some people call peach fuzz. The lack of fur makes hairless guinea pigs very safe for people with allergies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/If-I-am-allergic-to-rabbits-am-I-very-likely-to-be-allergic-to-guinea-pigs#:%7E:text=If%20it%20is%20the%20hay,are%20allergic%20to%20guinea%20pigs.&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Quora&lt;/a&gt; answer states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily. They are distinct animal danders. On the other hand, it’s not uncommon for an allergic individual to be allergic to several “furry” or “hairy” animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s relatively simple to be allergy tested by skin or blood to determine if you are allergic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just get tested for allergies. Since they are different species, you wouldn't specifically be allergic to a guinea pig just because you were allergic to a rabbit. You should also double-check that you're allergic to the rabbit, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; the rabbit's hay, food, home, etc. If allergic to those, try your best to buy alternatives for your guinea pig, if this is too difficult or there are no other alternatives, the guinea pig may not be best for you. I've heard goldish are pleasant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-04T21:11:24.547" LastActivityDate="2021-04-04T21:11:24.547" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31068" CreationDate="2021-04-04T20:04:21.597" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy is four months old. What is the minimum room temperature that he is comfortable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I plan to set the room temperature to 68 °F (20 °C) at nights. Is this OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;=========================&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have  a miniature cockapoo .He is currently 13 pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20208" LastEditorUserId="20208" LastEditDate="2021-04-08T12:22:50.390" LastActivityDate="2021-04-08T12:22:50.390" Title="What is the minimum safe room temperature for puppies?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;temperature&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-04T23:52:15.040" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, my guinea pig has been acting very sick for 2 or 3 days, and today we noticed he had a huge impaction. We think he may have had it for a few weeks, but just noticed when he started acting very differently. We removed it (or at least 95% of it), but we are concerned that it may have been too late for him to fully recover. Is there anything we should do to help him recover? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit- I just remembered he has been getting these jerking spasms too during this, thought that may be important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20210" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-05T00:18:03.077" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T00:18:03.077" Title="Help guinea pig recover from bad impaction" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-05T02:18:36.460" Score="4" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;The backstory here is someone moved and left their 18 year old, deaf and almost completely blind cat behind, which my in-laws took in, but since they are both old and fragile, they can't really care for him besides providing food, a litterbox and a warm place to sleep for the time being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We just took him to the vet for a complete check-up, and apart from a bit of weakness in his hind legs which the vet attributed to arthritis, he got a clean bill of health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The vet says he can only see shadows and differentiate between light and dark at best, and does not seem to react to sounds at all, so we're working under the assumption that he's completely deaf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise his body is still strong and muscular, he is eating well and using his litterbox properly, no indication that he's given up just yet or is about to anytime soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem, since my in-laws can't really take care of him and provide activity, if we can't find a better suited home which seems unlikely at the moment, we'll have to take him in and introduce him to our three younger cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our youngest is a very social, and somewhat wild female just about a year old, and the older two are brother and sister just over two years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of them showed aggression in the past, though the young one enjoys roughhousing with our tom quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're experienced in &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; introductions, but I am somewhat worried about first direct contact after the initial exchange of smell and settling in, especially with such a huge age gap, and the fact that the old tom will not be able to tell the other cats approaching until they are very close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, we'd take a back seat and observe in that situation, only intervening if things start going poorly, but I'm wondering if physical assurance, i.e. petting the old one while the others approach him, would be the better route to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm specifically interested in tips and experiences regarding this special situation and the disabilities involved combined with the age gap in play here, that aren't covered in the typical cat introduction playbook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We managed to find a suitable home for him in the end, and the introductions there went flawlessly. He bonded with a 17 year old female right away, and while a 6 year old male was suspicious at first, no problems did arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears my worries were somewhat unfounded, as him being unable to engage in a staring contest with the other male seemed to have avoided a lot of possible tension in the first place, allowing the other cat to observe without being challenged, or even noticed for that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the situation itself is resolved, I'll leave the question open in case someone might come up with a definitive answer that isn't situational and somewhat depending on the personalities of the involved cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastEditorUserId="19086" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T13:10:41.010" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T12:19:03.700" Title="Introducing a deaf, almost completely blind elderly cat to our younger cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;senior-pet&gt;&lt;disability&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29658" CreationDate="2021-04-05T02:36:37.127" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats don't wipe their paws on a mat so try to just get the paws dry as quickly as possible. I live in the northwest US where it rains more often than not. My cat flap enters onto a hardwood floor and I usually have no issues with paw prints beyond a couple feet from the flap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20211" LastActivityDate="2021-04-05T02:36:37.127" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31052" CreationDate="2021-04-06T09:57:23.833" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you is to build layers into the cage / tank to increase the effective area the hamsters can use to roam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For their body size, hamsters have an instinct to run incredible distances every day. That's the reason why every hamster enclosure must have a running wheel. But better than a running wheel is actual space to run around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could, for example, buy or build a &lt;strong&gt;foldable, temporary fence&lt;/strong&gt;. That allows you to let your hamsters run around in your room for a while without constantly taking up too much space, as a large cage would do. Just make very sure that your hamsters cannot escape this temporary fence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also commercial &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;hamster castles&amp;quot; and toys&lt;/strong&gt; available, which add more platforms to the hamster cage. Most of them are made of plastic, which might cause problems if the hamsters nibble on them. But you can also build a rich environment with things like coconut shells, toilet paper tubes, popsicle sticks, bamboo or craft wood. Search for &amp;quot;DIY hamster castle&amp;quot; and you'll find numerous ideas from easy to ambitious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of buying an aquarium, a cheaper solution can be an &lt;strong&gt;Ikea hack&lt;/strong&gt; that transforms an inexpensive item of furniture into a hamster enclosure. Please search for &amp;quot;hamster ikea hack&amp;quot; for different ideas and instructions. There are so many possible solutions - depending on the available space and your budget - that I cannot give you a meaningful list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-06T15:02:56.327" LastActivityDate="2021-04-06T15:02:56.327" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31067" CreationDate="2021-04-06T23:21:31.100" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last year, I adopted two Tabby sisters. They were seven months old at the time. They have settled in nicely, and play peacefully together. I have been approved for a third cat, which we have plenty of room for, and need some input about the breaking in period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My two Tabby cats are now going on two years old, and rather shy. The new cat is  seven months old, and very Alpha. When I got my two Tabby cats, I kept them in my home office for the first week or so, and that worked out fine because they had each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this new cat, a Torty, I don't want to leave her alone in a room by herself all night. I think, from her personality that she will meow and carry on. If I make the bedroom her space at first, this will mean kicking the other two out for about a week. They do have plenty of other places to sleep in the rest of the house, but they always end up on my bed towards morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I just leave her alone in my office, with food, water, litter box, scratching post and heated bed by herself, even if it's all night, or let her get acclimated in my bedroom and exclude the other two from the bedroom until she gets settled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19370" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T14:39:02.053" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T14:39:02.053" Title="Introducing a third cat into a two cat household" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2122" CreationDate="2021-04-07T03:31:54.340" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's a case of territorial behavior. My male cockatiel does this, too. He goes into tight spaces and is usually happy until I get near him, then he will scurry out and chase my feet in attempt to bite my toes off. Sometimes he will get angry and peck at the mirrors while screeching and won't stop pecking and screeching and he will fight you if you try and stop him. I genuinely don't know why, but the best thing I can guess is a bird being stressed or a bird being protective over its territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20222" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T16:04:13.490" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T16:04:13.490" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31065" CreationDate="2021-04-07T04:53:34.993" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, you must be aware that the introduction period might be just one or two weeks, but it might also drag along for &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/29305/12501&quot;&gt;much longer&lt;/a&gt;, depending on the personalities of your cats. So you need a solution that can be applied for that long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every cat establishes her own territory, even if it's just the side arm of a sofa. You &lt;strong&gt;should not&lt;/strong&gt; lock your other cats out of the room where their food bowls and scratching post(s) usually are, because that is usually the center of their territory. The new cat will automatically be perceived as an intruder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I would not keep the new cat in my bedroom because that invites the yowling of the older cats. On the other hand, the new cat will probably yowl at night for a few days because she's missing her old family. There's no one perfect solution here... you all (your cats included) will need to adapt to the new situation. More important than &amp;quot;Who sleeps where?&amp;quot; is the question of &amp;quot;Am I willing to keep this arrangement for potentially a long time?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal opinion, both rooms are equally suited to confine a new cat, because you (usually) spend a lot of time in your home office at days and in your bedroom at night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, you should be aware that there should always be at least as many litter boxes as cats in a household, better even one more.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/24063/12501&quot;&gt;In a multiple cat home, how many litter boxes should you have?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/996/12501&quot;&gt;Why should there be one more litter box than the total number of cats?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read these tips for introducing new cats to a household:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/83/12501&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/4371/12501&quot;&gt;Recommendations for introducing adult cats to newly adopted adult cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/266/12501&quot;&gt;How to get cats to coexist in peace?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each mistake you make, especially an untimely introduction that ends in a territorial fight, sets you back in your progress and prolongs the time of confinement for the new cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-07T14:36:03.170" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T14:36:03.170" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31056" CreationDate="2021-04-07T08:03:22.550" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At 4 months of age a puppy can regulate their own body temperature well enough. Any temperature that's appropriate for an adult dog of that breed is also appropriate for the puppy. That mostly depends on the thickness of the fur and the body size, but even small dogs with thin fur have no problem with temperatures around 20°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppies cannot regulate their body temperature for the first 4 weeks of their life and may need an additional heat source if the mother is away. After that time, a room temperature between 20°C / 69°F (winter) and 26°C / 78°F (summer) is recommended (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.abchomeandcommercial.com/blog/what-is-the-best-temperature-for-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal oppinion the lower (winter) temperature only has to be so high for hairless or very small dogs. Dogs with thicker fur (I'm thinking any sheepdog, retriever or terrier) should be fine with lower temperatures, especially if you give them a warm or insulating place to sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T08:03:22.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31044" CreationDate="2021-04-07T14:18:25.613" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While there are strategies for training cats to refrain from jumping on tables and counters, they tend to be inconvenient for humans as well or have costs attached to them, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;placing aluminum foil on the surfaces&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;placing double-sided tape on the surfaces&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;motion-sensor triggered scary-noise generators&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other approaches, like the spray bottle punishment, are ill-advised as they tend to train the cat to not jump on counters only in your presence at best, and may very well permanently damage the relationship with your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to go for a frame challenge here. Is jumping on the table really the problem, or is it that your food got knocked over?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Let us look at the problem from the eyes of your cat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would anyone be against jumping on tables?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That does not make any sense, the table is an elevated position, so its purpose is to be jumped onto.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are often things being put on the table and others taken off instead, and as it is your duty to investigate such changes in your territory, you need to jump onto it to discharge your duties properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The cat does not understand the concept, it is completely unreasonable and nonsensical from its perspective.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would your food be off limits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You hunted it, it is your kill, solitary predators do not share their kills, you are well within your rights to defend it and keep it for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The cat does understand this concept, it is the natural order of things and completely reasonable from its perspective.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking the above into account, training your cats to leave your food alone is surprisingly easy in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We always went with a &amp;quot;smelling is ok, touching is not&amp;quot; rule as far as our food is concerned, and communicate this very clearly in a language our cats can understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Place your food on the table, and when your cat approaches, signal the minimal distance to be kept with the palm of your hand, placing it between food and cat as a barrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will challenge, and try to get closer. Reinforce the distance, by &lt;em&gt;gently&lt;/em&gt; ushering the cat away with the palm of your hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat will challenge again, and you now gradually escalate your response:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stare down your cat, do not blink, and do not avert your gaze&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start making a low, growling noise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;open your mouth and bare your teeth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push your tongue to the roof of your mouth and press out air from your lungs for a sharp hissing noise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not get physical, the most you will ever need is maybe a sudden movement with your head towards your cat while hissing if it is particularly stubborn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The benefit here is you are, as far as your cat is concerned, not unreasonable in any way, there is nothing to be held against you.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you will feel silly doing this, but it has worked without fail for us every time with every cat, and translates well to all of your food after is has been done a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We always combine the distance signalling with saying &amp;quot;smelling only&amp;quot; during the training, and the cats make that association pretty fast, so you only need the silly exercise a couple of times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps, even if it wasn't what you asked for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastActivityDate="2021-04-07T14:18:25.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-07T15:39:07.193" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, both 10 year old males, same litter.  One has been recently diagnosed with small cell lymphoma (but is in remission and doing well); however, he's been getting extra attention from it (trips to vet/hospital, meds, etc.).  Also, he's more outgoing in getting attention.  His brother is less demanding of attention, but is getting jealous.  I try to give him attention, but for the most part he will run off when his brother comes.  Is there a way to get him the attention he deserves, without upsetting him?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Requested behavior descriptions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hissing when his brother is back from vet/hospital (I know this is normal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Giving cold shoulder to his brother when they are near&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attacking his brother more often than before&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Leaving when his brother gets near&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glaring at me when I give his brother attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18653" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-08T04:10:02.090" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T22:40:41.290" Title="What is the best way to deal with cat jealousy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31070" CreationDate="2021-04-08T08:18:34.180" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just a partial answer because I don't know how to solve the problem, but the behavior you describe &lt;strong&gt;is not jealousy&lt;/strong&gt;. The relationship between your cats is deteriorating, but the reason for that is not jealousy. The reason is probably that the behavior and maybe the smell of the cat with lymphoma changed and now his brother  doesn't like him as much as he used to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same happened to friends of mine. They had 2 cat brothers who lived together in harmony for 7 years. Then one of the cats developed a UTI and started peeing outside the litter box. At the exact same time his brother started hissing at him and chasing him from the room. By the time the cat was treated and recovered from his UTI, the cats had to be separated all the time because they only fought each other. In the end my friends had to rehome one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We assume that the peeing outside the litter box started those fights. The sick cat did it to draw attention to the fact that peeing was painful to him. The healthy cat saw this as disruptive behavior, because his brother soiled the house. Maybe his brother also had the smell of the vet lingering on him. We're not completely sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want you to be aware of this possibility and try to avoid the same scenario with your cats, but I honestly don't know how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-09T22:40:41.290" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T22:40:41.290" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31010" CreationDate="2021-04-08T09:50:58.937" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I think it is helpful if you start thinking of it in terms of personality instead of attitude. Cats, much like humans, are who they are. There is no way of forcing her to become your ideal pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are things you can do to encourage them to play together. Try playing with your older cat while your younger cat observes from a safe distance. This way she can get to know his playful body language without feeling threatened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a next step, try to include your older cat whenever you play with your younger cat. It will take time, but slowly they should start to get more comfortable with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comfortable is a relative term here, of course. Not all cats get along and you might have to settle for them merely tolerating one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18809" LastActivityDate="2021-04-08T09:50:58.937" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31077" CreationDate="2021-04-08T21:36:15.580" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog may have swallowed the battery off his invisible fence collar. How concerned should I be? The battery is the flat, round type that is roughly the size of a quarter (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_cell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;button cell&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: the battery was found, so he did not swallow it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17719" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T20:33:23.503" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T20:36:27.003" Title="Should I be concerned if my dog swallowed a battery?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;poison&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31076" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-09T02:30:02.397" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maggie is an 8 year old, 150 lbs (68 kg) potbelly pig. She is often unable to walk. She goes to move forward, but then her front legs go tight against her chest and she sits up, screaming. She looks just like a begging dog, sitting up on her haunches with her front legs tight against her chest, dangling down.  This happens daily. We have relocated her from her pen to a double kennel in the barn so we can monitor her more carefully. I tried to pull a front leg away from her chest today, and I was unable to budge it. This is not voluntary. Has anyone seen this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has been seen by 4 different vets. She is on Meloxicam, which is an anti-inflammatory. I see no changes in this odd positioning and behavior. That is why I am reaching out here. We are a farm rescue, by the way. Lots of pigs, little and massive. Haven't seen this before, and we love Maggie. She used to go to schools to teach kids about proper animal treatment. &amp;quot;Sitting pretty&amp;quot; was one of her tricks. This is what it looks like, but again, definately NOT voluntary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20231" LastEditorUserId="20231" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T20:57:52.060" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T20:57:52.060" Title="Potbelly pig's front legs pull to chest and she screams in pain" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;pig&gt;&lt;pain&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31075" CreationDate="2021-04-09T07:08:23.250" Score="11" Body="&lt;h2&gt;This is a medical emergency!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vet must make an x-ray of the stomach &lt;strong&gt;as soon as possible&lt;/strong&gt; to verify whether or not the dog actually swallowed the battery. If he did indeed, the battery must be removed &lt;strong&gt;as soon as possible&lt;/strong&gt; by a means the vet chooses. If the battery is intact, vomitting might be the easiest solution, but if the battery is punctured, it may cause even more damaged if vomitting is induced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stomach acid corrodes the outer layer of the battery, which then releases it's toxic chemicals into the stomach. That can cause chemical burns and tissue death anywhere from the mouth, to the esophagus, intestines and anus. Even if the battery wasn't punctured and passed through the stomach intact, it may still block the intestine and cause an incredibly painful intestinal obstruction that is lethal if untreated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should watch out for symptoms like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reluctance to eat or drink&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drooling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;red or grey spots in the dogs mouth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bad breath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vomitting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lethargy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a &lt;strong&gt;first aid measure&lt;/strong&gt; you should feed your dog a very bland diet of plain cooked chicken, rice or pasta (without added salt) and offer them some milk or cottage cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information please read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aecmemphis.com/site/vet-blog-memphis/2019/11/14/dog-ate-battery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What should I do if my dog eats a battery?&lt;/a&gt; by Animal Emergency Center&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspca.org/news/dangers-batteries-and-your-pets-what-you-should-know&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Dangers of Batteries and Your Pets: What You Should Know&lt;/a&gt; by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/dogs-and-the-dangers-of-swallowing-batteries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dogs &amp;amp; Batteries – More Dangerous Than You Might Think&lt;/a&gt; by Preventive Vet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T20:36:27.003" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T20:36:27.003" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31078" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31117" CreationDate="2021-04-09T11:49:00.110" Score="4" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;My pet goldfish, Mentos, has a &lt;strong&gt;flower-like structure growing on his head&lt;/strong&gt;. At first, we didn't take it as a big issue. Now, it started concerning us and the fish itself because it &lt;strong&gt;blocks him from eating his food properly&lt;/strong&gt;. He still does manage to eat a bit though. The flower-like structure would get inside his mouth and he'd try to spit it out meanwhile trying to eat his food as well. Therefore, to eat, at times, he'd tilt his head and eat; but again, not always and it's really troubling for him. &lt;strong&gt;What should I do?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it has been there for almost five-six months. We didn't try anything in the fear of causing more problems without knowing much. The fish, despite having such a thing on his head and his inability to eat comfortably, is absolutely healthy and hasn't been seen to show off discomfort in any manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched up in Google, but I couldn't find anything similar. The structure grown is quite fluffy and is connected to a small or a thin structure which is connected to his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope there is a solution so that he can eat easily like others without any inconvenience. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(He just right now had it in his mouth and spat it out and it dangles over his head. It happens constantly and it's really concerning.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PpYHJ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/PpYHJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;My goldfish, Mentos.## Heading ##&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w6wjQ.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/w6wjQ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20234" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-09T20:15:15.713" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T17:51:44.530" Title="My goldfish started growing a flower-like thing on his head and it is now disturbing it during eating" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2485" CreationDate="2021-04-09T17:04:13.707" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Comparison of methods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elastration&lt;/strong&gt; is a procedure where a very tight rubber band is placed around the scrotum (or tail), cutting off blood flow and causing tissue death. The band is usually left in place until the scrotum (or tail) drops off. This is a &lt;strong&gt;non-surgical&lt;/strong&gt; method of castration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;surgical castration&lt;/strong&gt; the scrotum is cut open and the testes are removed from the body. The wound is usually sprayed with a topical disinfectant and heals without requiring stitches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Risks of both methods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elastration causes pain for several days, which in turn can activate innate immune cells, directly causing an inflammatory reaction and increasing the risk of infection (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-736X2021000100202&amp;amp;script=sci_arttext&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). If the animal subjected to elastration doesn't receive any anaesthetics or if the anaesthetics wear off before the procedure is completed, they have a higher risk of developing an inflammation (&lt;a href=&quot;https://starfishmedical.com/assets/LidocainePoster-20190522.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Experiencing severe pain during during the first days of life can also influence how the animal will react to pain later in its life. In an experiment, female sheep that had their tails docked by elastration neonataly seemed to experience more pain and stress while giving birth later in their lives (&lt;a href=&quot;https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/AJA00382809_689&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surgical tail docking is known to cause significantly greater acute pain responses than the former [elastration or docking with a hot iron]. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manuel-Magalhaes-Santana/publication/324248905_Assessment_of_the_scientific_appropriateness_of_the_time_limits_set_out_in_the_SI_Animal_Health_and_Welfare_Operations_and_Procedures_Regulations_2013_for_husbandry_mutilation_procedures_in_ruminants/links/5ac75f790f7e9bcd51933e20/Assessment-of-the-scientific-appropriateness-of-the-time-limits-set-out-in-the-SI-Animal-Health-and-Welfare-Operations-and-Procedures-Regulations-2013-for-husbandry-mutilation-procedures-in-ruminants.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surgical castration is the most common method of castration in calves and the most common complications are swelling, stiffness and increased lying time (&lt;a href=&quot;https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1746-6148-6-12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Comparison of complications for both methods&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/19541403921&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; found no difference in mortality rate between uncastrated and castrated lambs, regardless of the method of castration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1746-6148-6-12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this survey&lt;/a&gt; vets reported more complications after non-surgical castration (by elastration, clamping or other methods) of calves than after surgical castration. Most non-surgical castrations of perinatal calves were executed by the producer, which might influence the outcome. The most common complications after non-surgical castration were swelling, stiffness / altered gait, recumbency, wound infection and anorexia. The most common complications after surgical castration were swelling, stiffness / altered gait and hemorrhage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090023306000165&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this study&lt;/a&gt; surgically castrated lambs showed significantly more stress signs than non-surgically castrated lambs, even after receiving the same type of anaesthesia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Elastration seems to cause more physical complications (like wound infection), but surgical castration seems to cause more pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The younger the animal is at the time of castration, the less complications were reported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all the studies a non-surgical castration by the Burdizzo method (crushing the spermatic cords) seems to cause the least pain and the least complications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-09T18:42:54.117" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T18:42:54.117" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31093" CreationDate="2021-04-09T17:22:15.067" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take my four-month-old puppy on about three walks per day. The walks are almost always a 15-20 minute loop starting at my house. It goes through several neighborhoods, a park, and on a waterfront trail. It's a convenient, quiet, scenic, and easy walk. Because of this, about 85% of the walks per week are this walk, or a slight variation (such as an extension or short-cut).  My dog and I also sometimes drive to a beach or trail, but because of COVID 19, this is less frequent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dog seems to enjoy the walk in question, but I want to make sure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can/do dogs get bored of a walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-09T18:06:43.497" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T16:12:32.577" Title="Can dogs get bored of a walk?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;exercise&gt;&lt;mental-stimulation&gt;&lt;puppy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29874" CreationDate="2021-04-09T19:33:05.067" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;High concentration of nitrite ions (1 mg/L of NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;) is the most concerning thing in the list of your water parameters; it is many times above the toxicity threshold, because nitrites may start to become toxic at levels as low as 0.1 mg/L. Mechanism of toxicity is that NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; ions get absorbed into the bloodstream through gills and oxidize hemoglobin in fish's blood to methemoglobin, which cannot bind and transport oxygen like hemoglobin does. It leads to generalized hypoxia, which is a serious and potentially fatal disorder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been shown that adding 10 mg/L of chloride anions for each 1 mg/L of nitrite anions protects against NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; toxicity in most fish. Nitrite ions are absorbed via the same mechanism as chloride ions and compete with them in the context of absorption, so the rate of NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; uptake depends on how much NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; there is compared to Cl&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to increase chloride concentration in aquarium is to add salt (sodium chloride); salt is 60.7 % chloride by mass and your aquarium volume is 54 L, so to increase Cl&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; concentration by 10 mg/L you need to add at least 0.01 / 0.607 · 54 = 0.89 g of salt. Please note that it is the best not to use table salt, but aquarium salt from pet store. It wouldn't hurt if you add a bit more than that; in freshwater tanks, it is safe for animals as long as you don't exceed the upper limit of 0.3 % salinity (which is 300 g of salt per 100 L of water, or 162 g for your 54 L aquarium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A precaution: while 0.3 % salinity is considered safe for freshwater animals, it could cause adverse effects in some sensitive aquatic plants; however, such (relatively) high concentration is used for preventing or treating pathogen-borne diseases in aquarium. The concentration for neutralizing nitrite toxicity is over 100 times less than this and will not hurt your plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, the high concentration of nitrites present in your aquarium is probably a result of a bigger underlying issue: an un-established or broken nitrogen cycle. I'd guess ammonia concentration in the aquarium is non-zero as well, which is harmful, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having functional and established nitrogen cycle in aquarium is essential for the well-being of its inhabitants. More details about nitrogen cycle in aquarium could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishless_cycling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/215&quot;&gt;in this Q&amp;amp;A&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is more, free chlorine (Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) levels have no business being any other value than 0 in a healthy aquarium. Free chlorine isn't produced by any process in the aquarium, so the only reasonable assumption is that it must have been introduced in the aquarium with tap water during water changes. Please always use water conditioner to treat tap water in order to make it aquarium-safe. Water conditioner doesn't have to be fancy nor expensive, but it must be able to neutralize both chlorine and chloramines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your question you have written that free chlorine levels are between 0 and 0.8 mg/L - I assume that the color of colorimetric test was not matching any color in the reference sheet exactly, instead it was in-between the scale, so you have posted the two bordering values that it was in-between. It might be the case that there is actually no chlorine, but the reading gave a false result. As a precaution measure I am going to assume that the test was accurate, though. Colorimetric tests might sometimes be difficult to read accurately because many different factors could distort the reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attempting to read in artificial lighting with low CRI (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;color rendering index&lt;/a&gt;); it is best to read these tests in incandescent lighting  (CRI = 99+) or in natural daylight (CRI = 100), any CRI lower than that will distort the readings;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attempting to read while being colorblind;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;using tests that were stored improperly or are past their expiration date;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;using all-in-one strip tests instead of liquid tests (liquid ones are much more accurate).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, please don't confuse &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloride&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;chloride (Cl&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;free chlorine (Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;)&lt;/a&gt; - they are different forms of the same chemical element and they have fundamentally different properties. Chlorides are negatively charged ions that exist in the form of salts (most common is table salt) or in water solution and are relatively harmless; free chlorine is a highly corrosive and toxic gas that is a strong oxidizing agent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dechlorinating water conditioner works by sacrificing its active ingredient (a strong, water-soluble reducing agent, most often &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiosulfate#Neutralizing_chlorinated_water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thiosulfate salt&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/html/05231301/05231301.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vitamin C&lt;/a&gt;): it gets oxidized by free chlorine and in the process chlorine itself gets reduced to harmless chloride ions; this reaction does not spontaneously reverse on itself in the aquarium, so the dechlorination effect is permanent in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, progressively more and more tap water treatment facilities are using chloramines instead of chlorine; both ammonia and chlorine are added to the water and chloramines form &lt;em&gt;in situ&lt;/em&gt; as a product of their reaction. In simplified terms, dechlorinating agent present in water conditioner neutralizes the &amp;quot;chlorine part&amp;quot; of chloramines, but leaves ammonia behind; a good water conditioner has a second ingredient that takes care of this fact and temporarily neutralizes ammonia as well. Unlike the case of Cl&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; neutralization, ammonia is not neutralized permanently by such conditioner - however, in an aquarium with functional nitrogen cycle this is not a problem because the produced ammonia gets permanently and completely oxidized to relatively harmless nitrates (NO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;) in the nitrogen cycle before it reverts to its toxic form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-17T20:10:47.377" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T20:10:47.377" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29974" CreationDate="2021-04-09T21:01:22.660" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too long for a comment, so an answer that might help future readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How old are the fish? What sex? Sometimes pushing about is male fish trying to squeeze eggs out of female fish. In my experience, female goldfish get eggs round about 3 years of age. Males get breeding tubercles about 1 year. Sometimes biting and pushing just fish defending territory, showing dominance or defending their share of the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If parasites were present:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might see the parasites. A lot of parasites are surprisingly obvious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fish will be itchy so they’ll flick themselves off of the gravel to try to scratch. Even if they’re slow swimmers, they’ll still try to do this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You might see the effects of parasites (look for holes in the fish, signs of poor condition).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, some fish tanks have, like, culture? (Ok, as much culture as you expect goldfish to have!). That is, the fish as a group have nap times and bed times and territories. Fancy goldfish might have an area they consider a bed and they might have an afternoon nap (all together). This can cause problems mixing groups of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-09T21:50:40.193" LastActivityDate="2021-04-09T21:50:40.193" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31084" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-10T11:22:36.673" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;My neighbors have a turtle in a container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cwcs2.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cwcs2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The animal is continuously stretching its neck as if it wants to climb outside of the container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think the turtle should be kept in such a container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contact an animal shelter?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The animal is not my property. Should I mind my own business?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I live on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. I am not sure if the animal is from this part of the world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Judging by the turtle's feet it seems to need to live in or near water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I took the turtle out of the container it battled to walk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The owners said they adopted the turtle from someone who did not want the animal anymore.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another picture&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvG39.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvG39.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20244" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T19:35:32.120" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T13:18:52.510" Title="Should I free this turtle?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;ethics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-10T12:02:38.050" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you help me to identity this turtle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what should I feed it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be a turtle that lives in water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are 2 pictures of the side of its head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7xE9v.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7xE9v.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;head side 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9BjO1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9BjO1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;head side 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A picture of its back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fVCjH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/fVCjH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;back&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a picture of its belly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LxqVt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LxqVt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;belly&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20244" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T15:33:52.523" Title="What type of turtle is this and what should I feed it?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;identification&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-10T13:31:47.023" Score="2" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;One baby bird came on my terrace today, what do you suggest I can do to save this baby? I think it is a pigeon. I kept it at a place other pigeons can easily see, but no other birds came around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7gznzm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7gznzm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12167" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T15:41:45.373" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T15:29:35.007" Title="How can I save this baby bird?" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;junior-pets&gt;&lt;pigeon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31085" CreationDate="2021-04-10T14:18:36.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is surely a Yellow-Bellied Slider (I will call them YBS further). Look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-bellied_slider&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia site to start your research :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they are younger, they have black dots at the belly, later all of them disappear and only two near the front will stay permanent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the head you can note the downward width yellow stripe behind the eye. Other breeds have horizontal stripes instead, or other colors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general there are three foods, aquatic turtle's diets base onto: carrots, sepia and common freshwater shrimp (dried or frozen). You should avoid pellets, because they very often do not match the needs of the turtles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The food should be offered in the water, because the turtles cannot swallow food provided in an dry environment. They would try to pull it into the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The carrot provides vitamin A, which is important for the molting (getting rid of the most top shell parts, which the turtle growth too big for), and prevents shell necrosis, pneumonia and ear abscess (all illnesses, turtles are sadly famous for). YBS have a high need of vitamin A, so you can grate or slice the carrot and feed the turtle around one head-size per day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sepia provides calcium, very important for shell growth. You can buy sepia often for birds in the pet store. Letting the block swim onto the water surface is perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shrimps will provide pre-forms of vitamin D and the turtle is able to process them into vitamin D with help of basking (sun-bath) in the real Sun (without glass in between) or under a special basking light bulb which must provide appropriate UV light. (Here are many answered questions about the light, use the search function for it :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can interchange the carrots with salads and wild herbs like dandelion (mine adores dandelion very much). Also, you can interchange the shrimp with bloodworm, mosquito larvae and other frozen food you would get for petfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware, that this turtles will not show signs to have enough food. They are hungry all the time and would eat and eat and eat. Vegetables and greens they can have accessible all the time, floating on the surface. But shrimp and other food-animals, they should get only the volume of the turtles head once per day. If they get more, they would grow too fast and the shell would become weak. In normal growth the lines between the scales of the belly should be not wider than 0.5 cm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T14:54:45.233" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T14:54:45.233" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31085" CreationDate="2021-04-10T15:33:52.523" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will feed itself if loose. Otherwise an adult &amp;quot;YBS&amp;quot; is going to need a few hundred gallon pond outside or a large aquarium with some feature that allows the turtle to leave the water and sit in the correct light. They like live bugs and worms and fruit and vegetables. He probably knows better what he eats than the internet so offer a varietyof foods. I have had a few wander into my backyard pond . I don't know what they ate . In the autumn they disappeared.  I think a tortoise ( dry land ) makes a better pet, simpler care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T15:33:52.523" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31086" CreationDate="2021-04-10T15:42:06.677" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;He needs food mashed to semi-liquid mush and put in his mouth. A pet shop may have prepared food for infant parrots. A pigeon would need grains and corn, not vegetables. I once had a crow about that age; his favorite food was earthworms (cut into pieces and put into his mouth, at first).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T15:44:12.167" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T15:44:12.167" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31086" CreationDate="2021-04-10T15:47:24.200" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on your country call a vet or a licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator.&#xA;They will be able to tell you what to do and where to bring the animal.&#xA;Taking care of a wild bird is not simple and needs experience which Wildlife Centres for example have. They will raise the bird and release it back into the wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on your location (if you add that I might be able to find more specific information) locate an expert on bird rescue.&#xA;The link for NYC as an example of what to look for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/83977.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/83977.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the &lt;a href=&quot;https://ny.audubon.org/birds-0birdsways-help/what-do-injured-or-orphaned-bird&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;page for NYC&lt;/a&gt; states you can do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While you wait for further instruction [from a Wildlife Rehabilitator], you can create a makeshift nest for the baby bird in a small Tupperware container or a similar round dish, completely lined with layers of toilet paper that prevent the baby from touching the container itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-04-10T15:47:24.200" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31091" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-10T22:21:41.827" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 4 year old keeps doing this. Does anyone know what's going on? (sound on)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/OWCEf7Gz0ZI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://youtu.be/OWCEf7Gz0ZI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Video description: the cat holds a toy in its mouth, carries it while walking around in a gently arched back posture, casually &amp;quot;wrestles&amp;quot; with the toy in a calm and relaxed way and emits quiet / medium volume yowling sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15933" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-10T22:34:55.020" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T12:48:03.087" Title="What is my cat doing?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31081" CreationDate="2021-04-11T19:51:27.557" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without being able to cite any sources, the general answer is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard that many dogs &lt;strong&gt;enjoy walking the same path&lt;/strong&gt; every day, because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It gives them a routine and they know what to expect. Especially anxious dogs feel safer when they can predict what's going to happen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs have much more sensory input than humans. For example, they smell who was there since the last time. That makes the same old path less boring for them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wild dogs would patrol the borders of their territory in regular intervals. Taking the same walk every day might feel like that for your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there's also &lt;strong&gt;nothing wrong with changing routes&lt;/strong&gt; and exploring new paths every day. You just don't have to if you don't want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-11T20:02:11.080" LastActivityDate="2021-04-11T20:02:11.080" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9423" CreationDate="2021-04-11T22:45:53.883" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pet crate or should I fold the seats and let her roam free inside the car? Or should she be in the front seat, or maybe on top of my lap while I drive?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Absolutely not on your lap while driving.&lt;/strong&gt; That is a safety hazard. If your dog freaked out and jumped up, you would crash your car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The safest thing for you and your puppy to do would be to secure them in a travel crate in the backseats. If for some reason you decide to take your puppy out of the crate, make sure that the windows are closed and your puppy is wearing a harness or collar &lt;strong&gt;¹&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog might also not enjoy the car because of stress or motion sickness. It is important that they do, because I suspect that this will not be the last time they ride in a vehicle. Associate the car with pleasant things such as treats and praise. Let your dog sniff the car and play in it, and start small with driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While driving, you can lower the windows (but the dog should &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; be allowed to stick body parts out at first). Regulate the car's temperature and provide exercise before driving. Limit food and water before the car to stop motion sickness  &lt;strong&gt;²&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medications? Do they ever get dizzy? Or something similar perhaps?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs do occasionally get motion sickness, which is fine. It is best to stop it by following section one of this answer's instructions, but if it is not working after several months, consult your trained and licensed vet. They may subscribe you over the counter medications for your dog &lt;strong&gt;³&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Food? Should I feed her before the trip? if then how long before the trip? Should I feed her along the way or not? At how much time intervals?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feed your dog and give them water before the trip. Also, stop while driving, get out, and hydrate and feed your dog (feeding in a moving car will give your dog motion sickness) &lt;strong&gt;⁴&lt;/strong&gt;.  Feed your dog at regular feeding times, once at breakfast (around 6-9am but YMMV), once at lunch (11-1:30pm but YMMV), and dinner (5:30-8pm but YMMV). Hydrate your dog more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How often should we go for stops?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pretty often. Your puppy will need to go to the bathroom every hour for every month of age because their bladder is still small &lt;strong&gt;⁵&lt;/strong&gt;. I assume your puppy is eight weeks old (the normal time to get a puppy &lt;strong&gt;⁶&lt;/strong&gt;) which means that by every two hours you should stop so he can relieve himself. Also, if this is your puppy's first time in the car, I recommend stopping every 30 minutes at first, and then every hour (or shorter) for fresh air and to stretch his legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful not to go to highly visited places, such as rest stops or dog parks, because there is a large risk of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/parvo-in-dogs/#:%7E:text=What%20Is%20Parvo%3F,spread%20through%20the%20canine%20population.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Parovirus&lt;/a&gt;, which is fatal to dogs. It is found in a dog's stool and can last on outdoor surfaces for huge periods of time, sometimes several years &lt;strong&gt;⁷&lt;/strong&gt;. Find a quiet spot, preferably away from civilization, for your puppy to relieve himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually, your dog will get vaccinated against Parvovirus (from 14-16 weeks &lt;strong&gt;⁸&lt;/strong&gt;), but for now, be extra careful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other details I might miss?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not really. Simply watch your dog. Drive slow. Say kind words to them &lt;strong&gt;⁹&lt;/strong&gt;. Give them lots of love and treats. Call a vet if something seems off.&#xA;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sources:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Section 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;¹ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thepuppyacademy.com/blog/2020/2/24/how-to-train-your-puppy-for-car-rides#:%7E:text=You%27ll%20need%20to%20secure,a%20possible%20distraction%20while%20driving&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.thepuppyacademy.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;² &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/ask-trainers-get-dog-ride-car/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.akc.org&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Section 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;³ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dogs-and-motion-sickness#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pets.webmd.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;³ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dogs-and-motion-sickness#2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pets.webmd.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Section 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;⁴ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/how-to-travel-with-your-dog#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pets.webmd.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Section 4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;⁵ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/how-house-train-your-dog-or-puppy#:%7E:text=Establish%20a%20routine&amp;amp;text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20a%20puppy%20can,guaranteed%20to%20have%20an%20accident&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.humanesociety.org&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;⁶ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogtime.com/puppies/1445-puppy-when-to-bring-home-dunbar#:%7E:text=Eight%20weeks%20of%20age%20has,puppy%20class%20and%20dog%20parks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dogtime.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;⁷ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/dogs/How-Long-Does-Dog-Parvo-Last-in-Your-Home-or-Yard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pethelpful.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;⁸ &lt;sub&gt; w&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/petcare/canine-parvovirus#:%7E:text=Puppies%20should%20receive%20a%20dose,is%20up%2Dto%2Ddate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;ww.avma.org&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Section 5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;⁹ &lt;sub&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/show-love-dog-language/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.rover.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T02:26:04.807" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T02:26:04.807" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-12T00:03:48.893" Score="3" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is around a year old and has had the same bed ever since we've gotten him. Lately, he has been licking the wood frame. I've also seen him lick the wood of his older toys and stuffed animals of mine. There has been no major change in his life, and has gotten lots of attention. Should I be worried? It has not been going on for very long, so I'm wondering if I should wait it out, or look for solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20257" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T00:13:14.517" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T09:53:58.270" Title="My Cat is Licking Everything" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6032" CreationDate="2021-04-12T07:04:47.910" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but &lt;strong&gt;it's complicated&lt;/strong&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;glycemic index&lt;/a&gt; of dog foods depends on various variables, like which carbohydrates are contained in it and how much fiber and which type(s) of fiber the food contains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://academic.oup.com/jas/article-abstract/98/8/skaa241/5889930&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; compared the glycemic indices of different dog foods with starches from different sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The GI [glycemic index] (±SE) [standard error] of the single starch sources and dog foods was: white bread: 47 ± 11, cooked white rice: 71 ± 14, cooked green lentils: 60 ± 20 (P = 0.569), traditional grain: 83 ± 17, whole grain: 56 ± 8, grain-free: 41 ± 6, and vegan: 65 ± 15 (P = 0.154). No statistical differences in glycemic response over time were observed between the single starch sources or the extruded diets tested (P = 0.1412; P = 0.2651). The insulinemic response elicited by the extruded diets was also not different (P = 0.079); however, the traditional grain diet did have the slowest time to peak for insulin (P = 0.0078).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1439-0396.2007.00794.x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; also compared how fast different starches raised the blood sugar level:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs’ immediate post‐prandial glucose and insulin responses (AUC ≤ 30 min) were greater for brewer’s rice, corn, and cassava flour diets (p &amp;lt; 0.05), and later meal responses (AUC ≥ 30 min) were greater for sorghum, lentil and pea diets (p &amp;lt; 0.05).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://harvest.usask.ca/handle/10388/8471&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This study&lt;/a&gt; even compared the metabolism of carbohydrates in cats and dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two studies were designed to determine the research objectives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• Determine species metabolic differences (dog versus cat) to both low and high glycemic index carbohydrate sources, and link these to postprandial cardiovascular and methylglyoxal results;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;• Compare long-term health benefits of diets formulated with pulse starch to a modified cornstarch diet in dogs versus cats, including digestibility, glycemic, insulinemic, and cardiovascular responses, and postprandial methylglyoxal levels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It found no significant differences in how cats and dogs metabolize carbohydrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://europepmc.org/article/med/1665025&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Another study&lt;/a&gt; looked at different fiber contents of dog food and measured the effects on diabetic dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mean postprandial plasma glucose concentration measured every 2 hours for 24 hours, beginning at the time of the morning insulin injection, was significantly (P less than 0.05) lower at most blood sampling times in dogs fed IF [diet containing 15%  insoluble-fiber] and SF [diet containing 15%  soluble-fiber] diets, compared with dogs fed the LF [low-fiber] diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T16:09:30.943" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T16:09:30.943" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31097" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-12T09:05:56.440" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriends mum doesn’t look after her pets and I need help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My boyfriends mum isn’t looking after her pets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I thought I’d come here to ask people’s option. I have been with my boyfriend for almost 3 years and I have a brilliant relationship with his mum. When we first started going out she had a dog and a cat who had recently had kittens. They also had a bearded dragon which was the youngest brothers. I then noticed that this cat just kept having kittens and I was getting a bit concerned. She’s had about 5 litters now. So I said that it be best for Lola (the cat) to get spayed along with the kittens they kept. She agreed that after she had her last litter she would. Unfortunately whilst we were on holidays we came back to two dead kittens in 2 different locations. I again mentioned it would be good to get them spayed giving the reason that one of the kittens we kept was a male and we wouldn’t want inbreeding. Well, they then got fleas and got sent outside for 6 months !!!! They’re still out now and not allowed to come in as they have now got worms. I then noticed that once again Lola looked massive and that she had a lump on one of her nipples. I mentioned it to my boyfriend but he wasn’t sure what to suggest. So not only is she pregnant again, she may have a worms and a tumour as well as going to be giving birth to kittens outside. To add to this I had noticed that the springer spaniel that they have would be desperate to go out and would drink from a plant pot and eat the cat food. Not desperate to go to the bathroom but to eat. So&#xA;I have been secretly giving her small amounts of dried cat food and she eats it so fast it worrying. There’s no dog food in the house and the dog doesn’t get walked. I have tried to walk her but as she has never been walked she doesn’t know how which makes it harder to do that. I have mentioned all this to my bf but he says “what am I meant to do” so I say that they are his pets too and his responsibility as well. So I am not sure what to do. I can’t afford for the vets as much as I want to as I’m only a first year uni student, I’m going to get some dog food and claim that it’s left over from when we had ours dogs. To add on to this, the bearded dragon unfortunately died from starvation as the youngest of course didn’t look after it and the mother didn’t take the responsibility. They usually live about 8 years, he died at half that and she claimed that it was a natural death. Not only that but the youngest didn’t notice he’s even died for a good year. I love all the pets and I try do what I can for them but they’re going to end up dying it living a really rubbish life. I need some guidance that I can do myself at home as I can’t report it because she will know that it was someone in the house who reported it and every time I mention anything to her she gets&#xA;In a huge hissy fit hence why nothings been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20265" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T09:05:56.440" Title="My bfs mum is neglecting her pets. I need advice" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ClosedDate="2021-04-13T04:42:38.197" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31095" CreationDate="2021-04-12T09:53:58.270" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Licking (and gnawing on) inedible materials can be a sign of pica. Pica is caused by psychological stress, but also by nutritional imbalances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your cat has a preference for a very specific material and no history of trauma, I would investigate his diet. Perhaps take him to the vet for a check up and some blood work to narrow down the problem. He might be missing a mineral or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, I wouldn't stress about it too much. You caught it early and it might very well turn out to be just a behavioral issue. Maybe he just likes the taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18809" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T09:53:58.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31084" CreationDate="2021-04-12T11:21:11.960" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should you free this turtle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning one: &lt;strong&gt;let the turtle loose into nature&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No!&lt;/strong&gt; Pets should not ever be &amp;quot;freed&amp;quot; like this, for multiple reasons. For example, pets aren't able to find their own food properly and most times are not socialized enough with their kin to communicate with others of the same species. They would suffer from hunger and isolation. They would search for closeness with humans and maybe get hit by a car or something similar. A second, very important reason is the &amp;quot;invasion&amp;quot; of the nature by pets. Please have a look into &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article for detailed information. Invasive species can destroy whole habitats, for example the Wikipedia article about &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-bellied_slider&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yellow Bellied Sliders&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The release of non-native red-eared sliders into local environments caused the state of Florida to ban the sale of red-eared sliders in order to protect the native population of yellow-bellied sliders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning two: &lt;strong&gt;Help to improve the environment this turtle lives in&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes, please!&lt;/strong&gt; Turtles need a much bigger water area than this tub could provide. Also, there is a lack of some kind of island. Turtles need some dry place with direct sunlight (or a light bulb with UV rays) to dry off completely once per day and to produce some essential vitamins not provided by the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a first aid enclosure I have written &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/28166/how-to-shape-a-first-aid-home-for-an-aquatic-turtle-which-i-found/28169#28169&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;. But for more detailed information about how to shape an enclosure for this kind of turtle, you should identify the breed of your turtle. Then you could have a search for &amp;quot;basking&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;turtle tank&amp;quot; and similar phrases on pets.SE, and what you could not find, you could ask as new questions :) (Addition: I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5611/what-is-the-basic-proper-aquarium-setup-for-a-turtle?rq=1&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; about a general setup for turtles. It could be a start, but needs some improvement to match the needs of your breed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some word about the behavior: Once the days become longer in spring and the temperatures rise, many turtles want to start some sort of wandering, to find partners to mate. This could explain (beside the small space) the behavior. But do not keep the turtle together with another one, until you are sure of the breed. Most aquatic turtles do not live together during the year. They would meet only for mating, and battle all other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for thinking about the welfare of this turtle :) I found mine (a middle American breed) in western Europe on a street in the mid of summer. This was now nearly 15 years ago, and I had some time to learn about these animals (for example, that they are able to climb mesh wire, and grow from the size of a coin to the size of a toilet seat...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as conclusion: &lt;strong&gt;talk with the owners&lt;/strong&gt;. I made some experience, where the owner was very happy to get help with their animals. Sometimes, it's an animal left by a child of the family when starting to work or study in another region. Most people don't enjoy treating an animal with this lack of interest. It's simply too much effort to change the circumstances and they cannot provide this. So the first step ever should be to get in contact with the owners, and provide some help. Only if they are not willing to change the turtle's habitat or to move the turtle into more caring hands, then some rescue organization should be involved to force changes in the ownership. Surely one can ask shelters or rescues for information and experience about the handling any time :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T16:18:46.303" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T16:18:46.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28248" CreationDate="2021-04-12T12:42:27.930" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;It will be difficult but not impossible to find a turtle which fits your needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some main factors you need to focus on: temperature and water quality. The temperature will be important for your turtle, the water quality for your fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to find the kind of turtle, which will survive in the temperature region you live in. If you decide to move the turtle inside during winter, you would have more options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you need to calculate, if your fish will survive the decrease in water quality a turtle would cause. And if you are willing to buy additional equipment to make the water more suitable for the more sensible fish breeds you may have already. A general rule of thumb in turtles is, that they produce 3 times the waste fish would do. So if you use a filter for your fish pond, you would need a three times bigger for a turtle pond. Special focus will be about the nitrite, nitrate and ammonia key values. (Aims: nitrite not notable, nitrate below 50mg/l and ammonia below 0,4mg/l.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wrote about goldfish: They in general love cold water and, in ponds deeper than 1,5 meters (if I remember right...), could even survive frost periods. Famous turtles, like red eared sliders and yellow bellied sliders, would not tolerate such deep temperatures this easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The shape of your pond need to be appropriate for a turtle. They need some flat bank at one side, so they could walk from the cold bottom to the surface to breath. Because they are hematocryal animals, they need some warmth provided to make the body moving more easy. They would do this by basking (sun bath) but need a less difficult way to reach the warm place in the sun.&#xA;Also, you would need some barrier for the turtle to stay in your pond. A mesh wire would not help, turtles are able to climb them, even 1 or 2 m high (and crack their shell by falling down the other side ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you provide more information about the temperature in your region over the year, I could give more detailed information about the possible turtles and if they eat much fish or not...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T18:35:17.147" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T18:35:17.147" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-12T19:36:56.453" Score="2" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been feeding a feral cat for four years now; I live in a apartment complex and will be moving to a house. This cat doesn't trust anyone and runs every time. I get lucky and he will let me touch him and pet him. But picking him up, he is not having it. So now my question is, can I catch him and take him with me? It will break my heart to leave him behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20282" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-12T19:52:13.720" LastActivityDate="2021-04-12T19:52:13.720" Title="Can I take a feral cat with me when I move?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feral&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-13T05:54:41.367" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9564" CreationDate="2021-04-13T13:02:15.767" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, a vet should see your cat and prescribe an ear cleaner that kills or repells the mites. Ear mites are extremely uncomfortable and itchy and they are also contagious. If you have several pets, you'll have to treat all of them preventively to stop the mites from migrating from one pet to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While at the vet, you can ask them for food supplements that aid hair growth. Our dog once had an oily food supplement that made the fur absolutely soft and shiny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hair loss is caused by the cat scratching his ears and can occur at the back of the ear or on the cheeks in front of the ear. A home remedy is to gently apply castor oil or olive oil to the hairless skin. This will prevent the skin from drying out and softens the scabs that form as a result of the mites biting the skin, making them easier to remove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-13T13:02:15.767" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11104" CreationDate="2021-04-13T19:51:22.483" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do dogs need dog friends?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you (your dog's owner) are often away, such as being at a full-time job, your dog will need something to keep them happy and not lonely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/dogs-get-lonely-keep-home-alone-dog-happy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;rover.com&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, dogs do get lonely. Dogs are descendants of wolves, pack animals who do pretty much everything together. Wolves sleep together, hunt together, eat together—you get the picture. Though dogs have a long history of domestication that separates them from their wild ancestors, they’re still inherently social animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dogs have also inherited a drive to work, usually alongside their owner. Whether they were bred for hunting, herding, or protecting, dogs enjoy mental stimulation and social interaction. Being left alone for long hours without a job to keep them engaged can take a toll on their well-being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of ways to keep a dog happy while alone. This can include toys or other distractions. Another dog is a &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; way to solve separation issues (as long as they get along)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is not the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; way, and yes, you don't &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; a second dog to solve separation issues (training and other distractions should also be used).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;your friend was right&lt;/strong&gt; in that a second dog is not absolutely necessary, &lt;strong&gt;but wrong&lt;/strong&gt; in that there wasn't a reason to keep them &amp;quot;glued at the hip&amp;quot;. A playmate is perfect for dogs who are alone. Again, dogs are social animals and need constant play, exercise, attention, and love!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I had the opportunity to send the Maltese off to live with my elderly father, who lives in a different town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Separating your dogs is risky&lt;/em&gt;. Once they know each other, they form a special bond. Sending one away is cruel to both dogs. Your dogs will get stressed and be unhappy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.petwellbeing.com/splitting-pets-up-during-a-divorce-heres-what-you-need-to-consider#:%7E:text=If%20you%20go%20through%20with,Other%20behavior%20may%20also%20change.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;petwellbeing.com&lt;/a&gt; supports this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go through with separating your pets, understand that this change may be very difficult for your pet to process. They may start showing signs of stress or separation anxiety, including lethargy, whining, barking or meowing excessively, clinginess, hiding or even aggression. Other behavior may also change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T15:26:07.873" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T15:26:07.873" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-14T04:13:32.080" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cats have tapeworms i think. I gave them the first dose of meds today but nothing happened. What should i expect??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20297" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T04:13:32.080" Title="I think my cats have tapeworms. I gave them the first dose of meds. I got over the counter" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-04-14T17:24:49.463" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28033" CreationDate="2021-04-14T12:28:31.233" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guarding a farm or property is one of the fundamental tasks certain dogs were historically bred to execute. Guarding a farm or a herd of sheep from wild predators or human thieves was existential for the farmer or shepherd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dogs job never was actually attacking the intruder - be it a human or wolf, for example - but to bark and either scare the intruder away or make the farmer aware of the intruder to come and help the dog. If the dog were left all alone on farm, it couldn't do an effective job of guarding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article writes about &amp;quot;northern Midwest farms&amp;quot;. It's not clear what type of farm is meant, but this article &lt;a href=&quot;https://iowaagliteracy.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-do-farmers-do-in-the-winter/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;What do farmers do in winter?&lt;/a&gt; lists some activities common to various types of farmers. Especially animal farmers would have to be out with their herds during winter to make sure their water supplies or machinery don't freeze and to collect newborn animals and bring them into a warm pen. That doesn't mean that the farm is abandoned for any lengthy amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you change the emphasis on the Wikipedia article, you might notice that the last sentence doesn't necessarily refer to the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rough collie's &lt;strong&gt;long coat&lt;/strong&gt; has made the breed successful on northern Midwest farms as an able &lt;strong&gt;herder and guardian of the farm during the winter&lt;/strong&gt;. The dog needs to be gradually acclimated to the cold and a suitable insulated outdoor shelter must be provided for the dog along with ample quality food and a source of unfrozen water. The rough collie also relishes playing in the snow with children during the winter months. &lt;strong&gt;They guard the farm&lt;/strong&gt; while the owner is away &lt;strong&gt;and are naturally protective&lt;/strong&gt; of small children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is about the dogs ability to thrive in colder climates, but the last sentence is about its protective personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T13:15:40.747" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T13:15:40.747" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-14T13:24:30.467" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;So one day when my turtle was outside in a box with no lids. We went to go do something. Then when we went to check on it, it was gone. There were no clues at the box. Did it get eaten by something or just ran away? Could a snake or any other animal have eaten it? It was a Red-eared slider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20295" LastEditorUserId="20295" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T12:08:02.407" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T13:26:51.813" Title="Did my turtle die or did it just ran away?" Tags="&lt;turtles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ClosedDate="2021-04-14T16:25:40.440" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31107" CreationDate="2021-04-14T15:22:08.057" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Were you storing it there temporarily or were you expecting that to be its home. If its wild then dont expect it to stay around as turtles like water. If you have a stream, lake, pond or river nearby, check there because it might just be taking a dip or living there and you might have just interrupted its routine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="20192" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T13:26:51.813" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T13:26:51.813" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31075" CreationDate="2021-04-14T15:26:41.123" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following up with what Elmy said, I would also recommend monitoring your pet after the battery is removed to see if they have any other suspicious symptoms. If you want to better prevent battery swallowing, get bitter tasting batteries. They sell them and they work great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T15:26:41.123" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31036" CreationDate="2021-04-14T16:33:57.897" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the bunny is nursing however this is a guess. I would say call a vet/animal control and describe it to them and see what they say. However if you feel like its the best choice, then take it to the vet for a check up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T16:33:57.897" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29951" CreationDate="2021-04-14T16:39:53.650" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/seizures-and-epilepsy-in-cats#:%7E:text=termed%20idiopathic%20epilepsy.-,Idiopathic%20epilepsy%20is%20an%20inherited%20disorder%20in%20dogs%2C%20but%20is,disease%20within%20the%20brain%20itself.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/seizures-and-epilepsy-in-cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Idiopathic epilepsy is an inherited disorder in dogs, but is rarely diagnosed in cats. In comparison to dogs, seizures and epilepsy are much less common in cats and are usually symptoms of disease within the brain itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In more basic terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Epilepsy is very uncommon in cats, maybe even rare. The only reason why a cat would have a seizure is if its brain was compromised with disease itself. If you aren't sure if the kitten had brain disease, check with your vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T19:49:37.727" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T19:49:37.727" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29949" CreationDate="2021-04-14T16:47:42.323" Score="4" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An unhealthy diet, poor health or an undetected disease can all be causes for your cat to lose their hair. As these are all quite broad reasons, it's important to visit your vet to identify the underlying cause. Some causes for hair loss in cats can also affect humans, and are contagious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.co.uk/articles/cats/health/skin-fur-ears/hair-loss-in-cats#:%7E:text=An%20unhealthy%20diet%2C%20poor%20health,affect%20humans%2C%20and%20are%20contagious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article at purina.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anxiety medications, synthetic feline facial pheromone spray, or other calming aids could prove helpful as well. Regular tick and flea control medication is also essential to keep the cat healthy and rule those pests out as a possible reason for hair loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/hair-loss-in-cats-554758&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article at thesprucepets.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T17:16:23.570" LastActivityDate="2021-04-14T17:16:23.570" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29921" CreationDate="2021-04-14T16:53:05.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going along with what Elmy &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/29921/why-is-my-dog-separating-one-pup-and-moving-him#comment41383_29921&quot;&gt;said&lt;/a&gt; in the comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mothers can detect birth defects as they can detect cancer in humans, You should get it checked out. It could be that the mother is protecting the one pup from the other pups for some reason although I have no idea why. If I could guess, it's because the pup doesn't need to drink that much so the mother would let the pup have the rest of the milk. I would still get the puppy checked out by a veternarian just in case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T17:58:42.340" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:58:42.340" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31118" CreationDate="2021-04-14T17:08:10.247" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mix of hound and retriever and she is the love of my life; we got her when she was about 1 year, maybe a few months old, and raised her up. However, she will all of a sudden just be scared and not want to be anywhere near me. I constantly leave her alone and it just seems like her trust builds up, but then it hits rock bottom and she doesn't want to have anything to do with me. She does sleep on my bed and I don't have anything that would scare her in my room. How can I get her to trust me permanently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any answer is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-14T17:21:11.810" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T19:21:24.840" Title="Why is my dog scared of me all of a sudden?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;large-dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31078" CreationDate="2021-04-14T21:05:38.560" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;THIS IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your fish may be infected with the viral infection called lymphocystis. There is really no direct cure for it, but your veterinarian can suppress the virus until it eventually stops. Many prayers to your fish. This is a decision you will have to make yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As well with that, it will not go away on its own. I would not recommend taking it off on your own because it may cause pain to the fish and make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T17:51:44.530" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T17:51:44.530" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31116" CreationDate="2021-04-15T04:59:29.597" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very sudden changes in behavior can be a sign that there's a medical problem, no matter how young or old the dog is. For example, she could have impaired vision, making it hard to recognize you and read your body language. She could also be in pain, making her shy away from touch to avoid more pain. Where this pain comes from is another question... There could also be problems in the brain. Only a vet could diagnose any of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could also indicate a change in behavior in another person (or you). Dogs will react that way if someone in the household starts mistreating them. But it doesn't have to be abuse. When my grandma started getting dementia, the dog picked up on it before we did and suddenly didn't want to be in her room anymore. We are 100% certain that she never hurt the dog or abused her in any way, though. Maybe your behavior changed in ways you're not even aware of, but the dog noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in the comments, a change of smell can also cause this. Strong perfumes / deodorants are an obvious reason, but many drugs and medications can also change your personal smell. It could also be a smell you bring home from a friend or boy-/girlfriend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your posture may also influence the way she acts around you. Many people only bend their body down at the hips when interacting with a dog. But from the dogs perspective they are towering over them in a very scary and intimidating way. Whenever your dog acts scared of you, you should sit down on the floor instead of standing or crouching. That makes your posture much more friendly and you more approachable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should encourage her to come to you, but then give her time to explore you without touching her. If a smell or a noise (maybe from your clothing) triggered her, she then has the opportunity to learn that whatever it is, it's not a bad thing. But she needs time to concentrate on that, and she can't concentrate when you touch her. You can speak to her in a very calm way, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should monitor when these sudden lapses in trust occur and then recall anything that happened before it started. Have you moved in a certain way? Eaten certain foods or taken certain medications or drugs? Have you or the dog been with certain people? Has it been cold and wet outside? (This can influence painful conditions like arthritis.) Try to find what caused this, then try to change it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After this answer was written, you wrote in a comment that she is a rescue dog and is often in pain. This makes it even more likely that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She's either in pain in those situations where she shies away. That's a very common behavior in dogs that feel pain when moving (for example in the joints). They're afraid of being touched in a way that hurts, so they preventively keep their distance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or she was abused in the past and &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; you did reminded her of how someone hurt her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have a rescue dog who is very erratic in his behavior. At first we didn't understand why he would act so illogically, until my mom was putting dried laundry away. She was holding a wooden cloth hanger and took just a few steps towards me to tell me something, when suddenly our dog yelped and ran away. It dawned on us that he was abused and hit with wooden sticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom sat down on the floor and very calmly called the dog to her, holding the cloth hanger to the side. It took him some courage, but eventually he approached my mom and took his time sniffing at the cloth hanger. She moved it very slowly towards him to give him time to react. Eventually she could touch and pet him with the cloth hanger and he lost his fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But we're certain that this wasn't his only negative experience. He still has erratic reactions to situations where we aren't aware what triggered him and we'll probably never know everything he went through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-15T19:21:24.840" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T19:21:24.840" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28045" CreationDate="2021-04-15T09:30:54.663" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's clear up the terms first...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Menstruation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. Only humans and animals with a uterus can menstruate and reptiles do not have a uterus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premenstrual_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Premenstrual syndrome&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; refers to emotional and physical symptoms that regularly occur in the one to two weeks before the start of each menstrual period. It's the official term for mood swings caused by hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle. Those mood swings occur before the actual bleeding sets in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the short answer is: &lt;strong&gt;no, female bearded dragons do not menstruate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they have mood swings, though?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's possible, especially &lt;strong&gt;shortly before they shed their skin&lt;/strong&gt;. It can also indicate a problem with the enclosure. Many bearded dragons try to hide in dark, shaded places &lt;strong&gt;if the temperature is too high&lt;/strong&gt; for their comfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep an eye on her color. Bearded dragons can turn the color of their beard darker as a sign of aggression, stress or pain. If she stays her normal color during her moods, it's probably just a mood. If she gets darker and the dark color persists over several days, there's something wrong with her. She might feel threatened by something in her environment or be in pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T09:30:54.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29895" CreationDate="2021-04-15T13:54:21.010" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say dont wake him up. If you want to give him food, then stick it in the hole/next to his shell and he will eat when he wants to. However waking him up may scare him or make him mentally ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T13:54:21.010" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29456" CreationDate="2021-04-15T16:46:10.693" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok Number One, I am very sorry for your loss. It is rough when you lose a pet or even an animal that was a part of the family. Number Two, As Omar Saadoun said, Water Shock can occur very easily if your fish is already ill as is, and it can also occur if you dont watch your PH level. If you do end up seeing strange patterns in your fish such as crashing at the bottom of your tank, swimming upside down, or rubbing itself against gravel, take it to the vet immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-15T16:46:10.693" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28150" CreationDate="2021-04-16T06:20:19.333" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This kind of behavior indicates &lt;strong&gt;insecurity or anxiety&lt;/strong&gt;, not aggression. The snarling and snapping are both part of dogs' body language and communication. She says &amp;quot;don't get any closer to me, I'm not feeling safe&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very important that &lt;strong&gt;you don't punish her&lt;/strong&gt; for this kind of communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either she gets even more insecure and anxious, because she still feels unsafe in the presence of those dogs but now she also feels unsafe communicating with them because she gets punished for that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or she learns that she's not allowed to snarl and might skip the communication next time. That means that she'll escalate to nips or even bites without growling first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, you should keep in mind that her behavior might have a medical cause. Dogs often get insecure and exhibit what people describe as &amp;quot;aggressive behavior&amp;quot; when their eyesight gets worse or when they are in pain, for example from arthritis. It's a good idea to get her checked by a vet during a regular appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are no medical reasons, the best solution would be to expose her to more dogs, so that she can relearn her social skills. The best partner to relearn those skills is a calm and friendly dog who is &lt;strong&gt;not on a short leash&lt;/strong&gt;. Both dogs should be allowed to move around each other freely and unimpaired by leashes and anxious owners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common problem with leash aggression is that most dogs pull on the leash to get to each other. Even if a dog is very friendly, this pulling changes the body posture. The torso is lifted up by the harness or collar while the hind legs push forward. At the same time the front legs tense up because they lose contact to the ground. In dog body language &lt;strong&gt;this is a very aggressive posture&lt;/strong&gt; and a warning right before an attack. But the dog doesn't want to attack, it just wants to greet your dog. This miscommunication, caused by leash pulling, could also be a reason why your dog suddenly growls at approaching dogs. The solution is to either ask the other dog owner to not hold the leash so short or to ask them to stop for a second and kneel down (this moves the anchor point of the leash and the posture of the pulling dog is changed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T14:06:09.940" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T14:06:09.940" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31031" CreationDate="2021-04-16T12:11:24.987" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am doing pretty good, I have a theory that  I think will work. If you want to build a decent termite farm, Then here are your materials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Power Drill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A 1 millimetre drill bit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mason jar with a metal lid and seal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clear Boxing Tape&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cardboard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mulch/Rotting Wood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dirt/Soil&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And last but absolutely not least, Your favorite Termites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to put enough food in the jar so the termites have enough to eat for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make a huge interconnected farm, Then buy alot of jars and one big one. The big one will be &amp;quot;The Feeding Chamber&amp;quot;. You will be using tubing to connect the jars to the big jar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then connect the The Feeding Chamber&amp;quot; to other areas using tubing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="20192" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T16:27:47.840" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:27:47.840" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29162" CreationDate="2021-04-16T12:41:25.613" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat could be protecting your other cat. He could be keeping an eye on her due to previous experiences or an attack. Either that or he just wants to keep an eye on her for the heck of it. I would say see if it gets worse, then take them both to the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T12:41:25.613" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28248" CreationDate="2021-04-16T12:47:40.847" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are a decent amount. In fact, I have a specific species that might work for you: Texas river cooter (&lt;em&gt;Pseudemys texana&lt;/em&gt;); they do not eat fish but instead are herbivores. Just keep them well fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T20:04:11.060" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T20:04:11.060" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31091" CreationDate="2021-04-16T12:48:03.087" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;He apparently is mounting the toy, which isn't that unusual for fixed cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The procedure mainly prevents procreation and removes the uncontrollable urge to look for mates, while technically the cat is still capable to 'perform the act'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found cat owners tend to be a bit reluctant to talk about the behavior, but if you ask around openly, you'll find it isn't that uncommon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't uncommon either for the behavior to start quite a while after the cat has been fixed, our 2 year old boy started about a year after he was fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our boy has his favorite blanket rolled up into a shape roughly resembling a cat :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As with any sudden change in behavior, you should consult your vet just to be on the safe side, but it generally is nothing to be immediately concerned about.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T12:48:03.087" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31141" CreationDate="2021-04-16T13:07:15.467" Score="6" ViewCount="1497" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog (well, my landlord's technically) seems to love being petted, running to my bed when I first let her in my apartment where I usually pet her, and reaching her head towards me begging me to scratch it.  However, she often ends up licking her lips, especially if I take my hand off her head and pet any other part of her body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know licking usually is a sign of anxiety, but why would she be acting anxious while simultaneously enjoying and all but begging to be petted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5186" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-04-17T21:28:51.063" LastActivityDate="2021-04-17T21:28:51.063" Title="Why does my dog lick her lips while being petted?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31084" CreationDate="2021-04-16T13:18:52.510" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going along with what Allerleirauh said, Let me break it down to something more simple. Once you get something from the shelter (Invasive or not), They have already bonded with humans and releasing them will either destroy the environment or the enviroment will destroy them. The best option to do would to first confront your neighbor and discuss that a turtle needs more space but must not be released. If they dont comply, go ahead and call animal control and make a complaint. A small turtle like a musk turtle could be put in a regular fish aquarium. However bigger turtles might be able to use a small artificial pond with walls and a sand beach so the turtle can rest. Just make sure the water has an appropriate PH level or the turtle might get ill or die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T13:18:52.510" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18838" CreationDate="2021-04-16T13:48:04.850" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to add something to Mick's comment. When a mouse bites you, it either is playing, feels threatened, is scared, or wants to defend itself. So the best option is to let it crawl in your hand (Do NOT pick it up by its tail or anywhere) and just hold it and try and tolerate the bite. It will eventually see your hand as not a threat and will not bite you anymore. If you pick it up yourself, then it will see your hand as a mouth of a predator and will just keep on biting you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T13:48:04.850" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31129" CreationDate="2021-04-16T13:53:36.870" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an easy question that I speak from experience. It means you've hit a &amp;quot;sweet spot&amp;quot; and your dog likes it. For example, my dog's &amp;quot;sweet spot&amp;quot; is near the base of her tail. It's nothing to worry about and is just like you sighing when you scratch an itchy spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T14:47:42.057" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T14:47:42.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7868" CreationDate="2021-04-16T15:12:40.750" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se?cb=1&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is completely your neighbor's responsibility, legally (severity varies by area) and ethically.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not your dogs. They are your neighbor's dogs. Your neighbor is expected to control them. They also belong on your neighbor's property, not yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have had a previous incident of attack by a Rottweiler on our short dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.edgarsnyder.com/dog-bite/attack-on-dog.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;edgarsnyder.com&lt;/a&gt; legal firm says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the attacking dog is already listed as a &amp;quot;dangerous dog,&amp;quot; the owner may be responsible for harboring an aggressive or violent animal and held liable for any damages or veterinary bills.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the attacking dog is listed as &amp;quot;dangerous&amp;quot; and your dog has to be put down, the owner may be held responsible for the original amount you paid for your dog.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If other owner violated your state's leash laws, he or she may be held responsible for any veterinary costs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Immediately check with your neighbor to make sure the attacking dog has had all of its rabies shots.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your neighbor should also compensate (some depending on if you were also injured, which I don't know):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Medical treatment related to the attack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Income lost due to missed work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Property that was destroyed or damaged (eyeglasses, clothing, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any lasting disability or scar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emotional suffering.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.araglegal.com/individuals/learning-center/topics/home-and-property/neighbor-dog-attacks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;araglegal.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Find a personal lawyer and sue if:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have suffered injuries that require you to see a doctor, especially if you are going to require ongoing treatment such as surgeries or skin grafts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are coping with disfiguring injuries after being mauled by an animal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have missed work due to your injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You believe you are going to be permanently disabled due to your injuries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are struggling with ongoing mental anguish such as post-traumatic stress and the inability to enjoy the things you once loved to do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.krwlawyers.com/premises-liability-lawyers/dog-attack-lawyer/what-to-do-after-being-attacked-by-a-neighbors-dog/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;krwlawyers.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose not to press legal charges or take any further action against your neighbors and their dog, here's how to ensure the safety of you, your dog, and your property:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Can I Humanely Keep Neighbor Dogs Out Of My Yard?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Entice Your Neighbor To Keep Their Dog Out Of Your Yard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Understand Local Ordinances Regarding Roaming Dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove Attractions To Neighborhood Dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Clean Up Dog Exctrament [&lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt;].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Try Bottled Water To Keep Dogs Away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remove Standing Water.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use Dog Repellants to Keep Dogs Away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consider Automatic Repellants To Keep Dogs Away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Build a fence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;https://countrypests.com/how-can-i-humanely-keep-neighbor-dogs-out-of-my-yard/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;countrypests.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you or your dog ever get attacked again, I would seriously consider hiring a lawyer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T15:33:52.393" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T15:33:52.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-16T15:34:32.687" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at pups from puppyspot. I've asked them if I can have the pup and parent's AKC ID so I can verify their registration. They responded that they cannot hand those out to the general public due to fraud protection reasons, but that I would receive the AKC papers with my pup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this process normal? I don't know much about the AKC, so I'm not really sure what about an AKC ID would/should be private.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20308" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T15:56:23.243" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T16:05:12.217" Title="Is it normal for a breeder to refuse to send AKC registration number until after the purchase?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31137" CreationDate="2021-04-16T16:05:12.217" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;In any case where there's a registration ID system, there's a risk of fraud. If the breeder offers up the ID number to anyone who comes along and asks, &lt;strong&gt;it's child's play for a disreputable breeder to pose as an &amp;quot;interested buyer&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; who simply wants to check the IDs. Once they have the ID numbers in hand, they can then use that information to &lt;strong&gt;create counterfeit registration paperwork&lt;/strong&gt; for their own, unregistered dogs, allowing them to charge a premium price for a &amp;quot;registered purebred&amp;quot; that might be a mutt or have some other factor disqualifying them from registration. An unsuspecting buyer might not even try the ID number, and one who had suspicions and did try to validate it would find that it did, indeed, check out as a real number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While personally I have no familiarity with the AKC, I have seen exactly this situation happen with other high-priced consumer goods; people foolishly put their ID (serial) numbers on the internet, and disreputable individuals used those to create counterfeit paperwork to pair up with counterfeit goods and attempt to pass them as legitimate. For this exact reason, &lt;strong&gt;it is not only perfectly reasonable that the breeder would not just hand over the ID, it's exactly what I would expect them to do.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T16:05:12.217" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29878" CreationDate="2021-04-16T16:11:55.947" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is this trick that I have been playing on my dog for quite some time and to be fair, it's kind of funny. The trick is to mix a little (not a lot) of human food into the dog's food. If you put a little and let it mix with the dog's food, it might not make the dog vomit and she will eat the food. However, be careful with what you put in there, the basic &amp;quot;no-nos&amp;quot; for cats and dogs are onions, grapes, chocolates, and ranch. Also, anything with xylitol in it is poisonous to dogs and cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T19:39:03.693" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T19:39:03.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29485" CreationDate="2021-04-16T16:43:04.160" Score="-3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi there jxzzx and welcome to Pets.SE. There are many reasons why your ball python could have died. Here is a list of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dehydration: Symptoms include Wrinkly Skin, Lack of appetite, constipation, Rapid weight Loss, and stuck shed around eyes, tail, and nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low/High Cage temperature&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Infection&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and parasitism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very sorry for your loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T16:43:04.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31129" CreationDate="2021-04-16T17:04:47.080" Score="11" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different types of lip licking and there are different reasons for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might like your petting so much and becomes so relaxed that she actually starts drooling. Once you stop petting that sweet spot, she notices her drooling and licks her lips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might also have been taught that she shouldn't lick people. Some dog owners allow their pets to lick their hands or faces, others don't. Since licking is an ingrained instinct, the dog licks her lips instead of your face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she licks the side of the whole mouth all the way to the cheek, it's a sign of anxiety. This is often accompanied by loud yawning (which has nothing to do with her being tired). You might be petting  spot she actually doesn't like you to pet. Or she might ponder how she could get you to per her sweet spot again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way of lip licking is right in the center of the mouth. The tip of the tongue flicks out and rapidly licks just the upper lip. This is a sign that the dog is uncomfortable and wants you to stop doing whatever you're doing &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;. It could be accompanied by some growling and is a sign that the dog &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; disagrees with what you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-16T17:15:40.470" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:15:40.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29878" CreationDate="2021-04-16T17:24:07.977" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you need a brief answer, I'll make this quick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some types of wet food (like Freshpet, which comes in a tube, get it  &lt;a href=&quot;https://freshpet.com/dog/deli-fresh/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; This is made with mostly human food that is modified for dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next thing you can do is get a customizable recipe, which will taste good to her and also will be gentle on her stomach. (link &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.purina.com/pet-food-finder&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, try some dietary supplements for pets to keep her healthy while she waits for her new food. Link for that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/b/dietary-supplements-1569&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. These supplements are pretty cheap and come in chewable, powders, or creams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20309" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:24:07.977" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16512" CreationDate="2021-04-16T17:51:11.523" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has gone to a kennel twice as well and came back both times extremely exhausted, presumably from much playtime, but had no other symptoms of illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is most certainly not normal for any of these symptoms to be present in a dog at all...boarding or not. I did notice your comment about his Kennel Cough vaccination, and though he was vaccinated, this does not guard against it completely but rather lessen the affects. In addition to Kennel Cough, it could also be &amp;quot;Canine Influenza,&amp;quot; which according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/petcare/disease-risks-dogs-social-settings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;avma.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Canine influenza is caused by the canine influenza virus. It is a relatively new disease in dogs. Because most dogs have not been exposed to the virus, their immune systems are not able to fully respond to the virus and many of them will become infected when they are exposed. Canine influenza is spread through respiratory secretions.Dogs can be shedding the virus before they even show signs of illness, which means an apparently healthy dog can still infect other dogs. Dogs with canine influenza develop coughing, a fever and a snotty nose, which are the same signs observed when a dog has kennel cough.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the most common explanation of his behavior I could find. The source is linked above, so you should probably look there some more. No matter what it is, it is definitly worth a visit to the vet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20309" LastActivityDate="2021-04-16T17:51:11.523" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-17T07:26:47.407" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Felix beef in jelly is my cat's favorite food and she always prefers it to all other types of cat food. Here's an image of the product in question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5ptcl.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/5ptcl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Felix Beef in Jelly&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she threw up all of her last meal and was very irritated. I suspected that the food must have been bad, so I tried to check the expiration date and that's where this question came up. Please look at the following picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gIP5W.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gIP5W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;One of the Batch of food that I last bought.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, there are 3 dates underneath this food pack:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;01.2023&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P: 23.01.2021&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;01.08.2019&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume the &amp;quot;P:&amp;quot; designates the production date, however, the existence of a 2019 date, and the fact that my cat threw it all up worries me and makes me wonder if the 2019 is the production date and the 23.01.2021 is the expiry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, please help me figure out whether this pack of food is expired or not.&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI: It has been brought to my attention that my location could be important for answering this question, since laws and regulations might differ in different regions. In that light I should mention that I live in Muscat, Oman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20314" LastEditorUserId="20314" LastEditDate="2021-04-17T09:37:26.060" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T21:13:38.607" Title="Which date is the expiration date of this Felix cat food?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cat-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31155" CreationDate="2021-04-17T10:15:23.910" Score="6" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three years ago, I saved a cat and her six kittens from basically a crack den. A few months later, one kitten very suddenly got ill and died. Her sister got ill afterwards, but that vet found FeLV and treated what symptoms she could. That kitten got another 14 months of good life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it all happened, I was told in no uncertain terms by those I helped save the cats that no, the mother was not the source, or they would all be dead or infected. Two years later, I noticed the mother (whom I kept) had &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisocoria&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;unequal pupil sizes that differed a lot&lt;/a&gt;. The vet (not the same who saved the kitten) said she was completely fine, but due to her history and, yes, looking it up online (the pupil thing is one symptom of FeLV), I requested a FeLV test, though the vet felt it was unnecessary. She, of course, was wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short, the mother has FeLV. She has no real symptoms and is as lively as any other cat, and has been for the three year she has been here, plus however long she was at the crack den. Somehow, she is an immune 'sufferer' of the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if she could be beneficial to research into a cure or treatment for FeLV? She has no contact with non-vaccinated cats and is actually vaccinated after the kittens died, but if she could pass the ability of living just fine with the disease on to others, it could save a lot of lives. I just don't know how or if she can be of help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13939" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-17T23:39:58.833" LastActivityDate="2021-05-14T14:53:25.417" Title="Can my FeLV-immune cat help FeLV research?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31164" CreationDate="2021-04-18T01:03:29.113" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a cat likes finding paper and tearing it apart, is it safe to let the cat do so? And does it matter for the type of paper, e.g. toilet paper,  tissue paper, wrapping paper, printer paper, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking how to stop it, but if the cat enjoys doing this, can I just let it go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, is it a sign of a problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10459" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T01:12:58.807" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T15:57:16.540" Title="Is it safe to let cats tear up paper?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31148" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-18T01:08:20.447" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two months old kitten was diagnosed with ringworm last week. I’ve been treating her since with Nizoral shampoo, Nizoral cream, rarely lamisil cream, and sometimes some turkish cream the vet has given me. I apply on his coat the cream 2-3 time/day. However yesterday i gave him a nizoral bath and then let him sit in the sun ( i was told its antifungal, later i applied a cream and the spots turned into very small blisters then got black. Is it a healing process? Should i be concerned?&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Mdnw.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Mdnw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20318" LastEditorUserId="20318" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T01:16:46.973" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T01:16:46.973" Title="Kittens ringworm got black during treatment" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31149" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-18T07:13:30.967" Score="0" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband got me a black long nose shark platy and a tetra a couple weeks back. I have noticed that they both have grown since then, but my black platy seems to be getting fatter than the tetra and its behavior has been weird lately. I have done some research on how to tell if it’s male or female, but its bottom fin is too small for me to really get a good look at it, and with it being a black platy I can’t tell if it has the dark spot that the females have. I’m just worried because I have several guppies and a few more tetras in the take I don’t want the babies to be eaten if my platy is pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20320" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T14:29:12.233" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T19:30:22.280" Title="How do I know if my platy is pregnant or just fat?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-18T19:16:26.373" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31150" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-18T08:40:59.037" Score="7" ViewCount="4631" Body="&lt;p&gt;We realized our kitten got a coffee bean quite a while ago and it's not exhibiting any weird symptoms that we can realize. Should we worry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20321" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T14:27:22.653" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T19:59:41.900" Title="My kitten ate a coffee bean" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31150" CreationDate="2021-04-18T14:44:43.043" Score="15" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contact your vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caffeine is indeed toxic to cats. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://vetmeds.org/pet-poison-control-list/caffeine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;vetmeds.org&lt;/a&gt;, cats can only tolerate about 36 to 68 milligrams per pound.  For a small cat, they estimate that amounts to less than .05 ounces of coffee beans, which is a very tiny amount. If your kitten is very small, the risk is even greater. So perhaps if the kitten has truly only eaten one bean, it may not need medical attention, but I would definitely at minimum consult your vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As stated on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/caffeine/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;pet poison helpline&lt;/a&gt;, symptoms of caffeine poisoning may include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyperactivity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restlessness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevated heart rate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevated blood pressure (hypertension)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elevated body temperature (hypothermia* [&lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt;])&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abnormal heart rhythm&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tremors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;sub&gt;Original source says &amp;quot;hypothermia&amp;quot; and this was preserved in quotation, but the actual correct word in this context is &amp;quot;hyperthermia&amp;quot;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T19:59:41.900" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T19:59:41.900" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-18T18:18:24.793" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 dogs: a female Ellie (7 yrs), male Blake (2 yrs), and male Bosco (9 months). Blake was neutered a few months ago and since then has gone after Bosco completely unprovoked. Blake is half the size of Bosco but their fights are bad. Bosco hates the confrontation and tries to get away but Blake just keeps going after him. Luckily, neither of them had sustained any serious injuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blake was very territorial over my sectional. It was his couch and his thing to hump. I got rid of it hoping that would help and it didn’t. Blake spent some time away at my Mom's and was perfect. I tried to reintroduce them in my backyard and he immediately went after Bosco. There weren’t any issues prior to Blake being neutered. I am having to keep them completely separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will neutering Bosco help or is this behavior continue? The thought of having to rehome one of them is unbearable. I’ve had them both since they were 8 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20323" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T19:25:59.263" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T19:27:16.130" Title="Two male dogs: one neutered, one intact; they were fine until one was neutered, now he goes after intact male; will neutering other male help?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;neutering&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31152" CreationDate="2021-04-18T19:15:35.443" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really sorry to hear that. Usually, we expect neutering to make a dog calmer and less aggressive. But unfortunately, several studies found that neutering increases territorial aggression (for example against strangers and delivery workers approaching or just passing by the home) and anxiety in dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201702/are-there-behavior-changes-when-dogs-are-spayed-or-neutered&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; has a summary of 2 studies;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of dogs tested in these two studies is quite large. The Duffy and Serpell study tested two different samples, one of 1,552 dogs and the other of 3,593 dogs. The Farhoody study tested 10,839 dogs, thus the combined studies provide data on 15,984 dogs in total, making this an amazingly powerful data set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are too many measures for me to report in detail, however, the main results were the same across all three samples of dogs. &lt;strong&gt;Given that one of the accepted behavioral reasons for spaying and neutering is to reduce aggression, the distressing results of these studies are that spayed and neutered dogs actually show considerably more aggression.&lt;/strong&gt; Depending upon the specific form of aggression (owner directed, stranger directed, etc.) the size of these effects is quite large, varying from a low of around a 20 percent increase to more than double the level of aggression in the neutered dogs as measured by the C-BARQ scoring scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farhoody summarizes her findings saying, &amp;quot;&lt;strong&gt;Our data showed that the behavior of neutered dogs was significantly different from that of intact dogs in ways that contradict the prevailing view.&lt;/strong&gt; Among the findings, neutered dogs were more aggressive, fearful, excitable, and less trainable than intact dogs.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article references a study (from 2006) and a masters thesis (from 2010) as sources, but I couldn't find any of them online. However, the team that worked on the study published a new study in 2018:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2018.00018/full&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Aggression toward Familiar People, Strangers, and Conspecifics in Gonadectomized and Intact Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the &amp;quot;problem&amp;quot; is Blake and neutering Bosco won't change Blake's behavior. The best advice I can give you is to seek the help of a professional dog trainer. Not one of those puppy schools, but a trainer who specializes in dog psychology and training of problematic dogs. Even though Blake is the &amp;quot;problem&amp;quot; at the moment, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; might be the solution. The dog trainer should teach you how to recognize signs of aggression in him (there are &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt; of those signs and they start &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; before any growling or attacking) and how to redirect his attention away from the aggressive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-18T19:27:16.130" LastActivityDate="2021-04-18T19:27:16.130" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31190" CreationDate="2021-04-19T00:52:35.627" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a short-hair black-white tuxedo cat that is 3 weeks pregnant. The father is a long-hair grey Maine Coon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the science behind cat genetics; I'm wondering if there are any probabilities or rules of thumb that can be applied to get an idea what the kittens will look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it likely that most of the kittens will look like a 50/50 mix between the two parents? I.e. most of the offspring will be medium-haired grey-tuxedo kittens?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or perhaps, there might be an even distribution of tuxedo short hair, grey long hair, a blend between the two, and maybe a black long hair?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or, for example, do we know from established genetic rules that black long hair kittens will be extremely unlikely?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's impossible to 100% predict the outcome. But I'm wondering if there established genetic rules or probabilities that can be used to get a ballpark idea (or rule any specific scenarios out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18254" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T11:47:39.153" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T11:47:39.153" Title="Kitten genetics probabilities?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;genetics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31145" CreationDate="2021-04-19T05:41:03.760" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems known that infected cats could respond in different ways, like this (old) &lt;a href=&quot;https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2847393/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;scientific paper&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clinical and immunologic aspects of FeLV-induced immunosuppression&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;G K Ogilvie et al. Vet Microbiol. 1988 Jul.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats exposed to the feline leukemia virus (FeLV) may mount an effective immune response and eliminate the virus, develop a non-viremic, latent infection or become persistently infected and shed the virus. Persistently infected cats commonly die of secondary opportunistic infections that result from FeLV-induced immunosuppression. The acquired immunosuppression is the most frequent and most devastating consequence of FeLV infection in the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems that your cat may not be a very special one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But your thought is worthy, and maybe some researcher near you would be happy to take some blood or cell sample of your cat, to build a data base. You could have a look, or ask the vet for information about researchers active in the field of FeLV (connected not only with cats, but also with AIDS research and cancer treatment in humans) to ask directly if your cat could provide any help. Most researchers are simple humans, and the worst case could be to get no answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe there already exists some cooperation between researchers and some animal clinic (maybe university ones?) and you could ask the clinic if they have a need of FeLV positive but symptom-free cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T19:35:47.833" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T19:35:47.833" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31150" CreationDate="2021-04-19T11:59:57.717" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This should be harmless, based on gathering the numbers in the other answer and the comments therein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dangerous dose for a cat is around 36 to 68 mg of caffeine per pound (79 to 150 mg per kg) of cat weight. A single coffee bean is around 0.13g and contains between 1 to 10 mg of caffeine. Additionally, your cat swallowed an entire bean, not the same amount of finely ground coffee. It can't digest it, so most of the caffeine will just pass through your cat unaltered. You said she is not showing any symptoms so I wouldn't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20329" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T16:08:43.043" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T16:08:43.043" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13610" CreationDate="2021-04-19T12:37:26.573" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se?cb=1&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rats (among other animals) have a &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harderian_gland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Harderian gland&lt;/a&gt; at their eyes that excretes porphyrin - a chemical compound very close to hemoglobin, the compound responsible for the red color of our blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the rat is stressed, ill, in pain or malnourished, this gland excretes more porphyrin, which can be visible as red tears, a brownish black crust around the eyes nostrils or the hands (since rats rub their hands over their faces while grooming).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ratbehavior.org/porphyrin.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Those red tears: porphyrin and the Norway rat&lt;/a&gt; lists possible causes for excess porphyrin production. In addition to acute pain and stress, these are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A number of diseases are also associated with the overproduction of porphyrin, such as corynebacterium, mycoplasmosis, salmonellosis, and sialodacryoadenitis (SDA) (USF Div. Comp. Med. PDF ref). Dietary deficiencies may cause porphyrin overproduction as well (Sakai 1981).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These lists are not comprehensive, but rather go to show that porphyrin overproduction is a non-specific response to stress, pain, disease, or poor diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T16:11:58.760" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T16:11:58.760" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-19T17:35:25.313" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday morning I noticed my cat's face seemed a little puffy around the left side of her mouth. I didn't see anything wrong and she didn't seem upset about it. Last night I checked again and her lower left canine was protruding outside of her upper lip like she'd had a severe underbite (she doesn't). Now this morning, the tooth is protruding at about a 45-degree angle out directly away from her face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's clearly bothering her because she spent half the night licking her mouth in my ear while I was trying to sleep. There must be some tenderness because now she won't let touch that side of her face, but she was happy enough to dive into her food bowl this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried calling multiple vet offices but nobody could see us for several weeks. Do I need to take her to an emergency vet or should I just keep an eye on her energy and appetite for now? I'm concerned about possible infection and pain/discomfort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20333" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T19:54:00.483" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T20:27:00.720" Title="My cat's lower canine tooth is loose" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31165" CreationDate="2021-04-19T18:21:06.433" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog wags his tail and then paws me with his front paws and I am at a loss as to explain what he wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This rarely occurs while I eat, and usually occurs when I am doing normal things, like being on my phone, sleeping, or swimming in my pool (when I am floating on the edge), so what exactly does he want?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20309" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T19:30:36.133" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T17:03:48.887" Title="My dog claws at me when he wags his tail. Why does he do this?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;mutts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31147" CreationDate="2021-04-19T18:58:09.373" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your cat is ONLY shredding the paper, that is fine.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cats seem to like the feeling of destroying things, and paper is easy to destroy.  I would even take advantage of its desire to shred paper by providing it with things that it's allowed to shred, and encouraging it to shred those, such as cardboard scratchers.  If your cat is busy shredding and clawing those, it's a lot less likely to shred and claw your furniture and walls, and it's probably happy for being allowed to shred something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But be careful if your cat is eating paper.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accidentally eating a tiny piece now and then is normal for cats that shred paper, and not a concern because a tiny piece will probably pass through harmlessly.  But if the cat is drawn to eating paper, that is a big health concern.  Large amounts of paper will make the cat vomit, or can even get stuck in the digestive tract and cause a blockage that may even require surgery to remove.  Therefore, if you notice the cat intentionally eating paper, make sure to keep all paper away from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T18:58:09.373" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31163" CreationDate="2021-04-19T19:44:33.510" Score="4" Body="&lt;h2&gt;He wants to play (or is hungry/thirsty)!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This shows several signs that your dog desires to engage with you, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tail wagging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;physically engaging you by &amp;quot;pawing&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;occurs when you are not focused on him (instead, on your phone, sleeping, or swimming)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When this happens, I encourage you to play with him, dogs - especially younger ones - need constant healthy play and exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be as simple as throwing a ball as fetch or running around with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the slight possibility that he is hungry or thirsty, and he is trying to get your attention so you refill his food and/or water. Without much context in your question, I can't say what your dog is trying to tell you. Just to be safe, make sure he has had all necessary food and his water is full before playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer is from my personal knowledge and experience. No sources are listed, but more information is available on the internet by Google to back me up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-19T20:41:50.480" LastActivityDate="2021-04-19T20:41:50.480" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-20T01:42:37.367" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, while delivering her kittens, my cat kept breathing through her mouth and breathing heavily. We thought it's because she's just too tired. This is her second time. Last time, she gave birth to four but two kittens died and the other one died too, leaving one kitten behind. Now, four kittens are alive and it's the first time she feeds four kittens. Up until now, she's breathing heavily and one of her kittens has pooped. We don't have a vet here in town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20334" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T07:20:26.067" LastActivityDate="2021-05-17T00:19:44.667" Title="My cat gave birth yesterday and she keeps breathing heavily via her mouth" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8008" CreationDate="2021-04-20T04:19:25.247" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog does the same thing. He is also a rescue and lived the first 7 months of his life fending for himself in the middle of nowhere. I am wondering if it is their version of “playing dead” as I assume he had probably been approached by wild animals many times over that seven months. It almost seems like a defense mechanism because he will just go to dead weight and crack his mouth open whenever I have to lift him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20335" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T04:19:25.247" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31166" CreationDate="2021-04-20T13:55:14.190" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;THIS IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.greencrossvets.com.au/pet-library/articles-of-interest/why-is-my-cat-panting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.greencrossvets.com.au/pet-library/articles-of-interest/why-is-my-cat-panting/&lt;/a&gt;, The only reasons why cats would be breathing through their mouth period would be because they are Hot, Stressed, or have an underlying disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T13:55:14.190" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28342" CreationDate="2021-04-20T13:58:35.833" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2331&quot;&gt;Pets Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the comment of the original poster converted to an answer so that future users can find it easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wasn't overreacting. I went to another vet and ran blood tests, all parameters were normal; also, did x-rays I was expecting something bad in the results or an infection so this made me even more concerned, until we did an echocardiogram and turned out to be pyometra and cysts. My guts were right to feel something was wrong; the doctor explained to me that the reason this infection didn't show up in the blood tests was because the organism can run out of these cells that indicate an infection (or something of the sort I don't remember well). She had a successful surgery and the shaking disappeared and the appetite returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is that you should consult more than 1 vet if they say everything is okay but you feel something is wrong and keep looking and trying to find the cause, had it not been for the echocardiogram she would've probably starved herself due to the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T15:39:38.503" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T15:39:38.503" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31163" CreationDate="2021-04-20T14:11:23.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I speak from experience as I have a very playful Hound/Retriever. Usually if they jump and put their front paws on your lap and claw at you, it could be many things, they are trying to hold on, they want you to play with them, or they are worried about you if your still for too long. Usually its them saying &amp;quot;Its time for play&amp;quot;. If you really think its something else, I would take your pet to the vet to get it checked up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="20192" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T17:03:48.887" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T17:03:48.887" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31162" CreationDate="2021-04-20T14:27:38.433" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat may have abscess and yes, it would be a good idea to go to an emergency vet if you don't want your cat to suffer. They will most likely prescribe antibiotics for your cat to treat the abscess. If the abscess is bad enough, your cat may have to undergo a surgery to remove the tooth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T20:12:43.467" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T20:12:43.467" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27215" CreationDate="2021-04-20T15:11:26.590" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem here isn't that he isn't exercised enough, the problem is that he's too excited. Those are 2 different things. He could see a big dog before he had any walk this day (hasn't exercised) and still stay calm. And he could have the longest walk of his life, see a small dog and still get too excited despite being physically tired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I wouldn't let the dog off the leash if you can't recall him reliably. You could use a long leash to give him freedom to run around, but you must keep him on the leash to keep control over him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible method is an impulse collar. These are commonly known as &amp;quot;shock collars&amp;quot; but please &lt;strong&gt;never administer electric shocks to the throat of your pet&lt;/strong&gt;. There are alternatives that vibrate or emit a sound. These are far better than the shock collars. And you should only activate them via remote control, because automatic &amp;quot;anti bark collars&amp;quot; are unreliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he starts barking at a dog, call out a warning command like &amp;quot;back to me&amp;quot;, count to 2 and if he doesn't listen, activate the collar. The 2 seconds timing is important for him to learn that the activation of the collar is linked to your command. This has the benefit of (hopefully) disrupting his behavior and also gives him a much better chance to learn. If he &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; react to your warning and stops barking, you should reward him profusely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to stopping his barking when it happens, you should also train staying calm with him before he even starts barking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One method that worked very well for me was physically turning the dog around. That doesn't mean rolling him on his back, but turning his head away from the dog and his behind towards the dog. Of course he wants to turn towards the small dog and approach him, but by turning him away (and keeping him turned away) you tell him that &lt;strong&gt;you don't want him approaching this dog&lt;/strong&gt;. You should kneel down next to your dog and stay very calm in that position for a while (maybe until the small dog passed by or until your dog looks at you instead of the small dog). It's very important that you stay calm in body language and in don't speak too much with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it's another reason to keep him on a leash because you have no chance of turning him around if he can run away from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T15:36:49.843" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T15:36:49.843" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-20T15:55:29.437" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two weeks ago, I took in a feral kitten (he’s 7 weeks old now), but the last few days his ears have started peeling, scabbing and smell bad. There is no black stuff in his ears either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve tried F10, Sebbaderm shampoo and have started him on antibiotics. But so far nothing seems to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips before rushing to the vet please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rRs5X.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rRs5X.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20338" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T16:36:35.237" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T16:38:59.793" Title="Ear problems in kitten" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;infections&gt;&lt;feral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26610" CreationDate="2021-04-20T16:41:03.393" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never treat a stray bite like its ok and you will be fine. Every time you even see a speckle of blood on your finger from a stray bite, you should still get it checked out. There is always a chance your cat will get infected with a disease such as tetanus or rabies. Rabies is contagious through infection of the skin so it can be spread to you if the cat scratches or bites you. I would go to the vet if your cat have been bitten right away. Like go Now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:41:03.393" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31178" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-20T16:45:38.590" Score="4" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a male and female budgie. The female budgie has 5 eggs in her nest box and sits the whole day in it. Along with her, the male budgie also stays in the nest box with her. Sometimes, they act as if they love each other a lot! But after 4-5 days or a week, they fight like hell. 15 days ago, they fought so much that their blood was all around their nest. I think they fight for the nest box. I understand about the female budgie, but the male budgie fights with her so much that he doesn't allow her to enter into the nest box. Their fight is so intense, they lock their claws. Today, 2 out of 5 eggs were damaged. I don't want to split them because they are a couple. How can I make them stop fighting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20339" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-20T17:21:35.383" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T17:21:35.383" Title="Why is my pair of budgies fighting in a nest box?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;budgerigar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31178" CreationDate="2021-04-20T16:52:33.430" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Welcome to Pets.SEQ&amp;amp;A. They might be fighting for dominance as most birds will do this. In this case the dominance being who runs the nest box. The best chance would be to put them in separate cages and put the cages close enough for them to see each other but not close enough to injure each other. Then they might not fight each other. I would also put the eggs in one of the cages so one of the birds can keep them warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T16:52:33.430" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31144" CreationDate="2021-04-20T17:11:01.920" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2008/10/27/etc/What-do-the-dates-on-food-product-labels-mean/2896612.html#:%7E:text=Most%20products%20still%20follow%20the,that%20the%20product%20was%20manufactured&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;koreajoongangdaily.joins.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most products still follow the year-month-day order for expiration dates. They may also be labelled “BE” or “BEE,” which stand for “Best Before.” “Consume Before” also refers to the expiration date. “P,” “PRO” or “PRD” stand for the day that the product was manufactured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;P&amp;quot; means &amp;quot;production date&amp;quot;. However, if your cat threw up, then take her to the vet as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;BE&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;BEE&amp;quot; stand for &amp;quot;best before&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;consume before, respectively; it is the expiration date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as lila stated in her comment on the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No citations, just my common sense: expiration dates are approximate, and the longer the shelf-life is, the less accurate the prediction of expiration date could be; there is no reason to pin the exact day as expiration date of something that has a few years of shelf life, only 01.2023 makes sense as the expiration date in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, 01.2023 is the expiration date - unless the package was damaged (punctured, leaky, or dented to where the lid is partially off), in which case the expiration date is meaningless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T21:13:38.607" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T21:13:38.607" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16466" CreationDate="2021-04-20T18:25:28.737" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on your dog. For example, one (or both) ears drooping is very common in strays as described by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hospitalveterinariglories.com/dog-droopy-ear-causes/?lang=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;hospitalveterinariglories.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are different conditions that can cause a dog to have one ear up and the other down. However, they are usually accompanied by other symptoms. These other symptoms will generally be more obvious and should lead you to your vet’s office to rule out serious ailments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the dog is not treated in time, as can be the case with abandoned dogs, the ear may never lift. Unfortunately, this is often the case with stray dogs. They may have a flabby or misshapen ear due to malnutrition, fighting, illness, fungal ear infections, parasites, or other causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the more common causes include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bite wounds: when dogs fight or play, it is not uncommon for their ears to be injured, as they are vulnerable and accessible areas. Animal bites are often complicated by ear infections. Except for minor injuries, they need veterinary attention and even surgical intervention as a means to avoid deformations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Otitis media: Otitis is a general term for inflammation or infection of the ear. This can occur only in the outer part of the ear (external otitis), but it can also occur in the inner ear (internal otitis) or even middle (otitis media). For the latter, it is common for the dog to regularly keep its head to one side and even shake it in frustration. It is caused by an infection (usually bacterial) that enters the ear and can affect other parts of the dog’s face if it is acute. Some dogs are predisposed to otitis and, in these cases, they may need a surgical intervention to solve the problem permanently.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is common in strays and adopted dogs because they are prone to getting infections and fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your dog was not a stray, he could still have bite wounds, but it is most likely an irritation that was scratched too hard and resulted in an infection, or internal otitis media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only a vet would be able to determine the exact cause, so it is important to go to a trained veterinarian immediately (to treat the worst case scenario).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-04-20T18:25:28.737" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-21T03:01:35.750" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a cat becomes pregnant again after giving birth, will it affect some of the cats, and if so, is there a way I can help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a clear question out of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What special needs do a cat have, which at the same time is nursing one litter and is pregnant with the next one?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20346" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T16:38:47.287" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T16:38:47.287" Title="Nursing if pregnant again" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25787" CreationDate="2021-04-21T03:43:19.963" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going through this with my newest cat, female, spayed, 7 months old. The other two are bonded sisters, spayed, going on two years old. What I have done is to have a separate room for the new cat, and this helps by eliminating the stress of just allowing them to mingle right away . After a week of slowly introducing their scents to each other, by letting them hiss and growl at each other at the crack under the door,I allowed them to see each other but not close enough for physical contact. After a week, I tried letting them mix. I have heard that it can take up to a year for cats to get along or at least declare truce. So having limited contact at first is best.This website helped a lot:&lt;a href=&quot;https://pethelpful.com/cats/Best-Ways-to-Stop-a-Cat-From-Being-a-Bully&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://pethelpful.com/cats/Best-Ways-to-Stop-a-Cat-From-Being-a-Bully&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19370" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T19:33:20.013" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T19:33:20.013" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31175" CreationDate="2021-04-21T05:36:07.727" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of things going on here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hair loss could indicate some problems like parasite infestation, inflammation or malnutrition. Without physically examining your cat we won't be able to tell you what exactly it is, but you should keep in mind that parasites like mites (which can be microscopic) can spread over the whole skin and some can also infect humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad smell almost always indicates a fungal or bacterial infection. This could be the main cause, but it could just as well be a secondary infection in addition to the main cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You write that you used Sebbaderm shampoo on him (and I assume &amp;quot;F10&amp;quot; means F10 Germicidal Treatment Shampoo). That was a good idea in case some substance in his fur irritated his skin. Since this shampoo is designed for cats, it at least cannot do more harm. Washing cats with shampoo designed for humans can irritate the skin even more because human skin (and shampoo) is more acidic than cat and dog skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not so sure if it was a good idea to start him on antibiotics without consulting a vet first. I strongly hope the antibiotics are formulated and dosed for cats. Please &lt;strong&gt;never give any cat any human medication&lt;/strong&gt; without consulting a vet first, you might poison your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antibiotics do have negative side effects, especially on the beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract. He may get diarrhea or bloating and lose his appetite in the next days due to the antibiotics. But if his problem wasn't caused by bacteria, antibiotics cannot help at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, after treating him with both antimicrobial shampoo and antibiotics, it's rather safe to assume that he doesn't have a bacterial infection. This is important information that you need to tell the vet to steer the treatment into the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only thing I can advice (besides going to a vet) is to carefully rub a little bit of castor or olive oil on the bare skin. The oil stops the skin from drying out and becoming even more itchy and it separates the scab from the skin, reducing the risk of injury when the scabs are scratched away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T16:38:59.793" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T16:38:59.793" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31154" CreationDate="2021-04-21T17:58:44.833" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will do the focus on the cat's colors, because this seems to be well known by breeders. (If I have more time, I would add some about the other attributes, but everyone is invited to do so, too ;) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found an interesting website with a lots of rules of thumb about the colors and pattern of cats. The most statements seem useful to me (I had some genetics in the studies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But first, some &lt;strong&gt;essentials about genetics&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each cat (each animal, each creature) has genes. There are so much of them, they need to be stored in some order, so the bodies are tidy and not a mess. They are stored in boxes, called chromosomes. Good for stacking and most times no problems with mixing contents. And they do not need much space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These chromosome boxes exist in pairs. This is useful for diversity and to have some kind of plan B, if one box is lost, spilled or destroyed in any way. In cats (and other creatures, reproducing by mating) one box of each pair is from dad, and the other box from mum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All boxes have the same amount of genes like their paired box. Except of one: the gender specific boxes, called X and Y. The Y box has less information than the X box (you can see, that the letter &amp;quot;Y&amp;quot; has one limb less than the letter &amp;quot;X&amp;quot;, this was the reason to name this boxes X and Y - not a joke). Each male cat will have one X and one Y box, each female has two X boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And if you think about it now, you will see, that the male &amp;quot;decides&amp;quot; if the kittens will be male or female, by providing either his Y or his X box to them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;color of a cat&lt;/strong&gt; seems to be stored in this gender specific box pair, but in the X boxes only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://cfa.org/basic-feline-genetics/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Basic Feline Genetics&lt;/a&gt; for example states (&lt;em&gt;while &lt;strong&gt;dam&lt;/strong&gt; is the female parent and &lt;strong&gt;sire&lt;/strong&gt; is the male parent&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Male kittens always obtain both color genes from the dam. The male offspring in a litter will always be either the color of the dam (or one of the colors in the case of parti-colors) or the dilute form of the dam’s color. See the statement on dilutes for more information (see #21 &amp;amp; #24).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Female kittens take one color gene from each parent. The color of the female kittens in a litter will always be either a combination of the sire’s and dam’s colors, or the dilute form of those colors (see #21 &amp;amp; #24).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Because the color is stored in the gender specific X boxes only, the male parent can provide it only with his X box to the female kittens (X from mum, X from dad) and not in the Y box to his male kittens (X from mum, Y from dad). Then all male kittens will have the color from mum only, while the female kittens will have some kind of mix of mum's and dad's color.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To obtain any of the red or cream color/patterns in female kittens, the sire must be one of the red or cream color/patterns PLUS the dam must in some form demonstrate red or cream (see #21).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There seems to be some exception in red colors, where the male Y box seems to provide some required gene, without there could be no red color in the kittens.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only the immediate parents determine the color/pattern of a kitten. The color/patterns found in the pedigree of a kitten will NOT always directly affect the color/pattern of the kitten. One notable exception is the colorpoint gene, which can carry through a number of generations (see #21 &amp;amp; #24).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sounds logical: the kittens get their chromosome-boxes from the parents, not from the grandparents. And because the color is stored in the X box only, there is only one color in the male parent, which cannot hide in any kind.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A kitten’s pattern can be inherited from either parent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The pattern then is stored in each of the two boxes of it's chromosome pair. This could be the doubled information of X and Y, but also any other pair of chromosome-boxes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;6&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A dominant characteristic (all dominant colors and patterns such as shaded, smoke, white, tabby, bi-color, etc.) cannot skip generations. The characteristic cannot be transmitted from one generation to the next without showing that characteristic in each generation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A cat displaying a dominant color (black, red, tortie, etc.) must have a parent which displays a dominant color (see #21).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If there are two boxes with the same kind of information (not the same information itself, but describing the same attribute), then we need some rule to know, which of this two instances of information will be used in &amp;quot;producing&amp;quot; the kitten. There are two kinds of genes: dominant and recessive. As the names say, a box containing dominant information will rule out another box with recessive information. Now we know, that &lt;strong&gt;shaded, smoke, white, tabby, bi-color, black, red, tortie and others are dominant information&lt;/strong&gt;. Only recessive information can hide (while ruled out by a dominant one), so dominant attributes cannot skip a generation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two recessive color parents (cream, blue, etc.) cannot produce an offspring of a dominant color (black, red, etc.).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Logical, because the recessive color can only be shown in absence of any dominant color - no dominant box to provide the kitten.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next rules take focus to special colors and patterns, like colorpoint and smoke, so I will skip them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;17&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A bi-color must have a bi-color parent (see #21).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This sounds like the gene for bi-color is not recessive (remember: recessive genes could hide for one generation, if ruled out by a dominant gene).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Points referenced before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;21&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Genetics for solid white cats can affect the possible color/pattern of expected kittens in that the white parent may be masking the color/pattern needed to produce this result.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;White seems to be an additional gene, &amp;quot;deleting&amp;quot; all color information. So there is a good chance, that the mum may hide some additional color under their white parts of fur (I am not sure, if this need to be the second (black) from the bi-color or could be some surprising third color). That additional color she could give to the kittens&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;24&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dilute gene must be present in both the sire and dam’s pedigree in order to produce a dilute offspring.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This means, the dilution gene is a recessive gene, and only if mum AND dad have one (could be hidden) and both give it to the kitten, the kitten would have a diluted color (means for example blue or cream)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the information about color and pattern you provided: mum is bi-color black and white, and dad is gray (which I will interpret as &amp;quot;blue&amp;quot; - means diluted black, if he is tabby, then the conclusions will not work, and you need to let me know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you have good chances, that the male kittens are black, blue or white (happy you, that the mum provides two colors), while the female kittens get an additional portion of black from dad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the kittens will get the recessive &amp;quot;dilute&amp;quot; gene from the dad, but the belonging gene from the mum will decide, if the dilution will hide (mum's dominant gene rules dilution out) or not (mum has a hiding, recessive dilution gene too). Also the dilution could be combined with another color, provided by the mum. But white (her second color beneath black) will not be affected by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the most probable in female kittens would be some of this three: black/blue/bi-color-with-black. A female pure white cat is less probable. In males there will be the equal possibility for black and white. Some of the black ones could have the diluted gene, then being blue. And some of the kittens will get the bi-color gene from the mum, then combining white with black or blue, or even combine mum's black with dad's black and be bi-color without showing it. If the mum hides some additional color, this will only show in a male kitten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Another interesting (but here not used) source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_coat_genetics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat coat genetics at Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; .)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addendum: After reading the linked article at Wikipedia, The fur length seems to depend only on one gene. The long hair is here described as recessive gene, while the short hair is dominant. If your cats are both pure breed in their fur length (means mum has two boxes with dominant short hair attribute and dad has two boxes with recessive long hair attribute) then all kittens would have short hair (because getting one dominant short hair from mum which would rule dad's recessive long hair out). Dad need to have two recessive long hair genes to get a real long hair fur. So the only way to get long hair kittens would be, that mum hides a recessive long hair gene behind her dominant short hair gene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="14675" LastEditDate="2021-04-21T20:16:16.437" LastActivityDate="2021-04-21T20:16:16.437" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-22T04:43:59.403" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a cat at my farm with my livestock. I feed her and she also kills mice at the farm. She also lets me pet her, hold her, etc. She loves attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At my house, which is a little over a mile from my farm, I have a mouse problem around my chickens. The cat doesn't tend to go after the chickens at the farm, but I need to bring her to my house to kill the mice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I do this so that she doesn't run away?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20351" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T13:39:19.347" LastActivityDate="2021-04-25T13:31:43.523" Title="Mouse problem, how can I attract a cat to the area?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31202" CreationDate="2021-04-22T07:52:48.547" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;So we have a black cat, who is the son of a white female stray cat we used to feed.&#xA;We call the female cat Kuchi, and her son Gulu (9 months old).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gulu was born inside our house, he is almost like our pet cat, but the only thing he has extra was the independence of going anywhere inside or outside our home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He used to stay inside our home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently, he is not really staying close to our home. He stays all day on the alley behind ours, and he only comes during feeding times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no one feeding him in that alley. He just sleeps in the corridor of someone else who doesn't even pet him or feed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My family is really sad about it that our cat doesn't stay with us. We took him almost as our new family member and now it seems that he is rejecting us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want some advice from experts that how can I make my cat stay in our house and close to us most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20352" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T12:57:42.603" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T20:02:25.660" Title="What should I do to make my cat spend more time with us?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;domestication&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6009" CreationDate="2021-04-22T14:00:17.320" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with jeremy, However barking at random strangers probably wouldn't be such a bad idea, and I will explain why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What your dog is saying is either &amp;quot;Stay away from my owner&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;This is my territory, back away&amp;quot;. Also when in your house asleep, having that bark, can be a good warning of an intruder, so training your dog to not bark may stop you from being annoyed, but it can also get rid of an excellent security system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, I agree with ThomasH's comment of a &amp;quot;Silence&amp;quot; command to silent your dog in case it was a car or a squirrel. You could also, if you want your dog to stay silent until another person/thing comes along, try and train your dog a &amp;quot;Patrol&amp;quot; command. It could really come in handy in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if you do want people to meet your dog, Then just explain to them that your dog is all bark and no bite. That will relive stress from that person and once your dog meets them enough, then they might bark once or twice but then when approached, they will just be excited and maybe jump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I speak from experience as I have a dog that barks at just about everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T14:00:17.320" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2021-04-22T14:35:11.910" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://faqcats.com/can-cats-eat-ground-beef/#:%7E:text=Can%20Cats%20Safely%20Eat%20Raw,healthy%20option%20for%20your%20cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Can Cats Safely Eat Raw Meat&amp;quot; section of the article at faqcats.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, cats can safely eat raw meat. However, when it comes to ground beef, the meat needs to be fully cooked. Raw diets, or even diets that include a small amount of raw meat, are one place where it can be hard to tell if this is a good and healthy option for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T16:00:27.057" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T16:00:27.057" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11414" CreationDate="2021-04-22T14:49:48.110" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the feather follicles are damaged in certain areas, then it's impossible for the feathers to grow back. Your bird will not have any luck in having all feathers again. I would recommend taking your bird to the vet to stop your bird from further plucking her feathers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-cockatiels-wing-feathers-wont-grow-back-what-should-i-do.1037638/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this article at backyardchickens.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the feather follicles are damaged or in the case of repeated feather loss, like plucking, the feather won't grow back. Diet can also be a factor as well as advanced age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-22T16:18:27.100" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T16:18:27.100" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-22T18:15:43.140" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just bought a male and female guppy, and the male guppy is really small, probably a month or two old. This is my first time getting a fish. The male guppy seems to have a black spot near his head. Can someone please tell me if it's healthy? The tail side has blue colour at some places only and it's greyish blackish near the head. Please help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QgEQd.jpg!&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/QgEQd.jpg!&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lcaRV.jpg!&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lcaRV.jpg!&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20355" LastEditorUserId="20192" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T18:26:34.247" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T18:26:34.247" Title="Is my guppy healthy? Its colour is weird" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;guppies&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31204" CreationDate="2021-04-22T18:24:07.980" Score="7" ViewCount="1776" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have one &lt;strong&gt;male Persian cat&lt;/strong&gt;, who likes to go to our yard and we have seen there is one &lt;strong&gt;male urban cat&lt;/strong&gt; which is fighting with our Persian cat at our yard. Here are the cats below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vXQjH.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vXQjH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are worked about their fight, and we try to not leave them alone and prevent the Persian cat to be alone at our yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the Persian cat is more powerful than the second cat, but my sister is worried about &lt;strong&gt;potential eyes injuries&lt;/strong&gt; and some disease, like tetanus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I asked here about finding how much their fight could be dangerous for them and what action is proper to do when they are growling and getting ready to fight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20356" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T16:00:40.083" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T18:42:58.290" Title="Worried about domestic cat and urban cat fight" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;eye-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31200" CreationDate="2021-04-22T18:38:38.263" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would mostly worry about the diseases and death of your cat. If you feel that it is necessary, then call animal control to pick up the other cat (if it isn't yours). If you know the owner of the other cat, then explain to them that their cat is attacking yours and ask them to restrain it. If you don't know the owner of the other cat, then just go ahead and call animal control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another idea would be to get a fence to put around your yard/land to keep the urban cat out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="13289" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T18:42:58.290" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T18:42:58.290" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31192" CreationDate="2021-04-22T20:02:25.660" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have at least two factors working against you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the mother cat is driving away her offspring, that’s natural behavior (as cruel as it seems to humans who have a different perspective on family). If your home and it’s surroundings are “her” territory, he may be permitted to pass through, e.g. to feed, but depending on her personality she may not tolerate him “loitering” otherwise. Remember, she was here first... Feral females tend to get along in female groups, males are much more solitary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second - and this meshes with the first point - he is now mature enough to find his own territory, especially if he’s not neutered. In that case his natural sex drive will make him wander around in search of females in heat. He may come back regularly, but it’s common for intact toms to “disappear” occasionally, even for days, or stay away one day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to keep him as a pet “at home”, your first step should be a trip to the vet to have him neutered. (If not done already.) This will not only prevent future stray cat babies (so the responsible thing to do for &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; cats that can go outside), but also diminish his roaming drive and reduce his stress level overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second step is to keep him indoors at least for a while. Your home must become “his”, and that is best done if he can’t choose to go outside at will. Note that if you go that route, you will have to keep him busy and happy, so you absolutely must find the time to play with him, challenge him mentally and perhaps even teach him tricks on top of just feeding and petting him. Otherwise it’s not a home, just a prison. You have an energetic youngster at your hands, that’s &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your home has become “his home”, you can consider letting him outside again. Hopefully it’s attractive enough to keep him “at home” enough for your liking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One extra remark: If the mother’s territory is still around your home, you need to pay attention to her behavior - there’s a good chance that she’s “discouraging” him from returning home. You may have to intervene in that case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastActivityDate="2021-04-22T20:02:25.660" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31200" CreationDate="2021-04-23T02:11:02.653" Score="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats are extremely territorial animals.&lt;/strong&gt; Most of the fights break out when territory is contested. Once territory is established, they no longer fight. Cats doing small excursions to other's territory leave quickly if enemy is sighted. For example, my cat has territorial dispute with one other cat over next garden. Our garden is obviously my cat's so a fight never breaks out in our garden, i.e., challenger leaves our garden if he sees my cat. However, next garden is still contested and I wake up to screams now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat fights, as long as medical treatment is promptly given, are not that dangerous. Domesticated cats are better fed and generally stronger than stray cats. Therefore, there is some chance the stray cat will never pick a fight and just growl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Angled fences are great ways to prevent cats from getting into your garden. Make sure that spacing is narrow enough to prevent the cat from strangling himself by getting caught to the fence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cats hate smell of citrus. You can use it on the stray cat's point of approach.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you let your cat to defecate in the garden? One way for a cat to show dominance is to defecate without burying his excrement. Smell from fresh excrement deters other cats. Note that cats try to pick fights that they can win, and unburied feces scream confidence :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you trim your cat's nails? Cats feel unsafe when their nails are trimmed. It is generally not a good idea to trim the nails unless he is solely an indoors cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specific to your concerns, cats have low susceptibility to tetanus, meaning while they can get tetanus, it happens rarely, so I wouldn't worry that much about tetanus. Cats might also lose an eye in a fight but prompt medical care reduces this chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would not worry much about this. If you can't erect a fence or can't prevent the other cat by citric smells, have &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.redd.it/26f1rkw5iqg61.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;a few boxes with small openings&lt;/a&gt; around the garden. They would help either the hostile cat or your cat to retreat to if the fight goes real and you'll be alerted by their screams. Once there is a barrier between them, fights become more paw to paw action, which is generally safer for them as their fur protects them from easy cuts and scrapes that would be nasty to a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One final comment, most cats start chasing if the other cat retreats in a hurry. So, when they are close and scream at each other, if you come hurried and scare the hostile cat, your cat will start to chase it. In that case, the fight might occur in an area where you can't reach easily for medical treatment or where the hostile cat feels more at home and therefore becomes more aggressive. If they are screaming at each other, wait a little until they resolve the dispute cat to cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T02:34:14.600" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T02:34:14.600" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31162" CreationDate="2021-04-23T04:39:23.137" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely take the cat to a vet. I had a cat with a loose tooth and our vet examined her mouth and discover that she needed to remove the tooth and prescribed her antibiotics and cleaned her teeth. They diagnosed her with periodontal disease and she had to go in every six months, sometimes earlier for a cleaning and removed her from wet food to dry food only. Better safe than sorry when it comes to our fur babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20361" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T20:27:00.720" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T20:27:00.720" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31199" CreationDate="2021-04-23T12:53:47.900" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;assume&lt;/em&gt; you mean the weird color of the torso of the guppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks so weird because it's actually &lt;strong&gt;transparent&lt;/strong&gt; and you can see the organs and the spine inside the body. Here's an example of 2 completely healthy guppies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BYOo6.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BYOo6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://phys.org/news/2020-03-guppies-brothers-sex.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Phys.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;lower&lt;/strong&gt; fish is completely transparent. You can see the spine and the silver and brown things in the stomach are the inner organs. Depending on the light, they can look silver, grey, brown or reflecting the color of the light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;upper&lt;/strong&gt; fish has partially pigmented skin. You can still see some features of the inside of the body, but you also see blue, yellow and black features that are only on the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z6R4W.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/z6R4W.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;left&lt;/strong&gt; fish is mostly transparent and the colorful spot you see on its stomach is the inner organs that can be seen through the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your picture it looks like the back half of the body and the fin are strongly pigmented, but the front half is partly or completely transparent. That's why it looks so different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T13:01:54.593" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T13:01:54.593" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29026" CreationDate="2021-04-23T13:22:30.473" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible &lt;strong&gt;they like the acoustics&lt;/strong&gt;. If the area is minimally used and/or minimally furnished, their voices may bounce around in a way that's interesting or pleasing to them, so they head down there to make noise and listen to it. During some renovations where rooms were emptied out here, my cats would frequent the empty spaces and yowl while in them; the behavior stopped when the rooms were re-furnished and the echo stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible &lt;strong&gt;there's a sound generated in that area&lt;/strong&gt; that you don't hear (as you don't frequent that area), but they do; the sound may be interesting or distressing, and they're responding to it when they go into that part of the house. It might be an electrical sound, a pest in the walls or one of the rooms, or something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it may be &lt;strong&gt;a visible pest&lt;/strong&gt; (insect or spider) &lt;strong&gt;or other stimulus&lt;/strong&gt; (light) that you aren't noticing due to not frequenting that area; if they want to &amp;quot;hunt&amp;quot; it, and can't reach it, then they may be yowling in frustration at not being able to access the area. Mine often go nuts over reflected lights and pets near the ceiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, if the doors to those rooms are closed, it may just be &lt;strong&gt;natural cat curiosity&lt;/strong&gt;, and they want to go through that door. Again, this is something I see in my own cats regularly; I have two rooms that are closed off from mine, and at least once a day I hear a cat &amp;quot;yelling&amp;quot; at it and trying to get in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address the issue, you'll need to &lt;strong&gt;inspect the area&lt;/strong&gt;, preferably at a time when the behavior is happening. Look and listen for each of these options (and understand that you may not be able to hear or see what they do, as their hearing is more sensitive and their vision more attuned to spotting &amp;quot;prey&amp;quot;). &lt;strong&gt;Watch for the patterns triggering the behavior&lt;/strong&gt;--is it a particular time of day? Are they sitting in a specific spot or looking in a particular direction? By observing both the cats and the area, you'll be able to determine the stimulus causing the yowling, and reduce or eliminate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T13:22:30.473" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31191" CreationDate="2021-04-23T14:36:53.840" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get a second cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do not like change, and that includes moving them to a new place outside their known territory. Taking your farm cat to your house may not be productive since she will need days (at a minimum) to overcome the shock, explore the new territory and figure out where the food is. If she doesn’t find the mice immediately and you aren’t feeding her, she may wander off to a quieter place in search of food. And when you eventually moved her back to the farm, it will be a new shock all over again, and she may find that another cat has taken over the farm territory, leading to fights or her being driven away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, once tour new house cat settles in there, she can stay forever in a territory of her own. This will be better for both cats, rather than one cat being constantly upset at being moved back and forth as the mice return to whichever place doesn’t currently have a cat around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to keeping either cat from running away, cats will stick around in a fixed territory around their home as long as it is safe (no other predators, including other cats) and there is plenty of food. Unlike wild cats, domestic cats need a &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; to wander.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastEditorUserId="16573" LastEditDate="2021-04-24T20:20:09.143" LastActivityDate="2021-04-24T20:20:09.143" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31213" CreationDate="2021-04-23T14:43:29.977" Score="4" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat, Odin, sheds a lot. He mostly sheds when he is nervous, aggressive, or play fighting with my other cat, Bose. Is this a problem? I don't really know what's going on with him. He also seems to shed when he is very scared, and I find a lot of hairs from my cat all around the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My other cat, Bose, doesn't shed as often, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched, and it said that my cat can have a bunch of different medical issues, including stress, poor diet, and allergies. I think the closest medical issue it could be is stress. He seems very aggressive and nervous a lot, so maybe that's it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also said to brush my cat daily, but almost every day, I forget to brush his hair. So it could be that, as well. My cat doesn't fight a lot with my other cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it has something to do with their breeds? Odin is an American Shorthair, and Bose is a Bombay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So why do you think my cat, Odin, sheds a lot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20360" LastEditorUserId="20360" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T15:27:20.737" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T16:10:27.290" Title="Why does my cat shed so much?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;shedding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31212" CreationDate="2021-04-23T15:43:30.133" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the disclaimer I am not a vet, but from your description, I do get the impression the shedding could be stress related, specifically due to these points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It visibly increases in specific situations. Normal shedding is usually pretty consistent, with an exception for if the cat is being petted or groomed, which tends to pull out loose hairs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat seems generally anxious and aggressive. Keep in mind, aggression is often rooted in anxiety as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take the cat to the vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though stress seems a likely cause, it's probably a good idea to make sure there really is no medical explanation for the unusual shedding. While you are there, I would also bring up the possibility of giving the cat anxiety medication. If it turns out the shedding really is stress related, then it's likely a sign the cat has unusual levels of anxiety. A cat at home in its regular routine should not be showing signs of stress. It's also possible anxiety medication will make the cat less aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible though that it's simply due to differences between individual cats. In this case, there's nothing really to worry about, other than having to clean up more hair, and being careful about hairballs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="1436" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T16:10:27.290" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T16:10:27.290" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28533" CreationDate="2021-04-23T16:37:35.577" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is very normal in cats. The reason they might want to sit next to your feet, or just be near you while you're going to the bathroom, is an instinctive thing that cats all do. They usually do this to protect you, since going to the bathroom is a very vulnerable action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not worry if your cat doesn't do this, nothing is wrong with them, they just might not trust you enough to want to protect you. And don't think you're a bad cat owner if your cat never does this action to protect you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20360" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T18:30:04.440" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T18:30:04.440" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-23T17:03:04.097" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple weeks back, one of my cats, Odin, ate a bee. A lot was going on at that moment, I was getting ready for a new couch, and a friend was over. Then, while we were switching the couches, Odin threw up on the wood in the back porch outside. It seemed like a big problem, especially since everything was happening at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what was wrong? Why did he even eat the bee? I searched for an answer as to why he ate the bee, but there wasn't much information that I could find. My cat may have anxiety, or stress, or maybe pica. And that's really all I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please help me. Why did he eat the bee in the first place? It just seems so weird. Could he have an illness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes he eats things that are not food, and that are deadly, including string, poisonous plants, and that bee! Do cats even know it's bad for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20360" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T18:43:09.247" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T23:44:16.917" Title="Why did my cat eat a bee, and then puke afterwards?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;eating&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16992" CreationDate="2021-04-23T18:06:12.000" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that &lt;strong&gt;yes, the snails probably are suffering&lt;/strong&gt;, but we don't know if this tank is their usual enclosure or just their temporary home for a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The size of the enclosure is not even enough to house 2 snails, not to mention 11 of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/home&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals&lt;/a&gt; (RSPCA) writes about the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rspca.org.uk/documents/1494939/7712578/Giant+African+land+snails.pdf/9cc80746-c984-9872-2858-5b2f74c81e26?version=1.2&amp;amp;t=1607698331607&amp;amp;download=true&amp;amp;download=true&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;care of Giant African land snails&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two land snails will need an enclosure measuring 60cm long x 45cm wide x 40cm high.  More snails will need a larger tank.The  enclosure  should  have  3-6cm  layer  of  peat  substitute  on  the  floor  that  needs  to  be  kept  damp  but  not  soaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That there is soil in the tank is good and the snails like to bury into it, but the soil should be kept slightly damp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A water bowl should be placed in the enclosure for the snails to drink from and to help keep the humidity at the right level.The tank should also be misted lightly with warm water every other day to maintain the moderate level of humidity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the diet, lettuce alone is not nutritional at all and the snails need a much more varied diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leafy greens including lettuce, cabbage, spinach, watercress, land cress, dandelions and grass should all be on the land snail’s menu.  They  will  also  eat  vegetables  and  fruit  such  as  courgettes,  cucumber,  apples,  melons,  grapes  and  bananas.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;[...]&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Calcium is also an important part of a land snail’s diet  for  normal  formation  and  growth  of  the  snail’s  shell.  Calcium  can  be  provided  by  giving  the  snail  a  cuttlefish  bone, natural chalk, crushed eggshells or as a powdered supplement sprinkled on the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if those snails lived in those conditions for a long time, they would most likely suffer. There's a chance that the owner does have a bigger enclosure at home and feeds them a more varied diet, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/retracted.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Petsnails.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;, the signs of illness and stress (possibly caused by an unfitting environment):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The snails spend much time buried in soil and are generally inactive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The snails retract deeply into their shells without sealing the opening with a thin membrane&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The snails body looks too small for the shell. Both shell and body lose color and look bleached&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if the diet contains too little calcium, the shell will get lumps, bumps or small white patches and might even break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T19:40:07.113" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T19:40:07.113" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27629" CreationDate="2021-04-23T21:48:11.270" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Animals have different personalities.&lt;/strong&gt; Some kittens may not be attracted to toys. Not playing with toys alone is not a symptom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lethargy itself is an important symptom and a good reason for an early vet visit. However, if he follows you and if he shows a decent activity doing so, as long as he doesn't show any other symptoms, I would not worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, there is a good chance the kitten is very attached to you. Try to be present in his playtime. Drag a string on the ground, or move the toys yourself. Check if he engages with the toys. If this is the case, it means he prefers you over toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T16:46:42.633" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T16:46:42.633" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31220" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-23T21:56:30.913" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had recently rescued a cat with her 7 week old litter. Got the mom vaccinated and neutered and she has found a forever home and I have taken in the litter of three kittens. This was  two weeks ago. I had immediately taken them for their first checkup and hade wormed them the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the next couple of days the boy vomited and I one of the girl had loose stools. I dismissed it as a side effect of the deworming medicine and made sure they were drinking water and we're eating wet food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The symptoms continued for the next three days and the boy's vomiting had become more frequent with a decreasing appetite which prompted me to have him checked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my horror , the doctor suspected Parvo and got the tests done and it turned out to be exactly that. I immediately got him admitted to the the vet hospital near by and they started his care immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following day the girl also started crashing , fortunately I was able to spot distemper signs in her much earlier and I had her admitted as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third one is still with me. She is the first born and right from the start I had  noticed that she had the biggest appetite and was very active.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly , it's been more than 7 days since all three of them were separated and the third kitten isn't showing any signs of distemper yet. She continues to have a voracious appetite ( feeding her 4 times a day and I have to put up with her incessant crying for food as well ) her stools seem normal as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the chances that she could have some how missed the bullet by luck ? I made sure that separated her litter and feeding / water bowls and cleaned them thoroughly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm skeptical since the three of them shared the same litter boxes and almost always wanted to eat from each other's bowls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I do ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20187" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T12:39:27.280" Title="Kitten in a parvo infected litter not showing any signs. Could she be negative for infection?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31216" CreationDate="2021-04-23T23:35:30.063" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;First things first, while eating a bee itself is considered safe, &lt;strong&gt;they can cause airway blockage if they sting&lt;/strong&gt;. Never let your cat play with bees and if you see he eats one, stay vigilant for 12 hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen cats play and eat flies, butterflies, spiders and other insects. Cats are curious by nature and their eyesight is developed to follow moving objects. Therefore, moving insects stimulate cat's hunting instincts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He probably ate the bee out of curiosity but his stomach did not agree with it. This looks like a solitary incident so I would not worry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats eating plants, however, is a different issue. They usually eat plants to help them throw up. This might be due to a furball or due to some other factor causing an upset stomach. Cats might also eat plants by curiosity. I would not worry about this either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you should get rid of your poisonous plants if you have a cat. I would definitely get rid of &lt;em&gt;Dieffenbachia&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Lily of the valley&lt;/em&gt; if you have one. You need to check other plants one by one. Since cats are much smaller in size and have a fast metabolism, any plant deemed dangerous for small children are also dangerous to cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-23T23:44:16.917" LastActivityDate="2021-04-23T23:44:16.917" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-24T07:02:36.367" Score="4" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;So my cat licked up the last bits of chocolate milk in my cup as my back was turned and I caught her and pulled her away from it. She vomited but otherwise she seems fine. The chocolate milk was lactose free as I’m lactose intolerant and it was only a small amount. Should I be concerned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/o8pY1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20365" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-24T14:32:31.780" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T14:13:14.717" Title="My cat had a little bit of lactose-free chocolate milk, should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;poison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-24T10:03:45.097" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had a 120 L aquarium for a few years; about 40 small fish are in it (including 6 &lt;em&gt;Corydoras paleatus&lt;/em&gt; and 12 fire tetras).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as of a few months ago, I've noticed that the filter, the sponge, and even the mechanical parts are time and again covered in mud, and the effectiveness of the filter (thus how much water it pushes around) evaporates quickly when this happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads to both having to be cleaned every 2-3 weeks tops. After putting some bacteria in (a hint from a local fish shop), it became better for a bit, but now the problem is there again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The water parameter values seem OK when I check them (according to test results at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, what can I do to get that thing under control? Try again with bacteria? Or is something else better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit 2021-04-25:&#xA;Checked water values:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; is too high;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;KH value is also not good;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pH value I think is okay, but the colors from that test are quite near the border between okay and not okay).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feeding is once per day and enough that the food is gone in minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a partial change of water every two months, about 25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do a full change with cleaning the soil every 6 months. The last one of these was two months ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently the filter works for 1-4 weeks until it needs a change due to mud (worsening every 3 days).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14427" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T14:52:49.850" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T14:57:00.163" Title="Aquarium with mud production that clogs the filtration system" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;filters&gt;&lt;equipment&gt;&lt;maintenance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31224" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-24T11:31:06.653" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just like us humans, do cats shiver or seek warmth when they have a fever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 6-yo domestic short-haired cat likes to sit in our hot tropical sun for a long time and I’m worried she may get dehydrated and/or have a heatstroke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I try to pull her inside she resists and usually runs away to another corner of the balcony. Her behaviour is quite normal otherwise and she is eating normally, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-24T14:30:43.183" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T17:12:08.507" Title="Do cats shiver when they have a fever?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;physiology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31225" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-24T16:04:16.630" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have 3 female black mollies. 2 black ones which have turned a bit silvery/whiteish.  Originally, we had one male which had the same colour, but we noticed it will be dying soon (swimming upside down time and again).  We added a new male (completely black).  It got harassed by the other male, which died within a handful days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with the new male and 3 females, I notice the male acts normally towards the black ones. However, the silvery one (colored similarly to the dead male, with her lower fin being very dark on the outer part that makes it look similar to the male's part if you don't look closely) gets permanently attacked by the male and chased through the aquarium. He also makes dominance shows as if she was another male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything we can do to resolve the situation without one of them dying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14427" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-24T17:12:49.893" LastActivityDate="2021-04-24T17:12:49.893" Title="Black molly male attacking female" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31408" CreationDate="2021-04-25T00:39:52.503" Score="5" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My senior cat has a chronic illness and needs to take a liquid medicine for the rest of her life to keep her healthy. While she's still largely happy and energetic now, if she doesn't get this medicine, she's likely to decline very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, she hates getting this medicine. When she realizes I'm giving it to her, she'll try to run away, and sometimes she struggles hard when I administer it, flailing around in a way that I know has to be very uncomfortable for her. Sometimes it goes great, though, and it's over so quickly that she seems more bewildered than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What really bothers me is that my relationship with her has soured quite a bit since I started giving her this medicine. While she still trusts and loves me more than not, she's definitely anxious when I move my hand towards her head. She's no longer certain whether to expect pets or medicine. And after I give her medicine, she'll sometimes get pretty ticked off at me. These bad moods can last for the better part of the day as she hides under a bed and slinks away from me if I try to climb underneath to give her attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to proceed from here. My cat really needs this medicine, so not giving her anything isn't an option. I can take her to the vet for regular (and much more infrequent) shots, but that medicine isn't as effective, and things haven't gotten bad enough that I think the decrease in effectiveness is worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I try to be able to continue giving my cat her medicine while regaining her full trust and ensuring our relationship remains a happy one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T22:44:29.277" Title="My cat will get mad at me for hours after getting medicine. How do I keep our relationship happy?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;anxiety&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31238" CreationDate="2021-04-25T03:08:19.490" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was doing a little bit of a checkup on our family dog, Rocky, and I found a strange small bump on top of his forehead, in between his ears. I was a bit concerned, so I began looking online, to check whether this was a zit. While I was examining the area, Rocky seemed uncomfortable, so I stopped touching around there. After some online research I’m still not certain what this bump is. Rocky is a 10 month old bull mastiff puppy. Here’s a picture of the mark I found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aa3EG.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aa3EG.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Red Bump&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone have any idea what this could be?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20369" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T16:16:18.480" Title="What is this red mark on my dog’s forehead?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-25T09:04:13.570" Score="8" ViewCount="2380" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to get three days of stool samples from my cat, but he only ever does the toilet when I’m asleep and by that time my other cat has also gone to the toilet so I don’t know whose is who’s. Any ideas how I can collect this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20370" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-25T16:29:31.023" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T16:11:07.037" Title="Cat stool sample collection in household with two cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;sample-collection&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31228" CreationDate="2021-04-25T09:59:17.017" Score="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple solution would be to lock each cat in a separate room at night, each with their own litter box, food and water bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T01:46:54.310" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T01:46:54.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31191" CreationDate="2021-04-25T12:52:41.340" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;As opposed to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31211/16749&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, I would go in the other way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats can sometimes be very attached to humans and can get used to a new environment easily with the help of their human companion, &lt;em&gt;as long as there is no other cat claiming the territory&lt;/em&gt;. Also, stray cats can have roaming ranges upto 500 meters, so it is one third the way to your house. Assuming there is not many buildings around, it is a short enough distance for the internal compass of the cat to guide her back to her territory, unless there are other predators in the region, like packs of dogs/wolves, other cats etc. Cats are too fast for single dogs and too large for a fox to take down easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she decides to leave your house on her own, there is a very good chance that she will find her range again, but in case she can't, it would be a good idea to attach an easy break collar with your details on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only sure way to know if the cat would stay is to bring the cat. Allow the cat to settle a couple of hours. If she still behaves differently, maybe taking her back is a good option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under extreme stress, cats start panting, i.e., keeping their mouths open and taking intense, short breaths from their mouth. If she shows panting behaviour, it is best to take her back right away. If she constantly vocalises her discomfort, it may also be a good idea to take her back. As an addendum, don't be fooled by purring sounds. Cats purr under stress as well, to calm themselves down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule of thumb, a cat who starts grooming or sleeping after she is done smelling everything is a calm cat. Make sure that you are present when she first settles in. Your presence will be the calming factor for the cat. Also, if she has a favourite rug/towel, bring it in as well for a familiar smell. If she doesn't have one, it is a good idea to take one to her regular territory and let her rub against it for some time before making the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-04-25T13:31:43.523" LastActivityDate="2021-04-25T13:31:43.523" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-25T14:26:09.727" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;My kitten is 7 weeks old and there is this dark spot in his nose, which is slightly protruding. It appeared about a week ago and it has only been growing since then. I started getting worried when the right &amp;quot;cheek&amp;quot; started being affected, but now it has spread to both sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xcZzt.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xcZzt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6UgkM.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/6UgkM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9L7sk.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9L7sk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He doesn't seem to react any differently when I touch him there than anywhere else in the face, but I believe I've seen him scratching it once or twice before&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read some other similar questions, but my cat's spot looks huge in comparison. How severe does it look and what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20372" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-25T16:46:20.593" LastActivityDate="2021-04-25T16:47:37.000" Title="What is this black spot in my kitten's snout?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-04-25T16:46:31.480" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-25T18:00:27.750" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I bought an algae eater at Petsmart and I recently learned myself that there are different algae eaters that look the same at a young age. I bought an algae eater that has a brown and cream brown body. It has a pattern of little dots along the sides of its body. The pattern stops before his tail. It is not that big and is about the size of a guppy. My question is, what type of algae eater is this? Are there any more differences between the three fishes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CpMaB.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/nEdyg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20374" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T01:54:54.283" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T02:02:26.237" Title="Difference of CAE, SAE, and OTTO fish" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-25T23:04:11.610" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;My puppy was neutered four days ago and I’m concerned about how his wound looks. There’s no redness, swelling, etc. he’s acting fine. He does have an e-collar on to prevent licking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vjcI5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vjcI5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20376" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-25T23:28:11.050" LastActivityDate="2021-04-25T23:28:11.050" Title="Dog Wound After Neutering" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-04-26T16:54:18.693" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31228" CreationDate="2021-04-25T23:35:32.357" Score="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on what the purpose of the stool sample is, collecting a mixed sample might be perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if the purpose of the sample is testing for &lt;em&gt;Giardia&lt;/em&gt; infection or other parasites that are easily transmitted, it is common to treat all cats in the household upon a positive test result anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if this is not the case, it might suffice that there is definitely stool from three days of the intended cat in the sample and contamination with stool from another cat is not an issue, your vet will be able to clarify on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this isn't the case, and you really need a sample from one specific cat and that cat only, for light sleepers I'd recommend just moving the litter boxes to your bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They'll wake you up with the digging and you'll have just enough time to come to your senses and flip the lights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, learning to tell the stool from one of your cats from another even without having seen them defecate is highly beneficial, even if it is just a &amp;quot;best guess&amp;quot; you'll know which cat to watch for other indications of issues when stool is unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are clues, e.g. most will have one favorite litter box to defecate, or prefer a specific area of the litter box, build distinctive mounds when covering up, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-25T23:40:35.317" LastActivityDate="2021-04-25T23:40:35.317" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31241" CreationDate="2021-04-26T00:21:13.617" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;HELP! A female mallard duck left 12 eggs in my yard and has nurtured them for a few weeks. She has been gone for over a day now and the temperature is going below freezing tonight. High winds bring the wind chill to -9 °C (15 °F). Is this normal? Will she come back or should I take care of the babies myself? Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20377" LastEditorUserId="20377" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T04:23:59.620" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T06:02:59.210" Title="Is it normal for a duck to leave its eggs for long periods of time?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;birds&gt;&lt;ducks&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31236" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-26T00:51:37.727" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have eleven month old brother and sister Boxollie (boxer/ border collie cross). When we got them they both had parvovirus and almost died. The girl lives with us and the boy lives in an apartment with my sister and her fiancé; but he is over several times a week. They are both great with my niece and nephew and let the kids do anything with them, but when they play outside he attacks (grabs onto the swing and will not let go and whines) the empty swings. When the set is empty and no one is outside, he is fine; it is just when the kids are outside. When the swings are down and it’s just the dogs outside, he leaves the swings alone. There is always an adult supervising them. What is happening with the dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20378" LastEditorUserId="20378" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T05:01:01.810" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T05:01:01.810" Title="What’s happening with my dog and the swing?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19447" CreationDate="2021-04-26T04:06:15.587" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hypoallergenic dogs:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're looking for a hypoallergenic dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hypoallergenic dog means this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hypoallergenic dog breed is a dog breed that is purportedly more compatible with allergic people than are other breeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoallergenic_dog_breed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, there isn't such thing as a &lt;em&gt;true&lt;/em&gt; hypoallergenic dog, but a dog that is far less allergenic than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pet-allergy/expert-answers/hypoallergenic-dog-breeds/faq-20058425#:%7E:text=There%27s%20no%20such%20thing%20as,urine%20of%20dogs%20and%20cats.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;mayoclinic.org&lt;/a&gt; agrees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog breed, although some individual dogs may cause fewer allergy symptoms than others. Many people think that pet allergies are caused by a dog's or cat's fur, but the real source of pet allergies is often a protein that's in the saliva and urine of dogs and cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Things to look for&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to look for short coats and hair rather than fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also recommend reaching out to the shelter or breeder to ask if you could spend a few hours with the dog, to see if your allergies react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above two options are backed up by &lt;a href=&quot;https://helix.northwestern.edu/article/fido-fact-or-fiction-truth-about-hypoallergenic-pets#:%7E:text=However%2C%20several%20veterinarians%20and%20allergy,truly%20hypoallergenic%20pup%20or%20kitty.&amp;amp;text=%E2%80%9CThese%20dogs%20have%20hair%20instead,to%20see%20how%20they%20react.%E2%80%9D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;helix.northwestern.edu&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“These dogs have hair instead of fur. Their hair grows much as a human’s does,” Becker said. “We usually advise people with allergies to spend a few hours with our dogs just to see how they react.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, the only thing you can do is to Google the breed (if you know what it is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Examples of hypoallergenic dogs:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most to all poodle crosses are somewhat hypoallergenic (including the Goldendoodle, Labradoodle, Aussiedoodle, and my personal favorite - the Bernedoodle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following is a short list taken from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/hypoallergenic-dogs/page/3/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pumpkin.care/blog/best-hypoallergenic-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (which have more detail and pictures). More near hypoallergenic dogs can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/characteristics/low-shed-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petfinder.com/dog-breeds/collections/hypoallergenic-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. There are many more wonderful hypoallergenic dogs out there, so don't limit your research to this list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(links are to Wikipedia)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affenpinscher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Affenpinscher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Hound?wprov=srpw1_0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Afghan Hound&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hairless_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;American Hairless Terrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbado_da_Terceira&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbado da Terceira&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbet_(dog)?wprov=srpw1_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Barbet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Water_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bedlington Terrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bichon_Frise?wprov=srpw1_0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bichon Frise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolognese_(dog)?wprov=srpw1_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bolognese&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Crested_Dog?wprov=srpw1_0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Chinese Crested&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coton_de_Tulear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Coton de Tulear&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Schnauzer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Giant Schnauzer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Water_Spaniel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Irish Water Spaniel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Blue_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Kerry Blue Terrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagotto_Romagnolo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lagotto Romagnolo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B6wchen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Löwchen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Maltese&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_Schnauzer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Miniature Schnauzer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Inca_Orchid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Peruvian Inca Orchid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Poodle&lt;/a&gt; (Miniature, Toy, and Standard)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Water_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Portuguese Water Dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-coated_Wheaten_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Water_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Spanish Water Dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Schnauzer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Standard Schnauzer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_Fox_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wire Fox Terrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Water_Dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Xoloitzcuintli&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Yorkshire Terrier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T04:06:15.587" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31227" CreationDate="2021-04-26T06:10:38.967" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like a tick bite. Ticks are most common in coastal or in lowland areas, but as a direct result of increasing global warming, the areas where ticks can live are expanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you live in an area where roedeer-deer-moose-elk are common, you will most likely find ticks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about ticks could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another type of similar bitemark comes from the deer fly; a bite from this insect can often take from a month and up to a year before it heals completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the name says, deer fly is spread by animals in the deer family and the living area for the deer fly has been expanding during the last years (here in Scandinavia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information about deer flies could be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipoptena_cervi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both ticks and deer flies can spread disease to people and pets, so please keep your own and your pets' vaccinations up to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7612" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T16:16:18.480" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T16:16:18.480" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31236" CreationDate="2021-04-26T09:26:44.393" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the most general terms, this is a sign of stress or frustration. Your dog is stressed by something, probably but not necessarily the playing children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boxers were bred a working dogs for big game hunts, herding cattle, police and military service. Their character is described as &amp;quot;energetic&amp;quot;, which translates to &amp;quot;they have a lot of energy which needs to be burned some way for them to be happy&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Border Collies are among the most intelligent and most extreme working breeds. They absolutely need a daily workout to be happy. They need physical stimulation like walks, agility training or herding as well as mental stimulation like obedience training. Boredom very often leads to problematic behavior and even mental health issues in this breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So keeping the breeds in mind, my best guess is that the children trigger the &lt;strong&gt;herding instinct&lt;/strong&gt; in the dog. Either the children ignore the attempt at being herded, or the dog knows that herding children is wrong, either way, it leads to &lt;strong&gt;frustration&lt;/strong&gt;. A common way for dogs to express their frustration and decrease stress is &lt;strong&gt;biting objects&lt;/strong&gt;. The additional whining is another clue that points towards frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't have to be afraid for your children, though. Biting objects and biting people are two very different things in the mind of a dog and he won't start biting people unless he's afraid or provoked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another possibility&lt;/strong&gt; is that he's sexually mature and looking for a mate. Male dogs often get frustrated when they can smell the pheromones of a female nearby but have no opportunity to mate. But the fact that he only acts out when the children are playing speaks against that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what can you do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training, training and even more training. Every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your sister has taken on the responsibility for the wellbeing of the dog. For a Border Collie that entails more than just housing and feeding the dog. She also needs to offer physical and mental stimulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could start as simple as feeding the dog exclusively via puzzle feeders. There is a vast variety of different forms and sizes available and you can even make your own food puzzles as a DIY craft. The advantage is that you offer small mental challenges every day without having to invest a lot of time yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obedience training is not only extremely important for your dog, it can also be a fun game. Most Border Collies are very intelligent and love the attention they get during training sessions. You can also teach them a lot of tricks or to recognize toys and other objects by their name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Training &amp;quot;stay&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;leave it&amp;quot; can be a valuable lesson for the whole life of the dog. It develops his impulse-control and makes him more patient in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the physical stimulation, there are options like agility training or using things like inline skates, skateboards or a bike to keep up with her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a list of different games and ideas, please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T09:26:44.393" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31228" CreationDate="2021-04-26T09:33:04.960" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a technique I have read about, although not tested it myself. You have to get the sick cat to eat something containing concentrated food coloring, maybe hide gel coloring in an empty medication capsule and stick it in a creamy treat. Use a color that will show through, blue or green. Then collect the colored feces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt; the warnings in comments looked valid, so I looked up the source where I have it from. It is a book called &amp;quot;The cat behavior answer book&amp;quot;. It has no discussion on using specific types of food coloring. The author seems to work as a full-time &amp;quot;pet expert&amp;quot;, so there is some hope she would have added warnings if the technique were unsafe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;give one cat a few drops of red or green food coloring by mouth or in some canned food. His stool will look distinctly more vibrant than those of the other cats. If you have more than two cats, wait a few days and test another cat or give two cats different colors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastEditorUserId="824" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T16:11:07.037" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T16:11:07.037" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31235" CreationDate="2021-04-26T10:55:08.237" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this point in time the chicks (if there ever were some in the eggs) are certainly dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Duck eggs need to be kept in a very narrow range of temperature to develop and the incubation time is 21 - 31 days. This period is very stressful for the mother, because she has to constantly turn and shift the eggs around to keep them at the same temperature, but she also has to eat and defend the nest from predators. If the male is killed or abandons her, she might have to give up the nest to ensure her own survival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On average, females leave the nest three times per day, and each recess lasts about an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source and more information: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/the-incubation-period&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Ducks Unlimited&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a duck leaving a nest for several hours means that she won't come back, or if she does return, the eggs are much to cold and the embryos already died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also the possibility that the mother never mated or is infertile and the eggs weren't fertilized. Most birds have a rough idea about how long the chicks would normally take to hatch and when nothing happens after that time, they abandon the nest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One side note: if you find a duck nest and there's no bird around, you should not touch the nest and leave it alone. If the mother is taking a break to eat or waits nearby, she needs free access to her nest to return. If she's disturbed too often, she could abandon her eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T06:02:59.210" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T06:02:59.210" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31222" CreationDate="2021-04-26T12:16:32.743" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, you should watch for the following symptoms as indications of possible poisoning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diarrhea&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vomiting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dizziness / vertigo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;signs of paralysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dilated pupils&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seizures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;salivating / drooling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clinical symptoms in cats are to be expected when ingesting 20mg or more of Theobromine per kilogram of body weight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cocoa powder is around 14-26mg Theobromine per gram, and in your product about 1 gram of cocoa powder for the whole package (0.4% of approximated weight converting millilitres to grams directly, not accurate but accurate enough for our purposes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes 14-26mg Theobromine if the whole package is ingested, so a couple of licks from the bottom of the cup, even considering there might be a concentration of undissolved powder, should not pose a significant danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even so, in a situation like this I would still call my vet to get their opinion on how to proceed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastEditorUserId="19086" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T14:43:14.447" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T14:43:14.447" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31256" CreationDate="2021-04-26T12:27:12.367" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a mix of Hound and Retriever who just wont stop escaping. Here is the story:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got her from a rescue shelter about 3 years ago, and she was the only one that was laying down and kept quiet, so we decided to get her, thinking she would be easy to take care of. However, we kind of thought wrong, and she chewed up just about every piece of paper in our house. We solved that by getting chew toys. However, we haven't solved the problem of her seeing a squirrel and deciding to jump a 6 foot tall privacy fence. We tried a tether with concrete (she has pulled the concrete blocks and almost hung herself on the fence), we tried tether in the ground (it sort of works, but we have to check it now and again). I don't want to use the &amp;quot;stubborn dog&amp;quot; collar because it just seems so wrong mentally for my dog. Is there any way I can train her to stay in the yard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: We also have a lake that after escaping, she goes to and jumps in the mud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T15:03:38.793" LastActivityDate="2021-05-17T18:36:36.433" Title="Hound/Retriever keeps escaping" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28906" CreationDate="2021-04-26T12:43:55.323" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of Pets Spring Cleaning Campaign. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically what the comments already suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are creatures of habit. Whenever you want to change one of the factors connected to habits you need to do a slow transition, so your cat can get used to the new thing. This goes for feed, litter or beds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To transition to a different litter you already did the first step of seeing whether your cat would use the new litter at all. This should be done by using a second litter box to give the cat the possibility to use a litter box he accepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next step is the transition. Mix a little of the new litter into lots more of the old. You can go with 10% new and 90% old. Now every day you can increase the amount of new in the mix every time you see that your cat is still OK with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should your cat stop using the litter box take a step back and do a mix they already accepted. This way you can slowly change factors of your cat's life in a way that helps them understand and adapt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T12:43:55.323" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31222" CreationDate="2021-04-26T13:20:45.823" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following up with bgse;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big No-No for cats is an artificial sweetener called Xylitol. If that chocolate milk contained any of that, then I would take your cat to the vet because too much Xylitol can poison your cat. It also can poison any dog that ingests it. This is why you should always watch your pet around chocolate, gum, or any water flavoring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However your cat may have vomited due to the sugar content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://bondvet.com//b/can-cats-eat-sweets-what-you-should-know-about-cats-and-sugary-treats#:%7E:text=If%20your%20furry%20friend%20eats,problems%2C%20and%20other%20health%20issues.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Bondvet.com&lt;/a&gt;, &amp;quot;If your furry friend eats sugar, you might see vomiting, diarrhea, and discomfort. Symptoms can range from a mild to severe, depending how sensitive your cat is and what they ate. Plus, in the long-term, sugar consumption can cause weight gain, diabetes, tooth problems, and other health issues.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="20192" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T14:13:14.717" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T14:13:14.717" CommentCount="8" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1440" CreationDate="2021-04-26T14:55:14.967" Score="1" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he definitely seems to be trying to get our attention&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're absolutely right about that, and he's succeeding, because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried spraying him with a water bottle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, by doing that, &lt;strong&gt;you're counterintuitively allowing your cat to win the struggle between the two of you&lt;/strong&gt;. He wants you awake and paying attention to him, to reach the ends he's looking for (playtime, more food, attention in general, whatever that may be). To your mind, you're halfway to your goal of getting him to settle down because he stops for ten minutes, and you just need to find the rest of the solution. But to &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; mind, he's halfway to &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; goal. You're awake, now he just needs to get to his goal of getting you to engage with him in the manner he wants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, it's unlikely that the problem is past correction, but it may take more work at this point than it would have to start out with the solution. Start by &lt;strong&gt;putting things away that may be broken or may cause him harm&lt;/strong&gt; (pill bottles, jewelry, etc). &lt;strong&gt;Minimize the stimuli present in the bedroom&lt;/strong&gt; so there's little he can get into, either to wake you or to inadvertently cause harm to himself or anyone/thing else. This includes cat toys; remove any noisy ones from the room, and minimize others. If your intent is to leave the door open at night, consider picking up all noisy cat toys (such as plastic balls with bells) each evening, and leaving them available only during the day. &lt;strong&gt;Feed just before you go to bed&lt;/strong&gt; (if you use scheduled feedings, set one at that time of day; if you free-feed, fill the bowl at that time). You'll set the cat on the path to taking a nap instead of being in &amp;quot;hunt&amp;quot; mode, and minimize the chance of &amp;quot;I'm hungry!&amp;quot; being a reason to wake you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan to keep your door closed, with the cats in the bedroom, be sure to add food (if free-fed), water, and a litter box in the bedroom area; again, this is to minimize reasons they might feel a need to wake you up. A well-maintained litterbox will not cause any additional odors in a bedroom, and a cat who knows there's a litterbox available will not feel a need to wake you to leave and get to another box. Ensure there's comfortable places for your cats to sleep in addition to your bed, as well; a small cat tower or elevated bed can be good options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these handle the cat side of the equation, but there's still &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; side to deal with:  &lt;strong&gt;Do not respond to any attempt to wake you up.&lt;/strong&gt; The only exception to this should be if a real danger to life or property exists, in which case your engagement should be as brief as possible. No spray bottles, no scolding, no nothing--if and when the cat wakes you up, don't let it know. Pretend to stay asleep, and if you do need to interrupt dangerous behavior, make it very brief, and &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; &amp;quot;go back to sleep.&amp;quot; When your cat realizes that his efforts to wake you are no longer working, he'll stop engaging in them, and will start to let you sleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main key in the process is that &lt;strong&gt;you have to be more stubborn than your cat.&lt;/strong&gt; He's so far been winning, and he's not going to settle down quickly when he starts losing--in fact, he may increase his efforts to wake you at first, because what he was doing has stopped working. It will take some time, but by consistently not giving in to his efforts, &lt;strong&gt;he'll eventually realize that nothing is effective anymore&lt;/strong&gt; and start sleeping through the night. The good news is that I've never failed to teach a cat to sleep through the night using this process. Once he (and the others) are reliably set in the new behavior, you can even largely stop collecting toys in the evening and putting everything away where the cats can't access it. You may occasionally still have a night where a wound-up cat still really wants that jingle ball, but you only need to pick up that one toy and settle down for the night to end it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T14:55:14.967" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31224" CreationDate="2021-04-26T16:50:42.097" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;While &lt;a href=&quot;https://amp.hillspet.com/cat-care/healthcare/does-my-cat-have-a-fever&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;shivering &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be a symptom of fever&lt;/a&gt;, it’s not always present, so I wouldn’t consider shivering an important indicator. Many lists of fever symptoms in cats don’t include shivering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A far more telltale sign is an overall sluggishness and low responsiveness, lack of appetite and possibly dry/parched nose and mouth. If you know your cat, you won’t miss it, even in those very old and laidback specimens with the temperament of an old log. If you suspect something is amiss, contact your vet. Without attempting a diagnosis, I would assume she’s just fine, as you write that her behavior is “quite normal”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeking warmth is a very common cat behavior and perfectly normal, even if cats tend to do it to a degree where we humans question that decision. Here the cats’ ancestry shines through. Our cats are descendants of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wildcat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;African wildcat&lt;/a&gt;, who’s habitat includes tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and steppes, but also deserts. If a cat feels that their location is too hot, it will seek shade. As long as the cat can freely choose to leave the hot spot and has access to water, you needn’t worry - don’t confuse the hot ears of a cat that’s been sunbathing for a while with the hot ears of a feverish cat. Just observe her behavior and test at a later time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16350" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T17:12:08.507" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T17:12:08.507" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27629" CreationDate="2021-04-26T17:29:57.997" Score="-2" Body="&lt;p&gt;No isn't sound typical. Because your sweety (kitten) is growing elder. he wants to be a usual cat. this time he is making the decision he is continuing with you or going to be a wild cat. I guess that's all.&#xA;I have a tip for you.&#xA;This time to more take care of him, it will help him to make a decision easily to be with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give him a kiss to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20385" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T17:29:57.997" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27738" CreationDate="2021-04-26T20:52:48.990" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am composing this message because highest voted answer misses some very crucial parts. Similar questions are unfortunately abundant here, so I adapted &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28568/16749&quot;&gt;another answer of mine&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Panting in cats is a sign of extreme stress. Do not approach him if he is panting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get some cat treats and occasionally offer him. Don't overuse this, because treats are harmful when they are consumed in large amounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Extend your finger to him while keeping your distance. If he smells your finger, it means he lets you touch him. This is how you ask for consent from a cat. Touch him only when he gives you explicit consent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If he is too afraid to approach even your finger, point something to him that smells of you. It could be your glasses if you wear ones, your watch, even your mobile. This will give him an extra distance, so if he is too afraid to approach you, this can be your starting ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do the lazy blinks. The meaning of lazy blinks is disputed. Some people claim they are just signs of non-aggression and some people think they are smiles by the cat. Whatever it is, animals don't close their eyes before they make an aggression, therefore it instills some trust that you will not hit your cat for the time being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If he is willing, play with him with strings and other toys. Don't touch him unnecessarily and never pick him up. I have never seen a cat enjoying being picked up. At best, they tolerate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can let him eat from your hand, provided you first point your finger to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, while there are some ways to discipline a cat, violence is never a solution. Cats do not try to please you, therefore showing them that you are displeased does not work. Cats stick with you as long as it also suits them. If things go south for a long time, they leave. If they can physically leave, they will. If they can't leave the house, they will act distant. They might even show some signs of aggression if you approach them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to discipline a cat, the disciplining should be while he is doing the deed. You don't like him jump on the kitchen counter? You discipline him when he is on the counter, not when you realise there are wet pawprints on the counter. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/29638/16749&quot;&gt;There is a hierarchy of steps to take when he tries to do something he is not supposed to do.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blow on his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spray water on his face.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scare him (for example with a vacuum cleaner)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chase him (again with a vacuum cleaner)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is one of the cats that is not afraid of the vacuum, you can use some other thing to cause unexpected sound to scare him. Hitting on the ground in a close vicinity of the cat (like 1 meter, or 3 feet) with a club would also scare him away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your special case, however, you have to give up disciplining for a long time, at least until you regain his full trust. If you jump the gun, all your effort to patch up your relationship will go to waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T20:59:37.020" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T20:59:37.020" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31244" CreationDate="2021-04-26T22:14:34.793" Score="7" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Your dog needs mental and physical stimulation!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question should not be, &amp;quot;how can I physically trap and contain my dog?&amp;quot;, rather, &amp;quot;why is my dog doing this, and how can it be corrected?&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;she chewed up just about every piece of paper in our house. We solved that by getting chew toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. Incorrect. By just buying chew toys, you haven't &amp;quot;solved&amp;quot; anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You need to play with those toys with your dog (fetch, tug of war, hide and seek, etc.).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your dog can't engage themself, that's where you as their owner must come in and help your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Every dog needs physical and mental exercise and stimulation, when neglected in these areas, bad behavior such as &amp;quot;chewing up every piece of paper in our house&amp;quot; will surface.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For physical exercise, play with your dog in your yard, go on walks, run around, and have dog playdates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rover.com/blog/how-long-should-i-walk-my-dog-each-day/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;rover.com&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, most dogs benefit from between 30 minutes to two hours of physical activity per day, according to PetMD. That can be all at once, but most people break it up into two or three walks per day. There’s no perfect formula to determine how long to walk your dog, but half an hour at a time is a good rule of thumb. Start with a gentle 30-minute walk in the morning, and another before dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s really no limit to how far you walk your dog as long as they’re comfortable. For some dogs, that’s around the block. For others, it’s ten miles. Just remember to build distance and stamina gradually over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For mental stimulation, play games like hide and seek, practice tricks, and give your dog a challenge, like putting your dog's food in an egg carton. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.puppyleaks.com/more-mental-stimulation/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.puppyleaks.com/more-mental-stimulation/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am almost 100% confident that your dog needs more mental and physical stimulation, also because you say this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also have a lake that after escaping, she goes to and jumps in the mud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See - she wants to play!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way I can train her to stay in the yard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;a) follow my advice to physically and mentally stimulate your dog;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;b) watch your dog more often;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;c) remove climbing aids and add landscaping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I would recommend all three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I added option c) because it will reduce escape attempts, but, &lt;strong&gt;ideally, you want to treat the cause, not the symptom.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find more information &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/home-living/how-to-keep-a-dog-from-escaping-the-yard/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-26T23:05:59.483" LastActivityDate="2021-04-26T23:05:59.483" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31232" CreationDate="2021-04-27T01:53:29.010" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fish in the pictures attached to your question looks like &lt;em&gt;Gyrinocheilus aymonieri&lt;/em&gt; (Chinese algae eater, CAE for short).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Chinese algae eater (&lt;em&gt;Gyrinocheilus aymonieri&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vX2yKm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vX2yKm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Chinese_algae_eater.jpg/800px-Chinese_algae_eater.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lDmVWm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/lDmVWm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aqualog.de/wp-content/uploads/lexikon/X49008.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aqualog.de&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uL6qHm.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/uL6qHm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://aquascape.ae/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GOLDEN-ALGAE-EATER.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquascape.ae&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chinese algae eaters are fish from the carp family &lt;em&gt;Gyrinocheilidae&lt;/em&gt; (they are the only one genus in it); they are regarded as the most aggressive of all the three mentioned in this Q&amp;amp;A. Not only are they sometimes aggressive to their own kind, but could be to other bottom dwelling fish as well. What is more, they are known to attach themselves to fish swimming in the water column, especially the slow ones like angelfish, and suck off their protective slime coat, sometimes to the point of ripping off the scales as well, which leads to stress and increases susceptibility to diseases. In general, these fish often cause nuisance to their tankmates. As they grow older, they become less interested in plant- and algae-based food and start to appreciate animal-based food, even via active hunting - in other words, they progressively and effectively stop being viable algae eaters. Visually, they are somewhat similar to Siamese algae eaters - but could be differentiated from them because Chinese algae eaters lack &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbel_(anatomy)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;barbels&lt;/a&gt; near their mouths. These fish are large; various sources report different numbers, but they are said to reach up to 30 cm in wild and up to 14 cm in aquarium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zo08Rm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zo08Rm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Otocinclus_arnoldi_%281%29.JPG/1024px-Otocinclus_arnoldi_%281%29.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8f8S5m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8f8S5m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0092/5161/8878/products/image_fb21be0f-b147-495c-8eeb-25bdd134ad7d_600x.jpg?v=1588868591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cdn.shopify.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/COrt5m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/COrt5m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0101/9271/5876/products/Otocinclus_1100x.jpg?v=1577551711&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cdn.shopify.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hVsr9m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hVsr9m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://aquariumbreeder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Otocinclus-mouth-suction-cup.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquariumbreeder.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt; is a genus of catfish from &lt;em&gt;Loricariidae&lt;/em&gt; family; since they belong to the &lt;em&gt;Loricariidae&lt;/em&gt; family they have a distinct anatomical feature known as omega-iris, which means that pupils of their eyes are not necessarily circular but could be shaped like crescent moon. It is not always visible, though; it is a mechanism by which they control the amount of light entering their eyes. A few different species exist within &lt;em&gt;Otocinclus&lt;/em&gt; genus: depending of species, they reach body length of 2.4 to 5.5 cm in aquarium. These fish also have an adaptation that allows them to breathe atmospheric air; they will occasionally swim to the surface to take a quick gulp of air and swallow it; oxygen is extracted in the modified part of their gastrointestinal tract. Since they are catfish, they posses barbels on their mouths; however, they are often really small and difficult to see. These fish are shy, peaceful and need to be kept in schools of at least a few specimens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Siamese algae eater (&lt;em&gt;Crossocheilus oblongus&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aSXQMm.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/aSXQMm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://epond.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Crossocheilus-oblongus-Siamese-Algae-Eater.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;epond.eu&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E3HbCm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/E3HbCm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://smartaquariumguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/siamese-algae-eater-males-territorial.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;smartaquariumguide.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u7TZSm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/u7TZSm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Crossocheilus_Oblongus.JPG/440px-Crossocheilus_Oblongus.JPG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;upload.wikimedia.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hFhF5m.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/hFhF5m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sub&gt;Image source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://aquariumbreeder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Difference-between-Chinese-Algae-Eater-and-Siamese-Algae-Eater-1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;aquariumbreeder.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Siamese algae eaters are fish from the carp family &lt;em&gt;Cyprinidae&lt;/em&gt;; they are energetic swimmers and have visible barbels near their mouths. Picture highlighting anatomical differences between Chinese and Siamese algae eaters is shown above. These fish reach up to 16 cm in body length; they are rather peaceful schooling fish, but mature male specimens could sometimes display territorial behavior to other males of their own kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T02:02:26.237" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T02:02:26.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31244" CreationDate="2021-04-27T05:14:36.817" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only agree with &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31256/12501&quot;&gt;Nai54's answer&lt;/a&gt;. If your dog escapes your yard, it doesn't mean that the dog is bad, it means that the yard doesn't fulfill the dog's needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very easy way to entertain a dog is a &lt;strong&gt;puzzle feeder&lt;/strong&gt;. Those come in various shapes and sizes and can also be crafted by you. Feeding a dog in a bowl is easy and boring, but feeding them in a puzzle feeder adds a little mental stimulation to the process without requiring more time from you. If this is done in the morning, the dog is a little more relaxed and balanced throughout the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since she likes to chew things, you could redirect this destructive behavior into a safe direction with a &lt;strong&gt;food dispenser&lt;/strong&gt; toy like a Kong or similar product. There are many different fillings (from soft and easy to lick out to dry or frozen to withstand the attempts at getting it out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please see &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; for a list of more ideas and examples of games to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And don't forget to take the dog on &lt;strong&gt;walks&lt;/strong&gt;. It would probably be ideal if you had a dog park nearby where dogs can run around and play with each other. If you don't - she loves the lake, so why not take her to the lake on a long leash and let her have fun? If you offer her the things she likes, she may feel less of a need to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with the puzzle feeder, it's ideal to take one walk in the morning / before noon. It doesn't even have to be extremely long, just 20 - 30 minutes is enough. That relaxes your dog for several hours. You can take a second or even third walk later in the day, or play games like fetch or frisbee with your dog instead of a walk. With some training, you can teach your dog to drop the frisbees or balls she catches near you so you don't have to run around the whole yard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T15:01:35.850" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T15:01:35.850" CommentCount="6" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26978" CreationDate="2021-04-27T14:12:55.567" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kitten Foods is proven to have more nutrients than adult food and can contribute to fast weight gain. Once you run out of kitten food, I would switch to adult food. For now, however, it may be best to give your kitten plenty of exercise.  It isn't a huge deal if your kitten is a few pounds (2-3 lbs.) overweight, but if you personally are concerned, lots of exercise and adult food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, reading your comment on depriving of nutrients in adultsfood, always remember, your kitten might thin out over time. Some kittens grow out and then up, and vice versa!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20309" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T14:12:55.567" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31223" CreationDate="2021-04-27T14:48:30.243" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is fecal material and decomposing plant material. That is why replacement filter elements are available. I use polyester fiberfill padding sold to make quilts; I cut it in rectangles to fit my filters and replace it as needed. I also use the garden hose to flush permanent type filters. The mud material also collects in certain locations in my pond; I occasionally scoop it out and use it for garden soil enrichment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-27T14:57:00.163" LastActivityDate="2021-04-27T14:57:00.163" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28532" CreationDate="2021-04-27T16:14:34.830" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a number of things this could be and I cannot say for sure which one is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_tag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Skin tags&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are small benign tumors that form primarily in areas where the skin forms creases (or rubs together), such as the neck, armpit and groin. They may also occur on the face, usually on the eyelids. Though tags up to a 12.7 mm long have been seen,&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_tag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt; they are typically the size of a grain of rice. The surface of an acrochordon may be smooth or irregular in appearance and is often raised from the surface of the skin on a fleshy stalk called a peduncle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Personal note: My dog has skin tags all over his body and I think they are very common, especially in older pets. You just don't notice them often because the fur hides them too well.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilloma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Papilloma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or warts are benign epithelial tumors growing exophytically (outwardly projecting) in nipple-like and often finger-like fronds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;cyst&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is  is a closed sac, having a distinct envelope and division compared with the nearby tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of cells that has grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which water molecules group together to form a bubble); however, the distinguishing aspect of a cyst is that the cells forming the &amp;quot;shell&amp;quot; of such a sac are distinctly abnormal (in both appearance and behaviour) when compared with all surrounding cells for that given location. A cyst may contain air, fluids, or semi-solid material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be an equivalent of a pimple, a clogged skin pore that's filled with sebum and dead skin cells.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are just the most general terms and the most common skin conditions that look like this. The number of possible skin conditions is mind-boggling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; it is, you should simply keep an eye on it. If the cat acts as if it's not even there, you can probably ignore it, too. But please have a vet look at it if any of the following occurs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat pulls the tail away when you touch the area, indicating pain or at least irritation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The thing grows notably and quickly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The thing gets red (either all over or a pattern of tiny dots or lines). This could indicate a tumor and it might be better to remove it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The tiny blood vessel gets notably big, even if it's just in one spot, or the cat bleeds from this area. The walls of the blood vessel might be weakened and if injured, the bleeding might not stop in the usual amount of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T00:39:00.663" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T00:39:00.663" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28712" CreationDate="2021-04-27T17:58:53.973" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;TLDR: Eye blinking does occur in social contexts, but also reflexively (to moisten the eye) and in situations where the individual feels relaxed or is mentally processing. It's impossible to conclude any attempt at communication from eye blinks alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've had a look at the study &lt;a href=&quot;https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0066018&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eye-Blink Behaviors in 71 Species of Primates&lt;/a&gt; that you linked in your question. The scientists helpfully indicated the different families of primates in their diagrams and I noticed that in some diagrams the hominidae are all clustered together (indicating a strong correlation) and in others they are all over the place (indicating a weak or no correlation). Same with the other families and species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a scientist, but my interpretation of these diagrams is that &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; blinking is a social interaction, then it's not a universal behavior consistent over different species, even those of the same order of species (= primates).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scientists themselves conclude:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[T]he blink rate was not correlated with body weight but with the group size. This result is quite suggestive. From a physiological perspective, a rate of 2 bpm has been reported to provide sufficient corneal wetting for human adults [55], [56]. Regardless of whether this basic rate is constant against body size factors, the observed blink rate was clearly higher than this rate in 65 of 66 diurnal primates. Our data suggest that these “additional” blinks may be related to social factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also mention a correlation between blink rate and vigilance. Humans and primates blink less in stressful situations (to not miss any visual clues of danger). Since the primates in this study blink more in bigger groups, it indicates that blinking is a sign of feeling safe in bigger groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same correlation is drawn in the study &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/8/562&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Eye Blink Rates and Eyelid Twitches as a Non-Invasive Measure of Stress in the Domestic Horse&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eye blink rate has been used as an indicator of stress in humans and, due to its non-invasive nature, could be useful to measure stress in horses. Horses exhibit both full and half blinks as well as eyelid twitches. [...] Observation of eye blinks and eyelid twitches can provide important information on the stress level of horses with a decrease in eye blinks and an increase in eyelid twitches in stressful environments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A study about more general facial expressions &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12781-x.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Human attention affects facial expressions in domestic dogs&lt;/a&gt; found that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We presented dogs with an experimental situation in which a human demonstrator was either attending to them or turned away, and varied whether she presented food or not. Dogs produced significantly more facial movements when the human was attentive than when she was not. The food, however, as a non-social but arousing stimulus, did not affect the dogs’ behaviour. The current study is therefore evidence that dogs are sensitive to the human’s attentional state when producing facial expressions, suggesting that facial expressions are not just inflexible and involuntary displays of emotional states, but rather potentially active attempts to communicate with others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I couldn't find any more studies about the eye blink rate in animals in a social context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from measuring stress, eye blink rate has been linked to cognitive processes, mental processing of events and learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The study &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-02942-3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Tracking Real-Time Changes in Working Memory Updating and Gating with the Event-Based Eye-Blink Rate&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Effective working memory (WM) functioning depends on the gating process that regulates the balance between maintenance and updating of WM. The present study used the event-based eye-blink rate (ebEBR), which presumably reflects phasic striatal dopamine activity, to examine how the cognitive processes of gating and updating separately facilitate flexible updating of WM contents and the potential involvement of dopamine in these processes. [...] Together, these findings show that the ebEBR – an inexpensive, non-invasive, easy-to-use measure – can be used to track changes in WM demands during task performance and, hence, possibly striatal dopamine activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or in &lt;em&gt;easy English&lt;/em&gt;: When you need to switch from one active thought to a completely different thought, you'll probably blink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same conclusion is drawn in &lt;a href=&quot;https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/154193120004403309&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;The Eye Blink as a Physiological Indicator of Cognitive Workload&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This report explores the hypothesis that eye blinks serve as a sort of “mental punctuation” during completion of a complex task. Specifically, it examines the rates of eye blinks while people are engaged in a complex decision-making task. The data suggest that eye blinks are suppressed while people are engaged in cognitive processing, and that they rebound once that processing has been completed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cow could have been absorbed with the puppy, then looked around and thought &amp;quot;oh, there's a human&amp;quot; &lt;em&gt;blink&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same thing might just have happened to you when you thought &amp;quot;I never knew that&amp;quot; &lt;em&gt;blink&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T05:04:45.687" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T05:04:45.687" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31264" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-28T04:52:05.300" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat is a very sweet guy, and around a year old. He's very cuddly, but still gets scared by my wife and me around the house. There is no shortage of love that he receives, and we thought he would possibly grow out of the skittishness, but is still afraid of us from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if we move around the house too quickly, he will take off running. He likes to follow myself around and meows to get my attention,  but if I get too close he will be out of reach. If I grab him after a mini chase, he will purr and cuddle, but this happens all the time. He does the same to my FIL, who will be able to pet him, and follows them around the house, but is just out of reach. Like I said above he is super cuddly and loves pets but still has a tiny skittish nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any techniques or strategies used by all you cat owners proven to help a naturally skittish cat to become less scared around people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20391" LastEditorUserId="20391" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T18:59:05.893" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T18:59:05.893" Title="Making a cat less scared" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;fear&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21692" CreationDate="2021-04-28T13:36:49.700" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have observed something different in my tank. She behaved fine when I only had java fern in the tank. But then I replaced it with large amazon sword plants, now she’s having a party on my plants!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feed her quite well, but the sword plants are becoming expensive food for her now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20394" LastEditorUserId="16350" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T14:02:06.657" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T14:02:06.657" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="20632" CreationDate="2021-04-28T14:07:59.550" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I have personally never tried either fresh or dried valerian root on my cats, catnip company Meowijuana, among many others, offers a &lt;a href=&quot;https://meowijuana.com/collections/products/products/kalicokush&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;blend of catnip and dried valerian root&lt;/a&gt;, which they advertise as offering &amp;quot;calm and collectiveness&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;tranquility.&amp;quot; The reviews are primarily positive, mentioning a mix of both &amp;quot;laying around&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;racing around&amp;quot;--catnip will affect cats differently, with some deciding to &amp;quot;chill out&amp;quot; and others being highly energized after exposure. It appears that valerian has a similar property, as &lt;a href=&quot;https://cathealth.com/behavior/catnip/2520-valerian-root-what-is-it-and-how-can-it-be-used-for-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CatHealth&lt;/a&gt; also suggests that valerian is a stimulant to cats, while &lt;a href=&quot;https://upgradeyourcat.com/valerian-root-to-calm-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;UpgradeYourCat&lt;/a&gt; suggests it for calming and relaxing them. The latter recommends using &amp;quot;dried, finely minced root&amp;quot; cut into small pieces and offered in small quantities. &lt;strong&gt;All sources I've looked into recommend or sell dried root, with no mention of using fresh valerian,&lt;/strong&gt; so you should have no issue using a dried version, but it should be &lt;strong&gt;pure valerian, not one formulated for human use.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As valerian, like catnip, can have a range of effects from &amp;quot;practically asleep&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;racing around at full speed&amp;quot; to aggression, and like catnip may not affect all cats, you may wish to start with a small amount of dried valerian to test his reaction. If you do not find much luck with valerian, or even if you do, &lt;strong&gt;you may benefit from additionally exploring &lt;a href=&quot;https://upgradeyourcat.com/matatabi-sticks-for-cats-explained-a-safe-and-fun-treat/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;silver vine&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://cathealth.com/behavior/catnip/1209-cat-honeysuckle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;honeysuckle&lt;/a&gt;, as well as catnip itself&lt;/strong&gt;; in all cases, you'll be using small amounts, with long breaks, to avoid desensitizing your cat to the compounds that trigger the responses you're looking for. Personally, I've had good experiences with a &lt;a href=&quot;https://meowijuana.com/collections/products/products/purrplepassion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;catnip/silver vine blend&lt;/a&gt; being extremely effective on my own cats, but like all blends, each cat has a slightly different reaction to the product. Some experimentation with the four main herbs that affect cats may lead you to the right solution to your cat's anxiety, and will likely be an enjoyable process for both you and him. You should &lt;strong&gt;always stay close by to observe your cat's reaction&lt;/strong&gt;, and start small in case he does respond to any of them with aggression--a smaller dose will wear off more quickly, and you'll know not to try that herb again. A search for any of these single ingredients or blends should produce multiple sources available in your area; higher quality products will often cost a bit more, but may also provide a better response, so please consider quality and your cat's reaction alongside the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T14:07:59.550" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2021-04-28T14:26:03.733" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it states on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/control-kitten-scratching-biting-554830&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thesprucepets.com&lt;/a&gt;, your cat could be doing this because it is encouraged:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When kittens scratch and bite, it's likely that they've been encouraged to do so at some point in the past. This is especially common if you or your children thought the behavior was cute when the kitten was very small.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also gives solutions of how to stop your cat from biting, scratching, or ripping, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say &amp;quot;Ouch&amp;quot; loudly and clearly. While you have your cat's attention, slowly remove your hand from its clutches. Don't yank it away or the kitten will think the play is on, and they will try to grab it again. Instead, gently pull your hand out of your cat's reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-28T20:34:24.207" LastActivityDate="2021-04-28T20:34:24.207" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31059" CreationDate="2021-04-29T12:19:03.700" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Partial answer as per my recent update to the question. This is just taken from observation on how this specific case played out, and I'd assume is highly dependent on the personalities of the cats involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We found a good home for the senior cat in question, where he was introduced to a 17 year old female, and a 6 year old male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First direct contact was with the female, and went without any trouble as both immediately liked each other. They rubbed heads right away exchanging scent, which might have played a role in how the next introduction went.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First contact with the other male resulted in a bit of growling from the younger male when our senior started walking in his general direction, presumably not realizing the other cat was there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The senior did not notice the growl, or the fact that the younger male was staring him down, which appeared to help in avoiding a more serious conflict at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The younger male seemed to relax quickly when realizing that he could safely observe the senior from a distance without being noticed or challenged, ultimately accepting the presence of the newcomer and going back to his regular business after 20 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The younger male in this case could best be described as cautious, without any history of aggressive behavior or being overly territorial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T12:19:03.700" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27369" CreationDate="2021-04-29T13:55:18.633" Score="-6" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.beautyofbirds.com/biting.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;beautyofbirds.com/biting&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases (particularly in cases of poorly socialized or abused birds), it is self-defense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should allow them to see your hand as friendly and not hostile, Because he/she probably was abused in his/her previous life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above - the trick is to teach them that hands are something good -- only to be used for preening them, holding them, giving them treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-29T14:21:49.303" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T14:21:49.303" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16605" CreationDate="2021-04-29T17:32:29.243" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people think that neutering will reduce aggression in male dogs, but in fact &lt;strong&gt;the opposite is true.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neutering &lt;strong&gt;reduces&lt;/strong&gt; behaviors like urine marking and roaming in search of a mate, but it &lt;strong&gt;increases&lt;/strong&gt; aggression - especially towards strangers - in many dogs and makes them harder to train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31153/12501&quot;&gt;this very similar post&lt;/a&gt; that summarizes a few scientific studies about aggression in dogs (that were &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; neutered with the goal to reduce aggression, so the bias of the owners is relatively low). The gist of it is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among the findings, neutered dogs were more aggressive, fearful, excitable, and less trainable than intact dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there's a female in heat nearby, the pheromones can cause or increase excitement in intact males, which may express itself as aggression. But usually that would only be directed towards another intact male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is that your dog is in pain, which causes him to keep others away. If he shies away from your touch or becomes lethargic, please get him checked by a vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T17:32:29.243" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15641" CreationDate="2021-04-29T18:22:26.157" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the most common vitamin overdoses in cats is &lt;strong&gt;Vitamin D&lt;/strong&gt;. It can be caused by vitamin supplements or medications containing high amounts of vitamin D, but also by ingesting certain plants, rat poison, certain skin creams and even commercial cat food (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5731632/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;see case study&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also possible to overdose a cat with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;poorly balanced diets containing high concentrations of liver, milk, fatty fish, or eggs. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/vitamin-d-poisoning-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since vitamin D is lipophilic (fat soluble) it can accumulate over a long time and lead to a slow onset poisoning. Since vitamin supplement pills have become more potent recently, the ingestion of 1 or more pills might already be too much (depending on dosage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would take less than a spoonful of cholecalciferol based rodenticide to poison a dog (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.atdove.org/article/vitamin-d3-toxicity-rare-but-noteworthy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;) and based on body weight the dosage for a cat is even smaller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/vitamin-d-poisoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read more about vitamin D poisoning in cats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another category of supplement with a high risk of overdosing are &lt;strong&gt;prenatal vitamins&lt;/strong&gt; because they usually contain very much iron and can cause iron toxicity in pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ingestion of 20 to 60 mg/kg of elemental iron may cause toxicosis with mild gastrointestinal (GI) signs. Ingestion of &amp;gt;60 mg/kg of elemental iron is considered potentially serious and may result in GI hemorrhage as well as metabolic acidosis and elevated liver enzyme values. Death may result if an animal ingests 100 to 200 mg/kg of elemental iron and does not receive treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://todaysveterinarynurse.com/articles/iron-toxicosis/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;See the source&lt;/a&gt; for details about how to calculate the amount of elemental iron in a medication or food supplement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/are-human-vitamins-and-supplements-dangerous-pets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read more about iron toxicity in pets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extra ingredients&lt;/strong&gt; in supplement pills can also cause poisonings, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 hydroxytryptophan (5 HTP)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caffeine (guarana, green tea)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Citrus aurantium (synephrine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ephedra (ma huang)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fluoride&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yohimbine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Xylitol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/common-vitamins-and-pet-toxicities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Read the source and more information here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-29T19:05:07.913" LastActivityDate="2021-04-29T19:05:07.913" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-29T21:11:58.970" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently discovered this bump scab-looking thing on my cat's paw. He is a 7 month old orange tabby. He was giving himself a bath on my lap and was really digging into this one toe. I know they sometimes do that but he was being so rough I thought he was about to rip his skin open! I stopped and looked at his paw to find this. I took the best photos I could. I don't know how it was looking before he bit whatever off, but I will keep an eye on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for any insight!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CIEh9.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/CIEh9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20401" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T04:14:07.840" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T16:19:24.763" Title="Scab on cat's paw pad?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31276" CreationDate="2021-04-29T22:05:19.257" Score="16" ViewCount="4276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently tested positive for Covid and I’ve been isolating myself in one of the bedrooms. This is the same room where my kitty sleeps and basically calls it her own territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She meows, yowls and scratches on the door to be let inside. Is it safe for her to be inside here? My wife is the other person in the house, along with my three other cats. None of the other cats have been trying to get inside. Also, this one is very attached to me. It’s heartbreaking to hear her yowl outside the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: My wife has also tested positive. We along with our cats are now isolated in our apt. They are indoor cats and we are taking precautions by sanitising beds we/they sleep on, using gloves and masks while feeding them and not petting them at all (they aren’t happy about that) and generally maintaining physical separation from them. So far none of them have shown any unusual behaviour. Thank you for all your immensely useful answers and comments!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT 2: We have since recovered and tested negative (tested via RT-PCR tests and not the rapid antigen test). We didn’t test our cats but from what we see, they seem to be fine. No abnormal fluid discharges etc. The two older cats (5 and 6 yo) were quiet for a few days but they have since returned to their normal activity levels. The two younger ones (8 mos and 1 yo) were relentlessly active through our entire ordeal. All in all I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; the older ones may have been infected but have since recovered and the younger ones were not. Again, this is purely based on empirical evidence and no tests. All in all we lived through this to tell the tale!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9206" LastEditorUserId="9206" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T14:02:21.333" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T20:05:27.180" Title="Is it safe for a cat to be with a Covid patient?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;territory&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31275" CreationDate="2021-04-29T23:56:03.157" Score="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;TLDR: Not really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the risk is low - COVID-19 seems to be fairly indiscriminate, with documented cases of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3096201/coronavirus-scottish-shorthair-yorkshire-terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dogs, cats&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3130093/coronavirus-geriatric-asian-otters-us-aquarium-test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;zoo otters&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55391272&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;farmed minks&lt;/a&gt; getting it. Most corona virus (There's a whole family of similar viruses like &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;SARS&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_respiratory_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;MERS&lt;/a&gt;) outbreaks are pretty certainly &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;zoonotic&lt;/a&gt; (they come from animals in the first place), so extra caution is a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CDC &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/pets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;advices&lt;/a&gt; you don't - and interestingly advices safe distancing for animals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep cats indoors when possible and do not let them roam freely outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Walk dogs on a leash at least 6 feet away from others to protect them from interacting with people outside the household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also indicate that the symptoms are at worst mild, or affected animals may be asymptomatic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pets infected with this virus may or may not get sick. Pets that do have symptoms usually have mild illness that can be taken care of at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of course leads to the possibility of it being spread via your pet to other people and animals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/expert-answers/can-pets-get-coronavirus/faq-20486391&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Mayo clinic&lt;/a&gt; concurs - advising&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isolate yourself from everyone else, including your pet. If possible, have another person in your household care for your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially - &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt; treat any mammalian pet as at risk of contracting COVID-19. While you love your cat - waiting for the necessary time is both for your safety as well as for your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="429" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T20:32:14.067" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T20:32:14.067" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31274" CreationDate="2021-04-30T05:31:58.730" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might be a skin irritation or an infection, especially if only one paw is affected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there's not much you can do at home, besides looking for possible causes. The cat would simply lick any topical lotion off. If possible, visit a vet to have them find the cause (maybe a bacterial or fungal infection) and offer the correct treatment. If a vet visit is not possible, it's ok to wait and observe how things develop. However, &lt;strong&gt;if the paw gets red and swollen or there's pus, you must go to the vet&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats lack a number of enzymes, which makes them prone to contact dermatites and poisoning with things like essential oils, lemons, onions and other surprising things that are safe for humans. Since the bare skin of the paw always comes in contact with surfaces, you should make sure that all residue of cleaners are rinsed away from the floor and surfaces with clean water. You shouldn't use essential oils or cleaners with essential oils to clean at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that your cat has long hairs between his toes. These hairs can trap some dirt or cat litter, which may increase the risk of infection. Please make sure that your cat has clean feet until this irritation is healed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In theory this could have been caused by an allergy, but most allergies become first visible in the face as dark brown spots. If your cat has any dark spots in the face, change to porcelain, glass or steel bowls for both food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible cause is compulsive grooming, which may have been caused by stress. The rough tongue of the cat irritates the skin and makes it prone to infections, which in turn irritate the skin even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one last note: the claws of your cat are peeking out of the fur. This might be due to the way you hold the paw, though. They should not be visible when the cat is relaxed. Make sure your cat has a scratching post he likes to use to keep his claws short. I noticed that my cat likes a very cheap felt rug more than her actual scratching post. If your cat scratches on trees and other plants, the plant juices could also irritate the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources and more information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://be.chewy.com/why-is-my-cats-paw-red-and-irritated/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Why Is My Cat’s Paw Red and Irritated?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.petwellbeing.com/these-changes-to-your-cats-paw-might-indicate-a-serious-infection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;These Changes to Your Cat's Paw Might Indicate a Serious Infection&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-skin-problems-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Slideshow: skin problems in cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T16:19:24.763" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T16:19:24.763" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28929" CreationDate="2021-04-30T12:02:10.937" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please note that I'm not a vet and can only speculate, but that sounds like a pulled muscle, maybe in the hips or spine area. The &amp;quot;one bad movement&amp;quot; type of thing that happens during physical activity when your muscles aren't warmed up. That would also explain why her condition improves so much in so little time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T12:02:10.937" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31275" CreationDate="2021-04-30T13:46:59.387" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-people-with-animals&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Advice from the UK government&lt;/a&gt; is similar to that of the CDC mentioned by Journeyman Geek (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you, or a member of your household, have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) you should self-isolate for 10 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’re self-isolating &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you should make alternative arrangements to take care of your animal’s welfare&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. You should ask for support from others who are not self-isolating or use professional services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst the risk to her own well-being is small, having contact with her would provide another possible vector to spread the disease to other members of your household or, for an outdoor cat, members of other households (via other animals).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are creatures of habit, and so she is understandably frustrated by the disruption to her routine and loss of what she sees as her territory. The good news is that cats' natural response to illness is to hide and isolate themselves and so you isolating is a response she will be able to understand (especially if you were showing symptoms prior to isolating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To deal with the plaintive yowling, I would recommend that your wife puts extra effort into engaging with her (with whatever combination of playing and petting she wants) to distract her so that she can adapt to this new situation as quickly as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you get through this soon, and are able to look forward to seeing her delighted face when you leave isolation again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18824" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T13:46:59.387" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29077" CreationDate="2021-04-30T16:33:06.073" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pet's Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible for an animal to stop liking things they were okay with in short time, especially if they aren't feeling well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals think in simple categories like &lt;code&gt;good&lt;/code&gt; (pleasant, tasty, comfortable) and &lt;code&gt;bad&lt;/code&gt; (painful, disappointing, stressful).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are inherently clean animals and like to bury their feces. Litter boxes give them to opportunity to act according to their instincts. That makes &lt;code&gt;poop in litter box = good&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the cat feels pain or is very uncomfortable while defecating or urinating, it may draw new conclusions:&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;pooping = painful = bad&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;pooping is done in the litter box&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;pooping = bad&lt;/code&gt; makes &lt;code&gt;litterbox = bad&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same phenomenon is often observed in cats with a UTI or kidney stones that cause pain while urinating. They start peeing outside of the litter box because they connect the litter box with the pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One method to reset the behavior is to change the objects that are associated with bad feelings. A different litter box, maybe even with a different type of litter is worth a try, because &lt;em&gt;this particular&lt;/em&gt; litter box isn't associated with the painful experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that, cats are rather sensible in regards to chemicals. The wet wipes could have put her off, especially if they contain any citrus scent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T16:33:06.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17299" CreationDate="2021-04-30T18:00:08.397" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is part of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2331/spring-cleaning-campaign-on-pets-se&quot;&gt;Pets Spring Cleaning Campaign&lt;/a&gt;. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Reason for fear:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an adult dog has a temperament like this to a specific thing (such as children), it is usually because they have had:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;negative exposure;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or no exposure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is pretty common for dogs to have negative exposure to children, especially to young children who don't understand why they shouldn't pull the dog's tail or chase it around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No exposure is also common, especially in households without children. If as a puppy, your dog never got to interact with children, adding children into the mix for an adult dog may make your dog confused, scared, or angry depending on their personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/fear-of-children-in-dogs-1117885&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thesprucepets.com&lt;/a&gt; says almost the exact same thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Why Do Dogs Fear Children?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two major reasons why dogs may develop a fear of children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A lack of early socialization:&lt;/strong&gt; Dogs who aren't exposed to children as puppies may become fearful when they meet them later in life. When they encounter children for the first time as adult dogs, they may be extremely frightened by the unfamiliar size, smells, noises, and movements of children.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The aftermath of a negative experience:&lt;/strong&gt; Dogs may also develop a fear of children after a painful or unsettling interaction. Young children often have a tendency to pull tails, grab handfuls of fur, steal toys, and even poke eyes. Some dogs are tolerant of children's poking and prodding. Other dogs may develop a fear of children after only one bad experience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, without enough information in your question, I can't tell you which reason for fear this is, but it is one of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to improve relations between children and dog?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will having a baby in the house improve the dog's attitude towards children if he has everyday exposure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably not, as your dog is already five years old, and the best time to expose your dog to new things is when they are a puppy (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.paws.org/resources/developmental-stages-of-puppy-behavior/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean you can't try to get your dog to &lt;em&gt;tolerate&lt;/em&gt; children at this age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before going to your parents, you should slowly introduce your dog to sounds and scents of children, such as playing crying, and screaming from a speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You, as an adult, can pretend to be a child, and run around and act excited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doing things like this will hopefully get your dog adjusted to a child's behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also important to give basic training to your dog, teaching things like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/stop-your-dog-jumping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;down&lt;/a&gt; (to avoid jumping on children) and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/teaching-the-stay/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;stay&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once your baby arrives, you should slowly and patiently introduce your dog to him. &lt;strong&gt;With supervision&lt;/strong&gt;. Your dog doesn't have to like him, but you must ensure that he will safely tolerate him. Use positive reinforcement for good encounters. Don't force your dog to be with a child, respect his feelings, or else he definitely will dislike children. Take it slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Safety&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are there any steps we can take to minimize the dog's stress with the new pack member arriving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To ensure the safety of your dog and the child, give your dog a safe space to retreat to if feeling stressed or pressured. Don't let the child near the safe space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, establish ground rules with the children. No teasing, shouting at, grabbing, stepping on, taking from, etc. from your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you see any unsafe behavior from the children or dog, limit interactions between them to ensure safety for both dog and child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://jollypets.com/blogs/your-dogs-happiness-and-health/10-easy-tips-to-train-your-dog-to-safely-play-with-kids&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;jollypets.com/blogs//10-easy-tips-to-train-your-dog-to-safely-play-with-kids&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/fear-of-children-in-dogs-1117885&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;thesprucepets.com/fear-of-children-in-dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T19:21:22.927" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T19:21:22.927" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31283" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-04-30T18:08:48.077" Score="2" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a neutered male Bengal cat who is nine months old, and two neutered female Bengals, both nearly four years old. The male keeps attacking the females, sometimes without a pause. We have tried pheromones, separating, getting him tires with toys; nothing works. He will sleep for a while then just chase the others until he grabs them by the neck. There is so much yowling and screaming with fur flying, it is awful to watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I blame myself for putting my two babies into harm’s way by getting a third. We love him to bits but have no idea what to do now. Have tried calming pills from Amazon. Please help! I don’t want to give him away, but this disturbs us as we are to blame for the older cats being constantly chased and terrorized. He has been with us since he was 16 weeks old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20406" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-04-30T19:29:43.587" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T19:29:43.587" Title="How can I prevent my male Bengal cat from attacking my two other cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;&lt;dominance&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31283" CreationDate="2021-04-30T19:18:06.160" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It sounds to me like the root cause is boredom.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bengals have a reputation for being very high energy cats.  Furthermore, at 9 months old, I would expect him to still have kitten levels of energy.  So already I can tell he almost certainly requires a lot more play than the average cat.  But also his pattern of behavior, sleep, chase, attack, follows the normal pattern for cats, which generally is sleep, hunt, eat, and sleep again.  Right when he wakes up, that's surely when he'll be most ready to cause trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Establish a routine, and tire him out.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you get him on a steady routine, it'll be more predictable when he'll wake up and want playtime.  Start by playing with him at a set time every day, and get him really tired out.  Then, once he's tired out, give him his meal.  Hopefully after he's done eating, he'll naturally want to sleep.  You'll want to give him multiple meals a day this way to help establish the routine.  Once he gets used to the schedule, hopefully his natural rhythm will start to fall at predictable times, and you'll know exactly when he needs to be tired out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leash training.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bengal cats seem to really benefit from leash training, as the outdoors are a lot more interesting than inside, and it encourages them to work off energy simply by walking around, even if they're not in the mood for playing.  If you're successful with getting him to accept the leash, then it would surely be beneficial to make walking him on a leash part of your routine.  Of course, don't expect the cat to take to the leash immediately.  You must very slowly introduce him to the leash, and reward him for accepting it using food or treats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look for other forms of entertainment.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Windows.&lt;/strong&gt;  You can make them even more entertaining by setting up a birdfeeder just outside, and adding cat shelves and the like to make it easier to sit at.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exercise wheels.&lt;/strong&gt;  There are exercise wheels available for cats, and some cats seem to really take to them.  It's not guaranteed the cat will want to use the exercise wheel on its own, but you can try to encourage him to use it with treats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cat patios.&lt;/strong&gt;  Set up an enclosed pen in your yard to allow the cat to safely be outside.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Help your other cats avoid him.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Add &lt;em&gt;alot&lt;/em&gt; of cat furniture around your house.  Arrange it and your regular furniture to create higher routes for the cats all around your house.  These routes should have multiple ways your cats can access them.  That way, they can escape to the cat furniture in order to avoid your younger cat, and he cannot trap them by guarding the one route back down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-04-30T19:18:06.160" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31275" CreationDate="2021-04-30T23:26:59.047" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe. I think it's only for you to discern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How old is the eldest person the cat, or those around it, will come into contact within the next 14 days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you, your wife, and everyone else is well under 65 years old, you are &lt;em&gt;safe&lt;/em&gt; (statistically, nothing is 100%) to be with your cat. This doesn't preclude your cat carrying the disease and infecting others in your household - but, again statistically speaking, the flu is more deadly &lt;em&gt;for a vast majority of people&lt;/em&gt;. Covid is very strongly biased towards serious complications in those over 65, even more skewed to those over 75, or those with pre-existing conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As DRF says in his comments &amp;quot;I know I very strongly prefer to be able to be with my wife when she has the flu or cold, (which both have generally mild symptoms) to the reasonable chance of catching the disease from her.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;COVID is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus, one strain of viruses commonly referred to as 'the common cold'. In a typical year &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_causes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;coronaviruses account for roughly 20% of common cold cases&lt;/a&gt;. COVID is a uniquely mutated coronavirus, and it was very scary for a long time because it was novel and acted on the human body in unexpected ways - but we know and understand it now. Most importantly, we know that while far deadlier than a typical virus of this type, it &lt;a href=&quot;https://freopp.org/comparing-the-risk-of-death-from-covid-19-vs-influenza-by-age-d33a1c76c198&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;is effectively still just a common cold in &lt;em&gt;almost all&lt;/em&gt; cases of healthy individuals under 65&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be clear, I don't disagree with the other answers in the slightest, just mentioning if you fall into a specific subset of the population the idea of spreading it to your cat and wife may not actually affect either's &lt;em&gt;safety&lt;/em&gt;. Though very seriously could affect their &lt;em&gt;quality of life&lt;/em&gt; in the near term. If anything I'd say this should be your wife's (and any others in your household's) call (assuming you also meet the other listed criteria, which I understand isn't exactly commonplace).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Call me a crazy conspiracy theorist if you will. Just here to (hopefully) help you reconsider and stop living in fear &lt;em&gt;if it's unnecessary&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;If you're over 65, have any pre-existing conditions, are immunocompromised in any way, or will be in contact with anyone who falls into that category over the next 14 days, your best bet is it to ignore this entire post, as it doesn't apply to you&lt;/strong&gt;. However, there are subsets of the population that don't fall into that category, and if that's you and I were in your shoes I'd show my cat some love and enjoy the purrs during recovery. (I'm also young, live alone, and don't come into contact with anyone 'at risk' in my day-to-day life - everyone is different!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL;DR; use common sense, covid is serious, but there are well documented understandings and a majority of precautions published broadly are blanket advice to assist an uneducated public in preventing the spread of the disease on a large scale. If you educate yourself and think things through, you can make the best choices for your own life (which still may very well be following CDC or UK gov guidelines to the letter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope you feel better soon regardless!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20407" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T13:54:26.243" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T13:54:26.243" CommentCount="11" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31286" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-01T05:46:00.873" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently moved in with my boyfriend and brought along my year-old intact male pup, and my boyfriend has four other dogs. Including his attentive, jealous German Shepherd, and I want my pup to get out and be a free roam, which right now, he’s kenneled in a large outside area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want him to be out with the other dogs, but our German Shepherd hasn’t taken much a liking to him. We’ve introduced him to the other dogs and they get along perfectly fine, play and everything. I’ve also introduced Angus (my dog) with Jager a couple times, allowed them to sniff, and each time has been leashed. But Angus has a lot of energy and hasn’t been properly corrected for this, which I’ve allowed the other dogs to do since it’s good for him to learn, as he has a tendency to want to jump in another dog’s face and lick (which he’s done to Jager and he didn’t like it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want them to get along, and plan to neuter my dog, as my boyfriend won’t neuter his. Is there a way I can just properly introduce them? I don’t want them to fight, as my dog isn’t aggressive and is still young and just wants to play. Yet Jager is a lot older and his tolerance for puppies is... terrible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20408" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T19:50:36.277" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T19:50:36.277" Title="How can I introduce my puppy to my boyfriend's dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;introducing-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31287" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-01T10:47:06.467" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat eats Royal Canin gastrointestinal wet food from the vet. She has constipation issues with her dry food (science diet sensitive stomach), so I took it away completely ($700 vet bill from constipation). I ran out of money recently and fed her Friskies meat and gravy, from which she would only drink the gravy, so I had to hurry and buy more Royal Canin so she could eat. Now she taps me to wake me up because she's thirsty and won't drink plain water anymore, so I have to open a can of Friskies. I do add water and stir it, then she drinks half the can. Usually, this happens once a day, sometimes twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there is taurine and certain vitamins she needs, so I don't know if I can make the gravy myself? Is there anything out there where it's just gravy or some type of water flavoring with the taurine and vitamins? Taking it away really isn't an option. She is so annoying (and kind of cute) when she wants something. She will meow, stare, and paw at me until I get up and get her what she wants. I know I'm dealing with a smart and picky animal. I need help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20409" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T14:21:15.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T16:47:44.260" Title="Cat won't drink water, only gravy from wet food; can I prepare the gravy myself?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;eating&gt;&lt;drinking&gt;&lt;cooked-food&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31286" CreationDate="2021-05-01T12:59:20.703" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A trick (that worked in the past for me) is to take a long walk with the 2 problematic dogs. Each of you should take one dog and then you just start walking with the both of you in the middle, separating the dogs. They'll probably want to interact with each other right away, but at this stage you keep them strictly separated and just walk on. You shouldn't speak too much with the dogs or give them commands or anything. Hold the leash short enough that the dog cannot walk around you, then nudge him away from you every time he wants to go the other dog.&#xA;It'll take a few minutes for both of them to calm down a little and concentrate on the actual walk rather than each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When they have calmed down a little bit, you allow then to walk next to each other and interact if they want. But don't encourage them or anything, the dogs must approach each other on their own volition. Your job is to walk on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The psychology behind that is to indirectly tell the dogs that they are a pack now. Packs move together in the same direction and are friendly towards each other. Both dogs already accept you as part of their pack. Now you introduce an additional dog to the pack and make them act like a pack, even if they wouldn't do that otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once saw this method in &amp;quot;Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan&amp;quot; and tried it with my own dog. At that time she wasn't socialized with dogs and wouldn't allow any dog near her, but after such a walk, she was very relaxed around the dog of my friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another very big advice is to learn dog body language. That will give you the knowledge to assess whether or not your dogs tolerate each other or when situations might escalate into a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a puppy and old dog interact once: the puppy wanted to play and the adult was &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; showing teeth and growling and even making snapping motions at the puppy. But all of that without actually touching the puppy or hurting it in any way. The nonverbal communication was extremely aggressive, but the interaction was gentle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take some time to watch videos on Youtube or your favorite video platform. You could use search terms like &amp;quot;dogs play or aggression?&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;aggressive body language dogs&amp;quot; or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are good and bad videos out there. The videos you want to watch are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ideally made by trainers, because they not only show the behavior but also explain how you could react&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Showing actual videos of actual dogs. Infographics or cartoon animations are worthless because they cannot capture the nuances of natural behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not&lt;/strong&gt; list videos with numbers in the titles like &amp;quot;how to recognize these 10 signs of aggression&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;5 things you should / shouldn't do with your dog&amp;quot;. These are just clickbait and not helpful most of the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please have a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/29728/12501&quot;&gt;this related answer&lt;/a&gt; that contains a list of 5 videos I recommend to learn dog body language and signs of aggression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-01T19:42:27.277" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T19:42:27.277" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11532" CreationDate="2021-05-01T17:01:05.063" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please treat your cat. Two shots of insulin a day is pretty simple. Testing is also simple. Sure beats urine everywhere. Of course the kitty doesnt feel well. How would you feel if you were sick and had an untreated medical condition? Your husband sounds ignorant and to ignore the real issue here is horrible. Its like blaming someone for throwing up with a stomach virus...ridiculous. Either treat him well or pass this sweetie on to someone who will. It can be overwhelming at first. But it becomes routine. Its a treatable condition and most cats eventually go into remission. Have some compassion. Euthanasia is not the answer here either. Responsiblility and compassion, education and lack of ignorance is the resolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20411" LastActivityDate="2021-05-01T17:01:05.063" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-02T02:27:41.503" Score="2" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am in a predicament. About 4 months back, a local stray female cat started hanging around the house. We occasionally put food outside for her to eat but eventually it became a regular thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later we noticed she was pregnant and about 2 months back she decided to move her litter of 3 tiny kittens to the front yard. She had birthed them elsewhere (in the bushes according to the local kids). Since I didn't know what else to do, I continued giving food to the kittens as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the kittens seem to believe this is their home and are finding ways to get inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is I really don't have room for 4 more cats. I already have a cat and a dog. The only people who want to adopt the kittens are 100 kms away and can't travel due to restrictions. there are no agencies in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best place for stray cats to find food is a nearby fishing hamlet where there are many cats, many people have cats as pets, and the local stray dogs don't kill the cats. Mainly because there's no shortage of food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the most pragmatic thing may be to relocate the kittens to the fishing hamlet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will the 2.5 month old kittens be able to find their way in a new place?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Related to 1., is it better to move just the kittens or also the mother cat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think having their mother with them might make it easier for the kittens. But I don't know if an adult cat will have difficulties adjusting to new surroundings, and maybe kittens will adjust more easily on their own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question for me and a difficult thing to do as well. Were there no lockdown restrictions, I might have gotten them adopted as well. So any other suggestions are also welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16778" LastEditorUserId="16778" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T13:26:57.183" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T13:26:57.183" Title="Relocate stray kittens on their own or together with mother cat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31275" CreationDate="2021-05-02T02:44:19.500" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two possible scenarios:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not everyone in your household is infected with COVID. In this case the cats could serve as vectors for the virus to spread to other members of your family so you should avoid contact with them and have other members of your family treat them as infected just in case. This means always wearing a mask around your cat or when cleaning up after them, at least for a couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everyone in your household is currently infected (this seems to be the case according to your updated). In this case it doesn't really matter if the cats get infected as according to clinical studies they're &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pnas.org/content/117/42/26382&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;not susceptible to serious disease&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We report that cats are highly susceptible to infection, with a prolonged period of oral and nasal viral shedding that is not accompanied by clinical signs, and are capable of direct contact transmission to other cats. These studies confirm that cats are susceptible to productive SARS-CoV-2 infection, but are unlikely to develop clinical disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd let the cats hang out with everyone in the household without wearing masks, especially given how supportive animals can be while humans are sick. Your only concern would be to make sure that someone is able to take care of the animals if your symptoms worsen and you're unable to attend to their needs consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both scenarios I'd make sure that the cats are unable to leave the house for 14 days as doing so could result in the virus spreading around to other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19132" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T02:44:19.500" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="27217" CreationDate="2021-05-02T07:41:58.747" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Popping the tick does not more damage then the bite itself has done. But different as the other answers say, &lt;strong&gt;you should be worried about tick bites&lt;/strong&gt; in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lyme Borreliosis Disease&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is caused by a bacterium transmitted by minimum 4 different kinds of ticks. In some US states around 50% of ticks can be infected with them. They infect humans, dogs, horses and maybe cats. I am from Europe, and here also Borreliosis is an issue, the dog of my parents-in-law died of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The signs of Lyme disease vary. Many animals can have Lyme disease and show no signs. In dogs, the most common signs include fever, loss of appetite, painful or swollen joints, lameness that comes and goes, swollen lymph nodes, and lethargy. If Lyme disease is left untreated it can lead to damage in the kidneys, nervous system, and heart. &lt;strong&gt;Lyme disease affecting the kidneys is the second most common syndrome in dogs and is generally fatal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/dog-owners/disorders-affecting-multiple-body-systems-of-dogs/lyme-disease-lyme-borreliosis-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyme Disease (Lyme Borreliosis) in Dogs&lt;/a&gt; by the MSD MANUAL Veterinary Manual, a US organization)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lyme disease is the most common disease spread by ticks in the Northern Hemisphere.[15] It is estimated to affect 300,000 people a year in the United States and 65,000 people a year in Europe.[2][4]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Lyme disease&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Please do not underestimate this disease!&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before the walk:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid being infected, humans and animals should be treated regularly with a readily available, effective, tick-control product. Also, humans can wear clothes, which cover especially the ankles (trousers into the socks/shoes) and with long arms (imagine children who touch every bush, or bend down to inspect all discoveries).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;During the walk:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ticks live in high grass and bushes at heights of around the hip height of humans. They climb it and wait for warm blooded animals to graze through it. Then they let go and take hold onto this animals. They will wander the body until they find an area with thin skin to do their bite. This is especially in the &lt;strong&gt;human&lt;/strong&gt; armpit, hollow of the knee, genital area and behind the ears and in the neck. Some people can feel them wander, because they feel an itching. Then one should be attentive and have a look, what causes the itch, rather than to scratch it blindly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After the walk:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one can avoid being bitten by changing clothes when coming home and having a close look for wandering ticks in front of a mirror. Children may need assistance. In humans they avoid hairy areas (remember to control armpit, hollow of the knee, genital area, behind the ears and in the neck). In &lt;strong&gt;dogs&lt;/strong&gt; they also search for less hairy areas, for example the genital area, belly, inside the ears and similar. In long haired dogs combing after a walk in wild areas can help to retrieve ticks (which are still wandering) from the fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About the wandering:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sie hängen sich anschließend an alles, was ihren jeweiligen Aufenthaltsort streift und krabbeln dann oft bei Tier und Menschen bis zu mehreren Stunden lang am Körper umher, bis sie eine passende Einstichstelle gefunden haben. Zecken sind dabei sehr wählerisch und bevorzugen etwas feuchte, warme und gut durchblutete, dünne Haut. Beim Menschen sind besonders die Kniekehlen, der Haaransatz, die Leistenbeuge und die feine Haut hinter den Ohren ein beliebtes Ziel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zecken&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;German Wikipedia about ticks&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Translation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will hang on all beings, which roams their actual place and then wander often at humans and animals &lt;strong&gt;multiple hours&lt;/strong&gt; over the body, until they find a suiting bite-spot. Ticks are picky in this and favor kind of humid, warm and thin skin areas, well supplied with blood. At humans especially the hollow of the knee, the hairline, the groin and the fine skin behind the ears are popular aims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because they probably wander multiple hours, there is a good chance to get rid of them after the walk, before they do their biting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people mark the bitten area with some ink marker to control later if there will appear the first symptom: &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;an expanding red rash, known as erythema migrans, that appears at the site of the tick bite about a week after it occurred.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (linked Wikipedia article)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other recommended actions for dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prevention of Lyme Disease&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs should be treated regularly with a readily available, effective, tick-control product. Ask your veterinarian to recommend the best product for your pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In areas where Lyme disease is common, ask your veterinarian about whether vaccination is recommended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs should be routinely checked for ticks after they have been outside, especially if they have been in tall grass and brush during the spring, summer, or fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove any ticks by using fine-pointed tweezers to grasp the head of the tick (right where it enters the skin). Pull the tick straight off, making sure not to grasp or squeeze its body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dogs should be brushed regularly. Watch carefully for any ticks that are removed and capture and dispose of them before they can either reattach to the dog or migrate to other pets or people in the household.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.msdvetmanual.com/dog-owners/disorders-affecting-multiple-body-systems-of-dogs/lyme-disease-lyme-borreliosis-in-dogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Lyme Disease (Lyme Borreliosis) in Dogs&lt;/a&gt; by the MSD MANUAL Veterinary Manual, a US organization)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, have a look into this answer &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18647/how-long-does-it-take-a-tick-to-infect-my-pet/18690#18690&quot;&gt;How long does it take a tick to infect my pet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-02T19:35:57.387" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T19:35:57.387" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31287" CreationDate="2021-05-02T09:06:36.117" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cat food is formulated with all the vitamins and minerals a cat needs and with the assumption that the cat would only drink water in addition to eating the food. So if you want to make gravy yourself, you don't need to worry about adding any more nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you must worry about &lt;strong&gt;not adding any harmful substances&lt;/strong&gt; to the gravy. First and foremost those are salt, onions and garlic. Your cat should have absolutely 0 of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of several methods to solve this problem (while also sparing your money):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cat food shake&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If she loves the taste of the Friskes cans so much, try blending the solid contents of the can with water like a milkshake. Store the shake in the fridge to keep it fresh, but let it get back to room temperature before feeding it. You can also pop it into the microwave for a few seconds before feeding, but it shouldn't be warmer than lukewarm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Cat water fountain&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She might simply not like her current water bowl all that much and therefore prefer the gravy. Cats are known to prefer fresh running water. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=cat%20water%20fountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Cat water fountains&lt;/a&gt; were designed to cater to those instincts. You need to refresh the water each day. If you have chlorinated tap water, you should the water stand in an open, wide-mouthed container (like a bowl) over night to &lt;a href=&quot;https://sciencing.com/remove-chlorine-from-water-4516999.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;remove most of the chlorination&lt;/a&gt;. It's mainly the smell of chlorine that puts cats off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Home made broth from food waste&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This option is only viable if you regularly cook food from fresh ingredients or buy fresh or frozen bones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collect any raw meat cutoffs, skin, sinews, cartilages and bones (including fish bones and fish heads) in a sealable container and put it in the freezer. Every time you cook, you can add fresh cutoffs on top and return the container to the freezer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, once in a while you dump the contents into a pot, generously cover it with water and let it simmer for 3 - 4 hours. The bone broth you get is very nutritious and hopefully to your cats taste. Store it in the fridge or freeze it in smaller portions. If it gets gelatinous, heat it slightly before feeding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please take note that you shouldn't add any seasoning at all. You also shouldn't use seasoned cutoffs like marinated meat or hot wings. Also, you &lt;strong&gt;must not feed cooked bones&lt;/strong&gt; to your cat because they pose a health risk. Only feed the broth and maybe the wobbly bits (skin, cartilage and the like).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T16:47:44.260" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T16:47:44.260" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31296" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-02T13:59:32.727" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;My partner and I adopted a 7 month old cat yesterday, she seemed fine, we were in her safe room for a few hours at a time, and she was curious and played and explored just fine. No hissing, and only a low growl when I attempted to let her sniff my hand, which is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today we were in her safe room, my partner had gotten up early and was with the new cat for a few hours before I entered. She was playing, and even touched and sat beside my partner. My partner then left the room, leaving me and the cat, she jumped up near me, I said hello, she hissed. Then she went to the door and began meowing/yowling at it. I left her in the room, and after telling my partner she went back into the room with the cat, who then also hissed at her and hit my partner's leg with her paws. So we left her in the safe room, but we can still hear her yowling from behind the closed door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also want to mention that she has not yet been spayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should we do?&#xA;I'm a little lost and any help would be appreciated, I've owned dogs before but never a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20415" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T17:04:47.177" Title="Adopted a 7 month old cat a day ago, today she is hissing and yowling in the safe room" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-02T14:08:43.503" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is my guppy pregnant? I really hope it is but I'm not sure... &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HF3Hn.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/HF3Hn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20355" LastActivityDate="2021-05-02T21:28:58.250" Title="Is my guppy pregnant? It's my first fish so i don't know" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-05-02T21:18:11.057" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31298" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-02T19:02:07.490" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Texas. I have an indoor cat who is 14 years old. Somehow we got fleas. But I am 99.9% sure of the fleas have been eradicated. I've not seen a flea or caught one in the traps in the house for months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat is regularly treated with advantage from the vet and I thoroughly sprayed and bombed two times and got rid of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yet I'm still noticing that's it on my body from time to time and it's usually after I pet my cat. If I pet the cat, I'll notice by its on my hand or arm, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand what it could be that is biting me. He's not really digging or scratching very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20416" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T00:34:26.943" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T00:34:26.943" Title="What is on my cat that's biting me?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;biting&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31296" CreationDate="2021-05-03T01:11:49.837" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at things from the cat’s perspective: she was taken from everything she knows and dropped in a confined space with two strange animals ten-plus times her size. She is scared out of her mind, just as you would be in that situation, and hissing is one of the ways a cat tries to intimidate other animals to leave it alone without risking a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep in mind that cats identify more by smell than by sight. If you have different smells on you every time she sees you (a more common issue with women), she may not recognize you’re the same person until she learns to recognize the personal scent hidden underneath your soap, shampoo, lotion, perfume, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it’s great you’re spending time with her, do your best to ignore her for now. Let her come up and sniff you without trying to pet her (which she may misinterpret as an attack). Let her get to know your voice from talking on the phone or reading out loud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How long this phase will last depends on each cat’s personality; it could be days, weeks or months. But eventually, you will see signs that she trusts you and is ready for more direct interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16573" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T01:11:49.837" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12197" CreationDate="2021-05-03T05:09:37.457" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RqJyb.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/RqJyb.png&quot; alt=&quot;graph about 4 signs of guppy pregnancy&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you can see 4 signs of guppies during pregnancy until birth (&lt;a href=&quot;https://guppyhobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/4-Signs-of-Female-Guppies-is-About-Giving-Birth-Infographic.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&#xA;The gravid spot does not need to be completely black, in lighter colored fish it could also be a kind of gray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fish in general do not get &amp;quot;fat bellies&amp;quot; like humans could. If they got lots of food, they will growth nearly equally on all ends. This said, a big belly is nearly always a sign for pregnancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T16:02:49.310" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T16:02:49.310" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29917" CreationDate="2021-05-03T12:05:26.943" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most probably not.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humans are the only species which have fully developed breasts even before their first birth. There are many theories behind this. One that I found feasible for myself is that great apes used their buttocks as a sexual message. Therefore, the bigger the buttocks are, the more clear the sexual message is. However, large buttocks made mating harder, so humans, contrary to other great apes, started to mate from front. In response to this, human females developed breasts as a new sexual message. With the prominence of buttocks reduced, they got back to a &lt;em&gt;mateable&lt;/em&gt; size (or penis size increased, I don't know), hence is the appearance of modern humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Erogenous zones are present both due to the dense nerve connection through the evolutionary process and the societal conditioning. (We usually cover erogenous zones.) Dogs neither have a reason for the dense nerve connection, nor have a society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if your dog is neutered, the lack of sex hormones would also reduce any sexual pleasure she would get from her nipples being touched. In other words, even if they were erogenous for an unfixed dog, they are probably not for a neutered one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can give an example from my cat as well. When I first touched my cat's nipples, I thought it was a tick and had to look in close detail. &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/20309/what-is-this-weird-pimple-on-my-cats-skin&quot;&gt;I am not the only one getting confused this&lt;/a&gt;. My cat never did anything suggesting that he was ticklish or aroused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-05-03T12:11:39.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T12:11:39.923" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31296" CreationDate="2021-05-03T17:04:47.177" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31299/12501&quot;&gt;StephenS's answer&lt;/a&gt;, you can improve your relationship with the cat via nonverbal communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time you go into her safe room, you should do the &amp;quot;lazy cat blink&amp;quot; at her to tell her that you're friendly and don't want to fight. &lt;strong&gt;Never ever stare into her eyes&lt;/strong&gt; or you destroy any chance at a peaceful life together. Looking at a spot next to her instead of directly at her or outright ignoring her is far better, and repeating the &amp;quot;lazy cat blink&amp;quot; every once in a while will hopefully calm her down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T17:04:47.177" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12240" CreationDate="2021-05-03T21:43:30.987" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Ultraviolet radiation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultraviolet radiation is the only known thing that is both beneficial and carcinogenic at the same time. More specifically, part of the ultraviolet spectrum which highly overlaps with UV-B (280 - 315 nm) causes conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol (a zoosterol, chemical compound naturally occurring in the skin of animals and humans) to previtamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;, which then spontaneously isomerizes into vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;. As visible in the picture 1., the previtamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; synthesis occurs with a peak at around 294 nm, and virtually none at wavelengths above 310 nm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qE6jm.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/qE6jm.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Picture 1.: action spectrum of 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; conversion; source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.testudo.cc/Pages/Introduction.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.testudo.cc&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of UV-B in the sunlight is already blocked off by atmosphere; the lower the Sun is above horizon, the more thick layer of atmosphere has to be traversed by sunlight and the less UV-B reaches Earth's surface. A rule of thumb says that the Sun has to be at least 45 degrees or higher above horizon (shadows have to appear shorter than objects casting them on the flat ground), or else too little UV-B reaches us for any substantial vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; production to occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Soda lime glass&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Windows are made from soda lime glass, which is generally transparent to UV-A but opaque to UV-B, and thus they mostly block off the part of UV spectrum responsible for enabling vitamin D&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; synthesis. Pictures 2., 3. and 4. show UV transmittance of soda lime glass from various sources. In this context it could be a problem, but does not necessarily have to be; pet foods are often fortified with minerals and vitamins, including vitamin D. However, vitamin D content present naturally in foods is poor, which could be a concern if you are cooking or otherwise preparing pet food on your own. What is more, vitamin D deficiency sometimes occurs because of gastrointestinal disorders causing its poor gut absorption - however, unlike dietary vitamin D, endogenous synthesis enabled by sunlight is not affected by this, as it bypasses gastrointestinal tract and directly reaches the bloodstream. Additionally, synthesis via sunlight has the bonus property that it is impossible to overdose vitamin D with it - at some point the synthesis reaction reaches equilibrium and vitamin D is degraded as fast as it is synthesized; meanwhile, it is possible to cause vitamin D toxicity via oral ingestion of excessive amounts (it shouldn't be a problem in case of food, though; it is reasonably possible only in case of excessive ingestion of artificial supplements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zqLwp.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/zqLwp.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Picture 2.: UV transmittance of soda lime glass; source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://publiclab.org/wiki/uv-spectrometry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;publiclab.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KnL0E.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/KnL0E.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Picture 3.: UV transmittance of soda lime glass; source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dichroic.asia/glass/tempglas2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;dichroic.asia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NAS6n.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/NAS6n.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;Picture 4.: UV transmittance of soda lime glass; source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.continentaltrade.com.pl/files/MIKA/SZKLO/Szklo%20wodowskazowe%20i%20wzierne/Continental/PrzepuszczalnoscSzklaFloat_EN.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.continentaltrade.com.pl&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Additional properties of sunlight&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please also note that enabling vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; synthesis is not the only benefit of sunlight exposure. UV radiation in sunlight, for example, has been shown to cause nitric oxide production in the skin (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_sunlight_exposure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). Nitric oxide is a signalling molecule that causes vasodilation (dilation of blood vessels), which lowers blood pressure and decreases the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. Medications like nitroglycerin and amyl nitrite which are taken to alleviate angina (pain caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle) are converted into nitric oxide in the body and this is responsible for their active properties. However, the spectrum enabling nitric oxide production is different than spectrum enabling vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; synthesis; part of it belongs to UV-A, which passes through soda lime glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sunlight exposure has many potential health benefits beyond enabling vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; synthesis. For example, it is known to decrease the chance of multiple sclerosis - however, it has been shown that substituting sunlight exposure with vitamin D&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; supplementation does not produce such effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2021-05-03T21:43:30.987" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18932" CreationDate="2021-05-04T02:20:46.443" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/rSale.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used a small hand drill &amp;amp; some craft wire to hold it down. Doesn’t touch the water &amp;amp; kitty can’t rip it apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20428" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T02:20:46.443" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-04T08:44:56.180" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using Bayer's Advantage Anti-fleas drops for my cat. It is a very common in Europe and is effective. However,&#xA;I have also suffer from dry eyes and I've noticed that when I apply this product to my cat I get puffy eyes and generally feel rather lethargic for a day or so, as my cat does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read in the product's official &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.advantagepetcare.com.au/au/our-products/advantage/advantage-cats/#:%7E:text=Advantage%20contains%20an%20active%20ingredient,flea%20larvae%20in%20the%20home.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt; that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advantage contains an active ingredient, &lt;strong&gt;imidacloprid&lt;/strong&gt;, that works fast and is able to kill fleas on contact, as it is not absorbed&#xA;into the bloodstream. The active ingredient remains in the lipid&#xA;(oily/fatty) layer of your cat’s skin and fur. It also kills flea&#xA;larvae in the home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I've learned anything, is that the Big Pharma's reassuring cannot be trusted at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I read in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2662424/#:%7E:text=Mild%20clinical%20effects%20such%20as,%2C%20%5B21%5D%20are%20reported.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Data on human exposure to &lt;strong&gt;imidacloprid&lt;/strong&gt; is limited to occupational&#xA;exposures and 13 case reports of self-poisoning. Mild clinical effects&#xA;such as tachycardia, hypertension, mydriasis, nausea and vomiting&#xA;occur, but more serious sequelae including respiratory failure,&#xA;seizures and even death are reported. This raises serious doubts about&#xA;its assumed superior safety profile over older insecticides. However,&#xA;in the majority of cases the concentration of imidacloprid was not&#xA;quantified so it was not possible to confirm exposure or consider dose&#xA;in the risk assessment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm wondering if there are any solid scientific facts about side effects of 'imidacloprid' on pet owners? And if imidacloprid is indeed dangerous, are there safer alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T22:01:04.193" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T20:31:44.103" Title="What are the effects of cat anti-flea insecticide - imidacloprid - on humans?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;fleas&gt;&lt;pest-control&gt;&lt;imidacloprid&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31327" CreationDate="2021-05-04T11:00:40.560" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a lot about hay pellets and Timothy Hay and Timothy Hay pellets here, when it comes to questions about rabbit's (and sometimes guinea pig's) diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in Germany I did not use nor even actively see something like this. I know hay (dried grass), pellets (grained stuff from vegetable-cut-offs to left-overs of milk production, baked to small balls or rings) and fresh grass, but without any special name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try to understand, why there are so much answers recommend to increase the intake of Timothy Hay pellets, even if the rabbit favor fresh green grass instead. (Is it even all the same? Pellets &amp;lt;-&amp;gt; hay &amp;lt;-&amp;gt; Timothy)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something that I miss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Examples:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/25359/whats-the-purpose-of-hay-pellets&quot;&gt;What&amp;#39;s The Purpose of Hay Pellets?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/5481/what-are-good-fiber-substitutes-for-hay-in-a-rabbits-diet&quot;&gt;What are good fiber substitutes for hay in a rabbit&amp;#39;s diet?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/16792/is-grass-ok-instead-of-hay&quot;&gt;Is grass OK instead of hay?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11808/my-rabbit-absolutely-will-not-eat-hay-and-very-little-pellets&quot;&gt;my rabbit absolutely will not eat hay and very little pellets&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T11:11:43.103" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T13:14:21.927" Title="What exactly are Timothy Hay pellets?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;guinea-pigs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-04T11:06:52.290" Score="2" ViewCount="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rabbits live in Middle Europe outside in my garden the whole year.&#xA;What should I regard in choosing their diet during winter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Picture of my male exploring the big white play ground:)&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8i7WI.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/8i7WI.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T11:16:56.677" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T11:16:56.677" Title="What should/could I feed my outdoor rabbits in winter?" Tags="&lt;diet&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;outdoor&gt;&lt;winter&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26706" CreationDate="2021-05-04T11:30:33.127" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, as the winter is over (the second one, since I asked my question), I found some kind of solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I built a &amp;quot;tipi&amp;quot; from conifer twigs (For all foreign people - like me: conifer are the group of trees with needles instead of leaves, not like in for example German , where &amp;quot;Konifere&amp;quot; is one particular species)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should choose a native European species, to ensure your rabbits can try a bit and stay safe. But if they are well fed with various kind of foods, you do not need to worry about them eating the conifer twigs. They would only try, if they are starving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, I missed taking a picture of the building itself, but I will include a sketch and an additional picture of the &amp;quot;porch&amp;quot; I built onto their regular hutch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SNiyW.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/SNiyW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;scratch of a conifere-tipi&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vcgy3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/vcgy3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;two rabbits in the snow&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T12:30:03.463" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T12:30:03.463" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-04T11:39:35.333" Score="2" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to build my turtle a basking area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What areas exist? And what are their advantages and disadvantages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I would favor one answer per kind of basking area.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T12:32:50.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T22:42:03.270" Title="What kind of basking areas exist for turtles?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;turtles&gt;&lt;lighting&gt;&lt;habitat&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31311" CreationDate="2021-05-04T11:49:48.130" Score="2" Body="&lt;h2&gt;DIY hanging kind of cage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gA29v.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/gA29v.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;turtle in basking area&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A cage from egg-crate-grid is resting onto two bent pipes. The pipes are hooked onto the tank's edges. The pipes are secured with screws to not disconnect. The cage holds together with some zip ties, also the cage is fixed with some of them onto the pipes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I did not get any egg-crate-grid in Germany; because of this I used some kind of car's radiator grill out of plastics. Some advantage: it tolerates higher temperatures from the basking light bulb.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disadvantages:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only suitable for male turtles (or females need an additional box to lay eggs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Suitable for one turtle only (it could become a trap for the second one in case of disagreements)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not the best looking solution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Needs some manual-craft-gifted-hands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Advantages:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One can build it relatively cheaply and easy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are also available to buy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One does not need any additional space beneath the tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The turtle cannot fall out of the tank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The water height can be quite high, compared to other solutions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size of water area is not compromised&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-04T22:42:03.270" LastActivityDate="2021-05-04T22:42:03.270" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="208" CreationDate="2021-05-05T14:18:14.977" Score="2" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Setup a fan pointing across the tank as a form of evaporative cooling. I assume though that would cool the top layer of water more than the bottom and I wasn't sure if the differential in temperature may make things even worse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A fan is a fantastic method for lowering a tank temperature efficiently&lt;/strong&gt;; when researching methods to effectively cool a 60 gallon axolotl tank, I found several recommendations to use a fan. A small, two-head aquarium fan resting in the gap between the back of the hood and the back of the tank has been sufficient to &lt;strong&gt;reduce the temperature of that tank 10-15 degrees F or 6-8 degrees C&lt;/strong&gt;. As the resident is an axolotl, a species capable of launching themselves out of their tanks, the openings in the hood are minimized and kept small enough to prevent her from fitting through them; even with this limitation, &lt;strong&gt;the tank stays consistently in the low 60s °F (16-20 °C)&lt;/strong&gt;, as measured from the bottom of the tank. As in other methods offered, convection carries the cold water from the surface down into the tank, allowing warmer water to rise back up to be cooled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some caveats you'll want to consider with this process. &lt;strong&gt;You'll need to keep a thermometer in the tank&lt;/strong&gt; (you should use one anyway). Because this method of cooling is much more effective than you may think, you'll want to keep an eye on it and make sure the tank isn't overly chilled, as well as be able to make adjustments to keep the temperature stable. Most aquarium fans have adjustable heads, which allows the direction of the fan to be modified; some may have separate controls for each head, or multiple speeds as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, because you're using evaporative cooling, &lt;strong&gt;your water level is going to drop&lt;/strong&gt; much more quickly than it would without the fan. I do a weekly partial change and refill on my tank because of how far the water drops; if I let it go too much longer than that, the water level can fall below the upper inlet on the filter, causing the filter to stop drawing in water (and therefore stop working). Depending on your current tank maintenance schedule, you may need to perform it more frequently when using a fan for cooling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you need to manage cooling a tank for an extended period of time, a fan may be a more effective way of handling it than ice cubes&lt;/strong&gt;, requiring less frequent maintenance and producing a more stable temperature result. Aquarium fans are generally rather inexpensive and can be easily acquired online. That said, if the period of cooling is only a day or two at a time, ice is effectively &amp;quot;free&amp;quot; compared to the fan and the time spent managing the tank temperature may be balanced by the reduced time doing overall tank maintenance and refilling it. For my own purposes, requiring the tank always sit below 65 °F / 18 °C (with ambient room temperatures around 70-75 °F / 21-24 °C), a fan is a much better option for me than using more temporary measures; if your tank is generally at the right temperature with only occasional spikes, then you may find less benefit from constant cooling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10702" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T14:43:13.603" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T14:43:13.603" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-05T15:59:10.867" Score="4" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog has a favorite ball that he has been playing with for nearly two years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ball is really squishy and soft compared to others on the market and unfortunately, I cannot find the same one on the market anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ball has started to tear in the middle where, by the looks of it, it was originally glued together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to fix the ball by gluing it back but I am not sure which is the best glue for the purpose and one that is also non-toxic and non-harmful to pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3Vuo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3Vuo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17391" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-05T21:01:57.650" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T16:31:10.733" Title="Is there a pet-safe, non-toxic glue to mend a fetch ball with?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31317" CreationDate="2021-05-05T20:52:15.270" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glue is usually toxic to pets and humans, because of these harmful ingredients in it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ethanol&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Xylene&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Light aliphatic naphtha&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N-hexane&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Toluene&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, it was hard to find a non-toxic option. I did find one brand, but I would still be extra careful with it and immediately call a veterinarian if your dog digests the glue or starts to act weird after being in contact with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ecobond#:%7E:text=Many%20glues%20aren%27t%20safe,all%20adhesives%2C%20silicones%20and%20caulks.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;trendhunter.com&lt;/a&gt;, Eco-Bond's glue is pet safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MzoJm.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MzoJm.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The source claims that Eco-Bond is completely non-toxic and safe for children and pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't find too many of their non-toxic choices on Amazon (I did find &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/b006ujf88e&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; currently unavailable option on Amazon though), but Eco-Bond does have a website where they display around six non-toxic glue choices to choose from: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ecobondstore.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.ecobondstore.com/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that this is legit, the glue would work on your dog's toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the glue won't last forever (and you wouldn't want your dog swallowing parts of the toy if it did come apart again) and even this non-toxic choice isn't the best for pets, so I would consider buying a different toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-05-05T20:52:15.270" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-05T23:42:36.867" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hoping someone can help me. I assume my rabbit has just formed a strong bond with my kitten, but just wanted another person's perspective on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my cat is only four months old. However, she has been with my rabbit since she was very little. Estimated at around 5-6 weeks, I found her abandoned covered in fleas and stone cold. She instantly took a liking to my rabbit upon first introductions; my rabbit is free roamed indoors. They were introduced in a mutual part of the house. At first, he was a little unsure of the kitten and expressed his dominance, a little growl here and there and the odd chasing around the house. However, he never expressed aggression. I've never left them alone unattended, they are quite attached to me and follow me around so they are together often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as my cat has started getting bigger she has started wanting to initiate play with my rabbit. She likes to sit above him on an object and try to tap his head. Recently, I've noticed a change in my rabbit's behavior. He's gone from wanting to be dominant to submissive. He is a very big rabbit compared to her, so it's strange. He will let her climb all over him and try to get his ears. He'll just sit there and accept it, no grunts or growls. No attempting to bite. If he has enough he kind of just gets up and walks away. Although sometimes it's like she chases him afterward and tries to mount him. She hasn't shown any signs of aggression and he seems very happy and content. He still blinks and flops and seems to enjoy her company. My main worry was the weird turn to being submissive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this normal behavior, should I be worried, and how would you interpret this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20441" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T13:15:11.993" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T16:33:56.107" Title="Is there something wrong with my cat and rabbit's relationship?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;play&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31319" CreationDate="2021-05-06T04:55:04.527" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, rabbits are prey animals to cats so your cat is doing regular cat behavior. The rabbit is afraid to fight back because the cat will have the upper hand in a fight. I would expect this as normal behaviour between prey animals and predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But most of the time, cats that live indoors that do not learn to hunt will not attack other prey pets. Cats and rabbits are good companions in the end so hope they stay close to each other!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T04:55:04.527" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29658" CreationDate="2021-05-06T05:00:21.133" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually adding a pet mat at the inside of a cat-flap and the outside of a cat-flap is a reasonable idea. The cats may run into the cat-flap so the efficiency levels may fall with the mats, but the more mat space, the more steps they take on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people wipe their cat’s feet when extremely grubby, which is reasonable if it isn’t too often. Cats may get agitated unless you give them their favourite treat when they come in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19588" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T16:36:40.270" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T16:36:40.270" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31319" CreationDate="2021-05-06T05:03:25.427" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dominance signs in cats: cat wants to show how tall it is, starts to stretch the head up and wants to get above the opponent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dominance in rabbits: rabbit wants to be groomed, wants to get UNDER the opponent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why rabbits and cats are this happy together :D each of them thinks &amp;quot;I am the dominant one&amp;quot; and wins the fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how you described the behavior of your rabbit, it is still happy that the cat treats the rabbit's fur. Maybe from the rabbit's point of view the cat will not win an award for the best groomer, but the intention is what counts ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the cat is happy that the rabbit accepts the lower position without any pressure, and the cat can satisfy its curiosity and instinct to play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a look in this question, to get more information about rabbit-cat-relationship:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2219/what-should-we-look-for-in-a-kitty-companion-for-our-rabbit&quot;&gt;What should we look for in a kitty companion for our rabbit?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T16:33:56.107" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T16:33:56.107" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31317" CreationDate="2021-05-06T05:15:11.653" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;By thinking about glues and the safety, I thought about the question: which risks glue in general would provide?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Licking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The glue (and all its components) needs to stay at the ball when coming in contact with saliva and dog teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Swallowing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the dog swallows parts of the ball, I would assume that the glue is not the main cause of what you would be worried about. (Please correct me here, if you know more.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following this thinking, I would assume that even glues with toxic components are safe for a dog, as long as they do not lose small parts and are not soluble in water. For me then, some kind of two-component glue - which stays flexible - would work. And while gluing, I would make myself absolutely sure to only glue the inside of the ball (there seems to be a groove and tongue for this purpose: the surface of the glued together border is not plain, but has some kind of slit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T16:31:10.733" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T16:31:10.733" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-06T05:51:09.950" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guppy looked pretty healthy and shiny just three days ago:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cFS7tm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cFS7tm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yesterday... it just darkened. The scale pattern just got so dark all of a sudden. Should I be worried?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ukqvum.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ukqvum.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/30ptpm.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/30ptpm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20355" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-06T22:14:49.127" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T22:14:49.127" Title="Color change in guppy" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31308" CreationDate="2021-05-06T13:14:21.927" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timothy hay pellets are made from &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_(grass)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Timothy grass (Phleum pratense)&lt;/a&gt;, a type of grass that originated in Eurasia and has been cultivated in America since the 1720s. It's grown as feed for cattle, horses, rabbits, guinea pigs and other herbivore pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timothy hay is rich in long fibre and its abrasive texture helps to grind down the teeth, keeping both the teeth and jaw in good order. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_(grass)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Timothy grass is a traditional premium hay for horses and other pets, but its limited yield (only 2 cuttings per year) make it not widely available in commercial products. Its very low sugar and protein content and high fiber content make it a very valuable feed for animals with a sensitive stomach or metabolic disorders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High quality Timothy Grass contains a moderate amount of protein, usually testing at approximately 8% protein. It has a consistent and balanced ratio of calcium to phosphorus and Timothy Grass has a low to moderate calorie content. Timothy Grass is also a rich source of fiber.  Seemingly, the only potential draw-back with Timothy Grass is availability. Timothy grass usually yields just two cuttings per year and requires a significant amount of water to grow. These two factors along with its traditional popularity limit the supply of Timothy Grass hay. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://standleeforage.com/nutrition/nutritional-papers/big-two-forage-grasses-timothy-and-orchard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The German name of Timothy grass is &amp;quot;Wiesen-Lieschgras&amp;quot;, which is much more unwieldly and less suited for marketing purposes. There are additional factors why you won't find Timothy hay easily in Germany:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timothy hay is not cheap and can be considered a special diet. That's why you won't find it in most supermarkets that sell only cheap pet food.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most consumers want to offer their pets a varied diet, so most commercial hay products for small pets contain a mixture of different crasses and herbs. You'd need to read the list of ingredients to see if a product contains Timothy hay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Traditional meadows for hay production in Germany usually aren't cultivated and sown each year, but naturally grow a mixture of different plants. To get pure Timothy grass you have to cultivate it on a field.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find Timothy hay in specialized shops like &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heu-kaufen.com/heu-shop/timothy-heu-lieschgras/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;heu-kaufen.com&lt;/a&gt; (sold as &amp;quot;Timothy&amp;quot;) and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hansemanns-team.de/Gras-/-Heuprodukte/Gras-/-Heupellets/Lieschgras-/-Timothy-Heupellets:::14_1436_409.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Hansemanns Team&lt;/a&gt; (sold as &amp;quot;Lieschgras&amp;quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-05-06T13:14:21.927" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-06T19:47:16.567" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is easy to find search results answering this, from sites for private/commercial vet businesses. I was hoping someone might know of something answering this that is more independently authoritative, like a medical vet board for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17844" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T13:32:20.280" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T13:32:20.280" Title="How often should one have professional teeth cleaning done for their cat, as recommended by vet boards?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;dental-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31332" CreationDate="2021-05-07T05:30:30.107" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;My son is around 6 years old. On the way to school we see many different dogs. He wants to touch everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What guideline can I provide my son, to interact with unknown dogs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aims:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not scare my son;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not risk anyone's health.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any &amp;quot;code&amp;quot; dog owners act on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Additional complication: We speak a foreign language and could not fully understand the country's language.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-07T15:22:32.730" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T14:25:31.903" Title="How to &quot;coach&quot; dog - child meetings at the street?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;children&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31328" CreationDate="2021-05-07T06:18:45.370" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The German Society for Medical Science of Animal's Teeth (&amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tierzahnaerzte.de/fuer-tieraerztinnen-und-tieraerzte-mobile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tierzahnheilkunde&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;), a subset of the German Society for Animal's Health, provides a set of codes of practice for all German vets about how to act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of them is about the dental care of pets, in context of dog parlor businesses. Some dog parlors in Germany were offering dental care with the promise &amp;quot;that there is no anesthesia needed&amp;quot; because they use ultrasonic sound to clean. This society debates the quality such businesses could provide without hurting the animal, against the cruelty to make a real professional dental cleaning without narcosis. They conclude that it is not possible to clean the important areas of teeth (especially the border between root and skin) without cruel pain for the animal if a narcosis is not administered. Also, it is not possible to polish the teeth after the ultrasonic sound treatment, which is mandatory to smooth the scratches caused by the ultrasonic sound treatment. Without this, the bacteria/plaque would come back faster and easier than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this code of practice is also written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Daher  sollte  neben  häuslicher  Zahnpflege  jährlich  mindestens  eine  Kontrolle  der  Maulgesundheit  von  Hund  und  Katze  in  der  Tierarztpraxis    erfolgen,  um  eine  not-wendige Behandlungsbedürftigkeit  rechtzeitig zu erkennen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, in addition to home dental care, the oral health of dogs and cats should be checked annually in the veterinary practice in order to diagnose the need of treatment at the right time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tierzahnaerzte.de/images/Tierzahnaerzte/Offizielle_Stellungnahmen/TVT-MB_119_Zahnreinigung_Ultraschall__2009__01.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Clinic for Small Domesticated Animals (&amp;quot;Klinik für kleine Haustiere&amp;quot; ★ ) of the University of Berlin also states, that the dental health of pets should be researched regularly on vet's visits, to notice changes which need an intervention. They also write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sinn der &amp;quot;dental homecare&amp;quot; ist es, im Anschluss an eine professionelle Zahnreinigung unter Narkose eine erneute Ansammlung von  Zahnbelägen (Plaque, Zahnstein) zu verhindern oder zumindest zu minimieren. Zähneputzen stellt dabei die effektivste Methode dar, wobei dieses idealerweise täglich erfolgen sollte. Alternativ oder in Kombination zum Zähneputzen können Hund und Katze spezielle Zahndiäten mit mechanischem Zahnreinigungseffekt oder spezielle Zahnpflegeprodukte in Form von Kaustreifen, -knochen etc. angeboten werden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of the dental home-care is to prevent or at least minimize new accumulation of plaque or dental calculus after the professional dental cleaning under narcosis. Brushing the teeth is the most effective method there, and ideally should be done daily. As an alternative or in combination with brushing the teeth, dogs and cats could be offered special diets with a mechanical tooth-cleaning effect or special dental care products in the form of Kaustreifen ★★, Kauknochen ★★, and similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/kliniken/we20/sprechstunde/Zahnbehandlung/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;( ★ in Germany, all domesticated animals are called &amp;quot;Haustiere&amp;quot;, there is no difference between a cow, a turtle, or a rabbit, so &amp;quot;kleine Haustiere&amp;quot; (small domesticated animals) are pets, while &amp;quot;Großtiere&amp;quot; would include horse, cow and pig.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;( ★★ &amp;quot;Kaustreifen&amp;quot;: strips of dried meat or something similar which the dog needs to chew for a long time before it could be swallowed. &amp;quot;Kauknochen&amp;quot; most times are made from such dried meat/skin, and shaped like a bone. Some are filled with tasty stuff, others are woven out of multiple strips, so it is more difficult to tearing parts of. One famous thing in this category are dried ears of pigs in Germany.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In conclusion:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pet owner needs to choose the real professional dental cleaning for their pets, and needs to be aware that the critical areas could not be cleaned without narcosis. So other dental cleaning is cosmetic only, not preventing the real health risks. And the owner itself can provide dental home-care and so increase the time between two needed professional dental cares for the pet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-07T21:27:49.287" LastActivityDate="2021-05-07T21:27:49.287" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31344" CreationDate="2021-05-07T14:52:33.330" Score="4" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;We think my puppy has a UTI; she's house-trained but she keeps having accidents, keeps signaling to go out but not going, and last night she peed in bed with my partner. Do we go to the emergency vet? The regular vet can't see us for a week, but I'm worried about COVID obviously. Is this a call-off-work-and-go-NOW emergency like a broken bone would be? A go-when-you-get-time emergency vet thing? Or wait-a-week-it's-fine regular vet thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T22:41:19.613" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T22:41:19.613" Title="How urgent is a UTI in dogs?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;urinary-tract-disease&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31329" CreationDate="2021-05-07T15:08:51.213" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, it is better to avoid unknown dogs because of health and safety issues. If your son wants to say hi, this is the order of events that should happen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your son sees a dog;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your son should identify the dog's owner (if the dog is tied up) if nearby;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the owner is found, before approaching the dog, your son should ask the owner:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he friendly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the owner replies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Then your son should ask:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I say hi?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if the owner says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol start=&quot;5&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your son can approach the dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your son should let the dog sniff him first. He should not make sudden movements or loud noises. He should be respectful, and not try to contain, pick up, squeeze, or hug the dog in any way. He should also only pat or pet the dog's back at first. Your son can ask the owner about where the dog most likes being petted. Your son should only say hi for about a minute before going on his way. Your son should get on his way sooner if the dog is aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should teach your son to (assuming he is not with you) &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;approach an unleashed dog;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;start petting a dog without the owner's permission;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;agree to follow an owner to their car or somewhere else to meet their dog (kidnapping risk);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;say hi to a dog that is scared of him, whining, barking or jumping, or bad body language;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or do anything else risky.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The worst-case scenario is that your son gets bitten by a dog. If so, have him immediately ask the owner if the dog has had his shots (like rabies). If not, he should tell the owner to phone (and for his phone number) a veterinarian or hospital immediately as well as you (the parent). If he did get something like rabies, he would need immediate medical attention. If the dog has had his shots, then your son should head back home to clean the wound. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://health.clevelandclinic.org/if-a-dog-bites-you-do-these-7-things-now/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for how to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/how-to-greet-a-dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.preventivevet/how to greet a dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/advice/how-to-safely-greet-a-strange-dog/#:%7E:text=Greet%20With%20Dog%2DAppropriate%20Actions&amp;amp;text=But%20be%20sure%20to%20do,head%20as%20that%20is%20frightening.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.akc.org/how to safely greet a strange-dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-11T14:25:31.903" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T14:25:31.903" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31333" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-07T16:50:10.717" Score="4" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C4KN8.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/C4KN8m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my corn snake, Pyro, I just got him out today to feed him. Last week when I got him out, I didn't notice any different colors, but he had a yellow tint around his face/upper body. His temperature usually varies around 80-87 degrees Fahrenheit (27-31 degrees Celsius), sometimes getting to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). His humidity is around 40-60 %, sometimes getting up to 70 %.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really nervous about it, I'm not sure if I need to take him to a vet or not? I researched about it and some people said it's normal, and it happens usually after they shed, he shed around 2-3 weeks ago? He's around 5-6 months old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use aspen shavings in his tank, and feed him in a separate container.&#xA;I feed him frozen pinkies once every week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20454" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-07T22:06:03.030" LastActivityDate="2021-05-14T13:57:10.237" Title="My Amelanistic Corn Snake is turning yellow?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;snakes&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31340" CreationDate="2021-05-07T20:25:31.170" Score="3" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am traveling with my two cats next week. The male cat is 12 kg (approx 26.5 lb) and 60 cm tall (24 inches). The female is 9 kg (approx 20 lb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the first time that I have taken my cats on a train. I'm very worried. I managed to get a great seat. The vet gave me &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vetoquinolusa.com/content/zylkene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Zylkene&lt;/a&gt; pills. Each pill is 75 mg (approx 0.003 ounces). I'm traveling on Wednesday. The vet said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st row of pills on Monday &lt;strong&gt;DDay - 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2nd row of pills on Tuesday &lt;strong&gt;DDay -1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3rd row pills on Wednesday &lt;strong&gt;(DDay)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4th row of pill on &lt;strong&gt;DDay+1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5th row of pills on &lt;strong&gt;DDay+2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2PBTom.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/2PBTom.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think that it's reasonable to give each cat 75 mg (approx 0.003 ounces) of Zylkene once a day and &lt;strong&gt;why would you have to give it to them two days before?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12471" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-07T21:40:59.783" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T05:46:01.580" Title="Use Zylkene 75 mg before traveling with my cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;medicines&gt;&lt;travel&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31336" CreationDate="2021-05-07T21:00:59.253" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there isn't enough space in the shelter, this seems like a solution, doesn't it? What is this practice called, if it exists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20082" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T13:42:31.817" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T13:42:31.817" Title="Do shelters allow you to adopt cats temporarily until someone agrees to take them permanently?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;adoption&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31335" CreationDate="2021-05-07T21:54:55.453" Score="10" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The practice is known as fostering.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals aren't fostered only for the purpose of making more room in shelters, although that is one of the reasons.  There are other benefits to fostering as well, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being in a home rather than a shelter is less stressful, and can be really beneficial to any animal that gets particularly stressed in a shelter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animals with behavior problems or lack socialization can be introduced to a normal home and worked with by their foster guardian in order to make them more adoptable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animals that cannot yet be adopted due to needing to convalesce, or needing regular non-expert medical care, or nursing mothers, or babies too young to be adopted can receive better care as a foster.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Animals that have been accidentally separated from their owners, and are awaiting reunion with their owners.  These animals have no need to be displayed for adoption, and so it's better to put them in a lower-stress environment if possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-05-07T21:54:55.453" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26185" CreationDate="2021-05-08T04:02:30.283" Score="-1" Body="&lt;p&gt;i dont really have an answer for you, but more of a shared experience. My cat is absolutely terrified of balloons. He likes to stay in the bathroom most of the time, but my daughter just had her second birthday and I blew up many balloons and made a balloon tower. he wasn't scared until he popped a balloon. after that, he literally ran for his life. I've never seen such terror. and my boyfriend didn't help, he thought it was funny that the cat was so afraid, so he started tormenting him with the balloon tower. my cat confined himself to the bathroom and wouldn't move or eat or anything. its been a week now and he's mostly back to normal, but the terror that I saw in him made me so sad. He scratched the crap out of me when I tried to bring him to the living room. i don't know what it is, but I saw something on Quora saying that they might be able to see minute vibrations in the balloons with no apparent cause and that might be what scares them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20456" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T04:02:30.283" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-08T10:52:26.967" Score="0" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat was diagnosed having a pyometra. I'm thinking: if I allow her to mate and get pregnant, will it be okay? And will it help my cat with recovering from pyometra?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20457" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T02:15:04.527" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T07:50:29.607" Title="Can cat with pyometra be allowed to mate and get pregnant?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31338" CreationDate="2021-05-08T11:16:22.363" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please do not let your cat mate!&#xA;It will not help with the disease!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To treat pyometra you need the help of a vet.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual way of treating a pyometra is to remove the uterus completely. This is done because the disease is life-threatening and must be treated as quickly as possible. There are other treatments if you really want to breed the cat in the future, but please talk to a vet about it. They need to administer any treatment, no matter what you decide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/pyometra-in-cats&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Source: VCA Hospital | Pyometra in cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The next steps for you to take:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contact a vet you trust and tell him about the diagnosis of your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let the vet suggest a course of action for the treatment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Think about your option and decide on a treatment that is best for your cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-05-08T11:16:22.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31334" CreationDate="2021-05-09T05:46:01.580" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dose on the label says to give 2 capsules per day in cats over 10 lbs. From the product information on &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B01M0P5SMW&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j2Uqg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/j2Uqg.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cats are very large – they will be fine with 150 mg per day. In fact, your male cat exceeds the cat dose range and would probably be fine with the 225 mg capsules (however, as we dose to healthy body weight, you should stick with your vet's prescribed 75 mg capsules). You can open the capsules and sprinkle them on a little food to make it easier to administer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zylkene is a very safe supplement. It is a non-prescription product. Supplements in general are not as closely regulated as drugs, probably due to their generally wide margin of safety. It does not appear that the manufacturer has published any safety data. Anecdotally (as a vet), I have never encountered any adverse effects from this product other than the occasional one with an allergy or sensitivity, and even this is uncommon as the main ingredient is a hydrolysed protein.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zylkene is simply a milk-protein (alpha-casozepine) product that may have some calming effect. It is not a sedative, but it may help with stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is best to start at least 2 days before (longer if possible). Many medications and supplements take more than one dose to reach therapeutic levels. Zylkene works by binding benzodiazepine receptors in the brain to help with calming effects without the sedation of benzodiazepines. A single dose may not do much, but given over the course of several days you may see better response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of studies on Zylkene:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787807000391&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effect of alpha-casozepine (Zylkene) on anxiety in cats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787807002031&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Effects of alpha-casozepine (Zylkene) versus selegiline hydrochloride (Selgian, Anipryl) on anxiety disorders in dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, regarding the travel itself – the cats will be fine. They may be nervous for a few hours, but it doesn't take long for most cats to settle down during a long plane or train journey. Perhaps cover their carriers in a blanket so that they are less sensitive to their surroundings, and make use of pheromone products such as Feliway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are very perceptive little creatures, and the more stressed you are stressed about it, the more stressed they will be. So, relax, and Zylkene for all (that's a joke, please don't consume any Zylkene yourself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T05:46:01.580" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31338" CreationDate="2021-05-09T06:48:41.470" Score="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pyometra means the uterus is infected. More literally, it means &lt;em&gt;pus&lt;/em&gt; in the uterus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Breeding her will not solve the problem, nevermind it being very unlikely there would be any surviving kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pyometra can be very serious. I recently had a a patient who was a young unspayed female cat who first developed pyometra, then the infection spread systemically (sepsis and endotoxaemia), resulting in both pneumonia (lung infection) as well as pyelonephritis (kidney infection). The cat is now recovering well, having spent over 2 weeks at a speciality referral hospital and having undergone spay surgery once stabilized. She was one of the lucky ones, nearly $20,000 in diagnostics and treatments later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point being, addressed early, pyometra is something that can be treated before it gets serious. Although spay surgery will almost always be recommended, it may not be emergent in every case (although in some it will need to be done emergently). Some cases can be managed medically, but this is obviously very much a case-by-case discussion with between the vet and owner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pyometra is a disease ultimately caused by hormones. A little background here...Cats are induced ovulators, which means that they ovulate with mating or sexual stimulation. However, some cats can ovulate with minimal stimulation (such as just petting). When a cat goes through oestrus and ovulates but does not conceive, they are at risk of pyometra. These repeated oestrus cycles without pregnancy results in cystic endometrial hyperplasia (thickening in the uterine wall), which is more susceptible to infection. There are often genetic factors at play as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In theory, breeding her at every oestrus might reduce her risk of pyometra (because less endometrial hyperplasia). Obviously this strategy would result in lots and lots of kittens. But in your cat's case, if she has a pyometra already, a pregnancy is unlikely. In the future, she will likely have reduced fertility from the underlying cause of the pyometra. She is also likely to pass on any genetic tendency for pyometra to her female kittens, which is obviously not desirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hormonally, it also doesn't make sense to breed her. If a cat is to get pregnant, this will result in high levels of progesterone. With more progesterone, the uterine wall has less contractions and the cervix remains tightly closed. To treat the pyometra, the pus and infection in the uterus needs a way out. Managed medically, pyometra may be treated by drugs that get progesterone levels as low as possible (just the &lt;em&gt;opposite&lt;/em&gt; of pregnancy). Getting progesterone levels low helps the uterus to contract and the cervix to open, allowing a route of drainage in a similar way an abscess is treated by lancing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please talk to your vet about forming a treatment plan for your cat, whether that be medical or surgical. This is not a problem that will just get better on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5456" LastEditorUserId="5456" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T07:50:29.607" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T07:50:29.607" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-09T09:47:30.353" Score="3" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I look after two common goldfish in a 56L filtered tank with an airstone for additional aeration. Over the past two days, one of the fish has been appearing to be sick, suffering with what I can only describe as looking like &amp;quot;internal bleeding&amp;quot; around the gills, fins and face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The description online of ammonia poisoning matches the symptoms, but the tank reading of both ammonia and nitrite (using strip tests) read nil. I also conducted a 50% water change in case of the tests being faulty (they are within the expiry date listed) but have observed no improvement to the physical condition of the fish, and they appear worse today than yesterday. There do not appear to be any behavioural changes, the fish ate as normal yesterday (I am currently withholding food from today, though), does not appear to be hovering around near the top of the tank and does not appear particularly lethargic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please would somebody be able to help me diagnose and treat this issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/afUdO.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/afUdOm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ill fish picture 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BBse1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/BBse1m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ill fish picture 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cMqLb.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/cMqLbm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ill fish picture 3&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20460" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T17:31:14.280" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T17:31:14.280" Title="Common goldfish with &quot;bleeding&quot; around face, gills and fins" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;goldfish&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31342" CreationDate="2021-05-09T16:28:58.227" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too long for a comment but not really a proper answer, so some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve heard of &amp;quot;ammonia spikes&amp;quot; which seems to tally with your story. I’ve had them myself: beautiful fantail, white tail, red lines appeared one morning but all readings were in the safe limits. No other fish affected. The blood streaks didn’t really disappear, either, although the fish lived a reasonably long life and didn’t seem bothered by them ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the streaking I had didn’t look anywhere as bad as this (it was limited to a few lines on the huge fantail tail and some on the pectoral fins). Also, going by your photo, your fish look stressed: the dorsal fin is down and the other fins are clamped. It could be that they’re stressing about the camera just at the point of the photo being taken or the water change. But they don’t look happy in the photo, even without the blood streaks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s one other thing it could be. Bacterial infections can cause blood streaking like this but the only time I’ve seen it, it was on the belly and the fish had had dropsy for some time before that. Your fish don’t have dropsy but do look out for it. Dropsy is bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some things to check:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post numbers here for your chemistry. There are some experienced fish keepers on here and posting numbers is usually the first thing requested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check your pH. I had issues with a decreasing pH (soft water area). Didn’t realise for years and my resident fish seemed to adapt as it crept slowly down. All fixed with a coral gravel buffer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How is the water in your area? Any chance they’re changed the chemistry at the water treatment plant? When was your last water change before this on? Do you have to worry about chloramine?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you dosed with stress coat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it’s &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; of your fish, it’s likely to be a water issue. Make sure your strips are in date and consider taking a sample of water to your local fish store for them to test. Some fish stores even supply water, too. Make sure there’s nothing gumming up your filter and check your &amp;quot;stock&amp;quot; levels. Goldfish are big and dirty. I have 3 in 180 litre tank and I would not consider more (even though 2 of them are still tiny). Overstocking just makes for more work and I’m lazy. If your fish are still quite small, the 56l tank might be plenty big for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it’s just one of your fish, see if you can see anything else on the fish. Are it’s gills a good colour? I must say I can’t see anything else wrong with it. Is it eating and pooping ok? Keep an eye on the other fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, goldfish do change colour sometimes. One of the photos makes this look bad, but the others not so much. I think it’s unlikely given the actual colour change but not completely impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastEditorUserId="12774" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T16:36:11.343" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T16:36:11.343" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31331" CreationDate="2021-05-09T19:16:29.690" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;A UTI should be treated in a timely manner, but as with everything else, there are differences in severity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Low severity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog keeps having accidents and you're not sure why. You assume it might be a UTI and want a vet to confirm this assumption. In this case it would be acceptable to wait a week until the vet can see you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medium severity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog shows signs of discomfort or pain while urinating or the urine looks cloudy or pink, but the dog acts normally otherwise. These are strong signs that the dog does have a mild UTI, which should be treated with medications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the physical stress any infection causes, this is also a high risk for your dog to adapt unwanted behavior. Since urinating causes her pain, she might not want to pee in her usual spot anymore - because this spot is now connected to pain. She might soil the house more often or develop other unpredictable behaviors as a reaction to the pain she feels while peeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want to start treatment very soon (preferably today or tomorrow), but you don't need to rush to the vet withing the hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High severity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/high-fever-in-dogs#1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;has a fever&lt;/a&gt; and acts lethargic or depressed or pants even when resting. This should be treated as soon as possible to avoid the infection spreading to other organs and causing even more damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's blood in the urine (pink, red or brown color), she refuses to drink or you notice that she is unable to pee all day, even after trying several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an emergency and you need to see a vet as soon as possible. A stone might be blocking the urinary tract, causing extreme pain and in the worst case kidney failure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet prescribes antibiotics, please keep in mind that your dog must finish &lt;strong&gt;the entire course&lt;/strong&gt;, even if she doesn't show any symptoms anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's possible at all, try to catch some of the urine on a plastic surface (like a transparent trash bag) and look at it. This can tell you a lot about her health. If you find any signs of a problem, collect some of the urine in a small container (like an empty glass of jam) and bring it with you when you see the vet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Healthy urine is transparent and has either no color or a pale yellow color. If the urine is cloudy, milky, foamy or has any amount of pink or red in it, you should see your vet very soon. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/pee-color-chart&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;urine color chart&lt;/a&gt; for comparison. Basically anything besides yellow means &amp;quot;go see your vet&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what you decide to do, I suggest you establish a ritual of letting her out to pee right before bedtime every night. She might not want to go and sometimes she might go out without peeing, but at least she got the chance. With time she'll probably get used to it and just the action of letting her out in the evening will prompt her to pee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T19:52:13.513" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T19:52:13.513" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-09T19:19:40.340" Score="5" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the years, I have noticed with all of my dogs that after I have given some sweet talk and ear scratches, they will give out a long sigh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am hoping this is out of contentment. Is there any basis in fact to support that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19647" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T19:31:01.703" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T19:31:01.703" Title="Do dogs 'sigh out of contentment'?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;vocalizations&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31329" CreationDate="2021-05-09T20:19:52.107" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31332/12501&quot;&gt;Nai54's excellent answer&lt;/a&gt;, I want to concentrate on the &amp;quot;code&amp;quot; the dog acts on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many children have the instinct to pet animals on their heads, because that's what they see in TV and images. But for a dog a hand that is approaching their head from above can seem very scary and intimidating. You should teach your son to &lt;strong&gt;never pet a dog on the top of the head&lt;/strong&gt;, always on the side of the shoulder or front of the breast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do a little role play with your son. He plays the dog (crouching on the floor) and you play your son trying to pet him. Look him in the eyes and move your hand towards his forehead from above. Then ask him if he felt good or bad. Repeat the same play, but this time pet him on the cheek from the side. Ask him how this felt in comparison. This first hand experience is ideal to make him understand dogs and remember not to pet the dogs' head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a graphic that shows the most common errors people do when meeting dogs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xOubh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xOubh.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best to teach your child a &amp;quot;dog etiquette&amp;quot; in comparison to our human etiquette:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If two people meet, they shake hands to say hello. Dogs don't have hands to shake, but they sniff each other to say hello. If your son meets a dog, he should first crouch or kneel down beside the dog and present his hand to be sniffed without trying to touch the dog. You can see the correct stance in &lt;a href=&quot;https://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ATTACHMENT-2.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;this presentation on slide 18&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once the dog sniffed his hand and thus said hello, he can ask the dog if it wants to be pet. Since the dog cannot understand human language, your son should pet the side of the shoulder or the breast in front of the front legs for 3 seconds. If the dog moves away, it doesn't want to be pet. Otherwise it's okay with being pet. See how this &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=970935256358304&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 second rule works in this video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After your son has introduced himself so friendly to the dog, and if the dog doesn't move away, he can continue petting the dog for another 3 seconds and then see if the dog wants more or moves away.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comparison makes the rules of introduction easy to understand for a child. In reality they allow the dog to build trust in your son by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoiding intimidating body language.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Getting to know him (by his smell) before being touched.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Experiencing that your son is not intrusive or intimidating by going for the top of the head first or holding the dog against its will.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-09T20:30:02.730" LastActivityDate="2021-05-09T20:30:02.730" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31347" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-10T03:46:10.253" Score="4" ViewCount="955" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking of adopting one ex-battery hen. She is to be a pet chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live on 700 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, however, she would be kept in the back yard where I have two large patches of grass and the rest is pavement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just wondering--I've heard that chickens ruin the lawn, but would one really cause that much damage? Has anyone had experience with a single pet chicken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20466" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T15:54:21.490" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T15:54:21.490" Title="Will a single chicken ruin my lawn?" Tags="&lt;containment&gt;&lt;chickens&gt;&lt;enclosure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31350" CreationDate="2021-05-10T03:53:17.950" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a pet class, I had learned that since our dog has flappy ears, our dog may have more ear issues than dogs with perky ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was trying to search for some sort of hat/sleeve that I could put on our dog, but I'm not really finding anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for essentially something just like this: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/happy-hoodie-calming-cap-dogs-small/dp/239662&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.chewy.com/happy-hoodie-calming-cap-dogs-small/dp/239662&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, ideally there is a mesh over where the actual ear canals are, to promote more airflow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Separately, I'm thinking also periodically using these ear wipes will be good additional preventative measure: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.chewy.com/pet-md-aloe-vera-eucalyptus-dog-ear/dp/146683&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.chewy.com/pet-md-aloe-vera-eucalyptus-dog-ear/dp/146683&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20465" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T11:33:54.350" Title="Hat to hold floppy ears back, to keep them dry and healthy" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-10T09:50:19.493" Score="2" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;For 2 to 3 months, a cat who seems to me to be fairly clean has been hanging out in my garden; the first few days I didn't want to give him anything to eat or drink so that he wouldn't come back. After a while (2 or 3 weeks), I thought to myself that he must be very hungry, so I started to feed him. Now I don't know what to do with him, because he doesn't want to leave. He hardly goes out, but he's not stuck--I saw him climb the garden wall several times, go to the next door neighbors and come back. He spends 95% of his time in my garden, whether during night or day. I don't know what to do with him anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am in France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I posted ads on social media in groups of lost animals in the area where I live, but no one called me. I wanted to keep it at first, but since I have a 3 month old newborn, I don't want to take any risk--I don't know where he was hanging out before this, or if he has any illnesses....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I continue to feed him or should I stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I contacted an association, and they told me that they cannot take it, and that we must stop feeding it, but is it humane to do that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please help me find a solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20471" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T15:04:54.680" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T15:04:54.680" Title="There's a cat in my garden who doesn't want to leave" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31348" CreationDate="2021-05-10T10:37:32.533" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't need any type of bandana or head wrap or whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a good idea to have ear cleaners at hand and get your dog used to them before he even gets an infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read below for tips how to avoid ear infections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's true that floppy ears are more prone to getting infected. &lt;a href=&quot;https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/ear-infections-in-dogs-otitis-externa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;VCA writes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some breeds, particularly those with large, floppy or hairy ears like Cocker Spaniels, Miniature Poodles, or Old English Sheepdogs, appear to be more prone to ear infections, but ear infections may occur in any breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that doesn't mean you need to put a head band on your dog to avoid infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main causes for ear infection, according to to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/dog-ear-infections/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Americal Kennel Club&lt;/a&gt;, are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moisture, which can create a prime growing environment for bacteria and yeast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Allergies, which lead to ear disease in about 50 percent of dogs with allergic skin disease and 80 percent of dogs with food sensitivities&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Endocrine disorders, such as thyroid disease&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Autoimmune disorders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wax buildup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foreign bodies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Injury to the ear canal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excessive cleaning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the number one measure to avoid an ear infection is to avoid water and other foreign objects entering the ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If / When you bathe your dog, &lt;strong&gt;never let water flow over his head and ears&lt;/strong&gt;. The ear canal in dogs is naturally slanted downwards and any water will flow deeply into the ear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog likes swimming or jumping into water, you can roll a piece of cotton wadding between your hands (to firm it up and lock the fibers in) and gently push it into your dogs ears before going for a swim. That can keep some of the moisture out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you notice or suspect that your dog got water into his ears, roll a piece of cotton wadding between your hands (to firm it up and lock the fibers in) and gently wipe the inside of your dogs ear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog has very hairy ears, remove most of them (or let a groomer remove them) to allow for better airation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If your dog shows signs of itchy ears without having gotten any moisture or foreign objects into them, consider the possibility of a food allergy (which is very common).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Never insert a cotton bud (Q-Tip), a paper towel, your fingers or other hard or coarse objects deep into the ear. They can irritate the skin (especially finger nails) and push ear wax deeper into the ear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having ear cleaners at home is always a good idea. You can use the type of cotton pads that are already soaked in a special cleaning solution, or you can buy the solution in small bottles and soak a cotton pad at home or rinse the ear by squirting the solution into the ear. This rinsing is very uncomfortable for dogs and only needs to be done when the ear is already infected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should train ear cleaning with your puppy. Gently pull the ear flap upwards and look into the ear canal, then given him a treat before repeating the process with the other ear. You can also sniff at the ears (some infections cause a very notable bad smell). To use the wipes, pull the ear up and swipe them over the visible skin of the ear like a dog would lick it. You should not use the wipes more than once a week to avoid irritating the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since water can cause ear infections, you should only use special ear cleaners to clean your dogs ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could a head band avoid an ear infection by improving the airation of the ear? Maybe... but probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Floppy dog ears naturally grow pointing downwards. Securing them in a different position for a long time is going to get uncomfortable after a while. Forcing your dog to wear a head band regularily would probably cause more discomfort than an infection he might never get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you put the head band on with the ears pointing down in their natural position, you get the exact opposite of your inteded effect. Now the ear is held closed by the flap and moisture is trapped inside. The headbands you linked in your question is actually made for that purpose: to hold the ears closed while grooming and drying the dog, so no moisture can enter the ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T11:33:54.350" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T11:33:54.350" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31347" CreationDate="2021-05-10T12:21:03.860" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;They will destroy your yard, at least a little bit anyways to get to food! Even if you have a bowl of food for them, they will still stratch at the earth and get living things. According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.communitychickens.com/will-chickens-destroy/#:%7E:text=Chickens%20Will%20Destroy%20Your%20Garden,grubs%2C%20bugs%2C%20and%20seeds.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;CommunityChickens.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your chickens have access to the garden, they will absolutely destroy it. At least a little bit. Chickens are voracious and indiscriminate ground scavengers, who love nothing more than to scratch through the earth to find tasty morsels such as grubs, bugs, and seeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T12:21:03.860" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31347" CreationDate="2021-05-10T17:44:52.630" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chickens always scratch the ground while foraging for seeds, which damages the grass. If you mow the grass too short, it will be very vulnerable and the chickens may finish it off. However, if you let the clippings lay on the mowed grass, the chickens will probably prefer them over the intact plants. Source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hobbyfarms.com/3-ways-to-save-your-grass-when-raising-chickens/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;3 Ways to Save Your Grass When Raising Chickens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also like to eat greens and prefer some weeds over everything else, but will not touch others. The consistency of your lawn may change due to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chicken manure is one of the best natural fertilizers, but it's &lt;em&gt;too rich&lt;/em&gt; in nitrogen for grass and causes chemical burns on the plants and roots. You should divide your yard into several areas and let the chickens graze in one part at a time, then move them into the next part each day. This gives the grass some fertilizer (but not too much) and spreads the manure evenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chickens will deliberately scratch patches of land bare because they want a nice sand bath to keep clean of parasites. Providing them with a big bowl of loose and dry sand can prevent excessive digging. Source: &lt;a href=&quot;https://pekinbantams.org/will-chickens-kill-my-grass-and-ruin-my-lawn.html&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Will chickens kill my grass and ruin my lawn?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As said in the comments, a chicken never wants to be alone. You need at least 2 of them to cater to their social needs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do realize that chickens are birds, right? Chickens can fly, even if they're not the best at it. Some breeds can easily fly over 3 - 4 feet fences. Your ex-battery hen might not know how to fly, but she might also discover it one day. You'll either need to cover your backyard with netting or keep them in a &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B08HL78VQR&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;coop like this one&lt;/a&gt;. The advantage of such a coop is that you can move it every day to spread the manure and give the grass a rest. The other alternative is to cut their flying feathers short, which needs some training to be done safely and must be repeated after each molt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll also need a hen hut where they are safe at night. There are some &lt;a href=&quot;https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B08TVCJ47N&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;portable chicken tractors&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/modern_chicken_coop_eglu_go/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;another example&lt;/a&gt;) that combine coop and house and are easily movable on wheels, but they might be expensive. On the other hand, you'll need some sturdy fencing if there are foxes, coyotes, possums, or raccoons around that might want to get a snack from your hen house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your coop isn't connected to the hen house, you'll want to give your hens a little hideout. Just 2 wooden boards screwed together at an angle and big enough for your hens to hide underneath is enough. It's their instinct to hide under bushes and branches whenever they see a bird of prey circling the sky. Without such a hideout they might panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly, don't forget a chicken water feeder. Those aren't expensive and you can even &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/ouhBdsoDr6g&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;craft your own&lt;/a&gt;, but it might take an ex-battery hen some getting used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T19:02:33.560" LastActivityDate="2021-05-10T19:02:33.560" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31355" CreationDate="2021-05-10T22:54:36.957" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if this is a dumb question because obviously my cat's toys are always on the ground... but is it an issue if his little stuffed animal toy that he often bites and carries around with him is always on the ground? My apartment is not exceedingly dirty or anything but... it is the floor of an apartment which likely isn't the cleanest surface in the world. Should I be concerned that he might contract some disease or something? Should I be washing his toy? Granted, he has been doing this for 2 years at this point, has all his required vaccinations/shots, gets enough exercise, etc... and has been healthy so far, but is this something I should be concerned about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Toy is a small (about the size of my hand) stuffed rabbit. I think it’s cotton. Has held up for &amp;gt;20 years. I have attached a picture as I’m not 100% sure of the material &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z3qbo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z3qbo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16760" LastEditorUserId="16760" LastEditDate="2021-05-10T23:14:56.593" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T07:37:02.073" Title="Is it an issue that my cat plays with a toy that is constantly on the ground?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;toys&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31349" CreationDate="2021-05-10T23:09:10.373" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;You think that the cat spends 95% of the time in your garden, &lt;strong&gt;but cats are extremely efficient with schedules. There is a good chance he knows approximately when you check the garden and tries to be there when you do.&lt;/strong&gt; It might be because you feed him or it might be because he likes you and wants to be petted by you. Whatever it is, there is still some chance he has a family but prefers to spend some time with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this purpose, and to prevent an accidental catnapping, &lt;strong&gt;you can attach a collar to the animal&lt;/strong&gt;. You can either attach a paper collar, i.e., just a regular paper with your details on it and tape it around his neck, or buy an easy break collar and attach your note on the collar. Make sure that the paper collar is not too thick otherwise the animal might strangle himself if it get caught by a fence or a branch. Easy break collars are sold for £2-3 in UK. The prices should be similar in France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In UK, many wandering cats are microchipped so you can contact a vet. If there the cat is microchipped, the vet can contact the last owners on your behalf and start working out how to take care of the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you cannot contact an owner even after attaching a collar and checking for a microchip, you can still take care of the cat in your garden.&lt;/strong&gt; Stray animals are well adjusted to the elements and they can survive in your garden, depending on the winter temperatures. You can attach a catflap on a garden shed door if you have one. If you want this to be a long term investment, you can get a microchip activated cat flaps, which should be around £50 in UK. This will make sure that the cat flap will only be activated for your cat and he will be perfectly safe from other cats and other similar sized predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Even if you don't have a shed, you can buy a small cat house or turn a simple cardboard box to a cat house.&lt;/strong&gt; Make sure that it is isolated from the floor with a rug or styrofoam blocks and it has a metal or wooden roof so that it won't get wet if it rains. &lt;strong&gt;Adult cats are surprisingly durable against cold as long as they are not wet and they are fed well.&lt;/strong&gt; Put an old sweater in it for your cat to cuddle for warmth. If you want your cat to be extra cosy, you can get a USB heating pad. They are relatively cheap and since they operate at 5V, there is very small chance of an incidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not knowledgeable on how cats might attack/hurt a newborn, so you might want to ask this as a separate question if you decide to keep him in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="16749" LastEditDate="2021-05-11T08:24:45.467" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T08:24:45.467" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31353" CreationDate="2021-05-11T07:37:02.073" Score="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;: The ground is not less safe or has more germs than any other surface in your home (including the food and water bowls). The cat would come into contact with the same germs if the toy wasn't on the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our homes are teeming with bacteria on every single surface and in the air. Our own bodies are teeming with bacteria (we couldn't survive without them) and we shed millions of bacteria into the environment each hour. There simply is no &amp;quot;cleanest surface in the world&amp;quot; outside of an extremely strict laboratory (and some food production sites... at least I hope so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BBC World writes in their article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160322-what-really-happens-to-food-when-you-drop-it-on-the-floor&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;What really happens to food when you drop it on the floor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any one time, there are about 9,000 different species of microscopic creatures lurking in the dust in our homes, including 7,000 different bacteria, according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2015.1139&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;2015 study&lt;/a&gt;. Most of them are harmless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are all over you all the time; on your hands and face, and in your house. We are constantly shedding bacteria through our skin and through the air we breathe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And concerning the safety of the floor, the same article writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certainly some harmful pathogens around. But if one is lurking on your floor, it could also be elsewhere in your house, perhaps on your kitchen counter or door handle. You could become ill regardless of whether you ate food from the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that almost all of those bacteria are completely harmless. They live in us and we live with them, and so does your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The better news is: The toy is already teeming with (harmless) bacteria, too. As long as those survive, they will fight off other (possibly harmful) bacteria that try to settle on the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in general the toy is safe and doesn't need to be washed for sanitary reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The few exceptions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fecal matter. That, too, is teeming with bacteria, but some of those can cause illness if they are ingested. Parasites also often spread through feces. I would wash the toy if it ever fell into a puddle of pee, the litter box or the toilet, but that is a no-brainer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you happen to have any pests in your house, like mice or rats in the basement or bats in the attic and the toy might ever find its was there, that also counts as contact to fecal matter. These pests often carry parasites and germs into the house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Existing illnesses. If your cat has any kind of bacterial infection like diarhea, an inflamed eye or ear, these bacteria are also shed from his body. To avoid a reinfection it's best to wash the toy and bedding very hot once the cat is cured.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T07:37:02.073" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6204" CreationDate="2021-05-11T07:48:40.363" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we do not know. I do believe dogs and cats can remember humans for a long time so they could remember other cats also for a long time. They may or may not understand that they are the mother of an adult cat; but just as some humans do not care for their own children, cats, lacking any cultural reason to prefer their own adult offspring, may not treat them any differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, lions I think base their &amp;quot;society&amp;quot; on mother/daughter relationships and adult male lions seem to have deep friendships with brothers upon whom they depend to survive -- so lions maybe do understand about family relations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Orca and elephants seem to have very long-term family bonds as do crows. Bottom line, I suspect cats have the brains to understand family and perhaps if living in a subsistence situation, like a feral colony, fam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20482" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T07:48:40.363" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-11T10:51:17.753" Score="11" ViewCount="4587" Body="&lt;p&gt;I left my cat in the care of a friend for a month and she fed him everyday. I guess she didn't want to clean the bowl because she put a paper bowl on top of the plastic bowl. When I lifted the paper bowl to clean the plastic bowl, I found mold and what I think to be fruit fly larvae in the old food. I don't think my cat ingested anything but I still think I should take him to the vet. My boyfriend says I shouldn't yet and see if anything develops. What do you guys think I should do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20485" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-11T14:38:49.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T14:24:17.033" Title="I found mold and bugs in my cat's food bowl!" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31357" CreationDate="2021-05-11T12:36:02.553" Score="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no need to rush to the vet, unless one of the following occurs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat gets diarrhea, vomits or refuses to eat or drink. &amp;quot;Vomit&amp;quot; means actually expelling eaten food, not just grass and/or hairballs (which is natural and healthy behavior for cats).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat gets lethargic, acts depressed, hides away or otherwise acts very different.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat coughs, wheezes or pants even while resting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cat has runny eyes and/or a runny nose for several days without improvement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most insect larvae are harmless to ingest and I doubt any made it through the paper bowl into the fresh food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mold could grow through the paper into the fresh food, if given enough time. Assuming the cat ate most of the fresh food most of the time, the mold didn't get enough time to infect the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you should probably discard the plastic bowl. Depending on its age and composition, there might be microscopic scratches in the surface, where the mold mycelium (the &amp;quot;roots&amp;quot; of the mold) can survive and infect the fresh food. A stainless steel, porcelain or glass bowl is more sanitary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T14:24:17.033" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T14:24:17.033" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31349" CreationDate="2021-05-11T16:29:54.397" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Concerning the question whether to feed the cat or not: It's the common advice of all animal welfare organizations to &lt;strong&gt;not feed any stray animals&lt;/strong&gt;. Offering water is ok, but you should not offer food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stories like this have repeated over and over and over, and they will repeat again and again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People find a stray cat and have pity on them and offer food. The cat comes daily to eat. Some other stray cat sees this and comes to eat, too. Most of the times at least one of them is female and gets pregnant. Suddenly there are 6 strays cats to feed. The female (or any of her daughters) gets pregnant again, because spaying all of them is expensive. Before you know it, there are 20 or more cats around you, because you started to feed a single one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In countries where stray cats are euthanized, that means instead of a single cat, a whole lot more cats lose their lives. In countries where euthanasia is forbidden, the cats overwhelm the animal welfare system. Most of them wouldn't have been born if it weren't for the food a well-meaning human left them. There's a saying here: &amp;quot;Well meant is the opposite of well done&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another classic is: People start feeding a stray cat. A few years later they want or need to move to a different house. The cat has stayed mostly feral (cannot be brought to the new house) but now it's become dependant on the food. This site is full of &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/search?q=move%20stray%20cat%20is%3Aquestion&quot;&gt;these and similar stories&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are good hunters and they also find food in dumpsters and other places. The cat in your garden will not starve if you stop feeding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you already contacted an association, please ask them if they will bear the cost (or at least part of it) of neutering the cat. &lt;strong&gt;Neutering is the only humane solution for stray cats.&lt;/strong&gt; Feeding them and thereby contributing to breeding even more stray cats is not humane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-05-11T16:37:01.680" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T16:37:01.680" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-11T18:55:55.730" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is somewhat of both a &lt;a href=&quot;https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Lifehacks&lt;/a&gt; and a Pets question. My question is also short - but I think it's pretty self-explanatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my dog poops on grass (such as on my lawn or a park) I find it difficult to pick up. I use &lt;a href=&quot;https://earthrated.com/en/product/leash-dispenser-with-15-bags-unscented/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;standard poop bags&lt;/a&gt;. While I get a majority of the feces into the bag, there are still some clumps stuck in the grass. I also would like to avoid pulling up grass. It becomes increasingly harder to pick them up while keeping the feces that I have picked up in the bag. Overall, it becomes a disaster fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the cleanest way I can pick up &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of my dog's poop on grass (if there is one)? Or is just getting the majority of it okay (it might be fine for my backyard. but I wouldn't want someone at a park to step in the remains of my dog's poop)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T18:55:55.730" Title="What is the cleanest way I can pick up all of my dog's poop on grass?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;&lt;defecation&gt;&lt;ethics&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-11T18:56:46.957" Score="4" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 21.5 year old peach fronted conure has a bald patch on her back, likely due to overpreening due to sexual frustration. I do all I can to keep her entertained and keep her from getting too hormonal, but the bald patch persists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are natural ways I can keep her from preening this patch until her feathers grow back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10108" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T04:04:38.017" Title="How can I stop my bird from preening her bald patch?" Tags="&lt;birds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31362" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-11T19:30:39.737" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am soon going to get a Shih Tzu 8 week old puppy. Many places have mentioned that at a young age these small breeds have very fragile necks. They don't recommend using collars for their leashes and to instead use a harness. They say things like, one bad pull, and the dog can have problems breathing for the rest of their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also been reading how dog trainers recommend using house lines, and keeping a dog on a long leash all the time for the first week or two in the house. This allows easier control of the dog, and helps prevent bad behaviors before they happen. At least to do this while I am supervising the dog, which I hope for the first week I will be able to give almost 100% attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is if I want to use a house line, does that mean I should also keep the harness on my dog all day? Would this get uncomfortable for the dog? Is it safe to switch to a collar once we are in the house and the temptation to pull should be lower? Are there better alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20488" LastActivityDate="2021-05-11T19:30:39.737" Title="Should I use a harness with a house line?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;training&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31361" CreationDate="2021-05-11T21:06:36.970" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plucking out feathers is a common problem with cage birds. It is thought to be because of boredom. However, a friend of mine has a cockatoo that is mostly bald from plucking and she often plays with the bird and lets the bird run on the floor with a couple of small dogs. They play together well and the bird barks like a dog. So, I think plucking may be caused by conditions other than boredom. Our vet prescribed haloperidol for our African grey parrot when she did a little plucking. It apparently worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9804" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-12T04:04:38.017" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T04:04:38.017" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31357" CreationDate="2021-05-12T07:50:43.413" Score="9" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cats are notoriously picky eaters. I don't really think you should be worried that your cat has eaten any food that would be unhealthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, cat senses were used (by my mother in law) for qualifying food for her kids - only the human food (sausages and other meat-based food) that were accepted by the cat were good enough for the kids. If the cat refused them, they were considered unfit for human consumption (the cat would refuse them if they smelled &amp;quot;off&amp;quot;).&#xA;(That was in a time when cold chains for meat products - refrigeration during production, storage, transportation - were not always reliable, and availability of fresh food products was spotty - communist and early post-communist era).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13648" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T07:50:43.413" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-12T12:33:04.110" Score="0" ViewCount="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;please help there is a lot of clear liquid mucus looking stuff coming out of my cats butt . he is also vomiting something that looks like stomach bile. he is almost a year old , whets wrong with him he is also hiding from me and refusing to eat or drink water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20492" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T12:33:04.110" Title="Why is lot of clear liquid coming out of my cats butt ? hes also vomiting" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-12T13:26:18.943" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-12T17:02:53.103" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are relocating to India from the USA. Please can someone help us with how I can take my pet cockatiel with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20495" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T20:42:27.927" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T20:42:27.927" Title="Relocation from USA to India with our pet cockatiel" Tags="&lt;safety&gt;&lt;travel&gt;&lt;cockatiels&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-05-17T13:12:41.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="26826" CreationDate="2021-05-12T17:38:17.347" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get yourself a mutt. No, seriously: a mixed-breed dog is probably the best option for a dog with the coat pattern of one breed and the temperment of another. The closer they are to purebred breeding programs, the closer they'll conform to the breed temperament, for better or for ill. Go to the shelter, look at dogs until you find one that's pretty enough, and see what they're like temperment-wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1440" LastActivityDate="2021-05-12T17:38:17.347" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31369" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-12T18:00:07.253" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed like a week ago but I had to go out of town the same day so my sister was supposed to clean the wound and get her the cat come but couldn’t  do it&#xA;I just came back and it seems way bigger. Should I go to the vet ? &lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LK9cD.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/LK9cD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20497" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T12:29:27.843" Title="Should I take my cat to the vet? Is it a wound or fungus?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;wound-care&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-13T12:36:09.290" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-13T10:58:17.563" Score="2" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;So there is a stray cat I've been feeding for a few weeks now and he has a bald patch. He didn't have it when I first saw him and I think it began or happened pretty recently. It's on his neck so I don't think he did it by over grooming or by biting himself or something. Please tell me what it actually is and what I should do. It looks like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7BMFy.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/7BMFym.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OKmN1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OKmN1m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20503" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T18:30:08.590" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T18:30:08.590" Title="Bald patch on stray cat's neck, what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;&lt;veterinarian&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31369" CreationDate="2021-05-13T12:29:27.843" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just showed it to my CVT wife and she says the cat should definitely go to the vet, particularly since it's not healing &amp;amp; getting worse. In the mean time, don't put bandages on it, but try to prevent the cat from licking/chewing there (you can get a cone at a pet store).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20507" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T12:29:27.843" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-13T14:10:16.417" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently purchased bloodworms as a supplemental food for my Betta fish, which are often represented as a &amp;quot;treat&amp;quot; for them. However, even though my Betta fish swims to the front of the tank for food when he sees me, he often simply ignores bloodworms. I'm slightly confused why, since he eats pellets and flakes promptly. What would cause this? Does he not like them, are they too big for him, or does he simply not realize that they're food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already tried tearing them into smaller pieces hoping that it would help him eat them more easily. Is there something else I could try, or should I just accept that he won't eat them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10835" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-13T14:11:38.667" LastActivityDate="2021-05-13T14:11:38.667" Title="Betta fish ignores bloodworms as food" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;live-food&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31166" CreationDate="2021-05-13T18:53:49.013" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is a summary of information originally given in comments.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a cat keeps panting after giving birth, the most probable reason is that she has milk fever (a lack of calcium in the body). This condition weakens the mother and can be lethal to her, but it also keeps her from nursing her kittens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If possible, please have your cat treated by a vet as soon as possible.&lt;/strong&gt; If that is not possible, please have a look at this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/27913/12501&quot;&gt;Is there a way to treat milk fever at home?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pregnant and nursing cats should eat either kitten food or special food for nursing cats. There are also calcium food supplements for cats (please never give a cat any medication or food supplement designed for humans without consulting your vet first, you could poison your cat). If no professional solution is available to you, you could crush egg shells or cooked bones in a mortar to a fine powder / paste and add it to her food, but you should always prefer a professional solution because they are better digestible and contain additional vital nutrient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-17T00:19:44.667" LastActivityDate="2021-05-17T00:19:44.667" CommentCount="0" CommunityOwnedDate="2021-05-13T18:53:49.013" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31333" CreationDate="2021-05-13T19:03:57.017" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If nothing has changed, and he's still eating and acting normal, there's probably nothing to worry about. Snakes often change color as they age, some very dramatically (e.g. green tree pythons, cotton mouths, copper heads. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZlPcvjE1eM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;This guy&lt;/a&gt; has a video going into some detail about corns specifically.). See if it's still there after his next shed. That's about all I can say without more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you say &amp;quot;his temperature usually varies around 80-87 degrees Fahrenheit&amp;quot;, I assume you mean his hot spot, and not the whole enclosure? He definitely should be able to get to cooler areas for thermoregulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12676" LastEditorUserId="12676" LastEditDate="2021-05-14T13:57:10.237" LastActivityDate="2021-05-14T13:57:10.237" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31145" CreationDate="2021-05-13T19:29:59.327" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your intention is very noble, but it seems to be unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this study &lt;a href=&quot;https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/2020/01/01/study-felv-adoption/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Outcome of FeLV-infected cats in a large pet adoption program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rates of feline infection with feline leukemia (FeLV) in the U.S. are estimated at around 3 percent, including approximately 60,000 shelter cats. Such cats are frequently euthanized following a single positive test for the virus even if they show no signs of illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If scientists were actively searching for cats with a resistance to FeLV, they would probably be able to find enough of them in shelters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-14T14:53:25.417" LastActivityDate="2021-05-14T14:53:25.417" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-13T19:43:28.893" Score="4" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mom had a pregnant Mickey Mouse platy fish, but she just died today. We performed a little fishy c-section and got about 15 eggs out of her. Is there anything I can do to ensure they still hatch without their momma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20511" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T23:13:11.230" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T23:13:11.230" Title="Can eggs surgically removed from a pregnant platy fish still hatch?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;&lt;biology&gt;&lt;surgery&gt;&lt;pregnancy&gt;&lt;eggs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31379" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-14T12:16:29.110" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know y'all probably get this alot. I'm a new cat owner. Ive had him for about 13 hours now. He's so good and loving already. He's definitely not used to the environment he's in. He's got his tail through his legs when he walks about. When I or my spouse come in though, he's very loving and sweet. He literally won't leave us alone. I've tried feeding him by hand. I've tried treats. The person we adopted from says his stomach is sensitive and he only eats food with chicken flavor. We have like 9 different wet foods, two dry, and some chicken flavored dental treats. He sniffs at it, looks like he's about to bite, then he turns around and flops over for belly rubs (sometimes) or just lays down as close as he can to my side. Is this normal? Like do I just wait a few hours? I don't want lil Shiloh to go without food for a day..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20517" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T13:39:13.340" Title="11 month old Kitty won't eat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-18T17:41:01.910" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-14T15:43:50.457" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Introduction to my cat:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 10 months old male cat.&#xA;He is almost a pet cat to us. He can enter our home whenever he wants to, but he usually spends most of his time inside our house. He is extremely sleepy, he sleeps almost 12 hours a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was recently trying to find partners for mating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;My cat is missing:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been almost 15 hours since he is not coming to our house. He usually stays in the alley behind ours, he is not even there. The people living there told us that they last saw him around 14 hours ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Request for advice:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what can I do to find my cat. This is India, so animal shelters and vets are extremely hard to find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I wrote the thing about mating because I thought he could be out there trying to search for potential mates because I have heard that male cats go far in search of potential mates&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20518" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T18:56:31.790" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T18:56:31.790" Title="What to do if I cannot find my cat?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;lost-pet&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-15T06:58:25.210" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of buying / adopting a Labrador puppy in Hyderabad, India. However, I know that getting a pet is a huge emotional investment, more than anything else. I would like to know what I should be ready for when I am ready to buy one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can I verify whether the pup is a pure breed (a pure lab) and not a crossbreed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there any vaccination and other tests which need to be carried out on the pup before it's ready for purchase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I be looking for a KCI (Kennel Club of India) certification of the pup before buying it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What accessories should I buy for the pup at the time of purchase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20521" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T06:58:25.210" Title="What should I know before buying a Labrador puppy in India?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;certificate&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29411" CreationDate="2021-05-15T14:18:26.293" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;You discontinued the wrong medicine.  Once she started vomiting, you should have discontinued the Proton Pump Inhibitor, not the antibiotic (amoxicillin/metronidazole).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog vomiting and being unable to hold food down after taking metronidazole and a PPI is great news.  It means the metronidazole was killing the bacteria/parasite that has been causing her problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a bacteria/parasite in the stomach causes hyperchlorhydria (excessive stomach acid).  The PPI is meant to reduce the amount of acid the stomach produces to compensate for this.  Once the metronidazole starts killing the bacteria/parasite, the stomach is no longer producing excessive acid.  This combined with the PPI causes hypochlorhydria (too little stomach acid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stomach acid breaks down food in the stomach before the food moves into the intestine.  The stomach is designed to detect when its contents are not breaking down and vomit them back up.  This prevents the stomach from getting blocked by matter that cannot be digested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With not enough stomach acid to digest her food, your dog's food sits in her stomach undigested until she vomits it back up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The PPI is important when starting metronidazole to reduce the stomach acid so metronidazole can kill the bacteria/parasite.  Once the metronidazole starts to work and the stomach acid level drops, the PPI is no longer needed.  At that point the PPI is causing the hypochlorhydria and thus the vomiting, so the PPI needs to be severely curtailed or eliminated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, the PPI is treating one of the symptoms of the bacteria/parasite (hyperchlorhydria).  Once the metronidazole starts to kill the bacteria/parasite, the symptoms of it start to go away and the PPI becomes the problem (by causing hypochlorhydria).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I am not advising you to take any particular course of action, I'm just explaining what happened.  Always consult a licensed veterinarian before administering or discontinuing any medications.  Many vets will not have experience in this area.  You may need to print the above and take it to your vet or consult a veterinary GI specialist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19126" LastEditorUserId="19126" LastEditDate="2021-05-15T15:07:48.930" LastActivityDate="2021-05-15T15:07:48.930" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31385" CreationDate="2021-05-16T01:02:47.543" Score="3" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dog Rocky is a healthy 9 month old bull mastiff. For some reason, he has an old toy, which is a squeaky tennis ball. Originally, whenever I would squeeze it, he wouldn’t care much, but lately I’ve noticed that he will bark not very loudly and occasionally will make a sound similar to Chewbacca. Then, when I try to give the ball to him, he isn’t interested. &lt;strong&gt;Is there any reason why he is doing this and should I be concerned?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20369" LastEditorUserId="20369" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T14:30:05.467" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T14:38:50.373" Title="Why does my dog bark when I squeak a tennis ball?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;hearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31384" CreationDate="2021-05-16T12:35:01.983" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most probable explanation is that he connects the noise with the ball and with play time and fun. His &amp;quot;Chewbacca sound&amp;quot; is probably an invitation to play, maybe mixed with a slight note of indecision because he would &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; like to have the ball &lt;em&gt;right now&lt;/em&gt; but you're playing with it and he doesn't know how to get it from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several theories coursing the internet as to why dogs love squeaky toys. Some of them include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The toy imitates the screams of a prey animal (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ranker.com/list/dog-squeaky-toys-prey/katejacobson&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). This seems to mostly affect those breeds of dogs that were specifically bred for hunting, like terriers (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rd.com/article/why-do-dogs-like-squeaky-toys/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). Dogs are descended from wolves. Wolves may have listened for “squeaking” sounds of injured or frightened prey to know when to attack (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gallant.com/blog/why-do-dogs-love-squeaky-toys/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dogs learn to love the sound of squeaks (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gallant.com/blog/why-do-dogs-love-squeaky-toys/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;), because they either mean play time or get our attention (because we find those squeaks annoying). In my personal opinion this is the most viable theory. The squeaks add another dimension to the play (sound in addition to the smell and feel of the toy) and may feel more rewarding than biting a toy that doesn't make a sound. Add to that the fact that squeaks don't usually occur outside of play time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Squeaky toys activate the feedback loop (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rd.com/article/why-do-dogs-like-squeaky-toys/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;). It's scientifically proven that certain squeaks activate the reward center of the brain, which releases feel-happy-chemicals. Whether this is caused by the hunting instinct or a learned behavior doesn't matter - the dog wants more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in general there is nothing to be worried about. However, since the toy activates the brains reward center (just like gambling and drugs do), there's a real risk of addiction here. If your dog is a &amp;quot;ball junky&amp;quot; who wants to play every second of every day or if he's so focused on the ball that he ignores everything else around him, you shouldn't encourage this behavior even more by squeaking the toy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-16T14:38:50.373" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T14:38:50.373" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="29162" CreationDate="2021-05-16T17:12:40.820" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gatão is being friendly. When cats are friends, they will &amp;quot;hang out&amp;quot; by simply staying near each other. If one cat moves, the other is likely to follow. Only the most affectionate cats will actually cuddle with each other and groom each other as a sign of friendship.  Otherwise, you can tell your cats are friends if you usually see them peacefully in the same room together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think there is a chance that Gatão is actually getting anxious when Pitica leaves him, which could be the reason why he so desperately meows when she is not there.  Furthermore, it seems pretty clear that Pitica does not want to be as close as Gatão wants, since she is hissing at him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might help to try to keep Gatão more entertained throughout the day, so that he is not so dependent on Pitica. I would try to give them regular play sessions every day, and to make sure they have things to do while you aren't there. For instance, make sure your windows are easily accessible to them, so they can comfortably look out. If you can, set up a bid feeder outside your window, so they have lots of birds to look at. Food puzzle toys are also good for keeping them distracted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If nothing you do seems to calm Gatão, then you might also consult your vet about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-05-16T17:12:40.820" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="946" CreationDate="2021-05-17T10:20:13.987" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The older cat makes it impossible for you to blindly rely on the cats to fairly distribute the food among themselves, which means you need to be more involved in this process&lt;/strong&gt;. There is a clash between your current feeding strategy and the ability of your cat(s) to self-regulate their food consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the older cat is eating more than the food you've &amp;quot;assigned&amp;quot; them, this either means you are not providing enough food for the older cat, or that the older cat is overeating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the former (I don't think this is the case, but I'm pointing it out as it is possible), the straightforward solution is to provide the appropriate amount of food. If you cannot provide the appropriate amount of food for the amount of cats you have, you have to reconsider how many cats you keep as pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are currently feeding the cats on a freely available food basis, i.e. the bowl of food is available for long term and you replenish the food once in a while. In a multi-cat household, this relies on all cats being capable of self-regulating the amount of food they eat, as there will be more food available than one specific cat should eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your cat overeats, it therefore has no reasonable ability to self-regulate, so you simply cannot keep food for multiple cats freely available without oversight and without the older cat being able to overeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest solution here is to have specific meal times, and to &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; make the food bowls available outside of those times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The older cat can eat from two bowls, but it cannot eat from two bowls &lt;em&gt;at the same time&lt;/em&gt;. Therefore, by keeping the bowl time limited, each cat will be eating at the same time, each to a bowl (or sharing a bowl, if they are so inclined).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because bowl availability is limited, this also makes it easier for you to intervene when needed. If the older cat eats significantly faster and outpaces the kitten, you might need to keep the older cat away from the kitten when it is still eating.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Depending on the older cat's behavior, this can be achieved using simple verbal feedback (it works for our cats), or by physically blocking the older cat (with your foot, or by putting it in another room).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, we were faced with this issue. Our first two cats were sisters who grew up together, so they always shared food. But the third cat, a street rescue, had gone hungry for much of its life and would easily eat all three portions if left unchecked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By feeding them at the same time, he wasn't able to butt in to several bowls at once, and the girls could eat unhindered while he was busy on his own bowl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We sometimes had to stop him from finishing early and butting into the other bowls, but we were already needing to train his other behaviors, so this was no different. Initially, we physically blocked him, but over time he learned to listen to verbal cues, being told &amp;quot;NO&amp;quot; is usually enough to get him to back off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In his defense, he is much more active than the girls are and has always been skinnier than them (even years after he started living with us), even though he tends to eat significantly more. He's not actually fattening, he genuinely needs the food for energy.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because he is a natural big eater (not leading to obesity) we do allow him to finish the girls' leftovers &lt;em&gt;after they voluntarily walked away from their bowl&lt;/em&gt;, because that is considered &amp;quot;giving up&amp;quot; the remaining food. If your cat is eating to the point of obesity, you might not want to allow them finishing the leftovers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time (a few months), we no longer needed to intervene here. He would sit and stare at the other bowls, well aware that he needed to wait for them to leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10539" LastEditorUserId="10539" LastEditDate="2021-05-17T10:26:41.477" LastActivityDate="2021-05-17T10:26:41.477" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31406" CreationDate="2021-05-17T13:04:54.410" Score="3" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;From time to time, to control how cats act, I use other cat sounds (I play these sounds using my phone). Female cats are attracted to crying kittens, whether they are spayed or not, while male cats are controlled by fighting cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of emergencies, such as getting a hiding cat out for a vet visit, I use these sounds and I will keep using them. However, from time to time, I also use these sounds to &lt;strong&gt;goad&lt;/strong&gt; my cat to sleep with me. I can see that he gets unsettled, as there are dangerous territorial cats around that he cannot see, but it usually takes five to ten minutes for him to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, his first move is to finish whatever is in the bowl, whether to remove scent evidence or to make sure that he won't lose his share of chonks. Then, he comes to me because he trusts that I can protect him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how cruel is this practice? Can I use it once in a while when I want some cuddles? Or should this be used only in absolute necessities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T21:05:17.047" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T21:06:09.923" Title="How cruel is it to make your cat listen to other cats?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;socializing&gt;&lt;sound&gt;&lt;ethics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31393" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-18T01:54:16.133" Score="1" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;This bump started about 1 month ago, thought it was just a graze or small cut, then it increased in size and developed this crusty scabby surface. As you can see, his fur is now growing over it too. Oskar is not distressed by it at all, and there is no pain, even when I touch it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JP3WP.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/JP3WP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20535" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T05:01:08.223" Title="What is this bump/scab on my 10 year old cat's nose?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-18T04:41:38.967" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-18T02:17:56.067" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have six cats total, two of which are male and four are female - all fixed. My three oldest cats are, Binx - the oldest (7 years old), Phoebe, and Mavis. Binx only attacks these two consistently and he has been with them for many years. He just started this around a year and a half ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will lay down, watch them, jump towards them, then hold them down and bite their neck. They will scream and now are very scared with everyone. How can I stop this from happening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20536" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T20:11:38.623" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T20:11:38.623" Title="How do I stop my male cat from stalking and biting my two female cat's necks?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;aggression&gt;&lt;multi-pet-families&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11956" CreationDate="2021-05-18T03:26:59.097" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat gave birth and withing 8 days she went into heat and managed to mate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9 weeks later she gave birth to another litter and 12 days after that she went into heat again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're trying to confine her and get her spayed but like last time she is breastfeeding. The vet advised we wait until after she has finished weaning in 8 weeks then we can do it. Until then we have to confine her during her heat cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20537" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T07:22:56.973" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T07:22:56.973" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31397" CreationDate="2021-05-18T13:03:15.920" Score="-1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;So last night my friend bought L'Oreal Paris Oreor 30 Volume Creme Developer and forgot to take it and left it on the floor. I went to sleep but come to find the next morning the L'Oreal Paris Oreor 30 Volume Creme Developer. The bag was all chewed up and the developer was on the floor with a hole on it. I picked it up as the developer starts to burn my hand. I start to freak out since I’m a male and have no clue on what this is. I call my friend and she has no clue if it can harm my cat. My cat looks fine but I’m afraid that it hasn’t sunk in yet or if the cat lost its sense of taste or if he will have any other problems? I’ve been searching trying to look for answers but nothing pops up. Please help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20538" LastEditorUserId="20538" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T19:53:01.023" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T19:53:01.023" Title="MY CAT ATE a bit of L'Oreal Paris Oreor 30 Volume Creme Developer will he be fine?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ClosedDate="2021-05-18T14:19:22.047" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31396" CreationDate="2021-05-18T13:29:36.180" Score="1" Body="&lt;p&gt;MEDICAL EMERGENCY!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your cat may have ingested Hydrogen Peroxide which is never safe for cats! Take your cat to the vet immediately as hydrogen peroxide is never safe for cats according to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/pet-safety-tips/five-pet-poisoning-first-aid-misconceptions/#:%7E:text=Hydrogen%20peroxide%20is%20often%20used,been%20fatal%20to%20some%20cats.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;PetPoisonhelpline.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T13:29:36.180" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31379" CreationDate="2021-05-18T13:39:13.340" Score="-4" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://blog.feliway.com/us/7-reasons-your-new-kitten-might-not-be-eating&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Blog.Feliway.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They don’t have a routine&#xA;Kittens need to eat regularly to support their growth and energy needs! And while some owners may want to leave food out for their cats all the time, having food to graze on won’t help your pet develop a clear routine - or could cause your kitten to under or over eat.&#xA;To ensure your kitty is only hungry at the right times, create a feeding schedule and keep to this routine. Kittens of around 8 weeks old should be fed three to four times a day, reducing this at 12 weeks to three times a day - in the morning, middle of the day, and again at night just before bed time.&#xA;Keep in mind that kittens will often want to use the litter tray straight after eating so this is a great time to reinforce some litter tray training!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They’re not used to the food&#xA;You can feed your kitten either dried food, canned food or a combination. However as we’ve mentioned, feeding your kitten the same food that they are already used to will help to limit their stress as they adjust to life with you. If you do want to change their food, make sure any adjustments are gradual - slowly mix the new food with the old and transition over a few days so that your pet doesn’t have a sudden change, feel stressed, or go off eating altogether. Making occasional changes to your pet’s diet, up to 4 times a year, can also add some variety, help you discover their favourites and prevent any dietary issues or allergies. If your kitty still seems reluctant, try warming their food for a few seconds in the microwave - heat will release the scent of the food and entice your kitty to eat up! Always make sure that the food isn’t too hot before serving it to your kitty - don’t make the food piping hot, just warm!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And more helpful items on this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T13:39:13.340" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31399" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-18T14:15:59.670" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have (one) 1 year old spayed bunny and her (two) 6 month old neutered sons, they are all bonded and share an area. Out of the 3, only one of the sons has very poor litter habits. I tried putting him in a pen in their area by himself and I clean up right after him, with vinegar and water, but he poops everywhere and he sprays urine on his mom. No matter what, he just keeps spraying her. He's not violent, but the spraying is so bad I want to separate him, but I don't want him to be lonely or get depressed; what can I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20539" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-18T14:33:10.937" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T14:33:10.937" Title="How do I stop my neutered rabbit from spraying urine?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;rabbits&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;marking&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-05-22T21:27:19.763" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-18T15:05:41.457" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;At this point I am washing my 2 Sphynx Cats once a week with water but I look forward to see your routines and what products (if any) do you use for yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20540" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T12:31:55.233" Title="How frequently should a Sphynx Cat be washed? What is the routine and the best products?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;cleaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6181" CreationDate="2021-05-18T16:38:43.657" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;I let my Siberian cat Bear play fight with me a little and when he gets too rough.  I give him &amp;quot;Bear Easy, Easy,  he at that time breaks away his aggression.  I have been training him to do that since he was 5 months old he is now 3.5 years old.  I think its natural for cats to have a little play fighting.  Even when he is really into the play fighting he never bites too hard or extens his claws.  Getting your cat to do this stuff takes alot of trainging and love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear's Keeper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20541" LastActivityDate="2021-05-18T16:38:43.657" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-19T04:30:38.540" Score="0" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;She’s only 6-7 months old and has a bad red cut behind her ear with a missing patch of fur. Today I noticed she is starting to get another one behind her other ear. I made a vet appointment but it’s not for another week. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20545" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T04:30:38.540" Title="I have a snowshoe cat that has a cut behind her ear?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;hairloss&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31391" CreationDate="2021-05-19T06:25:27.413" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a form of manipulation. I can think of more cruel things. It doesn't sound to be causing harm to the cat especially in the case with the veterinary. At least no more harm than the harm of domesticating an animal (in case you consider that harmful or beneficial).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you feel comfortable doing so with your personal philosophy is another topic. I guess you need to reflect whether and why you feel uncomfortable and go from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18816" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T06:25:27.413" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31391" CreationDate="2021-05-19T07:03:15.887" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;So this question got me thinking a lot. I have tried several times to find a reliable research paper on the topic but no success yet.&#xA;In my opinion there are a few layers to this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stress for the cat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you describe it, there seems to be some stress for your cat when he hears the recorded meows. You describe the hasty eating and that he takes some time to settle down. In my experience, seeing and hearing other cats close to their territory can stress cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the level of stress you describe here does not seem to be serious in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ethics and Philosophy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you do this purely for your own entertainment?&#xA;I think most cat owners would agree that this is a simple and probably less stressful method to get a cat to the vet than having to e.g. chase it through the house.&#xA;But you also do this purely because you want entertainment. I am not deep into philosophy or ethics and in the end the decision is yours. Do you feel like this interferes with your cat's free will? (Assuming it has one.) Would you appreciate it if someone did it to you? (Whether you are aware or not.) I think this is something everyone has to know for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An afterthought&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do describe some behaviour that might speak against it, but I was wondering whether you conditioned your cat. He hears the meow and thinks: &amp;quot;Hell yeah, cuddle time again!&amp;quot; This might play into the whole thing or not at all. But I thought it might be worth noting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL;DR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not find any serious research suggesting what you are doing is unhealthy for your cat. Whether it is ethically OK you have to decide for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T21:06:09.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T21:06:09.923" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18373" CreationDate="2021-05-19T09:39:11.663" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First we need to clarify, what is exactly in the bottled water:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it sparkle, the companies add CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; gas. (In some dwells this gas was taken by the water, when dropping through the different layers of soil/stone). As long as the water is under pressure, this gas is dissolved in the water. Only around 0.2%&lt;sup&gt;[1][3]&lt;/sup&gt; of this dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will react with the water molecules (H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O) to build carbonic acid (H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;). The higher the pressure and the colder the water, the higher the ability of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; to dissolve (but not to react!) will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the bottle is opened, the pressure decreases; some CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will separate from the water and one can hear a hissing sound when it comes out. If the bottle stays open, more and more CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; gas can separate from the water and little bubbles arise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we know, there is a very low acid amount in bottled water. Around 99% of the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is pure CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; gas, the same like in professional CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-tank-fertilizer-gas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the pH values of bottled water: The pH of &amp;quot;neutral&amp;quot; water is around 7, the one of bottled water could be low as 4&lt;sup&gt;[6]&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What will happen, if one gives bottled water into a tank?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One needs to know, that in chemical reactions there is always some kind of balance between the starting product(s) and the resulting product(s). In the most less cases a chemical reaction will (without additional treatment) consume all starting product(s) and left only the resulting product(s). (You can imagine this like a kind of system of water pipes. If you open one tap and take some water, the whole system will change a little bit, until the water is in balance again.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one has lime in the tank, there will not only be limestone in it (CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) but also some portion of dissolved Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; and HCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; ions because &lt;a href=&quot;http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/environmental/l24/3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;in aquatic environment there are equilibrium reactions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;(aq) + H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;O ⇋ H&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;CO&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt; ⇋ &lt;strong&gt;H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; + HCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; ⇋ &lt;strong&gt;2H&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt; + CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;2-&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;        CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; + &lt;strong&gt;H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ⇋ Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; + CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;2-&lt;/SUP&gt; + &lt;strong&gt;H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ⇋ Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; + &lt;strong&gt;H&lt;/strong&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hydrogen ions (&lt;strong&gt;H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;) which are the source of acidity are marked bold for visual clarity, to signify how these two reactions are entangled with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the tank (yet without bottled water) we have a beautiful amount of chemicals...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we add CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and so we change the balance: more CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;(aq) is available! So the reactions consuming CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will be happy and happen over time to reach the balance again. The CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; will react with water to form carbonic acid, which will then partially dissociate into H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; and HCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; and because now the H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; concentration is increasing, the reaction of lime (CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) dissolution will shift to produce more HCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;SUP&gt;-&lt;/SUP&gt; while simultaneously consuming H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;. As a result, the amount of undissolved limestone in the tank will decrease, and the surplus of H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; will be consumed in this process, preventing pH from decreasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to connect the pH value with this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as there is lime in the water, that the 0.2% of carbonic acid can react with, there is no problem in your tank, because the balance in this reaction is clearly at the side of lime. But if (if it is even possible) one has NO lime in the water, the amount of carbonic acid could increase when adding a lot of bottled water. It would be a spike, but it would not be persistent because to get the balance again, the carbonic acid would decompose into water and carbon dioxide, to get in the 0.2% to 99.8% balance again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding bottled water in general should not be a risk for the life in the tank. It does not differ much from professional CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; gas adding processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one adds a high amount (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the original water volume) of bottled water, there could be spikes/peaks in some chemicals, that may be difficult to overcome for the life in the tank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One should imitate the smooth and continuous supplementation of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; from the professional equipment to stay safe. For example 1/10 of the tank volume every day should not cause any damage. (I would guess to orientate at the recommended amount of water changes with untreated water.) Also, I would assume, that it is not a problem to add the amount, that evaporates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One needs to have in mind, that the plants will use CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; too to build up sugar and other typical biomolecules (and grow, which is the primary and ultimate reason to add CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), so there will be leftover lime which can again bind with carbonic acid, without the need to supply additional lime every time you give bottled water into the tank. But the plants do it in a continuous and regular manner, and the bottled water should be given then in regular little amounts, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one needs to have a close look to the other &lt;strong&gt;additional minerals&lt;/strong&gt; the bottled water can contain. This could enrich in the water. But these minerals are different in each brand, and their effect to tanks is well known, so I do not re-write it here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/didaktik_der_chemie/kernpraktikumfriese/loeslichkeit_von_gasen_in_wasser__kohlenstoffdioxid_.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Von  den  Molekülen  des  gelösten  Kohlenstoffdioxids  reagieren  allerdings  nur  etwa  0,2%  mit den  Wassermolekülen  zur  Kohlensäure.  99,8%  der  Kohlenstoffdioxidmoleküle  sind  einfach nur  im  Wasser  gelöst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/didaktik_der_chemie/kernpraktikumfriese/loeslichkeit_von_gasen_in_wasser__kohlenstoffdioxid_.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt; from German to English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only about 0.2% of the molecules of dissolved carbon dioxide react with water molecules to form carbonic acid. 99.8% of the carbon dioxide molecules are simply dissolved in the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid#Use_of_the_term_carbonic_acid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that dissolved carbon dioxide in extracellular fluid is often called as &amp;quot;carbonic acid&amp;quot; in biochemistry literature, for historical reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid#In_non-biological_solutions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[3]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hydration equilibrium constant at 25 °C is called K&lt;sub&gt;H&lt;/SUB&gt;, which in the case of carbonic acid is [H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;]/[CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;] ≈ 1.7×10&lt;sup&gt;−3&lt;/sup&gt; in pure water&lt;sup&gt;[9]&lt;/sup&gt; and ≈ 1.2×10&lt;sup&gt;−3&lt;/sup&gt; in seawater.&lt;sup&gt;[10]&lt;/sup&gt; Hence, the majority of the carbon dioxide is not converted into carbonic acid, remaining as CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; molecules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calciumcarbonat#Darstellung&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[4]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Die Fällung mit Kohlendioxid ist der am häufigsten eingesetzte Prozess, insbesondere in den On-site-Anlagen der Papierindustrie. Sauberer Kalkstein beziehungsweise Branntkalk wird zunächst zum Calciumhydroxid (Kalkmilch) gelöscht und anschließend als dünne Suspension dem Reaktionsbehälter zugeführt. Dort leitet man so lange Kohlendioxid ein, bis das Calciumhydroxid vollständig zu Calciumcarbonat umgesetzt ist. Die Reaktionsdauer kann durch den Verlauf des pH-Wertes beurteilt und gesteuert werden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; ⟶ CaO + CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;CaO + H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O ⟶ Ca(OH)&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ca(OH)&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; + CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; ⟶ CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; + H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/gesundheit/Mineralwasser-wie-gesund-ist-Kohlensaeure,mineralwasser174.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[5]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Während Leitungswasser und stilles Wasser einen neutralen pH-Wert um 7 haben, können bei Sprudelwasser pH-Werte um 5,5 gemessen werden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/gesundheit/Mineralwasser-wie-gesund-ist-Kohlensaeure,mineralwasser174.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[5]&lt;/a&gt; from German to English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While tap water and non-carbonated water have a neutral pH value of around 7, sparkling water has a pH value of around 5.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlens%C3%A4ure#pH-Indikation_Wasser&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[6]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Die Konzentrationen der drei (eigentlich vier) Kohlensäure-Spezies, also der freien Kohlensäure (H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; und gelöstes CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), des Hydrogencarbonats und des Carbonats sowie der Oxoniumionen stehen miteinander durch das Massenwirkungsgesetz in einem berechenbaren Zusammenhang. Die Konzentration der Oxoniumionen wird durch den pH-Wert ausgedrückt. Bei einem gegebenen pH-Wert ist somit das Mengenverhältnis der Spezies festgelegt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlens%C3%A4ure#pH-Indikation_Wasser&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;[6]&lt;/a&gt; from German to English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concentrations of the three (actually four) carbonic acid species: free carbonic acid (H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; and dissolved CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), bicarbonate, carbonate, and oxonium ions are related to one another through the law of mass action. The concentration of oxonium ions is expressed in terms of pH. At a given pH, the quantitative ratio of the species is thus fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: oxonium ions (Oxoniumionen) in this case is a more general term for hydronium ions; hydronium ions have chemical formula of H&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;O&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; and in this context are just an alternative representation of hydrogen ions H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;H&lt;SUB&gt;3&lt;/SUB&gt;O&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; is just the H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt; ion attached to the water molecule; it is sometimes notated like this because H&lt;SUP&gt;+&lt;/SUP&gt;, being just a bare proton, is extremely small and thus has extremely concentrated charge; for this reason it cannot freely exist in water solution and is always immediately attached to at least one water molecule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14675" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T18:46:56.923" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T18:46:56.923" CommentCount="15" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31226" CreationDate="2021-05-19T16:24:24.470" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;After a month, I'm happy to say that my cat and I have a much better time with giving her medicine! She still isn't excited to get medicine, but she doesn't fight me with it anymore. And after being given a few minutes to collect herself, she's a happy friend again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my answer is, &lt;strong&gt;give your cat time and it gets better.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few things that I did that I think helped my cat get used to the new routine with medicine. And giving a cat medicine is going to be a test of your relationship with them. If they know you love them, you have a good chance of getting them to accept the medicine; if they aren't comfortable with you, medicine is going to exacerbate the issues you already have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience, here's the advice I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure your cat has a lot of positive experiences with you outside of medicine.&lt;/strong&gt; I went out of my way to make sure I pet my cat or gave her treats more often than I gave her medicine. So most of her interactions with me were very positive ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you understand how to hold your cat's head correctly. Ask your vet for help if you're unsure.&lt;/strong&gt; When I first started giving my cat medicine, I held her whole head in a way that didn't give me much leverage, making the experience much more uncomfortable. I asked my vet for help during our latest visit, and she showed me how to hold my cat's cheekbones, making it much easier for both of us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Comfort your cat after giving them medicine - but do so on their terms.&lt;/strong&gt; I make sure to give my cat a bowl of milk, one of her favorite treats, immediately after giving her medicine. By the time she's finished it, she's perfectly happy again. And knowing that the milk is coming makes it easier for her to be emotionally ready for medicine. I don't think she'd appreciate getting pets right away, so I don't try that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give your cat the space they ask for.&lt;/strong&gt; My cat still doesn't like being touched for a while after being given medicine. Being grabbed and having a syringe shoved down her throat means she's had enough physical touch for a while. So I make sure to let her go as soon as I'm done giving her medicine and dash off to get some space and collect herself. This is comforting to her and lets her get to a place where she's happy with me again more quickly. And when my cat was getting mad at me, the fact that I rarely chased after her and forced her to interact with me anyway meant that I didn't make things even worse between us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My vet also recommended &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/how-to-burrito-a-cat-5069576&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;wrapping my cat in a blanket&lt;/a&gt; to keep her from flailing or panicking. I have found that I don't need to do that, but it's something else you can try if you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="281" LastEditDate="2021-05-19T22:44:29.277" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T22:44:29.277" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-19T18:18:12.430" Score="6" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got my first Betta fish (name: Dream) back in September of 2020, he was the first pet I've ever owned and it took me a little time to be able to get him a proper home. But after educating myself properly, I got rid of all the artificial stuff in his tank and put in plenty of live plants (that are still doing well today). I truly believed he was thriving because he grew really quickly, had bright colors, and had a very active and fun personality (not even aggressive to the other tankmates).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until, in March, I noticed he had gotten a disease called dropsy - I noticed this because of the swollen belly, decrease in vibrant color, decrease in movement, and the pine coning of his scales. Dream passed away in the afternoon of the same morning I even noticed what was wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few weeks later (still March) I decided to put his tank back in use and got another Betta (Name: Neto). Since the water quality was still good when Dream died, I thought it might've just been genetic? I decided to get a more expensive Betta this time in the hopes he would have better health. And again he was doing great, up until a few days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After I came back from a weekend out of the house, I noticed the same thing happening to Neto: pine coning, decrease in energy, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did some basic treatment that I had lying around, but it didn't help at all. He died only a few hours ago and I have no idea why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And my other Betta (name: Pearl) that I got back in December isn't doing too great, either. I noticed him laying on the substrate, breathing heavily with faded colors. Even though he wasn't pine coning, I still believed it was also dropsy. (I noticed Neto's and Pearl's situation on the same day, which is why I made that connection.) He's still alive, but even after I finished the basic treatment he's not doing better, now I believe that (because of the no-pine-coning) that he doesn't have dropsy, but maybe something parasitic, so I'll start treatment on that soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just don't know why both Dream and Neto died, and why Pearl might be going too soon. Does anyone have any answers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Tank info:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dream/Neto:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Size: 7 gallons (26 L)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Has filter and heater (26/28°C)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Has live plants&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Other animals: A few cherry shrimps and some assassin snails (+Betta)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pearl:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Size: 15 gallons (57 L)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Has filter and heater (26/28°C)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Has live plants&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Other animals: A Japanesee shrimp, a pleco, four rasboras, and assassin snails (+Betta)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I tested the water of both aquariums and they were both near-perfect.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dream and Neto's Tank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/orkr5.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/orkr5m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pearl's Tank:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xDwAB.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/xDwABm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20548" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T19:29:59.397" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T19:29:59.397" Title="Why do my Betta fish keep dying?" Tags="&lt;aquarium&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;freshwater&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;water-parameters&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31409" CreationDate="2021-05-19T19:27:20.527" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the water quality is OK (according to your statement), then the only thing remaining is that there is an infection in the tank, affecting only the betta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I would suggest to find a specialist (veterinarian?) in your area, to help you with identifying the disease and find a treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative would be to try aquarium-compatible disinfectants, and test them one by one, while you keep replacing the betta's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative to the alternative, is to start everything all over: throw away everything, disinfect everything, do not reuse anything from the other aquarium, perform a cycle from scratch. The down side is that the other inhabitants (fish or plants) might carry the disease, and boil-disinfecting them will actually create a soup - which is against your purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16373" LastActivityDate="2021-05-19T19:27:20.527" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-19T22:24:30.917" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some effective ways of keeping cats off the TV counter for a long term? My cat loves to climb my TV counter, which it probably shouldn't because it can cause him some serious damage with getting tangled with TV wires, or worse, possibly a minor electric shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have looked around and found using an aluminum foil sheet or double-sided tape as easy way to get around the problem, and my cat doesn't really look keen to be climbing the TV counter at present with all the double-sided tape and foil there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is the above a good strategy to go by? Will my cat avoid the TV counter even after I remove the foil and tapes after a week or so? Also, if yes, how long should I keep the tape applied and foil placed at the spot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20549" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-19T22:29:02.410" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:04:36.383" Title="What are some long term strategy to keep cats off counters?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;containment&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31391" CreationDate="2021-05-20T10:03:11.040" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with the other answers that personal ethics and philosophy come into play here, but I would also like to point out your responsibility towards your cat. You took him in (hopefully) to give him a good life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, a good life means a life without any unnecessary stress. In the cases where you use it to get your cat to the vet, I can see some value to your method. Though there are less stressful alternatives I can think of, like treats or calming powders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, using it to get cuddles only serves your selfish needs. I would kindly suggest that you stop manipulating your cat into cuddling with you out of stress. Instead, treat him with the love and care he needs, and he will most likely come to you voluntarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18809" LastEditorUserId="18809" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T23:19:28.997" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T23:19:28.997" CommentCount="9" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-20T10:33:11.260" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time we put a collar on our cat he keeps removing it.  He's pretty much OK with it when it's put on (it doesn't freak him out), he's just stubborn and removes it when we're not looking.  Often we don't find the collar so we have to buy another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We want him to have a collar as it's useful to stop fleas and to identify him.  What can we do to make him keep it on?  Are there certain types of collar that are harder for cats to take off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2829" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T10:33:11.260" Title="Cat keeps removing collar" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;collar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31400" CreationDate="2021-05-20T11:52:40.460" Score="3" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Do you even need to wash your cat?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, cats wash themselves by licking their fur and don't need to be bathed by humans. But with Shpynx cats, the situation is a different one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Skin always produces natural skin oil, called &amp;quot;sebum&amp;quot;. The hairs of cats would usually wick most of that sebum away from the skin, where it is then licked away by the cat. Since Sphynx cats don't have fur (in the common sense of the word), the sebum stays on the skin and makes it oily over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;yes&lt;/strong&gt;, Sphynx cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://holidaybarn.com/blog/sphynx-cats/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;need to be washed&lt;/a&gt; to reduce the oil on their skin. The same goes for ear wax. Since Sphynx cats don't have (much) hair in their ears, you need to clean them regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How often?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That greatly depends on your cat. I've seen several sites promoting a weekly bath, but personally I would only bathe them as needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like some people have dry or oily skin, so do cats. If your cats have dry skin, a weekly bath could dry them out even more and lead to skin irritation and infection. If they have oily skin or like to wallow in dirt, they might require more frequent baths. And the more you bathe oily skin, the more oil it produces, creating a spiral of ever shorter times between baths and ever oilier skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://sphynxlair.com/community/threads/how-often-do-you-actually-bathe-your-sphynx.4712/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;forum with people sharing their bath schedules&lt;/a&gt;. Most bathe their cats every 10 - 14 days, some weekly and very few even more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;How to bathe them?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please use shampoo specifically formulated for cats, which you can buy in many pet stores or online. Human shampoo is too acidic, can irritate and dry out the skin and it shouldn't be ingested (if the cats lick themselves during the bath). Please read more in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/5805/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/27868/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never use essential oils on cats, most of them are extremely &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/9888/12501&quot;&gt;poisonous to cats&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat isn't particularly dirty, just plain water can also suffice. If the skin isn't dirty or oily, the cat doesn't need to be washed at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either bathe them in mildly warm water or wash them with a wet cloth. All residue of shampoo should be completely rinsed off. They should be dried with a towel and kept warm until the skin is completely dry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clean the ears, please &lt;strong&gt;don't use q-tips&lt;/strong&gt;, the risk of injury is too high. Instead wet a cotton pad or some kitchen towel, squeeze out all excess water and gently wipe the inside of the ear clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Feline acne&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the cat has very oily skin and isn't washed regularly, it can get &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thesprucepets.com/caring-for-hairless-cat-4776345&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline acne&lt;/a&gt;. However, if you notice dark spots on your cats chin, mouth or nose, you should first discard any food and water bowls made of plastic. Mild food and plastic allergies are very common in cats and often cause blackheads or brown spots. We have an example in &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/19265/12501&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, but blackheads and itching at the chin are also common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please use glass, porcelain or stainless steal bowl instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-20T12:31:55.233" LastActivityDate="2021-05-20T12:31:55.233" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31420" CreationDate="2021-05-20T12:32:34.987" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have taken in a 4 year old &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Sheepdog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Icelandic Sheepdog&lt;/a&gt; almost one year ago from a shelter. At first she was shy with us, then playful. Over time she has become increasingly aggressive, biting adults and now starting to bite children aggressively. I am aware of the difference between aggressive biting and playing, this is aggressive. Last month she bit my left hand (non-dominant, non-aggressive hand) very deeply and tore a thumb ligament. Today two first graders were petting her gently, as they have done for months with her, and she suddenly turned and bit one on the hand with no warning, previous sign of aggression, or any sudden or aggressive move by the child. These are children that the dog knows. Also, when she was new in the house a year ago she aggressively bit two adults and tore their flesh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I put her in a muzzle and leashed her to the fence. She is in the shade and has water (she can drink through the muzzle) and food (I will remove the muzzle so she can eat). But I am not permitting anybody to play with her right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to convey to her that she is not being played with because she bites? I am not punishing her per se, but rather protecting people. However I suspect that she may have been abused before she was sent to the shelter and I do not want her to relive that experience. I am as concerned about her well-being as I am about the humans here. How can I explain to her why she is in a muzzle? Might she already understand? I did put the muzzle on her within seconds of the biting, which was two hours ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dog is fully vaccinated, there are no known cases of rabies in our area, and the dog has no other signs of rabies. Also, &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt; the dog is very gentle and demands that we pet her constantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T09:36:20.630" Title="How to convey to a dog that we are not playing with her because she bites?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;biting&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31419" CreationDate="2021-05-20T21:25:35.853" Score="1" ViewCount="981" Body="&lt;p&gt;My cat threw up this morning what looked to be food he recently ate. He is 2 years old, perfectly healthy otherwise as far as I can tell, and hasn't had any other negative signs. Nonetheless, it is the first time he has ever thrown up and I am a bit startled because of this. Should I be taking him into the vet? Should I wait to see if he does it again or develops some other symptoms? Sorry if this is normal or not a big deal, it's just the first time he's ever done so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16760" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T14:31:18.407" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T14:31:18.407" Title="My cat threw up once, should I be worried?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;digestion&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31417" CreationDate="2021-05-21T07:15:29.457" Score="8" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer: No.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats do throw up from time to time, and it is normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep an eye out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;more throwing up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;general sluggishness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;less appetite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lack of defecation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally just keep an eye out for more things that point to your cat being sick. If it is just this one throwing up, and he does not do it several times a day, you do not need to go to the vet. If you do notice more symptoms, or he seems off to you, you can also give your vet a call and describe the things you noticed. They will be able to tell you whether you should come by or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastEditorUserId="13285" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T14:29:35.017" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T14:29:35.017" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31416" CreationDate="2021-05-21T07:22:50.010" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;First thing, you need to get her checked by a vet for anything that might cause her pain. Arthritis, a herniated disk or certain vitamin deficits are known to cause pain and dogs that are in pain are known to bite. The children might have touched her in a way that caused her pain and she bit in reaction to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the vet doesn't find anything, you need to take into consideration that she'll never be a safe dog. I, too, have a dog that was abused as a puppy and he can never be trusted around men. Your dog cannot be trusted around anyone, so don't trust her not to bite. There are certain &lt;strong&gt;muzzles that are designed to be worn a long time&lt;/strong&gt;, allow the dog to pant and drink and eat. She should wear it every time you have guests or when she's unsupervised around people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can she understand that she's not allowed to play because she bites? No.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Can she understand that she's not being punished? No.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Can she understand why she's in a muzzle? No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dogs are intelligent enough to connect certain stimuli with certain outcomes, like you holding the leash means she's going to go on a walk. They are not intelligent enough to understand complex social rules like if she would stop biting she could play with the children. However, she could learn that having a guest at your house means she wears a muzzle without her feeling punished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, you would train with her that if she does something &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; don't want it has consequences &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; doesn't want. But since her unwanted behavior causes real injuries, you cannot wait for her to bite another person to train with her not to bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also the real possibility that in the moment she bites, her brain switched to a &amp;quot;fight or flight&amp;quot; mode. This is an evolutionary mechanism to protect her in dangerous situations (like a fight with another dog) but at the same time it deactivates her ability to analyze a situation and learn from it. When she was abused in the past and something reminds her of that time, it triggers this &amp;quot;fight or flight&amp;quot; reaction and she cannot be held accountable for her actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same happens to my own dog, who was abused in the past. His trigger is someone leaning over another person or him (and it took us a year to finally realize the specific trigger). When I want to show someone something on my phone and lean down to them, he perceives this as intimidating and dangerous and immediately starts attacking me without any warning at all. We're just lucky that he doesn't actually bite. We tried training with him his whole life, but the only thing that really improved the situation was him going blind and being unable to see the triggering body posture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most important fact is that &lt;strong&gt;if your dog is triggered, you must not, under any circumstances, cause her pain&lt;/strong&gt;. If the attack is caused by past abuse, you can only make the reaction worse by causing her more pain.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Instead, you should remove the dog from the situation and lock her into a safe room until she calmed down. This safe room can also be a crate where no one bothers or interacts with her and she can calm down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The topic of abuse and trauma is a very complex one, so please read a lot and try to understand the mindset of your dog. Some sources I find helpful are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/dogs-and-psychological-trauma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Dogs and Psychological Trauma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/how-heal-emotionally-traumatized-pet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;How to Heal an Emotionally Traumatized Pet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/5-tips-for-traumatized-dogs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;5 Tips for Traumatized Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/blog/expert-tips-on-helping-pets-through-trauma/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Expert Tips on Helping Pets Through Trauma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize the most important tips from those links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Create a safe space for your dog where nothing bad ever happens. This can be a crate, a dog house, a certain room or a dedicated corner in a room where the dog bed is. Whenever your dog is triggered, bring her to this safe room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;End the traumatic situation on a positive note. This certainly seems counter-intuitive at first, but when you are removing her from the triggering situation, don't scold or reprimand her and don't cause her pain. Once you have brought her into her safe room, give her a treat. This makes the triggering situation less terrifying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Identify her trigger. It's best to keep a note or a journal lying around where you can take note about what happened right before she started biting. Hopefully over time a pattern will emerge that makes you understand her trigger and ultimately avoid it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Give her autonomy and choices. Keeping her leashed to the fence is a sure way to traumatize her even further. She needs to feel safe and like she has a say in what happens to her and in her life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let it go. Don't pity your dog all the time for her past abuse. It's over now. She has a better life with you. Treat her like any other &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; dog (but keeping her triggers in mind) and be happy that she's happy now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid her triggers, you'll need to set rules not only for your dog, but also for all guests who interact with her. If you notice that she bites when she's touched on the head, make a rule that no one is allowed to touch or pet her head. If you notice that she bites when she's being touched when she doesn't expect it, make a rule that anyone who wants to pet her has to ask &amp;quot;may I pet you?&amp;quot; before touching her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And 2 personal recommendations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your dog is a working breed and probably has a lot of energy. Pent up energy can increase anxiety and panic reactions. Please have a look at this &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/23521/12501&quot;&gt;list of dog activities&lt;/a&gt; and try to incorporate some of those into your life. Something as simple as a puzzle feeder doesn't take much of your time but helps your dog be more relaxed and balanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do believe you when you say you know the difference between an aggressive bite and a playful nip, but dogs have an incredible number of warning signs before they start biting. It's very possible that abused dogs don't give warning signs before attacking, but maybe you can still see and identify some warnings. Please have a look at these questions for references and video tutorials:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/1464/12501&quot;&gt;How can I tell the difference between play and aggression at the dog park?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/q/29727/12501&quot;&gt;Calming aggressive puppy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T09:36:20.630" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T09:36:20.630" CommentCount="2" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31417" CreationDate="2021-05-21T11:01:08.923" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;If he never threw up in his 2 years of life, you're probably not providing him with grass to chew. Although this is not essential for his health and wellbeing, it's still &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/evr_ct_how-to-grow-cat-grass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;recommended to offer a cat fresh grass&lt;/a&gt; for the health benefits and to prevent the cat eating plants that might be toxic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When cats lick their fur they inevitably swallow hairs, which are very hard to digest. Part of natural and healthy cat behavior is to regurgitate hairballs. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/nutrition-feeding/cat-grass-safety-and-information&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Grass acts like an emetic&lt;/a&gt; and helps the process along. So if your cat eats and then vomits grass, it's perfectly healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can sometimes find little flower pots of cat grass in pet shops, supermarkets or flower shops. There are also cat grass kits available where you get a packet of seeds and grow your own cat grass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T13:31:47.237" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:31:47.237" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31411" CreationDate="2021-05-21T13:04:36.383" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cat loves to climb. You stated that when you said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cat loves to climb my TV counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could consider getting him a cat tower/tree for him to climb on? It will prevent him from getting shocked and distract him from the counter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.armarkat.com/blog1/how-cat-trees-can-benefit-your-cat/#:%7E:text=Cat%20trees%20are%20a%20great,a%20host%20of%20health%20benefits.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Armarkat.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cat trees are a great way to distract felines who would rather climb and scratch the furniture, but they also offer a host of health benefits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20192" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T13:04:36.383" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31409" CreationDate="2021-05-21T14:59:50.803" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The existing answer gives a good course of action and one of the comments suggesting the source of the fish (i.e. the local fish store) might be a good one to follow up. Some fish stores even offer a guarantee with their fish (if it dies within a week, they'll replace provided your water quality is fine). Consider changing your fish store for bettas if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last sense-check I'd do would be to make sure you're cleaning your tank regularly (if the water quality is fine, you probably are) and that all your existing tank-mates will play well with a betta. There's nothing in your description that implies you're doing anything wrong. The tanks look big enough (although I'm no expert on stocking-levels in a tropical tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I leave about a month of &amp;quot;mourning time&amp;quot; (or quarantine!) before replacing a fish. Might be I'm just superstitious or very protective of my grief, but I suspect it leaves enough time for any disease to run its course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, just to add a little information, dropsy is usually a symptom of a disease, not actually a disease itself. It's a swelling of the abdomen and I think it is sometimes caused by kidney failure which, in my experience, is usually related to some sort infection which doesn't tend to spread to all the fish in the tank. But there's nothing to say that dropsy couldn't be caused by a tumour or some genetic malformation of a fish as it grows. With dropsy, I've never had a fish last longer than 2 weeks once pine-coning starts, and the one that lasted longest was in and out of a salt bath at the end to keep the pine-coning under control, so I can't say it was a successful treatment. A few days is normal and probably merciful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12774" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T14:59:50.803" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-21T17:48:57.643" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 3 kittens which are 14 weeks old. Their mother cat gave birth to 5 newborns last night. Today, the 3 older kittens are latched on her teats, are happily helping themselves and she isn't stopping them. She had cut them off a while back. Will she have enough milk for the newborns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20563" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T19:21:45.807" LastActivityDate="2021-05-25T07:15:38.317" Title="Older cats are nursing on the new mother with newborns" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;breeding&gt;&lt;weaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-21T18:29:10.680" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a new cat one week ago from the RSPCA, he was originally from a farm and was given to them; having been with them for two months. They explained he isn’t used to human contact and would take a while to come round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He’s been hiding under our bath since we brought him home and will only come out to eat and use litter tray when he knows we’re in bed. We have left the utility door shut so he only has in there and the bathroom in the day, and the kitchen too at night. I’m unsure if he was completely feral but he seems to be absolutely petrified of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this normal/any advice to tempt him out whilst we’re around? I’ve left out treat trails, etc. but no luck so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20566" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-21T19:14:56.520" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T07:37:36.643" Title="How long will my new cat stay hidden?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;fear&gt;&lt;new-pets&gt;&lt;acclimation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-23T07:36:30.470" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-21T22:29:21.940" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two cats, the bigger-sized of whom often (once every two days) pees on his back paws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon inspection, this doesn't seem to be his fault -- he's using the litter and litter box properly, but because he pees so much every time, the urine tends to &amp;quot;stream down&amp;quot; into where his back paw stands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, I thought it was because the litter box is too small since he's the bigger one, so I upsized it to the biggest one I can get from Amazon, but this still happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there anything that I can do about this? Thanks in advance. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20567" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T15:21:31.777" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T15:21:31.777" Title="Cat urinates on his back paws; what should I do?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;urination&gt;&lt;hygiene&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-21T23:08:24.540" Score="0" ViewCount="29" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a new cat 1 week ago from the street and it was approximately 1 month but 1 week ago I found an orange  scaley patch covered with a white thing behind her ear and it has something similar to this in her belly mom is telling me it can be dangerous help please&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20570" LastActivityDate="2021-05-21T23:08:24.540" Title="Cat has a scaley part behind ear" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-22T10:51:17.920" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28816" CreationDate="2021-05-22T00:04:18.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we are leaving for a walk he starts crying and pulling and nothing can break his mental state. No treats, no amount of excitement to go away from the house or being calm and assertive and waiting for him to calm himself down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is completely normal for puppies.&lt;/strong&gt; This is a thing every puppy goes though (or course, if it lasts longer, it is something else, such as underlying pain or just a disliking of walking in general).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following are strategies/ideas to train your puppy to leave your house:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drive away from home to start your walk.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;At first, an option is to drive away from your house, so that your puppy isn't being stressed out by smelling and seeing your house while walking away from it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bring a partner.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;By bringing a friend, neighbor, or family member, your puppy may be encouraged to follow and engage with the other person while walking, rather than feel stressed (regardless of whether the partner is bringing a dog themself or not).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Practice training while walking&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;While walking, you can stand in front of your puppy and encourage them to follow you, by holding out your hand at their eye level, showing them a treat in your other hand, and slowly walking away from the puppy. The puppy should follow, and when their nose hits your low hand, give them the treat (and if using clicker training, click the clicker), and recognize them, such as saying &amp;quot;good boy&amp;quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More info &lt;a href=&quot;https://vetbag.com/puppy-refuses-to-walk-away-from-home/#:%7E:text=Puppies%20who%20refuse%20to%20walk,great%20ways%20of%20encouraging%20them.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if following these tips and similar, this will be a &amp;quot;phase&amp;quot; and will last for several more months. Be patient and loving, even if they are uncooperative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to force him by pulling on the leash for about 3-4 houses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/blog/dont-pull-your-dog-with-his-leash/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;Try not to do this.&lt;/a&gt; It isn't actually helping, and over-exerting force is never a good thing (could be physically and mentally bad for your puppy). Instead, try using the above tips, or practice walking around your yard before your walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until we get on the last stretch of the walk where he knows we are going home. Then he starts pulling and lunging in the direction of the home. I usually stop each time he pulls and wait for him to calm down and walk back to me. This can take more than 5 minutes at the beginning. After he is calmed and I praised him, I give him a treat from coming back to me. When I'll do one step toward the house he lunges and pulls again. The 6 houses to get home can take more than 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're doing the right thing. Patience is key. If you would like to incorporate some helpful training into what you're already doing, you can practice saying &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; each time your puppy lunges, as it stops them from lunging and helps them learn the trick &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, you should makes walks fun! Use lots of treats and let your puppy sniff around (see more walking tips &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.puppyleaks.com/dog-walking-tips/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastActivityDate="2021-05-22T00:04:18.123" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31430" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-22T00:54:25.147" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have a six-year-old German shepherd mix who is a beautiful sweetheart. But she is reactive to unknown men in &amp;quot;her&amp;quot; house. We are staying with my dad for the summer and she has taken to barking at him. We have begun trying to condition her by doing training sessions where we feed her a steady stream of treats whenever she notices him coming in the door or coming up the stairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is how to handle stimulation (i.e. she sees Dad) when we're not in a session (so we won't necessarily be standing at her side with treats). We can't reward her every time she sees the stimulus, so what do we do in those cases? Maybe there is a different answer depending on whether she reacts or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20569" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-22T04:18:01.767" LastActivityDate="2021-05-22T17:59:40.333" Title="Conditioning a positive response from my dog to a roommate" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;reactivity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31430" CreationDate="2021-05-22T17:56:07.447" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your training sessions are a great start, but they would be even more effective if your dad was the one to give her the treats. Dogs use their noses much more than we do and whenever she takes a treat from dad, she connects his personal smell with positive feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he's at the top of the stairs, he can throw the treat into her direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He can simply carry a handful of treat in his pocket or you can buy a treat bag that can be fastened to a belt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that worked great when we took care of an anxious dog was to greet the dog every time you enter the house. Dogs actually have poorer vision than humans, so your dog may simply not recognize your dad and bark because he &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be a stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time your dad goes through the door or comes down the stairs, he should say &amp;quot;Hey &lt;em&gt;dog name&lt;/em&gt;&amp;quot;. That makes it immediately clear who he is and that he doesn't intend to sneak around or ambush anyone. He can even say his greeting before he opens the door to avoid startling your dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-22T17:59:40.333" LastActivityDate="2021-05-22T17:59:40.333" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-23T11:22:49.633" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I tie my dog to a park bench and exercise for hours in a circular vacant lot about 65 feet in diameter. Is this illegal or legal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do some people in the park bother me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20572" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T11:22:49.633" Title="If I tie my dog to a park bench and exercise for hours in a circular vacant lot about 65 feet in diameter. Is this illegal or legal?" Tags="&lt;dogs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-05-25T05:48:24.410" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31434" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-23T16:33:15.747" Score="0" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if this is normal for hamsters to do, but I’m just checking here in case!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20573" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-23T16:36:33.630" LastActivityDate="2021-05-23T16:36:33.630" Title="Is it normal for a hamster to make their hand into a fist?" Tags="&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;hamsters&gt;&lt;anatomy&gt;&lt;rodents&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-24T20:56:45.563" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31427" CreationDate="2021-05-24T02:14:31.983" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest to try much bigger boxes, we are not using commercially available litterboxes as even the large ones tend to be somewhat small, but instead use those plastic under-the-bed containers you can put your blankets in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are about 50x90 centimeters (20x35 inches), and even the largest cats can use them comfortably with a lot of room to spare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll need a lot of litter to initially fill them, think at least a full large bag, but the cats absolutely love them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more space they have to dig their little hole, the less likely any accidents are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19086" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T02:14:31.983" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-24T09:09:35.350" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our cat has stopped having food after its 2 kittens passed away last week (the remaining one was adopted 2 weeks ago). It's been 4 days since it had anything to eat or drink, except water which is not much either, just a lick. We have tried all kinds of food and fresh milk, but it just stays sad and sleeps on the sofa all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We got a veterinarian to take a look at it yesterday, and it had high fever for which he gave a injection and also antibiotics. It drank a little bit of water right after, but it hasn't started eating/drinking yet. However, after the injection it is comparatively active compared to the day before. It roams around the house once a while. It keeps going to the places where its kittens used to play and calls out for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it has stopped having food due to grief; I don't know how long it can go on without food. We have tried giving it packaged cat food, home made cat food, milk, but it just steps back if we try to move the bowl near it. We even tried dipping a finger into the gravy and smear it on its lips, but it just backs away or runs away. Last night, we tried feeding it sugar water using a syringe, but after wrestling it we got it to gulp only 3 mL of it. Today morning, we found that it had vomited on its bed and it had grass in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions on what I should do next?  Veterinarian has told he will come today evening to check on it again. Has anyone faced something similar? Any pointers will be much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20576" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-25T21:53:59.793" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T13:53:45.337" Title="My cat has stopped having food since its kittens passed away" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;health&gt;&lt;diet&gt;&lt;feeding&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31439" CreationDate="2021-05-24T13:40:16.493" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Around a week ago, a stray cat transferred her kittens to my backyard. Since then I've been like feeding her max 4-5 biscuits (since my parents don't want her to grow too attached) and I just go stare at them for a while in the afternoons. When she's with her kittens, I've been allowed to be within a palm length, then she'd hiss (I accidentally came close while drying clothes), but she doesn't mind if I come close when she's alone. Today, I went close after sitting directly beside her for a while and stroked her head with a finger a couple of times. She kept her eyes closed, but didn't hiss or anything, nor did she try to evade (I was near the door while she had ample open space to run away). Is she too tired and is thus not reacting, or is she okay with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20578" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T15:12:13.073" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T15:12:13.073" Title="Am I making the stray cat uncomfortable with my touch?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;animal-handling&gt;&lt;stress&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31438" CreationDate="2021-05-24T14:45:28.343" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Closing her eyes is an indication the cat trusts you.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a cat is feeling wary of its surroundings, its natural instinct is to stay alert. A cat will only relax enough to close its eyes or sleep if it feels safe enough to. Cats even communicate a certain level of friendliness by using body language that indicates its feeling relaxed and secure in its surroundings despite, or maybe because of, your presence. Closing its eyes, slowly blinking as if it's drowsy, assuming a vulnerable position such as lying in its back are some of the ways a cat expresses it is relaxed and trusts you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's likely she still hisses at you when with her kittens because she is still extra protective of them, which of course is perfectly natural. At the same time, she still allows you to come quite close to them before she warns you to stay away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T14:45:28.343" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9276" CreationDate="2021-05-24T19:31:05.513" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Explosion is obviously an urban legend.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never heard of such a thing before. But Roborovski hamsters are adapted to similar pressures as humans and other mammals so there is no reason to assume that slightly lower pressure in airplanes might cause anything more than a discomfort to hamsters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hamsters have a very high rate of metabolism so you need to put some food in its enclosure during a long flight. Hamsters also have a very low tolerance to drafts and low temperatures so if you need to carry them in the luggage compartment, you need to include some bedding, like paper tissues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with carrying hamsters is that most airways assume that all hamsters are rodents which are capable of gnawing their way from their compartments and damage the plane. Therefore, however small the hamster is, most airways will reject carrying the hamster so make sure that you can carry them on your journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-24T19:49:20.617" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T19:49:20.617" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31377" CreationDate="2021-05-24T23:08:36.817" Score="2" Body="&lt;p&gt;My research suggests that it could be possible, but the prognosis depends on how soon have the eggs been removed from the platy fish after it died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Platies are fish from the genus &lt;em&gt;Xiphophorus&lt;/em&gt; of the family &lt;em&gt;Poeciliidae&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Xiphophorus&lt;/em&gt; genus contains 28 recognized species; all of them are called either platies or swordtails, and this distinction depends on whether the male specimens have elongated lobe(s), or &amp;quot;sword(s)&amp;quot; on their caudal fin; those species in which males possess this feature are swordtails, while those in which males lack this feature are platies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all fish within the &lt;em&gt;Poeciliidae&lt;/em&gt; family, including platies and swordtails, are ovoviviparous livebearers; the eggs are retained in mother's body mostly for protection and are otherwise thought to be independent from her. However, there are differences among the ovoviviparous species of fish in regard to the support provided to growing eggs by the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;Poeciliidae&lt;/em&gt; family, many species are considered to be lecithotropic, which means that mother fish is just a &amp;quot;live egg bag&amp;quot;, and does not provide support for developing larvae besides facilitating the O&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt;/CO&lt;SUB&gt;2&lt;/SUB&gt; gas exchange; however, other species are matrotrophic, which means that mother has more or less developed placenta and nourishes the larvae developing in eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maternal provisioning is quantified via &amp;quot;matrotrophy index&amp;quot; (MI for short), and it is an estimation of dehydrated body mass of the newborn fish divided by an estimation of dehydrated egg's mass at the point of fertilization. If fish larvae inside eggs develop independently from the mother, all the biomass has to be already contained within the eggs themselves in the form of yolk which nourishes the developing larvae; in such cases MI values are less than 1, and this is the case in most species of livebearer fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in some other species MI could be as high as 120, which means that newborn fish contains 120 times as much dehydrated biomass as the egg at the point of fertilization - all the difference is provided via the mother's nourishment, and these eggs would not be able to develop outside of the mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good news in the context of your question is that, &lt;a href=&quot;https://bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-019-1484-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;according to this source&lt;/a&gt;, platies have MI of less than 1; in other words, they are lecithotrophic, lack a placenta and this means that developing eggs are independent from the mother in terms of nourishment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...] published reference genomes of three related lecithotrophic species: the Trinidadian guppy (&lt;em&gt;Poecilia reticulata&lt;/em&gt;), the Amazon molly (&lt;em&gt;Poecilia formosa&lt;/em&gt;), and the Platyfish (&lt;em&gt;Xiphophorus maculatus&lt;/em&gt;). These latter three species are lecithotrophic (MI &amp;lt; 1), and lack a placenta. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One important thing is, the mother facilitates gas exchange for larvae developing inside the eggs. I would assume that the mechanism of facilitating gas exchange for eggs relies on the mother performing her own gas exchange - in other words, it relies on her being alive and breathing. Once the mother dies, she stops breathing and at this point I would assume that the eggs inside her start suffocating, as they are somewhat isolated from the outside world by her body; what is more, decomposition processes that quickly start after mother's death could themselves begin to consume any leftover oxygen from within the body and further deprive eggs of it. Because of this, the chance of successfully hatching the retrieved eggs is probably the higher, the sooner they have been removed from the body of dead mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After retrieving the eggs, it is important to place them in water that is oxygenated enough and has some flow to facilitate more efficient gas exchange for the developing eggs. I would also suggest not placing the eggs in a brightly lit place, but rather in shade to mimic the conditions inside the body of their mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastActivityDate="2021-05-24T23:08:36.817" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31425" CreationDate="2021-05-25T07:15:38.317" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In this case you need to stop the older kittens.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing would be if the mother and the young kittens could have a room for themselves, while the older kittens can not enter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is important the new kittens are getting enough milk and especially the early milk since it contains important antibodies and nutrients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spay your cat now unless you really want more kittens&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/29831/is-it-advisable-to-let-my-cat-mate-two-months-after-having-given-birth/29845#29845&quot;&gt;this question about timing between cat pregnancies&lt;/a&gt; explains, pregnancies are exhausting just like they would be for us humans. Since you already have a lot of kittens I would suggest spaying the cat so she does not keep getting pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="14744" LastActivityDate="2021-05-25T07:15:38.317" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31437" CreationDate="2021-05-25T23:01:32.843" Score="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your cat has not eaten anything for so long, it is a serious concern. If a cat does not eat for any longer than 24 hours, it is at risk of developing &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hepatic_lipidosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;feline hepatic lipidosis&lt;/a&gt;, also known as fatty liver syndrome; this is potentially fatal disease that is capable of causing death within just 3 days since the cat has stopped eating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think asking some site on the Internet is going to give you any constructive or reliable diagnosis in this case; however, it will probably be trivial for people working in the clinic after doing blood parameter tests to measure any pathological change in activity of cat's liver enzymes, etc. People on the Internet cannot see any of such details relevant to your cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Getting people who had experienced similar problems to share their insight has the potential of you getting focused on some advice that by mere coincidence would sound good on paper, but could turn out to be completely irrelevant and distract you from the actual problem and delay the proper treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T13:53:45.337" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T13:53:45.337" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-26T02:13:08.570" Score="10" ViewCount="3194" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is Ringo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4M14F.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/4M14F.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’ve had him for almost 2 years and he’s been happy until the last week or so. He lives in a 1 gallon (3.8 L) tank (I know it’s small, blame the Petsmart employee who suggested it) and he has a filter and a heater. I change his water at least one time a month, and I clean everything during that time and change the filter. I use tap water with a water conditioner when I change the water and I use a bacteria starter every morning for the next five days after changing. He’s gone through spells where he wouldn’t eat much, but he’s always perked back up; however, lately he’s been laying on the bottom of the tank, either right side up or upside down, or laying in his little submarine house, and he hasn’t been eating at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OeVRL.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://i.stack.imgur.com/OeVRL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I noticed this white-ish sore on his side. Can someone help me please? I just don’t want him to suffer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately Ringo passed away less than 12 hours after I posted this. Yes he was in a small tank but I did do my research and dosed his water with the correct amounts of conditioner, bacteria starters and medications according to the amount of water in the tank. I’ve had a betta fish before in a tiny less than half gallon bowl with no filter or heater in tap water that lived over 4 years. I did what I could with the information I was given and found via petsmart and the internet. The plants were not sharp plastic, they were made of rubber. Nothing in the tank was sharp. I tried my best but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough. I’m sorry to Ringo and thank you to everyone who gave helpful advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20582" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T19:15:21.353" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T19:15:21.353" Title="How can I help my betta, who has a white-ish sore on his side, is laying at the bottom of the tank, and isn't eating?" Tags="&lt;health&gt;&lt;fish&gt;&lt;diseases&gt;&lt;betta&gt;&lt;skin-condition&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31446" CreationDate="2021-05-26T03:35:42.080" Score="18" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is most important that a betta fish have the right environment&lt;/strong&gt;. If the environment is right, it's easier to treat any illnesses the fish may develop. Your fish needs at least 5 gallons (19 L) (despite what a pet store employee recommends, you can always get a different tank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the smaller the tank, the more frequently you need to perform water changes. One month is not enough for a 1 gallon tank - you should change the water at least once a week, nearly 100% change. This is why it's important to have a larger tank, too. The larger the tank, the easier it is to maintain a good nitrogen cycle and bacteria. (You shouldn't need a bacteria supplement in the right environment). To make sure your tank is correctly cycled and in a healthy state, check the pH, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, and water hardness. Knowing these can also help you identify issues (wrong levels can make a Betta very sick).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potential illnesses:&lt;/strong&gt; Here are some things I can try to diagnose (keeping in mind I'm not a vet, and only speak from experience keeping Bettas and researching common illnesses)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swim bladder issue&lt;/strong&gt;: Your fish is laying on its side on the bottom of a tank - this is a good indicator that your fish has a swim bladder issue and is likely struggling to get to the top for air. Overfeeding is a common cause for this. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/swim-bladder-disease-in-bettas/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;Here is a good guide you should read.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fin rot&lt;/strong&gt;: It looks like his fins have potentially rotted away (seeing the difference in your two photos). There's a chance that the fin is also simply being torn by aquarium decorations. Check that your decor is not sharp. Fins can grow back in the right environment. Otherwise, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/how-to-treat-fin-rot-in-bettas-full-guide/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;check out this guide on fin rot&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Missing scales&lt;/strong&gt;: The white spot you notice on his side looks like missing scales. If there is something sharp, this can tear off scales, just like it could tear his fins. Like fins, scales can grow back. But left untreated and in the wrong environment, can cause a bacterial infection.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dropsy&lt;/strong&gt;: I can't fully tell, but I see signs of pineconeing (betta bloats and scales stick out more than normal, like a pinecone). This indicates a high likelihood of a bacterial/water quality issue. This could be due to adding so much bacteria starter to a tiny tank (high bio-loads can cause dropsy). &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/how-to-treat-dropsy-in-betta-fish/&quot; rel=&quot;noreferrer&quot;&gt;This is a great article on identifying and treating dropsy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it's hard to diagnose a fish with just an image and not knowing the exact water parameters. I've listed a lot of potential issues here, which can feel overwhelming. This is why I always recommend getting the environment right, first. Start there. The best treatment for a lot of the issues I listed is a healthy environment!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Next steps:&lt;/strong&gt; So you don't shock your little guy, keep it slow and small at first. I would maybe start by increasing your water changes, stopping the bacteria you add, and buying a water testing kit to test your current setup. Consider your 1 gallon a hospital tank, and you can start cycling a larger tank while you treat the current environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps, and best of luck with Ringo!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13827" LastEditorUserId="10835" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T16:43:37.420" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T16:43:37.420" CommentCount="5" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31448" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2021-05-26T12:29:18.570" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about the process of adopting pets from a shelter or animal rescue organization and about any problem that might arise in the context of such an adoption. With &amp;quot;shelter&amp;quot; we mean any establishment that temporarily takes ownership for pets, regardless of whether it's maintained by private organizations, local government, or supported by charitable contributions,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For questions about &amp;quot;shelter from the weather&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;a place that offers protection&amp;quot; please use &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/housing&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;housing&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;housing&lt;/a&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T20:06:34.097" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T20:06:34.097" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31449" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2021-05-26T12:29:18.570" Score="0" Body="Any establishment that provides a temporary home for dogs, cats, and other animals that are offered for adoption." OwnerUserId="12501" LastEditorUserId="12501" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T13:12:03.693" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T13:12:03.693" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31275" CreationDate="2021-05-26T13:49:09.477" Score="1" Body="&lt;h2&gt;It is SAFE for your cat and there is no evidence that would suggest otherwise.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3096201/coronavirus-scottish-shorthair-yorkshire-terrier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;www.scmp.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Samples collected from the cat and the dog by the department tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. However, neither of the animals has shown any symptoms at present. The AFCD will continue to closely monitor them and conduct repeated testing.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for the context: RT-PCR tests (the most commonly used type of tests for this) are triggered to give &amp;quot;positive&amp;quot; result after just detecting the mere presence of fragments of the genes of the virus, not presence of active viruses themselves; it means that even if the immune system has already completely destroyed all the active viruses, and left only inactive and harmless viral remains, RT-PCR test will still tell that the tested subject is &amp;quot;positive&amp;quot;. It goes for both you in your situation, and the pets mentioned in the quoted article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our immune system has been evolving constantly fighting off pathogens for millions of years, and while it is not perfect, it is really quite good at it. It defends us from pathogenic intruders via destroying them; however, it does not do it via Chicago overcoat method of dressing them in cement shoes and dumping them into large water bodies without leaving any trace of evidence; instead, it destroys them in less &amp;quot;refined&amp;quot; way which leaves obvious signs and messy remains. And this is fine; our immune system cells are not criminals who would have to hide the evidence, and since all that messy remains do not present any threat to us anymore, there is no need of prioritizing getting rid of them - as a result, they could remain present in our system for WEEKS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in this context, the problem is that RT-PCR tests will detect all those mauled and harmless pathogen &amp;quot;corpses&amp;quot; and label you as &amp;quot;positive&amp;quot; - classifying you in the same exact status as someone who is losing the battle with the virus and is actively spreading active and infectious viruses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next important topic: animals don't play any significant role in spreading this virus. None of the credible sources suggest that cats or dogs were even remotely responsible for contributing to the overall spread of this virus anywhere in the world. The virus is spread mostly by aerosols which travel up to 30 meters before landing. Both dogs and cats have not shown any symptoms of illness. &amp;quot;Positive but asymptomatic&amp;quot;, translated from the creeping newspeak, means &amp;quot;healthy&amp;quot; - no more, no less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17671" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T20:05:27.180" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T20:05:27.180" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31446" CreationDate="2021-05-26T17:03:10.423" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing to check with sick fish is the water quality. As indicated in the excellent answer from Gwendolyn, small tanks need more frequent water changes (even if you're using a pump with a filter). Once a month seems a little infrequent for a tank that size. Personally, for my 1.6 gallon tank, I vacuum the gravel and do a water change of no more than 25% once a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding that much bacteria starter seems a bit excessive to me, especially for that small of a tank, but I could be wrong. Check the directions to see what the recommendation is for your particular product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other thing to consider: what kind of heater are you using? Do you have a digital thermometer? I used to use a 5-watt heater that heated continuously, but I found that the water temperature was fluctuating too much (which is stressful for Betta fish). It's better to have one that measures the water temperature and turns on when it detects the water getting too cold. Ideally target the 79 - 81 °F (26 - 27 °C) range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water that's colder than 75 °F (24 °C) can suppress your fish's immune system (leaving it more prone to illness), and large temperature swings causes undue stress. (Excessively warm water is also uncomfortable for the fish and can, in the long run, lead to an excessively high metabolism and premature aging).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of the disease, I'm obviously not a vet, but white spots like this often imply the presence of a bacterial or fungal infection. Bettafix and Pimafix are sometimes used for these purposes. The word of caution is that Melafix, which is a stronger formulation of Bettafix, and Pimafix have the risk of coating their labyrinth organ and causing breathing problems, so be sure to check for that if you use Pimafix in particular. If they frequently rise to the surface and appear to &amp;quot;gasp&amp;quot; for air, this could indicate breathing problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, believe it or not, aquarium salt is sometimes used. If you go this route, make sure that you use aquarium salt, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; table salt (which tends to have additional additives that are geared towards human consumption, such as &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodised_salt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;iodine&lt;/a&gt;). Be sure to dissolve it in conditioned water before you add it to the tank, and to add the correct amount for your tank size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a wide variety of other treatments available for bacterial and fungal infections too, even including human antibiotics and anti-fungal medications. I would encourage you to start treatment sooner rather than later, as early treatment can often make a big difference for long-term outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that, regardless of what you use, you don't overdose your tank; this is much easier to do with a small tank than with a large tank. Many tablets in particular are geared towards tanks that are 10 gallons or more, so if you got one of those make sure that you subdivide it properly for your tank. (You can get a pill splitter at a drug store for that purpose).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10835" LastEditorUserId="10835" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T00:11:39.717" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T00:11:39.717" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31446" CreationDate="2021-05-26T19:29:45.123" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other people have talked about possible issues presuming the problem is with the tank setup somehow. But you say you've had your &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; fish for 2 years.  In all likelihood, it was already a year + old when  you bought it; &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; fish live between 2 to 5 years, and probably the most common symptoms of old age are these kinds of problems, where they get bacterial infections and die. As they get older, immune systems and bodily functions break down, they become very vulnerable to infection and are unable to heal themselves effectively.  This can happen suddenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have to look into euthanizing the fish if this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think this was a &amp;quot;bioload&amp;quot; issue.  The most obvious sign of overabundance of bacteria, or &amp;quot;bacterial blooms&amp;quot; is cloudy water, which you don't have.  And even in this case, such events are more representative than other issues, than bacteria blooms are actually problems in and of themselves. In the absence of both other organisms and live plants, such problems are unlikely to happen after 2 years, even in a 1 gallon tank with out obvious signs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Future&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also agree with the other posters, &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; fish should be in 5 gallons (19 L) minimum.  But in addition to that, you need to avoid having hard, tough to bend surfaces (like your plastic plants).  Even in the event of old age, it still often takes some sort of damaging event to start the initial infection, the &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; fish may have gotten a tiny cut on its fin. You may opt to go for live plants.  This requires more setup (which is out of scope for this question), but can produce healthier environments in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may in the future also aim to purchase more &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; fish, or female &lt;em&gt;Betta&lt;/em&gt; fish, which have often have less flamboyant colors, but don't have issues with fins getting cut on décor. These also have less inbreeding issues with natural breeds, which also contributes to early death and disease resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="11115" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-26T20:13:28.783" LastActivityDate="2021-05-26T20:13:28.783" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-27T06:00:59.540" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently (~14 days ago) adopted a young cat from a non-profit organization. He's a domestic short hair, about 8-9 months old, neutered and knows how to use the litter box - he found it right away and used it ever since. He always completely covers up the waste. I clean the litter box multiple times a day; the litter is Arm &amp;amp; Hammer Naturals clumping litter. He gets a combination of wet / dry food. Right after the paperwork was done, the shelter people mentioned that he was a stray cat at some point but he's very friendly and affectionate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He had Giardia at some point but was treated for it - I took him to the vet a few days after adopting him and they checked his poop and found it clean of parasites and said that he's healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He knows how to clean and groom himself - he immediately cleans up after eating, every time, without exceptions. A few days ago, however, he used the litter box and he tracked pee to several surfaces. (In ~14 days, this happened 3 times.) I started watching him and noticed that he never cleans himself after using the litter box - since I started watching, he went ~15 times and didn't clean himself on all those occasions. Eventually he cleans up but there's a 15-30 minute delay; he usually has litter clumped around his hind legs (sometimes on all four) and he tracks it around. When he pees, he has pee stuck to the fur around his behind, usually mixed with some litter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hoping to try to teach him to groom himself sooner, I started wiping him down with wet cloth after each occasion - this helps: when his fur gets wet, he cleans up right away. Unfortunately, this only works when I catch him in the act. Since he's very curious, he jumps on various surfaces (including kitchen counters, etc.), I'm worried about him soiling those. (I don't allow him on these surfaces but I can't control what he does when I'm away / asleep.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another problem is that he clearly doesn't like me wiping him down - he doesn't bite and eventually lets me do it but I have to close the bathroom doors to lock him in to prevent him from walking around dirty and I'm afraid that this may teach him not to use the litter box because of the negative experience. I try to be gentle with him while doing so and he allows me to finish but he clearly doesn't enjoy the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me wiping down the cat all the time is not sustainable in the long term and I cannot keep cleaning counters, carpets, bedding, etc. on a daily basis. Is there anything I can do to teach him better grooming habits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20586" LastEditorUserId="20586" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T06:06:39.690" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T06:06:39.690" Title="How to teach young cat to groom after using the litter box?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;toilet-training&gt;&lt;grooming&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-27T07:56:54.127" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;My indoor cat got out a couple nights ago and I’ve been looking for her every night with no success in finding her. Will she come back after she gets pregnant? Will she be able to find her way back because she is an indoor cat? What can I do? I’ve already put her litter box outside plus food and water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20587" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T07:56:54.127" Title="Indoor cat got out and she is in heat" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="31456" CreationDate="2021-05-27T12:01:37.447" Score="3" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem Description and Situation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently moved to a new apartment with my cats Moe (female) and Joe (male). They are brother and sister. It didn't take long for them to get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moe started exploring the place on the same day that we arrived. It took Joe three days to get out of the closet and start exploring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a big roof in front of me. it's around 70 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (753.47 ft&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;). Other cats have also access to the roof. There's a fatso cat and another quiet grey cat. There is also another orange cat which is very aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joe found a way to get to the roof. I allowed him to go out because the apartment is not that big. I have plenty of high ground for the cats. But Joe still wants to go out. He explored almost half of the roof, but he stepped on the territory of an orange cat. So, the orange cat ran after Joe and kicked his sorry behind. Joe ran towards me, and 10 minutes later he licked his paw as if nothing happened, and went back to exploring. He wasn't shaken at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have to be out every day from 7:30 AM to 7:00 or 8:00 PM. With the exception of the weekends, where I'm home all day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I want Joe to go out but &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; when I'm home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proposed Solution&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to make a routine for Joe the mule head. I'm only letting him out when I'm home. Between 7 PM and 11 PM or on the weekends. All-day long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the past week, my idea was to place the litter box (because cats can smell their litter box a mile away), good cat food and water on the balcony and every time Joe steps out. I start calling his name if he tries to wander a little far. At 11 PM I call him, he jumps in and I close the door. When I'm out of course cats can't go out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far that routine has been working perfectly. But with a lot of stress. It's stressing me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Questions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you agree with what I am doing? Can cats learn a specific routine like that? Or, is what I am doing risky?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12471" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T14:15:08.143" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T14:15:08.143" Title="Have a routine for my cat that wants to go out" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;behavior&gt;&lt;training&gt;&lt;safety&gt;&lt;psychology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31455" CreationDate="2021-05-27T12:49:28.843" Score="4" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cats are great with routines.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each cat has a very well defined daily program. Waking up, grooming, playing, cuddling, going for a bathroom are all planned to a finer detail than most humans. When there is a change to their routine, they resist it. In the long run, they adapt to the new settings, but this long run depends on how much the cat wants to accept the changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your cat running to you at 11 PM when you call him is an absolute proof that he accepted this new routine.&lt;/strong&gt; Cats don't really respond to calls unless it suits them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second part of the problem is whether this is sustainable by you. You say you are too much stressed about the situation. If your stress is about your cat getting hurt, I would say it is actually quite safe. Cats know what they are upto in territorial fights and your cat just licking his paw casually after a seemingly major fight proves it. If your stress is due to some other problem, like having to do extra daily chores, it is your decision whether this is a good idea or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, cat fights are never too dangerous and most deaths occur due to infections from minor wounds. As long as you are around to give prompt medical treatment, there is little to no chance your cat will be hurt. If you really want to be safe, just make sure that you have anti-septic ready in your house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A good way to improve safety is to install a microchip operated cat flap on the path to the roof.&lt;/strong&gt; This will ensure that your cat can reach safety even if you are not there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, cats roam 40-200 meters so giving your cats an extra roaming distance is quite helpful to them. Most apartments do not provide cats enough roaming range, hence they want to get out. I gave my opinion about letting cats out &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/28616/16749&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and about fights between stray and domestic cats &lt;a href=&quot;https://pets.stackexchange.com/a/31204/16749&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The other answers to these questions would also help you a lot about your final decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16749" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T12:49:28.843" CommentCount="4" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31391" CreationDate="2021-05-27T20:52:36.220" Score="3" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I could not find any scientific sources or studies on this, so my answer is purely speculative and not necessarily correct - merely an opinion.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also use these sounds to goad my cat sleep with me. I can see that he gets unsettled, as there are dangerous territorial cats around that he cannot see, but it usually takes five ten minutes for him to relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a medical standpoint, you aren't actually harming your cat. If your cat relaxes after 5-10 minutes and doesn't seem to be stressed-out beyond some tension while the sound is playing, I can't see any serious long-term side effects other than being a bit more territorial or anxious with other cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how cruel is this practice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From an ethical standpoint, well... it is manipulating an innocent animal to follow your will/bidding, but ethics are tough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what you should ask yourself, questions taken from &lt;a href=&quot;https://blink.ucsd.edu/finance/accountability/ethics/ask.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;: (I rank what your response would be to each question out of 4, meaning 4/4 is good and 1/4 is not)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does your decision conflict with any of the core ethical values?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does conflict with some... for example, you are deceiving someone, and not treating someone how they would want to be treated. &lt;strong&gt;2/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of someone whose moral judgment you respect. What would that person do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a question that only you can answer. However, if I asked myself, &amp;quot;what would a vet do here&amp;quot;, their response would probably be to avoid deceiving your pet as much as possible. I will not rank this as you need to do this one yourself. &lt;strong&gt;N/A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How will your decision affect others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your decision is ultimately fooling your cat for your benefit, a form of trickery. Is this positive or negative for your cat? Negative. &lt;strong&gt;1/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask yourself: Are my actions legal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge, this is not illegal anywhere. &lt;strong&gt;4/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there regulations, rules, or policies that restrict your choices/ actions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge, there are not any policies, however, if this strategy is used too often, it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; qualify for animal abuse. It doesn't seem too frequent, though. &lt;strong&gt;3/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would your decision be perceived as unethical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask a friend for advice. What do they think? &lt;strong&gt;N/A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would your decision look if it were reported on the news or in another public forum?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically enough, this website is similar to a public forum, but the question assumes a highly popular/visited forum or news site. It wouldn't be a positive story, but I doubt that you would be getting death threats. &lt;strong&gt;2/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would a reasonable person do? How would they perceive your decision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, ask a vet for their honest opinion. &lt;strong&gt;N/A&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you be proud of your choice if your child were to find out? Would you want them to make the same choice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you? I don't think you would be ashamed of yourself, but I think you would discourage them from doing the same. &lt;strong&gt;2/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you rationally and honestly defend your decision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably could, with the defense that it is not medically harming your cat. You might not win, but you could put up a fight. &lt;strong&gt;3/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will you sleep soundly tonight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you will, especially with your cat snuggling with you! (that was a joke, please don't take that as a recommendation to use noises to influence your cat) &lt;strong&gt;4/4&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were 32 possible points you could earn, and you earned 21 of them. Three questions were N/A and you need to asses them yourself. Overall, 21/32 isn't bad, it's more than one-half positive, meaning it is leaning toward ethical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, these were just guidance questions, and ultimately, this is up to you and what your vet thinks.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-27T21:01:41.413" LastActivityDate="2021-05-27T21:01:41.413" CommentCount="1" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-27T22:49:36.290" Score="3" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, I would like to say that I am ecstatically happy to discover such a platform because I’ve been so worried about a problem I am facing and I am in need of your consult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have 11 cats in my garden outdoor. They do not enter the house but stay in the garden, they sleep, eat and play! We offer them everything just like a house cats since the day of their birth.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Those cats sometimes also go to the streets but at the end of the day they always sleep in my garden and eat what I put out for them.&#xA;They are not used to look for food because every time they are hungry they start making noises and come sit by the windows calling for us to feed them.&#xA;Some of the cats are one family (A mother, children, grandsons - if can we call it), and 3 of them are a mother and her children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is, I am moving to a new house in a couple of days and it all happened so quickly.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;It is in a completely different neighborhood that doesn’t resemble the one I live in now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really love my cats and think they also need me so I cannot leave them behind for the streets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to mention that there is garden in the new house and a space for them. But, the environment is so different from the current house once you get out of the house territory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how to move them because they rejects carrying. Also, I do not know if it is the right decision to take them with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read another questions that may be related but moat of the advisors advised to keep the cats in the house for a while which I cannot do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20595" LastEditorUserId="17671" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T01:18:29.000" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T07:19:23.850" Title="Moving to a new house with my 11 cats" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-05-28T07:15:27.370" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-28T06:53:31.650" Score="0" ViewCount="13" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi my female cat is 4 and she has started to pee all over the house, I’ve noticed in the morning when I go into the bathroom that she has peed in the sink or bath and then yesterday I was sat in the living room and she came in and peed on my printer (of all places) with me sat right there! Her pee also smells really strong/spicy? Does anyone know why this could be? I’ve booked a vet appointment for her but it’s not until next week Thursday so was looking for any ideas?&#xA;Also important to add that she has a litter box that she does occasionally still use but will pee anywhere.&#xA;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20596" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T07:06:40.293" Title="Why is my cat suddenly peeing everywhere?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" ClosedDate="2021-05-28T07:05:36.753" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-28T07:30:46.073" Score="0" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does one fish stay in one spot at the top close to the side of the tank while the other fish swims around all the time? I assume it not the water if the other fish aren’t affected. It’s not being bullied either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20597" LastEditorUserId="10702" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T13:28:16.753" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T13:28:16.753" Title="Why does one fish stay in one spot while the other fish swims around all the time?" Tags="&lt;fish&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" ClosedDate="2021-05-28T18:36:36.630" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31464" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2021-05-28T19:10:30.813" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as the question includes relevant detail, and is generally focused on &amp;quot;lost pets&amp;quot;, this tag should be included. Not to be confused with &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/strays&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;strays&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;strays&lt;/a&gt;. Other related tags include &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/safety&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;safety&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;safety&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/containment&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;containment&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;containment&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/adoption&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;adoption&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;adoption&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/behavior&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;behavior&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;behavior&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T19:33:07.470" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T19:33:07.470" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31465" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2021-05-28T19:10:30.813" Score="0" Body="For questions about finding a lost pet, identifying the owner of a lost pet, questions about lost pets in general, and similar. Not to be confused with the tag &quot;stray&quot;. " OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-28T19:33:14.597" LastActivityDate="2021-05-28T19:33:14.597" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2021-05-29T04:36:10.530" Score="0" ViewCount="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;I plan on moving in the future but I feed several stray cats, one of them is really attached to me and has tried to come into my house a few times, the only reason I don't let him in is because I haven't had him fixed and he could be sick, and I also have cats inside already, what should I do with the strays when I move? I'm gonna miss him so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="20600" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T04:37:33.950" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T07:10:00.713" Title="What should I do with the stray cats when I move?" Tags="&lt;cats&gt;&lt;strays&gt;&lt;house-moving&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" ClosedDate="2021-05-29T07:08:03.267" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31467" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2021-05-29T22:25:35.650" Score="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;For questions about any type of competition for pets, such as animal racing or dog shows. Please use for anything directly related to competitions, showings, showmanship, conformation shows, and similar. Related tags include  &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/training&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;training&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;training&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/pet-selection&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;pet-selection&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;pet-selection&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/agility&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;agility&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;agility&lt;/a&gt;. Also use the breed participating in the competition's tag as well (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/dogs&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged &amp;#39;dogs&amp;#39;&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;dogs&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:26:58.147" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:26:58.147" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
  <row Id="31468" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2021-05-29T22:25:35.650" Score="0" Body="Any type of competition for pets, such as animal racing or dog shows. Please use for anything directly related to competitions, showings, showmanship, conformation shows, and similar. " OwnerUserId="19872" LastEditorUserId="19872" LastEditDate="2021-05-29T22:26:51.647" LastActivityDate="2021-05-29T22:26:51.647" CommentCount="0" ContentLicense="CC BY-SA 4.0" />
</posts>